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Avatron's Air Stylus shows promise for artists
Avatron's new Air Stylus (US$19.99) app transforms third generation or newer iPads into pressure-sensitive drawing surfaces compatible with desktop graphic design apps. The app is an outgrowth of Avatron's Air Display app. Air Display extends your computer's desktop to your iPad or iPhone to provide an extra screen. Air Stylus layers pressure-sensitive drawing on top of that display functionality. Not only can you view items on the secondary screen, you can draw on them too and in a meaningful way. Think of a Wacom tablet that you can place in your lap and draw onto, but one that shows the image you're drawing and not just a blank surface. There were a few gotchas. First, for an app to work with Air Stylus, it must be pressure-ready. On the Mac, that means working with apps like Acorn, Pixelmator, Manga Studio 5, Art Range, Intensify Pro, Mischief, and Photoshop Elements. Acorn is a terrific app that I happened to have on my system available for testing. Avatron has posted Photoshop how-to for those who wish to follow through with frame buffers and GPU settings, but don't think that the app will produce out-of-the-box pressure input for all drawing apps. Second, there is lag. Although a slight lag usually isn't a problem with Air Display -- especially when you're using the extra screen space for something not time critical such as Twitter -- when drawing, even a half-second of lag can really throw a wrench in things. This does not appear to be a problem for the artists highlighted in Avatron's shiny video and there were times in testing when reaction time was excellent, but at others I experienced a noticeable, albeit slight lag between drawing and the app responding. It was irritating. Third, there is sensitivity. I encountered difficulty when trying to consistently draw a line that changed pressure. You can see a subset of my attempts recorded here. The video shows the Reflector capture session of my iPad Air as I used both the brush and pencil tools. Eventually, I learned to put a bit of pressure onto the stylus to get the sensitivity going and then back off or press harder. I am never going to be a calligrapher and the process of learning to draw with pressure using the stylus was harder than I expected. I tested Air Stylus using a Wacom stylus, a Pogo Connect, and a cheap no-pressure stylus from the dollar store. The app worked well with all three. For pressure testing, I stuck with the Wacom as it was the only one that worked for those tests (Avatron plans to update its support for Pogo Connect soon). While I personally found Air Stylus difficult to use gracefully, I did love how well I could zoom and pan to focus my drawing space exactly where and how I wanted it. I suspect many of my difficulties stem from my ham handed lack of any sophisticated drawing abilities. I also liked how the desktop client offered to save my extra window state until I was ready to pick up and draw again. Unlike other screen extension apps, Air Stylus didn't revert my window configuration until I told it to. That's a great feature. At US$20, Air Stylus isn't going to be an impulse buy for most people -- especially when you take the stylus and drawing app prerequisites into account. However, if you're a serious artist and have mad pressure-sensitive skills, I think the app has the potential to really grab you. Be aware that the app is new and growing. Reaction on the App Store has been mixed. From an admittedly small sample, it's currently middling in ratings and has at least two very unhappy customers. I was more apparently impressed then they were, and I look forward to seeing how this app evolves.
Crowdfunded Project News: The best of Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the rest
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on what new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects are in the news. While our policy is to not go into detail on items that haven't reached at least 80 percent of their funding goal, this update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. Note that we're not covering those "projects" on Indiegogo where people are trying to get someone else to cough up money for a new computer or tablet... From Kickstarter: Everydisk from Avatron is at 63 percent of its funding goal with only three days to go -- so close, but yet so far! If you'd like a nice, encrypted personal cloud storage solution from a trusted name in the app world, get behind this project. MaxStone is a wireless remote for your DSLR that's controlled by an app on your iPhone. This one took off like a rocket and is now at a whopping 219 percent funded with 29 days to go in the campaign. Kloqe is quite a classy iPhone case made entirely of aluminum. If you're concerned about it affecting the reception of your iPhone, don't be -- the company has tested the case throughout development and figured out how to combat that problem. It comes in all of the colors you'd love -- champagne, space gray, white and aluminum. All this beauty can only be yours if the project reaches its funding goal. At this point, it's 31 percent funded with 32 days to go. wobL answers the question "Where's the (#&(#$) snooze button on my iPhone screen?" by pairing a rocking (or wobbling) iPhone stand with an iOS 7 alarm app. When the alarm goes off and you need that extra 10 minutes of snooze, just reach out blindly and hit the wobL to make it... wobble... and you're set for dreamland. The Portland-based 3P Studio design firm needs your help to make it happen, as it's at 13 percent funding with 37 days to go. AboutFacePad is an interesting project -- an inexpensive iPad wall mount and stand made out of recycled cardboard. Oddly enough, it's not as bizarre as it sounds. But with 10 days to go, it's only received US$646 of its $10,000 goal. Sad face... On the other hand, the VERSI Docker Stand is well over its modest funding goal and still has 23 days left to go. It's an adjustable universal dock that works with tablets and smartphones, with or without cases. It personally looks a bit industrial to me, but hey, some people like industrial chic. From Indiegogo: Keepod Unite isn't an Apple-oriented project, but it is a fascinating idea. A $7 "bootable PC in a flash drive" that is affordable to almost anyone on the planet. Plug it into a recycled PC at a community center or a shared PC at a school, boot it up and your own private environment is there. Pull it out, and your PC goes with you. Only about 24 percent funded with 24 days left to go. Fin is a thumb-ring with a purpose -- to turn your entire palm and fingers into a touch interface for your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Apparently not too many people are enthralled with the idea, as it's reached just over 6 percent funding with 32 days to go. QardioArm is a take on the "connected self," providing an easily pocketable wireless blood pressure-measurement device that talks to your smartphone. The idea is that you're more likely to monitor your blood pressure when you can take your device with you everywhere. It's over 55 percent funded with 14 days left. Otto Petcare Systems has an idea -- a way to let you keep an eye on your dog's or cat's activity levels, view it on a smartphone via a webcam, feed your pet remotely through an app and compare your animal's nutritional and activity levels to others of the same type and breed. This project's getting close, at 84 percent funding with just 10 days left. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site.
Avatron Kickstarts Everydisk project for secure personal cloud storage
The remote data field is dominated by powerhouses like Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, SugarSync and so on. Whether you're looking for a hardware network-attached storage (NAS) solution or a cloud-storage server, there's probably a vendor or 10 you've already heard of. Now, iOS/Mac development house Avatron is attempting to step into this crowded arena. Avatron's new Everydisk Kickstarter hopes to securely serve your files from your home system to wherever you are. The big selling point behind Everydisk is its unlimited NAS-like storage. You get access to your entire disk, not just a special folder, the way you would with Dropbox and not just a standalone drive, as you would with PogoPlug or Transporter. According to the Avatron team, Everydisk creates its own secure tunnel between your computer and your access point, using Diffie-Hellman key exchange, offering you a way to confidently grab the materials you need. Avatron's hoping its combination of heightened privacy, unlimited storage and full disk access will set it apart from the current crop of competition. It's built around the same Air Connect technology used for Air Login, an app many of us here at TUAW have used and liked. As Avatron founder Dave Howell puts it, "It's basically like Back to My Mac, but it isn't broken. And it's like a VPN except it's easy to use and supports Bonjour and other UDP-based services." Their Kickstarter has about three weeks to go and is currently at about 19 percent pledged. The available pledges offer discounted subscription access to the service once it ships. When we last checked, nearly all the super-discount early bird offers had been claimed, but there are still some excellent values to be had.
Avatron's Air Login hits the App Store, free for local use
Last month, TUAW blogger Erica Sadun did a writeup of a preview edition of Avatron's Air Login remote computer access app. Erica and I were both beta testers for the app, which is used to control any number of Macs from your favorite iOS device. Air Login (free, universal) is now live on the App Store. As Erica noted in her previous writeup, Air Connect (free) is installed on the Macs you wish to control. Those Macs must be running OS X Lion or Mountain Lion. Air Login is loaded on your iOS device(s), and can be used at no cost on your local network to control your Macs. If you want true remote access over a mobile connection, Avatron offers an in-app purchase to Air Login Anywhere at a cost of $4.99 for 90 days or $14.99 for a year. Dave Howell of Avatron noted that before the company began work on Air Login, they took a look at all of the other remote access apps out there -- apps like LogMeIn and GoToMyPC -- to see what was good and bad about those apps. Avatron did a wonderful job of enabling touch control of a remote Mac. There's a button to show all open Mac apps and quickly switch to the one you want to use, and once you're in that Mac app, its menu bar appears at the top of your iOS device screen. Remote control with Air Login, even over a mobile connection, is fast and definitely optimized for use on a small screen. Erica's sneak peek ended with the words "The thoughtfulness of the features, the care in the design and the overall understanding of how people want and need to do work convince me that this is a product worth watching out for. It's on its way and it's going to kick ass." I agree wholeheartedly with that statement.
TUAW Sneak Peek: Avatron's supercool Air Login remote computer access
One of the great joys of blogging happens when developers give you an early peek at products under development. Steven Sande and I were lucky enough to join Avatron's beta test for their upcoming Air Login app. A direct competitor to LogMeIn Ignition, TeamViewer and other remote desktop apps, Air Login promises a thoughtful, well-designed take on the field. Like its competition, you install a server app on your home system. This app runs in the background, letting you connect remotely to home. Basically, you install the Air Connect software on your computer, the Air Login on your iPad or iPhone, and then connect from your iOS device back home. The service is account-based. You establish your credentials with Avatron using Air Connect, and then add systems to your account to tie them together. Once installed, I had no problem calling back home to my Mac. Air Login easily handled my rather extensive dual-monitor install. Built-in help introduced the features of the onscreen toolbar. Some of these features are just outstanding. Take the Exposé-style app view for example. It allows you to switch from app-to-app, previewing the activity in each of the open windows. Here, you can see that I'm running Mail, Xcode, Colloquy, Safari and so forth. Air Login also provides a custom menu bar outside the networked screen, letting you access features of the active program, no matter what you're looking at on the screen itself. So if you scroll to your other screen to view a window, the menu bar is still exactly right where you need it. The builds Steve and I tested were, of course, early beta. We ran (not unexpectedly) into a fair number of bugs -- the kind you see well before a product launches. Even in this rough state, Air Login impressed. Pricing and availability dates have yet to be finalized. Feel free to drop Avatron a note if you're available to test on Win 8 at notify-win8@avatron.com. The thoughtfulness of the features, the care in the design and the overall understanding of how people want and need to do work convince me that this is a product worth watching out for. It's on its way and it's going to kick ass. Preview video follows:
DevJuice: Should I develop cross platform?
App Store. Android. Amazon. If you're a developer, there are lots of possible venues competing for your attention. So which one is worth your time and energy? I turned to Avatron Founder and CEO Dave Howell for the answer. Avatron makes Air Display, a popular app that allows you to use a mobile device like an iPad or phone as an extra display for your computer. When you're on the road, it's nice to be able to offload a Twitter stream, for example, onto a secondary screen so your laptop can be dedicated more to your work. Air Display is now available across a number of platforms, including the following stores: Apple iOS App Store (iOS) Apple Mac App Store (Mac) Google Android Market (Android) Amazon Appstore (Android) Samsung Apps (Bada) Intel AppUp (Windows netbooks) Given the time investment, the overhead, and general work involved in developing cross platform, where has Avatron seen its strongest sales? You won't be surprised by the answer: in the iOS App Store. Like many other developers, Avatron has found that the App Store delivers customers and product interest in ways that other platforms have been unable to match. Howell lays out the sales as follows: iOS App Store: Strong sales Mac App Store: 1/10 of the sales of the iOS App Store Android Market: 1/2 of the Mac App Store sales Samsung Apps: 1/5 of Android Market Amazon App Store: 1/10 of Android Market Intel AppUp: "4 copies in over an entire year" and Howell bought one of those copies. Each store has its strengths, weaknesses, and quirks, but Howell is clear about one thing -- No matter how we App Store developers complain, "iOS is the most painless of the bunch. And this is coming from a developer whose latest iOS app was pulled by Apple without any credible justification." Avatron retired Air Dictate this January. "Our most recent submission of Air Dictate did not break any rules, or use any private APIs," Howell said, discussing the background of that situation. "Apple pulled it because it bizarrely claimed that apps that "relate to Siri" are infringing Apple's Siri trademark or copyright. I sent them the email addresses to three Apple IP lawyers so the app review team could get a tutorial on what exactly trademarks and copyrights are, but my helpful suggestion have proved fruitless so far." Compared to other stores, however, Apple's App Store offers the simplest road to market and the best logistics. "The latest move by Google requires Android Market sales to go through Google Wallet. No more PayPal, Zong, or Boku. And now Android Market is called Google Play," Howell explained. "I can't keep up with the thrashing. And Google still offers no way to give out promo codes, or even to purchase a copy of an app for somebody else. Apple's way, way ahead in this kind of logistics." Howell pointed out that Amazon remains US-only. "Amazon does let us buy gift cards for people, which is nice. As long as they're in the US and they don't mind getting their apps through Amazon Appstore. Amazon's review process is no faster than Apple's, and strangely it's much slower to get an app approved for Amazon's own Kindle Fire than for other devices. So their own customers get our apps later than everybody else." Despite low sales in Samsung Apps and Intel AppUp, Howell reports that the recruiting process and submission was pleasant enough. So should you invest time going cross platform? Hopefully Avatron's experience gives you a hint as to the market possibilities. If you like this kind of developer-centric coverage, please let our editorial team know. Drop a note and tell TUAW that you care about dev topics.
Daily iPad App: Air Display lets you add an HiDPI monitor to your Mac
We've covered Air Display from Avatron ever since it landed in the iOS App Store in early 2010. The popular utility lets you use your iPad as an external monitor for your Mac or Windows machine. Just like any standard external monitor, Air Display lets you extend your desktop or mirror it onto your tablet device. With the release of the retina iPad and a new retina-capable version of the iOS software, Air Display just became a lot more compelling for new iPad owners. To get started with Air Display, you'll need a small app that runs on your desktop and a companion app for your iPad (or iPhone). Setting it up is as easy as firing up the app on both devices and then selecting your iPad in the desktop software. The desktop app then manages the connection between the two devices and extends your desktop to the iPad. I use it to keep my browser open on my MacBook Pro and drag both my chat client and Twitter client to the iPad. The latest version of Air Display takes advantage of the native 2048 x 1536 resolution of the new iPad which means you can fit a lot of content on the screen of your iPad. More is usually better, but, in this case, content on the retina display will be small and difficult to read because of the iPad's high-resolution display. This isn't a problem if you have a Mac with OS X Lion or Mountain Lion. You can take advantage of the hidden HiDPI mode which provides a comfortable resolution and exceptionally crisp text and images. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's absolutely gorgeous. Beside the stunning UI, Air Display's also been optimized for faster performance, so the overall feel of the latest version of the app is snappier than previous versions. I've been an Air Display user for over a year now and this version is an excellent upgrade for retina iPad owners. Text is crisp and clear and visual elements from the desktop look gorgeous. At US$10, Air Display is pricey, but it's a must-have for those who occasionally need an external monitor. I would rather pay $10 for the ability to use my iPad as a portable external display than spend over $100 for a stationary monitor. Air Display is available from the iOS App Store for $9.99. The companion desktop software, Air Display Connect for Mac, can be downloaded from Avatron's website for free. The Mac desktop version supports the Retina display, while the Windows version does not. A retina update for the Windows client is in the works. %Gallery-152134%
Avatron soldiers on with Air Sharing after removing Air Dictate
Avatron's Elliot Chase just shrugs when asked about Air Dictate, an app his company had to remove from the App Store after Apple discovered it made use of Siri that they didn't approve of. "There's no good news," he said while talking to us at Macworld | iWorld 2012. The main issue is over Air Dictate's interface. Instead of using the standard, tiny Siri button on the native keyboard, Avatron hid the keyboard and used its own button. Apple would rather it used the standard UI, however unfitting. "If we make some changes, they might put us back," says Chase. But outside of that issue, Avatron is continuing to update its popular Air Sharing and Air Display apps. In fact, the gang was showing off Air Sharing's beautiful new PDF viewer in San Francisco last week. It features an iBooks-style page flip and a scrubber for quickly scanning a document's pages. Chase said that many users are reading PDFs with the app, and his company saw an opportunity to create a better PDF viewer. The next update, which should be out soon, will add Egnyte to the list of cloud services that Air Sharing is compatible with. Avatron is also working on Air Display updates. An Android version is in development, as is a Mac update that will allow it to work on older versions of Mac OS X . The current version requires the latest version of the Mac OS, but Avatron will release a downloadable version on its website that will work with previous versions, so you can share a display screen with your iPad from nearly any OS X build. There's a beta available now, but the software should be finalized in the next month or so. Air Dictate was certainly a setback (Avatron even had the software's picture marked out on its booth at Macworld as "not available"), but it sounds like Avatron is keeping busy nevertheless.
Avatron retires Air Dictate tool for remote Siri dictation
Avatron is a company well known for their iOS and Mac utilities. We are particularly fond of their Air Sharing apps and Air Display, among others. They have a reputation for building solid, reliable products. I could sense the dismay in CEO Dave Howell's message when he pinged me today to let me know that Avatron would be pulling their Air Dictate app. In order to comply with App Store rules, Air Dictate used a little trick to hide the standard keyboard while offering one-button access to Siri dictation functions. This is distinct from the non-App Store-safe approach I wrote about on Thanksgiving. Howell explained, "What we did was to hide the keyboard and text field entirely. We did that by putting another view in front of the keyboard window. When you press our big Start Dictation button, we map that to a tap on the little microphone button. But how? There's no public method to change the location of a tap event to some other location. The solution to that was the clever part of Air Dictate. We actually changed the position of the keyboard window so that its mic button is directly under whatever point you tapped. Then we move it back again after the event has passed through. Same thing for the Done button." The app relied on interface assumptions that could possibly change without warning in future Apple updates, or could vary with international keyboard layouts. This caused a point of conflict with Apple review. "The cold hard fact is that every update of iOS is likely to break all of our apps for one reason or another," Howell said. "Sometimes new Apple bugs, sometimes intentional changes to their frameworks. You don't have to break any rules for your apps to be broken by an iOS update!" Apple further proposed that Avatron discard their custom interface, which was both eye-catching and streamlined, and ask users to locate and tap the microphone button directly. "Apple's suggestion was that we should throw away our custom interface (sacrificing its convenience for the blind and disabled, who would have trouble tapping the tiny mic button), and just throw up a standard keyboard. We don't want to do that so we're not planning to release any more updates to Air Dictate." RIP Air Dictate.
Air Dictate app brings Siri's voice control to Macs, makes you feel just a little more important
Well, this was probably inevitable. Given that we've already seen Siri respond to custom commands, replace your remote and adjust the temperature in your house, it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone, somewhere has figured out how to make her control Macs. That's what's going on with Air Dictate by Avatron, a new app that allows you to dictate memos and other Very Important Business so that it appears in your text editor, without you having to type it yourself. Once you download the $1 app, you'll need to visit Avatron's website, download the Air Dictate Receiver software for your Mac and make sure the two devices are connected to the same WiFi network. So far as we can tell, it should work with any application that accepts text input, though for now it's only compatible with Macs and the iPhone 4S (sorry, jailbreakers).
Air Display for Mac: Turn another Mac into an extended display
One very popular and fun iPhone / iPad app that I love to use is Avatron Software's Air Display. As we described in a First Look back in May of 2010, Air Display turns an iOS device into a small wireless monitor that can be used to display app windows from a Mac or Windows computer. Now Avatron has made Air Display even more useful by creating a Mac app to do the same thing. Air Display for Mac (US$19.99 in the Mac App Store) is a bit more expensive than its iOS sibling, but it's also more capable than the mobile device version -- especially if you have a second Mac with a large screen. Similar to Air Display for iOS, Air Display turns a Mac into a wireless display for extending the desktop of your other Mac or Windows computer. Air Display is available in the Mac App Store, and needs to be installed on the Mac that you want to turn into a secondary display. You then need to visit the Avatron website to download the host software for your primary computer. As noted, that computer can be either a Mac (running Snow Leopard) or a Windows PC (running XP, Vista or 7). You do have to reboot the host computer during the installation process. The same host software works with both iOS and Mac extended displays.
Avatron's Dave Howell on the future of Air Display, Air Sharing and Print Sharing
Last week at CES 2011 we met up with Dave Howell, whose Avatron Software has delivered three apps to the App Store so far. Air Display and Air Sharing are already TUAW favorites, and Print Sharing is a relatively new app targeting one feature specifically: printing to a shared printer directly from your iPhone or iPod touch. Howell walked us through his three apps, then talked a little bit about the future roadmap of each and the rest of what Avatron is up to. Air Display is still Avatron's most popular app; two different engineers are working on it, with one working on solving connectivity problems, and the other ironing out performance issues. Avatron wants to make Air Display more useful, even away from the computer it's sharing a screen with, so the company is working on allowing users to zoom or scale the display as they use it. Video out is also coming soon, so you'll be able to send a shared display out to a TV or any other display. Air Sharing's main goal now is to add as many sharing services and document types as possible. The app lets you dive in and view documents from Dropbox and Box.net already, and Howell says Google Documents is next to come to the service. Print Sharing is a much more focused app, but Howell says it's been popular, too. Print Sharing's current goal is to support as many file types as it can; Howell said Print Sharing would get the same updates that the engineers working on Air Display will provide.
