
Apps is like a box of chocolates
The latest celebrity to join the app world is Tom Hanks, whose Hanx Writer app (launched last week) now tops the Itunes store chart since yesterday. The app, available on iPads running iOS 7.0, was developed with Hitcents. “In the late 70s I bought a typewriter – portable enough for world travel and sturdy enough to survive decades of ten-fingered beatings,” Hanks wrote on the app’s intro page. “I’ve since acquired many more – each different in design, action, and sound. Each one stamps into paper a permanent trail of imagination through keys, hammers, cloth and dye – a softer version of chiseling words into stone.” Inspired by the “charming experience” that a typewriter provider, Hanks created his own iPad version, with the look, sound and manual pace of an actual typewriter… complete with the ‘ding’ noise at the end of each line. There are, of course, a few changes. In a recent Apple Twitter interview, Hanks explains: “I wanted the sound of typing if nothing else…cause I find it’s like music that spurs along the creative urge. Bang bang clack-clack-clack puckapuckapuckapucka… I wanted the ‘report’ of each letter, each line.” But unlike the average machine, you will find a boldly lit delete button readily available, including the ability to email, share documents, print, and save something for later use.Swift gets carded
It was Michael Brown, vice president of American Greetings, who was approached by the Swift family – Scott Swift to be exact. Taylor Swift’s father suggested that the company help create a line of greeting cards that would be penned by his daughter. Brown explains that “every song that she sings, she either writes or co-writes,” and that she would undoubtedly be good at it due to her talent for writing.Alicia Keys “scores” an app
“I had just recently given birth, and I was like, I really want to get into the children’s space,” said Keys in an EW interview. “I was seeing the different things that I wanted to bring into his life — different DVDs or different TV shows that were on — I was realising how cool it would be to bring to bring multifaceted, multicultural music and stories into his world.” So in 2012 Alicia Keys launched a storytelling app, alongside AK World Wide (her own company) and BentoBox Interactive, called ‘The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee’, complete with her own music. It tells the story of a little New York City girl and her grandmother – with a twist. Starting off in her bedroom, the user can choose to write in a journal, tap into a music box playlist, play musical instruments or read books from her shelf which transport you to a different story.Kate Bosworth steals style
In July this year, Bosworth launched Style Thief, an app that allows you to snap a picture of someone’s clothes, find a store alternative look-alike and buy them in just a few clicks. Co-founder Bosworth, who partnered with Samantha Russ, said: “Everyone can identify with wardrobe envy — that urge to ‘steal the look’ from a friend, a stranger, an editorial in a magazine or even the runway. Now you literally can by utilising Style Thief. “Every time I look at a collaboration, whether it’s with product or an online presence or something like an app, it really is the melding of art and commerce, fashion and tech. Understanding how to refine search for customers is, I think, something on the forefront of tech and fashion.” Although the app is nowhere near original, Bosworth has tech startup experience and is banking on a simple and user-friendly design. But she could be on the right track according to Scott Forshay, senior strategist at Mutual Mobile. “Photography, especially on a mobile device, is a far more useful platform compared to things like texts,” he explains. “People love taking photos and sharing photos. I see that trend obviously continuing.” Image source By Shané SchutteShare this story