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Переслать - App Review: Rockchinko
App Quick Stats
A bag of metal balls, a rockabilly soundtrack, exploding pegs: Rockchinko is the pachinko machine from hell.
Harking back to the old American parlor game Corinthian Bagatelle, pachinko has captured the imagination, and yen, of Japan. While the game may not have invaded Western casinos, there’s a steady stream of pachinko apps arriving for the iPhone.
Rockchinko gives pachinko an injection of rock ‘n’ roll, featuring physics-defying tilting, plectrum powerups and tons of guitars across more than 40 levels.
Pinball Wizard
Breaking away from the seedy glitz and smokey fog of traditional pachinko parlors, Rockchinko restyles pachinko’s dated look for the rock generation — installing a twisted metal board coated in a neon glow.
The design can be a little inconsistent at times though, one moment shiny metal, the next pixellated skulls — it’s a messy milieu that floats between edgy and geeky.
Of course, there’s a rocking soundtrack too: Each stage is based on a different sub-genre, including blues, rockabilly and straight-up rock ‘n’ roll. Although none of the music seems to be directly licensed from well-known bands, à la Tap Tap Revenge, the music certainly captures the theme of the game.
Scales and Modes
There are three main game modes, two of which are initially locked and unavailable. To unlock the two game modes, you’ll have to complete Normal Mode — a feat that’ll only take a couple of hours at most for a new player.
Once Normal Mode has been beaten, Randomizer and Rock Mode are unlocked. Randomizer allows you to play through the array of stages on offer in Normal mode in a random order — it’s simple and effective, and revisiting even the early levels can still present a challenge to seasoned players.
The third game mode, Rockstar, contains a set list of brand-new stages to launch, tilt and turn through. The Rockstar stages blend together all the previous features and gameplay twists discovered in Normal Mode.
Everyone Can Play Guitar
The aim of each level is to destroy all the red pegs by bouncing your metal ball around the stage. The balls are fired from the funnel at the top of the screen, which can be adjusted by dragging side to side.
Tapping anywhere on the screen launches your shot and, once the ball is in play, the iPhone can be tilted, affecting the ball’s direction. With enough practice it’s possible to move the ball around the playing field, squeezing out each shot’s destructive potential.
There are obstacles, too, unlocked as you progress through Normal Mode. Windmills, moving platforms, and warp holes can prove formidable hindrances or useful tools, depending on your perspective. Also enhancing the puzzle aspect of the game is a range of effective powerups, from the tame Triple Ball to the impressive Flame Thrower and bombastic Mega Ball.
Destroying all but one red peg instantly throws the game into “Matrix”-esque slow-motion. The camera dramatically crash zooms on your ball and you’re given full control, even the ability to turn the iPhone upside down, sending your ball plummeting upwards and defying the laws of physics.
As your metal ball speeds across the screen, combusting any pegs it collides with, you’re thrown in to slow-mo for your coup de grâce. Oddly, this destructive slow-mo finale reminds me of Burn Out (the hyper-destructive crash and burn driving game) as it’s so exciting, needlessly dramatic, and satisfying.
Summing Up
Even with the levels I couldn’t beat on first try, I knew I could adjust my strategy, come back and keep advancing through the game. And that’s where Rockchinko introduces depth. You’ll need to be strategic, planning out your shots and tilts before hand, for each stage.
There’s still work that needs to be done, though. It needs more stages, online scoring, and some kind of competitive element. Plus the load times are abominable. However, the main game is executed almost perfectly. It’s incredibly satisfying, so much fun, and has consistently left me wanting more after every session.
Переслать - Shazam App Lands Apple, Others in Legal Hot Water
One of the original “wow”-inspiring iPhone apps, music recognition software Shazam, is now responsible for some legal trouble for Apple. Tune Hunter, a company that claims to hold the patent on the technology that Shazam uses, filed suit against the app’s developers, as well as Apple, Gracenote, Napster, Amazon.com and Samsung, among others. It’s actually almost easier to list major players in the electronics industry they didn’t file suit against.
The patent (no. 6,941,275, to be specific) describes “a music identification/purchasing system, specifically to a method for marking the time and the name of the radio station in portable device such as a key holder, watch, cellular phone, beeper or the like which will allow the user to learn via internet or regular telephone the name of the song, artist and/or music company by matching the stored data with broadcast archive.”
That description does indeed sound like Shazam’s functionality. If you’re not familiar with the app, it works by comparing an audio clip recorded via your iPhone’s microphone to an online music database, and then returning a song, artist and album name if it recognizes the track. Besides the iPhone version, there’s also one for Google Android, RIM’s BlackBerry devices, and even web-based apps like Facebook. Oddly, those three companies somehow escaped being named in the suit, despite the iPhone’s inclusion.
Tune Hunter is looking for damages and an injunction against further infringement (which would basically halt the distribution of the Shazam app). What they most likely want, though, is a nice fat settlement from the combined coffers of the heavy hitters they cite in their suit.
Переслать - iTunes: Rebranding History
Yesterday I was reminded of a song I used to like in the mid 90s by McAlmont & Butler. I hadn't thought of that track in years, but I figured I should get it. I opened iTunes, navigated to the Store, searched, bought and downloaded. From memory recall to new music took about 30 seconds. I'm sure you've had a similar experience, but do you ever stop to consider how amazing the iTunes experience really is? Finding obscure songs from the last century is only one tiny slice of the iTunes pie.If you're as old as I am, you remember when music first came to personal computers. I mean real music — not beeps and boops or nasty synth-heavy wav files. I mean music — the kind you get on CD. (In case you're not as old as me, a CD is a type of storage media from the Bronze Age. It was, for a brief time, the dominant species of music distribution before the iTunes Store and P2P networks slashed and burned their way to the top of the food chain.)
In the early 90s, getting real music on my computer was a Big Deal; just a few short years earlier, I had been playing vinyl records on my parent's turntable at home. In those days, portable music meant cassette tapes, which were hissy and clunky, and you had to turn them over half-way through!
Compared to vinyl records and rattling old tapes, CDs were practically magic. Not only could I play them on the family stereo, I could play them on my computer, too. Suddenly my favorite tracks from Michael Jackson's “Bad” were a mere double-click away. Awesome.
It's hard to imagine a time without iTunes, but if you grew up in those dark days, you know iTunes arrived really late to the Music Player party. Real Player and Winamp both appeared in the mid-90s (’95 and ‘97, respectively) and, along with various flavors of Microsoft's Media Player, dominated the market. Even when iTunes finally made an appearance in 2001, it would be another four years before Apple's music management software would become the undisputed King of Music Players.
Magic
It was a magical combination of ingredients that propelled iTunes to global domination. The iPod plus iTunes Store was perhaps the most compelling reason to want to get the MP3 player. After all, the device was stylish and, for saintly types who preferred lawful content acquisition, the music was cheap. More importantly, iTunes made the portable music experience easy and hassle-free. Importing a CD collection, buying new music and getting it all on to a shiny new iPod was made so simple anyone could do it. And they did. Before iTunes, MP3 players were firmly rooted in the domain of geeks and tech-savvy kids. After iTunes, MP3 players were called iPods (including those that weren't iPods) and even your grandmother knew how to subscribe to podcasts.
Thing is, we're still talking about a venerable old iTunes from way back when. Take a look at the application today and you're seeing something, superficially at least, that looks much the same as it always has. Now take a (metaphorical) look beneath the bonnet. (This is where I would insert some clever and funny car engine analogy if I knew anything about engines.) Where once lay a single-cylinder engine better suited to a lawnmower, now lies a Formula One beast. (Did that work? No? You get the point…)
iTunes has changed. Massively. What used to be an application dedicated to finding and playing digital music files on your hard drive has become a multimedia powerhouse for television shows and movies (in both standard and high-definition formats), music videos, games, podcasts and applications. It's a management tool for your connected home media, from the Apple TV in your den, to the iPod in your pocket, to the iPhone you simply can't live without. It's a portal into the world's biggest online media store. Oh yeah, don't forget Audiobooks, Internet Radio, and the (somewhat gimmicky and underused) Ringtones. I strongly suspect we'll be seeing eBooks make an appearance, too, once the mythical iTablet-thingy makes its debut later this year.
iTunes has become the standard for all media management/playback software. The rule of thumb for software developers in this space is now "If you can't produce something at least as good as iTunes, you really shouldn't bother." (I'm talking 'bout you, Windows Media Player.) iTunes achieved this status partly because the iPod has been such a sales success, but also because Apple's "less is more" approach to user experience and elegant design has produced an application so intuitive that everyone can get to grips with it. (Cue earlier grandmother reference for added emphasis.)
Some might describe the software as "multifunctional," while less generous souls might call it "bloated." Whatever your opinion, with all these features and capabilities, I wonder if "iTunes" is still the right name? After all, it has been years since it was a music-only media player. You might argue the majority of iTunes users only fire it up when they want to listen to a bit of Michael Jackson, or dip in to their custom-made playlist of “Stargate” soundtracks, but there’s still an interesting dilemma here.
What’s in a Name?
In a previous article I noted how a friend recently had problems on his Windows PC (I know, hard to believe) and had to reinstall his email application. I won't bore you with the gory details, but one of his stumbling blocks was not due to a lack of IT literacy, but entirely the result of Microsoft's decision to bundle applications like Windows Live Mail, Photo Gallery and Messenger — all contextually sensitive and appropriate names given their respective functionality — into a single suite called "Essentials." Baffling, really, because, unless you know what you're looking for and what it means in advance, "Windows Live Essentials" absolutely does not communicate "Your email is here!" to the average user.
This is now happening with iTunes. The name doesn't reflect the true scope of the application's functionality. It might seem like I'm making a silly point, particularly if you have grown up with iTunes, but bear with me, I'll explain myself…
Time for Some Role Play
Imagine you're Granny. You've just got your first computer. You want to listen to music, and a cursory glance through your applications presents iTunes as an obvious candidate for the right software to use. Easy. Job done.
But what about buying and downloading episodes of “The Golden Girls”? What do you use for that? Or subscribing to the “Silver Surfer's Videocast”? How about downloading that movie you saw advertised the other day (because you do like Matthew McConaughey, he's such a polite young man). The question is, what makes more sense to you as the right application to launch — iMovie or iTunes?
No matter how you spin it, iTunes doesn't quite fit the bill. The name implies music and nothing beyond music. I can't help but think Microsoft, usually the least likely software company to come up with decent names for anything, managed a far more appropriate moniker with “Windows Media Player.”
Given all its features and functionality today, perhaps a name change would be useful, though I don't envy any marketing executive's task of dreaming up a replacement. iMedia? iPlayer? iDoEverythingSoStopClickingAroundAndJustChooseMe?
In January, Phil Schiller announced the iTunes store had sold more than 6 billion songs. With those numbers in mind, I'm sure Apple doesn't feel any urgent need to worry about updating or changing the iTunes brand. But as iTunes continues to grow in both features and functionality, its name becomes ever more inappropriate and, at least for newbies, potentially misleading. Apple has a long history of choosing contextual names for its software; consider Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, iDVD and so on. There was a time when iTunes was the perfect fit. Not any more.
Is it too late to change it now? Apple certainly has the financial resources and the marketing talent to convince the world that any change is good. The real spanner in the works here, though, is how important the iTunes Store is as a source of revenue for Apple (6 billion songs, people!) The notion of doing anything that might, potentially, reduce those roaring cash rapids to, say, a babbling brook of Benjamins, would have Apple's shareholders shaking in their boots.
What's more important: honoring a well-established branding philosophy that communicates Apple's commitment to simplicity and ease of use, or milking a cash cow for all it's worth?
Переслать - How to Fix OS X 10.5.7 DVI-HDMI Screen Resolution Issues
Apple had finally released OS X 10.5.7, so I downloaded the combo updater in preparation to install on my three Macs. After installing the update on my MacBook Pro and my wife’s iMac without any issues, I ran the combo updater on my Mac mini that’s hooked up to my TV.
My TV’s native resolution is 1360×768 and ever since I got the Mac mini, this has worked flawlessly and with an extremely crisp picture when using a DVI-HDMI cable. So it was to my dismay when, after installing OS X 10.5.7 and the mini rebooted, the resolution displayed was completely wrong. “Ah, it must have reset, I’ll go change it back,” I thought to myself. So I went to the Display preference pane in System Preferences and looked for 1360×768, but it wasn’t there. I blinked and looked again; it still wasn’t there.
I tried all the other various resolutions, such as with the over-scan option turned on and then again with it turned off. Nothing looked right or displayed properly, and I was aghast. My wife would be wanting to watch the latest episode of “Master Chef” being recorded by EyeTV later in the evening and she wouldn’t be happy to hear that I had done something to the setup that was working excellently before I “fixed something that wasn’t broken and broke it.”
So I started searching and found that this is a common issue caused by the 10.5.7 upgrade. Quite simply, it seems that the DVI supported resolution detection is now broken. Apple is apparently aware of the issue and its developers are looking into it — but there’s no word on an ETA for a fix. If you have a Mac that you regularly hook up to your TV via DVI-HDMI, it would be advisable to stay on 10.5.6 for now.
In the meantime, if the horse has already bolted before you shut the stable doors and you’ve already upgraded, there are two workarounds that you can do to restore your TV’s native resolution.
1. Go back to VGA
If your TV has a standard PC VGA input, you can use a DVI-VGA adapter instead of DVI-HDMI. This will make the correct resolution available again in the Display preference pane. Of course this goes backwards in technology to an analog signal, but it will still look better than the wrong resolution. This is what I’ve done for now — my wife can’t see the difference between VGA and HDMI anyway, so she’s happy.2. Use ScreenResX to get your resolution back
A useful utility called ScreenResX can be installed. This lets you customize and tweak which resolutions are available in the Display preferences (even creating custom resolutions as required). ScreenResX is available as a 10-day trial and the good news here is that once you’ve created the new resolution and made it available in the Display preferences, you can uninstall ScreenResX.To keep up-to-date on this issue, keep an eye on this discussion thread on the Apple support forums. This also lists various ScreenResX settings people have used to get their resolution back, so is a useful reference point to assist with this. Hopefully Apple will fix this issue soon, as it does great damage to its “It just works” motto.
Переслать - Performing Live: London's iPhone Orchestra
Photo by Flickr user Jinho.Jung
Over in London, the experimental electronic music scene is positively flourishing.
Having lived in the UK’s capital city for the latter part of 2008, I discovered a bubbling sonic subculture — a community of creatives hijacking ice cream vans, reappropriating medical EPGs, and hacking instruments out of scraps of junk, all for the purposes of audio experimentation.
Particularly interesting is that, among these esoteric technologies, the iPhone seemed to be emerging as a burgeoning platform for sonic exploration. Since leaving London and moving to Helsinki, things have advanced even further as, in what is perhaps a world first, the iPhone orchestra (conducted via Wii controller, naturally) has been established.
The London Geek Community iPhone OSCestra’s inaugural performance was May 8 at Open Hack London, a one-day event supported by Yahoo! that brought together ultra tech-savvy hackers for a day of coding and communicating. The orchestra, a crew of eight musicians, opened with an impressive (and deliciously geeky) performance of the “Doctor Who” theme.
It seems that the iPhone is the perfect augmentation to any serious sonic-hacker’s audio artillery. Alongside its audio capabilities, touchscreen and Wi-Fi, the device can run third-party apps natively. Apple has made coding for the iPhone a breeze (even if getting your app approved isn’t so easy). Most importantly, though, the iPhone is readily accessible and relatively low-cost.
While it’s not clear when the The London Geek Community iPhone OSCestra will perform next, it’s actually surprisingly easy to get started making music in the same way. In particular, the musically minded among you who have been inspired by the iPhone orchestra will be pleased to hear that a combination of free iPhone and desktop tools were used for their performance.
The orchestra downloaded mrmr (free) from the App Store, an app that allows you to create highly customizable audio controllers and send the data to other devices using OSC (Open Sound Control). A controller could be a piano-style keyboard, a bank of faders, or an array of twisty knobs and flashy buttons — essentially interactive widgets that allow you to control sound and music.
Free desktop application OSCulator caught all the data, beamed wirelessly from mrmr on the iPhone, and sent it to Ableton Live. Live is my musical tool of choice, an incredibly powerful performance and production platform. In this instance, the orchestra performed using a bank of synthesizers running within Live. If you’re interested in going beyond Garage Band and making music on your Mac, it’s worth checking out the Live demo.
Thanks to the iPhone and, in particular, the growing number of sound toys and audio tools in the App Store, it’s becoming easier than ever for listeners to become performers. Drop by the comments, and let me know if you’ve been using your iPhone to make music.
Переслать - OS X 10.5.7 Dramatically Increases Netbook Battery Life
While some users are experiencing unpleasant issues thanks to Apple’s recent 10.5.7 update for OS X, others have plenty of reason to rejoice after updating. Specifically, hackintosh netbook users are reporting that battery life is seeing major improvements thanks to the update.
Wired’s Gadget Lab picked up on the user reports from the MSI Wind forums. Like the Dell Mini 9, the Wind is a popular choice for people looking to shoehorn OS X onto a netbook, which many users are doing since Apple seems unwilling to provide an official solution.
Better battery performance is great news for the hackintosh community, since it was one of the few remaining drawbacks to installing OS X on machines like the Mini 9, which is almost completely compatible with the Mac operating system. Personally, I’ve been considering picking up a Dell machine myself for just such a purpose, after numerous unsuccessful attempts with my Eee PC 1000HE, and this latest development will probably be the deciding factor.
Improved power management on Atom-based machines could suggest that Apple is readying OS X for deployment on new, official hardware — not a netbook, which the company seems dead-set against, but a tablet-type device that would make use of the 9.7-inch screens ordered from Wintek that have yet to appear in any production machines.
Since we know Snow Leopard won’t be ready for WWDC, it would make sense for Apple to build Atom-specific power optimization into Leopard at this point if it were planning a device launch for the June event. Even if no tablet is forthcoming, this is still great news for people hoping to use OS X on a more portable platform, officially or not.
Photo courtesy fiatlux on Flickr.
Переслать - Former OLPC Security Guru Headed to Apple
It may not have the charitable underpinnings of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, but Ivan Kristic couldn’t have asked for a better follow-up job than at Apple. Cupertino just snatched up Kristic following his time at OLPC, where he was the architect behind the Bitfrost security specification. He wrote about his new job in a post on his personal blog Monday, and began work at Apple on the same day.
Bitfrost was responsible for password protection, prevention of data loss, hard drive encryption and security updates for the OLPC, which, while not a specific target for hackers, did take an innovative approach to security that Apple could be very interested in learning more about. Somewhat like Google’s Chrome browser, Bitfrost runs every active program on a computer in its own virtual OS instance. As a result, a virus or malware in one program can’t hop to another, or infect the computer’s core files and spy on sensitive data.
The new hire could mean that Apple is looking for ways to safeguard its reputation for better security not just now, but in the future, too. Recent advertising efforts show that it considers its lack of security issues one of its primary selling points. At the same time, Apple must be aware that if its user base continues to grow, hackers will become more and more likely to target OS X vulnerabilities, and that reputation could quickly evaporate.
An innovative, compartmentalized approach to security like the one used by Bitfrost could go a long way to making sure Apple is perceived as a security leader even if user numbers shift in their favor. Don’t expect new measures to be implemented anytime soon, though. Kristic is probably coming on board now in order to work on solutions that will be implemented in whatever OS installment takes shape after Snow Leopard, which is probably at least another couple years off.
Переслать - 1B Apps Served, One Disappointing Revenue Total for Apple
Apple made quite the fuss about the App Store download total reaching the 1 billion milestone, complete with a contest and what was probably a fairly expensive advertising campaign. It seemed appropriate at the time, but I’m now wondering if promoting the landmark achievement didn’t cost more than it was actually worth.
Jeremy Liew, the managing director of Lightspeed Venture Partners, reported in a blog post that, according to his estimates, Apple couldn’t have made more than between $20 million and $45 million on all those apps. That’s not a whole heck of a lot, when you consider that maintenance and advertising could carry a hefty expense.
Liew talked to developers and others in the industry to arrive at a rough estimate of what the ratio of paid to non-paid apps in the App Store was, and came up with between 1:15 and 1:40. He then used O’Reilly’s recent survey about the mean price for apps, which is $2.65 (which he points out is probably much higher than the weighted average mean), and then multiplies that by 25 million to 50 million paid apps, what you get when you apply the ratio estimates Liew arrived at in the beginning.
Total revenue for all paid apps would then fall between $70 million and $160 million. Apple, according to its revenue-sharing model, then gets 30 percent of that, leaving it with between $20 million and $45 million. Liew also notes that if you do the same calculations with a weighted average app price of around $1.50, which is probably closer to the truth, the number drops to only $12 million to $27 million. $12 million probably doesn’t even cover the App Store’s advertising budget to date, let alone operational costs.
There are a lot of speculative numbers there, but even given the generous range of revenue possibility, that would mean the App Store is far from being a cash cow for Apple. It would, at best, be a minor direct contributor to its bottom line, and at worst actually an income drain that costs more to run than it takes in. Of course, even if it is operating at a small loss, that’s to be expected for a venture in its first year, so Apple wouldn’t really be acting out of the norm there. Sony sold its PS3 consoles at a loss initially, counting on the software revenue to cover the difference.
Apple seems to be doing just the opposite. If Liew is correct, it’s using the App Store as an incentive to get buyers to pay up for iPhone and iPod touch hardware, which is where the real money is made. That’s great news for us Apple consumers, because as long as the store keeps bringing in hardware buyers, Apple will make sure developers get lots of new hardware feature updates to play with to entice those buyers.
Переслать - How-To: Access Your Time Capsule Over the Internet
The other day my friend called me to tell me that he bought this new product called Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is pretty cool; you plug it into the wall, connect a hard drive to it, then connect it to your local Internet, and you have an NAS ready to go. I thought it was a pretty neat product idea, and the ease of use was great, but when he showed me that he could mount it over the Internet so that you could access your files over the Net, I knew I needed to have one — almost.After a few minutes of of shopping, I had found a 2TB USB hard drive and had the Pogoplug in my cart, but then saw I was going to spend about three hundred bucks. I then started thinking that I already had a Time Capsule 1TB hard drive with all my media on it, and that there must be a way to mount my Time Capsule over the Internet just like the Pogoplug. Unfortunately, there is really no documentation on how to mount the Time Capsule over the Internet, but after a few minutes, I ended up figuring it out myself. I can now have my files wherever I am!
Some Things to Note
- This tutorial assumes you are using your Time Capsule as an NAS, not as the router. It’s possible it would work when in use as a router, but I didn’t give that a try.
- Wherever your Time Capsule is must have a static IP address. (My broadband Internet came with that.)
Determine your External IP Address
We’re going to be referring back to this number a lot. Make sure you write it down.
- Go to What is My IP Address?
- Write down the number next to “Your IP Address is”
Determine your Time Capsule’s IP Address
- Launch Airport Utility: Applications → Utilities → Airport Utility
- Find your device in the left-hand column and select it.
- Copy the number down next to “IP Address” in the right-hand column.
Determine Your Time Capsule’s Disk Password
When we try to remotely connect to the Time Capsule, we are going to be prompted for the password for it. To set up a password for the Time Capsule disk:
- Launch Airport Utility: Applications → Utilities → Airport Utility
- Find your device in the left-hand column and select it.
- Click the “Manual Setup” button.
- Click the “Disks” tab.
- Click the “File Sharing” tab.
- Make sure the “Enable File Sharing” box is checked and “With a secure disk password” is selected from the “Secure Shared Disks” drop-down menu.
- Enter in a password in the “Disk Password” and “Verify Password” boxes.
- Click the “Update” button.
Forward Port 548
Port 548 is the Apple file-sharing port. We need to forward from our external IP address to the Time Capsule on our internal network.
Every router is different, so below I’ve outlined the basic steps. You’re going to have to consult your router’s documentation for exact instructions. Portfoward.com has documentation for a lot of routers, and I also wrote an article for how to do port forwarding with Airport Extremes.
- Log in to your router. If you have left it as the router as the default configuration, launch a web browser and enter “192.168.1.1″ (most routers default to this IP). If this doesn’t work, consult your router’s manual for directions on how to get to the configuration panel.
- Once you are logged into your router, find the port forwarding section (mine was under the “Applications and Gaming” tab).
- Forward both the TCP and UDP ports from the router to your Time Capsule’s IP Address
AppleScript to Mount Drive (For Laptop Users)
We are going to make an application to mount the drive. After you save it in your Applications folder, anytime you are away from home you can simply double click it to mount your Time Capsule.
- Open Scipt Editor: Applications → AppleScript → Script Editor
- Paste the following code (be sure to replace Your External IP Address, Your Username, and the Time Capsule Password):
mount volume ¬
"afp://YOUR EXTERNAL IP ADDRESS" as user name "YOUR USERNAME" with password "TIME CAPSULE PASSWORD" - Click File → Save As.
- Select “Application” from the “File Format” pulldown.
- Save it to your Applications folder.
Mount Drive From Any Mac Computer
Here is how you mount the drive from any of your friends’ computers. Obviously, you won’t have your application with you. If you’re feeling lazy, you could email it to yourself and store it in your email so you always have it.
- In the Finder bar at the top of your screen click Go → Connect to Server.
- In the server address box, enter in your external IP address that we wrote down earlier.
- Click “Connect.”
- You will be prompted for a username and password.
Username: Enter in your computers username. (On your home computer go to System Preferences → Accounts and it’s the name next to “Username”.)
Password: Enter in your Time Capsule’s Password
Optional Step: Forward a Domain Name to Your External IP Address
Remembering a domain name is much easier than remembering an IP address, so for this optional step we are going to forward a domain name to our External IP address that we wrote down earlier. Then, when we go to the “Connect to Server” you can enter in the domain name instead of the IP address.
This guide is for GoDaddy, but the same basic procedure should apply for other domain registrars.
- Purchase a domain at Godaddy.com.
- Log in to your Account Manager.
- In the My Products section, click Domain Manager.
- Click the domain name for which you want to create an A record.
- In the Total DNS section, click Total DNS Control and MX Records.
- Click Add New A Record.
- Complete the following:
- Host Name: The host name the A record links to. You can enter @ to map the record directly to your domain.
- Points to IP Address: The external IP address that we wrote down earlier.
- TTL: The time increment for which the server should cache the information.
- Click OK.
Переслать - Save the World with Terminator Salvation on the iPhone
As a fan of the Terminator trilogy, I’m fascinated to see how the new movie will fare. I was equally intrigued to take a look at the iPhone game released to accompany the fourth installment in the movie series. Gameloft announced the release last week, and Terminator Salvation is now available to download (iTunes link) for $9.99.I’m pleased to say that my sentiments echo the rave reviews the game has received on the App Store. It pushes the boundaries of third-person action games for the iPhone, bringing innovative concepts such as an intuitive “cover” system, various enemies and vehicles, and an excellent control mechanism.
The iPhone game was released shortly after a “leaked video” hit YouTube demonstrating the game in action. Whether a PR stunt or not, it serves as an excellent overview of what to expect in the game — both in terms of graphics and gameplay.
Graphics
Terminator Salvation is visually impressive from start to finish, making full use of the iPhone’s processing capability. Environments are rich and detailed, recreating the atmosphere of the film as well as can be expected on such a small screen.
Post-Apocalyptic Graphics
Cut-scenes are rendered using the same engine, with narrative provided through speech bubbles. (There’s no angry commentary from Christian Bale, unfortunately.)
Controls
The game adopts a natural-feeling control system. A virtual direction pad sits to the left, allowing you to walk forward, back, left and right. Dragging the screen allows you to look around the environment and set your targeting reticle on a suspicious-looking enemy.
Move and Look Controls
An excellent cover system responds automatically if you move towards an item which the character is able to crouch behind or peek around. You can continue to aim while in cover, firing immediately as you move. This is a first for an iPhone game and really adds to the app’s realism.
A separate control system is used for mini-games, adopting a similar approach to the popular Labyrinth iPhone app. It makes use of the accelerometer, requiring you to solve a puzzle, thereby “hacking” a device in order to use it. Unfortunately, there is no way to calibrate the iPhone — you’ll need to play these puzzles with your device horizontal to stand any chance.
Gameplay
The game follows the storyline of the upcoming movie in which John Connor leads the human resistance against Skynet and an army of Terminator robots. You play as both John Connor and Marcus Wright at various points, each with their own unique abilities. Unfortunately, the plot of the game is somewhat difficult to follow, twisting and turning to the point where I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on.
Drive!
Whilst playing through the nine levels on offer you’ll encounter 11 different types of enemy (each of which is overcome in a specific way) and drive a variety of futuristic vehicles. The choice of weapons is equally impressive and includes an assault rifle, a shotgun, a grenade launcher, a chain-gun and a surge cannon. Not for the faint of heart!
Each level offers a set of mission statistics upon completion. If you find yourself hooked on the game, it provides a good way to monitor your improvement when replaying a level.
Mission Statistics
For the asking price of $9.99, Terminator Salvation is a fairly short-lived affair. Blasting through the nine levels can be done in a couple of hours, after which you’re rewarded with a new Terminator character. You can replay the game at a slightly harder difficulty level with the new character, though it doesn’t add a great deal in terms of new gameplay experience or variety.
Conclusion
Terminator Salvation for the iPhone is a solid release that makes great use of the iPhone’s touchscreen and accelerometer. Graphics are outstanding, with gameplay that feels natural and is a lot of fun. Areas lacking include a fairly short, convoluted storyline and no audio commentary to better explain what exactly is happening.
If you enjoy gaming on the iPhone, Terminator Salvation is definitely worth a try. It may not be able to offer hours and hours of re-playability, but the time you do spend saving the world from various mechanical enemies is remarkably enjoyable.
Переслать - Free MobileMe Alternative: How to Set Up Google Sync for Mac and iPhone
MobileMe, Apple’s online personal information management (PIM) solution, has withstood quite the controversy. While some of the more fortunate subscribers, like myself, have had only positive experiences, others had to wait several months before syncing worked without reporting cryptic errors or silently failing.My only gripe was the buggy MobileMe web site. Problems were numerous, such as the page randomly refreshing in the middle of adding a calendar event. Obviously this wasn’t disastrous on its own, but annoying tics add up, and eventually push people to look for alternatives.
Recently, I discovered an offering from Google that challenged the PIM synchronization features of MobileMe and competitors like Microsoft Exchange (what you unfortunately probably use at the office). This new service, Google Sync, offers the same seamless integration between your computer and mobile phone. It’s fast, free, and, most importantly, it works.
Setting it up, as you will soon find out, can be tricky, and takes time, patience, and an understanding of two-way syncing. Unless, that is, you’re starting from a blank slate with no contacts or calendars. However, I assume you already have a digital life, so I will attempt to coach you through transferring your information to Google first. I’m not going to retype all of Google’s own instructions. Instead, I’ll outline shortcuts around the sticky issues I encountered while setting up Sync. Google doesn’t organize its instruction processes well, so hopefully this will save you some time and a few headaches.
Requirements:
- Google account
- Contacts organized in Address Book
- Calendars organized in iCal
- You do not use an Exchange account on your iPhone
Exporting your Address Book Contacts to Google
- I used a Google-recommended application called A to G to export my contacts as a large CSV file, and then import them into Google Contacts. You can get A to G here.
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After you created the CSV file on your desktop, go to your Google Contacts page:
https://google.com/contacts
Note: For Google Apps users go here:
https://mail.google.com/a/[domain name]/#contacts - Click on “Import”, choose the CSV file on your hard drive, and boom, your contacts are now in Google.
Exporting your iCal calendars to Google
- Unfortunately, you have to export your iCal calendars one at a time. You can do this by clicking once on a calendar in the CALENDARS area, and selecting File -> Export.
- Then, go to Google Calendar:
https://www.google.com/calendar/
Note: For Google Apps users go here:
https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/[domain name]/ - Settings -> Calendars -> Import Calendar
- Click “Choose File” to select the exported calendar on your hard drive. Choose which Google Calendar you want to import the information into. I recommend manually creating calendars in Google Calendar with the same names as your iCal calendars. Then, import the iCal files into their corresponding Google calendars. Repeat for each file you exported from iCal. Your calendars are now on Google.
Let’s recap. Your current contacts and calendars are now on Google. However, that information will never change unless you set up synchronization on your iPhone and Mac(s).
Configuring Google Sync
Warning: This is where you begin changing settings. If you’re a MobileMe user, all of your data is safe with Apple and everything you do here is completely reversible.
It’s easy to temporarily disable MobileMe while you set up Google Sync. Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars, select your MobileMe account from the Accounts list. Switch Contacts and Calendars to their OFF positions. If, in the end, you don’t want to use Google Sync, you can remove the Google Sync account you are about to set up, and switch your MobileMe Contacts and Calendars to their ON positions.
If you sync your Address Book and iCal information via iTunes, you should deselect those options in iTunes and resync your iPhone. The goal here is to clear out your contacts and calendar information on your phone. Again, if you decide to not use Google Sync, you can remove your Google information, select the contacts and calendars checkboxes in iTunes, and sync your iPhone with your computer once more to restore your data.
Now you’re ready to get your iPhone syncing data from Google. Follow these instructions about setting up your iPhone to get that working.
Important Google Apps note #1:
Apps users have to enable Google Sync in your dashboard, which can be done following these instructions.Important note #2:
If you use more than one calendar, you have to configure that on the iPhone, otherwise only one will appear in the phone’s calendar app. After you’re done with the “Setting up your iPhone” section, go to m.google.com on your iPhone and select Sync. If you’re a Google Apps user, scroll to the bottom to select the “Google Apps User?” link. After logging in you can select which calendars you want to sync to the iPhone (maximum is five currently).Now, any changes you make in Google Contacts or Google Calendar will be reflected on your iPhone. Also, any changes you make to your iPhone’s contacts or calendar information will be reflected on Google’s corresponding sites. Do you use IMAP for your Gmail account? Then consider yourself 100 percent synced.
If you’re satisfied with using Google’s sites and your iPhone to manage your information, then you’re done. However, if you want your current information to appear in iCal and Address Book, then you have a few more steps:
- Importing your Google Contacts into Address Book
This requires setting up built-in Address Book preferences. - Importing your Google Calendars into iCal
This uses software called Collaboration.
Conclusion
Congratulations on making it this far. Hopefully, you’ve successfully set up Google Contacts and Google Calendar with your existing information, and both your iPhone and Mac(s) are now synchronized with Google. You can now make changes to or add contacts and events from any computer or your iPhone, and all without spending a dime. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions!
Переслать - Are Apple's High Laptop Prices Sustainable?
The brushfire popularity of small, inexpensive laptop computers, aka netbooks, shows no sign of losing steam, with a reported growth rate for the category of 80 percent so far in 2009 (vs. a general laptop growth of around 13 percent), putting netbooks on track for sales of around 21 million units this year. Apple consequently faces a daunting challenge, with only two notebook models selling for less than $1,500, and no offering in the expanding netbook market.Negative Lookout For Netbook-less Apple
This week, ChangeWave’s Jim Woods and Paul Carton report that, according to their April survey of 3,231 consumers, they've picked up a jump in planned laptop spending going forward, led by escalating netbook demand. That’s not good news for netbook-less Apple. Nearly a quarter of respondents to the latest survey (23 percent) who plan to buy a laptop in the next three months say it'll be a netbook, five points higher than in ChangeWave’s February sample.
The good news is that Apple’s premium-priced lineup has helped make it the most profitable company in the personal computer business. The bad news is that the company’s position in notebooks appears to be unsustainable if it wants to maintain or grow its market share and stay a significant player.
Apple Becoming The Bentley Of Personal Computers?
In a recent commentary, BusinessWeek’s Stephen Wildstrom observed that while Apple has long seemed to aspire to be the BMW of the computer business, these days it’s in danger of becoming the Bentley. He has a point.
For instance, while Apple’s Q1 2009 financial results last month recorded the company’s best non-holiday quarter ever, with over $8 billion in total sales and profits of over $1.2 billion, or 14.8 cents of profit for every dollar taken in during the period, MacBook sales actually dropped a whopping 22.1 percent in the quarter. One European study even reported that netbooks accounted for 30 percent of all notebooks sold in Europe during Q3 2008.
Apple Sweeps Consumer Reports Notebook Ratings
On the other hand, the June issue of Consumer Reports gives Apple’s MacBook family of notebooks top ranking in the 13-inch, 14-inch to 16-inch, and 17-inch categories, even though many of their competitors cost less. The 17-inch MacBook Pro got the highest rating of any notebook reviewed by Consumer Reports, scoring 80 points out of 100, and rated “Excellent” or “Very Good” in all tested categories, so Apple has to be doing something right.
So people like the notebooks Apple is currently making, but cost seems to be the primary factor motivating consumers going forward. There is pull in both directions.
Apple Delivers Value
Personally, I’m not feeling at all ripped-off for paying a premium price (by PC standards) for my new unibody MacBook, which is a delight to use. I could have had a Windows laptop with a larger screen and more features for hundreds less than I paid for the MacBook, but I would have got what I paid for: a generic PC. The MacBook isn’t perfect. I remain convinced that dropping FireWire was a serious mistake, and there aren’t enough USB ports, but aside from those points, I have no serious complaints.
The 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics has ample power for my needs, has so far been reliable (admittedly early days yet), looks and feels great, with a standard of workmanship reminiscent of a fine Swiss watch.
Unfortunately, it’s evidently becoming more difficult to convince cash-strapped and recession-weary consumers who’ve never experienced the joys of Mac ownership that the added value for the extra money really is worth it, which is the nexus of Apple’s laptop pricing dilemma.
Moving Downmarket?
I’ve been an advocate of Apple moving downmarket in order to protect and hopefully grow market share, but I also agree with BusinessWeek’s Wildstrom that Apple is probably right to shun the extremely low-profit bottom end of the laptop category. However, there’s a good case to be made for Apple wading in to the burgeoning sub-$1,000 “thinbook” category that blurs the distinction between netbooks and notebooks — machines I call “crossovers.”
Wildstrom suggests that one netbook/crossover strategy Apple could employ would be a MacBook based on Intel’s soon-to-be released Consumer Ultra-low Voltage (CULV) processors, paired with Nvidia’s 9400M graphics as used in the current MacBooks, to create a 12-inch notebook priced at perhaps $800. I wholeheartedly agree, and can almost see 12-inch PowerBook aficionados dancing in the streets and lining up to buy just such a machine.
Переслать - iPhone 3G Now Comes Directly from Apple to Your Door
Apple seems to be trying everything they can think of to clear existing iPhone stock. As of today, you can finally order the iPhone 3G directly from Apple’s web site and have it delivered to your door.If you’re fond of the old ways, you can still reserve your device at the Apple retail store and then go pick it up. Personally, since shipping’s free, I’d just as soon let laziness prevail. While the same option has been available from AT&T for a while now, it’s always nice to have a choice, especially one that makes use of Apple’s much-touted customer service.
Переслать - Apple Takes the Gloves Off With Three New Ads
Yesterday TAB writer Tom Reestman took a shot at Microsoft over their latest attack ad on Mac pricing, and today Apple is defending itself against Redmond’s advances with three new “Get a Mac” ads starring Justin Long and John Hodgman. This time around, Cupertino seem to be responding directly to the Microsoft Laptop Hunters series of ads that feature “regular people” shopping for a new notebook within a certain price range, which inevitably excludes Apple machines. They also take a jab at the “I’m (person’s name), and I’m a PC” tactic Microsoft has been using in all of its recent advertising. 
“Customer Care” compares the kind of customer service you get with Apple, and with a PC. Mac has a friendly, nice-looking Genius to give him one-on-one help anytime he needs it, while PC calls up a customer support hotline and is given the runaround. I think this is the farthest Hodgman has ever stretched his acting chops in one of these ads.
In “Elimination,” Apple is pretty clearly responding to Microsoft’s tossed glove. A computer buyer joins the pair on-screen, and PC brings along some friends to offer her a wide range of buying choices. Eventually, though, she eliminates them all based on her search criteria, which almost match that of Lauren and Giampaulo, with one final, key exception. Apple, in giving the customer a very clever last line, gets in a nice parting shot with this ad.
The third and final new ad, “PC Choice Chat,” finds Hodgman hosting a radio talk show, the format of which ostensibly consists of talking to PC users about their variety of choices and options. It ends up following the same lines as the other two commercials, mentioning both Apple’s superior customer service, and its resistance to security threats. Obviously Apple knows its strength and doesn’t feel the need to stray too far from its core message: we’re easier and safer to use.
Good batch overall, and the dig at the end of “Elimination” is priceless.
Переслать - Apple Announces WWDC Keynote Date, Time, and Speaker
Today Apple revealed some more details about the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference via a press release available on their web site. Specifically, they give a firm date and time for the keynote speech of the event, and details about who will be involved.
Many had hoped that since Steve Jobs’ medical leave of absence is set to end in June, he would once again take the stage at WWDC ‘09 to deliver the keynote with the trademark showmanship that has made Apple events the media circuses they are today.
It looks like, for whatever reason, June will not mark such a comeback after all. Phil Schiller, SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing, will instead headline the bill, backed by “a team of Apple executives,” on June 8 at 10 a.m. Schiller recently took the stage as keynote speaker at Macworld in January, with mixed results. From the sounds of the press release, it looks like this time around, Apple may again use more of a multiple-speaker model, like the one that served them so well at the iPhone OS 3.0 announce in March.
Apple also partially confirmed a release timeline for OS X Snow Leopard put forward by AppleInsider by announcing that a Final Developer Preview version of the new operating system would be made available at WWDC. This official statement, which comes from Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, should put the kibosh on rumors that the full retail release would arrive in time for the June event. Should, but probably won’t.
Переслать - App Store Roundtable: After Sales Support
In this installment of the App Store Roundtable, I talked to a few developers about issues with supporting their apps after a sale has been made. Many developers are concerned at the difficulty of providing any form of after sales support to customers. Minor problems with an app often lead to a bad review and a dissatisfied customer, when a better support system could have quickly resolved the issue.
The App Store is a wonderful platform, but I would love to have better customer service tools. The App Store asks the shopper to place their trust in the developer with Apple serving as an intermediary. Apple’s reputation goes a long way in building trust, but by providing better customer service tools Apple would turn their developers into a dedicated customer service team. By adding features like an app FAQ section, the ability to send a refund, and a standard “contact” button, Apple could strengthen customer relationships.
– Carrie Segal, developer of Colorific
I see real difficulty in supporting end-users. Apple’s sole concession is a “support” link in the App Store, which most people seem to ignore, preferring to add a review. Of course, we can’t respond to those reviews. We see a number of problems: Users typically see iPhone OS updates at the same time as developers, and there’s that delay in pushing out fixes; the difficulty of remotely diagnosing problems; the obstacles in getting access to logs and databases…The list goes on. Apple is certainly moving in the right direction with the recent availability of crash reports and version numbers on reviews, but things are possibly improving too slowly to help developers building more complex applications. As it stands, the App Store is still geared towards “disposable,” low-cost apps. People aren’t going to pay more for complex apps until developers can adequately support them.
– Stephen Darlington, developer of Yummy
Other developers reported some success by building their own support links and mechanisms into their Apps.
In Flower Garden, I did go out of my way to make sure users can contact me and give me feedback. There’s even a button in the app itself for people to give feedback.
– Noel Llopis of Snappy Touch, developer of Flower Garden
As Darlington mentioned, Apple has just recently started providing developers with access to crash reports via iTunes Connect. Trent Shumay, of Finger Food Studios, is one of many developers welcoming the new addition:
As soon as I heard of the crash reporting, a sense of warmth and happiness entered my soul after years of battling it out on platforms where it simply wasn’t an option. For the average independent iPhone developer, access to crash reports is a major equalizer in the delicate balance between limited resources for Beta Testing and product quality.
Our apps will receive thousands (or hopefully hundreds of thousands) of executions by a group of users not conditioned to its quirks and intended usage. No QA process can possibly reproduce this, so it’s incredibly valuable to have a safety net in case something goes wrong.
Apple’s crash reports deliver key information directly back to the developer, and have the potential to reduce the timeframe for correcting crash bugs by an order of magnitude. This is only a good thing, and a very welcome tool in the development process.
Join us next time?
If you are an iPhone developer with experience of the App Store and would like to participate by sharing some opinions in future App Store Roundtables, please get in touch via our contact form.
Переслать - Apple Releases Mac OS X Update 10.5.7There was a lot of buzz that it might come today, and it has. Apple just released Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 for download via Software Update. As one, let us install and restart our computers. Maybe the Internet will pause for a second in our absence.
Here are some highlights from the new release:
- Includes additional RAW image support for several third-party cameras.
- Improves performance of video playback and cursor movements for recent Macs with NVIDIA graphics.
- Improves the reliability and accuracy of Unit Converter, Stocks, Weather and Movies Dashboard widgets.
- Addresses a situation that may cause issues when logging into Gmail.
- Improves reliability when syncing contacts with Yahoo.
- Improves network performance when connected to certain Ethernet switches that have Flow Control enabled.
- Improves stability for network home directories hosted by Mac OS X Server v10.4.
- Improves Finder search results for network volumes that may not support Spotlight searching, such as Mac OS X Server v10.4, Time Capsule, and third-party AFP servers.
- Includes several improvements to Directory Service and Client Management, which are described in the About Mac OS X Server 10.5.7 Update article.
For a complete list of fixes and enhancements, check out Apple’s official support article detailing the release. As always, let us know if the update brings any unpleasant surprises.
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