Tutorials – Page 5795 – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

50 Great Web Alternatives to Desktop Software

Even without the help of the ground breaking features in HTML5, web apps have come of age. While not all web apps rival their desktop counterparts, some clearly do. One solid example being online To-do apps with invoicing and project management apps also competent enough for a neck to neck fight.

We’ve compiled a list of 50 worthy web app alternatives to standalone desktop apps. Let’s take a look!

Like the intro image? Get iPixel 2 and Connected Technology at GraphicRiver.net by Fairhead_Creative and solarseven.

Panda Cloud Protection

Panda Cloud Protection is a cloud based security solution, delivered in a SaaS model that provides complete protection services for the major threat vectors: endpoint, email and web.

Replaces: Conventional AV suites like McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky etc.
Requirements: An Internet Connection
Developer: Panda Security

LastPass

LastPass is an online password manager which, with the help of your master password, remembers and stores all your passwords when you login to websites and facilitates — one click login after first use.

Replaces: KeePass, 1Password (Mac), Roboform etc.
Requirements: A modern web browser.

Google Docs

Google Docs is an online office suite made available for free by Google and is capable of word processing, spreadsheets, presentations & more.

Replaces: Microsoft Office & Open Office
Requirements: A modern web browser & a Google account.
Developer: List developer if you can find him/her

Splashup

Splashup is a cloud based image editing tool with a great set of tools for image manipulation.

Replaces: Adobe Photosop, Gimp etc.
Requirements: Adobe Flash Player
Developer: Faux Labs, Inc.

Google Apps

Google Apps is an affordable enterprise communication suite complete with email, calenders, document editors and more.

Replaces: Microsoft Exchange Server
Requirements: A domain name

Gliffy

Gliffy is a web app that helps us create & share quality flow charts, complex diagrams or technical drawings.

Replaces: Microsoft Vizio

Instacalc

Instacalc is equipped with scientific functions & formulae and is a great replacement for the desktop app.

Replaces: The calculator app

faxZERO

With faxZERO you can send free faxes to USA & Canada and paid faxes across the globe.

Replaces: A fax machine
Developer: Savetz Publishing

Netvibes

Netvibes is the fastest way to keep in touch with your RSS subscriptions and to track your real time web.

Replaces: Feed demon, Net News Wire etc.

Meebo

Meebo is a online multiple protocol chat app that does not need any introductions.

Replaces: Almost all chat clients.

Prezi

Prezi is a great web app to create stunning & professional looking presentation material.

Replaces: Microsoft PowerPoint
Requirements: Adobe Flash Player
Developer: Prezi Inc.

Wufoo

Wufoo makes building forms and survey applications to collect data from users extremely simple.

Replaces: A lot of shareware apps & to an extent IDE’s.
Developer: Infinity Box Inc.

Evernote

Evernote is the popular app of choice to jot down things on the fly.

Replaces: Microsoft OneNote.
Requirements: The dedicated desktop & mobile apps for ease of use.

PDFescape

Read, edit, fill forms and create PDF files with this amazing web app.

Replaces: Adobe Reader
Developer: CT Developing LLC.

Google Voice

After Google opened up international calling, the app has become the powerhouse of voice communication.

Replaces: Skype
Requirements: Google Voice Account which is available only to US residents.

World of Soltaire

World of Solitaire

A windows user never ever gets tired of this good game!

Replaces: Solitaire
Developer: Cosmic Realms

WebFTPer

Upload files, change permissions, manage data all without having to leave the browser.

Replaces: SmartFTP, Transmit etc.

ScreenCastle

Record, share & stream your screenshots without having to download and install anything. ScreenCastle offers 8 different links to watch, embed and share with different image sizes.

Replaces: TechSmith Camtasia Studio
Requirements: Java

Talon

From the stable of the popular web app supermarket Aviary, comes the online screenshot taking app.

Replaces: TechSmith SnagIT
Requirements: A Firefox or Chrome Plugin for enhanced functionality.

SmugMug

Our editor’s favorite photo management app is a great choice for hobbyists & professionals alike.

Replaces: ACD See, Picasa Desktop etc.
Requirements: An account at SmugMug
Developer: SmugMug Inc.

PiratePad

PiratePad is a free online collaborative notepad for group discussion and code editing.

Replaces: WordPad, Tomboy etc
Developer: PiratPartiNet

vixy.net

vixy.net converts your video into FLV format optimized to be played in your portable media player. Preset settings are available for popular portable players.

Replaces: Handbrake
Developer: Farside Inc.

movavi

A great web app to convert multiple video files simultaneously into a variety of popular formats.

Replaces: Videora, Xilisoft Video Converter etc.

Miro Video Converter

In addition to converting videos into a lot of popular video formats, Miro Video Converter can also convert files into the latest WebM format too.

Developer: Participatory Culture Foundation

HootSuite

Right from following your friends to monitoring a social marketing campaign, there is nothing impossible with this web app powered by HTML5.

Replaces: Tweetdeck
Requirements: A modern browser & social network accounts.
Developer: HootSuite Media Inc.

mindmeister

mindmeister is an upgrade to the good old napkin system to capture ideas. It’s also possible to export mind maps, edit with another app (desktop or web) and import the same for further edits.

Replaces: Mindomo, Simple Mind etc.
Developer: Meister Labs

Balsamiq

Balsamiq is a simple & powerful web app to design UI prototypes & wireframes ideal for designers & developers.

Replaces: Denim, OmniGraffle
Developer: Balsamiq Studios LLC.

Kodingen

Kodingen is a web based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that supports coding and version control of apps in a variety of top programming languages.

Replaces: Dreamweaver, Visual Studio.

Dabbleboard

A picture is worth a thousand words, and Dabbleboard lets you draw your ideas as pictures quickly. Others can also contribute to the idea on the board too.

Replaces: NotateIt
Developer: Dabbleboard Inc.

Piwik

Piwik is a self hosted, open source (GPL licensed) real time web analytics software script which has the same set of features of Google Analytics.

Replaces: Woopra
Requirements: A web server

Oprius

Oprius is a sales and contact Management Software web app that lets you can access your contacts from anywhere.

Replaces: Microsoft Outlook
Developer: Oprius Software Inc.

SugarCRM

Available in both commercial and open source flavors, SugarCRM is a competent Customer Relationship Management solution.

Replaces: vTiger, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and more.
Requirements: A web server for the open source version.

OpenBravo

OpenBravo is a web-based integrated Enterprise Management system for managing your business right from the Point of Sales to Warehouse Management.

Replaces: Microsoft Dynamics NAV, SAP
Requirements: A web server
Developer: Openbravo, S.L.U.

Liquid Planner

Liquid Planner is a project management web app known for its ability to make allowances for sliding estimates for tasks with inexact completion dates.

Replaces: Microsoft Project
Developer: Liquid Planner Inc.

Less Accounting

Less Accounting is a great way to keep track of your expenses, income, invoicing and taxing needs. Less time spent on book keeping and more time to focus on your business.

Replaces: Quick Books
Developer: Less Everything

Less TimeSpent

No more sticky notes and no more cluttered spreadsheets. LessTimeSpent tracks your work in real time, so no more over worked & underpaid hours.

Replaces: actiTime, Billings.
Developer: Less Everything

Magna CRM

Magna CRM is a simple & intuitive on demand CRM solution to store business contacts, leads, opportunities in addition to scheduling & managing tasks.

Developer: OnClick Solutions Ltd.

Goplan

Goplan lets you keep track of your projects and collaborate with your colleagues securely through an intuitive user interface & is used by famous companies like Mozilla & Boxee among others.

Replaces: Microsoft Project
Developer: Webreakstuff Lda.

TeuxDeux

TeuxDeux is a visually compelling and highly usable to-do app developed with the aim to reboot how contemporary Getting Things Done apps work.

Replaces: Things
Developer: swissmiss & Fictive Kin

Springpad

Whether on your computer or smart phone, Springpad helps you remember stuff — places, websites, books, recipes, ideas, anything — all in one place so you can make better decisions.

Replaces: Bento
Requirements: List
Developer: Spring Partners

iClippy

iClippy captures all your copy and cut operations & automatically copies them to the iClippy service. The web app can also capture from the screen and the scanner as well.

Replaces: Ditto, Presto.
Developer: iClippy LLC.

Photoshop.com

Edit, organize and share your photos with the Photoshop.com web app which with the familiar interface, is a close enough to be a light weight Photoshop. It’s free and comes with 1 GB free storage.

Replaces: Adobe Photoshop
Requirements: An Adobe ID
Developer: Adobe

Toodledo

For those of us who are procrastinators, Toodledo is a special tool that analyzes dates, priorities, time estimates, and other characteristics to create a customized schedule of the best use of your time.

Requirements: A Toodledo account

Zootool

Zootool is a cool way to collect, organize and share your favourite images, videos, documents and links from all over the web.

Replaces: Desktop & browser based bookmark apps
Developer: OpenWe GmbH

Livemocha

Livemocha is the world’s largest online language learning community and offers intelligently designed learning programs designed by native speakers of the language you are interested in.

Replaces: Rosetta Stone

Cramberry

Cramberry helps you study with online flash cards. Cramberry analyzes your progress during the study and shows only the cards you need to study.

Replaces: Popling
Developer: Lateral Communications Inc.

CliffsNotes

Literature can be pretty boring. CliffsNotes’ guides present and explain literary and other works in a condensed & simple form online.

Developer: Wiley Publishing.

Toggl

With Toggl, you can track time with a single click and switch easily between different tasks and create reports at the same time.

Developer: apprise

Mibbit

For long mIRC has been the chosen client to access the grand daddy of IM, the IRC (Internet Relay Chat). With Mibbit, there is no need to know the complex login and channel commands and even newbies can start using IRC in no time..

Replaces: mIRC
Developer: Mibbit Limited.

put.io

Put.io is a storage service that allows you to upload your medial files & and lets you stream them immediately as and when you please. You can use it to stream video, listen to your music and can also share your library with friends.

Interested in checking out more desktop app alternatives? Check out our earlier list of 15 desktop app alternatives.

Advanced Online Tests with Zoho Challenge

When you’re working every day to evaluate test submissions, it can prove to be a very long and daunting task that looms over you until that last paper is marked. It need not be a worry thanks a very nice web app from the app giant that is Zoho, Zoho Challenge.

It is a new way to handle submissions in a streamlined environment. Find out more after the fold.

Like the intro. graphic? Get “Team with Speech Bubbles” at GraphicRiver.net by solarseven.

Overview

Zoho Challenge is a web app that allows you to create, customise and evaluate online tests and recruitment applications. It is perfectly tailored to the task at hand and modestly priced, it is a good asset to every establishment – for one reason or another.

Overview

With great features to handle test assignment, advanced customisation and much more, it can prove very useful in offering a way to better monitor and examine your candidates, giving you time to worry less about presentation and more about the questions themselves.

Pricing

Zoho Challenge follows the highly successful freemium business model. Though free plans can create tests that have up to 100 test takers, each test is accessible publicly and there is a limit of 50 tests per account. Though this is quite a big number and should be enough for anyone, it would probably be best to upgrade to a higher plan if you are part of an educational or business establishment and require a person to be allocated to manually evaluate tests with descriptive answers.

Pricing

Premium plans also have more security in place with regards to the testing itself. Overall, the app is priced extremely well and it is an affordable investment to anyone that has to complete this often.

User-Interface

Zoho Challenge’s interface is quite clean but can also feel a little outdated at times. Using the app is a nice experience and the few design flaws are barely noticeable when placed with the quality of the app itself. It rarely requires a page load as each page is loaded and displayed inline, meaning that important assets are already loaded – speeding overall page load time. The app can feel a little too cluttered at times but it is probably for good reason; it is easy to understand how to use the app as everything is perfectly explained.

User-Interface

Getting Started

The app offers several ways to register and login; you can use authentication from other services you probably use such as Google, Yahoo! and Facebook. It’s quick and easy to get started and I simply signed in using my Yahoo! account. Once you’ve chosen a name for your Zoho Challenge account, that will comprise the publicly accessible URL where your tests are shown when accessed by other people. There is no manual email activation required so once you’ve created the account, you are ready to go.

External User Authentication

Creating Tests

The first page you are taken to after registering for your account is the “Tests” section of the administration panel. Since there’s none already created, it’s time to make one. The process for this is extremely straightforward and is a concept that can be grasped immediately; add a test, add sections, add questions.

Adding Tests

Once a name has been chosen for the test, you’re then taken to another page where you can see an overview of all questions already created. Since there is none, we can add them. There’s a range of different field types available depending on the sort of information you’d like to receive.

Adding Questions

It’s pretty simple to add the questions and can be done quite quickly if you have questions already written that you can simply copy and paste. All in all, it’s quite a straightforward and pleasant experience to use Zoho Challenge to create tests themselves.

Question Grouping

Questions that could be used again for other tests can be grouped and sorted into a bank where it is possible, when creating a new test, to simply import certain questions from that bank. This is useful if, for example, you’re using Zoho Challenge as a way of testing job suitability for different roles and there is certain information that you must know from all tests. Questions can also be shared to multiple evaluators.

Managing Templates

Another nice little feature of Zoho Challenge is the ability to create tests that are based on others. This is quite good if you’d like to further re-assign your test but to a different group of candidates. You can also change most aspects of the child form and manage questions and sections themselves, allowing you to add and remove questions – based on the needs of the new candidates. Once you’ve created your first test, when creating a new one, you are now given the option of creating one from scratch or importing another.

Importing Questions

Customization

The questions themselves can be customized heavily and as if the various different question types are not good enough already, you also have an array of options available to format the questions to your needs. There is also a WYSIWYG editor for each question so that you can be sure of what your question will look like before the assignment of the test, and add useful things to your question like links, highlighting, lists and above all, smileys. Its advanced form logic is already suited to the actual answering of tests rather than gathering regular input so it has a nice selection of options relating to the sorts of input you can allow from candidates.

Customizing Questions

Tests can also be assigned an amount of time in which the candidates must complete it and can be blocked from access until the date you specify. You can customise the pass percentage too, allowing a lot of work to be already done for you by the time you actually then proceed to evaluate the forms.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my thoughts on Zoho Challenge are quite high. It is obviously a niche market for this type of app but it plays its part well – allowing people full control over their online tests. Though the interface can seem a little confusing at times, it does not hinder the overall usability of the app. Its knowledge of test input fields is also a credit as it takes all of the good things HTML forms are useful for and makes them suitable for tests.

It is priced extremely well for a web app nowadays and even the highest plan is affordable to establishments who only have a small budget for examination. Overall, my review probably doesn’t do the app justice, but it is really good at working with online tests. It would definitely be a necessity to those who handle testing regularly.

Efficient Task Management with TaskAnt

There’s loads of task management apps around nowadays. Some are good for different things: some provide you with a highly advanced yet complicated way to manage your projects, some keep track of your time, and some are just so simple and effective that you find yourself spending more time working than worrying. TaskAnt is one of these.

TaskAnt, complete with a neat interface and simplified methods, allows you to manage your tasks in a way that is neither confusing nor advanced, but it works very well. Find out more after the fold.

Overview

TaskAnt is a task management app with a difference. It makes the process of assigning and managing tasks so much easier than some other apps and does so well, in a format that resembles a conventional email client. It claims to save time on project management and is easy to use, ensuring that less time is spent fiddling about with paperwork and more time spent on the project at hand.

Overview

With an upcoming iPad and iPhone app, it will soon be even simpler to use and the availability of the app increased, allowing you to take your work anywhere.

User-Interface

The sheer brilliance of the app is derived from its great user-interface. It takes several elements that really work in web-based email clients, this being really visible from the overall presentation app. The fact that it mimicks a format most of us are more than familiar with makes it all the easier to use and makes the transition to TaskAnt from other task management apps that extra bit easier. In terms of design, I really can’t complain.

User-Interface

The design suits the app well and nothing ever seems out of place. Almost all sections of the app are loaded asynchronously, which then leads to a seamless experience that doesn’t require additional page-loading – quickening the use of the app so that the user can spend less time waiting for the page to load.

Pricing

One of the great things about TaskAnt is that it’s completely free during beta, unlike most other apps that charge their users for access to their apps or limit the amount of certain items that the user can add in the app. Though this often works and gets a good amount of users signed up and using the app as a sort-of trial, there’s nothing like an app that gives you both freedom in price and freedom in usability.

Some app developers take the fact that they’re giving it away for free as a go-ahead to spend as little time concentrating on the overall quality of the app as possible, but I think that TaskAnt is a very good exception. Even though the app is free, it does not compromise on the benefits you would receive if they started charging for usage.

Getting Started

Creating an account for your team over on TaskAnt is simple, once you’ve grabbed yourself an invite. Because the app is currently in a private beta, you’ll need to get an account by retweeting their latest Twitter (@taskant) post and they’ll direct message you an invite. This may take a day or so but once you’ve got the invite, you’re ready to go.

Twitter (@taskant)

You’ll be asked for some basic contact details and you’ll then be able to enter some info about your team, your first TaskAnt project, and then asked to choose a login URL. When you’ve done this, you’ll be able to begin using the app.

Creating Tasks

Because the first project is already created during the registration process, once you login to the app, you can start taking advantage of the really cool features of the app straight away. To create your first task, simply click the button at the top of the sidebar and a really nice overlay appears.

Creating Tasks

From here, it’s possible to set due dates, assign the task to a specific project, choose a collaborator to assign it to if you’re working on a group project, and also rate a task based on the priority. Compared to other task management apps, the options provided with task are minimal but it works perfectly due to the nature and simplified form the app takes.

Managing Tasks

It’s pretty easy to keep on top of all tasks within TaskAnt. Tasks are sorted as if they were emails and it’s possible to filter these so that you only view tasks assigned specifically for you. You can “star” important tasks so that they are easily accessible when the time comes for you to find them quickly. This can be quite useful when you or someone else assigns a large number of tasks to you on a regular basis and you want to choose those that are the most important so that it is easy to access them when you need to.

Starred Tasks

There is also a really handy search feature that allows you to search tasks based on a set criteria and show only these. This is great for when you want to, for example, show only those that are completed. It’s merely a case of extending the search field and selecting the various elements of criteria that you require. Overall, it’s really plain to see that a lot of work has gone into this element and it works really well for the app.

Searching Tasks

Adding Collaborators

If you’d like to add more people to the project, it’s simply a case of accessing the “People” section of the settings and then adding certain people to your TaskAnt account, and then choosing the projects you wish for them to be assigned to. You can also add users as administrators so that they have control over the projects too.

Adding Collaborators

Final Thoughts

With so many task management apps available, it’s always hard to find the perfect one that fits either your business or your project. TaskAnt is really the perfect way to manage projects whilst building a good breakdown of the tasks and the assignees. The interface is one of the best I have come across and it works really well with the format.

It’s clear that the developers have pulled out the stops in terms of building an app that is unique yet highly functional, and one that has the potential of being highly successful.

Four Writing Apps for the iPad

“One upon a time …” Well, ok, you wouldn’t start a story like that anymore. You’ll probably have a much more striking idea for the opening which will make the reader of your short story or novel or poem crave to read more. But if the muse strikes you, where do you write it down? What if you don’t happen to have pen and paper or a smartphone with you? Or: how do you write professionally while not at your desk?

With National Novel Writing Month coming up, a 30 day frenzy of writing an entire novel, I took a look at the options the iPad offers us. And even if you’re not ready to lose yourself in NaNoWriMo, some of these writing apps might just fit your needs anyway if you are a serious journal keeper or have other professional writing needs.

What To Look For In a Writing App

Since there are many different types of writers out there, no single app will fit all their needs. But these are the criteria I’ve been looking for in preparing for NaNoWriMo:

the ability to flesh out characters and scenes in separate documents, which should be easily accessible while writing
to have separate documents per chapter, but all chapters to a story should be assembled within one larger “container” so there will be no mix-ups if one’s writing more than one story at a time (or separate articles or journals)
the ability to sync what has been written as comfortably as possible to a desktop computer or at least to an online service from where it’s accessible

Of course there are other criteria, but these are the most important ones for me. Taking these into account, let’s look at the following four apps.

Chapters for iPad

Chapters for iPad is an excellent application when it comes to chronicles or to keeping a journal. If desired, different larger events – for example a journal of life in general and a journal of a trip – can be separated into different chapters (documents). Within a chapter, entries are done chronologically, but with the option to adjust dates so entries for past events are no difficulty.

I am unsure as how to practical the app is for actual novel writing; it certainly doesn’t fit my writing style. But for a journal, it comes close to perfect. The interface is well designed and the app allows for a number of adjustments, ranging from font-size and font-face over the adjustable color of the background to the ability to password protect whatever you have written. I especially like that I can attach photos to entries, which in my opinion is essential for keeping a journal of my life’s events.

Chapters for iPad

The export options are also noteworthy: you can send your entries to Google Docs, you can email them or create PDF’s or complete web pages (the two latter can be accessed via the Apps tab in iTunes and they include your photos too!).

Verdict: Chapters is not really a novel writing app, but an excellent journal app. As long as you’re waiting for Momento to come out on the iPad, Chapters can be a worthy replacement (or if you neither want or need social media integration, it could be THE journaling app for you).

My Writing Nook

My Writing Nook allows for separate entries, which are all stored in one location. There are no different notebooks to separate content belonging to different stories or articles. Instead, you can give each entry a different color label, which can serve to distinguish quickly between character notes, chapters, or research done on a subject. More importantly, the colors serve an ordering purpose – all notes with the same color code are grouped together. Through this application of color coding even different stories can be easily separated from each other.

My Writing Nook

Aspects to also consider in My Writing Nook are the capabilities to switch between a dark and light screen mode (good for writing in the evening or at night), to set a password and to sync via Google Docs. Also worth mentioning is the app’s capability to look up words in an online dictionary or thesaurus – a feature which My Writing Nook shares with only Manuscript, a much more advanced (and pricier) app.

Verdict: if you are looking for color coding and the ability to adjust font-faces, sizes and colors, but don’t need extra sorting or filtering options, My Writing Nook might just fit your needs.

Manuscript for iPad

Manuscript for iPad comes with a beautiful interface that spells novel writing at every opportunity. It’s where beauty marries function and a wonderful writing app emerges. Content can be divided into separate books (and they look just like books too); you can add a pitch for every story and a synopsis. Above all, you have index cards. Doesn’t sound exciting, but if you have ever juggled different characters, chapter concepts, story lines etc you will appreciate the concept of having them neatly arranged on virtual cards (on the Mac, Scrivener uses the same formula). You can color code them to represent different content.

Manuscript Cards

In the actual writing screen you have your chapters to the left with a short summary of what’s happening. The left pane can disappear and so you’ll have the entire screen for your writing, distraction free. A specialty of Manuscript are the build in research tools. You can quickly jump into Google, Wikipedia or the thesaurus with just two taps. While looking up stuff so easily rocks, it would be great if I could also import that content, say as an index card (thinking of Scrivener again here).

Manuscript for iPad

When it comes to settings, you can only chose between two different fonts and different paper backgrounds for the writing area. Nothing spectacular, but the again the question is – do you really need more? Manuscript syncs with a service that is quite popular, Dropbox, and offers export in HTML, RTF and TXT format.

Verdict: Manuscript does exactly as its name implies – it makes it very easy and comfortable to write a novel by providing a number of needed tools (synopsis, index cards), which make the use of the app fun and engaging.

Notebooks

This app came as a surprise – or to be specific: the wealth of functions Notebooks offers took me by surprise. I had almost decided on Manuscript as my go to app for the upcoming NaNoWriMo, but Notebooks brings on some serious competition.

Since I can’t dive into all the features it had to offer, let me focus on the most remarkable ones: first, the ability to structure content. On multiple levels! You can have separate notebooks for different stories and within a notebook, you can have notes (in my example called chapters) and books, which in turn can again contain notes and books. This way, you can generate a hierarchical structure to contain your content (did I mention you can color code books?).

Notebooks for iPad

Second, you can also generate to-do lists, that can hold items with due dates. If an item is due today, the checkbox turns orange and an extra “book” appears that shows your due items. In addition, the app icon sports a red badge with the number of due items. By tapping list items, you can either mark them as being processed, done or delete them.

The app is also available for the iPhone, with both the iPad and iPhone version supporting various synchronization methods. In the next version of Notebooks, Dropbox support is planned as well as support for tags and handwritten notes.

Verdict: Notebooks for iPad is a very mighty app with excellent content-structuring features. The task management integration allows for reminders about research and other tasks, which can be handy if you just want to remind yourself of something later but not significantly disturb your workflow by changing to another app.

Conclusion

It’s hard to recommend any of the reviewed apps – not because they are not useful, but because every writer will have different preferences. For eager journal keepers, Chapters will be the go-to app with its photo integration and date-based entry approach. For simple writing needs that exceed the included Notes app by Apple, My Writing Nook might suffice – it’s color coding capabilities and interface adjustment options lift it above free apps like Simplenote as well.

For really serious novel writers, Manuscript will definitely be worth trying out with its very structured approach to writing; and Notebooks for iPad might appeal to both novel writers and researchers (journalists, students, bloggers etc) with its wealth of included features.

15 Nifty Navigation Apps

The iPhone’s advanced GPS capabilities make it an awesome companion for getting from A to B. There are tons of apps that provide advanced interfaces and turn-by-turn directions exactly like you’d find on a dedicated GPS device.

Below we’ll take a look at fifteen of the best navigation apps we could find for the road, the trails and even the air! Note that several navigation apps require subscription but we did our homework and tried to provide subscription information where appropriate.

The apps below are mostly for the U.S. but several have identical versions for other countries.

AT&T Navigator

“AT&T Navigator transforms your iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 into a voice-guided navigation system with turn-by-turn driving directions. (AT&T Navigator is currently not supported on the iPad.) A subscription charge will appear on your AT&T wireless bill. You can choose between monthly or annual subscription options.”

Price: Free
Subscription: $9.99/month or $69.99/year

AT&T Navigator

MotionX GPS Drive

“MotionX-GPS Drive turns your iPhone into the next-generation car and pedestrian navigation solution. MotionX introduces new features not yet seen on mobile devices, including “door-to-door” personal navigation tools, user interface innovations that greatly simplify the navigation experience, and integration of live search capabilities.”

Price: $0.99
Subscription: Includes 30 Days of Live Voice Guidance ($24.99/year)

MotionX GPS Drive

Waze – Social GPS

“Waze – A social driving and navigation app that connects you to other drivers in order to get all the real-time road information you need…every time you get into the car! Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter integrations.”

Price: Free
Subscription: None

Waze – Social GPS

TomTom U.S.A.

“Get the TomTom navigation app and have smart, easy-to-use, turn-by-turn navigation on your iPhone or iPod touch, whenever and wherever you need it. Seamless navigation while calling, new, updated maps, background navigation instructions, and route sharing.”

Price: $39.99
Subscription: None (pay for Map updates)

TomTom U.S.A.

Where To?

“Where To? makes it incredibly easy to locate the closest steakhouse, bank branch, billiard club or anything else you may be looking for, at the drop of a hat! Think of it as a traditional GPS device built right into your iPhone. Includes more than 700 customizable categories and 2,200 brands, allowing you to find whatever you want without any typing.”

Price: $2.99
Subscription: None

Where To?

iGO My way

“iGO My way 2009 for the iPhone offers a trendy and entertaining navigation solution at your hands. The software can be easily learned even by first-time users, who have never tried GPS navigation before.?On the other hand it offers a rich and valuable set of features and functions that most users demand. Numerous smart functions take individual needs into consideration, helping the driver to use the software more quickly and effectively.”

Price: $49.99
Subscription: None (free map updates until December 2010)

iGO My way

skobbler US

“Skobbler is the first TRULY free voice-assisted turn-by-turn navigator to offer true street level navigation like those overpriced giant GPS company apps you have been eyeing but don’t want to shell out the hard cash for. Oh you have heard the *FREE* story before and then been caught by an in-app purchase that made you upgrade to keep using it or the need to subscribe after 30 days? Not Skobbler. Skobbler is free. No in-app purchase, no subscription. ”

Price: Free
Subscription: None

skobbler US

MapQuest Navigator

“Based on the foundation from a brand you know and trust, MapQuest Navigator sets the standard for voice-guided personal navigation on the iPhone. We’ve taken the most useful features for navigation and packed them into a simple, intuitive application that makes getting to your destinations as easy as possible.”

Price: $0.99
Subscription: 30 days for $3.99, 90 days for $9.99, or 365 days for $29.99

MapQuest Navigator

NAVIGON MobileNavigator

“With the NAVIGON MobileNavigator you can transform your iPhone into a fully functional mobile navigation system that is every bit as good as the multi-award-winning personal navigation devices from NAVIGON in terms of its user-friendliness and features.”

Price: $59.99
Subscription: None

NAVIGON MobileNavigator

Gokivo GPS Navigator

“Find your way simply and easily behind the wheel with turn-by-turn visual and voice-guided GPS navigation. Enjoy the latest NAVTEQ maps and integrated real-time traffic conditions monitoring for the most convenient timesaving routes. Find nearby restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, hotels, hospitals, theaters, plus millions of updated points of interest (POI) – all powered by Yahoo! Local search.”

Price: Free
Subscription: $4.99 per month or $32.99 per year

Gokivo GPS Navigator

CoPilot Live North America

“CoPilot Live is one of the most highly acclaimed mobile GPS navigation apps available, widely recognized by the experts as the best blend of features and performance for an amazing price. With complete, detailed street maps of the U.S. and Canada stored on-board your iPhone, not downloaded each trip, there’s no need to rely on your mobile service for navigation or risk running up expensive roaming and data charges. ”

Price: $19.99
Subscription: None for maps, required for traffic (free monthly map improvement downloads directly to your iPhone and free quarterly full map updates through December 2010 )

CoPilot Live North America

Magellan RoadMate

“With Magellan’s Premium Car Kit with built-in GPS receiver (sold separately), transform your iPhone and even iPod touch into turn-by-turn GPS navigator with spoken street names. The Magellan RoadMate App for iPhone and iPod touch uses the same easy-to-use interface as our dedicated personal navigation devices. Best of all, the Magellan App is a one-time purchase with no subscription or monthly fees.”

Price: $49.99
Subscription: None

Magellan RoadMate

Mobile Maps US

“Sygic Mobile Maps is the most complete turn-by-turn, voice guided navigation software for your iPhone. All maps of US from Tele Atlas are with you on your phone. Text-to-speech tells you the name of the next street so you can fully focus on the road. Speed camera crowd-sourcing protects your wallet.”

Price: $29.99
Subscription: None

Mobile Maps US

Backpacker GPS Trails

“Backpacker’s GPS Trails iPhone app doubles as a portable trip database and personal navigation device for your outdoor lifestyle: hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, trail running, mountaineering, or for just basic trail navigation. Locate trips: Search by name or park, or select from trails near your current location—more than 3,500 Backpacker-endorsed adventures across North America.”

Price:$9.99
Subscription: None

Backpacker GPS Trails

Air Navigation Pro

“Air Navigation is a real-time aircraft navigation application with integrated flight planning. Using the GPS receiver (integrated or external) and accelerometers of the iPhone it can emulate different types of real IFR or VFR aircraft navigation instruments. Using the navigation plan editor, you can prepare and store navigation plans and use them in the cockpit with the moving map. Using the flight recorder, you can store your flight path and altitude and display it in Google Earth.”

Price: $37.99
Subscription: None

Air Navigation Pro

Conclusion

No matter how bad you are with directions, the fifteen apps should definitely be enough to get you to wherever you happen to be going.

Leave a comment below and let us know what your favorite GPS app is and why. Also be sure to give your opinion of any of the apps above that you’ve tried!

Join Me At The Voices That Matter iOS Dev Conference Coupon Code

Learn from Industry Leaders Who Literally “Wrote the Books” on iOS Development

Coming to you direct from Addison-Wesley Professional, which has published some of the leading books in the field, the Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference is taking place October 16-17 in Philadelphia!

Take a look around at all the tech books you have on your physical and digital bookshelves. If you’ve been developing for the Mac, the iPhone and the iPad – chances are good that you rely on books by Steve Kochan, Erica Sadun, Aaron Hillegass and Jeff LaMarche. Even more, you probably follow the Tweets and blogs of folks like Graham Lee, Mike Lee, Matt Long and Chris Adamson. Wouldn’t it be great to meet and learn from these thought-leaders in person? Now you can at the Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference!

You’ll acquire skills for mastering iOS development during a weekend of robust educational sessions. Our speakers are eager to share their knowledge, answer your questions and address your application needs. You’ll participate in interactive discussions that provide the perfect environment for an unbiased and effective learning experience.

SPECIAL SAVINGS! As someone that reads this blog, you can save $100 off the conference fee by providing priority code PHBLOGS when registering. Register Now!

Coupon Code: PHBLOGS

CMS Comparison: Which Content Management System Should You Use?

Once you have found a company to host your website, you will need to select an appropriate content management system (CMS), which is the software used to organize your website, to efficiently produce new articles, and to easily maintain old content. I built one of my first websites using the Dreamweaver CMS, and I later progressed to learning how to use Joomla and WordPress. There are many excellent open source software options on the market such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, as well as paid options such as Dreamweaver.

Your options for content management systems are extensive, so think carefully about your business requirements to narrow down your choice. It’s tempting to get a CMS with all the bells and whistles, but your business requirements may not warrant using such a sophisticated system.

To help you decide, I’ve reviewed the two CMSs that I use on a regular basis: WordPress and Joomla. Both are open source software, which means that they are issued under a license that is generally made available to the public for free, and allows users to make changes to its code as needed.

WordPress

WordPress is a blog publishing platform used by both bloggers and businesses (including large corporate organizations). It has become very popular because it is easy to install, simple to use, and quite flexible. You can use WordPress to publish both blog posts and pages. The blog posts are usually published by date order, while the pages that are not dated are used to provide static business information such as a “Contact Us” page, information on your products and services, a privacy page, and a site map.

Along with its ease of use, you will find a slew of resources and a big community to talk shop about WordPress. You can grab the latest WordPress download from the official site. Updates occur on a fairly regular basis.

– Themes

There are a lot of free WP themes available for your WordPress blog, but one of the downsides of a free theme is that it will probably be used by a lot of other people. For your business, it’s a good idea to invest in a premium theme that helps your website to stand out from the crowd and better promote your business brand.

WordPress Free Themes – Visit the official WordPress theme directory to select from a range of free themes.
Woo Themes – For an upfront or monthly fee, access a range of premium WordPress themes.

– Plugins

Depending on the requirements for your website, you will want to investigate the vast range of plugins available. Plugins are additional modules that add to the functionality of WordPress.

Here are some WordPress plugins that I like to use:

SEO – Optimizes your titles for SEO and automatically generate meta tags.
Sitemap Generator – Automates your sitemap as you add new content to your blog. A site map allows the search engines to crawl through your website easily and add your pages to their index.
Ad Networks – If you are creating a blog that displays advertising from the various networks such as Google AdSense, a plugin such as Ad Networks will help you to manage, position, and rotate the ads on your blog.

Other useful plugins are those for tags and clouds, related blog posts, and comments.

Joomla

Joomla is a popular content management system with extensive functionality. It is one of the top open source software systems available for building websites. Joomla had its origins as part of Mambo, and later broke away as a separate software project.

When I first evaluated Joomla several years ago, I found it similar to other tools in terms of features. There has been some debate over the functionality and architecture of Joomla and its rivals, but most people will agree that Joomla is very good at what it does. You can get the latest Joomla download from the official site.

– Themes

JoomlaShack and JoomlArt are both popular places for purchasing Joomla themes. JoomlaShack offers both free themes and options to purchase premium themes, while JoomlArt requires you to join as a member to access themes.

– Extensions

Joomla offers a whole range of extensions if you are looking for additional features for your website. Extensions may consist of components, modules, or plugins and consist of both free and paid options. Some common extensions include tools for building an online community, for adding a forum or chat facility, and eCommerce functions such as shopping carts and payment facilities.

Summary

Choosing a CMS is important because it will determine the look and feel of your website, and will be the interface for your webmaster to update and maintain your web content. While WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Dreamweaver are all excellent content management systems, they do have different strengths and weaknesses that should be taken into consideration when choosing the CMS you want to use to maintain your business website.

With firmware 4.1, the iPhone battery lasts half? Here’s how to solve!

There are many users (Including me) that since yesterday after updating to 4.1 ios complain sensational drop in battery, of course, the iPhone 3G and iPhone … 4 in this article we explain how to address the problem at the moment waiting for Apple launched an update for this bugs.

Practically, the problem it brings gamecenter platform developed by Apple to play with friends from anywhere in the world from our iPhone. Game center even if not used remains in the background that is open in our multitasking consuming so our battery in half the time … To resolve at the moment waiting for what will Apple just hit on account and to log out by clicking “EXIT”

[apps iPhone] Scarface Last Stand .ipa Download

Quick Tip: 10 Minute Crystal Explosion

Illustrator, unlike Photoshop, does not have many functions allowing you to randomize elements of your design. However, those that it has, can be just as powerful. We will use just these tools to create a simple, yet appealing, T-shirt or wallpaper design.

Continue reading “Quick Tip: 10 Minute Crystal Explosion”

Exclusive Freebie Pack – Vector Windows

We have a new set of vector illustrations available exclusively from Vectortuts+ as freebie for anyone to download. Crafted by Iaroslav Lazunov, you will find a great selection of vector illustrations in this set of detailed windows. There are numerous windows in different styles, which you can use as icons, framework for illustrations and more. Learn more at the jump!

Continue reading “Exclusive Freebie Pack – Vector Windows”

Poll: Would You Like to Attend an Envato Meetup?

Last week, in Chicago, we held our first ever Envato meetup with our Australian, American, Canadian, and European staff. During the week, we held a community meetup with a group of Envato authors and readers at a local pub. We really enjoyed getting to meet our community and would like to judge your interest for more meetups. Would you like to attend a meetup if we held one in your area?

Right now, we are considering holding an initial meetup in New York City and possibly additional events in other major metropolitan areas. Please feel free to cast your vote and let us know what you think in the comments.

Continue reading “Poll: Would You Like to Attend an Envato Meetup?”

Field Mixer Throwdown – Audio Premium

In this week’s Audio Premium video, Jonah Guelzo compares two field mixers – the PSC AlphaMix and the Wendt X4.

To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

Here’s an extract from Jonah’s video:

Existing Premium members can log-in and stream or download the video. Not a Plus member? Join now.

Workshop #119: Holding Maps by Tony Mena

At Audiotuts+ we regularly put up a reader track for workshopping and critique (find out how to submit a track). This is how it works: you upload your song, and every week or so we’ll publish one here and step away from the podium. The floor is yours to talk about the track and how the artist can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. They have put their track (and their heart and soul) in your hands to learn and get useful feedback.

Do you enjoy the song or track itself? Does it have potential?
Can the arrangement be improved?
How did you find the mix? What would you do differently?
What do you enjoy about the rhythm track? What can be done to improve it?
Is the choice of instruments relevant and effective for the style/song?
Are the lyrics (if any) effective? Does the style, arrangement and genre of the song suit them?
Can you suggest any specific techniques that might improve the track?
Do you have any other constructive feedback?

Holding Maps by Tony Mena

Artist’s website: myspace.com/tonyidigmusicmena

Description of the track:

Here’s a poetic song that I intentionally wanted to have a very simple arrangement.

Download audio file (HoldingMaps.mp3)

Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section.

Submit Your Tracks for Workshopping

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them using this form.

Poll: Would You Like to Attend an Envato Meetup?

Would you like to attend a meetup if we held one in your area? Right now, we are considering holding an initial meetup in New York City and possibly additional events in other major metropolitan areas.

If you’d like to vote in the poll, or make a comment, head over to the original post on Psdtuts+.