This week, in addition to the usual links, app debuts, and recap of MacStories' articles and podcasts:
MacStories Weekly: Issue 177
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AppStories, Episode 112 – Behind the Scenes of Federico’s iPad Story→
On this week’s episode of AppStories, we discuss the process of creating Federico’s story, Beyond the Tablet: Seven Years of iPad as My Main Computer and some of the topics from the story; later, we are joined by Brian King who worked with Federico on the introductory animation and 3D-rendered images throughout the story.
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https://staging.macstories.net/podcasts/appstories/episodes/112/embed/
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper→
Apple needed to show developers that Carbon was going to be a real and valid way forward, not just a temporary stopgap, so they committed to using Carbon for the Mac OS X Finder. The Carbon version of Finder was introduced in Mac OS X Developer Preview 2, before Aqua was revealed; it acted a bit more like NeXT’s, in that it had a single root window (File Viewer) that had a toolbar and the column view, but secondary windows did not. At this stage, Apple didn’t quite know what to do with the systemwide toolbars it had inherited from NEXTSTEP.
[…]
It had taken Apple four years to find the new ‘Mac-like’, and this is the template Mac OS X has followed ever since. Here we are, eighteen years later, and all of the elements of the Mac OS X UI are still recognizable today. So much of what we think of the Mac experience today came from NEXTSTEP, not Mac OS at all. AppKit, toolbars, Services, tooltips, multi-column table views, font & color pickers, the idea of the Dock, application bundles, installer packages, a Home folder, multiple users; you might even be hard-pressed to find a Carbon app in your Applications folder today (and Apple has announced that they won’t even run in the next version of macOS).
Fascinating read by Steve Troughton-Smith on how Apple transitioned from NeXTSTEP to Mac OS X between 1997 and 2001. The purpose of this analysis, of course, isn’t to simply reminisce about the NeXT acquisition but to provide historical context around the meaning of “Mac-like” by remembering what Apple did when the concept of “Mac-like” had to be (re)created from scratch.
Apple is going to be facing a similar transition soon with the launch of UIKit on the Mac; unlike others, I do not believe it means a complete repudiation of whatever “Mac-like” stands for today. The way I see it, it means the idea of “Mac-like” will gradually evolve until it reaches a state that feels comfortable and obvious. I’m excited to see the first steps of this new phase in a couple of weeks.
Panic Reveals Plans to Sell a Handheld Gaming System Called Playdate in 2020
Panic, well-known for its thoughtfully-designed Mac and iOS apps, has announced that it’s entering the hardware market with a portable gaming system called Playdate, which will ship in early 2020 and cost $149. This isn’t Panic’s first foray into the game industry. With the release of the hit indie game Firewatch in 2016, the company became a game publisher. Later this year, Panic will publish the highly-anticipated Untitled Goose Game on the Nintendo Switch. Still, creating hardware is something altogether different for Panic.
Playdate is a diminutive handheld device with hardware and software features that distinguish it from any other handheld on the market. The bright yellow handheld system is just 74mm × 76mm × 9mm, which is roughly three inches square and a little thicker than an iPhone XS.
GIFwrapped 2 Offers Redesigned, Streamlined GIF Management with Universal Search and iCloud Drive
GIFwrapped has long been one of the best ways to store and access your GIF collection on iOS. Five years after our initial review of the app, developer Daniel Farrelly’s GIF utility has received a big update today: version 2.0. GIFwrapped 2 completely rethinks the app’s UI, streamlining it from tab-based to panel-based, while also adding support for two key new features: universal search and iCloud sync.
Apple Updates WWDC App in Advance of Conference
On the heels of sending invitations to the press for the 2019 WWDC keynote that will be held beginning June 3rd, Apple has updated the WWDC app.
Much of the app’s UI is similar to the version released around this time last year, but now, the app’s icon can be changed between eight neon-themed Apple logo icons. There are also fourteen new animated iMessage stickers included many drawn from the artwork the company used for the initial WWDC announcement and the invitations sent earlier today. In years past, pins were distributed to attendees at check-in for the conference and during sessions that resembled stickers from the app.
The WWDC app can be downloaded for free from the App Store.
Apple Sends Press Invitations and Confirms June 3rd WWDC Keynote
In mid-March Apple announced that WWDC 2019 would take place the first week in June, and today the company confirmed that, following past tradition, the keynote for that conference will take place on June 3 at 10:00 am Pacific.
Apple is expected to unveil the latest versions of its major operating systems at WWDC, including iOS 13, watchOS 6, and macOS 10.15. We may also see hardware products announced too, like the long-anticipated modular Mac Pro. A live stream for the keynote has not yet been confirmed, but it remains likely since WWDC is one of the prime Apple events of the year.
Vignette: Easily Update Your Contact Photos Without Sacrificing Privacy
I’m the type of person who tries to add a photo to each of my iPhone’s contact listings. I can’t stand having grey, initial-laden photo bubbles in Messages; while contact photos can be disabled in Messages’ settings, I’ve never done that because once photos are added, it gives the app so much extra beauty and utility. For years I’ve done the manual work of choosing contact photos from my own photo library or, more often, finding images for contacts online via social media, then adding them to my contacts from there.
Based on the times I’ve peeked at someone else’s Messages app, most people never bother to go through the trouble of manually configuring contact photos; I don’t blame them, because it’s a nuisance. However, a new app called Vignette, from developer Casey Liss, aims to eliminate the pain of adding contact images by sourcing the web and social media for you, and updating your contacts’ photos accordingly – all in a privacy-conscious way.
Behind the Scenes of Federico’s iPad Story
Federico
John
AppStories Episode 112 - Behind the Scenes of Federico’s iPad Story
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58:57
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This week, Federico and John discuss the process of creating Federico’s story, Beyond the Tablet: Seven Years of iPad as My Main Computer and some of the topics from the story; later, they are joined by Brian King who worked with Federico on the introductory animation and 3D-rendered images throughout the story.