Yahoo Releases Livestand, IntoNow, Updated Mail for iPad

At Product Runway today, Yahoo released a series of new apps and updates for iOS and Android, particularly targeting the iPad with an updated version of its Mail web app, a universal version of “media check-in” tool IntoNow, and Livestand, a new take on social magazines that we first covered earlier this year. According to Yahoo, these “new mobile, tablet, and PC experiences” will help the company deliver a “personal Web” to its users.

Yahoo already had an HTML5-based web email client specifically optimized for the iPad, and the update released today introduces some interface tweaks to quickly skim through weather information and local headlines from the Mail homepage, check out new items from Flickr contacts, and watch video from the Trending Now section. Yahoo says the new Mail homepage is touch-optimized to scroll through tiles, and users will be able to tap on a new items to open the associated Yahoo website in a new browser tab.

More information is available in Yahoo’s blog post.

IntoNow, acquired earlier this year by Yahoo, is also part of today’s updates. The “Shazam for TV” that enables the app to instantly recognize what’s playing on TV through audio recognition is now available on the iPad with a brand new interface as a universal update. IntoNow impressed us months ago with their audio matching technology that was capable of recognizing TV shows and movies, displaying content recommendations and letting users share and comment on what they were watching at the same time.

Picture this - press the green button while you’re watching TV and stats from that football game, tweets from that show’s actors, or related news headlines emerge on the topic your newscaster is talking about …. all in real time as you’re watching.

The new IntoNow app (version 2.0) is available on the App Store.

Livestand

Last is Livestand, a new app that Yahoo started teasing months ago and promised would provide a better magazine-like experience for web articles thanks to direct partnerships with content providers and websites, as well the properties Yahoo already owns, such as News, Finance and Entertainment. After having tried the app for the past hour, I have to say Livestand is actually a very nice app – perhaps not as revolutionary as many thought it would be, but certainly a well-done piece of software with a good selection of content, good-looking UI, and nice animations for the iPad. To start using Livestand, Yahoo offers you the choice to manage up to 4 user accounts – great for iPads in the family – that can be associated to a Yahoo account or Facebook profile. I chose my Yahoo account, as I’ve already got one in place and figured I might give it a shot after a long time with Livestand.

Upon launch, Livestand greets you immediately with Featured content on the bottom (there are thumbnail images for publications like Forbes, Consumer Reports and several other Yahoo properties) and “Personal Mix” at the top. Read more

Evernote Peek Updated with “Virtual Smart Covers”

Back in June Evernote, one of our favorite note-taking and data collection tools here at MacStories, released Evernote Peek, a study aid designed specifically around Apple’s Smart Cover for the iPad 2, allowing students to easily exercise on questions and various topics by simply creating notes in their Evernote account, and quickly “peeking” at the app’s interface by lifting the iPad’s Smart Cover to show a question. Evernote Peek is one of the most original experiments built around the Smart Cover, which thanks to the iPad 2’s hardware can quickly unlock the device’s screen and show a portion of the display as you take the cover off. With a mix of design (the app’s interface has been built with the Smart Cover in mind) and Evernote’s online storage for notes and notebooks, Evernote Peek is a great tool not just for students strengthening their memory for an exam, but for anyone who wants to retain specific information in a new way.

The downside, of course, if that the app made sense only on the iPad 2 with a “real” Smart Cover. With a 2.1 update released today, Evernote is introducing “Virtual Smart Covers” for any iPad model, which will allow iPad 1 users or those that don’t use a Smart Cover on their iPad 2 to enjoy the app’s capabilities via software. In Evernote Peek 2.1 you can choose from a variety of virtual covers, and use the app with a Smart Cover displayed on screen, rather than physically attached to the device.

Peek was inspired by the iPad 2 Smart Cover, but not everyone has a Smart Cover, nor an iPad 2. Knowing this led us to develop a swipeable Virtual Cover that maintains the dynamics of a Smart Cover, but could be used with any iPad. Now, when you launch Peek, you’ll be able to swipe down a tab and select a Virtual Cover of your choice—it’s available in 10 colors.

From there, it’s just like using a real Smart Cover. Choose your study materials, close the cover, peek to see the clue, open the cover more to see the answer. Shut the cover and repeat. All this is done by simply swiping the screen. You may need to enable the Virtual Cover in the application settings.

As the Evernote team says, this is a “nice alternative” for those who don’t have an iPad 2 with a Smart Cover. You can get the update for free on the App Store, and check out the app’s promo video after the break. Read more

Steve Jobs Biography Sells 379,000 Copies In First Week In The US→

Steve Jobs Biography Sells 379,000 Copies In First Week In The US

The Bookseller reports Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” has sold 379,000 copies in the first week of US availability:

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sold 379,000 copies in the US in its first week on bookshop shelves, BookScan US data has revealed.

Walter Isaacson’s 656-page biography scored the biggest week of sales for any book in the US since November last year, when Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (Amulet) and George W Bush’s Decision Points (Crown) both sold more than 430,000 copies at US booksellers in the seven days to 13th November.

The Guardian adds some UK data, reporting that Steve Jobs bio sold 37,000 copies in five days, based on Nielsen BookScan figures, which include physical sales from Amazon but don’t track digital versions of the book, available both on Amazon’s Kindle Store and iBooks.

Walter Isaacson’s critically acclaimed biography, published 19 days after Jobs’s death, sold more than 37,000 copies – more than any other fiction or nonfiction paperback or hardback in its first five days on sale, according to Nielsen Bookscan, the official industry measurement system for retail sales.

It’d be interesting to know the exact figures of digital sales, considering many people opted to download the ebook from Apple’s iBookstore or Amazon’s Kindle Store – where it went on sale soon after midnight on October 24th – rather than wait for a physical copy to ship. “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson is already a best-seller on Amazon and is prominently featured on the iBookstore homepage, gaining interest of Apple fans and people curious to know more about the life and experiences of Apple’s late co-founder, who passed away on October 5th, 2011. [via]

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Google Releases Gmail for iOS

Google has just released its first official Gmail app for iOS, available on the App Store here. The app runs natively on the iPhone and iPad, features notifications, messages threads, Priority Inbox and many other Gmail features from the web interface. In developing Gmail for iOS, Google says they have tried to bring the best features of Gmail for the web – which is also optimized for iOS devices – to the iPhone and iPad while taking advantage of the native capabilities of these devices.

The company has indeed implemented name auto-completion and Camera Roll integration for image attachments, but we couldn’t find support for multiple email accounts in this first version. Also, we were unable to receive “badge notifications” for new messages, although this may be related to the just-launched nature of the app and an error that several users are reporting on Twitter. The lack of multiple account support is disappointing, frankly, as the app simply loads up a web view upon first launch, asking you to log in with a Google account, and that’s it. There are no settings, no account options – there is a “reset app state” button in the iOS Settings app, which will simply reset the app’s state (logging you out of your account) as the name suggests.

As many have already noticed, the interface of the app seems to consist mainly of a web view inside a native environment that guarantees some of the aforementioned features such as attachments from the Camera Roll. Some animations are smoother than Gmail’s web counterpart – such as the swipe-to-reveal Inbox action – and this should be an advantage of the “native” nature of some elements of the app. Other animations and menu, however, are clearly web-based, and not as smooth and responsive as you would expect from, say, Apple’s Mail app. Overall, it appears Google took Gmail’s existing web app for Mobile Safari, added some new features and graphical elements in the inbox and message list, and released it as a free app on the App Store. This app clearly can’t be compared to Android’s native Gmail experience, or Apple’s Mail app for iOS, which still remains a fine and powerful client. If you’re a fan of Gmail’s web app for iOS devices, I believe you’re going to like some improvements of this “native” version, but I can’t imagine any Gmail power-user – people who regularly switch between two or more accounts every day – doing any serious email work with this app.

There are some nice improvements over the Gmail web app for iOS devices, but this is far from the “pretty fantastic” native app many were expecting.

From the feature list:

  • Get alerted to new messages with push notifications and sounds
  • Find an email in seconds with search across your entire inbox
  • Autocomplete email addresses from your Gmail contacts or select from your device’s address book
  • Upload photos with a click using the new attachment button in compose view
  • On iPad, navigate your inbox and read your mail simultaneously with split view

You can find Gmail for iOS on the App Store.

Update: Google had to pull Gmail from the App Store to fix the notification bug mentioned above.

Angry Birds Reaches Half A Billion Downloads

Rovio today announced a massive milestone for its hit game Angry Birds, revealing that the game has been downloaded more than half a billion times in less than two years. In a short video celebrating the milestone (shown after the break), Rovio also throws out some other interesting statistics including:

  • #1 in 79 countries
  • 266 billion levels played
  • 400 billion birds shot
  • 44 billion stars collected
  • 200,000 years played Angry Birds total
  • 300 million minutes played daily

The app, which originally launched on iOS on December 10th, 2009 has now gone on to be a worldwide hit and has spread to a large swathe of both mobile and desktop operating systems including Android, Symbian, Windows Phone, WebOS, OS X, Windows, Google Plus and more. Last October Rovio also released a special Halloween edition of the game called Angry Birds Hallloween, which was subsequently renamed ‘Angry Birds Seasons’ - it has seen regular updates featuring new levels that are themed by various holidays. This year Angry Birds Rio was released in March, this version tied in with the 20th Century Fox animated film Rio.

Note: Angry Birds Downloads includes downloads from all the platforms it is available on.

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Twelve South PlugBug Combines Charging with iPad/iPhone and MacBook

Twelve South, the company behind the Compass, BookBook, BaseJump and many other great products, has released the PlugBug, an iPad/iPhone wall charger that connects onto the MacBook’s Power Adapter, allowing you to charge a MacBook and an iPad/iPhone at the same time from only one power outlet. The PlugBug fits all MacBook Power Adapters too.

Snap the PlugBug onto any MacBook Power Adapter and now have one device that can be a lifesaver when you need to charge both your MacBook and your iPad or iPhone. A great idea when traveling, at work or anywhere you want to charge 2 devices with one plugin. Video after the break. Read more

Apple Releases GarageBand for iPhone

Apple today announced the release of GarageBand for iPhone, an update for the existing iPad application that will allow iPhone and iPod touch users to play virtual instruments and create digital recordings on the devices’ multitouch displays. The 1.1 update, which is propagating in the App Store right now, is a free update for existing GarageBand customers, and a universal app that runs on iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation).

From the press release:

Apple today announced that GarageBand®, its breakthrough music creation app, is now available for iPhone® and iPod touch® users. Introduced earlier this year on iPad®, GarageBand uses Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ interface to make it easy for anyone to create and record their own songs, even if they’ve never played an instrument before.

“GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and we think customers will love using it on their iPhone or iPod touch”

“GarageBand on iPad has been a big hit and we think customers will love using it on their iPhone or iPod touch,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The innovative Multi-Touch interface combined with Smart Instruments makes it easy to create great sounding music, even if you’ve never studied music or played an instrument before.”

GarageBand features a collection of fun Touch Instruments that sound great and make it easy for beginners or experienced musicians to play and record keyboards, guitars, drums and basses in a wide variety of styles. Smart Instruments now allow you to choose from an extensive new library of custom chords so you can play and strum along with your favorite songs.

You can plug your electric guitar into iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to play and record through classic amps and stompbox effects, or record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone. GarageBand allows you to record and mix up to eight tracks and then share your finished song with friends or send it to your Mac® to keep working on it in GarageBand or Logic® Pro.

The 1.1 update, available here, brings other improvements to the existing GarageBand for iOS such as custom chords for Smart Instruments, 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures, additional quantization options for recordings, adjustable velocity settings for Touch Instruments and many other enhancements that you can check out in the official iTunes changelog for the update. The app seems to retain the same interface and interaction methods of the original iPad app, which was released in March. The app was later updated with AirPlay support and copy & paste support, and this new 1.1 version appears to introduce major changes and new functionalities that should make the music production software even more powerful.

GarageBand 1.1 is available now on the App Store at $4.99.