iPod

If you are of my generation, you saw the rise of the video arcade and home video gaming while growing up. Suddenly we noticed dust gathering on the old pinball game machines in the arcades as they were being replaced by these upright video game machines in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many of them bore the name "Atari" on them. At the same time, a little machine called the Atari 2600 (actually at the time, I believe it was simply called the Atari VCS (Video Computer System)) which allowed you to play video games with your home television set (be it color or black and white).

You can play many of those titles from the arcade and Atari 2600 on your iOS device with the universal app called Atari's Greatest Hits - Atari (App Store affiliate link). For a limited time, you can get the complete 99-game pack (in-app purchase) for FREE. It is only available on August 31-September 1, 2012 in your local timezone. So act fast if you want it (I just discovered it myself now).

This Labor Day Weekend, the Peterson Birds of North America by Appweavers Inc. (App Store affiliate link) universal iOS app is on sale again for only 99¢ (normally $14.99 USD, at one time it was $29.99). Whether you are a photographer who shoots birds or a bird watcher or just someone that appreciates nature and our feathered friends, you will want to check out this in-depth app that helps you identify, learn about, and track the birds you see around you.

Many iOS app developers are offering free or discounted apps this weekend in celebration of Halloween. One of which is IncrediBooth. As the name implies, it is a photo-booth type of app. It takes a series of photos using the front facing camera of the iPhone 4/4S, iPad 2, or iPod touch 4th generation using different filters.

The app is free this weekend (normally 99¢ USD - App Store link: IncrediBooth - Synthetic Corp) and it includes the "Cowboy Booth" set of filters (4 variations). You can purchase other booths (filters) including a special one just in time for Halloween called Haus O' Haunt Booth (for iOS 5). This filter pack and other ones are available as in-app purchases for 99¢ each. They are completely optional of course.

Thank you, Steve Jobs. Here's to the crazy ones… Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Think Different.

I had come home from a wake of a long time friend of mine. His death was sudden and unexpected. I was in disbelief that we lost him so quickly. It wasn't long after I checked Google+ to see what was going on while I was away and to distract my attention from the loss of a friend. To my surprise, there it was... people posting story after story about Steve Jobs. Just returning from my good friend's wake and knowing Steve Jobs' health had been declining for some years now, I feared the worst.

Last Friday's release of The Sonic Newsdriver episode (20110708) did not show up in The Sonic Newsdriver Companion App on that day due to a technical problem on how episodes are synced to the app. We have been trying to resolve the issue since, but until then, the new episode was manually added to the app today. Unfortunately, now the app is reporting that there are "No Episodes Found." This is obviously an error somewhere. We hope to have it resolved ASAP.

All the previous episodes and last Friday's new episode should be appearing back in the companion app soon. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Although I have many, one iOS app not yet in my photography tool box is Filterstorm (App Store link). It has been highly recommended (especially in the Instagram community) by others and it has been on my 'want list' for some time now. Well, if you needed an excuse to buy it now (perhaps such as myself), it is has recently been upgraded to 3.0. The upgrade features a new interface along with some new features. It will be interesting to see how this app compares with other full featured photography post processing apps on the iOS such as PhotoForge2 and Photo fx (App Store links) among many others of course. It looks to be more similar to the former than the latter. Despite its name, I don't believe it is what we would call a photo filter app on iOS today. To my understanding it considers adjustments to exposure, color correction, sharpening, etc. as filters (as opposed to more artistic filters such as those in Instagram and others). It is now on sale in the App Store for half off (currently $1.99 from $3.99) for June 23-24, 2011.

Often I am asked which apps I use to do produce the images I do using just an iPhone. I decided to collect some of the apps I go to most for my iPhone photography at this time and list them here with some comments on each.

So you just got a new iPhone and you want to learn all the ins and outs of it? Or perhaps, you had an iPhone for some time, but you still feel like a newbie? Even for long time users, sometimes it is easy to forget the basics or not keep up with changes that each new iOS brings when it is upgraded.

Now you can have iPhone lessons right in your pocket... right on your iPhone. Your instructor is Worth Godwin. The app is the Video Training Course for iPhone (App Store link).

The popular 3rd party camera app for the iOS, Camera+ (App Store link) has been updated. Among some of the updated enhancements is a new feature called, 'Clarity.' While it seems like it is being trumped as a one button fix-all for all your bad photos, I would not be so quick to use it blindly. Like with any other post-processing feature for your images, you will want to compare the results you get from using it first. It is possible that while it may add 'clarity' to a photo, it may also affect the contrast and shadow elements as well.

The GetGlue app (from AdaptiveBlue) for iPhone and iPod touch has been updated and with it, it has a newly enhanced user interface and more. (See my previous article, Get Glued on GetGlue for more details on GetGlue). In addition to the user interface refresh, which is a quite welcomed refresh, it also now allows you to check into "sports" in addition to the previous categories already available such as television, movies, books, music, wine, etc. Also it now offers Foursquare location check-in integration as well (unfortunately, Gowalla is not also offered as an option as well).

The Doctor Who: Podshock Podcast Companion App has been updated to version 1.1.1 and is now available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

The update should address a bug that may had prevented you from seeing episodes (podcast episodes and exclusives) appearing on your screen on the iPad. A couple other bugs were addressed as well.

To learn more about the app, see: Don't Miss an Episode with the DW Podshock Companion App for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

While it may be okay to use the digital zoom in the iPhone 4 in an emergency situation, we all know that optical zoom works best with cameras. In the case with the iPhone or other mobile phones or cameras without any optical zoom, you may do better not touching the digital zoom and just crop the image later and/or enlarge the area of the photo you want to zoom into later on using photo editing software (be it on your desktop or your mobile device).

DW Podshock Podcast Companion App - Episode 02
Exclusive App Episode
Running Time: 0:34:48

In this bonus exclusive episode for the DW Podshock Podcast Companion App we include a segment from the Q&A session with Daphne Ashbrook (Grace from the 1996 Doctor Who movie) from last month's 25th anniversary event for the Gallifreyan Embassy. The complete interview and Q&A from the event is included in Doctor Who: Podshock 229 - Extra Edition. Plus Ken and Louis talk about the origins of the Gallifreyan Embassy, and more.

Hosted by Louis Trapani ( @LouisTrapani ) and Ken Deep ( @kendeep ).

This episode appears in the "Exclusives" section of the app.

Note: The app is currently only available for the Apple iOS (iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad), there is an Android version in the works. Currently there is a bug in the iPad version in which prevents the episodes from being listed, they appear blank (in both the regular episodes section and exclusive section), but if you tap the topmost slot, you will hear the latest episode.

Just a quick heads up on some price drops of Star Wars iOS apps. I don't know if these are merely sales or permanent price changes. That said, I would assume they are on sale for a limited time instead of risk it and see the prices jump back up.

Star Wars: Trench Run - THQ Wireless Inc.
(See a previous article I posted on this title: Stay On Target - Trench Run Upgraded) Now 99¢ (was $2.99)

As mentioned in Doctor Who: Podshock as well as here (see DW Podshock App for Podshock Supporting Subscribers), if you are a current Podshock Supporting Subscriber, you can get a promo code for a free DW Podshock Companion App (iTunes link) for the iOS platform (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch). Up until now, the codes from Apple were valid only in the US. 

As of today, the codes can now be redeemed through any App Store around the world. This is great news for our supporters outside of the US.