Watch It Later for Apple TV

I had some time off over Christmas, so I decided to scratch an itch I’ve had for a while now.

Instapaper has been my go to place to save articles and videos from the web. However only way to watch them on the Apple TV is to accept the dubious experience of using AirPlay. Half the time the video would stop when my iPhone locked, and the other half of the time I had to hold my iPhone and tap the screen every few seconds to keep it awake.

I dabbled with the Instapaper API in the past, and had the classical programmer thought process of “how hard can it be”.

The lovely app icon was made by Paul Wallas.

So I built Watch It Later in a day, an Apple TV app that lets you play your saved Instapaper videos. It supports YouTube and Vimeo, and can playback with the native Apple TV video player.

I also open sourced it on GitHub , because at this point, why not? And you can download it for free on the App Store.

If you use it, I’d love to hear your feedback on Twitter or GitHub.

Speculation about the next GPU in the iMac

Tomorrow is Apple's big iPhone event day, with a dash of Apple Watch and software thrown in. However Mark Gurman reports no new Macs at this event, so in lieu of real products announcements I thought I'd add some speculation about the new iMac GPUs now that AMD has released their brand new Radeon chips.

iMacs have used mobile graphics cards (GPUs) since 2011, when desktop GPUs started to get too hot for the iMac to cool. Apple flippled flopped between AMD and Nvidia as their supplier, before finally settling down with AMD for the retina iMac.

AMD make fine graphics cards, but in recent years Nvidia had the edge in terms of performance, heat, and power usage. The current top of the range AMD graphics card in the iMac, the Radeon R9 M395X, just doesn't compare well to Nvidia's 970M, even though on the spec sheet the AMD card should be faster. But in comparison the AMD card is slower, more power hungry, and thermally throttles when pushed.

AMD Polaris

AMD's long term solution was a major overhaul of their archectecture called Polaris, to improve what they call Performance per Watt. With the release of the desktop AMD RX480 and RX470, there's no doubt that AMD have made up a lot of ground on Nvidia, yet a noticable gap still exists when you compare the latest generation of both companies.

This isn't likely to deter Apple in choosing AMD as their GPU supplier again though, as the preferential pricing from AMD sweetens and sourness from not having the best avalilable.

There's also the potential of custom APUs with the release of Zen next year, with a big CPU and GPU packaged into one chip like the Xbox One and PS4, but that's another topic entirely.

What will Apple pick

The problem for Apple, is the new mobile Polaris GPUs aren't very fast. The mobile version of the RX480 is based on a cut down chip with half of almost everything, making it much slower than the outgoing R9 M395X.

Apple will need to use the desktop AMD GPUs again to even maintain performance with the previous generation, let alone improve it.

This year is the first time in a while where they can use desktop AMD GPUs. The RX470 is rated at 120W TDP, which compares with the current M395X's 125W TDP. If Apple can put a RX470 into the iMac, that will offer a 50% performance increase over the M395X for roughly the same power usage.

Conclusion

Will Apple use a RX470? I hope so, although they can get away with a slower RX460 and still improve over the previous generation, the iMac can handle the RX470 and it would be a shame if it wasn't an option at least.

The base GPU would then be the RX480M, which is comparable to the outgoing M380, and I'd imagine the RX460 or similar as the mid range.

This does pose a problem with branding, with the RX460 and RX470 being much faster than the bottom of the range RX480M. So like the Mac Pro I expect AMD to allow Apple to have their own model names, perhaps W460, W470, and W480:

Good: AMD RX480M 2GB (W460)
Better: AMD RX460 4GB (W470)
Best: AMD RX470 8GB (W480)

Travelling Light with iOS

It wasn't long ago that travelling on a trip longer than two weeks meant lumbering a laptop with you the whole way.

I've just recently returned from a four week trip travelling 5000 kilometres across the north of China, from Xi'an, through the dry rocky deserts, and finishing in Kashgar in western China.

All I had was my iPhone and iPad (with a keyboard). Obviously I didn't write any software but I could do pretty much everything else. If you can, travelling light can make a big impact on your daily stress level. Here are a few tips and tricks I learned while on the road.

Afternoon nap in Xi'an

Cellular data

It's hard to underestimate how useful having good cellular data coverage is. With it, you can practically never get lost, and be your own tour guide at the same time by using apps like Inquire, which shows you Wikipedia articles about places close to your current location. I love the liberating feeling of just going where the path takes me instead of meticulously following a plan, and having cellular data gives me the confidence to just follow my feet and figure out where I am later.

How to buy SIM cards

The best source of information about buying SIM cards internationally is on WikiVoyage. Each country's page on WikiVoyage will have a section discussing the cheapest and easiest ways to get a data SIM. You could also use a carrier like Three UK which gives free data roaming to several countries. You just need a little bit of pre-planning to make sure you get the right SIM, with the right coverage, when you land.

Xi'an Bell Tower

Dealing with the Great Firewall

If you're travelling in China like I am, you'll find lots of the usual websites and services blocked or heavily throttled by the Great Firewall. Services such as Google, Dropbox, Twitter are all unusable over cellular or a WiFi connection. To get around this you'll need a VPN able to punch a hole through the firewall, without being caught by the sophisticated deep packet analysis that blocks the majority of VPN services.

I found ExpressVPN to be reliable and easy to use on iOS, it bills every 30 days and uses a combination of UDP, TCP, and IPSec transports to get around present and future firewall restrictions.

If I had time, I would've setup Streisand on a VM at DigitalOcean instead, but ExpressVPN worked well enough.

The main problem is that using a constantly running VPN really hurts battery life, I probably got around half what I would normally expect to get, even with the excellent 4G reception in China. See the section below on charging and battery life to see ways to mitigate this.

Charging and battery life

Labrang Monastery 

Mobile power

When your phone or watch holds key information like your boarding pass, keeping all your devices charged up is more important than ever. I use an iPhone 6s, not a phone known for it's long battery life. Day-to-day I never usually worry about the battery running out, but when I'm travelling a typical day is often a lot longer, and a lot more strenuous on the phone's battery.

The simpliest solution if you just have a phone is to buy a charging case, I would get the Apple Smart Battery Case. It's integration with iOS, a design that avoids blocking antennas that would give attenuation, and the standard Lightning port for charging, make it the best overall case if you own an iPhone.

But like a lot of people, I have an increasing number of devices to keep charged, such as my Apple Watch, iPad, Bluetooth headphones, and my partner's phone and iPad as well.

So I use an external battery, and my preference goes to Xiaomi's 10000mAh Power Bank. I'll be honest, I like it best because its design reminds of of an oversized iPod mini, a nice aluminium shell with chamfered edges and four sexy LEDs indicating battery life. It's also one of the smallest batteries for its capacity. Paired with a short lightning and micro USB cables, it can easily keep every device I own charged up for at least two days without access to mains power.

Mains power

For charging in hotels, I use an Anker 5 port USB charger, capable of outputting 60W so I can charge two iPhones, two iPads, and the Xiaomi external battery all at full speed. Unfortunately my old Panasonic GF-1 camera can't be charged via USB, so that has it's own

All of this fits neatly into an Ecosusi bag, making it easy to pack away.

Monk's dwellings at Labrang Monastery

Bags

I went with the recommendation from The Wirecutter for best carry-on luggage, going with the middle of the road Travelpro Crew 10 suitcase. The quality of the materials, handle, and design all make it worth that extra over cheaper alternatives. This is not a suitcase you worry about breaking open, I even checked it in as hold luggage twice.

If you don't already, you should really use some packing cubes, especially if you're going on a trip with a lot of different destinations so you don't want to unpack and repack at everyone.

Last but not least, because I like to travel light I don't feel the need for a backpack, so my day to day bag is the handsome Billingham Hadley Pro, a shoulder bag designed for cameras but equally useful when travelling. I like the proper latch, which prevents oppurtunistic theives, but also has a quick release mechanism for easy access. I like the new Fibernyte material, which is like canvas but completely waterproof and requires no maintenence. The pockets inside and outside are plenty for a bag this size, and the padding means you can store cameras, iPhones, and iPads without worry. I would also recommend a shoulder pad as the strap is quite slippery, and to give a bit more comfort after carrying that for a long day.

Oasis in the Gobi desert

Misc

• Travelling with a partner? On really long trips I like to listen to audiobooks, and if you want to listen together a cheap headphone splitter is very useful.

• Doing a lot of walking? A decent pair of shoes is essential, I did a fair amount of research before getting a pair of Salomon Evasion walking shoes, and they're the best walking shoes I've ever bought. I walked 30km in a single day with these shoes without a blister.

An App a Month in 2016: 1. Circle Test

Every year I tell myself I don't do New Years Resolutions, they have a tendency to set one up for failure or have goals that are so benign you wonder why you had to wait for new years to do it.

But every year I find myself succumbing to a feeling I get only on January 1st, the feeling to try something new and make this new year different from the last one. I suppose it's a natural human reaction when you reach the age of 30, a kind of annual mini-mid-life-crisis where I look back at the previous year and wonder what the fuck did I do.

So for this year, in an effort to do something with my life, I will try to release something I've made every month for 12 months. Now I know what you're thinking, this either sounds like bullshit or I'm just going to draw a cuddly cartoon animal every month and look smug for the other 29 days. But I want to challenge myself while at the same time doing something I can finish in 30 days, so I'm going to make a game.

Circle Test

My first unimaginatively named game is Circle Test. This started out as an idea for a tvOS game before I realised that almost no one I know has an Apple TV that can run it. The first challenge probably should be something I can get some feedback on otherwise I'm just making crap for myself here.

The app icon was graciously made by Paul Wallas

The goal is simple, see how good your hand to eye coordination is by mashing your iOS device when the red semicircle is colliding with the purple semicircle. Through some non-scientific testing I did which has yielded statistically irrelevant data:

• an average person after a night out and a few drinks can get around 20
• someone with the ability to really concentrate for more than 10 seconds at a time can get around 30
• a seasoned Counter Strike: Global Offensive player while wearing some cool gaming glasses should get over 35

The target area gets generally smaller and the speed faster as your score goes up. That's it.

So if you were wondering how I'm going to release a new game or app every month, the answer is by keeping the scope small but with wiggle room to ship. I can be sure that at the end of every month I will have that smug look someone has when they've shipped something on my face.

If you're still here and you haven't downloaded Circle Test yet, why have you read this far?

Because Open is Always Better →

Google are doing some questionable things with new TLDs, and the Internet is letting them get away with it:

My point is that if you think Google is some kind of Patron Saint of the Open Web, shit son. Tim Cook on his best day could not conceive of a dastardly plan like this. This is a methodical, coordinated, long-running and well-planned attack on the open web that comes from the highest levels of Google leadership. And we’re giving Apple a free pass? Pshaw.

Because we all want .blog TLD to be used exclusively buy the hot internet startup called Blogger right?

Stickers

I like this new advert.

It's another peek of Apple's transition into a post-Steve era. You can almost hear the cries of "Steve would never have let stickers interfere with the Apple logo", but Apple isn't about minimalism for the sake of it. Apple has always tried to create products that fit into it's customer's lives, and this advert exemplifies that.

Steve Jobs left behind a company that doesn't just stick with the same ideas and the same aesthetic; a company that doesn't settle for the comfort of it's previous success. Think Different wasn't just for the world to see Apple, but for Apple itself.

Pinboard turns five years old →

I find that the longer I run the site, the more resistant I become to the idea of ever giving it up, even if I need to take the occasional break. It is pleasant to work on something that people draw benefit from. It is especially pleasant to work on something lasting. And I enjoy the looking-glass aspect of our industry, where running a mildly profitable small business makes me a crazy maverick not afraid to break all the rules.

Pinboard is the outlier, it bucks the trend, or maybe its the trend setter. I know I've been a very happy customer for over four years.

We can learn a lot from Maciej Cegłowski.

Why does Apple want to buy Beats?

Apple's interest in Beats Electronics got me thinking about their headphones. I know Apple is probably buying Beats for their music streaming rather than their hardware, but one doesn't come with the other and the most iconic product of Beats are their headphones.

A glance at your Twitter feed today and you would've seen endless comments comparing Beats customers to uninformed sheep willing to make Dr Dre rich by buying his ridiculously oversized yet mediocre sounding headphones. After that, theres the inevitable link to some headphones half the price and twice as good.

To an extent I agree with them, Beats headphones are overpriced, but I'm not sure anyone buying a pair is under the impression they're getting a bargain, or even that they're getting the best headphones for their money. They're buying Beats headphones because they want them.

What Jimmy Iovine achieved is to explode a niche industry into the mainstream. How many people did you see buying £250 heaphones before Beats? That is nothing short of a miracle. This makes me think the deeper reason Apple wants Beats Electronic, is because they want Jimmy Iovine.

Yet somehow, in all this news about headphones and music streaming, they forgot about Iovine.

dot net notts →

Marvin Rounce and I are thrilled to announce dot net notts, a user group for .NET stack developers.

We hoping to build a first-class community of .NET developers from across the East Midlands, and we have an incredibly lineup of speakers and generous sponsors.

Our first event is on April 28 and features Richard Conway talking about Microsoft Azure.

Make sure you RSVP on Meetup to get your free beer and pizza on the night.

Bamboo iPhone Case Review

As far as cases go, Snugg's Bamboo Case for iPhone is a pretty good one.

I've never really used cases, much to the detriment of the exterior of my iPhone. Cosmetically it has lots of the typical nicks and scratches from an 18 month old black iPhone 5, but anecdotally the screen seems more resisitant to cracking when dropped. I speak from experience after dropping my iPhone from pocket height with a case on and still having the screen crack.

However there are situations where I wouldn't be comfortable using my iPhone without a case, and travelling to the Arctic Circle is one of them. When Snugg offered me the case to review, Finland seemed like the ideal place to try it.

The first thing you notice is the weight, or the lack of it. I find it hard to tell if the case is on purely by weight alone. But, you will certainly notice the bulk. It makes the iPhone feel twice as thick as it normally does, which makes it more comfortable to hold, especially with gloves on. Personally I don't like how bulky the case is, but those with bigger hands might prefer it.

The second problem is how close the edge wraps over the front, this makes doing edge gestures much harder, something common in iOS 7 for common actions like swiping back in Safari.

The case is reasonably well made, although it does feel a bit flimsy around the volume and wake/sleep buttons. Expect those areas to suffer first.

Overall if you're in the market for an iPhone case and fancy something with an exotic material, the Snugg Bamboo Case is a pretty good case. Personally, I prefer the leather Apple iPhone case as the attention to detail and workmanship are the best of any case I've seen.

Neil Young's Pono →

Why push back against 24/192? Because it’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, a business model based on willful ignorance and scamming people. The more that pseudoscience goes unchecked in the world at large, the harder it is for truth to overcome truthiness… even if this is a small and relatively insignificant example.

I find it interesting how rational people get duped by this kind of psuedo-science when it involves music.

Why Google Needs 'Don't Be Evil'

"Don't be evil" is synonymous with Google, it's their corporate identity. But have you ever stopped and wondered why? Why does Google need to remind itself that it needs be good, and why it's their slogan?

Google's strategy is to sell advertising. To do that, it needs to collect user data in order to show relevant adverts so it's customers will buy more ads. The nature of this strategy pushes Google towards being evil. It has to collect very personal and sensitive information about it's users, and some of the best minds in technology are working at better ways to collect information and sell ads.

It still boggles my mind how many people don't see Google's motivations, and what they may or may not do with all the data Google is collecting about them. They see Google as a company that offers them lots of free software for nothing in return, and they are only too happy to use it. To them, "Don't be evil" doesn't have (or need) a paticular meaning.

But the users who are conscious of Google's strategy, this is where the motto "Don't be evil" really starts to make sense. If you are aware, then there is a constant tension between how many of Google's great products you should use, and the amount of data you are willing to give to Google. What are they going to do with this data? Who are they going to sell it to? Do I even know what data they are collecting about me? "Don't be evil" is designed to placates these questions, and to remove the tension from using their products. Google's ongoing success with online services is evidence that "Don't be evil" was a brilliant move.

But we have a choice, a choice to use products from companies with a strategy that doesn't push them towards being evil, companies that don't need "Don't be evil" as their motto.

Vote with your data, don't give it to Google.

The new-new Mac Pro

Lots of people were worried when the new-old Mac Pro was released last June. It was an incredibly incremental update, with slightly newer CPUs and a slightly reduced price. People interpreted this as Apple abandoning the pro desktop market in favour of their prosumer models.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

We didn't want to just make another version of the same old desktop idea that everyone's had. Like with MacBook Air, our engineering team has spent quite a bit of time thinking about the technology available today and what could be possible for the future of the pro desktop, what would be a new form factor, new design, new capabilities for another ten years.

The new-new Mac Pro embodies what Apple does best, completely rethink a product and refine it's category. This almost always leads to complaints from some users who aren't happy with the changes made. The lack of internal expansion or upgradability is the main gripe, and another is that the smaller doesn't benefit them.

Their ideal scenario would've been to keep the old Mac Pro case, and stuff it with the latest internals. But if Apple did that, it would be another sign of the demise of the Mac Pro, a sign that they didn't care. But by putting the effort into redesigning and rethinking the concept of a pro desktop computer, Apple has set the standard of the next generation desktop.

Will we see more pro desktop machines from competitors similar to the Mac Pro? I'm sure Samsung already has one in the works, but given the history of how long it took them to respond to the MacBook Air, I wouldn't hold my breath.

iPhone and iPod Touch

Apple's new budget iPod Touch is the first iOS device with a black bezel and silver metal back since the first iPhone.

It's no coincidence that the resemblance is uncanny:

Stop validating email addresses with your complex Regex →

David Celis:

Just send your users an email. The activation email is a practice that’s been in use for years, but it’s often paired with complex validations that the email is formatted correctly. If you’re going to send an activation email to users, why bother using a gigantic regular expression?

17% of British adults believe Google has their best interests at heart →

What's that about a reality distortion field?

Instacast for Mac beta →

My favourite iOS podcasting app now out on the Mac.

Very, very flat →

The new interface is said to be “very, very flat,” according to one source. Another person said that the interface loses all signs of gloss, shine, and skeumorphism seen across current and past versions of iOS. Another source framed the new OS as having a level of “flatness” approaching recent releases of Microsoft’s Windows Phone “Metro” UI.

I can't wait to see what this looks like.

The New York Times gets its Pulitzer for picking on Apple →

It didn't matter that every major U.S. electronics company assembles its products under the same working conditions -- or worse. Or that Apple was actually doing something about them. (Tim Cook called the Times' implication that Apple didn't care what happened to its subcontractors' workers "patently false and offensive.")

The fact is, the New York Times knows how to win Pulitzers -- better than any other journalistic operation. It has now won a record 112. It employs editors who specialize in identifying Pulitzer-winning topics and assigning reporters who will bring them home.

And that's what it set out to do -- with Apple as its conspicuous subject -- in seven major stories capped with a self-serving kicker that suggested that it was Times' reporting that led to substantive changes in the working conditions in China's electronics factories:

I guess winning is a higher priority than being correct.

Don't be a Padhole →

Glad to see Maddox back at his best.

Tablets can take pictures, but tablets can also slice cheese, stop doors from closing and fix wobbly tables. The day I start seeing people fix wobbly tables and slicing cheese with tablets is the day I'll relax my stance on tablet photos. But don't count on it.