Why I Use FoxTube

FoxTube

FoxTube

After Cody linked to FoxTube for Mac two days ago, I figured I haven’t mentioned why, after nearly a year and a major update, I’m still using FoxTube for iOS alongside the official YouTube app.

FoxTube isn’t the best looking app ever made for iOS; while the 2.0 version improved the overall design, there’s still a lot going on in terms of interface and everything feels a bit cramped, especially on the iPhone. The icon is a literal representation of the app’s name; sometimes, icons in toolbars overlap with navigation buttons. I wish the FoxTube developer could find a way to slim down the interface and make some parts more cohesive, but I understand how that can be difficult when FoxTube does so many things.

FoxTube is a supercharged YouTube client for iOS. I know what you’re thinking: you don’t need another YouTube app after the release of the (free) official client. And that is probably true – as MacStories readers know, I’m a big fan of the new YouTube app (App Store users seem to agree, too). FoxTube, however, is a great complement to the YouTube app that I recommend if you’re looking for more flexibility and customization in certain aspects of the YouTube experience. Read more

Google Glass Will Let iPhone Owners Text and Navigate→

Talking about Google, A Google representative has confirmed to TechCrunch that iPhone owners will in fact be able to use text messaging and navigation features with Glass. The representative noted that Glass will work independently of the device it’s connected to, and it’s an affirmation of a statement made by Google earlier in the year. Currently, Glass wearers can only use the full set of features with an Android smartphone with the MyGlass companion app.

Frederic Lardinois makes clear that Glass doesn’t have its own connection to the Internet to use such features, but will rather tether off of your smartphone to access data and pull in relevant information.

In this context, it’s worth noting that one of the myths surrounding Glass is that it is independently connected to the Internet. That’s not true, however. Instead, Glass users need to have a tethering plan for their phones to connect Glass to the Internet. In the eyes of your wireless provider, Glass is just another device that uses your phone’s personal hotspot feature.

Also keep in mind that at least on iOS, text messaging won’t work with Apple’s iMessage service. Instead, Glass will likely integrate with Google’s rumored messaging service, Babel.

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On Google Now and Battery Drain

Google Now for iOS launched on Monday through an update to the Google Search app, which displays location and context aware cards underneath Google’s search options. For a little while, I’ll be using Google Search to reference tidbits of information on the Internet instead of Safari or Chrome on my iPhone, while also living with Google Now to discern its value on iOS. An early conclusion I came to, like many tech writers have, is that Google Now uses additional battery life when turned on. Lifehacker, reporting on a Cult of Mac story about the battery drain caused by Google Now’s use of Location Services, was later contacted by Google. A Google spokesperson wrote:

Reports that Google Now drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people’s concern about seeing the Location Services icon stay on when they use Google Now. Many apps that keep the icon on actually do drain the phone’s battery because they require very accurate location. (For example a navigation app has to run your GPS all the time to keep you from missing your turn.) Google Now is built very differently: it uses cell towers and wifi hot spots for much lower battery impact.

We extensively tested Google Now on iOS for months and didn’t see reports of significant battery impact — we would encourage you to try it in the Google Search app for a few days and we don’t expect you to see significant impact on your battery. If you are seeing a problem, please do tell us (just tap feedback in the app settings). We take user feedback very seriously.

It’s a very defensive statement by Google — there’s conflicting statements about battery drain and a note that Google Now on iOS was built to specifically use cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots instead of GPS. Even if that’s the case, location aware apps do make use of Assisted GPS with or without a clear line-of-sight to a satellite. Nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers are used to more quickly pinpoint where you are in the world, or are used completely in the absence of GPS. In their release notes, Google also notes that the Google Now will stop tracking location once battery life is low (from what I’ve seen I believe this is at 20%), and that the app only starts actively tracking location once you move a long distance.

As far as battery drain issues go, Google does say that they haven’t seen internal reports of “significant battery impact,” which I think is fair, even if they originally outright denied it. Many apps, in addition to Google Now, that use Location Services or take advantage of features like Geofencing do eat up additional battery life. Apps like Passbook use Geofencing so that you can quickly swipe open a ticket or gift card at a place of business, and apps like Reminders also use Geofencing to remind you of a task at a given location. These apps, however, remain in the background until needed and aren’t significantly impacting daily battery life, which is the key word here.

Google Now wants to deliver “up-to-the minute” information. The difference between apps like Passbook and Reminders in comparison to Google Search is that Google Now appears to always be actively tracking your location, as a navigation app like Maps would, even after it’s closed for a period of time. Google claims that the icon in the status bar remains as Google Search will occasionally report your location to update traffic alerts for example. Google Now’s Location Reporting in particular is used to periodically check location information when the app is not in use, for use with directions and nearby places. But Google Now isn’t sending push notifications, and the only time it really needs to update cards is when you open the app. Unlike Google Now on Android, Google Now on iOS is sandboxed inside an app and not integral to the OS.

Why doesn’t Google Now simply refresh the cards only when you open the Google Search app, pinging for your location at that time? That sounds like a better solution to me, even if I had to wait an extra second or two for cards to be updated.

If battery life is of concern, you can disable Google Search in Location Services through Settings. You can then manually refresh the cards when you’re looking for something nearby.

For more information on how Google Now works on iOS, you can view the related help document here.

[via Lifehacker]

Horace Dediu on Apple Analysts and Doomsayers→

Horace Dediu, speaking to The Next Web:

TNW: There has been much talk recently on the ‘decline’ of Apple, as reflected in its stock price. What’s your take on this ‘decline’ and the suggestions that Tim Cook should be fired?

Dediu: I’ve written about the perception of decline several times. The quick answer is that as Apple has risen, the number of people who have taken it upon themselves to give commentary on how Apple should improve itself has increased. If the increase in commentary is in proportion to Apple’s sales then it has risen ‘exponentially’.

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Apple Reveals New “All-Time Top Apps” Following Countdown To 50 Billion Downloads

Alongside the countdown to 50 billion app downloads posted earlier today, Apple has also published a series of updated charts for the top downloaded apps of all time. Apple posted the same charts last year, after the App Store hit 25 billion downloads, and had done the same in January 2011 ahead of 10 billion downloads.

Apple’s charts of the Top 25 apps of all time provide a precious insight into the trends of the App Store for free and paid apps downloaded by iOS users on their iPhones and iPads. While the charts from 2012 and 2013 are largely similar in terms of presence of games and brands like Angry Birds and Facebook, there are some interesting differences worth noting.

Below, we have compiled the complete list of updated “all-time top apps”, alongside some notes about the differences from last year’s charts. Read more

Apple Posts Countdown to 50 Billion App Downloads

With its weekly App Store refresh, Apple has today launched an official countdown to 50 billion app downloads. Through a page available on iTunes, Apple explains that they will award an App Store gift card of $10,000 to the lucky customer who will download the 50 billionth app, plus a $500 App Store gift card to each of the next 50 people to download an app.

Apps have revolutionized the way we play video games, consume news, do business, educate, communicate, create art, and so much more.

The countdown promotion is open to entrants who are 13 years of age or older and are located in one of the 155 countries where the App Store is available. There’s a limit of 25 entries per person per day; Apple specifies that the live counter is for “illustrative purposes” only.

In the App Store page, Apple has also posted links to official rules and a guide to enter to win without a purchase or download, but the links aren’t live on Apple.com yet. We will update this more with more information as it becomes available from Apple.

Apple announced 40 billion App Store downloads in January 2013, with 20 billion of them in 2012 alone. For the 25 billionth app download in 2012, Apple awarded  Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China – who downloaded  Where’s My Water? Free – with a $10,000 gift card.

You Could Soon Be Editing RAW Images on Your iPad With Adobe’s Mobile Complement to Lightroom→

Our gut feeling is that professional equivalents to applications such as Aperture, Final Cut Pro, and Logic could eventually find their way to the iPad alongside a future iOS announcement or in their own Keynotes. We’ve talked at length before about how apps like Aperture could power mobile studios, utilizing Apple’s existing software stack of services like iCloud and Photo Stream. And we weren’t too far off the mark at the time — a month later Apple announced iPhoto for iOS devices, which offers more advanced editing features in contrast to the tools available in iOS’ Photos app.

Adobe, which already has its own iPhoto and Photo Stream alternatives with Revel (launched as Carousel), looks to be expanding their professional suite of photography solutions with a mobile complement of Lightroom on mobile devices such as the iPad. Jeff Blagdon from The Verge writes,

The app, which is still in the early stages of development, uses the lossy DNG Smart Previews new to Lightroom 5 to keep the footprint on your tablet to a minimum, and will use the same image processing model employed in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw.

… During his appearance, Hogarty used an iPad 2 to zoom and scroll inside a large 5D Mark III RAW image, tweaking adjustments to shadows, highlights, and color temperature.

Christian Zibreg of iDownloadBlog also has a YouTube clip of the development build, along with a preview of the Smart Previews feature included in Lightroom 5.

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Calzy Calculator

Calzy

Calzy

When it comes to iPhone calculators, I have simple needs: they have to help me when I’m buying groceries.

I have been using Tapbots’ excellent Calcbot app for years: unlike Apple’s built-in calculator, it comes with proper support for undo and history, which allows me to easily keep track of the items I’m buying at the grocery store. You could say that, like image editors, I seek out for non-destructive calculators: I want to have access to a stacked list of the single operations I have entered and to be able to delete items inside the expression list. The problem with Calcbot, as I tweeted in March, is that the app still hasn’t been updated for the iPhone 5’s taller screen, and, as MacStories readers know, I can’t stand looking at a letterboxed app on a daily basis. Calcbot works fine, but I wanted to see whether I was missing out on new calculator apps that were ready for the iPhone 5 and had comparable feature sets. Fortunately, I found Calzy. Read more

Instagram Introduces ‘Photos of You’→

Now available in both the App Store and Google Play, Instagram 3.5 introduces “Photos of You,” a new feature that makes tagging friends in photos as easy as adding hashtags. Anyone who has an Instagram account can be tagged in the photo, adding a new dimension of social photography on top of Instagram features like Photo Map, which describes where photos were taken.

The new Photos of You section in your Instagram profile will collect all of the photos you’ve been tagged in, helping to connect you with friends who may have snapped your picture. Similarly to Facebook, you can opt to approve pictures you’ve been tagged in before they appear in your profile. To give people a chance to play with the new feature, Photos of You will go live as a new profile section on May 16th.

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