Please Steal These webOS Features
So why was it so easy for me to use the TouchPad for work, but not the iPad? I think it’s because there are a number of things the TouchPad does that make it more suitable for work.
Archive for February 21, 2012
iOS Lacks a Document Transfer System
I consider it a fundamental freedom of the computer user that he be able to take the data he created out of the application he created it with, so that he may be able to use it with another application.
Air Dictate 2.0 Rejected From the App Store
After Apple yanked Air Dictate 1.0 from the App Store, we scrambled and submitted a brand new Air Dictate 2.0 that satisfied all of Apple’s requests. We are pretty proud of the work we’ve done in this app. We no longer grab your tap on our big mic button and reposition it onto the little mic button on the hidden keyboard, which is what Apple objected to. In fact, we no longer have a button in the UI at all. Instead of tapping a button, you just raise the phone to your ear, start dictating, and then move the phone away from your ear to stop talking. We not only didn’t use private API for any of this; we didn’t use any API. iOS is doing all of the work.
The official reason is non-compliance with Apple’s trademark guidelines for Siri, however Air Dictate doesn’t use the word “Siri” or include its icon.
Update (2012-06-12): Avatron:
Today in the WWDC keynote, Apple announced that Siri-style diction will be part of Mountain Lion. Now we know why they unceremoniously removed Air Dictate from the App Store: we had beaten them to the punch. They hate that.
Sandbox Deadline: June 1
Apple has extended the sandboxing deadline again. There’s also a FAQ that states:
Apps on the Mac App Store prior to June 1 will remain on the Mac App Store.
and:
We will allow bug fix updates to non-sandboxed apps that were offered on the Mac App Store prior to June 1.
This gives developers time to incorporate the new security-scoped bookmark APIs that were introduced in Mac OS X 10.7.3 (but not documented by Apple until a few days ago). The APIs make it possible to prompt the user once for access to each file/folder, rather than once-per-launch (with the original sandbox implementation) or not at all (pre-sandbox). There’s still the issue of these APIs being missing on Mac OS X 10.7.0 through 10.7.2, and there’s plenty more about the sandbox that still doesn’t work right. Nevertheless, this communication is a step in the right direction, and this time Apple didn’t wait until the day after the deadline had passed.
Update (2012-02-22): Daniel Jalkut describes the versioning issue. (I don’t think it’s as simple as the app checking the OS version, due to container migration.)
