Check Your Daily Schedule with Easy Agenda for iPad

If you have an iPad, you’ve probably already tried to organize tasks, notes and other random pieces of text into the native Notes app. And if you really tried to do so, I guess you’re highly disappointed, considering how much Notes app should have been improved. Even though it sports a nice looking user interface now, Notes app still lacks any kind of over the air sync using MobileMe, support for better organization and sorting of notes, other fonts than damn Marker Felt. I wouldn’t suggest to people who need to take quick notes every once in a while, either.

The calendar app is pretty good instead. The interface has been highly refined, there’s a good amount of useful features and you can use MobileMe to keep your calendars in sync. Easy Agenda from 2 Boxes Studio is a simple iPad app that tries to combine the note tasking aspect of notes and the daily routine features of Calendar.

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Daniel Jalkut on Apple “Downloads” Section and Mac Developers

Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Software (developer of MarsEdit, FastScripts and many other applications) has published a post about the removal of the Downloads section from Apple.com navigation bar, and the recently discovered lack of updates:

“But Apple is riding the success of the Mac, too. The Mac is still the heart of everything that Apple does. Imagine an expansive desert where no life seems possible. A settler discovers a spring, churning out water, in the middle of this wasteland. Soon others join in, and a town emerges. Eventually a government is formed, businesses are born, and a thriving economy springs to life. When the brilliant new Town Hall is erected, everybody agrees it is the crowning achievement for the town. It represents every forward-thinking inclination the citizens of this place have, and yet it would not be possible without that water. Without that gushing spring, the town is dead. The Town Hall is worthless.

The Mac is that spring of water that allows life to thrive in Apple’s ecosystem.”

Sure Apple doesn’t have any intention to stop supporting Mac OS X developers, and Mac OS X itself. Even if iPhone OS 4.0 is the priority now, and even if everything that can’t kill Android must wait, Apple just won’t stop caring about Mac OS X.

Because after all, that’s where iPhone and iPad apps are developed.

Run Mate Winners Announced

Thanks everyone who entered the Run Mate giveaway.We also want to thank the code-aplus developers for the promo codes they offered to MacStories readers.

Here are the winners:

Ezequiel Lancelotti

Ben Metzler

David S

Toni

k3mf0u

You’ll receive the promo codes in your inbox in a few hours. Stay tuned for other giveaways coming this week. You can follow the official MacStories Twitter account as @macstoriesnet or Federico as @viticci

Keep track of Birthdays, Anniversaries, and more with Occasions. Review & Giveaway!

You know, I never really know whose birthday it is, when Mother’s Day is around the corner, or that I missed my best friends anniversary (doh!) two weeks ago. The problem I have, and terribly in my own family, is that I can’t remember jack squat. I can only remember three birthdays - that of my mother, my father, and myself. I really shouldn’t be expected to know more, but you always have a card to send or you have to make some acknowledgement that yes, my cousin did in fact turn 25 recently. But other than Facebook and my lack of mental indicators, there’s really no good system other than the calendar and perhaps a sheet of worn out notebook paper. Yet I have found, there is an app for that. Read more

Gusto: Web Development on the iPad

I’ve been browsing the iPad App Store. I’ve downloaded more than 40 apps already. I’ve been reading tweets from people I follow about the apps they would like to see running on the iPad. I agreed with them most of the times, and I’ve started looking out for some apps coming out in the near future. Luckily, I think I’ve found what we were looking for. Basically, many friends of mine told me that what they were really missing were web development apps. Stuff like FTP apps, code editors, apps that enable you to manage your website from the magical device™. Someone even suggested that some sort of Coda for iPad would be awesome.

Gusto from Horse and the Rook is a new application that aims exactly at these people, as it’s an app that combines code editing and FTP access in a Coda-like fashion that lets you create multiple projects for all your website. We took a look at it. Is it worth your money yet?

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A Single Folder For iPad File Sharing

The iPad file sharing system Apple implemented is rushed, and flawed. If you still haven’t tried it, you’re basically forced to plug the iPad via USB, open iTunes, select an app that supports this feature, choose a file from your computer and copy it into the app database. This is not a sync, it’s a Mac > iPad file sharing, and it’s broken and slow. MacObserver has a great and insightful article about it.

Fortunately some developers are thinking about a solution for this, and I’ve come across this application called “Folder” in the App Store which has turned out to be pretty useful.

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Masque: Photo Editing at Your Fingertips

Better than the iPhone, the iPad is the perfect device to store photos and look at them every once in a while. Whether you just want to carry your good memories with you, or show off your latest trip to Thailand to your friends, the iPad’s display is just great for that. Mobile photos finally make sense on this device, and we can’t wait to see the first good Flcikr apps to pop into the App Store.

What about photo editing? Cody reviewed Photogene some days ago, and I think that’s a very good app with some cool “pro” touches that surely are making many people happy and satisfied. But if you want to try something simpler, yet powerful enough to allow you to make some nice modifications to your photos, you should take a look at Masque.

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Weather Station Pro for iPad. Review and Giveaway

One of the most prolific categories in the iPhone App Store is that of weather apps. We reviewed a bunch before, but I still think that one of the best is Outside by Robocat Apps. It’s simple, well designed and - most of all - useful when it comes to quickly check the weather and see what it’s like “outside”.

I expected the same to happen on the iPad as well, and from what we can see in the App Store we’re slowly getting there. People love weather apps, and I can safely say people love good weather apps. We had the chance to take a look at Weather Station Pro from Toopia and we even got 10 copies to give away to our lucky readers.

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