Daily iPhone App: Ion Racer crashes through for SGN

Ion Racer is the latest title from SGN, which is a collection companies assembled by MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe. I recently met with DeWolfe, who shared his thoughts on social networking. While it propelled MySpace and music in the beginning (around 2008), DeWolfe had suspicions about where it was going. “What really came to mind,” he said, “was gaming.” Today, the App Store generates billions of dollars a year, and a big chunk of that comes from games. DeWolfe was right.

DeWolfe has since formed up SGN (out of Mindjolt and a few other casual gaming companies) to move a few big social and mobile titles forward, and “roll up a bunch of companies that really are synergistic.” SGN will release several titles this year (in addition to the successful Lil Flippers and Fluff Friends Rescue), including Ion Racer.

Ion Racer is a casual racing game with an endless runner/Jetpack Joyride style. You race a futuristic car along the track using the tilt controls, blasting through barriers to get a boost of speed or increased health.

There are three main missions to complete, and the overall goal is to earn “Kions” to improve your car and gain perks. Ion Racer plays fast and loose. The controls aren’t as tight as they could be, but the game is so easy to restart that you’re never too concerned about losing any one time. There’s a fair amount of depth in the racing as well, so if you really practice at it, you can get pretty good as you climb up through the missions.

DeWolfe did tell me that devices like the iPhone are a big draw for companies like his, the App Store is “so frictionless in terms of buying items in the game.” Indeed, Ion Racer is heavily driven by in-app purchases. You can earn the currency through races, obviously, but there’s also a screen just waiting to take your money if you’d rather purchase perks and upgrades. Ion Racer is currently 99 cents on the App Store, and it’s worth the buck, but I suspect that with in-app purchases placed so prominently in the app, it’s only a matter of time before things go freemium.

It certainly sounds like DeWolfe has his work cut out for him, but he and his company have a solid foundation if they can keep releasing games like this one.

Daily iPhone App: Ion Racer crashes through for SGN originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anime Studio 8.1 is great animation software for beginners

At Macworld | iWorld 2012, I had the chance to sit down with the folks behind Smith Micro’s Anime Studio and discuss the latest update to its Anime Studio animation suite. Anime Studio 8.1 allows support for Wacom multi-touch tablets, the first of its kind for a piece of animation software. After Macworld, they sent me a Wacom Bamboo Capture so I could try the software out for myself.

Anime Studio is a vector-based program designed to make the transition to doing your own animation a bit easier. The program assumes you know very little about the animation process, and will ask if you want to enter beginner or standard mode.

I went for the beginner mode and was treated to a very nice, robust tutorial and a pre-made character designed to teach me how everything worked. There were guides cueing me into showing me what parts of the character I could move, and it took very little time to make a crude animation. The amount of flexibility in the program is impressive, and I even had part of my character’s face separated from the rest for awhile!

Using the Wacom was especially nice in freehand mode to do doodles, but I will leave the majority of the serious artwork to my comics partner. I would love to see what Isa could do with Anime Studio. I wouldn’t recommend the Wacom to a very young child who isn’t quite sure of all the controls, but a middle-schooler would be absolutely fine. One of Smith Micro’s goals is to get Anime Studio into more schools, and I wish there had been something like this when I was in school.

There’s two flavors of Anime Studio: The Pro version runs $199.99 and the Debut version is $49.99. Both are available as 30-day trials, so if you’re interested in flexing your animation wings, this is great animation software to help you get started.

Check out the video below from Macworld | iWorld 2012 to see the Wacom tablet in action in Anime Studio.

Anime Studio 8.1 is great animation software for beginners originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Physics of Angry Birds updated for Space

Ah, remember the early days of Angry Birds? Back when we were still fascinated by those frustrated feathered creatures and the hogs they so vehemently want to take down? That’s when writer and physicist Rhett Allain published his original “Physics of Angry Birds” article, which used the original game to examine some real-life physics theory and equations.

Now, Allain is back to take a look at the Angry Birds Space sequel/spinoff/update and the physics contained therein. As you might imagine, there’s quite a bit to work with here — the Space version includes gravity around smaller planets, so Allain is able to actually go through the various equations that govern movement between two different bodies.

It’s a nice long read (especially interesting if you’re into math and physics, of course), but basically Allain finds that the birds aren’t really dealing with gravity, just a coded representation of such. And perhaps more interestingly, Allain also says that the Space version of the birds contains pretty much, in a physics sense, the same slingshot as the original version. This makes sense (it’s easier to code, obviously, having already done it once), but it also means that even though birds are floating through space in the spinoff, and flying across the ground in the first title, they’re still starting with that same initial speed and force in both.

[via MacStories]

The Physics of Angry Birds updated for Space originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon 5D Mark II surpasses iPhone 4 as Flickr’s most popular camera

Mashable notes this morning that the iPhone is no longer the most popular camera used by Flickr users. That honor now goes to the Canon 5D Mark II. Canon’s numbers have been rising for months, and pics from that Canon model totaled 4,643 yesterday. The iPhone 4 users posted 4,460. The iPhone 4 was the number one image contributor when rankings were released last June.

There’s one thing to take into consideration. The iPhone numbers only reflect the use of the Apple provided camera app. If you’re using Instagram or Hipstamatic or any of the 3rd party HDR apps your photos won’t be tagged as iPhone images.

Canon recently lowered the price of the 5D Mark II because its been replaced by the Mark III, so some of the boost comes from that. Also, numbers for the iPhone 4 are dropping as the iPhone 4S grows in popularity.

Looking at the trends the 4S may be on top soon, and as it is now, the iPhone holds the top 4 spots for camera phones on the Flickr tally. So there’s that.

Canon 5D Mark II surpasses iPhone 4 as Flickr’s most popular camera originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google to launch online store for Android tablets

While Apple is enjoying huge levels of success with the new iPad, Google has recorded dissapointing sales of tablets running Android OS. In order to boost sales Google is reportedly planning to rollout an online store by the end of 2012, the store will sell tablets running Android OS.

According to The Wall Street Journal  the internet search giant’s plans are similar to the short-lived online sales model of the company’s 2010 Nexus One handset only much more similar to the online portion of the Apple Store.

It is not known when the store will officially make its debut, and the sources are unclear as to which Android tablet makers will be taking part in the endeavor.

What do you think, will an online store be able to save the dwindling sales of Android Tablets?

Spotify lifts track limits on free accounts, struggles to stand out in streaming market

Good news for European fans of the streaming music service Spotify: The company has lifted the five-track replay limit per day for users of the free service in Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Spain. Additionally, US users will get their current six-month free trial extended, but it’s not yet clear just how long that trial will last. Presumably, Spotify is seeing a lot of action from free users, both on the desktop and with its mobile app, and now the company’s challenge is going to be to keep these free users around.

Personally, I am fully on board with music streaming as the way of the future. I honestly can’t remember the last time I downloaded an mp3 and before that, can’t remember the last time I actually bought a CD. I’ve been using Spotify, Pandora, and Slacker, all in different places for different reasons. Among those three, there hasn’t been any music that I’ve wanted to listen to but haven’t found.

But for each of these companies, their goal going forward will have to be to become the standard. Right now, with each of these competing services, there are reasons for and against using them, with the most likely divider being that one of them is just the one you’re used to using, or the one you heard about first. Until they come up with a really clear difference (such as, for example, a really great free program that is somehow monetized in a creative way), we’ll continue to see these services struggle to reach a dominant spot.

[via TNW]

Spotify lifts track limits on free accounts, struggles to stand out in streaming market originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhoto 9.2.3 out now

Not too much in this one — the latest update to iPhoto is mainly just stability fixes. There is one mentioned issue that causes iPhoto quitting when dealing with multiple user accounts on the system, but otherwise everything else is just smoothing out the app.

iPhoto 9.2.3 is now available in your local Software Update, or directly from Apple’s site!

iPhoto 9.2.3 out now originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bioshock 2 for Mac (finally) out now

Better late than never, I guess. Bioshock 2 has finally (more than two years after the PC release) arrived on the Mac as a port from Feral Interactive. This one is the sequel to the classic title from Ken Levine (who’s currently working on the next game in the series, Bioshock Infinite), and while it’s not quite as good as the original, it does add some new elements to the gameplay, and if nothing else, will return you to Rapture, the ruined underwater city that’s been one of the most fascinating settings in video games over the last decade or so.

This version also contains the Fall of Rapture multiplayer game, so you can face off against other players online if you like. The price is $30.99, and you can grab the game from Feral Interactive directly, or pick it up on the Mac App Store.

Bioshock 2 for Mac (finally) out now originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fair Labor Association finds multiple violations at Foxconn facilities

The Fair Labor Association has announced the first results of its Foxconn investigation. The report documents more than 50 violations or policy gaps including excessive overtime, unpaid wages and low salaries that can’t cover the workers’ basic necessities. The results in this report came from a survey of workers in Foxconn’s Chinese facilities earlier this year.

Apple responded by saying, “We appreciate the work the FLA has done to assess conditions at Foxconn, and we fully support their recommendations. We think empowering workers and helping them understand their rights is essential.” You can read the entire report at the FLA’s website.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

Fair Labor Association finds multiple violations at Foxconn facilities originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No comment: iPhone money clip

Yeah, here’s the way to make your iPhone even more attractive to thieves. Add a money clip to it, and then make sure that you put a wad of cash or a couple of credit cards in the clip.

The Poddities Money Clip for iPhone 4 (US$32.80) is available now and comes complete with a screwdriver to glom this clip right onto your iPhone. That way, when the thieves go to grab your credit card and folding money, they can be sure to take the iPhone at the same time.

No comment: iPhone money clip originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lion’s Auto Save vs. Save As

Apple’s OS X Lion introduced Auto Save, and eliminated the Save As feature from several apps as a result. Not everyone is happy about the switch, including Pierre at Betalogue:

I have already talked about the totally unnecessary (in my view) elimination of the ‘Save As…’ command in Apple applications, including the iWork suite. The ‘Duplicate’ command that replaces it is simply not a good enough replacement, and the change irremediably breaks well-established workflows that cannot be adapted to the new command.”

Amen, Pierre. He goes on to illustrate the various stumbling blocks that Auto Save and its Duplicate feature introduced. It’s worth a read.

[Via Daring Fireball]

Lion’s Auto Save vs. Save As originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nielsen: Smartphones dominate US phone purchases

A new report from Nielsen suggests the US is quickly becoming a smartphone nation. As of February 2012, almost half of all mobile subscribers (49.7 percent) own a smartphone. This is up from 36 percent recorded this time last year.

People are buying new smartphones at an amazing clip with more than two-thirds of new buyers choosing a smartphone over a feature phone in the last three months. The breakdown of recent buyers (last three months) by platform shows that Android is the leader with 48 percent of smartphone owners saying they purchased an Android device, while 43 percent of smartphone owners grabbed an iPhone.

Nielsen: Smartphones dominate US phone purchases originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I am become Middle Schooler, destroyer of Macs

I spent the morning dealing with the fact that my beloved daughter has killed yet another Hackintosh. It’s not exactly her fault. For example, the drive outlived its years. The power connector on the device-side is broken, too. Neither one was worth fixing — especially given the years of service we got out of the devices and our max investment of about US$300 (outside of OS and software purchases).

So here she is, a middle schooler, with the need to do research and writing, organize her homework, and perform light email duties.

I don’t want to deal with the headaches of hackintoshing a new system — much as I love our Hackintoshes, it’s such a pain to do Sys Admin for them.

When considering a similarly-priced, used Apple laptop, we’re looking at 2006-vintage MacBooks, bought over eBay or similar, from untrusted vendors. I really don’t want to go there.

And so it occurred to me: how about an iPad? Could she do all her light computing, research, and writing (she’s a terrible typist, so we’re not talking about a big step down in efficiency) using a 1st or 2nd generation iPad? Over at Apple’s refurb store, the 1st gen starts at $300, the 2nd at just $350.

So I pitch the idea to her. I asked her about possibly using an iPad in place of a laptop and suddenly she perked up — SURE! As long as she can print. Can she print? And I am all “Yes, you can print.” And here she is, not just a little enthusiastic, but basically over the moon with the idea.

I’m getting concerned here — that level of enthusiasm seems out of line. What does she know that I don’t? Is it that her Hackintosh doesn’t have as many games as an iPad? That it doesn’t offer as much engagement or fun?

So I’m turning this over to the TUAW braintrust. Am I being an insane mother considering providing my child with a full-time iPad in place of a laptop? You tell me.

I’ve added a poll here and the comments follow after. Please jump in and lend me the wisdom of the TUAW readership braintrust.

View Poll

I am become Middle Schooler, destroyer of Macs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iTunes, Sony PlayStation Network targeted in suit

Another day and another patent lawsuit. Today, we have a new lawsuit from investor Benjamin Grobler who claims Apple’s iTunes and Sony’s PlayStation network induce customers to violate his “data vending system” patent, says a report in Computerworld.

Grobler’s US patent describes a data vending system which stores digitized music and/or video and/or computer programs on one or more main computers in a data depot. The data depot stores details about customers and the data they have purchased or rented. There’s also a data dispensing device that ties into the data depot.

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California and asks for a judgement that Apple infringed and continues to infringe on this patent. It also seeks damages which will decided upon during the trial.

iTunes, Sony PlayStation Network targeted in suit originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Removing walls: how the iPad inspires new content creation

Yesterday, I spent some time debating about why keyboards and iPads didn’t mix well. Many users find that iOS is not ideal for office tasks like writing and editing books, creating complex spreadsheets — in fact, many typing-intense tasks are slower on the iPad or iPhone than on a conventional computer (aside from the fact that the best computer is the one you have with you).

iPad’s design philosophy incurs some unavoidable compromises for many, despite successful word-centric apps like Apple’s Pages, lean Markdown/research tools like Writing Kit, remote PC solutions like CloudOn or Onlive Desktop, or the revelations of mobile knowledge workers like Technologizer’s Harry McCracken, who has made the leap to 80/20 iPad use on a daily basis. Adding a keyboard, in my opinion, simply transforms the iPad from a superior touch-based system to a less-capable typing-based one.

To complain about the iPad’s relative weakness for office tasks, however, is to miss where the iPad excels: in enabling new and revolutionary creation efforts. Compare GarageBand on the Mac versus the same app on the iPad. The technology has advanced so much that we’re at a point where we can now simplify things in new ways.

To stretch a metaphor, it’s like moving from an electric guitar with all its amps and dials and hook-ups back to an acoustic system, where you can just strum it directly. With the iPad, it’s just you and the strings, making music together. It’s simple, it’s direct, it’s beautiful.

People are passionate about interacting with content creation tools on their iPad. From music to art, from photos to sculpture, the iPad offers a new creative language through touch.

iOS places far fewer conceptual “walls” between users and content. Babies and cats know how to touch — they act intuitively and the device responds accordingly. That natural correspondence helps explain why the usability of these devices has exploded.

The Mac — and all personal computers, to a greater or lesser degree — presents layers of abstraction between users and the interface. Users have to learn to interact. Whether through a keyboard, or a mouse, or just by figuring out how to navigate a hierarchical menu system, nothing is necessarily intuitive. The iPad allows developers to strip abstractions away and create a physical reality that’s just a tiny sliver of glass away from you.

Look at the beauty and variety of iOS software currently available on the App Store. Mac offerings, however worthy, just can’t match this extent and assortment. So why didn’t the Mac build things as beautiful? Why is iOS making this renaissance?

I’m of the opinion that moving to a true direct manipulation interface, where users touch their content, has created a more natural connection with that content. Abstraction and metaphor have fallen away before concrete physicality.

Instead of drawing on a Wacom tablet, or moving a mouse on its pad, or clicking on a keyboard, the iPad screen means developers can express creation tasks more imaginatively. Their interface vocabulary has become more tangible, solely due to the tablet hardware.

Add in the huge new customer base that’s been drawn to an affordable tablet (compare and contrast with even the lowest-end Apple laptops) and Apple’s commitment to human design considerations, and the developer base has a huge incentive to focus on creating luscious software that’s a pleasure to interact with.

The types and scale of content creation continue to grow, with new apps debuting daily that continue to push the limits on the kinds and quality of data that can be built, manipulated, and finessed on the iPad.

None of them, however, seems to do the grinding job of writing out large quantities of text and meticulously editing them after. Even when you take voice dictation into account, a favorite new iPad feature for many of us, there’s still plenty of work left to do on our old “general computing” machines, not the least of which is the development, debugging, and deployment of apps to new iPads.

While the iPad inspires new content creation, trying to fit it into doing old content creation workflows remains problematic. For me, and I speak only of myself, I’ve learned to leave the external keyboard at home.

When the iPad travels with me, it offers its compromise of usage: brilliant apps and fun games that work with its touch interface, but a much slowed-down toolchain for writing and a non-existent pathway for app development.

I often take advantage of it’s mindmapping and sketching tools to lay out ideas, but my “real work” will happen back at the office. I don’t think the South Park guys will be switching to iPads any time soon either. As wonderful as iPad content creation is, it’s not the solution for everyone.

So what’s your workflow? Are you using the iPad to create content for your job? Drop a note in the comments and let us know whether the iPad is your go-to for fun or for getting the job done.

Removing walls: how the iPad inspires new content creation originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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