[[ryan]] Social media, like the Internet as a whole, can either be a source of happiness or horror – or in many cases bring a fair share of both. This year especially has turned my Twitter timeline into a constant reminder of how broken our world is, which has made what used to be an...
Favorite Beta Features One Month In
[[ryan]] We’re on the cusp of entering August, a shocking fact not only because time is moving so strangely in 2020 but also because Apple held WWDC later than usual this year, causing summer to feel shorter than ever. I’ve been using beta releases of iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS ever since they were first...
App Debuts
[[ryan]] Unread The RSS reader Unread shipped an update this week that added new read-later service integrations, email actions, and some hardware keyboard improvements. One of Unread’s unique strengths is how optimized it is for touch input, employing swipe gestures throughout the app’s entire interface. Certain swipes can be user-configured to perform different actions, and...
Widget Adaptation: My Early Thoughts on iOS and iPadOS 14’s Widgets
Widgets are the feature of iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and macOS 11 that I initially felt largely indifferent about, but now I’m actually pretty excited. Widgets in previous OS versions have always been useful to me, but I never had the thought that they needed a big refresh. So when Craig Federighi debuted the new...
Deciphering Apple’s Gaming Plans
One of my many outstanding questions from WWDC involves Apple’s strategy and plans in the gaming space. Past experience has shown that it’s foolish to put much hope in Apple’s gaming ambitions because they usually come up short of what users hope for. I’m choosing to pursue this foolishness today, though, because several interesting signs...
App Debuts
[[ryan]] Screens I use Screens as my go-to choice for remotely accessing my Mac mini via my iPad Pro, and the main reason for that is its excellent mouse and trackpad support in iPadOS. This week, Screens was updated with several enhancements that make the remote access experience better than ever, chief among them being...
Dreaming of a Robust iPadOS Keyboard Shortcut Experience
Mere days away from Apple’s WWDC 2020 keynote, and full details about the future of software platforms like iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and more, I can’t help but revisit my hopes for iPad enhancements. In February I shared my concept for how Apple could revamp iPad multitasking using context menus, an idea that became even more...
Best Examples of Last Year’s WWDC Features
{.app-collection} [[ryan]] WWDC 2020 is drawing ever nearer, and before we learn about the new OS versions Apple’s been working on all year, I wanted to reflect on how last year’s WWDC announcements have impacted the world of third-party apps. iOS and iPadOS 13 were huge updates that enabled lots of new experiences inside apps:...
Apple TV Channels: A Great TV Experience That’s Failing
[[ryan]] Apple’s TV strategy has been both winning and losing lately. While I think the company is largely on the right track with its efforts to produce original TV+ content (as I shared a few weeks ago), and it’s also poised to take a cut of many other streaming services’ revenue via In-App Purchases, I...