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JavaScript Actions In Mr. Reader 3.1→

In an update released last week on the App Store, Mr. Reader has gained the ability to execute JavaScript actions based on individual scripts configurable in the app’s Settings. Developer Oliver Fürniß has documented the app’s new JavaScript integration here.

Mr. Reader already was a versatile and capable feed reader for iPad – notably, the app introduced a customizable Services menu that allowed users to set up their own sharing actions with URL schemes. The new JavaScript actions go a step beyond URL schemes as they enable Mr. Reader to store article information in a variety of new ways such as collections that can be copied to the clipboard.

I’m interested to see what Mr. Reader users will come up with to further extend the app. Mr. Reader has clearly taken the power-user approach for feed reading and management on the iPad, and the app remains a highly recommended purchase at $3.99. In the update, Mr. Reader also received native support for OneNote, Reminders, and improved search.

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Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi To Appear at Code Conference→

Kara Swisher, announcing the appearance of two Apple executives at Re/code’s conference in late May:

While we already have announced a stellar lineup for the first Code Conference — including General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Hollywood mogul Ryan Seacrest — here’s another pair to add to the mix: Top Apple execs Craig Federighi and Eddy Cue.

And:

We are very excited to have both Cue and Federighi at the event to talk about a range of things about the company that remains at the center of the action, especially in the important mobile sector. From the shifting entertainment and communications landscape to the fast-moving wearables space to, well, everything digital, these two play a very important role.

As John Gruber notes, the timing won’t allow Federighi and Cue to share details on the company’s announcements for WWDC. However, interviews with Eddy Cue are rare, and it will be interesting to see the duo address questions by Mossberg, Swisher, and the audience on stage.

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Jack for iTunes Connect→

New app by Christian Beer to compose and upload descriptions for iOS and OS X apps from your Mac to iTunes Connect.

Managing screenshots with drag & drop. Updating localizations without waiting for page loads. Add sale price intervals via a convenient date picker.

Jack uses the iTunes Connect Transporter tool to communicate with Apple’s backend, storing credentials securely in the OS X Keychain. If you’re a developer, Jack makes it easy to add and edit metadata for localization purposes, select pricing tiers, and manage screenshots with drag & drop from the Finder.

There are some limitations, but overall Jack looks like a handy utility to save time when managing app metadata in iTunes Connect. There’s a free trial (limited to 10 days and 2 uploads), and the app is 40% off until the end of April.

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Rdio To Start Offering Higher Quality Streams→

In a post published on their official blog last week, music streaming service Rdio has announced that they’ve started a conversion process to offer their entire catalog in higher quality:

As the initial step in this program, Rdio has begun to convert its entire existing catalog to the AAC format and will deliver 320KbPS as our new standard — without increasing our price. In addition, and as part of our ongoing commitment to the artist community, Rdio will work closely with artists and labels from around the world to continue to raise the bar higher on streaming quality where sufficient network bandwidth exists, and to improve stream delivery in markets around the world where network quality and bandwidth are often inconsistent.

Since its launch, Rdio has always streamed at a highest quality of 192kbps, with variable bitrates for mobile devices. Rdio is the latest music service to start offering 320kbps streams, as both Spotify and Beats Music already provide higher quality to paid subscribers (Beats Music included the option since day one).

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Apple Refreshes MacBook Air With Faster Processor, Cuts Prices In Some Countries

Apple this morning refreshed their MacBook Air models with the latest generation of Intel’s Haswell processors. The new processors give the MacBook Air a slight speed bump, taking them from 1.3GHz to 1.4GHz (and Turbo Boost from 2.6GHz to 2.7GHz). The refreshed models are otherwise the same, offering 128GB or 256GB storage, 4GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 5000. Built to order machine options are also unchanged, with upgrades of 8GB of RAM, 512GB storage and a 1.5GHz i7 Processor available.

“With MacBook Air starting at $899, there’s no reason to settle for anything less than a Mac,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Macs have never been more popular, and today we’ve boosted the performance and lowered the price of MacBook Air so even more people can experience the perfect everyday notebook.”

The four preconfigured models have all taken a $100 price cut in the United States - but those price cuts have not translated to every region, with Australia being one region where the prices of the models stay the same. But that can be explained by the recent weakness in the Australian dollar. The below graph illustrates the comparison between US prices and Australian prices, after converting the Australian prices to a 2014 average of the US Dollar and removing GST (which are included in the Australian prices).

The new MacBook Air models are available for purchase now. You can read Apple’s press release here.

The iPad, The Software, and The Screen

Following a lack of growth for the iPad line in Apple’s latest quarterly report, I’ve seen a number of articles suggest the idea that, in spite of Apple’s best efforts to establish a third product category between the smartphone and the laptop, the iPad is done. That people, after an initial fad of high iPad sales, are showing “no interest” in the tablet form factor because they’re now served well enough by laptops, desktop computers, and larger smartphones. I think that ascribing slower iPad sales in the past few quarters to a generalized lack of interest shows an understandable kernel of concern among tech writers, but also a misunderstanding of the iPad as a device.

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Tweet Library 2.5→

Manton Reece’s Tweet Library remains my favorite app to find old tweets from my account directly on iOS (it works with any Twitter Archive). Tweet Library isn’t a full-featured Twitter client: it does come with basic tweeting and timeline functionalities, but it’s made for retrieval of tweets and organization in collections.

This week, Manton released a 2.5 update that fixes bugs and adds a URL scheme to launch Tweet Library searches from other apps. The URL scheme makes it easy to trigger searches from Drafts and Launch Center Pro, and I’m also happy about the CSV export option for collections.

Here’s Manton on the update:

When I gave up on Twitter as a user, many people asked if I would abandon Tweet Library. I wasn’t sure at first, but the answer now is a clear “no”. In fact, since my last personal tweet in 2012, I’ve released new features and even redesigned the app for iOS 7.

But I do need to start consolidating my work on Tweet Library and Watermark, because the apps share so many concepts around archiving and search. To that end, this week I’m retiring tweetlibrary.com as a way to browse and publish collections. The site will now redirect to a special landing page on Watermark. Published collections from Tweet Library also go to a public page on Watermark.

Tweet Library is $4.99 on the App Store.

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The Past, Present And Future Of Apple’s Aqua User Interface→

Stephen Hackett:

Building a new operating system is a monumental challenge, and in January 2000 when Aqua was introduced, Apple was in the thick of the transition to OS X.

Beyond the staggering amount of development work taking place to smash Mac OS and NeXTSTEP together, Apple was hard at work on the user interface of OS X. But to understand what OS X would become (and how it would look), it’s important to remember where the company had been before.

Well-researched retrospective of Apple’s work on the Aqua interface over the years. I enjoyed the collection of screenshots and links, and it’ll be interesting to see where Apple will take Aqua with the next OS X.

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