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

Square Enix Releases Chaos Rings for iPad

I’ve been waiting for Chaos Rings to come to the iPad ever since I saw the first iPhone version and read some enthusiastic reviews here and there on the internet. Finally, last night Apple approved the “HD” version of Chaos Rings which comes to the tablet with a bigger resolution, a higher price and…that’s it. No new features, no additional stuff - it’s just a bigger version. But still, it’s Chaos Rings.

As for the game itself:

“The story revolves around a tournament where combatants fight for their lives: the Ark Arena. Upon choosing a pair of characters, one male and one female, you will then have to fight against the other pairs. Each pair has their own story, and the truth behind the Ark Arena will not be revealed until each story is completed.”

Chaos Rings is available at $15.99 in the App Store. Check out a gameplay video below.

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An iPad, A Keg And A Custom Beer App [Video]

If you’re not into Yelp, this video will make you change your mind. The engineers over at Yelp have built a custom iPad-controlled “kegbot” which displays information about the beer, its temperature, how much beer is flowing (in real time) - it even has a history and leaderboard of people who took beer from that keg. Oh yes, because you have to swipe your ID card first and the iPad app will recognize you.

Check out the video below. I want one. [Gizmodo via Yelp]

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OmniFocus for iPad Reinvented My GTD Workflow

To me, GTD apps used to be worse than Twitter clients on the iPhone before Tweetie: ephemeral.

Yes, even worse than financial apps: I didn’t know how to choose one and keep rolling with it. You know - that new kid on the block could be better and has a beautiful UI. You know the drill. I was a GTD user who couldn’t manage to find an actual GTD to get going with. To better understand the situation, it’s important to specify the workflow I used to have, and the one I have now. Before the iPad came out, I organized all my tasks and projects on my Mac (whether in a desktop app or online service) and didn’t really care about achieving a cloud-based workflow. I had an iPhone (a 3GS, to be exact) but I just didn’t see it as a device to carry my GTD database around. I tried Things, iCal to-dos, Basecamp, Backpack - all sorts of productivity apps / project management tools out there. None of them survived.

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Daylite Touch Goes 1.5: Reminders, Retina Display Graphics, New Features

Daylite Touch, the app that allows you to professionally manage your team and business, has been updated to version 1.5 - which introduces a lot of improvements and new features. First, Retina Display and iOS 4 multitasking support: the app now looks great on the iPhone and can sync with the Mac version in the background. Good stuff.

As for the new features, you can now filter your contact list or disable the sync process on the app’s launch. Daylite Touch is available for free here. Check out the full changelog below.

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Flash 10.1 for Mac Updated with Hardware Acceleration

MacRumors is reporting that Flash 10.1 for Mac has finally been updated to include support for hardware-accelerated decoding of video content, which offers a smoother playback and eats less battery. At least Adobe says so.

Adobe project manager Thibault Imbert:

“We just pushed a few minutes ago a new version of the Flash Player 10.1.82.76 containing a nice feature that was in beta until now called “Gala”. Yes, H.264 GPU decoding in Mac OSX is now officially enabled in the Flash Player.

You should notice now a nice difference when playing H.264 content on your Mac in terms of CPU usage. We rarely enable new features in security releases but we really wanted to enable such a cool feature.”

Go download Flash here. Then, go download ClickToFlash here.

Plants vs. Zombies for Mac Available on Steam

Mac gamers, rejoice: one of the most acclaimed games for iPhone and iPad, Plants vs. Zombies, is now available on Mac OS X via Steam. It’s the game you know and love, available on your desktop computer of choice.

This “Game of the Year” edition also includes support for Steamcloud and a new feature called “Zombatar” which allows you to incorporate your own custom zombies into the game.

Check out the full press release below. [Thanks, Jack]

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