How do you review an app that shouldn't even need to exist? Below is our look at AT&T's Mark The Spot app for reporting coverage issues. (Of course if the issue is you currently don't have any coverage, the app won't do a ton of good.)
Still, for what it is, the app is simply designed, and if anyone is listening on the other end, should help AT&T make its network better. That's a big if, though...
It's the weekend, which means a quick and easy app review for us. Color Curious is the kind of straight-forward, does what it says app we like so much. The app presents a crosshair on screen and gives a textual description of the color under that mark. Designed to help those with color blindness, the app is good for anyone wanting to doublecheck a color in the photo library, or with a quick snapshot (on the iPhone.)
The business card may soon be the thing of the past. Then again, they've (who is this "they?") been saying that about books for quite some time as well. Even if the business card disappeared tomorrow, many of us would still have piles of the cards hanging around.
For me, the prospect of scanning the cards on my full-size scanner, then using some sort of OCR software, then getting the data into my Address Book, just seems like too much work. Enter Business Card Reader for the iPhone. The app uses the camera on your iPhone to take a picture of the card, then processes the information, adding an entry in the address book on the phone. With the different styles of business cards, the lighting conditions when you take the picture, and cameras focus as factors, the accuracy of the information varies. It might seem silly to scan a card, then manually edit details, but I found this was still preferable to the process of adding business cards via the computer/scanner. Plus, the app saves an image of the business card, making it easier to get the right information if you missed correcting an item the first time.
I'm finally scanning and throwing out a sizable metal box of business cards thanks to Business Card Pro. Think of it as more of an "offline" solution, than something you'll want to use when someone first hands you a business card, and I think you'll be happy with the results. As the app and iPhone camera improve over time, the accuracy of the scanned info should only increase.
It's easy to forget sometimes that there's some decent horsepower under the hood of the iPhone 3GS. An app like Vintage Video Maker reminds you, and brings a fun new feature to the phone at the same time.
Vintage Video Maker allows you to add old-timey film effects to video shot on the iPhone 3GS. You can either take the video while using the app, or use a stored clip. Before selecting the clip. you add the look of a 1920's or 1960''s era film, choose output format, and select to keep the clip's audio, or add an included sound track. (I would suggest always outputting to the highest setting).
Next, the iPhone turns into a rendering machine, creating the new clip. This process takes 2 to 3 times the length of a clip. It's probably comparable to rendering video clips back in the day of the G3 chip.
As the processors in the iPhone get faster and faster, apps like this will become even more fun and easy to use. For now though, Vintage Video Maker, is a great on-the-go way to enhance the look of your iPhone videos.
I've always thought that the global network of webcams is one of the most under-utilized creations of our modern age. Put all the Big Brother fears aside for a minute, and consider the amaxing feat that we can be transported via video to almost anywhere on the planet. And now, we can even do it on the iPhone and iPod Touch thanks to iSpy Cameras.
The app is fast and fun, displaying a grid of 12 cameras from around the globe. But once you start flicking, you will see there are actually dozens of pages of these cameras. Tap on one and it fills the screen. The really incredible part is many of the camera are also controllable by you. By swiping the screen you can often pan left or right, or you can select from several presets. Sure you could do this in the past on a computer, but the packaging of so many cameras into a slick interface for the iPhone is really the selling point of iSpy Cameras.
The only downside is some particular areas of the world are not covered. TDL's home port of Philadelphia for example is not (currently) represented. All of this is subject to change with updates of course.
The locales that are available are varied and fascinating. From oceanside views, to indoor skate parks, they're all fascinating in their own way.
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Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 9:42AM