Author: Robyn

With cloud storage being such a popular trend it’s no surprise that there is yet another storage option available. Droplr bills itself as, “…the easiest and best way to share files, large and small, over the internet. Period.” In my time using it, I must say it is incredibly easy. Droplr installs a utility in the menu bar that stores your files in the cloud. Users can drag files directly from your computer to the droplet icon in the menu to store it in your Droplr account. Users can access their accounts one of three ways – desktop, web interface…

I’m a huge fan of word games. For a long time, I played the free version of Words with Friends and waded through the ads just so I could play. Eventually I broke down and purchased it, but I much prefer the free games available on the App Store. I was pretty excited to be introduced to Letterpress. Letterpress is a free word game available on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad. It was released on October 25th and has quickly become one of the most popular games available. The game is turn based and links players through…

Released on September 11, 2012, PandaBar is changing the way we listen to Pandora in our house. Pandora is a great music streaming service, but it seems unnecessary to keep Safari or any other Internet browser open just to listen to music. That’s why we were glad to find PandaBar. PandaBar’s utility in the menu bar makes it easier than ever to access your Pandora music. PandaBar also utilizes Apple AirPlay (Mountain Lion, only) and Notification Center. Right from the menu bar utility, users can skip songs, change stations and create new ones. To use it, you simply purchase the app…

Imagine you are working on a video in Final Cut Pro X. And, on your timeline you have a title built in Motion. Now, you are working along and you decide to make an edit on the Motion title and you save it in Motion. When you return to your timeline in Final Cut Pro, your Motion title has done a disappearing act leaving behind its spot on the timeline and a red screen complete with a missing element graphic (the yellow triangle with exclamation point) and a dotted lined capital “T”. If you have been able to imagine yourself…

The news broke today that Senior Vice President of iOS software at Apple Inc., Scott Forstall, was fired after refusing to sign a letter of apology that Apple issued concerning the shortcomings of certain aspects of iOS such as Apple Maps. Wall Street Journal reported that part of the reason for Forstall’s departure was his continuing attitude problems and uncooperative nature. Forstall had a long, close relationship with the late Steve Jobs and is regarded as one of the original archetects of Mac OS X. Forstall will reportedly serve as advisor to Apple, Inc. CEO, Tim Cook, until his official…

When I was visiting our local grocery store this week, I discovered that they now have an app for iPhone. As geeked out I get about apps AND the fact that they advertised it in-store with a QR code, I couldn’t resist downloading it. Schnuck’s is a regional grocery chain headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. They have good produce that features local produce at certain times of the year and a fresh meat and seafood counter. The bakery is top-notch as well. One of my favorite things to get from them is a mini-loaf of sweet bread to dip in…

October is a special time for MacAddicts. It is the month where we met the iPod for the first time…15-inch unibody MacBook Pro…iPhone 4S…all for the first time. And now, we meet the iPad Mini. It’s a lovely new addition to the Apple product line. So, why shrink the iPad? Well, Apple execs will be the first to tell you that they didn’t simply shrink the iPad. The iPad Mini is a whole new device…built from the ground up. That’s something I really appreciate when it comes to this new little darlin’ in the Apple family. It’s a got a…

Do you have a website you would like to optimize for mobile devices? Now you can do it for free from your iPhone. M.dot makes it easy to create a mobile website within 5 minutes. M.dot lets you start with a test account so that you can see how the app works. I recommend using the test account to begin. You then select “Create a New Mobile Site.” M.dot gives you six sample templates to work with in the app. All are nice, clean layouts that look nice on the iPhone. Once you select a template, which can be changed…

Tweetbot was released for Mac today. We have been waiting patiently for its arrival and it is not disappointing. Our favorite functions of this app includes muting conversations and disabling retweets. Muting conversations allows users to silence, or ignore, the conversation rather than deleting the user from those you are following. The function allows conversation to be silenced for pre-determined periods of time. I find this very useful for those who over-post the same topics time and time again. I want to remain friends with them and continue following them, but don’t want to see the same post 20 times…

Did you know that you can use Siri to find your friends? I actually just discovered this neat little feature within Siri. What Siri does is use the Find Friends app on the iPhone or iPad to locate your friends that are visible to you. Here’s how to use it. Press and hold the home button to pull up Siri. When prompted say, “Where is John?” Siri will respond saying she is looking for your friend and a visual of the Find Friends map will appear while the phone is locating your friend. It’s a nifty little feature that keeps…

Apparently Apple did have just one more thing to show us. Apple confirmed that they will in fact have an event/announcement next Tuesday, October 23rd. What it will be about is anyone’s guess. The most popular rumor is an iPad mini that would be small enough to fit in a user’s hand while typing, but still larger than an iPhone screen. Personally, I would welcome an iPad mini because it only increases Apple’s product line and it might make tablets more accessible or practical for some people who didn’t want the size of a full iPad. October Apple events have seen…

Good evening, readers. Consider this the first entry in a series of entries that will describe my adventures using Passbook. Passbook is one of Apple’s newest features to accompany iOS 6. The concept is that you as a user are able to store all your rewards cards and even some forms of payment within one app. When I first heard about this, I was ecstatic! The Apple demonstration showed it to be a clean, pretty, functional app that would help keep your endless pile of rewards cards organized. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of having key chains…

Apple iOS’s personal assistant, Siri, has the ability to add items to your Reminder app by using the command, “Set a reminder.” This is a fairly well-known command and used frequently when Siri is demonstrated. One very useful function that is a little less well-known is Siri’s ability to add items to custom lists within the Reminder app. Here is a step-by-step how to guide on how to use this function. 1) Open the Reminder app and set up a custom list by selecting the ‘list’ icon in the upper left-hand corner. This will open a menu of custom lists.…

Advertisers want to know who is viewing their information and what devices are being used. Web cookies are utilized to track what you are viewing and what websites you’re visiting so they can advertise better. The problem? You aren’t getting paid for the information advertisers are getting from you. Apple iOS 6 has an option to ‘limit ad tracking’ in the General Settings. Here’s how you set it up. 1) Go to General Settings. 2) Select About. 3) Scroll to the bottom of the page until you see Advertising. 4) Select Advertising. 5) Turn on Limit Ad Tracking. This will…

I want to start this review by saying, I’m a fan of Pinterest. It’s a great social sharing concept and it’s expansion to mobile apps only makes it stronger as an idea. As much as I enjoy the concept of social sharing of ideas, recipes and designs, you can imagine the thrill I had when I discovered Snapguide. Snapguide is an iOS and web service that encourages users to share how-to guides for everything under the sun. I found this recipe for twice baked mashed potatoes which I will use as an example. When you open the app, you are…

I wrote a novel in 2010 entitled, Shattered and I am happy to report that I have finally published it. After a lot of research, I decided to publish it using Amazon. The reason? Because my novel would have the greatest exposure. When you publish with iBooks through Apple, you have to remain exclusive with Apple. And, while the iBooks audience is ever-expanding, iBooks are only available on Apple products. Amazon’s Kindle has a free app available for Apple products as well as distributing through its own brand of devices. So, I opted to publish through Amazon because of a greater…

Upon first discovering this app, I was taken aback. An app that helps you find people who are willing to pay for rides to work, school or even across the country? Sounds like a serial killer’s paradise to me. That point aside, let’s take a look at the app. Ridejoy started life as a social website devoted to helping people find carpools. Here’s how it works. You sign up for a free account through their website, ridejoy.com. Then, you list your travel plans. Ridejoy will match you with a user who has similar travel plans and voila! You have your…

“We’re born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It’s been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much — if at all.” – Steve Jobs The first computer I bought on my own was a Bondi Blue, Revision-B, iMac. The commercials released in 1998 featured the voice of Jeff Goldblum and the phrase, “there is no step 3,” referring to the fact that the iMac only had a power cable and an ethernet cable, but no others. This was the first product to feature the ‘i’ as a prefix for its name. I was…

Over the past few years, there has been a push in our area to increase physical activity and promote healthy lifestyles. I think this is probably a nationwide push, but I know that our city experienced a lot of road construction headaches when the powers at be decided to add more sidewalks and bicycle routes along popular roadways in order to promote physical activity over a sedentary lifestyle. A local health-based foundation even launched an initiative, Upgrade Now, to help people make small adjustments in their daily routines to improve their lives. I am all for making healthy lifestyle decisions…

As previously stated in our article, iPhone Launch Campout, I was a recent convert to Verizon wireless. Joining my boyfriend’s wireless plan, we share everything, including data. Being that I came from a plan where I had unlimited data and he had a large amount of data on his own, we have been carefully monitoring our data usage. We were astonished to find that his data usage was through the roof registering over 1GB of data on his own. This was only after one week of having our new iPhones. The most disturbing part of this issue is that he spends…

When I sat down to write my article tonight, I found myself asking a very intriguing question – business or personal? Do you use your iPhone or iPad for business or personal use? I try very hard to keep my personal and professional lives separate, but when it comes to using technology, I’m willing to combine the two if it benefits productivity in business. My iPad has come in handy on more than one occasion and with as much as on-the-go work I do, my iPhone is indispensable to stay in contact with my business associates. I started looking into…

In looking for new apps to try on my iPhone 5, I stumbled across Catch Notes. It’s optimized for iPhone 5 and fills the entire 4-inch screen. Catch Notes is a lovely app that allows users to organize notes, to do lists, photographs, voice memos and reminders all in one place. I like to stay organized and have tried several different types of note-taking apps and to-do lists, but none of the ones I’ve tried have combined all aspects of scheduling and organizing into one gorgeous app. That’s why I like Catch Notes. It is all of these things. When…

Continuing my look at iOS 6 features, I am going to do a quick look at the feature DO NOT DISTURB. Do Not Disturb is a neat little function that allows users to block unwanted phone calls. It’s meant to assist people during times of rest so that unimportant phone calls, like solicitors, do not interrupt sleeping. In this day and age when we all have become increasingly more accessible, Do Not Disturb may become an essential part of our lives. To enable Do Not Disturb manually, go to Settings and simply flip on Do Not Disturb mode on the…

Apple’s release of iOS 6 ushered in over 200 new features for users to explore on their mobile iDevices. One of my favorites is the added option to take photographs in Panorama mode. We’ve all had times when we wanted to take a picture that was wider than the available screen real estate allowed. Whether it be a group picture or a picturesque landscape, wide shots sometimes need a little help. That’s why the developers at Apple included Panorama mode as a new option in iOS 6. Users can shoot up to 240 degrees either vertically or horizontally. To use…

I experienced my first iPhone launch today. It was exhilarating. Our adventure started at approximately 6PM on Thursday evening, about an hour before the local Verizon store closed for business. My boyfriend arrived at that time and I joined him around 7PM after I picked up some dinner for us. Our plan was to be the first two customers in the iPhone 5 line. We decided to load up our Mercury Mountaineer with blankets and pillows so that we could rest throughout the night while keeping watch on our coveted spots in line. As I arrived, the customer who was…

I recently discovered an app for Mac OS, iPhone and iPad called Adobe Revel. It’s an app that helps to organize and edit your photographs. Adobe Revel stores and syncs your photo library in the cloud so that it is available across all your devices. The biggest downside is the monthly subscription fee Adobe charges. The apps are free to download and try for 30 days, but a $5.99 monthly or $59.99 yearly fee is required to utilize the photo app. I will say this – it’s a nice, clean, well-designed app. I really like the way it works and…

Personal privacy and identity security are big concerns on the internet these days. Users are concerned with the strength of their passwords and how to remember different passwords for each account they have online. Luckily for us, the everyday internet user, there are apps available that assist with securing our online footprint. 1Password is such an app. 1Password is an identity manger that integrates directly with web browsers. It’s a very helpful tool for those users with multiple online accounts. It is an encrypted database that can be stored on Dropbox so that it’s available on any devices a user…

  It wouldn’t be the fall without an Apple iPhone Event. Today’s announcement featured the introduction of the iPhone 5, a refresh of the entire iPod line, a major software update to iTunes and a complete redesign of Apple’s earphones, which are now called, EarPods. For weeks the speculations surrounding the announcement have erupted on blogs across the internet. Would the iPhone 5 include a bigger screen? Would Apple announce a retina display iMac? What else would be included in the announcement? Now we know. The iPhone media event was held in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center and in…

For the first time since it was released, the iPhone’s native software will not include a YouTube app the next time it is updated. This news was released at Apple’s WWDC earlier this year. It is also moving away from Google Maps in its native software bundle. These steps are being taken as Google and Apple become more competitive against each other in the smartphone market. Today, Google released a YouTube app for iPhone to help combat this move by Apple. I was very pleased with interface of the app. It’s clean and easy to use. The side bar menu…

I have used both PowerPoint and Keynote for academic and professional presentations. Both pieces of software get the job done, but they aren’t really meant for simple, quick presentations. Luckily, Haiku Deck is. Haiku Deck is an easy-to-use, functional iPad app designed to help users create great-looking presentations quickly. Haiku Deck is free to use, but there are add on themes for decks that can be purchased for a small fee comparable to most app costs. When you start up the app, you are met with a short tutorial that walks users through how to use Haiku Deck. Then, you…