Too Many Apples
My wife is in the market for a new laptop this spring, which means I'm in the ever so fun position of recommending which computer she should get. She's been a lifelong Windows user, but Windows 8 and 10 have soured her to the platform and she's seriously considering
Apple's Nutty New iPhone Charging Case
So that iPhone battery case, huh? Everyone tends to agree that it's too expensive, gives too little power, and looks simply god-awful. In general, I agree that the thing looks bizarre, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute.
Between my wife and I, we've owned 3
Star Wars The Force Awakens Phone Wallpapers
The Star Wars bug has hit me hard the last couple of days. With just 9 days until Episode 7 is released, it seems like Star Wars is at a fever pitch right now. Every brand in the world is doing the damnedest to somehow integrate their brand with Star Wars, no matter how distant
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Using the iPad for: Web Development
This is part 1 in a new series on the site about some false notions out there about what you can and can't do on the iPad. The iPad has long been criticized for being a "consumption device" and that "real work" still needs to happen on a desktop
Apple Watch is an Odd 1.0 Apple Release
Dan Frommer writing for Quartz
Seven months later, my Apple Watch is still the second thing I put on every morning. (Glasses first.) But while I still enjoy using it and recommend buying it, I’m starting to feel the limitations of what the first version of the watch can do.
The main issue: I’
The Mac is a Third Wheel
I sat down at my Mac to do something yesterday and it hit me square in the face: the Mac is not the center of my computer life anymore. And it's not even close. My life used to be on the Mac with iPhoto, iMovie, and iTunes in particular, but really every single
Another App Leaves the Mac App Store
The excellent app Sketch was removed from the Mac App Store today. Here’s why:
We’ve been considering our options for some time. Over the last year, as we’ve made great progress with Sketch, the customer experience on the Mac App Store hasn’t evolved like its iOS counterpart. We want to continue
A Super Simple JavaScript Reading Time Calculator for Statamic
If you follow me on Twitter, you likely know that I’m working on converting this site over to Statamic from its current home on Squarespace. Statamic is a very cool platform, and affords you a ton of control over how your site looks and operates.
One really cool feature in Statamic are variable modifiers
watch
Upgrade your Apple Watch Band for Less Than $30
The Apple Watch is a wonderful product that I love and use all the time, but it can be a little hard to legitimize spending a few hundred dollars on additional watch bands. It was hard enough legitimizing spending $400 on a watch, so I have not bought any of Apple's official watch
Time to Bring the Noise
Whew, it's been quiet around here lately! Well fear not, because it's about to get loud.
I thoroughly enjoyed my Thanksgiving break, but it's time to get back to work. I spent the last few days recreating the look and feel of the site on Statamic and I’m
Happy Thanksgiving!
Looks like we're going to have a white Thanksgiving for the firt time in many years.
Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the United States, and happy Last Full Week of November to all my international friends!
This year I am thankful for so many things, but none more than my ability to
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What I Want to See in iOS 10 for iPad
iOS 9 was a good release for the iPhone, but it was a great release for the iPad. Split screen support, enhanced Bluetooth keyboard features, and picture-in-picture really made it a more powerful machine. These features in conjunction with some great app updates over the past few months have really made the iPad
music
The Case for Artists Selling, Not Streaming Music
It was announced at the eleventh hour that Adele's new record, 25 will not be available on any streaming service for at least a little while. What this means for people like me and basically everyone under 30 is that it won't magically show up in your music app and be
My Next “Mac” Could be an iPad
There is currently a conversations going around the Apple world about whether the iPad Pro can be your main computer. This is honestly a conversation that has been going on for far longer, and really dates back to the launch of the original iPad in 2010. People fall into a few sides on this debate:
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5 Years and a Book!
Last month I celebrated 5 years of writing at BirchTree, which is quite the milestone. I am extremely grateful for all the congratulations and positive feedback I got that day; it was more than I ever expected and only solidifies my belief that I have the best readers on the internet.
One of the things
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The Future of iOS is not OS X
OS X + iOS = AppleOS, one app to rule them all — Apple World Today
I do think the two operating systems will merge somewhere down the road into, simply,"AppleOS." The trick for Apple will be to make AppleOS as easy for consumers and newbies as iOS currently is, while still offering features needed
Game
The Big Blue Ocean: How the Apple TV Could Disrupt Console Gaming
I've been pretty vocal in the past about how I don't think that the Apple TV in its current form can do much to damage Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo's grip on the home gaming console market. The crux of my argument is that games are simply worse on the
opinion
Tempering the Free App Outrage
Well, another podcast app has gone free, and with it, the gnashing of teeth has already begun.
Here's how developer Supertop worded the decision it in their announcement:
Yesterday, Supertop needed an endless stream of thousands of new customers to sustain our business. From today, we can be successful with a far smaller