Cloud Computing | Gear Diary

Please Sir, May I Have Another? A Dropbox Request

I started using Dropbox several years ago at Thomas’ recommendation. At the time, I didn’t think I’d be using it for that much, so the 500MB that came in the free account seemed just right. I even managed to pick up some additional free storage space, because I did things like tweet about it, connect it to my Facebook account, and upload some photos. And then one day, I realized that I was using my Dropbox account in new ways I had never expected to: I was sharing folders with collaborators, uploading all of my family pictures and genealogy files,…

News

Welcome to Disqus 2012!

If you have been commenting on the site in recent weeks you will have noticed that we use Disqus to power our comments section. We really like the platform. It allows ease of commenting, simply comment moderation for us (we are committed to keeping the trolls out) and, it just streamlines the entire process for everyone. Well, the company behind Disqus just rolled out Disqus 2012. You can get a sense of what is new with Disqus by watching this “awesome new video showing off the new Disqus”. The new Disqus is more social, streamlines the process of commenting, and…

Game Diary, Reviews

Flick Home Run! for iPhone and Touch

Now that baseball season is upon us in full swing and summer is approaching, I found it proper to feature a baseball app in this week’s Blue Plate Special. My kids have been playing tee ball and coach pitch and making dad proud; we have already made it to a minor league game in San Antonio. Baseball is in our blood and a beloved summer activity. I actually learned about Flick Home Run from one of my students that thought I might enjoy it. Boy were they correct! Now I am able to take a little batting practice anytime I…

Gear Bits

Paid-Up MobileMe Subscribers Get to Keep Their Free 20GB for 3 Months More!

When MobileMe turned into iCloud, those of us who had dumped hundreds of dollars into the service hoped that Apple would ‘throw us a bone’ for the years of loyalty. And they did – we got the 20GB storage level for free until June 2012. Here is the section from the FAQ: MobileMe members with 20GB of purchased storage receive a complimentary iCloud storage upgrade of 20GB, and accounts with additional purchased storage (40GB to 60GB) receive a complimentary upgrade of 50GB after moving to iCloud. These free upgrades are good through September 30th, 2012. After that date, you can…

Events, News

Latest HTC One Android Phone, the V, Coming This Summer

This morning HTC has announced the HTC One V, the latest of the HTC One series. We’ve covered the One X and the One S, and later this summer it looks like we’ll have another version to look forward to. If you like Android phones, these have proven to be some of the most exciting available. The One V will be running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), and it will feature a a 5-megapixel camera with f/2.0 back illuminated sensor. The One V will have HTC Video Pic™, and will be able to capture “still photos while simultaneously recording HD video.” The One…

Reviews

AT&T’s HTC One X Android Smartphone

HTC has really upped their game with the new HTC One line of Android smartphones. Each of the three devices in the series looks great, is super fast and offers a range of features that makes them some of the best smartphones currently (or soon) available. Judie had a chance to see them they day they were announced at Mobile World Congress, and I spent some quality time with them the next morning. We were both impressed. A few weeks later I got my hands on the T-Mobile-branded HTC One S. I liked the look… and the feel… and found…

News

Striiv Fitness Motivating Pedometer Gets Smart, Gets Social

Back in January Judie and I found ourselves in an unplanned competition of sorts. Judie was using the FitBit fitness device and I was using the Striiv Smart Pedometer. The devices could not have been more different. The FitBit was black and the Striiv white. The FitBit clipped to your cloths and has a small LED readout to let you know what was what. The Striiv has a large, touchscreen face reminiscent of a tiny smartphone. The FitBit had a USB dock that, when the device was synced to your computer, tracked your progress and even offered the ability to…

Reviews

Pic Stitch For iPhone

Despite owning a digital SLR, my iPhone is always one of my favorite photography tools. Many believe that the best camera to use is always the one with you. While this is certainly true and makes an easy case for iPhone photography, the phone itself is actually a good camera. Simply taking photos is usually not enough for me, I love to edit and change them using applications on my phone. It really is pretty amazing that I can take some photos, edit them and share them from virtually anywhere without a computer. Pic Stitch allows users to combine multiple…

Reviews

GoPano Micro Review

Everyone knows the iPhone has an amazing camera. You can take some amazing videos right out of the box with it. But one of the great things about the combination of a solid camera and a popular phone is that aftermarket case and accessory makers create ways to make the camera features even better. That’s the goal of the GoPano Micro, a case and lens combination that lets you take 360-degree panoramic video. Does it succeed? Read on to find out! The GoPano system has two parts, a case and a snap on lens. The case is a simple slider…

News

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…

News

GoFlex Satellite Drive Firmware Update Arriving March 19th

At CES this past January, Judie and I had a chance to meet with Seagate and see their new and updated offerings. We saw, and later reviewed, their GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter. It is now a key part of my iMac setup. We also learned about a coming update to the GoFlex Satellite drive we had reviewed previously. As we wrote at the time, We were glad to see that an update is on the way, and that it will bring some needed improvements. Among them … – The update will double the battery life. That is a big deal since…

News

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…

News

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…

Music Diary, News

Stochastik Gives Us the Probability-Based Drum Pattern Machine for iPad

The term ‘stochastic’ means ‘non-deterministic’, or a process influenced by a random factor or variable. The new Stochastik drum pattern machine takes a weighted random factor approach to pattern generation for the iPad. You are actually setting a probability at each step in the sequence that a sound will trigger. The result is amazingly varied patterns – and you can export the results to GarageBand or other apps. The one thing missing in version 1.0 is MIDI, but that is coming soon according to developers. Here are some details: 15 Samples at a time, arranged in 3 banks of 5…

Editorials

OS X Mountain Lion; Yeah, It’s a Big Deal

Mike posted word the other day that Apple outed their next operating system, OS X Mountain Lion and gave it a late summer arrival date. Yes, just as Apple Computer lost the “Computer” from its name as it began to shift its company positioning, they have now dropped the “Mac” from Mac OS X. Mountain Lion is, in my opinion a bit of good news and a bit more good news. The good news is that they are continuing to bring OS X into line with iOS. The additional good news is that they are doing it in a manner…

Editorials

From Evernote Hello to Evernote, Hell No!!

Update #2 by Dan: We reached out to Evernote CEO Phil Libin to bring this to his attention. He let us know that the feature is supposed to be off by default when you add a person manually AND, if you change the settings the app is supposed to remember the settings. Currently it is on by default aND it doesn’t remember changed settings but that is a bug that will be addressed ASAP. That’s great news. I also hope Evernote will highlight this functionality in the future so people know it is there in the first place. Update #1 by Judie:…

News

Evernote for Mac Updated With Improved Note Panel, Tables, Checklists, and More

I was pretty critical of Evernote back in December when they released some iOS apps that just fell flat. I mean, a special app for food logs or exchanging personal information? They called it Evernote Hello, I called it Evernote NO! and I was pretty clear that Evernote needed to put their energies into their core business: the various Evernote apps and they way in which they can make note-taking easier. Well, thankfully, they have done just that and have released a new version of Evernote for Mac that offers some great improvements. What are they?

Reviews

PDFpen for iPad is Powerful and Simple to Use, Review

Smile software makes some of the mainstay apps I use on my Mac. Their PDFpenPro is an amazing application for working with PDFs and I’m honestly not sure what I would do without their TextExpander application. It lets me create shortcuts for terms, phrases and especially HTML code that I use all the time. Now, for example, if I want to put in the site’s URL instead of typing out the entire thing I simply type “ggd”. TextExpander sees it and replaces it with the address. There honestly isn’t a post or an email I writer where TE doesn’t jump…

How to Do It Yourself!

How to Keep Up-to-Date and Share Information with Colleagues

The other day one of my Rabbinic colleagues asked what “system” I use in the synagogue to keep track of all of the various lifecycle “events” that take place in the community as well as make sure that all of my colleagues have as accurate and up-to-date information as possible. I wrote up my answers and then, after sending them to him, realized that while our uses for the services I mention are rather specific, the way in which we use them can easily be adapted to a host of different work-settings. Here’s what I told him.

Reviews

iTunes App Store App Review; PDF Forms Impresses!

We’ve come a long way since Thomas published his amazing post How To View PDF Files on an iPad. Now you can’t just view them but you can edit and manipulate them too. There are a few options in the iTunes App Store for editing PDFs and a new one was just announced. PDF Forms lets you sign a document, add text, highlight text, surround text and images and more. This was just going to be a news post until I actually tried the app.

News

Appigo’s Notebooks for iPad, a Quick Look and Exclusive Interview

One of the companies that I got to know when I was writing for an iPhone review website was Appigo. Appigo released a task manager, ToDo shortly after the App Store went live and it has been a mainstay on my iOS devices ever since. Appigo is a small outfit that makes quality apps. They are relatively slow to release new products and, over the last few years have proven their commitment to quality and adding value to apps customers have already purchased. Some time after they released ToDo the company also released Appigo Notebook. It was a simple, easy…