TimeOut
Latest
Time Out London 3.0 gets new design, features
Time Out London was an app that, at one point, almost every Londoner had on his or her iPhone. It was first introduced in 2008, but as the years went by, it never received any design or major feature upgrades. It also integrated less and less with Time Out's massive things-to-do database and became more and more bug-ridden. But that's all changed as of today with the release of Time Out London 3.0. The app has been completely redesigned with a new, flatter -- and more fluid -- interface, a new navigation system and even a new icon to signify the breadth of the changes to the app. The UI design cues are heavily influenced by Time Out London's iPad app, which was released last summer right before the Olympics, but it works very well on the smaller screen. The flat design will also fit perfectly in the new flat world that is iOS 7. For a complete rundown of all the changes, check out the release notes below. Time Out London is a free download. What's New in Version 3 Complete redesign and rebuild! An entirely new experience to help you make the most of your city: - 'Editor's picks': Discover the London's best events, bars, restaurants and things to do, as recommended by Time Out editors - Shortcuts to instant inspiration from the homescreen. Suggestions change throughout the day so you get what's most relevant for right now - 'Find': Browse our entire database for inspiration, for planning right now or later. View your results on a map. - Use the digital version of your Time Out Card - Book restaurants without leaving the app - 'Most popular': Find out what's hot in London - 'History': Check back to see previously viewed items - 'Favourites': Save items for later - Switch to other cities to see recommendations from our teams in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona and Mexico.
Just in time for the Olympics, Time Out releases Time Out London for iPad
Time Out has just released Time Out London for iPad. The app offers users a curated mix of suggestions for things to see and do in the host city of the 2012 Olympics. Time Out London for iPad has a Flipboard-esque look and feel to it. On the app's home screen you're presented with multiple tiles, each one representing a venue, restaurant, museum or other attraction. Tap the tile to get the local's detailed information, like opening times, rating, address, and transport routes. This isn't Time Out's first London app. They've offered two others for quite a while now: Things to Do: London and London: Travel Guide. This is, however, Time Out's first London iPad app. Besides being native to the iPad, the app is also built for the Retina display. Another nice feature is that the more you use it, the "smarter" the app gets by showing you venues more suited to your preferences. My only issue with the app is that, for now, it only works in landscape orientation. Hopefully Time Out will add portrait orientation in a future update. Note that Time Out London for iPad isn't only for the Olympics. The app will continue to be useful and supported long after the Games have ended, so it'll always be a good choice for those coming to London. Time Out London for iPad is a free download.
Time Out offering free iPhone city travel guides until May 2
Time Out is offering a selection of its popular city guides for iPhone for free until May 2. Cities the guides cover include Melborne, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Sydney and Zagreb. Each guide allows you to navigate a city's tourist spots, nightlife and restaurants easily. As with all Time Out guides, they are written by locals so that you're sure to get the best information available. Grab the guides while they're free. Normal pricing is US$4.99 per app. You can download them all here. Thanks to reader Greg for the tip.
Time Out London released for iPhone
Fellow Londoners, it's been a good week for us! First, The Guardian unveiled their iPhone app [£2.39, iTunes link], now Time Out London has finally released their free iPhone app – and it is amazing. This app is worth it for the map feature alone. How it works is a Google Map is displayed with a selection of five buttons: Cinemas; Gigs; Restaurants; Bars, Pubs, and Clubs; and All Arts and Entertainment. Select one button or a combination of the five and watch pins drop on the map that highlight not just the venue, but the event occurring at the venue. A pin will not drop unless there is something going on at the venue. So the next time you're walking through London, you don't have to look up what's going on where on one site then open your Maps at to see where it is; just open the Time Out London app and see current events displayed in your location. And that's just one of the great features of this app. There are many more like 'Top 10' lists based on category, search functionality, bookmarking of favorites, and a nifty 'Inspire Me' function that lets you shake to see randomly selected events you may be interested in. Other features include: Location driven: the app uses geo-location to pinpoint your location and show you Time Out recommended activities nearby, complete with event previews. Sociability: the app alerts you to events you might enjoy, lets you invite people along and flags up events that appeal to your friends and other like-minded people. Regular updates: event listings and previews are updated on a daily basis so you can access up-to-date information on all the latest thrills and spills in London. The only thing I don't like about the app is how heavily it's marketed by Smirnoff. But what you trade for in a logo, you get in a great, free app that is intuitive and well designed. So go ahead and download this app [iTunes link], now, and you'll never be at a loss of what to do in the city again. BTW: New Yorkers, there is a Time Out New York app for you guys [iTunes link]. The two apps are quite different and appear to be made by two separate companies, according to the iTunes Store. I'll look into why that is, but perhaps it is up to each regional Time Out to make their own app.
Inside iPhone 3.0: Fix too-strict passcode lock settings for Exchange users
If your iPhone was connected to an Exchange server for email, contact or calendar synchronization prior to your upgrade to the 3.0 software, you may have run into the same problem that was bugging me for a day or so: the timeout on the passcode lock gets set to "Immediate," forcing you to enter the code almost every time you pick up the phone. Secure, sure, but very annoying. Going to the usual settings location to adjust the timeout shows no choices other than the insta-lock; what to do? A thread on the Apple discussions boards points to the answer. Since the ActiveSync link to the Exchange server controls some security policies on the phone, you need to refresh those controls; the easiest way to do that, short of deleting and recreating the Exchange account, is to turn off all three sync modes and the Push setting. Once that's done, you can go back to the passcode lock screen and disable the lock or adjust the timeout. Put your sync settings back the way they were and your changes to the passcode config should remain in place. While this is an annoying quirk, it's not all gripes and grimaces in the Exchange support department. At long last, users of Exchange calendars can send meeting invitations (hallelujah!); Exchange 2007 users can even view the reply status of attendees. Users can specify additional mail folders for sync, and Exchange 2007 users can search server-side mail from their devices. For a full rundown on the enterprise-friendly features of iPhone OS 3.0, check out the Enterprise Integration guide via Apple's enterprise features page. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Darkfall prepares for launch, renewed sales of games
Today's the big day, Darkfall fans! The 25th of February has arrived and Darkfall should be fully online sometime this afternoon/evening as Aventurine flips the switch on their servers!This launch hasn't passed without problems though. First came the online pre-order page becoming swamped with traffic, leading to multiple credit card charges, people who never received their activation codes, and people who got codes but weren't even charged for the game. If you have had a problem with your pre-order, and wish to check the status of your account, you can always do so on the account management page. Be warned -- account management is under extreme stress from all the traffic and has been mostly down.Today, the heavily burdened website's forums have been up and down, with timeouts occurring as players pile in to see what the news is on the servers. Currently, as of the writing of this post, the servers are still down and unresponsive.Sales of Darkfall will also resume today, as Aventurine plans to start selling the game early in the evening, around the time the servers go live. No exact time has been given yet, but we'll keep our eye on the forums for any specifics given by the development team.
Brits Bash WoW Woes
With all the issues regarding player connectivity & realm stability lately, it was just a matter of time before even the oh-so-polite British had to stand up & say something. This weekend's edition of BBC news online ran an article detailing all the damage caused by the lag monster on their side of the pond, and how it's not only homegrown gamers who are unhappy.Maybe they should stage a good old-fashioned soccer riot; that'll might really get Blizzard shaking in their boots...
