What are the four apps that are so important to you that you put them in one of the four spots on your iPhone's dock? For well over a decade, the dock on my iPhone has contained Calendar (mainly because I like seeing the date on the icon), Safari, Mail, and a Twitter app. Note that I say a "Twitter app" and not "Twitter" because for a long time, there was no official Twitter app for the iPhone, but even after it was released, I have always vastly preferred the third-party apps. Back in 2009, I wrote that the TwitterFon app was my favorite, but I noted that there were 23 other apps. Some apps were better than others, but it was great seeing the variety of features and approaches. I then switched to Twitterific for a long time (I considered it such an important app by 2014 that I called it one of the apps that has stood the test of time), and then switched to TweetBot, which became my all-time favorite. Those apps stayed on the most prominent position on my iPhone's Dock (the far right) because I loved using those apps to keep up with news, technology, entertainment, and more so I wanted to have easy access. For the past decade, I've read reports about Twitter being a great product that was poorly run, so when Elon Musk bought the company a few months ago, I was one of the few people who were optimistic that this might be a good thing that would result in lots of needed improvements. To the contrary, his chaotic stewardship of the company has made it far worse than ever before. It all culminated last week when Twitter made third-party clients stop working without even explaining what they were doing. At first, there was no logical explanation for what happened other than a vague reference to violating API rules—which makes no sense because these apps have been around forever. Yesterday, a week later, Twitter finally updated its developer agreement to ban third-party apps, as noted by Karissa Bell of Engadget. I agree with what Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote about how clueless, classless, and cowardly Twitter's actions were. The whole thing has really soured me on sticking with Twitter, which I find frustrating; for example, Twitter's own app doesn't operate the way that I want a Twitter client to work. I've started using Mastodon (I'm at @jeffrichardson@mastodon.social if you want to follow me), but that service currently isn't nearly as good as the old Twitter for a number of reasons. It's all very disappointing for the countless users of the great Twitter third-party clients like TweetBot and Twitterific. Losing an app—heck, an entire category of apps—that you have loved to use for such a long time is depressing, and I'm just not sure that Twitter can ever come back from this. And now, let's talk about the other news of note from the past week, which fortunately is far less depressing:
- I love the HomePod mini devices that I have in my house. I and the other members of my family talk to it to trigger HomeKit actions, ask simple questions, and use it to share music with each other. If other folks are around me, I typically use my AirPods Pro for music, but if I have the living room to myself, I prefer using my HopePod minis as a stereo pair. But I know that lots of folks preferred the larger HomePod that Apple launched in 2018 and discontinued in 2021 because the larger one does a better job of filling an entire room with sound. To the surprise of many, Apple resurrected the HomePod this week with a brand new model. The full-size HomePod cost $299 when Apple discontinued it. The new model also costs $299. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac does a good job of comparing the specs of the original HomePod, the new HomePod, and the HomePod mini.
- Chris Welch of The Verge got to hear a demo of the new HomePod and he concluded that it sounds very close to the original, but has some additional new features.
- In addition to unveiling the brand new HomePod this week, next week Apple will update all HomePod mini models to activate sensors that up until now had gone unused: an integrated temperature and humidity sensor, as Chance Miller of 9to5Mac explains. I'll be interested to see how this works.
- Tim Hardwick of MacRumors explains one use: you can use the temperature and humidity sensor to trigger other HomeKit actions.
- iOS 16.3 will be released next week. Sami Faihi of MacRumors provides a preview of what is coming.
- Apple's relatively new Advanced Data Protection feature ensures that data that you upload to iCloud stays secure from everyone, even Apple. It takes a little time to activate, but once you have it running, it just works. This feature rolled out with iOS 16.2 in the United States, but next week in iOS 16.3, it will work in all countries, as reported by Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac.
- If you ever have a need for a large amount of external storage for an iPad, Ankur Thakur of iDownloadBlog explains how to connect a flash drive, hard disk, SSD, or SD card.
- I know from personal experience that when you are in a hotel room, it can be difficult to use an Apple TV or HomePod in the room. Malcolm Owen of Apple Insider offers advice for doing so.
- J.D. Biersdorfer of the New York Times offers tips for using the RAW mode on the iPhone to take better pictures—better in large part because you have more options for editing them later.
- Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks provides tips for using the Contacts app on the iPhone, including taking advantage of new features.
- In a similar article, Meyers identifies iMessage features that you might not have known about.
- Thorin Klosowski of Wirecutter does a good job of explaining how passkeys will soon replace passwords and how you can take advantage of passkeys on an iPhone.
- Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal discusses 5G as a network technology.
- Ed Hardy of Cult of Mac discusses the shows coming to Apple TV+ this Spring.
- And finally, Apple created a somewhat humorous video to show off the Action Mode feature on the iPhone 14 and how it can make video seem smooth even if you are shaking your hand a lot as you are taking video:
0 comments:
Post a Comment