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.
@[email protected]
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

“Yes, I’ve Always Wanted A Naked iPhone 4”

If all you’ve ever wanted is trick your friends to think you’re using a broken iPhone 4 with exposed internal, well – first I feel bad for you because, honestly, all you’ve ever wanted can’t be this, then I’m about to tell you this kind of weird dream can now come true thanks to a decal available on Etsy.

Well, it could have come true – the item’s been sold. But hey, maybe the creator will put new ones up for sale. Maybe there’s still a chance all you’ve ever wanted will be online again.

Anyway, it’s a decal that will make your iPhone 4 look “naked” on the back, with battery and camera lens well visible. I do think it’s pretty great and geek.

Still, you’ll have to wait for new units to become available. Dreams can take a while to come true. [Gizmodo via Etsy]

Screens 1.1 Available: More Gestures, Better SSH, Bug Fixes

Edovia released Screens for iPhone and iPad last week, and it quickly became thousands of people’s new favorite VNC client for iOS. The app makes it easy to access a computer remotely and actually use it on the iPhone or iPad thanks to the support for multi-touch. No mouse cursors to move, you just touch the windows. Also, Edovia’s Screens Connect feature is simply great to log in a computer while on the go with a 3G connection. Tested last week and it was perfect.

Screens was updated a few minutes ago, and this 1.1 version brings a lot of improvements, new features and bug fixes to make the app even better. Screens now supports customizable 3-finger gestures to map to any action you want and lets you launch the Mac’s app switcher with a 4-finger gesture. Edovia improved SSH in the app, which now allows for an address for the SSH tunnel, lets you customize the port and also doesn’t force you to activate SSH tunneling when connecting to a computer on a local network.

The list of changes and bug fixes is huge, so check it out below. Support for more gestures single-handedly makes this update worth it, so go buy the app at $14.99 now if you still haven’t. Screens is the best VNC client for iOS, hands down. Read more

OpenDNS May Slow Down Your Apple TV Streaming

I noticed this issue last week and I thought it was, once again, my ISP’s fault. The Vodafone Station connection I have here doesn’t exactly play well with…anything. Basically, I tried to set up the device using OpenDNS and I saw streaming speed of iTunes content go terribly down – even lower than what I’m used to with the Vodafone Station. It turns out, though, that it might not be Vodafone’s fault at all this time. Instead, it appears that the Apple TV doesn’t play nice with third-party DNS providers such as Google’s DNS or OpenDNS.

According to TUAW, developer Joe Maller and quite a few users on Apple’s discussion boards, setting different DNS other than your ISP’s in the Apple TV can cause iTunes to take even hours to start a streaming session. Maller’s Apple TV took 2 hours to start streaming content under a 20 Mbs connection. Read more

It Turns Out 56 iPads Can Be A Giant iPhone

It’s over, guys. Motorola is right. The iPad is just a giant iPhone. Well, 56 iPads actually – but let’s just go on with Motorola’s argument here, shall we?

Seriously though, what you’re looking at is a giant iPhone made of 56 iPads’ screens displaying a promo image for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, a new game for the iPhone released last week. The giant device can be admired at London’s St. Pancras International Train Station and we think it’s kind of awesome. I mean, I wouldn’t mind having such a video system in my room.

You know, just to watch fake Inception trailers on Youtube.

Or maybe I’ll just wait until next year to put together 56 Motorola tablets and build a giant Droid X. [Electricpig via 9to5]

Motorola Teases New Tablet, Calls iPad “A Giant iPhone”

Look, I’m excited for the Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” update that will likely be teased by some tablet makers at CES 2011, but I just can’t get Motorola’s advertising campaigns.

In their latest teaser video of a tablet that they’ll unveil at CES 2011 (which we assume is the same Android chief Andy Rubin demoed at Dive Into Mobile) Motorola focuses on the “tablet evolution” by listing several tablets from the past (such as the Rosetta Stone, or Egyptian’s hieroglyphs) and making fun of their “features”. The Rosetta Stone, for instance, is labelled as “low-resolution”.

Motorola, though, also took the time to include the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab in the teaser video. And guess what, the iPad is called a “giant iPhone”.

We look forward to seeing Motorola unveiling their Android tablet at CES. [via Engadget] Read more

Why Half-Life 1 For Mac Never Came Out→

Why Half-Life 1 For Mac Never Came Out

Jump to the 16-minute mark for the juicy bits. Basically, the game was ready and the developers even managed to deploy a system that allowed Mac and PC users to play together on a special server. The game had a few bugs but was a few weeks away from golden master. Retail stores orders were coming in.

It was done. So why didn’t it come out? Hint: Apple.

[Cocoia via Reddit]

Permalink

Back to the Future: The Game Coming To The Mac This Week

Great news, Back to the Future fans and Mac owners: you’re getting a BTTF game for the Mac this week. Telltale Games announced the release date of “Back to the Future: The Game” last week, and it looks like the BTTF franchise will get a series of games for Mac and PC that will be made available as “episodes” from December through summer 2011. The first episode called “It’s about time” is coming out this week, on Wednesday. Just in time for Christmas.

First off, those who pre-ordered the game will get a free copy of Puzzle Agent and will also contribute a 1 dollar donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. As for the game, it seems like it’ll be based 6 months after the ending of BTTF 3, and it will be an adventure where you’ll control Marty in his effort to go back in time and find Emmett Brown. Telltale says the game has been developed with the fans of the movie in mind, it will feature alternate timelines and will be the first game for Mac and PC where space and time continuum really matters.

Sounds exciting to you? I’m just worried about the episodic nature of this game series – I never liked games released in episodes. Still, this is Back to the Future we’re talking about and Telltale is well-known for creating sweet gems. Which means I’ll be waiting eagerly for the game to come out on Wednesday.

Noteshelf 3.0 Adds AirPrint, Multitasking, Photo Album Integration

Noteshelf is, in my opinion, the best handwriting app for the iPad. As I wrote in my review in October, of all the note taking and handwriting apps for iPad I had tried Noteshelf managed to stand out because of its excellent wrist protection mode, smooth digital ink, templates and overall UI design. The first version of Noteshelf was good, but the 2.1 one was even better as the developer added Evernote and Dropbox support, finer ink, more notebooks.

I have been using Noteshelf for months and haven’t really looked back. Plus, it works great with my Pogo Sketch and the AluPen review unit I got last week. Read more

tap tap tap Releases Voices 2, Camera+ Is Coming Back

After months of silence following the removal of Camera+ from the App Store, the folks at well-known development team tap tap tap announced the released of a brand new version of Voices for iPhone, a popular app we reviewed last year that allows you apply cool effect to your voice using the device’s mic.

Together with the release of Voices 2, tap tap tap has confirmed Camera+ isn’t dead, they have a new version “in review” at Apple’s App Review Team and it should go live in the App Store any day now. They call the new Camera+ “their biggest update yet”. I’m kind of intrigued.

As for Voices 2, the developers have added Retina graphics for the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4th gen, the possibility to edit recordings by choosing different effects, 9 new effects, AirPlay support. The new effects include stuff like “computer” (nice Macintosh in there!), “walkie-talkie” and “underwater”. I’m pretty sure the app will turn out to be the perfect prank maker this holiday season, especially with AirPlay support that will let me record creepy messages and send them through the house on Christmas day.

Voices 2 is a free update for existing users and you can check out the new effect by visiting this link, where the devs have set up a demo section to test the new features. You can buy Voices 2 for $0.99 in the App Store.

That said, while Voices 2 “sounds” like a great update, I’m looking forward to seeing the new Camera+ now. I loved the app, one day it was there and then it was gone. I used it on a daily basis, then the iOS updates Apple release made it unusable. Hopefully, Camera+ will be released before Thursday.