I don’t watch TV weather forecasts for the same reason that I don’t own a wristwatch: I have a smartphone, a tablet, and a computer. Here are the best apps for knowing what it’s like outside, without actually going outside. More »
This week has been a good one for lazy, couch-bound iPad owners. Two remote control apps have already been released and now a third, from Sonos, is available as a free download from the App Store.
Sonos makes one of the best remote control apps for the iPhone, and the iPad version takes advantage of the bigger screen. The app works only with Sonos’ multi-room music streaming boxes, just as Sony’s remote works only with Sony gear (and the lights in your room) and Apple’s Remote works only with iTunes, iOS devices and the Airport Express.
The big difference with the Sonos app is that it replaces the company’s own hardware solution, a remote that costs $350. The iPad app lets you search and queue your music, and add songs to playlists via drag-and-drop (try that in the Apple app). It lets you choose which speakers you stream to, and to control the volume. In short, it has everything the iPhone app has, only it puts a lot more on screen at once.
If you have a Sonos setup, and an iPad, you likely already skipped to the link below to grab the app. If not, go ahead now. I shan’t hold you up any longer.
Sonos Controller for iPad [Sonos]
Sonos controller app page [iTunes]
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We have been waiting for this one for a long time, but here it is: Apple Remote 2.0 is now available at the Apple Store. And oh boy, it’s dee-lish on the iPad. Updated with hands-on. More »
Image by Charlie Sorrel and Tim Carmody
Amazon continues to expand its reading and media software to whole new classes of devices, from new tablets to PC web browsers. It’s just not immediately clear just how far the retail giant is going to go.
We’ll take these news items one at a time, in increasing order of uncertainty:
On the one hand, again — Amazon sells a lot of digital products online, not just e-books: movies, games, music. And it’s not hard to make an Android tablet. In fact, at this point, Amazon has more hardware-production experience with the Kindle than some of the companies that are coming forward with pretty solid products. Add an App Store and it starts to look pretty appealing.
On the other hand, Amazon’s built up good brand identification with the Kindle, e-books, and E Ink. Will they turn around and say, “oh yeah, multimedia tablets are really awesome, but not, um, more awesome than a Kindle, I mean, um, why not buy both?” Just seems a little surprising. Level of certainty: Pretty cloudy. The source was right about an app store, but as they say, a stopped clock can be right twice a day. If Amazon releases some kind of other media hardware, whether using Android or anything else, it’s equally likely to be a TV box or a smartphone or something else that equally plays to their strength while being a little more differentiated from a dedicated reading machine than a tablet.
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Hog Bay Software, maker of the cult-favorite distraction-free text-editor Writeroom, has released its long-awaited iPad app, PlainText. When it was first announced, I was very excited to see a Dropbox-syncing, Textexpander-expanding writing app for the iPad. Now, though, it launches into a crowded field.
PlainText has two tricks. It has folders, which apps like Elements don’t support, and it looks gorgeous. The developer, Jesse Grosjean, has clearly spent a lot of time polishing the UI. From the wide margins to the minimalist black-on-gray interface, it looks classy, and makes you want to write. Navigating is easy once you have learned a few tricks: you rename a document by opening it and editing the name in the title bar, for example, and swipe-to-delete files and folders as you’d expect.
After that, though, PlainText falls behind. A recent update to Elements has added a feature that searches within your files, and it already has a word-count and the excellent scratchpad we love here at Gadget Lab. And the newly released iA Writer, profiled last week by our own Tim, wins for its extra row of writing-specific keys and its easy-to-edit typeface.
Plaintext scores big points by being free, and it also lets you specify which folder in your Dropbox it will sync to (choose this before logging into Dropbox from the app), so you can share documents with other iPad apps. It’s certainly worth a look, and we’ll be keeping an eye on updates, but for now, most iPad writing needs are covered elsewhere.
PlainText [Hog Bay / iTunes]
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Amazon is set to open the doors on an Android App Store, adding to the list of places where you may or may not be able to buy software for your device. According to Tech Crunch’s excellent MG Siegler, the store’s structure will be very similar to that of Apple’s App Store.
Developers will have to pay $99 to sign up, just like with Apple, and will get the same 70:30 revenue split. Amazon will decide what gets into the store, pull any apps it doesn’t like, and wrap everything up in its DRM. Further, you can’t sell your apps cheaper elsewhere. If it costs a dollar in the Android Market, it has to cost a dollar over at Amazon.
And it will be dollars. The Amazon app store will be U.S-only at launch, although as Daring Fireball’s John Gruber points out, “Amazon takes payments in more countries than Google Checkout does.” Apps can also be free.
One problem that won’t be solved is customer confusion. Unless Amazon makes its own tablet which has exclusive use of the store, then it will have to pick a range of Android devices to support. Unlike its music store, whose goods (MP3 files) can be played anywhere, an app store could only support a subset of devices.
Amazon will join Verizon and Google as outlets for Android apps, adding to the confusion. Remember the arguments about Android being “open” and iOS being “closed”? They’re starting to look a little silly now.
Yep, Amazon Launching Their Own App Store For Android Too [MG Siegler via ★]
Illustration: Charlie Sorrel
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Yesterday, we saw that LG’s Optimus One might ship with WiFi calling, and that’s all well and good, but a new leak suggests the Optimus was just the tip of a UMA iceberg to come. The above picture is one of several allegedly leaked training slides obtained by TmoNews, highlighting a dedicated “Wi-Fi Calling” app that may come pre-installed on upcoming Android devices, one of which just might be that new T-Mobile G2. Before you raid your piggybank in hopes of free VoIP calls, however, know that this app-ified brand of WiFi calling isn’t necessarily the seamless switching solution we’ve wanted all along; that little yellow “limitations” tab reportedly explains that as soon as you leave the WiFi radius, you effectively drop your call.
T-Mobile to bundle Wi-Fi Calling app with future Android devices? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
In just a few short years we’ve almost forgotten the concept of “saving” a document. Close an app? It’s just there. Until it isn’t. More »
Image via BarnesAndNoble.com
Oh, you thought we were just all up in Amazon’s Kindle on the tweed beat here at Gadget Lab? NOT TRUE. The newest iteration of Barnes & Noble’s Nook offered Wi-Fi only before Kindle, dropped its prices before Kindle — and yes, it was jailbroken and rooted a long time ago.
Major advantage to rooting a Nook over jailbreaking a Kindle: because the Nook runs Android, you can use it to run Android apps. Popular Science’s gadget blog isn’t the first to describe how it’s done, but this guide is one of the most readable I’ve seen — just five steps.
It’s all software-based, requiring you to first connect your Nook to your computer via USB, downgrade your firmware to version 1.0, and then install the hacked/rooted version of 1.4, which includes an Android app installer. However, as Nook-rooting experts NookDevs.com note, “Barnes and Noble has likely introduced a new hardware revision which bricks your unit if you install their official 1.0.0 Firmware (A step needed to root). As of right now, Nooks with serial #s starting with 1003 (running firmware 1.4.1) cannot be rooted, and should NOT be attempted.” This warning is on top of the usual watch-yourself-you-might-break-something caution whenever you mess around with your devices. Be careful out there.
But let’s suppose you do root your Nook and want to install an Android app or two. Where do you start? Kindle for Android, of course — just updated with lots of new features.
How to Add Applications to Your Nook [Apartment Therapy Unpluggd]
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Listen, cookbooks are great. That’s fine. But do you know what else is great? Friggin’ apps. With the right apps, your smartphone or tablet is your new cookbook—and cooking instructor, and sous chef. Here are the best. More »
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
