Ah Monday, so will we see new MacBooks this week? Tuesdays are usually hardware update days for Apple. Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
#MacStoriesDeals - Monday
MacStories Product Review: XtremeMac InCharge Auto For iPad
You shouldn’t have to sacrifice the lack of a power outlet when you’re traveling, and I’m betting your iPhone’s GPS is quickly draining that once long-lasting battery. Whether it be for in-car navigation, the passenger playing a game, or those movie watching kids in the back seat, you’ll need a good plan in place to keep those iDevices juiced throughout your trip. A good ol’ fashioned car charger should do the trick.
PhotoSync Enables iOS-to-iOS, iOS-to-Computer Photo and Video Sharing
PhotoSync, a universal $1.99 app available in the App Store, has quickly become one of my favorite tools to enhance my iOS devices’ photo and video sharing capabilities. The app, which requires a free Mac companion software to be installed from the developers’ website, allows you to share photos and videos from your iPhone and iPad libraries between computers and other iOS devices running the app. PhotoSync can send multiple photos at once or sync entire libraries with iPhones, iPads and iPod touches, as well as PCs and Macs. Read more
Minecraft To Officially Come To iOS This Year
If you’re as addicted to Minecraft as I am, then you’ll be excited to learn that the hit block building title will be arriving to iOS later this year. Gamasutra reports that Markus Persson has revealed to the site that the game won’t be an exact port, but rather will be granted features that “make sense” for touch screen devices.
Minecraft is currently in the beta stages, with a full release planned sometime this year. So far over 1.3 million copies of the game have been purchased, with nearly five million registered accounts on the official site.
Minecraft has been a massive success in indie gaming, and there’s been a lot of interest from the community in an iOS version since the game’s inception. Aron Neiminen, a new recruit to the Mojang team working on Minecraft, will be developing the iOS version that’s to be released at an unannounced date.
[Gamasutra via IndieGames]
Readability Is The First Victim Of Apple’s New Subscriptions
Three weeks ago, web service Readability launched a completely revamped version of its “read later” platform including support for Instapaper (Marco Arment is an advisor to Arc90, the company behind Readability) and a new subscription system that allows publishers of content consumed through Readability to get 70% of the fees paid by subscribers.
It works like this: you sign up to Readability as a reader paying a $5 monthly fee, but you can decide to pay even more if you’re willing to support the project. Once you’re ready to use the service, you install a bookmarklet in your browser that will save articles for later in an uncluttered view that’s perfect for late-night reading sessions and mobile devices. Yes, it really is similar to Marco Arment’s Instapaper. In fact, the developers announced that the first official Readability iOS app would be heavily based on Instapaper – which also happens to have introduced support for sending logs to Readability a few days ago. Instapaper and Readability thus have become two integrated platforms for reading content and sharing it with your friends – but Readability’s unique twist allows publishers (like MacStories, or any other weblog) to get a kickback for every article saved for later. It’s a genius approach no one ever tried before. Read more
iOS Devices Become Kinect Controllers In Dodgeball Game
In the past, we saw several interesting Kinect hacks making their way to iPads and Macs thanks to the efforts of a vivid developer community willing to get more out of Microsoft’s motion-controlling peripheral than simple Xbox pairing and gaming. In fact, we were able to get our hands (and eyes) on a free Kinect 3D viewer available in the Mac App Store and an iPad playing together with OS X in a cool futuristic experiment. But hackers, as usual, don’t stop at curious experiments that are worth nothing but a quick test.
A group of hackers last week managed to build a custom Kinect setup that allows iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) to fire balls in a dodgeball game playable by a gamer in front of Kinect. The UI design isn’t as beautiful and attractive as Microsoft’s version of the same thing built on top of Windows Phone 7, but as you can see from the video below it definitely seems to be working.
The video is available for your viewing pleasure after the break. Who’s going to build a Kinect Angry Birds with iOS devices as controllers now? [via Engadget] Read more
T-Mobile & Orange iPad Price Drop Hints at New iPad Soon
Numbers are starting to point toward the arrival of Apple’s iPad 2 (and 3?). UK Carriers T-Mobile and Orange have dropped their iPad pricing, possibly making room for the iPad 2 arrival very soon, maybe in a matter of weeks.
When new versions of products are on their way, it’s very typical for retailers to drop pricing to clear out current stock. It’s not just a “sale” price either, but more significant. Now T-Mobile and Orange are both selling the iPad for £99 on their 24-month contracts. Previously, Orange was offering the iPad WiFi + 3G at £199.99 to existing customers and £229.99 for new customers - this price drop is offering a savings of at least £100 on each. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is only offering the discount to existing customers.
Last year Apple unveiled the game-changing iPad in late January with sales starting on April 3rd. Since we’re currently in-between those dates, and have yet to hear anything official from Apple, we could see the iPad 2 peek it’s beautiful head within the next few weeks. On the other hand, the reduced price could just be Orange and T-Mobile offering customers a bargain; but who wants to believe the later? Not us, that’s for sure.
[via TechRadar]
You Don’t Eat This Angry Birds Cake - You Play With It First
We know people spend an incredible amount of time playing Angry Birds every day, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, once the iOS game is done, people keep on thinking about their beloved birds and pigs. Remember the LEGO set, arcade booth and cake? Angry Birds aficionados (dare we say fanboys) don’t just refine their skills on iPhones and iPads: they are truly immersed in the world imagined by Rovio.
So here comes the interactive Angry Birds cake, playable with a real slingshot and, of course, made of chocolate, icing and so forth. It’s a cake made for a boy named Ben. It took 10 hours to make, and only 2 minutes to destroy.
Ah, the kids playing with real-life Angry Birds. I didn’t have the chance to eat a Super Mario when I was a kid. Check out the video below. [Electricpig via Gizmodo] Read more
You Too Can Have Steve Jobs’ Poker Face with Official Apple Cards
Are you a die-hard Apple fan that wants to get some rare memorabilia? Well you had better check out this listing on eBay where an official Apple-branded pack of cards is on auction!
The pack of cards feature OS 7 icons of bombs, clocks, Mac face and trash cans instead of the traditional clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades as you can see above. The pack was purchased at the Apple campus store in 1997 which was one piece of merchandise that was Apple branded and sold only to Apple employees. In other words, these cards are rare and will be undoubtedly worth quite a bit!
The listing is open for another six days and as of writing was at a bid of £28.00, but that’s likely to rocket as Apple fans across the world discover this quirky gem and bid to get their hands on it.
[Via The Next Web]