iPhone apps S/D

coz Make A Gif

xp if the stylus is too thin it just won't register - the screen's really only looking for input from fat sausage fingers.

Yeah sure that's what they say but what about brushes that work and why am I able to drag a thin piece of conductive string across the screen and get an (admittedly sketchy but it is a light string) line in pretty much any art/ note/ sketch app?

i dunno! i tried cutting down the foam to less than 5mm and it just didn't work.

Is the string knotted made into a firmer point than foam might be?

Would a Palm Pilot stylus work? There might be an old Palm Pilot lying around my office. I'll have to see if I can find one.

Palm Pilot stylii don't conduct, so that won't work.

you can get the string/wire in different strengths.

has anyone tried one of these? http://www.studioneat.com/products/cosmonaut

(i haven't)

if youre going for off the shelf this 'flat' stylus seems at least a little more intuitive

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JTPDDhc1L.jpg

ooooh that cosmonaut does look sweet

heres a DIY. See all plus pics at http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2011/Home/March/Week2/RDMHomeMar0911.htm#DIY_iPadBrush:

Based on our understanding of how the iPad touchscreen works, a "stylus" can be made out of ANYTHING conductive (metal, foam, skin, etc...) as long as it makes contact with the surface of the iPad screen in such a way that it spans a certain distance to register as a touch. iPad stylus are so easy to make (we made one in a few seconds with some copper foil and a wooden dowel) that it wasn't really worth a DIY write-up.

A stylus may be easy to construct, but what about making a brush that would work with the iPad? Knowing what we know about how the iPad touchscreen works, we figured that, in theory, it shouldn't be too difficult to make a brush that would work on the iPad. The challenging part would be finding the right type of material to make the bristles.

In order to make a brush, we need conductive bristles. We have already demonstrated that as long as something conductive makes sufficient contact with the screen's surface, the iPad will register it as a "touch." So, a bunch of copper strands should do nicely. The easiest source of ready-made copper "hair" is from an old power cord.

A few quick snips, strip BOTH ends, and we had ourselves a nice bunch of shiny copper bristles ready for testing. The Bic pen tube, with its tapered point, made it the perfect brush handle. So in just a little under 30 seconds, we made an iPad brush. Of course, the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question is "Will it work?" The answer is...well enough, but it could be a lot better.

The brush is easily recognized by the iPad and will track nicely across the surface. The copper is too soft to scratch the glass screen. The only problem is that the bristles have no "spring" in them. They will deform on contact and will stay bent. While this is not a big problem, it does not really feel like a brush.

Unless Apple changes the fundamental technology behind their current iPad screen or someone adds a lot more technology to the stylus, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to have the kind of PRECISE pixel/brush control like that of a Wacom Cintiq. Any company implying such is being VERY generous in their claims. However, if you want to approximate the feel of using a brush on the iPad, follow our DIY instructions, and make one for a few pennies.

the cosmonaut is awesome

tempting!

okay so i tried to make a copper wire stylus and it worked intermittently. then i was messing around in my tool box and found a copper ummmmm thing bolts go in. anyway i tried it and no go but then i tilted it a little so only part of the metal thing bottom (hardly anything - approx 5mm x 2.5mm) was touching the ipad and voila. worked pretty good considering the size. Here it is to scale:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/6894004198_830cd379cc_c.jpg

Sketchbook drawing w/ it next

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/6893960104_2735fdcc7d_c.jpg

this Jot Pro looks pretty cool:

http://adonit.net/product/jot-pro/

The Jot Touch that is coming out shortly could be a godsend - a bluetooth pressure sensitive stylus.

wooow sunny, what app did you do that in?

speaking of, does anyone know a good sketch/drawing/note app for use with stylii that will a) make my handwriting look better and b) let me rest my hand on the screen while writing

Notes Plus is excellent but hasn't had a retina upgrade yet (it's coming). Paper is free and worth a crack, but extra pens cost money.

i dig paper but it doesnt filter out the heel of my han, will give notes plus a shot

Notability is loads cheaper, give that a crack. Not retina yet either.

atm Notability is US$1 and Notes Plus is US$8 so

Why are these styli so expensive? I like the Jot Pro but I don't want to spend $19 for a stylus. And that's cheaper than the Cosmonaut.

Dunno, but my Targus stylus cost around US$20 and I use it most days.

come on $19 aint so bad

I guess not if you use it enough. But neither the materials nor design seem that special. Or maybe I don't know enough about them to say.

let's learn... together

sunny tell us more about yr super thin stylus!

Propellerheads Figure online today for 99 cents

who knows

csSound for iPad looks interesting

& so does iDensity

still love Animoog, but actually playing Grainbender more often -- far more traditional GUI, but it just sounds great

Sparrow getting push notifications soon.

figure is fun!

Okay, I'm sick of forgetting when books are due at the library, and they only send me emails three days before the date vs. the actual date itself. Is there any app/service that will let me quickly activate something that will send me a text/push notification one week from that day? I tried ifttt but you can't time events for future dates; all the triggers are immediate. Basically I just want to send a one-word text or open an app and push a single button corresponding to a pre-established task (in this case, notify me one week from today)

set a reminder?

Well yes but the point is I want to have an app that will let me set up some sort of template that is "When you activate this, you will get a reminder x days from today" versus opening Calendar, adding a task, computing and setting end date, etc. etc.

ahhhh

brb raising venture capital

Siri: "Remind me to take back books in seven days"

I just tried it and it actually worked! Amazing.

Yeah, I don't know how all the reminder stuff is configured out and I thought I hadn't set up locations, but I told it to "remind me to stop by the pharmacy after I leave work" one day and it got it right! creepy

I got no Siri ;_;

Has anybody tried using Straight Talk as their carrier? Contract is up in July and I'm seriously considering switching.

anyone recommend any good nutritional apps - most seem to be diet focused, I'm not looking to lose weight more just healthy eating. I started using mynetdiary which is pretty good in that it scans the barcodes and fills out nutritional stuff re: daily amount calories, fats, carbs, proteins, sugars etc but wondered if any other apps

myfitnesspal.com. you can either customize your nutrition requirements/preferences at the website or let them autopopulate, and view your progress toward them under the 'daily' link in the app. there's a bar code scanner, and a recipe calculator app integrated on the website. you can make a big pot of stew, say, enter the ingredients and the number of servings, and the nutrition info will all be calculated as you need.

I use the livestrong app.

Anyone know of a nice atlas app? I basically want to be able to have a map of the world at all times on my phone. Ideally it should also have maps by continent and other stuff, for when I feel a sudden urge to know what are Guinea Bissau's neighboring countries. I'd love it if there was a good free one that could be used offline (for when I'm actually traveling). I've had a very basic lookaround and came upon the National Geographic one but while it's got a good avg rating, the three comments i see on the app store don't really make me wanna spend money for it ! So yeah, anyone have good recommendations?

FYI if y'all are looking for any sort of drawing app you'd prob be extremely hard-pressed to find anything as robust and complex (but still p intuitive) as Sketchbook Mobile. It's really a steal at $1.99, too.

the wikiweb app is damn lovely, if you like whizzy graphs and wikipedia

OTM.

Dark Sky. Amazing weather app.