Are you an IT professional looking at ways you can hone your skills on the Macintosh? Check out the MacTech Conference in Los Angeles from November 3-5th. Not only do you get to see Andy Ihnatko in his prime and glory, but you have the opportunity to listen to the great folks behind Delicious Monster and Red Sweater Software.
MacTech Conference 2010
Mailboxes: It’s Like Mailplane for iPad
Mailplane is a nifty little app for Mac OS X which wraps Cocoa around Gmail’s web interface and allows you to quickly switch between multiple accounts, drag & drop from Gmail to Mac OS X’s Finder, pick up contacts from Address Book. It’s got many other additional features, it’s one of my most used Mac apps to date and it was one of the first applications I reviewed here on MacStories.
So when I heard that Ruben Bakker, the developer behind Mailplane, had no plans to release an iPad version, I was kind of sad. Ok for the iPhone, we have Mailroom there. But on the iPad? It would be perfect on it. With the larger screen, Gmail’s iPad web interface and the magical factor of the device, I bet it would turn out to be awesome. Still, no Mailplane.
Luckily for me, for us, and for anyone else willing to configure 5+ Gmail accounts in a single app, there’s Mailboxes for iPad. Is it Mailplane? No. Does it let you switch between multiple accounts? Yep.
Seconds for the iPhone is a Great Interval Training Timer
You’re looking to push every ounce of energy you have into your current HIIT (High-intensity Interval Training) workout. As the intervals pass you buy, the music constantly changes to fit your tempo. One minute you’re being blasted with the relaxing beats needed to calm down and get juiced, the next minute the tempo increases to induce a heavy metal jolt of heart wrenching cardio. This is Seconds, the HIIT, circuit, and fight training utility designed to keep you in rhythm.
The iPad: So Magical, It Does 3D Now
The iPad is so magical it even does 3D now. Sorta. Aircord Labs have released a video showing an iPad that outputs 3D images visible to naked eye thanks to a specially designed projector that beams images into a pyramid-like screen thing.
Take a look at the video below. It looks like those images are real, floating in real space and answering to human’s feedback like clapping hands. I don’t know if we’ll ever see an iPad doing this stuff by default or if this technology will actually turn out to be any useful in real life (maybe), but just the fact that it’s possible sounds great to me. I mean, think about tweeting in 3D. Or arranging icons. Or moving notes around.
You get the idea.
Apollo News for iPad - It Could Have Been So Much Better
I’m just going to state this up front: visual news readers are the next (and current) big thing on the iPad. Pulse was featured in the The New York Times, then made its way to the iPhone, too. My Newspapers. The Early Edition. Blogshelf, featured in many other blogs.
But the thing that surprises me most, is that people actually keep on buying these apps. They’re willing to try something new. They’re spending their bucks every single week for the new kid on the block of visuals news readers just to, perhaps, change their habits again the next week. I have the feeling this kind of applications are what Twitter clients were for the iPhone in the early days: a goldmine. Just like people discovered that tweeting from a phone (from the iPhone, especially) could be a highly enjoyable experience (sometimes even better than on the desktop), now they’re looking for a better, new way to consume news. It’s the natural circle of things: a developer comes around and reinvents a genre.
It is a few ones’ job to fine-tune it, just look at how Loren Brichter waited to develop his Twitter client, eventually acquired by Twitter itself.
Developers are coming out with these visual news readers. Should we give them a new name? Let’s say visual feeds, because that’s what they are now. Plus some adjustments to browsing and navigation, that is.
Can Apollo News claim the throne of the best new app in this new category?
Coda Notes for Safari
In a few weeks Apple will launch the official Safari extensions gallery, so you’d better hurry and go submit yours now. But in the meantime, unofficial Safari extensions websites have flourished all over on the internet.
The current state of Safari extensions? There are a few great ones, lots of cool ideas, hundreds of stupid and buggy userscripts ported to Safari. Last night the Panic team offered an exclusive Twitter preview of their upcoming Safari extension, Coda Notes, which they previewed at the WWDC in June.
An App Wall for Mac OS X [Video]
The App Wall at Moscone Center was impressive. The Appstream app, based on that concept, is cool, too. It turns out, the App Wall can work as a screensaver for Mac as well.
Griffin Releases Loop - Best Stand for iPad Yet?
I still have to buy a stand for my iPad. I have a leather case, but I didn’t buy the additional keyboard - so I didn’t buy the stand either. But, a few days ago I was thinking about trying a keyboard + Simplenote setup, and a stand would be absolutely necessary for that.
I think I’ll give a try to Griffin’s latest release, Loop.
Coffee Shop Concept: One iPad at Every Table
Though the idea might have been much more popular if this was done in the United States, instead of Japan.