Steven's Blog

Karyne Levy for Business Insider, on why she isn’t compelled to upgrade her iPad 1 from 2010:

I don’t need an upgraded iOS to display recipes while I putz around in the kitchen. And I can keep it on the coffee table if I need to look up something online and want a bigger screen.

An interesting, reasoned take for keeping an relatively ancient device.

Levy’s stance is interesting insofar that it’s so true in so many ways. Even on iOS 5.1.1, she can still get email and browse Safari. She can still tweet and use Facebook. Put another way, the essentials are still plenty viable and productive, even four years later.

Graham Spencer for MacStories, “iCloud Drive: What It Is, How It Works, & Its Fundamental Problem”:

Cloud Drive sits awkwardly as a solution to a problem that Apple created. Apple at first tried to avoid implementing a file system on iOS but have now realised that some users need it and have created iCloud Drive in a way that tries to hide what is ostensibly a file system, ultimately making it more complicated. The problem is that files still get stuck in these weird app folders, which frankly makes no sense to me. If I have multiple text editors or spreadsheet apps, how am I supposed to know which app I created the file in?

In my opinion, Apple should get rid of these weird app folders and simply save files to the root of iCloud Drive, or into user-created folders if the user chose. To simplify things, apps such as Pages which can only view certain document formats would only need to display those files which it could open. This way, there is no file system unless the user creates one and iOS only displays the documents relevant to the particular app being used. No need to hunt around in the dozens of app folders to find that one file you were looking for. Surely that would be simpler?

While I’m glad that iCloud Drive exists — and upon installing Yosemite on my Mac, I enabled it everywhere — it still isn’t what I asked for. I would’ve preferred that Apple added to iOS 8 an iCloud Documents app wherein users could search for and manage files; one canonical place in the system where their stuff resides.

If you read my piece for Jason Snell’s Six Colors blog, you know that I attended the XOXO Festival in Portland, OR, last month. Since the conference ended, The Andys have been posting the guest speakers talks on YouTube.

Here, John Gruber discusses running Daring Fireball and being “indie”.

It was after this presentation that I got to meet John and shake his hand, which was a huge thrill.

Chris Breen eulogizes Macworld Expo for Macworld:

At Expo careers were launched, plots hatched, businesses created, minds changed, and friends made. It was an event that we looked forward to for months and whose ideas resonated for years. And it wasn’t just us shmoes. I saw countless Apple employees who were just as excited about the show as I was. It was the center of the Apple universe. It mattered. And it mattered because it was about more than just products and promotion. It was equally about people.

While I never attended Macworld in its heyday, my lasting memory of the expo is from this year’s. Back in January, I got to meet, in person, my friends at TidBITS: Josh Centers and Adam and Tonya Engst. They’re all great people, and it was neat that I got to meet them at the event, albeit after hours.

Bradley Chambers, “The App That Holds iOS Back”:

When the iPhone was released in 2007 with a “desktop class” web browser, it was widely praised. You could view entire websites on a mobile device. Coming from the days of WAP optimized sites on my Motorola Q, this was incredible. If we fast forward to 2014, Mobile Safari has become the app that is holding the iPad back from becoming a fully featured laptop replacement for a lot of people. While Mobile Safari is fast and loads website reasonably well, it cannot upload and download files. It can upload pictures, but that is it. Mobile Safari needs a way to upload and download any type of file into iCloud Drive (a mirrored from the Mac downloads folder).

I would argue, too, that Mail is just as guilty because of its inability to add attachments to outbound messages.

Nick Bilton, writing for the New York Times:

“So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

The former early childhood development major in me thinks it’s so cool that Steve Jobs, of all people, saw the value in limiting his children’s access to technology.

Since the iPhone and iPhone 6 Plus went on sale last month, there has been much discussion regarding whether to use a case with the new phones. To wit, here’s Jason Snell’s take:

I have always appreciated using my iPhones as they were born, a naked robotic core with no adornment. And I’ve never dropped one. But I’ve been using an Apple iPhone 6 leather case for the last couple of weeks, and really liking it.

Myself, I’ve long been a fan of cases for my iPhone. To me, using a case provides not only protection against bumps and bruises, but also they add texture to the device, the friction of which makes gripping it much easier. This is especially true for this year’s new iPhones; as “big and slippery” as they are, using a case makes sense.

In my experience, I’ve found using my iPhone 6 with a case to be great. I bought one of Apple’s silicone cases alongside my phone on launch day, and find it to be durable and grippable. As I have cerebral palsy, the strength in my hands isn’t the best — even in my dominant hand — so the case adds as a security blanket should I ever accidentally drop my phone. As well, I find that pushing the volume and power buttons to be easier with the case on because it adds visual definition and better tactile feedback. In short, using a case on my iPhone 6 is a usability win.

That said, I have heard many on Twitter proclaim the polar opposite: I can’t fathom putting a case on my new iPhone. It’s not an unreasonable stance; after all, the iPhones 6 are made of sturdy materials and, of course, why bother covering up such a beautiful industrial design? In fact, I love the feel of my iPhone 6 naked — to me, it feels even better in hand than the iPhone 5C that I lusted after all last year. Yet for as luxurious as the smooth surface and curved glass of my iPhone 6 is, the truth is I’d rather be safe than sorry.

I could very well change my mind in the future, but for now, I’m 100 percent a case man.