Yes, it’s a relatively minor update, but after I installed it I realized we hadn’t really mentioned ReelDirector for iPhone [$7.99 - iTunes link] on the front page yet, in its own right, and that’s a shame because any app that can even approach video editing on a mobile device deserves some love.
Now on version 2.4, ReelDirecter adds the ability to important soundtracks, toggle off pan-and-zoom, and increases speed for still photos. But you add to that 2.0’s multitrack, Ken Burns effects, trim and split for imported clips, and videos from synced folders, and you add all that to that its stitching, drag-and-drop reordering, titles and credits, transitions, and more, and this “video toaster” in your pocket deserves some attention. Sure, it won’t replace Final Cut Pro, but it could just be the iPhone’s first pro-sumer level cutter.
If you’ve tried it before, or just try it now, let us know what you think!
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber often “guesses” what Apple will be releasing, and those guesses are sometimes dead-on-accurate, but when it comes to the iTablet/iSlate, Gruber says Apple’s invoked a full on pre-January 2007-like “cone-of-silence”. Still he’s written up an interesting estimate of what, in his opinion, and iTablet just might be:
I say they’re swinging big — redefining the experience of personal computing.
It will not be pitched as such by Apple. It will be defined by three or four of its built-in primary apps. But long-term, big-picture? It will be to the MacBook what the Macintosh was to the Apple II.
I am not predicting that Apple is phasing out the Mac. (On the contrary, I’ve heard that Mac OS X 10.7 is on pace for a developer release at WWDC in June.) Like all Apple products, The Tablet will do less than we expect but the things it does do, it will do insanely well. It will offer a fraction of the functionality of a MacBook — but that fraction will be way more fun. The same Asperger-y critics who dismissed the iPhone will focus on all that The Tablet doesn’t do and declare that this time, Apple really has ****** up but good. The rest of us will get in line to buy one.
Gruber makes the kind of sense that does here. Apple will produce a large-sized, mainstream-targeted device that excels at handling the media iTunes excels at delivering, combined with the same type of (though not the same UI for) the ease of use the iPhone’s multitouch technology and user experience wowed us with in 2007.
Did Apple reject Google Latitude from the App Store because they’re getting ready to launch a similar service of their own… that also uses a front-facing camera? Maybe, maybe not, but Patently Apple found this latest application, and 9to5mac seems to think it’s a possibility:
In Apple’s implementation, it looks like the location data can be carried in an SMS or Instant Message (interesting news in its own right), which can then be opened in the Maps application to show the other person’s location relative to the iPhone user’s. Also, note what appears to be another instance of a front-facing camera on the iPhone image below. We’re calling it now: iPhone 4G (and tablet + maybe iPod touch) get front faing cameras. Who is with us?
We are. At least it makes sense in the iTablet/iSlate, and it’s always near the top of new iPhone hardware feature requests (though would it be WiFi only to prevent AT&T towers from melting?)
Of course, our wishing has never, not ever, made Apple make it so…
Minisquadron [$2.99 - itunes link] is a 2D sidescrolling shooter for the iPhone and iPod touch, and my new gaming passion. If you ever enjoyed games like 1942 then you will love this game. Freaking sharks and freaking laser beams! Yes the game has it all. If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be shot down by a giant panda airplane (answer — humiliating), well then this game is a must.
Documents to Go with Exchange Attachments is all grown up, has changed its name to Documents to Go Premium [$14.99 - iTunes link], and now offers support for PowerPoint and Gmail attachments for iPhone and iPod touch:
Edit and create Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations
Edit/add bullets and text in Outline mode (changes reflected immediately in Slide view)
Edit/add speaker notes
Sort/add/dupe/delete slides
Edit/view Gmail attachments
About the only thing missing is a dedicated, multi-app accessible file repository on the iPhone akin to what the photo app does for images. Get working on that, would you Apple?
Meanwhile, it’s a free update for existing users so if you buy it or just upgrade it, and you try out Docs to Go’s new PowerPoint or Gmail features, let us know how they work for you!
Join Rene and special guests Phil Nickinson of Android Central and WMExperts and Keith Newman of the PreCentral.net PalmCast Round Robin Android Droid and Hero vs. iPhone and Windows Phone HD2 and Touch Pro2 vs. iPhone, more iTablet, iPhone HD, and iPhone 4.0 rumors, and all the week’s news and opinions. Listen in!
Fox News’ Clayton Morris is upping the ante on the rumored January 26 Apple Media Event, not only saying it’s the real deal, but that it will focus on “mobility”:
I’ve spoken to a source inside Apple who confirmed a “big” event for January. While nothing official has been handed down from the notoriously tight-lipped company, my source took the Financial Times report one step further by saying this event will focus on the mobility space, meaning we’ll see something related to the iPhone/iPod touch product line.
An earlier than usual iPhone 4.0 preview to give developers time to go resolution-independent for an iPhone HD? A camera-toting iPod touch to p!$$ off everyone who got the camera-less version for Xmas? An announcement that Apple is taking itself fully to the cloud? Or just some iTablet/iSlate the entire interwebs have been gossiping about for years?
If you’ve Quantum Leap’ed or flashback’ed from this fictional future, let us know!
Join us along with special Round Robin guests Phil Nickinson of Android Central and WMExperts, and fellow cross-platformer Keith Newman of PalmCast fame! We’ll look at how the Motorola Droid, HTC Hero, HTC HD2, and HTC Touch Pro2 (that’s a lot of HTC!) compare to TiPb’s own iPhone. Plus all the week’s news, views, and rants. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, hit us up on Twitter @theiphoneblog, or better still — join us live in the chat room via http://www.tipb.com/live
REMINDER: You can watch us live on your iPhone with the Ustream Viewer app [Free - iTunes link]. Just wait until the show starts (8pm ET) and search for iPhone. We’ll pop up. Literally.
According to former chief Chinese Googler, Lee Kai-fu, who apparently is well connected with Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, the upcoming iTablet/iSlate looks like a giant iPhone with:
an awesome UI packed in a beautiful 10.1-inch screen
3D graphics,
virtual keyboard,
video conferencing,
e-books,
Internet and other functions
All this from a connected friend, discussed in his Chinese language post [Google translate link]. Oh, and Apple expects to produce 10 million of them in the first year.
As part of OnLive’s intent to stream you your Crysis Wars over the internet (rather than on physical media like a DVD or Blu Ray), they’ve put together a 48 minute demo, including the use of their companion iPhone app. The iPhone part starts at 19:30 in, and they say latency over current 3G networks is still too high, but WiFi isn’t bad (though the controls are “kinda funky”).
The more interesting part of the iPhone experience, they claim, is the spectating stuff. We’d disagree. But what do you think? Do you want to get your video games streaming from a cloud server, rented like streaming Netflix rather than owned like traditional media? Let us know!
(Note: no iPhone friendly video, but we embedded the Viddler version, on the frame where the iPhone talk starts, below the fold).
