By Graham K. Rogers

This morning I saw that Apple had released a couple of updates to iOS Apps: Podcasts and Find my iPhone. While the latter has minor changes, the Podcasts app has seen updates to the operations and to the interface.

Podcasts

• Create custom stations of favourite podcasts that update automatically
• Choose to start with oldest or latest unplayed episode
• Stations stored in iCloud - kept up to date on all devices
• Create an on-the-go playlist with a personal list of episodes
• Playlists synced from iTunes now appear in the Podcasts app
• "Now Playing" view redesigned with easier to use playback controls
• Addressed an issue with resuming playback when returning to the app
• Additional performance and stability improvements

The playback interface has seen a significant change and there is no longer that tape conceit. While many users did not like that, I found it rather attractive. It reminded me of my father's reel-to-reel Grundig tape recorder and I was interested in this use of skeuomorphism. While I was not a fan of this in apps like Contacts, I did not object to this in Podcasts. Gone now.

A minor annoyance occurred with the updating process as all podcasts are shown as if they are now new: I apparently have 399 podcasts to listen to.

Find my iPhone

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.