Notes

How to flatten the stock Notes app in iOS 7

If you've been listening to our podcasts as of late, you've probably heard one of us spew off our dislike for the look of the Notes app. It's one of the only stock apps in iOS 7 that retains some semblances of skeuomorphism from the pre-iOS 7 era.

Flat Notes is a new jailbreak tweak that alters the look of the Stock notes app. It makes the notes app look more like the rest of the stock apps in iOS 7. Have a look at our video comparison inside...

Catch Notes makes it easy to capture and collaborate on ideas

If you are the kind of person who is always jotting down ideas on napkins, sending random text messages to friends about cool concepts, or leaving notes to yourself on sticky pads, you need something to help organize your thoughts.

Catch Notes is a productivity app that makes it easy to capture your ideas and share them with others without any fuss or muss. Just open the app, type in or record your idea and add your contacts for true collaboration… 

More Evernote awesomeness: native reminders launch in iOS/Mac client

What started out as a simple note-taking solution is quickly becoming the Internet's favorite information management platform.

We're talking about Evernote, of course, the Jack of all trades, at least when it comes to note-taking, and I'm using the term loosely here. But if there's one feature that's been notably absent from Evernote it's the concept of time - but no more.

Thanks to a major update issued earlier today, Evernote users on iOS and OS X can now take advantage of reminders, right in their notes. With this helpful new feature, Evernote just leveled up in a major way.

Reminders sync across devices seamlessly, facilitate to-do lists, deliver in-app and email alarms, can be notebook-specific and allow for a range of interesting capabilities not possible before. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?

The best note-taking apps for iPad

The iPad can be a workhorse for your productivity needs if you know how to use it. Whether you are building a business network, making your way through college, or just trying to run a brick-and-mortar record shop, the iPad can be one of your greatest allies.

The iPad is the perfect sized tablet for taking notes. If you are in a meeting, listening to a lecture, or coming up with ideas for your next masterpiece, you can find an app that will accommodate your needs. We’ve got a list of the best note-taking apps for iPad that we think rise to the top. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section.

NotesTweak will add cool new features to the stock Notes app

NotesTweak is an upcoming jailbreak tweak for iOS that allows you to enhance the stock Notes app. NotesTweak adds new features like the ability to save note snippets directly to the Home screen, upload notes to DropBox, and pin important notes to the top of your list.

If you're someone who relies on the stock Notes app to get things done, then you'll undoubtedly appreciate some of the new features that NotesTweak will bring to the table. Take a look inside for more info.

How to quickly share notes on Twitter and Facebook

ShareNotes is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to share notes on Twitter and Facebook using iOS' built in share sheet. The sheet is accessible via a tap on the share button in the Notes app, and it features two new buttons for Facebook and Twitter sharing once this tweak is installed.

The stock sharing options for notes are quite limited; you can only share notes via Mail or Messages. This jailbreak tweak opens things up a bit. Take a look inside for screenshots and more info...

New Game Center concept looks sharp without the textures

During its big executive shuffle last fall, Apple put expert designer Jony Ive in charge of all HI (Human Interface). And since then, there has been non-stop speculation regarding what kind of changes might be made to the ever-aging iOS.

And a lot of folks are wondering what the operating system would look like without all of the skeuomorphism — the leather, etc. textures. Well designer Adrian Maciburko might be on the right track with his “Crystal Interface” concept...

Why Apple is just plain mediocre in web services

Recently, a pattern has begun taking shape that I fear signals something worryingly awful is afoot as excellence takes a back seat at Apple in favor of mediocre web services. It's always been that way, critics might add. Indeed, here we are, at the end of 2012, and yet weekly outages of key iCloud services such as iMessage and FaceTime are still a norm rather than a rare exception.

While iCloud storm is raining on users, Apple seemingly struggles in figuring out how to sprinkle its magic dust on Internet software. With over half a billion iOS and Mac devices straining its data centers, something clearly had to give. The iPhone maker isn't an isolated example: competitors experience outages, too. But Apple's different in that its online woes are symptomatic of a much larger set of problems the company faces.

Cupertino's infrastructure is lacking. For all the computational power its array of super data centers provide, Apple's software underpinnings are outdated and increasingly incapable of handling high load. Software shortcomings are putting Apple at risk at a time when competitors like Google tap their massive scale and expertise to successfully marry hardware to Internet software in ways Apple cannot...

iCloud website gets updated with new Notes and Reminders apps

Remember back in July when we told you about the new updates coming to iCloud? We went hands-on with the beta, which included new apps and other improvements.

Well this afternoon, Apple pushed the update to the public version of the iCloud web portal. So if you go to iCloud.com and login, you should see the new additions...

How to add a tab button to the Notes app

No matter how many times I attempt to find an alternative to the Notes app, I always find myself migrating back to it eventually. I'm not sure why this, but I think my mind is simply programmed to go for the Notes app when I need to jot something down.

If you're a jailbreaker, then you can rely on one of the many jailbreak tweak developers to implement enhanced features into the Notes app. NotesTab is the latest such example of a jailbreak tweak that adds a specific enhancement to the bare bones app — in this case a handy tab button for quick indentions.

Apple bringing Reminders and Notes web apps to iCloud?

Are you a developer? Have you visited the iCloud.com beta login page recently? In case you missed it, two new icons appeared at a beta login page for iCloud.com briefly before Apple took the beta page down. This clearly suggests Apple is working on bringing Notes and Reminders web apps to iCloud.

Folks also discovered references to an upcoming iOS 6 beta in the code strings for this iCloud beta page.

As we told you last week, Apple could be bringing iOS and Mac Notifications to the iCloud website. So it all makes sense now: Reminders and Notes apps, which are now available on iOS devices and are coming to Macs with Mountain Lion installed later this summer, will also be replicated on the iCloud web site along with web notifications.

Let's hope Apple will take the resulting notifications conundrum seriously...

How to add a character counter to the Notes app

Who types text that is lengthy enough to warrant a character counter in the Notes app? That's the first thing I thought when trying Characount for Notes, and needless to say I'm still pondering the question.

That's literally all this tweak does. It places a character counter, not a word counter mind you, but a character counter at the top of each note you compose.

Who really needs something like this?