Currently testing Notebooks for iPhone

I’m testing Notebooks, a new iPhone note app. This should be good in several ways:

1. The look is great

While there is no modification possible in terms of how it looks, it sure ain’t look bad at all… Maybe the ability to change fonts might help, but it’s not bad as is. Actually, it looks great in my eyes.

2. Titling of the quick notes

When quick notes are created the titles with “QN <date & time>” are automatically generated, and it sure is great for journaling. I like to have the creation date recorded in every note, and this sure helps when they are imported into MacJournal later.

However, there is a bug in the current version where the date format contains “/” which cannot be used for a title. I contacted the developer and he said about the alternative of using “-” instead. So it should be fixed in the next update.

3. Organize notes using notebooks

Unlike noteskinery, notes can be easily moved from one to another, just like in the Mail app. It is intuitive to organize notes this way.

You know, just create a quick note now, and move it when you have time. It doesn’t require you to think too much about other things like title & category. Just like an inbox item for GTD. Create a note with auto-titling and organize it later. Quite intuitive, isn’t it?

However, adding sort options would be nice, as the current sort only supports the alphabetical descending order. This is the way the sort in WriteRoom is implemented and isn’t bad at all. But, adding this capability sure extends the usefulness for most users.

4. Sync to (or import from) desktop

Notebooks has the ability to import notes from the desktop using SyncDocs, the desktop application that uses Bonjour to transfer files in the network. I haven’t tested this part yet, but text files dropped onto SyncDocs are supposed to be transferred to Notebooks, as the description in the web page states. If it works as stated, maybe I could use it to sync with MacJournal (I need to first export all entries into plain texts in MacJournal, though). I’ll get back to this if it ever works out.

 

So, all the good things bring the bad. One thing that should be improved is the performance. Scrolling the note up and down is somehow sluggish, though not a dealbreaker. WriteRoom, for comparison, is much faster with no stress at all. But, it could get optimized as more updates are coming in.

 

So far, I’m quite satisfied. Not sure if I decide to part ways with WriteRoom yet. WriteRoom is simple enough to use while providing some excellent features as Bonjour import/export and font & color change capability. But as satisfied as I am with Notebooks so far, I might think of switching.

AdLibs rocks!

This app, AdLibs ($0.99, or free for the Lite version), creates some funny stories that you can enjoy anytime. I read it this morning during the breakfast, and couldn’t stop laughing hard!!

(Click images to enlarge)

Last.fm on Apple TV

Genius Playlist seems like a good idea, and delivers something new for the day on my iPhone. But, I would still prefer Last.fm as it plays something I’m not familiar with – the songs I don’t own.
(Last.fm app on iPhone is broken on 2.1 for the moment, though)

Apart from iPhone, I was looking for a way to listen to the songs on Last.fm on my Apple TV. Is it possible?

Googling for a while, I came across Airfoil, the application that sends audio to AirTunes capable devices (including Apple TV), and that should suit my need. Although I need to play the Last.fm playlists on the browser, it should work at least. The con to this option was the price itself. Cost quite a lot of money for what I need ($25). I don’t need to stream radio as I can do it with Apple TV alone (creating a playlist with radio stations and syncing it).

However, to my surprise, I found a cost-nothing solution (the free one)! In short,

iScrobbler

This is an unofficial (?) client for Last.fm which does what the official client does but without a main GUI window. It resides on the task bar (on top), and is operated through the menu.

I don’t believe it’s mentioned anywhere on the product page, but the music is played through iTunes. It creates a playlist called “iScrobbler Radio” and puts the streaming songs there, automatically playing one song after another.

Playing songs on iTunes means AirTunes-able. I tested with my Apple TV and voilà! The music played through my TV! This is specially good, as I tend to have a party at my house and allow guests to listen to something fresher everytime.

BTW, it is recommended to use 2.2.0b5 for iPhone users as 2.1.2 doesn’t scrobble songs played on iPhone. It is supported on 2.2.0b5.

App rejected at App Store

I really hoped this would come out.

MacRumors and other sources report that Pull My Finger has been rejected due to the “limited utility.” I found a similar app called Body Snd Machine a while ago while researching a sound machine app, and this has not been approved yet, either. I would love to have this kind of app for fun, though. I love an useless-yet-fun app. Bring ‘em on!

Billy Frontier

There is a review of Billy Frontier at Just Another iPhone Blog. It looks fantastic! I love westerns and shootouts, just like Clint Eastwood did in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This might well satisfy my thirst.

I’m on vacation and away from iTunes, but will definitely purchase it right after going back home. $2.99? Seems can’t be beat with the price point.

A Thunder Struck on Me

What’s funny is that, after troubling with the iPhone restore the last time, within only a matter of a week I had to restore it again.

I was using it carefully, not to mess it up by doing something fishy. Of course it’s not jail broken and is used with purity in mind.

Then it happened.

Here, in my neighborhood, thunderstorms struck about 4 consecutive nights last week. I’m not afraid of the thunder much, as I used to as much as the earthquake. So, while it was flashy outside with the noise of rain and thunder, I was connecting the iPhone to my computer and installing an app.

Then, the blackout stepped in.

The power came back on eventually, but the iPhone never backed itself up after this. Waiting for several hours, but never finished. What I could do now was to do the restore, but iTunes said that the backup was corrupt… Now, my iPhone was clean again with all my data lost. The luck is that I didn’t have much data on it this time (as the last restore was performed less than a week ago (and that erased all my data)), so I mostly let it go erased.

Another lesson: Don’t fight with the nature.

No Life without iPhone

It’s difficult to fully embrace this iPhone after over a month of use, but can’t imagine the life without it.

It forced me to do the restore last night, erasing all my notes data. Good news is that that, and trivial SMS messages, is all I lost… But I lost it big. Notes contained everything I scribbled in the last 7 months or so, dating back when I was using iPod Touch. I don’t feel stressed or anything by typing words using the built in keyboard (I’m writing this entry using the iPhone app), so i’ve been typing a lot. Any ideas that came to my mind, and some expense data. They are all gone, maybe because the backup I tried to restore was corrupt… (the whole reason I tried to restore the phone was because the backup never finished last night, and I tried it many times)

Now, what can I do? Cry for the lost love? No, just live with it. I now know what to do with my important data (do the backup of my own, and not rely on the iTunes backup). To do that, email myself the notes every once in a while, or use Evernote for the online editor (though I prefer the offline one). Learn the lesson and keep loving my iPhone!

P.S. The backup is much faster and I feel like living again!

What’s good about iPhone

I used to own iPod Touch which is similar in terms of appearance & functionality, so didn’t expect any joy to come out of me.

Well, I was wrong…

The connectivity to the net, being online, is what it’s all about. Whatever you do, you need to be connected to the net. Safari, Mail, App Store… Name a few. Even this WordPress requires you to be connected (if you want to publish blogs, that is). Being online is all that is, and I can’t think of the life with no connection to the net from now on.

What I’m afraid of right now is, “what can I do with my iPhone when I’m overseas?” Dreadfully, though, I will be out of the reach from the net… unless finding a hotel with free WiFi, or doing the international data roaming that would cost me a million. No matter what, the trip would turn soar without “always on” connectivity..

One good thing, though, is that some applications allow offline works, like this WordPress which allows me to write my stuff offline, even on the airplane (if you have enough battery for that). That’s definitely a good news, and what I need to find is the free WiFi to publish my stuff along the way. Shouldn’t be difficult (I hope…)