News - page 1675

Launched in February of 2009, OpenFeint was the first useful leader board and multiplayer matching service for iOS games. It was originally developed by Jason Citron’s Aurora Feint development team, and went on to become an SDK that iOS, and later Android, developers could include in their mobile games without having to build their own multiplayer, leader board, or achievement system.

In 2011, social gaming company GREE purchased OpenFeint for a reported $104 million.

Today, GREE announced that OpenFeint will no longer be supported, and that the service will end on December 14, 2012.

Aspyr Media, one of the top Mac game porting houses, has released new downloadable content (DLC) for the Mac version of Call of Duty: Black Ops. Titled Annihilation & Escalation, the pack includes eight new multiplayer maps along with two new zombie levels–a fan favorite.

The maps included are Hangar 18, Drive-In, Silo, Hazard, Hotel, and more, each with its own distinct environment and tactical advantages.

What goes up must come down, in physics and in investment. Stock prices for Apple have hit a low recently, down about a fourth of it’s value. Analysts believe that upcoming taxes on capital gains and investment dividends have stock holders rushing to get rid of as much as they can to avoid record tax hikes.

“No individual investment can defy gravity,” said the deputy chief investment officer for Wells Fargo, Erik Davidson.

Apple has just sent out the following Email to OS X Lion users, alerting them that the Messages Beta program for OS X Lion will end on December 14th. Messages for Mac, originally launched as a beta application before the release of OS X Mountain Lion, was available for free to users until it officially launched as part of 10.8 in summer.

Last month we told you that Twelve South’s popular BookBook case would be available for the iPhone 5 sometime in November. Twelve South has now lifted the curtain on its newest case, and you can order your own online now. The first batch of orders will be sent out Monday.

And yes, the BookBook finally has a hole for the iPhone 5’s rear camera.

Back in October of 2010, iOS developer Applidium brought VideoLAN’s legendary VLC media player to the App Store. Unfortunately, the universal app had a short shelf life, as it was pulled at the request of VideoLAN a few months later. The issue revolved around VLC’s General Public License (GPL) licensing agreement. Because VLC is open source software, it was technically illegal for Applidium to sell a port in Apple’s DRM-restricted App Store.

Fast forward more than a year later, and a change in VideoLAN’s licensing means that VLC can be legally brought back to the App Store in all of its glory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GIFdBp8rbtA

This video of a young Jonathan Ive talking about the design of the famous 20th Anniversary Macintoshi back in 1997 is hypnotic for a number of reasons.

At first, it’s just kind of cute, watching Jony Ive standing next to this bulky plastic all-in-one and talking about it with the same intensity as he would talk about designing the iPhone 5, but then you get sucked in, and despite your first impressions actually starting to appreciate what he was trying to accomplish, and see the same echoes and reiterated design philosophies extending forward in time, right down to the latest iMacs. Everything Ive was trying to do then, he’s still trying to do with Apple’s latest products.

Via: iPhone in Canada

Priced at only $99, the Apple TV is a pretty awesome deal. But if you thinking streaming movies from you Mac to your LED Plasma 3D Ultra High-Definition TV isn’t worth that much, then maybe you just need a cheaper Chinese knockoff solution.

Xiaomi Box looks pretty similar to an Apple TV, it’s cheaper than an Apple TV, it even comes with the ability to use Apple’s AirPlay protocol like an Apple TV, but it only costs $64.

The biggest shopping day of the year is fast approaching. The day after Thanksgiving in the United States is Black Friday, and it’s the best time to begin you’re holiday gift shopping — if you can face the frenzy, that is. Retailers all over the U.S. will be offering big discounts on some of this year’s hottest gifts, and the Apple store will be no exception, having given Black Friday discounts to Apple Store customers for the last few years regularly.

Next Friday the 23rd is Black Friday, and while Apple hasn’t tipped its hand as to when

If you’re looking to save cash on the latest Macs, iOS devices, and accessories, then Black Friday is an ideal time to buy them. Based on Apple’s previous Black Friday deals, here’s what you can expect to see this year.

I haven’t seen an episode of Vampire Diaries before, but it’s great to know that if I ever have a hunkering for more vampire love affairs I will still be able to get my fix after this last Twilight movie comes out.

Warner Bros. released their new iOS app yesterday called “Day After US,” that allows iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad owners in the U.S. to watch all of Warner Bros. popular TV shows the day after they air.

After settling a longstanding trademark earlier this year over the name “iPad,” Apple has seen a big increase in iPad sales in China.

Proview, a Chinese company, had “iPad” registered years before Apple unveiled the iPad back in 2010. For the last few years the two companies have disagreed on settlement terms, but Apple finally resolved the issue by paying Proview $60 million to secure the name. Since the settlement was reached in July, iPad sales have increased 80% in China according to one analyst.

Remember that freakishly realistic Steve Jobs action figure we showed you folks earlier this month? Well Legend Toys decided that Mini Steve was getting a little lonely, so they scheduled a play-date for him and an even bigger Steve Jobs doll.

Madame Tussauds’ Steve Jobs wax figure is finally complete, so the creators of the newest Steve Jobs action figure decided the two fake Jobses needed to meet up. We have no idea what those two smug geniuses talked about but they sure do look cool as hell chillin’ together.

Source: Gizmodo

Nintendo, unlike many software developers, has chosen to ignore the goldmine that is Apple’s App Store by refusing to develop its titles for iOS. It’s almost guaranteed that the Japanese company would make an absolute killing if it just brought fan favorites like Super Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon to our iPhones and iPads. But president Satoru Iwata is adamant it will only develop titles for its own hardware.

There are signs, however, that Nintendo is cracking. It just released its first paid iOS app, a mobile version of the Nintendo 3DS’s Pokédex, to customers in Japan.

On Thursday, Jefferies analyst James Kisner revealed that the much-anticipated Apple television, the product we’ve been talking about for well over a year, is almost ready to make its big debut. In fact, Kisner said its launch was “imminent.”

According to sources for AllThingsD, however, it’s not quite as close as Kisner would have you believe. While Apple has indeed held talks with a number of large cable companies, it seems it hasn’t yet spoken to TV programmers. With that in mind, it seems the Apple television is some way off just yet.

Here’s a super-cool little idea. It’s a keyboard case for your iPad, only instead of packing a small, cramped iPad-sized keyboard it’s a case which’ll hold both the iPad and your Apple aluminum Bluetooth keyboard. Better still, it folds out to make a stand to keep your iPad propped up while you work.

Last year, Apple joined forces with Microsoft, Research in Motion, and Sony to form the “Rockstar Bidco consortium,” which outbid Google for more than 6,000 Nortel patents covering wireless and LTE technologies. Together, the consortium paid $4.5 billion for the portfolio, most of which — around $2.6 billion — came from Apple.

However, the Cupertino company has reportedly been quietly handing over more cash to secure sole ownership of select patents.

Well, today appears to officially be launch day of the iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular at carriers around the country. Hot on the heels of the announcement that Sprint would be selling iPad minis with LTE support in store starting today, AT&T has followed suit. Press release below.

Sprint has announced that it will begin selling the iPad mini + LTE and the fourth-generation iPad + LTE from today, November 16. It promises a range of “attractive” data plans that will connect customers to its super speedy 4G network, which are all available without a contract.

Apple’s primed and ready to take over your entire world of media; Microsoft’s paid cavalcade of celebrity Windows Phone endorsements make us sad; and the big plans Apple has to fan the flames of employee innovation; as you’ll soon hear, no topic is safe from discussion on this week’s CultCast. We even dive deep into the ancient practice of platonic male hand holding.

You think I’m joking…

All that and a Faves and Raves controversy meltdown! Subscribe now to The CultCast on iTunes, or easily stream new and previous episodes via Apple’s free Podcasts App.

Read on for the show notes and to learn how you could promote your product or service on one of our future episodes.

Today, both Apple and Samsung were given the go ahead to include newer devices in their continuing legal battle over mobile smartphone and tablet supremacy, raising the stakes between the two tech giants. Samsung was granted the ability to include the iPhone 5 in its lawsuit against Cupertino-based Apple.

According to the Wall Street Journal, US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal accepted Samsung’s revised request, thus allowing the company to attempt to prove infringement against Apple’s newest iPhone, a course of action the Korea-based company announced soon after its own defeat in the case against Samsung by Apple last month.

The jude also accepted Apple’s request to amend its own infringement lawsuit against Samsung to include newer products, including the Galaxy Note 10.1, the Galaxy S III, and the Jelly Bean Android Operating System.

If you haven’t played Rochard, yet, you might want to check this out. The gravity-bending, scifi adventuring, sarcastic-remark making space mechanic with a gravity gun is on the Mac for a mere $6.99. The latest update features iCloud support as well as some new language localizations, like Russian, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Czech and Turkish.

You can play Rochard with the keyboard and mouse, hook up a bluetooth PS3 controller, or grab a wired Xbox 360 controller to get your puzzle-solving, Metroid-Castlevania groove on.

The sequel to Shadowgun, one of the better looking third person shooters on smartphones, is out today in the form of a sequel, Shadowgun: DeadZone. This is console-quality multiplayer action brought to your Android phone, and it got to Google Play before the iOS App Store (but not by much).

The game lets you hop into tactical combat with up to 12 players at a time, letting you battle online across a ton of maps with 10 different playable characters.

If there’s any company that gets content creation on the iOS platform, it’s Algoriddim. The Germany-based development firm is behind djay, the most intuitive and polished software of its kind on iPhone and iPad.

Music mixing isn’t Algoriddim’s only forte. Back in June, vjay for iPad was announced. The app brought live video remixing to the tablet experience, and today vjay has arrived on the iPhone. To celebrate the release, Algoriddim is also discounting all its iOS apps for a limited time in the App Store.

Facebook just rolled out a big update to its iOS app in the App Store. Most notably, version 5.2 of Facebook’s app brings the long-awaited “Share” button.

Like Twitter’s ability to retweet, Facebook is now letting users quickly share links and posts on their timeline. You’ve been able to do this on the desktop and Facebook’s mobile website, but now the sharing functionality is integrated in the native Facebook iOS experience.

Today’s update brings a number of other additions, including emoticons in messages and the ability to tag your friends in status updates and comments.

Google is putting the finishing touches on its standalone Maps app for iOS, according to a new report today from The Wall Street Journal. A beta version of the app has reportedly been distributed to select testers within and outside Google as the search giant gets ready to submit the final version to Apple’s App Store.

Since Apple introduced its own Maps app in iOS 6, there has been much speculation surrounding Google’s plans for its own mapping service on the iPhone. Unless Apple says no, Google Maps should be arriving in the App Store soon.