Updated YouTube app icon on iOS

The YouTube iOS app icon has been featured on +Web Warp Blog before: YouTube and iOS6 - September 2012, it was praised for changing from an old fashioned television (not very YouTube) to a much more sensible 'YouTube' branding which everyone who has used the website will recognise:

So why is it changing to this??

The app update inlcudes: Watch a video while searching for the next one, just like picture-in-picture and Search for playlists and use the “play all” button for endless entertainment. What are your thoughts on this app icon change?

App of the Day - App Gratis

App Gratis gives you access to one free app for iOS devices each day. These include paid apps such as WhatsApp and Cut the Rope, but each app is only free for one day! There are also links to lot's of discounted apps and apps which were already free too.

The app limits itself to one push notification a day, to make sure it does not become annoying. If you have an app which you are marketing at a cost a 24 hour give away could greatly increase your user base. And users of good apps share their experience with other iPhone users!



Download today and start discovering paid apps for your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch, for free!

App of the Day - Angry Birds Star Wars

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away there were birds whose eggs where stolen by Bad Piggies... or  am I confusing Angry Birds with Star Wars?!?! One of the best mobile games, Angry Birds, has taken a fresh, sling-shoting, head only carton approach to the Star Wars universe in: Angry Birds Star Wars!

The epic game see the Star Wars characters you know and love do battle in an Angry Birds sling-shot style. The game features the epic Star Wars sound track, light sabres and the classic scenes that you will enjoy playing out on your phone/tablet. Reasonably priced at just 69p for iOS devices and available on Windows, iOS and Android. For links to download it in each format click here.

 

BBC Olympic Coverage

The BBC will be broadcasting the London 2012 Olympic games in a way that has never been achieved before. For a starters the coverage will all be filmed in high definition. And the Olympics will be broadcast live on 24 dedicated digital channels - this is too cope with the maximum number of simultaneous live events during the games. ALL 24 channels are coming to your Sky HD Planner very soon!

Here's your options for watching the BBC Coverage:

• On TV Olympics coverage will be available on the BBC channels BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC One HD and BBC HD as well as through the Red Button digital streams for digital Freeview viewers.
• Sky will be launching 48 new channels dedicated to the BBC's Olympic coverage. 24 will be standard definition and 24 high definition. The channels are free-to-air and available to any Sky home, including Freesat from Sky homes. The HD channels are available on any Sky+HD box and do not require a subscription, but do require an HD ready TV. Customers will require a Sky subscription in order to use Sky+. These channels will be availble from the 24th July 2012. More Info from Sky. 
• Online at the BBC Sport Website through the BBC's new interactive video player which will provide standard definition and high definition video streams, separated into chapters. You can watch a live event or previous events throughout the day, and overlay detailed information about the athletes and events to help guide you through each sport.
• On the new BBC Sport App which provides the 24 live streams too, where ever you are. If you want to catch highlights from events which have already happened, or check the statistics such as the medal table, it's all on the app.
• BBC coverage of the 2012 Olympics can also be enjoyed on mobile phones via the mobile browser version of the BBC Sport website.
• A 24-hour digital radio station, Radio 5 live Olympic Extra, will complement BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra for the duration of the Games.

So between the coverage online, on TV, and on mobile devices everyone should be able to get access to watch their favourite sports during the Olympics. The Opening Ceremony will be live on BBC One and BBC One HD on Friday 27th July at 7pm (Ceremony starts at 9pm).

Get yourself ready for the games with the UK version of the BBC Olympic app for smartphones and tablets that can be downloaded now for these platforms:

• Android 
• Apple 
• Blackberry 

And for those outside the UK, the global version of the app (does not contain live video streams) can be downloaded now from:

• Android 
• Apple 

Control your Xbox from My Xbox Live App

The My Xbox Live App was reviewed on Web Warp Blog last year, but Microsoft have added a new feature in the current version of the free iOS app - Xbox Control.

Exclusively from the iOS app users can remotely control their Xbox over the internet. In practice this enables you to launch apps such as Netflix or BBC iPlayer from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and choose to watch a movie/TV programme, without having to use your Xbox controller. When you are in these Xbox Live Applications you can navigate through the on screen menus in the normal fashion because the app displays virtual Xbox controller buttons for you, as shown in the screen capture below.

This is similar to Apple's Remote App for Apple TV but it's missing one vital feature. When you go to search for content on an Apple TV using the the Remote app the iOS on screen keyboard appears for quick and easy searching. Trying a Bing search using the My Xbox Live app and you still have to navigate using the left, right and A buttons. Not really making best use of the iPhone's capabilities, and almost rendering the app little more than just a really neat way to launch a game (assuming the right disk is in the Xbox).

My Xbox Live is now also available for Android devices via Google Play, but doesn't include the ability to control the Xbox remotely - yet.

Let's Fly - Twitter Update

Twitter are updating their UI (user interface) across the board and a preview is available now at fly.twitter.com. Twitter's blogpost has all the detailed information but essentially the new experience is broken down into 4 sections: Home, Connect, Discover and Me. These are the new symbols for these areas:

The mobile website is up and running and the main site will following in a couple of weeks. The new experience is also filtering down onto smart phone apps and is available as an update on iOS devices now (Twitter v. 4.0).



 Video Preview:


Image from blog.twitter.com

My Xbox Live App

Microsoft have launched a mobile app as a companion to the latest Xbox live software update which launched yesterday. The new app, called "My Xbox Live", features social contacts, achievements and your avatar. The app is free and available for iOS and Windows Phone 7 users. The app is optimised for the iPad too. Details from Microsoft.

App of the Day - Bungie Mobile - iOS

Bungie are the video game developers responsible for bringing the epic Halo franchise to the Xbox and Xbox 360. Their latest offering, Halo Reach, is arguably one of the games on the Xbox 360.

Bungie's website Bungie.net offers players a huge amount of extra data about game, all the stats you could ever want to know. Now you can access some of these stats on the go, along with Halo Reach challenges, Bungie news and even a free all star nameplate. Sign in required on Bungie's site, you can use your Xbox live windows live passport for instant access to your stats and player info.This app is free but available for iOS only at the moment. A quick loading, well-made app.




Rating 4/5
Price - Free
Developer - Bungie

Convertbot - iOS

Convertbot is a great app for anyone working with conversions. Available for the iPhone and iPod Touch for only £1.49 it's a really well made app. After extensive use I have never come across any bugs or freezes. It has a vast array of conversions, everything from length and area to live updated currency and very industry specific conversions such as data rates and volumetric flow. There are a total of 500 units across 21 categories. Also features a clever user interface with makes novel use of the iPhone's multitouch screen. To change conversions you roll symbols around a wheel and tap of the figures to change the input. Input and output can easily be switched at the tap of a button too.



Rating 5/5
Price - £1.49 - US$1.99
Developer - Tapbots

Image: tapbots.com

It's time to join Google+

Google have recently created their own social network: Google+. Google+ is similar to Facebook but with an emphasis on control. You assign contacts into circles and you can post items specific to circles. For example, "I'm off to the pub, anyone fancy joining me?" Could be posted for your friends circle and not your colleagues. People can appear in multiple circles too. When it's time to chat to a couple of people you can use huddle to create an instant messaging group which works across platforms, so your friends might be using an iPhone, iPad, Android mobile or Android tablet, it really doesn't matter.

If you fancy joining Google+ plus there are plenty of invites out there and if you already have a Gmail account you have already registered!

There's apps too:



Android app

AutoCAD WS

AutoCAD WS is a FREE online CAD editing tool from Autodesk - and it's received an exciting set of updates. There are limitations though, but that is to be expected from a free web based app. This really shows the power of web 2.0. You can modify and amend your drawings almost anywhere, which is a new and novel idea in the CAD industry. The main feature lacking is full support for 3D across all the various AutoCAD WS platforms. For more casual users Google SketchUp's free version is the way to go, it's support for 3D drawing and quick textures is ideal for home use.



Autodesk are market leaders in Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software and their flagship product, AutoCAD, is probably the standard for engineering, architecture and manufacturing. AutoCAD typically runs on a specific computer and any work that needed doing to a specific drawing would have to take place on that computer. For those that aren't aware of AutoCAD you could draw parallels from Adobe's Photoshop suite:

• AutoCAD / Photoshop / Expensive specialised product.
• AutoCAD LT / Photoshop Elements / Stripped down product with just what you need and lower cost.
• AutoCAD WS / Photoshop Express / Even further stripped down product based online

So AutoCAD WS is a web based product that allows you to view and edit your drawing files online and on the go. Just like Adobe's Photoshop Express iPhone app there is an AutoCAD WS smart phone / tablet app for iPhone, iPad  and Android devices. The latest features include the ability to manipulate layers within a drawing. You can also enter lines at a specific length which was a particularly big downfall of the original 2010 release of AutoCAD WS. Another new feature of AutoCAD WS is that you can connect it to your existing online storage solutions such as box.net. Here's a short video showing off these new features:



There is also now a Mac App which works with the online service and also provides support for offline editing. The AutoCAD WS Mac App can be downloaded for free from here.



AutoCAD WS is also fully integrated into the latest version of AutoCAD, AutoCAD 2012.

Air Guitar Move for iPhone

Love playing air guitar? Love your iPhone? Love Guitar Hero?!?!? Then this product is for you: Air Guitar Move for iPhone. It's currently not for sale but is up for investing in on Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is a funding platform for new creative projects. It allows you to donate towards projects that you want to see get off the ground. This project got enough funding on July 10th so hopefully we can see it available to buy soon!

More info at Kickstarter.com: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iphoneairguitar/air-guitar-move-for-iphone