Federico Viticci

10781 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

AirPlay Streaming of Camera Roll Videos with Air Home Video

When iOS 4.2.1 came out on November 22nd, several users were disappointed to find out that there was no AirPlay option in the iPhone’s Camera Roll or Photos app. If you have some videos shot with your iPhone and you want to stream them to the new Apple TV, you’ll have to import them into iTunes on your computer first, then sync them back to the iPhone.

There’s no direct Camera Roll -> Apple TV streaming option, and as Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wrote weeks ago, this might be because of the different bitrate of high-def videos recorded on the iPhone. Read more

Doodle Jump Updated: Game Center Achievements Are A Go

Early in November we reported popular iPhone game Doodle Jump was updated to include Game Center support. Doodle Jump fans around the globe were waiting for a way to compare their scores with their friends but, unfortunately, that was as far as Game Center integration in the app went.

Another updated to Doodle Jump was released a few minutes ago to finally include Game Center achievements. The update is available now in the App Store.

If you’ve been waiting for proper Game Center functionality in your favorite iPhone game ever…well, I guess your life is complete now.

Camera Connection Kit on iOS 4.2 No Longer Powers Some USB Devices - Bug or Feature?

When Apple unveiled the iPad, they also announced they would release a dongle called Camera Connection Kit to allow users to connect digital cameras and SD cards to their iPads. When the Camera Connection Kit became available, users found out that it was possible to plug a series of USB devices, keyboards (even Apple’s ones) and microphones in the iPad. The device running the old iOS 3.2 recognized the peripherals just fine.

As reported by Mark Gurman at 9to5mac last night, though, it seems like there is a bug on the recently released iOS 4.2 that prevents devices requiring more than 20mA of power to be connected to the iPad:

The essence of the issue with the connection kit and iOS 4.2 is that connected devices that require power of more than 20mA will no longer work. That means that many USB keyboards (Apple’s included) will no longer work with the iPad, as well as USB flash drives. When the user connects a device that is not self-powered and requires more than 20mA of power from the iPad they get the following alert: “The connected USB device requires too much power.

Read more

EA Gives My Friends One More Reason To Steal My iPad: Monopoly Classic

My closest friends are addicted to two things in this world: Monopoly and my iPad. Either they play the board game, or they grab my beloved tablet to play Fruit Ninja HD. I can tell you this happens every week, on a regular basis, and the only advantage of the iPad is that the battery eventually dies. Otherwise, they would play all night trying to break my girlfriend’s 912 points record at Fruit Ninja’s arcade mode. They’re currently stuck somewhere around 810.

The problem is, anyway, those two addictions will soon merge into one because of Electronic Arts, which is bringing Monopoly to the iPad. The actual Monopoly, the real one – in fact, the game will be released as “Monopoly Classic for iPad” later this month. Just before Christmas. Oh boy. Read more

Microsoft’s Silverlight To Gain iOS Support in 2011

At the Silverlight Firestarter event two days ago, Microsoft announced a new version of its cross-platform runtime and development platform, Silverlight. The new version, dubbed Silverlight 5, will see a first public beta release in the second quarter of 2011, with a final release to follow before the end of next year.

Silverlight 5 will focus on better, more interactive media experiences for Microsoft’s suite of business application; Redmond’s giant wants to offer a technology that will help developers create great user experiences. While we don’t know about developers’ support for the platform, it’s interesting that the new version of Silverlight will introduce support iOS devices. At the event in Redmond, Microsoft demoed the new Silverlight on an iPad, and confirmed that during 2011 they’ll roll out support for iOS and Windows Phone 7.

Good luck with the HTML5 and Flash competition, Microsoft.

[iSpazio via CMSWire]

Dropbox For Mac Hits Version 1.0

Dropbox, one of our favorite sync services here at MacStories, just hit version 1.0 on the desktop. The new build, released for Mac, Windows and Linux, it’s available for download on Dropbox official forums here.

If you’ve been following the development of Dropbox for Mac closely, then you know that this 1.0 build is actually a “remixed” version of the 0.8 that’s been available on the forums for a few months now. Dropbox 1.0 comes with a redesigned preference window that makes it easy to check on your computer’s settings and your account information, but the real new feature is selective sync: located in the Advanced tab in the settings, selective sync allows you to choose which folders already on your Dropbox account you want to sync back to your computer. If you want to keep a folder online but not locally, it will not download or sync to your computer. Very useful for files you just want to keep a backup of, but not an actual local copy.

Dropbox 1.0 is available here. As for what you can do with Dropbox, here’s where to start. Check out the full 1.0 changelog below. Read more

Modded SNES Controller and Nintendo 64 Become iPhone and iPad Docks

In what could be described as a pretty surprising turn of events, Nintendo now considers Apple the biggest threat to its mobile gaming dominance. Etsy user Geekunique, however, wants to bring some love back between Cupertino and Kyoto and find a way to let old Nintendo consoles and modern iOS devices play nice together. Geekunique, in fact, modded an old SNES controller and a Nintendo 64 to become iPhone and iPad docks, respectively.

It seems pretty easy to cut a hole in the controller and place an iPhone dock connector in there but hey – you can avoid the trouble and buy these things now at Etsy. If you think you really need them, be quick: I guess they’ll be sold out pretty soon.

[via TUAW]

Jailbreak Hack Enables Landscape Springboard on iPhone

By default, you can’t turn the iPhone Springboard in landscape mode. The iPhone is meant to be held in portrait mode, at least when you’re navigating between pages on your Springboard. That’s what Apple wants. But some users have been asking – Why can’t we put the Springboard in landscape mode if some apps, like Mail, support the horizontal orientation?

Cydia developers, as usual, are here to come up with alternative solutions to Apple’s restrictions. My guess is that Apple doesn’t want you to turn your Springboard horizontally because that would require an icon layout adjustment, just like on the iPad. Besides, the iPhone has a much smaller screen and layout adjustment would turn out to be a huge problem to deal with. Read more

Osfoora Is Coming To The Mac [Screenshots]

Osfoora is an insanely popular Twitter client for iPhone and iPad that has gained thousands of aficionados in the past months. Released on the iPhone last year, Osfoora made its way to the tablet a few months ago with a really nice client that took advantage of the larger screen to offer a landscape “split view”.

Osfoora is now coming to the Mac, according to a screenshot of the “pre-alpha version” posted by the developer on popular design-sharing website Dribbble. We can’t see much from the teaser, but it looks like the desktop client is going to feature a minimal look with a sidebar that – again, basing on this first small screenshot – looks a lot like Tweetie’s one.

With Tweetie 2 on the horizon, Weet for Mac and now Osfoora – I  guess it ain’t really over for Twitter clients on the Mac. We look forward to seeing more about this new iteration of Osfoora.

Update: we’ve got another screenshot from Osfoora’s developer, showing the timeline with photos indicators. Looks nice to us.