iPad-Paper Camera

Wow! It has been a while since last time I was so taken with a new program. I am really having a lot of fun with this application on my iPad taking different images with different filters to see what I can get out of them. So, what does this program do? This program will utilized the onboard cameras of your iPhone or iPad and create interesting “cartoon style images”. Priced at only $0.99 in the iTunes store, it is a great tool for adding another creative flair to your mobile equipment.

It is a bit tedious to do this after the fact in Photoshop but with a quick point and click you can create these fun images and share them from your device.

One of the uses that I am going to put the app through is to create images of people and products and give them a little flair by processing them through this application. The collection of filters include: cartoon/sketch/comic book/halfone/noir/neon and many other effects painted directly in your camera, no more boring post-effects, it's all real time, you simply won't stop wandering, wherever you are, having a look at things and cartoon-ize them!

You can import your existing photos into the program and apply different filters to them as well to give them a slightly different look. I put some examples below. For $.99 it’s hard to go wrong

AVG Announces new product launch: AVG Premium Security

AVG Premium Security is their newest product within the AVG consumer portfolio. This suite seeks out identity theft, protects against the latest threats, and optimizes PC speed and performance. AVG advertises this product as:

AVG Premium Security is the only internet security solution that actively seeks out identity theft and speeds up your PC’s performance.  It protects people, not just PCs.

What is in this product:

• AVG Identity Alert secures your online identity with industry-leading technology that scours criminal web pages, chat rooms, and bulletin boards to identify the trading or selling of your personal information online.
• AVG Quick Tune defragments your hard drive, removes junk files, eliminates broken shortcuts and repairs your Windows Registry to boost your PC's speed and optimize its overall performance.
• AVG Social Networking Protection keeps you safe by checking the links in messages you post on sites like Facebook. Works automatically in real time—no setup required.
• AVG Protective Cloud Technology is an early warning system that identifies and stops new threats. The cloud, combined with the power of our community, blocks threats before they reach you.
  It also reduces false positives.

Download the Premium Security data sheet that highlights the key new features.

SKYPE Miscue Dashes Short-Term Euphoria over Native iPad App

In the time that it took me to drive to work, Skype has now become available again in the iTunes store. So, everything I wrote down below is for naught. I wonder how long it will be up before they take it down again?

I was looking at TNT's REDDIT List and I got real excited when I saw that one of the headlines listed the release of a Native iPad App for both the iPad1 & iPad2. So, what did I Immediately do but jumped out of my browser over to my App icon to immediately download it to my iPad. What to my surprise, there was none listed there! So, I jumped to my iPad2 to see if it was a version issue, you know, no camera on the iPad1, but no, no joy there either!

So I scurry over to the Skype Site and there was absolutely nothing over there either. It turns out that I must only see what I want to see because further up in the list was a headline announcing that Skype pulled this App shortly after being released stating that it wasn't ready for prime time yet. How disappointing! Skype promises to rerelease it soon but it isn't giving an exact date at this point.

Well Skype, here is one user that is anxiously waiting for this release so please hurry up!

The download only took a minute to acquire and when I logged in all of my contacts from my account automatically loaded. It has a simple interface and makes good use of the entire screen. My first use was to contact my niece who has just arrived in Chile this weekend as an Exchange Student. Tonight I will put to the test with video on my iPad2 when my wife and I give her a little call. This is going to be fun!

Here is the down and dirty:

1. You now have video calling over 3G and WiFi as well as IM and voice only calls.
2. If you have purchased a land line account you can even make phone calls to land lines for the cost of your subscription or use your Skype credits if you wish.
3. Calling a Contact in your list is simple, just tap the contact and pick how you wish to contact them.
4. The History Tab gives you access to your most recent conversations and if you are running multiple device like I do a lot, an IM is showing up instantly on all of them simultaneously. For example, I auto load Skype on all of my PC’s because it is one of the methods I use most in talking to my customers. When I was testing out the iPad App this morning using IM I noticed that all of the messaging was showing up there as well. This means that I can setup all of my mobile devices to use Skype off of the same account and I can have multiple people using the devices at the same time to facilitate group discussions.
5. Call Skype contacts on their iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac and even Skype enabled TVs.
6. Talk face-to-face or show what you’re seeing with front and back-facing cameras.
7. I have had a landline subscription for a long time that gives you free coast-to-coast telephone access as well as a callable landline for less than $100/year. This expands the personal and business use incredibly.