Avid is one of the big names in audio and video production software. The company offers professional media editing software for prices as high as $2499, and the Avid Studio home movie-making suite runs $170.

But now the company is launching a $5 version designed for the Apple iPad.

Avid Studio for iPad is optimized for touchscreen input and the Apple tablet’s small screen. The mobile app can’t export videos in Adobe Flash format, but you can export apps to the Avid Studio for desktop app, which means that you can start working on a video on your iPad and finish on your PC.

The iPad app lets you work with audio, videos, and photos on your device or capture videos and photos while using the app. There’s support for 3D animations, transitions and titles as well as other effects such as picture-in-picture, pan and zoom.

All Things D reports that the $4.99 price tag is introductory. Avid will raise the price to $7.99 after 30 days. That’s still a bargain compared with the company’s desktop software, but Avid Studio for iPad will have to compete with Apple’s $4.99 iMovie app which offers many (but not all) of the same features.

Avid Studio for iPad is available from the iTunes App Store.

The BBC iPlayer delivers digital videos for popular BBC programming. When the iPlayer launcher, it was only available in a computer web browser… and in Britain. Since British residents pay a TV license fee to fund the BBC, the iPlayer service was free in Britain, but unavailable elsewhere.

Earlier this year the iPlayer went global… or at least partially global. The BBC launcher a global iPlayer app for the Apple iPad, but it was only available in Australia and select European countries.

Last week Canada was added to the list, and the US is expected to get iPlayer access next year.

Now it looks like the video streaming service is moving beyond the iPad. The BBC plans to launch an iPlayer app for iPhone and iPod touch on December 8th, 2011.

Viewers outside of the UK will have to pay a monthly fee to stream videos… just like competing services. But if you’re a fan of British TV and can’t find the most recent episodes of you favorite shows on Netflix or Hulu, the expansion of the iPlayer service could be good news.

via The Next Web

Apple’s GarageBand app for iOS lets users create and edit music on a mobile device. When the app launched last year it was an iPad exclusive. But now Apple has released a major update which allows GarageBand to run on an iPhone or iPod touch as well.

You can use the app to tap out tunes on a virtual keyboard, strum a virtual guitar, tap beats on a virtual drum kit, or use dozens of other virtual instruments. You can also mix songs using up to 8 tracks, create loops, trim audio, or apply other effects. You can either save your song as a digital music file or send a project to a Mac to continue editing in the desktop version of GarageBand.

GarageBand 1.1 for iOS is a universal app that runs most recent iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad models running iOS 4.3 and up. The update also adds new features such as 3/4 or 6/8 time signatures, custom chords for Smart Instruments, and new export quality settings for AAC and AIFF files.

GarageBand for iOS is available from the App Store for $4.99. It weighs in at a hefty 501MB.

Apple has released a new free app called iTunes Movie Trailers, available in the App Store today. The app allows users to find the latest movie trailers and clips in high-def, view a full-year’s worth of movie releases in a calendar, and check out on-set photos for upcoming films.

Though the app centers around the ability to conveniently view the latest cinema-related media, you can also search what’s currently playing at local theaters and purchase tickets directly from your device. The social integration is iOS 5 related, as you can easily email, tweet, and send favorited theaters and media via iCloud to other devices. Read the rest of this entry »

Popular photo-editing app Instagram has been updated to v2.0, adding an overhauled interface, new editing features, and more.

The most significant aspect of this update is its revamp of the app’s editing technology. Besides a much crisper and easier-to-navigate camera UI, it includes an innovative new feature called ‘live filters.’ These are updates to the original photo filters which are now “200x faster” and allow users to see editing effects (filters) and enable or disable borders while taking pictures.

Instagram now also supports high-res images, specifically up to 1936×1936 in the iPhone 4′s Camera Roll app. The selective blur function in the editing process is also “100x faster” than the former version. Pinching, panning and rotating is now much faster while providing more field depth. This is also called “live tilt shift.” The move to ‘real time’ functionality, as opposed to requiring an entirely separate phase for photo editing, is clearly where Instagram is headed.

Instagram v2.0 is available in the App Store for free on all devices running iOS 4.2 and later.

via 9 to 5 Mac

Logitech’s Harmony Link is a new wireless solution designed to provide a one-step remote connection between your mobile device and multimedia system.

The Harmony Link serves as the connectivity piece between your remote (iOS or Android device) and up to eight external devices, including DVRs, Blu-Ray players, TVs and various media streamers. By operating within a dedicated free app (to be released in October,) you control the Harmony Link as it commands the media systems.

In addition, the app is expected to include local TV listings via data provider Rovi, and can be programmed to change channels other device-specific functions according to the date and times of certain shows. While the iPad will be the only device to get full Rovi compatibility at first, which includes full listings of episodes and program guides, the iPhone and Android apps should receive it in the near future.

Logitech will be launching the Harmony Link and its corresponding universal app in October for $100. While the functionality seems to justify the price point, the fact that the Harmony Link is nothing more than a puck-shaped WiFi radio hooked up to five infrared LEDs may put the price into question.

via This Is My Next (The Verge)

Video discovery app Fanhattan for iPad has received a major update, bringing a host of new features and a social dimension. The central update in Fanhattan 1.1 is tight integration with social networks.

Signing into Facebook, for example, will bring recommendations of movies and TV shows ‘Liked’ by your friends in the form of a social graph. Whenever you ‘Like’ something in the app, Fanhattan logs the information with the purpose of building your own personalized recommendations system.

Integration with Twitter, though less advanced, allows users to follow conversations that others are having about particular episodes and movies. The commentary is supposed to serve as an enhancement of the multimedia experience. Fanhattan also added support for Vudu, which is a source for streaming content directly to the iPad’s Safari browser. Vudu is the latest member of Fanhattan’s partners, which include Netflix, Hulu Plus, ABC and iTunes.

Fanhattan’s wide acclaim is attributed to its innovative universal search capability for finding both film and TV content from various websites. The recent update is designed to make it even more easy to use, with the inclusion of a ‘back’ button, as well as the social integration and added content source.

You can download Fanhattan for iPad in the App Store for free.

via Gigaom

Google Music is now available on the iPhone, thanks to a web app. You could always use an iPhone web browser to access the full desktop version of Google’s music streaming service, but the new wep app is optimized for small, touchscreen devices.

The service allows users to store up to 20,000 songs in Google’s cloud database, as well as stream music to various devices. Google Music is free while in beta, although you’ll need to request an invitation to join the service.

The launch of a web app on iOS takes the service’s mobile exclusivity away from Android and makes it easy to quickly access your music in Safari. It supports swiping motions for easy maneuvering, background playback, as well as streaming the full content of your music (which includes album art, playlists, etc.) It also includes a universal search feature, which is extremely convenient for navigating your music library quickly.

via Pocketnow