Federico Viticci

10779 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
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@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Gameloft Brings Interactive World War II Archive To The iPad

With their latest release for the iPad, Gameloft has temporarily decided to put games on the shelves and focus on a more historic subject like World War II. And instead of re-creating the conflict through another first-person shooter videogame, Gameloft created a completely interactive and immersive 56-page book filled with photographs, maps and fac-simile documents.

The app, War in the Pacific, features a foreword by Senior Military Advisor Dale Dye and was curated by Richard Overy, Professor of History at the University of Exeter. As you can see in the promo video below, the app (which also happens to be a 463 MB download, not exactly “lightweight”) comes with original video footage from 1945 detailing the battles against the Japanese Empire and sports some neat multi-touch gestures to navigate between pages, move documents on screen and re-arrange content. There are also animated maps showing the most important events in the Pacific and, overall, the photo archive really looks impressive.

War in the Pacific is available exclusively for the iPad and will cost you $9.99. I wonder if in the future we’ll see, for example, schools adopt this kind of single-subject interactive publications as a way for kids to learn faster, in a new way. Read more

First Leaked Image of “The Daily” for iPad

The Daily by News Corp. is one of the hottest rumors in the Apple tech sphere these days. Initially rumored to launch in December 2010 alongside iOS 4.3 and now apparently scheduled for a late January official announcement (with iOS 4.3 now out in beta), The Daily has been making the rounds also thanks to speculation that Steve Jobs might be directly involved in the realization of the iPad-exclusive newspaper. The Daily is also expected to bring a new feature based on “app subscriptions” that would allow users to set up automatic, recurring payments within iTunes. Read more

Apple Launches Special One-Day Shopping Event In Asian Stores

To celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year (which in our calendar drops on February 3, 2011), not only are Chinese stores planning a series of events from January 26 to February 13 such as workshops and One to One trainings – Apple has also launched a special one-day shopping event in several Asian online stores. The event offers discounted prices on a variety of Apple devices and computers, accessories, games and software.

Shopping event prices are solely available on 14 January 2011, are subject to change, and are listed in Thai Baht. Promotional pricing cannot be combined with any other offers. Product specifications are subject to change. Sale prices are limited to stock on hand and while supplies last. Quantity of products purchasable by each customer may be limited, please see our store for more details.

The offer is now live in various Stores: Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia have the deal page available. The offer is valid today only, and it’s organized in different sections like Apple Essentials, iPad Anywhere, Made for iPod and iPhone Essentials. Apple is also discounting peripherals like the Magic Trackpad, iPad Camera Connection Kit and Time Capsule together with the usual iPads, iPods and MacBooks. The offers seems, overall, to be similar to 2010’s Black Friday for the Apple Online Store.

A Freezing Cold Winter, An Exploded iPhone

Well, this is one of those stories worth to be told on the Internet. Imagine this: you live in Norway, and it’s cold outside. And by cold, we mean dozens of degrees below Zero. Scandinavian freezing cold works like that. A Norwegian woman is driving her car, with the iPhone plugged in the stereo playing some music.

Suddenly, her iPhone explodes.

The glass shattered, the iPhone broken on its magical Ive-designed back. She takes the iPhone to the nearest Apple Store, the Geniuses say they can’t repair it under Apple’s policies because an iPhone isn’t meant to be working under such temperatures. Fair enough, but Norwegian law for consumer protection allows the woman to claim her guarantee to be valid, as it overrides Apple’s standard iPhone policies if the device has been used under normal conditions. Freezing is normal in Norway.

It’s quite an interesting story, I told you. I hope my iPhone never finds itself in the freezing cold of Norway. [MobileCrunch via speechorgan]

iPad 2 Coming on April 2nd or 9th?

As reported by MacRumors, according to German website MacNotes the next-generation iPad may launch in the first week of April, on the 2nd or 9th. The website reports that the iPad 2 will launch in the first “two Saturdays” of April. The first-generation iPad came out on April 3, 2010 – a Saturday.

Reliable sources told us about the upcoming launch of the Apple iPad 2: the first or second Saturday in April will see the first sales of Apples new tablet. The iPad 2 will sell US-only for three months, and Apple Store-only for up to half a year. In July, more countries will follow. Walmart, Best Buy and Co. maybe have to wait until October until they are allowed to sell Apples new tablets.

Read more

Outside for iPhone Comeback: Retina Graphics, Free Notifications

The last time I reviewed Outside for iPhone, a beautiful weather app by Robocat, I focused on the interface design that went into the app and the fact that, unlike other weather apps for iPhone, it allowed users to set up push notifications for certain weather conditions. Stuff like, “hey, perhaps you’d like to wear a t-shirt today” or “make sure to grab your gloves”. It was a clever system, easy to understand and packed inside fancy graphics that made Outside truly stand out in the crowded App Store market.

Months passed, the iPad and iPhone 4 came out and Outside basically disappeared. No word from the developers for months, then a “we’re working on it”. See, I really wanted to use Outside on my iPhone 4 but I couldn’t stand the fuzzy graphics. With version 1.2, released last night and available at a discounted price of $0.99, Outside makes a comeback with totally redesigned graphics updated for the Retina Display. Read more

With Version 1.1, Verbs Becomes A Great AIM Client for iPhone

When I reviewed Verbs for iPhone a few weeks ago, I was disappointed by the lack of AIM support and the overall feeling that the app was rushed to the App Store. Verbs came with a delicious interface design and cool ideas such as a Messages-like approach to IM chats, but the fact that I couldn’t plug into my AIM account and I was forced to use Google Talk was a major downside for me. Also, there was no support for local notifications: once you were out of the app, you wouldn’t know if someone was writing to you on Google Talk. The app was beautiful and elegant, but I couldn’t use it at all.

The latest 1.1 version released in the App Store fixes all these issues, and has become the best AIM client for iPhone for me. Verbs is the same elegant and refined app I tested weeks ago, only I can actually use it now. Read more

T-Mobile’s New Commercial Pokes Fun at iPhone, Verizon

T-Mobile may hide its frustration for not having the iPhone with clever commercials, but it’s pretty clear that they would love to have the device on their portfolio. In their latest commercial, the carrier’s lady says that even on Verizon, the iPhone can’t compete with the 4G network offered by T-Mobile. Either Verizon or AT&T, 3G is slow.

“How do you tell them apart? Does one of them have nation-wide 4G like me?”, T-Mobile girl asks. Verizon guy replies: “No choice is still a choice”. I guess no iPhone choice is still a choice for T-Mobile, too. [Youtube via 9to5mac]

The CDMA iPhone’s Next Stop: Asia

According to “sources from upstream component makers” close to Digitimes, the CDMA iPhone won’t be an exclusive to Verizon in the US (as also confirmed by Apple’s Tim Cook at the Verizon event) but it’s headed to China, Japan and South Korea. Digitimes reports the CDMA iPhone is manufactured both by Pegatron and Foxconn; Foxconn’s model (whose shipment started in December 2010) will be exclusive to the United States, while Pegatron’s version will ship to China and “other countries”.

Pegatron started shipping its CDMA iPhone 4 in January 2011 and Foxconn started in December 2010. Foxconn’s model will be solely supplied to the US, while Pegatron’s model will be supplied to China and other countries. Since US-based telecom carrier Verizon currently has over 93 million users in the US, the launch of CDMA iPhone is expected to double the number of the current iPhone users in the market.

Since Apple is also set to start supplying its CDMA iPhone to Japan and South Korea, the company’s iPhone shipments in 2011 are expected to reach a new record.

Reports surfaced in the past suggested the CDMA iPhone would be available in India, China (via China Telecom) and other CDMA European carriers. This latest Digitimes report also points to Apple adopting new technologies like “halogen-free connectors, carbon fiber internals, solar glass charger plates and double-webcams”.