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iPad Games on Apple TV: Firemint Announces Real Racing 2 HD with iOS 5 AirPlay Mirroring

One of Scott Forstall’s big iOS 5 announcements at the WWDC ‘11 keynote on Monday was the possibility for iPad 2 owners to wirelessly mirror the entire device’s screen to an Apple TV on a local network. Thanks to the AirPlay technology previously used for videos and photos and following the concept of mirroring via HD cable introduced with the iPad 2, iOS 5 will allow users to see exactly what they’re seeing on the tablet’s multitouch display on the TV’s bigger screen. An Apple TV will be required for this (meaning the HDMI cable will still be sold for all other televisions and users who don’t want to buy an Apple TV), and since we heard about the feature one obvious possibility came to our minds: games. Think about it: with nothing more than a wireless network and the $99 little black box, you’ll be able to play iPad games on a TV.

Yet Firemint, as usual, wants to deliver more than simple mirroring to the screen and upscaled content. Just like the development studio (to be acquired by EA) was first to the market to support 1080p TV-out with the iPad being used for additional functionalities, Firemint has announced that Real Racing 2 HD will support full AirPlay wireless gaming – with the TV displaying the game without black borders, and the iPad visualizing additional information and graphics. Whilst standard AirPlay mirroring allows users to see content both on the iPad and TV screen, Firemint’s solution will let iPad 2 owners “split” content between the TV and the tablet using AirPlay.

With Apple’s announcement of iOS 5 and AirPlay mirroring at WWDC 2011, Firemint is thrilled to report that, come the new OS, Real Racing 2 HD will be the first title to support full screen wireless gaming over AirPlay!

This isn’t just mirroring – you’ll be able to play Real Racing 2 HD on your big screen without a cable, while your iPad 2 displays racing telemetry in real-time. No black borders, no wires – just iOS racing at its finest.

We think the concept is great and we can’t wait to see how developers will take advantage of the Apple TV and AirPlay to provide alternative views of their apps for when users are at home, checking out content on their TVs. Real Racing 2 HD won’t officially support this new feature until iOS 5 comes out publicly this fall, but in the meantime you can download the app here.

Apple Wants To Build A Spaceship-like Campus In Cupertino

Amidst the software announcements at WWDC that finally confirmed the existence of iOS 5 and iCloud, a new build of Lion and the Apple Design Awards, Apple has been busy releasing new software for its platforms and devices. But this week has turned out to be more than just software for the company, as CEO Steve Jobs explained to the Cupertino City Council earlier this week Apple’s plan to build a new campus in Cupertino: a spaceship-shaped, 4-story building to host 12,000 employees and completely revolutionize the way Apple operates in Cupertino. The proposed project is impressive: not only it really looks like a mothership landed on Cupertino, it’s green and eco-friendly in the way it should be built using curved glass thanks to Apple’s retail experience. Not a single piece of glass in the building would be a straight piece – it’s all curved. Parking would be underneath, the number of trees would increase from the current 3,700 to 6,000 with some “apricot orchards” as well – furthermore, it would be located in the 98-acre campus Apple bought from HP last year.

Overall, it’s an impressive project for Apple – and we suspect it may have something to do with a rumor that claimed Norman Foster was collaborating closely with Apple to build a revolutionary campus based on modern, green technologies and renewable energies. Apple would rely on its natural gas facility and use an electricity grid as backup.

As Steve explained to the Cupertino City Council:

It’s a pretty amazing building. It’s a little like a spaceship landed. It’s got this gorgeous courtyard in the middle… It’s a circle. It’s curved all the way around. If you build things, this is not the cheapest way to build something. There is not a straight piece of glass in this building. It’s all curved. We’ve used our experience making retail buildings all over the world now, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use. And, we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curve all the way around the building… It’s pretty cool.

You can check out Steve Jobs’ detailed proposal of the new mothership after the break. [via MacRumors] Read more

iTunes 10.3.1 Released

Following reports of iTunes 10.3 having some issues with iOS devices in the syncing process, Apple released iTunes 10.3.1 a few hours ago, quite possibly trying to fix the errors reported in the original 10.3 version made available earlier this week. After the WWDC keynote Apple seeded iTunes 10.5 beta to developers to enable sync with devices running iOS 5, but iTunes 10.3 was also released to the public to bring initial iCloud features like basic support for iTunes in the Cloud in the United States, Automatic Downloads, as well as a refreshed UI.

iTunes 10.3.1 is available for Mac and Windows machines, and can be downloaded from Apple’s support site of the Software Update control panel. The official changelog doesn’t include any details on what’s been updated, simply reporting the new features introduced in iTunes 10.3.

Angry Birds Rio Gets 15 New Levels→

Angry Birds Rio Gets 15 New Levels

We’ve been tracking the releases and development of Angry Birds here at MacStories, and it looks like Rovio really won’t give up on updating its insanely popular franchise (which surprisingly didn’t win an Apple Design Award) for iPhone and iPad. Recently dethroned by the blockbuster-selling The Heist, Angry Birds is back with a new update for the Rio version, both on phones and tablets. Angry Birds Rio 1.2 gets 15 shiny new levels with a samba setting that reminds of Rio Carnival – I’ve been playing around with them and they look great, with the usual amount of fun provided by Rovio’s clever level design.

Or, to use Rovio’s iTunes changelog:

A whole new episode! It’s time to Samba!
15 all new levels
New bird type

You can download the full version of Angry Birds Rio for iPhone ($0.99) or iPad ($2.99).

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The Best of the Best: Apple Design Awards 2011 Winners Announced

The Apple Design Awards “recognize outstanding achievement and excellence” in apps made specifically for Apple platforms and devices. For the first time, this year’s ADAs (which will be announced tonight at the WWDC 2011 in San Francisco) will award developers of applications for all iOS devices and Macs: whilst last year’s edition skipped the Mac to focus on iOS, 2011 is back at full speed to celebrate great, usable, and well-designed apps available in the Mac and iOS App Stores. For the full list of 2010 ADAs winner, check out our previous coverage here.

So what’s in for tonight? As you may be aware of we’re not in San Francisco to attend WWDC (let’s leave that to developers), but we’ll be following the events as they unfold on Twitter, also thanks to a few developer friends who are actually there to enjoy the show. We will update this story with the fresh names of winning apps and devs as soon as we get them, as well as Apple’s official statements about this year’s ADAs once the official page gets updated later today or tomorrow.

So follow us on Twitter as @macstoriesnet, come back to this post in around 10 minutes from now, and let’s wait and see who’s going to grab the prizes this year at WWDC.

You can check out the full list of winners after the break.

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Apple’s 3rd Data Center

At around one hour, fifty-five minutes, and fifty seconds into Monday’s Keynote, Steve Jobs riposted, “If you don’t think we’re serious, you’re wrong.” The audience, wide-eyed with the announcement of iTunes Match, quickly hushed as Jobs paced across the stage. “This is our third data center that we just completed. It’s in Maiden, North Carolina.” Steve Jobs emphasized the enormous size of the data center, briefly revealing some of the technology inside. “We’re pretty proud of it.”

Apple’s 3rd data center had been at the center of speculation in the months leading up to Monday’s keynote, and while everyone agreed that the servers packed inside would host a myriad of iTunes content, no one really understood its true purpose. Many expected a much bigger announcement from Apple yesterday, with many eager to see music, video, and movie streaming at their fingertips. Instead, the iTunes services offered present a solution that met the demands for streaming half way: while files are still stored natively on devices, they’re available for access from iCloud itself. iTunes Match is agreeably head scratching, but the promise of a service that will just work by a Fall release gives me the feeling Apple hasn’t shown us everything there is to the un-locker service.

So with the focus on pushing content rather than streaming, the question that many are now asking is, “What exactly does Apple’s 3rd data center do if they’re not (yet) streaming content?” It’s a fair question, especially when Apple’s equipment is examined more closely. Many of the racks shown in Apple’s data center are capped with nothing but filler panels, and there’s an obvious mix of machines presented that were chosen more for show than to reveal Apple’s inner workings. With the brief glimpse Jobs gave us, however, it is possible to make a couple good guesses as we identify all of the equipment. Read more

WWDC 2011 Keynote Becomes 4-Minute Musical

If you’ve missed the WWDC 2011 keynote video (it’s available for streaming and download) but you’ve already read all the announcements, and yet you feel like you’re up for one of those funny recreations of Apple keynotes that usually pop up online a few hours after Steve Jobs has stepped off stage, this time we recommend checking out Jonathan Mann’s WWDC 2011: The Musical. You may remember him as the guy who puts up a new song on YouTube every day; in fact, his popular iPhone 4 Antenna song was even featured by Apple at the “Antennagate media event” last year.

The musical edition of the WWDC 2011 keynote is four minutes long, is based off MacRumors Live event transcript and it actually manages to put the right emphasis on the major and less-exciting announcements about Lion, iCloud, and iOS 5. It’s very well done, funny, entertaining. Perhaps Apple will feature it at the next WWDC opening keynote.

Check out the video below.
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iOS 5 Code Reveals Two New iPad Models

TUAW reports USB configuration files found in the iOS 5 beta seeded to developers last night reveal two new, unreleased iPad model identifiers labelled “iPad3,1” and “iPad3,2”. Considering that existing iPad 2 models are indicated in iOS as iPad2,1 (WiFi-only model), iPad2,2 (GSM) and iPad2,3 (CDMA), the discovery seems to indicate that earlier rumors of next-generation iPad getting a universal GSM/CDMA chip were correct. If that’s the case, iPad3,1 could point to the new WiFi model, with the iPad3,2 device being the one with dual GSM/CDMA capabilities.

In the same report, TUAW notes iOS 5 contains mentions of iPhone4,1 and iPhone4,2 models, though these were already spotted by Engadget in the iOS 4.3 beta code. However, the article also notes there’s no mention of iPod touch 5th generation in the current iOS 5 beta, leading to speculation that a new iPhone could be announced this Fall, but not a new iPod touch. On the other hand, Apple could still insert model identifiers in future iOS 5 betas set to be seeded this summer.

Model identifiers are usually a good indication of new products to come in the next months, and they correctly pinpointed new hardware before. The iPad 3 was initially rumored to be scheduled for 2011, although Apple made it clear at the March 2 event that 2011 would be the “year of the iPad 2” and a recent report claimed certification for iPad 3 components is only starting now, for a 2012 release.

Find My Mac Gets Real on Lion, Lets You Remote Wipe & Lock

Initially discovered a few months back after the first developer previews of OS X Lion, “Find My Mac” was rumored to be a new service that, following the path of “Find My iPhone”, would allow users to geo-locate their computer, remotely lock and wipe it just like it’s already possible with an iOS device, and perhaps even control it using Lion’s multi-user access features. Following last night’s release of Lion Developer Preview 4 with iCloud integration as announced at WWDC, 9to5mac details some of the aspects of Find My Mac, which apparently will behave exactly like its iOS counterpart in the way it’ll let users lock and wipe lost & connected Macs.

Setting it up is pretty straightforward. Interestingly, Apple lets guest users use Safari if you have this set up. That is a trick to help the Mac figure out where it is (IP address) and let you connect to it.

Once you connect to your lost Mac, you can then “Play a Sound or message”, “Remote Lock” or “Remote Wipe” the Mac.

Safari integration sounds like a clever solution to force a Mac to connect to the Internet, though we’re curious to see how this feature will look like in practice. On the iOS side of things it appears everything will work from the standard Find My iPhone app with the usual “remote” and “play sound” functionalities, and assuming there will also be Mac and web-based counterparts to control Find My Mac, the new option is shaping up to be quite powerful and user-friendly at the same time. Taking in consideration Backblaze’s recently announced feature to locate stolen Macs and stories of success with tools like Hidden, it’ll be interesting to see how Apple will market the (free?) Find my Mac against the competition.

From the screenshot above it looks like Find my Mac will be an iCloud service, although Apple hasn’t officially announced anything in addition to old MobileMe sync & push functions, OTA purchases and iTunes in the Cloud. Find my Mac could come this July when Lion is released, or this Fall, when iCloud is expected to go live for everyone.