See beautiful time lapse images with Magic Window on your Mac, iPad or iPhone

Magic Window was one of the first apps on the App Store when the store launched. It is a simple idea, but wonderfully executed and now available for the Mac as well as iOS. Magic Window is time-lapse photography -- for iOS it serves as a relaxing "picture window" and on the Mac it can play on your desktop. Plus, by adding a projector (in the video below it is connected to an iPhone) you could have an enormous wall of a sunset slowly changing over time.

There's really a bit more to Magic Window than mere novelty, including weather (supporting micro-climates as you find here in San Francisco), sleep timers and an efficient use of your processor. Check out the demo below by Josh from Jetson Creative, the smart folks behind this wonderful app.

See beautiful time lapse images with Magic Window on your Mac, iPad or iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

See beautiful time lapse images with Magic Window on your Mac, iPad or iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Launch Center demo by creator David Barnard

Last night David Barnard of App Cubby swung by our makeshift studio in San Francisco to show off Launch Center, which had only been live on the App Store for a few hours.

If you're wondering what Launch Center does, this video will explain it. Basically it's a shortcut app which allows you to save a few clicks doing things like texting someone or even doing a Google search of whatever is in your clipboard. But there are a bunch of great shortcuts in here, from tweeting to calling to launching a website. Plus, you can schedule shortcuts. I can't wait to prank someone by activating the flash on the iPhone at some time while my iPhone is on the table, explaining that it is a noxious fumes detector.

If you frequently find yourself tapping too many times on your iPhone, you should absolutely give Launch Center a look. Plus, if you want to schedule certain actions on your iPhone, Launch Center is a dream come true. I think it's a great idea, and David explains a bit about why it was initially rejected by Apple, but is now allowed. Check out the video below.

Launch Center demo by creator David Barnard originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Launch Center demo by creator David Barnard originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The iDevice cases of CES

If you review cases I have to feel bad for you. With so many to choose from, it must be like reviewing bags of sugar. By now there are also only so many ways to skin an iPhone, so the cases you see tend to be decorative, protective or novelty. That's about it. And we saw hundreds of cases at CES.

In the gallery below there's a sampling of some of the hundreds of cases we saw. From scented and minimal to sporty and sturdy to gaudy and impractical, there's a case out there for each and every one of you. Walk among the aisles and wind up with the same thousand-yard stare we did after seeing such choice. Now you realize why they only carry so many in your favorite retailer's iOS accessory section. Retailers make the tough decisions of which of these cases might actually sell -- and I don't envy them in that task.

Gallery: Cases of CES 2012

The iDevice cases of CES originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The iDevice cases of CES originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

A giant pulsing blacklight for your iPhone or iPod

This has been out for a while, but in the same booth where Engadget found the Watch Your Bag crapgadget there's a giant blacklight dock that will pulse to the beat. Oh, and it has speakers. You can opt to leave the black light on if you want (no sync to music), or have it strobe. Naturally it'll work with iPods as well, so you can practically set up a nightclub in an instant. Provided you don't mind toting a 4-foot iPod dock around. At $149.99 from Sharper Image, I doubt these are flying off the shelves.

A giant pulsing blacklight for your iPhone or iPod originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A giant pulsing blacklight for your iPhone or iPod originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

megaPhone iPhone stand is rubbery, battery-free amplification

Here's another quickie for you from CES. I've seen a few physical amplification attempts, some good, some bad. The megaPhone from iSimple sort of sits in-between. It's a little rubbery megaphone for your iPhone which provides some acoustic amplification of your iPhone's tiny speaker. There's a port for the sync cable, and you can use it in portrait or landscape position.

How does it work? About as well as you might imagine. Enough to boost the sound a bit, but not so much that it'll fill the room or anything. Still, it's small (basically you can squish it) and if you need a bit of a boost in your audio without resorting to something like this, the megaPhone may be worth the $14.95 to you. I could see using this to placate the kiddos while waiting for food at a noisy restaurant, and I'm sure there are plenty of other uses for it.

megaPhone iPhone stand is rubbery, battery-free amplification originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

megaPhone iPhone stand is rubbery, battery-free amplification originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Liquipel could make your iPhone waterproof without a case

Yeah, it sounds too good to be true. But that really is an iPhone in the cylinder above. Liquipel claims to make your smartphone water resistant by bonding it inside and out with a "nano" coating which repels water. While this isn't for deep sea diving, it appears to be an ideal solution if you are clumsy or happen to be around water quite a bit. In the image below, I snapped a pic of a tissue paper coated with Liquipel technology. The tissue is impervious to water absorption, acting more like wax paper. Pretty neat stuff.

The downside (for now) is that you'll have to send your device off to Liquipel for a few days for them to coat it. A rep I spoke to said they are hoping to work directly with manufacturers to integrate their coating before you buy a phone. In that case, you'd buy a water resistant phone automatically, eliminating the need for a LifeProof case or OtterBox if you're just going to have your phone by the pool. I'm hopeful Apple will license or acquire this tech and implement it as soon as possible. While it won't help with gravity, Liquipel certainly seems capable of preventing those spills and splashes that we're all accustomed to -- the ones which make us cringe or, at worst, place our iPhones in a sealed container filled with dry rice overnight (and prayer, for the devout).

Currently the Liquipel coating costs $59 for a 1-2 day turnaround for coating your phone. While the iPhone is certainly supported, it isn't the only smartphone you can protect. But really, if you have one of those other phones, is it worth it? I kid. Check out Liquipel's YouTube videos for more of this product in action. Here's hoping Apple shows some interest in using the material soon -- I'd love my iPhone 5 to be water resistant.

Liquipel could make your iPhone waterproof without a case originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Liquipel could make your iPhone waterproof without a case originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Daily iPhone App: Nixie Clock

I'm probably a little weird, but sometimes I love listening to police scanners and various chit chat as I'm going to bed. I also like analog devices, so a Nixie Clock Radio seemed like a neat idea: the look of the classic Nixie clock merged with streaming radio and an alarm/sleep timer. It works as advertised, but there's always room for improvement.The Nixie Clock app is simplicity itself. You start it up, and it takes a brief moment to "warm up" with a few flashes of the numbers, just like a real Nixie would do. Below the time readout (which has no AM/PM, using military readout only) are three functions: the radio, the alarm and the sleep timer. Tapping on each will dissolve into the options to the right of the button. It wasn't entirely evident that you could tap on these at first, but I rather like the minimalist approach.

The alarm works fine, and you set the time by tapping each number using a HH:MM format. The sleep timer also works great, and gives you a sort of countdown on the minutes (nothing moves too fast in Nixie, so there are no seconds shown). Tapping the radio icon logically brings up radio controls and will show you what channel is playing. Speaking of channels, the selection is a little thin and made up mostly of news and talk radio stations, but the developer says he plans to allow you to add channels later.

Nixie Clock is a nifty, limited-purpose but attractive radio alarm. For a buck it's worth it for the nostalgia alone, but add to that the app is compatible all the way back to iOS 3.1.3 and your nostalgia can even extend to older iDevices not capable of running iOS 4. I have a first-generation iPhone and iPod touch which could use this app with a dock and become little radio alarm clocks on their own.

Daily iPhone App: Nixie Clock originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Daily iPhone App: Nixie Clock originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad available

One of the first things I bought last holiday season after receiving a Kinect as a gift was Kinectimals. My kids loved it, but we found it can get a little tedious after a while. There it sits on the shelf of unplayed games... But perhaps when my kids get little iPod touches this holiday they'll revisit the game now that it is on iOS.

Yep, Microsoft has released Kinectimals for the iPhone and iPad, or an iPod touch -- provided you have a front-facing camera, of course. Actually the app is compatible with the 3GS as well, but that seems like a recipe for frustrating gameplay (considering the point is visual feedback between you and your pet). Perhaps it is a trust exercise on the 3GS.

The app weighs in at 178 MB, and currently costs US$2.99. This isn't the first app to use the camera as an input device, and no doubt we'll see more, but it's cool to see a Kinect game migrate to iOS nonetheless.

Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Did you experience a Siri outage?

We've seen a few minor outages for Siri since its debut, but those were minor blips compared to what appears to have been a more widespread, longer lasting outage that took place earlier today in the US, Europe and South Korea (according to Electric Pig -- we can attest to seeing an error message with the service in the US, and BGR noted it as well). We asked our Twitter followers and some reported brief outages last night, but others said it's been unavailable for hours and is still down.

Of course, when Siri was announced, Apple noted it was "in beta" but I took this to mean (and Apple seemed to suggest) the "beta" meant they were adding more languages later (like Scottish?). Just like, for example, that "beta" at the top of the TUAW page, meaning "we'll keep adding features." The problem with a Siri outage, as opposed to an iCloud one, is that Siri is designed to be used at any time, hands-free, to perform multi-step tasks. When the service is offline, you can certainly do those tasks, but you can't do them by speaking into your iPhone. You're not going to see this illustrated in the Siri ads, that's for sure.

I don't intend to write up every Siri outage here on TUAW. Like MobileMe status posts (oh, did I mention iCloud IMAP also seems to be down as I write this? Apple still can't seem to grok simple email, but I digress), it will become a futile task as we chase down the percentages and Apple improves the service. Still, I think it is notable that when a competitor like BlackBerry suffers a global messaging failure (one of their "core strengths," remember?) we laugh, but when Siri goes missing we tend to shrug it off. Yes, the service is in beta, but here's hoping Apple can beef it up once more of us become addicted to telling our phones what to do with our minds.

Did you experience a Siri outage? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Did you experience a Siri outage? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Auto-complete keyboard found in iOS 5

It seems iOS 5 is full of hidden "gems" (aka features Apple didn't deem worthy of making publicly available yet), like the earlier panorama camera stitching feature. This time, hacker Sonny Dickson found an Android-like word suggestion bar tucked away in iOS 5. Personally I'm not a huge fan of these, but some people feel it speeds up typing and is helpful. I think it takes up too much real estate and looks clunky.

There are instructions on how to enable this, and just like enabling the panorama mode you'll be using iBackupBot to ensure you don't louse anything up permanently, then editing a plist file in your Library. In our brief testing we found the feature crashed Notes and Mail, and wouldn't show up in Safari, indicating it probably only works in Text Views, not Text Fields (like the Safari URL field).

Neat, but is it really necessary? Let us know in the comments if you'll be enabling this feature on your iPhone or iPad.

Auto-complete keyboard found in iOS 5 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Auto-complete keyboard found in iOS 5 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iOS 5.0.1 appears for some non-developers, Apple issues retail memo about battery issues

photo by flickr user renaissancechambara

While developers have been playing with 5.0.1 for a little while, it seems Apple has updated a few regular users' phones as well, 9to5mac reports. These appear to be via the AppleSeed program, and Apple is testing with those who have reported battery issues after 5.0 updates.

Additionally, Apple has sent a memo to Apple Store retail employees about the battery issue. It essentially says to tell users to wait for the software update, and it'll get fixed. Read the full memo at 9to5mac.

iOS 5.0.1 appears for some non-developers, Apple issues retail memo about battery issues originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iOS 5.0.1 appears for some non-developers, Apple issues retail memo about battery issues originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iOS 5 and the TUAW iPhone app

As those of you using the free TUAW iPhone app in iOS 5 have already seen, there are a few issues with it; missing buttons, some broken functionality, et cetera. While we were expecting that the AOL team handling mobile development for us & all our sister sites would have an update ready for the iOS 5 release, that didn't happen. I was told that as of October 28, an update would be submitted to Apple. AOL has a QA process for mobile apps, and several bugs popped up once iOS 5 hit.

I did receive a new build to test on Thursday, and I'm happy to report it works well with iOS 5. That said, I do not yet know if the latest version of our app has been submitted for App Store review. Therefore, on Monday, October 31, I will ask our mobile team to provide me with an update and ETA for a properly-functioning iPhone app (noting that Apple's review process is obviously outside our control).

If the word is still "we hope to submit it this week," I will most likely pull the current app from the store so that no more new users will be wondering why an Apple blog's iOS app doesn't work. I'm hoping not to have to do this, as it won't do anything for the existing users who are frustrated and unhappy; I can only tell you that I'm just as frustrated and unhappy as you are, possibly more so.

Also, if you're wondering about an iPad app, you should check out Engadget's Distro app. Would you like this same treatment for TUAW? I have watched Distro in development, and while I think it's a cool way to skin the site into a magazine-like format, I still feel that it lacks some of the filtering and sorting tools our users would expect. That said, I also realize it is almost 2012 and we still don't have an iPad app, although our site works perfectly well in Mobile Safari.

Just as with our iPhone app, we must rely upon the mobile development team within AOL, and that team doesn't exactly have TUAW at the top of its priority list (we're sort of the pinky toe of the AOL content universe). If and when we're able to put TUAW into something like Distro, I'll be the first to let you know.

Thanks to everyone who sent in bug reports. I hope to have better news for you in November. In the meanwhile, I would encourage you to check out our site in Mobile Safari. Unlike when we used to call iOS "iPhone OS," the latest version of Safari in iOS doesn't crash miserably when loading TUAW. Those were good times, weren't they?

By the way, if you're wondering why our app has a 17+ rating, that's because Apple requires it on any app which allows you to "go" to the full web within the app (the theory being you'll go from TUAW to some inappropriate site -- Apple can be weird this way). So if we remove that option, we can lower the age limit. Unfortunately, that option is very handy sometimes. Let me know in the comments if you'd rather we ditch our web view in exchange for lowering the age limit.

My apologies for the bugs, the lack of communication and lack of an iPad app. We hope to fix things soon.

iOS 5 and the TUAW iPhone app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iOS 5 and the TUAW iPhone app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Tweetspeaker is a fun diversion from your everyday Twitter app

Maybe it's just me, but I love it when my machines talk to me. If my Mac could read the news when I woke up, tell me the temperature, and so on, wouldn't it be like a real personal assistant? Well, Tweet Speaker (US$2.99, App Cubby Software) is like your own little robotic reader for your Twitter feed. How does it work? Surprisingly well, with a few quirks inherent to text-to-voice translations.

Tweet Speaker is beautifully designed, with wood grain and a logical layout. The interface is similar to a radio, but instead of a dial you're looking at a timeline, and you can start "playing" your timeline with a play button to hear the iPhone's built-in voice read your Twitter streams. Tweet Speaker allows you to pick specific feeds as well, like mentions, or any lists you have set up. You can add multiple accounts and you can change the speed at which the streams are read (the speed of the voice).

While more voices are "coming soon," the built-in male voice is perfectly usable. Tweet Speaker is smart enough to read the name associated with a Twitter handle, so instead of reading "superpixels" in my case, it would read "Victor Agreda Jr" and so forth. Plus, the app reads RT as "retweet" and manages to interpret a few other common abbreviations and other Twitter quirks (like hashtags). It will also take shortened links and read the headline associated with them, which is most helpful.

There can be some unintentionally hilarious moments with Tweet Speaker, and I'm not just talking about how it reads cursing with aplomb -- job is pronounced like the biblical person Job, for example. And the app did crash on me once or twice. Still, hearing "Engadget says..." followed by the latest headlines and links is a lot of fun. It's also pretty useful if you drive a lot or just can't look at your screen. With support for Tweet Markers and Airplay, Tweet Speaker actually goes beyond mere novelty and can be a fun, efficient way to listen to your Twitter feeds without having to stare at a screen.

Gallery: Tweet Speaker

Tweetspeaker is a fun diversion from your everyday Twitter app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tweetspeaker is a fun diversion from your everyday Twitter app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Your iPhone 5 designs

Although none of these iPhone 5 designs are really in crayon, they are certainly creative. Thanks to everyone who sent these in, we'll find out tomorrow (maybe!) what the iPhone 5 looks like.

Gallery: You design the iPhone 5

Your iPhone 5 designs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Your iPhone 5 designs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Using the iPhone and iPad cameras to capture external guitar oscillations

Remember the video of guitar strings oscillating, caught by an iPhone sitting inside a guitar? Turns out you can capture this outside a guitar if you just apply a ton of lights. It makes sense, as you're monkeying with the rolling shutter, which can then capture the oscillations of the guitar strings as they are plucked.

It's great fun to watch, and tipster Mike Salovich tells us he wound up using 2600 watts of industrial light to capture this effect. He also points out how important camera orientation is, as it will maximize the rolling shutter effect. Check out the video to see what he's talking about.

Using the iPhone and iPad cameras to capture external guitar oscillations originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Using the iPhone and iPad cameras to capture external guitar oscillations originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Turntable.fm iPhone app now in the App Store, but the service still isn’t fully open

The good news: There's finally an app for Turntable.fm. The bad news? You're probably not going to get to use it. Turntable.fm still requires you to be invited via Facebook by someone who is already using the service. This is probably a good thing from a scale point of view, but I think Turntable.fm may have worse things to worry about when it does open the floodgates.

Turntable.fm is a mix between streaming music service, chat room and ultimately, videogame. If you try to be a DJ, you'll enter a room and essentially compete against other DJs to have your playlist selections played in the room. You can, of course, simply listen and vote as a lowly listener, but for people looking to waste hours of time at work the real challenge is producing a great playlist and not getting booted. There are "gamified" perks within the service as well, like new avatars to unlock using a points system.

Turntable.fm has been quite popular with the tech set, and as announced at TechCrunch Disrupt today, it's raised $7 million in its latest round of funding. Apparently Turntable.fm turned down some offers in a gambit to get Fred Wilson of Union Ventures to sit on its board (which he will do). What's rather interesting is that several celebrities have invested in this latest round, possibly hinting that Turntable's popularity could be spurred by some high-profile users. But we'll see if investors like Jimmy Fallon show up to strut their stuff.

The iOS app is a faithful recreation of the website, shrunk down into portable size. CNET has a great how-to on getting started and does a good job of explaining the ins and outs of Turntable.fm overall. About the only thing you can't do in the app is monkey with your profile and avatar. Check out the app on iTunes here.

[via SplatF]

Turntable.fm iPhone app now in the App Store, but the service still isn't fully open originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Turntable.fm iPhone app now in the App Store, but the service still isn't fully open originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Doweet aims to make real life activities more social

The very first pitch I got at TechCrunch Disrupt was from the Israeli founders of Doweet, a simple but ambitious iPhone app. Doweet ties into Facebook to share and discuss real life events. Why? Well, the purpose isn't exactly clear other than some rather bold marketing speak purporting to "revolutionize the way we do things together." I'm not sure about that, but here's what Doweet does.

First, you'll connect the app to your Facebook account. Next, you'll add friends using Doweet... except that in my case (and probably 99% of all cases) none of my friends were using Doweet. User adoption, as with all social apps, will be a hurdle. Then you'll start creating "Doweets" which are just events, really. It may be that you're hosting a party, or maybe just going to the park, etc. but the concept is that you'll create an event and add some Facebook friends. You can use an in-app commenting system to discuss the Doweet. If someone adds you to a Doweet you'll get a notification (you can, of course, turn off notifications). That's almost it, but not quite.

Perhaps the more powerful, slightly hidden ability of Doweet is the ability to create groups and add them to a Doweet. In Options you can even manage your groups. Unfortunately, the utility is still limited to people using the app. It would be much better if this somehow had a web component to lower the barrier to entry. The company plans to add this and Android compatibility, which may drive adoption.

Still, it seems to me the utility is somewhat limited. Tying the app to Facebook makes some sense, but that means you are limited to people who are your "friends." For businesses, that won't work. Personally, I'm more inclined to email a group of people about an event and "discuss" it in a thread than within an app. There are some apps similar to this, most of which have more features or a better focus (like finding bars or restaurants or adding value by ratings and reviews).

Doweet is free, so you're not risking anything by trying it out, but it seems to be a solution in search of a problem. Until its userbase gains critical mass, I don't see a lot of use in this app, noble though its goals may be.

Doweet aims to make real life activities more social originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Doweet aims to make real life activities more social originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Bizness Apps makes simple mobile apps for your small business

I'm here at TechCrunch Disrupt checking out the startups and have stumbled upon a few interesting companies. Bizness Apps has been around for a short while (they didn't launch here, as some companies have) that aims to provide a simple, web-based app building system for small businesses. It's not exactly a template system; Bizness Apps provides a series of functional components which you can plug in to an app and deploy using HTML5, or put on the App Store or Android Market.

I was pretty skeptical about Bizness Apps, as it harkened to the days of website templates, when anyone could charge a law firm thousands of dollars to do about 30 minutes of data entry and blorp out a website. Bizness Apps, on the other hand, works much better if you have design skills and can put together something attractive. Better yet, if you happen to be heavy on design and light on code, Bizness Apps offers a white label solution so you can essentially resell their product to clients. Or, if your restaurant was dumb enough to pay someone to build you an all-Flash site that can't be accessed by the majority of smartphones out there, Bizness Apps can fix that quickly (but doesn't "port" your Flash site).

There are, in fact, templates at work here, but they are only a starting point. Bizness Apps knows its market and has created templates for small businesses who typically need a simple feature set: restaurants, bars/clubs, law firms, realtors, gyms and radio stations (plus a longer list inside the web tool).

Of course, you can take those and morph them. The features you will add will vary, but the list of what's available is impressive and useful, and includes things like push notifications, GPS coupons, counters, galleries and CRM tools. Plus, they are adding e-commerce solutions from Volusion, Magento and Shopify. If you're looking to add purchases to your app, these are pretty good solutions. That said, this feature list is far from comprehensive.

How much does all this cost? To get started, it's $39 a month for an iPhone app. If you want to make that app for Android, iPad or in HTML5, you're looking at an additional $10 per month for each deployment target. So, if you're a restaurant wanting to deploy to iPhone, iPad, Android and HTML5 you're looking at $69 per month. Not bad, but the value should be weighed against how much it would cost to build a HTML5 site to begin with and deploying it using a basic web host.

Yes, there's something to be said about having a native app, but is it worth the additional cost to your business to have this app? The advantage of Bizness Apps is the ease-of-use and targeted features. Still, I spoke to a developer who initially lost business to them only to have some clients come back when they discovered they wanted more custom features. Luckily you can try Bizness Apps for free and see if it's right for your business.

Bizness Apps makes simple mobile apps for your small business originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bizness Apps makes simple mobile apps for your small business originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

DigiTimes: Apple likely to lead 2011 smartphone shipments

Who doesn't love estimates and projections? Digitimes Research projects Apple will surpass Nokia in terms of shipment volume in 2011, although total smartphone shipments overall are unsurprisingly projected to go up overall from 2010's totals.

Unfortunately for Nokia, Digitimes predicts its shipment volume will actually drop from 100 million units in 2010 to less than 75 million in 2011. Meanwhile, Apple's volume is expected to go up from 47.5 million in 2010 to 86.4 million in 2011.

DigiTimes: Apple likely to lead 2011 smartphone shipments originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

DigiTimes: Apple likely to lead 2011 smartphone shipments originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Video App Demo: PhotoMind

PhotoMind came about because its creator realized he kept forgetting to deal with the photos he was taking on his iPhone. I've run into this same issue, as it is all too easy to keep snapping away on your iPhone (or iPad, I guess), only to go sync and forget to launch iPhoto (which I avoid like the plague these days) or otherwise forget to pull the pics off your iOS device. Oddly enough PhotoMind won't necessarily help you with this problem, but does something else -- it sets timed reminders for photos.

Why would you use a photo as a reminder? I can think of dozens of reasons. While I use Evernote to capture all sorts of things, having reminders for some of those photo notes would be useful -- stuff that falls under the "look this up when you get home" category, specifically. There's also the odd use case where you're at a party and want to remember to email a person you just met something you were discussing.

PhotoMind allows you to email these pics and save them to your camera roll, so beyond a reminder app you can still use the photos elsewhere. Take a look at the app in action below.

Video App Demo: PhotoMind originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Video App Demo: PhotoMind originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments