Just got the new iPad last week and the plan is that this will be how I update this site. But like many, typing on the iPad is easy, but editing, especially trying to select blocks of text is quite a pain.
The video above, by YouTube user danielchasehooper, showed how he thinks Apple should implement text selection on the iPad, and I really hope Apple does that.
See the incredible, amazing and awesome super-cut of Apple’s September special event keynote address. Not every subtle are they.
… and may you recover and kick some asses again soon! FYI, Steve Jobs’ birthday was couple of days back – 24 February, 1955 to be exact.
Instead of Marilyn Monroe singing the birthday tune, let iJustine do the honors. I absolutely loves the expression of the old man behind Justine while she sang.
Kirk McElhearn’s rant on iTunes Plus upgrade policy written for Macworld probably reached the eyes of those in Cupertino. There has been a change, for the better.
As of January 28, 2009, Apple has changed their policy, and you can now upgrade individual albums or songs (if you purchased the songs on their own). I would like to think that my Macworld article had something to do with this change…
From a twitter tip by @Stroughtonsmith, you can enable zooming on maps in iPhoto ’09 with the scroll wheels or using two-finger scrolling to zoom by typing this in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.iphoto MapScrollWheel -bool YES
(via TUAW)
I love the Faces feature in iPhoto ’09 that I spent hours just trying to match photos of friends and family. And according to Jason Kaneshiro, Faces also recognises his cats and were able to identify the two cats he has. Think the pattern recognition works as long as there are clearly defined features on the subjects’ faces. So are you going to id your dogs too?
CNet did a comparison with a few of the more popular Web services that provide HD video hosting and with the availability of more affordable HD cams like Flip HD and Creative Vado HD, and applications like iMovie ’09 that comes with stabilization feature, having a good HD Web service site to host your movies will be a bonus.
Not surprisingly Youtube is named the best, not just for its low cost of FREE, but also for its good HD encoding and additional tools like adding subtitles and annotations.
Here’s a first of hopefully more reviews of iPhone applications, especially those developed here in Singapore. If you like me to review your app, do drop us an email.
TubeJunkies is a special RSS reader to make it easier for YouTube fans to keep track of their favourite videos in YouTube. Users can subscribe to video channels based on search text, youtube users, or video tags, and never miss any new videos uploaded.
Developed by Hon Cheng who had already did a few other popular apps for Singaporeans, TubeJunkies, as the name suggest, is an app to satisfy cravings for latest videos from Youtube. For example I have friends who subscribe to Taiwanese and Korean dramas that somehow find their way onto Youtube, just days after they were broadcasted.
Some of the features includes subscribing to video channels based on search texts, Youtube usernames and tags, marking viewed or not for the subscribed channels, just like a typical RSS reader.
Thanks to Hon Cheng, I was given a promo code to download his application for this review.
The first screen you see when you load the app, is a list of all subscriptions you had made. On each subscription, you will also see the name of the subscription, may it be a user name, a tag or a search term and also the number of videos yet to be viewed.
When you click on individual subscription, it will show a list of the latest 25 videos for that subscription. When you click on any video, it will load up Youtube’s mobile version of that page. Somehow, certain videos are not available on the mobile version of Youtube. For example – this video from BBC. For those that can be watched, when you click it, it will launch the built-in Youtube video player. Simple as that.
So how do you add a subscription to TubeJunkies? You can add one by searching for a keyword, a channel by a user or a particular tag. That, is also the weak point of TubeJunkies.
The search feature is limited as it only shows the result based on what you typed. If you do a search on Youtube’s website, you will get a few suggested results based on the search term. For example, if I wanted to subscribe to the video channel from BBC, there are actually more than a dozen channels from BBC. BUT, when I do the search in TubeJunkies, when i keyed in BBC and search via User type, I am automatically subscribed to the main BBC channel. So for now, to get better results, you should do your search on the Youtube website on your desktop, then add those subscriptions in TubeJunkies.
Another point is the use of the blue arrow buttons on the right of the subscriptions. I would think that blue arrow indicates progressing to the video listings, but instead it refreshes the video subscription. A different icon might better reflect its refreshing function instead.
TubeJunkies does provide the missing function from Apple’s Youtube player – the ability to subscribe to videos channels and search results. If future updates come with better search functions, then TubeJunkies will certainly be a godsend that will satisfy the craving of these junkies!
The app is available now in the App Store at US$5.99 now.
Though small in number, the iPhone app developers here in Singapore are releasing a good number of applications that are of quality and useful for Singaporeans. Some apps developed here are also of global appeal.
Here are a few that were updated and/or released in the past week.
TubeJunkies is a special RSS reader to make it easier for YouTube fans to keep track of their favourite videos in YouTube. Users can subscribe to video channels based on search text, youtube users, or video tags, and never miss any new videos uploaded.
TubeJunkies is another app from local developer Muh Hon Cheng who also did SG Buses, SG Trains and SG ERP.
Some of the features includes subscribing to video channels based on search texts, Youtube usernames and tags, marking viewed or not for the subscribed channels, just like a typical RSS reader. Do read more about the app here
Note that viewing of the Youtube videos is via streaming over WIFI or 3G/Edge. The app is available now in the App Store at US$5.99. A more detailed review of the TubeJunkies after I try it out.
Ask any Singaporeans what they do more than sleeping, the answer will probably be eating. Its surprisingly that we are not up there with the most obese nations. Furthermore we are quite discerning when it comes to food – people follows TV programs that showcase popular food stores religiously. That’s where BuUuk comes in (how do you pronounce that?)
The app contains listing of over 4,000 food and drink locations in Singapore and allows you to search nearby places (location-aware) for your next meal or drink. Easy to use ranking and reviews feature by users of the app gives you a quick overview before even stepping into the place.
A big plus of the app is the Offers section that they work with outlets to provide discounts when you flash your iPhone with the coupon. However, a downer for iPod Touch users is that if you are not connected via WIFI at the joint, you can’t get the coupon as the app will not work. The use-cache-if-no-network seems to fail for me as the app will auto-shutdown.
For social-networking loving people, you can link BuUuk to connect to your Twitter account and it will crosspost whenever you rate a place or drop a quick review. It also allows you to snap and share photos of the food or place. Lastly, with the 2.1 update, you can also keep bookmarks of the places you found in BuUuk, which is a god-send for forgetful people like me.
One thing this app will need is more Singaporeans to rate the eating place for the database to make any sense. So why wait? Next time you have a meal or a drink, just pop BuUuk and make a quick review. Best of all, BuUuk is available for FREE at the App Store.
The Straits Times is Singapore’s main English paper in circulation and its no surprise to see it popping up in the App Store (though much slower than Today)
As a mobile news reader, its interface is clean, easy and fast to navigate around the various sections and individual story of the paper. Turn your iPhone horizontally, and it automatically switches to a bigger font, making it easier to read. You can also bookmark individual news article for further reading.
Functions aside, I have a little bone to pick. The use of the serif font (Times Roman?) for the display of news articles, makes it looks just a bit old fashion, somewhat 1980s. Maybe its me, but comparatively, the use of Georgia for the New York Times app makes the news article looks better.
Another thing I didn’t like was the ad bar at the bottom of the page, which took up almost 20% of the screen space, which is by itself already quite limited. What’s worse is they are currently linked to ST’s own static one page ad, Razor TV’s static ad and lastly, an almost non-functional STOMP page. face palm
Thankfully, the fast download makes it useful for a quick sync-and-dash to read while you are offline. All-in-all, a pretty good first attempt for fuss-free reading of the latest news and reports from the local broadsheet. Grab it at the “App Store”: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=301065357&mt=8 now.
So say this new app from Junda Ong – he who gave us the must-have SG Toto and SG 4D.
Its main objective is to motivate you to go out and donate blood to the blood bank. It has a calendar listing all upcoming Bloodmobile locations, a calculator to show you when you can next donate blood, contacts for blood donation centres in Singapore and also a simple FAQ about blood donation.
I like its simplicity and its message of this app. Blood is precious and there is always a need for blood donation in Singapore for whatever emergencies. One thing I hope to see improved is the Show Map feature. It loads up a Google Map page which made the real estate for the map reduced to just 60% of the available space. It should load just the map without the Google Map interface, with the pin on the exact location if possible.
Another suggestion that will improve the app is if possible, there should also be a Add-To-iCal button on each event detail page so that one can add that to our schedule.
So do support our local developers to do more and better quality apps and maybe one will strike gold.
