This week, in the absence of adult supervision, Myke and Federico discuss their new favorite time zone app and consider some recent iOS 13 rumors before Ticci talks about what arrived in his mailbox.
On this week’s Connected, in addition to CalZones and iPad keyboards, we talk about some recent iOS 13 rumors, including something I heard about mouse support on iPad a few months ago. You can listen here.
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The Touchtype Pro is a clever new accessory created by Salman Sajid that aims to combine the iPad Pro with Apple’s Magic Keyboard using a flexible cover case and magnets. Sajid launched a campaign for the product earlier this month on Kickstarter, where you can check out more details about pricing and the design process of the Touchtype Pro. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an early production unit before the Kickstarter went live and I’ve been using the Touchtype Pro with my 2018 12.9” iPad Pro for the past few weeks. After sharing some first impressions on Connected, I wanted to post a few more thoughts here, along with some photos.
Ten years is a long time on the Internet. So many companies have come and gone in that time, making it worth considering what it is about MacStories that has endured.
Having worked with Federico for roughly a third of that time, I can’t claim to be objective, but before I joined the team, I was a long-time reader of MacStories and a developer who pitched an app to Federico. That’s given me a perspective on MacStories that goes beyond my current role, so it will probably surprise no one that I have a few thoughts on the matter.
Every fall, Federico and I put our heads together to come up with new and exciting perks for Club MacStories members to mark the Club’s anniversary. In 2017 we were less than six months into AppStories, and although we love talking about apps every week, we were frustrated that the show’s topic and length precluded us from covering a lot of what goes on at MacStories. I suggested doing a free-form, casual show as an exclusive Club members-only version of AppStories. Federico agreed and in the middle of a chaotic September, we recorded the first episode of AppStories Unplugged.
We decided to dispense with the episode length guidelines that constrain AppStories and expand coverage to include a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at MacStories. Because listeners already knew Federico and me as a pair from AppStories, we stuck with that as part of the show’s name. We added ‘Unplugged’ because we’re big fans of acoustic music and MTV’s Unplugged series, and it felt right for a more casual, less structured version of AppStories.
To date, we’ve done four episodes of AppStories Unplugged for Club members, and they’re some of my favorite episodes Federico and I have recorded because they’re so much like the conversations (and arguments) we have when we get together. As we talked about the future of Unplugged earlier this year, both Federico and I felt it was time to expand the show and do more for Club members. So, for the 10th anniversary of MacStories, we’ve decided to relaunch AppStories Unplugged as MacStories Unplugged. The idea behind the show is the same, with a few exciting additions – a remix, to stretch the music metaphor further than I probably should.
The first difference is reflected in the new name. MacStories Unplugged will draw on the entire MacStories team. You probably won’t hear all of us on every episode, but with so many interesting and talented people at MacStories, we want Club members to have the chance to get to know everyone.
We’ve also decided to make MacStories Unplugged a monthly show. At the time Federico and I launched AppStories Unplugged, neither of us was interested in adding another commitment to our schedules, but that has changed with the entire team involved in the show and other adjustments we’ve made.
Finally, we’ve rebranded Unplugged with all-new artwork by MacStories’ own Silvia Gatta who has done an amazing job. Silvia’s rough-sketch version of the MacStories logo and typography is the perfect complement to the style of the show.
What hasn’t changed is that MacStories Unplugged remains a Club MacStories exclusive. You won’t find it in iTunes or any other podcast directory. Members will receive details about how to access Unplugged in this week’s issue of MacStories Weekly, the newsletter we send them every Friday.
If you haven’t considered joining the Club before, now is a great time to take a look. Each year, the MacStories team delivers roughly 60 weekly and monthly newsletters to members that are packed with app coverage, editorial content, shortcuts, tips, interviews, and a whole lot more. Members also enjoy perks throughout the year like app discounts, giveaways, a complimentary ebook version of Federico’s iOS review, and a lot more.
We have another big Club announcement coming later this week and more planned throughout 2019, so check out the details and please consider joining. We’d love to have you.
I’ve always struggled to find apps that understand how people work across multiple time zones. In the 10 years I’ve been writing MacStories, I’ve come across dozens of time zone conversion utilities (and I even created my own with Shortcuts), but as someone who works remotely with people all over the globe, I know there’s more to time zone management than just performing a quick conversion. Perhaps you’re planning a Skype call with three more people, each living in a different time zone; maybe you have to coordinate a product launch and need to know at a glance what “3 PM GMT” means for your customers in New York, San Francisco, Rome, and Sydney. CalZones, the latest app by _David Smith, is the first iOS app I’ve ever used that fundamentally gets how people work and schedule events across multiple time zones. It’s almost like CalZones was made specifically for me, and it’s an app that speaks directly to my heart.
CalZones, available today on the App Store as a Universal app, is based on a simple, ingenious concept that, to the best of my knowledge, has never been done on the App Store before: the app combines a time zone viewer with a calendar client, enabling you to compare times across multiple cities as well as view and create calendar events that display start/end times in multiple formats. By fusing time zone comparisons and calendar events into one product, Smith was able to create an app that is greater than the sum of its parts because it solves a problem that neither traditional world clocks nor calendar clients could fix before.
MacStories was a big part of my life for over five years, from January 2011 through November 2016. I only vaguely recall emailing Federico about the possibility of writing for MacStories, though I do remember sending him two sample articles – one of which was about the iPad (naturally!). Federico was happy to give me a go and I started pretty much straight away.
Leander Kahney, who has previously published books about Steve Jobs and Jony Ive, takes on the ascent of Apple’s current CEO in a new book titled Tim Cook: The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level. When Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, many people doubted that Tim Cook, an operations expert, was up to the job of CEO. As Kahney summarizes in his book’s introduction titled ‘Killing It,’ the numbers have proven the doubters wrong. By exploring Cook’s early influences and how they have affected his leadership of Apple, Kahney sheds light on the values and other qualities that have led to Cook’s success. The result is an interesting look at Cook’s background growing up in Alabama and his career before joining Apple, about which little has been previously written, but the book’s recounting of Cook’s Apple years may be less informative to close observers of the company.
On this week’s episode of AppStories, to mark MacStories’ 10th anniversary, John interviews Federico about how MacStories got started, what led to the MacStories that readers know today, and what’s in store for the site and other MacStories properties in the future.
Today Apple published six new videos that focus on the iPad Pro. Five of them are continuations of the ‘A New Way’ series that debuted in January, highlighting the device’s versatility in tasks like video creation, wedding planning, and serving as the perfect travel companion. The final video, titled ‘Life on iPad,’ follows a man around town as he uses the iPad Pro during what’s presented as an average day – he uses the device to make a Group FaceTime call, do illustrative work while connected to an external monitor, email a file, and draft a document during a flight.
All five ‘A New Way’ videos do a great job showcasing real-life tasks being tackled on the iPad. Most are focused on getting things done, but the video about travel also highlights the iPad’s strengths as a video player and even coloring book. The task-focused videos offer step-by-step examples of workflows that can be helpful to users aiming to stretch their use of the iPad Pro.
As with the prior round of ‘A New Way’ ads, these all end by highlighting how they were filmed, edited, designed, and made entirely on iPad Pro, no doubt with similar workflows to the ones Apple previously documented.
