Today, Juicy Bits released Halftone 1.6.5, an update to their popular vintage photo effects app that takes advantage of new face detection features in iOS 5 to automatically position speech and thought balloons to add comic-style effects to an image.
The update also uses the new iOS 5 built-in Twitter functionality to quickly share photos with friends. Photos can also be posted to Facebook, sent via e-mail, and output to any AirPrint-enabled printer.
Halftone can now share images with Instagram, Camera , FX Photo Studio, Color Splash, and other PhotoAppLink-compatible apps. This makes it possible to use multiple tools and effects to produce a final image.
Halftone has been selected by Apple as its App of the Week in both Canada and the United Kingdom, has over 750,000 users, and has a 4 1/2 star rating in the App Store. It is consistently among the top 100 photography apps worldwide.
Halftone goes beyond typical “photo filter” apps to give images a unique, vintage style that makes them look like they came from an old comic strip. Users choose from over 25 paper styles, select from multiple layouts, and add speech and thought balloons. The app contains more than 25 stamps that can be placed on the image including sound-effect words like BLAM and shapes like bar codes, coffee stains, swooshes, explosions, and more. Halftone also includes three additional licensed fonts to add to the comic effect.
Redbits today announces Group Text! 2.0, an update to their popular messaging productivity app for iOS devices. Group Text! is the first app that allows to prepare group iMessages easily on all iOS5 devices.
With Group Text! you can easily send SMS (on iPhone) or iMessages (on all devices) to groups, to handpicked set of contacts or to distribution lists. Once you create a list, you no longer have to select contacts one-by-one for a group message. Simply tap on the list or group name and you are ready to send! And if you need to send the same message many times, just save it as a template and pick it later to auto populate the text of your message. You can also easily attach the address and maps link of the current or a selected position and text contacts information.
Group Text! uses your text plan to send messages and replies are received on the Messages application as usual or uses the iMessages service on iOS5 depending on your settings.
Finnish mobile games Developer Kukouri Mobile Entertainment announces the upcoming release of their first game Foozles for iOS devices. Foozles is skill based puzzle game with exceptionally strong audiovisual style that differentiates it from other puzzle games. It has already been successful in reaching the finalist position in the annual MindTrek Indie Game Awards.
The player is tasked to guide the Foozles, furry little space faring creatures, through a mysterious and deadly planet they migrate through. Each of the 60 levels offers the challenge of getting the Foozles into a portal that acts as a gateway to next level as quickly as possible.
“Foozles started as your typical skill based puzzle game, but it quickly took life of its own. We feel that a more skill based approach is more rewarding to players. Surrealistic visuals and new age music create a very unique feel for the whole game”, says Kukouri’s founder Kim Soares.
Foozles will be available for download exclusively in the Nordic regions of the App Store starting October 26th, at a price of 1.59 Euro. The Worldwide release will follow shortly behind on November 9th at a price of $2.18 (USD). A free version will also be available at this time.
Jybe Mobile today is pleased to announce that Time Warp 1.4, a psychedelic camera app for iPhone and iPad, will now be Free. Time Warp is a real time video effect app that bends time for some fun, trippy results. You can play with the settings to get anything from a live time warped video to a “slit scan” style image. You can save video recordings to the camera roll and post snapshot images to Facebook and twitter. Time Warp can use the rear camera to view the world around you with a new perspective or record your friends, or switch to the front facing camera and interact with the app in real-time like a psychedelic mirror.
A simple control panel allows you to adjust all settings on the fly, and see them take effect as you change them. You can adjust the image resolution, size of the scan lines, and direction of time movement, or even enable a “smoothing” mode on iPhone 4/iPhone 4s/iPad 2, where the scan lines are blended together for a smoother, slow motion video type of effect. You can achieve a myriad of different effects, making Time Warp fun to experiment with for hours and hours.
“iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend – the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days” Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller said in a statement today. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.”
As for iCloud, Apple’s cloud-sync backup service, the company said more than 20m users have already signed up for access to it. iCloud offers a remote way to safely store the data from your smartphone, as well as allowing for music access across any iOS devices.
The next batch of countries to get iPhone 4S will be Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The smartphone will go on sale there come October 28.
Escape Velocity Apps, the creators of the popular iPad app Audiolio, have just released an update to their iPhone App, Spoken Image. This update includes changes for iOS 5 and also adds the ability to tweet the images and captions right from Spoken Image on Twitter.
“Spoken Image is a fun, easy-to-use app for sharing photographs with friends and family. Adding your voice to your pictures is a great way to let everyone know what’s going on,” said Douglas Dimola, co-founder of Escape Velocity Apps. “iOS 5 has great Twitter support, so we’ve jumped on board and added the ability to tweet pictures and a text caption. And that’s just the beginning of the great updates we have planned for Spoken Image. Next up: YouTube!”
Spoken Image is great for everyone. Friends sharing party pics. Kids sending a quick hello to the grandparents. Classmates describing the equations they photographed off the whiteboard. Realtors, house inspectors, insurance adjusters, retailers – all can benefit from Spoken Image.
Despite Apple’s system being a rival to Ultraviolet, several of the studios are reportedly keen to welcome the Cupertino company to the industry all the same. The existing heft of iTunes for movie sales has made it a force to be reckoned with, and insiders close to the deals say the extra focus on the segment is just what studios are looking for.
Ultraviolet offers a digital copy of a purchased DVD or Blu-ray, available for streaming to DRM-compatible devices. It’s the DRM that the studios have been most concerned with, given the piracy issue. Apple’s version is expected to function in a similar way to the new iCloud system, which currently allows users to stream their music – purchased from iTunes, unless they upgrade to iTunes Match – from a remote server on any device.
Apple’s system could also end up working with Ultraviolet, if further details in the negotiations go to plan. According to the sources, there’s talk of customers being able to access their Ultraviolet-stored content through Apple’s offering, though the reverse would not be true: iTunes-bought movies would only be accessible on Apple hardware.
Step into the shoes of a master thief and get ready for the heist of a lifetime! You’ll play as Rupert, a stylish gentleman thief, or his partner-in-crime Cora, a young girl who is as quick and agile as she is cute.
The easy part is over. You’ve just snatched a multi-million dollar jackpot from the basement of Neon City Casino, but you won’t be able to spend it from a prison cell. You’ll need to run, jump and slide your way to freedom and a life of lavish luxury.
Project RUN features 4 fun game modes to keep you on your toes. Jump into the endless ‘Classic’ mode and try to beat your high score. You can even see how you compare to friends and the world’s most wanted thieves on the Game Center and Open Feint leader-boards! Other modes will have you dodging barrels or trying to keep out of sight, as well as a challenging mission mode that will really test your skill.
