Elements is a new iPad text editing app that syncs with your Dropbox. Another one? Yes, but this one is at once simple, functional and a lot of fun to use. It is also a universal app, so you can buy it once and use it across all your iOS devices. The core of Elements is a super-simple plain text editor which saves and reads files directly to and from Dropbox, a (free) online sync and storage service. This means that any new documents, and any changes you might make, are immediately available on any other device connected to the Dropbox account, or on the web. Elements saves changes every 30-seconds and, if you?re offline, will sync next time you connect. If you drop a TXT file into the Elements folder of your Dropbox, it will show up in the iPad app.
You can choose a color scheme, change fonts and sizing, but it?s the details that really make this stand out as a great portable writers? tool. First, it supports Textexpander, an app which expands typed snippets into longer texts. For example, if I type ?gl? it immediately changes to ?Gadget Lab?, according to my settings. It is essential for writers. Elements also shows you word, character and line counts in a popover, and will email your TXT files as attachments.
The other standout feature is the scratchpad, a popover panel which lets you type a quick note or paste a paragraph to use later. It should be standard in any app, mobile or desktop, which uses text.
What it doesn?t do is let you do fancy formatting, or search within your files. It won?t even let you search those files by title. But that?s not early the point. Elements is, as it?s name may suggest, a bare-bones text-editing machine.
One hidden feature is file versioning, which comes courtesy of the Dropbox storage. Here?s an example. Say you are writing a review of a new iPad app, and you are writing it in that same app. Say that the Internet connections are flaky and somehow you lose all your work but the first two lines. Then say you panic a little (you may have already guessed that this is a true story that happened a few minutes ago). Stay calm, wait for the Dropbox website to load up and go chase down the version with the most text in it. Make sure Elements isn?t in use, click restore and you?re back where you were. Thank God.
I like Elements a lot so far. It lacks the tabbed document view of Simplenote on the iPad, which makes popping between documents to copy and paste a breeze. The word-count features, versioning and scratchpad, though, make it useful in other ways. $5.
Elements [iTunes]
Elements [Second Gear]
See Also:
Simplenote and Notational Velocity Bring Document Syncing to iPad ?
Simplenote Update Finally Syncs iPhone Notes With Mac
Hands On: iPhone Note Taking Apps Improve, But Still Not Ready ?
10 Stellar iPad Apps That Will Blow You Away
Dropbox Updated for iPad, External Editing Added
Dropbox Brings Cloud Storage Within iPhone's Reach
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Review: iPhone 4 Barely There Case-Mate
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Don?t want to use your credit card in iTunes? Use a gift card instead!
Want to buy from iTunes but don?t want to use your credit card? No problem. Just head on over to a pharmacy, supermarket, big box, or any of the myriad of places that sell iTunes gift cards, buy one for yourself, and use it to top off your account.
Bonus tip: Costco sometimes has packages for a few dollars off, like $50 worth of cards for $45.
The tip comes by way Ian Ross and Shelby Lee Engels, who shared it with Apple?s iTunes team.
[iTunes News]
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Daily Crunch: Car Train Edition
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Review: Griffin Reveal case for iPhone 4
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Installing Frash on a Jailbroken iPhone
A lot of people have been waiting for Flash on an iPhone (unofficially of course), and if you?re jailbroken, you can have it now, via Frash.� Frash is basically a port of Flash 10.1 for mobile.� We also have to keep in mind, it?s in a severe Alpha stage.� And it shows.� But if you just can?t wait to get your hands on a way to run Flash on an iPhone, click on through for some more thoughts as well as a walkthrough complete with video of how to install.
First for my thoughts on Frash. Honestly, a year ago I would have been more excited to have Flash on an iPhone. Maybe it?s just me, but ever since El Jobso essentially put the ban hammer down when it comes to Flash on iPhone, a lot of companies and web designers have been more wary when coding websites. It seems like more and more sites everyday are embedding code in order to make their sites more iPhone friendly. A huge example is Vimeo. I hated it when I?d be browing news sites or blogs and videos would be embedded with services like Vimeo. You just couldn?t watch them. Now, they load nicely in a Quicktime mobile player and you?re good to go. Facebook also supports iPhone mobile video viewing from within their native app. This solved most of my Flash woes overnight.
I can also see why some people still want Flash. Some websites still use splashscreens written in Flash. It?s especially irritating to not be able to get to a website?s main page just because the intro is written in Flash. Most of the time, you can type index.html or something of the like into the address bar after the web address to bypass Flash, but not always. (Not to mention it?s a pretty annoying workaround.) If you?re someone who tends to deal with a lot of Flash content, Frash is probably your best solution as of now.
I wouldn?t recommend installing Frash on any iPhone model below a 3GS. Safari will most likely do nothing but crash on you. And again, keep in mind Frash is still in it?s very infant stages. But if you?re still interested in giving Frash a go, follow these instructions to install or watch the video below which also provides a walkthrough and demonstration of some of the bugs I?ve experienced with Frash so far.
Jailbreak Your iDevice via JailbreakMe.com, you can find directions here.
Next, you?ll need to add a repo to Cydia. Tap Sources along the bottom, then go to manage, tap edit at the top, then add the following repo: http://repo.benm.at/
Once you?re done adding the repo, search ?Frash? in Cydia and install. That?s it, you?re done. You should now be able to access flash data via Safari on your iDevice.
Let us know how it works for you. As you can see from my video below, I experience a lot of crashes with it. I?m also using a 3GS for jailbreaking purposes as I have the prox sensor issue with my iPhone 4 and don?t want to jailbreak that one as I?ll install 4.1 the minute it?s released so I can quit FaceTiming people with my cheek already. But if you?ve had a better experience than mine (or worse), leave it in the comments below, along with any tips or tricks you may have!
YouTube Link
iPhone app: Dictionary Camera Recognizer Demo
Demonstration of the new Camera Recognizer feature (Pleco Chinese Dictionary software), which allows you to instantly look up words simply by pointing your iPhone?s camera at them. This should be coming as a (not too expensive) paid add-on for the next major version of Pleco (2.2), hopefully out in September.
This works best on the iPhone 4, but should work pretty well on the 3GS as well (as long as it?s been upgraded to iOS 4), and if the rumors about Apple?s next iPod Touch model including a built-in camera are true they hope that it would work on that as well.
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