News - page 1695

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.

MacHeist today announced that it was adding two more apps, TuneUp and MoneyBag to its fantastically priced bundle, and is extending the sale of the bundle for three more days. That’s right, you now have the opportunity to purchase $754 worth of great Mac apps for $29, along with giving your choice from the list of MacHeist charities a 25% cut. The sale will end, they say, on Monday.

So far, the MacHeist 4 Bundle has raised close to $234,000 for the charities it benefits, including Action Against Hunger, The Nature Conservancy, American Foundation for AIDS, Save the Children, Friends of the Earth, Global Fund for Women, Direct Relief International, Cancer Research Institute, Humane Society International, and the World Wildlife Fund.

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.

By now you’ve probably heard that Apple is gearing up to launch an internet radio-type service next year that will compete with the likes of Pandora and Spotify. Apple has been working behind closed doors for quite some time to make the upcoming service a reality, but talks with the big record labels have continued to slow Apple’s plans.

Yesterday we told you that Apple was aiming to close deals with the labels by next month, and now a report claims that music executives are still not convinced that they should buy into what Apple is selling.

Apple hasn’t been very friendly to the DIY community in recent years. Every year Macs get harder and harder to take apart and repair/upgrade at home. iFixit called the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display the “least repairable” MacBook yet, and the 13-inch Retina MacBook didn’t score so well either.

That’s why it’s refreshing to hear that the 2012 Mac mini Apple announced Tuesday is actually very repairable. “The Mini continues to be one of the most repairable devices that Apple produces,” according to iFixit’s official teardown.

If Tim Cook is the operational brains behind Apple, then Phil Schiller is the showman. Since Steve Jobs passed away, Schiller has been the go-to guy for product unveilings at Apple’s high-profile media events. This past Tuesday, Schiller showed off a number of brand new products to the world, including the iPad mini and all-new iMac.

What does Apple’s marketing guru think about the company’s approach to designing products like the Mac?

I had a great idea this morning. I figured I’d head to the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale around 10am, waltz in, buy a Microsoft Surface, and then be out in 10 minutes. I assumed the store would be empty. I mean, come on, this is a Microsoft tablet we’re talking about, and who goes to the Microsoft Store anyway?

I was completely wrong. Microsoft’s new tablet, the Surface RT, may not do everything an iPad can, but it’s drawing some pretty big lines to Microsoft retail stores across the country for its launch this morning.

This amazing chunk of technology is – unbelievably – home made. It’s a camera, it is milled Apple-style from a single block of aluminum, and it’s called the Hyperscope. What’s not to love?

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.

Squarespace, the slick website hosting company, has come up with an interesting take on Drafts-style fast note-taking apps. It’s called Squarespace Note, and it is pretty nice looking.

While the iPad mini looks like a terrific little tablet, that’s sure to make millions for Apple, we’ve learned over the past few days that some people are unhappy with its price tag. Thanks to the rumors, the majority of us expected the device to be priced around $249. But as it turns out, it’s $80 more than that.

According to Microsoft’s Windows boss, Steven Sinofsky, that’s a lot to pay for a “recreational tablet” when you can get a new Windows 8 laptop for $279.

Hey, sucker? Did you buy an iPad 3 and an Adonit Jot Pro stylus recently? Then you’re one unlucky feller: not only has Apple released the iPad 4, but Adonit has updated its stylus.

Try not to cry.

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.

You know what’s neat about Apple ditching things like Street View from its Maps app? What’s neat is the vacuum which it left, and the apps which have rushed to fill it. WhatsGoLa might not be the first Street View app in the App Store, and it certainly isn’t the best named, but it might be the cutest.

You gotta love Apple (no, seriously, you gotta love Apple to get a job here at Cult of Mac – Leander tests our faith every day during Morning iService) – it might keep quiet and take its time to fix things, but fix them it does. Well, for high-profile problems at least.

Today’s fix is a new iPad charger, a beefed up 12-watt model which should juice the iPads 3 and 4 faster than the old model.

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!

When Apple began accepting pre-orders for the iPad mini at 12 a.m. Pacific, I visited the store a few times to see how quickly it sold out. I didn’t buy one; I have a third-generation iPad and decided I don’t need another one. But I was curious.

To my surprise, at 12:03 a.m. Pacific, the white iPad mini had already sold out in the United Kingdom. Only the black model was available for November 2 delivery. And just over ten minutes later, it was a similar story for Apple’s U.S. online store.

Having lost its appeal against the Samsung Galaxy Tab in a High Court ruling in the United Kingdom earlier this month, Apple was ordered to publish advertisements in British newspapers and magazines, and on its website, which must say that Samsung did not copy the iPad.

The Cupertino company has now published a statement on its website, and it makes for a very humorous read. Basically, Apple quotes the judge, who said that Samsung’s tablets “are not as cool” as Apple’s, then says that despite the decision, Samsung did copy the iPad really.

Gah. Apple has jacked App Store prices across Europe, rising around 11% at some levels. This is due to local VAT increases in some places, as well as the lower value of the Euro against the dollar in recent months.

They’re here! iPad mini preorders have just gone live. We used the Apple Store app to get our order in, but the Apple.com store is now up as well. Go get your order in, because iPad mini supply isn’t going to last, then come into the comments and tell us which one you got. Me? I followed my own advice and picked up a 16GB iPad mini with Wi-Fi for $329, but I already have a 64GB third-gen iPad with Wi-Fi + LTE. What about you.

The US Copyright Office reviews the Digital Millennium Copyright Act every three years, looking at requests to create temporary changes that act as ersatz loopholes int he law, typically to address continually changing technology standards. This year, the Copyright Office allows jailbreaking of devices like the iPhone, but not for devices like the iPad.

The Office also ruled that consumers can unlock phones purchased before January 2013, but not thereafter. You’ll also be albe to bypass encryption on a DVD to use an excerpt in a non-commercial way, like in a documentary, but it will still be illegal to rip a DVD for your iPad.

The rules seem pretty arbitrary, right?

Back in 2010, Steve Jobs famously compared the 7-inch tablet form factor to the practicality of sanding down someone’s fingers. To Jobs, the average human finger would have to be shrunk by about 25% in order to properly interact with 7-inch tablet apps. “This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps,” said Jobs. It was one of those classic moments that showed his intense commitment to Apple’s idea of the ultimate user experience.

Fast forward to today, and Apple still has a thing or two to say about 7-inch tablets. Don’t let the smallness of the iPad mini fool you, Apple is firmly against 7-inch tablets because they are vastly inferior to 8-inch tablets. Apparently one inch makes all the difference.

Iceberg Interactive and Kukouri Entertainment announced today an update to adorable little war game, Tiny Troopers, in the guise of a zombie apocalypse. The update comes via Steam to the Mac and PC version, bringing endless waves of brain munching zombies and undead chickens. There will be special air-drops of new special zombie-killing weaponry dropped to lay waste to the zombie hordes, and special forces troopers to take the undead down. There’ll even be special zombies, in case the normal ones just aren’t scary enough.

The MacHeist Bundle (affiliate link) gets you amazing software for an amazing price, and benefits charity as well. Also? It’s over at midnight tonight.

That means you have enough time to purchase the bundle and still pre-order your iPad mini.

“We’re very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in today’s fourth quarter earnings report. “We’re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline.”

While Apple didn’t see a ‘blowout’ quarter this time around, things are still looking very good for the Cupertino company. Apple is still the most valuable company on earth, and its flagship products are seeing crazy growth in sales. We’ve collected all of the big numbers from today’s earnings call: