Cody Fink

1547 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.

[email protected]

This Week's Sponsor:

PowerPhotos

The Ultimate Toolbox for Photos on the Mac

How iOS 7 Affects App Development→

TidBITS’ Matt Neuberg wrote about how iOS 7 is turning app development on its head, for better and for worse. As an interface molded by transparency and text, Apple has made several improvements under the hood that put content front and center. Of those improvements, rendering and laying out text is one area in iOS which has been completely overhauled.

iOS 7 also provides developers with full access to the Mac OS X text layout engine, Text Kit. How developers will use this new-found power is anybody’s guess, but drawing styled text in sophisticated ways will be vastly easier. Expect to see inline images, tab stops, text “decorations” of various sorts (such as special colored underlines or word backgrounds), and text arranged in interesting shapes.

Permalink

Typeset Lets You Mix and Match iOS 7 System Fonts for Finding the Perfect Combination→

Developers building iOS 7 apps may want to download Typeset by MartianCraft, a free app that lets you preview iOS 7 system fonts side by side. Typset includes layout cards for previewing how fonts look in various configurations, tools for adjusting line spacing and font sizing, and the option to mark saved sets as favorites for later browsing. A $5.99 in-app purchase unlocks Typeset Pro, which enables the option to export the end result as a predefined stylesheet or PDF. Download it from the App Store.

Permalink

Mailbox for iOS Updated With Support for iCloud and Yahoo Mail→

Now available on the App Store, the latest iteration of Mailbox adds support for iCloud and Yahoo Mail accounts. While iCloud and Yahoo Mail are the most likely alternatives to Gmail, I am surprised to see Outlook.com left out of the mix. Personally, I’m still looking forward to having general IMAP support so I can add my self hosted email accounts. The latest version also introduces background syncing for devices running iOS 7, which means your email will already be in your inbox before you even open the app (previously you had to wait for the app to pull down the latest emails after it was opened). Download the latest update for free from the App Store.

Permalink

Mastered for iTunes and iTunes Match→

Kirk McElhearn, experimenting with CD rips, tries to figure out what exactly iTunes Match doles out once music has been matched in the cloud.

If you rip a CD, match it, then download one of the files from the cloud, you don’t ever see the Mastered for iTunes badge. I have a handful of CDs for which only Mastered for iTunes files are available from the iTunes Store (these are new releases where labels only provide files for this format). I added them to my iTunes Match account, matched them, deleted my originals, then downloaded the matched files. I compared them with my original rips (using the methods described below), and saw that these files were not the same; I was clearly getting the Mastered for iTunes files from iTunes Match. But the files don’t display the Mastered for iTunes badge.

So for files that are matched, then downloaded, if there is only a Mastered for iTunes version on the iTunes store, the files you download will be in Mastered for iTunes format; yet you won’t know that. The Mastered for iTunes badge is displayed only when there is a bit of metadata in purchased files that tells iTunes to display it.

Permalink

Duo, A Browser for Viewing Desktop and Mobile Websites Side by Side→

Duo is a browser with no settings and no search functionality, specifically intended to show websites in desktop and mobile views next to each other. It’s handy for Webkit development, includes dev tools, and can be launched from a bookmarklet via your browser of choice. You can’t change the user agent, and it doesn’t automatically refresh as you edit webpages with your favorite text editor, but it’s an otherwise inexpensive tool for testing responsive designs on the fly. You can grab it for $4.99 in the Mac App Store.

Permalink

Skitch Update Gives Retina Mac Owners Option to Export Lower Quality Images→

The second update for Evernote’s line of products makes life easier for Mac owners who are working on Retina displays. Skitch has been updated with an option that can turn off hi-res images, which halves the DPI and makes the image easier to send over mediums like email. Cleverly, Skitch will still retain the original image size client-side, syncing the full version with your Evernote account.

Grab the Skitch update from the Mac App Store.

Permalink

Evernote for iOS Adds Business Card Scanning, Presentation Mode for Premium Members→

In the first of two updates, Evernote for iPhone and iPad got a nice update yesterday that mainly benefits premium members. Premium members can now scan in an unlimited number of business cards that are converted into editable contact notes, which can be further updated with info from your LinkedIn account or address book contacts. Presentation Mode lets you present your notes as full screen presentations over AirPlay. Non-paying members can add 5 business cards and try Presentation Mode for 14-day days. Lastly, they’ve made a change to the quick note function, letting you choose whether ideas get siphoned into your business notes instead of a personal notebook.

Check out the App Store listing for all the relevant update info, and check out premium plans here.

Permalink

Twitter 3.0 Lands on the Mac App Store

Twitter 3.0 for the Mac sort of brings the Mac app up to date with its iOS counterpart, adding inline images, inline tweet convos and stats in the details view, profile photos, and a refreshed look and feel all around. The app lacks sending and viewing photos in direct messages (which was just announced), but I’m guessing that will come in a future update. I was hoping the Mac app would get a complete redesign since the current design is past its prime, but all things considered it’s the iOS for iPad equivalent of Twitter’s experience on the desktop. … Also, is it just me, or does scrolling the timeline feel off?

Download Twitter 3.0 on the Mac App Store.

[Twitter via @sandofsky]