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Internet Communicators

Today’s article by Lex Friedman over at Macworld made me think about iCloud, backups, and iOS restores.

But you probably don’t need to use iCloud to back up data from many other apps you use. And even if most of those apps account for only a few megabytes per backup per app, they can add up to a significant chunk of storage. For example, you might disable iBooks’ iCloud backup, since you can always restore your iBooks purchases from directly within the iBookstore. You probably don’t need to back up whatever data is stored by games for your kids, or games for yourself in which you don’t care about in-game progress or customizations that you might have made. And for apps that sync and back up their data on the Web—such as Instapaper—backup might be unnecessary, too.

I feel so dumb for not thinking about this earlier. Because iCloud “just works”, I’ve never thought about going deeper into its Settings to check out which apps were backing up data. I simply got used to turning iCloud on, then forgetting about it.

It turns out though, if you’re on a free 5 GB plan and you like to keep a lot of apps on your devices, that might not be a good strategy. I recently decided to not renew my old MobileMe data plan for iCloud (the one that got you 20 GB of storage for free), and I was reminded that Apple would soon end the free plan for old MobileMe members. Besides the fact that a weird glitch is still showing 2050 as expiration date, I decided to take a look at my available space, and – surprise – my two devices were barely fitting in the 5 GB threshold. Upon further inspection, I noticed apps like Instapaper, Evernote, and GoodReader were backing up hundreds of megabytes to iCloud. I deleted their backups, and now I can comfortably move on with 5 GB while still using iCloud Backup and Documents & Data sync.

But Lex’s article made me think about another aspect of my workflow: iOS backups and restores.

People often complain about how awful setting up a new iOS device is. Personally, I don’t have a problem with starting “from scratch” when a new iOS version or device comes out. In fact, that’s why I did with my iPhone 5. I didn’t restore from iCloud, and I wasn’t bothered by starting fresh.

90% of my apps live in the cloud. Either in iCloud, Dropbox, or their own cloud database, the apps I use on a daily basis can access data that’s available on a server somewhere in the sky, not just on my local storage space.

  • My photos and videos are in Dropbox.
  • My articles are in Instapaper’s cloud.
  • The things I write are in Dropbox.
  • Evernote is my personal archive.
  • My communications happen through Twitter and email.
  • My RSS feeds are handled by Google Reader and Fever.
  • My OmniFocus database runs on a Mac mini server.
  • My media is on a Mac mini server too.
  • All my iTunes purchases (media, apps, books) can be redownloaded at any time.
  • My music is on Rdio.
  • My podcast subscriptions are stored by Downcast in iCloud.
  • I get my daily dose of Internet entertainment from Reddit.
  • My contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and other app data are safely stored in iCloud.
  • To top it off, I can have a searchable index of my online digital life.

The only apps that are exclusively “local” to my device are Apple’s stock apps and a few games. The Apple apps are obviously bundled with every iOS version; as for the games, I don’t care about losing data because I don’t do any serious gaming on iOS anyway. But if I did, I know game developers are starting to support iCloud for save files, too.

Two things really matter to me: that “the cloud” is available and reliable, and that I have a data connection. My devices are now mainly Internet communicators.

As I said above, last week I set up my iPhone 5. I had an iCloud backup from my iPhone 4S, but I decided to start with a so-called “clean install” – meaning, no iCloud restore. It’s not that I don’t like restoring all my settings and apps with iCloud: the feature does indeed work as advertised. But partially because of a self-imposed belief that iOS “gets slower over time” and a personal tradition of using new devices with new data, I preferred to set up my iPhone manually, without restoring any backup.

And to tell the truth, I quite enjoyed the process. There are three pieces of data I need to remember: my iCloud, Dropbox, and 1Password credentials. With those in mind, I can install all my apps from the App Store and proceed to fill logins for services I use. I can access my email by copying logins from 1Password; I can easily redownload all my apps from the Purchased tab of the App Store (when it works); once installed, iCloud-enabled apps re-fetch their documents and data automatically.

There are some downsides to this: I need to wait for apps and databases to re-download; I need to tap around and switch between apps to copy and paste logins; I need to adjust iOS Settings again for the new device. And yet the thing is – I don’t mind doing it. Starting anew gives me a chance to revaluate the way I use an iPhone and iPad. More often than not, it reminds me of some app I don’t use anymore or a service I’ve always wanted to try out. Quite paradoxically, tweaking makes me more efficient and aware of the technology I use.

But more importantly, the apps I use are their own backups. As long as the Instapaper, Evernote, or Dropbox “clouds” are fine, I will be fine. I don’t need to worry about backups and restores. It’s a trusted system.

That’s not to say backups aren’t important. Especially on the Mac, you should consider a reliable and easy backup workflow. In fact, I regularly backup my Dropbox folder too, just to make sure.

However, with time I’ve found the restore process of iOS devices to be less annoying than some people claim it to be.

My apps are in the cloud. I just need the Internet.

Enforcing Rule 2.25

Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected

Earlier today, a number of people noticed a change in the App Store Review Guidelines that took place back on September 12. Specifically, Keith Andrew at PocketGamer noted how the new rule 2.25 could pose serious risks for any app that promotes other apps with direct linking.

The wording is typically vague, but clause 2.25 appears to give Apple carte blanche to put any app that promotes titles from a different developer out of action. At the moment, we understand Apple’s likely prime targets are pure app promotion services, such as (but not necessarily including) FreeAppADay, AppoDay, AppGratis, Daily App Dream and AppShopper, amongst others.

Matthew Panzarino at The Next Web and Darrell Etherington at TechCrunch followed up on the news of the late “discovery” with more details on possible implications and comments from developers of apps that might fall under rule 2.25.

There seems to be a lot of confusion on Twitter in regards to the exact scope of this new rule. In particular, due to some poor sensationalistic headlines that are unfortunately published on a regular basis, some are speculating Apple will start banning all apps that promote other apps or any kind of “aggregator” that collects links to multiple App Store apps. That’s just silly and simply not true. Read more

The iOS 6 Trilemma

In some ways, iOS 6 is not a major update. And yet, in others, it’s possibly the biggest thing to happen to iOS since iPhone OS 1. Both of these assertions have far-reaching consequences for the users, third-party developers, and Apple itself.

In June, soon after the official announcement and preview of iOS 6, I concluded my general overview of the software with four questions. Looking back at that article now, those questions are more relevant than ever.

  • “Will the App Store redesign also bring new curation and search features, as many developers asked?”
  • “We didn’t quite get the “silver” system theme that was rumored; Apple seems to be moving towards blue gradients as a standard UI element, but not everyone’s liking the change for toolbars and status bars. Will they reconsider or improve upon today’s beta in terms of looks come Fall 2012?”
  • “With a new iPhone likely to be released in October, will we see even more features being added to the OS to take advantage of the new device’s hardware?”
  • “Will Google release a standalone Maps application?”

The answer to three of them is “no”. The last one – whether Google will release a standalone Maps application for iOS on the App Store – could be a “most certainly yes”, but we don’t know any more details.

iOS 6 is a controversial release, in that through the following days we’ll likely witness several news outlets and independent bloggers declare Apple’s doom or absolute genius, depending on the Internet clique they choose to side with. I think that, in this case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle – a gray area that needs a calm and thorough consideration. At the same time, I also believe that the “controversial” nature of iOS 6 needs to be analyzed for its various facets and reasons of existence. Why did Apple choose these features for iOS 6? What does the user make of it?

I have been testing iOS 6 for the past weeks, and I have (slowly) come to the conclusion that there’s no easy way to cover this update with a traditional review strategy. Instead, I have decided to take a look at the software from multiple perspectives, understanding the possible implications, downsides, and improvements for each one of them.

While last year I would have answered to the question “Should I upgrade to iOS 5 right away” with a resounding “Yes”, this year I’m not so sure about the “right away” part. Read more

The iPhone 5’s Exclusive Feature: A Better Experience

What strikes me as different about the iPhone 5 announcement is that, for the first time in years, it doesn’t bring any new, big exclusive software feature.

The iPhone 4 introduced FaceTime. The iPad 2 had Photo Booth. The iPhone 4S got Siri. In Apple’s recent history, major updates to iOS devices were (almost) always complemented by some exclusive software functionality. Particularly with the iPhone, the company’s biggest source of revenue, Apple has always made sure since the 3GS (which got voice control, among other things) new iPhone models would have both new hardware and software to appeal to customers.

Not so with the iPhone 5.

If we exclude the five rows of icons on the Home screen, the possibility to take still photos while recording video, and face detection for 1080p HD video recording (both briefly mentioned here), the iPhone 5 doesn’t offer anything exclusive, software-wise, over the iPhone 4S.

I haven’t tried the iPhone 5 yet, so I can’t judge the capabilities of the device. But I can attempt to understand the reasoning behind this choice.

For now, Apple has got its software ecosystem pretty much figured out. There’s the Post-PC strategy, the App Store, feature parity between iOS and OS X, and a new iTunes coming out next month. Albeit slowly, Siri is evolving, and it is coming to more devices. iOS 6 will be released next week, and it’ll introduce previously-announced new features like Maps, Passbook, and Facebook integration. From a software standpoint, Apple is now performing the excellent art of iterating – or, this is how Apple rolls. Sometimes it’s more visible; other times things look the same. But they’re always changing.

And I believe this time things are changing with a different focus. The iPhone 4S leveraged Apple’s interplay of hardware and software – mentioned on several occasions during today’s keynote – to introduce one last big new iOS feature with a bang – Siri. If you look at iOS’ releases one by one, like we tech writers do every few months, it seems like they haven’t changed much. But it is only when you look back that you realize the differences were indeed palpable. And the iPhone 4S did have one big difference, software-wise.

With the iPhone 5, Apple is shifting from a “look at what’s new” mindset to a “look at how much better it is” approach. If you only looked at the screens of an iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 and used them without holding them in your hands, you wouldn’t notice much differences in the software. Sure, you’d see the bigger screen, but you wouldn’t be curious to immediately go check out that new app. But the thing is, we don’t use iPhones like that. We hold them in our hands, we touch them, we make calls with them and we stream content wirelessly from the Internet with them.

It’s not about the hardware alone. Because on that front, yes, things are new. It’s about how the hardware allows for a better experience without having to do anything new. It’s about refining what is already good. It’s about starting from scratch.

Ultimately, the iPhone 5 is about making the overall experience better through advancements in mobile technology. The iPhone 5 may not have new apps or iOS features for now, but it does offer an unparalleled experience. It does LTE with up to 8 hours of browsing. Reports are already coming in that, thanks to the A6 processor, everything feels snappier and more responsive. And if it really is comfortable to hold, the new 4-inch screen will show more content, which I see as a welcome improvement.

On a simple iOS feature-by-feature checklist, iPhone 5 loses. But on a scale of “Does this work better than before?”, I think it will be indisputably better than its predecessors. The interplay of hardware and software wasn’t functional to adding new features this time: the integration Apple prides itself upon should serve as a catalyst to make everything work better, without having to reinvent what we already know.

I think Apple’s Design webpage for the new iPhone sums it up best: “if convention was standing in the way, we left it behind”.

iPhone 5 is about paradoxes. It’s bigger, but it’s slimmer. It’s got LTE, but longer battery life. It’s thinner, but it’s got a better camera, an redesigned speaker system, and new microphones. It’s new – but really, is it?

After the iPhone 5, new iOS devices won’t be judged by how many new apps they bring, but by how much they make the experience better.

The Reality Check Of Google’s New YouTube App

In an unsurprising move considering Apple’s upcoming iOS 6 update, Google released an official YouTube app for iPhone last night. Announced on the YouTube blog, the app is available for free on the App Store, and it runs natively on the iPhone; according to The New York Times, an iPad version is also in the works.

I have taken the YouTube app for a spin, and I was quite impressed with what Google accomplished in this first version. While not excellent in terms of performances, the key to this first release of YouTube for iOS is access.

One of the most controversial aspects of the former, pre-installed YouTube client for iOS was that, as Google started monetizing the YouTube platform with “official” videos from channels like VEVO, the pre-installed iOS client couldn’t display such videos due to a lack of agreement between Apple and Google in regards to ads shown to the users. On the standard desktop YouTube website, users could watch, say, music videos from official channels because the company embedded banners or pre-roll ads to monetize; on iOS devices, official videos were omitted from search results, and links to these videos would return the infamous “this video is not available on mobile” error message. As Google goes free from Apple’s restrictions with standalone apps, this is about to change. Read more

Interactive Fiction In The iOS Age: A Text-Based Love Story

It all started with an episode of “The Big Bang Theory”. Protagonist Dr. Sheldon Cooper sits in front of his laptop, his face distorted by heavy concentration. He’s playing a game. Suddenly, he starts yelling at Leonard, his roommate: “It says there’s a troll!” Leonard answers: “Type ‘Hit troll with axe’”. Silence. “Oh yes that worked!”, Sheldon yells with a wide smile on his face. A few episodes later, the title of the game is revealed: ZORK.

At that point, I was curious. I googled the title, and just a few minutes later I was lost in the world of Interactive Fiction (hence abbreviated as IF) which is the official genre description of games commonly known as text-based adventure games.

After hours of research, I found out that although the first IF games were released in the early ’80s and quickly decreased in popularity due to the rise of graphics-based games in the middle-80s, the genre is not dead at all. IF has a vibrant and very active community of gamers, journalists, story writers, and modern implementations of any kind to emulate and play IF games on any imaginable platform. There are even modern development tools and languages available to write your own IF games.

In this post, I will discuss all these topics: the history of IF, the community and its current state, and how to play and develop IF — with a focus on IF and Apple’s operating systems – Mac OS X and iOS. The following paragraphs will be full of external links leading you to download resources, information wikis about IF, interesting essays and blog posts about the community, and all kinds of software you could use to play and write IF. Read more

Yerba Buena Poster Created By Stretching App Icons, Download A Recreated Version As A Wallpaper

On Friday, workers put up the traditional event banners on the Yerba Buena building in which Apple is holding its special media event next Wednesday. You can have a look at the banners here, but as an eagle-eyed reader of MacRumors realised, it seems as if Apple made the poster by stretching various app icons vertically. Another one of MacRumor’s readers, roosternugget, put together a little graphic to indicate which apps were most likely used (see below). It’s pretty clever by Apple’s designers to stretch iPhone app icons vertically and use it as the event poster, given we expect the iPhone 5 itself to feature a vertically larger (or “stretched) display. If you recall, Apple also had fun with the media event invitation which subtly features a shadow with the number “5” coming down from the number 12.

With this knowledge, I decided to open Photoshop and do my best to recreate the event poster. Now it certainly isn’t a perfect recreation but I’ve done my best and it comes close to the banner featured in a photo below. I’ve created multiple versions with and without the Apple logo and for various screen resolutions so that you can use it as a wallpaper, including the following:

  • [16:10] 2880 x 1800 - aka. Retina MacBook Pro
  • [16:9] 2880 x 1620
  • [5:4] 1280 x 1024
  • iPhone 4/4S
  • iPhone 5
  • iPad (Retina)

Download the wallpapers (.zip archive)

Direct links for iOS devices:

The Rise Of Third Party Services And Fall Of Google In iOS

When Apple introduced iOS 6 to the world at this year’s WWDC, one of the most talked about moves was Apple’s decision to step away from their partnership with Google Maps and create their own maps app. In many respects, it wasn’t too surprising given the increasingly strenuous relationship between Apple and Google in the years since the iPhone launched and Google became a competitor with Android, but in recent weeks it was also revealed that YouTube will also no longer be included as a pre-installed app from iOS 6. That leaves Google Search as the only remaining Google service to be integrated into iOS. Yet whilst Apple has been severing its relationship with Google, it has been courting numerous other service providers and integrating them into iOS over the past few years.

Curious to visualise this information, I made a list of every notable service that has been integrated with iOS (and when) and then created the above graphic (click on it to view a larger version). When I had compiled the list, it was pretty compelling (and longer than I had realised), but I think the graphic takes it to the next level and really tells a story about iOS and Apple’s relationship with other services.

Read more

An Apple I In My Town

I live in Viterbo, a small town in Lazio, Italy, not too far away from Rome. My town is a beautiful place to visit with a rich history behind its Etruscan origins; unfortunately, it is often vastly undervalued by its citizens and municipal administration. My town lives and breathes in history, but very few people seem to appreciate its roots.

I took a walk in the center of my town today, and I ended up gazing upon an original Apple I. And an Apple II. And a Lisa. And a Macintosh. Today, the medieval buildings that make Viterbo an evocative architectural tapestry of art and history became, for a moment, a gallery for the modern history of technology.

Thanks to the efforts of Medioera, a festival of “digital culture” at its third annual edition here in Viterbo, Marco Boglione’s original Apple I gained a prominent spot in the gorgeous Piazza del Gesù (take a look at the location) alongside other Apple computers from the 70’s and 80’s, as well as Atari, Commodore, and IBM machines. Read more