Photogene is a very sweet photo editing application. I have actually been using BarginBin to keep an eye out for when this app would go on sale and today it did… I was totally pumped! Photogene, normally $2.99, is on sale for the week-end only for $0.99. Honestly, the app is worth the $2.99 price tag but how much cooler is it to get it for $0.99! Photogene has basically every editing tool you could ask for all within an amazing user interface. Seriously a must-have! Check out the full list of features below and some screenshots.

ScreenShots:

App Store Description:

Photogene is about improving your digital photos and having fun while at it.
This intuitive, easy to use application offers a comprehensive set of professional editing tools.

New :
** Supports photos up to 2048*1536 (3Gs’ camera resolution)
** Direct photo emailing via Photogene (OS 3.0 only)
** Copy to clipboard for later use in other applications such as MMS (OS 3.0 only).

- Crop. Fixed aspect ratios are optional.
- Sharpen
- Levels histogram. Manually or automatically correct color distribution, improving brightness and contrast at the same time.
- Gama correction (midtones)
- Separate exposure and contrast buttons.
- RGB balance
- Saturation. Increase or decrease hues intensity in your picture. B/W effect can be reached.
- Color temperature. Correct unnatural colors by adding warmth or coolness to the image.
- Straighten for a tilted image
- Rotate and mirror
- Special effects, such as pencil, sepia or heat-map
- Frame effects: Reflection and Vignette
- Preset and customized frames in various shapes, widths and colors. Selection of shadows – outer and inner glows, gloss, drops shadow.
- Text bubbles of different styles, colors and fonts (just drag and place them wherever you like).
- Multiple Undo-Redo and reset buttons. You can use these features to compare between origin and result.
- Take photos from with in the application

Photogene was featured in one of Apple’s “there’s an app for that” TV commercials, and was picked as one of Apple’s favorites in the AppStore’s 1 year anniversary.
Photogene also received PC Magazine editor choice award and was recently included in O’Reilly’s guide “Best iPhone apps” as best app for editing photos.

Edit your photo, go artistic or be playful. Photogene enables it all in one program.

It’s not just a one time app. Photogene fulfills a wide range of your editing needs and we keep updating it.
See our website for some ideas of what you can do with this app. Also check the tutorial and frequently asked questions section.

Changes are fast and immediate and the features are continuously available on screen. You can navigate easily among the different tools.

The app allows you to zoom in and out and move the picture around, without damaging the editing work. Landscape editing is supported.

When satisfied, save to your photo library for later use (such as sending MMS, uploading to your favorite sites or emailing).

“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.

Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank’s customers qualify.

See Original Article HERE.

I’m not a huge business card user. In fact, I carry a few of them mostly so I can throw them into a fishbowl in order to win a free lunch at a restaurant. However, I can imagine how useful it would be to have an application that would take business cards and effortlessly import their information into your contacts list. CardSnap attempts to address this by using a proprietary method similar to OCR but not really (or so says the app’s description).

Upon opening (and waiting for) CardSnap, you are given the option to use the camera to snap a picture of the business card. You can also load photos from your camera roll or from your photo library. However, since the main selling point is to use this application in real time, I wanted to focus on the camera option. After taking a picture, you can move and scale your picture before deciding to upload to the servers at CardSnap. Once you’re satisfied with your business card’s readability (this may take some time with the iPhone’s pitiful camera), you submit the card, and wait for a response. Other options in the application include a menu to review your submitted cards, an info screen that offers a user’s guide, and a settings screen that allows you to use groups with your contacts.

I submitted a few business cards several times and was impressed on occasion with the response from CardSnap. We all know that the camera on the iPhone is not very good, and the picture quality is marginal at best. To the application’s defense, the user guide strongly recommends the use of Griffin’s Clarifi case. I was unable to test with this, so I had to rely on the standard camera app as I imagine most iPhone users would as well. With my work business card, the app said that there were some illegible fields, and I should probably review these before accepting it as a contact. Indeed, there was an error in my name, and a wrong digit in my work phone number. Other than that, though, I was impressed with how many of the details were picked up by the service and assigned to the correct field. On my wife’s business card, CardSnap got everything right, though interestingly, it did choose to skip a few items like a web address and part of her title.

Thankfully, there have been a few updates since CardSnap’s original release. When I first downloaded this app, stability was a major issue as the initial load time was long, and I had to reopen the application quite regularly. If you were to use this application on a regular basis, you might want to invest in the Clarifi case, though there’s no guarantee that the application will still get all of the fields correct. One positive test included a submission that I made using my Nikon D60 camera. CardSnap read this photo within hours and it did a perfect job of interpreting all of the fields correctly. Unfortunately, this is not a practical solution, and you might as well spend the time inputting your business cards by hand.

In the end, I would think the goal for CardSnap is to be an application that can scan business cards efficiently, effortlessly, and accurately. So far, the application succeeds in only some of these areas. It has a very simple interface, so it is possible to scan multiple business cards in a short amount of time. The program integrates well with your built-in contacts list, and it has shown high levels of accuracy when photo quality is high. I would love to see push notifications for business cards that have been reviewed as I had to open the application to check on the status. I understand the high price tag ($9.99) since CardSnap is more of an advanced application that recognizes fields rather than just translating images to text. However, for this price, one needs to demand better recognition for blurry images or wait until the camera on the iPhone improves. Perhaps, the 3GS will have better results. If you would like to try CardSnap before plunking down $10, there is a lite version, but it will still cost you $0.99. The limitation is that the app will only read 6 fields as opposed to 17. My recommendation is that CardSnap will be worth it if you receive and need to store a lot of business cards on a regular basis and you are willing to invest in either the iPhone 3GS and/or the Griffin Clarifi case.

Note: This application is currently only compatible with English keyboards.

ScreenShots

I opened iTunes this evening and what did I see? An update to an app that I had done a review on last week. It was the PhotoList app by Raisix Inc. (click here for the review) I was interested to see what they had updated and I was hoping it wasn’t just stability issues as most updates are. But to my surprise they had added a new feature to the app…Facebook integration!! Now that is cool.

The Facebook integration allows you to do two things: Upload and Download photos to and from your personal Facebook account.

To Download
Within PhotoList, create a new folder that you want to download pics from your Facebook account. Tap on your new created folder and tap the folder icon at the bottom right of the screen. Tap “Facebook” on the “Download photo from” title and after it requests authorization, sign into your Facebook account. Once you have done this tap “Done” and start downloading from any of your Facebook photo folders. Once you have selected your photo, name it or keep the default name and give it your 1 to 5 rating (if you want), and tap “Done”. Once you are done, tap the Facebook arrow and then cancel to take you back to the PhotoList app.

To Upload
Within one of your folders in PhotoList, tap the pic that you want to upload. At the bottom left is a foward icon. Tap “Facebook” on the “Upload photo to” title and after your sign in or authorize, tap “Upload”. The photo will upload to a default PhotoList folder that has now been created on your Facebook page. You will be given a “success” message once the photo is uploaded and hit “Done” to go back to PhotoList.

The only problem with this is that you have to then sign into your Facebook account from your computer to approve the photo before it will post to your account for others to view. PhotoList might want to look into building a Facebook Application as well to compliment this new feature.

This app is totally worth the $$$ now!!!! Maybe Flickr, Picasa Web, and MySpace integration next?

ScreenShots

PhotoList by Raisix Inc. has released an iPhone app that allows you to “rate your photos on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, and then sort by either rating or name when looking through photo folders.”

I really like how this app allows me to create as many folders as I want for all of my pics. Once I create a folder I can then add pics to this folder by selecting the “+” sign at the bottom left of the screen. That will bring up your Camera Roll from within the app so you don’t have to worry about closing the app to put your pics into your folder. Once you have selected your pic, you have to name it and have the option to rate it. I wish however instead of having to give a name to a photo that it would default to the actual “IMG_***” title already assigned to the photo. Minor but that way I don’t have to create a name in the case of fast filing.

Once back into your folder you can then organize by rating or by name. You can also view the photo in portrait or landscape mode (I was very impressed with this as I haven’t seen many apps that utilize the accelerometer that isn’t a game.) To view more pics just flick the photo to the left or right. This app doesn’t utilize the option to zoom which would be cool.

I also checked out a review by a user in the App Store and he was disgruntled that all you could do was file photos. He must have been looking for a mobile iPhoto app and this isn’t the app for that. This is a very basic app for filing.

I my opinion this is a great app for what it does. It is compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch. It does require the 2.2.1 software update.

ScreenShots

iAnonymize is an app that allows you to hide or blur parts of photos that you don’t want other people to see. So if you took a picture of your car and don’t want to broadcast your license plate number or you or one of your friends are soon to be featured on America’s Most Wanted and you would like to conceal their identity…this would be your app.

There are two different types of boxes you can use. The first one is where it pixelizes the area you select and the other is where it just puts a blank box (ranging in shades of grey) over the selected area. You can adjust the level of each via the slider at the top of the screen. You choose the area by touching the screen on the photo and then moving and sizing the box much like zooming and moving in Safari and you toggle between the two box settings with the icon to the left of center at the bottom. You can also zoom and move around the photo by toughing the icon at the bottom in the center. When you save the photo it saves a new file to your camera roll and preserves you original file.

A couple things I don’t like about the app is that when you want to edit the photo on either the very top or the very bottom you have to do it with the slider and tool bar in the way and I’ve had it crash a few times too but that maybe a result of something else on my iPhone. It would also be sweet if you could rotate the box to better fit the photo and draw on the photo much like a brush in Photoshop. Other than that though its a pretty sweet app!

ScreenShots

My wife and I like to play a game called “I liked it better when…” Whenever we see a movie, commercial, or something that seems to be duplicating a prior idea, we’ll say “I liked it better when…” and insert the name of the idea that’s being copied. In the case of Readdle’s Take a Note, I liked it better when it was called Evernote.

Overview
Almost eerily identical to Evernote, the opening user menu of Take a Note gives you options to add a text note, an audio note, a drawing note, and a photo note. All notes that are created on the iPhone are editable, sortable, and searchable. WiFi access gives you the option to transfer notes to and from your computer or other wireless enabled sources. Notes can be emailed directly from the program and the app uses your contacts list to add recipients.

Start on a good note.
Although I am admittedly biased towards Evernote, I will acknowledge several areas where Take a Note excels and may even be a stronger option than Evernote. Many have commented on the nice and clean look of Take a Note, and I will agree. The notebook appearance is eye catching and seems apropos for the function of the program. Aesthetics aside, Take a Note also allows for transfer of notes to and from your computer via a WiFi connection. Having recently setup a network place for Readdledocs and Air Sharing, I was well versed in this capability, and had no problem accessing notes on my computer. Take a Note also allows for editing of notes directly on the iPhone. Evernote does the same, but many have complained that you cannot edit notes that have any graphics in them (even the parts that are not graphics). Lastly, Take a Note does bypass the need for a web-based application. Thus, the speed of the program is superior to Evernote, and I like the sort option as it fits in with the appearance of the iPhone’s contacts application.

Do note this, though.
Although I was able to connect with my home computer, I did have some trouble opening the notes on my computer despite the fact that they were stored as simple .TXT files. Since there is no web application like Evernote, there is no capability for cutting and pasting into Take a Note. With Evernote, I clip and store emails (graphics and web links included) into my account on my home computer or any web browser and these notes then sync immediately with the iPhone app. Thus, Evernote’s weakness as a web based application is also a strength since I can clip items wherever I have an Internet connection whereas with Take a Note, you must have a WiFi connection in order to transfer notes to and from your iPhone.

Conclusion
I will admit that coming into this review, I thought that I was going to be more negative about Take a Note. Compared to Evernote, a free app, I felt that Take a Note would fall short on features despite having a significant cost of $4.99. As I explored a bit more and as I was writing this review, I managed to see the strengths of the app, and I feel that there is a potential market for this program. If you don’t want to be tied down to a web app, and you’d like a simple, yet polished native app that’s significantly more useful than the built-in notes app, Take a Note may be right for you. However, if you are interested in exploring a bit with a larger set of features, I’d suggest giving Evernote a try before shelling out your $4.99 for this app.

Sick of looking through a list of names to find the person you would like to call? PictureDialer allows you to dial by photo! The first time you open PictureDialer, you will get a pop-up with a quick note on how to use the app. The first thing you will need to do is go into the Settings options (tap on Settings in the lower right corner of the app). This will bring you to the main list of setting options. Next, you will want to add people to your Favorites list by selecting the Favorites List option. This will bring you to a list of your favorites…to add a favorite to the list, select the + icon in the upper right corner. You will then get a list of all your contacts. You can select a contact and then select which number you would like to use for that contact. Once you have done this, the contact will be added to your Favorites List. You can also delete contacts and rearrange your contacts from here as well. Note: To rearrange contacts, tap and hold the three little bard to the right of the contact and drag it where you would like it.

To get back to the main Settings menu, select Settings in the upper left corner. Now for the fun part! This app allows for quite a bit of customization. You are able to pick what size you would like the photos to be…ranging from 1 per row (large pictures) to 6 per row which are small picture. You are able to choose from a variety of picture frame styles…these are what will outline all of your photos. You are able to choose a background color for your Favorites Page…there is quite a variety of colors to choose from! You can also customize the phone badges. These are the little icons that will display on each photo that indicate whether you are dialing the mobile, home, work or other number. You can also choose to turn these off. Finally, you are able to customize the loading animation. This is the animation you get when you open the application and it loads all your favorites.

In the Advanced Settings, you have the option to adjust the tap speed. It allows you to choose Fast, Moderate or Slow. The Share PictureDialer option will open a new email with info about PictureDialer. Once you have selected all your settings, you can tap on the Favorites option on the lower menu bar.

Here you will see all the people you have added as favorites, as well as all your customizations. To call a person, just tap on their photo. A few cool features are that you can double tap on a contact’s photo to get a list of all the phone numbers for that contact you can also triple tap on a contact’s photo to get SMS and Email information for that contact.

PictureDialer pulls the photos from your current Contact information. If you do not have a photo assigned for a contact, you will get a stock photo which basically just looks like a dialer. If you would like to add a photo to a contact, you will need to add one via the stock Phone application. To do so; just go into your stock Phone application, find the contact you are looking for, select the contact, select Edit in the upper right corner, tap on the Add Photo option in the upper left corner and then either take a photo or choose a photo that is already on your iPhone. PictureDialer will then automatically use that photo. If you have more questions, they have a great Help and FAQ section in the Settings option in the app.

Overall, this application works great for me. I noticed in iTunes that some people said that they had issues with load time…I personally did not have any issue with the loading time though, I do not have a ton of favorites added to the application. Also, I like dialing by picture. If I have to go into my Phone app and then my favorites anyway, it is basically the same to go into the PictureDialer app and then your favorites…plus, it is just more fun! And, I like all the customization ability.

Screenshots:

Hello iPhone People…that is supposed to be read like they say, “Hello Miami” like at concerts and what not. Ok, maybe that only happens in the movies anyway, moving on! It seems that SwirlyMMS, an app that allows multimedia text messaging, has finally made it’s way to the 2.0+ firmware…YAY!. This is very exciting for those of you who can use it! I’m still trying to find a way to get it to work with AT&T but, it does have a new icon!

When you open SwirlyMMS, it will default to the Inbox screen but will then take you to the info screen. On the info screen you will see the options Get Demo and and Arrow. In order to use the application, you will need to request a demo. All you have to do it tap the Demo button and it will automatically “fetch” you a demo license. The first time I tried it…it failed but I just hit the Get Demo option again and it worked fine.

Once you have a demo, you can use SwirlyMMS for 14 days. It then costs $8.00 USD to purchase the application. Once you have your demo you can then select the arrow button and it will bring you to the Inbox screen where you can see your Inbox, Outbox, Sent and Trash. On the lower menu bar there are three options. The “i” will bring you back to the Info screen, the Tools icon will bring you to the Settings page (which is almost exactly the same as it was in the previous version) and the New SMS icon will allow you to create a new SMS. The interface is really nice. You are easily able to add Pictures from your Camera Roll, take a picture, add text to the message and send a file from your iPhone. You can even see all the multimedia files you are sending by selecting the Media Parts option.

As lovely as the interface seems to look and feel, I can’t tell you for sure how well it works! You guys will have to let me know in the comments if the new version is working well. I hope that it is!! SwirlyMMS is available though the Ste Packaging source in Cydia.

Note: I received an email from the developer of SwirlyMMS (which I did not read before writing this post, my bad!) and I guess the biggest news for the new version of SwirlyMMS is that you can now, “send and receive MMSs using an iPhone3G.” So, not only can people with first generations iPhone on the 2.0+ firmware use SwirlyMMS but also people with 3G iPhones. I personally had assumed that would be the case (which I probably shouldn’t have done) but, it is good to know!