Year: 2014

Federico Viticci:

All developers I’ve talked to over the past few days share a common thought: this year’s announcements are creating new possibilities. New technologies can empower users in new and better ways. We can’t wait to start coding.

I’ve heard this same thing too. Developers are really excited.

Craig Hockenberry:

Apple has a newfound confidence in itself. It’s at the top of its game, and it knows it.

I wouldn’t say ‘newfound’, I think a better word is: recharged. I don’t think Apple ever lost confidence, but I think they questioned their confidence a bit.

Stephen Hackett:

Apple feels good about itself, and that trickles down to the community. You can feel it in the air.

It’s palpable.

Shawn Blanc:

We are seeing what the post Steve Jobs Apple is like, and my friends, it is awesome.

If I summed up the direction Apple has decided to take, it would simply be: bold. They aren’t resting on their laurels the way Microsoft did when Ballmer took over. They are banging shit out and getting it done as fearless as they can be. But they are tempering that enthusiasm with patience and thought. They are doing a lot, but are being careful to do it right the first time.

A lot of people have told me I am too excited about iCloud Drive, but the thing is I think Apple will finally get the cloud stuff right. Their stream for WWDC was perfect, and their iCloud offerings really have been nearly flawless recently.

Jason Snell:

Over the next year, there will be innovations that surprise and delight users, and they won’t be trapped inside a single app interface—they will be able to spread themselves across many more parts of the iOS interface.

All of a sudden things that used to be very tedious to do on iOS will become so simple that it will feel magical. There’s no need to talk about customer lock-in with iCloud — that’s all the lock-in most people need.

A few nights ago I got an email from Bryan Clark, and he explained that he and Jesse Herlitz teamed up to make a new App.net client, and they are still excited about it even if App.net seems to be in a bit of limbo. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too excited to test the app, but I checked out the other app these two worked on and was impressed with the app. Then, I accepted to promo code so I could see the app before launch ((If you don’t know, developers can have an app approved, but hold it so you cannot download it. Then they can share promo codes and people can download the app from the App Store that way.))

Boy am I glad I checked out the app. It’s called Blixt and it is an App.net client, though it doesn’t do private messaging.

It is gorgeous.

It is damned smooth.

I love so many things about this app that I wish people posted more on App.net so that I might use it more.

The Highlights

The scrolling in this app is possibly the smoothest scrolling I’ve seen, it’s like a plastic disc on an air hockey table. Simply fantastic, you just want to scroll around. I don’t know what gives it that feeling, but man is it silky smooth.

There are no delineating lines between posts, but somehow nothing looks cluttered and nothing is confusing. It’s really clean feeling and super flat, but yet it feels like slick glass. It feels made for the iPhone.

The animations are great. From the little bounce a post does when interacted with, to the loading indicator when using the browser. All these small touches make for an app that visually doesn’t get in the way, but never leaves you feeling lost.

I was confused at first as to what the image is that is blurred out behind your timeline, as it turns out it is your cover image. However, when you browse to another user, or simply view the post view for a post that is not yours, the image switches to that user’s cover image. Very nice touch, and amazingly not distracting at all, it simply gives a little depth and character to the app. In fact it is a great way to skin the app a bit if you want.

Another nice touch is how large the few buttons are. This is best seen when composing a new post, as the buttons are a bit in your face, but thankfully easy to tap, which isn’t something I can say about most of iOS 7. Even though the buttons are larger they feel right, but not something you tend to see in iOS anymore.

The Misses

There’s a bug that I’ve run into when I tap on a post with a link the app seems to freeze (the developers are looking into it), all you have to do is go back to the home screen and back into the app (no force quitting needed) and all is fine. It’s odd and annoying, but a testament to just how good this app is that I am more than fine with putting up with that bug.

The swiping is a bit un-iOS, in that going back, say from mentions to timeline, requires a swipe starting near the middle of the screen to the edge. If you swipe from the left edge to the right, you pull up the account switcher and settings screen — I pull that screen up a lot. This isn’t consistent with the rest of iOS so it is likely to always be a challenge for me.

The Icon

I wanted to give the icon it’s own section, just because it is stellar. Of all the icons on my main home screen, this is the only one worthy of being there.

More like this please.

Go Buy It

Who gives a damn about what’s going on with App.net, this app is one of those apps you will appreciate the hell out of no matter what you think of App.net. Rarely do I like apps this much, but this app is very impressive in such a very simple and smooth way.

The other day I was talking with a client of mine. It was after hours and I was out running personal errands. This client likes to talk, as in I spend hours on the phone with people at one time, and he was going on about a meeting. How the guy at the meeting said he couldn’t ‘read’ my client.

So my client, let’s call him Bud ((Because, great name.)) , asked me: “Am I hard to read?”

Now I replied that I think to so he was, to which Bud chuckled and asked: “Do you know why?”

Me: “Yes, because you never stop talking.” ((Bud’s a good client, and takes a ribbing well.))

Bud laughed again and told me: “No, well maybe, but it’s because I never know what I am thinking — and sometimes I just change my mind every time someone talks to me.”

And I can attest, Bud does change his mind often.

But so do I. In fact, and I relayed this to him, I see the ability to change your mind as one of the most intellectually honest things you can do. But I think I need to clarify that statement a bit.

It’s not intellectual in any sense to arbitrarily change your mind — simply for the sake of changing your mind. What is intellectual is if you know why you are changing your mind.

And in most cases the “why” is usually easily cited as ‘new evidence’. But that’s why I appreciate people who change their mind so much: I know they are listening, processing, and thinking constantly about new inputs they receive. They aren’t just hearing me for the sake of trying to figure out how to punch back at my argument, they are actively listening to my point.

To me, there is nothing more you can ask from a person than for them to keep the cliched “open mind” and hear you out. I’m wrong — a lot — but what keeps me alive (so to speak) is the fact that I recognize where I have wronged, why, and then try to change it (whether that be an action, decision, or thought).

Don’t be afraid to change your mind as long as you know why you are changing your mind. I cannot imagine a world where people were not willing to change your mind — all to often we are asked to make a decision on incomplete data. Imagine if you had to stick to that decision even after you get better data? That would be horrid.

Two hours after I talked to Bud on the phone I decided to join back up on Twitter. I waited a day just to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything, but I changed my mind.

In the post about rejoining Twitter I could have defended my action without ever admitting I was wrong. I could have. But that would have been wrong in itself.

So it’s good to change you mind, but don’t do so for the wrong reasons. And certainly don’t act like you didn’t change your mind — then you just look like a fool.