Posts in Linked

Behind The Scenes of Apple’s “1984” Commercial→

Speaking of 1984, Forbes’ Allen St. John published a look behind the scenes of Apple’s iconic Super Bowl commercial. If you can bear with the paginated format and initial ad, there are some interesting details.

On the 30th anniversary of the ad that changed the world, I talked to Steve Hayden, the Chiat/Day advertising VP who wrote that spot. He talked about how Apple founder Steve Jobs commissioned the ad, Blade Runner auteur Ridley Scott brought it to life, and how that 60 second spot which ran just once in January of 1984, changed his life.

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Pedometer++ 2.0→

David Smith’s step counter for the iPhone 5s started as a simple experiment but turned into a quite popular utility. Today David has released version 2.0 of the app, which comes with a nice visual update that lets you see a week’s worth of data with a clever use of color. I think that the new UI is much better than before, and I really like how the M7 is allowing developers to build new apps like Pedometer++.

My problem is that I feel guilty whenever I open Pedometer++. I mentioned this on the latest episode of The Prompt, and David is aware of it.

This app has generated more guilt than anything else I’ve ever created. I am constantly hearing from people who say that they open the app and are shocked at how little they actually move in a day. I know for myself it wasn’t until I actually measured it that I realized how sedentary my life was. It is sobering to see that you only took 2,000 steps in a day and realize just how unhealthy that likely is.

Pedometer++ 2.0 is free on the App Store.

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The Prompt: A Formal Dinner For Business→

This week, Federico, Myke and Stephen discuss “paymium” apps and what happens when tech products become fashion accessories.

I had a lot of fun doing research for this week’s fashion topic, which is difficult to talk about because it’s not something that is usually discussed alongside tech gadgets and apps. I expect to revisit it later this year as rumors of an Apple wearable device will inevitably intensify.

Get the episode here.

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Facebook Paper→

Today, Facebook has announced Paper, a dedicated iPhone app to “explore and share stories” through Facebook. The app is coming out on February 3, and it takes a photo-centric approach at, essentially, displaying updates from your News Feed alongside “stories” (i.e. links and photos) recommended by a new curation team inside Facebook. The app uses full-screen, edge-to-edge layouts, relies on gestures for navigation, and it’s highly reminiscent of Flipboard for iPhone, both in terms of basic principles (status updates intermixed with news content) and the gesture to open and close “stories” (watch the promo video, and you’ll see).

I’ll save thoughts on the motivation and execution for the future, but, today, I’m skeptical. Facebook has a history of standalone apps that provided better, more elegant functionality than the main iPhone client (like Facebook Camera) which haven’t received enough attention. Aside from the name (this isn’t going to be awkward at all) and Flipboard-esque layout, I feel a disconnect. This app looks too beautiful for the kind of content that is shared on Facebook. Looking through my News Feed on a daily basis, what I see isn’t the hip mix of beautiful landscapes and inspiring moments that Facebook is advertising, but a chaotic mess of drunk selfies, memes, clubbing photos, and low-quality pictures of dinners or other family events. There is the occasional gorgeous photos, but does that justify a standalone, magazine-like approach to News Feed content?

What I’ve seen so far reminds me a lot of the beautiful News Feed that Facebook announced and never really shipped to users. A great idea in theory…which most people’s News Feeds don’t deserve. Of course, this time it may be different: Paper’s team includes Mike Matas (you can see some Push Pop Press influences in the video) and, according to The Verge, Loren Brichter contributed to the development. Facebook’s mobile numbers are growing, and perhaps the company needs to give its teams the ability to try new things that will eventually trickle down to the main experience (case in point: features of Facebook Camera later ported to the Facebook app).

I’m curious because a) I want to study the design/interaction approach taken by Matas and team and b) it appears you’ll be able to ignore status updates and browse only headlines by sources you follow or recommended by Facebook. Curation matters, and it’ll be interesting to see if and how Facebook will mix top publications with smaller independent authors. The focus on tackling “storytelling” by many companies lately is also a trend to keep an eye on, although I wonder if Paper can really become “Facebook 2.0” or “a reimagination of Facebook”.

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Highlight Important Folders by Changing Their Color with Folderol→

Friend of the site Erica Sadun recently released Folderol, a Mac app that simply lets you change the color of your folders on OS X. Of the many changes in OS X Mavericks is how labels are displayed; now being tags, small little colored dots next to file and folder names are all that differentiate how your stuff appears. Folderol brings back some visual distinctiveness, a feature that Apple once offered on classic Mac OSes, starting with System 6 for color Macintoshes.  Folderol’s default color palette smartly pair with Apple’s tags, but you’re free to choose your own with the built-in color picker. Download Folderol for $0.99 from the Mac App Store.

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Transloader 2.0→

Nice update to Matthias Gansrigler’s utility for iOS and OS X, which I first covered in December 2012. Transloader lets you download URLs from your iPhone on your Mac: open the iPhone app, and a URL in the clipboard is recognized and synced within seconds to Transloader for Mac over iCloud. The URL will then be downloaded locally, in the Finder, without having to open Safari. It’s a great way to start downloads remotely when you’re not at your Mac.

The new version has support for iOS 7 and it lets you store multiple links before syncing them to the Mac app. Both apps have been redesigned, and iCloud sync is as stable and fast as I remembered. Transloader can be a good companion to Command-C if you want to transfer URLs over 3G (Command-C only works over local WiFi).

Transloader for iOS is free, and the Mac app is $4.99 on the App Store.

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The New Hotel Key: Your Smartphone→

Craig Karmin, reporting for the WSJ:

Guests arriving at the Aloft Hotel in Manhattan or one in Silicon Valley will soon be able to do something hotels have dreamed about offering for years: walk past the check-in desk and enter their rooms by using a smartphone as a room key.
[…]
Guests at these properties will receive a message on a Starwood app containing a virtual key, which will unlock the door with a tap or twist of their phone through the use of Bluetooth technology. The company says the iPhone 4s or newer models and the Android phones running 4.3 or newer will be compatible.

Personally, I still enjoy the interaction with staff members when I check in, which is also the reason why I always go talk to an employee when I need to buy something at my local Apple store (I tried Apple’s EasyPay feature, and it felt odd).

This is where the future is going, though, and there are several elements worth considering. Bluetooth LE has stolen the spotlight from NFC for low-power, peer-to-peer wireless transfers, and there are obvious security concerns over solutions like this, as well as home products like the Lockitron. It’s an exciting time to watch pocket computers reshape our world.

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