iFive for the iPhone 91 (Transcript)

[[OPEN]] WELCOME TO IFIVE FOR THE IPHONE, EPISODE 91….. THIS IS THE SHOW THAT COVERS THE LATEST IPHONE NEWS, APPS, TIPS & TRICKS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF BEATS AUDIO. I WILL NOT SPEAK ABOUT BEATS AUDIO TODAY, I PROMISE. I'M ALSO SARAH LANE, YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDE TO ALL THINGS IOS. GIDDYUP! -------------------------------------- #1 - 8TRACKS - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/8tracks-music-playlists/id346194763?mt=8 LET’S START OUT WITH SOME MUSIC NEWS. AND NO, I’M GONNA MENTION BEATS AUDIO. BUT I AM GONNA MENTION 8TRACKS, A MUSIC PLAYLIST APP WHICH GOT A NICE BIG APP UPDATE LAST WEEK. THE COMPANY CALLS ITSELF THE BEST PLACE TO MAKE AND DISCOVER REFRESHINGLY HUMAN PLAYLISTS. AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS. INSTEAD OF SINGLE SONGS OR ALBUMS BY ARTISTS YOU LIKE, YOU CHOOSE PLAYLISTS THAT WERE MADE BY AN 8TRACKS USER. LIKE, CONCENTRATION, FOR WHEN YOU WANT MUSIC THAT WON’T DISTRACT YOUR WORK, OR SING ME TO SLEEP, WHICH IS CATEGORIZED BY TAGS INCLUDING CHILL, SLEEP, AND ACOUSTIC. OR FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT - ANGRY 30 YEAR OLD BITCH. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE. NOW, PLAYLISTS ARE POSSIBLE ON SPOTIFY, RDIO, ITUNES - *THAT* CONCEPT ISN’T REVOLUTIONARY. BUT 8TRACKS IS TOTALLY FREE, HAS OVERLAY ADS BUT NOT AUDIO ADS TO INTERRUPT YOUR PLAYLIST EXPERIENCE, AND SINCE EVERYTHING IS CURATED BY PEOPLE RATHER THAN ALGORITHMS, IT DOES HAVE A MORE THOUGHTFUL FEEL. I MENTIONED THE APP HAS SOME NEW FEATURES - YOU CAN NOW review listened playlists and see which playlists are coming up, A Sleep Timer WILL SHUT EVERYTHING DOWN end of current playlist IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO USE IT AS A LULLABY, AND BETTER DESIGN FOR YOUR PLAYLIST COLLECTIONS, SEARCH, AND OTHER SETTINGS. THE ONLY THING ABOUT 8TRACKS IS IF YOU WANT TO CREATE A MIX, YOU HAVE TO DO SO ON THEIR WEB INTERFACE, AND IT REALLY RELIES ON YOU HAVING YOUR OWN LIBRARY OF MUSIC. YOU CAN’T JUST PULL FROM SOME OTHER STREAMING SERVICE - ALTHOUGH SOUNDCLOUD INTEGRATION IS NICE, AND THERE ARE SOME TRACKS AVAILABLE IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. I’M MORE OF A MIX LISTENER THAN CREATOR, SO I’M NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE PUBLISHING TOOLS, BUT YOU MIGHT WANT TO, AND THAT’S SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND. ———————————————————— #2 - RIP, POKE AND CAMERA - http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/9/5700732/facebook-poke-is-dead-and-so-i… SO, FACEBOOK KILLED A COUPLE PRETTY USELESS APPS OVER THE LAST WEEK. POKE, AND CAMERA. WE’VE TALKED ABOUT BOTH OF THEM HERE ON IFIVE, AND FACEBOOK DOES HAVE A HISTORY OF EXPERIMENTING WITH STANDALONE APPS - THINK OF MESSENGER, OR PAPER, EVEN INSTAGRAM - BUT THE COMPANY DECIDED TO TRIM THE FAT A BIT. POKE WAS A SNAPCHAT CLONE, AND IN A PERFECT WORLD WOULD HAVE BEEN A SNAPCHAT KILLER, BUT THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL WITH THAT ONE - THE COMPANY JUST DOESN’T HAVE A “COOL NEW TREND” AIR ABOUT IT ANYMORE, HASN’T FOR A WHILE. YOU CAN’T JUST BEAT THE TRENDY APPS AT THEIR OWN GAME. JUST LOOK AT FACEBOOK’S ATTEMPT TO KILL FOURSQUARE - FACEBOOK PLACES IS A HIGHLY UNDERUTILIZED FEATURE. NOW, FACEBOOK CAMERA HAS ALSO BEEN PULLED - THE APP WAS BASICALLY FACEBOOK’S PHOTO EDITING APP, AND IT WASN’T BAD AT ALL - YOU COULD USE IT TO EASILY UPLOAD MULTIPLE PHOTOS TO AN ALBUM, THAT SORT OF THING. BUT EVENTUALLY THE COMPANY JUST BUILT THAT INTO THE MAIN FACEBOOK APP, SO, FACEBOOK CAMERA WASN’T SO NECESSARY ANYMORE. I DELETED POKE A WHILE AGO, BUT I’VE STILL GOT CAMERA INSTALLED, AND I’LL KEEP IT AROUND A LITTLE WHILE LONGER TO SEE IF THERE’S ANY SUPPORT FOR EXISTING USERS, BUT I THINK IT’S SAFE TO SAY THE COMPANY IS MOVING ON. ---------------------------------------- #3 - SQUARE ORDER - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/square-order-pickup-from-local/id873401… IT’S KIND OF AN APP STORE DEATH WATCH THIS WEEK. I WAS PRETTY BUMMED TO HEAR EARLIER THIS WEEK THAT SQUARE, THE PAYMENTS COMPANY, WAS DISCONTINUING ITS WALLET APP. THE IDEA BEHIND WALLET IS THAT THROUGH GEOFENCING, THE APP KNOWS WHEN YOU’RE PHYSICALLY CLOSE TO A CAFE, AND WILL CHECK YOU IN SO THAT YOU CAN PAY VIA THE APP AND NEVER HAVE TO MAKE A TRANSACTION AT THE REGISTER. LOVED IT, USED IT EVERY DAY. AND ACTUALLY I CAN CONTINUE TO USE IT, IT’S JUST BEEN PULLED FROM THE APP STORE FOR NEW CUSTOMERS. IN ITS PLACE IS A DIFFERENT APP CALLED SQUARE ORDER - WHICH IN MY OPINION IS A WAY LESS COOL APP. INSTEAD OF WALKING IN AND ORDERING WITHOUT HAVING TO HAVE YOUR WALLET ON YOU, YOU’RE ORDERING FOOD FOR PICKUP AHEAD OF TIME. NOW, I CAN SEE HOW IF YOU LIKE GOING TO A POPULAR SANDWICH PLACE AND THERE’S ALWAYS A LINE, YOU CAN USE SQUARE ORDER TO ORDER AHEAD, AND WALK RIGHT IN. BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO PLAN AHEAD OF TIME, AND IT’S NOT THAT DIFFERENT THAN JUST CALLING THE SANDWICH PLACE. BUT MAYBE GEOFENCING WAS A LITTLE TOO AHEAD OF ITS TIME. SQUARE HAS ADMITTED THE ORIGINAL APP DIDN’T GET THE TRACTION THE COMPANY WANTED, SO MAYBE ORDERING FOR PICK-UP IS MORE OF A BABY STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION - OF ME NEVER NEEDING PAPER OR PLASTIC, AGAIN. ———————————————————————————— {{ad}} NONE —————————————————————————————— #4 - HEAD-SCRATCHER: REMOVE RECENTLY UPDATED APPS? WE GOT AN EMAIL FROM COLIN WHO HAS AN ISSUE I’M NOT SURE ANYONE ELSE HAS, BUT HEY I’VE BEEN WRONG BEFORE. HE WRITES: When you update apps via the App Store, once they’re installed, is there a setting available to AUTOMATICALLY REMOVE OR REMOVE AFTER SAY 5 DAYS, rather than having to go into Date/Time via the General Settings and MANUALLY put in an advanced date to remove the list. I then have to go back and correct the date, which I have on 'SET AUTOMATICALLY'. Please, anyone out there with the answer would be TERRIFIC, unless this is a known problem that Apple hasn't fixed. SO, IF I’M UNDERSTANDING THIS CORRECTLY, COLIN, YOU DON’T WANT A HISTORY OF UPDATED APPS TO LAST MORE THAN A FEW DAYS. BUT SINCE THE APPS ARE ON YOUR IPHONE, IT’S NOT LIKE THAT LIST IS GIVING ANYONE ANY INFORMATION THEY DIDN’T ALREADY HAVE, SO IT’S NOT A PRIVACY ISSUE FOR YOU. IT’S JUST A COSMETIC ISSUE? I WANT TO HELP, BUT I DON’T KNOW OF ANY WAY TO CLEAR THE APP UPDATE HISTORY, AND HONESTLY, I FIND IT REALLY HELPFUL BECAUSE THEN I CAN GO IN AND READ DEVELO9PER NOTES AND SEE WHAT’S ACTUALLY BEEN UPDATED. MAYBE IT’S JUST BUG FIXES, OR MAYBE, LIKE IN THE CASE OF 8TRACKS WE TALKED ABOUT EARLIER IN THE SHOW, THE APP GOT A COMPLETELY NEW DESIGN AND IT’S WORTH SPENDING SOME TIME EXPLORING. WHAT I DO KNOW IS YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR DATE SETTINGS. THAT’S JUST, YOU DON’T WANT TO DO THAT. ———————————————————— #5 - MOJU - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moju/id866175167 FINALLY, I WAS ALL SET TO TALK ABOUT TUNEIN RADIO’S NEW APP DESIGN, BUT MY CO-WORKERS HERE OVERRULED ME, SO THAT’S BUMPED TO NEXT WEEK BECAUSE APPARENTLY EVERYONE IS ALL EXCITED ABOUT MOJU, AN APP THAT AT FIRST GLANCE LOOKS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE INSTAGRAM, LIKE, WHOA - BUT IT’S ALL BASED ON MOTION. NOW YOU MIGHT SAY, WELL, INSTAGRAM ITSELF SUPPORTS VIDEO, VINE IS ALL ABOUT LOOPING VIDEO, WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT ABOUT MOJU? YOU CAN point-and-shoot up to 24 frames, then pivot/twist the device to see your images IN 3-D! I KNOW WE’RE ALL TIRED OF THE TERM selfie, BUT THIS CERTIANY GIVES SELFIES A LITTLE MORE CREATIVE CONTROL- twist the device TO SEE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS CHANGE, IT’S REALLY FUN.; OR JUST MORE TRADITIONAL STOP MOTION TO GET A SUNRISE OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, WHILE THE REST OF US SLEEP IN. IT’S FREE, THERE’S MOTH FRONT AND BACK CAMERA SUPPORT, AND OF COURSE A BUILT-IN SOCIAL NETWORK TO LIKE ALL YOUR FRIENDS’ MOJUS. I DON’T KNOW MAN, LIFE IS WEIRD. ; ----------------------------------------- THAT DOES IT FOR THIS EPISODE OF IFIVE. THANKS FOR STAYING WITH ME TILL THE BITTER END! EVERYTHING I MENTIONED - LINKS, APPS, EVERYTHING IS ALSO AT TWIT.TV/IFIVE. EMAIL IDEAS QUESTIONS, OR GENERAL FEEDBACK TO AT IFIVE@TWIT.TV, LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL AT (614) ON-IFIVE, OR SEND US A VIDEO WITH AN APP REVIEW OF YOUR OWN! I’M SARAH LANE, SEE YOU NEXT TIME ON IFIVE FOR THE IPHONE!