GigaOM » ipad apps

Readdle’s Scanner Pro jumps to iPad with improved camera

Erica Ogg — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:04 +0000

One of the most popular productivity apps on the iPhone is finally making the jump to the iPad. Scanner Pro, from the team at Odessa, Ukraine-based Readdle, is now available in the iOS App Store as a universal app. Scanner Pro, which scans and coverts images to PDF files, is a free upgrade for those who already own the iPhone version, but will cost $6.99 for new customers who want it for the iPad.

The app was introduced for Apple’s iPhone two years ago, and since then has seen more than 350,000 downloads and a long run at the top of Apple’s business/productivity app charts. So why debut on the iPad now? Apple finally made a tablet with the necessary hardware, says Denys Zhadanov, Readdle’s marketing manager.

“We tried [to test the app] with the iPad 2, but the results were beyond terrible,” said Zhadanov in an interview. “You just couldn’t read anything. The new iPad finally has good camera.”

But the new iPad’s 5 megapixel camera isn’t the only thing that makes this version of Scanner Pro different. Readdle says they took the opportunity to totally revamp the app — “every screen, every tap, every button. Nothing left intact – every idea and every feature had to prove its value for the iPad update.”The app is very simple and straightforward, so it’s no secret why it’s been so popular, even on a small screen. When you want to scan a document, book or magazine page, business card, white board from a meeting, or anything else you want to import or save in digital form, you open the app and hit the camera button. The app scans the image instantly. It will automatically find the right borders of your scan and crop out the stuff you don’t need, though you can manually fix if you need to. After tweaking the contrast and the brightness if necessary, you can save it to your iPad (as a JPEG or PDF) in Photos, iBooks or the Kindle app, send as an email, print, fax or upload it to your Google Docs, Dropbox or Evernote account.

A receipt I scanned with Scanner Pro and marked up with Remarks, both iPad apps from Readdle.

The most noticeable improvement in usability, however, might be its speed: Zhadanov says the reworked app scans 10 times faster than before.

Scanner Pro has added value because it’s not just a standalone app. Not only does it integrate with popular third-party apps and services like Dropbox and Evernote, but also hooks into Readdle’s own cluster of well-regarded iPad-based productivity apps like PDF Expert, Remarks and Printer Pro. Once you’ve got your PDF saved to your iPad through Scanner Pro, you can open it with PDF Expert and if it’s a contract, document or a form, you can sign or fill it out right on the iPad, mark it up in note-taking and annotation app Remarks or print it to any Wi-Fi-connected or networked printer with Printer Pro.

Readdle’s well-executed third-party integration and its own iOS-based ecosystem is yet another strong case for the integration of mobile, hyper-connected devices into work flows: the learning curve and barrier to entry are both incredibly low now. And that this is all coming together on the iPad first reinforces the Apple tablet’s importance in nudging businesses into the post-PC world.

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HotelTonight releases an iPad app for same-day hotel bookings

Ryan Lawler — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:00:43 +0000

HotelTonight has carved out a niche for itself by offering quick, easy and cheap rooms in some of the best hotels in major cities around the country — that is, as long as you’re only looking for a place to stay that night. The startup, which specializes in last-minute hotel booking, is now coming out with a gorgeous iPad app that takes advantage of the tablet’s Retina display to highlight many of those properties.

HotelTonight works like this: It has heavily discounted hotel rooms in 30 cities throughout the U.S., all of which are made available starting at noon local time. Users can choose from a variety of different hotels, which span from pretty basic to pretty high-end, based on price, location and amenities. And for those who find themselves staying in a city longer than they expected, bookings can be made as late as 2:00 a.m. local time, which is a bit of an advantage when compared to other discounted hotel companies.

The HotelTonight iPad app became available Thursday, adding to the startup’s mobile repertoire. Once a user has chosen a place to stay, the booking is ultra-simple: After the app has your credit card info, booking a room requires just three taps and a swipe of the HotelTonight logo (to ensure that you really did want to book a room).

Booking is fast, but you might want to linger a bit, because the app itself is pretty beautiful. It includes maps of each of the cities it operates in, and has high-resolution images from each of the properties listed. Hotel profiles themselves are highlighted by a scrolling collage of photos as a background before booking. Click through any of those photos and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what the hotel you’re planning to stay in is really like.

In other words, HotelTonight has taken all of the convenience of its iPhone app and just prettied it up a bit for the larger, higher-res iPad display. In part, it did so because its users were already using the iPad to do so — just by maximizing the iPhone app to fit its screen, HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank told me when he showed me a demo of the app earlier this week.

HotelTonight has raised about $13 million over two rounds of funding, including a $9 million Series B round that closed late last year, led by Battery Ventures. The startup, which is just about 13 months old, has 40 employees today and is based in San Francisco.

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Finding the iPad’s 7 missing apps

Geoffrey Goetz — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:13:35 +0000

For those that owned an iPhone prior to purchasing the iPad, the first thing you will notice is that there are fewer apps installed on your iPad than on your iPhone when you start it up for the first time. Some of the missing apps are more obvious than others, like the Phone app. But others, like the Calculator app, are oddly omitted despite their utility on a tablet. Here is a list of suggested replacements from the App Store that will bring your iPad up to par with the functionality you have come to expect from your iPhone, right out of the box.

Calculator. It just seems funny to have one of the world’s greatest computing platforms in your hands and not be able to check your sums. It does not have to be too terribly fancy. Just something to keep you honest when your basic math skills are called upon. Calculator Pro ($0.99, Universal) from Apalon has a similar look and feel to the calculator app that comes on the iPhone. You can also select from different themes if you want something other than the classic look.

Clock. Something else that computers do well is count time. Up, down, forward and backward. Beyond simply telling the time or setting an alarm, you may also want an app that has a good stop watch and countdown timer. Clock Pro HD ($2.99, Universal) from the Alarm Clock Company has all of the features associated with the iPhone Clock like a world clock, stop watch, timer and alarm. You also get a chess clock and metronome.

Voice Memos. Some may think that with the new dictation feature of the iPad that voice memos are a thing of the past. But there are times when you are not connected to a network and you still want to capture that great idea — with or without the aid of speech to text. QuickVoice Recorder (Free, Universal) from nFinity is just a simple voice recorder that allows for quick and easy access to your recorded messages. It supports background recording and you can even e-mail your recorded messages or sync them to your Mac. The latest version will also record custom ringtones.

Compass. Knowing which way you are going is always a good thing. All versions of the iPad come equipped with a digital compass sensor on-board. Compass 54 Pro ($0.99, Universal) from Alexander Galstyan is a very attractive implementation of a compass that adds a few more features not present in the iPhone stock version, such as altitude, course, speed and weather.

Weather. There are certainly plenty of competing weather apps out there. So many, in fact, that weather is one of the leading app purchases just behind games and hence has its own category. The Weather Channel (Free. iPad) is the standard. Supporting daily and hourly forecasts with map views of radar data and even video updates of your local weather conditions, it even supports push alerts for severe weather conditions.

Stocks. If you have a portfolio to manage, then you likely are using your broker’s app rather than a generic stock app. But if you are just curious to see what is going on in the market place, MarketDash for iPad (Free, iPad) from Yahoo!has all of the functionality of the iPhone Stocks app, but takes full advantage of the larger iPad screen. You can even create a custom list of stocks to follow.

Phone. Yes, you can make phone calls to actual land lines directly from your iPad, and even use a Bluetooth headset while you are on the call. Talkatone (Free, Universal) from TalkMe.IM can actually place calls from your iPad using Google’s free Voice service. You can receive calls, access voice mail and even send SMS text messages. It’s like having a real phone on your iPad.

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Hands on: Retina-optimized iWork apps

Mark Crump — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:40:31 +0000

Originally, I had hoped this piece would be a round-up of Retina-enabled productivity apps on Apple’s latest iPad, but the unpredictable nature of App Store updates, plus no responses to some feelers sent out over the weekend, have forced me to focus on Apple’s offerings. This is not a bad thing, since the lead time the iWork team had with the new SDK hopefully allowed them time to create a refined launch product.

So here are my impressions of how Apple’s own productivity apps, which have been optimized for the new iPad’s high-resolution display, fare on the new tablet:

Keynote

Even if Keynote is your least-used app of the iWork suite, if you give just a trivial amount of presentations it is easily the suite’s killer app for you. The ease of hooking your iPad up to a projector and pretty much eliminating the not-so-silent prayers that go along with marrying projectors and presentations is a gigantic stress reliever. When I started looking at the new Keynote app and opened up a few of my presentations I was overjoyed with how great even graphics not optimized for the Retina display look and how crisp and un-pixelated the text looked. Then I crashed back to earth when I realized unless I was hooking into a truly fantastic display — which most conference rooms don’t have — there would be little to no difference in what the audience would see since the iPad screen is a higher resolution than the display.

Where I did find handy was how graphics looked on the Retina display. Looking through a draft of an old presentation, I could see where I had cheated and downloaded a Creative Commons graphic file that wasn’t a good resolution. On the original iPad and my MacBook, I could fool myself into thinking it wasn’t that bad. On the new iPad, I could see that, yeah, it really did look that bad.

What I haven’t been able to benchmark efficiently is how well the beefed-up GPU and 1 GB of memory will aid the creation of graphics-heavy presentations. My limited, non-scientific tests didn’t yield a marked difference on a 30-slide presentation where most if it was full-bleed graphics. However, a 30-slide talk is pretty small. If someone creates large, graphics-heavy presentations regularly, I’d love to hear from you.

Numbers

If Keynote is in the running for the least-used app of the suite, Numbers is likely the winner of the never-used award. People who are spreadsheet users probably aren’t using Numbers. Still, Numbers, in a way, I think benefits the most from the new display. It’s been my experience that spreadsheets often try to cram too much text into one page, making it impossible to read. On the new iPad, text set to the smallest size was perfectly readable, while on the original iPad it was a blur.

Pages

During testing, when I opened a file with Pages on my old iPad, I realized just how much I’d been suffering for my art. My first reaction: I used to work on this thing? Opening a document with 10-point type was an awakening. Sure, I was amazed at how great my e-mail looked, but when I opened a document with a couple thousand words I’d typed on my old iPad, the, dare I say it, awesomeness of the Retina display hit home. Even now, looking at my MacBook Pro, my iPad is going: Look at me. Now look at your MacBook, Now look at me. That display looks like the bad end of the horse, doesn’t it?

How the apps affect my workflow

What I love about writing these articles is it forces me to take an inventory of my current writing process and tools. The new iPad with an external display is looking like a more visually comfortable writing environment than my MacBook Pro. The key tool for me is iCloud, so my main writing tool is Byword for iOS (which also looks awesome on the new iPad) and OS X because it looks great and syncs between all three of my devices. Pages is well-poised to take the top spot for writing apps this summer when the OS X version of iWork becomes fully iCloud-aware.

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Show off your new iPad display with these Retina-ready apps

Weldon Dodd — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:36:54 +0000

The Retina display on the new iPad, available Friday, is absolutely stunning. However, the increase in resolution actually makes some older apps appear all pixelated and gross. You don’t want to show off your brand new iPad and leave your friends with the impression that the screen on your new tablet is any less clear than a shimmering pool of unicorn tears.

Here are several iPad apps that have been updated with Retina-ready graphics so everyone within eyesight can witness the pixel-pushing power of your new Apple tablet.

Besides the titles that were featured in the iPad introduction event, Apple has set up a new section on the iTunes App Store to highlight Retina-ready titles. I’ve handpicked a few titles from this list and from other updates I’m aware of for you to try out. Keep in mind that this list is not comprehensive, and there should be new Retina-optimized apps coming to the App Store pretty quickly.

Games

Real Racing 2

Motion graphics in games are particularly impressive on the new screen. Apple showed off the game apps Infinity Blade II and Sky Gamblers: Air Support at the introduction event. In addition to those, I would check out Flight Control Rocket (a new space-themed update to the beloved Flight Control series) and Real Racing 2 HD. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation looks interesting too if you like shooters.

Visual Arts

iPhoto and iMovie are pretty much must-buy apps for the new iPad. While the iPad’s built-in camera is much improved over the last version’s, you might want to load up iPhoto with some hi-res images from a Digital SLR just to put on a show for your jealous friends on the hi-res screen.

I would recommend SketchBook Pro, but I think you still have to display some actual talent for drawing to make this a true showpiece for your Retina display iPad. If you can draw (and I don’t mean you’ve scored some points in Draw Something), then by all means show off with this amazing app for artists.

Education / Science

Star Walk is already a gorgeous app. Updated for the Retina display, this will be an absolute stunner. Solar Walk, too.

Social Networking

A few of the major Twitter apps have been updated, including the official Twitter app, Twitterrific, and TweetBot. Facebook’s app is expected to be updated soon as well. These aren’t necessarily great showoff material, but people seem to love looking at Twitter and Facebook streams (I know I do).

Reading

Kindle for iPad

The Retina display is actually really useful for showing off how sharp and crisp text is rendered onscreen. iBooks is a good place to start. The Kindle app was updated Thursday so that text would render correctly, but otherwise the graphic elements are still standard resolution. The Daily has been updated as well if you already own that news app. Instapaper should be updated in the next week or so.

More Apple Apps

Personal Pick

I’m a huge soccer fan, and MLS MatchDay 2012 is awesome for keeping up with U.S. soccer action. The Colorado Rapids aren’t quite set up to make another run at the league cup, but I still like to follow all the games.

MLS MatchDay 2012

Wallpaper

Don’t forget to pick out a full-resolution image for your lock screen and wallpaper. Apple provides some, of course, but you might want to check out this Reddit thread to find some hi-res wallpaper images to show something a little different from the built-in choices.

If you didn’t find something above or on Apple’s Featured Apps page, TechCrunch has an even longer list of Retina-ready apps that is worth checking out.

If you find something else to show off your beautiful new iPad screen, be sure to share it in the comments below.

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10 ways big data changes everything

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:52:32 +0000

Industries like Internet search, genomics, climate research and business analytics are starting to create massive data sets — in the petabyte and exabyte range — that are requiring an entirely new set of big data tools to manage. The emergence of this so-called big data phenomenon is also fundamentally changing everything from the way companies operate to the way people interact to how the world deals with outbreaks of infectious diseases. On March 21 and 22, GigaOM is throwing an event about the future of this big data ecosystem in New York, and for the occasion, we have highlighted 10 case studies illustrating how big data is changing the world.

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Apple iPad event live blog

Erica Ogg — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:00:36 +0000

On Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. PT Apple executives will take the stage at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco to unveil what is in all likelihood the successor to the iPad 2.

Rumor has it the device will be called iPad HD, sport a high-definition screen, and be LTE-capable. There’s a good chance a new Apple TV (the set-top box, not a television) will also be in the spotlight. And of course, there is probably something Apple has up its sleeve that hasn’t leaked out yet, so be sure to join us to see the action unfolds.

We will be live blogging the event starting at 10 a.m. but will kick things off below at around 9:30 a.m. PT, so please bookmark this page and come back then.

(Note: We’re going to traditional blog updates due to CIL problems)

10:12 am: Photostream is now part of Apple TV. Photos you take on iPhone appear on your Apple TV now, says Eddy Cue, who demos this for us.

10:13 am: You can also see every movie you’ve every bought via iCloud. You can rewatch without paying again.

10:15 am: That’s it for Cue. Cook is back. He says the new version is available next week for $99.

10:16 am iPad is the poster child of the post-PC world, he says. The momentum is “incredible” and has surprised everyone. We sold more iPads in Q4 than any PC maker sold PCs in the same time frame.

10:18 am: When they created the iPad, Cook says it was intended to be a new category. To do that, it had to be the best for normal tasks, like web browsing, email, etc.

10:20 am: He’s talking about apps and games, gives a shout out to StockTouch (which I wrote about yesterday) as perfect apps for the tablet.

10:21 am: Cook is showing us what Twitter app looks like on a Samsung tablet. “It looks like a blown up smartphone app.” He does the same thing with Yelp on the Samsung tablet. “It’s stretched out” and “hard to see.”

10:22 am: This is why competitive tablets aren’t gaining traction, he says. “Everyone is wondering who will come out with a product more amazing than an iPad 2″ he says. “Stop wondering. We are.” The new iPad is here, he says, without giving it a name yet.

10:23: Phil Schiller is up to show it to us. It has a Retina Display. “You might have heard,” he says.

10:26 am: He’s talking about how they’ve packed the display pixels tightly and how they call it “Retina.” There are 4x the number of pixels on the new iPad (is that what they’re calling it? No sign of iPad HD or iPad 3 moniker yet.)

10:27 am: Also an A5X chip for quad-core graphics is inside.

10:28 am: “The best mobile display that’s ever shipped,” Schiller claims. The second feature is an iSight camera on the iPad.

10:29 am Camera has 5 megapixel sensor, backside illumination, hybrid IR filter in the camera. He’s showing us pics taken with the iPad. Has automatic face detection and auto focus lock.

10:30 am: HD video recording at 1080p resolution for the backside camera. He demonstrates a home movie taken with it, including how the image stabilization works.
10:31 am: There’s also voice dictation software. You can hit a button and start talking and the iPad will write an email for you.

10:33 am: It’ll have 4G, which elicits a lot of cheers. iPad will have HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA and LTE. “Performance will be amazing,” he says.

10:34 am: He’s showing how fast photos load on 4G. And for videos, he’s showing how they’ll download and load faster on 4G versus over 3G.

10:36 am: AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, Bell and Telus will be the first 4G carrier partners. Two versions in U.S., one for LTE bands on AT&T and another on Verizon’s band because they’re different. But they’ll work on any 3G network, he notes. It can also be a hotspot for 5 devices — provided your carrier is cool with it.

10:39 am: It has the most wireless bands of any device that’s ever shipped, Schiller says. So what does that mean for power consumption? iPad will have 10 hours of battery life, he says, on 3G, but 9 hours on 4G. Same as what iPad 2 did on 3G.

It comes in black and white, starts at $499, just like previous versions for 16Gb. 32GB will be $599 and 64GB will be $699. Available March 16. Preorders start today.

10:41 am: On software: Safari has been upgraded, so has Mail app and Photo app for Retina display resolution. Now he’s going to talk about what this means for developers: Apps will look and perform fine, but developers can improve their apps to look better. And now starts the stream of developers talking about their app. First up is James Shelton from Namco to talk about Sky Gamblers Air Supremacy.

10:44 am: Next up is Autodesk to talk about Sketchbook Ink on iPad. A new drawing app for line art, complimentary to their Sketchbook Pro app.

10: 48 am: Says images up to 100 megapixels can be exported from the app. The Retina Display “takes it to the next level,” says Autodesk’s on-stage rep.

10: 49: He says it’s available starting in April. Next up for the third (and last, Schiller promises) is Epic Games. Mike Capps, Epic’s president, will show us a new project.

10:51 am: He’s showing us their Infinity Blade Dungeons game.

10:53 am: Capps puts in a plug that the iPad has higher screen resolution than Xbox 360.

10: 54 am: Schiller is back to talk about Apple’s own software, iWork. They’re getting updated for the new iPad.

They’re getting updated for the new iPad. It’s a free upgrade if you’ve already purchased them. iLife is also being updated, including some new features of Garage Band. Something called Jam Session, four people playing at the same time can collaborate on the same song. It’s a free updated and also available today.

10:59 am: Now we’re getting a look at the new iMovie app for iPad. It’s $4.99 and available today. iPhoto is also coming to iPad today. Use your same photo library on your iPad, but is better for browsing, has multitouch editing, new effects and brushes. You can use photo beaming to send photos between your iOS devices.

11″03 am: Randy Ubillos from Apple is talking about the new photo app. He’s showing how you can do editing on the iPad.

11:08 am: Shows how you can crop and rotate, adjust shadows, highlights and contrast, all with touch. There are a series of “brushes” which are actually your finger to fix the image in a couple of different ways.

11: 13 am: He’s showing us a pretty cool photo journal feature that lets you layout a travel journal really easily. You can add text or notes next to your photos, calendar elements, maps with the photo’s location, weather icons etc. You can share it via a link or via iCloud. And all of this can be down on an iPhone too, he says. iPhoto is $4.99 starting today.

11:14 am: Schiller is back and notes that all iWork and iLife are on the iPad now. “Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t create on an iPad.” And now there’s the obligatory product marketing video for iPad.

11:19 am: Video’s done. Schiller’s back. “This will chagne what people think is possible with this category fo device.” Along with the new iPad, iPad 2 will hang around starting at $399 for 16GB. “So many more people can afford to get into this” he says, specifically calling out schools. The iPad 2 will be $529 if you want 3G.

11:22: Cook is back. “We have redefined the category Apple created just two years ago, ” he says. And now we’re going to watch another ad.

11:23: The iPad is the ultimate poster child of the post-PC world, he says. Cook thanks Apple employees and “everyone who supports Apple.”

“Across the year you’re going to see a lot more of this kind of innovation. We’re just getting started,” he says. And that’s it. Cook exits the stage.

11:24 am: And that’s it for us too. Thanks everyone for hanging with us despite our technical difficulties. Stay tuned for lots more coverage from GigaOM today.

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4 iPad apps to help wrangle data

Erica Ogg — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:17:20 +0000

In 2012, the next big thing will be what we do with the millions of iPhones and iPads that have infiltrated the office. When it comes to the iPad specifically, one of the most useful ways to incorporate the touchscreen device into your workflow is as a tool to visualize and manipulate data. That is why it is so exciting that there are a growing number of apps that give us new ways to gather, absorb and manipulate data necessary to get our jobs done. Here are a few of the more interesting ones out there that take advantage of Apple’s tablet.

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Squrl’s new iPad app puts more focus on fresh, new videos

Ryan Lawler — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:00:24 +0000

Squrl has updated its iPad app, shifting its primary focus from video bookmarking to video discovery. The app, which was just launched, will allow users to more easily find and watch the newest content from all of their favorite video publishers.

Among other updates to the app, new users no longer have to sign in or authenticate with social networks like Twitter or Facebook — although it helps if they want to find the content that their friends are sharing. Instead, they can open the app and immediately start adding channels of videos from categories like News, Technology, Business and Entertainment.

Once channels of content have been selected, users can find the newest videos from those sources from a “Fresh” tab within the app. Viewers can also see what the more general Squrl audience is watching, through a “What’s Hot” tab. And they can check out viewership activity of other people they’re following by clicking through user profiles.

But what’s really great about the app is that it builds a continuous playback experience through the various categories of content. That means viewers can watch an ongoing stream of videos from tech publishers or news sites, without having to jump between applications or websites — a key for Squrl is it tries to keep its users engaged.

The most interesting part of the new app might just be the huge selection of content that it has to choose from, including thousands of video feeds from hundreds of video publishers. And it’s not just web-only or web-original content from the likes of YouTube or Vimeo. In addition to publishers like the New York Times or TED Talks, Squrl also allows viewers to see videos from providers like Hulu, and even to connect their Netflix accounts with the app.

As more networks and pay TV operators get comfortable with the idea of sharing their content, that means there’s a real opportunity for Squrl to potentially authenticate with more TV providers in the future. We could imagine, for instance, adding authentication for an HBO Go or Comcast’s Xfinity TV content.

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Gwyneth Paltrow gets into the iOS app game with GOOP City

Colleen Taylor — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:12:26 +0000

Screenshot from GOOP City (click to enlarge)

Gwyneth Paltrow just became the latest celebrity to toss her cap into the mobile app market. GOOP, the lifestyle-focused email newsletter run by the Oscar-winning actress, announced on Tuesday the debut of a new iOS app called “GOOP City.”

The app, which costs $3.99 and can be downloaded here, is available for the iPhone and the iPad and provides references to restaurants, bars, shopping, walking tours, and the like. GOOP City for now is a guide only to New York City, with a focus on Manhattan; coverage of more metro areas will be added in the months ahead. In an email sent to GOOP subscribers Tuesday morning, Gwyneth Paltrow explained the inspiration behind the app thusly:

“I have always dreamed of finding a city guide that would be just right for me, like a trusted friend whose opinion you knew you could count on. After years of being steered in the wrong direction by bribed concierges, biased opinions and just plain bad suggestions, I decided to create what I had been missing: The goop City Guide! We begin with New York City and you can expect many more over the coming months. This app will be your resource for the tried and tested of the best and coolest of Manhattan (and Brooklyn, and a bit of Queens, the Bronx and New Jersey).”

Paltrow is just the latest Hollywood star to get into the booming world of mobile apps. This past summer, UberMedia launched an iPhone app designed by the rapper 50 Cent; Disney star Selena Gomez recently pitched in funding for a photo app called Postcard on the Run; and Leonardo DiCaprio put his money into a social networking startup called Mobli. And of course, Ashton Kutcher has become very active in the tech world as an enthusiastic app user, advisor and investor. It all speaks to how exciting — and increasingly crowded — the world of the consumer web has become.

Here are a few more screenshots of GOOP City (click to enlarge):

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