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Adobe Packager To Support iPad Apps Soon?

According to a rumor posted on Japanese blog Macotakara, Adobe is planning to update its Packager software for the iPhone to add support for iPad apps development. Adobe Packager, in fact, as part of the Flash Professional CS5 suite allows developers to re-use existing code to build native applications for iPhone. Since Apple lifted its restrictions on third-party development tools used to build iOS apps, many developers have relied on Packger to ship cross-platform software across a variety of devices and operating systems.

Macotakara also reports the updated Packager will include support for gestures in iPad apps, like pinch to zoom. Android and other “large LCD devices” should be supported as well. [via 9to5mac]

Twelve South Announces BookArc for MacBook Air

We’re big fans of Twelve South’s accessories for the Mac and iOS devices: from the Compass mobile stand and BookArc for iPad to Mac-only products, we think Twelve South makes the most beautiful third-party accessories for Apple devices. Today Twelve South introduces the BookArc stand for the new MacBook Air, which aims at turning the ultra-thin and portable machine into the perfect solution for your desktop.

The MacBook Air, in fact, can power an external monitor with ease, such as Apple’s own Cinema Display. The BookArc firmly grips the MacBook Air vertically and offers a system for cable management so you won’t have the power cord or USB cables cluttering your desk. Twelve South also promises an increase in performances when using the MacBook Air with a BookArc as the computer (when closed) only has to power the external monitor.

The BookArc for MacBook Air will be available next month at $39.99 both for 11-inch and 13-inch models. More information available here.

Doodle Jump Makes Deal with Hollywood Studio

The Doodle Jump developers Lima Sky have announced an unexpected deal with Hollywood studio Universal to bring movies into their popular iPhone game. What at first may sound like just another tie-in it’s actually something a bit more clever: Doodle Jump users will get a special Easter-themed level featuring the main character of upcoming Universal’s movie “Hop” as a bonus.

Doodle Jump isn’t new to “special levels” and themed-updates; a Hollywood deal, however, might increase the app’s popularity even more as Universal promotes Doodle Jump as the iPhone game featuring Hop.

How long is the road to Disney movies and Angry Birds now? [via TUAW]

The Mac App Store and “Half-Available” Updates

Panic, the developers of popular software for the Mac like Coda, Transmit and Candybar, wrapped up a critical update to their FTP client / file manager / all-in-one solution Transmit 4 on January 6th to fix “important bugs” and correct issues with the Transmit Disk feature and Amazon S3 connection. As they explain in a post on the company’s blog, their original plan was to submit the update to Apple and release it on their website as well once the Mac App Store version got approved.

Apple didn’t approve the update after two weeks, so Panic went ahead and posted the update on the application’s website so that users who didn’t buy the app through the Mac App Store didn’t have to wait any longer to have the bugs fixed. In their own words, Transmit 4.1.5 is now “half-available” as the app in still “in review” for Mac App Store approval. Read more

iFusion for iPhone: All-In-One Landline Dock, Speaker, Charger [Macworld]

Officially announced at the Macworld Expo yesterday, the iFusion for iPhone is an interesting all-in-one solution that combines a standard landline dock, a speakerphone, charger and USB connector into a single device that can let you have phone calls, listen to music, charge the iPhone and sync data with a Mac or PC. The unique design of the device, which will ship in April at $149, is highly ergonomic and allows for superior voice quality thanks to the hand-free speakerphone that, admittedly, also looks pretty good.

The creators of the iFusion call the product the first “iPhone communication docking station”, which comes with its own app (geared towards business users) but that, at the same time, can work with any other audio app for the iPhone, like Skype or Viber.

The iFusion can be pre-ordered here. Demo video embedded below, courtesy of TUAW. Read more

Microsoft Is “Looking At” The Mac App Store for Office→

Microsoft Is “Looking At” The Mac App Store for Office

How times change:

Microsoft says it continues to be pleased with sales of the Mac version of Office, but has not yet decided whether to offer the product or any of its components in the Mac version of the App Store, which launched earlier this month. Similar to the iPhone store, the App Store for Mac puts Apple in the position of retailer, taking a 30 percent cut of sales.

“It’s something we are looking at,” Microsoft’s Amanda Lefebvre told Mobilized. However, the company said its product is already available in lots of places as well as via the Web–including in a new, free 30-day trial version.

“It’s something we haven’t ruled out,” she said. “We just have to see how that relates to our business.

Or: “We have seen the success of other developers in the Mac App Store, and we would like to have Office in there. It’s just that we’re Microsoft, and it takes months (years) for us to take a decision.”

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Autodesk: Mac App Store Doubled Sketchbook Pro Sales in 20 Days

The Mac App Store isn’t even one month old and we have already heard several stories of success from Mac developers. The most notable one comes from Pixelmator, which grossed $1 million in less than 20 days into the new store; we have covered other experiences from developers in our Mac App Store hub. Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD) announced in a private event in San Francisco that the Mac App Store version of Sketchbook Pro, a painting and drawing application, has sold twice as many copies as the regular version did in the entire year. In 20 days. That’s quite an achievement, I would say.

The Loop reports Autodesk also had to ship a different version of Sketchbook Pro in order to be approved by Apple:

For example, Mac App Store apps aren’t supposed to use private APIs, can’t incorporate their own end user licensing agreements, and can’t employ separate copy protection. As a result, sharing code with the iOS version made the process easier, though SketchBook Pro is scaled up to take advantage of the increased processing power and memory footprint of the Mac.

Last year, Autodesk also released a new version of AutoCAD for Mac with an entirely redesigned interface and graphic engine, and shipped a mobile counterpart called “AutoCAD WS” for iPhone and iPad.

What’s Better Than $1.8 Billion Revenue? Giving Away 5,400 iPads

What happens when a successful and large company like semiconductor maker KLA-Tencor decides to give away iPads to all its employees? Well, it means the IT department is in trouble. After posting revenue of $1.8 billion, the CEO of the company gave each employee an iPad as a reward for the hard work; and not only did he gave people iPads, he also made sure the CIO of KLA-Tencor and IT folks would help everyone with the setup process. That leads to iTunes account creation, email setup, apps installation, secure VPN connections. For 5,400 iPads, that’s a bit of work.

CIO.com reports:

KLA-Tencor’s Ballal didn’t have a choice about the speed and timing of an iPad rollout. The CEO had made a promise to give iPads to employees as a form of appreciation; when you promise someone an iPad, you can’t wait six months to deliver one.

So why couldn’t KLA-Tencor just ship the iPads to employees? Employees wanted the gadgets right away, even though half lived outside the United States. “The big thing was the logistics of getting these devices to different parts of the world,” Ballal says. “It was all the nightmare of shipping. The iPad wasn’t yet released in the different countries when we rolled this thing out. We learned a lot about logistics.

At its Q1 2011 earnings call, Apple announced over 80% of Fortune 500 are deploying or piloting iPads, and 88 of Fortune 100, 60% of Financial Times Europe testing or deploying iPhones. In the past we’ve seen school adopting iPads with special educational programs and corporate America “falling in love” with the device in a matter of months. [via TUAW]

Instagram Gains Native Twitterrific Support

Twitterrific by the Iconfactory is one of the most popular Twitter clients for iOS, and we’ve been hearing a brand new Mac version is around the corner as well. What at first may look like a minor update to Twitterrific for iPhone and iPad was released a few minutes ago in the App Store, and it adds a very welcome new feature: native Instagram support. I don’t know if any other Twitter app for iOS supports Instagram photos like Twitterrific does, but here’s the gist: instead of being forced to follow a link to Instagram to the actual website, Twitterrific will open the image into its dedicated popover, without leaving your timeline. That’s useful, considering how many people are using Instagram these days and how annoying it is to launch a web view every time. A similar integration can be seen on Twitter.com, where the inline media viewer can preview Instagram photos without opening a new browser tab.

The new Twitterrific update also introduces fixes to reduce API errors (I’ve been getting lots of them lately), support for photos shared on plixi and step.ly and restores the black theme as the default one. Last, Twitterrific finally supports the new Twitter links to tweets and usernames.

Twitterrific is available for free in the App Store. Our review here.