For behind the scenes pictures, stories and special contests, follow us on Facebook!
Subscribe:

Tag Archives: iOS

iPhone App Icon Paintings

By Andrew Liszewski on 08/09/11 • Leave a comment!

iPhone App Icon Paintings (Images courtesy iPhone Paintings)
By Andrew Liszewski

They may not end up in the Louvre, or other prestigious art galleries. Nor will the Pope ever commission Apple’s graphic designers to cover the ceiling of the Vatican’s chapels with them. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who look at the iPhone’s home screen, and all of the included app icons, as a genuine piece of art. For them, a European-based company called iPhone Paintings lets you hang larger versions of those very same icons on the walls of your home or office.

There are 2 sets of 16 icons available. A hand-painted version which will you set you back $499 and a cheaper, digitally printed collection which is $275 instead. Both sets come on 20cm x 20cm sized canvases, and can probably be re-arranged without having to hold your finger on the wall until they all start wiggling. (But that would be cool if they did!)

[ iPhone App Icon Paintings ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

JAVOedge Mini Stylus Tethers To Your Dock Connector

By Andrew Liszewski on 08/08/11 • Leave a comment!

JAVOedge Mini Stylus (Images courtesy JAVOedge)
By Andrew Liszewski

There’s nothing stopping you from using a stylus with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. But since the UI on all of those devices was designed to be used with your fingers, they don’t include one. Thankfully there’s a mountain of third party stylus options available, but again, since the iDevices aren’t necessarily stylus driven, there’s no handy place to stash or store one on them. An accessories company called JAVOedge has found one though. Their Mini Stylus simply connects to an iDevice’s dock connector, ensuring it’s always accessible and available just hanging off the bottom.

Since it’s designed to be used with both the iPad and the iPhone/iPod Touch, it has a stubbier form factor so that when connected to the latter devices it doesn’t hang off the side. But according to The Gadgeteer, that also happens to be its biggest folly. It makes it hard to hold and use the stylus for anything other than simple tasks. And since your fingers end up being so close to the display when holding it, it also tends to obscure what you’re doing. So I have to agree with their conclusion that for just $9.95 (in black or white) it’s at least a handy alternative to operating your iOS device’s touchscreen display when wearing gloves. But not necessarily a finger alternative you can comfortably use all the time.

[ JAVOedge Mini Stylus ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

Griffin Helo TC iPhone Controlled Helicopter

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/14/11 • 1 Comment

Griffin Helo TC iPhone Controlled Helicopter (Images courtesy Griffin and Tech Digest)
By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not going to lie. Sometimes writing about a seemingly endless stream of iPhone add-ons can get a little boring. We understand how important a nice case can be, but accessories that are genuinely fun make for a nice break in our routine. So thanks to Griffin for revealing their new Helo TC RC Helicopter, part of their AppPowered line, which is of course controlled by your iOS device. Presumably via Bluetooth or wifi, since IR would require an add-on dongle.

The chopper can be controlled using a traditional on-screen flight stick, or by tilting your device in the “Tilt-to-fly” mode which relies on its accelerometer to detect your movements. And once you think you’re hot stuff you can record up to 3 different flight routines which can be triggered and reflown at the push of a button. On a half-hour USB-tethered charge the Helo TC will fly for up to 8 minutes, and when you eventually crash an included spare set of rotors will get you back in the air quickly. Available just in time to be included on Christmas wish lists this year, for ~$56. (£34.99)

[ Tech Digest - Griffin launch AppPowered Helo TC iPhone helicopter ]

iOS 5 Adding Some Much Needed (And Oft Requested) Features

By Andrew Liszewski on 06/06/11 • 1 Comment

Apple's iOS 5 (Images courtesy Wired Gadget Lab)
(Photos property of the Wired Gadget Lab)

By Andrew Liszewski

If you aren’t holed up in a log cabin without internet access today, and have at least a passing interest in technology, you’re probably already aware that Apple’s 2001 WWDC keynote just wrapped up. And while we don’t cover software that often, we do like it when firmware updates make an existing device even better. And the new iOS 5 looks to do just that. The biggest update, that users will be able to get their hands on later this year, is a completely revamped notification system. Current iPhone users know that getting a txt message or notification in the middle of playing a game or watching a movie can be rather annoying and jarring. But under iOS 5 those notifications will make a subtle appearance at the top of your screen, allowing you to see more on a central Notification Screen page with a swipe, or just ignore them and they’ll disappear momentarily.

Twitter is also now tightly integrated into iOS, allowing you to sign in on the Settings page (independently of the official Twitter app) so that you can post content from various iOS apps without having to jump around or copy and paste items. And speaking of apps, Safari is now getting tabbed navigation which is an extremely welcome addition. And the simple Camera app now seems a lot more like the third-party Camera+ with AE/AF lock, basic photo editing like cropping, rotating and red-eye reduction, pinch to zoom on the viewfinder and FINALLY, using the Volume+ hardware button as a shutter. Sorry, Red Pop…

Other updates that caught our eye include a new split keyboard for the iPad that makes it easier to thumb type when holding the device in two hands. Reminders which lets you create lists and to-dos which will probably see Simplenote’s popularity drop dramatically. And a new iMessage app that uses Apple’s new messaging service so it works between all iOS devices including the iPad and the iPod Touch. Like BBM it also provides delivery and read receipts, real-time ‘typing’ updates, group messages and of course the ability to share multimedia content like photos. And last but certainly not least, updating and syncing will finally be facilitated over wi-fi if you don’t want to keep tethering your device to your PC, or don’t have one to tether to in the first place.

[ Wired Gadget Lab - Live Blog WWDC 2011: iOS 5 Enters the “Post-PC World” ]

Letting Your Unborn Fetus Choose Its Own Name? – There’s An App For That

By Andrew Liszewski on 05/24/11 • Leave a comment!

Kick To Pick (Images courtesy Nathan Parks)
By Andrew Liszewski

Kick To Pick (Image courtesy Nathan Parks)Worried about risking years of passive aggressive behavior from your kid because of the terribly embarrassing name you gave them? Well you can worry no more thanks to an iOS app called Kick To Pick which puts all of that responsibility on your unborn fetus.

The app includes a database of thousands of gender-specific names which you can narrow down if you prefer by creating a favorites list. You then place your iPhone on your baby bump and the app will move through the list, presumably reading off the names one-by-one, until the built-in accelerometer detects that your child has provided some kind of physical feedback. I mean who’s to say a random kick wasn’t your baby excitedly letting you know they wanted to go through life known as Greyson, Dakota or Finnegan? And if they start to complain when they’re grown up you can always a throw a “well don’t get mad at us, you picked it!” back in their face.

Available now from the iTunes App Store for just $0.99.

[ Kick To Pick ] VIA [ Gizmodiva ]

iDVM Multimeter Wirelessly Connects To Your iOS Device

By Andrew Liszewski on 05/03/11 • 3 Comments

iDVM Wireless Multimeter (Images courtesy Redfish Instruments)
By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re keeping a tally, you can now add Voltmeter and Multimeter to the list of things that Apple’s iOS devices can do thanks to Redfish Instruments’ new iDVM digital multimeter. As you can see it’s completely lacking the traditional B&W LCD of your standard multimeter because it instead connects to an iOS device via an ad-hoc wireless network, using its large color screen to display measurements and readings. There’s also the added bonus of being able to keep a log of readings over time, and geo-tag where the measurements were taken making it handy for repairpersons who make service calls.

The accompanying iDVM app is available for free on the iTunes App Store right now if you’d like to take it for a spin, while the hardware is expected to shop on June 1 for $220.

[ iDVM Wireless Multimeter ]

duaLink Sync Cable Handles Two iOS Devices At Once

By Andrew Liszewski on 04/26/11 • Leave a comment!

duaLink Sync Cable (Image courtesy CableJive)
By Andrew Liszewski

I suspect the good majority of people who use an iOS device have at least a couple on hand. So instead of having to queue them up, taking turns to sync with iTunes on a single cable, the duaLink from CableJive lets you connect two iOS devices to a single USB port at the same time. Thanks to a tiny, built-in custom USB hub both devices can actually sync with iTunes at the same time too, though since they’re sharing a single USB port they’re going to take about twice as long to charge. Which also means you can forget about your iPad charging at all. But for $25.95 it at least seems like a compact solution for road warriors looking to minimize their cable clutter.

[ duaLink Sync Cable ] VIA [ Better Living Through Design ]

Barcodas App Turns Your Pantry Into A Symphony

By Andrew Liszewski on 04/25/11 • Leave a comment!

Barcodas iOS App (Images courtesy iTunes App Store)
By Andrew Liszewski

Barcodas iOS App (Images courtesy iTunes App Store)If you’re looking to do a price comparison between brick & mortar and online stores there’s a plethora of barcode scanning apps available for iOS that can help you there. But if you’re looking for a way to turn regular old barcodes into beautiful music, and I’m just going to assume the vast majority of you are, then your quest ends with a simple app called Barcodas. You’ll need a camera-equipped idevice for reading the barcodes, but once they’re ‘scanned’ in you’ll be able to hear them played back in whatever harmonic scale is most pleasing to your ears.

The results are surprisingly listenable, at least the samples they’ve chosen for the video I’ve included below are, and multiple barcodes can even be strung together to create a lengthy concerto. At the least it’s a $0.99 investment which should make your next trip to the grocery store endlessly entertaining.

[ Barcodas ] VIA [ CreativeApplications.net ]

One Single Life iOS Game Lets You Play Just Once – Attempts To Make You Truly Care About Your Character

By Andrew Liszewski on 04/18/11 • 4 Comments

One Single Life (Image courtesy iTunes App Store)
By Andrew Liszewski

One Single Life (Image courtesy iTunes App Store)Seeing a video game character die on-screen is only upsetting because it usually means you have to restart a level. There’s really no emotional connection to them besides frustration. But what if your character dying was truly the end of the game? Like forever? No continues, no extra lives, no way to try again. Would you start caring a bit more about them then?

That’s the question a game called One Single Life for iOS devices might make you ponder. As you can see in the gameplay footage below it’s another one of those ‘perfectly time your jump to make it to the next building’ games, but in this instance if you don’t, that’s the end. No more chances or do-overs. There is a Jump Simulator mode that lets you practice a level as many times as you want, but when it’s time to do it for real it’s literally do or die. If you fail, the game will never let you play again.

Throughout the game you’re also taunted with statistics about how many players die on a particular level, which adds to the stress level. And because there’s a chance you may never actually make it past the first level, it’s available for free.

[ iTunes App Store - One Single Life ] VIA [ Pocket Gamer ]

Copyright © 2013 OhGizmo!