Rene, Seth, and Georgia talk about Apple pulling the iCloud beta lever, iCloud.com, iWork beta, and Apple TV update, more crazy iPhone 5 rumors, and Apple’s massive 66% mobile profits share. Plus — sharks! This is iPhone Live!
Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!
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Curious how to quickly get to specific section or category of content in iTunes for Windows or Mac? Luckily, Apple has provided convenient drop-down menus for all the major sections like Music, Movies, TV Shows, App Store, Books, Podcasts, iTunes U, and, um… Ping.
In the iTunes Store, you can quickly and easily go from anywhere in the store directly to a particular media type, genre, or special feature by using the top navigation bar. Hovering your pointer over the titles which are always present at the top of the iTunes Store window causes downward pointing triangles to appear next to each media type. Click one and you’ll see a list of helpful links related to that media type which you can use to navigate to what you’re interested in — Jazz in Music perhaps, Action & Adventure in Movies, Comedy in the TV Store, Games in the App Store, and more.
You can use this tip to quickly get more games for your iPhone or iPad, or to jump right to the technology section in podcasts for iPhone Live, iPad Live, and all our other fine shows.
[[Inside iTunes(http://www.apple.com/itunes/inside-itunes/2011/08/use-the-top-navigation-bar-to-explore-the-itunes-store.html)]
Kadamedia has released their new iPhone game, Zombies in Flight.
A Zombie Adventure unlike anything you have played before. In all the “other” zombie games, you go on mission after mission trying to kill zombies. Well we fight for Zombie Rights!! In Zombies in Flight, you ARE the Zombie.
Zombies in Flight is an addictive adventure with many levels and 3 different worlds where it is your mission to destroy villagers that have given zombies a hard time over the ages.
Zombies in Flight is available on the iPhone for $0.99. Screenshots after the break.
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
The iPhone and iPad strategy game, A Game With Balls, by Edward DiNola, has been updated with Twitter, Facebook, and Game Center integration.
Balls rain from the sky. In a chaotic frenzy you attempt to destroy them to no avail. You resign to your fate. At the last moment your mind becomes clear and you begin to… understand. Why destroy them? Why not brush them aside, effortlessly? You transcend, a mystical shield arises from inside. Now a tap of your finger can solve anything…
I’ve spent a little time with A Game With Balls and I enjoy it. I’m not a fan of games that require tilting of the device, so having the option between touch and tilt is greatly welcomed.
A Game With Balls is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99. Screenshots after the break.
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
Paul Thurrott of Windows Super Site is never one to let a good piece of anti-Apple link bait go by, but this time he’s turned his attention towards Google’s Android, and how Google “dumping” it on the market for free could be a greater anticompetitive act than Microsoft or Apple patent litigation.
Arguably, by “dumping” Android in the market at no cost, Google–which has unlimited cash and can afford to do such a thing–is behaving in an anticompetitive fashion. In fact, one could argue that Google is using its dominance in search advertising to unfairly gain entry into another market by giving that new product, Android, away for free. Does this remind you of any famous antitrust case?
From which, 10 years later, Microsoft is arguably still reeling. Thurrott’s point, and it’s worth noting, is that no one is innocent here.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball raises a similar point.
Google supporters claim that Google only wants to use patents defensively. But what exactly does Google need to defend against, if not actual patents Android actually violates? How is Google’s argument here different than simply demanding that Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, et al should simply sit back and let Google do whatever it wants with Android, regardless of the patents they hold? And, let’s not forget, give Android away for free.
Which Gruber boils down to hypocrisy, a theme increasingly present in Google coverage.
Which is not to say Google is doing anything different than any other public company seeing to it’s own self-interests (and I’ll repeat — any company sufficiently large is indistinguishable from evil). It’s just that Google feels so smug about it right now, which is ironic given smugness is usually a quality ascribed to Apple.
In Apple’s case, the smugness comes from their sense that they know better than us, that they have better taste, and that we’ll take what they tell us to take. In Google’s case, however, the smugness now seems to come from a feeling that they think we’re too dumb to see the hypocrisy. It’s as if they think they can shout “open” and “free” and not actually be open or free (or be open and free on the backs of manufacturers and developers), and everyone from FOSS faithful to Google fanatics will rally to support them, no questions asked. It’s as if they think they can shout “un-fair” and “anti-competitive” when faced with trademark and patent litigation from authors and rivals, while continuing to file their own trademarks and patents.
But user trust is a currency and a finite one. You can’t spend more than you earn. It’s not our job to blindly support companies; it’s their job to support us.
That’s a lesson Apple’s learned painfully with everything from MobileMe to Steve Jobs’ health to location-gate and antenna-gate. It will be interesting to see how Google learns it and addresses it.
A MacRumors forum member going by the handle guigsh posted the above photo(shop?!) in their forums this morning, claiming it was a spy shot of iPhone 5 taken in the office of a French operator. While we’ve seen spy shots of HP webOS devices under similar circumstances in the past, this one doesn’t look much more believable than those [Chinese iClones we've been seeing lately].
A follow-up post from the thread author gives us the following information:
we were able to see it only 2 minutes, pictures forbidden of course, so, we did our best. I just want to share this with the mac community, now trust me or not. Rendez-vous in 1-2 months
No doubt we’ll see tons more leaks, and tons more fakes before Steve Jobs holds up the real deal this fall. In the meantime, this one is making the blog rounds so take it for what it’s worth — a very large grain of salt. I’m personally not convinced in the least.
Your turn. Real, fake, or really fake?
Tap Tap Glee is now available in the App Store. It is basically a themed version of the hugely popular Tap Tap game which involves tapping on buttons in time with music. It is a lot of fun to play and for fans of Glee, this is a must have app.
It’s time to tap and shake to your favorite music from Glee! See EXCLUSIVE behind the scenes footage from Glee: The 3D Concert Movie!
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
Not only has this morning seen
Two new entries in the neverending rumor mill about the next generation of iPhone. Analyst Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities
Meanwhile,
China Mobile claims that it has reached an agreement with Apple to bring to bring its 4th generation TD-LTE mobile data connection to the next generation iPhone.The claim isn’t exactly new news as it was originally reported back in May, and doesn’t specify which model of iPhone it will be in, but could hint at the next generation iPhone actually being an iPhone 4S type device, with updated 4G capabilities, rather than a totally new iPhone 5 design.
The general feeling in the techsphere is that Apple wasn’t going to go with 4G for this generation of iPhone due to it being a relatively new technology — but given that this iPhone release has been pushed back substantially from when we all thought it would be announced, maybe that’s given Apple enough time to iron out the kinks.
A forum poster over at
This could be a fake. Clearly there is some Photoshop work in play, but it’s a matter of how much? What say you? Think this is the real deal or is someone having some Photoshop fun at everyones expense?
Remember how you got grandfathered in with your unlimited data when AT&T went tiered? Well, if you’re the type to jailbreak and tether, it looks like AT&T might be involuntarily forcing you to off your plan.
I was just informed that as of Thursday August 11th 2011, if you use MyWi or any tethering on the phone or using the phone as a modem, AT&T will automatically change ur unlimited plan to a 2Gb tethering plan for 45 dollars without the customers consent. This is for those who received emails or texts about the use of tethering without an AT&T tethering plan.
AT&T has confirmed this is happening, and will send out official notification shortly.
This sort of thing I find incredibly frustrating. If you payed for unlimited data, why does AT&T care if it comes directly from your phone, or from your computer via your phone? It’s still excruciatingly slow regardless, and it doesn’t suck down data any faster because you’re tethered.
What do our readers think? Is this a fair move by AT&T, or abusive to their customers?
The widely popular iPhone and iPad puzzle game, Cut the Rope, now has a sequel: Cut the Rope: Experiments. Two of the new feature is a rope gun and suction cup.
What on earth is Om Nom?! That’s what millions of fans of the widely acclaimed game, Cut the Rope, have been asking about the cute little monster who eats candy like its his job!
That same question has a mad (but not bad) scientist studying the little creature that mysteriously arrived outside his house. Intrigued by Om Nom’s insatiable appetite for sweets, the Professor puts him through a series of experiments in this all-new game, a follow-up to one of the most original and fun-filled games on the App Store.
Of all the different types of games out there, puzzle games are my favorite and Cut the Rope is one of my favorite puzzle games. Needless to say, I’m excited about Cut the Rope: Experiments!
Cut the Rope: Experiments is available on the iPhone for $0.99 and on the iPad for $1.99. Screenshots and video after the break.
[iPhone - iTunes link] [iPad - iTunes link]
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!
Pop Ten: Interesting puzzle game that pop fruits in a cool background. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]
Cranky Cat: Rotate Fluffington’s steam-powered cogwheel to align orbs of comparable coloration. It’s the cat’s whiskers! [Free for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]
Sleep Tracker: Record, graph, and analyze your sleep patterns, helping you to know where you need improvement. [$0.99 for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]
Localmind: Allows you to ask questions of people checked-in at a location, thus giving you the ability to know what’s happening at this very moment at any place you care about. [Free for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]
VoiceMan – Real Time Voice Minute Manager with Geotag: Get automated usage alerts and stop exceeding your allowance minutes! The only weapon against mobile minute overage charges. [$3.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]
Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!
Trailers are on of the best marketing tactics for a game’s development. A developer certainly doesn’t want to put out a trailer that bores the potential buyers, but instead maybe humors them or entices with some cliffhangers and intense gameplay. What makes this trailer, that I’m about to show you, so good is the fact that it has personality and despite it not showing any actual gameplay footage, I’m sure the developer has hooked some people that will buy the game regardless of its genre. Check it out below.
The application being so cleverly and humorously showcased below, is called Pigs in Trees – Pesky Peckers. Even though it seems to be trying to feed off of the birds vs. pigs popularity, it certainly has won me more. And it’s purely ironic how the pigs are living in the trees and the birds are not. But, let me not say anything more — check out the epic, cinematic trailer out for yourself:
Other than the,
There’s an old cliche that says, “All’s well that ends well”, so whatever those pigs have to do to get the pesky birds out of their tree, literally, is fine with me. and is what’s going to make the game. We’ve yet to see what the game is exactly about, other than the obvious task imposed on you of getting rid of the birds – it should be pretty good, so, that said, we’ll keep you posted on any future developments. Hey, who knows, maybe this will also turn out to become a short web-cartoon in the near future that features the pig as the main character constantly trying to sabotage the birds and failing just as often…
Oh, and you just have to admire the graphical style the designer has resorted to. Flat-bellied pigs, vibrant colors and bold text that I’m a pure sucker for!
We’re likely only a month or two away from Apple announcing iPhone 5 but RIM is already launching their 2011 BlackBerry lineup, including the first BlackBerry Bold with a touch screen, and not one but two BlackBerry Torches — an update to the original slider and new, Storm-replacing, touch screen only slab.
They’ve got higher resolution screens, NFC options, voice, search, GPU-enhanced Liquid Graphics fluidity, BBM 6, and BlackBerry OS 7. But are they enough to hold off the coming iPhone 5 onslaught?
Jump over to our sibling site, CrackBerry.com, for complete coverage and join us tomorrow for some round-table discussion, Mobile Nations-style!
It helps to know what applications you can rely on for your social needs, especially if you’re an avid tweeter, Facebook addict or have any other favorite social website that you have trouble quitting. To make your social life easier, I’ve taken the time to highlight, in some cases, the best applications for doing any of the following: instant messaging, tweeting, updating your Google+, Facebook (chat as well), Yahoo chat, phone calls utilizing internet of 3G, and texting.
I previously posted my
So, that’s it for now. Did we miss anything? Any applications that fit extremely well into the above categories? If so, let us know in the comments. I’ve been trying to figure out, for the past few days, which productivity applications I should keep and which ones I should junk; because Apple only allows 12 applications into a folder and having two folders for one application isn’t, in my honest opinion, too ideal as an example of organization.
Compatibility with that upcoming OS That Must Not Be Named.
Unless Lord Voldemort is suddenly in the programming business, that has to mean iOS 5.
The official release date of iOS 5 is merely “Fall”, which is an incredibly nebulous time period. These updates hint that we might get closer to the final release, probably at some point in September.
Sohu.com has a report up saying China Telecom, China’s third largest mobile carrier, will not only be fielding the iPhone this year, but two new iPhones. We’re fairly sure an iPhone 5 is coming this fall, and we’ve heard for a while now an iPhone nano/budget iPhone might be coming with it. (Two new iPhones in one year? I’ll have to call Phil and ask how to deal with that many reviews!)
“According to Sohu.com, China Telecom will offer two types of iPhone that include the iPhone 5 and a ‘simplified iPhone 4,’” says White. “Essentially, this potential ‘simplified iPhone 4′ would be a more economical version of iPhone to target a broader customer base in developing countries such as China, allowing for an expanded market opportunity.”
Apple already owns 66% of mobile profits with one fairly high-end phone. If they get the second, more economical phone (on carriers with plans to keep those costs down), especially for new smartphone adopters and emerging markets, they could push that already astronomical figure even higher.
[Sohu via AllThingsD]
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is now finally available in the App Store. If you’re into role playing games, this is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year!
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is available on the iPhone for $15.99. Screenshots after the break.
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
Facebook is the most popular app on the iPhone and we’ve often said Twitter and iOS go together like chocolate and peanut butter. But social networks rise and fall. Remember MySpace, Jaiku, Buzz… Friendster? And hey, how about Google+ now that it’s expanding beyond the techie early adopters, or LinkedIn which seems to always hover neither here nor there.
Which social networks do you use regularly? Let us know in the poll up top and give us the details, including which one(s) you prefer, how often you use them, — and your profile link(s) if you feel especially social about it — in the comments below.
Apple may be ready to switch to a single, unified operating system that powers all of its computing products if Jeffries analyst Peter Misek is to be believed. To be released next year, the A6 system-in-a-chip with a new quad-core processor may apparently be powerful enough for mobile tasks along with more advanced personal computer usage. The A6 may mark the first time that the same chip is featured within a Mac system and mobile devices either in conjunction with more advanced Intel processors or to replace them. Misek points towards less-demanding Mac systems exclusively featuring the A6, although he does not say that outright.
A fault in the ARM processor lineup that would be used within the A6, and that has been utilized within the A4 and A5 that the iOS devices utilize, would be that they are only 32-bit, meaning that they cannot take advantage of more modern processor management. It is not until 2016 that 64-bit ARM processors are set to make their way into the market. However, once that does happen Apple’s process of unifying iOS and Mac OS would reportedly be finished.
The current separation between iOS devices and Mac systems is more than justified. After all, they both have different interfaces best suit for their distinct control methods. It may be more so the underlying elements powering the operating system that become unified, though the report does not specifically mention whether they will become one-in-the-same or simply more alike.
Mac OS X Lion, an update released last month for Mac systems, brings some elements of iOS’s interface design to the platform. That includes a page-based app library, full-screen apps, as well as a focus on multi-touch gestures. An App Store for Mac was also recently released following the App Store’s success on the iPhone and
Misek states that the merger would be done so that iCloud can become better-integrated, “Users want to be able to pick up any iPhone, iPad, or Mac (or turn on their iTV) and have content move seamlessly between them and be optimized for the user and the device currently being used. We believe this will be difficult to implement if iOS and OS X are kept separate.”
We do not fully trust his explanation regarding that since file management across two platforms is not a relatively difficult task. Apple seems to have designed the operating systems well enough so that they can have unified features such as iCloud provides. In fact, at the core of iOS is Mac OS X.
I would be more compelled to see if this leads to product combinations – a iMacPad Air, anybody?
[analyst report via
For some reason, today seems to be a day in which all sorts of sequels to well-loved titles have hit the app store.
For people who love both Glee and rhythm games,
EA’s second game in the Shift franchise has hit both
As discussed
Finally, an official sequel has been released for the megapopular Cut The Rope game. Cut the Rope: Experiments is available for iPad (
Google has updated its web app for Gmail with the inclusion of pull down to refresh, new transitions and updated icons to take advantage of the Retina display of the iPhone 4.