Posts in Linked

Moleskine and FiftyThree Team Up For Paper Book→

FiftyThree, creators of Paper for iPad, have teamed up with Moleskine to create the Book, a printed notebook for Paper sketches. The Book has a special 4:3 format that matches the iPad’s screen, and sketches are printed on sustainable matte paper at double the PPI of the iPad mini.

From the FiftyThree blog:

Today we’re announcing a new product with a whole new way to share your ideas. Bring your ideas to life with a beautiful, custom-printed Book, created right from within Paper. FiftyThree and Moleskine, maker of the legendary notebook, bring you a new format designed uniquely for Paper. Book is a 15-page foldout of your sketches on sustainable matte paper, with the choice of your own custom cover or a classic hardcover. Book is the simplest and most beautiful way to share your ideas with others.

The news comes less than a week after Evernote announced their plans to move into the hardware space following last year’s partnership with Moleskine. While I wouldn’t call this a “trend” yet, it’s interesting how two popular software makers of the modern era (both heavily focused on the iOS platform) are now cutting deals with hardware partners. Paper’s move is more niche-oriented than Evernote’s general-purpose notebook and Post-it features, and I’m curious to see if they’ll consider other analog formats in the future (larger notebooks, frames, etc).

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Dropbox Automatic Screenshot Sharing Now Out of Beta→

Back in June, we noted that Dropbox was testing an automatic screenshot sharing feature in their public beta for Mac:

The first one, an automatic screenshot sharing feature, is somewhat reminiscent of tools like Droplr and CloudApp: once enabled in the Preferences, it will allow Dropbox to redirect every screenshot taken on OS X to a /Screenshots folder in your Dropbox, sharing that file and putting a public link in your system clipboard. While not as full-featured as the aforementioned third-party tools, automatic screenshot sharing could indeed make for a nice solution to quickly share screenshots on Twitter and IM — retaining control over files that are simply located in the Finder.

Today, Dropbox has promoted the feature out of the beta channel and into the public, stable release of the app:

Starting today, all the screenshots you take can automatically be saved straight to your Dropbox. And on top of that, Dropbox will also create a link to your screenshot and copy it to your clipboard — so your picture’s instantly good to share.

The update, available here, also includes the iPhoto import tool that Dropbox started testing earlier this year.

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MacUpdate Bundle→

The latest MacUpdate Bundle includes 10 Mac apps and you can get it at $49.99. Normally, you’d spend $564 to get all the apps individually.

While there are many OS X software bundles these days, the MacUpdate ones always include some gems worth grabbing. In this bundle, you can get ScreenFlow 4 and PDFpen 6, among others. Both are excellent apps that I use on a daily basis – ScreenFlow was a terrific companion when I had to create videos for my Editorial review and I can’t recommend it enough. PDFpen is at the heart of my paperless system thanks to its AppleScript support (a topic that I want to write about soon).

There are only two days left to get the bundle. If you use this link, we’ll get a small kickback.

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iOS 7 and Enterprise Improvements→

Ryan Faas has published a good overview of the changes Apple made for enterprise distribution and MDM in iOS 7. A key aspect:

From an administrator’s perspective, the new model works very similar to what’s been around for decades - single source software licensing coupled with network-based deployment tools. From a user perspective, it’s extremely similar to the consumer App Store system.

Read the article here.

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Rdio Brings Recommendations Back→

From the Rdio blog:

Hot on the heels of our Stations launch, we’ve built Recommendations as another great means of effortless music discovery. Powered by technology from The Echo Nest, the new feature provides a steady stream of new music recommendations — including albums, stations, and playlists — based on what you listen to most and who you’re following.

I’ve long wished for Rdio Recommendations to come back, as I think they used to a great way to find new music in the Rdio 1.0 days. Rdio has changed in the past two years, and the need for Recommendations was partially obviated by Your FM and stations. However, I’m looking forward to seeing if the dedicated section will be as good as the original one used to be – particularly in how it should recommend entire albums and stations.

According to Rdio, Recommendations will be added to the iOS app “soon” – hopefully alongside an update for iOS 7.

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Steve Streza On Discounted App Upgrades→

But people have no right to complain about an update that costs 99 cents/$2/$3/etc. when their iPhone cost hundreds of dollars!

This privileged point of view comes from people who love supporting developers and who have spare money. And while it’s noble, it doesn’t reflect how most customers think about apps. The toothpaste isn’t going back in the tube here; people are now used to free and cheap apps with updates. Your app isn’t why they bought an iPhone; it’s an accessory, one that can be discarded as easily as an iPhone bumper.

Steve Streza makes a compelling argument against the theory that Apple should allow paid upgrades on the App Store. The reality that Steve describes – apps as cheap, replaceable accessories – is sad and harsh, but true. None of my friends “care” about particular apps or developers – they just want their problems solved and their entertainment taken care of.

That said, paid upgrades or not, I hope that developers of fine, well-crafted apps will continue to find ways to stay in the business – perhaps by catering to a smaller audience that doesn’t mind paying more and more often.

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Evernote Essentials 4.0→

Speaking of Evernote news, my friend Brett Kelly released version 4.0 of his Evernote Essentials eBook today. Brett’s book provides, in my opinion, the best introduction to Evernote for anyone who’s always been curious to try it as it covers all the basic and advanced features of the service.

In version 4.0, Brett also added a chapter called “How I Use Evernote” that includes practical examples of how he relies on Evernote to organize his life, and I can’t wait to read it. I’m also looking forward to the next update to the book, which should cover the major redesign of Evernote for iOS released last week.

Get the book on the iBookstore.

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Evernote Market→

Besides Skitch 3, the big news from today’s Evernote Conference is the company’s entrance in selling physical, lifestyle goods in the new Evernote Market. From their blog:

We want Evernote to make you smarter. To let you elegantly move through the giant flood of information that’s always coming at you in your personal and professional life. We want Evernote to appeal to the types of people who have a life’s work, and we want to create products that make your life’s work better.

Today, we’re launching a series of “Evernote Editions”— beautiful technology and lifestyle products made through partnerships with some of the most creative companies and designers in the world. These partners have been inspiring us for years and it’s an honor to work with them to make something truly great.

It’ll be interesting to see how this will play out for Evernote. The company has clearly cut deals for revenue sharing on branded goods, and some of them, such as the Adonit stylus or the ScanSnap, will directly influcence and integrate with Evernote software. Aside from socks, water bottles, and wallets, will products that directly enhance Evernote apps convince people to buy them? Personally, I am very satisfied with my Evernote Moleskine and I would love to try out the ScanSnap. The looks and functionality of the new products and services are promising.

The Verge also has a feature story on Evernote Market with an interview with CEO Phil Libin.

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