Apps

When Microsoft released a free tech preview of the Photosynth.net service in November of 2006 following their acquisition of Seadragon technology, I was blown away. Back then, compelling panorama creation utilities were far and few between and required a lot of horsepower.

These days, of course, breathtaking 360-degree images can be captured with ease on a smartphone. Still, the Photosynth service manages to impress me to this date with its speed, image and zoom quality and intuitiveness. That said, it’s beyond comprehension why it took Microsoft so long to deliver a companion iPhone app, but here it is and it’s been a worthwhile wait. My initial thoughts and test shots are right below the fold…

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Besides Apple now allowing users to view the top 300 iOS apps, Apple has reportedly changed up their App Store ranking algorithm. Inside Mobile Apps reports that Apple’s ranking system may not completely rely on the amount of downloads per day anymore. It’s definitely too early to be certain, but it looks like App Store rankings may now also adjust based on application usage and ranking. Perhaps Apple also wanted to move the 10 bird apps out of the top 10 rankings.

The possible algorithm change was first noticed when Facebook suddenly jumped to number 1 – after an App Store refresh last week- after sitting in the 10-20 range for the past year and a half. We have a feeling this may also have to do with usage, as Facebook is possibly the app that most users come back to throughout the day. Number 2 and 3, respectively, are the highly addicting Impossible Test and Angry Birds.

Flurry’s vice president also believes that there was an algorithm change:

“We’ve been noticing changes in the Top Free rankings for at least three days now,” said Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry, which serves 80,000 applications with its analytics product. “From our point of view, Apple is absolutely considering more than just downloads, which we believe is the right direction go to measure true popularity of an app.” Other pay-per-install networks tell us they’ve been detecting these changes too.

We think this is a good decision by Apple; perhaps to keep the spammy titles out of the top rankings. Apple might even use data covering how many users deleted a respective application. If the app gets one million downloads but gets deleted 500,000 times, the description/title of the app is surely lying somehow, and now it can be kept out of the top rankings.

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Screenshot by MacStories

The official Dropbox app for the iPhone and iPad has been updated to version 1.4. The release has brought out several new features, including the ability to finally upload multiple photos and videos from your camera roll to your Dropbox (finally!). Only one file uploads at a time, with others queued in the new Uploads column. Additionally, the Dropbox app now interacts with iOS via the Open In feature available in apps like iBooks, Mail and Safari. This is quite handy and we also love the redesigned interface on iPads. Another screenshot and more info right below the fold.

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Don’t hold you breath for a glasses-free 3D screen on the next iPhone, it would be very unlike-Apple to go with the tech many folks suspect is just a fad. If you’re a fan of 3D imagery, this nifty app will have you covered.

Panorama4D by OWLAB is a photography app that lets you take stereoscopic 3D images with your phone even though your device has a “dumb” 2D camera. Plus, you can slightly rotate around your subject on images bullet-time style by tilting your device. How does it work?

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The fondest memories of my childhood involve listening to my uncle’s vinyl record collection (gramophone records we used to call them). A few decades later, our music is delivered as crystal clear digital files, but many audiophiles (rightfully) point out that digital lacks the warmth, depth and texture of analogue.

If that wasn’t the case, there would be no cottage industry of limited vinyl releases for niche markets such as DJing, audiophiles, hobbyists, etc. You’d think that in the 21st century there would be an app to recreate the magic of vinyl. Enter VinylLove, an iPad music player from Swedish developers Color Monkey and BinaryPeak.

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The popular Square credit card reader system is now available through the Apple online store. The card reader costs $9.95 and ships in either black or white and includes a $10 redemption code. To set up Square, just grab their free application from the iOS App Store and create a free account. Square takes a flat rate of 2.75% per transaction with any approved card (when swiped) and the system works with iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, and the 4th-generation iPod touch.

TechCrunch reports that the Apple + Square retail collaboration isn’t stopping at the online store. Apple Stores are expected to sell the small iOS credit card readers at their Apple retail stores. Maybe one day Apple will replace their thick EasyPay sleds with some Squares.

Square is the simplest way for individuals and businesses to accept credit cards. Just plug the reader into your iPod touch (4th generation), iPhone 4, or iPad and use it in conjunction with the free Square app you can download from the App Store.

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PBS updated their free iPad application today with support for multitasking and Apple’s AirPlay technology. You can now find a video that you want to watch from PBS, stream it to your Apple TV, and multitask around your iPad. Hopefully ABC decides to bring AirPlay to their app. Thanks, William

What’s new in version 1.2:
– Enjoy streaming video on AirPlay supported devices like an AppleTV connected TV.
– Quickly resume your program or browsing after switching away.
– Consistent sound without wondering which mode you’ve selected for the slide switch.

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If you haven’t seen it yet on Google.com, today is Charlie Chaplin’s 122nd birthday anniversary. Marking the occasion, MacPhun has updated Silent Film Director, a fun video effects app currently ranked #4 in the US App Store’s photography section. I’ve been playing with Silent Film Director this morning and found it very addictive and a pleasure to use. If you’re anything like me, your iPhone is jam packed with a bunch of clips shot on the go whenever inspiration strikes.

Silent Film Director lets me breathe new life into my videos by applying high-quality effects ranging from standard Black & White, Sepia and Vintage Sepia filters to the more sophisticated 20’s Movie, 60’s Home Video and 70’s Home Video effects. In short, anything from the beginning of the movie era to a hippie style music video from the ’60s to the modern hipster look.

You can choose between two silent movie piano tracks, the movie projector background noise or select a song from your iPod library. It’s a lot of fun and only a buck on the App Store (works best with iPhone 4, 3GS and fourth-gen iPod touch). Sample clips and more information right below the fold.

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Perian is one of the must-have utilities for your Mac. It’s an open-source and free media component that enables compatibility with dozens of audio and video formats not natively supported by Mac OS X. And because it’s a QuickTime plugin, it enables new media formats on a system-wide basis. Perian versions 1.2.2 is now available for download.

It brings, for the first time ever, support for the Google-promoted WebM open video format and VP8 media container – outside the confines of the Chrome browser which supports these formats out-of-the-box. But wait, there’s more…

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Phew, that was fast. Just hours after releasing iOS 4.3.2, enthusiasts have successfully jailbroke the firmware update for iPhone 4, iPad and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. RedmondPie has a handy guide up. You need to know that this is a tethered solution, meaning you’ll have to tether your device to a computer each time you reboot. You will need custom PwnageTool bundles for iPhone 4, PwnageTool version 4.3 and tetheredboot utility. A Mac OS X machine and iTunes 10.2.1 are also necessary. Do not jailbreak if you’re device is unlocked because there is no unlock for the new baseband on iOS 4.3.2 yet.

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After three most popular browsers implemented the do-not-track feature – Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox – Apple is joining the party as well. A test version of Safari implemented this privacy feature that lets you opt out of tracking cookies used for targeted advertising, reports The Wall Street Journal:

The tool is included within the latest test release of Lion, a version of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system that is currently available only to developers. The final version of the operating system is scheduled to be released to the public this summer. Mentions of the do-not-track feature in Apple’s Safari browser began to appear recently in online discussion forums and on Twitter.

I guess this development will calm down privacy advocates who have been calling for a greater protection of online users.

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..

…or so everyone keeps saying.  Our Twitter feed is filling up with people singing its praises.  In fact there are reports it even has a personality.

Tweetbot – A Twitter Client with Personality($1.99) – Tapbots.

[vimeo 21852319 w=600 h=350]

More screenshots below:
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Camp fires and rock parties will never be the same with this nifty program that just hit the App Store. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame app comes with some 600 recordings cherry-picked by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as the most influential songs in rock history. An iTunes review reads:

Add in the fact that each song has a description of why it’s awesome and influential that you can read while playing a preview of the song, and it’s an app that you can easily lose hours in just discovering (or rediscovering those hits).

The app’s got built-in search and arranges songs by artist and song title. You can hear samples and download songs you like to your device. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame costs two bucks a pop, it runs on iPhone and looks great on iPad. Check out a video walkthrough below the fold.

Update: The press release said that 600 songs were included.  Upon inspection, these aren’t full songs.

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Remixation, the company behind video startup Vodpod, has a new iOS app focused on the social component of online video. It’s a frontend to the Vodpod.com service where one million users have shared videos from 20,000 different video sites. An engaging user interface sets apart the app from the crop of content aggregating programs on the App Store. It’s a Flipboard for videos, writes TechCrunch.

Indeed, a nicely laid out and customizable grid collects clips your friends share on a bunch of social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. Or, you can get started by streaming clips from YouTube, TED and Vimeo, excluding licensed content. It’s a fun way of checking out clips from your friends in one place and it supports AirPlay so you can beam them to your TV set via an Apple TV. The complete list of features plus a cool promo video right after the break.

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I don’t get it, why all the fuss about cloud lockers from Apple and Google? In Amazon’s case, it’s just a hard drive in a datacenter that stores your data and streams your media files – and they don’t even have an iOS client. Big deal.

I’ve been using Dropbox for over two years, which is the ultimate cloud locker if you ask me. MobileMe subscribers can also stream video clips and music (sans cover artwork and song metadata) from their cloud locker to iOS devices using the iDisk app.

Today, another player jumps in – one that you might already use for backup.  Mozy, the Cloud backup specialists now have an iOS app.

“With Mozy’s mobile apps, you’ll be able to access your backup files from your iPhone, iPad or Android device,” a blog post reads. It works with both paid and free home accounts (business accounts aren’t yet supported). The free Mozy for iOS app packs in some cool features. 
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Angry Birds artwork by ijul

Does it bother you that you cannot continue playing a game on your iPad right where you left off on an iPhone? It always frustrated me that Game Center, Apple’s social network for games, only keeps record of your achievements and leaderboards but not other game data pertaining to your progress and current state of the game.

Unfortunately, until a system-wide sync of app data across all iOS devices via cloud iTunes takes off – if ever – it’s just a pipe dream. Well, not for Angry Birds developer Rovio Mobile. These guys are aware enough of the issue to come up with a solution of their own. They call it Angry Birds Sync and it’s coming soon to a platform near you…

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Just as Microsoft promised last week, the first major service pack for Office for Mac 2011 is now available. Go to any Office application on your Mac and choose Check for Updates from the Help menu or grab a standalone installer from the Office for Mac website. The 246MB download “fixes critical issues and also helps to improve security,” the release notes say.

Also, it includes fixes for “vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.” It will also improve the speed and stability. There are several new features as well…

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Hot off the presses, new tidbits hit us following the launch of Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and new iPad apps from Adobe, both announced this morning. TUAW reports that Adobe’s video training resources now support iOS-friendly streaming to iPhones, iPods and iPads. Creative pros can now learn new tricks as they commute on train, go for a lunch break and so forth.

It’s an interesting – and rather telling – departure from Adobe’s stubborn insistence on serving Flash-formatted content only to iOS users. Another tidbit comes from MacRumors which profiles Photoshop Remote, the first third-party iPad app built using the Photoshop Touch SDK. Check it out in action right after the break.

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The gaming industry was served when Chair Entertainment launched Infinity Blade as the first iOS game built around the Unreal Engine. A number of iOS games utilizing the engine are now being developed, including Dream:scape that TouchArcade spotted today. The game puts you in the shoes of “a coma patient unlocking his past by exploring the dreamscape of his memories,” the publication explains.

Being developed by an indie developer, Dream:scape looks as a high-profile, big budget release, courtesy of the same Unreal Engine that powers Infinity Blade. It sports over 30 acres of explorable landscape and fully realized interior settings, with a bunch of secrets and new areas to discover throughout the game. More info plus awesome in-game footage right below the fold.

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If you can’t beat them, join them. Another great publishing brand has accepted Apple’s in-app subscription terms that require publishers to surrender 30 percent of proceeds from digital magazine subscriptions sold inside apps. The official Bloomberg Businessweek app for iPad app just launched with the unusual $0.77 price point for an introductory print subscription.

Other pricing subscription options include three bucks for four issues which is actually lower than the five bucks price at newsstands. Each week’s issue is available from 10pm on Thursday New York time. Other tidbits and a couple of shiny screenies right after the break.

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Adobe today launched Creative Suite 5.5. With it comes the new Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit that facilitates the creation of apps for smartphones and tablets that can talk to desktop Photoshop app. This opens interesting possibilities and Adobe announced three new iPad apps built using the new SDK that showcase several scenarios. Called Adobe Eazel, Adobe Nav and Adobe Color Lava, these programs will land on the App Store next month, priced between two to five bucks. Check out a video demonstration and brief app descriptions right below the fold.

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