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Posts tagged with "iOS 7"

Yahoo News Digest

As someone who both enjoys long form content and sharing what I think others might enjoy, it’s easy to write off Yahoo News Digest as something that feels indifferent. Unlike the Evening Edition, which features important world news summarized by real people, Yahoo boasts its mobile digest as a product of algorithms, whose editors bring together the day’s hot topics into smart summaries from multiple sources. It’s considered to be the result of Yahoo’s $30 million acquisition of Summly, with founder Nick D’Aloisio taking charge behind the company’s initiative into the “news for everyone” space.

It’s not a new endeavor, however, if you consider previous forays like Livestand, which brought news and weather together in a magazine-like format on the iPad. Then there’s Yahoo’s self titled app, which later integrated Summly to create an endless stream of news, entertainment, sports, and lifestyle content. Even Yahoo’s homepage is a landing page for those subscribed to Internet service providers like AT&T, delivering trending topics, stories, local weather, and stocks to anyone who wants to log into their provider’s email accounts. This is unlike Google, whose homepage is barren sans occasional promotions and informational snippets. Needless to say, Yahoo has been dishing out news for a long time.

Yahoo News Digest is their attempt to modernize the thirty minute local or national news segment, re-imagining it for mobile as series of articles covering current events from around the world. Digested down to eighteen articles, nine for the morning and nine for the evening editions, Yahoo shares what they consider to be the most relevant articles of the day, rounding out the day’s news under traditional topics such as US News, World News, Entertainment, Sports, etc. It’s a news service built for the masses.

So… Is it any good?

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Eidetic Helps You Remember Anything

Think of Eidetic as the modern flashcard for the iPhone and iPad. Eidetic uses a memorization technique called spaced repetition, which helps you commit information to long term memory. Whether you’re cramming for a test or need occasional reminders, Eidetic notifies you when it’s time to study. Outside of coursework, Eidetic is helpful for memorizing pin codes, phone numbers, addresses, and passwords. If you have an iPhone and iPad, Eidetic will store what you’re memorizing to iCloud so you can study on either device. You can download the app for free from the App Store, unlocking tests via inexpensive in-app purchases.

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Shoots and Leaves Uploads Photos and Sends Links to Other Apps

Shoots and Leaves, a snap and forget it photo app akin to something like QuickShot, uploads captured photos to services like Imgur, Dropbox, or CloudApp, and then sends the public links to an app like Mail, Reminders, or Safari. Given our focus on productivity apps, an app like this is useful for generating Markdown links that can be pasted into upcoming articles. Inspired by Shoots and Leaves’ Reminders integration, I’d love if Evernote was added as a service, with the ability to send a photo’s link to an Evernote reminder. It’s laser focused, does one thing well, and is $2.99 on the App Store.

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Typeset Lets You Mix and Match iOS 7 System Fonts for Finding the Perfect Combination

Developers building iOS 7 apps may want to download Typeset by MartianCraft, a free app that lets you preview iOS 7 system fonts side by side. Typset includes layout cards for previewing how fonts look in various configurations, tools for adjusting line spacing and font sizing, and the option to mark saved sets as favorites for later browsing. A $5.99 in-app purchase unlocks Typeset Pro, which enables the option to export the end result as a predefined stylesheet or PDF. Download it from the App Store.

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Mailbox for iOS Updated With Support for iCloud and Yahoo Mail

Now available on the App Store, the latest iteration of Mailbox adds support for iCloud and Yahoo Mail accounts. While iCloud and Yahoo Mail are the most likely alternatives to Gmail, I am surprised to see Outlook.com left out of the mix. Personally, I’m still looking forward to having general IMAP support so I can add my self hosted email accounts. The latest version also introduces background syncing for devices running iOS 7, which means your email will already be in your inbox before you even open the app (previously you had to wait for the app to pull down the latest emails after it was opened). Download the latest update for free from the App Store.

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Evernote for iOS Adds Business Card Scanning, Presentation Mode for Premium Members

In the first of two updates, Evernote for iPhone and iPad got a nice update yesterday that mainly benefits premium members. Premium members can now scan in an unlimited number of business cards that are converted into editable contact notes, which can be further updated with info from your LinkedIn account or address book contacts. Presentation Mode lets you present your notes as full screen presentations over AirPlay. Non-paying members can add 5 business cards and try Presentation Mode for 14-day days. Lastly, they’ve made a change to the quick note function, letting you choose whether ideas get siphoned into your business notes instead of a personal notebook.

Check out the App Store listing for all the relevant update info, and check out premium plans here.

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Castro, A New Podcast Player for iOS, Does Two Things Well

Castro, a new “high fidelity” (come on… I mean really?) podcast player for iOS, looks good and has a few clever ideas for podcast listening. Forget playlists: Castro presents podcasts in a day-to-day timeline that keeps the most recent shows at the forefront. I don’t know if I’m a fan of how text is overlaid on translucent show art since the app’s look is dependent on whether the podcast you listen to has appealing cover art, but I am a fan of the player’s decided simplicity when it comes to podcast controls. There are no timers, no speed settings and no share button. However, underneath the show notes and behind the basic forward, back, and pause/play buttons is a hidden scrubber, which lets you scrub to any position in the currently playing episode with surprising ease. I don’t think it’s discoverable, but it’s unique and surprisingly accurate. It was the thing that John Gruber pointed out and the first thing I showed Federico when discussing the app. Update: Also hidden is a playback speed setting if you tap and hold the play/pause button (thanks Twitter).

The biggest thing Castro has going for it, in my opinion, is its search feature. It’s fast. Like, it’s really fast as podcasts appear as you type. If you’re making a podcast app, I’m pretty sure Castro has set the new high bar here. It made subscribing to a bunch of shows for the first time pretty painless.

Grab it from the App Store for $2.99.


Pinswift: A Powerful Pinboard Client for iOS 7

Pinswift for iPhone

Pinswift for iPhone

Developed by Joel Carranza, Pinswift is a new $4.99 Pinboard client for iPhone that packs powerful bookmark management, discovery, and search features in an interface specifically designed for iOS 7. Since trying one of the early betas a couple of months ago, I’ve been keeping Pinswift on my iPhone’s Home screen as it offers (almost all) of the Pinboard functionalities I need on a daily basis. Read more