Friday, December 21, 2012

App Review: Camera Awesome

This app comes as advertised: awesome. For years, one of the best features of the iPad was the camera. And with good reason. There are endless instructional possibilities for the front and rear camera. But there have always been limitations. Easy to use, yes. But limited. Until now...

You need to download Camera Awesome right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they start charging for it. There are a lot of features with this app. But the best features are the different camera modes. There are four different options that I'll mention here.


  1. Timer: So simple, but where has it been? Set the timer from 3 seconds to 59 seconds. Just in time for special family pictures during the holidays.
  2. Interval: I love this feature. Set the camera to shoot at a regular interval. So if you want to document a scientific process, set and record. It will keep taking shots at that interval until you manually stop it. 
  3. Slow burst: Hold down the button to record images at a rate of 3 frames a second. The key is you have to hold it down.
  4. Fast burst: Same as above, but faster: 5 frames a second. 
Now there are some other features that are worth mentioning. Pinch to zoom is built in. And zoom works on the front camera, unlike the native camera app. There is a level you can add to the screen to make sure your images are level. There are also effects, similar to Instagram, that you can add to your pictures. 

I know you have already come up with ideas about how this could be used in your classroom. I bet all you science teachers out there are going to love it. What a great way to pull images from a quick process so students can analyze what happened. Or set up the interval feature to record images on a regular basis. You can now do time lapse photography on your iPad to analyze situations. So many possibilities...

That's likely going to be it for 2012. Hope everyone has a great holiday season. See you in 2013.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Finally, YouTube for iPad again

One of the biggest complaints of people who upgraded to the new iOS6 was the missing YouTube app. The ongoing competition between Google and Apple left a lot of people out in the cold with the lack of YouTube app and Google Maps. Well, Google has finally addressed that issue with the release of a new YouTube app.

It's not tough to find right now. Check out the number 1 spot in the Top Charts. Happy viewing.