Tag - Word processor
Hands On: Textkraft Professional 4.1 (iOS)
We're late to another party: previously we've spoken of note-taking apps, text editors, and word processors. Now, though, we have to recognise that there is a fourth class of apps that you type into: the writing studio. Once you come up with a name for something, you realize it has been applied to apps for ages: Scrivener and Ulysses, amongst others, are like this. They are software apps intended to be a complete writing environment. Add to that list the newly-updated Textkraft Professional 4.1.
Hands On: Textkraft Pocket 3.0 (iPhone)
With the load of apps in the App Store, you don't expect to know them all and you do expect that there will be entire classes and genres of software that you're unaware of. Yet we're obsessed with word processors, text editors and note taking apps and still we missed TextKraft Pocket 3.0 for iPhone. More, we missed six other versions for iPad. It's a startling comment on the App Store that people actively looking for a type of app can fail to find what they search for.
Hands On: Celtx script (iOS, OS X)
It turns out that Celtx is practically a platform rather than just one single piece of software: it's a system for film and video production that begins with a scriptwriting app and goes on up into storyboarding and other things we're not going to look at. For you only seem to realise all this when you finally cave in and wonder what the name means. Until then what you think of as Celtx is actually called Celtx script 2.9 and it's a word processor for screenwriters.
Hands On: Documents - Word Processor and Reader for Microsoft Office 5
This gives us no pleasure to say, but you should not buy Documents -- Word Processor and Reader for Microsoft Office 5.4. Nobody should. What it does, it does poorly, and it is intended to be a replacement for other apps that are freely available, and maybe not infinitely better but at least geometrically better. Documents is a throwback to a time when we didn't have Microsoft Word or Excel on iPads.
Hands On: Phraselogy 2.0.6 (iPad)
Agile Tortoise is the developer of four apps. We enthused about Terminology, we raved about Tally 2, we fair evangelise Drafts 4 daily. That leaves Phraseology 2.06, and of course after those three we went in expecting to like it -- but we also thought we might not. For Phraseology is a word processor, and we have already written thousands of words in the note-taking Drafts 4. A trip into Phraseology, therefore, became simultaneously a practical question of whether we needed it, and a more philosophical one of what exactly the difference is between a note-taking app and a word processing one.
Hands On: Microsoft Word 2016 (OS X)
If you have to use Microsoft Word at work, go get this now and be delighted with it. If you don't have to, if you're looking for a great word processor, it's just a little harder to recommend Word quite so readily. It's harder, and it's also very unfair, as 30 years of using various versions of Word have left us with biases against it. Word earned those biases, it's just difficult to think about going back to relying on it, even though Microsoft Word 2016 is the best and the shiniest version ever.
Hands On: TinyWord 2.0.0 (OS X, iOS)
Back when Microsoft Word was king, you could do well selling a different word processor if it could open and save documents in Office format. You also needed to be cheaper, and it would help if you were easier to use -- neither of which, to be fair, were hard to pull off. Lastly, if you're in an App Store, finding a way to get the name Word in your title helped people find you. TinyWord 2.0 wants to tick every one of those boxes.
Hands On: Haven 1.0 (OS X)
You've already got a word processor, you've already got a text editor -- yes, you have, it's on your Mac and called TextEdit -- and maybe you're not clear what the difference is. More likely, you don't care all that much, and instead just write in the application you prefer. Whichever app that is, though, the fact that you've already got it means new word processors like Haven 1.0 have to work hard to get you to switch. They have to offer you something different -- and in Haven's case, what it doffers is a little bit of art.
Hands On: SmartDown 1.0.4 (OS X)
It's not as if you are stuck for applications to write in: whether you go for Microsoft Word or TextEdit, there are just about 40 different word processors for every man, woman and child on the planet. It's just that not many work in Markdown, which is a form of writing, a format, and a syntax that works well for the web. SmartDown is one of those, and it works very well.
Hands On: Nisus Writer Pro 2.1 (OS X)
The very name Nisus may bring you back to the 1990s and if it doesn't, then one look at the software possibly will. That's cruel: it is nothing less than fantastic that Nisus has survived where so many other word processors have died, crushed under the force of Microsoft Word. So this version, Nisus Writer Pro 2.1 should be celebrated. It's just that there is something a tiny bit old about how it looks and feels.
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Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit
Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj
Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket
The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]
Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera
Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94
Apple employees testing wheelchair features
New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa
SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards
SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If
Apple's third-quarter results due July 26
Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm
Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users
Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE
