iPad By Davis: “WWF Together for iPad review” plus 6 more

WWF Together for iPad review
Make the perfect Old Fashioned with Mad Men Cocktail Culture for iPhone
iMore show 344: Not live from New York
This week's iMore show (ironically) not live from New York
Editor's desk: Big Apple Apple
Weekend iPad Wallpaper: Finder
Cool Things: LEGO Custom Dock Kit for iPad Retina & iPad mini

Posted: 08 Apr 2013 12:52 AM PDT

WWF Together is an app by the World Wildlife Fund that teaches you about the world's most amazing animals including elephants, whales, rhinos, and more. WWF Together lets you experience the animals' lives with interactive pages of information and fun activities like trying out "tiger vision", staying still like a polar bear during a hunt, and chopping a panda's bamboo.

Each animal page is a like a huge poster that is divided into nine parts. Each part includes information about the animal including history, videos, random facts, gorgeous photographs, threats to their existence, how the WWF has helped them, and more. Instead of giving information as a boring list or in paragraph form, WWF Together makes learning interactive my requiring your involvement to learn. For example, when on the tiger's page that focuses on its stripes, you must swipe the photo in order for the background to change and reveal hidden text.

Every animal has a page dedicated to photographs. The photos are gorgeous and are the work of renowned environmental photographer Morten Koldby. They can be viewed full screen and look amazing on the Retina iPad's display.

The animals featured in WWF Together include great pandas, marine turtles, elephants, tigers, bison, polar bears, whales, snow leopards, rhinos, gorillas, sharks, and jaguars. The jaguar is technically not yet available, but it will be released in May 2013 and there's an option to be notified when it's available.

The good

In-depth, interactive stories of endangered animals, including giant pandas, tigers, elephants, marine turtles and polar bears
Playful interactive elements that incorporate iPad's unique features
Origami of each animal that folds up, creating an animated video you can share with your friends and family through Facebook, email and Twitter — plus, download instructions for making your own origami
3D interactive globe - discover exactly how far away you are from 60 different animals around the world
Stunning high-definition, full-screen videos and image galleries, featuring photos by renowned environmental photographer Morten Koldby
Cool and unusual animal facts. (Do you know what a panda and a stick of butter have in common?)
Multiple ways to get involved and help protect these amazing animals

The bad

No complaints

The bottom line

WWF Together is a great app to learn about wildlife and is beautifully made. If you have any interest in learning about animals or have kids who do, definitely pick this one up.

Free - Download now

Make the perfect Old Fashioned with Mad Men Cocktail Culture for iPhone

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 10:20 PM PDT

Make the perfect Old Fashioned with Mad Men Cocktail Culture for iPhone

Season 6 of the popular AMC television series Mad Men has premiered and with Mad Men Cocktail Culture for iPhone, you can mix up Don Draper's favorite drink, the Old Fashioned, and other popular drinks from the show and the 60s. Mad Men Cocktail is not only a drink recipe app, but also a game. In this game, you must mix the drinks by choosing the correct ingredients, pouring the correct amount in the right glass, adding the correct garnishing, and executing the right mixing method.

Mad Men Cocktail Culture includes 14 playable cocktails, 32 drink cocktail guides and the ability to share your cocktail results via Facebook Connect. You will also receive Mad Men inspired feedback on your bartending skills. And if you're wondering when the next episode of Mad Men is going to air, Cocktail Culture includes quick access to the broadcast schedule.

Unfortunately, Mad Men Cocktail Culture does not support the iPhone 5's larger screen, but if you're a fan of Mad Men and cocktails, it's still pretty cool.

$0.99 - Download now

iMore show 344: Not live from New York

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:51 PM PDT

Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry and Daniel Rubino of Windows Phone Central talk to Rene Ritchie of iMore about dumb smartphone polls, the Facebook not-a-phone, iOS 7 and iPhone 5S rumors, and what we're up to in New York City...

Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
Download directly: Audio | Video

Show notes

I'm not linking to the dumb smartphone tournament
The Facebook not-a-phone stuff on iMore
The Facebook not-a-phone stuff on Android Central
The Facebook not-a-phone stuff on Windows Phone Central
iOS 7 and iPhone 5S rumors
Ain't no party like a CrackBerry party

Hosts

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com or just leave us a comment below.

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including the iMore show, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, Debug, Ad hoc, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

This week's iMore show (ironically) not live from New York

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 11:59 AM PDT

This week's iMore show (ironically) not live from New York

We're doing the iMore show from New York City today. Ironically however, we're not doing it live. We will be recording it and posting it as soon as possible, but we don't have the usual live broadcast stuff with us, so it'll be live-to-tape.

I'll be joined by Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry and Daniel Rubino of Windows Phone Central, and given the way those guys have been going at each other lately, it should be a slobberknocker of a show.

Look for it soon!

Editor's desk: Big Apple Apple

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 11:10 AM PDT

Editor's desk: Big Apple Apple

I've been in New York City all week at the temporary Mobile Nations HQ working on some amazing stuff. We're not finished yet, which means I can't announce it yet, but I also can't wait to tell you all about it. In the meantime, here's some catch-up on the CrackBerry party, the Facebook event, and what Apple's up to with iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S...

Facebook angst

Who could have predicted the post-Facebook not-a-phone launch would be even more annoying than the pre-Facebook not-a-phone launch? My only guess is that the reality was less interesting than the tease, and analytical desperation followed.

We kinda knew what it was going to be going in
What it means for HTC, who currently earns almost no profit off mobile, is unclear but certainly sub-optimal. Why not brand the phone with Facebook front-and-center and get some of that halo?
It's not an Android fork, but that doesn't mean it's not an Android intermediation. Google made Android the way it is to grow market share quickly at the expense of keeping control. Facebook is taking advantage of that. Clever girl.
The target audience for a Facebook not-a-phone was never unclear -- it's for people for whom Facebook is, in large part, the primary purpose of the internet. For others, it will be less breakthrough experience and more deal-breaker.
Person-centric interface may not be new but it's also not a panacea. Sometimes I'm thinking apps. Sometimes I'm thinking people. Both approaches force me into a model that may not fit my requirements for the moment. Ultimately, we need better interface, not just different.
The Facebook not-a-phone means absolutely nothing to Apple or the iPhone right now. No. Period. Thing. Period. If you're posting BS Apple-is-doomed linkbait based on what Facebook did or didn't say or do last week, please stop it. Maybe surrender your keyboards for the good of journalism, the internet, and our collective sanity.
The Facebook phone means a lot for Facebook. Social has always been migratory, and Facebook was web-centric in an increasingly mobile-centric world. Google's Android may eventually be Google+ and Google Now. If Facebook doesn't want to be the next Friendster (ask your grand parents), they need to adapt. This was the next stage of that.
No, I don't get the point of Facebook's first commercial either.
Phil Nickinson and the Android Central crew killed it at the event, and are doing a great job on follow up. Check them out. Especially Phil's post-mortem.

iOS 7, iPhone 5S, and beyond

In case you missed it earlier in the week, a bunch of Apple reporters got together on Branch to discuss what we'd heard about [iOS 7, iPhone 5S, iPad 5, upcoming events, and more.

Here's my take, with links to all the good stuff.

New Crack City

The big news for everyone not-us this week was the CrackBerry party at 1 Oak. I don't know how they managed to secure that venue, but it was fantastic. It was also filled to over-capacity, as 260+ CrackBerry faithful flooded the place. BlackBerry was nice enough to set up a booth in the back and show off the as-yet-unreleased BlackBerry Q10 full-QWERTY keyboard device.

A ton of iMore readers showed up as well -- it's a cross-platform world now, folks, get used to it! -- and I got to spend a great evening talking mobile with the incredibly engaged, incredibly intelligent Mobile Nations community. Nothing in the world better than that.

Maybe we should start thinking about an iMore event...?

Photo by David Lundblad, taken outside Apple 5th Avenue on a Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105mm

Weekend iPad Wallpaper: Finder

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 07:59 AM PDT

Today's iPad wallpaper pick is this excellent Finder image.

I've been meaning to share this one for a few weeks now, as I think it looks just fantastic on the iPad home screen – or the lock screen for that matter.

Thanks to +Christopher Rizzo for sharing it originally on Google+.

I've uploaded this one to our iPad Insight Flickr group. I hope some of you will share some of your favorite iPad wallpapers in our group – it's got an ever-growing collection of iPad walls and incredible iPad art.