Last week, I wrote about PipTube, a simple utility to watch YouTube videos with Picture in Picture on iOS and send YouTube links to the iOS video player with a widget. Coincidentally, Tiny Whale – developers of Lean and Lively, among other apps – has been working on a similar idea, released today on the App Store: CornerTube.
CornerTube for YouTube Picture in Picture on iOS 9
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.
Google’s Second-Class iPad Pro Apps→
Serenity Caldwell, writing for iMore:
Despite receiving several updates in the last few months, Google’s apps haven’t been updated for Apple’s larger tablet. And there’s no hope, as there is with Facebook, of using Google’s in-theory-HTML5-and-therefore-iPad-compliant website: Google’s standard web view on an iPad flat-out punts you to the apps—if the website even correctly detects you have the app installed. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the websites try and send me to the App Store to open a spreadsheet, when I clearly have Sheets already available.
Trying to request the desktop version of the website won’t work, either: You won’t be able to scroll, or tap on anything that requires a double-click, and any link you do manage to make work will send you right back to the mobile environment.
As I’ve tweeted for the past two months, Google’s suite of Drive apps for iOS is an embarrassment.
Compare Google’s subpar iPad Pro “work” to Microsoft, which was quickly ready for the iPad Pro, iOS 9 multitasking, and Apple Pencil. I’ve switched to Office 365 for my personal spreadsheets and Word documents, and, if the situation doesn’t improve, I’ll consider other solutions for collaborative docs as well.
Logic Pro X: Greg Kurstin with Adele→
Fascinating look behind the scenes of Adele’s 25 album, featuring producer Greg Kurstin, published on Apple’s Logic Pro X mini-site. (via MacRumors)
From the backstory of Hello:
The chords were promising, and Kurstin and Adele were able to write most of the song that day. But they couldn’t finish it. “We tried different choruses, but we didn’t quite nail it,” he says. “And I didn’t know if we ever would. I thought maybe this one was going to end up on the shelf.”
But Kurstin was called back six months later to finish the song. He used Logic Pro X instruments and plug-ins to enhance the bass line and drums. More radically, he lowered the entire song a half step at Adele’s request. “We tried really hard with a bunch of different ideas,” he says. “And we finally got it right.”
Don’t miss the photos and details on Kurstin’s Logic Pro X workflow at the bottom.
The Verge Tests GarageBand 2.1 with T-Pain→
Fun – and informative – look at GarageBand by The Verge, featuring T-Pain. I know what you’re thinking – T-Pain makes those horrible auto-tuned songs that somehow kids like. Music tastes aside, the guy knows what he’s talking about: he’s been making music on GarageBand for years, and he makes solid points about integrating the app with third-party tools and using it on the go.
T-Pain laughs off the criticism when I ask him about it. “That’s weird,” he says. “It’s totally legitimate.” GarageBand has become a lot more capable over time, he says, offering more granular control over sounds, the ability to manage more tracks, and — a new feature in this release — the use of third-party apps, like iMaschine, as additional instruments. It has nowhere near the power of Logic, but T-Pain says he sees Apple bringing more of Logic’s features down to GarageBand, rather than stripping things out of GarageBand for further ease of use. That makes Garageband a useful tool for putting together ideas when he’s outside the studio. “Usually when I open up GarageBand, I’m not in a place where I can start belting out lyrics and recording,” he says, mentioning that he often uses the app while traveling. “I’m trying to get a solid production piece out of it. And that usually happens.”
Also of note: T-Pain’s home studio and diamond-encrusted Apple Watch.
Jim Dalrymple on Music Memos→
If there’s one person I hoped would be able to try the new Music Memos app in advance, that would be Jim Dalrymple. He likes it:
Like many musicians, Voice Memos has become a quick and easy way for me to record my music ideas. Sometimes I just hum the idea, but most of the time I’ll be playing my guitar and just reach over and tap record. If I don’t record the idea then and there, it’s gone forever.
I have hundreds of these little snippets on my iPhone. Sometimes I work them into full songs, sometimes I combine different ideas to make a song and sometimes they just sit there because I have no idea what they are.
Apple took the idea of Voice Memos and expanded it for musicians with a new iOS app called Music Memos.
In his overview, Jim mentions other features – such as tagging and organization of files – which will come in handy for musicians recording their ideas on iOS.
Apple Releases New Music Memos App, Updates GarageBand with Live Loops, Drummer, iPad Pro Support, and More
For a long time, musicians and songwriters have been using Apple’s Voice Memos and Notes apps to capture their moments of inspiration and save song ideas using audio clips and text annotations directly on the iPhone and iPad. The company took notice of the trend – exemplified in this interview with Taylor Swift and Ryan Adams last year – and released Music Memos, a brand new (and free) app aimed at enabling everyone to record their musical ideas, organize them, and develop them with intuitive tools directly on iOS devices.
Remote Buddy Display: Control Your Mac From Your Apple TV Using The Siri Remote
It’s still the very early days for tvOS and the App Store on the new Apple TV, but we’re starting to see some really neat apps for the new platform. Some of my early favorites (aside from the obvious content-delivery apps like Netflix and HBO Now) include Plex, VLC, GIFtv, and now Remote Buddy Display.
Remote Buddy Display is an app that enables you to wirelessly mirror your Mac onto your TV. What differentiates it from AirPlay Mirroring, built into OS X, is that you can also control your Mac, using just the Apple TV’s Siri Remote. Provided you have installed Remote Buddy onto your Mac, you can take control of your Mac via your Apple TV simply by launching the Remote Buddy Display app on your Apple TV.
#MacStoriesDeals: January 20th, 2016
We’ve collected the best #MacStoriesDeals for January 20, 2016, so be quick and get them! Today, a lot of productivity-related iOS and OS X apps went on sale in what appears to be an organized promotion across the App Store – similar to the ‘Get Productive’ sale launched around the same time last year.
For more deals, you can find us as @MacStoriesDeals on Twitter.