shorts

Many developers are wisely taking advantage of the powerful cameras in today's smartphones and trying to replicate the success of photo sharing apps with video apps. Apps like Viddy, Klip, and Socialcam compete to let users make clips and add quick effects before publishing and sharing. But no developers have really taken that a step further to include the all-important creation component.

Directr and its creators want to distance themselves as far as possible from the new Video-Instagram crowd. The brainchild of a former Microsoft Software Engineer, Directr is a little video app that aims to help the average … Read more

Vine for iOS is a new social networking app that revolves around making short 6-second video loops with sound and then sharing them with others.

To get started, you can sign up with an e-mail and password directly with Vine or you can use your Twitter account for quick access. Once signed in, you'll see the Home feed that shows the latest videos from other users. A button in the upper-left corner lets you navigate between the home screen, a place to explore videos from other users, a personal activity section to view videos you've made, and a … Read more

Despite the realistic 3D graphics of today's first-person shooters, RPGs, and other games, platform games continue to thrive on iOS. There's something about jumping through levels, solving puzzles, and collecting coins that keeps gamers entertained. Also, the capability to play through a single level while on the go makes platformers perfect for short bursts of play on your iOS device.

While a console controller is probably the ideal way to play these sometimes precise running and jumping games, iOS game developers have come up with unique ways to make them work.

This week's collection of iOS apps is all about modern platform games. The first is the most traditional platformer, but adds an interesting twist for passing levels. The second has an uncommon control system, but a unique art style and fun, varied gameplay make it a great option. The third is the most polished of the collection, with challenging puzzles and a somewhat grotesque storyline.

Note: There are no Android versions for any of these games.… Read more

Life really is too short.

Sometimes, you're enjoying your birthday and you get the chance to go up on stage and rap with your favorite rapper.

So you go, don't you? Especially as your wife has paid $25,000 for Too Short to rap just for you.

And, despite being a Microsoft executive in charge of all sorts of important things to do with Windows (proof embedded), you are quite a good rapper.

Oh, but then there are these things called cell phones. They have cameras. Your own company is involved with more than a few of them. … Read more

The other day I encountered a serious problem with my iTunes account that seemed to require major surgery, so I figured I'd stop in at my local Apple Store and mosey up to the Genius Bar downstairs to see if there was a less draconian fix than the one I'd read about online.

Since I was there during Happy Hour, I figured I'd go for the two-for-one special and also ask why the battery on my new iPhone 4S was puttering out in about 12 hours (with only minimal use), well short of what I was getting with my old 3GS.

For the uninitiated, the Genius Bar is the place where you take your Apple problems. You actually need to make an appointment, and like the doctor's office, the knowledgeable Apple reps who help fix your problems don't necessarily see you right away, especially if you make an appointment at 5:50 p.m. when the place is a madhouse. At least in Manhattan, anyway. … Read more

Normally I don't cover companies run by friends or colleagues. How can you trust me to review a product when I have an emotional interest in its success?

So meeting with Joe Gillespie, CEO of Zoove and former executive vice president (my boss' boss) at my division here at CBS Interactive, put me in a bind. He's sitting on what looks like a very smart business that I believe is already well past the tipping point of success. I cannot not cover it, and I'll be damned if I'll give it to someone else. But if Zoove fails, I will have to re-evaluate any respect I ever had for Joe.

Zoove is a registry of mnemonic and short dialing codes for U.S. cellphones. All codes are preceded with ** ("star star") and they can be any length. Here's a demo: Call **SUZUKI from your mobile. You should get a recorded message from the phone call, as well as an immediate SMS with a hyperlink to a marketing video.

The marketer, in this case Suzuki Motorocycles, gets your phone number, phone type, and rough location, not to mention the opportunity to send you whatever data they want on your mobile--a text, a link to a coupon, or an actual voice call connection (as the StarLaw Network will be doing with **LAW).

The big news today is that Zoove has signed up all four of the major U.S. carriers: All the phones on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon work with Zoove's single directory of star codes.

Nobody is likely to step on Zoove's action here. Getting baked into the mobile carrier infrastructures took years. Having them all route ** calls through Zoove is a major coup. Theoretically, another company could come along and offer up a competing short code system, like ##, except, sorry, Zoove owns the routes to those numbers, too.

The fact that the company now has these networks locked up--with no competitors aside from archaic and overloaded toll-free number directory and the clunky five-digit SMS shortcodes run by CSCA--means that advertisers can start blasting these codes out with abandon.

And they should. Star codes are easier to use than other types of real-world links. With QR codes, for example, you need an app and you need to point your phone at something--tough when you're driving past a billboard (QR codes have other advantages, though). Using an SMS shortcode is twice as complex as a star code; you have to send a code to a code. Zoove codes can also be any length.

Want one for your business? Pay Joe--a lot. Short and generic codes cost the most. Two-letter codes are $75,000 a year; three-letter codes $50,000, four-letter codes are $25,000. I wanted to get **RAFE but Joe did not offer to make a deal. Shorter codes can be less, down to $7,500 a year, but generic codes are expensive. (**FLOWERS cost 1800Flowers.com a substantial sum.)

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Great news for fans of short fiction: The Colossal Short Stories Collection just landed in the App Store packing a whopping 2,222 public-domain works.

There are, of course, other story collections available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, but this is by far the largest one.

You'll find authors ranging from H.G. Wells and Mark Twain to Leo Tolstoy and Ring Lardner. All the greats are here, along with plenty of authors known mostly in scholarly circles.

The app lists them alphabetically by last name. Unfortunately, that's the only way to peruse the collection: you can'… Read more

QuicKeys is a long-lived automation utility designed to save you time by letting you convert tedious, repetitive tasks--everything from opening apps to copying files to typing your e-mail address--into quick, painless one-step shortcuts. Although there are numerous options for macro programs on the Mac (including cheaper and even free ones, like OS X's built-in Automator), QuicKeys strikes a good balance of providing an intuitive, visual interface with a veritable programming language that can handle the most complex tasks and workflows.

You can use a wide variety of triggers, with customizable "scopes" (for shortcuts that work in a … Read more