Posts in Linked

iOS 8 App Marketing Checklist→

Is your app ready for iOS 8? Have you updated it and added all the great functionality iOS 8 provides? That sounds great, but what should you do next? There are a few helpful (I hope) tips that I’m going to share.

Solid series of tips by Readdle’s Denys Zhadanov.

I’ll add these:

  • Use Tokens for promo codes;
  • Get in touch with the press early to give them (us) time to properly test apps and prepare coverage;
  • Consider Vine videos as a way to create easily shareable and digestible previews of new features in your app (see);
  • If you’re working on iOS 8 extensions, get in touch with other developers and try to figure out possible bugs together.
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The Hidden Structure of the Apple Keynote→

One of Apple’s most successful products—which rarely gets recognized as such—is made not of aluminum and glass, but of words and pictures. The Apple keynote is the tool the company uses a few times a year to unveil its other products to millions of people.

To understand their hidden structure, Quartz reviewed more than a dozen Apple keynotes, logging and analyzing key elements. Here’s what we found.

Dan Frommer collected interesting data about Apple keynotes over at Quartz. Good preparation for tomorrow.

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Mac Menu Bar Apps→

Ask any Mac power user about their menubar and you’ll get a different list of 5-10 must-have applications and utilities that boost productivity. The menubar is the mission control of a user’s computer, giving them an at-a-glance view of stats and apps that are important to them. The menubar can become so crowded, in fact, that’s there’s a menubar app that collects menubar apps. So meta.

Speaking of OS X features that haven’t been ported to iOS, Zach Hamed published an interesting look at the history of Mac menu bar apps last month.

As his images show, the landscape of menu bar apps is a jungle of different sizes, interfaces, keyboard shortcuts, and colors. It’s no surprise that Apple is setting strict and specific guidelines with iOS 8 widgets – admittedly, the closest thing to menu bar utilities we’ll soon get on our iPhones and iPads.

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The Terminal→

I’ve been using the Unix command line since 1983 and like most software developers, the Terminal app is a permanent fixture in my Dock. Over the years I’ve learned a lot of things that make working in this environment more productive, but even old dogs like me are constantly learning new tricks.

As much as I love them, these long “trick lists” on Stack Overflow have a problem: they’re poorly organized with little narrative describing why you’d want to use a technique. This long homage to the command line is my attempt to remedy that situation.

This is a fantastic collection of Terminal tips and tricks, elegantly narrated by Craig Hockenberry. Being able to do this sort of stuff is one of the things I deeply miss on iOS.

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Marc Newson to Join Apple→

As reported by Vanity Fair, renowned industrial designer Marc Newson is joining Apple:

Designer Marc Newson is joining Apple as part of senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive’s team, the company told VF Daily on Friday.

Ive was quoted in the article saying:

He is extraordinarily talented. We are particularly excited to formalize our collaboration as we enjoy working together so much and have found our partnership so effective.

Newson and Ive had indeed collaborated on a number of projects before, such as items sold at a special auction to raise funds to fight AIDS (including a red Mac Pro). Newson joining Apple is particularly noteworthy as it’s the latest in a series of design and fashion-related hires that suggest Apple’s rumored wearable device should have a strong fashion component.

See also: Vanity Fair’s interview with Ive and Newson in November 2013.

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Apple to Live Stream September 9 Event→

Earlier today, Apple announced that they will live-stream the special media event the company is holding on September 9th in Cupertino, California. From the webpage:

Live video from our special event will be right here. And so will a whole lot more.

In an article also published today, The New York Times reports that Apple will – as rumored – introduce two larger iPhones and a smartwatch next week. According to the article, the “watch” will have a flexible display and carry fitness and health-related functionalities with iOS integration through Handoff and other wireless features; because of the larger screens, the new iPhones’ software should have a “special” one handed mode.

Last, Sachin Patel recorded (via 9to5Mac) a video using a drone to show the structure that Apple has built in front of the Flint Center in Cupertino for next week’s event. You can watch it below.

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Rdio Focuses on Freemium Model, Updates Apps with New Design

In the face of growing competition in the streaming music market, Rdio, a four-year-old service that charges for online subscriptions, has moved into a new phase with abundant free music — as well as free music’s ever-present companion, advertising.

“What we’ve learned collectively over the last few years,” said Anthony Bay, Rdio’s chief executive, “is that the most successful models are freemium models.”

As The New York Times reports today, Rdio has done well over the past few years, but it is clear that other competitors (most notably Spotify) have been doing far better by placing a strong focus on a freemium business model. As a result, today’s updates to Rdio aren’t much of a surprise to me, but I’m glad they have also taken the time to once again refine the design of their apps.

For those curious, the free version of Rdio will be available in 20 countries initially and will allow unlimited access to stations. Rdio Unlimited will unlock the ability to play albums and playlists, as well as remove ads for $9.99.

Rdio’s move is a result of a deal with the radio network Cumulus Media that was announced a year ago, in which Cumulus was granted an equity stake of at least 15 percent in Rdio’s parent company, Pulser Media, in exchange for providing content and promotional services that Cumulus says are worth $75 million over five years.

The new design is not a major departure from their existing designs, but rather a welcome refinement. For example the new apps get rid of the confusing to distinguish ‘Heavy Rotation’ and ‘Top Charts’ sections and are instead replaced with a far more understandable section called ‘Trending’. There is also a new ‘Browse’ section which has curated Rdio stations into various categories including ‘Top Stations’, ‘Aussie Hits’, ‘Alternative’ and ‘Fitness’.

The other big new feature isn’t actually available yet, but there will also be a ‘Home’ tab which promises to be “an evolving feed of personalized music stories that surfaces the best of Rdio in a single destination”. It’ll be built from what you listen to, your friends listening activity, recommendations from Rdio, and other factors. On the whole it seems like a more advanced music discovery tool than the currently available ‘Recommendations’ page, which is mostly based on your music listening habits.

App Store Review Guidelines Updated to Consider New iOS 8 Features→

To take into account of new iOS 8 and Yosemite features including app extensions, HealthKit, HomeKit and TestFlight, Apple has this week updated their App Store Review Guidelines for developers. The bulk of the new features are covered in the new guidelines in sections 25 to 28.

Whilst the new guidelines cover everything from requiring keyboard extensions to provide a number keyboard type and prohibiting HealthKit apps from writing false or inaccurate data, a majority of the new rules focus heavily on protecting the privacy of users. For example, keyboard extensions and apps using HealthKit or HomeKit must provide a privacy policy, apps using HealthKit or HomeKit cannot use data for advertising or marketing purposes and any apps using the HealthKit framework cannot store any health data in iCloud.

Furthermore, Apple has slightly changed one of its introduction dot-points to specifically warn developers not to create “plain creepy” apps.

We have over a million Apps in the App Store. If your App doesn’t do something useful, unique or provide some form of lasting entertainment, or if your app is plain creepy, it may not be accepted.

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