Facebook debuts new 'Paper' reading app, Carrot Fit brings snarky weight tracking to iOS
Social networking giant Facebook is set to give users a new way to explore and discover content both on and off the service with its upcoming Paper app, while Carrot Fit aims to help users lose weight with what the company calls a 'sadistic' approach.
The app provides a WYSIWYG, or what-you-see-is-what-you-get, interface for posting content. The preview that users see on screen reflects exactly what the post will look like when viewed in Paper by others.
Facebook's photo and video viewing experience has also received an overhaul in Paper. Videos will automatically play in full-screen mode, and users can pan around large photos by tilting their iPhone.
Paper will be available as a free, iPhone-only download from the U.S. App Store on Feb. 3.
Users can enter their weight once each day. The app will allow users to set weigh-in reminders, and milestones can be shared on social media.
In addition, Carrot Fit provides basic graphs for tracking weight trends over time. Users can also set a weight loss goal or calculate their body mass index from within the app.
Carrot Fit version 1.0 is available now as a $1.99, 6.6-megabyte download from the App Store.
Paper
Paper presents stories from the user's Facebook news feed as well as outside sources in a sparse, gesture-based user interface reminiscent of the Flipboard newsreader. Content is segregated into themed sections --?the news feed is first, and users can mix-and-match other sections with topics like photography and sports.The app provides a WYSIWYG, or what-you-see-is-what-you-get, interface for posting content. The preview that users see on screen reflects exactly what the post will look like when viewed in Paper by others.
Facebook's photo and video viewing experience has also received an overhaul in Paper. Videos will automatically play in full-screen mode, and users can pan around large photos by tilting their iPhone.
Paper will be available as a free, iPhone-only download from the U.S. App Store on Feb. 3.
Carrot Fit
Carrot Fit is a simple weight-tracking application that either admonishes or rewards users based on whether they have gained or lost weight since their last check-in. The app leverages text-to-speech functionality and will give users audible feedback --?those who have lost weight may hear that they "could be a part-time model," for instance, while those whose scale reading has increased might hear that they are "starting to affect the Earth's orbit around the Sun."Users can enter their weight once each day. The app will allow users to set weigh-in reminders, and milestones can be shared on social media.
In addition, Carrot Fit provides basic graphs for tracking weight trends over time. Users can also set a weight loss goal or calculate their body mass index from within the app.
Carrot Fit version 1.0 is available now as a $1.99, 6.6-megabyte download from the App Store.
Comments
So this is what the Push Pop Press team has likely been working on since they were acqhired.
I am so glad I completely dumped Bookface from my life - so any news related to them is now a pleasant irrelevance to me.
Probably. For a moment there I thought they ripped off an app until reading your comment. And then the realisation sunk in and the memory returned that it was Steve and Apple who ripped-off the Matas' interface. The brutal reality is iBooks textbooks interface should have happened much sooner and first for magazines before text books. And Matas should have been leading the magazine endeavour at Apple after they re-acquired him and his team. But no, because of Steve's pride he threatened Matas with IP, copied him and then Facebook acquired his company.
We desperately need a definitively simply interface for magazines that can be adopted like the Push Pop interface for text books. And one for Newspapers. The very same way all physical text books, magazines and newspapers have the same interface. Something along the lines of the Matas' design. A UI so simple, so obvious that there is no other alternative. And therefore, with the free tools provided the various companies would use Apple's tools to create their text books, magazines and newspapers. And users would subscribe knowing they would get a superior experience they already understand how to use.
I saw Mike Matas' name on one of the screens in the video.
So this is what the Push Pop Press team has likely been working on since they were acqhired.
Mike is the lead product designer. He has been making the rounds in the media talking about Paper.
Paper was, and still is, an amazing app developed by 53.
It's not only one of the best apps out their for the iPad, but I really think Apple should acquire 53, keep Paper on the App Store and keep selling Pencil under the 53 banner, but bring 53 in-house to work on new wild ideas no expense spared. They could come up with something amazing and not only would Apple benefit, but every Apple user may end up benefiting in the end.
Apple may be increasing their acquisition spending, but they need really start doing some great app-dev acquisitions. They should have hired Loren Brichter as a permanent freelancer a long time ago, as they did with Sebastiaan De With, and they should do way more than this. One company Apple shouldn't have let slip through their fingers IMO is Instagram. Instagram should be a permanent tab in the Photos and Camera apps. Opt-in of course. Crapbook have turned something great into a piece of shit. Instagram would have been the perfect social network for Apple to get their feet wet. They could have kept it iOS-exclusive, too. Was better like that. And stubborn Steve should have upped his offer on Dropbox to $1.6B. At some point DB's investors wouldn't have been able to resist. They should have acquired Push Pop Press. The list goes on. They make great acquisitions, but I'd like to see them be more aggressive with the app+talent acquisitions. Facebook are hoovering up all of this talent and it disgusts me. Apple need to be far more aggressive in this area. I'm waiting for Facebook or Google or Microsoft to buy 53. A sad day that will be.
It's not only one of the best apps out their for the iPad, but I really think Apple should acquire 53, keep Paper on the App Store and keep selling Pencil under the 53 banner, but bring 53 in-house to work on new wild ideas no expense spared. They could come up with something amazing and not only would Apple benefit, but every Apple user may end up benefiting in the end.
Apple may be increasing their acquisition spending, but they need really start doing some great app-dev acquisitions. They should have hired Loren Brichter as a permanent freelancer a long time ago, as they did with Sebastiaan De With, and they should do way more than this. One company Apple shouldn't have let slip through their fingers IMO is Instagram. Instagram should be a permanent tab in the Photos and Camera apps. Opt-in of course. Crapbook have turned something great into a piece of shit. Instagram would have been the perfect social network for Apple to get their feet wet. They could have kept it iOS-exclusive, too. Was better like that. And stubborn Steve should have upped his offer on Dropbox to $1.6B. At some point DB's investors wouldn't have been able to resist. They should have acquired Push Pop Press. The list goes on. They make great acquisitions, but I'd like to see them be more aggressive with the app+talent acquisitions. Facebook are hoovering up all of this talent and it disgusts me. Apple need to be far more aggressive in this area. I'm waiting for Facebook or Google or Microsoft to buy 53. A sad day that will be.
I agree with you to some extent.
I am not so favorable with Apple buying too many developers, because leaving them independent fosters creativity much more than bringing them in house, at least in some cases. The problem is that the iOS ecosystem is so healthy and full of talented people that other platforms are buying these companies to bring them in house and/or to bring the related talent in house, with the expectation that this somewhat magically translates into increased creativity in house. Not all companies have an environment where creativity is fostered. And if you bring a team into a "creativity-unfriendly" environment you cannot create a lot.
An anecdote: some of the people working at 53 come from Microsoft. Yes, from Microsoft. They worked, or where related, to the "Courier" experiment (one of the greatest ideas Microsoft ever had, in my opinion). Courier got axed. People left.
Then the iPad was released and the people behind 53 saw the opportunity to create something along the lines of what they had in mind for the previous project.
So, to sum up, 53's story shows that the opposite of what you suggest Apple doing is sometimes true. Getting out of a big company is sometimes better to pursue innovation. This is also what happened at Nest, although they just went back to another big company after leaving one...
Anyway, Apple has always had a "fingers off" approach towards accessories to their devices (except mouse and keyboard, a couple of covers and the original hands-free/charger for the iPhone). Is it correct? I think to some extent it is. But recent events (most notably Nest's acquisition, Instagram acquisition, Dropbox) show that sometimes it can be dangerous. As long as your ecosystem is so healthy that it can always provide an alternative, you don't have much to fear (for instance: I left Instagram and replaced it with EyeM, couldn't be happier).
We tend to see only the negative side of acquisitions as "lost talents, why didn't Apple buy that?" but fail to see that a healthy ecosystem always adapts, and that new comers may replace established players.
Apple, in my opinion, only concentrates on a few, key acquisitions because the risk of buying a company that then gets replaced by another one by the time you integrate it in your structure is too high.
Maybe Apple should, based on the model of iTunes, or Liquimetal, strike exclusivity deals instead of buying. It is also a model followed by the big game console manufacturers and it seem to make some business sense (as long as it is not overblown).
My two cents.
They could use celebrity voices like Susie Essman, "you fat f--k"