Apple has won a patent for a multi-touch gesturing system that involves virtual keyboard or large surface computer, Patently Apple reports. The application was filed in 2006 and granted 2 days ago, you can check it out here.
Apple Granted Patent for Multi-touch Gesturing System
Starcraft II Beta for Mac Available
Available on Battle.net only for those who made it into the beta and for north american servers. Good news.
New Flash Player “Gala” Brings H.264 Hardware Decoding
The war between Apple and Adobe continues, but there are good news for Flash on Mac OS X today: Adobe has released a preview build of Gala, a version of Flash Player that has access to low level H.264 hardware decoding. This version is aimed at developers, but you can go install it here.
From the press release:
“Users will be able to enjoy a much smoother viewing experience when accessing rich, H.264 video content built with the Flash Platform from popular sites like Hulu.com or YouTube.
The Gala preview release is an opportunity for developers to preview this functionality and to test compatibility with existing content on supported Mac computers. We want your feedback to help improve this feature, which is expected to ship following the release of Flash Player 10.1.
In this preview release, you will be able to recognize when hardware decoding is in use when you see a small white square appear in the upper left corner of a video.”
[via]
Tweetie 2 Updated, With A Surprise
We know that Tweetie has been bought by Twitter, and should be released soon in the App Store under the name of “Twitter for iPhone”, but Loren decided to release a little surprise for us, available now in the App Store.
The latest (and maybe last) update for Tweetie 2 contains a sort of slot machine, and if you manage to win the game an image will appear telling you that Twitter for iPhone will be available soon. Check out the screenshots after the break.
Goodbye, Tweetie.
StealthArmor Winners Announced
Thanks everyone who entered the StealthArmor giveaway. Here are the winners:
Eugene Gordin
Swiftman
We’ll email you all the details in a few minutes. Stay tuned for other giveaways coming this week. You can follow the official MacStories Twitter account as @macstoriesnet or Federico as @viticci
Dejumble: Quick Tasks and Notes [Beta]
Today’s “productivity day” at MacStories: we’ve just reviewed Things for iPad, and now we’re on to another application, this time for Mac OS X, which is currently in beta and aims at empowering you to create tasks, projects and notes directly from the menubar, in a cool floating interface.
Meet Dejumble.
Things for iPad, Reviewed.
I got started to the GTD method years ago with Things from Cultured Code. It was a simple, good looking application that didn’t aim at empowering me to do tons of, ehm, things with my tasks, but it focused on simplicity and ease to use instead. Back then, it was the only app I needed to stay productive and keep up with my todo list.
Has Apple Just Bought Siri?
Shopping days for Steve: after the acquisition of Intrinsity, it seems like Apple has bought Siri, the virtual personal assistant also available for the iPhone.
Basing on this FTC document, the transaction has been granted on April 27th.
If you haven’t ever tried Siri before, we’ve embedded a preview video after the break. I can see the acquisition of Siri as a clear way for Apple to enter in direct competition with Google in the mobile search field, considering the technology behind this app - you can basically search for restaurants, cinemas, bands and more by using your voice. It’s a revolutionary and, most of all, working to get things done in a natural way and I won’t be surprised at all to see this implemented in a future version of Voice Control. In the meantime, the app is still available here.
Apple Seed Mac OS X 10.6.4 Build 10F37 To Developers
According to iPhoneinCanada, Apple has sent the first build of Mac OS X 10.6.4 to some known developers.
“The current build focuses on Graphics Drivers, SMB, Time Machine backups, USB, and VoiceOver. The build does not include any further updates or enhancements.”
We’ll keep you posted about it, but you can be sure that it’s going to take several months - pretty much like 10.6.3.