Filed under: Commercial

Liquid Scale is an iPhone / iPod Touch app that allows you to resize images by removing unimportant elements in the photo, leaving the important ones untouched. It's a technique called seam carving that we've previously mentioned, but what's interesting here is that it's now available to be used on the iPhone.

For those that are unfamiliar with it, the seam carving technique analyzes images to determine the most and least important elements, and when you use it to decrease the size of an image it removes the least important parts first, in tiny 1 pixel wide slices. It can be a slow process, particularly on larger images, but the result is often much more compelling than what can be done with a simple crop. Of course, if you're not careful to use the effect sparingly, the results can go from impressive to flat-out weird pretty quickly.

Liquid Scale is available for $2US in the App Store.

[via Daring Fireball]

Have you ever wished that you could have a photo booth running at your wedding reception, engagement party, or kegger? If so, you might want to check out Party Booth.

Party Booth is a desktop application that runs in full-screen kiosk mode that allows party guests to walk up to the computer, simply press the spacebar, and pose for pictures. The process is entirely automated. The app allows you to use custom graphics for a border or banner on the prints, allowing you to commemorate your event for your guests. It can also optionally automatically upload photos to Facebook, img.ly, Mobypicture, Posterous, ScreenTweet, TweetPhoto, TwitDoc, Twitgoo, TwitPic, twitrpix, TwitSnaps, and tumblr.

Party Booth is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X and Linux due to it being a Flash application distributed in in Adobe's AIR Runtime. Party Booth will set you back $38US, which is far less expensive than renting an actual photo booth, and you can run a trial of the app for free.

There was a time when having a chat client on your computer at work was considered a no-no. These days, if you're not available via some sort of online chat or instant messaging, you're just not moving at the speed of business.

Many companies have begun using open instant messaging services for their internal discussions, but there are a couple of downsides to this approach. The first is a lack of control, and a potential lack of security. The second is a lack of collaboration tools; it's difficult to share files between multiple people in an instant messaging chat.

HipChat is a new start-up that aims to fix the problem of secure, controlled corporate chat. Based on Adobe AIR which provides cross-platform functionality, HipChat is a fully functional chat client that as GigaOM points out, bears a resemblance to 37Signals' Campfire product. To be fair, the basic layout of an IRC-like chat client has been the same for 15 years, so the similar look is not that much of a surprise.

Where HipChat has a definite advantage is in the fact that it is a desktop client (even if it does unfortunately rely on AIR), not a web client. While there are 3rd-party Campfire clients and even ways to run Campfire in a dedicated single-purpose browser, HipChat is simply a desktop chat client.

HipChat has plans available from $9/month for up to 12 users, to $99/month for up to 100 users, and offers a 30 day free trial.

[via GigaOM]

If you're already using iCal's built-in todo management, or Outlook's tasks on a Windows machine, and you're just looking for an iPhone app that can synchronize with what you're already using, you should check out 2Do.

2Do is a very well-designed and pretty to-do list manager, with the ability to create multiple lists, set priorities and due dates, notes, URLs, and even default actions such as Call, SMS, Email, Browse, Visit, and Google. It's a pleasure to use, with a very intuitive and pleasing interface.

2Do handles 2-way synchronizing with iCal's basic to-do functionality with the help of an additional free Sync application for your Mac, or with Outlook's tasks function with a free Windows Sync application.

I find iCal's built-in to-do management to be clunky and awkward, which isn't 2Do's fault, but does work against it when I'm evaluating what task management app to use. However, if I was on Windows using Outlook, 2Do would be my first choice as a companion task management application for the iPhone.

2Do costs $6.99US [iTunes link], and a free Lite version is available that does not support synchronization and is limited to 3 lists with 25 tasks in each list.

1Password is finally available for Chrome. Sort of.

1Password is a favorite password manager among Mac users, with a passionate fan base -- and that fan base has been clamoring for a version of 1Password that included Chrome compatibility ever since Chrome was released for the Mac!

Well, the time has come, and an alpha version of 1Password has been released that does indeed support Chromium (the developer version of Chrome). Chromium is necessary because the current version of Chrome for Mac does not support extensions. (You can grab a nightly build of Chromium over here.)

Keep in mind that this version of 1Password is alpha software, and that means it is by definition not yet stable. It also currently only supports the most basic of 1Password functionality: unlocking 1Password and filling in simple login forms.

If you're brave enough to try alpha software, let us know how it goes!

Propane is a beautiful, Mac-only desktop client for Campfire by 37signals.

Working on a remote team, one of the core tools in maintaing a cohesive work environment is group chat. Out of the myriad options I keep coming back to Campfire as my chatroom of choice. The archiving, file sharing and integration with Basecamp (our project management tool of choice) make it stand above the other options for us.

For me, the worst part about Campfire is that it is browser based. This factor kept driving me away from it. I prefer a separate app for chat. Propane has solved this problem for me.

Propane provides a clean, simple, useful interface that removes the mess of browser chrome while maintaining the needed functionality of the tool. Tabbed chat rooms, drag-and-drop file sharing, and fine-grained notification customization with Growl integration are just a few of the killer features of this app.

If you are a Mac user and a Campfire user, I'm not sure how you could get by without it. Currently $20 during the beta, bumping to $25 when it's out of beta, licenses are a per-user basis, so one user can install Propane on as many computers as they use. Download it and give it a try before you buy it!

Some technologies get way more hype than they really ought to, given the lack of real-world utility they offer. If you ask me, the king in this category is the idea of using a 3D user interface for computing.

Since the early 90's, people have speculated about a great new paradigm shift away from the desktop metaphor to a more "natural" three-dimensional interface where the user navigates a virtual building to interact with the various data on their computer, and later on the web. While this has been successfully implemented, nobody is arguing it's a more efficient way to compute than the traditional 2D desktop.

For the past few years a new 3D approach called BumpTop was announced that maintains the desktop metaphor, rather than switching to a different paradigm. It received a lot of press with interesting and impressive looking demo videos, and eventually released a Windows implementation. And now BumpTop is available for the Mac in both a free and Pro version ($29 US).

So, is the concept of a 3D desktop going to revolutionize computing? In a word, no. It's fun to play with, but it certainly doesn't make me feel more productive. Now, to be fair, my Mac doesn't have multi-touch, and BumpTop Mac includes multi-touch capabilities that could make it easier to use. But I have a hard time thinking of BumpTop as anything more than a sophisticated toy.

At the end of the day, what I like about computing is that it's easy to keep things organized. I don't want my computer's desktop to look like my real desktop does. It's messy enough as it is.

[via Technology News]

There has been a lot of hype around the release of the new Mac note taking app Thoughts by green&slimy software, and it has now been released. We've already got a ton of note taking applications to choose from -- like Evernote and Notational Velocity -- so what does Thoughts bring to the table to set itself apart?

As far as I can tell, Thoughts wants to be the pretty girl at the party. They're not trying to compete on features with the likes of Evernote, and they're not trying to compete on speed with the likes of Notational Velocity. Instead, they're taking the approach that note taking is more fun when it feels more like actually taking notes in a notebook.

The app is gorgeous, and very much a part of the delicious generation of software that puts a very high emphasis on aesthetics. You can create notebooks, add pages to notebooks, and even do some advanced formatting like adding tables to your pages. It also has wiki-like features allowing you to link to other pages within a notebook, to websites (of course), or even link to a message in Mail.

The fancy user interface includes animated page turns, and you can use mouse gestures to mimic the act of actually flipping pages. While this is a nice gimmick, it's certainly not the fastest way to navigate.

With a substantial price tag of 24 Euros, Thoughts has some stiff competition from the free note taking app crowd. I can imagine that people who are transitioning to using a computer from writing their notes in notebooks might enjoy the familiar interface, though.

Ever since Palm and Apple started their dance about the Pre's ability to sync with iTunes, I've been keeping an eye out for alternative ways to move media to my Pre.

Over the last few weeks I've been putting three applications through their paces with my Pre to find a suitable workaround for this glaring omission on Palm's part: MarkSpace's GoGadget for webOS, Salling Software's Media Sync and doubleTwist. All three applications are available for Windows and Mac OS X, however in this review were tested on Mac OS X.

Photo by whatleydude

Buckle your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen: if you're not a gamer yet, you damn well soon will be. It seems, using the wonders of the newly-released (and soon-to-be-embraced) Open GL ES.20, the Unreal Engine 3 has been successfully ported to the iPod Touch. And it's not slow either: we're talking proper, smooth frame rates... ooooooh!

AnandTech speculates that in the next 3 to 5 years smartphones will become more powerful than the Xbox 360. I think it might be even sooner than that, but we'll see. Don't expect to see big-name PC and console games on the iPod/iPhone just yet, but it will happen sooner rather than later. Flash memory continues to grows in capacity; processors are gaining more power.

What this really signals, considering the inclusion of the advanced graphics capabilities in the latest iPod Touch, and Apple's foray into games development, is that we're about to see a huge boom in the portable computing/smartphone gaming market. If you think it's big now -- 2009 was a massively successful year for iPhone games -- it's going to get a whole lot bigger.

Unreal also say that we'll see the Engine tech demo running on another mobile platform at CES. I'd put my money on an Android-powered device, but we'll find out for sure soon!

There's a very short video of the Unreal Engine 3 in action, on the iPod Touch, after the break.

[via AnandTech]

Reported by our ugly sister Engadget, it seems that Microsoft has finally lost its appeal against i4i in the long-running 'XML patent' lawsuit.

Microsoft were quick to release a statement to the press, allaying any fears that Office 2007, or 2010, will become unavailable. Office 2010, we assume, will still be released on schedule, and new versions of Office and Word 2007 without the infringing XML technology will be made available before January 11 2010. i4i, if you didn't know, is a company that specialises in database design and XML technology -- they were the ones behind the first XML plugins for Office, and it now seems that Microsoft did rip them off.
Office 2010 doesn't include the patent-infringing technology, so whether the resolution of this case will have any long-lasting effects remains to be seen. According to Reuters, Microsoft will need to pay the rather princely sum of $290 million to the patent-holders, however. Pocket change: but with enough wrist-slapping, Microsoft does seem to be slowly falling into line.

In a move that marks a change of direction for the device manufacturer, HTC have just released four additional Hero / Droid Eris widgets for download in the Android Market.

The initial release offers 'Battery', 'Dice', 'Tip Calculator' and 'Today in History' widgets for download free of charge, though it should be noted that the widgets are Sense UI widgets rather than standard Android widgets, which means they will only work on the aforementioned HTC devices. This also means that other HTC manufactured devices such as the G1 or MyTouch 3G are also excluded.

It will be interesting to see whether HTC offers additional software in the Market going forward and whether the releases will remain limited to HTC devices - users of other Android devices would love to have the ability to use the excellent Sense UI or perhaps the HTC designed software keyboards - even at a cost.

Would this be a good opportunity for HTC to earn additional revenue or would it be a danger to the unique selling points of their devices? What happens over the coming weeks and months will likely reveal HTC's thoughts on the matter. What are yours?

We've covered PDF conversion tools in the past, but given the inconsistent performance of such tools, it's always worth pointing out potentially better ones. PDF to Word by Nitro is just such a tool, and given its claim as "The Most Accurate PDF-to-Word Converter", I had to give it a shot.

And you know what? It does remarkably well. Based on the test documents I tried, I really didn't run into any serious issues, other than the elephant in the room: uploading your documents to a third-party for conversion. I can't imagine using a service like this for real-world heavy lifting with business-related documents. I can't hand over my sensitive documents to a third-party.

However, for business users with the same issue, there's good news. Nitro's PDF-to-Word conversion technology is what powers their Nitro PDF Professional desktop application, and it has recently been marked down from $99 US to $69 US, with a free 14 day trial available.

Mind maps have become a pretty mainstream way to brainstorm. Children as young as grade one are being taught how to create mind maps on paper as a brainstorming technique. If you've been interested in using mind mapping, but have been turned off by the surprisingly high cost of the commercial mind mapping products, you might want to check out XMind.

XMind is a free and open-source desktop mind mappping tool that is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even as a zip file that contains self-contained portable versions for all three platforms.

XMind also offers a commercial version called XMind Pro which offers business-focused features like Brainstorming and Presentation mode, additional security, Gantt chart view, and the ability to export to PDF, Word, PowerPoint, MindManager, and Freemind. XMind Pro costs $49US for a one-year subscription.