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A couple of months ago, I read on LifeHacker about how to make your own stylus for capacitive screens with a lead holder and some conductive foam. I had an old French Criterium that I like using for drawing. A quick search on eBay landed me with a sheet of foam for a ridiculous price. All I had left to do was to insert a bit of foam in the pencil when I need a stylus. The body of the pencil is metallic, so there is no need for copper wire or any other conductive material. And when the foam is hopelessly out of shape, I just have to use a new piece.
Plain Text Vs. Elements
In the category of the simple text editors for iOS, I’ve come across Plain Text from HogBay Software and Elements from Second Gear. They both sync with DropBox and both work on the iPad and the iPhone, they are also both adapted for the Retina Display.
How do they differ from each other is what matters.
I like both of them, I would even say that they both are great apps.
With Plain Text, Jesse Grosjean has decided to create a bare bones text editor. All you get is a basic page and a keyboard, but you get it in style.
From the choice of a serif font to the simple interface, everything is made so that you can concentrate on your writing. Every document you write is saved to your DropBox in a Plain Text folder, and the cherry on the cake is that you can organise your documents in folders.
The version you download from the iTunes Store is free with ads, but if you find them obtrusive - I know I did - you can remove them for £2.99.
For the same price, Elements has more features, and it adopts a more iPhone-like UI. You can have word, line and character count, you can email documents, you have a scratch pad to write ideas, and you have options to change font and font size, but there is no option to organise your documents into folders.
So, which one should you chose? I’ll let you be the judge of that. I tend to prefer Plain Text, but it’s just because I like the possibility of organising my documents into folders, and I prefer its more polished UI.
No jailbreaking for me
I did jailbreak my iPhone 3G but I ended up restoring. I liked all the extra features of iOS4, and it wasn’t too slow, but the show stopper for me was that it broke iBooks. I know I already use Stanza and the Kindle app, but I like iBooks. So I restored one more time. And anyway, I’ll get an iPhone 4 as soon as possible.
It’s update time!
iPhone 3G - check
iOS4 - check
Multitasking and wallpapers - check (albeit very slow - won’t stay long that one!)
At last I’m going home!
After a week in Paris I’m going home tomorrow morning. The week was fine, but I’d rather stay in England.
Bluebells. I love bluebells.
I just came upon this photo. Love it!
The Colour of Music
Un titre en béton!
My iPhone is getting long in the tooth.
I wanted to get an HTC Desire, but Vodafone messed up really badly. So, I’ve decided to keep my iPhone, and I’ve restored it as a new phone. No more jailbreak. I’s regained its speed and battery life. No more waiting five minutes to boot, or 20 seconds for settings to appear.
I’m really looking forward to OS4 this summer. Even if it is not totally supported, the new features are worth it.
Anyway, I’ll probably get a new one. The photos of the new iPhone prototype doing the rounds on the web look promising.
And as I said at the beginning, my iPhone is getting long in the tooth.
