This Week's Sponsor:

Textastic

The Powerful Code Editor for iPad and iPhone — Now Free to Try

Clear For Mac Coming Next Week with iCloud Sync, Updated iPhone App

Todo app Clear, developed by Impending, Helftone, and Realmac Software, has been one of the most successful and discussed iOS releases of the year. With a simple and clever user interface design, Impending and Realmac made Clear distinctive in its looks and purpose: it’s a todo app, without the fiddling required to get a personalized setup and workflow in most todo apps. With its focus on simplicty, gestures, and delightful interaction, Clear was refreshingly honest.

In our original review, Cody mentioned how Clear, unlike other apps, took a different approach in regards to displaying tasks and navigation:

I mention color and sound as a replacement for time and due dates because there’s a distinct tradeoff in emotional impact. Setting duration and due dates can bring about feelings of anxiety. What I think Clear tries to do is reward its users for recognizing the need to successfully complete tasks. Colors play a distinct role in being both fun and tailored to the user’s personality (there are multiple themes to choose from). Sounds are rewarding and deliver a pleasant symphony of chimes when completing tasks. The combination of the two in addition to gestures make Clear engaging to use and solidifies the experience.

Today, Realmac and Impending are announcing Clear for Mac, an obvious next step for the app. While the new version isn’t available today, I’ve been able to test a beta of the app, and I can confirm that the essence of Clear’s experience has been ported to the Mac without making it feel extraneous to OS X. I’ll elaborate further on this thought in my future review.

Clear for Mac works like Clear for iPhone: you can create lists, and tasks inside lists. Tasks are color-coded (according to the theme you’re using) to show a darker tone if they’re at the top of a list, and thus have higher priority. Gestures play an important role in Clear for Mac: you can swipe with two fingers to complete or delete a task, swipe up or down to move between “levels” of the interface, pinch to go back, and so forth. From what you can see in the first promo video (embedded below), almost everything that made Clear for iPhone simple and great has been ported to the Mac version, including sounds.

There’s some new stuff, too. There’s iCloud sync, for instance, which will make Clear Mountain Lion-only. iCloud sync will require the 1.2 version of Clear for iPhone, which isn’t out yet and will require iOS 6. For the Mac version, Realmac and Impending also worked on features that leverage the OS X platform, such as keyboard shortcuts; on the other hand, Clear for iPhone 1.2 is gaining a new gesture to quickly move between lists, and a new way to paste items from other apps into a list.

Overall, Clear feels at home as a Mac app, but I’ll save my thoughts for a proper review next week.

Clear for Mac will launch at $14.99 on November 8th alongside Clear for iPhone 1.2. Check out the official promo video after the break. Read more

The Future of iOS→

The Future of iOS

Kyle Baxter writes about the future of iOS from a functionality standpoint. He uses his app Basil as an example for what better communication between installed apps could lead to:

For example, Basil could declare that it handles web URLs. Then, I could build the recipe saving feature of Basil as a mini application (stored in Basil) that users can use from any other application that deals with the web. If someone who uses Basil is browsing recipe websites in Safari, they could tap a “Basil” icon in the action sheet, and my mini application would pop up, save the recipe to Basil and get out of the way—all without the user ever leaving Safari. The same could be true for Reeder (save recipes from cooking websites you subscribe to while browsing your feeds), Twitter applications, or anything else—and those developers wouldn’t have to know that Basil even exists.

This is a shared sentiment among developers. In my interview with Loren Brichter, the man behind atebits said there will be an “explosion in innovation” when Apple will allow XPC (the technology Kyle refers to) to work with third-party apps – more specifically, he mentioned “faceless apps, doing neat things for you in the background without presenting any UI and using minimal hardware resources”.

This is a subject I’ve been writing about for the past two years as well. In using my iPad as my main “computer” regularly every week, I have come to the conclusion that what I’m missing from the Mac isn’t multiple windows – it’s the glue that allows apps to work together in harmony. Maybe it’s a service to send text from Safari to Evernote. Or perhaps a simple script that puts a Mail message into OmniFocus. This kind of trusted, efficient communication between apps is what I’m really looking forward to seeing on iOS. This is why we should be excited for the future: it feels like we’ve only scratched the surface with third-party software on iOS.

Read Kyle’s post here. See also: Ole Begemann’s series on Remote View Controllers.

Permalink

Google Voice Search for iOS: Not A Siri Competitor, Still A Solid App

Earlier today, Google released an update to its Search app for iOS (a longtime favorite of mine both on the iPhone and iPad) to include an “Improved Voice Search” experience. Apparently, the app had been submitted a while ago, but Apple approved it this week.

The new Voice Search of the app may seem Siri-like in terms of overall concept. Essentially, it allows you to ask questions in natural language without typing, and get results back. I took some time to test the app, and, in actual usage, the scope is considerably different from Apple’s Siri, at least for now. And, at the same time, the technology behind it is much different. Read more

iTunes 11 Delayed To November→

iTunes 11 Delayed To November


As reported by AllThingsD, an Apple spokesperson has confirmed iTunes 11, expected by the end of October, has been delayed until November.

The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right. We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface, and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.

Originally announced at the iPhone 5 event on September 12, the new iTunes features a new edge-to-edge design that is reminiscent of the Music app for iPad. iTunes 11 also brings popovers that present a drop down of upcoming songs, and improved search results as you filter through music in your library. One of the big new features is expanded view, which lets users see all the songs of an album in place without opening a different view. The background of an album in expanded view is automatically generated by iTunes based on the item’s artwork.

iTunes 11 will also add iCloud integration, a new Up Next feature, a redesigned MiniPlayer, and more. In a preview available online, Apple is showcasing some of the new design choices and functionalities of iTunes 11, but it’s still unclear how the app will handle other media such as apps, books, or podcasts.

Check out Apple’s official preview of Tunes 11 here.

Permalink

Automatic Screenshot Uploading with Dropbox and Automator→

Automatic Screenshot Uploading with Dropbox and Automator

Matteo Agosti figured out a simple yet effective way to upload items to your Dropbox Public folder and automatically receive their URLs in the clipboard: Automator.

After long time using various utilities to automatically share my screen shots when I updated to Montain Lion I had to find another solution as many of them stopped working. It came to my mind that OS X is bundled with Automator, an extremely powerful utility that I always relegated to thumbnails generation. So I decided to give it a try and I eventually made it. That’s how I did.

His folder action is extremely simple: it monitors a folder, filters items that begin with “Screen Shot” and that are images, then moves them to your Dropbox Public folder. By using your unique Dropbox ID, it places a link in the clipboard guessing what the final URL will look like; the URL is made of the standard initial “dropbox.com/u/” portion combined with a URL-encoded version of the file’s name.

The obvious downside is that this workflow isn’t directly communicating (i.e. uploading) with Dropbox: it’s simply moving files and composing the link that you will get once the upload is finished. In my tests, for instance, the URL received by the workflow became available after 10-20 seconds – when the Dropbox app actually finished uploading the file. After that, the URL was indeed correct.

Still, if you’re looking for a simple way to upload public Dropbox files and get a link back, you should check out Matteo’s post.

Permalink

Brief Thoughts and Questions On Apple’s Changes

It’s unclear whether today’s news of a major shake-up at Apple will reveal its actual effects a few months from now, many months from now, or at next year’s new product announcements in the Fall. I’d say WWDC would be a good stage to introduce “the new Apple”.

Rumors of internal struggles between the “political” Scott Forstall have been floating around for quite some time, and we just don’t know whether today’s press release was just that – a press release – or the result of more internal fights. We don’t know for how long this move has been in the works. But I’ll point out the precise timing of the announcement: it comes after the release of iOS 6, the iPhone 5, new iPod products, new Macs, the iPad mini, and an earnings call. It allows Apple to formally mention the efforts of a new executive line-up at a record-setting (per the company’s own guidance) holiday quarter. Coincidentally, as the US market is closing tomorrow due to Sandy, it gives Apple (and analysts and investors) an extra day to properly digest the news. I also guess this explains why Forstall didn’t give a demo at the iPad mini event. He’s being pushed out; I’m curious about timing.

That said, I have some questions. Think of the following list as a collection of thoughts following Apple PR’s announcement; I believe this is, for many reasons, one of the biggest changes to happen at Apple since the release of the original iPhone. It’s a major milestone for where the company is going from here. Read more

Major Changes at Apple: Scott Forstall Leaving, Jony Ive To Lead Human Interface Across Company

With a press release published a few minutes ago, Apple announced major changes in the structure of the company. The big news is that SVP of iOS Software Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple in 2013, with SVP of Industrial Design Jony Ive taking over to “provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company”. Forstall will stay on as an “advisor” to CEO Tim Cook in the meantime; Forstall joined Apple in 1997 coming from NeXT, and he was later promoted to Senior Vice President in 2003.

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.

But there’s a lot more in Apple’s official statement: essentially, in the coming months Apple will undergo major changes in several aspects of its internal structure, both in terms of executive leadership and teams. Bob Mansfield, who announced his retirement earlier this year but then decided to stay at Apple, will lead a new Technologies group:

Bob Mansfield will lead a new group, Technologies, which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization, fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level. This organization will also include the semiconductor teams, who have ambitious plans for the future.

Craig Federighi, recently promoted to SVP of Mac Software Engineering, will go on to lead both the iOS and OS X groups:

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X. Apple has the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems, and this move brings together the OS teams to make it even easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.

Additionally, head of Services Eddy Cue will take over responsibilities for Maps and Siri, and John Browett, Apple’s head of Retail, will be leaving the company as well. Notably, Browett was hired only ten months ago, but he’s been criticized for many of his recent decisions in Apple’s retail operations.

CEO Tim Cook was quotes in the press release:

The amazing products that we’ve introduced in September and October, iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our applications, could only have been created at Apple and are the direct result of our relentless focus on tightly integrating world-class hardware, software and services

The focus of the statement is, in fact, a tighter integration of hardware, software, and services. Read more