Dear Aunt TUAW: Is Flash video working on iPad yet?

Dear Aunt TUAW,

I keep hearing about applications like Skyfire working on the iPad so we can watch Flash video. But when I hop over to Hulu, it says I have to join Hulu Plus to view videos.

Why does Hulu act like this? What am I doing wrong?

Love,

Your nephew Chris W.

Continue reading Dear Aunt TUAW: Is Flash video working on iPad yet?

Dear Aunt TUAW: Is Flash video working on iPad yet? originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magic Catalog brings free books to your iBooks or Kindle collection

Most people know that there is a free Kindle app for iOS that will let you read books from Amazon’s Kindle store. Apple also offers a free iBooks app. Fewer people have heard of Project Gutenberg, where you can download over 30,000 free books, and fewer still have heard of the Magic Catalog from FreeKindleBooks.org.

The “Magic Catalog” isn’t where Harry Potter shops — it’s a “book” containing nothing except links to other books. You can use the search feature of your favorite e-book reader to look for books; with a few taps, you can have the new book on your iOS device without ever needing to go through iTunes and without spending a penny.

The easy way

If you already have the iBooks or Kindle apps installed, simply go to Magic Catalog on your iOS device and tap the appropriate link for whichever app you are using (MOBI Edition for Kindle, EPUB Edition for iBooks).

The slightly harder way

If, for some reason, you’d prefer to download the books to your computer and transfer them to your iOS device (or if you already have .epub, .mobi, or other e-books on your computer), you can do so using iTunes. If you have the Kindle app installed, it will appear under the “File Sharing” section in the “apps” tab, and you can add books there.

You may notice that iBooks does not appear in the “File Sharing” section. To transfer books to iBooks, simply drag to the “Library” section of your iTunes library (see this page at Apple.com for more details).

Two minor flaws

Kindle: When using the Magic Catalog with the Kindle app, you’ll find one glitch in the process. When you tap on a book in the catalog, the Kindle app opens a blank page with an arrow at the top left. You have to tap on that arrow to open the page in Safari, which will then show you a link to open the book in the Kindle app. Then when you go back to the Kindle app, you have to tap the “Done” button on the top right in order to see the new book. It’s a minor annoyance, at worst.

Kindle and iBooks: When you are on the web page to download the book, you will not see the name of the book; you’ll see something like “pg23.mobi” followed by the size and a button to open the book in the Kindle app (or iBooks if you have the EPUB version). Once you open the book in the appropriate application, it will show the correct name.

Magic Catalog brings free books to your iBooks or Kindle collection originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Photo Stream feature hints found in iOS 4.3

iOSPossible confirmation of a Photo Stream service in iOS 5 has come after users spotted hidden references to the service inside the current version, iOS 4.3. We wrote about it a while ago here, but now a 9to5Mac reader has come across it while using a third-party app to browse his iPhone 4 photo albums.

The expectation is that Photo Stream will work for your photos in Photos.app the same way Playlists work for music in iTunes, allowing you to send albums of photos to friends. Its background appearance in iOS 4.3 may indicate that it was pulled at the last moment and will instead be part of the major iOS 5 upgrade, which is rumored to be out this fall.

Hopefully, Photo Stream will indeed make it into iOS 5. Sharing your photo albums via a revamped MobileMe with your friends and family, all in an easy-to-use Apple fashion, would be a great feature.

Photo Stream feature hints found in iOS 4.3 originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TaskPaper 2.2.3 in the Mac App Store with a big discount

Minimalists looking for a task manager should take a closer look at TaskPaper for OS X, which is now on sale at US$4.99, a $25 discount off its normal $29.99. The app recently launched in the Mac App Store, and Hog Bay Software dropped the price for a limited time to celebrate TaskPaper’s debut. This $5 pricing will be available until Friday, April 8.

Developed by the same company that released WriteRoom, TaskPaper is a text editor-based task manager that mimics a handwritten list. If you are inspired to add an item to your growing to-do list, you only have to launch the app, type in your thoughts and hit Return to add it to your list. We have covered TaskPaper since version 1.0 and have been pleased with its simplicity and ease of use. If you have any interest in the application, grab it now before its price goes back up on Friday.

TaskPaper 2.2.3 in the Mac App Store with a big discount originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman talks about selling content on the iPhone

Major League Baseball Advanced Media is one of the most powerful developers on the App Store — every spring, when the new version of the MLB app arrives, the company picks up a sizable chunk of income just from the mobile app, not to mention the subscription service that fuels the live game streaming. Bob Bowman runs the company, and All Things Digital has a nice long interview with him about the app market and how Major League Baseball has taken advantage of mobile.

Straight off the bat (pun intended, sorry), he says that the company has seen a major difference between Android and iOS users: “The iPhone and iPad user is interested in buying content … that’s one of the reasons they bought the device. The Android buyer is different.” That’s interesting to hear — I’ve heard exactly the opposite from the makers of Pocket Legends, that Android users were more willing to spend in-app money than iOS users. We’re likely just talking about two different audiences here rather than different types of handset owners.

Bowman also says MLB is “living with” the 30 percent cut from Apple on its subscription income, but hopes that “over time, the margin will fall from 30 percent.” That’s a hope for a lot of subscription sellers on the App Store, and most of those are much smaller than the base MLB has built-up for itself on iDevices.

[via Edible Apple]

MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman talks about selling content on the iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Enable Video Mirroring on iPad 1 [Guide]

iPad 2 comes with the ability to mirror screen to an HD monitor or TV that supports HDMI or VGA using Apple’s Digital AV Adapter or VGA Adapter. But unfortunately this feature is “Officially” iPad2-only – but thanks to a jailbreak hack that lets you enable video mirroring on iPad 1.

A lesson at school. A presentation at work. Your favorite app on your HDTV. Now one iPad gets the attention of many on a big (and bigger) screen. And it’s a truly impressive performance.

Let’s enable video mirroring on iPad 1 iOS 4.3.1 using plist hack.

How to enable Video mirroring on iPad 1

Step 1

Jailbreak iPad 1 using one of the following guides:

Step 2

SSH into your jailbroken iPad 1. (How to: SSH into iPad);

Step 3

Navigate to system / library / coreservices / springboard.app and copy the K48AP.plist file on your computer;

Step 4

Edit K48AP.plist file with any plist editor and add the string display-mirroring boolean YES (see screenshot below). Then Save and close the file.

enable video mirroring on ipad 1

Step 5

Copy  the modified K48AP.plist file back to the iPad and restart the device;

Step 6

That’s it! Now enjoy video mirroring from ipad 1 to any Monitor or TV that supports HDMI or VGA using Apple’s Digital AV Adapter or VGA Adapter.

iPad 1 Video Mirroring demo video

Thanks [Macstories][NES]

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30+ Movie Title Tutorials

Filmmaker IQ collected 30 Movie Title Tutorials for After Effects for your convenience. It’s similar to Aetuts+ new “Sessions” series, for example Action Movie Visual Effects.

Filmmaker IQ included 7 tutorials from Aetuts+ Hollywood Movie Title Series. Below is a recent one not included. “After Effects Tutorial: Thor Trailer Titles” is from Chris Tarroza, who used the Shatter effect for his 3D text.

For additional resources on titles, see AE Portal posts tagged title.


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Open Up A 3d Extruding Box Logo Reveal – AE Premium

In this tutorial you will learn how to create sharp extruding squares to reveal either your text or your logo. This tutorial will focus on jumping deeper into Trapcode Particular to bring this animation to life.


This is a Premium Tutorial. To view you must Join Premium.

Once you’ve joined, log-in to the Premium Dashboard with your username and password to immediately access your Premium Content. Navigate to AE Premium via ‘Premium Categories’ in the sidebar. You’ll be able to grab the tutorial videos, project files and assets in the members’ area.


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Hope for Japan, Artists and Designers Show Their Support


On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 Earthquake hit Japan. The Earthquake and the subsequent Tsunami caused wide spread damage to the country and many people lost their lives. As the shocking events unfolded, artists and designers from across the globe created images to show their support for the people effected by this disaster and began to raise funds for the Japanese disaster relief efforts. Find out how you can help.

Continue reading “Hope for Japan, Artists and Designers Show Their Support”

Using Social Promotion for Online Exposure of Your Art


Have you considered using online communities for self promotion? Today we talk about the use of social networking to help gain online exposure for your art and tips on interacting with your audience. Whether you want to promote your art for sale or for feedback, there are a variety of ways you can go about this. In this day and age, the most cost effective way is to promote yourself via the internet.

Last month we talked about promoting your work and yourself via a website portfolio. This month we’re going to be looking at the option of social media as a vehicle for self promotion.

Continue reading “Using Social Promotion for Online Exposure of Your Art”

Getting Into Game Audio Part 3: Know The Craft – Audio Premium

Want to get into game audio? This is a must-read. West Latta continues his series on getting into the Game Audio business. Today he touches on the the key components of the craft of audio in the game industry, and how the process of learning the craft can help to guide you to success.

To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

There’s a common misconception about audio in the game industry that audio in games is ‘just some sounds and music’ and that ‘we can get someone to do that job easily’. While it may be true that there is no shortage of composers and audio designers anxious to get into the industry, it is a dangerous miscalculation to underestimate how much work is actually involved in creating audio for games. Moreover, there is a growing differentiation among audio tasks in the game industry, and to assume that one person can handle all of them ‘easily’ usually results in a poor audio experience.

Much like the film and television industries, the roles and responsibilities for audio people in the game industry continue to fragment and become more defined. In the early days of the industry, it is true that one person would program the music and sound effects for a game. This became less common as the various game platforms became more complex and started to include orchestrated music, recorded voiceover, and realistic sound effects.

Casual and mobile games (partially) excepted, the vast majority of todays games are developed by a team of skilled artists, designers, programmers, producers, audio designers, and testers. For a AAA title, it isn’t at all uncommon to see teams of 6 or 10 full-time audio designers, in addition to one or more composers, several audio programmers, voiceover producers, and localization specialists.

Let’s take a look at each of the various roles of audio in games, so you can get a better understanding of how audio is designed for today’s top games.

Table of Contents

  • The Audio Team
  • Sound Designer
  • Technical Sound Designer
  • Audio Programmer
  • Composer
  • Music Designer/Integration Specialist
  • Voiceover Producer
  • Field/Foley Artist
  • Management
  • Functional Example
  • To Be Continued

Existing Premium members can log-in and download. Not a Plus member? Join now.


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The Coolest Comic Book Covers of All Time


Comic book covers are often beautiful works of art. A good comic book cover should not only preview the contents of the story but should also look amazing at the same time. One of the great things about the comic book industry is that there are so many comic book covers for us, as designers to look at. Comic books are a limitless well of inspiration and today, we will be taking a look at some of our favorite comic book covers of all time and will be showcasing them for you all to see. Please take a look and let us know if there are any that we left off the list.


Catwoman #53 Adam Hughes

For our first feature we take a trip to the DC Universe to check out this stunning Cat Woman cover. Artist Adam Hughes used an incredible angle mixed with some great color
combination. The neon blue colors from the skyscrapers perfectly set the tone for this cover.


Detective Comics #626 Michael Golden

Another breathtaking angle is used for this Batman comic cover. Just the cityscape in the background mixed with the thought of The Batman leaping through the city of Gotham makes for an amazing cover. The illustration and art design used for this cover is top notch and therefore deserves to be on this list.


Watchmen #11 Dave Gibbons

Simplicity speaks volumes in this case. As one of the most iconic graphic novels ever published, The Watchmen has been praised for its amazing story as well as art direction. These 3 covers feature different scenes throughout the book which are pivotal moments in the story. Each has its own meaning and its more symbolic than anything, 3 amazing covers from an
influential comic.


Batman #1 Bob Kane

The debut of Batman is another iconic cover, in this very first issue we are
introduced to a very popular color scheme that was constantly used. On top of that we are given some in-action shots of the protagonist and his sidekick. No reason why this shouldn’t be featured, this influenced many covers that came after it.


The Walking Dead #48 Charlie Adlard

This symbolic and ominous cover really portrays the comics’ contents perfectly. A single character in a graveyard surrounded by nothing but darkness and despair. The artist took the premise of the comic of a zombie wasteland and turned it into a visually stimulating cover.


Astonishing X-Men #2 John Cassady

Most of us who aren’t familiar with the specific story this cover is trying to tell can still appreciate the wonderment of the incredible design for this comic. The single blue tone that envelopes the whole cover sets a very specific mood which is then added to by the characters. There is a whole other level of symbolism in this comic when you look at the positions of the characters and the beams of light breaking through the hands of the female character.


Batman #648 Jock

Angles seem to really work out when you are dealing with characters that effortlessly fly through the air. The specific way that this artist is trying to show Batman’s course of action is very interesting. On top of that we usually don’t see Batman while its bright out, which adds another level of awesome to this cover. The painting looks realistic enough to mimic an actual photograph, which is another great element to an awesome cover.


Y The Last Man #14 J.G. Jones

This is the first of a few Y The Last Man comics featured for their amazing art direction. A cover like this can tell the viewer a whole story itself without even opening the comic up first. The whole position of the featured character mixed with the visuals going on over his body make for a classic cover.


Catwoman #55 Adam Hughes

Without even heavily featuring the main character Cat Woman this cover simply takes over the viewer with the beautiful neon lighting and dark cityscape. The expression of the woman on the cover also paints its own story that leaves viewers anxious to know what this whole scene is about.


X-Men #44. Andy Kubert

This is another brilliant cover that features incredible design and detail while putting on some symbolism for the viewer. The sheer
destructive force seen in this cover by Cyclops even seems to disrupt the X-Men logo which is seen to be all crooked and disassembled. A lot of emotion is felt when looking at this cover making it one of the best ones featured in our list.


Meathaus S.O.S. Tomer Hanuka

This is not a traditional comic cover with characters that are easily recognizable but we don’t really care. This comic features an incredible illustration, which has a top half that features an almost whimsical childlike scene and then drops down to a dead body in between all of that. The simple painting style this artist took really brings out the purpose of the story this comic is telling.


The Amazing Spider-Man #633 Chris Bachalo

We don’t usually see covers with the main hero’s being crushed to death, but that is why we picked this one. It takes a much different approach in showing us what this comic is mainly about. The painting is flawless and instantly captivates the viewer with its dark presence.


Spider Girl #20 Ron Frenz

We are used to seeing Spider Man in his futuristic dark costume but this cover takes a little different approach. The artist figured not to include any cityscapes or soaring angles to enhance the scene that is to be set with a cover. All that we see is the daughter of Spiderman in the future wearing one of his many iconic costumes, enough said.


Y: The Last Man #60 Massimo Carnevale

Readers of this comic can instantly understand all of the messages this artist is trying to convey with the final issue of this graphic novel. But for those who are just appreciating the art there is still a lot to appreciate about this incredible cover. The artist painted this flawlessly, the gritty scenery and the rays of light that converge with the man in the straight jacket to form the letter “Y”. There is so much more here to look at in wonder,
truly a great cover.


Wolverine: Flies To A Spider Tim Bradstreet

The irony of having a huge light display of the words peace mixed in with a blood spatter and
Wolverine of all people in the center makes for another stunning comic display. The painting style used here almost looks like a photograph, but then elements are added like the grit of the background to make this a lot darker to fit into the theme of the comic. Great art direction taken on this one.


Thing #5 Andrea Di Vito

The colors of this dark damp city really bring out the focal point of this comic. The Thing, standing amongst the citizens of this poor looking setting. There is obviously a story to this that without reading we
wouldn’t know, but we can always look at and enjoy the stunning imagery and detail of this painting.


Black Panther #9 Trevor Hairsine

Another cover where we see the main character in a scene of peril and hopelessness. The Black Panther being attacked by Dr. Doom, the artist decided to go with a simple cover that conveys a lot of emotion which we can see in the eyes of Dr. Doom and the position of the Black
Panther.


Sweets #2 Kody Chamberlain

I wasn’t really sure what this comic was about when I saw it but that didn’t really matter to me when I added it to this list. The art direction is fantastic and once again we see a full shot of
what’s going on in this comic from an unusual angle. The coloring and gritty textured painting make this crime story almost come to life.


Popgun, Vol. 4 Ben Templesmith

The artist who created this unique cover used a fantastic painting style to illustrate this futuristic comic. There is no sense of realism here, it looks like a traditional painting but with very cool visuals. The digital dragon
tattoo is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in this whole list, and the way the robot is pictured here gives it a very calming soft mood.


The Marvelous Land of Oz #3 Skottie Young

This comic was made to look something along the lines of a revolutionary poster. The basic elements of a revolution are
definitely in this comic cover, the design style is simple yet rough and textured. This
vector zed comic cover just screams Revolt, and it definitely deserves to be on this list.


Joker Lee Bermejo

The instantly noticeable grin of this villain makes for a simply gruesome comic book cover that just screams awesome. There was
absolutely no need to sully this incredibly gritty painting with any typography
describing this comic because everyone already knows what it is going to be about. This painting perfectly depicts the Joker with the rough and dirty painting style. An amazing cover with some amazing color selection that
definitely tie into what the comic is all about.


Batman #682 Alex Ross

Right after we feature the Joker its only right to bring out the Batman. This cover has an unusual color scheme but we can’t be helped but to be amazed at how this was brilliantly painted. With a flurry of classic heroes and villains meshed in the back interacting with the bright and loud neon signs and Batman logo make for a pretty perfect cover that has everything one can ever want in an illustration about the Gotham Knight.


Marvel Zombies #9 George Roussos

This series of comics definitely feature some of the coolest illustrations out there. What would we do if our favorite heroes turned into insane flesh eating zombies? Yea, a
Captain America Zombie! Although this was a semi old cover it still featured some
gruesome half dead illustrations of our favorite heroes just undead.


Amazing Spider-man 592 Paolo Rivera

The last two covers featured are definitely some of the more original ones that we have in our roundup. Marvel and the artists took
Wolverine and then meshed him with many classical artists. Dali’s famous surrealism is up for display here with a little twist from the adamantium man. Anyone who loves art can appreciate the quality of this comic cover.


Uncanny X-Men 508 Laura Martin

Lastly the artist that created this cover decided to mimic the painting style Van Gogh while still keeping it badass as
Wolverine always has. Who doesn’t love that he has a person’s ear on his claws, this cover is just pure
genius on so many levels. Bravo to those at Marvel and the artist’s who came up with this idea. There are a lot more of these types of comic covers so follow the link to see the rest.

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Obama warns over budget stalemate

John BoehnerHouse Speaker John Boehner met Mr Obama at the White House on Tuesday
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Congressional leaders and President Obama failed to reach a budget agreement in talks at the White House, House Speaker John Boehner says.

Mr Boehner was called to the White House for talks on a deal aimed at avoiding a government shutdown.

Talks have stalled over legislation that would mix spending cuts with the funds required to run US federal agencies to the end of September.

Democrats have accused Republicans of linking social policies to the bill.

Mr Boehner and Mr Obama were attempting to resolve a plan that has the potential to cut $33bn (£20bn) from this year’s spending levels and ensure the government does not shut down when a temporary funding measure expires at midnight on Friday.

Following the meeting, Mr Boehner warned that Republicans would not be forced into accepting options they did not wish to endorse.

Mr Boehner said he told President Obama that House Republicans were preparing a week-long stop-gap bill aimed at preventing a shutdown, which includes $12bn (£7.3bn) in immediate spending cuts and enough funds to keep the Pentagon running to the end of September.

Separately, Republicans in the House unveiled longer-term plans to slash the budget deficit by more than $5tn (£3tn) over the next 10 years – combining spending cuts with a restructuring of taxpayer-financed health care for the elderly and the poor.

Mr Boehner said he disputed White House assertions that Democrats and Republicans had agreed to set cuts in spending at $33bn. Republicans want $61bn in cuts.

Republicans on Monday unveiled plans on instructing lawmakers on how the Republican-controlled House would operate if Democrats in the Senate shut down the government.

The White House also advised government agencies on Monday to prepare for a shutdown.

The BBC’s Katie Connolly, in Washington, says that although there hasn’t been a US government shutdown since 1995, the US government shut down 10 times during the Carter and Reagan administrations.

Shutdowns happen because a law passed in 1870 prohibits the government from operating if a budget hasn’t been passed, except in the case of emergencies.

But that law has been interpreted to exempt so-called essential services, including national security, air traffic control, inpatient medical services, emergency outpatient medicine, disaster assistance, prisons, borrowing and taxation, and electricity production, our correspondent adds.

‘Driving federal debt’

Earlier, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, released a longer-term plan to slash the budget deficit by about $5 trillion over the coming decade.

In a Wall Street Journal article published on Tuesday, Mr Ryan said Republicans would propose cutting $6.2tn in spending from Mr Obama’s budget over the next 10 years.

Mr Ryan has said Republicans are not “looking for a government shutdown” but are quite serious about demanding cuts in spending to curb federal deficits.

He has also said that lawmakers must find a way to come to deal with a lack of funds going into Medicaid and Medicare, two government programmes he has said are driving the federal debt.

Mr Ryan’s plan includes a proposal to convert Medicare programme into a system by which private insurers would operate plans approved by the federal government.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.