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- MyTown's uncanny success
Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store
I posted a few things last year about Booyah, an app that promised a lot, but turned out to be not much more than your standard social networking/check-in app. And despite a little hype around its introduction, Booyah had some trouble finding an audience. But the developers (former Blizzard folks still supported by some execs there) came right back with MyTown [iTunes link], and this time, they appear to have hit gold -- despite the app's low profile, it already boasts more users than the well-known Foursquare and Gowalla apps. That's probably because it's more of an actual game; rather than just checking-in, the app has a currency to it, where you can "buy" places you check-in from, and then charge money to the next person that stops by. Imagine Foursquare mixed up with Monopoly -- instead of meaninglessly becoming the mayor of some place you visit, you can actually own and make money off of other people showing up there.
It's an interesting idea, and it seems to be working. MyTown has just reached version 2.0, increasing the number of levels you can earn and items you can buy with the virtual cash. It's still a free app, and originally, we heard that Booyah was going to earn money by teaming up with retail and business partners -- Taco Bell would pay them, and then they'd attach some promotion to checking in from a Taco Bell. But they haven't moved on to that point yet, apparently; right now it's just about building up a userbase and setting up a solid formula. And so far, while the original Booyah app may not have been able to do that, MyTown seems to be rolling right along.TUAWMyTown's uncanny success originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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App Store - IPhone - MyTown - Apple - Gowalla
Переслать - Publishing different: What the tablet brings to the table
Like newspapers before them, traditional book publishers are facing the reality of the new digital world. With Apple's much anticipated tablet expected to debut within the next few months, they're under more pressure than ever before to "Think Different". Moving from print to digital isn't a smooth or easy path, despite the fact that most authors are working digitally in the first place. As early experiences with the Amazon Kindle have shown, digital tablets are not geometric or mental equivalents of the printed page.
"You've got to think beyond the page," says Chuck Toporek, my editor at Addison Wesley/Pearson, "because the page no longer exists -- there is no page number, or page to flip." Book content has to adapt and flow to on-device presentation. Like the HTML revolution of the '90s, publishers will need to rethink how their content can adapt to changes in font size, and "the page" is more driven by screen dimension and resolution than a piece of paper is. "[Interaction styles like] pinch and zoom should not hinder the user," Toporek adds.
Publishers need to expand their ideas about how readers interact with a book. A lot of readers tend to make notes in the margins, highlight text, or dog-ear pages as they're reading. Instead of traditional tools, readers will be using electronic equivalents. But what will the electronic equivalents be?
Adobe's PDF system has long included mark-up features in its Acrobat product line. Acrobat users can embed notes, scribbles, and other visual elements in PDF documents, and share those marked up and edited files with others. Over the last year or two, many of these features have found their way into Mac OS X via Apple's Preview application. For the tablet, Toporek thinks publishers need to take highlights and annotations to the next level. "An ebook doesn't have to be a static thing that just sits on a shelf," Toporek adds. "Imagine a scenario where the highlights and annotations I make to an ebook can be exported and shared with anyone else who has the same ebook/device." He goes on to add, "It would be great if I could overlay your notes on top of my own so I can see what's important to you."
He envisions a social network of connected readers, built around technical titles. "Wikis and wikibooks never panned out [for these kinds of technical texts] because people were looking for information they could share in but often they weren't willing or able to write it all themselves...[Authors take] great care in building content for their books, investing hundreds, or often thousands of hours in building that content." Readers might build on top of that content by annotating and commenting on text, digitally highlighting their favorite portions and creating "reader cuts" of the text.
A tablet could allow a community to build itself around a book, just like communities now build themselves around popular websites. "Reading a book doesn't have to be a solo effort; it can be communal. Think about taking all those highlights and annotations and storing them on a community server, where readers could overlay the text with that feedback, whether its 2 or 20 or 200 other people. You could toggle that information on and off at will. You can build a community around an ebook, and that's something you just can't get with a print book."
Toporek points out that ebooks shouldn't limit themselves to static text and images. "You really have to leverage the capabilities of the device, and exploit the heck out of it," says Toporek. "Think of where audio and video fit into an ebook. You can incorporate screencasts and audio clips from the author, or even include content that doesn't make it into the print version, sort of like a director's cut of a DVD." According to Toporek, tablet-based books might incorporate live examples, demonstrating principles in action, just like web pages currently do. And what if you need an ebook that isn't for the rumored Apple tablet? "Publishers should look to delivering ebooks to WebKit-based browsers so they can leverage HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript (think web-standards), or other frameworks such as SproutCore."
If the tablet does emphasize ebooks the way analysts expect it to, we can only hope that Apple helps show publishers The Way in a future version of the iPhone SDK, similar to Amazon's active content Kindle development kit (KDK) announced yesterday. If the tablet succeeds in its arena, the way the iPhone has before, authors and publishers will be able to Publish Different.TUAWPublishing different: What the tablet brings to the table originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW Tip: Character building with Mac OS X
Filed under: Software, How-tos, Productivity, TUAW Tips
I've previously demonstrated how to use LaTeXiT to create and display complex math formulas and other symbols, and thank you readers for the additional recommendations!
While providing a means to display almost every imaginable existing symbol or character, a LaTeX-based solution may prove too complex and unnecessary for some. For the less "mathletic," Mac OS X's built-in character viewer is one of the easier ways to display characters of all sorts.To enable the character viewer, open Mac OS X's System Preferences and select the "Language & Text" icon. Once there, click on the "Input Sources" tab and place a checkmark next to the "Keyboard & Character Viewer" box and "Show input menu in menu bar" box. The Keyboard & Character Viewer is now accessible on your menu bar.
Now, displaying special characters on your document, email, or whatever it is you're working on is just a drag and drop away.
TUAWTUAW Tip: Character building with Mac OS X originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - BookBook: A classy way to protect and hide your MacBook
Filed under: Accessories, Odds and ends, Macbook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air
Curse you, TwelveSouth! You keep coming up with ways to make me spend my hard-earned money.
This time, it's a wonderfully unique sleeve for the MacBook line, the BookBook. This US$79.99 sleeve looks like an antique leather-bound book, but it wraps around your Apple-made pride and joy to give it a level of class it hasn't had since it first shipped from the factory in China.
The attention to detail is, as usual for TwelveSouth, incredible. Not only does it have the distressed leather appearance of an old book, but the leather zipper pulls look like bookmarks. The BookBook comes in red (seen above) and black, and in both 13" and 15" sizes.
It's practical as well as beautiful. The rigid spine provides crush protection to the MacBook, the hardback covers protect the exterior of your laptop, and the unique look provides a level of stealth that could keep your MacBook from being stolen. After all, who wants to pick up something that looks like an old book that you picked up at a library sale?
TwelveSouth is going to be sending one of these beauties along for a full review and giveaway, so keep your eyes open for a future post where you can win a BookBook from TUAW.TUAWBookBook: A classy way to protect and hide your MacBook originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - White House releases official app for free
Filed under: Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store
The White House (as in, the home of the American President Barack Obama) has introduced a brand new iPhone app, according to White House blogger Dave Cole. The app is a one-stop shop for everything there is to know about what the president's up to, including blog posts, a newsroom, photos, videos, and even live feeds from various events, including speeches and even press room briefings. It's actually pretty darn impressive -- obviously you're only going to get official White House news, but if you want uncut video of the goings on over there, you've got it.
The app is a free download [iTunes link], and in my short hands-on with it, it worked very well -- the updates come often, the video is crisp and clean, and while I didn't get to view any of the live feeds, I presume they'll work just fine over a solid 3G or Wi-Fi connection. If you want direct access to official White House news, this app is perfect.
[via Engadget]TUAWWhite House releases official app for free originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Tutorials as you like them with N.E.D. and its family
Filed under: iLife, Software, Video, Reviews
Nonlinear Educating Inc., has been selling tutorials on a wide variety of subjects for years. Their catalog of 146 video tutorials cover just about everything from all the programs in the Adobe CS4 Suite, to iLife 09 and iWork 09, or virtually anything you could want to learn about Mac software. To get a tutorial from Nonlinear in the past, you would buy it, download it, and play it on your computer.
Things have changed with the introduction of new ways to buy and watch tutorials. Nonlinear now gives you three ways to learn on any Mac or iPhone/iPod touch running OS 3.0, using three N.E.D. (Nonlinear Education Device) products. Now along with buying individual tutorials, you can subscribe to their streaming library, giving you access to tutorials on demand either from the web using The N.E.D web player, or N.E.D.i [Free iTunes Link], an iPhone/iPod touch app. The idea of total flexibility is wonderful, but the complexity of all the subscription and purchase options are a bit daunting.
The tutorials are excellent. The few I had a chance to go through were totally professional, complete and entertaining. The trainers are some of the best in the field, including Jim Dalrymple and Maria Langer. The tutorials are broken down into many 1-4 minute movies that progressively teach you the software. I'm not going to review the tutorials here, since I feel that they are just about perfect.
The only problem I had with the catalog is that some courses are really quite old. The Mac OS X 101: Mastering Your Mac course was released in April of 2006 and deals with OSX 10.4.5. While it's true that a good deal of the information is still valid, there have been a lot of changes in the last two years and a new course for each major OS software release would increase the value of the instruction. The description of this US$29.50 course did not tell which OS version was addressed and I had to dig into the videos to find out.
N.E.D. 3.3 is a free program that downloads and plays purchased high definition videos at a 1280 X 720 pixel resolution. It works very well showing you the video titles in the left pane of the screen, and presenting sliders allowing you to change playback speed, zoom to full resolution, and control playback of the videos. There is an option for full screen, but if your screen is very large you'll find that you can't make the display window larger than its native resolution. You are allowed to burn a copy of the course files and may use it on up to 3 computers with N.E.D. installed on them. Since the course cannot be played from the burned DVD, It must be imported into the N.E.D. library which copies the data to your documents folder, or is linked to via its path. This works quite well, but the courses are large and file size is a consideration. The iMovie 09 101 $29.50 was made up of 133 movies, played for over 6.5 hours and weighed in at 1.53GB.
The price of the courses for purchase range from about $20 to $385.13 for a 13 course set covering everything in Adobe CS4. Depending on how much want to learn, streaming may be a better, more cost effective option. This is where it gets a bit complicated so I'll just lay out the plans.
- Free: allowing streaming of 10% of each tutorial to decide if you want to subscribe.
- $1 for 3 days: allowing full streaming of all 146 courses.
- $15 per month: allowing streaming of 96 core courses giving you 304 hours of training.
- $25 per month: allowing streaming of all 146 courses giving you 424 hours of training.
The Using N.E.D.i, the iPhone/iPod app, I discovered a few significant problems. The app allows you to either download bought programs, or stream the library if you are a subscriber. File sizes become more of in issue here, and downloading a course could well be made easier. In downloading the iMovie 09 101 course to my iPhone, I found that screen sleep had to be turned off, since otherwise the iPhone would sleep closing the program and killing the download, and that the device needed to be plugged in because the download took many hours. Sometimes the download would just fail and have to be re-started. The biggest problem, especially for devices without a lot of storage, is that the one course took 901.77 MB of storage. That's a big number and if you are downloading a few tutorials, you could be cutting into GBs of your precious storage.
The usability problem extends what I mentioned previously when streaming to a Mac using the N.E.D web player. If you had problems deciphering specific things viewing a resolution of 750 X 560 pixels, or thereabouts, imagine how much trouble you'll have seeing what's going on using the iPhone/iPod touch screen? In trying a few dozen movies showing screens of varying complexity, I almost always had trouble following along since the picture was to small for me to differentiate menu bars items, or to read dialog boxes that appeared within programs, on the little screen.
I can propose a bit of a solution to this, which isn't perfect, but it may be enough. Since streaming to the phone is quick enough, and the resolution is no better than a download when viewed on your iPhone, I would think a good way of using it is to stream the tutorial to your computer to learn the program, and then use N.E.D.i as a refresher for things you've already learned but have partially forgotten. Doing this can jog your memory, and hearing the narration (with some help from more or less seeing the video) can help. Since each of the tutorials is an aggregate of many video files, each clearly marked with the objective, you can choose an appropriate video if you are away from your Mac as a reminder of what you've learned earlier. I've found that doing this has helped me since I often have a pretty good idea of what's going on and just need to relearn one or two minor points.
The only one of the the three products that I would recommend with no hesitation is N.E.D., which downloads purchased high quality versions of the tutorial to your Mac. If your eyes are good and you find that the quality is acceptable, N.E.D. web, a subscriber service which streams the videos to your Mac at lower resolution while giving you less controls, can be a good option, but you'll have to decide that for yourself using the free trial. I cannot recommend N.E.D.i, the streaming and downloading iPhone/iPod touch app, unless you just intend to use it to refresh your memory.
What Nonlinear Education came up with is really commendable in theory, but in practice, large file sizes and lower than optimal screen resolution when using the N.E.D web player or N.E.D.D.i can wind up being problematic.
TUAWTutorials as you like them with N.E.D. and its family originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Send tweets automatically during a Keynote presentation with Keynote Tweet
Filed under: Software, How-tos, Productivity
Imagine if, as Steve Jobs moves through each slide of his Keynote presentation, he also has the telepathic powers to automatically tweet information related to the slide.
But even the almighty Steve Jobs can't do that.
Fortunately for him, there's Keynote Tweet. An open source AppleScript app, Keynote Tweet will automatically tweet the text from your presenter notes (accessible by clicking on "view" and selecting "show presenter notes").
Keynote Tweet was exposed to me while reading a piece by IDEO Labs' Gentry Underwood, who highlights the idea of large presentations increasingly occurring within the context of a backchannel in which audience members are responding to what's being presented.
Getting Keynote Tweet up and running is fairly straightforward. Simply download the app, and then add the following entry into the Keychain Access app:
- Keychain Item Name: http://twitter.com
- Account Name: Your email address
- Password: Your Twitter password
Now, with the Keynote Tweet app running, any text between the [twitter] and [/twitter] tags will automatically tweet when that slide is displayed (while in slideshow mode).
For example, "Jay Leno lacks the charm, wit and red headedness of Conan O' Brien" will be tweeted the moment I reach the slide showing the percentage of people that hate Jay Leno.
Keynote Tweet is available as a free download here.
[via IDEO Labs]TUAWSend tweets automatically during a Keynote presentation with Keynote Tweet originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Amazon reacts to not yet here Apple tablet with SDK for Kindle
Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia
Maybe in was inevitable. Amazon today announced a Kindle Development Kit which allows software developers to build "active content" for Kindle readers.The kit gives developers access to programming interfaces, tools, and the needed documentation to create content. The kit also includes a Kindle Simulator for testing on a Mac, PC or Linux computers.
Content could be interactive books and magazines, cookbooks, travel planners that incorporate real time weather. Zagat, Electronics Arts and others say they are on board. Games like Chess and Othello would be a good fit. The possibilities are endless, just as they are on any computer platform or smartphone. What's lacking, of course, is color and a fast screen refresh, so games with any action are going to be kind of lacking. I don't think the Kindle is a good platform for Need for Speed or Skeeball.
Amazon is surely reacting to the upcoming (probably) tablet from Apple, which is likely going to offer e-books and magazines in full color. Of course the battery life likely won't match the Kindle. I get about 2 weeks between charges on my Kindle if the wireless feature is turned off. Amazon has also adjusted the royalty split, announcing yesterday that authors will get a 70% share of sales of e-books, matching what Apple pays developers through iTunes.
Amazon could also get a place on the tablet itself. It already has a Kindle app for the iPhone, so it wouldn't be a stretch to give people access to their Kindle purchases on any new device Apple comes up with. It's interesting to watch everyone scrambling after a product not yet released. If Apple, as expected, announces a color tablet next week, would it kill your desire for a Kindle or other e-book reader?TUAWAmazon reacts to not yet here Apple tablet with SDK for Kindle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Rumor: Apple to announce Verizon iPhone on the 27th
Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhone
A tablet still might not be the only new hardware we see from Apple next week -- the rumor mill is still churning out news that the "one more thing" next week will be a brand new version of the iPhone, set up on the Verizon network. Obviously we've heard a lot about this one before, but this time it comes not from an anonymous source, but Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, who says that not only will we see the new hardware as expected, but we'll have those nice red maps on it as soon as June of this year.
If you ask me, this is one too many rumors not to be true -- eventually, we'll see an iPhone on the Verizon network. But I'm hesitant to agree it'll be announced as early as next week. This is a big deal with a lot of tangles, and I doubt Apple wants to rush it out the door, especially with the much more likely tablet incoming. I do believe we'll see a new version of the iPhone, and it will be Verizon, but Apple's got time. I'm guessing we won't see an official announcement until later on this year.TUAWRumor: Apple to announce Verizon iPhone on the 27th originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Firefox 3.6 now available
Filed under: Software, Internet, Internet Tools
Head on over to Getfirefox.com, Firefox fans. Version 3.6 of your favorite browser is now ready. The video explains the major changes in this version, but here are the highlights.- One-click themes. Using the Personals Gallery, you can assign a new look and theme to Firefox with a click. The way it works couldn't be simpler. Roll over any theme to preview it and click to commit. I found most of them annoying, but I'm old and crotchety.
- Out-of-date plugin warnings. This super-handy feature lets you know when you've got an out-of-date and potentially virus-friendly plugin installed and provides an update link.
- Speed! This version promises improved speed with javascript, rendering and startup.
The Mac beta became available last year on Halloween (spooky) and the final release candidate dropped on January 11, 2009.TUAWFirefox 3.6 now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - YouTube videos now available in HTML5: Good riddance, Flash
Filed under: Video, Internet Tools, Beta Beat
We haven't exactly been secretive about our distaste for Adobe's Flash Player here at TUAW. Flash on the Mac has traditionally been a terrible resource hog, and while the pre-release of Flash Player 10.1 alleviated (to an extent) Flash's inordinately high CPU usage, many of us still dreamed of a golden age when Flash would be supplanted by something else, especially if that something else was HTML5.
Dream no longer, because the first step toward realizing a Flash-free internet is here. YouTube has introduced an HTML5 beta. The formerly Flash-laden site, whose popularity most likely led to the profusion of Flash on the internet within the past few years, can now be viewed without using Flash at all if you opt into the beta.
The HTML5 option is only available for browsers that support HTML5 (obviously) and h.264. Safari (version 4 and above), Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame are a few of the qualified browsers.
There are a few caveats to the HTML5 beta. Videos with ads aren't supported (awww...) - they'll play in the standard Flash player instead. There's also no support for full screen; clicking the little expander button on the lower right corner of the video will instead expand the video within the window to about double the normal size. Honestly, YouTube's full screen video has never impressed me much anyway, so this isn't a huge loss. Macworld notes that you also lose support for annotations and closed captioning, though, which might be a deal breaker for some.
Although YouTube is calling the HTML5 beta an "experiment," this is an experiment I'd encourage everyone reading this to take part in. While the pre-release of Flash Player 10.1 reduced Flash's CPU footprint considerably, using HTML5 instead results in a dramatic reduction - YouTube videos played in Safari using HTML5 never used more than 15% of my CPU. Even compared to Flash 10.1, which generally used about 35% of my CPU, that's pretty tremendous.
One other thing I've noted in my brief experimentation with the HTML5 beta: the scrubber bar on videos seems far more responsive, without any lag at all. Flash videos were very jittery when switching between different spots in the video using the scrubber bar, but the response using HTML5 is instantaneous and seamless.
I hope YouTube's HTML5 beta is a smashing success. If the biggest video site on the internet eventually abandons Flash Player, it's only a matter of time before everyone else does, too. Personally, I can't wait.
[Via Macworld]TUAWYouTube videos now available in HTML5: Good riddance, Flash originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Wintek strike settled, Apple's supply chain unaffected
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, iPhone
There's some good news from China this week. The violent strike that happened at a Wintek factory on the 15th has been resolved. According to DigiTimes, Wintek offered previously-denied pay bonuses to the striking employees and that got them working again.
Additionally, Wintek claims that production was unaffected by the strike, which is good news for Apple. Wintek provides Apple with touchscreens for iPhones and, we assume, the forthcoming tablet.
The initial story about the strike mentioned the dispute over pay but also the workers' outrage over alleged deaths suffered by their coworkers due to prolonged exposure to a chemical called hexane, which is used for cleaning touch panels. The latest report from DigiTimes fails to mention that aspect of the story.
Last March it was rumored that Wintek would be producing screens for "... a new Apple product," then thought to be a netbook of some sort. Today, we assume that rumor was about the tablet.
[Via AppleInsider]TUAWWintek strike settled, Apple's supply chain unaffected originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Pricing the tablet: How high can they go?
With the Apple tablet due to be announced next Wednesday, we've been seeing a lot of possible price points thrown around. Will the tablet retail for $999? Or is a $699 or $799 unit in the cards? It's really hard to say because as with all retail, both price and value depend a good deal on supply and demand, as well as on any deals Apple has with potential data providers.
Take the iPhone for example you can buy a contract-free 32GB iPhone 3GS at the Apple store, for a rather steep $699. Apple doesn't make this easy for you. I found you had to search by model number (namely 718LL/A, for the screen shot shown here) rather than by the 3GS model name. Apple isn't exactly pushing AT&T-free models at their store, and I think the price here reflects that.
You can pick up a 64GB iPod touch for $399 shipped, today. What makes the 32GB iPhone with just half that memory worth $300? In my opinion, it's Apple's way of dissuading customers from purchase. Slap a premium on the price, keep customers away. What's the true value of a phone? An informal survey in the TUAW newsroom came up with a figure of $50, mostly by waving our hands in the air.
Looking at standard phones in the market, we decided that $50 could easily cover a retail assessment including 3G data reception, built in GPS, and a built in magnetometer. That would make a "real" market price for the 32GB iPhone hover at about $349, namely the price of a current generation 32GB iPod plus $50 in phone extras, namely half the price of what the current unit sells (or, more likely, and quite deliberately, fails to sell) at.
So what does it take to go from a phone to a tablet? And I say phone, because I think it's likely that the tablet will ship with some sort of data plan option. I think the same sort of math applies. I wouldn't be surprised to see a $999 tablet be announced next Wednesday with a $699 deal for anyone who signs up for a two year data plan at, say, $39.99/month.
In other words, I think it could be likely that Apple will push high on their initial price, moving that price downwards as early adopters give way to regular consumers later this year during pre-Christmas Q4 sales. As much as I want my $699 contract-free tablet, I don't think Apple's is anywhere near being on board with that low number.
So what's your take on this? What will be the contract-free price? What kind of discount do you anticipate if the tablet comes with a data plan, and what monthly charge do you think the market is willing to take on for that data access? Let us know in the comments.TUAWPricing the tablet: How high can they go? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Hands on with WordCrasher: word puzzles meet Tetris
Filed under: App Review
WordCrasher [iTunes link] is a little gem that deserves a much wider audience than it's currently receiving at App Store. With just 17 ratings to date, this little $0.99 application needs better exposure. Hopefully this review will help. WordCrasher offers a word puzzle game that mixes Tetris-style game play (don't let the letter tiles reach the top of the screen) with Scrabble-like word creation strategy (build words from the letter tiles to eliminate them from play). If you're a word puzzle enthusiast, you'll definitely want to check out WordCrasher.
Developer Kevin Ng's graphics are phenomenal, which might be hard to tell from this low frame rate video, which shows me playing the app for a level. A lot of work has gone into them, making the moment-by-moment gameplay extremely satisfying. I particularly loved the rotating menu sequence that starts each session. It's a visual style I haven't seen on other apps, and it gives WordCrasher a unique visual "voice" that stands out from the crowd.
WordCrasher offers two game styles: marathon, where you play until you Tetris out of room, and flood panic, which introduces the cool concept of slowly filling the bottom of the game level with "water". Tiles begin to float up from the bottom as well as pile in from the top. It's a nice twist, and especially challenging. If I have any complaint, it's that the built in dictionary tends to be fairly prosaic. A lot of Scrabble-standard words are regularly denied. I'd love to see Ng offer more flexible dictionary support for those of us who tend to geek out on word games.
On a side note, WordCrasher uses OpenFeint to manage its top scores system. Seeing OpenFeint initially made me think there might be some sort of interactive gameplay between anonymous participants, say Crash Wars or something like that. but alas no. That's not to take away from my opinion about the quality of the game as is. As it stands, WordCrasher is fabulous. It is likely to be staying on my phone for a while. Word game enthusiasts will love it. Recommended.
TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page. Promo code requests are not guarantees of reviews.TUAWHands on with WordCrasher: word puzzles meet Tetris originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple meeting with "nearly all 6" largest trade publishers
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Rumors
Electronista is reporting today that Apple is in talks with "probably all six" of the largest publishers in preparation for the tablet's release (I think it's safe to officially call it real now). Publishers Marketplace notes that it's all going down in New York City, with ebooks being the topic of conversation, specifically pricing and all of that good stuff.
It's assumed that Apple will sell books through iTunes with a revenue-sharing model similar to what's currently behind the App Store. The report states that the publishers are keen to control pricing and retain access to the files themselves. It's interesting to note that Amazon recently (as in yesterday) announced a revised and similar business model for the Kindle, scheduled to go into place on June 30th.
Now, just because Apple is in talks with all six publishers doesn't mean each deal is a lock. At least not before next week's dog-and-pony show. Expect a demo, some partner announcements (with select CEOs briefly sharing the stage) and a fanboy-crushing delay of 4-5 months.TUAWApple meeting with "nearly all 6" largest trade publishers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - 27-inch iMac shipping delays extended 3 more weeks
Filed under: Retail, iMac, Apple
Did you order one of those sweet 27-inch iMacs from the Apple online store recently? Well, if you did, expect to see a delay in getting it.
AppleInsider is reporting that the 27-inch models currently have a three-week shipping time. Earlier this week, Apple's web store showed estimated shipping times of less than a week.
The delay could be due to several factors. First, initial users of the 27-inch model had been experiencing screen flicker issues, which caused orders made in December to be delayed about two weeks. Apple released a software patch for the big-screen iMac on December 21st that was meant to resolve the screen flicker issues, but many purchasers are still experiencing the problems. It could be that Apple is slowing the pace of manufacturing until the situation is resolved.
Another possibility not addressed in the AppleInsider post could be that the demand for the 27-inch iMac is reaching a new peak. The iMac line made up the best-selling desktop computers in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2009, with the 21.5-inch model topping the charts. It's not entirely out of the question that demand at Apple resellers, including the Apple Stores, is finally being met by the supply of the 27-inch model and that fewer of the machines are available for purchase online.
If you're looking for a 27-inch iMac, we'd recommend visiting a local Apple reseller rather than attempting to purchase it directly through the online Apple Store.
TUAW27-inch iMac shipping delays extended 3 more weeks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Make your personal iPhone app in just 10 minutes
Filed under: Software, Blogging, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Have you ever secretly wished that you could have your own personal iPhone app? An app that you could give to friends, relatives, and your adoring fans?
Now you can have your own iPhone (or Android, if you swing that way) app featuring all of your personal feeds from sources such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Posterous, Tumblr, and more. The really cool thing is that it's not going to take you much time, nor will you need to learn how to program. Through a new service called iSites, you can take all of your life feeds and have an iPhone app created just for you. The cost? Only US$25.
If you think that your hordes of faithful followers are going to download and use the app, you can spend another $99 to integrate AdMob ads into your personal app, meaning that you might be able to become rich (you're already famous, right?) beyond your wildest dreams by giving away your app in the App Store.
Everything about the iSites app you create is customizable; the feeds that make up the content (see photo above), the colors, even your icon and store banner. Anyone using your app can easily share an article with others via Twitter, Facebook, or email, and the app has support for video, image thumbnails, and the ability to mark a post as a favorite.
I'm not sure that I'm ready to bore the world with my personal iPhone app, but when I finally get to that point, I'll probably use iSites to create it.
[via Mashable]TUAWMake your personal iPhone app in just 10 minutes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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