Apps – Page 4 – Tech, writing, and tech writing

TV Without a TV

BBC’s Global iPlayer app for iPad launched today – hooray! It’s a free app, but requires an in-app subscription to access anything beyond demo content. Subs are €6.99 per month, or €49.99 for the year. A nice touch is that you can download episodes to watch later when you’re offline – handy for commuters, holiday makers and the like. The selection is good, but could be, and hopefully will be, improved. Most noticeable gap for me is the dearth of good children’s programming – virtually the only channels we watch on traditional-format telly these days are Cbeebies and CBBC, and it would be great to be able to stick a few of their programs on the iPad for the kids to watch when we’re on the move. BBC iPlayer can be accessed through a web browser on a regular computer here – TV programs aren’t accessible outside the UK, but many excellent radio programs are.

Note: I tried accessing the BBC iPlayer Radio site through Safari on the iPad and iPhone, but on the iPad got an error that I had to switch from 3G to WiFi for it to work (3G wasn’t turned on), and on the iPhone got an error that I was outside the UK, although that’s not a problem when I access from my laptop, so I guess the site doesn’t play well with iThing browsers.

While I was enjoying the BBC iPlayer app, I decided to install the 4oD Catch Up app too. Although the blurb says it doesn’t work outside the UK, I’m watching an episode of Spaced (comedy gold) through it as I type and it’s working fine. You can watch 4oD in a regular web browser here.

ITV don’t have an iThing app yet, but have a web-based player here. (Doesn’t work from Safari on iThings.) Content is only available in the UK, though.

And last, but not least, RTÉ also lack an app, but have a web-based player here. (Again, doesn’t work from Safari on iThings.) A limited selection of their programming is accessible internationally. Aside from News programming, I’ve barely looked at RTÉ live since they launched their Player. It must be getting popular, as they’ve started including ads in many (/all?) of the programs now, which was a rarity when they launched.

So there we go – welcome to the future – TV on demand, without a TV – hooray!

Get Running – A C25K App

I never heard of C25K till a few weeks ago when Roisin Ingle wrote a piece about keeping fit in the Irish Times magazine, but most people I’ve spoken to since seem to have either done it or intend doing it. C25K (Couch to 5 Kilometres), as the name suggests, is a program devised to take someone from a level of fitness that allows them to sit on a couch, to a level of fitness that allows them to jog/run 5k, all over a period of 9 weeks.

Get Running App Logo Ms Ingle recommended an app called Get Running, and after a little musing I decided to take the plunge and give it a go. I’m sticking to the program religiously – not skipping ahead when I feel enthusiastic, and not taking a day off when I don’t feel like it. And so far it seems to be working.

The first run was hellish and I pretty much collapsed over the threshold when I got home, but by the end of week 1, I could manage my 8 one minute runs ok. Now I’m 2 sessions into week 3, and both times I’ve managed to twice run for 3 minutes solid without dying – three times the duration that nearly laid me flat in week 1. Huzzah! I’ve decided to trust the program and believe the thousands who have used it before me, so expect to be able to run for 30 minutes at a time by July, unbelievable and all though that might sound right now.

So – what about the app? I’ve not tried any of the other C25K apps, so this isn’t a comparison, it’s purely my opinion of this one.

Get Running is a paid app for iThings, but all the C25K apps seem to be. At just €1.59 it’s at the cheap end of the spectrum, though.
The cartoon-y interface shows a little winding road from a house with markers for each run in the 9 week period. You can select the section of path each run falls in to see details of what you can expect to be doing when you get to that stage.
Once you start the program, each marker along the path is flagged with either the date you did that session, or the forecast date you could be doing it if you stick to the program.
To start a run, you select the appropriate bit of path and click Run Week X at the bottom of the screen. The coach prompts you to start off with a 5 min walk to warm up, then lets you know when to start and stop running/walking till you’re done running, have done a 5 min walk to cool down, and are ready to start stretching. If you’ve selected it in the preferences, she’ll also give encouraging prompts of how far through the particular run/walk and complete session you are. “Just 10 seconds more! Keep going!”
You can repeat a week or skip ahead by selecting the required portion of the path, which allows you to repeat sessions if you’re not progressing, or to skip ahead if the starting level is too easy.
You can listen to your iPod as you go, and ask the app to either fade what you’re listening to out and back in again when it’s time for a prompt (good for podcasts and audiobooks), or just lower the volume and talk over what you’re listening to.
The coach is a chirpy Australian sounding lass. I was amused that in week 1 she kept saying “you will run …”, “you’ve just run …” etc., but once the feeble introductory one minute runs were over, from week 2 she started saying “we’re going to run …”, “we’ve just run …” etc. I wonder if that was deliberate during scripting? Will listen out for similar language changes in the coming weeks.
One feature I really hoped for before downloading and was delighted to find the developers had included was a midpoint alert – “we’ve reached the halfway point – turn back now if you need to”.

Supplementary Apps

Two free apps I’m using in conjunction with Get Running are:

Stretch&Run – Video tutorials of exercises and stretches to compliment running.
RunKeeper – Available on platforms other than iThings, RunKeeper uses GPS to track your path, overall distance and speed (both in 1 minute intervals and averaged over the duration). Slightly worryingly, it tells me that my pace is 596523 minutes/kilometer for certain minutes – I’m presuming it actually lost GPS contact in those minutes and couldn’t tell how I was doing. I don’t think I can really have been quite that slow, though I’ll readily admit I’m not fast!

In Conclusion

I’ve never particularly enjoyed running before, but with the C25K program I’m starting to get it, and I can see that I’m making real progress each time I go out, which is encouraging me to keep going. Without the app, I’m not sure I’d be doing as well – I suspect I’d be stopping to look at my watch too often instead of keeping up the pace. If you’re considering trying C25K, this app is easily worth the €1.59 – spend another few bob on decent runners and get going!

2Do App Review

2Do is one of my favourite and most-used apps. It’s not cheap, at €5.49, but for me it’s worth every penny.

Features-wise, there are way too many to list in a brief review like this one. This app has just about every bell and whistle you could wish for when it comes to to do lists and I haven’t even used the vast majority of them, but I feel secure in knowing that they’re there waiting for me when I need them. (On a side note, I approve highly of the tech writing on their tips webpage – it covers a great many of the options and possibilities very neatly.)

A few of my favourite features:

Multiple calendars – Really, this is a necessity, but not all To Do apps have it, so it’s worth mentioning. Categorising your tasks using multiple calendars allows you, for example, to separate work tasks and home/family tasks. As a self-employed bod, I break down work tasks in separate calendars according to client/project. Once you have your tasks all neatly categorised, you can then look at your to dos for any individual calendar, all to dos for the current date (includes overdue tasks not completed on earlier dates), or to dos from all calendars filtered according to other criteria (for example, high priority, in a specific timeframe, or tasks with no due date).
Soundex searching – I don’t actually use this much, but it is quite nifty. If you can’t remember how something is spelled (client/product names, for example), you can search for it by typing in something that approximates what you’re after, and 2Do will locate the appropriate task(s). (For example “huver” will find tasks that include the term “hoover”).
Multiple sync options – One of the nicest things about this app is that you can sync it with several standard systems, so if you want to stop using it, or change to a new app, your data isn’t tied up irretrievably in a proprietary format. I sync every other day with ToodleDo, and at random intervals with Outlook. If you have a MobileMe account, you can sync with that too.
Different task types – You can add a vanilla “to do” item, a project with a number of sub-items (in which case you can tick off each sub-item individually, or mark the project as a whole as completed), or a check list (for example a grocery list). The options you can set for each task type changes depending on which of the 3 types you select.
Recurrence options – I love that you can specify whether recurring tasks should occur at an absolute interval (a specific day of each month), recur at a specific interval (every 10 days), or recur a certain time after it was last completed (water the houseplants 2 weeks after you last did).
Defer tasks – Tap and hold any task and you get a little popup of options, select Defer here and you get a second popup which allows you to “defer” tasks to today, tomorrow, the day after, the day after that, or no date. I’d prefer if the “day after that” option was “a specific other date”, but this feature is fierce handy for quickly redistributing things when you wind up with to do build up on any given day.
Sharing tasks – Again, not a feature I use much, but I can see great value in it. Tap and hold popup any task, select Share, and you’re prompted to Tweet, Mail or SMS details of the selected task. Particularly handy to pass on details of checklists or projects without going to the hassle of re-entering all the details.
Viewing “Done” tasks – You can define a period after which completed tasks should be deleted in the settings, if you’re so inclined. I like to hang on to mine, as my memory is crap, so that at the end of the day/week I can review and see what exactly I’ve been up to. It’s reassuring to see a nice, busy list instead of a blank screen.
Nearby – I don’t actually use this feature because I leave location services turned off to save battery, but it sounds quite neat. You can assign a location to your tasks, then ask the app to tell you what tasks you can do in or around your current location. I’ve landed home from a trip out shopping more than once to realise I should’ve done one more thing while I was in town, and this featue could be my salvation in cases like this.

If you’re using this or another To Do app and have favourite features not mentioned above, please give them a mention in the comments.

Now, I’m off to mark “Blog post” as done, then move on to the next task. 😉

Bis bald!

Rolling Back a Bad iThing App Update

Yesterday I updated an app on my iPhone and found one of the changes annoying enough that it prompted me to figure out how to roll back an app update for the first time in my long history of iThings and apps (Facebook, I hope you feel proud). If you find yourself in a similar position, the procedures below should help.

Note: I use iTunes on Windows – Google suggests that Time Machine can help resolve the same problem on a Mac, but I’ve not tested.

If you updated your app on your iThing

Delete the unwanted version of the app from your iThing.
Note: If there’s data associated with the app, you’ll lose anything you’ve added since your last sync with iTunes.
Sync with iTunes.
The last version of the app downloaded/sync-ed with iTunes is reinstalled on your iThing. Hooray!

If you updated your app in iTunes on Windows

Delete the unwanted version of the app from your iThing.
Note: If there’s data associated with the app, you’ll lose anything you’ve added since your last sync with iTunes.
Delete the unwanted version of the app in iTunes in the Apps section of your Library.
Go to your Recycle Bin in Windows.
iTunes moved the old app here when it downloaded the new version.
Locate the .ipa file for the app you want to roll back, right-click the file and select Restore.
Go to <Drive Letter>:\Users\<User Name>\Music\iTunes\Mobile Applications, locate the restored .ipa file, and drag it into iTunes.
Sync iTunes with your device, and voila, the older version of the app is back.

My Top Ten Apps for New iThing Owners

A friend recently got an iPhone and was asking me what apps I’d recommend. Caught on the hop, I was hard pushed to say which of the hundreds of apps I’ve installed on mine might be of interest to her. I’m an app junkie and install vast quantities of the things on a weekly basis – many of which, it must be said, aren’t up to much.

Anyway – I decided to spend a little time carefully analysing my catalog to come up with a top 10 of apps I’d recommend to friends starting off with their first iThing, and here it is:

Skype – If your iPhone includes a data plan, you could save some money by making your calls over Skype instead of from the mobile. You can also IM on iPod Touches that don’t have mics.
Eirtext – Again, if you have a data plan but have to pay for texts, save a few bob using this app instead. (ETA: This app appears to have disappeared since this article was written.)
TV Guide – One of my genuinely favourite apps – I’d pay for this if it wasn’t free, but it is. Follow the link for more gushiness.
Remote – Assuming you have a computer with iTunes that you’re syncing your iThing with, this app acts as a remote control for your iTunes media. Save your iThing disk space for fave tunes only, and play the rest from your computer/laptop when you’re home. (We have speakers set up on Airport Extremes at 3 points around the house, so can choose where the sounds will appear and make them follow us around. Way cheaper this way than some of the home entertainment systems available.)
Shazam – If you’re listening to the radio and thinking “I love this song – must find out who it’s by and pick up the album”, Shazam can listen to a few seconds of it, identify it, and give you a link to buy it in the iTunes store. The free version has a limit on the number of uses per month.
Facebook – Is anyone not on Facebook these days? As you’d expect, this is an iThing interface to your Facebook account. You don’t get all the bells and whistles of the normal version (for example, you’re not warned of upcoming birthdays unless you check the event calendar, so you’ll most likely get in trouble for missing one – sorry agan Nick!), but it’s a grand app, and a must have for FB addicts, like me.
Echofon for Twitter – Not so many people on Twitter, but if you are, this is my favourite of the various apps I’ve tried. You can register multiple accounts, and do all the usual stuff with each of them.
Kindle – No need to buy an actual Kindle to read Kindle content – provided you’re out of the glare of the sun, you can do it on your iThing. And if you’re reading across multiple devices (Kindle, laptop, iThing), they’ll sync to the last page you were on across all of them, unless you’ve told it not to. Nifty. I like to have a couple of classics with me in case I get trapped somewhere with nothing to do.
RTÉ News Now – Lets you keep up with the top stories in News, Sport, Business and Entertainment, or watch a live stream of RTE News Now.
Angry Birds Free – The free sampler for Angry Birds. Eventually, you’re going to want to just kick back and play a game on your iThing, and it might as well be this – all the cool kids are playing it. Catapult birds at pigs in bizarre constructions and see how many you can kill. Simple yet deviously tricky all at once. Go on – you know you want to.

These aren’t necessarily my top favourite apps of all time. The list is intended for people getting started with an iThing for the first time, and they’re probably already smarting from having parted with serious money for the pleasure, so all the apps on this list are available for free (though several have paid upgrade versions). They give a general feel for what you can do with your iThing.

If you have a favourite free app you’d consider a must have for new iThing-ers, and I’ve missed it from this list, please mention it in the comments below.

General recommendation from an app addict: If you see an app you think you might like, and it’s free, download it quickly! I have several apps I couldn’t mention here because they’ve since vanished from the iTunes store, which is a crying shame because several of them are much better than still-available paid apps that do “the same thing”.