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

First Infinity Blade Update Coming Tomorrow, For Free

According to a tweet from the official Infinity Blade account, the widely anticipated first free update for one of the most successful iOS games ever is coming tomorrow in the App Store, two days ahead of the iTunes Connect shutdown for developers.

Tomorrow’s update will include five new weapons, five new shields, five new helmets and a new armor set. This equipment will allow users to raise the level cap to 45, but there’s more. New areas will be included, namely dungeons. There will be a new enemy to face and more details about the God King will be revealed.

Infinity Blade for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is available at $5.99 in the App Store. The update that will go live tomorrow won’t include a multiplayer mode (it seems like that’s coming in January), but it’ll be free for all existing users. No in-app purchase to unlock the new stuff.

We can’t wait.

With Beta 7, Sparrow Gets Close To Being The Ideal Gmail App for Mac

It’s been a while since we last covered Sparrow, a native Gmail client for Mac. The first version of the app came out in early October, and the developers have been busy fixing bugs, introducing new features and refining the design in these past two months and a half. What started as a nice Gmail app clearly inspired by Loren Brichter’s Tweetie slowly evolved into a stable, unique and feature-rich Gmail app for the Mac. Read more

MacBook Air Mods: Composition Notebook, Angry Birds

The new MacBook Air is a thing of beauty. Like I tweeted a few days ago, a friend of mine bought the 11-inch model last week and I’m finding myself constantly trying to reach it to see how much Apple managed to squeeze into that tiny piece of aluminum. It’s thin. It’s fast. But I guess that at this point you’ve heard about that.

What you probably don’t know is that some users are coming up with neat MacBook Air mods that will make you want one even more. From the same guy who created the iPhone 4 Leica skin for the most sophisticated photographer comes the composition notebook MBA skin. You know, just to remember the good old school days. Or maybe not.

If you don’t feel like carrying an aluminum composition notebook around, perhaps some Angry Birds is what you’re looking for. It’s got the birds, the pigs – no slingshot though. It’d be nice to apply this skin once Angry Birds comes to the Mac. Because it is coming, right?

More photos after the break. [via Gizmodo & Flickr] Read more

Angry Birds 1.5 for iPad: 15 New Levels, Game Center, Mighty Eagle

Right ahead of Christmas, here comes an Angry Birds HD update for iPad that should grant the millions of Angry Birds and tablet owners out there hours of fun while unwrapping their presents.

Angry Birds HD 1.5 adds Game Center integration, 15 new levels (the previous update added 15 new levels, too), a new “frontier badlands” theme, a new golden egg and the long-awaited Mighty Eagle. Looks like a massive update and it’s no surprise that it’s been approved before the iTunes Connect holiday shutdown.

Angry Birds HD is available at $4.99 here.

Tap Tap Revenge 4 Available: Game Center, 100 Free Songs, Retina Graphics

A few hours ago Tapulous (now part of Disney), released a major new version of their iPhone hit Tap Tap Revenge: Tap Tap Revenge 4 is now live in the App Store, and it’s free. This new update is the most important one since the original release of TTR 3 and all its spin-offs, and it features lots of new functionalities, songs and graphics.

First off, the app now sports Retina Display graphics and it’s got Game Center integration. TTR now has global leaderboards to see who has the best scores worldwide, a “like” button to see who else likes the same songs as you and sharing on Twitter, Facebook and email. As far as the built-in community tools go, you can create your own avatar and buy accessories and clothes in the game stores, have chats and private messages with other users, engage in online battles and download free tracks every week.

Speaking of which, Tap Tap Revenge 4 comes with 100 free songs from artists like Linkin Park, Taio Cruz, Metallica, Nicki Minaj and My Chemical Romance, plus premium content from the in-app store. The song selection is pretty huge and should contribute to the game’s replay value. The new user interface is cool although a little bit cluttered in my opinion, the app is free but there’s ugly in-app advertising in the main screen. It kind of ruins the whole feeling of the game – still the Retina graphics are really shiny on the iPhone 4.

Tap Tap Revenge 4 is available for free in the App Store. Full changelog and video below. Read more

iLunascape iPad Browser Adds Firefox Sync

iLunascape is a third-party browser for the iPad which is available for free in the App Store and we mentioned several times in the past. It’s not exactly a “full-featured” alternative browser like the excellent iCab or Atomic, yet it comes with a neat tabbed interface that makes it simple to switch between multiple websites open at once.

iLunascape doesn’t overwhelm you with functionalities, but it’s OK for most people looking for a sweet alternative to Safari.

The latest 1.3 version, released last week, adds the possibility to sync bookmarks back to the desktop thanks to Firefox Sync, which apparently opened up its API to allow other browsers to access a user’s sync settings. The new version also lets you save images and use bookmarklets. Firefox Sync is one of the best ways to keep tabs synchronized and accessible between computers and devices.

iLunascape for iPad is free and available here.

Mailboxes Comes Back To Offer The Best Gmail Wrapper for iPad

In the past months, I’ve tried a lot of iPad apps to access multiple Gmail accounts. Sure, I could use Apple’s Mail app to manage them. The problem is, Apple Mail doesn’t let me access most of the features of Gmail and I love the Gmail web UI for iPad. Also, Google has been busy updating Gmail to make it play nicer with mobile devices (smoother scrolling, better selections in the left panel) and these native “wrappers” provide a way to quickly switch between accounts with the tap of a button.

So far I’ve tried Mailboxes, MailWrangler, MultiG and Mailroom on the iPhone. On the Mac I use Mailplane (which is simply amazing) and on the tablet I’ve sticked with MultiG for several weeks. Until Google changed something on its backend, MultiG stopped working and the developer didn’t release an update. I had to change, and I went back to Apple Mail because of all the alternatives I had tested none of them managed to top the excellence of MultiG. Read more

eBoy FixPix: 25 New Levels

I love the iPhone and iPad game “FixPix” from the folks at eBoy. In fact, we’ve already covered the app a couple of times in the past here on MacStories. Don’t let the original release date fool you, though: eBoy is continually updating the game to make it one of the most impressive puzzle / pixel experiences for iOS.

The latest 2.1 update (guess what, approved right ahead of Christmas) introduces 25 new levels (they’re all great, and genius), a new app icon, new menus, a new start screen. The bad news? Your game progress will be reset after the update. Ouch.

Still, I can’t recommend eBoy FixPix more. It’s universal, gorgeous to look at and it’s only $0.99 in the App Store. Go get it.

Someone Haz An iPad Game for Cats

Soon after the iPad came out in April, early adopters had fun trying to make their pets interact with it. As usual on the Internet, cats videos made the rounds. I mean, they’re just so adorable, right?

Wait, because someone actually developed an iPad game for cats. Not to be used by humans. Seriously, it’s real and live in the App Store for free. All your lovely cat haz to do? Chase teh mouse on screen.

Check out the video below. I want Steve Jobs demoing this on stage at the next Apple event. Or maybe the Apple Design Awards. [via Laughing Squid] Read more