Nuclear Bits

The WordPress app for iOS has just been updated to version 3.1 and brings in some much needed and some nifty features. While the previous version was feature-packed, it still felt stale and sub-part compared to most other apps. While I don’t use the app that often since most of my publishing either happens through MarsEdit or the browser itself, it was still a great tool to have when I was traveling or away from my Mac and needed to quickly publish something or make an edit.

The most notable feature that’s new in this update is the refreshed UI — there are some very nice and subtle gradients on elements that were previously just the native UI of iOS. The fresh coat of paint to the UI elements looks really good on the Retina Display and I wish iOS 6 featured something like this, instead of the clusterfuck that is the new status bar. The navigation has been improved and the app now has a Facebook/Path/Sparrow like pane on the left on the iPhone version while the iPad version has a Tweetie app like paned interface. The app icon gets a minor update as well.

However, the most important feature for me in this update is the support for Post Formats. I use Post Formats both on Beautiful Pixels and this site, so I’ve had to use the browser for publishing any non-standard post. Even MarsEdit on the Mac hasn’t introduced support for Post Formats yet, so this is a welcome feature for me. There are other WordPress.com specific features too, but I have never tried setting up a blog there as I’ve always wanted to have control and WordPress.com felt too restrictive.

The app is Universal and Free on the App Store. Yes, this post was composed in and published from the iOS app.

Plex, which is by far my favorite Media Center/Home Theater app, is now officially available for a range of Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players. While you still need to install the Plex Media Server app somewhere, you can install a native client on your Samsung device, straight from the Samsung app store. If your TV is from 2010-2011 and has a Smart Hub, you should be able to install it. A list of all the compatible devices is available here.

I have been using Plex to manage my media library for years now and they’ve been making some remarkable improvements to it in the last few months. The most notable addition lately has been the DLNA feature, which enables DLNA compatible devices to access the Plex Media Server without any configuration.

I’ve been using the TV client too for little over a year now when it was available directly from the developer. Back then, you’d have to log in using a “developer” account, and synchronize with a server’s IP for installing/updating it. So it’s great to have it finally land on the app store. If you have used the Plex Laika client, the interface is very similar to it, so you’ll feel right at home.

With this, I think I have the perfect Media Center setup in my house. The Plex Media Server runs on my Mac and indexes all my Movies, TV Shows, General Videos, Videos I “Save for Later” to Plex, etc. I have Plex client apps running on my Mac, iPhone, iPad, Galaxy Nexus and of course, my Samsung TV.

You can download Plex for Samsung from the app store or read more about it on the site here.

The ongoing London 2012 Olympic games have been fantastic so far and much has been said about its coverage, particularly what NBC has been doing. But being in India, I’ve been enjoying the games thanks to ESPN HD Channel’s live coverage and this excellent Olympic channel on YouTube. I am really liking the way the events are managed and covered.

Today, I came across a bunch of these brilliant Twitter accounts that tweet out camera photos from 6 events, along with often hilarious comments. They use Twitter’s own photo uploading service, so the photos should be viewable inline in most modern Twitter clients these days.

• @l2012poolcam

  Pool Camera — Tweets out underwater photos from all the swimming pool based events.

• @l2012tablecam

  Table Tennis Camera — Tweets out overhead shots from all the table-tennis events.

• @l2012stadiumcam

  Stadium Camera — Will be tweeting out photos from all the track and field based events.

• @l2012matcam

  Mat Camera — Tweets out overhead shots from all the mat based events, like Judo.

• @l2012pgymcam

  Gymnastics Camera — Tweets out photos from the gymnastic events.

• @l2012bballcam

  Basketball Camera — Tweets out overhead shots from basketball events.

My favorite one from the list is the pool camera, which has tweeted out some really great pictures already. There are also these 36 accounts that are automated to tweet out results as soon as they’re updated.

What a brilliant way to utilize Twitter.

I woke up late this morning and while reading through my daily news sources, I came across this sensational headline on Firspost. Now, I like Firstpost for its clean & minimal layout and that it doesn’t have “in-my-face” ads all over the site. However, their reporting lately has been pretty off. Last week, they wrote about the Google Fiber announcement, reporting that the company was offering a package with speeds of “1 gigabyte per second”. Even though I think that anyone reporting Tech News should know the difference between a byte and bits, I understand mistakes like this do happen. Yet six days later, the mistake still exists in their report.

Anyway, when I first read the headline “After LinkedIn and Yahoo, Dropbox says it was hacked” my first reaction obviously was, “Uh, oh!”. But I quickly went to the Dropbox blog to see what they had to say.

A couple weeks ago, we started getting emails from some users about spam they were receiving at email addresses used only for Dropbox. We’ve been working hard to get to the bottom of this, and want to give you an update.

Our investigation found that usernames and passwords recently stolen from other websites were used to sign in to a small number of Dropbox accounts. We’ve contacted these users and have helped them protect their accounts.

And here’s what Firstpost’s article says:

And now Dropbox has confirmed that hackers have been able to access a ‘small number’ of its users dropbox accounts and have promised to take immediate remedial measures.

[…]

Dropbox conducted an investigation and have now confirmed in an official blog post that “a small number of accounts” were indeed accessed by hackers.

Dropbox here is claiming that passwords were stolen on some other website and were used to sign in on some Dropbox accounts. In the email that they sent out notifying users that their passwords were reset by Dropbox, they say that “[…] Recently, passwords have been stolen from some Internet services. This is a problem because many people use the same password on multiple services, which is unsafe.”

Note that Dropbox uses OAuth for signing in on other websites. So this either means that a LOT of people just used the same passwords on these sites or that Dropbox was hacked and that they’re not revealing that yet. In any case, Firstpost still goes onto say that Dropbox was hacked, even citing Dropbox itself in the headline. One can’t resist a sensational headline like this, can he?

Update: The blog post on the Dropbox also says that:

A stolen password was also used to access an employee Dropbox account containing a project document with user email addresses

So there’s a good chance this is the source of all the emails receiving the spam.

A few weeks ago, WSJ reported that Digg.com was acquired by betaworks for $500,000. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because betaworks is the company behind bitly — the hugely popular link shortening and bookmarking bitmarking service and News.me — a simple service that delivers top stories from your Facebook and Twitter feed to your inbox.

The small team at betaworks then announced that it would completely scrap everything Digg had turned into in the last few years and use their experience from working on News.me to completely “rethink digg” from scratch, which will be (re)launched on August 1st.

On August 1, after an adrenaline and caffeine-fueled six weeks, we’re rolling out a new v1. With this launch, we’re taking the first step towards (re)making Digg the best place to find, read and share the most interesting and talked about stories on the Internet […]

That’s pretty impressive. Not only are they attempting to revive a once-popular community powered news website, they’re trying to put a working version out live in just six weeks. When I read this, I was pretty intrigued. I was a regular, addicted user on Digg before they ruined it with their “Diggbar” and the v4 redesign. So I have been patiently waiting to see what these guys have been cooking in their New York offices.

Today, the team has offered a preview of v1 of Digg that they’ve been working on.

The final version is close to complete, and when you visit Digg.com later this week, you’ll find a beautiful, image-friendly, and ad-free experience. We don’t think of Digg.com as a traditional destination because the website is only one piece of the overall Digg experience and because we aren’t interested in capturing pageviews. So above all v1 will be about simplicity. We are doing away with “Newsrooms,” we are killing the “Newsbar” (aka “Diggbar”), and we are reverting “Newswire” back to its original name, Upcoming. Digg v1 pivots around three views: Top Stories, Popular and Upcoming.

Looking at this wireframe, I think this swims very close to my liking. I like the general layout and the importance to images in in the articles. Moreover, I like what they’re doing with the Digg score.

Today, we vote on Facebook with every share and on Twitter with every tweet, and conversations take place across loads of different sites, apps, and networks. So how do we surface “what the Internet is talking about,” when the Internet is talking beyond the walls of Digg.com? We tear down the walls. When we launch v1, users will continue to be able to digg stories, but Digg scores will also take into account Facebook shares and tweets. Roll over any Digg score to see the breakdown. We’re excited to see how this new data can help us identify the best stories on the web.

Color me thoroughly impressed. The launch is just two days away and I’m already excited to check it out. They have a lot more photos of early mockups and explain their approach in the blog post, so go ahead and read that.

The Guardian Eyewitness app is one of my favorite photo apps for the iPad. Every day, the app is updated with a single stunning photograph chosen by the Guardian desk and often gives you a striking glimpse into events occurring around the world. The photos show up fullscreen and look absolutely breathtaking on the Retina Display of the new iPad. Every photo comes with a small description and a ‘Pro Tip’ — insights into how the photo was taken. The app is able to load up to 100 photos from the past.

Today, the app was updated with an option to enable Eyewitness Premium — a monthly paid subscription that adds the two extra features to the app. ‘Eyewitness Extra’ brings you three additional photos every day, over 80 stunning photos a month and ‘Eyewitness Series’, a special picture of the day series for major news and sports events around the world. The series begins with a showcase of photos from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Eyewitness Premium subscription costs £1.49 a month (via IAP) and I am definitely subscribing. If you’re skeptical, give the basic app a try, it’s Free on the App Store. You will also be able to preview the Eyewitness Extra and Eyewitness Series collections in the app when you first download it.

Here’s a neat accessory to have if you own an iPhone. Ever find yourself frustrated because your iPhone’s charger cable is in a tangled mess or about to fall off from the joints because you folded or wound it too tightly? I’ve come across a number of cases where this has happened and it’s not a pretty sight.

Michiel Cornelissen has come up with a fantastic little accessory to save you from your frustration. Called ‘The Wrap’, it’s an attachment to your existing charger that lets you wrap the cable around it. It comes with with two prongs that you can tuck your cable end into.

Michiel had released the Europe Version of The Wrap a few months ago and got a lot of requests to release the US version, which he has done today. You can view the product information and photos on his page here or order the product directly for just $10 plus shipping. It comes in 4 colors and 5 variants.