Posts in Linked

New Graphics at Apple Retail Stores→

ifoAppleStore’s Gary Allen has posted photos of the new back-lit wall graphics Apple has begun installing at selected retail stores, noting the change of mood from previous wall graphics:

The new graphics were photographed like magazine ads, showing the iPad/iPhone being used in actual situations, complete with their surrounding people and places. Their colors, tone and brightness is much richer and darker than the previous graphics, a noticeable difference that’s been the subject of Tweets and other on-line postings by store employees and visitors.

I don’t know if this is one of the first results of Angela Ahrendts’ work, but I like the lifestyle approach. Showing what you can do with a product is, I think, a more powerful (and relatable) message than a product closeup shot, especially when you’re inside an Apple Store and the product is already there on a table.

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Spotify for iOS Adds Offline Search for Downloaded Music→

Released today, version 1.3 of Spotify for iOS adds a seemingly obvious feature that, however, was missing from the app: search for downloaded music when in offline mode. Spotify recently revamped their apps to include an iTunes-like organization system called Your Music, and the improved search feature will look for songs cached on your device when the app is offline.

As an aside (and speaking of Launch Center Pro), here’s the action I’ve been using to quickly search for songs on Spotify without navigating to the search screen every time. It’s a huge timesaver and it works with offline search as well.

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Aptonic - Dropzone 3 [Sponsor]→

Dropzone is a productivity tool that enhances drag and drop on your Mac. Drag files onto the menu item and a beautifully designed and animated grid of all your actions opens. Share with services such as AirDrop, Imgur, FTP, Amazon S3, Facebook, Twitter and many others. Move and copy files, launch applications and even develop your own actions using the powerful Ruby based scripting API.

Dropzone 3 is a huge update to the app that takes Dropzone to a whole new level. You can now add actions to your grid faster thanks to the new quick add menu or by dropping folders or apps onto the ‘Add to Grid’ area. Quickly reorganise your actions using drag and drop and delete them by holding the option key. The new in-grid progress bars let you keep track of task progress. Also see how tasks are progressing at a glance in the new animated menu item.

Drop Bar is another great new feature - Drag files you know you’ll need later onto the Drop Bar area of the grid to stash them tempororily. Drag stacks on top of each other to combine them. You can even drag a stack onto another Dropzone action.

In Dropzone 3, the developer API has undergone a major overhaul. You can now duplicate existing actions and tweak them to your liking. A new bundle system lets you distribute needed libraries or tools along with your action. Actions can now be auto-updated as they are improved. With a little Ruby knowledge you’ll be thinking of your own uses in no time - check out the developer documentation here.

Our thanks to Aptonic for sponsoring MacStories this week.

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Apple and Privacy→

Rich Mogull, writing for Macworld, breaks down Apple’s focus on customer privacy:

Corporations generally limit their altruism to charity, not to core product and business decisions. Apple likely sees a competitive advantage in privacy, especially when its biggest direct competition comes from advertising giant Google and the enterprise-friendly Microsoft. Apple believes consumers not only desire privacy, but will increasingly value privacy as a factor in their buying decisions.

As a consumer, I value privacy for the devices I buy and the apps I use. This isn’t limited to Apple: I appreciate DuckDuckGo and its consistent prioritization of privacy and no-tracking features, and I like services based on a business model that’s not selling what I read, click, and type to others.

To some people, this doesn’t matter, and I get it. But personally, I see a customer advantage in choosing apps, hardware, and web services (whenever possible) that I feel comfortable using with clear privacy policies and user controls, and Rich explains Apple’s position well.

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Adobe “Doubling Down” on Lightroom→

Adobe, following Apple’s Aperture announcement earlier today:

Put simply we’re doubling down on our investments in Lightroom and the new Creative Cloud Photography plan and you can expect to see a rich roadmap of rapid innovation for desktop, web and device workflows in the coming weeks, months and years. We also continue to invest actively on the iOS and OSX platforms, and are committed to helping interested iPhoto and Aperture customers migrate to our rich solution across desktop, device and web workflows.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography plan (which includes Photoshop CC and Lightroom) is a $9.99/month subscription, but the app is also available as a standalone purchase.

I personally never needed Aperture or Lightroom, but I know a lot of people who have been using Adobe’s app for several years now. According to Apple, functionalities from Aperture will be integrated with the new Photos app for OS X – the screenshot chosen for the announcement today is interesting.

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Apple Ending Development of Aperture, New Photos App Will Also Replace iPhoto for Mac→

Jim Dalrymple, reporting at The Loop, received confirmation from Apple that the company will stop development of Aperture, replacing it with the Photos app introduced at WWDC:

Apple introduced a new Photos app during its Worldwide Developers Conference that will become the new platform for the company. As part of the transition, Apple told me today that they will no longer be developing its professional photography application, Aperture.

The new Photos app is on track to be released next year for OS X Yosemite, and it will also replace iPhoto for Mac, integrating photo editing and organization features into a single interface with iCloud support.

As reported by Matthew Panzarino at TechCrunch, Apple will provide compatibility updates for OS X Yosemite users and the company is working with Adobe to create a “transitionary workflow” to move to Lightroom.

According to Apple, the discontinuation of Aperture doesn’t indicate a shift away from “pro” apps, as both Logic and Final Cut will continue development. At this point, it’s not clear whether iPhoto for iOS will also be discontinued with the release of iOS 8 and the new features in Photos for iOS.

Aperture came out in 2005. In 2011, Apple started offering Aperture 3.0 at a discounted price on the Mac App Store.

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xScope 4.0→

Version 4.0 of The Iconfactory’s tool for measuring, inspecting, and testing layouts and graphics on OS X has been released today, adding powerful new features for designers and developers.

We’ve covered xScope on MacStories before, and the new release adds an Overlay feature to check alignments and mockups over a browser (useful when working on responsive designs) and a Text palette to “search, decipher, and reformat text and character glyphs”. xScope works with Retina displays and many of the app’s existing functionalities have been redesigned and updated to have faster performance, more flexibility (just take a look here), and Yosemite support.

I’m no designer, but I’ve used xScope before and I know it’s a solid app; I’ve downloaded the trial from The Iconfactory’s website, and the changes in this version look fantastic. For a limited time, you can get xScope 4.0 at $24.99 (50% off) on the Mac App Store.

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