How I Program on the Go

One of my biggest problems when I went on holiday was that I couldn't update and fix my websites and apps with just my iPad on GitHub. I could have just used the GitHub web editor, but I often found that it didn't save my changes, and that was a huge problem if I had just made a lot of edits. However, my biggest problem was updating the website via FTP. None of the apps on the App Store helped to solve this issue. However, Textastic, Working Copy and Buddy solved my problem perfectly.

Before you read this post, you may want to check out an older post about how to use Textastic and Working Copy together.

6 Features and Changes I Would Love to See in Evernote

Evernote is a great app to take notes anywhere you are, from your phone to your desktop. Whilst it is already packed with features, there are many features I would love to see added, and this post has the top five I would like to see.

Merry Christmas, and a Giveaway!

Just wanted to wish everyone a great Christmas! The Nerdy Student has been up and running for well over a year, and thanks to all my great readers, sponsors and everyone who made it possible!

As a Christmas gift, I am giving away three copies of the book The Forbidden City in epub format. There are two steps to entering the giveaway:

1. Subscribe to the blog
2. Enter the form

And that's it!

You can subscribe here:

Enter your email address to subscribe to The Nerdy Student

Now fill out the form below:


So, to be eligible you have to have subscribed to the newsletter, and filled out the form.

Results will be drawn on the 15th of January, 2016, so make sure you are still subscribed to the newsletter to enter.

You'll be sent an email if you are one of the five, and you need to reply within 24 hours or the giveaway will go to someone else.

Any questions, please ask below, and have a great Christmas and thanks for entering!

My Take on the New Evernote Privacy Policy

You may have heard about the new Evernote privacy policy. To sum it up, it allows EN employees to see what your notes contain. You can read the official post here.

Evernote say they are doing this to increase their machine learning, and how EN works. Whilst I'm all for improving Evernote, I don't really like the idea of Evernote reading my notes. I've seen the explosion on the internet about how Evernote will start reading your data, but I really don't think that it will be that bad. If Evernote hires them, I trust them to manage my data.

Besides, companies such as email clients, chat services and more can see what you input, so I don't see why this is such a shock. Also, EN said on their post that you could disable it if you really want:

In reality, machines still need a human to check on them. To get there, Evernote data scientists need to do spot checks as they develop the technology. We’ll introduce this change on January 23, 2017, but you control whether or not your data is used for this purpose at any time.

I'll be sticking with EN. It's where everything I have is, and I don't think that this is such a big impact. I'm not going to lose a great product due to a small adjustment that they made.

Thanks for reading!

What do you think of the new privacy policy? Feel free to comment below!

PCalc - An Advanced Calculator for Apple Devices

PCalc is a great calculator for your Apple devices, from your Apple TV to your Apple Watch. It's easy to get going with, but also comes packed with advanced functions. It also has a ton of themes that you can choose from, which include simple to complex, and modern and retro.

Todoist - A Powerful Task Manager

Todoist is a great task manager across all your devices, from your Windows computer to your Apple Watch. I'll be taking a look at the features of Todoist, along with what the premium tier of Todoist can offer.

Abandoned Apple Store in Kuwait

I recently found some awesome photo's of an old Apple store. Really captures what Apple used to be. You can check them out below.

Wunderlist or Todoist? You Decide!

I'm having another one of those moments. I don't know which task manager to go with. My two option are:

1. Wunderlist
2. Todoist

I currently use Wunderlist, but I checked out Todoist and really like the look of it.

Why I want to stay with Wunderlist

1. It has tons of free features. And I mean tons of them - with Todoist, you have to pay for most of the features that Wunderlist gives out for free.
2. The team is awesome. The Wunderlist team is an awesome team. They are 'personal', sort of like Slack, and they make the product with love.
3. It's the one I use now. I use it now, but don't let that put you off. I am happy to change.

Why I want to switch to Todoist

1. I prefer the look. It looks cleaner, and I just prefer the way the tasks are shown.
2. It has Karma and stats. I love stats, and I'm a huge stats nerd.
3. It has IFTTT integration. This is the big player for me. This means I can link it up to Github, Evernote, and more.

So which one should I go with? Vote in the poll below!

Why I did NaNoWriMo

This month, November, I took part in NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. Basically, you write 50,000 words in one month. That's an average of 1,666 words a day.

Pennies - Personal Money, Budget & Finance Manager for iOS

Pennies is a great app for tracking your budgets, whether large or small. It's especially great for students to track their often tight budgets.

Pomodoro Technique - Is it Right for You?

The Pomodoro technique is a fun time management technique that actually works. Want more free time in your day, and not sure if the Pomodoro technique is for you? Make sure to read on.

Evernote NaNoWriMo sweepstake goodies!

I am very happy to say I have won the Evernote NaNoWriMo sweepstakes!

Congrats to @GiacomoLaw for winning our #NaNoWriMo Twitter sweepstakes! Thank you to everyone who has entered and good luck next time. 🐘 https://t.co/LO6VHiQDsl

— evernote (@evernote) November 9, 2016

If you don't know what Evernote is, it is a tool for taking notes and having them on your devices, anywhere and everywhere. I wrote a whole blog post about it, which you can check out here. If you can't tell already, I'm a huge Evernote fan. 

NaNoWriMo is is National Novel Writing Month, where you write 50,000 words in a month. This is my first year partaking in it, and I would certainly recommend it as it is a lot of of fun!

I'll post some pictures when I receive them.

Thanks for reading!

PS: This is just a short post, there will still be a post on Saturday, so don't worry!

Feel free to comment below!

An Introduction to the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique is a time saving technique that revolves around hard work with breaks inbetween. It's a great time saving technique, and is very fun to use.

Pomobook - An analog Pomodoro tracking method

Recently I made Pomobook - An analog Pomodoro tracking method. I won't go into too much detail here, as I made a whole website for it.

Pomobook basically allows you to track you Pomodoro's on paper; I found that whilst there were loads of great apps to do this, there weren't any analog ways to do so that were quick, easy, simple and free. So I created Pomobook. Pomobook allows you to have all your tasks in one place, and then have a task log beside it. You log each pomodoro you finish, write events and notes, and lots more. It's a pomodoro technique power up.

If you're not familiar with the Pomodoro technique, check out the website. It's a great technique that will save you loads of time, and I recommend that you give it a go.

Check out Pomobook here.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to comment below how you use Pomobook, and it may be a featured blog post!

Learn to Draw with Art Study Online

Art Study Online is a great website to buy courses to learn art, especially for Procreate.

Superimpose: A Great Photo Editing App for iOS

Superimpose is a great app that allows you to superimpose or juxtapose images on your iPad or iPhone.

Two Years with the Adonit Jot Script 2

I've been using my Adonit Jot Script 2 for over two years, and it's been great. This post it just about how I use it, and a review of it over the past two years.

Power up Your Productivity with Duet Display!

Duet Display is a great app that allows you to use your iPad or iPhone as a second display for your Windows computer or your Mac.

Space by THIX: Make Your Own Solar System

Space by THIX is a great app that allows you to create your own solar system and add anything from a black hole to a terrestrial planet.

Chemist: A Lab on Your iPad

Chemist is an app by THIX which is a virtual chemistry lab on your iPad. It's great for doing serious experiments, and also mucking around in and seeing what happens when you react one chemical with another.

Pokémon Posts are Stopping

Just a quick note to let you know that all Pokemon posts are stopping. I don't think it fits in with my blog, and I found that I did not enjoy writing on the topic.

Please contact me for questions!

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to comment below.

iStudiez Pro: A Student's Dream Planner

iStudiez Pro is a planner app for students that allows you to plan your classes, add your assignments and grades, and a lot more.

Pokémon in the Spotlight: Salamence!

Salamence is a great dragon type Pokémon that will help you get an upper hand in your battles.

Must Have Back to School Apps and Tech

School is around the corner, and here are the must have apps and gear for school, from notetaking to organizing your classes. Check out below to find out what you should have in your school kit!

Adonit Has a Back to School Sale

Adonit, the maker of styluses for iPad and iPhone, is offering a sale on their styluses. You can check it out here.

I've had my Jot Script 2 for over two years now, and it's amazing. I really recommend picking up an Adonit stylus, as they are very good quality. You can read my Jot Script 2 review here.

Download Pokémon Wallpapers!

More Pokémon wallpapers have been added to the site!

Code On Your iPad and iPhone with Textastic and Working Copy

The iPad is a great tool for productivity, from writing up essays to coding. If you use GitHub or BitBucket, you'll know that it can be hard to edit your repositories on your iPhone or iPad. However, Working Copy and Textastic may be the solution for you. 

Item in the Spotlight: XP Share!

The XP share is a great time that allows you to spread the XP your Pokémon earn a cross your team, and therefore leaving up all your Pokémon, and keeping them at a high level.

 In the newer games, the XP share spreads across the team and devices the XP across the team, whilst in the older games it only applied it to Pokémon holding it.

 The XP share is one of the best items in my opinion as it can be used to keep the levels in the tea, the same, and this means Pokémon become stronger quicker.  

Thanks for reading, and sorry it is a short post today!

Feel free to comment below!

LongScreen: Combine Screenshots

Longscreen is a great app that allows you to combine screenshots vertically or side-by-side, and can come in very useful when you want to share something that's very long, or when you want to put similar screenshots side-by-side.

Cardflow+: Beyond Index Cards

Cardflow is an app for iPad which allows you to make boards and then put flashcards on. It’s great for managing projects, brainstorming, making quote banks and a lot more.

No Pokèmon posts on the 10th and 17th of August

Just a quick note that there will not be any Pokèmon posts on the 10th and 17th. I'm away, and I didn't manage to write them in time!

Saturday posts will continue as normal.

Thanks and sorry!

Make School Notes Quicker with Workflow and Drafts 4

I recently started using my iPad as my primary device for taking notes at school. It was lighter then my PC, and I could also use my Jot Script to hand write on it. I recently adapted a workflow for taking notes that I want to share with you, and this workflow allows me to tag and add a notebook to an Evernote notebook all automatically, along with assigning a title and date to the note, and saves a few minutes of every lesson.

Pokémon Item in the Spotlight: Amulet Coin!

The amulet coin is a very useful item that can earn you more money, and therefore buy you more items.

Workflow: Powerful Automation Made Simple

Workflow is a very powerful app for iOS that allows you to connect actions together to automate things on your iPad or iPhone.

Evernote Premium is 75% off for students!

Evernote have just announced that for a limited time Evernote Premium is 75% off for students.

Newly Discovered Pokémon in Sun and Moon

New Pokémon have been released in Sun and Moon. You can check them out in the video below.



Thanks for reading (/watching)!

Feel free to comment below!

Make Tasks Fun with Doo

Doo is a fun and attractive todo app for iOS. It presents your tasks as a stack of cards, with a image related to the task at the top of each stack.

Pokémon GO is released in the UK!

Pokémon GO has been released in the UK!

Outline on your iPad with Omnioutliner

Omnioutliner is an outlining tool for iOS, and is made by the Omni group. It allows you to create anything from simple to advanced outlines. It has features that allow you to add columns with fields such as rich text, duration, pop-up list and many more.

Salandit: New Pokémon Released for Sun and Moon

A new Pokémon has been released for Pokémon Sun and Moon!

Omnifocus - Powerful Task Management

Omnifocus is an advanced task management app for iOS and Mac.

Shaymin Being Given Away for Pokémon 20th Anniversary!

Shaymin is being given away to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pokémon!

A Quick Note on the Changes to Evernote

Evernote recently changed their pricing plans and changed some things for basic users. This post is just a quick note on the changes to the plans.

The prices for both plus and premium have increased. Plus has increased to £29.99, and premium has increased to £44.99. Free users now can only have two devices.

Personally, I am going to stay with Evernote. I am a premium user, and it only costs £3.75 a month, which is less then a cup of coffee. For me, Evernote is an amazing tool, and I have found nothing as great as it. I am happy to continue to support the efforts of Evernote.

You can check out the official blog post here.

Thanks for reading!

What do you think about the new changes to Evernote? Feel free to comment!

Pencil: Think With Your Hands

The Pencil by Fiftythree is a stylus for the iPad. It is made out of high quality wood, and has two rubber tips. These can be used to erase and draw.

Features I Would Love to See in Pokémon Sun and Moon

Pokemon Sun and Moon is coming out soon (well, in late November), and in this post I outline what features I hope will be in it.

Sketch, Draw and Paint with Procreate

Procreate is an advanced drawing app for the iPad, with many features such as layers and multiple colours.

Pokémon GO New Features Announced

New cool features for the Pokémon GO app, set to come out next month, have been released.

Make Beautiful Mindmaps with MindNode

MindNode is a premium and powerful mind mapping app for iOS and Mac.

New Pokémon and Features In Pokémon Sun and Moon Announced!

New features and Pokémon have been released!

Drafts 4 - Where Text Comes First

Drafts 4 is an app available on iOS, and is designed for markdown. It has a simple and clean interface. However, behind the simple and clean interface is a very powerful piece of software.

Legendary Pokémon of Sun and Moon Released!

The two legendary Pokémon have been released for Pokémon Sun and Moon!

Textastic - An Advanced Code Editor for iPad, iPhone and Mac

Textastic is an app that supports code such as html, C++ and many more. For students, it also supports TeX and Markdown.

Why a Notebook Is a Great Companion to Pokémon

Pokémon is a great game, and I love it. A notebook can be a great companion to your game.

Stop Getting Distracted by Your Phone with Forest

Forest is a great app that allows you to stop yourself from getting distracted by your phone. It has a great way of doing it, which is both fun and useful.

Pokémon in the Spotlight: Poliwrath!

Poliwrath is a Water and Fighting type Pokémon, with a unique typing.

PDF Expert 5 - Edit and Read PDFs

PDF Expert 5 is a desktop class iOS app that allows you to read and edit PDFs with ease.

PDF Expert 5 Released a Huge Update Today

Today, PDF Expert 5 got a huge update. It added compatibility with the Apple Pencil, and added a new feature called Readdle Transfer. You can check out what Readdle say in their release notes below:

Apple Pencil support: We love Apple Pencil! Impressively accurate, fast, elegant - it’s much more that just a new accessory. Now it’s fully compatible with PDF Expert 5 installed on iPad Pro. Annotate PDFs with Pencil and swipe pages with your fingers at the same time - PDF Expert will distinct those touches. Moreover, it is also pressure sensitive, so you can control the width of lines while handwriting or sketching.

Readdle Transfer: After releasing PDF Expert for Mac we’ve realized that there should be an easy way to transfer the same file across iPhone, iPad and Mac. With Readdle Transfer it takes seconds! Just make sure that all of your devices are working on the same Wi-Fi network. It’s great when you have to do power tasks on your Mac, copy the file on your iPad and run to the field/ client/ etc where he/she has to sign or fill out a form.

You can check out the new features in action below:

Readdle's PDF Expert adds Apple Pencil & File Transfer from Readdle Inc. on Vimeo

The new updates are great for iPad Pro users, and Mac users who use PDF Expert 5 on both their Mac and iOS.

If you don't know, PDF Expert 5 is a great PDF manager for iOS. You can find it here.

A review is coming out on Saturday the 21st of PDF Expert 5.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to comment below!

TCG: Azumarill!

Azumarill is a Water type Pokémon that evolves from Marill. This card is #114, in EX Delta Species. It is a Rare Holo card.