I guess I’m lucky that I don’t get disoriented by the iOS7 zooming transitions. I had no physiological response but I did have a psychological one. I just don’t like the aesthetics of the zooming effect, so I switched on the “Reduce Motion” option (Settings » Accessibility).
For the uninitiated, the reduced motion mode removes parallax and replaces the zooming effect with a fade-in on launch and a fade-out on close.
Federico has an interesting dialog with himself about the ridiculousness of prescribing utility based on screen size of the iPad Mini versus the iPad Air.
Judging the “creation” capabilities of the iPad by its screen size misses the point. The iPad mini is a great device for content creation – in fact, I’d argue that because of its smaller screen, lighter body, and higher portability, the iPad mini can be better than the full-size iPad Air for work and productivity tasks.
I’m a proponent of services like FastMail. They charge a modest price for a service I use a hundred times a day.1 Because FastMail does one thing, it’s far superior to using the generic email services provided by most hosting companies.2 FastMail web access is better than any other web client I have used and the little options like file upload and mail alias' are terrific.
But maybe you’re held back by the effort required to move your email to a new host.
The new Retina iPad Mini is much bigger step forward than I anticipated. As Shawn Blanc points out, the Mini is the same technology as the full size iPad Air but with a smaller size and more dense display. Just look at Apple’s comparison
This is how I imagined the devices would eventual coalesce but it happened much sooner than I imagined. That makes picking the right model a bit more difficult.
Terminology 3 for iOS is out this week. This isn’t just an iOS7 polishing job but reinvents what Terminology is. If you are unfamiliar with the nature of the app, it started life as a simple dictionary app that relied primarily on the term.ly dictionary web service. But Terminology 3 climbs out of that pigeon hole and positions itself as a general query app.
For just a few dollars, you get a nicely designed dictionary lookup app.
I’ve been a long time user of FTP On the Go Pro for iOS. It’s not the prettiest FTP client but it works well and has some of the nerdy features I want.1 Recently, I opened the app and was greeted with an alert message proclaiming that there was a new version of the app available and that I could purchase it with upgrade pricing.
Well, that seemed a bit odd.
LaunchCenter Pro is out with a big update. 2.0 is a nice redesign with a couple of new features. If you need exhaustive reviews to convince you, then I recommend the Geeks with Juniors post as well as the MacStories review.
I think it’s a worthy app for what it does, but the lack of an iPad version with action syncing reduces the value for me. Once it fell off my home screen, I basically stopped using it.
1Password is a terrific way to save and sync all of your sensitive information. By far, my favorite feature of the iOS apps is the in-app browser. While Safari and iCab are my browsers of choice, I end up in the 1Password browser constantly. Here are some tips and uses to get the most out of 1Password on iOS.
URL Scheme and Bookmarklet Add “op” to the front of any URL in any browser and it will open in a new tab in 1Password.
Some nice ideas here with a reference back to Caleb’s post about using Pandoc on iOS.
I tried using CloudConvert in Editorial but ran into upload errors and the support is almost non-existent. I moved on to other projects but this one is still enticing.
Like many, I was impressed with how quickly the iOS user base upgraded to iOS7. Surely it’s a marvel of deployment and user education to have so many non-technical users upgrade to a new operating system so quickly. But there’s a secret cost that nerds tend to ignore and it’s the trust and comfort many mainstream users had for their Apple devices.
While I anxiously awaited the arrival of the new operating system, millions of other users walked around oblivious to their flat and washed out future.
