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Update: Poster Goes 2.0 With A Slew Of New And Changed Features

Posted by Rob LeFebvre on January 16th, 2013
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: NOT QUITE ENOUGH :: Read Review »

When we reviewed Poster, we found it to be a great first step towards a mobile WordPress blogging app. With a ton of new features, Poster 2.0 is shaping up to be even better, addressing some of the issues we initially had with it like adding images. Here's a list:

✔ Support for custom post types. Enable them for any WordPress.org blog within the settings.
✔ Poster is now localized for English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish
✔ Edit a post's excerpt
✔ Set posts as sticky
✔ Edits to published posts can now be saved locally before re-publishing
✔ Insert images at a specific location in a post by tapping and holding in the editor
✔ Option to remove a post's featured image
✔ Re-order your blogs within the interface
✔ Improved URL scheme with support for a callback URL

Why Can't I Work From Just My iPad, Anyway?

Posted by Carter Dotson on August 24th, 2012
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

I want to just work from my iPad. I'm sick of desktops, laptops, and netbooks. The iPad is lightweight, has great battery life, and I don't have to take it out of my bag when I'm flying. Most of the work that I do is writing, covering iOS and Android, so it seems appropriate to primarily do this work from mobile devices, right? That's what I want, but there's still just so many shortcomings that keep it from being a regular reality.

What I find is that for basic tasks, the iPad is great. I like the focus that the iPad's limitation of running a single app on screen at a time provides, especially for writing. I use a portable Bluetooth keyboard, and while it's not full-size, the benefits I get from being forced to focus on what I'm writing is a huge benefit. As well, with the customer support job I work with that uses Zendesk, I discovered that it's actually quite easy to do it efficiently through Safari and the Zendesk mobile app. I didn't feel like I was any less productive in working from the iPad than I do when I work from my Mac in this case. But it's the exception to the rule.

The problems always come in when I have to work with files. For example, when I have to upload images to WordPress, it does not go well. Until iOS 6 hits with the ability to upload images from the browser, I have to upload through the app, which requires that images be placed in the body of text, not in the galleries that are below posts. Adding images to an article from the iPad is problematic as well, as the menu doesn't display properly unless I'm in portrait.

Thankfully, things are a little better outside of WordPress. An app like GoodReader for iPad helps when trying to work with files and performing basic tasks like unzipping archives or just saving photos to the Camera Roll, but it feels like a workaround to a real solution, and it's ultimately more time-consuming. Android is better-equipped to deal with files, but it's still a clunkier experience than working from just a computer.

Now, what about remote computing apps? These either require having a computer set up and running somewhere, like with LogMeIn, or using something like OnLive Desktop, which requires a good enough low-latency wifi connection, which can be hard to get while mobile. Clear's mobile WiMax hotspot worked well enough for me on a recent trip to Chicago, but most publicly-available wifi spots struggled with it. This isn't even considering the key problem with all remote computing apps: the touch screen is not a mouse, and trying to use it as one is awkward.

Really, that's the problem with the iPad as a work device. It may be a post-PC device, but work is still caught in a PC state of mind. I am at a point where I can do most of my work if absolutely necessary from my iPad, especially writing and answering emails. But I still hit a bottleneck where it's woefully inefficient. Until the necessary services adapt to the needs of tablet users like myself, I will still have to fight through that bottleneck.

Blogsy Update Adds More WordPress Support, Tumblr, and Vimeo

Posted by Kevin Stout on April 24th, 2012
iPad App - Designed for iPad

Blogsy, popular iPad blogger tool, has been updated with a long list of 19 new features and numerous bug fixes. Blogsy was highly rated with an overall 4.5 stars by 148Apps writer Lisa Caplan just a few months ago. She described Blogsy as “a truly mobile and truly intuitive blogging solution.” Lisa even posted the review of Blogsy using the app!

Biggest and most exciting of the huge list of features is support for more blogging platforms, Tumblr and Vimeo, as well as many support features for making WordPress (likely the most popular platform) work much better with Blogsy. The Tumblr support includes all types of Tumblr posts including quotes, text, audio, video, and more. Vimeo videos can be dragged and dropped into posts now instead of copy and pasting embed codes. In WordPress, Blogsy now supports featured images, custom fields, direct access to the WordPress Media Library, post format, “sticky support,” and drag and drop for PDF, documents, and audio.

Most bloggers will be happy enough with the major support updates for WordPress, but there are even more features that were added. Blogsy now has Retina graphics for the new iPad. Other updates include various Flickr-related updates, local drafts changes, and an edit button.

I've been waiting for more WordPress support to give Blogsy a try...this update added all of the functionality I've been waiting for.

Camera+ Update Lets Third-Party Apps Use Camera+ Features

Posted by Carter Dotson on March 14th, 2012
iPhone & Apple Watch App - Designed for iPhone and Apple Watch, compatible with iPad
Our rating: starstarstarstarstar :: CAMERA EXCELSIOR! :: Read Review »

Camera+'s 3.0 update releases today on March 14th, and with it comes many new features, most important of which is the introduction of new APIs to integrate Camera+ features anywhere. For users, a widget to easily share Camera+ features is available and testable from here, allowing users to display their shared photos on their personal spaces.

Developers can also integrate Camera+ access in their app. For example, it's now possible to take a photo using Camera+ in Tweetbot, preaparing and editing it there before sharing it with the world, or to easily edit already-taken photos in Camera+ before sharing them with the world. The apps supporting these new Camera+ 3.0 APIs at launch include Tweetbot, WordPress, Foodspotting, Twittelator Neue, and Twitteriffic. Interested developers can read the documentation and download the necessary files from here.

As for the app itself, now it is easier to work in multiples: namely, multiple photos can be imported from the Camera Roll at once, and sharing to multiple services at once is now possible. The free update is available now.

iPhotographer: Photo Posting For The Photog On The Go

Posted by Chris Nitz on October 7th, 2010

iOS has brought users a great all-in-one stop shop for taking photos, manipulating them, posting them online, and composing a whole blog post over that spectacular shot. In fact, because the iPad and iPhone have such great apps, there are some pros that don’t even carry a laptop with them onto photo shoots. Everything they need for quickly getting photos to the world can easily be handled right on these magical devices. Let’s look at just a few tools that make this possible.

Shooting The Photo
The first major change is just how the iPhone takes photos. Long gone are boring, under/over exposed, bland photos. Now we have HDR embedded right in the included camera app. If this is not powerful enough for you, apps like TrueHDR and Pro HDR can take your HDR photos to higher levels than what is already available.

Maybe you like adding a bit of flair to your photos -- this is where wonderful apps like Hipstamatic come into play. I use this app all the time when I am shooting fun setups with all my Lego People. The various lenses and films all add up for some fun, and unique shots that I have thought of recreating with my DSLR and Photoshop.

Processing Without Photoshop
The next part of any good shot is the post-processing step, and yes, just about any photo worth its weight in metallic paper is photoshopped in some form or another. This may be as simple as removing dust particles or increasing saturation levels, to full-blown photo manipulations in layers that a slice of Tiramisu would be jealous of.

Apps like Filterstorm, or Photoshop Express, allow for some basic photo-editing while away from your computer. Filterstorm even allows you to make adjustments in that all too familiar layer workflow so many of us are comfortable with. Are these apps going to allow you to completely avoid using Photoshop on a laptop? Of course not. However, what you do have is the ability to post process while sipping on a beer at the local pup without all the worry of dropping a pint on your precious laptop.

Uploading Those Shots
Uploading photos does have a few gotchas, as there is not one single great app to handle the huge number of uploading services. There are apps to handle some of the most popular sharing services like Facebook, Smugmug, Flickr, Twitter, and Picasa, however. Worst-case scenario is you have to email your photo to a client or a photo sharing service. This is undoubtedly one of the bigger downfalls of doing photography with the iOS devices, rather than a laptop.

Composing A Photo Blog Post
Once your photo is captured, processed, and uploaded, you just might want to quickly write up a small blog post about the photo. There are apps to allow you to do just that as well, but again, this will be limited to your choice of blog host. Some services may even support one iOS device over another device, as is the case with SquareSpace only supporting the iPhone at this time. There are applications like BlogPress and WordPress that can be used to update blogs, too. A tip here: if you can’t post from an app, type it up, email it to someone you trust, and have them add the blog posting. We all know that content is the key to keeping your viewers coming back.

iOS is not perfect, but it is getting better with every release. More companies are releasing apps that easily allow photo manipulation, sharing, and blogging for those who are constantly on the go. How has your iDevice changed your workflows while travelling? Are you one of those few who now leave your laptop at home in exchange for the lighter iOS devices?

Apps Discussed In This Post:

Wordpress For iOS Update Makes Blogging Easier

Posted by Chris Hall on October 4th, 2010
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Editing your Wordpress blog with Wordpress for iOS has long been a frustrating experience, and not only because it has a screen that is a fraction of the standard size of a computer screen. The problem was that the app was missing some key features that make the desktop version so wonderful.

One of the huge additions to Wordpress 2.6 is the ability to upload video, something that iPhone 4 users with their lovely new video recorders have been dying to get to. With 2.6, you can record, upload, attach, and play videos with the app. In addition to video, the Wordpress team has updated the Media Library to function more like the web version, meaning that you can now see the media object's file size, dimensions, and are able to insert media items above or below content.

The other huge issue with Wordpress for iOS was a sloppy handling of drafts. With 2.6, Wordpress now saves drafts locally, on your device, before shooting them out to the internet, potentially saving you much embarassment. Only when Wordpress verifies that the post has actually made it, and then checks again just to make sure, will the app clear the local draft off your iPhone. If you still mess the process up somehow, the new version supports autosave, and has an easily navigable screen that will help you get your previous post back.

So for all you Wordpress junkies out there, be sure to update or pick up your free copy of Wordpress today. If you've tried Wordpress for iOS before but couldn't figure out how to set up your blog (no shame in that, it was complicated), the new update streamlines that process too, so hop on board.

[Source: ReadWriteWeb]

Blogpress Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Chris Kirby on July 14th, 2010
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: EASY HAS A PRICE
Blogging on the go with an iPad/iPhone blog editor sounds great, until you try to insert a link.
Read The Full Review »