¶ Apple's New Podcasts App

Me, last week, on the rumor of a standalone Podcasts app for iOS 6:

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.

Well, it turns out that iOS 5.1 is the release that makes iOS PC-free in this regard. Apple just released their standalone Podcasts app.

Here are the details from Apple:

Podcasts app is the easiest way to discover, subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Explore hundreds of thousands of free audio and video podcasts from the Podcasts Catalog, and play the most popular podcasts, organized for you by topic, with the all-new Top Stations feature.

Features:

• Enjoy all of your audio and video podcasts in a single app
• Explore hundreds of thousands of podcasts including shows in over 40 languages
• Try the innovative new Top Stations feature to find new podcast series in a variety of topics, including arts, business, comedy, music, news, sports, and more.
• Browse by Audio or Video podcasts, or see what’s most popular in Top Charts
• Tap subscribe for your favorites and automatically receive new episodes for free as they become available
• Stream episodes or download to listen while offline
• Skip forward and back using simple playback controls
• Turn on Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing a podcast while listening in bed
• Share your favorite episodes with friends using Twitter, Messages and Mail
• Optionally sync your favorite episodes from iTunes on your Mac or PC
• Sync your episode playback for seamless transition between devices

This is all very good. The interface is very nice. When you are listening to an episode, tap or swipe up on its artwork to reveal an old reel-to-reel player and the sleep and sound speed settings. If you tap pause, you can see the mechanics of the reel-to-reel player stop.

Another nice touch with the reel-to-reel player is that as the episode progresses, the spool of tape on the left reel diminishes as the spool on the right increases. This also happens quickly as you scribble the timeline.

As for setting up Podcasts, it should pull in any episodes currently found in the podcasts section of Music.app. Also, it should continue to sync with iTunes, just as before. The added benefit of Podcasts, though, is that you can set you device to watch for new episodes and to download the latest. Annoyingly, though, you have to tap into each podcast and toggle each and every one of them to subscribe on the device.

And this is where I see some shortcomings from what I was hoping for. In that post from last week, I stated:

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.

Well, this just isn’t part of the app. At least, not yet. iCloud doesn’t keep your subscription list, and while the app will download new episodes, it won’t do so in the background. The app must be open to check for and download new episodes.

What iCloud does offer is syncing the playback position of episodes between devices — say, an iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, it does this via whatever Apple ID is used for the iTunes Store, and not via the Apple ID set for iCloud.

This identity conundrum won’t affect everyone, as I am sure the vast majority of users have the iCloud ID and iTunes Store ID as one and the same. But for a family? Well, my wife and I each have separate iCloud IDs, yet we both use the same iTunes Store ID. If we were to both be subscribed to the same podcasts (thankfully, neither of us are) we would have a nightmare of playback syncing issues (there isn’t an option to not sync playback).

That aside, this is a very nice 1.0 app. I look forward to how it will improve. Hopefully iCloud will be emphasized more in a future release.

The important thing is Podcasts no longer solely rely on iTunes.

Podcasts is a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and requires iOS 5.1 or later. It’s free in the App Store.

While podcasts will exist in both Podcasts and Music apps in iOS 5, it looks certain that the podcasts function within Music will disappear in iOS 6. Use the next few months to transition to the new app.

Apple also has a little support section for Podcasts on its site.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the only way to add a podcast in the interface is via the Podcast Catalog. However, some podcasts aren’t on iTunes. If you want to subscribe to a podcast that isn’t in iTunes, just enter the feed:// URL in Safari, and it will redirect to the Podcasts app and add it to your feed.

Podcasts on iOS 6

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.

¶ WWDC 2012 | Next Generations

While it could be said of just about any product announcement, Apple seemed to have a clear message earlier this week at WWDC 2012: the coming year is about the next generations of hardware and software.

By generations, I don't simply mean just a slight reiteration from last year. I mean the next year will set the foundations for the next decade of products.

Apple touched on three major areas of their ecosystem — Mac hardware, OS X, and iOS.

Mac

We all love new Macs, right? Well, Apple refreshed their entire notebook lineup. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models received some very nice revisions.

MacBook Air

The MacBook Air received the latest Intel processors and integrated graphics, faster RAM, a faster solid-state drive, USB 3, and an upgraded FaceTime camera which now captures HD at 720p. It also received a new iteration of MagSafe, Apple's magnetic power port. MagSafe 2 is thinner.

Another nice upgrade is what exactly you can upgrade. You can order an Air with up to 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Basically the computer I'd really like to have if I had to replace mine.

MacBook Pro

The MacBook Pro as we know it received better processors and graphics, as well as USB 3. And that's about it.

The Next Generation MacBook Pro

Ever since the MacBook Air's big revamp in 2010 — the one where the Air really started to sell like hotcakes — many of us have wondered when we'd either see a 15-inch version of the Air or if the MacBook Pro would begin to take after the Air.

Hint: it's the latter.

Apple imagined what a powerhouse of a notebook computer would look like without all the legacy technology. Hard drive? Gone, replaced by an SSD. Optical drive? Gone. FireWire 800? Usurped by Thunderbolt and USB 3. Ethernet port? Too big, gone. And it sports the new MagSafe 2 port.

What we have ended up with is a 15-inch notebook that is lightning fast and weighs as much as the old-style 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Oh, and it has a retina display.

Talk about a dream computer.

It's also very expensive — starting at $2200. But it would serve us well to remember the first MacBook Air in 2008 — that was very expensive, too. And its second take was much more affordable.

This new MacBook Pro is the clear vision of what Apple plans to do with all their portables. Thin & light. Super fast. Retina displays.

I envision within a couple years time Apple's notebook lineup will pretty much be the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air equipped with retina displays.

This new MacBook Pro is the forerunner for the future of the Mac as we know it.

OS X Mountain Lion

One of the best kept secrets in recent Mac history has been OS X Mountain Lion. I remember waking up and reading tweets about Mountain Lion's existence back in February and being completely surprised.

Mountain Lion is the cat that eluded the rumor mill.

Well, now we know when we'll get our hands on it and how much it will cost. We'll see it in July on the Mac App Store for $20. For comparison, Snow Leopard and Lion each cost $30.

And, if you are one of those who is still on Snow Leopard, you can go directly to Mountain Lion for the same $20.

I can't wait for Mountain Lion. It will bring tighter iCloud integration, separating Notes from Mail and Reminders from iCloud and into their own respective apps. Not to mention finally bringing Documents in the Cloud to the Mac.

iMessage, the fantastic way to not use text messages on iOS devices, is coming in the form of the new Messages app, which replaces iChat.

In iOS 5, Apple revamped Notifications to have fairly unobtrusive banner alerts that roll in for a few seconds, then roll away. And with a simple gesture, you can bring in the Notification Center which stores all of your notifications.

Apple is bring that same concept to the Mac, giving a universal notification interface, and a gesture-activated Notification Center.

Mountain Lion also integrates Twitter and Facebook, which should be quite handy.

Two things that were revealed at WWDC that we didn't know about Mountain Lion before are Power Nap and Dictation.

Power Nap is for Macs that come standard with an solid-state drive. These Macs will be able to update Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac, and Documents in the Cloud — all while the Mac is closed and/or sleeping. And, if plugged into power, it can check for and download software updates, and back up to Time Machine.

Dictation is something we first saw in the iPhone 4S, accompanying Siri, and in the retina display iPad. I have been using dictation like crazy with my iPad the past couple months, so I am thrilled that it is coming to the Mac. Simply place your cursor where you want text, tap the fn key twice, and speak away.

There is a lot more coming to Mountain Lion, which you can check out here. And of course I'll go over it in detail once Mountain Lion is released.

iOS 6

Lastly, Apple showed off iOS 6 for the first time, available this fall. It has a significant smattering of refinements, but Apple detailed ten up close.

Siri is getting smarter and coming to the Retina iPad. You'll be able to find out scores and stats for sports, find reviews and showtimes for movies (and even ask for a trailer to be played), make reservations at restaurants, and — my favorite — launch an app by name. Siri can also tweet and post to Facebook.

Speaking of Facebook, that is coming baked into iOS in the same way Twitter did last year. In addition to using Siri to speak updates into the two big social networks, there will be tweet and post buttons in Notification Center. All of this will be great for me, as I often just want to quickly publish a quip without having to spend time loading up an app.

Photo Stream is getting a sharing component, which will hopefully make it easier for me to get pictures of my son to the grandparents in a more timely manner (I have severely neglected Flickr).

We'll also get to use FaceTime over cellular, though I imagine many of us, at least in the USA, will force ourselves to use it on Wi-Fi, since many of us now have limited data plans.

The phone app is getting a nice little feature to decline a phone call and either follow up with a canned message or set a reminder to call the person back. I can definitely think of a handful of situations where this will be very useful.

The iPhone is also getting a new app called Passbook, which will store things such as boarding passes, movie tickets, coupons, and gift cards. A nice touch with Passbook is that can alert you if your flight's gate changes or a coupon is about to expire. It can also put a notification on your lock screen when you go into the coffee shop that your gift card is from or when you arrive at the airport.

Speaking of Notifications, iOS 6 is bringing a feature called Do Not Disturb, something I have desired for some time. And it works exactly how I imagined. Flip the Do Not Disturb switch and notifications will no longer make sounds nor light up the screen. You can even schedule the hours in which you sleep.

In typical Apple fashion, they have paid attention to the details with Do Not Disturb. You can set exemptions for phone calls, such as your Favorites list or another group. Also, if someone calls you twice within three minutes, the call will go through, as it may be an emergency. I am literally ecstatic about this feature.

By far the biggest announcement for iOS 6 is that Apple is ditching Google Maps as the provider for the Maps app. Apple has rolled its own mapping solution, bringing vector-based maps (the tiles won't have to reload as you change the zoom level), turn-by-turn navigation, and a new view called Flyover, which gives a 3D, bird's-eye view of cities. The feature set is impressive and Apple's cartography is stunningly beautiful.

There are a few other things about iOS 6 that I haven't taken the time to cover, so I suggest you go check out the preview page.

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Apple has definitely set the bar high for the future of Mac hardware. OS X is becoming more in tune with its sibling iOS, and iOS is taking a few cues from OS X. The new, more annual development schedule of OS X is helping to keep it and iOS in parity.

And iOS 6 is really showing one big theme: Apple is hurting Google where it counts — eyeballs, or rather the lack of them — on Google's ads. Google has sponsored locations in Apple's Maps app. That's going away. Siri is bypassing what many people would use Google Search for and giving results directly from great sources. And Passbook has the potential to put the hurt on Google Wallet. The message is clear — Google was unwise to make an enemy of Apple.

Maps were essential for Apple to bring in-house. Siri and Passbook are chipping away at what is left.

All in all, Apple is leading the way forward to the next generation, where Apple defines the entire experience.

¶ What I'd Like Apple to Take Away in iOS 6

In a few days Apple will give its keynote address at WWDC, where it will more likely than not show off OS X Mountain Lion in final detail and offer a glimpse of what is to come in iOS 6 this fall.

In years past, I have led up to WWDC with my predictions and/or wish list of features I want added.

I’ve decided to try something different this year. While there are many things I would like to see added to iOS, there’s a few things I’d actually like to see taken away.

Cover Flow

I remember when I got the first iPod touch, I loved rotating it sideways and flipping through album covers to select songs. There’s a problem with Cover Flow, though: it’s more beautiful than it is functional. Quite frankly, it just isn’t that easy to use. I invoke it accidentally far more than purposely these days.

The novelty is gone. Maybe it is just because I have grown out of Cover Flow’s eye candy, but I have to wonder if new users to the iPhone and iPod touch find any usefulness in Cover Flow.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Cover Flow find its way to retirement in iOS 6. It makes for a neat demo to a new user, but more often than not it just introduces friction and lag when it pops up at the slight tilt of your hand.

Ping

Speaking of lag, the Ping integration in the Music app is a constant source of frustration for me. I find that I cannot act on the play/pause or track forward/backward buttons until Ping has polled Apple’s servers for whether I have previously “liked” or commented on a song.

This is one more thing that I think could be pruned from an overcrowded Music app, let alone the entire iTunes ecosystem.

Google’s Maps Data

There have been plenty of rumors going around that Apple will ditch Google’s map data from the Maps app in favor of its own data in iOS 6. I hope they come true.

Don’t get me wrong, Google’s maps are a fantastic service that I use nearly every day, and the data is very comprehensive.

But I just don’t think Apple can afford to rely on Google for such an important part of iOS when they are each other’s top competitors.

YouTube

The YouTube app seems slightly irrelevant these days, given that is somewhat out of date with YouTube’s current feature set, and YouTube’s mobile site is more than functional. Heck, let Google roll their own YouTube app onto the App Store.

I just don’t see much advantage to having a built-in YouTube app anymore. And let’s face it, the icon is hideous.

Newsstand

And speaking of icons, it seems Newsstand is reviled by nearly everyone I know with an iPhone or iPad. I would like a way to at least hide the Newsstand icon when it is empty. I do not subscribe to any Newsstand apps, and I don’t foresee myself doing so any time soon.

So, instead, I have Newsstand shoved off onto the very last page of my home screen. I’d rather be able to toggle it off and keep it out of sight.

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I have a much larger mental list running of things I’d like to see improved or added to iOS. The fact there are so few things I’d like to see removed is a testament to how well Apple has done in making an overall appealing system.

Instapaper is the Free App of the Week at Starbucks

More Instapaper news from The Verge today:

For the next week, Instapaper for iOS is available for free as a part of Starbucks’ “Free App of the Week” campaign. To get your free copy of the app (which normally costs $4.99), you have to physically go to a Starbucks shop and get a promo card, then enter the code into iTunes.

If you don’t have Instapaper already, shame on you. Now get over to Starbucks this week and get it. Or skip the burned coffee and buy it on the App Store.

Instapaper Gets an Awesome Feature for iOS and an Android Version

Instapaper is one of my most used apps on my iPhone and iPad, and it continually gets better and better.

A couple days ago, it was updated with a really great new feature, background update locations. The feature only works on iPhones and 3G/4G equipped iPads (because of those devices enhanced geolocation abilities). What it does is allow you to set up several geofences — say, home and work — and Instapaper will download any new articles when arriving and leaving those areas.

It’s useful for just about anyone, as your article list is pretty much always ready. I imagine train or bus commuters will really love this feature.

Already it makes me wish I had gone with the 3G/4G enabled iPad this last time (something I likely would have gotten had the carriers been seriously talking about shared data plans at the time).

But this isn’t the only news for Instapaper.

Instapaper for Android

Last night, The Verge published their exclusive on Instapaper for Android. Instapaper for Android is blessed by Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, but is developed by Mobelux. The two had a working relationship when Marco was at Tumblr, and with Marco focusing most of his time on iOS, I think it makes sense to contract out Instapaper for Android.

It looks like a solid 1.0 release, with a few shortcomings from the iOS version. I’d expect a lot of those will be resolved with time.

The Verge also has a little interview with Marco about the Android version. What I liked from that is that even though Instapaper’s roots are on the iPhone, Marco says his main focus is first on tablets, then smartphones. It’s also worth noting that Instapaper for Android does have separate UI’s for smartphones and tablets.

Instapaper for Android is $2.99 and is available on Google Play, and will be available soon on the Amazon Android Appstore and the NOOK market.

Facebook Camera

Just saw on Twitter (insert irony here) that Facebook just launched Facebook Camera on the iPhone. It features filters and such like this other little app called Instagram — which Facebook recently acquired for $1 billion.

Incredibly bizarre.

Rethinking the iPhone's App Switcher

Shortly before going to bed last night, I saw that *The Verge had featured something from one of their forum posters. Brent Caswell, aka brentcas, had a pretty neat concept of how the iOS multitask tray could be improved. He focuses mainly on the iPhone, and I really like what he came up with.

By adding another row of apps, I think the multitask tray would gain much more utility in easily switching between several apps. I also really like how he keeps the status bar visible and adds Spotlight search.

I love iOS’s Spotlight search, when I remember it is there. I think it would become much more notorious for use in Brent’s mockup.

I’m also loving his idea for dedicated music and settings sections. As far as his settings mockup goes, I applaud his toggles for Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G (or 4G/LTE, depending).

What I don’t like about his settings mockup is the Clear All button for killing every app. I know many of my friends swear their iPhone performs better when they tediously kill off every app int he multitask tray, but I still subscribe to it being unnecessary. Sure, there is the occasional errant app, but that is the exception, not the rule. In my experience, iOS is very good at managing itself.

In the comments to the post, user ThomasEvans makes the suggestion that instead of Clear All the button should be for activating Personal Hotspot. I’m much more on board with that idea.

I’m sure if someone important at Apple saw this mockup and was inspired to add it to iOS, it would be a little late in the game to include it in iOS 6. Maybe for iOS 7. Or maybe Apple has something better up its sleeve.

Notes and Reminders Coming to iCloud.com

Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac is on a roll today with iOS 6 related news, as he noted that Apple (briefly) had a beta site for iCloud up that showed the Notes and Reminders icons. He also updated with a reader tip that the beta is likely tied to iOS 6, and that there are references to an iCloud developer site.

It’s plain to see that iCloud is one of the biggest things going on at Apple right now. I’d even venture to say that it is and will continue to be bigger than OS X and iOS. And that’s why we’re going to see leaps and bounds of improvements to it, especially if Apple launches a developer program for iCloud.

iOS 6 Maps

I suppose it is close enough to WWDC for the rumor mill to start swirling with iOS 6 leaks and rumors. Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac reports that Apple will be dropping Google Maps as their backend for the Maps app in iOS 6, in favor of an in-house backend.

This doesn’t surprise me, and I pointed out a couple months ago that it makes sense for Apple to sever ties with Google regarding the iOS Maps app.