Federico Viticci

10788 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Simplenote Updated For The iPad - Still The Best Notes App?

Like I wrote in my Evernote for iPad review some weeks ago, there aren’t good iPad apps for bloggers yet. The WordPress official client- put simply - sucks, and there are some other crappy apps that I can’t really see used in a professional context. So, I decided to stick with Evernote, and I’m still using it. This post is being written on it. I use Evernote because, together with text, I have to sync screenshots over the cloud, and many other note taking applications don’t let you attach any other kind of media to their library.

Simplenote is not any other note taking application though. Simplenote is the note taking application, the one you should use if you want something simple, reliable and fast enough to let you jot down everything and anything you want and have it backed up over the air. An iPad compatible version of Simplenote came out last night: is it still worth your attention?

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Opera 10.52 for Mac Available

Opera has released a major update for the Mac version of its browser, dubbed “10.52”. It’s available for download here.

The latest update brings many important new features and improvements, including a new Javascript named Carakan, a new Vega graphics library and a Opera Presto 2.5 browser engine. Opera 10.52 also uses Cocoa and Core Text for a better look and feel on the Mac, together with extended support for gestures and dialog menus.

So, basically, it’s an update focused on making Opera for Mac feel more native on the platform. Now, about that iPhone version…

Facebook Videos Go HTML5, iPad Compatible [Update: Nope, It’s Transcoding]

This is good news, one of those you’d want to wake up in the morning with.  We’ve just found out that Facebook videos (the Facebook ones, those who used to be played in Flash. Youtube videos were already supported) are now iPad compatible, as you can watch them from your new magical device using HTML5.

It seems like this applies for new and recent videos, as some of them still give me a “You need Adobe Flash installed” error. Anyway, it’s good to see websites are slowly adopting new standards and “getting rid of the crappy stuff”.

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The iPad, A Story. [Part I]

It’s difficult, nearly impossible I’d say, to write a review of the iPad and say things that haven’t already been said over and over again.

Yes, I’ve got an iPad. I’ve bought a 16GB model from the United States (Apple Store of Charlotte, to be exact) and imported it to Italy using the UPS Express service. It took 2 days for it to arrive and be cleared at customs. But anyway, I’ve got an iPad.

Let me state this straight up: it is magical indeed. But in a way that it doesn’t do anything revolutionary or out of this world - it’s the realization. The “how” it does things and makes you feel home right after 10 minutes you’re using it.

I could focus this article on the technical specifications and features it has. At this point, I think it’s best for me to keep this personal, and talk about the story with the iPad so far.

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Zootool Offline Brings Your Zoo To Your Mac Desktop

Back in January we talked about Zootool, a new web application that aimed at revolutionizing then way you collect and organize bookmarks on the web. I described Zootool as the best new webapp of 2010, and I still think that Bastian Allgeier’s creation is the most innovative and best designed new kid on the block this year.

Four months and hundreds of thousands of entries later, the Zootool community is still young, still growing and looking for more and better integration of the app with online services and devices. Zootool integrates with Twitter, Facebook and Delicious to share and backup your bookmarks, but people want a way to access Zootool from their Macs, iPhones and iPads. And while we know that an iPad version is in the works and maybe we’ll see a native iPhone counterpart someday, today Imprbbble has released the first official Mac client for the app called Zootool Offline.

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AIM for iPad, Elegant IM App

When IM+ for iPad was announced and the first screenshots started coming out, I had some serious doubts regarding the interface and what the developers seemed to focus on at the time: overcrowding the iPad’s larger screen with tons of buttons and menus. It didn’t feel right, even if we didn’t have an actual device to test it on.

Fortunately, AIM for iPad was announced too, and after some weeks of testing, I can say this is the best IM client you can have on the iPad right now.

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