Macs do bundles better than anyone, but if you’re a Mac gamer, the Humble Indie Bundle might be the best one yet. Not only do you get to name your price for five amazing Mac indie games worth $80 — World of Goo, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra Overture and Aquaria — but you get too choose if you want your money to go to support Child’s Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or line the developers’ pockets with filthy lucre.
Right now, the average contribution for the pack is just $7.87, with the total money raised over $360,000. I’m sure Cult of Mac readers can push that average contribution number up a few sense: these games, these developers and these charities are all worth your money.
Apple’s always experimenting with new ways to interact with their devices, and their latest patent takes that experiment one step further into turning your iPhone into a programmable heart rate monitor.
The patent describes a design in which a series of electrodes are seamlessly embedded into the iPhone’s shell in such a way that they are not “visibly or haptically distinguishable on the device.”
You may not be able to see or feel these electrodes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t do anything: instead, they’ll constantly measure your heart rate, with the data used to do anything from measure burned calories to change your music depending on your mood to automatically discharge the battery as a “paddle shock” when your heart suddenly explodes. Win!
More than half of Verizon Wireless customers surveyed are interested in buying the iPhone when it becomes available, a new report indicates. There is “an unprecedented demand for the iPhone among Verizon subscribers,” one analyst firm says.
Changewave surveyed 4,000 Verizon subscribers and found 19 percent are “very likely” to buy the Apple handset with another 34 percent saying they are “somewhat likely” to purchase an iPhone. Another analyst believes a Verizon iPhone could appear in 2011 and sell a minimum of 11 million handsets the first year.
With the FTC trying to decide whether or not it will pursue Apple for antitrust violations in relation to its newly announced iAd network, this leak from Apple-owned Quattro Wireless detailing iAd’s competitive advantage over other mobile advertising networks has some interesting timing.
The leak describes iAd’s VIP, or Verification of iTunes Purchase, program. Essentially, the program is aimed at developers who want to use iPhone ads to promote downloads and purchases of their own apps. Because VIP ties directly into iTunes sales data, developers who use iAd to promote their apps can get exact numbers on their ads’ conversion rates… no code, SDKs or APIs required.
Apple's online storefront ranked #4 in consumer satisfaction.
The Apple Store topped consumer satisfaction for online retailers in the computer/electronics category, ranking No. 4 overall, behind Netflix, Amazon and Avon. The survey of more than 23,000 consumers also found the Cupertino, Calif. company’s online flagship also garnered the most-improved ranking, reaching a score of 83 out of 100 points, or an 8 percent increase over 2009.
The survey by ForeSee Results noted Apple’s impressive showing came during a tough economic period. “Since so much of the financial downturn was out of their control, companies turned to those things they could improve, and now they are reaping the benefits,” Larry Freed, ForeSee CEO, said in a statement. Every point of increased consumer satisfaction equates to $89 million in higher sales, according to the company.
This promotional video for the Clamcase may seem like it was helmed by a directorial alum from the CSi: Miami school of film making, but don’t let the swooping camera angles and the blaring AC/DC fool you: the Clamcase looks like a must have accessory for the iPad. It’s a laptop-like shell for the iPad that combines a case, a stand and a Bluetooth keyboard in one slim form factor.
The video and product images are pretty clearly just product renders, but none the less, if the Clamcase ever becomes a real product — and it certainly looks like it will — this is going to be an easy buy to recommend for iPad road warriors.
Over the past few days, the latest beta of the iPhone OS has afforded a treasure trove of revelations about upcoming software improvements, but few previously unknown details about the hardware of the upcoming 4G iPhone and iPod Touch.
This is news, though: two new presets in the underlying architecture of iPhone OS 4.0 tease the possibility that the next iPhone, and possibly the next iPod Touch, will gain the ability to shoot 720p video.
That’s about what we expected: phones are more than capable of recording HD videos these days. Still, it’s nice to get further confirmation that the iPhone’s wimpy camera modules are about to get an industry-best upgrade.
In this highly-entertaining final installment of his series about Steve Jobs, Macworld founder David Bunnell is taken by Jobs to his favorite lunch spot (you’ll never guess where it is). And for once, Jobs changes his parking habits.
If you don’t want to go out with a PC, there’s a new start-up determined to help you meet other Apples: Cupidtino.
The reasoning behind it?
Diehard Mac & Apple fans often have a lot in common – personalities, creative professions, a similar sense of style and aesthetics, taste, and of course a love for technology. We believe these are enough reasons for two people to meet and fall in love, and so we created the first Mac-inspired dating site to help you find other Machearts around you.
Right now, Cupidtino consists of a skeleton staff of three based in San Francisco, who say that the MacMatchmaking site should launch in June.
They also say the site will be gay-friendly, as long as you don’t bring a “Vista laptop, Windows Phone & Zune.”
We think the idea is clever — and plan to corral Cult of Mac singleton staffers to act as lab rats for the beta. In the meantime, if time you sign up, let us know!
UPDATE: CoM writers Lonnie and Eli have agreed to check it out. More to come…
Update: the original version of this piece failed to identifyClintprints.comas the website for poster artist Clint Wilson. We regret any confusion the omission may have caused.
Rock Show, the music poster marketplace developed especially for Apple’s iPad by Neutrinos, received an update in the iTunes App Store Wednesday that should help the Portland-based startup gain recognition for its innovative business model as well as for the creative designers behind the posters in its inventory.
Rock Show leverages the iPad’s screen real estate to deliver high resolution views of limited edition fine art print concert posters from artists and designers such as Darren Grealish (The Killers, Stevie Wonder, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Lee Scratch Perry) and Lil Tuffy (Dead Weather, Sonic Youth), which makes it a nice vehicle for showing off the iPad’s graphics chops.
Users can also buy posters from within the app, a model Neutrinos founder Rob Banagale hopes will make Rock Show the best digital marketplace for art prints in history.
“Nailing this idea has meant discussions with designers and careful design for users,” Banagale said. On the designer side those discussions led to the creation of a dealer backend for the app that allows designers to upload and maintain which of their posters are made available while also tracking their sales and inventory. “The posters are made by individual artists and design studios from the United States, Canada and the UK,” Banagale explained, saying, “Some of these folks do their own printing and many of them handle shipping posters personally.”
As the old saying goes, statistics can be made to say anything. Particularly when it comes to the increasingly-heated rivalry between Apple and Google. Half of all visits to mobile websites are done via the iPhone, ad network Chitika just announced.
The numbers come just days after Admob released figures in late April indicating smartphones running Google’s Android operating system outpacing iPhone OS-based phones. Does that fact Admob is owned by Google make any difference? Possibly, say some observers.
Add Google to the list of companies planning an ebook service. The Internet giant’s Google Editions service could be up and running as early as June, the Mountain View, Calif. company told publishers Tuesday. Google would compete with Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble for the growing audience of electronic readers.
Unlike its competitors, Google Editions would be available from any Web browser. Apple ties its iBook library to the iPad and iPhone while Amazon has its Kindle reader.
It’s a bad time to invest in a portable USB hard drive as a Mac fan. Apple’s dropped Firewire support on many of their notebooks, but have yet to adopt the USB 3.0 standard, leaving Apple customers stuck using aging and slow USB 2.0 hardware.
If you’re looking for a new hard drive, then, it’s easy to recommend Seagate’s new FreeAgent GoFlex line which can connect to most interfaces, including USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and eSATA.
Campus police at the University of Illinois are testing an iPhone app that lets them keep an eye on students that puts security cam footage at their fingertips via iPhones and iPods.
They’re using an app called iRa C3, a video command center designed for security personnel and first responders that can be accessed via web interface, iPhone, or iPod touch.
Cost is based on the number of cameras and users; the campus set-up of 15 cameras covered in high-risk crime areas cost $25,000. (Or it would have: app maker Lextech lab, founded by alumnus Alex Bratton took $15,000 off the price, a parent’s group ponied up the other $10,000).
As the resident sadomasochist in love with roguelike games, I’ve been waiting for months for Dinofarm Games to release their lovingly crafted take on the genre, 100 Rogues. Now they have, and it’s available on the App Store for $4.99! Kalloo! Kallay!
During a call discussing News Corp’s latest financial results, Rupert Murdoch told investors that the Wall Street Journal has been extremely successful on the iPad, and it’s far more profitable for them than similar content on the Kindle, at least on a per subscriber basis.
An exciting new feature in the latest iPhone OS 4.0 beta might finally address a long standing complaint of both users and app developers: the inability to easily move non-media files between the iPhone and a computer. According to Boy Genius Report, iPhone OS 4.0’s new File Sharing feature will allow you to transfer and sync files directly between your iPhone and your computer.
All you do is plug your iPhone into iTunes, go to the Apps tab and scroll down. On the left side of the screen, you choose an app from a list of supported programs, while the right side of the screen allows you to copy files into that app’s sandbox or save them from your iPhone onto your computer.
The File Sharing feature doesn’t work yet, but it’s an exciting hint at things to come. It looks like a lot of the office and productivity suites on the iPhone OS are about to get a lot easier to use across multiple platforms.
Beta 3 of the iPhone OS 4.0 SDK has a couple of great new interface features, including the ability to close background apps through a hold-and-close method similar to the way deleting programs functions on the operating system, but I think I like the new media player widgets best.
In the latest beta, if you load the multitasking interface you see a new set of widgets that sit in the dock to control iPod playback. The widgets include three buttons for track navigation (Play/Pause, Track Back, Track Forward), a shortcut to launch the iPod application, and a software orientation lock which serves the same function as the iPad’s hardware switch. Accessing the widgets is as simple as swiping left on the dock.
Very slick, but what interests me most is the possibility of further widget sets. If third-party developers can program their own widgets to control background apps from the dock, multitasking on iPhone OS 4.0 is just going to rock. Skype widgets anyone? My guess is that’s just what Apple has in mind, and the screen orientation lock will be the one standard icon
In what might charitably be called the most toothless and limp parody this side of your dentureless grampa doing a timely Grover Cleveland impersonationation right before nap time, Ellen DeGeneres went on her talk show on Monday to poke fun at the iPhone 3Gs.
Ellen’s hilarious gag? When she wants to send a text message, she can’t do it through the “Maps” application. The punchline? The iPhone’s hard to use!
I am all for the Federal government funding and deploying a robust and relentless antitrust division. I don’t wish to go into detail or name examples here and now, but I believe the emasculation of antitrust and restraint of trade investigation and prosecution over the past 30 years has meant a great disservice to the public and to the economy. If that arm of the Justice Department gets revived under Obama it will be a good thing for the country and for the world.
With respect to antitrust claims against Apple related to either the iPhone Developer’s Agreement or the iAds program I don’t think Apple has a thing to worry about.
I haven’t eaten watermelon in what must be going on a year now, but I’m sure this dollar-app is a must-have for serious watermelon afficionados (the clip looks like it was filmed in Israel, which is notoriously watermelon-crazy).
The developer claims iWatermelon Deluxe can determine if a watermelon is ripe just by having the user set the iPhone onto the melon in question, selecting the melon’s color and size, and tapping its rind a few times.
A somewhat odd description on the dev’s website additionally suggests that “iWatermelon is also fun to try on more Hollow [sic], round objects.” Not sure what they’re suggesting, but plopping an iPhone on someone’s head, rapping on that head and then explaining that you’re using an app made for watermelons to determine whether they’re ripe or not is sure to be a conversation starter.
In a post yesterday about CoPilot’s new iPad navigation app, I remarked that I’d like to see more iPad car mounts than the custom dash fabricated by Soundman Car Audio; turns out, while it doesn’t look as if anything is available yet, there are a few companies working on solutions which should be available soon. Here’s a quick look at what’s coming.
Apple has settled claims with state regulators who allege the company mishandled electronic waste. Photo: Thomas Dohmke
Federal antritrust regulators are taking a keen interest in changes Apple made to its iPhone developers agreement, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters are reporting.
Steve Jobs is at it again — emailing Apple customers with answers to their questions.
This one was sent to CultofMac.com by reader Paul Greenberg, who asked Jobs about a missing MobileMe feature that’s been bugging him for three years: the inability to sync notes via MobileMe.
