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Category Archives: Software

Augmented Reality in Driving

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What it is: Apple filed a patent for an augmented reality design to help drivers navigate.

Augmented reality is still in its infancy but the potential is vast. Basically, augmented reality is enhanced vision and one area where people can use enhanced vision involves driving. Apple’s latest patent shows a possible use for augmented reality to not only give driving directions, but also display which lanes a driver should choose.

Augmented reality by itself is relatively meaningless other than from games like Pokemon GO. However when designed to work with crucial tasks that involve vision such as driving, augmented reality offers a huge potential.

At the simplest level, augmented reality in Apple Maps could provide directions. At a more complicated level, augmented reality could improve vision by allowing night vision capabilities or simply alerting the driver if objects appear on a collision course.

Initially, augmented reality will be restricted to smartphones and tablets, but eventually they’ll need to migrate to smart glasses where the iPhone will do the heavy processing and a wirelessly linked pair of smart glasses will provide the optics.

Right now, today’s virtual reality headsets try to do everything, which results in bulky, cumbersome, and heavy headsets. Augmented reality will require light weight glasses with the heavy processing done by the iPhone, which will soon have a processor faster than most computers currently on the market.

Augmented reality is coming to improve safety and optimize tasks that require vision such as driving. To benefit from augmented reality, it’s time to learn its capabilities and adapt them as rapidly as possible.

Remember, the first time people started accessing the Internet, they didn’t just transfer files but started asking themselves how they could build a business based on this new technology. The same will happen with augmented reality.

There will be companies specializing in developing and refining augmented reality and then there will be others specializing in using and applying augmented reality. The future for mobile computing and wearable computers will be augmented reality.

To learn more about Apple’s latest augmented reality patent, click here.

Competing Against Apple

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What it is: Apple adds new features to macOS all the time, and many of those features compete against third-party developers.

If you’re an independent developer, how do you compete against Apple? The simple answer is how you compete against any bigger company. You offer a better product.

The latest macOS Catalina will offer a feature called Sidecar, which will allow a Macintosh to use an iPad as a second screen wirelessly. This directly competes against a product called Duet Display, which also lets you use an iPad as a second screen for a Macintosh.

So how can Duet Display compete against the free Sidecar feature? The answer is easy.

Sidecar only works with the latest macOS Catalina and with the latest iPad models. If you have an older version of macOS or an older version of an iPad, then you won’t be able to use Sidecar.

In addition, Sidecar only works with the latest Macintosh models. If you have an older Macintosh, you won’t be able to use Sidecar either.

So Sidecar is a great feature but only for those with the latest equipment. That’s where a product like Duet Display can offer more features.

First of all, Duet Display works by connect a USB cable between a computer and the iPad, which makes a wired connection less convenient (because you need a cable) but also faster and more reliable.

Second, Duet Display can work with older versions of macOS and older Macintosh models. Duet Display can even work with Windows PCs so you can use your iPad as a second screen for a Windows computer.

Even better, Duet Display works with older iPad models. That means Duet Display offers compatibility with more devices than Sidecar while offering a faster and more reliable connection through a cable (at the expense of needing a cable).

Some people might be perfectly happy using Sidecar but Sidecar won’t necessarily displace Duet Display or similar products. Apple has no interest in supporting older Macintosh models or iPad models, nor do they care about supporting Windows PCs either.

Duet Display is like Sidecar but with more options. So if you ever want to compete against a big company like Apple, simply offer more features to reach a broader market.

Sidecar may be free, but if you don’t meet those exact requirements to use Sidecar, you’ll have no choice but to rely on Duet Display or a similar product.

It’s easy to compete against larger companies as an independent developer since you just need to go deeper in features than the larger company may wish to do.

Competing against larger companies may not be easy, but it’s not impossible. Sometimes a free option like Sidecar can actually promote greater awareness of a competing product.

Once people realize what Sidecar can do, they may find they can’t use it or that it’s too limited for their purposes. Then they may find a product like Duet Display is better.

If you’re a third party developer, just focus on making the best product possible. Chances are good you’ll have a product someone will be willing to pay for. If not, then you’ll still have plenty of experience creating something worthwhile.

To learn more about Duet Display, click here.

Adobe Alternative

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What it is: Affinity Publisher is a low-cost but highly capable desktop publishing program that rivals Adobe InDesign.

Adobe sells some of the best graphics and desktop publishing programs in the world. Unfortunately, Adobe products are also expensive and require a subscription service. For anyone who wants the results that Adobe products can create but without the expense of buying an Adobe subscription, look at Affinity Designer, Affinity Publisher, and Affinity Photo instead.

Affinity Designer is a vector graphics program similar to Illustrator while Affinity Photo is similar to Photoshop and Affinity Publisher is similar to InDesign. Best of all, each program costs around $40-$50 with no ongoing subscription fee. Once you buy it, it’s yours to use for as long as you wish without paying any additional fees.

Naturally, if you’re already familiar with Adobe products, you may not want to switch to a rival product. However, if cost is a major factor, Affinity’s product line can easily replace Adobe’s products for all but the most sophisticated users.

One particularly useful feature of Affinity Publisher is its live link option to Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. This means that if you need to edit a graphic image within Affinity Publisher, you can access Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo right within Affinity Publisher.

With Adobe products, you might be editing a graphic image in InDesign, which would require you to load Illustrator or Photoshop, and then edit that graphic image. Then you’ll need to add that edited graphic image back into InDesign again. By eliminating this process, Affinity Publisher makes it easy to edit graphics without leaving your desktop publishing document in Affinity Publisher.

Although Affinity products are much less expensive than Adobe’s products, they offer the features most people need, even experienced graphic designers. Before spending money on Adobe, take a close look at Affinity product line to see if they might match your needs instead.

For anyone learning graphics and desktop publishing on a budget, Adobe’s products are out of reach so look to Affinity’s product line instead. Once you understand the basics of using Affinity’s products, you can easily apply those same principles to using Adobe’s software if you wish.

The bottom line is that Adobe’s software is just too expensive for most people, even professionals. Look at Affinity’s products. They may be all that you need after all.

To learn more about Affinity Publisher, click here.

Choosing a Browser

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What it is: Microsoft will soon offer its Edge browser for the Macintosh.

Every computer needs a browser. If you have a Macintosh, Apple gives you the Safari browser by default. One reason to use Safari is because it’s optimized for Apple’s own websites. One reason to avoid Safari is that hackers know the flaws of Safari so they can use those flaws to infiltrate into your Macintosh with malware.

For most people, one browser is good enough, but you may want a second browser installed on your Macintosh just in case. Malware commonly targets a computer’s browser so if malware kills Safari, then you won’t be able to access the Internet to get help. That’s one reason to always have a second browser available.

Another reason to have another browser is because some websites won’t load correctly in one browser but work just fine in another browser. By having two browsers installed, you increase your chance of viewing a website correctly and getting help in case one of your browsers crashes or gets destroyed by malware.

Safari is the most obvious browser to use on a Macintosh, but there will soon be several contenders: Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge.

Of these options, Chrome is considered the fastest although browsers regularly improve so Chrome might be the fastest today, but there’s no guarantee it will be the fastest tomorrow.

Firefox is a popular browser that once dominated the browser market until Chrome took over when Firefox lagged behind in updates. Firefox used to promote themselves as the most secure but it’s likely Firefox isn’t markedly better than Chrome.

Opera is an oddball browser that often pioneers features that later show up in other browsers such as tabs. Because Opera isn’t as popular as Chrome or Firefox, that makes it less susceptible to malware. For this reason alone, you might want to consider Opera as a second browser.

Microsoft’s Edge browser is the newcomer. It’s not officially available so it’s hard to judge its features. However, Edge will need to be dramatically faster or more secure to steal away marketshare from Chrome or Firefox.

Given a choice of a second browser, Chrome is the most popular choice, Firefox is second, and Opera is third. Microsoft’s Edge will likely fight it out with Opera to become a viable choice.

As a general rule, don’t rely on the default browser (Safari). Download and install a second browser just in case. For compatibility, choose Chrome. For security, chose Firefox or Opera. If you’re a Windows user, you might want to use Microsoft’s Edge browser just for the familiarity with the Edge browser, if you use it on your Windows PC.

Browsers are all different yet similar, so choose the two you like best and stick with them. You can’t go wrong with any of them.

To learn more about Microsoft’s Edge browser, click here.

Breaking Up iTunes

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What it is: For years, iTunes has been used to play music, movies, audio books, and podcasts. Now Apple is rumored to be breaking iTunes into separate apps.

The iTunes app began as a music player and a way to store songs on an iPod. Then Apple started adding more features to iTunes to play all types of audio and video files including movies, podcasts, and audio books. Not surprisingly, iTunes is now a clumsy, monolithic program that tries o do everything but does none of it well.

That’s why the latest rumor is that Apple will break iTunes into several smaller, specialized apps. That way if you don’t listen to podcasts, you don’t have to worry about podcast features. If you don’t listen to audio books, you won’t have to wade through audiobook features.

Part of the reasoning behind this rumor is that Apple is creating a cross-platform tool that will allow iOS developers to create macOS apps. Apple already announced this cross-platform tool last year so everyone’s expecting them to release it this year.

iTunes is a perfect example of a dedicated program that simply grew too big with more and more features until it became a mess. Few people will mourn the loss of iTunes for doing everything so it’s likely this is a low-risk move on Apple’s part to make everything easier for everybody.

Keep your eye on Apple’s cross-platform tool. This will likely become a major focus at the upcoming Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), which will allow iOS developers to turn their apps into Macintosh apps as well. This will give iOS developers another way to profit from their work while giving Apple more apps to market and entice others to buy and use a Macintosh.

The future of Apple is iOS. To read more about Apple’s plan to break up iTunes, click here.

Apple Acquires Voice Assistant Startup

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What it is: Apple acquired Pullstring, a company that lets users create and publish voice-activated apps.

Siri sucks. Despite introducing the world to voice assistants, Siri has constantly lagged behind Amazon’s Alexa. Now Apple is working to fix Siri buy acquiring a company called Pullstring, which lets users create and publish voice-activated apps.

Pullstring’s website claims that their Converse program lets you “Build your conversation visually.” By defining conversation blocks and customizing them, you can define a user’s experience through your voice application.

Instead of dealing with code, Pullstring’s Converse program lets you focus on the overall picture while letting Pullstring’s program take care of the actual voice recognition details. Beyond letting people create voice-activated apps for Siri (and improving Siri’s popularity), Pullstring’s technology will also let developers (hopefully) add voice-activated features to ordinary apps as a supplement.

Right now, Apple offers SiriKit, which lets you add Siri to your apps, but SiriKit is limited to specific domains such as messaging or payments. You can’t customize Siri beyond a limited range of domains that Siri can understand.

Pullstring promises to avoid this and allow developers to creatively add voice recognition to any app simply and easily. This will allow developers to create games that allow voice control in addition to touch control.

For HomePod, Pullstring’s technology allows users to customize Siri on HomePod to allow voice control programming in a simple manner.

Pullstring’s technology likely won’t appear in Apple’s technology any time soon, but expect it to show up in around three years as Apple integrates Pullstring’s technology into their own software framework.

Pullstring’s acquisition is a major one much like Apple’s acquisition of Metaio, which introduced augmented reality. Pullstring will introduce then world to voice-activated programming and app development, and could be as important as Apple’s original HyperCard in letting people create custom programs.

All we have to do is wait a few years to see what happens, but when Apple introduces voice-activated coding, nobody should be surprised.

To learn more about Pullstring, click here.

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