Your Mac can be kind of a jerk sometimes ya know? I mean, it’s totally not your fault that you accidentally dropped that school report in the bucket then emptied the trash the day before it was due. But not to fear: Disk Drill for the Mac knows right where’s it been marked for deletion, and yanks it right from our hard drive (without boring any holes). And if you’re just buying Disk Drill, a deep scan should uncover just what you’re looking for. You need Disk Drill as assurance against unfortunate mishaps, lost files, and damaging deletions. Not only will Disk Drill protect your home folder, but it’ll keep an eye on your hard drive’s health so you’ll never have to worry about a dying disk. And if all goes haywire: just back up your documents to a disk image! It’s that simple, and Disk Drill comes in free and pro versions so you can decide what’s right for you. Super easy to use, we’re giving away two licenses to a couple lucky readers.
Keep Your Files Safe! Two Copies Of Disk Drill Pro Up For Grabs
Pulse Mini Updated With Same Features of iPad Version
Pulse, the news reader for iOS developed by Alphonso Labs, was updated earlier today in its iPhone version to add much of the functionality from the iPad counterpart, insanely successful and quite possibly the first app that started the “visual news reader” trend on the tablet. Pulse Mini 2.0 for iPhone is faster with more responsive sources and image loading times, smoother scrolling and overall faster performances. Google Reader sync has been optimized to allow for offline reading and syncing back to the cloud as soon as the app gets online again. Search has been enhanced to include top results and relevant titles. Pulse Mini 2.0 is definitely a step forward in terms of usability and underlying engine.
New features have been added, too. As in the iPad version, you can now read content from a variety of sources like Reddit and Digg without manually adding anything – they’re baked into the app. Same applies for Youtube, Vimeo and Hacker News. Similarly, Alphonso Labs added more recommended publications to the list of blogs and websites you should subscribe to, making it easier for new users to find great content without being forced to log into Twitter of Facebook.
Pulse Mini for iPhone is free. With the increased speed, Reddit support (we love it) and more sources, it’s an app to check out.
The Most Ridiculous iPhone Game I’ve Ever Played
In these past four years, I’ve played a lot of iPhone games. From Doodle Jump and Angry Birds to Real Racing and Chaos Rings, you can find any kind of game you want on the App Store nowadays. But a game like Pah! wins the long-awaited MacStories award of “most ridiculous iPhone game I’ve ever played”.
Available in the App Store for $0.99, in Pah! you have to control a spacecraft using your voice. Okay, many games have voice control options. Problem is, in Pah! you actually have to shout “pah” to shoot and “aaahhhh” to move up and down. That’s right: pah, pah, aaahhh, ahhh, pah, pah. Directly into the iPhone’s mic. You will look like an idiot, guaranteed. And I can tell you, playing this thing with your friends around is a rewarding experience. I haven’t laughed so much for an iPhone game since the original fart app was released. And maybe more.
The game itself isn’t a masterpiece of gameplay, sounds or level-design – but it will make you laugh. For $0.99, that’s a pretty good deal.
Samurai II For Mac: Good, Bloody Fun
For fans of the original Samurai: Way of the Warrior, we ended on quite the cliffhanger. Confronting your demons, things hadn’t turned out exactly as planned. In Samurai II: Vengeance (now on the Mac App Store), the quest for revenge will leave no prisoners. Cel-shaded environments mix with 3D combatants for a hack & slash adventure that takes you through the second chapter of the Samurai story line.
Heads up: there are some graphic screenshots behind the break (those swords can be pretty sharp), where we take a look at how well Samurai II fares with a keyboard or mouse.
Could The iTunes Store and Address Book Look Like This in iOS 5?
A new patent design uncovered by Patently Apple today gives us a hint at some interface elements Apple may implement in future versions of iOS, perhaps as soon as iOS 5 is released later this year. The patent doesn’t provide many details and the mockups realized by Apple are nowhere near the final style of an iOS product, but they can let us speculate on the interface changes several apps will likely go through.
In this patent, Apple has focused on browsing the iTunes Store and accessing the Address Book. The main concept seems to be that raw lists of items – songs, artists, and even contacts – should evolve into a visually richer experience based on “tiles”, rather than vertical lists. Does that ring a bell? Yes, at first I thought of the Windows Phone 7 UI – but the implementation Apple is envisioning here is quite different. From what we can see in the sketches posted online, the design looks like a mix of the Finder’s standard icon view and the iTunes album art screensaver: there’s a grid containing albums and songs in the iTunes Store and a different contact visualization in Address Book with a series of thumbnails for all your friends, and a bigger one in the foreground for the contact you’re currently talking to / editing in the app. Apple is calling these things “Segmented Graphical Representations”, and from a first look it sounds like they’re aiming for a more visual interaction with the OS based on thumbnails and graphics, rather than lists of text. Read more
Wooden iPad 2 Cover Is Cheap, Beautiful, And Smart
For as much as we at MacStories are in love with Apple’s Smart Cover, we’re also curious to see what kind of products third-party accessory makers will release for a device that’s got magnets and a flat surface perfect for covers and stands. Now that word about Apple’s magnet implementation is out there, it shouldn’t be long enough until we see all kinds of Smart Cover replacements come out. And while I’m sure many of them won’t offer Apple’s exceptional build quality and usability, the Miniot Cover for iPad surely is something to get excited about.
It looks like a Smart Cover, but it’s got a wooden surface that rolls into a cylinder (that’s right) to offer typing and stand modes. It easily attaches to the iPad and the wooden finish on the surface is simply beautiful. I can’t wait to try one of these things out, and I’m just going to say that Apple should allow Miniot to feature their product into the retail stores.
Shipping in a few days at €50 (it’s cheaper than Apple’s leather model sold at €69 in Europe), the Miniot Cover is set to provide a great alternative to the Smart Cover. Check out the video below. [Miniot via TUAW]
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Embraceware’s Awaken 5 Now Available
Awaken, Embraceware’s very popular alarm clock (and more) app, has just been updated to version 5. It’s available in the Mac App Store or if you’re an existing customer, you can “Check for Updates” within the app. New customers may purchase the app via the Mac App Store for $9.99, or download a demo version via Embraceware’s Awaken page. Read more
Instacast 1.1 Casts New Features, Updated Playback Controls
If you’ve been consuming podcasts with Instacast or have been waiting for some more features to trickle down the pipe, Vemedio has opened up the fire hose with their latest update. The interface plays a huge role in making Instacast incredibly user friendly, thus interface sounds have been added to provide the audible feedback element. That doesn’t seem like much, but the biggest improvements have been made to the playback controls. Shake your iPhone or iPod touch to rewind the podcast thirty seconds, and adjust the playback speed of your podcast (if you prefer 2x speed for example) with a simple tap on the artwork. Other interface tweaks include clearer button labeling and options to control how many unread feeds you want pouring in when you add new podcasts, and best of all there’s been lots of little bug fixes that make Instacast more pleasurable.
If you haven’t dove into to Instacast yet, now’s the time. It’s only $1.99 in the App Store, and you can supplement the recommendation with our original review.
Analyst Predicts Apple Will Be Bigger Than IBM and HP→
Analyst Predicts Apple Will Be Bigger Than IBM and HP
Founder of Forrester Research George Colony thinks Apple will outgrow IBM and HP, keeping its steady 50% sales growth rate year after year:
They’ll be bigger than IBM next year, and they’ll be bigger than HP the year after that,” Colony said, citing Apple’s 52 percent sales growth last year. At current growth rates “they’re going to be a $200 billion revenue company,” he said.
Hewlett-Packard had sales of $126 billion in the year that ended in October and IBM’s revenue was $99.9 billion last year, making them the largest technology companies, respectively, by sales. Apple ranks No. 1 by market capitalization.
HP is coming out with a tablet this summer (following the Palm acquisition), whilst IBM has become more of a research giant rather than a consumer electronic company. Apple may be bigger than both companies from a user’s perspective, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the HP TouchPad will be able to change the current tablet market landscape.