domingo, 30 de junio de 2013

iPad By Davis: “XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mac comes to Steam” plus 10 more

iPad By Davis: “XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mac comes to Steam” plus 10 more


XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mac comes to Steam

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 02:29 PM PDT

XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Mac comes to Steam

Feral Interactive released its OS X conversion of XCOM: Enemy Unknown in April, and since then, you've been able to buy it from the Mac App Store, Feral's Web site and other digital distribution systems - except for the ever-popular Steam service. That changed this week. Now it's available for Steam.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a real-time strategy game in which you control a secret paramilitary organization that protects the Earth from alien invasions. It's the presumptive successor to the XCOM series originally developed by Microprose in the 1990s.

Purchasing through Steam enables features like Steam Play, so you'll be able to download and play the Windows version on a PC if you wish.

    


Happy 6th birthday, iPhone!

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 01:48 PM PDT

Happy 6th birthday, iPhone!

Six years ago today I was watching in barely contained rage-jealousy as my friends lined up to buy the original iPhone at Apple Stores across America. It had no third-party apps, no video recording, no MMS, no copy/paste, and nothing approaching the functionality of Treo, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, or Symbian (Wikipedia it) smartphones at the time, but it had a gorgeous capacitive multitouch interface and better first-party multitasking than had ever been seen in mobile before (it could switch from music to phone and back without crashing!)

The original iPhone was overpriced and under-functional, but it was also glorious and the beginning of a very real revolution in mobile. I got one here in Canada just as soon as it was jailbroken and unlocked, and could run on a local network (with a $200/100MB a month data plan!), and I've never looked back.

It was flawed, but it was the future. It was Steve Jobs' phone. It was Apple's phone. And it changed everything. Again.

If you had an original iPhone, let me know what you thought of it at the time, and how you feel now, on the occasion of it's sixth birthday.

    


Marc Edwards' app design workflow

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 12:20 PM PDT

Marc Edwards' app design workflow

Don't know how I missed this. Marc Edwards, my co-host on Iterate is not only one of the best designers on the planet, but one of the most generous, and on top of all the articles and scripts he's already shared, he's now gone and posted his entire app design workflow on Bjango.com:

Here it is — my complete iOS, Android and Mac app design workflow, starting from the first time you open Photoshop, to the app release and beyond. Now seemed like a good time to document how I've been working, because my workflow is about to drastically change again, with the release of Skala.

Perhaps with iOS 7 as well? I'm really looking forward to seeing how Marc updates the Bjango apps, and if -- and how -- his workflow evolves. In the meantime, if you're interested in app design, check out how one of the best in the business goes about practicing his craft.

More: Bjango.com:

    


From twit to tweet: How Twitterrific helped Twitter get its verb - and bird - on

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 11:37 AM PDT

Last week the word "tweet" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Craig Hockenberry, a principle of the Iconfactory, co-creator of Twitterrific, and iMore hall of famer, gave some background as to its origins on his blog, Furbo.org:

It still feels strange to hear a word I helped create be mentioned over and over again in the media. It's a great word to go along with a great service, and in the end, I'm just happy we're not calling each other twits!

More than just the word "tweet", the Iconfactory and Twitterrific are responsible for the bird and a remarkable amount of Twitter's common branding and popular identity. The whole story is charming and enlightening, and a rare glimpse back at the very incommon beginnings of something that now seems so commonplace.

More: Furbo.org

    


How to download photos from Dropbox directly to your iPhone or iPad camera roll

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 11:34 AM PDT

How to download photos from Dropbox directly to your iPhone or iPad camera roll

If you use Dropbox to store photos and save space on your iPhone or iPad, there may come a time when you want to share those photos to a social network or with a friend. In order to do so, you'll most likely have to save them to your camera roll first.

As it happens, Dropbox gives you an easy way to do this. Here's how:

  1. Launch the Dropbox app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Find the photo that you'd like to download to your camera roll in your Dropbox app.
  3. Click on the Download button in the lower right hand corner.
  4. Now tap on the option for Save to Photo Library.
  5. The photo will export directly to your iPhone or iPad camera roll.

Once the export is done you can hop right into your Photos app and upload it to whatever service you'd like.

    


Win yourselves an iPad, courtesy of Crackberry.com?!

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 11:27 AM PDT

It's been a rough end to the week for our BlackBerry loving friends over at CrackBerry. The PlayBook, the one and only tablet from BlackBerry, long promised an update to BlackBerry 10, has basically been killed. A sad day for those who clung to their PlayBook waiting, hoping, but CrackBerry is determined to turn the mood around by giving away any tablet that isn't a PlayBook. That's right; you could win an iPad on CrackBerry!

Head on over there for the full rundown and to enter. There's no doubts a few ex-BlackBerry users and CrackBerry frequenters amongst the iMore community, so head on over and help them out and show a little love! The contest runs through July 1, with winners announced the following day. Good luck!

    


Weekend iPad Wallpapers: iOS 7 Home and Lock Screen Walls

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 09:38 AM PDT

iOS 7 lock screen wallpaper

Here's some weekend iPad wallpaper choices for everyone who's looking forward to iOS 7 on the iPad, or just likes the look of the new iOS 7 wallpapers.

The folks at the iClarified site have been kind enough to create static versions of some of the new dynamic wallpapers used in iOS 7 for the iPad home and lock screen.

I like the default iOS 7 lock screen iPad wallpaper and the darker / greyer home screen wallpaper, shown here on my iPad mini running iOS 6:

iOS 7 iPad wallpaper

There are a number of other cool still wallpapers in iOS 7 too. I'll look to feature some of those in coming weekends.


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Best Free iPad App of the Week: Pocket

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 08:51 AM PDT

Pocket iPad App icon

Great apps and a huge selection of great apps are a big part of what makes the iPad such an amazing device. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of – from serious productivity to pure entertainment. Better still, there are lots of great free apps for the iPad. Our Best Free iPad App of the Week posts highlight these apps.

This week's pick is Pocket, the excellent read it later app that actually used to be called Read It Later. Pocket and Instapaper have been the two leaders in this area for a long while now, and deservedly so.

There are a number of reasons to save articles to Pocket – for example when you skim an item and want to read it in full later on, or when a piece is so good that you want to keep it to read again and refer back to as needed. Pocket keeps all your save items available, even when you're device is n ot connected to the web.

...

Read the whole entry... »

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Sponsor Thanks: Mobile Cloth

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 07:59 AM PDT

Mobile-Cloth1

My thanks to Mobile Cloth for being a site sponsor again this week. Cleaning cloths are a sort of unsung hero type accessory for the iPad and touchscreen devices, and Mobile Cloth is the best I've seen.

It's been a favorite accessory of mine for years now and it continues to do a stellar job on my iPads and other mobile devices. Check them out at mobilecloth.com.

iPad Insight readers can use "IPADINSIGHT" at check out and receive a 25% Off and Free Shipping on all order over $25. (expires 7/15 cannot be used for custom product, free shipping US only)


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Apple credited with 2 of the best 12 designs of the last 100 years. Can you guess which ones?

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 05:58 AM PDT

Apple credited with 2 of the best 12 designs of the last 100 years. Can you guess which ones?

What are the 12 best designs from the last 100 years? The question is impossible to answer. That doesn't mean people and publications won't try, however. As part of World Industrial Design Day, Monique Rivalland of CNN asked some of the world's greatest designers and asked them to name what they felt were the most iconic industrial designs of the last century. Apple landed on the list, and not once but twice. First for the original Mac:

"When Apple Mac said hello to the world in 1984 it turned the computing industry on its head," says Dick Powell, co-founder of design agency SeymourPowell. "It seamlessly combined outstanding software and hardware into an experience. Other than the Jobs-less years it spent in the innovation wilderness, it's still doing it."

Second for the original iPod:

The iPod, the product so iconic it defined a generation. Nick Rhodes, head of the Industrial Design MA at the University of London, nominated the mp3 player because "it so clearly demonstrates the benefits of collaborative efforts." "This is no longer the province of a single 'hero' designer," he says "but rather the unified work of many practitioners."

Check out the other 10 designs and let me know, did Apple deserve two of the top spots, and was anything else missing from the list that ought to have been there?

Source: CNN, thanks: Anthony

    


Apps of the week: Instacast, Wibbitz, Over and more!

Posted: 29 Jun 2013 05:23 AM PDT

Another week has passed us by, and that means it's time once again for the iMore team to share with with you the apps they've been using this week. We've got a couple of podcast solutions for Mac and iOS, a live concert app, a news app and more. Lets take a look.

Wibbitz - Ally Kazmucha

Wibbitz for iPhone is a slimmed down news app that highlights all of the news around you. You can choose between business, technology, world, and top news. Wibbitz then speaks the news to you with short video clips showing images and statistics. While Wibbitz may not be as advanced as other RSS apps, it isn't meant to be.

Whether you just want to listen to a quick rundown of news highlights while driving or doing another activity, Wibbitz is great for just this. It can also double up on an easy to use news app for users that may have vision problems. Since the images are large as are the statistics that display while video and audio are playing, it's a good way for anyone with a disability to get a quick rundown of news.

Instacast - Joseph Keller

I listen to a lot of podcasts. For a long time, iTunes was the only real game in town when it came to downloading and listening to podcasts. It was a hassle, and disorganized, but it's what I had. Then I downloaded Instacast, and I've never looked back, not even in the dark times of iCloud syncing. Once Instacast moved away from iCloud and started using its own syncing method, everything just works. And now with the recent release of the Mac version, managing all of my podcasts is better than I could have hoped, especially downloading. The Mac version of Instacast allows users to download a podcast episode, then transfer the downloaded file to other versions of Instacast on the same network. Simply open the version of the app that you plan on using and download the episode like you normally would, and the app will find the Mac app with the file already downloaded and grab it from there. It's much faster than downloading the episode directly multiple times.

But even without the Mac version, Instacast is still my favorite podcast app. It's straightforward while still giving users looking for more a plethora of options. Syncing between the iPhone and iPad works beautifully. The ability to control how and when data is deleted from the app is also a plus. Instacast is one of my favorite apps that I've purchased in five years of using iOS devices, and is available as a universal app for $4.99.

Over - Simon Sage

Typically, I'm not one to post images of inspirational quotes on my Facebook wall, but sometimes a great picture can use a caption for flavor. Over introduces a wide variety of fonts and colors which you can use to apply text to your pictures. Resizing text, placing, and rotating are all very fluid and simple, plus there's a unique UI to get around. Advanced options such as kerning, tint, opacity, and alignment are in there, too. Both iPhone and iPad versions are well-optimized given their screen sizes. The one caveat here is that though you get a healthy selection of fonts out of the box, the vast majority are locked behind a $0.99 in-app purchase. There are also art packs available if you want to add some high-quality, sketchy-style icons and text to your pictures as well. Combined with some tasteful effects using your photography app of choice (in this case, Photo Booth), you can get some pretty interesting creations going.

Qello - Chris Parsons

You might have heard the recent news about Qello arriving on AppleTV but there's also an app for iPhones and iPads and it's pretty awesome if your a music fan. It has a ton of selection for behind the scenes looks at new and classic albums, live concerts and plenty 'the making of' videos from every genre of music. Want to check out Eric Clapton? No problem. How about Doctor Dre? Got you covered. Want to know how Nirvana's Nevermind was put together? You good to go. The app is free to download and there is a trial of the service available but if you want full on access, you're looking at $5/mtnh subscription.

Podgrasp - Richard Devine

I've been hunting for a suitable stand alone podcast app for the Mac for a little while, and I've come across Podgrasp. The first thing to note is the price, which is initially why I gave it a shot. At $0.99 it's very affordable and while it does lack some features of something like Instacast, it does a good enough job to warrant a place on my Mac.

If you keep your podcast subscriptions in the form of an OPML file (as I do) then you can import this and you're off and running. Otherwise new subscriptions need to be added by URL. A lack of a searchable catalog is a little disappointing but not a deal breaker. It even looks pretty nice, and is definitely worth a look if like me you're not a fan of getting your podcasts through iTunes.

Acorn - Rene Ritchie

Acorn image editor gets UI overhaul, non-destructive filters

For years rumors persisted that Apple had a secret Photoshop killer in the laps, something like Final Cut Pro that would let them break free of the tyranny and travesty of Adobe. Turns out they were sorta right. Apple had Core Graphics, a framework that gave developers are lot of powerful imaging tools "for free", and allowed indies to compete, on small, specific scales, in a way only giant companies could have done in the past.

Acorn by Gus Mueller of Flying Meat is the perfect example. Pretty much a one man shop, Mueller's latest update is not only fast, it's coherent and focused in a way only an indie app could be. Unlike Photoshop, it can't be most things to most imaging artists -- that's how behemoths are bread -- but if you're looking for the classic imaging tools enabled by the most modern of technologies, and at a small fraction of the cost, Acorn might be just exactly what you're looking for.

Grab the Mac App Store version below, or if you want to try before you buy, grab the demo version from Flying Meat's website first.

    


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