A supercharged clipboard manager for Apple devices with on-device intelligence, iCloud sync, and text expansion.
Whole post is worth a read. I can’t wait for my Glif to arrive. [via DF]
Twitter released an update to their official iOS app last night. The update includes the much talked push notifications for messages and mentions which, especially on the iPhone, really help in keeping track of what’s happening on Twitter when you’re not in front of your computer. I want to focus on the iPad version, though.
People went hard on criticizing Twitter for iPad when it first came out. Admittedly, it wasn’t the easiest “upgrade” to perform: until two months ago, users were accustomed to Osfoora HD and Twitterrific, two great clients that I still keep on my iPad because I don’t mind using them every once in a while. They’re beautiful and powerful pieces of software. Twitterrific has a huge userbase, but it doesn’t differ much from the iPhone version nor does it try to walk away from the standard established by Apple in Mail.app (sidebar in landscape mode, popover in portrait) being incorrectly used in thousands of other apps. I like Twitterrific, but it doesn’t give me the sense of trying something new, something revolutionary. Apps like Twitter for iPad, Aweditorium and Flipboard do. They bring a new, fresh experience to a new kind of device that seven months after its release still manages to surprise me. Read more
Those who follow me on Twitter know that a couple of weeks ago I upgraded my MacBook Pro (15-inch model, late 2008) to the new generation of hard drives: I bought a Solid State Drive, also simply known as SSD. Many have been asking and sending emails about the best tips to follow while changing a MacBook’s internal drive and upgrading to SSD, but the truth is there is no real “guide” or “tutorial” to follow. Yet another list post of must-read tips would be useless as my experience and setup is different than yours, and I’m not forcing anyone to follow steps and procedures that might just waste time.
So instead of putting together a tutorial, here’s the story of what I did. Read more
Following the 1.2 update for iPad, the OmniGroup today released OmniFocus 1.8 for iPhone, an updated aimed at improving performance of the app on iOS 4.2 (still in GM version for developers) and the behavior of due reminders.
On iOS 4.2, OmniFocus 1.8 takes advantage of the sync completion API to complete in-progress sync even if put in the background. The app can now also perform automatic sync as it enters the background. This is something OmniFocus users have been requesting since the first betas of iOS 4.2. As for due reminders, they are now presented when the app is active, not just when OF isn’t the active app. The developers also implemented a custom sound to differentiate OmniFocus’ alerts from system and other 3rd party apps alerts.
OmniFocus for iPhone is available at $19.99 here. You can check out the full (and huge) changelog below. Read more
Developed by Milind Alvares of Smoking Apples (and Beautiful Pixels) Facebook Neue is an extension for Chrome and Safari 5 that does one thing very well: it makes Facebook simpler. The extension removes the ugly ads from Facebook (sorry Mark, I’m tired of Coca Cola ads) and resizes the main container to two columns, making it more Twitter-like. As Milind says it’s far from feeling exactly like Twitter, but I like this new layout. It makes everything readable and elegant.
Also in the extension:
I also selectively hid some of the settings in the sidebars, such as application links, or that language settings button next to the chat toolbar. I was happily using this until I realised I could very well just convert this into an extension and share it with everyone. Some more bug fixes, and a redesigned login page later, version 1.0 was ready.
I’m sure some of the changes, like the fixed masthead or the rounding of image avatars, are not going to be universally appreciated, and I’m okay with that.
I love it. Go download it here.
Finally, Google has announced that they’ll roll out Docs editing for mobile devices in the next few days. The feature, first announced several weeks ago but never actually deployed, is now ready to go for Android and iOS devices. All you have to do to edit a document on a mobile browser (including the iPad) is pressing the Edit button in Google Docs. That’s it.
In the next few days, we’re rolling this out to English-language users around the world on Android with Froyo (version 2.2) and on iOS devices (version 3.0+) including the iPad. We’ll be adding support for other languages soon. And as before, we also support editing of spreadsheets from your mobile device’s browser.
Well done, Google. A simple implementation we were all waiting for. Check out the promo video below. Read more
From Ars Technica’s interview with Steve Ballmer:
Here’s the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple knows what you want, or at least leads you to think you want what they’re offering. It’s a rather simple strategy. Microsoft, or the current Microsoft in the Ballmer-era, is going to have “various things” coming at “various times”. The HP Slate demand provides a good example.
I’m no big fan of the official Wired app for iPad, mainly because I can’t stand all these similar magazine applications based on the same engine that doesn’t let you select and copy text and basically doesn’t let you get information out of the app. Sharing options are limited, scrolling feels weird sometimes – or at least not native – and, overall, they all feel the same. I recognize that the Wired iPad app, though, is one of the most successful magazine apps in the App Store.
As The Next Web reports, the app is now selling 32,000 copies per issues on average:
Wired’s iPad sales figures have remained almost secret since launch, only coming to light at certain times of the year. Last month we reported that the Wired app sold 31,000 and 28,000 copies in July and August respectively, a significant dip since launch. Wired isn’t worried though, sales have progressively increased as iPad penetration grows, meaning that the Wired iPad app has levelled off to a figure of about 32,000 per issue, around 39% of print sales.
At the Virtual Goods Summit in London Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka had a lot to say about the future of the Angry Birds franchise. The game, as you may have noticed, had an enormous success on the iPhone, expanded to the iPad with Angry Birds HD and tripled its dominance in the App Store with a Halloween themed version three weeks ago.
A multiplayer player version of the original Angry Birds is coming, and it “will be like old school Worms games”. Vesterbacka also added: “multiplayer is a priority, but we have not determined the best way for our players to experience it yet.” As this wasn’t, the game will soon make its way to PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. A TV show and a Facebook game set in the same universe are also in the works. Read more
