Best Apps Of 2011: Giveaway Details

By Graham Spencer

Last Friday we started the voting period for our search for the best iPhone, iPad and Mac Apps and Games of 2011. As part of that we also announced that we were conducting the biggest giveaway we have ever run on MacStories. Today we are giving everyone more details on what apps we are giving away and when. But first, a quick reminder that you can enter the giveaway by doing one (or all three) of the following:

Vote (when you vote we first ask for your email address, just enter a valid email address and you go into the running to win some free apps).
Tweet about the poll (use the text quoted below).
Let your friends or family know about the poll and have them enter your email or Twitter handle in the referral box that is on the voting page.

MacStories Best Apps of 2011: vote now and enter our huge iOS & Mac app giveaway! http://mcstr.net/rVDwy8

Every day this week (from today till Friday) we will be giving out a number of (single) licence codes to apps in addition to 3 bundle packs which include codes for three apps - details can be seen below the break. In total, this represents of 250 codes that will be given away!

Vote Early

We’ll be randomly drawing entries for the giveaways once a day - but we won’t be limiting the selection to just those who voted on that day. Every vote will have a chance of winning every day. This means that if you enter before the end of today (Monday) you will have five chances at some codes - but if you enter on Friday you will only have one chance at winning.

Remember that you can also increase your chances by tweeting about this poll and by telling your friends and family about the poll (and getting them to put your email address in the referral box).

Sorry, voting is now closed. Winners will be announced on Saturday, 24th.

WSJ: Apple Talks With Media Executives, Apple TV Plans Moving Forward

By Graham Spencer

A report today in The Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple is getting closer to launching a product that will represent the company’s vision for the future of TV. Sources have told the WSJ that Apple executives have met with media executives at several large media companies in recent weeks.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, and the other Apple executives discussed their vision for the future of TV, outlining ways their technology could “recognise users across phones, tablets and TVs”. The WSJ also noted that in at least one meeting, Apple executives also described technology that could respond to a users voice or movements to search for a show or change channels. Apple did not go into specifics about what its plans were during the meetings, staying “vague” and not making any proposals to license shows for any new “Apple TV”.

Still, the talks—some of which were made at the request of media companies seeking an update on Apple’s plans—suggest that Apple’s TV strategy is advancing.

What Apple did discuss was about new ways that a user could stream content to multiple devices, allowing them to start watching a video on a TV and then move to another device, with that user’s pause point being synced with that other device such as a smartphone.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

Best Apps Of 2011: Vote For Your Favorite + A Huge Giveaway

By Graham Spencer

iOS and Mac apps are the cornerstone of what we cover on MacStories, we love trying new apps, sharing news about them and then reviewing them for you all. The past 12 months have been a spectacular year for new apps and big app updates that have seen both the diversity and calibre of iOS and Mac apps increase significantly. It is with this in mind that we want to recognise the very best apps that were released or received major updates in 2011.

The whole team at MacStories has worked together to come up with a short list of iPhone, iPad and Mac apps as well as a short list of games that we believe were the best to come out in 2011. Now we need your help to decide which of these apps are the best from each category. To do so, we are running a poll that we want you to take, and we want you to cast your vote for what you think was the best app of 2011.

The Biggest MacStories Giveaway Ever!

However, this event isn’t just about rewarding the very best iOS and Mac developers, we want to reward you for being readers of MacStories this year and for taking the time to help us choose the best apps of 2011. This giveaway, as the header states, is the biggest we have ever run - and by quite a stretch. We’re going to be giving away over two-hundred license codes for apps that have made it into our short lists - and there may still be more to come! Some of the apps we will be giving away include:

Alfred
Fantastical
iA Writer
Instacast
Mr. Reader
Tweetbot
and many, many more…

How To Enter The Giveaway

There are three ways to be in the running for some of these licenses:

Vote (when you vote we first ask for your email address, just enter a valid email address and you go into the running to win some free apps).
Tweet about this contest (just make sure you have this article’s URL in the tweet, or just use the example tweet below).
Let your friends or family know about the poll and have them enter your email or Twitter handle in the referral box that is on the voting page.

MacStories Best Apps of 2011: vote now and enter our huge iOS & Mac app giveaway! http://mcstr.net/rVDwy8

Rules & More Information

You can only vote once, this is why we require an email address when you vote. If you enter an invalid email address or vote multiple times your vote(s) will not count.
Please don’t spam your Twitter followers, friends or family, asking them to vote and add you to the referral box. It’s not nice and we don’t want to come across as being the source of this spam - if we see such spam we will ensure you don’t receive any licenses.
Some licences will be given out during the voting process, whilst the rest will be given after voting closes.
Once voting closes, no more entries for the giveaway will be accepted.
Because of the limited number of licences we have per app, you might not get the app you really wanted if you are a winner - but we will try to be as flexible as possible!

Sorry, voting is now closed. Winners will be announced Saturday, 24th.

The winning apps will be announced on Saturday, December 24th (Christmas Eve).

Grand Theft Auto III Now Available for iOS

By Graham Spencer

Rockstar Games’ much loved Grand Theft Auto III has today arrived on iOS and Android after it was revealed in October that a 10 Year Anniversary Edition had been developed for the two platforms. It may not be live in the App Store for everyone across the world just yet, but in Australia the app is available and I have successfully purchased it. The app will cost $4.99 for those in the US and equivalent amounts for those in other regions (in Australia it is $5.49). The game is a universal app and will run on the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and fourth generation iPod touch.

Welcome to Liberty City. Where it all began.

Rockstar Games celebrates the 10th anniversary of one of the most influential games of all time. The critically acclaimed blockbuster Grand Theft Auto III comes to mobile devices, bringing to life the dark and seedy underworld of Liberty City. With a massive and diverse open world, a wild cast of characters from every walk of life and the freedom to explore at will, Grand Theft Auto III puts the dark, intriguing and ruthless world of crime at your fingertips.

With stellar voice acting, a darkly comic storyline, a stunning soundtrack and revolutionary open-world gameplay, Grand Theft Auto III is the game that defined the open world genre for a generation.

If you played the original console version that was released way back in October of 2001 you won’t be disappointed with the iOS version featuring recreated graphics, updated character and vehicle models, HD resolution and custom controls to better suit iOS.

The Australian version is available on the App Store now, we will update this post when international links are available.

If you’re in a Grand Theft Auto mood, be sure to also check out GTA III on the Mac App Store, as well as GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas which are also available.

Update: GTA III for iOS is now available in the US iOS App Store for $4.99.

Review Of Buttonless, A Book About Incredible iOS Games And The Stories Behind Them

By Graham Spencer

Remember when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone way back in January 2007 by prefacing the reveal by first saying it was a “a widescreen iPod with touch controls”, “a revolutionary mobile phone” and “a breakthrough Internet communications device”? It certainly delivered upon those three pillars, but as the iPhone and iOS has evolved over the years it has become evident that the iPhone (and subsequently the iPod touch and iPad) is also an innovative and impressive portable gaming device. Gaming has become a big selling point for iOS devices and since the App Store launched there have been a number of truly great and innovative games that have both shown what the devices are capable of and offered unique experiences that weren’t available anywhere else.

Today, ‘Buttonless: Incredible iPhone and iPad Games and the Stories Behind Them’ has been released on Amazon. It’s a new book by Ryan Rigney that aims to introduce you to a selection of the very best iOS games and then peel away the curtain, revealing the story and people behind the games. To compile the book, Rigney selected 65 of the “best and most beloved” iOS games and then conducted over 100 interviews with the developers and designers of the games. The result is 244 pages of interesting ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories that are unlikely to be found anywhere else.

I was given a pre-release copy of the book and below the break is my full review of ‘Buttonless’.

Apple Launches iTunes Store In Brazil & Latin America, iTunes Match Also Available In Brazil

By Graham Spencer

Apple has just announced, via a press release, that it is today launching the iTunes Store in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Additionally, Brazilians also have access to iTunes Match - the first country to get access to the service since Apple launched the feature last month in the US.

iTunes in the Cloud is available today for free in Brazil and Latin America and iTunes Match is available today for a $24.99 annual fee in Brazil.

Consumers from Brazil and those 15 Latin American countries will now be able to purchase music from major labels such as EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music as well as thousands of independent labels. Movies are also accessible to Brazillians on the iTunes Store with movies available from major studios such as Sony and Universal. Whilst iTunes in the Cloud (for music) is available for all the countries listed above, iTunes Match is only launching in Brazil today.

The full press release from Apple is included below the break.

Read more

Apple: 100 Million Downloads From The Mac App Store

By Graham Spencer

Apple has just issued a press release that notes that over 100 million apps have been downloaded since the Mac App Store launched less than a year a go on January 6th. Phil Schiller notes that “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

Averaging out the 100 million downloads across the 341 days since the store launched, thats close to 300,000 downloads per day. The full press release is included after the break and it includes some select quotes from developers such as Autodesk, the developers of Pixelmator and the developers of djay - all offering positive words about the Mac App Store, but from different perspectives.

“In less than one year we’ve shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store,” said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. “With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels.”

The press release also notes that combined, the iOS and Mac App Stores offer over 500,000 apps that have been downloaded more than 18 billion times, with every additional month adding more than 1 billion to that figure. So whilst the 100 million downloads in just under a year is impressive, compared to the download figures of the iOS App Stores, it’s a small proportion.

Report: iPad 3 Component Production Beginning, Launch Expected For March Or April 2012

By Graham Spencer

According to DigiTimes, which admittedly has quite a mixed record on Apple rumors, manufacturers in Apple’s supply chain have begun delivering parts and components for the next generation iPad. From this information, DigiTimes believes that the next iPad will be available in 3-4 months (aligning with March or April next year), with iPad 2 component supply beginning to wind down now.

OEM production of iPad 2 will remain high at 14-15 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 but decline to 4-5 million units in the first quarter of 2012, paving the way for the launch of the new iPads, the sources noted.

Furthermore, the Chinese Commercial Times reports that Foxconn will begin production of the next-generation iPad in January, with production volume ramping up in February. It is expected that production of the next iPad will reach 9.5-9.8 million units in the first quarter of 2012.

[Via DigiTimes]

Apple Promotes The Beatles With New TV Advert, Free iBook

By Graham Spencer

Late yesterday Apple posted a new TV ad online that promotes The Beatles on iTunes. The ad, called “Covers”, is a 30 second piece that features a number of their album covers animating and morphing into one another to the tune of ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.

It follows yesterday’s release of ‘The Beatles Yellow Submarine’ a free, interactive iBook that is available exclusively on the iBookstore.

This enchanting illustrated book captures the same magical spirit found in the film. The Beatles’ journey to save Pepperland from the music-hating Blue Meanies is filled with surrealistic humor, wit, and clever references to The Beatles’ song titles and lyrics. In this iTunes exclusive, clips from the movie have been included throughout and can be viewed either embedded in the page or at full-screen. The book also contains interactive animations as well as sound effects and music clips.

Jump the break to view the new ad, you can download ‘The Beatles Yellow Submarine’ for free on the iBookstore.

[Via MacRumors]