iPhone Daily News Digest

Launch Center, a new shortcuts app for iPhone, aims to make everything from sending messages and mail to posting on Facebook and Twitter, to turning on your LED flashlight, faster and easier via an extremely clever, borderline audacious use of URL schemes and iOS 5′s Notification Center.

Produced by David Barnard of App Cubby fame, it boasts an absolutely gorgeous user interface that lets you easily set up which actions you want to appear in your Notification Center from a robust set of shortcut that include Phone, SMS/iMessage, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Flashlight, Google search, and Custom URL schemes. (That last one, for more advanced users especially, should make Launch Center an instant buy.)

Live from Macworld|iWorld 2012, David showed off some of the new features in the recent Launch Center 1.1 update, including scheduled launch actions — for example if you know you need to SMS your wife every morning or email your boss the report every friday at noon.

David’s keeping Launch Center in his dock now, since using Launch Center to quickly call a favorite or send a message is faster than tapping and pecking through screens of apps and layers of menus.

Hopefully Apple finds a way to balance security and accessibility in the next version of iOS so apps like Launch Center can start to do even more fantastic, time saving things.

• $0.99 – App Store link

Rene and I are at Macworld 2012 and had the pleasure of talking to Penultimate developer Ben Zotto. You, the iMore nation, asked us to ask Ben his thoughts on styli for the iPad, so we did! Check out the video above for Ben’s insights on the personal decision of choosing a stylus.

Here’s a list of the ones he mentioned:

• Pogo Sketch Pro – $24.95 – Amazon link
• Pogo Sketch Plus – $14.95 – Ten One Design link
• Wacom Bamboo – $25.43 – Amazon link
• Cosmonaut – $25 – Studio Neat link

What’s your favorite stylus to use with Penultimate?

Rene and I are at Macworld 2012 and had the pleasure of talking to Penultimate developer Ben Zotto. You, the iMore nation, asked us to ask Ben his thoughts on styli for the iPad, so we did! Check out the video above for Ben’s insights on the personal decision of choosing a stylus.

Here’s a list of the ones he mentioned:

• Pogo Sketch Pro – $24.95 – Amazon link
• Pogo Sketch Plus – $14.95 – Ten One Design link
• Wacom Bamboo – $25.43 – Amazon link
• Cosmonaut – $25 – Studio Neat link

What’s your favorite stylus to use with Penultimate?

Launch Center, a new shortcuts app for iPhone, aims to make everything from sending messages and mail to posting on Facebook and Twitter, to turning on your LED flashlight, faster and easier via an extremely clever, borderline audacious use of URL schemes and iOS 5′s Notification Center.

Produced by David Barnard of App Cubby fame, it boasts an absolutely gorgeous user interface that lets you easily set up which actions you want to appear in your Notification Center from a robust set of shortcut that include Phone, SMS/iMessage, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Flashlight, Google search, and Custom URL schemes. (That last one, for more advanced users especially, should make Launch Center an instant buy.)

Live from Macworld|iWorld 2012, David showed off some of the new features in the recent Launch Center 1.1 update, including scheduled launch actions — for example if you know you need to SMS your wife every morning or email your boss the report every friday at noon.

David’s keeping Launch Center in his dock now, since using Launch Center to quickly call a favorite or send a message is faster than tapping and pecking through screens of apps and layers of menus.

Hopefully Apple finds a way to balance security and accessibility in the next version of iOS so apps like Launch Center can start to do even more fantastic, time saving things.

• $0.99 – App Store link

Launch Center, a new shortcuts app for iPhone, aims to make everything from sending messages and mail to posting on Facebook and Twitter, to turning on your LED flashlight, faster and easier via an extremely clever, borderline audacious use of URL schemes and iOS 5′s Notification Center.

Produced by David Barnard of App Cubby fame, it boasts an absolutely gorgeous user interface that lets you easily set up which actions you want to appear in your Notification Center from a robust set of shortcut that include Phone, SMS/iMessage, Email, Twitter, Facebook, Flashlight, Google search, and Custom URL schemes. (That last one, for more advanced users especially, should make Launch Center an instant buy.)

Live from Macworld|iWorld 2012, David showed off some of the new features in the recent Launch Center 1.1 update, including scheduled launch actions — for example if you know you need to SMS your wife every morning or email your boss the report every friday at noon.

David’s keeping Launch Center in his dock now, since using Launch Center to quickly call a favorite or send a message is faster than tapping and pecking through screens of apps and layers of menus.

Hopefully Apple finds a way to balance security and accessibility in the next version of iOS so apps like Launch Center can start to do even more fantastic, time saving things.

• $0.99 – App Store link

Rene and I are at Macworld 2012 and had the pleasure of talking to Penultimate developer Ben Zotto. You, the iMore nation, asked us to ask Ben his thoughts on styli for the iPad, so we did! Check out the video above for Ben’s insights on the personal decision of choosing a stylus.

Here’s a list of the ones he mentioned:

• Pogo Sketch Pro – $24.95 – Amazon link
• Pogo Sketch Plus – $14.95 – Ten One Design link
• Wacom Bamboo – $25.43 – Amazon link
• Cosmonaut – $25 – Studio Neat link

What’s your favorite stylus to use with Penultimate?

Probably like many of you, I received my new Google Privacy Policy via email this week, and while couched in language about creating a more “beautiful” experience for us, the users — read: products — it’s also clearly about Google leveraging their popular services like Search and Gmail to help their new services, like Google+, become competitive with Facebook and Twitter.

Because Facebook and Twitter scare the shit out of Google and when companies, like people, are scared they do dumb things.

Google in particular, once the brash, brazen upstart that gave the proverbial middle finger to old, portal-style search sites and promised to always deliver the best results, not just the best Google-owned results, is struggling with their inner demons now. They don’t want to be replaced by social search the way their authoritative search replaced Yahoo! and Alta Vistas of old.

I’ve riffed before that any company sufficiently large is indistinguishable from evil. As they grow, as they face competitive pressures, the interests and agendas of their shareholders, stakeholders, and executives increasingly and more noticeably diverge from the interests of their users. From us.

They, like many of us, become the parents they used to despise.

Why does this matter to me and why am I posting it on iMore, an iPhone and iPad focused site? Because I’m a huge user of Google services and iPhone and iPad users in general are huge users of Google’s services. We use Google Search, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and other services every day. We give Google massive amounts of personal information. We give them our trust. And that absolutely means we have both the right and obligation to hold them to that trust.

According to Sarah Lacey at PandoDaily, Google’s new, “don’t be don’t be evil” direction has become a concern even for many Googlers past and present, and the silence surrounding it is stymying even internal PR.

Good. This shouldn’t be easy. It should be messy and public and painful, and if Google wants to keep getting and using our data, they should keep earning that privilege.

Hopefully the rumors of Larry Page not wanting to hear any opposition to their new Google+ strategy are false, and like Apple and Facebook have sometimes done in the past, Google’s more unpopular new policies will be reversed, and soon.

Check the source link below for more on the issues surrounding Google’s new, more publicly evil direction, and read on for the new privacy policy in full.

More: Page Rage Escalates As Google Cancels Twitter Android Meeting

Dear Google user,

We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.

One policy, one Google experience

Easy to work across Google

Our new policy reflects a single product experience that does what you need, when you want it to. Whether you’re reading an email that reminds you to schedule a family get-together or finding a favorite video that you want to share, we want to ensure you can move across Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube, or whatever your life calls for with ease.

Tailored for you

If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We’ll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you’re searching for and get you those results faster.

Easy to share and collaborate

When you post or create a document online, you often want others to see and contribute. By remembering the contact information of the people you want to share with, we make it easy for you to share in any Google product or service with minimal clicks and errors.

Protecting your privacy hasn’t changed

Our goal is to provide you with as much transparency and choice as possible, through products like Google Dashboard and Ads Preferences Manager, alongside other tools. Our privacy principles remain unchanged. And we’ll never sell your personal information or share it without your permission (other than rare circumstances like valid legal requests).

Got questions?

We’ve got answers.

Visit our FAQ at http://www.google.com/policies/faq to read more about the changes. (We figured our users might have a question or twenty-two.)

Notice of Change

March 1, 2012 is when the new Privacy Policy and Terms will come into effect. If you choose to keep using Google once the change occurs, you will be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Please do not reply to this email. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. Also, never enter your Google Account password after following a link in an email or chat to an untrusted site. Instead, go directly to the site, such as mail.google.com or www.google.com/accounts. Google will never email you to ask for your password or other sensitive information.

TourWrist is a universal app that allows you to travel the world, virtually. View points of interest, real estate, nature, and much more, in full 360 glory. Simply choose a tour, and then hold your device up and turn in a 360 degree circle, moving your device up and down and all around to see every inch. TourWrist has just announced that users can now easily shoot and share 360 degree panoramas from their iDevices. CEO Charles Armstrong had this to say:

“Until recently, creating virtual tours required thousands of dollars in camera gear and software, plus hosting–not to mention an expertise in using it all,” said TourWrist CEO & Founder Charles Armstrong. “Now, millions of iPhone users worldwide can easily shoot and share immersive 360-degree panos – for free with the TourWrist app.

Plus, many developers worldwide are already integrating the free Publish to TourWrist API into their 360-degree photography apps, image stitching software and camera gear,” said Armstrong.

“At least three products will feature an easy Publish to TourWrist button by March 1st.

By empowering consumers to shoot and share places and memorable moments from their choice of apps, programs, and cameras, TourWrist will continue to be the new ‘go to’ critical mass repository for geo-searching, viewing and sharing panos – just as YouTube is for video,” said Armstrong.

“Developers and manufacturers can now focus on their core competencies, including image capture, stitching, and processing and leverage the TourWrist pano viewing & sharing experience.”

You can download the universal TourWrist app for free.

• Tour Wrist

Related Posts

• 360 Panorama Gets An Amazing New Update
• New AppGuide: Best Panoramic Photo Apps
• New AppList: Apps For Combining Photos
• AutoStitch Panorama Gets An Update – Plus, Win a Promo Code!
• GroupShot Can Help Create Perfect Group Shots

It’s a given that a company such as Garmin, one of the top worldwide providers of GPS navigation hardware and software, would be looking to make a big splash at this year’s Macworld / iWorld Expo. Along with highlighting their entire line of iOS apps, Garmin is demonstrating new social media options for their StreetPilot onDemand turn-by-turn navigation app and expanded sharing functionality for their Tracker general tracking app. As a nice little surprise, Garmin is providing a chance to win a copy of Garmin StreetPilot or Navigon MobileNavigator.

“We embrace apps in all of our business segments to support the increasingly mobile lifestyles of our customers and to complement our hardware offerings,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “At this year’s Macworld | iWorld, we will showcase our growing portfolio of iOS apps, including new features that help our users to stay connected and share location-based information with their friends and families.”

Users of Garmin’s StreetPilot onDemand, the slimmed down version of the company’s StreetPilot Onboard apps, are now able to discover additional locations and perform check-ins using Facebook or Foursquare right within the StreetPilot onDemand app. The third service, or shall I say resource, being integrated to the app is Wikipedia. Just tap on the WIki icons to display the history, details, and statistics of landmarks and more. All three can be managed by going to Settings, then General, and finally Map Layers or Social Networking.

To add a little flare to your experience, Garmin has added another voice personality and vehicle icon choices. The default vehicle icon choices include a sporty looking coupe, a compact car, and a beach ball. Yes, I did say beach ball. If you don’t mind using storage space, several dozen more are freely downloadable. You can get select an X-Wing Fighter, SpongeBob, an ice cream truck, stallion, a paper airplane, and much more.

Garmin StreetPilot onDemand is compatible with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S running iOS 3.1.3 or later, and available in the App store for $0.99. Premium features are available at an annual cost of $19.99, a 33 percent discount lasting through Jan. 28. The app does operate on 3G-enabled iPads, however, the UI is not iPad-optimized.

Paired with a GPS tracking device, Garmin’s Tracker app is a real-time position monitoring system capable of alerting you when a child reaches school, a pet sneaks out of the yard, or any other live tracking use. Combined with the $4.99 per month Deluxe Tracking service plan, the latest version of the app allows a continuous tracking mode and the ability to share a link to the map for others to see the device’s position.

Garmin Tracker is designed for iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 3.1.3 or later, and available in the App Store as a free download. The GTU 10 GPS Locator can be purchased in the online Garmin store for $199.99.

As a bonus, Garmin is placing their other U.S. navigation apps on sale all during the expo, Jan. 26 through Jan. 28:

• Garmin StreetPilot Onboard North America: $49.99 instead of $59.99
• Garmin StreetPilot Onboard U.S.A.: $39.99 instead of $49.99

• Navigon MobileNavigator North America: $49.99 instead of $59.99
• Navigon MobileNavigator U.S.A.: $39.99 instead of $49.99
• Navigon MyRegion – U.S. West / U.S. Central /U.S. East: $19.99 instead of $29.99

To finish things off, we’d like to share an opportunity with you. On one of their booth displays, Garmin was advertising the “Garmin Navigation App Giveaway.” The details are as follows:

Send an email to Macworld@Garmin.com for a chance to win a copy of Garmin’s StreetPilot Onboard or NAVIGON app. We will draw five winners every evening of the show.

If you’re also interested in receiving news about Garmin’s app offerings as well as special promotions and offerings, please put “Newsletter” in the subject line of the email. This will also enter the giveaway.

Good luck and keep checking back for more Macworld / iWorld 2012 announcements.

• Garmin StreetPilot onDemand
• Garmin Tracker
• Garmin N. America
• Garmin U.S.A.
• NAVIGON North America
• NAVIGON U.S. West
• NAVIGON U.S. Central
• NAVIGON U.S. East
• OpenCaching
• Garmin Fit

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• StreetPilot onDemand: Garmin’s Personal Navigation App – Available Now
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• MacWorld 2012: Doxie Go Scanner Now With Wi-Fi
• Macworld 2012: OmniGroup Announces OmniPlan For iPad
• Macworld 2012: The Most Popular iOS Applications Of 2011 Are Announced

Dress The Pig isn’t about shoving an apple in its mouth or stuffing it in, well, unnameable places. This is actually about dressing a cute little piggy up. It’s like Mr. Potato Head, only it’s cuter. There are different accessories, backgrounds and features to choose from.

You can customize the eyes, mouth, clothes and accessories. It’s actually advised that you dress up the piggy. The default is a naked pig without a mouth staring at you like you’re holding a knife and fork in each fist. It’s disturbing. I dressed it up out of charity and to make myself feel more comfortable.

I also like giving it a nice background. Doing so also detracts from the scared, desperate look of the default. It might as well be looking up at me from a plate. It’s much more fun when it’s a sweet looking pig standing on a beautiful beach. It also helps me feel less guilty for eating bacon in the morning.

Dress The Pig is a universal app available in the App Store for the awesome price of FREE!

• Dress the Pig

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