Best iPhone apps of 2012

Five years ago, the iPhone didn't support third-party apps. Today, it's a fully-fledged computer that fits in your pocket. There are now apps for editing photos and videos, playing recent console games, and composing electronic soundtracks. Which of those stood out from the crowd this year? Let's take a look at the best iPhone apps of 2012.

Sparrow

Possibly Mac OS X's best email app came to the iPhone this year, and it's a gem. Sparrow has an attractive interface, and a feature set designed to please volume emailers.
There is, however, one big problem with Sparrow. It lacks push notifications. Google's purchase of Sparrow also means that future support for the iOS app will likely be minimal.
Even with those huge caveats, though, Sparrow is the iPhone's first third-party email client worth having.
App Store: Sparrow (US$2.99)

iPhoto

This year, Apple completed the conversion of its iLife suite to iOS. But iPhoto is nothing like its desktop counterpart. This version is a gesture-based editing suite designed specifically for touch screens. Its controls take some getting used to, but it's easily one of the best apps for enhancing pics on the go.

App Store: iPhoto ($4.99)

Chrome

In 2012, Google released a version of its popular Chrome browser for iOS. Its interface and syncing get top marks, but it can't boast any performance improvements over Safari. Through no fault of Google's, it's powered by the same engine (iOS WebKit) as Apple's default browser.

App Store: Chrome (free)

Google Drive

More than just a Dropbox clone, Google Drive offers cloud storage and simple document editing on the go. Users get 5 GB of free storage, and you can pay $25/year to increase that to 25 GB.

Google's recent update, which adds spreadsheet editing, only reinforces Drive as one of the best apps of 2012.
App Store: Google Drive (free)

iTranslate Voice

iTranslate Voice lets two people who speak different languages have a conversation. Tap the English button, speak, and listen as your words are spoken in the target language. When your friend taps the other button and speaks, their words are spoken in your language. While results can be hit and miss at times, its support for over 30 languages makes it a handy tool for travelers. However, it does require a constant internet connection.
App Store: iTranslate Voice ($0.99)

Burner

Burner gives you a disposable phone number for calling and texting. It's great for Craigslist transactions, online dating, and all sorts of shady activities (or so I hear).

The only downsides are that each new number is a bit pricey, and you only get limited blocks of minutes and messages. You can also achieve the same ends for free by creating multiple Google Voice accounts.
App Store: Burner ($1.99)

Drafts

Drafts is a virtual scratchpad. When you open the app, it's immediately ready for input. When you're finished typing, a couple of taps will copy the text to the clipboard or export it to a variety of popular apps.

App Store: Drafts ($1.99)

Summly

Summly is built on a simple idea: you only need quick summaries of the news. It only gives you a couple of short paragraphs for each story. If you want more than the barebones version, you can double-tap on the feed to read the full article.
The app has a terrific interface, and provides all the expected sharing options (though read later services are conspicuously absent). Summly's source variety can be improved, but it still might be the most innovative news app of 2012.
App Store: Summly (free)

Solar

Solar is a simple and beautiful weather app. The color gradient tells you the temperature and weather. Swipe up for the next few hours, swipe down for the next three days, and swipe to the left to change locations.
The only drawback is that the developers still haven't updated Solar for the 4-inch screens of the iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5G.
App Store: Solar ($1.99)

Dark Sky

Another elegantly simple weather app is Dark Sky. The app answers three questions: "what's the temperature?", "is it raining?", and "is it going to rain?" Unless you're a weather geek, that may be all you need to know.
For those seeking more detail, a tap or a swipe will show you the radar and the next day's forecast.
App Store: Dark Sky ($3.99)

Pocket, Readability

These two apps make it harder to justify spending $3.99 on the excellent Instapaper. The free Pocket and Readability apps save lists of web articles, and present them in a clean, clutter-free layout.
App Store: Pocket (free), Readability (free)

Clear

Clear is the most polarizing app of the year. Depending on who you ask, the gesture-based to-do list is either a breakthrough, or too clever for its own good. Love it or hate it, Clear is worth checking out.
App Store: Clear ($1.99)

Bastion

Bastion is one of the most stylish and imaginative video games in years. Originally released for Xbox Live, the iOS port has stunning graphics, a memorable soundtrack, and surprisingly deep RPG elements. The star of the show, though, is the gravelly-voiced narrator who reacts to your every move.
App Store: Bastion ($4.99)

Max Payne Mobile

Max Payne was one of the top games of the last decade. Eleven years after its initial release, it's one of the top games on the iPhone. The mobile port has enhanced visuals and some of the best virtual controls in the App Store.
App Store: Max Payne Mobile ($2.99)

Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars

Long live casual gaming. Rovio gave us two new Angry Birds entries this year: Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars. The titles breathed new life into the worn-out formula, with zero-gravity bird-flinging and familiar Lucas characters.
App Store: Angry Birds Space ($0.99), Angry Birds Star Wars ($0.99)

N.O.V.A. 3

Until Microsoft brings H.A.L.O. to the iPhone (fat chance), Gameloft's copycat N.O.V.A. franchise is as close as you'll get. Despite its cringe-inducing voice acting and lack of originality, N.O.V.A. 3 provides terrific visuals and hours of entertaining first-person shooting.
App Store: N.O.V.A. 3 ($6.99)

Horn

Zynga's Horn is a Zelda-inspired action puzzler. Though it can get repetitive, its striking visuals and RPG leveling make it one of the most console-like games in the App Store.

App Store: Horn ($6.99)

Honorable Mentions

No "best of" list is definitive, and these titles could easily find their way onto your iPhone: Draw Something, Camera Awesome, Amazon Cloud Player, Zeebox, Skitch, Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, Amazing Alex, Bad Piggies, and The World Ends With You: Solo Remix.

More to come?

2012 isn't over yet, so we'll keep an eye out for new additions (we're watching you, GTA: Vice City).

To see how the other half lives, check out our list of the Best Android apps of 2012.

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2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition revealed in LA

2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition

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To call the Jeep Wrangler “iconic” would be something of an understatement. With a body shape that traces all the way back to that World War II workhorse, the Willis, the Jeep is an enduring symbol of Americana. Ten years ago, to counter accusations of the brand having gone "a bit soft," Jeep introduced the hard-core Rubicon Wrangler variant, named for one of America’s toughest mountain trails. Now comes the Anniversary Edition, packed with even more off-road ruggedness and ability – and a nice bit of red leather.

 The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition is available as a two-door Wrangler or four-door Wrangler Unlimited, with a choice of standard six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission mated to a 3.6-liter V-6 engine producing 285 horsepower and 260 ft.-lbs. of torque. The Jeep part-time four-wheel-drive system has electronic-locking front and rear axles that receive power through a transfer case with a “4-Low” ratio of 4:1. A 4.10 axle ratio front and rear is also standard, as are locking diff. With a six-speed manual transmission, the vehicle has a crawl ratio of 73:1.

A one-half inch increase in ride height versus the standard Rubicon model provides the Goodrich KM2 265/70R17 tires more room to claw at the scenery. The tires are mounted on 17-inch aluminum wheels painted satin black with polished faces and a red Jeep Wrangler “icon” logo on the outside lip.
Black front and rear steel off-road bumpers toughen up the exterior, with the front bumper featuring removable end caps and a winch-capable design. These removable end caps are designed to help the Wrangler climb obstacles without hindrance, and reduce the damage potential to the bumper system. A dual-intake domed hood helps aid in engine cooling and gives a more aggressive appearance. Red tow hooks adorn the front and rear, and rock rails give added protection from trail damage. “10th Anniversary” badging on the fenders and a red-silhouette “Rubicon” decal on the sides of the hood add the finishing, somewhat loud touches on the exterior.
The Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition comes standard with a soft top and is available with a black three-piece hard top or body-color hard top. Available exterior colors are Billet Silver, White and 10th Anniversary Edition-exclusive Anvil – a kind of steely blue.

The interior has a few custom touches as well, such as red leather seats with “Rubicon 10th Anniversary” embroidered into the front seat backs just to remind you what you’re sitting in. Red stitching adorns the leather-wrapped steering wheel and the center console, while a unique gauge cluster features the Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) with various read-outs such as oil pressure, oil temperature and tire pressure. The passenger grab handle includes a “Rubicon 10th Anniversary” badge and features silver accents that are also found on the vent rings, steering wheel spokes and door pulls.
Final design touches include slush mats, and axle locker and sway-bar disconnect switches for the really rough stuff.
Limited production (limited to what we don’t know) starts in the Spring of 2013. Price will be around the US$35,000 mark.
Source: Jeep

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“Carbomorph” material to enable 3D printing of custom personal electronics

Researchers at the University of Warwick have created a cheap plastic composite that can be used even with low-end 3D printers, to produce custom-made electronic devices. The material, nicknamed "carbomorph," is both conductive and piezoresistive, meaning that both electronic tracks and touch-sensitive areas can now be easily embedded in 3D-printed objects without the need for complex procedures or expensive materials.

Carbomorph was made by adding carbon black – a conductive filler produced by the combustion of tar and vegetable oil – to a matrix of polycaprolactone (PCL), which is a biodegradable polyester with a low melting point of 60°C (140°F).
The result is a highly versatile composite that can be adapted to quickly prototype objects with embedded flex sensors or even capacitive, touch-sensitive buttons, such as computer game controllers or mugs that can tell how full they are.
Interfacing with the printed devices is also quite simple – the sensors can be monitored using existing open-source electronics and freely available programming libraries. In the near future, users will also be able to directly print up the wires and cables to interconnect those devices.

The carbomorph material can be used to build 3D-printed piezoresistive flex sensors (Image: University of Warwick)

 
This technology could have a big impact in the educational sector, allowing engineering students to get hands-on experience and quickly design and test simple electronic devices right in the classroom. In the long run, the researchers hope, it could also open new markets for highly individualized, more ergonomic personal electronics.
The team is now working on using the same methodology to print much more complex electronic components – including the blueprints for the wires and cables.
An open-access paper detailing this advance was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Source: University of Warwick

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Mind-controlled permanently-attached prosthetic arm could revolutionize prosthetics

Researchers based at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed the world’s first thought-controlled, fully implantable robotic arm, which uses an amputee's own nerves and remaining muscles to afford a much more intuitive level of control than previously possible. Initial operations on patients are scheduled to take place during the Northern Hemisphere’s upcoming winter.
Prosthetic limbs which are controlled by electrical impulses in the muscles have been available to amputees since the 1960’s, but they tend to be limited in function and difficult to control. Additionally, many amputees find the standard method of using a tightly fitted socket to attach the prosthetic limb to the body so uncomfortable, that they choose to simply forgo using one altogether.
Keen to maximize the comfort and intuitiveness of their design, the Chalmers researchers looked to a process known as osseointegration. Originally developed in the 1960‘s, osseointegration involves joining living bone to the surface of an artificial implant, and has been used successfully for ear, eye, and nose prosthetics, in addition to larger limb prosthetics.
“Osseointegration is vital to our success,” explained Max Ortiz Catalan, industrial doctoral student at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. “We are now using the technology to gain permanent access to the electrodes that we will attach directly to nerves and muscles.”

A titanium implant will be anchored directly to the patient’s skeleton, and feature electrodes which join onto the remaining nerves and muscles of the amputee. Employing the electrodes in this way affords a significantly increased signal stability when compared to the typical method of controlling prostheses, which involves placing electrodes on the skin’s surface.
Electrical impulses are to be captured from the subject’s nerves with the implanted electrodes, before being transferred to a neural interface, which in turn transmits these impulses through the osseointegrated titanium implant. Finally, the impulses are decoded by sophisticated algorithms within the artificial arm, which help give the subject fine control over movements.
The artificial hand itself is very dexterous. Motors in each finger can be controlled both individually and simultaneously, allowing greater freedom of movement than was possible until now. The artificial hand also gives a level of feedback as the electrodes stimulate the neural pathways to the patient’s brain – presumably in way similar to real limbs. This contrasts with the more typical and inexact method of relying on auditory or visual feedback from an artificial hand’s motors to estimate the grip force.
The first operations on human patients will take place during the Northern Hemisphere’s upcoming winter, and Catalan and his colleagues hope that, following a successful demonstration, their technology will eventually be used more widely.
The video below (which uses the less exact skin-based electrodes for the sake of demonstration), looks very promising, and should the human trials prove successful, the new prosthesis system could potentially change the lives of many amputees.
Source: Chalmers University of Technology

Video

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Pickup Hatch? Hyundai C3 Roll Top pulls the roof off the Veloster

Within a kooky concept that appears straight out of the "extreme" Mountain Dew scene of the 1990's, Hyundai brings us an interesting twist on the modern day convertible. The Veloster C3 Roll Top concept is an open-top 3-door ready for adventure, that Gizmag recently spied at the LA Auto Show.

As the Murano CrossCabriolet demonstrates beyond the shadow of all doubt, a hatchback and convertible create evil of the most unnatural order upon procreation. Hyundai has attempted to avoid this apocalyptic misstep by innovating a hatchback-friendly convertible system.
Hyundai's roll top is a canvas roof that slides electronically to the front or back, opening up hauling space in back or open sky for driver and passengers. Assisting the roll top is a tailgate in place of the Veloster's usual hatch. In this way, the spirited adventurer can fold the rear seats and haul all kinds of gear – Hyundai's thinking surfboards, bikes, kayaks and the like – or enjoy a top-down drive down a winding scenic road ... it's hauling capabilities like those of a pickup truck blended with the fun and nimble driving of a small convertible.

Hyundai designed the C3 for the Los Angeles Auto Show that began this week, thinking of it it as the perfect solution for the urban-meets-surf culture of the city on the sea. It also draws influence from the fixed-gear bicycle scene, and Hyundai envisions equipment from the mirror caps to the wheels being customized by the owner. Hyundai picked the flashy high-gloss-white/flat black/flat red/flat teal color scheme based on a sampling of fixie styles, and put a bike in back of the show car to boot.
As if the C3 didn't already have enough going on, Hyundai added one more exclusive touch. The cargo floor and rear seat backs are covered in tiles made from re-purposed skateboards, adding color and a play on the sporty-urban nature of the concept.

"We visit several shows and events like the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City every year to find new, exciting and interesting materials," said Liz Curran, Hyundai color and trim expert from Hyundai Design North America. "This year we uncovered Art of Board, a company that makes hand cut tiles from 100 percent recycled skate decks. The decks are very durable and re-purposed into art, shelves, benches and chairs. Every scratch, scrape and gouge is kept intact – adding character and making them truly original and each with its own story. They’re alive with texture, shape and color."
Hyundai has equipped the Veloster C3 with its 201-hp 1.6-liter GDI 4-cylinder engine. Other equipment includes LED headlight accents, a large intake manifold and 18-inch wheels.
We don't imagine this particular concept will be showing up in showrooms anytime in the future, but it's an interesting look at what can be done with a little creativity.
Source: Hyundai

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