Andrew J. Cowell

Shelf Control: We’re Off To See The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Storybook App For iPad

[shared via Google Reader from App Advice]

Disney’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” is set to open in theaters on Friday, March 8. Ahead of its release, why not read or reread the classic story that inspired the movie? And if you decide to read or reread it, why not do so right on your iPad with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad is a, well, wonderful new storybook app based on L. Frank Baum’s famous fantasy novel about Dorothy and her friends’ magical journey to Emerald City.

The app offers two reading modes: Original Novel and Picture Book.

As its name suggests, the Original Novel mode lets you read the the app’s source material — all 24 chapters of it. It’s accompanied by original music and sound effects. But the interactions are kept to a minimum, as opposed to …

The Picture Book mode, which offers enhanced interaction and animations, boasts more than 50 pages of interactive scenes that make use of real-time physics. Like the Original Novel mode, it’s rendered with original music and sound effects. But unlike the other mode, the Picture Book mode also offers page-by-page narration.

Published by Random House Digital, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad is developed by Random House’s Smashing Ideas studio. Smashing Ideas, in turn, collaborated on the visuals of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad with Shaun Pendergast, which also helped design the social drawing app DrawQuest.

Pendergast explains how he came to fulfill his dream of bringing his version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” to life with e-publishing director Ben Roberts and the rest of the Smashing Ideas team:

About 2 years ago I discovered the interactive book Alice for the iPad by Ben Roberts. It took the famous story of Alice in Wonderland and gave it new life through the iPad. It was new and exciting, and yet it held the integrity of the original story. I immediately contacted Ben, and asked if he would be interested in doing the same with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Fortunately for me, he said yes and I was welcomed aboard to assist in bringing Baum’s tale to a new generation. I found it only fitting that the project eventually took me to the Pacific Northwest’s “Emerald City” Seattle, Washington. There, I began work with the exciting teams at Smashing Ideas and Random House bringing our idea to life.

Compatible with iPad running iOS 5.1 or later, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad is available now in the App Store for $3.99.

As always, if you have suggestions for Shelf Control, please feel free to email me at aldrin@appadvice.com or simply leave a comment below.

• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad
• Alice for the iPad
• DrawQuest - Free Daily Drawing Challenges

Easily Clarify And Compare Your Photos With Afterglow 1.4

[shared via Google Reader from App Advice]

The app that gives your photos a nice afterglow, so to speak, has just been updated to version 1.4.

That’s right: Afterglow 1.4 is here. The new update comes with a number of significant improvements to the app, which my colleague Christine has found to be “incredibly easy-to-use” in addition to being “fast when rendering filters and effects.”

Afterglow 1.4 introduces a new adjustment tool called Clarify. According to Afterglow developer Simon Filip, this new tool is “designed to really bring out the detail in your landscape photos.”

The new version of the app also introduces a new “before and after” comparison feature. While editing, just tap and hold on your image to see the original unedited version.

Pinch and zoom functionality is also added for shaped frames. Speaking of frames, two of those are added in the update as well.

In addition, the update brings support for sharing your images to Flickr and for using either of your device’s volume buttons to snap photos.

The latter ability, which was recently added to Flickr for iOS, is a welcome addition. But I’ve noticed that when taking pictures using the volume buttons, the unnecessary ringer volume overlay indicator appears on screen. Perhaps this will be done away with in the app’s 1.5 update, which is said to be due next month.

Optimized for iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 5.0 or later, Afterglow 1.4 is available now in the App Store as a free update or as a new $0.99 download.

If you’re interested in other iPhone photography apps, check out this AppList.

• Afterglow - Photo Editor
• Flickr

Get More Out of the Mac Default Mail App by Simplifying the Interface, and Organizing Smart Mailboxes

[shared via Google Reader from Lifehacker]

The default Mail app that comes stock with Mountain Lion is a big step up from earlier versions, but it still has a lot of room for improvement. Over on Mac Appstorm, they’ve put together a guide for getting more out of the default app, including making it simpler to use, and adding a better workflow. More »

TweetPing: Revealing Worldwide Twitter Activity in Real Time

[shared via Google Reader from information aesthetics]

Tweet Ping [tweetping.net], developed by Franck Ernewein seems like an excellent wallpaper backdrop for your secret data visualization dungeon.

Next to the obvious tweet messages flashing by on a world density map, various statistical measures (e.g. the number of messages, words and characters) are displayed in a dashboard interface at the bottom. All Twitter data seems to be aggregated by the world continent it originates from, which is also summarized by a single pie chart.

Someone knows what the shorts lines emanating from the dots on the world map mean? And the constantly refreshing bar charts?

TV rights and wrongs: The impact of broadcasting deals on Europe’s top clubs

[shared via Google Reader from Goal.com News - Manchester City FC]

Spain’s big two lead the way once again, and a renegotiation of contracts mean a new influx of cash, but are certain regions over-reliant on this trend continuing?

Original Mac Lego Model

[shared via Google Reader from Daring Fireball]

I’d buy this kit in a heartbeat.

Kim Dotcom’s Mega cloud storage launches for early adopters

[shared via Google Reader from Engadget]

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has been promising what’s almost a sort of renaissance through his Mega cloud storage service. Now that it’s open to the first wave of users, we have an inkling of what that strategy shift entails. Mega is currently just a simple-to-use parking place for data with a relatively large 50GB of storage in a free tier. However, it may grow quickly: there’s promises of Google Docs-style editing, instant messaging and mobile access, among other plans. Eventual paid plans will offer considerably more storage of between 500GB for €10 per month ($13) to 4TB for €30 ($40), albeit with a bandwidth cap of twice the storage at any given level. As such, Mega is mostly a bundle of potential — but it may stand out from the pack if ambition matches reality.

Filed under: Storage, Internet

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Source: TechCrunch

Rare ground-level photo of Hiroshima bombing found in former Japanese elementary school

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

One can only imagine what was going through the mind of the person who took this photo. Taken a mere two to five minutes after its detonation, it’s a ground-level perspective of the atomic explosion that decimated Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The original print of the photograph recently surfaced in the archives at Honkawa Elementary School in Hiroshima city. More »

Try to name all the silhouettes in this Star Wars alphabet

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

Patrick Concepcion takes a quiz-like approach with his Star Wars alphabet poster, lining up 26 silhouettes of characters, vehicles, and weapons from the galaxy far, far away. See if you can name all of them (some of them are tricky and slightly cheating) without checking the key at the bottom. More »

A Chart of Emotions that Have No Names in the English Language

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

If you’re ever beset by a strange and distinct feeling that you can’t quite name, you’re not alone. Just as the English language has pulled in loanwords like “schadenfreude” to name emotions with no English equivalent, there are a number of words other languages use to describe emotions still unnamed in English. Designer Pei-Ying Lin has charted a handful of these emotions, which are ready for your linguistic consideration. More »

Archaeologists Mistake Viking Brewhouses For Bathhouses

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

For years, archaeologists studying Viking remnants and artifacts in Britain had assumed that certain stone structures were bathhouses, or a kind of primitive sauna. But a husband-and-wife team has now thrown this thinking into question by suggesting that they weren’t bathhouses at all — that they were brewhouses where the Vikings made their beer. More »

For the weekend: Isaac Asimov’s Visions of the Future is available free online in its entirety

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

Two years before his death, legendary science and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov kicked off a TV pilot dedicated to exploring the faint and ever-shifting boundary separating science from science fiction. By highlighting advances in science and technology, Asimov sought to prepare viewers for the world of tomorrow by providing them with glimpses of what the future might hold. More »

How 19-year-old activist Zack Kopplin is making life hell for Louisiana’s creationists

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

For Zack Kopplin, it all started back in 2008 with the passing of the Louisiana Science Education Act. The bill made it considerably easier for teachers to introduce creationist textbooks into the classroom. Outraged, he wrote a research paper about it for a high school English class. Nearly five years later, the 19-year-old Kopplin has become one of the fiercest — and most feared — advocates for education reform in Louisiana. We recently spoke to him to learn more about how he’s making a difference. More »

Holy crap — this short film rocked my world, and I want more

[shared via Google Reader from io9]

It’s rare to watch a short film that manages to do serious worldbuilding and smart character development in roughly 10 minutes. And that’s why you should clear the next fifteen minutes to watch Noon. You’ll need those extra minutes to digest what you just watched. The initial premise is a little implausible (like most SF backstories): mining in the Arctic has set off quakes and volcanoes that halt the rotation of the Earth, resulting in a broiling-hot city called Noon at the North Pole, where the sun is always high in the sky. But the world that writer/director Kasra Farahani develops around that premise is gritty and realistic and full of tension. More »