Apple iPad Apps

Missing some Zzzs? Try zsnuz Nap App for iPad/iPhone

It’s a curious thing, perception of Time as a child as compared to that of an adult’s. As children, Time was a thing without meaning as we played and played, until our parents found us and compelled us to take a nap. Suddenly Time became a precious commodity, now subjugated by cruel Afternoon Nap rudely interrupting fun. As adults, however, Time can seem to be a slave under the domination of the twin temporal tyrants Responsibility and Obligation. Meeting deadlines, raising children, maintaining a home and so forth devours our time and more than a few beleaguered adults wish for…


Amazon Kindle Newsstand Versus Zinio on iPad

I took the plunge recently and bought a new iPad! One of the first things I looked into was Zinio, based on the exuberant reviews of the other Gear Diary editors. Then I realized I hardly read magazines. So while I peeked at a few prices and poked around, I didn’t really give digital magazines much thought. Today I was doing my usual Amazon Kindle browsing to find some new reading materials, and I stumbled on the price for “Running Times”, one of the magazines I had considered on Zinio. The price was $20/year on Zinio, but only $0.83 an…


Reflection for Mac Puts Your iOS Device on the Big Screen

It is rare for an application to make me go “Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!” but the Mac app Reflections just had me do exactly that. Seriously, this small utility is one of the best things to come along in quite some time. Be aware that it is only useful if you use a Mac and an iOS device but if that IS your current gear set-up… Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! You see, I’ve always wanted a way to have my iPhone or iPad running on my Mac AND still have the ability to use the Mac. Think about how…


Angry Birds Space for iPhone/Touch

I cannot tell a lie. I have spent countless hours flinging various birds at devious green pigs on my iPhone and iPad. Until recently, Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio had kept me free from boredom and often avoiding tasks around the house to complete three stars in just one more level. For several months, though, the games had become stale for me. Even with new updates and levels, I just was not interested in playing much. I guess the three games were different, but it was just the same old gameplay with newer levels. I cautiously…


Draw Something Is an Evil Time-Waster That I Can’t Stop Playing

You would think that with a name like DrawSomething, you would need artistic talent to play. But that is simply not so. All you need to get addicted to this evil, rotten game is one friend who will play you, a sense of humor, and a bit of patience. I first found out about this game last week while I was getting my nails done. Tracy, my nail tech, said she was playing and was addicted. I’d never heard of it, so I downloaded the free version and said I would check it out later. I put it off for a…


App Avalanche! How Do You Deal with Constant App Updates?

For anyone in the tech biz, one of the scariest words is, “Upgrade”.  You’re bumping along just fine, things are going well, and you get that dreaded email from your IT department informing you that some critical change has been made (usually to security and networking software), and you are required to upgrade your system.  If you’re lucky, you can do it without stopping your work completely and rebooting your system; if you’re unlucky, you lose some hours and have to reboot multiple times and end up on the phone with your support guy. But in the age of iOS…


Miso Media is the Latest ‘Shark Tank’ Attention, um, Seeker

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Scott Jordan of SCOTTEVEST appearing on the ABC ‘reality investment’ show ‘Shark Tank’. It was an episode my family had been anticipating all season for a few reasons: Scott Jordan has worked with Dan and Judie in the past, I have several SCOTTEVETST items and LOVE them all, and finally because Scott appeared in all of the previews to be a total arrogant confrontational jerk on the show which we figured meant some good theater … and we weren’t disappointed. What my family remarked on, which has been discussed here and pretty…


Fix It Up 80’s ‘Meet Kate’s Parents’ for the iPad Game Review

Based on my lackluster review of the original Fix it Up Kate’s Adventure, and my glowing review of Fix it Up: World Tour, I really wasn’t sure what to expect this time around. Would the game take advantage of all of the things introduced and carry forward, or would it stumble again? Let’s check it out! The Hype: Take a trip back to the 80’s in this totally tubular, time management adventure! Kate visits her father and he explains how the family got its start in the auto repair biz. Play as Kate’s parents, Frank and Mary, to purchase, fix,…


Brookstone’s iConvert Scanner for iPad Review

I was at Brookstone the other day and saw a couple of cool ideas that work with Apple’s iDevices. The first is the iConvert Scanner for iPad Tablet. The iConvert scanner is “The easy, accurate way to save documents as JPEG files on your favorite tablet. Works with the all-new iPad!” Let’s take a look. Here’s what Brookstone has to say about it: Admit it. You have too many piles of receipts, bills and other paper documents. Tame the paperwork jungle in your life by getting a scanner for your iPad® tablet. Our iConvert® Scanner captures sharp, detailed JPEG images and…


Elements 2.3 Adds Retina Display Support and Much More

There are a lot of different choices when it comes to word processing on the iPad, iPhone and Mac. One key to deciding which to use, at least for me, is finding one that works seamlessly on all my different Apple devices. iA Writer is a good option, so is simply using the native notes app. Elements is another good choice, and it just got updated to version 2.3. Of course support for the retina display on the new iPad is a key feature of the update, but there are others as well. As SecondGear, the company behind the app…


Apple Updates iMovie to Work on Original iPad!

One of the frustrations when iMovie was initially released was that it worked on the iPad 2 but not the original iPad. This was due to the intention of using it with the camera for video-on-the-fly and the hardware capabilities and memory limitations of the original iPad. Now Apple has quietly updated iMovie for iOS so that it will run on the original iPad. Of course there is always a ‘but’ … and in this case it is iMovie Trailers. While you’re able to edit video with ease, you don’t have access to the app’s new Movie Trailers feature. For that,…


Fix It Up World Tour for the iPad Game Review

When I reviewed Fix It Up: Kate’s Adventure last year, I found it fun and loaded with content, but there were a few things I didn’t enjoy that kept it from being one of my ‘go to’ casual apps. Now Kate is back, joined by Steve and Martin, and she is ready to take on the world – literally! Let’s see how things go this time! The Hype: Go global in this fantastic strategy adventure! In this sequel to “Fix-it-up: Kate’s Adventure”, you must help Kate expand her car-repair empire around the world! Build car-repair shops anywhere from snowy Canada…


Zombie Highway for iPhone/Touch and iPad

As I watched the season finale of The Walking Dead Sunday night, one of my kids hollered from the other room, “Why does everything have to do with zombies?” We do not let them watch the show of course, but he knew I was watching what he calls, “that zombie show.” Even though he had a point, I did not have a good answer. I simply replied, “because killing zombies is so fun.” He definitely agreed and told me there are some fun games where you have to kill zombies. It just so happens that I also found a game…


The Island: Castaway HD for iPad Review

Statistics are very much in my mind now – not the least reason for which is due to my profession. First off we have March Madness kicking off, and I employed a non-linear regression technique to try to predict my way through the tournament rather than just guessing like I normally do. We also have the release of ‘The Hunger Ganes’ movie next week, which uses the phrase ‘may the odds ever be in your favor’. What does this have to do with The Island: Castaway? Well, before I started playing I was thinking – G5 has had a really…


Don’t Worry … There are PLENTY of New iPad Specific Apps Available!

Do you remember when the iPad first came out and there were basically no apps made specifically for it? Even a bit later we were writing about the issue, wondering where the iPad specific apps were? Of course, now it has gotten to the point where if you see an app that claims to support the iPad app you’ll be surprised if you find an iPhone app with 1x/2x mode. Some were concerned that the new iPad would launch with only the Apple specific apps and a couple of showcase apps like Sky Gamblers that were shown off last week…


How Much Better is the New iPad’s Screen? Evernote has the Answer

As is always the case with a new iOS device update, we are seeing a slew of app updates being released in the iTunes App Store. In fact, this morning I had 29 updates waiting! That’s a lot… but not surprising. Evernote was among the updates and it makes clear just HOW sharp the new iPad’s retina display is. I mean, seriously, look at the picture at the top of this post and tell me that isn’t an amazing difference. (Of course, the iPad 2 screen is on the left and the new Retina Display is on the right.) Fact…


Boinx Software iStopMotion Now Optimized for the New iPad

The new iPad lands tomorrow and, among other updates, it has a real camera instead of the nonsense offered on the iPad 2. Yes, the 5MP shooter on the back should take good pictures now and, as a result, an entire new world of iPad image manipulation will be opened. Sure, you will still look like a dork while using a tablet to snap pictures but at least you’ll get decent pictures in the process! One of the first apps updated to take serious advantage of the new iPad’s camera is iStopMotion for iPad 1.2 from Boinx Software. Optimized for the…


Hope You Bought the 64GB iPad … New Apps are 2.5 – 3x Larger!

I was checking out some screenshots and photos from the new iPad over at Macrumors, which all hailed from the much-reported early delivery 3rd generation iPad from Vietnam that is getting loads of press … and I noted a quote from Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn regarding the size of the original apps: The sizes of these Retina-enabled apps appear to be about 2.5-3x the size of their original counterparts. These applications are developed by Apple has been upgraded to support the Retina screen, for example with Keynote (iWork software sets), this application previously only 115MB capacity but its latest version is…


Color Blindness or Do You See What I See? Two Apps That Might Help

(Ishihara color sample from Wikipedia) I work in a company that specializes in computer graphics, animations and programming. As such, there is a large amount of visual data that I have to pore over that often deal with proper colors, because in the world of product marketing, brand colors are generally VERY specific. I have “normal” color vision and 20/20 vision (when I was younger it was around 20/10…oh for the old days!), so excellent sight has been the rule for me, and I’ve never given visual capacity much thought. Not too long ago, however, a coworker called me to…


Pimp Your Screen – Your Device Never Looked Cooler for iPhone/Touch and iPad

We all know that iOS is not the king of customization, but sometimes a little change is a breath of fresh air. I have been through the jailbreak stage with plenty of themes and fancy alternate icons, each time causing my phone to become deathly slow. About the only way iOS users can set their devices apart is through custom lock screens and backgrounds. It is fun to have some pictures of my kids or a cool Apple background, but it still is not exactly custom. As I scoured the app store this week I came across a little gem…


The Bard’s Tale for iPad Adds Classic Bard’s Tale from 1985!

I am still finishing up my dual review of The Bard’s Tale – I had been working through the PC game for a retrospective review when the iOS version launched, so I have now completed both! But the game just got a HUGE update that makes it a more compelling buy than ever – and trust me, it is already a great game! Here are the notes from the update: New Features: • Includes the original classic game The Bard’s Tale I: Tales of the Unknown! • Earn free gold through TapJoy offers! Spend gold on in-app-purchases, or buy in-game…