iOS 10 is here, and Federico has written the definitive review of it.
On the latest episode of Connected, we talk about the launch of iOS 10 and how my review was finalized. You can listen here.
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Connected, Episode 108: Confusion as a Discovery Mechanism→
How RAW Changes iPhone Photography→
Ben McCarthy, writing for iMore:
Editing RAW files feels like a huge leap forward in terms of mobile photography: With iOS 10, the iPhone is evolving from a great camera for taking casual photos with into a capable professional tool. It still has plenty of limitations, but I suspect we’ve passed a tipping point.
But shooting while out and about is one thing. What about using the iPhone in a studio? I gathered together a couple of friends to do a little impromptu photoshoot to see how the iPhone would hold up.
Ben is the developer of Obscura, which I featured in my review yesterday because of its native RAW support on iOS 10. He makes some good points on the limitations and advantages of shooting RAW on iPhone.
Austin Mann’s iPhone 7 Plus Camera Review in Rwanda→
I consider the iPhone a computer with a camera more than a computer that makes phone calls. Therefore, Austin Mann’s annual iPhone camera review is my favorite of the bunch. I’ve been linking them for the past couple of years, and I find Austin’s approach always fascinating and well-presented.
This time, Austin has outdone himself. To properly test the iPhone 7 Plus’ camera with optical zoom, they’ve flown to Rwanda in collaboration with Nat Geo Travel and Nat Geo Adventure to track gorillas and take close-up pictures, timelapses, test wide-color gamut photos, and more.
He writes:
As many of you know, in the past I’ve created this review in Iceland twice, Patagonia and Switzerland, but this year I wanted to really change things up. With indicators pointing toward possibilities of optical zoom I asked myself: where’s the best place in the world to test optical zoom? Africa of course.
So this year, in collaboration with Nat Geo Travel + Nat Geo Adventure we’ve set out to get you the answers. I’m writing you from deep in the Nyungwe rain forest in southwest Rwanda… we’ve been tracking gorillas in the north, boating Lake Kivu in the west and running through tea plantations in the south… all with the iPhone 7 Plus in hand.
I’ve had a blast playing with the wide spectrum of new features and tech but as always, our mission is to find out the answer to one question:
How does all this new tech make my pictures (and videos) better than before?
The result is beautiful. The video “review” is a mini-documentary/short film about tracking down mountain gorillas, and it’s 9 minutes long. Seeing how they found the gorillas brought a big smile on my face, and you can notice how the zoom interface of the iPhone 7 Plus was useful for that purpose.
Watch it below, and go check out Austin’s photos and summary of the experience here.
Club MacStories: Year One iBook
A year ago we launched Club MacStories, and since then we have published 60 newsletters across MacStories Weekly and the Monthly Log.
We realised a few weeks ago that as we’ve built up this archive of newsletters, there is a lot of content, and we wanted to create a distilled version of the archive. With that in mind, we have created this interactive iBook which contains a small selection of the best content we have published over the last 12 months in MacStories Weekly and the Monthly Log.
Our goal in this was to give new members a more easily digestible highlight of what they can expect over the coming weeks and months as they begin their membership. But equally it is for existing members who want to revisit some of the content we’ve published, or to catch up if they missed a few newsletters. So whether you’re a new member, or an existing member, we hope you enjoy reading this iBook.
We’re excited to begin the second year of Club MacStories, and we hope you are too.
Thank you for being a Club MacStories member.
– Federico, Graham, and John
iWork Receives Real-Time Collaboration, 12.9” iPad Pro Optimization, More
Mario Stickers Make Their Debut
Last Wednesday, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo was a surprise guest at Apple’s iPhone 7 event. Nintendo announced that Super Mario Run, an endless runner game starring Mario, would be coming to iOS in December. At the end of Miyamoto’s presentation, he added that Mario stickers would be launching alongside the introduction of iOS 10. Apple’s new iPhone operating system won’t be out until tomorrow, but sticker packs and iMessage apps have been showing up on the App Store all day, including the Super Mario Run sticker pack.
I really like these stickers and it demonstrates how developers can use sticker packs as a way to market upcoming products. We’ve tried dozens of iMessage apps and sticker packs over the past few weeks here at MacStories. In fact, I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say Federico and I have exchanged hundreds of stickers and app messages over just the last few days as we prepare for the iOS 10 launch. Keep an eye on MacStories, because we will be sharing some of our favorite iMessage apps and sticker packs in a roundup tomorrow.
MacStadium Offers Large-Scale Mac Private Clouds for iOS Testing [Sponsor]
MacStadium offers Mac CI infrastructure at a scale that no one else can match. Recently ranked #44 on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest growing private companies, they offer Mac private clouds for iOS testing in some of the largest startups in the world.
With new versions of iOS and macOS, there will be a lot of development and testing to get apps updated and created. MacStadium can put together a Mac cloud at the size you need. They can usually do it quicker and with less expense than doing it in-house for your company. Some benefits:
- From a few Mac Pros to hundreds, MacStadium can scale with you quickly
- Pure flash storage provides up to 150,000 32K IOPS at <1ms average latency
- Three global locations to offer fast access to all your developers and testers
- 24/7 support with unlimited Internet and network usage
- Consolidate to a completely private network for macOS, Linux and Windows in one place
Chat with an engineer or customize your Mac Cloud on the MacStadium Private Cloud page.
Our thanks to MacStadium for sponsoring MacStories this week.
Club MacStories, Year One: Celebrating with Club MacStories Anniversary Month
When I announced Club MacStories almost a year ago, I wrote:
But, at the same time, I’m also ready for more – something a bit more focused and dedicated to our biggest fans, built with care every week and delivered with the same passion that we put into MacStories every day. Club MacStories is a new challenge for us, but I know that I, Graham, and the rest of the MacStories team can pull it off consistently and with the quality you expect from MacStories.
If you love MacStories as much as we love making it, I hope you’ll consider becoming a Club MacStories member. This isn’t just about good feelings and supporting MacStories directly (although that’s pretty great): you’ll receive what I believe are useful and informative newsletters every week, plus a recap of everything MacStories and more every month.
A year later, I couldn’t be happier with the progress of Club MacStories and the response from Club members. In twelve months, we’ve delivered 60 newsletters (if you’re counting: 48 issues of MacStories Weekly out of 51 weeks). We’ve featured discounts, giveaways, and eBook downloads exclusive to members, and our team has grown thanks to John’s contributions to the Club.
I’m happy, signups to the Club keep growing on a weekly basis, and we continue to think about how to offer even more content for Club MacStories. I’m extremely thankful to everyone who’s considered the Club and signed up.
I don’t like dwelling on self-celebrations, but a year of weekly content in addition to the site is an important milestone for us. And so, as the anniversary date was approaching, I thought it’d be appropriate to give back to our readers, show our appreciation, and celebrate the first year of Club MacStories together.
What better way than discounts on great software, exclusively for Club MacStories members?
Game Day: Nightgate
In Nightgate, by Semidome, you navigate a glowing sphere through a grid of 3D geometric shapes guided by another sphere. This is where I suspect some people might stop me and ask ‘Didn’t you review this game last week?’ No, but I wouldn’t blame you if you mistook Nightgate for Gemini at first glance. There are some superficial similarities, but the two games are very distinct.
Nightgate is a follow up to Semidome’s Last Voyage, which was among Apple’s Best of 2015. The game features 50 levels of puzzles. The goal of each puzzle is roughly the same – guide your sphere through a maze of obstacles by dragging your finger anywhere on the screen to move over specific spots identified by dots surrounded by a circle. After you have flown over each node your companion sphere takes you to the next stage of the game.
