‘The App Store is for the Average User’

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There’s been some kerfuffel over TextExpander leaving the Mac App Store because of Apple’s recent enforcement of sandboxing, which doesn’t allow TextExpander to work within its scope.

Ben Brooks brings some sanity to the issue:

The App Store is for the average user. Apps that don’t fit in the App Store guidelines are simply not for the average user. That matters because the apps that don’t fit those guidelines can/will/could cause a massive support headache for not only Apple, but for the resident family geek. Users should be able to make the reasonable assumption that anything they download from the App Store cannot and will not mess up their computer in any way that uninstalling the app won’t fix their computer.

I am one such resident family geek. Let me tell you that I cannot wait to start flipping the dial on family members’ Macs to only allow Mac App Store only apps in Mountain Lion.

As for myself, I am a geek, and I know how OS X works. I have no fears nor quibbles with installing stuff from outside the App Store. That said, if an app is available in the App Store, I am likely to favor getting it from there instead of directly from the developer. Why? Because the App Store is easier. It keeps all my apps archived in the Purchases section. I don’t have to remember serial numbers.

Now, if an app is only available directly from the developer? That’s fine. I can handle it. But for the majority of people, the App Store is tailor made for them.

Podcasts on iOS 6

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Peter Kafka of AllThingsD:

People familiar with Apple’s plans tell me that when its new iOS 6 software becomes widely available this fall, podcasts will have their own app, where users will be able to discover, download and play them on mobile devices. Users who access iTunes via laptop and desktop machines will still find them in that version of iTunes, though.

If this is true, I'll be pretty ecstatic. When Apple touted iOS 5 as being PC-free, one thing they forgot to include is being able to subscribe to podcasts on the iPhone and be able to check for and download new episodes.

As it stands today, Podcasts still need the ability to sync with iTunes in order to be usable.

Hopefully Apple will make it easy to use iCloud to keep your subscription list, and allow a new Podcasts app to download new episodes in the background when plugged in to power and on Wi-Fi, in the same manner that it does iCloud backups and Newsstand updates.

Removing Friction with Keyboard Shortcuts

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Jason Rehmus offers some great productivity advice on the Frictionless blog:

Moving your hand the short distance from your keyboard to your mouse may not take much time, but it can interrupt your workflow enough to distract you and cause enough friction to slow you down. That’s why you should learn the keyboard shortcuts for every program you rely on.

One of the best things I've ever done to understand how my computer makes a better tool has been learning the shortcuts. On the Mac, that of course is mainly done with the keyboard, but Lion also brought trackpad gestures. Those have been handy as well, when necessary. And on iOS, it's a good idea to learn the gestures on the iPad if you have one, or for any app that offers gestures as a quick way to accomplish a task. Gestures are the keyboard shortcuts of iOS.

Rehmus focuses on the desktop, and has some great hints at getting you started.

Planned All Along

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Jim Dalrymple:

Let’s take the original iPod. Looking at it now, it was big. However, at the time, with the technology available to them, Apple released what they felt was the best product they could make.

Then Apple came out with the iPod mini, which later became the iPod nano, capturing another segment of the market. That release was followed up by the iPod shuffle, again capturing another segment of the market.

It was changes in technologies that allowed these products to be released, but I believe Apple had planned the releases all along.

When you look at a 7-inch iPad, or any other Apple product, don’t look at how it affects its competitors, but rather how it fits into Apple’s product strategy. Doing that will make things a lot clearer.

I shared my thoughts on a 7-inch Apple device last month. At the time, I was thinking such a device could be a good place to reposition the iPod touch. Jim’s thoughts on how Apple has historically acted has me reconsidering. The iPad is a runaway hit, and it would be foolish not to expand that product line.

The iPod’s time to reign has come and gone. Now it is the iPad’s. That’s the household name these days, and that’s what Apple will stick with.

Readlists

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Ben Brooks, on Readability’s new service, Readlists:

As you can see, on a Readlists page, you can publicly share the page, as well as download a packaged eBook with all of the content in it. At first glance this doesn’t look different than what Instapaper does, by allowing users to download articles to a Kindle — but it is actually very different.

With Readlists you are essentially publicly sharing an eBook that contains a writer’s content — content that was never granted permission to be redistributed.

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Readlists is a service to allow people to completely avoid reading a content producers site, allowing them to repackage and redistribute their content all without permission.

Shameful.

Frictionless

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Aaron Mahnke has launched a new project called Frictionless. His goal is to help you and me remove frictional stresses from our lives. It’s inspiring and encouraging.

I recommend that if you are reading this, you go download Aaron’s PDF of The Frictionless Manifesto. It requires signing up for his newsletter (for now), but I think that newsletter will be worth it. It’s always easy to unsubscribe if necessary. It took me about ten minutes to read the manifesto, and it is truly great. I’m already starting to rethink some of my daily routines and processes.

I have a lot of friction to remove, and a lot of work to do so. I’m sure you do, too.