Okay, to finish out today’s smartwatch linkage trifecta, Moltz has a new Tumblr:
Pro tip for the new smartwatch owner: send all your blazers through the dryer 18 times.
Wearing Apple →
Craig Hockenberry:
Tim Cook has openly stated that Apple is working on “new product” categories. Many people, customers and competitors alike, assume that means some kind of wearable computing device. And of course that means it has to be some kind of “smartwatch”, right?
I don’t think so.
Thinking Outside The Watch →
Great article by Federico Viticci regarding the potential for wearable tech, and how the a “smartwatch that only displays notifications and counts steps misses the point entirely”:
The current crop of smartwatches feels like a replay of smartphones before the iPhone. Smartphones were bulky, had some convenient features, and tried to cram old metaphors of PC software into a new form factor, resulting in baby software. Most smartwatches I see today are bulky, have some convenient features, and try to cram features and apps from smartphones and tablets into a form factor that’s both new and old (watches have been around for centuries), but the “smartwatch” tech gadget has become a trend only recently. As a result, smartwatches on the market today appeal mostly to tech geeks who are interested in some of those few interesting features (namely notifications, map directions, and the intersection of smartphones and watches), but they’re not really smart because they generally fetch data from a primary device — the smartphone — and they’re not really good as watches either.
Apple Testing Related Search Suggestions on the App Store →
Federico Viticci:
The new menu, a scrollable bar with suggestions for searches related to the current search, allows users to discover more apps in search by tapping on suggestions, receiving a fresh set of results. Multiple suggestions can be selected in a single session: searching for “indie games”, for instance, displays suggestions for “action games”, which include “action RPG” into their own suggestions. The new suggestion bar doesn’t alter the way search results are displayed — Apple is still using a cards layout on the iPhone — and, for now, the feature doesn’t appear to be available on the App Store for iPad and desktop computers.
Any changes to App Store search that bring about better results are like sips of cold water to someone walking through the desert. I oftentimes know precisely the app I’m looking for and yet still have a difficult time finding it using App Store search. It’s usually faster to search Google.
Twenty-Two Notebooks →
Brett Peters worked remotely as an IT professional for 7 years, until suddenly the company he was working for shut its doors.
Brett wrote an excellent article about the sudden change, and he shares some of his thoughts on the past 7 years of doing digital work and working remotely for a tech company:
Building virtual things leaves very little behind. There’s nothing to grasp, nothing to point to, no buildings or monuments to your labor. I think we forget sometimes how important that is. It might seem childish, or at least child-like, to want to commemorate important events with ribbons and trophies and badges — but that’s unfair and unkind. Kids recognize a truth we try to forget as adults — a physical representation of an achievement gives you something to hold on to.
Brett’s right. There are two sides to the digital task- and project-management coin. There is the awesome side: your tasks and projects are scalable, collaborative, in sync between all your devices, and you can easily attach emails, URLs, photos, and all sorts of other data to your tasks.
However, the not-as-awesome side to digital tools is that when a task is completed it disappears and leaves no trace it ever existed; no scratched out note commemorating a job well done and a hard day’s work.
For a year and a half I kept a hipster PDA in the form of a small, pocket-sized Moleskine. It served as my to-do list and note-taking tool. Like Brett, I also keep my old notebooks. My pocket Moleskine sits in the same box as all my used and unused Field Notes.
From time to time I’ll page through that old hipster PDA and just look at page after page after page of tasks I’d written down and crossed off. This morning I was flipping through it again, when I realized something curious. The tasks and notes trail off right around the summer of 2008… the same time the iPhone App Store launched.
Sponsor: 22Slides, a Simple Portfolio Website Builder →
22Slides is a simple portfolio website builder created by a photographer and long-time fellow shawnblanc.net reader.
Shawn was nice enough to mention 22Slides back in 2011, and that bit of kindness helped give us the boost we needed to turn into a profitable company. We wanted to show a small token of appreciation by buying an ad, even if not all shawnblanc.net readers are our target market.
So if you’re looking to promote your startup, we can say being featured on shawnblanc.net has been a huge benefit. Or, if you know anyone looking for a good photography website, we’d be honored if you kept 22Slides in mind.
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My thanks to 22Slides for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.
Sean McCabe’s Learn Lettering Master Class →
I’ve known Sean for a few years, and he is one of the most talented people I’ve ever seen do hand lettering — the man practically writes in typeface. He’s put together a 50-video master class that covers everything from the basics of typography and the skills of doing hand lettering, to making and selling original art, to working with clients, and more.
The Making of Neon Signs →
Here’s a fascinating short documentary (about 11 min.) on the Hong Kong neon sign industry, which was at its peak in the ’80s and ’90s but is now in serious decline with businesses installing LED signs now.
And here’s a crazy fact I bet you didn’t know: when a glassworker is designing the a neon sign, the tube’s start and stop points are determined not so much by the letter form but by where he’ll be able to most easily bend the glass without burning his hands.
(via Hoefler and Rands)
The Sweet Setup’s Staff Favorites →
Over at The Sweet Setup, we put together a running list of all our personal favorite apps on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It’s a massive list with over 100 apps.
In a way, the list of staff favorites is a condensed version of what the site as a whole is striving towards. But it takes us so much time to do research, test, use, and then pick a “best app” for different categories. And so this running list — broken down by platform and then by category — is our way of giving as many recommendations as we can now, while we continue to build out our catalog of the in-depth comparison reviews and picks.
This list represents all the apps we, The Sweet Setup staff, use day in and day out for work and play. And, as always, if you’ve got questions or suggestions, hit us up on Twitter.
The Weekly Briefly: Digital v Analog →
On this week’s episode of my podcast: analog vs digital; low-fi vs high-fi; old school versus new school; manual versus automatic — appreciating and taking advantage of today’s awesome technology while also celebrating the more traditional and hands-on way of doing things.
Brought to you by:
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EverWeb: the fastest and easiest way to create professional websites on OS X.
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The awesome members of shawnblanc.net: their support makes the work I do a sustainable possibility.
Dumb
The more I read about smartwatches, the more I appreciate my “dumb” watches.
These are the two watches I wear. The one on the left is a Tissot, and the one on the right a Seiko automatic. Most days I wear the Seiko.
Here is an exhaustive rundown of all the functionality of my watches: They tell the time of day (albeit they’re imprecise, and usually off by half a minute or so) and the date. The Seiko, being fancy, also tells the day of the week. And since neither watch knows what month it is, a few times per year I have to adjust the date forward from “29” or “31” to “1”.
That’s it.
But I don’t just wear a watch to know what time it is. Part of the reason I wear one is as an excuse not to pull out my iPhone.
So often I’d be standing in line at the grocery store and I’d pull out my iPhone to see what time it was. Then, out of sheer habit, I’d swipe to unlock and the next thing you know I’m mindlessly scrolling through tweets or reading emails without actually acting on them. Then the line would move, I’d put the iPhone back in my pocket, and if you’d asked me what time it was I couldn’t even tell you.
My analog watches are my reminder that utility exists apart from an internet connection and usefulness doesn’t require the latest software.
My watches don’t have an interactive touch display. Nor do they have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE, or USB. Heck, the Seiko doesn’t even have a battery — if I don’t wear it for a day or two then it stops working until I wind it again.
There are no apps for my watches. I can’t pair them with my iPhone, can’t give them voice commands, can’t get directions from them, nor can I use them to change my music to the next track.
On the flip side, my watches don’t require updates, and they won’t be “slow and outdated” in one year’s time after the next version comes out. In fact, they will never grow outdated and irrelevant unless they break altogether.
In 15 or 20 years my sons will hopefully think it’s special when I pass down one of my old watches to them.
That’s not to say vintage technology isn’t special. But an old watch is simultaneously special and usable. In 20 years my original iPhone, as special and nostalgic as it will be, probably won’t even power on.
My affinity for analog watches doesn’t mean I dislike the concept of the smartwatch. My iPhone is one of the most incredible items I have ever owned and used. But my experience with it has also taught me that the promise of convenient notifications and relevant information is almost always paired with the reality of constant distractions, tugs for attention, and perhaps even an addiction to the “just checks”.
When I look down at my watch I know exactly what it will show me: the time.
Checkmark 2
Here is a huge update to my favorite location-based reminders app, Checkmark.
In addition to location-based reminders, Checkmark 2 now supports scheduled and repeating reminders as well as a general project/list section. So not only is Checkmark the best app for location-based reminders, but it now aims to be your one-stop shop for all tasks and reminders, regardless of when, where, or what they are for.
I’m still deep into OmniFocus for my general to-do list, and I usually use Siri or Fantastical for setting time-based reminders. But the location-centric stuff in Checkmark is the best there is, and now it’s even better than before.
The big update with how Checkmark handles the location-based reminders is that you can now create location groups. Hooray!
Now, I don’t know about you, but my wife and I don’t shop at just one grocery store all the time; we shop at like six. In Checkmark 2, I created a location group with all the grocery stores we shop at. Then, no matter which of those stores I show up to, Checkmark will remind me of any items I’ve added to that group. (Gosh would I love to see shared reminders with this.)
Here’s how you create a group:
- You start out just like you would create a location.
- From the “Where” section, tap the plus button and name your location (example: “Grocery Stores” / “Hardware Stores” / “Ice Cream Shops”).
- Next tap “Add from map” to search for the places you want to add (or Add from location if you’re at the place you want to add).
- Once you’ve found one of the locations and the pin for it has dropped, then tap into the search box again to search for the next place you want to add.
- Once you’ve got all the pins for that group dropped, then tap “Done”
- Select your icon and tap Done again.
Now you have a location group and you are on your way to being the the master of never forgetting to check out this season’s sink selection next time you go to the hardware store to buy charcoal for your grill.
You can add or remove locations from a group by tapping into that group, tapping the settings gear icon in the upper-right corner, and then editing the location. I have found creating and editing groups to be a little bit finicky at times. But once a group is created, then your golden.
In addition to the awesomeness of the new groups feature, Checkmark is still faster than using any other app for adding a location-based reminder (even for specific spots, not groups). And, most importantly, Checkmark is incredibly reliable for triggering upon the arrival / departure of a location.
My one quibble with Checkmark is it’s assumption that time-based reminders are the most important. When launching Checkmark, it opens to wherever you last were in the app. If however, the app has been cleared from memory since the last time you launched it, or if you’ve restarted your iPhone, then Checkmark’s default landing screen is the “When” section. And currently there’s no way to change this setting. Which oftentimes means creating a new location-based reminder requires two additional taps: one to open the basement menu and one to tap the “Where” tab. But this is a minor quibble, and I’ve heard it may be resolved in a future update to the app.
I’ve long been a user and a fan of Checkmark because I think it handles location-based reminders better than any other app out there, including Apple’s own Reminders app. You can snag Checkmark 2 in the App Store for just $3.
The iPad 4 Is Back →
The only devices remaining that still use the 30-pin connector are the iPod classic and the iPhone 4s. And the only non-retina iOS device is the original iPad mini. These are the extreme devices: the iPod classic for the those who want the most storage possible (160GB); the original iPad mini and the iPhone 4s for those who want the cheapest iPad/iPhone possible.
Sponsor: EverWeb Makes it Easy for Mac Users to Build Websites →
EverWeb is a powerful, easy to use website builder that is a great alternative for Apple’s discontinued iWeb builder. EverWeb provides a full drag and drop user interface while still allowing for advanced features such as mobile websites, drop down menus, rollovers, image sliders, built in search engine optimization, and more.
EverWeb includes built in templates to help you get started with a professional looking site, or you can start from scratch. It also comes with built in widgets for adding contact forms, social media, e-commerce, and HTML5 video or audio.
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My thanks to EverWeb for sponsoring the RSS feed this week.