Question: I know you’ve been using workflows and the web API to track your time, and now you have also persuaded Grey and Myke to do so as well, so I’m considering taking the plunge and trying this for myself. What would you say has been the biggest benefit for you thanks to time tracking?...
Balance Brings Financial Accounts to the Mac’s Menu Bar
Balance is a macOS menu bar app that tracks the balances and transactions in your bank, investment, and online financial accounts. The app supports thousands of financial institutions and takes advantage of some of Apple’s latest innovations on the Mac like the Touch Bar and Touch ID. If you want immediate access to balance and transaction data across multiple accounts at your fingertips, Balance is worth a look.
Fire Emblem Heroes Arrives on the App Store
Nintendo’s third iOS title, Fire Emblem Heroes, is now available on the App Store. The game, which features characters from throughout the history of the popular Fire Emblem series, is also launching on the Google Play Store today.
Nintendo describes Fire Emblem Heroes as:
A world with two kingdoms: the Emiliano Empire, which wishes to rule all worlds, and the Askran Kingdom, which stands in its way. You are a summoner with the special ability to call upon legendary Heroes from different Fire Emblem worlds. In order to save the Kingdom of Askr from destruction, join the Order of Heroes and face a never-ending challenge.
Fire Emblem Heroes comes on the heels of Nintendo’s Miitomo and Super Mario Run titles, which were released in 2016. Earlier this week, Nintendo said it intends to release 2-3 mobile games each year. The next game, a mobile version of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise, was originally set for release in March, but has been delayed until sometime during Nintendo’s next fiscal year, which begins in April.
Polygon has a great preview video that is an excellent explanation of how Fire Emblem Heroes works:
Fire Emblem Heroes is a free download on the App Store with In-App Purchases.
YouTube Updated with Chromecast Control Features
If you own a Google Chromecast or Chromecast-compatible device, you now have more options for controlling it from an iOS device. The YouTube app received an update that lets you play, pause, skip forward and back, and control the volume of streaming video from the Lock screen and Control Center of an iOS device, or from an Apple Watch. This functionality has been available on Android for a long time, so it’s nice to see it extended to iOS users who have a Chromecast too.
Apple Q1 2017 Results: $78.4 Billion Revenue, 78.3 Million iPhones, 13.1 Million iPads Sold
Apple has just published their financial results for Q1 2017, which covered the period from September 25, 2016 through to December 31, 2016. The company posted revenue of $78.4 billion. Apple sold 13.1 million iPads, 78.3 million iPhones, and 5.4 million Macs during the quarter.
“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”
Chrome for iOS Open-Sourced→
Chrome for iOS was historically kept separate from Google’s open-source Chromium project. Chrome uses a rendering engine called Blink on every platform except iOS where it must run WebKit. That made incorporating Chrome for iOS into Chromium complicated, but today Google announced that Chrome for iOS has rejoined Chromium and been added to the open-source repository. Now,
developers can compile the iOS version of Chromium like they can for other versions of Chromium. Development speed is also faster now that all of the tests for Chrome for iOS are available to the entire Chromium community and automatically run any time that code is checked in.
Super Mario Run Earnings Top $53 Million
Nintendo shared some figures about the performance of Super Mario Run, which debuted last December. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the game has been downloaded 78 million times, and 5% of users have paid $9.99 to unlock the full game, earning Nintendo more than $53 million in revenue.
Super Mario Run received an update today that adds an Easy Mode, new events, and Korean language support. The game’s Toad Rally mode was also adjusted, so you forfeit fewer toads when you lose a race. It is now easier to gather toads too.
In other Nintendo iOS news, the upcoming unnamed Animal Crossing title on iOS has been delayed until sometime during Nintendo’s next fiscal year, which begins in April. No details were provided regarding the nature of the delay. The previously-announced Fire Emblem Heroes game for iOS appears to remain on schedule for release this Thursday.
Automating Sleep Tracking with Hello Sense
Sleep is one of those things I’ve been trying to do better for a while. I have a tendency to cheat at both ends when I get busy, waking up earlier and going to bed later to squeeze more out of each day. The trouble is – that only works for so long. The fatigue...
Linea: An Elegant Sketching App for the iPad from The Iconfactory
Drawing and sketching apps present difficult interface challenges. On the one hand, they should maximize the space reserved for their intended use – drawing. On the other, they need to include sufficient tools for users to create what they envision. It’s a balance that many apps get wrong. Some are too simple, forcing too many constraints on users, while others are horribly complicated and intimidating to new users. Linea, a new sketching app for the iPad from The Iconfactory, is exceptional because it manages an ease-of-use and approachability that is rare while maintaining just the right set of tools.
Linea is a sketching app, not a full artist’s toolbox. It won’t replace a more complex app like Procreate, but that’s not its purpose. Instead, Linea is focused on delivering the best possible sketching experience whether you are drawing, prototyping an app interface, storyboarding, taking notes, or something else. The point is to get visual ideas down with the least amount of fiddling, which is exactly what Linea delivers.