Posts in news

Project Sword Renamed “Infinity Blade”, Coming This Holiday

Remember Project Sword by Epic Games? Yes, that impressive tech demo we saw at Apple’s last music event on stage, the one that made our jaws drop due to that stunning graphics, light effects and animations. The same day, we were also able to download a demo of the demo, called “Epic Citadel” and based on the same graphic engine (the Unreal Engine 3 for mobile devices) but limited to a single town without any people and / or enemies.

Today Epic Games announced the final title of the game, which is now dubbed “Infinity Blade” and will be available on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch this holiday season. Infinity Blade will feature both a single player and a multiplayer mode based on Game Center, RPG elements, even better graphics than before and free updates with new features in the next months.

The developers worked hard for 4 months on the development of Infinity Blade and, hopefully, we’ll enjoy the great results of the Unreal Engine 3 together with an equally great gameplay in a few weeks.

Check out the press release, screenshots and the old demo video of Project Sword below. Read more

Apple Preparing To Increase The Length of iTunes Previews to 90 Seconds

According to Symphonic Distribution (via MacRumors) Apple has sent notifications out to music labels to communicate that they’re getting ready to extend iTunes Music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds for songs that are at least 2 minutes and 30 seconds long.

We have just received the notification from Apple that this will be happening soon and are very excited to report the news as we firmly believe this is a decision that will show an increase of sales for our partners. Below is an excerpt from the email we have received.

As you can see in the screenshot above, by continuing to offer music on the iTunes Store labels agree to the new terms. Previews for songs shorter than 2 minutes and 30 seconds won’t change to the new 90 second clip format.

CNET posted a rumor claiming that iTunes previews were set to change to 90 seconds two days before Apple’s music event in September.

Mac OS X Dock Built Using CSS3

We featured cool CSS experiments before: iOS icons in CSS, a Kinetic type video, a 3D rotating molecules demo that works great on the iPad earlier today.

Web developer and interface designer Michael Hüneburg, rebuilt the standard OS X dock using CSS3 animation and including reflections, bounce effects, labels. He also used some additional icons inspired to the popular iTunes 10 one. Check out the experiment here.

This is a quick CSS3 experiment trying to replicate the Dock of OS X, complete with labels, animations, reflections and indicators. It uses CSS transitions for the magnification effect and the :target pseudo-class and CSS animations for the bouncing effect.

The CSS-based dock works great on Webkit desktop browsers, but you won’t able to get the magnification effect on iOS due to the obvious lack of mouseover events.

Steve Jobs Confirms iTunes Extras and iTunes LP “Coming” to Apple TV

Apple introduced iTunes Extras and LPs together with iTunes 9 in September 2009, but they never really took off. With a recent email reply to a MacRumors reader, though, Steve Jobs confirmed support for the two features is coming to the 2nd gen Apple TV, which being based on iOS doesn’t support Extras and LP out of the box.

Q: I’ve been a massive fan of the original Apple TV since it launched, in fact I have 2 of my own and have bought a fair few as gifts over the years. So as soon as the new Apple TV was released I bought one. Overall it’s a fantastic update for me as I always stream from my Mac mini anyway. But here’s the kicker - Where are iTunes Extras and iTunes LP gone? I’ve purposely been buying content with those features just for my Apple TVs. And now the features are unusable on my new box?! Is there an update coming to fix this?

A: Coming.

Sent from my iPhone.

Apple is expected to release a firmware update for the Apple TV to bring full support for AirPlay, and that would be the right time to bring iTunes LP and Extra compatibility back as well. The update could drop as early as next week, but when it comes to Jobs’ emails you never know if he’s joking or not. As MacRumors also speculates, iTunes LPs would make perfect sense on the iPad, with a larger screen capable of really enriching the experience of music albums and videos. Personally, I think that’d be the only way I could ever buy an iTunes LP.

Back to the “iWallet”, Apple Allegedly Considering A BOKU Acquisition

According to a rumor published by TechCrunch, Google and Apple are keeping an eye on mobile payments startup BOKU, which allows users to complete online transactions by simply entering their phone number and confirming the purchase with a text from their phone. A simple and unobtrusive system that could really eliminate the need of credit cards and banks online: charges will be added to your wireless monthly bill. Boku has closed deals with carriers worldwide, including AT&T in the U.S.

Apple seems to be really committed to turning the iPhone into a digital wallet-like device you can use to buy stuff on the go and / or online, as we speculated in rumors surfaced earlier this year. Yesterday, Cult of Mac reported Apple not only wants to develop an “iWallet” based on NFC technology – they’re aiming at remote Mac controlling as well. Read more

Steve Wozniak’s Sleek Business Card

Imagine a business card as sleek as an Apple product, with smooth and sexy lines wrapped around future-proof metal. Take a look at Steve Wozniak’s business card, stamped by UK company PlasmaDesign and produced for several high profile clients.

The cards are created through a combination of photochemical etching and good ol’ cutting (we assume stamping), depending on the design, and if regular stainless steel etched into two shades is too boring for you, PlasmaDesign can also tint the metal into seven different shades using a complicated process called electrophoresis, which I could not adequately explain to you if I had a gun to my head.

Saying this is just too cool would be an understatement. [Gizmodo via Core77]

Apple Silently Cuts Mac Mini Prices Outside The U.S.

If you live in Europe or in any other market outside the United States, here’s a nice surprise for you: Apple cut €100 off of the price of the Mac Mini, which is now available at €699 in the standard configuration with 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory, 320GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics. The price cut is also available in the UK Store, where the Mac Mini is now priced at £599.

Prices in the US remain unchanged at the moment of writing this. I assume these prices cuts in Europe are likely connected to Dollar - Euro conversion rates, or maybe Apple just wants to sell more Minis in the holiday season in Europe.

AppleCare Protection Plans Now Transferable To Any Device

According to the latest report by BGR, Apple changed its policy regarding AppleCare Protection Plans and transferability:

Starting immediately, an Apple customer will have the ability to transfer AppleCare Protection Plan coverage to a new device without having to cancel the current plan and purchase a new one. Though no formal announcement has been made to the public, Apple notified its employees of the new procedure on Monday.

This new system simplifies the purchase experience for customers and makes AppleCare even more relevant. Yeah, because in case you’re wondering – you need AppleCare.