One of my favorite PDF annotating apps for iPad, Remarks by Readdle, just got even better with the addition of automatic two-way Dropbox syncing. With the new update, a new, blue folder named Remarks and labeled with Dropbox will appear in your notes once you link your Dropbox account with Remarks. Any notes you create in this folder will automagically sync up with Dropbox -- you no longer have to manually send a note to Dropbox. It works like a charm.

When I compared Remarks with Noteshelf and Notability, one of my complaints about Remarks was that the handwriting wasn't all that spectacular. The good news is that this update has also brought major improvements to the handwriting, bringing it up to par with all the major iPad handwriting apps.

These two additional features are huge improvements to Remarks and I'm looking forward to even more updates. I already know that the next one is going to be pretty awesome.

As mentioned above, I have always been a huge fan of Remarks. As a math instructor, I frequently use it to handwrite solutions to quizzes, exams, and worksheets that I then make available to my students in electronic form.

Giveaway

The good folks at Readdle have given us 5 promo codes for Remarks to give away to you, our awesome readers! For a chance to win, just head on over to the iMore forums and leave a comment in the official giveaway thread letting us know why you'd like to win a copy of Remarks and what you plan to use it for.

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$4.99 - Download Now

Remarks is a brand new handwriting note-taking, and PDF annotating app for iPad from Readdle. I'm convinced the team at Readdle never sleeps because they release new apps, and update their catalog of existing apps, at pretty fast pace. They've focused on PDF lately, seeing a need for good editing, form filling, and annotating on iPad, and Remarks extends that expertise in a really interesting way.

Live at Macworld 2012, Readdle takes us hands on with their new handwriting style not-taking app. Whether you use a finger or a stylus, Remarks records your every stroke and because the iPad's capacitive screen isn't ideal for fine-grain, fine point detection, Remarks provides a handy "zoomed-in" mode so you can write out your notes in large scale, complete with scroll and new-line detection.

PDF editing and annotation is also built right in. You can add text, lines, and all the other standards, as well as move pages around and extra pages for easier, smaller-sized sharing. Not having to mail a full, 20MB file when all you marked up is a couple pages is most welcome. Add in Dropbox support and you start to get close to productivity nirvana.

Remarks has been submitted to the App Store and should be available in the next couple of days for $4.99.

Hit the link below to browse all of Readdle's apps for iPhone or iPad, and read on for the details on Remarks.

• Readdle on App Store link

Write down your thoughts, sketch new ideas and diagrams, or annotate PDF documents during the university lectures, brain storming or just on the sofa at home.

• Add Notes Quickly. Only one tap is needed to start new a note.Exchange files with Mac/PC
• Use a USB cable and iTunes File Sharing to copy notes.Edit your notes on the Mac/PC
• Make changes into your notes using any PDF editor like Preview or Adobe Reader.Annotate Email Attachments
• Open PDF attachments directly from the Mail app to annotate them.Share Notes With Your Friends
• Email notes to friends with remarks and they will be able to edit it like their own.Import PDFs from Dropbox
• Use "Open In" to transfer documents from Dropbox, Box.Net, Safari and other applications.

Noted Montreal iPhone photographer and videographer, Martin Reisch, better knows as *safe solvent™ on the internet, used a scan of his passport displayed on an iPad as identification while passing through the U.S. border from Canada. The man was visiting friends in Vermont when he realized that he had forgotten his passport. Luckily he had a scan of it saved on his iPad so decided to use it at the border.

Martin Reisch is certain that if Steve Jobs was alive, the tech innovator would have something to say about him.

“He’d probably say: ‘Here’s something to work on for the future.’ Maybe have some kind of digital certification or encryption to let people travel like this,”

Unfortunately not everyone shares those sentiments. Federal critics claim border officers failed in their duty by accepting digital proof of identity. MP Brian Masse claimed that it was troubling because a scanned copy of a passport is not a secure document and could be altered. He did however accept that electronic passports could be used in the future if the correct safety features were implemented.

After a certain TiPb editor-in-chief bothered Reich about his passport photo missing his trademark hat, Reich also added:

i get in with an iPad, i break technological ground but the comments are about my haircut...

Source: Montreal Gazette

More: about.me/safesolvent, @safesolvent

iPdfWriter is a new iPhone app that lets you design and create PDFs. These documents can be multiple pages long and include many fonts, colors, shapes, tables, images, and barcodes.

Using iPdfWriter you can create beautiful professional multi page PDF documents while you are away from your office computer.

• iPdfWriter allows you to create your documents in portrait or landscape orientation.
• And when creating multipage documents you can add repeating page headers, footers and watermarks just like in desktop PDF editors.
• iPdfWriter is more than just a simple text editor. There are many different items that can be edited just like desktop publishing software.
• Text can be tweaked by editing many different fonts, font styles, font sizes, text alignments and colours.
• Shapes such as rectangles, rounded rectangles and ovals can be reshaped and filled or outlined with different colours.
• Lines can be added including horizontal, vertical, angled and curved. Thickness, colour and styling can be edited as well as the line type such as rounded or arrowhead.
• Tables with many rows and columns can be added for laying out data values or lists within your document. All fully customizable and resizeable.
• Images can be added to your pages and scaled or cropped to suit your own needs.
• Barcodes can be added to your document. iPdfWriter supports many barcode types, including Code128, Code39, Ean8, Ean13, Postnet, Inter2of5, UpcA and UpcE
• iPdfWriter also includes a template section where you can download professional designed templates to help you create your own documents. Each week more templates will be added to the iPdfWriter templates list.
• iPdfWriter lets you email your PDF documents directly from within the iPdfWriter App. Recipients will receive the PDF file as an attachment to the email and also a link to view the PDF file within a web browser.
• iPdfWriter turns your iPhone into a powerful business productivity tool for when you are out and about.

iPdfWriter is available on the iPhone for $3.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

GoodReader for iPad has just received a significant update and now includes support for iOS 5 as well as iCloud. In case you don’t know, GoodReader is a fantastic application that can open and view many different file types such as PDF, TXT files, MS Office doc, ppt, xls, iWork ’08/’09, HTML and Safari webarchives. It even handles audio and video files too, and can un-Zip files. The latest update also include a few other improvements.

• iOS 5 compatibility fix
• iCloud support (iOS 5 or later)
• Data Protection can now be enabled for all files, even if there is no app or file password being used (this option needs to be explicitly enabled in settings)
• AirPlay is also enabled for audio files now (iOS 4.3 or later)
• Side Menu for PDF annotations can now be disabled in settings
• PDF Annotations deletion confirmation dialog can now be disabled in settings
• Web browser password now also locks the “Enter URL” feature

[App Store link]

There are hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps for just about everything -- so how come the one you need, the one you know just has to be there, is so hard to find? Enter TiPb's new weekly feature where staff and readers alike sort through the App Store and help you find just the right App for That. This week, Patrick asks:

I'm looking for an app that will convert anything (website, email, email attachment, picture from camera roll, etc.) on the iPhone/iPad to a .PDF file from the built-in Print > Select Printer dialogue.

To see what we found for Patrick, follow along after the break!

Print to PDF [$3.99 - App Store link] is exactly what Patrick is looking for! It's a universal application for the iPhone and iPad that adds "Print to PDF" as a printer when using Apple's built in printing feature. This includes, emails, email attachments, websites, and photos. All you need to do is have Print to PDF running in the background.

Another really cool feature about Print to PDF, is that if you have multiple devices running Print to PDF and they're all connected to the same WiFi network, you can print to any of those devices.

Anyone else have any App for That suggestions for Patrick? Let him -- and all of us -- know in the comments.

UPDATE: Print to PDF has been pulled from the App Store.

Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Send us an email to news@tipb.com and let us know what you're looking for, and we'll do our best to find you just the right App for That!

Apple left  iOS 4.3.3 vulnerable to a PDF exploit, which allows JailbreakMe.com to jailbreak your iPhone. This takes place over the air via the Safari mobile browser. The good news is that you can close this hole very easily, once you have jailbroken your device. Just Jailbreak and then search Cydia for PDF Patcher 2 v1.0, this little tweak will make you secure from any potentially malicious hacks using the same hole as JailbreakMe.

Remember, In the wrong hands, this vulnerability could allow access to your device for other, more nefarious reasons. No doubt Apple will soon release an iOS update (4.3.4?) which will close this vulnerability for non-jailbroken devices but in the mean time this Jailbreak tweak will allow you to be more secure than the current, stock firmware.

[Cydia link]

GoodReader for iPad has just received a major update with some fantastic new features. PDF annotations is the biggest addition including notes, highlights, markups and drawings.

If you don't already use this App for PDF viewing and management then you definitely should try it out. GoodReader is my most used iPad app, you can find out more about it in our quick review.

Full update details and more screenshots after the break.

[$0.99 on sale - iTunes link]

This is an official entry by chrisoldroyd in TiPb’s next top blogger contest. Think you have what it takes to join Team TiPb? Bring it!

Major update introducing major new feature - PDF Annotations, including notes, highlights, markups and drawings:

• all annotations that you create or edit in GoodReader - notes, highlights, markups, and drawings >- are saved in a PDF file, so you will be able to see them later on a computer or in another copy of GoodReader on your colleague's device
• all notes, highlights, markups, and drawings created outside GoodReader, and properly stored in a PDF file, can be viewed or edited in GoodReader
• types of annotations that you can create and edit in GoodReader: comments ("sticky notes") with 7 different icons, text highlights, freehand drawings, lines, arrows, rectangles, ovals, text underlines, text deletion marks (strikeouts), text insertion marks, text replacement marks. You can freely adjust color of all of the above.
• other types of annotations that you can view in GoodReader: text boxes with callouts, polygons and polylines, squiggly underlines, cloudy shapes, rubber stamps, file attachments. All annotations that can be viewed, can also be deleted. In addition, some of them can be edited in a limited fashion (color, placement, scale).

• you can now extract files from PDF file attachments

• two main gestures that you should use to work with annotations - single tap, and "tap & hold". Depending on where you tap (on a text, on an existing annotation, or on a free space on a page), different menus will be presented to you.

Other important improvements and new features:

• now you can select text directly on a PDF page. Tap on a text and hold your finger for a while. You can then copy it to the clipboard, or create markups for it (highlights, underlines, strikeouts, etc.)
• certain not very large files were known to consistently crash GoodReader (as well as other PDF reader apps) for no apparent reason. This was the issue with iOS 3.x. We have resolved this issue. It shouldn't be a problem now, even if you're still on iOS 3.x (this one is for you, Linux Journal readers
• now we can hide PDF watermarks (adjustable option in settings) -> certain button images in place of PDF links that were not shown before, are now shown correctly

And some other nice things:

• you can now choose which minimum zoom ratio you prefer for PDF pages - "fit to screen" or "fit to width" (an option in settings)
• we have lifted the limitation for a size of files being extracted from PDF Portfolios. Now we're able to extract files of any size. Just make sure that you have enough of free disk space!
• now when you copy a file to the same location as the original, a copy is created. Very handy if you want to annotate a PDF file, but also want to leave the original file unchanged.
• a workaround for the issue when WiFi was conflicting with Bluetooth (slow WiFi connection, occasional WiFi signal drops when Bluetooth switch is on, etc.) was finally found. Now there should be no conflict between WiFi and Bluetooth when working in GoodReader.

Finally, iBooks for iPhone arrives! I have been enjoying iBooks on my iPad for some time now. With iBooks for iPhone many more people can enjoy portable reading with their phones. How does iBooks measure up? Keep reading to find out!

After updating to iOS4 for iPhone 3GS I promptly downloaded iBooks. Apple has done a fantastic job with the application and it translates very nicely to the small screen. Let's start off with actually getting a book on your device. When you first launch the app, it asks if you want it to sync with other devices to keep bookmarks, notes, etc. in sync. Next, you are presented with a blank bookshelf. The promised Winnie the Pooh book is free, but you have to get it yourself. So to do that, I tapped the store icon and the app rotated in 3D very smoothly to reveal the iBooks store. From here you can find any Featured books, the New York Times Charts, Search and review your purchases.

Tap a book you are interested in and and you can download a sample (the samples typically contain at least one whole chapter, but sometimes more) or purchase the book. So, I went to the search option and looked up Winnie the Pooh. After finding the book, I tapped the "Free" button, the store flipped back to reveal my bookshelf, or Library, and it proceeded to download. About 10 seconds later I had Winnie the Pooh on my iPhone.

To begin reading just tap the book and you are taken to the first page. To go back to the Library, tap the icon in the top left. To view the Table of Contents and Bookmarks, tap the icon next to that. Simply tapping the left to right side of the page turns it. You can't scroll up or down; that's not very book-like. You can tap and hold on any text to bring up a few different tools. Some of the more useful ones are Highlight, Dictionary and Note. You can tap highlight and iBooks applies a highlight to the text. Tap again and you can add a note or change the note color.

If tapping the side of the page doesn't excite you, the page can be manually turned by tapping and holding the bottom right corner and turning the page like a real book. The effect is gorgeous and it really is impressive. At the top of the page you have more choices beyond returning to the Library or the Table of Contents. You can adjust font size, change the font, adjust brightness (especially helpful at night) and a new feature- sepia color. This is particularly nice as it dulls down the very bright background and makes it a little easier on the eyes. Next, you can search within the iBook, but it doesn't stop there. You can also search in Google and Wikipedia right from the search page! When done reading, you can tap the top right corner of any page and place a bookmark. All bookmarks, notes and highlights are accessible from the Table of Contents page.

Another new feature that Apple added with this release of iBooks is the ability to read PDFs. You can add PDFs a couple of ways. First, you can add a PDF in email to iBooks directly from the mail app. Second you can add PDFs to the Books section in iTunes and sync them over. Once a PDF is added, you see a PDF button next to Book on the top of the Library. Tap the PDF button to look at your PDFs and they are beautifully rendered. Scroll your finger along the bottom to view the different pages or Tap the Table of Contents button to get a zoomed out view of all PDF pages. Search, bookmarks, etc., work with PDFs as well.

They only real chink I can find in iBooks armor is there is no option for landscape in iBooks or PDF view. This is disappointing since on the iPad app, you get a two page view. I understand this may not be possible with the screen real estate, but just like the web, sometimes landscape is preferred. Many apologies. I was impatient waiting for my 3GS to rotate. Many thanks to the commenters on this post for pointing this out.

This is a must-buy free app for Apple. You have access to more than romance novels. Technical references abound and can come in really handy when you need them and viewing PDFs is very convenient. If you would like to know more about iBooks for iPad, check out our earlier review.

[Free- iTunes Link]

Pros

• Beautiful layout
• Fast
• Wonderfully animated
• Great tools for navigation
• Easy to use

Cons

• No landscapeI was too impatient with my device for it to rotate
• Can't export notes
• Can't copy text

During the WWDC 2010 Keynote today, Steve Jobs announced new features for Apple's iBooks app, including the much-in-demand ability to take notes, the ability to tap and and bookmarks, and support for the PDF format. Jobs also announced that, while it's only been on the market for 8 weeks, iBooks already accounts for 22% of the eBook market. They also repeated that it would soon be available for the iPhone.

The iBooks app is now available as a free download for iPhone, so you can read your favorite books anywhere. On iPhone 4, the high-resolution Retina display renders every page beautifully. Vibrant colors, rich illustrations, and crisp, sharp text make reading a pleasure. Turn pages by tapping the right or left side of the screen or by dragging the page corner (just like a real book). Jump to a different part of the book by visiting the table of contents and tapping a chapter. When you’re finished reading, iBooks bookmarks where you left off. It syncs with iPad, too, so the story you started on your iPhone can be finished on your iPad.

[Apple.com iPhone iBooks page]

Having a virtually full-fledged word processor like Apple's Pages iWork app [$9.99- iTunes Link] on the iPad is a big deal. There has been a lot of discussion, however, about how Pages would work on the iPad. How do I transfer/ sync documents? How will my formatting be effected?

I had to use Pages to do some document editing for a house flyer for our home (we are in the process of selling). I figured what a great opportunity to give Pages a spin. First, I had to get the document on the iPad. Email or iTunes? The Pages file was 12MB so I opted to transfer it via iTunes. The process was simple; I selected the Pages app from the bottom of the Apps tab with my iPad attached to my iMac. I clicked the add files button and chose my Pages file. I synced the iPad and my house flyer appeared in the document list in pages.

After importing the house flyer into Pages, I was not greeted with any formatting warnings (to be fair I have imported Microsoft Word documents and did receive warnings. It was hit and miss; some documents looked identical, others, not so much) and I began editing immediately. But, there was one problem...

I did not know where anything was or how it worked! So, I had to start to play. Where do I change my fonts besides a style? How to I change a graphic to wrap through text and not around it? These were all challenges that with time, I was able to figure out. I would estimate it took a good 30 minutes to fully comprehend how things worked and use the app. Tabs, columns, watermarks, images and graphics can all be added to a document with relative ease.

Using Pages to create and edit my document was... pure joy. Touching your document was fun, and after the initial learning curve, it was easy. Your created documents not only look good, but you have complete control over their flow which is more than ANY other mobile app of this type can offer.

With my editing done, it was time to get my document back to my iMac desktop. So, I had couple of options. I could email, but the file is still to big. I could send as a PDF, but I want to continue to edit the file. I could send it to iWork.com. But, I don't want the hassle. What do I do? Well, there is an export option as well. You can export the file as a Pages, PDF or Word Document. Once this is done, the document is available to be saved from iTunes on the same tab I used to uploaded it from my iMac. Now it gives me a choice to save to my iMac when I dock my iPad.

Now I have to admit that iWork.com may ultimately be a better solution for accessing edited documents in larger quantities. If I had to transfer several documents it would be tedious doing it through iTunes, but still doable. However, accessing iWork.com on the iPad allows you to download the pages file right there and begin editing. When done, sending to iWork.com is just as easy.

This app is not entirely made from unicorn tears however. I did encounter issues with Pages crashing and being sluggish at times, regardless of the document size. I can easily cut Apple slack on this since it is a 1.0 product. I have confidence Apple will release updates for stability and functionality just like its desktop big brother. Still, don't let these little nuances dissuade you; make no mistake that this is an unparalleled best-in-class app from the user interface to it's core functionality.

If you have an iPad and need to create or edit documents, this is a must buy.

Someone in iPhone documentation has been busy lately. Not only did Apple post an iPhone guide for Enterprise today, but now here's the iPhone User Guide for iPhone OS 3.0 Software PDF (via iLounge).

Some 200+ pages long, you can read it while waiting in line for your shiny iPhone 3G S tomorrow, or roll it up into a cudgel-like wad and use it to fend off any would-be line-jumpers. Either way, this is the grand-daddy of iPhone references for this year!

Daring Fireball is spot on:

The conventional wisdom at the moment seems to be that the iPhone is only a consumer device, but the conventional wisdom is wrong. Think about all the hospital/medical demos from recent iPhone events, for one thing.

We've said for a while here that enterprise and business aren't constrained to sales forces and corporate messengers. Hospitals are big. Schools are big. Entertainment is BIG. The iPhone, especially with iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3.0 SDK are formidable tools for deploying mobile devices and applications in a wider range of businesses than perhaps anything previously put on the market.

Wall Street might stay with messengers -- every job has its best tool -- but while Main Street is considering iPhones, and a lot of businesses on every other street might just be as well.

Check out the 80+ page iPhone OS Enterprise Deployment Guide PDF via Apple.com