There’s been a rise in popularity for Pinboard clients lately, and I very much like this trend. I use Pinboard on a daily basis to save and discover links of interest, and I really appreciate the business model of the service. On iOS, I use Pinbook to save links (primarily thanks to a bookmarklet) and Pushpin to browse Popular and Network bookmarks on my iPhone. Pinbrowser is a new Pinboard app focused on letting you browse the Popular feed, users, and tags.
Pinbrowser for Pinboard
Philips Releases Hue API and iOS SDK
As reported by TechCrunch, Philips has released an API and iOS SDK for the hue, the company’s wireless lighting system that gives users control through an iOS app.
We’re now at a point where there are already about 10 applications that have been shared and built from the unofficial developer community for new applications around Hue,” explained George Yianni, Hue System Architect in an interview. “Now what we want to do as Philips is we actually want to help and grow and encourage this community, and give them tools and proper documentation. Also, we want to give them commitment that this is the API and we’re going to support it and it won’t change overnight.
Prior to the official release of an API and SDK, third-party developers had already reverse-engineered Philips’ apps to create their own solutions to control hue’s system (based on a “bridge” that communicates with the actual lightbulbs). An iOS app called Ambify lets users pair their music with hue lights; here at MacStories, I linked to a video back in November showing an unofficial hue Python library that could work with Pythonista to automate the process of switching lights on and off.
The API opens a lot of interesting possibilities for third-party software and hardware makers. The hue already shipped with its own options for remote control and “presets” (called “recipes”) for different lighting settings aimed at providing users with ways to easily replicate specific color combinations based on photos (available in the app’s photo library) or targeted towards lifestyle improvements (such as waking users up in the morning with a gradual light increase).
With an SDK and API, developers can now take advantage of these concepts: aside from the “simple” remote control features, imagine apps that could activate specific hue settings when you’re reading or watching a movie, parse voice-based commands with dictation, or integrate with an iOS device’s Reminders, Calendars, or Location Services. On the hardware side, it should be possible – at least in theory – to develop gadgets capable of combining personal data with hue to leverage Philips’ “smart” lighting system in completely new ways. An obvious implementation would be for health and fitness-monitoring accessories such as Nike’s FuelBand; as far as rumors go, an Apple iWatch could integrate with hue to exchange an user’s data and personal stats (Apple isn’t new to third-party collaborations of this kind).
Right now, Philips’ hue API is promising and shows great potential for more forward-thinking software and hardware implementations. You can read more on Philips’ website.
Send Multiple Tasks To OmniFocus Mail Drop At Once With Drafts and Pythonista→
Send Multiple Tasks To OmniFocus Mail Drop At Once With Drafts and Pythonista
Nice workflow by Nathan Henrie to send multiple tasks to OmniFocus at once using Mail Drop, Drafts, and Pythonista:
I’ve also recently started playing with Pythonista, and I came across a Python script written by the dev himself that creates a little SMTP server and sends email directly from Pythonista. Between the two, I found it pretty easy — even for a beginner like me — to put together a combined Drafts / Pythonista workflow that makes for a superior way to import a bunch of tasks to OmniFocus at once (aka “brain dump”).
The Python part is based on the same script I covered in November to send emails through Pythonista; Nathan added a clever Drafts integration by splitting multiple lines (from the draft) into separate email messages sent to your Mail Drop address. Make sure to check out his video to see the workflow in action; I have started using it myself and I like how fast tasks go from Drafts onto OmniFocus via email (I have configured the script with my Gmail address using 2-step verification).
I have become a big fan of OmniFocus Mail Drop. It’s been extremely fast and reliable in my experience, and it works well with Drafts’ email actions.
Launch Center Pro 1.1
Released in December 2011, App Cubby’s Launch Center re-ignited interest in iOS URL schemes – shortcuts to automate communication between apps and get specific things done faster with less manual tapping and interactions. Its direct sequel, Launch Center Pro, was released in the summer of 2012 and doubled down on the entire idea of automating iOS tasks by providing a “Home screen for your actions” to allow users to better and more visually organize their shortcuts.
Launch Center Pro 1.1, released today, focuses on improving three key aspects of Launch Center Pro: native in-app actions, the Action Composer, and TextExpander support in URLs. Read more
Chris Hadfield And His iPad In Space→
Chris Hadfield And His iPad In Space
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield has been orbiting Earth 16 times a day on the International Space Station. When he’s not busy operating advanced machinery like the Canadarm2, Hadfield seems to be enjoying his iPad a lot.
I got curious when I saw Hadfield’s photo of his iPad teleprompter yesterday on Twitter; as noted by Cult of Mac, the app should be Teleprompt+. I did some research, and it looks like Hadfield is using his iPad as an entertainment hub for the entire ISS as well. As written by the Canadian Space Agency:
Chris Hadfield has put a lot of music on International Space Station (ISS) already, directly from his iPad ─ thousands of songs.
In seeing the teleprompter photo, however, I also wondered: how did Hadfield lock the iPad in landscape mode in absence of gravity? The iPad has an accelerometer, and my limited science knowledge told me that gravity is a factor to consider when developing devices with embedded accelerometers on Earth. Did he lock his iPad in landscape mode before leaving Earth?
Of course, I asked Dr. Drang. The simple answer is: give the iPad a shake. The complex, scientific answer is here.
Google Field Trip
Earlier today, Google released Field Trip for iPhone, a tour guide app to alert users through notifications of ”cool, hidden, and unique things” that are nearby. Using your location, the app can provide notifications for “your interests” such as Food, Drinks & Fun, Museums, Deals, and more. The app uses various data providers, including their own Zagat, to provide information about places to the user.
Released on Android in the Fall of 2012, Field Trip can “speak” notifications using either a Bluetooth headset or the iPhone’s speaker. A cool thing about Field Trip, in fact, is that you have control over audio output in the Settings: you can choose whether the app should speak the name of an interesting place or also its description, or if you want to enable the app’s audio notifications when device is docked, connected via wired headset, or through a Bluetooth device. This part of the app is really well done. Field Trip can even detect while you’re driving (my guess is through GPS).
The interface and data availability leaves much to be desired. In terms of UI design, my personal taste doesn’t like the choices made by Google: there’s a strange mix of fonts, plus rounded and non-rounded flat buttons that make browsing Field Trip confusing. Furthermore, the app puts buttons to switch between views in the title bar rather than a bottom toolbar – something that is utterly confusing on iOS in my opinion. Read more
#MacStoriesDeals - Thursday
We have many great deals for #MacStoriesDeals today. You can find us as @MacStoriesDeals on Twitter.
Jailbreak Tweak Creates An iOS Services Menu with URL Schemes
I don’t normally cover jailbreak tweaks here at MacStories, but I’m intrigued by ActivityAction after reading Jeff Benjamin’s preview over at iDownloadBlog.
ActivityAction is a an extension of Ryan Petrich’s Action Menu – one of my favorite tweaks when I had a jailbroken device. ActionMenu extends Apple’s Copy & Paste popup menu with additional actions and services to deal with selected text or an app’s content area. ActivityAction adds a button that lets you set up UIActivity-like actions based on app’s bundle identifier and its URL scheme. Read more
Kickstarter: Thermodo by Robocat - The Tiny Thermometer for Mobile Devices
Robocat, a Danish software studio co-founded by Michael Flarup and Willi Wu, has been building unique digital products out of Copenhagen for the last 3 years. They’ve created several weather-related apps like Outside, Ultraviolet, Thermo and Haze, which was featured by Apple as Editor’s Choice a few weeks ago.
Today, Robocat launched a Kickstarter project based on weather – but this time as hardware, not software. It’s called Thermodo. Thermodo is a tiny electrical thermometer that lets you measure the temperature in the exact location where you are by using a piece of hardware that connects to the headphone jack on your mobile device. It’s for iPhone, iPad, Android & more. They’re looking to get $35,000 in 33 days to pay for the further development of Thermodo.
Thermodo consists of a passive temperature sensor built into a standard 4 pole audio jack enclosed by a sturdy housing. This allows your mobile device to read Thermodo’s temperature straight from the audio input. Thermodo sends an audio signal through the temperature sensor. This sensor will then attenuate the signal amplitude depending on the actual temperature. This attenuation can now be detected on the microphone input and through software we calculate the corresponding temperature. Easy peasy! We call this the Thermodo Principle™. Simply plug Thermodo into your device and start the companion app or any other Thermodo enabled apps of your choice. The temperature reading takes place instantly. Thermodo is powered by your device. No external power is required, it can even run in the background while you do important stuff.
You can measure the temperature indoors as well as outdoors. Track the temperature and see how it rises after you turned on the radiator or check how the temperature drops during a summer night. No network connection required. Thermodo comes with a neat little keyring so you’ll always have it with you.
Video and more after the break. Read more