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Daily Update for March 8, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Win a new iPad from Fieldfolio and TUAW
By now, you've had a chance to check out the specs of the new iPad and you're probably salivating with anticipation. But if you're like a lot of folks, there are more important things to spend your hard-earned dollars on -- like rent, tuition, car payments, food, you name it. That's why Fieldfolio, in association with TUAW, is giving you a chance to win a brand new 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad valued at US$499. For those of you who are taking advantage of the new lower pricing for the iPad 2 or looking for a much cooler case for your existing iPad 2, you'll be thrilled to know that Fieldfolio's cases for the existing iPad 2 are still in production. You can use the promotion code TUAW to get 10 percent off of your order through next week. To enter the giveaway, fill out the form below completely and click the submit button. We're also asking you to send a tweet about the giveaway by clicking the "Tweet Your Entry" link below. Entries must be made by Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 11:59 PM EDT. Tweet Your Entry! The rules are as follows: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, click fill out the form below completely and click the submit button, and send a tweet about the giveaway by clicking the "Tweet Your Entry" link above. Your entry must be made before Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: A new 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad (early 2012) valued at US$499 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Entries are now closed for this giveaway! Best of luck to all the entrants...
TUAW event chat for readers
TUAW isn't just a blog, it's a community. Want to chat with other TUAW readers during tomorrow's Apple event? Join us in the #tuaw chatroom on irc.freenode.net. Kevin Avila (eddienull) will be moderating. We'll be starting the chat around 9:30 PT, with our metaliveblog coverage kicking off at 10PT. Looking forward to seeing you then!
Best Buy boosts return window from 14 days to 30
That adage of "less is more" definitely doesn't apply to retailer return policies, so we have no complaints here. Best Buy is reportedly going to offer a more lenient 30-day window for device returns, up from the company's current 14-day policy. Naturally, this also covers price matches, and applies to all products, including those from Apple, where two weeks is the norm. You'll find the full details over at our sister site TUAW, when you hit up the source link just below.
Presidents Day app sales: Grand Theft Auto 3, Silversword, Dead Space
We just had a round of App Store sales, but Monday's bringing another holiday with Presidents Day. Developers are putting even more apps on sale yet again. Here's a look at what's cheap (or even free) this holiday weekend: Match 3 Battle Harvest has gone free. All of Origin8's Sentinel tower defense titles are on sale, good stuff if you haven't played them yet. EA's iPhone version of Dead Space is down to just a buck. So is Kairosoft's Grand Prix Story racing team simulator. Grand Theft Auto 3 is just a dollar -- do not pass this one up at that price. Touch Arcade has a good number of free shooters listed, if that's your thing. Gameloft has quite a few titles on sale or free, including Uno, Eternal Legacy, The Settlers, and more. Tiny Token Empires is free, as is Little Milano. All of Mumbojumbo's titles are on sale for just a buck. The acclaimed RPG Silversword is down to $1.99. Monsters & Bones is free. So there you go, something to play this weekend while you're ... remembering our former presidents? Enjoy!
TUAW Talkcast 7pm PT/10pm ET: iPad 3 speculation edition!
We come again to the end of the weekend, and it's time for another round of talkcasting. We will have a stack of speculation to get to, from new MacBook Pro rumors to impending new iPads. We'll cover other headlines of the week as well, but be warned most of the show will probably consist of theories, whether they're from my House (of Crackpot Theories) or not. We'll even have a little time for bonus rumormongering in the aftershow, if that's the sort of thing you enjoy. Your calls and questions help us make the show the best it can be, otherwise I'm just talking to myself! To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (yay for free cellphone weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy (you know those headphones that came with your iPhone?), you can connect via the free Zoiper, X-Lite or Blink SIP clients; and basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
Daily Update for February 2, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
TUAW Meetup: Join us tonight for fun and giveaways
For the second year in a row, TUAW and HP are teaming up to bring you fun! Whether you're in the Bay Area for Macworld iWorld 2012 or a resident of the area, drop by Jillian's in San Francisco (4th and Market Streets, across from Moscone West) and enjoy an evening with the TUAW crew. The festivities start at 8 PM and run until 11, and we have a huge cache of outstanding Mac, iPad, and iPhone accessories to give away to attendees. Refreshments will be served, and HP will have an array of their fine printing and scanning products on hand for demonstrations. It's free, it's a blast, and it's our opportunity to meet with the people who give us a reason to work -- our readers!
Sign up for an interview with TUAW at Macworld iWorld 2012
Do you have an awesome app, accessory or hardware product you'd like to demo for the TUAW audience? We'd love to see it. While we're going to focus on what's on the Macworld iWorld floor during the event, we'd like to take the opportunity to talk to anyone at the event for later publication. In particular, if you have a hot new unreleased product you're excited about, we'd like to see it. Similarly, if you've enjoyed stellar success on the App Store, tell us your story. We only have a limited number of interview times, so you'll have to use this form to apply. We'll be recording interviews on Wednesday and Thursday (Jan. 25-26), so let us know when you want to sit down and chat.
TUAW Macworld | iWorld Meetup: Add this event to your calendar
Are you attending Macworld | iWorld 2012 next week? If you are, be sure to keep your calendar open for the second annual TUAW Macworld Meetup, sponsored by HP. The festivities last from 8 PM - 11 PM PST on Thursday, January 26 at Jillian's Billiards Club of San Francisco, located a stone's throw away from Macworld | iWorld at 101 4th Street. There will be appetizers and drinks, not to mention demos of HP's line of Mac OS X and iOS compatible printers and scanners. As with last year's event, there will be giveaways aplenty. How plentiful? I'm just putting the finishing touches on shipping three huge boxes to the event, packed to the brim with an incredible assortment of goodies -- all of which will be going home with our guests. Six TUAW bloggers will be in attendance at the event, and we'd love to meet you and talk with you about the latest from Macworld | iWorld 2012. We'll post another reminder next week, but take the time right now to update your calendar. Just tell Siri to "Set a meeting from 8 to 11 PM on January 26th" and it will get you set up for an evening of fun.
Daily Update for January 13, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Daily Update for January 12, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET: Music, books, and apps
There's a surprising dearth of Apple-related news this week, other than pundits talking about how almost every company at CES is copying Apple's innovations in one way or another. No worries -- if you're depressed hearing about the latest cheesy MacBook Air clone or some other company's iPad ripoff, I'll cheer you up this afternoon with another episode of TUAW TV Live. Looking into the box of goodies here at the TUAW TV Live studio, I find that I have a pocket-sized analog synthesizer that can be used to process output from an iPad, iPhone or musical instrument; an iPad app that lets you run Microsoft Office on your device for free; a free GPS navigation app; a handful of Apple-related books (both physical and electronic); and other digital flotsam and jetsam that is bobbing around my rapidly sinking desk. As usual, I'll be starting the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST) sharp, and we'll take a few minutes to chat before the demos start. To join in on the chat and watch the live streaming video, drop by TUAW about five minutes before the start time to get your instructions on how to participate. If you're unable to join us for the show, remember that you can always subscribe to the video podcast and watch the show at your leisure in iTunes or any other favorite podcatching app. The past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel. The chat is now available as well on IRC: join us on server chat1.ustream.tv, chat room #tuaw-tv.
Daily iPad App: Mini Motor Racing HD
Developer The Binary Mill has been trying a number of different approaches on iOS (including the Penny Arcade-approved Decide-o-Tron game recommendation app), but Mini Motor Racing HD is the company's most solid release yet, in my estimation. It's a top-down mini car-racing game with a pretty exceptional amount of polish. The controls are well-made, there's a lot of fun progression options for a number of different cars, and the cars themselves are really well-rendered, so much so that on the iPad especially they really do look like real little toys. The game only has one option for multiplayer, you can only play with one other player, either over WiFi or Bluetooth. But the single-player campaign mode is pretty filled out anyway, with more than 20 tracks and plenty of cars to unlock and upgrade. There's Game Center integration for leaderboards as well, so there's plenty of game to play through. Mini Motor Racing HD is a solid mini racing game -- the cars feel solid, handle well, and the tracks are short and fun enough that the game's enjoyable even when you don't come in first. It's available on the iPad right now for $3.99 or on the iPhone for $1.99.
Daily iPhone App: Breakout Boost
Atari's been on a remixing jag lately, and I was really impressed by the recent iOS take on Asteroids. Now with Breakout Boost, Atari aims to update another old gem. Unfortunately, this one isn't quite as successful. It certainly is Breakout, as you control a little paddle across the screen, bouncing balls up to hit bricks, earn powerups, and score points. The controls are well designed for touch, too. There's a virtual handle underneath the paddle, and there's an added element of a slider that will make ball go faster (and earn more points) or go slower (and earn fewer). That's a fun mechanic, but otherwise, there's no real innovation. In fact, I've seen better Breakout clones on other platforms (including iOS). That said, Atari sidesteps most of those issues by offering up the app for free, so if you like the Breakout style of gameplay at all, you might as well download it and test it out. I'm not so sure you'll be convinced to buy any of the level packs as in-app purchases, but that's up to you -- if it floats your boat, they're there. But I'm sorry to say Asteroids Gunner did a better job of updating the Atari classic, and hopefully Atari will take those notes to heart when it decides to update any other titles (Missile Command, I hope).
You're the Pundit: Should Apple shift its focus away from new products?
When it comes to forecasting the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is QA. Should Apple shift its focus away from new product development in the near future and focus on QA improvements for a while? TUAW reader Lyle42 asks, "Was FCP X finished? Was Lion? Was Xcode 4?" Apple has always shipped beta. Has its "beta" become a little more alpha than usual? You tell us. Place your vote in this poll and then join in the comments with all your predictions. %Poll-71423%
Daily Update for November 9, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET/7pm PT: Sandboxed in
I'll be hosting the TUAW Talkcast this evening over on our usual TalkShoe meeting place, and as always, you're invited to join in both by listening along, and even by jumping in on the conversation. We'll be chatting live about the most popular Apple topics of the last week, including the upcoming sandbox restrictions on Mac App Store apps, more cool things you can do with Siri (and if they're worth doing), and the hazy future of the Mac Pro. It should be a lot of fun and the discussion is always interesting as well. To participate, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. We'll get started as usual around 10pm ET, which is 7pm PT, and don't forget about daylight savings from last night. Did you Fall back? If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Blink or X-Lite SIP clients. Talk to you tonight!
Daily iPhone App: Steambirds: Survival
You may remember the game Steambirds from a previous Daily App post. It's a turn-based flight simulator that plays like a board game. Instead of actually flying your planes, you move them turn by turn. It's a game about strategic positioning and planning. Now, developers Spry Fox have teamed up with Halfbrick Studios (makers of Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride) to release a sequel called Steambirds Survival. Sort of. I say "sort of" because it's pretty much the same game, though it's been polished up quite a bit, and plays a lot more smoothly than before. There are also new powerups to play with (if I'm not mistaken -- it's been a little while since I played the old version), and the levels are divided into cities, which you can either unlock with an in-app purchase, or open up by just playing the game. This version also adds Game Center integration. And even if it doesn't sound like your thing, it's worth checking out: Both the standard version and the HD version (for iPad) are free. At that price, the game's definitely worth a look.
Little lost iPad arrives home: From Italy to Australia to the US
Remember our lost iPad story? Greg from Australia was vacationing in Italy. He found an iPad in his hotel room. He tried to send it back from Italy, but when that fell through he brought it home to Australia with him. When Apple said they wouldn't help repatriate the iPad and Greg discovered the insane shipping charges involved due to the unit's built-in battery, he turned to TUAW for assistance. TUAW put out a call for help, and soon offers were pouring in. We can't tell you how many people opened their hearts and offered to donate to help see the unit on its way. The most promising offer came from Brisbane-based Michael Williamson. He wrote that he supplied parts to Epilog Laser, a Colorado company that manufactures laser engraving and cutting systems. Many of their laser tools are used to custom engrave the backs of iPhones and iPads. We put Michael in touch with Greg, who handed off the unit for its trip home. It arrived back via a couriered shipment of tech parts. Here in Colorado, James Stanaway of Epilog contacted the owners of the iPad, who picked it up and brought it home. The picture above is of Dave, the husband of the original owner. Dave told James that they assumed the iPad had been stolen in Italy. They didn't realize it had been left behind in the hotel. Now, thanks to Greg, Michael, and Epilog, the iPad has returned to its owners, ready to pick up in their daiily lives. This was a very happy ending indeed, and one where TUAW was privileged to play a small role.
