Apple iPhone School » App Store

DSLR Slate

Douglas — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:46:53 +0000

When recording some video this week I thought it would be helpful to have one of those things you see on movie sets that have the take number and movie info and they clap the top down to make a clicking sound at the beginning of a take. These things are called clappers or slates. I checked in the App Store and found a few to choose from. I chose this app for quality look of screenshots, high start rating and the ability to install both on an iPhone and iPad. The app is $9.99 and allows you to easily insert all kinds of info to be displayed on the slate. They include a lot of camera info like ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Framerate, etc. More features allow you to enter information on the movie like location, Producer, Director, etc.

Once you’re date is entered, you just tap the OPEN SLATE button and you get this:

To enter the info, you get nice big fonts and color settings for better viewing options:

Must Have iPad Applications #1-5

Douglas — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:00:16 +0000

If you have recently bought a new iPad I have some “must have” apps you should start out with. Of course, some apps you may wonder why they are so “must have” and argue that you don’t need them. Ok, you just might not. This is my list and there may be more that you would suggest (please do so in the comments). This is the first 5 and I will post more in chunks of 5 in the future. For what it’s worth, here’s my list:

This is the app, next to Google, that will teach you pretty much anything. Wikipedia is very accurate and way more up to date than the Encyclopedia you have on your book shelf. There are things that may contain errors but it’s just as accurate as a traditional Encyclopedia. Here’s a article and links to studies on it. Anyway, I like it and it’s a great way to solve arguments or have ready to teach your kids when they have those repeating “Why?” moments. Price: Free

Simplenote. I love this app. Yes, it is simple. A lot like the stock notes app. What’s great about this app is it syncs between other iPads, iPhones, iPod touches and even a web browser app. Price: Free

Flipboard is one of the apps that if it were the only app on the iPad, it would still be worth having an iPad. This app gives you access to your RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and all kinds of news and websites. What’s great about it is the way it both displays the info and interacts with touchscreen technology. With this app, you can consume a lot of information fast and effortlessly. All of this and it’s free!

If you’re using the previously mentioned app, Wikipanion, to search for a actor, tv show or movie and just can’t get all the info you want, you need the IMDb app. IMDb stands for Internet Movie Database. The app connects you to their website with loads of info on TV shows, movies, actors, and a lot more. It’s free and it’s great to have while sitting on the couch when you’re trying to figure out an actor’s name or what other movies they’ve been in.

The best Twitter app is, of course, from Twitter themselves. Originally called Tweetie, Twitter bought them and hired their original developer. It’s a smooth flowing app and supports multiple accounts. The in app browser is full featured and again, this app is free!

Hidden iPad Facebook App Found, Then Blocked by Facebook, Then Re-Hacked! [Update]

Douglas — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:21:25 +0000

Recently, someone figured out that if they changed just one little number in the code for the iPhone Facebook app, the iPad app would be revealed when installed on the iPad. You needed to be jailbroken so you could access the Facebook app files to change the code that marks the app for the iPhone or iPad. The app was a little buggy but the layout was pretty good. Nothing to blow your mind but better than the tiny little iPhone app. UPDATE: There is a hack in Cydia called FaceForward that re-enables the hack and doesn’t require the step by step hacks below!

~~It probably won’t work again anytime soon but if they give back access here’s how to hack it:~~

1. You must be jailbroken.
2. Install iFile on your iPad so you can edit the Facebook application files. It’s free in Cydia.
3. Install the iPhone Facebook app on your iPad. It’s free in the App Store.
4. Open iFile and navigate to Applications/Facebook/Facebook.app/Info.plist
5. Tap on Info.plist and either use Text Viewer or Property List Viewer and change UIDeviceFamily to 2 instead of 1.
6. Reboot iPad.

Here’s a few screenshots I grabbed before it stopped working:

Screenshots

Video

Fahrenheit – Temperature on Your Home Screen (No Jailbreak)

Douglas — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:00:49 +0000

The best thing about this app is that it shows the current weather on the app’s icon as a badge and there’s no need to jailbreak. There are other apps like WeatherIcon that hack your Weather icon to show the current temperature instead of a constant sunny and 73. The app has other basic weather features that honestly don’t impress me that much. None of the maps are full screen on the iPad and they reload each time you tap on them, which isn’t fast. It would be nice if it cached the one’s already downloaded. Also, the maps show no state boundaries so it’s hard to tell where everything is at. You can also tweet or Facebook the current or forecasted weather. The apps is worth downloading for getting the current temp on your homescreen but not worth the extra $0.99 for the maps. This app is universal meaning it will install on all iOS devices.

Screenshots

Calculator for iPad

Douglas — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:00:24 +0000

For some strange reason, Apple decided to leave out the Calculator app on the iPad. Thankfully, there is a free one in the App Store that works great. It’s simply called “Calculator for iPad”. It looks and works just like the iPhone app. When you rotate it to landscape you get a scientific calculator. There is a bit of an annoying ad at the bottom that moves around but if you are wanting pure functionality, this app works. Nice icon too that looks just like the iPhone app but the equals sign is replaced with the letters “HD”. I paid for the upgrade that lets you remove the ads and has 7 different themes. The developer has other apps including Weather+, Fahrenheit & Celsius.

Screenshots

TinyWorld – Turn Pictures Into Their Own Little World

Douglas — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:38:03 +0000

TinyWorld is a simple little app. You just opened it, aim and tap one button and you have a picture of a tiny little world. It works best if the top of the area you are taking a picture of is a consistant color. To line up the picture you can try a few things. Tipping your iPhone left or right will help to make the center more of a circle. Aiming up or down more will make the sky of your tiny world bigger or smaller. It also works great with Instagram because the final image is 1000×1000 pixels which is a square. I uploaded a few of my pictures to Flickr and couldn’t find a group there so I created my own at flickr.com/groups/tinyworld Here’s what it looks like when you have the app open:

Available In: App Store

Price: $0.99

Screenshots & Photos

Opera Mini For iPad

Douglas — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:33:40 +0000

Opera has released a version of it’s alternate web browser for the iPad. It was originally a big drama to get another browser on Apple’s iOS next to Safari but Apple eventually allowed it. Opera has been available on the iPhone for a while but now works on the iPad too. The app is pretty good over all and has some great features. Opera loads webpages on their servers and then compresses the data to load faster on your device. It’s great when you have a slow connection or you want to save bandwidth on your iPhone or iPad data plan. It also has a password storing system and multiple tab support.

I do have a few problems though. Too often it loads the mobile version of the website and there’s no way to get out of it. Facebook is a perfect example. That is VERY frustrating. It would be nice if you could switch back and forth between mobile and full web browsing. There is a switch in the settings but this doesn’t do what’s expected.

Available In: App Store

Price: Free

Video

Screenshots

Angry Birds Rio

Douglas — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:46:48 +0000

Our family loves Angry Birds so we were excited to see a new version called Angry Birds Rio. Apparently we’re not the only one who likes the new version because it’s currently the #1 selling app in the App Store as I write this article. Instead of crashing birds into pigs who’ve stole your eggs, now you’re trying to crash into cages of birds to help release them. There’s also different levels with monkeys in trees and a big bad guy bird you have to knock out of the sky. There is a catch to this game. All the levels have not been released yet. Only section 1 and 2 are ready and the rest will be released throughout the year.

Screenshots

Available In: App Store

Price: $0.99

FX Photo Studio HD – On Sale Today for $0.99

Douglas — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:17:31 +0000

Normally this app is $4.99, but today (03-16-11) it’s on sale for just $0.99. It currently has 181 effects and filters and has some tools like rotate and crop. You can also combine effects for even more vacations. Some of the better known effects include Sepia, TiltShift, Posterize, Blur and the list goes on and on. I also like the many options you have in sharing your photos. Not only can you save it to your iPad but you can share it via Flickr, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter or email. Check out the screenshots and video below and make sure to grab it quick before the sale ends.

Available In: App Store

Price: ~~$4.99~~ On Sale $0.99

Video

Screenshots

Big Picture – App For Boston.com The Big Picture

Douglas — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:20:11 +0000

I love the feature on Boston.com‘s website called “The Big Picture“. They gather the best photography from current events and display them full screen. The problem with this website on the iPad 1 is there is not enough memory to load all the big pictures. Most picture only show a border where the picture should be with a little blue square. So, with this app, you can swipe through a slideshow of all the pictures including their descriptions. There’s also a button in the top right that allows you to view it in Safari; share via Mail, Facebook or Twitter; or you can save the photo to your photo app. One feature I would like to see is the ability to pinch and zoom on the pictures. I find myself trying to do it often but it still doesn’t work. There is also a nice counter in the bottom right to tell you what picture number you are on and how many are left.

Available In: App Store

Price: $2.99