App Review: Projects
When it comes to the different genres of apps available on the App Store, the Project Management area is one of the least populated. A quick search of the store reveals only a handful of likely candidates and it’s clear it won’t be rivalling fart apps for sheer quantity anytime soon.
Far from the exclusive domain of accredited Project Managers, PM software can be used for anything from planning the Olympics to remodelling your kitchen or sorting out the family holiday. Good PM software can help organise the tasks, assign appropriate resources, identify bottlenecks and (in theory) predict when various milestones will be completed.
Defining exactly what qualifies as a Project Management tool is quite tricky. My broad, crude definition is software that includes Gantt charts. Try searching for ‘Gantt’ in the app store and you’ll not need to trouble your shoes and socks in order to count them all. Actually, at the time of writing, on the UK app store there’s a grand total of two apps that include a Gantt chart. The latest of these is ‘Projects’ from developer Thomas Blackburn.
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App Review: GPush and PushMail
Don’t want to pay for MobileMe and have to use a me.com email address? I’ve been using the latest apps that bring push email (sort of) to your iPhone.
GPush and Pushmail are currently racing up the App Store, so which would I recommend?
The beginning of the end of O2’s iPhone exclusivity
I’m sure you’ve heard that T-Mobile are giving iPhones to some customers in the UK. As with the unlocked iPhones available on Play.com, these are grey market imports that are not locked to any network. T-Mobile customers will apparently be offered an iPhone 3G if they spend £75+ per month and threaten to leave.
Initially, this will only affect a small number of high spending customers. And, it has to be seen in context of T-Mobile trying to maintain subscriber numbers – in order to make themselves more attractive if the network is sold.
But for the first time, you can now get an officially-supported iPhone in the UK on a network other than O2. Are we about to see iPhones available on other networks as well?
Carnival of the Mobilists 186
You know that warm, cosy feeling you have on a Sunday night when you’ve had your dinner, the kids are in bed, and you’ve just sat down to watch some TV? And then you realise you’ve forgotten this week’s Carnival of the Mobilists?
So, like the plot of the bad Steven Seagal movie I’m watching, this has been hastily-written. But don’t let my rush to write this article stop you from reading this week’s excellent submissions at leisure.
Presenting Apple’s new iBook!
I’ve been sitting on this article for quite a while, but the recent iTablet rumours and then the announcement of Sony’s new low-cost digital e-book readers moved me to finished it off and get it posted quickly!
The print and graphic design industries were the first that Apple really cornered. The killer combination of the Macintosh’s user interface, powerful QuickDraw API and Apple’s one-of-a-kind LaserWriter printer which included a built-in PostScript interpreter positioned Apple dead centre of the burgeoning DTP revolution. Though Apple made many mistakes throughout the early 90s, those critical components gave Apple a foundation that proved to be unmatchable.
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