Today after some delay version 3.6 of our Yu-gi-oh Calculator for iPhone & iPod Touch, iDuelpro was approved and added to the iTunes App Store. The price remains the same at 0.99$. You can download it here : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iduelpro-yu-gi-oh-calculator/id299220306?mt=8

This update is the biggest ever with 16 changes, the biggest are the settings panel where you can set the players their names, the initial lifepoints and watch statistics of previous duels and the new virtual field where you can play around with tokens and spell counters.

This update is a welcome addition to the most used Yu-gi-oh! calculator on earth and takes care of nearly all user suggestions.

Here’s a full list of all new features and updates :
-Ability to change the player’s names
-Ability to change the lifepoints base value from 8000 to 4000 or 2000
-Win/Loss/Draw counter in a statistics section
-Automated function to calculate your Victory percentage
-Added a function to reset statistics
-Added support for up to 19.980 spell counters on a virtual field
-Added support tokens on a virtual field
-Ability to toggle sides when using customized names
-Added a settings panel
-Added a twitter link to stay up-to-date on the latest iDuelpro news
-New snappier “custom lifepoint” and “preset” dialogs
-Fixed “Display wrong grammar on victory” bug
-Minor changes to make the top bar blend in with the GUI
-New online PDF help file with screenshots
-Various changes to the interface
-New Splash screen

Our latest addition to the iTunes App Store, MonoPhix Monochrome App for iPhone is getting an update within the next weeks. It’s the first of the -Phix apps that will be updated to version v2.0. But MonoPhix carries this tag with pride bringing a total of 15 changes and new features.

In MonoPhix 2.0, iphoneographers will be able to control the output of their Monochrome pictures completely. Where other apps only enable you to change the contrast settings, MonoPhix v2.0 will enable you to set highlights and shadow intensity. In this way you can make simple grayscale images with incredibly bright clear parts or adjust the sliders to make beautiful Monochrome images of pictures taken in all conditions. All changes can be previewed using a thumbnail.

Another major change is the absence of the Hard Mono and normal Grayscale features, these can now be accomplished by setting the slider in the right position with or without a little help from 4 preset settings. The missing buttons have been replaced by buttons to enable Sepia and Antique filters using the same depth and sliders which you use to make monochrome images.

Other changes include a significantly smaller filesize, a more logical save dialog and faster Monochrome filters provided by a major upgrade to the MonoCore engine.

But pictures say more than 1000 words (here are some pictures edited with MonoPhix v2.0 Release Candidate 1) :

MonoPhix v2.0 Monochrome example

Another MonoPhix Monochrome example - "Light at the end of the tunnel"

MonoPhix v2.0 Sepia example - Antique Fields

Another Sepia example which shows the right grain balance - Scratched Snow

Final example : Sepia - Monaco Train Station

Screenshots will be posted at release, MonoPhix v2.0 will be submitted to the App Store when all Beta testers approve of its quality.

As you could have red in the previous iDuelpro post I expected that Apple would decline our yu-gi-oh! calculator for iPhone, iDuelpro v3.6, their reason was pretty creative though. We can not disclose the exact reason (fascistic internal Apple rule). But it has something to do with the pop-up dialogs where you could enter text like used in the custom lifepoints deal button “…” and the presets setting feature. 

So we could try to upload the same application again and hope that next time the reviewer is less of an asshole, but we chose to adapt the dialog boxes. The new dialog boxes bring a more snappier and native feel to iDuelpro 3.6’s “Ash”-theme. The dialogs load and close five times faster in this way and the keyboard has been improved. We expect iDuelpro v3.6 to be available next week. If they decline it again, I’m going to post the iPhone connect support’s email address here and then you can all send an email to request the approval and ask for yourselves which idiotic reason they used this time.

Here’s a screenshot of the adapted dialog boxes :

Since Apple changed its App Store policy, only front-paging “new” Applications instead of new and updated ones, we can no longer benefit from updates, so we are going to start a new tradition of acquaintance offers. In this way people can get acquainted with new or less popular apps, which are still pretty decent.

The acquaintance offers this time are MonoPhix and GrayPhix. Here a small summary :

-MonoPhix v1.1 :
Category : Photography
Normal Price : 0.99$ (Now Free!)
Description :
With MonoPhix you can create Monochrome images from your pictures with one touch. Even advanced image editing apps on your mac/pc require multiple filters and adjustments to create these high depth and high quality monochrome images.
Download Link

-GrayPhix v1.3 :
Category : Photography
Normal Price : 0.99$ (Now Free!)
Description :
GrayPhix is the most impressive grayscaling app available for iPhone and iPod Touch and is optimized to handle even the largest images directly on your iPhone.You will even be able to simulate camera flash for your grayscale images taken in a dark or twilight environment.
Download Link

Get them while they’re still hot!

A few days ago we submitted the newest version of iDuelpro to the App Store. With v3.6 we skip 2 minor version and this is to point out the significance of this version as it is the biggest update to iDuelpro for iPhone ever and it also makes iDuelpro for iPhone the Duelpro variant with the most features on any platform. Which means that iDuelpro 3.6 brings more power in the palm of your hand than in an entire PC.

The most significant new features are the new settings panel which for example enables you to set both player’s names and the hybrid field view with support for both spell counters and monster tokens.

Here’s a full list of all changes :
-Ability to change the player’s names
-Ability to change the lifepoints base value from 8000 to 4000 or 2000
-Win/Loss/Draw counter in a statistics section
-Automated function to calculate your Victory percentage
-Added a function to reset statistics
-Added support for up to 19.980 spell counters on a virtual field
-Added support tokens on a virtual field
-Ability to toggle sides when using customized names
-Added a settings panel
-Added a twitter link to stay up-to-date on the latest iDuelpro news
-Fixed “Display wrong grammar on victory” bug
-Minor changes to make the top bar blend in with the GUI
-New online PDF help file with screenshots
-New Splash screen

What works on the iPhone also works on iPod Touch of course so iDuelpro is still available for everyone with iPhone OS 2.0 or higher. The price will remain the same as always $0.99 or €0.79 or 0,59£ or 110¥. It will be available somewhere next week if Apple doesn’t find some F* up reason why it shouldn’t be released, I’m betting on a forbidden word in the marketing text or such…

Here’s a screenshot overview of all changes :

The new splash screen with striped Ankh

The new main window of iDuelpro

The virtual field where you can simulate tokens and spell counters

The Settings panel where you can set your name or initial LP and view stats.

Game Over!

Yesterday we announced the coming of v3.5 of iDuelpro – yu-gi-oh! lifepoints calculator for iPhone. Now we can also announce that a drastic improvement of the Mac version is on its way. But that’s not all! Yesterday someone asked for a Blackberry version of Duelpro, and I started thinking.

We acquired material to build applications for Windows Mobile earlier this year, which means that we will start developing a Duelpro version for Windows Mobile anytime soon. This version will have about the same features as the Windows version and will show a donation button in the bottom.

But there’s more, another platform for which we could start to build apps is Google’s Android OS. We will use the same tactic there. People will simply be able to make a donation.

After Android OS, all nokia platforms with Qt framework will follow (including symbian).

So within the coming year, we will have a Duelpro version available for 6 platforms namely :

-Windows
-Mac OSX
-iPhone OS (also iPod Touch)
-Windows Mobile
-Android OS
-Symbian/Qt

Linux and Haiku (BeOS) executables may follow as well in this time. This only leaves the Java platform of some mobile phones and Blackberry OS to be. We can’t develop a Duelpro version for every cellphone available and Blackberry development is too expensive. Otherwise nearly any OS would be covered.

Since a few days we are working hard to make a new version of our Yu-gi-oh! calculator iDuelpro available to our users. This version will include a few interesting changes therefore we skip one version from v3.3 to v3.5 to point at its importance.

For the first time in-App pop-up windows will be used to expand iDuelpro. This may not interest you a lot, but it enables the use of settings panes, easier dialog boxes and of course the Spell Counter/token tool you have all been requesting for so long.

And that’s probably one of the 2 biggest changes in iDuelpro 3.5, Token/Spell Counter support. I added it exactly as “Masteranza” suggested in his iTunes App Store review as you will see in the screenshots of the current development version.
Most people suggested a token counter, but I made a hybrid also adding spell counter support. You can put more than just 1 or 0 in the token table, also enabling the use of spell counters. (up to 999) The counter’s state is also saved when the application is quit and is reset when starting a new game.

So this version of iDuelpro actually comes with 19.980 virtual coins included which you can to keep track of spell counters or as a replacement for tokens.

Other things that will be implemented will be eg. a settings pane in which you can set both player’s names and initial lifepoints and where you can view your amounts of wins/losses/draws. An extra icon which enables you to follow us on twitter. An updated help file and of course various bug fixes and added confirmation message to prevent false touches.

iDuelpro v3.5 will be completed somewhere next week but the current version can already be downloaded here>

Here’s how v3.5 looks so far :

iDuelpro 3.5 Dev-preview - Main Window

iDuelpro 3.5 dev-preview - Token/Spell Counter window

As everybody knows Windows 7 has arrived, this brings some problems for certain applications. But luckily most of our apps aren’t experiencing issues.

Here’s a list :

• 36-image converter 4.7a : Not fully compatible – issues with filters. Conversion + other features work. Issues will be fixed in the Beta version of v4.7.

• 36-image express 1.0 : Compatible

• ROC 1.0 : Compatible

• Duelpro 2009 : Compatible

• SpeedShut 4.x : Compatible

• FileTorment 4.x : Compatible (further testing required)

• CachePhix 1.x : incompatible (Possible update coming next year)

• LoadDown 2.0 : Compatible

• LockPhix 1.x : incompatible (further testing required) (No intention to update – end of support coming in 2010)

• FileTorment Suite 2006/2007 : incompatible – end of support (since 2009)

• infoBlaster IN4 : incompatible – end of support (since 2008)

• Mphix 1.0 : incompatible – end of support (since 2007)

• PhBrowser 1.0 : incompatible – end of support (since 2006)

So most apps are compatible, the few apps which were incompatible with vista are still incompatible with windows 7 and 36-image converter will be fixed in an update.

And of course I have to add my opinion about Windows 7. I have only one sentence for Windows 7 : “Microsoft is back!”. Enthusiasts of other operating systems have been claiming that people just use windows because it’s on their PC, with Windows 7 they are proven wrong. People are actually looking for Windows 7. Users of other operating systems are cheering for Windows 7, about 90% of all Mac Fans (including me) thinks Windows 7 is great and will run it as a second OS without whining. The same with half the Linux population. So is Windows 7 a success? It’s probably the most wanted operating system of the decade.

Microsoft has finally delivered a product which is fun to use and can compare to Mac OSX. Microsoft increased the productivity with a set of new features which can compare to Mac OSX exposé (although I still prefer exposé, because I’m used to it) and they brought small changes which are enjoyable. They put a great deal of care and effort in this operating system contacting all developers for a compatibility check of their apps, gathering all drivers and testing your configuration for compatibility. They actually did something with the Windows Vista complaints.

So I don’t think alternative operating system’s usage will grow now. It grew thanks to Windows Vista, but with Windows 7 everyone is happy again and the need for an alternative is gone. So I expect a drop in the Linux marketshare and a growth stop of Mac OSX and in long term a minor decrease in marketshare.

I also expect Chrome OS to be born dead, people don’t need another OS. If google released it a few months after the Vista release they would’ve scored a big hit, but the normal people have a working Windows install, Mac people have Mac OSX and the mac people that are interested in Windows 7 will not be interested in Chrome OS, the ones which aren’t interested in Win7 aren’t interested in anything other than Mac OSX so there goes another fail for Google. And the last one the opensource advocates and the common linux users don’t want a semi-opensource OS which sends data to an evil corporation, so they will stick with the normal Linux distros. So I think the fear which microsoft had to endure for a few years about other treding operating systems is gone now.

Anyway, brilliant move, brilliant OS.

As you all know, the development of 36-image converter is almost at end with the Beta coming at the beginning of November. But that’s not the only thing that’s coming. We have started development for 36-image converter 5.0, which comes with a new engine, a new interface and a completely new set of features.

We are also going to renew all our iPhone apps. GrayPhix, FlashPhix and MonoPhix are getting an engine update to support all image formats, iPhix will hit version 2.0 with support for large resolution images, transformations, more effects and a new interface. iDuelpro and iDuelpro Lite will hit version 4.0. And iDuelpro for Mac OSX will hit iDuelpro 2010 and will be a direct port from the iPhone.

Maybe the biggest change will be that our site will be completely revamped and pushed to the edge of design and browser standards. Remember the old 3 year old site and its ads, frames and flaws as it will disappear somewhere next month. If you want to see how progress is coming along with the new site you can go to http://www.phoenxsoftware.com/mainsite_new/

After this everything will be as it should have been from the beginning, a 36-image converter with no flaws (except for flaws people are creating of course), a whole bunch of worthy iPhone apps, a Duelpro on each platform which takes a huge leap forward from many other yugioh LPC’s and a site which has the design our users are used to.

After this, the road is open for completely new apps and features.

I’ve been getting a lot of complaints lately <sarcasm>always from nice people who don’t insult me or anything</sarcasm> that 36-image converter is hard to work with and that they can’t find any info on how to convert an image or even open one. So I created a tutorial on how to open images in 36-image converter and convert them. In the tutorial we’re going to convert a DNG raw camera image to PNG in 2 minutes.

A few remarks :
-The version used in the video is a development version of 36-image converter 4.7 Beta which hasn’t been released yet. So you won’t be able to filter filetypes in the open-dialog.
-In versions older than the newest alpha version of 36-image converter 4.7 you won’t be able to open and convert DNG or other raw filetypes. You can download 36-image converter 4.7 here>
-My voice is no opera baritone so I still suggest reading the help file instead of listen to me for 2 whole minutes

I hope everything is clear now and that I don’t have to hear another. “It can’t convert images, this is stupid!” in my whole life.