Phil Schiller Acknowledges New App Store Sexual Content Ban and Exceptions

The NY Times reports on Apple's new policy blocking overtly sexual apps. Apple's head of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller explained the reasoning behind the decision, citing an increasing number of apps with objectionable content:<p class=...

iPhone Gaming Studio ngmoco :) Buys Mac/iPhone Developer Freeverse

ngmoco, maker of such free-to-play (with in-app purchases) game hits like Touch Pets and Eliminate has just raised a cool $25 million in funding and bought long time Mac and iPhone developer Freeverse of Skee-Ball and Flick Fishing fame. Techcrunch spoke to ngmoco CEO, Neil Young who said it was all about scale and acceleration:

He expects ngmoco to put out about about 20 new games this year, and the newly-acquired Freeverse team to nearly match that.

In addition to rolling out wave after wave of new iPhone games, Young also plans to open up an SDK to ngmoco’s Plus+ system so that other developers can more easily tap into it.

We just look forward to Eliminate-ing some Skee-Ball’ers in crossover action! But the question we have for you is this — do you like the free-to-play with in-app purchases model? (i.e. you get the game for free but can buy food or energy or power-ups or whatever inside the game). And how do you feel about all of ngmoco — and now all of Freeverse’s games going that way?

iPhone Gaming Studio ngmoco :) Buys Mac/iPhone Developer Freeverse is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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OnLive demos Crysis on iPhone, expects to go to iPad

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, iPad

OnLive was at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas last week, where they showed their game streaming software running on the iPhone again. This time they had Crysis going, and apparently the demo ran "fast and smooth." The way they do it is to run the game and render it all on a fast computer somewhere, and then stream video to the iPhone while streaming controls back to the game itself. Of course a demo is just a demo, and actually running a game like that out in the real world is much tougher.

But OnLive is convinced they can do it. And that's not all -- they also made mention of running their app on "tablets," which is a roundabout way of hinting that they'd like to do the same for the iPad. Now that is an intriguing opposition -- you wouldn't even need processing power for games on the iPad if you can run the software. If OnLive sets it up so you can stream on your local Wi-Fi connection (essentially using the iPad as a remote viewer/controller), then we might have something interesting here. Apple might be interested in that as well. Streaming heavyweight games from your Mac to the iPad? Yes, please.

But of course, all OnLive has so far is a nice demo and some good ideas. We're still waiting to hear details of how they're going to bring out their streaming service, not to mention get it up and running on the iPhone. As soon as they let us know, we'll let you know.

OnLive demos Crysis on iPhone, expects to go to iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

OnLive demos Crysis on iPhone, expects to go to iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Macworld 2010: Twicular’s Grocery Pal

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPad

When I was young, my mother spent Sunday mornings with grocery store flyers, a pen, and a pad of paper. Once she had identified the best weekly deals, she'd send my dad to buy some items from Grocery Store A, some from Store B and so on.

Barclay Jiang has devised a convenient, contemporary solution to the same problem. His free app for the iPhone and iPod touch, Grocery Pal, uses GPS (or Wi-Fi location) to find all of the grocery stores in your area (you can adjust the range of search) and downloads the current sales. From there, you can generate a shopping list, sort the results by store and hit the road. It saves a lot of time and is quite convenient.

We spoke with Barclay at our booth at Macworld Expo about the app, his inspiration and his thoughts on the show. Check out the video below for the full run-down, or grab Grocery Pal from the App Store.

Continue reading Macworld 2010: Twicular's Grocery Pal

Macworld 2010: Twicular's Grocery Pal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Macworld 2010: Twicular's Grocery Pal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flash Developer Explains Why Touchscreen Devices like iPad, iPhone Cannot Use Flash

Ngmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys Freeverse

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Apple, iPhone, App Store

TechCrunch is reporting that iPhone game company Ngmoco has just picked up $25 million in another round of fundraising, which they used to buy out Freeverse, one of the most storied Mac game developers (and recently, iPhone game developers) on the block. The two companies were already close -- Freeverse went with Ngmoco's Plus+ network for social connections in its games, including Flick Fishing and Moto Thunder -- but this buyout would put Ngmoco in charge of their whole catalog. Ngmoco CEO Neil Young says that he plans to take all of Freeverse's currently paid games and convert them all into the free-to-play model that Ngmoco has grown so comfortable with.

It's a pretty bold move -- Ngmoco is seriously investing in this model (even to the extent where they'll cancel planned games unless they can squeeze them into the model), and now Freeverse will have to follow suit. There's no word on what will happen to Freeverse's significant Mac game library as well -- will that part of the company be split off? Will Ngmoco shut it all down and choose to focus on iPhone apps?

Unfortunately, the only available information is the post on TechCrunch. We've put out calls to both developers and will get back to you when we know more.

Ngmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys Freeverse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ngmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys Freeverse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Planning to Bring iPhone OS To New Devices

Review: Waveboard for iPhone

This app, which accesses Google Wave, isn't much different than accessing the collaboration service through the mobile browser on your iPhone or iPod touch. But the recent addition of push notifications is a step in the right direction.

Are you choking? Yeah, there’s an app for that, too.

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

On the list of "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" apps, this one takes the cake... and chokes on it.

The free I am choking app could save your life if you are choking on food and can't speak. If you have your iPhone in hand and can avoid panicking, then you can launch the app, wave your iPhone frantically in front of someone who is nearby, and hope that they can a) read English, and b) follow the instructions in the app to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on you.

Actually, this is no joking matter -- about 3,000 adults die every year from choking on food. Of course, you'll need to have the app downloaded and installed on your iPhone or iPod touch before this happens. As fellow TUAW blogger Erica Sadun noted, "by the time you download and install, you could be dead."

Apparently the developers, Thought Shaping LLC, don't want to get sued by the relatives of people who are not saved by the app, as they've added the disclaimer "Note that this is for novelty use only!" at the bottom of the app description in the iTunes Store.

Want to see the app in action? Check out a public service announcement video made by the folks at iPhoneSavior.com by clicking the Read More link below.

Continue reading Are you choking? Yeah, there's an app for that, too.

Are you choking? Yeah, there's an app for that, too. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Are you choking? Yeah, there's an app for that, too. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Score deals with your mobile phone

You can use your iPhone as a barcode scanner or to find in-store coupons. Ginny Mies of PC World runs down some of the money-saving options available to smartphone-toting shoppers.

Apple Job Posting Suggests Future iPhone OS Devices

Computerworld points to an Apple job listing posted last week which suggests that Apple is looking to expand the iPhone OS beyond the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to additional platforms. The position, entitled "Engineering Manager (Platform...

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front now in App Store!

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front has is now available in the App store [$7.99 - iTunes link]. This is the sequel to 2008’s Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes, one of the first 3D shooters on the iPhone. The above screen shot was taken in-game and it looks amazing. There is a smooth framerate and uses Gameloft’s successful control schemes for FPSs. This is a big improvement over the first game in the series and has been well worth the wait. Some highlights include:

Battle across 5 locations: Pacific, Normandy, North Africa, Germany, Sicily.

Challenge up to 5 friends on five multiplayer maps online

Pilot 3 vehicles including the tank, off-road vehicle or glider, or gun down enemies from the vehicle or tank turret

A wide range of realistic weapons: machine guns, bazookas, sniper rifles, flamethrowers and more.

Compelling cinematic moments with more interaction between you and your squad members

Stunning graphics and authentic settings inspired by real life battlefields from WWII.

I have been waiting for this game for some time, now march out there and defeat the enemy solider!

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front now in App Store! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Patent hints at location-based social networking, appOmator makes app creating easy, Siri app debuts

A new patent has been published by Apple that outlines a way that Apple can make social networking and video calls use location aware features. The feature would allow you to go to where a person you are talking to actually is. A new software application for Mac computers has landed ...

Apple blocks GPS targeted ads, Tapulous launches Riddim Ribbon, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 headed to iPhone

Apple has reportedly blocked developers from using GPS to target ads based on a users location. Apple blocked the devs from using its Core Location framework. Tapulous has launched a new game for the iPhone called Riddim Ribbon. Tapulous is the company behind the popular TapTap Revenge games on the iPhone. One ...

Skype-Verizon Exclusive Deal May Deprive iPhone Users Of Skype’s VoIP Calls Over 3G

Monday Fun Video: Apple Data Center Seen from the Sky

Remember that $2 billion world-class data center Apple is building in North Carolina, the one that could be mean iTunes.com or a super MobileMe or only-Jobs-knows-what? Well here’s some video purporting to show it from the sky (if not show it looking like SkyNet!)

Check it out after the break and let us know what you think is going on inside those massive, machine-filled walls!

[DataCenter Knowledge via Macrumors via 9to5mac]

Monday Fun Video: Apple Data Center Seen from the Sky is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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iPad A4 Chipset Cost Apple $1 Billion?

We typically don’t run those stories about iPhone or iPad component costs anymore because they’re just silly — a couple of hundred dollars in metal parts per unit never takes into account R&D and marketing costs, and things like paying $1 billion for the new A4 chipset in the iPad. Or so hints the New York Times:

At the same time, Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm are designing their own takes on ARM-based mobile chips that will be made by the contract foundries. Even without the direct investment of a factory, it can cost these companies about $1 billion to create a smartphone chip from scratch.

And this would be for an ARM + PowerVR chipset assembly, how much will it cost when Apple starts spinning their own PA Semi designed chipsets whole? And what’s the competitive advantage that they’re willing to spend so much?

iPad A4 Chipset Cost Apple $1 Billion? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Should Apple TV Switch to the iPhone OS?

Should Apple TV switch to the iPhone OS? The Apple TV was introduced in late 2006 but debuted alongside the iPhone at the Macworld 2007 keynote. Since then, the iPhone has become a huge, mainstream success and the Apple TV… well it reamins just a “hobby”.

Technically, Apple TV is included under Apple’s iTunes + iPod offerings, and it’s been referred to as a big iPod for your TV. While low end iPods continue to run their embedded OS, the iPod touch and upcoming iPad run versions of the iPhone OS, Apple TV, by stark contrast, originally used a special version of Mac OS X Tiger. Though it has been updated to 2.x and 3.x over the years (and gotten a price cut to boot!), it remains in a sort of no-mans land, with more functionality than an iPod nano but far less than a proper Mac OS X machine like the Mac Mini.

The set-top box market is nebulous at best, but Apple chose to engage it — much as it has the equally nebulous tablet market with the iPad, so we wonder if they wouldn’t do better engaging it on the same terms — with the iPhone OS and its 150,000 apps.

There would be problems to be sure. Right away the Apple TV’s 1280×720 screen resolution is much greater than the iPhone’s 480×320, and wider if shorter than the iPad’s 1024×768. Ideally, the Apple TV should go to 1920×1080 to match other, modern display resolutions as well.

Apple is using optional pixel-doubling to let iPhone apps run “full-screen” on the iPad, and these were reportedly blurry and jaggy in early demos. Pixel-quadruplers would likely be even less kind. True resolution independence could be an answer to this, but we’ll have to wait and here if Apple addresses that with iPhone 4.0 (perhaps in March).

The bigger problem would be control. The iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad all handle interactions via capacitive multitouch input — you use your finger on the screen. I don’t think there’s a single 52″ multitouch capacitive HDTV on the market. Apple has patents for Wii-mote style motion controllers that could fake fingers (if not touch) but they also have the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad — all of which could (and already do via the Apple Remote app) serve as pretty good controllers. Hey, if your house has multiple devices, it could even handle multiple controllers…

So where does that leave us? Right now the Apple TV is an okay bridge to iTunes Store media — music, movies, and TV content — but leverages not at all the massive App Store ecosystem. Right now the Apple TV can do the equivalent of the iPod and YouTube apps on the iPhone, but can’t show you your Calendar or Contacts, doesn’t have Safari or Email, doesn’t even have widgets like Stocks or Weather. And it doesn’t have 150,000 other apps that running the iPhone OS could bring it. Really, it’s little more than a souped-up iPod classic tethered to your TV.

Sure there would be problems implementing the iPhone OS on the Apple TV, but there would be benefits as well.

So what do you think, should Apple TV be switched to the iPhone OS?

Should Apple TV Switch to the iPhone OS? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Review: Jewel Quest Mysteries for iPhone

If you’re a fan of "match-three" puzzles and/or “hidden object” puzzles, Jewel Quest Mysteries: Curse of the Emerald Tear will provide you with many hours of entertainment.

Apple’s iPad Chip Development Cost Estimated in $1 Billion Range

In an article from The New York Times, the cost for a company like Apple to develop an ARM-based mobile chip such as the A4 used in its forthcoming iPad tablet is estimated at approximately $1 billion, even without the need to invest in manuf...