Growing up, I was a subscriber of Nintendo Power and the later (manlier) Game Informer as I grew into my predestined Xbox phase. High school was great for zombie killing, but between college and MacStories I’ve little time to play or let alone get a heads up about the latest upcoming games. Gamerami is a mobile news stand that makes sifting through the latest titles easy and rather painless, and it just might save your butt when you’re on the spot. At least now I don’t look like a total nobody when I’m asked what cool & new games are coming out on the PS3.
Gamerami Serves News, Upcoming Game Info On Demand
“Pixels: The Art of iPhone Photography”
Attention budding iPhoneographers, think you can shoot some mean pixels with your iPhone? Addicted to photo apps like Instagram, Camera+ and Hipstamatic? Why not test your creative ability and submit some of your own original works of art?
The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, or OCCCA, in Santa Ana, California, is opening an exhibit from March 31 to April 20, 20111 called “Pixels: The Art of iPhone Photography.” If you are interested in participating, here are the rules: all photos must be shot and processed with your iDevice (iPhone and iPod Touch devices are both acceptable) and you cannot use any photo editing software on a desktop computer. Read more
Today In Apple Patents: Dense Lithium Cells, iOS Controls via Smart Bezels
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
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.