Sandpaper UX

Smoothing down the rough spots to make better apps by Taylor Edmiston

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Google Maps - Now you can book an Uber inside the Google Maps app.

Source: The Verge

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Amazon Alexa - When Alexa is reading a Kindle book to you and sees "e.g.," in the text, it reads it aloud as "for example" instead.

By the way, the app in the screenshot is Kindle for Mac, because... it's kind of hard to screenshot Alexa talking.

Oh, and the book I'm reading is Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares.

More info: Read Kindle Books with Alexa

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Pinterest - You can install an app directly from a pin with one tap (okay, two taps).

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The Muse teaches new words you can use without sounding like a noob.

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Foursquare - Every Tuesday. Need I say more? Of course we’re gonna celebrate it.

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MistoBox offers several different referral email templates to accommodate sharing with different personality types.

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Google Maps now displays a welcome message when you cross state lines.

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When connecting your Mac to a projector, OS X automatically enables Do Not Disturb mode so that messages and other notifications don't display.

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph18740?locale=en_US

(h/t Shawn Inman)

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Snapchat

Snapchat's cool new Bitmoji integration automatically makes friendmojis when the person you're messaging also has Bitmoji installed.

This could signal more possible future integrations into the app, but for now Snapchat's platform is locked down.

http://snapchat-blog.com/post/147642403080/bitmoji

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Yelp

When you screenshot a place on Yelp, it automatically prompts you to include a link too.

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iOS

Press and hold on a link to see which apps can open it, or to prevent the default app from launching.

This feature was introduced last year in iOS 9 as Universal Links as a successor to custom URL schemes for deep linking.

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Google Maps

You can now tap the rideshare tab to see price estimates for your trip from both Uber and Lyft.

The Uber integration has been there for two years, but having Lyft as an alternative is brand new. If you're also the type that checks price estimates in both regularly, this is a welcome enhancement. :)

https://blog.lyft.com/posts/lyft-and-google-maps

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Yelp

When posting a review, Yelp now asks if the location has a nearby PokéStop. That was quick!

A couple known ones in Cincinnati are:

Redtree Art Gallery and Coffee Shop

Liberty’s Bar & Bottle

Washington Park

See the whole list (currently 181)

www.yelp.com

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Instapaper - If you save something already on your to read list, it gets pulled to the top.

H/t Kenneth Reitz for writing really good things.

How I Develop Things and Why

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Google Chrome (iOS) - When you tap the omnibar with a url on your clipboard, it automatically suggests opening that page.

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Dark Sky - After it starts raining, Dark Sky sends you a push notification.

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Robinhood - When executing a buy order, Robinhood now shows your available balance at the top so you know how many shares you could potentially buy.