I-phone – Page 3638 – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Fix Error 3194 When Restoring Stock or Custom Firmware

Users often reports error 3194 when restoring either stock, or custom firmware / iOS. These are the steps to fix error 3194 when restoring custom / stock firmware on iPhone / iPad / iPad.

iTunes error 3194 usually appears when you’re trying to restore an unsigned firmware, often during an iOS downgrade or even during some restores. If you run into Error 3194 from iTunes, you can temporarily fix 3194 error by pointing iTunes to Cydia’s SHSH server where you’ve SHSH blobs saved for that particular firmwares.

Occurs when trying to install an old firmware and Apple’s server disallows the installation. The only solution is to have SHSH backup and modify the hosts file to point to Saurik’s Cydia Server where they are backed up (or localhost if you have it yourself).

*** If you’re getting iTunes error 3194 with the latest firmware (Signed iOS) then simply remove the Cydia’s SHSH server IP, if it’s already in the Hosts file. It’s the reverse of the process explained below.

“The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (3194).”

How to Fix iTunes Error 3194

You can fix iTunes error 3194 by adding Cydia’s SHSH Caching Server to the hosts file. You can do this either by using TinyUmbrella or you can also manually edit the hosts file. We’re going to explain both methods.

Fix iTunes Error 3194 [TinyUmbrella]

To add Cydia’s SHSH Caching Server to the Hosts file:

Download TinyUmbrella;

Launch TinyUmbrella, go to the “Advanced” tab and check “Set Hosts to Cydia on Exit”;

Click on “Apply Changes” and then reboot your PC/Mac.

Put your iDevice into DFU Mode and Try restoring it via iTunes.

Fix iTunes Error 3194 [Manually]

Close iTunes.

Locate the Hots file:

Windows:
Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ and locate hosts file.
Open and edit the hosts file in Notepad.
Note: Win 7 and Vista users MUST run Notepad with admin privileges. Right click on Notepad app and select Run as Administrator.
Mac OS X:
Go to \etc\ directory and locate hosts file. Copy it on your desktop
Open the hosts file in TextEdit.

Add the following lines to the very bottom of the hosts file:
74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com
remove any other line that contains gs.apple.com

Put your iDevice into DFU Mode and Try restoring it via iTunes.

That’s it! You should now be able to successfully restore the desired older firmware (if SHSH saved).

You can follow us on Twitter, Google Buzz, Facebook, and Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

Also checkout:

Fix 16xx and 29 error During Custom Firmware Restore

Apple working on text-to-speech and speech-to-text conversion for iPhone

It looks like Apple is working on several voice integration options for the iPhone. The latest evidence of this is a patent for text-to-speech and speech-to-text converter.

Here is more info from Patently Apple:

According to a new Apple patent application that was published this morning by the US Patent and Trademark Office, future iPhone’s are likely to provide end users with effective new ways of communicating in both noisy environments like a restaurant or even during a quiet office meeting without stirring a mouse. The system involves using new text-to-speech and speech-to-text converters as well as providing a means of sending prerecorded notifications to the caller if you’re unable to speak when answering your phone. I think that many will appreciate these new features and only hope that Apple could get these to market in good time.

Read the full report from Patently Apple.

Analysis: Online Banner Advertising – Is it Worth It For Apps?

Being able to get more downloads from your app can be critical to moving up in the app store, and turning your app into a hit.

In-app advertising is commonly used, but what about those banners and buttons that you see on iOS related websites? Are they really worth it? It is tough to tell. What about Google Adwords?

It is difficult to measure the success of any iOS app related marketing campaign. Cocoanetics has created an analysis of their own marketing campaigns through specific on-site banner advertising and Google Adwords.

You can read the analysis here:
What does it cost to advertise your product/site?

Looks like they really had mixed success. Something you need to remember about app advertising campaigns – it is almost impossible to be profitable with direct sales. You need to pay attention to any increased sales from moving up within the app store.

iOS Device Controlled Robotic Ball Releases SDK

On this site I have listed many different open source libraries that allow you to easily add useful features into your iOS apps. I often do this by browsing Github for updated open source libraries.

Today while browsing, I found something totally different, and off the wall. A robotic ball that can be controlled through iOS devices.

Check out this video:

The ball is known as Sphero, and what it is, is a robotic ball for which direction can be controlled through an iOS device connected via bluetooth, and the ball can also light up thousands of different colors. Developers will be able to add support for Sphero in their apps using the Orbotix iOS SDK available here:
http://developer.orbotix.com/docs/ios

Sphero is expected to be out by the end of the year, at about $99. Obviously no one knows how big this thing will be, but if you’re like me and you find the idea of controlling any kind of robot with your iPhone to be cool then you will want to check it out.

Best Resources In iOS Development May 16th 2011

The best resources in iOS development covers resources which have been listed on this site.

This latest edition features sample games written with the Corona SDK, and HTML5. Open source libraries allowing for user interface enhancements. Tutorials on Game Center, Xcode 4, and more.

Especially noticeable has been an increase in the number of people looking for information on using Apple’s Xcode 4 ide. For this reason I have created the Xcode 4 tutorial and guide page where I will be listing the most useful Xcode 4 information which I come across.

Open Source: Fruit Ninja Type Example Game With The Corona SDK – Sample code for a fruit cutting game made with the Corona SDK.

Open Source: Orbium Game (HTML5 Based – Available on iPhone/iPad) – Source code for a complex puzzle game written to run in your web browser.

Open Source: Simple Drop-In In Line Browser View Component – Great component for those looking to show web pages within their apps with essential features such as page titles, forward/back buttons, and more.

Open Source: iPad Style UIPopover Clone For iPhone – Add popover’s into your iPhone apps for increased interactivity.

Tutorial: Game Center Basics – Leaderboards And Achievements – Tutorials for beginners to Game Center covering the essentials for working with Game Center leader boards and achievements.

Tutorial: Multiplayer Game Using Game Center – Tutorial featuring the creation of a simple game using Cocos2D, and adding multiplayer functionality using Game Center.

Xcode 4 Review And Feature Guide – A review of Xcode 4 that also acts as a great guide for those looking to understand the added features in Xcode 4.

Open Source: Game Center Achievement Notification Popup Generator – Drop-in library allowing you to add achievement notifications styled to look like other Game Center notifications.

Microsoft Releases iOS Library For Bing Maps – Microsoft has released a library allowing you to add Bing maps into our iPhone and iPad apps.

Tutorials: Xcode 4 Beginner Screencasts – Great set of screencasts from the Pragmatic Programmers for beginners to the Xcode 4 ide.

Thanks for reading, please share and bookmark this post!

How to receive text data from server in iPhone.

In this application we will see how to fetch data from server and replace it to the view in iPhone. This is very simple example. So let see how it will work.

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

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 UIViewController class in the project. So select the project -> New File -> Cocoa Touch -> ViewController subclass and give the class name “DisplayData”.

Step 4: In the ReceiveDataViewController.h file, we need to define DisplayData class , create instance of UIButton class and define one IBAction: method. So make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@class DisplayData;

@interface ReceiveDataViewController : UIViewController {

UIButton *button;
DisplayData *displayData;

}

@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIButton *button;

–(IBAction)DisplayData:(id)sender;

@end

Step 5: Double click the ReceiveDataViewController.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder. First drag the button from the library and place it to the view window. Select the UIButton and bring up Connection Inspector, connect Touch Up Inside to File’s Owner icon and select DisplayData: method. Now save the Interface Builder and go back to the Xcode.

Step 6: Open the ReceiveDataViewController.m file and make the following changes:

#import "ReceiveDataViewController.h"
#import "DisplayData.h"

@implementation ReceiveDataViewController

@synthesize button;

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

– (void)dealloc
{
[super dealloc];
}

– (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];

}

#pragma mark – View lifecycle

– (void)viewDidUnload
{
[super viewDidUnload];

}

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

@end

Step 7: Now open DisplayData.h file and make the following changes:

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface DisplayData : UIViewController {

NSMutableData *webData;
UIScrollView *titleScrollView;
UITextView *textView;
UIActivityIndicatorView* loadIndicator;
}

@property(nonatomic, retain) NSMutableData *webData;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet UIScrollView *titleScrollView;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIActivityIndicatorView *loadIndicator;
– (void)ActivityIndigator;

@end

Step 8: Double click the DisplayData.xib file and open it to the Interface Builder, first drag the scrollview from the library and place it to the view window and connect File’s Owner icon to the view window and select titleScrollView. Now save the .xib file and go back to the Xcode.

Step 9: Open the DisplayData.m file and make the following changes:

#import "DisplayData.h"

@implementation DisplayData

@synthesize webData,titleScrollView,loadIndicator;

– (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)ActivityIndigator
{
loadIndicator =
[[UIActivityIndicatorView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(130, 200, 40, 40)];
loadIndicator.activityIndicatorViewStyle = UIActivityIndicatorViewStyleWhiteLarge;

[loadIndicator startAnimating];

[self.view addSubview:loadIndicator];

[loadIndicator release];

}

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

[self ActivityIndigator];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.chakrainteractive.com/mob//ReceiveData/Data.txt"];
NSMutableURLRequest *theRequest = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];

NSURLConnection *theConnection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:theRequest delegate:self];

if( theConnection )
{
webData = [[NSMutableData data] retain];

}
else
{

}

–(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
{
[webData setLength: 0];
}
–(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data
{

[webData appendData:data];

}
–(void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error
{

UIAlertView *alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error"
message : @"An error has occured.Please verify your internet connection."
delegate:nil
cancelButtonTitle :@"OK"
otherButtonTitles :nil];
[alert show];
[alert release];

[loadIndicator removeFromSuperview ];

[connection release];
[webData release];
}
–(void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection
{

NSLog(@"DONE. Received Bytes: %d", [webData length]);

NSString *loginStatus = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes: [webData mutableBytes] length:[webData length] encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

textView = [[UITextView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(5, 30, 320,400)]; //size.height-30 )];
textView.text = loginStatus;
[textView setFont:[UIFont systemFontOfSize:14]];
[textView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]];
[textView setTextColor:[UIColor blackColor]];
textView.editable = NO;
textView.dataDetectorTypes = UIDataDetectorTypeNone;

[loadIndicator removeFromSuperview ];

[titleScrollView addSubview:textView];

[loginStatus release];

[textView release];

[connection release];
[webData release];

}

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

@end

Step 10: Now Compile and run the application in Simulator.

You can Download SourceCode from here ReceiveData

Fortune’s ‘Inside Apple’ article lands on Kindle Top 10 Bestseller list

I write for an Apple-centric site, so I know how much people love any information they can get about Apple. Even so, I never thought such information would land on Amazon’s Kindle Bestseller list, but that’s exactly what happened this week.

Earlier this month we told you about Adam Lashinsky’s “Inside Apple” article for Fortune. In it Lashinsky relays several previously-untold Steve Jobs anecdotes and Apple company traditions. The article was only available to subscribers of Fortune magazine and wasn’t posted on the company’s website. Non-subscribers also could also buy the iPad edition of the magazine for US$4.99. However, in an interesting (and calculated) move, Fortune also decided to sell the article for $0.99 on the Kindle store. This resulted in a single article landing on the Top 10 Paid Bestseller list among books like Eric Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts and James Patterson’s 10th Anniversary.

Some people’s take on this is that publishers have found a new revenue source for full-featured journalism stories. I think that’s doubtful. No one is going to start paying per-article for news, no matter what the length of the article. Instead, I think this just shows how enamored our culture is with Apple products and Steve Jobs. Many people want any information they can get about Apple, and lots of them are willing to pay for it. No wonder Apple has become the most valuable brand in the world.

Fortune’s ‘Inside Apple’ article lands on Kindle Top 10 Bestseller list originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: A decade of Apple retail

This Sunday night, we’re celebrating ten years of Apple’s retail stores with an hour of chat about the unlikely success and remarkable story of the little shops that could. Got a great retail experience to share, positive or otherwise? Pop in and let us know.

[We were fortunate to have our buddy Ross Rubin as a guest tonight, along with Gary Allen from ifoapplestore.com — be sure to catch the show on iTunes! -MR]

We’ll also tackle the news of the week plus your questions and comments — and if there’s time afterward, there’s always the TUAWTF aftershow (never recorded, often regretted).

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the TalkShoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 PM EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (yay for free cell phone weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you’ve got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Blink or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here (if you like Blink, the pro version is available in the Mac App Store). Talk to you tonight.

Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET: A decade of Apple retail originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 15 May 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help find a Dvorak Keyboard for the Mac

Dear Aunt TUAW,

A coworker of mine is wondering if Auntie knows of a good Mac-friendly Dvorak keyboard. Do you know of one?

Your loving nephew,

Continue reading Dear Aunt TUAW: Help find a Dvorak Keyboard for the Mac

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help find a Dvorak Keyboard for the Mac originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 15 May 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More evidence of camera flash changes in next iPhone

Earlier we reported on a rumored “iPhone 5” case which suggested that Apple has decided to move the iPhone’s camera flash farther away from the camera lens. Now Asian Apple site Apple.pro has posted images comparing the iPhone 4’s camera components with purported iPhone 5 (or iPhone 4S) camera components.

The alleged iPhone 5 camera components show that the rear camera does not come with a flash attached as it does in the iPhone 4. These images in addition to the earlier iPhone 5 case suggests that the next iPhone will indeed sport minor hardware tweaks. Last week Apple.pro posted more images of a next-generation iPod nano with a rear camera and they were the first to post an image of a small touchscreen that later made its way into the sixth-generation iPod nano.

[via 9to5 Mac]

More evidence of camera flash changes in next iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 15 May 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

10 years of Apple Stores: a retrospective

Ten years ago, on May 15, 2001, the world got its first look at an Apple retail store as Steve Jobs gave the press a tour of the Tysons Corner Apple Store in McLean, Virginia. Four days later, that store and another in Glendale, California officially opened for business.

Today, over 320 Apple Stores have opened across 11 countries, and that original Glendale store has gained cult status.* Huge “flagship” stores greet shoppers in Chicago, San Francisco, Sydney, New York and Glasgow, among others. There’s a store inside Paris’ Louvre Museum, and the world’s largest Apple Store stands tall (and wide and deep) in London.

To acknowledge Apple’s incredible achievement, we’ve put together this modest retrospective. Enjoy the journey, and share your Apple retail experiences in the comments.

Continue reading 10 years of Apple Stores: a retrospective

10 years of Apple Stores: a retrospective originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 15 May 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Microsoft Buys Skype, Time to Switch to FaceTime?

As we all know, when Microsoft jumps off on its own on some endeavor, the results are uncertain at best. The software giant is definitely no stranger to success, but you have to admit, doomed projects like the Zune and Kin aren’t exactly rare (Microsoft fans, feel free to rant about the Netwon and G4 Power Cube).

What Microsoft is good at is using its mountains of capital to acquire companies that are successfully innovative and this week they reached a deal with Skype for their biggest acquisition yet at $8.5 billion. This is an interesting move that has everyone speculating on just what Microsoft plans to do with everyone’s favorite chat client. Following is a brief discussion on what you can expect both as a Skype user and a Mac/iPhone owner.

Skype for Mac

Skype for Mac and iPhone Will Live On

Naturally, when Microsoft purchases a product that is as ubiquitous as Skype, you can’t help but wonder if it’s in their best interest to further pursue development on other platforms, especially those that could be considered competition.

However, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated clearly that Microsoft “will continue to invest in Skype on non-Microsoft client platforms” (ComputerWorld). Ballmer appropriately went on to point out that they already have a “track record” for such ventures with the Microsoft Office Suite, which has had a Mac presence for decades.

However, it’s interesting to note that this short-term and not-well-defined promise does leave open the possibility of offering incentives for users to switch to a Windows platform. This could easily take the form of added features that you won’t be able to take advantage of on anything with an Apple or Android logo.

Skype for iPhone

Despite these concerns, I don’t really see Microsoft limiting Skype for any users anytime soon. Skype is a strong product with a loyal user base and there’s no way Ballmer and his gang will start alienating significant groups of users for at least a few years. I do expect though that any significant upgrades will appear on Microsoft’s own platforms first, with delayed rollouts to everyone else. Who could resist a little nepotism?

You can bet though that in the short run, Microsoft will be focused on convincing users that the new ownership agreement is a good thing, which brings us to a very important question.

Is This Good or Bad for Skype Users?

This question is a complicated one and to be completely honest, right now it’s anyone’s guess. The benefits are obvious. Microsoft has tons of resources to make Skype bigger and better than it’s ever been. Further, if you own a Windows Phone or an Xbox, you’ll definitely reap the benefits of a sudden partnership with one of the best video-conferencing tools on the planet.

Those are solid reasons to be excited about the acquisition. The potential problem of course is that it’s still Microsoft. They’re a huge company whose focus is rarely clearly defined and seems to change often. Right now, Skype is the big hero getting all of the attention, but what will Microsoft do with it in five years if it doesn’t meet expectations?

We’ve all seen cases of services that we love being acquired and ultimately ignored. As an example, in 2005, Yahoo scooped up Delicious, which seemed like it would be a good thing at the time. Unfortunately, the result was that Delicious eventually went stagnant enough for Yahoo to abandon it completely and it is now being offloaded to the founders of YouTube.

Despite the fact that Microsoft just paid an ungodly amount of money for Skype, it’s not too hard for me to imagine them losing interest down the line when a new trend comes along that they think is worthy of emulating or purchasing.

On the other hand, if there’s one safe bet right now in tech, it’s better, richer forms of communication. Apple sees FaceTime as the casual phone conversation of the future, so Microsoft answering that with Skype is just about the strongest play they can make. It certainly seems like it has a lot of potential to be the one phone/text/video chat client that everyone has regardless of their platform. FaceTime certainly can’t make the same claim.

Conclusion

The good news is that, in the short term, you don’t have to worry about your Skype service. It will continue to be a great product that exists on just about every platform that you could want, including the iPhone. In fact, it’s so good and so ubiquitous that Apple should be scratching their heads to find a way to get us to use their product instead.

Further, Microsoft seems like they will incorporate Skype so deeply into their products that it’s unlikely that they will be able to do anything but push it forward for years to come. You can expect to see Skype-based communication play a big role in the future of Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and other Microsoft clients.

For the long term, we’ll just have to wait and see which route Microsoft decides to take for development of the Skype clients on other platforms. Hopefully, the suddenly vast financial backing will be a good thing for us all. If not, there’s always iChat and FaceTime!

What do you think? Is Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype a good or bad thing for the Skype user base as a whole? What about the subgroup of Skype users that aren’t on Microsoft platforms?

Weekly Poll: Business or Pleasure? How Do You Use Your iPhone?

Business or Pleasure? How Do You Use Your iPhone?online survey

In today’s poll we ask a simple question: How do you use your iPhone? Apart from being plain curious, we are always trying to structure and evolve our content so that it’s more appealing to you, our readers.

You can help us do that right now by giving us a good idea of what you’re generally doing when you open an app. Are you looking to get something done for work like checking on today’s todo list or finding the fastest route to the airport? Or are you mostly using it for personal endeavors as you check out Facebook and listen to Pandora?

Vote in the poll on the right and then leave a comment below with your top three apps that you open the most on your iPhone. Not your favorites mind you, but the apps that you actually use daily!

As always, thanks for your participation and for supporting AppStorm!

Labelbox: Beautiful Photo Labeling

Photo labeling may not be something you are normally familiar with and to be honest I was the same until I found Labelbox. A fairly new iOS application by Stepcase. Labelbox has been taking the App Store by storm recently, being downloaded over a million times in less than a month.

Labelbox makes labeling photos exceptionally easy in an aesthetically pleasing way, and with great end results. Photo labeling may not be your thing, but have a go at this and see if it changes your mind, it did mine!

Getting Started

How to use Labelbox

This is a free app that makes the entire process of taking the picture, adding a label and uploading or saving it very straight forward. Upon opening the application you are presented with a quick introduction on how to use the app. Simply tapping the arrow at the bottom of the screen will bring up the drawer below where you can take a new picture or select from your gallery, and then proceed with tagging.

Labeling A Photo

The process of labeling

Once you have taken your picture it is very easy from there on. It is simply a case of picking your desired ‘tape’ by sliding along the bottom drawer. There are many to choose from, ranging from girly pink ones to plain masking tape and even more that you can buy for $1. In the image above you can see that I chose the simple masking tape and just by dragging your finger across the picture you can chose how you want it to apply it.

Once you have done that you can enter your text, in this case it was the lovely view of the Swiss Alps from my balcony, and if you make a mistake you can either hold down on the tape and see it slowly fade away into non-existence, or an easier way if you have several is to shake the phone to remove all tapes. Making an labeled image is great, but there’s no point doing it if you can’t do anything with it; fortunately Labelbox makes saving it easy. Just press the button second from the left along the bottom and it will save the image right into your phone.

Steply integration

Being in the social age that we live in, people don’t just want to keep these images for themselves, they want to share it with their friends. You could download this image onto your phone and then share it using the iPhone’s default options, but what the company Stepcase is more commonly known for is their photo-sharing site called Steply, and as you might have guessed Labelbox has great integration with Steply.

Sharing photos with Steply

You can access the photo sharing options just by pressing either the ‘S’ button along the bottom or the arrow pointing up button, both of which will prompt you to create a Steply account. As you can see I don’t have any friends yet on Steply because I only recently set it up and have yet to sync it with either Facebook or Twitter, but when you do it shares it with them.

Steply is a hit and miss to be honest. If you already use Steply and have lots of friends then you will love this added feature, however if you are not a previous user and only sign up for it because of Labelbox then it probably won’t be that beneficial to you. This is, I presume, why they released this app in the first place, to bring new users to their image sharing site. Nonetheless, one can not complain when it provides extra functionality without sacrificing anything else.

Design & Interface

As you can see from the various the various screenshots, this app is stunningly well designed in my opinion. The wooden finish is very well done and when choosing the labels it looks so realistic and even the ‘Tape’ is well designed and when you use it has that sound you might expect when sticking down some tape. All of this helps to create a much better user experience, making labeling your photos actually enjoyable, rather than a chore.

Conclusion

As previously stated photo labeling may not have been something that you normally do but the idea makes sense. It is more useful for those postcard-like moments that you want to share rather that every single photo you take, and due to the ease and pleasure you get from using Labelbox anyone can get those pictures looking great for everyone to see in practically no time at all.

Labelbox could do with some improvements, like ability to share directly via Facebook, but at the grand price of Free there’s not much you can complain about and is definitely worth a try.

A clock of all trades for your iPad

There’s no shortage of clocks and timers for the iPad. One of the most complete is Clock Pro for the iPad, which is on sale this weekend for US$1.99.

Clock Pro is an alarm clock and uses notifications so you can get that important wake-up alert without leaving the app running. There is both an analog and digital clock design, a chess clock, a world clock, sunrise, sunset and tide clocks, a sleep timer, an egg timer and a countdown clock. Most clocks can run full screen and are beautifully rendered. We took a brief look at this app last year when it was $5.99 and gave it a positive review. Now it supports multi-tasking, and it’s 4 bucks cheaper.

A couple of caveats. The app can’t wake you to your own iPod music if it is not running, but the app does allow you to choose among several different sound options if you are using notifications. Not all the clocks work in full screen, but otherwise this app does pretty much every kind of time keeping you would want. If you’d like a free version that doesn’t multitask you can get it here, but I think the paid version is more useful. There is also an iPhone and iPod touch version on sale this weekend for $0.99.

Gallery: ClockPro HD for iPad