Joz from Apple said on Twitter tonight that “apps designed specifically for Vision Pro” have surpassed 1,000. The company previously said just a couple weeks ago that there were 600 when the product initially launched at the beginning of this month. [h/t to MacRumors]
Tag: apple
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I mean, it’s eerily similar, for sure. But like the many other “predictions” the show has made, including the Trump presidency, I am about 99.9% certain that this is just a coincidence. The other .1%, though…well, I’m not so sure. Perhaps Matt Groening and company are time travelers. We’ll never know.
Labels: LinklogApple’s CEO Tim Cook said (emphasis mine):
“We are pleased to announce that our installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments.”
That’s impressive for Apple! Although for context, Android has over 3 billion active devices total across all device types and countries. Apple’s growing!
A few years ago, I discovered a weather app so sassy that I just had to have it. That app was CARROT. I got my friends on it and everything. We have a Discord channel dedicated to just sharing some of the unhinged crap the sentient app bot spits out at us. It has even spawned some absolutely hilarious inside jokes for my friends and I, too! We love it!
Well, the developer behind it has brought it to Apple Vision Pro, and it’s really nicely designed. It is worth checking out, even if you don’t have an Apple Vision Pro! It’s just that pretty!
Also, download CARROT. You won’t regret it. Such a good weather app!
Labels: Linklog“The Apple Vision Pro headset is made of heavy materials like aluminum and glass…so how does this affect bumps and drops while wearing the device? Here’s an in-depth durability and drop test to see how it holds up!”
It did quite well, all things considered! I’m very impressed that, despite being a first-gen with some obvious inherent quirks that come with that, it’s still fully functional after getting absolutely hulk smashed by Sam. Do be careful with your $3,500 USD purchase, though. As the almighty JerryRigEverything says, “Glass is glass and glass breaks.”
Labels: LinklogFast Company interviews Phil Schiller and here are two interesting bits (though the whole thing is worth the read!):
“We’ve put together over 600 new APIs for developers to give them the tools to build a marketplace, install an app, let the user have control of that process,” Schiller says. “We’ve done a lot of core engineering [to help make things easier for alternative app store developers], and we’re going to continue to.”
“It’s important to note, however, that this notarization process isn’t as in-depth as the App Store’s traditional review, which also checks, among other things, that an app is following content rules. Still, this notarization should be enough to stop a malicious app that’s attempting to mimic a real app (say, from Facebook or Starbucks) from being installed on a user’s iPhone.”
Apple’s working overtime to “scare” folks from not using alternate storefronts, which they’re calling “Alternative App Marketplaces” to distinguish from their own App Store. That said, I think users have the choice in the matter here. There’s an argument to be had. Put the safeguards in place and let them decide.
I’m willing to bet most normal users, who aren’t enthusiasts or tech geeks like me, won’t even bother installing an “alternative app marketplace” or sideload an app unless they’re required to. My aunts certainly haven’t thought about that in years — they’ve used most of the default apps that come with their iPhones since switching a few years ago! I don’t foresee anything changing there.
I highly recommend reading my previous post on this topic, as well as friend of the blog Riley Testut’s 9to5Mac interview.
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It’s true, Google wouldn’t do it, so Christian Selig (of Pixel Pals, and if you’re old enough to remember — Apollo — fame) did. He made a new YouTube app called Juno for the Apple Vision Pro.
It’s native and beautiful, too. Available now for $4.99 USD on the App Store.
Not an ad, just thrilled that my favorite developer is building more stuff. I’ve missed him!
Labels: Linklog 
Oh, and there’s a photo of Tim Cook wearing the headset (courtesy: Vanity Fair) Apple writes (emphasis mine):
“More than 600 apps and games designed to take advantage of the unique and powerful capabilities of Apple Vision Pro will be available this Friday, February 2. Vision Pro has an infinite canvas where apps can scale beyond the boundaries of a traditional display, and introduces an intuitive and powerful three-dimensional user interface that users navigate with their eyes, hands, and voice. Spatial experiences on Vision Pro can transform any room into a personal theater for sports, TV shows, and films; unlock new ways to collaborate, create, and view digital content; and transport users to stunning gameplay environments and exciting new places.”
That may not sound like much, but for a brand-new, first-gen device and platform, it’s quite impressive. Spotify, YouTube, and Netflix are among the apps not available, though, so that’s unfortunate — but Disney+ is built right in, and if you have a cable subscription, you can tap into that with the (also built-in) TV app.
Interested to see what apps are launching. I know most of the ones I’d personally be interested are in compatibility mode on the headset, not native, so I can’t imagine many will adapt unless there’s a benefit to that. We’ll see!
Labels: LinklogRemoving The Vision Pro Battery’s Cable Reveals An Interesting, Yet Oddly Not Quite Familiar Connector
As discovered by Ray Wong on Twitter, there’s an interesting connector that the Vision Pro’s battery uses. It’s not USB-C (which the EU will mandate on certain types of devices starting this year), and while it looks like Lightning, it’s most certainly not. There are two many pins on the end! This is a proprietary if I’ve ever seen one.
I don’t know what it does, I don’t have access to Vision Pro at all. But one thing’s for sure: it’s a weird connector that feels oddly familiar to Lightning that I had to share with you.
Should we call it “Lightning XL”?
Labels: Linklog
Our plan is to fund and then build Tapestry as an iOS app over the course of 9 to 12 months with the following features and functionality:
- 🕰️ Unified, chronological timeline
- 🔍 Detail view for individual posts
- 📙 Remember your reading position in the timeline
- 🌎 Ability to add common publicly accessible sources to your timeline, such as Mastodon accounts, RSS feeds, and more (see below)
- 🛠️ Basic support for building and adding your own plug-ins to support additional source types
- 📱 Support for iPhone and iPad
- 🗣️ Full accessibility via VoiceOver support
- 🆎 Support for dynamic font resizing
- 💡 Light and Dark theme
I’m really excited for this! I’ve always wanted one app to rule them all, and this would certainly be a push for me to return to iOS full-time. They’re looking for about $100,000 USD of funding, and as of writing, they’re sitting at about $42,000 USD. If this is of interest to you, please consider giving a few dollars! The Iconfactory are brilliant humans (who I wish I could work with) and they’re absolutely worth your support!
(Disclosure: Ged Maheux is a friend of the blog, and the human who writes it–but he and the Iconfactory team did not have any say in this post going live for readers.)
Labels: Linklog
