Dreams of an Android-powered Nokia were well and truly quashed today when Microsoft announced that it has reached a deal to acquire Nokia’s Devices and Services unit for $7.2 billion. The move will see Microsoft take ownership of the Finnish firm’s entire smartphone lineup, giving it complete control over both hardware and software.
If you’ve ever yearned for an iPhone case modelled on the skin of Edward James Olmos in his Miami Vice period (and frankly, who hasn’t?) then I have excellent news: monCarbone will now sell you the Crater, a carbon-fiber case as full of holes as a cartoon cheese.
With such a comprehensive leak now revealing the entire “lens camera” lineup in detail, it seems foolish to actually wait for an official launch to get all excited over the news of Sony’s totally left-field cellphone accessories. They’re actually standalone cameras, only the camera part is housed inside the lens, and they clip onto your smartphone, using it as the viewfinder and brain over a wireless connection.
Phooter looks pretty neat – apart from the name which, if the logo is anything to go by, is supposed to be pronounced to rhyme with “footer” and not “fooooter.”
Anyhow, the app is a learning tool/game for the iPhone and iPad which uses Flickr photos to teach geography.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – We spoke a bit with indie studio, Gaijin Games, at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) this weekend in Seattle, about the upcoming release of Runner 2 to iOS (and Sony’s PS Vita). Runner2, aka Bit.Trip Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, is a side-scrolling platform game with heavy rhythm elements that’s already out on console and Steam for Mac.
The team wanted to publish Runner2 on iOS on its own, in contrast to the console versions, which were published by Aksys Games. The Bit.Trip series has been a critical and consumer success, selling well on a variety of platforms since it began with Bit.Trip Beat in 2009.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – Picture this: you pull out that old Dance Dance Revolution pad, connect it to your Mac, and then dance your way through procedurally generated dungeons, tapping your feet and bouncing to the beat as you kill monsters, loot chests, and equip yourself with ever more powerful weapons.
Wait, what?
Vancouver-based Brace Yourself Games (aka Ryan Clark) has perhaps stumped even the most open minded among us with this new combination, found in upcoming game, Crypt of the NecroDancer.
Notetaking comes in all forms, but it is essential when conducting interviews. I’ve done many, and no matter how good I am at using something like Evernote I always feel that much better having the original words in some format on my Mac. It means more accuracy when grabbing pull quotes. It means more notes that get retained for use in a story. Basically, it means I can focus on asking the questions and letting the technology handle what it can do best for me.
That’s why having an app that can handle that is such a huge asset. Whether it’s interviews, meetings, or even grabbing audio snippets directly from the web browser (like I did for my own TEDx talk), it’s an excellent tool to have at your disposal. (After all, even a conversation over Skype is essentially an audio stream, right?)
An example of this type of tool is Audio Recorder Pro (although it does focus on audio streaming more than anything else) and Cult of Mac Deals has it for $4.99 for a limited time.
Verizon has today announced that it has reached a deal to acquire Vodafone’s 45% stake in the company for £130 billion. The buyout consists primarily of cash and stock, and was unanimously approved by the board of directors of both Verizon and Vodafone. It’s expected to be completed in 2014 following regulatory approvals.
Apple has today launched a Back to School iTunes music sale with selected albums reduced to as little as $6.99. The deals aim to give students “a smart deal on cool albums” from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Pink, and Lana Del Rey.
Shazam, Shazam Encore, and Shazam RED for iOS have today been updated with a number of new features and improvements. In addition to faster recognition on older iOS devices, and improved recognition in “difficult” environments, the release also brings Twitter previews and new TV experiences for those in the United States.
The iPhone 5C is quite possibly Apple’s worst-kept secret so far. We been enjoying photos and videos featuring its colorful plastic back and other internal components for a number of months, and now a new video has surfaced that shows a seemingly complete handset powered on and being played with.
Cult of Mac reader James Broccoli asks:
@mistercharlie Can you write something about how you use IFTTT, gmail and Mailbox as a todo manager, as mentioned in that Nitro article?
— James Broccoli (@broccoliboy21) August 28, 2013
My answer was “Sure!”
. And if you don’t like this post, make sure to address all your complaints to Mr. Broccoli.
There’s probably one single fact that’ll get you interested in the fancy Juicies Lightning cable:
That’s right – for just a dollar more you can have aluminum plugs and a corded fabric cable instead of plastic and… More plastic.
Until the Olloclip came along and changed iPhoneography forever, I got along with stick-on magnetic lenses for my iPad and iPhone. They work fine, as long as you don’t mind having to glue a metal washer around your iPhone’s lens, or Lining the lenses up to the iPhone camera’s own lens by eye, every time you either installed it or just knocked it.
The PhoGo case fixes this while adding a bunch of other neat iPhoneography features to your iPhone.
One of the main reasons I don’t use a case with my iPhone (except when testing for reviews) is that the iPhone 5 is so sleek and hot-looking that a case usually just fuglies everything up. Not so with Spigen’s Neo Hybrid, a case as handsome and slimline as the iPhone it protects.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – Wizards of the Coast is at the Penny Arcade Epo (PAX) this year to show off the most recent digital version of its digital card battler, Magic the Gathering 2014: Duels of the Planeswalkers, available for iPad, PC, select Android devices, and gaming consoles. This is the first expansion set for the game, which was originally released this past June.
We sat down with Mark Purvis, a brand manager for the Washington-based gaming company, to talk about the new expansion and some cool connections between the digital game and the paper one the company also produces.
It’s the little details that often matter more than you think, and that holds true when it comes to design. So when you’re creating a new work, why wouldn’t you want to have as many tools at your disposal to help you make those little details shine? That’s where this Cult of Mac Deals offer comes in.
You’ll get over 1200 vector icons for the low price of just $19.99 – but it’s an offer that will only be around for a limited time.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – As we walked around the show floor at Penny Arcade this year, our attention was drawn to a beautifully hand-drawn platform game playing on a Wii U in one corner of the more independent gaming section of the expo. Called Teslagrad, this is a 2D puzzle platformer with action elements that uses magnetism and electricity as its main mechanic.
This is the second game from developer Rain AS, itself based in Bergen, Norway, and it’s just gotten picked up for Steam’s Greenlight program, a way for Valve to support independent game developers on its own digital distribution platform.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – We spent some time talking to Geoff Pitsch with Proletariat games at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) this weekend, looking at the company’s upcoming iPad game, World Zombination. The game is a faction-based, real time tactical, massively multiplayer game with real-world activity recorded across all players. All battles take place in areas based on real-world cities.
Currently, the zombies are winning.
Some of the best viral videos I’ve seen either primarily feature digital animation or use it in some form or another. It’s been a while since I’ve dabbled in moviemaking (although what the Mac offered in that space is what drew me away from Windows initially) but I’ve noticed how the tools are helping good movies become even greater. Sure, story comes first – but if you have the know-how and the right tools in your arsenal, you can really take your film to the next level.
The Mac comes armed with a great tool already in iMovie, but that doesn’t really cover the animation front all too well. Something like Kinemac is what you’l need for that – and Cult of Mac Deals has it available for a limited time for only $49.99.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – We sat down with Majesco’s Vince Vanasin today to take a look at the upcoming iOS game, Romans from Mars, a castle defense game with a sense of whimsy. The idea here is that the Martians are coming to storm your castle, and you’ve only got a crossbow to deter them.
Luckily, you’ll be able to upgrade that crossbow along the way in this free-to-play game coming to iOS this October. Here’s a quick Vine video of Romans from Mars, straight from the PAX floor.
Between now and Christmas, we’re going to see a flood of new smartwatches hitting the market, and I have the feeling that Google’s rumored smartwatch will be one of them.
Google is working on a smartwatch. But what kind of watch?
In the wake of revelations that Google bought WiMM Labs, it’s looking like Google’s smartwatch may be more than just a watch. Much more.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – Robot Loves Kitty is a husband and wife game development team who used to live in a treehouse to save money. They started a Kickstarter hoping to raise just enough money to buy a decent laptop and a copy of Unity to develop the game. They ultimately raised 650 percent of their initial request, making things easier, yet much more complex, than they’d ever planned.
“I can’t believe it’s so popular,” said Alix Stolzer, the wife half of the Robot Loves Kitty development team. She also does some of the artwork, the story, and does PR for the game. The extra funding enabled the team to rent a tiny apartment and pay for internet, but it also requires them to create more features than they initially planned.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – We stopped by the booth for interactive radio drama with voices that most gamers here at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle this weekend will know, including Rob Wiethoff (Red Dead Redemption), Logan Cunningham (Bastion), Sarah Elmaleh (Skills of the Shogun), and Chris Ciulla (Fallout: New Vegas).
We got to sample the prologue and first episode of the game today at the PAX booth on the show floor in the convention center, where we spoke with Jonathan Myers about the innovative game. As you can hear in the launch trailer above, the voice work and the music bring you right into the action.
SEATTLE, PAX 2013 – We spoke with Josh Glazer, CTO of Naked Sky Entertainment, about the company’s upcoming turn-based tactical game, Backyard Battles. The game, coming to iOS, Android, and the web later this year, pits two teams of children against each other, wielding cardboard tubes, spell books, and their imaginations.
“It’s what kids raised on video games do when they play outside,” said Glazer.