iOS - page 90

Scott Forstall was destined for big things at Apple. Originally part of Steve Jobs’s NeXT team, he spent 15 years with the Cupertino company and spearheaded its hugely successful iOS software division. Many believed he would succeed Tim Cook as CEO later on, but on Monday, but the chances of that happening looked impossible when Apple announced Forstall was on his way out.

The news came as a shock to us all, but it seems there are several reasons why Apple had to remove Forstall from its executive team — it seems refusing to apologize for the whole Maps debacle wasn’t the only one.

Pandora, that grandaddy of internet radio, just got a huge update on iOS, and is coming soon to Android. The new version includes the ability to share your music listening with friends on the Pandora service, Facebook, and Twitter, a feature I was surprised wasn’t already there. In addition, you can follow other folks on the new Music Feed, much like Spotify and Rdio allow. There’s a new Profile page accessed right in-app, more information about music and the artists themselves as well, a la Last FM, and full lyrics for every song that can be played on the service.

It may seem that getting rid of Scott Forstall is a bad thing. He was, after all, the major architect of Apple’s most successful software: iOS, the software that runs the iPhone and iPad.

It’s actually a very good thing, and it means your iPhone is about to get a whole lot better.

Today, Google announced two new Nexus tablets — the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 — which will go head-to-head with more established competitors like the iPad, the iPad mini and the Kindle Fire HD. But how do they stack up?

Lightbulbs are boring. Yes, they provide an important service to the world, but when was the last time that you got really excited to go out and buy some new lightbulbs? Probably never. But Philips’ new Hue LED lightbulbs are actually incredibly cool and will change your blasé opinion on lighting fixtures.

The new Hue bulbs revealed today by Philips are wirelessly controlled by your iOS device. You can turn them on or off from your iPhone as well as change their color even if you’re not at your house. The Hue app will select the perfect lighting for your mood or activity or let you adjust the lightning in a room based on one of your favorite photos.

Square Enix has revealed that it may reconsider its pricing structure for mobile games following critical feedback from users in Western countries. While the Japanese developer is well-known among iOS users for its awesome RPGs, such as Final Fantasy and Chaos Rings, it’s also famous for its hefty price tags, which can often be as much as $18 per title.

When console-quality games are going for less then $5 these days, those prices are a big problem for some.

If you own a Mac or an iOS device, there’s a good chance it was assembled by the fine folks at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China. Despite being born there, however, Apple’s latest gadgets aren’t exactly easy to get hold of in the city. But that’s set to change on Saturday, November 3, when the Cupertino company opens the doors to its first Shenzhen retail store.

Ah, the ’80s — back when a Tab was something to drink, not deride, and Members Only wasn’t exactly an exclusive club. Reliving (or living, for those born after 1979) those days is as easy as tracking down a six-pack of Tab on the Internet, or purchasing this purple number.

Those who’d rather not deal with their friends’ hysterical laughter or horribly wilted taste buds can simply download a faithful recreation of DONKEY.BAS, probably the best thing Bill Gates ever made, onto their iPad or iPhone.

The iMpulse Game controller, now with eight days left in its Kickstarter campaign, was already planned to be a sleek little keychain-sized physical game controller. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and various Android devices, the iMpulse is getting an update to make it 20% thinner, as well as adding shoulder buttons on the bottom of the device.

For a pledge of $25 plus shipping, you can get one of these cute, sleek gaming controllers with a serious d-pad and shoulder buttons sent to your address. There are other levels of reward, as well, including a T-Shirt, dual controllers, fancy metal plating, and the like.

I’ve seen some amazing photos shot with the increasingly advanced photo hardware (and software) packed into the iPhone, and now the iPad. And while swiping through the images is fun, sometimes you want physical prints. An update to the free Snapfish app lets you have those prints by letting you send images from your iPhone to the closest Walmart, Walgreens, or if you’re in New York, Duane Reade — and they’ll be printed in about an hour.

Microsoft’s new Surface RT tablet made its debut today, just three days after Apple announced the new fourth-generation iPad and iPad mini. If you’re not completely dedicated to iOS, you’re probably having a hard time decided which tablet to go for.

To help you make your decision, we’ve put together a handy chart that compares the Surface RT with some of the most popular tablets on sale right now, including the new iPads, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, the Google Nexus 7, and more.

Eufloria is an ingenious, engaging, addictive strategy game for iOS, with its own unique look and style. There’s much more to it than first meets the eye.

Rockstar Games brought Grand Theft Auto 3 to Android and iOS last December, and I’ve been playing it over and over ever since; it’s one of my favorite games on mobile. I was delighted, then, when Rockstar announced today that its successor, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is also being ported to Android and iOS to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Galaxy Tab; Nexus 7; Kindle Fire HD—they’re all doomed, and on this week’s CultCast, we’ll tell why Apple’s new iPad mini will most definitely sit as the king of all tabs small.

Then, we review a new social iOS game so stellar, it’ll have you clamoring for Game Center friends just so you can get your fix.

All that and more on our newest CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream The CultCast via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

Note: Some listeners have informed us that iTunes isn’t displaying episode 39 yet, but if you subscribe, it will show up and download just fine.

Onwards, to the show notes!

I own a cheap plastic tape measure. I also own (or rather, haven’t yet tossed out) a conference lanyard with a retractable card holder for my laminated ID.

Why am I telling you this? Because both of them look just like the Memoto, a teeny-tiny lifeblogging camera which you wear around your neck or clip on your clothes. Like both of my crapgadgets, the Memoto is small and inconspicuous. Apart from the bright-orange color…

While some companies churn out new smartphones and tablets every month, Apple has traditionally given us at least 12 months with our iOS devices before replacing them with newer models. So it was a big surprise to us all when it announced a new and improved fourth-generation iPad on Tuesday, just seven months after the third-generation iPad went on sale.

If you bought a “new” iPad within the last 30 days, however, don’t be too miffed your device is already obsolete — because you could be one of the lucky ones. If you take your device into an Apple Store, there’s a chance you’ll be able to swap it for a brand new, fourth-generation model free of charge.

Sick of opening all your files in different apps? The new iFile app is a multifunctional text, image, music, document, and video reader. You can edit, browse, watch and listen to almost any kind of file that your iOS device can read, all from a single app.

You can also share files with friends, run a portable web server on your iPhone, sync files to Dropbox, and more…

On Monday, we learned Gearbox Software was finally gearing up to bring its Borderlands franchise to iOS. An advert in a digital game guide for Borderlands 2 revealed the title’s name, Borderlands Legends, and promised that the title would arrive this month.

Gearbox has now confirmed that Borderlands Legends will be hitting the App Store on October 31, but it might not be what you were expecting.

The iPad Mini was announced today, and frankly, it missed the mark. The iPad Mini will simply have no effect on non-Apple users. Apple needed to go $299 or less to make the iPad Mini seep into consumers heads and play devil’s advocate. At $329, that simply isn’t going to happen.

While most of Apple’s stock iOS apps are pretty handy, there are a few that the large majority of us probably never open. I’m talking about apps like Stocks, Voice Memos, and Weather (which always seems to be inaccurate in the U.K.). Unfortunately, the Cupertino company doesn’t allow us to remove these, so the only way to do it was to jailbreak. Until now.

Thanks to a nifty new web app, you can temporarily remove stock iOS icons from your device without jailbreaking. Here’s how.

Stainless Games brought the 1997 classic that is Carmageddon to the App Store last week, but its launch was marred by a nasty save game bug that was capable of wiping all the progress you had made in the game.

Thankfully, the company has now issued an update that fixes the problem.

Fieldrunners 2 is one of my favorite iOS games, hands down. Developer Subatomic Studios has taken the tower defense genere to a new level with this sequel to their popular and multi-platform game, Fieldrunners. This second game was released in July of this year, almost 4 years after the first iteration came out on iOS, then Mac.

Today, the studio announced that they’ve added in-app purchasing to the game, something many games come with from the start. Those games, however, typically come at no up-front cost. Fieldrunners 2 was released as a premium, paid game, at $2.99 for the iPhone and $7.99 for the iPad version. Why did they add this freemium-style in-app purchasing system to a game that’s already doing well as a paid app?

The fans of the game wanted it.

Quick, answer this one: what’s the quickest, easiest, no-sign-ups required way to get a bunch of photos from your iPhone to the internet, right now?

Instagram? Nope. You’re kind of right, but Instagram has its limitations. And you need to sign up to use it. Apple’s Photo Stream? Closer, but you still need to be using iCloud.

The quickest, easiest and no-sign-uppiest service I’ve yet seen has to be Photoset, a new thing from the people who make Tumblr.

Actions turns your iPad into a remote control for your Mac. No, it’s not a VNC app which lets you project your desktop onto your tablet’s screen. Nor is it a media remote (although it can be). Instead, Actions lets you assign, uh, actions to easy-to-tap tiles on the iPad’s screen, and these actions are then performed on the Mac (or PC).

The short version: Actions lets you trigger Mac keyboard shortcuts from your iPad.

When Apple unveiled the third-generation iPad earlier this year, it reduced the price of the iPad 2 to just $399 in an effort to provide fans with a more affordable option, and to stave off the competition from cheaper Android slates as much as it could. But with the iPad mini set to make its debut tomorrow, will there still be a need for the iPad 2?

One analyst thinks not.