Apple’s Verse

Earlier today, Apple released a new ad, which shows the iPad being used in a wide range of situations and places.

The voiceover has gotten a lot of attention, as it’s from a scene of Dead Poets Society.

Here’s the quote, courtesy of IMDb:

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here — that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

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Review: Command-C brings cross-platform copy and paste into the iOS 7 era

Sharing things between the Mac and iOS devices has never been as easy as it should be. Even Apple’s own AirDrop can’t cross the platform boundary. Pastebot used to be the go-to application for slinging text and images from the iPhone to the Mac, and back again.

However, Tapbots seems to have forgotten about the app. While it’s still for sale, Pastebot hasn’t been optimized for the iPhone 5’s taller screen, and its website still boasts iOS 4 compatibility.

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The Internet in Your Pocket⇢

Seven years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone. I’ve long thought that it was Jobs’ best keynote. Coupled with the importance of the topic, Macworld 2007 is a milestone in Apple’s history.

On this week’s episode of The Prompt, Myke, Federico and I dissect the address, complete with commentary, audio clips and references to terrible Nokia phones. We’ve been wanting to do this episode since before The Prompt was a real project, and I’m thrilled how it turned out.

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Primary source material

On last week’s CMD+Space, Myke interviewed John Roderick, lead singer for The Long Winters and cohost of Roderick on the Line.

The majority of the interview covers the John’s method for creating albums, but when he’s asked what he likes to be known for, John talks about wanting to shift back to being someone who creates, not just someone who comments.

Around two minutes into the episode, he remarks:

I’ve been writing this sort of commentary on the world and what I was formerly known for — and what I prefer to do — is make primary source material. You know, if you’re making a song, or if you’re writing a story, that is source material. It’s primary. It’s the thing that did not exist before. You’re not commenting. Presumably, your song is not commenting on some earlier song, or if it is, it’s doing it in an inventive way. It isn’t this chattering sort of criticism and culture digestion that is so much of I guess what we call content — Internet content, which is just like, “Oh, this just came out and now I’m talking about it and now I’m talking about this other guy who was talking about it.”

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Vlcnr app launched⇢

John Voorhees at Squibner Software has created a Bionic soundboard app for the iPhone.

I was fortunate enough to beta test the app for some time, and it really is great. In addition to Myke’s standard suspense accents, the “soft Matt” clip is present, in addition to collection of clips that will play at random.

In response to the app, Joe Steele wrote an amazing review:

The sixth of January, 2012 A.D. changed the world forever. T’was App Day, in The Before-Times.

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$10 Billion⇢

Apple PR:

Apple today announced that customers spent over $10 billion on the App Store in 2013, including over $1 billion in December alone. App Store customers downloaded almost three billion apps in December making it the most successful month in App Store history. Apple’s incredible developers have now earned $15 billion on the App Store.

“We’d like to thank our customers for making 2013 the best year ever for the App Store,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The lineup of apps for the holiday season was astonishing and we look forward to seeing what developers create in 2014.”

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Apple posts Mac Pro Environmental Report⇢

Apple:

Apple believes that improving the environmental performance of our business starts with our products. The careful environmental management of our products throughout their life cycles includes controlling the quantity and types of materials used in their manufacture, improving their energy efficiency, and designing them for better recyclability. The information below details the environmental performance of Mac Pro as it relates to climate change, energy efficiency, material efficiency, and restricted substances.

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