Evernote 3.4.0 Released

My favorite (currently) note-taking app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad was updated a few days ago. Evernote 3.4.0 has been released with quite a few fixes. As always, it’s free. Evernote is a note-taking application that spans across several platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, iOS, Android) and … Read more

Research Logger 1.2

Research Logger 1.2 is now available. Research Logger is an iOS/iPhone OS app for genealogists that helps you keep track of your genealogy research, both the research that you’ve already done, and the research you need to do or will be doing. Version 1.2 is another major upgrade. You now … Read more

Families Temporarily Withdrawn From App Store

Just over a week ago, I mentioned a new iOS/iPhone/iPad application, Families for Legacy Family Tree. It allowed you to carry and sync your genealogy data from a Windows genealogy package – Legacy Family Tree. I’ve received a couple of emails pointing out that it’s been temporarily withdrawn from Apple’s … Read more

iPhone OS 4.0 Details

iPhone 3G Earlier today, Apple discussed its highly-anticipated iPhone OS 4, the next major software upgrade to hit the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad lines. It will ship this summer for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and later in the fall for the iPad. Pay attention: It’s only going to be available for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 2nd generation (late 2008), iPod touch 3rd generation (late 2009 – 32GB/64GB) and eventually the iPad. Yes, the original iPhone is not showing up in that availability list. Apple is touting 100 new features for users and 1500 new APIs for developers in creating their apps.

Was it everything that everybody wanted? No and these kinds of things never will be.

Was it everything that I expected and wanted? Mostly.

There are four major new features that most of us will come into contact with. You could throw in iAd, a new mobile advertising platform for the iPhone OS line as well as gaming additions and enterprise additions, but I’m going to ignore those for now. The major additions, as far as I’m concerned are:
1) Multitasking – this is going to be beneficial to those of us wanting to run VOIP or instant messaging apps while we are doing other things. To me, it’s actually not a big deal, but I think the platform as a whole was in need of it. Yes, you could be messing around in a genealogy application, and assuming everything is coded properly, you could get on Voice-Over-IP or IM and call up a relative or check something out without losing your place.
2) Folders – this is a bigger thing to me – organizing your apps into folders. It allows you to go past the current limit of 180 apps, which is a huge deal, since it’s actually easy to rack up that many apps. For me, it’ll be nice to have my genealogy and genealogy-related iPhone apps all in one folder. Yes, there’s not much difference between going into a folder and say flipping to another screenful of apps, but I was started to run out of slots for more apps.
3) Mail – a unified inbox and the ability to switch between inboxes, organize messages by threads, and open attachments in third-party apps.
4) iBooks – It will be yet another way to read books on an iPhone or iPod touch, and this is just bringing the iPad’s bookstore down to the level of those devices. This joins the Kindle in things that are cool to have, but may not necessarily be practical in real-world usage, depending on your tolerance for reading on mobile devices.

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Samsung Galaxy S, 32GB microSDHC, Android Development

Samsung has decided to make a Google Android-based phone it’s high-end mobile device/phone. It’s a victory for Android fans and adds another really powerful mobile phone into the mix of those looking to get into smartphones. It offers a 1GHz processor, 3D graphics (mapping, etc.), Assisted GPS, a 5MP camera … Read more