The Brooks Review

Month: June 2011

  • “A newer version of this app is already installed on this computer”

    Craig Grannell solving a problem that I used to face daily with the Mac App Store:
    >Then it struck me: I have a back-up hard-drive attached to the Mac, which is a clone taken by SuperDuper!, and, sure enough, the Mac App Store seemingly cannot tell the difference between the active volume and the back-up—at least in this case. And so if the Mac App Store tells you that you can’t install an app and you’re using cloning software, try temporarily unmounting the clone and see if that helps.

    As Craig’s reader comments, this will also happen if any volume connected to the Mac has this application on it, whether or not it is properly placed in an ‘Applications’ folder. I constantly had this problem with Lion and Snow Leopard being on my machine in two different partitions. The solution I came up with is copying the app file manually so that it is on both — once that is done it works with no problems, odd.

  • Apple Reverses Course On In-App Subscriptions

    Jordan Golson:
    >Apple has quietly changed its guidelines on the pricing of In-App Subscriptions on the App Store. There are no longer any requirements that a subscription be the “same price or less than it is offered outside the app”. There are no longer any guidelines about price at all. Apple also removed the requirement that external subscriptions must be also offered as an in-app purchase.

    This is actually a pretty big deal because it means:

    1. Netflix can continue to operate as they are without adding a method of subscribing in-app.
    2. If they wanted, a service could charge a premium to cover Apple’s 30% when selling things through the app store versus their online offering.
    3. I am pretty sure this means that Amazon can keep the Kindle app the way it is — they may just need to remove the link to the online Kindle store from the app. Though I am not 100% on this just yet.

    Big stuff and a welcome change I am sure, by both consumers and developers.

  • “The Google Approach”

    MG Siegler:
    >But it’s the Google approach. It’s files, and uploading, and syncing. Some of it is automatic, some is not. It requires some thought. It sort of just works — as long as you know what you’re doing.

    “Sort of just works” is the core of Google’s adoption problem with its “cloud” offerings. ((I use cloud in quotes because it is an entirely stupid marketing word. And though at times I may forget to use quotes, know that I always vomit a little in my mouth when I use the term.))

  • How Apple Can Make Money From Higher-Quality Songs

    Nick Bilton makes the argument that the higher-quality, larger file size, iTunes Match MP3s was a move by Apple to sell larger capacity devices. Meaning that most users will be pushed towards a 32GB phone over a 16GB phone so that they can hold the same amount of music. I hadn’t thought about it in this way, but I think he is wrong.

    I think most consumers *are* cheap asses.

    Cheap asses tend to see spots where they can save money, and iTunes Match does just that, by allowing them to get all their music at anytime, from the cloud. Meaning you don’t need extra storage because you can swap out music on the fly at any time you want.

    If the rumored streaming does come to the service then I think the argument is furthered that most consumers don’t need a larger capacity device. Personally, I decide storage size based not on what I want to keep on my device, but on how much I can *add* to the device through downloads, recording video and taking photos.

  • Why Copyright Holders Love iTunes Match

    Parmy Olson:
    >Why does that $25 matter? Because Apple is reportedly splitting that money with copyright holders, many of whom have lost out on potential revenue because so many are downloading songs from bittorrent sites like The Pirate Bay. Some say this means Apple is not only legitimizing pirated music, it’s monetizing it too. Needless to say, the folks at the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) which represents the recording industry worldwide, really like iTunes Match.

    It’s a great point and likely how Apple was able to convince the music labels to be OK with this arrangement. I don’t get the arguments that she cites against the service. Sure this “locks” you into Apple’s clutches, but it’s not like you can’t leave or stop paying — you can you just lose out on lower quality stolen music. I also don’t get the irrational fear that Apple may one day not allow your stolen music — that seems like the risk you take when you steal.

  • Reeder for Mac

    I have been using Reeder as my primary RSS client since the first beta version became public. There is a lot to like and a lot of odd things about the app. It feels just like the iPad version — and that is not a bad thing.

    I will say that the app itself *feels* better in Lion than it does in Snow Leopard — where in the latter it seems slightly out of place from a design standpoint and in the former it fits right in. MacStories has a [nice write-up](http://www.macstories.net/news/reeder-for-mac-now-available-on-the-mac-app-store/) about the app if you want more information.

    The price: $9.99 — seems like a steal to me given all this app can do.

  • Jobs’ Presentation To Cupertino

    If you want a good chuckle watch the part where the councilwoman asks Jobs about getting free, Apple provided, WiFi in Cupertino. His response is excellent.

  • Quote of the Day: Robert X. Cringely

    “Apple and Google will compete like crazy for our data because once they have it we’ll be their customers forever.”

  • What you need to know about iTunes Match

    Chris Foresman on iTunes Match:
    >iTunes Match will let you mirror up to 25,000 tracks in your iCloud, and those songs can be pulled down to any iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, as well as synced with Macs or PCs running iTunes. This includes tracks ripped from CDs or downloaded from the Internet, even those you may have obtained in a less-than-legal manner.

    Well there goes my theory that it would only work with tracks ripped by iTunes — this is a great read if you are interested in the one thing we can’t beta test right now. Sounds like a killer service.

  • iOS 5: 8 Other Features We Love

    Federico Viticci:
    >This one’s very simple, yet useful. iOS 5 devices will be able to sync with iTunes either wirelessly (when connected to a power source) or through the usual USB cable; but when they sync, this time you’ll be able to keep using them.

    Something tells me there are a lot more hidden gems like this in iOS 5.

  • Footnotes

    Over the past couple of weeks you have probably [read about the em dash](http://www.slate.com/id/2295413/) — I’m not giving it up — and [about logical punctuation](http://www.slate.com/id/2293056/). Those two posts address a lot of the grammar complaints I get on the blog — and rightfully so. The one complaint left (besides spelling) that I get a lot, is also one of the first complaints I received: footnotes.

    I know how footnotes are *supposed* to work, but I choose to ignore all rules on them. I use footnotes as I see fit.

    Sometimes that means that I write asides in footnotes, sometimes I make disclaimers, sometimes I just write odd weird things. None of that really matters, what does matter is this: I try to write all footnotes so that the reader loses nothing if they don’t read my footnotes.

    So if my footnoting annoys you, you *should* be fine if you just skip past them.

  • Quote of the Day: Lessien

    “The toddler stage for iOS is over.”

  • MG Siegler on iMessage

    MG Siegler:
    >And again, while this may be iOS-only, guess who else is going to have to match this feature now? Android. SMS is about to become a cross-platform messaging platform only.

    I hadn’t thought about that, iMessage will have a big impact in the mobile world. Especially because, as Siegler notes, it is built into the current SMS app and defaults to iMessage with SMS being a backup only (or so I hear).

  • “Why Groupon is Worth $25 Billion Dollars”

    Steve Cheney writes up a nice post explaining the business of Groupon, but if we are to believe the title he used: “Why Groupon is Worth $25 Billion Dollars”. One would be inclined to think that he would answer that question — he doesn’t.

    Yes Groupon has a neat business that thus far has been hard for people to pull off, but again: massive amounts of users doesn’t mean future profitability, plain and simple.

  • Financial Times Web App

    The Financial Times:
    >We have launched a new, faster, more complete app for the iPad and iPhone which is available via your browser rather than from an app store.
    >We’re encouraging our readers to switch immediately to the new FT web app, as many new features and sections will be added over the coming weeks. Make sure you don’t miss out on these updates.

    This is a great move by FT to keep their 30% while barely effecting user experience. The most interesting thing and biggest challenge will be discovery. Will they pull their iOS app, and if so how will they tell readers that they can have a native-like experience with this app?

  • What Safari’s Reading List means for Instapaper

    Marco Arment on where Instapaper stands after today’s announcement:
    >But the more potential scenarios I consider, the more likely it seems that Safari’s Reading List is either going to have no noticeable effect on Instapaper, or it will improve sales dramatically.

    Apple has no doubt put Marco in a tough spot. From what I can see the Reading List feature is comparable to the RSS reader in Mail, but with a touch better implementation. To that end I think Instapaper will always be the ‘NetNewsWire’ of the category — meaning it is *the* app that power users flock to. However, like Marco said, time will tell.

  • WWDC: The Big Stuff

    I am not going to rehash everything that was announced today, but I want to touch a some important things introduced and provide my thoughts on those — not the details you are likely to already know about.

    ### Mac OS X Lion

    None of the blogs that I was following made mention of this being 10.7, it sounded like Apple simply referred to it as ‘Lion’ and I find that very telling. In that it is the most consumer friendly, non-geeky, way to refer to an OS. It also is a direct shot at Microsoft’s calling the next Windows release: ‘8’.

    The biggest thing with Lion has to be that it even further propels the ‘it just works’ mantra. If you step back and look at Lion, UI candy aside, what you see is an OS that has been made for “normal” folks.

    That is: auto-saving and versioning will take the OS to a whole other level in the general consumer mind. Add to that Mac App Store availability (instant gratification) and the price of $29 — adoption will soar.

    These small changes, in my eye, are massive and strong reasons why Apple will continue wild growth of the Mac platform. Most telling though is that Lion feels more like iOS 4 — in that iOS 4 didn’t truly shine until developers updated their apps, in the same vein I think Lion will really shine once developers start pushing out those updates. (Support for versions and auto saving and such.)

    ### iOS 5

    iOS 5 is not only a big leap, but it is a massive pole vault ahead of where every other competitor currently is. There is far too much to touch on, so I want to touch on my three favorite things.

    #### One

    Camera. I can’t tell you how amazing the quick access and shutter controls for the camera are going to be. This is going to be one of the most useful new features in iOS 5 for every user.

    #### Two

    Twitter is the biggest thing in iOS 5 as far as people outside the mobile industry are concerned. I personally think this is the catalyst that Twitter was waiting for to propel their user base forward. This is going to be big. Many don’t think this will drive adoption, I think this will really drive adoption — time will tell.

    #### Three

    iMessage. This is a big deal because it basically offers a better, more secure, messaging system for iOS users. It is also free with a data plan. Thus you could theoretically rid yourself of overpriced text messaging plans and just use iMessage.

    This also is a major play against Twitter DMs, as the system looks far more robust and better suited to the type of DMs that I regularly send.

    The best part is that this comes to the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

    #### Bonus

    No doubt that OTA updates and backups is huge, but of the two, backups is the bigger deal. Yes, OTA updates is important, but not nearly as important as knowing you lost nothing the next time you drop your phone in water.

    ### iCloud

    The biggest thing about iCloud is its integration to the devices. Meaning that it is not just about iOS, but about iOS and Mac OS being equal in the eyes of iCloud. This makes the *entire* thing simple.

    Most cloud based services are pull services, where you need to go get the data you want from the cloud. Dropbox is the notable exception to this rule and it is also the exact same solution that Apple came up with.

    As most dropbox users will tell you: Dropbox is pure magic. I expect the same out of Apple with iCloud.

    ### A Bit More

    Lastly, I want to share these tweets that sum up today’s WWDC pretty well:

    [Mike Lee](https://twitter.com/#!/bmf/status/77810289143332865): “I can finally redownload my lost iTMS purchases. Yay.”

    [Shawn Blanc](https://twitter.com/#!/shawnblanc/status/77808856339718144): “I’m gonna miss the square toggle switch in iOS.”

    [Rands](https://twitter.com/#!/rands/status/77808807140540416): “This is what happens when you’re no longer beholden to cables, carriers, and labels. #WWDC”

    [Dustin Curtis](https://twitter.com/#!/dcurtis/status/77804441293688832): “Apple just pissed off: Dropbox, Sparrow, Instapaper, Readability, Remember the Milk, Facebook, RIM, & the carriers. Well done.”

    [Fraser Speirs](https://twitter.com/#!/fraserspeirs/status/77791693323239424): “Lion “only in the Mac App Store” <- sound of a million sysadmins killing themselves." and, lastly: [Marco Arment](https://twitter.com/#!/marcoarment/status/77796293510037504): "Shit."

  • Reading Time Redux

    Dr. Drang reworked his reading time for TextMate foo to make it a lot better, and he made an OS X service out of it. Great work.

  • [SPONSOR] Hoban Cards

    Elegance is not stopping every two seconds to spell out your email to people that want to connect with you as you are trying to get out the door. Elegance is handing out a minimal, unique card.

    A calling card from Hoban Cards is all about elegance.

    Each calling card is hand printed on a 1902 Chandler and Price letterpress. For $75 you get 100 personalized cards with your name and the option of either your email or phone number printed on 100% 110lb cotton paper.

    *(Editors note: The quality is top-notch.)*

  • How to Pronounce Scotch Names

    If left on my own at a bar, I am going to run up the bill with Scotch, but as any Scotch drinker knows the names can be absurd to try and order. Thanks to Esquire I don’t have to guess anymore.

    (For the record I love Glenlivet and Highland Park, neat. ((Good whiskey or whisky should always be served neat, if you think that it needs ice, then you — my friend — are *not* drinking good whiskey/whisky.)) )