Posts Tagged
social
As a curious teenager, I was always daring people to do things that I am probably not proud of saying now. On the flip side, I was also willing to take part in some crazy challenges myself; I fed off competition and loved to be a part of a great adventure. It’s what us boys do. There is something inside of us, call it pride or whatever you want, but deep down, whether we know it or not, there is a longing in our heart for competition or an adventure.
To help with this longing of ours, the developers of ChallengeLoop came out with an iPhone app that will hopefully help us fulfill some of our wildest adventures. Out of the blue one day, I received an email from them asking me if I wanted to check the app out. Reluctantly, I told them I would, even though at first glance I was a little skeptical. Now that I have had some time to play with it a bit, I can definitely see its potential and how fun it can be.
Our friends at Web.AppStorm covered the relatively recent changes that Google made to the Google+ web interface. As has become standard for changes made to major social services (I’m looking at you, Facebook users), there was a boisterous fanfare of praises and curses alike (mostly curses). I personally enjoyed the changes that Google made to the interface, but that’s neither here nor there.
Somewhat more quietly however, Google also updated the Google+ iPhone app. The changes are obviously intended to parallel the recent changes to the web interface, but does the style and grace of the web interface translate effectively to the iPhone screen? Let’s find out. (more…)
Whether you agree with it or not, our lives are becoming more social than they ever have been before. With the likes of Facebook and Twitter, social networking has taken off more than we could have imagined it would five years ago. We want people to know what we are doing and we want to comment on what others are doing in their lives as well.
So it’s no wonder that the developers at Rock City LLC have figured out a way to make the calendar more social. I will admit, at first glance at this app, I thought to myself, “Why in the world would I want to share with others what I have on my calendar?” But the more I started to use UpTo, the more I realized how handy and fun it could be. (more…)
I will admit, I am not a huge movie junkie that is always up on the latest and greatest that’s coming out to the theater or DVD. Before having a kid, I used to watch a lot more movies and go to the theater more frequently. But now, I barely know when they come out and before I know it, it is gone from the theater and then you have to wait until it comes out on DVD.
Flickd is an app that can hopefully help me out with making sure that I never miss a movie again. For you movie buffs out there, you are definitely going to want to read further and check this app out. It has got some great features and takes advantages of the gesture features of the iPhone. (more…)
User generated content defined the whole Web 2.0 era. From written word to videotaped recordings, common folks took control of everything and shared it publicly for free. Sharing videos and pictures has exploded exponentially, aided by easy to use mobile apps and social networks. Twitpic is one such web app and it is synonymous with image sharing on Twitter. Millions of folks use it to share their photos everyday.
Consider it the defacto Twitter web app for uploading images and videos along with tweets. Curiously, such a successful, social multimedia sharing platform didn’t bother to come up with a mobile app. Up until now. Recently, this free image sharing network launched its iOS app and after the break, let’s take it for a spin. (more…)
Now that I have a family, I want to make some great home movies for my kids so that they can watch them over and over as they get older. Nowadays, with the handiness of having an iPhone, I am constantly taking pictures and capturing videos of them. This is not a bad thing, but I find that when I want to sit down and actually make a movie of a special event, I feel overloaded with the amount of media that I have. This is where an app like Magisto can come into play and make life easier. The concept behind the app is pretty neat and I bet it could probably help a few of you out there.
Magisto, in a nutshell, does the work for you when it comes to creating those home videos. As much as I love iMovie on my Mac, it takes time and patience, two things which I don’t always have. Magisto makes the creating of the home movie process fun and very easy to do. Let me show you what I am talking about after the jump. (more…)
Ever since my first child was born, almost a year ago, I have taken more pictures and video than I ever had before. We are posting a picture of our son crawling on Instagram, sharing him take his first steps on Facebook, and tweeting out to the world when he smiled at us for the first time.
With all of the social media sites that are out there that we can use to share our precious moments, we would have a handful of pictures on Instagram, some videos and more pictures on Facebook and Twitter, and others in albums in Picasa, etc. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could somehow combine all of these social media sites into one place so we could view ALL of our pics in one place? This is where an app like Jolicloud can really come in handy on your iPhone. Let me show you more about what I am talking about after the jump. (more…)
One of the most talked about subjects in all of app-dom (and one of my personal favorites) is gamification. The idea that we can use software (usually mobile) to change the way that we think about our everyday activities by turning even the most mundane tasks into a game. One of the first, and arguable still the most persistent, examples of gamification is Foursquare, the app that award you points for simply going places. Experiencing the world outside of your apartment was all of the sudden a competition amongst you and your friends.
Since Foursquare, we’ve seen many attempts to gamify your everyday life. Today, Fitocracy aims to motivate you to get fit by turning your visits to the gym into a game. The web app and it’s companion iPhone app let you discuss with your friends, compare point totals, complete challenges and quests, and more. Let’s dig in and see how it works. (more…)
There are a lot of apps out there that will let you take or choose a photo, filter it with some cool effects, and then send it to the ‘net, but let’s face it — only a few of them do it well. Instagram has been a bit hit, but its recent acquisition by Facebook seems to have left many feeling like it’s gone way too mainstream. Which means it’s time to find the next big thing.
Enter Via.me. This iOS-only app is guaranteed to draw comparisons to Instagram, but that’s OK, because it’s all good news without any of the bad: It offers a similar photo-and-filters combo, it’s free, it makes it super easy to share via social media, and it even offers reformed Instagram users the ability to import all their photos through the Via.me website. And, most importantly, it’s fun to use. Click “more” to take a look. (more…)
Congratulations and welcome to the club — you’re now the proud owner of a new iPhone. And right after your figure out how to add your contacts, make phone calls, set up your email and send text messages, you’re going to wonder, “Which apps should I download?”
That’s where I come in. I’m here to save you from embarrassment. That’s right, because all your already-have-an-iPhone friends are going to bombard you with “Haven’t you downloaded that app yet?” until you’re fully dialed in. So here are 50 common yet useful and well-known apps to get you started covering many of the bases you’ll likely use your iPhone for: social networking, entertainment, news, productivity and more. And the best part? They’re all free.
Click through to take a look at your starter kit. (more…)
