Sorry I’ve been so MIA! (There’s been some crazy awesome stuff going on.)
Sorry it’s been so long! There’s been a ton of awesome and amazing things going on in my life.
On the writing front, I’m now a regular writer for Medium — which has resulted in a *major* boost to my writing income. (*If you’re a writer who is not writing on Medium, I don’t know what you’re doing.*)
On the *other* professional front, we’ve finally released our drag event app — @dragr — and are over the moon with the reception it’s receiving in the community.
Hope you’re all doing well and getting down to all the writing. The world needs your story, so don’t give up
This past Friday I got the new Apple TV, and the day after the Nimbus controller that wirelessly syncs with it (over Bluetooth). I’m having a blast.
I’ll start by saying that I’m a longtime and very strong user of Apple TV. It’s now turned into a pretty successful product for Apple, but I was an early adopter, and it quickly became indispensable for me. The killer feature for me has always been AirPlay, and on top of streaming lots of video content to it, it’s also been my main “stereo” in my home (first by streaming music from iTunes, then Spotify, and these days Apple Music).
But I’ve always been waiting for the moment when they would finally add a proper App Store to it, so that we’d start getting proper apps that were made for use on a TV screen.
And that of course means, TV games.
The best thing about plugging it in and logging into my accounts (as a citizen of the world, I have Canadian, US, and Japan accounts) was that I already had access to a bunch of games courtesy of the few Universal apps out there that have already jumped on the TV front. Early faves so far include Canabalt,Badland,Edge/Edge Ex,Phoenix HD,Jetpack Joyride, and a game that I’m finally having fun playing for the first time (because I’m playing it with the Nimbus controller), Asphalt 8.
(And to be fair, even though it’s not a game I particularly like playing, Crossy Road does look great on the big screen.)
The game I’m playing the most though is Rayman Adventures, a free-to-play game that plays exactly like a regular Rayman console game when you’re playing with the Nimbus – it’s not like the (albeit excellent) auto-runners that have already come out on iOS. There’s also another free-to-play game that I’ve been enjoying, a hover ship “runner” called Breakneck, although it was crashing for me consistently when I was reaching a certain level today.
As I mentioned at the top, I quickly bought that Nimbus controller – which is a very solid piece of hardware, by the way – because for most of these games, I wasn’t really enjoying playing them with the Siri Remote. But one very big exception, and the only game I’ve bought so far, is Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising, which was specifically designed to play with the Siri Remote, and in fact does not support play with a controller. I found myself really enjoying playing that game with the remote, and as someone who was not a fan of playing games with the Wiimote (along with the nunchuck controller), I think what makes it better here is that the Siri Remote is so much smaller and lighter, and so it’s not as tiring to be holding it up. Add some gorgeous HD visuals, and you’ve got a legit great space shooter.
The App Store is a bit strange though. Right now you can only find games through a featured page, through a page of things you’ve bought (and so any Universal apps that you’ve previously purchased on other iOS devices show up there), and through a search page. It’s not surprising that there’s no charts yet, since the store just opened, but I would have liked to see some category pages – I have a few friends who I know have created Apple TV versions of their iOS games (Shaun Inman’s The Last Rocket, Eric Koizol’s Rainblocks) that you can only find if you specifically search for them. I also find it strange that you can’t buy Apple TV apps through App Stores on other devices (or on your computer).
So what’s the verdict?
I think it’s pretty clear that I’m already quite excited for this device, in terms of games, and I think this will finally be the micro console that sticks. Just like what happened with the iPhone, tons of people are going to buy Apple TVs to watch video content (which I of course do as well) and as they start discovering the high-quality games you can play there, it’s going to make it that much more attractive for creators to develop Apple TV versions of their iOS games, or even better, games that may be created specifically with the TV in mind. Also, the fact Apple is strongly promoting the sales of controllers like the Nimbus means that I’m sure more and more games that play better with such controllers will be coming out on the device.
To me, this feels like a new console launch, and a good one at that.
Update: I just realized that I forgot to emphasize another thing that is a huge sell for me – although I alluded to it when I mentioned Asphalt 8 – and that’s the ability to finally play games that use virtual controls on iOS devices with a real physical controller. I absolutely hate playing games that way (with virtual on-screen controls), and there are tons of quality games that I’m sure would be a million times better if I could finally play them with a proper controller – a recent example is Downwell, a game I did still enjoy, but that I still found to be a bit awkward because of the controls. Yes, you’ve long been able to use wireless Bluetooth controllers with iOS devices, but that’s not a practical thing to do. There’s nothing more natural though than using one when you’re playing TV games.
a picture of the tumblr icon in the app store. next to it it says ‘Tumblr — Culture, Art, Chaos’ and underneath it says ‘Hellsite (affectionate)’. 268k people have reviewed the app.
Instagram has never worked on an app outside of its own, until today. They’ve outed something called ‘Hyperlapse’, an iOS-only app which creates seconds-long time lapses out of minutes-long videos. It’s a very simple app for an extremely simple idea, and while it’s nothing to get too excited about, it’s still a rather nice app to tuck away on the fifth page of the Photography folder on your homescreen next to the ten-page Messaging folder and the 20-page To-Do List folder.
This is not a replacement for your $15,000 camera kit…
Firstly, here’s what Hyperlapse is not: a replacement for $15,000 video kits. I’ve seen a lot of websites and blogs, such as Mashable and Wired, saying that Hyperlapse is “like having expensive video camera gear in your pocket.” That’s entirely untrue. Those headlines can go in the same bin as the “after this, you’ll never need another note-taking app again” ones.
…but it’s good at being what it actually is
Here’s what Hyperlapse is: a quick and easy way for you to record faux-time lapses for speedy mobile sharing to Facebook and Instagram. And Twitter, of course, but there’s no blue bird icon sitting amidst the Share buttons after you’ve recorded with Hyperlapse. Facebook, who owns Instagram, probably just wants to freeze the competition out.
Thank you for the mus— oh, nevermind
When you open Hyperlapse, you’re welcomed by a few examples of time lapses presumably created within the app, such as some people dancing, some top-down views of a beautiful cloudy sky from an airplane window, and so on. It’s all very charming and pretty. It seems odd, though, that these example time lapses are set to music ('Bingo Bongo’ by Jabba Electric, if anyone is wondering) because Hyperlapse doesn’t have the option of adding music or sounds to your time lapses.
You have to appreciate the difficulties that would result in allowing music to be added to videos — all manner of licensing would have to explored. But it’s sad that the time lapses you’re welcomed with on the opening screen seem so much more alive because of the complementary music, whereas any we record as actual Hyperlapse users will seem a tad less exciting due to their silence; Instagram can’t add music either. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about how Instagram handles licensed music amidst their users. Weird…
Lighting, camera, action!
Anyhow, once you’re past the welcome screen, you’re presented with a full-screen camera window with a solitary Record button (a white circle) in the lower third of the screen. I found that if conditions are quite dark, the thin ring around the Record button will be black, but as soon as conditions are bright enough for effective and beautiful time lapses, the ring changes to a rainbow palette which reflects the colours in the app’s icon.
You’re still able to record in dark conditions should you wish, but I think Hyperlapse discourages it. One of the main selling points of the app is its stabilisation abilities which prevent time lapses from being too juddery or jumpy, and I don’t think that tech would work as efficiently in gloomy tungsten lighting.
When you start recording (tap once, let go, unlike Instagram Video, where you tap and hold to record in segments) you’ll see two timers on the screen. One shows how long you’ve been recording in real time seconds, and the other tells you how long your time lapse will be. It’s roughly 5/6 seconds of real time to 1 second of time lapse.
When you’re satisfied with your recording, tap the Stop button, and wait for things to process. Then you’ll be presented with the option to slow the time lapse down or speed it up. The default speed-up is 6x. Other options are 2x, 4x, 8x, 10x, and 12x. You won’t want to delve into the 12x waters unless you’ve got about three minutes of real time footage.
Done and dusted
When you’re happy with how fast your time lapse is speeding along, just tap the green Tick button in the top right. The time lapse will be saved to your Camera Roll as a typical video, prepped for sharing. You’ll also be presented with the option to share it straight to Instagram or Facebook, as aforesaid.
Here’s an interesting nicety, though: if you want to decide on a speed for your time lapse later, tap the red X in the top left corner and you can save it for later. To access it, tap the blue circle next to the Record button when you next open Hyperlapse, and it’ll open back up for speed editing.
Oops…
What if you tape 'Edit later’ on two time lapses? When you tap the blue circle, it just brings up the most recent video you saved for later, instead of letting you choose which one you want to go back to. So if you record, say, 10 time lapses, save them all for later, and you want to get back to the first one you recorded, you’ll have to edit the other nine first.
I assume this is a bit of a messy mistake that’ll be fixed soon. I’ve tried swiping at the sides of the screen, two-finger swiping, the lot, and nothing suggests you can switch between saved time lapses.
Seeing the stabilisation
Here’s an small but interesting feature. Instagram is boasting about Hyperlapse’s stabilisation engine, but you can see it in action for yourself if you tap and hold on the video playback screen at the speed editing section. You’ll be presented with the unstabilised, unprocessed version of your time lapse. It’s pretty nifty.
Two more fatal flaws
The first fatal flaw is that the corners of the app are rounded, which makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.
The second fatal flaw is a bit bigger. A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced a piece of software which would allow GoPro users to smooth out and stabilise their videos to make nicer, cleaner, more professional time lapses.
What was it called? Hyperlapse.
I’m still hoping Microsoft will pursue their Hyperlapse tech, though, because it looks absolutely amazing, and I’m already a huge fan of the similar work they’ve done with their Photosynth site and app, which you should definitely check out here.
I’m seeing a lot of people say that they can’t find the Hyperlapse app in the App Store. That could be because it’s so new, it hasn’t been indexed yet. Instead of using the iTunes workaround, you can search up the Instagram app page, tap 'Instagram, Inc.’ just below the app title, and you’ll see Hyperlapse in the list of apps submitted to the App Store by Instagram, Inc..
I’m also seeing a lot of people complain about Hyperlapse not being available for Android. That problem can be solved here.
After listening to A Dark Room developer commentary (unlocked after beating the game), can’t help but love it even more. They even got it to work for blind people using Apple’s Voiceover feature .
Every day at Glow, we feel like proud mamas and papas. Our apps support women from period to parenting—they’ve helped millions of women better understand their bodies, and over two hundred thousand women get pregnant!
Today, we are especially proud: Glow has been chosen as one of five organizations to integrate with Apple’s new CareKit! As Apple’s early launch partner, we’ll be incorporating CareKit into not one, but TWO apps in the coming weeks. The Glow NurtureandGlow Baby apps are in for a first-class fabulous time.
Pushing the boundaries of health via technology is in our DNA: We were the first women’s health app to focus on male fertility, postpartum support, and the interdependence of period tracking and sexual health. Now we’re in the very first batch of organizations integrating with Apple CareKit. Tracking your health and the health of your loved ones is about to be even more intuitive in our apps! Just you wait and see, moms and moms-to-be :)
The free teamspeak for iOS download is today until the 23rd! I recommend taking advantage of it :)
Signal boosting. Even though I have an Android phone. (oh here’s a link from Google Play!)
Thanks for the signal boost. :D This means it’s probably time for me to reblog this as well, haha. Take advantage of this great deal, people! I was a paid user for the first app, and I use it on a near-daily basis. Definitely worth it if you use teamspeak at all on your computer.
(As an aside, even though I love my iphone, I’m super jealous of Android users! I really want to play Ingress. :l)
![Jean Snow [.net]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_bd78c3753f3c_30.png){kind=avatar}
