A few weeks ago, John Gruber was the first to report that Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli were about to release Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader. Gruber said that it's the book about Steve Jobs that the world deserves. With that endorsement alone, I pre-ordered it. Eddie Cue also chimed in with his endorsement.
Blink is a new iOS app for making affiliate links from the iTunes Store, App Store, and the iBook store. Blink includes an extension that makes it simple to generate links from within the stores and anywhere else you find links. Blink can also create affiliate links as plain links or using various Markdown formats.
Do you love magazines? If so, Magzter Gold might be a service that you want to check out. It's an all you can eat subscription for magazines. For only $9.99 per month, you can read everything they offer. They have a decent selection (2000+). After telling the app what kind of magazines I liked, I was recommended ESPN, Inc, MacLife and Fast Company. They have compiled a list of what magazines are included in the Gold subscription.
Twelve South has just announced they are working on a HiRise Stand for the Apple Watch. Like the HiRise Dock, it uses your existing charging cable. It takes just a second to insert the watch into the dock, and it works with any style band. It will be available in silver or black.
Our sister site, The Sweet Setup, picked RunKeeper as their favorite running app for the iPhone. While a lot of runners prefer watches with dedicated GPS units — like this one — the iPhone makes for a great alternative. There are a lot of run-tracking apps, but RunKeeper is our favorite running app due to its deep feature set, vibrant community, and strong integration with other services. I've tracked over 400 runs with it, and even after spending time with a host of other applications, RunKeeper stands apart.
Glenn Fleishman just published a new book call A Practical Guide to Networking and Security in iOS 8. In the book, he covers everything you need to become a networking and security ninja on iOS. It includes Wi-Fi troubleshooting, personal hotspot, file transfer using AirDrop, VPNs, cellular data management, and much more. The book is $15 on Glenn's website, and it includes PDF, ePub, and MOBI file formats (DRM free). It's also available on the iBookstore.
Hot on the heels of Calcbot for Mac, Tapbots has released a new version of Calcbot for iOS. It's a universal app that is free with an in-app purchase for a pro upgrade ($1.99).
Alto's Adventure is a new game for the iPhone and iPad. It's an endless snowboarding game with incredible lighting, sound, and an ever changing backdrop. To be frank, it's stunning. After finding out about it on Twitter, I immediately purchased it. I wasn't prepared for how much fun I'd have. It's incredibly easy to learn, but it will provide endless hours of fun. It's the perfect "in the waiting room at the dentist" type game.
Our sister site, The Sweet Setup, recently picked AnyList as their favorite app for shared grocery lists. It was chosen because it's the easiest to use, offers the most functionality that people are looking for, and also has a great design with frequent updates.
One of the best kept secrets of Chattanooga, TN is Velo Coffee. Back when it was first launching in 2010, Andrew Gage sold his car in order to get started. When his wholesale business in Chattanooga started growing, he made deliveries on a bicycle. Fast forward to 2015, Velo Coffee is continuing to grow. With a focus on customer education, Velo is wanting to provide world class coffee whether you are at home or in their cafe.
Tally 2 is a quick way to count anything on your iPhone. Its design allows you to work without even looking at your phone. It supports multiple tallies, so you can keep to access history (game scores, etc). With Apple Watch support planned, Tally 2 would make a great app to use at the ball field, in the classroom, or on family game night.
Just because you are on the go doesn't mean that you should go without making backups of your hard drive. While I love Backblaze for offsite backups, Apple's Time Machine is a pretty robust program for onsite backups. It even backs up iCloud Drive documents with the most recent Yosemite update (10.10.2). If you need a durable external drive for travel, Transcend's 2 TB USB 3.0 external drive would be a great addition to your hard drive collection.
My day job varies greatly from the freelance work that I do. My day job is very task orientated, with tasks that have well defined beginnings and endings. My freelance work is a lot more creative. It's a lot of writing, researching, and strategizing. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind is a productivity book from the folks at 99u. If you do creative work, this would be a great purchase.
We've written a lot about Baron Fig products in the past, but they've always had one negative: their products weren't free. Today, we are solving that problem. We have three Baron Fig Confidant notebooks (Dot Grid, Ruled, and Blank) and three Baron Fig Apprentice packs to giveaway. If one of your 2015 goals was to write more, these giveaways will get you on the right path.
I mentioned in my cord cutting guide that I switched to Roku last year and sold all my Apple TVs. One of the things I do miss is AirPlay (when it works). AllCast for iOS is helping to bridge the gap, though. It allows you to cast your movies, photos, and music to just about any streaming device. It works with Chromecast, Xbox 360/One, Roku, DLNA compatible TVs, Apple TV, WDTV, and Amazon Fire TV. It's free with a $4.99 in-app purchase.
It's Monday (yes, that day), so that means we have another giveaway. Today, it's the Poetic Slimline Case for Apple iPad mini 2. This iPad case provides protection for the front and back, while also remaining easy to take off and on. Like the Smart Cover, this case works with the magnets inside the iPad to wake the device when the flap is opened.
iTunes Match works fine (most of the time), but what if you already have a large collection of audio content in Dropbox or Google Drive? CloudBeats allows you to turn your Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, MediaFire or OneDrive account into an iOS music player.
Replay was originally published back in 1986, but I just found out about it last month. It's about a forty-three year old man named Jeff Winston who dies while at work only to wake up back in college. The only difference is that he remembers everything from his previous life. What if you could live your life over again?
It's Monday, and we've got another giveway. This week, we have a Neat Ice Kit from the guys at Studio Neat. This kit allows you to make beautifully clear ice in your own kitchen. It involves an insulated, block-shaped ice mold that freezes water from the top down, pushing impurities to the bottom.