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iPad thoughts part 3 – Other Apps
While the iPad’s built in apps are an impressive if incomplete start, the real strength of the iPad will be it’s app store. Like the iPhone has already proved, having a vast catalog of easily available and mostly cheap software is a huge selling point. Currently the available iPad apps are a bit frustrating due to the amount of excellent iPhone titles just begging for a bigger screen but not yet available. Here are some of the titles that have impressed so far.
Magic Window
Using a huge amount of high quality time lapse photo’s played like a video this app makes for a great desktop clock. All of the photo slideshow/clock apps tried so far have missing features or problems, but Magic Window is both simple and flexible enough to not irritate. There are currently fifteen photo sets available but not all are installed by default. This sensibly keeps the initial download smaller and required sets are added from within the app. ‘Nightfall over the San Francisco Bay’ and “Goblin Valley State Park’ are two of my favourites, and the ability to control the speed of playback makes this a perfect iPad app to show off to photo loving friends. Read more…
The MacBundleBox
The MacHeist 3 challenge is proving to be good fun with some tricky puzzles and free software, and the promise of big savings when the final bundle in unveiled. Anyone looking for a software bundle now should take a look at the MacBundleBox, a package of (currently) 13 apps for the usual $49.99. There’s a mix of utilities and creative apps on offer and 5% of the proceeds go to charity, so while it may not be anything revolutionary it’s certaily good value.
MacUpdate Holiday Bundle released
Software bundle’s have become something of a tradition for Mac users, and the latest from MacUpdate offers some useful and varied apps. The package is priced at the usual price of $49.99, offering a saving of over $470 on the individual price of the software. I’ve already bought it, as it offered some apps I wanted at a big saving even though I already owned three of them. Here’s the full list:
- Drive Genius 2.1 – Diagnose, repair, and optimize your Mac.
- RapidWeaver 4.2.1 – Web site design and construction made easy.
- Default Folder X 4.1 – Enhances Open and Save dialog boxes.
- VirusBarrier X5 10.5.5 – Anti-virus software for Mac.
- MacGourmet Deluxe 1.0.5 – Create, build, and share your recipes.
- Little Snitch 2.0.4 – Alerts you to outgoing network connections.
- iVolume 3.1.4 – Improves iTunes’ Sound Check feature.
- KeyCue 4.3 – Displays all menu commands.
- MacPilot 3.2.1 – Enables over 700 hidden features in Mac OS X.
- WhatSize 4.4.1 – Measure file and folder sizes easily.
- iDive 1.8.8 – the first 5,000 buyers get iDive, the ‘Digital video shoebox’.
The inclusion of VirusBarrier X5 is ironic with the amount of fuss about Apple’s take on Mac anti-virus products.
iPhone Apps
The one aspect of the upcoming iPhone/iPod version 2 software that has me most excited is the appstore. Although there are already some impressive and useful applications available through the installer app, I can’t wait to see what coders release once the fruits of the SDK are finished. Several apps that have already proven useful and interesting, so here are some of my favourites. Read more…
Mail.app password issue
It seems there’s a bug in the 1.1.3 Mail.app that stops it saving account passwords. I installed a fix through Installer this morning, from the ‘iPhone 1.1.3 Apps for iTouch’ category. Not 100% sure, but I think this comes from http://applerepo.com, so try adding that as a source in Installer. iJailbreak also has some info on this and another source, sleepers.net/iphonerepo.
10 useful iPod/iPhone apps
Interesting page here showing some of the applications that are available for the jailbroken iPhone/iTouch. Mostly utilities to make life easier and prettier, but if this is what hackers (and that’s the original meaning) can do with no help, just think what we will be seeing when the SDK is released.
