writing - page 2

Index Card iPad App Makes Organizing Stories or World Domination Schemes Easy [Review]

By

index-cards-1
Index Card allows you to easily create and drag your cards around its simulated corkboard.

Index Card allows users to organize their stories, articles or thoughts without adding a lot of unnecessary weight to the app. When I first tried Index Card about two months ago, I tried it against a number of other apps that contained similar index cards features. For the sheer act of organizing a story, which is why I originally downloaded the app, Index Card came out on top above other apps like, for example, Storyist. Storyist, while working great as a story writing app, didn’t offer some of the features in its index cards feature that the Index Cards app offered. And if you want to check out the app, now’s a good time — it’s on sale for $2 (from $5) till early tomorrow morning.

Posts Might Be The Best iPad Blogging App Yet [Review]

By

Handsome, no?
Handsome, no?

Yesterday, if I had suffered a grievous accident involving some kind of heavy farm machinery, and my fingers were mangled to leave only a single, stubby nubbin where previously I had sported ten beautifully slender digits, I’d still have been able to count the entirety of half-decent iPad blogging apps on one hand.

Today, though, I’d have to start counting on my toes, as Black Pixel software, the company behind Apple award-winning app Versions, had launched Posts, and you might like to call it the Reeder of blog publishing.

Writing Kit Gets Custom URL And MathJax Support

By

Now Writing Kit will talk to other apps
Now Writing Kit will talk to other apps.

Writing Kit, every iPad-toting bloggers’ best friend, just got a small but significant update to v3.3. In addition to bug fixes (although not all of them) and some nice interface tweaks (sharing destinations now have service icons to help identify them quickly), the app now has support for URL schemes, letting other apps interact with it.

Beautiful iAWriter Becomes The Latest Victim Of A Mutant App Store Clone

By

Don't be fooled by this horrible knockoff that costs more than the real thing.
Don't be fooled by this horrible knockoff (left) that costs more than the real thing.

There’s no denying that Apple’s App Store is the best source for smartphone and tablet apps, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why users continue to purchase iOS devices. But it does have its flaws, among them the select few developers who find it much easier to shamelessly clone existing apps rather than creating their own.

The latest is a word processor called Writing, which is identical to the wonderful iA Writer.

Don’t Panic: Evernote Acquires Penultimate

By

penultimate_launch2.jpg
Penultimate gets a new home

Evernote, the clunky-but-popular note-taking app and service, has acquired Penultimate, the slick, smooth and generally fantastic drawing and handwriting app. So good is Penultimate, in fact, that it is Apple’s 4th best-selling iOS app ever.

So what does the acquisition mean for Penultimate and — more importantly — Penultimate’s customers?

Pop: An iOS Writing App That’s Nearly Too Minimal [Review]

By

pop for iphone
Pop creates a dead simple writing environment on the iPhone and iPad.

Minimalism is a fascinating thing. Our world is getting increasingly loud and busy, yet many are starting to want more minimal and distraction-free experiences. Apps specifically are another way that the minimalism trend can be observed; more and more applications are getting back to the roots by cutting away superfluous effects and features.

Pop is a perfect example of how minimalism manifests itself in a basic iOS app. Unlike other writing apps for the iPhone and iPad, Pop is just a blank pad to jot down text. Nothing else. Nothing at all… But really, that’s all there is.

Drafts Is Your iPhone’s New Inbox [Review]

By

Drafts will become your default way to capture text
Drafts will become your default way to capture text

When I first heard about Drafts, I thought “What’s the point?” After all, who needs an app in which to draft messages before sending them off to Twitter, or mailing them, or otherwise disseminating them to the world at large? My Twitter and mail apps take care of that already.

And then I used it, and it has turned into possibly the handiest little note-taking app I have on my iPod Touch.

How I Blogged The Entire Mobile World Congress From An iPad [MWC 2012]

By

MWCbanner2CoM


My iPad blogging setup, including camera connection kit, emergency battery pack and pouch of spare SD cards. Photo Charlie Sorrel (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — This year I decided to cover the Mobile World Congress without a computer. Or at least, without my MacBook. I live in Barcelona, so I knocked out a couple of posts on my iMac when I was at home, but on the show floor and in the press lounge I relied solely on my iPad. And amazingly, it was up to the task. There are some annoyances, but with a combination of perseverance (or just stubbornness) and the right apps, I got a pretty easy system going.

Movellas Wants To Make Your Teen Into A Best-Selling Author [MWC 2012]

By

Screen Shot 2012-02-26 at 4.09.18 PM

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — One of the things that first inspired me to be a professional writer was sharing my early fiction experiments as a 10 year old on the discussion boards of the old dial-up service, Prodigy. The instantaneous feedback, the helpful advice, the suggestions from other people about what should happen next to my character (a monster-killing, Nazi-loathing private dick named Dr. Crypt, a name which I still use as my Twitter handle): all of this was a formative experience for me, and without it, I never would have dared to dream that someday, I would make my living putting words down on paper.

Prodigy’s bulletin boards aren’t around anymore, but a new start up is trying to encourage kids and teenagers to write the same way. The company’s called Movellas, and it’s taking the concepts of Twitter, LiveJournal, Kickstarter and the Kindle self-publishing platform to help identify and nurture the next Stephanie Mayer or Stephen King when he or she is still a kid. And, of course, they have an app for that.

Day One is a Beautiful Journal App for Your Mac, iPad, and iPhone [Review]

By

Screen shot 2011-10-01 at 11.34.49 PM (940 x 403)

Sometimes you just want to write something down. Some people would call this process “journaling,” or even “keeping a diary.” In reality, the whole concept of keeping a journal or diary is about recording memories and thoughts. It’s therapeutic. It’s comforting.

Day One by Bloom Built is a beautiful and simple app for journaling on the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. The app balances features with simplicity to bring you an excellent environment for writing on a daily basis.

Adonit Writer for iPad 2: Magnets! Brilliant! [Review, iPad 2 Keyboard Case Week]

By

adonit-71

Adonit’s humble origins as a Kickstarter project hasn’t stopped the outfit from taking the iPad-accessory world by storm. Adonit’s Jot styli were radical standouts in our stylus shootout a few weeks back, and their version of an iPad 2 keyboard case, the Adonit Writer for iPad 2 ($100), sparked similar “whoa”s as I marveled at its design.

OmmWriter Brings Writing Bliss to the iPad

By

OmmWriter-iPad.jpg

With a number of applications running in the background while we’re hard at work, desperately vying for your attention, it’s easy to get distracted when one of them catches your eye. A solution to this problem is OmmWriter – an award-winning application that helps you block out the distractions that surround you at your desk and enables you to focus on your writing. The team behind this magnificent word processor have now brought OmmWriter to the iPad.