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App review: Infinity Blade 2 (iOS)
The 3D duel-fest is back, and attempting to answer some of the questions left over from its first installment (and a few major updates). Infinity Blade has had a huge effect on promoting the iPad and iPhone as valid gaming options, with high quality visuals and intuitive touchscreen controls. Well, Epic hasn't tampered with the formula too much, but has tried to instill some considered expansions and pour even more eye-honey all over it. Will it stretch gamers beyond the original? We've now spent a fair bit of time slashing away at those pesky immortals and their underlings -- see what we thought of this little big adventure after the break. %Gallery-141444%
Jawbone offers 'no questions asked' refund for troubled Up band, even if you keep it
While Jawbone attempts to fix the handful of substantial issues plaguing its new Up fitness band, it's now announced that it will begin giving free refunds to dissatisfied customers -- and you can even keep hold of the band afterwards. Production of it has been put on pause, but the company is continuing to roll out software tweaks for existing lifestyle metric obsessives. The new guarantee starts on December 9th, and will only cover Up bands purchased this year. You can read up on all the refund specifics -- along with Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman's apology -- at the source links below.
Jawbone Up review
Back in July, Jawbone did something surprising. The company, best known for its Bluetooth headsets, announced it was cooking up a wristband called "Up" -- a wearable device that would track the wearer's sleeping, eating and exercise habits. At the time, we didn't know much more than that, but given the company's expertise in wearable tech, we assumed it would at least have a Bluetooth radio, tying it together with all the other products Jawbone sells. As it turns out, the wristband doesn't sync your vitals wirelessly and for better or worse, it doesn't work quite the way we thought it would. To use the wristband, you'll need an iOS device -- no other platform is supported, and there isn't even a mobile website to which you can upload all your data. Then again, it does things other fitness trackers don't: it monitors when you're in deep or light sleep, so that it can wake you when you're just dozing. And because it's waterproof up to one meter and promises up to 10 days of battery life, it's low-maintenance enough that you can wear it every day, which could be key to making some healthy lifestyle changes. So how did Jawbone do, stepping so far outside its comfort zone? And should you consider this over identically priced fitness trackers such as the new Fitbit Ultra? Let's see. %Gallery-141101%
Scanomat TopBrewer brings iPhone control, elegant design to single-cup coffee makers (video)
There's no question that we love our coffee, but we're often far less intrigued by the brewing process than we are the result. With its incredibly sleek design and simple iPhone or iPad control, Scanomat's faucet-like TopBrewer could easily become one of the few exceptions, however. This fully automatic coffee machine grinds your beans, measures out ingredients and foams milk, before dishing out the perfect cup. But iOS control is the keystone of this elegant solution, letting you make your beverage selection from a wireless device, leaving nothing but the stainless steel tap exposed. Craving a cappuccino? Simply toss your cup under the spigot and tap an icon. You can also dispense cold milk or water, hot chocolate and even carbonated water -- all from the same head. Scanomat has yet to hint at a release date or price, but if you have to ask... Jump past the break for a quick taste, courtesy of some lucky folks at a hospitality industry expo in Milan. [Thanks, Fredrik]
PBS Kids launches augmented reality game for iOS, says all the cool kids are counting sushi
It's official: Kids today have way cooler toys than you did when you were growing up. PBS Kids has just outed its first augmented reality mobile app for iOS -- a game called Fetch! Lunch Rush that aims to take the sting out of learning to do addition and subtraction in your head. If you're up on PBS' children's programming (and why wouldn't you be?), you'll recognize that pooch Ruff Ruffman as the game show host in the animated show Fetch! Here, he's a legendary movie director trying to make sure there's enough sushi for his movie crew (grown-up problems, right?). That's where the augmented reality comes in: bits of raw fish floating around screen. Though it's worth noting that this isn't augmented reality in the strictest sense of the term, in that you have to print out game cards to use with your iPhone or iPod touch's camera. The free app requires an iPhone or iPod touch (fourth-gen or later) or an iPad / iPad 2 running iOS 4.0. While we can't say we're a bit envious of those six- to eight-year-olds with their very own iPod touches, but then again, will they ever know the sheer joy of hunting in Oregon Trail over and over again? %Gallery-139344%
Jawbone Up detailed: tracks activity, food intake and sleep cycles, available November 6 for $100 (video)
Back in July, Jawbone did something puzzling. The company, best known for its Bluetooth headsets, teased a photo of a colorful wristband called the Up -- a deceptively simple thing that could purportedly track your eating, sleeping and exercise habits. The outfit left out a few teensy details: the price, shipping date and, the biggest riddle of all, how it works. At last, the company's ready to talk specifics. We just got word the Up will be available in the US November 6th for $100, and will continue its world tour on the 17th. With that price, it's well-matched against the clip-on Fitbit Ultra tracker, and indeed, they have some key features in common -- namely, a step counter and a few requisite social networking features. But with a sensor that knows when you're in deep sleep and a mobile app that can identify photos of food, it has a few unexpected tricks that could give devices like Fitbit a run for their money. We'll be getting one to test very soon, but in the meantime, join us past the break to learn more. %Gallery-138250%
New York Post blocks iPad access through Safari browser, hopes you'll pay for a subscription instead
Well, that's one way to make people pay for puns. The New York Post, that bastion of fair, balanced, and not-at-all sensationalistic reporting, has blocked iPad owners from reading its stories through the tablet's Safari browser. If folks want the full spill on Hugh Hefner getting ditched at the altar, they'll be prompted to download the iOS app, which requires signing up for a subscription starting at $6.99 on a month-to-month basis. Setting aside News Corp.'s hubris for a moment, what's odd about this is the number of workarounds Rupert Murdoch & Co. left us cheapskates. You can still read the site on a desktop browser or a phone, including an Android one. Basically, then, News Corp. is strangling web access, but only for a select group of readers. That's a stark contrast from other content providers (even the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal), which have been more platform-agnostic. Then again, there's the dim possibility that News Corp. targeted the iPad in an effort to re-brand the Post as a glossier sort of tabloid, à la The Daily. To which we say, that's some wishful thinking there, Rupe.
Pieceable Viewer lets devs share iOS apps, personal feelings through a browser
For developers not quite ready to offer their iOS creations in the App Store, a new service promises to suck the grunt work out of bouncing works-in-progress off others. Pieceable Viewer is the magical program in question, launching today to let devs publish a copy of their apps to a private website, whose link they can share with beta testers, clients, and fellow code monkeys. Viewer generates a single line of code for sharing and, irony of all ironies, uses Flash to simulate apps inside the browser. It could be compelling for freelancers working with clients who don't happen to own an iPhone, and, adds the company's CEO, it helps devs circumvent Apple's 100-device limit. All this from a company whose existing product enables people with no coding experience to build apps. You can try it for free, with one person able to view one app, and a link that expires after an hour. Upgrade to a $30-a-month plan for three simultaneous views of up to five applications, and links that don't expire. (For unlimited apps, you'll have to spring for the $60 monthly plan, which lets up to ten people peep at once.) As for all you Android enthusiasts, your version is up next (surprise, surprise).
App beat: Pack like a professional with Packing Pro
If you invariably find yourself arriving at a travel destination missing one or more critical items left sitting on your desk or bed, Packing Pro from Quinnscape may be the app for you. Creating a packing list on a slip of paper is great as long as you don't leave anything off or lose the list. Most users tend to be more careful about keeping their electronic devices close at hand than they are with random lists. This universal app includes a number of handy features, including a catalog of some 800 items you might need when traveling. It also includes a variety of pre-built lists for various types of trips that you can use as a starting point. The Expert List tool lets you enter information about how many people are traveling (including how many adults and children), the length of the trip, temperature at the destination, domestic or foreign and whether you need to prepare food. The tool will then automatically populate a list which you can then customize. Version 5.1 of Packing Pro is out now in the App Store and is currently on sale for a very reasonable US$2.99. A basic version that contains fewer items in the catalog and fewer sample lists is also available for $0.99.
Apple ships 120 million iOS devices since iPhone's launch
Steve Jobs just dropped a few numbers on us. Firstly, that big one above, 120 million iOS devices -- that's iPhones, iPod touches and iPads, for the forgetful in the class -- have been shipped since the original iPhone made its grand debut back in 2007. 230,000 is the next number of significance -- that's the tally of daily iOS activations. Moving down to even more granular stats, Apple says 200 apps are being downloaded every second, which has resulted in the mind-bending 6.5 billion total downloads of iOS applications. This is from a catalog of over 250,000 total apps, with 25,000 of them being available for the iPad. Yeah, Apple's just blowing its horn, but it sure is a big one, ain't it?
