The good news: Portugal is getting the iPhone 4 next week. On August 27, mobile provider Optimus will start selling the iPhone 4 (here’s a Google-translated link for the Portuguese-impaired). The bad news: the price is going up by 70 euros, meaning Portuguese customers will pay more for the iPhone 4 than just about anybody else.

I thought we had it bad in New Zealand, where we pay NZ$1299 (about US$918) for an unsubsidized 32 GB iPhone 4. But at 769.90 euros, a 32 GB iPhone 4 costs nearly NZ$100 (US$71) more in Portugal than in New Zealand, where mobile handset prices are usually among the highest in the world. The 16 GB iPhone 4, at 679.90 euros, is an even worse deal: over NZ$130 more (US$92) than the New Zealand price.

I’ve never been thrilled with handset prices in New Zealand, but we are kind of in the middle of nowhere, so it’s almost excusable. It makes much less sense for the Portuguese to have to pay such a high premium for the iPhone 4. Optimus hasn’t offered any reasons for raising the price by 70 euros, and I have to wonder how happy Apple is with the decision — rumor has it that Vodafone’s bungled launch of the iPhone 4 was precipitated by pricing disputes between the two companies, so it’ll be interesting to see if something similar plays out in Portugal.

TUAWThe iPhone 4 comes to Portugal at a ‘louco’ price originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook 3.2.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch is now available in app Store. Facebook pushed the 3.2.1 update soon after the Facebook 3.2 to fix a few bugs. Facebook 3.2.1 features after the jump…

New in Facebook 3.2.1

• Bug fixes

New in Facebook 3.2

• Places. Use Places to see where your friends are and share where you are.
• You can set the privacy of individual status updates.
• See all recipients of inbox messages.
• (iOS 4) Upload photos and videos in the background.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a delay when commenting on a post or posting a status update.
• Fixed some Notes display bugs.
• Fixed some reliability bugs in News Feed.

You can download Facebook 3.2.1 for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad from the AppStore for Free! [iTunes Link]

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There’s a wealth of datapoints out there on the growth of apps, and it can be overwhelming. So Mobile Entertainment has tried to help. They have compiled a presentation with 157 different stats, taking in app stores, consumer usage, analyst predictions, and app success stories. The presentation, which is free to view, embed and download, is below.

The last few slides gets pretty intereresting as they give real numbers of some of the top performing apps.

If you’re app makes extensive use of trigonometry (and if you’re working on game development then you probably are) then you probably make extensive use of the built in math functions.

According to Apple  apps that make extensive use of floating point numbers should not make use of the thumb compiling option which reduces code size.

Dave Dribin has created a math library exclusively making use of integers, and based on the speed of the sine function vs. the standard libary sin and sinf functions it looks like Dave’s trigint library is at least 4x faster.

You can find the library and more info here:
Trigint: An Integer-Based Trigonmetry Library

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[via: Under The Bridge]

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There’s a wealth of datapoints out there on the growth of apps, and it can be overwhelming. So Mobile Entertainment has tried to help. They have compiled a presentation with 157 different stats, taking in app stores, consumer usage, analyst predictions, and app success stories. The presentation, which is free to view, embed and download, is below.

The last few slides gets pretty intereresting as they give real numbers of some of the top performing apps.

Today we present a collection of best 3DS Max tutorials for July 2010.

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How many TUAW readers have ever considered running a Windows server at home? I’m guessing not many. I’m hopefully going to convince you that’s a shame because they can offer many features not easily (or cheaply!) replicated with Apple’s own products.

Engadget reports that a new beta version of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server OS boasts considerably enhanced Mac support. Despite being a Unix-turned-Mac guy, I’ve had one of HP’s MediaSmart servers (pictured) in my house for almost a year now, and it’s neatly assimilated itself alongside my Macs thanks to HP’s secret sauce add-ons. I couldn’t be happier with it.

Read on for exactly how it’s all done.

TUAWNew Windows Home Server beta improves Mac support originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It must be the week for HDR app updates. Yesterday we reviewed a solid update of TrueHDR, and now we have another terrific update from Pro HDR.

Even if you’re not into HDR photography, this is one to check out. High Dynamic Range photography creates an image from multiple exposures that are combined to overcome the limitations of automatic exposure control in cameras. The technique can recover details that would be lost in shadows, and keep bright areas, like the sky from blowing out.

The update to Pro HDR, which has just been released, has a new fully automatic mode. Instead of taking two pictures with your iPhone, and manually pointing to the brightest and darkest areas, this new option analyzes the scene, sets the exposure accordingly, and then takes the two images without any user intervention. You can also use the manual mode if you prefer. The app also claims faster image capture and better alignment.

TUAWPro HDR gets an update for iPhone and leaps ahead of the pack originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At an investor’s conference in Taipai this week, Asus CEO Jerry Shen announced reduced sales forcasts for the popular Eee PC line of netbooks. Why? Because people are buying iPads instead.

Digitimes reports that Eee sales fell from 1.6m units in Q1, to 1.5m in Q2, and are now expected to be 1.4m in Q3 . As the third quarter includes the lucrative back-to-school period, those numbers are moving very much the wrong way for Asus. Apple famously sold three million iPads in less than three months despite stock shortages, so whilst Asus is still outselling Apple, that’s likely to change soon.

Asus is planning to retaliate with its own own tablet computers running Windows Embedded Compact 7: Too Many Adjectives Edition, but Engadget’s writers weren’t impressed when they previewed it recently.

TUAWAsus is selling fewer netbooks because of the iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DashPad (US$9.99) takes a unique approach to putting a Dashboard on your iPad. Instead of using an app, (which would never get approved by Apple), or jailbreaking, it uses Safari to serve an iPad specific page that contains eight widgets. More widgets will be coming, according to DashPad’s developer Pixlcreations.

Here’s how it works. First you’re taken to Paypal to tender your payment which triggers an email containing a username, password and a link to the site. After entering the information DashPad opens the Mobile Safari page where you’ll find eight widgets: Clock, Calendar, Calculator, Unit Converter, Sticky Note, Yellow Pages Search, Google Search, and Weather. This is presented just as you’d expect it, with the widgets on the bottom regardless of how you hold the iPad.

The rest of the screen is a white field. Just like Mac widgets, you tap on one to activate it and tap on it again to dismiss it. The widgets can all be moved around on the screen. A button shows or hides the widget bar. When you leave the app, it remembers the position of your widgets and the contents of the Sticky Note. It also allows you to put an icon on your iPad’s desktop for quick access, which of course you can do with any Safari page.

This is fine if you’ve become really accustomed to using widgets on your Mac and miss not having them on your iPad. It’s a really neat idea, but after using it, I found quite a number of limitations. You can’t install your own widgets, since they are a part of the Mobile Safari page, however when new ones come out, they will be there the next time DashPad is run.

After not using Dashpad for a day or so you will have to put in your username and password again. This, I’m told, is a security measure and they are working on a way to delay authentication longer. This alone kills the idea of a quick and easy way to get bits of information all at the same time and I would consider authentication at this frequency a deal-breaker.

You are only allowed one Sticky Note, which can be as long as you want and is scrollable. More will be coming, but one is what you get now. The Weather widget, which requires your zip code, doesn’t remember it upon re-launch. The Google Search isn’t useful since it does exactly the same thing as the search bar already showing in Safari. It brings up a new page. Of course hitting the usual icon brings up the screen showing your last six Safari pages and you can easily get back to DashPad, but this brings nothing to the table that you already don’t have.

It does have potential though and you might like it, but to find out you’ll have to pony up the $9.99. I consider paying first bad marketing, especially since it would be possible to let you try it out for a few days and if you didn’t pay up, the authentication would stop working. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the price — but if you’re really enamored with your Dashboard, you might think differently.

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TUAWDashPad brings the Dashboard to the iPad, sort of… originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not a done deal by any means, but the Australian government’s Classification Board is taking a hard look at games for mobile devices, which up until now have skated by the country’s regulatory requirements that mandate a pass for content and age-appropriateness — at a cost to developers of hundreds or thousands of A$. By November, we should know for sure whether or not App Store developers will have to choose between paying to have their games rated or pulling them out of the Australian market.

This issue came up as long ago as October of last year, in response to the infamous BabyShaker app. Aussie devs Lloyd Kranzky and Nick Lowe have weighed in on their blogs, and raise some good points: although it’s not necessarily a level playing field between the iDevices and other phones, and the console and PC games (which have been complying with the classification rules, in some cases leading to indie or casual/free games avoiding the Australian market), it’s also not completely fair to lump mobile games in with the big boys when Flash games and other online content are completely free and clear of regulatory burden.

Another stat of note: back in 2007/08, the board reportedly classified under 1,000 video games — a pittance compared to the thousands of games streaming out of the App Store and Android Market. It’s unclear whether the regulatory infrastructure is even prepared to deal with the new order.

Here’s a question for Mac, PC and console game developers: do Australian rules affect your decision-making when it comes to game releases, vs. the US industry-driven ESRB ratings system? Pipe up in the comments.

Thanks to Jarrod for sending this in.

[hat tip to Kotaku]

TUAWAustralian ratings board looks ahead to App Store crackdown originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“Which Mac should I choose?” It’s a question I’ve asked myself and had posed to me countless times. It comes down to your needs and budget, but some customers still struggle. This week, Apple has added a new comparison feature to the online Apple Store meant to make the process a little easier.

The new service lets you choose up to three Macs to compare side-by-side, stat by stat. Users can scroll through the report with comparable statistics perfectly aligned, and even view environmental reports. It’s very handy and offers a clear picture of the differences both notable and minute.

Setting up a comparison is simple. Click the “Compare Macs” button and then select a machine for each of the three columns via a pop-up window. Kudos to Apple for developing and launching such a useful feature.

[Via The Loop]

TUAW“Compare Macs” option added to Apple Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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