Productivity

Evernote for Mac rewritten for speed and energy performance, iOS app gets Work Chat and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 20, 2014

Evernote, the popular note-taking and productivity platform, on Thursday issued a major refresh to its Mac app while adding a new Work Chat for sharing and collaborating to the iPhone and iPad client, among other items.

After a complete rewrite, Evernote 6.0 for Mac is now significantly faster, more reliable and consumes less energy than ever before.

As if that weren't enough, the new Mac app comes with half a dozen new features, including sleek new look optimized for OS X Yosemite, search improvements, the ability to resize images and tables, to mention just a few.

iOS and OS X editions of Evernote are available free of charge.

GoodReader introduces advanced text-to-speech for PDF and TXT documents

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 13, 2014

I rely on GoodReader to manage files and documents on my iOS devices in one central location. Being a heavy reader, I mostly keep various documents and e-books stored in GoodReader.

Today's update to GoodReader's iOS app contains a whole bunch of new features, improvements and fixes, chiefly a cool text-to-speech capability that speaks passages of text in text files and PDF documents.

It's customizable with different speeds, supports dozens of languages, has playback controls, highlights spoken words in real-time, lets you multitask while listening to spoken word and more. This update is being provided free of charge to existing GoodReader users.

Download GoodReader for the iPhone and iPad for $4.99.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint hit iPhone: Dropbox support, new features, basic editing now free

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 6, 2014

Thursday, software maker Microsoft announced immediate availability of Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for the iPhone following the release of Office for iPad applications back in March 2014.

Moreover, the company has refreshed the entire iOS Office suite with Dropbox integration and adding other new features to “ensure a consistently beautiful and productive Office experience on every device”.

In addition to the new Office for iPhone and update iPad apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint are coming to Android tablets with the start of Microsoft's Office for Android tablet Preview program. Finally, brand new, touch-optimized Office apps for Windows 10 are in the works and “we’ll have more to share soon”.

Universal Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps are free in the App Store.

Office mobile apps will soon sync to Dropbox

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Software giant Microsoft has partnered with Dropbox, the hot cloud-storage startup that Steve Jobs once wanted to buy for $800+ million, to give Office users across desktop, mobile and the web built-in access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in their Dropbox, the firms said Tuesday.

Soon, Dropbox users will be able to link their account directly to the Word, Excel and PowerPoint iPad apps.

As a result, customers will be able to edit Office documents right from their Dropbox mobile app, and access their Dropbox from within their mobile Office apps.

Microsoft revamps Outlook for OS X ahead of new Office for Mac version in H2 2015

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 31, 2014

Microsoft in a post Friday over at the official Office blog announced immediate availability of a redesigned version of Outlook for Mac while confirming that a new version of Office for Mac will be ready in the first half of 2015 as a public beta, and in the second half of 2015 for public consumption.

Office 365 subscribers will get the next version of Office (which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) at no additional cost, the Windows giant said and added that it will release a perpetual license of Office for Mac in the same timeframe.

OneNote gains Touch ID, iOS 8 Storage extension and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Microsoft on Tuesday updated OneNote for iOS and OS X with useful new features, including fingerprint based Touch ID authentication to unlock password protected sections of your notebooks.

There's also a new Storage Provider extension in iOS 8 which let you easily add files to your notebooks from your favorite cloud storage service like, say, Dropbox.

On the iPhone, OneNote finally allows you to move and rearrange your notes anywhere you like. Moreover, the note-taking app has now gained ability to open notebooks stored on SharePoint Servers.

OneNote for the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps are free downloads.

Google adds ‘Incoming’ view and more to Docs, Sheets and Slides for iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 21, 2014

Google is on a roll today.

Minutes after issuing an updated Play Music client for iOS with a revamped Listen Now interface, mood or activity based radio station search and other goodies, the search monster announced Tuesday that updates to its Docs, Sheets and Slides trio of mobile productivity applications are now available in the App Store, featuring an all-new “Incoming” view to see all of the files that have been shared with you and a few other enhancements.

For example, the Docs editor now plays nice with external keyboards.

“We also know that it’s important to you to be able to make documents look as polished as possible, wherever you’re editing, so in Docs you can now apply headings and use shortcuts when you’re typing with Bluetooth keyboards,” the team noted.

GoodReader gains Touch ID protection, iCloud Drive enhancements, new iPad features and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 20, 2014

Following a recent update which added basic support for iCloud Drive, enabled Handoff and implemented support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screen sizes, Yuri Selukoff's excellent file manager and PDF reader, GoodReader, got updated Monday with a slew of new features and goodies.

Available as a free update to existing users, the new GoodReader 4.6 now lets you protect the app with Touch ID fingerprint authentication, open and annotate documents kept in your iCloud Drive without copying them into the app's private storage and more.

The best apps for writing

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) takes place every November. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel between Nov. 1 and 30. That means, participants need to average about 1,667 words per day for 30 days straight. I tried it once. I made it to about 7,000 words and gave up. It’s harder than it sounds.

If you are preparing for this year’s Nanowrimo contest, or you are simply looking for some good apps to help increase your writing productivity, we’ve got a list of what we think are the best apps for writers. Check them out and let us know which one you think is the best.

Prompt 2 review: the best SSH client for iOS

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

The iPad can't be used for real work, can it?

Even after all this time, there is still some debate about whether the iPad can be used as a real computer. I'd argue that even the iPhone can prevent me from having to pick up one of my Macs, especially now we have the larger screens courtesy of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

To me though, it's not so much about the hardware, but rather the software that runs on it that will decide whether any iOS device is up to the task. The App Store is littered with word processors of all kinds, apps for shoving numbers into spreadsheets and even plenty of software that will help you give a presentation on a projector. That's all well and good, but for me real work starts with a command line and an FTP server. Thankfully, Panic has my back on both counts.

Both Transmit and Prompt have been born out of the hard work that goes on inside Panic, and the latter has received a hefty update very recently indeed. So hefty in fact that this new 2.0 version is a whole new app that requires purchasing all over again and at $9.99, it's not the cheapest app on the App Store.

But it is one of the best.

The best blogging apps for iPhone and iPad

Lory Gil ∙ Updated September 2, 2020

If you participate in the digital information age through blogging, then you know how difficult it is to keep up with your daily posts. Whether you are just too busy, or don’t want to sit in front of your computer after your workday is over, writing and publishing can be a daunting task.

There are a handful of excellent mobile apps that make it easier to stay active in the blogosphere while on the go. We’ve got a list of what we think are the best blogging apps for the iPhone and iPad for you today.

OmniFocus 2 for iPad now available with new iOS 8 features

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

OmniFocus is probably the most comprehensive getting things done (GTD) app available on the iPhone. It makes project management easy and convenient, helps keep you organized and on task, and makes it possible for you to schedule your busy life.

Finally, OmniFocus 2 is now available on the iPad as a new download. It has a completely redesigned user interface that takes advantage of the larger screen. It combines all of the best features of OmniFocus 2 for Mac and OmniFocus 2 for iPhone into one great app on the iPad.