Two patents uncovered today by AppleInsider and Patently Apple give us some insight on technologies and features Apple might implement in future MacBooks and iOS devices. Smart bezels (a subject we’ve covered before) make a comeback today in a patent that describes how tablets could benefit from losing physical buttons and delegating functions like volume and brightness adjustment to touch-sensitive hardware parts running around the screen of a device. Read more
Today In Apple Patents: Dense Lithium Cells, iOS Controls via Smart Bezels
Vowl: Free, Simple Mac App For Flickr Slideshows
Vowl by Steven Frank is a straightforward Mac app, available for free in the Mac App Store, that generates an automated Flickr slideshow based on tags assigned in the app’s preferences. The app is really simple with its translucent black window style, and also allows you to click on any picture to get to the Flickr photo page with your default Mac browser.
In the preferences, you can set the delay between photos, add and remove tags (by default, the app comes with “cat”, “dog”, and “chicken” tags) and make the app float above other application windows. When resized to take the most part of your screen, Vowl becomes a pretty effective way to get random Flickr photos on your desktop, and I have to admit I loved the kitten ones.
The app is a free download here, or on Steven Frank’s website.
Plants vs. Zombies Now Available In The Mac App Store
While we’re still waiting for Bejeweled 3 to become available on the iPhone and iPad, PopCap Games has released its hugely popular “Plants vs. Zombies” in the Mac App Store. You can find it here at $9.99.
The game, successful on the iOS App Store and firmly positioned in the first spots of the paid software charts, looks like a straight port of the iPad version, made bigger to run on every Mac’s screen. That means you’ll find the 49 zombie-killing plants you know and love, 26 different types of zombies to block from accessing your house and all the strategies and skills you’ve already implemented on the iOS platform. The game, for those unaware of its addictiveness, revolves around the concept of killing a horde of zombies marching towards your property using only seeds, powders and bombs released by…plants. Colorful graphics and funny sound effects, together with a great gameplay, made this game an absolute must-have for iPhone and iPad owners.
Perhaps Plants vs. Zombies for Mac won’t generate the same sales numbers of the iOS counterpart, but if Angry Birds is of any indication – it really looks like users are willing to pay again to play their favorite iPhone games on OS X. Go download the game here, and don’t forget to play The Cranberries’ “Zombie” every once in a while. Just to get in the right mood.
Game Preview: Rockin’ Rockets for iOS
Imagine you’re just minding your own business on the cattle farm when alien UFOs invade. Thinking fast, you man the grain silo and unhatch the lid, revealing a seemingly endless payload of clearly illegal black-market warheads. Grandpa was right! Those missiles would come in handy someday!
There is no explanation as to why you’re the target against alien angst (or why you have so much gosh darned ammunition), but they’ll take you dead or alive either way. An upcoming game for iOS, Rockin’ Rockets will have you tapping your way to victory as you destroy alien combatants on land, sea, and air. It’s a finger frenzy that’s bound to tucker out even the most muscular thumbsicles, and we promise you’ll be doing much more than shooting to stay alive long enough to outlast the alien threat. We’ll keep your interest peaked with a screenshot after the break, but in the meantime you can subscribe to receive updates for a chance to win a free copy when it launches. Also, be sure to follow the dev team @RocketsApp for explosive updates as well if you’re on the Twitter-tubes.
Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye To Headline iTunes Festival 2011
Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye have announced this morning that they will headline the iTunes Festival in London on July 5th. The band, a new project of the former Oasis frontman that counts 3 members of the popular Manchester group, is set to release its debut album “Different Gear, Still Speeding” on February 28th. The album is available for pre-order on iTunes and a special LP version will be released as well, containing two exclusive tracks.
In January, Apple announced the iTunes Festival 2011 will take place at the usual Roundhouse location in London, where for the entire month of July more than 60 artists will perform 31 consecutive live performances. Beady Eye join Linkin Park, Duran Duran, White Lies and Rumer as the confirmed bands for the venue.
Tickets for the iTunes Festival 2011 are only available through prize draw, so you can head over the official website to apply for tickets and stay up to date by following iTunes Festival on Facebook and Twitter. In 2010, more than 2 million people applied for tickets. If you get the chance to see Beady Eye live in July, don’t forget to send us a photo.
Duplifinder Eradicates iPhoto Doubles, Saves HDD Space
If you’re as fumbly with the camera as I am, you might download several of the same images to iPhoto over and over again before finally deleting them off your camera. Thankfully you don’t have to delete whole albums to remove those well hidden duplicates: you can simply run Duplifinder from Haystack Software. Duplifinder runs as its own app, closing and launching iPhoto when it’s necessary to accomplish one of its two tasks. Firstly, Duplifinder will scan your iPhoto library before presenting you with the option to dump duplicates into their own folder, or deleting them via iPhoto’s trash. You’re shown both the original and duplicate images before you commit to any rash decisions (extras of those ex-girlfriend photos are handy to have on hand), and you can bet you’ll use the software often if you’re taking photos all day long.
The app is only $7, and works with iPhoto ‘08, ‘09, and ‘11.
Sony Will Stay On iTunes, “Music Unlimited” Service Launching Today
Last week, Sony PlayStation’s Australian group chief Michael Ephraim hinted that Sony might soon remove its music content from the iTunes Store as, according to him, publishers were “held ransom” by Apple’s terms and lead in the digital music industry. The statement, picked by all major Apple-related publications, quickly made the rounds of the Internet as proof that Sony, disappointed by the rejection of their ebook reader application for iOS, was aiming at leaving Apple’s infrastructure altogether to focus on its Music Unlimited service.
Today, Sony Network Entertainment COO Brandon Layden says the company has no intention of leaving iTunes, although, in fact, Music Unlimited is launching today in the US, Australia and New Zealand:
Sony Music as I understand it has no intention of withdrawing from iTunes, they’re one of our biggest partners in the digital domain. I think those words were either taken out of context or the person who spoke them was unclear on the circumstances.
Layden is not directly involved with Sony’s music business but he sure would know if the company (one of the biggest iTunes music publishers) was planning on ditching the iTunes Music Store. Admittedly, Sony would be crazy to remove its catalogue from the iTunes Store – which is still the most successful online distribution service for music and movies. In the meantime, Sony is launching their music streaming platform today (for $10 a month), but it won’t work on iPhones and iPods. And i likely never will, unless Sony will agree on Apple’s 30% cut on subscriptions offered through the App Store.
Are iPhone App Users Really Worth More Than Android Users?
An interesting chart put together by mobile advertising company Mobclix shows that the value of iPhone app users is higher than Android app users. This value has been calculated dividing the average revenue of apps from the Utilities, Games and Entertainment categories by the number of unique users per month. Other criteria used to create this infographic include “active users” (people who launch an app at least 3 times a week and use it for at least 5 minutes) and apps that spent “an average of two weeks in their categories ‘Top 10′ listing and are Free apps”.
As you can see in the image above, apparently the value of iPhone app users is higher. But as noted by TUAW, we have to consider the nature of this chart. First off, the value of the Games category is lower, but only because there are lots more users playing games on the iPhone than doing math with a utility app. Just think about the 200 million minutes spent every day playing Angry Birds. Similarly, we could apply this concept to Android users overall: paid apps struggle to generate great numbers in the Android Market, but it’s not a secret that there are more Android handsets out there than iPhones (basing on the shipment numbers that come out every month from companies like Millenial).
So the question is – are iPhone users really worth more, or does a chart like this simply play well with the revenue and average users from the iOS platform? I believe a little bit of both. Perhaps categories (games) and platforms (Android) with large userbases aren’t really meant for an infographic like this, but there is no doubt the App Store offers developers a more solid source of income than Google’s Market. It’ll be interesting to take another look at this chart a year from now, with several Android tablets on the market and after Google’s rumored efforts to put more focus on paid software.
Apple Store in Grand Central To Be The Largest In The World?
Two weeks ago, The New York Observer reported Apple was planning on opening a new store in Grand Central Terminal, the popular and crowded retail hub a mile away from the existing Apple Store in Fifth Avenue. Today, according to a rumor posted by Cult Of Mac, Apple is actually aiming at a September opening for the new Store, which will be Apple’s largest retail location in the world – even bigger than the Apple Store in Covent Garden, London, which is about 40,000 feet.
Cult of Mac reports the store already has been provided the name “Apple Store, Grand Central”, and the main purpose of this opening is to take the pressure off the Fifth Ave. one and build an impressive store to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Apple Retail.
The Observer said Apple isn’t expected to take one of the traditional retail spaces, but will locate right in the terminal.
Our source suggested that Apple may be taking walls down — but didn’t elaborate.
The terminal sees more than 700,000 visitors a day, most heading for trains or subway. But about 250,000 come to look at Vanderbilt Hall or eat at the 35 restaurants, including the historic Oyster Bar on the lower level.
Apple has also been rumored to be considering a revamp of the current Palo Alto store and a launch of a new location in the suburbs of Paris.