Monthly Archives: July 2010
Digit-Eyes identfies everything for the blind without breaking the bank
Filed under: iPhone, App Review
The Digit-Eyes Audio Scanner and Labeler (US$29.95) from Digital Miracles is a remarkable Assistive Technology (AT) app for the iPhone and iPod touch geared to the blind and visually impaired community. What it does is fairly straightforward once you get the big idea, but the implications of its uses are fairly mind-boggling.
The app does three things. The first and simplest is, using the built in camera, scanning UPC and EAN codes found on most everything. Taking advantage of the VoiceOver accessibility capability built into the iPhone/IPod touch, it searches a database, brings back the results and reads it to you. There is also a button to search Google for more information. That’s really no big deal since a variety of barcode scanning apps such as Red Laser can do roughly the same thing. You need an Internet connection for this since you are referencing the Digit-Eyes database.
A new approach to iPhone panoramas
Filed under: iPhone
There are plenty of iPhone apps that shoot panorama photos. You take a picture. Move to the left or right, and after you have 3 or 4 images the panorama software stitches the images together.
Now, Occipital is offering 360 Panorama, a different approach to getting wide, or even 360 degree images. The app is dead simple. Click on a button to start the process, then slowly turn left or right. You appear to be taking one continuous image, and as you move you can see the image filling in on a grid. You don’t do any stitching, the software does it in nearly real time. You can go wide, or even shoot vertical images. Or you can do both, panning up and down, and moving left or right. The image will fill in. It’s pretty cool to watch. When you tap ‘save’ the image goes to your camera roll.
The app does a lot of processing and therefore needs to run on an iPhone 4 or 3GS. I had good luck using the app. I did have some trouble getting the edges to line up in a complete 360, but I think that is a matter of practice. Boinx released a similar app last week called You Gotta See This!
The art and science of the iPhone 4 CAD drawings
Filed under: iPhone
If you’re a sucker for technical drawings, then feast your eyes on the CAD drawing / iPhone 4 photo mashups recently published on Core77.
Hipstomp (AKA Rain Noe) found out that Apple had released the CAD drawings of the iPhone 4 exterior with special annotations for case manufacturers, and he promptly overlaid the technical drawings on top of the actual product photos. The result, as you can see in the photo above, is pure artistry. There are more drawings in the original post (click the source link below to view them), and if you’d like, you can download the bare CAD drawings directly from Apple.
A wiki for prepaid (iPhone compatible) SIM cards around the world
Filed under: iPhone
Here’s a great resource for any iPhone user who frequently travels. The Pay As You Go SIM with Data Wiki provides an ever-growing list of disposable SIMs that will work with the iPhone all over the world.
The project’s goal is to collect a list of iPhone (and Android) compatible pay-as-you-go (PAYG) SIMs from around the world. Since the card is pre-paid, they’re useful for someone who will be traveling for a brief time. To make the list, a card must be capable of handling data as well as voice.
For example, in France you can get an Orange card called “Mobicarte,” which provides 30 days of unlimited data for 12 euros, or a subscription from LFR called “La carte” which provides unlimited data for 9.90 euros. Voice and text are charge separately on a graduated scale.
TUAW giveaway: HexaLex for iPhone
Filed under: iPhone
We featured HexaLex as our daily app a little while back. It’s an excellent Scrabble alternative, and it mixes up the tried and true formula just enough that, if you and your friends are looking for something different to play, it’s worth checking out. And we’re here to make that easy for you. TUAW’s got 10 promo codes to give away to 10 lucky readers, so you can download a copy of HexaLex for free!
To enter the giveaway, leave us a comment telling us the highest word score you’ve ever earned in a word game (or make one up if you’ve never played before). Here are the official rules:
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
- To enter, leave a comment telling us the highest word score you’ve ever earned in a word game.
- The comment must be left before midnight on Monday, August 2, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Ten winners will be selected. All will receive one promo code for HexaLex, valued at $1.99 each.
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
TUAW’s Daily App: The Screetch
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
The Screetch is a great game with a funny name. At its heart, it’s a match three game; you want to match three of a kind for a certain round gem while you’re constantly dropping them from above (Tetris style). The game’s namesake is where things get slimy, though. The Screetch is constantly “infecting” gems that are dropped onto the board, and you can only clear it out by matching three gems and putting the slimy, oily dude into a flask.
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