13: 📚The history of Link Bubble with Jake Wharton →

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Jake Wharton (aka the most in-demand Android engineer on the planet) takes over the show and proceeds to interview yours truly about all things Link Bubble, my now former app. We discuss everything about Link Bubble, from how I conceived the app all the way up to my selling of the app and everything in between.

Some of the many topics discussed include the early prototyping of the app, my decision making process in applying for a patent on the app, my thoughts on the vocal folk who felt the app was outrageously priced at launch, the companion app TapPath, what it was like for me to temporarily trade in my engineering hat and try my hand at becoming a deal making executive, and a whole heap more.

This episode is brought to you by Action Launcher 3 for Android. Go on, leave me a review (I like the number 5).

Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeWharton

Links

Ep. 12: Two Android developers talk iPhone with Francisco Franco →

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Pitchforks at the ready, as Android developer and kernel tweaker Francisco Franco and I have a lengthy chat about the iPhone 6! We start off talking about how we came to spend time with the latest iPhone, and then dig into three main topics: the hardware, iOS and the platform's apps.

We discuss our experiences using an iPhone on a daily basis, the things we miss most coming from Android, areas where the iPhone is superior, Apple's restrictive APIs and more. Oh, and Francisco demonstrates that he may in fact have a future in politics when we discuss what phone we envisage our SIM card being plugged into on Christmas Day once this year's Nexus phones have shipped.

Ep. 11: M is for Marshmallow with JR Raphael →

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Guest JR Raphael and I discuss all the week's news. We break down M's official name, as well as discussing the potential implications for future Android version numbers and logos, and of course discuss this week's updated M Preview release itself.

I have my first podcast mini-rant about over-the-air updates of preview releases, and also speculate about a potential reason we have seen M's finalized APIs released earlier this year.

We also chat about on the possibility of multiple Nexus devices for this year, and dig into Google's newly announced OnHub device, including my irresponsible speculation as to why Nest didn't release this product. Finally, JR shares a few thoughts about OnePlus.

Follow JR on Twitter: @JRRaphael.

I've sold Link Bubble, TapPath and all related assets

Before releasing Link Bubble, I made a teaser post for the app in which I stated:

"I’m more proud of Link Bubble than anything I’ve done in my career".

This remains true today.

But what has become apparent to me since launching Link Bubble is that it will take a lot more resources and know-how than my indie company possesses to really take the app as far as it can go.

It is with this in mind, that I'm tremendously excited to announce that Link Bubble, Link Bubble Pro and TapPath have a new home.

The new owners of the apps are a US startup currently in stealth mode, so I'll let them introduce themselves on their own schedule. But you should trust me when I say that once the founders come to light, it will immediately be apparent why I, as the world's most enthusiastic Link Bubble user, am so excited about both this deal, and the implications for Link Bubble's future.

To celebrate this transition, today Link Bubble is receiving its largest update ever, with a material design overhaul, support for HTML drop down elements, colored toolbars, custom domain redirects, translations for 6 new languages and a wealth of bug fixes.

For existing users, this transition will be an entirely seamless experience. Your previous purchases of Link Bubble Pro and TapPath are still tied to your Google Account, and will continue to work as they always have. Users of the free Link Bubble app will receive updates via the Play Store as with any other app.

I'd like to thank each and every person who used, bought, sent feedback on, or had any interaction with Link Bubble during the past 18 months. I feel as confident as ever that Link Bubble planted a seedling for a better way to use the web on mobile devices, and I'm excited for us all to see this idea flourish in the years to come!

WSJ interview with OnePlus CEO Carl Pei →

WSJ: After working for China-based electronics manufacturers Meizu and Oppo, you started OnePlus. How did OnePlus come about?

Pei: I was talking with my Oppo colleagues in a cafe, and we put our phones on the table. We were all using iPhones even though we worked for a company that makes [Android phones].

We asked ourselves who makes the best smartphone in the world? You had to say Apple. But second? There was no No. 2. We saw a gap.

The above video is interesting, as is the linked interview.

Jurassic World sequel set for 2018

Justin Kroll:

After the smash success of “Jurassic World,” Universal has dated a sequel for June 22, 2018.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will return to star in the film, which Steven Spielberg will exec produce through his Amblin Entertainment banner.

Colin Trevorrow, who directed “Jurassic World,” will co-write the screenplay with Derek Connolly.

Given Jurassic World is now the third highest grossing movie of all time and Pratt is set to make Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for 2017, little of this news comes as a surprise.

Personally, I'm excited Trevorrow and Connolly are writing the sequel. I think they largely did a good job with World.

Although unlike the vast majority of Hollywood blockbusters I've seen, I did come away from Jurassic World with the feeling that I didn't immediately see an obvious route for a sequel. In fact, my impression was it almost felt as if they painted themselves into a corner where any further sequels might be tough. Certainly there doesn't seem any avenue for the island as a tourist attraction anymore, and I doubt if the writers want to do the whole "let's make up an excuse for our humans to have to go back a dinosaur filled island" plot line from the first two sequels again.

But I've only seen World once. Perhaps there's more threads there that become apparent upon subsequent viewings.

Apple desperately needs to split official apps from iOS updates →

Owen Wilson:

It’s a crazy backwards policy to require entire point releases, like iOS 8.4 for Apple Music’s release, for adding or updating individual apps.

Such a system slows down progress from Apple until major changes are available, leaving users in the lurch for weeks or months longer than necessary for fairly trivial fixes.

App developers, like Medium and Slack, are able to throw bug fixes and quick tweaks out the door as soon as they have them. Users automatically get the latest, without even knowing it in many cases.

I've lost count of how many times I've mentioned this over the years. Apple's system of requiring a system update and in turn a device restart to fix even the slightest issue with any of their apps is just madness.

Wilson's entire piece is one of those "I agree with every word" articles for me, and I suggest reading the whole thing, but I'll leave with this:

Apple is seen to be moving too slowly with development of important bundled apps, like Maps, Podcasts and Music, because it simply can’t push entire system updates for such small content frequently without upsetting users.

App developers have the tools to rapidly iterate their creations, but Apple is suffocating its own products back by not ripping those apps out from the core of iOS and iterating faster.

Apple Music three weeks on →

Jim Dalrymple on Apple Music at launch:

I’m damned impressed. Apple Music is a quality service, with the right mix of human curation and algorithms to help users figure out exactly what they want to hear.

I can only imagine that the service will get better from here. The more I use it, like/dislike songs, the better it will know me.

I was interacting with Apple Music the entire time I was writing this and the radio station I started listening to improved quite a bit in those hours. I’m not skipping songs, instead I have a steady diet of Slash, Godsmack, Led Zeppelin, and Metallica. It’s hard to beat that.

While other streaming services didn’t worry much about Apple in the past, Apple Music will get their attention. In fact, it’s going to grab everyone’s attention.

The same Jim Dalrymple on Apple Music three weeks on:

At some point, enough is enough. That time has come for me—Apple Music is just too much of a hassle to be bothered with. Nobody I’ve spoken at Apple or outside the company has any idea how to fix it, so the chances of a positive outcome seem slim to none.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, Apple Music gave me one more kick in the head. Over the weekend, I turned off Apple Music and it took large chunks of my purchased music with it. Sadly, many of the songs were added from CDs years ago that I no longer have access to. Looking at my old iTunes Match library, before Apple Music, I’m missing about 4,700 songs. At this point, I just don’t care anymore, I just want Apple Music off my devices.

I trusted my data to Apple and they failed. I also failed by not backing up my library before installing Apple Music. I will not make either of those mistakes again.

I’m going to listen to what’s left of my music library, and try to figure out all of the songs I have to buy again. I’ll also download Spotify and reactivate the account I cancelled with them a couple of weeks ago.

Who'd have thought Apple Music itself would turn out worse than its horrific introductory keynote segment?

Podcast episode 7: Pushbullet with Ryan Oldenburg (part 2) →

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In the second and final part of my chat with Pushbullet CEO Ryan Oldenburg, we discuss how Pushbullet handles multi-platform development, how slower app review processes impact momentum and how the company deals with educating users who don't understand why some features don't work on other platforms.

Ryan also talks how much concern he has for Google potentially entering the space, as well as discussing the potential risk of adding confusion to Pushbullet with a focus on messaging, the app's usage of encryption and more.

Follow Ryan on Google+: +RyanOldenburg

Links

The mobile web sucks, but a great many websites aren't helping the cause →

Nilay Patel's piece of the state of the mobile web. I agree with much of it.

Certainly I strongly agree with a point Patel only briefly touched up, which relates to Apple's iOS terms that explicitly prevent developers from bringing a custom web engine to the platform. I.e., Chrome is available for iOS, but Google are forced to use Apple's web rendering engine for displaying the web content. Google are explicitly forbidden from using Blink, their custom rendering engine that powers Chrome on all other platforms (including OS X) on iOS.

I think this restriction is egregious and overzealous on Apple's part, and absolutely harms the mobile web.

But by no means do I agree with all of Patel's piece.

Apps have become nearly irrelevant on desktops because the web experience is close to perfect, while apps are vitally important on phones because the web experience is dismal.

What the what? Certainly I'd agree it's conceivable we might be a path where desktop apps become nearly irrelevant, but by no means are we close to there yet.

Finally, this: