Author Archives: Nam

Important Stickers Update to the Aviary iOS SDK

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If you’re using the iOS SDK, there’s an important update to the build in regards to the sticker archives you should be aware of.

Currently, the sticker archives in the iOS SDK are being stored in the Documents directory, which is backed up by iCloud, but as of late, Apple has begun to reject any apps storing things there that can be re-downloaded.

To solve this issue, we added an extra attribute to the sticker file to mark it as excluded from iCould backups.

Please see our release notes for more details: 

https://github.com/AviaryInc/Mobile-Feather-SDK-for-iOS/blob/master/RELEASE.md#version-236—may-10-2012

Please download and update to the latest build to avoid any issues. You can grab it at aviary.com/ios.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to mobile@aviary.

Twitpic Adds Aviary to Their New iPhone App

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Twitpic, a platform that allows you to share your photos and videos, has just announced the launch of their long awaited iPhone app, and has added Aviary’s editor to the mix!

They’ve taken advantage of the ability to customize the look and feel of the editor’s user interface (nice!), and have chosen the 5 tools that they believe makes most sense for their users: Effects, Enhance, Crop, Orientation, and Brightnes.

Download the brand new app here (iTunes Link), or read more about it on their company blog.

 

To learn more about Aviary’s iOS SDK, or to see how you can do the same for your app, visit aviary.com/ios.

 

Important UDID Announcement for Aviary’s iOS SDK

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If you’re currently using Aviary’s iOS SDK inside your app, there’s an important update you should be aware of in regards to the recent report of Apple rejecting apps for accessing unique device identifiers (UDIDs).

We don’t collect UDIDs, but the analytics library our SDK uses does access them. We do not expect the inclusion of this library, or of the Aviary SDK, to cause any problems with future versions of your app being accepted to the app store, but just as a precaution we have updated to the newest version of the analytics library which prevents UDIDs from transmitting in clear text.

Please download and update to the newest SDK (v 2.3.4) here: 

www.aviary.com/ios

Note: You must be logged in to download the SDK.

As a nice bonus, the new version of the Aviary iOS SDK includes some color customization options, and higher resolution output (up to 3MP). You can read about all the new updates on our changelog. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email us at mobile[AT]aviary.com.

Say Goodbye to Bad Facebook Cover Photos

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If you haven’t already noticed, Facebook’s latest profile update includes a feature called Timeline, which among other things allows you to upload an eye-catching cover photo to your profile.

In the latest update to our Facebook app, we’ve added a custom crop tool that allows you to perfectly cut out your cover photo! No more need to resize and drag to make it fit.

To start:

  1. Go to apps.facebook.com/aviaryeditor *Note: If you’ve used our app before, make sure to clear your web browser’s cache to see the update
  2. Choose any of your photos from Facebook, or upload one from your desktop
  3. Choose the Crop tool
  4. Choose “Cover Photo” inside the Crop tool
  5. Drag to select area
  6. Apply, Save, BOOM.

Now head back to your profile, hover over your Cover Photo and select “Change Cover”. Then select “Choose from Photos”, and it should be in both your “Recent Uploads” and the Aviary album we create for your edited photos.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at support@aviary.com.

 

Introducing Aviary for Facebook

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Today, we’re launching Aviary for Facebook - an app which lets you use our popular simple photo editor without having to leave the page. You can edit your existing Facebook photos with just a few clicks, or you can upload a new photo from your desktop and save it to Facebook in seconds.

Our editor includes 10 gorgeous photo effects, 20 infinitely reusable stickers, and 10 single-click image editing tools that will let you fix your photos quickly and effectively. Oh, and did we mention that it’s free?

Try Aviary for Facebook now!

 

A note for Picnik users

If you’ve ever edited a photo online with Google’s Picnik service, you may have received a message this weekend with the news that Picnik is closing this April. We’re sad to see them go because they were doing some great things, and we know that a lot of people have relied on Picnik for a long time for their online editing. We also couldn’t help noticing the mood across twitter:

 

We’re here to tell you that we hear you, we understand your pain, and we promise that you won’t have to give up the convenience of editing your photos online. In fact, we hope that our integration with Facebook will make Aviary an even more convenient solution for you!

We know that your very first question is going to be how this experience will compare to Picnik. The short answer is that we already offer most of the features you know and love. The slightly longer answer is that we’re releasing updates all the time – with performance improvements, fancy new tools, and tons of effects and stickers – and that we’d love to hear from you what else we can do to help.

Feel free to comment here, email us at support@aviary.com, or submit your ideas through our feedback page.

  • What did you like best about Picnik that you’d love to see us implement?
  • What did you always wish you could have but that Picnik never built?

If you’re one of Picnik’s more advanced users – that is, you relied on Picnik for more detailed or complex editing – you may also want to check out our advanced image editor (Phoenix). It’s totally free, it’s completely browser-based so there’s nothing to download or install, and it includes a ton of advanced functionality if you’re looking to do more than just quick edits on your photos.

Ready to get started? Try Aviary for Facebook now!

Picnik Partners and Developers

If you’re a developer who’s been using Picnik for photo editing on your site, we’ve got you covered too! You can embed our editor on your site with just a few lines of code, and your users can get all their editing done without going anywhere! You can find everything you need at aviary.com.

Introducing Version 2 of the Aviary Editor

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It’s only been 4 months since we first introduced the Aviary Mobile SDK, and a lot (of awesome stuff) has happened since then. We’ve partnered with some of the top apps in the market, and are now editing over 10 million photos a month on mobile alone!

We were as eager as you to release an update to the editor (for both web and mobile), which not only showcases a beautiful new design but also improves every single one of the tools! You heard right. Introducing: Version 2 of the embeddable Aviary photo editor.

 

What’s new:

Functionality has been improved across all tools. The speed of each tool has been noticeably increased, and the UI has been improved based on the feedback we’ve received from our partners and users.

One-touch auto enhance tools: Need to touch up a photo, but out of time? No problem. With our range of magical enhancing tools for everything from nighttime to backlit photos, you can fix any photo in a matter of seconds.

 

New, improved effects. Our dedicated imagineer perfected a set of 10 beautiful effects which will add some extra flavor to any image. As a bonus, our new effects are fast as lightning and come with some gorgeous new borders.

 

Brand-new, unique dials (mobile) for adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, and more. Drawing and text sliders (both web and mobile) have been updated as well. So much more fun than a standard slider! Plus, we’ve thrown in some thrilling tactile feedback to the dials in our Android SDK that we’re sure will make you smile.

 

New Stickers! A whimsical set of various accessories that will dress up any picture. Just to make sure they’re of the highest quality, we did some extensive testing on photos of Ryan Gosling – and he looked great.

 

A completely new, stylish design. Since we’re out to power third party apps, we needed a design that would blend seamlessly with any website or app – but still pop as a beautiful editor. Our base colors are subtle silver and black, with a customizable accent color to tie the editor in with your own application.

 

Minimal Branding. We know you want to slap the Aviary logo on every part of your app… but in the interest of not confusing your users, we’ve removed the branding from the top and moved a much smaller version of our logo at the bottom of the editor. If your users are curious about the editor, they can swipe to the last page for a quick explanation and then get back to the important stuff: editing their photo.

In addition, we’ve made a ton of other improvements based on feedback from our partners and users, including a complete overhaul of the crop tool (grid lines and the presets you asked for), zoom functionality for fine-tuning, and much more.

High-Resolution Output 

Version 2 of our platform supports high-resolution photo editing across all platforms. This feature is currently being rolled out to select partners on mobile, but if you’d like early access, shoot us an email at partners@aviary.com.

High -Resolution for web is currently available and ready. To see documentation, please visit www.aviary.com/web-documentation

Compatibility

  • Android: Starting from Android 2.2  (version 8 and above)
  • iOS: iOS 4+ (3GS and newer) and iPad 1 & 2
  • Web: all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer 7+) and all devices (computers, tablets, smartphones) that support JavaScript and either HTML5 or Flash.

 

Where can I play with the new editor?!

Mobile:

Our partners will be rolling out Version 2 over the coming weeks as they update their apps. Big Blue Clip has already added version 2 of the iOS SDk to their app Pic Stitch, and is currently in the process of being approved to the app store. It should be available in the next minute/hour/day (depending on how fast the approval process is)

Download PicStitch now for iOS (and update when it’s available).

 Web

Visit Aviary.com and click “Try the web demo.”

Monetization 

We’ll be looking to monetize by offering premium content on top of photos, and allowing our partners to turn on/off that option within the Mobile SDK. For instance, if a partner decides they want to enable in-app purchasing via our SDK, they can start selling content without managing, supplying, or supporting anything. We take care of all the work, and do a standard rev share with the participating partner.

The idea here is to help our partners generate an additional revenue stream without lifting a finger. We see it as a win-win for both parties.

We’ve been piloting custom SDK’s with built in monetization on iOS and Android for the past 2 months. Working with select partners, we’ve seen promising data, and are excited to announce that a public build will be available for anyone to implement in 2-3 weeks.

What is/will be purchasable through the SDK?

  • Premium effects packs
  • Original sticker packs (Holiday, Seasonal, Themed)
  • Branded sticker packs (We’ll be working with specific brands to distribute their content through our SDK)

Please send all inquiries to partners@aviary.com

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please visit aviary.com/contact-us, or visit aviary.com/api for documentation on how to get started.

KAPOW! Halftone implements Aviary for iOS

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We recently launched our photo-editing SDK, a mobile version of our popular web-based simple photo editor. Developers of mobile applications can now add our photo editor’s powerful functionality into any iPhone or Android app with just a few lines of code! Read on to see what Halftone did with our tools, or check out the rest of our partners to see how they’re putting our editor to use.

Kids of the smartphone era are a full generation removed from the days when comic books were abundant and only a trip to the drugstore away. The trademarks of comic book art — speech balloons, color gradients, and halftone dots — have become vehicles of nostalgia. A little sad, right?

Halftone, an app for iOS created by Juicy Bits (great story by Mike Swanson, on why he left his job at Microsoft to start Juicy Bits), doesn’t see why that has to be the case.

Download the iPhone app now!

The app certainly pays homage to the visual effects of yesteryear but is firmly grounded in the realm of comics. While photos are core to the product, it is Halftone’s wide range of effects, stickers, and text that make this app absolutely unparalleled in quality and depth.

Naturally, the Aviary team is thrilled to announce that Halftone has integrated our editor, which places our tool among its repertoire of awesomeness! We’ve been incredibly excited about this partnership for quite some time, and are happy that we can finally tell you guys about it.

To see Aviary and Halftone combine powers like Cyclops and Phoenix (yes, we have Marvel fans in the office), simply open Halftone, take or upload a photo you want to use in your comic strip, and you’ll be taken immediately to our editor. Fix your photo as you please with cropping, brightness, color functionality, and more, and then use Halftone to layer on the BLAM! NOOOO! POW! — and then some.

We’re constantly excited by how much innovation we see around us, and always welcome the chance to work with creative, energetic people. Halftone is the incredible product of a one-man show, and we’re more happy to put the Aviary spotlight on a fantastic app.

Check out Halftone for iOS now!

Editing with Aviary on Minus for Mobile

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A few months ago, Minus integrated our web API to add instant editing functionality to their product. (If you’re not familiar with Minus, they’re a simple, drag-and-drop file uploader that enables users to publish, share, and manage their files in the cloud. Visit Minus.com to check it out!)

Today, you can reach our editor on both of their mobile apps!

Download the iPhone app now!

Download the Android app now!

Now you can upload files and photos to Minus directly from your mobile device. You can also access and download your existing files from your Minus account and publish to your Minus profile and more.

 

 

Join Aviary at NYC BigApps 3.0

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New York City is challenging software developers to create apps that use city data to make NYC better. The goal is to help NYC residents, visitors, and businesses all over improve their well-being through technology. Building on the first two annual BigApps competitions, this years event will offer new data, resources, and prizes totaling in $50,000!

Visit 2011.nycbigapps.com to learn more, and to see how you can participate.

A new twist has been added to BigApps 3.0! They’re encouraging all attendees to go beyond using just city data. In fact, they want you to use an API from a participating NYC company to combine multiple data sources in new and interesting ways. Yes, that means all participants are welcome to build on the Aviary API!

 

How can I use the Aviary API at BigApps 3.0? 

Any project (web or mobile) that includes photos is a perfect situation for the Aviary API! Our photo editor will give your users a fast, easy way to edit + enahnce their photos without leaving the site/app. Tools ranging from your basic crop, rotate, flip to more stylistic effects, to one click tools like auto-enhance are completely customizable to match your project.

Visit developers.aviary.com to learn more!

Here are the details of NYC BigApps 3.0 from the official Eventbrite. Tickets are sold out (wahhhh), but feel free to add yourself to the waitlist if you’re feelin’ lucky!

 

 

Join other NYC BigApps 3.0 participants for the first NYC BigApps Hackathon! This weekend-long hackathon is for anyone planning to participate in NYC BigApps 3.0.

  • Friday, Nov. 11 from 7 p.m to 9 pm.: Kickoff event at Pivotal Labs
  • Saturday, Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. (through the night) to Sunday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m.: Hacking at Pivotal Labs
  • Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2:30 p.m.: Presentations, judging, prizes

And here’s what you can look forward to:

  • Develop ideas, brainstorm, explore NYC Open Data
  • Find teammates and contribute your skills
  • Build something amazing to help NYC
  • Talk to representatives from companies providing APIs
  • Compete for $2,500 in prizes for the best hacks!

Like NYC BigApps submissions, hacks must use data from NYC Open Data and will be judged on the quality of the idea, implementation, and potential impact.

Please note: the NYC BigApps 3.0 Hackathon is intended to help you create a potential submission for NYC BigApps 3.0. To participate in the hackathon, you need to meet the eligibility requirements for NYC BigApps 3.0, described at http://2011.NYCBigApps.com/details/rules. However, hacks you create at the hackathon will be judged independently. Your participation and creations will not increase or decrease your chances of winning NYC BigApps 3.0.