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End WWDC→

The whole point of the conference needs to be rethought, and the goals addressed from scratch using new approaches. As the greatest challenge for WWDC is in scaling to meet demand, I think it’s obvious that the rethought WWDC should be considered in terms of digital solutions. Call it WWDC if you like, but it needs to take place 365 days a year instead of 4. It needs to serve 300,000 developers, not 5,000. And it needs to take place online, not within the cramped confines of a small convention center in San Francisco.

Daniel Jalkut says that it’s time for something better than WWDC. The entire post is worth a read.

Personally, I think it’d be interesting to see an expansion of the Tech Talk World Tour that Apple did in late 2011. But even in that case, venues were limited, and I imagine traveling around the world put a lot of stress on Apple engineers. Having Apple staff at smaller, independent conferences could help, but those would need to be several conferences each year, otherwise the same issues would arise.

I agree with Daniel. Maybe, with hundreds of thousands of developers, the solution that makes the most sense is a digital one.

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Sunstroke Fever Client Goes Universal→

Solid update to one of my favorite Fever apps.

The new version includes an iPad version (with a very classic Mail-like layout), a URL scheme to start a refresh and go back to other apps, and local notifications to be informed when sync has completed. Good release from an integration standpoint, too: you can now open links in Chrome (with callbacks), save via Pinbook, or share on App.net via Riposte.

Sunstroke is $4.99 on the App Store. Here’s my original review.

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Twitter Releases Update To Twitter For Mac→

After nearly two years, Twitter updated its official Mac client today. The app, which was presumed “dead” several times, has been updated to include Retina graphics, support for uploading photos, and 14 new languages. Twitter also says “more improvements” will come.

In a tweet, project lead Ben Sandofsky has announced he’s “taking a break” from Twitter for iOS to focus on the Mac version full-time.

One of the updated Mac App Store screenshots reads “Search in real time. Multitask. Express yourself.” – and I found the use of “multitasking” particularly interesting as many often suggested Twitter didn’t care about their Mac app because of the existence of Twitter.com.

The app doesn’t come with any additional changes, but I’m curious to know if Twitter will update it to include its latest additions to the iOS client, namely Cards, the Connect tab, and Discovery. As for OS X itself, it’d make sense for Twitter to consider Mountain Lion’s existing notifications (which currently open in the Twitter website). There’s no doubt Twitter for Mac has a quite a bit of catching up to do after two years.

In case you missed it, here’s my original review of Twitter for Mac from January 2011.

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Circles Memory Game→

Delightful new Universal game by Snowman, makers of Checkmark.

It’s clear to me that this is a post-Letterpress game: the menus and navigation are reminiscent of Brichter’s word game, and the multiplayer component is based on Game Center. There is, however, a single-player mode as well where you can practice or try to beat the 120 levels. If you have an iPhone and iPad, Circles will sync using iCloud.

I love Circles’ animations, sound effects, music, and overall flow of interactions within the game.

Plus, a percentage of each sale will be donated to help fund Alzheimer’s research and support programs. Buy a great game and support a good cause.

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Add Multiple OmniFocus Actions at Once Using Drafts 3.0→

When editing my Drafts 3.0 review last night, I removed this sentence from the Reminders section:

“Again, I don’t use this functionality, but it’ll be interesting to see something like this being tweaked to work with Drafts and Reminders”

Sid O’Neill figured it out right away:

Drafts just updated today to version 3.0. There are a whack of new features but one that I’m most interested in is the new “list in Reminders” action. It makes it easy to add multiple actions to Omnifocus without requiring Pythonista.

I forgot Daniel Jalkut had a script to monitor Reminders and add todos to OmniFocus for Mac. If you’re like me, you know you’ll try to make this work with a Mac server and modified default sync times.

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Nintendo’s Plan For The 3DS→

Great piece by Kirk Hamilton at Kotaku:

On my 3DS, the little games fit between the bigger games. On my iPhone, the little games fit between all the non-game stuff the device does. Fire Emblem and a handful of other games feel essential to my 3DS in the same way that email and Twitter functionality feel essential on my iPhone. Without the best 3DS games, I’d be much less interested in owning a 3DS; without email or Twitter, I’d be much less interested in owning an iPhone. It’s something of a chicken and egg scenario: Because the 3DS is made primarily to play games, its games feel essential; because the iPhone is made to do so much else, it derives essentiality from other things.

I agree. People interested in gaming aren’t buying a 3DS for its camera software, just like they aren’t buying a PS Vita for the Internet browser. On the flip side, would they buy an iPod touch to get a mix of quick-fix and hardcore games? Would they buy a 3DS just for the non-Nintendo titles of the eShop?

I’m biased, obviously. I am a long-time Nintendo fan and I am enjoying my 3DS. I haven’t been able to deeply appreciate the mechanics of any original iOS game as much as I did for Super Mario 3D Land or Luigi’s Mansion 2. Maybe I did for Ridiculous Fishing, but it’d be like comparing a succulent Italian meal to a great snack. The Wii U is doing bad, but I still have faith in Nintendo’s ability to turn this around.

As Nintendo becomes more serious about its digital ecosystem (here’s my idea from last year), how will they keep differentiating themselves from mobile app stores?

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Resetting Launch Services On Mountain Lion→

Craig Hockenberry:

So, the next time you’re seeing general slowness on your Mac, don’t forget to give Launch Services a kick in the pants. Guaranteed to be more effective than zapping your PRAM.

My MacBook Air was feeling slow – especially when opening the Finder, clicking menubar items, and after waking up from sleep (at the login screen, I’d have to wait around 20 seconds for the keyboard to become responsive). It’s much better thanks to Craig’s tip.

You can find the Terminal command here.

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iAd Producer 4.0 Adds iBooks Author Widgets, iTunes Extras and LPs→

Interesting update to Apple’s often overlooked HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript authoring tool for iAds: you can now create iBooks Author widgets, iTunes Extras, and iTunes LPs, alongside regular iAds.

You can create an iBooks Author widget for use in your iBooks Author projects. For example, you can create a widget that allows users to stream video from the Internet, draw using their finger, or interact with a timeline.

More information about iBooks Author support in iAd Producer 4.0 is available here. You can also find documentation for all the new features on the app’s official support page.

iAd Producer was first released in December 2010.

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