Neat App: CheatSheet

I love keyboard shortcuts. When learning a new app, the first thing I do is sift through its menus and absorb as many of the shortcuts listed as possible.

CheatSheet is a cool app on the Mac App Store that does one thing and does it very well. Once installed, it runs in the background (no dock or menu bar icon), and will pop up an overlay if you hold the Command key down for a moment. This overlay will show you all the keyboard shortcuts for an app at once. You can then either finish the shortcut or use your trackpad to select a command. Releasing the command key will dismiss the overlay.

You can also adjust the length of the delay for CheatSheet or quit the app from the gear icon on the overlay.

This is a great app for Mac keyboard ninjas learning a new app or for the fledgling keyboard padawan.

CheatSheet is free, so you really don’t have an excuse to not get it.

Instapaper is the Free App of the Week at Starbucks

More Instapaper news from The Verge today:

For the next week, Instapaper for iOS is available for free as a part of Starbucks’ “Free App of the Week” campaign. To get your free copy of the app (which normally costs $4.99), you have to physically go to a Starbucks shop and get a promo card, then enter the code into iTunes.

If you don’t have Instapaper already, shame on you. Now get over to Starbucks this week and get it. Or skip the burned coffee and buy it on the App Store.

Instapaper Gets an Awesome Feature for iOS and an Android Version

Instapaper is one of my most used apps on my iPhone and iPad, and it continually gets better and better.

A couple days ago, it was updated with a really great new feature, background update locations. The feature only works on iPhones and 3G/4G equipped iPads (because of those devices enhanced geolocation abilities). What it does is allow you to set up several geofences — say, home and work — and Instapaper will download any new articles when arriving and leaving those areas.

It’s useful for just about anyone, as your article list is pretty much always ready. I imagine train or bus commuters will really love this feature.

Already it makes me wish I had gone with the 3G/4G enabled iPad this last time (something I likely would have gotten had the carriers been seriously talking about shared data plans at the time).

But this isn’t the only news for Instapaper.

Instapaper for Android

Last night, The Verge published their exclusive on Instapaper for Android. Instapaper for Android is blessed by Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, but is developed by Mobelux. The two had a working relationship when Marco was at Tumblr, and with Marco focusing most of his time on iOS, I think it makes sense to contract out Instapaper for Android.

It looks like a solid 1.0 release, with a few shortcomings from the iOS version. I’d expect a lot of those will be resolved with time.

The Verge also has a little interview with Marco about the Android version. What I liked from that is that even though Instapaper’s roots are on the iPhone, Marco says his main focus is first on tablets, then smartphones. It’s also worth noting that Instapaper for Android does have separate UI’s for smartphones and tablets.

Instapaper for Android is $2.99 and is available on Google Play, and will be available soon on the Amazon Android Appstore and the NOOK market.

Quotebook 2

I've loved Quotebook on my iPhone since its debut. It's a well-designed app for capturing, organizing, and sharing memorable quotes. I've used it to capture both famous quotes and even profound things friends have said.

Today, Lickability (love their logo) released Quotebook 2. After nearly nine months of work, Quotebook has come to the iPad and supports iCloud sync. It is absolutely gorgeous, and if you have a penchant for quotes, you need Quotebook in your arsenal.

Apple Starts 'Free App of the Week'

Late last week, Apple started a free App of the Week promotion in the App Store, much like their long-running free Song of the Week for the iTunes Music Store.

They kicked off with a game, Cut the Rope: Experiments(App Store link). I grabbed it because I had remembered a friend speaking highly of the original Cut the Rope.

Later, when on my iPad, I saw Cut the Rope: Experiments HD(App Store Link) was being offered as the free app for iPad. I almost passed on downloading it because I didn’t want to maintain two levels of progress on different devices.

Then I noticed both versions featured iCloud sync. Bingo. This is how gaming should be done on iOS. Now, I can casually play a couple levels on my iPhone, and later pick up on my iPad, with all my scores and progress synced via iCloud.

Another perk of iCloud integration? Should I ever need to delete the app (let’s say if a serious bug crept up), I could choose to leave the save data in iCloud. Reinstall the app and all my progress is still there.

I’ve greatly enjoyed Apple’s inaugural picks for the section of the App Store. And they’ve made me realize how games should start integrating iCloud for saving progress.

Facebook Camera

Just saw on Twitter (insert irony here) that Facebook just launched Facebook Camera on the iPhone. It features filters and such like this other little app called Instagram — which Facebook recently acquired for $1 billion.

Incredibly bizarre.

Coda 2 and Diet Coda

Panic has released the long-awaited update to Coda on the Mac — Coda 2, and an all new iPad companion cleverly named Diet Coda. Both apps are 50% off today only. If you get Coda from the Mac App Store, iCloud will keep your projects in sync (highly recommended). If you do any coding for a site, Coda 2 and Diet Coda should be in your utility belt.

Lightroom 4 Comes to the Mac App Store

Adobe has released Lightroom 4 on the Mac App Store. Not only is this Adobe's first foray into releasing a truly professional app on the Mac App Store, but it is also their first foray into a non-archaic installation process.

Update on 2012-05-10 20:06 by Chris De Jabet

I’d be remiss if I didn’t follow-up with some caveats to buying Lightroom 4 on the Mac App Store. Head over to The Loop, where Jim Dalrymple lays them out.

Wolfenstein 3D Classic Free for a Limited Time

Wolfenstein 3D Classic is free for a limited time for iOS, in honor of the game’s 20th anniversary. It has 60-levels, and fits in 19 MB. 19 MB was about half of the hard drive on the Mac Classic my parents owned in 1992.

Get it on the App Store.

Cards Updated for Mother's Day

The best kind of app is the one that does one thing really well. When Apple released its Cards app for making physical cards to physically send to someone, I thought it was kind of neat, but I may not have a need for it.

Well, as I was on the road traveling for Easter, I remembered that I forgot to send my Grandmother a birthday card, and I didn’t have time nor opportunity to buy one to send then. So, when my family and I stopped to get out and stretch our legs, I snapped a picture of my boy real quick on my iPhone, dropped it into the Cards app, wrote something nice, and tapped the buy button.

It cost $2.99 to send a custom card, including postage, to my Grandmother. And I did it all in the span of three minutes just off I-29. Often, cards at Hallmark cost more than three bucks and don’t offer that level of personalization. Also, a couple days later, I received a push notification on my phone telling me the card was out for delivery to my Grandma’s house.

Well, today Cards was updated with some new designs for Mother’s Day. I’m already planning to use it for the occasion. Cards is a free app from Apple on the App Store.