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New Apple TV brings tighter Netflix integration
According to our sister site Engadget, one of the few new features of the new Apple TV is better Netflix integration. There is now higher resolution streaming available, 1080p like other platforms are receiving now. If you aren't planning to get a new Apple TV, you might still enjoy the option of signup and payment directly through the new interface. I admit, I'm a bit disappointed the resolution won't be Tim80p, as the above photo implies.
WWDC 2010: Early iPhone 4 upgrades offered by AT&T
To find out when you can upgrade without a penalty you always could dial: *NEW# on your iPhone which will generate a text message telling when you can upgrade. I just did, since I bought my iPhone 3GS the day it was released last June, that and the text message that was sent to me said that I wouldn't qualify until 2/20/2011. This made very little sense in light of the new policy, so I called up AT&T to find out if I was applicable. They didn't know, telling me that since this is brand new information, it hadn't gotten to them yet. But they made a commitment to call me before the release date on the 24th. So, if you think the text message information you get is wrong, wait a few days before you call AT&T, so they can let the information filter into their system. At this point, they know less than we do.
Time Magazine updates iPhone app to 2.0
Time Inc. has updated the free TIME Mobile iPhone app to version 2.0, building on input from readers of the previous version. The app interface has undergone a huge redesign and is now much faster than before, answering one of the biggest gripes about the earlier version. TIME Mobile now adds podcasts, the video library is optimized for iPhone viewing, and readers are able to customize which sections of the magazine appear on the app home page. You can now save articles for offline reading, search for favorite articles, shake the iPhone to refresh articles in a section, and share articles through Facebook and Twitter. As if that's not enough, TIME also made the app more legible by adding the ability to increase the font size for articles or change the font for the entire app. While it's good to see that TIME has updated the iPhone app, many iPad users are still angry with the magazine's decision to charge $4.99 an issue (through in-app purchase) for the digital version of a magazine that can be had in print for $0.50 an issue. That decision has resulted in close to 74% of all customers giving the free iPad app a poor rating. Time Inc. also has digital versions of Sports Illustrated, LIFE, and the ever popular Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition available in the App Store.
Found Footage: Pulse News Reader for iPad
I've been looking for an iPad RSS news reader for a while, and was totally underwhelmed by what was out there. Fortunately, a reader pointed me to a video demonstrating Pulse News Reader (US$3.99), a new RSS reader from a couple of Stanford grad students. Ankit Gupta and Akshay Kothari have created an RSS reader that makes traditional readers look like, well, cluttered inboxes. If you're one of those folks who follows a few hundred RSS feeds, you may not like Pulse -- the current version has a limit of 20 feeds. The app makes it drop-dead simple to add feeds by searching keywords, and then picking feeds from the search results. The feeds show up as a series of tabbed rows of articles with the newest posts on the far left, oldest on the far right. Navigating posts is done by flicking left or right, and you can read the full post by tapping on the large post icon. Pulse 1.1 still needs some work -- the current version doesn't support video, so the post icon for this article would appear as text only. Still, it looks great and is easily one of the most usable news readers I've seen. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that TUAW is one of their featured sources in the app... We'll have a more thorough TUAW review of Pulse News Reader soon. Thanks to Graham for the tip! [via Cult of Mac]
A little iPad magic
Here's a little iPad magic for your Memorial Day afternoon -- turns out the iPad really is a "magical" device. I'm not sure what app video is being used here, but I think it's a proprietary one, and probably not something you could use yourself (unless you know how to do some of the great slight-of-hand stuff that this guy is doing). But the iPhone can definitely be used for magic, as we've seen before, even if you're not a highly trained magician. But even though this guy is a little late some times (his brain unfortunately falls out of his head, since he misses the timing just a little bit), he pulls off this series of tricks quite well. [via TDW]
Apple relents, allows cash for iPads
Good news, everyone! In response to the public outcry over Apple's no-cash-for-iPad policy, Apple has relented. You will now be able to purchase iPads in-store using cash and gift cards. Yes, you'll also have to set up a traceable Apple account at the same time, but the lack of credit or debit card will no longer bar the sale of iPads to consumers. Apple's controversial (although not illegal in most states) no-cash policy for the iPad was introduced to limit gray-market iPad redistribution. The demand for iPads remains high world-wide, and as the eBay iPad site shows, there's money to be made for anyone willing to part with their new electronic friend. It's kind of like Terry Pratchett's notion of "negotiable affection." Sure, you love the iPad -- but there's no question that it's profitable to share that love with others. Under Apple's new rules, you will still be limited to two-device-purchases per user. You'll be able to pay for those two devices using an expanded payment vocabulary, but Apple intends to firmly enforce its existing allocation control measures. So Apple will ban any customer it finds purchasing too many iPads -- even if you are picking that extra one up for a colleague or a gift. Thanks, Sara Bueno
Craigsphone 2.0 brings maps, images, and more
Next Mobile Web sent us a heads up that they're set to release version 2.0 of Craigsphone, an app for the iPhone that allows you to browse popular online classifieds site Craigslist quickly and easily. We talked about the app when it first came out, but apparently version 2.0 brings a whole rewrite and a few new features as well. As you can see in the video above, you can now chart a map of your search results (only in the housing categories), see an image preview while browsing, and make more use of Craigslist's account features, including browsing their forums and the official blog. Craigsphone was already the best way to browse Craigslist on the iPhone, and these updates definitely cement that status. I am a little bummed to see that one of the coolest features of the app, called "Nearby Events," is still only available in San Francisco and Manhattan. That pulls up a map of things going on near you, obviously, and considering that you can map real estate from anywhere, it'd be nice to see that finally spread to more markets. But that's above and beyond Craigslist's own functionality, so if you just want a great way to check out the site on your iPhone, Craigsphone will do it for you for free. We're told the new app should be on the store today, and the iPad version is was released right after launch.
Found Footage: Flight of the Bumblebee in concert on an iPad
Chinese pianist Lang Lang headlined a concert at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall on April 19th. For the first of three encores, he played The Flight of the Bumblebee on an iPad. To accomplish this, he used the Magic Piano iPad app. This is just one example of how amazing apps can allow people to do amazing things, and the party has just started. [To clarify, the Magic Piano app does do a lot of the work in playing a piece like that; it drops down indicators for the correct notes, so the pianist has to get 'pretty close' and have the rhythm correct. Still impressive. –Ed.] [via 9to5Mac]
Rumor: Apple's 'iAd' Mobile Advertising Platform to be introduced tomorrow
It seems that a rumor we heard last month is about to be realized: reports indicate that Apple's new 'iAd' Mobile Advertising Platform is set to debut tomorrow. According to All Things Digital, Apple will introduce iAds during tomorrow's iPhone OS 4 preview. Don't let the image above fool you; Google CEO Eric Schmidt is likely to be quite happy with this announcement. Why? Because he'll use it to demonstrate to the FTC that Google 1.) does have advertising competitors and 2.) should be allowed to spend US$750 million to purchase AdMob. That deal has been tenuous at best. Apple filed an advertising patent last November, and purchased mobile ad company Quattro Wireless in January of this year. In February, Apple nabbed Theo Theodorou from Microsoft's mobile advertising sales department and Todd Tran from mobile ad agency Joule. In other words, the resources have been lined up. Now it's time to pull the trigger. We can only guess about how iAds will work, if it's really called "iAds" and so on. But if All Things D is correct, we'll find out for sure tomorrow. [Via MacRumors]
Found Footage: How to connect an iPad to your existing wireless keyboard
Along with Erica Sadun, I had some trouble connecting my shining new iPad to an Apple Bluetooth wireless keyboard. Eventually we both got it sorted out, but there are a few things that you do need to know. My problem was that although I could connect easily to an older BT keyboard, I could not pair with the one that came with my new iMac. My solution was found in this video that showed me that I had to totally get my iMac to forget the keyboard before it could be paired to another device. Obvious? Well maybe to many, but not to me. This video by huskermania walks you through it simply and elegantly.
Arena season 7 end date announced
Bornakk has just announced that Arena Season 7 is about to end. The planned end date is January 19. Avoid or delay any realm transfer plans on your arena characters until the process is over if you think you can obtain an arena-specific title and/or the Relentless Gladiator's Frostwyrm. During the one week grace period after the end of the season, rated matches will not be in effect. Season 8 is expected to start one week after the current season ends, which means we expect it to begin on January 26. When the new season begins, your team ratings, personal ratings and arena points will be wiped clean. Your matchmaking rating and honor points will be untouched. This also means that Toravon the Ice Watcher will be available to us soon. He is the fourth (and final) boss in the Vault of Archavon. Good luck to those of you who are competing for the rewards!
Spiritual Guidance: The Priest of 2009
Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. I'm going to cheat. I'm going to dip back slightly into 2008 to the point where Wrath of the Lich King came out. Priests everywhere had high hopes for their class. We were coming off an expansion where Circle of Healing Priests and Resto Shamans were the king. Since then, the other healing classes have been improved where they could hold their own in raids and compete.
Spiritual Guidance: How to be the perfect pickup group priest
Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. Too bad he was too busy running heroics to come to the aid of the King! With the new dungeon finder tool released, I felt it was a good idea to write up how a priest should handle themselves in instances with a group of players they don't know. Once I started using the system, I became exposed to a large variety of different personalities, skill levels and gear levels. Quite the experience grouping with players packing gear ranging from Trial of the Grand Crusader to the random hunter wielding the grey bow of death. My approach to pugging has not been that different since the pre-dungeon tool era when players would randomly form up in groups for whatever the heroic daily was. After a while, I stopped doing heroics because I didn't need the emblems anymore. In the end, I had to re-learn and remember some of the core philosophies I held onto when I dived back into the world of running heroic dungeons again.
Raid Rx: Healing Lord Marrowgar
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related. Welcome to the first test of Icecrown. Once you've blasted your way past the many patrolling skeletons, you'll run into this giant floating bundle of bones. You can consider this boss a warmup compared to the rest of the instance. Marrowgar shouldn't be too taxing on us healers, eh? How hard could he possibly hit anyway? Well, that largely depends on the rest of your raid adapts. The amount of healing needing to be done depends on how quickly the rest of the raid responds and how much damage they deal. Same old story, right?
Ask TUAW: Taming unruly windows, updating OS X, booting from an SD card, and more.
We're back with another edition of Ask TUAW. This time around we've answering questions about how to resize windows too big for the screen, "compulsive" updating, booting from an SD card, Open GL in Snow Leopard, and more. As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.Steph asks:I recently switched from an iMac to a MacBook Pro and now many of my windows are sized to big for the screen of my laptop. I can't reach the corner to resize them and clicking the "Plus" sign in the corner doesn't help. What can I do?Fortunately, this is very easy to fix. Instead of clicking on the "Plus" sign (the green button) in the top left corner of the window you are trying to resize, Option-click it and the window will fill your new screen size instead.John asks:I realize there's a method for updating Mac OSX all the time and sometimes I get the window popping up saying I have updates. Should I always update immedietly when it tells me I have some?
Arcane Brilliance: Reaching the hit cap
Each week Arcane Brilliance chats a bit about Mages and all things Mage-related. You may wonder what Arcane Brilliance likes to discuss the rest of the week. Even if you don't wonder that, Arcane Brilliance is going to tell you: It's still Mages. Yes, Arcane Brilliance pretty much talks about Mages constantly, even when it is wildly inappropriate to do so: at the dinner table...during business meetings...in church...at funerals...off-topic on completely unrelated message boards...Arcane Brilliance doesn't get invited to very many parties, in case you were curious.When people see me in public, they often ask me, "Christian, how can I get my Mage hit capped?" It's probably the most common question I get, right up there with "Why are you so awesome?" and "Where are your pants?"Okay, that's a lie. Nobody ever approaches me in public, and nobody asks me any of those questions, except for maybe the one about the location of my pants. That's a whole other story, and my attorney has advised me not to speak of it. Still, reaching the hit cap is something every Mage should be striving toward, but far too many of us either don't realize how important it is, or don't know enough about how to get there effectively. Fear not. Arcane Brilliance is here to explain the mysteries of the hit cap to you. The good news? It isn't nearly as complicated as you may think.
An interview with a scammer
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Interview_with_a_WoW_scammer'; Recently, I wrote about a scam involving selling Spectral Tiger Mounts, but I never thought I would be able to actually interview the guy responsible. Luckily, this particular scammer was willing to discuss the scam candidly with my husband and I. He ended being very like a Ferengi in his attitude toward what he calls "business". Here is the story.Late last night, The Spousal Unit saw someone spamming Trade Chat, supposedly offering a Spectral Tiger Mount for sale. Since he knew two people that had been scammed by this, he called the seller a scammer in Trade Chat. The scammer sent him a tell and they proceeded to debate the issue in whispers. TSU called me over to show me the conversation, so of course I had to log on and pursue the interview further. Following are both interviews, copied over from in-game whispers.
Arcane Brilliance: Mages are fine! Now fix us.
Each week Arcane Brilliance saves the world, one Mage column at a time. Once, we did it by throwing the One Ring into a volcano. Oh, and this one time, we did it by slaying the evil Voldemort. And every once in awhile, we do it by traveling back in time and saving John Connor from the robotic clutches of Skynet. The Edward Furlong John Connor, not the Christian Bale one. Also, Arcane Brilliance doesn't go back as Michael Biehn or Ahnuld. Arcane Brilliance is totally Summer Glau. Yowza.So...with news flying around about upcoming patches, and changes on the horizon for other classes, I can't help but notice a strange, almost eerie silence over here on the Mage front. If this were a movie, somebody would say "It's quiet," and then somebody else would pipe up with "yeah...a little too quiet," and that'd be the moment when somebody gets grabbed by something big and scary, or something explodes, or Samuel L Jackson gets eaten by a shark or something. Seriously, I'm starting to get a little freaked out here.Now, don't misunderstand: I'm not complaining. I appreciate the recent Mirror Image change. I like that my copies aren't morons now. I really do. It's just that you have to go back to patch 3.1 to find anything even resembling a major change affecting the way Mages play the game, while other classes still appear to be in constant flux.This tells me one thing: Mages are good. We're set. Really, you guys have fun over there with your new class mechanics and what-not, we're fine over here with our...whatever. Yeah? You got yourself some new Druid bear-form art? That's cool, because we...um...we can turn stuff into rabbits now. That's right, suck on it.So apparently Blizzard thinks Mages are fine for now. I'm not arguing the issue; if you ignore that fantastic five minutes right at the beginning of Wrath of the Lich King when we were awesome, I'm hard pressed to think of a point in the history of this game when Mages have been in a more comparatively satisfactory position than we are right now. Our damage is competitive, and we don't suck in PvP. We can get raid spots. We can kill Warlocks. I'm not unhappy right now, really I'm not.
Spiritual Guidance: Shield questions answered
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a new UI and addons blog for WoW. Today, Matticus looks at a few question on shields. More specifically, why Holy Priests should not shield tanks if Disc Priests are present. One of the core spells in any Priestly arsenal is the use of Power Word: Shield. The primary purpose of it? To save lives and prevent players in your party or your raid from taking damage. I've seen a few questions and grumblings crop up regarding the use of it on a few blogs and I wanted to weigh in.
Arcane Brilliance: PvPing as a Frost Mage after 3.1
Each week Arcane Brilliance brings you a column about Mages. This column used to be housed on Wowinsider, but now it's featured on some newfangled site called WoW.com. The url is a full seven letters shorter. It's crazy. where did those seven letters go? I don't know, but I blame Warlocks.There's an old saying: you can please some Mages some of the time, but you can't please all Mages all of the time. Or something like that. Last week, several of you complained that I was spending too much time writing about PvP, while ignoring PvE completely. This will be the fifth PvP-related Arcane Brilliance in a row. Previous to that, you have to go back to October 25th of last year to find our last PvP-centric column. A short list of things that have happened since then: Wrath of the Lich King was released. Barack Obama became the president of these United States. 5 dollar foot-longs. Arcane Brilliance brought you 24 PvE columns in a row. Seriously, guys. Make up your minds. I don't know what you want from me anymore. Anyway, on to Frost Mage PvP.
