MyAppleMenu - Tue, May 12, 2015

Tue, May 12, 2015The All-Around-Useful Edition

Decisions Decisions Decisions

Which 2015 Apple Macbook Should You Buy?, by Dan Ackerman, CNET

In the final analysis, it's clear that the 13-inch MacBook Pro is the most all-around useful laptop Apple makes. But, it's not the right choice for everyone.

Choosing a MacBook that's just right for you may not be trivial, but I bet it is still easier to choose between the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Stuff.

Adidas App Uses Spotify To Deliver Killer Running Music, by Kylie Gilbert, Shape

Adidas has partnered with Spotify to launch a first-of-its-kind running app: The iPhone's accelerometer calculates your stride rate, then Adidas go uses that data to play tracks with matching beats per minute based on your preferred playlists and genres—all while you're on the run.

Photos Everywhere With Lightroom CC And Photos For OS X, by Jeff Carlson, TidBITS

In the end, if you’ve ever spent too much time trying to move photos between devices or just given up on trying to work with your photos on different devices, the good news is those irritations are a thing of the past. The solutions aren’t free, and other irritations may crop up, but those who want multi-device access to a single set of photos now have two entirely viable options thanks to Apple’s Photos with iCloud Photo Library and Adobe’s Lightroom with Creative Cloud.

Can This Video-editing App Compete With Apple?, by Daniel Robert, Fortune

After the success of simple photo- and video-sharing apps like Instagram ($1 billion sale to Facebook) and Snapchat ($15 billion valuation), Hunter Powell is hoping that a more professional approach is the next big thing on mobile phones.

That’s why Powell, CEO of Path 36, acquired video-editing app Splice last September. On Tuesday users will get a new, beefed-up version of Splice, with a collection of bells and whistles aimed at making it a leader among mobile video-editing apps. (It is a featured app today in Apple’s App Store.)

Quick. Look. Do You Know Which Mac Apps Are Using The Internet Right Now?, by NoodleMac

DCBM Updates Word Writer Pro For Mac OS X, by MacTech

Develop.

Auto Layout: Copy First, Then Edit, by Daniel Jalkut, Indiestack

Having the reference copy is very handy as well for trying to isolate layout behaviors to just specific parts for the UI.

I Cannot Lie To An App, by Mrgan

Making the UI button a specific, promissory action-word makes it a contract. It also reads as a command to me: hey, lazy boy, go Take your meds!

An @import-ant Change In Xcode, by Craig Hockenberry, Furbo.org

Diary Of A Diary, by Andrew Varvel, Medium

Since 2011, I’ve been on a stop-start journey to make a calendar app for iPhone. I’ve experienced the difficulties of outsourcing development to inexpensive coders-for-hire in Eastern Europe, I’ve mocked up hundreds of designs and I’ve tried to learn how to code at least five times. In July 2014, I signed up to learn Swift with Thinkful and I’m now excited to release my first iOS app diary U to the App Store.

Apple Watch: Leave That Diagnostic Port Alone!, by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

Notes.

Cook Says Apple In Talks With Alibaba Over Apple Pay In China: Xinhua, by Brenda Goh, Reuters

"We very much want to get Apple Pay in China," Cook told Xinhua during a visit to the country. "I'm very bullish on Apple Pay in China."

How Apple’s Tim Cook Stacks Up On Chinese Social Media, by Heather Timmons and Zheping Huang, Quartz

Stop, Look, Listen... And Hop! Mobile Game Crossy Road Is A Hit In The UK, by Stuart Dredge, The Guardian

Warner Music Says Streaming Revenue Has Passed Downloads, And It Wants More, by Peter Kafka, Re/code

Verizon To Acquire AOL For $4.4 Billion, by Harish Jonnalagadda, iMore

Quote.

Penn Jillette: Freedom means the right to be stupid.

Parting Words

Chat companies (Slack, Google, Apple, FB, WhatsApp, etc) should see it as a moral imperative to solve the wrong chat window problem.

— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) May 11, 2015

Thanks for reading.