Other Sites
Poor Quality iPad 2 Cameras Fixed By Camera Boost 2.5
Type2Phone 1.2 - Use your Mac as Bluetooth keyboard for your iPhone/iPad
Apple's iPad 3 Will Be Slightly Thicker With Same Screen Size - Rumor
Is The Pope On The Outs With His iPad?
Apple's iPad Sales Slacken Due To Kindle Fire, MacBook Air Popularity
iPhone's Siri: Psychological Poison?
Says Series of Political Apps for iPad: Presidential Candidate Speak Demystified
Poor Quality iPad 2 Cameras Fixed By Camera Boost 2.5
Since the iPad 2 was launched, purchasers worldwide have lamented the quality of its camera, with 2 megapixel resolution so mediocre that it's hardly better than nothing, in contrast to the iPhone 4S's excellent 8 megapixel camera.
However, Cheshire, UK based iOS photography specialists Interealtime have announceed Camera Boost 2.5, a major update to a popular iPad app claimed to be a major step forward for iPad photography.
The update has a single headline new feature - in fact a single new button. Small, unassuming, but perhaps the single most important advancement yet for iPad photography: Night Mode. Turn it on and those grainy, dull images leap to life. According to the developers, the image brightens and grain fades away, with the difference being like the proverbial night and day.
This app has a number of other enhancements and high end features for the iPad photographer or videographer as well. Photos are captured at full resolution 1280x720 (the standard camera app only manages 960x720) and tap-to-expose and zoom are available even during video recording.
Both photos and videos benefit from the Unlimited FX Engine that can apply as many effects as you want instantly and in full quality. This is done in realtime so you have a live full-screen preview at all times, and you can smoothly adjust effects while recording video in HD. The speed of this technology means there's never any delay, no 'Processing...' messages, absolutely no 'Please wait'. Everything is instant, Interealtime claims.
There is no restrictive list of fixed, standard filters - you're free to turn the various effects on and off and adjust a wide range of image controls at will, effectively giving an unlimited number of variations. There is a preset list with lots of popular styles too, but you're free to edit this list and create your own new presets.
Effects include lighting adjustment, color balance, high dynamic range (HDR), noise reduction, sharpen/defocus, color selection and more. You can combine these effects in many ways, and adjust any effect at any time. This is something that even high-end desktop software can rarely handle, but Camera Boost says it delivers it with Unlimited FX Engine in an iPad app that never drops a frame.
Camera Boost includes a selection of preset effects, but unlike most other apps this app allows (and encourages) you to create your own presets or modify the built-in ones.
Features:
• Record video and take photos with live, in-camera, full quality effects and enhancement.
• Many filters and effects, most are adjustable
• All effects previewed live on screen while you are shooting (full size and quality, full motion)
• Add as many effects as you like and adjust any effect at any time, even while recording HD video
• Speed; the UFX video processing engine will process any number of effects at full quality and full speed
• Zero processing time when you take a photo, zero processing time when you record a video!
• HD video and photos at the maximum size supported by the iPad 2 cameras
• Front and rear cameras supported
• Night mode enables longer exposure times for much improved shots in low light (photo only)
• Powerful 4x digital zoom (works with video or still photos)
• Built-in photo album with image viewer and video player
• Share photos to Facebook, Flickr, Email and the iPad photo library
• Extraordinary new UFX: Unlimited Effect Engine uses the full power of the iPad2's new A5 processor.
New in Version 2.5
• New Night Mode enables longer exposure times for photos for a much clearer image in low light.
• Enhanced dynamic range for blacker blacks and whiter whites.
• Improved video compatibility. Videos created in Camera Boost should now be compatible with a wider range of software and devices.
• New video compatibility updater - if you have any previous videos they will be updated when the app first launches.
• The iPad's automatic sleep function is now disabled during video recording.
• Several issues relating to interuptions during video recording (sleep, closing the app) fixed.
Note: Camera Boost requires an iPad2. It will not work with an iPad 1, iPhone or iPod Touch.
Video resolution: 1280x720 30fps (720p HD video) with rear camera, 640x480 30fps with front camera
Photo resolution: 1280x720 with rear camera, 640x480 with front.
Device Requirements:
(*) Compatible with iPad 2 Wi-Fi and iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G
(*) Requires iOS 5.0 or later
(*) 1.3 MB download
Camera Boost 2.5 is $2.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Photo & Video category.
Interealtime:
http://www.interealtime.com/
Camera Boost 2.5:
http://bit.ly/fhDysZ
Purchase and Download:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/camera-boost/id432017065
Facebook Profile:
http://on.fb.me/equUVK
Twitter Profile:
http://twitter.com/interealtime
iTunes Store:
http://bit.ly/hB5TSQ
Type2Phone 1.2 - Use your Mac as Bluetooth keyboard for your iPhone/iPad
Houdah Software has announced Type2Phone 1.2 for Mac OS X. Type2Phone turns your Mac into a Bluetooth keyboard for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Type2Phone running on the Mac will emulate a Bluetooth keyboard. Pair your iOS device with the Mac while Type2Phone is running. Now every character you type is funneled through to the iOS device.
Use Type2Phone to:
(*) Quickly type SMS text messages, notes, ...
(*) Reply to emails on accounts configured only on your iPhone
(*) Communicate with friends over your iPhone: Facebook, Twitter, chat
(*) Paste addresses, passwords, ... from your Mac to your iPhone.
Type2Phone also allows for pasting text from the Mac to the iOS device. Every character that could by typed can also be pasted. Just hit cmd-shift-V. It also supports text selection and copy-paste operations on the iOS device. Navigate text using the arrow key. Hold the shift key while navigating to select text. Use the cmd-C, cmd-V shortcuts to trigger copy-paste operations.
On the Mac, Type2Phone shows every character it has sent to the iOS device. An animated display of key tiles serves as stylish typing history.
Type2Phone supports the following 1.2 iOS keyboard layouts: U.S American, Belgian, British, Canadian, Dutch, Dvorak, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Serbian, Slovenian, Swedish, Swiss-French, Swiss-German.
Type2Phone 1.2 brings many enhancements and fixes:
(*) 5 more keyboard layouts supported
(*) Support for many more special characters
(*) Support for accented chars and umlauts on supported layouts
(*) Command-Space to switch keyboard layouts
(*) Stealth mode: show placeholders on Mac, rather than characters
(*) Collapsed mode: minimal window with no animation
System Requirements:
(*) Mac with Bluetooth enabled
(*) Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
(*) iOS device that supports external keyboards. E.g. iPhone 3GS or later
(*) iOS 3.2 or later
(*) 0.3 MB
Type2Phone 1.2 is priced at $4.99 (USD) or local equivalent. It is available exclusively from the Mac App Store.
Houdah Software:
http://www.houdah.com/
Type2Phone 1.2:
http://www.houdah.com/type2Phone
Purchase and Download:
http://bit.ly/s6kcg8
Screenshot:
http://www.houdah.com/images/Type2Phone0.png
App Icon:
http://www.houdah.com/images/Type2Phone.png
Facebook Profile:
http://www.facebook.com/houdahsoft
Twitter Profile:
http://twitter.com/#!/houdah
iTunes Store
http://bit.ly/s6kcg8
Apple's iPad 3 Will Be Slightly Thicker With Same Screen Size - Rumor
AppleInsider Staff report:
Apple's third-generation iPad will be slightly thicker than the iPad 2, but will have the same 9.7-inch screen size, and will continue to support the magnetic Smart Cover, according to a new report from Japanese blog Macotakara on Wednesday that the next iPad may be thicker for an "unknown reason." That means third-party cases that cover the back side of the device will not be compatible with the next iPad.
For the full report visit here:
http://bit.ly/sZEKNe
Is The Pope On The Outs With His iPad?
Last month catholicculture.org reported that Pope Benedict XVI would use an iPad to turn on the lights of the world.s largest Christmas tree
The "tree", which is made up of an arrangement of coloured lights on the side of Mount Ingino, has been erected by volunteers from Gubbio, Italy every year since 1981. Its base is approximately 450 metres wide and it extends for 750 metres up the hillside from the city's mediaeval walls to the basilica of St. Ubaldo. The silhouette of the tree is marked with 300 green lights, and it covers a surface area of some 130,000 square meters illuminated with 400 multicoloured lights. At the top is a comet made up of 250 lights covering an area of 1,000 square metres.that residents of arranged with a series of lights on the hill overlooking their town, forming the shape of a Christmas tree over 2,000 feet high.
However, on December 6, Vatican Information Services
annonced Benedict XVI would activate the illumination from his apartments in the Vatican Apostolic Palace not with an iPad, but with a touch on the screen of a Sony tablet running the Android operating system.
For the full reports visit:
http://bit.ly/rtIEFA
and
http://bit.ly/sfu8aZ
Apple's iPad Sales Slacken Due To Kindle Fire, MacBook Air Popularity
ZNet's Larry Dignan reports that Apple's iPad sales may be caught in a squeeze between consumers opting to go downmarket for a Kindle Fire or upscale with the MacBook Air, with iPad sales in the December quarter ringing in lower than expected amid the popularity of Amazons Kindle Fire as well as Apple's own MacBook Air.
Dignan cites Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu in a research note saying that the iPad is seeing competition from two areas: the Kindle Fire and the MacBook Air. As a result, Wu cut his December quarter iPad sales estimate to 13.5 million from 15 million, writing:
"In the Mac business, we are seeing particular strength in the MacBook Air, arguably the best ultra-mobile PC on the market. Last but not least, iPads appear a little light of expectations due in part to competition from Amazons Kindle Fire but also as some users opt for a more full-featured MacBook Air."
For the full report visit here:
http://zd.net/vD6EIg
iPhone's Siri: Psychological Poison?
Fox News Medical A-Team member and psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow suggests that Siri, the iPhone 4S's new virtual assistant, could prove more toxic psychologically than violent video games or some street drugs.
Dr. Ablow is concerned about Siri conditioning users to interact with a virtual entity, and while acknowledging that many people, including some psychiatrists, would say that this is all entirely harmless, he believes that personifying machines and interacting with them as quasi-beings actually dumbs down our interpersonal skills and encourages us to treat other people like machines, ultimately diminishing our ability to empathize with one another, because we've been chatting up a non-existent person and can get used to considering real people as essentially non-existent, too.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://fxn.ws/uqmbi8
Says Series of Political Apps for iPad: Presidential Candidate Speak Demystified
Just in time for the 2012 election season, Learning Cubed, LLC launches its Says Series of political apps designed to deliver the candidates in their own words while providing contextual information that grounds the conversation. Created exclusively for Apple's iPad, these apps make clever use of graphics and gestures to entertain and inform. Users spin a wheel to retrieve candidate quotes giving new meaning to the expression 'political spin'. Thankfully thats where the spin ends because these political apps are written in a neutral style.
"We know most voters don't have dozens of hours to sit in front of the debates or to research policy positions," says Roy Selig, Learning Cubeds founder. "So we do that work for them and place it in a format that's fun to browse, easy to search and informative."
To date the company has produced several apps: Says Gingrich, Says Romney, Says Perry and Says Cain. Each app focuses on one current or former presidential candidate and includes quotes culled from debates, campaign material, television appearances, speeches and books. Both the candidates views and the views of their critics are represented. Quotes are arranged into categories such as Fiscal Policy, Healthcare, Energy and yes, Humor. Users can also search for topics that interest them. Helpful explanations and infographics accompany many quotes and this extra context transforms candidate speak into terms we can all understand.
We collect a candidates thinking, add context and with the help of the iPad lay all this information at the voters fingertips where they can read, absorb and share it," says Selig. Its a fun and extremely efficient way to get to know a presidential candidate.
As youd expect, these apps let users share quotes on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. In the case of Twitter, the app tailors each quote to fit that service's 140-character limit. "If you are passionate about a candidate, a topic or a policy we provide a no-barriers way to get vocal about it," says Selig. "That's our underlying goal, to help enrich the public debate."
The Says Series launches on the App Store this week with four iPad apps priced at $.99 USD each: Says Gingrich, Says Romney, Says Perry and Says Cain. A fifth app, Says Obama is being planned. Learning Cubed will release new apps and updates throughout the 2012 election season as political fortunes and voter mood dictate.
For more information, visit:
http://www.learningcubed.net/
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď iPhone ď iPhone News ď
