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AP News for iPad a missed opportunity
Having made most of my living in the news business, I'm pretty much a news junkie. As a result, I've loaded my iPad up with a lot of news applications so I can keep up throughout the day. I'd taken some pretty strong issue with the failings of the AP News app for the iPhone, but the iPad version hits a new low in design and function. Let's start at the beginning. When you launch the app, you are presented with a screen that has little strips of news on what appears to be a cloth background. Each strip is a story. You can get about six of these strips on the iPad screen. That's pretty silly, since the screen is so large and the strips are so small. You would think the people that designed this app would use the extra space for more content, but that isn't the case. The home screen also has a large window which is a gateway to AP photos, and another window that leads you to video. More about those later. %Gallery-92052%
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.
Speed Download 5.2.15, and a deal to get it $10 off
The good folks over at YazSoft have released version 5.2.15 of Speed Download, a nice download manager/FTP client that helps me out a lot when I'm browsing for files. This new update brings better YouTube compatibility, a fix to make sure the listed file size is correct on certain FTP servers plus tweaks to performance and compatibility. But perhaps more importantly, they're running a promotion that drops the price by ten bucks. When you put the "iwantfast" coupon code in at checkout, you can pick up the software for $15 rather than the usual $25. That's a petty good deal on a piece of software that has come in even handier than I expected when I first picked it up.
Enter to win Trip Journal 4.0 for the iPhone
iQapps has updated their app Trip Journal to version 4.0, and the new update adds a fair bit of functionality to the already pretty impressive set of trip recording and tagging features. As with previous versions, you can track pictures, notes, and maps of your trips, and communicate via a number of social networks and features with friends and family. The newest version allows for either manual or automatic waypointing as you travel around the world, multiple trip management, and hooks into social networks like Google Earth, Picasa, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, straight from the iPhone 3GS' GPS and video camera. The app is on sale for 99 cents right now, but it'll be back to the standard $2.99 price soon. We've got an even better deal, however -- iQapps has offered five download codes for us to give five lucky commenters on this post. Just leave a comment telling us where you'd like to travel to, and we'll choose five random winners after 48 hours to win the app for free. Here are the rules: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment telling us where you'd like to travel with Trip Journal The comment must be left before March 11th, 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. Five winners will be selected in a random drawing. Prizes: Promo Code for one copy of Trip Journal (Value: US$2.99) Click Here for complete Official Rules. Good luck to everyone who enters! %Gallery-87573%
Redeye mini puts ThinkFlood's IR transmitter in a smaller, cheaper package
ThinkFlood released the Redeye in December of last year, which is a little unit that hooks up to your iPhone and, working with a separate app, turns Apple's handheld into universal IR remote. Our own Brett Terpstra liked the device, but said the unit was a little costly and could probably use a few tweaks. ThinkFlood has apparently made those tweaks, however, as they've now announced the Redeye mini, a smaller (and cheaper) form of the IR device. This one doesn't use the dock connector at all -- it's a tiny little unit that just plugs into your headphone port, and then can control any IR remote device with a free app. The price is only US$49, much cheaper than the earlier device ($188). If you've been looking for a cheap and easy-to-use IR hookup for your iPhone, the Redeye mini might be just what you're waiting for. The press release does mention that the device requires you to run OS 3.2 on your iPhone, but given that the only date listed for sales so far is "Spring," ThinkFlood likely won't release until the new version is out anyway. But it'll be something to keep an eye on for sure.
BioShock 2 now available for prepurchase on Steam
Valve has officially announced that 2K Games' BioShock 2 will be available for purchase on Steam -- you can pre-purchase the game right now, and it'll be unlocked for play on February 9, 2010, day and date with the rest of the world. The current price is $44.99, a slight discount from the boxed version, and that includes a Steam copy of the original BioShock as well, which you can "kindly" give to a friend if you happen to already have it. Or you can nab four licenses for you and three friends for $134.97, with each of you getting to play the original also. Sure, it's a good deal if you're not concerned with "discs" or "physical media," but does it come with a vinyl LP of the game's original soundtrack? Didn't think so, boy-o.
Next Android version will be called Froyo, says Erick Tseng
Proving once again that those who don't watch The Engadget Show are always going to be one step behind those who do, our latest star guest Erick Tseng has dropped a dollop of exclusive wisdom on us: Android's next big iteration will be known as Froyo. That's short for "frozen yogurt" and fits right in line with the zany naming scheme that has delivered us Cupcakes, Donuts, and Eclairs so far. If you had your money on Flan being next in that alphabetical order, sorry to disappoint. No additional info could be squeezed out of the Google man at present -- such as how much further along Froyo will be from Android 2.1 (technically considered part of Eclair) or when we might expect the upgrade -- but we've got a name and that should be plenty to get us started on another wonderful journey of soothsaying and speculation.
Rumor: New iPhone by April
You TUAW readers came up with a long list of features for a possible iPhone 4.0, and now it turns out you might not even have to wait too long for a new revision. A few overseas providers of the iPhone have hinted that a brand new version of the handset could be coming out as soon as April of this year. Possible features this time include a video chat function, a removable battery, dual-core processors, and a better screen and camera (possibly with a flash feature, as we've heard before). That sounds like a lot of wishful thinking to us (I doubt we'll ever see an iPhone with a removable battery -- if Apple wanted to do so, they'd have already done it), but if not, that would be a pretty darn popular smartphone, and it would definitely answer the recent challenge of Google's Nexus One. But of course as always, rumors are rumors, so we won't believe it until we see Steve Jobs holding it on stage, and you shouldn't either. But sources have long said that 2010 will be a year in which we'll see a new iPhone, and while April (or early May) seems earlier than we thought, you never know.
Time-traveling RTS Achron now playable, available for pre-order
Indie developer Hazardous Software has announced that you can now preorder its still-in-development time-bending RTS, Achron, on its website. "Pre-order" in this case means something a little different than usual: By giving Hazardous $29.99 now, you'll get access to the game's current alpha version, which includes five single-player levels. According to the release calendar, you'll get access to the rest of the game later this year, with a multiplayer beta in February, a level editor around April and a full game release a year from now in January 2011. We spoke with the developer's rep, who tells us that it's hoping to stick to the release calendar like glue -- he even says the dates there are slightly "conservative." Dear readers of this post in 2011: If time travel does exist in the future, could you maybe come back here to the past and tell us if this complicated little game is any good?
Touch Arcade picks their favorite iPhone games of 2009
Our friends over at Touch Arcade have put together their list of the best iPhone games of 2009, and if you happened to unwrap an iPod touch or an iPhone yesterday, that's as good a place as any to start hunting for your favorite games. Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor [$2.99, iTunes link] topped their list, and we agree that it's an excellent showcase for original iPhone software (there's also a promo version if you want to try the gameplay for free). Other than that, there's a few of our favorites missing from the list (no Ramp Champ? No Galcon Labs?), but there are plenty of terrific games to download and play on into 2010. It's been a fantastic year for iPhone gaming -- if you haven't yet jumped in and checked out some of the best the platform has to offer, what are you waiting for? Get downloading!
Commodore 64 1.2 released in the App Store with three new free games
The creators of Commodore 64, that emulator app that eventually gained Apple's blessing, emailed to say that they have released a brand new version [iTunes link] with some brand new (old) C64 games to revisit. The gist of this one is that you can buy C64 ROMs to play through in-app purchases, but right out of the gate with version 1.2, three different games are free: Bruce Lee, Laser Squad, and Samurai Warrior. So if any of those ring your nostalgic bell, you can go jump in on the app now -- it's $1.99. If you want to add in some extra games, it'll cost you 99 cents each, but they've now made Alleykat, Uridium, Paradroid, Stormlord and Nebulus all available that way. Unfortunately, not all emulator developers have been able to secure such a deal with Apple, but C64 enthusiasts have to be excited about what's available with this one.
Android's Device Dashboard offers version distribution insight, pity for users still on 1.1
Google's Android team has released a cool new site to help developers keep tabs on the distribution of the platform's various versions, something that's going to become increasingly important as it continues to splinter across manufacturers and countless devices, specs, and capabilities. The Device Dashboard is presently showing that 1.6 (Donut, if you recall correctly) owns the lion's share of the market, but 1.5 Cupcake is still contributing 27.7 percent to the mix -- thanks largely to the Hero, we suspect. 2.0.1, only available in wide distribution on the Droid at this point, owns another 14.8 percent, but you can bet this whole pie is going to drastically repaint itself countless times in 2010 -- and each version brings different bullet points to the table, which means devs are going to be facing tough choices deciding what to target. It may never have Apple-style hardware and software uniformity, but at least stuff like this'll help app shops make more informed decisions as they push out products.
An app with everything but sales
TriplePoint PR's site has a post on their blog about Orbital [iTunes Link], an iPhone game released a while back that I presume is one of their clients. Obviously, they've done their job: we're talking about the game, which is $.99US or available in a lite free version [iTunes Link]. But they've also provided us with a little insight into just how things are going in the app's release, and the picture they paint says "not well." Oh, sure, it's been reviewed well, there's a little bit of buzz about it, and the game itself, says the firm, is good (trust them at your own risk, but they sound like they really do enjoy it). So what's the problem? It's not selling. To be fair, it is selling. They've sold less than 100,000 units, they say, and even half of that is a nice chunk of sales. But apparently that's not a success, and they're wondering why. Piracy is their first guess -- we've heard before that piracy can be a huge issue, even on cheap apps. They say the game had an 80% piracy rate in the first week, which has since dropped down to 24%. I'm not convinced piracy can be blamed completely -- there's no guaranteeing that all pirates would have bought a real copy anyway. But certainly there's something going on here -- you can have a terrific app that's well-reviewed and buzzworthy, and if it doesn't end up in the right place at the right time, it still won't be successful (or at least as successful as you want). Everyone is still working to unlock success in the App Store, but with over 100,000 products on the shelves, it has become increasingly more difficult for the good apps to stand apart.
Dragon Age: Origins coming to Mac as a digital download December 21st
Gamepro's got the news that Electronic Arts is fast-tracking Dragon Age: Origins for release on the Mac -- they're now saying that it'll be out as a download as soon as next week, on December 21st. I've been playing the game on PC (it came out for both PC and consoles in November), and it is excellent -- an instant Bioware classic, and definitely the best roleplaying game of the year, especially if you enjoy good Baldur's Gate-style epic. Of course, you can pick up the PC version right now and play it in Boot Camp, but given that we've been needling developers to hurry up with their Mac versions, we have to give EA credit for this one. A month late is much better than, say, a few years late. We'll also point out that this version will use Transgaming's Cider wrapper technology for the port, and they don't exactly have the best track record for quality Mac releases. But again, an A for effort on the release date. If you want to play it natively on the Mac, you'll be able to buy the game in either standard or deluxe versions, with the deluxe including extra bonus content and the "Warden's Keep" downloadable content pack (both versions come with the "Stone Prisoner" pack already, and the content packs open up more quests and items in the game itself). December 21st is the listed date: look for a link on their website then.
Quicksilver releases new beta 57
Macworld notes that my absolute favorite application, and one of the reasons I became a Mac user in the first place, is not quite as dead and gone as many people suspected. Quicksilver has released their first new stable version in two years, besides the developer leaving for greener pastures and setting the project completely open source. Unfortunately, there aren't many new features, but as Macworld says, let's be honest: you don't understand everything that's in there already. No seriously. No, seriously, you don't. What is new is compatibility with Snow Leopard (mostly -- some plugins are still lagging behind), and a host of background changes. Clang is being used as the default compiler, which the change notes say should speed up runtime significantly. Localization has been tweaked, and lots of previously buggy actions (mouse tracking on triggers, for one) have supposedly been smoothed out and improved. Not necessarily a marquee release, but at this point, any Quicksilver release is a good one. And if you've never actually used Quicksilver, well, now's a great time to start. Ostensibly, it's a app/file launcher, but the more you learn and use it, the more it becomes a "connector" for everything on your Mac. Your mind is connected to your fingers, and your fingers connect to the keyboard to invoke Quicksilver, but Quicksilver is connected to everything else.
CrossOver Games releases version 8.1.0
The folks behind CrossOver Games sent us a note that version 8.1.0 of their software has come out, and it's got some nice upgrades for Mac and Linux folks who prefer to run their games in Windows almost-emulators (it's based on Wine, and as we all know, Wine Is Not an Emulator) rather than Boot Camping over to the real thing. We tried out CrossOver Games a while back, and found it lacking in almost everything but Steam games, but actually that's OK, because lately Steam has a lot of games going on. Accordingly, this new version has support built-in for the brand new Left 4 Dead 2, as well as fixes for Steam's voice chat, a few upgrades for WoW on Linux and Guild Wars, and a couple of changes to ensure compatibility with Snow Leopard. Sounds like a nice solid upgrade -- owners of the software can grab it for free, or you can try out the app for yourself from their website. In case you don't have the app yet, CodeWeavers also let us know that they're giving away a Linux rig that's the "ultimate" in... wait for it... gaming. Yes, putting together a Linux rig for gaming is like putting a UFC fighter on a dance show, but we guess stranger things have happened. Anyway, CrossOver Games will definitely help you play at least a few games on the decked-out rig, if you want a shot at winning the thing, all you have to do is pick up the software before December 1st. They'll pick a name out of a hat, and if it's yours, there'll be an awesome 'nix box headed your way. Good luck with getting smooth fullscreen Flash video to work. We kid! You Linux guys make it so easy. Oh wait, what's that? Flash on the iPhone? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Rawr updated to 2.2.25 [Update: 2.2.27]
Rawr is a great third-party app (it's open source, and doesn't interface with the game at all) that's designed to help you figure out everything you need to know about your character, including how to best buff, enchant, and gem up your gear and set up your stats for whatever you'd like to do. It started out as an app strictly for tanking druids, but recently, it's grown to include pretty much all classes and stats. Our good friends at sister site Download Squad just recently found out about it, and they've got a nice basic writeup posted that serves as a good overview if you've never used the app before. They also mention that the app just got another update, to version 2.2.25, and all of the release notes are posted over on their site. They're also looking for help -- if you're a C# developer, or know one who can work on their rogue and hunter models, be sure to let them know. Since the program is open source, anybody who knows the code can jump in and add their own features, or fine-tune the class choices, which then helps out everyone who uses the software. Rawr is definitely an excellent resource for anyone looking to get their gear perfected -- it's a free download for Windows on their site right now. Update: Since this post was written, the app has been updated to 2.2.27. That was fast!
WoW launcher and downloader causing validation errors [Updated]
I and many tipsters have encountered some issues tonight when trying to launch the game. Here's what we know: The Launcher is downloading something small. It is taking much longer than the 2 minutes estimated. Sometimes the download fails. Once the "something" has been downloaded, some are getting "unable to validate game version". Constant attempts to log in appear to make the error go away. There is no indication of what has been downloaded. Here's what we don't know: What was downloaded. We will update you as soon as we know anything. Please note: There is no indication patch 3.3 is dropping. NONE. Update 8:55pm: Blizzard says that the downloading issues are due to "prime time" and gives some advice in this link, mostly suggesting to wait. Update 8:44pm: Blizzard is calling this a "Tools Patch" and saying that "Safe Mode with Networking" is solving some people's problems. Obviously the issues are not fixed. Update 8:30pm: Blizzard says they have fixed the issues. Anyone still having problems should take the steps outlined in this link.
Phat Loot Phriday: Clemency
Umm, drool. This staff is so awesome it makes me want to go back to playing a caster. Name: Clemency (Wowhead, Thottbot, Armory) Type: Epic Two-hand Staff Damage/Speed: 280-518 / 2.10 (190.1 DPS) Attributes: +153 Stamina, +153 Intellect. Yes, that much. +86 Spirit, too. A Blue and a Red socket, with a +7 spell power bonus if you match both up. Remember, you don't have to if you don't want to, and this is certainly a socket bonus that's probably not worth going for. If you need an extra gem for your meta, this is probably the place to put it. %Gallery-33600%
Palm Pixi definitely shipping with a new webOS version, but which?
Whoa, is that webOS 2.0 we see on the horizon? No, sorry, it definitely isn't -- but we can say with relative confidence that the upcoming Pixi will be shipping with a newer, slightly more feature-rich version of webOS than its Pre brethren around the world; if nothing else, Synergy supports Yahoo on the new model, as PreCentral observes. What remains to be seen is the exact version number that'll be shipping out of the gate -- recent DSLReports user agent logs suggest that 1.2.9 might be the gold build (for the record, the Sprint Pre currently rocks 1.2.1), but apparently there's some chatter going on about a 1.3 as well. Doesn't seem like much of a difference, but a 0.1 increment usually means more features, fixes, and changes than a 0.01 increment does, so naturally, we're pulling for a bigger number. There isn't any intel on what this mythical 1.3 might contain just yet or whether it'd be heading to Bell, Sprint, and O2 Pres, but we'll keep an eye out.
