If you got your hands on a snazzy new iPhone 5 and have been wishing Pear Note fully supported that bigger screen, then wait no more. Pear Note 2.0.1 for iOS is now live in the App Store, including support for the iPhone 5. It also includes a bunch of fixes for running on iOS 6, playback highlighting fixes, and general user interface improvements for all. So, update away and enjoy.
I’m pleased to announce that Pear Note for iOS 2.0 is now available. This new version takes the previously iPad-only app and makes it a universal app that will run on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. If you’ve already bought the iPad app, then you just got the iPhone app for free.
I have a confession to make – you guys were right. Ever since the iOS App Store’s arrival, many of you have been asking for an iPhone version of Pear Note. I avoided making one though, because I was unconvinced that taking notes on something so small would be a good experience. I tried taking notes in simple text apps on my iPhone, and found it frustrating. So, I put off making Pear Note for iPhone.
I was wrong. Taking pure text notes on an iPhone is frustrating, as I can’t type quick enough to capture all the information. Taking notes in Pear Note on the iPhone is completely different, though. I can just type a few words about a concept, then rely on the audio recording to fill in the details when reviewing. This means I finally have the ability to take useful notes anywhere I am with the device I always have in my pocket.
Of course, Pear Note on the iPhone is also great for always having my notes with me. I sync all my notes via Dropbox between my devices. Now, I can be anywhere and quickly find anything. I can be at the store buying school supplies and within seconds be listening to the exact moment of the parent orientation when my daughter’s teacher described which crayons worked best. It’s really great.
So check it out. I think you’ll find it is a fantastic tool.
Hot on the heels of 3.0.1 comes 3.0.2. This is primarily a bug fix release that fixes some crashes. It’s available for Mac App Store customers as well as direct customers. Get it while it’s hot.
You may also notice that the Share button looks different now. Apple decided the cloud button looked too much like the iCloud icon (despite the fact that the button has looked that way for two years now). So, there’s a new button.
Let me know if you run into any problems.
Pear Note for Mac 3.0.1 is now out for direct customers. This is primarily a bug fix release, but also ensures Pear Note works properly on Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion which was just released today. Notably, Pear Note is now signed with Developer ID in order to support Gatekeeper in Mountain Lion. If you’re already using Pear Note and you got it originally from anywhere except the Mac App Store, simply check for updates within Pear Note to get it.
If you got Pear Note from the Mac App Store, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer to get it. It’s been waiting for review with Apple for almost two weeks, but Apple seems to be running very slow on reviews lately. Hopefully the review will happen soon so you can get 3.0.1 as well. The good news is that 3.0 should work just fine on Mountain Lion for you, as App Store apps already pass Gatekeeper rules.
Enjoy the update, and let me know if you have any problems.
I just released a minor bug fix update to Pear Note – version 1.0.5. It improves the speed of the text editor portion of Pear Note when dealing with large amounts of text. Also, it fixes a bug in the loupe that caused excess text to show up around the loupe on a Retina screen (meaning the third generation iPad). The update should be in the App Store now.
Today, I was given the opportunity to visit Flint Hill School in Fairfax County, Virginia. They are a 1:1 school, meaning that all students have their own personal computing device to use. The elementary school kids have iPads and the middle and high school kids have MacBook Airs. And some of those middle and high schoolers have been using Pear Note to take notes in class.
Their first priority has been using Pear Note to help students who have trouble taking good notes in class. I sat down with one eighth grade girl who showed me how she used Pear Note to take notes one of her classes. This particular teacher talks too fast for her to take notes and listen. So, she takes a 3 step approach:
It was great to see folks at such a young age making use of Pear Note. I talk to many of you who are college students or in the workforce, but I rarely get to talk to kids that are using Pear Note as well. If you have other stories of kids in K-12 schools using Pear Note, please send them my way.
I’ll probably post more about my trip to Flint Hill in the coming weeks, but I wanted to go ahead and share this little bit. I learned a lot from them and am very impressed with how forward thinking they are about education. If any of you out there are educators and are looking for role models blazing new trails in education, you should really check out what’s going on at Flint Hill.
Yes, that’s right. Pear Note 3 for Mac is now out for all of you. Pear Note 3 for Mac adds several new features, including support for auto save and versions, full-screen mode, HD video recording, and support for taking notes on Skype calls. And, it’s a free update for all of you who already purchased Pear Note for Mac.
Pear Note 3 adds support for several new features present in Mac OS X Lion. Auto save and versions are two features that work together to prevent users from losing data. Versions of a document are continually saved automatically as a user works. If there’s ever a problem, a user can browse back through history to see what the document looked like at any time in the past. Also, full-screen mode has been added.
Pear Note 3 includes a completely new recording and playback engine when running on Lion or later. This is not something you can look at and see as a user, but it does enable things to get better in a lot of ways. For instance, it improves efficiency while recording. Also, it enables new recording settings including high bitrate audio and HD 720p video recording (assuming you have a HD-capable camera).
Pear Note 3 also integrates with Call Recorder for Skype from Ecamm to enable users to take notes on Skype calls. Call Recorder will record the call, including audio and video, while Pear Note synchronizes its timeline with the recorded Skype call. This means notes can be taken on virtual meetings just as they can be taken on physical ones.
The look of Pear Note has also been updated, including a minor facelift to the app and a brand new icon.
Also, Pear Note 1.0.4 for iPad is available today which brings improved compatibility with Pear Note 3 for Mac as well as Retina graphics for the new iPad and a new icon to match the new Mac icon.
In my excitement I left out a couple important details that you should all know about:
In the spirit of Christmas, several developers have decided to band together to support a worthwhile cause. That cause is charity: water, an organization devoted to bringing clean, safe water to people in developing nations. While those of us in developed nations may take easy access to clean water for granted, unsafe water is one of the leading killers in developing nations. charity: water takes aim at this problem.
So, we simple app developers have banded together to form Apps for Water. For today, December 20, 2011, we will donate all income to charity: water. For me, that includes sales of Pear Note for Mac here on this site and in Apple’s App Store, as well as sales of Pear Note for iPad in the App Store. There are lots of other great apps to purchase as well, so make sure you check out everything else.
So, buy some useful software and help a great cause. You’ve only got until the end of the day.
And, for a limited time, it’s only $4.99.
I won’t spend too much time talking about features here, as you can just click on Pear Note for iPad above to see that. The highlights are:
Pear Note for iPad is coming very soon. I can’t say exactly how soon, as Apple is in control of that. It has been submitted to Apple, and will be available for purchase on the App Store whenever they approve it. In the mean time you can learn more about what’s coming by looking at the new Pear Note for iPad page here on this site.
Also, Pear Note for Mac 2.1 is now available. The main change in 2.1 is an updated file format that is compatible with Pear Note for iPad. Pear Note for iPad can sync notes via Dropbox with other iPads or Macs running Pear Note. If you’d like to sync over old notes, you’ll have to open them with Pear Note for Mac 2.1 and re-save them. They’ll be updated to the new file format, making them readable in Pear Note for iPad.
There’s another small but very important change in Pear Note 2.1. Pear Note and Lion did not get along as well as I had hoped, resulting in a bug there that could cause recordings to disappear. I apologize to any of you that lost recordings due to this, but it’s fixed in Pear Note 2.1. If you’ve upgraded to Lion, I recommend you update Pear Note for Mac to 2.1 immediately to avoid running into this.