Better HDR images and arcade football: iPhone apps of the week |
- Better HDR images and arcade football: iPhone apps of the week
- How to wipe and reinstall your iPhone OS
- Google plans Chrome OS event for Tuesday
- WebGL powers 3D virtual world on the Web
- Google elevates PDF reading in Chrome 8
| Better HDR images and arcade football: iPhone apps of the week Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:57 PM PST  (Credit: CNET) When iOS 4.2 was released, I didn't update my iPhone right away. I waited until I was back from Thanksgiving vacation, where I could sync my iPhone on my home computer. Once I got home, like any responsible iPhone user, I backed up my iPhone first then hit the update button. From there it went through its usual process of downloading the update, some rebooting of the phone, and the rest of the updating procedure. Everything seemed to be running smoothly until the end. That's when I got an error (1013) and my iPhone went into recovery mode and would not come out, which basically means my phone was dead. No calls, no texts, and no apps. I looked around online for similar issues and found forums filled with complaints, some with fixes that seemed to work for others, but didn't work for me. I ended up getting an appointment at the Genius Bar the next day at the busy downtown San Francisco Apple store. Once I got in there, the Apple employee was very nice, restored my iPhone to factory settings, and sent me on my way in less than 20 minutes. Never once did he mention this was a common problem, but at that point I was more worried about getting my favorite toy back (and getting back to work) rather than grilling him on Apple's update practices. Once home, I was able to restore my apps and info from the backup I made (Note to everyone: always back up your iPhone before updating!) and now I'm totally up to speed. Obviously, this chain of events is less than ideal when all I wanted to do was update my firmware. I know I'm not the only one who had this issue. I'm interested to see what kind of issues readers have had with updating their iPhones. I'd also like to hear about Genius Bar visits and what your experience has been. My visit was pretty smooth, but I'm guessing not everybody gets in and out of there like I did. Tell your stories in the comments. This week I check out an app for improving your pictures and an excellent sequel to a fun football game I reviewed in the past.  Line up your shot, and you'll get instructions based on which capture mode you chose. (Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)TrueHDR (99 cents for a limited time) for iPhone helps you take better pictures by giving you control over the process of combining images to create a resulting image that has richer colors and better lighting. The iPhone 4 offers the option to take HDR images and does a fairly good job, but with this app you have a number of options for making your images even better. The interface is very simple: you have four options for taking an HDR image. Auto Capture automatically detects light values in your shot, snaps two photos, and combines them to give you the best result. Semi-auto mode lets you choose light and dark exposure settings by tapping on the screen before snapping and combining images. Manual mode lets you control each part, having you select a light value, snap the shot, select the second light value, and snap the second shot before combining. You also have the option to improve photographs from your library. TrueHDR doesn't come with a lot of bells and whistles, but I've managed to get some great results using the available capture modes. Having a little more control over how the HDR process combines the images lets you experiment with different light settings that might be better than what you would get with the regular iPhone 4 camera. Once you're satisfied with the results, TrueHDR has a couple of quick options for sharing your work on Twitter, FaceBook, and through e-mail, or you can simply save the image to your photo library. Overall, if you want a little more control over your HDR images, TrueHDR has a simple approach with just enough options to make brighter, more color-rich photographs.  You'll be challenged with aggressive defenders and on-field objects before reaching the end zone. (Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Backbreaker Football 2: Vengeance ($2.99) is the sequel to Backbreaker Football (99 cents), a game that put you in the shoes of a football player running and dodging tackles to get to the end zone. Just like the original, beautiful 3D graphics and solid animations give you the feeling of powering your way down the field. But in BackBreaker Football 2: Vengeance, you now have the ability to play on the other side of the ball as a defender who needs to dodge blockers and ultimately tackle the ball carrier. You start off by customizing a player with a few options for jersey number, skin tone, and uniform, but you'll be able to unlock more uniforms and other goodies as you play the game. Once on the field, Backbreaker Football 2: Vengeance adds new moves and features to keep the game exciting. In addition to the spin, juke, and sprint moves found in the original, you can now jump over low tackles and objects by tapping on the middle of the screen. You also have a "trucking" move that turns your player into a power runner, bulldozing your way through high tackles and under props on the field. Having a low solid object to jump over or a low hanging bar to "truck" under look a little out of place on the football field, but BackBreaker Football is an arcade game, and the new additions definitely make for some complicated challenges. You also can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment after a long line of jumping over objects, dodging tackles, and showboating into the end zone. Like the original, you get more points if you can showboat or high step into the end zone at the end of your run. The Showboating move slows you down, making it possible for tacklers to catch up to you, so you have to choose the right time to start showing off in order to make it to the end zone while racking up the most points. Backbreaker Football 2: Vengeance takes showboating a step further with an extra button that makes your showboating move even more exaggerated and quite a bit slower while doubling the points you'll receive if you make it to the end zone. Don't be surprised if you end up eating the turf 5 yards short of the end zone before you get the hang of it. Overall, Backbreaker Football 2: Vengeance is an excellent sequel that keeps the best things about the original, and adds a fun new game type and more moves to help you make defenders miss. The game mechanic is very addictive, and as you progress, you'll need to use every move at your disposal to reach the end zone or tackle your opponent. Anyone who played the first game or likes the idea of an easy to pick up and play football game will appreciate the challenge and polish of this sequel. What's your favorite iPhone app? Do you have a better app that gives you more control over HDR photos? Were you surprised at how fun it is to play defense on Backbreaker Football 2: Vengeance? Let me know in the comments!
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| How to wipe and reinstall your iPhone OS Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:27 PM PST Whether you're looking to sell your iPhone and you accidentally delete the operating system, or you want to downgrade from iOS 4, Device Firmware Update mode will help you out. Getting into it is simple yet tricky, so here's guidance on a fast way to wipe and restore your iPhone. Note that this requires iTunes (Windows | Mac), in case you're using an alternative program to sync your phone or iPod Touch. |
| Google plans Chrome OS event for Tuesday Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:15 PM PST  Tuesday could see the arrival of a new preview of Chrome OS, but consumer Netbooks aren't thought to be ready just yet. (Credit: Google)Google could finally be ready to shed a little more light on the progress of its Chrome OS project. The company sent out invitations to an event next Tuesday, December 7, in San Francisco "where we plan to share some exciting news about Chrome," according to a copy of the invitation. No further details were provided. Chrome OS Netbooks were once expected to arrive before the end of the year, but that timing appears to have slipped over the last several weeks, as Google is now expected to merely have a beta software version ready by the end of the year, with consumer-oriented systems not ready until 2011. The idea behind Chrome OS is to create a lightweight browser-based operating system that would run just Web applications, as opposed to native ones. Another possibility for the event is that Google is ready to show off the Chrome Web Store, which was also expected earlier in the year but has slipped. CNET will be there to provide coverage both during and after the event. Originally posted at Relevant Results |
| WebGL powers 3D virtual world on the Web Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:00 AM PST  KataSpace is a 3D world accessed using a WebGL-enabled browser. (Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)One of the obstacles to Second Life popularity is the fact that people must install specific software to visit the site. One of the promises of a 3D technology called WebGL is that such worlds could be drawn directly in a browser. Now a company called Katalabs, formed by a number of Stanford researchers, has done just that with a virtual world project called KataSpace. A version can be explored online with a browser such as Firefox 4 beta 7 (Windows | Mac | Linux) that has WebGL support. KataSpace uses the Web technologies to create a user interface for the open-source Sirikata platform for multiuser 3D world, Katalabs said in a blog post. The demonstration world is workable but primitive, with only two avatars to pick from, some jerky movement, and terrain that avatars walk through rather than over. But it does serve to show that WebGL is moving from concept to reality. 3D on the Web is a competitive area, with WebGL support being built into Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera--the four browsers that all trail Microsoft's Internet Explorer in usage. Adobe Systems also is at work building a roughly similar low-level 3D interface into its Flash technology that's already widely used today for online games. Google, which has formidable marketing muscle and growing clout in the browser market, plans to put some of its marketing muscle behind WebGL. It can be tried today in the developer version of Chrome 9; the final version should ship some time in January. "The Chrome experiments team is building a section specifically for WebGL," said Henry Bridge, a Google Chrome product manager. The Chrome Experiments site showcases new Web technology. Microsoft is cagey about its WebGL plans. In the past, the software giant's Dean Hachamovitch dismissed it as not meeting the "same markup" goal the company advocates with Web technologies, meaning that a Web developer should be able to write one version of a Web page that should load in all browsers. Of course, if Microsoft joined the WebGL effort, it could well meet that "same markup" goal. Microsoft, however, also has its Silverlight browser plug-in. The company announced yesterday that the upcoming Silverlight 5 will include a lower-level hardware-accelerated 3D graphics interface, too. However, Silverlight 5 has been under a cloud after earlier Microsoft remarks that indicated HTML, the language of the Web, was stealing some of its the thunder. Microsoft plans to ship Silverlight 5 in beta form during the first half of 2011 and in final form by the end of 2011. Originally posted at Deep Tech |
| Google elevates PDF reading in Chrome 8 Posted: 03 Dec 2010 05:29 AM PST  Google helped make Adobe Systems' PDF files a first-class citizen on the Web years ago by indexing their content with its search engine. Now it's gone another step by building the ability to read them into its latest browser, Chrome 8, released yesterday for Windows, Mac, and Linux. That means when people click a PDF link, the document will open directly in the browser. Chrome's built-in PDF reader is also walled up within a sandbox, lowering the risk that security issues will escape a confined region of memory to facilitate a broader attack on a computer. The PDF reader is among 800 improvements in Chrome 8, including 12 security fixes, according to a blog post yesterday by Chrome team member Jason Kersey. Google paid out $1,000 to each of three discoverers of high-risk vulnerabilities and $500 to two discovers of medium-risk vulnerabilities. Chrome 8 also is the first version to support the Chrome Web Store, Google has said. However, there aren't any direct signs yet that it's tapping into the upcoming Google service for finding and selling Web applications, Chrome extensions, and Chrome themes. Adobe is working to improve PDF without Chrome, too. Its latest Reader 9 and Acrobat X software has a browser plug-in that hides the application frame that previously surrounded PDF documents viewed in a browser. The new Chrome 8.0.552.215 replaces both the earlier beta and stable versions. It arrives just about six weeks after Google released Chrome 7; the faster release pace this year means new Chrome versions aren't necessarily as big of a departure from their predecessors. For those with a taste for cutting-edge features but less stability, there's the Chrome Dev channel, which is on the 9.x release version. New for Windows users of Chrome Dev is a sandboxed version of Adobe's Flash Player, an oft-cited culprit in browser crashes and security vulnerabilities. Building Flash and PDF readers into Chrome means, among other things, that they will be upgraded rapidly and typically invisibly whenever Google wants to distribute a new version for performance, features, or security reasons. Chrome's PDF reader appears to use the Foxit PDF SDK software, but the built-in Flash Player is from Adobe. "For initial testing, the sandboxing code currently supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. There are plans to make this available for all OS platforms once we are further along in testing and development," Adobe Flash team member Peleus Uhley said in a blog post this week. "We hope that we can use this experience as a platform for discussing sandbox approaches with the other browser vendors." Also on tap for Chrome 9 is a lot of hardware acceleration work, including accelerated 3D graphics with the WebGL interface. Originally posted at Deep Tech |
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