TouchMyApps

SmugMug releases free Camera Awesome app
Kicksend lets you send up to 30 photos and files at a time on your iPhone
Bejeweled updated to v1.1, new game mode added
Apps Gone Free Roundup: Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time!, Extraction: Project Outbreak and more

SmugMug releases free Camera Awesome app

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 03:56 PM PST

SmugMug, a premium online photo sharing service, has released Camera Awesome, an impressive (and free) camera app that could put even some of the paid camera apps for the iPhone to shame. Designed with a gorgeous interface, Camera Awesome comes loaded with features, including advanced ones like a level for the horizon, or the ability to focus in one spot on your shot and set exposure in another with just a touch. A one-tap “Awesomize” button provides automatic photo enhancements, and sharing images and videos can be done with another tap, or no taps at all – simply turn on auto sharing and continue shooting while they’re sent in the background. And special effects and filters have been designed by renowned photographer Kevin Kubota, which can be purchased separately from within the app ($0.99 per preset). Camera Awesome requires iOS 4.3 or higher and you can download it now for free on the App Store. Given it’s price and feature set, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t check out the (awesome) camera app for yourself. Video trailer and PR after the break.

SmugMug, Camera Awesome, – Free

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Post tags: Camera Awesome, News, Photography, SmugMug

Kicksend lets you send up to 30 photos and files at a time on your iPhone

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 01:23 PM PST

If you’re one of the many iOS users who often wish they could quickly send a bunch of photos and videos in one shot (iOS 5 only allows up to 5 pics and 1 video to be sent per email), you definitely want to check out Kicksend — a new Dropbox-like service that makes it easy to share pictures, videos, documents and other files. With the Kicksend app installed on your iPhone, you can send out up to 30 images and various files in one go. Perhaps even more importantly, Kicksend gives you the option of sending the photos in its original state (uncompressed), and various quality settings can also be chosen if you wish.

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Bejeweled updated to v1.1, new game mode added

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 10:01 AM PST

Bejeweled, one of the few games I play religiously on my iPhone since its re-release back in December, has received its first update (v1.1). PopCap have added a new game mode called Butterflies, which plays very much like the burning letters found in Bookworm (TMA Review), but instead of falling down, the butterflies move upward toward the menacing spider after every match made. As per iTunes description:

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Apps Gone Free Roundup: Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time!, Extraction: Project Outbreak and more

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 08:44 AM PST

If you’re a fan of Chillingo’s games, you’ll be happy to know that not one, but two of their games have gone free today. First up is Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time!, the sequel to the surprise hit that was released back in 2010 (see our review). In this latest instalment, our hero Chuck travels back in time to locales like ancient Egypt and and a Samurai dojo to rid the zombies once and for all. Extraction: Project Outbreak, another great Chillingo freebie, is a pretty lookin’ top-down 3D shooter that features a unique one-finger control system, a story driven single player campaign, an assortment of weapons and 4 different game modes. Lots of worthwhile apps that have recently gone from paid –> free, so be sure to check out the complete roundup after the break.

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AppChatter.com

App Review: TurboScan by Pixoft

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 10:04 AM PST

I remember when I got my first camera phone. I thought it was great to be able to take pictures of the class list at school, notes taken in a meeting, or a schedule posted on the wall. Then, when I got a smart phone that was capable of sending emails, I could email these photos to others. I had all the information I needed at my fingertips, or so it seemed. As the cameras in smart phones and especially the iPhone have gotten better the resolution has also improved. Now, with the entrance of apps such as TurboScan by Pixoft into the iTunes App Store, you can do more than take a picture. You can actually scan documents and view them or email them as PDF’s. What a great resource to have at my fingertips. So, I downloaded the app and took it for a spin.

I was surprised how quickly the app downloaded. Could that really be it? When I launched the app, I landed on the home screen, which was blank. I hadn’t scanned anything yet. There are only the essential buttons on this page. Unless you are familiar with the app, I recommend tapping either on the gear at the top left or the “i” at the top right and then tapping on “Help.” This action will bring up a menu from which you can view tips for the best scans, as well as step-by-step instructions for scanning documents. There is a lot of information there. So, I decided to just dive in.

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There are two ways to scan a document. If you choose “Camera” from the home screen, you can scan the document simply by taking a picture of the document. The app will make its best guess as to where to borders of the page are located. You can adjust the edges of the page by moving the dots at the corners and sides. I was pleased that as I was making adjustments, the app opened another screen below the first so that I could see what I was doing. Otherwise, I would be making fine adjustments underneath my finger, which would make it impossible to get it right. The only time I found that the app had trouble finding the borders of the document on its own was when there was not a high amount of contrast between the edge of the page and the background. Both times that this occurred I was able to quickly fix the problem by manually adjusting the borders.

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(Above Left was taken with “Camera”; Above Right was taken with “SureScan 3X”)

The other option for scanning is to use the “SureScan 3X.” In this mode, you take three pictures of the document to be scanned. The app then combines the data from the three photos to make one composite picture. I tried scanning the same document using these two methods. The scan using the SureScan method was much clearer and easier to read. I even tried taking the three pictures from different angles and distances from the page. The app did not seem to have any trouble adjusting for the changes. I would highly recommend using this method for scans.

TurboScan7 200x300 App Review: TurboScan by Pixoft Once you have the right borders on your document, tap “Done” and you can move to the preview of your document. In this view, you can zoom in on the document and pan around to make sure that the words are legible, and that you captured the document in full. In the scanning that I did, I only had one instance where the text was close to the edge of the page, and I had to go back and readjust the borders so that the text didn’t get clipped. On the preview page you can also turn the document and adjust the darkness of the text. I found that for all of my scans the darkest setting made it the most the test easiest to read. Perhaps you can use a lower setting depending on how good your lighting is and how clear the text is to begin with. The last setting on this page is for color, black and white, or photo. You can choose the one that works best for your needs. I found the photos, for my taste, were the least desirable. Because I was scanning in a room with overhead lighting, all of my scans had shadows where my hand was between the light and the page. The photo mode still showed these shadows, while the others modes were able to remove them (a feature I really liked).

After the preview page, you come to a page from which you can adjust the properties of your scan. There is a pencil button at the bottom of the screen. When you tap it, you can name the document, which is helpful if you want to later search the documents to find a specific one. The app seems to search only by name. Also, from this page, you can tap on the plus button to scan additional pages of the same document to keep them all together under the same title. This feature in my mind is vitally important. It helps keep the documents organized and all the pages together in sequential order.

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When you are done scanning, there are several options for storing, sending, or printing your document. I did not try them all, but the ones that I did use worked flawlessly. I truly enjoyed using the TurboScan app. It does not have OCR, but it is great for my needs and the price is right.

TurboScan is $1.99 in the iTunes App Store.

Note: All testing was done with an iPhone 4S. Earlier versions of the iPhone may have different results.

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(Above Left: A picture of the document taken with my iPhone 4S camera; Above Right: A black and white scan of the same document using SureScan 3X and the same iPhone 4S)

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These pictures show two instances where the app did have trouble with the borders of the scan. The left picture above shows a scan of a bi-fold pamphlet. The app correctly identified the fold in the middle of the pamphlet, but incorrectly cut off the top of the paper because of the color contrast, which is easily fixed. The picture above on the right is of a receipt that was crumpled. Because it would not lay exactly flat, the app had trouble finding straight borders for the receipt. All the pertinent information is still there, though.

iScab by BEEFBRAIN

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 08:23 AM PST

iScab brings back a basic joy of childhood. Years of socialization lead us to pick our scabs in private shame and hide our cherished scab jars from friends and loved ones (What?! You DO have a scab jar don’t you?). Today, with the marvels or technology we can once again pick our scabs with pride. We can fill our scab jars to the brim. And we can do it wherever we are, whenever we want. Scab picking has entered the 21st century!

$.99

iTunes App Store

Developer Website: http://beefbrain.com

App Review: Noogra Nuts by Oren Bengigi

Posted: 26 Feb 2012 08:03 PM PST

When the game Pocket God came out, my son couldn’t get enough of cracking the coconuts on the heads of the pygmies and then watching them eat them. If you enjoyed that game, you will love this one. Noogra Nuts features a squirrel with a very hard head. He uses it to crack the shells of the nuts that are falling from the sky. Once he cracks them, he loves to eat the tasty nut inside. They are a tasty treat for this cute little guy.

Noogra Nuts8 300x200 App Review: Noogra Nuts by Oren Bengigi There are three different play modes to this game. In Classic mode you have two minutes to crack and eat as many nuts as you can. Jungle mode gives you the same 2 minute timer, but you have to watch out for a couple other things. Don’t eat the rotten nuts and don’t get run over by the large rocks. The last mode is Survival mode. It is just what you would expect with a name like that. Survive as long as you can cracking shells and eating nuts. Again, watch out for the rocks, which are falling from the sky this time, and the tumbleweed. Both of these obstacles will hurt you, and you can only take three hits before you die.

Noogra Nuts is easy to pick up and start playing. You control the squirrel’s side to side motion by tilting your device and make the squirrel jump by tapping anywhere on the screen. The goal is to stay alive and get the highest score Noogra Nuts9 300x200 App Review: Noogra Nuts by Oren Bengigi you can manage. About scores….none of the nuts crack open the first time you hit them, and the first hit only gives you one point. You would have to bop a lot of nuts this way to get a score of any consequence. The number of points earn gets higher with each time that you hit the nut. Some nuts take more hits to crack, but they yield more points as well. The highest number of points comes, as you might expect, when you actually eat the nut itself. It takes a little skill to stay under the nuts and to keep hitting them over and over. If the nut hits the ground, it is out of play. You can’t even eat nuts on the ground. No”2 second rule” for this squirrel.