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Daily iPad app: Snapseed
It's an app with a funny name, but a lot of power. Snapseed, from Nik Software, is a powerful photo editor for the iPad. You can enhance color and exposure of any photo with a single click, or just tweak your photo using a variety of powerful tools that can transform a mundane photo into something compelling. The app also lets you crop, straighten and rotate an image, or even take new photos from within the app. Perhaps the most powerful tool in Snapseed is the ability to selectively filter an image. This comes from Nik's innovative U Point technology, which was perfected on Photoshop plug-ins that are used by the pros. It's impressive to see that same function being brought into an iOS app. I tried Snapseed on a variety of photos. The tools have an interesting user interface designed specifically for a touch screen. Slide your finger up and down and to reveal a list of tools. After you select an effect, slide left or right to decrease or increase the effect. After a bit of use, the operation becomes a reflex. In addition to the tools mentioned, Snapseed lets you create frames for your images, and can produce a very striking black-and-white image or emulate some old color film styles. There is a useful sharpening tool that does't just devolve into noise as so many others do. There is also a tilt-shift function and a very useful compare button to show you before and after images before you commit to your changes. Completed images can be shared via email, Facebook, Flickr or Twitter. I've just scratched the surface of what you can do with Snapseed. At US$4.99 it is not the cheapest photo editor on offer, but I think it is clearly among the most powerful. Snapseed is universal, so when you buy it you'll get the iPhone version as well. The app requires iOS 4.2 or later and is a 26 MB download. Check the gallery for some samples I created as I used the app. Highly recommended by me, and now Apple, as Snapseed has been named iPad app of the year. %Gallery-141299%
My Xbox Live available on the App Store
Xbox owners with iPhones or iPads, rejoice! Microsoft has added a brand new app called My Xbox Live to the App Store today. The free app takes your Xbox Live experience portable, letting you connect with friends, update your Avatar, and even browse through the games hub all directly from the App. The app is a 17 MB download and is universal for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It requires iOS 4.3 or later. It also needs (of course) an Xbox LIVE membership, and you'll have to know the Windows Live ID associated with your Xbox account. If you've updated your Xbox this week already with the new dashboard, you'll know that you have to approve some brand new Terms of Service to sign in to Xbox Live, so you'll have to approve those to use this app as well. Our friends at Joystiq have found that the ToS might prevent class action lawsuits, so click at your own risk. Although the app works over 3G, Microsoft suggests a Wi-Fi connection for best performance. Check out some screen grabs of the app in action in the gallery below. %Gallery-141273%
my-Ditto lets you access your data from literally anywhere including your iOS devices
There are a lot of solutions to getting your hands on files, video and audio remotely. You can do it on your own configuring firewalls. Apple had iDisk, but that is slowly fading and it's going to be dead next year unless Apple changes its mind. Of the many methods I've seen, Dane-Elec has come up with a product that is both easy and secure. It's called the my-Ditto system. It consists of an external hard drive you attach to your Mac or PC via ethernet. Essentially it's a NAS, or network attached storage. Once it's up and running, you can access your files from any remote computer via a secure USB key. Pop it into any other computer anywhere, enter a password, and the files you have sitting at home are available. Even better, you can see your files from an iOS device running a special my-Ditto app. The my-Ditto hardware offers systems up to 4 terabytes of storage, and there are starter systems of 500 gigabytes, or empty drive casings that let you populate it on your own. The systems also support RAID for data redundancy. I was sent a 500 GB system to try. Setup was pretty easy. Plug the my-Ditto into your router, run the software from the USB key, and register. The USB keys need to be matched to your device with a serialization scheme, and if you need more you can buy them from Dane-Elec or just use a flash drive you buy anywhere and go through the steps to match it securely to your system. You can then copy data to the drive, and set up public and private partitions. The system supports secure AES 256-Bit encrypted login. The software also can be set to back up a Mac, PC or Linux box. The server also allows a USB drive to be plugged in, and those files can also be securely accessed. How did it all work? Quite well. I had one glitch setting my account up. I never received the email that would enable me to fire up the system. That turned out to be a known issue, and it has been fixed. I tried remotely accessing my files from both a Mac and PC laptop. You must have your USB key with you to do this, but it worked fine. The key has both a Mac and PC app on it and that's what you run to access your files. When you run the app remotely you will see 2 windows. Your remote computer and your local one. Files can be dragged and dropped between the 2, or there is a handy search dialogue box that makes finding files easy. If you have media on the my-Ditto, it can be streamed if you have the requisite bandwidth. Photos can be viewed as thumbnails, which makes browsing them easy. Multiple users you authorize can access the files simultaneously, which makes it great for group projects. Up to 30 USB keys can be registered to a my-Ditto server. The iOS app doesn't use a hardware key, but you still get access to your files. You need a password, and all the data is encrypted. If your phone was lost, you simply disable the account and the phone would no longer have access. In practice, the my-Ditto system is very easy to set up, works as expected, and gives you an easy way to pull files from anywhere. The USB keys can be put on a keychain. If it is lost, there is no way for a person to get your files just by having the USB key. If you forget your password you can re-authenticate your key with the my-Ditto server. The system I tested sells for US $149.99 and consists of a 500 GB 2-bay enclosure. The second bay is empty if you want more storage. At the top of the line the company offers a 4 TB 2 driver server for $369.00. The iOS apps are free for the downloading and are universal for iPhone and the iPad. These apps also let you transfer iOS accessible files from your iPhone or iPad to your remote server. The app works on 3G or WiFi. There are also versions for Android phones. The my-Ditto solution is very slick and very easy to use. If you have large amounts of data you want to access from anywhere, I can't think of a competing solution that is as secure and quick to set up. The my-Ditto servers are available direct from Dane-Elec and some retailers. %Gallery-140702%
Garmin offers real-time traffic cam photos and a bargain price for StreetPilot Onboard app
Garmin has an innovative way to help you beat the holiday traffic. It's the StreetPilot USA Onboard app update, released today, and it includes an option for an in-app purchase of traffic camera images from any of 10,000 cameras across the US and Canada. The option will cost US $9.95 per year. Garmin is also reducing the cost of the app 50% this Friday only, making it a $24.99 purchase. The updated app also adds some nice freebies, like additional weather information, and a 5 day forecast for your current location and destination. The points of interest search function now auto-completes,which makes finding a destination faster. The app also allows you to see user contributed photos taken at points of interest, and to submit your own to share with other StreetPilot users. StreetPilot Onboard keeps all its maps on your device (hence the 'Onboard' in the name) which is the preferred way to navigate if you're in an area with weak or no cellular data service. The Garmin app also includes 3D buildings, a trip planner and a 'Where Am I?' safety feature to let a towing service or ambulance know exactly where you are. The Garmin app requires iOS 4.0 or greater. Check the gallery for some screenshots of these new features. %Gallery-140097%
Daily iPad App: Fotopedia Japan
I'm seeing a lot of excellent photo books for the iPad, which is logical given the great image quality and portability that the iPad provides. These apps are, I suppose, the evolution of the coffee table books of the past with the bonus of interactivity and updated content that no static book can provide. I've recently looked at a new offering from Fotopedia called Fotopedia Japan. Unlike some of the previous Fotopedia offerings, this book is free because it is sponsored by Narita Airport in Tokyo. There are no annoying popup ads, just a credit page. The app requires an Internet connection and includes beautiful photography, wallpapers and the ability to help you create a list of destinations if you decide to visit Japan. The photos include information about what is depicted, and maps to help you locate where each picture was taken. Images can be shared via Twitter, Facebook or email. Photos are also grouped by subjects like castles and fall colors. The images are free of screen controls unless you tap on the screen to display them. That's the way photos should be displayed, and too many apps clutter the screen with buttons and icons. For some reason the app kept telling me to connect to the Internet despite my having a strong connection, so there is a bug the developers need to squash. Restarting the app didn't help. Some other users have reported this same bug. The only think that is missing from the app is audio. That's something a printed book can't do, but the iPad can do easily. Some Japanese music or sounds of the cities would be welcome, as long as I can turn it off if it becomes a distraction. If you've been to Japan, this app will rekindle pleasant memories. If you haven't been, it should get you interested. You can see some samples of the app in the gallery below. This app is universal and requires iOS 4 or greater. %Gallery-139938%
Navigon 2.0 for iPhone offers new name, download options (Updated)
Updated to include force-quit fix for missing favorites. If you're already a Navigon GPS app owner you'll find a significant free update at the app store today. If you haven't chosen a GPS navigation solution yet, Navigon has given you good reason to check the product out. Navigon 2.0 is a complete rethink of the app, with new GUI elements, and the ability to selectively download just the states you want maps for. Never get to the West coast? Save space by not putting those maps on your iPhone at all. Users of the North America and USA versions in particular will benefit, so map storage can be measured in megabytes rather than gigabytes. Even owners of the regional versions can save a lot of storage space. The result is a lot of extra room on your iPhone or iPad for music, movies, or apps. Even better for fence sitters, Navigon has reduced the cost of the North America version to US$39.00 until November 30, which is $20.00 off. Navigon USA drops $20.00 to $29.99. Navigon Canada gets a a $20.00 discount too, so it's also $29.99. The regional US apps drop by ten dollars to $19.99. The new user interface is much easier to use, allowing you to switch between different pages with animated menus and new multi-touch gestures. It is now possible to access the start screen during navigation to enter a new address without having to first stop the current route. In addition, NAVIGON separated the app options into two menus, differentiating between settings and actions. The new settings menu allows users to easily customize functions and change preferences, for example when to receive speed warnings, while the new Actions menu lets you use functions that are needed while navigating such as points of interest search and social network postings. NAVIGON 2.0 for iPhone also has a new look that displays the map in the background even when accessing menu pages. Furthermore, it is very easy to rotate and zoom maps in any direction when in 3D mode and tap points of interest on the map to instantly add them to a route. When you update the app you'll get a first time user page that asks what states you want to download. You can download them all, or be selective. I downloaded Arizona and a couple of surrounding states I travel to, and that totaled about 100 MB, a far cry from the almost 2 GB the whole country would need. When I tried to restore some of my previously purchased extras, however, the app wouldn't do it. It may be because I switched phones recently from the iPhone 4 to the 4S, but it's an issue that needs to be sorted and I'll offer this warning for people in the same boat. Also note that recents, favorites, and your home address may be invisible after the upgrade. NAVIGON recommends force-quitting the app (double-tap the home button to bring up multitasking bar, hold down finger on app icon until delete badge appears, tap badge in upper left corner to quit app) and relaunching to get back your preferences. Navigon continues with a policy of in-app purchases for extra features, and adds FreshMaps, which is a subscription service that keeps maps updated for a year. A subscription for North America is on sale for $14.99, which is $5 off during the sale. Frankly, I'd like to see map updates as part of the package, not as an add-on. Navigon also continues to offer extra cost packages for live traffic, Zagat reviews, and Panorama 3D views, which show hills and mountains areas you might drive through. On a brief test I conducted this morning, I found the typical Navigon quality, and I liked the overall reorganization of the menus. They are simpler and faster to use, and grouped in a logical way. The Navigon family of apps will satisfy just about anyone's navigation needs. This latest update is a compelling addition and a must to consider if you are looking for one of the best high-end navigation solutions around. The Navigon apps are universal and run on the iPhone and the iPad. You can see some of the new features in this Navigon video on YouTube and you can check some of the new screens in the gallery below. %Gallery-139734%
Perfect Photo editor for iPhone is free this weekend
Perfect Photo is a photo editor for the iPhone that was easily worth the US$2 asking price, but this weekend you can grab it for free. Perfect Photo has 28 tools including red-eye removal and a capable healing brush. There are the usual cropping, saturation, sharpen and shadows tools. The sharpen tool is particularly nice because it splits the screen and shows before and after images. The app also includes filters to posterize your images, or make them look like pencil sketches or vintage photos. You can take pictures from within the app, save them to your photo album, or share via email, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Tumblr. I took the app for a spin and found that everything worked quickly and reliably. I did notice that the top resolution supported, 2592x2592, falls short of the 3264x2448 resolution that the iPhone 4S provides. The developers say the app will be updated to support the higher iPhone 4S image quality. There are some other negatives as well. The app has some ads, which in a normally paid app is not cool. Also, while the effects are being rendered, the app displays some educational trivia about nature and other topics. I guess it is supposed to occupy you while a filter is being applied, but I'd like the option to turn it off. I also would like a frames option, which would enhance some photos that you want to share. I think the Perfect Photo is a worthwhile tool. I'd like to see this app lose the ads, but as it is I think it's far more capable than the photo tools Apple added to iOS5. %Gallery-138483%
Plex 2.0 for iOS ramps up video streaming; Plex 0.9.5 for Mac/Windows released as well
[Updated to clarify version numbering. iOS Plex app is at 2.0, Mac app is at 0.9.5 or 0.9.5.1 beta.] Plex is an advanced Media Server that runs on your Mac and manages and distributes your audio and video to other computers, a connected TV and your iOS devices via the Plex iOS app. The Plex family of free apps has just upgraded the iOS and server clients with a streamlined GUI and new features like sharing between Plex users. Other new features include user-scalable subtitles and significant speed improvements. A new cloud-based component lets Plex users access their home media from any PC or Mac without complicated logins or IP addresses. The service is free, but requires a sign up. Plex fills a nice gap for Apple fans since the company nuked the Front Row player. Of course, Plex does a great deal more than Front Row ever hoped to do, and puts your media about anywhere you want to consume it. The updated Plex server software is free and is downloadable from the Plex site. You can get much more info at the Plex blog. Plex is based on XBMC, an open source media player and hub, as is Boxee, another popular media solution. The Plex server software runs on Mac OS X (Intel only), Windows and Linux. The iOS clients require iOS 4.1 or later. [hat tip MacStories]
TeleNav offers a sort-of free GPS solution for iOS
As we continue our survey of GPS apps for iOS, I have to mention the TeleNav family. The company, which is also behind the AT&T Navigator subscription app, offers a free entry level app that is quite popular with users, even though it is missing some key features. For free you get turn-by-turn directions, 3D maps, local search that includes gas prices, and one-touch rerouting. There's a big feature missing, however. No spoken turn-by-turn directions. So, in a way, it's not offering much more than the built-in Maps application, and less than the free voice-enabled Mapquest application (published by our parent company AOL). There is a 3D view, but when driving, you don't want to be looking at a screen. The solution is an upgrade to the US $0.99 app, but after that you use it for 30 days you need to upgrade to a $9.99 a year subscription. That's a sale price which is about half off the regular tariff. The paid version adds voice guidance, spoken street names and auto rerouting. So how does it all work? It's not bad. The graphics are clean, setting up a destination is easy, and the local search is comprehensive. The voice guidance is very clear. I didn't run into heavy traffic during my test, so no comments there. Since the maps are downloaded as you go, that means a data connection is needed. It's something to think about if you are going to be out of cellular range frequently. On the other hand, with no onboard maps, the app has a small footprint (17.5MB) and your maps will theoretically stay current. With my driving in Arizona the maps seemed current, although some comments in the App Store indicate they may not always be up to date with the latest street layouts. As someone with local knowledge, TeleNav didn't always take me the way I would have chosen, but the choices always worked. I've noticed that nav apps have a bias for bigger streets, but sometimes the best shortcuts are the road less traveled. Is the TeleNav app for you? If you are on a budget an in an urban setting I think it is worth a serious look. I'm not wild about the idea of subscriptions to apps. I'd rather spend a little more and forget about recurring charges. If you are on a limited data plan, and you use it a lot, you may run into extra charges, but the data being downloaded is pretty minimal. It's nice to see the many, many choices iPhone users have to get a perfect fit for navigation. TeleNav has given you yet another choice worth considering. The app requires iOS 4 or greater but runs fine on iOS5 and the new iPhone 4S. TeleNav is universal so it runs on the iPhone as well as the iPad. Of course, life would be grand if Apple provided built-in navigation as is found on the Android phones. That may be coming, and there have certainly been indications of it. Think of the power of Siri and navigation rolled into one. %Gallery-137893%
Nokia Drive with MirrorLink on Toyota Touch Life hands-on (video)
Just a few meters from the entrance to Nokia World at London's sprawling ExCel Exhibition Centre, we found a Toyota iQ compact with Nokia branding on the door. And in the dash was Toyota's new Touch Life smartphone integration system, complete with Nokia Drive compatibility and display mirroring via MirrorLink. In addition to mirroring your Symbian Belle (or MeeGo) display on the 7-inch touchscreen, Touch Life also provides a driver-friendly interface, including enormous icons to control music playback, or to place calls to contacts by tapping their name and photo, or by using the jumbo telephone keypad. It also integrates with the Nokia Drive app, with a very simple (and also oversized) navigation interface. The concept is simple: access basic smartphone functions as you drive while limiting distractions. While you're parked, you'll have unrestricted access to your phone's interface, but non-critical features are disabled as you drive. The demo unit we saw is still a few months away from hitting production, so there were a few hiccups. After connecting the Nokia 701 to the system, the smartphone's display appeared on the in-dash screen within a few seconds. We had full access to all of the phone's features until shifting into drive, when a much simpler screen popped up, with Call, Drive and Music modules. Everything worked rather seamlessly until we neared the end of the demo, when an "Enjoy the sound while driving" message appeared on screen, where the navigation window had been just a moment before. There isn't a firm release date in place, and the demo unit only appears to work with Symbian Belle at the moment -- though MeeGo support (and likely Windows Phone as well) will be available after launch. Jump past the break to see how it works from behind the wheel.%Gallery-137700%
DirecTV adds live video streaming on iPad
The DirecTV app for iPad got a significant bump in capabilities today by adding live streaming to giving you essentially a portable TV you can take to any room of your house. You have to be on the same network as your DirecTV receiver, and not all channels are available. I'm not seeing the pay movie channels, or the local channels, which are all a matter of rights with the owners of those channels. I counted 38 available channels for streaming, including CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, FX, History Channel, Discovery and many more. You can watch the video in a window hovering over the program guide, or watch full screen. With my multiple tuner DVR I could be watching one channel on the iPad while someone else could be watching another channel on that same receiver, which is pretty handy. This new update also allows you to change start and end times of a recording if you think a program time needs adjusting. The app has also added an option to set parental controls on your receiver from the iPad. Other TV providers, notably Comcast, have been working on streaming live TV to the iPad. The app is free and requires iOS 4.2 or later. Go get it. It's a worthwhile update. %Gallery-137644%
Localscope for iPhone adds tight navigation integration
I liked this 'where am I and what's around me?' app when I first looked at Localscope earlier this year, and it's only gotten better. The latest version of this US$1.99 app adds integration with Magellan RoadMate, NavFree, Motion X GPS and Sygic. The app already pulls info from most of the other top navigation systems, including Navigon, TomTom and Waze. It's one of the few apps that doesn't depend on Google for information. You can find nearby businesses using Bing, Foresquare, Twitter and Wikimapia. The app also supports augmented reality, which is nice when you are walking around. The camera activates, and the app superimposes your target on the live image. I don't recommend it when driving, of course. Localscope provides a map and phone number for your target location, which you can share via email, SMS, Twitter or FaceBook. I found a location I wanted to go to, effortlessly sent it to Navigon, and I was ready to go. Localscope knew what apps I had on my iPhone that it could send data to, so one click sent the data and opened my Navigon app and I was ready to drive off. There are plenty of free apps that do similar tasks, but Localscope is ad-free, easy to use and sophisticated. It works anywhere in the world. It's a perfect candidate for Siri integration, if and when Apple gives 3rd parties what they need to make it work. When you are typing a search request into Localscope on an iPhone 4S, you can enter the search using speech. That worked for several businesses I was looking for but it's only a taste of what the power of Siri would bring. I continue to recommend Localscope. It supports 19 languages and is easily worth $1.99. The app is a 4.4 MB download and requires iOS4 or greater. There are some screenshots for your inspection below. %Gallery-137506%
Toyota introduces Touch Life smartphone mirroring system, your Prius and iPhone can become one
If you're looking to get your smartphone more in-sync with your car, you may want to consider a new Toyota with the Touch Life infotainment system. Given a compatible smartphone / app combo, it can mirror the phone's display on its 7-inch touchscreen for access to navigation, music or social networking services. Nokia owners can connect their Symbian Belle devices by way of MirrorLink, developed by the Car Connectivity Consortium, in its first deployment by the automotive industry. Apple iPhone (and iPod) faithful will have to install Application Launcher in order to sync up with the infotainment system. If driving distractions are a concern, steering wheel controls play nice with the tech as well -- it's not quite SYNC Applink, but we'll take it. Toyota promises features and smartphones will continue to be added, but for a current list of compatible cars, devices and apps, check the press release below.
iOS 5 Safari speed gains demonstrated in New Relic infographic
Web application performance company New Relic released the results of a study comparing the mobile browsing speeds of iOS 4 and iOS 5 on the same model of iPhone. What did they find? That iOS 5 / Safari 5.1 is much faster than iOS 4 / Safari 5.0. New Relic complied their test results into the nifty infographic seen below. I love their conclusion: "Time to upgrade!" What has been your personal experience with web browsing or web app response times under iOS 5 and Safari 5.1? Leave your comments below.
Magellan updates RoadMate USA with enhanced maps
The updated version of Magellan RoadMate (2.2) includes new features such as the most current maps available, red light camera and fixed speed camera alerts. The Junction View feature guides users through complicated freeway interchanges. A premium upgrade via an in-app purchase gives you live camera feeds and warnings about dangerous curves and school zones. You can also purchase additional voices for turn-by-turn directions. Magellan was an early provider of navigation software for the iPhone. The Magellan app has all the maps on board, so you will not use your data plan for basic navigation, although business searches and other special services will require an Internet connection. The app is available from the App Store at US$39.99 for the USA version, and $49.99 for the USA/Canada version. All existing RoadMate App users will receive a FREE update to the new version.
See Rome as it is and as it was
Rome MVR (mixed virtual reality) is a very cool and innovative iPhone app that allows you to see views of the Roman Coliseum today, and -- with a tap on the screen -- also shows you 3D computer renderings of the location as it was at the peak of the Roman Empire. If you are actually at the location, the app activates the iPhone camera, engaging what the developers call the 'Time Leap' system so you see the Coliseum as it was. Move left and right, up and down, and your 3D perspective changes. If you aren't in Rome, you get current photos, and you can still move your iPhone to survey the site. The app is free, but you only get the Coliseum to explore. You can also check out the Roman Forum and Imperial Forums, but those locations are an in-app purchase of US $1.99. If you are actually in Rome, an onscreen tool will help you walk to vantage points that exactly match the renderings. You can watch the live view fade into the ancient view. There is also narration about the sites you are looking at. Even if you are looking at the pre-loaded images, you can still rotate your view and watch the transition between old and new. It's impressive. I never expected a cell phone to become a compelling educational tool, but I'm seeing more and more of that and Rome MVR is a perfect example. The developers are working on a similar app for Egypt, and I could see uses for this technology on Civil War battlefields, the beaches at Normandy, or a host of historical sites anywhere in the world. This is a very clever app, and I'd suggest you try the free version to get an idea how it works. I was drawn into the content, so I grabbed the Roman Forum to explore as well. If you'd like to see the app in action check out the Rome MVR video to get a better idea how Rome MVR works. Rome MVR runs on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad (not full screen) and requires iOS3 or above. %Gallery-136280%
MyTunes for iPhone gives your music an impressive kick
SRS Labs has just released MyTunes, a free iPhone app that rather dramatically enhances music playback on your iDevices. Instead of using the stock player provided by Apple, you launch the MyTunes app, select your playlists, albums or artists, and you're away. The sound of most tracks transforms in an often spectacular fashion. Matt Yaney of SRS told me the app uses a variety of proprietary techniques to eliminate the degradation provided by MP3 encoding and produce a more natural and immersive experience, usually lost by the recording and compression process. I have to agree. Listening to a variety of Rock, New Age, Jazz and Classical improved every track I tried. Bass was firmer, percussion was much sharper, and the position of instruments across the sound stage are more precise. The changes just aren't a matter of boosting high and low frequencies, there is a good deal of sophisticated audio processing taking place. I found the effects most pronounced on music that was recorded live with acoustic instruments, but as I said, just about every genre of music sounded better. This app is a bit of a breakthrough for SRS Labs, because the only previous way to get this technology was with a hardware dongle on the SRS Wow! product. I've compared the 2 systems, and found the audio quality quite close. The SRS Wow! does have an actual hardware DAC (digital audio converter) but I was hard pressed to hear the difference when listening to MyTunes. There are a few caveats. The MyTunes app won't work with any music that has DRM, and it won't work on any videos you have. Since the app only connects to your iTunes library, it won't enhance Pandora, Spotify or any online streaming services. If you want even more features there is a US$4.99 in-app purchase that provides additional custom controls for audio enhancement, more EQ settings, volume leveling, and an simpler interface to use when driving. I didn't find the extra features all that compelling, but SRS Labs will let you sample them for ten minutes to see if they are worthwhile for you. If you listen to a lot of music on your iDevice, and most of us do, I wouldn't hesitate to download MyTunes. The basic app is free. It takes a little effort to explore all the features provided, but if you try it I think it will have a permanent place on your iPhone or iPod touch. The app also will work on an iPad, but MyTunes is not universal, and a separate iPad app is coming later this year. Give the app a listen and report your impressions in comments, and check the gallery out for some screen shots. %Gallery-136073%
Will Dragon speech apps remain in the app store for iPhone 4 owners?
It was a bit of a shock to learn yesterday that the terrific Siri app, now owned by Apple, will get pulled from the app store. It's being done, I'm sure, to encourage people to get the Siri technology built into the new iPhone 4S. Although an interview with the co-founder of Siri indicated that they had to cut some corners to get the app to work on "older" hardware. Still, it seems, shall we say, small of Apple to kill an app that seemed to work just fine, and did some of the tasks that the new incarnation of Siri will do on the iPhone 4S. One bright spot for those sticking with their current phones are the Dragon apps from Nuance. Dragon Dictation will take your voice and turn it into text for a note, an email, or a text message. Dragon Go!, which we have reviewed very positively, does much of what Siri does, connecting to Yelp, Google Maps, Open Table, various search engines and other web services so you can ask about a weather forecast, directions to any destination, and even the latest sports scores. Like Siri, the Dragon apps are powered by Nuance speech recognition software, and the processing is done in the cloud. Both the Dragon apps are free and work fine on the iPhone 4, 3GS, 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch, and the iPad. A Nuance spokesperson assured me today that both apps are doing very well, and the company has no plans to pull them from the App Store. Together the apps can give you a rough approximation of what Siri on the iPhone 4S can do, but it doesn't have the same integration with iOS as Siri so it won't be as slick. I'm hoping Apple will reconsider what I think is a customer hostile decision to yank Siri. How about you? Do you think Apple should have pulled the plug on the Siri app?
HDR Fusion for iPhone is free today only
Even though I do a lot of high end photo work, I still enjoy using the iPhone's camera, and i was especially happy to see Apple add HDR capabilities to the iPhone 4. HDR lets you get good pictures under challenging conditions when there is a mixture of very bright light, like the sky, and objects in shadow. I've also checked a lot of the third-party HDR apps, and most exceed the quality of the built in HDR feature. Today only, HDR Fusion is free, so it's a nice Friday present for those thinking about going beyond the Apple HDR and trying something a bit better.The app is normally US$1.99. HDR Fusion grabs two images, one underexposed and one overexposed, then tone maps them to a combined exposure that doesn't blow out the bright parts or lose the shadows. In my quick tests, the app worked well in both the auto mode and manual mode. If you are manually shooting, you drag two markers around the field of view, one to the darkest shadowed area, the other to the bright highlights. Processing is faster than most of the other third party apps I've tried, but not as fast as Apple's almost instant implementation. Picture quality is pretty good -- exceeding the Apple feature in some of my tests, in others about on par with it. In general, I still prefer Pro HDR on the iPhone, but at least today there is a free alternative. HDR Fusion also includes a self-timer, which is a handy feature. The app is a pretty small download, just over half a megabyte. Free is good, so give HDR Fusion a try and save yourself two bucks. The free offer will expire at different times in different time zones, so be aware that the offer will likely end at midnight EDT in the U.S. In the gallery, I've compared the app to the built-in Apple HDR and Pro HDR, which is still my go-to app for HDR on the iPhone. %Gallery-135350%
Dragon Go for iPhone gets smarter
Dragon Go!, the all-purpose voice recognition search app from Nuance, is getting a significant upgrade today. In fact, it's almost a preview of some of the functionality we suspect will be in iOS5. The free app lets you speak conversationally with your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Say things like "What's the best steakhouse in Kansas City", or "Find me some pictures of Lady Gaga", and the app will parse what you said and nearly always return useable results. The update, which should hit the App Store today, adds many more options, including the ability to launch popular movie and TV streaming services; get direct access to more of the most popular names in mobile content, like Spotify; get answers to the toughest of questions from Wolfram|Alpha and Ask.com; and, find friends on Google+. I tried some of the new functions, and was impressed. For instance, I said "Watch Mad Men on Netflix," and Dragon Go initiated a Google search. When I clicked on the resulting link, my Netflix app launched and the show started. I also successfully searched TUAW for articles and had it define words using Dictionary.com. For apps that require a login, you'll have to set up Dragon Go! to link with those apps, but that's not a difficult task. Vlad Sejnoha, chief technology officer at Nuance said "We're deeply invested in continuing to evolve Dragon Go! with new features, more content providers and richer app integration, and ultimately opening new doors for the consumer mobile destination experience. This is another step towards the mobile semantic web, and we've just gotten started." These new services join Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Twitter, YouTube and many others that were already built into the app. I find Dragon Go! and Siri (now owned by Apple) to be two of the best demos for the iPhone around. If you already have Dragon Go! you should see the update today. If you don't have it, download it and impress yourself and your friends. %Gallery-135166%
