Last night I began writing a lengthy (and somewhat scathing) post about the state of RSS reader apps for iOS. I started off going through my gripes, some of which I still think are valid, and realized before I got too far down this road I needed to do some good research. Thankfully I did and came across Brent Simmons’s post “Why ‘Just Store the App Data on Dropbox’ won’t work for RSS readers”. Brent busts my biggest beef with the current crop of apps: reliance on Google Reader for sync and storage.
I, like others, am making the exodus from Google to other services. One that I am very tied to is Google Reader, primarily because of my use of Reeder for Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Essentially what Brent breaks down are the synchronization pitfalls of utilizing Dropbox, WebDAV, and iDisk (I presume iCloud as well) as a database location and sync service. He puts forth scenarios where there are huge RSS feeds and listings and the issues with caching older posts, as feeds tend to be limited to only the most recent posts. The breakdown comes to the point that there is so much involved and needed for a RSS sync service to work, that it would not be cost-effective to create such a system. Hence, the wide-adoption of Google Reader for syncing in so many reader apps.
My primary complaint involves subscribing to a feed and subscription management. Reeder for Mac has these features. Adding a subscription is convenient and simple. Managing is less than desirable, but doable. In Reeder for iPhone and Reeder for iPad both features are nonexistent. If you come across a site that you’d like to add to Reeder, you have to either log in to Google Reader or pull up Reeder on your Mac. Reeder is not alone in this limitation, even NetNewsWire’s FAQ for their iPad version states that in order to add a subscription a different app is required. I may be the only one complaining, but this seems like a logical, essential, and natural feature. Perhaps this is a limitation of the Google API, but I can’t see what the reason would be.
All this aside I think Reeder is the best designed app for reading your RSS feeds. I highly recommend Reeder to anyone looking for a dedicated RSS app for both iOS and Mac.
This is the type of missional action I love to see. Take something you have a talent with. Mix it with something you have a passion for. Which comes together as something extraordinary.
Sevenly creates really great looking t-shirts focusing on a weekly cause. Then for every shirt sold they give $7, about 30%, to a non-profit that focuses on that cause.
This week they are raising awareness for Autism with all funds going to support Autism Speaks.
The home screen of my iPhone changes often. Once I realize that an app hasn’t been getting much action, it gets booted to another page. Some of my former home screen apps include Path, Flipboard, and Instagram. Now, these apps are still on my phone and get use, just not as much to merit a home screen status. My criteria for home screen eligibility has several aspects.
First off, no games. I enjoy playing games on my iPhone, but I need to keep myself in check. So, any games on my phone must reside in a “Games” folder, which is placed on one of the last screens of the phone. Second are frequently used messaging and communications apps, such as Messages, Phone, Mail, and a Twitter client. Then I have my commonly used apps followed by apps I’m trying out.
As of this mid-January writing my iPhone home screen consists of the following:
Safari
The tried and true default browser. I use it regularly. Just wish I could get DuckDuckGo as a browser option.
Agenda
This is a trial run replacement of iCal. This a universal (i.e. iPad and iPhone) app. I really like it on the iPhone, we’ll see if it lasts on the iPad.
Messages
The default and pretty good texting/chat app. I’ve tried other texting/chatting apps, but nothing has stood out as better than Apple’s.
Capture
Capture is a great app for recording video at a moments notice. Although, it has been getting less use since the quick access to the camera app was added to the lock screen in iOS 5. Still, how the app functions makes it a contender in a quick-draw video recording scenario. The moment you launch the app it begins recording video. The interface is wonderfully simple, only displaying the length of the recording and a red dot to indicate you are recording. To stop the capture, you simply hit the Home button and the video is automatically saved to your Camera Roll.
I got to this party a little late, albeit I was still quite satisfied with Twitter’s app until they launched version 4. Then the Twitter app became much less likable and useable. Even my wife agrees. I had heard and read reviews on Tweetbot, so I thought I’d give it a try. Hands down, it is the best Twitter client I have used on my iPhone. I’m still getting used to some of its features, but it is well worth the purchase.
I often need quick access to maps. While it is no GPS, it works sufficient to my needs.
Clock
My alarm clock.
Camera
Quick access to take a photo or some video. Apple’s addition to use the increase volume button as a shutter release in iOS 5 was long overdue and much welcomed.
WriteRoom
I started off with WriteRoom a few years back on my Mac, and recently picked it up for my iPhone and iPad. The Dropbox integration is great and is a bit part of how I run Phanza.
Like WriteRoom, I have this app for my Mac, iPhone and iPad. It really is a great app to keep up with all your feed subscriptions. The only annoyance I have is the reliance and requirement of Google Reader. I would much rather see the feeds sync between apps over Apple’s iCloud system.
Love looking at through my photos. I have several photo editing apps I keep on a secondary screen.
Instacast
This is totally what the podcast portion of Apple’s Music app should have been. It syncs and streams your podcast subscriptions. The app will also import your podcasts from the Music app.
Until I have quick access to turn down the brightness of the screen without going into Settings, this app will remain on my home screen.
OmniFocus
Since the apps in the Dock are top-level and on every screen, I won’t go into much detail. Phone, Mail, and Music should all be quite obvious as to their intended function. OmniFocus is one of those apps that took a bit of thinking before making the plunge. I now have and use the app on my Mac, iPad, and iPhone. It really is a great utility to keep track of projects and keeping thoughts organized.
The final, and big, element of the home screen is the background wallpaper. Currently I have my phone’s background set to Hector Simpson’s Dark Collection.
Here is a screen shot of my home screen for your viewing pleasure.
Ben Callahan of Sparkbox tackles hands-on responsive and adaptive web design. You can view Ben’s presentation over at SpeakerDeck.
My favorite portion of his deck comes at slide 34. Here he lists a short Pros/Cons list when deciding whether to go for large resolutions first or small resolutions first (a.k.a. mobile first). Good things to think about. Sparkbox prefers mobile first and Ben goes on to explain why.
In opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills in Congress, Wikipedia plans to blackout the entire English portion of the website. The blackout will begin at midnight Eastern for 24 hours.
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the United States. We celebrate and honor a life devoted to fighting oppression and discrimination. At the same time we need to reflect where we stand as a nation. Can we say with an astute confidence that King’s dream is realized? I don’t believe so.
In all reality this is my third or fourth crack at running a blog. Like each iteration before, I’m using a different system. Previously I have used Joomla! and Wordpress. Both systems are great for managing content, but I find them inadequate for creating content. They do well to try and make things simple for techie and non-techie alike. But, I have never found writing to be simple or easy.
Enter Second Crack
This version of Phanza is built on Marco Arment’s Second Crack static-file blog engine. What is so wonderful and attractive about this system is it’s use of Dropbox and Markdown. The system, once set up, is simple:
Create a .txt file in your favorite text editor, WriteRoom.
Write your content using Markdown format.
Save file.
Once that is done, two scripts run on your server. The first syncs your Dropbox folder to the server. The second script takes file from the Dropbox folder and creates a HTML page.
Now, the process to get this system is certainly not for beginners. I barely qualify to setup this system myself. Marco is quick to point out on Second Crack’s README that this system “should be considered an early alpha” and probably should not be used in live environments.
With that warning in mind, I decided to use Second Crack for its ease of use and programming challenge. It took a week’s worth of free-time to get this up and running, plus two full weekends. I ran into problems and had to backtrack on many occasions. But in the end, I gleaned copious amounts of information and a great learning experience.
I’m very interested to see what happens with this go around of Phanza.
