Mel Martin
Articles by Mel Martin
iPhone 5 is the top Flickr camera in 2014
It used to be when you thought of the top cameras being used by photographers, you probably thought of Canon and Nikon. That's not necessarily true these days. Thanks to the EXIF data that is embedded in our digital photos, it's pretty easy to find out exactly what the top cameras are. Photo website PetaPixel gives us a peek into the 2014 camera stats from photo sharing site Flickr, and the times they are a-changing. Canon is still the most popular camera brand for Flickr posters (13.4%), followed by Apple (9.6%), Nikon (9.3%) and Samsung (5.6%). Just looking at smartphones posting to Flickr, Apple's iPhone 5 wins with 10.6%, with the runners up being the iPhone 4S (7%), the iPhone 4 (4.3%), the iPhone 5c (2.0%) and the Samsung Galaxy S3 with 1.2%. That iPhone 5c number seems pretty surprising. It probably is really surprising to Samsung. Last year's number had Nikon as the second most popular brand, and Apple and Nikon have traded places in 2014. The top smartphone cameras are the same as 2013, and those Apple iPhones rank number 1, 2 and 3. The new iPhone 6, which wasn't available during a good part of 2014 has sent 1% of Flickr photos, ranking in 7th place among smartphones. Apple's iPad and iPad mini offered 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. When the iPhone was announced eight years ago few would have guessed that Apple would wind up a popular and dominating camera maker, but that is exactly what has happened. You can see the two-year comparisons on this chart from PetaPixel.
Microsoft courts iOS users with Office Sway
Office Sway (free) is a personal or business presentation app for iOS that lets you easily create simple web-based canvases of photos and text on your iPhone and share them on any mobile device or the web. This just-released app is yet another in an increasing large collection that Microsoft is offering on iOS, after years of neglect while the company pushed users to its own OS and mobile devices. The app is clever, but not deep with features. You can combine headers, text, photos, and captions to make a simple but attractive presentation while you are on the go. The content automatically resizes to fit the display device. Captions can also be dictated, which is a clever idea for those on the go. Editing is easy, with just a tap or a drag to change text or move images. When you are done, send your creation via email or Messages, and you can also post to various social networks. The recipient gets a link to click on. If you make changes in your presentation, the changes are synced on the web and all your devices. I thought the app worked well, but Microsoft made some bewildering choices. The app only works in portrait mode, and it's not universal, which seems odd since the iPad would be a great platform for this app. Maybe later. I did have one problem, and it's not a small one. The app gives you the ability to forward your presentations to others. I did some test emails with two different accounts and nothing ever showed up in my inbox. Microsoft server problems? Don't think of this as an Apple Keynote or Microsoft Powerpoint substitute. It's quick and easy, but there are no animations, no transitions, and no fancy effects. Still, the output looks good, and the app makes some nice stylistic choices and gives you a bit of latitude how things are formatted. Office Sway was in beta for quite some time, and had only a limited iOS release last October, but now it's in the App Store and everyone can give it a try. I expect the app will gain some features, and hopefully go iPad native. It's nice to see Microsoft cozying up to iOS users. It's partly driven by the lack of sales of Windows mobile devices, and the company is figuring out that Android and iOS are where they need to be. Office Sway is not available everywhere, and so far it seems limited to English-speaking countries. Office Sway requires iOS 8 and it's optimized for the latest Apple iPhones. It requires a free Microsoft login so your content can sync. It does not requires an Office 365 subscription. I would say Office Sway is a good start at an app that will surely become more interesting and full-featured.
Airmail updates a popular Apple Mail alternative
While Apple Mail for OS X is in widespread use and generally popular, it hasn't stopped developers from coming out with competing products that add to or extend the Apple Mail feature set. Postbox and Mail Pilot are a couple of good options, and Airmail, which I'm looking at today, has had good reviews as well. Airmail just released a big update to version 2.0 (US $9.99 in the Mac app store) that has added some very Yosemite-friendly features like iCloud Account sync, iCloud attachment, upload and link sharing, extensions to send mail from other apps and the ability to reply to messages from a notification banner. The app supports many mail protocols including Exchange, iCloud, Gmail, IMAP, POP3, Google Apps, Yahoo!, AOL, Outlook.com, and Live.com. I was especially happy to see POP3 legacy support, as many third-party mail apps are dropping it. I gave the app a try, and it quickly imported my Apple mail account. The design of the app is very clean, and I liked the integration with Apple's Calendar, Reminders, and other apps like Evernote, 2Do and Omnifocus. The app also supports a variety of plug-ins, and has a menubar icon. Apple, are you listening? Attachments can link to Google Drive, Dropbox, CloudApp, Droplr and FTP. As I used the app, I wished for the ability to customize the buttons in the app. While Airmail's UI sports a very clean design, I'd like to eliminate some buttons that I don't use, and add some I think are essential. For example, a print button is totally absent from the toolbar. Of course you can print from the file menu, but an app with this number of features could really benefit from user customization. The app worked properly with an old POP3 account. Search is very fast, and returned results are accurate. While I don't use Gmail, some users have reported issues with accessing Gmail with Airmail. The app imported my folders from Apple Mail, but none of my Smart Folders. The developers say that feature is forthcoming. There is an extensive rules feature in Airmail, but I didn't want to re-create my Apple Mail rules from scratch. Messages can be marked as spam, and the app provides a unified inbox if you want one. Airmail also supports Apple's Time Machine, and has features almost too numerous to detail. A look at the app's web page will give you more insight into what Airmail can do, including offering extensive foreign language support. There is a lot to like about Airmail. A few tweaks and I could be convinced to replace my Apple Mail client. As it stands now, Airmail is very good, extremely fast, and has many features Apple Mail doesn't have, but lacks a few critical features Apple does provide in the default mail app. Airmail requires OS X 10.8 or later and a 64-bit processor.
Custom Keyboard for iOS gives your keyboard a totally new look
With all of the new iOS 8 keyboard apps, we're seeing new functions, languages and features. Custom Keyboard (US$0.99) gives the standard iOS keyboard a completely new look based on what you want. It's appearing in the App Store today. Custom Keyboard provides control of backgrounds, colors, fonts, shadows and even animations for key pop-ups. It's easy to use, and is quite effective. Like all keyboard utilities, you run the app, save the results, and then switch to the customized iOS keyboard from your current keyboard by tapping the "globe" icon. You can see some of the controls and variety of colors below in my screen captures. The app supports more than 40 languages, and also lets you customize key click sounds. You can also use a photo as a background to the keyboard. Originally, I thought the app was just a way to make some outlandishly colored keyboards that were fun but not very useful. With a little effort, I could actually design keyboards that were easier on the eyes than the stock Apple design, with more pleasing fonts. I also liked the option to have the numeric keys on the same keyboard as the character keys, making typing faster. The little touches like double tapping the space bar for a period are retained with these keyboards, or can be turned off in preferences. Of course, the keyboard you design appears in any app where a keyboard is used, and you can easily switch back to the stock keyboard or another keyboard you may have installed. Of course the keyboards look nice, but then I miss using Swype and some of the other functions I get with third-party keyboards. It would be nice to be able to combine features of multiple custom keyboards for a really tailored experience. I liked Custom Keyboard and will continue to use the design I worked out with the app. Custom Keyboard requires iOS 8, and it's universal. I've tested it on both an iPad Air and an iPhone 6 and saw no issues.
Stay Focused provides focus stacking on your iPhone
(Image by Muhammad Mahdi Karim CC BY-SA 3.0) Stay Focused (free with in-app purchases) is an interesting app that does a very complex function for photographers called Focus Stacking. You take a series of photos, from 2 to 100, with different focus points selected. Then your photos are sent up to the developer server, and returned to you with all points of the photo in focus. This capability is really important when doing macro-photography and other focus-intensive photography, like wanting objects up close and in the far distance in focus. Using the app is not as simple as pushing a button, but instructions are provided on the first screen and a detailed tutorial follows. I was able to take some pictures that gave me the equivalent of nearly perfect depth of field, meaning objects up close, in the mid-range, and in the distance were all in focus. Stay focused is certainly not a simple point and shoot. There are controls for manual exposure and color, live previews of the extremes of the focus range, and many options for sharing your photos. The uploads can take a few minutes, and the app does not currently upload smoothly in the background, but a fix is coming for that. When the server has processed your photo it gets downloaded back to you. The app gives you 10 uploads to try the service out, then wants to sell you additional uploads at a price: US$0.99 for two or $4.99 for 15 uploads. Over time, that is going to run into money. What the app does is impressive, and photographers are going to be really appreciative of what has gone in to making the app work. On the other hand, a casual photographer isn't going to want to keep paying to upload images, and a pro may have other software approaches to doing this with a DSLR. Zerene Stacker ($89) and Helicon Focus (pricing from $30-$240) both run on OS X. If you plan to do a lot of focus stacking, the Mac options might be more economical. Stay Focused worked well, and it is pretty amazing to do this work on an iOS device, even if it requires an upload to create the final image. Stay Focused requires iOS 8 or later.
Air Camera + lets you stream your iDevice camera to you AppleTV
Here's something a little different: Air Camera + (US$2.99) is a streaming app that captures the video and audio from your iPhone or iPad and streams it to your AppleTV. Beyond that, the app allows you to add real-time effects like sepia tones or cartoon-type effects. The app supports both the front and rear facing cameras on any iDevice. Air Camera + also allows you to record the stream, then play it back later on your iPhone or iPad and stream it back to your AppleTV. To get the app running, pull up your iOS controls from the bottom of your screen and select AirPlay and Mirroring. Then, whatever your camera sees, your Apple TV will as well. Of course you don't need the app to get video to the AppleTV using mirroring, but the recording and effect generation functionality comes from Air Camera +. This latest version of the app also features a kind of fake 3D that can be viewed with red/cyan 3D glasses, but it's not going to be very realistic as you are only using one camera. The app lets you choose different resolutions for your streamed image... my older AppleTV only does 720P but the picture was very detailed. Streaming options also include 640x480 and 1920x1080. When you first start to stream, it may take several seconds for the video to appear on your TV, so don't give up. I really couldn't think of a personal use-case for the app, but I'm impressed with the idea and some people may find this really helpful -- perhaps in a lecture hall or for viewing small objects on a large screen as part of some demonstration. I'm sure some creatives out there will find some really good ideas for this app. Air Camera + is a universal app, and it's optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 phones. It only requires iOS 6 or later.
iSmartAlarm rolls out new devices and features
I looked at the iSmartAlarm system last year and found it really useful and easy to install. I appreciated that, unlike most security systems, there was no subscription or recurring charges. Buy the gear, add more devices if you want them, and you're done. Now the iSmartAlarm system has been considerably enhanced, most notably with a new camera called the iCamera KEEP, a smart switch for remotely controlling electrical outlets, and a new smoke alarm system. Functionality I was sent a sample system to set up, which was easy enough to do. An attractive cube (called the CubeOne) is the central unit. You plug it into a router port, and configure it via an iOS app. Then various smart devices can be added, including motion detectors, window sensors, cameras, and the new iSmartAlarm Smart Switch. As you activate each device it is recognized, and you can add a label, like 'Kitchen Camera' or 'Front Window'. The new camera, iCamera Keep, is quite sophisticated. It's designed to work with the iSmartAlarm Home Security System or as a stand-alone Wi-Fi device. It has 1280x720 resolution, motion and sound detection, and free on-demand streaming video control and cloud-storage, all with no fees or contracts. The motorized unit allows for wide range pan-tilt, night vision, multiple user support, as well as multi-iCamera support. Users will receive text, phone call, email, and push notifications on their smartphones in case of emergency or user-defined rules and conditions. The new Smart Switch allows users to remotely control their electrical outlets, see when their lighting is turned on or off, ensure potentially dangerous appliances are turned off when not in use, and monitor energy usage. Automated schedules can be set up to secure the premises, to create the impression of a family at home, and provide physical safety so the user will never have to walk into a dark home again. Multiple Smart Switches can cross-communicate with other devices in the smarthome ecosystem to automatically turn on lights or other devices in case of a break-in. All these new components worked well, and were easy to set up. Current users of the original iSmartAlarm system can add these new components, although a quick firmware update may be required. Other new features I didn't test are the new smoke alarm which works standalone or can be integrated into the full system. The company has also announced compatibility with Z-Wave devices, allowing even further monitoring and interaction. Cost Pricing of the system depends on what components you add. A starter system that includes one CubeOne, two Door/Windows Sensors, one Motion Sensor, two Remote Tags, and iSmartAlarm stickers for added protection is US$199.00. A Premium package with an iCamera is an additional $149.00. Other devices can be bought a la carte. The new iCamera KEEP ships this month for $149.99, and the new smart switch is $39.99. Conclusion The already excellent iSmartAlarm system has been considerably advanced with new devices and services. It is simple to set up on your own, and the lack of recurring fees is a real plus. Everything is controllable remotely with an iOS app. The iSmartAlarm system can provide real piece of mind when you are home and are away. The fact that the software keeps getting updated for new features and new hardware like remote controlled AC outlets is a real plus.
Translator Speak and Translate Free gives you a simultaneous interpreter in your pocket
Translator Speak and Translate Free (free) is a universal iOS app that translates spoken language bi-directionally in 66 languages. The app automatically detects the spoken language it hears and then provides translations. The app uses the Microsoft translation engine -- in my experience the Google engine is a bit better. The paid version of the app allows you to use either Google or Microsoft for translation. A dialog mode lets you communicate back and forth without pressing any buttons. The app offers repeated voice playback of any translated phrase, and you can set the bit rate of your recording for higher quality. The app also lets you set a variety of useful phrases in various categories, like shopping, sightseeing, health, etc. This would be a nice app for those learning a language, or its more obvious use, for travelers in foreign countries who want to communicate easily. I tried the app and it worked well in French and German, languages I have a pretty good grasp of. The other 64 languages weren't tested, but user reports are positive. Of course the free Google Translate app is also excellent, but doesn't work in the hands-off mode that Translate Free offers. The app is ad-supported, but the ads are not distracting. The ad-free "pro" version is also available for US$4.99 and allows you to switch between the Google or Microsoft translation engines. Translator Speak/Translate Free is a universal app that requires iOS 7 or later. It is optimized for the iPhone 5.
LifeBox for iPhone is strange and addictive
I'm not quite sure how to describe LifeBox (free until Mid-January). It's a bit like the infamous Pet Rock of years ago or the more recent Tamagotchi. It just sits there, but unlike the Pet Rock, little stories unfold over time in tiny animated boxes. When you start, the app creates five boxes with animated stick figures inside. As you watch them, they will do entertaining things, but you can't really interact with them in any way. You can move the boxes, add or delete boxes, even add wallpaper from your photo library as backgrounds. There are 15 different kinds of boxes, and when you select them you'll get a description of what's going on inside. You can get help from the app, and it gives you the basics of adding and subtracting things on your screen. A US$1.99 in app purchase gives you colored boxes. This is the kind of app that will excite some people and leave others scratching their heads. The size of the app, 350 MB, tells you there is more here than meets the casual eye. Just stay with the animations and watch for interesting things to happen. They won't happen right away. Feature-wise the app is pretty sparse. You can mail or send your screen to social media, but the shared image is not animated so the charm is lost. I liked LifeBox because it is original, and isn't what it appears at first. I saw a few bugs. For example, when adding a new box the app reported it couldn't do it, but then it did. It didn't run well on my iPad Air 2. The app seemed stuck and didn't want to launch. It's not a universal app and I guess they mean it. LifeBox requires iOS 7 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 series of hardware. While it says it will run on an iPad, I couldn't get it to run at all so be forewarned. That's life, I guess.
SpotCam is a capable Wi-Fi camera for your home
SpotCam is a new entrant in the cloud-based home webcam parade. The U.S. $149.99 camera has easy setup and features like sound monitoring, plus the ability to speak to the camera remotely and have the camera speaker play it. Specifications Dimensions: Body 4.8cm(1.89") × 14.8cm(5.83") Weight: 198g(6.37oz) Power Input: 12V1A Video: Up to 720P HD(1280x720) at 30 frame/sec Streaming: H.264 encoding Field of View: 110 degrees (diagonal) Audio: Speaker and microphone Night Vision: 12 High-power IR LEDs Design The SpotCam is a white upright cylindrical camera with a swivel base. When you get the camera you can download the companion free iOS app, or you can view the camera from any web browser after setting up a free account. Functionality Installation was easy. The camera plugs into a power source and using the iOS app you link it to your home Wi-Fi network. Enter your account credentials and you are ready to go. Video is good quality, but the wide-field of the camera will slightly warp the edges of the frame. I could hear audio using the app, but it had a bit of static. Likewise, when talking from the app to the camera the audio wasn't of the best quality as the camera has a pretty small speaker. The camera is free to use with no other charges. You can view the camera in real time or get motion or audio detection notifications through email or the iOS app. The app lets you store 1 day of video at no charge. An additional paid service provides different levels of video storage if you want to save video from any event the camera picks up and go back in time to view it. Those packages start at $3.99 and top out at $19.99 a month. Conclusion SpotCam is a competent performer at a price similar to other hardware/software packages on offer. People thinking of home monitoring systems can also consider something like iCam, which is an inexpensive iOS app that let's you choose the webcam you want to use. It supports multiple cameras and notifications on motion or audio. Dropcam is another option, although it is pricier for monthly storage of video. SpotCam was easy to set up and easy to use. It's worth considering if you are looking to set up a webcam in your home.
My favorites from 2014: Mel Martin
So many apps and gadgets - where to begin? Well, let's start with some apps. Topaz Impression for Mac Expensive at U.S. $99.00, but this app beautifully transforms your images into what looks like fine art. The amount of control you have over your image is breathtaking. Canvas, charcoal, oils, just about any medium and surface imaginable. On the iOS side, Waterlogue does something similar but not as full featured for only U.S. $2.99 (!!) It was also a favorite of our own Steve Sande. Reflect+ for iOS I love this $1.99 app. Take an image and add water. It doesn't look synthesized, unless you want it to. A beautiful app that is easy to use. You can also add bird flocks, hot air balloons, stars, the milky way and other beautifully rendered objects. There is a lot of control, and it is easy to use, yet gives sophisticated results. X-Plane 10 for iOS The creators of the best Mac flight simulator have gone and done the same for iOS. It's free, although you can buy extra aircraft. The graphics are stunning, and the flight model is realistic. RavPower Wireless File Hub This is a great and innovative piece of hardware. It works with your laptop, or any iOS device. It's a battery backup, a wireless router that works as a WiFi hotspot, a NAS file server (network attached storage), and a media streamer. For $44.95 it's an amazing product. I use it to load movies on an SD card and take them on trips so I can stream them to my iPad. You hook up to the device via WiFi, and it connects to a primary WiFi connection and passes through email and any other internet traffic while you watch, and while it charges your iDevice. Perfect. Word Lens for iOS Absolutely amazing. Point your camera at a sign or menu in a foreign language and you get the translation. It's not just the translation. The sign remains looking the same. You have to see it to appreciate what has been accomplished here. Great for travel, or just getting along in a mixed language environment. So that's my list. Can't wait to see what 2015 brings.
Pocket Drive turns your iOS device into an external drive
Pocket Drive (free with in-app purchases) is an easy to use app that lets your iOS device connect wirelessly to any computer on your network and move files, photos, music or videos between them. The app supports links to both Macs and PCs. The app is easy enough to use. Launch it, and then check your nearby Mac. You will see your iDevice in the shared list in the finder. Click on the phone and give it permission to mount. That's it -- your iPhone or iPad looks like an external drive on your desktop. You can drag any file to your iDevice, and when it is there, you can save it in places like your photo library, or listen to MP3 files or play movies. You can also open Microsoft Office and PDF documents. You can also go back the other way, searching your Mac for files, which can be transferred to your phone with a click. Or you can take any file on your iDevice and send it to your Mac. When you close Pocket Drive on your iDevice, the link to your Mac drops out. It would be nice to see the app continue to work in the background for longer file transfers. The nice thing about the app is there is really no configuration needed. No IP addresses to fool with. It's all totally transparent. This is more full featured than anything Apple offers, and the company should think about doing this for future versions of iOS. Pocket Drive supports storage of any file as well as the ability to open and view over 25 file types in the app itself including Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, RTF, JPEG, GIF, TIF, MOV, MP4, MP3, and ZIP. It did not support M4A files (Apple lossless), which was a disappointment. The free version of the app only gives you 512 MB of storage, so it's really just a way to show you the app works. The amount of storage in the free version really isn't practical for daily use. 4 GB of storage is a one-time in-app purchase of $1.99 while a no limit version is $4.99. There are no recurring fees, and total storage of course depends on how much space your iOS device has. Pocket Drive is very clever and easy to use, yet quite powerful. It requires iOS 6 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Artful for Mac: Desktop art that matches your taste
Artful (U.S. $4.99) is a well thought out app that lets you have any of thousands of public domain artworks as your desktop based on parameters you select. The app works as a menu item, and you pull it down to get a nice control panel letting you very precisely select the type of art you want displayed. You can choose the style of the art, the medium, the kind of canvas, and you can choose from one or hundreds of specific artists, or anything in between. The art itself is online, so it can take a moment to download. The app lets you pick the frequency of updates, so if you want you can have a new desktop picture every minute up to one new image every 120 hours. All the images are of good quality, and I was displaying them just fine on my 30 inch Cinema Display. Another nice feature is the ability to dim the artwork, as some bright art could easily make things on your desktop hard to see. When you use the dimmer it appears on the next art displayed, not the current one. I think one of the nicest aspects to this app is the ability to discover some artists and works that you are not familiar with. In my case, almost every image was new to me. I didn't see any bugs running the program, and it's a clever idea for an app that will give you a constantly changing desktop and some new insights into artists you might like. Artful requires OS X 10.10 or later and a 64-bit processor.
The Monster PowerCard Turbo - Great for holiday travel
With all the traveling many of us do over the holidays, we're often in search of power for our iDevices. Monster has come up with a really high quality external battery to keep your iPhone running when you are away from an AC outlet. The PowerCard Turbo (US$49.99) is a very small and thin charger that is easy to travel with or put in a pocket or purse. Specifications Battery Capacity: 3,350 mAh Charge Port: 1 x 1.5 Amp Size: 4.4 x 7.9 x 1.2 inches (similar to a stack of business cards) Features: LED charge status indicator Design This is one good-looking charger. Available in 3 colors (gold, silver and black), It has attractive blue LEDs to tell you it's charging or, when it is away from power, how long the battery will last. There is a standard USB port, and it comes with a cable with USB on one end and a mini-USB on the other. Apple users will have to use their own Lightning or 30-pin Dock connector cable. Functionality The PowerCard Turbo couldn't be easier to use. Plug in your device and it will quickly charge. The 1.5 amp output should be about 50% faster than most chargers. There is one button on the charger, and that's to check the remaining power. Conclusion I used the charger a few times just before Xmas and found it a fast charge for my iPhone 6. The device itself took about two hours to charge from a powered USB hub. Charging from a desktop or laptop USB outlet will take longer, maybe 3 to 3.5 hours. The only negative is the printed instructions are really, really small. My eyesight is pretty good, but I needed an illuminated magnifier to read them. On the other hand, the way the charger works is pretty self-evident. Monster needs a monster font. The Monster PowerCard Turbo is a well-built power solution at a reasonable price with solid performance. It's too late to put it on your gift list, but grab one for yourself. Recommended
2 new weather apps just in time for your holiday sojourns
Apalon has released two weather apps that could make your holiday travel more predictable. Weather Live (US$1.99) features animated, customizable backgrounds that look great and a widget for quick access to your most important weather info. You can set a number of different cities, and swipe between them. The main screen offers in-depth weather stats, along with sunrise and sunset times, and 7 day forecasts. Tap on the radar icon and you'll get animated weather radar, and you can set up alerts for freezing temperatures, and for when the temperature drops below zero. The app also features sharing options so you can brag or complain about your weather to family and friends. The app looks very striking, and is about as full-featured as a weather app can be. It also gives you an icon badge with the current temperature, something Apple and Yahoo weather have failed to offer for reasons that escape me. The second app in the set, NOAA Radar Pro ($1.99) is more oriented toward radar. You get a rain map that provides rain forecast for the range of next 24 hours right on the terrain map, satellite cloud cover maps shows real-time cloud cover, and detailed Weather info for any location including current conditions, 24-hour and 7-day forecasts, plus active alerts for practically any location in the USA. Both apps are excellent, but have a pretty large overlap of info. Having one pretty much makes the other unnecessary. NOAA Radar Pro does have more radar data, but I think most people will find the radar display just fine in Weather Live. Both apps look great, and are certainly among the top weather apps I've seen for iOS. Weather Live and NOAA Radar Pro are both universal apps, the requires iOS 7 or later and they are optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 series of phones. Recommended.
Hive launches a free social cloud storage platform
While there are a lot of great cloud solutions out there, Hive is offering something different that many people may find compelling. The "different" is free unlimited storage for documents, photos, music and videos. The service is focused on social use, so you can upload and share with family or friends, and lock folders for privacy. Your content can be viewed in a web browser, and Hive supports views of the content, like photos, instead of just showing you a bunch of icons. Content can be uploaded from other services like Dropbox, and users can send links to friends pointing to whatever content is stored on Hive. Hive describes the service as "like Facebook with personal storage." While you can store an unlimited amount of content, Hive wants you to pay a little for a faster, richer service. There are some limits, although storage is truly unlimited. You can add up to 50 GB to your Hive every month, or 100 GB for premium members. File size is limited to 20 GB, but that is very generous. Premium users can stream music and video in HD, download and stream with no bandwidth restrictions, and enjoy an ad-free environment. The more friends you share things with, the cheaper the Premium account becomes. With ten or fewer friends on Hive, users pay US$9 a month for the Premium subscription. With more than 10 friends, Premium drops to $6 per month. At more than 50 friends, it drops to $3 a month. When there are more than 100 friends, the Premium subscription becomes free. Adding and inviting friends is easy. It's all built into the Hive webpage. I gave Hive a try and did the free signup. Getting files to the service was quick and easy, but not every option was obvious. I suggested to the Hive Management Team that there should be more on-screen help, and that is being done quickly. I never saw a glitch while uploading my content, and I liked seeing the actual photos on the web rather than just lists of files. Most files can be dragged and dropped onto the Hive web interface. You can even paste in a weblink to upload files from that location. Hive co-founder Thierry Lehartel told me by phone that the whole point of Hive is to make content easy to share and yet make the system powerful. The company wants to make an emotional connection with users, and I'd say the design and ease of use makes that goal achievable. The only things missing from the system are dedicated iOS apps. Those are coming at the end of the month, according to Lehartel. In the meantime, iOS users can use their Safari browser on their iPhones and iPads. Hive is attractive and shows some fresh thinking about cloud storage, making it social and visually pleasing. The system has been in an extended beta and already has many thousands of users world wide. I looked through the company privacy policy, and it appears to be a solid one. Your content can't be used by others or sold, and your email address is only used to identify you to the system. Hive is certainly worth a look and a try. It's free unless you want some of the extra features.
Need to crop or add zoom to a video after the fact? Try Video Zoom
Video Zoom (US$1.99) is a just released app that will let you take an existing video and crop it, or add a smooth zoom. The app also lets you record a new video from within the app. Give the app access to your camera roll, and you will see thumbnails of all your existing videos. Tap a thumbnail and the video opens. Use the pinch/drag gesture on the screen to zoom in. It works when the video is running or when it is paused. If you set the zoom when paused, you will get a smooth zoom in when you playback the video. When you are done you can save the zoomed or cropped video as a copy, or overwrite your original. I tried the app on 4 videos I had on my iPhone. I was afraid the zoomed video would look pretty bad, because the app can't keep the same resolution after the zoom, but actually, my tests showed the video looked pretty good and was not overly pixelated. When recording, you can use your iDevice front or back camera, and the app supports the regular iOS photo library. Video Zoom is a good idea, just the app for removing that obnoxious cousin from the side of the Christmas video... Video Zoom is a universal app, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 series of iPhones. It requires iOS 8 or later.
Microsoft updates Bing iOS apps with fresh look and translations
Microsoft continues its make nice to Apple with a solid update to the Bing Search app for iOS. There are separate versions for the iPad and iPhone. The GUI has been slightly reworked, and the biggest feature is a translation option for any content you have brought up with Bing. You can set a language in the app settings, but the default is set to translate to English. I tested the feature on some German and Swedish websites and got understandable English, but like most on-the-fly translations it was quirky. Useful: Yes. Perfect: No. Compared to the Google app for iOS, Bing is much richer. and on the iPad in particular, it is more polished and easier to navigate. Both apps support voice input. Google has translation apps, but not integrated to its iOS search app the way it is on this new version of Bing Search. One interesting feature in Bing is a lasso tool to circle text on a page -- Bing will then find content related to that text. This feature was handy and worked well. Maps are nicely integrated, and bookmarks can be synched between your devices if you have a free Microsoft sign-in. On the iPhone, navigating the interface is not as easy. Many buttons and controls are hidden until you tap in the right place, usually at the top of the page. Both iOS apps have the same functionality, but the iPad version is just easier to use and navigate. Bing also adds trending stories and the Photo of the Day to your Today Notifications. Next year, Apple's deal with Google making it the default search option in Safari runs out, and Microsoft seems to be working hard to replace Google. Yahoo is also in the running, and we are seeing a lot of app refreshes from Yahoo too. The iOS Bing apps are quite good and full-featured. I still sometimes find the Google search superior in terms of relevant results, but Bing is coming up fast and organizes the results it finds in a more useful way. The Bing apps require iOS 7 or greater. The iPhone version is optimized for the newer iPhone 5 and 6 series of phones. Bing Search is a worthwhile adjunct to Google's search app, and some will prefer Bing for its look and added features.
ClipDis: Letting movie clips do your messaging for you
ClipDis for iOS (free) is about as different from the typical messaging app as you can imagine. You type your text, and the app replaces every word you type with a clip from a popular movie. You can then save the clip to your camera roll, send to Facebook, iMessage or mail it, or send it to your clipboard to paste anywhere. The app works pretty well... it indeed found clips from movies to replace my words. When I gave it something tough, like "Merry Xmas from TUAW" it grabbed a static shot of the TUAW webpage, and a synthesized voice said "TUAW". That's pretty clever. Here's a video example of a similar holiday sentiment: The developer says he hopes to make money on the app by featuring movie clips that studios want to promote. But the app is free for users. You can use the app from the ClipDis web page, or from the app of course. If you use the app, you need a free account, but your email is only used to identify you, and your name won't be sent to third parties. This is certainly a different messaging app, and the compilation of the clips into your personal message happens in a couple of seconds... unless the ClipDis server is being overused as it was this afternoon. It may very well be that the ClipDis team wasn't expecting a lot of traffic, and if the service doesn't scale well, it's not going to be useful at all. ClipDis requires iOS 7.1 or later. It's not universal, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 series.
X-Plane 10 is out for iOS and it is terrific
X-Plane is the premier flight simulator for Mac, Windows and Linux computers as well as iOS. It's accurate enough to have received FAA certification for some phases of flight training, and TUAW editor Steve Sande even mentioned seeing airline pilots waiting to get on their aircraft "playing" with X-Plane 9 on their iPhones. Today, the creators of X-Plane have released a brand new version for iOS devices. X-Plane 10 is free, but if you want additional planes there are a few in-app purchases. The free version lets you fly a Cessna 172, and gives you access to all the scenery areas including The Grand Canyon, Seattle, Alaska, Hawaii and the mountains of Austria. The graphics are first rate. You can look freely around the cockpit by dragging your finger. A tap gives you views outside the plane from multiple angles. Like the version that runs on the Mac, you can set equipment failures and really horrible weather to fly in. Cities are rendered with 3D buildings that sparkle at night. X-Plane lets you decide the time of day you are going to fly in. Planes you can add as purchases include an F-22 Raptor, an F-4 Phantom and seven more aircraft including the Airbus A320 jetliner. With Game Center, you can participate in multi-player adventures. A built-in flight school will teach you about the basics of flying. X-Plane is impressive software for any computer platform. On my iPad Air, the graphics are smooth and the terrain and flight instruments are very detailed. You can lose hours just flying around, doing some sightseeing, and landing again. This free version of X-Plane is a nice gift to the iOS community. You may be tempted to buy some fancier planes, or just enjoy the free stuff. I hesitate to call X-Plane a game, as it is a great simulation of flight. X-Plane 10 requires iOS 8 or later. It is universal, and it's optimized for iPhone 5 and 6 series phones. Highly recommended.