Guide to Mac, iPod, iPad and iPhone news and reviews
TwelveSouth’s SurfacePad for iPad Air is like a much more elegant execution of Apple’s own Smart Cases, except this accessory is really a very clever two-sided cover. Installing it is as simple as sticking it to the rear of the iPad. The cover provides adequate scratch protection for transit, but no extra shock protection for […]
Belkin was kind enough to send over two of their QODE (pronounced “code”) Bluetooth keyboards for review: the QODE Ultimate and QODE Thin Type. To be honest, the Thin Type is the keyboard I was initially looking forward to, but the QODE Ultimate turned out to be a pleasant surprise, with its clever use of […]
FiftyThree is making great strides to make the Paper and Pencil experience feel more like the real thing with technology they call “Surface Pressure“. By leveraging new APIs in iOS 8, the devs at FiftyThree have figured out a way to make the iPad aware of how much of the Pencil stylus is making contact with the screen, […]
I recently took pains to re-establish my IMDB account to track all the movies and shows I actually want to see. This has been working well for movies, but it’s inelegant for tracking TV episodes because there’s no easy way to mark an episode as “watched”. I track movies by adding them to a watchlist […]
There’s a new RSS app in town, and it’s called Unread. I haven’t had hands-on time with the recently released iPad version, but from the reviews I’ve read thus far, it does sound like a blown-up version of the iPhone app (which isn’t really a bad thing in this case). I did use the […]
I’ve now spent a few days with Writer Pro on my iPad and it’s feeling more like a puzzle than a tool. Writer Pro is built to brute-force a certain approach to writing. There are four modes to the app: Note, Write, Edit, and Read. Each of these modes features a different font type and […]
It occurred to me recently, after chatting with a couple of friends in Portland using my iPad, that video calling has actually become a regular and casual part of my life. It took a while to get here though. There have long been ads for Rogers video calling on the subway, but they was restricted […]
Logitech has been my go-to keyboard company for iPads for a while now, but the Belkin QODE Thin Type Keyboard Case I just learned about (via iClarified) looks like a really cool alternative to the popular Logitech Ultrathin. The QODE still latches on to the front of an iPad Air via magnets, but it has […]
Hitman GO is a brilliant and surprisingly charming adaptation of the Hitman concept. Hitman games have always been played from a third-person perspective, and required precise timing and thorough knowledge of your surroundings to successfully assassinate your targets. Hitman GO, on the other hand, plays more like a board game. It’s sort of like Monopoly […]
This is just a cool, quick and easy update to announce, but it could be an important one for folks who rely on the MS Office Suite. The latest update to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPad has added AirPrint compatibility to the apps. This removes yet another one of the obstacles to getting […]
Tydlig is the calibre of calculator goodness that the iPad canvas deserves. Most of its graphical and scientific functions are more powerful than I ever have need for — but even a layman like me can appreciate how beautifully it blends calculations with the free-form flexibility of a whiteboard. I think it’s downright silly that […]
Federico Viticci of MacStories recently unveiled version 4.0 of his website, and it’s gorgeous. One of the articles he chose to publish alongside the new design was a set of iOS 8 Wishes. I agree with most or all of the items on his list, but I think there was something missing. One of my […]
Tilt to Live 2 is a manic game. You gain high scores by tilting the iPad to dodge between swarms of enemies to reach power-ups, which then demolish the swarms that were chasing you. It’s kind of like Pac-Man, but with more satellite laser cannons. One of the game’s very best power-ups is Brimstone, which […]
The Jot Script is the joint effort between Adonit and Evernote to create the ultimate pen for Penultimate. The Script offers two major advantages over most other styli: the PixelPoint tip and Bluetooth connectivity. The PixelPoint tip makes it much easier to see where your strokes will end up on the iPad’s screen. Other styli […]
My 32GB Air is my first taste of what a cellular iPad is like, and I’m really enjoying the freedom that comes with being able to use the iPad anywhere. I actually have a 6GB smartphone plan that allows me to tether, but the Personal Hotspot on iOS just isn’t that convenient to use, so […]
Byword, one of my go-to text editors on iOS, has been updated with a host of keyboard shortcuts for Bluetooth keyboard users. The shortcuts mimic their desktop counterparts, so there isn’t much to re-learn here if you’re already familiar with standard key combinations. If you do a lot of writing on your iPad, Byword now […]
