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Reviewed by Scott Silva, snacTime
Getting media onto your iOS devices is straight-forward enough. Especially if you have purchased it through the iTunes store. The complication slips in when you start using other format types. Then you have to convert the file, which would require another application. And finally, load it into your iTunes library and sync with your device.
WALTR looks at a specific problem and solves it. To move content that is in an unsupported format to your iPhone, iPad, or other iOS device you follow these easy steps. 1) Launch WALTR, 2) Connect iOS device to your computer 3) Drag your audio and/or video files on the WALTR app. iTunes needs to be quit when transferring content. WALTR will then convert the content and place it in either the Music or Video application on iOS device.
WALTR supports video formats MKV, AVI, MOV, MP4, and audio files supported are even more extensive. WALTR will convert these audio formats: MP3, FLAC, APE, ALAC, M4R, AAC, AIFF, WAV, WMA,CUE, OGG, WV & TTA.
This app solves the problem of getting different audio formats, such as FLAC, AIFF, and OGG on my iPhone. The interface is clean and the conversions are fast. The only way of getting other formats before this app was doing a conversion, or using a third-party app on the iPhone.
Reviewed by Scott Silva, snacTime
Instacast has been the podcast client of choice for me for close to three years. A matter of fact, I have put off upgrading to the latest version of Instacast for over year.
I knew that Marco Arment, software developer, was creating his own iOS podcast application. Arment is developer of the popular “read it later” service Instapaper. He sold that a few years ago and has been focusing on this new iOS app. The name of the application is Overcast.
Since its release a few weeks ago, it has been the only app I have been listening to my podcasts with. Here are some of my first thoughts on the application and whether it was worth the wait.
The main focus of a podcast client is to make it easy to access all subscriptions and manage accessibility to the episodes. But before you start using the app, you need to pull in your subscriptions from another podcast app. Overcast has the ability to import from another app. In the settings, there is a “Import from Another App”. This is a one step process. Once you take this step, you can begin exploring the features of Overcast.
The design and typography of it is stunning. This doesn’t surprise me since Instapaper had the same attention to detail. There are a few apps that I use where you can tell design was an afterthought in its development. The buttons are readily accessible and easy to navigate to. This is especially the case when you are driving. Scrubbing within the app to jump to a particular place is simple. Dragging on the podcast time indicator you can easily get to a specific position. The precision and accuracy is very smooth. Another design detail that I enjoy is that visual playback of a podcast. Once the podcast is playing, there is a visual audio meter that overlays on top of the podcast artwork. This visual design is seen in both the playlist list and the full podcast view. Exquisite.
I like the playlist feature in Instacast better than that of Overcast. Both apps allow you to create custom playlists allowing you to stack episodes in one continuous feed. Overcast addresses the playlist by having smart playlists settings where you add subscriptions into the feed. For some instances this works for me, but on occasion I want to lump random episodes into a listening queue. From what I can tell, you can edit a playlist to add or subtract from a playlist. I still need to play more with this feature to make a definitive call on its usefulness.
The two best features of Overcast though are Smart Speed and Voice boost. I subscribe to about 30 podcasts and for most of them I am behind. Needless to say that for most of them I play them at 1.5x to double speed. If Overcast didn’t have this feature, I wouldn’t even consider using it. The app has 9 different speed variations ranging between one notch below normal speed to one notch above double speed.
It also has another feature that I have not seen in other podcast apps. The Smart Speed shortens the slight pauses or blank air in the podcast, hence, saving time. The Voice Boost feature is perfect for those times when the recording of the podcast is at a lower level. Or you have background noise, such as, a vacuum and need that extra level. Think of it as that “11” from This is Spinal Tap. You click this feature on and the audio is dynamically elevated louder.
A couple things about these last two effects. You can set the criteria up based on the podcast. So if you have a music podcast where you would never want the speed adjusted, you would turn this off. Finally, these last couple features require an in-app purchase of $4.99. You can test them out in the free version for 5 minutes at a time.
Trying out the app will cost you nothing, but it does come with a few other limitations. Variable playback speed, cellular downloads, and per podcast playback effects settings are not available in the free version. If you are a podcast listener, then this app is worth trying out.
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(more reviews are produced every week . . .
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iWeb is a web design and development tool, providing professional quality web pages/site with a wide selection of options for developing web pages. iWeb includes all of the necessary tools to create a web presence, including themes, text manipulation, photos, hyperlinks, blogs, anything you want to include to make a web page/site. The professional quality themes are designed with multiple page sites that can be easily customized with the users personal information. The web site can be published using this software. It is simple to use so that any casual computer user could design and publish a personal web page or web site of highest quality in a short time and with no web design experience."
Click here to read the detailed review by The Macintosh Guild.
The new iWork 08 is a good deal for $79 if you need an affordable office suite. While the features in the package are not as rich as in Microsoft Office, it covers much more than just basic tasks. iWork applications can read Microsoft files and can save files in older formats. Installation is easy. The addition of Numbers added a spreadsheet to the suite, making it a fully rounded out suite. The suite offers attractive and intuitive interfaces, new features for image editing, page layout and printing and the applications integrate will with each other, with iWeb, and with iLife.
Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.
The new iLife suite of applications consists of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, and Garage Band and it comes pre-installed, at no additional charge, on every new Mac. iLife buyers receive 90 days of unlimited free telephone support for installation, launch, or reinstallation. New users especially will appreciate the video tutorials and downloadable "getting started" documents available on the Apple website. They make it look easy, and in most cases, it is.
Upgraders, however, are likely to have a more mixed reaction.
Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.
The new iLife suite of applications consists of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, and Garage Band and it comes pre-installed, at no additional charge, on every new Mac. iLife buyers receive 90 days of unlimited free telephone support for installation, launch, or reinstallation. New users especially will appreciate the video tutorials and downloadable "getting started" documents available on the Apple website. They make it look easy, and in most cases, it is.
Upgraders, however, are likely to have a more mixed reaction.
Read the review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.
The 6th major release of Mac OS X is here. The long awaited release was delayed due to resources needed for the iPhone but it finally shipped on October 26th. There are over 300 new features in Leopard. Time Machine is arguably the biggest new feature but there are many other features that make this new OS well worth the $129 asking price. For the purposes of this review I am going to focus on a few of my favorites. These include Cover Flow, Quick Look, Spaces, the new versions of Mail and iCal, and last but not least, Stacks.
Read the Review from the Main Line Macintosh Users Group.
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