Apple Invests $1 Billion in Chinese Ride-Hailing Service Didi Chuxing→

Major Apple news this evening:

Apple Inc said on Thursday it has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market.
[…]
The investment gives Apple, which has hired dozens of automotive experts over the past year, a sizeable stake in Uber Technologies Inc’s chief rival in China. Cook said in an interview that he sees opportunities for Apple and Didi Chuxing to collaborate in the future.

According to Apple, they’re doing this to understand “certain segments of the China market”. Didi Chuxing is similar to Uber – it offers taxi services and designated drivers through smartphone apps.

See also: yesterday’s article by Neil Cybart on Apple’s R&D spending and the rumored Titan car project.

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Communicate Your Battery Life with Battery Share

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.

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Google Releases Gboard, a Search Keyboard for iOS

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.

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Apple Shortening App Review Times

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.

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“It’s Still a Camera”→

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.

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Remaster, Episode 10: Nintendo’s Plans for E3 and the NX→

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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Connected, Episode 90: A Set of Unlucky Coincidences (Plus T-Shirts)→

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.

New Connected t-shirts.

New Connected t-shirts.

I love the new design (for those who missed it, it celebrates Stephen’s successful iMac collection). Get yours before it’s too late.

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Instagram Says Goodbye to Skeuomorphism with New Icon, Redesign

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.

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WhatsApp Launches Mac App→

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.

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