iOS

Built in text expansion in OS X and iOS

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Kyre Lahtinen takes you on a video tour through text expansion, a feature that’s been around OS X and iOS for quite some time, yet still seems to be a big unknown for a lot of people.

Solar powered iBeacon sunglasses

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I think this sounds useful and, I suspect, a feature that expensive sunglasses will standardize on in the future. Or you can just get the $15 sunglasses off the rack at the drug store.

Clearing up “other” memory on your iOS device

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When you look at the memory consumption on your iOS device, chances are high that a good chunk of it is taken up by a category labeled simply as “other”. Read the linked post for three steps you can take to free up some space. Even if none of these fixes are new to you, it’s nice to be reminded to clear the backlog every once in a while.

Responding to App Store reviews

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Microsoft is adding the ability for developers to send feedback directly to customer reviews. Are you an iOS developer? Read the post, leave a comment.

Deleting documents stored on iCloud

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Kirk McElhearn talks through the process of deleting iCloud documents from iOS and the Mac.

On the iOS side, he’s right on the money. But on the Mac side, there actually is a parallel interface. Read the post for more.

Alpine to sell stand-alone CarPlay consoles

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Nikkei.com:

While a slew of carmakers will soon start offering vehicles that come standard with a CarPlay interface built in, the Japanese company’s device is to be the first aftermarket product compatible with the system. It will first be available in the U.S. and Europe and likely cost around $500 to $700.

The device will connect to an iPhone 5 or later by wire. Drivers will be able to view maps on its screen, likely 7 inches, and use voice commands to access messages, make calls and play music. The system will be able to read messages and directions aloud.

This looks pretty cool. A real boost for CarPlay.

Thoughts on asking users for iOS permissions

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Asking a user for permission to send them push notifications or to access their private data can be a little bit of a minefield.

For many apps, not getting access to a phone’s sensors or data can change the entire user experience. For example, if an app depends on where the user is standing, declining access to location could render the app useless. More subtly, if push notifications play a critical role in getting your user to form a habit of using your app, declined access could lead to you losing them forever.

Making it all worse is that when a user taps “Don’t Allow”, there is no easy way for them to reverse that decision.

If you are interested in user interface/experience, this is some good food for thought.

Statistical analysis of the Apple App Store

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If you in any way make your living, or hope to make your living, via the App Store, I think you’ll find this fascinating. For example:

I ran a simple query on my data to determine the distribtion of user ratings. I found that 60% of apps do not have any user ratings

I’m surprised by this. Zero ratings. Not one person took the time to rate 60% of the apps. To me, that means 60% of the apps never get found, never find an audience.

The guilt of the video-game millionaires

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From the New Yorker:

One night in March, 2013, Rami Ismail and his business partner Jan Willem released a game for mobile phones called Ridiculous Fishing. Ismail, who was twenty-four at the time and who lives in the Netherlands, woke the following morning to find that the game had made him tens of thousands of dollars overnight. His first reaction was not elation but guilt. His mother, who has a job in local government, had already left for work. “Ever since I was a kid I’ve watched my mom wake up at six in the morning, work all day, come home, make my brother and me dinner—maybe shout at me for too much ‘computering,’ ” he said. “My first thought that day was that while I was asleep I’d made more money than she had all year. And I’d done it with a mobile-phone game about shooting fish with a machine gun.”

Great read.

Treasure trove of data on app and book sales from Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft

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Follow the headline link for a wealth of data on app sales from the iOS and Mac App Stores, Google Play, Amazon, Windows Phone and PC. For eBooks, there are numbers for Apple iBooks and Kindle. This data has been available for years and is well known in the developer community, but not so well known in the general tech community.

How to use Voice Search with the Apple TV

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When Amazon introduced the Fire TV yesterday, much was made about the ability to do voice search on the device. In the linked post, Kirk McElhearn walks through the process of doing the same thing on Apple TV, using the iOS Remote app. Cool beans.

United Nations uses iBeacons to simulate a minefield at NY museum

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For the UN’s International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action taking place on April 4, New Museum in New York City will host an exhibit that uses iBeacons to simulate a virtual minefield and let anyone experience the danger of land mines.

Fantastic use of iBeacons.

Writing Aid, a real assist for writers

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If you are a writer, check out the Writing Aid, an iPhone app by Benjamin Mayo. The interface couldn’t be simpler. Launch the app, type in a word or phrase, and a banner appears at the top of the app, scrolling side to side with a list of synonyms. At the same time, the definition of the word appears in the main body of the app.

Tap a synonym to jump to a new page with more synonyms and a definition of that word. And so on. You can tap on the upper left of the screen to climb back out to previous synonyms.

Simple, elegant, effective.

Microsoft selling Office 365 within iPad apps, Apple getting 30 percent cut

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While one of the big holdups for Office for iPad was getting the software just right, another was Apple’s policy that apps that sell things — including subscriptions — use Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism and hand over 30 percent of that revenue to Apple.

This had been a big sticking point historically, so it was one of the key question marks looming over this launch.

Indeed, Microsoft does offer Office 365 subscriptions within the just-released Word for iPad and the other Office apps and, yes, it is paying the 30 percent cut, Apple confirmed to Re/code. Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.

Wonder if that was the real sticking point that kept iPad versions of Office in the can? Maybe the previous regime refused to budge, newer thinking prevailed? Just a thought.

Apple offers “Refund for In-App Purchases made by a minor”

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Apple sent an email today to its iTunes account holders who have made in-app purchases. The email gave account holders the chance to ask for a refund for any and all in app purchases made by a minor.

I think this is beyond fair. The text of the email is in the post.