When I’m not in my boxer shorts watching Unboxing Porn on Revision3 after the sun goes down, I’m relaxing in my boxer shorts browsing CollegeHumor. Thanks to the iPad, that awkward relationship you have with Jake and Amir is now much more intimate and down right multi-touchy.
Bust A Gut With CollegeHumor For The iPad
Lots Of Great iOS Games Coming Out Tonight
Today’s a great day for iOS games, just like last week when Infinity Blade and a bunch of other big names came out in the App Store. And it’s no surprise that right ahead of Christmas iOS users get to download the best gems of the year – who doesn’t want to spend the holiday season relaxing and playing games on a possibly new, shiny iPad?
Most of all, tomorrow will be the last Thursday before the iTunes Connect holiday shut down, when developers (from Dec. 23 to Dec. 28) won’t be able to submit apps and updates or change the price of their existing apps in the Store. Basically, everyone is rushing to get games approved and available before the 23rd.
Already available in the New Zealand store (time zone differences, you know) and coming out in about 14 hours in the U.S. App Store, the following games will be ready to be installed on your devices tomorrow morning. The links you’ll find in this post point to the New Zealand, but you’ll be able to find these games in the U.S. store later today. Read more
The ICONICSTAND Will Make You Reconsider Wooden Stands
Ever thought about placing your iPhone 4 in a wooden stand? You should. It’s classy, retro and adds a natural feeling to that cold glass and aluminum made in Cupertino. Or maybe you simply haven’t managed to find a decent stand made of wood until today. Well, this one’s good.
The ICONICSTAND, realized by Korean designer Kenny Cho and made with “eco-friendly birch wood”, features an ingenious shape that allows it to hold the iPhone both in portrait and landscape mode. You can adjust the position to fit your viewing angle and there’s even room for the charging cable. There are various models and shapes available on the official website.
Added to my Christmas list. [via FSM]
Lynx Joining European iAds Next Week
Even though I still haven’t managed to see the popular Renault iAd in any app (yet I grabbed some screenshots of the Tron one yesterday), it looks like Apple keeps on signing advertisers for its European iAd service.
According to MarketingWeek, Unilever’s Lynx Excite (a body spray) will go live with a “fresh” new campaign on Apple’s iAd next week. We assume it’ll be an iPhone campaign, as the one Disney launched for Tron on the iPad was a “demo” of interactive advertisements to come on the tablet in 2011. You may remember Unilever was one of the partners Apple mentioned when they announced iAds were coming to Europe. Read more
Latest Apple TV Update Addresses Download, Resolution Issues
Apple released iOS 4.2.1 for Apple TV 2nd gen last night, which is labelled as “4.1.1” in the device’s built-in software update checker tool. The OS was a 267MB download on Apple’s servers, and that lead us to think that it was mainly aimed at fixing a few bugs found in the previous build.
According to a support document on Apple’s website, the 4.1.1 update fixes issues related to resolution and download of movies and TV shows.
TV resolution fix: Addresses an issue that causes some high-definition TVs to incorrectly display at 480p.
Download fix: Addresses an issue that may cause a movie or TV show to be re-downloaded.
As we reported last night, the 4.1.1 update doesn’t seem to provide a fix for the “color issues” with certain Sony and Philips televisions.
Toshiba Denies Rumors Of Apple’s Interest In Toshiba Mobile Display
Yesterday we reported that, according to the Nikkei business daily, Toshiba was building a $1.19 billion factory “mainly to supply to Apple Inc’s iPhones”. That’s quite a statement, as it would imply that Cupertino is somehow interested in expanding its mobile display supply chain.
Digitimes has posted a follow-up to the story:
Toshiba has denied rumors that Apple will invest in the new production plant of its small- to medium-size panel subsidiary, Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD).
Panel makers indicated that the rumors could make sense because of limited capacity for LTPS in the market, as well as the possibility to develop AMOLED solutions by leveraging the LTPS production line.
Expect more to come up in the next weeks.
Lastify Brings Additional Last.fm Features to Spotify
Another week, another SIMBL plugin that brings additional features to a Mac app. This time, instead of adding new functionalities to Tweetie for Mac, we’re going to add some spicy Last.fm integration to Spotify for Mac which, by default, only scrobbles tracks to the popular music service.
Lastify, developed by George Brocklehurst, injects a Last.fm in Spotify for Mac that allows you to “love” and “ban” tracks, tag them and add them to a playlist. Once you’ve downloaded the Lastify bundle, extract it and place the file in /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins or ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins if you want to install it for all user or just your account, respectively. Restart Spotify after that. To reveal the sidebar, resize the main Spotify window.
The integration with Last.fm is pretty sweet and works as you’d expect. Perhaps SIMBL isn’t the most elegant solution, but it works. Go download the latest Lastify build here.
3 U.K. To Offer Unlimited Internet Access→
3 U.K. To Offer Unlimited Internet Access
The New York Times:
3 U.K., a unit of Hutchison Whampoa, based in Hong Kong, is the fourth-largest mobile operator in Britain and is known for offering the lowest-cost plans. The company’s unlimited data offer is limited to the British market, according to documents describing the new pricing plan obtained by the International Herald Tribune.
In Europe, 3 also has networks in Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and Austria.
Perhaps this new strategy won’t force the bigger European guys (Vodafone, Telecom, O2) to change their tiered plans. But think of this unlimited plan as a way to promote a certain smartphone from Apple coming out next year.
Update: Or, as Brad McCarty over at TNW puts it – “you can now walk into a 3 retailer, purchase an iPhone 4 at £69, then pay £35 per month for 2,000 minutes, 5,000 texts plus “all-you-can-eat” data. That’s compelling, no matter how you look at it.”
First Infinity Blade Update To Drop Next Week→
First Infinity Blade Update To Drop Next Week
Work started on new content the day after the game’s five-month development ended, so Chair already has some goodies on deck. Next week’s addition, as well as another planned for January, will include more “booster packs,” as Mustard describes them – some additional content to keep things fresh and help entertain us sad sacks who’ve mastered all the gear.
Next week’s pack includes five new weapons, five new shields, five new helmets and a new armor set; enough equipment to increase the level cap to 45.
Also: new areas to explore (dungeons), more details about the God King, new enemies for experienced users. Multiplayer mode won’t be available in next week’s update, and the developers didn’t provide a release date. I think January would be perfect.
Don’t expect free-roaming to come anytime soon.