Welcome to our weekly installment of Picks of the Week at iSource where we provide our expanded coverage of Apple accessories and applications Here we will promote our favorite iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple TV related items, as well as bring you occasional tips and tricks. Hopefully many of our favorite items will also be of interest to you. Please feel free to comment on our selections, and suggest picks of your own. Check out this week’s picks after the break.
Ultimate Sharks [ v 1.1 ]
Picked by: AliciaB
My Pick this Week goes well with the topic of education and iPad apps: Ultimate Sharks for iPad. Although pricey at $9.99 it’s worth every penny and deserves the praise and attention it has gotten as one of better apps for learning on iPad.
The content is of course focused on the topic of sharks and has seemingly endless content of the various types Hammerhead, Great White and lesser known ones like Lemon or Blue Shark. Of course there’s loads of pictures, videos, maps mixed with great effects and comprehensive info on habitat, physiology and habits. But what made it a particularly enjoyable experience on my first run-through of the app was it Air Playability. I was able to enjoy the videos in high-quality on my own TV screen via Apple TV – a wonderful invention! If this doesn’t fascinate kids (of all ages) then I don’t know what will.
$9.99 [ iTunes ]
Spirited Away [ v 0.7.2 ]
Picked by: Alex Jordan
My pick this week is Spirited Away, a small application that lives in your menu bar. It’s sole purpose is to hide your unused, open application windows after a set period of time. You can set exemptions for applications you would like to have visible at all times, as well as the length of time before Spirited Away hides them. It’s a nifty, niche little app, but it gets the clutter out of the way and helps you get back to work. I find it invaluable.
Spirited Away is a free download from Macupdate.
Free [ Link ]
Better Touch Tool
Picked by: Joe Tomasone
As a newcomer to Mac from a 20+ year association with Windows, there were a few things I missed from Windows 7, and a few things that I immediately thought could be improved with my new MacBook Air: Namely, I missed Windows 7’s ability to snap windows to the sides of the screen, and I wanted an easy way to make a window in Lion full screen (without having to click the arrows). I found them both in a great utility called Better Touch Tool.
Better Touch Tool is a free (donations accepted) utility that allows you to define touchpad gestures and map them to different system actions. For example, I configured a three-finger tap to have the active window enter full screen mode, and a three fingered click to display the login screen. There are dozens of gesture and action combinations, seemingly limited to your imagination and desire. A separate configuration screen enables Windows 7-like snapping. You can also map keyboard combinations and Magic Mouse gestures. Better Touch Tool has made my new MacBook a lot more pleasurable to use, and compliments Lion nicely.
Better Touch Tool is available for free (donations accepted via PayPal) at http://www.boastr.de/.
Free [ Link ]
Werdsmith [ v 1.1 ]
Picked by: Thomas
Werdsmith mocks me because it knows very well that I have trouble writing and growing a moustache, and yet I can’t bring myself to hate it. The concept of separating written text into basic ideas, current projects (with projected word counts as the measure of success), and then completed projects is a pretty cool idea. Not to say that the more words you write the better you become, but that it’s always interesting when apps try to psyche you into putting words on a page and make you feel like you’re getting something done.
Werdsmith starts out very empty, but I get the feeling that seeing the list of completed projects grow could be very helpful to people who want a bit of extra incentive to write. The fact that the app is a free download for both the iPhone and the iPad also lends itself to more writing, as it’s always better when your words follow you around.
I don’t think it’s in me to become a bona fide Werdsmith as the iCloud sync still doesn’t feel as reliable as Dropbox (I don’t like how I can’t engage a manual sync), but I’m happy to have seen another interesting new writing app.
Free [ iTunes ]
There you have it! Hope you enjoyed this week’s installment of Picks of the week. Please let us know what you think, and share with us some of your favorites.
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS:
