标签: ipad 2

In a few of my recent blogs, I've been talking about some of the apps I've found for my iPad (see A wealth of apps for IPad Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 ). Well, one of those apps was Notes Plus , which is so amazing it really deserves its own discussion, which is where we are today. Of course the iPad comes equipped with its own Notes app, but even if we're being kind we have to say that this is rudimentary at best. By comparison, Notes Plus is in a league of its own – this is the sort of app that fully utilizes all of the iPad's capabilities and turns the iPad into a tool rather than a toy. I think I paid $0.99 for it a couple of weeks ago, but the last I heard this had risen to $4.99. Whatever it is today, it's more than worth the cost, not the least that if you purchase the current version now you'll get a free upgrade to the forthcoming version 3.0, which promises to take things to a whole new level. So why is the Notes Plus app so amazing? Well, first of all it's incredibly intuitive and easy to use. It's also got a wealth of well thought out productivity features that happen behind the scenes to make your life easier. Let's take this step by step: Notebooks: The basic idea is that you store your notes in a Notebook. When you create and name a new notebook it starts with a single page, but you can add pages as required. You can also copy pages, rearrange the order of pages within the notebook, delete pages, and so forth. You can also create folders (and folders in folders) and then create your notebooks in these folders, all of which helps you organize things. Handwritten Input:ÿ You can enter handwritten notes with your finger or with a stylus. I purchased a stylus, but to be honest I find it easier to use my finger (plus – unlike the stylus, I never have to worry about where I left my finger ... if you see what I mean). There's also a "Close Up" mode. All you have to do is place your finger on the screen wherever you want a note to appear and hold it there for a second, and the "Close Up" dialog appears. This is like a zoom-in view – you can use your finger to write large characters that are automatically reduced in size as they appear in real time on the screen at the location you requested for your note. You can create one big handwritten note or lots of smaller ones wherever you want them to appear on the screen. Selecting and Moving Stuff: Suppose you've created some small handwritten notes as discussed in the previous topic and now you want to rearrange them on the screen. All you do is use your finger to draw a circle around a note (or notes) to select it and then drag and drop it in its new place. Note that this technique also works for other objects like typewritten text and shapes and suchlike. (Once you've selected something you can also delete it or change its attributes as discussed below.) Typewritten Input: Rather than enter handwritten text, you can click the Text icon in the toolbad and then tap your finger on the screen at the location you wish your text to appear and start typing on the pop-up keyboard (or on a physical keyboard if you have one). Again, you can create one large note or lots of smaller notes, and you can mix things up and have multiple handwritten and typewritten notes all over the page. Drawing Shapes: This is just so cool. If you draw a line (or a series of connected lines), or a triangle or a square/rectangle or a circle, the app automatically detects this and converts it into a sharp vector-based object. You can specify all sorts of things like outline color, fill color (if any), transparency, and so forth – otherwise the system will simply use your previous settings. Once you've created one of these vector objects you can select them, resize them, move their vertices, or move the entire object around the page. Changing Attributes: If you've already set up the appropriate attributes before you enter handwritten text (color, line width, etc...) or typewritten text (font, size, color, etc...) or shapes (line width, line color, fill color, transparency, etc...) then the system will use the previous settings. Also there's a Palette icon that allows you to quickly choose between recently used settings. Alternatively, you can select anything that you previously created and modify its attributes. Sound Recording: This just keeps on getting better and better. If you click the Microphone icon you can record an audio note that will be associated with the current page in the active Notebook. In fact you can have multiple audio recordings associated with each page. Sharing Your Notes: If you wish, you can export your entire notebook (or one or more pages thereof) to iTunes as a PDF or to your Photo Albums as an image. You can also email your notebook (or pages) as a PDF or an Image. You can also upload to Google Docs or synchronize with your Dropbox account. The possibilities are endless... So, the bottom line is that Notes Plus has my official seal of approval and it wins one of my converted "Ten Cool Beans" Awards (and you don't get much better than that ).

In my blog a few days ago , I discussed a few cool apps for my iPad 2 that I'd run across in the app store ( NetFlix , Compass HD , ArtRage , Fluid Monkey , The Weather Channel , Google Earth , Digital Geiger Counter , Notes Plus , and GoSkyWatch Planetarium ). Note the 'HD' part of the Compass app. I'm seeing a lot of apps with this annotation but I don't know what it stands for. Does it indicate "High Definition"? If so, what does that mean in this context? Does it just stand for a higher definition than an equivalent app on an iPhone? Inquiring minds want to know (grin). Did you know that there are currently more than 90,000 apps for the iPad according to the App Store page on the Apple website? Personally I find this to be somewhat intimidating. If I evaluated one every two minutes without taking a break or sleeping, it would take me 125 days to go through them all. What this means in reality, of course, is that I am never going to know everything that's out there. I don't know why, but this makes me feel a little sad (unhappy face). But turn that frown upside down into a smile (happy face), because I'm having so much fun with the few handfuls of apps that I do have; speaking of which... Public Radio If I happen to be driving in my car between 9:00am and 10:00am on a Saturday morning, I rather enjoy listening to Car Talk with "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers" on the National Public Radio (NPR). A couple of Saturday's ago I was at home and decided to listen to the show, but my son had taken the radio into the shower with him (OK, into the bathroom if you want to be pedantic). "Hmmm," I thought. Then my eyes passed over my iPad sitting on the table and I decided to take a peak in the app store. And yes, there is a Public Radio app, which I immediately downloaded. This is really cool. First it allows you to select any public radio station in the country. And then, when you are listening to a program, if you miss a bit (because your wife comes in and starts waffling on about something or other ... to give a really crazy example), you can easily pause or rewind the program and pick up where you left off. Of course it may be that this is all "old hat" to you, but I've not spent a lot of time playing with Internet access to the radio or television, so a a newbie in this area I'm really impressed. Dictionary This is another app that's not got a lot of "bling" associated with it, but that is incredibly useful on occasion. When I'm writing articles and suchlike on my main computer, I'm always checking things out on www.Dictionary.com and its counterpart www.Thesaurus.com. Similarly, when I'm reading a book or watching TV, I often become interested in better understanding the meaning or origin of a word. So I was delighted to discover that there's a Dictionary app for the iPad. This includes nearly two million words, definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and audio pronunciation. Amazing! Angry Birds and Cave Bowling As I've mentioned before, I'm really not much of a computer games player. On the other hand, if you have an iPad and there are a bunch of free game apps out there, it seems silly not to at least take them for a spin (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Thus it was that I downloaded two apps: Angry Birds and Cave Bowling . First I tried Angry Birds. The idea is that you have a sort of catapult that you use to hurl a bird into the air to knock over a structure. Using your finger you control the angle of the shot and the launch speed.   Angry Birds The result was a bit of a laugh, but it didn't really "Grab me by the short and curlies, swing me round the room, and leave me gasping for more," if you see what I mean. Maybe I just didn't try hard enough or work my way through a sufficient number of levels. Based on this experience, I left Cave Bowling on the back burner for a couple of days... If the truth be told, I might never have even powered the Cave Bowling app up. It was just that I was messing around with the iPad one day and I had a few minutes free and I saw this app and I thought "What the Heck" and I fired it up.   Cave Bowling In many ways this is similar to the Angry Birds app in that you control the launch speed and direction of a hurled object. In this case, however, you are a cave man throwing a bowling ball. The first level is trivial – I got in in a single throw. "Ha," I thought, "take that!" You immediately move on to the next level, which is just a tad harder. This unlocks the next level, which unlocks the next... and so it goes. When next I looked up, half an hour had slipped by without my noticing it, and I think I've only scratched the surface of all the possible levels. This really is rather addictive. Not something I'd do every day, perhaps, but I can certainly see myself whiling a few minutes away at an airport while waiting to board a plane. Maybe I'll take another look at Angry Birds ... Talking Tom I've saved the best to last ... at least for this blog (just wait until you see Part 3!). I started off with the free version of this app, but it didn't take long for me to want to upgrade to the full-up version so as to get more "goodies" (I think it cost $1.99 or $2.99 to upgrade, but I can't remember; whatever it was it was well worth it). This is just so clever. I'm speechless with admiration. There are so many nuances to this that I can't cover them here, so let's just stick to the main functionality. If you start talking to the cat he puts his paw to his ear while he's listening to you. When you stop talking he repeats what you said in a silly voice.   Talking Tom I know this doesn't sound like much, but it gets better. You can make a dog appear at the window or you can make the dog come in and blow up a paper bag behind the cat, causing it to leap into the air. In fact there's a whole bunch of things you can do. The best thing is that you can click the video icon and record a little skit with the dog and cat doing things, including the cat talking (playing back the silly version of your recoded voice). When you've finished recording, you can save the video and play it and/or you can email it to someone. I saw a review where someone said that he had found that using Tom to convey his message was a particularly good way to get out of the doghouse (pun intended) if he'd done something to upset his wife. By some strange quirk of fate I almost immediately found myself in just such a position (with my wife, not his, you understand), so I used Talking Tom to send my wife a message. Believe it or not, she sent a really nice email back... addressed to Tom... they now have a real "email buddy" thing going. It's a funny old world...

I could hardly believe that I got my iPad just about a month ago becuase I can no longer imagine what life is like without this little scamp. ( Click Here to read my blog about my iPad purchase.) Seriously, I wouldn't have believed just how useful this little rascal has proved to be both for business (taking notes, sending quick emails, checking facts...) and for personal use. The battery up-time of 10 hours on a single charge has proved to be more than adequate for home use, and I also love the fact that the iPad is "instant on" (the iPad is based on solid-state memory – there's no hard disk drive; also I got one of the smart covers, which activates the iPad as soon as you open the cover). Of particular interest is the cornucopia of apps that are available for the iPad (just click the App Store icon on your iPad and you will be up-and-running in a few seconds). Most of the ones I've downloaded are free – the rest typically cost only around a dollar or a couple of dollars. Thus far, the most expensive app I've purchased (NLog Pro as discussed below) cost $14.99 and it was well worth the price. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the apps I've found with you... NetFlix (Free) Note that you will need a NetFlix account for this app to be of any use. I think such an account currently costs $7.99 a month to stream as many movies and TV programs as you wish. The thing is that if you already have an account at home (which I do – we stream movies and suchlike through our Wii), then you can use this same account on your iPad.   Compass HD ($0.99) This isn't a particularly amazing app. All it does is to turn your entire iPad screen into a compass. This isn't a tremendous amount of use at home (although having said this, I have to add that I have personally enjoyed playing with it). However I have a feeling it will come in very handy one day (watch this space). ArtRage ($0.99 to $6.99) The reason for the range of prices is that this depends whether or not they are having one of their sales. As I pen these words, they are having a $0.99 sale until 28 July. This is a really clever image-creation application with a simple, easy-to-use interface designed specifically for the iPAD's touch screen. ArtRage lets you create images that look like watercolors, oils, and ink pens – the results can be astounding if you are skillful enough (which sadly I am not :-)   Fluid Monkey (Free) This really doesn't do anything useful per se – but it does help you relax. By dragging one or more fingers across the screen you trigger swirls of moving colors in what looks like liquid – once you've set a swirl running you can select a different color and start mixing things up. As one reviewer said "What a beautiful app – I bet my blood pressure went down in the few minutes I played with it."   The Weather Channel (Free) My 16-year-old son Joseph turned me on to this. In addition to your local weather forecast for the next few days, you can also see dynamic radar and cloud images showing the past few hours or the projections for the next few hours. Using the touch screen interface you can zoom in to see your very local area and – thus far – the predictions have proved to be surprisingly accurate. You can also stream the live TV program and the app will ping you with weather alerts is you ask it to.   Google Earth (Free) What can I say? I LOVE this app. When I'm watching a TV program and some country or city is mentioned with which I'm not familiar, I whip out my iPad and access Google Earth. Just the other day, for example, on the HGTV program International House Hunters a couple said they wanted to move to Uruguay. My having iPad access to Google Earth and the Wikipedia means I have a wealth of information at my fingertips that dramatically improves my TV viewing experiance.   Digital Geiger Counter ($1.99) On the one hand this is relatively expensive considering that it's just a bit of fun – especially when you compare it to something like the Notes Plus app as discussed below. On the other hand I have had a lot of fun with it, so I guess the price is fair enough. Basically this app (which is really an iPhone app that will run on your iPad) makes the display look like a digital Geiger Counter. The trick is that you can increase or decrease the count rate (with accompanying clicking sounds) by surreptitiously moving your thumb on the screen. This allows you to, for example, convince your 16-year old son that he must have stood in something radioactive because his sneakers make the count rate zoom up (not that I would do anything like this, of course).   Notes Plus ($0.99) Even if I'm being kind, I have to say that the iPad's built-in Notes app is rudimentary at best. So for only $0.99, the Notes Plus app is an incredible bargain. In addition to typing your notes, this little beauty also supports handwriting (with a stylus or zoom in and use your finger) and voice recording. It also allows you to mix in simple sketches (for which it boasts automatic shape detection for things like lines and circles and triangles).   GoSkyWatch Planetarium ($3.99) Frankly I find this app to be amazing. All you have to do is hold your iPad up to the night sky as though you were looking through a window. The iPad screen displays the same stars you see in the sky, but with annotations for the planets, stars, constellations, and much, much more. It also provides you with a wealth of information on whatever you are currently looking at when you tap the "Info" icon with your finger.  

Alan Winstanley, a friend in England, sent me an email with the subject "iPad Space Invaders Console" . The body itself has a link and the message "Must get one!" The link pointed to a rather interesting YouTube Video showing a game console called iCADE that uses your iPad as the main display device. There was also a link back to the parent ION Audio website at ionaudio.com . Now, to be honest with you I've never been a big games player per se, but I must admit that I do look back on the old Atari classics like Asteroids and Centipede with fond memories, and it seems that iCADE is compatible with 100 of these timeless masterpieces. My understanding is that there's a free iCADE app, but then you have to purchase the games from the app store (you get one free game). From the ION Audio website we discover that this is a classic wooden retro cabinet that is perfectly sized for the iPad and that boasts authentic, full-sized controls for a genuine arcade experience. Also, the cabinet connects to your iPad wirelessly, which is nice. I just went rooting around the ION Audio website but I couldn't find a price for this little beauty (I sent them a message requesting more info). Also I haven't looked at the app store to see how much the games cost. Like I say, I'm really not a big games player, but in this case I could see myself and my son and my wife getting a lot of fun out of this (actually, thinking about it, it would keep my son and his friends quiet for hours). The following words come from the ION Audio website (hence their rather exuberant tone ): Flashback to the glory days of gaming with iCADE! iCADE integrates your iPad into an authentic, arcade-style cabinet complete with joystick and buttons! Impress your friends, family and co-workers with iCADE's great-looking retro design, and then challenge them for high-scores on the most entertaining iPad accessory imaginable! iCADE's specially designed cradle ensures safe loading and unloading of your iPad, while also providing a solid, secure fit even during the most intense game-play sessions. Furthermore, the cradle offers an ideal screen-viewing angle and quickly connects iCADE's top-quality arcade controls directly to your iPad wirelessly. Once iPad is in place, simply launch any supported iCADE-compatible app and it's game on! iCADE is compatible with 100 Atari classics including Asteroids, Centipede, and Battlezone. All are available as in-app purchases when you download the free Atari Greatest Hits app. Plus, new and existing apps can be easily updated to work with iCADE. Grab hold of iCADE's full-sized joystick and smash the eight arcade buttons for commanding control of iPad's on-screen action. This truly unique arcade cabinet game-controller for iPad will provide hours of action and nostalgic fun for years to come. Enter the iCADE and go back to the future!  

This is an old one, but this joke still usually gets a laugh. When someone says "I feel like a fool," you should immediately reply, "So do I, but where are we going to find one at this time of the day?" Think about it... think about it. These are the jokes the Muppet Show refused (grin). Anyhoo, the thing is that I just realized that I've been causing myself a lot of unnecessary hassle, and now I have the solution I cannot believe how silly I've been. So here's the deal... I dropped my backpack and smashed my computer whilst on a trip to speak at the Embedded Live conference in London toward the end of last year. It wasn't really the backpack's fault – the one I was using wasn't padded and it was never intended for carrying computers around. On my return I had to purchase a new computer. Initially I was also planning on purchasing a padded computer case type thing, but I really do prefer to use a backpack when I'm travelling. Thus, I was delighted to find something called a Swiss Gear IBEX Computer Backpack, which is capable of holding any notepad up to a 17-inch display. This little beauty is padded and protected and is just really, REALLY well designed and implemented (even the handle on the top has a steel cable running through it). Your computer itself goes in a specially padded and reinforced area in the middle of the pack, but there are numerous other pockets all over the place to hold papers and power supplies and travel documents and ... all of the stuff you end up carrying around with you when you travel.   So why do I feel like a fool? Well, my backpack has ended up as the repository for all of my portable electronic devices, including my notepad computer, digital still camera, digital video camera, Kindle e-book reader, headphones, and – more recently – my new iPad 2 . The thing is that I've been sticking all of the cables in the same pocket in the backpack. Isn't it amazing how easily a bunch of cables can entwine themselves together – it's almost like they are intelligent life forms that devote themselves to performing topological exercises. So for months now, when I pull my notepad's power cable out of the backpack it has invariably been entangled with my headphones, and my Droid smartphone cable is always tied in knots with my iPod cable, and ... you get the picture. Anyway, when I was preparing for my trip to DAC 2011 last week, I had everything unpacked sitting on our kitchen table because I wanted to make sure that I'd (a) removed any superfluous items and (b) wasn't missing anything I would need. During this process, I was looking warily at the pile of cables when a metaphorical light bulb turned on inside my head. What was the answer? You will laugh when I tell you... I put each cable (apart from the notepad power supply, which I use every day) in its own Ziploc plastic bag. That's it. No magic. Nothing outrageously clever. Just common quart-size plastic bags. But I tell you, the difference this has made to my life is amazing. In addition to saving oodles of time this has dramatically minimized my frustration coefficient (grin). I told you you'd laugh. This really is so obvious that I cannot believe I didn't think of it before.