Kyle Baxter’s clear and well-written analysis on Google and Android:
Android isn’t an attempt to build the best mobile platform and sell it on its merits; it’s a play to control the vast majority of the mobile market, secure eyeballs for Google advertising and eliminate any threat to Google.
The Mac App Store gave me the same error this morning. But instead of logging out and logging back in I simply went out for a cup of coffee.
Marco Arment and Dan Benjamin discussing the Mac App Store. Lots of insight and some really good questions raised.
TUAW’s category and price breakdown of the 959 unique apps in the Mac App Store.
From the desk of Cabel Sasser, regarding Transmit, Coda, and Unison in the Mac App Store:
The Mac App Store may show software bought from us previously as “Installed”, even though they’re two different licenses. You will not get Mac App Store auto-updates unless you purchase from the Mac App Store. To re-enable the “Purchase” button in the Mac App Store, just drag the app to the trash. Your preferences/sites will not be affected.
So the App Store recognizes that you already own the app, but it doesn’t treat it as if you bought it from the App Store. Meaning, on the App’s page within the App Store you’ll see “Installed” instead of the purchase price. However, you won’t see it in your list of apps underneath the “Purchases” tab and you won’t get updates for that app via the Mac App Store.
The Mac App Store won’t let you buy apps that are already “Installed”. According to Cabel, if you want to purchase an app through the Mac App Store that you already own, you have to drag your current app into the trash.
Update: According the Daniel Jalkut (MardEdit maestro), apps you already own will only show up as “Installed” in the Mac App Store if the developer used the exact same Bundle ID in the App Store as with the self-sold app you bought.
John Gruber, 16 months ago, musing on the Mac app installation problems facing the common user:
The iPhone shows just how much simpler the concept of app installation — and just as importantly, un-installation — can be.
Some worthwhile reading while you wait for the Mac App Store to launch in a few hours.
Today is a big day for the Mac community. For one, 3rd-party developers are getting a huge open door to new markets they’ve never been able to reach before. Users will be getting a whole new window to discover software they never before knew about. Also, users are getting a simplified way to install and manage their applications.
10.6.6 is now available as a software update and with it comes the Mac App Store. It’s always a good idea to backup you Mac before installing major software updates, so you may want to do that now while you’ve got time (if you didn’t already backup last night).
I’ll be online all day today posting links and articles here, as well as thoughts on Twitter.
A lot of great software shipped in the past 12 months. There were many new apps for the iPhone and iPad, and many great updates to some already stellar Mac apps.
Here is my list of the best software that shipped in 2010. These are apps I use regularly and which were brand new or received an X.0 update at some point in 2010.
OmniFocus for iPad was released in July. It is, without a doubt, the best of the three-app suite of OmniFocus software.
It seems to be a common practice that for apps with a strong presence on the desktop, their iPhone and iPad counterparts are portals, or lighter versions, of their desktop apps. Not so with OmniFocus on the iPad; it is the current king of the OmniFocus hill. Moreover, it is one of the most robust, feature-rich, easy-to-use apps on my iPad.
The two most-addicting features of OmniFocus on the iPad are the review and the forecast views. This app is one of the few which have justified my iPad purchase.
Reeder for iPhone 2.0 and Reeder for iPad are my two preferred apps for reading feeds. When Reeder 2.0 shipped in March it answered all of my quibbles about what I wanted from an iPhone Feed Reader.
Reeder for iPad, shipped in June, and it is superb. I enjoy the UI and the top-notch readability it presents. By far, my favorite feed reading app for the iPad.
Canned is an iPhone app that came out in August. I had the privilege of helping Sky Balloon beta test it, and it’s been on the front of my iPhone Home screen ever since.
Canned lets you pre-write the content of those text messages you send often, and even pre-assign those to the individuals and groups whom you often send that same text to.
I used to have a folder in Pastebot for these types of texts, but Canned is much better suited for the task. The app is simple and blazing fast. Buy it in the App Store for the price of a soda.
If there ever was a piece of software that was like a good cup of coffee it would be Instapaper. Unlike other software and services where describing the ins and outs and use-cases gives others a very good understanding of the product, Instapaper is much too simple for that.
So in short, Instapaper is the best way to read the Internet. And the iPad app (which launched in April) is the best way to read your Instapaper articles.
And, if you want to get my starred articles in your Instapaper queue, my username is “shawnblanc”.
MarsEdit is one of the most-used, most-important, and most-beloved applications I own. I can’t imagine writing shawnblanc.net without it. Version 3.0, which was released in May, added quite a few features to an already rock-solid application.
A highlight feature of the 3.0 release for many was the WYSIWYG editor. However, the most notable for me was the added support for WordPress custom fields, which — when combined with this Linked List plugin — makes posting links on my site a breeze.
Simplenote is an iPhone and iPad app that offers a minimalistic writing and note-taking interface and over-the-air syncing. Version 3 shipped in August, and is the sort of app adored by those who pride themselves in their use of beautiful and uncomplicated software.
Simplenote is also an app for people with ideas. It’s for those who need some way to jot an idea down, build on it, and refine it until they’re sick and tired of it, regardless of where they are or if they brought their laptop.
And as a writer, Simplenote could very well be your principal writing app. It has a straightforward design that makes it effortless to use. In Simplenote there is no text formatting, it’s just plain. There is no document titling — when you create a new note, the first line is the title. There is no saving a note — you just write and your note is backed up in real time, and even synced with any other other devices you use: iPad, iPhone, and Mac.
The most common misconception about Dropbox is that it’s solely for file syncing between multiple computers. Well, I only own one computer and I use Dropbox all day long.
Because Dropbox syncs your files to the Web, I use it to keep all folders for my current projects. This means things I am working on at the present moment are always backed up to the Web.
Also, by using Symlinks, I have the Application Support Folder for my most-used apps (MarsEdit, Yojimbo, 1Password, OmniFocus) sitting in Dropbox as well. Which means if I didn’t back up my laptop for a week or two, chances are good I would hardly lose anything important. And if I drop my laptop out the car window on the way home from work, I for sure wouldn’t lose anything from the day.
Dropbox finally hit version 1.0 in December, adding some stability issues and, most notably, options for selective syncing of folders.
Instagram launched in October and by the end of 2010 had over 1,000,000 users. It’s part iPhone app, part social network, all fun.
It’s an iPhone-only app that works somewhat like Twitter but with photos. You take a quick snapshot, apply a filter, and share it with your followers. You can also send those photos to your Flickr, Tumblr, and/or Posterus accounts, as well as sharing them on Twitter and Facebook.
Instagram is low friction, and high-fun. And now that Twitter displays Instagram Media inline, it’s not unlike using TwitPic to post photos to your Twitter account. You can find me on Instagram as “shawnblanc”.
They’re lowering their prices to allow for faster moving of their apps, and so current users can “upgrade” to the App Store versions. RapidWeaver will be 50% less than it is now. Courier will be exclusive to the Mac App Store and priced 75% less than it is now.
Realmac’s thoughts on the Mac App Store and its apps in general were posted yesterday.
Brett Kelly:
When I pay for services, I’m paying for less friction than the free alternative. Which, far as I’m concerned, means more time doing actual work than stumping around with subpar tools. […] Time spent using tools that could work better or for which there are better alternatives is time wasted.
Who knew? All your missing Lego pieces were stolen by a guy with a mustache.
Hilarious sketch from Ronnie Corbett’s BBC show. (Via Sperte.)
Today Randy delegated a to-do item to me: promote his article on delegation. But in all seriousness, this is a great article.
My guess is that most of you are the sort of worker who knows that if you do the job yourself it will be done right the first time. And so you always default to just doing it yourself. But delegation is crucial to managing your time and living your life with focus. And that’s especially true if you’re a boss or a manager.
Some tasks you just shouldn’t be doing yourself, even if you could do it better and faster yourself. By avoiding delegation you are piling up work for yourself that may not be the best use of your time. As a boss you’re the only person who can do Task A. Yet you’re spending your time on Tasks B, C, and D because you’ve decided you can do them quicker than someone else. And so Task A (the one that only you can do) never gets done. You should delegate Tasks B, C, and D so you can be free to do Task A.
Also, did you know that by avoiding delegation you are robbing others of their chance to learn new skills?
A neat look at how Sergio Ruiz, a newcomer to Levenger, has gotten hooked on the Circa notebook.
I am a huge fan of Levenger — office supplies for the geekiest of geeks and pickiest of nitpickers.