Sonos, creator of a well-reviewed, multi-room, wireless music system, has updated its software to support Apple’s AirPlay. It means a Sonos music system owner can wirelessly send music from an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to any room that has a Sonos Zone Player. The catch is that you have to buy a US$99 AirPort Express to plug into one of the Zone Players to get it working.

It’s understandable that Sonos has to do this. AirPlay support is a hardware and software solution, and Sonos is not building AirPlay hardware into its Zone Players. I’m not sure this will be a big deal to many Sonos owners. The company already provides a wireless dock with iPhone support that allows the phone to stream to any Sonos device. That dock needs to be plugged into AC power, but the connection into the Sonos system is wireless.

The Sonos software update also includes support for multitasking for its iPad and iPhone app. That means it will run in the background and not force a relaunch, which will speed up operation of the system from any iDevice. Those updates are available on the App Store for free. The Sonos system has become very popular over the years, and feature updates have included even the earliest devices the company has made. Supporting AirPlay is a nice addition to the feature roster, and for those who already have an AirPort Express to dedicate to this task, it will be welcome.

Sonos music systems now support AirPlay, but there’s a catch originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Circus Pain is a physics puzzler in the vein of Angry Birds and Ragdoll Blaster. The goal across each of the game’s 55 levels is to toss a little circus performer into an on-screen basket while trying to hit as many obstacles as possible along the way. It’s a pretty standard affair for the touchscreen at this point, but the excellent premise and art style of Circus Pain make it stand out from other App Store titles. The game is sometimes tough, but still very interesting, and you can move at your own pace as you navigate through the game’s four worlds.

Plus, at a price of just 99 cents for a universal version, it’s tough to turn this one down. If you’re not willing to invest the buck right away, there’s a lite version to try as well. But if you like tossing ragdolls around for a little bit of physics-based gameplay, Circus Pain is an enjoyable romp.

TUAW’s Daily App: Circus Pain originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia has just released a Safari plug-in for its browser-based Ovi Maps 3D mapping software, and it is beautiful. The new mapping software renders lifelike 3D textured buildings in a level of detail that is unparalleled. The image above is from London, and as you can see, not only are the buildings rendered in photorealistic 3D textures, but bushes and trees are as well.

As of now, Nokia’s 3D textures are limited to London, Oslo, New York and other big cities, with other cities to follow later. To view the 3D beta of Ovi Maps 3D, you need to download the 19 MB Safari plug-in here. Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether Nokia plans to release an iOS app for Ovi Maps 3D; given the competition in the smartphone market between Apple and Nokia, it’s doubtful. However, Apple has been rumored to be overhauling the Maps app in iOS for quite some time, and it would be great if it could come close to this level of 3D textures in a future version of Maps.

[via Electronista]

Nokia releases Ovi Maps 3D beta plug-in for Safari originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thanks to the hard work of the folks who purchased Valve’s Potato Sack promotion, the Portal 2 alternate reality game has finished, and the long-awaited sequel is now available on Steam. The game officially releases tomorrow for consoles and PC, but since the Steam version is compatible with SteamPlay, it’s also available for the Mac from day one.

Portal was one of the best games of the past few years, and every indication is that the sequel will be just as inventive and fun. If you’ve been waiting for it, the wait is over. Go and enjoy!

Portal 2 out now originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These are the steps to jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 untethered with Sn0wbreeze 2.6. Sn0wbreeze 2.6 can jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 untethered on iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4G, 3G and iPad. iPad 2 jailbreak is NOT possible ATM.

Sn0wbreeze 2.6, just like PwnageTool, creates custom iOS 4.3.2 to jailbreak iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch and iPad. Sn0wbreeze 2.6 also preserves iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS baseband so you may unlock iOS 4.3.2 with UltraSn0w later.

How to Jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 Untethered with Sn0wBreeze 2.6

Step 1

Download the required stuff linked below and put them on your desktop.

• Download iOS 4.3.2 for your device.
• Download Sn0wBreeze 2.6
• Download iTunes 10.2.2 and install it.

Step 2

Run the Sn0wBreeze.exe. Hit Ok and then Close Credits button. and then hit the next button.

Step 3

Either drag & drop the iOS 4.3.2 firmware file in the given drop-box on Sn0wbreeze window or hit the Browse button and select the downloaded iOS 4.3.2 IPSW file for your iDevice.

Sn0wBreeze will identify the IPSW firmware file. When done, hit the next button.

Step 4

Now select the Expert Mode and Hit next button.

Then select General.

Step 5

iPhone Users:
**If you depend on unlock make sure Activate The iPhone [Hacktivate] option is checked/selected.
Then keep hitting Next.

Step 6

Now select the Build IPSW option and hit next.

Sn0wBreeze will start building custom firmware to jailbreak your iPhone 4, 3GS, idevice. Since the building process takes several minutes to complete, you can either choose to play PacMan or stick with the Spinner.

Once Done! Hit the OK button. (Custom firmware can be found on desktop)

Step 7

Now follow the on screen instructions to put your iDevices into Pwned State. Sn0wBreeze instructions are important to follow because this will put iDevice into Pwned DFU state NOT the simple DFU mode.

• Hold Power + Home buttons for 10 seconds
• Now release the Power button but keep holding the Home button for 10-30 more seconds
• Your device should now be in DFU mode

Sn0wBreeze will prompt you once you’re into Pwned DFU state.

Step 8

Now open iTunes, Hold down the Shift key and hit the Restore button.
Browse and select the custom firmware that we just created, from the desktop.

iTunes will start restoring iOS 4.3.2 on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch/Apple TV 2G. Once the restore process is complete, your device will be running iOS 4.3.2 jailbroken.

Redsn0w 0.9.6rc14 can jailbreak 4.3.2 untethered on iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad, iPod Touch 4G, 3G. These are the steps to jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 untethered using RedSn0w 0.9.6rc4. No iPad 2 support.

Dev-team released RedSn0w 0.9.6rc12 to jailbreak 4.3.2 earlier, however, it was a tethered jailbreak. Now, Dev-Team has released RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14 which features i0nic’s untethered jailbreak exploit.

WARNING: If you depend on UltraSn0w unlock, you must STAY AWAY from RedSn0w and stock iOS 4.3.2, use Sn0wbreeze or PwnageTool instead.

How to Jailbreak 4.3.2 Untethered with RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14

Step 1

Download the required stuff:

• Download RedSn0w 0.9.6 rc14
• Download iOS 4.3.2
• Download iTunes 10.2.2

Step 2

Restore iOS 4.3.2 on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and keep it connect to your computer via USB.
*You can skip this step if you’re already running iOS 4.3.2.

Step 3

Execute the Redsn0w 0.9.6 rc14

Step 4

Hit the Browse button and select official iOS 4.3.2 firmware (downloaded in Step 1). RedSn0w will recognize your IPSW file. Then hit Next.

Step 5

Now check mark “Install Cydia” and hit Next.

Step 6

Now make sure your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is turned OFF and Plugged in to your computer. Hit Next.

Step 7

Now you’ll be instructed to put your iDevice into DFU Mode. Follow the on screen instructions.

Once you’ve successfully entered into DFU mode, RedSn0w will start jailbreaking iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.3.2 tethered. When done! your iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS will be jailbroken untethered on iOS 4.3.2.

You can follow us on Twitter, Join us at Facebook, and Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

Dev-team has released RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14, the iOS 4.3.2 untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4 (GSM), 3GS, iPad, iPod Touch 4G, 3G. You can download RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14 from the link below.

Only a few weeks after the iOS 4.3.1 untether created by @i0n1c was released, Apple pushed out firmware 4.3.2. Thankfully, it appears Apple didn’t have a chance to fix the hole used by @i0n1c’s untether, so he ported his code over to 4.3.2’s kernel. Today’s redsn0w has been updated to include it.

The iOS 4.3.2 untether jailbreak works on all devices that actually support 4.3.2 except for the iPad 2:

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 (GSM)
• iPod Touch 3G
• iPod Touch 4G
• iPad 1

Download RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14

You can download RedSn0w 0.9.6rc12 for both the Windows and Mac OS from the link below:

• Download RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14 for Windows [Mirror 1][Mirror 2]
• Download RedSn0w 0.9.6rc14 for Mac [Mirror 1][Mirror 2]

You can follow us on Twitter, Join us at Facebook, and also Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

Sn0wbreeze 2.6, the iOS 4.3.2 untethered jailbreak is now available for download. Sn0wbreeze 2.6 can jailbreak iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4G, 3G and iPad. You can download Sn0wbreeze 2.6 from the link below.

Sn0wbreeze 2.6

• Supports iOS 4.3.2 (Except iPad 2).
• Updated to support i0n1c’s 4.3.2 untether.
• Multitasking Gestures enabled as usual.

ERROR 3194+

• Close down any TinyUmbrella‘s.
• Remove Cydia’s SHSH caching server from your hosts
  (C:\WINDOWS\system32\driver\etc\hosts)
• Reboot

Download Sn0wbreeze 2.6

You can download Sn0wbreeze 2.6 for Windows from the link below:

Download Sn0wbreeze 2.6

Detailed step-by-step instructions will be posted shortly. Stay Tuned!

You can follow us on Twitter, Join us at Facebook, and also Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

Jailbreak iOS 4.3.2

How to: Jailbreak iOS 4.3.2

Matt Tubergen heads Recharge Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of W3i that invests in the development and marketing/distribution of freemium mobile games.  W3i is a market leader in distributing and monetizing apps with over 500 million apps distributed for W3i clients. Recharge Studios is actively seeking new investment opportunities, if you have a great idea for a game contact us.

Last week we wrote about the importance of understanding the lifetime value of a freemium game user. You can roll out all the right game mechanics and do all the right things but if you don’t understand what value a user is providing you long-term, it’s challenging to build a successful business model around your game.

In last week’s post we identified two key metrics in calculating lifetime value, Retention and Revenue per Daily Active User or RPDAU. This week we dive deeper into arriving at an RPDAU value.

What is RPDAU?

Simply put, the RPDAU is a key data point, based on a calculation that allows you to extrapolate a value for each active user. That value can then help in forecasting long term revenues.  Basically, how much money are you making divided by your daily active users.

Arriving at RPDAU

The key theme from the above statement, how much money, can be further broken down to: from where? In other words, to calculate an RPDAU most freemium games will look at two revenue streams

• In-app purchases (IAP)
• Advertising (Such as an offer wall like the W3i Ad-Funded Payment Platform)

Understanding how users convert at each revenue stream is key to arriving at the RPDAU. It is worth noting that how a user converts in one stream, say in-app purchases, may not be the same as how they convert in the other, advertising.

In order to arrive at the RPDAU, you have to add the average revenue a user generates from both streams. So if the average conversion for IAP is 1.5 cents and the average conversion for advertising is 2 cents the RPDAU would be 3.5 cents.

Once you have that value, you can begin moving forward on calculating a lifetime value and take into consideration retention, the subject of next week’s blog.

Do you have a question about freemium gaming or a topic you’d like us to explore? Let us know in the comments or catch us on twitter @rechargestudios or @w3i.

Freemium Game Blogs are published in partnership with the series on W3i’s corporate blog.

Hi all Quick note to let readers know that I am away this week in San Francisco. I’m starting at the new company I have joined www.vindicia.com which I’m really looking forward too. As I’m away and going to be busy I may not be able to respond to support emails as quickly as usual. […]

In my iPhone 4 review, I claimed that the iPhone had finally come of age. While I once touted an expansive list of things wrong with the iPhone, now that Apple’s device has matured, I am satisfied with it overall, despite my decision to jailbreak and add certain features here and there.

Nevertheless, there are still some features left to be desired. So here is a list of the top five features that I would like to see in iPhone 5:

iPhone 5 Features I Want

1. iTunes Streaming. I would like to be able to listen to music without having to use up many of my precious gigabytes for iPod media storage. That’s why I love my Grooveshark app (which was unfortunately removed from the App Store 5 days after it was approved). There have been rumors that Apple will introduce a cloud-based iTunes music streaming service, but nothing has become of those rumors yet. Hopefully iPhone 5 will bring this much-awaited music streaming feature.
2. Touch-Sensitive Bezel. About a year ago, it was discovered that Apple filed a patent for a touch-sensitive bezel. Possibilities include a bezel that senses when you remove the iPhone from your pocket and automatically unlocks, or a bezel that lets you increase or decrease the display brightness with a swipe.
3. FaceTime on 3G. FaceTime is virtually useless to me if I can’t use it on the go. I hope to see Apple enable FaceTime video chatting over 3G, instead of keeping it limited to Wi-Fi.
4. Thinner Hardware. Who wouldn’t want a thinner iPhone? It would look cool and be easier to handle.
5. Dual Core Processor. As fast as the iPhone is already, a dual-core processor like the A5 chip in the iPad 2 could make the iPhone twice as fast.

Do you agree with my most-wanted features for iPhone 5? What would you add to the list of desirable iPhone 5 features?

Five iPhone 5 Features That I’d Like to See is a post from Apple iPhone Review.

Jeff Olsen of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim division did a quick interview with our fellow bloggers at Joystiq, and he says that in addition to the Android launches the company is doing this week, they are expecting to “get to the point where we can release a new mobile game a month.”

That would create quite a library of Adult Swim titles. The company has already seen a fair amount of success with its current setup of iOS titles, including the very popular Robot Unicorn Attack. Olsen says the idea is to keep working on Flash games that are promoted through the TV channel, and then take the best of those to iOS to profit.

There’s no word on how much money these games are making for the channel (it must still pale in comparison to their actual advertising dollars), but if nothing else, they’re likely offering some good brand awareness for their cable programming.

Adult Swim looks to release one mobile game a month originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a busy day for Apple lawsuit news. First word broke that Apple has dropped a massive suit on Samsung for allegedly infringing on the iPhone and iPad’s look and feel, now we get word that Apple has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that claims iTunes is a monopoly. The lawsuit stems from Apple’s 2004 blocking of RealNetwork’s Harmony software, which allowed songs purchased from the RealNetworks online store to be transferred to the iPod. Last month, a judge ordered that Steve Jobs must submit to deposition in the lawsuit.

According to Bloomberg, Jobs gave his deposition on April 12, and now Apple is asking that the entire case be thrown out of court. Apple’s attorney told U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, California that any blocking of third-party software was done in the best interests of consumers: “Apple’s view is that iPods work better when consumers use the iTunes jukebox rather than third party software that can cause corruption or other problems.” Whether the case will be dismissed is yet to be decided. Until then you can see original court documents here.

Apple asks judge to dismiss iTunes monopoly lawsuit originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iOS games range from the casual Doodle Jump to the nail-biting action of Dead Space. A new entry into the gaming market, One Single Life, puts you on the edge of your seat by offering players a single chance to beat the game. It’s do or die time on every round in this thriller released by FreshTone Games.

The gameplay is deceivingly simple. All you have to do is jump from building to building without getting killed. One false move, though, and your character plummets to its death and the game is over. Once you are gone, there is no second chance.

To make the game more of a nail-biter, players are subjected to some good ol’ verbal taunting before a jump. The game presents your dire chances of completing that level and questions your ability to beat the task at hand. As you can imagine, One Single Life is less about skill and more about mental toughness as you face this increasing pressure.

The game is available for free so iOS owners can give it a try with no financial risk. The only thing you stand to lose is your pride.

[Via OhGizmo]

One Single Life only gives you one chance to complete the game originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Halfbrick Studios’ iOS game Fruit Ninja continues to grow — the Australian company announced that it has inked a deal to sell Fruit Ninja-flavored apparel in Hot Topic (the clothing store at the mall that’s about as tacky as it gets). The deal was put together with licensing agent HAP Consulting, and there are four shirts available now (featuring slogans like “slicing fruit like a boss!” and “Fruit Ninja addict!”), with more on the way.

It’s cool to see a big iOS property do well, but do they have to be that … obvious? I’d like to see a more subtle kind of t-shirt, maybe just a few splotches in the front, or just a sliced watermelon emblem over the pocket. Maybe I’m just getting old — I don’t really want a t-shirt that’s louder than, you know, my own voice.

If you don’t share my concerns and want to show off a little Fruit Ninja love, the shirts can be picked up in stores, we’re told, or on the website.

Fruit Ninja shirts appearing at Hot Topic originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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