- Added Twitter oEmbed support. A mere five lines of code for a very slick feature. If you’re more patient than I am you’ll find this feature in WordPress 3.4+.
SlideWriter Concept Video
I would immediately make SlideWriter my text editor of choice on the iPad upon release. Apple, this is how native cursor movement and text selection ought to function.
Wireless streaming storage for your iPad and iPhone
Check out the Seagate GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless external hard drive. It’s a 500 GB drive with a built-in wifi router so you can stream your data to up to three devices. iPad app sizes have shot up since the introduction of the retina screen on the new model. For those who are starting to have to choose between keeping all the apps they want on their device and including all the movies and photos for that big road trip this would seem to be the no-compromise solution. Plus you could avoid paying for a larger capacity iPad each time you upgrade. It could also be a solid asset for the person wanting to use their iPad as a laptop replacement.
Send to Kindle
Amazon has released an app for Mac and Windows that makes the process of shooting text documents to your Kindle dead simple. It’s rare for me to have only my Kindle and need text documents other than books, but now that I have a simple way to send such documents to my Kindle I’ll probably discover a way to use this option well.
I’ve already had one idea for someone else. My girlfriend is taking a trip to Europe this summer. She doesn’t have a smart phone but she will have my Kindle. I think it would be a great idea to keep a copy of important text documents backed up in an easily accessible digital format (provided she enabled the passcode lock).
Pebble E-Paper Watch Kickstarter Project
I want.
Cost Comparison of Seven Cloud Storage Services
Let’s be honest. This is a big deal for power users. It’s not just about features; it’s about the cost for those features. Ars Technica does a great job addressing that concern.
Incidentally, I’d never heard of SpiderOak. I’m now trying out yet another cloud storage service. Oh, the joys of being a tech writer.
Windows SkyDrive Users Can Grab 18GB More Space for Free
While we’re on the subject of cloud storage services, existing Windows SkyDrive users can upgrade their free accounts from 7GB to 25GB with a simple click of a link. It looks like this is a limited time offer.
Comparing Dropbox and Google Drive
Lifehacker does a thorough comparison of the two cloud services feature for feature. One thing they don’t mention is how far ahead Dropbox is in the area of third-party integration, which is the main reason I haven’t even bothered to think about switching to Drive.
LinkedIn app for iPad
The LinkedIn iPhone app is now universal, including retina display graphics. I’ve not been too terribly impressed with the iPhone version but I have hope that the introduction of the iPad version signals a new level of commitment to the development of their mobile platform.
Tweet of the Day
Holy crap. Google owns everything on google drive. Tell me a business that will use it… cl.ly/1W2h1A163p0W2A… via @lletnek
— Syd Lawrence (@sydlawrence) April 24, 2012
Visual — A Fresh Take on Countdown Timers
April 26, 2012
I’ve begun to loathe multitasking while I’m at work as I’m trying to write code. I used to always have Mail, Sparrow, Reeder, and Twitter open at all times. But if I ever saw a notification badge light up I’d immediately stop what I was doing and check that update. I realized this was killing my productivity and creative flow. So now I open these apps when I determine it’s time to give myself fully to email or RSS or Twitter.
But under this new system I found I could spend entirely too much time reading and exploring, justifying that action by reasoning that I’d been away from them all day. Now, with email that was necessary; I needed to respond to messages to faithfully perform my job duties. But it was a bit of a stretch to make the same argument for RSS and Twitter. I needed a way to keep myself from dithering away my time.
I tried using the built-in iPhone clock app. It performed its function correctly but not flawlessly. At first I locked my phone as I read but found I needed to know how much time I had remaining to prioritize my activity well. Once I did that I began to neurotically look at that timer, always feeling like I was under its tyranny.
As luck would have it just about this time I came across Visual. I’ve been using Visual for about a week now and I think it’s wonderful. It’s the perfect blend for me. I know roughly how much time I have left based on the color on my iPhone or iPad screen. That’s all I really need, a rough estimate. It keeps me from not prioritizing my time but prevents me from obsessing over the exact amount of time remaining. It’s quickly become an app I use every day. (At the very bottom of the screen in very small type it provides you with exactly how much time is remaining. From a distance I can’t read it.)
There are several color schemes to choose from. For now I’m still using the default, which transitions from green to yellow to red.
You can download Visual for $0.99 in the App Store. Find out more about the app on its official website.
Google Drive
There’s no such thing as a singular Dropbox killer, but Drive will make some noise nonetheless. The same way iCloud found users by deeply integrating the service into all things Apple, Google will develop a solid user base for Drive by tightly knitting it with all its other web apps.
Chrome Extension: Gmail Attachments to Docs
For you heavy Google Docs users out there this might be a major timesaver. You can use this to save Gmail attachments directly to your Docs. I’m surprised this is a Chrome extension and not a Gmail Labs option, but I guess Google is always looking to give people reasons to switch to its web browser.
One-Star Mug
Marco Arment, the man behind Instapaper, has a comical coffee mug.
Facebook Acquires Instagram
I’m of two minds on Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram. This is more about getting the talented minds behind the app than it is about getting the app itself. The Facebook photos experience could be dramatically improved as a result. But I can’t help but think of what happened when Facebook bought Friendfeed. They completely ignored it, never adding any new features ever again. Zuckerberg assures us that this won’t be the case this time around.
We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.
That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.
I’ll take him at his word but I still have my reservations about this purchase. How will this affect Instagram’s future feature set and integration with Twitter? How will this impact Instagram’s terms of service? (Actually, if I’m perfectly honest I don’t even know what their current terms are.) Since Microsoft owns a stake in Facebook how soon until we see a Windows Phone app?
I’m very curious to see where this will head.
Knucklecase for iPhone
An iPhone case for the man who wants to protect his phone and participate in a mob war.
Instagram for Android
Instagram has finally released a version of its app for Android users. Download it and follow me: @jaledwith.
Changelog: March 30, 2012
- You can’t see this change because it’s in the admin area but I think it’s an awesome little hack. As I’ve mentioned before I’m using a custom post type for my tutorials. But by default these posts are not included anywhere in the “Right Now” dashboard widget. You can fix that by including this function in your functions.php file (or preferably in your functionality plugin). This function will also display custom taxonomies in the widget.
Changelog: March 29, 2012
- Now whenever I post a new tutorial—each of which is published using a custom post type—those new posts will appear in the main RSS feed. I’ll no longer need to add announcement posts when a new tutorial is published. I will likely add some sort of sidebar widget listing the newest tutorials and rely upon Twitter, RSS, and Google searches to get the word out to the rest of my readers.
Standard Theme on WordPress.com
Standard Theme is my favorite WordPress theme. I’ve used it on six different websites I’ve made including my personal blog. I’m excited that it’s now available as a premium theme to bloggers using wordpress.com.
Advanced Facebook Content Locker
I just stumbled across this WordPress plugin today over on CodeCanyon. It gives you the ability to set up a kind of paywall for your blog content, except instead of requiring blog visitors to fork over money to see your content they have to first like a Facebook page. I can’t wait to start using this plugin.
Reporting a Twitter account for impersonation
Finally, here’s the actual help center form I filled out in order to claim @howdoitknow. I claimed that my company was being impersonated (not involving a trademark). From there I filled out the information. I didn’t try to deceive anyone; I told them I’d recently started a website called howdoitknow.net and I’d like to claim @howdoitknow to use with it. I made sure to highlight the fact that the present owner of @howdoitknow hadn’t tweeted from their account in over two years.
If you’re trying to claim a Twitter account to associate with a domain one thing you need to make sure you do is file the request using the email address of the domain you claim to own. Under “Your Contact Info,” when it asks for an email address, I had to provide an email address with @howdoitknow.net at the end of it. My first request was rejected because I submitted it listing my Gmail address.
Twitter’s inactive account policy
Twitter has outlined the specifics of its inactive account policy. I find the last point to be comical.
We are currently working to release all inactive usernames in bulk, but we do not have a set time frame for when this will take place.
No joke. I know for a fact this was part of the policy when I first read it over a year ago. I’ve seen nothing in any official or unofficial Twitter blog indicating that this feature is actually being worked on.
Claiming a dormant Twitter account
I first found out you could claim a dormant Twitter account for yourself over a year ago in a post written by John Saddington on his personal blog. He wanted to score the name of his newborn daughter, Arden. He had to claim that the person who had the account was an impostor.
Follow @howdoitknow
Last week I opened the Twitter account @howdoitknow. It was quite a process to get this account. It had already been registered by another user but it hadn’t been used in over two years. I went through the proper Twitter channels and was able to claim it for myself.
If you follow @howdoitknow you’ll see a tweet each time I add a post to this web column. If you prefer Twitter over RSS as a way of being informed of new content on the web this account is for you.
Apple Keynote: Introducing the iPad 3
Apple unveiled its newest iPad yesterday. It looks pretty sick. I wasn’t planning on getting one—and I probably still won’t—but I might look into selling the iPad I have if I can fetch a decent amount for it. Anyway, here’s the keynote presentation showing off the new gadget.
Read Later for Mac
I’ve been waiting for a great Instapaper app for Mac ever since I started using the service. The app itself is free but there’s a catch. Only Instapaper users who are paid subscribers can use third-party apps making use of the Instapaper API. This includes Read Later. Subscriptions cost $1/month (not a typo).
So far I’m really pleased with Read Later. Instapaper had started to become my digital junk drawer, a place where I stash interesting articles I intend to read but never do. (I have 83 articles in my queue, the oldest of which is from last May.) I hope a desktop app will start to turn that trend around.
After I’ve used Read Later a while I may do a full write-up on it.
Tips and tools of the trade
Lifehacker posted a top ten list for web developer and designer newbies. It’s a solid list. The best advice they give that I wish I’d known when I started out is to build up a solid font library.
Shawn Blanc’s 2012 Membership Drive
Shawn Blanc is my favorite independent tech writer. Actually he’s my favorite tech writer, period. I only came across his work about a year and a half ago but became instantly impressed with his ability to blend technical and narrative writing. Roughly a year ago he left his job1 to become a full-time blogger. He pays the bills through a membership program. Membership costs $3/month (executive membership costs $12/month). He’s presently running his second annual membership drive.
I’ve been a member since he first went full time. Becoming a member isn’t really about getting access to a whole bunch of premium content, it’s to enable Shawn to create more of what he could only create in his available free time. That said, he produces a stellar members-only podcast.
I highly recommend making Shawn’s blog part of your regular reading, whether you become a member or not.
Gramory – A streamlined Instagram client
March 5, 2012
I wouldn’t call myself a heavy Instagram user but I do like the app, and I typically use it most when I want to sum up an event or moment with a single picture. Plenty of third-party Instagram apps have sprouted up since the photo network became the latest hot app for the iPhone. One that I’ve recently downloaded is Gramory, an app for viewing your Instagram photos.
There seems to be scores of mobile and desktop apps out there designed to browse Instagram. The people behind the Instagram API made the brilliant decision (I mean that sincerely, not sarcastically) not to allow these third-party offerings to upload photos directly from their app. In other words, the only way to add a photo to Instagram is through the official Instagram iPhone app. The API allows developers to interact with Instagram photos after they’ve been posted, but not before.
One thing I instantly noticed about Gramory is that it borrows UI elements from the Facebook app. Here’s the navigation for Facebook.
And here’s the Gramory navigation.
Upon selecting one of the categories in the nav bar you’ll see a full screen of photo thumbnails.
Here’s one of the big differences between browsing on the official Instagram app versus on Gramory. On the official app the photos from your friends are all in a continuous feed. You can get to a single photo view but you have to go through that user’s profile first. In Gramory the single photo view is the standard view.
If you swipe to the left (or tap the button the upper right corner) you reveal a secondary nav menu.
It’s the same UX as the primary navigation, but it builds upon Facebook’s model which does not have a corresponding secondary menu.
This is the standout feature of Gramory and the reason I chose to write about the app. This is a fantastic interface choice. It shows you the same content as the page of thumbnails, but you can browse those photos without having to leave the photo you’re presently viewing. Smart and intuitive. Other photo browsing apps would do well to take note.
There’s also a slick slideshow view, which you access by tapping a photo while on its page. You can flick through to the next and previous shots in that grouping, but instead of the typical slide effect the photo spins around. (It’s difficult to show in the screenshot, but I’ve done my best.)
Gramory can do all the other things you’d expect out of an Instagram app: comment on and like photos, share to social networks, and see the hashtags that are trending. All in all I’d say it’s worth checking out.
Gramory is a free app available in the app store. You can connect with the good folks behind Gramory on Twitter and Facebook.
Update
Regarding my assertion that Gramory borrows elements from the Facebook mobile UI, I’ve received some clarification.
@jaledwith @instagram @gramoryapp Great review. We like to think we copied the source list from Path rather then Facebook.
— Gramory (@gramoryapp) March 5, 2012
I don’t use Path all that much and didn’t even consider the parallels. (And if you haven’t used Path you’re missing out on the best UI and UX in all of iOS.)