Squarespace's New Apps→

When I launched techese, I had been yearning to get away from the likes of WordPress. I had settled on Squarespace back then and have been with it ever since. I still wholeheartedly recommend Squarespace to folks who ask me what they should use to create a site.

One thing I have always had issue with was their iOS app. It wasn't all that good back on Squarespace 5, and since Squarespace 6, it has been a bag of hurt.

Thankfully, Squarespace has released two new apps to handle the crowded functions of the previous app.

Blog handles the writing and posting part while Metrics handles all your stats. Both apps are gorgeous and work really well. These were worth the wait. I'm really happy that Markdown is a first-class citizen in the Blog app.

I have two issues which will hopefully be taken care of in updates. The first is that the Blog app is missing the social sharing toggles of the web interface. If it had those, I could truly do everything I wanted with posting from iOS, which would rock.

The second issue is that Metrics doesn't have an iPad UI, so it scales up in the ugly 2x mode.

Beyond those two omissions, the apps work great, are fast, and chock full of the feature set you would expect. I hope Squarespace treats these apps as first class, iterating often, instead of letting them languish as the previous app did for so long.

Knock. To Unlock.

Knock knock.

Who's there? Your iPhone, that's who. Why? To unlock your Mac.

We all hate having to deal with security because security and convenience just don't always seem to play well together. Thankfully there are many things out there to help them get along. Things like 1Password (which has a smashing new version out for Mac, and is also a major contributor to my lack of writing here last month). Then there is the new kid on the block, Touch ID.

I've used the demo of Touch ID on an iPhone 5s at the Apple Store. It's pretty rad. I can't wait to have it next Fall (I skip the 's' generations), and I was hoping it would come to the new iPads announced a couple weeks ago. And someday I hope it comes to a portable Mac so I can stop typing in a password to login.

But until then we'll have to use creativity, and that is where Knock comes in. Knock is a pair of apps, one for your Mac, one for your iPhone. Together, they create a super duper secure link over Bluetooth 4 Low Energy.

When you wake up your Mac, it checks to see if the iPhone is close by. If it is, a green circle pusles around your avatar on the standard OS X login screen. Then, your just give your iPhone a quick knock-knock, like you're knocking on someone's door. Magically, your Mac unlocks.

The Mac app runs as a menubar utility, easily tucked away by my good friend Bartender. The iOS app just needs to hang out on your iPhone, and doesn't even need to be running. During setup you give it special permission to monitor Bluetooth and CoreLocation so it can detect the Mac and its proximity.

The best part is your iPhone doesn't even need to be unlocked. You can leave it in your pocket and give it a gentle double-tap to unlock the Mac.

I'm really impressed by Knock, and it will be indispensible not only at coffee shops, but around the house, too, as my Mac tends to fall lock down while I step away to AeroPress some coffee.

Knock is a $3.99 iOS app and the Mac app is free on their website.

Twitterrific 5.5 for iOS 7

When iOS 7 was announced, surely everyone's imaginations started to ponder what their favorite apps would do for redesigns to fit in. Out of all my apps, Twitterrific 5 looked like it was all set to just go ahead and blend right in.

I thought to myself, "They probably don't even need to do anything!"

Boy, am I glad the folks at The Iconfactory didn't think the same way.

I've been testing Twitterrific 5.5 for a couple weeks, and I'm blown away by the level of detail. The Iconfactory has taken Twitterrific's already delightful design and lovingly embraced all of iOS 7's strengths.

I have two favorite parts: the new color choices for Dark Mode look like they were pulled straight from Tron: Legacy, and the other is when you have an image or menu popover pulled up, it has the same parallax effect between the foreground and background as iOS 7's home screen. Of course, there are many more nice things.

I've been using Twitterrific as my main client since before iOS was even a thing. By far Twitterrific 5 has been the most iterated and well-thought-out edition yet. Twitterrific 5.5 is a free update for existing Twitterrific 5 owners, and requires iOS 7. This is hands down my favorite app and I hope it becomes yours, too.

Twitterrific 5.5 is out on the App Store and runs for $2.99 if you are new to the app.

1Password 4 for Mac Teaser→

Dan Moren at Macworld has a little overview of a little something that my colleagues and I have been working on for a while.

I'm really proud of how 1Password 4 for Mac is turning out, and I can't wait until we get it into the hands of the people.

As they say, Fall is Coming.

Addendum: 9to5Mac has more pictures.

Disclosure: I work for AgileBits and 1Password's success pays my bills.

¶ Downcast for Mac | Review

I'm pretty sure I've been an avid podcast listener since Apple first integrated it into iTunes and the iPod. Many would likely agree Apple kicked podcasts into mainstream use.

After the debut of the iPhone and then the App Store, third party podcast apps started to appear for movie listening, but I stuck with Apple's iTunes and the iPhone's iPod app, since I was syncing all the time anyway, because untethered sync still wasn't around for the iPhone. And I kept on this way until Apple released its Podcasts app partway through iOS 5's life cycle.

And boy did that app suck.

Podcasts was gorgeous at its debut, sure. I loved the reel-to-reel animation, superfluous as it was. But actually using the app was downright awful. So that left me with a decision to make between the two biggest names I had heard about. Instacast and Downcast. Both were iOS only at the time, but I didn't mind because I was doing most of my listening on my iPhone, anyway.

I chose Downcast. It didn't take long using Downcast and seeing how easily it synced over iCloud with my iPad to realize it was the app that Podcasts should have been.

From my review of Downcast for iOS:

Apple’s Podcasts app is slow, buggy, and lacks the typical polish and refinement we’ve all come to expect. This app does not feel like something Apple made. It doesn’t even use iCloud to sync the subscription list between your iPhone and iPad, instead making you go through the subscription process twice.

So here’s what you should do. Buy Downcast. It is every bit the caliber you would expect Apple to make, but Apple didn’t make it.

The only role Downcast didn't fulfill was being able to listen from my Mac. At first this didn't really bother me until I started being in front of my desk more and more. Sure, I've fired up my podcasts on my iPad and kept it playing on my desk, and that's fine and all. But I had been wanting podcast listening on my Mac again.

Today, my want is fulfilled. Downcast for Mac is now available on the Mac App Store. As soon as I installed and launched it, I simply clicked a little cloud icon, and checked four boxes. Immediately, my settings, episode list, podcast subscriptions, & playlists all came in via iCloud.

Aside: Downcast is one of the few apps using iCloud that really seems to just work without hassle. Many others I have don't work entirely well and I use Dropbox instead.

Downcast's interface is plain and simple in a refreshing way. It's very focused. You select your podcast and play. I do think it needs some refreshing over time. For instance, there are three different refresh buttons in the main window. One that refreshes all feeds, one to refresh a specific feed list, and another that seems to refresh everything in iCloud.

Aside from an abundance of things to refresh, Downcast for Mac is a faithful interpretation of what Downcast is in a Mac app. Downcast for Mac is available on the Mac App Store at an introductory price of $9.99.

Apple's Answer on Upgrade Pricing→

Underscore David Smith on Apple's release of Logic Pro X this morning and how we finally know how to deal with upgrade pricing on the App Store:

Logic Pro X is a Major (with a capital M) update to their professional audio editing suite. It appears to represent a significant investment in both time and resources. So how is it being sold, especially to people who already paid $200 for the previous version (Logic Pro 9)? It is a separate app download with a full cost purchase. No upgrades, no introductory pricing, just straight forward sale.

So, basically, do what we have been doing. Yep.

¶ July 11

July of 2008 was a busy and significant month for me. Most importantly, I celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my wife, and welcomed our son into the world.

But that month also holds other historical significance, one being recognized by a lot of geeks this week. On July 11, 2008, the App Store launched alongside iPhone OS 2.0, the iPhone 3G, and MobileMe. That morning I woke ridiculously early to drive an hour to my nearest Apple Store and wait in line. In retrospect, it was pretty silly of me to head an hour away from home when my wife was home 9 months pregnant and days away from the due date. I remember standing in line kind of afraid my Motorola RAZR would ring.

The next few hours went by uneventfully. AT&T's activation servers had turned into molten slag, so I was able to purchase my iPhone and head home, where I activated it through iTunes later that day.

Since the prior winter I had been using a first-generation iPod touch, which ran nothing but Apple's stock apps. So July 11 was pretty neat in that the App Store was opening up. My first purchase was Twitterrific, which is now in its fifth version and is still my twitter app of choice. In fact, it has held the same position on my home screen for five years through three different iPhone models I have owned.

The App Store really did unleash the true potential of the iPhone, and later the iPad. The iPhone is essentially my connection to the world at large. Sure, I have my local friends and community, but the advent of the iPhone and the apps people have made have connected me to new friendships across the globe (back int he day those were called pen pals ).

Heck, if it weren't for the booming success of the App Store and iPhone and iPad, I wouldn't be where I am today. I don't think my job would exist without the App Store.

So much has happened in the past five years. I am days from celebrating my sixth anniversary with my wife and my son's fifth birthday. I am coming up on a year of working at the company of my dreams, and Apple's future is shining bright as they prepare to radically re-invent what iOS will be for years to come.

I really can't wait to see where we'll be on July 11, 2018.

Go Get Day One [iTunes Link]→

One of my favorite iOS apps, Day One, is free this week as part of the App Store's 5 year anniversary promotion. The iOS app is normally $4.99 and really is one of the nicest apps I have ever used.

You can read my review of Day One, but at the price of free this week, you don't have much excuse not to grab it.

There are other apps in the promotion which you may like, and Tools & Toys has a lovely roundup.

Ember→

The fine folks over at Realmac software put a little announcement out about LittleSnapper today. LittleSnapper is an app that helps you capture full web pages and other screenshots, organize them (for example, as reference for a certain project), and even mark them up. Over the past few years, LittleSnapper has been a great tool for me for various things.

Back in the day, LittleSnapper had a web service with it, too, called QuickSnapper, which was eventually rebranded as Ember. That service did go by the wayside, unfortunately.

But now the Ember brand is being rekindled (pardon the pun). LittleSnapper 2 will be coming out in July, but it will be called Ember. Honestly, I think it is a better name for the app, and it has one of the most adorable icons you could imagine for an app.

I've been privileged to be testing Ember for the past few months, and while I can't really say anything about it, I will say that you'll want to invest in this app.

Byword 2 | Review

I've been beta testing Byword 2 for OS X & iOS for a while, and I am really glad it's finally here. It has many little improvements I've been thirsting after for some time, and a great big feature I wish my host/CMS — Squarespace 6 — had an API to use with.

If you're not in-the-know already, Byword is a fantastic app focused on writing. It simply gets out of your way gives you a page to write on, with minimal fluff to deal with. The best part is that it is designed for web publishing as it is one of the best — no, wait, I'll just say the best — Markdown-centric apps I've used.

The grand marquee feature of Byword 2 is blog publishing. You can now publish your text directly to Wordpress, Tumblr, Blogger, Scriptogram, or Evernote. I've been dabbling a bit more into Evernote use, so maybe I will find a home for this feature via the big green elephant. I haven't used the publishing feature, to be completely honest, so I can say very little about it.

Byword 2 also sports improved conflict resolution, showing you each conflicting version in their entirety, so you can make an informed decision on which is the keeper. The update also includes better handing of new, edited, renamed, and deleted documents in Airplane Mode.

The remaining features are the removal of friction points that I have run into with previous versions. When viewing the Markdown preview, Byword 2 now keeps the scroll position intact. This is one of those things you subconsciously knew was annoying that is now fixed.

On iOS specifically, you can now move and duplicate documents. This is handy if you decide you'd rather have a document on Dropbox instead of iCloud, or vice-versa. Fonts on iOS are also much better. Rather than some obscure fonts you've never heard of, Byword 2 now uses Avenir Next (yay!), Helvetica Neue, Courier, and Georgia. I, for one, am in love with the Avenir font family, so I am really glad the developers added it (they were extremely gracious when I was being super-annoying about it during the beta).

If you regularly write for the web there are two things that will help make your life so much easier: learn Markdown, and use Byword.

Byword 2 is a free update for existing users and $10 (OS X)/$3(iOS) for new users. The publishing feature is an in-app purchase for $5 on each platform.