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App Updates: PDF Expert, OneEdit, ReaderX, Watchlater

A number of iOS applications have been updated following the release of the new iPad. While most of the software updates quickly approved by Apple have focused on Retina graphics, others that have come out in the past few days have brought new important functionalities as well.

PDF Expert, our favorite app to read and manage PDFs on the iPad, adds Retina graphics and document thumbnails in its new 4.0 version. On the new iPad, graphics are shaper and more detailed, but more importantly text is crisper and more readable. The new thumbnail-based interface makes for a more visual presentation and intuitive file browsing, although support for drag & drop could be improved (I’d like to be able to create folders by dropping a file on top of another, like on the Home screen). PDF Expert 4.0 also supports PDF portfolios, attachments, and embedded media.

ReaderX has improved a lot since my original review. The app now comes with more fonts, more options, a revised preview popover, improved scrolling, and better sharing. The wallpaper concept makes a lot more sense on the iPad’s Retina display, as it makes it easy to set smaller fonts, while maintaining readability and detail. Give it a try again.

OneEdit is an app I use on my iPad to quickly resize multiple photos at once and save them back to the Camera Roll. The app doesn’t support Retina graphics yet on the new iPad, but the issue will likely go unnoticed (except for the icon) as the app uses a lot of native UI elements that Apple is already providing at Retina size. OneEdit 1.8 (the app is sold in separate versions for iPhone and iPad) enhances the batch-processing features of the app with support for individual photos from Dropbox, upload to WebDAV, and possibility to resize images based on scale. I particularly like OneEdit’s approach to image editing with separate sources/tasks/output processes that makes it easy and clear for me to select images, act on them, and save them somewhere else. OneEdit is also pretty powerful with tons of other options I don’t use, so make sure to check out the app’s full description on the App Store.

Watchlater keeps on being one of the best options to save videos from the web for later by adding a new design and more sharing options to version 2.5. Functionality-wise the app is mostly unchanged from my original review, but the UI is much better and collaborating with friends on playlists is a great idea.

Other minor updates have been released on the App Store as well: Note & Share added fixes and new iPad compatibility; LogMeIn Ignition added Retina graphics; Path started hashing user data with version 2.1.1; Alien Blue for iPad added a new gesture to load Reddit comments.

Make sure to check out the Great apps for the new iPad App Store section for a comprehensive list of software updates released in the past weeks.

Sync Documents From iCloud to Dropbox→

Sync Documents From iCloud to Dropbox

TJ Luoma at TUAW has written the post I was going to save for the weekend: a simple way to sync documents from iCloud to Dropbox using Hazel on the Mac (our review of Hazel 3.0). Because a number of apps – text editors in particular – have started to offer a second option to sync documents with iCloud, and because iCloud, unlike Dropbox, doesn’t offer document versioning, finding a way to keep files in sync from iCloud to Dropbox might be a workflow worth considering.

The good news is that you can sync iCloud to Dropbox. The bad news is that it’s a one-way sync from iCloud to Dropbox. But if all you want to do is backup iCloud files and be able to retrieve previous versions from Dropbox, it’s pretty simple to do.

Aside from text files, the Mobile Documents folder used by iCloud can be configured on the Mac to do all sorts of crazy automated tasks when combined with the right apps. For example, you can use it with GoodReader and find the same documents on the Mac, in spite of the lack of a GoodReader app for Mac.

Check out TJ Luoma’s guide here.

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Shazam 5.0 Brings Faster Tagging

Music recognition service Shazam announced this morning a major update for its Shazam Free, Encore and RED apps, which reach version 5.0 and add a number of new functionalities and refined user interface design. Renowned for allowing users to tag songs and certain TV content in a few seconds by using the iPhone’s microphone and an Internet connection, Shazam has managed to improve on the already solid functionality of the app by cutting start-up times and reworking the way the app listens to music to tags songs.

Shazam’s startup is now over a second quicker, and the “Touch to Shazam” action has been moved to a new button in the app’s bottom toolbar. You may noticed this button will “pulse” every few seconds when the app is open – that is related to the new “instant listening” feature of the app, which contributes to making recognition and tagging super-fast. In my tests, I have noticed songs now take 4-5 seconds on average to be recognized (on WiFi) – a significant improvement from the previous 10-15 seconds it generally took me to tag songs.

Shazam 5.0 brings other improvements aside from better tagging. The Friends feed is faster, the UI more polished throughout the app; Twitter integration with iOS 5 is now properly supported, allowing users to edit their tweets; LyricPlay, a feature to associate lyrics with songs, has received improved sync and streaming.

Shazam 5.0 is available today on the App Store in three versions: Shazam, Shazam Encore, and (Shazam)RED.

iOS Text Editor Roundup→

iOS Text Editor Roundup

In my article about text editors from two weeks ago, I compared my four favorite apps for writing on the iPad. In his amazingly researched text editor roundup, Brett Terpstra did the opposite: he took every text editor for iPhone and iPad out there, crowdsourced the initial compiling of the data, then put everything back together adding features, descriptions, links, and images for the apps.

This is a feature comparison of text editors on iOS. The information was compiled by the web community on an open Google spreadsheet. I cannot vouch for its current accuracy, but will be verifying everything as I’m able. It’s meant to help you find the most useful way to write, code or take notes for your personal needs. Every editor is geared toward a slightly different purpose, with their own strenghts and focus.

Brett did a fantastic job and I’m already downloading some new apps I didn’t know about thanks to his roundup. Check it out here (and make sure to bookmark it, as he’s adding new features to the webpage every day).

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Apple Announces Q2 2012 Conference Call For April 24

Last night, Apple updated its Investor Relations webpage to include a placeholder for the company’s next earnings call, scheduled for April 24. As usual with Apple’s conference calls, the event will be provided as an audio webcast for investors and listeners.

Apple plans to conduct a conference call to discuss financial results of its second fiscal quarter on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. PT.

Ended on March 31, Apple’s second quarter of the fiscal year typically brings in lower sales and volume for the company, although this year’s Q2 may signal a change in this tradition with AAPL soaring to new heights every week, and the new iPad selling very well in a larger number of countries than the iPad 2 last year. In fact, whilst Apple didn’t provide any official numbers for the iPad 2’s release last year, it is safe to assume this year’s debut of the new iPad saw larger sales thanks to a wider rollout on Day One (10 countries on March 16, as opposed to only 1 launch country for the iPad 2), rapid follow-up in more countries a week later (25 countries on March 23) and previously reported initial sales figures (3 million iPads were sold in 4 days, prior to the second worldwide March 23 rollout). Sales from the March 16 and March 23 iPad launches will be included in this year’s Q2 results.

Apple’s previous quarter, Q1 2012, has been the company’s biggest to date. The company posted record-breaking revenue of $46.33 billion, with 15.43 million iPads, 37.04 million iPhones and 5.2 million Macs sold. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods, a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The company posted quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share. iPhone represented a 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter, while iPad reported a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Until Q1 2012, Apple’s most profitable quarter had been Q3 2011 with $28.57 billion revenue.

In Q1 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook remarked how the company was seeing China as “an extremely important market”, with “staggering demand” for iPhone. Cook also revealed that, in spite of the “bold bet” they took in terms of iPhone supply, Apple was short of iPhone supply throughout the quarter; the situation had improved by the time of the earnings call, but the company was still short in some areas. In the conference call, Cook also referred to iCloud as the company’s “big insight” for the next decade.

For Q2 2012, Apple set its guidance at $32.5 billion revenue and diluted earnings per share of about $8.50. As Apple’s own estimates are generally low, it is no surprise to see analysts projecting bigger sales and revenue, but as noted by Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune, this quarter’s estimates show a great difference between estimates from the “pros” (Wall Street analysts) and the “indies”. With a $6.8 billion gap, Wall Street analysts expect the company to report $35.88 billion revenue, while the indies forecast revenue of $42.68 billion. While more bullish, estimates from the independent analysts tend to be more accurate, with only a few notable exceptions in the past (such as when they failed to predict customers were holding out for an iPhone upgrade in October).

In his own estimates for the upcoming Q2 results, Asymco’s Horace Dediu forecasted the following numbers:

  • iPhone units: 37.3 million (100%)
  • Macs: 4.7 million (25%)
  • iPads: 12.2 million (160%)
  • iPods: 7 million (-22%)
  • Music (incl. app) rev. growth: 40%
  • Peripherals rev. growth: 25%
  • Software rev. growth: 10%
  • Total revenues: $42.7 billion (growth: 73%)
  • GM: 44.7%
  • EPS: $12.0 (88%)

To put these possible numbers in context, here’s a graphical representation of how Apple performed in the past quarters.

Apple’s recently announced quarterly dividend won’t begin until the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012. We will provide live updates from the call on our site’s homepage on April 24 starting at 2 PM PT. For a recap of news and events that may have affected Apple’s results in the quarter, check out our January, February, and March In Review sections.

Air Display Gets HiDPI Mode Support on iPad Retina Display

Announced last week, Avatron’s popular utility Air Display, a $9.99 app that can turn any iOS device into an external display for a Mac or PC, has been updated today to include support for two major new features and technical achievements: HiDPI mode and Retina graphics. Meant to be enjoyed on the new iPad’s Retina display, Air Display 1.6 requires the installation of a desktop application that will handle the wireless connection between Lion and the iOS app.

Once installed, Air Display Connect on the Mac will allow you to easily select the device you want to turn into an external monitor. For the new iPad’s display (and Retina iOS devices in general, but of course the app gives its best results on the iPad), Avatron has enabled support for high resolutions, although an option is present to render items at non-Retina resolutions as well. The Retina display’s tightly packed pixels have also allowed Avatron to use HiDPI mode – a hidden feature of Lion which draws element on screen at double the size – in a meaningful and gorgeous-looking way. Read more

Facebook for iPad Gets Retina Graphics

The official Facebook app for iOS, available for free on the App Store, has been updated today to include graphics for the new iPad’s Retina display, and a series of other enhancements. Alongside crisper images for the new display, the 4.1.1 update to the app brings an option to go offline in chat, fixes for the profile picture and names displayed in photo sets, support for more languages, and a number of additional bug fixes to improve the performances of the app. Unfortunately, this version doesn’t sport integration with the Facebook Timeline yet, which, however, was enabled on the iPhone back in December.

You can find Facebook 4.1.1 on the App Store.

Tweet Marker Launches “Plus” Version To Sync Timeline on the Web, Index Tweets

Last year, when Manton Reece of Riverfold Software, maker of Tweet Library, announced he was working on a new service to sync Twitter timelines across apps and platforms called Tweetmarks, Twitter users and iOS nerds alike rejoiced, and began hoping the service would work as well as Manton promised. Not only did it work, Tweet Marker – the final name of Tweetmarks – turned out to become the de facto solution to implement synchronization for timelines across different Twitter applications. In the past nine months, we have seen Tweet Marker find its way into popular apps like The Iconfactory’s Twitterrific and Tweetbot, spanning a variety of mobile devices and platforms like iOS, the web, and even Android. Today, Reece is launching Tweet Marker Plus, an enhanced and paid version of Tweet Marker that adds new features on top of standard timeline sync.

At $2 per month, Tweet Marker Plus offers new functionalities and a web interface for Twitter users, while keeping the basic sync you may already be using in Tweetbot or Twitterrific completely free. On top of that, developers who are already integrating with the “regular” Tweet Marker can now also check out version 2.0 of the API, a minor upgrade to improve reliability.

Tweet Marker Plus brings a web-based timeline that remembers the read position from Tweet Marker-enabled apps; a searchable archive of your tweets and tweets from people you follow, and an option to manually select the tweet you want to sync with other apps. I have been able to test Tweet Marker Plus prior to its public launch, and I’ve been consistently impressed with the sync implementation that seamlessly switches from the web, to clients on the Mac and iOS.

The most visible feature of Plus, the web timeline, is very straightforward, but I believe it’ll prove to be a worthy addition for, say, those users who rely on iOS and Mac apps at home, but who are forced to stay on Windows environments at work. Tweet Marker’s web timeline can pick up from where you last left off on another connected client, and it’s got a “scroll to marker” option to manually load your last-seen tweet. On the timeline itself you can reply, retweet, mark as favorite and check out a tweet’s unique URL, but these actions will simply forward you to a dedicated page on Twitter.com. Tweet Marker’s Plus timeline isn’t meant to be a full-featured client: rather, it is a basic way to rely on your existing sync position if nothing else is available.

At the core of Tweet Marker Plus there’s the new search option, which will keep a searchable archive of tweets from you and the people you follow. This is something I’ve been obsessed with lately – to be able to keep a fully indexed archive of tweets I saw appearing on my timeline on any given day. I have been using a combination of Greplin and CloudMagic to search for old tweets from my timeline, and it looks like Tweet Marker Plus will be a fantastic addition to this category of services. Reece told me the goal is to begin by keeping an archive of about a month of tweets, indexing 800 tweets (per Twitter’s limits) when a user signs up to the service. As more tweets are scanned and indexed in the background at regular intervals, Reece plans to increase the amount of tweets searchable by Tweet Marker as the service grows and evolves.

With over 170,000 users to date and 1,000 new ones added each day, Tweet Marker is now a reality that is not going away anytime soon. Twitter hasn’t shown any particular interest in allowing users to sync their timeline position through apps and platforms, and Tweet Marker has turned out to be the proverbial “right idea at the right time” as users were growing tired of having to manually reload and scroll timelines in their clients of choice. Tweet Marker’s servers now process over 40 million hits a week, and the service has been enabled in 15 different apps across 6 platforms. The idea for Tweet Marker Plus, Reece explained, is to lay the foundation for an improved service that will give subscribers more features inside supported apps while continuing to work with the free version, which doesn’t require any registration or subscription.

It may be a version 1.0, but Tweet Marker Plus is already a solid offering. At $2 per month, the service adds search and a web-based interface on top of a platform that has reliably synced Twitter timelines on a variety of apps and hardware. You can subscribe to Tweet Marker Plus here.