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According to Apple’s on-device counter, the iPad App Store is now home to over 100,000 apps and games, this less than a month after Steve Jobs announced 90,000 during the WWDC 2011 keynote.
This is obviously a huge advantage, especially when Google’s Android Honeycomb devices, RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook, and HP’s webOS TouchPad are launching with very, very few native tablet apps in their own markets.
How many iPad apps have you downloaded?
[[MacStories[(http://www.macstories.net/stories/the-ipad-now-with-100000-apps-available/)]
Many of you are aware of the makeover we have given the TiPb forums, but we have no intention of stopping there. We are constantly thinking of new add-ons that will make your experience even better.
Enter the “Like” button.
So what’s the difference between the existing “Thanks” button and the new “Like” button? “Thanks” values the author, “Like” values the content. So, when you “Thank” a post, you’re giving credit to another forum member because they answered your question, provided a link or guide that helped you out, etc. It gives them a pat on the virtual back. When you “Like” a particular post, you’re recommending the information. You’re giving it a thumbs up.
Clicking the “Like” button on a post will put a “Like” tree at the top of that particular thread. Clicking that then drops down the most liked posts of that entire thread. So in a single click you can get to the best posts that may be deep into a thread vs. having to scroll through page after page of posts.
So that’s our new “Like” button. Be sure to check it out along with all of the other improvements we’ve made by visiting the forums today!
The new rules explicitly prohibit apps that include "external mechanisms for purchases ... such as a 'buy' button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book."Apple and the digital booksellers have remained silent on exactly what is expected to happen today as the new rules take effect, but none of the high-profile applications have yet received updates that would bring them into compliance with the rules.
Amazon's Kindle app prominently features a "Shop in Kindle Store" link, which takes shoppers to Amazon's website. That's verboten under the rules set to take effect Thursday.
Google enabled invitations and opened the floodgates to its new Google+ service last night before shutting it down due to "insane demand". Many iOS users were included in this new group of invitees and they may be wondering how to get Google+ on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
Unfortunately, a native app for Google+ is not yet available. It's tied up in the App Store approval process with no discernible ETA. The next best alternative is Safari and the mobile web app version of the social network. Before you cringe, the experience is not that bad. You have access to your circle of friends, stream, notifications, photos and profile.
What are you missing by using a web app? The two biggest items I noticed are push notifications and native camera support. Hopefully, the Google+ app will hit the App Store soon. We'll be watching and will let you know when it officially arrives.
Connecting to Google+ on your iOS device originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Connecting to Google+ on your iOS device originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple and third-party developers have set a new record: in 453 days since the original iPad came out on April 3, 2010, the App Store has more than 100,000 iPad-exclusive apps available. Either specifically targeting the tablet, or released as universal updates to existing iPhone apps, at the moment of writing this there are 100,161 iPad apps in the Store. How do I know? The App Store app itself on my iPad shows that.Our sister site AppShopper, which tracks iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac App Store apps, currently has the available iPad app count at just over 106,000, as it relies on a slightly different recording method supplied by Apple's API for tracking App Store apps.
In order to significantly increase its shipments in the third quarter, Apple has been piling up its inventory of iPad 2 components such as panels in the second quarter to minimize the risk of facing component shortages.Research analysts have had a particularly difficult time forecasting Apple's quarterly iPad shipments in the face of production constraints and the transition from the original iPad to the iPad 2. While a number of research analysts and firms have pegged Apple's total 2011 iPad sales in the range of 40 million units or even higher, Apple fell far short of expectations in the first calendar quarter with only 4.69 million units shipped. That figure only included, however, a few initial weeks of iPad 2 sales as Apple struggled to meet demand and according to Tim Cook sold every iPad 2 it made during the quarter.
Lots of games on the iPhone skew more casual, both because the touchscreen doesn't exactly make for precise controls all the time, and also because a lot of developers are aiming for the iPhone's much wider audience than most gaming platforms. But 1-bit Ninja is obstinately the exception to this -- it's unapologetically retro and decidedly hardcore. The nearest reference is Super Mario Bros, but not Super Mario Galaxy or the more recent 3D interations. Nope, this one goes back to Super Mario Land on the GameBoy, when Mario could only move forward, and had to make some spectacularly timed jumps to explore the land and fully discover its secrets.
1-bit Ninja isn't just a 2D platformer -- it does have a really wild 3D angle (accessed by swiping the top of the screen) that will show off some new heights or extra secrets to find. But especially early on, that mode's somewhat underused, with most of the gameplay sticking with the 2D realm.
Still, with over 20 levels to play, challenges to beat (too bad Game Center isn't included -- seems like it should have been), and lots and lots of secrets to find, along with a great stylistic design and some cool chiptunes to play with, 1-bit Ninja is an excellent title. It's available for US $1.99 in the App Store right now.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: 1-bit Ninja originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: 1-bit Ninja originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In Zoombie Digger World Tour, you must defend United States, Australia, Russia, and Mexico against zombie attacks. Don’t let their cute appearance fool you, these zombies are quite evil!
If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the trailer and screenshots after the break.
[Free, with in-app purchases - 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!
Rhythm Guitar: Play guitar with your iPad! [$2.99 for iPad - iTunes link]
Tagged Recorder: Simply record conferences, lectures, seminars, talks and easily find your records by tags and location. [$1.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]
Horse Zoom: – Over 2000 images of Horses by renowned professional photographer. Mark J. Barrett. [$11.99 for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]
Miso Music: Plectrum: Learn how to learn to play the guitar, ukulele, bass, banjo and mandolin. [Free for iPad, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]
Busy Gears: Tap anywhere on the screen to jump from gear to gear to spring to air puff while reaching the bonus stars. Watch out for the spikes, flying razers, speed gears, and invisible gears. [$0.99 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!
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.
iOS 5 brings the much heralded iMessage service to the Messages app, beta 2 has added a small but long-requested feature all its own — the ability to swipe away the keyboard. In current versions of iOS, one you tap into the text entry box it’s a bit of a chore to get rid of it again, which is annoying if you want to see the full screen view of your messages.
Now, with iOS 5 beta 2, you simply touch above the keyboard and swipe downwards, and the keyboard goes away. Simple. Sweet.
Again, a minor feature to be sure, but one that will no doubt be appreciated by many.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
A couple’s wedding day is said to be the most important day of their lives. One particular couple decided to risk their special day’s memories by only shooting the photographs and video using an iPhone 4. Sure the iPhone 4 has a very good quality camera but is this taking it a little too far?
Well it is not quite as risky as it seems. the couple brought in professional photographers and videographers for the big day and the results are quite impressive. Of course more than one iPhone 4 was used in gathering all the footage and the final editing we assume wasn’t done on the iPhone either. Either way it is apparently the first time that this has been done.
Take a look at the video after the break. Let us know what you think of the final result. Would you risk an important occasion such as a wedding solely to the iPhone 4’s camera?
[YouTube]
Australian schoolgirl Holly Bligh has started using an iPad to assist her learning in her school, and it is reaping huge rewards. Holly has albinism, which has badly affected her vision to the point that she needed a large magnifying glass to see textbooks and papers. Now, with the use of an iPad, all it requires is a simple tap or pinch gesture to blow up the area of interest and she can join in with the rest of her class. The iPad has also brought about a cool factor for Holly compared with having to use a chunky magnifying glass.
Holly’s mother claims that the iPad has increased Holly’s attention span and estimates that visual fatigue now takes twice as long to set in. She was so impressed with how the iPad has improved her daughter’s life that she emailed none other than Steve Jobs to thank him; and received a response too.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Do you mind if I read your email to a group of our top 100 leaders at Apple? Thanks, Steve.Holly will always have limitations with her eyesight; but with the use of an iPad and her amazing attitude, we are sure this girl will go far! Do any of our readers use an iPad to overcome vision problems? Let us know!
My Wonderful Days is a US$0.99 journaling app that makes recording your thoughts incredibly easy. It's designed to let you quickly jot down your activities and rate your feelings using a happiness meter. There's no pressure to write long passages on your iPhone or iPod touch. It's all about capturing the moment in a few words, almost like Twitter for your diary.
My Wonderful Days features a clean, uncluttered interface with charming, hand-drawn icons. It uses a black and white motif and is easy on the eyes. My Wonderful Days is easy to use, but I wish the icons had labels. Several times I tapped an icon because I had no idea what it did. The app is lightweight and responsive, which fits in nicely with is streamlined interface.
The app has several views, including a calendar view that lets you quickly see which days you made an entry, and an agenda-style view that lets you see your mood and the first few lines of your entry. There is also a search view that lets you search via word, happiness or star rating. The app remembers where you were when shut it down and opens back to the view.
Each entry lets you add text by clicking on a pencil icon, rating your mood on a happiness chart and adding a star for those memorable days. You can also swipe left and right to move ahead or go back a day. Once your thoughts are jotted down, you can click on the bullhorn icon to share your entry via Twitter, Facebook or email. When you are done, you can click on the paper icon to hop back to the main menu.
The settings are simple as well. You can enter your birthday into the app to get a special greeting, turn on an alert function to remind you to make an entry, toggle sound and toggle the password on and off. You can also change the greeting from "Today is" to anything you want and adjust the font. A backup feature lets you sync your journal entries with your computer via Wi-Fi.
Missing from the app is support for the camera. You can import a saved picture from your camera roll, but you cannot launch the camera, take a photo and have it automatically appear in your entry. There is also no landscape view, but that's not a deal breaker with this type of app. Landscape is convenient, and some people prefer it. For me, though, it's easier to read and type in portrait mode. Lastly, the app lacks any location features. It would be nice to have the option to toggle location on and off. If you are travelling you can record a memorable moment with GPS support, and the app will automatically insert the location into your entry.
Pros:
Cons:
My Wonderful Days is an excellent app for recording quick thoughts and your general mood on any given day. It's easy to use, so you are more likely to be consistent and do it for the long-term. So many people give up on their diary because they feel they have to write a novella for each entry. My Wonderful Days removes that temptation.
Developed by haha Interactive, My Wonderful Days is available for 99 cents in the App Store and is worth a download for those that like to record their thoughts while on the run.
My Wonderful Days makes journaling easy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
My Wonderful Days makes journaling easy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We just had some big Father's Day sales on the App Store, but Independence Day is coming up this weekend in the U.S., and that means it's time to get started with sales yet again. First off, Tom Tom has put its navigation apps on sale for half price over the next 48 hours. You can get the full U.S. and Canada app for $39.99, or pick up just the U.S. map for $34.99. It was just updated with new maps and features, too, so that's a good deal if you need a high quality navigation solution.
We'll likely be seeing lots more App Store sales this weekend, so stay tuned. Odds are that before the week ends, we'll see games, apps, and more all on sale for you to pick up for both iPhone and iPad.
Tom Tom kicks off July 4th weekend sales originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tom Tom kicks off July 4th weekend sales originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Indian website IT Pro says it's heard from Apple that the company will be relaunching the iPhone 3GS in an unlocked model to keep up with Indian demand for an Apple handheld. Back when the 3GS was first introduced in India, it was only available through a few carriers. Now, demand for iPhones is so high that Apple is simply going to relaunch the old model, this time allowing anyone to use it on any carrier in India.
IT Pro notes Apple is being a little sketchy here by selling such an old phone as new ("India has become a dumping ground for Apple," they say), but Indian customers will probably be happy with the option to get an unlocked iPhone 3GS, as iPhone 4 units are still very hard to find.
Price is another concern. The iPhone 4 in India costs the equivalent of about US$760, so a cheaper option will be popular even if it's a bit slower and clunkier. The iPhone 3GS still won't run cheap; the price is set at 19,990 rupees, or about $444.
Apple will reportedly re-launch unlocked iPhone 3GS in India originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple will reportedly re-launch unlocked iPhone 3GS in India originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Worried that you might be filling up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and wondering how to check to see how much storage you have left? Take a picture, download an app, and come up with a message that tells you there is not enough space on your device to install or save? Checking your available storage can save you a lot of time and headache, and let you know when you need to free up space before you run into any problems. Hit the jump to find out how.
To check available storage on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad:
That’s it, now you know! If you have any other device management tips, let us know in the comments!
Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)
Facebook for iPhone received an update today, and despite being absent from the release notes, profile pages have received a UI change. The change brings uniformity to the app in that you will find Share Photo and Write Post buttons across the top of profile pages. These are similar to the Photo, Status, and Check-in buttons on the news feed.
Here are the traditionally cryptic release notes that Facebook did include with the update:
I am always bothered when Facebook doesn’t inform us exactly which of the many bugs have been fixed, so if you’ve discovered what some of them are, please let us know!
What do you think about the new profile pages?
UPDATE: @SohrobN has let us know that you can now save photos with the Facebook app! Just tap the arrow while viewing a photo and tap Save Photo.
[Free - iTunes link]
PreCentral.net‘s Derek Kessler, who’s rapidly become one of my favorite voices in mobile, has just released the his HP TouchPad review. Widely anticipated due to its super smart, incredibly elegant webOS 3.0 operating system, but uncertain due to Palm’s recent history of middling hardware and tepid launches, it’s been simultaneously heralded as the first real iPad competitor and decried as a me-too device, both before it even hit the shelves. Which is it?
If you already have an iPad that you’re satisfied with or think you’d be better served by an iPad, you probably shouldn’t get a TouchPad. But if you’re looking for a multi-tasking monster with fantastic web browsing, email, a growing app store, and oodles of potential, then you might want to consider the TouchPad.
As expected, the are issues with the software — it’s version one of webOS on tablets after all — and in the sheer quantity of apps available. Time, patches, and the phenomenal webOS developer community can fix all that. Issues with the hardware were also to be expected — Palm has struggled with that for a while — and there’s really no fixing those, just hopes TouchPad 2 gets it better. As to whether or not they “copied” iPad with the form factor, frankly they’d have been stupid not to. The Palm Pre Plus was essentially an iPhone 3GS and that made for easy game porting via the webOS PDK. If HP can get iPad games ported over just as easily, it’s worth any amount of teasing over the spec similarity.
No matter which way you slice it, the HP TouchPad is a contender for second place now in the tablet market, and that’s going to be the first great battle to win, and an important step in proving there’s a market for these things beyond the iPad.
HP has all the pieces in place, they just have the nail the execution. And soon. (Or, like RIM, preferably prior to launch.)
Check out Derek’s review and then come back and let us know what you think — is the HP TouchPad the best contender to date?
A source within the telecom industry explained to Ars that active cables are commonly used at data rates above 5Gbps. These cables contain tiny chips at either end that are calibrated to the attenuation and dispersion properties of the wire between them. Compensating for these properties "greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio" for high-bandwidth data transmission.iFixIt tore down the new ThunderBolt cable and found two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector, one on each side. Additional support chips and resistors were also found for total of 12 chips and "tons" of smaller electronic components.
...the port you'll find in new MacBook Pros and storage devices can actually take an optical cable when those are cost-effective enough to roll out, because Intel will eventually bake the optical transceivers into the cables themselves.Ars, however, suggests that the high cost and complexity of the cabling may be a hurdle to widespread adoption of Thunderbolt.
