Let me just say this straight up: this app ain’t for vegetarians, pescatatians, vegans, fruitarians, lacto vegetarians or raw vegans. What we’re talking about here is an app for serious meat lovers.

Quite simply, the FOSS Hamburger Fat Analyzer for iPhone is exactly what it sounds like. First, you grab some ground beef and form it as a patty. Then, take the app and snap a picture approximately 10 cm above the patty in natural lighting (this means that it won’t work in your walk-in meat freezer – the part with natural lighting is important). Then finally, let the app analyze the image and calculate the fat percentage.

The app is remarkably precise – an achievement that can be attributed to the talented folks at FOSS who developed the fat analyzing algorithm. FOSS makes extremely advanced analytical machinery for the food industry, so they know a thing or two about this type of thing.

To embark on your meat scanning hobby, grab the app at the App Store.

Recent studies show that an overwhelming majority of people prefer not to be depressed and lonely. But how do you meet someone in todays fast-paced world? If you’re in Denmark, it may very well be through popular dating site Single.dk, who recently debuted their brand new iPhone app, developed by Novasa.

The development process was an extremely close collaboration between Single.dk and Novasa’s team. In a way, our teams merged during the development of the app, resulting in a fast and effecient creative process.

Design-wise, we wanted to create a wam and modern feel while also retaining the Single.dk brand ID. Additionally, we wanted animation to play a role in gluing the experience together. From the avatar mosaic on the login screen to the parallax scrolling on profile pages, I think we’ve succeeded in making an app that you just want to fiddle with.

And it looks like we’ve done something right. The app is already in the top 10 of the highest grossing apps in the Danish App Store.

Single.dk TV ad featuring the app

Finally we can answer the age old question – what would you look like if you were attacked by an evil brain from outer space? The answer is in the new Brainify app for iPhone and iPad that we’ve developed with the crazy talented people at Advance. The app is based on the popular LEGO Hero Factory universe. Advance has worked with LEGO for more than 35 years, and are the developers of several successful LEGO product lines, including Hero Factory.

Using the app is simple – first, snap a photo of you or someone else, then pick one of six brains, sit back and enjoy your transformation from human (I hope) to space monster!

Developing the app was an immensely complex project, requiring us to work closely with Advance’s 3D artist and creative people to achieve the level of fit and finish and entertainment value associated with the LEGO brand. It also harkened back to our humble beginnings as mobile game developers. All in all, this was a fun project!

Danish App Awards (on which yours truly is a jury member) is Denmark’s biggest celebration of outstanding achievement and excellence in Danish app development. If you’re involved with app making in Denmark, winning a DAA is the ultimate recognition.

In addition to the jury-chosen winners (such as the prestigious App of the Year), a special People’s Choice award is given to an app selected by you, the general populace. To vote for your favorite app, use the DAA app for Android (made by Novasa) or iPhone (made by the nice guys at SHAPE). Happy voting!

Like anything in the universe, apps grow old. That doesn’t necessarily always have to be a bad thing, but in some instances it can be problematic. As smartphone operating systems change and progress, so should the apps that run on them.

This was evidently clear with two of our most popular apps: Copenhagen Airport’s CPH Airport for iPhone and Android. For the former, user interface design trends had evolved since the app’s inception, making it appear stale and old. For the latter, the Android platform had gone through several major OS upgrades, rendering the old app an anachronism in todays Holo world.

For the iOS app, we decided to replace all the standard navigation elements with new, custom designed ones. We also injected a can of Botox in areas such as Flight Details, making it appear younger and hipper. Even the icon has been refined slightly. Furthermore, we added a much requested new feature: Followed Flights. Finally you can have a screen with all the flights that you are following. This is immensely useful for frequent fliers, who rely on the app every week. Additionally, we updated the app to take advantage of the 4-inch display on the new iPhone 5.

So while the iOS app could be brought up to modern standards with a few nicks and tucks, the situation was more severe with the Android app. When the original CPH Airport was released for Android, version 1.6 of the OS was the minimum requirement – as of this writing, we’re on version 4.2! In other words, major reinventions have happened on Android since the 1.6 days.

In addition, Google has addressed one of the major grumbles that developers have complained about for a long time. Finally, Android has a set of coherent user interface guidelines for developers to follow. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is. When the original CPH was released, the UI guidelines from Google was so lacking and visually unpleasant, that we largely had to disregard them. With the new “Holo” theme introduced in Android 4 (but backwards compatible for third party apps), we finally have a beautiful and original UI system to use. With the release of CPH Airport 2.0, we are in full compliance with the guidelines, and honestly, the new app is perhaps one of the most beautiful apps that we have ever created.

So there you have it. The two old ladies that are the iOS and Android versions of CPH Airport are now wrinkle free and just as pretty as the new and younger apps. They’re not kiddy apps anymore, but you wouldn’t want that anyway when your travels depend on them.

If I told you that we have created an app for iPhone that can improve your ability to hear certain frequencies with up to 10%, would you believe me? Well, you should, because through the magic of Threshold Sound Conditioning (TSC), this is possible.

The app works by first testing your hearing to determine if you have a decreased ability to hear certain frequencies. When the test has been completed, you will be able to initiate sound conditioning on any problematic frequencies (upon unlocking the TSC functionality with an in app purchase, of course).

Better Hearing was developed in close collaboration with The Good Ear Company of South Korea, who are the inventors of Threshold Sound Conditioning. The technology behind the app is currently used with great results on hundreds of patients in South Korea and is currently being tested with Stanford University and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. The app recently won the MobileBeat 2012 Smartphone App Competition hosted by VentureBeat.

Better Hearing on the App Store.

We are pleased to introduce a new app and service called Novasa Documents.

So what is it? Well, Novasa Documents is a beautiful, easy-to-use enterprise iPad app that displays documents, presentations, movies, photos and other files that have been set up using the best web-based admin system that we have ever designed.

So what can you use it for? There are many potential use cases, but we think the most popular one is going to be as a presentation tool for sales people, who will be able to show up at sales meetings with a stunning, branded iPad app containing all their sales material. Previously, this type of solution would have to be developed expensively from scratch (and we have done a few of them), but not anymore. Since the app is extremely versatile, it can be modified with any necessary modifications and additional features.

The app itself is so simple and obvious. All your files are represented by large, beautiful icons that resemble the actual content. Navigating your content is so easy and intuitive, that it doesn’t need a manual. Just select a category from the sidebar to view its contents. Tap a file, and it will zoom into view. To share files, simply tap the “Share files” button to select and send files by e-mail. Everything is guided by smooth animations to provide a seamless experience.

The admin system is just as impressive as the app. To add files to the app, just drag them from your desktop into the web page. Give them tags, so that you can easily identify them later on, and then add them to the folder in the app, where you want them to appear. It’s really simple and really intuitive. We did write a manual for the admin system, but we think that most of our customers are going to do just fine without reading it.

We are very pleased to welcome our first two Novasa Documents customers: legendary fashion brand Georg Jensen and Pharmacosmos, the world-leader in treatment of iron deficiencies. This means that despite being brand new, Novasa Documents is already being used on a large scale by two global companies, making it a market-leading solution from day 1 in terms of usage.

Novasa Documents is available as a fully hosted solution, enabling you to get going in hours, or as a solution that you can host yourself. Both are extremely competitively priced and include integration of your brand identity in the app. To hear more, please contact us.

Also, check out our Novasa Documents product page where you can also download a demo of the iPad app.

It’s not often that we get the opportunity to take an existing app and rethink it completely from the ground up. However, that is what we have done with the brand new version of Copenhagen Airports’ CPH Airport for Windows Phone.

The user interface has been completely redesigned for Microsoft’s beautiful Metro-style design language. We have worked really hard to make an app that is 100% Metro while also having an unmistaken CPH look and feel. It turned out that a design language inspired by airport signage works really well for an airport app! The result is an application that looks just amazing, especially on the gorgeous new Lumia handsets from Nokia.

The app includes all the same popular features as its iPhone, Android, MeeGo and Symbian siblings, such as waiting time in security, flight info with flight updates through push notifications, a shopping and eating guide with user reviews, maps, plus much more.

Now, wouldn’t it be great if you could easily follow your flight without launching the app? Well, now you can. Just select ‘Pin to start’ on any flight to add it as a live tile to your start screen, and it will automatically update in the background with minimal battery usage.

In closing, we would like to thank our friends at Microsoft and Nokia for their support during the development of the app.

You can get CPH Airport right here on Windows Marketplace.

One question that pops up again and again from prospective clients is this: “Should we make a native app for each platform, or just a web app or cross-compiled app that can run on any platform?” In fact, if I had a Greek bond every time someone asked us this, I would be able to purchase a small glass of beer.

So, before we get started on what you should and shouldn’t do, let’s examine the three primary types of app development technologies for a moment:

Native apps: Developed in the native programming language for each platform that the app is made available for. If you want to make the app for both iOS and Android, you’ll need to do most of the coding twice since they use different programming languages.

Web apps: It’s a diplomatic way of saying that it’s a website. The obvious upside is that you can support all platforms without having to do the work all over for each operating system.

Cross-compiled apps: They’re written in one common programming language (such as JavaScript) but with a special development tool, they’re compiled natively for multiple platforms.

To the untrained beholder, web apps and cross-compiled apps sound mighty tempting. Being able to support multiple platforms by writing an app once sounds almost too good to be true, and unfortunately, I am here to tell you that it is.

Design

First, there’s design. Design is important. It’s how you interact with the app, and it’s how the app interacts with you. Since all platforms look, feel and work differently, great apps need to be designed specifically for the platforms they are appearing on.

Designing an app one time and then using the same design on all platforms will almost certainly result in an awful experience for your users. For example, Android users are usually less than stoked to use an app that looks and behaves exactly like an iPhone app, and vice versa. It’s even more pronounced with Windows Phone’s Metro interface, which is very different from all other platforms on the market. Android 4.0 has also taken a step further away from its iPhone-inspired roots towards a more unique look and feel. This makes it pretty intolerable to reuse the same user experience across multiple platforms.

You could of course create a design that looks nothing like any platform. That way you don’t offend anyone, right? Well, as we see it, you might offend everyone, since you will end up with something that looks nothing like an app.

This is very much a usability issue. An iPhone user will instantly know how to use a good iPhone app, but an app that does not adhere to the iOS Human Interface Guidelines will likely lead to frustration. The same goes for Android and Windows Phone, and as these platforms evolve in separate directions, this divide in user experience methodology is only going to increase, making one size fits all solutions less and less adept.

There are of course design elements and concepts that can be used across platforms, but the point is that if you want to be taken seriously, you need to respect the design languages and navigational methods of the various platforms.

Web apps

The primary upside of doing web apps is that web development skills are much more common among coders. However, while it may be tempting to base large projects entirely on web content, we advice against it.

As any experienced web developer will know, web projects quickly grow in complexity as more and more functionality is added. Making very small and limited apps web based may work out alright in terms of development time, but larger projects quickly become much more complex compared to similar apps written in native code, where new functionality can quickly be added.

Also note that when writing native apps, we get a lot of the UI elements that users take for granted for free: lists, menus, transitions, etc. When writing web apps, you have to do all these elements manually. And since the various platforms look and work differently, you may end up spending a LOT of time developing all these basic things from scratch, that you would get for “free” if you made your project as a native app. This is time that could have been used on making user-facing functionality that you are now spending on making these very basic elements. And even with hours and hours poured into replicating native UI interaction in your web app, it will still not look and behave with the same feel and fluidity as a native app. It is simply not possible to achieve this with current browser technology. This may change in the future, but we need to act according to how things are today and for the forseeable future.

Cross-compiled apps

So, if web app development does not provide a good way of making beautiful and advanced apps on multiple platforms, then maybe development of cross-compiled apps do? There are several different tools that can be used to make cross-compiled apps. One of the most popular ones is Appcelerator Titanium. Using mainstream programming languages such as JavaScript, developers are able to write apps once for multiple platforms that are executed natively on the supported platforms.

This sounds great, but in reality it is not so fantastic. One of the many issues with this approach is that you are technically limited by the boundaries of the cross-compiler’s framework. If Apple, Google or Microsoft releases a cool new feature for developers to utilize, then you can’t use it until the vendor of the cross-compiler implements support for it. This means that cross-compilers are mostly unusable for more than very simple apps. If you want to make something that is cutting-edge, you will run into these boundaries rather quickly. With the rapid development of mobile OS’es, this means that you are always one step behind developers of native apps.

Additionally, if there are bugs in the compiler, resulting in bugs in your software, there is nothing that you can do about it. This is why we (and other skilled developers) tend to advice strongly against making apps this way. It is simply not desirable to invest time and money in an app that is entirely dependent on a third party, based on a technology that is one step away from the platform vendor.

Also, just as with web apps, cross-compiled apps simply do not feel right. It may not be evidently obvious to many of your users, but they will notice that your app feels laggy and unpolished, since the sort of manic optimization and polish that makes a good app great isn’t something that lends to the way that these cross-compilers are used. And since the bar for great UI design is constantly going upwards, it is getting more and more difficult to make competitive apps using these tools.

Conclusion

So how does traditional native app development stack up against these alternative approaches? With development of native apps, you will:

• Be closer to the core of the operating system enabling you to utilize the latest hardware and OS functionality
• Be able to make more advanced apps that scale better without becoming too complex to manage
• Be able to optimize your app so that it runs great on older devices
• Be able to more easily ensure an optimal design and user experience for each individual smartphone platform.

In addition, Apple, Google and Microsoft are more likely to highlight your app on their stores if you make a beautiful native app. In fact, most OS vendors tend to steer away from apps that are the products of cutting corners.

So unless you want to spend a substantial amount of money on an app that performs worse, is not as beautiful, not as user-friendly, not as stable, and forces you to work with limited functionality set forth by a third party, then we advice you to make a native app.

How much can you tell in a 10 second video? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Nokia just launched Amazing Everyday Shortstories as part of its Nokia Lumia 800 launch. 100 celebrities and bloggers were given a Lumia 800 with a nifty app pre-installed, allowing them to record byte sized videos of exactly 10 seconds. Their task is to use the app (developed by us together with Naked) to capture everyday situations of interest, and post them to Nokia’s YouTube channel. When the experiment is finished, all the clips will be edited into 3 movies by 3 prominent directors. Check it out here.

Do you enjoy information technology? Do you dislike dull working enviroments? If so, we might have a job for you!

We are looking for skilled mobile developers to join us in creating the world’s most beautiful and successful mobile apps.

We are primarily looking for great full-time iOS developers, but experience with Android and Windows Phone is a big plus. It’s very design-focused work, so if you are used to implementing pixel perfect designs, that is a big plus as well.

If you think that you have what it takes, then drop os a line on jobs@novasa.com.

I am pleased to tell you about something called Television. It is sort of like a gramophone, only it is live and has pictures appearing on a displayscreen. On Television there are shows, and sometimes it can be hard to remember when something of interest is broadcast through the air or cables. This is why you need the great new tvtid app for your Nokia N9 or Symbian touch device. The app gives you TV listings for pretty much any channel imaginable in addition to summaries and the ability to easily schedule reminders in the calendar (only on the N9). You can get this app for N9/MeeGo here and for Symbian over here.

Note that our Symbian app is a completely new app, but released as an update to the old tvtid app that was not developed by Novasa. This means that our new app has inherited all the user reviews from the old app on Ovi Market.

In the smartphone world, Symbian users are known to miss planes constantly. “I don’t have a reliable, good source for flight information” they say. However, that excuse is of no relevancy henceforth. As of this moment, Symbian users will miss planes no more, as CPH Airport is now available for the veteran smartphone platform (the 4th supported platform so far). To be precise, it is compatible with Symbian Anna, which runs on handsets such as the Nokia N8. The app contains the same dynamite features as its MeeGo counterpart, including the popular Guide section. You can obtain this splendid piece of digital software via this “HYPER-LINK”.

The Android community (and Planet Earth in general) has been blessed with an awesome new app: Momondo Flight Search for Android! The app contains pretty much the same palette of features as its critically acclaimed iPhone counterpart: the ability to find the lowest air fares in a nice and simple interface, filter results according to your odd requirements, save offers for later perusal, send offers by electronic post or even carry out the booking right on your mobile terminal!

The app is available right now on Android Market.

We’re pleased to introduce TV 2 GO’, the official app of Denmark’s favorite morning and evening shows. Compatible with cellular telephones running iOS or Android, the app offers the ability to read the latest articles from go.tv2.dk in addition to watch clips from the shows.

Missed the recipe for that green bean pudding? No problem! The iPhone app has a complete recipe section, with all the great recipes from the show. Now, hold on to your glasses, because it even has a shopping list, allowing you easily track when you have purchased an ingredient for the night’s dinner. No more buying the same ingredient multiple times!

You can download the app wirelessly through the “Internet” on the iPhone App Store or Android Market right now.

When we started Novasa in 2004, the world of mobile software was very different.

The mobile user interfaces back then were pretty awful. Usability was non-existing and most apps looked like they had been crafted by a 4th grader. And so, we hoped that we could improve mobile software just a tiny bit. As Mac users and Steve Jobs fanboys, we were obviously inspired by his sense of style and usability, and that influenced us a lot.

The biggest problem, however, was the business side of things. Downloading mobile software was something that was relegated to the biggest nerds, and not something casual users would do. So while we were lucky to have a few good customers, it was still very much a niche. However, we never lost the belief that mobile software was the future, and something worth sticking to.

So when Steve announced the iPhone in 2007, we were pretty sceptical. Sure, the user interface was the coolest thing we had ever seen, but where were the third-party software? Did Steve Jobs dislike mobile software? We were curious, because we sure would love to develop for it.

However, in March 2008, things changed. Apple announced a developer kit for the iPhone, allowing developers to produce third-party apps. Also, they announced the App Store.

I don’t think anyone could estimate the impact of these announcements at the time, but of course, they would go on to make a tiny geeky industry into something huge that everyone knows. We would go from wondering if we would have enough projects the next week to working with some of our country’s largest and most beloved companies.

Steve Jobs has transformed too many industries to count, but we are truly thankful that he transformed ours.

We’re happy to announce the immediate release of two great new apps for Nokia’s beautiful N9 handset: TV 2 Vejret for TV 2 and CPH Airport for Copenhagen Airports.

With TV 2 Vejret, we have tried to realize a weather app that we would actually like to use ourselves. With its design roots planted firmly in the minimalist Harmattan interface, the app enables users both to quickly glance current weather conditions, but also to see detailed per-hour forecasts for the next 48 hours and a 14 day outlook. Also, users can read weather-related news and view the latest video forecast from TV 2 NEWS.

CPH Airport for the N9 is completely reimagined for the N9′s user interface, fully utilizing the extra screen real estate. This has resulted in an extremely minimalistic and elegant look and feel. The app includes all the most important features from the Android and iPhone versions, including subscribing to flight updates, a full shopping and eating guide with user reviews, maps and a security checklist.

I’d like to specially thank Nokia for their great support in the development of these apps.

It is with great pleasure that we announce to the Internet that our experimental iPad game Slingball, previously sold for a hefty $0.99, will be free of charge going forward.

Slingball takes you deep inside “CYBER SPACE” in a world where reckless “bits” and “bytes” rule like gangs of thugs. Ok, I might be overselling it slightly. In truth, Slingball is a relatively simple ball game for two human players that can be quite fun occasionally. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: This app was developed as a regular paid client project. The opinions of Socialdemokraterne or its members do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Novasa or its employees.

We’re thrilled to announce the release of the official app of Socialdemokraterne, Denmark’s largest center-left party. The app will get you a quick overview of opinions on key topics, future events, candidates across the country, news, volunteer activity, integration with their Facebook app, and more. We worked really hard together with Komfo (who did the Facebook app) to make a super slick app – much slicker than you would probably expect from a political party.

Now, the elections came sort of as a surprise (we expected it about a month later), so the version you see on the App Store today is a scaled-down version compared to the original concept, but we hope to release an updated version with more functionality before election day.

Update: It’s not often that a major 1.1 update is published just two weeks after the initial release. But on the political scene, things need to happen in a snappy manner. And besides, how useful is an election-themed app after the elections? Probably as useful as a clown suit after Halloween.

Socialdemokraterne 1.1 offer a bunch of cool stuff, like the awesome Se og del section (View and Share), which lets users view videos and share photos with other users. The point here is that the shared photographs are to be of relevancy in an election context. So no naughty stuff, please!

Apart from this, you can now view the candidates’ Facebook Places check-ins and engage in political debate in the “Debat” section.

Update 2: The elections are over, so this campaign app is now fairly irrelevant. Therefore, it has temporarily been removed from the App Store while a more permanent non-election version is being planned.

We are happy to announce the release of MJK Automatik’s new app for iOS and Android. MJK is a leading provider of controller equipment for water pumps, known for valuing the userfriendliness of their products, which is atypical in an industry where user friendly means that you will not die by electrocution when flipping the wrong switch. You may not be into the world of water pump controller and measuring equipment, but if you were, this day would be of similar importance as the day of your own birth!

While MJK’s competitors are betting on large displays with wonky user interfaces for showing data on their controllers, MJK had the incredible foresight of using smartphone apps instead. This is a fantastic example of how great software on commodity hardware can provide a much better and more cost-efficient experience than custom hardware.