I haven't posted anything substantial on dot info in months. Priorities change and this blog has become less of a priority. I still want (and love) to write, but I feel that if my writing is going to be sporadic, I am better off writing on Medium.
I am still going to maintain my about page and will continue to co-host Diagnostics & Usage on 5by5. But when inspriation strikes and I want to write, it won't be here anymore. This is my last post on dot info. Follow me here on Medium. I hope to post something soon.
Thanks to everyone who has read my work on dot info.
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A look at some of our favorite games and utilities for the Apple TV.
The App Store for tvOS has grown rapidly in the short time since its release, and weāve become fond of few great apps that go beyond your normal options like Netflix, HBO Now, and Hulu. Weāve put together a list of our favorites.
I wrote about some cool Apple TV apps for The Sweet Setup.
TV consumption used to be fundamental. Before streaming services and over-the-top boxes, you would pick a cable package with a set number of television channels. To find out when your favorite show was on, you either purchased a TV Guide, flipped to a channel and stared at a scrolling list, or most recently, accessed an ā¦
TV consumption used to be fundamental. Before streaming services and over-the-top boxes, you would pick a cable package with a set number of television channels. To find out when your favorite show was on, you either purchased a TV Guide, flipped to a channel and stared at a scrolling list, or most recently, accessed an interactive guide via a cable box.
But now, with cord-cutting becoming more popular and hit shows releasing exclusively on streaming services like Netflix, to find out whatās available, when itās available, and what episode you are on could become a time-consuming chore. This is where a TV tracker app can be of help.
This week on the podcast, Joshua and Joe are joined by special guest Cody Coats of the Diagnostics & Usage podcast. They discuss TechTonicās new music theme, D&Uās cover art redesign, Twitterās 10,000 character limit, and the future of all things innovative they expect for 2016. They highlight virtual reality, augmented reality, drones for everyone, wiser messaging apps, voice operated devices and wireless chargers. Show Notes & Links Diagnostics & Usage podcast cover art @CodyCoats Diagnostics and Usage podcast āiPod Videoā player, the 5th generation iPod Classic The ways of video podcasting Civilization V @JoeCaiati Apple Store, West 14th Street, N.Y. Notes.app: Everyoneās favorite Twitter extender The mostly abandoned App.net What 10,000 characters looks like @DaUShow introduces the new cover art Announcing the New Cover Art for Diagnostics & Usage Time-lapse video of Diagnostics and Usageās cover art redesign Marco Arment talked about podcasting and blogging on ATP Article from WSJ: āTech that will change your life in 2016ā CES 2016 Remember the Amazon Kindle? Sonyās Morpheus headset The Oculus for Xbox The Hololensā augmented reality Twitch.TV Facebook Messenger iOS app āSiri, are you serious?ā Cortana iOS app Samsung EP-PG920IBUGUS Wireless Charging Pad Mobee Inductive Charger for Apple Magic Mouse Find us online: TechTonic.fm If you dig the show, leave us an iTunes review: TechTonic podcast on iTunes Weād love to correspond by way of old-fashioned email: [email protected] Get better acquainted with us on Twitter: @TechTonicFM @_JoeDarnell @JosuaPeiffer
This week on the podcast, Joshua and Joe are joined by special guest Cody Coats of the Diagnostics & Usage podcast. They discuss TechTonicās new music theme, D&Uās cover art redesign, Twitterās 10,000 character limit, and the future of all things innovative they expect for 2016. They highlight virtual reality, augmented reality, drones for everyone, wiser messaging apps, voice operated devices and wireless chargers.
Announcing the New Cover Art for Diagnostics & Usage
When Cody and I decided that we wanted to start a tech podcast, there was uncertainty: Would we have good chemistry on the show? Would we find an audience? Would we record more than a few episodes? Fortunately, the answer to those questions were all yes which led to the amazing opportunity to join 5by5. But before episode one of Diagnostics & Usage was recorded, we needed cover art.
When it comes to apps like Photoshop and Pixelmator, I know enough to be dangerous. Even though I'm far from a skilled graphic designer, I decided that I would try to create our cover art for the show and after several revisions in collaboration with Cody, we came up with this.
Looking back on it now, the design has much room for improvement, but at the time it was sufficient enough for us to start recording.
Then we met Joe Darnell. If you are a listener of the show, you may remember Joe from a few of our past episodes. Joe is a talented human being. In his spare time, he hosts multiple podcasts and writes on his website. But what you may not know is that he is a designer for a living.
When Joe reached out to us about the possibility of him giving our cover art a re-design, we were delighted to see what he could come up with. Over the course of a few weeks, Joe worked closely with Cody and I showing us different cover art concepts. Each concept had redeeming and unique qualities, but after reviewing them thoroughly, we chose our favorite elements from each. As the final revision drew near, Joe tweaked colors and object placement upon our request and when we were shown the final product, it was clear to us that this was one of the nicest podcast cover art we've seen.1
We proudly present to you our new cover art for Diagnostics & Usage:
Since I'm not the best at describing the design process, Joe Darnell has produced a great time-lapse video about creating the new design:
We want to give a huge thank you to Joe Darnell and encourage you to check out his work around the Internet. Look out for our first episode of 2016 releasing tomorrow, January 8. If you are new to the show, you can subscribe here.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Note: This article was originally published March 22, 2015 on The Sweet Setup. I am posting it here for preservation purposes. If my original article hasnāt been updated, I recommend you read it on The Sweet Setup.
We wouldnāt consider the OS X app launcher space a crowded one, but there are enough options out there that could make oneself think twice about clicking the download button. After numerous keystrokes and much reflective deliberation, we think that Alfred is the favorite launcher for Mac OS X.
What is an app launcher?
If you are a Mac user, then you have a launcher already installed. Spotlight has been a part of Mac OS X ever since version 10.4 Tiger, and even though its feature set has evolved since then, its purpose started out simple: To help you find and launch files and apps faster than it would take you to navigate to the location with a mouse.
While Spotlight wasnāt the first launcher for OS X, today it sits among a variety of good choices for you to pick from. But the word ālauncherā has become less of a descriptor of what you are getting and more of a legacy term. Launchers now give you instant feedback like showtimes, news, and articles. And theyāve also become sort of an automation playground offering plug-ins and scripts for you to accomplish a series of tasks with just a couple of keystrokes.
With its history in mind, we sought to find out which launcher gave us the best experience in daily use while also offering powerful features to those who wished to take advantage of them.
What we were looking for
Before we delved into the review process, it was important for us to figure out what qualities of a launcher made it our favorite. We narrowed it down to five pieces of criteria:
Features ā With launchers now doing much more than opening your apps, we wanted to find one that carried a robust set of features that could cater to a beginner, but also allow more seasoned users to customize things to their liking.
Ease of Use ā Every launcher is going to have some sort of learning curve, but we arenāt looking to spend hours toggling preferences and reading support articles just to get the basics down. Being able to intuitively dig into an application and figure out most of its features by poking around for a few minutes is the type of usability we want to see.
Speed ā You are using a launcher because you want to open something faster, so speed is critical. If the app isnāt at your beck and call when you need it, then whatās the use of keeping it around?
Appearance ā With Yosemite, OS X pulled an iOS 7 and received an overhauled UI. Just like if you launched an iPhone app today with an iOS 6 design, it would feel jarring and out of place. A launcher that matches OS Xās current aesthetic is a must.
Price ā Paying for great software is a satisfying feeling, but paying for software that doesnāt live up to its promise is irritating. When examining the launcher space, how much you are getting for the price does weigh in on our decision, but it isnāt the heaviest factor. A lot of work is put into making these applications awesome, and helping the developers try to make a living doesnāt hurt.
Our pick
Being the new kid on the block can have its advantages, but only if you know how to leverage them properly. Our favorite ā Alfred ā is able to do just that when compared to LaunchBar, Quicksilver, and even Spotlight.
What Alfred does best is incorporate different features from its competitors and implement them in a distinctive, easy, and understandable way ā all while offering more power for advanced users to take things further.
Additionally, it offers a unique iOS companion app and has features like Workflows that allow you to be more efficient you stay productive.
Power comes at a (reasonable) price
Alfred 2 is a free-to-use application with an option to buy their Powerpack which will unlock more capabilities such as custom workflows, fine-grained theming, DropBox sync, QuickLook, and 1Password integration. The developers at Running with Crayons have done a great job divvying up the free versus paid features in such a way that doesnāt feel limiting to someone who wants to try out the app.
If youāre looking for more flexibility than what Spotlight has to offer, Alfred ā sans-Powerpack ā is a great option. But if youāre the type of user whoād like to explore all of the power and customization that this launcher presents, the $26 asking price for the Powerpack is well worth it.
For the purpose of this review, weāll be using Alfred with the Powerpack add-on. Letās dig in.
The look
On first launch, Alfred is unmistakable compared to its peers. Its hat and magnifying glass sit on the right side of the search bar as a reminder of what app you are in. But the developers are realistic and realize that the Alfred look may not be for everyone, so theyāve provided a number of ways to make Alfred look how you want it to. You can even strip the Alfred search bar down to just a white rectangle. There is a very active Alfred community online that are making themes, and they are able to share these through URLs that are simple to import and export.
Large Type is another unique feature for Alfred users. When using the app, you can tap Command + L and the text you were currently typing will pop over on your screen in massive scale. Iād imagine this is a great accessibility feature, among other use cases.
Alfredās preferences run as a separate process from the utility itself. Although there could potentially be hours spent on customization, whatās great about navigating through each option is that a summary of what that option does is placed directly below it. This is a huge help for beginners who may want to unleash the full potential of the app.
Search
At the heart of any great launcher is its search capabilities, and Alfred provides you with a number of methods to get you where you want to be ā fast. In Alfredās preferences, you have control over whether it searches every folder and file type, to specific things like indexing preference panes and metadata on your machine.
Its local search is powerful. You can do things like search for a folder name, tap the right arrow key, and see the sub folders and files within it. It also adopts Appleās QuickLook feature which can be activated with the shift key.
Another nice touch is that you have the option to provide fallback results. If a search term comes up empty, you can tell Alfred to default to services like Google, DuckDuckGo, IMDB, Wikipedia and Amazon or even provide your own custom search.
Speaking of websites, its internet search capabilities get even cooler. For an example, a nice default search is set up for Twitter. I can type the word āTwitterā into Alfred and that keyword can have a one-to-many search criteria. One of them is āOpen Twitter User,ā so if I type āTwitter MacSparkyā and hit return, it will open my browser to David Sparksā Twitter account. Whatās more is that every single aspect is customizable, but not in an intimidating way. You can leave things as-is and still enjoy the application, but if you have the time to get into Alfredās preferences, youāll be happy that you did.
Further integration
Alfred integrates with many different aspects of OS X from system level commands to full iTunes control. The application is so seamless when in use, that you sometimes forget itās from a third-party. Before we go over its marquee feature ā Workflows ā letās explore what else the app has to offer.
1Password
1Password is a vital utility that one could argue is invaluable to Mac users. Luckily, Alfred has built-in support for the popular password manager, but before enabling the feature within its preferences, be sure to check off the preference in 1Password under the Advance section that allows third-party apps to integrate. Once activated, you can either allow your 1Password bookmarks to show in any search result or be able to trigger a bookmark search with a keyword prefix like ā1p.ā
Calculator
Much like Spotlight, Alfred can do basic math, but it also has the capabilities to perform advanced calculations based off the GCMathParser. It can perform functions like getting the sine or cosine of number. The calculation results can be copied to your clipboard if you tap return.
Dictionary
Alfredās dictionary is super smart. You can type terms like ādefine Avalanche,ā and it responds promptly and accurately, but the feature that we love the most about the dictionary is when it comes to spelling.
If you arenāt sure about a particular spelling, you can type āspellā into Alfred, start trying to spell the word, and Alfred will ā in most cases ā find the correct spelling that matches what you are typing. And, just like with calculations, it will copy the correctly spelled word to your clipboard with an additional keystroke.
Contacts
When searching through your contacts, you have the option to see the information right within Alfred as opposed to opening the OS X Contacts app. In addition to quick, glanceable data, you can launch a new email to a contact through either Maill.app or the Gmail web interface. Depending on what else is filled out on a given contact card, you can open an address in Apple Maps, start a FaceTime call, and a lot more.
System Controls
There isnāt a lack of control in Alfred, thatās for sure. With deep ties into the operating system, you can type in a keyword like āSleep,ā tap enter, and your computer willā¦wellā¦go to sleep. Certain keywords can also be toggled to confirm actions prior to executing them, like shutting down your computer or quitting every application you have open.
iTunes control is another great example of how Alfred immerses itself into your OS. Having the ability to bring up a custom mini player and type āpauseā or āmuteā makes controlling your music a quick and easy task. In the iTunes Mini Player feature, you have full access to your artists and playlists, can search your entire library, and see album art preview for fast identification ā all without dealing with iTunes directly.
Clipboard and Snippets
Alfred takes your privacy seriously, and thatās why their powerful clipboard manager is off by default.1 But when you are ready to tap into its functionality, it has capabilities that will surely make you more productive.
You can set Alfred to keep clipboard history from twenty-four hours to as long as three months prior. Having access to this data is great for collecting links or passages and gives you the ability to consult a list of your clipboard history so that you can paste text in a more efficient way. You can even merge multiple copies by holding down command and double-tapping C to append text to the previously copied text.
Snippets bake in Text Expander-like commands that you pull up with the keyword āsnipā by default. For example, once youāve added snippets to your preferences, you can type in āsnip gmail,ā press enter, and your Gmail address will be in your clipboard ready to be pasted. It works for placeholders too, like the current time which would be entered into your snippets at ā{time}.ā
Workflows
The only limitation in Alfredās Workflows is your imagination. It is that flexible.
The purpose of creating a workflow in Alfred is to allow you to tap into other applications or services by using keywords and hotkeys that trigger a series of actions or scripts. It sounds like it could be complicated, but the developers have built a nice GUI that lets you see how your workflow connects and functions. Whatās more, if you are familiar with scripting languages, it opens up a whole new dimension of capabilities.
The best thing about Workflows is that if you arenāt the tinkering type, there is a developer community that posts their workflows to Alfredās forums, Reddit, and Github. Some of the stuff they come up with is magical, and what we like about it is that you can view or modify the workflows once imported. Instead of us describing how to build a workflow from scratch, we decided to share a couple that we think are awesome.
AlfredTweet 2: With the exception of actually seeing your timeline, AlfredTweet can do everything else like following or blocking a user, to DMs, or even pulling up your lists. It also includes some additional tricks like tweeting out what you are currently listening to.
Shorten URL: There are a number of reasons why one would need to shorten a URL. Sometimes itās for aesthetic purposes, and other times it could be so that you can squeeze more text out of a tweet. This is where the Shorten URL workflow comes in handy. It can shorten a URL with six different services (goo.gl, bit.ly, t.cn, etc.) and copies it directly to your clipboard.
TimeZones: Another convenient workflow is TimeZones. By default, it will give you the timezones of a base set of cities, but it is customizable so that when you bring up the keyword it shows your favorites for a quick glance at their current time.
ImageOptim: Here is an example of a workflow that requires a little setup, but pays off in a big way. The ImageOptim workflow for Alfred gives you the ability to select multiple JPEGs or PNGs and will batch optimize them in the background. Once its finished, it notifies you exactly how much space youāve saved.
Search Pinboard: From our own Editor-in-Chief, some simple workflows to search your Pinboard archive.
Evernote workflows: This forum favorite puts all of the power of Evernote just a few keystrokes away. Itās really remarkable.
These six workflows are just a taste of what you can do in Alfred. Workflows satisfy the needs of simple tasks, but also has the power and capabilities to do amazing things. A great starting point to find more workflows is in Alfredās own forums.
An added bonus
Earlier this year, the Alfred team released a companion app for iOS that is just as impressive as their Mac app. Alfred Remote, which is completely customizable, allows you to trigger actions on your Mac via iOS.
It comes preset with a number of default actions, but if you have the time to arrange it to your liking, you can make Alfred Remote work for you even harder. We see the potential for people not finding use cases for app, but itās definitely an added bonus for power users whoād like another option for control.
Alfred Remote costs $5 and is a universal iOS app.
Donāt get overwhelmed
We know that some of you may be thinking, āFor an app thatās supposed to help me be more productive, there sure is a lot of customization and ability to get lost in tweaking settings,ā but donāt get overwhelmed. Our best advice to new launcher users is to use them as-is in the beginning, and when you find that you can be doing something more efficiently, then look into if the application can offer you the functionality.
We think Alfred does the best job at giving new and power users all of the tools they will need in an understandable, nicely designed package.
Other launchers to consider
LaunchBar
You canāt talk about launchers without talking about LaunchBar. It has been around longer than Spotlight and has a very loyal user base ā a user base that may be shocked and bewildered that their app wasnāt crowned the winner. It could be argued that LaunchBar matches or surpasses Alfredās abilities as a launcher, but we thought that Alfred did some key things better ā particularly its first-launch experience, intuitive usability, and free option for new users.
A user coming from an app like Spotlight may find it difficult to navigate through LaunchBar on initial launch. Your first instinct is to type search terms and do something with them while having the option to backspace and fix mistakes. But things are done differently in LaunchBar.
You canāt just type āSamuelā space āJacksonā and be able to do something with that text. By typing that into LaunchBar, it would actually result in bringing up a smiling face emoji (granted he isnāt in your contacts).
LaunchBar doesnāt give you full live-preview of what youāre typing, and this can make a new user feel unsure that they are actually on the right track. If your search doesnāt result in anything local, you arenāt greeted with fallback search options like Alfred offers, and unless you trigger an action with a keyword, the spacebar doesnāt separate text. Instead, itās used in different ways within LaunchBar like opening a directory or performing a QuickLook. Its one-to-many functionality could get confusing at times.
In addition to the way it takes in text, its preferences arenāt the best resource for learning specific keywords that you would need to know for navigation. Alfred does a great job in keeping their preferences uncrowded, yet they explain what different keywords and options do throughout each pane.
Things just feel less intuitive when you first use LaunchBar, but after you have done some homework, tweaked some settings, and have learned its syntax, it can provide you with power and integration at the caliber of Alfred.
When thinking about LaunchBar and what it has historically brought to the table, it has always seemed to cater toward the power-user market more than any other group. Is it fast, powerful, pretty, and full-featured? Absolutely. And we donāt want to discount LaunchBar as a viable option, but after much consideration and consultation with other Sweet Setup staff, we thought that Alfred edged it out for the top spot.
LaunchBar costs $29 for a single license and allows a 30-day trial period. You can continue using LaunchBar after the trial period, but it imposes short breaks while using it to encourage you to purchase a license.
Quicksilver
Quicksilver is another veteran launcher that is open-source. Although it has maintained development sporadically over the years, its unique way of searching requires a complete change of mindset. It uses an object + action + argument style of search, and we found that the learning curve ā even for advanced users ā was more involved. Its user interface doesnāt look too outdated, but it doesnāt match the Yosemite look very well even after playing around with the color options.
That being said, with its extensive plug-in collection and active community, you can unleash a ton of power, but only after digging around and tinkering with its overwhelmingly customizable preferences.
Quicksilver is a free app.
Spotlight
Having Spotlight built-in to OS X has its advantages. With this out-of-the-box functionality ready to go, it is the first search tool a new Mac user is exposed to, but Iād like to think that it serves as the training wheels to more powerful utilities.
Spotlight made some big jumps in OS X Yosemite (literally). The Spotlight window moved from its comfortable top-right corner home that itās had since OS X 10.4 to the upper-middle section of your screen. It includes new search categories to try to give you more options in your results, and it also brings better auto-completion for search terms.
The bigger search box allows for the use of split-view results that are located directly below your search. The left side of the split-view shows the results from different categories, and when a specific result is highlighted, a description is given on the right side.
Prior to Yosemite, searches in Spotlight could find files, apps, email messages, dictionary definitions, contacts, and give you the option to search on the web. Additionally, there were some nice tricks like typing in simple math equations that would result in an answer.
In Yosemite, Spotlight takes your searches further with the introduction of Spotlight Suggestions. Similar to iOS, Spotlight Suggestions search the iTunes, iBooks, and App Stores. It also searches locations of places nearby, news articles, Wikipedia, movie showtimes, and Bing. Spotlightās calculator has also become smarter with the ability to convert distance, temperature, and currency.
These new features are a great introduction to applications like Alfred and LaunchBar, but theyāre just an introduction. Spotlight may be doing more now than ever before, though I still wouldnāt call it a power userās product. Its settings are basic, allowing you to uncheck search categories and set basic hotkeys, but Apple didnāt set out to build a complex feature set for OS X. Instead, it set out to build a user friendly feature that tries to serve both its most basic users and experienced ones. If you donāt need the extra bells and whistles that a third-party search utility gives you, then Spotlight is a great default choice.
Spotlight is free with Mac OS X.
Conclusion
Like we said, there arenāt too many launchers to choose from, but each offer a unique way to get to your stuff faster. Alfred and LaunchBar are both great choices, but Alfredās usability factor, option for free users, custom workflows, and iOS companion app were the ultimate reasons we decided to call it our favorite launcher for OS X.
Apple's New Accessories: Getting a Bigger Piece of the Pie
Two new accessories have appeared on Apple.com and in retail stores over the past few weeks. An Apple Watch magnetic charging dock and an Apple "smart" battery case for iPhone 6s. I think many initially -- including myself-- were a little stumped as to why Apple released these now versus months ago along side their respective product launches. But after initial musings subsided, it's clear to me that Apple is sending a loud message. They want a bigger piece of the pie of holiday season accessory sales.
It may not be known to some, though it isn't a secret, that accessories are a huge money-maker. Have you ever had someone at Best Buy badger you non-stop about that extra cable? It's because those cables are the reason you are even standing in a Best Buy. They can sell you a $50 HDMI cable that costs them $1.50 to make. They aren't getting those margins on the TV you're purchasing.
I'm not saying Apple doesn't know this. They sell $40 adapters. But what I find new is their willingness to widen their net to give consumers what they want. Apple Watch docks became hugely popular after launch and if Apple didn't initially realize that, they clearly do now. Though the battery case is the biggest example of bending to the consumer. To date, Apple has always sacrificed battery for thinness on iPhone. As long as they hit their internal number, they seem fine with the current customer sat.
The smart battery case signifies two things:
Jony Ive is losing some battles. I would find it staggering if he truly liked this new case design.
Although Apple sold third-party battery cases and bricks before, they are finally sending a message that there isn't a battery breakthrough in site for smartphones in the near future.
Tim Cook is smart. Apple has manufactured tiny batteries for decades. Their processes are efficient and supplies strong. I wouldn't be shocked to find out if they were using the same batteries from older iPhone models inside this case.
The bottom line is that today's Apple will shock yesterday's Apple. Not every decision seems to be design-driven and you can't blame Apple for wanting to get into different accessory categories. If you don't like these new products, then don't buy them. That's the best way to tell Apple they made a mistake. But I wager you'll be seeing plenty of these out in the wild come January.
Notes apps are prevalent in the iOS App Store, and the millions who use them seem to want different things from each app. Unlike mail apps where your goal is to read, sort, and delete mail, or weather apps for checking the daily forecast, notes apps present a bigger challenge in determining which is the ā¦
Notes apps are prevalent in the iOS App Store, and the millions who use them seem to want different things from each app. Unlike mail apps where your goal is to read, sort, and delete mail, or weather apps for checking the daily forecast, notes apps present a bigger challenge in determining which is the best.
Your intentions are pure, but your usefulness has clearly become uselessness. The idea of you -- now in hindsight -- was a clear misstep by your creators in trying to bring iOS paradigms to the Mac. But this was the wrong one for them to incorporate.
You are a home screen, but your location doesn't feel like home. While your dock placement is prominent, you hold apps that are already surrounding you and before you were created, we already got to these apps very quickly. Taking the time to organize within you feels counterintuitive and brings the most painful aspect of iOS to Mac OS X.
Please don't take all this personally; there is an upside. You have a dedicated key on every Mac keyboard. Not many OS X elements can say that. Granted, this key is most likely being remapped by a lot of people, but they still have to look at the six squares representing you every time they tap F4. Also, your master who green-lit you into existence is now an accomplished Broadway producer, Snapchat investor and linen connoisseur. That has to account for something.
Your time in Mac OS X is undetermined and I can't say I'd be sad if you were ever removed, but until such day comes, stay strong, stay docked and launch apps. I may not use you, but I'm sure someone does.
If This Article Was an Apple TV App, You Probably Wouldn't Be Able to Find It
Prior to the fourth-generation Apple TV, if you wanted your app on the platform, you didn't choose Apple. Apple chose you.
If you were fortuante enough to have your app installed on the second and third-generation Apple TV, you followed strict design guidelines and worked directly with Apple up until the new rounded-rectangular box magically showed up on the home screen.
With the announcement of the App Store for the new Apple TV, many developers' hopes and wishes had finally come true. You could now build and submit apps for the Apple TV much like you would for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
There's only one problem. You can't find any of them.
If you thought that Apple was done curating and selecting apps for your Apple TV, then you are mistaken. All they have done is moved the apps from being pre-installed on your home screen to the Featured page of the App Store. The only page displaying apps. The main way to get in front of user's eyes.
Of course, you can type in random letters on the search page of the App Store if you want to, but let's be honest -- the majority of Apple TV users will unbox, setup and download the apps that are prominently visible.
What's worse, is that developers can't even link to their Apple TV app to promote it. Some have resorted to posting screenshots of a search result in order for a user to find it.
Yes, PCalc is now available on your TV - finally. Here is the closest thing to a link I can give you. Hope you like! pic.twitter.com/chbxaxkSQD
ā James Thomson (@jamesthomson) October 30, 2015
It's a shame that Apple didn't incorporate categories or even top charts for the Apple TV App Store. It has surely made developers second guess why they would want to develop an app for a new Apple platform on day one.
Things Iām glad I didnāt spend the last few weeks working on. 1. Apple TV apps.
ā Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) November 1, 2015
Apple makes mistakes. They are human. But I think that app discoverability needs to be their number one priority for the next software update. And it needs to come fast.
If this isn't resolved by the holiday season, I don't see the number of quality apps going up. Why put in weeks to months of effort into an app that may never see the light of the App Store?
Hopefully Apple can answer that question.
Update: Hours after this post, Apple pushed an update to the App Store to include Top Charts. I'm glad that they are working fast on resolving this misstep.
In addition, I also noticed that Apple.com has a screenshot of the Apple TV App Store both with Top Charts and Categories. I hope to see categories added soon.
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If there's one piece of advice that I could give someone interested in writing about technology, it is: Don't be Daring Fireball.
Read Daring Fireball, enjoy Daring Fireball, but don't be like Daring Fireball.
I see it every day. New writers, hungry for an audience, modeling their sites after John's. Creating multiple link posts per day when -- in reality -- they should be focused on polishing their writing. If you go back far enough on my site, I did and made the same mistake.
What some people don't realize is that John Gruber didn't always have the luxury to post a long piece once or twice a month.
Navigate to his archives. Now scroll all the way down.
John wrote like a mad-man in the beginning of Daring Fireball's infancy and he kept writing and kept writing until his audience trusted and supported him. That is what has allowed John to have DF's current format of commentary on link posts with bigger pieces written in between.
Others have followed suit and also enjoy varying degrees of success. But they didn't take a shortcut. They wrote and kept writing.
This is why sites like Medium are compelling to me. Although it can be treated as a destination to read great content, It's also a place to go to when you just want to write. No link posts, no fiddling with fonts or designs -- just a blank page. If I decided to start writing today for the first time, I probably would be using Medium.
Though, there is a point of pride in running your own site.
A recent example of this would be writer, Samantha Bielefeld. Love her or hate her, you have to acknowledge that she is garnering attention, retaining readership and building an audience. She's also writing -- a lot.
I'm not telling you what to do. If you run a DF-style blog and are having a fun time then that's great. But I feel like there are some writers who think that is how they should run their site from the start, but don't realize that it's detrimental.
My advice is to use Twitter for your link posts. That is what I'm doing. I can provide a few lines of commentary and share links to my followers and focus on writing articles for my blog and other web sites.1
It is going to take hard work. Not everyone will be an overnight success, but if writing is a passion, you are going to want to get better each time you hit "publish".
I know everything is a remix and I don't want this to come across as a lecture. But take it from someone who used to copy Daring Fireball when this site started in 2011, that I'm a lot happier with writing at least one article per week then spending time posting links with commentary.
Maybe I will have that luxury some day, but it will be a luxury that I've earned.
Even with Apple's Airport-line of routers, there are times when my network just isn't working properly.
I think this is partly due to the amount of wirelessly connected devices we have now versus 2008, but I also think that there is more potential interference and bandwidth demand for tasks like HD video streaming and online gaming.
Over the years, both personally and professionally, I've learned tips on how to tweak settings and balance a router's resources so that you run into less problems and spend more time online.
Placement
Your modem may be optimally placed in your home or -- like me -- you didn't have a say on where it was going to be installed. That doesn't mean you shouldn't play around with your router's placement within that area.
When I worked for Apple, I remember my Genius trainer recounting a story of how their Airport Extreme1 wasn't providing the best speeds and range even though it was centrally placed in their modestly sized home.
One day, the router fell off the shelf that it was on and became wedged between the entertainment system and the wall. It was at that point where my trainer saw a tremendous difference in wireless range and speed. Something as simple as moving your router from laying horizontally to vertically can make all the difference. In my case, my Airport Express seems to give me better range when it's elevated around five feet above the ground.
I would encourage you to mess with your router's positioning if you think it could be giving better range.
One last thing about placement. Try to avoid placing your router near kitchen microwaves and home phone bases. Both items can cause awful interference.
Bands
If your router was purchased within the past four to five years, you most likely have a dual-band router which transmits 2.4GHz and 5.5GHz frequencies at the same time.
If you set up one SSID (router name), when a device connects to your router it will give that device one of the frequencies based on what it thinks will give it the best wireless performance. I used to set up my router this way, but when I started to own more devices, I saw more problems. I decided to split each band on a different SSID.
Your router should have a setting to make your 2.4GHz band one name and 5.5GHz band a separate name. In doing this, I've found that it has helped all of my devices stay on the network and receive consistent signal and speeds.
I put my Apple TV, Fire TV and a stationary Mac with Plex on the 5.5GHz network and the rest of my devices on the 2.4GHz. Prior to doing this, my streaming devices would struggle to get the proper bandwidth needed to stream video if other devices were in active use. Now, buffering has become a thing of the past.
For you, it might be better to do the opposite, but you'll have to play around with it.
Channels
Choosing a lesser-used channel for your 2.4GHz and 5.5Ghz frequencies is a way to fight interference and network crowding. If you are like me and live in an apartment building, this settings tweak becomes paramount.
In Mac OS X, if you open up Wireless Diagnostics, click "Window" in the menu bar, then click "Scan", you can see all the surrounding wireless networks and what channels they using. Take note of the most popular channels and in your router settings, choose the opposite for your network.
If your router is on a commonly used channel, it can cause less-than-optimal range and network drop-outs.
802.11x
Routers now are capable of broadcasting 802.11 a, b, g, n and ac wireless signals. It's great to have options, but if your devices are working on the latest n and ac bands, you could be hindering performance by allowing your router to broadcast older wireless signals.
Most routers allow you to limit which 802.11 bands are broadcasted, so if you are the type of person who's on the latest and greatest, I'd see if this could be changed.
Wireless World
Hard-wiring via Ethernet will soon become a thing you only see in server rooms. Knowing how to make your wireless Internet give you the best performance is something we all should know how to do and I hope it becomes less fiddly in the future. But for now -- I hope this helps.
As with every year since 2007, this yearās rumors of the next generation iPhones were in abundance. Apple-watchers were almost certain that weād see an iPhone 6s and 6s Plus introduced, but what wasnāt as airtight was if Apple would unveil a new c-product in addition to their flagship phones.
In the prior s-cycle, the iPhone 5s was introduced alongside the unapologetically plastic iPhone 5c. A move that ā to many ā felt unorthodox. As we know now, a 6c was not announced this year and even though it had been rumored, Iād wager that those were patterned guesses.
I think that the iPhone 5c was introduced to solve a whole different set of problems which werenāt as clear at the time as they are now.
iPhone 5
Before the iPhone 5s, Apple started to become predictable with their pricing. A new iPhone would be announced starting at $199 and the previous generationās price would drop by $100. It worked out very well and would seemingly work out the same way when they introduced the 5s. But that year, Apple would be dropping the price down on an expensive disaster ā the iPhone 5.
You didnāt have to work for the company to find out that the iPhone 5 was a manufacturing blunder:
Most of the new units were coming out of the box chipped, scratched and scuffed.
All units were susceptible to dust particles easily getting into the microphone next to the rear camera causing artifacts on your photos.
The Sleep/Wake button would become depressed and unresponsive on an unknown percentage of units manufactured between September 2012 to March 2013 causing Apple to initiate a Replacement Program covering repairs outside of the one-year warranty.
The battery was defective on an unknown percentage of units manufactured between September 2012 and January 2013 again causing Apple to initiate a Replacement Program covering repairs outside of the one-year warranty.
The battery adhesive on certain models was not strong enough causing the battery to become loose inside the phone which could be a potential hazard.
iPhone 5c
Minor manufacturing issues are to be expected with a new form-factor iPhone, but the iPhone 5ās issues were out of control.
I think that the iPhone 5c ā though marketed wonderfully ā couldnāt have been Appleās plan all along. I feel Apple knew that if they were going to sell the iPhone 5 for another two years, they would have to address these manufacturing oversights.
No matter what, this was going to be expensive for them and thatās where I think the geniuses inside Apple came up with the iPhone 5c. A phone whose internals, save for the upgraded front-facing camera, were identical to the iPhone 5, but came with none of its failures.
I owned and loved the iPhone 5c. Its plastic curves reminded me of the iPhone 3GS and I never had any of the problems that the iPhone 5 had in the year that I used it.
The iPhone 5c was Appleās happy accident.
Of course, this is just my theory. Only the executives at Apple know the full story. But I think the signs are clear that the iPhone 5c was built out of necessity, not choice and I wouldnāt be surprised if we never saw another c-product line ever again.
Diagnostics & Usage isn't just the name of my podcast with Cody Coats. Its name comes from Apple's Diagnostics & Usage Data section in iOS. Pre-iOS 8, you could have found this is section under Settings ā General ā About ā Diagnostics & Usage, but now it lives in Settings ā Privacy ā Diagnostics & Usage.
What Is It?
I would liken the Diagnostics & Usage Data section to the Console on the Mac. There is a lot of noise in there, but sometimes you can find important information about issues related to your device. At its most basic definition, the Diagnostics & Usage Data section is a log of system events that happen on your iOS device. This log isn't tracking your every move, but it is creating entries whenever events like an app crash happens.
Like the Console, unless you are an engineer at Apple, you probably won't know what every string of text means, but I'd like to think I know enough to help you figure out what's important. If you are interested in what's going on in your iOS device, navigate to the section and let's dig in.
Common Entries
Now that you are in your Diagnostics & Usage Data section1, if it's your first time, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of entries and gibberish you are seeing. The good news is that some of these entries are very common across devices and generally can be ignored.
Apple Wireless Diagnostics Data
Entries starting with "awdd-[yyyy-mm-dd]" are the most common. Depending on whether you read the setup screen when configuring iOS, you may remember coming across a screen like this:
If you enabled diagnostics data, Apple will periodically create logs and send them anonymously to their servers for examination. Each time Apple does this, it creates an "awdd" log in that list. If you didn't realize you have enabled this feature, just back out one screen in the Diagnostics & Usage section and toggle it off. Though I'd recommend you keep it on, including the "Share With App Developers" section because it helps resolve bugs a lot faster.
Memory
I would be shocked if there wasn't "JetsamEvent-[yyyy-mm-dd]" entries on your devices. These were previously called "LowMemory" and are logs of when apps and data have been booted from your device's RAM.
Even on the 2 GB-equipped iPhone 6s, I am seeing one or two entries per day which is pretty good, but if you are seeing ten or more per day, you probably haven't turned off your iOS device in a very long time or your device is getting old and new apps are consuming all available RAM. I've found that completely powering off your iOS device, waiting ten seconds, then powering it back on should be done once every few weeks and can help with RAM management.
I wouldn't worry too much about seeing this listed, but there have been situations where I've seen this log hundreds of times on people's phones which could signify a problem and warrant a trip to the Genius Bar.
Stacks
The "stacks-[yyyy-mm-dd]" entry, short for stackshot, doesn't represent a crash. A stackshot collects kernel and OS data that are generally meant for Apple engineers. Some of these entries can be accidentally triggered by users if they press the home button and one of the volume buttons at the same time. These shouldn't be a concern.
Other Entries
Certain entries that you will see daily are "log-sessions", "log-[daemon]" and "CoreTime". There isn't much value into reading these, but you will see them.
Entries like "Carousel", "BTServer", "searchd" and other daemons can be peppered in, but you shouldn't see them every day.
If you've noticed some common entries and know why they are in your diagnostics data, feel free to reach out. I'd love to keep this a running list.
Problematic Entries
Springboard
Think of Springboard like the Finder in Mac OS X. Sometimes Finder locks up, crashes or needs to be relaunched. On a healthy Mac, this should happen close-to-never, but it isn't uncommon to run into it a few times. The same rules apply with Springboard on iOS.
Springboard is what runs your iPhone's home screen. If you've ever experienced a Springboard crash, it's when your device cuts to the Apple logo for about 5-7 seconds then goes back to the lock screen. This is shorter than a complete device reboot.
If Springboard crashes are something you are commonly seeing -- even a few days per week -- I would back up your device, erase your iPhone and restore from your backup. Keep in mind, if your device continues to crash the Springboard, your backup may be corrupt and you will have to erase and set up as a new device.
App Crash
Sometimes when an app is problematic, it is obvious. You see it freezing, hanging or crashing to the home screen. But there are times when an app could be malfunctioning in the background and one way to see that is if the app name shows up in your Diagnostics & Usage data. Like with Springboard, a few entries aren't a problem, but seeing 15-20 happening repetitively each day usually points to a faulty application. These entries may start with the words "LatestCrash" preceding the app's name.
The good news is that most of the time this can be resolved by deleting the application and reinstalling it from the App Store. In certain cases, the app may be poorly developed and I'd recommend looking at alternatives.
If it's a first party app in the logs, then an OS re-install would be in order.
Panic
I've saved the worst for last. Entries ending in "panic" or "panic.plist" have historically meant that your iOS device needs to be replaced due to faulty hardware. In Mac OS X, kernel panics aren't as clear-cut. They could be caused by software or hardware issues and although technically panics work the same way when it comes to iOS, I've never personally seen an iOS device with a "panic.plist" not have to be replaced.
The symptoms that I've seen which would cause a "panic.plist" entry are random device reboots and random device shut-offs where the device gets very hot and can only be turned back on with a hard reset connected to power.
If you are seeing these entries and symptoms, I'd recommend booking a Genius Bar appointment as soon as possible.
Unknowns
With iOS and watchOS evolving on a yearly basis, new entries are bound to appear in the Diagnostics & Usage Data section. I'm sure we aren't meant to know what they all mean, but I hope this has alleviated some curiosity or anxiety about the data that lives there now.
I am not a professional photographer or even hobbyist by any stretch of the imagination, but like many with smartphones, I take photographs often. Over the weekend, my wife and I took a trip to Pennsylvania and it turned out to be the perfect setting for me to try out the new camera on the iPhone 6s.
The results were jaw-dropping.
The following 25 photos are untouched from the iPhone 6s. Some were slightly rotated or cropped, but no other modifications were made.
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A Match Made in Mickey Mouse Heaven: Using Apple's New OSs in Disney World
Sometimes when you choose a vacation date so far in advanced, you forget what time a year it is. This happened to me this year when my wife, her family and I decided to book a trip to Disney World the week of September 14th ā a notorious week for all things Apple. The Apple event luckily happened a week before, but the release of iOS 9 and watchOS 2 were slated for the 16th.
Being uncertain about what type of Internet access would be available to me on the 16th, I decided to upgrade my iPhone 6, Apple Watch and iPad Air to the GMs early so that I wouldnāt miss out on any of the launch day fun with new apps, updates and features. On Friday, the 11th, by evening time all devices were successfully updated and ready to go to Orlando, Florida. 1
By the end of our stay in Disney, I realized that this trip was a great test of some new features these OS updates introduced and I wanted to share how it made the experience of spending all day in theme parks better.
Wi-Fi Asssist
Itās clear to me now that Wi-Fi Assist was made for vacations. Though Disney provides more free Wi-Fi than I originally anticipated, they still canāt cover every square foot of their land. Disney has also built their new infrastructure so that you benefit from using their mobile app in the parks. This allows you to changes food reservations, check ride wait times, and maneuver FastPass+ time slot to get on rides quicker.
As you can imagine, this could eat up data fast. Thankfully, with Wi-Fi Assist, I was able to keep my Wi-Fi turned on and didnāt get caught in that limbo of the iPhone figuring out if the Wi-Fi signal is giving data or if it should pick LTE. The transition was as seamless as it should have always been. This smart switching reminds of Goolgeās Project Fi and Iād like to see Apple take this even further in future updates.
Lower Power Mode
Low Power Mode (LPM) truly felt like Disney Magic. Barely halfway through our first day, I noticed my phone was at 52% battery remaining. I remembered that I was running iOS 9, flipped on LPM and was thoroughly impressed with what Apple has done. I thought Federighi was just being playful when he said they were pulling levers that werenāt available to us, but I shouldnāt have doubted him.
I used my phone just has heavily the second half of the day and to my genuine surprise, it was only at 34% when it hit the charger before bed. To say that was magical feels like an understatement. For the rest of the week, Iād wake up and immediately toggle on LPM while the phone was at 100%. Needless to say, I never found myself with a dead phone.
Time Travel
Before you roll your eyes, I felt the same way when Apple introduced Time Travel. I didnāt think it would serve much of a purpose. But what I found out throughout my week in Orlando is that Time Travel had more benefits than making my Mickey Mouse watch face dance the disco.
The week I visited Disney, the rain was slated to be unpredictable. Scattered showers throughout each day with the percentage of precipitation fluctuating. Although we carried ponchos, I wasnāt going to wear one all day. By using Time Travel via the Weather complication, I was able to get a sense throughout the day when we should prepare for rain and it helped us plan for attractions that were in doors.
Niceties
These were just a few niceties that I came across while discovering Appleās new OSs in Disney World. They may not have all been touted as tent-pole features, but they made a huge difference in my experience at Disney and I came away very happy overall.
You might have (or not) noticed that things have been quiet on the blog. This wasn't my plan. It just so happened that finishing my review for The Sweet Setup, vacation this past week, and getting a cold/flu this week all happened in a row.
Rest assured, once I'm over this cold, I will be writing again. See you online soon!