Apple’s Split with Google Over iOS Maps Driven by Turn-by-Turn Navigation Dispute
Reports about the high-profile split between Apple and Google that saw Apple replace its Google-powered Maps app for iOS with its own solution have continued to trickle out, with AllThingsD now reporting that the lack of turn-by-turn directions on Google’s Maps app for iOS was the key motivator for Apple.
[M]ultiple sources familiar with Apple’s thinking say the company felt it had no choice but to replace Google maps with its own because of a disagreement over a key feature: Voice-guided turn-by-turn driving directions.
Spoken turn-by-turn navigation has been a free service offered through Google’s Android mobile OS for a few years now. But it was never part of the deal that brought Google’s maps to iOS. And Apple very much wanted it to be. Requiring iPhone users to look directly at handsets for directions and manually move through each step while Android users enjoyed native voice-guided instructions put Apple at a clear disadvantage in the mobile space. And having chosen Google as its original mapping partner, the iPhone-maker was now in a position where an arch rival was calling the shots on functionality important to the iOS maps feature set.
Apple reportedly pushed hard for voice navigation in Google’s maps on iOS, but Google was unwilling to hand over the functionality without concessions from Apple. As detailed by other sources, Google was seeking greater control over the mapping experience on the iPhone, such as Google branding and Google Latitude integration, concessions Apple was unwilling to make.
Combined with the deterioration of the overall Apple-Google relationship and Apple’s concerns that Google was collecting too much information from iOS users, Apple ramped up its mapping efforts in order to bring its own turn-by-turn directions to the device, ultimately deciding that it could afford to do away entirely with Google’s maps.
The end of iPhone cowboys could double sales in China
“You’ll never hear it from Apple, but ever since the first iPhone was launched, there has been a thriving, extremely lucrative black market in China and Hong Kong for the latest iPhones,” John Paul Fowler writes for The Motley Fool. “Oddly enough, the players in this back-alley world range from well-heeled and opportunistic Westerners to the poorest Chinese locals looking to get their first real taste of American entrepreneurship with a Chinese twist. It’s a world where black-market iPhone prices are updated daily in a manner eerily reminiscent of Wall Street in the 1920s. It’s a world where consumers pay twice the retail price right after an iPhone debuts. With profit margins so high, it’s not hard to understand why this back-alley business has flourished for so long but this world is about to come to a violent halt with the latest iPhone 5.”
Now, some will say they’ve been to China numerous times or maybe even lived there for years and never heard or saw anything of this nature,” Fowler writes. “Well, unless you live and operate among the locals in the backstreets of places like Chongqing, China (a rapidly growing megacity of more than 30 million people) you won’t see this black market (Most visitors’ exposure to China is limited to highly Westernized cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.) As for those who would assume that Apple would attempt to stop this thriving black market that just isn’t the case.”
Fowler writes, “With the iPhone 5’s latest technology the iPhone cowboys’ days are numbered. Apple now has the ability to negotiate a far better distribution network with Chinese telecoms, penetrate China as a whole, and operate with a worldwide product launch schedule that will finally prevent iPhone black-market arbitrage… A documentary that focused on Miami during the 1970-80s, spawned the popular term ‘cocaine cowboys,’ which referred to those who transported illegal drugs. Today, there are the ‘iPhone cowboys’ who smuggle iPhones into Mainland China and Hong Kong. These are self-proclaimed entrepreneurs and/or ‘mules’ (people hired to transport illicit products) alike who often smuggle anywhere from 10 to as many as 50 brand-new iPhones per trip (perhaps even more) right after a product launch.”
Much more in the full article here.
TUTORIAL: This is how you can watch Windows Media / Silverlight Internet TV streams
Windows Media (WM for short) and Silverlight (SL for short) Internet TV streaming is a very popular TV broadcasting method, particularly outside the U.S. For example, on, in my opinion, the best national TV station directory, wwiTV (“World Wide Internet TeleVision”), there are at least ten directly accessible WM / SL streams for Germany (list HERE; look for the green (WM) and light blue (SL) links). And that’s only the number of streams directly accessible through wwiTV – I bet many of the external links (the red / black-background “LINK” ones) also lead to WM / SL streams. (Brown links are Flash streams not covered in this article. I’ll later elaborate on how they can be played back without resorting to Puffin / Photon / iSwifter / SkyFire, the traditional Flash players (article; start with the updates at the bottom)).
In this article, I explain how you can play back these WM / SL streams – not only generic ones, but also the ones at wwiTV, the latter being non-trivial. As usual, this article is the only one discussing this subject, particularly when it comes to up-to-date info on compatible iOS players. In addition, I provide you with illustrated mini-tutorials of streaming with every WM / SL streaming-capable player currently available.
NOTE: while in the article I use wwiTV as the source link directory, everything I say can be used with ASX files / links or MMS links downloaded / copied-to-clipboard from elsewhere; for example, the (possibly) exposed, tappable link of a TV company’s individual homepage. The reviewed players’ ability to play back those streams will be the same as with those of wwiTV.
1. Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) files vs. MMS streams
You need to know at least one thing to understand the rest of this article: in general, the true Internet address of TV streams are “hidden” in Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) files (Wiki with format description). Content providers like wwiTV love it as it allows for presenting quick advertisements, announcements etc. before starting to stream the real TV stream. (Actually, exactly this is why wwiTV’s ASX files are completely incompatible with everything non-Windows Media Player: they use a non-standard advertisement in the ASX files. More on this later.)
Generally, if you can’t make an ASX file work in compliant players, you can still list its contents and directly find MMS links in them. (If you don’t find any of them but http:// links only, you’ll want to download those files instead; they, generally, are also ASX files.) More on this in the following chapter.
As has already been mentioned, wwiTV also uses these ASX files. When you navigate to a TV streaming service with WMV streams on your iDevice, you’ll notice Safari won’t be able to play back the inline videos – their pane will remain black and nothing happens when you tap it.
On the iDevice, if you click the stream speed icon in the upper right corner (annotated in the following screenshot),
(as with most images in this article, click the thumbnail for the full-sized and -quality original!)
the well-known “Open In” screen will be displayed. With properly-formatted ASX files (more on them later), if you select a video player with proper ASX and streaming support (I’ll list them later), you can start the playback of the stream right away. An example is the German national channel ARD – just navigate to the homepage http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/7154.htm, tap the link in the upper right corner (direct link), select an ASX-compliant iOS player also registering itself as compatible and the playback begins. The latter depends on whether the player automatically starts playback; some of them don’t. Then, you need to manually locate the ASX file just passed (in most cases, it’ll be in the “Inbox” folder inside the main filelist of the app and tap it. The following (working) players support ASX auto-playback currently, as of 28/Sep/2012: GoodPlayer and Oplayer HD. AcePlayer, which supports both ASX files and WM / SL playback, unfortunately, immediately crashes upon receiving the file.
Important note 1: you’ll only see this link on the English-language page, not on, for example, the German one (URL starting with http://de.wwitv.com)! That is, make sure you select English at the opening page (http://wwitv.com/) of wwiTV.
Important note 2: iOS has long been suffering from the bug? “feature”? of, in most cases, not being able to display more than ten applications registered as being able to receive / render / play a given media type. (See THIS for a complete article on the matter.) This may mean you’ll need to delete (and, possibly, reinstall so that you can see whether they are listed after the apps that should be used to receive ASX files) apps preventing GoodPlayer and Oplayer HD to be shown on the list. Unfortunately, not much else can be done.
For example, the next screenshot shows the list being populated by, for ASX / WM playback, absolutely useless titles (RushPlayer+, PowerPlayer, MediaPlayer, FlexPlayer). Also note that the default button on the right shows the top list item, “RushPlayer+“, which is also unable to process ASX files:
Important note 3: if you plan to play back video streams using the jailbreak-only XBMC, you’ll notice it’s not in the “Open In” list. Nevertheless, saving local ASX files is the only way to make XBMC play Internet streams as there’s no way of entering Internet stream URL’s in the app. Then, you’ll need to send the ASX file to any(!) registered application. Then, you’ll need to map the Documents (or Documents/Inbox) folder of the target app into XBMC to quickly access the files sent from other apps (in this case, Safari) and manually start XBMC.
2. Why don’t several wwiTV ASX files work?
Unfortunately, the purely WM stream pages of wwiTV seem to use an ASX file format only compatible with the Windows version of Windows Media Player – and nothing else. No, not even the, otherwise, over-compatible VLC can play these ASX files, let alone all(!) of the iOS media players (including even the also very robust and standards-compliant XBMC).
Some examples of such files are as follows: http://wwitv.com/tv_streams/b5150.asx, http://wwitv.com/tv_streams/b3913.asx and http://wwitv.com/tv_streams/7984.asx (change “tv_streams” to “tv_channels” and “asx” to “htm” for the original page; for example, http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/7984.htm).
To make them work and/or to get the direct MMS stream address you need to do, you’ll need to edit / view them, respectively.
Basically, if you use GoodPlayer for playback, both approaches will be OK.
If you use Oplayer HD or XBMC, you’ll want to prefer ASX cleanup (see section 2.1 below). The reason for this is Oplayer HD’s flipping bugs when playing back MMS streams and XBMC’s total inability to accept direct MMS input.
Finally, if you use Azul Media Player – Video player for your iPad By Gplex or BUZZ Player (the old, 3.0 version will also work – no need to (re-)purchase the new 4.x series (see THIS article on the version change)!), you’ll need to go the original MMS stream address extraction way (section 2.2) as these players aren’t able to parse ASX files but can accept direct MMS stream URL’s.
In both cases, download the ASX file first on your desktop. It’s very easy: just right-click the above-annotated link and save the file. Then, open the file with a text editor (using a simple, read-only text viewer will suffice in the second case).
2.1 Editing incompatible ASX files
Several ASX files available at wwiTV have entries that are incompatible with everything but the Windows-based WMP. You need to remove at least the first one of these entries – the one that instructs the player to render a GIF static image file before starting to stream the content.
In the ASX file downloaded from the above page (http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/b3913.htm), you’ll see something like this:
In the above screenshot, I’ve annotated the two entries, both enclosed between the <entry>…</entry> tag pairs, at the beginning and the end of the file. Of the two, you’ll need to remove at least the first one. Then, the file becomes like this:
(I’ve made this version available HERE.)
You can also remove both entries (that is, not only the mandatory first, but also the optional last). HERE is an example of the file and here’s how it looks like in a file editor:
You can already transfer this cleaned-up version to your ASX-compliant media player and tap it; the stream will be played back.
2.2 Getting the original MMS stream address
With players (currently, it’s Azul Media Player and BUZZ Player) listed at the bottom of Section 2., instead of cleaning up the ASX file and passing the edited version to your player, you’ll need to copy-and-paste the direct MMS stream address from it. In most ASX files, it’ll be the one that starts with MMS.
The MMS stream is annotated in the following screenshot:
Here, all you need to is copying the URL (it’s “mms://stream01.massive-mag.tv/massivemag_mq” in this case) and feed it to your player.
You can also test these MMS URL’s in your desktop VLC, via File > Open Network. (With cleaned-up ASX files, just clicking the file will start streaming, assuming you’ve assigned VLC to ASX files.)
3. Using the recommended iOS players
As has already been hinted on, currently (as of late September, 2012) (only) the following video players are capable of rendering WM / SL streams:
GoodPlayer (both MMS and ASX)
XBMC (jailbreak-only; ASX only)
AcePlayer (both MMS and ASX, assuming the latter is local and isn’t passed via “Open In”)
OPlayer HD (ASX only because of the direct MMS bug)
Azul Media Player (MMS only with restrictions)
Even the 3.x version of BUZZ Player (MMS only)
Let’s start with the, because of its stability, features and compliance, most recommended player, GoodPlayer.
3.1 GoodPlayer
In this player, assuming you want to directly enter the (compatible – that is, not the sometimes messed-up files wwiTV has!) ASX or MMS address, tap the arrow icon in the lower right corner and select “Direct Streaming URL“. I recommend this menu item over “Downloader & Browser” for strictly streaming content as it doesn’t load Google by default and presents a history of previous streams, making it easy to pick one.
Then, if you want to name your stream, tap the “+” icon at the bottom left and give the stream a name, followed by pasting the stream URL (ASX / MMS). An example of naming the above-created “https://dl.dropbox.com/u/81986513/092012/ASFWMVPlayer/b3913-firstremoved.asx” stream “ger-1”:
After this, you will only need to tap the new entry to start streaming. Note that, should the ASX file have more than one entries, the will be listed separately. This is the case with the above ASX as we’ve kept the last (incompatible) GIF entry, knowing the player would never start playing it automatically (and crash GoodPlayer entirely – therefore, don’t tap it). An example screenshot with the main stream annotated:
Again: don’t tap the second list element (test.gif)!
Ones that you only keep one entry (for example, THIS one) will look like this:
Note that you’ll encounter a lot of (valid) ASX files with more than one valid MMS entries. For example, the ARD Tagesschau entry (page; direct ASX link) has two. In the following screenshot, I’ve manually selected the second one (it’s highlighted in the shot):
If you pass the ASX file via Open In (again, this will only work for standard ASX files, not the majority of wwiTV!), the playback will automatically start. The ARD stream linked to above is such an example – it doesn’t need to be cleaned up before playback.
Finally, if, instead of passing it a (if needed, cleaned-up) ASX file, you enter (paste) a MMS URL to GoodPlayer, there won’t be any way of stream selection. After all, the MMS isn’t a container of in cases multiple streams – unlike ASX.
3.2 XBMC
If you are jailbroken and don’t mind the inability to enter direct MMS addresses (and the lack of the iPad 3 Retina screen support) and/or want something free, XBMC is also an excellent app for stream playback. Just make the (strictly offline) ASX / strm / PLS / M3U files available to the player – by copying them into a directory where it can access them. An example showing all kinds of playlists:
Then, just tap the playlist (ASX / strm etc.) file and the playback automatically starts:
3.3 AcePlayer
This player accepts both MMS URL’s and (clean) ASX files. The latter must be local (non-remote) and can’t be passed via “Open In” from another app (e.g., Safari) to avoid immediate crashes.
To add a (remote) MMS address, just select Media Explorer > Open Url (second list item in the main list) > +:
Again, do NOT supply remote ASX URL’s here, they won’t work. All ASX files must be downloaded first so that they’re locally available to the player.
To start playback of a, to the Documents folder of the app, previously-transferred ASX file, just tap it in the “Documents: local files” folder.
3.4 OPlayer (HD)
This player should only be given local ASX files or remote ASX addresses because of a very nasty bug when directly entering MMS URL’s (“Open URL” in the main menu): the playback will be flipped in both directions. While the upside-down flipping can still be fixed by locking the screen and turning the device upside-down, the left-right one can’t and will result in unintelligible texts on the screen. A rotated example, as you’d see it on your iDevice after locking & rotating by 180 degrees:
You can use both remote (enter their address the above-mentioned “Open URL” in the main menu) and local, cleaned-up ASX files. Note that the player doesn’t only parse ASX files, but can also initiate WM / SL playback from a lot of other playlist types (tested with m3u, m3u8 and strm).
3.5 Azul Media Player
This player only supports direct MMS streams – ASX files (or any kind of other playlists) aren’t supported.
Unfortunately, its MMS support isn’t stellar either. When you enter the MMS URL into the browser (the globe icon: second on the top right), it displays Connection error: unsupported URL”:
Then, all you need to do is going back to the filelist view by tapping “Documents” in the top left corner and tap the globe icon again. Streaming playback will immediately start; an example with the above URL:
This, unfortunately, also means you’ll in no way be able to bookmark a stream or access the playback history – unlike with all the other reviewed apps, where you can easily switch between different streams. Therefore, I don’t recommend this player if you have more than one stream to watch.
Also note that it doesn’t seem to be able to play back SL streams – for example, the ARD one.
3.6 BUZZ Player
You can enter a MMS URL to this MMS-only player using the third icon (a globe with a + sign):
A screenshot of playing back the same channel:
4. What about the other iOS players and a full, systematic overview of all this info?
Unfortunately, none of them are able to stream WM / SL. I’ve very(!) thoroughly tested them all and published the results of my tests in the beta, under-construction version of the main chart of my forthcoming Multimedia bible. Currently, the streaming-related part starts at Row 150.
The first row, “wwiTV ASX parsing”, elaborates on whether the nonstandard wwiTV ASX files (the ones with the GIF file entries), accessed remotely, can be parsed by the player. As has already been explained, none of the iOS players can do this – heck, not even VLC is able to parse these files on the desktop!
The second row, “Standard local ASX (and, more generally, other playlists) parsing”, elaborates on whether local (non-remote), previously via iTunes File Sharing-transferred and, when needed, cleaned-up (see the wwiTV incompatibility problem) ASX files are parsed by the player. In this row, I’ve also noted if other types (m3u, m3u8, strm) of playlists are supported.
The next, “”Open in” support for ASX” row elaborates on directly invoking the player by passing it a just-downloaded ASX file from, say, Safari. As I’ve explained above, being able to parse local or remote ASX files doesn’t necessarily mean being able to be passed them: AcePlayer shouldn’t be passed ASX files to avoid crashing.
The “MMS streaming” row lists whether the given player is able to play back direct MMS URL’s (and how / where they should be entered). Again, some players can only accept MMS URL’s but not ASX files / URL’s and vice versa.
“Silverlight streams (e.g., ARD) as opposed to standard WMV ones” elaborates on whether wwiTV videos marked as SilverLight streams can be played back.
Finally, “Streaming history / favorites” shows whether you can add these ASX files / MMS streams as favorites, Again, as has already been pointed out above, Azul is the (only) clear loser here.
UPDATE (29/Sep/2012): some SL pages at wwiTV link to MMS streams directly and not via any kind of an ASX file. (Examples HERE and HERE.) Unfortunately, when tapping an MMS link (as opposed to doing the same to an ASX one), you aren’t presented the “Open In” page, but are directly taken to a player that has registered itself as a handler to these streams. Examples of such apps are VLC, WMV Player and OPlayer HD. The first two, of course, can’t play back anything streamed and, as has been explained in the article, plays back MMS streams directly entered (or, in this case, from another app – here, Safari – passed) flipped in both directions and, therefore, useless.
The solution: With MMS stream links, you need to, therefore, tap-and-hold link and select “Copy” in the context menu. In the next screenshot, I annotatated the menu item you must tap:
After this, you can already paste the MMS URL to your target, MMS playback-capable app from the clipboard. This has all been explained in the player-specific subsections above.
Fashion Zebra Pattern Hard Plastic Case Cover for iPod touch 2nd Gen
Brand new non-OEM. Made of high quality and durable material. Easy installation, just snap on your phone without any tools. Plug your charger, cable or headset without removing the case. Prevents damage to your phone from objects in your pockets or purse.
MacJournal is a bloggers dream app
Every writer keeps a journal. That’s not to say that everyone who keeps a journal is a writer. My journal, started in November 1993 on a Mac Classic using Word for Mac v2.x. Since then, I have kept it mostly in word with a brief conversion to Microsoft One Note. However, with my resurrection an being a born a “Macintoshish” person, I have been looking for an app that can record my thoughts and days, as well as post to my three blogs, possibly keep my manuscript and whatever else my busy fingers can type. Lastly, I want it to epitomize customizability as well as offering seamless syncing with mobile (iOS) devices. MacJournal does all these things and more. It is an easy, intuitive and feature rich app.
The versions tested included;
Mac version 6 on OSx Mountain Lion
iOS 6 on an iPhone 4
iOS 5.1 on an iPad 2
Download and install on all three devices was flawless and un-eventful. It took less than 3 minutes to download and install MacJournal on all the aforementioned devices. Once setup was complete, The sync capability was tested. Again, like the install and setup; Flawless. Throughout testing, I kept syncing and have all the same data on all three devices. This feature is HUGE, as I may not always have my MacBook air with me, but my iPhone never leaves my side.
Video: MacJournal
The basic stepping-stones of MacJournal are the journals and entries Imagine the actual journals are books you have written. The entries are much like pages within a book. Organization is a strong suit here, as you have a full glance of whatever writing project you are on at any given moment.
You could not pick an easier app to start your journaling. Each new document opens with one blank entry. All you need to do now is select it and start typing. The info bar directly above the text shows the “topic”, which in essence is really the title. The default is to show the date and time, but that is easily changed. So now, you have speed written your Pulitzer prize winning piece. Now, SAVE. At this point, you now have created your first entry.
Much like with potato chips (as in you can’t eat just one), it is doubtful though, that you will stick with just one journal. If that is the case, MacJournal is still excellent, but overkill. Journal/Blog management should be MacJournal’s middle name. You can keep on creating to your hearts content. Some great ideas for dividing your written thoughts include creating journals for;
Home Life
Personal Diaries
Work Life
Children(s) progression
Recipes
What ever you would have written on paper
There is no (advertised) upper limit on how many journals you can create. You are limited by your thoughts and potential.
Personally, I’ve created a total of five journals so far. I have also added the two major WordPress blogs that I write for. (see the pic which is a screen shot of my actual app)
This is just a small sample of what could be included in a MacJournal document.
MacJournal is not just a text based app. In addition to text, you can also import graphics, audio, video, and Web pages. All of these elements retain full functionality within MacJournal.
Sometimes the bells and whistles get in the way. This is why MacJournal has incorporated the “Focused Editing” mode, which is a terminal-style text-only interface. To access it, simply click the Enter Focused Editing button on the top toolbar or look under the view menu, and start typing. Once your writing is done, “esc” brings you back to the real world.
There are other ideas that also make MacJournal valuable. While the ideas I have come up with fit my lifestyle and business (personal and professional) MacJournal is not a black and white cookie cutter software. It is so customizable, so individual, that it is an invaluable piece of software that should be on every Mac and every iOS device. Learn more at Mariner Software, or get it from the App Store.
Adobe intros all-new Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11
Adobe today announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Adobe Premiere Elements 11, newly designed versions of its consumer photo- and video-editing software.
Photoshop Elements 11 offers a complete solution for editing, organizing and sharing photos while Premiere Elements 11 offers easy creation of engaging home movies. Available as stand-alone products, Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11 can also be purchased together in a low-priced bundle, providing tools that simplify editing and turn everyday snapshots and videos into sensational photos and home movies, creating memories that can instantly be shared with friends and family. Both solutions are available for Windows and Mac.
“Photos and videos allow us to capture and share moments in time,” said Lea Hickman, vice president products, Creative Consumer Business, Adobe, in the press release. “Powerful – yet friendly and easy to use – Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11 inspire creativity and help consumers make the most of remembering and sharing these personal memories.”
Create Great Photos with Powerful, Intuitive Tools in Photoshop Elements 11
Make photos look their best with editing options that offer virtually everything from quick fixes to a number of creative possibilities:
A completely refreshed, user-friendly interface featuring the same engine as Adobe Photoshop includes easily-navigated Quick, Guided and Expert editing modes; one-click options; a helpful Action bar; and big, bold icons to help users get the most from their shots
Organize photos based on people, places (via Google maps geo-tagging) or events easily and intuitively
New Guided Edits make pro-level effects like tilt-shift, vignettes and high and low-key easy to create
New filters – Comic, Graphic Novel and Pen & Ink – inspire creativity by turning photos into stunning illustrations
Intelligent Photoshop technology makes it easy to extract objects from different photos
Easily share photos via email, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and more
Pro-quality Videos Made Easy with Premiere Elements 11
Create attractive, pro-level videos with automated moviemaking options to take the work out of editing:
An entirely new and improved user interface including many of the same updates found in Photoshop Elements 11
Add polish with a wide range of great-looking effects, transitions, themes, titles, disc menus and professional-level effects and sound
Give videos Hollywood movie styles with FilmLooks; easily apply slow and fast motion effects; dial-in colors with slider controls; effortlessly integrate blends for seamless transitions; and make adjustments with Quick Presets
Show off finished creations with integrated video sharing on Vimeo
Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Adobe Premiere Elements 11 software for Windows and Mac is available now via adobe.com, and will soon be available at retail outlets. The Photoshop Elements 11 & Premiere Elements 11 bundle is available now for a suggested retail price of US$149.99, with upgrade pricing of US$119.99. Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Adobe Premiere Elements 11 are available individually for a suggested retail price of US$99.99, with upgrade pricing of US$79.99. (Prices listed are the Adobe direct store prices in the U.S.; reseller prices may vary. Prices do not include tax or shipping and handling.)
More info: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 and Premiere Elements 11.
Source: Adobe Systems Incorporated
djay for iPhone, iPad now enhanced for the iPhone 5’s larger display
djay by algoriddim, the very popular and incredibly awesome DJ app for iPhone and iPad, has received a big update that not only brings new features and support for iOS 6, but also optimization for the iPhone 5’s larger display. And by optimization, we don’t mean that they’ve spaced out the elements of their UI to fill the screen, but they’ve redesigned the UI to include more controls on the screen to increase functionality and usability.
If you’re not familiar with djay, it’s an app that transforms your iPhone and iPad into a full-fledged portable DJ systems that integrates with your music library. It features a hyper-realistic interface and ultra-low latency that offers a true professional mixing experience. You can perform live, record mixes on the go, or enable Automix mode and let djay do all the work.
djay has been a favorite of DJ’s everywhere and was the winner of the 2011 Apple Design Award for iPad — and with the optimizations for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, djay is better than ever.
The following image demonstrates how djay has taken full advantage of the iPhone 5’s larger screen.
So as you can see, the main screen of djay on the iPhone 5 now includes UI elements that had to be accessed from a different screen on previous iPhone models.
Some of the other improvements made to djay include integration with the iTunes Store with in-app browse, preview, and purchase, support of multi route audio on iOS 6, key lock and time stretching, high precision analysis settings, and an improved library, speed slider, and bluetooth compatibility.
djay is available on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with the iPhone version temporarily available for just $0.99 (normally $9.99).
$0.99 for iPhone – Download Now
$19.99 for iPad – Download Now
$19.99 for Mac – Download Now
WINNERS! iPhone Life’s Weekly Weekend Giveaway 9-24
Thanks to everyone who entered the iPhone Life Weekly Weekend Giveaway. 180 people entered this week(minus a couple of duplicates)! We have selected the winners of this giveaway. We gave away 8 apps!
And the winners are… (drumroll please): Kerry Johnson, Keon Thompson, Shamara Burton, Carter Perez, Eric Murphy, Ferniqua Christian, Andree Blanc, and Edward Yoong!
Congratulations! Enjoy your free apps!
Didn’t win this week? No worries! Next week we have 15 exciting apps and 1 accessory:
iAM Stylus
If you are an iPad or iPhone stylus user, this is the Ferrari of the artificial finger set. It comes with two different sized tips attached to a machined aluminum body that feels like a pencil in hand. There are two magnets that affix the stylus to Apple SmartCover or to the side of the new iPad and the iPad 2. It keeps your screen smudge free by minimizing contact and gives you precise control over your touch screen device vs. your finger.
PKE Meter Ghost Hunter
PKE Meter Ghost Hunter lets you take Egon Spengler’s psychokinetic energy meter with you wherever you go! The app lets you manually scan areas of a room or building, or can automatically scan a room for you. This is the only iOS PKE meter with functional wings, just like the one made famous by Egon, Peter, Winston and Ray!
Ringtone DJ Pro – Create Unlimited Custom Free Sounds: MP3 Ringtones, Tones, Alerts!
Ringtone DJ is the first and only app that allows you to make UNLIMITED ringtones and alert tones from any song in your iTunes music library and … make it 100% unique by applying professional DJ sound effects. All you need to do is to choose the song you like, set the Start Time, Duration and press Save. That’s all, it can’t be easier! Want to make your ringtone outstanding? – Sure, just grab additional DJ sound effects and feel the power of DJing. UnitXpert – The Conversion ExpertUnitXpert is an expert app for unit conversion. Converting Units now is a delightful experience with UnitXpert. Convert area, mass, length, temperature, currencies and much more in an easy and intuitive way. Good Luck Everyone!
iPhone 5 Now on Sale in the U.S.
The iPhone 5 just launched in the U.S. along the east coast. Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt is at the 5th Avenue Store and notes that the line is longer than last year’s iPhone 4S line:
We’re here at the big glass cube of Apple’s (AAPL) flagship Fifth Avenue store for the launch of the iPhone 5. The queue of customers isn’t as long as the 1,200 that greeted the iPad 2, but at 7 a.m. — one hour before doors open — I counted 710 heads, 52% more than the 400 at the iPhone 4S launch.
The first day pre-orders for the iPhone 5 doubled last year’s iPhone 4S launch. That initial set of pre-orders for the iPhone 5 should arrive throughout the day.
More than skin covers | Skinthemoon 