Kevin Fitchard:

AT&T is officially putting its idea of a subsidized internet to the test. A new program allows internet companies to exempt their content from data plans. Instead the content providers would foot the bill.

It’ll be interesting to see if and how this takes off. Suppose AT&T could get Netflix to sign up and sponsor all (or some) Netflix-related data. Then, if your iPad works on AT&T, you could watch all the Netflix videos you heart desires using your LTE connection without it draining from your monthly data allotment (because Netflix would be paying the bill for that data to AT&T on your behalf).

This week’s Sweet Setup interview is with Ben Bajarin. Last year I started reading the writing Ben does at his Tech.pinions and have really been enjoying it.

Craig Mod, in his stellar article for The New Yorker:

In the same way that the transition from film to digital is now taken for granted, the shift from cameras to networked devices with lenses should be obvious.

I agree. And yet I also find myself being the exception here, because I’ve been enjoying my E-PL5 more and more. But Craig’s point is a good one still, the camera in the iPhone isn’t just “good enough”, it’s actually quite good. And the addition of an always-on networked connectivity and the fantastic cornucopia of great photo editing apps give the iPhone a massive leg up over dedicated cameras.

Khoi Vinh:

Frankly, we’re an Apple household, so by my reckoning, we already get most of the benefit that Sonos offers from the AirPlay system that’s in the house already.

Patrick Welker:

The goal was to carry the spirit of Mr. Reader to the new OS. So the icon needed to feel lighter and right at home on iOS 7. I won’t lie, the design process itself for a typical icon of the new platform which iOS 7 is, allows for a much more simpler approach than in the pre-iOS 7 era. With iOS 7 icons you spend more time thinking about what works best with Apple’s paradigm of minimalism, rather than fine-tuning every pixel of a drop-shadow.

I think he nailed it. The new icon is a vast improvement.

Excellent piece by Matt Alexander:

Dare to dream big for the coming year and then actively work to fulfill that vision. It’ll be far more rewarding than reflecting solely upon the immediacy of problems you face today.

Amen. And then, try to the dream once each week and once each month for 2014.

Some ideas can’t be saved on a smartphone. They have to be sketched, diagrammed or written by hand. They have to be torn out and handed to someone or rolled into a bottle and sent adrift.

Out of Pages wants to make sure you’re always prepared for those kinds of ideas.

1. Create and subscribe to a plan that fits your needs.
2. Enjoy your notebooks! Your notebooks arrive as scheduled. We’ll make sure you stay stocked and ready.
3. Running out? Drop the included postcard in the mail, or expedite your order at outofpages.com for free.
4. Keep it going, switch it up, or cancel at any time.

Out of Pages: Notebook subscriptions for people who like to think on paper.

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My thanks to Out of Pages for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.

This week’s Sweet Setup Interview is with my pal, Federico Viticci:

The iPad is, essentially, my primary work device. In the past year, I was forced for various reasons to use an iPad, and while I came across a lot of limitations for my workflow in the first weeks of extensive usage, I ended up loving the iPad as a work machine. I think that a lot of people have made up their minds about the iPad based on prejudices and won’t give the device a fair chance when it comes to using it for more than reading comics or watching Netflix on it.

I asked Nick Heer (yes, that Nick Heer) to write our latest review for The Sweet Setup and he nailed it.

Though I haven’t tried hundreds of iPhone photo editing apps, I have tried dozens and VSCO is my favorite, too. What I like about VSCO Cam is that the filters are not cheesy. They don’t make my photo look “cool” they make it look better. And, almost all of the folks I follow on Instagram who post the most jealousy-inducing shots are using VSCO to edit on their iPhone.

Side note, I think Nick’s finished review came out great — it’s a quintessential example of the sort of work I want from our reviews on The Sweet Setup. The article is clear and well written, it gives examples of how to use the app, it gives social-proof of how and why others use the app, and it gives a bit of perspective to the whole landscape of apps in this category. Even if you’re already a VSCO Cam user, I bet you’ll appreciate and even learn something from Nick’s review.

Faast is a real-time content reader for your iOS 7 devices. It combines all your RSS Feeds, Twitter, Facebook and email into one app. It uses the same backend technology used for my previous app Push4, featured in the Top 10 Feed & RSS Technologies of 2011 by ReadWriteWeb (“A double digit percentage of the stories I reported on this year came from feeds I consumed in this app.” — Marshall Kirkpatrick).

Faast combines the best of my current server backends, with a complete rewrite of the iOS app. You can:

• Receive Instant Notifications for your RSS feeds, Twitter accounts, Facebook or your email.

• Share what you read to your friends, and discuss it within Faast.

• Import your Feeds from Feedly, Feedbin, Feedwrangler or OPML files.

• Use readlater services. Faast supports Instapaper, Readability, Pinboard, Pocket, Delicious or Evernote. It’s one of the unique apps allowing complete HTML snippet to be saved to Evernote.

Faast includes more features like silent mode, sleep hours, bookmarks, specific engineered sounds from an Instrumentalist, VoiceOver support, or complete offline reading.

You can read more about Faast, or install it from the Appstore.

— Fabien Penso

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My thanks to Faast for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.

This week’s sweet setup interview is with my pal, Nick Heer. Nick’s a freelance designer, occasional front-end developer, student at the Alberta College of Art + Design, and he writes Pixel Envy in his spare time. If you’re not reading Nick’s site, Pixel Envy, you should — Nick’s a fun guy and an excellent writer.

Speaking of app recommendations and The Sweet Setup, we put together an amazing list of our all-time favorite iOS games. Just in time for your holiday vacation. Enjoy.

P.S. Some folks have asked me which games, out of this list, are my personal favorites. I haven’t played them all, but I can heartily recommend Machinarium and The Room if you like mystery/puzzler games; and Mage Gauntlet and Kingdom Rush HD if you like fun, addictive action-y games. Kingdom Rush is probably my all-time favorite iOS game.

Oliver Reichenstein gives a lot of behind the scenes explanation for Writer Pro’s workflow (Note, Write, Edit, Read) structure. The first section — Workflow — is worth a read even if you’re not interested in Writer Pro. There’s some great thoughts and insights into the process of writing, and I love how Writer Pro is trying to build with that.

I’ve been giving Writer Pro on Mac and iOS a spin since it came out earlier this week. And it’s impossible to deny that the software is as well designed as it is opinionated. You may not like the decisions the iA team made in building Writer Pro, but it’s clear those choices were carefully considered.

Jared Sinclair

It’s common knowledge that there are too many apps on the App Store, with no reliable way of discovering the good ones.

The App Store’s shortcomings in regards to worthwhile recommendation and discovery is one of my primary motivations behind The Sweet Setup. But with hundreds of millions of device users and 1,000,000+ apps out there, that’s a level of scale The Sweet Setup will just never reach. Jared’s idea for an App Store-centric social network that would allow you to follow people and see the list of currently-installed apps on their devices is a great idea.