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- Multiball Pinball: Not your Dad's pinball, and maybe not yours either
Filed under: App Review
Multiball Pinball (US$2.99 for devices using iPhone OS 2.2 or better), is billed by Matmi, publisher of three other pinball games, as their most extreme pinball yet. If extreme, means busy, chaotic and possibly headache inducing, I'd agree with them.
Let's try a test. Look at the graphic on the right for a few seconds and try to figure out what's going on. This is a one table pinball game with no close-ups or camera movements to direct your eyes such as found in Wild West Pinball, a cheaper, and more nicely designed app. You can see that the screen is very busy, and seems to use every pinball component possible. But being the most feature laden pinball game out there is not necessarily a good thing. There are four flippers controlled by tapping on the left or right side of the screen, but one flipper is often obscured by overlay text, like the one under the big X BALL display.
The app does come with a few pages of instructions, in type a bit too small to easily read, and any direction is quite useful, but what isn't welcome is the total chaos of gameplay. As I played, I found the right flippers have a hard time bouncing a ball to the top of the table since the path is obscured by objects. There is always a lot going on, like ramps, cannons and smoke, but their design leaves a lot to be desired. It's not very clear when a ball enters a ramp, exactly where it will come out. When a smoke effect appears, it often obscures your view of the ball.
TUAWMultiball Pinball: Not your Dad's pinball, and maybe not yours either originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pinball - Unofficial Apple Weblog - game - IPhone - Coin-Op
Переслать - Street Fighter for iPhone adding new character for free
Filed under: Gaming
Our friends over at Joystiq have uncovered some video of a brand new character coming to the Street Fighter for iPhone game from Capcom. Camy is going to bring her camouflaged legs to the fighting game, and she's coming for free -- Capcom is going to include the character in a soon-to-be-released update to the game.
Obviously a free character is great and all, but this seems weird. We assume that the character's coming in a free update, and since Capcom is announcing it, it's probably a safe assumption that it's up for Apple's approval.
We were told in an interview earlier this year that the game just didn't have enough "memory" for more characters. Maybe Capcom has fixed some performance issues and found a way to get another character in there -- or maybe the original translation we got wasn't quite right. At any rate, say hi to Camy -- if you own the game, she'll be on your iPhone soon.TUAWStreet Fighter for iPhone adding new character for free originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW review and giveaway: Doxie portable scanner
Filed under: Peripherals
The dictionary defines "doxy" as a lover or mistress, so it's not surprising that the new Doxie portable scanner from Apparent has pink hearts as a defining graphic feature. The hearts are in the dock when you have the Doxie software running, there's a pink heart over the "i" in Doxie, there's a string of eight progressively smaller pink hearts along the front of the device, and to scan, you push a big button with a pink heart on it.
Apparent's product is a very capable product, despite the graphics which make it appear to be something designed for little girls. Fortunately, the company realizes that the pink hearts might not be acceptable to manly men, so the scanner comes with a choice of stick-on skins that provide it with more masculine zebra hide, wood grain, plain black, blue and white sky scape, Scottish tartan, and black-and-blue plaid appearances (see below). Read on as I give this new entry to the portable scanner market a full workout, and then enter our giveaway to get a chance to win a Doxie for yourself.TUAWTUAW review and giveaway: Doxie portable scanner originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple #56 in Fortune 500 rankings
Filed under: Apple Corporate
Apple has moved up 15 spots in Fortune's annual Fortune 500 rankings to be the 56th largest company in the world by revenues. Apple had 2009 revenues of US$36.5 billion in 2009, up 12.5% from 2008. Despite the massive revenues, Apple still ranks third, behind HP (ranked 10th overall) and Dell (ranked 38th overall), in Fortune's "Computers, Office Equipment" industry rankings.
Apple's share price total return to investors was a whopping 149%. Many believe that that's just the tip of the iceberg with Apple analyst Gene Munster predicting a year end target price of $299 a share. As of the time of this writing, Apple's share price sits above $248.
The top three companies in Fortune 500's 2009 rankings were Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobile, and Chevron. In the Internet Services and Retailing industry, Amazon came in first (ranked 100 overall), Google second (ranked 102 overall), and Liberty Media third (ranked 227 overall).TUAWApple #56 in Fortune 500 rankings originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - You've come a long way, Jonathan Ive
Filed under: Humor
It's gotta be tough for a guy who designs the sexiest devices on the planet. No, not the million-dollar paycheck or the international fame and fortune. When you're one of the world's top designers, you must make sure your image portrays cool and sexy. If you're a built guy with a shaved head and an English accent, you've done a good job.
On the other hand, if you're wearing beige fleeces with huge collars and sporting a pretty wicked 'stache, you might have a problem convincing people that you, y'know, design some of the sleekest, sexiest devices on the planet.
Oh, how the Internet is going to make all of us have to relive our worse style decisions over and over. Gizmodo has dug up this video clip of Jonathan Ive talking talking about how a computer "can be sexy" circa 1999. You've come a long way, Jonny...
TUAWYou've come a long way, Jonathan Ive originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dr. House couldn't diagnose a good app if his life depended on it
Filed under: App Review
Fox has released InHouse [free], an app that supposedly takes users into the world of House M.D. First off, let me say I'm a fan of the show; it's witty, funny, and keeps me entertained for forty-two minutes each week. The Dr. House app, on the other hand, is lame, boring, and has content that would be better suited to a web site.
When you launch the app you have eight selections ranging from "Free Clinic" to "Media Room." All that any of these selections provide is links to photos or short video clips. There is no interactivity at all. Fox says the app allows House fans to "delve deeper inside the world of Dr. Gregory House and Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital," but it does no such thing.
The best apps offer a level of interactivity. The InHouse app has none, beyond tapping a button to get to another video. For example, one of the eight selections you're presented with is called "Music Room." The Music Room shows the user alternate music selections "considered" for each episode and allows you to buy the songs in the iTunes Music Store. Read that again: "considered for each episode." None of the songs are actually in any episode of House. This portion of the app is nothing but a shill to get House fans to buy Fox-owned songs.
Fox had a great opportunity to build a fun, interactive app. House is a world-class diagnostician. Why couldn't the app allow users to diagnose medical mysteries? I guess that would have gotten in the way of selling music not related to the series at all. This app needs a major overhaul. For now, it's DOA.TUAWDr. House couldn't diagnose a good app if his life depended on it originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Joypad turns your iPhone into wireless video game controller
Filed under: iPhone
Do you love playing classic games via emulators on your Mac but hate using the keyboard to control those 8-bit heroes? Joypad is just what you've been waiting for. The simple app lets you use your iPod touch or iPhone as a classic joystick controller for game emulators on your Mac.
To use it, just download the US$2 Joypad app from the App Store. Next, download the free Joypad Connect software for Mac OS X 10.5 and above. Then simply launch Joypad on your iPhone and Joypad Connect on your computer. From Joypad Connect, select your iPhone or iPod touch from the list and get ready to feel like it's 1987 all over again! You don't need to be in range of a Wi-Fi network for Joypad to work. The app will work just fine over an ad-hoc network between your iPhone and Mac.
Here's hoping we see an Xbox 360 controller version of Joypad for when Steam launches on the Mac later this month.
[via Cult of Mac]TUAWJoypad turns your iPhone into wireless video game controller originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Smule's Glee app puts a song in your heart and on your phone
Filed under: iPhone, App Review, Music, iPad
Enthusiastic fans of Fox's hit teen angst 'n jazz hands show Glee refer to themselves as 'gleeks,' a portmanteau of glee and geek. It's a sure bet that the gleeks will be beside themselves when they hit the App Store today and see the new US$2.99 Glee app, which brings the show's musical numbers to life with your voice in the starring role.
Developed by Smule, the new app joins the company's suite of music makers (Ocarina, Leaf Trombone, I Am T-Pain, Magic Piano, etc.) as a social-vocal mashup that puts some serious geek power behind the simple act of singing. Add in the show's iTunes-dominating songs and what will undoubtedly be a nice promotional push from the network, and it's bound to be heading for the top of the paid charts.
Glee for iPhone is straightforward enough to use, although as is sometimes the case with memory-intensive apps in their first version, you may experience a bit of instability if you haven't restarted your phone in the past few weeks.With headphones on and device in hand, you can select a song and go into karaoke/recording mode to lay it down. The app plays the backing track, displays the lyrics and shows you the pitch line for the melody and harmony parts.
Read on for more, including an interview with Smule's founder Dr. Ge Wang.TUAWSmule's Glee app puts a song in your heart and on your phone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Today's two-second laugh: iPad printing, solved
Filed under: iPad
Take one iPad with any application running (and a clear-as-day multitouch screen), add one multi-function printer with an optical scanner, and boom, you've solved the problem of printing from iPad. Who needs a firmware update when you've got a little ingenuity?
Points to the clever folk at Form for coming up with this.
[via Engadget]TUAWToday's two-second laugh: iPad printing, solved originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Jobs confirms Wi-Fi, 3G iPad launch via email
Filed under: Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has emailed a European customer to apologize for the iPad's delay and confirm the company's shipping plans.
9to5 Mac reports on emails sent by two European customers to Steve Jobs asking about the iPad's international release. The first message read, "Will there also be 3G models of the iPad released worldwide on the end of may or only the Wi-Fi models? Would be nice to know. Can't wait." Steve's response was, "Both models will be released at the end of May. Sorry for the delay."
Steve's response to the second email, which asked essentially the same question, was a tidy little, "Yes."
International iPad shipments have been delayed by one month as Apple struggles to keep up with what its calling unexpected demand. Pre-orders will begin on May 10th. This email from Jobs is the first official confirmation that the Wi-Fi and 3G models will ship simultaneously.
This is the second time this week that we've heard about personal emails from Jobs reaching customers. We wonder if they were "Sent from [his] iPad."
[Via MacNN]TUAWJobs confirms Wi-Fi, 3G iPad launch via email originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Panoramic iPhone photo app Pano updated to 4.0, on sale now
Filed under: App Store
Debacle Software's Pano app has been a photo favorite since the App Store opened in 2008. The Toronto-based development team announced that they've shipped version 4.0 of the app, with new and improved features (a recent scaling update has since bumped it to version 4.0.1).
As we've discussed before here at TUAW, Pano lets you take panoramic photos with your iPhone camera by giving you a semi-transparent guide to help you align adjacent shots. You can even take 360° panoramic photos if you so desire; it just takes a steady hand and sixteen photos. Once you've taken all of your individual photos, Pano stitches them together to make a seamless photo like the one you see above (which I took in Miami, FL). The new version of the software not only speeds up the process of aligning and blending your photos together, but sports an improved user interface as well.
If you're tempted by Pano, you'll be thrilled to know that the app is currently on sale for just US$0.99 -- it's usually $2.99, and even at the higher price it's a bargain. Anyone who is a fan of photography on the iPhone should pick up a copy of Pano while it's on sale. You'll be glad you did!
TUAWPanoramic iPhone photo app Pano updated to 4.0, on sale now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW Poll: What Apple product are you going to buy with your tax refund?
Filed under: Surveys and Polls
Happy Tax Day!
It's April 15th, and in America, that means that the air is filled with the sound of screaming taxpayers who waited until the last moment to file their returns. For those who may have filed early and might have even received a tax refund check, we offer this distraction to cover up the sight of your next door neighbor in his backyard shredding documents.
Apple products are probably more popular now than they've ever been, so we'd like to know what you'd spend your hypothetical (or real) tax refund check on. Answer our poll, see what other TUAW readers are lusting for, and leave us a comment if your favorite choice isn't in the list.TUAWTUAW Poll: What Apple product are you going to buy with your tax refund? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Fixing a broken iPhone screen doesn't have to be a pain in the glass
Filed under: iPhone
That old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder: it couldn't be more true of the relationship that I have with my iPhone. It's become such an integral part of my life that I don't know how I ever managed to get by without it. Not since Fox cancelled "Arrested Development" have I missed something this much.Two nights ago, I cracked the screen on my iPhone.
I was working out on the elliptical trainer and watching "Sanford and Son" clips on my iPhone, which was perched above the machine. As I reached over to it to choose the next related clip, the earphone cord snagged onto the arm pedal of the elliptical trainer.
T-minus two seconds before glass off.
2.00 seconds: Elliptical trainer's arm pedal snags onto earphone cord.
1.50 seconds: Earphone jack doesn't disengage from iPhone, and pulls iPhone down with it.
1.00 seconds: iPhone wobbles in the air as it makes its descent.
0.75 seconds: My right leg, straddled onto the elliptical trainer's plastic foot pedal, is on its upward path.
0.50 seconds: iPhone's screen and the right plastic foot pedal of the elliptical trainer meet at the apex of the pedal's upward movement.
0.25 seconds: iPhone goes air born once again.
0.00: Glass off!
TUAWFixing a broken iPhone screen doesn't have to be a pain in the glass originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - 360iDev: Mike Lee on changing the world with engineering
Filed under: Developer
Former Delicious Monster and Tapulous developer Mike Lee (who now works for the mothership at Apple) took the stage to start off the last day of 360iDev in San Jose. He gave a wildly rambling speech about what it means to be an engineer and why programmers should not only make the best programs they can, but actually commit to changing the world for the better. Lee's speech was probably the most broad, and least technical, of the whole conference. While other speakers had covered using Core Data in apps or how to make the most money on the App Store, Lee spoke about his work with the Terrorist Watch List, the beauty and insanity of Van Gogh's Starry Night, and why he has to convince himself that he is really as cool as everyone says.
As you can probably tell already, it was a heck of a thing to see. About halfway through the speech, summarized as best it can be below, Lee stopped flipping slides and just talked candidly and from the heart about his apps, his work, and his life. Read on for more.TUAW360iDev: Mike Lee on changing the world with engineering originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Norwegian Prime Minister gets his hands on an iPad
Filed under: iPad
While Apple has pushed the international launch of the iPad back by a month, from its original late April launch date to late May, it hasn't stopped some overseas customers from getting their hands on one. For example, Don McAllister, host of the resourceful ScreenCastOnline, picked up a couple of iPads during a vacation to New York that 'just so happened' to coincide with the iPad launch. If he intends on bringing home the iPad he's using in this picture, you can also count Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as an international shopper.
The picture belongs to flickr member Statsministerens kontor, which translates to "Prime Minister's office." Prime Minister Stoltenberg was in Washington DC this week attending the Nuclear Security Summit 2010, and is now in NYC.
He may have plenty of time to explore the iPad, since his flight home -- along with hundreds of others bound for Europe -- has been cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano explosion. He told the Dagbladet newspaper that he's working remotely after an extended airport wait. The newspaper's headline translates as "Jens manages the land with iPad from New York."
For the less patient who may be considering making the trek over to the U.S. for an iPad, do so with caution. Customs agents may prevent you from bringing the iPad home, depending on local regulations. For example, Israeli officials are blocking iPad imports over supposed WiFi concerns.
"Tusen takk" to Nils & everyone who sent this in.TUAWNorwegian Prime Minister gets his hands on an iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Rumor: Adobe to sue Apple over SDK rules
Filed under: Apple Corporate
This seemed like it was destined to happen; word out of Silicon Valley is that Adobe is planning a big lawsuit against Apple for keeping Flash off of the iPhone and iPad platforms.
The final straw, apparently, was a change in Apple's SDK language prohibiting apps to be written with anything other than Apple-approved tools, and unfortunately for them, Adobe's solution isn't on that golden list.
Publicly, Adobe has been circumspect, only noting that they're "looking into it," while continuing to develop and support bringing Flash apps into the iPhone OS.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has trashed Flash as unreliable and called it a dying technology. Of course, any apps built with Adobe tools are beyond Apple's control, and Apple likes control, in case you missed that.
Adobe has already said Apple's refusal to allow Flash to run on its mobile products means a serious business risk. Meanwhile, Microsoft says it will support Flash on its new Kin phones, but it is also pushing a Flash competitor, Silverlight.
As usual, the lawyers on all sides will make plenty of money. If Adobe does sue and the suit makes it to court without a settlement, a final resolution could take years.TUAWRumor: Adobe to sue Apple over SDK rules originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Big upgrades for premium Evernote users
Filed under: Software, Productivity
It's been no big secret that I'm a fan and frequent user of Evernote. It's useful, both as a memory augmentation and as a general information collection utility that makes it easy to locate what I need, when I need it. There are a couple of things that would make the service even more useful, though, and a couple of the most-requested features have been addressed with today's announcement from Evernote.First, there's an increase in maximum note size. Up until now, premium users have been limited to 25M per note. Today, that doubles to 50M, meaning more types of files can be stored in your Evernote account. That's great news for users who want to share files through Evernote, or even just those of us who would love to upload some really large, really long PDF's or store presentations and other file types. It even offers more flexibility for adding audio and video to notebooks.
The second announcement, note versioning, is exciting news as well. Several times a day, Evernote will make copies of any notes in your account that have changed. They become available in your Note History, and individual versions can be viewed and exported. This sounds especially cool for shared notebooks, where it means more wiki-like functionality, but it provides security and basic version control for private notebooks as well. This functionality is, for the time being, limited to the Web interface, but desktop versions will be available "very soon."
As noted, these upgrades are limited to premium users. The basic service is free, and a premium Evernote account, for $45US a year, gives you 500MB of uploads per month, any file type, publicly editable notebooks, and SSL encryption.
TUAWBig upgrades for premium Evernote users originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Getting a human representative at 1-800-MY-APPLE
Filed under: Bad Apple
Have you called the Apple 800 number lately? At the other end of the line, an insanely chipper robot will try to "help you" connect to the most appropriate department. Mr. Roboto is fiendishly positive, with an upbeat approach to getting you the help you need.
The problem is that this robot isn't really very good at his job. He has a tendency to go off on long monologues about the glories of Apple online support options. Go on, give Apple a call and you'll see what I mean.
You can bypass this robot. Here's how. After the robot answers, wait for him to get to his first break and say "Customer Service Representative." The robot will confirm that he'll soon place you in touch with a real human being. He'll then ask you to clarify what topic you're calling about.
This is a trick. Do not respond with a topic. Apple will do practically anything to keep you from proceeding to a more expensive human service representative. They'd rather provide you with speech-synthesized rambles about the glories of particular online FAQs and help pages. They want to help you to "help yourself," i.e. keep costs down.
So, say something strange. Something like "Gallupping Butterflies" or "Indigenous Bicycle Dinosaurs." Make sure that your topic cannot be understand by Mr. Roboto. Once you've stymied him, he'll finally forward you to a real customer service representative.
Of course, the customer service rep may insist on asking you all sorts of questions about whether you are using a Mac or a "PC computer" before routing you on a few more times. Even if you're just calling about a simple Apple Gift Card. (Yes, the example is drawn from real life.) Still, your chances of making a solution happen quickly are often better when you deal with a real person-to-person encounter, and now you know how.TUAWGetting a human representative at 1-800-MY-APPLE originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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