Sorry for the bug ?

So, we’ve had a little problem with version 1.0.1. ?

When you go to leave a tip you’re not going to see any tip amounts to choose from. ??‍♂️

Version 1.0.2 has been submitted to Apple for review. With any luck it’ll pass review and the tip amounts will magically appear. ???

Stream 1.0.1

Nothing major to share. Version 1.0.1 completes the Tip Jar we intended to ship in 1.0.

Why a Tip Jar?

Well, a one time price isn’t sustainable in the long run, even for a one person shop. And subscription fatigue is a thing.

If you’re interested in leaving a tip you can to to settings, scroll to the bottom, tap on Tip Jar, and pick an amount you’d like to tip.

Do I have to leave you a tip to open up features? Nope. Stream will work the same for everyone.

Enjoy!

Stream - A feed reader

Stream 1.0

First things first. You can find Stream in the App Store.

What is Stream?

Stream is a feed reader. Some folks call it a news reader, others an RSS reader.

Why do I need it?

Stream is a different take on feed readers. It displays your feeds in a timeline, similar to Twitter.

Stream doesn’t maintain a read/unread count because life is too short to stress over that kind of stuff.

Is it better than my current feed reader?

Probably not. Stream is great for casual reading. It’s a complement to your current reader.

Does it support services?

Nope. Stream treats RSS – and other feed types – as intended. When RSS was created the idea was to provide a decentralized way to get news.

Dave Winer, the man behind RSS, calls this idea a River of News. Stream is a mobile River of News. You have full control over what you subscribe to. It’s all decentralized so you don’t rely on a service to collect your feeds.

What does this marvel of software development cost?

Did we mention it’s FREE? No up front payment, no subscription, just FREE.

What if I don’t like it?

That’s ok! Stream was intentionally built to put simplicity at its core. Simplicity may make it too simple for your needs.

Here are some of my favorite alternative feed readers.

Mac

  • NetNewsWire – The granddaddy of Mac feed readers. Pure Mac.
  • Reeder – A beautifully designed feed reader.

iOS

So, you want an app?

A wonderful boquet of flowers.Elia Freedman: “Developing an application and making money at it is very very hard to do. Maybe your idea is the right one, maybe it isn’t. No matter the case, though, there are likely faster ways to validate the idea then writing an app.”

Another great piece on the cost of app development. If you’re thinking about writing an iOS, Android, or other mobile application make sure you do a bit of research before you start. I find most people are absolutely stunned by the cost of app development. Elia’s piece points to some other great articles that point out the how-to’s and the why-for’s of apps development, including a classic Craig Hockenberry Stack Overflow post on the true cost of developing their Twitter client, Twitterrific.

Elia later goes on to say:

Want to proceed anyway? Good for you. Just don’t go forward with blinders on.

Great advice.

Introducing Arrgly

We’ve added a new, silly, little application to the mix. It’s called Arrgly. A few years back we’d created a project to explore REST URL shortening services from Objective-C and Cocoa. The code could shorten a URL using a number of services, like bit.ly, ping.fm(gone), tr.im(gone), and a little white label shortener called YOURLS, as well as a few others.

We have a URL shortening service called f67 that uses YOURLS. It became obvious, after a few years, of starting the browser, logging in, pasting the link, pressing the shorten button, and copying the link back to the paste board on iOS that there had to be a much better way. We resurrected the URL shortening code, ARC‘ified it, and created a project. That project became Arrgly.

Yeah, it’s not attractive, and has a funny name, but it does exactly what we needed. It makes shortening a URL using our YOURLS based shortener as easy as copying a URL, starting Arrgly, and pasting the resulting short link that was placed back on the paste board for us.

It’s available in the App Store and, yes, it’s FREE.

If you decide to use it and would like a new feature or would like to report a bug, get in touch.

P.S. Yes, if you’re a designer and feel like improving Arrgly in exchange for our undying love and credit for the app design, we’re listening. Contact us: support@applecorelabs.com

Help Wanted: RxCalc 1.3 Beta Testers

We Want You

We’re working on an update to RxCalc to address some minor UI issues on the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch. If you’re interested in helping us, please click this link and follow the instructions.

What’s changing? Good question, it’s very minor:

  • Requires iOS 5
  • Now using the numeric keypad for data entry
  • BUG FIX: Some views clipping on the iPhone 5

We’re also working on a feature update, we’ll share more on that later.