App Store

Do you know what time it is? It is one hour before this iPhone event – and Apple is updating its Store. That means new toys obviously. You ready already?

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The iPad application Take One – Movie Clapper is a great solution for anyone into film or making movies that wants a cheap and simple way to keep track takes, which assists in keeping filmed video and audio in synchronization. The major difference between Take One and its competitors is price and ease of use. Take One costs $2.99, compared to its $9.99 and $24.99 competitors – but offers an easy-to-use solution and all the necessary features one would expect from a Movie Clapper.

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Mashable is reporting that Facebook’s long-awaited iPad app will be announced at Apple’s upcoming event, which will most likely occur on October 4th. In addition to the iPad app, Facebook will reportedly be launching a revamped iPhone app and new HTML 5 version of the mobile site.

You may remember that the iPad app was leaked earlier this year, but was subsequently removed from within the iPhone app. According to a post from former Facebook engineer Jeff Verkoeyen the app is ready, and Facebook is waiting to release it. An event alongside Apple seems somewhat logical, though the companies don’t have the greatest history with each other.

Perhaps most importantly, Apple is said to be integrating Facebook into its iOS 5 the way Twitter is now integrated. Facebook was integrated into prototype versions of iOS 4 but a falling out between Zuckerberg and Apple got them kicked off (screenshot below).

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Though Facebook wants to move to HTML 5 as their main platform, they will also be releasing a revamped iPhone app with speed improvements according to the report. If true, October 4th is sure to be a big day with the unveiling of the next iPhone, iOS 5, and now the Facebook iPad app.

A few more screenshots after the break:

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Google Plus (iTunes) iOS users will see a big update in their App Store today with lots of new features and improvements that were detailed earlier this week. Most notable is the ability to start and join video hangouts from a mobile device. In brief testing on both an iPhone 4 and an Android device on Wi-Fi, the Video conferencing worked great. It should work over 3 or 4G but the results obviously won’t be as good. Also, this version changes Huddles to Messenger and you can now send picture files through the messenger application.

Full list of improvements below:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou_Iir2SklI]

Security firm SuperEVR posts a video of their exploit which always makes it more real/scary.

I found that Skype also improperly defines the URI scheme used by the built-in webkit browser for Skype. Usually you will see the scheme set to something like, “about:blank” or “skype-randomtoken”, but in this case it is actually set to “file://”. This gives an attacker access to the users file system, and an attacker can access any file that the application itself would be able to access.

File system access is partially mitigated by the iOS Application sandbox that Apple has implemented, preventing an attacker from accessing certain sensitive files. However, every iOS application has access to the users AddressBook, and Skype is no exception.

I imagine the iPad app is also susceptible .

TechCrunch notes:

Skype says it is aware of the security issue, and had issued the following statement:

“We are working hard to fix this reported issue in our next planned release which we hope to roll out imminently. In the meantime we always recommend people exercise caution in only accepting friend requests from people they know and practice common sense internet security as always.”

The non-patronizing first sentence would have been sufficient, Skype.

Skype is on a #Winning streak since it got bought by Microsoft earlier this year.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuP37PW0Yn8&feature=player_embedded]

Google’s Translate service is relatively accurate and smooth to use, but taking the time to type in what you’d like translated or even clicking the microphone button each time is a pain — especially in real-world situations. A new app that was announced at TechCrunch Disrupt, Vocre, lets you instantly translate foreign languages through voice, even when the conversation is going on. Vocre uses Nuance technology to translate speech in a three-step process.

Being in a foreign country, this app could be great for when in a coversation. As seen in the video above, it’s quick and allows the conversation to flow freely without taking the time to type words you don’t know how to spell in a search box.

The only downfall we can see to this app is the likelihood of needing an expensive data plan when travelling overseas. But for those times you do have data: useful!

Vocre is free in the iTunes App Store. Updated: As pointed out by our lovely commenters, the app comes with 10 free translations, and after users will be charged $.99 for an additional 10 and $8.99 for an additional 100.

Download

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In response to the HP Print Control scanner app that we covered yesterday, a source at Apple told us that Apple is working on an app called “scanner” that uses iOS devices camera to act like a digital scanner.  Clearly this is meant for higher iPhone class cameras rather than current iPad or iPod touch cameras.

Here’s what we’ve heard on how it works:

1. The user opens the app and holds the iPhone over the document or object they want scanned.  They then snap a picture of it.  Apple’s on-board software then resizes the image to ‘letter’ or business card, A4 or whatever depending on original document.  Resizing includes aligning edges that get skewed by a sigle scan point rather than traditional scanning methods.  The user can then manually change the size of the document or the use (biz card?)
2. On board software then separates images blocks from text.
3. This is where it gets murky.  At last word, Apple was trying to do OCR both on-device and using alternative cloud methods for recognizing text.  Third party Optical Character Recognition (OCR) vs. in house solutions were also being tested.
4. The resulting file can then be saved as a PDF, .Pages, exported to contacts (in the case of business cards for example).

Third party apps already exist in this field but word is that Apple wanted a polished in-house app that directly tied to its contacts and Pages apps.  Apple has numerous patents in this field so they’ve been thinking about this for awhile.

It isn’t certain when or if this application will be released or if Apple will bundle it as part of its iOS, iWork Apps, or a separate app going forward.

Google does something similar to this with their Docs App in Android.
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Cable television channel TNT, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner, has released an iPad app which gives you complete access to full-length television shows and movies aired by the network. As you’ve come to expect from similar apps, TNT for iPad lets you access behind-the-scenes videos, check out program guides and schedule reminders. It also integrates with GetGlue, Facebook and Twitter so you can pollute your friends’ social stream with the seemingly unimportant “I’m watching…” status updates.

Important caveat: Watching full episodes of television shows such as The Closer, Falling Skies and Rizzoli & Isles requires authenticating through your television provider. The TNT for iPad app is a free download from the App Store. Go past the fold for three additional screenshots of the TNT for iPad app.

NBC has also updated its iPad app with the same content found on the NBC.com web site. Yes, you can finally stream The Office to your iPad! Also, their TBS for iPad program does the same for Turner’s other shows, including episodes of Conan, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, available free on your tablet.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQQRsnoyiPA]

[Ed. Note: This is a guest post by Jessie Friedman who is building a kickstarter project with Reason]

The rumors of Logic Pro X have shown the possibility for the long-standing Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to shift in a new direction. Logic is quickly becoming tightly integrated with all things “Apple.” Will the new Logic Pro X alienate the professional market? It is a valid question. Logic was always destined to merge with other visual and UI ideas from Apple Apps. Apple is all about its common themes and designs. It is what makes Apple a continued dominant innovator in the technology market. Utilizing the Mac App Store to sell Logic Pro X has a two-fold benefit. One they promote the App Store to audio software consumers. Two they effectively lower the price of Logic while reducing cost. It is cheaper to sell a “digital” product than it is to sell a “physical” product. A “physical” product involves packaging, shipping, warehouses, store related costs, etc… The audio software market is saturated with Digital Audio Workstations. (DAWs) Anything Apple can do for Logic to gain more exposure, lower costs, and lower the price for consumers boosts Logic’s competitive edge in the market. It is really a win win situation for Apple and Logic. Whether or not these decisions make Logic Pro X a poor man’s DAW is yet to be seen.

Many of these decisions by Apple are moving Logic into a better competitive position in its market. There is little to no information in terms of the exclusion of long time standard features in Logic Pro X. It is a DAW’s feature set that makes it valid in a professional setting. The hobbyist application focuses on an entirely different music making approach. The addition of Waveburner into Logic itself, and the decision to exclude MainStage do shed light on Apple’s intentions with Logic. It is moving away from live performance options and focusing on studio production. Logic’s original niche is as a midi sequencer and studio production environment. Another audio software giant with a unique penchant for creative features is Propellerhead’s Reason, which is due at the end of the month…

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Facebook’s iOS app just got a monster update, including the following:

• – Made it easier to share with who you want
• – Added the ability to tag friends and places in posts
• – Added the ability to share external links from a web view
• – Added new design for Profile and Group Walls
• – Improved the sharing tool to add privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site

Improvements and bug fixes:

• – Improved Notifications speed
• – Fixed a number of Chat bugs
• – Made it easier to select filters in News Feed
• – Fixed a bug with the Notifications bar disappearing
• – Fixed a number of Photos bugs
• – Improved performance and stability overall

Still no iPad version, however. In fact, @Chpwn warns:

Facebook removed iPad support in their latest app update. It’s not possible for FaceForward to enable something that’s no longer in the app.

Check out the new Check-in screen (which was hinted at 1:51 in the video on this page) below:

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iFixyouri iPhone repair shops have just received a limited order of color iPad 2 front glass customized replacements in blue, green, yellow and pink. We’re told that if you use code “9to5mac” at checkout you’ll get 10% off the $200 iPad customization (yes, that’s pretty steep but we have a feeling there is a pretty big market for these).

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Cnet notes a new section just hit the Mac App Store called Apps Enhanced for Lion.

Apple was a good sport too and allowed one third party app in the top two rows of apps.

Update: Macrumors notes that Apple has begun selling Final Cut Pro 7 (which is likely not enhanced for Lion) the old fashioned way.

We confirmed with an Apple telesales representative at 800-MY-APPLE that Final Cut Studio, part number MB642Z/A, is again available for $999, and $899 for educational customers. The product is only available through the 800-number and is not available in Apple Retail Stores or on the Apple Online Store.

Final Cut Pro 7 was pulled ahead of the release of Final Cut Pro X in June but there has been some backlash among the higher end users because of missing features.  Apple, for what it is worth, promised feature updates by the end of summer (which is coming on pretty fast now).
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k73ipSDZJXM&feature=player_embedded]

UPDATE [Monday, September 12, 2011 at 3:30pm ET]: Dolphin Browser HD for iPad just went live on the App Store.

Most Android users are quite familiar with the third-party Dolphin Browser app, which has been downloaded over 9 million times and according to TechCrunch just raised $10 million from Sequoia Capital. It appears some of that investment will go towards the company’s efforts on iOS devices as well, as an official iOS version of the browser has just popped up in the App Store.

The iOS version brings over the majority of features that have made Dolphin so popular among Android users. Among them is highly customizable gestures, built-in translations, dock-like sidebar for accessing bookmarks, speed dial, tabbed browsing, and more. Don’t be fooled, however, Dolphin is still based on Apple’s own WebKit, much the same as the default Safari app, all other third-party browsers on the App Store, and the majority of browsers in the smartphone industry. It does have some competitors such as Opera and a handful of smaller players like SkyFire who are starting to gain traction and steadily improving their iOS offerings.

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As pointed out by The Next Web Apple has begun to role out a new redesign for category home pages in the App Store. The redesign follows suit with the home page of the App Store, displaying a large horizontal banner which runs through the category’s featured apps. As of now, the redesign is only appearing in the Education and Games sections.

Besides the banner, Apple has removed the section that displayed all of the category’s apps, and has replaced it with the “Staff Favorites” section. Now, the three sections for each category are: ”What’s Hot”, “New and Noteworthy”, and “Staff Favorites”.

The iPad is also seeing these updates — again for only the Education and Games section. The iPad’s “What’s Hot” section is now replaced by “Staff Favorites,” and the banner is displayed. This is most likely on its way to rolling out through the whole App Store.

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Apple and Google are clearly the two front-runners competing for market share in the mobile world, which is why it’s no surprise we think of iOS and Android when we think of apps. With the growth of the smartphone industry also came the resurgence of native apps (thanks largely in part to Apple’s App Store which still dominates the space). However, Mozilla hopes that web apps will soon mature to provide a comparable experience for end users and an even better alternative for developers.

“We are aiming at providing all the necessary APIs to build a basic HTML5 phone experience within the next 3-6 months”

While Chrome OS has shown promise, it isn’t the only browser-based platform planning on entering the web app space… If Mozilla has its way, developers can use the results of their new WebAPI project to build an “HTML5 phone experience” that’s compatible across all operating systems (whether it’s Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc).

A report from CNET claims Mozilla has plans for the APIs to “interact with a phone’s dialler, address book, contacts list, and camera”, essentially giving you access to the same functionality of native apps but directly in your device’s browser.

The WebAPI project certainly isn’t trying to create a full-blown operating system. However, working hand in hand with Mozilla’s Boot to Gecko project, which aims to build a “complete, standalone operating system for the web”, it could create a potentially compelling alternative to Google’s browser-based Chrome OS.

It appears that Mozilla is serious about the project, as a report from CNET claims they’re in the process of hiring full time programmers and plan to have the basics in place by February…

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If you’ve ever been *ahem* channel surfing late at night and stumbled upon HBO subsidiary Cinemax programming you know that there isn’t much differentiation between what you see there and all out pornography.

The news this weekend is that Apple just gave the go-ahead to Cinemax’s MaxGo App(free) for both iPhone and iPad.  Yes, it includes “Late Night” content.

Far be it from us to judge what should and shouldn’t be on the App Store, but it seems that Apple is continuing to create controversy with its “no porn” stance.

In an email exchange with Gawker’s Ryan Tate last year, Jobs said that the iPad would offer users “freedom from porn.” And in a Q&A session after the launch of iOS 4, Jobs told reporters that porn was one reason Apple wouldn’t allow unsigned or unapproved apps onto iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.

“You know, there’s a porn store for Android. You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go – so we’re not going to go there.”

Playboy,which is at least as “soft-core” as SCinemax, was denied access to the App Store for its nude pictorials.  For what it is worth, access to the Max Go app is parental controlled to users 17 or older.

If this story picks up, Apple will probably force  HBO to curtail its mature content retroactively, not that there aren’t plenty of other outlets via Safari for such material.
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Will Nintendo begin to produce titles for iOS devices? It’s a possibility if they take the advice of Tokyo-based Stats Investment Management Co, “Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform (smartphones) or develop something totally new.”

Bloomberg reports:

 “The rift highlights the dilemma President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook Inc.’s website. The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to cut prices 40 percent in Japan and 32 percent in the U.S., the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.”

Historically Nintendo has made their stance clear on developing for platforms other than their own. President Satoru Iwata even went as far as saying the company would never develop for other platforms as long as he’s in charge. While their new 3DS handheld hasn’t received a great reception, investments Nintendo has made recently in the 3DS (competitor to Sony’s  Vita) portable device and Wii U makes it unlikely they will divert their attention to developing games for Apple devices anytime soon. This is especially true when talking about hallmark franchises like Mario and Donkey Kong. To provide these titles to iOS users would kill any incentive the company has to offer potential 3DS and Wii U customers.

That being said, the market opportunity is huge (just look how well Nintendo emulators do on jailbroken devices).  If the game-maker continues to lay eggs with its portable products, it might be forced to join up with Apple, or build a 3DS Android phone like Sony did with its Xperia Play.

At the very least Nintendo should build a generation-behind Emulator App like Atari’s Greatest hits.

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Walmart has just announced their Vudu movie streaming service is now available to iPad users via a web app (opposed to an iOS app), which effectively allows the company to go behind Apple’s back rather than partake in their App Store revenue sharing model. The app also works on other iOS devices, but hasn’t yet been optimized for the smaller screen. They’ve also announced their iTunes competitor, mp3.walmart.com, will be closing indefinitely starting August 28, 2011. However, the announcement notes the Walmart Soundcheck music streaming service will remain available, making us wonder if they have plans on implementing an iPad-specific version much like they’ve done with Vudu…

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen content providers trying to avoid sharing profits with Apple. In fact, just yesterday we told you about the new Kindle Cloud Reader app that is accessible via the web, much the same as Vudu. While not sharing revenue is an obvious benefit of bypassing the App Store, TechCrunch points out there are many other advantages as well.

For instance, by avoiding the App Store’s restrictions, Vudu will be able to push out new updates whenever they see fit, rather than having to wait for Apple’s approval. It seems like more and more developers have been pushed away from the traditional iOS app model due to stringent approval policies and the unpredictability of Apple’s ever-changing process.

The real question is.. do these web apps compare to the experience offered by native apps?

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Frankly, it feels like lawsuits are taking too much of our time and mind space lately – and they aren’t fun to think about.  So here’s a roundup of the more exciting lawsuits news of the last hour:

MacRumors:

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Apple and 5 of the 6 major book publishers, alleging they “colluded to increase prices for popular e-book titles to boost profits and force e-book rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing.”

On Lodsys (important if you are a App developer with an auto-updating app):

Apple insists to intervene in Lodsys lawsuit against app developers. Apple still requests a court hearing on its motion. Things may still take some more time, but there will be no more written pleadings unless the court asks the parties to address particular questions in more detail. At this stage it’s possible that the court decides very quickly, and I continue to be reasonably optimistic that Apple’s motion will be granted.

At some point, we should start referring to Lodsys by the name of its parent company, Intelectual Ventures. 

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Facebook isn’t fantastic at hiding secret stuff in their Apps.  Just last month, its iPad ambitions were outed by some folks rummaging around in the App.  Today, Facebook released their Messenger app and seconds later, we see that there is a video component to the application:

The video component would seem to work on both Android (yep) and iPhone and would likely tie in with their recently announced Skype desktop video conferencing service as well.  The code looks very rudimentary at this point so it isn’t certain that the video can be enabled like the iPad version was with just a few tweeks.  Thanks Caleb!

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