Apps

During the AllThingsD D10 conference tonight, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about Apple and Facebook’s relationship. The question came in the context of iOS 5 users having the ability to easily share through Twitter on their iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. To this, Cook said “stay tuned.”

With WWDC less than two weeks away, we can’t help but to speculate that Facebook will get the iOS 5-Twitter treatment in iOS 6. iOS 4 betas contained such Facebook integration, but the feature was scrapped at the last minute. Perhaps this had something to do with an Apple/Facebook falling out, something demonstrated by Facebook’s removal from Apple’s music social network, Ping.

In other social network news, Cook said that Apple was not interested in acquiring Instagram, the iPhone and Android based photosharing app that was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller previously said that Instagram “jumped the shark” when it launched on Android.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_dJOvJQv8o&feature=youtu.be]

You may not be familiar with the name Scalado, but there is a good chance you have used one of its imagining technologies without even knowing it. The company’s photo applications helped power camera and image apps for over 10 years, and they are currently baked in to 1.5 billion phones (adding about 500 million mobile phones every year). Most recently, we revealed Scalado’s Rewind technology is integrated into BB10’s camera app, and Scalado is introducing its first iOS app today called “PhotoBeamer“, which we have tested over the past month.

While it usually works directly with OEMs, the company recently released its first app directly to users late last month as an Android-only photo viewer called “Scalado Album“. The new iOS app, PhotoBeamer, serves to quickly and wirelessly display photos stored on your iOS device to any display with a web browser.

We already have a ton of third-party apps for transferring and viewing photos from iOS devices to a bigger screen. Even Apple’s own Photo Stream feature makes things easy for accessing photos on your other iOS devices and almost as easy on your Mac, and iPhoto’s beam feature allows for wireless sharing of images between iOS devices. Getting images to our other devices is not a problem, but PhotoBeamer’s zero-configuration, no registration, and extremely snappy, patented imaging tech might make it your go-to app.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X9YbwtVN8Sk]

The Verge recently went hands on with Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S III launched earlier this month and during its review put the device’s new Vlingo-powered “S-Voice” feature up against Siri on the iPhone 4S. Other than the striking resemblance to Siri’s UI and canned responses, the first thing we notice is Siri appears to be much quicker than S-Voice running on the Galaxy S III.

When asked “Who is the president of France”, Siri quickly asks to search the web, while S-Voice takes a little longer but comes up with the correct answer. However, in most scenarios, both Siri and S-Voice request to search the web for the majority of the same queries. You’ll also notice S-Voice has no problem keeping up with Siri when scheduling appointments, but both have some of the same issues understanding The Verge’s commands.

S Voice consistently chews up my words when I try asking it questions, although it works better when instructed to schedule an appointment or set an alarm. It can also be used as an unlocking mechanism once you pre-record a pass phrase. That adds to the face unlocking option that’s native to Android 4.0 in being frustratingly unwieldy and planted firmly within gimmick territory — more than once I was stuck repeating “hello” without any recognition from the phone.

While we don’t have all of the info on S-Voice, we know it is using voice recognition technology from Vlingo, the same as the previous Voice Commander feature for the Galaxy S II. Last December Nuance acquired Vlingo. It’s no secret Apple is currently using Nuance to power speech in Siri, and Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky told us in October that Siri originally used Vlingo, but that Nuance has by far the most “IP in speech synthesis technologies”. However, he also noted Apple could likely easily replace Nuance if something better was available.

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Update May 25: Following yesterday’s story, The Verge reported today that Apple has confirmed it removed the Airfoil Speakers Touch app after its recent 3.0 update introduced the ability to stream over AirPlay from other iOS devices. Apple said it is against Review Guideline 2.5: Apps that use non-public APIs will be rejected. Verge explained:

The feature in question permits any iOS device running the app to play back audio beamed from a variety of sources using Apple’s AirPlay wireless streaming protocol. Apple presently only allows designated products to act in this capacity — such as the Apple TV and (often expensive) AirPlay-enabled third-party hardware

We have seen Apple both reject and remove apps for many reasons in the past. It is often due to an icon or name that is too close to one of Apple’s own apps. Sometimes, however, apps are removed if they boast features that mimic or are too similar to the core functionality of iOS. Today, Daring Fireball pointed us to a post from Paul Kafasis of developer Rogue Amoeba, who wrote that the company’s Airfoil Speakers Touch app that is designed to send audio between Macs and iOS devices has now been removed from the App Store after being available since 2009.

Although Kafasis noted Apple has not given a clear reason why the app was removed, many are speculating it is due to a new feature introduced in a recent update to the app:

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Other than the launch of the new Instagram clone “Facebook Camera” app, the biggest update today goes to the popular Tweetbot Twitter client for iPhone that is now at version 2.4. Included in the massive update is a new search view, as well as access to Trends, Top Tweets, and People that are now together in a single browse section. Nearby tweets were added with an option to change the location, and a ton of improvements to search, including location-based keywords and the ability to change trends’ location from within search view. And, that is only some of the features and fixes included Tweetbot 2.4.

Below is a complete list of features included in the update, with other notable apps and updates to hit the App Store today including the Infinity Blade II: Vault of Tears content pack.

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Just after its proposed $1 billion acquisition of mobile photo sharing service Instagram, Facebook announced Facebook Camera for iPhone in a blog post this afternoon. The app features filters just like Instagram, and it has the ability to upload a batch of photos at once. The regular Facebook app only allows you to upload one photo at a time. Upon first opening Camera, it detects any Facebook accounts already associated with the iPhone, so you can upload photos immediately. Facebook Camera for iOS is now available on the iTunes App Store.

As you can tell from the screenshots of the app in the gallery below, it reminds us a lot of Instagram. There is also the ability to view your friend’s photos in a single timeline. Complete with filters and quick-sharing options, it is almost as if Facebook launched a competitor to its own app.

Here is the full breakdown of features:

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Le Figaro, a well-respected 186-year-old French daily newspaper, just reported that Apple’s Vice President and General Manager for Europe, Middle East, and Africa Pascal Cagni resigned yesterday.

During his 12 years at Apple, according to Le Figaro, the French executive stimulated Apple’s sales in hundreds of countries. He also engaged in the development of the iPod, iPhone, and the AppStore platform, while helping to expand Apple Stores.

Cagni joined Apple as the Vice President of Europe in 2000, according to Apple’s website, and before that he worked at NEC/Packard Bell Europe as the Vice President of Consumer Products. He previously held sales management posts at Software Publishing Corporation and Compaq Computer. Cagni obtained an M.A. in Law at Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris and an M.B.A. from Institut Superieur des Affaires. Le Figaro noted that Cagni is a graduate of HEC and Sciences Po He and a former member of the Ernst & Young Europe advisory board and the Council of Foreign Trade of France in the United Kingdom, but he now serves as a non-executive director for Kingfisher.

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A few newsworthy apps and updates already landed in the App Store today including the Diet Coda development platform that we told you about a few days ago, and some Retina graphics updates for popular apps such as Draw Something and Opera Mini. Another notable app in the news today is Blizzard’s recently released Diablo III. The company announced on its site that it sold more than 4.7 million copies on launch day and more than 6.5 million in a week.

We will update the list throughout the day as more notable apps and updates are released:

Draw Something: OMGPOP’s massively popular Pictionary-style drawing game was updated today with “Bright, high resolution graphics” for users of the new third-generation iPad’s Retina display. Other improvements included in the update are a new password recovery system, a new loading screen, and the usual bug fixes. The free version of the app received the same update.

Diet Coda: We told you a couple days ago that developer Panic planned to release an iPad version of its Coda developer platform, and the app has already landed on at least the New Zealand store today. It is listed as $13.99, but it should go for $9.99 USD when it hits the U.S. App Store later today. That is a 50 percent discount as a launch special good until Thursday.

Some of the app’s features include remote editing of documents, FTP and SFTP File Management, Syntax Highlighting, and a “Revolutionary Super-Loupe” that allows for easy positioning of the cursor in iOS. It also has an “AirPreview” feature that allows you to use “your iPad as a dedicated preview window for Coda 2 on the Mac.”

Opera Mini Web Browser: Opera’s Mini web browser app for iPhone and iPad has always been a great third-party browser option on iOS, and it gets even better with a new UI today for the third-generation iPad’s Retina display, as well as a Data Usage option in the main menu, and various bug fixes and stability improvements.

Mint Personal Finance app: Intuit has updated its universal Mint.com Personal Finance iOS app today adding “two of your most requested features.” On both iPhone and iPad, you can now create and edit budgets as well as spilt transactions into multiple categories.

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A few notable apps and updates landed in the App Store today including a significant update to the Hulu Plus iOS app, Retina optimizations for the Time Warner Cable app, and the official Men In Black 3 game from Gameloft. A full list of noteworthy app releases and updates from today is below:

Hulu Plus: The most significant app update today goes to the universal Hulu Plus iOS app. The new update brings a number of improvements, including: a “re-engineered, optimized video player”, support for the new iPad’s Retina display, and enhancements to AirPlay mirroring, and HDMI support. The update also includes a new UI for iPad and search options for new shows by genre.

Time Warner Cable TV: Much like just about every other iPad app update that takes advantage of the third-generation iPad’s Retina display, the TWC TV app for iPhone and iPad was updated today with optimizations for Retina displays—in addition to the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Men in Black 3: Gameloft just released the official iOS tie-in for the new Men in Black 3 movie that appears to be a top-down strategy game of sorts. It is available as a free universal download for iPhone or iPad. It is already live in the New Zealand store and should hit the U.S. and elsewhere soon.

Fox Business for iPad: Financial news and videos from the Fox Business app get landscape mode, a new Data Wizard feature for tracking market activity, and news sub-sections to “drill down deeper into the news that matters to you.”

NBC Sports Talk for iPad: A decent update for the iOS app that brings the latest news and analysis from the NBC Sports network today adds support for Retina displays. It also includes the addition of CollegeBasketballTalk and ProSoccerTalk with other small UI tweaks.

NASA App for iPhone: NASA’s official iPhone app was updated with its biggest redesign since launching in 2009. The update includes a new interface, weather forecasts, a ton of new content and programs, and new features like the ability to favorite content and bookmark images.

CNN App for iPhone: CNN has a few iOS apps, but the latest update to its CNN App for iPhone turns it into one global consolidated app that offers CNNMoney and Opinion headlines, CNN blog stories, and the rest of the network into a single app including both U.S. and global news.

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John Nack, Adobe’s principal product manager, has taken to his usual forum on the Adobe blogs to share a new HTML5 gallery recently debuted by developer Felix Turner. Turner is known for his PostcardViewer and other Photoshop-compatible image gallery applications that inspired Adobe to include Flash support in Photoshop’s built-in Photo Gallery. Turner’s new HTML5 gallery, called “Juicebox“, also works through Photoshop and Lightroom plug-ins (or through the company’s own app), and it has impressive options for iOS galleries.

A simulation of a Juicebox-Pro gallery on an iPhone (here), and demos of all the customization options are on the company’s website. Juicebox is available through a free lite version and paid licenses ranging from $50 to $99 for 1 to 5 domains, and it has a WordPress plug-in available. The Pro version packs over 70 additional configuration options, the ability add audio and watermarking, a Javascript API, and access to CSS and PNG files. Slick and responsive HTML5 galleries like these on iOS are definitely needed.

Late last month, Adobe launched its CS6 suite of 14 apps alongside its Creative Cloud service.

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Looking to usurp rival competitors like Spotify and MOG, Sony today launched its Music Unlimited streaming service as an iOS app. We told you in January that it was coming, but today the free app officially hits the App Store with subscriptions starting at $3.99 a month for varying access to the service’s 15 million+ songs and playback features. There is also a 30-day free trial of the premium service.

Previously only available to Android users and Sony products such as PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray players, the service offers two paid subscriptions options, including: a $4 Basic plan that provides basic channels and access to your own library; and a $10 Premium account giving you access to on demand playback for Sony’s catalogue, offline listening. The more expensive packages also offers the ability to create playlists, and access charts, new releases, and premium channels. Unlike Spotify, which recently debuted its iPad app, the Music Unlimited app does not have an iPad-specific version.

The Sony Music Unlimited app is available in the New Zealand App Store now, and it should hit the United States and other supported markets soon. As of March, Sony offered the service in 14 countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. A full list of features for Basic and Premium subscribers is below:

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The latest update to OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3 seems to have partially enabled iOS-style automatic app downloads in the App Store. Like on the iPhone and iPad, when you buy and install an app on one of your Macs, all of your other Macs logged into the same App Store account will automatically install the app too.

Unfortunately, the feature does not seem to be working completely. While the App Store will still offer to enable automatic downloads (as seen above), it does not actually install anything when you purchase apps from another computer. However, it does apparently show the app as being installed when you view it in the App Store. There is a good chance we will see at least one more developer preview, or at least a GM, in the coming weeks that should fully enable the feature.

Thanks, Zach!

Facebook has just broken out another feature of their main app and released Pages Manager for the iPhone. The app appears to function just like the main Facebook app, but with all of the features dedicated to fan pages. It also features some new features like access to Facebook’s Insights for tracking analytics data, such as the number of people sharing your page and the total number of people who have been exposed to your brand through the page. Pages Manager available right now in New Zealand, and will be out in the US soon.

More screenshots after the break.

Thanks Daniel!

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