Magic Launch Winners Announced, Discount Code for MacStories Readers

Thanks everyone who entered the Magic Launch giveaway. Also, we’d like to thank Michelf for the licenses they gave to MacStories.

Here are the winners:

perKypot

Rob Weber

You’ll receive the licenses in your inbox in a matter of a few hours. Stay tuned for other giveaways coming this week.

Also, you can get a 20% off using the discount code MACSTORIES, or just open this link.

In the meantime, you can follow the official MacStories Twitter account as @macstoriesnet .

And also, be sure to check out our teaser page for the MacStories:Next project. Something magical is coming soon.

Dragster, Drag & Drop for Pros

It’s not like Mac OS X lacks tools to perform mundane tasks quickly. Actually, there are dozens of apps that allow us to avoid the bore of repeating the same copy and paste between folders for the 30th time, and I guess you’ve already tried a couple that enable you to do so with a single drag & drop. I further guess you’ve tested Dropzone by Aptonic, a great app I find myself using on a daily basis which has been recently updated to the 1.1 version. Dropzone is awesome, but it’s geared towards specific functions. I mean, Dropzone was clearly developed with social networking savvy people in mind, those who need to send pictures to Twitpic, share a quick note online and perhaps install a couple of new applications on their Mac. Sure Dropzone can be extended, but still it doesn’t get the job done when it comes to more complicated workflows, those that require structured, yet repeated tasks. That’s where Dragster from Ambrosia SW comes in.

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Preview: Globetrotters for iPad, And Let the Party Games Begin

Party games weren’t that huge of a success on the iPhone. Wait, were there party games on the iPhone at all?

The iPhone wasn’t (isn’t) exactly the best fit for party games, but things are gonna change with the iPad. Thanks to the bigger screen (yes, once again) some developers thought that it would have been interesting to step into the unexplored land of local multiplayer and offer users the possibility to touch things on screen - together.

Globetrotters is the first games we’ve just stumbled upon, it features (what they seem) nice graphics and allows you to play with 3 other friends on the same device. From what we can see right now, you basically have to jump from a planet to another and collect some colored stars to win. Sorta. But anyway, the thing is - party games are now possible. Too bad I won’t have 3 other friends with an iPad to test Globetrotters, because it looks good. Take a look at the screenies after the jump.

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PunchClock, Beauty in Time Tracking. Review and Giveaway!

You gotta clock in and clock out to get paid. After all, time is money. And even if you’re a freelancer, online tools like Basecamp offer time tracking prowess between you and your collaborators. If time tracking is up your ally, Fuel Collective’s PunchClock removes the fuss from traditional log-in / log-out pains by providing Mac users with one of the most beautiful menubar applications I’ve seen in a long time. Simplicity really is bliss, and with PunchClock, you’ll always have the time on hand. Read more

Permute Winner Announced

Thanks everyone who entered the Permute giveaway. Also, we’d like to thank Fuel Collective for the licenses they gave to MacStories.

Here’s the winner:

Douglas Reynholm

Stay tuned for other giveaways coming this week.

In the meantime, you can follow the official MacStories Twitter account as @macstoriesnet.

And also, be sure to check out our teaser page for the MacStories:Next project. Something magical is coming soon.

Preview: Yellow Pages for iPad

I did see this coming. Already available on the iPhone, the Yellow Pages app can surely make a great use of the additional screen real estate, thus providing a far better experience for the user. Look at the tab bar though: 10 icons. Couldn’t it just use popovers instead of all those tabs? We’ll see. Until that day, take a look at the screenshots below.

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iVerse Comics Shows How In-App Purchase Will Look Like On the iPad

We know the iPad is going to change many things, but reading is no doubt the experience that will undergo the most significant changes thanks to Apple’s new product. We have this large screen, we have iBooks..but what about comics? We heard Panelfly was working on the iPad version of its popular application, but today we’ve found a video of an alternative to Panelfly, iVerse Comics, which is noteworthy.

Thing is, this video of iVersa gives us a glimpse of what in-app purchase looks like on the iPad and you can see, the guys have basically embedded the App Store interface right inside the application. Coverflow and all, it’s there. You can sort comics with a popover on the left, swipe and slide to see what’s hot, purchase. Modal windows everywhere, it seems like it will be a real pleasure to spend money just to buy the latest issue of Star Trek.

We’ve embedded the video below. We can’t wait to see more.

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From China: MacBook Pro Clone with Dual Core Atom 330 Processor, HDMI

People can be so innovative sometimes. On the other hand, Chinese manufacturers seem to only care about releasing products that resemble (and in most cases, just copy) Apple’s ones. iPhone and iPod clones aside, there’s a new kid on the block, and it’s a MacBook clone. Seriously? Yeah, as GadgetMix reports:

” This Macbook Pro Clone from Shanzai uses a dual-core Atom 330 processor. This Macbook Pro Clone uses similar casing and even sports a touchpad with integrated buttons, just like the original one. Although the Atom is much weaker than the Core 2 Duo CPUs that the Macbook Pros come equipped with, it features next generation ION graphic chipset which allows 1080p video playback on it like a duck soup.

Other specs include – 160GB/320GB hard disk, 1/2GB RAM, 14.1” 1366×768 display, HDMI, 3 USB 2.0 ports, memory card reader, Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth.

Note that it is possible to get one with Atom N450 processor too.”

Now the saddest thing is, I know a few people who purchased fake iPhones and live happily with them (it’s got TV!!) and are very likely to consider this one (it’s got High Definition!). An interesting paradox would be that eBay sellers that sell this stuff will use the Ebay new apps on an original iPhone. Also, I wonder if these Chinese Macbooks have a built in Great Firewall.