Category: I-phone

Apple has unofficially reached 500,000 approved iOS apps in the App Store. The report comes in the form of an infographic from 148Apps, Chillingo and Chomp. The group has assembled a Facebook page to celebrate the milestone.

Some goodies from the infographic:

• In 2010, “App” was declared “Word of the Year” by the American Dialect Society.
• The value of all apps that are currently live in the store is over $800 million.
• US$3.64 is the average price of a paid app, while 147,966 apps are free.

There’s been no official comment from Apple, though we suspect it will be pleased to tout these numbers at WWDC once confirmed. You can check out the full infographic here.

Apple unofficially reaches 500K approved iOS apps in the App Store originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 24 May 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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David Pogue from the New York Times recently got some tips on improving iPhone battery life from an Apple Store Genius. We’ve discussed how to get the most out of your iPhone’s battery on TUAW before, but it’s worth revisiting since both the iPhone itself and the software it runs have changed so much since the last time we discussed it.

Three out of Pogue’s four suggestions for improving battery life come straight from Apple’s official battery life tips. First, he suggests turning off push email and setting email to fetch manually. Depending on how many email accounts you have, this could dramatically improve your battery life, but it also means you won’t receive new messages until or unless you open the Mail app.

Pogue’s second suggestion was to turn off Location Services for apps that don’t necessarily need to have an active GPS connection. This tip makes sense if you’re making heavy use of a camera app or a Twitter client with GPS tagging, but since Location Services generally doesn’t run in these apps when they’re running in the background, it’s only going to make a positive impact on your battery life if you’re spending a lot of time using these apps.

Continue reading Four tips for better iPhone battery life

Four tips for better iPhone battery life originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 24 May 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As expected, the second game from PopCap’s sub-studio 4th and Battery hit the App Store last week, and I like it a lot more than I did Unpleasant Horse. Candy Train is actually an older PopCap title that was originally posted online, and it’s been brought back as a free universal app for iOS. It’s an interesting if simple puzzle game — the idea is that there’s a train rolling down a track, and you have to tap tiles to line them up so that the train has somewhere to go. Along the way, the train can pick up candy cars, and if you collect enough of those and a caboose, there’s a station that you can pull into to clear the chain and “level up” into the next score bracket.

It’s the kind of game that starts out pretty slowly and gets frantic fast, but there’s just enough depth to it to keep you coming back to try again and keep that train going further. Yes, you can see why this isn’t a full PopCap title (instead, it’s just a 4th and Battery experimental game), but it’s fun nevertheless.

And while there’s sadly no Game Center integration or any extras to speak of (there’s just one mode, on two different difficulty levels), the price is right at the cost of free. Definitely give this one a download.

TUAW’s Daily iOS App: Candy Train originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 24 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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i3D app for iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPod Touch 4G is now available for download in the App Store. i3D provides glasses-free 3D display on iPhone 4, iPad 2 and iPod Touch 4G.

The i3D app shows off amazing head-tracking Glasses-free 3D technology using the iPhone 4, iPad 2 and iPod Touch 4G‘s front facing camera. It recognizes faces of both people and stuffed animals in an instant. i3D app for iOS devices is pretty limited. It is not much more than a showcase for the 3D technology as shown in the popular video posted below.

“i3D is an overview of Head-Coupled Perspective (HCP) on iOS devices. HCP uses the front camera of the device to track the face of the user in real time. This information tells the app how the user is looking at the display. The app updates the perspective of the 3D scene accordingly, giving the user the illusion that he looks at a small window.

i3D contains several 3D scenes that you can observe with HCP. It only relies on face tracking. It does not use the accelerometers or the gyroscopes.

The face tracking system does not detect and track the face in every lighting condition. Read the instructions in the app to get a good tracking.

Head-Coupled Perspective 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.

i3D has been developed by Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay at the Engineering Human-Computer Interaction (EHCI) Research Group of the Grenoble Informatics Laboratory (LIG), University Joseph Fourier (UJF).”

You can download i3D app for iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPod Touch 4G from the App Store for Free. [Download Link]

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Today I came across an excellent library allowing for the ability to perform common image manipulations such as filtering, resizing, and masking very easily known as NYXImageUtilities.  Many different manipulations are built in, for instance you can crop your image with 9 different alignments or use any of the the three built in filters.

With just a line or two of code you can perform many different image manipulations, and the project is being actively updated (recently added is the ability to save your images) requiring iOS 4.

You can find the project along with a usage guide on Github here:
https://github.com/Nyx0uf/NYXImagesUtilities

A very handy class, easy to use, and very efficient.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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Last week I mentioned an open source library that allows for the importing SVG files into your iOS apps by using the SVG data to create CAShapeLayers

Recently, I was told about a tutorial with sample code for a similar purpose, but with a different approach.  In this case the developer imports the data from an illustrator EPS file, and uses that data to create a CGPathRef.

The tutorial is from Jeff Menter and it can be found along with the sample code here:
Method for Interpreting Illustrator Art Assets as Cocoa CGPathRef

Thanks to a comment from the Learning iOS blog for mentioning the tutorial.

©2011 iPhone, iOS 4, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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In this example we will see how to UIDatePicker implement programmatically in the code and display  date on the screen. So let see how it will worked.

Step 1: Open a Xcode, Create a View base application. Give the application name ”DatePickerWithDate”.

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 one background image in the project. Give the image name “1.png”.

Step 4: Open the DatePickerWithDate.h file and create an instance of UIDatePicker class and  UILabel class. So make the following changes in the file.

Step 5: Double click the DatePickerWithDate.xib file open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the imageview from the library and place it to the view window. Select the view and bring up Attribute inspector and select the 1.png. Now save the .xib file save it and go back to the Xcode.

Step 6: In the DatePickerWithDate.m file make the following changes in the file:

Step 7: Compile and run the application in the simulator.

You can Download SourceCode from here DatePickerWithDate

There’s a widespread mistaken belief that ideas are the currency of creative people. The reality is, that particular currency is worthless.

An idea is the germ of something. Maybe it’s a painting, or a novel, or even a piece of software – but the idea without the execution is nothing. Indeed, having ideas is a natural state. Innovating is a natural occurrence. We’re faced with problems (existing, or entirely new), and we conceive of potential solutions. It’s how we deal with the world around us, and why we’ve reached this height of evolution.

But the ideas weren’t what mattered; it was the execution. The development of an idea (into a concept, or a prototype, or a finished piece of work) requires both skill and dedication. The real act of creation occurs after the idea state. Only in this act of creation can legitimacy be found. Real artists, as they say, ship.

People who make things, or Makers, contribute something to the universe. Makers are people like writers, musicians, artists, architects, software engineers, carpenters, and the chap at the coffee shop who makes your morning latte. He has a skill, and he applies it to create something that makes your day a little bit better.

There’s another type of person – I call these people Takers. Takers participate in the economy as money-handlers, exchanging currency on the back of others’ creations. They lend, and sell, and negotiate and manage. You can argue that these things are in themselves skills, and that’s true – but none are anything I’d aspire to as my productive output. They’re inherently ancillary occupations. They’re just not enough – for a Maker, at least. The question of sufficiency rarely occurs to the Taker.

There’s no rule that says you can’t be both; indeed, many who are Takers by necessity find a degree of personal salvation in also being Makers, even if it has to be in their evenings or weekends, in the upstairs office or out in the garage. For some, it can make daily life as a Taker bearable. For others, though, being a Taker is not only enough, but is all they aspire to.

If you’re making money from other people’s ideas, without creating anything, you’re accruing a debt. You’re a sinkhole in the system, into which value flows without any commensurate output. That’s not entrepreneurship, and if you even think it’s a business, then I have a queasy feeling about you. I imagine that your handshake is probably slippery.

Whilst there’s art in the development of an idea, and legitimacy in its execution, the ideas themselves are commonplace. Each idea is independently re-conceived every day. We’ve all had an idea, then found that we weren’t the first – the majority of all ideas are like that. The very concept of being the “first” to have an idea is highly questionable.

Our legal system does have to offer some protection of intellectual property as an incentive towards commercialisation, for the good of the economy. It’s important to realise, though, that the logical purpose of such protection is to enable and provide a return on investment; i.e. on the injected capital of invention. For software user interface or interaction concepts, it’s dubious what exactly the up-front investment actually is, much less the notional cost of development of the idea. With patented algorithms and interactions, there’s often so little difference between the concept itself, and the mechanics of its implementation, that they are virtually one and the same. The entire existence, much less the legitimacy, of the idea is in its execution. The product is the idea.

If you’re simply a commerce-enabler, then fundamentally you’re a Taker. That’s all well and good, and necessary, but you’re in an entirely different category of economics than the Makers, who actually create things. Your break room is down the hall. Your keys unlock a different set of doors.

If you want to contribute and innovate, do so within your commerce-enabling, ancillary, infrastructural field, and good luck to you. To attempt to pass yourself off as a Maker by selling someone else’s idea without doing any execution yourself is tantamount to intellectual fraud. At best, it’s the sleazy, greasy underside of Western capitalism. It’s not something I’d ever want my name associated with, or for my family to know about. I’d feel ashamed.

I use the services of Takers to the extent that it’s necessary, and accept the tacit crassness and unseemliness of the interaction as a cultural cost. I don’t think that it always has to, or will, be like this, but I accept it for now. When, however, I’m choosing who to spend time with, or seek inspiration from, or learn from, or adopt as a role model, I’m exclusively looking at Makers. The fire and water, rather than the mere pipework. The lightning, not the rod. Surround yourself with Makers.

Choose someone you admire or otherwise care about. Given knowledge of your motives, would they be genuinely proud of you in your work? That’s the test. What are you creating?

Are you a Maker, or only a Taker?

Recently, we had the privilege of testing out the OtterBox Defender Series Case. It was the roughest, toughest case we’ve ever tried and we’re proud to be able to offer you the chance to try any Otter Box case for yourself, completely free!

How To Enter

Entering to win is easy, all you have to do is follow the three simple steps below.

• Follow iPhone.AppStorm on Twitter
• Tweet the following snippet with a link to this article: Win a Free OtterBox iPhone Case Worth $50!
• Leave a link to your tweet in the comments below.

Easy right? The winner will receive a case of their choice, up to $50 value and currently available at Otterbox.com. We’ll choose a winner at random one week from today and update this post. Good luck!

The iPad is on its second generation and the iPhone is on its fourth, resulting in thousands and thousands of apps of all types to download. For those that own both devices, the slight differences between the two systems can be annoying. Some apps only run on iPad and some only on iPhone. Others exist on both systems but require separate downloads.

Today we’ve got a collection of some of the best universal apps in the App Store. By “universal”, we mean that these apps will run simultaneously on your iPhone and iPad. Many of them even offer free online syncing so that your data is always the same no matter which device you’re on. Enjoy the list below and be sure to check out our sister site iPad.AppStorm for more great iPad apps!

Productivity

Evernote – “Evernote turns the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop.”

Dropbox – “Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. After you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, your iPhone and iPad and even the Dropbox website! With the Dropbox app, you can take everything that matters to you on the go.”

Simplenote – “People are using Simplenote to keep notes, lists, ideas and more. Your notes automatically synchronize with your computer and all your devices. It’s extremely easy to use. For those who want more power, you can also use tags, pins, versions, and sharing.”

inClass – “inClass, the amazing student organizer, is here to help you survive school. No matter how complex your school schedule is inClass will help you keep track of all your courses and even alert you before class so that you are never late again. Not only that, but it will help you keep track of your tasks by reminding you that one is due soon, so no more procrastination. ”

PlainText – Dropbox text editing – “For editing text on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. PlainText is a simple text editor with an uncomplicated, paper-like user interface. Unlike the default Notes app, PlainText allows you to create and organize your documents in folders and sync everything with Dropbox.com.”

Catch Notes – “Catch Notes is a free feature-packed notepad app that allows you to capture text, images, and locations — with free sync and backups to Catch.com. Passcode protect your notes, share, and keep organized with easy #tags!”

Documents To Go – “Edit, create & view Word & Excel files. View PowerPoint, PDF, iWork & other files.”

Print n Share for advanced printing – “Print to all printers. Print direct to most WiFi/Wireless printers without extra software. Print to ALL printers and any document type via your Mac/PC. Print remotely over 3G and in corporate/other networks where WiFi is not available. View, store & print email, documents, files, attachments, photos, contacts and web pages on your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch.”

LogMeIn Ignition – “Remotely control your PC or Mac from your iPad or iPhone – plus view, transfer and save files or folders between your iPad or iPhone and computers from a single app. Just buy Ignition once and run it on your iPad and iPhone. It works with LogMeIn’s award-winning free software on an unlimited number of remote computers so you have your information, applications and desktops right at your fingertips. You’re finally free to go anytime, anywhere.”

Toodledo – To Do List – “Toodledo is a powerful task and note manager, for the iPhone and iPad. It will help organize your to-do list and notes, and make you more productive. You can use Toodledo as a standalone application, or you can have it seamlessly synchronize your lists with Toodledo.com, one of the most popular online task managers.”

Pen and Paper – “Forget your conventional pencil and paper. Pen and Paper is a state of the art modernized version of the notebook. Pen and Paper enables you to zoom into very small details while you write your notes. Simply pinch and drag with two fingers to zoom and pan. This allows you accurately draw or edit very small details. You can draw with your finger, but you can also double tap easily to add text, and add geometric primitives, arrows, and photos. Move and resize parts of your note easily, with the area selection tool.”

2Do: Tasks Done in Style – “The ToDo List you’ve been waiting for: Zero complication. Zero frustration. Just a stunning to do list you can finally understand and use. Use with Sync or without; Sync to Mac, MobileMe, Outlook (PC) and Toodledo in no time; get Push / Local Notifications and Email alerts; share todos with others and even drag & drop between Calendars! NO other app does these better:”

GoDocs for iPad/iPhone – “The Ultimate solution for Google Docs. With most common document formats support you can read and view all your documents on-the-go, with the ease and speed of iPhone or iPad.”

CountCon – “CountCon uses the latest and greatest technology to provide Countdowns that you set directly on the homescreen icon for CountCon. How does it work? Local notifications are used to show changes in the countdown in realtime on your icon. This eliminates the need to open up an app to see countdown progress!”

Idea Store – “Idea Store. A Place For Your Ideas.”

Documents 2 – “Built on top of the acclaimed documents iPhone suite. Documents 2 is the most comprehensive mobile office suite and file management system for the iPhone. Now with R2.4 Documents 2 also gains native support for iPad making Documents 2 the first and only documents manager that runs universally on all iPhone, iPod, and iPad!”

Sorted – “Sorted 2 is an elegant and simple to-do app, designed to help you sort your everyday tasks. Unlike many other task-oriented apps out there, Sorted 2 gets out of your way and lets you focus on what you need to do. You’ll spend less time managing the app and more time focusing on the task at hand.”

Nebulous Notes (for Dropbox) – “Nebulous Notes is a powerful, yet simple, text editor for note-takers, writers, and coders. (If you want to try-before-you-buy, check out “Nebulous Notes Lite.”) Your notes are backed up and available from Dropbox, the best back-up service in the world. Free accounts on Dropbox come with 2GB of space, enough to store 500 copies of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Nebulous Notes has been featured twice on Lifehacker.com as one of the best tools for getting things done.”

TextExpander – “With TextExpander touch, you create a library of abbreviation shortcuts for snippets of text that you use frequently, such as addresses, URLs, and standard replies. Tap that abbreviation, and it automatically expands to the full snippet. (You can even insert today’s date automatically with the default abbreviation “ddate”!)”

Entertainment

HBO GO – “Watch over 1,400 of your favorite HBO shows, including HBO original programming, hit movies, sports, comedy and much more—now available on iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch!”

feedly – “Feed your mind. Get the best content from your favorite websites delivered to your iPhone and iPad. Powered by Google Reader, Twitter, Instapaper and Read it later. If you are an existing Google Reader user, you can think of feedly mobile as a faster and more visual overlay with lots for sharing options and seamless 2-way integration.”

Netflix – “Get Netflix on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Just download this free app and you can instantly watch TV shows & movies streaming from Netflix.”

Hulu Plus – “Stream thousands of episodes from hundreds of current and classic TV shows to your iPad, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3rd generation iPod Touch, computer, TV, and other devices with a Hulu Plus subscription.”

IMDb Movies & TV – “IMDb is the world’s largest collection of movie, TV and celebrity information. IMDb is the leading app on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to find showtimes, watch trailers, rate movies, browse photo galleries, get US TV listings, find latest DVD releases, explore popular charts and share movie info.”

Movies by Flixster – “Movies by Flixster is the #1 movie app to watch movie trailers, find showtimes, get critics reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, and share your movie ratings with your friends.”

XFINITY TV – “Watch your favorite TV shows and movies on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch – wherever you go. You can also control your TV, search TV Listings and On Demand, and schedule your DVR recordings directly from your device.”

Crackle – Movies & TV – “Finally, watch free movies on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The Da Vinci Code. Big Daddy. Ghostbusters. Joe Dirt and hundreds more: full-length, uncut and free. Plus, top rated TV series like Seinfeld.”

Fandango Movies – “Whether browsing from your couch or the local coffee shop, everything you need to know about ‘what’s in theaters’ is at your fingertips. Fandango’s app makes the moviegoing experience better than ever! ”

Remote – “Control iTunes and Apple TV using your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over your Wi-Fi network. Choose playlists, songs, and albums as if you were right in front of your computer or Apple TV. From anywhere in your home change a song, pick a playlist or browse through your entire library. With a flick of your finger, you can even control every aspect of the Apple TV user interface.”

Cartoon Network Video – “Watch full episodes and clips from your favorite Cartoon Network shows. Find out when your shows are on with the Cartoon Network TV schedule.”

Adult Swim – “The all-new and all-free Adult Swim app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch streams clips and episodes of your favorite Adult Swim shows like Robot Chicken, the Venture Bros., The Boondocks, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, Childrens Hospital, Delocated, Metalocalypse, Squidbillies…you’re not going to make us list them all, are you?”

TuneIn Radio Pro – “Listen to and record over 40,000 radio stations including thousands of AM/FM local stations on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with TuneIn Radio!”

GoodPlayer – “No need to convert the media files before playing it, GoodPlayer can play AVI, Xvid, Divx, WMV ,MKV, RM, RMVB, AC3, HTTP, FTP, RTSP,MMS,MMSH,MMST,RTP and UDP etc. files and streaming directly on iOS devices. Just transfer the media files to your iOS devices by iTunes File Sharing or over Wi-Fi, then it can be played at once. Input a streaming media URL, then it can be played back.It is not only just a local movie player, it is also a network streaming media player.”

The Daily Show – “For the first time ever, The Daily Show is on every screen in your entertainment toolkit. Put the best @#$% app in fake TV news on your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. It’s an iOS universal app that delivers a custom interface depending on your device.”

VLC Streamer – “Sit anywhere in your house and watch movies or TV shows on your iPhone, iPod or iPad. VLC Streamer streams movies from your computer to your iDevice. You can watch anything from your movie collection. No need for complex conversion processes. No need to manually transfer programs to your device.”

Plex – “The Plex application allows you to use your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to browse and play your media (video, photos and music) using the Plex Media Server installed on your Mac or PC. In addition, you can view online media from a variety of sources. If you have Aperture, iPhoto, or iTunes installed you can also stream the content to your mobile device.”

EyeTV – “The EyeTV app turns your iPad and iPhone into the ultimate portable television! It works anywhere you have a 3G or Wi-Fi connection to access the EyeTV software and hardware running on your Mac at home.”

Art & Design

Qvik Sketch Pro – “Qvik Sketch Pro is one those cool things that you just plain need on your iPhone and iPad. Draw sweet looking sketches quickly regardless of your drawing skills. Qvik Sketch Pro makes bad looking pictures look good, and great looking drawings look awesome. Try it, draw it, share it.”

Adobe Ideas – “Adobe Ideas is your digital sketchbook, letting you capture and explore ideas anywhere you go.”

Zen Brush – “Zen Brush is an app that allows you to easily enjoy the feeling of using an ink brush to write or to paint. It allows anyone to easily perform fluent strokes while not compromising on the fascinating texture of a real ink brush. Create works that radiate the right atmosphere by choosing the best background template from our large collection. ”

Games

F-SIM Space Shuttle – “F-SIM Space Shuttle is a highly realistic flight simulator. It simulates the Space Shuttle approach and landing in unprecedented detail and accuracy. Take command of the Orbiter during the final minutes of descent and safely touchdown at John F. Kennedy Space Center or Edwards Air Force Base.”

Infinity Blade – “For untold ages, the God King has ruled with an iron fist – his power is incalculable; his followers, legion. Now you must journey to the Dark Citadel to battle his Titans, one by one, until you face the tyrant himself. As it has been for all in your bloodline, this is your birthright – to free your people from an endless legacy of darkness. The immortal can be vanquished – but only if heart, mind, and steel are one. ”

Bumpy Road – “Spring is here and a couple in their autumn years have decided to go for a ride in their car just like in the old days. Bump the road with a simple touch to safely guide them on their trip and help them collect the memories of their past.”

Death Rally – “This is no Sunday Drive. This is death rally. The classic top down racer is back, stronger and more vicious than ever. Make a run for the finish line with a trail of broken glass and spent brass behind you… along with the flaming wreckage of any fool dumb enough to get in your way.”

World of Goo HD – “Beautiful and surprising, the millions of Goo Balls who live in the World of Goo are curious to explore – but they don’t know that they are in a game, or that they are extremely delicious. Drag and drop living, squirming, talking, globs of goo to build structures, bridges, cannonballs, zeppelins, and giant tongues.”

Stupid Zombies – “Those stupid zombies are back, and you are humanity’s last hope to keep them brainless. One man, one shotgun and lots of stupid zombies.”

Solitaire – “Drag and drop to move cards is supported as well as both portrait and landscape orientations, not all iPhone Solitaire apps support these desirable features. This is your classic game of Solitaire for the iPhone or iPod Touch. Also known as Klondike, this is the most popular version of Solitare.”

Mad Skills Motocross – “Turning a fan-favorite genre on its head, the hyper-addictive Mad Skills Motocross plays and feels like no other side-scrolling racing game. The unparalleled physics engine and unexpected power-ups give you a level of control that you have to play to believe. Launch off an enormous jump, land on your rear wheel, hit the throttle, and leave your opponent in a spray of dirt—then brag about it on Facebook and Twitter!”

Inotia 3: Children of Carnia – “An inevitable fate has lain before the children of Carnia. The far greatest epic adventure! The Chronicles of Inotia III! The new legend is about to begin in the continent of Inotia. You can control each character separately and enhance their skills and stats however you like. Through a story mode, you can not only obtain various characters, but also hire mercenaries with items. Personalize each character by equipping a variety of clothing, weapons and defense weapons. ”

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – “Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an exploratory action adventure with an emphasis on audiovisual style. Traverse a mythic little realm, use a sword to do battle & evoke sworcery to solve mystical musical mysteries. Co-operate with friends via Twitter, experience a videogame world that is affected by moon phases & help a wandering warrior monk complete her woeful errand.”

Age of Zombies – “From Halfbrick, the creators of Fruit Ninja and Monster Dash comes their newest and biggest adventure yet! Lock and load through the history of time as a tough-as-nails commando named Barry Steakfries, who is looking for nothing more than to shoot some zombies and make it back in time for a hearty dinner!”

Gears – “Explore the fanciful world of Gears! A gorgeous 3D physics-based ball roller that redefines the genre, Gears immerses you into adventure with 3 beautifully detailed worlds of 27 unique and challenging levels. Gears will have you on the edge of your seat for hours of gameplay… this is like no game you’ve ever played before.”

TRON: Legacy – “Welcome to TRON City, Program. Race high velocity 3D Light Cycles. Blast targets with the awesome power of a Recognizer. Your objective is not merely survival, it’s glory. With each victory, you will grow closer to becoming the ultimate GRID Game Champion”

Contract Killer – “Pulled into a world of bounty hunters, mobsters and criminals, you must check in with your contacts and accept secret missions that only you can handle. Select your weapon of choice from an inventory of sniper rifles, assault rifles and machine guns. Locate your target, zoom in, take aim and go for the headshot to earn cold hard cash. You might eliminate a crime boss and escape without being spotted, or you might walk straight into an ambush!”

Texas Poker – “Do you love poker? Do you want to play with real people whenever and wherever you want? The only thing you need is your iPhone/iPod touch and internet connection! Now just add a bit of skill and you’ll have your first winnings! It doesn’t really matter whether you are a newbie without basic knowledge of rules or a weathered poker-shark, you will find a table suitable for you. Come and join the club where poker fans from all over the world gather to play and chat about the best poker room in the world.”

Gun Bros – “The Freakishly Rugged Advanced Genetics Galactic Enforcement Division (AKA F.R.A.G.G.E.D) specializes in the development and deployment of superhuman special agents. Headed since its formation by the brilliant soldier-turned-scientist Mother Gun, its current roster consists of only two active field operatives, code-named Percy and Francis Gun. Their lifelong mission: to protect the cosmos from the Tyrannical Oppressors of Life known as T.O.O.L.”

Photography

iMovie – “Make beautiful HD movies anywhere with iMovie, the fast and fun moviemaking app for iPhone, iPod touch, and the amazing new iPad 2. Designed for the Multi-Touch screen, iMovie puts everything you need to tell your story at your fingertips.”

Phoster – “With stylish templates which are already within the application, you will be able to create posters without great effort.?When you get the job done of first step making posters, you can utilize various effects and decorates to complete the chic posters your own.”

PhotoSync – “PhotoSync will transform your photo handling forever. It‘s the first app that makes wireless transfer of your photos/videos from/to your Computer, other devices, Dropbox, and Flickr a breeze. You will never want to use a cable again!”

FlickStackr – “FlickStackr brings Flickr photo sharing to the iPad. Designed from the ground up for the larger screen, it allows you to browse photos in the Flickr universe. upload photos, and edit your photos’ metadata.”

Instagallery – “View a gallery of Instagram photos in comfort on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. See some popular photos or sign in to to see photos from the people you follow, view your own photos, “like” photos, read and add comments, see what users your friends follow, etc.”

TiltShift – “Transform a scene into a miniature world. This application simulates a tilt-shift lens that tricks your mind into viewing a photo as a miniature scene like a model railroad for example.”

QuickShot with Dropbox – “QuickShot simplifies the process of uploading photos to Dropbox. Every picture you take is immediately uploaded without the need for any additional actions. It has all the familiar camera features found in other apps, plus a few not found anywhere else. Queue multiple photos, upload photos in the background, and access all of the standard camera functionality from QuickShot’s simple interface.”

Utilities

Find My iPhone – “Find My iPhone is now free for anyone with an iPhone 4, iPad, or 4th generation iPod touch (iOS 4.2 required). Just sign in with your Apple ID on your qualifying device and turn on Find My iPhone to enable your device to be located.”

Weather HD – “Weather HD, the most beautiful way to check for weather information on the iPad and the iPhone. See the current and forecast weather in stunning high definition videos.”

Free Wi-Fi Finder – “Instantly find free Wi-Fi Internet hotspots wherever you are in the world online or offline! JiWire’s Global free Wi-Fi app uses your iPhone’s GPS and network triangulation capabilities to locate free Wi-Fi Internet access.”

iHome+Sleep – “iHome+Sleep is the award-winning, feature-rich alarm clock for iOS devices from iHome.”

AppShopper – “AppShopper keeps you up to date on the newest App Store Apps, sales and freebies. Organize apps in your own customized Wish List and automatically get notified when there is a sale or update. ”

Quick Alarm – “The Quick Alarm application is a simple alarm clock for iPad, iPhone or iPod. Enjoy it on your dock station! Absolutely free for all time.”

Stash Free – “Stash is a private photo, video, and document organizer, slideshow viewer, web browser, and download manager all in one!”

Air Display – “Ever wish you had an extra display for your Mac or Windows computer? There’s an app for that! With Air Display, you can use your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch as a wireless display, to extend your computer desktop.”

Night Stand HD – Alarm Clock – “With Night Stand HD Pro, we’ve taken our bestselling hit for iPhone and the groundbreaking iPad version and rolled them into a single Universal app. With a stunning new Ninth clock theme, powerful new stopwatch, support for background alarms in iOS 4 and exclusive Retina Display optimization for iPhone 4 & iPod touch 4G, Night Stand version 1.5 is the best, most feature-complete time utility on the App Store.”

Calculator – “Have you ever need a portable calculator? Now is the time to introduce our new Calculator. Have a real calculator on your pocket. Use it anywhere just like a real calculator. We bring this app to you right at your finger tips! ”

Print – “Print and Share documents and files, email attachments, photos, webpages and more with your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Print is the ultimate Print App for any iOS device.”

Rowmote Pro – “Rowmote Pro is the ultimate wireless remote, trackpad, and keyboard. A gorgeous universal app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, with everything from a multitouch trackpad to full extended keyboard support, and with no-configuration control of dozens of the best Mac applications, it is a must-have for any home media center or presentation!”

iDownloader – “iDownloader is a powerful but lightweight download manager. You can download videos, music, photos, documents, really anything on the go!”

Prompt – “Introducing Prompt: the best SSH client for your iPad or iPhone. Prompt is clean, crisp, and cheerful: the SSH client that helps you when you need it, and stays out of your way when you don’t.”

Unzip – “With Unzip (from Mail and Safari) you can open ZIP files out of the Mail or Safari application. The ZIP files will be unzipped automatically and you can browse, view and delete your files.”

Mover+ – “Mover+ is the quickest way to move stuff from iPhone A to iPhone B, with style. Put what you want to send on the Mover table, connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and flick it offscreen where you want it to go!”

Ruler 2 – “While conventional rulers involve mentally discerning measurements from small markings, using Ruler is just a matter of dragging the pointer: Precise, fully formatted measurements appear instantly. It makes wooden rulers feel so… analog.”

Web Browsers & Social Networking

Mercury Web Browser Pro – “Mercury is the the most advanced and elegant web browser for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The rich feature set includes themes, downloading, printing, fullscreen browsing, file sharing, adblock, tabs, multi touch geatures, user agent switcher, private browsing, passcode lock, save page, Facebook/Twitter integration and a lot more.”

Free Full Screen Private Browsing – “Finally, you can view all your websites privately and in full screen for free! This is the simple, no frills web browser you’ve been waiting for.”

Cloud Browse – “Frustrated by error messages when attempting to view Flash videos or use Java applications in MobileSafari? Cloud Browse unlocks all Flash and Java content on all your iOS devices by running a desktop Firefox browser on our secure servers so you can enjoy a full desktop web experience.”

Puffin Web Browser – “Puffin Web Browser is a fast browser to view the full version of websites and enjoy millions of videos on your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.”

iCab Mobile – “iCab Mobile is a web browser for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is probably one of the iPhone browsers with the richest feature set. It provides many unique and useful features you won’t find in other iPhone browsers.”

Yahoo! Messenger – “Stay connected with your friends—anytime, anywhere with Yahoo! Messenger. Whether they’re on the iPad, mobile or PC, call them with free voice and video. Send free text messages. Or share photos and videos with your Messenger contacts in real-time. And now, this new improved Yahoo! Messenger app has been optimized for the iPad!”

IM+ – “All-in-One app for GTalk, Yahoo, MSN/Live Messenger, AIM/iChat, ICQ, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Jabber. Now with Neighbors!”

Facely for Facebook HD + Chat – “Only Facely gives you a consistent, customized Facebook experience with as much personality as you have! Optimized for the high definition touch screens of iPad and iPhone 4, and easily customized to match your mood, you’ll soon wonder how you ever lived without it. With Facely you can do everything you want on Facebook.”

HootSuite for Twitter – “Compose and Converse on the Go. HootSuite for iOS is the perfect social media tool for Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.”

Twitterrific for Twitter – “Now a universal app for both iPad & iPhone, Twitterrific is the friendly, award-winning Twitter client that’s beautiful to look at easy to use and full of elegant features. Effortlessly read and compose tweets, search Twitter.com, filter message types and much more.”

Textie Messaging – “The creators of Tweetie and Borange are proud to present Textie Messaging, the unlimited texting app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. If you and a friend both have iPhones but are still paying to text each other, we definitely recommend you try using Textie Messaging instead–and communicate for free.”

Echofon for Twitter – “Echofon is an easy to use, super-fast Twitter app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.”

TwitBird free for Twitter – “Twitbird is a super-fast Twitter client loaded with unique features that’s a joy to use on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It includes many of the cool features that you’ve seen separately in other Twitter clients but rarely together. ”

Boxcar – “Boxcar has Twitter, Facebook, Email, RSS, Growl, Github, Google Voice, Google Buzz, App Recommendation, and more push notifications just for you.”

Miso – Social TV – “What are you watching? Miso is the best way to connect with friends around what you watch. ”

LiveJournal – “LiveJournal is a unique social network that allows users around the world to find each other through journaling and interest-based communities. LiveJournal App for the iPhone offers many of LiveJournal’s core features. You can read your friends page, manage your friends list, post entries to your journal and communities, upload photos, communicate with other LiveJournal users and more!”

Spout – “Introducing Spout, the newest way to enjoy news, messages, tweets and comments; delivered to your screen as a beautifully rendered up-to-the-second display of social content. ”

Trickle for Twitter – “Trickle is a passive Twitter client. Simply launch Trickle and let it do its thing.”

What Are Your Favorite Universal Apps?

The apps above are all a great deal because you’re essentially getting two applications rolled into one. Some are nearly identical across the two platforms, but others, such as Evernote, are barely recognizable as the same app.

Leave a comment below and let us know which universal apps are your favorite? Which ones do you think offer the best experience that’s been custom-tailored to fully take advantage of both the iPhone and iPad?

An iPhone can be a powerful memory aid — jot down a note or a phone number without hunting for paper and a pen, or take a quick picture of anything you’d like to remember, from bus schedules to business cards. Sometimes, however, we lose track of the context of the many pictures on our phones, I still can’t remember the address of the apartment building I took a photo of last month.

Notica allows you to easily add context and style to your iPhone photos, including date, location, notes and filter effects. Let’s take a look at how Notica promises to make your memories more informative and stylish.

Interface and Design

Notica features a richly textured, appealing interface, with beautiful details and a consistent “notecard” analogy. The purple color scheme may be a bit feminine for some users, but it looks great with the wood background.

Interacting with Notica is overall a pleasant experience, and most of the app behaved as you would expect, save for some awkward interactions with the “new image/video” interface.

Adding Notecards

Adding Images/Videos

To add a new image to Notica, you can either take a picture from within the app or add one from the camera roll. I found this to be the most confusing and unintuitive part of Notica, because it wasn’t at all obvious how to add images from the camera roll. The button to add a new image has a camera icon on it, so you’d think that would take you straight to the camera interface, but instead it takes you to the “new notecard” interface. The option to use existing camera roll photos is within the camera interface itself, and even then it’s not a very obvious option.

To add an image from your iPhone’s camera roll, click the camera button to bring up the “new notecard” screen, then select “photo/movie”, and hit the icon with the two rectangles in the lower left-hand corner.

Another gripe with the camera view is the “back” button is labeled “off,” and if I had an iPhone 4, I’d assume that was referring to the flash.

After taking or importing a picture, you can choose from a number of effects for your photo, which are mostly your basic color effects that you’d find included in an app like Camera+. Since it takes a while to load all the previews, I would have appreciated being able to skip this step.

Adding Details

Once you’ve got your image processed, you’re given the option to add a note about the image and assign a location. You can use the geolocator to input your location automatically, or manually enter it yourself.

Viewing and Organizing

Scrolling through notecards was my favourite part of Notica, flick through them just like you would in the camera roll, the notecards are attractive and have easy options for editing, deleting and moving them.

Notecards are organized in groups, you can add your own by hitting “edit” on the main screen, where you can specify a name and cover picture for your group.  You can also search the text in your notes by dragging down on the screen.

Sharing

You can share notecards via Twitter, Tumblr, Email or Facebook with the “down” arrow at the bottom of each notecard. I tried sharing a notecard on Twitter, it automatically uploaded to twitpic and tweeted the link from my account. The notecards somehow don’t look quite as elegant as they do in the app, but I appreciated how easy the sharing feature was, and the Tumblr integration is a nice touch.

Mapping

If you’ve used the geolocator to add a location to one of your notecards, you can click on the address when viewing it and it plots it in a map view, you can also choose to view the address in the native Map application.

Performance

I like the idea of Notica, and it has a really beautiful interface that I enjoy using. However, I’m not sure I’d be able to use this app regularly because it’s just too slow. The biggest issue is adding effects to images — both the previews and the processing take quite a while on my 3G. Though I imagine Notica runs much more smoothly on an iPhone 4, I’d appreciate the option to skip the image effects.

Conclusion

I’m sure some of you are wondering what the point is of an app like Notica, which doesn’t seem to have any functionality not found in existing apps. For taking picture notes with text, people sometimes suggest Evernote, but Evernote is neither as fun or visually appealing as Notica. If I had a faster phone, I could see myself using Notica to record things like gift ideas, favourite meals, quick recipes, or even design ideas.

That being said, Notica has a couple of usability flaws I wasn’t too keen on, mostly relating to unintuitive labelling of buttons and interactions. If you’re willing to be a bit patient when you first start using Notica, I can see it being a really useful, beautiful way to store memories, both as reminders and as keepsakes.

The video on the next page features a prototype for an “invisible” iPhone created by researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany. Basically, the idea is that with your iPhone in your pocket, you can hold your hand out and move your finger around on it as if you were holding your phone, and those movements will be picked up by a motion sensor elsewhere, and then sent back to your handset. In other words, just by moving a finger around on your empty hand, the plan is that you can answer and control your iPhone.

Unfortunately, the current implementation requires a camera to be mounted above you, and sends the signals back via Wi-Fi through another device as well, so it’s not exactly easily usable (or cheap, probably). But the eventual idea is that the depth camera observing your actions would be wearable, so whenever you’re in a situation where it would be more work to actually get out your phone, the camera would allow you to control things with just a few motions.

Seems interesting — if the researchers working on the project can pull it off without you looking like a nut, poking at your hand.

Continue reading ‘Invisible’ touchscreen prototype tested with iPhone

‘Invisible’ touchscreen prototype tested with iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 23 May 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Personally, I wouldn’t deliberately drop my iPad 2 on cement, but the folks at SquareTrade were crazy enough to let not one, but two iPads fall to a sidewalk. The first drop was waist-high and included both a bare iPad 2 and one encased in a smart cover. As expected, the naked iPad suffered a cracked screen so bad it will make you cringe. The iPad with the smart cover, though, survived unscathed.

Taking the test one step further, the group dropped the smart cover iPad from shoulder height which is about a four to five foot drop. Sadly, the second trial ended poorly for the iPad 2. The smart cover popped off from the impact and the screen suffered some peripheral damage. It wasn’t a total loss as the screen was not shattered, but the cracks on the edge and in the center would make it difficult to use. Read on to check out the video of the tests in action.

Continue reading SquareTrade torture tests the iPad 2 by dropping it on cement

SquareTrade torture tests the iPad 2 by dropping it on cement originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 23 May 2011 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A year and a half after this issue first cropped up, developer Mobigame has finally gotten a trademark on the term “Edge” as used in video games. As you can see from the image posted by the developer, they now have the right, under international law, to use the name Edge for their game, which should bring an end to the trouble of the man who was suing anyone on the App Store who happened to publish a game with the word “Edge” in the name.

As Mobigame says in their tweet, “the battle is finally over.” Edge is, incidentally, still available on the App Store as a universal app, for the current price of $2.99.

Mobigame nails down international trademark on ‘Edge’ originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 23 May 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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