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This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Green Farm, Hector HD & MetalStorm

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Screen shot 2011-05-15 at 19.31.35

Green Farm is Gameloft’s answer to popular farming sims such as Farmville. It’s a free, online ‘social game’ that can be played on your iPhone, iPad, or through Facebook. It boasts a fresh design and huge variety that attempts to “take farming apps to the next level.”

Hector is the hugely entertaining detective from Telltale Games who’s been solving crimes on our iPhones for some time — and now he’s brought his foul mouth and vulgar wit to the iPad. We Negotiate with Terrorists is the first episode of this law-enforcement comedy in HD.

Find out more about the applications above and check out MetalStorm: Online and Samurai Girl below.

Is Apple Working on Clam-shell iPhones and iPads?

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Rumors are circulating about a new design feature in the upcoming iPhone 5: An edge-to-edge screen.

The scuttlebutt originated a couple of months ago with a post on iDealsChina, and has been re-enforced by the appearance of a case for such a design on AliBaba, a disreputable online clearinghouse for buying cheap crap from China.

It all sounds pretty shady, but these kinds of sources predicted other Apple products in the past. Even more compelling is that the Wall Street Journal claims a source that has seen a prototype of such a design.

The rumor is either true or false. Who knows? Regardless, an edge-to-edge screen makes sense. If it’s possible to engineer, it’s likely to be built.

Here’s why: There is a fundamental tension in mobile design between minimum case size and maximum screen real estate. For the overall size of the phone or tablet: the smaller, the better. For the size of the screen: the bigger, the better.

Something’s gotta give.

How iPad Will Kill Google’s Chromebook

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Chromebook

Google announced this week the June 15 launch of its shiny new Chromebook product. People are comparing it to the Apple iPad, with some even saying the iPad doesn’t stand a chance.

The Chromebook is a laptop designed to run only browser-based applications. The idea is that nothing resides on the device. Everything is in the cloud. The Chromebook is cheap, gets great battery life, and because data resides in the cloud, idiot users can’t screw up.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that with PCs, “the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users… It’s a flawed model fundamentally.”

True enough. What you didn’t hear anywhere in the Google announcement is the dreaded “i” word.

The iPad has already solved the problem for consumers that Brin talked about. And that’s the biggest reason Chromebook will fail.

Go here to read the whole story.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: IM+ Pro, TweetyPop, Adobe Photoshop Touch & More!

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At the top of this week’s list of must-have iOS applications is one of our favorite instant messaging tools: IM+ Pro. It has already featured in our list of the ‘Best iOS Apps for Instant Messaging‘, but the introduction of its new Neighbors service meant we couldn’t help but shout about it again.

TweetyPop is a super new Twitter application from TapFactory that allows you to view and interact with your tweets in a unique new way. It throws away the chronological list you get with every other Twitter client and delivers a 3 dimensional Twitter space.

Adobe first announced its first three Photoshop Touch applications at Photoshop World back in March, and they’re now available to download from the App Store. Color Lava, Eazel and Nav are all designed for the iPad and aim to enhance your desktop Photoshop experience with the help of a touch-based device.

Find out more about the applications above and check out OmniOutliner – this week’s final must-have – after the break.

Thousands Of iOS Devices Bricked Around The World As iTunes Activation Servers Topple? [Update: Fixed?]

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(Update: Many — but not all — of the users in the Apple Support Communities are now reporting that the activation servers are back online, and their devices working again.)

Looks like the Lion Beta 3 Preview might not be the only problem Apple’s dealing with this morning.

As of last night, an ongoing problem with Apple’s activation servers seems to be leaving many iDevices recently updated or restored to iOS 4.3.3 bricked around the world.

Weirdly Indestructible, Impact-Absorbing iPad/2 G-Form Cases Now Shipping

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Ok, we’re a little baffled why this dude is pulling out an iPad in this sitch. Last-minute conditions-check? Confused about the term “surf the web”?

What’s pretty clear though, is that the blindingly yellow G-Form iPad Extreme Sleeve case ($60) he’s peeling off his iPad is now shipping. We love talking about this case; partly because we’re fascinated with the extreme-sport-derived protective material it’s made from, and partly because we’re mesmerized by the crazy videos G-Form keeps releasing to demonstrate the Extreme Sleeve’s protective ability — which seems formidable.

Right now, it’s only available (thankfully, also in black) from G-Form directly.

 

Is Apple Falling Behind Google for the Future of Computing?

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If you can imagine an iPad the size of Apple’s largest iMac, with the iOS multi-touch interface plus the power of OS X, then you can imagine the next generation of computing.

You’ll use it tilted at an angle on your desk like a drafting table. Or, you’ll tilt it up for TV or presentations, or flat for using it as a table. Or you’ll use it as a coffee table or a kitchen counter top. The point is: You’ll use it.

Apple has a gazillion patents for their version of this technology. Microsoft has already promised a consumer version of Surface. The third generation of desktop computing (after command line and GUI generations) is coming.

But Google has already announced the operating system for their giant desktop multi-touch PC of the future.

Wooden Handcrafted BrudaCase for iPad 2 Treats Your iPad Like a Prized Possession

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BrudaCase

The BrudaCase for iPad 2 is a sleek, elegant case made out of wood to protect your iPad while still maintaining a classic look that is truly worthy of holding your favorite tech treasure. With its nod to the past, while still looking to the future, the BrudaCase is one of the most beautifully manufactured iPad cases I’ve come across. Handcrafted in the heart of Amish Country Pennsylvania, the case doesn’t set out to be just another piece of beauty, as it also brings a lot of thoughtful functionality with it.

The case is made from slabs of cherry or maple wood that have been precision trimmed, sanded, and finished by an Amish cabinet-maker. The two pieces are held together by two discrete hinges inside the case. Padding lines the interior cavity to protect your iPad 2 from scratching, while four magnets secure the two sides together to prevent the case from opening accidentally. One of the neat things about the BrudaCase is how they addressed the need for different viewing angles. Two different notches inside the case allow the user to adjust the viewing angle of the iPad based on preference or the need to do some typing. The typing angle didn’t feel that comfortable though as the angle of inclination was a bit greater than that of a SmartCover, and to achieve the typing angle the iPad is recessed a bit too far back in the case for my liking.

IM+ Update Adds Neighbors Service for Finding Friends Nearby

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IM+ Pro Neighbors

The popular IM+: Instant Messaging application from Shape Services has just been updated to introduce an innovative new feature called ‘Neighbors’, which offers users the ability to find new friends in their vicinity who share the same common interests.

When users are signed into the Neighbors service, they will be greeted by a map that allows them to locate and chat with friends in their area, post and view local announcements, and initiate conversations with other people nearby.

Apple Sales Cool, Now Merely White Hot

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Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video - http://flic.kr/p/9oWG7s
Photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video - http://flic.kr/p/9oWG7s

Are Apple sales cooling off? That’s the belief of one Wall Street analyst who tells investors Wednesday the Cupertino, Calif. firm may have seen a 7 percent drop in April sales, compared to a historical increase of nearly 5 percent increase for the third quarter. But when we’re talking about Apple, a “slowdown” needs to be put in some context.

Hipsters: Take That Effing iPad and Shove It [NSFW Video]

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb7X8ch04Vs&feature=player_embedded#at=17

Here’s a kind of love song, disguised as a hate rant, by an alt chick in a low-slung tank top who smokes home rolled somethings and “definitely touches herself while she thinks of Mac products.”

She’s young and hip, yet professes to hate hipsters, and pens the kind of poison lyrics only the truly cool possessed with enough self-detachment will find funny. It’s all very meta.

“I remember a time when I could walk out the door and not hate the sight of every other person under 29.”

She’s got such a sweet voice when she tells you to take that effing iPad and shove it-up-your-effing-you-know-where-you bleep-bleep-bleep-bleeper and buy a real book. (I’m sparing the expletives here, but surely you can fill in the blanks).

Will there ever be a similar song about hipsters with Nooks or Kindles or Galaxy Tabs?

Via Buzz Feed

“Apple Screwed Us,” Says iFlow Reader Devs

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Photo by pamhule - http://flic.kr/p/8ntpyz
Photo by pamhule - http://flic.kr/p/8ntpyz

While a number of publishers ink special deals with Apple to bring their content to the App Store, Apple’s new in-app purchasing rules are forcing publishing middle men out of business. That’s the message from the creators of iFlow Reader, which just shut down.

“We put our faith in Apple and they screwed us,” Philip Huber of BeamItDown Software told users. The developer got squeezed between Apple’s demand for a 30 percent cut and other expenses. “Our gross margin on ebooks after paying the wholesaler is less than 30 percent, which means that we would have to take a loss on all ebooks sold,” Huber explained.

Former Acer CEO: iPad Is Killing The PC

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Now that several reports show the iPad eating into sales of traditional low-cost PCs, the blame game has begun – starting with Acer. You may recall Apple sales in the U.S. recently surpassed Acer, which fell 42 percent. The computer maker’s former CEO now blames the company’s slowness in responding to the iPad threat.

“I already saw if we want to become a major player in this new world, we needed to do certain investments, mainly on software and on smartphones and tablets, on touch,” ex-CEO Gianfranco Lanci told a blog earlier this week. Lanci resigned in late March amid reports he was blamed for the iPad cannibalizing Acer’s market.

Apple Pulls iAds From Kids Apps

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iAd slots in iOS applications designed for children will no longer be filled with adverts, according to an email one developer has received from Apple.

Mike Zornek, the developer of the Dex a Pokemon browser application for iPhone and iPod touch, noticed that his iAd fill rates had dropped and emailed Apple’s iAd Support Team for an explanation: