Syncing Plain Text App for iPhone

Speed Notes Is a Dropbox-Syncing Plain Text App for iPhone

iOS: Speed Notes is a plain-text editor for the iPhone that instantly syncs your notes with your Dropbox account for easy note creation and editing on the go or from your computer.

Speed Notes isn't the first cloud-syncing note-taking app for the iPhone by any means, so let's look at the options. Our perennial favorite is Simplenote, which syncs notes to a web-based backend that is the backbone of the Simplenote service. I've been a big Simplenote supporter for a while now, but it does require signing up for a separate service, and chances are you already have Dropbox running on your machine. So how about your Dropbox options. You've got:

• Previously mentioned Nebulous Notes ($4): This is a kitchen-sink style app. It's full of bells and whistles, letting you choose themes, define macros, and even code from your iPhone. It's solid, but not really my favorite.
• PlainText (Free): Yes, it's free, but it also places ads over your notes. If you use your note-taking app a lot (which we do), this is a dealbreaker. For a quick $2 in-app purchase, though, you can remove those ads. Looks-wise, I'd call this my favorite of the Dropbox syncers. Functionally, though, it's not.
• Last, there's Speed Notes. The most likable thing about Speed Notes is that it copies its basic functionality from Notational Velocity (our favorite desktop note-taking app for Mac; copied by previously mentioned ResophNotes for Windows). It has one main input box, and you type into it to search notes or create a new note. You can use it to create and edit notes in any folder in your main Dropbox directory, and everything else works pretty simply and as expected. The main downside to Speed Notes is that it could use a little polish in its look. It's not hideous, but it's clearly not made by a designer. Also, pal-of-Lifehacker and MetaFilter creator Matt Haughey loves Speed Notes.

Whichever you pick will likely be a matter of personal taste, but whether you go for Simplenote or one of your Dropbox-syncing options, I'd highly recommend downloading one of these apps and integrating it into your note-taking and list-making workflows. For a larger explanation of why apps like these are so great, my previous love letter to Simplenote is a good place to start.

If you've got a favorite tool for the job, let's hear about it in the comments.

[Via Life hackers]

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Siri’s Speak Selection Feature Reads Text Out Loud

Here’s a nice little tip for Siri fanatics. Did you know that you can have Siri speak any selection of text out loud anywhere in iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S?

By enabling a nifty feature in Settings, a simple “Speak” option can be shown any time you select a chunk of text. Siri can then read that text out loud through your iPhone’s speaker at a pre-programmed speed.

If you navigate to Settings, General, Accessibility, and then Speak Selection, you can enable the Siri feature on iOS 5. Once you turn the setting on, you can set the speed that you want Siri to read text back to you.

Siri will give you a test reading very time you move the slider to change the speed. This will let you determine which speed is best for you. I find that placing the slider at about the 20% mark is the best setting for having Siri read back to you at a normal pace. Make sure your iPhone’s speaker volume is turned up high enough so that you can actually hear when Siri reads.

This is a great tip for reading messages in the car or listening to longer emails. Let us know what you use it for in the comments below!

[Via iDownload Blog]

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Coffee Faucet Controlled By An iPhone

Danish company Scanomat has introduced the TopBrewer, an iPhone-controlled coffee faucet. The tap is part of an advanced brewing system that can be built into any tabletop.
The company has patented the world's smallest milk foamer which heats milk on-demand and foams it to the correct texture. The brewer cleans itself after each cup, and can dispense drinking water, cold or hot milk, steam, or a wide variety of coffee drinks; all of which can be ordered up from an iOS app or a touch-screen panel built into the tabletop.

Envision being able to control your coffee machine with a device you already have in your pocket. With TopBrewer this is made possible with our smartphone application for your iPhone.
Quickly connect to the machine and select from the available drinks – or have your own favorite coffee pre-programmed and dispense it just the way YOU like it.
The app gives you full control of the machine and displays status messages when woken up from standby till it’s ready to brew.
Have complete control of your TopBrewer and experience a new sensation when selecting your coffee. You can even explore our model lineup and order more coffee when you run out.

Scanomat has not released pricing or availability information, but the TopBrewer appears to be aimed at offices and high-end luxury homes.

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Apple‘s next iPhone (iPhone 5, 1)

There is been news about the speculations of an iPad 2, 4 and the next generation Television from Apple. And now to add to these, we have one more and of course the most important one of all. The next iPhone. Yes the next series of iPhone has been dubbed 5, 1 internally. The new 4X model will represent only the minor external changes on the iphone. But it hasn’t come up with anything new in terms of processing powers.


The iPhone 3G similarly went from the original iPhone’s 1, 1 to 1, 2 because of the lack of features and  performance enhancements.The jump from 4, 1 to 5, 1 represents a huge leap and of course a major internal change which means that iPhone 5/6 would come with a brand new processor. The expected external changes would be a 4 inch display with a new aluminum casing. Since Apple has recently released it latest iPhone, the next release is expected somewhere by Oct 2012.

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