Apple's iPhone emerges as gaming platform
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple's iPhone has emerged as a serious videogame platform, fulfilling the long-held promise of mobile phone gaming and positioning itself as a legitimate competitor to handheld consoles.
The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week was abuzz with plans about games for the iPhone and its WiFi-only cousin, the iPod touch.
With around 30 million devices on the market -- 17 million iPhones and 13 million iPod Touches -- and access to thousands of games at their slightest whim, consumers are buying and playing games by the tens of millions.
Steve Wozniak set to walk down the aisle?
He's a computer genius, he dances and now folks – he does weddings.
Apple magnate Steve Wozniak has gotten super chummy with his "Dancing with the Stars" partner Karina Smirnoff, and it looks like he may play a key role in her upcoming wedding to pro dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
"She said I could walk her down the aisle, and it touched my heart," Wozniak recently told The Insider.
Of course being able to make that walk depends on how well he heels from injuries he's sustained throughout competition on the show. Wozniak is nursing a fractured foot and a pulled hamstring.
But that hasn't stopped the computer genius from giving the dance moves his all and pulling goofy faces to please the crowd.
"He's a little out of his element but has the biggest personality you'll ever meet," Smirnoff has said of "The Woz."
Pros Smirnoff and Chmerkovskiy have said they will marry sometime this year.
"There's so many family members that have a say that we got to try to make sure that everyone will be happy. But we think it will be sometime before the end of this year," Smirnoff told Us Weekly.
Freeverse Answering iPhone's Call to Play
Game development firm Freeverse started on the Mac platform, then branched off to create games for PCs and consoles. Now, however, the company is putting a great deal of focus on iPhone games, making seven titles available in the App Store so far. Games have been an incredibly popular app category for the iPhone since the App Store opened last year.
20 and 24 inch Aluminum iMacs
Apple seems to be happy with releasing iMac updates once per calendar year. The new iMacs replace models that were released 10 months ago, which is an eternity in technology. And before that, there was an 8-month gap between iMac updates. Fortunately, the new iMacs feature significant changes that result in a performance boost.
iTunes 8.1 to include voice rendering of music titles
The iPod shuffle's new voice feature is a great navigation tool for screenless browsing of your music collection. But how does that little device read all of your music titles/artist/genre, etc. to you? That takes a lot of CPU power for a device the size of a tie clip.
Cydia to open jailbroken paid app store
Interesting story here. Cydia, the most popular Jailbroken App repository (Installer.app never really recovered from being late to the iPhone 2.0 ballgame), is planning on having a paid apps store. Apple just recently filed a motion that said it thought jailbreaking was copyright infringement and a DMCA violation so obviously this isn't something Apple would be too happy about. Plus there is that 30% of app cuts and AT&T isnt going to be happy about me buying PDANet either.
Oh, and it isn't just Cydia:
Another small company plans a store called Rock Your Phone for iPhone users who have not yet modified their devices to make it easier to download and buy unauthorized applications. A third start-up is building an online store that specializes in selling adult games for the iPhone.
It will be interesting to see how things play out. A great deal of the appeal of Jailbroken apps is that they are mostly free. On the flip side, would you pay for something that Apple could wipe out in the next firmware update?
Is Largest Asia Reseller in Thailand?
The staff at the iStudio authorized Apple reseller in Bangkok (Thailand) claim their store is the largest Apple-only dealer in southeast Asia, and they may be right. The location is one of 19 stores in the chain, and is located in the Central World shopping mall in central Bangkok. It features an all-glass storefront that spotlights a complete range of Apple’s products. Inside, the brightly-lit store has a stone floor, illuminated wall graphics and wood tables. See photos after the break.
Apple intros new Mac Pro with "Nehalem" Xeon processors
Apple on Tuesday introduced its new Mac Pro workstations using Intel's "Nehalem" Xeon processors and an updated system architecture that delivers twice the performance of the previous model.
Apple updates entire desktop line
Apple updated its entire desktop line Tuesday, including a new Mac mini with Nvidia graphics, upgraded iMac models, and the first Mac Pro update in more than a year. Stay tuned to Macworld for the latest news and analysis on these releases.
PopCap Games has announced that Peggle Nights
PopCap Games has announced that Peggle Nights, the second installment in the popular Peggle series, is now available for Macs. The game, which combines elements of pachinko and pinball, features 60 new adventure mode levels, 60 new challenges, and an all new Peggle master.
Peggle Nights and the original Peggle have been downloaded more than 45 million times and have garnered numerous critical accolades and “game of the year” awards. PopCap also announced the imminent arrival of the second free bonus level pack for Peggle Nights, sporting a “Spring” theme.
Peggle Nights features 60 all-new Adventure mode levels and 60 new Challenge mode hurdles, along with a new “Peggle Master” power-up, new kinds of style shots, achievements, and other special bonuses. The game takes players into the “dream worlds” of each of the eleven Peggle Masters, providing five beautifully rendered and themed levels for each character’s secret dreams and aspirations. Peggle Nights supports downloadable expansion packs, and early next month PopCap will release a free 10-level “Spring” themed bonus level pack, the second free expansion pack to be released for the game.
Requirements:
• Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later
• 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo processor
• 512MB of RAM
• Internet connection is required to register both the download and CD-ROM versions of the game
Peggle Nights carries a retail price of US$19.95 and is available now for download at PopCap's site.
Wi-Fi Standard Changing at Stores
Here’s the AirPort Extreme set-up screen, showing the four configuration possibilities. It seems that Apple wants to move to one of the “802.11n only” modes, which would leave behind certain legacy users who visit the store to browse the Web or check their e-mail.
Practicality of Multi-Touch and an Early PowerBook Multi-Touch Keyboard Design
FingerWorks had even manufactured a Multi-Touch keyboard replacement for Apple's notebooks called "MacNTouch". The MacNTouch product pages remain on FingerWorks.com, although they are not well linked from the main site.
MacBook Airs suffering from bad hinges?
First-generation MacBook Airs may have a fundamental flaw in their hinge construction, accounts suggest. A number of Air owners claim that after several months of use, hinges can become unreasonably loose, sometimes enough for a lid to travel or close completely without any help.
CBS Interactive unveils TV.com for iPhone
Content providers are moving their content directly to the iPhone these days, bypassing iTunes and the other "middlemen". The latest but certainly not the last to do this sort of thing is CBS Interactive with their aptly named TV.com application.
Airphones turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a wireless headset
A new app just hit the App Store that brings some pretty interesting funtionality to Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. Airphones (iTunes link) takes any sound that would be coming out of your computer and streams it to your iPhone or iPod touch and let's you hear the sound through the built in speakers or headset. That is as long as you are on the same wifi network.
Easy and simple, right? It seems to get good ratings from overall happy customers. We like. Anyone want to report back on how well it works?
From the developer:
AirPhones is the next-generation solution to wireless headphones. Now use your iPhone or iPod Touch to listen to any audio from your computer via Wi-Fi. Experience DVD's, desktop TV, web videos & radio, audio books, shared iTunes playlists and podcasts; from across the room, throughout the office or around the house.