ベン・ギルド · Code & design for web + mobile, since 1997 / Location: San Francisco — I like to design/build interesting things from scratch! Now @Streetlights + @AppMap. Previously ran @Mobile17, + more.
I’ve done a ton of traveling this year, and put together this compilation of some footage I shot from my iPhone.
Includes select footage from: Ultra Music Festival/Winter Music Conference in Miami (+ Above & Beyond’s Show/Deadmau5/+ more), Beijing, Seoul Korea, Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto Japan, and Burning Man.
Check it out.
There’s a really annoying problem with Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), and it’s that once you get files there it’s equally inconvenient to delete them.
Luckily, finally, there is a way to wipe out an entire bucket of stuff without using any third-party software.
Edit the bucket’s properties, and select the “Lifecycle” tab. Create a blank rule, with a 1 day expiration date. A warning will appear when you save, stating that this “blank” rule will apply to all files.
Within the time you specify (in our case … 1 day), all items in the bucket will be purged automatically and the bucket can be removed. Phew!
I Like B-sides was a project I ran publicly from February 2009, until today. It was quite unique, in that it found “b-side” tracks from your favorite artists. — In other words, songs that you wouldn’t hear about in the top charts would be shown, as long as they were trending above average for each particular artist. It also separately alerted you to songs in your music library that were good, but ignored in the event of having an entire album downloaded for just a track or two in particular that you liked.
There was a lot of magic involved in the algorithm, and people liked it. The service was a hit and was written up in Lifehacker, on CNet, + others popular spots.
Nearly 4 years later, during routine system migrations today, I decided to pull the site down finally. It was still getting traffic, but hadn’t been updated. As we move to a more mobile and “Cloud-like” infrastructure in our lives, I felt that uploading a zipped copy of one’s iTunes Library’s XML file seemed a bit frivolous, and that it was time for something better to come along in its place.
The technology might make a comeback in another form, as the code has certainly not been erased from my system. However, I Like B-sides is now a legacy, and we’ll see where things go from there. :)
Thanks for giving it attention all of these years!
OK, so if you’re like me, you actually take the time to manage your music collection and keep the tags/artwork in order on each of your tracks.
Managing this got a little bit easier with iTunes Match and iCloud because all of your devices and computers stay in sync, including your Ratings and Play Counts for each track. — However, back when I used iTunes to buy music (until about 2008, when better competitors came along) … I never realized that these tracks would come back to haunt me later on as duplicates offered via iCloud! What a messy music library I had… with Play Counts getting spread out, and files getting duplicated locally.
Since I’d converted many of these past purchases to non-DRM formats (MP3s without restrictions) to play in the car or on other devices, … suddenly, there were duplicates everywhere.
I’d been fretting on how much time it’d take to go through and clear out these duplicates… until last night! I had a “eureka!” moment. I created a “smart playlist” that found songs that were on iCloud, but not located on my computer.
Voilà! By sorting the list by date, I was able to confirm that all of the songs were from years ago, and by using the Option+Delete keyboard combo (to delete songs in the Library using a Playlist) … I was able to remove the ~500 or so duplicate tracks located on iCloud only in one quick action!
Smart playlist settings = Match all conditions with the following rules:
… Then, look at the playlist that is added! I found it helpful to sort the list by “Date Added”, which you can do by showing that column. (Go to “View” menu, then “View Options” to control which columns are visible)
Breathe easy, people. :)
Oh boy! Here we go.
Here are some blurry photos. Ever since iOS 6 came out, we lost Google Maps. However, Google has been rumored to be hard at work on their own replacement!
IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE- Check out my super cool App that just came out for iPhone. Ironically, it’s a map … of Apps, being used nearby! ➡ It’s really cool. And free. Download “App Map”!
It’s coming. It’s in alpha. It’s shown below.
Get excited.
App Map is a project I’ve been working on for the better part of a year. It’s a really awesome way to see what Apps are being used nearby, or what Apps are most popular and actually being used worldwide!
The App is free, and is finally available after a long and challenging approval with Apple. We’ll have an update out soon for the iPhone 5’s 4-inch screen … I promise!
The GUI tries to reflect as many familiar App Store and iOS elements as possible, while still adding a bit of custom flare to keep things original. We’d originally planned on marketing this as an add-on to iOS and the App Store, but it was much easier to keep its appearance and representation as a standalone product for now.
Download it today for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch! (iPhone 3GS/4/4S/5+, iPad, iPod touch)
From the website:
“Ride the subway, walk the dog, or fly somewhere new! App Map shows up to 8 hours of location-based popular App activity, allowing you to discover and download the most useful Apps… wherever life takes you.”
Find out what is actually being used worldwide, + not just downloaded!
…
Hope you like it! It’ll be an interesting platform to build on, for sure. Expect a lot from this idea.
OK, disclaimer: You might lose a couple of things. However, in my experience, I’ve lost nothing. Do this at your own risk. I find it the safest restore procedure to setup new or replacement devices.
Background: I moved recently, and my iPhone was setup to sync with my old computer. So, since I’m now primarily using a MacBook Pro (Retina!) every day, I was met with a problem: How can I get all of my stuff over to a new iPhone? The iPhone 5 is coming out soon, and if you’ve ever had your phone replaced… this is a legitimate problem.
Here is the answer:
1) Before you replace your device, do three things: Make an iCloud backup on your device (using Settings), make an *encrypted* iTunes backup on your computer via USB (by right-clicking your iPhone in the left-hand column of iTunes and selecting “Backup”, you can do this without syncing), and THEN download any Apps/Music/Books to iTunes on the computer you’ll be using from now on if you want them on your device.
Once you’ve done all of this … you’ll have a backup in iCloud (just in case), a backup in iTunes of all of your data/settings, and a copy of all of the content you want on your new device. (Such as the Apps themselves and any of your music that wasn’t on your computer in the first place)
2) Now, here’s where things get tricky. You’ll need to do multiple “restores” of your device to get everything correct.
When you have your new device … do not restore the device from iCloud when setting it up, and instead restore it from iTunes. You can do this the first time you plug into iTunes, by restoring from a previous backup. You should be prompted to do this.
If you’ve synced your device with this particular computer originally, the encrypted backup you made should restore all content nearly exactly and begin syncing your Apps automatically. If it was with a different computer originally, you’ll be minus any content and Apps, but with settings such as your wallpaper, passwords, and Wi-Fi networks.
So, to get everything back the way it was, select all of the Apps, Music, Books, Podcasts, etc. that you want within iTunes and sync them to your device. It may prompt you in saying that it was “synced with another iTunes Library” and that all of your content will be erased. This is OK (you have two backups), and it will simply put all of your Apps onto your phone across multiple home screens.
At this point, DO NOT OPEN ANY OF THE APPS ON YOUR DEVICE YET! The reason for this… is that iTunes, when restoring data from backup, will not overwrite newer files. By opening Apps on your device before you’ve restored their data (again below), you will create new data files within them that will be “more up to date” than your backup. This will prevent their restoration.
If you make the mistake of opening an App… it will not replace your data with the backed up version you’re trying to recover. So, don’t do that!!
3) This is the third and final step. Hopefully. Right-click your device on the left-hand column of iTunes (again), and click “Restore from backup…”. Yes, we’re restoring it again. From the screen that appears, select the backup of your old device that you originally restored from (again), and restore your device again.
What this does is it restores your device and App settings again without removing any of your newly added content, including Apps, Music, Books, etc. — When this is complete, your Apps will still be there (the ones you just synced), but all of your data, App folders + organization, and other settings will be restored, too! Go through the “Settings” App on your phone and test each App out after this to be sure everything is the way you want it. (It should be OK to open your Apps now, as their data should be present from this second restore.)
Now, if you made the mistake of opening an App before this restore had taken place, you will have to reconfigure that particular App from scratch. However, the others (or all of them if you didn’t open any) should be fine based on your backup!
_____________________________________________
Switched devices after switching computers? Just follow these steps and you should be good to go. Furthermore, your device should be configured to sync with your new computer from now on. Hooray!
Keep in mind, that any Music, Apps, or Books you don’t have on this computer that you’re connected to cannot be restored as they don’t exist anywhere except your old device. This content is not backed up. That’s why in Step #1 you need to have this sorted out first within iTunes. There is third-party software available to copy songs and other multimedia from iOS devices. Good luck!
Lately, I’ve noticed there are two kinds of “lazy”:
Lazy (relaxed): Typically, this can be positive and the result of overcoming a large task or enjoying a long weekend/vacation. You’re not in the mood to be wasting time on things that are avoidable and perhaps inefficient. — Not always a bad thing, but such a large attitude change can be the result of a large burst of work, prior stress, and a lack of balance or delegation. (i.e. below, “lazy” form #2)
Lazy (A.D.D.-ing): This kind of lazy is because you’re typically avoiding important tasks or assignments due to fear or time/energy concerns, and cannot focus on them. Sites like Reddit generally burn up this time. — The best approach is to chip away at large tasks in small blocks and overcome the obstacle more gradually. This can also help avoid the first “lazy” state. (above)
There’s nothing wrong with being lazy for positive reasons and personal benefit, but beware that it may be consequential of other inefficiencies in your life! Be efficient instead.
If you’re having trouble doing anything, try exercising for a focus boost afterward or, worst case, a cup of tea for some natural caffeine. However, try to use caffeine sparingly!
As many of you know, Mountain Lion (Apple’s new operating system for the Mac) removed all features for reading RSS feeds. For those of you that aren’t familiar, RSS is a way to syndicate your news and other content automatically to your computer without having to check websites manually.
Normally, I wouldn’t care because I abandoned RSS a long time ago in favor of Twitter, but recently I found myself feverishly checking a few particular websites quite often. While I wasn’t monitoring thousands of great websites anymore outside of Twitter, a few still stayed on my radar. Hence, my need for RSS was reintroduced.
Luckily, there have been a few new developments in the RSS atmosphere since the Mac and iOS App Stores have taken off. One App that caught my eye was Reeder (for Mac and iOS), although I was skeptical to invest in a paid App blindly without first being able to try it. After a few Google searches, though, I discovered that Reeder did indeed have the feature that I wanted: a red number badge count appearing in the dock when a new story is detected! I decided to investigate further, and ended up purchasing the iOS and Mac versions for both at home and on-the-go reading, synced!
I will say that the one disappointing thing about Reeder is the lack of current iPad support at this time of writing. The iPhone version of Reeder does run on the iPad, but everything is quite tiny as the GUI is different. Zooming the GUI to read fullscreen looks terrible. For a reader App, this is a huge oversight.
However, the great thing about Reeder is that it uses Google Reader as its backend. This backend allows everything to stay in sync between all of your devices and computers! I can shuffle through a handful of stories on my iPhone, and then not have to clear the same stories out or mark “as read” on my Mac or iPad later on. This is a huge timesaver when on-the-go or when catching up at home after being out all day!
Before, I would check my favorite social news websites for the latest stories every 15-20 minutes casually. Now, I refrain and remain much more focused on my work. The number badge alerts me only when a new post is actually made! It’s no longer a guessing game. While this technology is not new, being able to split the mass into Twitter blurbs and the pulp directly into my “News Inbox” is great.
When I had made the transition away from RSS before, I was suffering from feed overload. Feed overload is the condition of having so many followed sources simultaneously posting at different intervals that it becomes literally impossible to keep up with the majority of them! … Imagine thousands of articles per day, some being reposts of others, and all of varying levels of quality and relevance, all appearing within the same stream…. Twitter has alleviated this for me with its focus on only the important bits of information within its limit of 140 characters per post. For the few sites I prefer not to miss a single story on, RSS via Reeder is a simple and beautiful solution.
All in all, after leaving RSS behind and migrating the majority of my sources to Twitter, putting a handful of my most frequented sites back into a desktop/mobile client has worked well for me. I’m pretty happy with it! Check it out.
UPDATED 2012/09/29: YouTube icon also available below, by request.
iOS 6 replaces the original Google Maps application that’s been bundled since iOS 1.0 with its own “Apple Maps” software. Google offers a web-based version of Google Maps, but the icon is much worse than the original one from Apple.
Until Google releases a downloadable copy of Google Maps for iPhone, here are some installable web profiles that retain the original icon for Google Maps on iPhone + allow the Web App to run fullscreen.
iPhone: http://uploads.benguild.com/ios6googlemapsicon.mobileconfig
iPad: http://uploads.benguild.com/ios6googlemapsicon_ipad.mobileconfig
FYI, if it asks you for a password, enter your device’s passcode to confirm the install.
In the screenshot below, I tested this on an iPad running iOS 5, but these profiles are designed for iOS 6 only.
The web-based version of Google Maps is far from perfect, but this does allow it to run fullscreen and retain the original icon. Try it out!
UPDATE:
Jordan wrote me an email today and asked for a YouTube icon. Although Google has already gone and released its own actual YouTube App for iOS, I figured… why not?
This restores the original YouTube icon, and creates a web App for it:
iPhone: http://uploads.benguild.com/ios6youtubeicon.mobileconfig
iPad: http://uploads.benguild.com/ios6youtubeicon_ipad.mobileconfig
