Posts tagged with "iPad"

Grazing for iPad Reaches 1.1: Sharing Menu, Smoother Browsing

Grazing is, in my opinion, the best alternative web browser for iPad which I reviewed here back in September. By combining a fast engine with a polished UI and a minimal (yet powerful) feature set, the developers of Grazing managed to release the finest example of what it’s possible to do with a 3rd party web browser on the tablet.

Today Grazing for iPad gets even better with a 1.1 updated aimed at improving overall performances and introducing a couple of new features highly requested by early adopters of the app. In the Settings, you can now turn on Ad-blocking, which works on domain basis and you can enable or disable at any given time. Also in the Settings, a TV Out option that allows you automatically output web pages when the iPad is attached to an external monitor or TV. Read more

Penultimate 2.1: Now With More Natural Ink, Smoother Pen

We reviewed Penultimate for iPad when it first came out in April, a few weeks after the release of the tablet. Back then, Penultimate had a huge success and was one of the finest sketching apps for iPad which, thanks to the “fresh” factor of the iPad, managed to gain thousands of users.

Over time, though, many sketching applications came out with more complete feature sets and integration with online services. For instance, I’m using Noteshelf as my default handwriting / sketching app.

A new version of Penultimate was released last week, which doesn’t add support for additional online services but brings finer and smoother pens. The app’s digital ink now feels more natural, almost as natural as Noteshelf’s. Penultimate has come as long way, but I’m still waiting to see it bringing all the options and functionalities available in other applications.

Penultimate is available at $3.99 in the App Store.

PDF Expert: PDF Reader and Annotation Tool That Fits In My Workflow

As you may know, I try a lot of apps every week. Perhaps that is wrong, as one may be tempted to constantly jump between different softwares just for the sake of having something new to play with (like kids are always attracted by new toys), but I’m firmly convinced I’m doing this because there are hundreds of indie developers that don’t have the resources or the knowledge to virally promote their apps, yet they deserve attention.

That’s why I’m doing this. And thanks to this “method” (or habit), every once in a while I discover gems that redefine and refine my workflow. New apps that set new standards and raise an already high bar. It’s not easy. But it’s possible. Read more

Rumor: Microsoft’s iPad Team

Microsoft is currently distributing 4 apps in Apple’s App Store: Bing, Wonderwall, Windows Live Messenger and Tag Reader. Plus, Office for Mac 2011 came out last week with much anticipation. According to a tidbit by iPhoneDevCamp founder Raven Zachary, Microsoft has a “dedicated” iPad team in one of its offices in California.

As Electronista also speculates, it’s not clear whether the Microsoft employees Zachary heard talking at a bar (oh, these bars in California) were referring to a development group for iPad or a product team focused on building a Microsoft alternative to the iPad. The former option is more likely, as we heard rumors of Microsoft developing software for Apple’s tablet before and, frankly, I think an iPad version of Office would sell like hotcakes. With Apple growing strong in Enterprise, a full-featured version of Office 2011 for iPad would be huge. Read more

Facebook To Unveil Official iPad App on Wednesday?

Two hours ago Facebook sent out invitations to several tech blogs to invite them to a media event focused on “Mobile” on Wednesday at Facebook HQ.

Mobile could mean many things when it comes to Facebook. My first guess is the long-overdue official client for iPad, which Facebook has apparently been working on for months now but decided to not announce at the latest media event. With 8 million iPads now out in the wild, it would be about time to release an official iPad application.

Mobile could also refer to the much rumored Facebook Phone, more Places feature and the rumored “Deals” functionality, as Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch suggests.

MacStories Weekly Game: Samurai II

For this week’s “MacStories Weekly Game”, I needed a good ol’ action game to talk about. You know those hack & slash type of games, where you usually wander around levels focusing on killing enemies and making combos? I grew up with them. Then God of War came around and the new kids got a new concept of hack & slash. But Samurai II is different: while clearly inspired by the post-God of War generation (the level schemes, the rich graphics, the bosses, the upgrades, the roll), it retains a somewhat old-style feeling that I was missing on the iPhone.

Samurai II: Vengeance is the sequel to last year’s Samurai: War of the Warrior, featured by Apple in the Best Games of 2009. It was indeed a great game, packed with stylish manga-like graphics, swipe-based controls and good action. Quite possibly, the original Samurai for iPhone is still one of the best action games out there. With Samurai II, though, the developers enhanced the whole system, create even better graphics and took away a few things. Read more