“We wanted to create a complementary camera app to Camera+ for users who wanted a simple, one-touch app for shooting and sharing on the go”, Lisa Bettany tells me over email. Lisa is the co-founder of Camera+, the popular camera app by Tap Tap Tap that, since 2009, has amassed over 12 million downloads and become a fixture of the App Store’s Top Charts, which can be rare for a paid app with additional In-App Purchases. Today, Tap Tap Tap is launching MagiCam, which, unlike Camera+, does away with professional editing tools and focuses on simple filters and quick sharing.
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MagiCam Is a Fun Photo App from the Creators of Camera+
Apple Debuts New Entry Level iMac for $1,099
Apple this morning introduced a new entry level 21.5-inch iMac that sells for US$1,099. The model features a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Intel HD 5000 graphics, 8GB of memory, and a 500GB hard drive. It also retains the same design, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, two Thunderbolt ports and four USB 3.0 ports that are standard on all of the other iMac models.
FiftyThree Announces “Surface Pressure” Coming to Paper and Pencil with iOS 8
FiftyThree, makers of the popular iPad sketching app Paper and Pencil hardware accessory, have today announced Surface Pressure, a feature that will allow Paper to determine the thickness of lines drawn with the Pencil on iOS 8.
In the current version of Paper, Pencil users can’t control how lines are drawn on the screen by changing the angle of the stylus’ tapered tip or applying a different pressure as they would with regular pen and paper or a tablet that supports pressure sensitivity, such as Microsoft’s Surface. Pencil, which was launched last November in an effort to provide Paper users with an official hardware product specifically designed for the app, connects to an iPad via Bluetooth, but more advanced features for tip recognition on a multitouch surface require deeper integration with the OS.
According to MacRumors, iOS 8 will add a new “variable touch sizing” technology that will let developers recognize the size of touch points on a device’s screen and modify the behavior of their apps. As shown in a promo video published today, FiftyThree is taking advantage of the new APIs in iOS 8 to bring a more natural experience to Pencil users: thin lines and fine details will be possible by touching the screen with the Pencil tip, while the larger surface of the Pencil’s angled edge will allow to draw shades and broad strokes smoothly and without changing settings on the screen.
From the blog post:
Surface Pressure unlocks new capabilities for each of Paper’s tools—fill faster as you draw, shade as you sketch, or carve away in varying widths as you erase.
Stay in the flow and change drawing styles simply by changing the way you hold Pencil—no stopping to fuss with the settings menu. This new feature is unique to Pencil and will be unlocked for all existing Pencil users with an update to Paper this Fall.
According to FiftyThree, Surface Pressure will be released this Fall with iOS 8, and the company is working to bring Pencil to more international markets. You can watch the promo video below.
Healthy Target from WebMD Collects Health Data, Gives You Tips and Lets You Set Goals
WebMD, the popular online health information provider, yesterday updated their iPhone app to include a new ‘Healthy Target’ service. The service will be able collect data from a range of activity trackers, wireless scales and glucose meters, compile the data and provide “tailored, physician-reviewed, contextually relevant content and motivational tips to individuals looking to develop sustainable health-conscious habits”.
WebMD foresees the service as helping not only those with chronic conditions such as Type 2 diabetes but also those who just want to achieve a healthier lifestyle. But as Re/code importantly noted in their report, WebMD is just the latest in a series of companies that have been developing similar systems to collect personal health data in a meaningful way. Apple announced HealthKit at WWDC two weeks ago, Samsung previously announced S.A.M.I., Google is expected to announce Google Fit at their I/O conference, Microsoft has HealthVault and Qualcomm Life has the 2net platform.
The Healthy Target platform is currently able to collect data about sleep patterns, steps, weight and blood glucose data. WebMD’s platform currently supports devices including those from Entra, Fitbit, Jawbone’s UP and Withings, as well as the iPhone 5S for steps (naturally). If a user doesn’t have a compatible device, there is still the ability to manually input their biometric data.
“WebMD’s Healthy Target empowers consumers to make behavioral changes that can improve their physical and mental health,” said Dr. Michael Smith, Chief Medical Editor at WebMD. “To achieve successful, sustainable behavioral change, consumers must learn how to track and manage the factors that contribute to healthy living.”
The WebMD app with Healthy Target gives users the ability to set goals (such as losing weight, sleeping better or controlling blood sugar), review their health data that has been captured by the service and receive weekly recaps and personalised tips to (hopefully) encourage achieving health goals.
WebMD’s iPhone app, including the Healthy Target service, is available for free from the App Store.
[via Re/code]
Unicode 7.0 Released, Includes New Emoji
Today, the Unicode Consortium has released Unicode version 7.0, adding 2,834 new characters. Unicode is the industry standard that regulates encoding and representation of text across computers, with support for various languages, writing systems, and special symbols.
From the blog post:
This latest version adds the new currency symbols for the Russian ruble and Azerbaijani manat, approximately 250 emoji (pictographic symbols), many other symbols, and 23 new lesser-used and historic scripts, as well as character additions to many existing scripts. These additions extend support for written languages of North America, China, India, other Asian countries, and Africa.
A technical page for Unicode 7.0 is available here, with links to the documentation and more details on the updated specification. Software makers such as Apple and Google will need to implement Unicode 7.0 in their operating systems for display on mobile devices, desktop computers, and the web.
In version 7.0, Unicode also comes with documentation for 250 new emoji characters. Emojipedia has a list of the names chosen for the new emoji, which include “Wind Blowing Face”, “National Park”, “Right Speaker With Three Sound Waves”, and “Reversed Hand With Middle Finger Extended”. Emoji Blog has a mockup of the highly requested Middle Finger emoji.
New emoji characters will likely be supported by Apple in iOS 8, shipping later this year. While Apple said that they were working with the Unicode Consortium to bring more diversity to emoji, Unicode 7.0 doesn’t seem to include new human pictograms, with the focus being on weather, signs, and other objects.
Skitch 3.2
Version 3.2 of Evernote’s Skitch, released last week on the App Store, has brought a welcome redesign that lets you easily pick the kind of image you want to annotate by swiping through screens. I’ve been using this version of the app for some time now, and I believe Evernote has managed to combine the best elements of the iOS 7 redesign with the speed and ease of use that used to be defining characteristics of Skitch.
Tweetbot 3.4 Adds Support for Multiple Twitter Images
Apple Expanding Curation To More European App Store Categories
As first reported by The Guardian today, Apple has expanded human curation on the European App Store to seven additional categories, adopting the same custom layout with curated sections and recommendations that was first introduced in the US Store in late 2012.
The Guardian notes that only five European categories were curated by human editors, with algorithms in charge of highlighting popular apps in other App Store categories for European customers:
iPhone and iPad owners visiting the productivity, photo & video, sport, music, lifestyle, health and travel categories will now see recommendations and themed collections of apps from Apple’s editorial teams.
Until today, only five App Store categories – games, kids, education, food and Newsstand – were curated. Homepages for other categories simply displayed lists of new and popular apps chosen by an algorithm.
To promote the increased curation efforts, Apple has included a banner on the front page of several European App Stores, pointing users to a section grouping curated categories. In each category, Apple highlights editorial recommendations, curated collections, themed sections, and “best new apps”. Typically, these app picks are refreshed on a weekly basis.
The refreshed category layout mirrors the work Apple has been doing on the US App Store, but it’s not indicative of the sub-categories that the company will launch with iOS 8. At its developers conference last week, Apple announced Explore, a new App Store section that will allow customers to browse location-based app recommendations, editorial collections, and brand new sub-categories for apps.
Apple Adds ESPN Radio, Local NPR Stations to iTunes Radio
As first reported by AppleInsider, Apple has today added ESPN Radio and over 40 local National Public Radio (NPR) stations to its iTunes Radio service. The new stations are available in the iTunes Radio section of the Music app for iOS devices and they’ve started appearing on iTunes for desktop computers as well.
Unlike other pre-programmed DJ stations or music stations based on algorithmically-generated suggestions from iTunes, ESPN Radio and local NPR stations offer live programming for sports news, talk shows, and more. A first NPR station for iTunes Radio launched in March, when we noted that it marked an important milestone for Apple in their efforts to diversify content offered on the company’s radio service.
Apple launched iTunes Radio with iOS 7 in September 2013 but, so far, the service is only available for iTunes users in the United States and Australia. ESPN Radio is available on iTunes Radio here, while local NPR stations can be found through search.