ios

This, my friends, is how you write a damn review. Pythonista deserves this kind of excellent work. It’s an amazingly well designed and implemented app, just like Federico’s “review”.

For the uninitiated, BetterTouch Tool (BTT) is a donation-ware system enhancement application. BTT started out simply providing some additional functionality for the trackpad and mouse and has slowly grown into a serious hacker’s delight. BTT is a window manager, application launcher and much more. Now, there is a companion iOS app, BTT Remote, that turns any iOS device into a remote control and track pad for a Mac. I took the app for a spin and it’s working very well.

The latest update to the Apple Store app on iOS gives Siri the ability to answer questions like “How much is a new iMac”.

I like Pythonista (previous review) and I was impressed with the previous update. Pythonista is a well designed implementation of Python on iOS that goes far beyond just being a dumb shell. The developer, Ole Zorn, has a new release out today that raises the bar considerably. This post will serve as an introduction to some of my favorite new features of Pythonista but also as a practical guide to how I use it.

Nick runs down his writing workflow. Everyone has a lot of buckets. The first trick is using the right one for the right job at the right time. The second trick is knowning what bucket you put something in. Nick’s rundown is certainly a voyeuristic tour but some of us learn best by example. These are good examples.

Pinbook is an iOS app for viewing and adding bookmarks to Pinboard. The latest version is a significant update. Collin describes all of the latest features. It already had crazy-fast bookmark syncing and somehow 1.1 is even faster. I have 8000 bookmarks and syncing all of them takes about three seconds. Now there’s also tag auto-suggestion when adding new bookmarks which is super handy. Oh, and don’t forget there is a very good url-scheme too.

CloudClipboard was just released as a universal app.1 CloudClipboard uses iCloud to sync copied images, text and links between iOS devices. It is simple and fast. Like I said in my ClouDrop app review, the best feature is the background copy. Open the app once and then it will continue to capture the clipboard in the background for about ten minutes. Clips can be filtered by kind and and each group can be easily accessed by either the hidden panel or simply tapping the menu bar.

Some very nice geometric wallpapers. I’m test driving this one for my home screen:

I use QuickShot at least once a week, and usually once a day (previous review. QuickShot is a simple camera app that doesn’t have a bunch of effects or photo tricks. It simply snaps a shot and uploads it to a specific Dropbox folder with a predefined file name. Camera profiles are used to preconfigure the Dropbox receiving folder and the file name format. The latest update adds a URL scheme for use with apps like LaunchCenter.

Drag and drop between Evernote and Dropbox on iOS. A bit expensive ($7) for a one-trick app, but worth it when needed. Only has the ability to move images and not notes or links. By way of iPads Advisor