App Update Plus WOiP Tip – Note2Self

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On October 23, 2008

Of all the voice note applications currently available for the iPhone I find Note2Self from WebIS to be the best.

The recording quality, ease of use and frequent update path make it a remarkably useful tool. It was updated once again today and is now an even better app. Among the new features…

– You can now add text to a note
– Volume bar now saves its position for next play
– An indicator to display unplayed notes.
-The addition of date stamp for played
– Improved performance in startup and in the notes list
– Ability to add text notes to audio notes
…and more.

In addition, the high quality, noise-canceling microphone on my new MacBook now makes it possible to record a voice note with Note2Self, play the recording through my iPhone’s speaker while the voice recognition software is running and have MacSpeech Dictate actually transcribe the voice note with superb accuracy.

How does it work? A quick video after the break will show you.

App Update – Say Where!

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I recently raved about the app Say Where! I liked it in theory and in real world use it was fantastic.

The only issue I had with it was the need to scroll through a number of screen before you were able to actually Say Where you wanted to go.

Well, Say Where! just got updated and…

Pro Football – Review

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Zumobi, the maker of the Pro Football application series, has released an app for every NFL team.

For example, since my favorite team is the Jacksonville Jaguars, I was able to download Pro Football Jacksonville.

The application opens to four windows, three of which are the same for every version: News, Scores, and Stats. You can use these windows to find information from around the NFL, from viewing the upcoming week’s injury report to checking who has the most rushing yards in the NFC. These tabs work great at what they do, with a “e-mail to a friend” link in the upper right hand corner at all times.

The forth corner of the menu, however, is a window catered to the NFL you selected.

New In The App Store – One Seek

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My "One Screen Challenge" got me thinking about how great it is when you are able to consolidate a number of functions into a single app. For example, Evernote can be used for text, photo and voice notes if I want to save time and space. There are others, and as the App Store matures the list will continue to grow.  There is one new app in particular that has the potential to replace many different apps.

The new app One Seek is, for all intents and purposes, a web app. It is useless unless you actually have a live data connection and there is nothing that a web-based app could not do that this resident app does (or could do- more on that later).  It does, however, have the potential to be hugely convenient by rolling numerous different search functions into a single app. With One Seek you can quickly and easily pull up numerous sites, including

??1) Google.com? 2) Wikipedia.com? 3) IMDB.com ?4) Amazon.com ?5) Ask.com ?6) Answers.com ?7) Dictionary.com ?8) Digg.com ?9) Ebay.com ?10) Facebook.com? 11) Linkedin.com ?12) MSN.com? 13) Myspace.com? and 14) Thesaurus.com

So for $2 you get a single web portal to some of the most popular sites. It might actually be worth it if…

BackToMy…iPhone

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Despite all the bad press, not to mention my frustration early on, I’m actually rather happy with the way in which Apple’s MobileMe has evolved. Overall, the process of syncing works well and allows me to have my most up to date PIM information no matter where I am and no matter what device I am using. That, combined with BackToMyMac, one of the best features of Leopard and MobileMe, means I have everything with me no matter where I am.

One of the many things I have been hoping for as part of an iPhone update has been the ability to use BackToMyMac and/or MobileMe’s iDisk on the iPhone. That would turn the iPhone into an easy to use extension of your desktop. Numerous applications have already allowed remote file access, but two recent additions to the App Store are particularly noteworthy. When used in conjunction with one another, they bring "back to my Mac" access to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

New In The App Store: gSearch

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On October 22, 2008

gSearch, a new $.99 app in the App Store describes itself this way–

Do you love using Google’s search engine but would like an easier way to get to it from your iPhone?
gSearch is an easy to use, one touch short-cut to launch all of your Google searches.
gSearch also opens up in landscape view with a widescreen keyboard so it’s easier to type.


FEATURES:
1. One touch to launch a Google search
2. Landscape view for easy typing
3. Launches a google search in Safari with your search terms
4. History page of past searches

I got it. I tried it. Here’s what I think…

Type, Scribble, Slide

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One of the biggest selling points of both the iPod Touch and the iPhone is the touchscreen and its ability to determine when it’s being touched multiple times simultaneously and in what manner (leading to wonderful games like this one).  With this functionality, it is a natural evolution to create multiple methods of doing what should be one of the most common tasks on the device:  inputting text.  Whether it’s via freehand writing, sliding between letters or common typing, the iTunes App Store provides at least one program for each of the aforementioned methods. 

I have reviewed three of the free ones so you can determine which works best for you without cost.

App Update – Gazette

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On October 21, 2008

When it comes to RSS readers for the iPhone and iPod Touch we have focused largely on NetNewsWire and Byline. Both are excellent apps for accessing your RSS feeds on and off-line. There are, however, a number of up-and-coming challengers and one just got a bit of an update.

Gazette, was released just the other day and has already received an update.

App Update- WriteRoom

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I’ve made no secret of my fondness for WriteRoom– the simple but incredibly useful text editor for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Well, a really good app just got even better tonight with an update to version 1.2.

As a minor update it offers the expected bug fixes and a few new features. Among them…

Beat Puzzlotto, Win Up to 30k?

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From the guys who brought you Tap Tap Revenge comes a new game, dubbed Puzzlotto, in the same vein as the great puzzle titles Zork and Myst.

The catch?

The first US resident (not residing in Vermont, Maryland, or North Dakota, for whatever reaason) to beat the game can receive up to $30,000.

As soon as the game is released this Wednesday the prize pool will start at $1,000 dollars for the winner and escalate $1,000 a day until it reaches a maximum of a smooth 30k (barring no one claims the prize before then) in approximately a month, which will be the last day of the contest.
 
The game launches for $4.99 this Wednesday and is already looking to be worth its price point, at least according to some early testers, including Dan Pasco, who’s video can be seen HERE.
 
Unitedlemur, the company behind the project, will be keeping the public posted daily via their twitter blog, and a tenth of the proceeds of the game go to Madagascar Fauna Group.