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Apple seeds OS X Mavericks Developer Preview 7
Apple is moving steadily forward on OS X Mavericks, releasing the Preview 7 version to developers today. The release includes a few extra wallpapers and a link to a new OS X Mavericks page that is not fully live, yet. There are also a handful of bug fixes that are detailed in the release notes posted by 9to5 Mac.
The latest Mavericks preview can be downloaded from the Mac App Store as a software update. Registered OS X developers can also download the preview from Apple's Developer Center.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/apple-seeds-os-x-mavericks-developer-preview-7/
RocketSpace CEO Duncan Logan Talks Expansion Plans And What ‘Office-As-A-Service' Actually Means
RocketSpace, a San Francisco office company that has hosted companies like Uber, Zaarly, Podio, and Pocket Gems (though not always the main team), recently moved into a new, bigger space — two spaces, actually, one for early-stage startups and one for more mature companies.
The move seemed like a good opportunity to both tour the new office and talk to founder and CEO Duncan Logan about San Francisco real estate, his future plans, and his description of RocketSpace as an “office-as-a-service”.
To be honest, I went in suspecting that “office-as-a-service” was just a fancy way of saying “real estate company with other services”. However, Logan rattled off a number of other programs that Rocket Space has built on top of its desk/office rental business, including corporate innovation/partnerships, RocketU training, and the startup accelerator. As those other services grow, he said that revenue from rentals is becoming “a smaller and smaller percentage every month” of RocketSpace’s total business. Logan added:
If we were just about the real estate we would be rolling out RocketSpaces everywhere. While we do intend to expand to other locations, it’s really about building a brand which is really focused on the best startups. We think, as a young company, you are a product of your environment and you should choose that environment really carefully and surround yourself really carefully … and that’s more our focus than filling real estate.
As for where RocketSpace goes from here, Logan named a number of cities where the company might open a second location, including New York, Austin, London and Toronto. He said he’s hoping to sign a lease on a second US location by the end of this year and actually open the new office in early 2014.
Oh, if you want to see what the old RocketSpace looked like, you can watch this video from a year ago.
via TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/l483zv2B0XQ/
YCombinator’s Paul Graham now taking applications for Startup School 2013 (and it’s free)
If you want to start a startup, there’s a school for that. It’s called Startup School, and it was created by YCombinator’s Paul Graham, who is now taking applications for attendees.
The best part? It’s free.
Previous speakers have included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, superangel Ron Conway, Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann, and Uber founder Travis Kalanick. They apparently know a thing or two about starting startups — billion-dollar startups.
“Are you a programmer, engineer, or designer who has thought about one day starting a startup?” Startup School’s site asks. “Have you already started it? Then you’re invited to a free, one-day startup school.”
Paul Graham
If you want to get in, the price is clearly right, but you’re going to have to jump through a few hoops. With speakers like these, there’s a lot of competition for limited seats. So Graham has set up an application form for you to tell Y Combinator about your education, work, developer tools, and “the coolest thing you’ve built.” Given that this is almost certain to be overbooked, you’d better have something interesting to crow about.
Startup School 2013 is in the Flint Center in Cupertino, Calif. (no, not the Flint Cultural Center in Flint, MI), and it’ll be on Oct. 19.
You’ll need to apply by Sept. 20, and you’ll know if you made the grade by Sept. 30. The experience might be just what you need to push you over the edge and do that startup you’ve been dreaming about.
“Many founders have told us that this event was what finally made them take the leap,” Graham wrote on the site. It’s also probably a very good first step to applying to YCombinator if you want to get into probably the world’s most prestigious accelerator program.
Startup School 2013 speakers have not yet been announced.
via VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/03/ycombinators-paul-graham-now-taking-applications-for-startup-school-2013-and-its-free/
On-the-fly business portraits are a snap with George
What makes the app different is the ability to put your image in front of a more businesslike background. To make the app work its magic, your original photo must be taken in front of a solid background. You then click on the background of the photo, and the app adds a nice wood "boardroom"-style look replacing the background that was previously there. It's similar to the chroma-key or green-screen effect used on TV and in the movies. You can also adjust the contrast of your photo and sharpen it. A collection of backgrounds is available through an $1.99 in-app purchase.
There are options to save the photo to your camera roll or share it via Facebook, Twitter or email. All effects have an undo button.
I found the app pretty easy to use and the results were good. You can select either of the iPhone's cameras. Most of the icons the app uses were obvious as to their purpose, but one icon remained dim and I wasn't sure what it was. It turns out that it was the additional background feature, and the icon remains dim until you purchase more backgrounds. I think the app would benefit from some built-in help to avoid user confusion.
The background image inserted cleanly. If the background is not evenly lit, you can click a few times on the background to make sure it fits in.
George - Quick Business Portraits is a clever little app that fills a need some people will have. It requires iOS 6.1 or greater, and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It does have ads that are displayed at the top of the screen.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/on-the-fly-business-portraits-are-a-snap-with-george/
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10/DSC-QX100 smartphone lenses to ship later this month
Rumors have been flying about a pair of camera lens accessories from Sony that will work with the iPhone and Android phones. Now AppleInsider is reporting that details have been leaked on the Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 (about US$250) and DSC-QX100 (about $500), both of which are set to be announced tomorrow and launched later in September.
The news was initially published by SonyAlpha Rumors earlier today, complete with an advertisement showing how the lenses work. They can be used totally detached from a phone and controlled by the Sony PlayMemories Mobile app (free), which allows the iPhone to be used as a real-time viewfinder. The lenses use Wi-Fi to connect to the iPhone or an Android device, but can also store images on a microSD card of up to 64 GB capacity.
The entry-level DSC-QX10 has a 1/2.3-inch Exmor CMOS sensor and a Sony G 9 lens. That combination gives the lens 18.9-megapixel images and a 10 times optical zoom. The DSC-QX100 has a 1-inch Exmor sensor capable of grabbing 20.9-megapixel photos, and has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens with a fast F1.8 aperture, although not as much of an optical zoom range.
Should you decide that you'd like to have the lens attached to your iPhone "DSLR-style", there's an camera attachment case that the lens snaps onto. These lenses are a fascinating photography accessory for the iPhone that will bring iPhoneography to a higher level. Check out the video demonstrating the DSC-QX10 and DSC-QX100 below.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-qx10-dsc-qx100-smartphone-lenses-to-ship-lat/
The spiritual successor to Mega Man is Mighty No. 9, and it's coming to Mac
Over the long holiday weekend, former Capcom game developer and father of the Mega Man franchise, Keiji Inafune, launched a Kickstarter campaign for his next game. It's called Mighty No. 9, and in the roughly 48 hours that has passed since the crowd funding began it has raised over $1.35 million USD. The game's original goal amount was $900,000, with a series of stretch goals that reach all the way to $2.5 million. Having just passed the $1.35 million goal, Mighty No. 9 is now officially coming to Mac.
You can score your own digital copy of the game -- which is schedule to launch in April 2015 (yikes) -- for a $20 contribution, though if you've got some extra cash to drop you can offer as much as $10,000. A donation of that size scores you a metric ton of bonus goodies as well as dinner and drinks with lead developer Inafune himself.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/the-spiritual-successor-to-mega-man-is-mighty-no-9-and-its-co/
Get new life out of an old Mac Pro
You've been drooling at the video of the new Mac Pro, but realize that your chances of having enough money to buy one of the cylindrical black speedsters when they ship this fall are slim to none. Not to worry -- iMore's Peter Cohen has just the answer if you'd like to add some life to your existing Mac Pro.
What Cohen wisely suggests is replacing your old Mac Pro's hard drive with a Solid State Drive (SSD). He borrowed a couple of SSDs from One World Computing (AKA OWC) and put 'em through the test. The first was a SATA-based drive, the Mercury Extreme 6G (480 GB for US$549.99), while the second drive was a PCI Express-based drive called the Mercury Accelsior_E2 (up to 960 GB for $1289.99).
The Mercury Accelsior_E2 is unique in that it's a PCI Express card with an SSD built on. Cohen notes that you can upgrade the SSDs down the road, as the PCIe card-based devices have removable SSDs on them. Any Mac Pro from 2008 or later should work just fine with this drive placed into one of the two 16x slots, while 2009 and newer Mac Pro models will get the best possible performance from any slot.
I won't divulge all of Cohen's test results, but let's just say that the SSDs -- especially the Mercury Accelsior_E2 -- smoked the basic hard drive in terms of performance. While the maximum capacity versions of these drives aren't exactly cheap, they're certainly less expensive than any new Mac Pro will likely be.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/get-new-life-out-of-an-old-mac-pro/
Amazon's AWS Command Line Tool Hits General Availability, Lets You Control 23 Services From Your Terminal
Graphical user interfaces are great, but sometimes, the good-old command line is all you need. Amazon today announced that its command line interface for AWS has hit general availability.
For a while now, Amazon Web Services has made this command line tool available as a developer preview. The tool allows developers to control 23 of AWS’s services from the command line without the need to touch its somewhat convoluted web interface. Few people, of course, manage their AWS accounts from the command line, but having these tools available allows developers to automate many of their processes.
As Amazon notes, today’s release includes some updates to the file commands for its S3 cloud storage service that use a file system command syntax to allow developers to “list the contents of online buckets, upload a folder full of files, and synchronize local files with objects stored in Amazon S3.”
As with all things AWS, configuring the tool isn’t exactly trivial, but Amazon offers an easy step-by-step install guide and extensive documentation to help new users get started. The tool is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and also comes pre-installed on the most recent versions of the Amazon Linux AMI, Amazon’s supported and maintained Linux image for use on its EC2 cloud-computing service.
via TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/0eVDGVqZFCU/
Optimizely Co-Founder Pete Koomen On Using The Art Of A/B Testing
San Francisco startup Optimizely has had a lot of success in making A/B testing much more accessible to the masses. And along the way, Optimizely’s co-founders Dan Siroker and Pete Koomen say that they’ve learned quite a bit themselves about the practice of A/B testing, and what it can do for websites and software products — so much, in fact, that they decided to write a book about it, A/B Testing: The Most Powerful Way to Turn Clicks Into Customers .
The book has some rave reviews (Marissa Mayer has called it “smart” and “valuable”), so we recently invited Koomen to swing by TechCrunch TV and share some key takeaways. We also caught up a bit on the latest at Optimizely as a company, which just crossed over the 100 employee mark. Check it all out in the video embedded above.
via TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/aY9qAYgEE60/
GraphDive Raises $2M For Social Media Analytics And Targeting
GraphDive, a startup that uses Facebook Connect data to give businesses a better understanding of their online visitors, has raised $2 million in new funding.
Co-founder and CEO Shahram Seyedin-Noor said the company allows website owners to do more with the social data that’s already provided by users who log in to their sites via Connect. It analyzes a user’s account activity and infers their interests and key demographic data — age, income, education, and relationship status. (In its effort to build an “interest graph” connecting related interests, Seyedin-Noor said GraphDive could be compared to Gravity, except that Gravity is focused on publishers).
So far, the company offers three services that take advantage of that data, one for segmenting users into different groups, another for delivering personalized recommendations to those users, and a third for Facebook ads targeted at new users that are similar to the most valuable of a businesses’ most existing users.
How accurate is the analysis? Well, you can test it out yourself by logging in to the GraphDive site and seeing what the system infers about you. That’s what I did, and demographically, on three out of four counts, it pegged me correctly — the only incorrect inference was that I’m married. It also provided a list of my interests, which started off accurate and gradually became more shaky. Overall, it seemed to paint a pretty solid picture of who I am.
It’s clear how this could be useful to businesses, but what about consumers? Well, Seyedin-Noor argued that GraphDive is “the anti-spam company,” because it allows users to see content, recommendations, and ads that are actually relevant to them, and because those users have opted in by signing up for a particular site through Facebook Connect.
Seyedin-Noor added that the company, which he founded with Sina Sohangir in 2011, has seen 10x growth in terms of daily API usage in the past three months. Customers include Walmart and Lyft.
The new funding comes from Crosslink Capital, Correlation Ventures, Plug & Play Tech Center, Start Capital, and Pejman Nozad, adding to the $1 million that GraphDive raised last year. Future plans include adding new platforms, such as Twitter and Google+, and other languages.
via TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lp_MsfAk6nA/
The PrioVR sensor suit will track your whole body in virtual reality
YEI Technology just launched the Kickstarter campaign for its PrioVR virtual reality sensor suit. If it reaches its funding goal of $225,000, the suit will offer full-body motion tracking that can then be coupled with the OculusVR and other virtual reality headsets for a more immersive experience.
The concept is an exciting one, though I do have some concerns. The campaign video, for instance, shows a player waving a sword while wearing the Oculus Rift. That may sound like fun, but it also sounds like a recipe for accidental dismemberment. Full-body motion capture also requires a lot of room to operate, making it less practical.
Developer kits for the PrioVR can be had for a minimum pledge of $450. The company will offer a lite version and a pro edition with additional sensors.
Projects like the Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, MYO armband and now PrioVR have set lofty goals of making our virtual reality dreams come true. Realistically, some of these products are bound to turn out as duds, but that shouldn’t stop them, or us, from continuing to dream.
➤ PrioVR
via The Next Web http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNextWeb/~3/h8niXeegsa4/
Rumor Roundup: The 150-pound iWatch
Apple to deliver OS X 10.8.5 with Mail, screen saver fixes as soon as today (AppleInsider)
This article was posted August 26. It's September 3 as I write this, and 10.8.5 still hasn't been made publicly available. You're only 8 days off (so far), AppleInsider. Excuse me, "sometimes reliable" AppleInsider.
Retina iPad mini housing leaks in huge photo gallery (BGR)
"The case looks a lot like the current-generation iPad mini housing of course, though there are some subtle differences." Don't feel like you need to actually point those differences out or anything. If you did, you might actually lend some credibility to this rumor, and we just can't have that.
High-res photos claim to show iPad 5 front panel (9to5 Mac)
"The photos are consistent with what we're all expecting: essentially a scaled-up iPad Mini, with thinner bezels on the sides." Because this is consistent with what we're all expecting, you can also expect pundits to go frothing-mouthed insane once this product is announced. Minus 4000 quatloos to the first moron who unironically says, "It's just a big iPad mini."
Apple's September 10 iPhone Media Event Said to Also Include New iPads (MacRumors)
Hahahaha... nope.
More evidence points to iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C launch on September 20th (BGR)
Said "evidence" is really just mobile carriers like T-Mobile blacking out vacation days. Now here's a question: do these companies actually know the official launch date for these products, or are they just making an educated guess?
EXCLUSIVE -- iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C launch date seemingly confirmed by AT&T vacation blackout (BGR)
BGR eventually removed the "EXCLUSIVE" from this article after commenters pointed out that other outlets had published this story days earlier, but I've included it here "for the purposes of discussion." By which I mean "pointing and laughing at them."
And now for this week's biggest thing: leaked photos of the low-cost iPhone.
Analyst rantings and ravings aren't worth the pixels they're printed on, and "sources from the Far East" are flat-out wrong with hilarious regularity. Yet even though it can be faked, to me photographic evidence is usually the next best thing to having an Apple exec debuting an item onstage at an event. All this is a roundabout way of saying I'm convinced: the iPhone 5C is a happening thing.
With that out of the way, let's move back into the realm of pointless speculation and brain-damaged fantasy.
Apple projected to ship nearly 65M 'iWatch' units priced at $199 in first year (AppleInsider)
Some analyst floats some nonsense numbers for a completely speculative product. For some reason, this is reported like it's actual news. Attention AppleInsider and the rest of you rumor blogs: please just accept that these so-called "analysts" know precisely Jacques-merde about Apple and stop polluting the Internet with their re-reported nonsense.
Apple iWatch rumored for 2H 2014 launch, priced between $149-$229 (BGR)
Hey, speaking of sources not worth paying the least bit of serious attention to, "Digitimes cites an analyst" --BZZZZT, super-duper-mega-ultra-fail. Next!
The Boy Genius Report: The Apple TV that no one understands and the reinvention of television (BGR)
"It's not a rumor, but a fact that Apple is looking at bringing a game-changing TV experience out of Cupertino." Oh really? And your evidence is... what exactly?
*crickets*
I thought so.
"you can only fit so many 150-pound televisions in boxes on a plane"
Someone please remind BGR that this is the year 2013. Even today's biggest flatscreen TVs don't weigh nearly this much. Hell, I have a 40-inch LCD, and I can carry it in one arm easily. The issue isn't the weight, but the unwieldy size of the thing.
Mudslinging temporarily aside, I must take this opportunity to reiterate that Apple making its own HDTV makes absolutely no sense. BGR is mostly wrong about why it doesn't make sense, but at least they're making the effort to dust off their critical thinking caps.
And now, let me share with you what is hands down the dumbest thing I read in all of August.
What if Apple's iWatch is... a TV? (TNW)
Immediately after finishing this article, I wrote this on Twitter: "There's so much concentrated stupid in this article that it's hard to know where to begin."
Let's start at the very beginning: a very bad place to start.
"We are allured to the newest devices on offer because of some minor improvement that was actually invented many years ago, but we just weren't allowed to have it before."
Yes. This is exactly how technology works. It has nothing at all to do with optimising technological developments for mass production and making them cost-effective to deploy on a wide scale. It definitely has nothing to do with testing these things thoroughly before unleashing them on eager but fickle consumers. No; companies selfishly hold back their innovations until they're damn good and ready to release them. Right now, Google has a fully-fledged holodeck in its basement in Mountain View, but the jerks won't actually release it to the public until 2037.
"Over the past few years, [Apple's] stream of 'awe-inspiring' products seems to have dried up a bit, or at least hit a blockage in the pipe of creativity and innovation."
MEME ALERT: Apple can't innovate anymore. A touchscreen computer that fits in your pocket and is more powerful than a Mac Pro G5? Yawn. Another touchscreen computer the size of a paperback book that requires zero training to use it? Whatever, innovate faster. A notebook computer that weighs less than a kilogram with all-day battery life? MEH.
"Is it just me who feels this? No. The Internet speaks about it all the time – there's volumes of discussions out there"
And we all know that the vast, dramatically idiotic echo chamber that constitutes the Internet is the ultimate authority on Truth with a capital T. YouTube comments are where I usually go for my daily dose of "discussion."
"Apple's share value has consequently taken the hit as a direct result."
No. Apple's stock price has tanked due to a combination of analysts having unrealistic expectations for continually and exponentially increasing financial performance, a media obsessed with trying to distort every last fact about Apple to fit its "how the mighty have fallen" narrative, and (likely) a dash of good old-fashioned stock manipulation by some shady characters.
"Why is it that a company that has more resources than it has ever had cannot compete on the stock market with Google and Amazon, whose shares continue to rise?"
Because the stock market has become completely decoupled from anything resembling logic or sanity. Apple continually turns in earnings that any company would be overjoyed to report -- including Google and Amazon. Yet because the inmates are running the asylum in the USA's financial institutions, companies who are turning in modest profits see their stocks rise while Apple, turning in record profits quarter after quarter, sees its stock price tank. There's your answer for "why": stupidity, plain and simple.
"Apple doesn't do niche products, as they would tarnish its overall reputation."
Um, what? Here's a short and by no means all-encompassing list of products Apple has introduced over the years that started out as niche products. You may have heard of them:
- The Apple I
- The Macintosh
- The iPod
- The iPhone
And those are just the ones that succeeded. We'd be here all day if I listed all the niche products Apple has ever released. Hilariously, the most arguably "niche" product Apple sells right now is -- wait for it -- the Apple TV.
"TV [...] taps into a $39 billion market. A watch couldn't command even 1% of that market's earnings."
Apple reported quarterly revenue of $35 billion over the three-month period ending in late June. In three months, Apple's revenues nearly equalled those of the entire TV industry. Tell me again why Apple should give a rat's rear about the TV market?
"Many households have more than one TV. It's a gold mine."
No it's not. It's a boondoggle. People don't view televisions as a disposable, commodity product. The same consumers who'll happily upgrade to a new iPhone every other year will hold onto a television until it dies. I'm about as big of a technology hound as you'll find, yet I've owned a grand total of three television sets in the past 18 years. Meanwhile, I've owned four iPhones since 2009. Tell me again why Apple should get into the TV market?
"So let us imagine you are Apple and you're going to bring out a TV that actually profits mainly from its content."
In other words, let us imagine that Apple completely upends its hardware-centric profit model and decides to operate more like a video game company, or Google, or Amazon, or Microsoft. Let us also imagine that anyone who floats this as a serious idea has any clue what they're talking about when it comes to Apple's business model.
As for what this guy expects the Apple HDTV to be like, here's how it breaks down:
- Gesture-based interface (like the Kinect) -- no remote
- 65 inches
- "simply invisible and unobtrusive"
- "screen technology will most certainly be OLED"
- "It's likely to be a 4K resolution screen"
- "The unique selling point in terms of design could be a curved screen"
- Priced at "a level that others cannot match"
- Made in the USA -- even though it's more expensive
In other words, a bunch of hugely expensive technology that Apple has shown no interest in adopting, slammed together in the USA (somehow) and offered for less than the $10,000 that existing televisions using these technologies are selling for.
There's "magical thinking," and then there's this.
"A 65" TV is a rather large object to ship in and distribute. If it's made in the US, then suddenly the cost of shipping decreases which goes towards counteracting any extra labor costs."
Sure -- unless you want to ship this product to that niche market known as the rest of the world outside of the United States of America.
"If Apple doesn't act NOW, it will miss the biggest chance of its corporate lifetime."
Yes. Grabbing a thin slice of a highly-competitive, low-profit market with limited opportunities for consumer turnover is the biggest chance of Apple's corporate lifetime.
"I certainly am not one of those loudmouth, one-sided online trolls and to many people's surprise, given my love for technology, I have never owned or bought an Apple product in my lifetime."
I am shocked, shocked that someone who has never owned an Apple product has been able to demonstrate such "insightful" knowledge of the company's likely future direction. Please, tell me more.
"I have no intentions of doing so, either. The principal reason is due to Apple's eagerness to be separate and monopolistic which suffocates future innovation."
MEME ALERT: Apple is Big Brother, "walled garden," etc. ad infinitum ad nauseaum.
"[Apple] can turn things around beyond these minor innovations and has the potential for a massive profit gain from this TV – a TV called the iWatch."
No. Just no.
Here's the good news. This article was terrible enough that its writer has an extremely promising career ahead of him as an Apple analyst.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/rumor-roundup-the-150-pound-iwatch/
Daily Update for September 3, 2013
You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.
via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/daily-update-for-september-3-2013/
If you advertise your app like this, I hate you
There are already plenty of games on the App Store that have gained an audience by downright copying existing IPs, but while many of these apps display a total lack of creativity in terms of content, most of them at least do their best to properly rip off the original idea. Sure, Modern Combat might look an awful lot like Call of Duty, but at least you know what you're getting.
The ad for Dragon City you see above commits a much more deplorable offense by not only preying on fans of an extremely popular franchise -- in this case, Pokémon -- but at the same time also downright lying to gamers.
The Pokémon franchise debuted on Game Boy back in 1996, and since then it has become a juggernaut in the gaming space. The many games in the series have carried a very familiar look for the entirety of the franchise's existence, and the battle segments in particular have an iconic and recognizable look. The following screenshot is taken from a Pokémon title that was released in 2004:
The similarities between the screenshot above and the Dragon City ad at the top of the page should be rather apparent. The problem is that the image from the Dragon City ad is completely fake. Here's what the actual combat of Dragon City looks like:
So why would Dragon City -- which purports to have more than 10 million players -- want to advertise itself with decidedly low-resolution art and a much less flashy aesthetic than that of the actual game? It's a classic bait-and-switch: Dragon City developer Social Point wants to appear to have the iOS equivalent of an insanely popular Nintendo RPG franchise, when all Dragon City really offers is a microtransaction-driven FarmVille clone with fighting lizards.
I'm not going to dive super deep into the differences between the games, but suffice to say that the Pokémon titles allow you to travel vast distances, meet characters and follow a long and detailed plot, while Dragon City revolves around creating what amounts to a neighborhood for dragons. They have almost nothing in common.
It's shenanigans like this that make it hard for customers to trust new app developers enough to give their games a shot. This upsets me, and if you enjoy finding new and original content on the App Store it should upset you, too.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/if-you-advertise-your-app-like-this-i-hate-you/
Daily Deals for September 3, 2013
It's time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring exclusive TUAW Deals, a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked iOS and OS X selections.
Note: All prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly. TUAW is not responsible for third-party deals and cannot guarantee availability or quality of any particular product at a specific price.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/daily-deals-for-september-3-2013/
TUAW's Daily Deals
Bizness Apps - one year of mobile app development [On sale for $99, down from $708]
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Save 86% off Bizness Apps - one year of mobile app development at TUAW Deals. You will need to provide your credit card details at the time of registration for renewal purposes. You may cancel your subscription at any time to avoid further charges.
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- eBay: [iPhone Accessories] Energizer iSurge Travel Cell Phone Charging Station for $20 + free shipping
- MegaMacs: [Mac Pro] Refurb Apple Mac Pro Xeon Quad-Core 2.66GHz Desktop for $750 + $2 s&h
- eBay: [Media Receivers] Pogoplug Wireless Multimedia Streaming Device for $15 + free shipping
- TigerDirect: [Notebook Carrying Case] OGIO Deluxe Neoprene Laptop Sleeves for $0 after rebate + $4 s&h
- Dell Small Business: [23-Inch LCDs] 2 Dell 23" 1080p LED LCD Displays w/ Dual Stand for $430 + free shipping
iOS Software
STREET FIGHTER IV VOLT [iPhone; Category: Games; On sale for $0.99, down from $4.99] Take on your friends in your favorite Street Fighter titles.
HeyHey Pix [iOS Universal; Category: Photography & Video; Now free, down from $0.99] Why should only adults have all the fun with their camera apps. HeyHey Pix allows children to take photos, decorate them and share them with the world.
STREET FIGHTER II COLLECTION [iPhone; Category: Games; On sale for $0.99, down from $3.99] Take on your friends in your favorite Street Fighter titles.
Speedometer GPS+ (Car speedometer, Bike cyclometer) [iOS Universal; Category: Navigation; Now free, down from $2.99] Speedometer GPS+ is a car speedometer, bike cyclometer and more.
Pacific Rim [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Now free, down from $2.99] Pacific Rim is an all-new action fighting game inspired by the Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures film from acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.
STREET FIGHTER IV [iPhone; Category: Games; On sale for $0.99, down from $4.99] Take on your friends in your favorite Street Fighter titles.
Ride 'Em Rigby - Regular Show [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Now free, down from $0.99] Help Rigby hang on for dear life as Muscle Man rampages through the park. Jump, duck and grab power-ups to keep your ride going as long as you can.
Push Launcher [iPhone; Category: Utilities; Now free, down from $0.99] App launcher that allows you to setup an alarm to launch an app on certain date/time and more.
Warlords Classic - official port from Mac/PC/Amiga [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Now free, down from $4.99] Warlords Classic is an official port of the fabulous game you have been playing in your childhood on PC, Mac or Amiga computers. Now it's available on your iPad.
Star Wars Pinball [iOS Universal; Category: Games; Now free, down from $1.99] Set in a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Pinball lets you interact with the most iconic characters, and relive the greatest moments of the Star Wars universe in 3 Star Wars-themed tables.
Toca Builders [iOS Universal; Category: Education; On sale for $0.99, down from $1.99] Join your new builder friends on an island far away and create a whole new world with blocks. Jump, walk, roll and rotate the builders to use their unique skills, and they will help to build whatever you can imagine.
Lens•Lab [iOS Universal; Category: Photography & Video; Now free, down from $1.99] Lens•Lab, the world's most advanced yet simple to use depth of field tool.
Calc Pro HD - The Top Mobile Calculator! [iPad; Category: Utilities; On sale for $0.99, down from $9.99] Whether you are checking the latest currency rates or converting simple cooking measurements, Calc Pro HD makes it easy to solve even the toughest calculations.
Calc Pro - The Top Mobile Calculator! [iPhone; Category: Utilities; On sale for $0.99, down from $7.99] Whether you are checking the latest currency rates or converting simple cooking measurements, Calc Pro HD makes it easy to solve even the toughest calculations.
Cut the Rope [iPhone; Category: Games; Now free, down from $0.99] Cut the rope to feed candy to little monster Om Nom.
Cut the Rope HD [iPad; Category: Games; Now free, down from $3.99] Cut the rope to feed candy to little monster Om Nom. Apple's App of the Week.
OS X Software
Two Dollar Tuesday [OS X; Category: Various; On sale for $1.99] Two Dollar Tuesday is offering three OS X apps for $1.99 each. Titles include Chronicle, Yoink, Play+ for YouTube.
TimerX [OS X; Category: Health & Fitness; Now free, down from $0.99] TimerX is a simple to use & multifunctional menu-bar timer utility.
Chronicle - Bill Management [OS X; Category: Finance; On sale for $1.99, down from $14.99] If you pay bills, you need Chronicle. It gives you the peace of mind of never having to worry about whether you paid a bill again.
MovieDek [OS X; Category: Video; Now free, down from $9.99] MovieDek is an application utility for extracting frames from a movie file and saving them as images on your Mac.
AppyFridays [OS X; Category: Various; On sale for $10.99] AppyFridays is offering a Lifestyle Bundle that heavily discounts three OS apps. Titles include HDR Darkroom 2, Ensoul Contacts, MiJournal and Axiom Basic (bonus app for the first 1,000 people). The sale lasts until September 5.
Note: All prices are USD and subject to change. Some deals may expire quickly. TUAW is not responsible for third-party deals and cannot guarantee availability or quality of any particular product at a specific price.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/daily-deals-for-september-3-2013/
TUAW over-analyzes the Apple event invitation
Shortly after @jdalrymple announced to the world that the invitations for the September 10, 2013 Apple event had been sent out, TUAW editor-in-chief Victor Agreda, Jr. noted that @HereIsTrev had tweeted the following message: "Please don't over analyse every last aspect of the apple invite ... oh, too late." Here's our take on the invitation, BuzzFeed-style:
- There are 25 full or partial circles on the invitation (I counted). 25 is the square of five, which means that the "S" in iPhone 5S means "Five-squared"
- Of course, these colors represent the spectrum of case colors for your new iPhone
- Only two of the circles are green, which Greenpeace should take notice of as it means that the new iPhone is ruining the environment
- The four empty circles are representative of the loss of Steve Jobs, Scott Forstall, John Browett and (most recently) Bob Mansfield from the executive ranks of Apple
- Blue is the most prevalent color on the invitation, which proves that Bondi Blue will be one of the colors for the new iPhone
- The phrase "brighten everyone's day" is all about the new display technology for the iPhone, which will be incredibly readable in full sunlight
- Many of the overlapping circles appear to be Venn diagrams. We are doing our best to determine what that means...
- The fact that Apple couldn't come up with a color for its logo in the center is a sign that the company is fresh out of innovative ideas
- Tracing the path of the colored dots reveals a new gesture that'll conjure up the spirit of Steve Jobs
- The dots are stylized fingerprints, meaning that the new iPhone will feature a fingerprint authentication feature
- The dot-filled invite also suggests iOS 7 will be sponsored by America's favorite candy, DOTS. See Android KitKat for context
- The thin font used on the invite hints at a thinner bezel for the iPhone display
- The multiple colors used on the invite suggest Apple will surprise us with multi-user support in a subsequent version of iOS 7.x
- Those round circles are indicative of pixels on the screen of Apple's long-awaited HDTV, which will be known as "Munstervision" in honor of the one man who believed in the product, Gene Munster
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/tuaw-over-analyzes-the-apple-event-invitation/
Apple updates iLife for iOS apps
Apple has released updates to the iLife apps for iOS. The company says the updates to iPhoto and iMovie address compatibility issues, while the update to GarageBand addresses minor issues related to general performance and stability. The "compatibility issues" may or may not relate to iOS 7, which is expected to be released to the public in the next several weeks. However, since the updated iLife apps don't feature any new iOS 7-inspired icons, it's likely that Apple will push out further updates to them once iOS 7 ships.
iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand for iOS are available in the App Store for US$4.99 each.
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via TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/03/apple-updates-ilife-for-ios-apps/
