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Start your own mosh pit with the Metalcore Breakdown Composer

Out in the sea of odd samplers and drum machines on the iOS platform there's one understandable blind spot for music apps; metalcore. Birthed out the hardcore punk and death metal scenes the sub-genre started promisingly before becoming incredibly repetitive. Depending on your tastes Metalcore Breakdown Composer is either a obnoxious parody of modern extreme music or a fun toy to pass time on your iOS device.

Utilizing a soundboard of various drums, guitar tones, and vocals players can tap together breakdowns -- essentially the bridge of a metalcore song -- for your listening pleasure. Whether you're making fun of a friend whose a fan or you just want to create your own simple breakdowns this app is for you.

Currently MBC lacks the ability to record or export the sounds you make which is the kind of oversight that keeps it from being easily recommended as a keeper. Still it's a funny idea that could provide the right open minded parent an afternoon full of bonding time with their metalhead child.

You can watch Metalcore Breakdown Composer's delightfully surreal video below to get a taste of just how tongue in cheek the product in question actually is. You can pick up the Metalcore Breakdown Composer for free right now in the app store. Perhaps you can bring the whole family together by starting mosh pits of love in the living room.

Netatmo expands iOS-friendly Weather Station with Rain Gauge

Netatmo introduced its Weather Station (US$179) to the world in 2012, providing an easy way for iPhone owners to track indoor and outdoor temperatures and air quality at their homes or offices. Since that time, a vast number of users have enjoyed the ease of use of the free iOS app and the ability to see what's going on weather-wise not only in and around their own homes, but across the world through shared data. While I've used the Netatmo Weather Station for almost two years and have been impressed with how it just chugs along sending out data, I've regretted not having the ability to know how much precipitation has fallen at my home. The company has just released a new accessory for the Weather Station -- a $79 Rain Gauge that works with the base station to add precipitation measurement to the mix.

Specifications

• Dimensions: Funnel diameter: 5.0 in (12.7 cm), base diameter 3.5 in (8.89 cm), height 4.5 in (11.43 cm)


• Weight: 7.3 oz (206.95 gms)


• Type of rain gauge: tipping bucket


• Measuring range: .2 mm/hr to 900 mm/hr (.0078 inches/hr to 35.43 inches/hr)


• Accuracy: 1 mm/hr (.0394 inches/hr)


• Max. distance between base station and rain gauge: 100 m (328 feet)


• Power: Two AAA batteries (included)

Design Highlights

Netatmo's Weather Station is very stylish, with the interior base station being a sleek aluminum cylinder that does all of its work without being obtrusive. Likewise, the Rain Gauge is very attractive and would not be out of place on a patio or veranda.

On the bottom of the Rain Gauge is a common tripod screw mount, which means that it can be placed atop a number of widely available mounting options. For my tests, I just put the device on the ground -- not the best location, but it was for a temporary test.

The actual rain gauge is located within the body of the device under the funnel area. It uses a very common type of gauge called a "tipping bucket" -- there is a seesaw-like mechanism with two tiny buckets, one on each side of a counter. When a bucket fills with rain, it tips and empties itself while the other fills up. The back and forth motion of the mechanism is counted, which provides a highly accurate measure of just how much rain has fallen.

Functionality Highlights

The Rain Gauge was quite easy to add to the Netatmo Weather Station network, even without instructions (this was a pre-release unit). The process simply required pressing the top of the base station until the seldom-seen LED on the front of the unit glowed blue, at which point it restarted and added the gauge.

Once the Rain Gauge was added to the system, it was just a matter of waiting for rain. Here in dry Colorado, I was concerned that I might have to wait weeks until I'd be able to send the unit back to Netatmo, but fortunately we received a nice downpour last night that started at about 6 PM and dumped rain on and off for about four hours.

I own and operate a "professional" weather station, so I was able to make a comparison of the readings I got from both stations. Sure enough, both stations showed the rain starting and ending at about the same time. Looking at the hourly precipitation totals in the Netatmo app showed .06 inches in the first hour, .12 inches in the second hour, .09 inches in the third hour, and .13 inches in the fourth hour for a total of .40 inches. My other station showed .09 inches in the first hour, .15 inches in the second hour, .12 inches in the third hour, and .13 inches in the fourth hour for a total of .49 inches.

Upon retrieving the Netatmo Rain Gauge this morning I found out why it didn't measure as much precipitation as the other station -- it was located near some trees that are currently budding out and the funnel had a lot of "tree debris" that was blocking it. For the most part, though, I felt that the Netatmo gauge worked well and accurately measured as much of the rain as it could.

Conclusion

The Rain Gauge is a welcome addition to the Netatmo Weather Station ecosystem and adds another data point to any personal weather records you may wish to keep. Especially in drier climates, knowing exactly how much precipitation you received at your location can help save water used in keeping lawns and gardens thriving, and you'll always have that information on your iPhone with the Netatmo app. While the Rain Gauge is more pricy than a standard manual rain gauge, just think of it this way -- you don't have to empty the Netatmo Rain Gauge once a day.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible

Opera Coast is ready to impress you... and then be forgotten

Do you remember Yahoo Axis? It was an iOS Web browser that it seemed as though everyone thought it was the second coming of the mobile Web. It was called "impressive," "surprisingly fresh," and "one of the best Web browsers," only to be unceremoniously killed off after everyone forgot about it. Well, get ready for round two, because Opera Coast is about to pull the exact same stunt.

This morning the blogosphere and social media are peppered with opinions that Coast has done something with mobile Web that has never been done before. The gimmick here is that Web pages are arranged on the Coast home screen as though they were apps. You can create these icons based on pages you visit often, but these eye-catching buttons are really nothing more than bookmarks in practice.

There's also no real URL bar, so don't expect to type in a link as you might on Safari or Chrome for iOS. Instead, there's a search feature that does its best to provide the results you're looking for. Type in "TUAW" and an icon with our site's logo pops up. Click it to travel to the site, which pops up in its own window. Recently visited sites are organized in a stack on the home screen, and sites can be scrolled through using touch gestures, as you might click through your various browser tabs.

In short it's more complex under the guise of simplicity. Instead of tabs you have pages, and instead of bookmarks you have icons. There's nothing here that makes it any better or worse than the existing crop of Web browsers on your iPhone, except for the fact that it's "new."

"Browsers have been the same way for 20 years and their conventions get in the way," reads the passive-aggressive App Store description for Opera Coast, and that much is true. Is there a better way to browse the Web than what we currently have? Perhaps, but Coast isn't it. It's simply the same Web in a slightly different wrapper.

If you feel like your web browser needs a wallpaper -- which is perhaps the one thing that Coast offers that hasn't been done before -- it might be your new favorite app. But for the vast majority who download it, the return to Safari or Chrome will be expeditious.

Daily App: Dance Machine turns your videos into funky dance moves

Dance Machine-The Fun Editor is a new app that lets you take a video clip and turn it into a dance video in just a few minutes. The app falls into photo & video category, but when you pair the right video with some upbeat music, there is a healthy dose of entertainment built right into the app.

When it launches, Dance Machine prompts you to import a video from your Camera Roll. Once you select a video to import, you can select a section of it for your dance clip. The app applies a reverse filter, allowing you to pick a motion that will be repeated in time with the music. You can add multiple video clips if you wish to create a longer compilation.

Once you haven chosen your slice of video, you then can add music from the apps built-in library or from your own music library. Using your own music is a paid option that requires an in-app purchase of US$1.99. The app ships with six music tracks that span a variety of music categories. You also can change the speed of the video and the number of repetitions you wish to include. You can preview the video and either ho back into the editor to make tweaks or save the clip for sharing.

The dance video is automatically saved to your Camera Roll and you also can share it via Message, email, Facebook or Vimeo. Dance Machine is free and watermarks each video you compile, but you can remove the watermark via a $1.99 in-app purchase. This purchase also unlocks your iTunes music library and allows you to import your own music for your dance video clips.

Dance Machine is a quick and easy way to add music to your video, and you can produce some fun results. The over experience is positive, but there are a few features that could use some polishing. Selecting the correct start and end points of a video is a challenge as the controls don't zoom into the clip like they do when you trim video in iOS. You'd be better off editing the clip in iOS and then importing into the Dance Machine app. Also, I could not trim the audio to select my favorite section and was forced to use the song from its opening notes.

Dance Machine-The Fun Editor is available for free from the iOS App Store.

Jimi: A brilliant little innovation for iMac owners

The late great rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix was an innovator, doing things with amplifier feedback that had never been done before and changing the sound of rock music forever. Now design firm Bluelounge has given Jimi's name to a nifty little innovation that makes life easier for owners of the newer slim unibody iMacs. While it won't have as lasting an impact on history of the world as Jimi Hendrix's music did, the Jimi USB Port Extension (US$14.95) at least gives iMac users something to be thankful for every time they want to plug in a USB cable.

Jimi is cleverly designed to transition the vertical USB port on the back of the iMac to a horizontal USB port that pokes out from the bottom of your computer. Rather than blindly fumbling around trying to plug something into a port on the iMac, it's right at your fingertips at the bottom of the display. Jimi is unobtrusive and works on all four USB 3.0 ports on the 21.5" iMac slim unibody and the three leftmost (as viewed from the back of the computer) USB 3.0 ports on the 27" iMac slim unibody.

There's really not much more to be said about this little J-shaped port extender, other than if you have one of the late 2012 or newer iMacs, you need to buy at least one Jimi. The first time that you use it and don't have to grope the back of your iMac trying to find a port, you'll thank me.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible

Daily App: Tipcognito is a tip calculator masquerading as email client

Let's face it, many people are horrible at calculating a tip. Not only is the math sometimes challenging, there also is the added pressure of trying to quickly calculate 18 percent of $17.23 while your dinner party stare you down because everyone but you is ready to pay the check.

Don't sweat it the next time you go out to dinner, come prepared with Tipcognito, a handy tip calculator that is disguised as an email app. Tipcognito has the visual appearance of an iPhone app but cleverly uses the search field, navigation buttons and fake email entries to display the tip and the total amount you should pay.

To use Tipcognito, just enter in the bill amount in the search field and use the "+" and "-" buttons to adjust the tip percentage. The tip amount and your total payment (bill + tip) will replace the date and time stamp in a normal email.

Tipcognito is a wonderful app for those times when you want to calculate a tip quickly and discretely. It is available in the iOS App Store as a free app with advertisements or a paid app without ads (US$0.99). It is compatible with the iPhone and requires iOS 6 or later.

A second look at the Dock-It Pro iPad keyboard case ... and a giveaway

Last month, one of my fellow bloggers took a quick look at Parle Innovation's Dock-It Pro, a US$159 (introductory price of $129 still available) iPad keyboard case that's quite different from any other case on the market. I met the CEO of Parle Innovation, Mary Shulenberger, at Macworld/iWorld 2014 and she asked if it would be possible for the case to get the full TUAW review treatment, complete with a star rating. Well, the answer was "Yes!" and here's the review -- complete with a giveaway at the end.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 10-3/4 x 8-1/2 x 3/4 inches (27.3 x 21.59 x 1.91 cm)


• Weight: 1.4 lbs (.64 kg)


• Materials: Aluminum bezel, polycarbonate hard shell


• Keyboard: Standard QWERTY with iOS-specific top row

Design Highlights

At the present time, the Dock-It Pro is available only for iPad 2 through 4, with an iPad Air version apparently in the works. The first thing you notice upon opening the Dock-It Pro box is that it is unlike any iPad keyboard case you've ever seen before. A piece of paper with a large red STOP sign on it is the first indication that you'd better pay attention. That warning is to keep you from breaking the Dock-It right off the bat by forcing it open like a laptop. Instead, tapping a button on the case releases the top portion that holds the iPad, and you then slide it down out of the way prior to lifting the iPad up into typing mode. You'll find a few reminder stickers on the Dock-It Pro as well, telling you to push down on the release button, slide the lid, and then lift it up.

Dock-It Pro Keyboard Case for iPad 2/3/4

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Your iPad is held securely into place in the lid of the Dock-It Pro, and that's for a reason -- that lid rotates through a full 360 degrees, making it possible to you to use the tablet in a "laptop mode" with the keyboard, or have the screen facing out in a "strictly tablet" mode.

The keyboard is one of the larger ones I've seen on an iPad keyboard case. All of the keys are well-spaced and good-sized, and placed in their proper (i.e., similar to an Apple keyboard) locations. As noted in the specification list, there is a top row of keys that are used specifically for iPad functions such as locking the screen, launching Spotlight searches, pulling up a virtual keyboard even when you're using the "real" keyboard, cut/copy/paste, changing screen brightness or volume, and going back to the home screen from an app. The keyboard features a caps lock LED as well as a pairing LED.

The big feature of the Dock-It Pro is the rotating iPad holder, which makes it simple to use the iPad in "laptop mode" as well as in a more traditional "tablet mode", all without taking the iPad out of the case.

Functionality Highlights

Using the Dock-It Pro is actually quite simple as long as you follow those initial instructions and remember to press the release button to move the iPad from closed to keyboard mode or from tablet to keyboard mode. When the iPad is inserted into the holding tray, it locks in mechanically so there's no concern about it flopping out when you spin the iPad around from keyboard to tablet mode or vice-versa.

Unlike many soft cases or other keyboard cases, the Dock-It Pro actually uses a mechanical release mechanism as well. Just slide a button, and the iPad is unlocked and can be easily removed. That's a far cry from some cases with plastic trays that require a great deal of muscle to remove an iPad from.

All of the versatility of the Dock-It Pro comes at a price -- not the $129 price tag, but in terms of thickness and weight. With an iPad 3 installed in it, the Dock-It Pro weighs just over 3 pounds -- that's heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air, which is a fully-functional laptop computer. Likewise, in the tablet mode the Dock-It Pro is over three-quarters of an inch thick, which could be uncomfortable over the long run. On the plus side, at least you can pop the iPad out in a second when you need to use it as a tablet.

It is obvious that the engineers at Parle Innovation paid attention to details, though. There is a pass-through grille for the single speaker of the iPad, a gap for plugging in the 30-pin connector for charging, and a pass-through port for the headphone jack. There's even a small pop-out stand about an inch high that puts the keyboard at a comfortable slight angle for typing.

I have to admit to agreeing to some of the comments made by Erica in her review -- while the Dock-It Pro is well designed and nicely built, I feels like it is a solution in search of a problem. For those who want to easily switch between tablet and keyboard modes on the iPad, there are much lighter solutions that are available today. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad is available for pretty much every iPad ever made with the exception of the original, it's extremely light, has a very good keyboard, and it can be popped off in a second when the user wants to just have a tablet in hand.

Sure, the Dock-It Pro provides much more protection than a number of lightweight keyboard case solutions. But there are a lot of very protective keyboard cases that do offer as much or more protection without the thickness and weight. As a professional engineer, I also know that the more complicated a solution is, the more chances there are for something to break. That's why the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle is something that every designer should keep in mind. A keyboard case shouldn't require a five-page white paper to explain its design, and a properly designed case wouldn't need a bunch of warning stickers and fliers to keep users from breaking it.

That being said, what is the target audience for the Dock-It Pro? I think that anyone who needs to use an iPad primarily for typing would be very pleased with the keyboard and the protection provided by the case. I like the little pop-out stand, which gives the Dock-It Pro a slight tilt for comfortable typing, and the choice of iPad function buttons on the unit is top-notch.

Conclusion

For typing on an iPad, there's probably no better keyboard available at this time than the one built into the Dock-It Pro. At the $129 introductory price point, it's quite reasonably priced for a high-quality iPad keyboard case. However, the weight, thickness and mechanical complexity of the case may turn off some potential buyers.

Rating: 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible

Giveaway

Have an iPad 2, 3 or 4? Would you like a versatile keyboard case with a really good keyboard? Then enter our giveaway of a Dock-It Pro courtesy of Parle Innovation and TUAW. Here are the rules for the giveaway:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.


• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.


• The entry must be made before April 26, 2014 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.


• You may enter only once.


• One winner will be selected in a random drawing and will receive a Parle Innovation Dock-It Pro valued at US$129.


• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Blue Sky for iOS lets you visualize clearer air

Blue Sky is a free iOS app coming out of China, where skies are often gray and air pollution is often out of control. Of course, China isn't alone with that problem. Blue Sky is sponsored by the World Wildlife Federation and an advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather, based in New York and Shanghai.

Since it's Earth Day, I thought it might be appropriate to point out this little app. It's simple in concept and execution -- you take a photo or select one from your camera roll. With your finger, paint in a bluer sky on the photo you've loaded. It's easier if you have a pretty flat horizon. The app doesn't let you magnify your photo to work in tight places, and there is one and only one brush size.

Blue Sky for iOS

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The app simply serves as an environmental reminder to let you visualize cleaner and clearer skies. The app also lets you add your signature to a petition to state your preference about 'bringing back the blue'. Although the app was designed for a Chinese audience, it works just fine everywhere else. Doug Schiff, Executive Creative Director of OgilvyOne China, said, "Many in China feel only the government can improve the worsening air conditions, but WWF wanted to encourage individuals to think up and support individual initiatives, and this app is a step in that direction."

Blue Sky isn't a sophisticated photo editor by any means. But it packs a little message, and you can certainly do some simple editing to improve your images of cloudy or polluted skies.

The app is not universal, and requires iOS 6.1 or later. It is optimized for the iPhone 5.

Hitman GO is really killing it

If you've ever played a Hitman game, your eyebrow probably immediately raised at the prospect of a new Hitman game for iOS. The stealth action titles for PC and consoles focus on picking off guards and taking out assassination targets, and in that way Hitman GO stays true to the franchise. Everything else about the game, however, is completely different.

Hitman GO is a board game of sorts, with turn-based puzzles taking the place of actual sneaking and hiding. You control your character piece, the titular assassin Agent 47, on a board where your movements are restricted to pre-determined grids. Each level has its own layout, with guards who either stand still or patrol, and either an assassination target or an exit slot you must travel to in order to proceed to the next level.

You can trick guards with noise generating items like cans and rocks, and either make your way around them or take them out in order to clear your path. The puzzles range from very simply early on to mind-bendingly challenging, forcing you to memorize guard patterns and use the rare pieces of cover to your advantage.

Besting a level is very satisfying, especially when you take out your primary assassination target -- who are always dressed in red -- with Ave Maria playing in the background, and GO manages to feel like a real Hitman title despite a complete change in format.

The most striking thing about the presentation of GO is how gorgeous the faux board game looks on a Retina display. You feel like you're actually moving pieces around the board, and the ability to tweak your viewing angle adds to this greatly.

Hitman GO is available for US$4.99, and the only in-app purchases on offer are in the form of hint packs, walkthroughs, and early level unlocks, but each board is so much fun to play and beat that you'll have little reason to consider it.

SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition reigns supreme on Mac

The SimCity reboot on OS X came with a whole host of launch day problems, and longtime fans of the series cried foul at the streamlined nature and much more modest city sizes. If you happened to be in that camp, SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition is exactly what you've been dreaming of, and now it's finally available on the Mac App Store.

If you've somehow managed to avoid the addictive pull of the SimCity franchise, I'll lay it out for you: You play as the all-seeing mayor of your own metropolis, and must build it up from a barren piece of land. It's the ultimate micromanagement experience, and you'll zone pieces of land for residential buildings, commercial properties, as well industrial purposes.

As the mayor, the life of every citizen is in your hands, and you must provide for their basic needs such as utilities, education, emergency management, mass transit, and a host of services. Your city never sleeps, and you're never truly done doing your job. New problems will pop up constantly and your team of advisors will always have a suggestion for how you could better your burg.

The sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing your city thrive is countered by the inevitable failure of many of your plans. A freak fire or riot can quickly change your approach, and no two play sessions are ever the same. You might be short on cash and need to tweak the city's taxes, but even the slightest nudge can topple the local economy and send residents fleeing from your town -- the balances are that fragile.

As you expand, your once quiet town will burst into a bustling city, and before you know it you'll be scrolling over dozens of city blocks to spot unrest, add a hospital, or investigate a traffic issue. If for some reason you manage to craft a utopia -- and that isn't likely to happen until you've spent dozens or even hundreds of hours learning the game's nuances -- you can increase the difficulty by prompting a natural disaster like a tornado, volcano, or meteor.

Handled by seasoned Mac publisher Aspyr Games, there was little doubt that the game would enjoy a seamless transition, and the company has once again delivered on that promise. Technically speaking, the game is the true SimCity experience with zero compromises, and the game runs well on even modest systems thanks to plenty of graphics options.

The Deluxe Edition includes both the base game and the Rush Hour expansion pack, which adds a whole list of new mass transit options for your citizens. It's the ultimate SimCity experience, and anyone put off by the recent series reboot will almost certainly find this version to be far superior in terms of options, size, and scope. At US$19.99, it's the cost of a couple of movie tickets, but will give you hundreds of hours of enjoyment with little issue.

Daily App: GoodGuide helps you find green, healthy and socially responsible products

GoodGuide is your guide to all things that are good for you and good for the environment. The guide is available on the web and in a pocketable version that you can carry on your iPhone.

The GoodGuide app for iOS contains ratings for over 210,000 products in a variety of categories, including food, health and beauty aids, pet food, baby care and more. Each item is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 based on its social, health and environmental impact. You can quickly view an item's overall rating as well as detailed ratings for health, safety and environment.

One of the most useful features of GoodGuide is its scanner tool that allows you to scan product barcodes to find out more about the items that you are about to purchase. The app lists information about the brand that makes the product, its ingredients and alternative products that you may be interested in buying.

GoodGuide's biggest drawback is that its product catalog includes only those items that are commercially available in the US. You can use the app outside the US, but the product information will be limited to those items that are available in the US.

GoodGuide is available for free and is compatible with the iPhone. It requires iOS 7.

Logitech announces thinner Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, 3 new iPad cases

Not content to rest on its laurels as one of the top iPad accessory manufacturers in the world, Logitech today announced an array of new products and a new version of its best-selling Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air and iPad mini. The new products include the Logitech Hinge (US$59.99 for iPad Air, $49.99 for iPad mini), the rugged Logitech Big Bang (US$99.99 for iPad Air, $79.99 for iPad mini), and the Logitech Turnaround (US$59.99 for iPad Air, $49.99 for iPad mini). Two lucky TUAW readers will get a chance to win the brand new Hinge or Turnaround at the end of this post, so read on.

Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover

The Ultrathin is the world's best-selling keyboard cover for iPad, and beginning next month iPad owners in the US and Europe can get their hands on the new version of the device. Believe it or not, Logitech was able to make the new Ultrathin even thinner and lighter that the existing model; it's now only 6.4 mm thick and weighs in at about two-thirds of the weight of the iPad. The cover attaches with a magnetic clip and features aluminum construction to match the exterior of the iPad.

Another new feature of the revised Ultrathin is the ability to adjust the iPad to a number of different viewing angles instead of just one. The result should give iPad Air and iPad mini owners the flexibility to use the keyboard/iPad combo in a lot more situations.

Pricing for the revamped Ultrathin will be $99.99 for the iPad Air model and $89.99 for the iPad mini version. Be sure to keep an eye on TUAW for a full review of the new version soon.

Logitech Big Bang

The Big Bang is designed to keep your iPad Air or iPad mini protected from "drops, screen impacts, bumps, scratches and spills." The Big Bang has a shock-absorbent shell and case cover made of materials that are liquid-repellant and wipeable, and the built-in stand provides a range of display angles for comfortable viewing.

Logitech says that the Big Bang actually exceeds the US Military Drop Standard, so that should provide some peace of mind when the kids are playing with your iPad Air. For the iPad Air, the Big Bang weighs 14.53 ounces (412 grams) and has outside dimensions of 9.74 x 7.09 x .62 inches (247.3 x 180 x 15.86 mm). The iPad mini version weighs just 9.74 ounces (276 grams) and dimensions of 8.19 x 5.69 x .62 inches (208.01 x 144.61 x 15.62 mm).

The Big Bang will be shipping next month in two colors, Super Fluo and Graphite

Logitech Turnaround

The Turnaround is the versatile member of the Logitech iPad case family. A rotating frame makes it possible to prop your iPad up in portrait or landscape mode. The exterior is made of a water repellant plastic material that has the appearance of black brushed aluminum, and there's a magnetic closure to keep the case closed while in transit.

Dimensions of the iPad Air version are 9.65 x 6.97 x .75 inches (245 x 177 x 19 mm), and it weighs just 12.2 ounces (346 grams). The smaller iPad mini version measures just 7.99 x 5.55 x .75 inches (203 x 141 x 19 mm) and weighs 8.1 ounces (230 grams).

Logitech Turnaround Case

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So, how does the Turnaround work in real life? The iPad pops into a thin but strong plastic shell that has cutouts in all the right places for the camera, speakers, switches and ports. The swivel of the Turnaround works very smoothly, and placing the iPad into either portrait or landscape orientation is swift and easy. There's enough friction between the inside of the Turnaround and the side of the plastic shell to hold the iPad in place in a variety of angles.

The pricing for the Turnaround is very reasonable considering the quality of the product and the warranty that comes with it. Logitech offers a 1-year limited hardware warranty in the US and Asia, 2 years in EMEA.

Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible

Logitech HInge

The new Hinge is more of a traditional folio-style iPad case than the Turnaround, which begs the question of why it is priced the same. Part of the pricing could involve the materials used on the Hinge, which (on the review case) included a nice fabric exterior and purple microfiber interior.

Dimensions of the iPad Air version are 9.64 x 6.91 x .57 inches (244.8 x 175.6 x 14.5 mm), and it weighs just 11.8 ounces (335 grams). The smaller iPad mini version measures just 8.07 x 5.55 x .57 inches (205 x 141 x 19 mm) and weighs 8.0 ounces (227 grams).

The iPad fits into a slender plastic tray that holds it into place, once again with cutouts at the appropriate places. The cover is equipped with a magnet to turn the iPad on or off when opened or closed, and the friction between the plastic tray and the microfiber interior is perfect for keeping the iPad stationary at a variety of viewing angles.

Logitech Hinge Case

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While the Hinge isn't as versatile as the Turnaround, it has quite a warm "high touch" feel to it. If you don't need to view your iPad in portrait mode, the Hinge is perfectly suited to keeping you amused while your device is in landscape orientation. My only gripe is that the pricing is a bit high for the Hinge and should be lowered by $10 to $15 to reflect the pricing of competitive folio covers.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4 stars possible

Giveaway

It's not often that TUAW is able to announce a giveaway for a new product the same day it's announced, but that's the situation here! We have both a Logitech Turnaround Case and a Hinge Case available, and all you need to do is enter to have a chance of winning one of the two. Here are the rules for the giveaway:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.


• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.


• The entry must be made before April 25, 2014 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.


• You may enter only once.


• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing. One will receive a Logitech Hinge Case for iPad Air valued at $59.99 while the other will receive a Logitech Turnaround Case for iPad Air also valued at $59.99.


• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Narrative Clip lifelogging camera: Hands-on with the wearable photo capture device

Being both a fan of innovative hardware and a photography buff, one of the products I eagerly anticipated testing was the Narrative Clip livelogging camera (US$279). The product began life as a 2012 Kickstarter project named Memoto and finally reached market this year, so when I was offered the chance to test the Narrative Clip camera, I jumped at the opportunity. What I found is a product that is well-designed and built, but that also demonstrates some of the pitfalls of wearable devices that are meant to capture images all the time.

The Device

The Narrative Clip looks like no other digital camera you've seen before. In fact, it looks more like one of the many Bluetooth tracking chips that seem to be so popular on Kickstarter these days. Measuring just 1.42 x 1.42 x 0.35 inches (36 x 36 x 9 mm) and weighing just .7 oz (20 grams), Narrative has a clip on the back of it (hence the name), a tiny hole indicating the location of the lens, a set of LEDs to indicate power and status, and a micro-USB port for charging.

It's available in three colors: white, gray, and orange. Inside the smooth plastic exterior lie the brains of the Narrative Clip, which include 8 GB of memory, a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and an image sensor.

When clipped to a collar or pocket, the Narrative Clip begins snapping one 5 megapixel image every 30 seconds. Don't want to take photos at a particular point? Just put it into a pocket or place it face down on a surface and it stops snapping images. If you see something that you want to capture but don't want to take the chance on missing the photo, a double-tap on the device tells it to take a picture right away.

The App

The Narrative Clip is simply a digital camera with sensors built into it, and as such there is no way to view images directly on the tiny device. To transfer all of those images to cloud storage (one year free storage is included in your purchase), you'll need to have either a Mac or PC running the free Narrative Uploader software.

So how do you view your images? Once you connect the Narrative Clip to your Mac or PC, the images are uploaded to the cloud and then processed. Sophisticated algorithms look at the quality of the images and the location where they were captured, and then "moments" are created. Each moment is made up of a series of photos. I found that most of the moments were rather short, although there were some that ran as long as an hour.

The cloud processing of images is also one of the reasons that the Narrative Clip can last for about two days on a single charge. Geolocation through GPS is quite power-intensive, so the device captures the location information but doesn't geotag individual images until processing is done in the cloud.

Narrative Clip Camera

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Now the images aren't viewed on your Mac or PC; instead, they're processed online into moments and then viewed with the free Narrative app (iOS and Android). The app displays a timeline of the moments, and each moment can be scrolled through to view all of the images. There's a "trim moment" button that is enabled by default to hide lower quality photos.

With a tap on the moment, it begins to scroll automatically through the images. A one hour moment made up of about 110 photos played back in about 44 seconds. Individual images can be selected with a tap and shared to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or mailed to others. Images can also be favorited ("starred" in the Narrative vernacular), set as the cover photo for the moment, downloaded to your photo library, or deleted.

The Narrative Camera In Real Life

The Narrative Clip is going to last about two days on a charge in real life. By real life, I mean that you're honestly not going to be wearing this thing 24/7. For example, over the Easter weekend I took it off when I was at church services because it felt inappropriate to be snapping images during a service. While at a Major League Baseball game on Saturday night, I definitely took the device off when I went to the restroom!

But there's one other thing that happened during the weekend that I can imagine owners of Google Glass have also encountered -- having other people tell you to turn off your device because they don't want to have their photo taken. Shortly after I started wearing the Narrative Clip, my wife asked what it was and I told her -- and she promptly told me to turn it off when I was around her. A friend dropped by at one point on Saturday, so out of courtesy I told her what that little white box on my shirt collar was. She referred to the constant capture of images as "creepy".

For the most part the images captured are quite good; the camera does a great job of handling varying light conditions, it knows what side is "up", and it can even be told to take a photo with a double tap on the case. On occasion the clothing that the Narrative Clip was attached to would point the camera up towards the sky -- I have a lot of photos of a crowd microphone at the baseball game silhouetted against the sky that are quite useless.

But what I found was that despite the quality of the images, the subject of the images was often quite boring. Perhaps that's just a reflection of my middle-aged life; some of the examples shown on the Narrative website show groups of young people running around on beaches, and I suppose this would be a lot more fun if I spent more time engaged in group activities.

Where I could see the Narrative Clip being extremely useful is on vacations, especially during activities that I normally take the time to capture in photographs. It could be a second eye, snapping images that are more candid and less composed. And in special places or at special times, it would be incredible to have a photographic record that is being captured without having to constantly be pulling out my DSLR.

One feature I wish the Narrative Clip had would be a way to automatically turn the stream of images into a short movie. I've seen several examples where people have taken Narrative Clip images and made them into videos (some time-lapse sunrises are incredible!), but those are done manually.

Conclusion

I have mixed, but mainly positive feelings about the Narrative Clip. It's an amazing piece of hardware that demonstrates just how far digital photography has come in a relatively short amount of time. The idea of automatically capturing one image every 30 seconds during some activities is fascinating, and the Narrative Clip's dependence on uploading through a Mac or PC is actually quite smart as it doesn't overload your smartphone with a pile of unprocessed images.

But is it right for you? That's up to each individual to decide. If the thought of taking a lot of candid photos seems ludicrous to you, then I'd have no problems recommending that you save your money for other things. For those of you who would love to have a way to automatically capture the fleeting images of your lives, the Narrative Clip is a brilliant way to do just that.

Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible

Daily App: Union is a powerful image blending tool for iOS

Union (U.S. $1.99) is a very well thought out tool that brings Photoshop-type power to your iPad or iPhone. It's the most impressive image blending app I've used, and it works wonders to help you create unique and compelling images.



When using the app, you first load in a background image, for example a landscape photo. Then, you add a foreground image that you want to transplant on top of the background. In the next step, you enter the mask layer by choosing the Magic Wand tool, which allows you to easily remove everything but the person.

The tool removes parts of the image based on similarity in backgrounds and luminance, so it is a lot easier if the background behind the person is more solid in color rather than patterned. If the Magic Wand tool doesn't do the trick, you can manually draw out the parts that don't automatically go away.



Union allows you to let your imagination run wild as you are not limited to only superimposing images. You can make the layers transparent, create double exposures, and more. The app also has extensive undo-redo commands, so you can just step backwards if you don't like what you've created.

Union for iOS

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The app contains tutorial videos, which are much nicer than static help pages. Photos can be exported to your camera roll, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or via email.



While excellent, the app suffers from a problem that is common among this type of app -- when removing the background, your finger covers the drawing tool, making it tricky to accurately remove an element. Some apps offset the tool from where your finger meets the screen, making the job a lot easier.



Despite this limitation, I was able to manage with the removal tool and created some great shots with little effort. Union is a universal app. It requires iOS 7 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5. Give it a try if you want to create some unique and eye-catching compositions.