Nerd.is Gift Guide Companion – iOS and Mac Apps

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As a companion to my Nerdfather’s Day Gift Guide, my wife suggested I compile a list of iOS and Mac apps that would also be great gifts for nerds. I told her I don’t think many people even know you can gift apps from the iTunes store. She said I should cover that too. She made a great point on both counts, so here we go.

Beware, this post is full of App Store links that will launch programs outside the browser. You’ve been warned.

How to Gift Apps from the iTunes or Mac App Stores

  1. Find the app you want to give as a gift.
  2. On the detail page for the app, the purchase button will have a small black down arrow just to the right–click that arrow.
  3. A drop-down list will appear and the first option will be ‘Gift This App’. Click that option.
  4. Complete the gift form and confirm your purchase. You can either have Apple send an email with the gift included, or you can print out a certificate to give directly to your recipient. That’s it!

iPad/iPhone

  • Comics by comiXology – Free app, Comic prices vary – My favorite comic reader for iPad. There are publisher-specific options as well, but this one has the largest number of titles that I’m aware of.
  • Evernote – Free – Evernote has been my key to going Paperless at home. I upgraded to a Premium account ($45/year) to get even more features, but the free account offers more than enough to try the service and decide if it’s right for you.
  • GoodReader – $4.99 – This is the Swiss Army Knife of file viewers for iPad or iPhone. My only beef is that they haven’t merged the iPad and iPhone versions.
  • TaskPaper – $9.99 – If you want to track to-do lists without all the frills, this is a great app. One purchase gets you both iPhone/iPad versions and syncing between multiple devices is easy.
  • iThoughtsHD – $9.99 – This is iPad only, but I wouldn’t want to try to brainstorm on the smaller iPhone screen anyway. The latest update added Retina display graphics and it is fantastic.
  • Byword – $2.99 – Currently intro priced at 50% off, Byword is an amazing deal. One purchase gets both iPad/iPhone versions, and it is an awesome text editor. It also includes Markdown shortcuts if that’s your fancy.
  • Calvetica – $2.99 – Another great deal for a universal app, Calvetica is a far better alternative to the stock Calendar app in iOS.
  • RadarUS – $2.99 – This one is for the weather nerds. Tired of waiting for 15 minute old radar data in other apps? Get a super high-res radar image that updates more frequently. Includes all the bells and whistles you could want and covers both iPad and iPhone.
  • iMovie – $4.99 – Many have complained about the revisions Apple has made to iMovie, but I think the iPad version is the best video editing software I’ve used. No, you can’t do a lot of fancy stuff, but what you can do is make quick, simple, videos that are easy to share with others. Combined with the 1080p camera on the new iPad, you can make some awesome stuff.
  • Wikipanion – Free – Are you still settling for the web version of Wikipedia on your iOS devices? Wikipanion provides a better viewing experience and costs nothing!
  • EMD PTE – Free – It’s the periodic table. It’s free. Enough said.
  • NASA – Free – NASA’s various probes and telescopes have captured some incredible high-res images of the cosmos over the years. This app gives you access to the full archive.
  • National Geographic – $19.99/year (free for existing subscribers) – Many of the iPad magazine offerings are terrible. National Geographic is the exception.
  • Mr. Reader – $3.99 – I’ve tried just about every RSS reader released for iPad since 2010. This is my favorite.
  • Instapaper – $4.99 – Marco Arment’s app is a must-have for anyone who consumes online content on their iOS device. One price gets you both versions of the app.
  • Tweetbot – $2.99 – Tweetbot is the BEST Twitter client for iOS, hands down. Best of all, if you buy both iPad and iPhone versions, you can sync your timeline position between them, a feature I’ve been wanting for years.
  • Plants vs Zombies HD – $6.99 – My favorite game in years. Extremely replayable and loads of fun.
  • Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP – $4.99 – Incredibly innovative game with an awesome soundtrack.
  • Atari Greatest Hits – Free app/$5.99 for 100 game bundle – If the Atari 2600 has significance for you, this is a must have. Combine this app with an iCade for the ultimate retro experience.
  • OmniFocus – $39.99 for iPad/$19.99 for iPhone – I have all three versions of Omnifocus, but the iPad/iPhone combo are where I spend 85% of my time with the software. For big time GTD-ers, this is the perfect app.
  • Tiny Wings – $0.99 – A beautifully simple game for the iPhone that is surprisingly addictive. Play it upside-down for an extra challenge.
  • Photo Transfer App – $2.99 – Awesome app for easily moving photos and video back and forth between iOS devices without syncing through iTunes. I use this all the time to movie photo and video files to my iPad for editing. There is also a download for OS X that lets you get your Mac in on the transferring action.
  • Camera+ – $0.99 – Superior to the native Camera app in the most important way–speed. It’s really helped us get some awesome photos of the baby, despite her constant movement. Great built-in editing options as well.
  • WootWatch – Free – Great free app for keeping up with the latest deals from the various sites at Woot.com. Very handy during a WootOff!
  • Downcast – $1.99 – I recently switched to Downcast for managing my podcast feeds and I’m very pleased. It’s far superior to the native Apple option, and after the Instacast 2.0 downgrade, this is definitely the way to go.
  • Flow – Free – This app is Amazon’s entry into the realm of AI visual recognition apps. You’ll never want to scan another bar code after using it.
  • Zombies! Run! – $7.99 – This fitness app marries game elements and a sort of zombie radio play with the fitness tracking elements similar to so many running apps. The end result is a fun app that also helps you get or stay fit.
  • xkcd HD – Free – Every nerd should have this app to keep up with the best web comic out there.
  • Fish – Free – As opposed to releasing this writing as a blog post or an ebook, Robin Sloan decided to create something new. The result made me think about how I consume content on the web. It only took 10 minutes to read, but I’m still thinking about it weeks later.
  • Barista – $2.99 – If your coffee nerd spent big bucks on an espresso machine that neither of you know how to use, this is the app you need. Barista gives straight-forward tips on making several of the most popular premium coffee drinks. At a minimum, it will absolutely help you pull better shots.

Mac

  • TextExpander for Mac – $34.99 – Save keystrokes like crazy with this awesome utility.
  • WriteRoom – $9.99 – My favorite simple text editor. It has a great fullscreen mode and the regular mode is perfect for working in Markdown with a preview app like Marked (see below).
  • 1Password – $49.99 – Don’t leave your password management to the browser. 1Password syncs to all your iOS devices and has great plugins for all the popular browsers. Oh, and it does a lot more than just password management.
  • Marked – $3.99 – If you use Markdown or MultiMarkdown, this app might be the best four bucks you’ll ever spend. Brett Terpstra is practically giving away this awesome app that renders a realtime preview of your Markdown that can be exported as HTML, PDF, or several other options.
  • Acorn – $49.99 – I think of Acorn as a Photoshop alternative for normal people. It has most of the power without all the bloat Photoshop has accumulated through the years.
  • Scrivener – $44.99 – For more involved documents that require structure, a simple text editor like WriteRoom won’t do. Scrivener is the polar opposite of a simple text editor. Whether writing a novel, a software manual, or a screenplay, this program can do it all.
  • OmniFocus – $79.99 – Complete the trifecta with the full desktop version of this great software.
  • iBank – $59.99 – This app makes Quicken look like something your dog would throw up onto the carpet. iBank is what a native Mac app for personal finance always should have been.
  • Audiobook Builder – $5.99 – If you have audiobooks on CD that you are importing into iTunes, than you’ll notice they aren’t formatted in the nice iPod-friendly audiobook format that downloaded titles are. This app allows you to format all those individual tracks into one file, making it much easier to manage.
  • Reeder – $9.99 – This used to be my favorite iOS feed reader as well, but then I discovered Mr. Reader as profiled above in the iOS section. That said, Reeder is a fully capable RSS reader, and is certainly the best current desktop option I’ve seen.
  • PicFrame – $0.99 – This one isn’t particularly nerdy, in fact it’s quite the opposite. It makes it super easy to make photo collages with customizable frames. My wife and I use it to make wallpaper of adorable baby photos. We’ve tried several different apps and this is definitely our favorite.
  • Delicious Library 2 – $34.99 – Best app out there for tracking a media library. I use it primarily for videos and games, though it tracks several other categories as well. The lending library feature is great and I really like the publish to web feature. To see sample output just click here.

Wow, I didn’t intend for this list to be so long when I started. It turns out, I have purchased a lot more apps than I realized. Despite all that, I’m sure there are other great apps I failed to mention, so be sure to let me know what they are.

Nerdfather’s Day Gift Guide

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With my first Father’s Day as an actual dad coming up next month, I realized there are probably a lot of people with nerdfathers who they have trouble shopping for. I thought I’d help out any struggling gift buyers with my…

Nerdfather’s Day Gift Guide

I’ve only been a father for 8 months, but I’ve been a nerd for over 30 years. I’ve used this expertise to curate a list of great gifts for many different kinds of nerds. I’ve grouped my suggestions by price range to make it easier to navigate. I’ve included brief descriptions, but I’m not including any ratings with this list. If you see it below, you can safely assume I fully recommend the item. If you’ve got something I need to add to my list, hit me up in the comments or on Twitter @nerddotis.

Under $25

Zombie Dice
($10.69 on Amazon)
As profiled on a recent episode of Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, Zombie Dice is a quick and simple dice game for 3–8 players. Of course, the best gift to accompany this would be to actually play this game with the nerdfather in your life.

The Twilight Zone: Fan Favorites Blu-ray
($21.93 on Amazon)
Releasing on June 5th, this 2-disc collection features 19 classic episodes from the seminal sci-fi series. My favorites include “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”.

The Elements
($17.21 on Amazon)
An iPad app version of this book got a lot of hype when the device was originally released in 2010, including a shoutout from Steve Jobs on stage. As much as I like the iPad app, it hasn’t been updated since June 2010, meaning no support for the high res screen on the latest iPad. Long story short, there’s no substitute for the paper version of the book, which is gorgeous. Even non-nerds won’t mind it sitting on the coffee table.

Kick Ass TPB
($19.99 on MyComicShop.com)
One of the best new mature-themed comics of the last decade.

XKCD ‘Height’ Poster
($15.00 on xkcd.com)
This is just one of several awesome gifts under twenty bucks based on Randall Munroe’s incredible webcomic. I don’t know a single nerd who doesn’t find Munroe’s comics fantastic.

$25-$50

Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy Blu-ray
($49.96 on Amazon)
The quality of the sequels can be debated, but by all accounts I’ve read, this transfer to blu-ray is one of the best done so far. This new release also offers the best audio mix to date, which means the phenomenal score and sound effects will put you right in the middle of the action.

Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season Blu-ray
($43.96 on Amazon)
HBO may have reached a mainstream audience with their nudity-filled Game of Thrones adaptation, but nerds know this is still an overly-detailed fantasy series at heart.

The Art of Pixar
($27.17 on Amazon)
A beautiful hardcover coffee table book covering the first 25 years of what will certainly be a great legacy in the history of film.

Periodic Table Building Blocks
($39.99 on ThinkGeek)
I just found these while researching this post and I must have them before my little girl is old enough to play with blocks.

$50-$100

A Game of Thrones Board Game: 2nd Edition
($59.99 on ThinkGeek)
This is another new find for me that is now on my personal wish list. It’s like Risk, but for supernerds who wish they could visit Westeros.

DODOcase Spring Summer for iPad3/iPad2
($84.90 on dodocase.com)
There are a lot of iPad cases out there, but very few are handcrafted with the kind of care that goes into the products at DODOcase. In addition to the awesome quality, you can also personalize or do something I’ve not seen on many other cases–add a hole for the rear facing camera. Until I got the newest iPad this spring, I never thought I’d want to shoot video with a tablet. It turns out the iPad’s size is actually an advantage when it comes to holding it steady while shooting. The higher quality video makes it a slam dunk, so I love the idea of a case I don’t have to remove the iPad from to shoot video. This isn’t my current iPad case, but as you can tell, it’s now the one I want.

Logitech Performance MX Wireless Mouse
($64.54 on Amazon)
I currently own the predecessor to this incredible rechargeable wireless mouse. They have solved my only two pet peeves with the old version. First, the usb wireless receiver is now small enough to leave plugged in all the time, even with a laptop. Second, they have eliminated the recharging cradle and replaced it with a cord that plugs into the front of the mouse, meaning you can still use it while it charges.

$100-$200

Tom Bihn Ristretto Bags
($125-$135 on tombihn.com)
The price variation depends on which device (MacBook Air 11“, 13” or iPad) you are shopping for. There are multiple color combinations to choose from and the attention to detail used in the design completely justifies the price on this bag. This is easily the best combination of style and security out there.

Lego R2-D2
($179.99 on lego.com)
I could have chosen any number of awesome Lego sets to feature here, but I decided to feature just this one. At 2127 pieces, it represents a great challenge to assemble, while remaining only 12″ tall. That makes it small enough to display easily on an office shelf, which any self-respecting nerd will certainly want to do.

Dark Tower Omnibus Hardcover
($150 on mycomicshop.com)
I’m a big Stephen King fan, though I’m usually disappointed by adaptations of his work to other formats. The Dark Tower comic series from Marvel that began in 2007 is a definite exception to that rule. This beautiful hardcover collection includes one volume that collects the first three years of story as well as a second volume of bonus material. The full set totals 1,480 pages, presented in full color.

Red Star Complete Trade Paperback Collection
($100-paperback $200-hardcover on archangel-studios.com)
The best comic I’ve seen in the last twenty years, and the one that got me back into comics after several years away. The artwork is phenomenal and the story is deep and satisfying. If your nerd likes comics at all, I know they’ll love this series.

Doxie Go Portable Scanner
($199 on getdoxie.com)
I currently have the original Doxie ($149) and it is great. By adding a rechargeable battery and internal memory, the folks at Doxie have taken the Doxie Go to a new level of awesome. If your nerd wants to go paperless, this is a must have.

Das Keyboard Model S for Mac
($133 on daskeyboard.com)
A lot of people have mentioned the goofy font on this keyboard as a drawback, but if that’s the best complaint they can offer, I think that says everything. If you’re wondering what I asked for this year, this is it.

$200-$500

Technivorm Moccamaster Coffee Maker
($299.95 from Williams Sonoma)
Two years ago I spent $300 on a coffee maker and I thought I’d officially lost my mind. I hadn’t. This machine makes the most consistently awesome pot of coffee I’ve ever experienced. Pairing the Moccamaster with a great burr grinder and a fresh roasted bean, your coffee nerd will be unstoppable.

Twilight Zone: The Complete Series Blu-ray
($339.99 on Amazon)
If your nerd is a completest, then the ‘favorites’ collection noted above just won’t suffice. This 24 disc collection gives all five seasons the full Blu-ray treatment.

Over $500

iPad 3rd Generation 32GB w/ WiFi + Verizon 4G
($729 from Apple)
This mid-tier iPad option is the best choice as far as I’m concerned–that’s why I bought it for myself in March. If you really love your nerd and they don’t have a 3rd gen iPad, the Retina display is the perfect way to show them how much you care.

MacBook Air 11 inch w/ 128GB Hard Drive & 4GB RAM
($1199 from Apple)
I’m writing this on my first-gen 11″ MacBook Air. It’s my second MBA and the best computer I’ve ever owned. The one I’m recommending here is the newest revision and it only improves on everything I like about my machine. Don’t waste money on a CPU upgrade, because that’s not what the MBA is about. $1199 gets you twice the hard drive I have (and mine is only 85% full after two years) and a respectable amount of RAM to run smoothly for years to come. This computer redefined what laptops were about–don’t settle for a shitty imitation from HP or Sony just to save a few bucks.

Don’t Like Any of Those? Here are some great giftcard options for nerds

MyComicShop
My favorite online comic shop. Shopping here is the closest thing to walking into a physical store. Amazing customer service.

ThinkGeek
As the title implies, ThinkGeek puts geeks first. Their products are amazing, and you really should mark your calendar to check them next April Fool’s Day for new products.

NewEgg
If your nerd likes premium components, this is the place to go. They have everything, including a lot of stuff you can’t find anywhere else.

Fry’s Electronics
No link above because the Fry’s website sucks. Use this store locator to see if you are lucky enough to have a Fry’s in your area. If so, buy your nerd a gift card in store and let them make a pilgrimage to the greatest electronics store in the land.

Amazon
It almost goes without saying, but Amazon’s selection of movies, books, games, and electronics makes it an easy fallback option if you’ve completely given up on being original.

Command-H Just Changed My Life

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I’ve been 100% Mac at home for almost ten years now, but despite using five different machines and every version of OS X since Jaguar[1], I sometimes find myself wondering why there isn’t a keyboard shortcut for a common feature. Usually after some intrepid Googling, it turns out there is a shortcut after all, and I was just ignorant of it.

I minimize application windows all the time in OS X, and Command-M does a great job of exactly that. The aggravation comes when I Command-Tab back to an application only to realize the window is minimized so nothing displays. Up to thirty minutes ago, I thought using the mouse to click the app icon in the dock was the best way to bring that window back.

As it turns out, the key to simplifying this process is in the way I make application windows disappear. By using the Hide command with Command-H, the active window immediately disappears. The benefit to using Hide instead of Minimize is threefold:

  1. The window you are hiding immediately goes away without any animation or delay.
  2. When you Hide Application A, the most recent previously-used application (Application B) automatically gains focus after using Command-H.
  3. When you Command-Tab from Application B back to Application A, the window is immediately restored to the foreground.

I’m not exaggerating when I say Command-H has now changed my life. I’ve already used it at least a dozen times in the amount of time it took me to write this post. If you like keeping your desktop as clean as I do, I’m sure you’ll love Command-H too.

  1. Admittedly, I had to look up the OS X article on Wikipedia to remember what version of OS X was on the eMac I bought in 2002.  ?

Hey It’s That Island From The Goonies

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I was just testing a new plugin for WordPress and for some reason I used ‘goonie’ as the search term. Here’s what it got me:

Now you know where to find Willy's rich stuff. photo: Richard Fraley

I knew this was a real place, but I didn’t realize it was a beach people surf at. It’s the town of Cannon Beach, Oregon, and not only was The Goonies shot there, but so were Kindergarten Cop, Point Break, and Free Willy.

If I were a surfer, I would totally go there, catch a wave, and shout, “HEY YOU GUYS!” in my best Sloth voice while riding that wave in. I’m sure I’d be a great surfer since I’ve seen Point Break at least five times. And if Point Break taught me anything, it’s that you have to feel what the wave is doing, then accept its energy.

Introducing My Ultimate List

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Recently, I downloaded Fish: A Tap Essay by Robin Sloan. It made me think. I believe it’s worth your time. It also inspired me to add a new page to the site: My Ultimate List. I’m still in the process of compiling everything I want to add to the list, so it will change over time. Right now it just has ten or so things, but as far as I’m concerned, all of them are awesome. It’s sort of like a list of my bookmarks, except these are the things I go back to over and over again. If it’s on the list, I’ve watched/read/listened/whatevered it a minimum of twice. In some cases it’s more like dozens of times.

I hope you’ll share your ultimates with me as well–I’m sure some of yours will end up on my list too.

Less Input, More Output

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Less is more, at least that’s what we’ve all been told. However, where the bottomless pit of the Internet is concerned, less is a difficult concept to live by. Recently, I’ve made a concerted effort to apply the concept of Less to my Internet consumption, starting with news. This focus has already given me more time to make things.

I’ve been getting the majority of my news via RSS feeds for about ten years. I’ve used a variety of reader software and services, and I’ve relied on Google Reader as my backend since it was created in 2005. Despite Google’s refusal to release a full public API for Reader, intrepid programmers figured out enough about the service to create some great reading apps for both desktop and mobile platforms. These apps, as well as Google’s native interface for Reader, helped me build a workflow that involved reviewing posts from hundreds of websites on a daily basis. On any given day, I would scan thousands of posts, read a handful immediately, save many for later, and ignore the majority. This process worked great, as long as I didn’t miss any days reviewing my feeds.

About a month ago, after a week without checking my feeds, I had over 10,000 unread posts. After years of hitting ‘Mark All As Read’ in this situation, I realized I needed to think seriously about Less. I was staring at all those unread posts thinking, “Why do I keep getting so far behind?”

I spent a few minutes thinking about it, and realized I needed to ask a different question.

“Why do I insist on having so many subscriptions?”

Over the years I’ve added and removed lots of sites from my feeds. One that has always remained is Jason Kottke’s site. During my epiphany, I realized some part of me has always wanted my site to be like his, and subconsciously that put me into accumulate mode. Somehow I thought the main thing keeping me from having a site like Kottke’s was my lack of new stuff to link to.

I knew if I only read the sites of aggregators and taste makers, I could never become a leader myself. My solution had been to remove those filters and get news from all over the place, even subscribing to RSS feeds for Google News Alerts on topics that interested me. Over the years, I had steadily added dozens and dozens of noisy feeds that each posted 100+ times daily. No wonder I couldn’t keep up.

When I started reducing my feeds, I cut deep. I’m down to 27 feeds. 23 of those feeds are from single owner sites, meaning the volume of daily posts from each site average in the single digits. Most days I have less than 100 total posts to review. For the first time since I signed up for Instapaper, I’m actually keeping up with my ‘To Be Read’ articles. It’s amazing how much time I have to read now that I’m not spending all that time scanning headlines. Better yet, I’m left with more time to create.

I realize now there is only one way to ensure you’re staying ahead of the curve–by setting your own curve. I don’t have to be one of the first people to post the latest viral video to be a success. I just need to make things that are original and that I care about. That’s what you can look forward to here at nerd.is, more things I care about.

Jaws is Coming – To Bluray

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Its finally happening. Jaws is coming to Bluray on August 14, 2012. As usual, the folks at High Def Digest have the full details.

If you have 8.5 minutes, I highly recommend watching the video below that covers the restoration process.

This is how you treat a landmark piece of popular culture. Are you listening George Lucas? Oh, of course not, you’re too busy making 3D versions of the original Star Wars trilogy, replacing more of these classic films with CGI bullshit.