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iPhone OS 4.0 Secrets: Hidden iPod application hints at automobile integration
An TUAW informant has slipped us some video showcasing a new application built into iPhone OS 4.0. Apparently bundled with iPods and iPhones, the new application transforms the iPhone screen into a simple remote control which is used to manipulate a menu system that's fed out via a video lead. That menu system was captured in the recording shown at the top of this post. Our source says that information bundled into the application shows that Apple intends this new "iPod out" functionality to be used in automobiles using the iPod Accessory Protocol (IAP). Hints as to this use are found in strings within the application itself. These strings include IAPSimpleRemoteCarButtonNotification and IAPSimpleRemoteCarButtonTypeKey. He suggests that the application might be used in an Apple-branded car kit, where the user docks his iPhone or iPod touch and gains full access to the onboard audio libraries (no video at this time). The car kit could include both a video screen to show the menus and custom physical buttons that would produce the notifications to allow the user to move through those menus, and select from them. Other hints in the application point to hands-free phone integration as well (kCTCallStatusChangeNotification). Incoming phone calls would be routed into the same system, allowing users to answer calls without having to pick up their device. The idea of an Apple-branded iPhone Car Kit sounds pretty exciting to us. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
iPads sent out to select developers, kept under cover for now
Last week at GDC 2010, I talked to quite a few iPhone developers, big and small, and they all told me exactly the same thing when I asked about the iPad: "No, I haven't gotten my hands on one yet." But apparently there are at least a few developers out there who've gotten test models from Apple, according to Business Week, and the requirements that come with them are as strict as you can imagine. There are 10 pages of rules and regulations, and those include that the iPad has to be kept secured to a fixed object in a windowless room, and the company actually requires photographic proof of compliance before they'll actually ship the device out. Sounds crazy, but clearly there's reasons for such a strict agreement from both sides: developers really want to get a head start on what will surely be a huge market for apps and content starting on the iPad's release, and obviously Apple wants to make sure that the device stays under cover until it releases. You might think that they'd actually benefit from a little exposure, but don't forget: this is Apple -- they depend on the hype and interest that secrecy before release creates. After it comes out, seeing the iPad out in the world will likely sell even more units, but pre-release, Apple's customers are happy to stand in line to be the first to use the iPad. Of course, this is all from anonymous sources -- it'll be interesting to see if any of these "iPads in the wild" find their way out to the public in the form of pictures or video. Until then, the rest of us (including many developers who've played big parts in building up the App Store to where it is today) will have to wait until April 3rd. [via Engadget]
The Daily Grind: I've been meaning to tell you...
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day if you're in the United States, which makes it special. (If you live in the rest of the world, tomorrow is Thursday and not particularly special, but bear with us.) It's the start of a season devoted to good feelings and positive thoughts, as well as voracious consumerism, so it's best to start things off on the right foot. Start off by clearing the air and getting everything off your chest, out into the open. Today, we're asking you: what level is your blood elf paladin? Okay, that sort of question usually goes onto our sister site, but the message is there. What are your MMO secrets? Do you secretly adore Champions Online but don't tell your friends on City of Heroes because you're afraid of their reaction? Have you stuck with a game you hated because a friend was playing it and you didn't want to leave them by themselves? Even if it's something as mundane as hating Runes of Magic, today, the floor is open for you to vent whatever you just normally won't share. And then, tomorrow, we can feast with a clear conscience. (Unless you're not in the US, again, but maybe you can start up a regular feast day on Thursdays.)
Quick QuickTime Q&A
QuickTime was one of the few apps which changed significantly in Snow Leopard. We've heard from some readers who missed the initial reports about it, so we're repeating it here, with some additional QuickTime information. Q: "What happened to QuickTime in Snow Leopard?" QuickTime Player "X" has brought significant changes to the way the app looks and works. Most notably, there is no "chrome" to the player when a file is being played. This is intended to let you see as much of the picture as possible. Q: "How do I get the old QuickTime back?" You can install QuickTime Player 7 on Snow Leopard. Apple even posted instructions which boil down to this: Insert your Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Install DVD. Open the Optional Installs folder and double-click "Optional Installs.mpkg". Select the QuickTime 7 option and click Continue. QuickTime Player 7 will be installed in your Utilities folder. It goes on to say "If you double-click any media that requires QuickTime Player 7 for playback and it is not already installed, you will be asked if you want to download it from Apple." Q: "I had QuickTime Pro before I upgraded to Snow Leopard, I want to use its features!" That's not really a question, but we understand that you're upset. QuickTime Pro had the ability to do more than QuickTime X. If you installed Snow Leopard over your Leopard installation, check /Applications/Utilities/ QuickTime 7 should already be there. If not, you can install it as above. Q: "I have QuickTime 7.6.3, and I tried to install 7.6.4 but it wouldn't let me." That isn't a question either. You're not very good at this Q&A thing, are you? Nevermind. This confused me as well. The webpage for QuickTime 7.6.4 says that it is for "... Mac OS X 10.5 or later" but the download page for QuickTime 7 says that it is for Leopard or Tiger only. The installer for QuickTime 7.6.4 refuses to install on Snow Leopard. Q: "What's New in QuickTime 7.6.4?" That's a good question. From Apple: "QuickTime 7.6.4 includes changes that increase reliability, improve compatibility and enhance security. This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users." It's unclear why this isn't available for Snow Leopard. Perhaps the security and compatibility aren't applicable. I hope. Q: "How can I take a screenshot of a movie in QuickTime X?" One gripe about the new QuickTime X is that when you pause a video, the on-screen controls stay visible, making it impossible to grab a clean screenshot. TUAW reader Gwion Daniel wrote in to tell us that you can make the controls fade by double-clicking the picture frame. I have had mixed results with this. I have had the most success double-clicking on the far right side of the window (where the scrollbar would be, if there was one). Sometimes it seems to work, sometimes it takes a few tries. If you can't get it to work, fire up VLC and use the menu item Video > Snapshot. Q: "What happened to QuickTime X's preferences?" Thery aren't any clearly visibe as there's no preference menu. However, if you install the Secrets preference panel which we mentioned earlier you'll find hidden preferences for: Autoplay movies on open Allow multiple simultaneous recordings Always hide title bar Autohide titlebar/controller Autoshow titlebar/controller Automatically show subtitles and closed captioning on open Exit fullscreen when switching apps Use square corners I'm hoping that the new QuickTime player will eventually regain all of QuickTime 7 Pro's functionality and the user interface will become a little more user-friendly (hiding these basic preferences seems like an odd decision), but for now we are living in an in-between time in QuickTime's development. QuickTime turns 18 this year, and it's obviously going through some changes. 'Ol Quicktime is no longer who it was, nor is it yet what it will be when it grows up. At least you don't have to worry about it staying out all night with its friends.
Secrets preference panel updated for Snow Leopard
From time to time we have shared hidden settings in applications which can be used to "tweak" an app's behavior, such as forcing Snow Leopard's dictionary to reuse the same window or make the print dialog expanded by default. These settings are normally changed using the Terminal.app which can be daunting to some. Secrets is a (free!) preference panel which has collected a bunch of these settings and made changing them as simple as checking a box or choosing from a drop-down panel of possible choices. It includes settings for about 40 different applications, from Apple applications such as Mail, iCal, iChat, Finder, Front Row, Keynote, DVD Player (and more) to third-party applications including Adium, Audio Hijack Pro, BBedit, EyeTV, VMware Fusion, and TextMate (just to name a few). Some applications have a lot of hidden settings, and some have only one or two. If you see a setting but don't know what it does, click it and Secrets will show a brief explanation (these are also available on the Secrets website, but they are easier to read in the preference panel). If you change a setting which requires you to restart the application, Secrets will tell you, and even give you a "Quit This" button. (It's usually best to make these changes when the app isn't running.) Unfortunately at least one of the secret settings from 10.5 doesn't seem to work in 10.6. That is, the setting to turn HelpViewer into a regular (instead of floating) window. There may be others. I'm off to explore and see what new goodies Alcor (the developer of Secrets, who you may also know as the creator of Quicksilver) has uncovered. Thanks to the recently-revived Hawk Wings site for bringing this to my attention. If you use Apple's Mail.app, Hawk Wings is a great site for tips and information. Update: We seem to have taken down the Secrets website (oops!) but you can download the preference panel from a mirror (zip) (166kb).
WoW Insider Show this afternoon at 3:30pm Eastern
Our podcast is back on the air yet again this afternoon -- Turpster will join Amanda Dean, Adam Holisky and I to talk about the biggest posts of the past week, including (but not limited to) why even Priests dislike being Priests, the new race/class combos and how they'll be explained, why Blizzard is so secretive (and why they probably shouldn't be), and what kinds of things we learned from that faction transfer survey. And of course we'll answer your emails -- you can send those along to theshow@wow.com anytime.It all starts up tomorrow at September 12th, 2009 3:30 PM EDTvar date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone GMT"+offset; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); right over on our Ustream page (or you can tune in on the embedded feed right after the break), so do be sure to join us if you're available. And of course, as usual, we'll probably have a little music during the preshow, and a little fun during the aftershow (where we turn off the recording and just chat with the kind folks in the chat channel about whatever comes up. See you there!
A challenge to Blizzard's secretive philosophy
Blizzard is notorious for not announcing release dates or patch days until the very last minute -- if at all. Sites like WoW.com and MMO-Champion have had to develop relationships with people in the know in order to have any idea when a patch is coming out, and even then we usually don't find out for sure until about 12 hours before a patch makes it onto the live servers.Not all MMORPG companies are so secretive however. CCP, which runs the hard core space based MMO EVE Online recently had to push back an announced patch -- from Wednesday to Thursday.What happened when they did this? Fans rejoiced that a bug was being fixed. They cheered because you finally could shoot stuff that was 0 meters away with turrets.Now in Blizzard's world, at least the one they display to everyone outside of their organization, pushing back an announced patch would be the end of world. Cats and dogs would live together, and fire with the occasional brimstone would rain down upon the Earth. They have said many times that the reason they don't want to announce patch dates is because if they don't hit their target, they are going to upset the fans.
Community teamwork solves Shadow Complex speed run mystery
For fans of speed runs, Shadow Complex housed a clever secret that allows gamers to skip most of the game and complete it in record time. Surrounding the mystery was knowledge that players are able to obtain the Foam ability within the first 15 minutes of gameplay. Over the last few days (since its August 19 release), gamers across multiple message boards compiled data and quotes, and tried brilliant ideas to crack the code. And they blew it wide open. If a certain number of tasks are completed within a short time frame, gamers are able to bypass an entire section of the game, landing them within a few rooms of the Foam ability.Spoiler Warning! YouTube user Nogarda1 showcases the steps needed to cleverly infiltrate the enemy base after the break.
Obligatory video game Easter eggs post: 2009 Edition
Yeah, we know. Every Easter, we write up a historical account of well-hidden Easter eggs featured in video games over the years. You've heard them all by now, we're sure -- the guerrilla credits of Adventure, the "Secret Cow Level" in Diablo II, Yoshi's appearance in Super Mario 64, GTA IV's "Heart of the City," A Link to the Past's Chris Houlihan room, and Symphony of the Night's hidden audio track, to name a few. For more info about these tried and true surreptitious extras, we suggest checking out this GameSpot post.However, this past year saw the arrival of a heretofore undiscovered Easter egg in a title you all know and love -- ladies and gentlemen, we present "The Goldeneye Breakdancing Glitch," viewable in the video after the jump. Apparently, tilting the Goldeneye cart in the middle of a game leads to hilarious impromptu b-boying from any and all on-screen characters. You simply must check it out -- and while you're down there, tell us your favorite video game Easter eggs in the comments!
It's-a Mario World: Classic Secrets
Along with the New Year's celebration comes a heap of (potentially unrealistic) personal resolutions for the future and an equal dose of nostalgic recollection of 2008. You have already seen our 10 Best Games of 2008 and the 10 you should have downloaded among dozens of other annual lists, so your sense of hindsight should be fairly well-attuned during this first weekend of 2009. So where, you might ask, does our Mario fit in?This week we are highlighting some classic Mario game secrets which did not necessarily occur in 2008, but which should nevertheless be recalled during all possible occasions if only to reaffirm our steadfast allegiance. These recollections are like wormholes to our early platforming pasts, histories in which the surprising discovery of a well-hidden 1-up or warp zone could redefine the realm of the possible in the Land of the Mushrooms. Yeah, and they are also reminders of what we were doing earlier today. Now, we are no soothsayers, but it's a good bet that 2009 will be full of more coin-hoarding, cape-rippling good times. For now, though, let's look back at some of the top secret areas of early Mario games. Warp to the gallery! It's-a Mario World is a recurring feature in which the ubiquity of Nintendo's flagship character is celebrated. Check back each week to find out what strange and wonderful thing has us seeing power stars. * * * Links of the week: The beat behind Mario 3! | Aren't the Olympic Games over? | Mario > 2008? | This is a Mario Thermos!
Miyamoto's hobbies are none of your business
In news of the weird, The Times Online reports that Nintendo is (politely, we're sure) asking master game designer Shigeru Miyamoto – you know, the guy that made that game with the plumber and the gorilla? – not to discuss his hobbies outside of games with ... anyone. According to the article, "any glimpse inside his head could be worth billions," which is why we're crating up our MRIs of his noggin and shipping them off to Area 51.The Times makes a rather bold assumption that Miyamoto basically designs everything at Nintendo, including its consoles – he does have a good deal of influence, but the Big N has at least a few other employees – stating that, with regards to the Wii's successor, the "only place where the discussion [of its design] has any grounding is inside Mr. Miyamoto's head." We imagine all this talk of Miyamoto's hobbies has its roots in the origins of Pikmin, which Mario's papa has publically stated was inspired by his time spent gardening, or Zelda, which was at least partially influenced by his love of exploring caves near his home as a young boy. Actually, it may be Devil World, which was based on his very favorite hobby: dressing up as a dragon and battling demons in Pac-Man-like mazes. Yep, that's definitely it.
Breakfast Topic: The secret lives of Blizzard employees
Tom "Kalgan" Chilton, in his interview we posted yesterday, said that one of Blizzard's class designers was the guild leader of one of the world's best known PvP guilds, but he wants to keep him anonymous. Wait, what?Chilton meant that Blizzard has solid ties into the community, but should it worry us at all that those ties might be a little too close-knit? We already know that Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan has major ties to a guild in the game (he was actually hired by Blizzard from his Everquest raiding guild), and quest designer Alex "Furor" Afrasiabi also comes from a guild that is still active in World of Warcraft. In fact, we've already seen Blizzard get in trouble by their own admission for treating the devs' guilds differently -- is it right for them to keep their guild associations anonymous?On the one hand, obviously it's much easier to keep the developers' ingame identities anonymous, otherwise they wouldn't be able to play the game at all without getting approached with questions and complaints every time they log on. But on the other hand, not only is there the potential for favoritism in terms of game design, but what if the PvP guild mentioned in the article was one that won an eSports or the Arena realm tournament? Is it right for Blizzard's developers to keep their guild associations anonymous?
Manage secret preferences with Secrets
Here's a clever utility from the creator of Quicksilver. Secrets (no, not the Van Halen song) is a preference pane that lets you fiddle with the hidden defaults of nearly all your applications. For instance, show the iPhoto toobar in full screen mode and make those iTunes arrows link to your library instead of the store. There's a huge database available, and adding your own secret preferences is simple. Have fun![Via Daring Fireball]
RIP Think Secret
Always provocative, sometimes right, often wrong, Think Secret was our scandalous favorite rumors site and now it is gone. According to the Settlement page listed at their site, Apple and Think Secret have ended their lawsuit and Nick Ciarelli has shut down the site.Goodbye Think Secret, we'll miss you.Thanks everyone who sent this in.
Spoiler Mario Galaxy: tons of secrets revealed
Since we've marked this Super Mario Galaxy video as containing SPOILERS, we're fairly certain that none of you will watch it. Therefore, we can tell you things about the video that may or may not be true, like that it features a heartfelt tribute to Clu Clu Land, and you won't know for certain if we're lying. Did you know that you can subscribe to Famitsu via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, just by jumping into a certain pipe? We won't say which one. Actually (and don't kill us if you watch it and disagree) we find most of the tricks highlighted in the video to be of the non-spoiler variety. There is the occasional secret here and there, but mostly we see glitches and a few helpful moves that should have been in the instruction manual. We also see a few extremely obvious things regarding Star Bits, which probably are in the instruction manual. Is your fear of being spoiled more powerful than your curiosity? [Via GayGamer]
iPhone Hacking: Messing with Ringtones, Graphics and more
This weekend, many instability issues associated with the iphoneinterface hacking tool (details to be found online at irc.osx86.hu #iphone) have been resolved. The big "your multigigabyte disk seems to disappear and be replaced by a few megabytes" bug has gone away and the software now supports both getfile and putfile (although, sadly, not removefile). This means that hackers have been able to unlock access to system files, retrieve them, alter them, and put them back. Read on for some of the biggest hacks developed over the weekend.
Posdata employee tried to sell WiBro secrets to US
While it may look easy (and astonishingly lucrative) to pull a case of high-stakes espionage, one South Korean and three US-based individuals are learning the hard way that crime doesn't pay. The Seoul Central Prosecutors Office is accusing an unnamed employee of Posdata Co., a developer of WiBro, "of sending email with proprietary information to three former employees who live in the US." Additionally, it was suggested that the trade secrets (which cost about $95 million to fully develop) were being offered up "for around $190 million" to an unnamed US company. All in all, four culprits were arrested in the ordeal, and while "some data" was transferred, the boys in blue caught on and stopped the gig before any major secrets were divulged. Should've tried the bag drop method, eh?
More academic discussion of Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is more interesting than we thought, it seems! Whereas we (read: I) found the improvements in Wild World a poor trade for NES games, and not enough to hold our interest after a year or so of Gamecube Crossing, academics are speaking out in appreciation of Nintendo's pointless-by-design communication game.The latest essay on Henry Jenkins' blog, is an excerpt from a thesis by Kristina Drzaic, about "secrets" in Animal Crossing. The idea is that other games feature glitches that allow the player to redesign the game in small ways and alter the basic experience, whereas Animal Crossing features such "glitch-like" abilities as part of the natural design of the game, and allows even more customization than the engine was designed for. One example showed a player creating a narrative conflict between herself and Tom Nook just by trying and failing to buy some candy. We were just wondering aloud why customizable content was so compelling! Good thing there are people smarter than us out there.[Via GameSetWatch]
Capcom releases textbook about video games
Here's an interesting break from the educational training games: an educational book about games. Secrets of Video Games is a textbook about the game industry, written in manga format and sent to libraries and primary schools. Unlike the video game books we grew up with, this textbook covers serious subjects like the business of the game industry. It's being published by Capcom, who has dabbled in the game industry somewhat. This should help prepare a generation of Japanese children to obsess over sales numbers on NeoGAF.[Via Canned Dogs]
