How many times have you stepped out of the group to click pictures, feeling left out as others posed? Or have there been instances when you’re jostling to get back for a group picture after setting the timer of a camera shutter? While there is Samsung NX Mini, which comes with an LCD screen that flips 180 degrees for taking selfies, it still requires users to make adjustments in the frame.… Read More
Tactilize was introduced back in September at TC 50 and it was globally released as a public beta in December 2012. This cool (and free) application allows anyone to create compelling interactive visual “cards” with a mix of photos, text, videos and links directly from the iPad or the desktop browser.
Tactilize 3.0will launch soon in the App store, the new version will feature a brand new user interface, full profile pages and social browsing which will allow users to follow each other. Content can be imported from your computer or from various sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, Box and many other sources.
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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: ORA: Ultimate Speaker Case and Stand for iPad, Dijit NextGuide Update, 
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The Explore Shakespeare iPad apps are interactive versions of Shakespeare plays, made on behalf of venerable British publisher Cambridge University Press. In addition to the full text of either Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet, you get an entire audio performance, plus photos of productions, glossaries and textual notes, plot synopses, academic articles, study activities and more. A perfect gift for students, or anyone with more than a passing interest in the bard.
… interactive versions of two of Shakespeare’s plays: Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. As well as the text of each play, the apps include a full audio track so you can listen to the play being performed to bring scenes to life in your head. The audio performance is not a read-through, but a full dramatic production complete with atmospheric background noises and some recognisable names taking on parts (including Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen and Fiona Shaw). The audio performance can be switched on and off as desired. When it’s on, the text scrolls along in sync to allow you to read and listen (handy for actors learning lines).
The apps also include embedded glossary and textual notes so you can tap to bring up word definitions on sections of text or additional context about particular textual quirks and curiosities. The look of the app can also be customised — from a relatively plain view with limited additions, building up to one that includes layers of extra context, such as photos, plot synopses, added marginalia and study activities. Elsewhere you can read essays on themes, and do a spot of data visualisation via word clouds, theme timelines and a character circles feature that displays the relations between characters in case you’re having trouble keeping up with all the plot twists. Another character-focused features lets you look at only the scenes in the play in which that person features. And for Shakespearean word nerds, there’s a full text search feature with highlighting and filtering.
… students studying the plays, actors needing to learn lines — or anyone who’s especially fond of Shakespeare (and owns an iPad).
… all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Or rather as a thoughtful gift for someone who really digs the bard. The apps would also be especially useful for schoolkids with Shakespeare texts to study who are maybe finding it difficult to get too excited about reading the plays. The audio feature means they can plug in their headphones and look moody while technically still studying.
There are other interactive Shakespeare iPad apps you could also consider — such as The Shakesperience series made by Sourcebooks, which includes Hamlet, Othello and Romeo and Juliet. However, those apps don’t include entire audio performances of each play, rather offering snippets of audio (and video) from various historical performances. If you want to be able to listen to the full sound and fury of Macbeth, or hear every wistful sigh of the star-crossed lovers, then Explore Shakespeare is the way to go.
NB: Fans of Shakespeare’s sonnets might also like to receive The Sonnets by William Shakespeare: an app that includes all 154 sonnets performed to camera by a phalanx of famous actors, including Sir Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, Stephen Fry and Dominic West.
Remember RockMelt The “social web browser”? The name doesn’t come up often, especially when we talk about conventional browsers like Firefox, Chrome, IE and Safari. Well, rest assured, the startup is still alive and kicking: after releasing an iPhone app earlier this year, it’s introducing an iPad version as well. As ever, the browser is built around social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but instead of emphasizing chat and status updates, it’s all about using your social network to help curate a newsfeed that matches your interests. In other words, you could do a traditional web search and sift though the results, but if you sign in with your Facebook or Twitter handle what you’ll actually see are stories that RockMelt thinks might appeal to you. In theory, the browser will learn, over time, what you like and what you don’t, and at any point you can add specific news sources as you would with an RSS feed. As an added bonus, the experience of reading articles from within the app is actually quite smooth, but that’s neither here nor there.
And, of course, what would a social browser be without the ability to share cat videos? In addition to sharing things with people directly (i.e., through email), you can use so-called emoticodes like “lol,” “want,” and “aww” to comment on a story without actually commenting on it. (Think of it as the equivalent of liking something on Facebook: it’s less intrusive than posting random links on your friend’s wall.) The app is available for download today, and we’re told versions for other platforms are in development. In the meantime, check out the screenshots after the break to get a basic for the layout.
Filed under: Tablets, Software
RockMelt social browser comes to the iPad, offers up news stories tailored to your interests originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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With its season premieres of Dexter and Homeland (trailers are embedded after the break) on deck for next Sunday evening, Showtime has refashioned its second screen iPad app in version 2.0 and even changed the name to reflect new features. Now dubbed Showtime Sync, it follows other network branded apps (AMC, MTV, NBC and Syfy come to mind) by focusing on pushing relevant content, viewer polls and the like to the tablet while the show plays. It syncs up automatically from the show’s audio, which should make things simple when watching via DVR, VOD and even DVD / Blu-ray or streaming (could you have Showtime Anytime streaming on one tablet synced to another one?), while promising lots of photos plus behind the scenes content when the episode ends. Hit the source link to grab the free app, how you come by the episodes you’ll have to figure out on your own.
Continue reading Showtime’s second screen iPad app hits 2.0, goes from Social to Sync
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD
Showtime’s second screen iPad app hits 2.0, goes from Social to Sync originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you’ve been looking for a way to make publishing for the iPad much easier and erase the coding headaches, Adobe is looking to oblige. The software company has announced that its Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) Single Edition is now part of the Creative Cloud software collection. Not familiar with DPS? No worries. The program allows designers to create single-issue iPad publications (annual reports, brochures, portfolios, etc.) in InDesign and then export them to the Digital Publishing Suite App Builder for all of the requisite coding and finishing touches. When all is said and done, the user is left with an app that can be immediately sent to Apple for its seal of approval. Pretty neat, eh? The software will still be available on its own for $395 or as part of a $49.99 annual or $74.99 month-to-month Creative Cloud commitment. However, those upgrading from CS3 or later can opt in for $29.99 per month. If a few more details are what you’re after before signing up, consult the full PR below.
Filed under: Software
Adobe Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition gets cozy with Creative Cloud, code deficient designers rejoice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Stitcher is all about giving the people what they want and, only days after introducing its popular lists, it’s back with an offline mode for its iOS apps. Despite boasting one of the smallest data footprints in the streaming game (0.2MB per minute), you can now download over 10,000 radio shows for unconnected listening. Beware — the app will automatically update the shows on your custom stations, so if you plan on using it to save that precious data for other things, make sure to set it to only pull over WiFi. Along with that major enhancement, there’s a new comments system and other improvements in Facebook sharing, searching and AirPlay compatibility. The PR says the update is live, but iTunes disagrees, so you’ll have to wait a little longer before going off-grid.
Continue reading Stitcher updates its iOS app with offline mode for data-free radio
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Mobile
Stitcher updates its iOS app with offline mode for data-free radio originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Cal and Stanford fans away from home no longer have to huddle around their laptops if they want to learn who’s one-upping who. The Pac-12 Conference has just launched an iPad app for its authenticated Pac-12 Now service: as long as you’re with a TV provider that carries the college sports division’s games (sorry for now, DirecTV customers), you can tune into 850 live matches spread across a myriad of sports. As you’d hope, going the digital route allows for some on-demand viewing, a dedicated program guide and the social sharing you’ll want to rope friends into watching. Only Bright House, Cox and Time Warner Cable subscribers can use the iPad viewer at first, although support should come to BendBroadband, Comcast, Frontier and Suddenlink this fall, right alongside Android- and iPhone-sized apps. Hopefully, they arrive in time for a little ego padding around the Big Game in October.
Continue reading Pac-12 Conference streams come to iPad, fuel that Big Game rivalry on the road
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD
Pac-12 Conference streams come to iPad, fuel that Big Game rivalry on the road originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The app devs over at Sky Sports are having a busy year, and after improving their iPad offering for the F1 season, they’re back with a “second screen” update for football (soccer) fans. Just in time for the start of the UK Premier League season, the new Football Match Centre adds a content bar alongside your chosen stream showing team and player info, in-depth stats of the match in progress and a hand-picked Twitter feed for related musings. You might think the devs deserve a break, but sadly there’s no time — next on the agenda is a similar update for the Champions League tournament, then they’re bringing the second screen to golf fans before the Ryder Cup starts next month.
Continue reading Football fans score additional content in Sky Sports for iPad update
Filed under: Software
Football fans score additional content in Sky Sports for iPad update originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GetGlue’s been giving social TV watchers a hub they can count on within Cupertino’s tablet for a good while now. Today, however, the application’s reached version three-dot-oh, which means there’s a slew of new goodies in tow. Among some of the fresh features is an all-new guide for television shows, movies and sports that’s solely based on personal preferences, while recommendations, clips and related articles have also been added in this new version. That’s not it, though, GetGlue now lets folks set alerts for upcoming events, as well as earn “stickers” for watching their favorite content — think badges on FourSquare. Best of all, the iPad app’s still free of charge, so anyone interested in v3.0 can give the App Store link below a quick tap to get on with the gratis download.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablet PCs, Software
GetGlue for iPad hits version 3.0: adds personalized guides, show recommendations and alerts originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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