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Zorro Macsk review: instantly add touchscreen functionality to your 21.5-inch iMac
Over the years we've come across a few signs that pointed to the possibility of touchscreen-enabled iMacs, but Steve Jobs had already dismissed this as a possibility for current Mac form factors. Quoting the man at the "Back to the Mac" keynote from two years ago: "It gives great demo, but after a while your arm feels like it's going to fall off. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal." So perhaps our fantasy's still stuck in the "research project" phase. Luckily, the more adventurous touchscreen lovers can look to third-party solutions. For MacBooks you have Axiotron's Modbook, except you lose the keyboard and you can't perform the modification yourself. As for iMacs and Cinema Displays, we've been following Troll Touch for its resistive touchscreen replacement panels, but they aren't exactly affordable and most of them have to be installed by the company. Even its user-installable SlipCover series starts from $899, anyway. This leaves us with the Zorro Macsk, a cheekily named iMac accessory hailing from TMDtouch of Shenzhen, China. The 21.5-inch model is priced at just $199 on Amazon with no modifications required. Plus, it supports multitouch -- a glaring omission from Troll Touch's Mac lineup. So is this truly a bargain? Or is it just a case of "you get what you pay for?" Follow past the break to see how we got on with the Zorro Macsk.%Gallery-165013%
Joe Danger 2 - The Movie review: High-ish voltage
Like a lot of film sequels, Joe Danger 2 sounds good on paper, in a bigger-better-more-explosions kind of way. Promoted from stuntman to star, Danger's garage and scenery are now fuller and more diverse. One minute he's skiing away from an avalanche, the next he's jetpacking through a jungle and breaking dinosaur eggs. With an action-packed variety of backdrops and vehicles, the 2D puzzle-racer never looks the same from one level to the next. This is a quality not to be sniffed at; many games would do well to break out of their beloved grey corridors and empty brown plains.Nonetheless, like a lot of film sequels, Joe Danger 2 proves that it's hard to expand on a winning formula without breaking it. Thankfully, rather than break the formula, the game simply garbs itself in a pretty new veil. The sceneries and vehicles are bright and beautiful diversions, when in fact the game plays much the same as before. What tempers this is that what came before is still a bit special. As are many sequels, Joe Danger 2 is a strong pretender to its predecessor, but no more than that.%Gallery-162157%
HP Envy Spectre XT review: a sleek and speedy Ultrabook with a killer keyboard
More Info HP unveils Envy Spectre XT Ultrabook, other thin-and-lights in various sizes HP announces 15-inch Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook, Envy 4 Ultrabook with touch HP Envy 14 Spectre review HP's Envy 14 Spectre hit almost all the right notes when we reviewed it back in March, thanks to its high-res display, sleek metal-and-glass design and brisk performance, but a stiff trackpad and the steep $1,400 price were clear downsides. The new Envy Spectre XT, a 13.3-inch Ivy Bridge-powered Ultrabook, has a thinner, lighter profile than its big brother, and a lower $1,000 price tag to match. That's still not chump change, though, so does the XT deserve a spot in the top tier of Intel-approved ultraportables? Join us past the break for the full breakdown. %Gallery-165035%
Daily iPad App: Let Pix: Image Search help you find that perfect image
Occasionally, my kids will ask me what something looks like and I will grab my iPad to look it up. Rather than opening mobile Safari, I recently turned my attention to a new app from Inglorious Apps called Pix: Image Search. As its name suggests, Pix: Image Search is an image search tool that lets you search several image hosting services including Bing, Flickr, Google, Picasa, Twitter and Photobucket. Pix: Image Search opens to a blank slate with a search box, an option button and a drop-down menu to select your image service. You can select one image service to search at a time and each query will pull up a handful of images. The results are arranged as a grid of thumbnails, which you can browse as a group or individually in a full-screen slideshow. When viewing images, there is an option to save each image to your photo roll or view it within its source website. You can also adjust the safe search settings, so you can filter out inappropriate images. This is a useful feature, especially when using the app with kids. The biggest difficulty I encountered wasn't with the app, it was with me. I'm so used to opening Safari, it took some training to get me to open Pix: Image Search instead. Once I got accustomed to opening the app instead of the browser, I really appreciated the ease and simplicity of Pix: Image Search. Pix: Image Search is a universal app. It's available for $0.99 from the iOS App Store.
Daily iPad App: Fieldrunners 2 HD arrives on iPad
I've been a fan of Fieldrunners 2 for a while now -- it's my opinion that this is the best tower defense game ever made. With rock solid gameplay, plenty of content, and lots of little upgrades and tweaks to make, Fieldrunners 2 sits at the top of the huge pile of games that this genre has created. But the biggest drawback to Fieldrunners 2 at launch was that it wasn't natively compatible with the iPad, and this release, Fieldrunners 2 HD, that problem has been solved. Unfortunately, the two versions for iOS are completely separate -- the app's not universal, so you'll have to rebuy the game if you want it on iPad, and there's not even iCloud integration, so your progress won't transfer over, either. That's kind of disappointing. It makes sense that Subatomic wants to make the title as profitable as it can, but it's too bad that the decision can hurt the company's most loyal customers. Otherwise, the game is great, and the HD graphics show off just how terrific all of the action looks. I don't believe there's any new content since the original iPhone release (though a new update since then has added a map and some other fixes), but there's so much here already that's not really a concern. Fieldrunners 2 HD is available right now for $7.99. That may seem pricey when compared to other iOS releases (especially if you already purchased the iPhone version), but really, when you look at the quality and amount of content on offer here, especially if you're a tower defense fan with an iPad, picking this one up is a no-brainer.
Daily iPhone App: iHelp Plus keeps you safe in any scenario
If you often walk alone or are concerned for your health, then you should consider iHelp Plus for iPhone. iHelp Plus is a personal security app that puts an alarm and a personal security monitoring system right at your finger tips. First and foremost, iHelp Plus is a place for you to store emergency contacts and important medical information. It is also an alarm system that lets you call, text or email your emergency contacts with just a few quick taps. Each distress message you send contains your location information and a request to call the police for assistance. Besides the basic alarm, there's a delayed alarm that you can set when you take a walk or venture on a shopping trip. You pick the length of time needed for the activity, and the delayed alarm will remain dormant until you reach your destination and turn it off. If you don't reach your destination on time, the alarm will send off a distress message on your behalf. There's also a secret alarm that you can use when confronted by an attacker. If you are forced to turn off an alarm, you can enter your PIN in reverse and secretly activate a hidden alarm. To your attacker, it'll look like you've turned off your alarm, but iHelp Plus will continue to run in the background and send location updates to your emergency contacts. Last but not least, iHelp Plus includes a personal alarm monitoring system that's available around the clock to respond to your request for help. The app includes a free 30-day trial of the monitoring service, and you can extend this subscription using an in-app purchase. iHelp Plus isn't for everyone, but it could be a lifesaver for the elderly, students and older children. The app is available for $0.99 from the iOS App Store and the monitoring service costs $6.99 per month.
Motorola Droid RAZR M review
More Info Motorola RAZR M official: 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.5GHz dual-core, hitting Verizon for $99 Motorola Droid RAZR M hands-on (video) Droid RAZR M and HD dev editions bring unlockable bootloaders to the Android party Family trees are monstrous wonders of genetic distillation, alternately yielding grotesque and delightful offspring. And, as is nature's wont, it's within the strongest of these "carriers" that dominant traits are passed on, ensuring a continued legacy for a specific branch marked by beauty, brains or beastliness. And so the same rings true for the RAZR lineage: a once forgotten, but now revived brand that's helping to define the new Motorola (as experienced through Verizon). Tucked safely under the protective wing of Google's guardianship, the manufacturer's embarking on a wireless renaissance and soldering that second chance at relevance to the Kevlar back of its latest Droid progeny. But as with all litters, there's bound to be one runt and here that distinction belongs to the Droid RAZR M. Known internally as the Scorpion Mini, this ICS handset's barebones build can deceive the eye into believing it's smaller than it actually is. But really, its screen is the same 4.3-inch, qHD, Super AMOLED Advanced affair as that of the original RAZR reboot -- just without the considerable bezel. So Moto's engineers have trimmed some fat, but this cosmetic overhaul also goes below the surface. Keeping it fairly current is a gently skinned version of Ice Cream Sandwich (soon to be upgraded to Jelly Bean) that's powered by a souped-up 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 and 1GB RAM. And really, that's about as modern as the RAZR M gets. Put down on paper, that mild spec bump might not seem compelling enough, but let us tantalize you with the device's most attractive tidbit: $99 on-contract pricing. Yes, folks, this formidable Droid RAZR redux has a retail positioning ace up its sleeve, but does that alone warrant two years of Verizon's chains? Can a slimmer form factor, unchanged display and faster processor lure in the style-conscious on a budget? Or are you better off holding out for its bigger bodied (and batteried) Droid RAZR HD siblings? Stick with us as we pass judgment on Moto's little leaguer.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD review (7-inch)
More Info Amazon announces 7- and 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDs, pricing starts at $199 Kindle Fire HD 7-inch hands-on (Update: video) Amazon Kindle Fire review It was 10 months ago that we had a doppelgänger in our midst. Amazon unleashed the Kindle Fire to the world and we spent much of the beginning of our review comparing and contrasting it to the (even then a bit long-in-the-tooth) BlackBerry PlayBook. Now, finally, we can stop making that comparison -- at least for this, Amazon's current top-shelf tablet. It's the Kindle Fire HD and it quite handily addresses nearly every concern that we had with the original Fire. It's thinner, lighter, faster and, yes, better looking. It's a huge step forward from that which came before and yet it still follows very much in the footsteps of its predecessor, existing as a physical portal to a digital marketplace with an alluring selection of premium content. Is it enough of an improvement to topple our current king of budget tablets, the Nexus 7? You'll just have to read on to find out.
Live socially but financially responsible with Promissory
In today's world of credit cards, tight social schedules and on-the-run meetings, it's easy for your financials to get entangled. You buy a coffee for a friend, you split a meal, you pay your share of the rent and so forth. Promissory (US$1.99) is an iOS app that lets you keep track of what you owe and who owes you what. Instead of trying to hold onto receipts or scribble down how much dinner cost last night, you can enter amounts as they happen. The person who picks up the tab links to the friends who offered to chip in, and the app keeps track of those values over time. I remember one time when a friend's ATM card stopped working, so I covered her expenses over a weekend in New Orleans. I wrote down everything on a list. After hitting a bank, she pulled out a couple of twenties to cover whatever I had been put out for and was shocked when I showed her the actual total, which I believe was just under $120. An itemized app such as this would have been just the thing. Sure, Promissory won't help when you're splitting a meal with the guy who orders an appetizer, an entree, a dessert and several beers when you just had a chicken salad sandwich, but it will provide an electronic trail of purchases, especially when you're the one who always ends up picking up the tab. The app lets you connect to and create accounts, so the debits and credits can be monitored from both sides. The design was easy enough to use in my testing, although I didn't have the flexibility of testing it over long periods of time to really see how it works in real-world conditions. Promissory lets you split bills, lend or borrow money, and keep track of paying back any balances you owe. It's a simple financial journaling app, but one that a lot of people might find handy.
Daily iPhone App: Super Hexagon is a wild ride
Terry Cavanagh is one of my favorite game developers. He's probably best known for his retro, mind-bending platformer VVVVVV (yes, that's its name, six Vs in a row), but he's made a number of other great titles, including the somber Don't Look Back, and the wild cat-based MMO ChatChat. Now, he's released a game on iOS called Super Hexagon, and, well, it's pretty insane. Super Hexagon is a fairly straightforward arcade game -- you control a little triangle on the screen, rotating it around left or right by pressing your thumbs on either side. Lines fly in from the sides, and the goal of the game is to move the triangle quick enough to avoid lines for as long as possible. Here's the thing, however: This game is hard. Really hard. Like, you will not survive for more than 10 seconds the first few times you play. The retro but flashy graphics, combined with the chaotic chiptunes of Chipzel make this game a freaky experience, so if the extent of your gaming prowess starts and ends with Angry Birds, you might want to wait for another Daily App tomorrow. But if you know, as a gamer, how much fun it can be to take on a really challenging but well-designed game, and fight your hardest for just a few extra seconds of life and a high score, Super Hexagon is probably for you. The game's trailer will show how wacky this one eventually gets. If that doesn't scare you away, it's on sale right now at a launch price of just $0.99.
Leaked screenshots show Galaxy Note 2 on AT&T and Verizon
Samsung may not have spilled the beans on US variants of the Galaxy Note II, but phablet fans have already set their sights on the usual suspects. Aiding rumors, for instance, are a collection of screenshots showing the phone running on both Verizon and Ma Bell's networks. A BriefMobile source says that the AT&T version of the oversized handset is being tested, as are T-Mobile, Bell Canada and Sprint variations. The AT&T version is said to be a dead ringer for the international model, retaining its quad-core Exynos processor while snubbing the network's branding. Much like Sammy itself, the source didn't have much to say about availability -- just "soon." Can't wait? Skip on down to the source link below to tease yourself with leaked screenshots.
Friday Favorite: Haiku Deck for iPad concocts instant presentations
If long-suffering Dunkin' Donuts franchise owner Fred the Baker had decided to get an office job, chances are his early morning grumble would have been "Time to make the PowerPoint." Doing decks is part of every organization, from the military to not-for-profits to businesses of all sizes; even if you make the chore easier with Keynote, it's still a chore. Creating something that doesn't look like every other presentation is possible, but if you aren't gifted with design acumen it might not turn out like you hope. PowerPoint's automatic templating helps somewhat, but how about using your iPad to spice up a slide or two? Giant Thinkwell's free iPad app Haiku Deck may prove to be the spice rack for your flavorless decks. The idea is straightforward: use one of Haiku Deck's provided two-line templates for your slides and the app will search Creative Commons-licensed photos to provide a fitting visual complement to your verbiage. You can swap in your own local photos from the iPad or ones from social services; to share, upload your deck to the Haiku Deck site or export it to a PowerPoint file. The app is beautifully designed and easy to use; some of the free supplied templates are lovely, and there's a $14.99 optional pack of additional looks (or $1.99 per template, bought solo) if you're not thrilled with the built-in options. Yes, you can only use two lines of text per slide, so it's not ideal for bullet-heavy fiscal briefings. Yes, the results have a tendency to wander into Demotivators territory. But you can certainly use Haiku Deck to inspire a theme for a longer presentation built in a desktop app, or pull one or two key concept slides into a presentation that's begging for some creative zing. [hat tip AllThingsD]
Daily iPad App: Splice is a different puzzle game
Splice is an experimental puzzle game for iPad, put together by a developer called Cipher Prime. It was originally released on Steam and has received several awards. After being selected for PAX 10 and Indiecade 2012, Splice has made the jump over to iPad. Splice is intriguing in that it's not easy to get into, as it's a puzzle game that plays hide-and-seek with its mechanics. But it definitely creates a striking mood, and it wordlessly communicates its principles quite well. The basic idea is that you've got to line up what appear to be biological cells in a certain order, usually in a symmetrical pattern, by splitting and then recombining them (hence the title) a certain number of times. Like most great game ideas, this sounds more complicated to do than it is. In the end, you've just got to look closely for a pattern, and then figure out where the cells need to go. There are some great touches in the atmosphere of the game, too. For example, when you mess up and need to redo your splices, you just touch a timeline on the side of the screen, and the game artfully rewinds to the last cut you made. TUAW got a chance to talk with Cipher Prime at PAX last week, and founder Dain Saint said that the game was originally developed in Unity. Bringing it to the iPad didn't take long at all, but the optimization process took about a month. The company is now working on a sequel to a previous title, Auditorium, after having raised the funds for it via a Kickstarter earlier this year. But Saint also told us that before it makes Auditorium 2, the goal is to make a much smaller title, hopefully with a development time of just about a month, to "work through our production pipeline." After that, it'll be on to the bigger title, but Saint isn't sure whether either game will make it to the iPad just yet. With a team of just five people, there's obviously not a lot of time for extra tasks. At any rate, it's good to see Splice on the iOS platform, and hopefully its success will bring Cipher Prime and other indie developers back in the future. The game's artistic and experimental, so it might not be for everyone (especially with the current $3.99 price, despite the game being even more expensive on Steam). But if you're looking for a really gorgeous puzzle game with some out-there mechanics, Splice is a very interesting experience to try.
The pi Mount: it would be irrational not to love this iPhone accessory
In continuing the theme of tiny iPhone mounts from yesterday's review of the Universal Mini Stand from Tabu Design, today we'll look at the cleverly designed pi Mount (US$9). The pi Mount gets its moniker from the shape of the design. When viewed from the front, the design looks like the mathematical symbol for pi. The legs of the symbol are perfectly sized to squeeze the Apple iPhone power adapter when it's plugged into a wall socket. On top of the pi is a channel that's wide enough to hold an iPhone clothed in a thin case (no, it won't hold an iPhone 4S in a mophie juice pack air, thank you very much). The idea here is simple: instead of laying your iPhone on a kitchen counter or other surface where it could be splashed by a tipped glass of wine or knocked onto the floor, get it up off of that surface and onto the wall. While you're at it, give your iPhone a quick charge! In practice, the pi Mount takes no time to install, and the design makes placement of the AC adapter, the mount and the iPhone intuitive. My only complaint is that the charging cable just hangs there, which still creates a hazard for pulling the cable out of the iPhone and having it drop. This could be easily remedied if the pi Mount folks could get a short 9-inch USB cable manufactured that would be just long enough to go from the AC adapter USB socket to the connector on the iPhone. Still, I love the design and execution of this simple accessory, and at $9 (with free domestic ground shipping), buying one is a no-pain proposition. Conclusion Alton Brown would probably not be pleased with my appraisal of this one-task device, but the pi Mount does one thing very well: it gives you a place to put your iPhone when you're charging it. Pros Dirt cheap, but well-constructed Cleverly designed and works with any iPhone in most bumpers and thin cases Cons Cable still dangles; I'd pay another $5 for a really short charging cable for use with the pi Mount. Who is it for? Any iPhone owner who has wished for a way to keep their charging phone off of a countertop or floor.
Daily iPhone App: Weathercube is an interesting but eccentric iOS app
Weathercube is an interesting and graphically pleasing approach to giving you the weather on your iPhone or iPod touch. It is not universal, but will run on an iPad in 2x mode. It sells for US$1.99. Weathercube supports several gestures which will get you to extended forecasts, other pre-set cities and even the settings. It provides a lot of information, and swiping the screen gets you a slick animation that looks like the cube is turning in perspective. If you look at the app icon you can get an idea of the animation effect. %Gallery-164565% Where the app fails is displaying the information in an easily accessible format. Here's an example. When you open the app you are presented with sky conditions, temperature, wind speed and barometer reading. At the bottom of the screen, two percentages are displayed. Why two? Because one is cloud cover, the other is humidity, but they are not labelled. Same with temperature. On the home screen, you get a high temperature prediction, not the current temperature. It's all a bit confusing. If you want the current temperature you need to swipe down for the hourly temperatures, and the current conditions will be at the top. Worse, next to the predicted hourly temperatures is the predicted barometric temperature, which is I think the last thing you would want in a prediction. How about wind speed or humidity? The app allows you to select background colors to personalize the look of the screens, but with some combinations it is hard to read the labels. Sounds accompany most gestures on the app. I found them distracting, but happily they can be turned off. These issues can be easily fixed, and if they are, Weathercube will be vastly improved. The display is minimalist, but you can dig pretty deep with gestures. Switching to other cities is easy, and the database has more than 1.7 million locations. The app is also multi-lingual, with support for Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and more. I like the idea behind the app, I just think more labels, current conditions moved to the home screen and being careful about the colors obscuring the text would go a long way to make the presentation a success. Weathercube requires iOS 4.3 or later and it's a 9.8 MB download. Some screenshots are below.
Daily iPad App: The World Ends With You Solo Remix for iPad brings a modern classic to iOS
The World Ends With You is one of the best role-playing games of the last five years. It was originally released by Square Enix on the Nintendo DS, and it not only made great use of an original setting (it's based in the highways and byways of a mystical version of Tokyo's biggest shopping district), but also featured some very innovative touchscreen combat controls. Now, almost five years after its initial release, Square Enix has brought the title over to Apple's iOS platform, and the game fits very well on Apple's larger screen. If there's one complaint I have about The World Ends With You, it's that the game is somewhat slow -- the story crawls along a bit too close to a snail's pace for my taste. Also, the characters, to my mind, aren't especially likeable. But that doesn't mean the game isn't great -- the combat especially is really well-designed, and the iPad's bigger screen space (along with the game's updated graphics) makes using pins and swiping across the screen to attack a lot of fun. There are a number of gameplay systems too, from upgrading pins and dressing in certain brands to making sure your characters are syncing up well together. The game is complicated, but it's all smoothly explained (even if I think it could have opened up a little bit faster). At any rate, especially if you've never played this one before and are ready to dive into a huge modern Japanese RPG, The World Ends With You Solo Remix is a great update of what's sure to be a classic game, and is even worth the $19.99 price (it's two dollars cheaper on the iPhone, but I think this is a much better experience on the iPad). Square Enix does post sales on apps occasionally, but if you want to play through this one, now's the time to grab it, and if you stick with it, odds are you won't be disappointed.
Splitmo releases Air Show, an on-the-fly editor for your photo slideshows
Ever want to change a photo in a slideshow once you've started it? If you answered with a resounding "yes," then you should check out AirShow. Developed by upstart mobile app company Splitmo, AirShow is a new iOS app that lets you edit a slideshow at the same time it is running on an HDTV screen. At its core, AirShow is a slideshow editor and has all the basic tools you need to create a photo slideshow. The app takes images from your camera roll and allows you to add captions, crop a photo and rotate images before you add them to your presentation. It also allows you to create slideshows in advance and load them as needed during a presentation. Like any good slideshow tool, AirShow uses AirPlay to send your slideshows to your HDTV via an AppleTV. AirShow's selling feature, though, is the app's ability to edit images on the fly while the slideshow is running. If you notice a mistake, you can delete a photo and insert a new one without anyone noticing. Users who want live content can even grab new images using their camera and add them into the slideshow on the fly. You can also control playback of the show by speeding it up, slowing it down or stopping it, if necessary. AirShow performs exactly as promised. The AirPlay feature works wonderfully to send a slideshow of your favorite pictures to your HDTV. Editing also works smoothly, though it is fast-paced. I found that AirShow works best when you queue up a long line of images in your slideshow and work on the end of the show while the beginning plays. If you try to edit and play at the same time with 20-30 images, you better be fast with your fingers. AirShow is available now in the iOS App Store for free.
Contour+2 review: the best consumer helmet camera on the market
More Info Contour+ helmet cam goes official, bringing 1080p video with wider viewing angle Contour+ vs. GoPro HD Hero2: through the desert and into the skies Contour's new mount, watersports kits help bring its cameras with you in the water, snow or dirt It's been a little while since the two major players in the helmet cam industry, Contour and GoPro, refreshed their wares. Contour launched its Contour+ and Roam models last summer, while GoPro delivered the HD Hero2 late last year. As our extensive testing can attest, both companies put out great cameras, but with Sony about to get in the game with its $199 Action Cam, the pair need to raise their games -- and that's exactly what Contour is doing with the Contour+2. This logically named follow-up to the Contour+ is a big step forward on many levels, still delivering 1080p recording while offering many design and software improvements, including the ability to use your smartphone not just as a viewfinder, but to start and stop recording, too. Plus, at $400, it's $100 cheaper than last year's offering -- and that's despite coming with a fully waterproof case. Join us as we put it through its paces.%Gallery-164226%
iStabilizer Monopod puts your iPhone photos above the crowd
After my TUAW TV Live iPhoneography episode last week, I was not surprised to see another photography accessory show up in the mail. After all, this seems to be one part of the accessory market that's booming right now. iStabilizer, the same company that brought us the innovative Dolly, is shipping the Monopod (US$34.95) to help you take pictures or video from a whole new angle. First, let me mention something -- I own a Manfrotto Monopod with a quick-release mount and three hidden legs that fold out when I need a virtual photographic assistant. It's amazing, it's sturdy, and it's also expensive; I think it put me back about $150. But it has come in handy for shooting video, making podcasts, and taking shots with my camera high up in the air. Yes, one of my favorite uses for that expensive Monopod is not to hold the camera still, but to get the camera into the air where my point of view is above the crowd. %Gallery-164290% That's the primary purpose for the iStabilizer Monopod. It doesn't come with little legs to let it stand on its own, although I suppose you could mount it on a mini-tripod to do that. And it's not designed to hold a DSLR or HD video camera; instead, it's made to hold an iPhone, iPod touch, Android phone or POV camera (like the GoPro). You can either put the base of the Monopod on the ground to help you stabilize long-duration exposures, or use the padded grip as a handhold and put the iPhone well above or below a crowd. Want to shoot some video from the viewpoint of a dog or cat? Pop your iPhone onto the Monopod, fire up the Camera, and start shooting from a few inches above the ground as you walk around. Want to catch a close-up of an architectural detail on a building that's just out of reach? Extend the Monopod to its full length of over 3 feet, suddenly you have a very long arm. In the video at the end of this post, one of iStabilizer's staff members shows how you can use it to video yourself while you're walking. iStabilizer seems to focus on shooting video with this tool, but you can use apps like my favorite -- Camera+ (on sale for US$0.99 right now) -- to set a timer for up to 30 seconds so that you can tap the shutter button and then get the iPhone's camera in place for your best picture. The one feature I like the most about the iStabilizer Monopod is how short it is when collapsed. The Manfrotto Monopod I have is 29 inches long when fully collapsed, and it barely fits in my biggest suitcase. The iStabilizer Monopod is exactly half that length and perfect for travel. One other benefit? It uses the same spring-loaded clamp to hold the iPhone that was used on the Dolly, so you can attach your iPhone without needing to remove it from a case. Conclusion Pros Inexpensive Locking aluminum telescoping arm is quite sturdy No need to remove iPhone from case before installing it on Monopod Short enough to go into almost any camera bag or backpack Threaded on the bottom for attachment to a tripod for self-supported use Clamp holds iPhone or other lightweight camera very securely Includes wrist strap Cons None that I can find Who is it for? The iPhone photographer or videographer who wants an inexpensive and versatile accessory for stabilizing shots or enabling unique vantage points.
MoviePro for the iPhone 4S adds features to the built-in camera
If you do a lot of moviemaking on your iPhone, you'll probably want something with extended capabilities. There are plenty of apps to help at various price points and feature sets. Recently-released MoviePro is among the better ones. Although it runs on the iPhone 4 and the iPod touch, you don't get all the features without the more powerful iPhone 4S. MoviePro offers pause and zoom (4S only), selectable frame rates, aspect ratio, and variable audio and video quality. There is a tap-to-focus feature (additional taps set exposure), auto white balance, a timer and the ability to choose maximum record duration. The zoom feature just magnifies the pixels you already have, but some people will find a use for it. %Gallery-164264% The app will also allow you to capture a still while you are recording video. Just tap on the onscreen button and the image will be saved to your camera roll. Video can be exported to Dropbox, YouTube, Facebook or sent to your camera roll. I found the overall video and audio quality to be very good at the best settings. Help is built into the app, which is welcome. I would like to have seen the ability to extract a still from an existing video, rather than being only able to do that live. It's hard to tap the screen and capture a still without moving the phone, potentially affecting your video shoot. MoviePro is on sale for US$0.99 for a limited time. I think it is a good app for the money, and certainly adds to the standard iPhone video features. If you want more pro features and increased control I'd suggest you look at FiLMic Pro at $3.99.
