The Hammock District

Filer 2.0.5 was approved earlier today and should be in worldwide App Stores within 24 hours.

This update adds VGA/TV-Out for Video files, restores background audio playback with iOS4, adds some UI enhancements, and fixes bugs.  

Downloader Lite will be brought up to date as Filer Lite shortly.

Yesterday the blog at GSMArena posted an interesting article about Filer.  It's a good writeup, particularly this part:

it’s just an awesome app that deserves a pat on the back...

Seriously, though it's a good profile, and I appreciate the review.  Interestingly, there's a definite focus on the iTunes USB sharing features of iOS 4 (that were introduced in 3.2 on iPad):

Yeap, the most interesting thing about it is the so-called iTunes USB sharing – a new feature, which has obviously been introduced by iOS 4 and the latest iTunes.

I'm not going to argue whether or not that's the most interesting thing.  Certainly when this feature was revealed in the iPad SDK, I knew exactly where it would fit .  However, I'm sure plenty of other developers did too.  Prior to this, the only way to get files onto an iDevice was through WiFi networking, USB hacks that impersonated a digital camera, or jailbreaking.  WiFi was the slowest and least reliable, the USB hacks were quickly banned from the App Store, and jailbreaking is a cat-and-mouse game.

As a long-time Windows Mobile / Pocket PC user, there was a common filesystem and there were definitely ways to throw files on your device and use them later.  Not brilliant or simple ways to do it, but it could be done.  When I started developing Filer (Downloader), the point wasn't to make something that downloaded files, it was to have a place to put stuff that didn't fit into the iTunes tethered ecosystem.  A year ago, the network was the only legitimate way to do this, so that's where I started.  Get a URL, download it, done.  Need to get it out, download it the other way.

iTunes USB sharing makes getting files in and out fast, reliable, and easy.  At first glance, it marginalizes apps like Filer.  But in the last year, I've updated the app to focus more on doing things with your files once you've got them (Manage, Zip/RAR, Dropbox, save to photos, etc), and there was a definite shift, hence the name change.

Now, getting files onto the device is not something I have worry about as much, and I can focus on making the rest of the app better.  As I continue to develop Filer, there will be  more competition on innovation and usability and distinguishing features. USB Sharing is an OS feature, not an application.

Beyond the obvious applications in file managers, USB sharing enables another class of apps that just wouldn't be feasible.  My next app will use this feature heavily, but it's not a file manager.  It just operates on big files that aren't very WiFi-friendly.

So thanks to GSMArena for the post, I think they nailed the idea behind Filer.  But knowing what users want is tricky.  I think Apple also made a good decision here.  There's no spiderweb of files or registry hiding away on your phone, and you can blow away an app and all its files in about 5 seconds.

Today I packed up the old site and moved to squarespace.  So far I like it here.  It'll let me focus on content instead of markup, and spend more time focusing on software.  I'm definitely on board with that.

Most of the content has been simply migrated, but I did add some new screenshots with commentary.  If you want the filer tech specs, visit the Filer product page.  If you want to see what it does, hit up the screenshots.

A Lite version of Filer is coming soon to replace Downloader Lite 1.30. 

Filer (formerly Downloader) 2.0 is out in the App Store now.

As of July 23 2010, Filer is back in the App Store

Filer 2.0 has been released. This is a long-awaited update bringing iOS4 support, Dropbox integration, and many other enhancements (including a new name and icon).

Check out the product page or go straight to the App Store

Downloader 1.70 has been released. This update adds USB File Sharing on iPad devices, UI Polish/Design Enhancements, Faster file extractions and some additional tweaks.

Check it out on the App Store.