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Gamery

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Intentional Subscriptions→

Developer David Smith, writing on his blog about a better way for Apple to handle subscriptions:

There is a concept in user interface design called the Principle of Least Surprise, where you want to design systems in such a way that they surprise their users least. I think a similar concept applies to subscription pricing. The ideal (from a user friendliness perspective, not best business perspective) system for customer subscriptions should never surprise the customer with a charge. The customer should always be happy to see a charge appear on their credit card.

In other words, their subscription payments should always be Intentional.

Apple already offers guidelines for how developers must handle subscription activation pages, as some apps have historically employed misleading labels and buttons designed to maximize signups without putting cost and other key details front and center. Smith offers four suggestions which, if implemented, would go a very long way toward ensuring users are never surprised by a subscription charge.

Lately one of Apple’s favorite things to highlight during quarterly earnings reports is subscription growth, which falls under its Services line of business. It’s understandable why the company may not be inclined to make subscriptions easier to opt out of, but if enough users are negatively impacted by misleading subscriptions and customer satisfaction numbers take a hit as a result, perhaps we’ll start to see more change in this area. The recent updates to subscription guidelines give me hope that Apple has a pulse on the situation.

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Connected, Episode 245: Totes Ricky→

With less than a week to the WWDC keynote, the guys make their predictions.

On this week’s episode of Connected and ahead of our live show in San Jose next week (we have a handful of tickets left), we share our final WWDC predictions. The results will be adjudicated live at the Hammer Theater next week. You can listen below (and find the show notes here).

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Connected, Episode 245

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OmniFocus for Web Review: Access Your Tasks Everywhere

The best task manager you can have is the one that’s always with you, no matter which device you’re using. Many people started with paper notebooks or index cards, and nowadays we have iPhones and iPads that can go with us everywhere, and even Apple Watches that can be independent devices if we need them to be.

The web is a ubiquitous platform – it’s everywhere, the framework behind much of what we interact with, and something we nearly always have access to. OmniFocus for the Web is a brand new product that makes the most of the web platform to allow you to manage your tasks on any computer – be that Windows, Linux, or a Mac.

OmniFocus for the Web is intended as a companion product; you need either the Mac or iOS version of OmniFocus 3 in order to use it. You can either pay for access to the web component separately, or if you don’t own OmniFocus on another platform you might choose to go with the complete subscription package, which includes the iOS, Mac, and web applications for the length of your subscription. Sign up is done through the iOS or Mac applications - which means payment runs through Apple’s subscription service.

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Introducing a New MacStories Podcast: Dialog, Where Creativity Meets Technology

Federico and I are excited to announce a new MacStories podcast called Dialog. The show is a seasonal podcast featuring weekly, in-depth conversations with special guests about the impact of technology on creativity, society, and culture.

You can subscribe here and listen to the first episode on Apple Podcasts.

You can also listen to the first episode on the Dialog website here.

Each season will be organized around a central theme and include in-depth discussions with guests with expertise in the season’s topic. To kick things off, season 1 is all about writers and writing. You’ll hear from a combination of familiar and unfamiliar voices, all of whom are accomplished writers with backgrounds in journalism, songwriting, fiction, screenwriting, and more. Since we began recording episodes, it’s been fascinating to hear guests share their unique perspective on writing, the creative process, and the business of writing and discover areas of overlap between very different kinds of writing.

Seasonal Format and Future Guests

Dialog is a sort of spin-off of AppStories, our podcast about the world of apps. The interviews we’ve done on AppStories are some of the most popular episodes we’ve produced. However, over time, we realized that AppStories’ format is too constrained to do justice to many of the interviews we want to do. The self-imposed time limit of that show and its topical focus became a barrier.

That led me to sketch out the contours of what would become Dialog during our annual MacStories winter holiday break. To overcome AppStories’ constraints, I decided we needed to flip that show on its head both structurally and topically.

Structurally, Dialog’s conversations with guests are far more in-depth than we could accomplish in a 30-minute AppStories interview. Dialog’s interviews will run as long as two hours but will be split over two episodes to keep each episode to about one hour long. It’s a format that also provides headroom for Federico and me to participate more fully in each episode; less like a traditional interview and more of a conversation with our guests.

Topically, Dialog’s focus is also broader than any interview we’ve done on AppStories. Of course, you can expect Federico and me to come at each season from a tech angle, but that’s the lens through which each season will be viewed more than it is the subject matter of the seasons themselves.

Although Dialog is different than anything we’ve done before, its roots are also firmly grounded in MacStories’ character. We enjoy the apps and hardware we try every day, but what we love the most is telling the stories of the people who make those things, exploring how they empower creativity, and reflecting on their impact on the world around us. Dialog is a natural extension of our approach to technology.

The first episode of Dialog, which you can listen and subscribe to here, introduces the topics we will cover this season. Federico and I talk about our backgrounds in writing, how we got started, our approach to writing at MacStories, the business of writing online, and a lot more.

Next week, we’ll be joined for a two-part conversation by our first guest, John Gruber of Daring Fireball, who will be followed by singer-songwriter Frank Turner, and other guests throughout the summer. At the end of the season, Federico and I will wrap up what we’ve heard and learned from the writers we’ve talked to before taking a break to plan season 2.

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AppStories, Episode 113 – Timery for Toggl Plus a Dialog Sneak Peek→

On this week’s episode of AppStories, we talk about one of our favorite new iOS apps: Timery, a client app for Toggl’s time tracking service. We also preview Dialog, a new seasonal podcast from MacStories featuring weekly, in-depth conversations with special guests about the impact of technology on creativity, society, and culture, which debuts later today.

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Apple Launches Updated iPod touch with A10 Chip, Larger 256GB Storage Option

Today Apple announced an updated version of its last remaining iPod product, the iPod touch. The device starts at the same $199 price as before, but it’s been upgraded in a couple of ways, such as adding an A10 Fusion chip to replace the previous generation’s A8, which among other things enables Group FaceTime and augmented reality features.

Lots about the new iPod remains the same. It keeps the previous generation’s basic form factor, including the same 4-inch display and headphone jack. The device is available in Pink, Silver, Space Gray, Gold, Blue, and (PRODUCT)RED finishes, just as it was before. One thing that’s new, however, besides the upgraded A10 chip, is that there’s now a higher storage capacity available. Joining the 32GB and 128GB models, you can now get an iPod touch with 256GB of storage. Pricing for the lower tiers of storage remains $199 and $299 as before, and the new model comes in at $399.

The new iPod touch is available today to order from Apple.com, and will be available in Apple Stores later this week. Apple clearly wanted to get this device into the world ahead of WWDC next week, so it will be interesting to see if, perhaps, that means new software like iOS 13 will no longer run on A8 chips, and thus Apple needed to modernize the iPod before announcing that new version of iOS.

WWDC, A Wish List (2019 Edition)

Way back in 2016, in the era of iOS 9, I laid out the tentpole features I wanted to see come to iOS and the Mac. Now, three years later, so many things from that wishlist have become a reality that it’s probably a good time to revisit the topics that haven’t yet come to pass, and plan a new wishlist for the years to come. I originally planned this list to have a Developer/User split, but it became clear that the two go hand-in-hand; if you’re doing complex things on iOS today, using the various automation apps, you are but steps away from needing the same things that developers do.

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GoodTask: A Powerful Task Manager Based on Apple’s Reminders App [Sponsor]

GoodTask is a powerful task manager for iOS and the Mac that’s built on top of Apple’s Reminders app. By leveraging Reminders, GoodTask syncs to all your iOS devices and Macs, supports Exchange, and works seamlessly with Siri shortcuts. But that’s just the start.

Tasks can be filtered using GoodTask’s Smart List feature. Smart Lists act like saved searches allowing you to view subsets of your tasks. For example, maybe you want to find all of your un-dated tasks with a certain tag. With Smart Lists, that’s incredibly simple to set up.

Another powerful feature of GoodTask is Quick Actions. You define a grid of information to add to tasks with a single tap from the Quick Actions view. Maybe you have a project, tag, day of the week, time, or other bits of data you add to tasks over an over. With Quick Actions, the repetition of typing that information over and over is eliminated. The app also includes a Smart Button on iOS to quickly move between frequently-used lists.

Interactive notifications with Quick Actions allow users to do things like auto-snooze tasks right from a notification without opening the app. There’s also a feature-rich Apple Watch app from which you can manage existing tasks and add new ones. Add to that a handy Today widget and GoodTask excels at being available no matter the device or context. The app’s iOS icons are customizable and you can switch between a variety of themes or make them yourself to set GoodTask up exactly the way you want too.

Take charge of task management today by visiting GoodTask’s website to learn more about its Mac, iOS, and Watch apps and discover the power of the premier task manager based on Apple’s Reminders app.

Our thanks to GoodTask for sponsoring MacStories this week.