PhotoForge2
Latest
Daily Update for June 13, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Yahoo! acquires GhostBird Software, apps pulled from App Store
GhostBird Software is known for its KitCam camera app and PhotoForge, an image editing app that first hit the App Store in 2009. Late Wednesday afternoon, the Canadian company announced that it is closing its doors and joining the Flickr team at Yahoo! GhostBird's website is now just a placeholder with only the acquisition announcement gracing its front page. The company also pulled its two apps from the App Store. Customers with the apps installed on their iOS device will be able to keep using the current versions, while those who purchased the apps can redownload them through iCloud. The apps are no longer available to download through the App Store and will not be updated beyond their current versions.
PhotoForge2 for iPhone has many Photoshop-like features
It's amazing how many useful features are making it to iPhone apps. In particular, photo apps for the iPhone get more and more remarkable as time goes on. PhotoForge2 is a US$2.99 app that allows you to load your photos at full resolution, and it includes high-end features like layering and masking, curves, levels, sharpening and noise reduction, white balance, RAW image import, the ability to edit GPS and IPTC photo data, channel mixer controls and much more. This would be a nice collection of features for a Mac app. It's rather amazing this is an app running on a cellular phone. In practice, the app works rather well. I found the controls easy to manipulate on the iPhone's small screen, and I could zoom all the way into my image to see individual pixels. The app has 30 different filters, including a good black and white translation and sepia tones. You can send photos via email and the various social services. Check the gallery for some screen shots of editing sessions and a look at the GUI. Alas, no app is perfect. Photos can't be loaded unless your phone has location services switched on. Frankly, this is a silly requirement. Apple requires developers to get permission when accessing location data, even data that is already tagged on your phone, but I think there are ways around this; the developers say they have some workarounds coming, perhaps as early as this weekend. When editing. changing settings can also be frustrating. When adjusting curves and levels, for example, you can barely see your image because the controls cover it. There is a software switch to hide the controls, but that makes the adjustments a needless iterative process. Also, an in-app purchase of $1.99 is needed for some additional features. I really dislike that practice and would prefer to get everything, even if it raises the price of the app. %Gallery-124111%
