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

iBendXL: The Thinnest Stand For Your iPad

The iBendXL, available at $9.99, is the thinnest stand you could ever use with your iPad. Designed to support the iPad both in portrait and landscape mode, it fits with almost any iPad case.

As you can see on the video at the official iBend website, all you have to do is take it out from the package and voilà, it’s ready to go. If you’re that kind of iPad users who wants to save as much as space as possible, yet retaining the possibility to prop up your tablet when necessary, you should give this a try.

What I Really Want From The iPad 2

Today’s another “iPad 2” rumors day. With speculations of “iPad 2” parts suppliers revealed and blogs wondering whether the second version of Apple’s tablet will carry 3 additional USB ports, a second multi-touch screen and Steve Jobs’ fingerprints embedded in the device’s chassis, I thought I might just write what I really want from the “iPad 2”.

I want iteration. I want the same refining process Apple adopted with the iPhone. We know that Steve Jobs probably already had an “iPad 2” running Apple’s cloud service in the backstage of the iPad announcement in January, and I’m pretty sure even more units of the new model are connected right now to some WiFi router at Cupertino. Heck, maybe they even have an iPad 3 prototype hidden under some black cloth in their secret labs. But I just want to explain why I don’t want and need any of the features mentioned in the rumors, and why I don’t believe that stuff won’t happen anyway. Read more

Printopia: Finally An App That Lets Me Enable AirPrint On OS X

Since Apple removed AirPrint support from OS X 10.6.5 (we’re referring to support for shared printers, which was enabled in earlier 10.6.5 beta versions), many tweaks and apps to re-activate the functionality have surfaced on the internet. We’ve covered some of them, such as the AirPrint Hacktivator, but in my personal experience I’ve found these hacks to be unreliable at best. I’ve tried many of them, and I don’t know why – after some time they just stop working for me. Perhaps my local network isn’t stable enough, perhaps I have issues with 10.6.5. I don’t know. But thing is, these apps and tweaks stop working after a couple of print sessions.

Yesterday I found out about this new app for Mac, Printopia, which the Ecamm developers tout as the simplest way to enable AirPrint for every printer you have configured on your Mac, together with the possibility to print from an iOS device to a local directory on your Mac and Dropbox. Read more

Mac OS X 10.6.5 Update Fixes MacBook Air Graphic Issues

A few weeks ago we reported of the graphic issues and kernel panics many users were experiencing on the new MacBook Airs. The issues got quickly reporte to Apple, which acknowledged them in a document leaked by BGR. With the latest Mac OS X 10.6.5 update, it seems like the issues have been fixed.

As Apple writes in a support document:

Symptoms

After waking from sleep, your MacBook Air display may flicker or fade from light to dark repeatedly.

Resolution

Download and apply the Mac OS X v10.6.5 update to resolve this issue.

You can go download 10.6.5 from Software Update or Apple’s website, and watch a video of the aforementioned MacBook Air graphic issues below.

Shall We Have An iPad Nano Clone?

Great gadgets come from the distant lands of China. Knock-offs, clones, weird imitations of well-known Apple products. Sometimes you can argue they’re pretty decent, most of the times you can’t even look at them. The iPad Nano clone we have below (as if there was an actual iPad Nano to copy) surely fits well in the second category. Read more

The Safari Icon Set→

The Safari Icon Set

Something that started out as a doodle on my iPad grew into a cascade of late nights studying compass concepts and exchanging ideas with designers and good-folk alike. Sometimes you just stumble upon a fun notion and you gotta run with it, in this case it was as simple as the idea of why the Safari icon always had to depict that one type of Compass.

Impressive work by Michael Flarup.

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PDF Expert Gets Even Better with Signature and Text Notes Support

PDF Expert is, in my opinion, the best PDF reader and annotation tool you can currently have on the iPad. It’s got a nice UI, a great engine that’s damn fast at opening large PDF files, it lets you pull documents from various online sources such as Dropbox and iDisk. It allows you to annotate documents and transfer them back to the Mac to view annotations in apps such as Acrobat Reader and DEVONthink. It’s a full featured app that, unlike many alternatives, doesn’t overwhelm you. Read more

Eike Batista, Eighth Richest Person In The World, Wants To Bring Apple Manufacturing to Brazil

Eike Batista isn’t just another entrepreneur who likes Apple products and doesn’t mind having dinner with Steve Jobs every two months or so. No, he’s more like the eighth richest person in the world according to Forbes, and Brazil’s first billionaire. He runs several mining and oil-services companies, and among those one called “OSX”. He’s not exactly someone you can diss with a Steve-mail.

According to MacMagazine, the guy would like to bring Apple’s manufacturing process to Brazil, to create job positions, generate revenue and lower costs of Apple products for Brazilian customers. Apple currently gets its products made in China, through Foxconn. Read more

Flight Control HD Now Available On The Mac via Steam

Just as promised two days ago, Firemint released Flight Control HD for Mac today. The game is available at 3,99 Euros via Steam, and it’s been published under the SteamPlay label so you’ll be able to play it both on a Mac and a PC – without having to buy it twice.

You’re an air traffic controller at an increasingly busy airport; just point and drag aircraft to their landing zones with your mouse or trackpad. Sounds easy? It isn’t! You’ll need nerves of steel and smart strategy to keep the chaos under control. Flight Control HD has been especially redesigned for PC and Mac, with updated graphics and an even tougher new challenge – the Steam exclusive Stunt map where you can increase your score by flying through the gates before landing!

The Mac version of Flight Control comes with an exclusive map and also features Steam achievements and leaderboards. Flight Control HD is coming to the Mac App Store as well.