Tag Archives: app

Apple teases iOS 5 and iCloud service days before WWDC; iWork comes to iPhone & iPod touch

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This Monday, June 6 Steve Jobs and company will take the stage at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference. It had previously been hinted that Apple would be diving into the worlds of iOS and Mac OS at the event, but now thanks to a brief but promising press release we know this: Apple will be unveiling the eighth major release of Mac OS X called Lion, the next version of their mobile operating system dubbed iOS 5, and iCloud, “Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.” All signs point to the company demonstrating a music locker service similar to Google and Amazon’s recent offerings, but this is Apple and you know Jobs has something magical up his sleeve. Per usual, keep it here for the breaking news come Monday. Though it might not feature the next iPhone, this keynote looks like it’ll be a memorable one. Apple–to the cloud! Full PR after the break.

In related Apple news, the iWork suite is now available for all iOS devices. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers can now be installed and run on iPhones and iPod touches, in addition to the iPad. Specifically they are universal apps that run on iPad and iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation). They sell for $9.99 in the App Store, and if you currently own one or more of the apps on your iPad you can port them over to your other iOS device(s) for free. PR goodness after the break.

[Via Apple] Continue reading Apple teases iOS 5 and iCloud service days before WWDC; iWork comes to iPhone & iPod touch →

3D head-tracking comes to iOS

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i3D is now available in the App Store! But what is it? It’s a simple app that takes advantage of the Head-Coupled Perspective, or HCP, to track the face of a user in real time. The app makes your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch’s front-facing camera lock into your face and updates the perspective of a 3D scene accordingly. The app relies solely on head-tracking; the built-in accelerometer and gyroscope are not utilized. The developers note that HCP “does not create a stereoscopic display. It provides a kind of monocular 3D display: the same picture is seen by both eyes. In the future, it might be combined with a stereoscopic display for a better 3D effect.” The app comes preloaded with several 3D scenes for you to experiment with. It’s free, so there’s no reason not to try it out. Sure, i3D is a glorified demo of sorts but hopefully such experimentation will one day lead to full-fledged games that take advantage of the 3D illusion.

Google I/O 2011: Music Beta, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Android@Home, Chrome OS, Chrome Web Store

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Yesterday and today Google hosted its renowned developer’s conference dubbed Google I/O 2011. Literally thousands of developers flocked to San Fransisco’s Moscone Center to find out what Google’s been cooking up on their end. This year’s event proved to be leaps and bounds more exciting than last year’s conference. Google introduced their new cloud-based music service called Music Beta; they unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android that promises to bridge the gap between Gingerbread and Honeycomb; Android is going into the home automation business with Google’s impressive initiative Android@Home; Chrome OS is finally ready for the big leagues–Samsung and Acer are prepping Chromebooks for mass consumption; and Angry Birds has landed in the browser!

So much to discuss–it’s all a hop, skip and a jump after the break. Continue reading Google I/O 2011: Music Beta, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Android@Home, Chrome OS, Chrome Web Store →

HBO finally gets it, brings HBO Go service to iOS, Android

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HBO first unveiled the HBO Go service in February 2010, promising subscribers access to their favorite premium TV shows and movies inside their browser. It never really caught on. Today HBO revealed its plan to bring the on-demand service to the mobile front, and I’ve got a feeling this will get the motors revving. Come May 2, HBO subscribers will have instant and unlimited access to every episode of every season available through HBO on their mobile devices. Featured content includes “HBO original series, blockbuster hits, sports, specials and more.” The company has specified it’ll be coming to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad as well as Android-powered ones. The service is free for (paying) HBO subscribers and it’ll work over WiFi and 3G. The interface mimics the one they’ve been using inside the browser and it’s pretty slick; check it out in the video above.

[Via Engadget]

Fring to bring group video chat to cell phones

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Fring is putting the finishing touches on its newest service for mobile users called Group Video Calls. That’s right–soon you’ll be able to initiate a video chat amongst you and three friends. After some beta testing is completed, Fring plans to roll out the new group vid chat service to Android and iPhone users. See it in action above!

[Via Fring]

April Fools, 2011 edition: Starbucks Mobile Pour

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You might think that a Starbucks exists on every corner of every street in the universe, but you know what’s just not true. So the company has decided to formally introduce Starbucks Mobile Pour to combat the problem of not being able to find a Starbucks location when you really need your fix. The new service puts baristas on scooters so that they can hand deliver your coffee order to you no matter your location. You can download the Mobile Pour app on your smartphone and it will pinpoint your location, allow you to select your coffee order, and keep on your merry way until a barista politely informs you on the street that your coffee has arrived. The first phase of the initiative involves sending out two scooter baristas per every square mile to ensure speedy service in seven of the largest cities around the country. Eventually they plan on bringing the service to malls where baristas will don rollerblades to quickly make their way to shoppers. See how Mobile Pour works at the source link below.

[Via Starbucks]

Photoshop gets real on the iPad

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At an event dubbed Photoshop World 2011, an Adobe exec demonstrated the future of Photoshop…on an iPad! You might think Photoshop Express in the App Store is a useful tool to edit photos on a mobile device, but you ain’t seen nothing yet. Resizing, manipulating, and applying filters to images is a smooth experience on this conceptual, futuristic version of Ps for iPad. The coolest feature, though, is the ability to add layers and view all applied layers in a 3D animation mode that reveals how exactly they are organized in relation to one another. But alas–this tease of an insanely cool iPad app is but a concept and no release date was shared with the event’s crowd in awe.

[Via Engadget; Photography Bay]

Androidify yourself today!

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Everybody loves the Google’s little green mascot named Android. Heck, he’s the face of their smartphone-turned-tablet user experience. He deserves some of your affection, and now you can properly show it. With the Androidify app from Google you can customize Android to make him look like you–you can alter his size and facial attributes, play dress up, and even throw on some accessories like shoes and glasses for good measure. So wait are you waiting for? Android users, have at it!

News Corp. unveils ‘The Daily’, the first iPad-driven news publication

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“New times require new journalism. Our challenge was to take the best of traditional journalism, competitive shoe-leather reporting, good editing, a skeptical eye, and combine it with the best of contemporary technology.” That’s how News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch opened up the launch event for his company’s brand new digital newspaper The Daily. It’s being described as “the industry’s first national daily news publication created from the ground up for iPad.” News Corp. and Apple worked together to come up with a news source tailor-made for the tablet community. The Daily will push out new content every day and publish up to 100 pages focused on these specific areas: news, sports, gossip and celebrity, opinion, arts and life, and apps and games. It takes advantage of the iPad’s multitouch display by providing interactive methods of implementation.  For example, the home screen of the app provides readers with a carousel view of the day’s news, and you can easily swipe through them and tap on the ones that interest you most. Also, you can use your fingers to take a 360 degree view of a photograph. In addition to photos, the paper will highlight news using text, embedded videos, audio, information graphics, and real-time data and social feeds. For example, inside the gossip and celebrity section you might find a Twitter feed of a celeb who is making headlines and discover what she is up to that way. In short, The Daily allows its editors to deliver stories to their readers in new and exciting ways that simply are not possible in the realm of TV, radio, and traditional papers.

The Daily also includes… A selection of articles can be read aloud to you by actual people (read: no GPS-like robotic voices); the paper can be customized with your preferences (think: weather, sports teams); the apps and games section provides reviews and ratings for select iPad applications and will link you directly to the App Store if you decide to purchase an app; Sudoku and crossword puzzles are available to play within the app; readers can leave comments on Daily stories in either written or audio form; said stories can be bookmarked and saved for reading later; stories can be shared with others via Facebook, Twitter, and email (those who receive shared stories can read Web-friendly versions of the articles even if they’re not subscribers).

Readers are promised a new Daily to be automatically downloaded to their iPad straight from the either 365 days a year with new content everyday. If a day happens to be packed with breaking news, the editors can jump into the paper at any time and provide readers with the latest news (they can even change the cover story if they like). All of this comes at a price; since The Daily is an iPad-driven news source News Corp. does not have to worry about paper, factory, and delivery costs and the savings trickle down to the subscriber. It’s priced at $.99 per week or $39.99 annually, not bad at all. The first two weeks of use are free, thanks Verizon Wireless. It’s first application made available on the App Store featuring a subscription model; subscriber fees are billed directly to an iTunes account. The Daily app is available to download today right here.

The Daily promises a new voice for a new technologically-advanced era. I’m excited that a powerfully influential force in Murdoch’s News Corp. is behind the first digital paper made from the ground up for the iPad, and I’m equally curious to see how newspaper readers respond to it. It’s easy to assume that the young crowd of 20-somethings will take the charge in signing up for subscriptions, but what I’m most interested in seeing is whether or not those people who are used to reading traditional (read: physical) papers will take a liking to The Daily and transition over to it. At the get-go it certainly takes advantage of Apple’s tablet in terms of browsing and visually immersive experiences, so we’ll have to see if the editorial team can keep things up all throughout the year. If they continually pump out new content and update the app appropriately with readability improvements, I envision a bright future for the newspaper readers of tomorrow.

Look after the break a visual tour of The Daily and official PR.

[Via The Daily] Continue reading News Corp. unveils ‘The Daily’, the first iPad-driven news publication →

IntoNow app is Shazam for your TV

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Shazam is to music as IntoNow is to television.  Get it?  Simply hold your compatible device up to your TV and the app will scan the program’s audio to determine what you’re watching.  The app can even recognize a show even if it’s airing live for the first time.  You’re thinking, how does it work?  The embedded “fingerprinting” tech is dubbed SoundPrint and it runs a series of algorithms that can quickly identify a show based on the audio from that program.  SoundPrint’s index covers over 140 million minutes of previously aired shows, or 266 years of video.  Over 2.6 million airings have been indexed over the past five years and that number is constantly growing.

So the app can tell you what you’re watching, big whoop!  The social aspect of IntoNow is what makes it most interesting.  In addition to displaying the program being watched, the app will provide all kinds of relevant data about the program including episode and cast information.  In turn, this can be shared with your friends over social networks such as Facebook and Twitter (i.e. “Larry is watching “House” can be shared with your friends across networks).  What’s more you can create and manage an in-app friends list, see what your friends are watching, receive notifications when your friends are watching the same episode or show as you, and comment on their statuses. The feature list goes on…you also have one-click access to Netflix from the app, so you can add your favorites shows to your Instant Queue right then and there before you forget.

IntoNow is available in the App Store today, it’s free, and it’s compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

[Via Engadget; IntoNow]

A brand new Angry Birds game based on ‘Rio’ animated flick coming soon [Update: Super Bowl embedded code]

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App developer Rovio has teamed up with 20th Century Fox to put together a new Angry Birds game for iOS and Android.  Following the original Angry Birds and Seasons games, this new installment is inspired by the upcoming Fox animated feature Rio (watch a trailer for it here).  Angry Birds Rio will pack 45 new levels, increased graphics performance, and “a few new twists.”  Future updates will add more levels.  Look out for the app to hit iOS, Android, and Symbian app stores this March, ahead of Rio‘s April 15 theatrical release.

And if you you didn’t know, Team Rovio is currently developing an animated TV series based on the Angry Birds universe.  After watching this trailer for the Rio-inspired game I cannot wait to see what they come up with for the show.  Who needs dialogue when you’ve got furious birds yelling and slimy green pigs snorting?

Update: It’s been revealed that during the Super Bowl 20th Century Fox will air a 30-second commercial promoting Rio that features an embedded code, the first of its kind.  The secret code will be inserted into a single frame of the ad.  When it’s entered into the Angry Birds app a new level will be unlocked and it will enter players into a Rio sweepstakes.  Winners will attend the animated flick’s world premiere in Rio de Janeiro on March 22. That also happens to be the day Angry Birds Rio hits the App Store, in case you were wondering.

[Via Nerdist; UnwiredView; Reuters]

Skype brings video calling to the iPhone

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Today Skype updated its official iPhone app and version 3.0 brings with it video calling over WiFi and 3G.  Two-way Skype-to-Skype video calling can take place between two phones and between phones and computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux) at no charge.  In addition to the iPhone 4, the app is also compatible with the iPhone 3GS, the newest iPod touch, the third gen iPod touch, and the iPad all running iOS 4.0 or higher.  Since the latter two devices do not feature back and front-facing cameras they are restricted to only receiving video.  And note that since the 3GS does not pack a front-facing camera it will only broadcast video from the back-facing camera.

I gave the app a test drive and it worked flawlessly…over WiFi, that is.  With that stable connection I was able to successfully connect to a desktop Skype client and video chatting worked as advertised.  With the iPhone 4 you have the option to broadcast video from the front-facing camera and switch it to the back one on the fly, as well as options to mute the conversation and switch between portrait and landscape modes.  When I disabled WiFi and attempted an iPhone 4-to-desktop video chat the video appeared noticeably more pixelated and laggy until it decided to cut out completely and drop the call.  But that’s 3G for you; heck, at least it works.

The free Skype update is available to download now at the App Store.  Apple might have had a leg up on the video conferencing competition with FaceTime since iPhone 4’s introduction, but with Mac and Windows support–plus 3G support–plus a giant user base in the millions–Skype is enabling the futuristic functionality for a significantly larger community of iOS users.  Press release and (creepy) introductory demonstration video after the break.

[Via Engadget] Continue reading Skype brings video calling to the iPhone →