DailyBooth, the popular service that allows you to communicate with your friends by sharing pictures of yourself, launched a completely new version of their official iPhone app. The app reaches version 2.0 and it’s been redesigned from the group up to accomodate new features, an improved UI and Facebook / Twitter sharing.
DailyBooth Launches Brand New iPhone App
How To: Create Social Playlists In Ping
Last week, Apple launched a new feature for Ping users: social playlists. As the name suggests, a social playlist allows you to group two or more songs together and share the playlist with your friends (followers) on Ping.
It’s a very simple and effective concept, but the menu to get started with it is somehow buried into Ping’s homepage. Here’s how you can create your first social playlists. Read more
Grappler for Mac Grabs Music and Videos From The Web
I know a lot of people who don’t listen to music through their iTunes library, or a Music folder saved somewhere on their computers. Every time they want to listen to their favorite band, they fire up Youtube. This behavior is particularly common among my friends, who find it “easier” to search for a video rather than organizing a media library. Maybe they just don’t want to buy songs and don’t feel like downloading pirated copies, either. I don’t really know why they keep doing this.
There’s also another reason why people listen to music through Youtube: rare footage and live performances. iTunes offers a large selection of official live performances from thousands of artists, yet Youtube manages to keep an impressive archive of unofficial, yet high quality, footage from millions of bands. That 1994 Oasis concert at New York? Go find it on iTunes if you can. Sometimes the quality isn’t exactly record-like, but the average user (and fan) doesn’t care.
That’s where an app like Grappler for Mac by The Little App Factory comes in handy: it’s a beautiful and simple utility that helps you save music and videos from the web, especially Youtube.com. It’s deeply integrated with iTunes, so you can have the best of both worlds with an organized library that relies upon a huge web archive. Read more
N.O.V.A. 2 Coming December 16th On The App Store
N.O.V.A. (Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance) by Gameloft is one of the most popular first-person shooters for the iPhone and iPad, featured by Apple at the tablet’s announcement in January. The first N.O.V.A., released on the iPhone last year, quickly jumped the charts of the App Store thanks to its stunning graphics, good gameplay and large maps.
The second iteration of the FPS – N.O.V.A. 2 – is coming out on December 16th and it looks like it will be a lot better.
N.O.V.A. 2 will feature a new multiplayer mode in 10 new maps with 10 players simultaneously. No word yet if this has been achieved through Game Center or not. The game will of course come with new weapons and improved AI for enemies, but as far as gameplay goes Gameloft has added the possibility to drive vehicles during missions. Reminds me of Halo. Graphics have been optimized for the Retina Display and previous N.O.V.A. customers will get access to “extra bonuses”.
We can’t wait to get our hands on this new version, which hopefully will be released as a universal app for iPhone and iPad this time. In the meantime, check out the new trailer featuring in-game footage below. Read more
Final Fantasy Tactics for iPhone Delayed, Again. Coming Spring 2011
For all those of you who were hoping to get your hands on a mobile version of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of Lions (announced in June) before Christmas – I’m sorry, folks. The game’s not coming this year, as reported by TouchArcade. It will be released, according to a note appeared on Square Enix official Facebook page, in Spring 2011.
The iPhone version of FFT was first unveiled at this year’s E3 and scheduled for a September 15th release. Square Enix then claimed they never thought to release the game in September, and told the press FFT was still “TBD”. Various delays aside, it looks like SE has been busy improving the new game menu graphics, designing new controls specifically for the iPhone. The new screenshots look better than the old ones, and here’s to hoping that Square Enix is taking the extra time to make the entire game better, perhaps with new features, quests and enemies. An additional storyline for iPhone users would be great, for instance.
Still, these delays with brief press releases always make me worry. Because you know what else is coming in Spring 2011? The white iPhone 4. Read more
8-bit Angry Birds Makes Me Want An Apple Game Boy
Speaking of Angry Birds: can you imagine if iOS’ most successful game was created 20 years and made available on the Game Boy or SNES instead? Frankly, I cannot – but these mockups posted over at Penney Design can give you an idea of what it might have looked like.
While the graphics are cool – and nostalgic – I don’t think Angry Birds’ current control scheme would be easy to port on handhelds without multi-touch. Angry Birds was built around the iPhone, and eventually released on Android devices. How would you control the slingshot on a Game Boy? With the D-Pad?
Game controls debate aside, Angry Birds in 8-bit looks great. I think the world would have been a better place with the birds & pigs in 1992. [via]
#MacStoriesDeals
Another new feature here at MacStories! Last week we started our 2010 App Roundup here at MacStories, and today we’re starting another new feature, this one being a daily occurance. We’re calling it #MacStoriesDeals.
In this new series, we will recommend great deals every weekday on iOS apps, Mac apps and gadgets that are on sale for a limited time. We will be scouring our resources and providing you direct links to what we think are deals you shouldn’t miss out on. Whether it be games, health, lifestyle, music, weather, etc. - we’ve got you covered. So expect some choice picks starting later today!
Wikileaks Releases 140,000 Emails From Steve Jobs→
Wikileaks Releases 140,000 Emails From Steve Jobs
Scoopertino:
Overall, the emails reinforce the image of Steve as a man of few words. A cursory review of this massive email dump reveals that 88% of his messages contain three or fewer words, with 84% of those offering only one: “No.”
He did get a bit wordier in an exchange with North Korean bad boy Kim Jong Il. Kim, aching to get a pre-release iPod touch for his son back in August, wrote to Steve requesting “a favor from one dictator to another.” In this case, Steve doubled the syllable count with a quick “Hell no.”
I have to admit this made me laugh.
Update: in case you have any doubts – yes, of course this is fake. Scoopertino is a website that reports “unreal Apple news”. Still funny.
Angry Birds iPhone Cases Now At Apple Stores
First came the games, then the movie rumors, plush toys, more games…and now Angry Birds are sold at Apple Stores. As iPhone and iPod touch cases. As reported by TechCrunch last week, Gear4 announced a series of Angry Birds-themed cases for the iPhone and iPod touch – available on the official website at $24.99 – which feature red and yellow Angry Birds and the green Pig King. They’re made out of hard plastic.
I went to the Apple Store (Roma Est) yesterday, and it looks like the official Angry Birds cases are sold there, too. Actually, tons of them were available on the shelves and Apple even managed to put them in a very visible position. As you can guess, many people were checking them out and laughing at them. Not in a bad way – they’re awesome.
Another photo after the break. Read more