After recovering from the news about Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp, Stephen and Federico discuss the problems users face while using Apple’s App Stores.
In this week’s episode of The Prompt, we started a mini-series about the App Store’s problems for developers and users, discussing possible solutions for search, discovery, and curation. Get the episode here.
Jordan Kahn:
Back in May of last year, a long list of readers in countries around the world reported having access to Apple’s two-step verification security feature for their Apple ID. Shortly after the news broke, the feature disappeared in many countries signaling it had been launched prematurely. The only officially supported countries listed on Apple’s website included the “U.S., UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.” However, today the feature has appeared in several new countries including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, & Spain.
Apple’s list of compatible international carriers for SMS verification is available here. I just enabled two-step verification for my Italian account, and everything worked right away without any issues.
See also: our guide from last year on enabling two-step verification for your Apple ID.
Fleksy is an alternative keyboard for iOS that I first tested when Launch Center Pro, an initial partner, implemented it a few months ago. Within the limitations of iOS, Fleksy provides a different typing experience that can be faster than Apple’s default keyboard.
Today, Fleksy has opened up their SDK for any iOS developer to implement in their apps. The public SDK allows apps to feature colorful keyboards (there are themes) and a button in the Copy & Paste menu to quickly switch to the Fleksy keyboard. These system replacements are much more useful on Android because they can be activated anywhere in the OS, and it’ll be interesting to see how many iOS apps will add support for Fleksy as a user option.
Check out the Fleksy SDK here.
From an excerpt of David Rowan’s profile of WhatsApp, which was acquired today by Facebook:
We’re the most atypical Silicon Valley company you’ll come across,“ says Acton, a clean-cut, red-faced 42-year-old from Michigan, whose appearance contrasts markedly with Koum’s 188cm-tall, dark, unshaven look. “We were founded by thirtysomethings; we focused on business sustainability and revenue rather than getting big fast; we’ve been incognito almost all the time; we’re mobile first; and we’re global first.” He and Koum, he adds, are “the yin and yang – I’m the naïve optimist, he’s more paranoid. I pay attention to bills and taxes, he pays attention to our product. He’s CEO. I just make sure stuff gets done.
One of the reasons WhatsApp worked was its simplicity. There was no “bloat”, as the WhatsApp co-founders told Wired. That’s not a concept that’s usually associated with Facebook.
Apple:
Mountaineers Adrian Ballinger and Emily Harrington have scaled many of the most renowned – and feared – mountains on Earth. In exploring frigid and unforgiving altitudes that most humans visit only in the comfort of a pressurized jet cabin, one piece of equipment has become essential to them: their iPad.
Earlier today, Apple posted the second profile of the Your Verse campaign for the iPad. The webpage has a neat layout and there are notes about the GPS app Ballinger and Harrington use, but I was hoping Apple would also specify whether or not 3G/LTE coverage is usually available and/or reliable at base camp. Overall, a good showcase of the iPad’s portability.
Myke and Federico introduce Directional and discuss what they want the show to be, before going on to discuss Nintendo. They talk about Nintendo’s current position, investigate the idea of integrated hardware and software and look at some potential avenues for evolution.
In our inaugural episode of Directional, we talk about Nintendo. I thought that we could sum up our point of views and notes in a single episode, but I was wrong. Look for more Nintendo discussion (alongside follow-up, new picks, and more) next week.
I’m extremely grateful for the positive feedback, constructive criticism, and support we’ve received on Directional so far. You can follow the show on Twitter as @DirectionalShow (managed by Myke and I), and get Level 1 here.
Written by TidBITS managing editor Josh Centers, the ebook walks new owners through setup, and then dives into explaining how to best control the Apple TV with the included remote, Apple’s Remote app, or another TV remote. You’ll learn to customize the icon grid on the main screen, enable parental controls, and make your screen saver look awesome. Josh also covers uses of AirPlay, the Apple technology that lets you beam audio and video from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to the Apple TV, and lets the Apple TV send audio to compatible speakers anywhere in your home.
Last December, I decided to connect my second-generation Apple TV to my television again because I wanted to check out the progress Apple had made with channels and the user interface. I ended up “using” the Apple TV a lot with Plex and Infuse, both set up to stream videos over AirPlay. Each weekend, my girlfriend and I watch a couple of movies on the big screen with our Apple TV, and I’m constantly impressed by the simplicity and reliability of AirPlay.
However, the Apple TV’s interface can be clunky and there are a variety of settings that aren’t immediately clear. That’s why I wish I had a copy of Josh Centers’ new book three months ago: from first setup to advanced tips such as installing PlexConnect, Josh covers every aspect of the Apple TV to get the most out of the device, AirPlay streaming, compatible iOS apps, and more. The book’s layout is easy to parse and navigate, there are handy illustrations and tooltips, and, in general, it has the usual degree of quality and care that you can expect from the Take Control eBooks.
A must-have for Apple TV owners interested in knowing everything about it, and well worth $10.
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David Smith talks about how one of iOS 7’s most important features can unexpectedly increase costs for developers, as data is more frequently requested in the background.
My first example of this was when I added Background Fetch to Check the Weather. A weather app’s primary function is displaying up-to-the-minute, constantly changing data so in my initial iOS 7 update I experimented with adding highly frequent background updates. The result was far more dramatic than I’d expected. […]
