Let’s get two big facts out the way right now: Yes, these Scosche IEM856m canalphones ($250) look a little like several of the canalphones in Monster’s lineup (eg. the Beats Tour), mostly because of the flat, ribbon-like cable; no, they’re not anything like any of the Monster earphones they somewhat resemble. In fact, one big detail makes them very different from almost any other IEM on the market.
Do you really need to spend a lot of money to get grade-A photo-editing tricks? Apparently not. With Snapheal ($20), developer MacPhun has taken arguably the coolest Photoshop feature in recent years, made it dead-easy to use and packaged it with all the basic photo-editing tools you’ll need — and more. And all for a fraction of what it should cost.
As a photographer and podcaster, I’m a big Joby fan. Their tripods are generally high quality, incredibly flexible, and as functional as they are fun. The Joby GorillaMobile Tripod for the iPhone 4/4S ($40) is definitely worthy of much the same praise, but an issue I have with its build quality and price leave me with a raised eyebrow.
Shared Paper is a lovely iPad app for making and sharing presentations on a huge scrollable canvas.
Solar Walk is an excellent educational app about space and everything in it. With Earth as your home base, you wander the Solar System, cruising the planets and moons and making discoveries along the way.
Now, I’m no audiophile — I don’t buy speakers made from rare woods and rich leathers — but I know what I like, and I like the Fanny Wang On-Ear Headphones ($170).
Originally released around last year’s CES, the Fanny Wang On-Ear Wangs, from sound to design, were built to compete squarely with the Dr. Dre Beats Solo On-Ear Headphones ($200) by Monster. So do they make the cut? Or are they wiggity wiggity wack?
It could easily be imagined that the bookbinding industry is struggling to survive these days. As books cross over in ever-increasing numbers into the digital world, the demand for physical books have disappeared — and with it, the niche crafts that help create them. Ironic, then, that what’s breathing life into the industry now is that which began to kill it: e-books, e-readers and tablets (and in this case, the iPad 2 specifically).
Like the FieldFolio case Killian reviewed last week, Pad & Quill’s Contega Case for iPad 2 ($90) is a devilishly handsome iPad case that harnesses the mystic craft of bookbinding to create a stylish book-like home for the iPad 2. Unlike the FieldFolio though, Pad & Quill has given the Contega a large dose of practicality.
The Olloclip ($70) is a clip-on device for iPhone 4 and 4S which gives the built-in camera lens a little more flexibility for wide angle and close-up shots.
It includes three lenses. At one end, the largest of the three is the fisheye. At the other end you have a general-purpose wide angle. Unscrew this, and you uncover a tiny macro lens nestling underneath.
Flipboard released its official iPhone app last night. Many users were frustrated initially with error messages during installation and adding services.
The initial surge in traffic caused Flipboard’s servers to buckle under the strain, but the app came back online for most people this morning and it’s been working fine for me since. After playing with Flipboard on the iPhone, I love the way that it aggregates my news and social network feeds into a personalized magazine. The future of media consumption is here, and it’s all about curation.
Photo Toaster is a photo editor for iPad, packed with features and on sale now at a bargain price.
Say hello to Voice Actions. She’ll say hello right back.
Voice Actions is a basic Siri alternative, available right now in the iOS App Store.
The FieldFolio case ($70) for iPad 2 is an innovative case that’s inspired by classic cloth-bound notebooks. It’s manufactured by hand from recycled board and cotton-blend bookbinding linens, and traditionally bound just like a real book. But instead of paper inside it, you’ll find a custom-fit cradle that houses your iPad.
Review by Jordan Trimas
The Seagate GoFlex Slim Performance Hard Drive ($100) is a compact, sleek, and fashionable storage accessory good for both Mac and PC users. If you’re looking for a sexy and functional piece of computer candy, the GoFlex Slim is the Prada of portable storage solutions.
There are many other development tools available besides the free copy of Xcode that comes with every Mac. LiveCode 5 (starts at $99; $49 for upgrades), a development tool running on Mac OS X and other operating systems from RunRev, gets it inspiration from the programming language HyperTalk. It is designed with an intuitive user interface to make application development easier using a language that uses an understandable English-like syntax. You can use it to create your own iOS apps.
Outside my local Apple Store in Bath
DerManDar is a cute three-dollar panoramic photography app for iPhone, and it produces some lovely pictures.
It works like this: you hold the phone vertically, and turn slowly on the spot. The app takes snaps for you (you don’t need to hit the shutter button for each one) then stitches them together into an elongated panoramic view.
Raven is a new browser for OS X (Snow Leopard and Lion), currently in beta. What sets it apart from the rest is a sleeker appearance, and a Twitter-esque side panel called the Smart Bar.
Sure, the 32GB iPad has enough storage space for a bunch of apps, some songs and maybe even a movie or two. But for those of us with large media collections, even the mega 64GB version will start to feel a little cramped when stuffed full of music and videos (and I have no idea how those of you with 16GB iPads get by).
So, what if you could just stick a portable external drive into your iPad, like you would with a MacBook? Bam, extra storage! Well, yeah — but you can’t, right? Wrong! Well, sorta — you can’t plug one in physically; but the 500GB Seagate GoFlex Satellite ($200) gets around the whole physical connection thing by supplying its own wifi hotspot that lets you create a wifi link between it and your iPad. Genius.
One of the biggest customer complaints about the iPhone 4S is battery life. The battery never manages to last even a whole day and sometimes not even a half of a day. Although the iPhone 4 has always managed to last nearly a whole day, it isn’t much better. Apple is working on an iOS 5 software fix that might eventually take care of the battery draining issues that face iPhone 4S customers. Their first attempt, the release of iOS 5.0.1, wasn’t much help for some users.
If you cannot wait any longer and you own either of these phones one solution could be the MiLi Power Pack 4 ($60) from xengadget.com. The 3000 mAh slider case will give your iPhone 4 or 4S the extra power boost it needs to last until bed time. I tested it on my iPhone 4S and I’d like to share my experience with you.
Review by Kelly Keltner
Many headsets promise a headset utopia, making smartphone users’ heads fill with visions of commanding their world with a simple voice command.
The Plantronics Marque M155 ($60) and the Motorola HX550 ($60) both make similar promises, with the HX550’s packaging going as far as to promise a “complete hands-free solution.” Both headsets offer liberation from holding the phone, but how do these midrange ‘sets match up to the marketing promises — or the abilities of their more expensive siblings?
Weathermob is new and hip on the App Store this week. It’s a weather app with a twist – it’s social. Think of it as Instagram for clouds. Kinda.
This is iF Poems, a new educational app aimed at children, but with much to offer to grown-ups too.
Onmaway is a location sharing app designed to let you concentrate on your travels, rather than interrupting them to tell everyone where you are.
Simplier is a very simple $3 music player for people who just want to hear some tunes without having to trudge through the hassle of opening and browsing inside iTunes.
The revamped Google Search app for iOS, which we reported on yesterday, is a huge improvement on what went before.
Fotopedia Japan is a lovely photographic tour of modern Japan, available for free right now on the iOS App Store.