Posts in Linked

Japanese Emoticons for iOS→

A few months ago I covered Kaomoji, an app that makes it easy to browse and copy Japanese emoticons (also known as, indeed, kaomoji) on iOS. This morning, thanks to Sean’s recommendation, I bought Japanese Emoticons, the official app by website japaneseemoticons.net that, like Kaomoji, lets you browse through over 1000 built-in emoticons organized by type (such as “positive emotions”, actions, evil, “hello and goodbye”, and more).

Unlike Kaomoji, the Japanese Emoticons app lets you add your most-used emoticons to a set of Favorites, which you can rearrange at any time and access anywhere in the app from a button in the upper right corner. Japanese Emoticons also has an editor to create your own emoticon based on parts like eyes, mouths, and arms (there’s also a button to create a random one). The app features one-tap copy, but the interface isn’t as polished as Kaomoji.

If you’ve been looking for a Kaomoji-like app with favorites and an editor feature, Japanese Emoticons is $0.99 and Universal.

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iPod Eclipse→

Benedict Evans:

As music has moved on from the iPod, it has actually become much less important to the tech industry. With streaming and the decline of ownership, there are fewer barriers to switching service, and every device has a choice of music services, both from the platform owner (i.e. Apple/Google/Microsoft/Nokia etc) and as third-party apps. In effect,  music has become a commodity.

Compare this to dedicated eBook readers, which still have a feature that smartphones haven’t replicated (E Ink). The iPod didn’t have exclusive features that tied music (and customers) to the device; the built-in WiFi and cellular options of iPhones facilitated the rise of streaming services and access over ownership. The only iPod-only feature I can think about is storage in the 160 GB iPod Classic; millions of people just don’t need an iPod anymore.

For further evidence, look at Apple’s upcoming launches: iTunes Radio can be used on iPod touches connected to WiFi, but iPhones (and cellular iPads) can use it all the time.

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App Updates For iOS 7→

Craig Hockenberry:

An overwhelming number of developers were updating apps for iOS 7. Of 575 valid responses, 545 developers indicated that they were working on an update for iOS 7. That’s an adoption rate of 95%!

From what I’ve seen (and heard) so far, it looks like releasing new, paid, separate versions of apps for iOS 7 will be a common trend among developers. I think that, in most cases, it makes sense considering the major rewrite and redesign required by iOS 7 to ensure an app can be technically and visually ready by this Fall.

If we’ll end up with an App Store full of old iOS 6 apps kept for “compatibility mode” or existing customers, I believe properly showcasing iOS 7 apps will be even more necessary in the (already crowded and poorly searchable) App Store.

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Apple Now Offering Free Downloads in the Apple Store App→

Much like visiting Starbucks and picking up a free song, the Apple Store is now distributing their own freebies. This week it’s an app called Color Zen, which shows up in the Apple Store app alongside the store’s information. If you’re at home, the app just shows up in the list of things that Apple is currently featuring. Mark Gurman from 9to5Mac writes that it’s an incentive to get people to download the app.

We previously reported that Apple Store employees are instructed to install this application on a new iOS Device during Personal Setup (After a purchase). At an internal event in San Francisco last month, Tim Cook revealed that only a small percentage of Apple customers are aware of the app, but Cook wants to use the app as an element of his plan to boost iPhone sales in his stores.

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BioShock Infinite Coming To OS X This Month→

Juli Clover:

BioShock Infinite, the third game in the first-person shooter series, is set to be released for the Mac on August 29 through a collaboration between Aspyr Media, developer Irrational Games, and publisher 2K Games.

Infinite is one of my favorite games of 2013 (so far). The game comes with an incredible storyline and solid action-oriented gameplay – but my favorite part remains Columbia, the city in the sky where the game takes place. Just this week, Irrational Games announced a series of DLCs for the game – the first of which, Clash in the Clouds, should be available by launch day with the Mac version. Eurogamer posted an interview with BioShock creator Ken Levine, who explained the motivation behind Clash in the Clouds and the other DLCs that will follow later this year.

BioShock Infinite will be available through Steam, the Mac App Store, and GameAgent, where pre-orders have started today.

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The Prompt: Senior VP of Selfies→

This week, Myke, Federico and Stephen re-visit the Developer Center outage, then talk about Google’s apps on iOS and Stephen’s Nexus 7. Wrapping up, they move on to discuss tablet usage and some awesome apps.

I loved the discussion about Google’s new approach to building its own ecosystem on iOS through inter-app communication and callbacks, which is something that Apple keeps ignoring. Towards the end, I also explain why I like working from my iPad more than I do on the Mac.

Get the episode here.

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Is Chromecast Worth it if You Already Use AirPlay?→

Josh Centers from TidBITS takes a look at the Chromecast, its setup process, what apps it works with on Macs and iOS devices, and what you can expect from the device compared to AirPlay. This is a very thorough article, especially if you’re considering buying it for yourself or as a stocking stuffer later this year.

I should note here that the Chromecast’s “casting” is different in a key way from AirPlay. While AirPlay sends audio and video directly from your device to the Apple TV, Chromecast-enabled apps send only a URL, which the Chromecast loads through its own built-in Web browser. Also, unlike the Apple TV, the Chromecast does not have a hardware remote. You control the audio or video directly on your device, including volume. The Netflix iOS app even activates a remote mode when it sends video to the Chromecast.

Keep reading because a lot of it is, “And another problem is…” How Chromecast works is important since the quality of what’s shown to you on the TV ends up being inferior to AirPlay.

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Leap Motion and Better Touch Tool→

David Sparks writes about his experience with Leap Motion after pairing it with Better Touch Tool.

As you can tell. I already have a lot of affection for Better Touch Tool and Leap controller functionality is icing on the cake. So I’ve spent some time playing with this new feature and I’ve now got several gestures I can do in the air in front of my Mac. If I put one finger in the air and move it up, it closes the application, just like the gesture in iOS 7. If I put one finger in the air and pull it down, it closes the window just like my gestures I explained earlier on my trackpad. If I put two fingers in the air and swiped the left, I move right one space. Putting two fingers in the air and swiping to the right moves back one space to the left. All of this is a lot of fun. I’m only adding new gestures as I internalize the prior ones.

It’s great that people are at least finding some practical uses for this thing. I just think the Leap Motion is a solution in search of a problem.

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