Jot is a simple note taking app that collects the little bits of textual ephemera that come at you throughout the day. True to its name, Jot makes it easy to take down notes quickly. Although I think there’s room for a few more features that would enhance the app without compromising its simple approach, anyone with basic note taking needs that is looking for an app that focuses first and foremost on the words captured should appreciate Jot.
Jot Takes a Stripped-Down Approach to Note Taking
The Initial iPhone SDK
As noted by Craig Hockenberry, it has been a full decade since Apple shipped the first version of the iPhone SDK to developers.
It’s hard to remember today that, in the beginning, the iPhone didn’t have third-party apps. It came with a handful of built-in apps written by Apple for things like checking stocks and the weather, jotting down quick notes, making calendar events and reviewing contact information.
These apps were, for the most part, self-contained. The rich environment we enjoy on iOS today where apps can share lots of data with each other just wasn’t present in 2007.
The outlier in this paradigm was Safari, which put the Internet — or at least the parts that didn’t require Flash — in the palm of our hands.
What HomePod Should Become: A Hub for All Apple-Centric Needs
Today the HomePod is all about music, but it could be so much more.
From its debut last June at WWDC to launch day this February, HomePod’s primary purpose has been clear: it’s an Apple Music accessory. Music has been the sole focus of Apple’s marketing, including the recent Spike Jonze short film – yet it’s an angle many have trouble accepting.
In a pre-Amazon Echo world, HomePod being a great Apple Music speaker would have been enough. But in 2018 we expect more from smart speakers, and we expect more from Apple.
HomePod succeeds as a music speaker, but it’s not the device we expected – at least not yet. Due to its arrival date more than three years after the birth of Alexa, we expected a smarter, more capable product. We expected the kind of product the HomePod should be: a smart speaker that’s heavy on the smarts. Apple nailed certain aspects with its 1.0: the design, sound quality, and setup are all excellent. But that’s not enough.
HomePod isn’t a bad product today, but it could become a great one.
How?
By becoming a true hub for all our Apple-centric needs.
Apple Adds a Families Section to Its Website with Information for Parents
Apple has introduced a new webpage that highlights the tools it makes for parents to limit kids’ use of the company’s devices, keep them safe, and make sure they are viewing appropriate content. The page provides an overview of:
- The Kids section of the App Store
- The App Store’s Ask to Buy feature, which requires children to get an adult’s permission to download apps
- Restrictions that allow parents to block In-App Purchases and viewing of certain media
- Settings that block adult content or limit browsing to certain sites on the Internet
- Location Services, including Find My Friends and Find My iPhone
- Media sharing
- Health and Safety Features, including the Emergency SOS and Medical ID features of the iPhone
- The Apple Watch’s fitness features
- Privacy features like Face ID and Touch ID
- The Classroom app
Each section links to additional resources on Apple’s website.
Apple was recently criticized by certain institutional shareholders in advance of its annual shareholders’ meeting for doing too little to help parents protect children that use their devices. The company responded swiftly with a statement:
“We think deeply about how our products are used and the impact they have on users and the people around them,” Apple said in the statement. “We take this responsibility very seriously and we are committed to meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations, especially when it comes to protecting kids.”
Apple’s new Families webpage doesn’t include any new features. Instead, it’s a useful one-stop resource for parents looking for guidance about the tools already at their disposal. Apple has said, however, that additional features and enhancements to parental controls in the works.
Apple Commissions Videos by Artists That Showcase the iMac Pro’s Power
Apple has published a trailer and six short films by artists showcasing the power of the new iMac Pro. Apple also posted six behind-the-scenes videos explaining how each artist used the iMac Pro to create their film.
The videos each begin with the tagline ‘The Most Powerful Mac Ever’ followed by ‘Pushed to the Limit.’ The artists were tasked with creating a project that put the iMac Pro’s hardware through its paces. The six shorts combine CG effects, animation, and bring other techniques to bear using professional-grade apps with stunning results.
The behind-the-scenes videos explain how each film was created along with commentary by the artists who all walked away impressed by the iMac Pro’s capabilities.
Below is the trailer for the film series. The full videos and behind-the-scenes features are available after the break.
Spotify Is Testing Voice Control of Its iOS App
Spotify is testing a voice navigation feature that lets users search for and play songs, albums, and playlists in the music streaming service’s iOS app. The feature, which was first reported by TechCrunch, is found under the Spotify app’s Search tab, but it’s currently only available to a small number of users.
Casey Newton of The Verge got a chance to try the feature:
I got early access to the test and tested out the feature set. In short, it’s an excellent step forward for navigation in app that has historically required too much tapping and typing to get where you’re going.
Spotify confirmed the test to both TechCrunch and The Verge but declined to provide any details.
If you have the feature, it appears as a microphone icon inside a circular white button in the search view. According to Newton, voice search provided ‘mostly accurate results.’
Spotify’s experiment with voice commands is notable because rumors have been circulating that it is developing a smart speaker to compete with offerings from Apple, Amazon, and Google. It’s not as useful as having built-in voice search functionality, but unless Apple opens up Siri to other music services, building the feature into its iOS app is also the closest Spotify can get to working like Apple Music on the HomePod.
Connected, Episode 184: They Perfected It, Mum→
WWDC is announced, Apple acquires a digital magazine service, and Myke and Federico discuss some ‘iOS Little Wonders’, because Stephen is away.
On this week’s Connected, we talked at length about Apple’s acquisition of Texture and what it might mean for the future of Apple News. You can listen here.
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Leaving the “Series 0” Apple Watch Behind→
I’ve been keeping an eye on the adoption of the Apple Watch Series 3 since its introduction last fall. From a development perspective the Series 3 is a delight to work with. It is fast, capable and LTE allows a wide variety of new applications (for example, the podcast support I added to Workouts++).
This stands in contrast to the challenges of working with the Series 0 (or Apple Watch (1st generation) as Apple would call it). It is just slow and honestly a bit painful to develop for. Even basic things like deploying your application to the watch can take uncomfortably long amounts of time. In daily use the Series 0 is probably “good enough” for many customers, especially with the speed/stability improvements added in watchOS 4, but as a developer I can’t wait until I no longer have to support it.
Which is why I’ve been watching the Apple Watch adoption curve within my apps (specifically Pedometer++ for this analysis) quite carefully. My personal hope is that this summer when we get watchOS 5 it will drop support for the Series 0 and free Apple to really push forward on what is possible for developers. But in order for that wish to be realistic I imagine Apple will need the daily use of those first watches to have died down significantly.
These are fascinating numbers about the adoption of different Apple Watch models by David Smith, who makes some of the best apps for the platform.
I’ve been wondering about when Apple could drop support for the original Apple Watch in new versions of watchOS. For context, the original iPhone, launched in 2007, couldn’t be updated to iOS 4 in 2010, three years later. The Apple Watch will have its official third anniversary next month. I suppose that Apple Watch owners hold onto their devices for longer, but if old hardware is stifling innovation for the developer community who wants to push Watch apps forward (as much as that is possible with the current tools), then maybe it is time for Apple to move on.
New Google Maps APIs Empowering Game Developers to Create Premium AR Experiences→
Andrew Webster, writing for The Verge:
There’s been a wave of location-based mobile games announced recently, based on everything from The Walking Dead to Jurassic World. It turns out these games have more in common than just timing: they’re all powered by Google Maps. Today Google is announcing that it’s opening up its ubiquitous mapping platform to allow game developers to more easily create real-world games. The next Pokémon Go might finally be on the way.
Gaining access to a real-time mapping source like Google Maps is huge for developers, but the additional tools that go along with Google’s newly announced game platform take that a step further. Google is also launching a Unity SDK to tie into its mapping data, and enabling gameplay experiences to be built around specific locations or location types.
Developers can do things like choose particular kinds of buildings or locations — say, all stores or restaurants — and transform each one. A fantasy realm could turn all hotels into restorative inns, for instance, or anything else.
This sounds like it could be a huge boon to the mobile game market, particularly when combined with tools like Apple’s ARKit. Yes, it means we’ll probably get tired of all the games trying to replicate Pokémon GO’s success, but these new developer tools will also likely enable some truly immersive, exciting gaming experiences.
Google created a video that shows off just a glimpse of what’s possible with its new Maps APIs.