Linked List: November 12, 2015

Thursday, 12 November 2015

Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Shipping Estimates Now ‘4-5 Weeks’ 

Dave Mark, writing at The Loop:

Want an iPad Pro? You can find some models in stock at your friendly neighborhood Apple Store. You can order one on line and have it arrive as early as Monday. Even the most expensive models will ship to you within two weeks (at least in the US).

Want an Apple Pencil to go with that? Yeah, sorry, you’ll have to wait 4 to 5 weeks.

We can hope that Apple is simply under-promising here, and these orders might ship sooner. But if the estimates are accurate, you better order now if you’re thinking of these items as holiday gifts.

Update: Apple is acknowledging that both the Pencil and Smart Keyboard are in short supply:

“Customers are very excited for iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard,” an Apple spokesperson told Mashable. “We have limited supply of Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard in Apple Retail stores. Our stores will continue to receive regular shipments and we encourage customers to visit Apple.com for online availability and delivery dates.”

Why the iPad Pro Needs Xcode 

Steve Streza:

Xcode running directly on the iPad Pro could fix many of those problems. You now have a tablet powerful enough to run an IDE, with a very nice keyboard cover, and a screen big enough to encompass all the functionality of Xcode, capable of testing almost every feature of every iOS device ever made. You can code with your keyboard and test with multitouch. You could work on a desk and take your whole development environment with you on the couch, bed, or plane.

Streza’s argument is that Xcode for iPad would help developers write better iPad apps. In the long run, maybe. The build and run cycle sure would be better if you were running the app right on an iPad, not in the Simulator on your Mac.

I don’t know if it’s going to be a WWDC 2016 thing, or a WWDC 2017 thing, but I can feel it in my gut that this is going to happen. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if it starts in some sort of limited fashion. Maybe Xcode for iPad starts out only offering Swift playgrounds — a tool that lets you tinker and learn, but not a full-fledged IDE for apps.

Update: Federico Viticci:

Fortunately, I want to believe there’s some hope here. Over the past few months, I’ve personally heard about an iPad Pro version of Xcode in early stages, being demoed internally at Apple. I don’t know if this will ever actually happen, but it sure would make for a nice surprise at WWDC next year.

I’ve heard the same thing. I don’t know that it’s iPad Pro-only — it might be for any iPad. But it’s definitely a real project.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Twitter on the iPad Pro’ 

Somewhere, Loren Brichter is rolling over in his grave. Twitter’s iPad app has devolved from one of the most innovative and thoughtful designs in iPad history into a fucking joke.

‘Showrooming’ Amazon Books 

Paul Constant:

If you were unaware, Amazon has actively promoted “showrooming”, which is the act of standing in a brick-and-mortar bookstore, looking at a book, and then buying it on Amazon, rather than from the bookstore. You’re using the bookstore as a showroom for Amazon, but the bookstore, which pays rent and salaries and all the other expenses of running a small business, gets absolutely nothing. BuzzFeed picked up my above tweet and ran it as part of a listicle about Amazon Books. My issue with BuzzFeed’s listicle was that they included my tweet as a “joke.” I was dead serious. So this morning, the good people at Shelf Awareness gave my tweet a signal boost and I clarified that I absolutely meant what I said:

Serious offer: first person who showrooms Amazon Books gets a gift certificate to @ElliottBayBooks. Send pictures.

It didn’t take long for someone to bite.

This is glorious.

Guns, Drugs, and Money 

Marijuana is legal in Colorado, but because it is illegal under federal law, and even state-chartered banks fall under federal regulations, the completely legal weed dispensaries must operate as all-cash operations. Here’s a great little 10-minute documentary from The New York Times showing just how onerous — and dangerous — this situation is. As my pal Jim Ray quipped in a text message, these guys probably own a few of those 1M Hauly bags I just linked to.

SDR Traveller 1M Hauly 

I absolutely love that this company exists:

The 1M Hauly is designed for the discreet, comfortable carry of up to US$1 Million in used bank notes.

(Via Jürgen Siebert.)

Om Malik on Amazon Opening a Retail Store 

Om Malik:

The Seattle Times reveals that the 7,500 square foot store will feature books that based on Amazon.com data. “We’re taking the data we have and we’re creating physical places with it,” Jennifer Cast, VP of Amazon Books told The Seattle Times. “We’re completely focused on this bookstore. We hope this is not our only one. But we’ll see.”

However, it is towards the end of the press release accompanying the news that Cast tips her hand and why I believe why this is one of the many stores to come. “At Amazon Books, you can also test drive Amazon’s devices. Products across our Kindle, Echo, Fire TV, and Fire Tablet series are available for you to explore, and Amazon device experts will be on hand to answer questions and to show the products in action.” she writes.

The growing arsenal of devices, intelligence derived from data, and desperate need to create physical experiences around books were my three reasons why I had predicted in June 2010 that Amazon will eventually have to open physical locations.

Good call by Om.

The fact that they’re all-in on Fire TV — refusing to sell Apple TV or Chromecast, and (apparently) refusing to build a Prime app for Apple TV — shows that they’re serious about getting people to buy their devices.

Mac Apps Break Due to Security Certificate Lapse 

Alex Hern, writing for The Guardian:

Mac users faced trouble with their apps overnight after the security certificate Apple uses to prevent piracy expired late on Wednesday. Applications downloaded from the Mac App Store were temporarily unavailable from 10pm UK time, when a security certificate expired, five years after its creation, with no replacement immediately available.

Even once Apple fixed the error, issuing a new certificate for the apps (with an expiry date of April 2035, this time), users were still faced with problems. Those who could not connect to the internet couldn’t verify the new certificate, while those who had forgotten their password or couldn’t log in to iCloud for some other reason are also unable to use the downloaded apps until they can log in to the service.

Inexcusable for a service that is absolutely essential to users and developers.