Dave Caolo

We posted several iPad app preview videos at TUAW this week, and I’ve noticed that a few have “HD” in their title. Plants vs. Zombies HD and Flight Control HD are two examples. This is a mistake.

I understand that developers want to distinguish iPad apps from their equivalent iPod offerings, but I don’t think “HD” is the best method. It’s got a specific definition — high definition video has one or two million pixels per frame — that the iPad doesn’t meet.

It’s logical to assume that one could tack “iPad” or “For iPad” onto their titles, but Apple only recently ruled on how “iPad” may be used. Developers who have been hard at work for weeks had to make a decision before getting their apps in for review. Do you submit an app called, for example, “Plants vs. Zombies iPad” or “Flight Control for iPad” only to have Apple send it back at the last minute?

Additionally, what if a future iPad model is capable of high definition playback? Is your app then “HD Plus?” I think “XL” or something similar would have been better. I know I’m being nit-picky, but I wish “HD” hadn’t been used.

The folks at Overcommitted have made the official iPhone app for Highrise. It’s simple and effective, as one would expect any 37signals product to be. I like that the app’s main toolbar matches itself to the color scheme you’re using with the browser-based version. They’ve also made the initial synchronization fun, but I won’t give away how.

Highrise lets you manage communications you’ve had with contacts and customers as well as tasks and appointments. I’ve been a happy customer for years. Look for my review at TUAW this week.

I’ve never gotten much use out of notes on the iPhone because I dislike typing more than a few words on it. I’m slower with it than I am with a full-sized keyboard which is frustrating. Plus, the bundled Notes app syncs with Mail, which makes no sense at all.

Now that I’m using the combination of Notational Velocity, SimpleText and WriteRoom, my iPhone is full of easily-accessed, useful notes that I wrote on my Mac and transferred with no effort. Here’s how it works.

Notational Velocity is designed to create, store and retrieve notes. Its marquee feature is modeless operation. There’s no difference between searching for a note, browsing a note or creating one. It’s extremely fast and efficient.

WriterRoom is a full-screen text editor for the Mac and iPhone/iPod touch. It works well, but I’m really using it just to display notes.

SimpleText brings the two together. It’s a sync service originally created to let Taskpaper and WriteRoom users sync documents. Fortunately, it works with Notational Velocity, too.

Here’s how to set it up.

1. Open Notational Velocity Preferences
2. Open “Notes” preference pane
3. Select SimpleText’s folder for “Read notes from folder”
4. Under storage, select ”Storage and read notes on disk as Plain Text Files”

That’s it. Now every note created in Notational Velocity is instantly synced with WriteRoom and vice versa. It’s simple, it costs all of $4.99 to set up (the price of WriteRoom) and it “just works.”

One of my all-time favorite Mac apps, App Zapper, has been updated to kick more ass then ever. It truly is “the uninstaller that Apple forgot.”

[Via 37Signals]

Note: This is an affiliate post.

Here’s me, 13 months ago:

I have to bill clients. And, uh, keep track of that. Taxes, line items, online payments … yeah, I have no idea what I’m doing. Sell the house, honey. We’re moving the kids into a cardboard box in the park. Yes, corrugated. No seriously, it’ll be awesome.

Here’s me today:

Hon, run down to the printer. It’s time to review what’s outstanding for the month. While we’re at it, lets review this quarter’s expenses and estimates. Have we paid all our contractors?

Freshbooks made it possible. For more than a year, this awesome web app has been my companion. Client management, time tracking, expenses, estimates and more are so ridiculously easy there’s no reason to not use it. The coolest part is when I can begin time tracking with MiniBooks for the iPhone. Just set up a timer, click to start and begin working. When you’re done it’s synchronized with your Freshbooks account.

If your clients prefer paper invoices (dinosaurs still roam the earth), Freshbooks handles that, too. In fact, they send you a demo paper invoice when you sign up, just so you can check it out. How cool is that? Lastly, I’ll say that the support guys they’ve got on Twitter are top-notch (I’m not the only one who thinks so). I’ve had questions answered in manner of minutes.

As I’ve said in my sponsorship page, I only promote products that are worth your time and attention. Freshbooks is on the top of that list. Thanks for being awesome guys, and for keeping my kids out of a cardboard box.