Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

Realmac Software Teases ‘Analog Camera’ for iPhone

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013

Realmac Software, who worked with Impending and Helftone to create Clear for iPhone and Mac, today teased an upcoming iPhone camera app. Analog Camera will feature a straightforward gesture-driven interface, several filters and camera modes, and easily-accessible sharing options. It’s slated to hit the App Store later this month and will cost $.99.

For Analog Camera, we’ve really focused on the core features that were important to us – stunning filters, incredibly fast and easy to use, and most importantly, FUN! With a beautiful fluid interface, and all your favourite services ready to share a photo to, Analog Camera is all about making photography fun again – and coming soon to your iPhone!

Here’s a brief teaser video for Analog Camera:

Realmac Software’s Analog for Mac focuses on basic photo editing with filters and borders. Analog for iPhone looks to be a cleanly designed portable version for the iPhone, a device that is one of the most popular cameras according to Flickr based on uploads to the online photo storage service.

Though there’s no shortage of iPhone camera apps, I’m looking forward to the release of Analog Camera. I’m a big fan of Clear (see my reviews of the iPhone and Mac versions) and have confidence that Analog Camera will be good. If you’re not already familiar with Realmac Software, check out Analog for Mac as well as Clear.

  • Photography

    Analog

    Last Changed:
    7 weeks ago
    Rating:
    3.50 (120)
    Version:
    1.2.3
    Mac OS

    ✭✭ Save 30% - Limited Time Offer! ✭✭ ✭✭ OS X Mountain Lion and Retina-Ready ✭✭ Analog makes it easy to improve your photos with a stunning selection of filters and borders. We...

  • Productivity

    Clear

    Last Changed:
    3 days ago
    Rating:
    4.50 (600)
    Version:
    1.0.1
    Mac OS

    Featured in the Mac App Store “Best of 2012”! Life is messy. Keep it together with Clear, the amazing app for list-keeping that is unbelievably simple, quick and satisfying to use. Clear for...

  • Productivity

    Clear

    Last Changed:
    3 days ago
    Rating:
    4.50 (52)
    Version:
    1.2.2
    iOS iPhone

    As Featured in the App Store “Best of 2012” Collection Life is messy. Keep it together with Clear, an amazing new app for list-keeping that is unbelievably simple, quick and satisfying to use. ...

‘Lost Photos’ Extracts Pictures from Your Email Inbox

Monday, May 13th, 2013

I have tons of photos that were emailed me to me over the years from friends and family and I’ve never done anything constructive with them. Yes, I looked at them when they were first sent to me and ooohed and aaahed accordingly but I inevitably forgot about them and they’ve remained in the picture purgatory that is my email inbox. Going through the thousands of emails in my personal inbox to find them would take forever and it’s not even on any of my ever-expanding to do lists. Thankfully, Space Inch has an easy solution with Lost Photos for Mac, a utility that will hunt down all the pictures in your email accounts and extract them for your viewing and organizing pleasure.

Lost Photos logs into your email account (it works with the major email services like Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, and others and Space Inch promises your log-in information is not saved anywhere and is transmitted securely) and combs through your emails one by one to pull out pictures. The pictures found are shown in a slider view within Lost Photos and you can choose to post any on Facebook, Twitter, or send them via email. Once the search is complete, which took about 20 minutes for the 3,000+ emails in my iCloud account inbox, you can also elect to import all of the photos into iPhoto. If you’d rather not do that, all of these extracted pictures are placed in a new folder in your Photos folder so you can browse through them in one place at your leisure.

Lost Photos is free to download and will extract the first 100 photos for free. To get unlimited photo extraction functionality, you’ll need to pay $2.99 via in-app purchase.

Looking through the extracted pictures found by Lost Photos was like taking a short trip down memory lane. I found pictures that I’d completely forgotten about from past trips and events that I really should have made an effort to save when I first received them and it was really nice to get them all in one place.

Lost Photos was a bit too thorough in at least one respect, though. It pulls every single image from your emails, including those in email signatures. These email signature images, which are usually company logos, are pretty much useless to me and I wish there was a setting to ignore them (there is a setting to skip pictures smaller than 8 KB but some still sneak through). At any rate, if you can deal with the chaff that comes with the wheat, it’s still worth getting all of those long lost pictures that have accumulated in your inbox in one place.

  • Photography

    Lost Photos

    Last Changed:
    4 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.50 (15)
    Version:
    1.2
    Mac OS

    * Editor's Choice * * #1 App * NOW SUPPORTS 7 NEW EMAIL ACCOUNTS! Lost Photos discovers all the photos you’ve ever sent or received stored in your email account (see list below to make sure...

‘Amazon Cloud Drive Photos’ for iPhone Debuts

Friday, May 10th, 2013

Amazon has released a new app to allow users of its online cloud storage service to automatically upload and store photos from an iPhone and access photos saved to the service from other devices. Amazon Cloud Drive Photos hit the App Store today and is free to download.

Amazon offers 5GB of storage at no charge – all you’ll need is an Amazon account to take advantage of this freebie. Of course, you can purchase more storage if you’d like, upping to 20GB of storage for $10.00 per year or 50GB for $25.00 year all the way up to 1000GB for $500 per year. Amazon Cloud Drive Photos will use whatever storage level you’ve selected to save pictures from your iPhone. You can also save documents, videos, music, and other items to Amazon Cloud Drive through your computer.

When you first open Amazon Cloud Drive Photos, you’ll be asked to grant the app access to your iPhone’s photos. By default, the app will upload and save pictures from your iPhone’s Camera Roll whenever you open the app. You can even select to allow uploads only when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network in case you’re not on an unlimited data plan.

If you’re one of the 10 bazillion people with an Amazon account, taking advantage of the free 5GB storage offered should be a no-brainer, especially if you want an easy way to back up the precious photos taken with your iPhone. I’ve found Apple’s Photo Stream service to be less reliable than I’d like and I appreciate that Amazon offers a ridiculously easy way to back up the multitude of pictures captured with my iPhone.

  • Photography

    Amazon Cloud Drive Photos

    Last Changed:
    5 days ago
    Rating:
    3.00 (10)
    Version:
    1.1.56
    iOS iPhone

    Protect and store all of your photos in one place with Amazon Cloud Drive Photos. Access your photos from your iPhone or iPod touch, your computer, or any web browser. Take a picture on your iPhone...

Control ‘Final Cut Pro’ on Your Mac with ‘ProCutX’ for iPad

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

Pixel Film Studios and LightWORKS Solutions have released ProCutX for iPad, an app that lets you control Final Cut Pro X on your Mac. ProCutX connects to your Mac via Wi-Fi and offers direct access to Final Cut Pro’s editing tools to adjust color, timing, audio, and more.

Built from the ground up to meet the needs of today’s creative editors, PROCUTX breaks free from the menus and tabs to streamline editor tasks. This application gives users control over all the FCPX editing tools in one clean interface, eliminating the need for clicking and searching through the Final Cut Pro X menus. From import to export, PROCUTX can control every step of the FCPX editing process.

Freelance videographer and photographer Paul Bunyard recorded this video of ProCutX in action earlier today:

Apple released Final Cut Pro X in June 2011 to a mixed reception over the lack of key features that were present in previous versions. Apple has since updated Final Cut Pro X several times, adding many of the features missing at its launch.

ProCutX debuted in the App Store yesterday and costs $24.99. It’s compatible with the iPad only and requires iOS 5.1 or higher.

  • Photography

    ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X

    Last Changed:
    8 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (36)
    Version:
    1.1
    iOS iPad

    ***Requires a Mac running 10.7 or 10.8 & Final Cut Pro X*** PROCUTX for Final Cut Pro X is an iOS iPad application that allows editors to control Final Cut Pro X on their MAC through an...

‘Cycloramic’ Spins Your iPhone 5 to Capture Panoramic Video

Friday, January 4th, 2013

If you’ve ever wanted to take a panoramic video of you and your friends without asking a stranger to hold your iPhone for you and turn around in a circle, there’s a new app you’ll want to check out. Cycloramic by Egos Ventures debuted in the App Store just before Christmas and cleverly uses your iPhone 5′s vibration motor to rotate it to capture a panoramic video.

Here’s a video showing Cycloramic in action:

If you’re like me, you may be wondering if that video is legit and whether or not Cycloramic really works as advertised. I purchased the app and tried it out on my kitchen counter and it really does work. You can see a sample video, made by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, of what it captures here on Facebook.

Right now, Cycloramic only captures video without sound though Egos Ventures has told us that an update is coming that will add the ability to capture panoramic photos as well.

Note that Cycloramic’s auto rotation feature only works with the iPhone 5 so if you have an older iPhone model, you’re out of luck. Also, it needs to be used on a smooth, flat surface and your iPhone 5 will need to be case-less for it to work as shown in the video. There are a few other caveats, so be sure to read Cycloramic’s full description before you buy it. Cycloramic’s novelty alone is worth $.99.

  • Photography

    Cycloramic

    Last Changed:
    12 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (87)
    Version:
    V2.1
    iOS iPhone

    ”Unexpected, fanciful and useful all at the same time!”
– Steve Wozniak

 “Pogie Award for Brightest Ideas of 2012”
- The New York Times
 “Great for winning bar bets or...

Notable New Apps and Updates: Capture for YouTube, Letterpress, Navigon, StreetPilot

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Apple will be closing down the App Store for the holidays soon and app developers are clearly working hard to push out updates and new apps before then. In particular, Google hasn’t been resting on its laurels following the release of Google Maps last week (which was downloaded over 10 million times in its first two days in the App Store, in case you were wondering how popular it is) and has released Capture, an app for YouTube that lets you easily record, edit, and upload and share your videos. Capture hit the App Store yesterday and is free to download.

  • Photography

    YouTube Capture

    Last Changed:
    3 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (195)
    Version:
    1.3
    iOS Universal

    Film and share videos with YouTube Capture: ✓ Easy, fast recording ✓ Touch up videos with color correction, stabilization, trimming, and music tracks ✓ Upload to YouTube, Google+, Facebook,...

Letterpress, the word game released by Tweetie developer Loren Brichter that debuted in the App Store in October, has received a major update that adds a neat new feature: the ability to share replays of your finished games on the web. You can seen an example here.

I always get a kick out of developers who get creative with the description of what’s changed in an update and Brichter managed to make me laugh out loud with his for version 1.2:

  • Share Replays! Now you can tweet, post, email or just hoard links to your games and show off yer skillz! (Requires iOS 6)
  • CHRISTMAS is a proper noun. It’s not allowed. Bah humbug.
  • Loads of little tweaks.
  • Improved dictionary.
  • Handle orientation changes on iPad better.
  • Clarified the “prefix” rule in the How To Play. Apparently the word “prefix” means something different to programmers and grammar geeks! The rule is actually really simple; it has nothing to do with roots, stems, definitions, moon cycles, or Latin derivations. It boils down to: no words found at the beginning of a previously played word. Easy.
  • People read these. Neat. If I were smart I’d monetize all over your eyeballs.

  • Games

    Letterpress – Word Game

    Last Changed:
    11 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (913)
    Version:
    1.4
    iOS Universal

    Find words, steal tiles, color the board! Letterpress is a fresh new word game for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Play against your friends using Game Center! The perfect blend of fun and strategy. ...

Garmin’s Navigon and StreetPilot navigation apps received an update today that adds iCloud synchronization to keep your favorites in sync across multiple devices and Foursquare and Glympse integration. Glympse is a location sharing service through which you can share your current location with anyone via email or text message for a period of time you specify. There’s a free Glympse app in the App Store if you want to check it out separately.

The Navigon and StreetPilot apps are also on sale now for 25% off their regular prices through January 7. Garmin has dropped prices lower than this in the past though usually only around Black Friday after Thanksgiving. If you really want to save a few more bucks you’ll probably need to wait until next November. Otherwise, go ahead and get them now before the prices go back up on January 7.

  • $4499Buy Now
    Navigation

    NAVIGON North America

    Last Changed:
    1 week ago
    Rating:
    3.00 (19)
    Version:
    2.4.2
    iOS Universal

    With NAVIGON you can turn your iPhone or iPad into a fully functional mobile navigation system. Thanks to a faithful adaptation of the menu functions, the app fits in seamlessly with the iOS...

  • $4499Buy Now
    Navigation

    Garmin N. America

    Last Changed:
    1 week ago
    Rating:
    3.00 (269)
    Version:
    2.4.2
    iOS iPhone

    Download Garmin StreetPilot® Onboard North America and give your iPhone® or iPad® the best in GPS navigation with photoReal junction views, 3D buildings, speed/red light camera alerts and more. ...

For a list of all of Garmin’s StreetPilot apps, click here. For a list of all of Garmin’s Navigon apps, click here.

Notable New Apps & Updates: Instagram, Twitter, Flickr, Yahoo, Find My iPhone

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

While some things seem to slow down just before the holidays, app developers are apparently an exception if the number of major updates this week are any indication. While all of these apps are free and therefore pose no risk to your wallet, I still wanted to highlight them in case you’re considering a paid alternative that may be less functional comparatively after these updates.

Instagram, the popular photo sharing service, has updated its iPhone app with a new camera interface, the addition of a new filter, Willow, and Foursquare integration. In related news, Instagram removed support for Twitter cards, a feature that allowed Twitter’s own official apps to show thumbnail views of users’ Instagram photos within timelines, from its service. If you’re using a third-party client like Tweetbot this change doesn’t affect you. Yet, at least.

  • Photography

    Instagram

    Last Changed:
    3 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.50 (58292)
    Version:
    3.5.1
    iOS iPhone

    Instagram Over 100 million users love Instagram! It's a free, fun, and simple way to make and share gorgeous photos on your iPhone. Pick from one of several gorgeous filtered effects or tilt-shift...

Speaking of the official Twitter apps, Twitter’s iPhone and iPad app also got an update this week, adding features that put it in competition with Instagram when it comes to pictures: filters and basic photo editing tools.

Twitter notes Instagram’s removal of support for Twitter cards in the text describing what’s new in version 5.2:

We understand that you are experiencing issues with viewing Instagram photos on Twitter. Instagram has decided to disable its integration with Twitter and as a result, photos are no longer appearing in Tweets or user photo galleries. While tweeting links to Instagram photos is still possible, you can no longer view the photos on Twitter, as was previously the case.

Why do I feel like I need some popcorn before seeing what happens next between Twitter and Instagram?

  • Social Networking

    Twitter

    Last Changed:
    3 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.50 (3497)
    Version:
    5.6.1
    iOS Universal

    With Twitter, you can watch the world unfold like never before. • Get real-time stories, pictures, videos, conversations, ideas, and inspiration all in your timeline. • Follow people and your...

The iPhone app for Flickr, the Yahoo-owned photo sharing site, got an update giving it a new interface and – drum roll, please – filters! And, Yahoo also released a brand new iPhone app for its free email service. Yahoo! Mail hit the App Store yesterday and requires iOS 6 or later.

  • Photography

    Flickr

    Last Changed:
    4 days ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (139)
    Version:
    2.11.858
    iOS iPhone

    Get the power of the world’s largest photo-sharing site in the palm of your hand! ★ "It’s the best mobile photo app out there" - Forbes ★ ★ "The new Flickr...

  • Productivity

    Yahoo! Mail

    Last Changed:
    2 weeks ago
    Rating:
    3.50 (346)
    Version:
    1.5.3
    iOS Universal

    Yahoo! Mail, now available for your iPhone and iPad! With an easy to use interface, this app lets you:   Stay connected • Access your inbox in just one tap • Receive automatic notifications...

All right, enough about filters. Apple updated its Find My iPhone app to offer driving directions to help you get to that lost iOS device. While you may or may not have confidence in the map data, they should at least point you in the correct general direction. You’ll need to be running iOS 6 to get these directions, by the way.

If you don’t already have Find My iPhone, I’d definitely recommend that you download this free app and enable all of your iOS devices to use it. Here are Apple’s instructions on how to set it up. I’ve read several stories detailing how users found their lost or stolen iPhones or iPads with this app and service and while I don’t recommend that you attempt anything dangerous like trying to take your device back from a thief, it can be incredibly useful in any situation when your shiny bundle of Apple joy goes missing.

  • Utilities

    Find My iPhone

    Last Changed:
    9 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (873)
    Version:
    2.0.2
    iOS Universal

    If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device,...

PSA: Get a Free Postcard Through ‘Over’ for iPhone on December 9

Friday, December 7th, 2012

It’s said that a picture is worth a thousands words but sometimes a picture needs a few words of its own. For these situations, Potluck’s Over is an excellent choice to add text to your photos, offering multiple font options and simple editing tools to enhance your pictures. And this weekend, Over is partnering with Simplify to let users send a free postcard anywhere in the world on Sunday, December 9.

To take advantage of this special offer, you’ll need the Over app. On Sunday, create a postcard in the app using one of your own pictures or one of the stock photos available in the app for free, add your text, and then choose Postcard in the Share menu. You’ll then be walked through all of the steps to create your postcard and use Simplify to print and mail it (you’ll need to create a Simplify account if you don’t already have one). On December 9, you’ll get free credits so that the first postcard you send on that day will be free.

This free postcard offer is valid only on December 9 and works for one postcard. Mark your calendars now if you want to take advantage of it and don’t forget to buy Over first. If you’re curious about what Over can do, check out the Over Instagram account to see some of the best pictures submitted by users.

  • Photography

    Over

    Last Changed:
    7 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.50 (445)
    Version:
    1.7
    iOS Universal

    "This is a fantastic idea!" -Jason Fried of 37 Signals "We’re obsessed." -Brit+Co "Instagram suddenly got a lot more interesting." -Uncrate...

Scout Camera Lets You Focus on Taking Great Pictures

Friday, October 5th, 2012

There is no dearth of camera apps in the App Store with apps that can let you do almost anything from making your photos look like vintage comics to letting you add a virtual mustache to any face. But finding a straightforward, uncluttered camera app that lets you apply filters in real-time can be a bit harder and this is where Crush Apps comes to the rescue with Scout Camera.

Scout Camera hit the App Store last month and just got an update a few days ago to let it take full advantage of the iPhone 5′s larger screen. Here’s a walk-through of how it works on an iPhone 4S (thanks to Apple’s switch to the new Lightning connector in the iPhone 5, my app video capture system needs a new adapter before I can use it with my iPhone 5):

Scout lets you apply filters and change the aspect ratio of your photos as you capture them so you can frame them up exactly the way you want and know what you’re getting before you tap that shutter button. Comparatively Instagram, the wildly popular photo sharing social networking app, used to let you apply filters in real-time but actually lost this capability in a recent update when it got iPhone 5 and iOS 6 compatibility.

With other excellent photo editing apps like Camera+, Snapseed, and many others in the App Store, I was a bit curious to know why Crush Apps decided to release a camera app into what is already a crowded market. So, I asked the man behind Crush Apps, Jim Rhoades, why he created it and here’s an excerpt from what he told me:

I really enjoy the process of taking photos – and being able to frame a picture to a particular aspect ratio while taking it is, to me at least, a better experience than taking a photo and cropping it later on. I also really like the 16:9 aspect ratio. I find that particular shape of photo visually interesting, and wanted a camera app capable of that. I also wanted a camera app that didn’t have controls (like the front/back camera switch and flash buttons) blocking the view of the photo I was taking. In other camera apps, I find those controls distracting and think they get in the way of composing the picture.

…I also wanted to be able to offer something that allowed you to take photos in black and white, or that had a little extra color saturation (like the Vivian filter) – or a number of other visual looks… and I wanted to be able to see what those effects looked like as I was taking the photo.

I think Rhoades has succeeded in creating a camera app that lets you focus on taking great pictures first and foremost in Scout Camera. Rhoades told me he has plans to add more filters and possibly filter controls, so Scout Camera will get even better in the future. If you’re looking for a no-nonsense camera app that does more than the iPhone’s built-in Camera app and has controls that don’t get in your way, Scout Camera is a great choice.

Scout Camera is available for $.99 as a special introductory price. It requires iOS 5.1 or higher and works on the iPhone 3GS and later, the 4th-generation and later iPod touches, and second-generation and later iPads.

  • Photography

    Scout Camera

    Last Changed:
    2 weeks ago
    Rating:
    4.00 (16)
    Version:
    1.0.4
    iOS iPhone

    Take great photos with this unique and beautifully designed camera app. MINIMAL DESIGN With camera controls that stay out of your way, so you can see the photo you're taking with no distractions. ...

 

Google Releases Official YouTube App for iPhone

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012

Google has released its own official app for its video website subsidiary, YouTube. The free app debuted in the App Store this morning, offering a more streamlined interface and claiming better discovery of videos and channels and the ability to view even more videos, including official music videos and Google Play content, from its catalog.

A YouTube app in the App Store was expected after the native YouTube app that has been included out-of-the-box on the iPhone since its release in 2007 was not present in a beta version of iOS 6 in early August. At that time, Apple confirmed that the license to include its own YouTube app in iOS had expired and that Google was working on its own version to replace it.

One significant difference between Apple’s old YouTube app and Google’s new version is that Google’s version will now show advertising just like you see on the YouTube website before the start of a video. The ability to generate revenue from video ads was likely a motivator for Google to create its own app with this capability given the large iOS user base.

iOS 6 will be released this fall with Apple expected to announce an exact launch date at tomorrow’s media event. If you want to stick with the old YouTube app, you’ll need to stay with iOS 5 or below since it won’t be present once you upgrade to iOS 6.

The new YouTube app is not universal and does not have an interface optimized for the iPad and its larger screen, though the company told Engadget that a separate version for the iPad is being developed and will be released “in the coming months.”

  • Photography

    YouTube

    Last Changed:
    6 weeks ago
    Rating:
    2.50 (5745)
    Version:
    1.3
    iOS Universal

    Watch the world’s videos and keep up with your favorite YouTube channels with the official YouTube app for iOS. Sign in to access your subscriptions, playlists, uploads and more. Features: ✓...