Price

Writer will cost you $5.00, while PlainText is free. If cost is important, then you should definitely go with PlainText. But if you’re not concerned about dropping a little cash, read on.

Dropbox Sync

As mentioned above, both apps use Dropbox sync, so you don’t have to go through the horror of copying files over with iTunes. I do like PlainText’s implementation better, though. It gives you more options to tell it when to sync, and tells you whether Dropbox is down or not. It also gives you the option to rename the folder it syncs to on your Dropbox, but you have to unlink your Dropbox account first. Writer, on the other hand, offers only the option to link to Dropbox. Folder names can’t be changed, and there’s no behavior customization available.

PlainText offers a number of ways to tweak your Dropbox sync settings.

Text Expansion

With PlainText, you can also use TextExpander, a third-party app that lets you define short abbreviations to expand into longer snippets, i.e., expanding “TTYL” as “talk to you later.” Writer doesn’t offer any text expansion support.

Writing Environments

Writer and PlainText's main screens, side-by-side.

As far as the writing environments go, Writer provides a more focused experience. It uses a large monospace font called Nitti Light, which was created by Bold Monday specifically for the iPad, and is easy to read. Writer also has a “focus mode” that fades out everything except the current three lines. This does make it easier to focus on your writing, but you can’t scroll in this mode. You have to manually hit the cursor button on the software keyboard in order to move around the document, which is annoying.

PlainText also has a full-screen mode, but this mode only hides the sidebar and does little to make it easier to concentrate. PlainText also wastes a lot space on both sides of your document in landscape view, even in the full-screen editing mode.

Software Keyboards

Writer has the edge when it comes to the virtual keyboard. The default iOS keyboard has been extended with an extra bar above it that holds some common functions and punctuation:

In PlainText, it takes longer to get to punctuation since you have to flip back and forth between symbols and letters.

Sidebars

One of the more noticeable differences is that PlainText has a sidebar to access folders and documents, but Writer doesn’t. PlainText’s sidebar makes it easier to navigate around chapters or sections without having to press a button a bunch of times (anyone who uses Mail in portrait mode knows what I’m talking about). This makes it much easier to take notes, and indeed I’ve found myself using PlainText more than Writer for taking notes during my college courses.

Word Count

Both apps give you the word count of a document, though Writer displays the number of words in the top bar of the screen, and PlainText shows it as a contextual menu with select and paste:

PlainText adds word count to the contextual menu.

Writer also has offers an extra feature: reading time. It calculates the time it would take the average person to read the entire text in the top bar, and adds marks on the side of the display showing you the reading time up to where the cursor is.

Conclusion

Honestly, I think both apps are great. PlainText has better organization and Dropbox integration, but Writer has a more focused environment and better typography.

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Ninety-nine percent of authors don’t make money on their book projects, 99 percent of publishers lose money and 1,500 books are published every day, reports Clint Greenleaf. With those stats, why does anyone consider a career as a writer or editor?

Because even with those stats, it is possible to make a good living. Especially now, as the growing number of online publications means there are many writing and editing opportunities that go beyond traditional books, newspaper and magazines.

Could you consider writing or editing as a career?

Types of Writing and Editing Careers

Book authors need no explanation. However, unless you’re Malcolm Gladwell, Nora Roberts or James Patterson, don’t expect to earn a comfortable living as a fiction author. I’m not trying to crush your dreams; just don’t give up your day job. There are other types of books that need writing, too: ebooks, nonfiction, textbooks, etc. If you write these kinds of books on a regular basis, you can earn a decent living.

Business writers produce white papers, case studies, newsletters, web sites, brochures, ads and business plans.

Technical writers develop product documentation, training materials and assembly instructions.

Web content writers require a different writing style because people read online content differently than they do print. Writers in this area need to think about search engine optimization, readability, organization and structure. Bloggers can make a healthy living or do it as a part-time job; success depends on the publication’s popularity, products for sale, ads and sponsorship.

Copywriters work to promote a product, person, business or idea by choosing the right words, slogans and phrases to compel people to take the desired action. Their writing appears in ads, brochures and other promotional publications.

Proofreaders look for typos, punctuation mistakes, and grammatical errors in copy. Proofreading generally happens right before publishing and after the editor has done his or her job. They generally don’t rewrite sentences and restructure material like copyeditors.

Copyeditors go deeper than proofreaders do in reviewing the finished copy for spelling, punctuation, grammar and word usage errors. They also pay attention to the content for clarity and rewrite and restructure the copy as needed. If the content includes graphics, charts and captions, they ensure the content matches the visuals and captions.

Editing includes commenting on, approving, revising and rejecting writers’ content. Aside from editing for grammar and content, they also ensure the articles follow the publications’ style guidelines.

How to Qualify

Write. Write. Write. Read. Read. Read. Read books and blogs on writing. Practice writing often. Everyone can improve, even good writers. I recoil when I read the papers I wrote in college because of the stiff and formal writing style. A good writer accepts all feedback and makes changes as needed. Those who fight about every word or phrase will have a harder time surviving as a writer.

Anne Toole, television drama and games writer, got her start in television writing when she worked on a series of TV shows as an assistant. When the TV series needed a writer, she was there. “You don’t need a degree, but writing skills, gained through talent, hard work, school or mentoring are essential,” says Toole.

College writing takes a wholly different approach than professional writing and web writing. Study the writing you want to do and practice that style. A career as a writer or editor doesn’t require a related college degree. If you’d like to spiff up your skills, take a writing class at the local community college or online. Join online writing groups and subscribe to email newsletters that cover writing like AbsoluteWrite, Power Writing and Christina Katz’ Writers on the Rise and Get Known Groove. At WebWorkerDaily, we have plenty of tips on freelancing, writing and editing.

Writing and Editing Tools

The bare minimum is a computer with a word processor, like Word, and an Internet connection for submitting your work. Script writers use Final Draft to write and format scripts. Writers and editors rely on Excel, Visio, OneNote and mind-mapping tools for research, brainstorming and other writing-related tasks. References like dictionaries and thesauruses come in handy. Writers and editors also use applications for invoicing, time tracking and taxes. Those determined to work with a publication should grab a copy of “Writer’s Market.”

I could never live without my dual monitor setup; it really helps my productivity. I often have an article draft on one screen and the Internet or other app for referencing on the other.

Find Clients

Jennifer Escalona finds clients online. “When I blind query, I look on freelance job sites like craigslist, FreelanceJobOpenings, Indeed.com and many, many more. I ask for a testimonial and mention that I appreciate referrals. I also network with other freelancer writers, who often have great job leads,” says Escalona.

Many writers say they started landing clients on bidding sites like eLance, though others have complained of lowballing, or quoting low estimates. Keep in mind, too, that writers and editors value word-of-mouth marketing and social networking. Until you have built your portfolio, consider writing unpaid articles for a nonprofit, charity or blog that covers a topic of interest to you.

Are you considering a career in writing or editing?

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Since launching in 1999, the company has worked to expand their offerings, integrating some features to create more than just a job site and more of a work tool. What interested me beyond the job marketplace is Elance’s concept of a Remote Work System with the goal of creating a remote workspace for freelance workers to provide them with additional incentive to continue using the site after the job match has been made. The features are meant to help service providers manage a part of their work through Elance and give buyer and service provider more ways to connect and transact business.

The areas Elance has been beefing up to create their “remote work system” include:

1. The Interview Process. Beyond matching up a buyer with a service provider with specific skills that meet their project needs, Elance offer an integrated chat function and a click-to-call function that allows the buyer to place a call to the provider anonymously and for free. Providers can also take “certification” tests via Elance to evaluate their level of expertise and ostensibly giving buyers more of an assurance of a provider’s skills.

2. The Payment System. Elance now offers an escrow account so that once a buyer and seller match up, the buyer can place the payment into an escrow account via Elance with the intent to assuage the provider’s mind that the money is there upon completion of the project. The payment still needs to be triggered by the buyer so even once a provider completes the job, there is no guarantee that they provider will be paid. However, Elance also offers dispute assistance for both buyers and providers.

3. Tracking Project Status. With a new status reporting system in place, buyers can set milestones for providers to meet, and providers can report on their status showing progress against milestones on a percentage basis. Elance recently implemented  a time tracking widget that a provider can apply to a deliverable or milestone, add notes for the buyer, and attach files. The time tracker can also cover units of work such as blog posts. Status reports can then be converted into invoices once work is complete.

The company says that while they are offering enhanced features to help the buyer and provider manage a portion of the project, their site is not necessarily a replacement for a more robust project management system like Basecamp. Like Basecamp, however, the new Elance features offer an archive of interactions and communications between buyer and provider which is especially invaluable for a provider who is working on multiple projects at once.

Out of curiosity, I did several searches to see what freelance opportunities fit my skillset, experience and interest. There were a good number of web site and blog content development jobs open for bid, however, I found too many that didn’t seem to add up in terms of pay.

For example, one blogging job had a budget of $500 but were looking for someone to craft 5 blog posts per week. The duration of the project wasn’t visible but after just a few months time, the pay per post for that job would be embarrassingly low.

Another blogging job was paying an hourly rate which seemed a little unusual for work that is more commonly paid by the unit i.e. on a per post basis. Another wanted 20 articles for less than $500. Maybe a good job for an inexperienced writer working up some portfolio pieces, but there is no way to slice $500 by 20 and get anything resembling decent pay.

So while I’m not convinced Elance contains a wealth of well-paying, high-quality writing jobs for established Web content developers (I can’t comment on the programming jobs since I’m not a programmer), it could be a good place for a novice to find their first jobs. Plus the site provides some extras to help  manage those jobs.

What has been your experience with Elance or other “bid” job sites?

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I have to say that my experience with two other apps – Evernote (still in limited beta) and Google Notebook – was quite different from the first two I tried. They didn’t work as well for me. Hey, I’ve got to be honest here but also should clarify my criteria for what “works well for me” means.

1. This is just my opinion.
2. I need things to be very intuitive.
3. Because I don’t read instructions.
4. Because my brain would explode if I did and starts to smoke when I try.

So in the name of saving my brain, I jump right into using an application and then see how often I use it. Does it become second nature to me? Or am I constantly having to think about using it and how to use it properly?

Here’s how the last week has gone using Evernote and Google Notebooks.

Evernote.com

I found that every time I opened my browser each morning and then tried to save a clip to Evernote, it asked me to log in. Yes, I checked “Remember Me.” Yes, I used the password storage feature in Firefox. This was a momentary blip as I saved clips.

What I do like about Evernote is that it uses a bookmarklet to facilitate clipping articles and blog posts to my account. Having a button at the top of my browser is just perfect – it is right there, where I can see it, access it and use it.

I can either highlight a portion of an article or post or clip and save the whole page. The options to do one or another is nice. Then I can either “Go to Notecards” or go back to the page I was viewing.

What I really like about Evernote is how they use a screen grab to show what I’ve clipped. I don’t know if it is a gender thing, but I’m really visual and I always use the Icon view in Mac and really prefer seeing a graphic or icon rather than text link.

Evernote’s marketing blurbs claim they can help you create notes, to-dos, brainstorms and reminders. You can also:

“…snap photos of anything from whiteboards to wine labels then email or sync them; clip web pages and have them stored and accessible in their entirety, even offline; write handwritten notes using digital ink or take snapshots of regular ink notes; record audio clips and memos to listen to later; Email or MMS notes from your cell phone to your personalized Evernote address.”

All I can say to all of those features is…say what?!? I am focused entirely on one capability – clipping web pages and storing them to access them later. That is my tickler file. I’m overwhelmed, even a little intimidated, by all the other features. But hey, that’s just me.

Google Notebook

While I can espouse my newfound love of Google Docs, I’m just not getting Google Notebook in the same way. The first thing that makes is harder for me to use is that the “button” you click to save a clip is on the bottom right hand corner of my browser. That position just isn’t intuitive for me.

Also, since I’m on a Mac with my menu of application icons across the bottom of my screen, anything I have to click at the bottom of my browser means I may accidentally click on Twhirl or Skype or another application in the menu. Kind of annoying.

At first, I was also confused about creating “notebooks” in Google Notebook – for some reason it seemed easier in Evernote. And while I love the plain vanilla text of Instapaper, for some reason seeing just text links in Google Notebook is a bit of a letdown after the elegant screen grabs of Evernote.

Big confession: While I was testing out Evernote and Google Notebook, I saved all the same clips to Instapaper every time.

Sometimes, the most basic apps work better for me than all the fancy, schmancy whiz bang apps out there. What about you?

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Thesaurus: For 10 languages, Zoho Writer offers a Thesaurus option.  For those of us who do a high volume of online writing, this means no more having to have a Firefox tab with Thesaurus.com loaded.  Currently the Thesaurus supports English, Czech, German, Greek, French, Irish, Italian, Polish, Russian and Slovak; with plans to add new languages in the future.

Support for DocX files: With Office 2007, Microsoft introduced the OOXML file format for Word Documents.  Now Zoho Writer is capable of exporting Writer documents to the DocX format.  Soon the will also be able to import DocX for those of you who receive these types of files from colleagues.

Group Support:  Zoho Writer has always been a strong player in collaboration by allowing you to share your documents with colleagues.  With today’s updates, you can group your contacts.  This added capability will allow you to create a “Family” and “Co-Workers” group and share documents with each group accordingly.

There are a few other new features being introduced, refer to their blog for further details.

It is for all our benefit that Zoho has continues to innovate in the online office suite space.  Not only does this competition spur new features such as those listed above, but it serves as a motivating factor for Google to keep producing great features for their online suite.

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I think 2007 will be the year where mobile technology vendors proved that inexpensive doesn’t necessarily mean cheap and unusable. It happened with the Asus Eee PC and then again with Palm’s Centro for Sprint. The trend continues in 2008 now that a Palm Centro has arrived on AT&T’s GSM network. This $99 Palm OS smartphone has definitely impressed me over the past few days of hands-on use, but I’m just getting started. Remember, in my years of using mobile tech, I’ve never purchased a Palm device so this loaner is intriguing. Folks that use feature phones don’t have to spend much more to get a full-featured smartphone and I think that’s why we’re seeing so many Palm Centro units fly off the shelves. The full press release with details follows and in this short video, I give you a very quick look at the device and its capabilities. I’ll have more thoughts over the next week or two before I return the unit.

AT&T AND PALM INTRODUCE CENTRO FOR $99.99Easy-to-Use Phone Lets Customers Step Up to Messaging, E-Mail and Web AccessSAN ANTONIO, Texas, and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 19, 2008 — In an answer to the growing demand for crossover devices, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Palm Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced the availability of the Palm® Centro™ from AT&T. Centro is designed for the expanding base of customers who want a better way to manage their busy lives. The device is available for just $99.99.1Centro offers customers more choices to stay in touch with friends, family andco-workers by using voice, text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail or the Web.2 Featuring a color touch-screen and full QWERTY keyboard, Centro is the first Palm OS® product to launch with AT&T services, such as XM Radio Mobile, Push to Talk and MusicID.3Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm product to date and works with the nation’s largest digital voice and data network. Initially, the Palm Centro from AT&T is available in new “glacier white” with green keypad accents, and, in approximately one month, AT&T will debut a second color — “obsidian black.”“The demand for crossover devices is skyrocketing, and the Centro hits a sweet spot for many customers looking for a QWERTY device with a solid suite of messaging and multimedia features,” said Michael Woodward, vice president, Business Mobility Products for AT&T’s wireless unit. “At a great price that can be coupled with a variety of AT&T’s messaging and data options, we are thrilled to offer Centro to our 70.1 million customers.”“Centro offers a simple way for customers to stay connected to the people who are important to them while better managing their increasingly hectic lifestyles, all at the price of a traditional mobile phone,” said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of Marketing for Palm, Inc.Superior PhoneCentro’s touch-screen and keyboard, combined with the simplicity of Palm OS, make it easy to use with key features such as one-touch speakerphone, conference calling, ignore a call with text messaging and Bluetooth® connectivity.Easy Text MessagingCentro’s text-messaging application displays text and multimedia messages in Palm’s chat-style view, just like PC-based instant messaging, so Centro users can see the entire conversation unfold. Palm is bringing this easy-to-use text messaging capability, which many Treo™ users have enjoyed for years, to Centro.Instant MessagingWith the built-in IM application, customers can message with select contacts from their choice of AIM, Windows Live™ Messenger and Yahoo! ® Messenger instant messaging services.E-Mail OptionsCentro makes e-mail easy with Xpress Mail, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and Good Mobile Messaging. Using Xpress Mail, users can easily set up and access personal e-mail from Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Live and other popular Internet service providers.3 Xpress Mail also provides access to Lotus® Notes®. Via Exchange ActiveSync, receiving Microsoft Outlooke-mail while on the go, as well as syncing Outlook contacts and calendar appointments, can be done right after the phone comes out of the box.4 Good Mobile Messaging is also supported on Centro and is downloadable over the air from get.good.com.Music OptionsThe AT&T Mobile Music platform includes the ability to sideload music with Napster and eMusic with built-in Pocket Tunes Deluxe, listen to live radio with XM Radio Mobile, discover new songs with MusicID and more. Centro from AT&T is the first Palm smart device to offer XM Radio Mobile. For $8.99 a month, XM Radio Mobile gives AT&T consumers 25 of the best XM Radio channels, featuring commercial-free rock, hip-hop, country, jazz and more. A freethree-day trial is included with Centro.With a database of more than 3 million artists and titles, Centro customers can use MusicID to identify an unknown song. While holding Centro up to a speaker, the MusicID application returns song information such as title, artist and cover art, if available. It also keeps track of previous IDs and allows users to share song information with friends via text messages, all for $3.99 a month. A free three-day trial is included with Centro.Contacts and CalendarSince Centro comes with the Palm OS, it offers all of the great organizer functionality for which Palm is renowned, such as a detailed and integrated contacts list. Also, the simple and handy calendar makes it easier to manage increasingly busy lives.Other AT&T Services for CentroPush to Talk — Centro users can instantly talk across the largest Push to Talk network coverage area in America. Push to Talk works like a walkie-talkie to talk to an individual or a group of up to 29 users. With status icons that clearly indicate the availability of friends and family, Push to Talk customers will know who is free before they call. Users can purchase unlimited Push to Talk minutes with Nation Plans for $9.99 a month for each line and with FamilyTalk for $19.99 a month for each group (two to five lines). Customers also can use Push to Talk on a pay-per-use basis for $0.15 a minute.5TeleNav GPS Navigator — With an optional stand-alone GPS receiver accessory, TeleNav GPS Navigator gives Centro users access to maps and more than 10 million points of interest, as well as turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions.6 Unlimited access to Navigator costs $9.99 a month.MobiTV — With MobiTV, Centro users can watch live television, premium and prime-time programming, video-on-demand clips and satellite and digital music services from the top broadcast and cable television networks and major music labels for $9.99 a month.EDGE NetworkThe Palm Centro from AT&T operates on AT&T’s EDGE network, part of the GSM family of technologies. Used by more than 86 percent of the world’s wireless subscribers — 2.7 billion people7 — GSM is the world’s most popular wireless phone technology, allowing unparalleled global roaming capabilities. AT&T customers with quad-band devices such as Centro can place calls in more than 195 countries and access data in more than 140.AT&T’s EDGE network8 is the largest national high speed wireless data network in the United States, with availability in more than 13,000 cities and towns and along some 40,000 miles of major highways. EDGE supports a wide range of data services, including streaming music, picture and video messaging, Internet access with the Blazer Web browser, instant messaging, Push to Talk and e-mail.Pricing and AvailabilityThe Palm Centro from AT&T is available at all AT&T retail stores and online at http://www.att.com and http://www.palm.com/centro for $99.99 after a two-year service agreement and a mail-in rebate. Unlimited e-mail and data access is available for $30 a month with AT&T’s PDA Personal data package with a corresponding voice plan. Messaging packages are available beginning at $5 for 200 text, picture, video or instant messages. Unlimited messaging is available for $20 for individual plans and $30 for FamilyTalk plans. For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit http://www.att.com.1The Palm Centro from AT&T is available for $99.99 after a two-year service agreement and a mail-in rebate.2Applies within wireless coverage area only. Additional charges may apply.3Applies within wireless data coverage area only. E-mail and Web require data services from AT&T at additional cost. VPN may also be required at additional cost. Additional fees may be required for some services.4Requires Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 or Exchange Server 2007 and access enabled by IT administrator.5Applies within wireless coverage area only. Additional charges may apply. User’s contacts must also be subscribers to the AT&T Push to Talk wireless service.6TeleNav GPS Navigator requires a subscription and a Bluetooth GPS receiver, sold separately. TeleNav may not be available for certain areas.7Q3 2007 Global GSM Updates, 3GAmericas, http://3gamericas.org/English/Statistics/8Not available in all areas.Note: This AT&T release and other news announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.More information on Centro is available at http://www.palm.com/centro. Centro multimedia materials are available from http://www.att.com and Palm’s Multimedia Library (www.palm.com/mml).Find More Information Online:Web Site Links: Related Media Kits:AT&T Web SiteAT&T Wireless Web SiteAT&T Network Coverage MapPalm Web SiteAT&T Broadband InitiativesAT&T Mobile PhonesAT&T and eMusic MobileRelated Fact Sheet: Related News Releases:AT&T Network Coverage Map AT&T Offers a Variety of Broadband Choices to Connect Consumers with Their WorldTechnorati Tags: AT&T, HSPA, Mobile BroadbandAbout Palm, Inc.Palm, Inc. is a global leader and innovator of easy-to-use mobile products that simplify people’s lives and help them stay connected on the go. The company offers a range of products — including Palm® Treo™ and Centro™ smartphones, Palm handhelds, services and accessories — to meet the needs of consumers, mobile professionals and businesses.Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.Palm, Palm OS, Treo and Centro are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc.About AT&TAT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world’s most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation’s leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. For more information and detailed disclaimer information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.

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The set-top box also has the ability to pull multimedia content, aka videos off the Internet and give more context to what you are watching. I think this is an interesting development, because it blurs the line between web video and old TV.

I think if this See-N-Search technology does actually become popular, a lot of people with little time (or interest) in online video will suddenly be unknowingly exposed to it, giving the whole online video industry a nice boost. That said, this little video also reminds us that we need better cataloging technology and better metadata around online video for See-N-Search type contextual systems to be effective.

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As part of this deal, viewers can get online streams of NFL games every Sunday. The deal has been rumored for a while, but it has been confirmed by a company spokesperson. I couldn’t get the details last night since it was very late, but we spoke to the company and here is the lowdown.

First of all you don’t need a Sling Player to get this video package and you don’t need the Sling software. The video steams are accessed with the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. If you are a DirecTV/NFL Sunday (HD) package customer, then you get access to the games the web for free as part of your package.

Sling Media is providing a hosted service to DirecTV and is managing the web-operation, including authentication and also decides which streams are available to you based on where you live. The videos are being streamed off DirecTV’s servers, not Sling’s servers. Sling also built the browser-based front end for DirecTV. The service only works with IE browser, which is kinda lame. This is a new business foray for Sling, which till now has been purely a hardware vendor.

The company is looking to expand this business. John Malone, who now owns DirecTV is also an investor in Sling, as is Charlie Ergen, the maverick behind Echostar (DISH), and have been the biggest supporters of Sling. National Hockey League has also partnered with Sling for its clip-and-sling service.

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(via the::unwired)

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