Currently Browsing
Lifestyle
I want to read more, especially more literature that’s really worthwhile. But, if I’m being honest, when I’ve tried to tackle poetry in the past, I’ve felt overwhelmed and have never known where to start. Without the proper tools to understand what’s going on in a poem, I felt like really great literature was just being wasted on me.
Helping me and other novice poetry aficionados is Poems By Heart. By breaking poems down into manageable chunks, it becomes a lot easier for those intimidated by what may seem like an opaque world of black turtlenecks and smoky coffeehouses to get a foothold. (more…)
Haven’t you always wondered when the next episode of your favorite TV show was going to air? How about wondering which episodes you’ve already watched? I can’t even count, the number of times I noticed I had already watched a particular episode halfway through!
Thankfully, I found a great solution to keep track of which episodes and seasons I’ve seen and when the new ones are going to play: Episoder. This great little app keeps track of all my favorite TV Shows for me, saves me the embarrassment of playing the same episode again and even can even let me know if I skip one!
(more…)
It would be fair to say that the challenges our planet faces, now more than ever, are huge. Just keeping all six billion of us nourished and satisfied on a day-to-day basis uses up vast resources, some of which are irreplaceable. Equally, there are plenty of human-made, human-affecting issues which are cause for concern.
Most of us are aware that these ongoing issues exist, but keeping up to speed with the latest eye-watering figures, never mind considering their consequence, is an impossible task.
This is the problem that Track180 is trying to solve. The aim is to provide an easy way to browse current global affairs, and the app collates information from multiple sources to give a full overview of each story. But does Track180 make things clearer, or just prettier?
Just released to the iTunes App Store on Monday, Codex is a notebook app that strives to combine all of the best aspects of Moleskine with the iPad. Codex isn’t affiliated with the notebook giant but has definitely captured what makes them so special. Not just a place to jot down a to do, Codex is also where you can sketch out your art, write notes to yourself and your friends, or just do any of the things you would do in a paper notebook.
We’ll try out this brand new handwriting app and see if it has the features to get you to make the switch from pencil and pad to fingertips and iPad! (more…)
Imagine a book in which you could become one of the main characters, choosing how to interact with other characters and even affect the plot. This is how stories in Versu work — you can determine your character’s objectives, actions, attitude and more as you explore the interactive stories.
Disclaimer: The stories fall into the Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice realm of literature. So if you’re a fan of those, you’ll be a fan of the currently available stories. And if you’re not, you might want to pass on this one.
Ready to read on? Click “more” to take a look at the future of story-telling. (more…)
Every morning when I get up, I have a whole range of apps to check in with. I need to look at my calendar and my email first, but I also want to see what’s happening with my friends on social media. There are articles to read and to do lists to create. It’s a lot to manage at any time of the day.
My Dashboard is trying to make that process a lot less labor-intensive and a lot better looking. With slick panes for each service you use and an easy to customize interface, it’s looking to make your day go a whole lot more smoothly. Does My Dashboard pack the productivity punch it claims? Let’s check it out! (more…)
Beautylish is an online social network totally focused on beauty, including resources, product reviews, video tutorials, makeup tips, trends, celeb looks and more.
The iPad app feels very much like a magazine chock-full of user-generated content. Browse what other beauty-obsessed individuals are discovering and experimenting with, plus learn how to get the cool looks they’re coming up with.
Click “more” to get started.
Keeping a journal is a great way to write introspectively and is just as important for some people as formal writing. The App Store holds a select number of journal or diary apps, but I stuck with Maxjournal.
Maxjournal is free and allows for creating multiple journals. Its interface is a good balance of style and function. It’s also pretty easy to use, which makes starting a journal less about the fluff and more about the content.
If you love audiobooks then you’ll have probably come across Audible. Today, we’re looking at the recent addition of an iPad client to their range of listening possibilities. Since Audible is owned by such a large enterprise (it’s an Amazon company) then we should expect a well-presented app of the highest quality that caters for audiobook-loving people everywhere.
In many respects, this is what we get with Audible for the iPad. It includes bookmark synchronisation across e-books and audio streams and also contains a huge back-catalogue of audiobook titles. The app looks the part and for this review, we’ll take it on the road with some in-depth testing to see if it has substance beneath all that gloss, or if it’s simply all for show (after all, you shouldn’t judge an audiobook by its cover!). Read on to find out what we encountered.
(more…)
Right now, there are two huge trends in app development: weather apps and email apps. I get more emails about weather apps and email apps than I know what to do with. I’m not complaining, though. These developers are often making really impressive apps but, apart from great user interfaces, I fail to see what they’re really putting their tech-savvy skills to use with. Interfaces are great, but they could be outdone anytime Apple decides to update their own Weather or Mail apps. Sometimes, these apps are a little short on features.
Cloze is the exact opposite. It’s a free universal app for iPhone and iPad that combines email and social media updates into one centralized feed. What really excites me is that Cloze doesn’t think the problem lies within the communication’s interfaces but rather within the interface’s management of communication. Combining email and social feeds has been tried before by a few other developers, but I’ve never felt it’s been executed well. Let’s face it, making an app like this is tough. Does Cloze have the technical knowhow and design skills to make their app user-friendly and feature-filled? Let’s find out.
