Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Reviews, Developer, iPhone, Graphic Design, SDK, iPod touch

Part of my work requires me to mock up iPhone apps, often to show developers how I would redesign a user interface to work better than something they've come up with. Over the past few months, a number of paper sketchbooks have appeared on the market, all designed expressly for this purpose. I decided to try out all of the sketchbooks that I could find in a cursory Google search, just to see which one would work best for me. Of course, that meant that I had to write a review!

The three products I discovered and tested were App Sketchbook (US$16.99), iPhone Application Sketch Book (US$14.99), and The Developer Sketchbook for iPhone Apps (US$19.99). All of them are designed for the same reason, to let iPhone devs or business analysts describe how they want an application's user interface to look. Follow along as I take a look at these three sketchbooks, as well as a metal stencil template for drawing UI elements.

Continue reading Mega-super TUAW shootout of the iPhone UI sketchbooks

TUAWMega-super TUAW shootout of the iPhone UI sketchbooks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Available In: App Store

Price: Free

Yesterday Wikitude, a Wikipedia augmented reality application, hit the App Store. A quick wiki definition of Augmented Reality – “a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with-, or augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a mixed reality”

Augment your world with the Wikitude World Browser, the acclaimed android application is now finally available on the iPhone. See the world through your phone’s camera view overlaid with Wikipedia content, Qype reviews and user-generated content from Wikitude.me (www.wikitude.me)

The WIKITUDE World Browser presents the user with data about their surroundings, nearby landmarks, and other points of interest by overlaying information on the screen of the iPhone.

Remember, like with all augumented reality applications, Wikitude is only available for the iPhone 3GS. It also requires 3.1 firmware. Check out the App Store Description below for more info.

ScreenShots

App Store Description:

Augment your world with the Wikitude World Browser, the acclaimed android application is now finally available on the iPhone. See the world through your phone’s camera view overlaid with Wikipedia content, Qype reviews and user-generated content from Wikitude.me (www.wikitude.me)

The WIKITUDE World Browser presents the user with data about their surroundings, nearby landmarks, and other points of interest by overlaying information on the screen of the iPhone.

FEATURES:

* Points of Interest (POIs) are displayed on your phone’s camera view;
* Each POI displays a short summary of information within a “text-bubble”;
* A radar-overlay displays the users current viewing direction and POIs within a specified radius;
* AR content overlays can be selected to filter which content channel the user would like to view;
* Categories can be used to filter the content;
* The distance slider allows you to filter POIs based on your distance and proximity to the POI;
* A freeze feature enables users to pause the current AR content overlay;
* A search feature enables users to search for specific Content;
* POIs can also be displayed in a list view given access to a more detailed description of a POI or access to an entire article through a hyperlink.

Supported languages: English and German

Requires iPhone OS 3.1

ngmoco ha pubblicato un nuovo tearer video del gioco Eliminate.

In questo caso vengono mostrate varie armi che avremo a disposizione in questo FPS multiplayer online.

Maggiori info qui.

Un po’ di tempo fa vi avevamo parlato di iSimulate, un’applicazione per iPhone e iPod Touch molto utile per tutti gli sviluppatori, in quanto permette di colmare alcune lacune dell’iPhone Simulator, come l’utilizzo del multi-touch e l’accelerometro.

L’applicazione ora si è aggiornata alla versione 1.1 ed aggiunge i seguenti miglioramenti:

• Video Streaming, ora potremo vedere sul nostro dispositivo qualsiasi cosa accade nell’iPhone Simulator. Potremo così dare dei comandi più precisi alla nostra applicazione. Questa opzione è disattivata di default, basterà andare nelle opzioni e selezionare un frame rate con cui vorremo ricevere i dati dall’iPhone Simulator.
• Notifica orientamento, ruotando il nostro dispositivo verrà inviata una notifica all’iPhone Simulator, che di conseguenza ruoterà anche sul Mac.
• Indicatore Touch Personalizzabile, potremo personalizzare l’immagine che viene utilizzata quando si esegue un tocco. Al posto del classico pallino grigio potremo inserire una nostra immagine, semplicemente inserendo nel progetto un file con il nome “isimulate-touch.png”. È possibile, inoltre, settare differenti immagini per ogni dito che viene premuto sullo schermo.

iSimulate è disponibile in AppStore a questo indirizzo, e costa 25,49 €.

Filed under: iTunes, Software Update, Apple, iPhone

Okay kids, this is starting to get a little out of hand now. Palm has once again pushed back at Apple, releasing webOS 1.2.1 today that "resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with the latest version of iTunes." What's that issue, you might ask? Well, I'd say the fact that Apple isn't too happy that Palm is breaking all sorts of rules to make their device appear as an iPhone.

It all started back in May, when it was determined that plugging a Palm Pre into a Mac will allow it to sync content with iTunes with no issues. This honeymoon period didn't last too long and once Apple figured out what was going on, Apple swiftly released an update to iTunes that prevented syncing from non-Apple devices.

Apparently, that wasn't good enough for Palm and it was determined that they were trying to make the Pre appear to be an Apple device when it was plugged in for syncing. Palm turned around and released yet another webOS update that fixed the sync and it worked well until the USB-IF got involved and sided with Apple, telling Palm they had to cease and desist.

Looks like Palm is back on the attack and this latest release is sure to stir up the pot once again.

TUAWPalm webOS 1.2.1 fixes iTunes sync... again originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Su Cydia è disponibile la nuova versione di ATLAS.sid, il software free di navigazione satellitare

Ricordiamo che ATLAS.sid è un software di navigazione GPS completo di ricerca indirizzo calcolo percorso. Trovate la nostra recensione qui.

Last week Mac4Ever reported that Apple is working on a new Mouse with touch-sensitive areas capable of “complex movements”, later this week AppleInsider also included details of a new mouse which is expected to debut alongside new iMacs in the coming weeks.

AppleInsider notes that building upon patent applications stretching back to 2006 Apple intends to remove the scroll ball from the current Mighty Mouse and include a scrolling area sensitive to the touch of user. Additionally the familiar white plastic is expected to be removed in favour of an aluminium finish, clashing with Mac4Ever’s report from earlier in the week.

On top of these rumours Engadget points towards filings by Apple with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking approval for new Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The new keyboard and mouse are identified by new model numbers of A1314 and A1296 and the dimensions in the reports would suggest that the new keyboard is even smaller than the current.

The collaboration of rumours and FCC filings would suggest a near imminent release of the new keyboard and mouse which is expected to be alongside new iMac, Mac mini and MacBook computers.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Reviews, Retro Mac

If there's one Mac application that has seemingly been around forever, it's StuffIt. This compression and archiving utility was the tool to use for compressing files years ago, and I'll still occasionally run into a .sit file extension when pulling up old files. The original application was the source of a bit of Mac folklore, as it was developed and supported for quite a while by a young student by the name of Raymond Lau.

Mac OS X did its best to kill off StuffIt by adding built-in support for Zip compression, but the utility has continued to flourish over the years. During the last week, Smith Micro released the newest version of the application, StuffIt Deluxe 2010 (US$79.95, with an introductory price of US$29.95 through October 15, 2009).

Since compression has been part of Mac OS X for quite a while, you might think that this application would have limited usefulness. Smith Micro is spinning StuffIt Deluxe 2010 as a better way to share large files over the Internet. How does it work? Read on, my friends...

Continue reading TUAW Review: StuffIt Deluxe 2010

TUAWTUAW Review: StuffIt Deluxe 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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