John Carey's iOS 7 Parallax Wallpaper Pack→

John Carey is one of my favorite photographers. It is not unusual for you to see my Mac, iPhone, or iPad graced with one of his wallpaper photos.

He just released his long-awaited (by me, at the very least) iOS 7 Parallax Pack. I know from conversing with him on twitter that he meticulously sought out the optimal resolution to give enough margin to keep the images crisp and clear while playing to the fun of the parallax effect.

In the past John has given these away for free. You can get 30 of the images for free for either iPhone or iPad. But he also has 70 more available for a humble price. You can get either an iPhone only or iPad only pack for $7 each, or a combined iPhone/iPad pack for $10.

Well, I have to say this is $10 well spent for such great art that will delight me daily.

¶ iOS 7

To say that I had felt a little underwhelmed at iOS 6's unveiling a little over a year ago would be an understatement. There had been rumors of a visual refresh, of changing the standard interface chrome from a steel blue to a grayish silver, and I was looking forward for some fresh paint on the pixels. But that didn't happen. The biggest interface change was tinting the status bar to somewhat match the chrome of the app running. And it looked pretty awful.

For the first time, iOS had felt stale to me.

This year, the rumors weren't of subtle changes. They were of big changes. Pave the land and start anew kind of changes.

With iOS 7, Apple did just that.

When you install iOS 7 on your device you'll quickly realize that there was not a single pixel of iOS itself that was left untouched. Everything and the kitchen sink went out the door, and every design started on a blank canvas. iOS 7 is unabashedly different.
 More on the design in a moment. There is a lot that did not change. iOS 7 still operates much in the same way as before. If you knew your way around iOS 6, you'll find your way in iOS 7 as very little interaction changed. And what did change is, in my opinion, for the better.

Examples? It used to be that you had to get to your first home screen and then swipe from left to right to do a Spotlight search. Now, from any home screen, just scroll down on the icon area a little and the search field appears. In Safari (and many others apps) you can swipe from the left or right edge of your device to go back or forward a page in the browser, or a level of hierarchy in an app. iOS 7 just feels a bit more elegant in function.

Where iOS 7 really shines in the simplification of its design. Apple has spent a great deal of effort on pushing two things in iOS 7's design: typography and color. Most things that were handled by and icon before are now a simple and straightforward text label. The icons that remain have been redesigned, thinned out, and simplified, yet overall familiar. Color is used everywhere. Icons and labels in Safari are blue, Calendar is red, Notes is yellow, Music is pink, and it goes on.

Design is not the only change in iOS 7, but it certainly is the most apparent. Other features and refinements have been made as well. The lock screen lends itself to being far less cluttered and showing more of the wallpaper image. Also, from the lock screen, you can now pull down the Notification Center, which has been given a new view called Today. The new Today view is really handy. It tells you plainly what is coming up next on your schedule and the weather. It shows a small portion of your calendar for the next few hours, and even tells you want is on your plate for the next day. In the case of an iPhone, it will tell you how long it would take you to drive to your next appointment, if you entered the address in Calendar. And when you are out and about, it will tell you how long it would take to drive home.

While Notification Center is at the top of the screen, the new Control Center is at the bottom. Slide up from the bottom of the screen to show quick toggles for Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb and Orientation Lock. You can adjust the brightness, audio that is playing, AirDrop and AirPlay, and then buttons to turn the LED flash on as a flashlight, and quid access to the Timer, Calculator, and Camera.

Control Center has become one of my favorite things about iOS 7. And like Notification Center, Control Center can be accessed from the home screen or from within any app.

One of my other favorite things of iOS 7 is the new parallax effect on the lock and home screens. Tilt your device around, and you will notice the icons and wallpaper subtly shift in opposition to each other, giving an effect that is not quite 3D, but decidedly not 2D. It's one of those little attentions to detail that makes iOS 7 feel so great.

Siri debuted with iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S as a beta feature, and remained that way ever since. With iOS 7 Siri loses the beta label, gets a much better voice (and a male voice), and seems overall more responsive and functional. Siri can even now turn certain components like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on and off. I'm really enjoying the new Siri, and though I still feel it is a little behind Google Now, I think Siri is far less frustrating than in the past.

The last thing I really want to touch on is iTunes Radio. If you've ever used Pandora, you'll quickly understand iTunes Radio. I've been using the heck out of this, and it's really well done. It's impeccably good at finding music that fits with your tastes, and just keeps getting better the more you use it. This is one of those features that is easy to get lost in the shuffle of the new design, but it is truly one of the best features of iOS 7 if you love music.

iOS 7 takes a lot of risks with visual design, and in some areas it is spot on terrific, and other areas it has gone a little too far. I love the overall change, but I also realize that it is far from perfect. iOS 7 is an enormous undertaking, but what it is doing best is laying a brand new foundation to build upon for the future of iOS. As much as I adore iOS 7, I can't wait to see what happens in iOS 8, because it's a whole new ballgame. And even more than looking forward to iOS 8, I can't wait to see what developers do with their apps now that there is a blank canvas to work from.

Apple has made guides for iOS 7 available on iBooks, one for iPad, one for iPod touch, and (presumably) one for iPhone (I'll add the link when it is available).

¶ Three Years

It is a little hard to imagine that in a short three years how much the iPad has changed the world. It almost feels like it has been around much longer than three years.

I remember not knowing exactly why I needed wanted an iPad, but venturing out to look at one anyway. Of course, I ended up buying one. And I remember finding that oversized iPhone to be magical.

In these past three years I have owned four — count ‘em, four — iPads. The original, the iPad 2, The New iPad (or iPad 3 in regular person speak), and the best of them all so far — the iPad mini.

I still think that not even Apple knew exactly what the iPad would become when they launched it. And the truth is, it becomes whatever app you are currently running. It can be a book, an instrument, a race car, a movie studio (or movie theater), or be the future of communication drawn into the present.

The truly great thing is the amount of creativity the iPad can unleash in a person as the barrier to interact with a computer is broken down to simply directly touching the thing you are creating.

With each iteration of the iPad, my favorite has been the concentration of it to the lighter, more portable iPad mini. And I can’t help but feel that if we have come this far in three short years, how much further will we be in three more?

OK→

A very touching story.

Guys, I still miss Steve.

1Password 4 for iOS

I am a little late in posting this, as I've been busy at my day job at AgileBits. A week and a half ago we released the much anticipated 1Password 4 for iOS.

It's really fantastic and we worked a long time on it. It is on sale for $7.99 until the end of 2012, and when 2013 arrives it will go to its normal price of $17.99. If you need a last minute gift for the nerd in your life, go get it on the App Store.

Apple Still Makes Awesome Ads

Just about everyone talks about a new Apple TV ad. One of Apple’s lesser known advertising strengths is their print advertising. This recent ad for the iPad mini on TIME magazine is truly great.

October 23

Rumor has it that Apple’s event for the iPad mini will be on October 23, 2012.

The Beard even gave it a “Yep.”

One thing I noted about the date is that the original iPod was introduced on October 23, 2001.

¶ Downcast | Review

With iOS 6 likely due out in the next couple of weeks, it’s a good idea to talk about podcasts. If you, like me, are a podcast listener, things are changing in iOS 6.

Traditionally, I’ve used podcasts the Apple way: subscribe via iTunes and sync episodes over USB or Wi-Fi to my iPhone, and then listen to them from the Podcasts tab of Apple’s Music app. It is certainly a process full of friction. It keeps your iPhone tied to your Mac, still, even though iOS 5 made significant inroads to making iOS independent from iTunes.

I take several long-weekend trips every year, and this past year I gave serious consideration to just leaving the Mac at home. A couple times I did, and regretted that I wasn’t able to reload on podcasts. So the past couple trips, my Mac has made the trip with me for that very reason.

In iOS 6, podcasts are being removed from the Music app. Apple’s new way is for users to use the already available Podcasts app. I’ve tried to use it a couple times to preemptively get on board before the big switch. But honestly? Don’t use this app as it stands today.

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.

Here’s a rundown of what makes Downcast awesome:

• It syncs your subscription list, the download and play status of episodes, and app settings — all through iCloud (and it takes little iCloud storage, since it just syncs the status between devices).
• The episode list is sorted between Unplayed and Played or Empty.
• You can change the sort order of episodes within a podcast between ascending or descending.
• You can toggle continuous play, deciding whether you want the next episode to play at the end of the previous, or to just stop entirely (this was the main sell for me).
• Adding podcasts is a breeze. If you need to download multiple episodes, you can tap the Edit button, mark a bunch of them, then toss them in the download queue.
• You don’t have to download episodes if you don’t want to. You can add some to the list for streaming. Most podcasts I want to have downloaded, but there are a couple that I have marked for streaming, which I can convert to download if I want.
• You can set the app to download only on Wi-Fi, so as to not wreck your data plan (something Apple’s Podcasts app does not give an option for).
• If an episode has linked show notes, Downcast pulls those in for your perusal while listening.
• It has background geofence support. So you could set a geofence around home and work, and set Downcast to check for new episodes and sync playback when you arrive.

I could go on, there’s much more. The bottom line is this is the sort of full-featured podcast client you want.

I highly recommend that you switch to Downcast before iOS 6 comes out (rumor has it September 19). Downcast is a universal app and runs a whopping $1.99 on the App Store.

Also, I noticed Downcast’s Twitter feed mention they are working on a Mac app.

Byword for iOS 1.1

This is the first feature update to my favorite text editor on iOS (and the Mac) — Byword. I reviewed Byword for iOS when it debuted in March. While the initial release was really great, it had two shortcomings:

• The absence of a dark theme, like the Mac version has, and
• You could only use one storage service at a time — Local, iCloud, or Dropbox — and it was inconvenient to switch between them.

These are the two areas of focus in Byword for iOS 1.1.

Byword now includes a dark theme like its big brother. In addition to that, the keyboard extension has received a little polish in appearance.

The biggest feature is the ability to switch between Local, iCloud, and Dropbox storage in the file browser. It really feels like a best of both worlds approach. You have the deeper file system of Dropbox, while also being able to dip your toe into iCloud. Another nice feature of the new file browser is the ability to create folders on the fly.

If you are serious about your writing, I have no reservation in recommending Byword as the best iOS text editor. It’s a universal app for iPhone and iPad and you can pick it for $2.99 in the App Store.

Facebook 5 for iOS

Facebook 5 isn’t too big on visual changes, at least on iPhone. For the most part, it looks a lot like Facebook 4. On the iPad, however, the update brings Timeline and the nuances of Timeline’s effect on all of Facebook’s design across platforms.

But visual change isn’t the focus of Facebook 5. Even though it doesn’t look a great deal different, it acts different. How? Speed. Lots of speed.

Facebook has historically been an HTML5 mobile site wrapped with a few native iOS controls. More or less, it was a slow loading website, especially over 3G. Now Facebook is a fully native iOS app, and everything loads near instantaneously.

This is great for me, as I have been primarily using Facebook on my iPhone and (even more so) iPad as of late. Mobile is my main vehicle to keeping tabs on family, friends, and acquaintances, and a faster and more consistent experience is always welcome.

Facebook 5 for iOS is available on the App Store.