My iOS Must-Haves

• PS View - While on the same Wi-Fi network, Using Remote Connection in Photoshop you can see your PSD's real-time on your iPhone. This has become a great tool for mobile design; for figuring out font sizes, button sizes and just getting a feel for how your app will look on the device. You can always email yourself pictures, but that's just dumb.
• Check (formerly Pageonce) - I've been using this app to get my finances in order. Gives me a real-time snapshot of my money, portfolio, debt and credit score. Love it.
• Rowmote - Control your Mac while on the same Wi-Fi network. I use this so I don't have to get up and put on the next Game of Thrones (I connect my laptop to my TV via HDMI). Gives you player controls, a touchpad (with gesturing support) and keyboard. So there's really nothing you can't do.
• Evernote - Notes app that syncs to the cloud, so I have access to my notes no matter which device I'm using. I make notes on my phone and can access them on my laptop and vice versa.
• Waze - Crowd-sourcing maps application. Real-time information about traffic speeds, accidents, visible cops, something in the road, as well as navigation all from other users. So good Google bought them for $1.1B a couple months ago.
• Redbox - I use this app to rent my DVD's before I get to the kiosk, so all I need to do is put in my CC and out comes the movie. I sometimes use it when I'm waiting behind someone in line and snipe their movies.

Got any to add?

To be continued...

iOS 7 Bugs / Missing Features / Issues / UX - Part 2

Beta 3 has been out for nearly 3 weeks now. I didn't write about beta 2, not that anyone is actually reading this, but even for my own sanity, I never got around to it. There are still quite a few bugs (as is expected with betas), so here is a small list of the ones that are still bugging me.

• Camera Focus - The camera still won't focus up close. This one is a real pain for me, as it affects every day use. Even simple shots 2-3 feet away sometimes won't focus.
• Some apps become unusable - This may be an app issue, and maybe not an iOS issue, but some apps' buttons eventually stop working, and I have to restart the app in order to make it work properly.
• Apps with custom dialog boxes may not work properly - I've had apps lock up on me once their custom dialog boxes appear, as there's no way to close the popup and it renders the app useless. I know this because our app is one of them. Doh!
• Notification banner gets in the way! - This was an issue with iOS 6 as well, but there really needs to be a close X button on the notification banners. If I'm getting navigation, if I'm on the phone, or if I simply need to access to the top level navigation in an app, my new message banners get in the way with no way to close them.
• Parallax really isn't that cool. I don't even notice it anymore. Not a game changer as some fanbois are claiming.
• When you close an app that was opened from within a folder, you're still in that folder. I really don't like this. There are times I want to quickly get somewhere else, and this feels like an extra step.lo

teehan+lax at it again - iOS 7 GUI PSD

http://www.teehanlax.com/tools/ios7/

Their PSD's have been getting better and better. Most everything is vector and very accurate. Some of the earlier PSD's had issues and obvious omissions, but teehan+lax, you're making the world a better place.

iOS 7 Bugs / Missing Features / Issues

I haven't written for a long time, not that anyone is listening anyway. I have been finding lots of issues with iOS 7 beta, so I figured why not post them here. Not only can I keep track of these for my own sanity, maybe Apple will stumble across this post and fix things/make note/or hire me. Pow.

- Kik Messenger not working - Kik crashes upon launch and has been completely unusable since I upgraded to iOS 7 beta. Kik released an updated app that fixes this issue.

- Instagram Photos disappearing - Photos disappear when you scroll back up to them.

- Control Panel gets stuck - sometimes the slide up control panel gets stuck, and when it finally disappears, the area of the phone's screen that it was stuck on becomes unusable. (buttons not clickable, etc.)

- Facebook - Buttons on slide out menu at the top are unusable. Headerbar color has changed to purple on pieces. notifications don't seem to work correctly. I'll see 6 on my badge, go in and see 2.

- Foursquare - Search area background has same purple header issue as Facebook above.

- Brightness - At times, the phone will be super dark, and no amount of adjusting brightness will fix. I have to turn off the screen to fix.

- App Store not clearing updated apps - I can't clear my updated apps list.

- Email Badge Number not changing - I erased about 2000 unread emails on Gmail, and the badge on my email app has yet to adjust. It's been a day.

- New Camera UI/UX is horrendous - It's very hard to figure out that you need to swipe the bottom to change the type of picture being taken. It's also done very poorly. Take a look at how Path does photo vs. video. It's simple and much better than the native camera app.

- Quick jump letters on lists (like phone contacts) are misaligned.

- Parallax has made some badges appear on the wrong screen.

- Autofocus not working well on camera - I can't get the camera to focus on close shots, like pictures of my computer screen, etc. I generally need this for submitting my company expenses (many receipts are digital, and apps like Concur let me submit pictures of them). This one is really bad for me. I can't focus on any close-up objects.

- Lock screen often overlays time/caller name with audio player controls.

- Siri's voice seems very slow (beta 2)

- Timestamps are not correct on iMessages. No Timestamps showing since 12 (it's after 4). (Beta 2)

- Cursor often disappears when zoomed into text fields

- Can we get Timestamps for every message? Hide it under the "more" menu if you have to

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UPDATE:
Beta 2 out today: http://news.yahoo.com/ios-7-beta-2-full-change-log-now-173332250.html

Things I hate about my Macbook #4

Can't sort by image bit depth in Finder

This one really bugs me. For a platform that is supposed to be designer friendly, this one boggles my mind. I work mostly in tablets and mobile, so file sizes and bit depths play a big role in what I do. For performance reasons, keeping each of those attributes low adds to a better user experience. If I can export something at 8-bit and loose no quality, I will do so.

Often I need to do batch scaling. I don't want to export 8-bit PNGs as 24/32 bit, so I like to run these batches separately. On a PC (Vista and above), you can sort by bit depth in Explorer. I can quickly see 8, 24, 32 (and even 1, 2, 4). I cannot find a way to do this on a Mac. Even looking at Get Info, I can see that the bit depth displayed in there is either wrong, or it's based on direct color, not image bit-depth.

UGH.

Things I hate about my Macbook #3

No Delete Button

The delete button on a Mac acts like a Backspace button on Windows. It deletes left, not right, and it won't delete files. Some programs have programmed the button to behave the way I expect it to, but not Apple.

It took me 2 weeks to figure out I had somewhat similar functionality of the Window's Delete key by making sure I hit Command-Delete.

I guess that will work.

Things I hate about my Macbook #2

Finder Locks Up

I work remotely pretty much every night. I understand that trying to open 300 Mb files over VPN is going to take some time, and may lock up your system a bit. What I don't like is when Finder locks up and can't be minimized. I end up stuck behind Finder windows, when the windows and apps underneath are perfectly selectable and useable. It's like it's taunting me.

I've noticed this with more than just Finder and big files, any time the machine locks up a bit this happens.

Oh, and I've already crashed the computer completely. So much for "Get a Mac. They just work."