MacStories’ 2010 Roundup: Top 10 iPhone Camera Apps

Welcome to MacStories’ 2010 Roundup! In this new series, we collect the best apps released in 2010 for the Mac, iPhone and iPad — apps we have probably already featured here on MacStories. Only the best apps, both free and paid. Apps you shouldn’t miss.

For me, 2010 has been the year of the iPhone camera. Since I bought my French iPhone 4 in June for a whoppin’ 800 Euros (don’t even ask), I’ve been shooting photos like never before. Sure, I know the iPhone 4 is still a cellphone and true photos don’t come from a phone. I’m OK with that. But I’m no professional photographer, nor am I willing to spend money on a DSLR. Not because I disdain quality – I just wouldn’t know how to fully enjoy it. Leave the pro tools to the pros. For me, the iPhone 4’s camera is good enough to provide photos I like, that I can share with my friends.

Which leads me to apps. The iPhone’s camera is great, but apps are there to enrich its functionalities. Apps with built-in sharing features, apps with filters, apps that rely on their own social network, apps aimed at completely replacing the stock camera…the selection is huge. Photography is, indeed, one of the best selling categories in the App Store right behind Games and Productivity.

In this second MacStories’ 2010 Roundup we have collected the top 10 camera apps for the iPhone. We could have included more, but these are the ones that in our opinion really stood out this year. So head past the break, and check out the Top 10 iPhone Camera Apps of 2010. Read more

Apple Releases iOS 4.2.1 For Apple TV

As reported by MacRumors, a few minutes ago Apple released a software update for the Apple TV. The build is 8C154 and it’s labelled as iOS 4.2.1 for Apple TV second generation. This is a direct link to the update, courtesy of iOS E Lite. As you can see, it’s a 267MB download.

The update is also available through the Apple TV’s built-in software update checker. A changelog for the new OS hasn’t been provided yet, nor is the update online on Apple’s download website.

In spite of the update file being registered as “iOS 4.2.1” on Apple’s servers, the Apple TV reports “4.1.1” as the new installed OS. The same happened on November 22 when Apple released iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone and iPad and announced the availability of iOS 4.2 for the new Apple TV, although the built-in updater tool reported 4.1 as being installed.

According to early reports on Apple’s discussion boards, the update hasn’t fixed the color issues reported by several Philips and Sony TV owners.

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USB, SD and Micro SD In A Single iPad Camera Connection Kit

Feeling a little disconnected from your iPad lately? Do you think you could use some extra gadgets to make sure your favorite tablet can communicate with any other device in your room?

Give this 3-in-1 camera connection kit for iPad a try: it features USB, SD and Micro SD connection in a single (and unofficial) dongle that can be yours for just $25 from M.I.C. Gadget. Too bad it’ll be available “soon”.

While the idea sounds definitely interesting, I do wonder how many devices will be able to work with the connection kit on iOS 4.2. Granted, Apple doesn’t want you to use keyboards and Guitar Hero mics with the Camera Connection Kit, but I bought one yesterday and a simple 8GB USB key is not working on it thanks to iOS 4.2. Perhaps hackers will find a way to beam more power to the Camera Connection Kit soon. [via Gizmodo]

AirPlay Video From iOS To Mac With AirPlayer

If you’re familiar with AirPlay, you know that it’s a pretty sweet technology that allows you to stream audio and video from any Mac or iOS device to an Apple TV, AirPort Express Station (audio-only) and AirPlay-compatible speakers. That’s the way it works. You can’t stream from Mac to Mac, iOS to iOS, or Mac to iPhone and iPad – although there’s a way to do that via jailbreak.

AirPlay’s streaming is great and almost “magical”, but it has its limitations, possibly due to the fact that Apple introduced it less than a month ago with the release of iOS 4.2. Ever since AirPlay hit the internet with the final public build of 4.2, hackers started working on mods to make it work in any app (video streaming from iOS apps is limited to Apple’s applications), on any device. TUAW’s Erica Sadun, for instance, has been busy working on a solution to make AirPlay work backwards, from iOS to the Mac.

The result is AirPlayer, “a custom Bonjour AirPlay service that pretends to be an Apple TV” that runs on your Mac. It’s a Mac app that can accept  incoming AirPlay video streaming from iOS – very simple. Read more

#MacStoriesDeals - Tuesday

In case you missed our announcement yesterday, we started another new feature, and it’s called #MacStoriesDeals. We’ll try our best to update the list throughout each day.

Here’s some great deals for today on iOS & Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

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The First iAd for iPad Is Coming This Afternoon [Update: Screenshots]

According to AdAge, Apple will launch its first iAd for the iPad later today. The iAd will feature Disney’s blockbuster movie “Tron Legacy” and, according to an Apple spokesperson, it’ll be the only iAd to appear on the tablet this year.

The format, designed to maximize the ad potential of Apple’s tablet computer, will be launched widely in early 2011 when other ads start flowing onto the platform.

Like its iPhone and iPod Touch predecessors, the first iPad iAd is chock-full of the rich graphics, touch navigation and video native to apps.

The full-screen ad will allow users to enjoy 10 minutes of footage, use a theater locator to check on where they can go see Tron: Legacy, preview the soundtrack in-ad with the possibility to directly download it from iTunes – again, without leaving the ad. The preview should go live in a few hours in apps such as TV Guide which was updated on November 30th to vaguely include support for iOS 4.2. I just fired up the app and the iAd isn’t showing up yet.

In November, Apple announced that it would bring iPhone’s iAds to Europe starting with an exclusive Renault campaign to showcase the Twizy car. Apple has also teamed up with brand agency Dentsu to bring iAd to Japan in 2011.

Update: Screenshots of the Tron: Legacy iAd below. Read more

Unreal Development Kit For iOS Coming This Week→

Unreal Development Kit For iOS Coming This Week

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the UDK for iOS will be released for free on Thursday:

Epic Games is planning to release an updated version of its game-development tools, known as the Unreal Development Kit, to the public Thursday. The kit, which is free to download, will include new tools to create high-quality graphics and animations on iOS, effectively simplifying and speeding up the development processes for games. Epic doesn’t charge license fees to tinker with the kit nor to make free games. But, if developers want to sell their apps, they have to pay a $99 licensing fee and 25% royalties after the first $5,000 in sales.

“Apple’s App Store is the most vibrant market for mobile gaming,” said Epic co-founder Mark Rein. “If you’re going to make a game for a mobile device, and you want to make the most money, you’re nuts not to make it for iOS.

Rein also expressed his concerns about the Android platform, which doesn’t allow for apps larger than 50MB to be sold in the Marketplace and it’s too “fragmented” for game developers.

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Why The Mac Needs Cydia

There was a time when tweaking OS X was a mostly unknown practice not so many users were willing to dedicate their time to. Modding the basic functionalities and look of the Mac required you to delve deep into forums, tutorials, Terminal hacks, resource packages, manual installations, broken mods on each software update. Modders always had a hard time trying to figure out how to best hack the Mac to make it perform and look the way they wanted.

Cydia for iPhone changed that. The whole jailbreak community changed the approach to modding and hacking on Apple devices. By providing a unified experience that’s similar to the App Store model, but for tweaks, Cydia offers anyone the possibility to create something and release it publicly or privately for free. The “something” mentioned above is mostly made of tweaks, apps, themes and app mods Apple would never accept in its App Store. But that’s fine: Cydia was meant to provide a place for the stuff that couldn’t find its way past the app review team’s gates. A place that, together with the freedom of installations, also grants automatic updates, easy discovery and detailed information about what you’re going to put on your devices.

As you may know, Cydia had such a great run so far that its creator Jay Freeman, a.k.a. Saurik, developed a native version for jailbroken iPads and announced the acquisition of former competitor RockApp. With the help of members of the Dev Team, they updated Cydia in the past weeks to feel even better on the iPad, and eliminate some annoyances such as a laborious queue functionality. From several standpoints, Cydia is even more intuitive than Apple’s own Store. Read more

Google Voice App Now Works On The iPad and iPod Touch

One month after the release of the official Google Voice app in the App Store, here comes an updated version that works both on the iPad and iPod Touch. Announced by Google a few minutes ago, the new Google Voice app has been updated to work on non-iPhone devices allowing you to send and receive text messages. As you can guess, no – you can’t make cellular calls on the iPod Touch.

Still, the Google Voice team introduced a new functionality called Click2Call which lets you initiate calls with your phones. On your iPad or iPod Touch, tap on the “call” button and select which phone you want to ring. It’s a very easy way to let Google Voice call your phone and then connect the call to a contact’s number.

Among other improvements and bug fixes, text forwarding is now disabled by default when you activate push notifications so you don’t get multiple and annoying dialogue boxes. You can now set a “Do Not Disturb” status in the settings, access you Address Book contacts from a built-in Contacts tab, tap & hold on inbox messages to delete or archive. Nice. I’m pretty sure MacStories’ own Cody Fink (who’s a die-hard iPod Touch user) is going to love this.

Google Voice app is, as usual, free in the App Store.