This Week's Sponsor:

DEVONTHINK

Store, Organize, and Work the Smart Way

Adobe’s Mobile App Canvas Adds New Apps→

As part of its opening keynote for its developer and creative conference, Adobe will be announcing a more integrated desktop and mobile strategy, which centres around several new iPhone and iPad applications and some rebranded old favourites.

At Adobe Max it will reveal how each app fits into a category where it works with equivalent Adobe desktop software, with some split into groups and others working across most of its creative software. It calls the new line up its “mobile canvas” and what’s more, you don’t even have to wait until after the keynote to download them.

Rik Henderson of Pocket-lint provides a good overview of all of Adobe’s key mobile apps following their announcements yesterday at the Adobe MAX conference. Many of the apps launched earlier this year, but a few, including Premiere Clip, Color and Shape are new.

Above all, it is impressive to see how seriously Adobe is taking mobile, and in particular, how rapidly they are rolling out new apps and updates to their existing ones. As always, these apps are free but require a subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud service. If you want to learn more, Adobe’s mobile app page has got details on all of these new and existing apps for the iPhone and iPad.

Permalink

1Password 5.1→

Released today on the App Store, version 5.1 of 1Password brings, in addition to iPhone 6 support, better compatibility with Touch ID and a redesigned security screen.

When I tested 1Password 5 for my review, I noted that Touch ID had been working well for me, but the public release of the app revealed that iOS 8 was prompting for master passwords for many people due to memory constraints and other bugs.

Version 5.1 comes with redesigned settings that better explain how Touch ID authentication works, unify the master password and PIN options, and that also contain an option (in the Advanced section) to enable custom keyboards inside 1Password (they’re turned off by default as they could transmit keystrokes). According to Agile Bits, the implementation of Touch ID is more reliable now and the app should always honor its security settings. That means less master password prompts, unless you restart your device or Touch ID fails.

I continue to be amazed by the fact that 1Password can now be invoked in any app that supports action extensions. If you’re a developer and you’re making apps that handle web logins or other secure data input, consider supporting the 1Password extension. If you’re a 1Password user, get the 5.1 update from the App Store as it brings some welcome bug fixes.

Permalink

Keymoji Custom Keyboard Lets You Add Emoji by Typing Their Name

Emoji keyboards have become one of the most popular consequences to Apple offering third-party keyboard replacements in iOS 8. Apple’s default emoji keyboard leaves much to be desired, and developers are finding a new opportunity in being able to give users better input methods for the emoji millions of people use every day. Last week, I covered David Smith’s excellent Emoji++, but I’ve also been enjoying Keymoji, available for free on the App Store.

Read more

Apple Pay and Security→

Yoni Heisler has an in-depth overview of Apple Pay at TUAW today:

Remember that merchants in an Apple Pay transaction never have access to user credit card information and, as a result, users never have to worry about their information being compromised in a security breach. Further, security at the device level is effectively impenetrable as tokens, along with the encrypted keys responsible for the cryptogram, are all securely stored in the Secure Element.

And as an extra security precaution, iPhone owners will have the ability to unlink or temporarily suspend a token connected to a stolen device, thereby rendering Apple Pay inoperable until the device is retrieved.

I may be skeptical about Apple Pay in Europe, but the way it’s been built and will operate is fascinating. (I’m even more curious to know if integration with Safari will happen for web payments eventually).

Permalink

Evernote Wants to Go Beyond Note-Taking→

At its conference in San Francisco today, Evernote announced a slew of updates for its core iOS and OS X experience as well as a redesigned web app (currently available as public beta), a redesign of Penultimate, a new scanner app, and new Market products.

Harry McCracken has an overview of the announcements at Fast Company. He concludes with a legitimate concern:

As a pretty committed Evernote user–I have more of my digital life stored there than any one other single place–all of these announcements leave me both excited and at least a tad concerned. Profoundly useful though the service is, it’s never quite felt like it’s nailed the best, simplest, most intuitive interface for what it does. (The fact that it has a habit of radically redoing its user interface on a regular basis is presumably an acknowledgement of that.) Adding more features will only make it tougher to keep Evernote coherent and approachable.

I’m curious to check out the updates to the iOS apps (I use Evernote for work every day) and the redesign of the Mac app for Yosemite looks nice. I’m a fan of the web app: by default, it lets you write a new note with just a few clicks, but it packs most of the features available in other versions of Evernote. It was a much needed change.

I have my doubts about the contextual and messaging features Evernote announced, but they also have potential and I’d rather wait until I can try them. I’m not sure I’d ever benefit from links pulled in from the WSJ or LinkedIn while I’m doing research, but other sources would be welcome. As for messaging, it is going to be hard for Evernote to beat the workplace integration that’s being built by Slack, but I imagine it could be a nice plus for businesses that rely heavily on Evernote internally.

I liked the tone and message of the keynote. Phil Libin is a good presenter and he genuinely seems to be invested in Evernote as a product. Evernote is often derided for their frequent redesigns, but they have struck a good balance with iOS 7 in the past year (both Evernote and Skitch are now highly polished and functional apps) and the Yosemite update looks like a moderate refresh rather than a ground-up redesign. Evernote has insanely high goals – software for “your life’s work” is the new slogan – and a willingness to adapt to people’s ever-changing needs can be a good thing. The partnership with News Corp. seems a little strange, but, overall, the event was solid.

Check out the Evernote blog for details on Context, the new web app, and Work Chat.

Permalink

Working with Mac OS 9 Today→

Andrew Cunningham tried to work with Mac OS 9 and published an interesting account of his experience at Ars Technica. Make sure to reach the conclusion for some good points about software updates:

People love to complain about change. Those complaints aren’t always unwarranted. We live in an era of constant updates, where your browser changes every six weeks, and your operating system changes every 12 months. Who even knows how often they’re changing Gmail and Twitter and Facebook? The idea of supporting and using a single OS for 13 years seems completely absurd. Sometimes you just want everything to stand still for, like, a second.

Also, don’t miss Riccardo Mori’s counterpoints at System Folder.

Permalink

Twitter for Mac Updated with Image Features→

Speaking of Twitter apps, Twitter today released an update to their official app for Mac that brings support for images in direct messages and tweets with multiple images (first rolled out on the iPhone in December and March, respectively).

Progress on Twitter for Mac has been slow, but I’m glad the app isn’t completely abandoned. It would be nice to have all the recent features and design changes of the iOS app, though (particularly Cards and redesigned profiles).

Side note: you can use this Terminal command to enable circular avatars in the app.

Permalink