Collecting Games I Want to Play in Airtable
...
Letterboxd
...
Apple Q1 2018 Results: $88.3 Billion Revenue, 77.3 Million iPhones, 13.2 Million iPads Sold
Apple has just published its financial results for Q1 2018. The company posted revenue of $88.3 billion. Apple sold 13.2 million iPads, 77.3 million iPhones, and 5.1 million Macs during the quarter.
“We’re thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple’s history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup. iPhone X surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also achieved a significant milestone with our active installed base of devices reaching 1.3 billion in January. That’s an increase of 30 percent in just two years, which is a testament to the popularity of our products and the loyalty and satisfaction of our customers.”
Connected, Episode 178: The Tiny Heads Trend→
It’s January, so it’s time to spin up the iPhone rumor machine, but first Stephen and Federico consider what a “Snow Leopard” iOS release could look like. Lastly, one of them has switched to DuckDuckGo.
On this week’s episode of Connected, we talk about recent rumors of iOS 12 and I explain why I’ve been using DuckDuckGo as my search engine for the past couple of weeks. You can listen here.
Sponsored by:
- Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code WORLD at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
- Anchor: Radio, reinvented.
- PDFpen, from Smile: Everything you need for more powerful PDF editing.
iPad Diaries: ‘Type to Siri’ as a Smart Command Line
iPad Diaries is a regular series about using the iPad as a primary computer. You can find more installments here and subscribe to the dedicated RSS feed.
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a series of pictures on Twitter showing how I had been using iOS 11’s Type to Siri feature on my iPad Pro, which is always connected to an external keyboard when I’m working.
I did not expect that offhanded tweet – and its “smart command line” description – to be so interesting for readers who replied or emailed me with a variety of questions about Type to Siri. Thus, as is customary for tweets that end up generating more questions than retweets, it’s time to elaborate with a blog post.
In this week’s iPad Diaries column, I’ll be taking a closer look at Type to Siri, my keyboard setup, and the commands I frequently use for Siri on my iPad; I will also detail some features that didn’t work as expected along with wishes for future updates to Siri.
Rethinking My Apple Watch for a Better Me
...
Letterboxd 2.0 Brings iPad Version, Support for iOS Automation Apps
I’ve always been fascinated by Letterboxd, the popular service to catalog and rate movies you’ve watched, as well as share your appreciation for the art of film with other users in a social network-type environment. My problem, however, is that dedicating serious time to watching quality movies (instead of whatever is on TV) has mostly been an aspirational effort; I never truly attempted to make a list of films I want to watch and set aside a good chunk of time every week to enjoy them.
Among various “quality of life” improvements (which I briefly mentioned in this episode of Analog(ue) with Myke Hurley), earlier this year I decided to create an Airtable database with a list of movies I want to see, trying to tick one off at least every week. Since I started testing a beta of Letterboxd 2.0 for iOS last week though, I’m wondering if maybe now is the time for me to consider using a dedicated service to collect, rate, and discover movies.
How Apps Fit Into Our TV and Movie Watching
John
What Apple Must Do to Establish Its New Video Service→
It’s clear that Apple is building a video service. That much was obvious the moment it hired veteran entertainment executives Zack van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht. But you can’t flip a switch and create a streaming service—not even if you’re Apple. (You could buy one, but Apple has apparently chosen to build, not buy, at least for now.)
What has to happen between now and the day we all sit down and watch the first episode of van Amburg and Erlicht’s first major acquisition to play through our Apple TVs or on our iPads and iPhones?
Great article by Jason Snell on the challenges Apple is facing in building their video streaming service – which, if you’ve been keeping an eye on entertainment news, is perhaps the company’s worst kept secret. (Jason Snell and Myke Hurley have a regular segment about this topic on their Upgrade podcast, which you should listen to.)
Unlike Snell, though, I have a hard time believing Apple will not offer their service on multiple platforms. If the company’s goal is to generate more Services revenue with this product, it’s only reasonable to expect as many people as possible could sign up for it.
Also, from a cultural perspective, I think it’d be wrong to have TV shows (and eventually movies too?) be locked to Apple devices. I was watching the Grammys last night, and there were plenty of Apple Music mentions (and ads) throughout the show; Apple Music, of course, is available both on iOS and Android, which meant everyone watching could access Apple’s Grammys page and playlists. If Apple hopes to create shows that become cultural phenomena like Game of Thrones or Stranger Things, wouldn’t it be best to ensure everyone can enjoy them?