Until I opened an email this morning from a publicist at the Penguin Group (USA), who'd sent me a press release about the company's newest so-called "creativity app," The Pocket Scavenger, I was under the impression that I was at least somewhat tuned in to the world of Android apps. But apparently, not so much. Penguin, it seems, has been busy releasing quite an impressive suite of creativity apps lately, and like their latest, The Pocket Scavenger, many are based on the books of author, illustrator and self-described guerrilla artist Keri Smith. Smith writes books that are not only about creativity, but that actually encourage it...

Yesterday, I wrote about the Nook HD mostly from a stock OS perspective. But I know the question you really wanted to have answered was this: "Does it work as an Android tablet?" After three days of using it, my answer is a cautious "yes." Because I still don't have a tablet case for it, I haven't run it through a typical work day. However, from my use in the house over the weekend, I can tell you that it's got potential. Let's start with what it can and can't do. Loading apps from Google Play is a breeze. When you install the...

All right! Barnes & Noble has finally listened to its customer base, and the tech bloggers. They recently announced that they'll be rolling out a software update that adds the Google Play Store to the Nook HD and HD+ tablets. This is excellent news. The Nook HD tablets have consistently received great hardware reviews, but the Nook App Store lags so far behind other app stores that there's no point in drawing comparisons. Good hardware plus crappy app selection does not equal a winning combination. I confess to being surprised by the news. While it's what I've been writing about for a...

Kindle for iOS received a major update yesterday, allowing it to work with the VoiceOver features of the iPhone and iPad. This is a good thing for the blind and visually impaired. It also has application for sighted readers who don’t mind computer text-to-speech voices and want to listen to their books on the go. I tested it out for a bit. VoiceOver takes some getting used to, if you’ve never used it. I had to relearn most of the ways I interact with my iPad, but I finally figured it out well enough to get my Kindle app reading to me. If you’ve ever used...

As you’ve probably guessed from previous posts, I’m a big fan of Pocket Informant for task and calendar management. But sometimes an app like Informant is just too much. Or perhaps you want to keep track of certain tasks separately. I’ve found Astrid Tasks to be a good option for those times. It has many features of a full-function task manager, but it can also be used for the simple things. Besides, who can resist the cute octopus? I use it for grocery lists, meal lists and packing lists for camping. Sure, there are apps out there for all of those, but I’m comfortable with task...

By Christina Jones The Android app has already been released, but the iPad app for Google Fiber is now available. It doubles as a remote, allowing users to search TV programs, on-demand shows and movies, and schedule recordings. These can also be viewed directly from the iPad. It isn’t yet available for the iPhone, but is reportedly going to be released soon. Google Fiber is currently available only for residents of Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo., but will be available in Provo, Utah and Austin, Texas soon. The high-speed Internet and TV service launched last November, proclaiming to be the world’s fastest Internet...

The Ultimate Evernote Guide: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 In this final installment of our Evernote series, we'll look at some apps you can use to extend Evernote's functionality. Apps allow you to easily create and manage notes which have special features; any notes you create using the special app will get grouped into their own special notebook or notebooks; these will be visible to you from within your core Evernote app as well, but your other notebooks from there will not transfer over to these additional apps. For example, my Skitch...

Looks like no social media channel is immune to ads. Today, Tumblr joins the ranks with ads on their mobile devices. Here’s the announcement on their blog. They seem similar to Twitter promoted posts, and the Tumblr staff assures us we’ll only see them “every now and then.” Naturally, I fired up Tumblr on my iPad to see what they look like. Here’s an example: That’s not too bad. It’s animated, which didn’t come through in the screen shot. If I hadn’t been looking specifically for it, I might have missed it since this is the sort of thing the blogs I follow...

Comic strip publisher Universal Uclick has created a digital place on the Internet for avid readers of old-school newspaper comic strips. And now, to further plant the print staple into the modern world, they’ve introduced their GoComics website to the mobile Web sphere. Launching the GoComics application for iOS, Android and WP8, users can now access all content from the company’s website, which includes a massive chunk of the most popular comics strips worldwide. Some notable series from yesteryear include the complete Calvin & Hobbes archives and a slew of Peanuts, Garfield, Dilbert and Doonesbury comics. Today’s stuff is there too: FoxTrot, The Boondocks, Pearls Before Swine, et al. Did I mention the app is free? Even if...

By Christina Jones Pocket has added a few new feature for its users. Before, you could share your saved articles to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as through e-mail. Now you can share articles along with a personal comment and highlighted quote to other Pocket users, sending them push notifications and an e-mail about it. You can also view archives of where and who you sent articles to directly in the app. The Send to Friend update is the latest overhaul since Pocket re-branded itself from its Read it Later namesake. The new feature is a reflection of the...

Now that Amazon is buying Goodreads, I'm guessing lots more people are going to be using the site, so it seemed to make sense to write a review of the app. Goodreads has an app for both iOS and Android. It's also available in the Amazon Appstore for the Kindle Fire. Oddly, that version is listed as not compatible for my Nexus 7. There doesn't seem to be an app for Windows 8 or Blackberry. Both versions are easy to use and fairly self-explanatory. I have a mild preference for the iOS version, but because I do most of my reading on...

The Ultimate Evernote Guide: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 In two of our previous installments, we explored the app versions of the Evernote ecosystem. We touched upon using your mobile device's camera to save screenshots or on-the-go info. But I was delighted to find that Evernote has a scanner feature that is actually quite powerful, and which produces a sometimes clearer picture than just using the camera alone. To access the scanner feature in the iOS app, flick your toolbar down so you can see the top toolbar. There will be a scrolling panel of...