Tag: Shape Services »

For $2 instead of $7, this "best in class" business card scanner may be all you need.

If you've read our review of the iPhone version of Business Card Reader, you know we think it's pretty fantastic. Our reviewer gave it a best in class rating, saying, "Business Card Reader is a solid, reliable, visually aesthetic business card reader that performs as advertised, with minimal effort on the user’s part."

Well, now developer SHAPE Services has released a second iPad version of the business card reading app, cleverly named Business Card Reader HD. For those of us who use our iPads for business, this is a solid treat.

The app itself - at the same price point as the iPhone version - allows you to import contact info right from business cards using your iPad camera. Simply aim the camera at any card given to you by your business contacts, and Business Card Reader HD will scan, OCR, and create a contact in your iPad contact list. It can do so in English, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Whew.

There's also optional integration with enterprise-level customer relationship management (CRM) systems and LinkedIn support. As with any scanning technology, good light and a flat, unmoving surface are collecting the data well.

Business Card Reader HD works on iOS 4 and later and on all iPad models, including iPad 1 (you'll need to import pictures of business cards from the photo roll or LinkedIn).

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Anyone who is a fan of instant messaging on the go from their iOS device of choice is most likely familiar with the SHAPE Services development team and their tool IM+.  What their original application did to help revolutionize the way that we chat on the road, their new app Checkin+ hopes to do for the worlds of FourSquare and Facebook.

While I was never one for alerting the entire world of my whereabouts at any given second in time, there has been a budding industry around the social networking concept of "checking in."  The problem was that Foursquare's existing iOS application has left so much to be desired in the areas of personal mapping.  This is where Checkin+ comes into play.

Combining the social networking world with augmented reality applications, though odd when described simply in words, actually makes for an interesting concept.  Check out the trailer below and see if you feel the same way!



Journalists are prone to hyperbole, but this title is almost euphemistic. SHAPE Services, creator of the popular IM+ client, are continuing to roll out feature after feature for their mass-market social networking application.

IM+ current supports Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN / Live, AIM (Mac users think iChat), ICQ, MySpace, Facebook, Jabber, Twitter and Skype chat. Outside of the seemingly endless list of clients, the application also provides an equally long list of push notification options, including e-mail arrival notifications from popular clients such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Google Mail.

In addition to the application being universally built for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, IM+ also features an in-built browser for those who don't have the ability to multitask - a welcome addition for iPhone 3G and iPod Touch users who are unable to avail of Apple's much-awaited feature.

The latest update - 4.3 - brings with it a number of new themes and wallpapers, high resolution graphics for iPhone 4 users and VoiceOver support, allowing for speech recognition to be enabled. This last feature will set users back 99c a month.

There's no doubt that SHAPE Services developers are trying to appeal to everyone. From customizable sounds and animated emoticons to geo-location support and retina display graphics, IM+ is becoming the client of choice for social networking users. It remains one of the top grossing applications for Social Networking - not bad at all for a $9.99 application with almost 4 000 competitors. And to top it all off, there's a free version too.

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There is a lot of question regarding the iPads benefit to the professional world. Ultimately, it will be developers who define its use through innovative apps that increase productivity and expand the ability for users to do business. iDisplay, from Shape Services, is getting an early start. This Apple approved app will allow users to utilize their iPad, as well as their smaller iDevices, as an extension of their Mac desktop. This has the potential to be useful in both personal and professional worlds.

It's unclear if this app will be usable for all Mac computers, if there will ever be PC connectivity, and if this will catch on with the business world. We here at 148Apps will be monitoring the progress of this app closely.

There are quite a few instant message apps out there, all trying to be the must have for iDevice users. With the release of the iPad, that struggle is renewed. IM+ is a well respected pocket sized iDevice app, and given the screenshots we've seen so far, IM+'s iPad functionality is going to put it at the top of the list.

IM+ provides an "Award winning instant messenger for iPhone/iPod Touch to chat within MSN, Yahoo!, Google Talk, AIM, Jabber, ICQ, Facebook, MySpace, Skype and Twitter." We're excited to see how well IM+ ports to the new larger screen format.