Apps

UPDATE [Friday, September 16, 2011 at 7:50am ET]: RIM just reported quarterly earnings. They shipped 200,000 PlayBooks, barely half the figure analysts projected. That means that sales ratio to iPad is 1:46, not 1:19. Shares slumped 20 percent on the news, Financial Times reports.

We’ve suspected Research In Motion’s seven-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet may have been met with muted response from the iPad-maddened fans of technology. Bloomberg polled a group of analysts and concluded that RIM during last quarter may have shipped just one PlayBook for every nineteen iPads. Apple during the June quarter shipped 9.25 million iPad. iPad sales surged following the somewhat subdued shipments of 4.69 million units in the March quarter, when the company had begun winding down production of the original iPad ahead of the iPad 2 launch.

As for the PlayBook, RIM is set to report quarterly earnings tomorrow so Bloomberg’s comparison is a bit unfair because it draws conclusions from analysts’ estimates, who we know often miss the mark. There’s also that crucial difference between shipping and actually selling something to end users. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley forecasts 1.5 million PlayBooks in this calendar year versus 39.2 million iPads and seven million Samsung tablets.

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Well, what do you know, the Federal Trade Commission is putting acne-curing apps out of business with the announcement that developers will stop promoting them under FTC settlements. Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the FTC, summed it up nicely:

When it comes to curing acne, there’s no app for that.

Computerworld explains that the FTC’s action was the first-ever against overblown health claims by mobile apps not supported by scientific evidence. Apps which claim to treat acne were found on both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Marketplace. The ruling puts programs such as AcneApp for iPhone and Acne Pwner for Android out of business as App Store and Android Marketplace comprise the biggest chunk of mobile app downloads. Said programs, the agency explained, “both claimed to be able to treat acne with colored lights emitted from smartphones or mobile devices”. The apps would have you hold the display next to the area of skin to be treated for few minutes daily. The ruling won’t affect apps that educate on acne treatment, such as this one.

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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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The ailing computer maker, Hewlett-Packard, announced a brand new iOS app with remote management and printing capabilities. In addition to the usual assortment of features ranging from automatic printer discovery and setup, printer status notification, remote ink/printer status and troubleshooting cartridge identification, HP Printer Control turns your printer into a two-way communications device with scan to Facebook, scan to Google Docs and scan to email capabilities.

The app works with most ePrint-enabled Photosmart, Officejet and LaserJet printers released in 2011 and is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch running iOS 4.2 or later. The app wasn’t on the App Store at the time of this writing. HP also supports Apple’s AirPrint technology on select printers and has recently rolled out AirPrint compatibility to eight new LaserJets.

By the way, don’t try opening the official PDF document in Safari or Preview – it appears garbled. Chrome renders it properly, though. Kinda makes you wonder what was HP thinking here, even with the bigger worries on their mind. Official release notes after the break.

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Adobe is finally bringing decent Flash video support to iOS, only it will have to do an on the fly transcoding to do so. The latest release of Flash Media Server, version 4.5, implements new features that will allow same source video delivery thanks to “on demand repackaging” to both Flash and iOS via HTTP Dynamic or Live Streaming.

“Now publishers can simplify their video publishing and protection workflows with Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5 with protected HLS support, audio channel extraction, DVR/PVR live, on demand and variant playlists. One set of content without any preparation or additional storage and deliver safely to both Adobe Flash with HDS and to Apple devices using HLS.”

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Bluetooth headset maker extraordinaire Jawbone revealed earlier this year that they plan to bring a health aware electronic bracelet called Jawbone Up to the market later this year. Details on the interesting product have been very scarce, with just a handful of tidbits and press shots emerging since the product’s announcement in July. Now, we’ve secured the product’s full promotional video (right below) and all of the details… including a launch date.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92ijVSLb7b8]

We’ve posted all of the internal documents after the break, but here’s the summary:

• The Jawbone Up uses sophisticated hardware and software to track user’s steps, distance traveled, pace, intensity level of movement, and calories burned throughout a day. In addition, the system intelligently breaks down a person’s active time versus inactive time. Perhaps the coolest feature within the device’s “Move” functionality is the ability to remind users when it’s time to get up and be active. This little bracelet can actually vibrate as an alert for the user to become active. Of course, a user reads all of the above information categories from their iPhone or Android device with a special Jawbone-built application.
• Another focal point of the Jawbone Up’s iPhone integration is a very neat feature in their “Eat” category. The bracelet – along with the app – can learn what food is best for a user’s metabolism – and can create a custom diet setup for each user. As you can see in the promotional video above, a user can just snap a photo of each and every meal in order to get the “Eat” system rolling. In all, this “Eat” function promises to track your meals, measure eating responses, and improve your personal metabolism: all with the help of a comparatively (to gadgets) good looking bracelet and an iPhone app.
• The third cornerstone of the Jawbone Up has to do with sleep. These sleep features are perhaps the Up’s most instrumental capabilities. The Up basically tracks everything about a user’s sleeping habits: hours slept, time to fall asleep, sleep phases/patterns, waking moments, and overall sleep quality. Within this sleep category, the most important and intutive feature is the “Silent Wakeup Alarm” mechanism. In order to allow a user to wakeup refreshed, the bracelet will send gradual vibrates to the user. Based on your natural sleep cycle, the feature will fully wake you up.

Jawbone said the Up would launch later this year, and the company is currently shooting for a September 25th launch of their intuitive and feature packed health-bracelet. We’ve also got the official sizing chart for the product (which may work with BlackBerry also) thanks to reader C.

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Blogger, a blog-publishing service, has been around since 1999 and it has gotten pretty popular since Google acquired them in 2003. Strange enough, the search firm neglected the iOS app until today, when Blogger for iPhone debuted as a free download on the App Store. Google says in a post over at the official Blogger blog that the app lets you write a new blog post and publish it immediately or save it as a draft right from your iOS device. Also,

You can also open a blog post you’ve been working on from your computer and continue editing it while you’re on-the-go. Your blog posts are automatically synced across devices, so you’ll always have access to the latest version.

The app also allows for adding pictures to your blog posts by choosing from your camera roll or taking a new photo. Yes, you can label posts, too, and add location. Plus, the app allows for more than one Blogger account or blog and you can easily browse the list of saved and published posts. Unfortunately, looks like we’re gonna have to wait a little for a universal binary because the inaugural release isn’t optimized for blogging on the iPad’s gorgeous 9.7-inch display, which is a shame.

Adobe is definitely on a roll these days. Just in the past thirty days the company unveiled an iWeb-like tool for building web sites and a PDF-creation app for iPhone and iPad. Earlier today, Adobe announced its Digital Publishing Suite will get the much-needed iOS 5 Newsstand support and now we learn about Adobe Carousel, a missing link aimed at fans of the company’s integrated photography solutions. The program lets you access your entire photo library on your computer from any iOS device and vice versa. It all happens wirelessly and automatically, without you having to sync or transfer photos manually. From Adobe:

Adobe Carousel gives you a new way to enjoy your photos, making all of them available across your Mac and iOS devices, so you can browse, enhance, and share them easily. No manual syncing, no storage limits, no differences in what photos are available to you. Your photography is everywhere you are.

It’s built on the Photoshop Lightroom technology so you’ll get “consistent, high-quality results across devices”, the blurb has it. You can fix exposure, white balance and saturation, adjust contrast, brightness and vibrance, among other features. Similar to the famous Camera+ app, editing in Adobe Carousel is non-destructive, always preserving your original photo. You can also assign other people privileges to browse your library, favorite photos and more.

The app will be released on both the App Store and Mac App Store soon as a free download. You should know that a paid cloud account will be required, starting at six bucks a month until January 31, 2012 (twice as much after that). Versions for Windows and Android are in the works so you’ll eventually be able to manage photos across all major platforms. Funny thing, remember when Steve Jobs had to beg Adobe to build Mac versions? It’s also nice how Adobe’s John Nack described Carousel using Apple-like words in a post on the official Adobe blog, quoted below the fold…

[youtube=ww.youtube.com/watch?v=fhgUQ6L3Hiw]

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-HWdMl4nDA&w=640&h=390]

Let’s be honest, the iOS task switcher that springs into action when you double-click the home button isn’t the most user-friendly implementation of task switching on mobile devices. Truth be told, many people who played with webOS devices came away impressed with the card metaphor efficiency, allowing you to quickly flip running tasks in and out of the screen. It feels right and quickly becomes second nature. You can now have that same card switching multitasking interface, on your jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch (iPad version is coming soon) by downloading the CardSwitcher tweak in the Cydia Store. It feels a lot like task switching in webOS and you can assign your own action to invoke it using the Activator tweak in the Settings app, as demonstrated in the above video.

via CydiaHelp

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Intuit today announced QuickBooks for Mac 2012, the newest version of its accounting software for small businesses, enhanced for OS X Lion. More than fifty new features are part of the release, including better search with keywords and filters, customer and vendor history panels, transaction list, batch online banking transactions, progress invoicing and more. The software goes on sale September 26 as a digital download on the online Intuit store, Amazon.com, Apple’s online store and other outlets, priced at $230 for a single-user license. Boxed copies will hit store shelves on October 9.  Screenshots below.

Premier edition is also available (a Windows-only product), in addition to an add-on for QuickBooks Premier that lets you sync data with Salesforce. QuickBooks also has a cross platform Cloud edition which also shows some promise for Apple users.

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Update: DVICE has a review up with the following notes:

1. It is a 30 pin dock connector, not Bluetooth. It runs on the iPads battery and gets 8-10 hours of battery life (pretty efficient!). The downside to that: Portrait playing only.
2. The Atari Arcade is scheduled to drop on October 2 at Target and then in November at Toys “R” Us and Walmart for $60.

Coming soon to DiscoveryBayGames, a new Atari controller that will go head to head with the popular iCade box. The appliance was discovered in the Atari’s Greatest Hits update by MacRumors.

What’s New in Version 1.3

Hello Atari fans! We’ve been paying close attention to your feedback and have made a ton of improvements:

• New and improved control schemes
• OpenFeint integration
• Optimized iPad layouts with larger playfields
• Better multiplayer connectivity
• Compatibility with the Discovery Bay Games Duo Controller
• Play with the official Atari® Arcade – Duo™ Powered joystick. http://bit.ly/atariarcade

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k]

Google Latitude explanation video – seemingly similar to the planned Find my Friends service

You may remember a finding in the iOS 4.3 SDK that pointed to Apple’s work on a new iOS-device based social network called “Find my Friends.” Many have speculated that this means Apple is working on a location-based social network – similar to Google Latitude or Loopt – that would essentially put all your friends on a map. At that time, a source told us that Apple has been working on the Find my Friends project for some time – but also said that company has shelved the project a few times prior this SDK finding.

Now, we have discovered several references to this Find my Friends service inside of HTML code from the MobileMe/iCloud website. Because these findings reference aspects of MobileMe, we have to urge that this social network from Apple may have been eternally shelved. On the other hand, Photo Stream, when we first revealed it, referenced MobileMe. Now we know that it is actually an iOS 5 iCloud feature.

Drawing from Apple patent application from 2010

From what we can glean from this HTML code, Apple’s Find my Friends service was definitely in development, and it takes some terminology cues from Twitter, which happens to also be fully integrated into the upcoming iOS 5 release. The service may even be similar to a recent patent filing by Apple that is shown above. According to the code, users will be able to select other users to “follow.” Once a user “follows” another user, they will gain access to information about the user besides their location. Apple would presumably create profiles – maybe similar to Game Center – based on Apple IDs. Because the terminology is so similar to Twitter’s, perhaps Apple’s Find my Friends integrates with a Twitter login.

Users, just like in the patent drawings above, will have a user interface that displays a list of everyone they are following and another list that shows everyone who is following them. For a location based service, it is critical for Apple to show the list of followers. To maintain user privacy, all follower requests will be placed into a “pending” process and each need to be individually approved. In addition, Apple is working on putting a clear “blocking” system into place. Users could block individual users of the Find my Friends service or even block follow requests altogether.

Besides having your friends or family member on a map for interaction, perhaps the most interesting part about Apple’s once planned – or upcoming – Find my Friends social network is that it ties right into Apple’s new iCloud and iOS 5 Photo Stream service; like we told you months ago. In iOS 5, a user can take a picture with their iPhone and it will automatically upload to the cloud then download from the cloud onto the user’s other devices: iPhoto on the Mac and Photos on the iPad and iPod touch, for example. According to the HTML code, it appears that a user’s Photo Streams may show up on their profiles on the Find my Friends map.

It also looks like Apple is going to go one step further with Find my Friends: Video Streams. Photo Stream is obviously currently limited to photo streaming in iOS 5, but it looks like Apple is thinking about or planning a new Video Stream service. This would likely be identical to Photo Stream but would be videos instead of photos.

Again, all this HTML code certainly points to Apple once planning a Find my Friends social network. We have no idea if Apple will or will not launch it, and Apple has stopped and re-started work on the project many times, but will think the launch is possible. In any case, Apple’s continued work in the social network realm is interesting. Thanks, Twe112!

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5i9NsvOF9o]

A new app called Joypad allows users to play iOS games on their Apple TV. Granted, you will need an iPad and iPhone to get this to work, but as seen in the video above it works really well. After you download the Joystick app on your iPhone it will connect to the iPad via Bluetooth.

Once the connection has been made you can then push the game from your iPad to the Apple TV with Airplay. In effect you’ll be using your iPhone as a controller and your iPad as “console”. As of now the catalog of games is relatively small, but with the Joypad SDK any developer can add this capability into their apps. (via The Next Web). 

Download

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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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9to5Mac has learned that Apple’s iTunes chief Eddy Cue has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, reporting directly to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple. Cue, 47, will also serve on Apple’s executive management team. The change has been communicated internally via Tim Cook’s email message to employees, enclosed below. Also, Apple’s PR beat Cue, whose LinkedIn profile still lists his old role, by updating his public bio page on the company’s site to reflect the change.

Interestingly, Cue is now responsible for Apple’s iAd division which has been struggling since its promising launch in the summer of 2010, culminating with the resignation of Apple’s former vice president of mobile advertising Andy Miller earlier this month. In fact, Eddy Cue is now in control of Apple’s entire cloud-based operation that encompass the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore and iCloud services, the CEO wrote in his email message. Here’s Cook’s email to troops:

Team, It is my pleasure to announce the promotion of Eddy Cue to Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services. Eddy will report to me and will serve on Apple’s executive management team.

Eddy oversees Apple’s industry-leading content stores including the iTunes Store, the revolutionary App Store and the iBookstore, as well as iAd and Apple’s innovative iCloud services.

He is a 22-year Apple veteran and leads a large organization of amazing people. He played a major role in creating the Apple online store in 1998, the iTunes Music Store in 2003 and the App Store in 2008.

Apple is a company and culture unlike any other in the world and leaders like Eddy get that. Apple is in their blood. Eddy and the entire executive management team are dedicated to making the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

Please join me in congratulating Eddy on this significant and well-deserved promotion. I have worked with Eddy for many years and look forward to working with him even closer in the future.

Tim

Fast Company last year ranked Cue the second most creative person in their annual list of creatives. They wrote:

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Back in May we reported that Bungie, the game studio behind the legendary Halo series of games on Xbox 360, was working on their first game for iOS. Since that time Bungie has announced a new venture, Bungie Aerospace, that is aimed at helping indie developers make incredible games. According to the studio:

Bungie Aerospace was created to help small, independent developers launch their mobile and social games. Bungie Aerospace gives studios the creative freedom and the resources they need, like access to the Bungie.net platform and an audience with the incredible Bungie community, to launch entertainment experiences into orbit and to satisfy their own thirst for world domination.

This evening the studio announced the release of their first iOS game, Crimson Steam Pirates, which is available for free on the App Store. The game is only available for iPad and while the first 8 missions are free, the remainder can be unlocked via in-app purchase for $1.99. From the iTunes description:

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There is no shortage of GPS-enabled apps on Apple’s mobile devices. Unfortunately, quality programs usually cost north of fifty bucks. For example, Garmin’s StreetPilot, an excellent navigation app for iOS gadgets, is a $60 download – you can get refurbished low-end handheld GPS devices for that sum. Figuring out the realities, Garmin released a brand new, low-cost, subscription based personal navigation iOS app, the Garmin StreetPilot onDemand.

The program works with iPhones as well as WiFi and 3G models of iPad and costs just 99 cents a month to use. It includes public transit information for 31 metropolitan areas, pretty 3D graphics, standard walking, driving and public transportation directions, spoken turb-by-turn directions and more.

You can download Garmin StreetPilot onDemand from the App Store and let iTunes charge your credit card 99 cents each month or opt for a premium subscription that comes with advanced features. More on that, plus three more screenshots after the break.

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Microsoft rarely moves fast to keep their Mac software up-to-date, so it’s a welcome sign that its Connector app has just been updated, ahead of the flurry of new Windows Phones expected any time now. Of course, Microsoft’s mobile platform is not faring well: It declined to a single-digit percent market share and is now tucked away under the Other category in market surveys.

But if you do care, the updated Connector app will let you access Microsoft’s app store called Marketplace, transfer ringtones to Mango-powered devices, drag files, import images from Apple’s Aperture app and fully sync Mango phones with your Mac. Bonus: It syncs Zunes, too. You can download Windows Phone 7 Connector from the Mac App Store free of charge. Full specs and couple more screenies after the break.

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Apple indeed operates the largest online content store in the world, the iTunes Store, but its storefront in iTunes and on the web leaves a lot to be desired. As a result of this, searching the iTunes Store often resembles picking a needle in the haystack. I mean, a fifteen-year old showed Apple who’s who in the usability department by creating iTunes Instant, a web-based search tool. Another guy also wrote App Store Instant in the spirit of Google’s Instant Search.

Tunesque from Marco Tabini is awesome. A lightweight search front end, Tunesque sits in your Lion’s menu bar, awaiting your command. Just begin typing and Tunesque does its thing. This nifty little program sports a blue search box that reminds a lot of Spotlight, but the similarities don’t stop there. Tunesque formats its output Spotlight style, grouped by iTunes Store categories such as apps, music, movies, books and more, allowing you to easily spot what interests you. Hover over an item and up pops a handy iTunes description that includes a product shot, description and user ratings. That’s not all…

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The Financial Times has officially been removed from the App Store after failing to comply with Apple’s in-app subscription model that requires payments to be processed through iTunes (giving Apple a 30% cut in the process).

The publication used to have an iPhone and iPad app, which appear to have been removed from the App Store today. Fortunately for FT (not so much for Apple), they also have an HTML5 web app alternative that they’re urging iOS users to use instead.

The Financial Times told Paid Content:
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A report from Reuters suggests Palo Alto-based Flipboard is considering taking on Netflix, Hulu, Apple, and others by attempting to land deals that would allow them to offer TV shows.

Flipboard is currently only available as an iPad app and as it stands provides limited content (albeit in a stylish manner) in magazine format from a number of publications including Economist and Oprah.com. It also takes a unique approach of integrating social updates from Twitter and Facebook into the layout. The report claims Flipboard is currently in talks with studios in order to land the deals necessary for rights to add TV shows as well.

It’s unclear exactly who the company has approached and how far along talks are, but the report says Chief Executive Mike McCue wants to start on the project “at the end of the year”. He also has plans to sign up book publishers and release an iPhone version in the near future. This comes on the heels of competitor Zite being snatched up by CNN, and a number of other high profile alternatives getting deals with studios in place.

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