Macgasm

I’ve been a big fan of Sparrow since I tried the free version when it first came out. Since those days it has made an appearance on the Mac App Store and in those four months there have been over 300,000 downloads of the app. It has also raised around $250K in funding from people like Tweetie creator Loren Brichter as well as Kima Ventures and Dave Morin. Now there is some exciting news from the CEO Dom Leca: Sparrow is bringing social layers to email. [...]

The current method of deleting apps on our iOS devices is to press and hold them until the shaking ‘x’ appears. This feature has made an appearance in the latest build of Mac OS X Lion. In this build, it introduces that iOS-like method of removing applications for those that have been installed using the Mac App Store.

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Instagram has been a pretty big hit, and with their constant updates that provide new filters and other useful features, it seems that more apps want a piece of their pie. Viddy is being pitched by their developers as “Instagram for video,” but will it be as popular?

Instagram is a pretty solid app, allowing users to share photos (that have almost all been highly edited with filters) through Twitter and other networks, including Instagram itself. The service is quick and easy to use, and in all honesty, seems to make most users’ boring photos (including my own!) look slick and amazing.

What Viddy does is pretty similar. You can shoot a video, apply any number of “cinematic production packs” — the equivalent of the filters in Instagram —  to stylize your footage, which you can then share on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

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This is a seriously amazing concept. Black Design Associates have announced the Leica i9 Concept Camera for Apple iPhone 4. Rather than do what we have already seen, by adding a little lens attachment to your device, the Leica i9 Concept Camera pretty has pretty much created a version of a Leica camera with a space to put your phone in it.

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OpenFeint is an open source mobile social gaming network with millions of players, and it has recently been acquired by GREE, Japan’s leading social gaming platform, for $104 million. GREE and OpenFeint are uniting forces to build an ecosystem for 100 million users, but they say that both powerhouses will still maintain their individual focus. From their site:

GREE will continue to grow its network in Japan and develop great games that showcase their platform’s capabilities. OpenFeint will continue to grow our network, accelerating planned upgrades with GREE’s backing.

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How can you keep up to date with all the F1 races, timings, practices and tracks? The F1™ Timing App CP for iPhone and iPad is a massively feature packed app that will keep you speeding ahead of your friends with all your new found knowledge.

With the second race of the season just passed, I had a chance to test this app while watching the race / practice / qualifying sessions. Actually, for the early morning practice sessions, I was almost late for work because I couldn’t stop watching the app and how it interacts live with the races.

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Some of Apple’s iPad component makers claim that there is a plan by the company for “higher-resolution” touchscreens, but they also say it’s just in its early phases. They claim it’s unlikely to happen in 2011, but 2012 may be the lucky year. Some suggest that Apple may go for AMOLED technology or a similar high-resolution standard in order to make an upgrade on the image quality on these devices. This was reported but the DigiTimes on Monday this week.

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VirtualDJ looks like a pretty substantial Mac application, and at the wonderful price of free, it’s worth snapping up. They have other versions of this software for professionals and commercial use, but this version is for non-commercial mixes—think home parties & barbecues—so it’s a great way to sample the product before you buy it.

VirtualDJ was the winner of the “Best DJ Software” at WMC 2010, and the creators of the app, Atomix Productions, say there have been more than a million new downloads every month, leading them to claim that it’s the most widely used DJ software and the uncontested leader of non-timecode digital DJing. Sounds like a winner…

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