If you’re not a fan of Apple’s unergonomic Magic Mouse, or making broad gestures with Hot Corners, Spacious 2 gives you a wheel of commands with a click of the middle mouse button. Spacious presents a small palette of tools for switching to the Dashboard, activating Mission Control, or switching to another space. The app includes an alternative app switcher, and can be configured to your liking if the defaults aren’t for you. If you don’t like using keyboard shortcuts or regularly use your Mac’s trackpad gestures, Spacious can help make the most of your desktop with your favorite mouse. You can download a free trial for 30 days, and purchase the app direct for €9.99.
Posts in Linked
Spacious 2 for OS X is a Mouse Friendly App for Navigating the Desktop→
How to Optimize Your Settings in Paper by Facebook→
Facebook’s new Paper app is the best excuse yet to ditch the social network’s older offering. But while the re-imagined mobile experience adds beautiful fullscreen images and new, intuitive swipes to the mix, it also comes with a few limitations. So before you banish that blue and white standby to the netherworld of discarded apps, you probably want to make a few quick changes.
Roberto Baldwin for Wired writes about how toggling a few switches can make Paper by Facebook better and turn off some annoyances, like videos that automatically play.
All the Little Details in Paper by Facebook→
Brian Lovin, Product Manager at Buffer, captures all of the little details of Facebook’s Paper with a series of GIFs.
Paper by Facebook has been out for a day now and the reviews are, for the most part, quite divided. I haven’t been an avid Facebook user for some time, but the design and attention to detail on Paper is unmatched, and is worth sharing with other designers.
The Prompt: One Chance With Jony→
Apple References In Futurama and The Simpsons→
With a combined 33 seasons between them, both Futurama and The Simpsons are awash with references to Apple. Some of these references take the form of biting commentary while others are much more subtle.
In compiling this list, I was lucky enough to chat with famed Simpsons writer Bill Oakley (seasons 4-8) and talented Simpsons director David Silverman (seasons 1-present). They were both gracious and kind enough to answer many-a-question and provide me (and you) with some behind-the-scenes information about the “how and why” behind some of the Apple references you’ll find sprinkled throughout this post.
Great work by Yoni Heisler at TUAW. #4 is a classic.
TAKE ACTION - Action Menu Generator For Launch Center Pro→
Nice work (and great name) by Jeff Mueller: starting from my idea for an action menu for Safari in Launch Center Pro, he made a web app to simplify the process of assembling the bookmarklet. You can choose from a set of emojis for icons, select one of the built-in actions (so you don’t have to write URL schemes), and hit Create Menu to generate a menu. It’s very simple and much better than writing code manually.
I hope that Jeff will add more app actions and emojis soon. Check it out here.
Mac Power Users 175→
Mac Power Users is one of my favorite tech podcasts, so when Katie and David asked me if I wanted to do a second episode with them, I immediately accepted.
We talked about iPad workflows, iOS automation, the future of iOS, photo management, and more. There are lots of links to apps and tools I use on a daily basis in the show notes, and I’m glad that the episode turned out well. You can listen here.
Jared Sinclair On Designing Unread→
Jared Sinclair:
Comfortable also means physical comfort, which is an aspect of mobile app design that designers often forget. Anyone with a new baby knows how convenient it is to be able to use an app with one hand. Some areas of the screen are hard to reach, especially on an iPhone 5 or later. Grip your phone in one hand observe the sweep of your thumb. It’s easy to reach objects in the center, but the navigation bar is too far away to reach without adjusting your grip. Although it’s tempting to jump to the conclusion that closer is always better, positioning an item too close to your hand can cause discomfort because of the way your thumb has to flex to reach it.
One of my favorite aspects of Unread. Check out Jared’s post for more details on his design process, as well as concepts he didn’t end up using.
How In-App Purchase Is or Is Not Really Destroying The Games Industry→
I read two articles over the weekend about the impact of In-App Purchases on the games industry. Thomas Baekdal argues that consumable IAPs, mastered by companies like Electronic Arts, are destroying the industry. He uses the latest Dungeon Keeper game for iOS as an example.
We have reached a point in which mobile games couldn’t even be said to be a game anymore. Playing a game means that you have fun. It doesn’t mean that you sit around and wait for the game to annoy you for so long that you decide to pay credits to speed it up. And for an old geezer like me who remember the glory days of gaming back in the 1990s, it’s just unbearable to watch.
With the help of NerdCubed (great guy), let me illustrate just how bad in-app purchases in games have become. Let’s compare a game from the 1990s with the same game on the iPad today.
On the other hand, Drew Crawford makes the case for In-App Purchases as the best revenue model for the modern App Store games market, noting that they can be considered the evolution of the arcade:
See, in the in-app purchase model actually predates phones. It predates video game consoles. It goes all the way back to the arcade, where millions of consumers were happy to pay a whole quarter ($0.89 in 2013 dollars) to pay for just a few minutes. The entire video games industry comes from this model. Kids these days.
But in fact, the model predates computers. I can trace it at least as far back as the Periscope mechanical arcade game from Sega in 1966 that offers to sell you ten lives for 25 cents ($1.80 in 2013 dollars).
I understand Crawford’s position, and I think that In-App Purchase isn’t strictly a bad model for monetization. My problem is with the user-hostile consumable approach to IAP as illustrated by Baekdal and perfected by EA. It may make sense financially, it may even turn out to make millions of dollars for EA, but, as a gamer, I just think it’s sad.