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- Pair of App Store studies show Apple is the devs' choice, for nowI wouldn't have called July 4th weekend as a great time for releasing studies about in-depth App Store information, but it was certainly that, as quite a few studies came to light this weekend about how the Android and the Apple App Stores compare. First up, App Store HQ has released some information from their own database of developers indicating that Apple's iPhone still has a larger developer base than the Android platform, and while some developers have gone cross platform, most prefer to stick to one or the other. Additionally, a recent survey of mobile developers shows this may all be in due course: the majority of developers prefer the iPhone for now, but in the long run, 54% of developers polled say that Android has the best "long-term outlook."
Analytics firm Distino also released a report this past weekend, about App Store offerings rather than developers, and it found that about 80% of iPad apps on the App Store were paid, with only slightly fewer for the iPhone. Google's Android market, however, has 57% of its apps listed as free, the highest percentage by far of all the mobile marketplaces tracked. That may give some indication as to why developers currently prefer the App Store -- they can make more money there, with a larger audience more ready to open the wallet. But don't count Android out -- the service is still growing (only developers from nine different countries can distribute paid apps), and as the platform becomes more viable, it seems developers will be ready to move in the future. As Appcelerator concludes, Apple's store is the current winner of developers' attention, but as soon as developers see a flexible platform with a solid userbase elsewhere, they'll happily go there. too.TUAWPair of App Store studies show Apple is the devs' choice, for now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - More iPad protection giveaways from TUAW and NewerTech
Filed under: Accessories, iPad
A while back we did a review and giveaway of some iPad protection products from our buddies at NewerTech. Just before I headed off to the high seas for three weeks, I received some additional swag from NewerTech that I thought would be perfect for our TUAW Independence Day holiday giveaways.
While I won't review the products in this post, you can certainly either read the previous post or visit the NewerTech website for details. What we'll be giving away are three different products to three readers -- a NuVue screen protector, a NuGuard Carbon protection kit (seen at right, including a NuVue screen protector and a microfiber polishing cloth), and a NuGuard Leather protective casing.
What do you need to do to enter the giveaway? Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite iPad app is. We'll randomly choose three winners who will get one of the three NewerTech products. Here are the contest rules:
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
- To enter, leave a comment naming your favorite iPad app.
- The comment must be left before midnight on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Three winners will be selected. One will receive a NuVue Screen Protector (Value: US$9.99), one will receive a NuGuard Carbon protection kit (Value: $24.95), and one will receive a NuGuard Leather (Value: $24.99).
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
TUAWMore iPad protection giveaways from TUAW and NewerTech originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Reading a book is faster than reading an iBook
Filed under: iPad
A study conducted by usability consultant Jakob Nielsen claims that reading on e-book readers like the iPad and the Kindle still doesn't match up to the reading speed of good old printed paper. The test chose 32 people (admittedly a small sample, but one that was felt to be representative of an e-reader audience), taught them how to read on both the Kindle and the iPad, and then clocked their speed in reading through an Ernest Hemingway story on both devices, a PC-based reader, and the printed word.
It turns out, according to the study, that the iPad was generally faster than the Kindle at reading speed -- about 6.2% slower than reading a normal book, compared to the Kindle's 10.7% slower than the printed word. The way it all worked out, there was no actual significant difference between the iPad and the Kindle, so the study can't say officially which one of those is faster. But the difference between the Kindle and the book was significant, so reading print is faster than e-readers so far.
The iPad and the Kindle barely beat the book in ease-of-use, while the PC lagged way behind, so the study is still bullish on e-readers in general. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of reasoning on why the e-readers are slower -- is the audience just not used to them, or is there something in the mechanics that make things slower? Since e-readers can adapt for usability and your standard book is pretty much as good as it's going to get, we'll likely see the iPad overtake a printed page in usability very soon.
[via PC World]TUAWReading a book is faster than reading an iBook originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Is AT&T capping iPhone upload speeds? Inquiring minds want to know
Filed under: iPhone
The MacRumors forums are abuzz with users comparing their recent upload speeds. TUAW reader Becca Holmes tipped us that iPhone users are experiencing uploads that appear to be capped at 100 kbps rather than the 1.6mbps that was a previous norm. Users have been comparing rates captured with tools like Speedtest.net's Speed Test to put concrete numbers on perceived performance drops -- and it looks like that drop is huge, compared to the way things were just a week or two ago.
According to the thread, affected cities include: NYC, Central Jersey, Boston, Orlando, Seattle, South Jersey/Philly, Columbus, Cleveland, West Houston, Phoenix, Northern Colorado, St. Paul/Minnesota, Suffolk County/Long Island, Quad Cities, South Jersey, Denver, Detroit Metro, and Cincinnati.TUAWIs AT&T capping iPhone upload speeds? Inquiring minds want to know originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Found footage: Creating photorealistic portraits with a finger and an iPad
Filed under: Found Footage, iPad
Artists are taking to the iPad like ducks to water. The device seems to be a natural tool for many artists to use, and the public is now starting to see the fruits of the relationship in the form of some startling and beautiful digital art.
Kyle Lambert is a perfect example of an artist who has quickly adapted to the iPad as an art creation tool. The Cheshire, England based portrait artist recently spent six hours painting an astoundingly good portrait of performer Beyonce using an iPad, his finger, and the Brushes iPad app (US$7.99).
Lambert makes time-lapse movies of his creation process, and it's fascinating to see the details of Beyonce's face emerge from the digital canvas in the movie above. We'd also like to see what other professional artists are accomplishing with the iPad, so if you have a work that was created on the iPad or iPhone, let us know by clicking or tapping that Send a Tip link at the top of the page.
Thanks to Paul Kent for the tip!TUAWFound footage: Creating photorealistic portraits with a finger and an iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Observing Independence Day
Filed under: TUAW Business
Yesterday was the actual holiday, but today is the day that shops are closed, grills are burning and many of us are celebrating America's independence with a day off from work. As such, posting will be a little light around here today. But don't fret -- we'll be back tomorrow with a full serving of your regularly scheduled programming. Happy birthday, America!TUAWObserving Independence Day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - App Review: Castle Tiles on the iPad makes Set collecting a frantic battle
Filed under: App Review, iPad
Have you always thought that what the Set card game needed was some magic fireballs and little colorful knights? Well, then say hello to Castle Tiles [$1.99], a new iPad-only app from Machwerx that blends the line between board and video games.
Castle Tiles uses the set collecting element from, obviously, Set and lots of other games to drive a random battle engine. When things are really moving and all four players are collecting sets, the screen becomes a hot mess of warriors and flying attacks, and this visual excitement makes the game feel a bit more exciting than it really is. This doesn't mean that Castle Tiles is a bad game, just that this feels like a beta version, and we'd be much happier with the finished product.
Castle Tile's graphic design was done by someone with an obvious love for early computer games when 16 colors was as much as you could expect from a PC. Does this minimalist ethos work in the iPad era? Should a card game like Set get the video game treatment in Castle Tiles? Read on to find out.
TUAWApp Review: Castle Tiles on the iPad makes Set collecting a frantic battle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - App review: Blokus HD is shiny, way too shiny
Filed under: App Review, iPad
The difference between a port of a tabletop board game to the iPad by someone like Gameloft - makers of games like James Cameron's Avatar for iPad and Asphalt 5 - and smaller, independent companies is pretty stunning. It's also quite pretty. Take a look at the flashy images in the Blokus HD screenshots below. The game, originally released in 2000 by a small game company and more recently published by Hasbro, is a beautiful, colorful plasticky thing in the real world. Gameloft has emphasized the bright look of the game with a lot of panache in the US$4.99 iPad version (Gameloft also makes an iPod/iPhone touch version of the Blokus app that looks about the same, just smaller. We didn't test that version).
Are all of these fancy graphics a good thing? Well, it certainly shows that you can make a bubbly and light board game app that should appeal to the video game crowd (although, to be fair, this is ground that Zooloretto has already covered pretty well). It's also, for a traditional board gamer like myself, hard to criticize the push to get more tabletop games onto our iDevices, so I've got a soft spot for developers who try. But Blokus, while quite impressive, needs a little more time in the oven before it joins the ranks of great board game ports like Carcassonne or the Settlers of Catan on the iPhone. Read on to see if Blokus is a game you want to add to your digital collection.
TUAWApp review: Blokus HD is shiny, way too shiny originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW's Daily App: Zombie Wonderland
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
Zombie Wonderland was a game I didn't get to see at E3 a little while back when I met up with Chillingo, but I recently checked it out, and it's an interesting little zombie fightin' title. The undead action is somewhat removed -- instead of directly shooting the shambling brain-eaters, you're simply directing a little dude named Chuck around, trying to defend all sides of a house being attacked. The gameplay can be busy but isn't always compelling -- you're also tasked with cleaning up the floors in a pretty bizarre mechanic that seems meant to add a little excitement to the festivities, but even when Chuck is racing around, things never get to a real fever pitch.
That's ok, though -- the polish of the models (there's a Minigore aesthetic going on), the smoothness of the animation and the feeling that you really are defending a homestead from the onrushing zombie horde all make the experience quite fun despite the simple gameplay. And since the game is on sale for just 99 cents, it's definitely worth a look. For the last day of this year's Independence Weekend, try declaring your brains off-limits to the walking dead.TUAWTUAW's Daily App: Zombie Wonderland originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Steve Jobs on Bill Gates over the years
Filed under: Apple History
To say the least, Bill and Steve had had an interesting rivalry over the years. Of course, Bill Gates has retired to charity work leaving Steve Ballmer in charge of Microsoft.
The Huffington Post has put a fun post together of some of Jobs' best quotes about Gates. My favorite is from 2006:
"I have no problem with their (Microsoft's) success, they've earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products."
As the years have gone on, Jobs has mellowed a bit. In a joint appearance at the All Things Digital Conference in 2007 the two titans joked and laughed with each other.
So take a quick trip down memory lane and see the Steve Jobs fireworks before you fire off your own tonight.
TUAWSteve Jobs on Bill Gates over the years originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW review and giveaway: RadTech RadSleevz for iPadHappy Independence Day! TUAW continues a weekend of giveaways with the RadTech RadSleevz sleeve case for iPad.
We're all aware of the huge ecosystem that has built up around accessories for all of the iProducts: iPod, iPhone, and now iPad. One of the largest categories in the market is for protective covers and cases, and here at TUAW we receive a lot of requests to review these products. Sometimes they're fancy and expensive, other times inexpensive but still functional.
RadTech's new RadSleevz for iPad, available for US$24.95, is the perfect example of the latter. I've used RadTech's products for years, particularly their ScreenSaverz, which I used with various MacBook models over the years. Those are made of a micro-fiber material called Optex, which has a nice, almost flannel feel to it but is much tougher. Optex is a wonderfully soft material and doesn't scratch, so when my ScreenSaverz weren't keeping my MacBook displays from those little keyboard marks, I was using them to wipe smears off the displays.
Optex is the same material being used in the RadSleevz sleeve case for iPad, although it appears that the RadSleevz material is thicker than that used for the ScreenSaverz. Like the ScreenSaverz, RadTech ships the RadSleevz in plastic tubes which I always end up repurposing to store cables and connectors.
TUAWTUAW review and giveaway: RadTech RadSleevz for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - If you're not watching fireworks, join us for the TUAW Talkcast
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts
Many TUAW readers may not be either setting off fireworks or watching someone else blow up colorful pyrotechnics, so we've decided to host a special holiday edition of the TUAW Talkcast tonight. The fun will begin at 10 PM ET, and we're sure there will be some verbal fireworks tonight as the debate rages on about whether the iPhone 4 is the greatest smartphone ever or a piece of garbage.
To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.
If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here.
TUAWIf you're not watching fireworks, join us for the TUAW Talkcast originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - App Store chicanery powered by iTunes account fraud
Filed under: App Store
It's a shame to have to point out such underhanded behavior on a holiday weekend, but we got a heads-up from developers Alexandru Brie and Patrick Thomson that something was seriously amiss in the Books category on the App Store. As detailed on Alex's blog and in this follow-up from The Next Web, it appears that at least one Vietnamese developer (mycompany/Thuat Nguyen) has gamed the category so that 40 of the top 50 entries are all apps from their stable. It's possible that another two or three developers have tried the same thing, although to a less extraordinary degree.
As Alex points out, at least two of the reviews for these apps indicate that the apps were purchased against the buyer's will, with hacked iTunes account credentials. The ongoing MacRumors forum thread here indicates a possible spike in iTunes fraud, with major purchases being charged against unsuspecting users' accounts. Alex also notes that Apple's response team is already looking into the issue.
If you have unexpected charges on your iTunes account, be sure to notify your card issuer or bank immediately, and then send word to Apple. It may take a bit longer to get help during the long weekend.
Updates: 9to5Mac points out that the offending apps have been pulled from the store. Arnold Kim at MacRumors reminds us that compromised iTunes accounts have been reported for years, and it's not clear that the current circumstances represent a spike in malicious activity.TUAWApp Store chicanery powered by iTunes account fraud originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW wishes you...
Filed under: TUAW Business, Holidays
...a glorious 4th.
Photo by Bob Jagendorf / flickr / CCTUAWTUAW wishes you... originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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