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Belgian Twitter users post cat pics to help police in weekend raids
Belgium's capital, Brussels, entered lockdown this weekend as authorities swept the city for suspected terrorists, including at least one high-profile fugitive wanted in connection with the Paris attacks. On Twitter, authorities prompted residents to refrain from posting pictures or information about ongoing police movement -- and Belgian residents obliged, with a twist. They flooded the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown with pictures of cats, making information about raids harder to find and showcasing the country's solidarity against terrorism. On Monday, as the city remained under its highest-level terror alert, Belgian federal police thanked residents on Twitter with a picture of cat food and the message, "For the cats who helped us last night... Help yourself!"[Image credit: Flickr/julochka]
Cat Shake gives you an endless stream of OMG KITTIES
Few things in life are better than videos and GIFs about cats -- they bring joy to people. If you feel that way, then you'll probably want to download this new iOS app called Cat Shake. As its name suggests, the application requires you to, well, shake your device to fulfill its purpose. Once you do so, your reward will be too-cute-to-handle cat videos, "classic" cat GIFs and, because why not, adorable cat sounds. For those of you who don't have an iPhone or iPad, don't worry -- you can always go to Tumblr TV, type in what cat you're in the mood for (we'd recommend "funny cat") and problem solved. Or, you know, there's YouTube too.
Murder is just adorable in Assassin's Kittens Unity
We have so many questions about this video. How did YouTuber Mr.TVCow get those hoodies on the kittens? How many shots did it take to get the perfect scene of kittens falling onto a small pile of hay and running away? Where can we get one and/or all of these kittens (accessories included)? And, most importantly, how long will it take to create a mod that allows us to play Assassin's Creed: Unity as a kitten?
Cat Scratch Fever: The complete Friskies iOS cat app library
Kittens are on the minds of part of the TUAW crew this week; Editor-In-Chief Victor Agreda, Jr. is now the proud dad of Kit-Kat (yes, we know she has an Android OS name), while my wife and I decided to open our home to two adorable new kitties named Merry and Pippin. While looking around last night for something that might keep the two hyperactive felines entertained for a few milliseconds, I remembered that Friskies cat food had a free "advo-tainment" app or two a few years ago. A glance at the App Store showed that the company has now has a whole litter of free apps to try to keep your kitties mesmerized for at least a little while. Here's the whole kit and caboodle: Friskies JitterBug -- Most of these cat-only apps have a certain theme going on that focuses on how felines love to go after anything that moves. Jitterbug gives your kitties five fifteen-second rounds to try to swat as many bugs on an iPad or iPhone screen as possible. If your cat happens to be the Jackie Chan of kittehs and swats a big number, you'll be glad to know you can share his or her score on Facebook. Cat Fishing 2.1 -- You know how Mr. Grumbles likes to watch the fishbowl for hours? No need to be concerned about him accidentally going for a swim when you set the iPad in front of him and launch Cat Fishing 2.1. Here we have fish as the target for your cat's lightning-fast paw, with three rounds with one, two and three fish at a time. Cat bragging rights can not only be displayed on Facebook, but on the Friskies world-wide leaderboard. For a full review by Mike Wehner's cat Cinnamon, click here. Happy Wings -- Let's see, we had crawling bugs, swimming fish... what else can keep a cat excited? Oh, yeah -- things that fly! Happy Wings features three rounds, the first with fluttering moths, the second with dragonflies, and the third with rare tropical hummingbirds that will be wiped out by your cat's baser instincts. According to the app notes, if your cat happens to make it through a few levels, she'll be rewarded with a "You Won" screen and a cat-friendly Play Again button. At this point, my new kittens have the attention span that is measured in Yoctoseconds. Friskies Call-A-Cat -- It's not really a game, but more a way to see what sounds interest your kitties the most. Friskies Call-A-Cat includes several intriguing noises, like bird chirps and opening a can of cat food. The idea is that you can play the most attractive sound just before feeding time to get your cat into the habit of running to the bowl when you tap the sound on your iPhone or iPad. Friskies You vs. Cat -- Tired of letting your cat have all the fun? You vs. Cat is brilliant, since you basically fling playing pieces with a flick of the finger and your cat has to "catch" them. If the cat does stop the playing piece, he gets points; if it goes into the "goal," you get points. The first one who gets to 50 points wins. Note: don't gloat if you win, as your cat may leave a gift where you least expect it. Party Mix-Up -- Yes, in this game your cat gets to catch Friskies Party Mix cat treats. Does this sound basically like subliminal advertising targeted at cats? Tasty Treasures Hunt -- By this point, you'll need an iPhone or iPad with more storage just to hold all of the cat games. In Tasty Treasure Hunt, the gato will be chasing after little cartoon doodles of chickens, turkeys, cheese slices, and fish. Same idea, different graphics. That's about it for the cat apps from Friskies. They also have some games to keep humans occupied, including the search games Friskies Wonderland Quest and Wonderland Quest II for iPad. I have a sinking suspicion that the basic idea of these games is to find hidden items and to drum a certain pet care product line into your brain. And you can't forget Catify Yourself, which turns selfies into nightmarish cat-human hybrids (image below). Have any TUAW readers had success amusing your cats with the Friskies apps? Or did you end up calling "Confuse-A-Cat"? Let us know in the comments.
Firearms, futuristic spaceships and lots of explosions in Naughty Kitties
Naughty Kitties is an action-strategy game that combines two of everyone's favorite things: kittens and high-powered weapons. As the player, you and your cats must keep your spaceship -- yes, spaceship -- alive as it cruises along the skies and takes down alien enemies. Your ship can be defended both by its built-in weapons and your kitties, which can be perched on specials areas of the vessel. Each cat performs a different task -- from firing on enemy ships with rifles or guided missiles, to repairing your own vessel after it's been hit -- and each can only perform their duties for a short period of time before needing a break. The game quickly becomes a focus on resource management as you replace offensive and defensive assets on your ship and activate your large main weapon at certain intervals. It's a mix of tower defense and real-time strategy, and manages to feel fresh and different despite familiar themes. There are a few different game scenarios to tackle and a host of offensive and defensive cats to unlock, along with upgrades for each. It's a very deep game, which you might not assume given its extremely cute animation and overall aesthetic. The game does fall victim to a bit of the "pay to win" mentality with various in-game currency and items available for purchase with real-world cash. I found it quite enjoyable to play without spending a dime, but it's clear that dropping a few bucks will make you more powerful instantly. Naughty Kitties is free, and even if you only play it a few times, it's worth a download. If you're willing to toss a few bucks in, you'll find the game to be a wee bit easier, but it's definitely not required.
Familiar character returning in The Walking Dead season two
Telltale Games took to Twitter to tease the return of a familiar face in the opening episode of The Walking Dead's second season. The episode, titled "All That Remains," is expected to launch this month. Telltale already broke the news in July that Clementine, the leading lady of the adventure game's first season, would be a part of the second season in some capacity. As for the other character, we've placed the original screen Telltale tweeted after the break to account for those that consider it just a little too much of a spoiler. No, the image above does not indicate that Kitten McFluffykins is returning in All That Remains, but that would be pretty unexpected, wouldn't it?
Every dog has had his day, now we're back to Caturday
Sure, it's still officially summer until September 22, but as Mike Rose mentioned the other day on Facebook, "autumn has unofficially begun." That means that the Dog Days of Summer are now ended, and it's time for our weekly Caturday feature. Cats are usually cute, but there's nothing more painfully adorable than a sleepy kitten curled up on a warm MacBook power adapter. This image came to us via Reddit user banannaning, and it shows how well cats have adapted to reusing waste heat from our technology. In the future, all consumer electronics may come with a cat... We'd love to see photos of your favorite feline soaking up the warmth of an Apple product, chasing a Magic Mouse, or just being a general nuisance while you're attempting to work on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Please let us know via our feedback page and please remember that your cat photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple or its products. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Thanks to Mollena W. for posting this on Facebook!
Cat Fighter 2: The Feline Warrior is Street Fighter, but with kittens
We're going to repress the overwhelming urge to say "Street Fighter doesn't work like that," and will instead present this stop-motion, kitten-oriented Street Fighter parody video without comment. Because, really, what more do you need than "kitten-oriented Street Fighter parody video."
iFixit tears down the 13" Retina MacBook Pro (with kittens!)
What's better than an iFixit tear-down of a new Mac? A teardown complete with a "21-Day-Old Kitten Late 2012"! The iFixit team did their usual thorough job of gently disassembling and inspecting each part of a brand new 13" Retina MacBook Pro, but it's extra-special this time because there are kitten pictures! It's like they knew I'd be reading it... Among the findings reported to TUAW by Miroslav Djuric of iFixit, other than the fact that kittens are sooooo cute, were: "The most striking layout change in the 13" version is the rearranged battery cells. Their placement allowed Apple's designers to cleverly tuck the SSD away underneath the trackpad assembly. This time we're excited to find two of the six battery cells held in with screws and no adhesive. Battery removal took us roughly 15 minutes to complete, and we didn't have to use a heat gun. All we needed was a Torx screwdriver and three spudgers. At first we thought we found some kitten fuzz inside a couple of screw holes, but it turns out that Apple glued in a small piece of steel-wool-like metal on top of two of the speaker screws. Just five screws keep the trackpad in place. You can actually replace it if it breaks, which is pretty much impossible on the 15" model (since the trackpad is covered by the battery)." Other important information: when you first pop the case open, the integrated parts look like a grumpy face. Why that 13" Retina MacBook Pro has a grumpy face when it's being nuzzled by a sweet little kitten is beyond me, but it does. Enjoy the teardown and that sweet little boo-boo.
WRUP: Two guys, a moonkin, and a pizza place
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! Oh my goodness. I'm so embarassed. I didn't even see you walk in. And now here you are, staring at my computer screen, in full knowledge that I write nothing but fanfiction in my spare time. It started innocently enough. After watching an episode of Seinfeld, I couldn't help but be upset over the fact that Elaine had never started a relationship with her boss, J. Peterman. I had visions of her being caught in the rain, totally drenched -- her clothes ruined. Her boss would walk up, lay a comforting arm on her shoulder, and say, "Why Elaine, did you forget your ... urban sombrero back at the office? Would you ... like to come up to my apartment? I have a spare." Five minutes and two-hundred-seventy-four pages later, I had a fanfiction masterpiece. It didn't matter what made sense and what didn't. I was in control. I could make anyone fall in love with anybody! Steve x Kimmy Gibler. ALF x Lucky. Nothing was off limits! "Oh, Tony," said Mona, smiling at the hunky housekeeper in front of her. "You've caught me just as I was getting out of the shower." My latest story involves a certain boomkin, pre-med student Berg, and this girl Sharon. All the action takes place in a pizzaria circa 1999, and man, is it hot. See, Berg is there ordering a pizza, and he's not wearing a lot of clothes because it's very hot on account of all the pizza being steamy and whatever, and ... ... oh, what's that? You don't care about my fan fiction? Fine. Forget you. I'll just leave you with a rundown of what all our WoW Insider writers are playing this weekend and save my stories for an audience that will appreciate them. This week's bonus question: "Blizzard announced that certain users wouldn't see authenticator prompts if Blizzard is sure of the identity of the person logging in. Does that make you feel more secure, less secure, or doesn't it make a difference?"
Minecraft on 360 'won't be a straight port,' not developed by Mojang
Never one to shy away from community interaction, Mojang head Markus "Notch" Persson answered fan questions yesterday about the just announced Minecraft on Xbox 360. While he'll remain attached to the project as a game designer, the port is being handled by a separate, unnamed console dev. Notch notes "the programmers have done several console games before," but adds that he can't reveal what studio it is just yet. He also revealed it "won't be a straight port, though it's unclear what that means just yet. He also spoke to the Kinect functionality, saying the game is of course playable without the motion peripheral, but "with the power of Kinect you will feel closer to your game than evar [sic] and it also saves kittens." Kittens! While we aren't sure that he's being entirely genuine with that final statement, we're just gonna take the statement at face value. We really like kittens, after all.
WRUP: Our favorite pets edition
I was just sitting down to write an intro for this week's WRUP, but then, oops, I seem to have been distracted by puppies. The puppies above are mine, because, well, I'm writing this post and it's my privilege to show off how gosh-darn adorable the little scamps are. (Of course, they're a couple of years older now -- less cute, and boy can they bark.) For this week's WRUP, we have the usual assortment of weekend plans as well as -- you guessed it -- puppies. Also kittens. And just for variety, a snake. %Gallery-91023%
WRUP: Distracted by kittens edition
The weekend, if we do say so ourselves (and we do) is not only the perfect time for gaming -- as we discuss every week in WRUP -- but also for hanging out with our household pets. Friends and family may nag us over our MMO habit, but our pets will always love us (so long as we remember to feed them). So this week in addition to talking up what we're playing this weekend, we're also sharing our favorite pets. We'll kick-start this adventure with Tateru, who gives us "two animals for the price of one, occupying the backrest of the comfiest chair in the house." And whether you're interested in the Massively crew's activities or not -- come along for the ride and let us know what you're playing this weekend. (Pictures of adorable animals are entirely optional -- but certainly encouraged.)
Take your cute pills: Apple kitteh is a furry little Mac fan
It's Sunday, a time for reflection, reading the Sunday comics, and looking at pictures of cute kittehs! TUAW Reader Brian sent us a link to one of his favorite sites, The Daily Kitten. On March 6th, the kitten of the day was a little sweetheart named Lyra, who has learned at a young age that Apple is the brand to reach out to. Lyra's not quite as famous as my 15 year-old Tortoiseshell cat Ruby, who has joined me on TUAW TV Live, but she's certainly a lot cuter (sorry, Ruby!). Enjoy these photos of Lyra! One, two, three... awwwwwwwwwwww! http://www.flickr.com/photos/davemorris/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
All is right with the world; iStat Menus 2.0 is here
The world was looking bleak and dreary after Snow Leopard arrived last week, for my little menu bar friend, iStat Menus for Mac, was incompatible with the new version of Mac OS X. This morning, however, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, fluffy kittens are playing again (see image at right for proof), and all is right with the world! iStat Menus 2.0 has arrived, and now my CPU monitor, calendar, and clock are back in the menu bar where they're supposed to be. The new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard compatible version is running just fine, and less than a week of darkness filled the hearts of all of those who love iStat Menus. You can download it for free, although a donation is requested. While iStat's developer, iSlayer, has resolved this disturbance in The Force, there's still a dark and evil presence in the universe. Apple, taking on the role of Emperor Palpatine with gusto, recently forced all iPhone developers to remove or retool apps that use a Free Memory function to display memory usage and/or clear out wired or inactive memory. As a result, iStat for iPhone [App Store] version 1.1 was released with the Free Memory function removed. Bjango (the iPhone arm of iSlayer) has kindly posted instructions for how to use version 1.0 to keep the function intact, but we're all wondering why Apple decided to axe all apps that performed this useful function. Since this latest kerfuffle has forced Bjango to release a feature-limited version of iStat for iPhone, the company has reduced the price to US$1.99. There's no word from Apple on why they chose to kill all of the Free Memory apps. When you're the Emperor, you don't have to give any reasons for stomping on kittens.
Scattered Shots: Suggestion Box
Scattered Shots is here for you. As long as you're a hunter, you get to tell us what to write about, and we get to ignore you do whatever you say. I love these months just before the next expansion is released. There's such a sense of anticipation, where the whole game, including your own class, is in fluid motion, constantly changing. This is the time when the developers actually want you to give them your feedback, to tell them what they're doing wrong; and -- strange as it may seem -- there is actually a chance they will listen to you, take your advice, and actually implement whatever change you suggest!That's why the last few days I've had my eye on the beta hunter forums, looking for the latest ideas about my favorite class. Lots of the player suggestions they have there are really neat, but unfortunately there's also some of what we call "QQ" (which stands for whining because it looks like two little eyes with tears coming down). It's hard to get good suggestions on the forums without also getting bad QQ. Sometimes when forum-goers clash, they get into an annoying argument and the whole thing devolves into boring name-calling.So let's weed out all the muck and jumble, shall we? Let's just cut to the prime-rib-beef of what really good ideas are out there and skip all the blah blah blah about who's stupid, who's an idiot, and who's just dumb.
Tenchu IV is jerky, graceful
Tenchu IV's animations are the very definition of a mixed bag. The player-controlled kittens, as seen above, look graceful when they move (as cats tend to do), but we're not exactly convinced by the human death animations, which seem to feature enemies jerking about like electrocuted dogs. In the second of the three videos posted after the break, the downed enemy seems to perform some kind of bizarre humping motion in his death throes.Not that we mean to pick on Tenchu IV or anything -- being overly picky about this stuff is just part of our job.%Gallery-25071%
Wii Warm Up: Best kitten in a game?
We like kittens. This post from yesterday just got them on our brains and their cute, furry little selves won't get down from up there. So, we figured we'd ask you all about your favorite game kittens, or just plain old felines.So, out with it! Love the cat in Chu Chu Rocket? Are you a fan of Bubsy?Just kidding, Nobody likes Bubsy.
Chococat case cuddles up against our heart
We don't have to tell you how cute this case is. It's etched right on the front of the kitty with the big eyes. And, with a see-through pouch on the back (complete with velcro strap for securing precious games), this thing also has "complete package" written all over it. For further evidence of flickr user Michy Michelle's extreme skill at DS crafts, peep the Hello Kitty DS Lite. We just wish we had a bigger picture to drool over. Hello Kitty isn't really our thing, but if someone did the same thing to a DS except replaced the Hello Kitty with, say, He-Man, then we'd totally be down with it.Head on past the break for a look at the Chococat case from a different angle.
Yume Neko DS parades the cute kitties around in latest ad
If you have severe heart problems, then we suggest you watch the video above. Why? Well, the power of cute pets is known the world over and we've never underestimated the worth of something that makes you go "awww." And with everything we've seen on Yume Neko DS so far, we're convinced that this is going to be the most purest concentration of cute found outside of searching for kittens on YouTube or a certain website called Cute Overload.[Via Go Nintendo]
