Sprint To Launch ZTE Peel 3G Case for iPod Touch On November 14th?

Boy Genius Report claims it has obtained information from a reliable source that Sprint is looking to launch the ZTE Peel, a case for the iPod Touch that turns the device into a 3G-capable unit, on November 14th. BGR also claims 29 bucks per month will grant you 1GB of data:

We don’t have any details on how much the actual device will sell for, but we do know Sprint plans on charging $29.99 per month for 1GB of data usage with no contract.

The ZTE Peel, approved by the FCC earlier this year, is basically a mobile hotspot that brings mobile cellular data to the iPod Touch, otherwise capable of working on Wifi-only.

iPads Become Light Source for Professional Photoshoot

We’ve heard a lot of stories about the iPad being used in many original and innovative ways. So many of them, actually, that it’s not easy to remember all the photos, videos and stories detailing the iPad as a revolutionary device used for something else than it was originally meant to – a portable computer.

Today we take the iPad-related stories a step further with this video where photographer and filmmaker Jesse Rosten (hey, he’s the same guy behind iPad + Velcro, the video that even got featured by Apple) used an array of 9 iPads as a light source for a model photoshoot. With a light background at full brightness, the iPads managed to generate enough light to let Jesse shoot the great pictures you can see in the video below. Read more

Is Realistic UI Design Realistic?→

Is Realistic UI Design Realistic?

When Apple introduced the iPad, along with it came a set of Human Interface Guidelines.

This idea is essentially doubling down on skeuomorphic realism — a derivative device containing features from an analog ancestor for purely aesthetic or emotional reasons.

But how good is that advice, generally? This is clearly a call for more than just the polished aesthetic details and refinements a designer takes pride in. This is about advancing literalist design styles and skeuomorphics on the grounds that it improves usability through a natural understanding of how an app works. Apple rightly resisted this temptation in many cases, but the Notes and Calendar apps are a different story. Apple combined analog design with modern UI patterns at the expense of affordance. My real life, analog paper doesn’t scroll. Are we now to expect its digital replication should?

A very few developers seem to understand that you don’t have to necessarily imitate real life objects to create a successful and enjoyable application. [via Beautiful Pixels]

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iTunes Movies Now Available in Italy and Switzerland, We Want An Apple TV Now

Good news, fellow Italian and Swiss MacStories readers: we haz iTunes Movies. Earlier today Apple indeed silently launched the new iTunes section in both countries, you too can check it out by following this link. Both normal purchases and rentals are available.

We say “silently” because no press release went out nor did Apple put any banners and / or links in the iTunes Store homepage to promote the new Movies (or, in Italian, “Film”) – it’s pretty much a hidden section with a rather straightforward interface. Read more

MacStories Weekly Game: Time Geeks

Time Geeks is a classic seek and find game like the ones we used to play in the 80s and early 90s. Those games where you’re given something to find, and the level isn’t completed until you find it. Simple rules. Simple gameplay. So how do you reinvent the genre today, with an App Store overloaded with 3D FPS and zombies games? By making it fun, geek, great-looking and cheap.

At $0.99 in the App Store, I’m not afraid to say Time Geeks is my new favorite game on the iPhone. Read more

Mac App Store Name Squatting? More Like A Bug In Apple’s System

Yesterday we reported many Mac developers lamented over the impossibility to register their Mac applications in iTunes Connect and submit them to the Mac App Store for Apple’s approval. Apparently, the problem lied in already registered bundle identifiers – the actual names of the apps.

We reported Tod Ditchendorf, developer of the popular Fluid for Mac, was unable to register the app, just like Realmac Software with Little Snapper and RapidWeaver or Isaiah Carew with Kiwi. That lead use to think name squatters were already targeting the Mac App Store.

Read more

Rumor: Apple Almost Bought Kinect in 2008

Fascinating rumor posted by Cult of Mac today: according to author Leander Kahney, Apple almost acquired the company behind today’s Microsoft’s Kinect controller in 2008. According to the rumor, Inon Beracha, CEO of Israeli company PrimeSense, had been visiting many companies in the Silicon Valley to sell the technology, developed by engineers in the Israeli military.

Based on cameras and an infrared sensor to recognize users’ movements in space, Beracha thought Apple would be interested in applying the technology in its products. Read more

Quake 3 Arena Coming To Jailbroken iPads Today

If you have a jailbroken iPad and happen to like first-person shooters, you must be happy to know that Quake 3 Arena is coming to the tablet in a glorious full-resolution version with high-res textures and on-screen controls.

Based on the original id Software game and the iPhone port released by Seth Kingsley in 2008, Quake 3 Arena for iPad has gone under a complete makeover thanks to Alexander Pick’s efforts, who squashed lots of bugs and turned the game in a full tablet-enjoyable experience. It can even run on non-jailbroken devices using a developer certificate and on a jailbroken iPad running iOS 4.2, with installation happening via manual APT, I guess.

The game can be played offline and online, levels can be added via iTunes file sharing and you can also drop high resolution texture files into it. We can’t wait. Additional info available on Paduser. [9to5 via Giz]