How To: Bulk Crop Photos of an iPhone App Taken on an iPad
So I do lots and lots of mockups of mobile apps. Many times I pull up an iPhone app that I’m testing on my iPad and need to take screen shots of the various screens in the app. So I walk through the app, pressing the power+home buttons to snap screen shots. Then I upload them all to my dropbox account with the intention of opening them on my Mac for inclusion in some document or other. Problem is, the screen shots of the iPhone app have that huge black border around them because I was running an iPhone app on my iPad. I wanted to bulk update those photos and trim off the big border and leave only the 320×480 iPhone part.
I said to myself, “Surely there is an app for that.” Well, if there is, I haven’t found one. Anyway if you’re running a Mac, here’s what you do to make it nice and simple:
1) If you don’t already have it, download and install MacPorts
2) If you don’t already have ImageMagickinstalled, open a terminal and run this: sudo port install ImageMagick
3) Make sure you have all of the .png files of the iPad-ified screenshots you want to crop in a directory by themselves.
4) Open a terminal command line in that directory and run this: mogrify -crop 320×480+223+271 *.png
You’re welcome 
Note: Yes, I know I could just take my screen shots on an iPhone to avoid all this.
Apple To Match.com: “Pay Up”
Techcrunch notes that Apple has removed online dating service Match.com’s iOS app from the App Store over violations of the company’s in-app subscription requirements. The Match.com app had allowed users to sign up for subscriptions to the service through an external link in the app, a mechanism that is no longer permitted by Apple as it has sought to drive usage of its in-app subscription services that sees Apple taking a 30% cut of revenues.
Apple has removed Match.com‘s iOS app because it allowed the lonely to pay for Match subscriptions with a credit card through an external link rather than using the in-app purchases system. That meant Apple wasn’t getting its 30% cut. In June Apple revised its policy to state that “Apps can read or play approved content that is subscribed to or purchased outside of the app, as long as there is no button or external link in the app to purchase the approved content.” Apple and Match.com are now negotiating how the app must change before their relationship can be rekindled and they can have an earth-shattering makeup revenue split.
Match.com can satisfy Apple’s requirements either by offering an in-app option via Apple, which would result in Apple taking its 30% cut, or by simply omitting any links to external payment mechanisms. Under the latter scenario, users would have to know to visit the full Match.com site to sign up for a subscription, an extra step for users which may reduce the number of new subscribers but one that would enable Match.com to avoid having Apple skim off 30% of subscription revenue from the app.
Samsung Galaxy S II (NOT iPhone 4S) Chosen As Phone Of The Year
Pocket-Lint – a popular weblog covering consumer electronics – has chosen Samsung’s flagship super-phone – the Galaxy S II – for “Best Phone of the Year” award.
Their award for Best phone for the 8th Annual Gadgets Awards goes to the Samsung Galaxy S II, beating out other phones like the Apple iPhone 4S, HTC Sensation, Nokia Lumia 800 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray.
The award-selection process involved shortlisting five devices for the category and then choosing the best out of them based on the opinion of panel of “elite judges” including members of British newspapers, leading websites and television channels. Besides this, they took input from around 100 journalists and, of course, readers of their website.
A printer for a new age.
I love digital things. The ability to have everything right at my finger tips at any given moment on a device like an iPad is really convenient.
But i must admit that there is a certain feel that i get from paper that will probably never be replaced. This “Little Printer“ is the future. You can completely customize what it prints out for you each day using those same devices that attempted to remove paper from this world. Using their application that is available for iOS and android you can even send messages to your friends “Little Printer” with a personalized message. Check it out http://bergcloud.com/littleprinter/
Take Awesome Vintage Photos with Holga iPhone Lens Kit
The popularity of applications like Instagram, Hipstamatic and Magic Hour, shows that many smart phone owners love transforming their photos into grainy, vintage snaps. So if you’re a fan of retro images, then try this new lens filter kit from Holga Direct.
The kit (or case, really) slots over both an iPhone 4 or 4s and then it allows you to play around with nine filters without the need for an app. Some of the effects include triple image lens, empty hole and red filter…
Available from Holga Direct for $24.99 in red, white, blue and black.
via popgadget.net
Cool New iOS Shortcuts
The tweak, dubbed IconSettings, is available for free from iphoneza.co.za. The Web-based shortcuts do not require that users “jailbreak” their device, a term used to describe hacking the iOS mobile operating system to allow users to run unauthorized software and modifications.
With IconSettings, users can choose which specific aspects of the iOS Settings application they want quick access to. Options include general use features like Bluetooth, Airplane Mode and Personal Hotspot, while highly specific aspects of the Settings application including options for the Keyboard, Date and Time, Accessibility and Software Update are also available.
Users must simply visit the IconSettings website on their iOS device and visit the link that applies to the setting they want to add. Click the “Cancel” dialog, then add a bookmark link to the home screen, and the quick link will appear complete with a custom-built icon graphic.
The functionality, which is only available on iOS 5.0 and up, takes advantage of a feature within the iOS Safari Web browser. Tapping on the bookmarked icon on the homepage actually launches a new page in Safari before immediately opening the appropriate section of the native Settings application.
By adding an Airplane Mode link to the home screen, tapping the icon will immediately place the iOS device in Airplane Mode (no wireless data connections) without the need to launch the Settings application and select the appropriate option.
Unlike with Airplane Mode, a Bluetooth link added to the home screen will not automatically toggle Bluetooth on or off, but it does immediately bring users to the Bluetooth setting option. Previously, users had to select the Settings application, choose General, and then Bluetooth to access this page.
For years, some users have been jailbreaking their iPhone or other iOS devices to gain quick access to features like enabling or disabling Bluetooth, in order to conserve battery life. But with IconSettings, users can access this functionality without going through the jailbreak process, which voids Apple’s warranty for iOS devices.
via appleinsider.com
We Are Quoted In The Latest 1012Corridor Magazine
Maggie Richardson from the 1012Corridor magazine interviewed us a while ago on the “state of apps” in Baton Rouge. And while most of our customers are from out of state, we were happy to give our two cents. Maggie did a great job with the article! Read it here.
Mobile Apps Seeing ‘Astronomical’ Growth In China
These are the 10 countries where mobile apps have seen the fastest consumer adoption this year, new Flurry analytics show…
“China’s growth is astronomical,” writes Flurry’s Peter Farago. “While the top 100 countries are averaging session growth of over 200 percent, China is delivering more than four times this growth rate, spurred by a massive population voraciously adopting applications.
“We knew there were a lot of people in China, and that they’ve skipped over fixed wire to wireless technology adoption (as do most emerging economies), but we didn’t expect adoption of more premium iOS and Android handsets, and therefore apps, this quickly.”
What’s the reason for for this “hyper-growth”? Flurry credits falling prices for older iPhones and increasingly capable low- and mid-range Android handsets now available in emerging markets.
That trend of smartphone conversion within the overall mobile base is borne out by official Ministry Of Industry figures. It says the number of Chinese registered with a mobile app store grew from 100 million to 150 million this Q3 alone, even though mobile ownership grew only 2.5 percent to 1.25 billion.
In China, several telcos and handset makers have adopted forked versions of Android that bear little reference to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and which operate entirely different app stores. In fact, the most popular app stores are not always the ones that ship together with handsets; there is a thriving market of competing app stores.
Overseas app adoption means the U.S. is no longer responsible for the majority of global app sessions, as it was in January, though it remains the world’s largest single app market, according to Flurry. China in July overtook the UK to become the country which plays host to the second largest number of app sessions per month.
In the U.S., the share of adult cell phone owners who have downloaded an app has risen to 38 percent in August 2011, up from 22 percent in September 2009, according to new Pew Research Center research.
China had 100 million 3G users in Q3 and 40 million users of the TD-SCDMA standard, an Asian rival to 3G,according to its Ministry Of Industry. China is busy pitching its TD-LTE 4G standard to global operators; Japan’s Softbank has committed to adopt it.
» Methodology: Flurry’s analytics are recorded by more than 12,000 apps, which the company reckons make up a third of all daily downloads. Total mobile app sessions recorded by Flurry grew from 10 billion in January to 20 billion in October.
via moconews.net
Cool Site For Getting ASCII Symbols Like ⌘ and ✌
Ever had to put that copyright symbol © or the cents sign ¢ into a document and couldn’t remember the ASCII key combo? There’s a great site that let’s you quickly get it. Open the site, see the symbol, click it, and it’s in your clipboard for use.
Awesome. They have an iPhone app too.
http://copypastecharacter.com/
Science Geeks With Geeky Science Tattoos
Discover Magazine has a blog called the “Science Tattoo Emporium”. It’s a photo gallery of science geeks with science-geeky tattoos. Noting like a Golgi-stained neuron as your art of choice.
Check it out here: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/science-tattoo-emporium/
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