512 Pixels

I’m not a big Elvis fan, but as a Memphian, this sums up my thoughts pretty well.

This country did some amazing things when she let her brightest scientists and engineers loose on crazy-ass projects. We should get back to that sort of work.

Craig Hockenberry:

Like many of my fellow developers, I am in the middle of an update of an app for iOS 7. As you’d expect, it’s a lot more work than previous versions of iOS. But results are stunning: both David Lanham and I have commented that our shipping version was “feeling old and clunky.”

While cranking along on the update, a couple of thoughts occurred to me: how many other developers were doing the same thing and were they going to commit fully to iOS 7? The depth and breadth of the changes in iOS 7 makes it difficult to support older versions of the OS.

So I just asked.

The information he’s gathered is eye-opening. This fall is going to be crazy.

A gross slideshow of some cool tower Macs.

Federico Viticci:

Today, when I remembered that exactly one year ago I was hospitalized for 22 days for a series of treatments to save my life, I tweeted about it. And then I opened Day One.

In the app’s Calendar view, I changed the year to “2012″ and, sure enough, the “August 1, 2012″ entry was there, showing photos of my hospital room; my girlfriend sending a selfie from home; and a note that I wrote about the doctors being “nice”. Bits of life. A combination of old thoughts and visual memories that I still have, in some form, in my brain, but that here, in this app — right now — I can hold and directly look at. It is, indeed, far more powerful than memory alone.

Dr. Drang:

On ATP 25, Casey Liss was shamed after asking whether the new Logic Pro X should be pronounced “Logic Pro Ex” or “Logic Pro Ten.” This came a few days after a similar incident on The Prompt when poor Myke Hurley was laughed at for saying “Logic Pro Ex.”1 And there was, I believe, an incident back in January on The Frequency when Haddie Cooke committed the unforgivable sin of saying “Oh Ess Ex” instead of “Oh Ess Ten.”

The Good Doctor goes on to explain that he believes the X should be pronounced as “Ex” and not “Ten,” laying out three very reasonable reasons why. On Twitter today, there’s been talk about how referring to Mountain Lion as “Oh Ess Ten TEN Point Eight” is awkward at best.

Again, Dr. Creepy Snowman:

But we are, as I said, twelve years down the line now, and Apple has been giving point release version numbers to its full releases for too long. It’s time to stop playing X games. Apple should resolve its numbering problem with a deus X machina.

Twelve years is a long time, and according to comments at WWDC, Apple’s looking at another decade or so of OS X releases. The problem isn’t going to get any better.

So, what will happen after 10.9 is released? Would Apple release a 10.10?

“They have to go to OS 11!” will be the cry of bewildered analysts who will be lighting themselves on a fire, the flames fueled by logic and gasoline.

(God forbid they release a 10.10.10, but a 10.11.12 would be adorable.)

I think all of this is why Apple is moving away from numbering its operating system releases. The only place I have seen OS X Mavericks referred to as 10.9 is on the installer itself and in the footnotes on Apple’s website. From a marketing perspective, it’s “OS X Mavericks.”

I wouldn’t be shocked if Apple moves away from the “10.x.x” nomenclature for minor updates as well. ¹ “OS X Mavericks Update 1” or “OS X Mavericks Release 2” still gets the point across, without tripping over itself.

At the end of the day, I think this whole conversation is probably a little silly. It’s “ten” because that’s how Apple’s executives pronounce it on stage. (And in this support article.)

It’s easier to think about X as a statement or simple label instead of a number. While that doesn’t make much sense, it’s what Apple’s done, and we should just continue to embrace it.

It isn’t perfect, but it is what it is.

Well, it’s here. This seems like a move in the right direction by Motorola, but according to The Verge, the company doesn’t get any special access to Android, despite being owned by Google itself.

(Sadly, the product page isn’t very well-written.)

This week, Myke, Federico and I re-visit the Developer Center outage, then talk about Google’s apps on iOS and my Nexus 7. Wrapping up, we move on to discuss tablet usage and some awesome apps.

Screen’s really nice

My iPad mini’s looks bad

Android: still subpar

Here’s the corporate memo:

FileMaker, Inc. is increasing its focus on FileMaker Product Line software. Thanks to the ease of creating iPad and iPhone solutions, our customers’ use of FileMaker on iOS is growing rapidly. Our increased focus will create an even better experience for these customers. As part of our sharpened focus, we will stop further development of the Bento consumer products. Bento for iPad, iPhone and Mac will continue to be available on the FileMaker Store, and the App Store and Mac App Store, through September 30, 2013. We will provide technical support for Bento products through July 30, 2014. We thank you for your support of Bento. We know that many Bento customers will be disappointed.

If a Bento falls over in the forest, and no one is around, does it make a sound?

Over at Show Me Your Mic:

The illustrious Mr. Stephen Hackett joins Chris Enns for the 25th anniversary episode of Show Me Your Mic to discuss timezones, accents and microphones on his podcast The Prompt.

I had a blast recording this earlier today. Check it out.

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