Flash Player 10.2 Now Available, Brings Stage Video

Early in December, Adobe launched the first beta of Flash Player 10.2, which was aimed at reducing processor load with a new feature called “Stage Video” that promised to rely on the GPU instead. Today Adobe has made Flash 10.2 available out of beta, and it brings full Stage Video support, although content providers like Youtube and Vimeo will need to manually enable the Stage Video APIs before the end users can see any improvements. That should happen soon.

Flash Player 10.2 should play most high-resolution video with processor load below 15% – we’re talking full 1080p streamed directly from Youtube to your Mac. For instance, Adobe says they were able to play 1080p content on a 2 year old Mac Mini with CPU load under 8 percent. That’s not too bad.

Press release embedded below. [Adobe via Engadget] Read more

World Of Goo Sells 125K In First Month: 2D Boy Talks Sales, Strategies, And Consoles

World of Goo has had incredible sales as it launched on the iPad, eventually reaching the #2 spot after a $5 price drop from $10 and lots of press coverage. In its first month of sales, the Mac famous strategy slash flubber-venture sold approximately 125,000 copies in the iPad’s App Store, having been exalted by the media on numerous occasions as well as by Apple, deservedly featuring World of Goo on the store’s front page. 2D Boy has published a rather lengthy analysis on their indie title, and we encourage you to click past the break for an overview of some of the finer points.

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Sparrow Launches On The App Store For $9.99

The long awaited and much anticipated Sparrow for OS X just launched in the App Store for $9.99, with an expected launch of $19.99. Merging the elegance of Tweetie with the bravado of Gmail, Sparrow is a beautiful email client whose gorgeous interface enables users to effortlessly manage, label, and compose messages through intuitive actions. With Growl support, multiple accounts, and quick replies to seamlessly manage inbox cruft, Sparrow is a no-brainer if you live in Gmail, but don’t want the heft of a traditional email client. IMAP support for Aol., Yahoo, and MobileMe is promised for a future update. We’ve been following Sparrow for quite a while on MacStories, and I have nothing but good things to say about this sleek client after many Twitter followers turned me on this once public beta project.

You can purchase Sparrow on the Mac App Store via the following link: Sparrow for Mac

Edit: Have I told you how much I love Sparrow’s new icon? It looks great in the menubar too!

Nokia CEO’s Leaked Memo Mentions Apple, iPhone Marketshare→

Nokia CEO’s Leaked Memo Mentions Apple, iPhone Marketshare

An allegedly leaked memo of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop sets the record straight on Nokia’s position on a “burning platform” and the success of Apple in the past three years:

In 2008, Apple’s market share in the $300+ price range was 25 percent; by 2010 it escalated to 61 percent. They are enjoying a tremendous growth trajectory with a 78 percent earnings growth year over year in Q4 2010. Apple demonstrated that if designed well, consumers would buy a high-priced phone with a great experience and developers would build applications. They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range.

The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable.

Awareness is the first step to build better products. Full memo available here.

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Next Generation iPad In Production: Factory Ready For Verizon, AT&T

Forget the MiFi: the next generation iPad will work on both red & blue networks out of the gate according to the Wall Street Journal. It’s a no brainer that the next generation iPad is going to be thinner, more powerful, and feature a front-facing camera, but an important tidbit from the WSJ notes:

The new iPad will be available through Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., but not Sprint NextelCorp. or T-Mobile USA in the U.S., according to some of the people familiar with the matter

2011 shouldn’t see any more iPhones or iPads on the remaining two American carriers, so don’t expect Apple to join forces with Nascar sponsor Sprint anytime soon. The WSJ doesn’t expect the second generation iPad to have a significantly greater display, but we’re get anxious to see Apple unveil their next gen tablet already.

[via Wall Street Journal]

“Death Hug” Impossible Grip Affects Verizon iPhone Antennas, Third Hand Rumored To Enable Secret Features

Antennagate is over, right? Steve Jobs told everyone that just about any phone suffers from signal attenuation if you cover the antenna with your skin, and people who had issues with their iPhone 4s got a free Bumper case to resolve the “Death Grip” problem. And Apple’s 2010 numbers tell us Antennagate wasn’t really a problem for iPhone sales.

Still, someone is saying Death Grip is still alive, kicking and affecting the mythical Verizon iPhone’s antennas. Not just the 3G radio antenna, the WiFi one as well. How’s that possible? That’s the magic of the Death Hug, a new kind of grip that can be activated with two hands wrapped around the phone and its screen. Look at the video below. It’s a full-phone hand hug.  iLounge reports:

The problem with Wi-Fi reception appears when the device is held snugly in landscape orientation with two hands, a position common when playing games or using the widescreen keyboard. Prior to the Verizon iPhone 4’s launch, sources told iLounge to be on the lookout for the issue, which was being referred to as the death hug.

We’re just going to leave you with the Youtube video after the break. But let me say that, frankly, that’s one kind of grip that requires some serious skills. Honestly, we at MacStories don’t hold our phones like that. But then again, we don’t disdain hugs either. Read more

MacStories Product Review: Sena Folio Case for iPad

It is no secret Sena makes beautiful products. From travel cases to sleeves and integrated keyboard folio designs, Sena’s leather quality and manufacturing process is top notch. In fact, I don’t think any other company I know of makes better leather accessories than Sena’s. Over the past weeks I’ve been able to test a Folio Case for the iPad, an elegant case with a portfolio book design that adds a very “sophisticated” tone to the device. Read more

Rowmote Pro: iOS Trackpad and App Launcher For Your Mac

This app has been around for months, yet I’ve come to use it only a few weeks ago when several readers pointed out on Twitter that it was a better alternative to Remote Conductor. Rowmote Pro, which is a universal app for iPhone and iPad that requires a server component to be running on your Mac, is an elegant multitouch trackpad that comes with other functionalities such as quick volume / pause / next shortcuts, an app launcher and a virtual keyboard. Rowmote Pro won’t display the screen of your Mac computer on your iPhones and iPads, but it provides access to a plethora of commands that can come quite in handy if you’re controlling your Mac from the couch, watching a movie or listening to some music. Read more

Google Launches Official Translate App for iPhone

A few minutes ago Google announced the availability of the official Translate app for iPhone. Built on top of the HTML5 webapp  that’s been around for quite some time now, the native application allows you to “speak to translate” in 15 different languages with output translation supported up to 50 languages. You can listen to your own translations spoken out loud by the app , enable full-screen mode to get a larger view of the translated text (that’s quite useful) and even check on single words dictionary entries from within the app. The interface design resembles most of Google’s apps for iOS – nothing exceptional to note there. It’s got a clean and minimal UI.

Google Translate for iPhone is a better version of the popular mobile-optimized webpage packed into a useful package for iOS that comes with a few additional features. It’s a free download in the App Store. Full list of supported languages below. Read more