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Get the most out of Apple's Notes app
Notes took a great leap forward with the introduction of iCloud and OS X Mountain Lion. Once a static app that sat on your iOS device, Notes now allows you to jot down quick messages and sync them across your Apple devices. In a post from this weekend, Sandro Cuccia of The Mac Observer takes a deep dive into the Notes app and discusses how it can be immensely useful. Cuccia starts off with step-by-step instructions on how to enable iCloud syncing on all your devices. It's a simple, but critical step that ensures your notes are available on all your devices. The rest of his tutorial covers managing your notes, creating folders to organize notes and some basic text formatting tips. You can read the full instructions on The Mac Observer website.
Springpad note-taking service gets interface overhaul, now an even worthier rival to Evernote
Springpad may lack Evernote's commercial clout, but it makes up for it in a number of ways -- not least with free-of-charge features like offline access from its mobile apps (which certain rivals charge for) and Pinterest-style sharing options. The interface hasn't been a particular strong point, but that could be about to change as version 4.0 has just gone live for at least some users of the web interface. The new UI centers everything on three key buttons along the top: Springs -- which gives you immediate access to your latest notes, regardless of which device you made them on Notebooks -- for organizing your notes into projects Search & Do -- which, needless to say, lets you search your notes, but also suggests activities based to-do tasks you've created. The same, simplified philosophy is due to hit Springpad's iOS and Android apps soon, although there's no sign of that happening just yet. In meantime, check out the web interface for yourself at the source link. Update: The iOS and Android apps were just up'd to version 4.0, with same approach to creating and viewing recent Springs without worrying about which notebooks they're assigned to. With both apps, we'd say this is a definite improvement.
Google Keep note taking service officially launches on web and Android (video)
The Google Keep note taking service that leaked out a few days ago has officially launched. There's a website and an Android app for now, and a post on the Google Drive blog it's intended for users to quickly jot down ideas. They're saved on Google Drive -- which probably explains why this exists instead of the axed Google Notebook service -- and on Android 4.2.2 there's a lock screen widget available for even easier access. Check after the break for a trailer explaining the new service's features, or just hit the links below to try it out for yourself to see if it can best alternatives like Evernote. That is, is if you can get in. While it was working for us initially, many are seeing "error encountered" messages now as the masses flood the service.
Google Keep briefly teases note-taking utility for Drive, vanishes soon after
Another day, another leak from Google. As The Next Web reports, a note-collecting service called Keep was accessible on Google Drive for a short period of time last night -- and if your short-term memory is a bit cloudy, Drive itself got leaked in a similarly bizarre fashion before getting official last year. 1E100 had initially found source code, images and various links that seemed to point to Keep, which apparently went live soon after. Interestingly, while all of the links point to error pages, one redirects to a specific, unresolveable app url on Google Play. Android Police was able to snag some screenshots of the web app in action -- albeit disconnected from Drive at the time -- noting that it's reminiscent of Mountain View's late Notebook service that was killed in '09. Whether the likes of Evernote will have to worry remains to be seen, but the added functionality to Drive will certainly be appreciated -- now, how about letting us get at that Now app for iOS?
Watch a vintage Mac 512K talk to an iMac via Siri
Niles Mitchell has a variety of Apple devices, including an iPhone with Siri, an iMac and a vintage Mac 512K. Using a combination of the old Speak program, AppleScript and iCloud Notes, Mitchell was able to send files from his iMac to his Mac 512K via Siri. It's a clever mix of old and new technology that's worth a watch, even just to hear the antiquated sound of a floppy drive working hard to copy files. You can check out this Siri-mediated conversation in the YouTube video embedded below.
AppleScripting OmniFocus > Send Completed Task Report to Evernote
I've mentioned before that OmniFocus is my task manager of choice. Each morning, I pull up a list of scheduled tasks for the day, and focus on getting them done. In OmniFocus, I've set up Perspectives (saved window states) for both Due tasks and Completed tasks. What I really want, however, is something that will pull out recently completed tasks and summarize them in Evernote, my note management app of choice. This way, I can maintain a historical log of my progress, and pull out summaries of completed tasks to send to clients. Since this type of integration isn't built into OmniFocus or Evernote, I wrote an AppleScript to do it. Creating the Script NOTE: If you have any trouble following along, you can download my completed script here. 1. Launch AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities) 2. If your system-wide script menu isn't enabled already, go into AppleScript Editor's preferences window and turn it on. 3. Create a new script document and enter the following code: 4. Bring OmniFocus to the front, and from the system-wide script menu, choose Open Scripts Folder > Open OmniFocus Scripts Folder. This creates the following folder, if it doesn't already exist -- ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus 5. Go back to AppleScript Editor and save the script as OmniFocus > Prepare Task Completion Report into the ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus folder you opened in the last step. Running the Script Bring OmniFocus to the front. Next, select OmniFocus > Prepare Task Completion Report from the script menu. The script starts by asking for the scope of the report. Your options are to summarize tasks from today, yesterday, this week, last week or this month. Choose one, and click OK. Next, the script retrieves a list of tasks within the specified timeframe, formats them as HTML, brings Evernote to the front, and creates a new note. You've now got a summary of recently completed tasks in Evernote. Do you feel productive yet? Until next time, happy scripting!
Daily iPad App: NotesTab seamlessly syncs your notes between iOS, Mac and Windows 8
When it comes to note-taking, I prefer apps that are lightweight and easy to use. I want to be able to quickly open a note, capture a thought before it disappears and then move on. Recently, I've ditched iOS Notes and have been using NotesTab from Fiplab. NotesTab is a universal app, but I've been using it primarily on the iPad because I find it easier to take notes on the slightly bigger screen of my iPad mini. NotesTab uses a two-pane interface to display a list of your notes on the left and the contents of individual notes on the right. You can easily switch between landscape and portrait orientation and keep this same layout. You can also fullscreen an individual note if you need more space for writing. Notes are plain text and there are no drawing or image import options. The app does allow you to add text styling like bold, underline and italics to your text. It also supports URLs so you can click on a link in a note and open a web page in mobile Safari. There are some other useful features like note timestamps, starring so you can mark notes as important and search. NotesTab, though, is more than just a standalone iPad app. It has a companion desktop app that is available for OS X and Windows 8. I don't use Windows 8, but this could be an important feature for folks working in a mixed-platform environment. The app really shines when it comes to syncing. Once I setup my account and entered my credentials into the iPad, iPhone and OS X app, my notes immediately appeared on all my devices. When I deleted a note, the change was pushed to the devices right away. This was so much better at syncing than iOS Notes and iCloud that it won me over in an instant. NotesTab is available for US$0.99 in the iOS App Store. The companion desktop app, NotesTab Pro, is available for $4.99 from the Mac App Store. There is a free version of the desktop app, but it doesn't support syncing and other advanced features.
Blackberry 10 SDK reveals tight Evernote integration
The Blackberry 10 gold SDK release has revealed an interesting tidbit for Evernote partakers: the memory-prodding app seems to be tightly enmeshed with RIM's upcoming OS. It's one of the so-called Notebook options listed under the "App Integration" heading, which let you organize "actionable and non-actionable items into separate folders or topics." Evernote is listed as one of those options, and will let you sync up and access your account with Blackberry 10 devices, according to the documentation. That app is already available across all other major platforms, letting you organize documents with audio, video, photos, websites and, um, text -- then sync everything up in the cloud. Considering Evernote's recent foray into the business side of things, having the app built-in might be a nice pitch to RIM's core userbase when the new OS is finally launched.
Apple rejects Mac app update that shows iTunes 11 notifications
An app update has been rejected from the Mac App Store for using Notification Center in a way Apple says is wrong. Listening To is a US$1.99 app by developer Sherief Farouk, and the whole point of the app is to get a notification whenever iTunes plays a new music track. It seems straightforward -- sure, that can be a lot of notifications, but if that's what you want, it should work. However, Apple said no when Farouk tried to submit an update to the app this week. He tells The Loop that his update was rejected from the App Store, and that Apple told him using Notification Center in this way was "a misuse." Here's the weirdest part: Even if that was an issue, that functionality wasn't limited to the update. The app is still available for download. So we're not sure what's happening here. Most likely, Apple just crossed its wires, and it needs to decide whether sending notifications is a misuse of Notification Center or not. Presumably, because the app hasn't been pulled yet, Farouk will be able to make his case and release the update. Apple might not like running such "common" notifications through its service, but is this any more useless than all of the spam notifications that pop up on iPhone apps?
Evernote web interface updated with better sharing, cleaner look
We're huge fans of Evernote here at the Engadget compound (it's great for keeping track of our latest world domination schemes). But, we've got to admit, the web service is clearly the company's red-headed step child. The desktop and mobile apps are undeniably top-notch, but the webapp is just sort of there. Being able to edit your notes and share them from any browser is a great feature, but we wouldn't exactly call it an enjoyable experience. Today the company took the wraps off a revamp that should ease the pain a bit. Evernote is particularly proud of its new shared note design, that offers a much more attractive and interactive look at entries. You can reshare notes, enter a slideshow view or copy it to your own account. The broader redesign is subtle, but refreshing. There are new icons, some color changes and a tweaked top bar that lend a less cluttered feel without removing functionality. There's even a handy button that collapses the sidebar for those of you rocking smaller laptop screens. We also noticed that the new interface seems to load notes with multiple images much faster. You can read about it straight from the horses mouth at the source or just go to the Evernote homepage and check it out yourself.
MySpace keeps Apple from Music app icon trademark
Apple's trying to file paperwork to nail down a trademark on its Music app icon, but the trademark is being blocked by a pretty unlikely source: MySpace. And it's not even related to the recent reinvention of the second-place social network, either. Back in 2008, a music service called iLike registered the mark above on the right, and the trademark office is saying that mark conflicts with the mark Apple is trying to reserve, presumably because they both use orange and two eighth notes. iLike was eventually acquired by MySpace, which means that company now owns the trademark that Apple is trying to pick up. This shouldn't be too much of a roadblock for Apple, however. It can appeal this decision, and perhaps argue that the two marks are different in some significant way. Or, it can probably license the mark from MySpace, hopefully for a nominal fee. Or, if the mark doesn't hold up at all, Apple could just redesign the icon and release a new one. Either way, this shouldn't be too much of a worry. We'll probably see a resolution in Apple's favor soon. [via Gizmodo]
Daily iPhone App: Note.S is a simple and impressive daily journal
Yes, there are plenty of notes apps out there, in varying amounts of quality and cost, and odds are that you already have some notes saved up somewhere on your iOS device (for me, it's right there in the official Notes app). But every once in a while, an app comes along that's just so simple and elegant it's worth a look anyway, and that's the strangely named Note.S. This is a really beautiful notes app that's set up as a daily journal, so you can track, from day to day, what you're trying to remember and note on any given day. As you can see above, the interface is simple and clean -- there are just a few icons across the bottom, and then the rest of the screen is yours to fill up however you wish. You can add photos or a map to your notes, change fonts as necessary, or even save or export your notes out to Dropbox, email and a few other options. This isn't the kind of app that demands you to use it in a certain way -- it's the app that you download, use a few times and then create your own usage patterns for it. The "daily journal" element is very interesting -- each note is filed by date and time, so as you enter more and more notes into the app, you can get a nice scope of your life as it goes on. It's not as robust as Day One, but it isn't supposed to be. Anyway, if you've already got a notes solution, this one might not make you look twice -- there are plenty of great notes apps out there that offer more features. But Note.S is a solid app currently available at a launch price of US$1.99.
Apple iCloud adds iOS-style notification bar, Notes and Reminders web apps
The iCloud's web interface has been updated with a new drop-down notification bar. Alongside badge notifications, it offers up browser-based notifications across Mail, Calendar, Reminders and Find My Phone -- which still remains powered by Google Maps, for now. An earlier update also bundled Notes and reminders into the web app, both mimicking the looks of their iPad versions. Now we just need a big enough reason to keep iCloud's site constantly open. [Thanks Austin]
New iCloud.com Notes and Reminders web apps now live
Apple has just activated new web apps on iCloud.com that have been, until now, only available to developers. The new feature adds the Notes and Reminders web apps along with improvements to the Mail and Find My iPhone web apps. The new Notes and Reminders web apps look exactly like their matching apps on the iPad. The new Mail web app features include VIP lists. Apple has also added new web notification settings to iCloud.com. Clicking on your iCloud user name and then selecting Notifications allow you to toggle notifications for Mail, Calendar, Reminders, and Find My iPhone. Apple says that up to 1.1% of users were experiencing iCloud email outages earlier this week. No word yet on if these iCloud.com upgrades had anything to do with the service outage, although we hear service has been restored. iCloud users can log into www.icloud.com to see the new web apps in action.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Let me help people fix their notes on Mountain Lion
Dear Aunt TUAW, I am writing you because I think you may want to publish this on your column, as a tip to your trillions of readers. On Leopard, Apple included Notes within Mail, an app I use exclusively. I wrote many notes on Mail, including to-do reminders and background notes. Enter Mountain Lion. Mail upgraded and took a dump on my notes. *pffft* They were gone, kaput, with no way to access them. Fortunately, I discovered that their folder was not erased. Navigate to ~/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes and locate Notes.mbox folder inside. Open this, and all its subfolders, and look for numerical files with the extension emlx. These are your notes. When you double-click, Mail opens them, allowing you to copy the notes to the new Notes.app. I hope my experience will help others! Please spread the word. Your loving nephew, Magno Dear Magno, Auntie hopes your how-to offers a handy solution for her other nieces and nephews. Be aware that the notes may be buried under subfolders in the Notes.mbox folder. Of course, if your notes were syncing to iCloud then they'd have been backed up and safe, which is a pleasant thought. In principle, your notes should migrate over when you upgrade from Lion to Mountain Lion, but this is helpful if for some reason they don't. You may also be interested in checking the three-pane view in Notes (click the three-pane control at the bottom, to the right of the plus button) as that will display your different Notes accounts on the left hand side. Hugs, Auntie T. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Mountain Lion 101: Reminders and Notes
Two more iOS apps that made their way to OS X Mountain Lion are Reminders and Notes. Let's take a quick look at how both of the new apps work on the Mac and how they integrate with their iOS counterparts. Reminders Reminders is one of the iOS apps that I was waiting for on OS X, and now that it's here I am dumping my many other to-do apps. Why? Well, it's not that I don't like buying a lot of apps, but if I can get something that is integrated into my operating systems and free, I'm going to go for it. The OS X Reminders app looks a lot like the iPad version in landscape orientation, but there are some differences. The iOS version has a list of Completed reminders; that's not visible on the Mac version. One of the big advantages about having Reminders on all of your Apple devices is that adding, editing, or removing a reminder on one device synchronizes the changes to all devices. The sync times vary depending on how busy things are, but I've usually seen updates on all devices within a few minutes. Clicking on the info "i" for any reminder allows you to edit the details, including visual/alert reminders and geofencing. I love being able to look up an address for a place in Safari, then pasting that location into the "custom location" field so that I'm reminded of something on my iPhone when I arrive there. While many OS X users may bemoan the simplicity of Reminders, that's what I personally love about it. I plan on using this app with the iOS counterpart a lot. Notes Unfortunately, Apple decided to make the Notes app for Mountain Lion look a lot like the iOS version. It uses the same mock legal pad, the same default Noteworthy Light font, and is pretty minimalistic in nature. On the plus side, that makes the Notes app extremely easy to use. You'll get a "notebook" for every email account that you enable in the "Mail, Contacts, and Calendars" System Preference -- checking the "Notes" box adds that feature to a particular account. For simplicity, I chose to disable all except iCloud, so that's where all of my notes are. Or should I say, were. I had some notes that were associated with a specific Gmail account that I am no longer using. This morning, I saw them. Later, they were gone, because I had deleted that Gmail account. Having one account for notes makes life a lot easier. As with Reminders, synchronization of Notes is crazy fast -- if you don't see an update immediately, close out of the app on another device and then re-open it, and it will reflect any changes you've made on the Mac. I found a bit of a bug with Notes, however. As I was trying to write a long note on the Mac, Notes kept showing an "Updating" message in the title bar of the note, and it would lose my insertion point. Others were not seeing the issue, so perhaps it is a conflict with another app I have running. Still, Notes for OS X is going to make it easy to use an iPhone or iPad equipped with Siri as a dictation device, and then transfer the text to a Mac automatically. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Apple tests new iCloud beta features
Developers who are enrolled in the iOS 6 beta are now able to see a new iCloud Beta portal at beta.icloud.com that is complete with new versions of Calendar and Find My iPhone, as well as two new iCloud additions -- Reminders and Notes. The expected timeframe for the general release of the new iCloud features is the same time that iOS 6 launches -- this fall. Changes that are apparent in the beta (according to a post on MacRumors) include a revision to Find My iPhone that shows the approximate battery life of the device you're trying to find, a web version of the iOS Notes app complete with yellow lined paper, a web version of the iOS (and soon OS X Mountain Lion) Reminders app. Apple announced during the WWDC 2012 keynote that more than 125 million people now use iCloud. It's good to see that all platforms -- OS X, iOS, and the Web -- will have nearly identical apps by this fall.
LG Optimus Vu 'Value Pack' Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade on the way in Korea
LG's Optimus Vu still has yet to debut in the US, but Korean fans of the extra-wide 5-inch phablet can soon enjoy a new "Value Pack" upgrade. It brings the phone to yesterday's-news Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich along with LG-specific tweaks to its note taking features, UI 3.0 and Quick Voice search. There's a quick demo video of the update (embedded after the break) and promotional mini site with more details, although the ability to understand Korean -- or muddle through machine translated closed captions -- will come in handy.
How ESPN reporter covers NASCAR with an iPad
ESPN Pit Reporter Dave Burns covers NASCAR's premiere Sprint Cup Series for the network. He's been reporting on racing for many years, and recently abandoned his personal paper-based note system for carefully selected iPad apps. Burns says that note-taking is "highly personal," and that ESPN does not require him to use a certain system. For years, he effectively used a paper form the he devised himself. When the iPad debuted, however, Burns saw the potential. The digital system he's created includes Note Taker HD and SimplyPDF. He also uses a FreeOneHand iPad case as it prevents overheating, unlike a full-cover case he used. It's an interesting story which includes a sample of the notes Burns takes on race day.
iCloud.com slip-up shows Notes and Reminders, iOS 6 references
Looks like Apple's going to add more than just banner notifications to iCloud.com in the near future: a randomly available beta.icloud.com page has shown Notes and Reminders alongside familiar iCloud fixtures like email and Find My iPhone. If that wasn't enough, some skulking about in the HTML code of the beta page showed for a time that access to the new features requires signing in to the "iOS 6 beta," a fairly strong indicator that a web refresh will go hand-in-hand with a new mobile platform at this year's WWDC. What else is in store will likely have to wait until the developer event next month, but we at least know now that our iPhone's grocery lists will survive on the web. [Thanks, Tommy]
