Messages
Apple released a public beta version of its new Messages app for OS X: the final days of SMS? http://eicker.at/Messages
Tagged: Mac OS X Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Gerrit Eicker
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Gerrit Eicker
iCloud: iWork, Web Apps, Pricing
Apple‘s iCloud (beta) goes online: iWork gets web apps, pricing from free (5GB) to $100 (50GB); http://eicker.at/iCloud
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Gerrit Eicker
Apple: “iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices – automatically. It’s the easiest way to manage your content. Because now you don’t have to. … iCloud is so much more than a hard drive in the sky. It’s the effortless way to access just about everything on all your devices. iCloud stores your content so it’s always accessible from your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. … When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage.”
9to5Mac: “Apple has just opened up the iCloud.com web interface for developers. The website is in beta and features all new web apps for Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and more. In addition, it appears that iCloud.com will offer a portal for users to view their iWork documents that are stored in the cloud via iCloud. On top of all of this Find my iPhone is an integrated web application. As you will see, the interface for the website is very iPad and iOS-like. We also have a video walkthrough after the break.”
MR: “iCloud is Apple’s upcoming syncing and storage service for both iOS 5 and OS X Lion. iCloud (the service) stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents and keeps it in sync across multiple devices. iCloud.com (the website) represents Apple’s MobileMe website replacement that gives users online access to their Calendar, Email, Address Book, Find My Phone and iWork data. The entire interface borrows heavily from iOS and Lion and incorporates many nice graphical flourishes and animations.”
TC: “Not that this should be surprising. One of Apple’s strengths has always been aesthetics. But what’s equally nice is just how slick the apps function. Both in Safari and Chrome, all the apps feel responsive and feature many subtle transitional touches presumably using HTML5. – In addition to iCloud.com going live, Apple has also posted more information about iCloud pricing. ‘5GB of free storage is plenty for most people. But if you need extra space, you can always buy additional storage,’ Apple notes on the site. Those prices are: 10 additional GB for $20 a year, 20 additional GB for $40 a year, 50 additional GB for $100 a year – Of note, your iCloud Photo Stream, iOS apps, music, and TV shows you buy from iTunes/the App Store do not count against your 5GB of free storage.“
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Gerrit Eicker
FaceTime
Apple FaceTime did not launch as a killer app, but it may end up as one, providing a halo effect; http://eicker.at/FaceTime
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Gerrit Eicker
Web Fonts
Guide to most common (Web) fonts on Windows, Mac, Linux: serif, sans-serif; http://eicker.at/WebFonts (via Design Tagebuch)
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Gerrit Eicker
Apple vs. Microsoft
Graham: If Apple grows the iPod into a cell phone with web browser, Microsoft would be in big trouble; http://j.mp/cjU4kD
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Gerrit Eicker
Thanks for the hint at @pfandtasse!
Oddhead: “Back in 2004, who could have imagined Apple’s astonishing rise to overtake Microsoft as the most valuable tech company in the world? – At least one person. – Paul Graham wins the award for the most prescient parenthetical statement inside a footnote ever.”
Graham‘s footnote (14) in Hackers and Painters, 2004: “If the Mac was so great, why did it lose? Cost, again. Microsoft concentrated on the software business and unleashed a swarm of cheap component suppliers on Apple hardware. It did not help, either, that suits took over during a critical period. (And it hasn’t lost yet. If Apple were to grow the iPod into a cell phone with a web browser, Microsoft would be in big trouble.)”
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Gerrit Eicker
Safari 5
Apple releases Safari 5, adds better HTML5, CSS3 support, Safari Reader and Extensions; http://j.mp/9byGdU
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Gerrit Eicker
The Safari Reader is an enormous evolutionary step in web browser development: reading, printing, forwarding gets a major update. Back side for publishers: clickpath analysis becomes harder, actionable elements or online advertising must be positioned above the fold on longer pages and (text-)linked within the content.
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Gerrit Eicker
TC: “Speaking of Chrome and Firefox, while Safari 5 will bring a 30% performance increase over Safari 4, Apple is also saying that the new version is 3% faster than the latest stable build of Chrome (5.0) and twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. All of this is based on SunSpider JavaScript tests of Apple’s latest Nitro engine. – Safari is also adding a new feature called ‘Reader’ which will make it easier to read webpages by taking away all the excess design (and ads).”
RWW: “When Safari Reader detects an article, an icon appears in the address field. Click it and it will display the whole article on one clean page, presumably without links, sidebars or dancing banditos. Think print-ready page. There are options to enlarge, print or send via email.”
MW: “The new Safari Reader feature seems akin to Web-based services like Readability, giving you the option of viewing a Web page in a slimmed-down, scrollable view that eliminates many of the distracting elements. Safari 5 can detect both single and multipage articles and allows you to toggle the Reader mode to display the article, print it, or share it via e-mail.”
TNW: “The other notable inclusion is Safari Reader ‘making it easy to read single and multipage articles on the web by presenting them in a new, scrollable view without any additional content or clutter.'”
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Martin Seibert
I like the idea of Safari Reader. I am curious if it will be able to compete with my combination of Google Reader, NetNewsWire and InstaPaper …
The increase of speed is even more thrilling. I am eager to find out if it is really faster than Chrome.
Gerrit: What is your experience so far?
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Gerrit Eicker
I love it. Safari 5 is slightly faster but the best part of it is the Safari Reader: it makes reading long articles super easy even on badly layouted pages (includes those with multiple pages per article). This is a huge (r)evolution!
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Gerrit Eicker
The Safari Reader integrates bravely with my news reading habits: NWW (besides others) defines the “what”. Safari Reader becomes the new “read now” tool of choice. Instapaper stays for “read later”.
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Martin Seibert
In a disciplined world, there should never be a read now, should there?
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Gerrit Eicker
I’m pretty curious. ;)
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Martin Seibert
In that case, you should rather be disciplined, as long as you consider reading web news “working”. If its “leisure time”, no one cares if you use it efficiently.
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Gerrit Eicker
Of course I am: following defined news (reader/ing) time slots. ;)
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Gerrit Eicker
Chrome and OS X: Squeezing Windows
Google is aiming at the bottom of the OS market, Apple at its top: squeezing Windows in between; http://j.mp/61MK3j
Gerrit Eicker 18:26 on 20. February 2012 Permalink |
Apple: “Download Messages Beta and get a taste of what’s coming in OS X Mountain Lion. When you install Messages, it replaces iChat. But iChat services will continue to work. And Messages brings iMessage to the Mac – just like on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch running iOS 5. Here are the features you can expect with Messages: Send unlimited iMessages to any Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Start an iMessage conversation on your Mac and continue it on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Send photos, videos, attachments, contacts, locations, and more. Launch a FaceTime video call and bring the conversation face-to-face. Messages supports iMessage, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Jabber accounts.”
Apple: “Mac keeps the conversation going. Messages does everything iChat does, and so much more. For starters, it comes with iMessage. And just like iMessage in iOS, it lets you send unlimited messages to anyone on a Mac or an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5. Send photos, videos, documents, and contacts – even send messages to a group. You can see when your message has been delivered and when someone’s typing a reply. Turn on read receipts, and they’ll see when you’ve read a message. With end-to-end encryption, your messages stay safe and private. And you can start a conversation on your Mac and pick it up on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. So nothing is left unsaid.”
VB: “In addition to the announcements about Apple’s next operating system Mac OS X Mountain Lion, the company rolled out a beta edition of its iMessages chat app today. – Apple previously launched its iMessages for the iPhone and iPad as an answer to RIM’s popular BlackBerry Messenger Service. The app lets you send text, pictures, contacts, and video over 3G and Wi-Fi connections to anyone with an Apple ID or one of the other third-party messaging services. One big perk to using Messages is that it doesn’t charge you for each individual message, similar to the way wireless carriers do with SMS. Now, Apple wants to bring this functionality to the desktop in an effort to bridge the gap between conversations on mobile devices. … People who never use instant messenger but frequently send texts will probably end up using this app. It’s also likely that far fewer SMS messages will get sent over the course of time, especially if you consider the rising cost of texting plans. That’s a good thing for Apple and a very bad thing for wireless carriers, who draw a large amount of revenue through texting services.”
GigaOM: “When I tried Messages out this morning, replies to an iMessage chat showed up in Messages on my Mac, but also appeared as notifications on my iPhone sitting next to me on the desk. I could switch back and forth between the two devices and continue the conversation on either one. The entire conversation was visible on both my Mac and my iPhone and the entire experience was completely seamless. … The importance of this seamless transition between devices for me is the ability to keep the context of the entire conversation in front of me, no matter where I chose to pick up and continue with my next reply. I might get some iMessage ‘texts’ on my iPhone, but when I get back to the office, I can open my laptop and continue right where I left off. … One nice detail is that the repeat notifications on the iPhone are muted when you read the message on your Mac. … The area that might require a little more polishing is that, when the message is unread on the Mac, it still appears to mute the repeat notification on the phone. … Overall, I am pretty positive about the new features. I think Messages for Mac will actually be a big help in my professional and personal life and will make text/IM even more convenient. As for the big picture, I think the overall theme of Mountain Lion (including this beta of Messages for Mac on Lion) is not so much that iOS features and apps are coming to the Mac, but that the apps will work across both iOS and Mac in a completely seamless experience.”
TUAW: “6 cool Messages tips and tricks – It’s just arrived in beta, but Apple’s next chat app is intriguing. Are you looking to spice up your Messages skills? Here are a half dozen tips and tricks for you to start with.”