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New Mophie Juice Pack Plus gives your iPhone 5 extra oomph
Today, iPhone 5 users have another way to keep their phone charged up for those times when the battery is getting sucked dry. Mophie, which previously brought us the Juice Pack Helium and Juice Pack Air for iPhone 5, today announced the Juice Pack Plus (US$119.95). The case comes in hues of black, white and PRODUCT(RED), and differs from its siblings in thickness, weight, and capacity. The battery in the Plus is a whopping 2,100 mAh, while the Air has 1,700 mAh of extra power and the Helium provides 1,500 mAh. Weight for the Plus and Air is 2.68 oz., while the Helium weighs in at a svelte 2.44 oz. The Plus is 0.70 inch thick, the Air is 0.63 inch thick and the Helium is just 0.59 inch thick. The battery of the Juice Pack Plus is enough to give your iPhone 5 120 percent of a charge -- enough to top it off completely once and then have enough juice left over to make some emergency calls. Mophie says that the black model will ship within one or two days; the white model ships next week on May 22nd, and the special PRODUCT(RED) model will be available on May 31st. We hope to have a full review of the Juice Pack Plus soon.
The Steve Jobs email that has the DOJ's interest
TUAW has covered the US Department of Justice price-fixing case against Apple for the past several years. Now an email sent from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation (parent company of HarperCollins publishers) is being interpreted by the DOJ as showing that Apple and HarperCollins conspired with other publishers to raise e-book prices. John Paczkowski at AllThingsD pointed out yesterday that the DOJ might be taking the email out of context. The seemingly incriminating portion of Jobs' email is this: "Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99." As Paczkowski points out, reading the entire email, it appears that Jobs was simply using those price points as "price caps in broader pricing tiers" and that he "openly concedes that the agency model he's proposing may well fail." Jobs wrote, "We simply don't think the e-book market can be successful with pricing higher than $12.99 or $14.99. Heck, Amazon is selling these books at $9.99, and who knows, maybe they are right and we will fail even at $12.99. But we're willing to try at the prices we proposed. We are not willing to try at higher prices, because we are pretty sure we'll all fail." Paczkowski notes that this is just "one piece of evidence in a much larger case," but that the DOJ appears to have "cherry-picked a quote for maximum effect." The full exhibit from which the Jobs email was taken is included below. Jobs-Murdoch-exchange var docstoc_docid="156857315";var docstoc_title="Jobs-Murdoch-exchange";var docstoc_urltitle="Jobs-Murdoch-exchange";
Belkin WeMo rolls out IFTTT multi-device control
TUAW readers know of my affinity for Belkin WeMo home automation tools, whether I'm using them to get Siri to turn on the Christmas tree or keep my cat cool in the summer. Today Belkin announced IFTTT multi-device control for WeMo switches. What does that mean? It means that you can now control more than just one WeMo switch in your house with IFTTT recipes. Previously, you could only control one of those devices at a time through IFTTT. Now it's simple to write recipes for multiple switches as seen in the image at the top of this post. Belkin announced that since the IFTTT.com WeMo Channels launched over 30,000 recipes have been created and over 400 shared recipes are available online. Now I just need to get one more WeMo switch so I can water my garden remotely through Siri...
Study: iPhone retains value better than top Galaxy models
The next time your Samsung Galaxy-toting friends try to annoy you, here's a piece of information you can throw back at them. According to a study published yesterday by investment bank Piper Jaffray, iPhones depreciate at less than half the rate of similar Android devices from Samsung. Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray referred to the new index as "a pulse on what consumers are willing to pay for unsubsidized phones in the US." The index compares US eBay auction ending prices for the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II over a rolling eight weeks to create a trend on resale prices. "The key takeaway from eight weeks of data is that the iPhone is holding slightly more of its value compared to the top two Galaxy phones," according to Munster. The iPhone 5's eBay auction ending value dropped about 11.2 percent in the last eight weeks, while the comparable Samsung Galaxy S III dropped 13.7 percent in value. The iPhone 4S kept its value the best, dropping only 7 percent during the same time period. The Galaxy Note II did the worst job of retaining its value, dropping a full 15 percent in just eight weeks. Munster expects iPhone aftermarket prices to drop as the release of the next model of iPhone draws nearer.
ClamCase Pro for iPad: Solid protection, amazing keyboard
With this review, I think that we're just about through the Spring 2013 crop of iPad Bluetooth keyboard folio cases, and it appears that I've saved the best for last. The ClamCase Pro for iPad (US$169, currently available for $20 off with coupon code SPRING20) was a pleasant surprise, providing the best keyboard I've ever used on an iPad along with some of the best protection to be found on any of the new keyboard folios. Design The ClamCase Pro is designed to look like a little laptop computer. The area around the keyboard is solid aluminum, and the keyboard itself uses black keys with white lettering. The top and bottom of the case are encased in white polycarbonate, which lends a very clean look and provides excellent protection. The iPad is held securely into place with two barely visible clips on either side of the device, and that design makes it simple to remove the iPad when necessary. On the back of the case is a perforated "grille" so that sound isn't muffled, and there's a lower opening that accommodates either a Lightning or 30-pin Dock connector. As you'd expect, there are openings for the camera and headphone port, as well as the a small one for the iPad microphone. The on/off/sleep/wake button and volume toggle have their own pass-through switches; there is not a pass through for the seldom-used mute/rotation lock switch. The big difference with this case from all of the rest is the hinge mechanism that connects the bottom (keyboard and battery) section with the top (iPad) section. This hinge can actually rotate through a full 360 degrees, meaning that you can swivel the keyboard around to the back of the case when you want to just use your iPad as a tablet, or put it into a literally infinite number of angles for typing. %Gallery-188327% There's one button on the ClamCase Pro, a small power switch on the left side as you look at the keyboard. The battery, like those on most of the other cases we've tested, is recharged via a USB to micro-USB cable that is included. One charge should get you through about 100 hours of typing; that, of course, is longer than your iPad battery is going to last. The ClamCase folks say that the device will fully charge in about 2 hours, and that a case has a battery standby time of six months. When you want to check the battery life, there's a small "battery" key on the keyboard located near the arrow keys. Push and hold that button, and the white power light located in the upper right corner of the keyboard flashes up to 4 times (meaning fully charged) or just once to indicate that you'd better plug it in. The keyboard itself has a standard QWERTY layout, which is nice to see. Unlike the new Logitech cases with their EasyType keyboards, there's no need to type "Fn-Q" to hit the Tab key or "Fn-A" to go into Caps Lock. The keys are just there. There's also a separate top row of keys so that you don't need to use a function key to perform tasks like changing the volume on your iPad or cut/copy/paste. Functionality The ClamCase Pro had one interesting effect on me; I kept thinking that I was typing on an 11" MacBook Air and continually tried to use the non-existent trackpad. It has that solid feeling of one of Apple's diminutive laptops. I never once had the feeling that the screen was going to flop over, and although I'm not going to try it out, I think this case could protect your iPad from a drop quite well. Previously, my favorite iPad keyboard was the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover. Well, move over Logitech. The keyboard on the ClamCase Pro actually feels better to me than my favorite Mac keyboard -- Apple's Wireless Keyboard. Since I spend my life sitting at a keyboard, I can tell almost immediately if I'm going to love or hate a keyboard, and my first impression of the ClamCase Pro was very positive. Writing this post on a third-generation iPad using Daedalus cemented that impression -- this keyboard has wonderful positive feedback, quiet keys, and a touch that encourages typing. ClamCase's website cites an ABC News test that shows that the keyboard can result in a higher number of words per minute typed, and I can entirely believe that. My fingers didn't need to search for certain keys like they did on the latest crop of Logitech cases; everything was exactly where I expected it to be. If there's one downside to the ClamCase Pro, it's the weight. This thing weighs 1.5 pounds, which means with the iPad added in you're looking at a total weight of just about 3 pounds. That's almost identical to the weight of a 13" MacBook Air and almost .6 pounds more than an 11" MBA. The ClamCase Pro, like any other keyboard folio case, is going to add thickness to your iPad as well. It's .85 inches thick, which is .17" thicker than a MacBook Air. This brings up the old debate about whether one should buy a light MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, or just use an iPad with something like a ClamCase. There's certainly no lack of applications in the iPad world now, and with a top-notch keyboard like that in the ClamCase Pro you can definitely get your work done efficiently. Price-wise, someone could buy a 64 GB Wi-Fi iPad with Retina display and ClamCase Pro for $868, less than the $999 cost of a 64 GB 11" non-Retina MacBook Air. The ClamCase Pro pairs with your iPad with the press of a Bluetooth button that's on the keyboard and a tap on the ClamCase Pro name in the Bluetooth settings on the iPad. It has magnets to shut off your iPad when closed, and turn it back on when you pop the top open again. However, this doesn't help you when you flip the keyboard over into "tablet mode," as you can end up knee-typing. So, when using your iPad as Steve Jobs intended, be sure to hit the power switch. There's one little quirk I noticed with the case design. There are four little rubber feet on the bottom of the case that are probably designed to keep it from sliding on a desktop. That works fine, provided that the case is closed. When you open it, the hinge extends down onto the surface you have the case on and pushes two of the feet off of the surface, making it susceptible to sliding. Conclusion Pros Excellent keyboard, one of the best I've used on Mac, PC or iPad Completely unique 360-degree hinge holds the "screen" in place regardless of how you have the case configured Probably the sturdiest iPad keyboard case TUAW has ever tested Very fast pairing process, built-in battery level capability Good battery life; much longer than your iPad battery is going to last Power button is easy to find and shut off, making it easy to power down the keyboard when using the iPad as a tablet Cons Fairly heavy; with the iPad installed, it's about the same weight of a 13" MacBook Air One of the most expensive iPad keyboard cases we've tested; however, it's worth every dime Who is it for? Professionals who are thinking about using an iPad and keyboard case as a replacement for a traditional laptop or anyone who wants the best possible experience with a keyboard case.
BlackBerry bringing BBM to iOS and Android this summer
Miracles do happen. BlackBerry today announced that BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will be available on iOS and Android this summer as a free download. On the BlackBerry blog, BlackBerry employee Donny Halliwell stated that availability is dependent on approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play. BBM for iOS is huge, considering the number of people that use the system: over 51 million daily active users who use BBM an average of 1.5 hours per day, sending over 10 billion messages per day. Rumors about an iOS version of BBM first started floating around in earnest in March 2011, but this is the first word from BlackBerry that the app will actually appear. BBM for iOS should feature the ability to do multi-person chats, share of voice notes and create BlackBerry Groups for sharing calendars, photos, files and more with groups of up to 30 people.
Pixelmator and Acorn: economic, practical image editors
Last week, after Adobe announced its move to a subscription-based cloud plan, our own Kelly Hodgkins asked me to look at software alternatives for some Creative Suite apps. We know that none of these apps provide a full replacement for Photoshop or Illustrator. What she asked me to do was to spend time, hands on, to get a sense of what kind of options were out there. For Photoshop, I looked primarily at Pixelmator (US$14.99 "sale" price, but it's been on "sale" since November 2012) and Acorn 4 ($29.99), with a glance at the donationware GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP. I quickly discovered that GIMP is not in the same class as Pixelmator or Acorn. Both Pixelmator and Acorn have seriously targeted ex-Photoshop users, creating tool suites intended to seduce that audience. GIMP just isn't competitive in that way. You can tell this in the key equivalents added to both Pixelmator and Acorn -- they responded properly to many of the Photoshop-standard text shortcuts I tried such as G for gradient, M for marquee selection and W for the magic wand. On the whole, Acorn seemed to support more shortcuts -- such as 0 through 9 for transparency and Command-Shift-I to invert the selection, but both apps have the sense of Photoshop users in their DNA. In terms of general interface design, Acorn stood out. I found its toolbar easiest to understand and its adherence to Photoshop norms the strictest. It also achieves the most OS X-like look and feel. Both apps got OS X, in elevating interaction beyond Adobe's prosaic implementation. But Acorn's fine details are palpably superior. Both GUIs were polished and stylish, although I wish both apps would offer bigger font choices for older and visually impaired users. Acorn's visuals were generally larger except for teeny tiny font choices in palettes. I found the Acorn toolbar much easier for recognition tasks. In power, however, I lean towards Pixelmator. Although both tools have recently undergone major upgrades, I found the Pixelmator toolset more extensive than Acorn's. There were almost always extra options on the Pixelmator side that I did not find (or, at least, not easily find) on the Acorn side. I rely on community support for my photo-editing needs. Whenever I need to figure out how to do anything in Photoshop, I turn to Google and the thousands upon thousands of how-to articles and videos found there. During my testing, I set myself common tasks like building buttons or blurring backgrounds in Acorn and Pixelmator, and quickly found myself searching for how-to answers on the web. While both developers have provided superb how-to support pages on their sites, Pixelmator offers a far larger existing support community. To give a sense of that, the Google results for "glossy button in Pixelmator" include videos and how-to articles from a variety of sites and vendors. The first three include a link to pxm-tuts.com, a Pixelmator support page, and ehow.com. Compare that with the results for "glossy button in Acorn." These start off with a Flying Meat support page, followed by a bunch of acorn-shaped vector links, finishing with tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator and GIMP. If you're looking for a knowledge-base of solutions that you can use today, Pixelmator has the edge. On the whole, I was terrifically impressed by both apps. While I generally preferred Acorn's look and feel, Pixelmator's feature set and passionate userbase should not be overlooked.
T-Mobile raises iPhone down payment amount
The launch of the iPhone 5 on the T-Mobile USA network last month was greeted with a lot of fanfare and a new pricing structure -- customers could pick up a 16 GB iPhone 5 with a US$99.99 down payment and then make 24 payments of $20 to purchase the phone outright. TmoNews reports that the down payment on all iPhone 5 models has been raised by $50, which raises the cost of the least expensive unlocked iPhone 5 to $630. That's not all that much less than the price of an unlocked 16 GB iPhone 5 from Apple -- $650. Of course, there's no monthly payment option if you buy direct from Apple. Customers wanting to reduce the down payment on that T-Mo iPhone 5 should remember that the carrier does take trade-ins of current iPhones. T-Mobile is seeing the benefits of the iPhone already, having sold more than a half-million devices in the first month after launching the device.
NY State attorney general asks smartphone manufacturers to help combat theft
Smartphone thefts are running rampant -- especially in New York City -- so much that the practice of grabbing the expensive phones is being referred to as "Apple picking." Bloomberg announced yesterday that New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has sent letters to executives at Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung asking for information and cooperation on measures to diminish theft. In his letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Schneiderman said, "I seek to understand why companies that can develop sophisticated handheld electronics, such as the products manufactured by Apple, cannot also create technology to render stolen devices inoperable and thereby eliminate the expanding black market on which they are sold." Schneiderman has concerns that the manufacturers have benefited from sales of replacement devices. In his letter to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, he chided the search engine company by saying, "Foreign trafficking of stolen devices has proliferated, and an abundance of domestic black market resellers, including right here in New York, means as a practical matter that phones do not, contrary to your website's assertion, become unusable." It's not as if the industry is just sitting back and watching this go on, contrary to Schneiderman's assertions. Apple has been working closely with the New York Police Department to track down stolen devices, and the entire wireless industry is cooperating with the Federal Communications Commission to form a central database of stolen devices to prevent them from being reused. That database, which Engadget notes is up and running, should allow for individual devices to be rendered unusable by carriers after being reported as stolen.
Apple receives iPhone unlock requests from law enforcement
The encryption on your iPhone is apparently secure enough that law enforcement agencies are waiting in line to have Apple "crack" the lock and provide data to be used as evidence. According to a report by CNET, Apple has the ability to decrypt seized iPhones and has created a waiting list to handle requests. At one point last summer, the wait was over seven weeks long and one ATF agent reported that it took his request at least four months to be processed. The ATF had tried to decrypt the iPhone 4S of a Kentucky man accused of distributing crack cocaine and became so frustrated that it contacted Apple for assistance. That's where the wait started... For those who are concerned about how secure their personal information is on an iOS device, the fact that the devices can't be cracked by federal agents is good news. No one is sure exactly how Apple can decrypt the information for police, whether there's a backdoor that only Apple knows about, has custom hardware for decryption or just has better-trained cryptologists. The CNET article notes that Elcomsoft sells an iOS Forensic Toolkit, which claims to crack a four-digit iOS 4 or iOS 5 passcode in less than 40 minutes. It's when someone uses a PIN or password with more characters that the decryption time takes a much longer time. The post cites Simson Garfinkel from the US Naval Postgraduate School, who estimates that cracking a 10-digit PIN could take as long as 25 years using common brute-force methods. The bottom line? For normal law-abiding citizens, a longer passphrase or PIN can keep your iOS data protected. For criminals, however, Apple knows how to free your data for law enforcement and will do so. [via TechCrunch]
Consumer alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud: practical software choices
Yesterday, Adobe introduced Creative Cloud, an on-line subscription based suite with $49.99 monthly charges that moves into the Creative Suite subscription space first started back in 2011. Existing customers of CS 3 to CS 5.5 and academics will pay $29.99 per month. Both Adobe and Microsoft are exploring subscription models in place of buy-once-then-use purchases. This has a number of us here at TUAW looking around to see what apps we might want to jump to as we move away from our premium products into the current marketplace. Although I am fond of Adobe Photoshop Elements, the consumer-priced version of Adobe's flagship photo editor, it's an app with walls. I accomplish far more using Photoshop and the other Creative Suite products, items I have spent years upgrading at considerable expense. Like many other Adobe customers, I live in the hazy world that stretches between Pro apps at one and and Consumer grade at the other. I've purchased CS because the consumer products aren't powerful enough for my needs, but I'm certainly not a full time "creative" who thinks of the suite as merely an incidental purchase. As a rule, I have upgraded as infrequently as possible, stretching out my purchases over as many years and operating systems as possible. I live very low on the Adobe consumer hierarchy, trying to eke out whatever time I have left with my CS 4 suite. It's time now to seriously look at alternatives. On the photo editing side of things, we propose three candidates. Acorn ($29.99) is on sale throughout May. Called the "Image Editor for Humans", it comes with great word of mouth and growing buzz. At just $14.99, Pixelmator's price point can't be beat. This "inspiring, easy-to-use, beautifully designed image editor" has somewhat mixed reviews on the Mac App Stores, but those who love it seem to do so passionately. GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, has a lock on price. For years, this free app has been a stepping-stone app for people who didn't yet have the cash for Photoshop but who wanted access to powerful image editing. As for the rest of the suite, we TUAWians mostly use Acrobat, Illustrator, and InDesign: With Acrobat, you need look no further than Preview for an app that offers many similar features. Power users, however, may want to consider PDFPen Pro, a product we've covered in the past, which offers extensive PDF editing features. Illustrator users will find a variety vector drawing solutions for OS X including Vector Designer, Intaglio, Sketch, and EazyDraw. TUAW recently looked at EazyDraw. For page layout, Apple offers both Pages and iBooks Author. Swift Publisher from Belight seems to offer good word of mouth as well. Speaking of pages, both iWork and Apache's OpenOffice provide promising alternatives to Microsoft Office. GigaOM recently posted an excellent list of their take on Adobe Creative Suite alternatives. Got another alternative vendor to suggest for Creative Suite or Office products? Drop a note in the comments with your suggestion. TUAW will be reviewing many of these alternative apps over the coming weeks.
Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: The winners revealed
The Clash of the Coders drew to its climax Saturday night as teams presented their projects and a good time was had by all. In the end team Raisin' Elevens took the crown, laying claim to geek victory for the next year (plus an extremely generous equipment purchasing allowance). They created an app-testing utility that enables developers to evaluate the way users interact with their product. Intended primarily for in-house use (although it could possibly be sold to third party developers sometime in the future), their project, Krendler, provides cross-platform interface recording. Although superficially similar to products already out there on the market, Krendler's automatic web integration and beautiful view visualization truly set the app apart. Well done to team Raisin' Elevens: Mark Dalrymple, Gregg Rothmeier and Steve Sparks. Team Daedalus did not disappoint, although they just missed the crown and squeaked into second place. Their brilliant device management system is (cover your eyes, TUAWians) an Android-based solution for tracking test units. Unplug any unit from the board and it immediately prompts you for your name. You type it in and the unit checks out in your name, with an associated web service tracking and monitoring that loan. Not sure who grabbed that Galaxy note? The Daedalus project had that covered. My favorite part of this system, is how it offered a plug-to-sync simplicity. Plug the unit back, and it automatically checks back in. Brilliant. Team members included Chris Stewart, Eric Jeffers and Darren Pottinger. In third place were the Wynners. (Yes. I tried to dock them five points for that name, but it didn't take.) Brian Hardy, Zac Stewart and Paul Turner created a OpenCV-based system to scan already-used crossword puzzles and transform them into ready-to-play versions. If you've ever been stuck on an airplane with a partly filled-in puzzle in the back of the flight magazine, you'll understand these developers' pain. The scanned interface was ultimately beautiful and polished. I want to mention two other teams of note: "Team Edward" (Yes, I know) delivered one of the least sparkly (see what I did there), yet ultimately most important projects. Perhaps a bit overlooked, this team created an app to scan a web domain and produce an intelligently collected list of important words, phrases and names. You can then feed that list into a generation system to provide beautiful and exciting navigation tools. We only got to see the beginnings of what looks like a really promising project. Finally, Team Spazberry Pi delivered the "we are such Apple geeks, we live and breathe and bleed in six colors" that most TUAW readers will be waiting for. They created a ginormous 4-foot-tall joystick that ran a game, where flying nerds had to fight off NSZombies. No puns were spared. Erica reported from Big Nerd Ranch's Clash of the Coders, the shop's annual internal developer challenge.
Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: Projects
As the teams battle away on the Clash of the Coders, ideas are quickly becoming reality as developers are hard at work on their projects. Some projects are, admittedly, utilitarian. Now is a great opportunity for devs to create in-house tools for use during the rest of the year. In a shop that caters to Android as well as iOS development, tracking and managing dozens of Android variations can prove a big challenge, as BNR works to create apps for many-shaped phones and tablets. Other projects are all about the fun. One team is building a giant joystick, another electronically scrubbing already-started crosswords from the backs of those on-line airline magazines. One of my favorite projects, however, is less technological than inspirational. The Carter Center has been monitoring the eradication of the guinea worm, a parasite that's been documented throughout human history. A Nerd Ranch team is working on an app to promote awareness. In 1986, when the center first started its campaign there were 3.5 million cases reported across Africa and Asia. By 2012, that number had dropped to just 542. "Guinea worm disease is poised to be the next human disease after smallpox to be eradicated," writes the Carter website. The team's app offers background, support links and -- if they manage to pull it off -- a countdown clock that reflects the success on the war of the guinea worm over time. Do any of the teams have a lock on the win? It's still too early to tell.
Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: Rule-based lock screens
One of the nicest things about hanging out with coders is the exposure to their pet personal projects. Brian James Turner at Big Nerd Ranch has been working on a new take on lock screens. Hosted at github, Turner's project transforms the iOS lockscreen from a series of memorized numbers or letters into a logical sequence of choices. Each challenge screen is randomly generated. Instead of a number grid or password entry field, you see a set of geometric objects. You enter your password by following rules. "For example, my passcode might be small green, triangle," he explained. If you tap a small object followed by a green one and then a triangle, the system lets you in. It's a novel take on a familiar challenge, and there's never "one" right answer. Even if someone is looking over your shoulder, it will be hard for them to duplicate the reasoning. For example, was the first choice small, green or circle? In the current proof of concept, an overlooked three-choice sequence represents up to 27 possibilities. This complexity expands as the password grows longer and the shape and color vocabulary expands, providing ever greater levels of lock screen security. Erica is reporting this week from Big Nerd Ranch's Clash of the Coders, the shop's annual internal developer challenge.
Circadia celebrates 100,000 downloads with new content
Circadia is a great game that I wrote about a little over a year ago -- it's put together by a developer named Kurt Bieg, and until now, it's basically just been sitting on the App Store waiting to be found. But Bieg has just put out a nice solid update for the game, and that gives me another chance to recommend it to you. The game is simple and ingenious -- it's musical, but the music of it is what you make yourself rather than the pop songs that you'll find in Rock Band or other music titles. Beig says in the latest App Store update that the game has reached 100,000 downloads, and that's a great number for a little title like this. He's updated the title to make it work with the iPhone 5, and there's also a new "infinity mode," featuring randomly generated levels that you can play anytime you like. There are also new tone sounds, which is a pretty impressive feat on Bieg's part, and finally there's an in-app purchase to just unlock all the levels, if you happened to be stuck on a certain one. This update really makes this app shine, and if you didn't see it last year, you should definitely take a look now. Circadia is available as a universal app right now for US$0.99.
DevJuice: Does WWDC need a lottery system?
WWDC sold out in just minutes this year. As iOS developer Josh Avant put it, "Next year, tickets are going to sell out before they even go on sale." Many developers were greeted by server errors, failed purchases and the "Sorry, tickets are sold out" banner. Others, like Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software, were able to place an order. In the end Jalkut decided to cancel his ticket, stating, he was "[v]ery conflicted, but it ended up feeling too exclusive for me." In a move that was seen as a boost to fairness, developers were given a day's warning about sale time. This enabled people around the globe to set their alarms and schedule their visit to Apple's developer site. Unfortunately, the high demand for the "golden" tickets meant that distribution was both chaotic and random. The overloaded system presented bugs, as reported by various parties on Twitter. "I never once got anything but an error page," said developer David Green. "Apple seriously needs to change how they handle WWDC tickets, that went beyond unfair and into untenable." "It timed out on me when I submitted the purchase," agreed developer Scott Yelich. So why not switch to a less intense lottery system? Sure, the results are still random, but distributing purchase requests over a week or month surely would avoid the technology-based limits created by so much demand at a single moment (not to mention sleepless nights caused by time zone differentials). Did you snag a ticket? Or were your attempts unsuccessful? Drop a note in the comments and share your story. Think WWDC needs fixing? Here are TUAW's proposals from last year.
Creative uses for App Store icons: Ransom Apps and App Icon Quiz
Brian Stucki is the developer behind MacMiniColo (the Mac mini colocation outfit in Las Vegas), and he recently sent us a fun project he's hosting called "Ransom Apps." It's just a silly little web app, but the idea is that you enter a phrase of text, and Ransom Acts returns your phrase written in App Store app icons. I don't know if there's a real use for it, but it's fun and creates some neat designs. Speaking of using App Store icons creatively, Ransom Apps reminded me of App Icon Quiz (free), which is kind of ingenious. It's a trivia quiz based around identifying App Store icons. The app uses real icons (with the permission of the actual developers -- more on that in a second) to create quiz questions, challenging you to match the icon with its app. It may sound goofy, but in practice, it's actually fun, especially if you spend quite a bit of time browsing the App Store. App Icon Quiz is clever in another way as well. The developers, GameVision, told me back at GDC that they're using the app to market and brand new icons, so users' feedback is going the other way as well. Developers whose icons are included receive information about how easily players ID their icons as well as the word people tend to associate with their images. Personally, I think that can be a little shady. There's no indication in the app's description that the "game" is being used for marketing purposes. But as long as you know and agree to that use, it could be a fun way to give feedback on an app's most important visual element. App Icon Quiz is available on the App Store now
Apple announces WWDC video feeds for developers
Although the social component and Apple-staffed labs are two important reasons for developers to attend WWDC, early access to tech briefings has long been a motivating force for buying that expensive ticket. Today, it looks like Apple introduced a major change into their oversubscribed WWDC demand by offering video session feeds for all registered devs -- that appear to be during the conference. On the "more" page, Apple writes: "Can't make it to WWDC? We'll be posting videos of all our sessions during the conference, so Registered Apple Developers can take advantage of great WWDC content." This is really great news, if I'm reading that right as "during the conference" referring to when they post versus "videos of all our sessions during the conference" referring to what they post. If so, what this does is ensure that devs, no matter what time zone and budget they're working with, will have quick access to the same conference material as attendees. Sure, WWDC is going to sell out quickly again this year, but at the same time, many people who might have been camping out overnight with a credit card and a phone -- especially those overseas -- will have a great alternative track option. Between the videos and the pre-announced registration time, it looks like Apple has made important and welcome changes that respond to the realities of their post-iPhone / iPad world. Hat tip fpillet
Firaxis' Haunted Hollow appears on, disappears from the App Store
There's good news, bad news, and the best news on this one, and I'll give you the good news first. Firaxis' Haunted Hallow appeared on the App Store this morning, which means the game is just about ready for prime time. The free-to-play strategy title was one of my favorite games I got to see at GDC a few months ago. It's a board game, basically, in that you move various monsters around a board trying to claim and conquer space as best you can, though there's a fun house-building mechanic as well, in the way you choose which monsters to summon and fight for you. Firaxis, the creators of Civilization and the recent hit XCOM: Enemy Unknown, are some of the most experienced strategy developers out there, and Haunted Hallow is a free-to-play gift from them straight to the App Store, so it's great to see the game is almost done. The bad news, however, is that while I was writing this post to let you know the game was out, the title has disappeared from the US App Store. It is still available on the New Zealand App Store, so if you want to change your country to download the app from there, you can do that. But presumably this means the app wasn't supposed to be live on the US Store yet, so either there's more testing to be done, or we'll have to wait until this evening, as new App Store titles go official across the world. The best news is that Haunted Hallow is just the beginning. Firaxis has also announced that it's porting XCOM to the iPad in the future, and there are some other, not-yet-announced exciting strategy titles on the way as well. Firaxis has some great things planned for iOS, and this game is only the first. At any rate, Haunted Hallow is almost ready, and that's worth getting excited about. It's free to play (you get a certain number of monsters to start with, and you'll be able to buy more via in-app purchase), so whenever it is ready to download in your region, it'll be a must grab for sure. Update: 2K has confirmed that this was an accidental release. The game will be available worldwide next Thursday, May 2. So we just have a short wait until then!
Glassdoor: Apple employees love Tim Cook
Glassdoor is a site that allows employees of various corporations to rate how they think their management is doing (while remaining anonymous), and the company has shared some info with TUAW that it says comes out of Apple's campus in Cupertino. The site works kind of like Yelp for employees, as users can come along and leave ratings and reviews for their own company. But presumably this information came from anyone who works for Apple, not just the employees that work directly with CEO Tim Cook in California. And what's the word? In short, they love him. Cook has never had anything less than a 92% approval rating since this time last year, and his current approval rating sits at 93% among employees leaving reviews on Glassdoor. During his time overseeing the company, Steve Jobs held a 97% approval rating, and Cook is a few points below that, but still -- Apple employees think he's doing a great job. Glassdoor also shared a few comments from users who identified as employees actually working in Cupertino, and they called Cook "a CEO who demands work before 6 a.m. everyday, and 'accountability without control'." Another engineer from Cupertino said that "no work/life balance is to be expected at Apple," and that management required employees to be "reachable after work hours." But despite those extra requirements, employees in general seem like enjoy Cook's management. Obviously, these reviewers are all basically self-selected, and like Yelp, this is not exactly an objective look at exactly what the entire company thinks of how things are going over there. But as far as this data goes, it seems like Cook has the support of his employees, and those choosing to report from inside Apple are happy with where the company is at.
