December 24th, 2012
One niggle I had with the new Flickr app for iOS was the upload progress indicator was far too subtle (though an interesting take on what could be done to make it unobtrusive). They fixed that with this update.
Now they need to take a queue from Instagram (and many other modern mobile apps) and start uploading the photo immediately, rather than waiting for the user to click “done”, so that it seemingly uploads instantly.
December 19th, 2012
Great list of tips and features for Flickr’s new iOS application. I particularly like number 3:
3. Apply a single filter to multiple photos at once. Did you fall in love with a particular filter? We’ve made it easy for you to apply it to multiple photos at once. You simply select the photos from your camera roll that you’d like to edit then go to the filter screen and tap and hold the filter that you want for your photos. And just like that, all of your photos are Panda-ized.
I also didn’t realize that you could manage your Flickr Groups from within this application as well. This is a very feature-rich application.
December 4th, 2012
As I mentioned on Twitter, if you have an iPhone you should check out KitCam. Fantastic, well-designed, and complete camera replacement application.
/via Mike Rundle on Twitter.
November 26th, 2012
Break out of your weekly routine, try a new place, and don’t forget to leave a tip for your friends!
The new feature is a bit buried. But when you find it, it can be pretty useful.
November 5th, 2012
Watercooler 1.0 is a Twitter and App.net client by Troy Gaul.
It looks interesting but I might wait for 1.1 based on the reviews before I pick up a copy.
/via John Gruber.
November 2nd, 2012
Gizmodo did a side-by-side comparison of Google’s new Voice Search app on iPhone and Siri. Google wins every single time.
I’ve been using Google a bit on my iPhone 5 over the last 24 hours or so and it is blazingly fast. Siri, obviously, is far more integrated into iOS and can open applications, set appointments, etc. but strictly for getting at information Google’s new app is nearly instant.
As Gruber said, Apple now has something to shoot for. Siri’s abilities are great but her performance is relatively abysmal.
October 28th, 2012
Speaking of Instagram… Instabar is a free app to view your Instagram feed on your Mac.
October 8th, 2012
Wedge is a Mac client for App.net that I really like. It just hit 0.3.3 with a slew of updates.
The rapid development of these clients, the feedback loop, and the growth of App.net is all very compelling and fun to be part of once again.
September 19th, 2012
Devour, a site I visit just about every day on my iPad, has an app to match.
June 27th, 2012
Remember when Facebook’s iOS application was used during an Apple keynote to show how great an app could be built by third parties? In fact, when Apple only allowed mobile web applications on the iPhone and when they began allowing native applications Facebook was used as a shining example for both ways of building an app for iOS.
Fast-forward to today where 21,000 out of 38,000 app reviews for Facebook for iOS are one star due to how slow the application has become.
Thankfully that’s all going to change next month. According to two Facebook engineers who asked not be named because they are not authorized to speak about unreleased products, Facebook has completely rebuilt its iOS application to optimize for one thing: speed.
Thank goodness. Finally.
June 27th, 2012
Adam Curry, arguably one of the two people that invented Podcasting (of course, I’m referring to Dave Winer although there were others), has some thoughts on Apple’s new Podcasting app and how he feels they’ve left the door to discovery wide open and how Podcasting could be rebooted.
Considering that a podcast is no different from a blog with a different payload, this is not the way we have learned to discover content.
Although Podcasting has been around awhile I think it is just getting started. And, I also think Podcasting will continue to be at the forefront of the disruption of mass media and be one of the primary ways audio and video is distributed on the Internet for years to come.
June 27th, 2012
I linked to this a few days ago on Twitter. You do follow me on Twitter, right? Satellite Eyes by Tom Taylor is a nifty little utility that uses your Mac’s current location to create a Desktop Background image based on the map of your area. There are a few preferences to make it all your own.
Being that I travel about 360 miles per week right now I’m loving it.
June 26th, 2012
Instagram was just updated to version 2.5. Here are a few of the highlights.
- Revamped profile tab
- Search for users and tags in the Explore tab
- Improvements to commenting
- User search autocompletes based on people you follow
- Visual improvements
- Speed optimizations
- Optionally share likes to Facebook (enable in your Profile > Sharing Settings > Facebook)
This is a decent upgrade and there are a few things to note. Instagram’s rapid growth has been, in part, due to its Popular tab. Even if you were new to the network you could easily see stunning photos. The Popular tab is now called Explore. And this is important for product people to note. Instagram needed an easier way to find photos you might be interested in (such as an event or other interest) and also find users. And many would be scared to “mess with” the Popular tab. However, taking the most popular tab (the Popular tab) and adding those features to it really shows what Instagram considers important. They want people to discover people and photos easier than ever.
Also, cross-network “likes” is an interesting concept that we’re about to see a lot more of. It will even be in Mac OS X Mountain Lion next month.
There are some hidden gems in this release to including this one from Keegan Jones.
June 14th, 2012
The latest release of Reeder for iPhone has just hit the App Store. All sorts of goodies in this release – copiously described and illustrated by Shawn Blanc.
However, a big, big thing that most posts aren’t mentioning is that Reeder 3 for iPhone supports Shaun Inman’s Fever. Why is this a big, big thing? Because Google Reader could be scuttled at any moment by our friends in Mountain View, California. I’m not calling for that but they’ve added and removed features on a whim and they aren’t charging to use Google Reader so if they wanted to shut it down they could. Fever you have to pay for. Fever you install on your own. I trust Fever to be around far longer than Google Reader. And since I use Reeder on my iPhone, iPad and Mac – every single day – I would like that to stay that way. Looks like I’ll be buying Fever soon.
June 8th, 2012
Foursquare just updated their iOS application and I think it is great. MG Siegler sums it up:
A day into using it, I agree that new Foursquare is a significant improvement in a lot of ways. There’s always been a lot more data than check-ins flowing through Foursquare, but much of it was hidden behind layers of UI. Now those layers have been peeled away.
In addition to these features being hidden in previous versions of the application they were also a lot slower. Now, not only are these features (such as finding interesting places nearby) easier to find, they are really, really snappy. Going to a Google map is no longer an exercise but a pleasure.
Fantastic update.
May 21st, 2012
Not-so-hot on the heels of my interview with Panic in September 2009 comes Coda 2 and its sister? iPad app Diet Coda – both available on May 24th. Coda 2 looks like an amazingly big update.
May 21st, 2012
GitHub just released GitHub for Windows. Remember what I said about GitHub for Mac? And about git getting easier? It goes ditto for this application.
April 12th, 2012
Speaking of backing up your Instagram photos. InstaBackup is a free Mac application by David Smith that makes it simple to download all of your Instagram photos to your Mac.
March 23rd, 2012
Loren Brichter interviewed for The Geek Talk.
I did some pretty nutso stuff with that little turtle.
I wonder what he’s been up to.
