Everything Apple Needs to Introduce at WWDC to Appease the Internet

With WWDC just a few weeks away, I thought it’d be beneficial to the Internet at large to compile a working list of everything that is expected of Apple during their Keynote and subsequent “State of the Union” addresses in order to appease the Internet. Failure to introduce each and every one of these features and updates will result in another stock price plummet, calls for Tim Cook’s ouster and an infinite amount of comments on tech blogs decrying that Android is superior to Apple’s iOS.

  1. A completely refreshed design language for iOS 7 that sheds the Forstall and oozes Ive.
  2. Modernized and updated system apps for iOS that match the new Ivey design language.
  3. A services/sharing architecture on par with what is offered by Windows Phone and Android.
  4. An update to iMessage that makes it reliable.
  5. An update to iMessage that allows people to leave group chats.
  6. Multiple people on FaceTime calls.
  7. Xcode 5 with better refactoring tools, smarter smart sense and less crashes.
  8. A separate documentation viewer from Xcode itself so that command-tabbing between code and documents is possible and I can remove that weird purple icon DashCode uses from my Dock.
  9. Transitioning the beta testing process from device limits and towards Apple ID’s so anyone with a targeted ID can install a beta product on any device they own.
  10. The ability to distribute betas over the App Store.
  11. Analytics tools for App Store developers so we can see where referrals and sales funnel in from.
  12. Real-time sales analytics. It’s 2013. Next day sales charts just won’t do.
  13. The ability to finally, once and for all delete old app IDs from the portal.
  14. The death of the provisioning profile to make deploying to devices less of a headache.
  15. The removal of the 100 device limit for iOS beta testing, or at a minimum deleting a device gives the slot back to you before your iOS developer program renewal date.
  16. A faster, more reliable iCloud.
  17. An updated iCloud that obviates the need for services like Dropbox.
  18. Syncing with Core Data and iCloud to actually work so that we can stop writing blog posts about it.
  19. A backend service that ties to iCloud that enables Apple platform developers to deploy a web service to tie their apps together. Think Google App Engine, but with a flat UI designed by Jony Ive.
  20. The ability to customize the lock screen on iOS.
  21. The ability to organize your springboard free-form.
  22. The ability to add widgets to your home screen.
  23. Quick access to key service toggles like Airplane Mode and Bluetooth.
  24. A more reliable Game Center so Loren doesn’t break it again.
  25. The ability to Find My Friends without having to open up an app covered in leather. This will allow vegetarians to finally use the product.
  26. Updates to iTunes Match make it more like Rdio and less like an unreliable mess.
  27. An updated notification center that supports swiping away notifications
  28. An updated notification center that supports quick actions from a notification
  29. An updated notification center that offers Game Center achievements for successfully tapping the tiny “X” on the first try.
  30. The ability to download Mac apps from your iPhone or iPad and have them show up on your Mac when you get home.
  31. The ability to download iPad apps from your iPhone and have them show up on supported devices automatically.
  32. A web-based front-end to iTunes that doesn’t involve ever launching iTunes again.
  33. Selective backup restoration from an iCloud backup.
  34. Read and write access to Photo Streams.
  35. The ability to set new default apps for things like the camera, calendar and browser.
  36. Deeper integration for third-party services beyond just Twitter and Facebook.
  37. The return of Google Maps.
  38. A Q&A session with Tim Cook at the conclusion of the Keynote where he answers questions from anyone not named Robert Scoble.
  39. The ability to update apps in the background without weird geofencing hacks to accomplish it.
  40. A new App Store app that isn’t a complete turd.
  41. An update to OS X that is not only stable and fast, but incorporates new features both pulled back from iOS and to further push it ahead of Windows 8.
  42. The ability to disable that god damned Mac App Store updates notification without having to actually update or open the Mac App Store.
  43. Port UIKit back to OS X so that I can stop reading tweets from people bitching about how old and dated AppKit is.
  44. Retina screens for every Mac.
  45. A new Mac Pro. Finally.
  46. Air Drop support across the Internet and not just your local network.
  47. Pull all the Google-centric code from WebKit 2 and make the next version of Safari suck less. No more reloading all my tabs please.
  48. The ability to read your iBooks on your Mac.
  49. MapKit for OS X.
  50. Siri support for the Mac.

No pressure, right?

Posted on May 16, 2013

My Favorite Stories From The Boston Bombings

Yesterday I sat glued to the television watching the events in Boston Massachusetts unfold, much like I did back in 2001 during the last major domestic terror event. Luckily, this time wasn’t as destructive as the attacks on 9/11, but the impact will likely be the same going forward: not just heightened security, but an impressive showing of human resolve.

After a few hours yesterday, I turned off the news. Mostly because I couldn’t take seeing the same clips over and over, but also because I knew nothing new would likely be announced until this morning. New details are out about the what and the how, but we still don’t know the why.

In addition to the news stories being reported, the stories of the people impacted by the attacks are starting to come online. These stories of the heroes of the attacks are what I really am interested in reading when I am questioning how someone could do something so heinous. These are a few of my favorite pieces that are worth your time:

In Grisly Image, a Father Sees His Son - Tim Rohan of the New York Times.

I Watched The Marathon Bombing From Above. These Are My Photos - Ben Levine, a PR professional in Boston writing at Deadspin.

Lake Stevens runner just feet from blast in Boston - Bill Sheets of The Herald.

Terror and tragedy strike the world’s finish line - Dan Wetzel, one of my favorite writers, for Yahoo! Sports.

Posted on April 16, 2013

Debug 12: iCloud and Core Data Sync

I wrote about why I shelved Elements for iCloud last week after seeing so much being written about developer frustrations around iCloud’s developer APIs.

I have been intentionally keeping a low media profile the past few months in terms of podcasts and other interviews, but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to appear on one of the four podcasts I actually listen to1. Rene and Guy had me, Daniel Pasco of Black Pixel and Senator Brent Simmons of Ranchero Software on to discuss iCloud’s syncing troubles. As the only panelist to not have owned NetNewsWire, I make my case to be passed the ball next as well.

  1. The Vergecast, The BS Report with Bill Simmons, Grantland Network, and Debug if you must know. ↩

Posted on April 09, 2013

Three Years Later

I spent last fall back home in Indiana as a semi-vacation between my time in San Francisco and moving to Denver. One of the main reasons I stayed was to be around in the lead-up to my brother’s wedding in early November. The wedding went off without a hitch, aside from my hair being dyed so dark it looked like I had dunked my head in soy sauce.

Around Thanksgiving we got proofs for the wedding photos that confirmed that the bride looked lovely and that my hair was indeed really dark. I browsed the proofs using my laptop because most of them were uploaded to Facebook or a web gallery using Adobe Lightroom rather than being physical prints.

The lack of physical prints makes it difficult to share these photos with family members that aren’t online: most notably my 84-year-old grandmother. Grandma Weber is sharp as a tack, stubborn as a bull and sold the only PC she ever bought 10 years ago for a profit. She has zero interest in being online, and any attempt to put a computer in front of her usually results in frustration for everyone involved.

We wanted to share the photos with her, so I took my iPad to her house on Thanksgiving and put it in front of her. With a few instructions on how to swipe between photos using her index finger, she was able to view every photo with a smile on her face. She too agreed that my hair was too dark.

Moments like this weren’t possible before the iPad.

Posted on April 03, 2013

Why Elements For iCloud Doesn't Exist

One of the most requested features I have for Elements, my writing and notes app for iOS, is support for iCloud instead of Dropbox.

Usually the person requesting iCloud is different from the person who loves using Elements with Dropbox. In most cases, they don’t have a Dropbox account or don’t want to manage the external dependency on a third-party service. Others are the types that just want everything managed by Apple’s services.

Apple has been getting flack for Core Data’s iCloud support lately with both The Verge and Ars Technica writing about the frustrations developers face trying to implement the technology properly. On the more technical side, Bare Bones’s Rich Siegel went so far as to explain in detail the issues they have seen trying to add iCloud support to Yojimbo.

Core Data’s iCloud gets most of the grief when it comes to the public perception of the troubles, but document sync isn’t all oats and honey. I have had a nearly complete version of Elements ready to ship with iCloud support for several months. Why do I say nearly complete? There are bugs related to iCloud’s document syncing architecture that make me extremely uncomfortable shipping the software.

The goal of any software developer is to release products that are as bug-free as possible. During the beta cycle of the Elements for iCloud product, we ran into many strange issues with documents resurrecting themselves from the dead, delays in renaming and updating documents and situations where the document sandbox would just completely become busted to the point where a reset was the only way to resolve the issues.

My competitors such as iA Writer and Byword both ship iCloud support. They also have long support documents detailing the troubleshooting steps to resolve iCloud syncing issues. Everything listed is stuff I have seen on my end as well.

Ultimately, I decided the support overhead and headache wasn’t worth it at this time. Dropbox isn’t perfect by any means, but at least when it screws up I have a pretty good idea what went wrong and, most importantly, a way to help users get their data back.

iCloud is at the core of Apple’s future, but from a third-party developer’s perspective, that core is pretty rotten.

Posted on March 28, 2013