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Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look, App Review

First Look: Get airborne with Aera for iPhone

by Mel Martin (RSS feed) on Sep 22nd, 2009

Aera is a new flight game [iTunes store] from iChromo with beautifully rendered graphics and some challenging game-play. I wouldn't exactly call it a flight simulator, as your control of the aircraft is limited. You can't bank left or right, but you do control your up and down pitch. The game is priced at US$2.99 for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Think of Aera as a 2D shooter with exceptionally good graphics and addictive missions that can draw you deeply into the game.

There are several different mission types. In some, you collect points by flying the plane into floating objects, and in others you need to avoid those floating objects. There are also missions where you have to do both, as well as dogfights and aerobatic flights.

Because the controls do not work in the way other flight games work, it's helpful to go through the quick in-game tutorial so you know how the game works. If you try to exit the tutorial and just start playing, you'll be brought back to the tutorial until you have finished it. It really is necessary, because you'll never be able to fly successfully without going through it.

The game also features multiplayer options for other owners of the sim who are on the same wireless network. Aera also features video replay, allowing you to watch yourself crash and burn.

Continue reading “First Look: Get airborne with Aera for iPhone”

Tags: Aera, app store, first look, FirstLook, flight sim, FlightSim, flying, iPhone, iPod touch, sim

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, First Look, App Review

Yahoo! A first look at the official Flickr iPhone app

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 8th, 2009

At long last, the official Flickr iPhone app is in the App Store. This free app allows Flickr users to upload their iPhone photographs to their Flickr accounts as well as view photostreams that have been created by themselves and others. The app has the following features:
  • Shoot, upload and share photos and videos
  • Geo-tag photos or add to a set
  • View photos by set and tag
  • View photos from friends and family
  • Search and view photos by contact
  • Make comments on photos
  • Search by subject, people or places
I'm not a big Flickr user, but decided to give the app a quick look today. There were several things that I wasn't thrilled with. For example, geotagging in the Flickr app has to be done at the time that the photo is taken. If you try to add a geotag to a picture that's already in your photo library, the Flickr app adds your current location -- not the location where the photo was actually taken.

Flickr does the same thing for the photo date -- if you wait a few days to upload a photo, it marks it with the upload date, not the date that the photo was actually taken. In addition, the Recent button is supposed to show recent activity and uploads, but even after 30 minutes it still didn't show that I had uploaded several photos.

I'd also like to see the app offer the ability to look for photos taken near your current location. While this is a long-awaited addition to the App Store, the app doesn't appear to be very well thought out or executed. At least it's a first release, so we can expect upgrades in functionality down the road.

Tags: app, app store, AppStore, first look, FirstLook, flickr, iphone

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, First Look

First Look: CheckOff 4.0 for Mac OS X

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 26th, 2009

I'm one of those people who "Gets Things Done" the old-fashioned way. I've tried just about every To-Do list manager for the Mac and iPhone, and I still end up resorting to writing lists in my Moleskine notebook and then crossing off the completed items. Still, when I saw that an upgrade to CheckOff had been shipped by Second Gear Software, I decided to give it a try.

CheckOff 4.0 is not the latest navigator and weapons officer for the USS Enterprise. It is a compact and easily accessible to-do list for Mac OS X, and it runs both on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. CheckOff 4.0 is shareware, and requires that you purchase a US$12.95 license to use it for more than ten to-do items.

After installing and launching the 4.4 MB application on your Mac, a check mark icon appears in the menu bar. To add or delete items from your to-do list, you click on the check mark to make the CheckOff menu appear (below):

What you see is the complete user interface for CheckOff 4.0. Those five icons are used to add a new item, add a new folder, delete an item, change the color or category for an item or folder, and to delete checked (completed) items. There's a place for notes down at the bottom of the the window.

Continue reading “First Look: CheckOff 4.0 for Mac OS X”

Tags: checklist, first look, FirstLook, mac, software, to-do

Filed under: iLife, Software, Graphic Design, First Look

First Look: Watermark your iPhoto pictures with Impression

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Aug 21st, 2009

Blue Crowbar Software is a small Belgian Mac development firm that is quickly making a name for itself for its innovative iPhoto and Aperture plugins. We've previously covered iPhoto2Twitter here on TUAW, and now Blue Crowbar has announced a new iPhoto plugin for adding watermarks to pictures in your iPhoto library.

Watermarks are those faint, transparent designs that websites often use to mark exclusive photos when breaking a big story. For example, many of the great fake iTablet "photos" that we've received during the past few weeks have been emblazoned with a watermark for one Mac site or another. Impression (€9.90 -- about US$14.10) works in iPhoto to put watermarks onto your iPhoto pictures. If you're worried that a watermark might ruin a perfectly good picture, don't be. Impression makes a copy of the picture, then creates a watermarked version which is also saved into your iPhoto library.

Continue reading “First Look: Watermark your iPhoto pictures with Impression”

Tags: first look, FirstLook, iphoto, photo, plugin, watermark

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch, First Look, App Review

First Look: Keymote for iPhone / iPod touch takes control of your Mac

by John Burke (RSS feed) on Aug 16th, 2009

There are some applications out there that never cease to amaze me. We're always looking for shortcuts and ways to make our lives (and our computer use) much easier. Iced Cocoa's new Keymote [iTunes Link] for iPhone and iPod touch is sure to do just that!

With Keymote, you'll never again have to remember a shortcut. Keymote creates single buttons out of complicated shortcuts and groups them by application, speeding up your productivity and boosting your workflow. Basically, Keymote acts as a remote for your Mac and can control almost any application.

The developer notes that you can "Easily control Front Row from across the room, refresh your Twitter stream wirelessly, or play a song from iTunes without even touching your computer, the possibilities are endless."

Some highlights of Keymote include:
  • Simple and intuitive user interface that makes using Keymote easy and fun.
  • Easy to connect and operate over a Wi-Fi connection.
  • Organizes your keystrokes, keeping the ones you use close at hand.
  • Highly customizable with different key colors, the ability to add tactile feedback with vibrations and more.
  • Built-in store for purchasing keystroke sets for almost any Mac application. Don't worry, most of these are free.
  • Customize and share your keystrokes and layouts with other users easily.
I found the Keymote interface to be simple to use, and the commands are snappy, happening almost instantly. The in-app store is great too; I was able to download keystroke sets for Tweetie, Coda, iTunes, Safari, Firefox, Photoshop and so much more. I'm also a sucker for a beautiful user interface and Keymote certainly has that. The menus are easy to use and the keystroke pages are downright gorgeous.

The application is available in the iTunes App Store for $3.99 and is well worth the price. In addition to the app, you'll need to head over to Iced Cocoa's website, download the free Keymote receiver, and then pair your iPhone or iPod touch with the receiver application on your Mac.

Here are a few shots of the application in action:

Gallery: Keymote

Pair with your deviceKeystroke MenuA keystroke exampleEdit keystrokesIn-app store

Tags: first look, FirstLook, iced-cocoa, keystrokes, pairing, remote, shortcuts, wifi

Filed under: iPhone, MobileMe, First Look, App Review

First Look: iDisk app

by Megan Lavey (RSS feed) on Jul 29th, 2009

Apple's long-awaited free iDisk (iTunes link) program brings some great new features that makes MobileMe more appealing. But, there are a few holes and the program certainly doesn't do everything.

Basic layout
When you launch the iDisk app, you'll see most of folders that you normally have access to in your iDisk, plus any other folders that you might have created. What you won't see are the Backup, Sites, Software and Web folders that are normally in your iDisk. You can access these folders by enabling them through the software settings. Pressing the edit button will allow you to delete any user-made folders you've added to iDisk, but you can't create new folders.

Along the bottom are buttons for the iDisk itself, recent files viewed, files that you've chosen to share and public folders you've subscribed to. The settings screen is pretty basic, but leads to one of the gems of this piece of software -- an extremely documented help section that goes over every aspect of the app.

Gallery: First Look: iDisk app

Settings screeniDisk help indexiDisk help screenSharing filesSharing options

Continue reading “First Look: iDisk app”

Tags: app review, AppReview, first look, FirstLook, idisk, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, mobileme

Filed under: Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

First Look: TweetDeck for iPhone

by Tim Wasson (RSS feed) on Jun 17th, 2009

There's been no shortage of Twitter app reviews on TUAW. We've even covered TweetDeck once or twice. But now, another Mac app and iPhone app have intersected in the Twitter world and I, for one, am ecstatic about it.

Until now, Tweetie had been my Twitter client of choice on both my Mac and my iPhone. I was pretty content with the set up, but had one issue: If I were out and about all day and checking Tweetie on my iPhone, I'd have to re-read all those tweets when I got home because the two programs had no way of communicating what had been read and what hadn't. TweetDeck has finally found a way around this issue, offering syncing between your iPhone client and your Mac client.

Gallery: TweetDeck for iPhone

Twitter AccountTweetDeck AccountSettings PaneTweetDeck Account Register within the app

Continue reading “First Look: TweetDeck for iPhone”

Tags: app store, AppStore, first look, FirstLook, iphone, tweetdeck, twitter

Filed under: iPhone, First Look, App Review

First Look: Documents to Go for iPhone

by Megan Lavey (RSS feed) on Jun 16th, 2009

Documents to Go from DataViz has been known for years to the Palm and Blackberry community, and it finally comes to the iPhone -- filling in the need for a built-in Word (and soon Excel) editor that truly turns the iPhone into a mini computer.

There are currently two versions of Document To Go. The $4.99USD version [App Store link] features Microsoft Word editing alone and the $9.99 version adds Microsoft Exchange support. You can also view and synchronize Excel and PowerPoint documents, PDFs, HTML pages and iWork '08 documents ('05, '06 and '09 are not supported at this time, though I do imagine that iWork '09 support will be added later). A free upgrade is part of the deai; when purchasing Documents to Go now, you net the ability to create and edit Excel documents when that feature becomes available.

For an in-depth look of the app itself, click through. Please note that this review covers the $4.99US version of the app sans Microsoft Exchange.

Gallery: First Look: Documents to Go

Continue reading “First Look: Documents to Go for iPhone”

Tags: documents to go, DocumentsToGo, first look, FirstLook, iphone, microsoft word, MicrosoftWord, productivity

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

First Look: Bento for iPhone and iPod touch

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on May 5th, 2009

iPhone owners who are searching for an easy-to-use database management app for their iPhones can stop looking. Today, FileMaker Inc. announced the immediate availability of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch (click opens iTunes), a US$4.99 portable edition of Bento for Mac.

The app comes with 25 built-in templates for business or personal use, plus a blank template that can be used to create your own customized templates. Some of the included business templates can be used for issue tracking, time billing, and expenses, while personal templates include a diet log, recipes, vehicle maintenance, and home inventory.

Like the Mac app, Bento for iPhone and iPod touch is integrated with Contacts, Safari, Mail, and Google Maps. Additionally, Bento can be used to dial an iPhone. Databases can be synchronized wirelessly (via WiFi) with Bento 2.0v4 for Mac. This new version of Bento 2.0 for Mac is a free update that is available for download to all existing users today.

The video below features Ryan Rosenberg, VP of Marketing and Services for FileMaker, describing and demonstrating many of the features of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch. TUAW will have a full review of Bento for iPhone and iPod touch in the near future.


Tags: bento, breaking news, BreakingNews, filemaker, first look, FirstLook, iphone, software

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, First Look, App Review

First Look: Airfoil Speakers Touch

by Megan Lavey (RSS feed) on Apr 17th, 2009

I'd never gotten the opportunity to use Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil prior to today, and then I found out about Airfoil Speakers Touch (link opens iTunes). Airfoil allows you to stream audio from your Mac to other devices including Apple TV, Airport Express, other Macs on your network and now the iPhone and iPod touch. We looked at a similar application not too long ago, but the definite upside to Airfoil Speakers Touch is that you don't have to go through the mess of installing a separate server application -- especially if you already own Airfoil.

Using Airfoil Speakers Touch is extremely simple. I opened Airfoil on my Mac for the first time and it showed my laptop and Apple TV on my network. I then launched Airfoil Speakers Touch on my iPhone and it added the iPhone as an available streaming device. I selected iTunes as the source of my audio and clicked on the icon next to the iPhone on the Airfoil application. A quick restart of Airfoil (its Instant Hijack plug-in will bypass that) and I could stream music from iTunes through the iPhone. On the iPhone, a small image of my MacBook (complete with an image of my current desktop) appeared.

The application works beautifully. I left the laptop in my bedroom and carried my iPhone around both inside and outside of the apartment until I left the range of my wireless router. The sound is crystal clear and it turns the iPhone (and 2nd-gen iPod touch) into a great portable speaker.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks. If you exit the application on your iPhone, it will cut off the streaming. Because of this, there's no way to jump over to the Remote application and remotely control iTunes. So if you want to utilize your device as an Airfoil speaker, you need to have a playlist set up in advance since you can't change tracks from within the application itself. I'm hoping remote features will be added some time in the future. It would really make this a killer app.

Airfoil for the Mac is $25, and a free demo is available. It requires OS X 10.4 or above. Airfoil Speakers Touch is a free download through the iTunes App Store.

Tags: airfoil, first look, FirstLook, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look, App Review

TUAW First Look: Gas Cubby 2.0

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Apr 13th, 2009

With more than 25,000 apps in the App Store (as of this writing), it's not easy to find the standouts. One such app is Gas Cubby from App Cubby (we're written about it before), and I'm very happy to have spent a week with version 2.0. It's in my top five iPhone applications (along with its sibling, Trip Cubby. But that's another post entirely).

My day job requires me to keep track of automotive expenses. Before I found Gas Cubby, I was unsuccessfully trying to do so with pen and paper. I'd either take the pen out of the car and forget to return it or do the same with the notebook. I'd end up scribbling on anything I could find and promptly lose whatever it was. My accountant wasn't happy.

Gas Cubby solved the issue and actually made it fun for me to keep track of my expenses. That's right, fun. You can collect data on gas and service. First, I'll look at gas.

Update: Yes, this will be a free upgrade for current owners.

Gallery: Gas Cubby 2.0

Main pageOnline syncFill 'er upTotal service expensesGas prices

Continue reading “TUAW First Look: Gas Cubby 2.0”

Tags: app cubby, app store, AppCubby, apps, AppStore, first look, FirstLook, gas cubby, GasCubby

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

First Look: Convertbot

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Mar 26th, 2009

Last October, we posted about another iPhone app -- Weightbot -- written by Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad at Tapbots. Now the company has shipped their second app, an iPhone conversion calculator called Convertbot (iTunes link).

Like Weightbot, Convertbot is a classy-looking and extremely functional iPhone app. Every detail of the user interface shows obvious thought, resulting in an app that is easy to use and look at. As with Weightbot, Convertbot also features sound effects that provide an extra level of fun.

What can you convert with Convertbot? Temperature, time, volume, work, angles, area, currency, length, mass, power, pressure and speed. How do you do it? There's a rotating selector wheel on the Convertbot screen to choose the type of conversion (temperature, for example), and a button to select the units (degrees Fahrenheit, for instance). To enter the known unit, you tap the converter display to bring up a keypad for tapping in numbers. As you tap in the numbers, Convertbot is busily converting the units.

If you're an aspiring developer and want to see a well-designed app, or if you're an iPhone or iPod touch owner who just likes cool apps, check out this US$0.99 app. There are tons of conversion apps in the App Store, but Convertbot is just too nice to pass up.

See the gallery below for screenshots.

Gallery: Convertbot

I hear you knockin', but you can't come in...Help!Select the categorySelecting a unitEnter a value

Tags: app store, AppStore, conversion, convertbot, first look, FirstLook, iphone, software, tapbots

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

First Look: Fliq Docs

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Feb 24th, 2009

In early January, TUAW featured a face-off between Fliq for Mac and Mobile DropCopy. At the time, I noted that Fliq for Mac and Windows was better in terms of moving content created on the iPhone (address cards, notes, photos) to a Mac or Windows PC, while Mobile DropCopy was better for viewing or moving other content such as Microsoft Word documents or PDF files.

About six weeks later, Mark/Space has responded by not only updating Fliq to version 2.0, but also releasing a new free iPhone application called Fliq Docs (click opens iTunes). Fliq Docs requires Fliq 2.0 for Mac or Windows (US$19.95, free upgrade for registered users of Fliq 1.0, or US$9.95 to owners of any Mark/Space Missing Sync application), and is a full-featured document viewing and transfer application for iPhone. Click the Read More link to find out more about Fliq Docs.

Continue reading “First Look: Fliq Docs”

Tags: first look, FirstLook, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, markspace

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Video, Freeware, Internet, iPhone, iPod touch

Ustream viewer makes it to app store just in time

by Mel Martin (RSS feed) on Jan 19th, 2009

There has been quite a bit of excitement over the last few weeks with the announcement that Ustream would be offering a live video viewer so people could watch the Obama inauguration on their iPhones and iPod touches. It didn't look like it was going to make it, but the free application [app store link] slipped into iTunes today with just hours to spare. While the Joost app should also allow streaming of the festivities, the Ustream viewer is unique because it allows live TV streams, and registered viewers can join a chat room creating a community around any video stream.

Video can be viewed horizontally or vertically, but many of the sources are not 16 by 9 so it won't make a great deal of difference. The app appears to be WiFi only, which is a bit of a drag. My cell reception here in the wilds of Arizona is not too great, but I got an error message trying to run the video streaming under 3G.

With WiFi most of the channels looked pretty good. I even got a quick look at Chris Pirillo doing his live bit from his desk at home. The real test will be tomorrow with the swearing in ceremonies. It will be a good test of the Ustream distribution system.

Ustream wants lots of players out there, because they are creating a content network and are actively courting people who will create videos on their home computers and laptops. The firm says they will soon have an app that allows live streaming of video and audio from the iPhone, in the same vein as the Qik tool currently running on jailbroken phones. If so, that will be a very big game changer for the iPhone. The big question is, will Apple allow it into the app store?

Looking toward the future, Ustream will need more and better content deals, and streaming via the 3G network. Tonight is a great first step, and I expect by swearing-in time a lot of iPhones will be tuned in, if you'll pardon the archaic term.

Here are some screen shots hot off the presses (thanks AppleUniverse):

Gallery: Ustream Screen shots

Tags: first look, FirstLook, iphone, streaming, ustream, video

Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, First Look

First Look: Witch's Workshop

by Megan Lavey (RSS feed) on Jan 19th, 2009

I'm addicted to Diner Dash, and I greatly enjoy other time management games. The basic gist of a lot of these is that you're given a setting and you must complete a task (usually fulfilling an order for a customer) in a certain amount of time before the customer gets angry and leaves. As time goes by, the tasks either become more complex or your time speeds up.

Witch's Workshop [link opens iTunes] is a new game for the iPhone from Spark Plug Games that combines the best aspects of Diner Dash with Bejeweled. Your task is to fill potion bottles for your customer by swapping the various potions around on the screen until they form a horizontal or vertical line of three or more potions. The same-colored potions then fill the bottle and you drag the full bottle over to the customer. A small dragon is placed in the bottom right corner and can be charged up and used to help fill orders. As time goes by, the customers become more and more impatient and more potion is needed to fill the bottles, so it becomes quite challenging.

Game play fluctuated between very smooth and some of the potion bottles being hard to drag -- but I'm betting on that being more operator error than a flaw in the game. Graphics are simple, but clear and well-executed for what is needed with the game. Various options include the ability to toggle hints when you get stuck.

There's also some nifty tricks. During the course of the game, I managed to get something called a Cauldron Crash and had to shake the iPhone to unstick it. Then, I happened to turn the phone onto its side. I heard the sound of glasses hitting each other and noticed that the potions themselves had swapped into the horizontal position, but the rest of the game remained vertical. It made for an interesting screenshot, as seen in the gallery.

Witch's Workshop is currently available for $1.99 through the App Store.

Gallery: Witch's Workshop

Tags: first look, FirstLook, iphone, spark plug, SparkPlug, witchs workshop, WitchsWorkshop

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