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Following the rather controversial “If you don’t have an iPhone” ads Apple posted a few days ago, a new one has been uploaded to Youtube: this time, it’s about Game Center.
The usual Infinity Blade is featured, alongside the capabilities of Game Center (friends requests) and the App Store with all its Angry Birds and Real Racing. Check out the video below. [thanks, Benjamin]
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The official Twitter app for iOS was updated a few minutes ago to include support for the iPad 2’s camera. A pretty much obvious update considering the camera is one of the biggest features in the new device, and it didn’t take long for Twitter to support it. A new camera icon has found its way in the “new tweet” compose box; you can upload media from your library or shoot a new photo or video with the iPad and send it off to your favorite online service. The UI is quite nice, and luckily enough this update doesn’t bring any #dickbar to the timeline.
Twitter 3.3.2 also includes fixes: the developers have disabled “significant location change monitoring that was causing compass to appear constantly when in app” and the changelog mentions “bug Fixes from user reported crashes” as well. We hope this update fixes the annoying DM bug too, the one that kept your messages unread on each app relaunch / crash.
You can find Twitter for iOS in the App Store here.
Pulse, the news reader for iOS developed by Alphonso Labs, was updated earlier today in its iPhone version to add much of the functionality from the iPad counterpart, insanely successful and quite possibly the first app that started the “visual news reader” trend on the tablet. Pulse Mini 2.0 for iPhone is faster with more responsive sources and image loading times, smoother scrolling and overall faster performances. Google Reader sync has been optimized to allow for offline reading and syncing back to the cloud as soon as the app gets online again. Search has been enhanced to include top results and relevant titles. Pulse Mini 2.0 is definitely a step forward in terms of usability and underlying engine.
New features have been added, too. As in the iPad version, you can now read content from a variety of sources like Reddit and Digg without manually adding anything – they’re baked into the app. Same applies for Youtube, Vimeo and Hacker News. Similarly, Alphonso Labs added more recommended publications to the list of blogs and websites you should subscribe to, making it easier for new users to find great content without being forced to log into Twitter of Facebook.
Pulse Mini for iPhone is free. With the increased speed, Reddit support (we love it) and more sources, it’s an app to check out.
In these past four years, I’ve played a lot of iPhone games. From Doodle Jump and Angry Birds to Real Racing and Chaos Rings, you can find any kind of game you want on the App Store nowadays. But a game like Pah! wins the long-awaited MacStories award of “most ridiculous iPhone game I’ve ever played”.
Available in the App Store for $0.99, in Pah! you have to control a spacecraft using your voice. Okay, many games have voice control options. Problem is, in Pah! you actually have to shout “pah” to shoot and “aaahhhh” to move up and down. That’s right: pah, pah, aaahhh, ahhh, pah, pah. Directly into the iPhone’s mic. You will look like an idiot, guaranteed. And I can tell you, playing this thing with your friends around is a rewarding experience. I haven’t laughed so much for an iPhone game since the original fart app was released. And maybe more.
The game itself isn’t a masterpiece of gameplay, sounds or level-design – but it will make you laugh. For $0.99, that’s a pretty good deal.
A new patent design uncovered by Patently Apple today gives us a hint at some interface elements Apple may implement in future versions of iOS, perhaps as soon as iOS 5 is released later this year. The patent doesn’t provide many details and the mockups realized by Apple are nowhere near the final style of an iOS product, but they can let us speculate on the interface changes several apps will likely go through.
In this patent, Apple has focused on browsing the iTunes Store and accessing the Address Book. The main concept seems to be that raw lists of items – songs, artists, and even contacts – should evolve into a visually richer experience based on “tiles”, rather than vertical lists. Does that ring a bell? Yes, at first I thought of the Windows Phone 7 UI – but the implementation Apple is envisioning here is quite different. From what we can see in the sketches posted online, the design looks like a mix of the Finder’s standard icon view and the iTunes album art screensaver: there’s a grid containing albums and songs in the iTunes Store and a different contact visualization in Address Book with a series of thumbnails for all your friends, and a bigger one in the foreground for the contact you’re currently talking to / editing in the app. Apple is calling these things “Segmented Graphical Representations”, and from a first look it sounds like they’re aiming for a more visual interaction with the OS based on thumbnails and graphics, rather than lists of text. Read more
For as much as we at MacStories are in love with Apple’s Smart Cover, we’re also curious to see what kind of products third-party accessory makers will release for a device that’s got magnets and a flat surface perfect for covers and stands. Now that word about Apple’s magnet implementation is out there, it shouldn’t be long enough until we see all kinds of Smart Cover replacements come out. And while I’m sure many of them won’t offer Apple’s exceptional build quality and usability, the Miniot Cover for iPad surely is something to get excited about.
It looks like a Smart Cover, but it’s got a wooden surface that rolls into a cylinder (that’s right) to offer typing and stand modes. It easily attaches to the iPad and the wooden finish on the surface is simply beautiful. I can’t wait to try one of these things out, and I’m just going to say that Apple should allow Miniot to feature their product into the retail stores.
Shipping in a few days at €50 (it’s cheaper than Apple’s leather model sold at €69 in Europe), the Miniot Cover is set to provide a great alternative to the Smart Cover. Check out the video below. [Miniot via TUAW]
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Founder of Forrester Research George Colony thinks Apple will outgrow IBM and HP, keeping its steady 50% sales growth rate year after year:
HP is coming out with a tablet this summer (following the Palm acquisition), whilst IBM has become more of a research giant rather than a consumer electronic company. Apple may be bigger than both companies from a user’s perspective, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the HP TouchPad will be able to change the current tablet market landscape.
(iPad 2 line in Sydney via BeauGiles)
The iPad 2 is coming out tomorrow in 25 countries. As announced by Apple earlier this week, the device will be available in the following countries at 5 PM local time: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The launch was delayed in Japan as Apple is focusing on recovering from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the country two weeks ago, and helping out employees and their families.
In the 25 countries scheduled for launch tomorrow, the iPad 2 will be available in Apple retail stores and authorized resellers. With the Apple Stores opening at 5 PM (same as the US launch on March 11), it’s no surprise that some people have decided to spend the whole day in line waiting for the doors to open – but some Apple fans have really broken any record this time. Take the Sydney Apple as an example: as reported by Fortune, Alex Lee and Marius Eilertsen started waiting in front of the store on Wednesday, 53 hours before the iPad 2 launch. Crazy. They are, of course, no. 1 and 2 in line, but they had to bring chairs and blankets (and water, I guess) for their adventure. The line has grown bigger, and it’s not extending down George Street with dozens of customers waiting. Read more
Created by developers Masashi Ono and Milo Bird (Bird is the same guy behind popular RSS reader Byline), appappeal.jp is a website that collects iOS applications whose developers are currently donating 100% of the proceeds to the Japan relief effort. As developers around the world donate their proceeds to charities like the Red Cross, App Appeal wants to provide a unified way of discovering which apps you can buy to get great software, and contribute to Japan at the same time.
The list isn’t huge for now, but Bird and Ono aim at collecting more apps as developers get to know about App Appeal and through the classic word of mouth. So, if you’re a developer and you’re planning on donating your proceeds to help the people of Japan, you should get in touch with App Appeal; if you’re an iPhone or iPad user, keep an eye on the website to see which apps you can buy now and the ones that will be added in the next days.
If you don’t want to buy new apps to help Japan, Apple also lets you donate to the Red Cross in iTunes.
