iPhone apps we crave
Well, Merlin, you did ask.
Having listed some imaginary iPhone apps he’d like to see, Merlin Mann asked the world: “What’s the iPhone app you crave?” Hmm, let me see now - I’ve got a little list.
- Avant Go: A fantastic portable newsagent, in which you could download whole chunks of your favourite magazine and newspaper web sites for offline reading. I used to read dozens of articles in Avant Go on my train commutes in and out of London, back in the days when I commuted. It was an absolutely essential app and I’m very much looking forward to it - or something similar - arriving on iPhone.
- Yojimbo or Notational Velocity for iPhone: See yesterday’s rant. If this, or something like this, isn’t right round the corner, I shall eat my router.
- TextMate or Bean: This is dependent on Apple opening up Bluetooth to other devices in a future software update. If I could use a full-size external keyboard to quickly write text, I’d want a decent editor to write it in.
What iPhone apps are you craving? Let us know in the comments.Tenori-on: The demos I’ve seen of BeatMaker are certainly impressive, but I want to have a simpler musical toy. I’ve lusted after a proper Tenori-on for ages, but £600 is a lot to spend. I’m really hoping someone makes something like this for iPhone.
A vocal loop pedal: I enjoy singing. It would be great to have a virtual FX loop pedal built into my iPhone, so I could sing vocal refrains into it and have them instantly looped over one another.
How about you lot? Got some dream iPhone or iPod Touch apps that you’d like to see?
Popularity: 7% [?]
First Looks: AppEngines ebooks
No doubt by now you’ve noticed that many of the “applications” available on the iTunes App Store are various ebooks by AppEngines (iTunes Link). I thought I’d take a look so you can see what you’re getting for $0.99. Each of these applications is a single classic (and thus copyright-free) book. For my tests I chose Jane Austen’s delightful comedy of manners, Emma (iTunes link).
When you first open one of the AppEngines ebooks you get a nice “leather” cover splash screen with the name of the book. Then you’re taken to the first “page.” You can advance pages by either swiping (right to left) or merely by tapping the screen. You can go back a page by swiping in the other direction. There are three font sizes which you can choose via the pinch gesture.
At the top there are two buttons: a table of contents button that lists chapter titles and a search button that allows you to search for text. When you search on a term, it is highlighted in yellow throughout the text. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell there does not seem to be an easy way to move to the next instance of the search term. You just have to page through the book until you see the next highlight.
While there are several book reader applications in the App Store for both commercial (i.e DRM-ed) and open-source texts, I think the AppEngines editions are basically worth the modest purchase price for the convenience. Personally, I find it nice to have separate home screen buttons for each book, and the presentation is more than adequate. Be sure to check out the gallery below.
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Popularity: 8% [?]
Legends ebook service for iPhone and iPod touch
While it’s not a replacement for the Amazon Kindle, ZappTek today announced Legends, an ebook service for iPhone and iPod touch. The Legends service will be available in the App Store on July 11th, with pricing of $1.99 for short stories and $4.99 for novels.
ZappTek plans on partnering with “today’s hottest writers” to distribute new fiction using Legends to bring the reading experience to iPhone / iPod Touch 2.0. Each book appears as an icon on the Home screen, and the books automatically re-open to the last page you were reading. You can also bookmark or annotate any page.
Both landscape and portrait reading modes are available by rotating the iPhone, and you can invert the display (white characters on black background) by triple-tapping. Double-tapping zooms in on text.
To start off, ZappTek is making a number of short stories and novels by New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole available. Many other authors will be joining Legends soon.
If you’re a voracious reader, be sure to try out Legends this Friday!
[zapptek]
Popularity: 4% [?]
Two new eBooks focus on Apple’s Mail.app
Take Control Books, the digital delivery brainchild of long-time Mac authors Adam and Tonya Engst, has announced the publication of two new ebooks in their Take Control series.
Author Joe Kissell has written a 95-page tome titled Take Control of Apple Mail in Leopard that describes the 14 new features in the latest version of Apple Mail, details how to use its hidden power, and provides troubleshooting tips in case things don’t work just the way they should. Joe’s companion ebook, Take Control of Spam with Apple Mail, helps you to keep the wave of ED pharmaceutical ads in your inbox to a minimum.
The ebooks are $10 each and are downloaded immediately for your reading pleasure.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have authored two Take Control eBooks — not this particular pair, though.
Popularity: 16% [?]
