iOS - page 36

When going out in the evening, I don’t need all my shopping loyalty cards, my library card, or stacks of other such plastic ephemera mucking up the smooth line of my pockets, so I tend to opt for a less is more approach: my debit card, my ID, and a couple of dollars in cash.

I’ve always wanted a way to carry these few things together with my iPhone, foregoing wallet altogether for a unified experience, but have always found other wallet cases too bulky or restricting.

PureGear’s FabFolio, however, reaches that delicate balance between useful, good-looking, and thin. It’s definitely worth a spin in your pocket if you’re looking for something to fill a similar need.

Music streaming service Deezer has today announced that it now has more than 5 million paid subscribers worldwide, and it’s launching a new native Mac app that will improve the Deezer experience on your desktop. The app will sync with your existing iTunes library, and it will allow you to store music locally for offline access.

Spotify for iOS has today been handed another new update with several nice improvements. In addition to adding artist tour details, it brings a much-improved search function, support for the Japanese language, and lots of bug fixes.

In more welcome airport-related news than the reports that Apple’s Maps app steers people the wrong way across Fairbanks Airport taxiway, Apple has released an update (version 1.3.3) of its AirPort Utility — the app which allows you to manage your Wi-Fi base stations, including AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule, from the comfort of your iOS device.

If you believe the reports, Apple is currently working on a way of charging iOS devices using solar panels. If you’re not content to wait, however, and want a quick-and-easy means of charging your iPhone or iPad right now, you might want to consider investing in this Indiegogo crowd funding campaign to create a mobile wireless charging solution for Apple products.

Based on the increasingly popular Qi inductive electrical power transfer system, iQi Mobile Wireless is set to bring true, low-cost wireless charging to iOS device. This is done without the fuss of plugging and unplugging wires, since charging is achieved simply by placing your iPhone or iPad on a Koolpuck charger.

Roz Hall is a UK-based artist who employs his iPad as a canvas to create some stunning portraits.

Hall wasn’t always a painter with pixels: he studied Fine Art at the Winchester School of art and is currently at work on a Master’s of Fine Art at the University of Chichester.

He’s worked as a filmmaker and in video production, but his main love since 2010 has been painting, at first on the iPhone, and now on the iPad.

This father, student and self-described beard enthusiast told Cult of Mac about his artwork, the perks of tablet painting and why naked Apple devices are best.

Cult of Mac: What apps do you use, and why? Any apps you started using but don’t anymore? What’s the evolution of your process?

Roz Hall: My two favorite apps are Procreate and Inkpad, and I use them both for two very different things. Procreate is great for recreating that paint or ink feel as it has some wonderful brushes, which are completely customizable if you wish. Inkpad is a vector app, like a stripped down version of Illustrator, but very intuitive to use and awesome if you want to print off something really large! I used to use Sketchbook Pro as it’s a very advanced app and lovely to use, but I feel like the brushes are a little small and I like to start out with a large brush to block in shapes. I prefer to stick to a single brush type for each painting and just adjust the size and opacity, this probably comes from my background as a traditional artist.

CoM: What device do you use? Why? Any covers, cases, or peripherals you prefer?

RH: I started painting on my iPhone 3G but upgraded to the iPad and am now on the 3rd Generation iPad. The screen size is perfect, small enough to paint with on the train without drawing too much attention, and large enough to not feel restricted. I mainly just use my finger but have used a few different styluses.

My current favourite is the Sensu Brush, which has a small rubber tip on one side and an actual brush on the other. I was genuinely surprised at how natural that would feel, as I’d thought it sounded like a gimmick. I have played with a couple that offer pressure sensitivity but couldn’t get on with them, although the new JOT Touch looks promising. I like to have my Apple gear fairly naked as it feels criminal to cover them up, so I just have my iPad in its Smart Cover.

CoM: How do you sell you art work? What are the unique challenges of creating commercially viable artwork on a digital device? The unique rewards?

RH: I have sold a few postcards on Zazzle and have painted a couple of commissions, but apart from that I don’t see it as a hugely commercial venture. I won’t be quitting my day job quite yet. Companies have send hardware to me to use and blog about, including tablets, which is a huge perk.

I was recently flown to New York to attend the launch of the Microsoft Surface 2 and to demonstrate to the press. So if you’re reading this, Apple, I’m available! The art community is getting less suspicious of digital art with artists such as Tracey Emin and David Hockney producing work on the iPad, which is making it easier to get work into serious galleries.

CoM: How do you exhibit your work?

RH: I am fortunate enough to have had work exhibited across the globe but the format changes depending on the gallery requirements. Some like to have your work printed and framed traditionally, where as others like to project or display using LCD screens. The Saatchi Gallery in London exhibited some of my portraits on a large LCD screen but had it in landscape mode, which didn’t look good at all. I have just started to get pieces printed onto perspex glass, it looks gorgeous as the colors are really strong and the glossy look mimics that of the iPad screen.

CoM: What kind of community to you belong to or facilitate for digital artists? Is there an “I make art on an iPad” group you hang out with?

RH: When I started out painting on the iPhone, I got myself a Flickr account and posted them up there. The reaction was incredible and immediate!

That’s what I love about creating work digitally. I have oil paintings which have been seen by maybe five or six people and now just sit in my attic, but when I paint on the iPad, I post up to Flickr and can get 500-600 views in a day. Flickr has a strong community of mobile digital artists, who mainly share their work in groups dedicated to different hardware and apps.

Good ones to check out are iAMDA (The International Association of Mobile Digital Artists), iPad Creative, iPad Art and Fingerpainted. Facebook has iPad Artists and iPad painters Groups, which are great places to share tips and comment on each others work.

CoM: Any advice for artists looking to work on the iPad or other devices? Would you recommend it to new artists?

RH: Painting is a hobby of mine. I have a full-time job, a growing family and I’m studying part time, so if I get an opportunity to paint, I have to be quick. Using the iPad means that I can paint wherever I am and whenever I have a free few minutes. You don’t need to have a room set up with canvases and an easel permanently taking up space. It’s inexpensive too, after the initial hit of the hardware itself, you can realistically paint for as long as you like without having to order in new paint…

You can check out more of Roz’s work at his website.

Keeping tabs on your brood this Halloween? Sure, you could use Apple’s Find My Friends. But it doesn’t have as many cool features as these two new apps, and it also can’t track Android phones — while these two apps can.

Worldwide smartphones shipments reached a whopping 251.4 million units during the third quarter of 2013, up 45% from the 172.8 million units sold during the same quarter last year, and 81.3% of them were running Android. The iPhone’s share fell to 13.4%, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform reached 4.1% — an improvement over last year’s 2.1% share.

Unofficial iDevice chargers have taken the form of everything from the hand crank to to the camp stove, and now it seems that Apple is getting in on the act too by taking out a patent for portable solar panel chargers. The patent application — filed with the US Patents & Trademark Office — details a power management system incorporating a solar panel accessory, compatible with both Macs and iDevices, and potentially attached by way of a USB connection. By turning solar energy into electricity, this could then be used to charge future iPhones or MacBooks without the need for a mains power charger.

Just over a week after 2K announced there would be a sequel to their turn-based strategy dogfighting game Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol, we now have details about pricing and release date, along with a wee screen shot to whet our appetites.

Twitter has released an update for its iOS and Android apps today that adds the ability to preview video and photos directly in your timeline.

Users can now view a preview of Twitter photos and Vine videos in your home timeline without having to tap out of the main feed. You can still view a full screen version of photos and videos by tapping on the image. While the update may seem minor, it opens the door for users to try new forms of tweeting – like posting a picture with no commentary that’s automatically previewed in your timeline – but only as long as other tweeters are using its homegrown app.

If you hate the new preview feature you can simply turn it off in Settings. Twitter also updated its UI so that users can easily reply, retweet, favorite, or follow someone directly from a tweet in your timeline.

Here’s a Vine from Twitter showcasing the new features:

Have you ever wanted to copy and send files to and from your Mac at any time…and from any device? Cult of Mac Deals has got you covered – thanks to Spotdox.

With Spotdox, you can access any file on your Mac from anywhere. Spotdox is an add on for Dropbox that gives you remote access to all of your files, any time, from any device so you’ll never get stuck without that important file or folder again. And Cult of Mac Deals is offering Spotdox for life for only $19 – a savings of 66% – during this limited time offer.

If you thought BBM was going to be a massive flop on Android and iOS, then you thought wrong. BlackBerry has today announced that the service has added 20 million active users since making its debut on the two rival platforms, taking its total number of monthly active users across Android, iOS, and BlackBerry to 80 million.

A Google smartwatch powered by Android with built-in Google Now is in the late stages of development, according to people familiar with the matter, who have been speaking to The Wall Street Journal. Google is now in talks with Asian suppliers, which could begin mass producing the device “within months.”

Isn’t it frustrating when you spend your whole weekend trying to reach the top of the Game Center leaderboard in your favorite game just to find that the top spot has already been claimed by a cheat, whose score couldn’t possibly be beaten by playing the game properly?

Unfortunately, it’s a common problem because Game Center has long been far too easy to hack. But Apple has finally done something about it. Developers now have the power to delete fake Game Center scores and block gamers who persistently cheat.

Back in 2010, when the idea of the iPhone as a great gaming device was generally scoffed at, the game developer dudes at One Man Left offered up an instant classic called Tilt To Live. It didn’t try to minimize the iPhone’s weaknesses; instead, this brilliant little gem seemed like it was built specifically for the iPhone, and perfectly harnessed its strengths. The result was a beautifully addictive game that had the player frantically twisting and tilting the iPhone in order to both survive and destroy a horde of menacing…dots. Yes, dots.

Now, over three years and one strategy game later, One man Left is finally revealing details, in the form of a short video, about their the ridiculously titled Tilt To Live sequel — Tilt To Live 2: Redonkulous.

The arrival of iOS 7 has not only demonstrated a whole new look to Apple’s mobile platforms, but also new opportunities for exceptional design. So if you’ve got a great app idea for this beautiful new platform, but your design skills leave a lot to be desired then Cult of Mac Deals a deal for you.

This deal is for some stellar templates that will give even the most aesthetically challenged app creator the ability to make a great-looking iOS 7 app. And you can get your hands on these 7 templates for only $29.99 – a savings of 94%!

Pocket Casts, now my favorite podcast management client for iOS, now supports the new 64-bit A7 processor built into the iPhone 5s and the new iPads, thanks to its latest update that’s available to download today. The release also brings back the ability to skip back and forth between podcasts by tapping artwork, unplayed episode counts, podcast sorting, and more.

BlackBerry has now done away with its waiting list for BBM on Android and iOS, allowing new users to begin using the messaging service right after they’ve signed up. The Canadian company has also promised new features in future updates, including Channels, BBM Voice, and BBM Video.

Understandably, the latest point-oh release of iOS always ships with quite a few bugs. Hey, it’s complicated making an operating system for millions of devices, things break! Almost invariably, though, there is one particular bug that repeats itself every year: an Daylight Savings Time bug that comes up time after time after time after time.

Guess what? iOS 7 has a Daylight Savings Time bug too.

IPhoto 2.0 for iOS has two amazing new features that no other photo editing has, nor will have for the foreseeable future: It can write its edits directly back to the iOS Camera Roll, and it can delete photos from the Camera Roll. This pretty much means you can now do all your photo organizing right from the app.

Federico Viticci, the sleepy-eyed sexpot founder of Mac Stories, made this discovery by the unusual means of actually reading the release notes of the app. And thank God he did, because it makes iPhoto around a zillion times more useful.

Tweetbot, the immensely popular Twitter client from Tapbots, finally got its long-awaited iOS 7 update yesterday, introducing a beautiful new design for iPhone. Unsurprisingly, it’s been a massive success so far, and less than 24 hours on, it’s already the top paid app in 35 countries.

While Apple’s iLife and iWork software suites are considerably cheaper than competing products from rival companies, there’s still a bunch of people who would rather download them illegally than have to fork out the $20 fee for each app. And believe it or not, those who do will get a free upgrade to the latest versions direct from Apple.

When the Cupertino company pushed out its latest OS X apps following the iPad event earlier this week, anyone who had already installed the apps on their Mac was entitled to the latest version for free — even if the were using trial software, or they had downloaded the apps illegally.

Apple knows this, and it says it wasn’t just a bug. It also accepts that it’s easy to pirate its software — but it would rather trust you not to than implement some cumbersome anti-piracy feature.

Star Wars® fans…you’re going to be excited about this one.

Cult of Mac Deals doesn’t usually offer iOS games, but today is a different story — especially when we get to showcase one of the most popular iPad games on the market at 50% off. That’s right. You can now own one of the greatest role-playing games of all time – Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ – to play on your iPad. And you can own it for only $4.99.

After finally getting BBM on your iPhone this week, you may have upgraded to iOS 7.0.3 to find it no longer works properly. One of the fonts BlackBerry uses in its app is no longer supported by Apple, causing the app to crash when you open existing chats. But there is a way around it.