SoundAmp Giveaway

Below is a promo code for SoundAmp. To learn more about SoundAmp click here. To win the app enter the code into iTunes. The first person to enter the code will win the SoundAmp app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work. If you do not win check back latter for another code. Good Luck.

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Howard Rawlings Conservatory: Apps~6x6: SimplyHDR:Photocopier:Big Lens

Yesterday morning was the last session of my intro to Digital Photography course I teach at Johns Hopkins University in the Odyssey Program. Since we had rain and snow, I moved the location indoors to the Howard Rawlings Conservatory. It is always great to see new photographers begin to "get it." I made a few shots there while working with the group. These are pretty straight shots but in a square format and toned in Photocopier with the photo preset Steichen adjusted in tone and brightness. Photocopier is pretty cool for "looks" of classic photo artists and painters.Big Lens is a selective focus app and I applied that to diffuse the outer edges in the image. Join me at Nature Visions for my iPhoneography presentation and learn about the fun you can have shooting and processing images on your iPhone!

SoundAmp Giveaway

Below is a promo code for SoundAmp. To learn more about SoundAmp click here. To win the app enter the code into iTunes. The first person to enter the code will win the SoundAmp app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work. If you do not win check back latter for another code. Good Luck.

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New York, New York~Apps 6x6: Noir: Big Lens; Crop'n'Frame

I love New York!!!! even in the rain!!!
Yesterday, I had 8 students in a rainy, cool New York City for a street photography workshop. It presented some great shooting opportunities with wet streets, reflections and umbrellas. Awesome! I don't usually carry my big camera when I do street workshops with students so that I am free to assist when needed, but I do carry my iPhone which I find helps me communicate shooting opportunities for students, they can easily see what I see by looking at a shot I made on the iPhone and breaking it down for them.

 The night before I had surfed for some new apps I wanted to try and was really happy to find 6x6 a full res square format shooting app. I was also happy to try out a new selective focus app Big Lens. Both apps, I am happy to say have found a permanent place in my shooting routine as I just really enjoyed both of them.

 I was soooo tempted to do HDR work with bracket mode, but I kept my commitment to myself to only shoot with 6x6. Sometimes I do that with my big camera too. It really forces you as a photographer to see things differently and become a better photographer. I chose the app "Noir" to add some vignette effects as well as toning the images. I enjoy creating series works and so all of these images were processed with a series in mind. I finished all the images with Crop'n'Frame. 

Hatch Show Print Shop...Apps:BracketMode~TrueHDR~Luminance~Crop'n'Frame

Apps: BracketMode:TrueHDR:Luminance~Weathered: Crop'n'Frame

The Hatch Show Print Shop was a fabulous stop we made while we were in Nashville. If you ever get to Nashville I suggest you stop in. Walking into the shop is like stepping back in time. The walls are covered in prints, the old wooden drawers, and the old wooden type sets are reminiscent of the late 1800's when the shop began. Except for the recycled yogurt cups holding dyes, and the young employees in baseball caps you would really think you were back in the day. They have prints for sale in bins and sleeves. Later on in the Country Music Hall of Fame we saw an entire wall dedicated to Hatch Show Prints. Pretty cool. I liked the App Luminance for the FX here called weathered it really had just the right look for the feeling of the place. Luminance has sliders for Saturation, Contrast, Brightness, Hue, Sepia and Vignette which you can adjust after selecting the FX you want. It saves at many res options including original or high res.

JotNot Scanner App (Giveaway)

JotNot Scanner is an app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. To download JotNot click here. JotNot requires a camera in order to capture the documents. JotNot allows you to take a picture of a document and then save it as a perfectly centered PDF file. The resulting document looks as if it was scanned with a flat bed scanner. JotNot even allows users to fax the document from your iOS device. JotNot is $0.99 in the App Store. If you would like to try out JotNot you can download the lite version here.

The assistive technology blog will be giving away free copies of JotNot over the next week. Check back frequently to improve your chances of winning.

On the Road...with Steve..

I left Baltimore on October 12 for a road trip to Arizona with my nephew. That morning his dad dropped over to make sure there was enough room in the car for my luggage and photo gear. He had packed some boxes he wanted Steve to transport to Phoenix. We were fine but the car was full that big black suitcase on the right is mine. ; - ) I snapped a few iPhone shots using the Hipstamatic Camera before we left.

Our first stop was Nashville. We busted it out in 11 hours and clocked 721 miles. We checked in and had a good nights rest. The next morning we had planned to walk around Nashville downtown before heading on toward Little Rock, Oklahoma. We loved Nashville we had lunch there and we made some shots on the street. Elvis likeness is in front of most storefronts. We visited the old Hatch Show Print Store. It was awesome! On the shots below I decided to try the app NeonFrame from the same developer of Crop'n'Frame (my favorite framing app), as I thought it fit the show aspect of Nashville's sites. I like the app I just wish it actually cropped off the corners so that the frame was the outermost data in the image, I don't particularly like the squared off black corners, but I think it works fine for this set of images. The frames come in a set of shapes including a Heart, Star, Circle, Oval and Rectangle, with a color slider for customization. It has a camera which creates a full res image file at 1936 x 2595, but when framing the image it loses substantial resolution to 768 x 1005. Its fun and I thought I would give it a try. Maybe they will figure out a way to keep the file at full res when adding the Neon Frame which is cool. (Just had some correspondence from the developer of Neon Frames and the next update will allow for a full res file to be saved good news on that its a cool look)

Apps: BracketMode: iCamHDR: Iris: NeonFrames

Apps: CameraPlus: NeonFrames: Iris

ClassicPan: AutoStitch: NeonFrames: Iris

SoundAmp Giveaway

SoundAmp is a hearing aid App for iOS devices. To learn more about SoundAmp click here. Check back here later for the chance to win promo codes for SoundAmp. If you do not win the code check back later for more codes.

Apps for Autism (60 Minutes)

60 Minutes featured communication Apps for iPad this week. Above is the full episode. Click here to read the full story. 60 Minutes describes the episode as follows,

"Autistic people whose condition prevents them from speaking are making breakthroughs with the help of tablet computers and special applications that allow them to communicate, some for the first time. Lesley Stahl reports."

Notability Note Taking App for iPad

Notability is a note taking app for iPad. The app is available for $0.99 in the App Store. To download the app click here. Notability allows users to take and edit notes with multimedia including audio and visual. Notability allows users to input text with a keyboard or using their finger to write each letter. Notability also allows users to draw diagrams and highlight. The following from Notability's website,

" Discover happiness in capturing your ideas and pursuing your dreams. Notability, the first truly integrated note-taking app on iPad, allows you to do just that. Audio recording, advanced word processing, full-featured handwriting, PDF annotation, and auto syncing flow together seamlessly, allowing you to create comprehensive, beautiful notes, quickly and simply. Even customize the look and feel to fit you."

One of Notability's killer features is audio recording. Notability describes the audio recording feature as follows,

"Standing on a framework that automatically links notes with audio recordings, this tool is perfect for recording lectures, meetings, and interviews. A simple tap to start and your ready to record your speech, presentation, or discussion. Recording even continues when your using other apps. These recordings enhance the review process beyond words. Simply tap on a line and listen to exactly what was said when you were typing. The unique sound amplification features will make sure every word is audible wherever you are. When you finished reviewing, keep the recording for a later date, or delete it. Its your choice."

Another great new feature is the ability to edit and modify PDF files. PDF annotation is described as follows on Notability's website.

"Import lectures, presentations, and forms, straight into Notability from email attachments, the web, or you favorite cloud service. You choose the tools that best help you capture information on a PDF. Write, draw, highlight, type, in an array of colors, or add images. Take notes in text or use a writing block to create a movable canvas. All these features work together to ensure you can create notes that fit your life."

Notability is a great, low cost app for taking notes. To download Notability click here. Click read more below to learn more about Notability.

  

Wolfram Alpha is a Knowledge Engine

Wolfram Alpha is an internet based Knowledge Engine. It does more than a search engine because it can do complex math and science equation, generate bar codes, graph equations, display nutritional information and much more. You can try Wolfram Alpha free by clicking here. Wolfram Alpha gives you direct answers instead of links like Bing and Google. Wolfram Alpha can even answer trivia questions like the distance to mars or the width of a football field. The results of the search are displayed in a clear and organized manner that is easy to read.

Wolfram Alpha also has dozens mobile apps for iOS and Android. To learn more about the apps click here. The Wolfram Alpha app is a mobile portal into the Wolfram Alpha knowledge base. Other apps made by Wolfram Alpha include course assistance apps to help you pass your classes and specialized reference apps.

Siri, the iPhone 4S assistant feature also uses Wolfram Alpha to answer your question. To learn more about Siri click here.

Click read more below watch a video about Wolfram Alpha.

DocScanner Promo Code

Below is a promo code for DocScanner. To learn more about DocScanner click here. To win the app enter the code into iTunes. The first person to enter the code will win the $4.99 DocScanner app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work.If you do not win check back tomorrow for another code. Good Luck.

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DocScanner Promo Code Giveaway

Below is a promo code for DocScanner. To learn more about DocScanner click here. To win the app enter the code into iTunes. The first person to enter the code will win the $4.99 DocScanner app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work. If you do not win check back latter for another code. Good Luck.

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Looktel Money Reader Promo Code (Giveaway)

Below is the Looktel Money reader promo code. To learn more about the Looktel Money Reader click here. To win the app enter the code into iTunes. The first person to enter the code will win the $9.99 Looktel Money Reader app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work. If you do not win, click here to download the app.

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DocScanner OCR iPhone App (Giveaway)

DocScanner is an OCR app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. DocScanner allows you to take a picture of a document and save it as a PDF or JPEG file. To download DocScanner click here. DocScanner also positions the document so it fills the entire screen. Another DocScanner feature converts the text of the document into electronic text that can be read aloud using VoiceOver. This process is called OCR. To learn more about OCR click here. If you would like to test out DocScanner's OCR capabilities download SayText which uses the same OCR engine as DocScanner.  DocScanner allows users to scan many different types of documents including business cards, recipes, articles and even whiteboards. Once your document has been scanned you can save it to a server, Evernote or Dropbox. Norfello Oy describes the apps scanning capabilities as follows.

"DocScanner has industry leading image processing algorithms which automatically turn the picture to look like you have scanned the document with a flatbed scanner."

DocScanner is a competitor to ZoomReader which is another OCR app in the App Store. ZoomReader costs $19.99 while DocScanner costs $4.99. DocScanner has more features including Evernote and Dropbox compatibility and the option to save documents as PDF or JPEG. DocScanner also allows users to scan multiple pages into one documents while ZoomReader only allows you to scan one. ZoomReaders OCR engine does work faster and more accurately in my tests.

Giveaway


The Assistive Technology Blog will be giving away six copies of the DocScanner app over the next week. Promo codes will be posted to the blog over the next week. The first person to enter the code into iTunes will win the app. Once one person enters the code it will no longer work. DocScanner is a $4.99 value in the App Store.


Click read more below to see more pictures of DocScanner.

iOS 5 Released with Many New Accessibility Features

Today, Apple released iOS 5 to the public. The update is available free though iTunes. iOS 5 includes over 200 new features along with numerous accessibility improvements. To learn more about iOS 5 accessibility click here. To read more about iPhone 4S accessibility click here. iOS 5 is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch 4th generation and iPod Touch 3rd generation. Some lesser known accessiblity features include a system-wide dictionary, the option to speak a selected body of text, a reader mode which filters out all distractions on the web and only leaves important content. The new update includes features to help people with visual impairments, hearing impairments, physical disabilities and learning disabilities. Below is Apple's take on iOS 5 accessiblity.

"iOS 5 comes with innovative new features that make it easier for people with mobility, hearing, vision, and cognitive disabilities to get the most from their iOS devices. iOS 5 works with specialized hardware accessories. The LED flash and custom vibration settings let you see and feel when someone’s calling. And improvements to VoiceOver include custom element labeling. These are just a few of the ways iOS 5 continues making advances in the field of accessibility."

Click read more below to see more pictures and videos of iOS 5.