Category: I-phone

Don’t you hate that sinking feeling you get when you spend five to ten minutes filling out a form — and then you lose all the data because of a hiccup in your Internet connection, or because of Safari’s tab reloading quirks? Before that happens to you again, you should check out Lazarus. It’s an extension for Safari, Chrome and Firefox that stores your form data in case you lose it. It works with almost all web forms, with web-based email clients and even in some content management systems like WordPress.

The extension/plug-in stores your text in a database and lets you restore it with a single click. Each field that is supported by the extension will display the Lazarus ankh symbol. If you lose your data, you can click on the symbol to restore the cached text.

The Safari extension has a few options that’ll let you encrypt form data, exclude sites from working with Lazarus, and change the number of days the form data is stored. Lazarus is lightweight and doesn’t affect browser performance. It’s a life-saver for WordPress bloggers and anyone who fills in a lot of online forms. Lazarus is available for free from Interclue’s website.

Friday Favorite: Lazarus Extension for Safari saves your form text originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has just announced a special iTunes version of James Cameron’s Avatar that will not only include some special extras like the film’s script and a big 1,700 picture special effects gallery of pictures to browse through, but allow viewers to actually control 17 scenes as they happen, switching between different views like the finished film, rough CG cuts, and the original live action motion capture footage. Viewers will also be able to “x-ray” these scenes, moving a special view around the screen that will show off the original live action footage, superimposed over the finished movie.

Sounds pretty awesome to us. Special features have obviously been a standby of disc-based movies for years, and modern Blu Ray discs offer up split-screen and onscreen special effects information and footage for all kinds of movies. But this is something that’s really interactive, and it’s exclusively on iTunes (Apple doesn’t say yet if the special footage will work on an iPad or an iPhone, though it seems likely, right?). That’s a nice get for Apple, and it might be an indication of more features like this to come (which would make for nice viewing fodder on a possible Apple TV, wouldn’t it).

You can preorder the movie on iTunes right now. The special edition version will cost you $20, while the regular edition itself is $15.

iTunes version of Avatar will let users control scenes, more originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WowWee is beginning to see the value in connected toys that work with the iPhone and iPad. The toy maker is working on a line of toys that include an iOS app and a collectable that interacts the phone or tablet. One game is a zombie invasion that has four collectibles to go along with an iPad game. The figures are conductive, so you use them to control the player on your screen. Another game includes a small airplane model that you fly by attaching it to your phone.

Each set will retail for $9.99 and goon sale in April of next year. It’s an intriguing concept, but one that’ll probably appeal to adults more than kids. Kids may enjoy the games, but the collectibles, especially the foam airplane, would probably last no more than a few days in the hands of your average ten-year-old. I do think, though, this is beginning of a new kind of toy that mixes physical toys with digital entertainment. It’s almost the best of both worlds- your child can practice their fine motor skills, while, at the same time, improve their computing skills.

WowWee’s AR gaming toys for iOS look like fun originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We’ll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011.

Today’s category for TUAW Best of 2011 nominations is iPhone photo and video apps. The new 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4S has raised the bar for iPhoneography, and the hundreds of iPhone photo and video apps make it easy to produce amazing pictures and edit professional-quality video.

To get an idea of the apps you can nominate, just visit the iPhone Photo and Video Apps in the App Store and take a look around. Is it Camera+ (US$0.99) that lights your fire, or is the fun of Hipstamatic ($1.99) that keeps you shooting photos?

When you’re editing those movies on your iPhone, do you use iMovie ($4.99) to get the work done in the field? Perhaps you like to make your own vintage-look 8mm movies with the $1.99 8mm Vintage Camera.

TUAW wants to hear from you — what’s your favorite iPhone app for photo or video work? Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon!

Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 18, 2011.

Best of 2011 nominations: iPhone photo/video apps originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monster Fruit is a game that, on the surface, looks to be incredibly easy. There’s fruit in the tree. You need to keep the fruit away from the overexcited monster trying to turn it into a nummy snack, and to do this, you tickle the monster to distract it. If the monster gets the fruit before the timer is up, you fail the level. Once the monster calms down at the end of the allotted time, you can reward him with the fruit. Parents with toddlers know this scenario all too well.

At first, I thought I’d mastered the game. I figured out to keep tickling the monster in the first couple of levels until the timer was up. Then on the third level, both monsters work together to steal that piece of fruit, and the game suddenly veered from deceptively easy to incredibly hard as I tried to tickle both monsters and keep the fruit away from them. I’ve yet to get past the third level, though I got close at one point. I passed the iPad to my husband to see how well he’d do. The inventive cursing that came as a result really isn’t suitable for TUAW, but he did pass the level and got a better score than I did. He said the game is probably best played on a table, where you can use both hands to control the fruit and the monsters.

There are a couple things I feel the game lacks. I think it could use a difficulty setting so I could keep it to just one monster that can be played over and over again, suitable for a small child. It could also use a separate one-page help screen that explains how you can get up to a 3-star score in a level.

But overall, I really like it. The challenge combined with cute graphics and a cheeky sense of humor and catchy music makes this game a keeper.

Monster Fruit is US$1.99 in the App Store.

Daily iPad App: Monster Fruit originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This probably isn’t the most important honor Steve Jobs has ever picked up, but Barbara Walters has named Apple’s co-founder as the most fascinating person of 2011, as reported by USA Today. Unfortunately the article doesn’t actually tell us why, instead focusing reality show personalities, only mentioning Steve Jobs at the end.

If nothing else, this shows just how profound the effect of Steve’s life and legacy has been. Amid an expected outpouring of emotion from the Apple community, several artists and mainstream news outlets have also honored Jobs and his work. Yes, temporary celebrity may be granted to these reality show stars and their ilk, but Jobs and his genius have built up a following across all kinds of different communities, and that’s one of the most magical things about this man and his life.

Barbara Walters names Steve Jobs most fascinating person of 2011 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you — the readers — and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We’ll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often!

Today TUAW is asking for your vote for the best Mac music app of 2011. While we received relatively few nominations in this area, there were several apps that stood out as potential winners in this category.

Reaper (US$225 for commercial usage, $60 for individual use) is a powerful digital audio workstation app that does it all for musicians. It’s “…a complete multitrack audio and MIDI recording, editing, processing, mixing, and mastering environment.”

Maybe you want to create ringtones from your favorite music in iTunes. Several readers nominated Ringer ($3.99), and it’s not surprising — the app is consistently rated with five stars by users in the Mac App Store.

Several readers picked apps that simplify and speed playback of music on your Mac (i.e., skipping iTunes). The most popular of this genre were GarageTunes ($4.99) and Simplier ($2.99)

Only one of these apps will win TUAW’s top honor for Mac music app of 2011. Naming the winner is all up to you.

View Poll

TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best Mac music app originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want a case for your iPhone or iPod touch that is not only waterproof, but floats when dropped in water? Would shock resistance be an extra added bonus for you? The Grace Digital Audio Eco Pod (US$49.99) case definitely fits the bill if you need all of this protection and the ability to clamp it on a bike as well.

While it’s not the most svelte iPhone case at 1.75″ thick x 4″ wide x 6.75″ tall, the Eco Pod is probably the case you’d want your device wrapped in at the beach, while camping, or on a long bike ride in challenging weather conditions. In case you’re wondering why it’s so big, it’s probably because the Eco Pod is designed with a bit more room inside so you can also stuff your credit card, driver’s license, and some cash in there along with your iPhone or iPod touch.

The Eco Pod comes with a pair of waterproof earbuds should you wish to listen to music in the shower or while snorkeling, and is made of a tough polycarbonate to protect your device from drops or falls. The case is bright orange, useful if you happen to drop it while at the beach, skiing, or it floats off along with your trunks while snorkeling.

Other features of this case include IPX7 approval (that’s the international waterproofing standard), a clear view front panel so you can see if your stuff if still in the case, a exterior pressure release valve that insures that the case closes air tight but can still be opened at both low and high altitudes, and a very cool carabiner clip to attach the Eco Pod to your backpack, tent, or ski parka.

There’s also a built-in belt loop, and if you’re a biker, you can purchase an optional bike clamp for $9.99 and stick the EcoPod on your handlebars for your listening pleasure.

TUAW readers should note that you cannot use the iPhone or iPod touch without actually opening up the Eco Pod and manually fiddling with your device. If you need something that’s waterproof, but still allows you to use the device while it’s in a case, consider the LifeProof cases — they’re much more expensive, but work flawlessly in a lot of nasty conditions while providing touch access to the screen.

Grace Eco Pod case: Take your iPhone / iPod touch for a swim originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bluetooth 4.0 became official recently, and now the first app to use this technology has made its way into the app store. The app, Find My Car Smart, is part of a Kickstarter project from FMC Smart. If funded, the company will make a Bluetooth 4.0 module that’ll sit in your car. When you park, the module will trigger the iPhone app, which, in turn, will mark your location. This information will help you find your way back to your car, even in a crowded parking lot.

Bluetooth 4.0 is the latest version of the wireless technology to hit devices. It’s meant for low-power, sensor-filled devices like the car dongle above. The specification was only recently finalized, and consumer products using it are expected to debut in 2012. Once these products hit the market, Apple owners will be ready and rearing to go as Bluetooth 4.0 is already supported by the iPhone 4S, the Mac mini and the MacBook Air.

[Via MacRumors]

Find My Car Smart is first Bluetooth 4.0 app for iPhone originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever seen a photo and wondered if it is real or ‘photoshopped’? Been to a dating site and wonder if the photo truly represents the person shown?

Photo Police, a US$1.99 Mac app can often determine if a photo is real or fake. The app works by looking at low-bit pixel data, which can reveal if an image editor has made corrections or changes to software.

Program author Nikolay Kropachev told me that low bit data is usually white noise, and invisible just by looking at an image. The program applies some math and reveals the low bit data; changes can show up very clearly. It can detect blurring that might be used in wrinkle removal, or show where objects were deleted from images.

I tried it on some known fake photos and the changes were quite obvious to Photo Police. I also tried some photos that were purported to be iPhone prototypes, and they also showed some obvious meddling. I also tried it on some images where I used Photoshop content aware fill and it detected some of the changes even though the photo itself looked fine. In other areas of the image Photoshop was able to fool Photo Police. On a photo montage where I did sky replacement Photo Police detected the changes.

The app can’t guarantee it will find fakery, because some cameras may generate artifacts, and some image processing operations will make Photo Police think there has been an alteration rather than processing.

In my tests, Photo Police worked quite well, and certainly would give you additional reasons to be suspicious about an image. You can’t load raw images into Photo Police, it requires jpeg files.

If you’re interested in doing some detective work on images people send you, or things you find on the web, it’s a very inexpensive and useful utility. Now I think I’ll go chase some Bigfoot and UFO photos.

Check the gallery for some examples of what Photo Police can detect.

Daily Mac App: Photo Police originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Designed by Apple in California” — you’ll find that on virtually every Apple product. While it’s well-known that the brains of Apple’s outfit are indeed housed in California, it’s almost as well-known that Apple’s products are almost wholly manufactured overseas. Indeed, Apple has been a target of criticism in the past because of how much it relies upon labor outside the US.

However, according to a new report from Reuters, apparently at least one major component of Apple’s portable devices is in fact manufactured in the States — in Texas, to be more specific. Reuters reports that the A5 processor that powers both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S is built in a Samsung-owned, 1.6 million square foot factory in Austin, Texas.

The A5 production line in Austin reportedly reached full production earlier this month, and Reuters’ sources say nearly the entire factory’s non-memory production is geared toward cranking out A5 chips for Apple. Previously the only source of A5 chips was Samsung’s factory in South Korea.

Austin’s A5 production line has created 1100 new jobs in the Austin area, Reuters says. Reports from earlier this year indicated that rival production firm TSMC may produce the next-generation A6 processor instead of (or possibly in addition to) Samsung. While Samsung is the main supplier for many of the central components of Apple’s iOS-powered devices, it is also one of Apple’s chief competitors in the smartphone market. The two companies have also been embroiled in a knockdown-dragout patent battle across multiple continents for several months, so it’s not clear just how long this Samsung production line in Texas will be doing business with Apple.

Apple’s A5 processor now manufactured in Texas originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The readers have spoken, and they’ve agreed — Alfred, the awesome free app from Running With Crayons, is the winner of the TUAW Best of 2011 award for Mac utility apps.

Alfred is a veritable Swiss Army knife of an app. It’s an application launcher, a quick web search tool, a calculator, a powerful shortcut manager, a spell checker, an iTunes controller, and more. The base app is available for free, with additional capabilities added through a £15 Powerpack.

Alfred was the favorite of 55.1 percent of the 1,407 respondents, capturing over four times the number of votes of Quicksilver. The second place utility was the colorful and useful DaisyDisk ($9.99), used to visualize what files are taking up an unusually large amount of space on your hard disk drive.

Our thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite Mac utility apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to Andrew Pepperrell and the rest of the Running With Crayons team on being the winner of this critical software category in the TUAW Best of 2011.

Alfred: TUAW Best of 2011 winner for Mac utility apps originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari’s been on a remixing jag lately, and I was really impressed by the recent iOS take on Asteroids. Now with Breakout Boost, Atari aims to update another old gem.

Unfortunately, this one isn’t quite as successful. It certainly is Breakout, as you control a little paddle across the screen, bouncing balls up to hit bricks, earn powerups, and score points. The controls are well designed for touch, too. There’s a virtual handle underneath the paddle, and there’s an added element of a slider that will make ball go faster (and earn more points) or go slower (and earn fewer). That’s a fun mechanic, but otherwise, there’s no real innovation. In fact, I’ve seen better Breakout clones on other platforms (including iOS).

That said, Atari sidesteps most of those issues by offering up the app for free, so if you like the Breakout style of gameplay at all, you might as well download it and test it out. I’m not so sure you’ll be convinced to buy any of the level packs as in-app purchases, but that’s up to you — if it floats your boat, they’re there. But I’m sorry to say Asteroids Gunner did a better job of updating the Atari classic, and hopefully Atari will take those notes to heart when it decides to update any other titles (Missile Command, I hope).

Daily iPhone App: Breakout Boost originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it comes to creating innovative apps to address municipal, environmental or social issues, the answer increasingly comes down to crowdsourcing. The public problem-solving site ChallengePost serves as a platform for innovative ideas from developers, working in areas as varied as the NYC subway system, the city’s data feeds or the Surgeon General’s Healthy Apps initiative.

In a recent app challenge on the site, the US Department of Health and Human Services asked developers to address the issues of sexual assault and dating violence among college-age women. With nearly one in five women reporting a sexual assault while in college, effective intervention strategies are critical to make sure that young women can get out of potentially abusive situations — and reach out for the help they need when they need it.

The competition resulted in two winning apps, both of which are now moving into the development phase. OnWatch, the first winner, is a customized version of the existing subscription-based personal alerts app WatchMe 911. WatchMe 911 is free to download from the App Store and offers different pricing levels depending on the features you need.

OnWatch/WatchMe puts a comprehensive set of assault prevention resources into one app. The app includes options to call friends, alert contacts to your location, send SMSes automatically if you don’t cancel them at a predetermined time, and more. The app’s design isn’t obfuscated in any way, so someone watching your phone will know that you’re calling for help (or broadcasting your location); this might serve as a deterrent.

The other winning app, Circle of 6, takes a much simpler approach to the challenge of communication in a potentially dangerous situation. It asks you to select six trusted contacts that you could call on for assistance if you found yourself in trouble. Once they’re in place, a tap on the center button gives three clear options: Car, Call or Chat.

The car button means “come get me” — it sends out an SMS with your location and a pickup request, asking for assistance getting home safely. The Call button also sends an SMS, but asking for a return call to interrupt a worsening encounter. The Chat button requests advice and information, which will also link to resources on sexual assault. Since Circle of 6 doesn’t telegraph its function through its UI the way that OnWatch does, the app can be used surreptitiously even in situations where a potential assailant is keeping an eye on the phone.

[In an unfortunate coincidence, the Circle of 6 app shares its name — but not its subject matter — with a book about the murder of an NYPD officer in the 1970s.]

Circle of 6 is the work of a four-person team led by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Nancy Schwartzman, who screens her documentary The Line on college campuses and leads an initiative to help end sexual violence. The app project is looking for grant funding now, and the team hopes to have a working version up on the iOS App Store by February, with Android and other platforms to follow. For more information on the project, you can check out the Circle of 6 Facebook page.

If you’ve spotted an app that you think addresses a social issue or point of concern in an innovative way, let us know in the comments or send in a tip.

[via NY Daily News & the Bellingham Herald]

Brooklyn filmmaker working on app to help prevent sexual assault originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Santa,

We’ve been very good reasonably well-behaved bloggers this year. We’ve brushed our teeth, been polite to our parents, and made sure to walk our dog.

So for this year, would you please please please consider our requests? Here’s what we’re wishing for under the TUAW tree this year.

iBooks for Mac and Windows. We love our iPhones and iPads, but we have lots of books we’d like to read on our personal computers as well. That whole iBooks DRM thing means we can’t use any of the (admittedly subpar) readers currently on the market like Adobe Digital Editions. So Santa, won’t you please ship us iBooks so we can read in as much style at home as on the road?

iAuthor. Speaking of iBooks, it’s been a bad year for ebook authoring tools. We’re never going to see what Push Pop Press was building and apparently Monster Costume’s interactive media creation tools are no longer being planned for market release. So we’d love to see some lickably delicious authoring tools fill out this ebook space. Kindle Direct Publishing has shown there’s a huge demand for independent book production, especially ones that create simple but well formed output. Please give us some awesome tools, Santa.

iMessages. Santa, we TUAWians have become big iMessage addicts. So where’s our OS X client? We don’t mean to be a pest, Santa, but we’d like this on our computers like, you know, yesterday. It’s gotten to the point where we’ve started to judge people by the color of their talk bubbles, and blue iMessage bubbles rule the day.

OS X Siri. We’re not talking about a proof of concept here. The concept has, as far as we’re concerned, been proved. We want product now. Can we please have Siri dictation at least, right away please, with full Siri OS integration to follow? Thank you, Santa. Yes, we know that Apple’s licensing arrangement with Nuance for the dictation savvy in Siri may be limited to things running iOS. To that, we say it’s time to shell out some more of that cash hoard and make a deal for the desktop, please.

HyperCard for iOS. We know that Apple wants to make sure that malicious things don’t happen on mobile devices (or on any systems) but we’d really really really love to be able to create and share HyperTalk-style stacks for iOS. It was a great idea in the 1980’s and it’s still a great idea now. HyperCard for iPad and iPhone would rock. Heck, while you’re at it, bring it back for Mac OS X.

Updated iWork. Santa, we don’t mean to be rude, but we’ve been waiting for an updated version of iWork for an awfully long time. Not that the whole iCloud thing isn’t nice and all, but where are our updated iCloud-integrated desktop versions? The current iWork release feels creaky and dated. We’d really like to see fresh desktop hotness debut soon.

Apple Camera. OK, Santa, this one might be a little farther out on the Christmas tree limb than the others, but we’d like a dedicated high-end DSLR camera made by Apple. Yes, there’s a very nice point-and-shoot in the iPhone 4S, and the cameras in our other devices are only going to get better. But the quality still isn’t there compared to a DSLR for stills or video, and given how ugly the interfaces and UIs of even the most expensive cameras are, this market seems primed for Apple to sweep in with a beautiful and brilliantly designed device (which, by the way, would also finish off the vertical integration that iPhoto, iMovie, Aperture, and Final Cut Pro have already started).

Apple’s at the crossroads of the creative arts and technology, and Santa, while these cameras on the phones are nice, how sweet would it be if Apple did for digital cameras what it’s already done for MP3 players and cell phones? It’s not like you haven’t tried it before.

An iOS Amazon Media Viewer. Santa, We’ve got Amazon Prime. Along with fast, free shipping, Amazon gives us a bunch of free media like movies and TV shows that we can stream to our Mac or PC. Unfortunately, the bozos (or the Bezos) at Amazon won’t let us watch it on our iPad or iPhone. They want us to buy an Amazon Kindle Fire. Can you bring me a native Amazon app so we can watch our free movies and shows on our iPads? Please don’t make it a Kindle Fire — even the guy writing the Missing Manual isn’t planning to keep his. Oh, and a rainbow-colored unicorn pony would be nice, too.

Apple TV HD. We’re not talking about some mythical Apple HDTV, but rather an update to the existing Apple TV box. Keep the current form factor, but slap an A5 chip in there so Apple’s little hockey puck hobby can deliver full 1080p HD video content to our HDTVs. And hey, while we’re at it, how about offering some 1080p content in the iTunes Store, hmm?

We’ve left out a plate of Safari Browser cookies for you and a nice warm cup of milk.

Love and hugs,

The TUAW kids

Photo from flickr by dennis (cc)

Dear Santa: TUAW’s we-have-been-nice wish list originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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