Category: I-phone

The server switch I mentioned in the previous blog post has now been completed but there are a couple of small issues John is chasing down at the moment. One of them is that emails being sent from Particle Designer or Glyph Designer have an incorrect email shown as to who the email is from. […]

We are currently in the middle of switching servers. The DNS on the domain name is currently changing, so you may be sent to different servers while this propagates. If you post a comment and it suddenly disappears, then you may have been switched, so you will need to post again. Apologies for this inconvenience. […]

John is currently working on moving 71Squared to a new host. This will significantly improve the speed of the site and give us more flexibility and control as well. We are aiming for this to be done with little to no disruption to the website, but as with everything like this gremlins can creep in […]

I am a coffee lover. I spend a great deal of time in my local coffee shop working. I like the coffee and the atmosphere and it gets me out of my home office when I can’t stand looking at the same walls anymore. This love of coffee has now officially extended to the Cappuccino […]

It’s been a while since I released Tutorial 14 and I’ve had some very nice as well as some not so nice requests to keep them coming and to know when tutorial 15 will be released. For this reason I wanted to post about where I am with tutorials and my current plans for the […]

We have this evening released Glyph Designer 1.4.2. This release addresses an issue when running Glyph Designer on OS X 10.7 Lion that caused Glyph Designer to crash during startup. Applying this update will fix the issue and allow you to work with Glyph Designer in Lion uninterrupted :o) Mike Share:

As you will know OS X Lion is soon to be with us and we have therefore been testing both Particle Designer and Glyph Designer on the GM version to make sure things are working OK. The good news is that Particle Designer works great on Lion so when you upgrade you’ll be able to […]

I’d like to share a few more readers games. “Knockdown” by Jens Schmitz. Jens is a 14 year old who has been following 71Squared for a while and who has now released his first app store game. This is a physics based game that sees the player trying to shoot blocks off of platforms to […]

I’ve been sent details of some new readers games that I’d like to share. If you have sent me your game and not seen it mentioned yet drop me another note and I’ll add it to the list. With moving machines and a recent crash I’ve lost some emails so can’t be sure I’ve included […]

The flow of new iPad cases and stands continues unabated here at TUAW Labs, where I’m making room for the next round of goodies by boxing up what I’ve reviewed over the past few months and shipping it to NYC for the Engadget meetup. In order to get a few more into the box, I’m taking a look at the G-Form Extreme Sleeve 2 (US$69.95), Bracketron iTilt stand ($19.95), and ZooGue Case Genius for iPad 2 ($49.99). The nice thing about these three iPad accessories is that they all have something innovative and unique to make them stand out from the crowd.

G-Form Extreme Sleeve 2

The first thing I have to say about the G-Form Extreme Sleeve 2 is that it is, at least to my eyes, butt-ugly. The second thing is that despite the looks, it’s probably one of the best protective sleeves that I’ve seen for the iPad.

As you can see from the photo below, the Extreme Sleeve 2 comes in a eye-jarringly bright yellow with a flexible armor that would be more at home on a Navy SEAL than an iPad. Fortunately for those of us with sensitive eyes, G-Form also makes the Extreme Sleeve 2 in a more sedate black.

It’s the armor that counts here, though, and this would be perfect for carrying an iPad or iPad 2 around to construction sites, campsites, college dorms, kindergartens, or other potential disaster areas where a broken iPad is just a slip away.

The Extreme Sleeve 2 uses a material called PORON XRD that stiffens and absorbs energy from impacts to protect your iPad. This material is also water-resistant, and it’s surprisingly lightweight. How good is the protection? Well, answer this question — will your iPad sleeve protect your iPad against the impact of a 12-lb. bowling ball being dropped from a three-foot height?

If you’re going for sleek style, look elsewhere, but if you want to protect your iPad, the G-Form Extreme Sleeve 2 is probably right for you.

Bracketron iTilt

I wrote about this product a little over a week ago, but I wanted to bring it up again. Why? Because it’s rare to find a product that is both inexpensive and does one job very well. For $20, you’re getting a very adjustable and sturdy iPad stand that folds flat for transport. For those of us who like our Smart Covers and don’t want to have buy some expensive, fancy case with a folding leg that pops out of the back, this is perfect for using the iPad hands-free.

I just wish the iTilt had one feature built into it — a Google+ “plus” button or a Facebook “Like” button.

ZooGue Case Genius for iPad 2

I’ve been a big fan of ZooGue’s iPad cases since Macworld Expo 2011, when the company seemed to be giving them away to everyone in sight. Frankly, they did a good job of marketing the case by doing so, as they made it easy for a lot of the Apple press to get their hands on one of the most versatile iPad cases on the market.

The second-generation (perhaps third?) Case Genius is now available for iPad 2, and it still beats most of the competition in terms of being able to do a lot of tasks very well. Want a portfolio case that adjusts to a huge range of angles? It’ll do that. Want a case with a hand strap so you can carry the iPad around while you do your rounds in the hospital? Yep, the Case Genius can do it. How about a case that you can strap to the car headrest so the kids can watch a movie while you’re driving? Case Genius does it.

The Velcro-covered leather case has improved as time has gone by, and the company obviously responds positively to owner comments. The ZooGue Case Genius for iPad 2 definitely wins the prize for “iPad case most likely to be used everywhere in your life.”

Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised with all three of these iPad accessories, since all of them bring something unique and innovative to the table. The ZooGue Case Genius is priced less than other cases or stands that have much less capability, the Bracketron iTilt takes up very little space when folded and is actually reasonably priced, and the G-Force Extreme Sleeve 2 can literally take a pounding.

Stay tuned to TUAW this weekend for several reviews of other innovative accessories for iOS devices.

iPad cases and stands: The few, the proud, the innovative originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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id’s Rage app went free earlier on this week, and that seems to have inspired a little avalanche of free and discounted apps on the App Store. Good news for us, of course: There are quite a few solid apps to pick up if you haven’t yet.

• Trucks and Skulls Nitro is now free and so is the HD version for a limited time.
• Retro platformer Pix ‘n’ Love Rush is down to just 99 cents.
• Firemint’s Real Racing is down to just cents as well, and the sequel, usually $6.99, is down to $2.99. The HD version is $4.99, a couple bucks less than usual.
• Halfbrick’s great dualstick shooter Age of Zombies is 99 cents right now.
• Capcom’s Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting just got a big update, and to celebrate, the price has dropped to $1.99.
• And Namco released a game called Rally-x Rumble that I haven’t yet played, but it is on sale for 99 cents. Looks like a solid title!
• Gameloft’s Spider-man: Total Mayhem is 99 cents.
• Recent Daily App spotlight Siege Hero is free for a limited time.
• EA’s Scrabble is $1.99.
• Shift 2 Unleashed for iPhone is $1.99, and the HD version for iPad is discounted as well.
• Apple Design Award winner Star Walk is only 99 cents on the iPhone.
• As is Articles, also an ADA winner.

So there’s a few to pick up. Have fun this weekend!

Trucks and Skulls Nitro free, other iOS price drops this weekend originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reading the headlines today, you’ll see the usual exaggeration of half-understood factoids bubble out from today’s iOS 5 beta 6 release. Thank goodness for that NDA, huh?

As reported by our sister site TechCrunch, Apple is deprecating the use of UDIDs as unique identifiers for developers, thereby severing one of the most common ties between physical devices and the apps that need to know which specific iOS gadget they’re on. It’s the end of the world as we know it! Well, no, actually. Let’s get to the real story here, brought to you by feedback from some iOS developers with real-world knowledge of what the implications of this change will be.

First off, let’s clear up what it means for Apple to ‘deprecate’ this identifier. A deprecated function or software component is not yanked out immediately; it’s simply been flagged by the developer of the platform (or app, command line tool, what have you) as something that will be going away in the future, eventually. While the feature remains in place for the sake of backwards compatibility, deprecation is a clear sign to all the programmers in town that they will have to move away from using this feature in the long run.

To the average person, this deprecation of developer access to UDIDs means little more than one step towards better privacy. UDIDs are far from the only way a developer could ensure “your” iPhone is, in fact, your iPhone. Using the identifier has always been a relatively easy way for developers to do this, however, and so many used it, some abused it, and the average user was never the wiser.

From the beginning, Apple has always uniquely identified its devices via UDIDs or other means, and the iPhone is no exception. There is a class called “UIDdevice” which describes the things on the iPhone, i.e., the features unique to that device. Until today, developers could have access to a users’ UDIDs, and they’ve used them as identifiers for a lot of gaming, user info persistence and subscription systems (including some of our favorite apps). The downside of UDIDs in the past is because they’re related to devices and not accounts, sometimes it’s hard to have the device identifiers talk to each other. Some developers have grabbed or scraped these without user permission for marketing and other less than reputable purposes — hence the privacy concern behind broadcasting UDIDs to third-party developers.

The utility of developers having access to the UDID is far lower than the potential for abusing it. The UIdevice class does things like telling you the battery state, system name, OS version, phone model, and so forth — it identifies the device and the features on it. It’s been helpful in terms of letting developers determine which devices run certain features better — knowing the difference in performance between an iPhone 3G and an iPhone 4 is certainly important, especially to game developers — but other than that, there’s not much utility there.

So why isn’t losing access to the UDID a big deal, at all? Any developer can always roll their own unique identifier. Apple provides a way to randomly generate one, so you never really had to use the UDID. People have been using UDIDs for various reasons — not all of them good — and there’s not a lot of positives to UDID use other than ad-hoc app distribution (i.e., for beta testing).

Apple’s deprecation of UDID access is something that’s been expected for some time. MacStories’ take on it aligns with our own; privacy concerns over UDID sharing have been in the news for a long time, so it’s not a shocker that Apple’s now contemplating denying third-party access to them. From a user’s perspective, this is a Good Thing. From a scrupulous developer’s position, this may complicate your life for a while, but that’s all. Unscrupulous developers who’ve been abusing UDIDs for marketing or other purposes are the ones that will get hit hardest by this change, but as far as I’m concerned, they can wither up and die with no tears shed.

Some have speculated that iCloud account information might be substituted for UDIDs, but developers don’t really have access to user account information from iCloud — and they shouldn’t. That would be an even bigger security hole than UDIDs.

Apple seems to be taking a “none of your business” approach to user IDs where developers are concerned. We speculate that’s the motivation behind removing the UDID API. Meanwhile, try not to buy into widespread reports of dogs and cats living together/mass hysteria, because it’s just not that big of a deal in the long run.

iOS 5 deprecates UDID as identifier for developers, but it’s not the end of the world originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First fake Apple Stores, now China has fake Steve Jobs biographies. The fake biography’s title roughly translates to Steve Jobs Gives 11 Advices To Teenager in English and its author is a man who goes by the name “John Cage.” MicGadget says the fake bio first went on sale at Taiwanese bookseller KingStone in April and has already sold 4,000 copies earning US$39,000 in profit.

The official Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson launches on November 21st. There’s no assertions that this is a stolen and translated copy of Isaacson’s manuscript, rather its likely the content of the book is assembled from previously printed information about Jobs. TechCrunch also suggests that the title could imply that the material was translated from Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech.

Until the book is pulled by Apple legal it can be purchased for US$8.10 here.

First, fake Apple Stores. Now, fake Steve Jobs biography. originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a quote by Nolan Bushnell I love that says, “Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.” Most people reading this have probably had an idea for an iPhone app, but after reading Connor Zamary’s story, you might feel a little more pressure to dry off and do something about it.

Connor is a seven-year-old who started his own iOS development company. His first game, the US $0.99 Toaster Pop is aimed at kids his own age. He told Cnet where his idea came from: “My dad was telling me about an old fashioned toaster since I never saw one before. Then it just came to me to create an app, where toast would pop out of the toaster, land on a plate and you would have to butter it with butter.”

After he had his idea, Connor laid out the app, formed his own LLC, made PowerPoint presentations, pitched investors, and attended conference calls with developers on the West Coast. He then hired a developer to build the app. All his hard work paid off too. Toaster Pop currently has twenty-six five-star reviews on the App Store.

Connor isn’t done making other seven year olds (and adults) look lazy either. He currently has plans for Toaster Pop 2.0, which Cnet says, are hanging on his parents’ refrigerator.

7-year-old iPhone developer is on a roll originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung in the Netherlands claiming the Galaxy S too closely resembles the iPhone. Unfortunately, the evidence submitted in the case appears to misrepresent the Galaxy S handset. In an image provided by Apple in the filing, the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone is the same size and shape as the iPhone 3G. The shipping version of the Galaxy S, though, is taller and slightly thinner than the iPhone.

This is the second faux pas that Apple has made in a legal filing. Earlier this week, it was discovered that the images of the Galaxy Tab Apple provided to a German court did not accurately represent the device. In light of this revelation, the German court temporarily relaxed the ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the EU. As of the writing of the post, neither the Netherlands court, Apple nor Samsung has commented on this discrepancy.

[Via PC World]

Apple misrepresents Galaxy S phone in Dutch filing originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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