Genius: a blog that features screenshots from people’s app preferences panes. But it’s not just about the screenshots, it’s about sharing knowledge and tips otherwise buried deep into apps’ settings, tabs and menus.
Added to my favorites. [via Shawn Blanc]
Where To? by Future Tap is one of the most popular apps ever released for the iPhone. In fact, I remember buying the app years ago on my original iPhone, and I still have it. Where To?, like many other alternatives that eventually came out in the App Store, gives you detailed information of nearby points of interest using the iPhone’s built-in GPS technology and Google Maps. It features a popular and unique “click-wheel” interface that Apple even used in patents to describe functionalities of iOS apps and, overall, it’s powered by a great design that’s really a pleasure to look at.
A few minutes ago, Where To? got a major update that introduces a neat 3D Augmented Reality feature I’m just playing around with as we speak. The Future Tap developers added this new option as a $0.99 in-app purchase that’s a no-brainer for as much as it’s well realized and perfectly consistent with the rest of the app. As the app fetches your location and provides you a list of POIs, you can switch to the usual map view and you’ll notice a new “eye” icon in the bottom toolbar that activates Augmented Reality. Unlike other AR software, Where To’s 3D implementation stands out because of the use of OpenGL that brings smooth animations to the reality layer captured by the iPhone’s camera. When pointing the iPhone, the app will create a virtual grid that displays POIs as boxes, all based on the distance between the user and the target. The developers explain:
Our solution: First, results are displayed in a real 3D world and their size and stacking order depends on the distance. Then, you can zoom in and out using the gestures already known from the map: Double-tap to zoom in, two-finger-tap to zoom out, pinch for fine grained zooming. Zooming of course affects the camera picture as well.
Where To? 3.5 also uses the gyroscope for much smoother AR animations and location info. In my initial tests, I’ve found the system to work exactly as the developers described it in the introductory blog post; you can zoom it and pan out with two fingers, tap on a POI’s box to get to the usual portrait view. The UI is gorgeous.
Where To? 3.5 is available here at $2.99. To see the app in action, check out the promo video below. Read more
The jailbreak community is always working on the “next thing” that will make your friends go “wow” when they see your modded iPhone. Developer Apocalypse is working on a new tweak called 3DBoard that will add a subtle 3D effect to the icons on your Springboard when you tilt your device. There is a demo video embedded below, but I’m not sure how much the effect can be spotted in the video.
Anyway, it will be available soon in Cydia at $4. [Gizmodo via Youtube] Read more
How would you like the option of using your MacBook without ever needing to plug it in for charging? Voltaic has posted details on how to do this. The setup requires Voltaic’s own 15 Watt Solar Panel and HyperMac’s 60 Watt external battery. Read more
As news spreads about Verizon’s unlimited data plan being available for the iPhone, AT&T could fight back by rewarding previous customers (who had an unlimited data plan before AT&T’s new policies took effect) with the option to subscribe to an unlimited plan. For AT&T customers who switched off the unlimited data plan, they’ll have the option to attain it once again.
From the Associated Press,
Verizon Wireless will start offering the iPhone on Feb. 10 with a draw that AT&T no longer offers to new subscribers: a plan with unlimited data usage. But The Associated Press has learned that some AT&T iPhone users on limited plans won’t need to move to Verizon for unlimited data.
In an unadvertised loophole, AT&T Inc. has allowed subscribers who have had an unlimited data plan in the past to switch back. That includes anyone who had an iPhone before June, when the limited plans took effect.
You’d never see this kind of fighting over an Android phone - I don’t see AT&T extending their policies for the upcoming Motorola Atrix, which has a laptop dock available for greater productivity. Clearly the iPhone is more important to these carriers than its competitors. Between AT&T changing eligibility dates, and their previous mudslinging before the iPhone 4 launch, AT&T is vying to keep customers on their network.
But why is AT&T worried? While it isn’t clear to the public yet on how Apple will update the iPhone 4 on Verizon, customers can expect that the next generation iPhone will appear on AT&T’s network this summer. Does AT&T know something we don’t? Customers may stick around on AT&T just to have the latest hardware: I don’t expect many to pay a large termination fee on AT&T when Verizon launches their iPhone 4 - that switch would more likely happen when those contracts finally run out. I’m not in the camp that exclaims AT&T would suddenly lose a massive base of their customers…unless Verizon would get the next generation iPhone at the same time as well. I doubt it: I’d like to think Apple purposely misaligned their launch dates between carriers so Apple could maintain (and protect) their relationship with AT&T, while carefully extending their phone to a base of new customers. It’s not AT&T that should be worried about mass defection, it’s Android manufacturers selling phones on Verizon that should be worried.
[Associated Press via MacRumors]
You would think developers have something better to do than creating piano apps for the iPad that sound like cats. Well it turns out, no: someone did. In the video embedded below, an adventurous iPad user has recreated Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” using only music apps for the tablet, including Cat Piano.
The result, gentlemen, is quite surprising. Read more
MacWorld has begun! Here’s today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot! Read more
Desktop organizer and quick launcher Berokyo has been around on the Mac and Windows for quite some time now. On the desktop, the app allows you to organize, sort and manage your most used files and folders for quick access and media consumption. The developers recently released a universal iOS version of the app, which like the Mac counterpart puts the focus on letting users visually organize their documents on a virtual bookshelf; unlike the desktop, though, iOS devices don’t have the possibility to display a file system. The developers thus had to rethink the whole approach of Berokyo, changing the way users get files into the app. Berokyo for iOS can create unlimited bookshelves for documents coming from other apps on your iPhone and iPads (like Pages and Numbers) but, most of all, can sync with Dropbox. Read more
If you feel sad about the removal of VLC from the App Store and you didn’t purchase the app in time before it got pulled, Movie Player is an interesting alternative I’ve been this past week you might consider for your portable movie needs. The app is universal for iPhone and iPad, it will cost you $2.99 and it’s got nice interface design and animations. Most of all, Movie Player can play most any video format you have on your hard drive, ready to be synced via iTunes.
The huge list of supported formats includes: divx, avi, flv, mov, wmv, mpg, mpeg, mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg4, mp4, m4v , mpv, vob, ts, ogv, ogm, mkv, dv, asf, 3gp, m2p, m2ts, m2v, gxf, wm. I have tested the app with avi, mkv, mp4 and mov files.
In my tests, the app played most formats smoothly, launching files of 2GB in 2-3 seconds. I also would like to point out that I’ve run Movie Player against iOS 4.3 beta, which isn’t officially supported yet. I’ve only noticed slow downs with large movies that had .srt subtitles, also synced with iTunes’ file manager. The app recognized the subtitles but didn’t generate a thumbnail, and moving the scrubber through the movie was a little too slow. Anything else, however, worked perfectly under the new OS on the iPad and iPhone 4.
Movie Player allows you create playlists to watch videos one after the other without interruptions, very useful for TV shows and video podcasts. A small detail I particularly appreciated is the curtain-like animation that shows up when opening and closing a movie.
Movie Player definitely gets its job done, it hasn’t got many additional features but playback is smooth. At $2.99 in the App Store, give it a try. More screenshots below. Read more
