In 2008, our editor Shawn Blanc wrote this about Transmit, the awesome file-transfer app for Mac: What sets Transmit apart, is that it works great for everyone: the single-blog publisher, to the large-scale website developer. Transmit’s interface and usability is clean, easy to understand and works without fail, time after time. And that’s just the beginning. Transmit is packed to the brim…
If you keep up with the web design world at all, you probably already know about The Manual, a design journal started by XOXO Fest cofounder Andy McMillan and with contributions from world-class designers like Frank Chimero and Ethan Marcotte. Each printed edition—of which there are three thus far—contains stories about what it means to design for the web and the people…
The Nomad 20 by Goal Zero is a portable, foldable solar panel with a max power capacity of 20 watts (hence its name) and multiple connector ports. It fits nicely into a backpack and is generally awesome for camping and other outdoor excursions. In the span of an hour or so, it can charge most of an iPad mini's battery or about…
The Apple TV is a very useful tool for classrooms and conference rooms. By using AirPlay, you can easily display presentations, spreadsheets, or other information from a Mac or iOS device. Most modern projectors have HDMI inputs, but many older ones do not. The Kanex ATV Pro adaptor allows you to plug an Apple TV up to a projector that only has a VGA…
The iPhone 6 is coming next week, but this is a pretty cool wooden case for those of you sticking with an iPhone 5 or 5s for now. The cover is made from real wood that has been laser-cut, engraved, and finished before being attached to a protective plastic casing. Mainly though, it looks awesome. Get one for $29 at Carved.com
The guys at Lickability have released Quotebook 3 for iOS. Quotebook is the best way to capture your favorite quotes—whether they come from books, tweets, songs, movies, your kids, conference talks, or anywhere else. I've been a fan of the app for a while now. (I still miss those black leather accents...) With today's update, this universal app is better than ever.…
I recently looked at my iPhone's usage statistics and noticed Spotify was using 1.1 GB. For an app that is supposed to be about streaming music—I don't download anything locally—that seemed like a lot. I've run into this situation before. Over time, Dropbox and Google Drive can grow to 800-900 MB without much effort. I used to deal with this by deleting…
This is a guest post by our friend, Bradley Chambers. Scanning from my iPhone has really made a big impact on my ability to go paperless in my life. Scanbot is my current go-to app for this. It's extremely fast and simple. Some of the included features: Automatic upload to many cloud services (Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, Box, OneDrive) Ability to edit…
As much as I love my iPhone and iPad, their limited storage space makes traveling feel like a juggling act. Do I transfer this movie or that movie? Should I delete several podcasts to make room? Which games can I bear getting rid of? Forget all the data juggling and just get a Kingston MobileLite Wireless. This portable media reader can take…
This distressed leather case from Etsy shop JooJoobs gives your iPhone 5/5s a handsome, rustic look while providing some protection from damage. The stitching is all done by hand, and there's a convenient credit card slot on the back. The JooJoobs shop is based out of Chiang Mai, Thailand, so this case goes for about $24 + $6 shipping to the U.S.
The JayBird BlueBuds X — recently recommended by our editor Shawn Blanc — are an awesome set of Bluetooth earbuds to run with. They sound great (especially if you replace the default rubber tips with these Comply memory foam earbud tips) and aren't likely to fall out during your workout, especially since there's no cable between the buds and your iPhone to…
The SpeakerSlide is a Kickstarter project that reminds me of the SoundBender from a while back, but modernized for today's iOS devices. It plugs into your Lightning port, placing a curved space directly over the device's speaker so that its audio redirects to you rather than going sideways out into the air. No more cupping your hand over the speaker like an…
The Scosche Strikeline is a retractable Lightning cable for iPad and iPhone. Extends to 3ft long, retracts to about the size of a watch face for travel purposes. Simple! The black version is $18, the white one $21.
After yesterday's post about the NomadPlus external battery, reader Josh Hogan wrote in with another suggestion: the Trent iCarrier. It doesn't come with a wall adapter of its own, but it has other advantages: 12,000mAh power capacity, meaning it can charge your iPhone and iPad a couple times each before needing its own recharge. If you have just an iPhone, you could…
(Readers, take note of the promo code at the end of this post.) There are a number of ways to deal with device battery life issues while traveling. I personally like using a Mophie Juice Pack Air on my iPhone because I can just flip the power switch when I need a boost. It does have its downsides though: Not everyone wants…
As the title suggests, the Kanex DoubleUp is a wall adapter that accepts two USB cables. It's powerful enough to charge two iPads relatively quickly, thanks to each USB port's 10.5-watt output, and it has helpful status LEDs on the front to let you know if your device is fully charged (green) or still charging (orange). I like that it's small enough…
Marco Arment's long-awaited podcast app for iPhone, Overcast, is now available on the iOS App Store. While it won't be luring me away from my precious Pocket Casts anytime soon, it does have some very cool features, namely Smart Speed (which dynamically shortens silences in podcast episodes) and Voice Boost (which normalizes the audio for all shows). The app itself is free,…
The Frontier is a handsome case for iPhone 5/5s made with black canvas cloth and a distinctive leather patch sewn onto the back. Unlike so many cases that manage to uglify such a beautiful device, the Frontier is a case that draws the right kind of attention. Available as part of the Need: Volume 8 collection for a buck less than what…
This one could come in handy for those of you lucky enough to be at WWDC this week. The Limefuel Blast is a handy external battery pack for charging a full-sized iPad, iPad mini, or iPhone while on the go. It can charge two devices at once, even while being charged itself. When the battery isn't being recharged (which should be most…
Cinescope is an iPhone app that does one thing well: it lets you compose and shoot photos in any aspect ratio before saving them to your camera roll. It comes with several presets (2.39, 1.85, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1) but you can also create your own custom ratio—for example, 2:1. If you intend to post the photo on Instagram, Cinescope lets you embed…