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Reeder 3.0 Review

In 2009, reading news on the iPhone was different. The App Store was only one year old; Twitter wasn’t the information network adopted by mass media and millions of users we interact with today; there was no iPad, no universal apps, and no Flipboard. In 2009, reading news on an iPhone meant having to choose between few decent Google Reader clients, some Twitter apps, and lots of “mobile optimized” web apps.

Then in late 2009, Reeder came around. Created by Swiss developer Silvio Rizzi, I remember writing one of the first public reviews of Reeder for iPhone, which unlike the majority of contestants in the space at the time, sported a highly custom “sepia” interface that would later went on to define Reeder as a brand. Crafted with care and an eye for speed, Reeder not only stood out because it was beautiful to look at – the app was fast, visibly more responsive than Byline and NetNewsWire, easy to navigate in spite of its new UI paradigms, and focused on letting the user easily share links on other networks and services. Reeder 1.0 wasn’t perfect; version 2.0, released a few months later, fixed some glaring omissions of its predecessor (namely, lack of saved state), and introduced an even faster syncing engine and more link sharing options.

Reeder took off. The success of the iPhone app allowed Rizzi to become one of the most well-known names in the indie iOS developer community, redefining iPad RSS readers with a brand new version of Reeder, and then again capturing a large portion of the OS X market with the highly-anticipated Reeder for Mac.

In spite of its obvious merits, it is hard to pinpoint the exact reason behind Reeder’s rise to the top of Google Reader clients. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Google Reader apps on Apple’s App Store now. Rizzi isn’t the “fastest” developer around (Reeder for iPhone was last updated in November 2011), and many valid RSS clients have been released in the past two years, some of them combining traditional RSS functionalities with deeper social integration to offer more compelling, modern alternatives to standard Google Reader syncing and browsing. Yet Reeder has managed to maintain its top position as the go-to Google Reader client for millions of iPhone users.

That’s not to say, however, that Reeder’s constant success and popularity don’t have to account for the profound change in news reading habits that occurred in the past two years. Sometime around 2010 – and I tend to associate this shift with the release of the iPad – a new breed of apps begin grazing the surface of established mobile news reading trends and conventions. Flipboard turned the world of RSS aggregators upside down with embedded discovery and direct integration with social feeds; Twitter clients got more capable, leveraging mobilizers and read-later services to provide a better experience with URLs; Zite brought automatic and intelligent curation to a platform based on RSS, while popular news organizations like CNN and NYTimes kept improving their own iOS apps.

In 2012, people don’t find their news exclusively through Google Reader anymore. That wasn’t true in 2009 either, but the growth of the App Store has certainly catalyzed the process: news travel fast, on a variety of channels, on multiple aggregators, in real-time and in multiple forms. We have become news gatherers.

Reeder 3.0, released today, holds true to its roots of a Google Reader client, but tries to modernize the overall approach and feature set with support for a new service, improved Readability syncing, more sharing options, and a refreshed look. In the first major rewrite of the app since 2010, is Reeder still relevant? Read more

Apple Store 2.2 Update Brings Express Checkout for Faster Online Shopping and Location Aware Retail Pick Ups

The Apple Store app for the iPhone has enabled Apple to revolutionize retail and mobile shopping shopping thanks to features such EasyPay, Personal Pickup, and assistance from the store’s Specialists. In today’s 2.2 update, Apple has added Express Checkout and new location features which focuses on online shoppers and customers picking their orders up from their nearest Apple Retail Store.

Express Checkout speeds up the process of making purchases through Apple’s online store by using your existing payment and shipping options. You can simply complete your order by tapping on the buy button for the items you want to purchase, selecting your options (if applicable), and checking out, then entering the password associated with your Apple ID. You’ll have to sign into Express Checkout through your Account Settings in the Apple Store app (on each device), and agree to the terms of service to use the quick pay feature. A FAQ for Express Checkout is available for your perusal online.

If you have an iPhone 4S and are picking up a purchased item from your local Apple Retail Store, your device can let the specialists know you’re arriving so that your items are ready for pickup before you reach the storefront. By enabling Location-Based Alerts and setting your pick up information in the Account Settings, items for pick up will be waiting for you to carry out when you reach your Apple Retail Store.

The Apple Store 2.2 update is available on the App Store as a free update and download.

Edit 4:03 pm: Edited title to clarify that faster, location-based pickups are not a part of Express Checkout, but a separate feature available on the iPhone 4S.

Apple’s Phill Schiller On App Store Curation and Promotion For Developers→

Apple’s Phill Schiller On App Store Curation and Promotion For Developers

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published yesterday, Apple’s Phill Schiller weighed in on App Store curation, promotion of third-party apps, and traditional retail selling space.

The opportunity is the best it has ever been for software developers,” Mr. Schiller said, adding that he thinks the app store is a far more democratic way to sell software than traditional retail stores with limited shelf space.

Mr. Schiller also pointed out that Apple promotes apps in multiple ways, such as popularity charts and featured app lists. “Every other day you hear about another app going off the charts,” he said. “You can still get discovered and get a hit overnight.

There’s no doubt Apple has done a “tremendous amount” (Schiller’s words) to help apps get discovered on the App Store. With the iPhone and the App Store, Apple created a new economy that, in the U.S. alone, has spurred the creation of over 200,000 jobs. But as I have outlined last month, the App Store of 2012 isn’t the same that launched in 2008 to 900 apps: there are over 650,000 apps on the App Store today, and while Apple has done a lot for developers, it could optimize the layout of the Store to do more and better. I wrote:

Custom sections provide a decent solution to browse titles Apple has previously “curated”; however, these sections aren’t usually updated as often as they are created — N.O.V.A. 3, a new shooter game by Gameloft, still isn’t listed under Benchmark Games: Stunning Graphics, whilst the majority of reviewers and publications have outlined the game’s remarkable graphic capabilities.

The IconFactory’s Craig Hockenberry also noted how Apple could bring its “personal touch” to the App Store to showcase great software with different methods than simple Top Charts, or “curated lists” that are often abandoned and never updated.

Instead of fighting for a short-term placement in the Top 100 lists, we’d fight for a long-term product review. Look at the amazing things developers do to earn an ADA and imagine if that happened once a week. Earning that “Apple approval” could ensure a product’s success for a long time. Which would be great for both customers and developers alike.

Hopefully Apple is thinking about this stuff. Earlier this year they acquired app recommendation service Chomp, and they revamped their “App of the Week” section with a new “Editor’s Choice” tag. The redesigned App Stores of iOS 6 come with Facebook integration and improved layout for descriptions and screenshots, something developers have been asking for. It’s too early to tell, but it seems like the iOS 6 App Store is on track to deliver great improvements for navigation and user interaction this Fall; to improve discoverability and promotion, however, Apple should also consider tweaking longstanding minor, yet important aspects such as filters, search, and Category sorting options.

Read the full interview with Schiller (who also confirms a new tracking tool for developers being discussed at WWDC sessions) here.

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Growl 2.0 To Support Notification Center On Mountain Lion

Developers of Growl, the popular third-party notification app for OS X that received a major update with version 1.3, announced today their plans to embrace Apple’s Notification Center on Mountain Lion, and allow developers an easy integration with the Mac’s upcoming native notification system.

With a blog post published earlier today, lead developer Chris Forsythe laid out plans for a future version 2.0 of the app:

For Growl 2 we’re simply going to add a Notification Center action display as well. This is going to make it easy for anyone who wants to see notifications in Growl, and also in Notifcation Center. We don’t know of any downside to doing this, and see it as sort of a simple yet powerful way to get what you want done. There may be some caveates to doing this that we can talk about once 10.8 is out, but there may not be. We’ll all just find out together.

This will be achieved with a new architecture that will enable Growl to handle visual notifications and actions separately:

Also, for Growl 2, we’ve done some really neat things. One of the really neat things that we’ve done is split the action and visual notifications, so that both could fire at the same time.

Let me give you an example of how this would work. You could have a Smoke display, and the MailMe action fire from the same notification if you wanted. This is great and makes things really powerful.

As we’ve already written, the introduction of Notification Center won’t necessarily “sherlock” Growl as a notification alternative for Mac users and developers. While Notification Center will undoubtedly provide an excellent native solution for developers of Mac App Store apps – ultimately serving the average user with a notification system that works out of the box, – Growl will still remain a capable third-party app that offers fine grained controls over notifications with several customization options.

Furthermore, because Notification Center will only work with Mac App Store apps but Mountain Lion will still support external software through Gatekeeper for enhanced security, Growl will also be a fantastic way for developers of apps sold outside of the Mac App Store to enable desktop notifications in their software.

You can read the technical details on the future of Growl over the the official blog. Growl is available on the Mac App Store for $1.99.

iFixit’s MacBook Pro with Retina Display Teardown→

iFixit’s MacBook Pro with Retina Display Teardown

As expected, the guys at iFixit have posted their teardown of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, announced by Apple earlier this week at WWDC. With an overall repairability score of 1 out of 10, iFixit notes how the latest iteration of the MacBook Pro makes it harder for repairers to replace internal components and disassemble the machine.

In particular, they note how Apple is using proprietary flash memory on the MacBook Pro now, and a fused display assembly without glass that, in case of anything falling inside the display, will need the user to replace the entire assembly. They also noticed a different battery layout:

The lithium-polymer battery is glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it’ll break during disassembly. The battery also covers the trackpad cable, which tremendously increases the chance that the user will shear the cable in the battery removal process.

Check out the full teardown (with photos and technical comments) here.

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FaceTime Over 3G To Support iPhone 4 and iPad 2 In Australia? [Updated]

As noted by poster “macrob” on MacTalk’s forums, the Apple Australian webpage for the recently announced iOS 6 suggests FaceTime over cellular will work on the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in Australia. As indicated in a fine print at the bottom of the page (point 4), “FaceTime over a cellular network requires iPhone 4 or later, or iPad 2 or later with cellular data capability. Carrier data charges may apply. FaceTime is not available in all countries”. This compares to Apple’s other iOS 6 Preview webpages, where Apple states “FaceTime over a cellular network requires iPhone 4S or iPad (3rd generation) with cellular data capability”.

Announced earlier this week by Scott Forstall at WWDC, FaceTime over cellular wasn’t given exact specifications on stage during the keynote; on Apple’s iOS 6 Preview webpage, a number of features – such as VIP list and Shared Photo Streams – are shown as available only on newer devices, as collected by MacRumors in this list. It appears Apple’s Australian website is the only one to report FaceTime over cellular as compatible with the iPhone 4 and iPad 2; every other webpage says the feature will only work on the iPhone 4S and iPad 3.

It is unclear whether the fine print on Apple’s Australian website could have been posted by mistake, or if Apple really is planning on supporting older devices for Australian customers. While technically possible as a number of jailbreak tweaks have shown in the past years, some have speculated Apple might want to limit FaceTime over cellular to newer devices due to their improved antenna design and networking capabilities over older generation models.

We have reached out to Apple for comment and we’ll update this story with clarifications when available.

Update: Apple’s Australian website has been updated to clarify FaceTime over cellular will work on the iPhone 4S or iPad 3.

Apple Airs New MacBook Pro Commercial: “Innovation In Every Dimension”

Following yesterday’s announcement at WWDC, Apple today aired a new commercial for the MacBook Pro with Retina display during the NBA Finals in the United States. Still not officially available on Apple’s website or YouTube channel, we managed to find a recorded version on YouTube.

Perhaps not as emotional as Apple’s other commercials for the iPad and iPhone, the ad showcases the “radical new MacBook Pro with Retina display” loading various video streams in Final Cut Pro (which has been updated for Retina) and switching between Lion apps like Mail. The commercial ends with “innovation in every dimension”, a subtle hint at the machine’s redesigned hardware and software components that take advantage of the new display resolution.

You can watch the commercial after the break.

Update: The commercial is now available on Apple’s YouTube channel and website.
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Ping To Be Removed From Next “Major Release” Of iTunes→

Ping To Be Removed From Next “Major Release” Of iTunes

According to John Paczkowski at AllThingsD, Apple’s social network for music, Ping, will be removed from the next major release of iTunes, likely coming this Fall. According to his sources, it will be replaced by integration with Twitter and Facebook, both to be supported in the next versions of iOS and OS X at a system level.

Sources close to the company say that Ping, which still exists today in iTunes 10.6.3, will be gone with the software’s next major release, likely scheduled for this fall. And at that point Apple’s social networking offerings will shift to Twitter and new partner Facebook entirely.

At the D10 conference last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “the customers voted and said they didn’t want to put a lot of energy into Ping”. Two years ago, NPR called Ping “one of the worst ideas” of 2010.

Ping is still available in iTunes 10.6.3, released yesterday.

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