The Blog
App
The Photo App for the Serious Phone Photographer
Dec 22nd
Smashwire.net Featuring Camera+ App for iPhone
Phones are no longer crappy cameras that give us “good enough” photos to share online, but now actually take photos that are good enough to print! Which is perfect because when we don’t have our camera on us, we always have our phones. Camera+ is a new app that maximizes the iPhone‘s capability to take photos. With easy to use options for exposure, clarity, multiple shooting modes, zoom, and even a photo flashlight! There’s lots of photo apps out there, but this one takes it further by providing you with every shoot option needed for the phone photographer. You can also set-up your lightbox for easy browsing, get photo info such as ISO, focal length, shutter speed, etc., and instantaneously share pics on flickr, facebook, and twitter. If you like photography and rock an iPhone, this is a no brainer app for only $.99 (Limited time only)!!
Holiday Essentials 3: How to Gift an App
Nov 28th
Congrats! You’ve survived the dreaded Monday post Turkey Coma Weekend. And now that holiday season is officially in full effect, it’s about time you start making a list and checking it thrice. (That’s three times, for our OCD readers.)
This year, show you pay attention to their interests and gift an app through iTunes- all you need is the email address of the recipient you wish to send it to.
Follow these 3 steps to gift an app to anyone and everyone on your list:
1. Go to the iTunes Store and search for the app you want to gift.
2. Underneath the app’s logo on the left side of the screen, you’ll see a price and the words “Buy App.”
Click on this arrow and select “Gift This App” from the drop down menu.
3. You’ll be taken to a green screen where you fill out the necessary information, and click send. The recipient will get a notice and can download the app from there.
Happy Gifting!
Learn more: http://mashable.com/2010/03/22/itunes-app-gifting/, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2736
Gadgets Humping on SNL
Nov 13th
If you happened to catch last night’s SNL, something very special happend. Emma Stone and Andy Samberg show us how technology gets frisky. No really, it gets pretty real. But with a catchy song that won’t escape my head, “We’re gonna make technology hump,” and two annoyingly industrial-esk hosts in khakis and colorful tees, it is just well… PERFECT.
“Clean, close-up shots of tech humping.”
You’re Painless Guide to Holiday Travel
Nov 9th
It’s that time of the year: it’s dark when you leave work, Starbucks rolls out the latest 600 calorie (but most delicious) holiday drink ever and you’ll be boozing more than the usual due to holiday-parties-a-plenty.
It’s also time to see book your holiday travel, and in this day in age- there IS an app (and many websites) for that. Ditch your run-o-the-mill Travelocity and check out our list of holiday travel websites and apps to make it as painless as possible. But don’t look to us for dealing with the Crazy Aunt. (Don’t worry, we all have one)
- - TripIt — Once signed up for the free service, forward travel confirmation emails to TripIt, which will automatically create a master itinerary of an upcoming trip accessible through the web or a mobile device. The itineraries even include the tidbits we seem to forget like weather updates, local maps, and directions.
- - Google Flight Search — Book that plane ticket before prices rise any further! Google’s flight search engine incorporates travel basics like price point, maximum number of connections, and preferred airline with an easy-to-use interface.
- - Hotel Tonight — If there are too many relatives in one house, scan the last-minute hotel deals in Hotel Tonight for a chic getaway at a discounted price. Every day three hotels in a city reveal their discounted rates starting at noon, and you then have until 2 a.m. to book the deal and take advantage of a peaceful room.
Check out three more apps your phone must include for this traveling season: More >
iPhone Finder by BiKN (Dead or Alive)
Nov 9th
Photo Courtesy of Bikn.com
BiKN.com (a foundational group of Treehouse Labs, LLC) has innovated a case and app package that allows you to turn your iPhone into a locatable device when misplaced, whether it is dead, muted, and/or turned-off. A price hasn’t been set on this cool little leash for your phone, but is expected to hit floors in December 2011. Definitely something to look into as the holiday season approaches.
Steve Jobs’ Legacy
Oct 6th
We here at SmashWire honor the innovator and change maker, Steve Jobs. He didn’t just create a world- he redefined it. He trusted his own genius and lived with the conscious choice to step out into the unknown. Steve once said that it is by living with the awareness of our own death that free us to be ourselves and give our gift to the world. Success, as he has shown us, grows through continued trial and effort. He showed us that genius is something can be cultivated and fostered, and wasn’t just reserved for a special few.
We celebrate Steve Jobs today for fearlessly leaving behind a life that has changed the world as we know it. We carry his legacy in our drive to live with integrity, reminding us that genius can be fostered and allowed, and isn’t something just reserved for a chosen few. We will miss you.
~SmashWire
Below, his words that will be left with his brilliant mark on our world:
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
– Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.
“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”
– Interview with 60 Minutes, 2003
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
– BusinessWeek interview, May 1998
Channeling Spielberg with YOUR IPAD
Sep 19th
Sure, I suppose it makes sense that Apple is now the most valuable company in the world. Yes, that is now a fact. Thanks to their ingenious inventions with various uses- all it takes is the right tool or enhancement and next thing you know- you’re directing a movie with your iPad.
That’s now possible, thanks to the Movie Mount- an attachable case for the iPad 2, which allows you to add additional functions the the original video abilities. I bet you wanted a wide angle lens for that sick car explosion scene? Done. You can also attach your own mic to the mount, allowing better audio that the standard mic on the iPad. This ain’t your grandma’s home video.
Watch here:
Let’s be cautious to say that you’re not gonna be the next M.Night StartsWithanS if you’re shooting anything that’s supposed to have a distinction of legitimacy. But when it comes to creating those Waynes World spoof videos in your basement? Game on.
See more from the manufacturers here: http://www.makayama.com/moviemount.html
- SW.net
Finger on the PULSE- Get this APP
Sep 5th
I’d like to think of myself as a successful hunter and gatherer in the app forest, and have recently stumbled the best free app. Forgive the awkward metaphor- it’s Labor Day, and my brain is still on standby.
Pulse aggregates sources of online content into a scrollable, graphic story feed. With intuitive design and an extensive selection of sites to add, it provides all the headlines your heart desires without the hassle of going to each site separately. Creators of the app say that the inspiration of Pulse was “bourne out of frustration with the news reading experience on mobile devices.”
A tap on the headline brings you to a summarized story and another tap will lead you to the origin of the article. When adding sources, several recommended choices will appear as well as a search option or the ability to choose most popular topics in a given field (i.e: Top Tech Stories).
Apparently I’m not the only one who found it worthwhile. Pulse was selected as “one of 50 apps in Apple’s App Store Hall of Fame and named one of TIME’s top 50 iPhone apps of 2011.” Sweet.
It’s available on iPhone, iPad and Android- no discrimination here 
Get more info @ http://www.pulse.me/
~SW
FaceTime: The Missing Features
Jun 24th
So after playing with FaceTime a bit, on the new iPhone 4 running iOS 4, I can easily see how this will change the way we communicate. That is, if it’s widely available and easy to start a conversation. That discussion and how people will use this service are for another post, right now I want to discuss a number of features that would be awesome if they were added to FaceTime (and soon).
With that let’s dive right into this list of missing features. Click through to continue reading after the break.
iPhone App Review: Oakley Surf Report 1.1.1
Dec 5th
Whether you surf or not, the Oakley Surf Report is a very well done iPhone App and definitely worth the price ($0.00). It has what appears to be 2000 beaches world-wide, so you should be covered there. Now as a surfer, I find it very useful. I have a list of my favorite beaches and I can instantly see them and flick between them. There is one feature however, that’s worth it’s weight in gold…….click through to find out what it is.
