Photogene is a photo genius for your iPhone
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
In my recent review of AutoStitch I mentioned Photogene [App Store] which is kind of like a miniature Photoshop for the digital pictures you take on your iPhone.
It has a boatload of functions, which will let you fix and enhance your digital images without having to offload them to another image editor on a Mac or PC.
Here’s some of the functionality:
- Enhance photos with color adjustment and sharpen tools
- Crop and straighten photos
- Add text balloons
- Create a variety of frames
- Adjust Histogram
- Correct Gamma
- Increase/decrease saturation
- Adjust color temperature
- Multiple undo and redo
The latest version, released earlier this month, includes support for OS 3.0, adds some new effects, and updates the GUI. Of course no iPhone app is going to replace Photoshop, but Photogene has seemed to capture the features that people really want in getting their iPhone photos in tip top shape for emailing or saving elsewhere. With the new 3 megapixel camera in the new iPhone hardware, Photogene will be even more indispensable.
Some of the icons are not obvious in function, but they are quickly learned. I would have liked to see noise reduction among the features, but the developer has created a separate app called NoiseBlaster [App Store] that removes noise from iPhone images. It’s an additional $0.99, but I would have liked it included in Photogene.
Photogene works on the iPod touch as well, but you’ll have to import images since the touch has no built in camera, at least not yet.
At US$2.99 it’s hard to go wrong if you use your iPhone camera as much as I do.
Photogene is a photo genius for your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Photogene is a photo genius for your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AT&T’s iPhone 3G S launch day pre-orders already sold out
Bad news for folks hoping a pre-order would save them from that yearly camp out in front of their local Apple Store: iPhone 3G S pre-orders have sold out, and folks who are making new pre-orders are being told that they’ll have to wait up to two weeks to get a phone. AT&T customers who do already have pre-orders in still have to line up at 7AM to nab a phone, but at least they’ve got a guaranteed slot if they show up, while the rest of the world will have to battle over remaining stock when Apple Stores open at 8AM and AT&T stores open to general customers at the same time. Looks like we might get a good riot or two out of this.
Update: AT&T just pinged us to clarify that it’s still accepting pre-orders, but not for delivery on the 19th, and online pre-orders will be shipped directly to your home, so you actually don’t have to hit up a store at all. But what fun is that?
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
AT&T’s iPhone 3G S launch day pre-orders already sold out originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWDC Live: Andrew Stone, Twittelator Pro
Filed under: Software, WWDC, Developer, iPhone
Victor and I met Andrew Stone about an hour after the latest version of his iPhone Twitter client, Twittelator Pro, hit the App Store. He gave us a quick — and very animated — demonstration of some of the new features while we were at the Macworld party.
Update: This video has been moved to YouTube and is now watchable.
Continue reading WWDC Live: Andrew Stone, Twittelator Pro
WWDC Live: Andrew Stone, Twittelator Pro originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WWDC Live: Andrew Stone, Twittelator Pro originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Push notifications go live on iPhone courtesy of Tap Tap Revenge
iPhone OS 3.0 may not be available to the masses for a couple days yet, but that’s not stopping Tapulous (nor Apple’s App Store overlords, apparently) from rolling out a new version of its ridiculously popular Tap Tap Revenge that’s fully ready to take advantage of push notifications right here and right now. We’ve taken the new build for a spin, and in brief, it works as designed — notification times ranged from near instantaneous to just under a minute. One of our editors here was testing on a cellular connection and the other was on a SIM-less iPhone 3G running just WiFi, so it looks like this setup will work pretty seamlessly regardless of what kind of connection you happen to be enjoying / tolerating / loathing at the moment. Follow the break for a quick video demo.
[Thanks, Brandon]
Continue reading Push notifications go live on iPhone courtesy of Tap Tap Revenge
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Push notifications go live on iPhone courtesy of Tap Tap Revenge originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Probably-fake video roundup: 24-inch iPhone OS, PS1 emulation on the Pre
This video of iPhone OS 2.x running on a 24-inch multitouch monitor from Swedish design firm Dreamfield is almost certainly fake, but hey — it’s Sunday night, nothing’s going on, and we were thinking about how well touch-specific systems would work on a larger screen after seeing those CrunchPad videos anyway, so we thought we’d get some conversation going. We’d be willing to bet that a future Apple tablet has more in common with the experience shown in this video than with what we currently think of as OS X, but we’re not so certain we’re seeing anything here that makes us want to throw our mouse or keyboard away — or spend the entire day with gorilla arm. So — artfully mocked-up glimpse of the future, or just a pipe dream?
Keeping with the likely-fake theme, there’s also a probably-fake video of SNES and PS1 emulators running on the Pre, controlled by a Bluetooth gamepad. Yes, it’s incredibly awesome — and undoubtedly possible — but until we see some evidence of how things are loaded up and connected with the gamepad we’re sticking it in the fake category as well.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Probably-fake video roundup: 24-inch iPhone OS, PS1 emulation on the Pre
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Probably-fake video roundup: 24-inch iPhone OS, PS1 emulation on the Pre originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AutoStitch raises the bar on iPhone panoramas
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review
There are quite a few programs that allow you to create panoramas on the iPhone. I’ve reviewed some of them, and they all get pretty good reviews. The differences are often in how much work you have to do versus letting the software do the alignments of the various images. Since iPhone photos are almost always hand held, there are going to be issues of the camera not always being level.
AutoStitch [App Store] is a US$1.99 app that gets most of the process just right. When you run it, it asks you to import images from your camera roll, as many as you like. They can be horizontal for a wide panorama, or stacked vertically. As an experiment I shot both vertically and horizontally, and rocked the camera significantly out of level by tilting it up to about 45 degrees. I took 10 images, and the software assembled the images in the proper order. There were a couple of gaps, where there was no image, but that was my fault, not the application’s. The result was pretty impressive: not as a great image, but that AutoStitch could make sense out of the jumble of shots. You can see this image in the gallery I’ve created.
No panorama software I’ve seen is perfect. When I look closely at the full resolution images I see a bit of ghosting in the distant mountains, but overall AutoStitch is an excellent program that lets you take the pictures while it does the work. All panoramas need some cropping cleanup, and iPhoto can do this when you import from the camera. If you want to do all the post-processing on the iPhone itself, I suggest Photogene, [App Store] which will straighten and crop your photos, plus lots of other functions if you want them. It’s a great US$2.99 investment. I’ll be reviewing this app in a future post.
Here are some sample panos taken assembled with AutoStitcher. I’ve reduced the size of these images so they will load faster. You can find more on the developer’s web site.
Image Examples:
Gallery: AutoStitcher
AutoStitch raises the bar on iPhone panoramas originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AutoStitch raises the bar on iPhone panoramas originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Kaloki Adventure and Peggle on sale, plus free music
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Freeware, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
If you didn’t jump to pick up Kaloki Adventure [App Store link] after our first look last week, now’s your chance: the game is on sale today (not tomorrow, apparently — you’ve got under 24 hours) for just $1.99, a buck cheaper than the usual $2.99 price. The game offers some fun but casual real-time strategy business simulation, so if your dream has ever been to own a burgeoning spaceport, they don’t come cheaper than that.
And as an added bonus, NinjaBee is also offering a catchy tune from the game’s soundtrack on their website for the low, low price of completely free. It’s the jumpy, swingin’ background music to the main gameplay, composed by Eric Nunamaker, who’s apparently been working on video game music for quite a while.
Oh, and finally, while we’re talking about awesome iPhone games on sale, Peggle is only a buck. ‘Nuff said.
Kaloki Adventure and Peggle on sale, plus free music originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Kaloki Adventure and Peggle on sale, plus free music originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWDC Live: bChamp at the iPhone Intelligence Party
Filed under: Multimedia, WWDC, iPhone
At the iPhone intelligence party, it was hard not to notice the guy walking around with the practice amp making 808 sounds. After picking up his audio in all of my other videos, I tracked down monodomo and the bChamp application. Take a look at the video in the second half of the post, you’ll quickly get the simple concept behind this beatboxing application. It’s currently 99 cents in the App Store [iTunes link].
Continue reading WWDC Live: bChamp at the iPhone Intelligence Party
WWDC Live: bChamp at the iPhone Intelligence Party originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WWDC Live: bChamp at the iPhone Intelligence Party originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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App Store Lessons: the game changer rejection
Filed under: iPod Family, Bad Apple, iPhone, App Store
A new kind of App Store rejection is making the rounds in the iPhone World. It’s not about violating the SDK. It’s not about objectionable content. It’s about Apple empowering its reviewers to reject software without providing any substantive reason or feedback. TUAW reader Kenneth Ballenegger received the following rejection notice for his iLaugh application.
This kind of rejection is a gamechanger. Devs have complained that Apple’s review policies to date have been inconsistent and arbitrary, since it was relatively easy to compare rejections and demonstrate the multiple standards in play. This rejection shields Apple’s internal processes even further. Instead of moving towards transparency and responding to developer concerns, Apple has pointed itself in the opposite direction.
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Making this rejection sting more, the app already was in the App Store; this submission was a bug-fix update. The premium edition of the same app, submitted at the same time, was approved without issue. It seems that previous and current approvals for the same application would argue in favor of letting this version through, or at a minimum providing an explanation of what’s wrong with this one. As Christina posted yesterday, developers aren’t getting straight answers about App Store rejections, even at WWDC.
“Sole discretion” hides a lot of possible review errors, both subjective and accidental. It makes it harder than ever for smaller companies to appeal rejections and denies them a factual basis on which to evaluate whether their rejection was issued in error. It also gives a firm answer to those who have been hoping for a transparent ticketing system and a open appeal process. Apple isn’t interested; it’s their store, their rules, and Caveat Developer to anyone whose business plan depends solely on Apple’s beneficence.
An app full of admittedly lame jokes might be an appropriate candidate for App Store rejection, but the combination of veto power, the opaque review/appeal process, and inconsistent and capricious application of Apple’s ax adds up to a troublesome situation in the developer ecosystem and in the App Store.
Postscript: Kenneth writes in to clarify that the 1.1.1 bug-fix update submitted 3 months ago was rejected. This will not affect his 2.0 Lite version, which was just submitted.
App Store Lessons: the game changer rejection originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
App Store Lessons: the game changer rejection originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PC World’s dashed WWDC expectations
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WWDC, iPhone
While some people came away from WWDC feeling like it’s Christmas in June, it doesn’t look like PC World was among them. But after reading their laundry list of unrequited hopes and dreams for WWDC (WWDC No Shows: 10 Things We Wanted From Apple and Didn’t Get), it seems like PC World really doesn’t seem to get it.
Let’s walk through these points one by one, shall we?
1. The Apple Tablet
We’ve been hearing rumors about this one since the Newton disappeared. I don’t think anyone realistically expected the tablet to come out this year, much less at WWDC. It’s getting to the point where every single event has people leaving and saying, “B-b-but where’s the tablet?”
Continue reading PC World’s dashed WWDC expectations
PC World’s dashed WWDC expectations originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
PC World’s dashed WWDC expectations originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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