Penultimate Update

Today, Penultimate was updated to version 4.1.1.

This app the accessibility of Evernote with the ease of handwritten notes.

The new fixes and improvements include:

** Includes fix for repeated sign in requests and hang at “Preparing Notebooks” **
Connect Penultimate to Evernote for these new features:
• Suggested Notebook Titles: Penultimate will suggest a notebook title based on your location and calendar events.
• Notebook covers display where you were the last time you editing the notebook.
New Sync options
• Pause Sync: Delay sync with Evernote — great for travel and offline work.
• Option to sync only when on a Wi-Fi network.
Sign out option: Sign out and switch users — perfect for shared iPads.
Evernote Premium: two new Penultimate features
• Unlimited access to paper designs in the Paper Shop.
• Enhanced security with Passcode Lock.
+ One Evernote Premium subscription enables features across all Evernote apps.

Notes Plus Update Coming Soon

Notesplus has just announced that it is in beta test phase for its next update to version 3.1.

If you are looking for a great tool to keep and organize handwritten notes, drawings and clippings from web pages, this app can do it all.

Check out the instructional videos to get a sense of the power of this app.

Penultimate Goes Free

Penultimate, a notetaking app purchased by Evernote, has gone free. The latest version, 4.0, now has some new features and abilities to work better with Evernote.

One of the benefits of working with Evernote is that your handwriting becomes searchable.

You can search through your handwritten text within the app, or browse quickly through all pages. View your list of notebooks as a carousel or sort and scroll in a fast grid view. Penultimate also allows you to insert, delete, duplicate, and reorganize pages within and between notebooks.

What’s New in Version 4.0

• Full Evernote sync: Save all of your Penultimate notes to your Evernote account to keep, view, and search them across every device where you have Evernote installed.
• Handwriting search with Evernote: Evernote’s powerful handwriting recognition allows you to search your Penultimate notes.
• Remember Everything: Evernote stores all of your Penultimate notes forever, ensuring that everything, from random doodles to important diagrams, are available any time you need them.
• Redesigned: Now sporting a lovely new design.
• Improved, sharper ink on retina displays.
• More languages: Available for the first time in Russian and Traditional Chinese.

• iOS 6 is required for this version. iOS 5 support is coming in the next update.

Bamboo Paper App from Wacom

Wacom, the maker of various tablet devices, has released its paperless notebook and drawing app Bamboo Paper for the iPad. The app is free until the end of June.

The description states the app has “the ability to create virtual notebooks for your iPad, letting you share your ideas visually with handwritten notes, sketches or doodles. Paired with the Bamboo Stylus, it turns your iPad into the ultimate paperless communications tool.” Although it appears you can continue to create new pages, I have not figured out how to create more than one notebook. UPDATE: An email from support states they are “currently working on an update of Bamboo paper. The new version will, besides other nice features, also include multiple notebooks.” So, right now, multiple notebooks are not available. You can learn more about the app and see a short video here at a Wacom site.

UPDATE 2 Wacom has updated the app to v 1.3. Now, you can add put to 20 notebooks…but for a price. You must pay for an in app purchase to get the Notebook Pack. The in app purchase price is currently $1.99 US.

Opening the Program

When you first start up, you can name the notebook, select its cover color and choose the type of pages (lined, blank, grid) that will be in the notebook. Also, you can export the entire book by email or print it from here.

Tools

Once you tap on the notebook and open it, you are presented with a page.

Pen Selection – You can select 3 sizes of pens and 6 colors. A neat feature is the ability to tap and hold anywhere on the page and be presented with a choice of pens and colors at that point instead of having to go to the top of the toolbar.

Export- You can send a page via email, save it to the library or print it.

Erase – Undo and redo are available along with an eraser and clear page feature.

Bookmark – There is a bookmark tool available to mark a particular page.

Pinch to Zoom – You can also use a two finger pinch gesture to zoom in and out for more detailed work.

Presentation

If you have an iPad2, you can use a projector and Apple’s connector to present your notes to a group. Although the developer claims you can “connect your iPad to a projector to show off your sketches…” it is not clear if this feature is available on the 1st generation iPad.

Overall

The app has a simple interface and is easy to use. The flow of ink is feels “natural” and smooth and is similar to a felt tip pen.  If you use your finger instead of a stylus, it appears wrist protection of some sort is built in so that when parts of your hand other than your finger tip rest on or touch the screen, it is not registered. Although there is no landscape mode, for free, you can’t go wrong. More than that, this app does have a feel of paper and pen. Download it today and experience what digital paper and pen feels like.