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Getting Safari’s Selection on iPad As HTML With A JavaScript Bookmarklet→

I modified this bookmarklet posted by “Tim Down” on StackOverflow to send selected text from Safari to Drafts as HTML. The result is the following code:

javascript:(function(){var%20h="",s,g,c,i;if(window.getSelection){s=window.getSelection();if(s.rangeCount){c=document.createElement("div");for(i=0;i<s.rangeCount;++i){c.appendChild(s.getRangeAt(i).cloneContents());}h=c.innerHTML}}else%20if((s=document.selection)&&s.type=="Text"){h=s.createRange().htmlText;}window.location='drafts://x-callback-url/create?text='+(h);})()

So let’s say you want to grab the first paragraph in this post. Normally, in Safari for iPad you’d end up with the plain text fetched by window.getSelection:

This is a fantastic report with lots of data points for any developer trying to get their apps featured by Apple. Dave Addey’s highly interactive regional graphs and notes are very well done. Be sure to check out Dave Addey’s other works on his main blog.

As you can see, formatting and hyperlinks have been removed. With the bookmarklet above, you’ll receive the HTML version of the selection – which looks like this. But what’s the point?

My idea was that I wanted to be able to automate the process of capturing rich text from iOS’ Safari; I wanted to achieve the same kind of functionality I have on the Mac, where rich text can be dragged from Safari or Chrome and dropped into Evernote, preserving styles, hyperlinks, and images. I thought that combining HTML output with an Evernote Append action (with the “Send as Markdown HTML” option turned on) would let me receive valid HTML content in Evernote starting from an iOS workflow. And, for the most part, I was right, because the workflow does mostly work.

As it turns out, Evernote is extremely cautious with the HTML tags they accept, and the ones that are supported follow the XHTML guidelines as ENML is a superset of XHTML. This means that my bookmarklet will work for something as simple as selecting a single paragraph, but may easily fail with multiple selections, inline images, complex styles, and so forth. When that will happen, Drafts will return an error when trying to append HTML to Evernote; obviously, this will work just fine with Dropbox, which doesn’t care about the kind of text you’re using in your actions. Even better, this should work very well with Textastic’s just-released update that supports x-callback-url.

I guess the solution would be to build a Pythonista-based converter for Evernote-approved XHTML tags and place it between Safari and Drafts, converting HTML tags Evernote won’t like to compatible ones. If you’re interested, my birthday is August 10.

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The Apps That Get Featured in the App Store→

Over the past few months, I’ve been researching the kinds of apps that get featured on the iOS App Store home page for different countries around the world. I’ve posted my initial findings as an online report with dynamic graphs and analysis.

This is a fantastic report with lots of data points for any developer trying to get their apps featured by Apple. Dave Addey’s highly interactive regional graphs and notes are very well done. Be sure to check out Dave Addey’s other works on his main blog.

The most interesting data point involves free vs. paid apps. It’s not really surprising in hindsight, but there’s a much higher number of apps that were free when they were featured compared to ones that had paid features. The exceptions seem to be books and productivity apps.

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Some Thoughts on an Entry Level iPhone

This could have been a footnote in my comments on OS X adoption, but I wanted to return to iOS adoption and elaborate on one comment I made about being able to upgrade easily since people likely have a recent iPhone. Apple is seeing some interesting things happening with their most affordable iPhone.

Tim Cook noted that the iPhone 4 was in constraint for the entire quarter during Apple’s first fiscal conference call for 2013. Again, during the second conference call, Tim Cook talked about the popularity of the iPhone 4 in China, Apple’s biggest emerging market with the most potential for revenue.

China has an unusually high number of first time smartphone buyers. We’ve seen significant interest in iPhone 4 there and recently made it even more affordable to make it more attractive to those first time buyers.

It turns out that the free iPhone 4 is still popular. Not only as a free phone on contract, but also as a first phone for customers in emerging markets. In developed markets, it seems that early adopters and people who love their iPhones tend to get the latest new thing, while people who just want a nice phone or can’t justify the upfront expense end up getting an iPhone that’s more affordable, but otherwise still workable and current as it supports the latest version of iOS. How many other phone makers have a free phone that has luxury materials like steel and glass, has the latest operating system, and has a great quality camera? You’re guaranteed a quality product that just works, for free, even though the phone is a few years old. That’s remarkable.

Every year, Apple reduces the price of last year’s entry iPhones by a hundred dollars, meaning that this year’s free iPhone would end up as the iPhone 4S if Apple follows the same pattern. It’s a great phone with a great camera and good all around battery life, and iOS 7 will be available for it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t the case this year.

I don’t know anything about what Apple has in store for their next iPhone announcement, but there’s currently a lot of speculation surrounding a cheap plastic iPhone. I think it’s certainly plausible that Apple would not only release a new flagship iPhone, but a new entry level iPhone as well. But why?

I wouldn’t correlate Apple’s entry level iPhone as cheap, but rather as more affordable, as I imagine it costs significantly less to produce a high quality build not dissimilar from the iPhone 3GS than a phone made of glass. In emerging markets, and even here in the United States, I can’t imagine that the iPhone 4 is a cost effect phone to produce at the prices Apple wants to sell it for. The press talks about there being demand for phones with bigger screens, but there’s clear and evident demand for a free iPhone and Apple wants to capture the attention of the markets that are asking for it. A CIRP survey notes that about half of total worldwide iPhone sales consisted of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S as of March, thanks in part to the success of the iPhone 4 in China and possibly related to Apple’s 25% price reduction in markets like Brazil.

The iPhone 3GS was a phone that kept receiving the latest iOS updates for a long time, but didn’t always have all of the features. The iPhone 4 and 4S are going to end up in the same boat, where they’ll run iOS 7, but will lack some of its more commendable features since the phones aren’t powerful enough. Part of me thinks that an entry level iPhone will be very much like an iPod touch with an antenna, with hardware that’s capable enough to run all of iOS 7’s features, is better than the any last generation iPhone, but won’t compare to what’s inside Apple’s flagship offering. This is a good thing — it means more and more people will have access to Apple’s latest software and the latest apps from the App Store.

Talking about iPods, it’s a market that’s still there but isn’t as prevalent as it used to be. The iPod isn’t as relevant since more and more people are listening to music on their iPhones and on demand, and I think young people in particular aren’t finding them as attractive or necessary. iPods will stick around, but Apple can better tailor an entry level iPhone to come in fun colors with fun marketing for people who are looking to have the coolest and latest thing that might not be a flagship, but is free[1] compared to an iPod touch and would fit well within a family plan.

Apple is also currently in the process of making three big transitions. The first is the move to the 4-inch Retina display, which started with the iPhone 5. The second is the move to the Lightning port which also started with the iPhone 5, the Lightning cable being skinnier and much easier to use than the previous 30-pin connector found on today’s iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S. The third is the transition to LTE. If Apple is looking to phase in their latest technologies, the best way to do it would be to phase out the glass iPhones by introducing a new entry level model that would give the low end phone the same advantages of the flagship phone. Having a new screen size phased in means good things for developers, and phasing in the Lightning connector at a faster pace means good things for Apple since they only have to produce one cable, and it’s also good for accessory makers targeting the latest iPhone owners. As of right now, the only phone that supports LTE is the iPhone 5. A new flagship phone would have it, but that would leave the iPhone 4S stuck on 3G and HSPDA unless Apple does a quiet internal update.

The press will try to spin the launch of an entry level iPhone as Apple’s way of fighting back against cheaper Android phones, as a way to gain ground over a competitor that’s supposedly winning the smartphone market. I think Apple isn’t interested in this, but rather in making an affordable phone that meets people’s expectations of quality in an Apple product. And if Apple can give you something that’s even better than an iPhone 4 or 4S at the same price, in addition to becoming possibly even more affordable in emerging markets, then that only means good things for consumers.

  1. I would expect the phone to be free, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if you could buy it unsubsidized. The United States is a huge market for Apple, though I don’t know how it’d be an attractive option over a subsidized flagship phone if you were on a carrier that wasn’t T-Mobile. It could be a much more popular option in European markets where it’s more common to buy the phone outright. ↩︎

Twitter for iOS Adds DM Sync, Twitter for Mac Updated with Connect Timeline→

In an update released today, Twitter brought direct message sync to its official iOS app. As explained by the company in the release notes, reading a DM in Twitter for iOS will now automatically mark it as read in Twitter for Mac, the Twitter website (both desktop and mobile versions), TweetDeck, and Twitter for Android.

It’s not clear whether DM sync will ever be made available for third-party developers through the API; right now, it’s a nice plus for users who receive several direct messages on a daily basis and use the official Twitter apps. It’ll also be interesting to see if Twitter will eventually consider syncing timeline position across apps – something that third-party apps like Tweetbot and Twitterrific are capable of using solutions like iCloud or Tweet Marker.

Twitter for Mac has also been updated to version 2.3 today, adding a Connect timeline for viewing tweets that have been retweeted or favorited, as well as new followers. Interactions can be viewed with notifications in real time, and the app also supports DM sync.

Last, in a blog post, Twitter details the search improvements they’ve made to simplify user discovery and retrieve new tweets:

For Android, iPhone, iPad and mobile.twitter.com, we’re making more improvements to search results. Now when you search for people on Twitter, you may see an expanded user result that shows a full bio. This account preview makes it easier and faster to find and learn more about the accounts you’re looking for. And if you swipe the preview to the left, you’ll find similar accounts –– for example, if you search for the MLB, you’ll see suggestions for ESPN, Ken Rosenthal, and other MLB-related accounts. Additionally, a new in-app indicator in search results will show you when there are new Tweets for your query, making it easier for you to stay up to date on the latest Twitter conversation.

Twitter 5.8 is available on the App Store; Twitter for Mac 2.3 is available on the Mac App Store.

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Apple Celebrates 5 Years of App Store With Free App Promotion, Timeline

Ahead of the App Store’s fifth anniversary on Wednesday, July 10, Apple has launched a new promotion that includes five “groundbreaking” iOS apps and five “landmark” iOS games; these apps will be available for free for a limited time to celebrate the first five years of App Store. Apple has posted an official page with links to download the apps and games on iTunes.

From the 500 apps available at launch in 2008 to the more than 900,000 at your fingertips today, it’s been a remarkably prolific five years for the App Store. To celebrate, we’re giving everyone five landmark games and five groundbreaking apps for a limited time. Plus, look back at the key moments that have made the App Store the world’s most innovative destination for apps.

The apps and games picked by Apple include Day One (a journaling application with an OS X counterpart that was named “Mac App of the Year” in 2012), award-winning game Badland, Infinity Blade II, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Over, and Traktor DJ. Read more

Enhancing Reminders with AppleScript and Macros

As The Omni Group keeps working on OmniFocus 2 for Mac and Apple continues seeding new betas of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks to developers, I have been reconsidering Reminders’ simplicity and enjoying the built-in iCloud sync, which, unlike other types of iCloud, is working fine for me. However, two things I miss from OmniFocus are the possibility to integrate the app with a web browser through bookmarklets and the system-wide Quick Entry panel; I use both tools on a daily basis to easily save a browser’s tab into OmniFocus’ Inbox, or to bring up a text field where I can jot down an idea and know that, no matter the app I’m using, it’ll be saved into OmniFocus. Luckily for me, Apple’s Reminders app comes with a good AppleScript Dictionary, which is likely something that Reminders’ core mainstream audience won’t ever care about, but that we can leverage to extend the app’s capabilities and input areas beyond Mountain Lion’s leather-and-paper window.

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Will OS X Mavericks be Free?→

Thomas Brand of Egg Freckles commenting on Mountain Lion’s adoption rate and whether OS X Mavericks will be free following a discussion from the Accidental Tech Podcast:

A free mavericks sounds temping towards encouraging adoption, but I suspect Apple won’t change the price of the next version of OS X. As John points out any price above free can still be seen as an obstacle, and although Apple doesn’t need the money there is no point leaving it on the table. Marco also makes the point that Macs last a lot longer than their iOS counterparts, contributing to the overall Mac user base longer. And until Apple improves the upgrade process so that it is worry-free there will always be a hesitation over upgrading. With automatic application updates on the horizon for the next version of OS X, it appears as if Apple is taking the right steps towards worry-free, zero-cost, operating system updates. Just don’t count on Mavericks catching the wave this time around.

The first Mac I purchased and the Mac I’m still using is a polycarbonate MacBook, a laptop that’s been far surpassed by today’s MacBook Airs, yet still a computer that has plenty of life in it and is certainly capable enough for writing and browsing the net. It’s going to be a five year old computer this year, but I’m not sure if I’m really ready for another big purchase. Lion is the latest OS that will run on my machine, although I’m mostly content with that.

Upgrading an iPhone every two years is easy. It isn’t terribly expensive considering that most of us have two-year contracts and pay a subsidized fee for the phone every two years in the United States. Having the latest iPhone every couple of years, if you care, isn’t difficult when you’re already on a carrier’s schedule. The iOS adoption rate is pretty high because people usually have the latest iPhone or a pretty recent one and iOS software updates are pretty comparable to app updates.

Even upgrading an iPad every year or two isn’t too hard on the wallet when you can turn around and sell last-year’s model on eBay for a decent price. I’m handing down my iPads to my family who wants them or needs them, my first generation iPad still getting plenty of use elsewhere. I imagine iOS 7 will run just fine on my third generation iPad.

Buying a new Mac every couple of years isn’t cheap, and although Apple does the best job by far of having both a well rounded choice of computers and easy to understand configurations, it’s still a tough choice as it’s an investment and not a gadget. I think that’s sometimes hard to get across when we work around developers who want or need the latest Macs to get their jobs done, or other tech journalists who have to have the latest stuff just because, but honestly I think most people purchase a Mac with the intent of using it for a long time. If that means it can’t run the latest version of OS X, oh well I guess.

I think Thomas’ assumptions are correct in that people are generally hesitant to upgrade, more so when the press makes a big deal about the Mac App Store and 3rd party apps, Lion’s and Mountain Lion’s upgrade process, and the lack of real installation media. I wonder if it’s a combination of Windows stigmas for new Mac users and people who just don’t want to mess with something that works. Maybe people don’t understand how easy the upgrade process really is if they’re applicable. I also wonder if people feel there’s any real reason to upgrade Lion or Mountain Lion if they’re on Snow Leopard, provided that there are few visual changes or new and shiny things where people can really see the difference. I’d say the best feature in Mountain Lion is Power Nap, but only select MacBooks can take advantage of it and it’s not something you can really show off. Plus, how much press attention does OS X or new MacBooks get on any given day? iPhones, iPads, and iOS 7 are the hot things right now.

Then there’s the price. I don’t think Mavericks will be free either, but I’m not sure it would matter much either way. I think adoption will stay the pace — people who want to upgrade their Macs will upgrade no matter what. Apple will still have old Macs to contend with, people who fear the process, and people who don’t care as much about staying up to date on their Macs when they’re really not utilizing the Mac App Store and just their web browser and something like iPhoto. If apps like Notes and Reminders and didn’t get a large swath of people to upgrade to Mountain Lion, will people want to upgrade to Mavericks for iBooks and Maps? Especially when Maps got such negative attention in iOS 6? I don’t think they’re killer apps but they’re very to nice to have. I do think that if Mavericks’ power saving features work out and get lots of positive attention from the press, and last generation Macs actually get better battery life as a result, it will be a much more attractive upgrade since that’s a huge benefit. People like me might even finally buy a new Mac as a result.

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Automating Mail Signatures and Senders with AppleScript and Keyboard Maestro

Mail Keyboard Maestro

Mail Keyboard Maestro

I’m aware of the fact that it’s a common trend to call email a “nightmare” these days, but the truth is – email works for me. I have multiple addresses set up, I have my filters and smart folders to automate the process of filing and finding emails, and I’m enjoying the renewed interest of iOS developers in building email apps that solve old problems in new ways. But there is one thing I don’t like: Apple’s Mail app and how many clicks it takes to switch between configured accounts and signatures. As you can guess, I came up with a way to automate the process using AppleScript and (optionally) Keyboard Maestro.

I receive several messages every day to different email addresses, but I always want to reply with the same address and the same signature. Apple’s Mail app makes it easy to see all messages sent to all accounts with the unified Inbox, but it makes it surprisingly hard to set default accounts and signatures that should always be treated as, well, default ones. I don’t want to click on menus for accounts and signatures: I want to hit ⌘R and receive a new Reply window with the account and signature I want already set. Read more