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First HomeKit Camera Available from Online Apple Store→

One of the longest HomeKit equipment absences has been security cameras. Despite Apple expanding HomeKit to support cameras in iOS 10, nothing has hit the market before today. MacRumors reports on the end of the camera drought, as D-Link’s Omna 180 Cam HD is now available for purchase.

The cylindrical Omna 180 Cam HD features a 1080p camera with a 180-degree field of view, a built-in microphone and speaker with two-way audio, infrared night vision up to 16 feet, and motion detection with the option to record motion-triggered video clips directly to a microSDXC card up to 128GB with no subscription costs.

HomeKit support enables users to control the Omna 180 Cam HD with an iPhone or iPad through Apple’s Home app on iOS 10. When the camera detects motion, users can receive Lock screen notifications to get a snapshot of what’s happening in their homes. The camera can also trigger Scenes with other HomeKit products.

The Omna 180 Cam HD is not currently available in Apple retail stores, but can be purchased from Apple.com in the US for $199.95, and it’s available from Apple’s online stores in other countries as well.

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Pokémon Go to Add More Than 80 New Creatures

Niantic announced a big update to its hit game Pokémon Go. Later this week, more than 80 Pokémon from the Johto compendium will appear in the game. That’s not all the generation two Pokémon, but it is nonetheless a substantial update to a game that has seen bug fixes and refinements, but limited new content since it debuted last summer.

In addition to adding a subset of Pokémon from the franchise’s Gold and Silver games, Niantic is adding new game elements including two new collectable berries, new Pokémon trainer outfits, and evolution items. Other items will be available for purchase from the in-game Pokémon Go shop.

Pokémon Go became an instant phenomenon in many parts of the world when it launched last year, but its popularity has waned substantially. It will be interesting to see if the new content released this week will reignite interest in the game.

TwIM: Instant Messaging Built on Twitter Direct Messages

Last December, BuzzFeed reported that Twitter built and killed a messaging app. It wasn’t the first time rumors circulated that Twitter was working on a messaging app, but for whatever reason, none has ever been released. That left a void that developer Andrew Hart has filled with his new iPhone app TwIM, a modern messaging app built on top of Twitter DMs.

There’s a lot of friction involved in trying a new messaging service. Not only do you have to want to try the service, but you have to convince friends or family to try it too or you’ll have no one with whom to chat. That’s a significant disadvantage that TwIM sidesteps for anyone whose contacts are already on Twitter. What’s more, TwIM sets itself apart from the built-in direct messaging functionality of other Twitter clients with better content handling and support for the latest iOS features like Siri, interactive notifications, and 3D Touch. That gives TwIM a shot at appealing not only as a messaging app, but to anyone who wants a better direct messaging experience.

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Connected, Episode 129: Game of Sorrow→

This week, Stephen tries something new, Federico talks about camping, and Myke looks forward to a new television show.

On this week’s Connected, we discuss Apple’s upcoming Planet of the Apps show and a bunch of other fun topics. You can listen here.

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TodayFlights: A Flight Status Widget for macOS

Data detectors are a feature of Apple’s OSes that recognize information like phone numbers, addresses, and airline flight information and make them interactive. For instance, clicking on a flight in Mail or Notes on a Mac opens a pop-up window with a map of the flight path, whether the flight is on time, departure and arrival times, and other information.

Developer Josh Parnham reverse-engineered the private APIs Apple uses for its flight status data detectors and built a macOS Today widget called TodayFlights. The widget displays the same interface and information as Apple’s data detector but in macOS’s Notification Center. To enter an airline name and flight number, all you do is click the info button at the top of the widget and enter both. Like Apple’s data detector, you can click on one of the cities to zoom in on that portion of the map. In addition, clicking on the bottom section of the widget cycles through departure and arrival times, remaining flight time, and flight duration.

It’s surprising that Apple hasn’t implemented flight tracking as a Today widget. As TodayFlights demonstrates, it’s the perfect sort of glanceable information for which Notification Center was created. Because TodayFlights is built on private APIs, the widget could break if Apple changes those APIs without notice, but until that happens, TodayFlights is a handy addition to Notification Center.

TodayFlights is a free download on Josh Parnham’s website.

LookUp Review: The Modern Dictionary

When considering a traditional dictionary, the words “fast” and “beautiful” don’t come to mind; even our digital dictionaries, sometimes coming in the form of iOS’ Look Up feature when highlighting a word, don’t do a great job of looking good, providing all the relevant information, and appearing in enough time to make it worth the process.

With LookUp, I’ve found things to be different – it’s a dictionary app built on convenience, design, and lots of information.

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A Recap of the Code Media Conference Interview with Eddy Cue

Last night Recode’s Peter Kafka hosted an interview with Apple’s Eddy Cue, SVP of Internet Software and Services, who was joined by television producer Ben Silverman at Recode’s Code Media Conference. The discussion centered around Apple’s video ambitions, with new information and trailers being released for two of Apple’s upcoming original shows: Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke. Additionally, Cue commented on work Apple’s doing with Apple Music and in a variety of other areas.

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Picky: Music Rediscovery Through Powerful Filtering

My music collection is too big to browse in Apple’s Music app. With over 15,000 songs, browsing by track is out of the question, and because I have only one or two songs by many artists, scrolling my entire artist list is impractical too. As a result, I typically use search to find songs in the Music app. The trouble is, search only works if you already know what you want to hear, and it hampers rediscovery of music you haven’t listened to for a while. Apple Music’s algorithmically-generated ‘My Favorites Mix’ helps with this, but sometimes I would rather discover old favorites on my own. For those times, I turn to Picky by Charles Joseph.

Picky lets you filter and sort music in more ways than you can probably imagine. Add to that the ability quickly queue up songs from anywhere in the app, and the result is a powerful music utility that is perfect for getting reacquainted with your favorite tunes.

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The Iconfactory Launches ‘Project Phoenix’ Kickstarter: A Twitterrific for Mac Reboot

The histories of Twitter and Twitterrific are closely tied. Twitterrific was the first Twitter client on the Mac in 2007 and later on the iPhone, coined the term ‘tweet,’ beat Twitter to a bluebird icon, and more. Until 2013, Twitterrific for the Mac was developed in tandem with the iOS version, but the pace of iOS’ evolution led The Iconfactory to suspend development of the Mac version.

Today, The Iconfactory unveiled a Kickstarter campaign to reboot Twitterrific for the Mac. The campaign, which seeks to raise a minimum of $75,000 or more with stretch goals, aims to rebuild Twitterrific from the ground up for macOS.

According to The Iconfactory, if its minimum goal is met,

The plan is to build a minimal product within 6 or 7 months that includes the following functionality:

  • Unified home timeline
  • Multiple account support
  • Composing, replying, and quoting tweets
  • Muffles and mutes
  • Streaming
  • Themes
  • Delete and edit your own tweets
  • Sync timeline position with iOS
  • VoiceOver Accessibility
  • Keyboard control
  • Attaching images to tweets
  • Timeline search (text filter/find)
  • Open links to other tweets, profiles and media in your browser

The goal is to build a solid, simple foundation on which The Iconfactory can iterate and eventually match the iOS version’s functionality. That means that not every imaginable feature will be included initially, but based on the list above, most of the core Twitterrific experience will be included if the project is funded. Additional features will be added if funding reaches $100,000 and $125,000. My only quibble with the goals as structured is that direct messages feel like something that should be included in the initial goal, not a stretch goal.

I like Twitterrific for iOS a lot, especially Center Stage, its new media browsing feature. However, as someone who uses a Mac and iOS devices daily, the lack of updates to Twitterrific for Mac has played a significant role in preventing me from considering it as my primary Twitter client. Consequently, I was excited to hear the news about Project Phoenix. I would like to have seen mockups of what The Iconfactory has planned, but even without that, I immediately backed Project Phoenix based on the great work The Iconfactory has done on the iOS version and its other apps.

You can watch the video introducing Project Phoenix, read more about The Iconfactory’s plans, and check out the rewards for each backing level on Project Phoenix’s Kickstarter page.