512 Pixels

Graham Spencer at MacStories, in his nice look back at the Mac App Store:

Just how often do you open the Mac App Store?

The Mac App Store had such promise. The App Store is a huge deal, and there was excitement that it could breathe new life into the Mac ecosystem, but it hasn’t turned out that way. Many major developers have pulled out, and Apple’s had some pretty major issues on their end as well.

There’s still promise in the Mac App Store, but Apple has a long way to go to prove that it can be worthwhile for developers again. I’d like to see them address this, since an all-in-one place to download and update apps can really simplify things for everyday users.

Personally, I only ever use it if I have to. If a developer offers their app for sale directly, I’d rather go that route. I don’t think I’m alone there.

This week on Connected, we talk about how Apple could differentiate the next big iPhone and check back in on iOS 9 after several months of daily usage.

Oh, and we plan a trip to Vegas.

My thanks to these sponsors:

• Casper: Because everyone deserves a great night sleep. Get $50 off with the code ‘CONNECTED’
• Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code ‘WORLD’ for 10% off.
• Braintree: Code for easy online payments.

This one is short and sweet:

AppleWorks for Mac OS X does not use Unicode text encoding.

This is because it does not support the Unicode character set.

Thanks, Apple. Really glad we cleared that up.

Since buying the iPad Pro, I’ve been looking for a bag for carrying it and some select accessories to meetings. This little Tom Bihn bag is my solution, and I’m pretty happy with it.

Marco Arment, on an outlier in Apple’s product line:

Despite the low-resolution screen, slow hard drives, very little RAM, and CPUs that were middling even in 2012, it’s an open secret among Apple employees that the “101” still sells surprisingly well — to a nearly tragic degree, given its age and mediocrity.

Geeks like me often wonder why anyone would still buy such an outdated machine. I’ve heard from many people who buy it (or who’ve been unsuccessful in talking others out of it), and it’s surprisingly compelling, especially for volume-buying, price-conscious customers such as schools and big businesses.

I’ve been subscribed to Mac Power Users for years. I was listening to David and Katie well before I started my own career in podcasting.

The show has been around for almost seven years, and will hit episode 300 in just a couple of weeks. To mark the occasion, Myke Hurley and I will be taking over the show, interviewing David and Katie about their podcasting, workflows and more.

We need your help! Tweet with the hashtag #MPU300 to have your questions or comments considered for the show, but don’t mention David or Katie. We want to them to come in cold!

This week on Liftoff, Jason explains how the phases of the moon work before wading into the weird world of tides.

My thanks to our sponsor this week:

• Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!

The Apple TV is TV at our house, and as such, we see its screensaver a good bit. On the old Apple TV, I had it pulling from a photo album of family photos, but when I installed our new one, I opted to use Apple’s “Aerial” screensaver instead.

If you haven’t seen it, Aerial has a collection of downright stunning flyovers from numerous cities and landscapes from around the world.

Most of the options have both day and night scenes, and the Apple TV plays whichever is appropriate based on the time of day.

I really do like Aerial, and I can’t help but think about ways Apple could do more with this system.

While I’d love to see the collection of footage expanded, (sorry San Francisco) Apple could offer specialized content based on date.

On New Year’s Eve, how great would it be to see fireworks displays over some of the most iconic cities in the world? In late July, it’d be fun to fly over the lunar landscape.

On that theme, seeing our planet from the point of view of the International Space Station would be breathtaking.

Aerial’s files are quite large at roughly 600MB each, so Apple has provided settings on the device to control how often it downloads new content. Settings range from “Never” to “Daily,” which is the option I’ve selected. For those who are willing and able, it’d be fun to have some suprises thrown in the mix.

Expanding the views shown off in a screensaver is probably not the most critical thing the Apple TV team could be working on, but sometimes that’s okay.

Ian Kar at Quartz:

Evidence that Apple wants to combine payments and iMessage is piling up. And it looks like the tech giant doesn’t plan to stop there.

A patent filing published earlier this month (Dec. 2015) indicates that Apple is not only looking at allowing people to send money over its text messaging service, but other services built into the iOS platform, including phone calls, email, and calendar invites.

While companies like Apple patent all sorts of things, marrying Apple Pay to a service like this would surely be a big blow to services like Square Cash.

With 2016 just around the corner, I’m taking some time to think about what Apple could do in the next year that would bring advancements to their products. Today, let’s talk about some things that are bigger than any individual product line.

iCloud Improvements

Let me say this up front: iCloud is a lot better than MobileMe ever was, and with the switch to CloudKit, storing data in it is more reliable than ever, but there are still issues.

iCloud is being pushed as the glue that can hold your various devices together, providing data and content wherever you are.

Google’s cloud services are seen as superior by many for the fact that there’s visibility into them. You can get to your data online, and export it all in industry-approved formats. A lot of similar tools exist for iCloud users, but in ways that aren’t always immediately clear. This can lead to a lack of confidence in the platform, and that’s not something Apple needs when it comes to its services.

Additionally, I think Apple could focus on making it simpler to understand what iCloud is and does, compared to things like iTunes Match and Apple Music. Why are all of these services offered as separate things, with separate billing systems?

App Store Changes

The App Stores now being under Phil Schiller may end up meaning very little, but I hope his team is spending time thinking about the price race to the bottom, sandboxing on the Mac and long review times that developers complain about on an on-going fashion. These issues aren’t idle complaints; being an independent developer on Apple’s platforms is becoming harder and harder for some to do and put food on the table. That’s bad for them, bad for Apple and bad for consumers.

The App Store is a powerful — and huge — platform, so I know the company needs to move carefully here, but I really believe that they can improve it for developers and costumers alike.

More Polish

There are little edges of Apple’s operating systems and other software products that need attention. The barrage of setup screens and pop-ups involved in getting a new iOS device are tiring. iTunes on the Mac is older and creakier than ever. Finder still hangs more often than or not if a server disappears from the network without being ejected.

Things like these examples aren’t show-stopping bugs, so they don’t seem to ever make it far enough up the to do list to get addressed.

Making a Better World

I like what Tim Cook is doing with Apple in the political and social arenas. From building green data centers to pushing for LGBTQ rights, I think Apple really is focused on making the world a better and more fair place to live.

That impact goes far beyond the next iPhone or the car, and I hope that they’ll continue to work hard in areas of labor practices and tax reform to further that story.

A key metric I look at is the diversity of Apple’s leadership team and the people who present in the company’s keynotes. Quite frankly, Apple has a long way to go here, and with Tim Cook talking the talk, it’s time to see some real results in Apple itself.

Seems great.

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