April
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Windows 10’s next major update arrives on April 30th
Windows 10 has seen two major updates since its initial release. The next -- the snappily-titled Windows 10 April 2018 Update which we've reviewed right here -- will be available on April 30, and includes a bunch of features designed to make your screen time more efficient.
Nintendo video shows off Wii U speed improvement coming in April update
Nintendo's Wii U has faced complaints over slow loading and switching between menus since launch, but the company has promised a pair of updates will help the situation. Tonight it posted a video on YouTube (embedded after the break) that shows off the difference before and after the April update side by side. Showing off how quickly it can return to the home menu from a game of New Super Mario Bros. U, the updated console is ready to go in eight seconds, compared to the current software's 20-second delay. There's no mention of the other update to improve the speed of launching software, but hopefully that will be shown off soon as well. More than halving the main menu's load time is nothing to sneeze at, although it's still not exactly a snappy experience. We'll see if these tweaks -- once they arrive -- do anything to improve the console's position while it waits for the improved software lineup President Satoru Iwata is expecting.
Painkiller: Hell and Damnation coming to Mac, Linux this spring
Nordic Games has announced Mac and Linux releases of Painkiller: Hell and Damnation, the remake of People Can Fly's frantic FPS, along with a mod-kit for the PC version. Nordic says they'll be available sometime this spring, while the game is due out on Xbox and PS3 on April 5.As for the mod-kit, it'll use UnrealEd and be integrated with Steam Workshop, letting players create items, weapons, multiplayer skins, new maps and games for the Painkiller experience.We can expect the beta for that sometime in April, so mark your calendars for lots of painkillin' around then.
Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs flick gets an April release date
The new film that starts Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs (which is still unfortunately titled jOBS, apparently), has gotten an April release date, according to the Wall Street Journal. The film, directed by Joshua Michael Stern, will premiere at the very end of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah later on this month, but will eventually open for a wider release sometime in April. This is the first of two Steve Jobs movies we're scheduled to see come together in 2013, with the other one currently being written by none other than Aaron Sorkin. That one's a little further behind, so it hasn't even started shooting yet, and we're not even close to a release date for that one. But if the picture of Kutcher as Jobs intrigues you above, you won't have long to wait -- the movie is just a few months away from finding its way to a theater near you.
TUAW Year in Review: April 2012
Welcome to TUAW's Year in Review. Month by month, we're running down the top stories of 2012, all day long on New Year's Day. Five apps to help you file your taxes (updated) With only a few weeks before taxes are due -- the federal deadline is on April 17, and many states have followed suit -- plenty of Americans are scrambling to file before the clock ticks away.... Developing my first iPhone game: the inside story Editor's Note: From time to time, TUAW does cover commercial apps developed by our staffers, although it is relatively rare for individuals to write about their own projects (with some notable... Happy 35th birthday, Apple II Harry McCracken has a nice write up on the debut, evolution and legacy of the Apple II (or, ][ as I like to call it). The Apple II was unveiled 35 years ago, and it ushered in the home computing... Can ThinkGeek's April product introductions get any geekier? Where do they get those wonderful toys? Yes, the mad geniuses at ThinkGeek once again are offering a slate of new products scheduled to go on sale today. If you're an iPad owner, there are some... Macworld's Jason Snell says what we're all thinking about iTunes Those of you who remember iTunes when it was new, when it was merely a revamped version of SoundJam MP, will sympathize the most here. iTunes used to be a great tool for playing music and ripping... Also: How America benefits from Apple Use the MacBook Air SuperDrive with (almost) any Mac Apple poised to become world's first trillion dollar company by 2014 Walter Isaacson on the leadership of Steve Jobs Apple reportedly receives certification to sell Brazilian-assembled iPad On "mystery meat" gestures and iPhoto's learning curve AT&T to begin unlocking off-contract iPhones April 8 AT&T appears to be unlocking iPhones for deployed active duty military personnel Apple responds to Flashback trojan, promises removal tool Flashback malware removal tools released by security firms Apple introduces VIP discounts for iBooks publishers An in-depth look at the iPad as a gaming device Apple hires United Continental CFO as VP of Sales (after airline replaces paper manuals with iPads) Tim Cook among Time's most influential people Andy Ihnatko on the iPad as his main mobile computer No Comment: MacBook perfume project smells like new unboxing The iPad as an IT professional's tool What we want to WWD-see for WWDC Apple announces record quarter sales, 94% year over year net profit increases WWDC 2012 is sold out Sprint confirms unlimited data for next-generation iPhone Replacing iDisk with online storage of your own Broadway star Josh Gad to play Woz in Jobs biopic Tony Fadell: First iPhone almost had a clickwheel The road to OS Xi: Where iOS and OS X suffer a teleporter accident and merge
The Repopulation's end-of-April update includes genetic engineering, bug fixes, and lore updates
Last month, we got our first look at the gameplay of Above and Beyond Technologies' upcoming sandbox title, The Repopulation. Today, the studio released its end-of-April 2012 update notes for the game, giving players a look at the ongoing tweaks and changes being made as Above and Beyond slowly ramps up to the beta stage. For the most part, the notes are your standard patch note fare: bug fixes, quality-of-life improvements, some UI tweaks, and so forth. But there are a couple of gems that stand out among the rest. For instance, players with the Genetic Engineering skill can do some gene-splicing to create their own unique pets. Currently there are 40 different hybrid and pure-species pets that can be genetically engineered, so the mad scientists in the crowd should have many options when it comes to playing God. The site's lore and bestiary sections have also been updated for the lore junkies out there. The full, rather expansive April update notes can be found on The Repopulation's official site, so if you're interested in all of the minutiae, just head on over there and check it out. [Thanks to Halldorr for the tip!]
DC Universe Online producer's letter explores the future of PvP
Another month is on its way out, and that means it's time for another DC Universe Online monthly producer's letter. This one is particularly special, though, because it's the first official producer's letter written by the game's new producer, Larry Liberty. Liberty takes a moment to introduce himself as a 16-year veteran of the industry who has worked on title such as Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Tony Hawk 4. The remainder of the letter pertains almost entirely to PvP and some of the recent changes made to it. One of the major changes is that the studio has "basically reduced the ceiling on how much damage output a crit can deliver," claiming that the team wants "to reduce the importance of luck and the importance of a good virtual dice roll in combat, and increase the importance of skill." Liberty then goes on to explain the team's philosophy behind the changes, stating that "the overarching goal for [the studio's] PvP system changes is to emphasize intelligent tactics and skillful play over lucky die rolls and raw stats." The post is rounded out by a list of some of the PvP features that are planned for game updates 13 and 14, showing players what they can expect for the future of DCUO's PvP. For the full, tasty details, go check out the full post at the game's official site.
The Walking Dead to hit a horde of platforms, starting in April
Telltale's The Walking Dead is coming to XBLA, PSN, PC, Mac and iOS, with the first episode dropping in April, IGN reports. The Walking Dead will consist of five episodes in total, each following "regularly" after the first launch -- at least, about as regularly as a group of shambling* zombies can be expected to move.*One editor specifically commanded us to not use the word "shambling" in the headline of this story. However, he neglected to say anything about the body copy. Enjoy.
Funcom debunks The Secret World launch date rumor
Could we finally have a specific launch date for The Secret World? Yes, but more accurately, no. While hopeful fans clung to possible news that Funcom had confirmed an April 24th launch date, the studio has issued a statement saying that this was "an internal production date" that was mentioned at a recent press event, and doesn't necessarily reflect the actual release date for the title: Funcom has become aware of postings in various media stating that commercial launch of the online game The Secret World has been set to 24 April 2012. This date was communicated at a press event in the Funcom offices in Oslo today -- as an internal production date. Funcom has previously announced the launch month for the game to be April 2012 and wants to stress that there is currently no change or update on the expected time for commercial launch of The Secret World. The company will announce the release date at a later stage through a stock notice and a formal press release when the date has been set. The studio recently wrapped up a week dedicated to the Illuminati faction and revealed one of the game's spooky settings, Blue Mountain.
Live from HTC's April 12th event!
Alright, so the cat may already be out of the bag (thank you, Vodafone!), but HTC still has a swanky London venue booked for today and the show, as they say, must go on. What's more, there's no reason to believe the 4.3-inch HTC Sensation will be the only thing announced at today's marquee event from the Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker. More buddies for the Flyer, perhaps? Unlikely, but weirder things have happened. Join us after the break for a little bit of good old liveblog action.
Apple rumor twofer: Expose-like multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0, international iPad launch on April 24th
We're not quite at the height of Apple frenzy, but looking at the bell curve, we're only a standard deviation or two from its zenith (we imagine the fever pitch will be in tandem with Saturday's iPad launch, if history and human nature tells us anything). Of course, that doesn't stop the rumor mill from amping up production, and so on with the show! First on the docket, remember last month's discovery of multitasking comments in the iPhone SDK 3.2 beta? Well, AppleInsider's apparently got it on word from its network of sources that OS 4.0 will in fact include multitasking, with app switching purportedly done by double-tapping the home button and selecting the appropriate active app icon. If you ask us, that sounds similar in function to command / tab switching, but the people claiming to be in the know liken it more to Expose for OS X. Taking a step back to focus on the actual hardware for a moment, iPad in Canada is hearing that local Apple store employees have been told April 24th is a "black out period," meaning no one is allowed to take that day off. That usually coincides with major product launch, and we did hear the international iPad debut would be late April, but Apple's yet to make its non-US plans concrete. It is the last Saturday of the month, however, and perhaps it'll coincide with the other countries as well. As always, none of this is confirmed and shouldn't be taken as gospel in any way, shape, or form. We can't stop you from getting your hopes up, but don't blame us if those dreams get shattered by a sucker punch of reality.
Purported pics of next-gen iPhone front face surface
iResQ, the iPhone/iPod repair site, has posted pics of what they claim is the front faceplate of the next-gen iPhone. Two things about this piece of hardware are particularly interesting. First, the part is approximately 1/4 of an inch taller than the iPhone 3GS, indicative of a slightly taller form factor for the next-gen iPhone. Second, there's a small, reflective strip directly above the hole for the phone speaker. iResQ believes this is likely to be the new location for the iPhone's proximity sensor rather than an indication of any new hardware; however, moving the proximity sensor to a new location and increasing the overall length of the device could still point to a front-facing camera or other new hardware on the next-gen iPhone. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Purported_Pics_of_Next_Gen_iPhone_Front_Face_Surface'; It's worth mentioning the possibility that these "iPhone" parts aren't legitimate. iResQ hasn't revealed its source for the part, and purported iPhone bezels leaked in 2009 turned out to be parts for a completely different device. The backside of the supposed next-gen iPhone's face is missing quite a few parts present on the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, which either means the part iResQ received was incomplete, the next-gen iPhone has had its internal hardware shifted around, or the part is fake. So case manufacturers, don't throw out your old blueprints just yet. Unfortunately, it's likely we won't find out whether these are legit or not until June/July of this year; despite rumors of an iPhone update in April, the most likely date for the next-gen iPhone's release is early summer. [Via MacRumors]
LG releasing Windows Mobile 7 phone in September and Android 2.1 in April?
First LG flat-out says on public record that Windows Mobile 7 is bound for 2010, and now we've gotten apparent word that the company has narrowed said release window to September of this year -- at least as far as its own devices are concerned. That comes via high-profile French tech blogger Eric of Presse Citron, who while attending a LG Design Lab tweeted (both in French and immediately after in English) that LG Mobile will release a Windows Mobile 7 device in September and an Android 2.1 device in April, first in the US and then Europe just after. The tweets are now gone, but WMPoweruser managed to catch both via Google cache, while we have corroborated just the French one by similar means. So, misheard claims from the company or accidental slip-up of NDA'd secrets? MWC is starting to look more and more interesting.
Bloomberg: New iPhone with touch-sensitive casing coming
Bloomberg is the latest outlet to come up with some rumors about the possible new iPhone model coming this year (the iPhone, not the tablet, although doesn't it seem like the flood of tablet rumors has encouraged all kinds of Apple speculation lately?). They say that the new handset will include a 5 megapixel camera to match Google's Nexus One, and will also include a touch-sensitive casing, working similarly to the Magic Mouse. That one just seems strange -- what would you gesture on the back of the iPhone while you're using it? They also say, quoting Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Chen, that there'll be plenty of new innovations in the software as well. We certainly hope so. According to this round of rumors, the new phone would go into production in April, and be released to stores in June or July, a timeline that actually matches up with what we've heard before. Rumors are a dime a dozen, and even if a new phone does come out in July, that's too long to wait if you need to buy a phone right now. But we'll keep our ears open -- there certainly is a lot of increased speculation about Apple hardware lately, and there ought to be something in the pipeline driving it all.
Rumor: New iPhone by April
You TUAW readers came up with a long list of features for a possible iPhone 4.0, and now it turns out you might not even have to wait too long for a new revision. A few overseas providers of the iPhone have hinted that a brand new version of the handset could be coming out as soon as April of this year. Possible features this time include a video chat function, a removable battery, dual-core processors, and a better screen and camera (possibly with a flash feature, as we've heard before). That sounds like a lot of wishful thinking to us (I doubt we'll ever see an iPhone with a removable battery -- if Apple wanted to do so, they'd have already done it), but if not, that would be a pretty darn popular smartphone, and it would definitely answer the recent challenge of Google's Nexus One. But of course as always, rumors are rumors, so we won't believe it until we see Steve Jobs holding it on stage, and you shouldn't either. But sources have long said that 2010 will be a year in which we'll see a new iPhone, and while April (or early May) seems earlier than we thought, you never know.
Rumor du jour: Apple ordering 10" tablet screens
Another week, another day, another round of tablet rumors for the now all-but-confirmed January event. The latest news bouncing around the Interwebs is that Apple has placed an order with panel supplier Innolux for a bevy of 10" touch panels to stick in the new devices, be they called iSlate or whatever the marketing team eventually hits on the dart board. This vibes with what we'd heard earlier about the screen being either 7 or 10" in the diagonal, and it reveals a little bit more about the process: apparently Apple wanted to go with this release earlier, but they were concerned about the strength of the glass. Now they've got the stronger glass they need, so supposedly the rumors on the wind say they're ready for a January announcement, with a release coming in March or April. They've even got another supplier lined up to crank out even more of these screens if needed. A translated WSJ article also says a Taiwanese company called Chang Uei Precision has been signed up to provide "connectors" for the device, but that sounds quite vague and they say a release isn't planned until Q3 of next year. As always, this all remains hearsay -- Apple hasn't even officially announced an event in January yet, much less hinted that they'll be releasing a revolutionary tablet-style device. So remember what Grandma said about counting chickens before they hatch, and don't. But if any of these rumors prove to be true, it'll be an interesting 2010. [via Engadget]
April's Brew of the Month: Metok's Bubble Bock
April's Brew of the Month has struck, and it's actually pretty fun. Sure, more jokes about bodily functions, but they're acceptable if they're entertaining! This month's definitely qualifies as entertaining. Metok's Bubble Bock is described as being light and uh, bubbly. I suppose you could've guessed that from the name.Upon drinking the Bubble Bock, now and then you will get a buff called Bloated. After five minutes (or after you click the buff off) your character will burp righteously, and a named Brew Bubble will spawn and wander around aimlessly for awhile before popping. You can target it, but you can't cast things such as Baby Spice on it, unfortunately. The bubble can also merge with other bubbles, so get some friends together and try to make a great big one!It's actually somewhat interesting that they chose to name this brew a Bock. A brew they describe as light and bubbly would actually be pretty dark, unless I've confused my beers somewhere. Bocks were often used and praised for their nutrient content, because compared to light brews, it could actually keep you fairly sated during fasts and period where high quality food was scarce. A bock was not the best choice for this particular brew! Again, though, I could be totally wrong. I don't even like most beer.
Final Fantasy XI's first bite-sized expansion coming 'sort of' soon
Take a look at your calendar boys and girls, because in just one week from today the first mini-expansion for Final Fantasy XI will be available for download at $9.99 with tax included. Yep, March 23rd is the date announced on the official website -- but there's a catch.Players who purchase the digital update right now won't receive the actual content until the next version update, which is tentatively scheduled for early April. So it's more of an announcement of a pre-order being made available soon... on a digital product.Hey, we're not marketing and business guys or anything, but isn't that kind of silly? We see no need to pre-order something that has an unlimited amount of "copies" and exists in an ethereal, digital, online state. Maybe if Square Enix offered some kind of little bonus for pre-ordering, that'd be one thing. As it is now, we guess this affords someone an ethereal, digital online piece of mind.[via Eurogamer]
Garona's return to Azeroth
Apparently DC first announced this last October, but it's the first I've heard of it: Garona Halforcen is coming back to World of Warcraft. Garona has been a fan favorite character ever since the early RTS games -- she's a half-orc Rogue who originally assassinated King Llane of the Alliance (under one of Medivh's spells and working unintentionally for the Shadow Council). But she's been MIA for a while -- until now. DC's next World of Warcraft comic, number 18, has Garona reappearing in Azeroth, supposedly working with the Twilight's Hammer, and possibly even secretly aligned with the Scourge.Not necessarily an auspicious re-entrance, but with Garona, just like Jack Bauer, you never know who she's really working for or why. Blizzard has always made it clear that they were going to have her appear in World of Warcraft -- early in the beta, she was actually the leader of the Rogue Ravenholdt faction, though she was later removed from the manor there. The DC comic drops on April 15, and it wouldn't be a surprise to finally see everyone's favorite half-orc rogue in the game sometime after that.
Arthas novel to be released April 2009
Author Christie Golden has posted a little more information about the Arthas novel coming next year -- she lists the release date as April of 2009 (Arthas will probably still be alive then -- if "alive" is what he is now), and says that it'll be a nice hardback edition, which should be cool to see. She also says that while they were considering throwing a sample chapter in the BlizzCon goodie bag, all they were able to get in is a little postcard art of the book's cover. Too bad -- it would have been fun reading a little preview of the book while waiting in line to play, say, Diablo III.And for the Starcraft fans, she's also got a Dark Templar book coming out a month after that, in May 2009. It was supposed to be out sooner, but apparently Arthas' book got pushed forward, and she had to switch up schedules a bit. So two good pieces of extended universe fiction for Blizzard's games to look forward to next year.[via Blizzplanet]
