The buzzword for this past week was “RSS”, wasn’t it? Google’s all set to shutdown Google Reader tomorrow and RSS app developers on every platform have been scrambling to either offer their own solution or integrate all the new RSS services. Many names have been heard over the last few days, like Feed Wrangler (you should try Feed Rango with it), Feedbin, Digg Reader, Fever, Feedly, Bulletin, Newsblur or even Aol Reader. We’re sure most of you have already chosen your apps by now, so we’re not going to bore you with RSS app recommendations. Instead, we have our weekly serving of some fresh pixels and beautiful apps for you below.
Camera Noir
The awesome folks at Pacific Helm recently released Camera Noir, a camera app that lets you take beautiful black and white photographs with your iPhone or iPod touch. It is hard to not get impressed by their work. They blew us away with Checkers and Camera Noir follows the “do one thing well” philosophy. Sure there are other apps that have more filters or more photo enhancement options but none do it as elegantly as Camera Noir. Camera Noir is available on the App Store for $1.99. Pacific Helm has done an amazing job with the app’s website as well as the icon.
NetNewsWire 4 Icon
NetNewsWire has existed as one of the best RSS apps available for the Mac since its Newsgator days. Recently, the app and its development were taken up by Black Pixel who have started working on version 4, which is a huge update to the app. John Marstall of Black Pixel offers some insight into what went into the icon for the new version that is currently in public beta. The detailing is pretty mind-blowing and the reflections in the gold foil are brilliant. He also explains how the icon can be viewed in a variety of sizes with the OS X dock.
Morse Clock
We’re huge fans of clock apps that do something unique. Morse Clock for iOS is a breathtakingly minimal clock for your iPhone and iPad that allows you to set your iOS device on your table as a very modern timepiece. The main interface has dots and dashes obviously for the time with the seconds animated and coloured depending on the year. The app has a quick morse code key and lets you adjust the colour, time format and display the regular clock. If you have a dock for your iOS device, the app looks amazing just docked near your Mac. Morse Clock is available for $0.99 on the App Store.
Diabetik
If you remember the very first Platter we’d served back in February this year, we’d linked to ‘The Diabetic Journal‘ — a wonderful Kickstarter project by Nial Giacomelli, an app developer from the UK who wanted to develop the app and release it free for people suffering from Diabetes. The app was released on the App Store earlier this week and Nial has done a fantastic job with it, which is no surprise considering his work has already been featured plenty of times here on Beautiful Pixels. Called Diabetik, the app has a delightful user interface and gorgeous use of subtle color shades. There are tiny and colorful icons in the app which make the overall UX great. It even has little tap sounds, which we love. Adding entries is quick and easy and there’s a lovely gesture that lets you add additional type of entries by swiping right to left on the Add screen. The app is Free on the App Store and the code has been open-sourced on GitHub.
Three
We thought we were done with weather apps, but along came Three and we had to make an exception. Three is different. Unlike most other apps that focus on every bit of weather stat and puts them front and center, Three will tell you what kind of weather it is by telling you what you should be wearing. It’s a really simple, yet beautifully executed app. The background gradient on the screen tells you about how hot/cold the weather is and it lists three wearable items from its database that best suit the weather. If you don’t like a particular item, you can tap and hold it to replace it with something else. Being in Mumbai, it’s almost always “Sunglasses, T-Shirts and Sandals” for me. The default screen lists the “now” and you can swipe RTL to see the “later”. Three also has notifications, so it can remind you every morning before you leave for work. It has sounds, so that’s a plus. You can grab it from the App Store for $1.99.
Owl
Owl is a really pretty daily facts app created by @vral that presents some really interesting, hand-picked facts from reddit’s /r/todayilearned. There are no images or unnecessary UI elements in Owl — the facts take up the limelight. You can scroll through the list or double tap the fact to share it onto social networks. Tapping and holding down on the screen toggles between the light and dark theme while swiping LTR takes you to the settings in the app. It’s a lovely app that’s Free on the App Store, so do check it out.
Know an app that would look great on next week’s Platter? Let us know.
Header Photo via Lance Shields