Overcast 2.0 Streaming, Chapters, New Patronage Model, and an Interview With Marco Arment

As I guessed in my iOS 9 review, the temptation to go back to Overcast has been stronger than the allure of Apple’s refreshed Podcasts app.

Released last year for iPhone and later ported to the iPad, Marco Arment’s podcast player launched with an elegant design and the distinctive Smart Speed and Voice Boost, two audio effects that allowed users to save time when listening to podcasts by shortening moments of silence, and enjoy a superior audio quality.

In using Overcast for the past year, Smart Speed has turned from a simple and clever addition to a lock-in factor for daily listening: I know that Overcast will make shows I listen to shorter without making them sound odd or unnatural, and it’s the kind of feature that I can’t enjoy in iOS’ built-in Podcasts app. Apple’s player has gotten considerably better on iOS 9; but, when looking at the total amount of hours saved with Overcast, I realized that those are hours of my life I got back by using Arment’s app instead of an alternative. This, combined with the many thoughtful touches of its interface, makes me happy to stick with Overcast.

Arment faced two problems, though. Overcast always needed to download new episodes before playing them: due to limitations of iOS 7’s web download and audio APIs, Smart Speed and Voice Boost couldn’t work with streaming – a popular feature that many podcast apps implement to avoid taking up storage on users’ devices with downloaded audio files. And, while it was Arment’s goal to gain market share with a freemium model that made Overcast free to use with an In-App Purchase to unlock advanced features (such as unlimited effects), the majority of Overcast users ended up staying on the free tier – a less capable version of the app that Arment himself wasn’t using, and which couldn’t be easily differentiated in a sea of podcast clients for iOS.

Overcast 2.0, launching today on the App Store, fixes both problems. With version 2.0, Overcast users will be able to stream episodes and use audio effects at the same time, getting the same experience of Overcast 1.0 with no upfront download required. But more importantly, Arment is taking a bold step with pricing: Overcast 2.0 is a completely free app, with an optional patronage model to support Arment directly.

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Austin Mann’s iPhone 6s Camera Review in Switzerland→

Each year, Austin Mann puts together the camera-focused iPhone review I want to read. This year is no different, and I was curious to see what he’d create this time given the camera improvements to the iPhone 6s.

I liked this bit about Live Photos:

I really appreciate the deeper story each of these tells — the sound of the cowbell, the flying dust under the drone, the steam rising from my Swiss hot chocolate. We take pictures to tell stories and share experiences with those around us, and Live Photos helps us do that in a way we simply haven’t before.

What I love about Live Photos is its ability to accomplish this, completely behind the scenes. Some of these Live Photos in this gallery were completely unintentional, which is the best part about it.

His entire review is full of videos, comparisons with the iPhone 6 Plus, and technical explanations than aren’t hard to understand and are well-illustrated. Recommended.

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Ulysses (and Other Apps) to Gain Medium Publishing Support→

Ulysses, The Soulmen’s excellent text editor for iOS and OS X, will soon gain a Medium publishing feature thanks to the company’s newly announced API. From their blog post:

You may wonder why we don’t allow you to really publish from Ulysses, as in “publish a story, not just a draft”. For one, Medium’s API has just been released, and we wanted to stay on the safe side. We don’t want you to accidentially publish something you didn’t intend to, or in a state you didn’t mean to make available to the public. Plus, some of Medium’s advanced options, such as pull quotes and fancy header images, are not available yet, so we figured you might love to tinker around a bit, before you really commit your piece.

Lastly… we all make mistakes, and right now there’s no way for us to allow updating your stories from within Ulysses. So again, we figured it would be best to do drafts, since you can have as many drafts as you like, mistakes and all. Plus, this will only get better in the future, so there’s room for anticipation and excitement at your end, too.

In addition, Byword and IA Writer will also receive updates to publish posts to Medium.

I’ve been keeping an eye on Medium, and though it’s not for me, they’ve managed to reignite interest in the idea of a blogging platform – and any respectable blogging platform needs an API. While I won’t move MacStories away from WordPress, it’s good to know that I have another solid option if I should ever decide to use another platform for another website. To me, Medium looks like a cool company that’s trying something new. And I think that’s more important than ever to empower as many potential writers as possible.

On that note, don’t miss Daniel Jalkut’s first look at the Medium API. Daniel has been developing MarsEdit for several years, and he’s the voice I trust when it comes to blogging APIs and native clients.

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1Password’s App Extension and Time-Based, One-Time Passwords→

I had no idea developers could use the 1Password iOS extension to prefill one-time passwords in addition to regular usernames and passwords in their apps:

Did you know that our App Extension API supports one-time passwords? In fact, it’s been there since version 1.5 of the API. If you haven’t already, I recommend that you upgrade to the latest version, 1.6.1. Not only can your users fill their usernames and passwords in your app with a few simple taps, their one-time passwords can be filled just as easily.

I use the 1Password extension every day (it has strong app support at this point), but I’ve never come across apps that supported one-time passwords as well. Speaking of which, it’s always a good time to switch from Google Authenticator or Authy to 1Password.

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Twitter’s Moment→

Astute take by Ben Thompson on Twitter Moments:

What is exciting is that Moments isn’t close to fulfilling its potential: imagine a tweet-based newspaper drawn not only from the best sources in a mobile-friendly format, but one perfectly customized to you. This is what Twitter is already like for power users, but again, getting to that state is simply too difficult. Figuring out how to do this systematically on users’ behalf should be Twitter’s chief aim.

“Should” is probably a bit superfluous: the incentives for Twitter to focus on this type of customization are massive. Twitter is uniquely positioned to understand what its users are interested in, something that at least theoretically rivals Facebook’s imposing demographic information, SnapChat’s youth advantage, or Pinterest’s grasp of my aspirations. The reason customized Moments matter is because there are two payoffs: the user experience is better, and the advertising that will undoubtedly be sold in Moments will be better targeted and more effective.

After Tweetbot 4, Moments are one of the few features (next to search and images/big emoji in DMs) which justify keeping the Twitter app installed. Hopefully, the international rollout won’t be too slow.

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New Enhanced Editions of Harry Potter Series Now Available on iBooks→

In a press release from Apple:

Apple today announced that enhanced editions of all seven books in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series are now available exclusively on the iBooks Store for readers around the world to enjoy on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac. Customers can download individual books featuring full original text, interactive animations and elaborate artwork bringing these beloved stories to life in a unique way. Harry Potter fans will also find annotations throughout their literary journey, written by the author herself.

Each book costs US$9.99 and they are available in 32 countries today. French, German and Spanish versions are also available for pre-order and will be released on November 9 in 18 additional countries.

“I’m thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way,” said J.K. Rowling.

I had a quick look through the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and there are quite a few illustrations. They all look terrific and the animation really does bring it to life (they’re reminiscent of the moving images of the Daily Prophet, or perhaps more appropriately, Live Photos from the iPhone 6s). But that’s about it, the rest of the book is virtually identical to a standard ePub.

The candles in this image hovered up and down, whilst the Snitch fluttered around on the page.

The candles in this image hovered up and down, whilst the Snitch fluttered around on the page.

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Connected: Driving on a Vespa in a Landscape of Pastel Colors→

This week on Connected: Apple’s new Watch ads, cell phone carries and the return of #ConnectedQA.

A lot of interesting reader questions in this week’s Connected. Make sure to stay until the last one. You can listen here.

Sponsored by:

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Beats Announces New Beats Pill+ Wireless Speaker→

The first new Beats product under Apple has been announced today, and it’s a new version of the Beats Pill speaker called Beats Pill+.

The Beats Pill+ is slightly larger than the original Beats Pill speaker, allowing for a bigger and fuller sound. The stereo active 2-way crossover system creates an optimized sound field for dynamic range and clarity across all genres of music. Tweeter and woofer separation uses the same acoustic mechanics found in professional recording studios around the world.

The Beats Pill+ can charge devices with USB and Lightning ports, and the refreshed look has an Apple-like feel to it. Sean O’Kane, writing at The Verge, likes its sound:

Whatever it’s doing, it works. I listened to a handful of different tracks from a few different genres: one from The Weeknd and his alt-R&B, some bassy hip-hop from Kendrick Lamar, a standard rock-and-roll track from Tom Petty, and some punk rock from PUP. Everything came through full and clear, and all the music sounded much better than I expected from yet another portable Bluetooth speaker. The bass in Lamar’s “Swimming Pools (Drank)” didn’t muddy up his vocals. I could hear piano parts in Petty’s “Here Comes My Girl” that would be inaudible on most cheap speakers. For lack of a better way to describe it, there was space in between all the sounds coming out of the speaker, whereas most others tend to crush all the different frequencies together.

In addition to the speaker itself, there’s going to be a companion app:

There’s a DJ mode that’ll allow multiple phones/tablets/etc. to pair with the speaker so more than one person can control the playlist. It also helps you add a second Pill+ to either make the overall sound louder or to use ‘em as a stereo setup with left and right channels. If you’ve already opened your wallet to buy Dr. Dre’s latest, you’ll have to wait until next month to drop $230 at an Apple store and other places Beats’ goods are sold.

I’m a happy Bose SoundLink Mini user, but I’m intrigued by the Pill’s look and software features.

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