On Feedly

Feedly has billed itself as a replacement for Google Reader in recent weeks. After Google's announcement that their service would be shutting down in July Feedly  jumped into the conversation almost immediately, announcing that they would be releasing their own replacement and transitioning Google Reader users to their own Project Normandy once Reader closed down.

The quality of Feedly's back-end is impossible to determine at this time, but their user interface bears exploration as Reader users prepare for a transition.

Feedly follows many of the current trends in app design as they strive for "digital authenticity" (a term describing the move towards the elimination of textured interfaces and shaded 'buttons'). The app includes a "hamburger button" (Twitter), two "basements" (anti-basement Tumblr post), and a flat, card-based interface that are all becoming quite familiar.

As important as design is, it does not make a good app on it's own, and Feedly provides several features to supplement it's design. Sign-in is accomplished via Google credentials. It is possible to open the app and begin adding sources, but in order to sync sources across devices a Google account will be required.

By default the start screen is "Today" section. This section is a magazine-style layout similar to Flipboard (with a slide page transition rather than a flip). "Today" presents content from subscribed feeds in a "featured" section and pulls the most popular content from the subscribed feeds and organizes it by it's user assigned category. Like most functions of Feedly, the start screen is customizable and can be changed to the "All" screen (all content grouped in chronological order) or the "Must Reads" (content from sources that the user has marked as such).

The customization of the reading experience continues in with the ability to set the default mode for how the feeds are displayed. The modes include a full page mode with the title superimposed over the cover image, list mode with thumbnails and title side by side, and list mode with no images. From the list of articles the user can make a short swipe left on an article to mark it as "read", a long swipe left to mark all articles on that page as "read", as well as swiping to the right to mark articles as "unread".

Feedly also includes a "Saved for Later" category that the user populates by tapping a bookmark shaped button while reading articles. The function is similar to starring items in Reader. This is not the only way to save articles for later, however. Feedly also includes the ability to share to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pocket, bit.ly, Instapaper, and email from within the article. The app also allows a user to select favorite read-later, social, and browser services that are then placed in the top bar of the app rather than behind a menu button.

These aspects of Feedly are a brief glimpse into the customization available to the user. The app provides the ability to build the news reading app best suited to the users reading habits with a modicum of effort. While there is no way to account for every user's tastes, Feedly does a comprehensive job of including the most often used features used by news readers. The app will also be moving to a freemium model (Tech Crunch) that will include more features geared towards heavy users in the pay version. The app has seen massive adoption over the last few weeks with good reason and makes a strong case for a one stop replacement for Google Reader.

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 Tigana

Book Friday today sees us at the end (finally) of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. You can find a description of the book here, along with some decent purchase options, though it's still not available in the US as an ebook. You can apparently switch your region to UK, purchase the book, then switch it back to US without any negative repercussions. I haven't tried this myself so try at your own risk.

Tigana deals with some fascinating questions including how memory affects our daily lives, what happens when our memories are allowed to rule our lives, what does freedom mean, what does oppression do to our behavior and what means and ends are justified. Kay deals with these topics in an engaging story and by placing dynamic characters in untenable situations.

The language in Tigana is flowery. Kay spent time with Christopher Tolkien working on The Silmarillion after J.R.R. Tolkien's death and it shows. I thought the language fit the setting and the story that Kay wanted to tell, but that style can be distracting and difficult some readers. I found myself drifting occasionally through descriptions lasting several paragraphs.

I enjoyed Tigana thoroughly and plan to pick up some of Kay's other works next time I find myself in the mood for some fantasy. Next week we'll be back on science fiction; I recently picked up a book by Heinlein that was completed from his notes by Spider Robinson. It's called Variable Star. It's available for 7.99 in mass market and kindle editions and looks terrific.

 

Andrew

 

Reading:

Variable Star, Heinlein and Robinson. 0/318

Completed:

Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay.

On Book Friday(Co-opted)

Book Friday has been usurped. Hijacked. Commandeered. Appropriated. The culprit? Triple Town. This diabolical little app has dominated my life as of late. I'm hoping that sharing my addiction with the internet might help me.

The game is dead simple. Combine three like items on a 6X6 grid to create a new item. Combine three of the new items to create an even newer item. Eventually you combine enough items to create a treasure chest full of coins that lets you buy more items or turns or undos.

It's the type of simple, strategic gameplay that I find hugely addicting. You have to plan ahead and know where you're going to put your next item(you get random items to place) to get the highest possible score. You have a limited number of turns you can play(there's a timer that slowly refills your turns) and can purchase more with the gold you earn(or buy through microtransactions).

The iOS and Android versions allow you to purchase unlimited turns for 3.99, and initially I'd planned to purchase the unlimited turn option. As I've played more and more, though, I've realized that the limited turns are actually a quite brilliant game mechanic. Let me explain.

In order to keep playing you need turns; in order to gain more turns you need to earn gold; in order to earn gold you have to play well, make good combinations and earn high scores. Basically, the way to play longer is to get better. I think it's an interesting way to reward players: if you play better you get to play more. I doubt this would work well in a lot of games, but here it's used quite effectively, whether intentionally or not.

So there you have it, a quick game review of a game that has consumed all my reading time. I plan to get to Tigana next week. But right now I need to play some Triple Town.

 

Andrew

 

Reading:

Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. Page 259/676

Fuzzies Everywhere

Not only is this Book Friday, this is my test post from the Squarespace app on my iPod. As far as soft keyboards go, I actually like this keyboard in landscape mode, I think it works quite well. So to the matters at hand.

I enjoyed Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper a great deal. There were some strange, almost anachronistic aspects to it (maybe the wrong word, but I think it conveys what I mean). For example, rather than sending an audio file, if someone wanted to transmit a recording to someone else wirelessly, they would play it for them at "60 speed" and the other person would record it and play it back at a normal rate later. This seems to be product of sixties tech combined with an author whose focus is on character interactions and plot rather than gadgets.

Piper also portrays the characters as having very "Colonial" attitudes towards other sapient races. This felt very much at odds with the contemporary paradigm surrounding First Contact scenarios and interspecies relations.

Another interesting note is that Piper seems to take a different approach to conflict than most of our modern stories. While today the heroes of our stories generally struggle and fight their way through the plot, the protagonists in Little Fuzzy seam to steamroll their way over the antagonists with only relatively minor inconveniences. It resulted in the protagonists eventual victory seeming a little less triumphant.

Despite these issues, and maybe sometimes because of them, I felt that Little Fuzzy is worth the read, especially since you can get it for free from the Amazon Kindle store. Sure there are plot issues and character issues and setting issues, but it's a fun book and fanboy can be (auto-correct correction) thought provoking if you come to it in the right mindset.

Next Friday should be a mini-review of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's been captivating so far. I'll add links to this post later.

Andrew

Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. Page 247/676

Fuzzy Nation: Thoughts and Comments

Fridays will generally be a day for discussing books, whether reviewing something I've read or talking about upcoming works. I'll be sticking quite closely to the science fiction genre, and occasionally adding in some fantasy and others. Today I have some quick notes about Fuzzy Nation(Amazon.com).

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi is actually a "reboot" of H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy, available free in e-book format right now along with many other works by Piper. I just noticed this on Amazon and they're listed as public domain works so I'm assuming they will stay free. I'll let you read the description of Fuzzy Nation of your own and spare you the book report.

Scalzi is a clever writer. He's funny without being silly; his writing is compact and straightforward. I was expecting something on the goofy side after reading the description and was quite pleased to find that he approached the book in such a way that I didn't feel like I was reading a YA novel. The book delves into some deep thematic elements including what it means to be sapient, what the exploitation of extra-solar planets will look like and motivations for making moral decisions.

I doubt the book should be read as a treatise on those themes, however. When it's at it's best, science fiction uses characters to grapple with our issues in a setting different from ours to give us perspective on those issues. Fuzzy Nation does this by being serious in theme without being serious in tone.

While it may not be the most important science fiction book ever written, it is in the upper echelon of the genre. Scalzi deals with some important issues in a clever, compact and well written book that I'd highly recommend. 8/10

 

Andrew