Peak Systems, a full service web and mobile development firm, announced that it has released an update of Diptic. A top ten paid photography app on the iTunes Store, Diptic lets users combine multiple photos to create a collage.

Responding to customer requests, the new version has a single-frame and five-frame layouts, which more than double the amount of standard layouts (from 21 to 52). In addition to more layouts, the new version has unique features that no other photo-collaging app has: Random Photo Selection and Random Layout Selection. Designed with the indecisive user in mind, Random Layout Selection randomly picks one of the 52 available layouts. Similarly, Random Photo Selection randomly pulls photos from the user’s camera roll to create the Diptic.

“Random Layout and Photo Selection are really fun, unique features that we think our users will enjoy,” said Rob Reinhardt, Peak Systems’ director of mobile apps. “Random Photo Selection is an entertaining tool because you never know what pictures it will use to create the collage. It’s a great way to look at old photos, reminisce, and create some funny photo collages.”

More information about the update is available on the Diptic blog: dipticapp.posterous.com

This update is available as a free download to all iOS Diptic owners. Diptic is available in the U.S. for $.99 and is priced accordingly in other regions. Diptic is compatible with iPhone, iPad and IPod Touch, and it is available worldwide from the iTunes Store or at http://www.dipticapp.com.

Established in 2000 and headquartered in Seattle, Peak Systems is a full service firm that builds custom web-based solutions, with specialties in mobile applications, web design and enterprise application development. Peak Systems’ mobile applications have been featured by Apple’s App Store, Macworld, Tuaw, and other thought leaders in the industry.

 NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tiffany announces the opening of a new photo gallery at whatmakeslovetrue.com, the jeweler’s web site dedicated to the art of romance. The gallery, True Love In Pictures, features portraits of couples which are uploaded to the site from a computer or via an iPhone® App. The gallery marks the first time that users can submit photographs to the site.

“The response to our web site whatmakeslovetrue.com has been tremendous,” said Caroline Naggiar, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Tiffany & Co. “Adding personal portraits to the images of the many couples we’ve interviewed is a natural progression.”

The gallery leads off with the work of two photo-bloggers—Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist, and Garance Doré—who are well known for capturing fashion’s individualists on the streets of New York and Paris. As a couple themselves, they offer a unique perspective on romance that makes for a fascinating series of portraits, shot exclusively for Tiffany. The portraits act as a visual invitation for couples to submit their own images to the gallery.

Users are encouraged to take advantage of the site’s unique tools to enhance the photos. Three filters (black and white, peach, and Tiffany Blue®) are available on the What Makes Love True iPhone® App and website (whatmakeslovetrue.com). The filters add a graphic contrast or a warm or cool tint to the image. There is also space where users may include a picture caption. Tiffany offers helpful phrases for how a caption might begin, such as “It was true love when . . .” or “What I love most about you is . . .”

For users of Instagram, the photosharing iPhone® app, the portraits and captions may be submitted by using the #truelovepictures hashtag. In addition, couples may visit Tiffany & Co. stores in New York City (Fifth Avenue), London (Old Bond Street and Westfield) and Tokyo (Ginza), where photo booths are available to take portraits and upload them to the web site. The booths will also print a 4X6 image.

The photo gallery will be updated multiple times each day, with new portraits of couples from around the world. In posed or spontaneous fashion, they share their picture-perfect romance, giving all visitors an experience of joy and surprise and revealing the universal face of true love.

#TrueLovePictures

Tiffany & Co., Tiffany and T&CO. are trademarks of Tiffany (NJ) LLC, Tiffany and Company and their affiliates.

iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Inc.

Discover a New Part of the World on Your iPad or iPhone Every Week with Visual Stories

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fotopedia, the publisher of popular iOS app and the Fotopedia Magazine, is proud to announce that a new version of Fotopedia Heritage is now available in the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Created in cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Fotopedia Heritage provides a virtual passport to the hundreds of sites that constitute the world’s collective cultural and natural human legacy. With more than 30,000 spectacular photos of the world’s most breathtaking vistas, you can explore all 936 World Heritage sites, from the Aachen Cathedral to the Zytglogge.

The Fotopedia Heritage App now features beautiful content, updated daily and delivered as Visual Stories, allowing travel enthusiasts, world explorers and photographers to discover a new site every week.

“Fotopedia Heritage was made possible thanks to the members of the Fotopedia community who contributed and curated these beautiful photos” said Jean-Marie Hullot, CEO of Fotopedia “Our thanks go to them for enabling us to share these visual treasures with everyone on the iPhone and the iPad.”

Features of Fotopedia Heritage include:

• A fantastic collection of more than 30,000 spectacular photos;

• Visual stories presenting new adventures, updated every week;

• Complete navigation with smart tags, search and interactive maps;

• Instant Slideshows and free Wallpapers for your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch;

• Favorites to create your own photo albums or personalized virtual trips;

• Photo sharing via email, Facebook and Twitter.

• Open Graph integration with Facebook to easily share your explorations

The Fotopedia Heritage App is available for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, you can find it here.

About Fotopedia

With more than 7 million downloads to date, Fotopedia is the publisher of a suite of iOS apps, including the new “Fotopedia Wild Friends” app. Fotopedia provides new ways to discover, explore and share the beauty of the world. The company was founded by Jean-Marie Hullot, who was previously CTO at NeXT and CTO of Apple’s Applications Division. Fotopedia has offices in San Francisco and Paris.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 26, 2012

Within the next few days, millions of iPhone users will be able to easily shoot and share an unlimited number of 360-degree panoramic (pano) images for free using the TourWrist iOS app.

TourWrist unveiled the addition of a 360-degree capture feature within its market leading app at the MacWorld Conference & Expo® in San Francisco today. This new feature enables an easy, end-to-end shoot and share experience for iPhone users. [The updated TourWrist app was submitted to the Apple iTunes App Store on Thursday (1/19/12).]

TourWrist is the best-in-class mobile and online virtual tour platform empowering consumers to shoot, publish, search for, view, share and market their 360-degree panos.

TourWrist also announced at MacWorld that it would soon release an upload feature in its award-winning iOS app that will give iPhone enthusiasts a choice of using 20+ panoramic photography apps with the ability to publish an unlimited number of their panos – free – via the TourWrist app.

“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 and sharing experience.”

Pano photographers can also publish their panos to TourWrist using the TourWrist.com content management system (CMS).

“Panoramic photography is going mainstream this year as a result of pano initiatives by Apple, Google, Microsoft and TourWrist,” said Armstrong. “By releasing a native panoramic photography feature in iOS 5, Apple, for example, will broaden consumer adoption, just as it did when it re-invented smartphones in 2007.”

Developers and manufacturers, who would like to integrate the free Publish to TourWrist API, should email: API(at)TourWrist(dot)com

About TourWrist

TourWrist is the leading, mobile and desktop–based virtual tour platform. Just as YouTube is for video, it is the ‘go to’ destination for sharing panos. The company’s mission is to improve how consumers make educated, location-based decisions.

Consumers can easily shoot and upload their own 360-degree panoramic images, or browse and share any of the 30,000+ geo-tagged panos already available via the free TourWrist iOS app (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), the Android–optimized web app, and on the TourWrist website. TourWrist launched commercially in early 2011. TourWrist owns and operates the world’s largest panoramic photography forum, Panoguide, with 6,500 professional virtual tour photographers globally, and is a sponsor of the International VR Photography Association (IVRPA). The TourWrist company (private) is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information about TourWrist, please visit:

iTunes App Store: http://www.itunes.com/app/TourWrist
Web: http://www.TourWrist.com
YouTube: http://www.YouTube.com/TourWrist
Twitter: @TourWrist

TourWrist is an independent service and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. All trademarks, including TourWrist®, are registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Imperative Press has released a deluxe collection of iconic portraits of Madonna, Slash, Warhol, REM, Lou Reed, Tina Turner, collectected in “coffee table app” for the iPad by award-winning photographer, Curtis Knapp.

Curtis Knapp was the photographer behind Madonna’s first ever magazine cover, taken for Island magazine in the early 80s and has received a range of prestigious awards in photography, including the Rodenstock, the Fuji Sankei and ADC awards. His work has been exhibited in the Irvine Contemporary Gallery, the Gagosian Gallery, the Ludwig Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum of Contemporary Art. Knapp lectured in photography for the Smithsonian Institute for many years.

Description:

From Madonna to Andy Warhol, the award-winning photographer Curtis Knapp has taken iconic portraits of some of the most famous people of the modern era. Now, for the first time, a hand-picked selection of his stunning photographs has been compiled in a beautiful ‘coffee table app’ for the iPad, with a special introduction by actor Steve Buscemi.

‘Icons’ includes over 70 photo portraits of 50 musicians, actors, artists, filmmakers, and writers including Madonna, Andy Warhol, Tina Turner, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, REM, Tim Burton, Roy Lichtenstein, Dennis Hopper, and Timothy Leary. The photographs have been personally selected by Curtis Knapp for this application from his archive, and include shots only previously available in limited edition art books and prints, as well as some that have never before been seen in public.

Each photo showcases Knapp’s bold, distinctive style, influenced by photographic greats such as Irving Penn and Edward Steichen. Many of the images have been displayed in international exhibitions and collections, and are among the most iconic portraits of celebrities taken over the past 35 years.

Boardwalk Empire star Steve Buscemi, who wrote a special introduction for the app, commented “The photos make all of them, even the people I’ve never met, seem like old friends. I can’t really explain it, but Curtis captured something personal, simple, and familiar with every shot he took.” Whilst famed guitarist Slash, who is also included in the collection, noted: “These are definitely some of the best portraits I’ve seen in some time.”

The app also features audio recordings of Curtis talking about some of his most famous shoots.

Features include:

• Specially-designed interface and scrolling system to let the user browse through crisp, high-definition photos smoothly and easily.

• Interactive Contents that previews each photograph and allows navigation straight to your chosen image.

• Bookmarks function for easy access to your favorite photos.

• Audio recordings of Curtis Knapp talking about his shoots with Madonna, Andy Warhol, and the B-52s, recorded exclusively for this application.

• Original bios of each Icon giving key information about their life and works.

Price:

$19.99

Praise for Curtis Knapp’s photography:

“Curtis Knapp is a man of humor, sensitivity and skill. His humor puts his subjects at ease, his sensitivity inspires them and his skill gives them confidence. But something else, beyond these essential talents, gives the spark of genius to Curtis’s photographs – empathy.” – Jeremy Ayers

“It is almost an effortless style he has, which puts you at ease right away. Yet he is methodical and exacting. Always with a clear vision of his finished print…” – Timothy Leary

“His portraiture is stark and formal, his cool gaze a perfect medium in which his subjects can, and usually do, reveal themselves.” – Matthew Rettenmund, author of Encyclopedia Madonnica

Featured as New & Noteworthy on the App Store(SM) 

Forest Evashevski, an art director for the Wall Street Journal, said: “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten this much enjoyment from an app. As an art director at The Wall Street Journal I had pretty high standards using Halftone for the first time and it easily surpassed all of them.”

Mike Swanson, Founder of Juicy Bits, says that he is “both surprised and flattered that Apple has recognized Halftone in App Store Rewind 2011. There are many outstanding apps on the list, and it’s an honor to be included next to them.”

Halftone was recently updated to version 1.7.1, adding support for new cropping and rotation features along with user-requested image adjustments like brightness, contrast, and saturation. In addition, title captions now have multiple color choices, and a new “Santa hat” stamp makes it easy to create Halftone images for the holiday season.

Halftone 1.7.1 is $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Photo & Video category. The Universal app runs on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices, and it requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Founded in 2009, Juicy Bits is a small company that produces unique, freshly squeezed software for mobile devices. Their first release, 3D Camera, earned 4½ mice (out of 5) from Macworld and is frequently among the top 100 photography apps worldwide. Their most recent app, Halftone, has over one million users and was named by Apple as one of the best photo apps of 2011.