Of all the things that make their way on to the App Store, a new iPad app delivering your daily dose of news is unlikely to catch much attention. After all there’s only so much you can do with the news, but Sky News has managed to come out with something not only capable of giving you the day’s stories, but something that feels refreshingly different.

There are too many companies willing to follow the latest trends without sticking their necks out for something different, something that can change the way you interact with an application. Admittedly, when you first open the Sky News application your first reaction may be one of slight bemusement. Windows Phone 7 users will feel right at home with the modular, tile-like, design of the application, although it took me a little longer to feel truly comfortable in finding my way around, with a completely different layout to the Sky News iPhone app. [Read more…]

Apple ended last month on a high by not only updating its line of MacBook Pro computers but also releasing a developer preview of its upcoming operating system, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, for those with a Mac developer account.

I’ve been using the developer preview of Lion on and off since it was released last month, and it has some really great new features, many of which are inspired by iOS and the iPad in particular. Many see this as the first step of iOS and Mac OS X merging together, so is it a successful integration, or are the two operating systems best kept apart? Let’s take a closer look to find out! [Read more…]

When I took a look at Things for Mac earlier this month, I thought it was the best to-do management application I’d ever used. It’s simple, looks good and makes me more productive. What more could you want? Well, actually there is one more thing: a mobile client for iPhone and iPad! As it just so happens, the team behind Things has given us just that. You can get the Things app for both iPhone and iPad separately from the App Store, so let’s take a closer look at Things for the iPhone!

Things for iPhone maintains all of the to-do functionality of the Mac application, making it simple to see what needs doing today and what to-dos you have planned for the future. From the main screen of the app, you can see all of your lists such as Today, Next, Scheduled and Someday, as well as all the groups that you have set up. [Read more…]

I procrastinate. A lot. When it comes to getting things done, I need all the help I can get, so when I heard about Things for Mac OS X, I couldn’t wait to get my (virtual) hands on it and try it out for myself.

Things is a task management system that makes sure you always know what you’ve got coming up, whether it’s in the next day or the next year, and keeps you as productive as possible by alerting you when tasks are due.

The concept of Things is fairly simple: you input any details of a task that you have to complete, either by using the main application window, or the system-wide quick entry window, give it a due date if it has one, and tag it with any additional information you deem necessary. You can even add links to files and email attachments that are relevant to your to-do. [Read more…]

Reading on the iPad is a big business. Whether you’re checking out the latest comic book, your favourite magazine or the daily newspaper, there is an abundance of apps to cater for your needs.

Most of these publications, however, already existed in one form or another before the iPad came along. In this respect, The Daily is something completely different, something completely new and unexplored. It’s an iPad-exclusive daily newspaper from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Currently available only on the U.S. app store, The Daily contains stories in six main categories: News, Gossip, Opinion, Arts & Life, Apps & Games, and Sports. When you open the application, the latest issue of the newspaper will be downloaded on to your iPad. Over Wi-Fi, the paper took no longer than 2 minutes to be downloaded on to my device, but it may take significantly longer over a 3G connection due to the contents inside each issue, such as high resolution images and embedded video. [Read more…]

Whilst scouring through the new Mac App Store, I stumbled across an interesting looking £11.99 application called Zipline. It’s basically a news feed for your desktop, with a little extra spice, but I just felt that it was a little too expensive to be a justified purchase. So I left it.

That there outlines the single biggest problem with the App Store itself. Had there been a trial version, I could have justified it, but there wasn’t. So, in my infinite wisdom I quit the App Store, went straight to the developer, Stuffed Iggy Software’s website and looked for a demo. What do you know? I found one, so I downloaded it and as it turns out the demo is fully functional, though you get the occasional reminder to purchase.
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As the title so indiscreetly suggests, the Mac OS X App Store went live on 6th January 2011, and millions of Mac users worldwide now have access to an organised catalogue, much like iOS, of applications for the platform. A comprehensive library of quite reasonably priced software and, we’re guessing, developers are rejoicing too.

So what exactly does it entail after updating your Apple computer to Mac OS X v10.6.6 and a reboot? Well, in truth, not a lot more than the iOS App Store, or the Android Market for that matter.

Apart from the fact that not all applications are available, it’s looking pretty good. Ratings, reviews aplenty, the app store gives Mac users a great opportunity to find new software and find out what other users think before they part with their cash.
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The series of posts we’ve been doing this week about reading on the iPad all started with the release of Virgin’s brand new digital magazine, PROJECT, last week. Since taking a look at the magazine, we’ve covered the best apps from comic books and newspapers.

For today’s post, we’re going back to the magazine, taking another look at PROJECT, and taking a look at the Economist too.

PROJECT

Don’t worry, I won’t give you a whole review of PROJECT; I already did that one! You may remember that I loved PROJECT’s first edition when I took a look at it last week, despite a few initial hurdles such as the stability of the download and mastering navigation between pages.
[Read more…]