On Updated Podcasts (App Review)

Apple has updated the Podcasts app to version 1.2. Here are the details of the update directly from the App store:

• Create custom stations of your favorite podcasts that update automatically with new episodes
• Choose whether your stations begin playing with the newest or oldest unplayed episode
• Your stations are stored in iCloud and kept up-to-date on all of your devices
• Create an On-The-Go playlist with your own list of episodes
• Playlists synced from iTunes now appear in the Podcasts app
• The Now Playing view has been redesigned with easier to use playback controls
• Addressed an issue with resuming playback when returning to the app
• Additional performance and stability improvements

The update fixes a lot of baffling problems present in the original app. In part, these issues were baffling because they were features that had been present when podcasts were part of the the music player and handled through iTunes. Apple has added that functionality back into Podcasts by allowing syncing to iTunes and the creation of On-The-Go playlists.

The improvements are evident after just a few minutes of using the app. The app feels more responsive and, with one glaring exception, looks cleaner and simpler. The lone omission from the updated look is the Top Charts segment accessible from the Library. It maintains the odd "radio dial" interface from version 1.0. It's a strange choice since the Top Charts list accessed from the store is in list form under the "Categories" option. This mirrors both the App Store and iTunes.

The biggest changes to the app's interface come in the form of a new player. The app has removed the controls that were hidden behind the album artwork and made them easily accessible. The changes include the playback speed (now a button with numerals rather than a fake switch with bunny and turtle icons), the 30 second forward and 10 second back buttons (both are now 15 seconds), and the sleep timer. The reel to reel tape player has also been removed, it probably will not be missed now that the novelty has worn off and the app actually works.

Apple has also added playlist control to the app and playlist syncing via iTunes. On-The-Go playlists can be edited from the My Stations screen as well as from the episode info screen. The All Unplayed playlist has moved to My Stations and Apple has also included a Most Recent playlist.

The biggest new feature is the ability to create custom Stations. Stations are built by adding some or all of the podcasts already subscribed to. Stations are backed up to iCloud and should be available from any Podcasts app logged in to the same Apple ID. Stations will update their included podcasts automatically and can start with oldest or newest available episode.

Another handy tweak is the ability to remove a downloaded episode file from within the app without deleting the episode from the podcasts episode list. In order to do this in the previous version, one navigated to the Podcasts section of the Usage settings and deleted data from each podcast subscription in bulk. It was clunky and unintuitive and the new system is a hundred times better.

The update to Podcasts could be the first of many design changes for Apple in the near future. Jony Ive has taken over as Senior VP of Industrial Design and more changes are in store for many of Apple's first party apps. GameCenter, iBooks, and Notes, in particular, either lack functionality or include elements of digital skeuomorphism. This could be the first step towards a more unified set of Apple Apps.

The update to Podcasts turns a dysfunctional piece of skeuomorphism into a useful App that can perform the function it was intended to perform. For the few that stayed behind after the launch of Podcasts, it's a welcome update. It is not a big enough improvement to bring back users who have left for Downcast and InstaCast, especially considering that they have made an actual investment in an application. For those looking for a Podcasts app, however, it warrants a look.

On Kevin Lynch not Fixing iCloud

Adobe’s CTO, Kevin Lynch, is headed to Apple. Adobe released a statement to All Things D this afternoon announcing the move. Lynch has a history with Apple, including penning this blog post (@parislemon dug that up) in February of 2010.

Of course, technology moves on and Adobe has now stopped supporting mobile Flash. Clearly, the most logical move was for Lynch, who crafted Adobe’s response to Apple's Flashless iPhone, to join Apple.

Lynch’s corporate bio mentions a possible reason for Apple's interest: Lynch’s position at Adobe focused on “the company's technology innovation across three vectors: multiscreen, cloud and social computing.” Apple  isn’t concerned about the first ‘vector’, but The Verge posits that parts two and three must look enticing to the company that gave us the likes of Ping and Mobile Me.

Unconfirmed Speculation: This could mean changes in Apple’s future, or it could be almost meaningless. Lynch will hold the title of VP of Technology and report to Senior VP of Technologies Bob Mansfield (those two title won’t confuse anyone). If Lynch were being brought aboard to help fix iCloud, it would make more sense for him to be reporting to Eddy Cue, the Senior VP of Internet Software and Services, who is responsible for services like iCloud, Siri and the iTunes Store.

Bringing Lynch in as a VP under Bob Mansfield, who is responsible for Apple’s wireless and semiconductor teams, means that Lynch will have little, if anything to do with Apple’s cloud services. It would be difficult to guess what a cloud services executive will be doing in a hardware division.

Apple has often missed the mark when it comes to cloud services. From Mobile Me outages to iCloud failures to censoring spam-filters. One would think Apple would jump at the chance to have someone experienced in building and managing those types of services join their team, but it looks like Apple would rather use him elsewhere.

Lynch has held an important position at a successful technology company and has just taken a senior position at another successful technology company. He will have an impact at Apple, but it is doubtful that that impact will be on Apple's cloud services.

On Google Now for iOS

Engadget posted a video of what appears to be a Google promo showing Google Now running in the Google Search App on iOS. The service would be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen while signed in to the Search app. Google Now aims to give contextual information based on one's location and current activity, as well as providing sports and weather updates and other information. While Google Now lacks the personification of Apple's Siri, it fills much the same roll and appears to do so in a much more proactive way. Engadget also reports the video being pulled from You Tube (the video embedded in the Engadget post is hosted by Engadget).

Google has not been shy about submitting their apps to the Apple store. Many of their apps provide a just-as-good or better experience than the web versions including Gmail, Google+ and Google Search. Google Search updated with Google Now would provide a powerful and useful app and provide the added benefit of spurring Apple on to increasing the functionality of their own native apps.

It would be interesting to see Google port such a central part of the Android experience to iOS. Google Now is not just another web service like Gmail or Google+, it is a key point of differentiation between the two platforms. Of course, Google is like Amazon, they are not in the game to make money off of hardware, they make the hardware to make money on their content and services.

Baseless rumor and speculation: Pulling a video is more in character with a response to an accidental leak than for a gag post or faked video. If that were the case, one would expect a quick denial of an iOS port from Google. The fact that the promo video exists and was leaked may indicate a project that is near completion. 

One final thought: imagine the utility of the Google Search app with Google Now if Apple were to open Siri's APIs. Oh well.

On Kindle Phones

Due to the holiday week Book Friday is temporarily suspended and will resume next week.

Two articles, one at CNET and one at Wired, describe new products rumored to be released by Amazon in the coming months. The CNET article describes the possible tablet releases this fall by Amazon while Wired focuses specifically on the Kindle Phone rumors that have been making the usual rounds since last fall. While the new tablet rumors are intriguing, including updates like 4G, cameras and high-resolution displays, it's the phone rumors that are most compelling.

The Kindle Phone (if one is released) will be important for a couple of reasons. First, it will be a fourth major competitor in the smartphone market. Windows Phones haven't sold a lot, but Redmond's research division is helping drive innovation and Amazon will do the same. Apple and Google aren't enough to keep the development of smartphones moving forward on their own, they need other major developers to push the envelope and drive the market forward.

Second, it will be the first major phone release to be directly tied to a major retailer. The friction for purchasing new products will be reduced dramatically on a Kindle Phone. Buying more coffee or diapers will be as easy as pointing your phone's camera at the old package and clicking the "Buy" button. The phone could have friction reducing features such as the ability to analyze your buying habits and see that you buy coffee once every two weeks and ask if you'd like to set up a recurring order. Amazon wouldn't be selling a phone so much as a retail store.

As a result, expect to see an extremely low price for unlocked Kindle Phones directly from Amazon. They wouldn't need a subsidy from the carriers, they'd subsidize it themselves by encouraging users to do their shopping on Amazon.

Amazon is a trusted hardware manufacturer now. They've helped create an entire new category of devices (e-ink readers) and survived the launch of a brand new tablet line. Consumers are willing to buy Kindles, many are willing to buy several.

Amazon has the most important part of their ecosystem, the content, in place. They deliver books, music and movies on all of their devices and on third party devices as well. They seem to be ready for the final piece to complete their hardware lineup: the smartphone.

 

Andrew

 

Reading:

Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey. Page 243/582

On Google Play and Nexus 7

Google announced a new Nexus tablet today. It was built by Asus, and is available on Google Play for $199 and $249 depending on whether you get 8GB of internal storage or 16. CNET has a condensed version of the livestream from the event here.

The Nexus 7 takes design cues from tablets like the Kindle Fire and iPad in that all three are designed simply. It's a slab of glass and plastic that doesn't detract from what is displayed on-screen. This allows the devices themselves to fade into the background and encourages the reader to engage with the content.

Google's new tablet has a 9 hour battery life, comparable to the two current bestsellers (8 for Kindle, 10 for iPad). Android 4.1 (Jellybean) even took a hint from Kindle Fire by putting Google Play content front and center on the home screen. And that brings us to the big question separating the Nexus 7 and the more established tablets: are customer's willing to buy in to Google's content ecosystem on a tablet.

Amazon and Apple created massive ecosystems that consumers bought into before the companies ever imagined a tablet that those ecosystems could tie in to. Google, on the other hand, was a search engine and email provider that created a smartphone operating system. Of course the reality is much more complex than the previous two sentences can describe, but at it's core I think the problem with a pure Android tablet is a trust problem.

It's not that Google makes bad devices; in fact, they make the software for terrific phones, highly-rated streaming boxes and innovative notebooks (Chromebooks, technically). But can Google break into the content delivery arena? Amazon originated as a content delivery company, starting with physical meda and expanding into the digital book, music and video markets as those developed. Apple was able to break into the music business, and later the video and book business, by leveraging consumer's desire to listen to music on the go (1000 songs in your pocket-Steve Jobs).

What does Google bring to the table? Customers have trusted Google to provide them with email service and other basic smartphone services. They trust Google's App Market. But many Android users buy music from the Amazon MP3 store, books from Amazon or Barnes & Noble and watch movies and TV on Netflix or Hulu. People just don't seem to trust Google Play for their entertainment needs.

Will Nexus 7 succeed? Google will probably sell enough to justify the device. There's a big market for Nexus devices and the folks that purchased a Kindle so they could flash ICS to a 7" tablet for $199 will be ecstatic. But success in the tablet market is not based on sales to niche markets. It's based on sales to the average consumer. It's hard to believe that average consumers looking for a tablet for movies, books and music will flock to the Nexus. In their minds, Google isn't an entertainment company. Oh, sure you can search forbooks and movies on Google, but when you're ready to rent or buy you click the Amazon link at the top of the Google Search page or open up iTunes and buy it there instead.

 

Andrew

 

Reading:

Variable Star: Page 86/318

On Windows Phone 8 and What It Means

So it's been a Microsoft week. This morning Microsoft held the keynote for their Windows Phone Summit and announced some new features for Windows Phone 8. If you have a browser that can handle Silverlight you can watch the keynote here, if you don't there's a .wmv file available here, and Twit.tv had great coverage here. The first two links are to Channel 9, a Microsoft-run community site.

The biggest news of the announcement was that Windows and Windows Phone would be running the same kernel starting with version 8. I'm not a software engineer and have little understanding of the internal mechanics of an operating system, but as I understand it if the OS were a building, the kernel would be the foundation, if it were a car it would be the frame. (Or maybe the engine, it's hard to say which of the two are more fundamental to a car. Without the engine you have a fancy wagon, without the frame you have an engine and some sheet metal. At least one still rolls.)

With both Windows and Windows Phone running on the same kernel, it becomes vastly easier for app developers to port their apps from the PC to the phone and vice versa. Aside from minor tweeks to optimize the software to the new hardware and change the control scheme there will be little for the developers to do. This means a truly unified app store for Windows; it means that universal apps don't just include tablet and phone versions but desktop versions as well.

This is where Apple is trying to get with it's ecosystem. They have been moving slowly by bringing innovations from the phone and tablet space back to the desktop. Windows went all in by creating an entirely new OS that will run on all of it's devices and create a unified, seamless ecosystem and user experience in a single update this fall. In short, they're trying to out-Apple Apple. Someone should count how many times Microsoft executives have said the words "it just works" this week?

It's interesting to note that while most of the world has been getting caught up in the Android vs. iPhone competition Microsoft has never wavered from what they saw as the real threat to their business. This lineup of Windows 8, Microsoft Surface and Windows 8 Phone has been in development for a long time. While we were wondering "when is Microsoft going to release Office for the iPad?" and "Microsoft hasn't been able to get it together in the last few years", Microsoft has been chipping away in their labs at a unified platform that could give Apple a run for it's money (all $100 billion).

We'll find out this fall if the strong integration that Windows is bringing is enough to gain a market share in the phone and tablet markets. We'll find out next summer if Apple's ready to respond. My prediction is that OS 11 will bring full integration to the tablet, phone and desktop operating systems, Apple will pretend that nothing similar has been done before, and we'll all be raving about how great it is. Cynical and hopeful at the same time, perhaps, but I can absolutely tell you that I will be upgrading to Polar Bear(I recommend the article, it has a humorous introduction) as soon as it's released for my Mac Mini, iPhone and iPad.

 

On the Elephant in the Room(Apple's New Toys and the Future of Computing)

Apple announced new products today. Naturally, everyone's talking about it, writing about it, or thinking about it. Or maybe not. My wife, for example, could care less about the new Apple products until it's time to buy one. I, however, love the announcements. I read the live blogs and watch the tech news shows. I watch refresh Apple's website until the Keynote is posted and watch it as soon as I can. In short, I'm an Apple nerd.

Needless to say, I'm stoked about the new MacBook Pro. I think the screen is dazzling(2880 by 1800 pixels), I love how light it is(4.46 lbs.), I love how thin it is(.71 in.), I love two Thunderbolt ports, a Firewire port and two USB 3.0 ports. Like I said earlier: Apple Nerd.

If you made it through that admitedly gushy introduction(color me impressed), then I'd like to talk about where computers are headed, Macs in particular. I consider myself kind of a half-power user. I like to do things like partition my hard drive and install Windows and fool around with DOS emulators and Aperture. I'm also a bit of a gamer. My primary computer is a Mac Mini. I don't miss the optical drive(I can use the drive sharing function to use my wife's drive on her Sony Vaio) and it has enough power to run Diablo III and Starcraft II.

What does this have to do with today's Keynote? I think we're headed for a computing future in which we keep stripping away peripherals from the deviced. This isn't really breaking new ground. I think most people can picture a future (and some would argue that we're already there) where our main computing device is a computer attached to a slab of glass. I think we're pretty clearly there for most people's needs: web browsing, email, light word processing. We'll eventually get there for the pro users.

Imagine Apple's new MacBook Pro body with a touch-display where the keyboard is rather than a clamshell design: a small iMac or a big iPad, if you will. With Thunderbolt and Firewire ports this device becomes an incredibly versatile computer. Writers can connect keyboards via Bluetooth, audio professionals can connect mixers and instruments and video professionals can connect hard drives and cameras.

In short, I think we're headed for a future in which our devices start as simple as possible out of the box: a slab of glass with a computer tucked behind it. In this future, we bring our own wrinkles and complexities to our computing experience and through high speed I/O ports are able to modify and customize that experience to meet our professional and personal needs. I'm excited about this and would love to see a iPad Pro some day.

 

Andrew

Reading:

Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. Page 259/676

We Love Dichotomies

An article I read on thenextweb.com sent my brain on a tangent today. The article was discussing the idea that Google's Project Glass could be its "iPhone Moment". Naturally, what came to my mind was only slightly related to the original article, though I think what I'm going to write about is a part of the paradigm that informs the article from thenextweb.com.

The way the article was written started me thinking about dichotomoes and how we as Americans often use them to oversimplify our complicated modern life. Apple or Android; Apple or Microsoft; Google or Yahoo!; Democrat or Republican; Whig or Torie.

I think this tendency towards thinking of the world in polar opposites often does us a disservice. I think it robs us of much of the richness that we can find in our world today. Not that the tech world is a glorious place full of richness and beauty, but I think these pairs of opposites are indicative of how we look at the world. We often dismiss other options that may be available to us that we may find more enriching or enjoyable simply because they are not on of the two choices at opposite ends of ye spectrum.

I find myself waxing philophical tonight, so I'll stop there. But next time you have to make a choice make sure you're not simply discounting smaller, lesser known options. Do your research first and maybe pick io a Windows Phone or Ask Jeeves.

Andrew

Reading: Little Fuzzy, John Scalzi. Page 27/154