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Hands-on with the OWLE bubo: Better photos and video from your iPhone (Updated)
A while back, we had a product announcement about the OWLE bubo (US$129.95). That bizarre name is actually a play on words: OWLE stands for "Optical Widget for Life Enhancement" (the company's name) and bubo is the genus for American horned owls and old world eagle owls. The device, if you have an imagination, even looks like a cartoonist's idea of a horned owl. So, now that we've got the name all figured out, what the heck is an OWLE bubo? You could call it the ultimate iPhone case for photographers, and you'd be pretty darned close. The current bubo is a sleek, machined piece of aluminum that is designed to be held with both hands for better stability when shooting photos or video with the iPhone. The bubo does a great job of making it easier to shoot video, but that's just scraping the surface of the feature set. bubo also has a 37mm .45x wide-angle/macro combo lens that is awesome for doing close-ups of objects, taking crowd or landscape photos, or doing interviews. In fact, it's this last use case that finally convinced me to purchase a bubo. Since TUAW is going to be doing a lot of video and other photography at Macworld Expo during the this week, I want to see if I can make my iPhone 3GS my primary tool for capturing imagery since I'd prefer to pack light. The lens accommodates screw-in filters at a standard 49mm size, so UV haze or polarizing filters can be added to further improve image quality. Update: The OWLE bubo has been completely redesigned with a composite case and new name, and now works with the iPhone 4 and 4S. You can take a look at the Phocus for iPhone 4/4S here. Please note that the OWLE bubo is no longer available but is replaced by the Phocus.
Pandigital's AT&T-lovin' Photo Mail LED frame hands-on
It looks like pretty much every other 8-inch digital photo frame on the market, but unlike most others (the Cameo notwithstanding), Pandigital's Photo Mail LED frame can accept emailed photos over AT&T's network. Unlike the aforesaid Cameo, however, you're not asked to pay a monthly fee to keep this one online (it ships with 300 photo downloads, with extra bundles available when you need them), and the representative we spoke with hinted that this one might just be the first of many more with AT&T in different shapes and sizes. The user interface was simple enough to navigate, and we were told that photos emailed to the frame actually hit a linked Snapfish account first (where the high resolution version is stored), resized, and then beamed down to the frame. Have a closer look below if you're so inclined. %Gallery-81873%
CES goes down to the docks
It's CES time yet again, and that means that everybody and their business partners will be showing off iPhone and iPod touch accessories that do all sorts of crazy things, from the useful to the useless. Here's two interesting docks that Engadget has already seen at the big electronics show. The first, above, is a speaker dock with a twist -- not only does it play your music and charge your iPhone as usual, but it comes with an app that will turn the whole thing into an alarm clock as well. It's called the iLuv App Station, and it'll be released in February at a price of $130. In the slightly more functional category, there's the iNet-2.0 tabletop unit from Sherwood, which combines an iPod dock with an 8" display that allows for internet radio streaming, the usual alarm clock settings, and a photo display. It's a pretty nice piece of tech to put on your nightstand, but the price may turn some folks off: it will retail for $300 later this year. We'll keep an eye out for more great iPhone/iPod accessories in the CES frenzy later this week.
Flickery 1.7 offers even more Flickr fun
We covered Flickery a while back, and it's been through a couple of big updates since our initial article. Flickery is a Mac-based client for Flickr that provides extensive search, browsing, uploading, and downloading capabilities. I've been using Flickery since its release as my primary means of working with the Flickr photos and videos for me and my friends. It's good-looking and has been a great time-saver. Version 1.6, which came out at the end of October, brought batch editing of photos, video trimming, CoreLocation integration for photos taken within Flickery, faster pre-loading when browsing, and a lot of other new features. The latest version, 1.7, brings an impressive list of additional features which build upon the 1.6 release, including a new preferences panel, auto-resizing of uploaded photos, "Set as desktop picture" and "Download to Aperture" options, drag and drop integration with Finder and more. I've never had many problems with stability in Flickery, but the latest releases also include dozens of fixes for potential crashes and bugs. There's a holiday sale on Flickery running until January 1st that brings the price of the application down to US$13.99 (a 25% savings). Normal pricing resumes after that, so Flickr users in search of a solid desktop client should take a look as soon as possible!
Samsung 800P digital photo frame: because quality matters
You're smart right? Then you probably know that all those low-priced, off-brand digital photo frames with laughably poor instruction manuals and confusing user interfaces so aggressively hocked during the holidays share one common trait: poor displays. Unfortunately, most shoppers won't figure this out until they've brought the unit home. Fact is, you have to pay a little extra to get a decent 8- to 10-inch panel. And really, what's more important than the display on a digital picture frame? So check Samsung's new 800P 8-inch frame. It features an LED-backlit 800x480 pixel panel, 2GB of internal storage (plus microSD expansion), Bluetooth 2.0, support for video and music playback, and Samsung's second generation UI and panel-making expertise. On sale now in Korea for 199,000 of the local stuff or about $159 of the almighty dollar whenever it heads west.
Even More Daily Deals, Day 3
Here they are once again: some more daily deals from our friends at DealNews.com for you to jump at and get as much of your holiday shopping done as quickly as possible. Hey, I feel your pain, I don't like to go out to crowded stores either, so these online deals are just the ticket to take care of your friends and family and save a few bucks in the process. Don't say we never gave you anything. Now, on with the deals! iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] 9000 BC EP2 for iPhone downloads for free Staples: [Office & Supplies] Staples printable coupon: 10% off one item in-store B&H Photo Video: [Office Software Suites] Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student for $75 + free shipping (updated) RadioShack: [iPod Accessories] Boynq WakeUp iPod Speaker & Alarm Clock for $30 + $6 s&h OfficeMax: [15" And Smaller LCD TVs] Pegasus 7" Portable Widescreen LCD TV w/ HD tuner for $80 + free shipping, more OfficeDepot: [802.11n Wireless] D-Link 802.11n Wireless 4-Port Router for $20 + free shipping Buy.com: [Bluetooth Headsets] LG HBS-250 Bluetooth Stereo Headset for $22 + free shipping 6ave: [40" - 42" LCD TVs] Samsung 40" 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $599 + free shipping HP Home & Home Office Store: [Color Inkjet Printers] HP Officejet 6000 Inkjet Printer for $40 + free shipping Abt Electronics: [iPod Accessories] Sony Micro Shelf Stereo System with iPod Dock for $94 + free shipping Walmart: [Digital SLR Cameras] Nikon D3000 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera w/ 18-55mm lens, bag for $499 + $1 s&h Overstock.com: [Office Furniture] Black Wood Corner Computer Desk for $100 + free shipping, more
Juicy Couture makes decent looking photo frame, Dean Koontz writes pretty good novel
We have to hand it to Juicy Couture -- a company which we would have thought could never, ever crank out anything that made us think, "hey, that's pretty nice!" Regardless, here it is in the flesh: Juicy Couture's own take on the digital photo frame, and not a glitter or spangle in sight. In fact, we're really digging the gaudy, old-timey gold resin frame, which measures 6.5 by 8-inches, and boasts a 2GB SD card (though the hideous logo remains... hideous). It's up for pre-order for now, and should ship by the end of November -- if you don't mind paying $140 for it.
Leaked PS3 XMB images hint at Facebook integration, new image layout
Although we were too late to verify for ourselves, both Joystiq and Scrawl swear up and down that the above three images, each of whom unfortunately lack a higher-res version, all hail from the official Sony Computer Entertainment Europe website, and each showing a feature of the PlayStation 3's XMB we haven't seen before: some form of Facebook integration, the ability to change gamercard colors, and a new method of photo organization / perusal. None of these would be too surprising or earth-shattering, really, and the juiciest question of them all -- exactly when we might see these additions -- is still a mystery.
CameraBag makes it to the desktop
We took a look at CameraBag for the iPhone in June. It's a nifty little app that applies several pre-set filters to your photos. Now, the developers have released an almost identical app for the desktop. Users got hooked on the ease of adding filters and altering photos, and they wanted it on their desktops and laptops too, so now it's a reality.CameraBag Desktop for the Mac gives you 9 basic filters, 7 vary the color to match various films, and 2 filters provide gray scale filters. The filters can be layered one on top of the other if you desire, and with the 'reprocess' command. Every time you press it you get a variation on the original filter.As on the iPhone app, you can choose a border for your picture, and then output the picture at the original size or you can scale it down.The filters mimic the look of old instant camera films, and a host of other camera, film and lens combinations. CameraBag is not for the advanced digital photographer, but if you want to take an image and quickly apply a filter and a border this is a welcome tool. I'd like to see some more things added, like saturation controls and sliders for color temperature and sharpness. Adding those features combined with the filters would give a user almost unlimited control of the look of the images. As it is, your starting point is always what the designer of the filter had in mind. While you can reprocess, you have no control, and the parameters change at random. In the gallery I've included some variations on a single photo to show you some of the possibilities. You can also visit a web page to see how customers have used the CameraBag technology.CameraBag is US$19.00 and can be ordered direct from the developer. %Gallery-73929%
Stanford's open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you'll still use 'Auto' mode
Here's the moment where you pretend that a breakthrough in a given industry would just revolutionize the way you do work, yet you know -- deep down in your heart -- that you'd never take advantage. Okay, so maybe you would, but your friend wouldn't. At any rate, a gaggle of boffins at Stanford have set out to "reinvent digital photography" with the advent of the open-source digital camera. The idea here is to give programmers the power to conjure up new software to teach old cameras new tricks, with the hope being to eliminate software limits that currently exist. In fact, a prototype shooter has already been developed, with the Frankencamera hinting at a future where owners can download apps to their devices and continuously improve its performance and add to its abilities. The actual science behind the concept is stupendously in-depth, so if you're thinking of holding off on that new Nikon or Canon in 2034, you might want to give the read link a look for a little more encouragement. [Via HotHardware]
Sony ICF-CL75iP alarm clock / digital frame / iPod dock a surprisingly attractive assimilation
We'll be honest, it takes a whole lot to get us excited about iPhone / iPod docks or digital picture frames these days, but congratulations Sony, you've managed to pierce through our hardened hearts with the ICF-CL75iP Dream Machine. Sony Insider brings word of the actually quite handsome bedside attraction, an assimilation of those aforementioned products with an alarm clock to boot. We're looking at a 7-inch WVGA LCD screen, 1GB built-in memory, FM / AM radio, and a retractable dock -- in case you don't feel like capitalizing on the total synergistic package. Photos can be pulled directly from the Apple handheld or loaded via USB, and your wake-up options include built-in presets, a customizable 10-second voice recording, or the iPod / iPhone itself. Our only knock at this point is the minimal codec support -- MP3 and WMA for audio, and MP4, M-JPEG, and AVI for video -- but if the $149.95 price on a cached SonyStyle listing stays accurate, we can be a little forgiving. In fact, throw in Chumby widget support and we'll be downright smitten -- make it happen, Sony. Update: Turns out it's actually up for pre-order right now through Sony Style Canada, CAN $199.99 (that's US $180) and shipping out October 1st. [Thanks, Neil!] Read - Sony Insider Read - Sony Style cached listing
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.
Your iPhone and iPhoto library are in sync with Simplify Photo
Like its music app on the iPhone, which allows you to use your iPhone to tap into your desktop's music collection, Simplify Media provides similar functionality with photos through its Simplify Photo [iTunes link] iPhone app. Many of us are forgetful in some form, and this trait is especially magnified when one proceeds to show others an "awesome photo" on your iPhone that, sadly, didn't get synced. Instead of telling your friends that you'll show or email them the photo later -- assuming you even remember to -- you can use Simplify Photo to view your entire iPhoto collection. While increased megapixels in digital photography brings with it the promise of better picture quality, in most cases it comes at a file size premium. And because storage space on your iPhone is a finite resource, you can choose to set aside dedicated space for those really important photos and use Simplify Photo for those that are not as important but would nonetheless like to have access to just in case. Simplify Photo is available for 99 cents on the iTunes App Store, while the required desktop client (available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux) is available as a free download at the Simplify Media site. The desktop app allows you to not only specify which iPhoto albums and events to sync, but the people as well -- via integration with the app's "Faces" facial detection feature. And if you're not exactly sure which album or event a photo is stored, you can use the app's search feature, which searches your photos' tags, titles and comments. But the standout feature of Simplify Photo is its geolocation support. Like iPhoto '09's places feature, Simplify Photo displays a map with various dropped pins; and tapping on the pins will display the photos taken in the vicinity. If a picture can say a thousand words, then Simplify Photo's desktop syncing capabilities have the potential to make your iPhone speechlessly filled with photos.
The world is safe: Twilight MMO not a confirmed project
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_world_is_safe_Twilight_MMO_not_a_confirmed_project'; Thanks to some astute Joystiq commenters and a MySpace photo of a newspaper article, it seems we might all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The Twilight MMO isn't an official, confirmed project as of yet. The current Twilight: The Video Game is being created by Brandon Gardner, a student of game design from Blountstown, Florida. BrainJunk Studios currently consists of a volunteer staff, all working together on the concept of a Twilight game. Currently, Gardner is still studying with Westwood College Online, seeking out a bachelor's degree in game design as he works on his pet project. So, in conclusion, we're all temporarily spared... at least for the time being.
Manage multiple cameras with Cameras
Flexibits has just released Cameras, an application designed to manage multiple camera hookups on your Mac. With Cameras, you can direct which programs launch when you connect any number of photo-related devices to your computer; including digital cameras, the iPhone or a digital media reader. Cameras installs a preference pane in System Preferences. The first time you connect a new device to your Mac and start to sync it, the device will show up in the preference panel. From there, you can choose what that individual camera does when connected. It's a simple, great application for managing different cameras and keeps unwanted programs from opening when you connect them and works well when multiple devices are developed. Cameras is a free download and requires OS X. 10.4.11 or later.
WWDC Demo: Pix Remix for iPhone, iPod touch (preview)
Pix Remix isn't yet on the App Store, but I'm hoping it lands soon. If you've ever tried the Ken Burns effect in iPhoto to move photos around during a slideshow, you know how frustrating it is when the effect chops off the faces or other important parts of your photo while moving. Pix Remix does this better, plus more, all on your iPhone with your photos.With Pix Remix you choose the photos you want (on your iPhone or iPod touch), put them in order, then create a slideshow using a path for the camera. You control the zoom as well, so instead of cutting off faces you can zoom into them instead. As you can see in the video, it's quite simple. This is the "pan and zoom" type of slideshow.Pix Remix features a collage mode that reminds me of Microsoft's Surface technology -- a set of photos sit on a virtual table, and you can zoom, move and rotate them with your fingers. It looks like someone placing photos on a flat surface, except you can animate them.Those are a couple of the slideshow options, and there's the option to add captions as well, or you can create a simple slideshow with nothing but transitions and captions. The final piece of the puzzle: export. You can send your slideshows to Twitter or Facebook or via email. I noticed the other day there were inactive links for a "reader" app, presumably to watch Remix slideshows on another iPhone without the full app, but that has been removed.We'll keep an eye out for when Pix Remix hits the store, so check our Twitter feed for the latest updates.
3D Camera adds depth to your iPhone photography
3D photo apps are not new to the iPhone platform, but a new app from Juicy Bits looks promising in terms of making those pictures with depth a lot easier to take and view.3D Camera 1.1 [US$1.99, click opens iTunes] is now available for iPhone OS 2.2 and 3.0 devices, and it lets you take photos that use one of three methods to create the illusion of 3D: red/cyan anaglyphs that require those funky 3D glasses, stereograms that create 3D images when your eyes look at them a certain way, and wiggle stereograms (or wiggle-grams) that use animated GIF images to provide the "depth". If you need a place to buy the goofy glasses, Juicy Bits lists several sources on their website To take the photos, you use one of two methods. If you're planning on taking an anaglyph or sterogram, you take one picture, move the iPhone camera slightly to the right, and take another photo. To make a wiggle stereogram, you point directly at the same object from two slightly different vantage points. The app provides instructions on exactly how to take the two photos each time you launch it. How are the results? Well, I haven't tried a red/cyan anaglyph yet, but if you use "crossviewing" (crossing the eyes slightly so that the two images overlap and form a third 3D image) you should be able to see depth in the test image seen below. If you use 3D Camera or any of the other 3D photo apps for iPhone, be sure to send some of your best pics to our Flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/tuawrigs/pool/
Ask Engadget: Best portable photo backup / storage device?
Coming to you live from left field, it's this week's edition of Ask Engadget. Once your done reading and replying (in comments below, naturally) to the question here, feel free to send us your own to ask at engadget dawt com. "I am looking for a portable hard drive with memory card slots so that I can save my photos onto it, straight from the memory card. It needs to function without the use of a computer. I have seen a few of these, but nothing name brand, and I was looking for some recommendations. A color screen to view photos would be nice, but not necessary. It doesn't need to be very large, 100GB should be more than enough." You're right Seth, most of these things do indeed come from relative unknowns. That said, we're sure a few of our readers have taken the plunge, so hopefully you'll find out who likes and dislikes the one they chose. Right, folks?
Upgrade your iPhone camera with LittleSnapper
LittleSnapper from Realmac Software has been available for OS X for quite some time (and was one of the apps available in this year's Macheist bundle), and a few days ago they released a trimmed-down version that runs on your iPhone. While it lacks the basic photo editing and annotation available on its desktop counterpart, LittleSnapper for iPhone is no slouch. One of the things about LittleSnapper that first caught my eye was the interface, which is extremely slick and shows great attention to detail on the part of the developers. The real jewels of this app, however, are a bit less obvious. In fact, after just a few hours of use, it has supplanted the built-in Camera application on my home screen. Using the default configuration, when you snap a picture, it's immediately added to your Camera Roll (hence the replacing of Camera). After you've taken your photo, you can then upload it to QuickSnapper (Realmac's companion photo sharing site, which is free to use). Once that's done, you can then email a link to it or post it to Twitter (via Tweetie, Twitterrific or Twitterfon) right from within the app. I don't know about you, but whenever I take a picture with my iPhone, there's a very good chance that I'd like to email it immediately afterward. For me, being able to do this within a single app is huge. The other killer feature of LittleSnapper is the ability to screenshot any web page from within the application. The only downside to this feature is that you don't have access to your Mobile Safari bookmarks and you must type in the URL manually (or browse to it via another URL, like a Google search). Obviously this issue will be history once iPhone OS 3.0 is out in June (which includes system-wide copy-and-paste), so it's understandable that they didn't bother getting to crazy with the cheez-whiz in terms of browser integration and whatnot. LittleSnapper's chrome is also removed from the webpage snap, which is a nice touch. Of course, no application is perfect, and LittleSnapper has a few (small) warts. For one, I'd love to see a subset of the annotation tools available on the desktop version, as well as a more iPhone friendly view of the QuickSnapper site when browsing your uploaded photos. Tighter integration with the OSX application (like syncing photos and their metadata) would also be pretty sweet. These aren't anywhere close to deal-breakers for me, but I can see them being becoming popular feature requests. I'm very impressed with LittleSnapper and, given the amount of half-baked throwaway apps that seem to be cropping up lately, it's nice to see one with a good bit of polish. LittleSnapper [App Store] is available now for $2.99US.
Pixelmator 1.4.1 brings noise filter, Pixelmator Learning with it
Our friends over at Pixelmator have released a new update, and while it's not quite as big as their point versions, it does add a few new features and a nice online guide to the program. The main new feature in-app is a noise filter that allows users to add random specks and pixels to an image, creating a little more realism and mess to whatever shapes they're working on. But the bigger addition is out-of-app: they've created an online Learning database with tutorials, tips, and lessons on how to make the most of the image-editing app. There's actually quite a bit of stuff there now, from text and video tutorials to even third-party tutorials submitted by users. If you are interested in learning more about how to use Pixelmator, definitely give it a look. They've also updated the user manual, too, so if you haven't seen that in a while, that's worth checking out as well.There are also a few performance updates and bugfixes -- here's the list if you want to check it for something you're interested in. I still don't see my personal issue on there: it seems like whenever I switch between the Spaces on my Mac that hold iTunes and Pixelmator, the OS doesn't want to stay put -- it keeps jumping back to the iTunes Space while I'm trying to work on Pixelmator. Of course that might be an iTunes issue, but hopefully the Pixelmator team is looking into it.Other than that, it's still a great app for editing and resizing images, and at $59, is definitely cheaper and simpler than investing in a big Photoshop suite. The 1.4.1 update will show up automatically for current users, and the app can be downloaded as a free trial from their site.
