| Cult of Mac

Paper app turns your iPad into a sketch book [50 Essential iOS Apps #47]

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Cult of Mac logo poorly painted with Paper app
Paper by FiftyThree might not make you a good artist, but it does make it fun and easy.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

50 Essential iOS Apps: Paper app For the past several years, the iPad has served as a tool to digitize the analog world. Board games are now virtual, books are electronic, and with the art app Paper by FiftyThree, your sketches and artwork are turned digital. Thanks to the incredible touch interface of the iPad and Apple Pencil, the app makes your device feel like its analog counterpart.

OMFG the Mac’s Calculator has always had a paper tape

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You are the operator of a pocket calculator. The Mac calculator paper tape function is a hidden hoot.
You are the operator of a pocket calculator.
Photo: Jim Champion/Flickr CC

If you don’t already know it, then this tip is about to blow your mind. It’s the paper roll for the Mac’s Calculator app, which has been a feature since, like, forever. You may have been using the Calculator since the very beginnings of Mac OS X, and yet you may still have never seen it.

There’s an old proverb: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is today.” That totally applies to the Mac Calculator’s paper toll. Let’s check it out.

How to replace a paper notebook with your iPad

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lock screen notes
The iPad might finally be better than paper.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The iPad has replaced many things — it’s a TV, it’s a games console, it’s a book, it’s a (huge) camera, and it’s even a typewriter. But until recently, it hasn’t made a very good alternative to paper. But thanks to the Apple Pencil, and to iOS 11, that has changed. Now you can write and draw a note without even unlocking your iPad, and you can search for anything you write, just as if it were text. Let’s check out lock-screen notes.

Paperlogix reads paper documents and files them for you

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stack of Paperlogix
Scan and file your paper automatically with Paperlogix.
Photo: Ralf Steinberger/Flickr CC

Paperlogix is a yet another document scanner app for iPhone and iPad, but it has one big feature that really makes it stand out. Like all the other decent scanner apps, it uses the iPhone’s camera to capture scans, and then processes them, removing the background, squaring off your wonky framing, and rendering text in crisp black and white.

But Paperlogix goes one better. It can read your scans, and then file those scans based on what it finds. So, for instance, you could have it automatically file all your grocery receipts in one folder, or send all invoices to your accountant, all without doing any of the work yourself. It’s pretty neat stuff.

The great lengths Apple goes to for eco-friendly packaging

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EarPods
Apple's EarPods packaging is some of its most environmentally friendly.
Photo: Apple

Apple has taken big steps toward making its products more sustainable. As part of that mission, it just released a new “Paper and Packaging Strategy” white paper, which lays out the various measures the company is taking to lower the environmental impact its packaging has on the world.

Nebo handwriting app is like paper, only better

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nebo
Nebo is the best Notes app and not in beta. And maybe even then.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Nebo is an alternative to Apple’s upcoming iOS 11 Notes app. Like the Apple app, Nebo lets you use the Apple Pencil to draw and write in notes. It also recognizes the words you write and lets you search on those terms. Unlike the native Notes app, however, Nebo also converts your longhand scrawls into actual, editable text, which can be copied and pasted anywhere.

In fact, I used Nebo to write this entire article. My handwriting isn’t as fast as my typing any more (my hand still hurts), but the app is fantastic.

5 iPad Pro apps creatives should download now

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iPad Pro
You should build something on all of that real estate the iPad Pro is giving you.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple’s massive iPad Pro tablet is finally getting into the hands of the waiting public, and now all that remains is the small matter of how to make the most of its 13-inch screen.

The company has been pushing its new hardware to creators and enterprise. And while we’re guessing that most artists and professional designers and artists who already owned iPads have a favorite app or two, newbies picking up the latest for its huge screen and fancy Apple Pencil stylus might be at a loss with where to look.

Here are some of our picks for iPad Pro apps to start getting your creati-on.

Downwell, Paper and other awesome apps of the week

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appsoftheweek_1024
Yep, it's that time of the week again!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

How do weekends go by so quickly? It’s already halfway through the end-of-week break but — don’t worry — we’ve got the app hookup you need, whether you’re planning on a lazy game-playing Sunday, or a day of out-and-about photo-snapping action.

What have we picked as the best apps of the past seven days? Read on to find out.

Dropbox Paper wants to shred Slack and Google Docs

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There's a new collaboration tool in town. Will it survive?
There's a new collaboration tool in town. Will it survive?
Photo: Dropbox

Dropbox has just entered the competitive space of online collaboration software, and it hopes to overcome its late start with a simple, intuitive tool called Paper.

Currently in private beta, Dropbox’s Paper is part Google Docs and part Slack, which just goes to show you how late the company is — describing a new product with an already ubiquitous competitor is never a sure sign of success.

Stylus maker Adonit makes the jump to apps with Forge

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Forge is a new digital workspace. Source: Adonit
Forge is a new digital workspace. Photo: Adonit

Adonit already makes some of the best styluses in the world, now it’s unleashing a new app that will help you make the most of them.

The company behind the popular Jot styluses line revealed today that it’s made a new app called Forge that’s not just a great place to sketch out drawings, but also doubles as a digital workspace for visual thinkers.