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Seen at CES: iDevices through the years
We saw these displays over in the actual iLounge booth (they also have a deal to sponsor some of the iPhone-related displays here at CES), and thought you readers would enjoy a look. Basically iLounge went back and obtained a version of every single iDevice out there (with the exception of the two iPad models currently out), and mounted them all on the wall lined up from oldest to newest. It's a pretty cool look at Apple's most recent history. Above, you can see the iPod line from the original device in 2001 up through the iPod classic, as well as the iPod shuffle from introduction shrunk down into the current square form. And after the break, you can see the various iPod nanos, and all of the iPod touch and iPhone models so far. It was definitely a cool little look at Apple's history in between all of the other CES chaos going on this week.
Wall Street Journal confirms iPhone coming to Verizon
Rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon are almost as old as the iPhone itself, and earlier today we heard about a Verizon event next week, cleverly timed for 11 AM on 1/11/11. That set off speculation across the Internet, but we paid special attention to when the Wall Street Journal confirmed the rumor, citing "a person familiar with the matter." The WSJ has a solid history and isn't prone to confirming without good sources, so it seems a sure thing at this point. While Apple has not been involved in this announcement (the WSJ says Apple declined to comment), many people have noted that Apple has generally not been involved in the "second carrier" in any country getting the iPhone. I will be glad to see the iPhone on Verizon for the same reason that I am glad The Beatles are finally on iTunes: so that people can stop talking about it and speculating about when it is going to happen. That said, I've paid enough attention to Verizon's customer service reputation that I'm not convinced that I would switch. Competition is almost always a benefit to customers, so I am hoping that the arrival of the iPhone on Verizon will give customers more choice about calling plans, data plans, and (heck, let me dream) more reasonable SMS pricing. Fingers crossed?
TUAW talks to T-Pain at CES ShowStoppers 2011
We stopped by the ShowStoppers event at CES 2011 this evening, a special event in the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas for a few CES exhibitors and select press, and there we found none other than the prince of Auto-Tune himself, rapper T-Pain. He was there shilling a brand new microphone gadget that will automatically Auto-Tune your voice, just like the iPhone app released a while back that bears his name. T-Pain (can we just call him Mr. Pain?) tells us a little bit about the making of his app, and why he's brought the technology into the microphone. Plus, we got to meet T-Pain (and he wasn't even on a boat). But you should definitely try that I Am T-Pain app out -- it's pretty great. The microphone will be available this fall for US$39.99, so look for it in stores then. Shawwty!
Denon and Marantz release AirPlay update for $49
Denon and Marantz announced that owners of select AV receiver models can download a highly anticipated AirPlay update. The update will let you stream video from your iOS 4.2 device or from your iTunes library on your PC or Mac. Receivers eligible for the update include, Denon AVR-4311CI Denon AVR-3311CI Denon AVR-991 Denon AVR-A100 Denon N7 Networked CD Receiver and 2.0 Channel Speaker System Marantz SR7005 A/V Receiver Marantz AV7005 A/V Preamplifier Marantz NA7004 Network Audio Player Marantz M-CR603 Networked CD Receiver Denon and Marantz originally promised to deliver the update for free until November 7, but the company missed that mark and is now delivering the update for the full $49. Denon and Marantz are not the only AV company embracing AirPlay. Earlier this week, both Klipsch and Bowers & Wilkins announced AirPlay-compatible AV equipment. [Via Engadget]
Klipsch shows off AirPlay-enabled speaker docks at CES
One day before CES begins here in Las Vegas, Klipsch invited journalists to visit a gallery of their products, and that's where we got to see the company's new line of "soundbars," specially made speaker docks that will come equipped to support Apple's own AirPlay system. The docks we saw were prototypes only, so they weren't actually running any music from an iOS device, but eventually, they will stream music directly from any iOS 4.2 or higher equipped device through the AirPlay protocol. The docks come in three different models -- the Studio model is the smallest, and it can fill a small room with sound for US$399, the Forum model is a little bigger for $599 and the Arena model, above, checks in at a whopping $799. That's pretty pricey (even considering the sound quality), but these are basically meant to be all-in-one solutions for audio, with the added bonus of streaming iOS music from anywhere. The Arena model has both a USB port on it (for older iPod models), and an auxiliary input for a television or another sound source. Klipsch told us that it was excited to use Apple's AirPlay standard for these devices, and it eventually expects that Apple will allow for a "one-to-many" streaming service, where you can send different audio feeds out to different speakers throughout the house. There's no release date yet for these docks, but those in search of a quality all-in-one, Apple device friendly solution can look for them in Q2 or Q3 of 2011.
TUAW's Daily App: Push-Up Wars
I'm a big fan of DailyBurn for tracking weight and nutrition. While a lot of iPhone users stand by the Lose It! app for that sort of thing (and rightfully so, it's a good one), I prefer to have a service that's accessible from any browser, and DailyBurn (formerly known as Gyminee) is the one I've tried and liked the best. Earlier today, while adding far too many calories to my nutrition record (CES and its various events are not being kind to my diet this week), I noticed that DailyBurn has another app out called Push-Up Wars, designed to help you track your push-up ability. Just like the main app, Push-Up Wars allows you to enter and register how many push-ups you're doing each day, and then the app will track your progress both among your friends and on a global leaderboard level. Push-Up Wars is notable even if you're not an exercise fanatic, just because it's the first app I've seen that's not a game, technically, but still uses Game Center. You can earn ranks and achievements as you "level up," and then see global and friend-based leaderboards. Registering push-ups requires you to take a video of you doing the exercise (only uploaded if you agree to do so), so the app requires a video-enabled iPhone or iPod touch -- no dice on older versions. But it's an interesting idea that's executed quite well, and if you want to get serious about powering up those arms, Push-Up Wars might be able to help.
Interview: Firemint's Rob Murry and Steve Faulkner of Infinite Interactive
Firemint and Infinite Interactive surprised us all the other day with the news that the one company was buying the other, but Firemint's Rob Murray and Infinite's Steve Fawkner weren't surprised themselves. "We've actually been talking about this for years, going back to 2006," Murray told TUAW today. Fawkner actually showed Murray a prototype of his company's Puzzle Quest game back in the day, and that reportedly encouraged Murray to start a game of his own that eventually became Flight Control, which itself spawned the Firemint company. "It's always been in the back of our minds, sometimes we've talked about it. It's only now that we've been able to make it possible." So the first question is: why now? It turns out that the two companies may have more in common than we think. "The studios have evolved with similar kinds of ideas and similar kinds of things," says Fawkner. "We've wanted to get into digital distribution for a long time, and Rob's already headed down that path, so it really made sense to go ahead and bring the studios together and go along that path together."
DocScanner successfully transitions from iOS to Mac app
Today I spent a half hour playing around with the first iOS app to Mac OS X app port I've gotten my hands on, and if DocScanner is any indication of the quality and usability of other iOS apps transitioning to the Mac, the Mac App Store is gonna rock indeed. DocScanner iPhone is an existing app that turns your iPhone into an OCR scanner. You simply snap a photograph of a document, and the app uses built-in OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to extract the text from the document. The app then lets you save the text as a PDF for emailing or sharing with Evernote. DocScanner Mac is the OS X version of the iPhone app that works just as well and offers added functionality because it allows you to turn any camera into an OCR scanner. Simply snap a picture, import it to your Mac then drag it to DocScanner Mac's interface. You'll then be presented with a PDF version of the text that you can copy and paste into any editable document. The logic for bringing DocScanner from the iPhone to the Mac doesn't end with simply allowing you to use any camera as an OCR scanner. Porting the iOS app to Mac OS X allows DocScanner to take advantage of the OpenGL 3D accelerated graphics on your Mac. The results are much faster image processing and OCR extraction than you could ever hope to get on your iPhone. Out of the hundreds of thousands of apps for iOS, a large majority of them would probably not offer added user value if they were ported over to Mac OS X (like currency apps or apps that are fronts for websites such as Mint or Yelp). But an app like DocScanner is an excellent example of the usefulness that select iOS-to-Mac ports will provide. DocScanner iPhone is on sale now on the App Store for US$0.99. DocScanner Mac makes its debut tomorrow exclusively in the Mac App Store for $14.99.
OverDrive Media Console app for iOS now features free e-book downloads
OverDrive, a digital media company that specializes in digital content distribution, has recently announced an update to its Media Console for iOS. As well as giving you access to audiobooks from something like 13,000 libraries and educational institutions the world o'er, the new app offers -- wait for it -- free e-book downloads! Free app, free e-books (as long as you have a library card, of course), and access to the world's great literature: it doesn't get much better than that, does it? Hit the source link to try it for yourself. We suggest that you start with Under The Volcano -- we always thought you looked drank like a young Malcolm Lowry.
Navigon offers free Nevada nav app for CES attendees
If you're headed to the big CES show (and we know a lot of our readers attend), Navigon can at least keep you from getting lost in Las Vegas. For just a few days, you can download a special Audi-branded version of Navigon's GPS app that covers the whole state of Nevada. The special version includes Google local search, weather and location sharing. A pedestrian mode gives you walking directions, which is a big deal during CES. The app supports several languages, so visitors from outside the US will be well served. I consider Navigon's app one of the top choices for iPhone based GPS navigation, and the company is hoping that people will try the app and want the same level of service when they get home. You can pick the app up for a limited time on the App Store. The Audi Las Vegas Navigator requires an iPhone 4, 3GS or 3G. It's a 338 MB download.
iPhone developer Firemint buys Infinite Interactive, makers of Puzzle Quest
Wow. Color me surprised on this one -- I've been joking around lately about iPhone company acquisitions and buyouts, but here are two companies that never occurred to me. Firemint, creators of the popular Flight Control and Real Racing 2 games on iOS, has outright purchased Infinite Interactive, the company behind a bevy of console and handheld console titles, including the very popular (and personal favorite of mine) Puzzle Quest series. Game designer Steve Fawkner founded Infinite Interactive and first met Firemint's Rob Murray in 2003, and according to the press release, he even got Murray's feedback on the first Puzzle Quest title. Fawkner will go to work for Firemint, presumably making his own games as well as helping to adapt Firemint's popular games for other platforms. What a deal. All we have so far is the official press release (both companies are based in Australia, so this news arrived on their time), but we'll look at contacting Firemint later on this week to ask about the reasoning and timing behind the deal. Infinite Interactive isn't a huge company, but the fact that Firemint straight up acquired them is just as impressive as the possibilities for these two more and more experienced developers to be working together. This could have interesting consequences for Firemint's games both on and off of the iOS platform.
Citibank: Apple could pull in $2 billion in App Store revenues in 2011
Right before the year switched over, Citibank released its "US Internet Stock 2011 Playbook," and in there was an interesting prediction about the App Store. Despite what seems like constantly falling prices and the rise of "freemium" apps, Citibank expects Apple to pull in $2 billion in gross app revenue in 2011 alone. That's comparable to gross revenue for the entire online video advertising market, according to TechCrunch. And presumably this is just the iOS App Store -- later this week we'll be seeing the first fruits of the Mac App Store arrive, and it's likely that market will pull in a nice chunk of change for Apple as well. Smartphone software in general is also set to grow -- Citibank says that by 2013, the app market should be worth around $27 billion (that includes, of course, Android and any other platforms that should emerge in the next few years). Demand is strong for smartphone hardware, but I don't think the exponential growth of apps will continue for years into the future. Then again, who can tell? This is a market that barely existed just a few years ago, so where it's headed from here is anyone's guess. [via Loop Insight]
Man eats iPhone 4 at New Year's Eve celebration
We admit, we tricked you a bit with that headline -- India's Krishna Kalyan actually ate a cake for New Year's Eve, which is not nearly as extraordinary (or painful) as actually chowing down on a Retina Display and an A4 processor. But it was a cake that looked remarkably like an iPhone 4 -- as you can see to the right, the screen is very detailed, with fully-rendered icons (and even some push notifications waiting to be read as well). Sure, the shape is a little more cake-like than iPhone-like, but I like the tasty little home button and the frosting dock connector down below. The only thing missing? Get those icons in some folders, man! You've just got them hanging out all over the place. And while we're at it, does anyone really keep their Photos or iTunes Store apps on the front home screen any more? We've all pushed those off of the first page for more useful apps, right? At any rate, excellent cake. Happy New Year to one and all -- hope you all had a good and safe one no matter what you were doing. Now back to work!
Nielsen says Apple is holding onto the smartphone lead for now
New numbers from Nielsen research show Apple still in the top spot in US smartphone sales. Android numbers continue to surge, while BlackBerry is declining. Citing November 2010 data, Nielsen says Apple has 28.6 percent of the domestic smartphone market, up ever so slightly from 27.9 percent in October. BlackBerry has slipped to 26.1 percent, while Android has amassed a 25.8 percent share. Even more interesting is data that says of those buying a smartphone in the last 6 months, 40.8 percent bought Android phones, while iOS phones had a 26.9 percent share, RIM grabbed 19.2 percent of the new buyers for its BlackBerry phones. What the numbers will do when, as expected, the iPhone comes to Verizon early this year is harder to predict. If the trends continue, it's likely Android will be in the smartphone numbers lead soon, but many analysts continue to predict Apple will remain number 1 in profitability.
iPhone alarms still not working, worlds crashing left and right
Hey, you -- it's January 3rd. You know, the day you're supposed to return to work / school / life. And the day you're supposed to catch a flight you've had booked for three months. And probably a day that you're supposed to accomplish lots of other tasks. Unfortunately for you, you actually believed that your iPhone alarm would fix itself when today rolled around, but based on hordes of complaints seen on Twitter and Facebook, said fix is still hibernating. And thus, you're still sleeping. Even here at Engadget HQ, we've seen iPhone 4 handsets not wake us as promised (on non-recurring alarms), so who knows when Apple will step up to the plate and address the issue. In the meantime, go ahead and set up a recurring alarm while gently crossing your fingers and toes. Or, you know, buy a battery-powered alarm clock off of your grandmother. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
TUAW's Daily App: Super Blast 2
I have to admit that I never played Super Blast, but the sequel has entertained me for a little while now. It's a straight-up shooter game with a nice, easy control scheme. All you do is tilt your device to aim and shoot, and you can occasionally tap the screen to clear it with a bomb. It's a tried-and-true premise, and it works well. My one complaint is that it's hard sometimes to tell how your ship is doing and/or when the enemies are actually taking damage. On bosses with large amounts of health, you usually have to just fall back on watching the numbers, and that's a little more boring than it could be. The game's power-ups are quite fun, and the graphics are excellent, featuring almost whimsical 3D alien models with extremely high resolutions that look excellent on the Retina Display. There are plenty of particle effects to go around, and when you do it just right, cutting through the well-rendered bad guys is really satisfying. Game Center integration helps you keep the fight going as well. Super Blast 2 is just US$0.99 on the App Store right now, and while it's somewhat simple, it's definitely worth a download.
iPhone alarms may fail to activate on New Year's Day
If you're using your iPhone or iPod touch as your primary alarm clock, it might be time to reconsider. In 2010, Apple had well-publicized difficulties with the switchover to Daylight Saving Time. Alarms failed to go off at their proper times, causing thousands of people in the Southern Hemisphere to wake up an hour early and many more thousands in the Northern Hemisphere to wake up an hour late. Now yet another bug has struck Apple's Clock app in iOS: single-use, non-repeating alarms fail to go off at all after New Year's Day. Just like the Daylight Saving Time bug, living in New Zealand has given me the opportunity to test this bug ahead of time. Strangely, a single-use alarm scheduled to go off at 7:00 AM today went off on time, but now single-use alarms don't work at all. Only alarms set to repeat at least once during the week will work properly. 9to5Mac suggests that the problem will clear up after January 3, and our testing confirms that -- in a couple of days, the alarms are back to normal. This bug in the Clock app is somewhat less insidious than the Daylight Saving Time bug, which affected repeating alarms. With this New Year's Day bug, you'll still be safe if you've got a repeating alarm set during the work week. Only single-use alarms will fail to go off. I've tested this with alarms created in 2010 and alarms created in 2011, and it makes no difference; all single-use alarms now fail to activate until after 1/3. I've tested this on an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.1 -- your experience may differ if you have a different iOS device or software version. Considering how many things Apple's managed to get right in iOS, it seems really odd that, of all things, it's the Clock app that keeps getting mucked up. Let us know in the comments if any third-party alarm clock apps are experiencing the same issue (though I doubt it). In the meantime, if you've been using your iPhone or iPod touch to wake you up in the morning, it might be a good idea to invest in a cheap standalone alarm clock -- or take off work until Monday.
PSA: iPhone alarms not working come New Year's Day 2011
We're not exactly sure of the cause of this fancy new issue affecting Apple's super cool iPhone line of cellphones, but apparently you've got trouble come 1/1/2011. According to an explosive stream of frustration-filled tweets on the Twitter microblogging service, when the clock strikes midnight, one off alarms will cease to sing out. The issue sounds eerily similar to recent Daylight Savings Time trouble we witnessed back in November, although we saw both repeating alarm and single alarm failures. So how can you fix this potentially life-ruining problem? Well until Apple patches its OS -- and it's currently unclear if this is just iOS 4.2.1 or earlier versions as well -- you can simply create a recurring alarm at the time you need to be woken up, and then disable it once your dreams are completely ruined. We're taking a deeper look into the issue and have contacted Apple -- if we get more news, you guys will be the first to know. In the meantime, feel free to commiserate in comments, and... happy new year? Update: 9to5 Mac says that the bug will get fixed all by itself once the calendar hits January 3rd. We haven't confirmed this, but if it turns out to be the case, that's pretty good news. In less good news, the issue seems to be affecting iOS 4.1 and 4.0.2 as well. Update 2: Apple responded to us on the issue, though they didn't offer any surprises: We're aware of an issue related to non repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2. Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
OpenFeint sees giant spike in Christmas users and downloads
Here's some more evidence that the App Store had a really amazing holiday weekend last week. OpenFeint has announced that it saw a 184% spike in new users on Christmas Day last week, the largest single day in the service's history for new users. Over the four days around the holiday, OpenFeint reportedly added more than 1.4 million new users to the service. Downloads were also really high, with 5 million OpenFeint-enabled games downloaded over the holiday weekend. That includes Android games, which saw 73% growth, and iOS games, which spiked by 187% over the weekend. That's a lot of new games and new players. We've heard other evidence already that last weekend was really busy for the App Store. Apple hasn't released any stats so far (and we've got a line in to EA to try and find out if it can share any of its download figures from the weekend), but we can tell you with some certainty that last weekend saw plenty of new traffic for the App Store and its apps.
Digital collections make comics on your iPad easy and cheap
Our friend Macenstein has a nice tip running over on his blog about how to get more comics on your iPad. The iPad is a device that seems made for comic book reading -- that display is colorful and bright, and the touchscreen lets you examine comic art from any size or angle. The problem, however, is price -- while there are some good official apps out there, and some great free comics in them, purchased comics still aren't too cheap, even compared to the real thing. Enter Amazon, which is selling things like this DVD of Archie Comics for super cheap. For four bucks, you can get 120 digital comics. That's an amazing deal, and while there aren't a lot of those to go around, there are definitely other digital collections you can purchase for much cheaper than actually buying them piecemeal. Turning those comics into PDFs (or just finding them on the disc) is usually not a problem, and then just dragging the PDFs into iTunes and cracking them open in iBooks is even simpler. And voila, you've got tons and tons of comics to read on your iPad. Excellent tip, and a great way to pick up a lot more comic books to read on your next plane trip.
