Month: September 2016

iOS 10 Message Apps and Sticker Packs Roundup

iPhone
Jason Tate

One of the best features of iOS 10 is the new iMessage app. MacStories has a really good round up of some of the best apps and sticker packs that have been released:

Over recent weeks, Federico and I have tested dozens of iMessage apps and sticker packs, exchanged hundreds of stickers, made interactive to-do lists, played games, edited photos, and much, much more. Some of the things we’ve tried are highlighted in Federico’s iOS 10 review to illustrate particular aspects of the Messages app, but we’ve seen so many interesting apps and stickers, we wanted to share them with readers in one place.

I’m all about that Mario pack.

Tidal Posts Huge Loss in 2015

The Wall Street Journal
Jason Tate

The Wall Street Journal:

In the year rap mogul Jay Z took control of Tidal, the music-streaming service more than doubled its losses, burning cash at a rapid rate and testing the depth of its owner’s pockets.

Aspiro AB, the Swedish holding company that Jay Z and a group of other musicians bought in early 2015, recorded a net loss of 239 million Swedish kronor ($28 million) last year, according to a legal filing. That compared with a net loss of 88.9 million Swedish kronor in 2014.

I don’t think that’s good.

American Football Discuss Their New Album

American Football
Jason Tate

Drowned in Sound sat down to talk with American Football about their new album:

We knew it wouldn’t define us; it’s not a crazy flash-in-the-pan thing. We knew it would only be worth it if we were all excited about writing new material, and as Mike mentioned, it was more fun than anything, so it was exciting to start writing new music tonight and put more thought into recording properly this time. The first album we just practiced and practiced until we had perfected a sound and then hit record. After one headline show in a basement, we were done with it, as we all moved away from college.

iOS 10 Is Now Available

iPhone
Jason Tate

Apple has released iOS 10 today. It should now be available via software update. A few of the reviews I’ve enjoyed reading include:

Pixel Envy:

I may regularly bemoan individual parts of iOS. There are certain places where I wish Apple had made more progress than they did, but there are also aspects of the system that have been greatly enhanced in ways I’d never have expected. Saying that iOS 10 is the best release of iOS yet is a bit trite — you’d kind of hope the latest version would be, right?

But there’s so much that has gone into this version of iOS that I deeply appreciate.

iMore:

iOS 7 was a redesign, wiping away rich textures and putting physics-based interactions in their place. iOS 8 was a re-architecture, decoupling actions from apps and letting them extend into other interfaces and continue across devices. iOS 9 was a rewiring, setting up intelligence and proactivity, but in a way that respected privacy and security.

Now, iOS 10 takes all those things and pushes them forward.

Mac Stories:

At the same time, iOS 10 is more than a collection of new features. It’s the epitome of Apple’s approach to web services and AI, messaging as a platform, virtual assistants, and the connected home. And as a cornucopia of big themes rather than trivial app updates, iOS 10 shows another side of Apple’s strategy:

Sometimes, change is necessary.

‘Myst’ Creator Interviewed by The A.V. Club

Videogames
Jason Tate

The A.V. Club interviewed the creator of one of my favorite computer games growing up, Myst, and the entire thing is good, but I loved this quote:

AVC: If you could go back 23, 24 years, and tell yourself one thing while you were making Myst, what would it be?

RM: Oh my gosh. Okay, honestly—this is some deep stuff—but I’m older now, and a lot of what happened with Myst, I now realize a lot of it, a majority of it, had to do with luck. And I think that’s how the world works. I think a lot of people work very hard, and they don’t get lucky. I think I would have told myself, “Don’t confuse luck with any sort of elevated view of yourself. You were in the right place at the right time and did a lot of hard work, but a lot of people do hard work. It worked for you, be grateful, and don’t think too much of yourself.”