If you’re wondering what kind of capabilities and unique features iPhone Apps are going to have, look no further than OmniFocus and Schmap.
OmniFocus is a professional-grade personal task manager that taps into the iPhone’s GPS to provide you with location based task lists.
At the store?
OmniFocus automatically pops up with the grocery list that you put together when you drive up.
Back at work?
OmniFocus automatically switches over to your list that you put together with work related tasks.
Neat, huh?
The second application, Schmap, which is actually a currently available web application, though it will no doubt be something that takes advantage of becoming a native App as well, uses the iPhone’s gyro sensor to automatically change the view based on how you are holding the phone.
Hold it vertical, and a list of available destinations pops up; but switch and hold it horizontal, and you’re automatically presented with a map of locations and additional information.
Microsoft Research’s WorldWide Telescope, the “Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope-bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe”.
Basically a Google Earth for the Sky, it’s supposed to be fantastic, and it’s just been released by Microsoft, so if you’ve got an eye for the sky, check it out and see what you think.
Sure, the new MacHeist Bundle is nice, and with 12 apps and a price tag of just $49, it’s a pretty good deal, but what if you could get similar functionality with the price tag of just $0?
Sounds good, right?
Well Lifehacker did just that, and came up with a list of no-cost alternatives that offer most, if not all of the functionality with none of the price.
A new MacHeist bundle is on its way, and according to the Teaser that was just posted on the MacHeist site, it’s going to be “12 Top Mac Apps…and a price that’s a steal!”
The video’s a bit tough to make out, but it looks like the applications include Cha-Ching, CoverSutra, XSlimmer, Awaken, Nanosour 2, Bugdom 2, WingNuts2, WriteRoom, DevonThink, EarthDesk, TextExapnder, and iClip.
If a few of those sounded like what you’ve been looking for, and $49 doesn’t seem out of your price range, then you should definitely keep an eye out for when this bundle goes live.
While I’m currently a fan of Twitterrific, I’ve started to use Twhirl on the Windows based work computer, and definitely like the feature set. It’s easy to use, unobtrusive, and gives you plenty of customization. Plus, Adobe is pushing hard to get developers to work with Air, so there’s a lot of support there for future developments as well.
After NetNewsWire decided to stop selling its program and to instead just give it away, NewsFire must have gotten jealous, because they’ve just announced that their program will be free as well.
Since NewsFire has no online component, and thus, cannot use your data in any way (NNW went free in exchange for your attention data) I’m not exactly sure how NF plans to make money, but where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?
Either way, there are now two fantastic players in the free desktop RSS reader game, and that’s fantastic!
If you’re doing any kind of ‘for print’ creative work, it’s important to calibrate your monitor so that what you see on screen is what you see on paper.
Calibrize is a new freeware app that’s designed to help you “calibrate the colors of your monitor in three simple steps. Just download the software and follow the procedure to generate a reliable color ‘profile’ and adjust the colors of your monitor automatically.”
Apparently the web world is fed up with PDFs, because alternatives are popping up left and right.
The latest entry into this world is iPaper, which aims to entirely replace the PDF.
The basic idea is that, like a YouTube video, iPaper documents can be embedded into any existing web page through a Flash widget, and can display PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other document formats without the need for separate readers.
Features include viewing documents without downloading any additional software, monetizing documents with integrated advertisements, social aspects with a built in share functionality, enhanced security, and easy integration.
Edit: Box.net, a free online storage and file sharing site, is one of the first sites to embrace the iPaper technology. You can now view any of your PDF, Word, Excel, or Power Point documents that you have stored on Box.net using iPaper.
The folks behind WordPress have just released a Demo Site of WordPress 2.5, and after playing around for a bit, I must say that I can’t wait for the changes to go live!
To see for yourself what these changes are all about, log in with Username: “admin” and Password: “demo” to give it a try.
(Don’t worry about messing things up, as they revert the site back to a fresh start every hour.)
Quicksilver is an app that simply sets the Mac apart, as any Windows counterpart has yet to come close to the functionality of the intuitive launcher.
However, that doesn’t mean they’re not trying.
Recently, both Lifehacker and Smashing Magazine put together rundowns of the best of the best Windows launchers, and though they’re not without their faults, it’s a good start for those that live within the Windows world.
