Author Archive for Ray Gans

DropCopy in Review – Sharing Your Stuff

Sharing stuff is a common need for anyone who uses a computer, iPhone, iPad or have friends/family with these devices. For example, I may want to use my iPad to read a pdf file on my computer, copy some text from a document on my iPad to a friend’s iPhone, or share a picture I just took with my wife. There are loads of apps available today that can transfer pictures, files, clipboards, URLs and other things, e.g., Bump, between devices, but is there anything that works well with all this media – and has a user interface that’s comprehensible to the average user?

Let’s take a look at one of them. DropCopy is a universal app for iOS devices and Macs (sorry, no PCs yet). It has a fun and unique user interface and works well with transferring most types of media.

Review: Transfer Pictures & Photos Wirelessly between iDevices – Redux

.

Photo Sender	MediaTransfer	PhotoSync

.
A few months ago I reviewed three nice universal apps that streamline the transfer of photos between iDevices and your desktop (see TMA review). Since then I’ve kept my eyes open and found a few more which are also noteworthy. These are quite different apps from each other with unique features that you might find appealing.

Photo Sender – Similar to the previously reviewed Photo Transfer app. What makes it stand out is its ability to add some simple effects plus do in-app down-sizing for quicker transfers.

MediaTransfer – Perfect for the person who takes lots of snapshots and just wants to periodically dump new ones to a folder his or her computer without any fuss — and it’s FAST!

PhotoSync – Lots of options and a very nice user interface. The best transfer app I’ve seen for sending and receiving photos and videos between devices and other services.

Mr. Reader in Review – New Guy on the Block

The app store hosts many decent RSS news reader apps. None (to my knowledge) have dethroned Reeder (TMA review) as king of them all yet. Mr. Reader, however, showed up a couple months ago and it’s one of the first I’ve seen in a while to challenge the king.

Library App Reviews: Goodreads, iBookshelf and Book Crawler

Goodreads	iBookshelf	Book Crawler

.
We all love books, right? If you’re like me, your reading list is long and getting longer every day. We’ll never finish them all, but heck, when someone recommends a book, we probably still want to jot it down for future reference.

A good list can be a real blessing when trying to remember an author or a book we’ve just read, finding the name of the next book in a series, or easily sharing our favorite books with friends.

The three apps reviewed here are excellent candidates for keeping track of all the books we love and all the books we want to read.

2Screens in Review – Presentation Expert for iPad

For those of us in the business world, few things will raise eyebrows in wonder and envy more than plugging an iPad into an overhead projector during a meeting to show a PowerPoint presentation or render other media displayed on the screen. “Oh, anyone can do that on a laptop,” some will say. But it’s just not as cool, trust me.

Several presentation apps are available on the App Store but 2Screens – Presentation Expert stands out in that it displays a broad range of file types concurrently and has a companion iPhone app called 2Screens Remote than can be used to control presentation slideshows.

TechWire in Review – An App for your Tech Blog Addiction

I watch a lot of technical blogs to get different perspectives on interesting news and for the occasional gems I find there. I don’t have time, however, to read or even scan them all every day and sometimes won’t browse through some of them for weeks. They’re just handy to have around.

The downside is that they clog up my newsreader and slow things down while waiting for refreshes. I don’t want to unsubscribe and lose them, so what do I do?

Enter TechWire, a free app that collects many of the most popular technical blogs in one place!

Review: Transferring Pictures Wirelessly between iDevices

.

Photo Transfer	Pic Transfer	WiFi Photo

.
We all know that you can transfer a picture or video between a Mac or PC with an iPhone or iPad by just plugging the device into iTunes and syncing. Other options are to do so using e-mail or even MMS. Oh… but that’s so 2007! Surely there’s an app for that?

In fact there are several. Photo Transfer, Pic Transfer and WiFi Photo are great examples and can come in really handy when you want the flexibility to select and transfer multiple items at once. Let’s take a look and see why they’re so useful.

Nonograms in Review – A Puzzler for people who think they don’t have time for games

Many people say they don’t have time to play games. I can understand this because we all have so much on our plates that it’s hard to justify. What if, however, there was a puzzle game that didn’t take too long, was analytically challenging (but not overly formidable), didn’t require a 17 year old’s dexterity and… gave a nice sense of accomplishment when you finished it?

It’s not my habit to write game reviews but occasionally one comes along that deserves to be noted. Nonograms for iPad and its sister Nonograms Pro for iPhone are two of those games. Challenging, engrossing, pick up & play, and really fun – ideal for busy professionals or others with hectic lives and little time.

Taking Notes on an iPad: A Look at 20 Apps

I purchased my iPad in part to take notes at business meetings – at least that’s what I told myself when I plunked down the cash. The iPad comes with a note taking app (Notes) which like it’s cousin on the iPhone is woefully limited. Luckily there are many alternatives in the App Store (many many alternatives). A new one seems to pop out every week! Not only that, but they’re constantly in flux with bug fixes and feature enhancements.

Depending on the situation (taking personal notes, meeting minutes, lecture notes, etc.) and your preferred method of note taking, your choice of an app may differ, because there is a wide variation in the approach and functionality available. If you haven’t looked closely at the options, you may be pleasantly surprised at what’s available!

Pulse News Reader Review: News for the Laid-Back

I can’t live without my news. But you know what? Not everyone is like me. In fact, some very well-adjusted people can be quite happy with a casual approach to newsfeeds and just subscribe to a handful of sources that interest them. Pulse News Reader and its iPhone cousin, Pulse News Mini were designed for such people. I didn’t think I’d find much value in it, but I was wrong, Pulse is surprisingly fun!

I think the words of the developer captures the Pulse experience perfectly, ”While a traditional RSS reader is usually about consuming as much content as possible, Pulse is all about leisurely enjoying your daily news with a cup of coffee.”