XYDO.COM: iPhone App

Facebook once again rumored to be making a phone, this time with iPhone talent

The only thing surprising about rumors that Facebook is once again working on their own smartphone is that they're still rumors -- that Facebook is taking so long to figure out a strategy and execute on it. Now The New York Times is saying they're trying again, and they're doing it with iPhone talent. The company has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, the employees and those briefed on the plans said. Previous attempts at an Android-based phone, rumored to have begun after they hired Android lead Eric Tseng away from Google, seem to have fizzled, and work with HTC never seemed to get anywhere beyond an awkward blue button on even more awkward phones. Now they're reportedly working towards a 2013 release, and doing it by building out their "Buffy" group. One engineer who formerly worked at Apple and worked on the iPhone said he met with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, who then peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones. It did not sound like idle intellectual curiosity, the engineer said; Mr. Zuckerberg asked about intricate details, including the types of chips used, he said. Another former Apple hardware engineer was recruited by a Facebook executive and was told about the company’s hardware explorations. Mobile is the platform for the immediate future. Apple transition to it with brutally elegant efficiency in 2007 with the iPhone. Google pulled an about-face on messenger phones and went all-in on iPhone-style phones with Android shortly thereafter. Palm, Microsoft, and BlackBerry-maker RIM have struggled, and either faltered, just started getting on track, or hope to field competitive offerings later this year. Even Amazon has dipped their foot into the mobile water with the Kindle line. Facebook is the only big player missing from the game. While they are, and likely will continue to, offer apps and integration on other platforms, owning a platform can provide security and opportunity in such a rapidly accelerating market. Just ask Google. “Mark is worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms,” a Facebook employee said. Facebook's Android initiative might have failed because hardware is tough for a software company. Their HTC initiative might have fizzled because partnering splits control. Hiring their own hardware engineers, especially those experienced with Apple and the iPhone, could make a completely Facebook realized smartphone a reality. And if that fails, the New York Times points out, there's always the option to buy HTC... or BlackBerry. A Facebook phone could be an interesting challenge for Apple, given their user base, but also for Google (and their new Motorola acquisition), and for Microsoft who's still struggling to secure Windows Phone as the third option. They've bought Instagram, they've made apps, they own the social graph. It will be interesting to see how they pull all the pieces together, and what they can bring to market. Source: The New York Times

Accessory of the Week: LifeProof case for iPhone

The LifeProof case for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 is simply amazing. It's waterproof, shockproof, and pretty much everything-you-can-imagine-proof. If you're planet got destroyed by an angry red sun, the LifeProof case is what your scientist father would put his iPhone in to rocket it to the safety of earth. Yeah. It's like that. I've got a long history of loving waterproof cases, and putting them through torture tests, but the LifeProof is different. It's not a big bag. It's a terrifically trim, superbly svelte case that at first glance is hard to take seriously. It just looks like a regular case. But it's so much more. First, it's designed to military specifications. That means everyone from Snake Doctor to Solid Snake could carry it on their belt. It's also been drop tested up to 6.6 feet, so not only could it survive all manner of ninja rolls and HALO drops, it could probably survive occasional use as a blunt impact weapon. If you're worried that all that protection comes at a price, don't be. The iPhones ports are covered but they're still accessible when you need them. And if you think defensiveness means drabness, the LifeProof comes in white, purple, pink, and black. What's more, once you're iPhone is safe and sound in a LifeProof case, you can add extra attachments like armbands and bike mounts so you can put that extra protection to good use. Turn the camera on, strap your iPhone into place, and you're an instant action film star. If you work in the military, in law enforcement, in construction, in child-care (!), if you live an active lifestyle and enjoy camping, hiking, extreme sports, extreme climates, or you just want the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your iPhone is safe no matter what you throw at it -- or what you throw it at! -- the LifeProof case is for you. [Ed: It's also currently 15% off at the iMore Store if you use coupon code MEM12! -Rene) $79.99 - Buy now

SimplyUs is the incredibly useful app for couples

Price: Free Rating: ****½ (4.5/5) SimplyUs: iPhone Video App Review Looking for a one-stop app that makes syncing up your couple life a breeze? This week I had a chance to review SimplyUs, an app from IronArk that connects you and your significant other easily, and for free. Let’s find out what’s to love about

Game of the Week: Burnout CRASH! for iPhone and iPad

This Memorial Day weekend is rife with games on sale, but even with the "Because we May" promotion offering up a bunch of options, Burnout CRASH! is our game of the week. It's on sale for $0.99, down from $4.99, and offers a fun, fast-paced destruction derby consistent with the great franchise. You lead your car by pressing the screen down in front of it with the express goal of blowing up as much stuff as possible. Your first crash blocks off traffic, and as more cars pile in, your Crashbreaker meter climbs, allowing you to flick your wreck across the road and explode it next to neighboring buildings. There are three game modes spanning six themed locations and 18 intersections, all with online leaderboards. Dramatic power-ups are available if you cause enough damage or crash the right cars; they're all goofy, including spinning the Pizza of Fortune wheel to win a prize, or calling in an alien UFO to cause some destruction to the neighborhood. In the end, you're scored based on the dollar amount of damage you cause, and earn bonus stars for accomplishing particular tasks in the level, like blowing up particular structures. As you amass stars, you unlock new levels and new cars with varying crashing power and Crashbreaker ability. Burnout CRASH! is the perfect game for players with short attention spans; there's always a lot of explosions, goofy sound effects, snappy one-liners, and seemingly random prizes. It's an entertaining time-waster for sure, especially if you've spent any time with the console Burnout games. I find the bass on the audio maxes out every once in awhile, and the leaderboards, for all of their prominence, aren't particularly interesting if you don't have a lot of friends that play it. No dice on cloud saving or Retina iPad textures, but at least it's universal. $0.99 - Download Now

SAVE 15% on all iPhone and iPad accessories at the iMore Store! Shop now!

The Memorial Day weekend is well underway and while you're getting your vacation on, make sure you get your savings on as well with 15% OFF all iPhone and iPad accessories from the iMore Store with coupon code MEM12! Need help deciding what to get? No problem! If you're going to be hiking, visiting the lake, or going to the beech, you can save on a weather resistant or waterproof case to keep your iPhone or iPad safe from the rain, and even in the pool! If you want to sit outside in the sun and sketch or paint, at home or on vacation, you can save on a stylus pen to make your iPhone or iPad art more natural and detailed than ever. If you want to take even more amazing photographs with your iPhone, be it in your backyard or halfway around the world, you can save on fisheye, wide-angle, and macro photography accessories. If you're going on a trip by plane, train, or automobile, you can save on all car kits, Bluetooth, chargers, and battery cases to make sure you get there safely and with power to spare. This offer is not valid with any other coupon and expires at Midnight PST Monday 5/28/2012. The iMore Store offers Fast Free Shipping on U.S. orders of $50.00 and higher. Don't forget to share this great coupon code with your friends and family! Enjoy this special sale while it last! Have a Happy Holiday!

Expenses Under Control: Financial Planning Made Easy

Price: Free ****~ (4/5) Voices.com: iPhone App Video Review Voices.com requires iOS 4.3 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review. The iPhone app reviews rating: ****~ (4/5)

Nest learning thermostat rolling out soon to Apple Stores nationwide

Apple Stores will soon carry stock of the revolutionary Nest learning thermostat. According to sources, the Nest thermostat is being delivered to Apple Stores nationwide and may go on sale as early as next week. The Nest thermostat has already been given its own Apple part number and is set to be sold at the same price as Nest’s online store at $249.99. Today, a trusted source was able to provide a first hand look at the Nest packaged at an Apple Store today, complete with the part number. Priced at $249.99 (the same as Nest’s price through Nest’s online store), the Nest has a part number of H9279ll/a in Apple’s systems. The Nest was developed by former Apple iPod and iPhone hardware chief Tony Fadell who came up with a new way to imagine your home thermostat -- the Nest Learning Thermostat. It's a touch-controlled system that makes your home energy needs simple and easy to control remotely via an iPhone or iPad app. According to Nest, the thermostat takes roughly a week to pick up on your energy routines and adjusts your temperature accordingly. A display changes colors to red or blue to distinguish between heating and cooling, and the design is very Apple-like. The greatest part about the Nest Learning Thermostat is the iOS app for your iPhone or iPad, letting your remotely adjust Nest's settings and get all the vital information you need on-the-go. If you have been thinking about picking up a Nest learning thermostat, you will soon be able to see one in the flesh at your local Apple Store. Source: 9to5 Mac

Qumarion mannequin input device for intuitive 3D manipulation

Here is one for manga artists and character animators, a posable mannequin input device for intuitive 3D manipulation called Qumarion. The model uses 32 sensors across 16 body joints to translate the statue’s pose to the computer screen simply by bending limbs, and a 120 frames per second sample rate over USB means that poses are mirrored instantly. Each Qumarion comes with a variety of interchangeable hands, a stand, suite of software for capturing mannequin data (with mention of a plug-in for Autodesk 3D Studio Max and Maya modeling tools in the future), and more. All this can be yours for only $850 USD.

App of the Week: Diet Coda for iPad

Panic's ingenious all-in-one FTP, CSS, and Code editing app comes to iPad I bought the original Coda for Mac the minute Panic put it on sale and have used it day-in, day-out ever since. Coming from Macromedia/Adobe's Dreamweaver, it was a breath of fresh air. That won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Panic. They're among the most thoughtful, most talented interface designers outside of Apple. And now they've brought Coda to the iPad. Whimsically named Diet Coda, it doesn't provide all the functionality of it's bigger, older Mac brother, but it does provide almost exactly the functionality needed for an ultra-portable environment like the iPad. Anyone familiar with Coda for Mac will immediately recognize how Diet Coda opens. It has the same, excellent pin-board style site manager, complete with the same terrific new backflip animation Coda 2 received on the desktop. Little touches like that, sprinkled throughout Panic's apps, make you smile no matter how many times you see them, and make what could be a boring, utilitarian UI more than a little delightful. Diet Coda includes all the great visualizations and animations of Coda for Mac, though the lack of in-app security probably means you won't want to save your passwords. Enter your site credentials and you're off to work. Mostly. Diet Coda supports FTP and SFTP in both GUI and Terminal, but sadly iOS doesn't support either OpenVPN or persistent background internet connections which means if, like me, you need to access sites over OpenVPN, you're out of luck. Hopefully Apple adds this capability in the future, or Panic adds it specifically to Diet Coda. It's also worth noting that while Coda 2 now supports iCloud to sync sites between Macs, Diet Coda can't tie into those settings yet to automagically bring them over to the iPad (the way Screens does for VPN, for example). Hopefully they'll add that in the future, if for no other reason that to save time re-entering a dozen or so sites. Lastly, since there's no per-app security in iOS, and Panic hasn't offered a PIN or password system, security paranoid users like myself won't want to let Diet Coda save any passwords. That does make it less convenient, and for strong passwords will typically require the use of a separate password manager app like 1Password or DataVault. Once in, you can browse your server-side directories, pick the files you want to work on, and open them up in Diet Coda. Easily browse for files on the server and open anything you want to edit right in Diet Coda. The file editor enjoys a dedicated keyboard row with useful functions like undo and arrow keys, and symbols like comments, angle brackets, etc. It also has excellent syntax highlighting and even code completion. And their version of Apple's text editing loupe -- a full on horizontal zoom bar -- is fantastically functional. A handy zoom bar lets you edit more comfortably at a large size. Changing between files is as easy as tapping the bright purple open file counter button at the top right, which reveals a variation of the awesome new tab bar from Coda 2 for Mac. All your open files are shown, with thumbnails, and there's a tab for Sites and for Terminal as well. Sublime. Just like Coda 2 for Mac, it's easy to jump back through the file path, and switch documents, sites, and even access the Terminal via the tabs. A handy breadcrumb trail in the top bar lets you quickly jump back to grab more files from anywhere in the current path, and a quick view icon lets you preview what you're working on in a built-in web view. (And for those who also use Coda 2 on the Mac, Diet Coda can serve as a separate preview screen.) Syntax highlighting, code snippets, an extended keyboard, and more making editing your web files not just a breeze, but an enjoyable breeze. There's terrific code snippet support, with global, site, and mode options, the latter of which is pre-populated with all the basics. There's find and replace, and options to manually set syntax mode, line ending type, and encoding format' Once you're done editing, the big green checkmark button lets you save, or if you hold it down, save or duplicate. And then you're out, as quickly and easily as you were in. The good Fantastic interface Outstanding feature set Can serve as web preview for Coda 2 for Mac The bad No app-wide master password No iCloud sync with Coda 2 for Mac The conclusion It's not the same experience as working in a multiple window environment like the Mac, where you can drag and drop and do all sorts of other, powerful, productive things. But for working on your iPad, in the context in which you would be working on your iPad, it's fantastic. For quick fingered bug fixes on-the-go, or for Bluetooth keyboard-power code sprints on the road, it's darn near perfect. Seriously, if you do any web dev work, go buy it before I run out of superlatives. 19.99 - Download now

TinyTap Launches Free iPad App – Create Educational Games for Kids

TinyTap, Moments Into GamesDeveloper: yogev shellyPrice: freeDownload from the App StoreUser Ratings: TinyTap, Moments Into Games 1.0 allows parents and their kids the opportunity to turn the moments they share together into personal educational games. Creating a game is super easy - add a photo, record some questions, trace the answers and you're ready to play! Every time your kids plays a game, they will hear the voice of someone they love playing with them. In addition, any games you create can easily be shared with your loved ones or with the world. Families, Kids, and Teachers: Families can create personal and fun games from everyday photos and family events. For parents educational games. It's the iBooks Author for your little ones. Educators will also benefit from TinyTap. With scoring built into the app, you can track your students progress and the easy to use platform lends itself well for creating lesson plans and activity books for teachers to use the in classroom. Teachers and caretakers can utilize this simple and powerful platform to come up with new ways to personalise their lesson plans and create activities to fit each child's individual needs. (more...)

Celebrate the Release of Play Zone and Win iTunes Gift Cards

Play ZoneDeveloper: ICON, LLCPrice: $0.99Download from the App StoreUser Ratings: To celebrate its launch, the developers behind Play Zone are holding a Grand App Launch Party hosted by the renowned Smart Apps For Kids site. Smart Apps For Kids is a resourceful app review site with a unique perspective. iTunes Gift Cards will be given away in celebration of the app launch. Play Zone is an educational game app focusing on developing kids' minds in a visually-appealing environment. Play Zone immerses your young learner in the zone of 4 inspiring role models: Princess, Doctor, Athlete, and Fire Fighter. Once you enter his or her zone, each character greets you with a dance and presents 6 fun and educational activities to choose from: (more...)

Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad review

The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad is slick, sleek, eminently usable and incredibly portable Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover is a new implementation of the popular Bluetooth keyboard peripheral for iPad. When on the go, it can be stowed right on your new iPad or iPad 2, just like an Apple Smart Cover, and when in use it can provide a productivity boost for long form writing. But does ultra-portability put a dent in mobile productivity? The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad is the sleekest, most sophisticated Bluetooth keyboard we've tested to date. It does add some bulk and some weight -- it is a keyboard, after all -- but given the Apple-esque aluminum shell and high quality plastic iterior and keys, it's remarkably svelte. Included in the box is the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad itself, along with a pamphlet, and a micro USB cable so you can plug it into a Mac or Windows PC, or a power adapter, to charge. Like a Smart Cover, the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover attaches to your iPad 2 or New iPad magnetically and protects the screen (and keys) while closed. The aluminum matches nicely with a naked iPad casing, and wears well. The hinge is plastic instead of metal, but seems strong enough. (Metal would have been nicer.) Also like a Smart Cover, it will automatically sleep your iPad when closed. Carrying it around when closed, it looks and feels like two iPads secured face-to-face. When closed, the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover looks like another iPad, secured face-to-face, so you have complete access to ports, and to Bluetooth power and pairing. When you're ready to work, opening the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover turns on your iPad. Unlike a laptop, however, you have to remove your iPad from the magnetic hinge and reposition it in the magnetic slot. (There's also no trackpad.) While you could place your iPad in portrait orientation, and it will hold it, the Ultrathin is designed for landscape use. Pairing is simple, with no pin required. After switching it on and tapping a few times in Settings, you're fit to type. Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover doesn't make for a full sized keyboard like you'll find on a MacBook Air. It's closer to a small netbook keyboard. However, the keyboard is done in the current Apple chicklet style, so while the scale is smaller the feel is not dissimilar. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover doesn't provide as much typing service as the full-sized keyboard on the MacBook Air, but does have a remarkably similar design and feel. Unlike some other Bluetooth keyboard for iPad, the Logitech Ultrathin doesn't include a set of dedicated function keys. There is a dedicated Home key, but otherwise a Function key modifier lets you use the number keys to send commands like Spotlight Search, Switch language, show/hide the virtual Keyboard, increase Text Selection by one word to the left or right, Cut, Copy, or Paste, Play/Pause music, Mute volume, increase or decrease volume, or Lock or un-Lock your iPad. There are also alt/option, ctrl, cmd, and arrow keys, and the iPad supports a lot of commond text editing commands and coventions, allowing you to type fairly closely to how you would on a traditional personal computer. Logitech promises a battery life of 6 months, based on 2 hours of usage a day. That translates to 1.5 months at 8 hours a day. Since the Ultrathin Keyboard hasn't been on the market long enough to test those claims, we'll have to revisit that part of the review at a later date. Suffice it to say, it will last a good while under normal usage. Simply slide your iPad into the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover's magnetic slot and you're ready for action. The good Thin, light, and georgous looking Excellent typing experience Smart Cover-like design is both ultra-portable and protective The bad No dedicated function key row The conclusion I've used the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for going on a week now, mostly for pounding out iMore articles using Elements. (And yes, I used it to write this very review.) There are cases that let you use computer keyboard, like the Origami and Apple keyboard combo, and there are keyboards that are integrated into more traditional style cases, like the Adonit Writer. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover isn't either of those things. If you're looking for a ultra portable, ultra stylish, ultra functional Bluetooth keyboard for your iPad, one that's as well designed as it is built, then look no further -- the Logitech Ultrathin Keybord Cover is it. 98.95 - Buy now

InfoShell introduces WakeUpper 1.0 for iOS – Talking Alarm Clock

WakeUpperDeveloper: Sergey GevorkyanPrice: $0.99Download from the App StoreUser Ratings: InfoShell is pleased to announce the release of WakeUpper 1.0, its new talking application for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. WakeUpper is an easy-to-use alarm clock that runs in background mode and voice pronounces the weather. WakeUpper displays the present state of the weather in the users chosen city, gives recommendations about what to wear, and even wishes hello in the Russian or English language after the alarm clock stops. Imagine that you woke up and the phone tells you the weather outside, recommends what to wear and able to wish you a nice day. Nothing will distract you from listening to a pleasant woman's voice pronouncing the weather, because wakeupper has a simple and intuitive interface that is easy to use. After alarm clock stop, a pleasant women's voice, depending of settings, reports: (more...)

Tharle Games releases Animal Shift HD 1.0 – Free iPad Game

Animal Shift HDDeveloper: Tharle Games Private LimitedPrice: freeDownload from the App StoreUser Ratings: Tharle Games today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of Animal Shift HD 1.0, its new kids gaming title for iPad. Fun for all ages, Animal Shift is fun, learning and delightful game. Enjoy stunning graphics and animations. Drag animals from bottom white row into matching empty shape in any of the top colored rows. Complete the rows within time to keep moving ahead in the game. You can even discard any of animal shapes and can get new ones with some points decreased. Bring yourself or your child or your parents to this match making world, featuring two modes: (more...)

Jailbreak, app piracy, and the true cost of theft

Now that the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak is available for the iPhone 4S, new iPad, and older devices, the subject of jailbreak in general is getting a lot of attention again, and with it, the dark side of jailbreaking. It seems whenever someone wants to attack the very concept of jailbreak, one of the first salvos unleashed is app piracy. The sad, ugly truth is that those attacks are made possible because some people who jailbreak do so mainly or entirely to get "free" apps. And the sadder, uglier truth is that there's no such thing as "free". Everything has a cost. Even and especially theft. We're going to use the words "theft" and "steal" here instead of piracy because that's what we're talking about. Steve Jobs once raised a pirate flag at Apple as a symbol of their counterculture and ideals, and the jailbreak community has embraced that spirit. By no means has the jailbreak community embraced theft. Both iMore and Mobile Nations have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to even the discussion of piracy. We place an incredibly high value on developers and the apps they make, and don't want to play any part, directly or indirectly, in disseminating information that hurts developers, the iOS platform, and the legitimate jailbreak community. Likewise, prominent jailbreak developers have gone out of their way, numerous times, to distance themselves from app theft and ask those using their software not to steal apps. There's a reason for that. App theft is not a victimless crime. It hurts the iOS platform, it hurts iOS developers, and because of that, it ultimately hurts iOS users. Stealing apps isn't free. It comes with a very real cost. Getting the excuses out of the way For years people have been copying CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray movies, games, and anything else they could get their hands on. Ever since media became copyable, people have been copying it. Some have applied philosophical wrappers around it -- that all bits should be free. Others think that since the original version remains, copies don't equate to theft -- you're not taking it away from anyone else. Others justify their actions based on the hostility often displayed towards users by traditional media companies. The law does allow for copying in some situations, in some jurisdictions. It sometimes allows for copying to make a backup or change format, for example ripping a CD to iTunes or copying iTunes music to a disk. But none of them make allowances for theft. Another common excuse is availability and price -- if content could only be bought immediately, and at a fair cost, there'd be no content theft. Game of Thrones is the most common current example. HBO won't release it for sale for months, so users go elsewhere to get it. If HBO would only put it on iTunes, Amazon, etc. in a timely manner, the argument goes, no one would be going elsewhere. Well guess what -- in almost all cases, the App Store and apps do just that. And not only that, apps are incredibly inexpensive by any reasonable standard. Paid apps are often $0.99 and most iPhone apps top out at $4.99 with very few exceptions. In most cases they're not only less than a cup of coffee or a movie, but substantially less. Also, Apple allows users to re-download purchased apps. If you deleted an app by accident, it stopped working right, or you got a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you have the ability to re-download your content without having to re-purchase anything. Your purchases are tied to your iTunes ID, not a specific device. Apple even allows you to authorize content on up to 5 computers and, when it comes to apps, practically as many iOS devices as you'd like. Easily available, cheaply and fairly priced, and automatically backed up. That removes many of the rationalizations and justifications. Note: There are some regions that don't support the App Store, or specific parts of the App Store, due to local policies on rating requirements or other licensing issues. In those particular cases, in those particular places, stealing apps may seem like the only way for these users to obtain App Store apps or games. This problem typically arises in countries that don't carry the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, in areas where iTunes payments are difficult or challenging, or where Apple is simply not allowed to provide a legitimate service. Still there are legitimate workarounds, like using a U.S. App Store account and loading it with gift cards. If you want to support developers, you'll find a way. The cost to app developers When you jailbreak to steal apps you're essentially taking money out of someone's hand, whether it's an independent developer or a development company. App development takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Apps can and do cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop. That means every sale is important and can make all the difference to a developer -- the difference between continuing an app or canceling it, making payroll or not making it, feeding their family or not feeding them. If recent statistics are accurate, almost 60% of developers don't break even on costs when developing and executing an app. These costs typically involve marketing, development, graphic design fees, software licensing, and anything else that goes into submitting a fully polished app to the App Store. These costs don't stop once the app is submitted to the App Store. If the app uses push notifications or has a web server back end, that costs money. Sometimes a lot of money. If a developer wants to provide technical support to their users, a service we've all come to expect, that's also a lot of money. There are considerable recurring costs for any development team that plans on supporting their app and updating it regularly. Making, maintaining, supporting, and updating an app is incredibly expensive. And there's no promise every developer will ever get all that money back. That's the cost to developers, and to users who may get less apps developed or updated because of it. The cost to Apple Apple owns the iOS platform. Anything that hurts developers hurts Apple. To that end, Apple has tried to implement services such as in-app purchases and iAds so developers can keep prices down and still earn a living. Yet there's more Apple can and should do. There have been several developers who have reported seeing more players active on Game Center than have actually purchased their game via the App Store. Sometimes by a factor of 10 or more. There needs to be a way to shut stolen apps out of Game Center so there's less incentive to use the stolen versions of games. iTunes knows which apps we've bought. If a game isn't on our purchased list, it shouldn't work in Game Center. That removes the ego gratification of leader boards and the fun of multiplayer unless and until a legitimate copy of an app is purchased. The same could be done with iCloud for non-game apps. If an app isn't on our purchased list, it doesn't sync, it doesn't back up. I'm not pretending to know how complicated such a system would be to deploy, or how much it would disincentivize app theft, but it doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility. The more popular an app or game is, the higher the likelihood it will be stolen, and the less money a developer will make from it. If developers find they can't make enough money, they'll stop developing those popular apps. That not only hurts users who want great software, but it hurts the platform. That's the cost to Apple. The cost to jailbreak's reputation I've been jailbreaking since iOS 1.x and I've never once stolen an app. For myself and many others out there, jailbreak is a tool to add functionality to our iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and iPods -- functionality that Apple won't or hasn't give us stock. I actually think I've spent almost as much money on jailbreak apps as I have stock apps. Yet even though many jailbreakers don't steal apps, the conception that jailbreak is a gateway to app theft is impossible to escape. I've had people come to me for help with their iPhone, people that don't even know how to use iCloud, but who know all the ins and outs of app theft. They can't be bothered to back up their own data but they'll spend hours and hours figuring out how to screw a developer out of $0.99 or $4.99. And they cost jailbreak its reputation. They enable jailbreak to be called a tool for app theft instead of a breeding ground for innovation. They enable those who would like to see jailbreak made illegal to couch their self-interest in the flag of criminal justice. That's the cost paid by the jailbreak community, and by those who jailbreak for legitimate reasons. The cost to users I'm not here to give anyone a lecture on morals or ethics. If you're stealing apps, one article probably won't change your mind. Maybe you already know that you're costing developers money, that you're tarnishing the reputation of the jailbreak community, and maybe even that you're hurting the iOS platform. Perhaps you've justified it to yourself by saying developers are rich and you're copying not stealing, or you don't care about the jailbreak community, or that Apple has so much money nothing could ever hurt iOS. But what about us? We're all connected. If you're stealing apps it's because you want apps. Keep stealing them, and the quality and quantity of apps will eventually diminish. If you're jailbreaking, you need the jailbreak community to keep releasing tools for jailbreak. Keep using jailbreak to steal apps and either laws using you as an excuse, or jailbreak developers fed up with how you're misusing their tools will stop providing them. And all of this is dependent on Apple not figuring out a way to shut it all down or make it so time consuming that it might as well be shut down. I'd like to envision a strong future for jailbreak and for stock iOS. Stealing apps is simply the right way to get all the wrong attention, and to hurt everything you enjoy. On the other hand, buying the apps you like rewards developers for their hard work and helps ensure they can continue to update those apps, and make more of them, now and into the future. It shows the world that jailbreak is about adding functionality and not stealing money. And it shows Apple that their time and attention is better spent being inspired by jailbreak rather than shutting it down. Losing apps, losing jailbreak tools, and ultimately losing jailbreak is the cost to users. Conclusion For years we've been clamoring for great content, readily available and priced fairly. With the App Store, we have it. The best defense against accusations that jailbreak is all about app theft is simply not to steal apps. The best way to get more great apps is simply to buy the great apps we have today. There's no such thing as free. Even theft has its price. And we can all choose not to pay it.

Fantastic Journey: How High Can You Fly?

Price: $0.99 ***½~ (3.5/5) Fantastic Journey: iPhone App Written and Video Review Here at the iPhone App Review, there’s nothing we like more than a good challenge! And no, we aren’t being sarcastic. We like anything that makes us think twice, try harder, and attempt to go for that bigger high score. All of

AirParrot: Mac OS X hits the Big Screen

With the recent announcement of OS X Mountain Lion, Apple decided to bring AirPlay Mirroring functionality to the Mac. While that’s exciting to look forward to down the road, an alternative app, AirParrot, has come out of the woodwork promising to be even better than Apple’s own solution. Does AirParrot stand a chance against Mountain Lion or should you just wait until that latter’s summer release? Read on! Overview You can customize many of the features within AirParrot The promise of AirParrot is very simple – as the developer puts it, “your Mac’s screen, on your AppleTV”. To accomplish that goal, AirParrot uses some AirPlay hackery, which generally works pretty well. Since AirPlay works over wifi, a strong, preferably 802.11 N connection is a prerequisite. Within the settings of that app you’ll find some reasonably robust controls, including options to control underscan, video quality, frame rate, and resolution. In addition, AirParrot gives you three ways to output content to your AppleTV, which really make it stand out from the crowd. Here’s a quick overview of each: Mirroring – this is your standard fare, and comparable to what Apple is releasing with Mountain Lion. It displays whatever is on your Mac’s screen in an exact copy (hence, mirroring). Unless your Mac’s screen is running at 720p or 1080p, the image won’t fill the full screen. This is a good choice for giving presentations or demos where you need to broadcast your screen. Extended Desktop – this basically turns your AppleTV into a second monitor for your Mac. Your AppleTV will even show up as a second display in System Preferences allowing you to adjust position, resolution, etc. Moreover, if you set the resolution correctly, the image will fill the entire screen. This is a great solution if you want to do work on your Mac and watch a video on your TV. Specific App – this is a bit of a beta-esque feature. It allows you to send an individual app to your AppleTV in fullscreen. You can’t minimize the app of your choice, and while it will still work if you pull the focus away from the app, your mouse will still be overlaid on the screen, so you should remember to disable the mouse cursor in AirParrot’s settings. This also works well for watching video or just putting an auxiliary app on the big screen. You also have the ability to stream audio to your AppleTV, which is a nice value-add for anyone with a good home theater setup, although there’s no audio only option, which would be nice. All things considered, AirParrot is pretty well feature-packed for only $10. Limitations and Performance AirParrot works in the Menu Bar Despite it’s lengthy feature-set, AirParrot is still limited in a few areas. First of all, performance leaves something to be desired. My Core i5 Macbook Pro with an SSD and 8GB of RAM even had trouble powering AirParrot alongside basic apps like a web browser or video player. While running AirParrot, my system became laggy with tasks as simple as text entry. Unfortunately, using AirParrot to watch a Hulu video on my AppleTV while browsing the web on my Macbook only was an acceptable experience at medium-to-low performance settings. Luckily, audio was pretty well in sync throughout the video. In short – if don’t mind just hard-wiring your Mac to the TV, you’ll get a far better experience. That being said, if you value the cordless experience as I do, you should be ready and willing to overlook the decreased performance and video quality. As I mentioned before, there’s no way to stream audio only, which would have made the app pretty killer. AirParrot is also a bit quirky, in my time with the app I was consistently annoyed by the fact that you can’t connect-on-startup, meaning that you’ll have to do some configuration, however minimal, before you’ve got video on your AppleTV. All-in-all, though AirParrot’s features outweigh it’s limitations. Comparison to Mountain Lion Whenever an operating system update comes along, a developer’s worst fear is that the functionality of their app will become integrated into the system. Unfortunately for the developers of AirParrot, it would seem that Apple has done just that with their announcement of AirPlay mirroring in OS X Mountain Lion. In my time with Mountain Lion I found that Apple’s own AirPlay Mirroring functionality surpassed that of AirParrot in both quality and performance. Moreover, setup is drastically more user friendly in comparison to AirParrot. Nonetheless, you shouldn’t be prepared to relegate AirParrot to the garbage-bin. In the short term, AirParrot is available right now versus a summer release of OS X Mountain Lion. In addition, at only $10 it’s still cheaper and easier than performing an OS upgrade. Looking forward, though, there’s still a place for AirParrot in the market. Since the app offers the ability to extend your display as well as mirror a specific app, many people will still find it infinitely more useful than Apple’s own solution. So while many people won’t need the extended functionality of AirParrot, there’s no reason to believe that it’ll be going away any time soon. Wrap-Up When I bought my AppleTV a few months ago, AirParrot was the app I was most looking forward to using. The dream of watching Hulu on the big screen so seamlessly seemed almost to good to be true, and while AirParrot’s performance does leave something to be desired, I’m still largely in love with the app. Of course, if you don’t mind only being able to mirror your display, waiting for Mountain Lion isn’t a bad idea, but for those of us who want to take full advantage of the awesome trio that is Mac OS X, AirPlay, and the AppleTV – AirParrot is well worth the nominal $10 price of admission.

A rare look at the iPhone 4S assembly line at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory

A new video has surfaced that gives us an extremely rare look at the iPhone assembly line within a Foxconn factory. Seeing one of these lines in action is a very rare occurrence as Apple is well known for keeping its production processes and products secret. The video is shot in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant where over seventy percent of Apple’s iPhones are now made. The video which is provided by iFeng, shows a Chinese reporter with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou taking a tour around the extensive factory. The tour starts in a helicopter to give an idea on the sheer size of this huge factory. It covers 5.6 square kilometers (2.2 Square miles) with more expansion planned and employs around 115,000 workers. The factory part of the tour starts off in the iPhone 4S production line where you can see the iPhone 4S frame and motherboard. The motherboard line is 148 meters long and rolls out 10,000 units a day. The tour continues into the camera assembly area which is all done in a clean room environment. You can watch the video below, the dialogue is all in Chinese and we don't have a translation yet. Source: TNW via MIC Gadget

FeedsWire: Instant News At Your Fingertips

Price: Free Rating: ****~ (4/5) FeedsWire: Written iPhone App Review Want to have all your favorite news and social networking updates instantly at your fingertips? Then FeedsWire from developer MyClickapps.com LLC is the perfect app for you. It is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation),

Apple re-releases iOS 5.1.1 update for iPhone 4 GSM units only

Apple has released a new build of iOS 5.1.1 for the GSM iPhone 4.

Men in Black 3 Review

Men in Black 3 Review By Rob Rich on May 25th, 2012 Our Rating: :: WE'LL TAKE IT FROM HEREUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPadGameloft delivers a surprisingly awesome free-to-play management game based on a beloved series of films and graphic novels. Developer: Gameloft Price: FREE Version: 1.0.0 App Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Gameplay Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars Playtime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Replay Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.06 out of 5 stars It’s hard not to expect the worst from a freemium movie tie-in game. There’s just so much potential for things to go wrong. Fortunately things went right for Men in Black 3. Very, very right. As soon as the initial loading is done players are thrust into the boots of a MIB rookie. Agent J (or at least a somewhat reasonable facsimile) is present to direct them through most of the tutorial stuff like fighting aliens, neuralizing citizens, and managing headquarters. Much like other genre offerings structures must be built and managed to earn cash, heal between missions, research new tech, etc. But playing Where Will This Room Fit is only a part of Men in Black 3. The other parts are comprised of investigating various happenings around New York (both in 2012 and 1969), combating hostile aliens in turn-based combat, and recruiting/utilizing MIB agents for special missions. Seeing as Men in Black 3 is a Gameloft game I feel compelled to mention that I was thrilled to see it takes up less than two-thirds of my iPhone’s storage space. In fact, it takes up next to no room at all (just under 90 MB). It might sound callous but most of their games are so big I can’t actually keep them for long, so something like this is a rare treat for me. For everyone else who doesn’t care about rationing memory, it’s still a very well put-together game. Everything features the slick style we’ve all come to expect from MIB facilities and gear, exploration and combat do a good job of keeping the management aspects from becoming tedious, and hiring new agents recalls a few of those old X-COM feelings. As impressed as I am, I wouldn’t mind having the ability to adjust the camera distance. The view feels just a tad too far away from everything for my liking, making characters and aliens seem almost insignificantly small. Floating icons ensure that tapping the correct person, place, or thing isn’t an issue, but it would be nice to get in closer to see a little more detail. Conversely I wouldn’t mid seeing a little less of the “OMG THEY WERE IN THE MOVIE!!!” characters. Not that I don’t think Agents J and K and friends aren’t awesome, I just got sick of them getting in my face so often. Granted this doesn’t happen as often once the tutorial is completed but they can still be somewhat overbearing. It might be heavy on the exposition and light on the camera control, but this is one solid free-to-play that usually always has something for players to do. Being the boss of a secret organization created to deal with extra-terrestrial activities sounds like a fantastic job, and thanks to Men in Black 3 I’m even more inclined to believe it. Men in Black 3Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPadBuy Now: FREEReleased: 2012-05-23 :: Category: GamesApps mentioned in this post: Men in Black 3About: Men in Black 3 Review is a post from 148Apps

Forums: Features you want for iOS6, Absinthe 2.0 jailbreak, Streaming music services

Found an interesting article you want to share with iMore? Have a burning question about that feature you just can't figure out? There is ALWAYS more happening just a click away in the forums. You can always head over and join in the conversation, search for answers, or lend your expertise to other members of our community. You check out some of the threads below: Absinthe 2.0 is out!!! Restore from backup problem Siri on 4S - How to manually add relationship data to Contacts Anyone thinking of switching from Spotify to Sony's Music Unlimited? New iOS 6 & Old Lion? What features do you want to see in iOS 6? If you're not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!

MyMusicCloud’s Cross-Compatible Solution Streams Music to All Your Devices

MyMusicCloudDeveloper: TriPlay IncPrice: freeDownload from the App StoreUser Ratings: If you're the type who lives life with a custom soundtrack of personalized playlists, streaming music over the cloud is the best thing since the iPod put 5,000 songs in your pocket. As any music lover can attest, once your collection is over a few gigs of data, it becomes impossible to store on your mobile device. Life becomes a daily jumble of playlists and sorting in order to make sure you have the right songs with you at all times. MyMusicCloud is a cloud-streaming service that promises to make life easier — and more audio-friendly — by syncing your music collection so it's always available no matter which device you happen to be using at the time. Really. Any device. The feature that differentiates MyMusicCloud from services like Apple's iCloud, Google Music or Amazon's Cloud Player is that MyMusicCloud is cross-compatible. It works with Macs, PCs, iPhone, iPad as well as mobile devices using Android, BlackBerry and Ovi. (more...)

Google search for iPhone review

The Google Search app for iPhone app was recently updated with a complete redesign that makes searching on Google a rather pleasant experience. It features a very stylish and snappy UI that's bound to impress anyone who uses it. The home page of Google is very clean and Google-esque with barely off-white background and the Google search field directly in the center. Along the top of the screen you'll see what account you're logged into and find access to settings. On the bottom of the screen you'll see icons for Apps, Voice, and Goggles. The apps section lets you access all the Google Apps on the web: Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Google+, News, Reeder, Photos, YouTube, Translate, Offers, Tasks, and Blogger. You can also find a list of other apps that Google has available in the App Store with direct links to download. The Voice icon lets you perform a voice search. Just speak what you'd like to search for, and Google Search will type it into the search field for you! It's been extremely accurate in my experience. Google Goggles is a neat feature that performs a search based on a photo you took. For example, if you want to look up a book, just take a photo of the cover with Goggles and Google will find it for you. As you type into the search field, Google will automatically display popular search terms. If you see the one you want, just tap it instead of typing it completely out -- it's a huge time saver. When you perform the search, the results will be displayed in a similar fashion as on the web and Mobile Safari. Along the bottom of the screen you choose what kind of search you'd like to perform (web, images, places, news, etc…), but as you scroll down, the controls disappear. Google refers to this as auto full screen. As you scroll up, the controls will reappear. It's very cool. When you tap on a result, the webpage will open in a tab on top of your results and a very thing blue line will progress underneath the tab while the page loads. Auto full screen works on web pages as well. When the controls are displayed, you can navigate between pages, refresh the page, open in Safari, share via email, or perform a word search on the page. When doing a search, each appearance of the word will be placed in a yellow box. You can either scroll through the webpage to find each instance of the word, or tap the arrows next to your search to jump to the next/previous time it appears. Search for images with Google Search is absolutely gorgeous. The photos are displayed as a collage. The collage is separated into distinct rows, but not all the rows are the same height. Each row will contain anywhere between 1 and 3 images in their original crop ratio. I think this is much more interesting than showing each photo cropped as a square. The good Beatuiful design Extremely fast Voice search is very accurate Image searches are stunning Web access to all Google Apps Universal for iPhone and iPad The bad Can't have more than one tab The conclusion I never used to use Google Search for iPhone, but now I find myself using it quite often. The experience is much better than Safari -- and it's super fast! Free - Download Now

How to jailbreak iOS 5.1.1 on your iPhone 4S, new iPad, and more with Greenpois0n Absinthe

If you've been waiting for a iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak you're in luck. Greepois0n Absinthe 2.0 was just released and you can now enjoy an untethered jailbreak on your iPhone 4S, new iPad, and several other iOS devices. If you've never used Greenpois0n before, that's okay. Hit the jump for a walkthrough! Back up your data Before running any jailbreak tool you should always back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch just in case something goes wrong. So make sure you have either a recent iCloud backup or iTunes backup before proceeding to the actual jailbreak process. If you aren't sure how to perform a backup, you can check out our guides: How to perform an iCloud backup on iOS 5 or higher How to perform a backup via iTunes Update to iOS 5.1.1 You can either update your software via an OTA software update or via iTunes if you haven't already updated to iOS 5.1.1. How to update your iOS software over the air (requires iOS 5 or higher) How to update your iOS software via iTunes Jailbreak your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch First download Greenpois0n Absinthe 2.0 to your computer from our downloads section. It is available for Mac, PC, and Linux. Next, install the program and open Absinthe with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch plugged into your computer.Click the Jailbreak button to begin the process.This process may take a while to complete so you'll have to be a little patient. Mine took about 6 minutes total. Your device may say Restore in Progress, that's okay. When you see the message Done, enjoy! on your computer you can go ahead and unplug your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. You're done! Cydia will be on your Home screen and you're good to go! If you've never jailbroken before, this is a super easy tool to start with. If you have jailbroken before, you'll appreciate how easy this one is compared to previous tools. If you do happen to run into problems or need help, check out our jailbreak help and discussion forums via the link below. Additional Resources Best jailbreak apps for new iPhone users IntelliscreenX vs LockInfo: which should you get? Messages+ vs BiteSMS:which should you use? iMore jailbreak help & discussion forums

Apple Stores to Sell Nest Thermostat [iOS Blog]

Apple Retail Stores will sell the Nest thermostat, according to a report from iLounge. The Nest is the brainchild of Tony Fadell, one of the co-creators of the original iPod. A Wi-Fi enabled thermostat that learns from the user and promises significant energy savings, not to mention a much greater ease of use than traditional "smart" thermostats. The thermostat will be sold for $249, the same price as on the Nest web store. Nest has also expanded its distribution to Lowe's.

Stock-holding Apple employees to enjoy dividends too

Not too long ago, Apple announced that they would be dishing out $2.65 per share to regular Apple stockholders, but even those within Apple that own restricted stock units will be getting a little something. By way of a securities filing, Apple has announced that those with RSUs (which aren't normally eligible for dividends) will get dividend equivalents, though with all of the same vesting periods, taxes, and other restrictions as usual. Interestingly enough, Apple CEO Tim Cook has declined to participate in the dividend equivalents, which would have netted him around $75 million. The idea here is that Apple wants to make sure that employees remain properly incentivized by stock options, and have just as much of a vested interest in Apple's success as any other shareholder. As for Tim Cook turning down $75 million (before taxes, mind you), the gut reaction is to slather on praise, but considering he just cashed in a whole bunch of stock, money probably isn't a top concern right now, and the good will towards his employees is invaluable. Source: MacRumors

Celebrate Memorial Day Weekend and SAVE 15% on all iPhone and iPad accessory purchases!

The Memorial Day weekend is here and the iMore Store wants to celebrate with you, and offer a very special 15% off all iPhone and iPad accessories! Simply enter the Coupon Code mem12 at checkout, under billing info, to have the 15% discount applied to your entire cart of accessories! If you're going to be hiking, visiting the lake, or going to the beech, you can save on a weather resistant or waterproof case to keep your iPhone or iPad safe from the rain, and even in the pool! If you want to sit outside in the sun and sketch or paint, at home or on vacation, you can save on a stylus pen to make your iPhone or iPad art more natural and detailed than ever. If you want to take even more amazing photographs with your iPhone, be it in your backyard or halfway around the world, you can save on fisheye, wide-angle, and macro photography accessories. If you're going on a trip by plane, train, or automobile, you can save on all car kits, Bluetooth, chargers, and battery cases to make sure you get there safely and with power to spare. This offer is not valid with any other coupon and expires at Midnight PST Monday 5/28/2012. The iMore Store offers Fast Free Shipping on U.S. orders of $50.00 and higher. Don't forget to share this great coupon code with your friends and family! Enjoy this special sale while it last! Have a Happy Holiday!

If the iPhone goes 16:9, how do you want Apple to get there? [Poll]

If the iPhone goes 16:9, how should Apple use the extra 117 pixels?Apple may or may not have decided to go to a 4-inch screen in the iPhone 5 (or whatever they end up calling it), and they may or may not have decided to do it by going to a 1136 x 640 pixel, 16:9 aspect ratio, but let's just assume for the sake of this poll that they have and they will -- how do you want them to get there? Do you want Apple to simply add the extra 117 pixels to the display and let developers and apps have their way with it -- wider, bigger, fatter, longer? Or would you want Apple to keep those extra 117 pixels for iOS 6 and introduce some fancy new widget/notification/gesture space? Rather than repeat it all here, you can go and read Rene's monumental 4-inch iPhone breakdown, and his phenomenal 16:9 aspect ratio iPhone follow up to see what all the options look like. Then come back here and vote up top, and tell me why you voted the way you did in the comments!

Sir Jonathan Ive receives his knighthood and talks about his love of design

Apple's Apple's Senior Vice President of Design, Jonathan Ive deservedly became Sir Jonathan Ive on Wednesday when he received a knighthood for services to design and enterprise. The Princess Royal was on hand to perform the ceremony which hit news channels around the world. After the knighthood ceremony Sir Jonathan Ive attended another high profile function, the Royal Academy of the Arts alongside the Queen. Ives gave a short interview before going inside telling of his delight at receiving the honor. “I have always felt that I am extremely fortunate to have found what I love to do, and that’s essentially to be able to draw and make stuff.” “So to actually be able to spend all of my time doing that, just that alone is fantastic but to then get some recognition for that is a wonderful affirmation of the craft and profession of design.” Ive later spoke at the Royal Academy of the Arts with the Queen standing close by, he spoke about his British education and paid tribute to his British roots. Ives learned a lot of his design philosophy from studying at Newcastle Polytechnic, now Northumbria University. He often returns there to give guest lectures. You can watch the knighthood and interviews in the video below, it starts around 23 seconds in. Source: YouTube

How to use Siri faster by talking less

If you watched the new iPhone 4S commercials that Apple released last night, the ones that feature John Malkovich asking Siri for jokes and about the meaning of life, you might have noticed the way in which he was asking. In short, it was short. David Chartier certainly noticed: Joke features him speaking a series of one-word commands to Siri that practically feel like verbal equivalents of tapping on a particular app to get a particular piece of information. "Weather." "Evening." "Linguica." "Joke." Apple seems to want to remind us that, underneath the clever responses and artificial personality, Siri is a tool meant to help us get more done with less. Talking to Siri like it's a Pixar character certainly makes it more endearing, and makes the virtual relationship seem more real. The commercial shows, however, that if you don't have time or simply aren't in the mood for pleasantries, you can get to the point with machine-like brevity. Unfortunately, for all of Siri's context awareness, it doesn't seem to notice when your communications are rushed and respond in kind. As the commercial also shows, even one short word like "life" can return a paragraph-long reply. For more tips, check out our latest Siri how-to series, or jump on over to our Siri forum and tell us how you prefer talking to Apple's adorable little digital assistant! Source: David Chartier

Best free simulation games for iPhone

iMore is here to help you play God, build cities, and run commercial empires with these top free simulation games for iPhone. Last week we featured the best free iPad games, but there were a few new categories there that weren't in my original best free iPhone games post. One of those categories is simulation, where your micro-management skills pay the virtual bills. Some of these will look familiar, but others may be new to you. Keep in mind that all of the current picks here are free-to-play, but subsist on in-app payments for various non-essential perks, so if you're not a fan of being nickeled-and-dimed, this list might not be for you. Buckle up hit the jump to see our favourite free simulation games for the iPhone. Tiny Tower Tiny Tower is a really simple social management game with 8-bit-style graphics. Your job is to populate a tower with bitizens, assign them jobs relevent to their skills, keep their respective businesses stocked, and build more floors on top of your building. Over time, your bitizens earn you money which can be spent on purchasing new stock for various types of stores, or for putting the next storey onto your tower. You'll need to ferry bitizens from the ground floor with the elevator if you'll ever want to move new people in, plus once in awhile VIPs will provide you extra bonuses, like knocking off a few hours from your restocking time. Tiny Tower occasionally gives you Towerbucks for handling the elevator, which can be used to hurry restocking, construction, or elevator upgrades. Towerbucks can also be bought through in-app purchases. Download now The Sandbox The Sandbox is clever mix-and-match game with an 8-bit art style. You take the role of an almighty creator trying to combine various elements in the right order at the right spot in order to complete a puzzle. Those goals can be as simple as evaporating water and as elaborate as discovering electricity. In that sense, there's a definite Doodle God vibe, except this is a lot more fluid. Beyond painting element-infused pixels, you also have control over a wide variety of environment elements, including temperature and weather. The real magic of The Sandbox is that elements all behave as you expect them to - trees catch fire if you turn up the world temperature, dirt falls when you paint it in the sky, and electricity surges through metal and shoots off the ends of wires with sparks. Given, all of that action is in chunky pixels, it's still all very believable. Outside of the puzzles, you can also go freestyle to make your own creations and share them online in the burgeoning pixel art gallery. Though The Sandbox is free, new elements are unlocked with mana points, which are awarded as you play through missions or bought through in-app purchases. Mana points can also be used to purchase hints for particularly tricky puzzles - luckily the hints aren't too expensive. There's Game Center support here to track achievements, but it's not Universal, so unfortunately no enjoying this one on the big screen. Download now My Country My Country is a city simulation game where you build businesses, attract residents, and connect with neighboring communities. It's about as close to a full-featured, free version of the premium SimCity game as you'll find. Sure, there are some of the FarmVille trappings of having to tap on buildings to collect revenue, but there's a ton of depth to the resource structure; for example, to run a business, you have to gather up equipment either through other business or upgrading residential units to hire the required professionals. You need to juggle ecology ratings and electrical demands as your city expands from one era to the next. As you complete missions, you gain experience points, level up, and unlock new buildings to propel your metropolis to further heights. The in-game cash you earn from running businesses within your city (or country, once it gets big enough) is generally what you use to expand and unlock new buildings, but you can also use the premium CountryBucks currency to complete most of the same tasks. Download now Order Up!! To Go Order Up!! To Go is a cooking and restaurant simulator that tests your time management skills. The gameplay is twofold - for one, you're working on building up the reputation and menu for your restaurant, always with an eye to the next establishment, so there's a fair bit of budgeting involved. The cooking itself is very similar to the Cooking Mama series in you cut tomatoes with downward swipes and flip burgers with curved swipes (though I wouldn't mind some accelerometer control for that). What really keeps the game fun is the variety of other mini-games and the great humor both in the writing an art style. Smaller nuances, like recognizing customers as they come in and using the appropriate spices adds even more depth to the frantic gameplay. You earn silver coins through regular gameplay, which can be used to buy your ingredients, access new restaurants, and hire extra help, but you can speed up the process with premium gold coins acquired through in-app purchases. Download now The Sims FreePlay The Sims FreePlay is a classic life simulation game where you tend to a collection of virtual people, each with a variety of needs and colorful spectrum of personality quirks. You do everything from steering their conversations with other Sims, decorating their home, getting them to work, and making sure they bathe regularly. A recent update even added the ability to play as and care for child Sims. As you guide your Sim to accomplish daily tasks, you gain experience points, level up, and unlock new items. Unlike the old Sims games that had a handy fast-forward button, activities in The Sims FreePlay all happen in real-time, so when you put your little people to sleep, they're gone for 8 real hours. As you play, you earn Lifestyle Points, which can be used to immediately satisfy your Sim's needs and quickly complete tasks. Those can be bought through in-app purchases, alongside the game's currency, Simoleans, which your Sims earn through various kinds of work. The UI is better-suited for the iPad; on the iPhone, I find gameplay a little cramped, but everything is still there, and in the world of simulation games, there's really no contest. Saved games can be manually synced to the cloud between iPhone and iPad, but that can prove to be a hassle if you switch back and forth a bunch. Download now Your favorite sim games for iPhone? There's a wide world of free iOS sim games out there, and new ones are coming out all the time. What have you been playing lately ? Anything you'd like to see on this list? As with the other features, you can expect this list to be updated over time.

Facebook Camera for iPhone review

Facebook is the most popular photo sharing service on the web so it comes as no surprise that they released an app dedicated to the photo aspect of Facebook -- it's called Facebook Camera. With Facebook Camera, you can easily share multiple photos to Facebook, add filters to them, tag your friends, and view a newsfeed restricted just to photos posted by you and your friends. And, of course, you can also leave comments and likes on photos. The main screen of Facebook Camera is the news feed, except that this news feed only contains photos, not status updates and links like in Facebook for iPhone. You can sort the stream to show photos posted by your friends or just your own photos. The appearance of the photos in the stream is similar to the new look that was recently implemented into Facebook for iPhone. The photos are full-width and wider than the white background. Each photo is also cropped as a square. At the bottom of each photo you'll see a thumbs up button to "like" it, a comments button to leave comments, and the number of likes and comments is also displayed. When you tap on the numbers, a popup will appear that shows who liked the photo as well as all the comments. You can also leave a comment of your own. This button actually does the exact same thing as the speech bubble button. Tapping on the photo will display it on a black background with the caption at the bottom as well as buttons to "like", comment, and tag. At the top of the feed, you'll see a strip of photos from your Camera Roll and a button to launch the camera. Sliding down on the news feed will slide it off the screen so you can scroll through all the photos in your Camera Roll. Tapping a photo will display it bigger and allow you to crop, tag, or add filters to it. These filters are remarkably similar to Instagram's filters, but this is to be expected since Facebook recently purchased Instagram. Once you've edited the photo to your liking, you can select it with the checkmark button or share it. If you select it, you'll be taken back to the grid of your Camera Roll photos so that you can repeat the process with more photos. Once you're ready to share the photos, just tap the share button. This screen looks similar to the photo sharing screen on Facebook for iPhone. It will display small thumbnails of all your selected photos, let you say something about them, add a location, add friends, and adjust privacy settings. The good Beautifully designed News feed displays either your friends photos or just your own Upload multiple photos at once Edit photos by cropping and adding filters Tag friends Adjust privacy settings before posting Leave comments and likes on photos The bad Speech bubble and comment/like count buttons perform the exact same thing The conclusion I must say that I'm rather surprised with how much I like this app. I do nothing but complain about Facebook for iPhone, but Facebook appears to have done an outstanding job with Facebook Camera. It's not an Instagram replacement, but it's as great addition to Facebook. Now I'm just curious to see how long before these filters become available on the web version of Facebook. Free - Download Now

iPhone & iPad Live 295: iPhone 5 rumor round table

Georgia and Rene are joined by Marc Edwards of Bjango and Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac to discuss the idea of a 16:9 aspect ratio iPhone 5. Would Apple do it? How could Apple do it? And what's next for Apple after the iPad? This is iPhone and iPad Live! Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video Download directly: Audio | Video Meta Win a tablet or smartphone with SwiftKey and Mobile Nations! Iterate 22: Gesture-based interface The 9:16 iPhone The 4 inch iPhone If Apple goes to a 4-inch iPhone, which way would you prefer they get there? Likely next-generation iPhone with 3.999-inch display, 1136 x 640 resolution in testing (updated: more decimals) Steve Jobs rumored to have worked closely on iPhone 5 redesign When is the iPhone 5 coming out? News Steve Jobs given huge star studded tribute at the Webbys Steve Jobs wanted to create an iCar according to current Apple board member Jonathan Ive says Apple's designs are inevitable, and his best and most important is yet to come Apps Diet Coda for iPad (and Coda 2 for Mac) coming May 24 Instacast vs. Downcast vs. Pocket Casts: iPhone podcast app shootout! Accessories Leap Motion PC peripheral boasts touchscreen precision without the touching How to How to take fantastic photos of your kids with your iPhone How to set up, configure, secure, and start using Siri Hosts Georgia (GeorgiaTiPb Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) Mark Gurman (@markgurman) Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) Credits You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live. We're live every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.imore.com/live For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us! Thanks to the iMore Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Facebook releases Facebook Camera... with Instagram filters?

It's been about a week since Facebook released Facebook Pages Manager, and now Facebook has announced Facebook Camera -- an app dedicated to viewing and sharing photos to Facebook. The big talk on the internet, however, is that this app comes shortly after Facebook's acquisition of Instagram. This is particularly interesting because Facebook Camera allows you to add filters to your photos before uploading -- these filters are strikingly similar to Instagram's filers. Let's take a look. Here's Facebook's Cream filter next to Instagram's Valencia filter. And Facebook's Copper next to Instagram's Earlybird. And Facebook's Cool next to Instagram's Hudson. No words are even needed to describe the similarities. So the real question becomes -- did Facebook copy Instagram before buying it, or did Facebook buy Instgram to copy it? I'm inclined to believe it's some combination of the two. There's no doubt that Facebook has been working on this app since well before it purchased Instagram, but my bet is that it was when they started working on the filters they would include with the app that they pursued an acquisition of Instagram. Although the Facebook Camera's filters are not identical to Instagram's, some of them are strikingly similar. As someone who regularly uses Instagram, I noticed the similarities instantly. In fact, before comparing them side-by-side, I thought they were exact replicas. Which brings to my next question: will Facebook Camera ever include the exact same filters as Instagram? Is this something Facebook should even consider? Some have argued that Facebook is competing with itself by introducing Facebook Camera, which is true in many ways. But ultimately, I think even if both apps include the exact same filters, they will both be independently successful. With the risk of sounding like a snob, the quality of photos on Facebook are not generally as good as Instagram. People typically choose to use Instagram when they want to share a photo they think is particularly good or some fancy collage they created. Facebook, on the other hand, is where people share anything and everything, including random memes and photos from the internet. What's your take on this? Did Facebook copy Instagram before buying it, or did Facebook buy Instgram to copy it? Was this even a good move by Facebook? Free - Download Now

Autodesk Releases 'Sketchbook Ink' iPad Drawing App Demo'd at New iPad Launch

At the introduction for the third generation iPad this past March, Apple invited a number of developers to showcase their apps designed for the Retina display-equipped new iPad. One of these was Autodesk, a major developer that has been prolific at writing apps for iOS. Their new app, Sketchbook Ink, has finally arrived on the App Store.Powered by a brand new engine, Autodesk SketchBook Ink introduces unique technology for artists to create stunning, high-resolution ink-style artwork. The SketchBook Ink addition to the SketchBook family increases the number of choices available to artists to express their creative visions in a digital environment.The app offers 7 different strokes to users with virtual ink that doesn't simply appear on the page -- instead, it leaves "interesting little imperfections as if it were seeping into the paper", says Harry McCracken writing for Technologizer:And Ink has one noteworthy feature which SketchBook Pro doesn’t — the drawings you create aren’t bitmaps. Instead, they’re resolution-independent, so you can zoom in as much as you like and can save them to the iPad’s Photo Library, Dropbox, iTunes or email at resolutions that go beyond even the new iPad’s 2048-by-1536 pixels without introducing any jaggies. You can opt for up to 11,336-by-8727 resolution; that’s especially useful if you plan to eventually print your creation.Untitled Crocodile Drawing by Harry McCrackenSketchBook Ink is available for iPad for the introductory price of $1.99, going up to $4.99 eventually. [Direct Link]

Tweetbot 2.4 brings offline favorites and read later, keyword muting and location search

The popular Twitter client Tweetbot has been updated with a nice array of tweaks to the already great app. Specifically, this build brings offline favorite and ‘read later’ queuing, improved local tweet search and other improvements. We’ve been testing the app for some time and one of the fan favorites will probably be offline support for favorites and sending articles to read later services. This is especially handy when browsing your Twitter queue on a WiFi iPad while commuting, or on any device in areas of low coverage. When you tap on a star or send a link on, you’ll just get a pop-down badge that indicates your action has been queued up for later transmission. Very nice. There is an updated search view that brings a bunch of other changes. You can now see tweets near you, one of my favorite features of other clients that I always wished would come to Tweetbot. You can change your location at will if you’d like to see tweets centered around a location that isn’t yours. There are also location-based keyword searches available and there’s a new Top Tweets option in the browse section, where the Trends and People categories have been moved. You can also change your trend location right from the search view. Some new handy shortcuts have been added. Double-tapping the Search tab will launch search with the cursor in the field and the keyboard ready to type. Swiping to the right on profile views also now takes you back up one level. A two-finger swipe down gesture on any maps or views of webpages will now close them as well, which is cool. If you’re a heavy Twitter user who’s also grammer conscious, you’ll be happy to see that there is now support for smart quotes, ellipsii and converting ‘–’ to em dashes, which makes it quicker to type these bits of punctuation properly. Images now display a few options when you tap and hold on them, for easier access to manipulation and sharing. The muting options have gotten more robust as well, with the ability to mute keywords as well as individual accounts and clients. Muting a client will mute all mentions that come from them as well as tweets. There is also now support for regular expressions. The new version of Tweetbot doesn’t change anything major about the way that the app works, so if you were a fan before, you’ll still be a fan. And if you preferred Twitter for iPad or another client, that might still be the way to go. But we still feel Tweetbot is one of the most robust Twitter apps out there for iOS period and this update just makes it that much more powerful. ➤ Tweetbot for iPad ➤ Tweetbot for iPhone

iGrip Charging Dock for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 only $43.95 [Deal of the day]

For today only, the iMore iPhone Accessory Store has the iGrip Charging Dock for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on sale for only $43.95! That's a whopping 45% off! Get yours before they're gone! The iGrip Charging Dock is custom designed for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 and allows you to charge your device while docked, as well as connect a 3.5mm audio cable to your vehicles stereo. The integrated joint mechanism and tightening wheel allows easy adjustment of viewing angles. The dock itself can be rotated 360-degrees and adjusts vertically and horizontally (portrait or landscape) at an inclination angle up to 60-degrees. The back of the iGrip Charging Dock features a microUSB female connector for the included DC charger, and with the lockable retaining clamp at the top, all functional elements and outlets of the iPhone 4S, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 are not covered and always accessible. An integrated locking spacer is included to adjust to the size of your device, allowing an easy fit with most cases and bumpers. When operating in the dark, there's an LED lit connecter area making connections simple and safe. The iGrip Charging Dock is a great solution for using GPS navigation applications, and easy to install on your windshield or dashboard. Features: Custom fit for iPhone 4S, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 Integrated LED connector area Integrated circuit and original MFI connector MicroUSB female connector on back 3.5mm audio port Easy one-hand installation and removal Lockable retaining clamp Compatible with most cases Rotates 360-degrees vertically and horizontally Great for navigation Includes: Adjustable mount Charging Dock Self-adhesive suction cup adapter 5V 1.8A MicroUSB car charger 3.5mm audio cable Shop iGrip Charging Dock for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!

Coda 2: It’s Here and It’s Awesome

April 23, 2007. That was the day Panic initially released Coda. The idea of Coda was revolutionary: one app, one window for the entire web development workflow. And they did it right too. They won the 2007 Apple Design Award for Best User Experience. Before Coda there were tools like TextMate, BBEdit and MacRabbit’s Espresso and CSS Edit. Yes, there was even Dreamweaver if you like spending a lot of money on a tool largely considered inferior (it does have its place). But Coda was truly a revolutionary new web development experience. Before Coda, developing websites required a number of different tools. You need a text editor for writing code. You need an FTP application for uploading and downloading files from your server. You need a web browser to preview your work. You often need a database utility to modify your database. And you would often need a terminal application to connect to your server over SSH and make changes. Coda rolled most of the tools needed for these things into a single interface and application. And now Coda 2 builds upon that success. Initial Impressions Upon opening Coda 2 for the first time I was pleased to see that, though obviously different, there was something fairly familiar, if slicker looking. The sites that I currently had set up in Coda 1 were all right there, waiting for me and ready to go. One really nice touch though, and one I have personally wanted for years, was the ability to organize sites into groups. I immediately did a preliminary organization. It works very simply and is quite discoverable, especially if you have ever used an iOS device. Drag a site icon onto another site icon and a group is instantly created. Coda 2 Sites with Groups The slider at the bottom allows you to control the size of the site icons and folders. As an added bonus, if you slide the controller all the way over the left, you will get a list view, something that was not available in the original Coda. It’s another nice touch. One thing though that pained me right away was seeing those horrible vertical window control buttons lifted straight from the initial release of iTunes 10. vertical window controls I have complained about this before and I will do so now for Coda as well. I believe this to be a horrible breach of UI aesthetics and muscle memory. I think we can all legitimately complain about how horribly broken the functionality of OS X’s green zoom button is and how it never behaves in the way you expect it to, and we can bemoan the way minimizing works in OS X. But at least for most apps we know where those buttons are located. As with the initial release of iTunes 10, so it is now for Coda. Muscle memory is broken. When I want to minimize or zoom the Coda window it takes me a little extra time to find the buttons. It’s nit-picky but annoying. I use those buttons often enough that it bugged me quite a bit. And it’s not a matter of re-training my muscle memory because Coda 2 is the only app with the buttons like this. I’m lobbying for them to go back where they belong. Window controls belong on the top left horizontal plane of a window in OS X. I do not believe any exceptions are called for. You would think I didn’t have anything to write about the way I’m carrying on about this minor annoyance, so it’s time I moved on because there’s a lot to cover. File Management Users of Panic’s Transmit will feel right at home upon opening a site in Coda 2. Though Coda does not completely displace Transmit if you need advanced FTP functions, it is certainly a workable solution and I think I will find myself using Transmit far less than I did before. The initial view is a split view of local files on the left and remote files on the right. You will feel right at home if your work flow is to edit locally and then publish to server. Coda’s Transmit-like split file view As an ExpressionEngine web developer, I am almost always working on templates in the directory structure of the FTP server and not on local files so I switched off the split view and went straight to remote view. Aside from the fact that files have their own tab instead of a dedicated sidebar, this works as before. Double clicking a file either locally, or on the remote server will open the file up in a tab ready to be edited. I actually like files having their own dedicated tab far better. I prefer it to the sidebar approach because there’s now more horizontal room for my code. Fear not though, ease of file access is not gone. Coda 2 includes what they call an active path bar. What this means is while you are editing, the path to the file you are working on is displayed in the path bar. Clicking any segment on the path bar will pop up a list of files for you to open, or even move around or manipulate in other ways. It’s actually quite brilliant in my opinion. I’m fairly confident I will wonder how I ever got along without it. path bar pop over file management Tabs and Split Views Tabs are another big improvement. In Coda 1, somehow tabs never looked right to me. I sometimes had a hard time seeing which tab was active, or which file belonged to which tab. Coda 2 introduces thumbnail tabs. I find this much more visually appealing and have had no trouble determining which tab is active at any given time. And it’s easier to identify which file belongs to which tab. There are actually 3 modes for tabs: large icons, small icons, and text only (more like tabs in the previous version). all three tab types pictured here (Note that in text only tab view the window control buttons are oriented the proper way! I’ll have to think about running Coda 2 in this mode.) On the tab bar you will also find a “plus” button from which you can do four things. You can start a new blank document, open a new SSH session, open a reference book, or start a MySQL session. new tab functions Split Views One thing that has always been unique to Coda is the ability to split a tab view in half vertically or horizontally. I prefer to split my widows vertically, though Coda will split horizontally if that’s your thing. Spliting the window has received a bit of a makeover. When you click the split button, you are given a menu of options. It’s pretty much the same things you could do before (minus the CSS panel, which I’ll get to shortly). options for splitting the view split view — code editor on left, preview on right Three Cheers for Code Folding People talk. Sometimes they talk about Coda. When they do, they are often inclined to talk about its shortcomings. Among those shortcomings, someone would inevitably say, “yeah, I can tell you really like Coda by the way you wax eloquent about it, but can it do code folding?” That was the point at which you would turn red, mumble to yourself and try to steer the conversation in another direction. Well no more, because Coda 2 includes code folding. And it seems to me to be much smarter and better than most other applications I have used. This is extremely valuable because it is easy (for me anyway) to get lost in nested divs and so on (usually when I’m trying to drill down into someone else’s code, which I seem to need to do way more than is healthy for my sanity). Code folding makes it much easier to figure out what is nested inside what. Make no mistake, this is a huge feature. code folding The Sidebar Moved Oh, and it got a complete remodel. They basically threw the old sidebar out and put a new one in it’s place. I’m still getting used to it being on the right instead of the left, but it’s not really a big deal. The dog has definitely learned some new tricks. First off, on the home panel you can drag favorites up to the top in the same manner as you would drag items down to the toolbar in the iPhone music app. Here you will find clips, files and navigator among other things. the sidebar moved to the right-hand side ClipsClips are still here and better than ever. In terms of inserting clips they pretty much work as before. For instance, I have “p” assigned to start a new paragraph tag pair. So I type “p + tab” and I get a paragraph tag pair with my cursor at the insertion point ready to type. In addition to the standard placeholder, you can also now have clips insert cutom text. FilesYes, the file view is still available in the sidebar. While I will as I said earlier likely use the dedicated file tab, there are times when I want to see the document list in the sidebar, and Coda 2 provides. Find InAllows you to search your files for content and optionally find and replace. Very handy HintsAs you type, this sidebar area will give you hints about the code it thinks you are typing. I didn’t find this that useful. NavigatorI never found the navigator to be all that useful in Coda 1, and Coda 2 appears to be no different for HTML. I can’t figure out what elements it decides to show and not show. So I’ll likely ignore it as I did before. For CSS however, it appears to replace the function of Coda 1’s CSS editor navigation so I will likely use it there. (More on that in a moment) PlacesSort of like the Finder sidebar. Double clicking an item here will open it in the dedicated file browser tab. PublishIf you are editing files locally, this will allow you to publish changes to the server. SCMSource Code Management. I don’t use Source Code management so I can’t really speak to this feature SharedCoda lets you share documents and collaborate over the local network. I’ve never used this since I usually do all my own code work but I hear it’s good. ValidateThis is a wonderful feature that will let you know if you have invalid code in your markup. This is much better than going through the W3C validator all the time. CSS — Uh Oh One of the big features that attracted me to Coda in the beginning was the CSS editing. The split view CSS editing was fantastic. It fit me well because I don’t have every CSS function memorized, but I could see the things I wanted to do in Coda’s CSS editor, add it, type in the value or whatever, and then if I needed to, I could edit the code in the code editor. And of course Coda wrote really clean CSS. So I was a little nervous when I heard that Panic was completely revamping the way CSS works. And to tell you the truth, I’m very disappointed. This feels like the first real let down, maybe even the only real let down in this upgrade. The new way of working with CSS is called CSS Pops. What happens is that as you type code, pop-ups present themselves and you can choose what you want. For instance within a CSS bracket you can start typing the word margin, and all the margin rules will pop up. Select one and type enter and you are immediately kicked over to enter the value where you can again choose from a pop-up or just type the value. If the rule is a color rule, you will get a color chooser pop-up. If the rule has border or thickness options of some kind, you will get a pop-up with those options. CSS Color Chooser CSS Border Editor CSS Margin Editor I type in my CSS a fair bit of the time. So I consider the CSS Pops a great feature to have added to the CSS editor. But there’s a fair number of times when I want the CSS editor from Coda 1. I want to just click in a value box and enter the margin value. Or whatever. I don’t see what possible reason they could have had for removing the revolutionary CSS editor. In fact, I would say that the Coda CSS editor is how I really started to pick up CSS and learn it well. Because I would not know exactly how to do something, but I would see the different things I could try in the CSS editor and so I would start doing things in the CSS editor and seeing what code it spit out. It was very helpful. And that to me was the beauty of Coda 1’s CSS editor. It was great for beginners, but you could still get down into the code and do stuff. It seems to me that the pop-ups would have been a great enhancement, but they are no replacement for the CSS editor. Thankfully, we do have the code navigator to at least let us navigate in a similar way that the former CSS editor did. Consider this my plea to Panic to bring back the beautiful, elegant, and powerful CSS editor to work alongside the CSS Pops. I have a feeling I’ll be going back to Coda 1 here and there to use the CSS editor. What Else? Theres a lot more than I can cover here. Panic says there’s over 100 new features. Some of them I’m not qualified to address. I’m really horrible with databases for instance so I’ll leave the new MySQL feature to someone else to talk about. The new reference books are awesome and I’m sure I’ll be making use of them. Quicklook right in coda is great, select a file, press the spacebar. It’s awesome. Autocomplete improvements are all welcome in my short time with Coda 2 thus far. There’s something a bit more pleasing about the syntax coloring. Diet Coda Just for a second, stop and revel in just how awesome that name is. Done? Okay. It really is such a great name. Diet Coda is an iPad companion app. You can edit on the go with your iPad in this slimmed down app or you can use it with Coda’s new AirPreview feature, dedicating your iPad to previewing your work as you code. I don’t have an iPad, but this truly does seem awesome. Upgrade Pricing I wrote about upgrade pricing and the Mac App Store earlier this month, and I think that the way Panic is approaching the problem, while good and I applaud them for it, highlights the very problems I was talking about. What they are doing to work around Apple’s lack of paid upgrades for apps, and still try to keep as much parity between buying straight from them, and buying from the Mac App Store, is making “upgrade pricing” available to everyone for a limited time. This really isn’t upgrade pricing, it’s discount pricing, but it’s really the only option available to them with the Mac App Store being the way it is. So, here’s the way it all goes down. On launch day, Thursday, May 24, Coda 2 will be available at a 50% discount of $49.00 to everyone. After that first 24 hour period, Coda 2 will be available for $75.00 for a limited time (this is what they are calling “upgrade pricing for everyone”). And finally, Coda’s price will return to $99.00 after that. If you purchased Coda 1 directly from Panic (not through the Mac App Store) after April 10, you are eligible to receive a free upgrade to Coda 2. Worth It? I think so. As I said, I’m sure I’ll be making trips to Coda 1 for the CSS editor, but hopefully that won’t be that often, and that‘s really the only major complaint I have. I love everything else that’s new in Coda. I plan to buy it right away. The folks at Panic are a class act and make fine software.

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? & Friends Free Review

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? & Friends Free Review By Jennifer Allen on May 24th, 2012 Our Rating: :: LACKINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPadAn underwhelming use of a great franchise. Developer: Ludia Price: FREE Version Reviewed: 1.0.2 Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4 Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Gameplay Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars Playtime Rating: 2 out of 5 stars Replay Value Rating: 2 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 2.69 out of 5 stars Unfortunately for fans of the show, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? & Friends Free is a good example of how not to use the freemium model. It’s a little too heavily reliant on in-app purchases to the point that players will feel cheated at times. The basic structure of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?® & Friends Free is solid enough. Players have to log in via Facebook for full functionality but this enables them to compete against friends and other players across the world. Then it’s a matter of being pitted against numerous questions, all of which that 5th graders should be able to answer without any difficulty. Like in the TV show, questions are according to grade so 1st grade physical science will be a lot simpler than the 5th grade equivalent. It’s a little unnerving how many simple questions are tough to answer, depending on one’s trivia knowledge but that’s all part of the experience. Money is then accumulated depending on correct answers and speed of completion, which then goes towards the player’s experience level. Levelling up mostly offers the benefit of free plays which is useful given that players will only get around 4 sessions free every 8-9 hours. Other than that, players are reliant on spending money on points which unlock extra plays. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?® & Friends Free certainly isn’t a game to play for an extended length of time. The questions are interesting and numerous. It’s just frustrating to be restricted to only a few plays at a time. The game encourages spending of points on assistance with questions but I didn’t go near these as it meant less time to actually play the game. Sure, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?® & Friends Free is free but for the same price as the lowest priced in-app purchase, you could get something like QuizQuizQuiz and feel less restricted. This is one for those who are huge fans of the franchise more than anything else. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?® & Friends FreeUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPadBuy Now: FREEReleased: 2012-05-09 :: Category: GamesApps mentioned in this post: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?® & Friends Free, QuizQuizQuizAbout: Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? & Friends Free Review is a post from 148Apps

GameFly looking to assist devs with new game development fund

GameFly is looking to branch out into mobile gaming but instead of its usual rental model, it is looking to get developers on-board from a much earlier stage. The new initiative would see GameFly becoming the publisher and promoter of a developer’s game. GameFly has set aside a fund for game developers who are already working on their next big game but do not have the resources to publish and promote it; GameFly would take care of that side of the games development "GameFly is dedicated to giving consumers the best user experience possible, and to be their single destination for console, PC and mobile gaming needs," said Sean Spector, GameFly co-founder and SVP of Business Development and Content. "We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android and helping to fund mobile developers of all sizes to publish, promote and sell their smartphone and tablet games." GameFly is already accepting submissions from game developers and the first title should be available later this summer. GameFly already has an app available in the App Store which allows users to discover new games and get great deals on lots of gaming titles. If you are a GameFly subscriber you can also manage your rental queue and manage your account all within the app. Source: PR Newswire

The 16:9 iPhone

A few days ago rumors coalesced around the idea that Apple was moving to a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5 (or whatever Apple ends up calling iPhone 5,1). I went through the mental exercise of mocking up, and breaking down, the various 4-inch iPhone options to try and figure out how Apple would get there. Now, however, the rumors are coagulating around one specific options -- one I initially thought had fewer advantages, and was hence less likely -- a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1136 x 640 display. So what would make Apple, a company that prides itself in saying "no" even more than saying "yes", decide to switch their best selling product, the iPhone, to a 16:9 screen? Cue mental exercise, part two. The road to widescreen Last iMore heard Apple hadn't settled on a new iPhone screen size. One of the versions they were testing had the same 3.5-inch screen, but they were considering going as large as 4 inches. There seems to be one or more prototypes with that screen size, including a 16:9 aspect ration version. Since we also heard the next iPhone isn't shipping until October, there's still lots of time for them to decide. (Apple is the company that changed from plastic to glass screen in just a few weeks before the original iPhone launch, after all.) Both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters have now reported a 4-inch iPhone. Previously a The Verge reader, who caught John Gruber of Daring Fireball attention, and later, iLounge heard something around 16:9 was a target aspect ratio. Yesterday Seth Weintraub of 9to5Mac ran the math and, with some other information behind him, and posted the screen resolution on at least one of the 4-inch iPhone prototypes as 1136 x 640. John Gruber of Daring Fireball once again paid attention to that ratio. Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web then took the idea out for a spin, and asked the impertinent question I find myself asking all the time as well -- How would a 16:9 display help Apple sell more iPhones? The three laws of Apple products There are three laws by which Apple iOS products seem to be governed. Apple will only do things that grow profits now, or better position them to grow profits in the future. Apple will delight users with magical experiences, except where doing so would conflict with the first law. Apple will empower developers to make insanely great apps, as long as doing so doesn't conflict with the first and second laws. Hobbies aside, Apple sells iOS devices by the tens or hundreds of millions. So far every iPhone has sold more than every iPhone before it, and that's a pattern Apple is going to want to continue. So far, the App Store has grown faster and larger than any software market before it, and that's also a pattern Apple is going to want to continue. But there's a second factor to consider. Design matters Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, Jony Ive, has espoused a very specific philosophy when it comes to product development. Back in March, Ive told The Evening Standard: Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new — I think those are completely the wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better. This requires real discipline, and that’s what drives us — a sincere, genuine appetite to do something that is better. Under that mandate, Apple wouldn't switch from the current iPhone's 3:2 aspect ratio to a 16:9 aspect ratio just to have a different iPhone. They wouldn't change for change's sake, or for fashion's. They would only change to a 16:9 ration if made for a better iPhone. Ive also, just today, told The Telegraph: We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable. That leave you with the sense that that’s the only possible solution that makes sense. Our products are tools and we don’t want design to get in the way. We’re trying to bring simplicity and clarity, we’re trying to order the products. So the change from 3:2 to 16:9 should be a natural progression of the iPhone itself. Likewise, it shouldn't make anything more complex, cluttered, or confusing. It should make it even clearer. Adding a dedicated OS space With all that in mind, the least likely option -- though the easiest for developers -- is for Apple to keep the app space the same on a 16:9 iPhone as it is on the current iPhone, and use the extra pixels exclusively for new and updated iOS features. In other words, the main iPhone user space could still be 960 x 640, and an extra 176 pixels would be put on top of it, on the bottom, or split between top and bottom. There are several things such a system space could be used for. Static dock/fast app switcher Right now the dock disappears when you go into apps, and the fast app switcher only comes up when you double-click the Home button. An even faster app switcher would always be there, recent apps only a tap away, controls and older apps only a swipe or two more. A static dock would make switching apps quick and easy, both intentionally and otherwise. Of course, it risks accidental, app-switching hits, and it's utility in landscape mode is questionable. It's harder to accept the premise of a static dock when we consider landscape orientation. Static widget space Right now, widgets are hidden away in the fast app switcher, Notification Center, and Siri. While many people have expressed a desire for widgets on the Home screen, there's also an argument to be made that making app data available in other apps is even more valuable. (The current version of iOS is an app launcher, not a Home screen hangout for a reason.) Widgets that are currently hidden away in Notification Center and Siri could be always available. Again, however, landscape orientation wouldn't be as natural a fit, and would either require new UI, or the awkward sideways treatment fast app switching currently enjoys. Landscape UI would require all new widget UI, something Apple hasn't done for the fast app switcher. Static notification space Right now, Notification Center banners fold down over, and obstruct, controls like back buttons, and provide no in-app functionality. With a dedicated notification space, not only could they leave user space controls obstruction-free, they could have room enough for actions like iMessage quick replies. The temporarily nature of notifications make them less suitable for a static implementation, however. If there are no notifications, it's wasted space. Extra space to prevent notifications from obstructing buttons, and provide space for actions like quick reply, but would often also be wasted space. And I'm not even going to bother mocking up how awkward that would look in landscape. (But see above.) Static gesture control space Right now, system-wide gestures are completely absent from the iPhone, even though webOS has had them for years, the iPad has them, and BlackBerry 10 is intent on using them as a major differentiator for pro users. A larger capacitive area may mean there's room enough to explore more complex, if less discoverable gestures. That said, it's almost impossible to imagine Apple keeping a permanent dead pixel area around just for swipes up and down, backward and forward, etc. On screen gestures and gesture areas have both been proven effective enough there's no reason to waste perfectly good pixels on them. Static iAd space Right now a new iPhone costs $199 to $399 even on contract, and companies like Amazon have already experimented with ad-subsidized price reductions on devices like the Kindle. Tweetbot developer and all around instigator, Paul Haddad jokingly tweeted this idea, and I'm including it here just to make him regret it slightly. Apple made fun of ads in Gmail, no way they violate iOS with an ad space, no matter what any patents might suggest. Ad sponsored devices are already a reality thanks to Amazon, but they seem far, far, far less likely from Apple. Static system pace that can switch between some or all of the above A combination of the above, but where widgets and notifications and gestures and all the rest co-exist in perfect harmony, in one Apple-only screen section. And none of that is likely All of this would fly in the face of Apple's design philosophy. It would clutter the iPhone screen and ensure, likely much to Jony Ive's consternation, that no user could ever lose themselves in the content. The interface would always be there, staring at them, even when they didn't need it. While more flexible than the hardware keyboards Steve Jobs mocked during the original iPhone launch, there are times when it won't be useful, and Apple is all about eliminating absolutely everything that's not essential all of time. That brings us to... Creating a bigger screen If we apply Occam's Razor, the simplest and most obvious way Apple could implement a 16:9 aspect ratio on close to a 4-inch display, is simply add the extra pixels, optimize the system software, and let developers have at it. In my previous post, I saw some problems with this approach: Since pixel size remains the same, text size would remain the same, control/button size would remain the same, and touch target size would remain the same. Apps that use the built-in interface elements would simply add an extra row of information -- an extra row of icons, an extra row to the table or item to the list. The display would be vertically larger, and more information could be displayed on it. But what about apps that don't use built-in UI elements? Safari would show more of a page's length, Mail would show an extra message, but games and anything with a highly customized, non-table based interface would have to be pillar-boxed. If developers made new versions that fill the extra space, those versions would be cut off on older iPhones. And if developers made 2 versions of the apps, it would mean more work for them and "fatter" binaries for users to download. (A universal app would go from having iPhone and iPad interface elements, to having old iPhone and new iPhone and iPad interfaces.) While many things are possible, this doesn't seem like a very Apple-esque solution. It would fragment the iPhone platform for developers in a way Apple has resisted so far, and offer incomplete user benefits (increasing pixel count in only one direction). More importantly, it would mean either significantly redesigning (or eliminating) the Home button, or lengthening the iPhone casing, or a bit of both. iMore has heard the Home button isn't going anywhere, and parts leaks have suggested it looks pretty much the same, so that leaves a longer iPhone and that... would be awkward. (Even if you remove part of the bezel to make room for it.) Let's re-examine some of that. Default apps Apps that use Apple's built-in interface elements, especially table views, should enjoy some level of automagic compatibility on a longer screen. iOS simply shows more information -- another row, or partial row. These have been mocked up to death already, notably on The Verge and Overdrive. Here's an example of my own, if only to set context. In a vertical table view, the additional screen real estate can simply show additional information. So far so good, right? Even if text and touch targets aren't bigger, more information is more. It's no accident, however, that most of the mockups have been in portrait orientation. Depending on text flow, landscape doesn't enjoy the same benefit, at least as iOS currently implements it. Due to the nature of text wraps, landscape won't often get the same benefit. In general, anything in iOS that already wastes space in landscape orientation would only waste more space at 16:9 The keyboard The keyboard could be identical in portrait orientation due to the identical screen width, or Apple could take some of the extra vertical pixels and add another row of keys, either numbers on the default keyboard, or special purpose keys on custom keyboards (the way internet apps add @ or .com, for example). The portrait keyboard could either look the same or take advantage of the extra height by adding another row of keys. It would be more of a challenge in landscape orientation, however. Would Apple pillar box the Keyboard? Scale it to fit? Stretch it to fit? Split it, iPad-like, to fit? A wide screen landscape keyboard is harder to predict, and doesn't seem to enjoy as big an advantage from the extra pixels. Custom interface apps Apps that don't use the built-in interface elements would be letter-boxed or pillar-boxed in the short term (or if abandoned, for as long as they remain in the App Store), and updated to fit the new screen ratio as soon as developers get around to it. Custom interfaces, like games, would simply be letter-boxed or pillar-boxed until they're updated. Backwards compatibility Supporting both legacy 3:2 iPhone screens -- everything from the original iPhone to the iPhone 4S -- and the new 16:9 ratio would be trickier. It seems unlikely that anyone would be happy with new, widescreen apps getting chopped off at the sides or top and bottom on old, standard screen devices. Due to the way the App Store works, separate apps for old and new iPhones isn't a great solution either. Developers wouldn't be able to give new versions away for free to existing owners, and existing owners wouldn't want to pay full price again for what's essentially the same app at a different ratio. That leaves the ugly but not unworkable option of multiple binaries or at least multiple assets to support older devices and the the new iPhone all at the same time. Depending on the app, there could be some efficiency achieved by sliding elements around to fill or conserve space, but worst case it's another big bump in file size. More apps hit the 50MB cellular download limit, and the lower-end iPhones can hold fewer apps. And if an app is universal and already has an iPad interface, that would make for three versions (or at least two with more complexity) in one binary. So why would Apple go to 16:9? Given the need to sell more iPhones and make a better product, and given all the challenges listed above, why would Apple go ahead with 16:9? Why would they say "yes" to this screen ratio and not proudly "no"? Content really is king iOS devices have always been a screen surrounded by the least amount of other stuff necessary to make it work. The screen, more specifically the content it displays, is everything to Apple. There needs to be a bezel, there needs to be mics and speakers and the barest possible amount of buttons and ports. There needs to be a battery and electronics. But as much as that can be minimized, as much as the screen and the content it's showing can be thrust forward, the better. Design is constant compromise If Apple doesn't want to make the actual physical phone much bigger, if they can't, make the side bezel any thinner, and if they want to make the screen bigger and the content it displays even more engrossing, there's only one direction left for the display to grow. Both the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 designs took away visual cruft from the sides. Rounded bands were flattened, think frames were removed and buttons and ports hidden behind. Now, maybe, Apple is ready to chip away at the front. It's not an edge-to-edge screen, it's not a transparent display, but given the limits of current technology and the premise that Apple wants a bigger screen without having to make a bigger phone, it's the best compromise they can make. And with less faceplate and more screen, it could be a more immersive, and a better product. Predation over competition There's a school of thought that, since Apple's iPhone outsells all larger screened Android phones combined on major U.S. carrier networks, Apple doesn't "need" to go to a larger screen for competitive reasons. However, that doesn't mean they won't go there for predatory reasons. Just because people are buying more 3.5 inch iPhones than larger Android phones doesn't mean people prefer 3.5 inch screens. It means, as a total package, they prefer the iPhone. Some users no doubt compromise on a larger screen size just to get an iPhone. Others no doubt compromise on getting an iPhone because they really want or need a bigger screen. Apple may just have run some numbers and determined that a 4-inch iPhone could outsell large screen Android devices by even more. With a similar casing size, no current users are likely to jump ship. With a larger screen, however, some who chose size over iOS might just make a different choice. Introducing a bigger screen could increase the iPhone's addressable market, and sell more phones. Conclusion While rumors continue to grow about the 4 inch, 16:9 iPhone, October is a long way off and Apple may yet decide a more conservative, less ambitious iPhone screen is the way to go. If a 4 inch, 16:9 iPhone is the future, however, it's not an entirely idillic one. There are problems, there will be pain, there will be turbulence during the transition. Yet Apple has rarely shown an aversion to those things. They'll relentlessly pursue the future and expect users, developers, and even their own team to keep up. And if they switch to a 16:9 display, it'll be for two reasons and two reasons alone. To make a better product and sell more iPhones.

Diet Coda for iPad and Coda 2 for Mac hit the App Store

The highly anticipated FTP client, code editor, CSS editor, and previewer, Diet Code for iPad has hit the App Store. Now you can make quick edits to your website while on the go or on vacation. A while ago, we were going on vacation, and facing a difficult question: do we take the MacBook, or the iPad? 95% of what we needed was on the iPad, and it felt right to travel light. But what if we needed to fix or post something on our website? We'd be straight out of luck. So, the Macbook was packed. And work on Diet Coda begun. With Diet Coda, you can edit documents right on your server or staging server, quickly edit works on your servers, insert chunks of codes with "clips" by a single tap, and take advantage of the built-in terminal. Diet Coda also features powerful FTP and SFTP file management and support for HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP. In addition to the introduction of Diet Coda, Panic has also released Coda 2 for Mac. It features a brand new UI and better text editing, file management, clips, sites, design, and MySQL. Diet Coda will normally be $19.99, but it's 50% off until the end of Thursday, May 24. Similarly, Coda 2 for Mac is available for $49.99 (regularly $99.99) for today only -- so you better grab these quick! Diet Coda for iPad - $9.99 - Download Now Coda 2 for Mac - $49.99 - Download Now

Apple's new iPhone 4S ad sees Siri joking with John Malkovich

Apple has released their third celebrity iPhone 4S, this one entitled "Joke" and featuring John Malkovich and a rather jovial Siri. While helping John Malkovich plan a night out, Siri shows him her funny side.

Beer Round: Never Again Will You Need to Scrap Over Booze

Price: Free ****½ (4.5/5) Beer Round: iPhone App Video Review Beer Round requires iOS 4.2 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review. The iPhone app reviews rating: ****½ (4.5/5)

Addictive Action-Arcade Game – Chin Up – Rises Up on iOS and Android

Chin UpDeveloper: Touch Village Inc.Price: freeDownload from the App StoreUser Ratings: Touch Village, mobile game and application publisher, announced today that their new action-arcade game, Chin Up, is now available for download on the App Store. Chin Up stars Mr. Chin, a nimble construction worker under siege by a torrential downpour of the most bizarre items to ever fall on a construction site. Various food products (sushi, dumplings, bowls of rice), living creatures (fish, dogs, cats, horses), parts of former living creatures (severed cat heads, brains). It's sort of like a politically incorrect version of the classic arcade game, Crazy Climber. As Mr. Chin heads skyward on his bamboo scaffold, you can shift him from one side to the other, tilting the platform and dispatching dangerous debris. You can also swing the platform to position Mr. Chin for a needed power-up or dodge an incoming killer bird. But be careful with that platform or you'll dump Mr. Chin to the hard ground far below (and then, Mr. Chin will hate you forever). Mr. Chin will travel to construction sites around the world - from the great Wall of China to Vatican City for a battle with The Devil himself. Every level has its own unique droppings, as well as a special life meter that 'tastefully' reflects the atmosphere. (more...)

Fruit Ninja Gets New Update With Powerups, and Halfbrick’s Giving Away Free Copies

Fruit Ninja is about to get its biggest update yet to celebrate its second anniversary on Thursday, May 24th. The key new element in the game appears to be that players will now be able to earn an in-game currency, called starfruit, that can be used to buy new powerups from new characters Gutsu and Truffles, introduced in the new trailer produced by People’s Republic of Animation. Powerups and new “super fruit” like berry blasts will be available to help players raise their high scores. New powerup peaches will add extra time to Arcade and Zen modes, making higher scores even possible. As well, a new bomb deflect powerup is available for skilled ninjas. As well, in celebration of this new update and the 2-year anniversary of the game, Fruit Ninja is temporarily being given away for free from their Fruit Ninja Anniversary page, where a promo code for the iPhone/iPod touch version can be generated for a limited time. The update will arrive for both versions of the game this Thursday. Fruit NinjaiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPadBuy Now: $0.99Released: 2010-04-20 :: Category: GamesFruit Ninja HDiPad Only App - Designed for the iPadBuy Now: $2.99Our Rating: :: THIS ONE CUTSRead Our Full Review >>Released: 2010-07-14 :: Category: GamesApps mentioned in this post: Fruit Ninja, Fruit Ninja HDAbout: Fruit Ninja Gets New Update With Powerups, and Halfbrick’s Giving Away Free Copies is a post from 148Apps

Win a free tablet or smartphone of your choice with SwiftKey and Mobile Nations!

SwiftKey and Mobile Nations (hey, that's us!) are giving you the chance to win a phone or tablet of your choice. SwiftKey is one of the leading aftermarket keyboard for Android, and in return for letting the SwiftKey guys know how you use your phones and tablets, you could bag the device of your choice, up to a value of $800. Head over to swiftkey.com/survey to begin, complete the survey. If you're one of the lucky three (yes, three) winners, you could get your hands on your dream phone or tablet, even if it doesn't run Android. In fact, even if you don't currently own a device that supports their kick-ass keyboard, SwiftKey still wants to hear from you, and you could still be a winner. The survey is open internationally for smartphone and tablet owners aged 18 and over, and it runs until midnight on Wednesday, June 6. Be sure to check SwiftKey's site for the full terms and conditions. Head over to SwiftKey's survey page to get started! More: SwiftKey

Microsoft Office for iOS and Android Arriving in November?

BGR reports that Microsoft is planning to launch Office for iOS in November this year, with the source claiming first-hand knowledge of the software running on an iPad. With the app's splash screen referring to it as "Office for iOS", the source also speculates that the app may also be coming to the smaller screens of the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition to its iOS effort, Microsoft is also said to be bringing Office to Android-based tablets in the same timeframe. Microsoft had indicated soon after the launch of the original iPad that it was investigating the possibility of bringing Office to the platform, but ultimately stated that it had no plans for such an effort. The Daily has since claimed several times that Office for iPad is in fact in the works, reporting in February that it had even had hands-on time with a prototype of the app. Photo of claimed Office prototype app running on an iPad (Source: The Daily) Microsoft denied the claim, but The Daily continues to stand by its report. Suggesting that there may have been a misunderstanding somewhere, Microsoft stated that the situation would become "clear in the coming weeks". No such clarification has yet surfaced, however.Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Mint Upgrades iOS App With Budget and Transaction Management Tools • Siri and iCloud Banned at IBM Headquarters over Security Risks • Apple Releases Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.13 • New Paris Apple Retail Store Opening Friday, May 25 • Video Streaming from TiVo to iOS Devices Coming This Summer

OtterBox Defender Series with Realtree Camo for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 only $34.95 [Daily deal]

For today only, the iMore iPhone case store has the OtterBox Defender Series with Realtree Camo for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on sale for only $34.95! That's a whopping 42% off! Get yours before they're gone! The OtterBox Camo Defender Series Case for the iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 offers rugged protection for your smartphone. The Defender Series case will help keep your phone protected from drops, bumps, dust and shock. All features, keys and ports are accessible through the case, providing you with a unique, interactive safeguard. Included with this case is a holster style swivel belt clip. Features: Layer 1: Thermal formed protective clear membrane. Protects keypad against scratching, as well as dust intrusion (layer optional depending on the level of protection desired) Layer 2: Hi-impact polycarbonate shell for an added guard against drops and shocks Layer 3: High quality silicone skin to absorb bump and shock Full access to all keys, ports and functions OtterBox Defender Series with Realtree Camo iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!