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We’ve all been there – a dead phone and an expectant person wondering why we haven’t responded. Without any battery, there’s not really a solution to the problem, as the most common communication apps people use are inaccessible.
Battery Share from developer Terry Demco makes this issue one of the past by introducing a simple way to communicate battery life between friends. Although it takes some effort to set up, the results are well worth both the app’s $0.99 price and the setup time needed.
Despite some shortcomings in the way iOS handles third-party keyboards, they seem to have taken off recently. Just in the last month Microsoft’s Garage project released the Hub keyboard and Word Flow. Now, Google’s getting into the keyboard game with Gboard, which lets you search Google for all sorts of information.
I’ve only been playing around with Gboard for a short time, but the results have been impressive. Gboard solves a common problem on mobile devices – sharing information. Whether you’re using Twitter, email, or a chat client, it’s not uncommon to have to leave the app you are using to find the information you want to share, whether that’s a location, a GIF, a photo, or even something like a stock price or the weather.
Apple appears to be shortening review times for new app and update submissions to the App Store. According to data collected by independent app review tracking website AppReviewTimes and as reported by Bloomberg today, review times have approached 2 days as opposed to the 7-10 days it took Apple to review apps in the past.
Armin Vit has a smart take on the Instagram icon redesign (via John Gruber):
Unlike Uber, that replaced it’s “U” for a metaphysical atom, the change here is only aesthetic. It’s still a camera. Yes, at first it will be hard to recognize it, but when you have 200 million people tapping on it everyday, multiple times a day, that’s the kind of brand engagement that Coca-Cola or Nike would kill for. When it comes to “brand impressions” and “brand touchpoints”, Instagram (and Facebook and Twitter and, yes, even Uber) have no shortage of opportunities so it will only be a matter of time — three months, probably — before this is known, recognized, and considered as the Instagram app icon. Simply by repetition and usage. Hell, I was starting to get used to the Uber icon until they pulled out of Austin this Monday.
If people ever stop checking Instagram obsessively, I don’t think it’ll be because of an icon change.
Nintendo has announced that they are only bringing Zelda to E3, and that their next console will launch in March. How is this going to effect the company, and what do their launch plans look like for the NX?
Oh, and the new Pokemon trailer is out.
This week’s episode of Remaster is an old-school one: we talk about Nintendo’s latest NX rumors, what they’re doing at E3 in June, and the latest announcements for mobile games. You can listen here.
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Stephen’s collected all the iMacs, there’s a new shirt and things are happening with Apple Music. Pretty normal week.
Short and sweet episode of Connected this week with a focus on Apple Music. You can listen here.
And, don’t miss the new Connected t-shirts, available for a limited time here.
I love the new design (for those who missed it, it celebrates Stephen’s successful iMac collection). Get yours before it’s too late.
Long after Apple abandoned skeuomorphism with the introduction of iOS 7, Instagram held onto the past with its Kodak Instamatic-inspired icon. It had been so long since Instagram’s icon was updated that you could count on a flurry of snarky jokes on Twitter every time the app was updated without an icon redesign.
Today, nearly three years since iOS 7 was introduced at WWDC in 2013, Instagram has unveiled a redesigned icon, not only for its flagship app, but also for Layout, Boomerang, and Hyperlapse.
WhatsApp has announced today they’re launching desktop apps for Windows and OS X. From the WhatsApp blog:
Today we’re introducing a desktop app so you have a new way to stay in touch anytime and anywhere - whether on your phone or computer at home or work. Like WhatsApp Web, our desktop app is simply an extension of your phone: the app mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device.
The new desktop app is available for Windows 8+ and Mac OS 10.9+ and is synced with WhatsApp on your mobile device. Because the app runs natively on your desktop, you’ll have support for native desktop notifications, better keyboard shortcuts, and more.
Note how WhatsApp continues to use apps for other platforms as extensions of the phone app – the Mac app is, effectively, an interactive display for the WhatsApp database stored on your mobile device.
Side note: I’ve used WhatsApp Web on my iPad, and it works okay if you request a desktop site in Safari or use something like iCab to permanently change the browser’s user agent.
Since Google ended up offering one of the worst productivity suites on the iPad, we’ve moved several of our Relay FM show documents and MacStories research material to Quip.
Quip is a powerful alternative to Google Docs and Sheets with proper support for iOS 9 and multitasking on the iPad Pro. Despite some minor issues (the Apple Pencil can’t scroll or select text in the app; there’s no search in spreadsheets on iOS), I work better with Quip on iOS because they respect the platform and they take advantage of the latest iOS tech.
It’s unsurprising, then, that I’m excited about Quip’s integration with another service I use on a daily basis – Slack. Starting today, you’ll be able to create Quip documents in Slack and mirror notifications from Quip to Slack conversations.
Spark ideas in Slack conversations and give them structure in Quip docs where you can organize, discuss, and evolve your team’s most important work. Use the Slack slash-command to create a new Quip doc where things can really take off.
And:
You won’t lose track of those groundbreaking, killer, disruptive ideas even if they’re happening in both the Slack channel and a Quip docu- ment at the same time. Any @mentions, messages, and edits to your Quip docs will in- stantly post to Slack so you can easily follow along and jump in on the action.
I haven’t been able to test these features prior to today’s launch, but I’m interested. I’m already mirroring notifications from a bunch of services (such as RSS and GitHub) into Slack channels, and adding Quip document status to the mix could be useful.
Also new today: Slack is rolling out a new ‘Sign In with Slack’ feature to quickly start using a service/app with your Slack identity and automatically get people from your Slack team on it.
Here’s the Slack blog with an example for Quip:
When a user signs up for your app using Sign in with Slack, they’ll be instantly connected to their teammates within your product. For customers, this is an invisible but delightful feature. It exemplifies our mission in action — making people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive — by keeping teams effortlessly in sync.
[…]
Upon signing in with Slack you are automatically connected to your Slack team within Quip. No extra team creation required — your team already exists within Quip in one fell swoop. From there, you can use Slack and Quip to supercharge the way that you brainstorm and create documents with your team.
As the owner of a Slack team, I’m also eager to take this for a spin.
