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"Ultimately, we are trying to use the technology to enhance the customer experience," [Buffalo Wild Wings director of international business Tim Murphy] said in an interview. "People are familiar with iPads, iPhones and Android tablets, so this would enhance that."The iPad project has seen Buffalo Wild Wings partner with HubWorks Interactive, which offers several different mobile ordering platforms for the iPad along with a case that offers security and protection, a kickstand, a credit card reader, and extended power capabilities including AC power or up to 16 hours of battery life. The company sells basic iPad packages for $750 apiece.
The chain hasn't decided whether to combine purchasing from the device with purely entertainment uses, something it hopes to measure in its tests, Murphy said.
In the first test, while men in a group typically watched a football or hockey game, women in the group would pick up the iPad and launch Facebook, Murphy said. "We have a very captive audience with good sales volume in our restaurants, so we view this iPad as a way for customers to stay connected socially and not have to use their own device."Buffalo Wild Wings continues to explore all options for the iPad in its restaurants, considering integration of mobile advertising to help offset costs and discussing the possibility of using camera-equipped iPad models to allow video chatting at tables.
Hasbro reinvents Lazer Tag for the smartphone generation, lets you live out your Doom-fueled fantasies originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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![Qmadix Bezel Slide-On Cover for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 [Daily deal]](http://cdn.tipb.com/images/stories//2012/02/9729.jpg)
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In today’s fast paced, highly mobile society it is often much easier and cheaper to eat fast food on the go than it is to spend the time and money to east fresher, more healthy meals. MyFitnessPal wants to make the switch to a healthier lifestyle easier by helping you track your calories and activity levels, set your weight-loss goals, and monitor your progress.
Losing weight and getting healthy is not easy. It’s even harder to do alone. But if you’re looking for assistance, putting the MyFitnessPal calorie tracking app on your iPhone (or iPad, it’s universal), is a great way to get keep you going in the right direction, and a great goal to consider for our Mobile Nations Fitness Month.
MyFitnessPal launches and shows you how many calories you can consume
After installing MyFitnessPal you have to enter your personal information. This helps create your calorie goal and intake needs for each day. The first page that launches gives you your calorie goal, and once you start inputting foods and exercise into MyFitnessPal it will calculate your remaining calories available for the day. Directly below this you will see a news feed that displays your updates, as well as updates from any friends you may have added through the app’s social networking feature as well.
Easily add breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to MyFitnessPal
There are a few ways to add food to your diary; the first is simply by clicking the Add to Diary button that appears right next to your remaining calories counter. From there you can either search for the food you are eating, or if there happens to be a barcode available, you can scan it right in. (MyFitnessPal does a good job finding most products.) The food database contains over 1 million entries for things as simple as an onion or slice of cheese to your favorite meal at Outback Steakhouse or the Olive Garden.
View a breakdown of each meal in your daily diary
In addition to logging the food you are taking in, it is equally as important to log any exercise you have completed for that day because that will help ensure that your calorie goal remains accurate. With over 350 different exercises in the application, logging the exercises you complete should take only seconds. Each day you can enter your weight into the application to help you keep track and on the right path. If you have a specialized fitness device, like a Fitbit, MyFitnessPal can interface with that as well.
Monitor your progress with a chart of your daily weigh-in information
Your weight will show in a graph so you can visually see if you are headed in the right direction or not. At the end of each day there is a button to complete logging your food entries for that day, and this will then pop up a message which gives you how much you would weigh in five weeks if you continued to eat and exercise the way you did that day.
In addition to the iPhone app, MyFitnessPal also works on the iPad. The iPhone is ideal for entering data while on the go during the day, but the iPad is nice for looking over and analyzing your progress when you have more time. You can also log anything and everything through the MyFitnessPal website so even if you don’t have your iPhone or iPad handy, you still have a way to stay on track.
MyFitnessPal is is free, the MyFitnessPal account is free, and if you’re dedicated enough to stick with them, the positive effects they can have on your health are priceless. It’s the dedication part that’s really important. You need to be completely honest about what you eat, how much you are working out, etc. If you’re looking to take better control of your weight or your fitness, get MyFitnessPal and get one step closer to a healthier lifestyle.
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While Apple probably wishes they’d really locked down the trademark rights to the iPad name long ago, the folks at Proview Technology in Shenzhen have a prior claim to the name and they’re taking Apple to court over it. They’re asking Apple stop selling the iPad in China (which only went on sale in the area recently), and demand an apology. Proview Shenzhen had registered the trademark in 2001, but their sister company, Proview Taiwan, had sold the rights to the iPad name to a UK firm, even though the Taiwanese company didn’t have rights to the trademark. Despite that, a UK company then sold the rights to Apple, which now counts iPad on their official trademark list. Apple had known about this whole mess, and had sued Proview Shenzhen last year to assert their claim to “iPad”, but had lost the suit. Now it looks like Proview is taking the fight to Apple.
Apple still doesn’t own ipad.com, and with this trademark issue lingering, there’s a clear gap in their IP rights. It’s not like they don’t have enough money to throw at the problem, and that said, odds are slim that this trademark suit will pose any serious roadblock to the advance of iPad in China.
Proview makes outdoor LED lighting, so it’s not like there’s any real competitive overlap here; they probably just want a big fat payoff, and it’s hard to blame them.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the lawsuit’s progress following the initial hearing this month.
Source: China Daily
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One of my favorite navigation apps for the iPhone, Where To?, has been updated to include more pictures, more reviews, and some videos of selected destinations.
Reviews and media are sourced from users and Google. The app features 700 categories of destinations, and more than 2,400 brands (e.g. In-N-Out Burger or Trader Joe's). The app features augmented reality as a US$0.99 option, which uses the camera to superimpose directions over local scenery. The app has added direct links to GPS navigation systems Sygic, Waze, Navmii, Navfree and NAVIGON Urban (German App Store only). The app also supports TomTom, Navigon, MotionX and of course, Google Maps.
This latest version has added support for state National Parks in the US, Canada and Australia. The app itself operates in 10 languages, so it's going to be helpful for users around the globe. I did a drive-around test and found it worked reliably and smoothly. I sent a couple of destinations to my Navigon app, and that worked flawlessly. I think the app is useful in your home town, but really comes into its own when traveling and looking for that special restaurant, hotel, or even the nearest pharmacy or hardware store.
Where To? version 4.1 is a free update for anyone who has version 2 or higher. Owners of version 1.0 will have to buy this latest version if they want the upgrade. The app is $2.99 and the augmented reality feature is another $0.99. Where To? 4.1 requires iOS 4.0 or greater. I've included some screen shots of Where To? in action.
Where To? for iPhone updated with more reviews, pictures, and now videos originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Where To? for iPhone updated with more reviews, pictures, and now videos originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Puzzlejuice adds all kinds of bells, whistles and fun to the "word game" genre. The equally excellent 7 Little Words (free) goes in the opposite direction, boiling wordplay down to its core. It offers just seven words and a series of letters (in groups of two or three at a time) to spell them with.
7 Little Words is one of those games that's super easy to play but fiendishly difficult to master. There are 50 puzzles in each of the game's pack (each with their own set of seven words and grid of letters to choose from), and you have to make guesses for each word from clues like "bunny food" (CA-RR-OTS), or "make dirty" (SO-IL).
It's a "pure" experience, in that there's no timer, no extra points...no points at all, in fact. It's just you, some letters, and the words you need to make with them. 7 Little Words a very "Zen" experience, yet there's a lot of pleasure to be had in sitting down, thinking hard, and hopefully coming up with the words you need.
The game comes with 50 puzzles, and extra packs can be bought for 99 cents each (more have been added since we last looked at 7 Little Words, as well as a new shuffle option). If you like crossword puzzles or just word puzzles at all, 7 Little Words is worth the download for sure. It might frustrate you a little bit (seriously, some of the puzzles will have you forehead slapping when you finally figure them out), but most word game fans like a good challenge anyway.
Daily iPhone App: 7 Little Words will cast a spell on you originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Daily iPhone App: 7 Little Words will cast a spell on you originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Devium Dash Kickstarter project is a replacement stereo system for your car with one big difference. Its brain is your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. This unique in car audio system is currently gaining a lot of interest on Kickstarter for good reason. You simply replace your existing car stereo with the Devium Dash, slot in your iPhone 4 or 4S and you then have access to all your media, hands free Bluetooth calling system and of course satellite navigation.
Toss the CDs, chargers, and FM transmitters and show off your awesome piece of technology. Get your phone out of the cup holder, your pocket, or the unsightly windshield mount. Now there’s a place for everything. Dash, patent pending, is the convergence of the car stereo and your smartphone. Today’s smartphones provide a level of connectivity, accessibility, and usability that has not been possible in the car audio market Dash doesn’t require that you learn a new interface to use your stereo. You already know how to use your phone to access your music, your navigation app, your phone calls, and the incredible number of other apps in your phone’s marketplace.Obviously the downside is that you have to remove your existing in-car entertainment system to fit the Devium Dash. If you are happy enough to do that and the unit is compatible with your car model then installation should be pretty simple. A dedicated app will be available at launch which will enable you to drag shortcuts for your most used apps to a landscape home screen. Devium are also working on a portrait dialler screen; as currently it is only available in landscape.
The Kickstarter project has so far attracted pledges of over $20,000 which is just under the half way mark before it gets funded. It still has 45 days to run so we will keep a close eye on it to see if it makes it.
Source: Kickstarter
Devium Dash – Daily-use Demo from Paul Lizer on Vimeo.
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With iOS 5, Apple introduced a split keyboard mode for the iPad, so we could more easily type with our thumbs when holding the iPad in both hands. If you already use the split keyboard, you know it provides one of the best touchscreen typing experiences on any tablet. But did you know Apple built in “phantom keys” to make typing with the split keyboard even faster and easier?
If you’re not familiar with the split keyboard, it’s easy to enable.
Bonus tip: Once you get the hang of it, you can simply “pinch to zoom in” (like you would to make a photo or website bigger) to split the keyboard, and “pinch to zoom out” (like you would to make a photo or website smaller) to join the keyboard back up again.
It turns out, When using the split keyboard, the empty spaces on the inside edges actually function as if the missing keys were actually there. So, for example, if you want to type ‘H’ you can just tap the empty space next to ‘G’, and your iPad will subsequently output ‘H’ without actually requiring you to tap the key. (And vice-versa.)
This is a great feature for those of us who type based on muscle memory and expect keys to be where we’re used to them being. Most of us don’t have thumbs long enough to reach entirely across an iPad screen, but when we’re typing fast we’re certainly apt to reach a little but, anticipating an extra key to be there.
By making “phantom keys” available, but invisible, Apple provides the best of both worlds. Our eyes see where we should be typing, but the system catches us if our thumbs inadvertently overreach themselves.
It’s thoughtful user interface design like this that’s makes typing on the iPad even faster and easier than it otherwise might be.
Check out the video above to see it in action.
Source: Finer Things in iOS
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The rumors surrounding an Apple’s iTV television don’t seem to be slowing down, and now a report has come out suggesting that two of Canada’s top telecommunications companies, Rogers and Bell, are in talks to provide content for the still-unannounced, unreleased device.
“They’re not closed to doing it with one [company] or doing it with two,” said one source who is familiar with the talks. “They’re looking for a partner. They’re looking for someone with wireless and broadband capabilities.”
According to The Globe and Mail all three companies declined to comment on the matter, as expected. However, a second source claimed that both Rogers and Bell have the Apple television in their labs for testing.
The Globe and Mail also reported on iPhone and iPad based controls, Siri integration, and even Xbox Kinect-style remote gesture keyboards, though the sourcing of that information read more like analyst musings/wishful thinking than solid leaks.
Our living rooms are still a major battleground, with everyone from Apple to Google to Microsoft to Sony vying for the “third screen”, a connected television, to add to the desktop/laptop and phone/tablet experience. However, no one has yet taken a decisive lead.
Steve Jobs famously said in his biography that he “cracked the television interface”, and doing for television what the iPhone did for phones and the iPad for tablets would no doubt be welcome by many consumers who can’t find the shows they want, when they want, on who-knows which box and with what remote any more. However, providing content for an Apple television, especially network programming, sports, and live events, is a huge challenge in a industry run by a multitude of regional cable monopolies.
The iPad has overcome some of this via apps that function like channels — different television networks like ABC, studios like Sony, and sports leagues like MLB all have dedicated apps, some free, some requiring subscription, some requiring proof of existing cable service.
Apple’s current Apple TV set top box, instead of apps, has built-in partner channels including MLB, but no App Store and no way for users to pick and choose which ones they want.
If Apple is, in fact, working on content deals with the likes of Rogers, it sounds like that same partner channel approach might be where we’re headed for the Apple television. That’s great for content, but not for selection.
Source – The Globe and Mail
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It’s hard enough to high quality apps in the App Store these days, what with 500,000+ iPhone and iPad apps to sort through, and copy-cats to contend with, so it’s welcome news that Apple is cracking down on marketing scams that seek to cheat their way to the top charts. Here’s what they just told developers:
Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership. Get helpful tips and resources on marketing your apps the right way from the App Store Resource Center.
This is better for users who want to find great apps and not have to sift through potentially poor quality apps artificial pushed to the top. It’s better for legitimate developers who shouldn’t have to worry about their hard work being overshadowed by illicit marketing scams. And, frankly, it’s better for web sites like iMore who are sick and tired of refusing offers for “expedited” or “pre-scripted” reviews.
Hopefully Apple is serious about this, and serious about revoking developer accounts if they directly or indirectly try to game the system. If that sounds a little harsh, it’s because the situation within the iTunes App Store needs to improve and soon. If Apple can help by cleaning out those who violate the terms by resorting to cheap marketing tricks then all the better.
It doesn’t solve the core problem of app discoverability for users, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
Source – Apple Developers
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In 2010, Apple’s Platform Technologies Group (a subdivision of the CoreOS department) spent some working on a previously-embargoed project to port the Mac OS X Darwin kernel to the ARMv5 chipset architecture — the same family of chipsets that currently powers iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. Does this mean Apple toyed with the idea of Mac OS X iPads, or with MacBook Airs running on ARM?
Here’s a snippet from the project summary:
The goal of this project is to get Darwin into a workable state on the MV88F6281 processor so that other teams can continue their work on this platform. The project has three major milestones:
- Getting the buildsystem into shape, so that it can build the kernel and kexts.
- Building and booting the kernel into single user mode.
- Booting the system into multi-user mode.
The project was made public several months ago. It involved Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and was left for the CoreOS teams to continue. Since Mac OX X 10.7 Lion has since shipped, as have newer generations of iPad and MacBook Air, without any sign of MAC OS X on ARM, it’s unknown if this project is still ongoing or has since been put on the shelf. However, and the author of the paper is now a full-time employee at Apple, working as a CoreOS Engineer.
While some might find the idea of a Mac OS X iPad intriguing, Tablet PC, which put full Microsoft Windows on a tablet, never gained any traction in the market. It, like Mac OS X, was simply not designed for a multitouch user interface.
Microsoft, to their credit, is currently working on Windows 8, which will have both a Windows Phone-like Metro user interface optimized for tablets, and a more traditional Windows 7-like interface for desktops and laptops.
Instead of making MacBook Airs with ARM processors, Apple decided to take iOS software “Back to the Mac instead with OS X 10.7 Lion.
Given Apple’s preference for simplicity, and the huge sales they’ve achieved with iPad, it seems unlikely they’d deviate from their current strategy. Indeed, there has been more speculation of late that Apple would move iOS to the Mac, as opposed to moving the Mac to ARM.
However, Mac OS X once ran on Power PC chips, yet Apple had it secretly running on Intel chips at the same time, and shocked the world one day by making the change. It only makes sense for a company as forward thinking as Apple to have ARM-compatible builds of OS X in the development labs.
Would you hope to see full OS X working on a future iPad? Or a MacBook Air with an ultra-low power ARM processor?
Source: Delfte University of Technology
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