With the unveiling of a new iPad it should be no surprise that this week’s app releases share a special focus on tablets. From Moore In The Morning on Newstalk 1010 here’s my look at apps for Monty Python fans, bacon lovers, and those who prefer to read the web without distraction.
Readability
Free
As much as the internet is a great source of information there are times when it becomes a distraction from the simple task of reading. The slick graphics, animated ads, and navigation buttons that serve to make the web exciting and immersive can also prevent you from focusing on a well-written article or diving deep into a richly researched essay. With Readability you can convert any web article into the comfort of a printed page – a clean, white background with your choice of font in your choice of text size. Now you can read the web as you would a book or newspaper.
Readability converts web articles (left) into clean text (right)
On a home computer Readability simply adds an extra button to your web browser so you can convert any open web page with a click of a mouse. On a smartphone or tablet, you need to copy the url from your browser into the Readability app to make the change. An extra step, but it’s still a fast process.
You can save converted articles and read them later even if you lose your internet connection, and you can have them sent to a Kindle in order to take advantage of the eBook Reader’s special E Ink display. Hopefully with time other readers such as the Kobo or Sony Reader will be supported too.
In addition to a choice of five font styles and sizes, there’s also a very useful night mode that displays white text on a grey screen, making it easier to read in bed with low lighting. Naturally you can share converted articles across devices and social networks.
Although other apps such as Instapaper offer folders and additional features for a price, I like that Readability has focused on a free and simple solution for what is really a basic problem.
Update – Attention Android Users: The Android version of Readability has launched today, but sadly only as an exclusive to the Amazon Android App store in the United States. It should become available here in Canada in a week or more once that exclusive period is over (the same thing happened with Plants Vs Zombies, for example).
This is something the creators of Readability neglected to mention in their initial announcement here: http://blog.readability.
I apologize for the inconvenience.
Update #2 – Readability is now available for Canadian Android users here
Monty Python: The Holy Book of Days
$4.99
With its galloping coconuts, insulting Frenchmen, and spank-happy maidens, Monty Python and the Holy Grail still thrives as one of the funniest movies of all time. Four decades have passed since its first release, with fans memorizing every line, mimicking every accent, and even re-enacting the best scenes in LEGO. Now comes the ultimate behind-the-scenes journey with an iPad app loaded with more than a Gigabyte of 3D models, interactive maps, newly unearthed outtakes, and audio clips.
Although packaged with a witty introduction by John Cleese and silly Gilliam-styled animations, the content isn’t funny as much as it’s insightful into how the Pythons used their humour to cope with the low-budget difficulties of making the movie. You have the two Terrys battling over directing duties, Graham Chapman drunkenly yelling out “Mary Marsden” in the middle of the night and John Cleese dismissing waitresses for their “bovine intelligence”. Through it all Michael “The Nicest Man In The World” Palin keeps a thoughtful diary that’s one of the app’s best features to dive into.
Like an interactive art book you can swipe through the content as virtual morsels on a page, organized in order of the production days or by scenes. If you have a Wi-Fi connected Blu-Ray player you can also sync the app to the Blu-ray version of the movie, with content from the app appearing at the right time to match the scene on your television.
In this way you can follow along with the shooting script, pull up production stills, or my favourite, fondle 3D scans of key props, including the Holy Hand Grenade itself. The never-before-seen outtakes offer up a chance to see the Pythons experiment with their characters while fun audio clips and snippets let you easily repeat the movie’s best lines and songs. For those who love Monty Python it’s a rich way to explore them as creative human beings.
The Better Bacon Book: Make, Cook, and Eat Your Way To Cured Pork Greatness
$4.99
Few cookbooks have as much enthusiasm for their subject as The Better Bacon Book. With passionate know-how it sizzles and salivates through guides on making your own bacon, curing it, smoking it, and using it creatively in the kitchen for Breakfast Pizzas, Bacon Cheeseburger Meatballs, and even Malted Bacon Ice Cream.
Written by expert chefs and restaurateurs who really, really, know their stuff, The Better Bacon Book has been assembled using the Inkling Publishing system. Originally designed for interactive textbooks, the Inkling layout cleanly mixes demonstration videos and slick photography with step-by-step guides that can be bookmarked, hi-lighted, and used to create study card notes and online discussions with other users.
A built-in pop-up glossary helps explain bacon terms as you encounter them and with a search tool you can find any section by page number or word. You can even change the fonts for better reading.
There are 32 recipes ranging from breakfast and dinner ideas to dessert creations and even cocktail experiments. Taken from their real-world use in a number of respected restaurants, none of the dishes feel like bacon gags designed for gross-out laughs. As strange as the idea of bacon tempura or pigwich cookies may seem to be, the recipes and photos are very convincing and look compellingly tasty.
Yes, I wish the recipe count was a bit higher, but the focus here is to help those who enjoy a good curl of crispy bacon to get the most out of it and easily expand their appreciation for it, which The Better Bacon Book does very well.
