Archive - April, 2010

If it is not just a different “form factor”, if it is not just old software with the “touch experience” added, then what is it? What makes the iPad so special we just had to develop Things for iPad?

For sure, the introduction of the iPad today marks the arrival of a new platform. And there is hardly anything more exciting for a software developer than the introduction of a new platform. But this isn’t just any platform.

If you want to understand what makes the iPad special, you cannot look at what it has, but what it doesn’t have. The iPad is so thin and light, it becomes the display, and the display becomes the application. No input devices. The device vanishes and turns into the application you are using. The technology is transparent.

Steve Jobs said about the iPod that “it is all about the music”. With the iPad, Apple has done the same for personal computing as it has done before with the iPod: it made technology go away. But if the device is gone, and the operating system is gone, what is left?

The iPad is an empty canvas that invites us to imagine what is possible. It inspires our imagination and it makes us want to create, because never before were we able to create software that was so close to the user.

Developing Things for iPad in such a short amount of time was exciting, it was hard work, and it was a whole lot of fun. You can see how much fun we had by watching the Things for iPad introduction video. Please enjoy it.

Today we released Things 1.3.2. Despite the version number saying that it is only a minor update, it actually contains a significantly enhanced sync engine.

With Things 1.3.2, it is now possible to sync an arbitrary number of mobile devices with your Mac such as the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad via your local network. The Devices preference pane (previously called iPhone) will guide you through the necessary steps to add multiple devices.

Once you start a sync session by choosing the “Sync Mobile Devices now…” menu command (or by simply opening Things on one of your mobile devices), Things will look for all available devices and sync all of your information between all of them.

For example, if you made changes on both your iPhone and your iPad, Things 1.3.2 will sync with your iPhone, then your iPad, and once again with your iPhone to make sure changes are not only passed from your iPhone to your iPad, but also back again from your iPad to your iPhone.

Finally, for those of you who are wondering about cloud sync. We have chosen a quite ambitious approach using cool technology that only recently has become feasible. We are (still) very hard at work to get this completed and released, and I want to thank everybody for their patience. It’ll be worth the wait.