Your biggest strength
I remember growing up and doing everything I could possibly do to fit in. As a child and a teenager, being normal is the goal. You don't want people to talk about you as if you're some sort of weirdo, after all, right? So you were the same clothes as everyone
goodie
Android O Wallpapers
Android O was just announced by Google yesterday, and they didn't have the good sense to release any wallpapers based on their logo for the latest version of their mobile OS. So, as has become my habit, I made some for them. These are based on the new OS's logo as
Android
Is Android O as aggressively boring a release as it seems?
Android O was announced and released to developers in beta form today, and I was very excited to see what was in this new major update. I live half in the Android word as well, so anything new and wonderful for Android is good for me too, so I really want to see something great
goodie
Mass Effect: Andromeda iPhone Wallpapers
Mass Effect: Andromeda comes out next week and it will hopefully be yet another excellent entry into the Mass Effect series. To celebrate this release, as is customary on this site, I've created a pair of Mass Effect wallpapers for your smartphone that will bring the Mass Effect hype to your pocket. They&
Why can't Google keep a low-selling phone in stock?
As much as Google wants us to think that it's a hardware company that can keep up with the likes of Samsung and Apple, their actual market performance indicates the opposite. The company has been dabbling with hardware for a few years now, with Chromecast being their first big success, but now Google
ios
Concept: iOS 11 lock screen
UPDATE: If you would prefer to listen to some of the reasoning behind these ideas, my latest episode of The BirchTree Podcast has some additional reflection on these ideas.
As much as Apple has left their home screen largely unchanged since its inception in 2007, the lock screen has proven to be much more of
goodie
Wonder Woman wallpaper
The new Wonder Woman poster came out yesterday and it looks great! Here’s a modified version optimized for phone wallpapers.
Shout for iOS and Chrome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0LxV6TwC2k
My overview of the new app Shout from Kya.
Download on the App Store or download the Chrome extension.
mac
The apps keeping me on macOS
There is talk in the industry right now of people switching to Windows because Apple has “given up on the Mac” and I wanted to look at the apps that are keeping me on the Mac at this point. I just opened my Applications folder and noted each app that I love and/or can’
goodie
Horizon: Zero Dawn Wallpapers
Just a little set of wallpapers for Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is easily the best game I have played so far this year. Enjoy!
Download all 3 here or pick and choose from the 3 below.
podcast
BirchTree Podcast #15: The next big thing in iOS notifications
In which I run down my thought process when writing my piece on location-based, persistent notifications on iOS.
ios
How location-based, persistent reminders could change the game for iOS
UPDATE: I talked about this on my podcast today, if you would rather listen to me gush about this feature instead.
There are a few app types that get special treatment in iOS. Payment apps, for example, get to build in Siri actions. Ride-hailing apps can build in Maps extensions, and photo apps can
ios
Mocking up more advanced multitasking on iOS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g0RaMAQbCo
I made the above video as an attempt to imagine what a new app picker would look like in iOS on the iPad. Most would agree the existing solution is less than ideal and needs work.
The first change is with the app switcher that is triggered with
Game
The Magnificence of Horizon: Zero Dawn
I am only a few hours into the new PlayStation-exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn, but it's already solidified itself as the most visually impressive game I have ever played. Thankfully it has quality gameplay to match, and it has become my early favorite game of 2017. This game is just…wow!
podcast
BirchTree Podcast #14: Horizon + Zelda = Heaven
We're in a very good couple of weeks for video games, and I had to take a few minutes to gush about them.
ios
What if you put iOS on a Mac?
Walt Mossberg writing for The Verge:
But the signs of a shift to ARM only set the stage for a bigger development: the migration of the most important modern software platforms, Android and iOS, to laptops and other traditional hardware that once defined the old kind of PC.
This is an exciting idea, for sure.
video
Overcast 3.0 Review
I don't think I've ever done a video-only review of an app before, but I gave it a shot with Overcast 3.0 which came out last week. For the time being, it has become my go to podcast app.
Enjoy the video, and please subscribe 😄
https://www.youtube.com/
Google Chrome's frustrating assault on my CPU (and how Kaby Lake Macs would make this 10x better)
I use Safari as my main web browser on my Mac. I know, that makes me an outlier. Why would I use such an "objectively worse" browser when Chrome is sitting right there in my Applications folder, just asking me, begging me to use it?
Well, I like Chrome for a lot of