The Japanese Government Wants Apple To Add Filters To The iPhone

By Federico Viticci

The iPhone is becoming one of Japan’s best selling smartphones – something quite strange for a country that’s not usually huge on products coming from the States, or Europe – and now the Japanese government is asking Apple and Softbank, the iPhone carrier in the land of the Rising Sun, to add content filters on the iPhone by default. To prevent teenagers from accessing “harmful” web content (can we have a guess? porn) and, generally, stuff they shouldn’t be able to see on a smartphone, the National Police Agency requires handsets markers to ship devices with this kind of filtering.

As you can imagine, this isn’t going to be easy for the Japanese government and Softbank, who’s just the middle man between Cupertino and the Japanese folks lining up to buy iPhones every day. Softbank can’t install proprietary code on the iPhone – they should open an iPhone first and find a way to give it to customers with some filtering software enabled. But we know iOS doesn’t allow for these kinds of software to be installed. So it’s all on Apple now, which has to evaluate whether or not they should follow the Japanese government’s request.

The way I see it, Japan will have to wait for filters to come on their iPhones for a long time. [via TUAW]

Mac App Store Preview: Lyrica

By Federico Viticci

Lyrica is an upcoming new Mac app created by 17 year-old German developer Florian Zand which has been submitted to Apple for approval and should be available on the Mac App Store on January 6. As the name suggests, the app is aimed at fetching and displaying song lyrics – which is a pretty common task, although Lyrica has a few tricks up its sleeve that should grant it a relevant position in the new App Store. First off, the app queries 6 different lyric databases to find the most appropriate lyrics for the songs you’re listening to. Of course, Lyrica automatically takes the music that’s playing in iTunes and contacts the servers on its own. You just have to fire it up and wait a few seconds for the lyrics to show up on screen.

Lyrica can change from a classic OS X grey window to a more unobtrusive translucent black panel that can easily sit on top of any app without getting in the way. If lyrics for a song can’t be found, you can add them manually from the app itself. In addition for “now playing” capabilities, the app can also add lyrics to a specific playlist or your entire iTunes library – that will take a few minutes though, as it’ll have to tag your whole music collection.

We look forward to seeing Lyrica available in the Mac App Store on January 6. More information about the app will be available on the developer’s website here.

Remote Conductor: All-in-One OS X Controller for iPad

By Federico Viticci

If you’re that kind of user who has set up a home entertainment system based on a machine running OS X, then probably you’re always looking for the next big thing in remote control. Several users, instead of buying a dedicated set-top box like an Apple TV or a Roku Player, prefer to get a relatively entry-level machine like a Mac Mini and route all their music, movies and photos through it. Because entertainment aside, the thing also happens to be a computer that can backup itself on a daily basis and serve content to other computers or iOS devices in the house. Just think of all the iTunes libraries or Plex installations shared through Mac Minis or, at best, Mac Pros that are powerful enough to be both desktop machines and entertainment systems for when the work is done and all you need is a good movie. A Mac computer set for such tasks, however, needs a good remote control system because, frankly, you just can’t use a mouse and keyboard on your couch.

Sure, you could use an Apple Remote and get most of your things done without having to lift a finger, but what about all those times when you want to use the stuff a computer also comes with – you know, like a web browser and high-def Youtube videos scaled to take all your TV screen? After all, even if geared towards home entertainment purposes, it’s a computer. And it needs to be remotely controlled. You could buy a VNC app like Screens for your iPhone and iPad, and control the computer that’s running on the TV in front of you with the comfort of also having it in your hands, in a portable app. Perhaps, though, you don’t need to have its screen mirrored on an iOS device and you just want a remote app that acts like a touchpad and lets you quickly launch and quit apps, and check on running ones.

Remote Conductor, a new iPad app by m3me, aims at reinventing the “remote controlling” app genre by combining in a single package features like a touchpad, multi-touch gestures support and some sort of application launcher and OS X-like Exposè to let you easily and effortlessly control your Mac’s screen from anywhere in your room using an iPad. Read more

Mac App Store Preview: QuickMark QR Code Reader

By Federico Viticci

Currently waiting in Apple’s review queue and hopefully launching on the Mac App Store on January 6, QuickMark is a new app that will let your Mac “read” the increasingly popular QR codes. Thanks to the built-in iSight every Mac (which Apple is apparently rebranding as “FaceTime camera”) will be able to recognize 2D barcode images or, if a Mac doesn’t come with an iSight, load an image file and scan it. You can also create your own 2D codes, if you wish.

QuickMark’s reader is capable of doing a bunch of stuff with a correctly scanned code, too. For example, the app can follow a web link with a Mac’s default browser, send an email or add a contact to the Address Book. The app also sports a neat Skype integration as it can send SMS and make a phone call; if you don’t like making phone calls and you’re more for meeting your friends in person, the app can also navigate to a Google Maps’ specific point of interest.

QuickMark for Mac should be available in the App Store soon.

Mac App Store Preview: Tembo, A New Take On Spotlight

By Federico Viticci

Coming to the Mac App Store this Thursday, Tembo is a new app from the guys behind popular OS X software like HoudahGeo and HoudahSpot that aims at providing a fast, fun and easy interface for Spotlight. Tembo will allow you to easily find music, mail messages, documents and bookmarks through a window that resembles the Spotlight UI you were used to on OS X Tiger.

Search results are grouped by categories, and you can enable, disable or reorder these categories in the app’s Preferences. A top bar for each category in the search results window will let you filter through these results already neatly organized in categories. It’s really powerful, but user-friendly at the same time. Tembo can list up to 2500 items in a single group, and can work as an extension to Mail and iChat to find messages and conversations, or Safari to search through bookmarks and history.

Tembo will be available on January 6 at $20 with a free trial available on the developers’ website.

iPhone 4 Becomes A Skateboard

By Federico Viticci

On iOS, a device becomes the app it’s currently running. Are you using a calculator app? The iPhone looks like a digital calculator then. A GPS map? A TV remote? Full-screen apps can turn an iOS device into, well, anything. What about hardware accessories, though? Can a rather simple accessory like a case turn an iPhone into something else?

The Skateboard Series for iPhone 4 is a new case available on Etsy made out of laser-cut grip tape and actual wood. It looks like a mini-skateboard, only it’s an iPhone and it doesn’t have wheels. Build quality looks impressive, too.

When combined with a wood grain vinyl edge wrap this design actually gives your iPhone 4 the illusion of being a skateboard, all you need now are the wheels. The only advice we can give you is not to slide this phone against your grandma’s table because this material is very rough.

Whether or not you think the grip tape on the back of the device could make it a little harder to get it out of your pockets, this mod can be yours for only $20. Available now on Etsy. [via Reddit]

Eye Scope Adds 8x Optical Zoom To Your iPhone

By Federico Viticci

If you’ve ever wished you could spy on your neighbor’s house or simply take better photos of distant objects with your iPhone (yes, we’re going to pretend your never thought of spying on people using an Apple device), you might want to consider the Eye Scope, a $45 (£29) accessory that can add 8x optical zoom to the iPhone’s lens.

Available for iPhone 3G / 3GS / 4 owners,the Eye Scope is basically a case with an attached optical lens that promises to cover 246 meters ahead of you and your iPhone. Not bad, huh? In the package, you’ll also get a tripod mount and a lens cloth to keep everything clean and well focused.

If you want to go ahead and buy it, the Eye Scope for iPhone is available on online retailer Firebox. [via Ubergizmo]

Firemint Acquires Puzzle Quest’s Infinite Interactive

By Federico Viticci

Looks like iOS game company acquisitions are the new “Google has acquired”: in an unexpected turn of events, popular game studio Firemint (creators of award-winning iOS titles such as Flight Control or Real Racing) has acquired the company behind Puzzle Quest, the Infinite Interactive team. Both companies are based in Australia, and a press release went live last night to announce the deal and the fact that “Firemint is welcoming Steve Fawkner”, founder of Infinite Interactive in 1989. As you can see in the graphics above, the companies are already joking about the games that will come as a result of this acquisition, whether or not we’ll be able to put our hands on “Puzzle Control” or “Flight Quest”.

A curious detail is hidden in the press release (which we’ve embedded below): apparently, Firemint’s Rob Murray and Steve Fawkner are long-time friends, and Fawkner showed Murray an early prototype of Puzzle Quest in 2003, receiving feedback from him. Now, he will be able to get feedback on a daily basis and who knows – maybe we are really going to see a more RPG-oriented Real Racing or puzzles in Flight Control. The idea sounds awful, I know, but game designers can usually make awful ideas happen. Read more

Clickfree Unveils $249 Time Capsule Alternative

By Federico Viticci

Looking for an unofficial, cheaper, black-er Time Capsule alternative? Perhaps you just don’t want your Time Capsule to die prematurely while you were just getting to love it? You’re in luck. Amongst CES fever, new gadgets and weird round-shaped televisions, Clickfree has announced a wanna-be Time Capsule competitor that’s basically a hard drive with a built-in 802.11n radio that automates backups from your Macs and PCs.

If you’re familiar with Apple’s Time Capsule, or like me you own an AirPort Extreme with an attached USB external drive, you know how it works: in your Mac’s System Preferences you set the external network drive as a Time Machine destination, and backups will happen wirelessly in the background all the time. It’s unobtrusive, smart and pretty damn awesome. Clickfree is showcasing the product at CES as we speak, and they say no software is needed to run the backup system after an initial setup. One of the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme advantages is the AirPort Utility app Apple gives you to configure almost anything in the device, so I don’t know about Clickfree’s approach. Maybe it’s one of those things that really just works without manual setup.

The Clickfree Wireless comes in two flavors: a 500 GB one that retails at $179, and a 1 TB one that can be yours at $249. [via Engadget]

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