by admin on February 7, 2010
Filed under: iPhone , iPod touch , App Review As a tabletop board game, Hive has been around since 2001. It draws inspiration from classic abstract strategy games like chess and shogi but does away with that pesky board (see also: Tile Chess ). The iPhone/iPod touch app [US$1.99, iTunes link ] brings everything from the physical version to your pocket, and if clever placement of bug-decorated pieces is your thing, the game is well worth the download - at least for a short while. The Game The rules of this two-player game are entirely simple. Each turn, you either add a piece to the hive (you can think of the hive as the board) or, if you’ve already placed your queen bee, you can move a piece in the hive. The object of the game is to surround your opponent’s bee and, like in chess, each type of piece (different kinds of bugs) has its own movement abilities, so knowing when to move where is a challenge and certainly part of the fun. Beetles climb on other bugs, the ant runs around the hive, and so on.The full rules are detailed in the app’s tutorial, or you can watch a video review after the jump (or get the rules PDF ). Read on to discover if these bugs are the kind you want invading your iPhone. Gallery: Hive Continue reading Review: Hive board game app offers all sorts of buggy fun Review: Hive board game app offers all sorts of buggy fun originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Review: Hive board game app offers all sorts of buggy fun originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Review: Hive board game app offers all sorts of buggy fun
by admin on February 7, 2010
Filed under: iPhone , Road Tested A while back, we had a product announcement about the OWLE bubo (US$129.95). That bizarre name is actually a play on words: OWLE stands for “Optical Widget for Life Enhancement” (the company’s name) and bubo is the genus for American horned owls and old world eagle owls. The device, if you have an imagination, even looks like a cartoonists idea of a horned owl. So, now that we’ve got the name all figured out, what the heck is an OWLE bubo? You could call it the ultimate iPhone case for photographers, and you’d be pretty darned close. The current bubo is a sleek, machined piece of aluminum that is designed to be held with both hands for better stability when shooting photos or video with the iPhone. The bubo does a great job of making it easier to shoot video, but that’s just scraping the surface of the feature set. bubo also has a 37mm .45x wide-angle/macro combo lens that is awesome for doing close-ups of objects, taking crowd or landscape photos, or doing interviews. In fact, it’s this last use case that finally convinced me to purchase a bubo. Since TUAW is going to be doing a lot of video and other photography at Macworld Expo during the this week, I want to see if I can make my iPhone 3GS my primary tool for capturing imagery since I’d prefer to pack light. The lens accommodates screw-in filters at a standard 49mm size, so UV haze or polarizing filters can be added to further improve image quality. Continue reading Hands-on with the OWLE bubo: Better photos and video from your iPhone Hands-on with the OWLE bubo: Better photos and video from your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Hands-on with the OWLE bubo: Better photos and video from your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Hands-on with the OWLE bubo: Better photos and video from your iPhone
by admin on February 7, 2010
Filed under: Rumors , iPhone Imagine you and a friend are on a phone call, and both of you own iPhones . You’re trying to meet up somewhere downtown in a city neither of you know very well, so the best answer you can give your friend when he asks, “Where are you now?” is “Uhhh…” followed by several seconds of silence. It’s already possible to share your location using the Maps app on the iPhone — find your current location, tap on the blue marker on the map, tap “Share Location,” and then send it to your friend either as an e-mail or MMS. Then your friend receives the e-mail or MMS with your location, opens it in Maps, and has the option of finding directions to your location from his current location. If that sounds like a lot of unnecessarily complex steps to answer the simple question of “Where are you,” you’re in luck, because according to a new patent application , Apple agrees with you. By putting “Request location info” and “Release location info” buttons on the call screen in the Phone app, it would be possible to share your location or request someone else’s with a single button press. The same process applies — the iPhone polls its GPS to find out where you are, then transmits that info to your friend’s iPhone — but instead of having to jump through all the hoops yourself, the OS handles it for you in the background. Once your phone receives a request for location info it comes up in a notification, probably very similar to the notifications location-based apps already use when they request permission to use location data. If you agree to release your location data to the caller, it’s transmitted in a fully encrypted signal to the caller’s iPhone. Your location data would then show up on your friend’s iPhone, complete with the option to find directions. Continue reading Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone
by admin on February 5, 2010
Filed under: Software , Apple , iPhone Apple’s excited about mobile advertising (and it certainly seems like they’re setting up a plan for local ads), but to devs, they say, “not so much.” Apparently they’ve sent out a message that says location services should only be used to provide “beneficial information,” not targeted advertising. Any apps that include ads targeted to where you and your iPhone are will be rejected posthaste, says Apple. There’s a few things going on here — Mobile Entertainment wonders just what “beneficial information” means. Certainly apps like Foursquare and MyTown provide business information based on your iPhone’s location, and Foursquare especially is working on local deals with places that you’ve checked-in to — is that considered advertising? And a few developers, including our friend Craig Hockenberry (MacNN messed up Chock’s name in their post ) say that Apple wants location-based ads for themselves. Kind of a jerk move by Apple, but if that’s where the money is, I guess you can’t blame them. Apple prevents App Store devs from using location-based ads originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Apple prevents App Store devs from using location-based ads originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple prevents App Store devs from using location-based ads
by admin on February 5, 2010
Filed under: iPod Family , Freeware , iPhone , App Review We’re getting closer and closer to some of the stuff we see it science fiction literature and films. Siri [ iTunes link ] is a small Silicon Valley startup with a really breakthrough product that for now only works on the iPhone. Here’s the deal. You download the free app, start it up, and tell it what you want. It could be “Will it snow in Des Moines today?” or “Where can I find the nearest burger” or it could be “Find the nearest parks”. It parses your comments, runs out to the web for a few seconds and comes back with a lot of suggestions. It gives you buttons to call the places you’ve found, or to show them on Google Maps and get you directions. I tried to get a bit fancier saying “Make me a reservation for 2 at the nearest Olive Garden tonight at 7.” The app figured out Olive Garden didn’t take reservations through their service, but it provided me a number for the nearest Olive Garden and offered to map it. Continue reading Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle
by admin on February 5, 2010
Filed under: Software , iPhone , App Store Film fans everywhere will be sitting before their TVs on March 7th to catch the Academy Awards . Now, as with so many other things, there’s an app for that . Vanity Fair Magazine has produced the free Oscars app called Vanity Fair Hollywood . Users can submit their predictions for winners, browse photo galleries, share comments and prediction results via Facebook and more. Of course, you can chat in real time during the show itself from within the app and watch trailers of the nominated films. I’m not an Oscars fan, but I often fire up Twitter when watching my beloved Red Sox because the accompanying chat makes the experience more fun. For more iPhone fun on Oscar night, check out these apps: The Envelope (Free) Try and predict the winners and share results with your friends. Awards: Oscar Edition ($0.99) Search for winners and nominees in all categories quickly, search award histories and get up-to-date information and results. The Adademy Awards Bible ($2.99) lists all 850 Academy Award winners, organized by name, title, category, etc. It’s quite the mobile tome for Oscar bufffs. Oscar Pool 2010 ($0.99) Invite your friends to bet on who will win. Create a profile, add photos and more. [Via TechCrunch ] Vanity Fair releases Oscar predictions app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Vanity Fair releases Oscar predictions app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Vanity Fair releases Oscar predictions app
by admin on February 4, 2010
by admin on February 4, 2010
Filed under: Hardware , Cult of Mac , iPhone Unfortunately these guys are already sold out (though maybe there’ll be more soon), but I’m still posting them here just to gaze on their awesomeness — Etsy user Rabbitrampage put together these six iPhone icon keychains (well, five iPhone and one Finder) out of felt, thread, and fiber fill. I think they look great, though it would be nice to have even more custom icons available. I guess if you want a special icon keychain made of your own app ( ahem ), you’ll have to make it yourself. This same Etsy user also enjoys wrapping your iPhone in felt recreations of old retro items like Game Boys and even a VHS tape. I’ve already got a case on my iPhone, but if I didn’t have one yet, I’d definitely pick up one of these. [via iPhone Savior ] iPhone icons in felt keychain form originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . iPhone icons in felt keychain form originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhone icons in felt keychain form
by admin on February 4, 2010
Filed under: Hardware , Apple , iPhone Apple has reportedly signed up with a new manufacturer in China to help produce the next generation of the iPhone — Pegatron will be joining Foxconn in putting together parts for Apple’s next handheld unit, we hear courtesy of the always talkative “industry sources.” The company has been rumored to be working with Apple before, when it was suggested that they’d be working on a smaller version of the iPhone designed to work on Verizon’s CDMA network. Officially, Pegatron hasn’t confirmed any agreement with Apple, but they have said that they plan to substantially increase their output in 2010. And this might just be part of a good 2010 for Pegatron — the company is also working on parts for Microsoft’s Natal controller, rumored to be releasing this coming holiday season. As for what they’ll be making for Apple, we’ll have to wait and see what gets announced. It’s almost a certainty that we’ll see a new iPhone model sometime this year, but as to what that model will do (and whether it’ll be CDMA enabled or otherwise), it’s all just rumors so far. [via Apple Insider ] Report: Apple signs new iPhone manufacturer, rumored to work on CDMA iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Report: Apple signs new iPhone manufacturer, rumored to work on CDMA iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Report: Apple signs new iPhone manufacturer, rumored to work on CDMA iPhone
by admin on February 4, 2010
Filed under: Multimedia , Video , iPhone Well, that took a while. AppleInsider is reporting that AT&T has now agreed to let SlingPlayer for iPhone [US$30, iTunes link ] stream over the 3G network. When the app was released last May, there was great moaning that the SlingPlayer Mobile app only worked on a Wi-Fi connection. That was in contrast to other versions of the Sling app running on other phones like the BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and some Palm devices — all of which were allowed on the AT&T network. AT&T now says they have worked with the Sling Media developers, and found ways to reduce the bandwidth footprint. Getting it all up and running will require a new version of the Sling App, which should appear shortly. The app will be a free upgrade for current owners. The posted version was released in August of last year. A source at Sling Media told me this morning they were glad AT&T “finally saw the light.” We’ll keep you posted on developments, and we’ll test the new app when it’s online. Slingplayer Mobile will finally be working on the AT&T 3G network originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Slingplayer Mobile will finally be working on the AT&T 3G network originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Slingplayer Mobile will finally be working on the AT&T 3G network
