iOS 6 Beta 4 Shows Built-In YouTube App the Door

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Back in June, I listed a few things I’d like to see Apple remove from iOS. One of those was:

The YouTube app seems slightly irrelevant these days, given that is somewhat out of date with YouTube’s current feature set, and YouTube’s mobile site is more than functional.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.

Apple released beta 4 of iOS 6 to developers today, and the built-in YouTube app is gone. The Verge has a statement from Apple:

Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.

I’m sure there are folks who will be upset. I just see this as a reclaimed spot on the Home Screen.

CandyBar's Fate

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Panic gives an update on CandyBar, their OS X app that helps you easily customize icons for the system, apps, and folders. It’s now free, yet unsupported. It’s also finding a new home over at The Iconfactory.

I remember customizing everything I could to follow a theme. I started trailing off on doing that a little over a year ago and keeping things pretty close to default (not sure why). Maybe that’s a good thing, since customizing is getting harder to do.

OS X Mountain Lion to be Released July 25

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Apple CEO, Tim Cook, in a press release moments ago (emphasis mine):

"We’re thrilled with record sales of 17 million iPads in the June quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also just updated the entire MacBook line, will release Mountain Lion tomorrow and will be launching iOS 6 this Fall. We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we’ve got in the pipeline."

End of Development

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Some high profile apps have ceased development today in the Mac & iOS ecosystem. Pulp and Wallet by Acrylic and Sparrow, the eponymous email client focused on Gmail. The companies were purchased by Facebook and Google, respectively.

I’m sure the developers are elated. Their users, however, can expect no further feature development (I wouldn’t count on bug fixes, either).

So, if you were a fan of Wallet, you should probably look into migrating to 1Password. And Pulp users may want to look at Reeder. And Sparrow users better get comfy with Apple Mail again.

I think Marco Arment puts it best today:

If you want to keep the software and services around that you enjoy, do what you can to make their businesses successful enough that it’s more attractive to keep running them than to be hired by a big tech company.

Honestly, getting free updates in the App Store all the time is nice on my wallet, but I’d rather have a frictionless paid upgrade path for major releases than to watch great apps fade away.

Tweetbot for Mac Public Alpha

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Tapbots have released a public alpha of Tweetbot for Mac. If you’ve ever used either of their iOS versions of Tweetbot, you’ll feel right at home with it on your Mac, as Tapbots have maintained consistency.

The public alpha is free to download for now, but it is far from a finished product. Expect bugs, crashes, and incomplete features. I imagine that when it hits 1.0, it will be a paid product in the Mac App Store.

OS X Mountain Lion Goes Golden Master

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MacRumors reports:

Apple released the Golden Master (GM) version of OS X Mountain Lion to developers today. The “golden master” designation indicates that this version of the software is intended to be the final version released to the public, barring any last-minute issues. The Build is 12A269.

I’d say it’s a fair bet we’ll be able to buy Mountain Lion next week.