Author: Terry White

Terry is the co-author of The Best Selling "The iPhone Book" 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th editions. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years and is the founder and president of MacGroup-Detroit, Inc., Michigan's largest Macintosh Users Group, host of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and a technology writer - Terry White Tech Blog.
Photography / Reviews
NikonManualViewer

Nikon Manual Viewer

One of the benefits I’ve been enjoying since the iPad came out (and even with the iPhone before that) is having all of my electronics and camera gear manuals on my iDevices in PDF. Most companies now allow you to download manuals in PDF format. While I’ve got some great PDF viewing and storing Apps on my iDevices, Nikon has released one specifically for their manuals. Now before I go any further I must say that this seems a bit redundant if you already have a PDF viewing App (even the free iBooks App lets you do this) that you love. Also when the App 1st came out it was so buggy that it was basically “unusable”. However, they’ve updated it a couple of times to where I thought I’d give it a second look.

Quick access to manuals for current Nikon gear

Like I said above, I had the manuals for my Nikon cameras, speedlights and other equipment on my iPad before this App came out. I was curious though as to what this App would bring to the table? The first thing is that you don’t have to search around on their website to find the manuals for your gear. All of the available manuals (current gear ONLY) show up right in the App for download. You can download just the ones you want at any time for offline viewing. Once you have the manual(s) you want on your device then you can flip through the pages, do searches and make bookmarks. Nothing earth shattering here, but it does work. As you would expect there is NO Printing capability. Even on Nikon’s regular site you can only download “printable” manuals if you are “registered” for that specific piece of gear. Otherwise the manuals you download freely are for on screen viewing only. The App works as advertised now and is probably very useful for someone who doesn’t have a computer and only has iOS devices as it’s easy to download and view the manuals directly sans iTunes. It is the easiest fastest way to get their manuals on your device.

The Bottom Line

Not sure why Nikon invested in reinventing the wheel here as this was already pretty possible with their existing manuals and pretty much any PDF viewer on iOS? However, this Universal App is FREE and gives you fast access to find the manuals you want. It’s a pity that they don’t let you grab manuals for discontinued gear or even the newly announced gear like the D4 and D800. I’m sure those will be added, but they would have won another star from me had they been available sooner or at launch. This was also a missed opportunity to do MORE. Perhaps some interactive elements to show the features in action. Videos, etc.

You can get the Nikon Manual Viewer for free here from the iTunes

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Reviews / Social Networking
CoverPhotoMakerforFB

Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Pro+

When Facebook rolled out their Timeline feature one of the things they implemented was a new “Cover Photo”. This “wide” image covers the top of your Timeline. While Facebook does allow you to choose any photo you want, most people don’t have a photo that is the exact measurements of 851×315 pixels as most digital camera images don’t have that aspect ratio. As a Photoshop user you can create a photo that matches those dimensions perfectly. However, what if you’re not a Photoshop user or don’t know how to combine multiple photos together? That’s where Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Pro+ comes in.

Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Pro+ (CPMFB) is a Universal App that lets you select a template layout and then simply fill in the images squares with images from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. You add a text layer and choose from multiple built in fonts as well as color, size and opacity.  Each image can be scaled or repositioned in its square.  After you complete your masterpiece you can save it, email it or upload it directly to Facebook.

The Bottom Line

While CPMFB can upload directly to Facebook you’ll still have to set the image as your Cover Photo via the Facebook App or website. Also in working with text and sizing it down I ran into a couple of instances where I couldn’t see/grab the text again because it was off screen. I’d also like to see some more variety in layouts where the images could overlap each other. While this App probably has limited appeal to a Photoshop user it’s perfect for novices or every day Facebook users.

You can get Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Pro+ for 2.99 for iPad, iPhone or iPod touch here from the iTunes

Navigation / Reviews
GPS-everywhere

Turn Your iPhone into a Heads Up Display (HUD) for your Car

People have been using iPhones in their cars since day one. The obvious use is to make/receive calls. After that people found various ways to use the iPod feature to listen to their favorite tunes during the commute.  When the iPhone 3G hit the scene people used the integrated GPS chip with the GPS turn-by-turn navigation Apps that were hitting the scene. Fast forward to today and things are better than ever. Now your favorite GPS app can run in the background while you take calls or use other Apps.

GPS everyWhere turns your iPhone into a beautiful Heads-Up-Display (HUD)

If you’re using a Navigation App then you’re probably going to occasionally glance at the map while you listen the voice directions. However, what about the regular commute day to day? In most cases you know the route and you’re not using your GPS Turn-by-Turn App. At that point your iPhone display is a lot less interesting. This is where GPS everyWhere comes in. Just fire up the App and drive. You’ll be presented with your current speed, weather info, time, compass, humidity and more. You have your choice between 8 different themes. The App works in both portrait and landscape and presents the info in °C °F °K or MPH or km/h. You even slide open the Google Map display.

It’s a real HUD too

Please excuse the image above which looks like a serious case of double exposure, but that’s just how it photographs off the windshield as a reflection.

One of the things that got me excited about testing this App was the promise of a using the iPhone as a “HUD”. I had a car once with a built-in HUD and I do miss it. While it does work as advertised you have to realize that the iPhone display is just not bright enough to compete against the sun! You’ll barely be able to see the display reflected off your windshield in daylight if at all. In the evening or at night you should be fine though. Even then you’d have to weigh the value (geek factor) of reflecting the image off your windshield vs. just using a mount that displays the iPhone at eye level. Neat idea though!

You can get the GPS everyWhere for $0.99 (on sale) here from the iTunes

 

Photography / Reviews
CameraAwesome

Camera Awesome

I must admit that when I saw the news that Smugmug had released a “camera App” for iPhone, I thought “oh no, not another camera App!” After all the built-in camera App in the iPhone 4s has gotten better and there are lots of great camera and editing Apps already on iOS. What more could this new App do? Everyone seemed to be digging it so I decided to download it and give it a shot. The first thing that got me was that it was “Free”. Most good camera Apps are at least 99¢. I’ll come back to the “Free” factor in a minute. I fired up the App and quickly realized that it could probably replace at least two if not three of the Apps i was already using. It has features of the venerable Gorillacam App by Joby such as a burst mode and self-timer. You can also enable a “big button” to allow you to tap anywhere on the screen to take the photo although with iOS 5 I rely on on screen buttons a lot less since you can now using the Volume Up button as your shutter release.

You have a variety of Composition overlays such as rule of thirds, golden and trisec. It also has a separate focus and expose zone. I was also impressed with how fast the camera snaps the pic and adds it to its built-in camera roll.

Effects galore

Once you snap your pic then you can apply a variety of effects including the “Awesomize” effect that automatically adjusts your photo with a slider to control how much of this Awesomeness you get. Although the App is published by Smugmug they did not bias it to just posting pics to their service. You can post pics to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, and Photobucket as well as email and SMS.

Speaking of effects and here’s where the gotcha comes in. While the App is free and you can use it as much as you want with all that I mentioned above, there are SEVERAL in-app purchase options to buy more effects and filters. While it’s not totally in your face about it, it pops up anytime you scroll past the free effects. I guess there’s nothing wrong with this, but it may annoy some.

The Bottom Line

Camera Awesome is definitely worth the download and like I said for many I could see this App replacing many of the Apps you already use including perhaps the built-in Camera App.

You can get Camera Awesome for Free here from the iTunes

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