I don’t usually link to dance remixes of popular songs, but this remix (via TechCrunch) of the default iOS 7 ringtone is simply great. MetroGnome did an impressive job with the various sections of the remix (I especially like the build-up in the middle) and the end has a nice surprise.
Download links for the MP3 and ringtone versions are available on MetroGnome’s YouTube channel.
If you’re looking for an in-depth review of the just-released OmniFocus 2, Shawn Blanc did a great job at explaining what OmniFocus does and documenting its evolution through the years.
I don’t need OmniFocus, but just reading Shawn’s review makes me wish I had more projects to love the app as much as he does.
There was a time when I thought that I needed a powerful GTD app to be productive. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that all I need, really, is just a list of things to remember and some calendar events. I’ve been using Apple’s Reminders and Calendar with iCloud as my primary todo systems for over a year now, and my schedule hasn’t been disrupted by a cataclysm of missed appointments and overflowing todo lists.
It’s with this mindset that I approached OmniFocus 2 for Mac, released today as a new version of The Omni Group’s popular GTD software: fundamentally, I don’t need the app. But as an old OmniFocus user who switched over to Apple’s less flexible Reminders and stayed with it in spite of its (sometimes disarming) simplicity, I thought it’d be interesting to evaluate OmniFocus 2 with a fresh pair of eyes and a genuine curiosity for the work put into this new version.
Since its first release in late 2010, Algoriddim’s djay was always met with the same question: without the right songs on your iPad, how can you fully enjoy the app? Three years and numerous awards later (including an Apple Design Award in 2011), Algoriddim wants to tear down the barrier to entry for its popular DJ software with a simple, yet technologically complex solution: full Spotify integration.
Ellis Hamburger, writing for The Verge about Facebook’s “audio recognition”, an upcoming feature to tag music and TV shows when posting to the service with the Facebook app:
Facebook’s implementation, in fact, only works in the US for now, can recognize only 160 TV channels, struggles to recognize music in commercials (which are a big part of Shazam’s business), and only recognizes a few million songs so far. In most cases Shazam works seamlessly, an important part of the company’s secret sauce, but Facebook isn’t exactly competing with Shazam here. Facebook’s audio recognition is designed not to help you figure out what’s playing, but to make it as easy as possible to update your friends about what you’re listening to or watching.
An interesting experiment to drive traffic to Facebook pages for artists and TV shows, but far from a Shazam or SoundHound competitor. Much of the appeal of those apps is that you don’t need to post your discoveries anywhere, whereas Facebook is simply building a feature for the Post interface.
Developed by Joost van Dijk, Notifyr is a handy utility that lets you receive iOS notifications on your Mac using Bluetooth Low Energy. I’ve been trying the app with my iPhone 5s and mid-2011 MacBook Air since yesterday, and it does indeed work as advertised, mirroring notification banners from any iOS app on my Mac.
Developed by Game Oven in collaboration with the Dutch National Ballet, Bounden is a new iPhone dancing game for two players. The game uses the iPhone’s gyroscope and lets you “twist and twirl elegantly, or get entangled with a friend” in an experience that seems reminiscent of Game Oven’s previous work with Fingle and Bam fu for iOS, both games aimed at blurring the line between multitouch and physical interactions in iOS games.
Bounden looks like a unique concept, best explained by the promo video above and the developers’ description:
Holding either end of a device, you tilt the device around a virtual sphere following a path of rings. You swing your arms and twist your body, and before you know it, you are already dancing.
Bounden is $3.99 on the App Store, and Game Oven published a series of Making Of videos in a Vimeo album showing the game’s evolution and first demos with professional dancers and game journalists. Also worth reading: Kill Screen’s preview of the game from a couple of months ago.
As with previous years, Apple today updated its official WWDC app for the upcoming developer conference, which will kick off in San Francisco on June 2.
The WWDC 2014 app is available for free on the App Store, and it can be used by attendees to browse times, locations, and descriptions for sessions, labs, and special events, but, for developers who weren’t selected for a ticket by Apple’s lottery system, the app will also provide a handy way to view session videos (which will be uploaded throughout the week) and sync video playback across devices using iCloud. The app, redesigned since last year’s version, will include Passbook support to speed up on-site registration for attendees, combining inline maps with favorites to find a specific location inside Moscone West and mark a session or lab as important so it won’t be missed.
You can download Apple’s WWDC 2014 app here. WWDC 2014 kicks off on Monday, June 2.
