Twitterrific 5.6 Glides with Streaming

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I've had the privilege to be testing Twitterrific 5.6 for iOS for the past few weeks, and it is a fantastic update. This big feature with this release is support for Twitter's streaming API.

Once you've enabled streaming in the app's settings, tweets will come in as they are posted in real-time while you are on Wi-Fi. Twitterrific will intelligently switch back to manual refresh when you drop to a cellular connection.

Streaming is one of those features that has been a long time coming for Twitterific. Streaming makes the Twitterrific experience that much more frictionless and delightful. In my opinion, the lack of streaming was pretty much the final piece of friction left in Twitterrific, and now it really feels feature complete.

Another great feature, though one I admit I have not used often, is list management. For the extremely organized among us, this is a great addition.

You will love Twitterrific 5.6, which is available as a free update to existing users, and available to new folks for $2.99 99¢ on the App Store.

Update: Changed pricing to reflect limited time 99¢ sale.

¶ The Nest Acquisition

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A few weeks after moving into our first house last summer, my wife and I bought a Nest thermostat and installed it. It…didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. In fact, it wasn't working right at all.

I had done my homework, too. I had checked and re-checked Nest's compatibility guide, and I even called in to their support, talked to a rep for a bit, and he even had me email him a picture of our current sucky thermostat and the wiring, and gave the green light that Nest was 100% compatible. So I made the order on Amazon and 48 hours later UPS dropped the box off at my front door.

It was super easy to install, but it just wasn't operating correctly. Another call to Nest, a few more pictures of the wiring, and two levels of support later, I had a workaround solution of putting certain wires into differnt terminals on the Nest, and the support rep told me Nest was going to set up a certified tech to come out on their dime and make sure it works right.

Two days later a guy from a local company that was Nest certified came out, and started testing the Nest and my HVAC system. Everything should have been working, so he investigated deeper. Turns out there was a fault in the wiring between the HVAC system and the Nest. The tech pulled out the bad wiring and ran brand new wiring through my basement's suspended ceiling and up the main floor wall.

This was not a problem with the Nest thermostat at all, but Nest footed the bill to make sure it worked. I never found out how much the job costs, but Nest paid it all. I have to imagine it was either close to, or surpassed the $250 I spent on the Nest.

This is right up there in my top 3 best customer support experiences ever. It solidified my love for Nest as a product and as a company.

Fast forward to three days ago when Nest founder Tony Fadell announced Google's acquisition of Nest. When I read it, my heart sank a little. I used to love Google, and for some things, I still think they do an exceptionally great job. But Google got a little weird when their romance with Apple took a turn. Their "don't be evil" moniker started to feel hypocritical in some aspects.

Then Google+ happened, and they became so obsessed with promoting their new social network that they became downright creepy about all the data they have on each person that uses Google services.

So here I have a service that I used to love that went mad with power, and a product/service that I love that just sold out.

Rock, meet hard place.

I have friends seriously considering ripping their Nest off their wall over the news. Let's face it, Google doesn't have the greatest reputation anymore, at least with nerds.

Will I be removing my Nest Thermostat? Not yet. It did cross my mind, though. As silly as it is when folks snark that Google now has the ability to know when you are home, when you're not, what temp you prefer, and the movements you make you're asleep — well, it sounds silly, but I can also see that totally being a reality.

I'm just not ready to give up my Nest yet, especially since there isn't a comparable product to replace it yet. But I'll be keeping an eye on it, since it isn't all that impossible that it may be keeping an eye on me. 1

  1. Funny side story: I named my Nest HAL when I installed it. Seems a little apt, now. ↩

(Pre-)Introducing Publish by Day One→

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I love Day One, and this new Publish tool that is coming soon to the iOS app looks awesome. It's rare that I want to share something that I have written in Day One, but for the handful of times I have wanted to do just that, I had wished there was something elegant, beautiful, and easy to do so.

I can't wait for this to go live.

Twenty-Thirteen | Review

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2013 was a big year for me and my family. The first part of the year was busy at work with the release of 1Password 4 for iOS.

I was ordained as a deacon at my church in February.

Then my wife and I were able to go out of country on a trip to the Dominican Republic for a week in March, which happened to be a work retreat, where I met everyone I work with for the first time.

Then the biggest event of our marriage since the birth of our son happened: we bought a house. It really is the perfect house for us as it has vintage 1940’s charm and all the modern amenities. Being a bit of a movie fanatic, my favorite part is that it has a 12-seat movie theater in the basement with vintage reclining theater seats and a concessions stand.

Promptly following that was our 6th anniversary and our son’s 5th birthday. He started Kindergarten, and we released 1Password 4 for Mac at work. Busy fall.

The year wrapped up with us hosting Christmas in our house for both my folks and my wife’s folks. And then a new addition was added to the family a couple days ago, a new niece for us to spoil.

My biggest regret with 2013 is that amongst the busyness I neglected this site too much. I haven't written nearly what I wanted to this past year. My goal for 2014 is to carve out more time to bring words here, as I do truly love it.

2013 was indeed a very big year. I can’t wait to see what is next.

Be well, dear readers. Happy New Year.

How to tie your shoes→

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I saw this TEDx video a couple months ago, and thought it was a nifty experiment to try out. It took a good two weeks to not have to force myself to remember to tie my shoes the new way, and now it is habit. The result: my laces lay nicer and rarely come untied.

Who knew we all learn to tie our laces the wrong way?

Happy Christmas

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Another year is coming to a close and a new beginning for all of us is on the horizon. 2013 was a big year for me with helping launch 1Password 4 for iOS and 1Password 4 for Mac, taking my first trip out of the country, buying a house, and watching my son start Kindergarten.

I can't wait to see what all 2014 has in store. Happy Christmas, friends.

¶ The Annoying State of the Apple Wireless Keyboard

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Lately I have had conversations with a couple friends after I expressed rage frustration at how quickly my Apple Wireless Keyboard chews through a pair of Eneloop AA's1. Naturally, once I began to resent one thing, I began to notice the rest of its flaws compared to the modern state of other Bluetooth keyboards. What follows are my gripes with the Apple Wireless Keyboard, and how they should be fixed.

Tim Cook, if you're reading, I would give my kingdom for this keyboard.

The Battery

AA's, while fairly universal, are ridiculous in this day & age of Apple devices. The iPad and the MacBook Air get amazing battery life. I'd like to see Apple bring their expertise in battery tech to their peripherals. Ditch the tube shape on the back that holds batteries, and go to a MacBook Air-like wedge shape with a good sized internal battery. Recharge it via a Lightning cable when needed, and have it still usable while plugged into your Mac.

Also, I imagine moving to Bluetooth 4 would help with energy usage, and every new Apple device in the past couple years has come equipped with that.

The Keys

If you've been paying attention to any of Apple's portable Macs in the last few years, you'd know that the white keys of the Apple Wireless Keyboard look like a turd compared to the elegant black keys of portable Macs. Can you imagine how mismatched this keyboard looks next to the new Mac Pro?

Another thing Apple could borrow from the MacBook line is backlit keys. My proposed wedge shape, which could accommodate a nicely sized rechargeable battery, with a more energy efficient Bluetooth 4, could hopefully handle powering backlit keys. It's darn near 2014, it is time to have black, backlit keys on a wireless keyboard.

Easy to Use Multiple Device Support

The Logitech K811 keyboard is almost the keyboard of my dreams, except it is a little on the ugly side with that black stripe across the top. It has black, backlit keys, an internal rechargeable battery (but over the sucky micro-USB), and this amazing ability to switch between a Mac, iPhone, & iPad with the press of a button. They call it EasySwitch for a reason.

When one of Apple's main goals is to get you to own a Mac, iPhone, & iPad, they should be selling a keyboard that gives extremely low friction in using it with all three devices.

Conclusion

There are some really great keyboards out there that are close to my dream keyboard, the aforelinked Logitech K811 being the closest, save for being a bit on the ugly side. I want Apple to step into this decade of technology with their keyboard, and utilize many of the technologies they've been pushing forward.

So let's recap what the next Apple Keyboard should be like.

  • Wedge shape, like the MacBook Air
  • Good-sized internal battery
  • Lightning port for recharging from an outlet or Mac.
  • Bluetooth 4
  • Black keys
  • Backlit keys
  • Ability to switch quickly and easily between Mac, iPhone, & iPad.

And hey, while we're at it, let's update the Magic Trackpad with the wedge shape, internal battery, Lightning port, and Bluetooth 4.

Again, I'd give my kingdom for peripherals like this.

  1. It is widely believed Apple uses relabeled Eneloops for their rechargeable battery kit. ↩