I-phone – Page 3618 – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

iPhone released in India, iPad 3 news, and more in this week’s mobile news

The iPhone 4 will be available in India today.

Apple lawyers settle with white iPhone kid.

Rumor has it the Apple iPhone PR team is inviting press to cover WWDC, looks like we could see a new iPhone announcement.

Will Apple stop supporting the 3GS after iOS 5.0 is released?

It is being reported that the iPad 3 will have an AMOLED screen.

Open Source: Source Code To Tilt Monster (Doodle Dash) Game Created With The Corona SDK

Doodle Dash was a highly successful game created with the Corona SDK – developed in just a few days, with just John Beebe as the sole programmer who used the game to learn lua – eventually reaching top 25 status in the app store.

Since then the game has been rebranded as Tilt Monster, and now the source code has been released.

You can see a video of Tilt Monster in action here:

You can find the source code on Github here:
https://github.com/jonbeebe/Tilt-Monster

The actual app can be found on iTunes here:
Tilt Monster On iTunes

A great sample for anyone looking to create an app with the Corona SDK.

Open Source: OpenEars Speech Recognition And Text-To-Speech Library Undergoes Significant Updates

At the start of this year, I mentioned an open source speech recognition, and text-to-speech library. At that time it was already a great library, used in several apps, but recently it has undergone a significant update.

This new update is extremely significant and improving upon everything within the library providing greater performance, and speech recognition accuracy along with the documentation being re-written for Xcode 4.

Here’s a list of what the latest version can do (taken from the official website):

OpenEars .91 can:

Listen continuously for speech on a background thread, while suspending or resuming speech processing on demand, all while using less than 8% CPU on average on a first-generation iPhone (decoding speech, text-to-speech, updating the UI and other intermittent functions use more CPU),
Use any of 8 voices for speech and switch between them on the fly,
Know whether headphones are plugged in and continue voice recognition during text-to-speech only when they are plugged in,
Support bluetooth audio devices (very experimental in this version),
Dispatch information to any part of your app about the results of speech recognition and speech, or changes in the state of the audio session (such as an incoming phone call or headphones being plugged in),
Deliver level metering for both speech input and speech output so you can design visual feedback for both states.
Support JSGF grammars,
Dynamically generate new ARPA language models in-app based on input from an NSArray of NSStrings,
Switch between ARPA language models on the fly,
Be easily interacted with via standard and simple Objective-C methods,
Control all audio functions with text-to-speech and speech recognition in memory instead of writing audio files to disk and then reading them,
Drive speech recognition with a low-latency Audio Unit driver for highest responsiveness,
Be installed in a Cocoa-standard fashion using static library projects that, after initial configuration, allow you to target or re-target any SDKs or architectures that are supported by the libraries (verified as going back to SDK 3.1.2 at least) by making changes to your main project only.

You can find the official website here:
http://www.politepix.com/openears/

You can find the download in the getting started tutorial here:
http://www.politepix.com/openears/gettingstarted

If you’ve wanted to add speech recognition into an app without having to license a costly API then you will want to check it out.

GridView using Interface Builder in iPhone

In this example we will see how to GridView implement in the application using Interface Builder. This is the very simple example . So let see how it will worked.

Step 1: Open the Xcode, Create a new project using TabBar application. Give the application “GridView”.

Step 2: Xcode automatically creates the directory structure and adds essential frameworks to it. You can explore the directory structure to check out the content of the directory.

Step 3: We need to add five ViewController class in the project. So select the project -> New File -> Cocoa Touch ->ViewController class and give the class name “DetailView”,”LitchiView”,”AppleView”,”OrangeView” and “StarfruitsView”.

Step 4: We need to add images in the resource folder.

Step 5: Open the FirstViewController.h file and define DetailView,LitchiView,AppleView,OrangeView and StarfruitsView class and create an instance of this class. Create an instance of UIButton class and define IBAction: method. So make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class DetailView;
@class LitchiView;
@class AppleView;
@class OrangeView;
@class StarfruitsView;

@interface FirstViewController : UIViewController {

DetailView *detailView;
LitchiView *litchiView;
AppleView *appleView;
OrangeView *orangeView;
StarfruitsView *starfruitsView;

UIButton *button1;
UIButton *button2;
UIButton *button3;
UIButton *button4;
UIButton *button5;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet DetailView *detailView;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet LitchiView *litchiView;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet AppleView *appleView;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet OrangeView *orangeView;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet StarfruitsView *starfruitsView;

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button1;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button2;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button3;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button4;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button5;

–(IBAction)FirstButton:(id)sender;
–(IBAction)SecondButton:(id)sender;
–(IBAction)ThirdButton:(id)sender;
–(IBAction)ForthButton:(id)sender;
–(IBAction)FifthButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 6: Double click the FirstView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the navigation bar and give the title “GridView”. Drag the five Round Rect Button and place it to the view window. Select first button and bring up Attribute Inspector select the raspberries.png.Do the same thing other four buttons and select the “litchi.png”,”apple.png”,”orange.png” and “starfruits.png”. Now Connect the File’s Owner icon to the first button and select button1, do the same thing for the other buttons and select button2, button3,button4 and button5. Drag the label from the library and place it below the buttons. Give the label name “Raspberries”,”Litchi”,”Apple”,”Orange” and “Starfruit” (See the figure 1). Now select the Raspberries button and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select FirstButton. Do the same thing for the other buttons also and select SecondButton: , ThirdButton:, FourthButton: and FifthButton: method. Save the .xib file, close it and go back to the Xcode.

Figure 1

Step 7: In the FirstViewController.m file make the following changes:

#import "FirstViewController.h"
#import "DetailView.h"
#import "LitchiView.h"
#import "AppleView.h"
#import "OrangeView.h"
#import "StarfruitsView.h"

@implementation FirstViewController

@synthesize button1,button2,button3,button4,button5,detailView,litchiView,appleView,orangeView,starfruitsView;

–(IBAction)FirstButton:(id)sender
{
detailView = [[DetailView alloc] initWithNibName:@"DetailView"bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:detailView.view];
}

–(IBAction)SecondButton:(id)sender
{
litchiView = [[LitchiView alloc]initWithNibName:@"LitchiView"bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:litchiView.view];
}

–(IBAction)ThirdButton:(id)sender
{
appleView = [[AppleView alloc]initWithNibName:@"AppleView"bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:appleView.view];

}

–(IBAction)ForthButton:(id)sender
{
orangeView = [[OrangeView alloc]initWithNibName:@"OrangeView"bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:orangeView.view];

}

–(IBAction)FifthButton:(id)sender
{
starfruitsView = [[StarfruitsView alloc]initWithNibName:@"StarfruitsView"bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:starfruitsView.view];

}

/*
// Implement viewDidLoad to do additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
}
*/

– (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
// Return YES for supported orientations
return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc. that aren’t in use.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];

// Release any retained subviews of the main view.
// e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

@end

Step 8: Open the DetailView.h file and make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class FirstViewController;

@interface DetailView : UIViewController {

FirstViewController *firstViewController;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet FirstViewController *firstViewController;

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 9: Double click the DetailView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the NavigationBar from the library and place it to the view window, drag the ImageView from the library and place it to the View window and drag the RoundRect button and place it into the NavigationBar. Select the Round Rect button and bring up Attributes Inspector select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Select the ImageView and bring up Attributes Inspector and select the “raspberries-big.png”(See the figure 2). Save it , close it and go back to the Xcode.

Figure 2
Step 10: In the DetailView.m file and make the following changes in the file:

#import "DetailView.h"
#import "FirstViewController.h"

@implementation DetailView

@synthesize firstViewController;

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender
{
firstViewController = [[FirstViewController alloc]initWithNibName:@"FirstView"bundle:nil];
[self.view addSubview:firstViewController.view];
[firstViewController.view release];
}

– (id)initWithNibName:(NSString *)nibNameOrNil bundle:(NSBundle *)nibBundleOrNil
{
self = [super initWithNibName:nibNameOrNil bundle:nibBundleOrNil];
if (self) {
// Custom initialization
}
return self;
}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
}

@end

Step 11: Open the LitchiView.h file and make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class FirstViewController;

@interface LitchiView : UIViewController {

FirstViewController *firstViewController;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet FirstViewController *firstViewController;

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 12: Double click the LitchiView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the NavigationBar from the library and place it to the view window, drag the ImageView from the library and place it to the View window and drag the RoundRect button and place it into the NavigationBar. Select the Round Rect button and bring up Attributes Inspector select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Select the ImageView and bring up Attributes Inspector and select the “litchi-big.png”(See the figure 3). Save it , close it and go back to the Xcode.

Figure 3
Step 13: In the LitchiView.m file make the following changes:

#import "LitchiView.h"
#import "FirstViewController.h"

@implementation LitchiView

@synthesize firstViewController;

}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
// Release any retained subviews of the main view.
// e.g. self.myOutlet = nil;
}

@end

Step 14: Open the AppleView.h file and make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class FirstViewController;

@interface AppleView : UIViewController {

FirstViewController *firstViewController;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet FirstViewController *firstViewController;

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 15: Double click the AppleView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the NavigationBar from the library and place it to the view window, drag the ImageView from the library and place it to the View window and drag the RoundRect button and place it into the NavigationBar. Select the Round Rect button and bring up Attributes Inspector select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Select the ImageView and bring up Attributes Inspector and select the “litchi-big.png” (See the figure 4). Save it , close it and go back to the Xcode.

Figure 4
Step 16: In the AppleView.m file make the following changes:

#import "AppleView.h"
#import "FirstViewController.h"

@implementation AppleView

@synthesize firstViewController;

}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
}

@end

Step 17: Open the OrangeView.h file and make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class FirstViewController;

@interface OrangeView : UIViewController {

FirstViewController *firstViewController;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet FirstViewController *firstViewController;

–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 18: Double click the OrangeView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the NavigationBar from the library and place it to the view window, drag the ImageView from the library and place it to the View window and drag the RoundRect button and place it into the NavigationBar. Select the Round Rect button and bring up Attributes Inspector select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Select the ImageView and bring up Attributes Inspector and select the “litchi-big.png” (See the figure 5). Save it , close it and go back to the Xcode.

Figure 5
Step 19: In the OrangeView.m file make the following changes:

#import "OrangeView.h"
#import "FirstViewController.h"

@implementation OrangeView

@synthesize firstViewController;

}

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
}

@end

Step 20: Open the StarfruitsView.h file and make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@class FirstViewController;

@interface StarfruitsView : UIViewController {

FirstViewController *firstViewController;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet FirstViewController *firstViewController;
–(IBAction)BackButton:(id)sender;

@end

Step 21: Double click the StarfruitsView.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the NavigationBar from the library and place it to the view window, drag the ImageView from the library and place it to the View window and drag the RoundRect button and place it into the NavigationBar. Select the Round Rect button and bring up Attributes Inspector select the “backbutton.png” and bring up Connection Inspector and connect Touch Up Inside to the File’s Owner icon and select BackButton: method. Select the ImageView and bring up Attributes Inspector and select the “litchi-big.png” (See the figure 6). Save it , close it and go back to the Xcode.

Figure 6
Step 22: In the StarfruitsView.m file make the following changes:

#import "StarfruitsView.h"
#import "FirstViewController.h"

@implementation StarfruitsView

@synthesize firstViewController;

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
// Releases the view if it doesn’t have a superview.
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

// Release any cached data, images, etc that aren’t in use.
}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidLoad
{
[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view from its nib.
}

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];
}

– (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation
{
return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);
}

@end

Step 23: Now Compile and run the application on the Simulator.

You can Download SourceCode from here GridView

Weekly Poll: How Often Do You Browse the Web on Your iPhone?

How Often Do Browse the Web on Your iPhone?Market Research

The iPhone was a revolution in mobile browsing. For most of us, it was the first time we got a taste of a phone-sized browser that, aside from Flash, could really handle the full-size web without compromises.

Before the App Store came along, I frequently browsed the web using mobile Safari. Almost anything I wanted to do, be it play a game or check Facebook, required me to go through Safari. These days though I find that there really is an app for everything, which leaves my mobile web browsing at almost nil. Only occasionally will I want to check out a restaurant’s menu or run a quick Google search while I’m out.

Despite the myriad of industry experts claiming that mobile web apps are the future, I don’t regularly use a single one but stick exclusively to native apps. This week’s poll asks the same question of you. Do you frequently browse the web on your iPhone or are you more apt to use native apps for everything? Vote in the poll and leave your comments below.

The Heist: MacHeist Goes Mobile

For fans of mock sleuthing and good-natured detective work, the folks over at MacHeist have been running clever “games” for years in an effort to offer Mac users a more engaging way to take advantage of software bundle deals, discounts, etc. These challenges are not easy, but there are always generous rewards awaiting those wily folks who make it through.

After all this time, it should come as no surprise that they’ve turned some of their attention over to the mobile world, and their first venture is hardly a modest experiment: The Heist is a thoroughly entertaining and well-polished puzzle game with a prize at the end. Read on to unlock our (spoiler-free) review!

The Mission

Almost immediately upon opening the game, you receive a mysterious phone call from “Sophia” — fans of the online experiences will recall this name. This unexpected communication reveals that there is something of value to be had behind the walls of the safe you see in front of you…

The Vault: what prize awaits?

What exactly that is, you’ll have to see for yourself, though it’s safe to say that the prize is a Steam code for a game worth ten times more than what you will have paid for The Heist, which is a pretty sweet deal no matter how you look at it. Of course, you’ll have to work for it, and these puzzles are no walk in the park. There are 4 puzzle types, and several difficulty levels. In order to unlock the safe, you must disable 4 levels of security, represented by locks on the side of the door. Each level you disable unlocks a new difficulty level for the puzzles.

In the Woodwork

The first of the puzzle types requires you plug a bulb into its socket by first clearing a path for it through a room of wooden pegs. This is easier said than done, as the pegs eventually get fiendishly tangled and will likely take you several tries to work out.

The path from point A to point B may be straight, but it sure isn't simple

There are several maneuvers that you’ll have to perform that begin to feel familiar, so once you work out the basic patterns, even the harder puzzles of this type become slightly more accessible. But if you get stuck, you have plenty of other options to keep you occupied…

Pseudo-ku

For instance, take The Heist’s brilliant second puzzle type: an intelligent modification of the basic Sudoku game model that requires you to fill in a board with small stones bearing various symbols such that no two symbols occur together on the same line — vertically or horizontally. The pieces are also coloured, and each colour group has only one of each symbol type. This can get tricky enough when you’re just using numbers and a standard grid, but The Heist mixes it up with symbols ranging from Zodiac markers to Egyptian hieroglyphs and irregular colour group shapes.

Not your average sudoku game

This is probably the most creative and fresh of the puzzle types, but since it’s ultimately based on math, it’s also the easiest to solve if you have the patience to work things out. Then again, you could also just throw things out there by trial and error and eventually crack each, but it’s not the most efficient approach.

Boxed In

The third puzzle type in The Heist is a pretty straight-forward one. Controlling a little robot, your job is to push several boxes into their corresponding sockets so that each one is plugged in. The fact that they’re not colour-coded makes this a fairly simple task for most levels, though you might have to bend your brain a bit to figure out the correct paths for some of the later levels.

When push comes to shove…

Wired

The final puzzle type is a connect-the-wires game. This may be the most difficult of the four types of puzzles, unless you’re used to Rubik’s Cubes and other similar games that hone your ability to solve spatial entanglements. When you begin dealing with multiple colours, it becomes especially frustrating since you’ll often manage to get one properly connected only to realize that you have to undo several portions in order to fix another colour.

Connect the dots!

Safe & Sound

Even the best of puzzle mechanics fall flat without a good presentation, and the wise MacHeist team appealed to the master iOS architects at TapTapTap to execute their vision. Esteemed developers of Camera+ and Classics, TapTapTap have outdone themselves here, providing a sleek visual design with smooth animations, very detailed graphics, and a fitting audio treatment.

Their attention to detail has helped wrap the puzzles in a package that feels like a complete and self-sufficient game rather than a cheap marketing toy.

Clean Getaway?

The Heist has been an extraordinary success so far, largely due to its business model that in itself is a terrific change from the flood of micropayment games where we’re stuck paying more and more for less and less. That being said, the one concern that holds The Heist back from a perfect score is the issue of longevity…once you’ve beaten all 60 levels, unlocked the prize, and won the achievements, what is there left to look forward to?

It will be interesting to see if MacHeist chooses to continue along this path by offering each new challenge as a separate game, or if they’ll handle it by releasing each new challenge as a free update to this one (unlikely).

Time will tell, and we will be eagerly awaiting the result! Have you made it through to the end yet? Still stuck on a level? Let us know in the comments!

Create Websites on your iPhone with Zapd

Web design is a big profession, but some iPhone owners might not have the skills to develop nor the budget to hire a designer. Luckily, blogging platforms such as WordPress and Tumblr come with their own collections of themes for your free use. Theme design is a big business too and they have become very functional due to the massive number of features available in platforms like WordPress.

However, all those additional functions come with an added complexity and that might not be suited to everyone’s tastes. Maybe you just want to setup a quick blog to share some photos from your trip, or perhaps you just wanted to post links to some interesting articles you’ve found on your ventures around the internet.

Zapd might be the perfect solution! Zapd is a very simple website builder based entirely within a iPhone application. If you like Tumblr, you might just love Zapd.

Getting Started

Getting Started with Zapd is super simple. As soon as you launch the application, you are encouraged to “Start a Zap” with the tap of a large orange button. It should be noted that this app does require a Zapd account, which can be created through a free signup right on your iPhone.

After choosing that you want to start a new website, a selection of mobile-optimized themes are presented with a variety of styles. The premade layouts are exactly like most Tumblr themes: single column layouts with multiple post types. Simply tap on the preview image to select your design.

Next, you move onto the actual content creation aspect. Unlike Tumblr, Zapd only has the three post types: text, photos and links. No video option is available (at least that I can find), which is a slight disappointment, especially with the tap-to-focus HD video recording of the iPhone 4. By tapping on a post type (called a “widget” in the app), you can add a new post in the same way you’d expect from almost any other iPhone blogging application. It’s a super simple process and entirely straightforward. There’s little opportunity for you to go wrong.

Text Posts are by far the simplest. All that is needed is to write the body text that has no character or word limit, and an optional heading if you wish.
Photo Posts are just what you’d expect. You can snap a photo right on your phone and the move/scale them. A caption can be added too.
Link Posts are just like text posts, but instead of body text, you can paste in a URL.

Posts are also super simple to reorganize. A standard grapple button can be used to drag any post up or down to reorder their appearance on your website.

When you’re ready to publish your first site, another orange button leads the way and asks you to login, which you can do so individually or by connecting to Facebook. Zapd has some convenient social networking integration to share your site with Facebook, Twitter or via email.

Posting on the iPhone app

Next Steps

Once you’ve published your Zapd, the process isn’t over. You can continue to edit your site by adding new content modules and even swapping out the site with an alternative premade theme. Zapd will recognize your changes and prompt you to republish.

I really love the ease of Zapd’s publishing process. It’s super simple to update your blog and the same Facebook, Twitter and email sharing options are available each time you republish too, so your friends and followers can keep up to date with little additional effort.

My own test blog made on my iPhone

Web Editor

Zapd also has a web-based editor for updating your site on another platform. The web editor maintains the same minimalist and simple style of the iPhone application. You can’t do much else and the trio of post types remain your only options for posting content.

This is a really nice companion to the iPhone app allowing you to use Zapd for longer text posts when a larger keyboard can be used to avoid writing several hundred words with your thumbs. Since this is an iPhone-oriented site, I won’t get too much into the web-based functionality, but the fluidity of that whole experience is something I actually prefer over my experience with the native iPhone app.

Zapd's web-based editor

Where Does It Go Wrong?

For what it does, Zapd is an awesome application! However, I can’t help but think Tumblr is still a better option. In terms of posting, Zapd and Tumblr’s iPhone apps are nearly identical, although Tumblr offers more post types and formats.

I also didn’t appreciate Zapd’s random URLs. There’s no option to set a custom address or even point a custom domain to your blog. There’s a lot of potential in Zapd, but a clear URL for your visitors to return to is vital to keeping users coming back.

There’s also no option to change the formatting the theme of your site. Even basic options like resizing your text aren’t present, which feels like a major omission. I’d like some more functionality in setting up the blog, but I guess that’s not what Zapd is going for.

Is Zapd Useful?

Honestly, I’d say not much. But then again, I like a lot of functionality in my sites and I love Tumblr so my overall judgment of this app might be a little biased. In reality, Zapd’s simple approach pays off and the overall experience with posting new content is fast and easy. It’s also free, which is always good.

Zapd targets a different audience than regular blogging applications. In my opinion, it’s not for a full-fledged blogs to be run from. Instead, it’s great for small blogs when you’re, for example, going on vacation or working on a short-term project and you just want a temporary home to share some items on. Zapd also has a lot of photography potential and some of the themes seem more oriented towards photos than anything else.

If you’re looking for a temporary home to host a few photos and bits of text, possibly to extend your content on social networks, Zapd is great. Be sure to check out my test blog and share yours in the comments.

The Revamped Apple Store App

Almost exactly one year ago we took at look at the brand new Apple Store app for iPhone, which allowed you to browse, find and make appointments at local stores as well as actually purchase products right from your phone.

Recently, Apple upgraded the app with a few new features. Today we’re going to take a renewed look at the app to see what you can do with it and whether or not it deserves a spot on your home screen

Browsing Products

As always, the app launches you into the “Featured” section of the Apple Store, where the iPad 2 is currently taking center stage along with a few notable Apple and even third party products. From here you’re only a few taps away from purchasing any of these products.

The app makes it easy to find what you’re looking for

Also as before, the bottom navigation is split up into five sections: Featured, Products, Stores, Search and Cart. If you don’t see what you want under the “Featured” section, jump over to the “Products” tab to get a look at everything you can purchase.

The Products tab

Browsing is extremely intuitive and is a nice mix between large, beautiful icons and list-based information. If you’re looking for one of the flagship products, you’ll find it in seconds. If not, the app holds your hand pretty well and leads you right to whatever you’re after quickly and painlessly.

Build a Mac

The previous version of the Apple Store native app was almost unforgivably limited in its Mac-purchasing abilities. If you didn’t want the default configuration, you were in the wrong place because that’s all you could buy.

However, the newest version has thankfully moved beyond this limitation and now offers the same customization features that you’ve seen on the website for years.

Customize your Mac with a few taps

With the new app, you have the freedom to choose to upgrade your memory, hard drive, graphics card, Apple Care and more. Options are presented as a simple list with checkmarks and you just scroll through the list and tap the options you want. It couldn’t be any easier.

Physical Store Features

Even if you’re not buying a new Mac any time soon, the Apple Store app has always been great for finding physical stores in your area, making appointments and keeping an eye on events. I’ve used the app several times to book a spot with the geniuses recently and loved how quick the process was.

Finding a store near you

The new app has taken a seemingly small step that I think could be revolutionary for retail chains in the long run. When you walk into an Apple Store, the app now interacts with you in the same way that a salesperson would: it tells you how many customers are in line, when the next available genius appointment is and when you can expect to see the next workshop start.

The new location-aware store features

At just about every Apple store I’ve ever been to there’s usually a wealth of employees standing by to help you, but it’s still great to have this kind of information at your fingertips, even if you’re standing right outside the store. I can easily imagine other retail chains picking up on this and creating apps that interact with you in unique ways as you enter and explore their stores.

Still No iPad Version

The biggest disappointment with the new version of the Apple Store app is that there is still no iPad-optimized version (you can just use the small iPhone version). To be honest, I’m fairly clueless as to why Apple didn’t include one. Every single feature found in the iPhone app would prove just as useful to iPad owners.

Much like the iPhone did a few years ago, the iPad has really reached a new audience of people who were making their first major Apple purchase. Reaching out to these new customers with a store app that entices them to browse the rest of the product line simply makes too much sense for Apple to ignore for much longer.

What Do You Think?

Go download the Apple Store update and let us know what you think. Do you ever use this app? If not, will these new features make it more useful to you?

Also be sure to comment on whether or not you’ve seen any other retail store apps that respond uniquely to people who happen to be standing in the store. This is a promising market and I’d love to see some more exploration in how to make it both fun and useful for users.

Magic Hour: Create, Share and Download Amazing Photo Filters

If I told you that this is a review for an app that lets you apply filters to your photos, you’d probably roll your eyes and move on right? There are a million of these and they’re all the same: the interfaces are cute but hard to navigate, the free filters are limited and they always try to convince you to pay extra for better ones.

Well hold on, because Magic Hour is a game changer. This app not only lets you apply a number of great preset filters, it lets you build and save your own using an awesome tool set. Even better, there’s a theme marketplace full of user-submitted free downloads to add to your collection! Intrigued yet? You should be.

Meet Magic Hour

When you open up Magic Hour for the first time, you immediately get a feel for the folded paper, handmade theme that the app’s UI uses. I like this theme for several reasons.

First of all, it looks great. The graphics are fun and unique rather than simply borrowing from everyone else. Also, the app isn’t made to look like a vintage camera with tiny viewports and buttons that you can’t figure out, a greatly overused idea in this genre! Instead, everything is straightforward and super easy to use. The app even guides you through each screen so you can quickly get the hang of how it works.

Magic Hour

As you can see in the image above, Magic Hour takes a page out of the Camera+ book and allows you to independently set points for your exposure and focus.

The system is super simple: tap once anywhere to set the focus, tap twice anywhere to set the exposure. This is great because sometimes you want to focus on a point that really screws with the brightness of the photo. Being able to redirect the auto exposure point is a lifesaver in these tricky situations.

While you’re taking a picture, there are the typical options, like turning off the flash and switching cameras, and some added features, like toggling the grid overlay and turning the entire screen into a “tap to shoot” button.

The tools for taking a picture

I really like tapping anywhere to shoot as opposed to hitting the little button at the bottom, but I’d also like to see a stabilizer option thrown in here as well. A few competing apps have one and once you’ve tried it, it’s hard to go without it.

Applying Filters

Once you’ve taken your photo, the fun starts. You start off in a multi-tabbed list view of filters to try out on your photo. You can choose from a list of your favorites, the default filters that came with the app, those that you’ve created and those that you’ve downloaded.

Choosing a filter

Due to the small thumbnail size, choosing a filter from the list view isn’t ideal, this is more for choosing the list of presets you want to try out. Once you tap on a filter in the list, you see a much larger preview and can easily go back and forth through the filters using the arrow buttons.

Previewing a filter

The default filters are quite good and tons of fun to play with. This is where the functionality in most photo apps ends: you apply the filter and then you’re done. With Magic Hour, you’ve only just gotten started.

Each of the built-in filters was created using a set of tools that is completely available to you. This means you can build your own filters completely from scratch or edit the settings of one that you like but want to tweak.

The functionality here blew me away. You can make curves adjustments targeting by channel (Photoshop fans rejoice), adjust the saturation, brightness and contrast, and choose from a number of vignettes, textures and frames.

Building a custom filter

The Filter Market

The features above will make you like this app, perhaps more than most of the others like it that you’ve tried. The feature that will make you love this app is the filter market. This is where users upload the filters that they create.

The Filter Market

All of the filters here can be downloaded completely free, giving you a potentially unlimited number of awesome filters to apply! There are currently almost 4,000 uploads to choose from, 27 of which popped up as I was writing this article. Needless to say, it’s a fast-growing library.

In my experience, the filters download as fast as you can press the button so you don’t have to worry about this being time-intensive task. They also go right to your “Download” folder under the filters menu so they’re easy to find.

Sharing & Saving

Once you’re done editing your photo, you can either save it to your camera roll or share it using a number of different services.

Sharing

I particularly appreciated the Dropbox option, which throws a copy of the edited folder right into your Dropbox for easy access from any computer.

Worth $1.99?

As soon as I saw what this app could do, I gladly shelled out the two bucks for a download, and it was worth every penny. Developers have been trying to figure out the best photo filter system for quite a while and I think Magic Hour is the solution we’ve all been waiting for.

The value here is simply unbeatable. I love being able to browse and download free filters and then edit them to my liking. Instagram is amazing because it added a social component that leans heavily towards the finished product. This app takes a different approach and turns filter creation and sharing into a social experience.

The one downfall, and the only thing keeping this app from a perfect 10 in my book, is that the output is a fairly low resolution image. This is definitely a pain but the developers have already announced that high-resolution output will be in the next update so it’s a short-lived problem that shouldn’t keep you from downloading the app.

Conclusion

To sum up, Magic Hour is anything but another lame photo effect app. It offers a robust and flexible set of photo editing tools that allow you to create and share your own filters. The amazing Filter Market is hands down one of my favorite features of any photography app.

If you’re at all interested in the retro photography craze, Magic Hour is a must have. If you’re on the fence as to whether or not it’s worth the $1.99, just consider that most apps give you less than ten filters to play with, this one gives you thousands!

More details emerge about Apple’s iCloud music service

Businessweek cites sources who claim Apple’s new digital music service, which many expect to be called iCloud, will quickly scan a user’s iTunes library and mirror those songs on the cloud. Users will then be able to stream and listen to those songs on any devices. Interestingly, the sources say that if a user’s song isn’t encoded in an acceptable quality, Apple will replace the lower-quality song with one that is encoded at a higher quality.

No details of a cost for the service have emerged, but Businessweek speculates the iCloud service may be baked into the US$99 per year MobileMe fee. Apple could also offer monthly subscription plans for the service. An NPD analyst has even told Businessweek that he believes “We will come to a point in the not-so-distant future when we’ll look back on the 99-cent download as anachronistic as cassette tapes or 8-tracks.”

We know Apple has been actively working to get the big four record labels to license the service (a step that Amazon and Google both skipped), but beyond that, not many hard facts have surfaced. An online streaming service for iTunes has been a perennial rumor, but over the past few months, as more details have emerged, it’s looking like the service may be a reality as early as June or July of this year.

More details emerge about Apple’s iCloud music service originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 26 May 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel hints at option of custom chip foundry for big customers

Reuters is reporting that Intel “wouldn’t blink” if given the chance to make custom chips for Apple’s devices like the iPhone and iPad. At an investor event in London on Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith told journalists that “there are certain customers that would be interesting to us and certain customers that wouldn’t.” Apple, unsurprisingly, is one of the first type of customer.

Currently the A4 and A5 chips found in iPhones and iPads are manufactured by Samsung, but reports have hinted that Apple may be moving away from Samsung and jumping to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (TSMC) on a foundry basis. Given that Apple’s A5 chip makes up a large portion of the $7.8 billion components contract Apple has with Samsung, it’s no wonder that Intel would want to be a foundry chip maker for the Cupertino company.

As Smith told reporters, “If Apple or Sony came to us and said ‘I want to do a product that involves your IA (Intel architecture) core and put some of my IP around it’, I wouldn’t blink. That would be fantastic business for us.” She did also say that Intel would have to put more thought into considering being a foundry for custom chips that didn’t involve an Intel architecture core: “Then you get into the middle ground of ‘I don’t want it to be a IA core, I want it to be my own custom-designed core,’ and then you are only getting the manufacturing margin, (and) that would be a much more in-depth discussion and analysis.”

[via MacRumors]

Intel hints at option of custom chip foundry for big customers originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 26 May 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sentinel 3 on sale for $.99, $1.99 DLC update adds large number of features

The popular sci-fi tower defense game Sentinel 3 is on sale for only US$0.99 for a limited time. Normally $2.99, the sale price is in celebration of the release of a massive new downloadable campaign that is available as an in-app purchase for $1.99. The new 15 map campaign features 15 endless maps and 6 new classic maps as well as a new commander unit, new weapons, new turrets, and new enemies.

In addition to the new in-game features Sentinel 3, which is a universal game for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch has beefed up the iPad graphics with higher resolution background levels. The game’s engine has also been completely revamped for much-improved gameplay. No word on how long Sentinel 3 will remain on sale, so if you’re a fan of tower defense games you might want to snap this one up quickly.

Sentinel 3 on sale for $.99, $1.99 DLC update adds large number of features originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 26 May 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Newer Technology’s GripBase and GripStand an iPad dynamic duo

There are plenty of iPad cases on the market right now, as well as iPad stands by the droves. In that respect, the Newer Technology NuGuard GripStand (US$29.99, left in photo above) is nothing really new. But the handy iPad protective case / display stand / hand grip does have a unique quality — with the purchase of the NuGuard GripBase ($19.99), the case can be transformed into a solid desktop workstation base or iPad kiosk.

Newer Technology sells the two products as a bundle for $39.99, perfect for those who are looking for a way to keep their iPads protected and close at hand both when mobile or seated at a desk. Read more for a look at how this protection system works, and be sure to browse the gallery below for photos of the GripStand and GripBase working together.

Gallery: NewerTech GripStand and GripBase

Continue reading Newer Technology’s GripBase and GripStand an iPad dynamic duo

Newer Technology’s GripBase and GripStand an iPad dynamic duo originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 26 May 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Lion near to going live

lion to go live at wwdc?

Trusted sources tell TUAW that OS X 10.7 Lion has gone live for internal Apple testing as recently as last week. An internal testing release generally indicates that Lion is near to a real world debut.

This suggests the new OS might possibly ship as early as WWDC with an “available today” mention at the keynote — or it might not. But Lion is looking to be one step closer to availability for Apple customers.

Rumor: Lion near to going live originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 26 May 2011 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square’s name, design influenced by a meeting at Apple

For a while now it’s been known that the popular iPhone credit card payment system known as Square was originally known by a different name and had a very different look.

The familiar white plastic square-shaped plug-in dongle was originally made of wood and shaped like an acorn (no joke) and its name was “Squirrel.” However, the current name and shape of the credit card reader we all know and love came about after Square CEO Jack Dorsey had a lunch at Apple’s Caffé Macs.

On Wednesday night, according to TNW, Dorsey told the attendees of San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, where he was accepting the 21st Century Visionary award, that he was set on the “Squirrel” name until he was having lunch with Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone Software Scott Forstall. Dorsey noticed that the point-of-sale system used in Caffé Macs was from Squirrel Systems so he had to change the name of his device.

While Dorsey didn’t say Forstall had anything to do with the change of the dongle’s shape, it’s easy to assume that the Apple’s SVP took one look at the wooden acorn and said “I have a better idea.”

Square first launched in 2010 and just a few days ago announced that it has shipped 500,000 Square card readers and processed 1 million transactions in May to the tune of about US$3 million worth of mobile payments a day.

Square’s name, design influenced by a meeting at Apple originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 26 May 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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