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Jimmy Fallon’s iPhone game wants to give a bear a good night’s sleep

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Jimmy Fallon brings fun and feathers to his game Tedzy, which launched on iTunes Thursday. Photo: Sparklehorse/YouTube
Jimmy Fallon brings fun and feathers to his game Tedzy, which launched on iTunes Thursday. Photo: Sparklehorse/YouTube

Jimmy Fallon is known for inventing silly games to play with his guests on “The Tonight Show.” It’s part of the hot host’s comedic repertoire that keeps his show atop of the late-night ratings.

Now Fallon is trying his hand at developing games for the iPhone.

Fallon formed Sparklehorse, a game production company that debuted Thursday on the iTunes store with the game Tedzy, a colorful teddy bear on a quest for feathers to stuff his pillow and get a good night’s sleep.

Master your Apple Watch before it arrives

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Do your homework now so you'll be a master of Apple Watch right out of the gate. Photo: Apple
Do your homework now so you'll be a master of Apple Watch on Day 1. Photo: Apple

Once your Apple Watch arrives, you’re going to slap it on your wrist ASAP. But then what?

There’s a fairly steep learning curve for the Apple Watch, since Apple came up with innovations like Force Touch and the Digital Crown to make wrist computing more manageable. Luckily, there’s an easy way you can avoid being baffled by your shiny new Apple Watch — and it won’t take more than a half-hour of your precious time.

Apple Watch app lets you call for help during a seizure

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Greg Pabst, who has epilepsy, developed an iOS app for people with seizure disorders to send out emergency alerts. Photo: SeizAlarm
Greg Pabst, who has epilepsy, developed an iOS app for people with seizure disorders to send out emergency alerts. Photo: SeizAlarm

Greg Pabst and his neurologist were trying to get a handle on his adult onset epilepsy when the doctor’s mention of the newly announced Apple Watch gave Pabst an ah-hah moment.

The doctor was discussing tools for Pabst to chart his seizures and send alerts to emergency contacts.

“Then he said, ‘It’s only a matter of time before somebody does that for the Apple Watch,’ ” Pabst, 38, recalled. “Then I thought maybe it should be me.”

Pabst, of Orlando, Fla., and a developer friend quickly went to work creating SeizAlarm, which appeared in the iTunes store for the iPhone last week and is available for the watch, the pre-orders for which begin arriving Friday.

Apple patent hints at the amazing future of Force Touch

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Apple Watch-style Force Touch is coming to both iPhone models this September.
Apple Watch's Force Touch tech could be about to get a whole lot better. Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

The Force Touch technology seen in the Apple Watch and new MacBook is pretty great and all, but imagine being able to go further than the relatively simple haptic feedback Apple currently offers — by having your future Mac trackpad actually simulate different textures when you run your hand over it.

That’s the aim of a new patent application published today, which describes a new diamond-layered touch surface capable of using a variety of vibrations and temperatures to recreate a range of textures.

10 super-adorable Apple Watch app icons

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Embrace simplicity, they said. Photo: Apple
Embrace simplicity, they said. Photo: Apple

Crafting a tiny icon for an Apple Watch app is a huge design challenge. Coming up with one that’s truly adorable – even at 80 pixels by 80 pixels – requires something like a graphic design miracle.

Lucky for anyone strapping an Apple Watch on their wrists this Friday, some designers have been working wonders. Behold the cutest Apple Watch app icons in the world!

Apple rejects iOS apps that support the Pebble watch

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Investors and consumers alike are skipping Pebble
Investors and consumers alike are skipping Pebble
Photo: Pebble

Apple has begun rejecting iOS apps that support Pebble, the immensely popular and more affordable alternative to Apple Watch.

One developer received an email to say that their app, SeaNav US, was no longer welcome in the App Store because it mentions the Pebble — a third-party mobile platform — in its description.

These smart-ish watches paved the way for the Apple Watch

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It's bulky looking but Casio's SATELLITE NAVI had GPS to help wearers find their way around. Photo: Svet Satova
It's bulky-looking but Casio's SATELLITE NAVI had GPS to help wearers find their way around. Photo: Svet Satova

The Apple Watch and everything it will do is not a new idea. Watches for years have been able to store data, give us directions, offer a means to communicate at a distance and, yes, show us our heartbeat.

 It’s just that you couldn’t get all of those functions wearing just one watch. For each function, there was a separate wrist gadget.

So on the eve of the Apple Watch launch, consider the technologically advanced timepieces that paved the way to this momentous day. You might be even more impressed with the power of your new device.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition is going to hell

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The Nether is coming to Pocket Edition. Photo: Mojang

Although it was a little bit of a let-down when it launched on the iPhone and iPad, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has come a long way in the last four years.

As iOS devices have become more and more powerful, Mojang has added back in many of the features it had to strip from Minecraft to get it to run on the iPhone’s limited specs initially. Now one of the biggest missing features from Minecraft: Pocket Edition is in development: The Nether, Minecraft’s hell-like dimension.

Watch Tim Cook, Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller boogie down

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What I wouldn't pay to see these movements as registered by Tim's Apple Watch. Photo: tw0b1t

Update: The video has already been removed, but I’ve replaced it with a cached version.

We now know what Pharrell Williams’ payment was for his advance gold Apple Watch Edition: Promising to not laugh at Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, and Phil Schiller’s “dad dancing” moves during yesterday’s live concert at Apple’s Cupertino HQ.

Out and proud: Iceman is far from the only LGBT superhero in comics

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The Iceman cometh... out. Photo: Marvel Comics
The Iceman cometh... out. Photo: Marvel Comics

In this week’s All-New X-Men #40, long-time team member Iceman comes out as gay — his secret being revealed through an endearing conversation with telepathic teammate Jean Grey.

But Iceman’s far from the only LGBT character in sequential art history. As one of Cult of Mac’s comic gurus, I combed through the archives for six more examples of beloved LGBT comic book characters to demonstrate the medium’s continued commitment to diversity.

The revelation? That’s it’s far from the headline-provoking novelty it once was. And that there are more than you might imagine.

And to think some readers probably figured Tim Cook — with his Tony Stark-like tech fortune and desire to make the world a better place — was the world’s only gay superhero.

The NHL hates your Meerkat and Periscope videos

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The NHL isn't happy about all your livestreaming, hockey fans. Photo: Meerkat / Periscope
The NHL isn't happy about all your livestreaming, hockey fans. Photo: Meerkat / Periscope

You can be a fan of hockey, and you can be a fan of iPhone live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat, but according to the National Hockey League, you can’t be both. The NHL has just laid down the proverbial banhammer on Periscope and Meerkat.

New Guided Tours show off Apple Watch’s fitness and financial chops

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The Guided Tour videos are a great way to get to know the Apple Watch. Photo: Apple
The Guided Tour videos are a great way to get to know the Apple Watch. Photo: Apple

Three new videos show how Apple Watch will make fitness and banking easier than ever.

The videos are part of Apple’s Guided Tour series of informational clips, which are a must-watch for anybody anxiously awaiting delivery of their Apple Watch. The latest ones show off the Activity, Workout and Apple Pay apps that will soon take up residence on the wrists of Apple smartwatch owners.

Your Apple Watch may arrive earlier than expected

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post-320063-image-46988e34c579f41d2999e6410bc88904-jpg
Photo: Apple

When shipping estimates for the Apple Watch fell to June in only a matter of minutes, many preorder customers were left frustrated and in despair.

But there’s hope yet: Apple is already preparing to ship Watch orders that originally weren’t slated to arrive for over a month.

It’s sexy time: Hookup apps coming to Apple Watch

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Is that an Apple Watch on your wrist, or are you just pleased to see me? Photo: WatchMe88
Is that an Apple Watch on your wrist, or are you just pleased to see me? Photo: WatchMe88

When you’re talking about a device like the Apple Watch — which allows you to send something as intimate as your heartbeat to another person — it’s inevitable that hookup apps aren’t going to be far away.

That’s exactly what WatchMe88 represents: an app designed to alert fellow Apple Watch-owners in your vicinity that you’re single and ready to mingle.