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The best note-taking apps for students
Every student needs a good note-taking system. The human brain, after all, can only store and retain so much information. There's nothing wrong with relying solely on pen and paper (and if that's your preference, go for it!). But if you're reading Engadget, we suspect you're interested in some kind of digital equivalent: an app that can store those handwritten notes or, if you're ready to take the plunge, let you record everything with a keyboard or stylus. It should be fast, intuitive and, most important, accessible from all of your favorite devices.
Letterspace gets iOS writing and editing right
It's easy to write on an iPad or iPhone, but editing and revising, not so much. At this moment I have six separate writing apps on my iPad and the all share the same problem: if you want to edit or change a word or phrase, you are required to touch the spot on the screen near where you want to "insert" the cursor and then fiddle around, moving your finger around to try and get to the precise spot that you want. Letterspace, a clever new iOS app, solves this problem elegantly. Letterspace requires iOS 7.1 or later, is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The base app is free, but has an In-App purchase option of additional fonts and colors for $4.99. Letterspace really is beautifully designed. When you create a new document you are presented with not only the blank page and the virtual keyboard, but they are separated by a and a few useful characters not displayed on the basic iOS keyboard. That's nice, but the real magic happens when you type a line or two of text and then run your finger across this bar. The cursor moves easily and quickly back and forth across your text. The moment I started using sliding approach to move the cursor I fell in love with it. This is exactly how editing should work with touch devices. Using it for the first time was one of those, "of course!" moments. It's brilliant, simple, and very effective. But is that enough for a writing app? I found the app to be well designed and easy on read and use. Letterspace includes a few other clever features. Along with the sliding cursor bar the app includes smart quotes and parentheses in the editing bar. Simply touch the parentheses, type, and touch it again and you get both proper open and close characters. That's a nice touch (and it makes it easier to add parenthetical phrases like this). There's also a not as well thought out feature that allows you to create list items that you can then toggle by touching the screen. Once again, clever, but this feature doesn't come off as well. To make it work I needed a total of 10 key presses to start a new task. That took some fiddling about to make it work and once I did figure it out it didn't seem like a strong benefit to me over other list making apps. It would be much more effective and usable is one didn't have to manually start the process. The app also recognizes hashtags, a nice feature for searching, and an archive feature for clearing documents from the front display. Letterspace also uses iCloud for syncing and that worked very well when I tested it on both my iPhone and iPad. I found it easy to send a document that I'd created in Letterspace via the standard iOS methods, including AirDrop, Message, and Mail. I particularly appreciated the "Open In" feature, allowing me to open a Letterspace document in some of the other writing apps on my device. I spend my working day writing, either on my iPad, iPhone, or more likely, my MacBook Pro. I prefer to have my current projects immediately at hand without intentionally and manually moving them about. That's one of the things missing here: a Mac OS seamless option. My current default for writing fully cross-platform is Simplenote (iOS) and nvALT on my Mac (and I can do the same with Pages and even Microsoft Word). When I use these apps I never have to think about where a doc is or how to move it-it's just where I need it. Letterspace's additional niceties don't trump what I need the most: having my documents readily at hand without pre-planning. If you don't need seamless syncing and availability Letterspace is an exceptionally nice writing AND editing tool. My initial delight at using it remains, but that may not be enough to cause me to move from my current apps.
iOS 7 app update roundup: it's a flat, flat, flat world
Even if you don't feel like coughing up the cash for either the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s, those eligible for an update (that's if you own an iPhone 4 or up, or an iPad 2 onward) can at least console themselves with iOS 7, which debuts today. Gone is the skeuomorphic design of the Forstall era, and in its place is a flatter interface that promises an entirely new experience for iOS devotees. As such, developers everywhere have been scrambling to get their apps redesigned to match the new mobile OS out of Cupertino. While we can't possibly cover every update, we've compiled a quick list after the break of the more substantial app revamps that have come our way.
Simplenote acquired by Automattic, makers of WordPress
Popular Mac and iOS note-taking app Simplenote has a new owner. Simperium, the company behind it, is now a part of Automattic, the creator of WordPress. In a blog post on the app's new site, Simperium co-founders Michael Johnston and Fred Cheng announced the sale and talked a bit about what it means for the future of Simplenote. According to Johnston and Cheng, Automattic plans to put more resources behind Simplenote development including improvements to Simperium, the data-syncing service it utilizes. Automattic was able to secure the Simplenote.com domain and has set up a new blog there -- utilizing WordPress, of course -- to keep users updated on exactly what to expect from forthcoming releases.
The best Mac and iOS apps I used in 2010
Following up on my article about the best Mac apps I used in 2010, here are some of the best hybrid "Mac and iOS apps" I used in 2010. This wasn't an attempt to come up with a specific number, just the results of some careful reflection. You may wonder why some apps appear on this list instead of the Mac list. For example, Dropbox has an iOS app, why not add it here? Because my primary use of Dropbox is on the Mac. Yes I use it with iOS, but it's usually through another app that is syncing back to my Mac. On the other hand, using OmniFocus for iPad (our review) led to me using OmniFocus for Mac more, so I put OmniFocus on this list. All that is to say, these are my distinctions, and you are free to disagree with them. 1) myPhoneDesktop (or MPD) is a little-known gem of the iOS world. The US$5 universal iOS app pairs with desktop software on your Mac, Windows or Linux PC, and it allows you to send text, phone numbers and even images to your iOS device. While there are lots of pasteboard sharing apps (like Pastebot) that allow two-way sharing of pasteboard data, I find myself using MPD much more often because it is simpler and easier to use. If I am on my Mac and want to download a new app on my iPad, I select the URL from Safari and press command (⌘) + C + C (just like regular "copy" except you press "C" twice). Instantly, I get a push notification from MPD on my iPad, which opens the link, hands it off to the App Store app, and I purchase and download the app right from my iPad. Since I first reviewed it, MPD has been continually improved and updated, including support for iCab Mobile on iOS devices as well as GoodReader and even GV Connect, which means that you can place a call through Google Voice on your iPhone from a message sent from your computer! Read on for more...
Notational Velocity ALT adds Markdown support and widescreen view
The runaway success of the iPad has provoked significant demand amongst people who want to seamlessly edit cloud-synced files across their iOS devices and their computers. We've seen a lot of apps vying to be the iOS part of that solution (such as SimpleNote, Elements, WriteRoom, Edito and a whole lot more), but that's only part of the puzzle -- people need something on the desktop end, too. One popular tool for this is Notational Velocity, an open source program by Zachary Schneirov. However, many people aren't entirely satisfied by Notational Velocity's UI and feature set. Because it is open source, developers are free to take the source code, modify it and distribute their changed version -- this is generally called forking in the open source world. We've seen a number of Notational Velocity forks over the years (for example, this one by Steven Frank of Panic or this one by "elasticthreads"). Two days ago, a new edition appeared: from TUAW's own Brett Terpstra comes Notational Velocity ALT (nvALT). nvALT adds several new features to the baseline Notational Velocity app.
MobileDL uses Simplenote to download files to your Mac
If you've ever been on your iPhone and wished you could save a file to your Mac, your wish just came true thanks to Scott Jackson and MobileDL. Saving files to your Mac from your iPhone/iPad is now as easy as copying the URL and pasting it into Simplenote iPhone/iPad app (free) or a Simplenote web account (also free). MobileDL runs on your Mac's menu bar and periodically (default is every 10 minutes) checks a note in your Simplenote account called "MobileDL Downloads" and downloads any file listed there. If the note isn't there, MobileDL automatically creates it for you. One URL per line of any kind of file: ".mp4, .mov, .mp3, .zip, .dmg, .app, .pdf, if it's a file on the web, MobileDL can download it." Even HD YouTube videos are supported. There is a short screencast available which shows how it works. I went into MobileDL's "Advanced" preferences and changed the download directory to my Dropbox folder. So once the files are downloaded on my Mac, I can even access them via the Dropbox iPhone app or any of my other computers. It even keeps a log in Simplenote of files which it has downloaded for you. This is something I have been meaning to create myself using shell scripts and cron. MobileDL is a much nicer solution. There's also a command-line version which should work on Windows or Linux computers. I have only two "feature requests" that I would like to see: 1) Growl notifications not on every "check" but only when a file is downloaded and 2) support for sending URLs to Simplenote via email (something available to premium Simplenote customers). Right now MobileDL can't handle more than one "MobileDL Downloads" note. Hat tip to Minimal Mac for bringing this very cool (and free!) app to my attention. UPDATE: As mentioned in the comments, you can control which notifications you get from within the Growl preference panel. The MobileDL preference panel just lets you turn Growl on/off as a whole, but in the Growl pane you can turn notifications on/off for checking for downloads, downloading a file, or when download is complete.
Notable iPad apps
The iPad is great for a lot of tasks, but one area of potential appeals to me more than any other: brainstorming and note taking. I'm not alone, judging from the outcropping of specialized apps for doing just this. I haven't had the time (or money) to hunt down and experiment with every note-taking app in the App Store jungle, but I wanted to highlight a few that have stuck out in my search for the quintessential app for idea capture and retrieval. I'm skipping over some of the apps that I consider to be obvious (albeit excellent) choices (e.g. Evernote), mostly because they've already been covered on TUAW, often repeatedly. This is not to belittle them, just to keep things fresh. Mind Mapping The first few on my list are mind mapping applications. Mind maps are the easiest and most intuitive way for me to take notes and brainstorm ideas, so that's what I look for first. It's hard to beat a pencil and paper, or even a screen with a full keyboard and keyboard navigation, but some touch-based apps do it just about right. One of the best I've found is iThoughtsHD (US$7.99). It makes it relatively easy to jot notes in a mind map format, with options for node color, icons and organization. It can expand and contract nodes, branches can inherit their parent's options, and you can manually or automatically organize and space out your map. You can add new child and sibling nodes by tapping and dragging, or use handy buttons at the top of the screen. It can import and export maps via WiFi transfer, Box.net and email attachment. When it comes to formats, it handles just about everything I can personally think of, including Novamind, MindManager (6 and 8), iMindMap, XMind, Freemind, and others, as well as multiple image formats. Read on for more mind mapping and note taking apps for you and your iPad.
Notational Velocity, Simplenote, and Dropbox bring child-like wonder
The phrase "game changer" is no doubt cliché and overused, but every now and again it just fits. I had heard about Notational Velocity when Merlin Mann posted about it on 43Folders. It changed how I use my iMac, MacBookPro, and iPhone, bringing them all together in a very cool way. The app has been around for awhile (we talked about it five years ago!) but some new features and new technologies make it well worth another look. It took me a minute to understand why I'd want Notational Velocity, it because it sounded like yet another "everything box" like Yojimbo, which I was already using. Notational Velocity does save notes, either in ASCII, RTF, or HTML, but with the latest version, Notational Velocity syncs with Simplenote or WriteRoom for iPhone. It also easily syncs via Dropbox if you follow the important configuration notes here. Imagine if Apple had created an over-the-air method of syncing Notes and it all Just Worked. That's what Notational Velocity has achieved. Notes on my iPhone, my iMac and my MacBook Pro. Edit a note anywhere, and the changes are synced nearly instantly and appear everywhere. It's fast, it's seamless. Thinking about getting an iPad? That's only going to make this setup even sweeter.
The iPhone app showdown
This was an intriguing experiment undertaken over at Minimal Mac: Patrick decided to play a little Homescreen Survivor with his iPhone app icons -- he cleared everything off his homescreen, and then only let those apps back on which he used more than once throughout the course of a week. The result? You can see here which ones made it back on. Contacts, Calendar, Camera all showed up, not surprisingly. Photos did as well -- I don't use that one much, but I can see why. Everything else seems to be his own personal use: Tumblr's app, two different Twitter apps (Birdhouse and Tweetie), and then Simplenote and so on. But the real point here isn't what apps he used, it's just how different his homescreen looked when he only put what he used on there. I'll admit it: my iPhone is a mess -- I've got icons all over the place, and they don't seem to stay organized even when I try to organize them. But organizing according to actual usage is a great idea, and undertaking the same experiment on your iPhone might actually clear some things up for you. It's also worth pointing out all of that empty space on his homescreen: he has four more slots there that aren't used at all. Apple, are you listening? I'd guess Patrick's usage is more common than Apple may think -- there's plenty of room on the homescreen for other functions and information.
