If you’ve never heard of Weebly, its high time you got in on the secret. This free web-design service currently boasts over 12 million users, which means they support an estimated 2% of the web. And it’s not hard to see way. They offer everything the average individual or small business owner might need to create a website in no time flat, including a glut of professional themes, secure and reliable cloud hosting, a drag-and-drop site-builder that means even a monkey could put together a decent layout, and extras for blogging and multimedia additions. And that’s just the beginning; they have more services and support to help their users. But apparently it gets even better. With the recent launch of their app for the iPhone (or your favorite iDevice) you can now create and manage your website anytime and anywhere. Here’s what you’ll get from their comprehensive app.

For starters you’ll find pretty much everything the website offers without the onus of lugging your PC around with you. You can choose themes and even set your URL via smartphone or tablet. And while you can’t yet edit your website (there is currently high user demand for this feature, so it could be coming soon), there are plenty of management tools that will allow you to add content to your heart’s content. You can start by adding unlimited posts to your on-site blog, including text, photos, and even video submissions. And you can easily customize text with bullets, font adjustments (bolding, for example), and hypertext linking. Plus, the drag-and-drop functionality has made a seamless transition from the website to the app, so you shouldn’t have any problem laying out your pages just like you want them.

In addition to the creative functionality, this app also offers a number of tools aimed at helping you to manage your website no matter where you are. You can moderate and reply to any comments or questions posted by readers, set up a contact form to gain leads (and manage your mailing list), share with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter with one click, and view analytics (like web traffic). Plus, there is no forced advertising, so you won’t have to subject visitors to the crazy amount of ads that come with most free services. And of course, you’ll have access to a 24/7 support network courtesy of Weebly.

According to CEO and co-founder David Rusenko, the company’s goal in creating this application was to provide a “mobile compliment to the web experience” as well as make it easy for users to manage their website “entirely from their phone”. The only real surprise is how novel this concept is. Nearly everyone manages email and social networking from their mobile devices these days, so why not their websites and blogs, as well? With the growth of mobile technology (smartphones, tablets, and other handheld devices) and cloud computing (you can do practically anything with an enterprise cloud these days), it’s a brave new world of connectivity. And Weebly is looking to ensure that their customers have the best of both worlds with online software and a mobile application that will give them all the tools they need to effectively create and manage their websites.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this quest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Weebly
Developer: Weebly, Inc.

Rated: 4+

Price: free Download

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Has your iMessage been a bit buggy lately on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac? no problem about that, because we’ve got a quick and easy fix for you today. If you downloaded the beta version of iMessage for Mac back in February, there’s where the problem is. So without any further to do, read the how to guide below.

1. In the Messages application menu on your Mac, choose “Uninstall Messages Beta”.
2. A dialog box will appear, confirm the uninstallation of Messages Beta and reinstallation of iChat.
3. Confirm that you want to proceed.
4. Restart your Mac when needed!

And there you go! A quick, simple, and easy fix. Let us know in the comments below if you have any tips or anything you’d like to share.

[NYT]

How many times have you found yourself searching online or even visiting multiple stores to get the best prices on the many items you purchase for your household from week to week? You might go to one store for great prices on produce, another to purchase the cheapest generic canned items, and yet a third store to get pet food at the greatest discount. In short, you could be putting a lot of extra effort into saving a few measly bucks. And why should you? Shouldn’t retailers be competing for your business rather than making you work to buy their goods? This is the question that NetPlenish co-founders Dave Compton and Steve Markowitz asked themselves, and the result is a mobile app that allows users to find the best prices on the brands they buy every day.

This isn’t the first price-comparison app to hit the market. Many people have been using RedLaser (or similar apps) for the last few years. Previous entries to this shopping-app category have mainly included barcode scanners, though, which allow users to scan the barcode on any item (or enter the name of the item manually) to search for lower prices at nearby establishments. And while this is certainly a handy program for the average shopper, the problem is that it still requires users to run hither and yon to collect products at the best possible prices.

NetPlenish, in a way, seeks to remove this element of effort from the equation. The app will save you both money and time by allowing you to order a bevy of products online (although you may initially scan items from your weekly shopping lists to easily recall them later). While you might not be too keen to have perishable items like meats, dairy products, and frozen goods shipped to your house, there are plenty of non-perishable goods that you can order online, securing the best prices and front-door delivery in the process.

Although you will have to pay a little extra for shipping, large orders may result in reduced or even free shipping (although it depends on the retailer). And the best part is, you don’t even have to go from site to site to compare prices; the app does it for you (making up for shipping by saving you on fuel). All you have to do is set searches for the items you want to buy, create shopping carts, and check out (the app will even store your credit card information to make ordering items as quick and painless as possible). Of course, it won’t do your couponing for you (and sites like FreeStuffandSamples.com are definitely not featured). But it can save you tons of time and money, which is sure to please plenty of consumers.

What’s interesting to note is that while this app has obvious appeal to consumers, there are also plenty of retailers ready to jump on board. They want consumers to know when they are offering the lowest prices to make sure increased sales, and NetPlenish can help them get that information to the public. So far, several big names have signed on, including OfficeMax, PetSmart, Sears, Sephora, and Target (among others). And with more retailers being added every day, you may soon be able to use this handy app to secure the best prices on nearly everything you purchase. So download this freebie from the iTunes Store or Android Marketplace post-haste and get started with saving.

NetPlenish
Developer: NetPlenish Inc

Rated: 4+

Price: free Download

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The weather plays a crucial role in our everyday lives. It tells us what activities we can safely and comfortably partake in on any given day at any given hour. It lets us know whether we should carry along our raincoats or our sunscreen, and it helps us decide how to dress when we wake up in the morning. Knowing the weather can even be life-saving in the event that a severe tornado or hurricane is approaching your area, requiring that you take cover or evacuate. It is, therefore, extremely important that you have easy access to accurate information about the weather so that you can plan your days accordingly. With your iPhone at your side, there is no longer any need to turn on the weather channel or check on your computer to receive up-to-date information about the weather. Although the iPhone comes equipped with a built-in weather tool, it can only offer the basics such as the predicted high and low temperatures for the day. For that reason, we have put together a review of the best weather apps available in the Apple App Store.

• The Weather Channel

The first app on our list is The Weather Channel. One of the most popular and useful apps available, it provides you with access to a wide range of information about the weather including the temperature, wind speed, humidity, the UV index, the dew point, and more for a given area. It also provides you with the hourly, 36-hour, and 10-day forecast so that you can plan the upcoming days well in advance. Other useful features include an interactive map with animated radar, the Social feature that enables you to read and post tweets about weather in your area, and the iWitness feature where users can view and upload images and videos of the local weather conditions. US users also receive notifications about severe weather alerts. Best of all, the app is completely free. The one complaint that users often report is that it has large, distracting advertisements, but dealing with such ads is worth it to keep such a useful app free of charge.

• Weather HD

Weather HD is next on our list due to its absolutely stunning visuals. Weather HD goes beyond giving you the basic information such as the current temperature, highs and lows, humidity, chance of rain, and wind speed. In addition to providing all of that, it takes advantage of the iPhone’s high-tech screen to present you with vibrant, high-definition videos that represent what the weather currently looks like in your area. If it currently storming outside in your area, the background of the app will be an HD video of a thunderstorm; if it is sunny and slightly cloudy, sunlight and clouds is exactly what you will see on your screen. In fact, these video representations are so accurate that they even represent the current time of day so that the graphics are lighter during the day and darker at night. The utter eye candy that this app will provide you is well worth the $0.99 you will spend on Weather HD.

• AccuWeather for iPhone

The next app on our list, AccuWeather for iPhone, is another free app that is very similar to The Weather Channel app. With AccuWeather, you can view the 15-day forecast for your area or an area to which you are traveling so that you can plan the next two weeks ahead of time. AccuWeather offers an enormous database of weather data with information on over 2.7 million locations throughout the world. Useful features include severe weather alerts, calendar integration, social sharing options that enable you to effortlessly share weather updates with your loved ones, interactive maps, and contact location viewing so that you can see the weather where any of your contacts live. In addition, AccuWeather is a must-have if you suffer from weather-related health issues such as allergies since it gives health-related forecasts. It will even let you know how suitable the current weather conditions are for outdoor activities such as walking your dog or mowing your lawn. The only issue that many users have reported is that the latest version, 5.0.1, has a somewhat cluttered interface.

• PocketWeather

Finally, the last app on our list, PocketWeather, is notable, not only for its extensive feature set, but also because it is available in a lengthy list of languages. Whether you speak English, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, Hebrew, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese, Greek, Italian, or Danish, PocketWeather will satisfy your weather-information needs. The app is able to provide you extremely accurate information about the predicted temperatures, highs and lows, humidity, hourly forecast dawn, sunrise, sunset, zenith, precipitation, and dusk times for the upcoming ten days. Moreover, it comes with useful features including earthquake maps, temperature graphs, coverage of the sun and moon, and an up-to-date summary of the weather conditions in your area at the moment. PocketWeather is another free app that provides you with much more information than the iPhone’s built-in weather tool.

The App Store is loaded with weather apps, and we have picked out four of the best for your convenience. After reading our review simplify your life by heading over to the App Store to download the one that best suits your needs.

Thanks to John Page for this guest post. E-mail him.

Read more:

• How to connect your iPad to the TV: Different methods – http://www.softwarewithstyle.com/guides/16
• iPhone battery life – http://www.softwarewithstyle.com/question/show/id/34
• 10 Useful, little-known facts about the iPhone – http://www.softwarewithstyle.com/guides/12

So you’ve downloaded Evernote in your quest to remove notebooks from your backpack (and you use Dragon Dictation to save important thoughts for later and get a head start on your latest essay for your Business Ethics class). You’ve got Dropbox to access your digital coursework in your dorm, the library, a class, or on the go. And the free Wall Street Journal mobile app gives you easy access to the latest news in the business world (although you could definitely do without the ads). In short, you’ve got nearly all the tools you need on your iDevice of choice to ensure smooth sailing all the way through business school. But if you haven’t yet heard about a handy little application called Pocket MBA: Learning Studio, then you’re missing out on a major mobile resource that is aimed at helping MBA students.

Unfortunately, this app is a bit pricy at $9.99, but you’ll quickly find that it’s worth every penny. The developer, Intersog LLC (International Software Group), is known and respected for their educational software, including other apps that business students will no doubt find appealing (Business Essentials, Legal Environments of Business, Financial Solutions, and Applied Operations Management, just to name a few). And considering how much you’re spending on tuition and textbooks, you might be surprised to find that you can get a basic course in business for only ten bucks. In fact, the material presented was provided by business professor Dr. Jae K. Shim, an author and instructor currently working at California State University, Long Beach.

Although it has been designed as something of an every man’s introduction to the wide world of business, this app nonetheless provides users with the information and tools needed to enter the world of business. Of course, it’s not even close to the level of education you’ll receive during 5-6 years in an MBA program, but for students it can provide a supplemental resource to beginning courses in business, as well as an easy-access refresher for more advanced students. In addition to the actual textbook aspect of the app (which allows you to select subject matter by chapter, set bookmarks, and access a glossary of terms just like a real-world textbook), users will also have access to interactive flashcards and chapter tests for study purposes, with the bonus of explanations for right and wrong answers.

Plus, there is no shortage of informative topics, from management and marketing to economics, finance, and business law. And with the ability to control your own educational experience you can follow the chapters in a linear fashion, focus on only the topics you’re interested in, or come back over and over again for review and re-testing. This app will not only help you to grasp the basics of business and economics, but also formulate and implement real-world strategies to help you deal with issues down the road, when you find yourself competing for jobs, contracts, and consumer dollars.

So whether you’re shooting for your basic business degree because you want to keep your options open or you’ve got your sights set on the executive MBA that will help you to quickly reach the CEO chair, this app can be a useful tool in your arsenal. At ten dollars it may be a bit much for the starving college student, but considering all the benefits it can offer, it’s worth putting it on your iPhone or iPad to add to your growing list of educational apps.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this quest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.

Pocket MBA: Learning Studio with books, tests and flash cards
Developer: INTERSOG, LLC

Rated: 4+

Price: $9.99 Download

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