Aviary has updated its mobile app with support for sending your perfected keepsake photos to any participating Walgreens for printing. This definitely a unique feature not found in other photo editing apps I know of to date.
Category Archives: iOS
QR & Bar Code Scanning. Could They Be Made Easier To Use?
I’m sure you have seen the use of QR and bar codes for either checking the price of a product or even to download a mobile app. I’ve even seen them on billboards. Why is this method of syndication not catching on? Coming from a personal perspective, I find it too difficult to quickly scan a QR or bar code. It takes too many steps to turn on my mobile device, navigate to the mobile scanning app, wait for it to fully load and press the button to scan. Why can’t this be easier and quicker to do? I would like to see such capability be integrated into the stock camera app of, for example, Android and Apple iOS devices. We already have the capability to switch between photo and video recording modes. Why not add one more mode for QR and bar code scanning?
One hurdle I foresee here in regards to product price checking via QR or bar code is the fact that the camera app would need to interface with a product search database. Logically for Android the default choice would be Google Shopper. For iOS, I’m not sure what Apple would choose. Probably some community driven database like they are doing with their iOS 6 Maps data. Yes, yes, that was a jab.
Regardless, my obvious frustration with this technology is ease of use. How can we make it more engaging and easier to use? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Google Releases Official YouTube App for iOS
Ever since the latest Apple iOS 6.0 developer release build we have been wondering and somewhat worried about if we will be stuck with using an HTML5-based mobile site for watching YouTube videos for the foreseeable future. Well, we can now rest easy. Google has released an official YouTube app for both iPhone and iPod Touch just before the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 announcement scheduled tomorrow in Yerba Buena. The official word is there is currently a tablet-based app in development.
The app has a fresh and clean interface. I like that Google is making sure to provide design consistency amongst most of their iOS apps. The interface shares a lot of Google+ design elements. It appears to be quick and videos play smoothly even on my iPhone 4. Having the video’s description, Suggested Videos and Comments being easily accessible while you’re watching a video is an improvement. Google+ and Facebook have been added to social network sharing support. There is also an option to copy the YouTube video link to the clipboard; something which I personally have been waiting for.
Source: iTunes, The Official YouTube Blog
Facebook Updates Its Mobile App. Contacts Sync is MIA.
Facebook 5.0 has finally arrived and with it a refreshed interface that actually lets you scroll while content is loading and preloads low quality versions of pictures and later renders the full quality version in the GUI after the image has completely downloaded. The app is actually usable for the first time in a long time. There are obvious features and enhancements they modeled after the Google+ app.
However, what did we find missing? Take a look around your Friends section and you’ll notice that contacts syncing is no where to be found. Do I miss the feature? No, actually I never used it because I didn’t want my own contacts list being synced to the cloud nor did I want the Facebook app to decide for me what components of my contact list information gets changed or sometimes deleted. If the previous contacts syncing fiasco doesn’t ring a bell, you might want to read up on it.
The app is well worth the update so head on over to your smartphone’s app store and download.
LogMeIn Mobile App Updated With RSA SecurID Support
LogMeIn has released an update to their mobile app which enables users to use two factor authentication in order to connect to a remote computer. It’s awesome to see cloud service providers enabling us to utilize what is going to become a necessary norm in the online security world. Such an enhancement will always get two thumbs up from me. Check your mobile device’s app store for this latest update.
