This Week's Sponsor:

Copilot Money

The Apple Editor’s Choice Award App for Tracking Your Money. Start Your Free Trial Today

Tim Cook And Apple Remember Steve Jobs

Apple has put together a short video to remember Steve Jobs, who passed away one year ago today. The video is a montage of pictures of Steve throughout his life, many of which show him holding the key milestone products in Apple’s history from the iMac to the iPod and iPhone. It’s narrated with audio from Steve Jobs speaking at various events throughout his life about Apple, its products and its culture.

The video is simply played when you navigate to Apple.com and once it concludes, there is a a short, sombre letter from Tim Cook, remembering and paying tribute to Steve.

A message from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Steve’s passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originate from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privelage and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road. It’s a wonderful tribute to Steve’s memory and everything he stood for.

Tim

Getting Google Maps Back On iOS 6

Since the release of iOS 6, I’ve been looking for apps and services to get Google Maps functionality back on my iPhone and iPad. While not as integrated as the previous Maps app of iOS 5, I’ve settled on a combination of various tools to access Google Maps for those times when Apple Maps fail me (unfortunately, most of the time in my area). Read more

Why The iPhone 5’s Low-Light Boost Mode Is Awesome

Last week, developer Jim Rhoades noted on his blog how, with the iPhone 5 on iOS 6, third-party developers could access a new “low-light boost” mode for the camera. Through new APIs made available in the SDK, developers can take advantage of low-light boost to enable users to shoot better photos in low-light conditions – which, in fact, was one of the features Apple mentioned at the iPhone 5 keynote.

By shooting at speeds of ISO 3200 (instead of ISO 800), low-light boost increases light sensitivity at the cost of increased noise. You will “see” more, but the photo will be more noisy.

Developers quickly went back to work to add low-light boost to their apps. And today, tap tap tap released an update to Camera+ which, unsurprisingly, adds low-light boost mode for the iPhone 5. Read more

Internet Communicators

Today’s article by Lex Friedman over at Macworld made me think about iCloud, backups, and iOS restores.

But you probably don’t need to use iCloud to back up data from many other apps you use. And even if most of those apps account for only a few megabytes per backup per app, they can add up to a significant chunk of storage. For example, you might disable iBooks’ iCloud backup, since you can always restore your iBooks purchases from directly within the iBookstore. You probably don’t need to back up whatever data is stored by games for your kids, or games for yourself in which you don’t care about in-game progress or customizations that you might have made. And for apps that sync and back up their data on the Web—such as Instapaper—backup might be unnecessary, too.

I feel so dumb for not thinking about this earlier. Because iCloud “just works”, I’ve never thought about going deeper into its Settings to check out which apps were backing up data. I simply got used to turning iCloud on, then forgetting about it.

It turns out though, if you’re on a free 5 GB plan and you like to keep a lot of apps on your devices, that might not be a good strategy. I recently decided to not renew my old MobileMe data plan for iCloud (the one that got you 20 GB of storage for free), and I was reminded that Apple would soon end the free plan for old MobileMe members. Besides the fact that a weird glitch is still showing 2050 as expiration date, I decided to take a look at my available space, and – surprise – my two devices were barely fitting in the 5 GB threshold. Upon further inspection, I noticed apps like Instapaper, Evernote, and GoodReader were backing up hundreds of megabytes to iCloud. I deleted their backups, and now I can comfortably move on with 5 GB while still using iCloud Backup and Documents & Data sync.

But Lex’s article made me think about another aspect of my workflow: iOS backups and restores.

People often complain about how awful setting up a new iOS device is. Personally, I don’t have a problem with starting “from scratch” when a new iOS version or device comes out. In fact, that’s why I did with my iPhone 5. I didn’t restore from iCloud, and I wasn’t bothered by starting fresh.

90% of my apps live in the cloud. Either in iCloud, Dropbox, or their own cloud database, the apps I use on a daily basis can access data that’s available on a server somewhere in the sky, not just on my local storage space.

  • My photos and videos are in Dropbox.
  • My articles are in Instapaper’s cloud.
  • The things I write are in Dropbox.
  • Evernote is my personal archive.
  • My communications happen through Twitter and email.
  • My RSS feeds are handled by Google Reader and Fever.
  • My OmniFocus database runs on a Mac mini server.
  • My media is on a Mac mini server too.
  • All my iTunes purchases (media, apps, books) can be redownloaded at any time.
  • My music is on Rdio.
  • My podcast subscriptions are stored by Downcast in iCloud.
  • I get my daily dose of Internet entertainment from Reddit.
  • My contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and other app data are safely stored in iCloud.
  • To top it off, I can have a searchable index of my online digital life.

The only apps that are exclusively “local” to my device are Apple’s stock apps and a few games. The Apple apps are obviously bundled with every iOS version; as for the games, I don’t care about losing data because I don’t do any serious gaming on iOS anyway. But if I did, I know game developers are starting to support iCloud for save files, too.

Two things really matter to me: that “the cloud” is available and reliable, and that I have a data connection. My devices are now mainly Internet communicators.

As I said above, last week I set up my iPhone 5. I had an iCloud backup from my iPhone 4S, but I decided to start with a so-called “clean install” – meaning, no iCloud restore. It’s not that I don’t like restoring all my settings and apps with iCloud: the feature does indeed work as advertised. But partially because of a self-imposed belief that iOS “gets slower over time” and a personal tradition of using new devices with new data, I preferred to set up my iPhone manually, without restoring any backup.

And to tell the truth, I quite enjoyed the process. There are three pieces of data I need to remember: my iCloud, Dropbox, and 1Password credentials. With those in mind, I can install all my apps from the App Store and proceed to fill logins for services I use. I can access my email by copying logins from 1Password; I can easily redownload all my apps from the Purchased tab of the App Store (when it works); once installed, iCloud-enabled apps re-fetch their documents and data automatically.

There are some downsides to this: I need to wait for apps and databases to re-download; I need to tap around and switch between apps to copy and paste logins; I need to adjust iOS Settings again for the new device. And yet the thing is – I don’t mind doing it. Starting anew gives me a chance to revaluate the way I use an iPhone and iPad. More often than not, it reminds me of some app I don’t use anymore or a service I’ve always wanted to try out. Quite paradoxically, tweaking makes me more efficient and aware of the technology I use.

But more importantly, the apps I use are their own backups. As long as the Instapaper, Evernote, or Dropbox “clouds” are fine, I will be fine. I don’t need to worry about backups and restores. It’s a trusted system.

That’s not to say backups aren’t important. Especially on the Mac, you should consider a reliable and easy backup workflow. In fact, I regularly backup my Dropbox folder too, just to make sure.

However, with time I’ve found the restore process of iOS devices to be less annoying than some people claim it to be.

My apps are in the cloud. I just need the Internet.

Netbot: Tweetbot Reborn for App.net

Today, App.net gets its best iOS third-party client to date, and, unsurprisingly, it comes from Tapbots. Netbot is now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

What’s not surprising isn’t simply the fact that Tapbots released an app that sets the bar higher for the competition; at first, it’s the fact that Netbot is basically Tweetbot re-engineered to work for App.net. Read more

Notifications Scripting Lets AppleScript Display User Notifications in Mountain Lion→

Notifications Scripting Lets AppleScript Display User Notifications in Mountain Lion

In the past months, a few ways to enable AppleScript to display user notifications in Mountain Lion have surfaced online. Our own Don Southard wrote a test app using AppleScriptObjC; Ben Waldie put together an Automator action for Notification Center; terminal-notifier lets you send user notifications from the command line.

Notifications Scripting (via MOSX Tumbelog) is a new entry in this scene, and it looks like a simple yet powerful addition that could be easily integrated into other AppleScripts.

Notifications Scripting is a GUI-less application that can be only used with AppleScript. This application allows AppleScript scripts to display user notifications in OS X Mountain Lion and handle the user interactions with these notifications.

The best part of Notifications Scripting is its dictionary. It contains definitions for the notification messages of course, but also for notifications that have been delivered and activated. In the code sample provided by the developers, a dialog is displayed in the Finder following a user notification. You can imagine how this tool could be integrated with scripts that prompt users for input or allow for multiple choices from a set of actions.

You can download Notifications Scripting here.

Permalink

Lockitron Will Let You Unlock Your Door Using An iPhone

Lockitron has today announced a new product that promises to let you unlock and lock your house door using only an iPhone. The new Lockitron is available now for pre-order at $149, and the first batch will ship in March 2013.

The Lockitron is essentially an add-on for your door and an app for iOS and Android. The Lockitron device attaches (through a quick installation process) to most through-hole and cylindrical deadbolts, although the company also says it’ll be possible to install a Lockitron on interconnected deadbolts and mortise locks. Once installed, the Lockitron is able to communicate with your local WiFi network, allowing you to set up your account for remote control and wireless access. With your credentials up and running on the device, you’ll be able to lock or unlock your door using an app that talks to the Lockitron using WiFi. The Lockitron will simply unlock the door after you tap on the “unlock” icon in the app.

Because it transforms a deadbolt lock in an interconnected device, the Lockitron turns your door into a piece of software that has all the advantages that apps have to offer. For instance, you can “invite” friends to be able to unlock your door using the app; you can receive push notifications for door unlocks; and in a co-working space, you can assign colleagues to unlock the office’s door using the app and manage them from a web interface. If you don’t have a smartphone to run the Lockitron app, the company says the service will also work with SMS.

Lockitron runs on AA batteries that, according to its creators, last for one year; when they run low, Lockitron will send you a message. What happens when the Lockitron runs out of power (either because of batteries or for a power failure that cuts WiFi access) is interesting. If you can’t use the Lockitron, regular keys can still be used as the front part of the lock remains unaffected. However, if you have a device with Bluetooth 4.0 – such as the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 – you can unlock the Lockitron by simply walking next to it. Lockitron says they’re considering adding NFC support on Android as well for WiFi-free access.

If you lose your phone, you can prevent people from using the Lockitron app by disabling your account remotely.

Last, Lockitron features an Arduino-compatible controller that, with some programming skills, will allow you to build custom patterns to unlock your door. For instance, in the promo video embedded below you can see a guy unlocking the device by tapping on bananas connected to a controller to play a specific melody. That’s pretty cool.

Personally, I’m a big fan of home-automation and digital improvement systems that leverage software to make the places we live in more connected. However, like the Nest thermostat, I’m worried about compatibility. The Lockitron seems like a very US-oriented product, and I doubt I’ll be able to make it work with my door.

You can read more details about the Lockitron at the official website. Check out the promo videos below.
Read more

Steve Jobs And The iPad 27 Years Before The iPad→

Steve Jobs And The iPad 27 Years Before The iPad

Matthew Panzarino has published a summary of a “lost” Steve Jobs speech from 1983 uncovered in its entirety by Marcel Brown. Brown was given a cassette tape with the full recording of a speech Steve gave at the International Design Conference in Aspen (IDCA) in 1983 (photo). During the speech, Steve shared some forward-looking ideas for the future of computing including what would become the App Store and, 27 years later, the iPad.

He says Apple’s strategy is to “put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you that you can learn how to use in 20 minutes”. Does that sound like anything we are familiar with today? And they wanted to do it with a “radio link” so that people wouldn’t need to hook it up to anything to communicate with “larger databases” and other computers.

And about the App Store:

He thought that the software industry needed something like a radio station so that people could sample software before they buy it. He believed that software distribution through traditional brick-and-mortar was archaic since software is digital and can be transferred electronically through phone lines. He foresees paying for software in an automated fashion over the phone lines with credit cards.

When these tapes and old video recordings surface, it’s easy to dismiss them as “inevitable”. It was “inevitable” for Apple to come out with a tablet that looked like an iPad, and it was “inevitable” for software to be distributed digitally in an App Store-like marketplace.

Of course, progress itself is inevitable. But I don’t think it’s that easy – I don’t think we can dismiss innovations as “inevitable” or “obvious”. What supporters of the “inevitable” theory are missing is the work and vision and effort of dozens of people that it took to get there. In hindsight, it’s easy to look at any product and think it had to be in that way.

The speech uncovered by Marcel Brown is the perfect example of how some people, in this case Steve Jobs, have a vision that is only constrained by technology. A vision that, after years of research and design iterations, will become real and, at that point, “inevitable”.

Permalink