This week, the boys discuss Nokia, Logic Pro X, tinkering, and re-evaluating workflows in light of new OS releases.
It was a fun episode and I liked the in-depth discussion on workflows and pasta-eating habits. I promise I will remember to properly record audio the next time (sorry for the poor quality on my end this week). You can get the episode here.
Savvy Apps’ Agenda, one of the most popular third-party calendar apps for iOS that we’ve been covering on MacStories for years, has been updated today to version 4.0, which adds a beautiful new user interface and builds upon the previous version’s app integrations, support for Reminders, and gesture-driven event management. Agenda 4.0 is sold as a separate app for $1.99 on the App Store.
I’ve had the chance to test Agenda 4.0 before today’s public release, and as I kept using the app I noticed how it was turning into a powerful complement to Fantastical, my favorite calendar client for iPhone. As I have discussed this week on The Prompt, in fact, I’m currently going through my annual re-evaluation of my workflow, and, partly because of my curiosity in regard to iOS 7, I’ve started using Apple’s Reminders on a daily basis again. Reminders are easy to use, the app is fast, and, more importantly, it’s one of the Apple apps that can sync in the background all the time with iCloud. I can integrate Reminders with IFTTT for iPhone, and, overall, I have been enjoying the simplicity and deep system-wide integration of Reminders. While I’m a big fan of Fantastical’s Day Ticker (I think it’s one of the best calendar interfaces ever shipped on iOS), Agenda allows me to view calendar events and reminders in the same list (something that Fantastical for iPhone still isn’t capable of), and with version 4.0 this list is even more polished and clear than Agenda 3.0. Read more
I don’t use WhatsApp much[1], but when I saw the app’s documentation last night with a mention of the URL scheme, I thought I could play around with it a little bit.
The WhatsApp URL scheme is extremely basic and there’s one part that I can’t get to work. The scheme itself is, unsurprisingly, whatsapp:// – which you can use from Launch Center Pro if you simply want to launch WhatsApp. There are also parameters to do stuff with the URL scheme: text lets you pass along a (properly encoded) text message that will be automatically inserted in the compose field of the app; abid lets you specificy an “Address Book ID” to send a message to a specific contact.
The WhatsApp team explains:
Address book ID of contact to start a chat with. If contact with this ID has only one whatsapp-able phone number, application will open a conversation with that contact. If contact with this ID has more than one whatsapp-able phone numbers, application will present a menu with all phone numbers available for chat. If contact has no whatsapp-able phone numbers, or contact with this ID does not exist, or this parameter is missing, application will present contact picker listing all contacts available for chat via WhatsApp.
I thought that something like the following URL would have let me send the text message “Test” to my contact “Alex”:
whatsapp://send?abid=Alex&text=Test
But, in practice, I wasn’t able to get the abid parameter to work. I have tried with phone numbers, percent-encoded names and phone numbers, email addresses, but I can’t get WhatsApp to recognize the abid parameter I pass along, as the app continues to present a contact picker. Therefore, for the purpose of this post, I will show you how to send text to WhatsApp, choosing a recipient from the app’s built-in contact picker. If you manage to get abid to work, please let me know. Read more
With a 2.0 update released today on the App Store, Google has brought Google Maps to the iPad, adding the enhancements and new features that the company announced last week.
Google Maps, first released in December 2012 following Apple’s apology for issues with their own iOS 6 Maps service, can now take advantage of improved navigation with accident information and live traffic reports whenever available; using Zagat and Offers, Google Maps can now recommend the best places around you with reviews and exclusive deals; for selected areas, Google Maps features indoor mapping for malls, train stations, and airports.
Results for businesses are displayed on a grid that shows inline photo previews, distance from your current location, and total amount of available reviews; tapping on a result brings up a dedicated page with buttons to save, share (via Message, Mail, or Clipboard), get directions, see Street View, and view photos.
The app now puts more focus on discovering places to “eat, drink, sleep, and shop” with a new card-based layout that aims at simplifying the process of finding nearby businesses. As we expected, Maps for iPad follows Google’s relaunched web app and client for Android tablets in the way it displays large, full-screen map views with search boxes and “cards” on the left side of the screen to find places, see suggestions, and preview directions. A list button in the top left corner of the app allows you to view Traffic and Public Transit information (if available for your area); directions are displayed in a floating card with alternate routes stacked directly below it. Overall, the iPad app is consistent with the design language and animations of the iPhone app and redesigned web experience.
It’s also possible to cache a portion of a map for offline usage (what Google calls “pre-loading”). Simply zoom into an area, and search for “OK Maps” to activate the command that will tell the app to save a cache of the currently displayed area. In my tests, this indeed enabled me to load cached areas with no Internet connection available – without, however, being able to use search or anything else. Also, if you try to save larger areas with the “OK Maps” command, Google will warn you that the map is too large for pre-loading.
Google Maps 2.0 is available on the App Store.
A clever idea by Steve Streza: Ohai is a journal app that uses your App.net account to safely store photos and places you’ve checked in.
Ohai has a simple and delightful interface to flip through pages (days) of your journal with a timeline layout that makes it easy to add new places (with optional photos and personal comments). Ohai isn’t a full-featured diary app like Day One, but instead puts the focus on saving check-ins in a private journal that doesn’t force you to share where you’ve been.
Streza isn’t new to leveraging App.net’s service for building more than Twitter-like clients, and Ohai is another great example of the versatility of App.net’s APIs and file storage. Streza highlights one of the benefits of implementing the App.net API on his personal blog:
One other cool benefit of using App.net for the backend is that the data specification is publicly available. This means other developers could build apps that recognize your journal. So, if the developer of your favorite camera app adds support for Ohai journals, they could save those photos into your journal. Then, the next time you open Ohai, those photos are available. Other developers could build journaling apps for other platforms like Android, or even write competitive apps for iPhone. You as the user would not have to export your data and re-import it; it would just all appear when you logged in. It’s a wonderful deal for customers to have no lock-in at all, with open data standards for interoperability.
Ohai is $4.99 on the App Store.
David Smith wonders whether today’s release of Logic Pro X as a new app sold at full price is the best explanation of Apple’s stance on upgrade pricing to date:
I’d say that this is the best indication of Apple’s intentions and expectations for the App Stores going forward. I wouldn’t expect anything like upgrade pricing to appear in the Stores. It seems like the message is to either give your upgrades to your customers as free updates or to launch a new app and charge everyone again. Neither approach is perfect but I am now very confident that this is the going to be the situation for the foreseeable future.
This is an issue that I’ve long debated with my teammates and developer friends. As someone who’s used to seeing upgrade pricing in Mac apps sold outside of the Mac App Store, I would welcome the addition of built-in upgrade pricing to the App Store. However, on the other end of the spectrum, our Gabe Glick neatly summed up Apple’s possible motivations last year:
Developers and longtime computer users may be used to the shareware, time trial, pay-full-price-once-upgrade-cheaply-forever model of buying and selling software, but regular people, the mass market that Apple continues to court first and foremost, aren’t. Adding demos (“I thought this app was free, but now it’s telling me I have to pay to keep using it? What a ripoff!”) and paid upgrades (“Wait, I bought this app last year and now I have to pay again to keep using it? Screw that!”) would introduce a layer of confusion and make buying an app a more arduous process, which would result in people buying fewer apps.
Today’s release of Logic Pro X is just another data point and it may not necessarily be conclusive, but I believe it further suggests how Apple sees the process of releasing major upgrades to Mac apps. It’ll be interesting to see if Apple will ever do the same for its (cheaper) iOS apps, though.
A clear and concise overview of the changes in Logic Pro X. Make sure to watch the 17-minute demo of the new Drummer feature.
Apple today launched Logic Pro X, a major new version of Logic Pro that includes hundreds of new features, new instruments and effects, and a free iPad companion app called Logic Remote that takes advantage of multi-touch to integrate with Logic Pro X.
The standout features of Logic Pro X are Drummer (a virtual session player that automatically plays along a song in a variety of styles), Flex Pitch (an editor for individual notes in a waveform to fix out-of-tune vocals or recorded audio), Track Stacks (organize multiple tracks into one), Smart Controls, and Arpeggiator.
Apple is detailing the new functionalities in a press release and will launch later today a webpage for Logic Pro X.
Logic Pro X provides a collection of new creative tools for songwriting and music production. Drummer delivers professionally produced, realistic drum tracks that respond to your direction and can perform millions of unique grooves in rock, alternative, songwriter and R&B genres. Drummer is powered by the performances and sounds of some of the industry’s top session players and recording engineers, including legendary mixer/producer Bob Clearmountain, who has worked with the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie. Designed to work with Drummer, the new Drum Kit Designer plug-in lets you build your own custom kit using a diverse collection of professionally recorded snare drums, toms, hi-hats and cymbals that you can mix, match and fine tune to get the right drum sound for your song.
Logic Remote, available for free on the App Store, allows users to record, mix, and even play Logic’s instruments directly on the iPad using multi-touch. Compatible with the iPad 2, iPad mini and later and requiring iOS 6 and Logic Pro X, Logic Remote can navigate inside Logic projects, control recordings remotely, act as a second screen for the Logic’s documentation (Smart Help) on the Mac, and also remotely trigger Logic Pro X key commands with customizable buttons. Users can mix Logic sessions from the iPad, or play instruments such as a piano keyboard, guitar fretboard, drum pads and drum kit, adding the Arpeggiator plugin to any instrument.
Logic Pro X is now available on the Mac App Store for $199.99. Logic Remote is free on the App Store, and Apple has also released MainStage 3, a live performance companion app for Logic Pro X, on the Mac App Store for $29.99.
OmniFocus for iPhone was updated today to include a background location sync feature previously seen in apps like Downcast, Instapaper, and CameraSync.
Users can now leverage iOS’ geofencing to tell OmniFocus to sync its online database in the background and automatically whenever they enter or leave a specific location. There’s a new Background Sync screen in the settings where locations can be configured, which works similarly to Instapaper’s one. Unlike CameraSync, I wasn’t able to receive a local notification when I left or arrived at a location that triggered background sync.
The Omni Group is undoubtedly looking at iOS 7’s new background app refresh options, but, until then, this is a nice (and common) workaround.
