This Week's Sponsor:

DEVONTHINK

Store, Organize, and Work the Smart Way


You Can Now Rename Files and Folders in Dropbox for iOS

The official Dropbox app for iOS was updated today with much needed renaming capabilities for files and folders. Dropbox has added a new Rename button that you can reveal by swiping over folders or hitting the “More” button in the file preview screen. On the iPhone, this extra panel (pictured above) also shows information about the selected file such as size, filename, and last modified date.

I’ve long used Boxie to rename Dropbox files directly on iOS, so this is good news given the app’s demise. You can find version 3.6 of Dropbox on the App Store and read their blog post here.

Permalink

Dropshare for iOS Uploads Images to Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files

For over two years, I’ve been trying to turn my iPad into a work machine capable of handling every MacStories-related task – from writing and assembling blog posts to research, email, and expense management. One particular requirement, however, has always been problematic for my use case: native image uploads to Cloud Files on iOS. Dropshare, developed by Timo Josten, brings integration with the iOS Photos app and any other image file through a share extension that can upload directly to Amazon S3, SCP over SSH, and Cloud Files, solving a major issue in my iPad workflow for screenshot generation and uploads.

Read more


Metapho’s iOS 8 Extension Lets You Quickly Share Photos Without Metadata

I often want to share photos without revealing the extra bits of information contained inside them – generally, I just don’t want people to know the location where a picture was taken. I’ve talked about how to remove metadata from iPhone photos before, but Metapho (an app that I briefly mentioned in September) now lets you easily share photos without metadata thanks to iOS 8’s extensions.

Read more


The Effect of an App Store Feature

So, with almost 2500 downloads you are no. 128, and just 2k more gets you to no. 4. Wow. When you look at this, it’s not really that much top-heavy as I thought. It seems that with decent media exposure you can get pretty consistent number of downloads and chart ranking.

Aleksandar Vacić’s new app, Run 5k, was featured by Apple, and he posted detailed numbers about the effect of Apple’s feature. It’s easy to guess that an Apple promotion on the front page of the App Store may help with downloads, but Aleksandar has actual numbers, and it’s interesting to look at his graphs to observe the effect over time.

Permalink

Virtual: Leaking Battery Acid

This week Federico and Myke discuss a scientific study of Mario Galaxy, the merits and disadvantages of crowd-funded games, a GameBoy HDMI extension, tales of recent local multiplayer experiences and they talk about the iOS games they’ve been playing this week.

And if you’re looking for more podcasts for this holiday weekend, you can’t go wrong with the latest Virtual. Plenty of games and gaming-related links while we’re waiting for this month’s releases on the 3DS and Wii U. Get the episode here.

Sponsored by:

  • Drafts: where text starts on iPhone and iPad. Now easier and more powerful than ever.
  • Dash: Create beautiful dashboards with a few clicks. Sign up now to get one free private dashboard.
  • Loot Crate: a monthly subscription box service for epic geek and gamer items and pop culture gear. Use code VIRTUAL for 10% off.
Permalink

Connected: Poster Child for Power Apps

This week, the boys are back to discuss Federico’s use of a remote Mac mini for weird tasks and Stephen’s new Pebble before debating Twitter’s new App Graph.

On this week’s Connected, we had an interesting discussion about the Twitter app for iOS (which I use) and the relationship that other iOS users have with third-party Twitter clients. Don’t miss it, because I think it’s a good one. Get the episode here.

Sponsored by:

  • Drafts: where text starts on iPhone and iPad. Now easier and more powerful than ever.
  • Studio Neat: Get 10% off anything in their store using the code CONNECTED
  • Dash: Create beautiful dashboards with a few clicks. Sign up now to get one free private dashboard.
Permalink


#MacStoriesDeals Black Friday 2014: Best Deals for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Apps & Games

Black Friday is upon us once again! #MacStoriesDeals is the best place to find great deals for iOS apps and games, Mac software, and more.

Every year, thousands of iOS and OS X software deals are launched for Black Friday. We handpick the best ones and collect them in a single post with links to buy or share discounted products directly. You don’t need to be overwhelmed by Black Friday deals because we take care of finding the best stuff for you.

Bookmark this post and come back to find updated deals starting today through Friday. Updates will be listed as new entries at the top of each category.

You can find us as @MacStoriesDeals on Twitter.

Read more


Pocket’s Data on iPhone and iPad Usage

Fascinating data analysis from Pocket:

To understand how the 6 Plus affects consumption, we first looked at users who owned both an iPhone 5/5S and iPad and looked at how they spent their time reading on both devices. For these users, 55% of content was consumed on an iPhone versus 45% on an iPad. A fairly even split.

All this changed once users had the new iPhones in hand.

I bet that the trends Pocket uncovered could be applied to dozens of other media consumption services with iPhone and iPad apps.

The truth is that bigger phones are big enough for many people who still don’t understand why they need an iPad. Or maybe they did get an iPad, but now they’re discovering that reading and watching videos can be done on an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus just as comfortably and with no compromises.

I think that, for the most part, this is an unavoidable consequence of putting a bigger screen on a device that you carry with you all the time. But, almost five years after the iPad was launched, Apple and third-party developers still tend to come out with iPad apps that are enlarged versions of their iPhone counterparts. I wonder if the lack of widespread unique iPad software is also the reason why people may be using the iPad less.

Permalink