Posts in news

aTV Flash Beta 2 for Apple TV Available, Adds 4.1 Support

ATV Flash is an excellent application for jailbroken Apple TVs that adds a browser, Last.fm integration and extends the media playback capabilities of Apple’s tiny black device. The latest update to the app, beta 2, which was released yesterday, adds a number of improvements and fixes and introduces support for iOS 4.2.1 – known as 4.1 for Apple TV owners.

The developers say that aTV Flash is perfectly compatible with the latest OS, even if a untethered jailbreak still isn’t available for iOS 4.2.1 / 4.1. If you don’t want to jailbreak your Apple TV with the current tethered redsn0w jailbreak, feel free to wait for the Dev Team to ship a better solution as, anyway, support for the latest software update is built into aTV Flash beta 2.

aTV Flash is available here. Check out the full changelog below. Read more

Almost 2,000 Game Center Games Available In The App Store

Game Center, the social gaming network Apple introduced with iOS 4.1 in September and iOS 4.2 for iPad a few weeks ago, is not doing bad. After a quick search in the App Store, I noticed that Apple has almost 2,000 games ready for Game Center – 1917 to be exact.

In fact, the App Store contains two specific sections to showcase Game Center games for iPad and iPhone: 517 apps are available for iPad, 1400 for iPhone. That’s not too bad, considering that Game Center has been around for a few months. Read more

Zombie + Snow White = Etsy iPad Sticker

ZOMG! Now we’ve seen it all. Walt Disney would roll in his own grave if he wasn’t already a zombie. This Snow White only eats Apple Fan Boy hearts! A creepy twist on a popular genre and look at the scary detail on this thing! But in all seriousness, this is creepy cool - just peel and stick this die-cut vinyl decal on your iPad. It’s from Etsy for $15 and also available for MacBooks and iPhones.

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How Soon Is Now? The Smiths *Now* On iTunes

Short version: The Smiths are now on iTunes, as reported by TUAW. Long version: no, the popular band from Manchester didn’t get the same kind of attention granted to another English band we’ve heard a certain CEO is a big fan of.

Apple’s promotion aside, yeah – you can check out The Smiths on the iTunes Store here. Seven albums are available, a bunch of music videos and before you ask: The Queen Is Dead, Meat Is Murder and The Smiths are all available for purchase. At least the band got a nice profile page.

Perhaps the Smiths’ arrival on iTunes won’t be regarded as a day we’ll never forget by Apple, but Morrissey and Marr are in there, guys. Morrissey and Marr’s band.

I’m off to download now.

Apple Bans Charity Donations in iPhone Apps

Apple has banned charity donations on its iPhone apps, and nonprofit organizations that rely on monetary gifts to help them with their causes claim this could hurt their business, according to a recent New York Times report.


According to the article, people who use the iPhone apps created by charities or organizations cannot donate money directly through the application, they are re-directed to the organization’s website.

“When you’re popped out of an app, you then have to go through a whole bunch of clicks to make a donation,” Beth Kanter, CEO of consulting firm for nonprofits Zoetica, told the Times. “It’s cumbersome and it doesn’t have to be.”

She plans on replacing her iPhone with an Android device, which allows app users to donate directly through apps. Kanter has started an online petition to get the attention of Apple to convince them a policies change.

An Apple spokesperson declined to explain Apple’s reasoning for this ban but told the NY Times, “We are proud to have many applications on our App Store which accept charitable donations via their Web sites.”

Earlier this year, after the earthquake in Haiti, Apple asked for donations for the American Red Cross through iTunes, establishing what some considered as a model for iPhone-assisted donations. That increased speculation that the real issue was money.

Apple takes 30 percent of purchases made from the App Store, and that would be frowned upon if it were to be taken out of a charitable donation.

I can understand why Apple won’t let charity donations work through iPhone apps  - they set a precedent in their rules and if you bend it for one group, how many others will also try something similar. A few extra taps aren’t going to ruin your experience or busy day.

[via The New York Times]

Some MobileMe & Apple ID Passwords Expired, Genius Mixes “Disappeared”

We have got several tips today pointing us to the fact that many users are unable to log in MobileMe.com with their existing passwords. The problem, also noticed by 9to5mac and Italian blog SetteB, seems to affect users with short and non-alphanumeric passwords. Word is that Apple silently reset these passwords without telling these users that they would need to create a new one before logging in MobileMe. Read more

HP Believes In AirPrint: 6 More Printers Now iOS-Ready

As noted by MacRumors, HP issued a firmware update last night to extend AirPrint support (which as you may remember, used to work only on certain HP printers still listed on Apple’s website) to 6 more of its Officejet printers.

Thus, AirPrint is now compatible out of the box with the following models:

  • Officejet 6500A e-AiO5
  • Officejet 6500A Plus e-AiO5
  • Officejet 7500A Wide Format e-AiO5
  • Officejet Pro 8500A e-AiO5
  • Officejet Pro 8500A Plus e-AiO5
  • Officejet Pro 8500A Premium e-AiO5

AirPrint used to work on any printer shared through a Mac or PC in a local network in the first OS X 10.6.6 developer betas. As 10.6.6 went public, Apple pulled the feature and made AirPrint compatible only with selected HP printers.

A few hacks have surfaced to bring the functionality back, but Steve Jobs promised Apple’s working on making AirPrint better, although they need more time to achieve stable and fast driverless printing.

First Apple Store Now A Cult For “Appleheads”

Apple’s got more than 200 retail stores worldwide now, and those stores are usually crowded with people checking out iPads, iPhones and MacBooks. Most of all, people who go to the Apple Store sometimes just want the customer care and experience granted by the super-trained Apple employees – this is true in the US, Europe, China, everywhere.

Yet, even a tech giant like Apple started small and iterated from there. The first Apple Store, opened in May 19, 2001 in the 30-year old Glendale Galleria in California has become a cult destination for Apple fans (or, “Appleheads”) in the United States, Reuters reports. Read more

Apple Has Plenty of ‘TIME’ for Great Gadgets

TIME magazine has listed 50 Top 10 lists on their web site this year - 50! Surely an Apple product made it into at least one of these lists, right? Of course, we wouldn’t have posted this unless there was. Silly question.

Time’s Top 10 Gadgets (for 2010) listed not one, but four, Apple products in this category. The iPad took top honors (of course!), the newly-revamped 11-in. MacBook Air took third place, the iPhone 4 took sixth place and the new Apple TV took seventh (with a much improved form factor, capacity and functions). That’s much respect to Apple, and well deserved. You can see the entire list below. Read more