Fun Stuff

• Fischer-Price goes too far with kids and the iPad.
• Not exactly ”fun,” but Qualcomm’s CES keynote was a spectacle. Just watch.

Apple

• The App Store tops 40 billion downloads. Remember,this didn’t exist just five years ago.
• Non-annoying iPhone ringtones.
• iTunes turns 12.
• Apple is doomed.
• Phil Schiller: Apple’ won’t produce a low-cost iPhone. Wait, not so fast.

Software

• Shutterfly acquires ThisLife. Darnit.
• Ink for iPhone and iPad review.

Productivity

• Saving URLs for later. I asked for solutions and you answered. I’ll be going through your responses next week.
• Episode 42 of Home Work begins a series on freelancing.

Entertainment

• The short movie that inspired Guillermo del Toro’s ”Mama.” One scene, scary as hell.

Articles

• Book stores foster ebook sales.

Fun Stuff

• The Atlantic suggested some podcasts for 2013. I did, too.
• My 2012 year in review. I’ve been doing these for three years now. They’re fun.
• Make old speakers AirPlay-compatible with Raspberry Pi and some inexpensive hardware.
• Minecraft gets citizens involved in urban planning.

Apple News

• Do Not Disturb stopped turning itself on and off after January 1st. Apple acknowledged the issue and said it will be resolved on January 7th.
• Apple released a new TV ad for the iPhone 5, promoting Do Not Disturb.
• The iBookstore could launch in Japan this year.
• Apple was incorporated 36 years ago this week.

Work

• Stay productive by breaking large projects into small, manageable tasks.
• The January issue of Read & Trust magazine is available, and the theme is craftsmanship.  I contributed an article along with David Sparks, Chris Bowler, Randy Murray and Aaron Mahnke.

Movies

• The Ashton Kutcher Jobs biopic gets an April release date, and Kutcher looks a lot like Jobs.
• Stanley Kubrick’s letter to IBM regarding HAL.

How-To

John Gruber mentioned that Apple has a “7.85 inch iPad that runs at 1024×768” in its testing labs, and Apple sites went nuts. My first response echos what Jim Dalrymple said on Amplified on Friday: of course Apple is testing a smaller iPad. It’s safe to assume that Apple didn’t ship a 10″ iPad without first testing a slew of other sizes. Further, I don’t doubt that Apple is fiddling with larger and smaller models to this day.

This is how big companies work. Do you think something as beautiful as the Pontiac Aztec just happens?

The question is about Apple’s intention. Will it see a need, a reason, to produce and ship a smaller model? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that Apple won’t ship one without a compelling reason, and “to compete with the Fire” is not a compelling reason.

A.T. Faust III wrote a nice piece in favor of the 7.85-inch screen. Meanwhile, Federico Viticci at MacStories describes the “technological issues, software questions, and market debates” that leave him skeptical.

I’m with Federico. I don’t see why Apple would ship a smaller, less expensive iPad when the current model is selling so well. But Apple has a habit of seeing things I miss.

Instagram’s Big Week

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service, finally released an Android version, breaking 18 months of iPhone exclusivity. More than 1 million Android users downloaded the app in the first 24 hours, which contributed to its pool of 30 million total users. That’s a lot of blurry photos of food.

Some iPhone users were a bit snarky as Android devices sullied their photographic playground, as CNN pointed out:

“Conflict-minded Apple fans argue that Android phones are less slick and uglier, and that they junk up the system with low-quality apps generated in its open developer community. Android diehards counter that many Apple fans will blindly buy up anything the company produces and that the closed iOS system stifles creativity.”

It’s a good thing there are no real problems we should be worried about.

iTextEditors

My friend and colleague Brett Terpstra went nuts while comparing iOS text editors, and the result is iTextEditors. It’s the most detailed comparison of writing apps for Apple’s mobile devices as you’ll ever find. In fact, anyone considering writing a side-by-side comparison of, say, ByWord and iA Writer should abandon that idea. The definitive comparison has been written.

AT&T To Unlock Qualifying iPhones

Well, look at that. AT&T has decided to unlock out-of-contract iPhones for customers in good standing. AT&T:

“Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.”

Hot Apps

• Facebook for iOS received a Retina-compatible update. Now those Cityville requests will be gorgeous.
• Tweetbot 2.2 offers iCloud Sync for timelines, DMs, and mute filters.
• Sparrow 1.1 comes with new archive and delete options plus a built-in browser.

Apps I Used All Week

•  Fish – A Tap Essay appeals to the meditative person that I am behind closed doors. I like this thing a lot (via Minimal Mac).
• Zombies, Run! is a super fun running app. It’s also an immersive game that puts you in a story involving zombies, rescue and so on. Really, really fun.
• One more I can’t tell you about until Tuesday. But it’s my new hands-down favorite.

Photo by Flickr user Kevin Hiscott, used via Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC license

Apple announced its intention to implement a dividend and share repurchase program later this year. The company last issued a dividend in 1995.

On the 19th, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives held a financial conference call to present the details. Among them were these gems:

1. The iPad is available in 90 countries.
2. Last quarter ended with 2.5M iPads in channel inventory. When the guy whose former job was supply management takes over the company, this is what happens.
3. 357 Apple Stores now open and hosted a record 77.5M visitors last quarter.

Three Million iPads Sold

Tim also revealed that Apple was thrilled with sales of the new iPad, without going into details. It wasn’t long before Apple shared the specifics, however, noting that 3 million new iPads were sold during its opening weekend. To put that in perspective, it took Apple 28 days to sell the first million iPad units and 80 days to sell 3 million units.

Photoshop CS6 Beta

Adobe released Photoshop CS6 Beta, offering users a sneak peek at what’s in store for the full version. The Verge posted a nice look, including cool stuff like searchable layers and a basic video editor. The full version should be out in the first half of this year for $699 new or $199 as an upgrade.

The Beleaguered iPad

That was a theme this week. Let’s get started.

Hot Hot Hot

Consumer Reports declared that the new iPad is hotter than its predecessors. The blogosphere jumped on the story, despite the magazine’s obviously sensationalist article. At one point, it says: “The new iPad can run significantly hotter than the earlier iPad 2…engineers recorded temperatures as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit.” But later, “During our tests, I held the new iPad in my hands. When it was at its hottest, it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period.”

“Very warm,” not hot, and “not especially uncomfortable.” Sounds dangerous.

Charing Problems

Gizmodo pointed out some whining in reference to the iPad’s ability to charge its battery. Specifically, they noticed that it did not accept a charge while “under a heavy load from benchmarking, graphics tests, and just generally downloading, installing, and using a million apps.”

It won’t charge while the hardware and software is totally maxed out? Scandalous!

iPhoto for iOS Rocks

iPhoto for iOS acquired one million users in less than 10 days. That’s users, not downloads. I’m not surprised. It’s a stellar app and customers have been wanting a photo editing app from Apple.

Notable Apps

1. Angry Birds Space. It’s out and it’s a lot fun.
2. Instapaper 4.1 for iPhone and iPad. Retina support, new fonts and full-screen reading.

Apple’s new iPad will be released in the US today, and developers are preparing their apps for its high-resolution display. As of this writing, the folloing apps are ready to look fantastic on Apple’s Retina display, among others:

1. Tweetbot for iPad
2. Twitterrific for iPad
3. NYTimes for iPad
4. Amazon Kindle for iPad
5. Evernote
6. Day One
7. Star Walk for iPad
8. The Early Edition 2
9. Another Monster at the End of This Book
10. Real Racing 2 HD (as if this gorgeous app could look any better)

About Those Retina-Ready Apps

Much was said this week about the size of Retina-ready apps in relation to data plans and iPad storage. Vietnamese tech blog Tinhte noted the change (as translated by The Verge):

“‘The applications developed by Apple have been upgraded to support the Retina Display. For example Keynote was previously only 115 MB but its latest version is 327 MB. Numbers is up from 109 MB to 283 MB, Pages moves from 95 MB to 269 MB, and iMovie from 70 MB to 404 MB.’ (Translated from Vietnamese)”

The Verge notes that Tinhte’s numbers refer to download sizes; installed applications could be even larger. Tweetbot, for example, expanded from 9.8 MB to 25 MB. Meanwhile, people are buying 16 GB iPads with bargain-basement data plans. Oh noez!

CNET, however, isn’t ready to slip into Panic Mode. In an article posted on Thursday, Josh Lowensohn notes:

“…while it’s easy to apply a multiplier onto the size of these apps and guesstimate it for any app that’s out there right now, developers CNET spoke to said it’s not that clear cut. Like a snowflake, each piece of software is different, and it all comes down to the content that gets packed in. Things like videos, music, high-quality image and texture assets that are included in applications could be getting upgraded, but not all those things are equal in terms of the impact they have in size.”

Josh also rightly points out that one must consider the app. iMovie for iOS is hefty after its Retina-compliant update, but it contains much more than pretty buttons and gizmos. Likewise, Apple’s Pages contains a slew of image assets; more than many others. The biggest change, of course, is in graphically-rich titles. Reading apps, for example, are less susceptible to bloat. In other words, the sky may have dropped by a meter or two, but it’s not falling.

Apple Closes Down iWork.com

Apple issued a statement announcing the pending shutdown of iWork.com. As of July 31, users will no longer be able to publish documents to iWork.com. Instead, Apple is prompting users to migrate to iCloud:

“After July 31, 2012, you can no longer publish new documents to iWork.com from any iWork application on your Mac or iOS device. Documents already shared on iWork.com will not be available to you or to those you shared documents with. Moving forward, you can use iCloud to share documents between your computer and your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.”

While iWork.com never came out of beta, I had a lot of success using it. A few years ago, I shared Keynote slideshows with remote co-workers without a problem. I can only assume iCloud will offer the same usefulness to teams.

Patients Use iPad to Customize MRI Experience

An MRI can be an intimidating and even scary experience for patients. Researchers at PDC, Inc. have developed a system that lets patients use an iPad to customize their MRI experience. It’s really cool – choose your own video, music, audio and ambient lighting. An MRI is still an MRI, but it’s great to see strides being taken to reduce patient anxiety.

Notable App Releases

1. PayPal Pay Here. PayPal goes after Square with its own credit card swiper for iOS.
2. Kindle for iPhone. New look and iPad Retina display support.
3. Sparrow for iPhone. The beloved email application for Mac finally has an iPhone counterpart.
4. Byword for iOS. My beloved Byword for Mac migrates to the iPhone. “Sweet,” as my 8-year-old would say.
5. Rdio for Mac. Fantastic new look. I love it.
6. Camera+ 3.0. Improved sharing options and Clarity feature.

Phew, what a week. Apple shared several major and minor announcements on March 7, including:

1. A new Apple TV with an updated OS and support for 1080p movies and tighter Netflix integration.
2. A software update for previous-model Apple TVs.
3. iOS 5.1.
4. A new iPad with a Retina display, A5X chipset, and 4G LTE connectivity and voice dictation.
5. Price drop of $100 on the iPad 2.
6. iPhoto for iPad and iPhone 4.
7. Updated Mac apps: iTunes, iPhoto, GarageBand and Xcode.
8. Updated iOS apps: Remote, the iWork Apps, iBooks, Find My iPhone, GarageBand, iMovie.
9. New iOS app iPhoto ($4.99, universal).
10. New Mac app (free) Configurator.
11. Over-the-air App Store download maximum has been bumped to 50 MB.

Apple’s Big Numbers

CEO Tim Cook also revealed impressive numbers on the 7th. The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch accounted for 76% of Apple’s revenue in 2011. Also, there are now 362 Apple Stores open around the world, which received 110 million visitors in Q4 2011. Twenty-five billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, and there are now 585,000 apps available. I think the most startling statistic revealed on Wednesday was, “[Apple] sold more iPads in the last quarter of last year, than any PC maker sold of their PCs,” according to Tim Cook. Wow.

All Eyes On Tim Cook

Photo by Flickr user Kevin Hiscott, used via Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC license

This was not the first time Tim Cook led a post-Jobs product announcement, but it felt like it. You’ll remember that Cook revealed the iPhone 4S after Jobs stepped down as CEO. While Cook did the talking, one could assume that Jobs still had a hand in the presentation.

Not this time. The new iPad presentation was all Tim’s and he did a fine job. He has was steady, confident and in control. It “felt” like an Apple event, more or less.

It wasn’t long before Apple-watchers shared their opinions of Cook’s performance. The Washington Post largely praised Cook, noting that “Jobs’s onstage persona will be difficult for Cook to match,” and that Tim’s “easy demeanor and obvious knowledge of the products” instilled confidence in investors and customers.

There were detractors, too. Bloomberg said that the event “lacked the build-up and drama of a ‘Stevenote’” and I agree. Cook moved quickly through the event. The Apple TV reveal was especially abrupt; Jobs typically built anticipation in such situations. Also consider how little time was spent on iOS 5.1.

Finally, The Chair was missing. Jobs sat in a beautiful leather chair to demonstrate the iPad, leaning back, legs crossed in a pair of Levis, exuding casual cool. I noticed it was gone right away and I missed it.

But you know what? That’s fine. Comparing Tim Cook to Steve Jobs isn’t fair, because Tim Cook isn’t Steve Jobs. I can’t even compare my kids William and Grace in that way, because Grace is not William and William is not Grace.

The Trend Toward Monochromatic Mac UIs

KT at Literate and Latte, developers of my beloved Scrivener, published a response to these mock-ups of an alternate UI for Scrivener. After praising the designer’s talent and effort, KT complained about a current trend in Macintosh UIs: monochromatic icons.

“…since installing Lion, I spend a lot more time poring over the sidebar in the Finder and the icons in Mail’s toolbar looking for something I could find at a glance in earlier versions of OS X. I thought I’d get used to it, but I haven’t. Even a year later, I often click on “Get Mail” instead of “New Message” in Mail. In the Finder, I have found that I no longer even look at the icons in the sidebar: because my brain can process the words more quickly than it can the colourless icons, I just read the items in the list instead. The same in Mail – but with multiple email accounts resulting in the same titles in different places, I frequently find myself in the “Sent” list when I meant to be in the “Drafts” list. Before Lion, quickly finding the sidebar folder I wanted in the Finder was easy: I subconsciously found the Downloads folder by looking for a splash of green, the Documents folder by looking for mostly white, the Applications folder for sticks of brown. I didn’t consciously look for a colour: I just looked at the sidebar and my eyes were drawn towards the icon I was looking for. I didn’t know it was the colour that guided my eyes until after the colour had been removed and I found myself having to read the titles.”

I experience exactly this on my Lion machine all the time, especially in Finder windows. Where I used to move to exactly what I want, now I must stop and look carefully to find the icon I’m after. Yes, monochromatic icons are tidy, but for me (and apparently KT), they don’t always work.

Apple’s Job Creation Claims

Last week, Apple published a web page touting the jobs it has recently created or supported.

“…we’ve created or supported more than 500,000 jobs for U.S. workers: from the engineer who helped invent the iPad to the delivery person who brings it to your door.” Apple arrived at the figure by combining jobs within the company with those in related fields, like component manufacturers and iOS developers.

Days later, several economists questioned those numbers. MIT economics professor David Autor told The New York Times,

“[The] entire business of claiming ‘direct and indirect’ job creation is disreputable because most of the workers Apple is taking credit for would have been employed elsewhere in the company’s absence. ‘But of course, they might not have been as well paid or gratified with their work,’ Mr. Autor said. ‘We’ll never know.’”

Economists will debate this for years, but I say, a lot of people are working at a time when a job is not easy to find. Good on Apple.

Notable App Releases

Other than the new goodies from Apple, a few notable iOS apps and app updates were released this week, including:

1. Square Register. This solution provides everything you need to run a small business using your iPad and a Square credit card reader as a point-of-sale solution. Really neat.
2. Frames. The first app from Studio Neat, makers of the fantastic Glif, offers stop-motion animation to iPhone owners. I can’t wait to try this out with my kids.
3. iA Writer for iPhone. The great text editor for Mac and iPad has migrated to the small screen. I can’t imagine typing with those bitty keys for any length of time, but I know many do. The reviews I’ve read have been positive.
4. Path 2.1. My beloved Path got a nice update with version 2.1. It now supports workouts logged with Nike +, as well as new cameras and music recognition.
5. Angry Birds Space. Rovio got a real NASA astronaut to introduce Angry Birds Space while orbiting earth in the International Space Station. That’s just cool.

Thank You Members

Finally, a big thank-you to the new members who singed up this week. I appreciate it very much, and I hope you’re enjoying the podcast, 52 Pickup. Look for more goodies next week.

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