Apple Brings Concept Artist Jan-Michael Cart Aboard as an Intern

You’ve probably seen at least one of Jan-Michael Cart iOS concept videos in the past, including this fantastic iMessage app concept for the Mac, or his conceptualization of dictation on the iPhone 4S. His YouTube channel is full of bright ideas on how iOS can progress with a variety of new features, and it seems his impressive repertoire of concept videos have landed him a gig at Apple itself. “It’s Official. UI/UX design.” Cart will begin at Apple as an intern while keeping his friends and family updated on his WordPress blog.

Welcome to the new blog section of my website. Soon I will be embarking to California, where I will be interning at a fruit company for seven months. I will be updating this to chronicle my adventures and misadventures in the Bay Area for my family, friends, and followers online. Stay tuned, I leave in less than a month!

This isn’t the first time Apple has acquired talent from the iOS community, hiring the developer of MobileNotifier, Peter Hajas, earlier this year. Congratulations to Cart for a splendid invite at Apple. Hopefully we’ll see his ideas permeate in future iOS updates sooner than later!

[via iPhoneinCanada]

 

Microsoft Continues iOS App Rollout with OneNote for iPad and SkyDrive for iPhone

Microsoft has been rolling out quite a few apps lately, now introducing Microsoft OneNote for the iPad and SkyDrive for the iPhone (and Windows Phone). It looks like Microsoft really is bringing Microsoft Office to the iPad with these notable releases, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. OneNote is a mobile companion for the desktop app (not an addition to), and SkyDrive is Dropbox-esque in its execution. Handy to have with you? You bet. Alternative replacements for the real things? Probably not so much.

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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]

Google Chrome Updates to Support Multiple Users by “Signing In to Chrome”

Before today’s Google Chrome update, the browser was limited to a single user and a basic syncing feature that kept apps, extensions, and bookmarks mirrored between different computers. Today, the sync feature is getting attention in the form of a “Chrome Sign In” that enables Chrome users to instantly sync their session in real time to Google’s cloud. As a replacement for the previous sync, Signing In to Chrome allows you to maintain your own personal Chrome workspace without interfering with someone else’s browser preferences.

Multiple users can Sign In to Chrome, and instantly the browser changes to reflect their setup. However, this doesn’t protect your significant other or nosey roommate from snooping around in your stuff. Signing In to Chrome simply makes convenient the ability to quickly load one’s settings, but it doesn’t protect the workspace from being used by someone else (as anyone can simply click to switch between users). It’s certainly intended to be used in a family setting where multiple people are sharing the computer, not on a public computer in a library.

You’ll likely have the latest Google Chrome update when you either restart or launch your browser this afternoon, and you can manually check for the update by visiting About in the Wrench menu. You can read more about Google Chrome’s latest update on the official Google Chrome Blog.

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.

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 Lowers iAds Price Commitment For Advertisers

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has lowered the purchase commitment for marketers interested in advertising with the iAd mobile service. When the service first launched, advertisers were asked to make a $1 million dollar commitment to the platform, which was later dropped to $500,000. Today’s report states that Apple has lowered that buy-in commitment yet again to $400,000 – a staggering %60 below the initial launch price.

This strategic move comes on the heels of Apple losing another 4% market share of U.S. mobile display-ad revenue according to International Data Corporation (IDC). In contrast to Apple’s decline, Google’s mobile advertising service AdMob, is doing quite well and has grown to 24% of the U.S. market share in 2011.

In response, Apple is making some changes. It is showing more willingness to bargain on the spending commitment it requires of advertisers.

The roll-out of iAds made quite a splash when it was first announced by former CEO Steve Jobs back in April of 2010. Since the launch, the results have been less than expected and Apple seems more determined then ever to turn the declining business venture in to a success. Their commitment to quality in-app advertising is also a key element in their plan to retain developers for the iOS platform. If iAds become a thriving mobile advertising service that developers could utilize in their iOS apps, then they would be less likely to stray to competitor platforms.

[via The Wall Street Journal]