Improving the iOS Emoji Keyboard→

Steven Aquino, writing at The App Factor:

What I’d like to see Apple do is not necessarily make the emojis themselves bigger — the keyboard only fits a finite space, after all — but rather change how they’re presented to the user.

Here’s my suggestion: Apple should take the magnification animation it already employs on the text keyboard and apply it to the emojis. Every time I press on, say, a smiley face, the face would “pop up” in the same manner a letter does when you press its corresponding key. Taking this a step further, it would also be helpful if you could use the magnification loupe (for moving the insertion point) to scrub through emoji. The only caveat here is that Apple would need to make the loupe larger, which is something I wrote about in my aforementioned article. As it is now, the current magnification level wouldn’t do much good to compensate for the small size of the emoji.

Looking at the emoji keyboard from an accessibility perspective, Steven’s suggestions make a lot of sense. Existing features such as Dynamic Type and Character Preview could also be used for emoji, but I like Steven’s loupe idea better.

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Ben Brooks on Moving to 2Do→

Ben Brooks has a spot-on comment on task managers after his move to 2Do:

That is: if you are using every part of the task management system when things are light, then problems will arise when things get busy. It’s not that OmniFocus was overkill for me, it’s that it was too rigid. That rigidity is great when I am suffering decision fatigue from the amount of work I have, but it is a burden when I am not suffering that fatigue.

Further: when you aren’t busy your task management system should be easy. The system should scale, not permanently be operating as if you are the busiest person in the world all the time.

At its core, this is what I love about 2Do: its flexibility makes it either extremely simple or incredibly advanced – or both at the same time if you just switch views in the app. Unlike other task managers, 2Do adapts to your needs.

(Side note: after Email to 2Do, I wouldn’t mind paying for all sorts of optional add-ons in the app.)

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Carbo: Digital Storage and Editing for Handwritten Notes

“Handwriting in the digital age.” It was such a claim, along with its feature in Apple’s productivity sale, that drew my attention to Carbo. From reading the app’s description, developers Creaceed seemed confident in the app’s handwriting altering and organization. After spending some time with Carbo and thoroughly enjoying the experience, I now understand their confidence.

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MailButler Adds New Tools to Apple Mail

Like many of Apple’s stock Mac apps, Mail gets the job done without many bells and whistles. That leaves gaps for third-party developers to fill with their own apps and plugins. MailButler does just that – it’s a plugin for Apple Mail from Berlin-based Feingeist Software that adds six tools to Mail that are especially useful if you send a lot of email.

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Canvas, Episode 2: Document Providers→

Federico and Fraser go in-depth on the Document Picker and Document Provider system in iOS 9.

In the second episode of Canvas, Fraser and I discussed what is perhaps one of the most underestimated features of iOS 8 and iOS 9 – Document Providers. The document picker is often overlooked, but knowing how (and when) to use it can enhance your iOS workflow to make you save time and better integrate apps with each other.

You can listen to the episode here.

Featured workflows:

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Google Paid Apple $1 Billion to Keep Search Bar on iPhone→

Joel Rosenblatt, reporting for Bloomberg:

Google Inc. is paying Apple Inc. a hefty fee to keep its search bar on the iPhone.

Apple received $1 billion from its rival in 2014, according to a transcript of court proceedings from Oracle Corp.’s copyright lawsuit against Google. The search engine giant has an agreement with Apple that gives the iPhone maker a percentage of the revenue Google generates through the Apple device, an attorney for Oracle said at a Jan. 14 hearing in federal court.

It’s not surprising at all that Google is paying Apple for the benefit of being the default search engine on iOS, but this is the first time it has been confirmed, and a dollar figure provided. But it is also an awkward revelation for Apple, which has recently started to more aggressively position itself as the company that protects its user’s privacy. Remember Tim Cook’s note on “Apple’s commitment to your privacy”?

A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.

Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.

Apple’s subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) privacy dig at Google looks a bit absurd and hypocritical in light of this court transcript. Apple may not build a profile on its users to sell to advertisers, but it lets Google do that (by default) and then profits from Google’s actions.

Unsurprisingly, Google and Apple weren’t happy about the disclosure by an Oracle attorney and sought to seal and redact the transcript. As Bloomberg reports;

The specific financial terms of Google’s agreement with Apple are highly sensitive to both Google and Apple,” Google said in its Jan. 20 filing. “Both Apple and Google have always treated this information as extremely confidential.”

The transcript vanished without a trace from electronic court records at about 3 p.m. Pacific standard time with no indication that the court ruled on Google’s request to seal it.

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Timepage: A Beautiful and Clever Calendar App

Although I’m sure Moleskine has crossed your radar once or twice in the past, it most likely was for its collection of notebooks, diaries, or pencils. But you may be unfamiliar with Moleskine Timepage, a calendar app that is a step away from the traditional Moleskine image. Through some interesting features and a beautiful interface, there’s a good chance that you’ll be keeping Moleskine’s app development division on your radar.

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Apple Opening Europe’s First iOS App Development Center in Naples, Italy→

Interesting announcement from Apple this morning: the company will open the first iOS App Development Center in Europe – the second globally, as noted by VentureBeat – in Naples, Italy:

Apple today announced the creation of Europe’s first iOS App Development Center in Italy, to give students practical skills and training on developing iOS apps for the world’s most innovative and vibrant app ecosystem.

The iOS App Development Center, to be located at a partner institution in Naples, will support teachers and provide a specialized curriculum preparing thousands of future developers to be part of Apple’s thriving developer community. In addition, Apple will work with partners around Italy who deliver developer training to complement this curriculum and create additional opportunities for students. Apple expects to expand this program to other countries around the world.

Details are scarce at this point, but according to Repubblica, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi lauded Apple’s commitment to innovation for “over 600 people” (a figure only Renzi shared) and announced he is going meet with Tim Cook tomorrow to discuss the initiative.

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