Saturday, November 2, 2013
iPhone has become a photographer’s new tool and rightly so. iPhone takes great photographs and with the introduction of 5MP camera in iPhone 4, the photographing capability of iPhone is now at par with most mid-range digital cameras if now better than them. However, picture quality and photo-capturing experience is taken to a whole new level with some great apps built just for the photographers.
As they say, best camera is the one you have always with you. iPhone has a great camera built-in. The iPhone 4′s camera is even better. It can take stunning photographs and HD videos. Then there is the fact that being a phone, it is with you always.
As they say, best camera is the one you have always with you. iPhone has a great camera built-in. The iPhone 4′s camera is even better. It can take stunning photographs and HD videos. Then there is the fact that being a phone, it is with you always.
One other great thing about the iPhone is that there is an app for almost anything, and photography is no exception. There are plenty of iPhone apps built just for the purpose of photography. From taking long-exposure photos to panoramic shots, iPhone has got it all. Without further ado, let’s get to the list.
- Pano
Pano is one of the most useful and likely on of the best photography applications for iPhone. As the name suggests, Pano is used for taking panoramic photographs. You can either use a tripod or hand-held it. Pano does a decent job in aligning the images for the panorama as well. Take a first photographs and keep taking them as long as you want the panorama to be. When you are done, click cancel and wait for a few seconds until Pano aligns and makes the panorama for you.
More info & Download link: Pano | Price: $2.99
- TiltShift
Tilt-shift is one of the most loved techniques of photography. No wonder you can take til-shift photographs with your iPhone too. TiltShift app lets you do just that. With TiltShift, you can transform a scene into a miniature world. In TiltShift photography, photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature scale model.
More info & Download link: Tilt-Shift | Price: $1.99
- DSLR Camera Remote
DSLR Camera remote does exactly what the name suggests. It wirelessly triggers the shutter button of your camera. Not only that, it also lets you see the preview of the images you are taking. This application is great for taking self-portraits or macro photos. If you have ever tried to take macro photographs or long-exposure ones, you probably know that pressing the shutter button on the camera itself causes a shake in the camera which inturn ruins the images. However, with DSLR camera remote, you don’t have to worry about the shake because you will be triggering the shutter remotely and that too without connecting any wires to your DSLR or the iPhone.
More info & Download link: DSLR Remote | Price: $1.99 for Lite and $19.99 for Pro Version
- Poses
If you are into model photography, nothing suits you better than Poses app for iPhone. It shows different poses against a white background and you can use these poses to set-up your model and then take its photos. The poses are spread over 3 volumes each retailing for $10. Each volume contains around 370 Poses. It also has an option to check how good/bad your model is positioned to the particular pose. It lets you see that using the built-in camera of the iPhone. When the model is fully in position, you can take the photograph using your DSLR or any other camera.
More info & Download link: Poses | Price: $9.99 Per Volume
- Pro HDR
Creating HDR photos has never been easier than this app makes it. Pro HDR for iPhone let’s you take full-resolution HDR photographs. Pro HDR automatically takes under-exposed and over-exposed photographs of the scene. Then it aligns and merges the photographs to make one stunning HDR photo out of them.
More info & Download link: Pro HDR | Price: $1.99
- Adobe PhotoShop Express
The best photo-editing application in the world is available on the iPhone too. Adobe PhotoShop Express app is the iPhone version of PhotoShop Express, Adobe’s online photo-editing and sharing service. PhotoShop express does a very descent job in handling the basic photo-editing requirements as well as some cool advanced filters. You can crop, straighten, flip photos as well as add some effects like sepia and monochrome. You can also upload the photos to Adobe PhotoShop Express online service right from your iPhone using this application.
More info & Download link: PhotoShop Express | Price: Free
- CameraBag
CameraBag is one of the most popular iPhone Applications for Photographers. It has a number of filters and you can either take your own photo to apply those filter or you can choose from your library. The filters that are built into CameraBag include Helga, 1974, Magazine, Instant, ColorCross etc. You can set the camera behavior as well as choose camera style. Other features include cropping, border effect, image size and emailing the photos right from the application.
More info & Download link: CameraBag | Price: $1.99
- PhotoFunia
If you have ever used PhotoFunia.com you probably know what this application does. This application for iPhone lets you apply any effect (more than 100 available) to your Photographs. It is like using PhotoShop without learning it. It uses advanced technology to detect faces from photographs and then applies any effect you like. With PhotoFunia, you can place your face on a magazine or on the walls.
More info & Download link: PhotoFunia | Price: Free
- Nikon Learn & Explore
Nikon L&E is one of my favorite iPhone apps. It is Nikon’s official application for teaching you how to take creative photographs. It is updated regularly with new techniques and experiences/tips from Professional photographers from around the world. The default view of the app shows different photographs and selecting each one show the technique used to attain that photo.
More info & Download link: Nikon L&E | Price: Free
- iFolio
Professional photographers are going to love this application. Ever since the introduction of iPhone, creative people all over the world have used it as a ever-ready portfolio and Photographers are no exception. iFolio for iPhone enables you to create and view Dynamic portfolios and share them on twitter or via email.
More info & Download link: iFolio | Price: Free
Monday, October 14, 2013
The answer is (in a real life usage speed test): not much faster. The guys over at EverythingApplePro put together this great “speed test” video where they compared every iPhone made to date against each other. I should note this is not an extensive benchmark test, but you can get a good feel for the speed of basic functionality on each iPhone. You can check it out below:
- The speed bump from the 3G/3GS to the 4 is huge. You can really tell during the web browsing tests. While this is no doubt due to the improved hardware, it’s also likely due to software changes in Safari on the newer iOS (with the 3GS losing support for upgrades after iOS 6.1.3, and the 3G losing support way back at 4.2.1).
- If you’re running iOS 7 on an iPhone 4, you’re not crazy: it really does take forever to boot up.
- It’s not just you, iOS 7 also takes a surprisingly long time to shut down.
- When you compare the iPhone 5s to the iPhone 5, there is barely any difference in speed (at least that you will notice for basic tasks). However, while differences in day-to-day activities are not really noticeable right now, as more intensive things (like 3D gaming) and other apps start to take advantage of the 5s’ 64-bit processor we will likely start seeing more noticeable speed jumps.
All that said, I still feel like my iPhone 5s is a bit snappier than my iPhone 5, but maybe it’s just in my head.
Well that didn’t take long at all. Samsung has come out and said its next smartphones will be 64-bit, just like the iPhone 5s. J.K. Shin, Samsung’s mobile chief, said Wednesday that his company also has 64-bit devices in the pipeline. “Not in the shortest time, but yes, our next smartphones will have 64-bit processing functionality,” Shin told The Korea Times.
Some may find this somewhat funny, Apple releases something and Samsung is quick to copy it. And it is to a certain degree, but let’s not forget that Samsung also manufacturers Apple’s smartphone CPUs (including the latest 64-bit A7). This means Samsung knew that Apple planned to release the next iPhone with a 64-bit processor a long time ago.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 runs a 32-bit chip, which is powerful enough for the tasks it performs. But like Apple, the company is also looking ahead to an era of more resource-intensive smartphone applications that will benefit from 64-bit chips that can address larger amounts of memory. If you are at all familiar with hardware, you probably know that in order for a device to support more than 4GB of RAM it needs to run a 64-bit processor. And let’s not forget the new Galaxy Note 3 has whopping 3GB of RAM.
Of course more RAM and processor power means better performance, but it also means the need for improved or bigger batteries to ensure battery life remains reasonable. Smartphones are now at the point where they literally can be comparable to desktops with regard to performance in certain areas. In fact, Apple is saying that the iPhone 5s offers “desktop caliber” performance and in the words of John Gruber, “I don’t think they’re exaggerating.”
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Buckle your seatbelt, make sure your seats are upright, and power off all electronics. That last part could soon be changing. The FAA is on the verge of easing its restrictions on when passengers can use their tablets, e-readers, iPods and smart phones. CNET's Sumi Das explains how planes and technology have change, alleviating safety concerns and putting pressure on the FAA to update its ban.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Best Buy announced Thursday that Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be up for preorder on Friday. It will be the only retailer to carry all six colors of the device, which includes a Best Buy exclusive in lime green.
Samsung announced the Galaxy Gear earlier this month at the IFA show in Berlin. The device has hit some countries around the world already and will be available in the US next month. Sprint announced that it will start selling the smartwatch on October 4.
The Gear, which costs $299, features a touch screen that tells time, provides access to notifications and messages, and works with apps. It can also place calls. Currently, it is only compatible with the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.
Samsung has competition in the burgeoning world of smartwatches out there, which includes devices from makers such as Sony, Pebble, Martian, and Qualcomm. There have also been rumors that Apple is working on an iWatch.
People wanting to get their hands on the Galaxy Gear can preorder the device in any Samsung Experience Shop in all Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile stores. The watch will be shipped to their homes when it's available, which is scheduled for October.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Windows users are probably all too familiar with the Ctrl-Alt-Del key sequence. Although it’s commonly associated with closing unresponsive applications through the task manager -- and, in fact, it was originally meant to remain a developer-only tool to reboot a computer -- it is also used as a way to log into Windows.
David Bradley, the designer of the original IBM PC and responsible for coming up with the key combination, famously poked fun at then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates on stage at the 20th anniversary of the IBM PC in 2001. "I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous," Bradley said. The audience laughed and applauded at the clear reference to Windows’ app instability at the time, and though he softened the jab adding that he was merely referencing the Windows NT secure logon procedure, Gates looked far from amused.
Ten years later, in an interview with Cnet, Bradley said he didn't understand why Gates decided to make Ctrl-Alt-Del a login feature, adding that "I guess it made sense for them." Well, not quite.
Speaking at a Harvard fundraising campaign earlier this week Gates was asked about the decision to use the three-finger sequence as a log in command. Funnily, after explaining they needed a low level way of signaling the OS so malicious software could not fake the login screen during boot and steal passwords, and that wanted a single button “but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design” wouldn't give it to them, he just sort of gives up and admits -- much to the audience’s amusement -- that it was a mistake.
I guess that puts the mystery to rest.
The sequence is required in Windows NT, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 to gain access to the logon screen securely. Client versions up to Windows 7 won’t see this screen by default but the secure logon option can still be enabled via the Windows Registry or the Local Security Policy Editor
You can watch the full interview in the video below. His comments on Ctrl-Alt-Del start at around 16:35, but the talk also touches on a number of topics from Gates’ early days at Microsoft to his work at the Foundation, and the decision to spend all their resources within 20 years after Bill's and Melinda's deaths.
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