Come next Monday, I'll be firing up the Apple TV to livestream the WWDC keynote in my home theater. Can't wait to see what Apple has in store for us this year.
The State of the Ecosystem→
/This is an epic rundown of the various aspects of Apple's empire — both strengths and weaknesses — by my very good friend Nik Fletcher. I even had the privilege of reviewing a few drafts to offer some input.
This is a long read, but essential leading up to WWDC next week.
Interstellar→
/It must be Youtube video week at techese HQ, because the official trailer for Christopher Nolan's next movie just came out. I love that Nolan doesn't give too much away in his trailers. Inception was a fantastic film that wasn't ruined ahead of time by giving away the whole movie in the trailer.
Interstellar looks simply fascinating.
¶ iPad Second
/In the early days of iOS app development, there was one screen size to worry about. A simple 3.5-inch screen at 320x240 pixels. The retina display in the iPhone 4 was the first added complexity to designing iOS apps, as the resolution doubled to 640x480 pixels, but stayed at that 3.5-inch screen.
The original iPad is what really shook things up. A much larger screen at 9.7-inches, and a different aspect ratio with 1024x768 pixels. While an existing iPhone app could be run on it, it wasn't pretty. Apple's solution was to have either apps that ran only on the iPad, or to have what they called universal apps, where the iPhone and iPad interfaces were bundled into a single app.
This was a great opportunity for app makers to reimagine their apps for a new class of device, however, those who wanted to be first to the iPad only had weeks to completely redesign their apps for a device they had not yet held.
Everything was experimental.
Naturally, this was a little risky for app makers. I recall many of my favorite apps coming to iPad as separate apps from their iPhone counterparts. It made sense, as no one knew whether the iPad would be a runaway success1, or if would be derided as "just a giant iPhone."2
As time has gone on and the iPad has found its place in the world, many apps that had separate releases for iPhone and iPad released major updates as universal apps.
There were inevitably some apps which targeted the iPad first. There is even a site dedicated to celebrating apps that ship for iPad first, though it doesn't appear to have been updated recently. One app that comes to the forefront of my mind is iA Writer. The iPad app shipped first, and an iPhone interface was added later.
These days I can't say I see too many apps debuting as iPad first. Most are universal at launch, or start out on the iPhone first.
What is more interesting to me is not the initial launch, but rather the order in which features are added. For the rest of this article, I want to focus on universal apps.
I prefer universal apps. I switch between my iPhone and iPad constantly, however the mood or situation strikes me. One thing I enjoy is that when an app is universal, it is simply there for me no matter which of the two devices I pick up. This leaves me with a certain expectation that the feature set between the iPad version and iPhone version of a universal app should be pretty on par.
Unfortunately that rarely seems to be the case. Too often these days I see universal apps gain new features and designs and layouts on the iPhone first, and the iPad side of it just lags behind.
Let's call out some apps that do this. Twitter is one of the biggest offenders. They consistently roll out new features to the iPhone first, and maybe someday bring them to the iPad side. I've seen Twitter drastically overhaul the interface of the iPhone before, and leave the iPad interface to languish for months.
Facebook is another one. They usually roll out design and feature updates to iPhone first, and iPad sometime later.
Even some apps I love dearly do this. Day One, as much as it pains me to say, has done this. They will roll out a feature on iPhone, then bring it to iPad. Thankfully, they are usually quick to bring things back into feature parity, but sometimes I'd rather just wait a couple extra weeks for a truly complete update to a universal app, rather than a staggered rollout.
I don't think this practice would bother me so much if the app in question were not universal. To me, universal does not just convey that I pay once to install on both device types. It conveys that the two interfaces should be maintained in parity.
Apps that have done this right the past couple years have been Twitterrific, Paprika, Byword, 1Password 3, and others. These apps continually release feature parity as universal apps across the two interfaces, without feeling like the iPad version is "just a bigger version of the iPhone".
I am delighted that many smaller development companies sweat the details to make sure their universal apps always feel universal in every way. My fear, though, is that some of the bigger companies like Twitter and Facebook are setting a trend where the iPad is an afterthought for universal apps, and that the iPad will become a second class citizen in app development, instead of a joint-heir with the iPhone.
DIY Wolverine Claws→
/Apparently I am on a comic book hero kick today, so here is a video of an awesomely crazy fella who made himself some pneumatic Wolverine claws.
I just love how freaking excited this guy is!
The Flash→
/This past year I have become a huge fan of Arrow on The CW. My wife & I buzzed through season 1 on Netflix and can't wait to get a hold of season 2, which we have heard is truly epic.
While I try to dodge season 2 spoilers like the plague, one I couldn't escape was a cameo of Barry Allen, who any good comic nerd knows as The Flash.
The CW is spinning Barry out into his own show aptly titled The Flash, natch. They posted 5-minute trailer today, and this show just looks fantastic.
The Ultimate Guide to Solving iOS Battery Drain→
/This is not one of those "Turn off every useful feature of iOS" posts that grinds my gears. My goal is to deliver practical steps to truly solve your iOS battery woes.
Scotty Loveless lays out the best advice I've read on how to get the battery in your iOS device to go the extra mile, without compromising the experience Apple designed in iOS. This is a must read.
¶ Bible App 5 | Review
/The Bible can seem like a pretty daunting thing to get into. It's a rather large book1, and it comes in so many translations. Which should you choose? Dost thou goeth with ye olde King James? Or something a bit more modern like the NIV? The options are endless.
I happen to like to read a few different versions to get a better idea of what is being said. I find the different viewpoints to be helpful in forming a more complete picture. The problem here is that I don't really care for having a few copies of the same book sprawled out. And I certainly don't enjoy carrying around a large book.2
That is why I have been a longtime fan of YouVersion's Bible App. It collects a metric ton of different translations into one app on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Android device. And my iPhone is a lot lighter than a book.
Today YouVersion introduced Bible App 5. It has a great new interface across the board, and even though the same interface is shared across iOS and Android, it looks right at home on iOS 7.
The best part is that the Bible App is taking the focus of the app from being solely on you and branching it out to being part of your own community of friends. The folks you add as friends can now comment and like on your notes, highlights, and bookmarks (you can choose to make any of those public or private). Here is what YouVersion says about the new focus of the app:
Up until now, the Bible App was designed mostly around you as an individual—you reading or listening to your Bible, adding your personal notes and your insights. While many people have told us that this kind of personal experience has helped them grow closer to God through His Word, we think there’s still more we can do—a lot more. The all-new Bible App 5 transforms the way you experience Scripture…from “me” to “we.”
Historically, people were only able to experience the Bible in community. Before the printing press, very few people had personal copies of the Bible. But movable type changed everything. For the first time in history, anyone who could read could experience God’s Word with their very own printed Bible. In more recent times, audio Bibles in several languages invite even more people to enjoy God’s Word by listening—even if they can’t read.
Bible App 5 was designed from the ground up to bring the best of all these things together again. It draws the Scriptures back into community, without sacrificing personalized access. You can keep enjoying your own Bible, just as you always have. But now, for the first time, you can also easily experience it within the context of close, trusted friendships.
No matter what your view on the Bible is, it is amazing that a text as old as it is has transcended so many mediums throughout history. From scrolls that were largely shared verbally and copied by scribes to the printing press and to the digital age.
Over the years I have found that the best part of my church is the community. Yes, the worship service and my pastor's sermons are important, but the real growth happens in small groups, with people coming together and sharing their views.
While likes & comments in an app is not a replacement for that in-person community, I think it is a great way to keep your small group connected between Sundays.
Bible App 5 is entirely free and available for iOS and Android.
Eddy→
/A while back my colleagues & I won an Editor's Choice Award from Macworld.
Because the folks running the company are amazing, they made sure everyone in the company received their very own Eddy. They started showing up at our doors a few weeks ago, and to celebrate, a great many of us took out our cameras to get our photo taken with Eddy.
You can see everyone's photos at the link in the title, and you can see mine below.
Cloak 2.0→
/The Internet can be a scary place. One thing that always makes me a little leery is public Wi-Fi. You never know what anyone else is up to on public Wi-Fi. One of the best things you can do in that situation is to use a VPN.
Unfortunately, VPNs are not something that most folks a) know about, and b) know how to use.
That's where Cloak comes in. Cloak makes using a VPN easy, as it does all the work. It even works on your iOS devices. I've been using Cloak for a year now, and today Cloak 2 was released.
The first Cloak worked fine on the Mac, but on iOS it felt very finnicky. This is where Cloak 2 really shines. Cloak 2 brings a new feature called Trusted Networks. You can tell it which networks you use that you trust, and it will disable the VPN when you are on those. Then when you venture onto an untrusted network, the VPN automagically kicks in and secures your connection.
And you only need to set this all up once, as Cloak will pass your Trusted Network settings on to all of your devices.
Cloak operates off a monthly subscription, and has a couple tiers.
I've found the mini plan to be more than adequate for my occasional afternoon working at a coffee shop, but if you are a heavy VPN user, then the unlimited plan is priced fantastically, too.
As I said, the Internet can be a scary place. Stay safe out there.