Category: I-phone

Sword and Sworcery is an unqualified hit for the iPad — as I said when it released, we’ve been following this one for a while, and it’s great to see such a solid indie effort recognized by critics and consumers alike. While the game is out for iPad, the property is far from over. A full LP based on the music of the game, written by musician Jim Guthrie, has been announced for release on April 5th, next Tuesday. “The Ballad of the Space Babies” will be available as a vinyl record, or online as a digital download in iTunes or Bandcamp.

There’s also an iPhone version of the game on the way — I talked to Nathan Vella of Capy about it, and he told me that work continues apace. The plan all along has been to release it around a month after the iPad release, and Capy is still on that schedule, so we should see an iPhone version (optimized for the smaller platform, of course) about three weeks from now.

Sword and Sworcery LP coming out April 5, iPhone version in a few weeks originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PatentlyApple has dug up a patent application Apple filed with the USPTO, which demonstrates that Apple is at least considering bringing Spaces to the iPad. While not mentioning the iPad by name, the patent does say that “In some embodiments, the device [for this patent application] is a desktop computer. In some embodiments, the device is portable (e.g., a notebook computer, a tablet, or a handheld device).”

Apple notes that the current method of switching between windows or applications on a device are “cumbersome and inefficient,” requiring multiple presses or clicks which “create a significant cognitive burden on a user” and take longer than necessary, therefore wasting energy.

Apple suggests implementing Spaces on touch screen devices via a two-finger pinch in the corner of the screen. This two-finger pinch would display a grid of all open spaces or virtual desktops. The user could then use a single finger to swipe the selected Spaces grid into full screen view, thus enabling that Space.

Once again, we remind readers that Apple typically patents things that never see the light of day, but this hypothetical Spaces technology on the iPad would by much more user friendly than the current multitasking options available, which require the user to double-press the iPad’s Home button then swipe a row of apps at the bottom of the screen before finally selecting an app to activate.

Patent hints at Apple’s Spaces on the iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As the first World Backup Day winds down, we’ve got one last giveaway, but it’s a doozy. If you’ve followed our urgent pleas for better backup behavior today, your patience may now be rewarded.

Whether you back up to the cloud, to a local drive or RAID array, or to a stack of CD-Rs, spare a few minutes between now and midnight to think about your digital footprints.

How much would you lose, irrecoverably, if your hard drive coughed and died tonight? Which pictures, videos, projects would be gone? What source code, designs or daydreams would evaporate? Take a moment, make a plan, back up. It’s hard to say it any better than Merlin Mann did last year, so go read his exhortation, then come on back and enter our giveaway.

The final prize is within reach: the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro 1 TB external drive, a quad-interface model with enough room to keep you backing up for weeks. Just leave a comment telling us about your best backup ‘save’ and we’ll enter you to win.

(By the bye, if you want to come hang out with your fellow TUAW readers and talk backups, Mac apps, or multiplayer iOS games — there’s a meetup for that.)

Official Rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, and residents of Canada (except Quebec) who are age 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment on this post.
• The comment must be left before Saturday April 2nd at 11:59pm EDT.
• You may enter only once.
• 2 winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One OWC Mercury Elite-AL 1 TB hard drive (ARV $147.99)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

World Backup Day: 1 TB hard drive giveaway from OWC originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest Lion Developer Preview released yesterday features some cool new redesigns of a few of Mac OS X’s built-in apps. First up is a completely redesigned iCal. The new iCal now closely resembles the Calendar app you find on the iPad. It sports a leather header, complete with strips of torn away calendars. The overall look and feel of the new iCal, like its iPad counterpart, now closely resembles a physical desktop calender.

Another redesign, though less noticeable than the new iCal UI, is an updated iChat UI which combines AIM, Jabber, and Bonjour contacts together in one window. This is a welcome tweak, as previously iChat separated all your different contacts into separate windows.

With the above changes, and the fact that Address Book in OS X Lion already got a similar overhaul so it closely matches the Address Book app on the iPad, I wouldn’t think it’s too much to hope that GameCenter for the Mac App Store and iBooks for OS X is too far off.

[via 9to5Mac]

Latest Lion build features iCal, iChat redesign originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reuters is reporting that Taiwanese tech manufacturer AU Optronics Corp. has won a major contract from Apple to provide flat panel screens for the ultra-popular iPad 2.

With the high demand for the new device, it’s no surprise that Apple is looking for new sources for this critical iPad 2 component. The AU Optronics contract will provide up to 30 million of the displays, occupying over half the capacity of the company’s plant in Taichung.

The report cites local Taiwanese paper The Economic Daily News as the source, and MacStories notes that AU Optronics is the world’s fourth-largest supplier of LCDs. The move by Apple follows unprecedented demand for the iPad 2, which has likely sold just over a million units in just the first weekend of availability. There has been speculation that the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan would cause production constraints on certain iPad 2 components, including the screens. With this new source of displays, Apple’s ability to produce and ship iPad 2s should remain unfettered.

Taiwanese firm to ship 30 million iPad 2 screens originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GarageBand has updated to 6.0.2, updating stability throughout the program and addressing support issues regarding projects that are imported from GarageBand for iPad.

GarageBand 6.0.2 is a 45.2 MB download and is available through Software Update and through Apple’s support page.

GarageBand updates to 6.0.2, improves iPad support originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Twitter for iPhone app has been updated (again), and this time the company has included the change everyone’s been waiting for: the QuickBar, which featured trending terms along with some paid placement phrases, has been removed from the app. Twitter deftly sidesteps the actual reason why the bar was removed, but their reasoning basically lands on the idea that the bar didn’t “improve the user experience” or serve the mission of connecting people to trends on the service. Whatever the reasons, the QuickBar is gone, despite what Twitter says are “incredibly high usage metrics,” so the voice of the crowd wins this round.

Twitter says it will continue to experiment boldly, however, so it’s unlikely that the trending topics are going to be gone for good. Still, after all of the fervor around this particular feature, it is nice to see that the company is taking public outcry into consideration. Those against the QuickBar (who gave it all of its silly monikers) will be happy to hear about the update.

Twitter for iPhone updated, QuickBar is dead originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy World Backup Day! The only safe way forward is to back up; that’s why we’ve joined the cause for data saving with tips, techniques and giveaways all day today.

As Steve mentioned earlier today, there are lots of cloud-based backup services eager to help you protect your data while solving the onsite/offsite conundrum. A backup of uncertain status in a single location isn’t much better than no backup at all — for one thing, it gives you a sense of confidence that your data is protected when it might not be.

Getting your data tucked away with DollyDisk, Backjack, Backblaze, Mozy, Carbonite or CrashPlan may not be the fastest or cheapest approach, but sooner or later it may save your bacon. Compare and contrast plans here. (Lifehacker has a full rundown on how CrashPlan can help you sleep soundly at night, knowing your backups are solid.)

Even if you’re not up for a full-on cloud backup solution (whether due to bandwidth or budget constraints), there are still some surprisingly easy ways to back up your key files in the cloud, and do it for cheap or free. All of these approaches require a bit more thinking than the automated tools above, but if you’re the sort of person who makes copies of your bank statements or saves your dry cleaning receipts, then you can probably get into these habits too.

Continue reading World Backup Day: Ad-hoc backups to the cloud & more giveaways

World Backup Day: Ad-hoc backups to the cloud & more giveaways originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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(Image from eBay.com)

While we’ll need to wait until the April 20th Q2 2011 Apple earnings call to get the official figures on exactly how many iPads and iPad 2s have been sold, CNET has published some stats from online auction house eBay on how many of the new iPads have changed hands through their service. If eBay’s numbers are any indication, Apple shareholders will have a lot to smile about.

Just under 12,000 iPad 2s were sold in the two weeks between the introduction of the iPad in the US and the international launch last Friday. The surprising statistic was that many of those iPad 2s (65%) were sold within the US. At last year’s launch of the original iPad, the majority of eBay purchasers were outside of the country (also 65%).

International purchases of the iPad 2 are mainly going to Canada, Russia, Hong Kong, Japan, and the UK. Last year’s figures showed a large volume of 16 GB iPads heading to Russia, and Russian buyers also paid the highest average markup at a whopping $306 over retail for the 32 GB model.

Continue reading eBay reveals iPad 2 sales numbers

eBay reveals iPad 2 sales numbers originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today brings a delightful surprise for Mac users with Boxcar joining the Mac family. Boxcar has been the standard for getting push notifications from your social networks, email, RSS and other services on iOS devices since it launched in July of 2009, and it has been one of my favorite iPhone apps from the start.

Boxcar currently supports more Twitter events than you probably have time to read; including mentions, direct messages, new followers, trending topics, Twitter list updates and keyword searches. Boxcar also supports other social networks for notifications from Facebook, check-ins from Gowalla and Foursquare, even Google Buzz.

Continue reading Boxcar Beta for Mac available, brings notifications to Mac

Boxcar Beta for Mac available, brings notifications to Mac originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy World Backup Day! We can’t really emphasize this strongly enough: you need good backups, and you need them now. That’s why we’ve joined the cause for data saving with tips, techniques and giveaways all day today.

For Mac users running Leopard or Snow Leopard (10.5 or 10.6), the good news about backup is that you’ve got a pretty solid tool already installed and ready to roll: Time Machine. We’ve covered the basics on Time Machine before, but there are a couple of ways to supplement and improve your TM experience — making your backups safer and simpler.

Ask an IT professional about backups, and you might hear a maxim like “If you haven’t verified that you can restore the data, it’s not a backup; if you haven’t made at least two copies and sent one of them offsite, it’s not a backup either.” Most Mac owners would do well to follow these guidelines, as it’s far too easy for a single backup drive (especially one sitting right next to your computer) to fall victim to trouble and woe.

Continue reading World Backup Day: Turn, turn, turn + more giveaways

World Backup Day: Turn, turn, turn + more giveaways originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vimeo released an official iPhone app yesterday, and it does not disappoint. As a 1.0 release, it’s impressive. Consider it a one-stop shop for watching, recording, editing and delivering video to Vimeo. There are a few bumps in the road, but all-in-all Vimeo for iPhone is a solid offering. Here’s my experience with the app.

UI

Vimeo for iPhone is a portrait orientation kind of app. Unless you’re shooting or viewing video, it wants to be vertical. You’re first presented with your video library, aptly named “My Video Library.” Across the top of the screen are the Camera and New (“+”) buttons, followed by a list of your previously-uploaded videos. These can be viewed in list or thumbnail layout, and sorted by date or number of views. A search function returns results as you type, which is nice.

At the bottom of the screen you’ll find buttons for My Videos, Recordings, My Stuff (which includes sub-tabs for Inbox, Watch Later and Likes,) Browse (by channel) and finally account information.

Browsing your videos in list view provides information on views, number of favorites and comments at a glance. Otherwise, tap a video to find those details and more, like tags, privacy setting, stats and licensing options.

Continue reading Vimeo for iPhone doesn’t disappoint

Vimeo for iPhone doesn’t disappoint originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s another product for World Backup Day. Mozy, a well-respected and veteran cloud backup solution for Mac and PC, has delivered Mozy to the App Store. This app, which is a free download that works with any iOS device, gives you access to all of those files from your computer that have been backed up to Mozy’s servers.

If you’re a subscriber to Mozy’s service, you can view files from any of the computers backed up to your account. The app tells you when the last backup was completed, and navigating to the individual folders is a matter of a few taps.

Once you’ve found a file that you’re interested in using, numerous actions are available — with a tap, the file can be emailed or opened in a compatible application on your iPhone or iPod touch. Photos stored on your computer can be published to Facebook, viewed in high resolution, or saved to your local camera roll as well.

What’s cool about this is that it provides much of the functionality of Dropbox (cloud storage) while ensuring that your Mac or PC is being backed up at the same time. Of course, the Mozy app doesn’t provide the offline access that Dropbox for Mac and PC does, but neither does the actual Dropbox iOS client. (Update: According to commenter Rdnymllnsktr, it is possible in the Dropbox app simply by tapping the star below a viewed file. That downloads the file as a Favorite, and it is then available to open in a compatible app.)

World Backup Day: Mozy app puts backed-up files at your fingertips originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I liked Zite when I reported on it earlier this month. In fact, I use it every day as a great news and information discovery app on my iPad. The app is free, and for now, still in the App Store with very strong user ratings.

There’s no love, however, from publishers that claim Zite infringes copyright. A group including Time Inc, Dow Jones, The Washington Post, The Associated Press and others have sent Zite a cease and desist letter claiming that intellectual property is being misappropriated, and the publishers have asked Zite to “immediately stop doing so.” The letters goes on to say that Zite, “by systematically reformatting, republishing and redistributing our original content on a mass commercial scale without our permission in your iPad application, Zite directly and adversely impacts our businesses.”

The publishers, of course, have a valid point. Zite articles aren’t direct linked, but it is an option within each story. Publishers can request direct links, and some have. The Zite developers may have to change the app to always supply direct links to articles, rather than reformat them inside the app.

Continue reading Zite draws the ire of publishers

Zite draws the ire of publishers originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW,

Help me Auntie! I’ve got a zillion–maybe 3 or 4 less–bookmarks. I want to validate the good ones and discard the bad. Is there an app for that?

I mean automatically do this and then give me options for saving the good/tossing the bad and perhaps even seeing if the root domain is still active?

Thanks for helping a nephew out!

Love,

Leo

Continue reading Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me tame my bookmarks

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me tame my bookmarks originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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