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TUAW's Daily Mac App: QuickNotes
With our Macs in front of us, many still resort to pen and paper for taking down little snippets of information. QuickNotes is a program designed to help wean you off the dead wood and ink, allowing you to quickly jot down information with just a few key presses. Hiding in your menu bar, you can invoke QuickNotes either with a drop-down menu, or with Ctrl+Opt+Cmd+N, which pops up a small text entry window ready to take whatever text you want to type or paste into it. You can either hit Cmd+Enter or click "Add" to save the note, or click anywhere else or "Close" to dismiss the note. All your notes are stored in your menu bar ready for copying to a clipboard with a simple click or for re-editing. There are lots of other ways of taking notes on your Mac, you can use the free Stickies dashboard widget or simply open TextEdit to name just a few; but for US$1.99 QuickNotes gets the job done easily and quickly, ever present in your menu bar. Have you managed to ditch your pen and paper for your Mac? What programs do you use for quickly jotting down bits of information? Let us know in the comments.
Emporia RL1 doesn't think your smartphone is all that great
In this age of perpetual smartphone one-upmanship, calling your handset the "most straightforward mobile phone in the world" seems a strange selling point. Still, there are surely people out there who need a reprieve from the complications of iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Android devices, and Emporia's RL1 does eschew pretty much everything that's not a phone call or text. The handset has a bright screen with adjustable text size and big buttons that light up when a call comes through, nice features for older users with vision and hearing problems. The phone comes with the above angular cradle and should give you about three hours of talk time on a charge. For those who want to get fancy with the thing, there's also a calculator, alarm clock, and a feature that'll help you remember birthdays -- the primary reason a lot of us use Facebook. The phone is available now for Vodafone's monthly and pay as you go plans. It runs £60 ($99) -- you didn't think straightforwardness like this comes cheap, did you? Press release after the break.
Byword 1.2, now with Markdown support
Byword is a full-screen, "distraction-free" word processor that has an interesting twist: it focuses on just the text around your cursor (or even just the current line), dimming the rest of your composition so that even that can't distract you. Byword (and its predecessors) are based on the idea that you'll be at the top of your writing game if there's nothing else on your screen. Whether you subscribe to that theory or not, it's becoming an increasingly crowded field. Thankfully, there's more to Byword than just a blank screen and blinking caret. Byword, which can also run in a windowed (non-fullscreen) mode, brings great typography along with its minimalist interface. Some of its brethren, like OmmWriter Dana, have done this as well, but if you add in excellent keyboard navigation, hyphenation support and its unique focus mode, Byword begins to stand on its own. Oh, one more thing. While I don't personally subscribe to the distraction-free idea, Byword has added one thing that always gets my attention in any writing environment: Markdown support. MultiMarkdown support, actually, with footnotes, tables and other fun stuff. Wondering what I'm talking about? Have a look at TUAW's Markdown Primer and the MultiMarkdown documentation for more advanced features. Use Markdown syntax while you're writing, then flip over to the Markdown Preview to see your rendered text. The preview mode has buttons for copying HTML source (great for pasting into blogs) and for exporting the HTML to a file (optionally including the Byword visual styling). Markdown is a great move for Byword. I'm seeing increasing support for this popular format across the board, which I think is a great thing. I do wish for a few things, including my usual plea for advanced editing tools, such as auto-pairing of brackets and automatic list continuation. I would also love to see an option for printing the rendered document directly from Byword. You could print straight to PDF that way, too. If you want a good-looking editor for plain text or minimal rich text and don't want all of the extra buttons and formatting options, this is worth a peek. There's a free trial available on the Byword homepage, and you can pick up Byword on the Mac App Store for US $9.99.
Sprint network is down in some areas, SMS and voice call services affected (updated)
Uh oh, according to the handful of tips we've received, it appears that Sprint is currently having some technical problems on its cellular network in some states. Specifically, customers aren't having much luck with sending text messages, while some are also not able to make voice calls. But don't worry, the carrier's certainly aware of this issue and is already working on a fix, so hang tight and let your fingers take a break -- we'll let you know when things are up and running again. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Here's a statement we got from Sprint: "We did have some disruption to Sprint SMS traffic earlier tonight, but it wasn't a complete disruption -- we lost partial capacity for about an hour. Engineers immediately began rerouting traffic and after about an hour things went back to normal. There is no significant voice disruption anywhere in the US except for a small part of our Sprint network in the Washington, DC area. That has since been resolved and had no relation to the SMS disruption."
Groupme's group messaging app demoed at Google I/O, complete with data / location (video)
Just because Google's hosting I/O, that doesn't mean that a few little guys can't do a bit of announcing on their own. Such is the case with Groupme, who stopped by doing their darnedest to upstage Disco and the host of other group messaging apps flooding app stores these days. The newest build -- v2.1.7 -- just hit the Android Market over the past few days, bringing with it the ability to share locations /photos and initiate conference calls within the group (amongst other niceties). For now, the service is limited to the US and Canada (though international expansion is "top priority"), and requires that any members have established phone numbers in case the data network fails anywhere in the chain. The good news, however, is that there is a data option, with SMS being used only as a fallback. There's also some pretty fancy integration with Gigbeat, which is detailed in the video just after the break. %Gallery-123308%
VoxOx Call for iPhone handles your virtual numbers, SMS, and faxes on the cheap
We're actually surprised that Telcentris' VoxOx virtual number service has never had a mobile app until now, but hey, better late than never, right? Hot out of the oven is the appropriately named VoxOx Call app for iPhone, which claims to match rival Google Voice's mobile offering but packs some extra goodies. For instance, this app syncs nicely with the VoxOx desktop client, so that you can handle your calls, text messages, voicemails, and faxes on both platforms with ease. And as before, there's no limit on how many virtual numbers you buy and add here, whereas with Google Voice you're stuck with one per account. Hit the demo video after the break to check out the full package.
Shocker! Instant messaging gains popularity as TXTing declines, BBM to blame
Apparently, those young'uns just love their BBM. According to a report by the research group Mobile Youth, young folk (read: those of you between 15 and 24) are increasingly abandoning SMS in favor of instant messaging apps, with texting expected to drop off 20 percent over the next two years. The main culprit? BlackBerry Messenger, which now boasts over 39 million users, many of them living outside the US. In fact, it's in the UK, Indonesia, South Africa, and Brazil -- all popular markets for BBM -- that Mobile Youth expects texting to dwindle the most. And if BBM is to blame, well, that drop-off could be just the beginning.
Screen Grabs: iPhone messaging app spotted on a RAZR in Traffic Light
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. The iPhone was indeed the handset to supplant the well-loved RAZR as America's favorite, but we're not so sure its messaging interface ever made it onto Motorola's slim clamshell. That hasn't stopped Fox's Traffic Light from rewriting history, however, as last night's episode featured a RAZR receiving a "smiley-faced emoticon" text message encased in an all-too-familiar grey speech bubble. Catch this crazy new invention on video after the break. [Thanks, OMGitsShan]
TaskPaper 2.2.3 in the Mac App Store with a big discount
Minimalists looking for a task manager should take a closer look at TaskPaper for OS X, which is now on sale at US$4.99, a $25 discount off its normal $29.99. The app recently launched in the Mac App Store, and Hog Bay Software dropped the price for a limited time to celebrate TaskPaper's debut. This $5 pricing will be available until Friday, April 8. Developed by the same company that released WriteRoom, TaskPaper is a text editor-based task manager that mimics a handwritten list. If you are inspired to add an item to your growing to-do list, you only have to launch the app, type in your thoughts and hit Return to add it to your list. We have covered TaskPaper since version 1.0 and have been pleased with its simplicity and ease of use. If you have any interest in the application, grab it now before its price goes back up on Friday.
Nicholas Callaway shifts paper-based empire to app, prays the publishing gods approve
If you've found yourself even mildly obsessed with style, art or design over the past score, there's a better-than-average chance you've got a Nicholas Callaway book on your coffee table. And it'll soon be a collector's item. The publishing monolith made his fortunes in the pages of ye old paper-based books, but it seems that he'll be paying off future mortgages with something else entirely. In a recent sit-down with Reuters, Callaway confessed to "betting the ranch" on apps, quietly stroking the capacitive touchpanel on his iPad and gazing fondly into the middle distance. For him, this is a "once in a century" revolution, where an entire industry hits a fork and is forced to continue on with an entirely new medium. Of course, Callaway is far from the only one making this shift -- we've seen legendary newspapers make similar moves, and as e-book stores continue to grow in prominence, it's a given that paperbacks will eventually give way to whatever's next. Hit the source link for the longest, most in-depth dive you'd ever dream of taking into this here topic.
The Guild Counsel: To vent or not to vent
As we've looked at the ins and outs of managing a guild, one issue that's often overlooked is whether to vent or not to vent. No, not the Minus 50 DKP type of vent -- I'm talking about Ventrilo and voice chat in general. Ten years ago, guild leaders didn't have to worry about this, because the choice was between typing text or hosting a LAN party. But today, with the rise of voice chat clients like Ventrilo and in-game voice services like Vivox, the culture has changed quite a bit. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll take a look at the benefits of type vs. voice chat, and we'll look at what role each plays in guild management. Whether you sleep with your headset on or cling to your keyboard, read on for a look at why both have their merits.
Slide launches Disco: Google's group texting app comes to iPhone, not Android
When Google acquired Slide way back in August of 2010, when it was warm and sunny and phones only had single-core processors, the plan was to "build a more social web." Now we know a little more about that plan... sort of. A new app from Slide has just hit the app store and an accompanying site has just hit the internets. It's called Disco, a group texting service that has an app and a web interface. When you sign up you're assigned a new phone number (ours was a 302 -- hello Deleware) and you're invited to send texts to a number of people, any people, regardless of whether they're Disco users themselves. Those people can then reply and things get bounced around all crazy like, so make sure those you add have opted for unlimited texting. Intriguingly at this point the app is only available for iPhone, and that's certainly the platform that takes front and center on the main Disco site. Given the Google parentage here we have to assume that there's an Android flavor coming here, but crazier things have happened at the club. [Disco Stu could not be reached for comment, but has in the past indicated an affinity for group texting.]
Intel brings vPro to Sandy Bridge CPUs, makes losing your work laptop slightly less painful
Imagine, if you will, business travelers gallivanting across the globe with nary a care in the world -- secure in the fact that should they lose their laptop by hook or by crook, they can disable it with a simple text message. Well, the dream is now a reality as Intel has put its fifth-gen vPro technology in Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 business chips, giving users the ability to lock down and reactivate a PC remotely via SMS. Not exactly a fresh idea, but nice to see it passed on to more modern chipsets. To further simplify the lives of IT professionals, the new version of vPro also has an encryption login requirement upon awakening from sleep mode, 1920 x 1200 resolution remote management, and host-based configuration to allow the set up of countless PCs at once. Of course, that assumes your employer's willing to pony up for Chipzilla's new gear -- the economic downturn's almost over, right?
GSMA and Cloudmark cooking up an SMS spam reporting system
If you get just five spam text messages a day then consider yourselves lucky, as a Chinese mobile user could easily amass at least 30 messages daily, according to Cloudmark. Fortunately, said company has been working with GSMA and various network operators on building an SMS spam reporting system, which should help drastically reduce worldwide cellphone spam. The idea is rather simple: in a multi-country trial that ended last December, participants from AT&T, Bell Mobility, SFR, Sprint, Vodafone, Korea Telecom, and the Korean Internet & Security Agency forwarded suspect spam to "7726," which is short code for "spam." Cloudmark's cloud-based system would then be able to identify and block these messages in the future, be it scams, linkbaits, or just ads from perverse companies. While this sounds like a perfect solution, it's not entirely clear how much this service would cost the operators, but hey, it's never too early to start a petition if you need it that badly.
Nexus S OTA 2.3.2 update rolling out now, your SMS relations will thank you
Embarrassing SMS misdirect bug on your Android device? Nexus S owners should start checking their phones now for an over-the-air update that's supposed to fix the problem. It's being rolled out gradually, so just be patient if it's not there yet. How will we know the problem's gone for good? We'll just assume so until we find out otherwise, in some unfortunate manner. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
California Supreme Court says warrantless searches of suspects' text messages are legal
Planning on getting arrested in California any time soon? You'd better make sure your text archives are free from any incriminating information as the state's Supreme Court has now ruled it legal for police to check your missives folder without the need for a warrant. The justification for this privacy intrusion is that a phone search is "incidental" to a lawful arrest and its contents, much like the contents of your pockets or bags, fall within the realm of reasonable search. Two of the judges in the case did dissent, with one noting that "never before has it been possible to carry so much personal or business information in one's pocket or purse," which she argues should afford your iPhone, Droid or BB a higher level of privacy protection than, say, the packet of gummy bears you have in the other pocket. What do you think?
Android text messaging bugs acknowledged, fixes detailed
Hear that thunderous roar off in the distance, growing louder (and more frightening) as it persists? That is the sound of excited Android users emailing us to inform their fave gadget site that Google has just sent users an update to that little embarrassing SMS bug that we reported a while back. There seem to be two distinct issues: users have reported both opening one message to have a completely different message appear, and / or sending an text message to one contact yet having it delivered to another contact entirely. We need only say one word: sexting, to highlight just how dangerous this could be! Google promises us that a fix for these two issues are in the works. In the meanwhile, check out the e-mail below to read their response and work-around. [Thanks Jon, and thanks to everyone else who sent this in!]
Android still has horrible text messaging bugs that'll get you fired, busted, or otherwise embarrassed
Pardon us if the headline is a little sensational, but this is one that we've personally experienced -- and it's not pretty. For at least the last couple versions, Android has been plagued with a couple extremely serious bugs in its text messaging subsystem that can ultimately end up causing you to text the wrong contact -- even contacts that you've never texted before. There appear to be a few failure modes; the one we definitely experience on the Gingerbread-powered Nexus S involves being routed to the wrong thread when you tap it either in the Notifications list or the master thread list in the Messaging application, so if you don't notice, you'll end up firing a message to the wrong person. More seriously, though, there's also an open issue in Android's bug tracking system -- inexplicably marked "medium" priority -- where sent text messages can appear to be in the correct thread and still end up being sent to another contact altogether. In other words, unless you pull up the Message Details screen after the fact, you might not even know the grievous act you've committed until your boss, significant other, or best friend -- make that former best friend -- texts you back. There seem to have been some attempts on Google's part over the year to fix it; we can't confirm that it still happens in 2.3, but for what it's worth, the issue hasn't been marked resolved in Google Code... and it was opened some six months ago. This is akin to an alarm clock that occasionally won't go off (we've been there) or a car that randomly won't let you turn the steering wheel -- you simply cannot have a phone that you can't trust to communicate with the right people. It's a deal-breaker. We're pretty shocked that these issues weren't tied up and blasted to all affected phones as an over-the-air patch months ago, but whatever the reason, we'd like to see Google, manufacturers, and carriers drop every other Android update they're working on and make sure this is completely resolved immediately. Want to see this fixed as much as we do? Scroll to the bottom of the Google Code page and hit "Vote for this issue and get email change notifications." Update: So Google's changed the priority of the bug to "critical," which we'd say is a solid start. They're also asking people to simply star the bug rather than commenting on it -- unless you've got constructive information to add that might help them reproduce the problem, of course. Thanks, everyone!
AT&T releases dramatic anti-texting while driving documentary
We're not sure how many more times it must be said, but seriously people -- stop texting on your cellphone while operating a gigantic vehicle at high speeds. If you're not already convinced that driving a car and trying to tap out a message on a tiny keyboard (or heaven forbid, no keyboard at all) is a poor match, perhaps the short documentary AT&T has just released will convince you otherwise. The carrier is launching a campaign geared towards teens over the holidays leading up to New Year's Eve in the hopes that the youth of the world will be slightly less sure of their invincibility -- at least where car driving and text messaging is concerned. Sure, the video (located after the break) borders on sentimentality at times, but we'll take a little heavy-handedness over the injury or death of human beings simply because someone couldn't wait to tell someone else that they'd be there soon. Trust us, your friends aren't that worried about punctuality.
Reva's text-to-recharge electric car rolls to a standstill the US
Remember the electric car with the ingenious hook of a reserve battery that can only be accessed in the case of an emergency by texting or calling the car's manufacturer? Well, it appears that the project is having a bit of trouble getting off the ground in the US, though it shockingly doesn't have anything to do with that flagship feature. As the story goes, upstart Bannon Automotive signed a deal with the car's manufacturer, India-based Reva Electric Car Company, that gave it the exclusive license to manufacture and sell the car in the US, but Bannon is now alleging that Reva broke its agreements and says it's been left with no choice but to take legal action. Ill-conceived feature aside, the stakes in the lawsuit are fairly high, as Bannon Automotive was actually formed with the sole intention of bringing the Reva electric car to the US, and it had hoped to bring as many as 250 jobs to Onondaga County, New York.
