Silvio Rizzi

Looking for a quick last-minute gift? Not feeling up to fighting the holiday traffic, crowds and checkout lines? Just too lazy busy to shop? Then you may want to consider giving the gift of an iOS app. You can gift any paid app from iTunes on your computer or from the app’s description page on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Just scroll down past the screenshot and look for the “gift this app” button. All you’ll need is the recipient’s email address to complete the transaction. This app list includes both new releases and old favorites. It’s entirely subjective! Note that some of this year’s best apps are free, so they aren’t on here. (Waving to Instagram, Path, Spotify, Flipboard, Pinterest, HBO GO, etc.) Also, everyone already has Angry Birds (the original). It’s not on here, either. 1. iMovie ($4.99) Everyone should have this app from Apple, the fun moviemaking app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Designed for multi-touch, iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips. Make a movie in minutes by adding video, photos, music and sound effects. Then give it the Hollywood treatment by adding a theme, titles and transitions. 2. Camera+ ($0.99 sale) Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or someone who’s barely touched a camera, Camera+ will make you love taking photos. Offers exposure, lighting controls, stabilizer, high quality zoom, scene modes, digital flash, cropping tools, effects, borders, sharing features and more. 3. Snapseed ($4.99) iPad App of the Year Snapseed makes any photograph extraordinary with a fun, high-quality photo experience right at your fingertips. Anyone can enhance, transform, and share their photos with ease. 4. SkyView – Explore the Universe ($1.99) Simply point the camera to the sky, tap on what you see and discover neat things about these sky objects. SkyView is unique as it blends the camera view with incredible 3D graphics of the sky objects to provide an Augmented Reality (AR) view of your sky. 5. Fahrenheit ($1.99) This super clever app is a weather application that shows you the current temperature of any location right on your iPhone/iPad homescreen using iOS’s push notifications (the red badges). Beyond the real-time temperature display, it also gives you detailed weather information from unlimited cities worldwide. 6. Numbers, Pages, Keynote ($9.99 each) From Apple’s iWork Suite, its own versions of Excel, Word and Powerpoint designed for iOS. All three work with iCloud, so your files stay up Read More

Looking for a quick last-minute gift? Not feeling up to fighting the holiday traffic, crowds and checkout lines? Just too lazy busy to shop? Then you may want to consider giving the gift of an iOS app. You can gift any paid app from iTunes on your computer or from the app’s description page on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Just scroll down past the screenshot and look for the “gift this app” button. All you’ll need is the recipient’s email address to complete the transaction. This app list includes both new releases and old favorites. It’s entirely subjective! Note that some of this year’s best apps are free, so they aren’t on here. (Waving to Instagram, Path, Spotify, Flipboard, Pinterest, HBO GO, etc.) Also, everyone already has Angry Birds (the original). It’s not on here, either. 1. iMovie ($4.99) Everyone should have this app from Apple, the fun moviemaking app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Designed for multi-touch, iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips. Make a movie in minutes by adding video, photos, music and sound effects. Then give it the Hollywood treatment by adding a theme, titles and transitions. 2. Camera+ ($0.99 sale) Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or someone who’s barely touched a camera, Camera+ will make you love taking photos. Offers exposure, lighting controls, stabilizer, high quality zoom, scene modes, digital flash, cropping tools, effects, borders, sharing features and more. 3. Snapseed ($4.99) iPad App of the Year Snapseed makes any photograph extraordinary with a fun, high-quality photo experience right at your fingertips. Anyone can enhance, transform, and share their photos with ease. 4. SkyView – Explore the Universe ($1.99) Simply point the camera to the sky, tap on what you see and discover neat things about these sky objects. SkyView is unique as it blends the camera view with incredible 3D graphics of the sky objects to provide an Augmented Reality (AR) view of your sky. 5. Fahrenheit ($1.99) This super clever app is a weather application that shows you the current temperature of any location right on your iPhone/iPad homescreen using iOS’s push notifications (the red badges). Beyond the real-time temperature display, it also gives you detailed weather information from unlimited cities worldwide. 6. Numbers, Pages, Keynote ($9.99 each) From Apple’s iWork Suite, its own versions of Excel, Word and Powerpoint designed for iOS. All three work with iCloud, so your files stay up Read More

Posted 11/29/2011 at 10:30am | by J Keirn-Swanson RSS is a great way of catching up with news in this fast-paced world. We've taken a look at apps that turn your RSS feeds into magazine layouts, but maybe you don't have an iPad or maybe you want a more stripped down list for your news. Whichever your flavor, there are more than enough to choose from. All three apps this week feature list organization and caching of articles for offline reading, but what sets them apart and turns a good RSS reader into a great one? Developer C.B. Liu has one of the highest rated RSS readers on the market and no wonder. Fast, slick, intuitive, Feeddler handles your feeds with grace. You'll need a Google Reader account to get started, and that's really still the fastest way to add RSS feeds to your account, though Feeddler allows you to add with the press of a button. Two way syncing means what you read anywhere is marked "read" everywhere and changes made in one place show up in all of them.  Organize your reading in easy categories The UI has been kept simple, though each of the buttons in the app pack loads of options. The subscription management breaks things into groups. At the top is a quick link to all the items in your account, followed by articles you've starred previously, and ones you've shared. If you've organized your feeds into folders, this category follows separately. Broken out below that are your feeds. From here tap the + to add new feeds, the G to edit your subscription list, and the gear icon to delve deep into the app's settings.  Sort those stories for maximum relevancy Tap a subscription to see all the articles then manage them using the top buttons to sort. Tap an article to be taken to a page with an image from the article and an intro paragraph. Tap the Full Text button to be taken to a mobilized version of the page. In the article view, five buttons appear across the bottom. Two navigation arrows, a star to quickly flag an article, a Google G that gives you a plethora of management options, and the share button with all the usual ways to do just that. Handsomely presente stories make this a pleasure On the iPad, the same scheme rules. Instead of separate pages, the Read More

Oft nachgefragt: ein Beitrags-Update über meine ‘Homescreens‘. Seit März 2011, als die letzte Aktualisierung dieser Artikel-Serie erfolgte, hat sich die eine oder andere App verschoben, geändert und aussortiert. Der derzeit aktuellen Stand ist an dieser Stelle festgehalten. Vielleicht finden an diesem Montag ja speziell frische 4S-Käufer, die einen ersten Grundbedarf an Software benötigen, die eine oder andere Anregung. Ich persönlich ziehe jede individuelle Empfehlungen allen generischen ‘Hitlisten’ vor. Genau deshalb soll mein privater Einblick auch nicht alleine bleiben: Wer Screenshots oder Tipps von seinen verwendeten Apps in den Kommentaren kundtun möchte, ist dazu herzlich eingeladen. Zwei Anmerkungen noch: Die zwei benutzten Hintergrundbilder gibt es hier und hier. Auf meinem Standby-Screen befinden sich dieses und dieses Bild. Außerdem führe ich zwei Ordner mit ‘Review’-Software, die ich mir für dieses Blog noch genauer anschauen möchte. Da diese Programme (noch) keine Empfehlungen sind, verbleiben sie für diesen Artikel ohne Erwähnung. Außerdem verstecken sich in den iPhone-Ordnern: Delivery Status touch (3.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); eBay (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Skype (kostenlos); WeatherPro (2.99 €); Tumblr (kostenlos); Verbs (0.79 €); WhatsApp (kostenlos); PayPal (kostenlos); Analytics Pro (4.99 €); Boxcar (kostenlos); Articles (2.39 €); Instapaper (3.99 €); Facebook (kostenlos); Kicktipp (kostenlos); Flickit Pro (3.99 €); 360 Panorama (0.79 €); Lab (0.79 €); Halftone (0.79 €); Instagram (kostenlos); Finnish English (2.39 €); Evernote (kostenlos); Reeder (2.39 €); CrashPlan (kostenlos); Meine Freunde suchen (kostenlos); Shazam (kostenlos); Synonymwörterbuch (19.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Handoff (1.59 €); Screens (15.99 €); Google+ (kostenlos) und AirPort Dienstprogramm (kostenlos). Außerdem verstecken sich in den Ordnern: Evernote (kostenlos); iOutBank (9.99 €); Pages (7.99 €); iSSH (7.99 €); Dropbox (kostenlos); iMovie (3.99 €); Skype (kostenlos); Numbers (7.99 €); Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (3.99 €); Bumpy Road (2.39 €); Cut the Rope (1.59 €); Emberwind HD (1.59 €); Groove Coaster (2.39 €); The Last Rocket (2.39 €); Contre Jour HD (2.39 €); ShadowGun (3.99 €); Comic Zeal (5.99 €); Flipboard (kostenlos); Kindle (kostenlos); Tagesschau (kostenlos); Wired (2.99 €); Zeit Online (kostenlos); Big Picture (2.39 €); Color Splash (1.59 €); Instagallery (1.59 €); Instamap (1.59 €); PhotoSync (1.59 €); Remote (kostenlos); Boxee (kostenlos); iCab Mobile (1.59 €); Simplenote (kostenlos); Air Display (7.99 €) und PDF Expert (7.99 €). * Alle Affiliate-Links (Danke!) führen direkt in den App Store. Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Sep 30, 2011 | Have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch and curious which are the best, most must-have RSS feed reading apps you need to check out? We’ve already covered readers in general, from eBooks to comics, but this time we really wanted to focus on RSS news. So if you want to keep your syndication really simple, and yourself up to date with the latest new, read on for TiPb’s top 5 most recommended RSS feed readings apps for iOS. NetNewsWire is the granddaddy of iOS RSS readers and is still a favorite for many. It syncs with Google Reader, and while in version past that was a laborious process, improvements to both the app and iOS have made it much smoother these days. It’s now been given a whole new codebase and has been picked up by a new team of dedicated developers so its quite possible grandaddy might just become the new, fresh kid on the block as well. Rather than a universal binary for both iPhone and iPad, NetNewsWire has separate apps for both. There is, however, a free version for iPhone with ads that you can try before you buy. If you want a great way to organize and chew through your Google Reader-synced RSS feeds, give NetNewsWire a look. The Early Edition was one of the first RSS readers available for iPad when it launched and it’s still iPad-exclusive to this day. Beautifully rendered in a newspaper-style motif, it won’t sync with Google Reader but will import your feeds to get you started. You can flip pages in the same way you can in iBooks, and there’s a familiar Action button to share your favorites. Just like iPad itself, The Early Edition isn’t meant to be an on-the-go, breaking news reader. It’s meant for when you want to relax. When you have your feet up and a glass of wine or a latte close at hand. It’s for when you have time to just enjoy your feeds. Reeder manages to sync with Google Reader but without the slowdown many other apps seem to experience. Indeed, for a sync-enabled app, it’s smoking fast. It presents everything in a clean, clear interface that doesn’t seek to ground you in tradition or wow you with modern effects. If you just want to power through news on the go, get in, get informed, and Read More

The iPad is a fantastic way to consume news, read articles and catch up on shared links from a social network or a webpage-saving service.  But what if you’re a newcomer to the iPad or have only recently become interested in online news services, where should you start? We’re here to help you out with ten of the very best apps to help you make the most of your iPad when it comes to finding and reading the latest news.  You’ll find many offer similar features, but all take different approaches and have different interfaces, so give as many as you can a try to find the one which suits you the best. My personal favorite news aggregator, especially now pulse.me has been introduced, where stories can be saved to other services and synced across the iPhone and iPad.  The attractive, easy to use format makes RSS reading an engrossing experience.  Free. Although Instapaper has an application for the iPad, it has a price attached to it, and as Read it Later performs essentially the same service – saving webpages for reading later – and has a free app, it wins through.  A bookmarklet on your desktop browser allows you to add pages, plus they can be downloaded into the app for offline reading.  A Pro version is also available which adds link sharing, video and Google Reader integration.  Free. Probably the best known of all the magazine-style news aggregators, thanks to the huge amount of hype surrounding it at launch.  It is great, but to take full advantage you’ll need to have busy social networking circles with lots of link sharers.  It’s also advisable to spend a while setting it up, as although there is a degree of recommended content, it feels better when you’ve personalized it.  Free. The official application for one of the best and most extensive online news aggregators, this has access to all the main Reddit categories and the sub-Reddit categories, plus a shake function to go to a random news story.  Free. If Google Reader is your preferred way of saving articles you find online or curating RSS feeds, then Reeder is probably the best way to view it on your iPad.  $4.99/£2.99. Another attractive magazine-style app which will combine Google Reader, Twitter, Read it Later and Instapaper links into one place.  The design is far more minimal than the alternatives such as Pulse.  Free. Read More

Google hasn’t made nearly as many native apps for the iPad as it has for the iPhone, so you can probably count Google among those who think a web-based, cross-platform solution is just as good as an app when it comes to tablets. The problem with many web sites and apps (which really are the same thing) is that they were initially designed for mouse-based navigation. While you can create touch-friendly web sites, data-driven native apps that access the cloud via Google’s published APIs are much more responsive and provide a better overall experience Here’s a list of some of the best native apps created by third-party developers that leverage Google services on the iPad. Reeder. As far as RSS readers go, Silvio Rizzi’s Reeder for iPad is quite possibly the best on the iPad. The layout is brilliant, and the Mr. Miyagi “swipe-on, swipe-off” method of changing the read status of an item is perfect. Full integration with Google Reader, iOS and Mac apps, and a wide variety of sharing options make this a must-have. GV Connect. Google Voice comes in handy on the iPad, especially for managing your contacts, listening to your voicemail, and sending text messages. With Andreas Amann’s GV Connect you can do all that and more.  With another app called Talkatone, you can even place voice calls using your iPad. GeeTaskPro. There are definitely more sophisticated task managers out there, but when it comes using Google’s to-do list, Memengo’s GeeTaskPro app has everything you need. With offline task management and support for task hierarchies, this app beats the mobile web version hands down. QuickOffice. Working with Google Docs on the iPad via Safari is possible, but awkward. And if your network connection isn’t up to par, you can be in for a world of hurt. Document solutions like QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad offer offline editing of documents pulled from your Google Docs collection. Web Albums. Web Albums is what MobileMe Gallery should be. With its ability to cache photos for offline viewing, Scott Sykora’s Web Albums for iPad accesses Google’s Picasa online photo service, and is a great way to share and view your photos. All of the solutions above provide an interface tailored to the iPad, and also allow you to cache information locally for access when the device isn’t connected to the Internet.  As the battle for users shifts from devices to the cloud, Google’s head start on Apple may erode as their Read More

Google hasn’t made nearly as many native apps for the iPad as it has for the iPhone, so you can probably count Google among those who think a web-based, cross-platform solution is just as good as an app when it comes to tablets. The problem with many web sites and apps (which really are the same thing) is that they were initially designed for mouse-based navigation. While you can create touch-friendly web sites, data-driven native apps that access the cloud via Google’s published APIs are much more responsive and provide a better overall experience Here’s a list of some of the best native apps created by third-party developers that leverage Google services on the iPad. Reeder. As far as RSS readers go, Silvio Rizzi’s Reeder for iPad is quite possibly the best on the iPad. The layout is brilliant, and the Mr. Miyagi “swipe-on, swipe-off” method of changing the read status of an item is perfect. Full integration with Google Reader, iOS and Mac apps, and a wide variety of sharing options make this a must-have. GV Connect. Google Voice comes in handy on the iPad, especially for managing your contacts, listening to your voicemail, and sending text messages. With Andreas Amann’s GV Connect you can do all that and more.  With another app called Talkatone, you can even place voice calls using your iPad. GeeTaskPro. There are definitely more sophisticated task managers out there, but when it comes using Google’s to-do list, Memengo’s GeeTaskPro app has everything you need. With offline task management and support for task hierarchies, this app beats the mobile web version hands down. QuickOffice. Working with Google Docs on the iPad via Safari is possible, but awkward. And if your network connection isn’t up to par, you can be in for a world of hurt. Document solutions like QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad offer offline editing of documents pulled from your Google Docs collection. Web Albums. Web Albums is what MobileMe Gallery should be. With its ability to cache photos for offline viewing, Scott Sykora’s Web Albums for iPad accesses Google’s Picasa online photo service, and is a great way to share and view your photos. All of the solutions above provide an interface tailored to the iPad, and also allow you to cache information locally for access when the device isn’t connected to the Internet.  As the battle for users shifts from devices to the cloud, Google’s head start on Apple may erode as their Read More

When I heard that Reeder for Mac was being developed, I was thrilled. Ever since I had moved to Google Reader, I had been looking for a Mac app which was more compelling to use than the web interface. Reeder for iPad (US$5) was so good that I used it almost exclusively. Could Reeder make the jump from iOS to Mac? I purposefully waited until the first few public beta versions of Reeder for Mac were released, to let the early bugs get sorted out. When I started to hear good reports about it on Twitter, I downloaded it and tried it for myself. Initially, it felt awkward. I couldn't stop noticing that this was an iOS app ported to Mac OS X. It just didn't feel right. So I deleted it. A few beta releases later, I tried again, but the result was the same: I used it briefly, then gave up. When the final version arrived, I went to the official website hoping to find a demo version that I could try before buying. (I will pause briefly to repeat my firm belief that the biggest shortcoming of the iOS and Mac App Stores is the lack of full-featured demos.) At US$10, Reeder was above my "just buy it to try it" threshold. I found screenshots, but those are hardly enough to give a good feel for the app. For a few days I continued my routine of using a Fluid.app browser for Google Reader on the Mac and Reeder on my iPad, but eventually curiosity got the better of me and I dropped my Alexander Hamilton on it. Despite my first rule for purchasing software, I decided that even if it didn't meet my needs now, it was likely to be popular enough that it would continue to be developed and improved. Five minutes later I knew I had made the right choice. Make no mistake, Reeder still feels like an iOS app which jumped to the Mac, but it has pushed through the awkward teenage years into a promising young-adulthood. That may be due to the fact that Lion has already started to push acceptance of iOS ideas and concepts coming "back to the Mac," or maybe the app itself has changed enough to make the jump seem less dramatic. But enough with the vagaries of opinion, let's take a closer look at what's there. The first Read More

Reeder, a popular Google Reader client on iOS, is now out of beta and available on the Mac App Store. While the beta version of Reeder for the Mac was free to test, the 1.0 release will set you back US$9.99, more than twice the price of the iPad version. That $9.99 offers syncing with Google Reader (which you can set up for free), plus integration with Readability, Instapaper, ReadItLater, Pinboard, Delicious, Zootool and more. The app has a customizable, multi-column interface that's superficially similar to the iPad version, and Reeder includes gesture support and customizable shortcuts. If you read a lot of news on your Mac, Reeder definitely looks like a big step up from reading RSS feeds in Safari or Mail. We've got several Reeder fans on the TUAW staff, and one of them will likely be providing a full review of Reeder in the near future. Read More