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Touch DJ Turns Your iPhone Into A Pro DJ

J.R. Bookwalter — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:33:51 -0600

Samantha Ronson, step aside — there’s a new DJ in town, courtesy of your iPhone and a new app called Touch DJ.

Landing in the App Store from developer Amidio, Touch DJ stakes the claim of being the first full-featured DJ application on the iPhone, according to Macworld. It joins Amidio’s stable of other music apps such as Noise.io™ Pro Synth, JR Hexatone™ Pro and Hot Dancer.

Touch DJ — billed as turning your iPhone “into a futuristic DJ MP3 mixer” — allows loading of two MP3/M4A files with real-time, independent manipulation, including effects, pitching, equalization, positioning, scratching and looping.

A unique, user-friendly interface, coupled with a highly advanced, zero-latency sound engine boasts “fantastic” results comparable to what can be done with pro hardware worth at least $1,000.

Touch DJ introduces “visual mixing,” which shows the audio waveforms next to each other on the iPhone screen. Because the device only has one stereo audio output, the visual mixing enables the user to see which tracks mix well together, adjusting them by sight. For instance, lower bass parts are rendered in a different color than other higher frequencies.

Other features include LP filter FX for each track, vinyl Spin and Break effects, an onboard, 3-slot sampler which accepts .WAV files and the ability to record your own samples using the iPhone microphone. 25 dance tracks from DanceMusicHub.com are included to get you going, and you can import your own MP3 files easily (Touch DJ can’t access your iPod library, however).

Touch DJ is available now in the App Store for $19.99 and requires OS 3.0 or later.

Snapture Hits Version 2.0

J.R. Bookwalter — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:56:49 -0600

If you love taking pictures with your iPhone, you have probably already realized the limitations of the built-in Camera app. One of the best alternatives in the App Store has just gotten better with a fresh new 2.0 update.

Snapture 2.0 just hit the App Store with a host of new features, including tap-to-focus on the iPhone 3GS, instant photo sharing to Facebook and Twitter and three color filters that allow you to take photos in black & white, sepia or negative (inverted) in addition to full color.

Boasting over a half million satisfied customers, Snapture’s previous version already held an impressive lead over the Camera app with high-speed multishot, the ability to tap anywhere on the screen to take a picture, TouchZone stabilization and much more.

Snapture’s patent-pending Quickview technology lets you snap a picture and instantly see the result in the corner of your screen. Press and hold the picture and you’ll get a closer look. You can easily e-mail a good photo or delete a bad one by sliding the thumbnail across the screen, avoiding a trip to the Camera Roll.

Best of all, Snapture 2.0 is now only $1.99 — that’s 75% off for Thanksgiving (and as always, a free update for existing customers). It’s a great addition to your holiday photo arsenal!

U.K. Grocery Chain Tesco Bags iPhone

J.R. Bookwalter — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:44:53 -0600

Next time U.K. shoppers drop into their local Tesco store for a loaf of bread, they’ll also be able to pick up an iPhone at the same time, courtesy of a new partnership with local carrier O2.

The deal, announced today, will bring Apple’s iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to more than 100 Tesco Phone Shops by the end of the year. Tesco Mobile is the retailer’s mobile virtual network operator, who will also offer the device online through its Tesco Direct site.

Tesco’s pay-as-you-go service may be branded Tesco Mobile, but it relies on the O2 network, similar to how MVNO Virgin Mobile operates using Sprint’s network here in America. Tesco is the world’s fourth-largest retailer, making the deal Apple’s next step toward even wider distribution in Europe.

It also marks a new advantage for partner O2, who lost their U.K. exclusive on the iPhone recently and now competes for customers with rivals Vodafone and Orange.

A New Twist On iPhone Language Translation

J.R. Bookwalter — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:57:20 -0600

Apple’s iPhone App Store is literally bursting at the seams with travel phrasebooks and language translators, which are a natural for such a pocketable device. But if you’re looking for something that handles the task a little differently, take a look at iLingual.

Available in three languages — French, German and Arabic — each version allows you to snap a picture of your mouth, which iLingual then analyzes and converts into an animated version. Choose a phrase from the library of over 400 included ones, hold your iPhone over your mouth and the app does the rest, as seen in the YouTube video below.

The free apps from developer Emirates weigh it between 70 and 90 MB (with French being the largest), and allow you to add multiple users, choose male and female voices and even alter the pitch of the voices. The apps currently only convert English to one of the three destination languages.

Of course, in practical use you’ll likely get more attention for your method of delivery than for the message you’re trying to convey when using iLingual. But it’s more entertaining than trying to fumble through a phrasebook when speaking to the locals, don’t you think?

Even iPhone Apps Get in On Black Friday Fun

Matthew Tilmann — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:24:52 -0600

While Black Friday has normally been a day filled with designer jeans at low prices, HDTVs to be had, or the newest digital camera, this year some app developers have decided to join in on the fun as well.

Cult of Mac picked up that some developers have already dropped some prices. App Cubby, the creator of the popular Gas Cubby app is dropping the cost of their apps by 30 percent through the Thanksgiving holidays. Other developers have also joined in temporarily dropping prices including DOOM Resurrection and BeejiveIM.

So once you've caught a breather from getting up at 4 am on Friday, keep an eye on what app developers might have in store for you as well!

Safety in Jail: Apple Responds to Worm Threats

J Keirn-Swanson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:46:21 -0600

In their statement regarding the recent threat, a worm that potentially can steal financial data, Apple parentally tsk-tsks users sporting jailbroken phones that modding in this way "not only violate[s] the warranty [but] will also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably."

It has the benefit of being true, though. Opening up your phone through jailbreaking, while giving you greater app flexibility among other things, can leave your iPhone exposed to hackers. If you're going that route, be sure to change your root password from the default "alpine."

Image Source: Instructables.com

As might seem natural, the first hack merely Rickrolled the user's wallpaper, but the threats have grown worse. A few weeks back, jailbroken iPhones were at the center of a 5 Euros scam where a hacker compromised the same security hole and changed the wallpaper to a message directing users to his site. There, with a PayPal link, he offered instructions to close the hole for five Euros.

This demonstrated a low level of of malice, but the scam paved the way for others. According to Sophos, the latest threat is a worm that attacks jailbroken iPhones in the Netherlands, Australia and other countries. The worm changes the handset's root password, scans through your SMS database looking for other phones to infect, and will redirect users of a Netherland bank site to a fake site to collect their login info. The only way to get rid of the worm is to restore your iPhone's firmware.

As smartphones become an ever more prevalent part of our lives, it's clear that such threats are going to be with us for some time to come and are only going to get worse. If you're going to strike out on the road away from the protections offered by Cupertino, remember to be vigilant.

Apple, Android Make Up 75 Percent of U.S. Smartphone Web Traffic

Andrew Villa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:28:24 -0600

According to AdMob's October mobile metrics report, the iPhone and Android phones made up 75 percent of web traffic for mobile phones in the United States, up 10 percent from the previous month.

The iPhone sits ahead of Android based phones at 55 percent, though Android phones are quickly catching up. iPhone gained a 7 percent increase in traffic in October to 55 percent. Globally, iPhone's operating system now accounts for 50 percent of all mobile traffic, up from 43 percent in September.

Another Worm Infecting Jailbroken iPhones

Andrew Villa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:44:01 -0600

A new worm is out hitting jailbroken iPhones, one that crawls its way into your device if you haven't changed your root password. If you haven't changed your root password you can learn all about it here.

According to Macworld, after the worm compromises your phone, it goes on to replace the phone's copy of the SSH remote login software and changes the root password, skims your SMS database, talks to the creators, and then launches a piece of software that searches for other phones that are vulnerable on both local networks and known IP address ranges of specific Internet Service Providers.

Users are finding the most noticeable symptom is the increased battery drain, as a result of the SSH process that the worm starts. Some have seen such a bad reduction in battery life that they are just wiping and restoring their handsets, without noticing that the worm was installed.

If you have a jailbroken iPhone, or are considering it, make sure to changethe root password.