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Passwords are a giant pain in the behind (pardon my language). First and foremost, passwords need need to be secure, and in order for them to be secure they have to be a long string of letters (random mix of uppercase and lowercase), numbers and symbols (for good measure). When you create a strong password they’re nearly impossible to remember, the theory being that if you can’t remember it how will anyone trying to hack your account crack the barrage of characters you created.
So, when you create these 15+ character passwords, how are you to keep track of them? There are certainly a number of options available (I know some opt for a good old-fashioned spreadsheet), but if you want a secure, user friendly experience 1Password has been to the go-to choice for quite some time. In December 2012, AgileBit released version 4 of 1Password, which includes an impressive list of new features. Hit the jump to take a peek at what the new 1Password has to offer. (more…)
At a few of my past (and current) jobs it’s been necessary to send large photos and videos back and forth on Dropbox, and my attempts to request photos often got lost in the shuffle. Not to mention there were a few unfortunate Dropbox deleting accidents, which effectively wiped out entire folders. If only there was an app that was super simple to send, receive and store files and didn’t require clients and the occasional contributors to log in. Oh, and it would be nice to be able to have accurate data about all of those files, like when and who added to the folders and downloaded files. If only, right? Well, as luck would have it, ShareFile is on the horizon and it’s going to make life easier.
Find out how after the jump. (more…)
There are many cloud storage services available these days (SkyDrive, Google Drive, SugarSync, Box and even Apple’s iCloud), but in my mind, Dropbox reigns supreme. I love the file management system, the ease of syncing content between devices, and the manner in which I can share files with others. Simply put, I’m a Dropbox fanboy.
Just before the holidays version 2.0 of Dropbox was released, bringing with it a brand spanking new design and new features geared towards uploading and managing photos. Having put away my ugly sweaters and wiping the eggnog from my chin, I’m ready to let you know if version 2.0 is a winner. All you have to do is hit the jump. (more…)
I’ve been a fan of Keri Smith’s illustration work for quite some time now and so was delighted to discover that This Is Not A Book had recently been released as an iOS application, under the similarly brilliant name of This Is Not An App.
For the uninitiated, This Is Not An App and its paper counterpart are an exercise in creativity, containing a treasure trove of activities designed to free your imagination and inspire even the most artistically challenged of folk. But the question is, just how well does this popular Penguin book translate to the iOS format? Let’s find out after the jump. (more…)
When it hit the news that Google acquired Sparrow, a very popular third-party email app at the time, there was a harsh outcry by tech blogs and social media. Users were saddened by the notion that their beloved app would essentially be abandoned and stripped for parts. Unlike most app developers, the team at Sparrow was very good about collaborating with users in order to continually improve the app, which users really admired; so, the outcry was understandable.
At this point you may be wondering if I’ve forgotten that I’m reviewing an iPad app, since Sparrow is only available for the iPhone. Rest assured, I haven’t. If you’ve ever used Sparrow on the iPhone you know that the development team behind the app is obviously very talented, but when they shifted gears to work on the Gmail app, post buyout, I began to wait anxiously as I wanted to see if they’d be up to the challenge of fixing Google’s all but failed first attempt at developing a native Gmail app. Now that version 2.0 of Gmail has been released, maybe now I can find out. (more…)
There are plenty of reasons why you might want to take a screen capture of a website. While saving them as a JPEG or in a Word document is easy, nothing classes up the presentation quite like transforming an image into a PDF.
URL2PDF is the app that does that tricky task for you. Just copy and paste links and convert them into PDF files that can be shared via email or opened in programs such as Dropbox, iBooks and Google Drive.
Can URL2PDF be your new method for immortalizing Web content? Find out after the jump. (more…)
There are many wonderful note taking apps available for the iPad. Some would even say there’s an abundance. So when the market for note taking apps is crowded by the likes of Evernote, Notability and Penultimate (just to name of few of the highest rated note apps in the App Store), how does an app that’s not as well known stand out? Catch Notes has approached this challenge by continually adding some nifty features since it’s version 5.0 update earlier this year; but is it enough to break out from the pack? Find out after the jump. (more…)
Evernote is one of the most popular digital notebooks services, and it has been very popular with iOS users for some time now. There have been many complaints (mostly plain text fanatics) about Evernote’s export ability if you choose to leave the service, but I feel that Evernote is better fit as a digital archive rather than an ongoing list of notes. What has brought people to using Evernote in the past is how easy it is to save info from the web for reference and items to remember later. Have a great meal? Save the image into Evernote along with the recipe for when you would like to cook it.
While features are not touted as the main new items in the new Evernote, the redesign is. The old Evernote seemed to suffer from an identity crisis. On iOS, the app was not uniform and looked completely different when using the iPad and iPhone. With the new redesign, the app and service has become more uniform and looks consistent, with extra features on the iPad due to screen real estate. Let’s take a closer look after the jump. (more…)
Last month, I reviewed Final Draft Writer for iPad. I thought it was a great application that was creating a new standard for Hollywood screenwriters on the go — it lets them write screenplays on the go in an app almost exactly like what they already used on their computers, while still getting an experience optimized for the unique interface of the iPad. If you want to write screenplays, that’s the app for you.
Final Draft Reader (FDR) is different. Before Final Draft Writer was released, FDR was a pricey app that only let you do two things: read screenplays written in the Final Draft file format and add notes to them. Now, it’s a universal app for both the iPad and iPhone (and it’s optimized for the iPhone 5, too), the bugs have been ironed out and the price has been dropped down to a cool five-finger discount. And if all you need is a competent script reader on the go, the value here is tremendous. (more…)
In August 2011 our own Scott Danielson reviewed Calendars, which he called a “powerful Google Calendar client for iPad, but with it’s unique feature set and functionality, it might be a bit too much app for the casual scheduler.” Since his review, the team at Readdle have been quite busy releasing updates at a feverish pace (averaging nearly two updates per month). Being one that enjoys going back to the well (obviously not my own) every so often, I gave Calendars a second test run to see if Readdle could improve upon an already impressive replacement for the first-party Calendars app.
Has the app been streamlined to appeal towards casual users? Have the necessary features been added to make it the de facto calendar app? Find out after the jump. (more…)
