Jul 31, 2012

Creating Diagrams on Your iPad or iPhone

If you're a visual person, you realize the power of a diagram over prose for communicating a point. You've probably used either Visio on a PC or Omnigraffle on a Mac to create a-your picture-is-worth-1000-words diagrams. But what about on your iOS device. If you have an iPad, there is Omnigraffle for iPad.  It's very powerful but comes with a high price tag for an iPad app at $49.99.  Besides that, it will work only on your iPad, not on your iPhone. If you have an iPad and have to frequently create professional looking diagrams or charts, it may be your best option. What if, however, you only need to create occasional diagrams and want to do them easily?

Jul 19, 2012

Accessing Cloud Storage of Your Files on Your iPhone or iPad

Apple has iCloud but sometimes you need a universally accessible place to store documents and other files. One of the most popular cloud storage services is Dropbox.  With it you get 2 GB of free storage for files. Recently Google added it's own competitor to Dropbox called Google Drive, which is an evolution of their already popular Google Docs service. Google Drive gives you 5 GB of free storage. Both services have software you can download that treats them like just another drive on your Windows machine or Mac. Both services also allow you access to your files via a web browser. Both allow sharing of files and folders.

Jul 14, 2012

Stuff I Like

I've added a new Stuff I Like section that includes items, mostly accessories, that I use or would like to use with my iPhone. You might find them helpful too.  I've added a link to the menu above for easy access.

Jul 3, 2012

Independence Day iPhone & iPad App Sales

Tomorrow is Independence Day and as often happens around holidays, the apps are on sale (especially the games). Many Electronic Arts games are $0.99 or free, Real Racing 2, the Lego Harry Potter games, Batman Arkham are all only $0.99 each. Download the AppShopper app and look at the popular apps that are on sale to find these and others while they are still marked down.

I don't typically buy games unless they are on sale for $0.99 or free.  I don't have a lot of time to play games and you'll notice, that I don't talk about them often on Practical iStuff (hence, the practical). However, the iPhone and iPad are great platforms for occasional game play. It's times like these that I'll go get a few while they are cheap.

If you aren't in to games but are into photography, Hipstamatic is half price at $0.99 right now.