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Siri Becomes Santa’s Little Helper in Latest TV Ad

Apple aired a cute Christmas themed TV ad just in time for the holidays. Santa Claus is the star of the commercial and he is using the iPhone 4S and its most popular feature, Siri, to manage his Christmas Eve deliveries. They found creative ways for Santa to demonstrate the many uses of Siri such as looking up directions, searching for emails (specifically one containing a “Naughty or Nice list”), and he even received a funny SMS message from Mrs. Claus which Siri read to him.

The video can be seen with the rest of Apple’s video ads on their website or just check out the video after the break.

Santa: How does the rest of my day look? Siri: You have 3.7 billion appointments

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iTunes Match Live Internationally in UK, Germany, Canada, Mexico, and More

Last night, iTunes Match appeared to be rolling out early to International customers in accordance with emails Apple was sending out to users, signifying a December 14th launch. This afternoon, iTunes Match is working and available as a link in the iTunes Store from the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Mexico, with more countries following.

  • Australia: AU $34.99
  • Canada: CAD $27.99
  • Europe: €24.99
  • Mexico: MXN $300
  • United Kingdom: £21.99

iTunes Match launched a month ago in the US, and a couple days ago in Brazil. Apple’s iTunes Match offers the ability to conveniently download your music library onto your mobile iOS devices and other Mac computers. Be sure to check out our hands-on with iTunes Match to learn what the fuss is about and how you can take advantage of it on everything from your iPhone to your Apple TV.

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Grand Theft Auto III Now Available for iOS

Rockstar Games’ much loved Grand Theft Auto III has today arrived on iOS and Android after it was revealed in October that a 10 Year Anniversary Edition had been developed for the two platforms. It may not be live in the App Store for everyone across the world just yet, but in Australia the app is available and I have successfully purchased it. The app will cost $4.99 for those in the US and equivalent amounts for those in other regions (in Australia it is $5.49). The game is a universal app and will run on the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and fourth generation iPod touch.

Welcome to Liberty City. Where it all began.

Rockstar Games celebrates the 10th anniversary of one of the most influential games of all time. The critically acclaimed blockbuster Grand Theft Auto III comes to mobile devices, bringing to life the dark and seedy underworld of Liberty City. With a massive and diverse open world, a wild cast of characters from every walk of life and the freedom to explore at will, Grand Theft Auto III puts the dark, intriguing and ruthless world of crime at your fingertips.

With stellar voice acting, a darkly comic storyline, a stunning soundtrack and revolutionary open-world gameplay, Grand Theft Auto III is the game that defined the open world genre for a generation.

If you played the original console version that was released way back in October of 2001 you won’t be disappointed with the iOS version featuring recreated graphics, updated character and vehicle models, HD resolution and custom controls to better suit iOS.

The Australian version is available on the App Store now, we will update this post when international links are available.

If you’re in a Grand Theft Auto mood, be sure to also check out GTA III on the Mac App Store, as well as GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas which are also available.

Update: GTA III for iOS is now available in the US iOS App Store for $4.99.

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Apple Begins International Launch Of iTunes Match [Updated]

This morning in Europe and Australia, Apple is rolling out iTunes Match a month after its US debut. Canadian, Australian, English, and our European friends are starting to see iTunes Match come online this evening, although customers trying to subscribe to the service early are currently getting an error as shown off by one Twitter user. While iTunes Match is not currently being promoted in the iTunes Store, users are able to subscribe to iTunes Match through Account Management.

Currently, the pricing for iTunes Match is as follows:

  • Australia: AU $34.99
  • Canada: CAD $27.99
  • Europe: €24.99
  • United Kingdom: £21.99

Today’s launch follows Apple’s iTunes Store and iTunes Match rollout out in Brazil on December 13th.

iTunes Match is an annual subscription service that matches an unlimited number of songs purchased from iTunes, and up to 25,000 of your own songs for immediate download on all of your iOS 5 devices. Songs that are scanned and not matched by iTunes are also uploaded to the cloud from your iTunes library. Apple’s matched tracks are downloaded as 256 Kbps AAC files, possibly offering a free DRM-free upgrade for existing, lower bit-rate tracks in your library.

For more information about how to get iTunes Match running on all of your Apple devices, be sure to check out our iTunes Match Hands On.

Update: It appears Apple’s international launch was premature. Apple is refunding customers who managed to subscribe in countries outside of the U.S. and Brazil, according to Darrell Etherington of GigaOM.

Update 2: It’s officially live!

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Microsoft Releases their First iOS Game: Kinectimals Now Available in the App Store

Coinciding with the launch of their official Xbox LIVE application for iOS, Microsoft has brought Kinectimals to iOS, giving Xbox 360 owners an opportunity to play the iOS version and unlock up to five new cubs for the Kinect version. Kinectimals, only $2.99 on the App Store, allows gamers to explore the island of Lemuria while caring for and playing with their own virtual cub. At the beginning of the game, players will choose their very own cub to care for, feed, and interact with. Available for the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad, Kinectimals brings the same visual flavor of the Xbox 360 version to your mobile devices.

Kinectimals is the first game that Microsoft has brought to iOS, with the incentive that it unlocks more content for the parent game. Kinectimals is its own stand-alone adventure, however, and can be downloaded as a universal app from the App Store.

[Major Nelson (Twitter) via The Verge]

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TextMate 2 Alpha Now Publicly Available for Download

MacroMate’s first alpha build of TextMate 2 is available for download this morning, immediately usable for all registered users who have TextMate licenses. TextMate’s last stable release (1.5.10) was made available on November 18th, 2010, following a September announcement that work had begun on TextMate 2. Michael Sheets promised the the availability of TextMate 2 before the end of December, noting MacroMates was pleased with how it was turning out. With the TextMate 2 release, Allan Odgaard notes that “performance is fine” outside of a few edge cases, and gives a fair warning that TextMate settings and the proof-of-concept bundle editor are currently works-in-progress.

Odgaard writes:

It’s important to stress though that being an alpha release; it is not complete. It has reached a point where it may suit some early adopters and provide some relief to those who have been questioning TextMate’s future. For the time being, the alpha builds are only for people who already have a TextMate license and an Intel Mac.

A list of changes since 1.5.10 can be viewed via the included release notes.

You can download TextMate 2 from the MacroMate’s blog.

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Review Of Buttonless, A Book About Incredible iOS Games And The Stories Behind Them

Remember when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone way back in January 2007 by prefacing the reveal by first saying it was a “a widescreen iPod with touch controls”, “a revolutionary mobile phone” and “a breakthrough Internet communications device”? It certainly delivered upon those three pillars, but as the iPhone and iOS has evolved over the years it has become evident that the iPhone (and subsequently the iPod touch and iPad) is also an innovative and impressive portable gaming device. Gaming has become a big selling point for iOS devices and since the App Store launched there have been a number of truly great and innovative games that have both shown what the devices are capable of and offered unique experiences that weren’t available anywhere else.

Today, ‘Buttonless: Incredible iPhone and iPad Games and the Stories Behind Them’ has been released on Amazon. It’s a new book by Ryan Rigney that aims to introduce you to a selection of the very best iOS games and then peel away the curtain, revealing the story and people behind the games. To compile the book, Rigney selected 65 of the “best and most beloved” iOS games and then conducted over 100 interviews with the developers and designers of the games. The result is 244 pages of interesting ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories that are unlikely to be found anywhere else.

I was given a pre-release copy of the book and below the break is my full review of ‘Buttonless’.

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Apple Launches iTunes Store In Brazil & Latin America, iTunes Match Also Available In Brazil

Apple has just announced, via a press release, that it is today launching the iTunes Store in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Additionally, Brazilians also have access to iTunes Match - the first country to get access to the service since Apple launched the feature last month in the US.

iTunes in the Cloud is available today for free in Brazil and Latin America and iTunes Match is available today for a $24.99 annual fee in Brazil.

Consumers from Brazil and those 15 Latin American countries will now be able to purchase music from major labels such as EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music as well as thousands of independent labels. Movies are also accessible to Brazillians on the iTunes Store with movies available from major studios such as Sony and Universal. Whilst iTunes in the Cloud (for music) is available for all the countries listed above, iTunes Match is only launching in Brazil today.

The full press release from Apple is included below the break.

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Apple: 100 Million Downloads From The Mac App Store

Apple has just issued a press release that notes that over 100 million apps have been downloaded since the Mac App Store launched less than a year a go on January 6th. Phil Schiller notes that “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

Averaging out the 100 million downloads across the 341 days since the store launched, thats close to 300,000 downloads per day. The full press release is included after the break and it includes some select quotes from developers such as Autodesk, the developers of Pixelmator and the developers of djay - all offering positive words about the Mac App Store, but from different perspectives.

“In less than one year we’ve shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store,” said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. “With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels.”

The press release also notes that combined, the iOS and Mac App Stores offer over 500,000 apps that have been downloaded more than 18 billion times, with every additional month adding more than 1 billion to that figure. So whilst the 100 million downloads in just under a year is impressive, compared to the download figures of the iOS App Stores, it’s a small proportion.

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