StatusBoard
Latest
Status Board updated with bugfixes, performance improvements
Panic's well-received Status Board app has been updated to version 1.1, and as you might imagine, it's mostly a bugfix update. The biggest issue fixed was probably a bug with sending standard video out, but that should be all taken care of according to Panic (sending HD video out still requires an in-app purchase). The Calendar List panel also deals with resizing much better, and there are now options for either Celsius or Farenheit listings for each Weather panel you have showing. If you're enjoying Status Board, you may also want to check out our five surprising uses for the app, or take a look at some of the other widgets users have been putting together for the service. Status Board is wonderfully designed, but the app itself is really just a container. It's up to you to fill it up with whatever you'd like to be updated about. If you haven't gotten Status Board for your iPad yet, you can grab it from the App Store for US$9.99. That's a premium price, but Panic clearly put a lot of work into this one-of-a-kind utility.
Five uses for Panic's Status Board
Panic's new iPad app Status Board is great for keeping track of your email, tweets and the weather. We liked it a lot. Status Board comes ready to use, but its highly customizable nature is proving to be one of the app's greatest strengths. Here are five unexpected ways people are using Status Board. Showing Google Analytics: This one is admittedly complicated, but as time goes by, this process is sure to be simplified. Regardless, having your Google Analytics freely available for viewing on your Status Board is a nice addition for site owners. Showing Server Statistics: With a bit of code, Status Board can display the current load stats and available disk space of your servers. Showing BART Arrival Times: Sure, this is geographically too specific to be of use to our readers outside the Bay Area. But give it time and your local public mass transit solution will be displayable on your Status Board too. Showing Your Things Tasks: One intrepid user has developed a way to connect the task-management app Things with their Status Board to display which project due dates are coming up. Display your home temperature: If you have a Nest, the internet-connected thermostat from the iPod's design godfather, your house's current temperature can be displayed on your Status Board. At the moment you can only monitor the status of your house temperature; however Nest's own software allows you to monitor and change the temperature of your house remotely. Having these features available right there on your Status Board would be very convenient. Until that day comes, it's nice to know the temperature without having to get up.
Panic's new Status Board app fills your iPad's screen with meaningful data
Panic added to its iOS lineup today with Status Board, a new app for the iPad that promises to give you "a beautiful, clean status board to track your meaningful data." Status Board does exactly what its name implies -- it gives you a blackboard that'll display the current status of your email, your twitter feed, the weather, and more. It uses customizable panels that let you organize the information you want to appear on your iPad screen. It was borne out of Panic's own status board that it uses in its office. Status Board first launches with one of the best setup guides I've ever used within an app. It takes the appearance of a foldable manual that you would see tucked inside the box of your TV or DVD player. Each panel of the virtual leaflet allows you to set up a different part of the app. You are given the option to enter your email account and grant access to your personal information like your calendar, location and Twitter account. There's also a brief set of instructions that'll help you get started with the app. It's a clever way to open an app and makes the dry part of entering your accounts enjoyable. Once you have completed the background configuration, the app launches with a collection of modules that are filled with the data that you enabled in the initial setup. With the black background and brightly-colored modules, the view of your data is quite striking. If you don't like what you see, you can easily change the type of modules on your screen in the settings view. You can also change their size and location to design the best layout for your board. The app ships with several core modules including a clock, weather, calendar, IMAP email, Twitter, RSS, graph and table. The graph module pulls data down from a JSON or CSV file, while the table module supports an HTML table or CSV file. There's also a custom module that'll let you create a panel that pulls selected data from supported third-party sources. Right now, these custom panels can pull crash and tester data from HockeyApp and StatHat, a web and mobile app statistics service. Status Board lets you share your board via email or AirPlay. A "Send a Status Board" feature captures an image of your board and sends its as an attachment to an email. You can also share a board via AirPlay to an Apple TV. This fullscreen TV out feature requires an in-app purchase that currently costs US$9.99. Status Board is a polished offering from Panic, but it's not perfect. One limitation we ran into was with authenticated RSS feeds, which are not supported. It's also worth noting that by design, there's no interactivity within the app -- Status Board is read-only. It provides a data-rich snapshot of your current status, but it is not a replacement for your RSS reader or Twitter client.
