Blurb is best known for self-publishing books, but a new iPhone app expands the company's scope to mobile storytelling. Blurb Mobile for iPhone and iPod touch allows you to take photos, video and audio from the iPhone, including from apps such as Instagram, Hipstamatic and Photoshop Express, and turn them into a visual book that can be shared via email, Twitter or Facebook.
Blurb is a free download and allows you to have up to eight images, a 30-second audio clip per image and a 10-second video clip per story with seven themes to choose from. An in-app purchase of US$1.99 will net you up to 15 photos, a 2-minute audio clip per image and three video clips up to 30 seconds each per story along with an additional eight themes.
The app itself is easy to use, and it's very stable. After creating the slideshow, you can upload it to Blurb's site for sharing. A very nice feature is that you can make changes to the slideshow; the app will update it to the same location on Blurb's site for you, so you do not have to change any shared URLs. There are a few minor drawbacks, mainly that the text size for captions is much too big and obscures a good bit of the image when posted online.
Check out this test slideshow from a recent trip to New York City to see the app in action.
Blurb app creates multimedia stories on iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 01 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Blurb app creates multimedia stories on iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 01 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Animated GIFs, the bane of many flashy websites circa the mid-to-late '90s, have made a comeback thanks to resurging popularity on places such as Tumblr. Jumping on the revival bandwagon is 3Frames, a $2.99 app that lets you use your iPhone or iPod touch to create animated gifs.
The app features a "burst mode," similar to what sports photographers use to capture rapid action, that will let you catch several frames of footage quickly. In fact, you can grab up to ten shots in a row very easily, which can make for some pretty interesting animated gif compositions. Edit the footage using the in-app editor and unleash it on the world via Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr.
[via The New York Times]
3Frames brings animated GIF creation to the iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
3Frames brings animated GIF creation to the iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Associated Press has gotten a hands-on look at the Hasbro My3D, the 3D-goggle accessory for the iPhone that the toy company originally announced in November.
The final price of the device is $35, but as AP points out, it's more of a curiosity rather than a device someone will use for the long run -- much like its predecessors, the stereoscope and the View-Master. After purchasing the My3D, you can download free -- for now -- apps that can be used with the device. Some of them, such as Sharks, require an iPhone 4, since the My3D takes advantage of the gyroscope. The AP does confirm that the 3D images are side-by-side stereoscopic images, which the reporter says looked a bit pixelated on her iPhone 3GS.
For now, the review suggests to save the $35 and spend it elsewhere. But, if you're really clamoring for a Hasbro My3D, they are a Target exclusive until June.
The Hasbro My3D is out, but the AP says stick with 2D for now originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Hasbro My3D is out, but the AP says stick with 2D for now originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I had the pleasure of spending part of Wednesday afternoon chatting with yap.TV founder & chief marketing officer Shawn Cunningham. yap.TV is a free social TV guide that initially came out for the iPad last fall, and later for the iPhone and iPod touch. We lightly touched on yap.tv last fall when Steve Wozniak appeared on an episode of The Big Bang Theory. At the time, Woz chatted along with viewers through yap.tv, and it turns out he does more than that. He is an adviser for the app itself.
yap.TV is billed as a second-screen companion, an app that you can utilize while watching your favorite series to connect with like-minded viewers through social media. If you're watching the latest episode of American Idol and want to see what everyone else thinks of the finalists, this app is for you. But, it's not for anyone who wants to avoid spoilers, even though yap.TV has a system that filters tweets by time zone to try and stop this.
Cunningham took me through a hands-on demo of the software. While the first release was solid, the additions for the iPhone and iPod touch have made it better, and the UI has been overhauled to take advantage of the smaller screen. This review focuses on the iPhone version of the app.
Continue reading Exclusive: yap.TV 2.5, a social TV guide
Exclusive: yap.TV 2.5, a social TV guide originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Exclusive: yap.TV 2.5, a social TV guide originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Inkd, the startup formerly known as Pressplane, launched Zapd over the weekend, a free iOS app that allows you to create and publish Web sites from your iPhone. "Create beautiful websites. In 60 seconds." the makers of Zapd vow, combining photos with premade layouts to create instant sites, ala Tumblr. Think iWeb for your iPhone.
After launching the app, you're presented with a number of layouts that remind me of various Tumblr sites. You can tap on a text, photo or link widget to add content. Before you publish, you can either sign up for your own Zapd account or link it with your Facebook account. From there, you can preview your site or publish it, sending post announcements to Facebook, Twitter and email at the same time.
Zapd doesn't have the social networking aspects of Tumblr, which makes it a good alternative for someone who wants to make a quick website for sharing with a few people. Though it's geared for iPhone users, those with an iPad 2 can also take advantage of the photo features. It's simple enough that those less tech-savvy members of your family can use it without confusion to make a nice-looking mobile photo album or travel journal.
Zapd allows website creation from iPhone sans social networking originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Zapd allows website creation from iPhone sans social networking originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We reported this morning on Verizon's iPad data rates crushing AT&T's, but if you're looking for raw download speed instead of cost savings, it might be worth checking out AT&T.
Network World reported that studies from Metrico Wireless in five U.S. cities showed that the iPhone 4 downloaded at twice as fast a rateon AT&T than Verizon. The AT&T phone had faster download speeds while moving, but the Verizon iPhone had the better upload speed when the phone is stationary.
For those following this since the Verizon iPhone's release, this is nothing new. A TUAW hands-on last month showed slower data for the Verizon iPhone in Los Angeles. Considering that CDMA is an older technology to begin with, the result of the survey is really no surprise. It is worth noting, however, if you're considering an iPad 2, since the Verizon models will also be CDMA.
Study finds AT&T iPhone downloads twice as fast as Verizon's originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Study finds AT&T iPhone downloads twice as fast as Verizon's originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rumors of a
smaller, cheaper iPhone are definitely not new and have floated around for nearly the life of the device. But
Bloomberg has an article out today saying that Steve Jobs, despite being out on medical leave, is involved in strategic decisions involving a smaller, cheaper, more universal iPhone. Bloomberg quotes its unnamed source by saying the new phone would retail for about $200, lose the contract, have a universal SIM card and be a third smaller than the current
iPhone 4.
Bloomberg points out how Apple released the iPod mini at a time when iPod sales were rising, but the mini addressed a new market segment which couldn't afford the larger version. It makes sense for Apple to eventually expand into the "smaller, cheaper" phone market, if only to go toe-to-toe with the myriad Android handsets now flooding the market.
Bloomberg: Apple prepping cheaper phones? originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Bloomberg: Apple prepping cheaper phones? originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Last week, Starbucks updated its Starbucks Card app to handle payments through your iPhone and iPod touch at most Starbucks locations throughout the country. It was originally part of a pilot program when the app debuted in 2009, then expanded to Starbucks locations inside Target stores, and now it's nationwide.
There is still an exception, and that is Starbucks located inside Barnes & Noble. These locations are owned by Barnes & Noble themselves and will not accept Starbucks cards. Likewise, when checking for places that will accept mobile payments via the Starbucks Card app, Barnes & Noble locations are not listed.
I tested out the app on a visit to the Starbucks at Avenue at White Marsh, just outside Baltimore. While using the app is simple, it takes some work to get it ready to go.
Continue reading Paying with your iPhone at Starbucks: hands-on
Paying with your iPhone at Starbucks: hands-on originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Paying with your iPhone at Starbucks: hands-on originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Verizon will offer a $30 unlimited data plan, the Wall Street Journal confirmed this morning, similar to the original plan that AT&T offered when the iPhone was originally introduced. This comes after a couple weeks of speculation.
"I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot," said Lowell McAdam, the carrier's chief operating officer.
Engadget, however, is showing that Verizon is doing away with its tiered data plan option entirely.
This offers another incentive not only for new iPhone customers, but luring over current AT&T users who are on the fence about whether or not to switch. AT&T has had capped-tier data plans since June, but those iPhone customers with older contracts had their unlimited data plans grandfathered in.
[via MacRumors]
WSJ: Verizon confirms $30 unlimited data plan originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
WSJ: Verizon confirms $30 unlimited data plan originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Return7 released version 3 of its popular BillMinder app on Tuesday, now a completely revamped program. As such, Return 7 decided to switch its users over to a separate app -- BillMinder 3 -- which requires users to pay to "upgrade" to the latest version. While the out-of-pocket expense ($1.99) isn't much, it's a move that hasn't been that popular in the past -- think Tweetie in the pre-Twitter days.
Amro Mousa, co-founder of Return7 told me today that BillMinder 3 isn't simply an upgrade. The company rewrote the entire app from scratch and that no code or art is shared with the original app, still available via iTunes. The original BillMinder app received more than 25 updates during its lifetime, including the upgrade to version 2.0. He acknowledged there has been some grumbling over repurchasing the app.
"Most software companies don't give away new major versions for free. Why aren't folks angry when they buy a new version of OS X, iLife, or Aperture? Since we prefer to continue existing, we're charging for 3.0. Obviously that means we need to provide value in the new version for people to want to buy it," Mousa said.
While we didn't review the original BillMinder, we have taken a look at BillMinder 3. The app does exactly what its title implies -- it reminds you when a bill is due and how much. A lot of banks have included software through their websites to handle this sort of thing, but not all of them have dedicated iOS apps or will push notifications to your iPhone. It's also useful if you have separate bills going to different bank accounts like I do. Click on to see how the app works.
Continue reading New BillMinder a paid upgrade, but worth the money
New BillMinder a paid upgrade, but worth the money originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
New BillMinder a paid upgrade, but worth the money originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dig a bit deeper into Verizon's iPhone announcement and you see something that was overlooked from this morning's announcement -- namely a white iPhone. Apple has made it perfectly clear that the Holy Grail of iPhones won't be available until some time this spring. So, is this the real thing? Most likely not, I don't see anyone other than Apple announcing the white iPhone, and certainly not by burying it in a subsection of Verizon's site. Steve Jobs is most likely frothing at the mouth over this slip-up by Verizon -- but as of a little while later, it's fixed, so maybe nobody noticed.
That's not the only error Verizon's announcement had. There's no mention of CDMA at all -- the specs listed are GSM/EDGE. Maybe you have to roam onto AT&T to actually use the data plan. It's pretty much last summer's iPhone 4 announcement plopped onto a Verizon server. You'd think that with Verizon and Apple having this under wraps for the past two years, someone would have bothered coming up with a better site -- or at least making sure the AT&T-specific information was changed to Verizon. Or, better yet, hire a copy editor.
[Yes, we know we made an 'a/an' error in this post and a typo in a headline earlier, thanks to all you clever wags for pointing them out; they are fixed now. Of course we make mistakes too -- however our mistakes are not on the same scale as Verizon inadvertently advertising a color that isn't available, on a network they don't support. -Ed.]
Why Verizon needs a copy editor originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Why Verizon needs a copy editor originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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