Bentley Creates New Ad Using iPhone 5s, iPad Air→

Bentley’s new ad (via Jim Dalrymple) has been shot on an iPhone 5s in New York City and edited in a Bentley Mulsanne using an iPad Air with an Apple wireless keyboard.

It’s a nice promo video – if anything, it shows a wide array of accessories and apps used for the task (like Apple’s crew), and it confirms that iOS needs more keyboard shortcuts. People in the video are constantly switching between the hardware keyboard and the screen, which is uncomfortable – it’d be nice to have improvements here with iOS 8.

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Apple Updates iTunes Connect App for iOS 7→

Following OS X, iTunes, and Podcasts for iOS, Apple released a long overdue update to the iTunes Connect app today, bringing a new iOS 7 design and wider support for media sold on the iTunes Store.

If you’re a developer or content creator, you can now enjoy a redesigned app (nothing special, but nice icon) and view stats for music, movies, and TV shows available on iTunes.

iTunes Connect 3.0 is available on the App Store.

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Podcasts for iOS Updated with Siri Integration, Improved Show Notes Support, and More

Following changes to podcast listening in iTunes 11.2, Apple updated its dedicated app for iOS devices, Podcasts, to version 2.1, available now on the App Store.

Podcasts 2.1 comes with the same browsing improvements seen in the latest iTunes – you can browse by All Unplayed episodes, scroll a podcast’s feed, and manage settings for automatic download of episodes and deletion after playback. Settings and Share menus are available in a podcast’s individual screen, where tabs for Unplayed and Feed allow you to browse episodes you haven’t listened to as well as all episodes from a show’s archive. Read more

Apple Releases OS X 10.9.3

Apple updated OS X Mavericks to version 10.9.3 today, adding better support for 4K displays, sync improvements, and bundling Safari 7.0.3 (previously a standalone update) into the OS.

Improved 4K display support is available for the Late 2013 Mac Pro and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, and it allows OS X to drive a connected 4K display with pixels in “2x” (Retina) mode for high-resolution graphics. As for sync improvements, OS X now allows contacts and calendars to be synced between a Mac and iOS using a USB connection.

Other improvements in OS X 10.9.3 are listed on Apple’s official release note page. OS X 10.9.3 is available through Software Update on the Mac App Store or via direct download using the links below.

Nintendo DS Keynote: 10 Years Later→

On the tenth anniversary of the Nintendo DS keynote at E3 2004, Federico and Myke take a look back at Nintendo’s announcements on that day and the gaming industry from a decade ago.

On May 11, 2004, Nintendo officially introduced the first-generation Nintendo DS – a console that would go on to revolutionize portable gaming and set new paradigms for touch-enabled games for the next several years.

We did a lot of research for this episode – make sure you don’t miss my Flickr set with scans of old videogame magazines showing photos of E3 2004 and the first tech demos and games. It’s difficult to measure the impact of the Nintendo DS on the industry and Nintendo itself in two hours, but we tried our best.

Get the episode here.

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Thomas Was Alone Released for iPad→

Mike Bithell’s classic indie puzzle platformer Thomas Was Alone has been released on the iPad today. The game, ported by Surgeon Simulator developer Bossa Studios, features 100 levels, a new on-screen control system designed for iOS, and the same narration by Danny Wallace for which the British filmmaker and actor won a BAFTA Games Award in 2013.

Thomas Was Alone is one of the best games I’ve played this year. I bought the PS Vita version a few months ago, and I’ve been constantly impressed by Bithell’s tasteful level design and focus on collaboration between characters to get through stages. In Thomas Was Alone, you control a group of AIs who have become sentient and want to escape the computer mainframe they’re trapped into; the AIs (Thomas and his friends) are rectangles, and each one of them has a special ability, whether it’s higher jump or the ability to float on water. To complete stages, you’ll have to think in terms of collaboration rather than individualities: there are platforms that can be reached only if one character helps another jump onto it, while water-based sections require the AIs to proceed on top of the one that can swim. The way AIs, game mechanics, and narrations are intertwined makes for a classy, precise, and elegant game that always requires you to think of platforms as puzzles that can be solved by collaborating instead of running towards the end of a level. I love Thomas Was Alone and I can’t wait for Bithell’s next game.

Polygon has an interview with Bithell in which he explains the new controls for iPad:

“On either side of the screen, we have these color balls that you put your thumb on in order to select which character you want to use,” he said. “It’s a really intuitive, easy thing that you can basically play the entire game without moving your hands.

“That was the thing. It’s on iPad. If you’re holding the iPad, I don’t want you to ever have to move your hands from flanking either side of the iPad in your hands. I don’t want you to have to put the weight of the iPad in one hand and then use your finger for something else. It’s all played in that kind of default gamer position of the two thumbs, ready to do stuff on the screen.”

Thomas Was Alone for iPad is available at $8.99 on the App Store.

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