Steve Ballmer On “Various Tablets”→

Steve Ballmer On “Various Tablets”

From Ars Technica’s interview with Steve Ballmer:

I won’t give you an answer, because it will all depend on what you want, and we’re going to have various things coming at various times coming over the next months and years, and some things, I think you will see things that you will fall [in love with]—I know I’m seeing things that I’ll fall in love with, and I know there will be more things that I desire.

Here’s the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple knows what you want, or at least leads you to think you want what they’re offering. It’s a rather simple strategy. Microsoft, or the current Microsoft in the Ballmer-era, is going to have “various things” coming at “various times”. The HP Slate demand provides a good example.

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Wired iPad App Stable at 32,000 Copies Sold Per Issue

I’m no big fan of the official Wired app for iPad, mainly because I can’t stand all these similar magazine applications based on the same engine that doesn’t let you select and copy text and basically doesn’t let you get information out of the app. Sharing options are limited, scrolling feels weird sometimes – or at least not native – and, overall, they all feel the same. I recognize that the Wired iPad app, though, is one of the most successful magazine apps in the App Store.

As The Next Web reports, the app is now selling 32,000 copies per issues on average:

Wired’s iPad sales figures have remained almost secret since launch, only coming to light at certain times of the year. Last month we reported that the Wired app sold 31,000 and 28,000 copies in July and August respectively, a significant dip since launch. Wired isn’t worried though, sales have progressively increased as iPad penetration grows, meaning that the Wired iPad app has levelled off to a figure of about 32,000 per issue, around 39% of print sales.

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Angry Birds Sequel To Feature Pigs “Point of View”, Multiplayer Version Coming

At the Virtual Goods Summit in London Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka had a lot to say about the future of the Angry Birds franchise. The game, as you may have noticed, had an enormous success on the iPhone, expanded to the iPad with Angry Birds HD and tripled its dominance in the App Store with a Halloween themed version three weeks ago.

A multiplayer player version of the original Angry Birds is coming, and it “will be like old school Worms games”. Vesterbacka also added: “multiplayer is a priority, but we have not determined the best way for our players to experience it yet.” As this wasn’t, the game will soon make its way to PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. A TV show and a Facebook game set in the same universe are also in the works. Read more

Developers Can Now Submit Apps With Identical Names in the iOS and Mac App Store

Two weeks ago we reported several developers were facing issues with Mac App Store submissions, as they weren’t able to register their app’s name in iTunes Connect. At that time it looked like “name squatters” were sitting on popular app names to force developers to pick different ones, but it turned out that a major issue was lying in Apple’s system itself.

Two weeks ago, in fact, developers who had already submitted an app to the iOS App Store with a certain name weren’t able to use that same name in the Mac App Store registering process. Imagine the frustration of developers who already had iPhone apps in the App Store and wanted to submit Mac counterparts to the upcoming store. Read more

Id Software’s Mutant Bash TV a.k.a. “Rage Mobile” Approved, Coming Tomorrow

John Carmack’s latest creation for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad is something I’ve been looking forward since the first video demo in August. The guy co-founded id Software and programmed true masterpieces such as Wolfestein 3D, Doom and Quake. You don’t mess with id Software, and each project form Carmack is something you should keep an eye on.

Previously known as “Rage Mobile” then re-announced as Mutant Bash TV, the upcoming game from id Sofwtare is a first person shooter “on rails” set in the Rage universe. Unlike many other similar portings from consoles and PCs to mobile devices, though, MBT has been completely rewritten to take advantage of the iPhone’s unique features, namely a large button-free device where the only input system is your finger. Read more

Former CEO of Northrop Grumman Ron Sugar Joins Apple’s Board of Directors

Today Apple appointed a new member of the Board of Directors: Ron Sugar, former CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp. “Dr. Sugar will serve as the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee”, the press release reports. He takes the spot left by Jerry York, who passed away in March.

Steve Jobs is very happy about the decisions, as “Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader” that has been involved in the development “of some very sophisticated technology.” Being Apple an engineering-driven company, it’s no surprise Ron Sugar is a new member of the Board of Directors. Press release follows below. Read more

Internet’s Apple Concepts→

Internet’s Apple Concepts

Whatever the answer to the question of what is Apple announcing tomorrow, I’m sure it lies somewhere in my archive of The Internet’s Apple Concepts. It’s a real folder, with hundreds of more-and-less goofy mockups gathered from various rumor sites, forums, and blogs. God bless their ambitious souls.

Where is the iTunes Machine, Apple?

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Create PDFs From Any iOS Device→

Create PDFs From Any iOS Device

I’ve decided to take it a step further for those who want to “print” but remain paperless: Print to a PDF. And not only print to a PDF, but then immediately have that PDF accessible to the same device.

Great tip over at TUAW. Not only you’ll be able to create PDFs inside apps that support AirPrint, you’ll end up having the document available in Dropbox with just one tap.

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Twitter App Updated with Push Notifications, Improved iPad Interface, iOS 4.2 Compatibility

As I wrote earlier today, an update to the official Twitter app for iPhone and iPad was one of the updates I was really looking forward to. We knew the new version had been approved by Apple, and it was just waiting to go live in iTunes. The update, version 3.2, is finally available here.

As announced on the official Twitter blog, push notifications for messages and mentions have been enabled in the app. They’re available only on the iPhone counterpart for now:

When you’re out and about, your phone probably isn’t always in front of you. It might be in your pocket or purse or on a table – perhaps with the screen off. We want to make sure you see important Tweets even when you’re not looking at Twitter at the moment. To help with that, today we’re launching push notifications for mentions.

In addition to mentions, we’re also bringing push notifications for Messages to Twitter for iPhone, as we’ve already done with SMS and Twitter for Blackberry.

The update also brings more Retina graphics to the iPhone and geotagging with “one tap”. But the real deal’s on the iPad: we’re installing the updated version right now, but looking at the changelog we see Loren Brichter has been working on bringing inline media to the app, together with lots of UI improvements, iOS 4.2 fixes and saved search management.

These improvements include a simpler way to dismiss “panels” opened while navigating between users and links, more intuitive behavior for the aforementioned panels and various fixes to improve the user experience. It’s easier to navigate back to the first panel (or, the “timeline”) now, the animation of inline web previews has been slightly tweaked to “bounce” more when swiping and you can swipe on the inline media viewer, too. The effect is cool, but I wonder what’s the purpose. Try it by yourself with any twitpic or yfrog link.

As for iOS 4.2 support, the app correctly saves states and the login error that affected the previous version on iOS 4.2 has been fixed.

Check out the full changelog and additional screenshots below. Read more