Two of the early Mac user-interface designers argue in a lengthy FastCo piece that Apple has abandoned many of its original human interface design principles in both OS X and iOS, and a switch to an alphabetic rather than hierarchical list seemingly puts aesthetics above all else.

Don Norman and Bruce Tognazzini say that five of “the most important principles” are now “largely or completely missing in iOS”:

• discoverability – having all possible actions be visible
• feedback & feedforward – making it obvious what a function will do, and what it has done
• recovery – the ability to undo a mistake, or get back to where you were before
• consistency – using the same gestures across platforms and hardware
• encouraging growth – helping people tackle more complex tasks when they’ve mastered the basics

Norman and Tognazzini also say that Apple violates many of Dieter Rams’ design principles, a German designer who Steve Jobs has said greatly influenced his own thinking. They say that Apple prioritizes Rams’ 10th principle – “good design is as little design as possible” – over the other nine.

I’d note that iOS 9 tackles one of their criticisms, offering an easy ‘Back to’ function when a link has taken you out of the app you were using, but it’s an interesting read.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple design principles, Apple Inc, Bruce Tognazzini, design, Don Norman, iOS, OS X, UI, User interface

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Apple has announced that it will power all of its operations in Singapore from solar energy, the first company in the city-state to do so. The scheme will also provide electricity to around 9,000 public-owned homes.

CNET reports that Apple is partnering with local clean energy provide Sunseap.

The Cupertino consumer electronics giant has partnered with Singapore’s largest clean energy provider, Sunseap Group, who will provide power to Apple’s 2,500-person corporate campus and retail store. Energy will be obtained from solar panels laid on the rooftops of 800 buildings.

Retail head Angela Ahrendts also confirmed to The Strait Times earlier reports that it is opening its first Apple Store in Singapore, with hiring underway …

We have more than 900 incredible employees working in our Singapore contact centre and are thrilled to begin hiring the team that will open our first Apple Store in Singapore.

While the company has not yet officially announced a location for the store, an earlier report suggests that it will be in the upmarket retail area on Orchard Road (shown above). Apple currently sells products only via third-party resellers on the island, though Singapore is usually one of the earliest markets to see new products.

Apple last month announced that it is powering 100 percent of its operations in the United States and China with clean energy, and 87 percent of its worldwide operations. It is currently working on helping its suppliers in China become carbon neutral.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, Apple Inc, Apple Retail Store, Apple Singapore, Apple Store, environment, Orchard, Orchard Road, Renewable energy, Singapore, Solar power

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has ruled out the possibility of Apple merging iOS and OS X to create a single category of device. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Cook said that such a device would be too compromised.

“We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” said Cook. “Because what that would wind up doing, or what we’re worried would happen, is that neither experience would be as good as the customer wants. So we want to make the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world. And putting those two together would not achieve either. You’d begin to compromise in different ways.”

He said that some were reading too much into the way Apple has brought the two platforms closer together …

It’s true that the difference between the X86 and the A-series is much less than it’s ever been. That said, what we’ve tried to do is to recognise that people use both iOS and Mac devices. So we’ve taken certain features and made them more seamless across the devices. So with things like Handoff we just made it really simple to work on one of our products and pick it up and work on the next product.

While there have been repeated rumors of converged devices, with some suggesting that the iPad Pro might run OS X as well as iOS, Tim Cook has previously said that such a device is unlikely to be appealing.

You can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.

Cook also clarified his earlier comments, in which he asked why anyone would buy a PC any more, telling the Independent that he was using the term to refer only to Windows PCs, not to Macs.

“We don’t regard Macs and PCs to be the same,” he said.

Cook said that he was optimistic about Apple’s ability to reverse the decline in iPad sales, noting that now travels only with an iPad Pro and iPhone.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, Mac Tagged: Apple Inc, convergence, iOS, OS X, Tim Cook

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According to the iPhone in Canada blog, American Express representatives have confirmed that eligible American Express bank cards will be able to use Apple Pay from tomorrow in the country, Tuesday November 17th. Apple announced on its last earnings call that American Express would lead the expansion of Apple Pay beyond the UK and US, with Canada and Australia coming by end of year and Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong to be added in 2016.

The exact launch date for Apple Pay in Australia is still unknown although the company is quickly running out of days to be within the 2015 window.

In Canada, Apple Pay will be supported at a variety of merchants, including Apple Stores, McDonald’s Walmart and more, although reach is limited by the fact customers must have specific American Express cards to use the feature. Apple has not announced when/if other card types will be able to be used with Apple Pay … Still better than most countries which have no Apple Pay presence at all however.

Apple Pay with NFC wireless payments works with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and Apple Watch. You can also do in-app Apple Pay on recent iPad models.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple pay

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Apple has acknowledged the recent terrorism attacks in Paris with a commemorative ribbon on the Apple France homepage, www.apple.com/fr. The black ribbon is a sign of remembrance and mourning; Google has also added the symbol to its homepage in response to the attacks.

In addition, Apple has been contacting affected employees in French Apple retail stores to check they are safe.

Filed under: iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple, France, Paris

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When you send pictures, videos, audio messages and other attachments in Messages on iPhone and iPad, it stays on the device by default taking up memory. For a lot of people, Messages is the second biggest app on their device in terms of storage, with Photos often being the biggest, because of the fact that the photos they share from Photos actually gets stored twice on the device: within Photos and within Messages. In this How-To article, I’m going to discuss how to delete multiple images in Messages very quickly.

First open up the Message app, and select the conversation that has the pictures that you want to delete and get rid of.

Then you are going to press on Details in blue in the upper right hand corner. Scroll down until you see the Attachments.

Then you are going to tap and hold on one of the images until you see Copy, Delete and More appear.

Tap on More and select all of the images you want to delete.

Then you are going to press on the blue trash can in the lower right hand corner to delete them. To confirm you want to delete them, you are going to press the red words Delete Attachments.

This is how you delete multiple images very quickly and easily in iOS 9, allowing you to get storage space back on your device … and without losing the rest of your conversation.

Filed under:
How-To, iOS Tagged: iOS 9, messages, Storage

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Aukey is a Chinese company more commonly known for producing charging accessories like in-car chargers and multi-port USB stations. But, it also builds headphones. I’ve been testing the wireless Bluetooth earphones while out running for a few months now. For $25, it’s really hard to argue against the Aukey Sport Bluetooth Headphone…

It’s important to note, for me, buying wireless earphones was about fitting a couple of specific needs. I use on-ear and over-ear headphones for regular daily listening, so I didn’t need something for every day. I needed a wireless pair for when I went running. It had to be wireless because I hate the feel of the audio cable tugging on my ear when jogging up and down, it also had to be cheap. I wasn’t going to go spending $100+ on a pair of headphones that would only be used 2-3 times per week for 30 mins at a time. They also had to stay in my ears, or they’d be completely useless. Audio quality wasn’t such a big deal since the music would be mixed with the sound of me panting, and my exercising app barking orders at me.

The Aukey Bluetooth headphone ships in a minimal, brown cardboard box and comes with a number of useful extras. There’s a pouch for stowing the earphones when not in use, 3 pairs of ear buds in small, medium or large, plus several different types and sizes of ear hooks. There’s also a small USB to Micro USB cable for charging and — of course — the earphones themselves.

With the included equipment you can swap out ear buds until you find the ones that best fit inside your ears, and swap out ear hooks until you find the ones that keep the earphones in your ears. In my experience, it took about 3-4 runs with different combinations to find the best solution for me, but once I found it, I was more than happy with the fit. In the end, I settled with a pair of small earbuds and a pair of shark fin-like hooks. I found the bigger earbuds would slip out of my ears constantly during a run, the small ones stayed snug and tight.

Trying to beat a time on my 4K run, sweating, my asthmatic lungs panting and a right ear bud that kept slipping out made for a pretty angry runner with the wrong fit. If it wasn’t for my planned review, I would have thrown them into a river. But I’m glad I stuck with them until I found the right bud/hook pairing. Once I did, the earphones stayed in my ears consistently and didn’t fall out once — that’s no exaggeration. Even with the slightly bulky plastic casing, they were light enough that they didn’t even feel like they’d dislodge themselves from my ears.

Design-wise, the earphones are pretty unremarkable. That’s to say, you get exactly what you think you’d get for $25. All the components sit inside an upside-down tear-shaped plastic housing, with Aukey’s brand name stamped on to a small, neon-colored plastic panel on the side. They don’t feel particularly well made, as they’re very plasticky, but again, you expect that for the money. They’re pretty much exactly what I thought they’d be.

On the right earphone, Aukey’s managed to squeeze in the power/pairing button as well as a volume up/down rocker made from a more rubbery material and a microphone for making handsfree calls. To say they’re fiddly to use would be an understatement. I found my fingers tripping over the volume buttons, or my thumb accidentally pressing the power button quite often. I found it far easier just adjust the audio level on my phone rather than fiddling with an earphone. Saying that, once connected, I was pretty impressed by the sound. They were clear, and listening while running was good enough. Vocal tones came through well.

Once more, my praise of the audio comes with the caveat: these earphones are cheap, and they’re not for audiophiles. But audiophiles know that already, they’d likely not dream of spending less than $100 on a pair of earphones, especially not wireless ones. As far as sound quality goes, I was pretty pleased. The bass wasn’t so overpowering that it killed the middle and treble tones, likewise, it wasn’t too wooly. Treble levels were at a decent enough level, although the overall sound was lacking a little in clarity.

I’m not an in-ear headphone kinda person; when I’m listening to audio casually, I like to feel enveloped by sound. I also really don’t like having things inserted in my ears. But, for exercising, on-ear or over-ear headphones aren’t the most practical solution. They also look a bit silly. So, to have a cheap pair of wireless earphones I could rely on to deliver music and ‘motivation’ from my running app was valuable. I didn’t want a pair that cost a fortune, since I’d only use them when running. Likewise, I didn’t want a pair that was so terrible I’d hate even running with them. The Aukey set perfectly fit my budget and feature requirements.

You can buy the earphones from Amazon for just $25, and you’ll almost certainly not regret spending that little on a pair, as long as you manage your expectations. They’re no JayBirds, but they’re perfectly acceptable for the price.

Filed under: iOS Devices, Reviews Tagged: Accessories, Aukey, bluetooth earphones, reviews

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Ever since Apple made the move to a more ‘flat’ design with iOS 7, the multitasking interface has changed in either a minor or major way with each iteration. With iOS 9, the interface has changed yet again. While the change is not hugely radical, it does take some adjusting to…

When you double tap the Home button (or 3D Touch with pressure on iPhone 6s/Plus), it takes you out of the app that you were using and shows you a fullscreen thumbnail preview of the app and the most recent apps you have accessed. The apps are presented in a fanned-out card-like interface. If you want to see the rest of your recently used apps, you just swipe left to right or right to left to browse through them all.

If you want to immediately force close an app for any reason, just swipe up on any application preview. If you swipe up with a finger on each preview, it will close out each app simultaneously. There’s usually no reason to do this, but it can be fun.

To get into any of your recently opened apps, simply tap on the app in the switcher to jump into it. New in iOS 9 is the ability to go back to the previous app you were in, denoted by the words Back to Messages for instance, in the upper left hand corner in black. This happens when an app requests permission to open another app, or when you get a notification and you tap on it switching focus on that notification instead of the previous app you were in. For example, if you’re reading this article in Safari then receive an iMessage in Messages, you may want to tap the banner alert to read it in full and reply, then jump back to Safari. Several examples are shown down below with Messages giving the option to go back to the App Store, 1Password giving the option back to Dropbox, and Messages giving the option to go back to Tweetbot.

The Home screen even appears as a full screen thumbnail view. If you are using Handoff, it may appear as an available option down at the bottom of the app switcher.

You can also watch this area for app suggestions based on location. For example, you may see the Starbucks app appear as a banner below here if you’re near a location. Tapping that banner allows you to easily launch the app.

Until Apple decides to change how multitasking works on iPhones and iPads again, that is how you use the redesigned multitasking in iOS 9.

Filed under:
How-To, iOS Tagged: Handoff, how to, iOS 9, iPad, iPhone, multitasking

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