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- 5 great apps that should get even better in iOS 5
There are a lot of new features coming in iOS 5, and they should enable App Store developers to do a lot more with their software. Here are a few apps in particular that would benefit from what iOS 5 has to offer.
1. Pages
Apple’s own apps will likely be among the first to bring significant changes that leverage the power of iOS 5. Pages will get support for iCloud’s document syncing services, which means that changes you make on one iOS device should automatically be available to on another (and eventually on the desktop too), without any arduous setup requirements. Numbers, Keynote and other third-party editing suites like Documents to Go should get similar improvements in addition to Pages, which will make working with productivity apps on iOS devices much, much easier. Slide presentation apps will also get more useful thanks to Apple’s AirPlay mirroring feature on the iPad 2 that outputs whatever is on the tablet’s screen to a display device attached to an Apple TV.
2. CNN
One thing I initially liked about CNN’s iPhone and iPad apps was that they would provide push notifications for breaking news. Unfortunately, because of the way Apple implemented its notification system, breaking news updates became just another part of the stream of notification alert windows I had to dismiss to get to the home screen. Now, with the new notification bar and Notification Center, CNN’s breaking news updates will act as an unobtrusive daily record of key developments around the world. The best part is, this one doesn’t even require any action on the developer’s part; it’ll just happen when the new notification system is implemented.
3. Instagram
IOS 5 introduces Core Image, a new API that lets developers have access to hardware-accelerated video and photo enhancement as well as editing features. Built-in filters, color correction and facial recognition should make any photo app more versatile, but I think that if properly integrated in Instagram, it could help the photo-sharing service reach the next level. Used alone, or in tandem with Instragram’s existing filter set, individual user photos will look even more distinct, reducing the similarity that photos shared on the network can sometimes suffer from.
4. Real Racing HD 2
This one’s also a sure thing, as Real Racing HD 2 developer Firemint has already said it plans to support wireless AirPlay two-screen gaming once iOS 5 arrives. If you haven’t seen what playing this game on the iPad 2 and your TV with a wired connection is like, check out my video of the process. Doing the same thing without having to worry about yanking the Apple Digital AV Adapter out of your iPod’s dock connector is an exciting prospect, and it should make even more adventurous two-screen gaming applications a reality.
5. iMockups
I really could’ve chose any design or idea notebook app for this one, but iMockups is a particularly good example, because it’s designed with sharing in mind. In iOS 5, developers will have access to iMessage, so that apps can launch iMessage conversations between individuals or groups directly. For teams which have all members using iOS devices, it should make sharing mockup images for feedback with collaborators and stakeholders that much easier, and that much cheaper, too, since iMessage provides the convenience of MMS without the cost.
Have any other suggestions for apps you think will get a major boost from iOS 5?
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Переслать - 3 iPhone optical character recognition apps compared
If you’re going paperless by transferring all your printed documents to digital text or PDF files, using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) makes the job much easier by eliminating manual input. Luckily, you can use your iPhone to do OCR, eliminating the need for any additional equipment.
The three apps I’ve tested here are Prizmo, Perfect OCR: document scanner with high quality OCR and Image To Text – OCR. Only Image To Text is free; Prizmo is $9.99; and Perfect OCR is $3.99. I based my evaluation of each on three criteria: results, interface and speed. The text I used to test the apps was Apple’s “Here’s to the crazy ones” quote.
Results
With plain, printed text, set in Helvetica on basic white paper, the best results came from Image To Text. It produced no errors in the generated digital text, while Prizmo and Perfect OCR (especially Perfect OCR) did produce mistakes. This is probably because Image To Text performs the OCR process on its server, rather than on-device like the other two apps, which means it can take advantage of much more powerful processing resources. You can see the results in the gallery at the end of this post.
On the second test, using a more cursive font, Corsiva Hebrew, Perfect OCR didn't produce any results, since it couldn't recognise any text in the image. Again, Image to Text got the best results. None of the apps generated results anywhere close to the original text, but Prizmo didn't produce any recognizable words at all, whereas ITT did.
The final test I carried out was on handwritten text. OCR isn’t meant for handwritten text, but I thought I’d see what happened. None of the three apps recognized text in the image, so you’ll have to look at handwriting recognition software if that’s your thing.
Category winner: Image To Text.
Speed
If you have hundreds or even thousands of documents to reproduce, the speed at which your app can generate text is important. Perfect OCR was the slowest overall, since it requires you to capture three images of the text. It also took a while to process the images. Image To Text, as I mentioned previously, performs the hard work remotely, so it works a bit slower while it communicates with the server. Prizmo was the fastest of all the apps, but its speed still doesn’t match computer-based software.
Category winner: Prizmo.
Interface
While not as important as speed or results, if you use an app often, its interface makes a difference.
The worst app was Image To Text. The interface is simple, but maybe too simple. You can either take a picture or use one from your library, but once you’ve chosen or taken the picture, you can only email results or send them to Evernote. The app is basically just a slim front-end for the real action, which takes place on the remote server. You can’t crop the image you take, or edit it in any way, so often the results include text you didn't want.
Pefect OCR has a better interface, with a few editing tools, and the app stores a history of the text generated. You can crop, rotate and recolour a taken image. This means you can try to improve your results. There are also more options for sharing the text, such as copying it, and emailing it in different formats. The interface isn’t always pretty, but it offers some flexible functionality.
By far the best interface belongs to Prizmo. It looks professional, has a lot of features, but isn’t complicated to use. When taking a photo, you can choose from a list of possible sources, and your choice dictates how Prizmo optimizes the results. There’s a grid overlaid on the camera view, and there’s even a speech recognition feature which allows you to tell your phone to take a photo to prevent shutter shake. Once you have a photo, you can rotate and crop it, move it around to compensate for perspective, and even pick a point on the image to use as the measure of what constitutes the background color for the text. After the results have been generated, you can share them to Dropbox, Evernote, CloudApp and more. You can also use Google Translate to translate it to another language.
Category Winner: Prizmo.
Overall
If you don’t mind sending your text off to a server to get results, and only being able to use email or Evernote for sharing, then I’d recommend Image To Text. However, if you need extra features like editing, a history feature and better sharing, then Prizmo is your best bet, even with the $10 price tag.
Picture 1 of 19Perfect OCR Cropping
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Переслать - Apple raises the stakes in patent battle with Samsung
Apple has amended its existing complaint against Samsung over intellectual property rights violations, removing a few infringement claims, but adding many more. FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller thinks the action is in response to Samsung’s requests to see samples of the upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 3, ahead not only of their release, but also even of official acknowledgement that products are actually in development. Apple’s legal counsel was granted access to unreleased Samsung hardware in the case, but the devices in question were already public knowledge and widely promoted.
Mueller says that while the original complaint — filed by Apple on April 15 in U.S. District Court in Northern California — was “the most impressive multi-intellectual property rights complaint [he'd] ever seen,” it’s now “even bigger — the main document has 63 pages (previously 38) — and better.” The changes aim to paint Samsung’s infringement as blatant copycat behavior, asserting that Samsung, more than any other competitor, has been blatantly ripping off Apple designs since the very earliest days of the iPhone, circa 2007.
In addition to adding claims of specific infringement, Apple also strengthened language throughout its filing. For example, it replaced the word “misappropriated” with “copied” in at least one instance, and also cites many articles by prominent tech news publications that make specific reference to Samsung’s clear attempts at copying Apple product designs in articles about Samsung devices like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Vibrant. Apple also added 14 specific Samsung product designations to the complaint by name, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy S II.
Part of the amendment is also intended to deflect Samsung’s requests to have advance access to unreleased iPhone and iPad products. Apple originally talked about its trade dresses (a legal term referring to the visual appearance of a product or its packaging) for the iPhone and iPad lines in general, but the altered complaint now makes specific distinctions about iPhone as a brand versus the iPhone 3G or iPhone 4, for example, which will help it deny the requests made by Samsung.
I asked Mueller about how this case compares to others, like the Nokia-Apple legal battle that recently resulted in a big settlement for the Finnish smartphone maker. He said that this case is unusual in that it seems to have escalated faster than most, thanks in part to Samsung’s rapid countersuit, which it filed not only in California but also in South Korea, Japan and Germany. It’s also unusual that Apple seems to be seeking “a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy product line,” which Mueller says could “force a settlement very early in the process.”
Mueller thinks that the case isn’t actually all that similar to the Nokia-Apple battle in particular, because he believes “Nokia has a much stronger smartphone-related patent portfolio than Samsung.” He does believe Apple is prepared to go far with this claim, however, since he thinks the company “has made the determination that fighting Android in general and Samsung’s alleged copying in particular is even more critical to its success than the supplier relationship [that the companies share].” Still, he thinks that existing business relationship “should facilitate a settlement” at some point before this case comes to a decision.
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Переслать - Facebook reportedly working on an iPad app
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s rumors that Facebook would be launching an HTML5 App Store competitor and Facebook’s response that claims native apps and the web aren’t in direct competition, the New York Times reports that an official iPad app from the social network is in the works and should be coming soon.
People “briefed on Facebook’s plans” told the NYT that the new app, which would be introduced in the “coming weeks” for free in the App Store, would feature redesigned Facebook Chat and Facebook Groups features, along with a touchscreen interface created specifically for the iPad. The report further asserts that Mark Zuckerberg personally had a significant role in the redesign process, according to a person who works with Facebook.
The app will also supposedly take advantage of the iPad 2′s camera, allowing people to snap photos and upload them directly to Facebook albums. Photo browsing will offer full-resolution images, along with full-screen browsing, too.
That Facebook would be engaged in developing an iPad app does agree with what the company said yesterday in a brief statement regarding the Project Spartan HTML5 app store it was said to be creating. Specifically, Facebook had this to say about the website versus app debate: “We don't expect developers to choose between HTML5 and native apps. We expect they will choose both, just as we did.”
Facebook has not provided any indication that it has been working on an iPad app since the device’s release. In fact, Zuckerberg even stated that he didn’t think the iPad was a mobile device, leading many to believe that the company thought its cross-platform website was a good enough client for the Apple tablet. The success of paid and free third-party iPad applications that plug into Facebook services, like My Pad and Friendly, seems to suggest that iPad owners feel otherwise.
Facebook declined to comment on future products when asked about the iPad application. I do think we can expect to see a native Facebook client, however, since continuing to ignore that growing segment would leave a lot of potential traffic and engagement on the table. Also, the Facebook experience on the iPad right now is pretty much defined by third parties. The social network probably isn’t crazy about potentially having part of its brand image resting in the hands of outsiders. Do you think Facebook will finally bend to user demand and introduce an iPad app, or continue to point Apple tablet owners to the web?
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