Angry Birds’ Next Level: The Super Bowl

It finally happened: Angry Birds is officially going mainstream. And not in yet another TV show that briefly mentions the app – in a Super Bowl commercial. As reported by AdAge, 20th Century Fox has teamed up with Rovio, makers of Angry Birds, to launch a commercial about the upcoming animated film Rio which will feature Angry Birds and a code to enable a secret level in the game. Fox and Rovio will also launch a special version of the popular iOS app called “Angry Birds Rio” in March, where characters of the movie and the game will merge into a single storyline.

The code that will be given in the Super Bowl ad will grant access to a level that, once completed, will further enable users to enter a contest to attend the premiere of the movie “Rio” in Rio de Janeiro on March 22nd. AdAge also reports about the spot:

Fox said the spot will be the first Super Bowl ad that requires viewers to pause the spot and watch frame-by-frame to capture an embedded code. Other marketers are adopting somewhat similar tactics, however, in their Super Bowl ads this year.

The Angry Birds social phenomenon looks unstoppable and, frankly, it seems like it’s moving even too fast for a game that was nothing a year ago. Still, what Rovio is doing is impressive marketing-wise, but I hope the infamous birds won’t end up on McDonald’s happy meals anytime soon.  Rovio is also rumored to be working on a real sequel to the original game, which should feature a “pigs point of view” and a brand new gameplay.

iPad 2 Screen Crosses Pacific: Thinner & Lighter Than Before

Pixel density, resolution, and microscopic Steve Jobs amoebas aside, 9 to 5 Mac and iFixYouri have tag teamed to deliver exclusive nude coverage of the much anticipated iPad 2 display from China. The initial overview suggests a lighter, thinner panel with a skinnier frame, suggesting Apple is looking to shave as much weight off the next iPad as they can for this update. We’re awaiting some pro-style magnification shots so we can get a good estimate on the pixel count, but in the meantime we suggest heading over to 9 to 5 Mac for a sneak peek at the next generation display.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

Verizon 4G LTE Modem Now Supports Mac OS X

Earlier today, Verizon Wireless released an update to their VZAccess Manager software for Mac that brings compatibility with one of the 4G LTE modems sold by the company, the Pantech UML290. Mac users can now connect to Verizon’s LTE network using the new 7.2.4 version of the app, which is available for download here.

The Pantech UML290 will cost you $100 with a two-year contract, with a 4G data plan available at $50 per month for 5 GB of data. The other 4G LTE modem, the LG VL600, doesn’t have OS X support yet. From the system requirements:

  • OSX 10.4.72 or higher (Tiger), OSX 10.52 or higher (Leopard) 32-bit, OSX 10.62 or higher (Snow Leopard) 32-bit

  • PowerMac G3 or newer with appropriate device interface

Apple’s “Integrated” In-App Purchases, eBooks and iOS Users

Jason Snell, reporting for Macworld about Apple’s statement regarding ebook reading apps and in-app purchases:

For a couple of years now, Apple has been boasting about how many millions of iTunes IDs are linked to credit cards. Recent rumblings suggest that the company is seeking to expand the footprint of its financial services, too. It’s clear that Apple is tired of seeing companies make money on content served to iOS devices without using its system or cutting it in for a piece of the action. The current 30-percent cut of all content purchases would seem to be an impediment to getting partners to embrace Apple’s system; on the other hand, Apple’s the gatekeeper to its platform and if other companies don’t want to play ball with Apple, they’ll be on the outside looking in.

That’s exactly the point. You have to look at this whole Sony / Apple / everyone else story in two separate ways: the business perspective and consumers’ expectations. Apple does business, and it wants publishers selling content on its iOS platform to pay the fee all developers pay. The fee is 30 percent. Whether or not Apple will ease this fee and allow for lower revenue cut on ebook content is unclear, but it’s a possibility. Maybe tomorrow’s event won’t just be about The Daily, who knows. Read more

Apple Releases iOS 4.3 Beta 3

A few minutes ago Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 4.3 to developers. It’s available now in the iOS Dev Center. Build number is 8F5166b . Updated versions of the iOS SDK and Apple TV pre-release software have been released as well. The release comes after nearly two weeks after the previous beta; iOS 4.3 beta 1 was seeded to developers on January 12. iOS 4.3 is expected to introduce a rather small set of new features like AirPlay video streaming for third-party apps, HTTP live streaming statistics and full-screen iAds. In the developer betas Apple also enabled support for multitasking gestures on the iPad, although the feature won’t be part of the public release of iOS 4.3. The software update has also been rumored to carry support for the iTunes subscriptions that will power The Daily, but no references of such functionality have been found in the SDK so far.

Last week, several reports indicated that Apple is already accepting iOS 4.3-compatible apps in the App Store. We will update this story as we find out more about the new beta. Read more

Apple Responds To Sony, In-App Purchase Must Be Available As Option

News broke last night that Apple rejected Sony’s latest ebook reading app for the iPhone because it used a technology that allowed users to purchase books out of Apple’s in-app purchase system, through Sony’s own store embedded into the app. Sony claimed Apple told them “from now on, all in-app purchases would have to go through Apple”, and now Apple has fired back to clarify Sony’s statements.

As reported by The Loop:

We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines,” Apple spokesperson, Trudy Muller, told The Loop. “We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.

Basically, nothing has really changed in the guidelines – except the fact that in-app purchase through Apple’s system has to be built into the app. If an app comes with its own store to purchase books, the same option should be offered as native in-app purchase for all iOS users. Apple takes a 30% revenue cut out of every in-app purchase. It seems like at this point Amazon will have to update its Kindle app as well to offer iOS in-app purchases. I will be interesting to see how Sony, Amazon and others will update their applications to support the new in-app purchase guideline, and users’ reaction to multiple offerings inside an ebook reading app. While Apple’s 30% cut sounds like a deal-breaker to publishers, in-app purchases linked to iTunes are seen as a useful option from customers, which will be able to get receipts and detailed information about their book purchases directly into their iTunes account page.

Scopy: A Visual Browser For Your Twitter Timeline

Scopy, a lightweight Twitter client developed by Ignition Software, aims at providing a unique visual experience for your Twitter timeline. Scopy, in fact, is a Twitter app for iPhone that displays all the photos shared by the people you follow, inline in your timeline. The app doesn’t support regular status updates as it only visualizes messages that contain one or more pictures. Read more

Aluminium That Glows? Apple’s Patented That

Apple was today awarded a bunch of new patents (eighteen in total) and Patently Apple has covered those that were most important and one of those is particularly interesting to us at MacStories. The patent surrounds an invisible ‘light-transmissive’ display system that would allow Apple to craft a piece of aluminum and through manufacturing techniques, illuminate something such as a logo through the metal.

The process that Apple has patented involves thinning out the aluminum in the required area and then using a specific laser beam setup that drills microscopic holes in specific designs to create the shape that would be illuminated.

What this patent could allow for is an even more invisible sleep indicator light (that light that pulses when your MacBook is sleeping), a power button that is flush with the rest of the MacBook and even a glowing Apple logo on the back of iPhones and iPads.

[Via Patently Apple]