first look
Latest
First Look: Snagit for Mac Public Beta
Switchers were elated earlier this year when TechSmith, developers of the fabulous Camtasia screen recorder application for Windows, finally shipped their flagship app for the Mac. Those switchers were probably also wishing that TechSmith would create a Mac version of their screen capture application, Snagit. Well, their wishes have been granted! TechSmith has announced the public beta version of Snagit for Mac, and a first look at the application shows that it's a worthy screenshot snapper for the platform. The company has made the beta available for feedback on operation and features, so this is a perfect time to download the program and give it a try. After installing the application and launching it, all that is visible is a small "tab" that pops out from the side of the Mac screen when you hover over it. The tab has a drop-down for choosing the capture mode and a red button for taking the screen shot. There are two capture modes -- all-in-one capture and window capture. Window capture mode displays all open windows Exposé-style, and you click on one of the windows to select it for capture. Once captured, it appears in a screen where you can annotate the screenshot in a number of ways, or add effects. At this time, there are no effects and the app shows that the feature is coming soon.
How to cram the entire Internet Movie Database into your iPhone
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), an Amazon.com company, has just released a free iPhone app [iTunes Link] that puts the power of the huge repository of movie facts, fables, and trivia into the palm of your hand. I use IMDb regularly, so when I saw that the app had been released, I downloaded it immediately. Upon launching, the app will ask if you wish to let it use your location -- this is used to display show times and movies for local theaters. While IMDb doesn't exactly have a beautiful interface, it's perfect for navigating the huge amount of information that is available. The first page of the app displays three major areas: Movies, TV, and People. There's also an Application area, which is used only to display information about the App. Movies is subdivided into Showtimes, Coming Soon, US Box Office Results, MOVIEmeter, and the Top 250 Movies. Tapping Coming Soon brings up details about upcoming movies releases, including trailers that can be viewed on the phone. I love the Top 250 Movies, which is a list of the movies rated highest by IMDb readers. It's a treasure trove of information about many of the classic movies of all time. IMDb's TV section is split into US TV Tonight, which is a schedule of upcoming shows on the major networks, and US TV Recaps, which provides full text synopses of what has happened on top TV shows during the previous week. Under the People heading, there's both STARmeter, which shows a listing of the top 25 stars as measured by the number of times that they've been searched for on IMDb, and Born Today, which lists actors (living and dead) who were born on the current day. If you love movies and TV, or searching trivia about roles, actors, and directors, then you probably already spend a lot of time with IMDb. The iPhone app is just the icing on the IMDb cake, and as a free app it should be on the home screen of every movie fan's iPhone. Check out the gallery for screenshots of IMDb in action. %Gallery-79882%
First Look: Get airborne with Aera for iPhone
Aera is a new flight game [iTunes store] from iChromo with beautifully rendered graphics and some challenging game-play. I wouldn't exactly call it a flight simulator, as your control of the aircraft is limited. You can't bank left or right, but you do control your up and down pitch. The game is priced at US$2.99 for the iPhone and iPod touch. Think of Aera as a 2D shooter with exceptionally good graphics and addictive missions that can draw you deeply into the game. There are several different mission types. In some, you collect points by flying the plane into floating objects, and in others you need to avoid those floating objects. There are also missions where you have to do both, as well as dogfights and aerobatic flights. Because the controls do not work in the way other flight games work, it's helpful to go through the quick in-game tutorial so you know how the game works. If you try to exit the tutorial and just start playing, you'll be brought back to the tutorial until you have finished it. It really is necessary, because you'll never be able to fly successfully without going through it. The game also features multiplayer options for other owners of the sim who are on the same wireless network. Aera also features video replay, allowing you to watch yourself crash and burn.
Yahoo! A first look at the official Flickr iPhone app
At long last, the official Flickr iPhone app is in the App Store. This free app allows Flickr users to upload their iPhone photographs to their Flickr accounts as well as view photostreams that have been created by themselves and others. The app has the following features: Shoot, upload and share photos and videos Geo-tag photos or add to a set View photos by set and tag View photos from friends and family Search and view photos by contact Make comments on photos Search by subject, people or places I'm not a big Flickr user, but decided to give the app a quick look today. There were several things that I wasn't thrilled with. For example, geotagging in the Flickr app has to be done at the time that the photo is taken. If you try to add a geotag to a picture that's already in your photo library, the Flickr app adds your current location -- not the location where the photo was actually taken. Flickr does the same thing for the photo date -- if you wait a few days to upload a photo, it marks it with the upload date, not the date that the photo was actually taken. In addition, the Recent button is supposed to show recent activity and uploads, but even after 30 minutes it still didn't show that I had uploaded several photos. I'd also like to see the app offer the ability to look for photos taken near your current location. While this is a long-awaited addition to the App Store, the app doesn't appear to be very well thought out or executed. At least it's a first release, so we can expect upgrades in functionality down the road.
First Look: CheckOff 4.0 for Mac OS X
I'm one of those people who "Gets Things Done" the old-fashioned way. I've tried just about every To-Do list manager for the Mac and iPhone, and I still end up resorting to writing lists in my Moleskine notebook and then crossing off the completed items. Still, when I saw that an upgrade to CheckOff had been shipped by Second Gear Software, I decided to give it a try. CheckOff 4.0 is not the latest navigator and weapons officer for the USS Enterprise. It is a compact and easily accessible to-do list for Mac OS X, and it runs both on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. CheckOff 4.0 is shareware, and requires that you purchase a US$12.95 license to use it for more than ten to-do items. After installing and launching the 4.4 MB application on your Mac, a check mark icon appears in the menu bar. To add or delete items from your to-do list, you click on the check mark to make the CheckOff menu appear (below): What you see is the complete user interface for CheckOff 4.0. Those five icons are used to add a new item, add a new folder, delete an item, change the color or category for an item or folder, and to delete checked (completed) items. There's a place for notes down at the bottom of the the window.
First Look: Watermark your iPhoto pictures with Impression
Blue Crowbar Software is a small Belgian Mac development firm that is quickly making a name for itself for its innovative iPhoto and Aperture plugins. We've previously covered iPhoto2Twitter here on TUAW, and now Blue Crowbar has announced a new iPhoto plugin for adding watermarks to pictures in your iPhoto library. Watermarks are those faint, transparent designs that websites often use to mark exclusive photos when breaking a big story. For example, many of the great fake iTablet "photos" that we've received during the past few weeks have been emblazoned with a watermark for one Mac site or another. Impression (€9.90 -- about US$14.10) works in iPhoto to put watermarks onto your iPhoto pictures. If you're worried that a watermark might ruin a perfectly good picture, don't be. Impression makes a copy of the picture, then creates a watermarked version which is also saved into your iPhoto library.
First Look: Keymote for iPhone / iPod touch takes control of your Mac
There are some applications out there that never cease to amaze me. We're always looking for shortcuts and ways to make our lives (and our computer use) much easier. Iced Cocoa's new Keymote [iTunes Link] for iPhone and iPod touch is sure to do just that! With Keymote, you'll never again have to remember a shortcut. Keymote creates single buttons out of complicated shortcuts and groups them by application, speeding up your productivity and boosting your workflow. Basically, Keymote acts as a remote for your Mac and can control almost any application. The developer notes that you can "Easily control Front Row from across the room, refresh your Twitter stream wirelessly, or play a song from iTunes without even touching your computer, the possibilities are endless." Some highlights of Keymote include: Simple and intuitive user interface that makes using Keymote easy and fun. Easy to connect and operate over a Wi-Fi connection. Organizes your keystrokes, keeping the ones you use close at hand. Highly customizable with different key colors, the ability to add tactile feedback with vibrations and more. Built-in store for purchasing keystroke sets for almost any Mac application. Don't worry, most of these are free. Customize and share your keystrokes and layouts with other users easily. I found the Keymote interface to be simple to use, and the commands are snappy, happening almost instantly. The in-app store is great too; I was able to download keystroke sets for Tweetie, Coda, iTunes, Safari, Firefox, Photoshop and so much more. I'm also a sucker for a beautiful user interface and Keymote certainly has that. The menus are easy to use and the keystroke pages are downright gorgeous. The application is available in the iTunes App Store for $3.99 and is well worth the price. In addition to the app, you'll need to head over to Iced Cocoa's website, download the free Keymote receiver, and then pair your iPhone or iPod touch with the receiver application on your Mac. Here are a few shots of the application in action: %Gallery-70140%
First Look: iDisk app
Apple's long-awaited free iDisk (iTunes link) program brings some great new features that makes MobileMe more appealing. But, there are a few holes and the program certainly doesn't do everything. Basic layout When you launch the iDisk app, you'll see most of folders that you normally have access to in your iDisk, plus any other folders that you might have created. What you won't see are the Backup, Sites, Software and Web folders that are normally in your iDisk. You can access these folders by enabling them through the software settings. Pressing the edit button will allow you to delete any user-made folders you've added to iDisk, but you can't create new folders. Along the bottom are buttons for the iDisk itself, recent files viewed, files that you've chosen to share and public folders you've subscribed to. The settings screen is pretty basic, but leads to one of the gems of this piece of software -- an extremely documented help section that goes over every aspect of the app. %Gallery-69001%
First Look: TweetDeck for iPhone
There's been no shortage of Twitter app reviews on TUAW. We've even covered TweetDeck once or twice. But now, another Mac app and iPhone app have intersected in the Twitter world and I, for one, am ecstatic about it. Until now, Tweetie had been my Twitter client of choice on both my Mac and my iPhone. I was pretty content with the set up, but had one issue: If I were out and about all day and checking Tweetie on my iPhone, I'd have to re-read all those tweets when I got home because the two programs had no way of communicating what had been read and what hadn't. TweetDeck has finally found a way around this issue, offering syncing between your iPhone client and your Mac client. %Gallery-66162%
First Look: Documents to Go for iPhone
Documents to Go from DataViz has been known for years to the Palm and Blackberry community, and it finally comes to the iPhone -- filling in the need for a built-in Word (and soon Excel) editor that truly turns the iPhone into a mini computer. There are currently two versions of Document To Go. The $4.99USD version [App Store link] features Microsoft Word editing alone and the $9.99 version adds Microsoft Exchange support. You can also view and synchronize Excel and PowerPoint documents, PDFs, HTML pages and iWork '08 documents ('05, '06 and '09 are not supported at this time, though I do imagine that iWork '09 support will be added later). A free upgrade is part of the deai; when purchasing Documents to Go now, you net the ability to create and edit Excel documents when that feature becomes available. For an in-depth look of the app itself, click through. Please note that this review covers the $4.99US version of the app sans Microsoft Exchange. %Gallery-66042%
Hands on with the Aion beta: Exploring Sanctum and Verteron
After leveling your stunning avatar to level 9, ascending to Daevahood and getting your wings, it's time to go out into the world -- well Verteron at least. But first, let's talk a little about the glorious city of Sanctum and what your new Daevic powers really mean. Join us after the jump as we take a closer look at Aion's hub city of Sanctum, the zone of Verteron and the basics of flying.
E3 2009: Impressions of Heroes of Telara
To be honest, when the Heroes of Telara trailer first released, much of what we heard was "been there done that" from readers and friends. "Fantasy has been done to death" was another. That's why we were glad to see the game actually in play behind closed doors this last week at the Trion World Network space at E3. While we only saw a pre-alpha copy of the game (and would point out that it's what they used for the trailer) it's certainly raised our interest over the initial impression we had. In motion, Heroes of Telara actually made some of us of think of an updated, shinier version of Guild Wars in terms of very pretty and highly-detailed stylized (yet somewhat realistic) graphics. As was explained to us by Chris Mancil, the Director of Community Management for Trion, one of the largest things that they feel will set Heroes of Telara apart from many others is that they are working to keep the game server-based. Their plan is to attempt to keep most of the "action" server side as is possible so that they can add new events into the game without having to send along enormous patches to players all the time. All assets will still reside client side, but they'll be able to manipulate game-play by telling the client to modify where things spawn, how things interact, and the like. From little things like different vendors having sales to large zone-wide events, it will allow them to change anything and everything on the fly and make Heroes of Telara feel more like it's taking place in a living, breathing, dynamic world that players will want to "live in, explore, and play." %Gallery-64646% %Gallery-64649%
First video of Heroes of Telara released
If you weren't watching the opening show for E3 on Spike Network last night (or like many others, just don't happen to be in a place that even gets Spike TV) then you'd have missed the world premiere first-look at Trion World Network's upcoming MMO, Heroes of Telara. While we can imagine that this is likely alpha footage, it gives us a first look at what they've been working on behind the scenes. As a handful of us here at Massively are heading to E3 this weekend, we'll be sure to bring you all the news on this upcoming MMO straight from the front lines. For now, be sure to check out the video, embedded for your comfort, just behind the break!
First Look: NinjaBee's Kaloki Adventure for iPhone
I first came across developer NinjaBee by playing their XBLA platfomer Cloning Clyde -- it was a game that seemed pretty genre, until you started playing it and discovered a unique charm and depth. Since then, they've brought that flair to a few other types of games, including the turn-based strategy RPG Band of Bugs and Xbox Live's Kingdom for Kieflings, and now they've arrived on the iPhone by porting their original XBLA spaceport business sim Outpost Kaloki X and renaming it as Kaloki Adventure. I liked Kaloki on Xbox Live and I still like it on the iPhone. The graphics have taken a hit -- the textures don't seem as clear and the menus are a little more functional than good-looking, but the solid core of gameplay is definitely still here in spades. The idea is that you're running a space station with a limited number of expansion slots on it, and you can put various expansions in each of those slots -- some will give you more power (which you can use to grow bigger expansions), and some will make you more money (which you can use to build more power). The idea is to satisfy your power needs, make money, and keep your customers happy all at the same time, turning your space station from a tiny little lemonade stand off the back end of Jupiter into a thriving powerhouse of space commerce.
First Look: Bento for iPhone and iPod touch
iPhone owners who are searching for an easy-to-use database management app for their iPhones can stop looking. Today, FileMaker Inc. announced the immediate availability of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch (click opens iTunes), a US$4.99 portable edition of Bento for Mac.The app comes with 25 built-in templates for business or personal use, plus a blank template that can be used to create your own customized templates. Some of the included business templates can be used for issue tracking, time billing, and expenses, while personal templates include a diet log, recipes, vehicle maintenance, and home inventory. Like the Mac app, Bento for iPhone and iPod touch is integrated with Contacts, Safari, Mail, and Google Maps. Additionally, Bento can be used to dial an iPhone. Databases can be synchronized wirelessly (via WiFi) with Bento 2.0v4 for Mac. This new version of Bento 2.0 for Mac is a free update that is available for download to all existing users today. The video below features Ryan Rosenberg, VP of Marketing and Services for FileMaker, describing and demonstrating many of the features of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch. TUAW will have a full review of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch in the near future.
LG GC900 Viewty Smart gets coddled, previewed
After being officially unveiled (twice) for the European market last month, LG's GC900 Viewty Smart has finally arrived into the loving hands of those at GSMArena. The unit you see above is actually a pre-production unit, but it was baked enough to warrant a full-scale preview until review units start to ship. One of the biggest reveals was this line: "It's not a smartphone or anything, no matter how much we would have liked that; instead, it's a regular full touch feature phone, but one with a really polished UI and top-notch imaging capabilities." Critics spent a good bit of time checking out the still-novel 8MP camera, and while they were generally pleased with image quality and color, they weren't so stoked about the phone's ability to capture video. Overall though, they couldn't help but gush about the "gorgeous display" and "best-of-class user interface," which definitely leaves us even hungrier to wrap our own digits around a finalized unit.
First Look: Airfoil Speakers Touch
I'd never gotten the opportunity to use Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil prior to today, and then I found out about Airfoil Speakers Touch (link opens iTunes). Airfoil allows you to stream audio from your Mac to other devices including Apple TV, Airport Express, other Macs on your network and now the iPhone and iPod touch. We looked at a similar application not too long ago, but the definite upside to Airfoil Speakers Touch is that you don't have to go through the mess of installing a separate server application -- especially if you already own Airfoil.Using Airfoil Speakers Touch is extremely simple. I opened Airfoil on my Mac for the first time and it showed my laptop and Apple TV on my network. I then launched Airfoil Speakers Touch on my iPhone and it added the iPhone as an available streaming device. I selected iTunes as the source of my audio and clicked on the icon next to the iPhone on the Airfoil application. A quick restart of Airfoil (its Instant Hijack plug-in will bypass that) and I could stream music from iTunes through the iPhone. On the iPhone, a small image of my MacBook (complete with an image of my current desktop) appeared.The application works beautifully. I left the laptop in my bedroom and carried my iPhone around both inside and outside of the apartment until I left the range of my wireless router. The sound is crystal clear and it turns the iPhone (and 2nd-gen iPod touch) into a great portable speaker.However, there are a couple of drawbacks. If you exit the application on your iPhone, it will cut off the streaming. Because of this, there's no way to jump over to the Remote application and remotely control iTunes. So if you want to utilize your device as an Airfoil speaker, you need to have a playlist set up in advance since you can't change tracks from within the application itself. I'm hoping remote features will be added some time in the future. It would really make this a killer app.Airfoil for the Mac is $25, and a free demo is available. It requires OS X 10.4 or above. Airfoil Speakers Touch is a free download through the iTunes App Store.
TUAW First Look: Gas Cubby 2.0
With more than 25,000 apps in the App Store (as of this writing), it's not easy to find the standouts. One such app is Gas Cubby from App Cubby (we're written about it before), and I'm very happy to have spent a week with version 2.0. It's in my top five iPhone applications (along with its sibling, Trip Cubby. But that's another post entirely). My day job requires me to keep track of automotive expenses. Before I found Gas Cubby, I was unsuccessfully trying to do so with pen and paper. I'd either take the pen out of the car and forget to return it or do the same with the notebook. I'd end up scribbling on anything I could find and promptly lose whatever it was. My accountant wasn't happy.Gas Cubby solved the issue and actually made it fun for me to keep track of my expenses. That's right, fun. You can collect data on gas and service. First, I'll look at gas.Update: Yes, this will be a free upgrade for current owners. %Gallery-49955%
First Look: Convertbot
Last October, we posted about another iPhone app -- Weightbot -- written by Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad at Tapbots. Now the company has shipped their second app, an iPhone conversion calculator called Convertbot (iTunes link).Like Weightbot, Convertbot is a classy-looking and extremely functional iPhone app. Every detail of the user interface shows obvious thought, resulting in an app that is easy to use and look at. As with Weightbot, Convertbot also features sound effects that provide an extra level of fun.What can you convert with Convertbot? Temperature, time, volume, work, angles, area, currency, length, mass, power, pressure and speed. How do you do it? There's a rotating selector wheel on the Convertbot screen to choose the type of conversion (temperature, for example), and a button to select the units (degrees Fahrenheit, for instance). To enter the known unit, you tap the converter display to bring up a keypad for tapping in numbers. As you tap in the numbers, Convertbot is busily converting the units. If you're an aspiring developer and want to see a well-designed app, or if you're an iPhone or iPod touch owner who just likes cool apps, check out this US$0.99 app. There are tons of conversion apps in the App Store, but Convertbot is just too nice to pass up. See the gallery below for screenshots. %Gallery-48634%
First Look: Fliq Docs
In early January, TUAW featured a face-off between Fliq for Mac and Mobile DropCopy. At the time, I noted that Fliq for Mac and Windows was better in terms of moving content created on the iPhone (address cards, notes, photos) to a Mac or Windows PC, while Mobile DropCopy was better for viewing or moving other content such as Microsoft Word documents or PDF files.About six weeks later, Mark/Space has responded by not only updating Fliq to version 2.0, but also releasing a new free iPhone application called Fliq Docs (click opens iTunes). Fliq Docs requires Fliq 2.0 for Mac or Windows (US$19.95, free upgrade for registered users of Fliq 1.0, or US$9.95 to owners of any Mark/Space Missing Sync application), and is a full-featured document viewing and transfer application for iPhone. Click the Read More link to find out more about Fliq Docs.
