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Category Archives: iPhone

Daily iPhone App: Interlocked puts lots of physical puzzles on a digital touchscreen

Posted on by Posted in armor games, ArmorGames, flash, interlocked, iOS, iPad, iPhone, kingdom rush, KingdomRush, pieces, puzzles, release, the room, TheRoom, touchscreen

I am a big fan of The Room, an iOS app which has gained plenty of accolades here and elsewhere already. One of the most charming things about The Room, I think, is how well it replicates real-world objects on a touchscreen platform. The Room expertly turns the touchscreen interface into a series of mysterious puzzle-boxes, all very fascinating and ingenious to play with.

Interlocked is another app that does that, although without a lot of the extra mystery and setting that The Room adds to things. The app is published by Armor Games, the same company that published the great Kingdom Rush, and like Kingdom Rush, it's based on a popular Flash game you can play for free online. Also like Kingdom Rush, the iOS version has been polished and cleaned up a bit.

The game is simple: You're given a puzzle with a set of interlocking pieces, and then you can drag or swipe around the screen to try and pull all of the pieces apart. The game starts off easy, and quickly gets difficult -- just a few levels in, I had some frustration trying to figure out just how these pieces on screen fit together. If you're a fan of these kinds of manipulation puzzles, you'll love this setup for sure.

As I said, Interlocking is a pure puzzle game, so it doesn't have any of the mysteriousness that made The Room so popular (and if you haven't played that one, you should). Still, if you like these very physical puzzles, Interlocked, with plenty of content and a nice clean interface, should offer up lots of fun. It's available right now as a universal app for 99 cents.

Daily iPhone App: Interlocked puts lots of physical puzzles on a digital touchscreen originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iOS, Android grab 92% of smartphone shipments

Posted on by Posted in android, apple, iOS, iPhone, market, marketplace, shipments, shipping, smartphones

The smartphone market is quickly boiling down into a two-party system, so to speak, with both iOS and Android picking up a whopping 92% of smartphone shipments over the last quarter of 2012. In 2011, 32% of smartphone shipments consisted of other operating systems, like Windows Phone, RIM's Blackberry, or Symbian. But in the last year that number has shrunk, to the point where only 7% of smartphones shipping are not iOS or Android, and it seems unlikely to rise again.

In the same time period, about 20% of smartphones shipped were iOS devices, as compared to 70% of devices shipped being Android. That may make it seem like Apple is losing a lot of market share, to Google's operating system. And that may be true, but let's not forget why: not only do Android phones tend to be cheaper (which means device makers can make and sell more), but there are also dozens of Android devices available from nearly as many companies, as opposed to Apple's relatively small (and, of course, exclusive) product line. As a platform, Android is shipping more smartphones than Apple is. But comparing the two isn't necessarily the best comparison, especially as a factor of Apple's success in the smartphone market.

Regardless, this report shows that the smartphone market in general is more mature than ever: there are currently two big players in terms of smartphone operating systems, and it's going to be harder and harder for anyone else to gain a foothold in the future.

[via TMO]

iOS, Android grab 92% of smartphone shipments originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xcode 4.6 released alongside iOS 6.1

Posted on by Posted in iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac, XCode, xcode 4.6, Xcode4.6

Mac and iOS developers get some update love from Apple today, too. That's because Xcode has been bumped up a notch to version 4.6 to bring support for iOS 6.1 along with some other under-the-hood improvements. Weighing in at 1.54 GB, the update is now available via Software Update and the Mac App Store.

Straight from Apple's own release notes, here's what v4.6 of the SDK has to offer:

  • Code completion heuristics are more accurate, and use an optimized default data set.
  • New compiler warnings help identify potential bugs when using ARC and weak references.
  • C++11 support for 'user defined literals' and 'unrestricted unions' features.
  • Debugger can inspect elements within NSArray or NSDictionary objects.
  • Analyze now performs deeper cross-function static analysis of Objective-C and C++ code.
  • The number of indexing passes is reduced due to improved dependency checking.
  • Additional bug fixes and stability improvements.

Xcode 4.6 released alongside iOS 6.1 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Untethered iOS 6.1 jailbreak to land on most Apple mobile devices

Posted on by Posted in Apple TV, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, jailbreak

MuscleNerd is the bearer of potentially good news for iOS device owners. According to a report in iDownloadBlog, MuscleNerd has said that the upcoming untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1 will support most iOS devices. This would include the following:

  • iPhone 3GS
  • iPhone 4
  • iPad 2
  • iPod touch fourth generation
  • iPhone 4S
  • iPad 3
  • iPod touch fifth generation
  • iPhone 5
  • iPad mini
  • iPad 4

MuscleNerd is now working on this jailbreak as part of the evad3rs, along with @pod2g, @Planetbeing and @pimskeks. Hopefully, this jailbreak pans out as expected and will be ready soon since iOS 6.1 finally landed in the hands of the public.

Untethered iOS 6.1 jailbreak to land on most Apple mobile devices originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breaking: Oscar Meyer Weinermobile “Hotdoggers” to get iPhones in June

Posted on by Posted in iOS, iPhone, oscar meyer, OscarMeyer, weinermobile

Breaking Oscar Meyer Weinermobile 'Hotdoggers' to get iPhones in June

In perhaps one of the biggest Apple stories of the year, CITEworld is reporting that Oscar Meyer's Weinermobile drivers -- AKA "Hotdoggers" -- will be switching from Android phones to iPhones in June of 2013.

To be frank, most of the article is about how the team of Hotdoggers had a beef (100 percent all beef?) with not being able to access their daily calendars on the road since they were only able to perform that task through secure work laptops. The calendars are critical to the roving weinies, since they need to pitch local media, make travel arrangements and inform contacts of when the giant sausages will be pulling into town.

To ketchup with changes in technology, the Weinermobile teams get to test-drive a new mobile app in May, and the red-hot app goes into full production in June. While the phones are going iOS at the same time, the Hotdoggers are getting the wurst possible news about their forthcoming tablets -- they'll be from Samsung, not Apple. There's no crying over chopped onions, though. They'll need to grill the brats in IT about that oversight ... apparently they didn't feel that iPads cut the mustard. We're sure, however, that the Hotdoggers will relish their new iPhones.

Breaking: Oscar Meyer Weinermobile "Hotdoggers" to get iPhones in June originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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View the winds with Windscape for iOS

Posted on by Posted in iPad, iPhone

At first glance, this might seem like a silly app. However, I have to say Windscape is interesting, entertaining, and educational.

Windscape (US$0.99 app) gives you a graphic representation of global surface wind patterns, which are rendered as moving particles. There are thousands of particles on screen, and they are color-coded by temperature. You can zoom into any area and see details of your local winds. As I moved around the country, I always believed prevailing winds are from the west. I can see now that is not true, and in my home of southern Arizona, I see our winds predominate from the south.

This app is nice to leave running while my iPad is on my desk and watch the realtime changes all over the world.

What's missing? For starters, there is only a bare amount of information about what the app is doing and showing. I'd like a more detailed explanation than the color code for the temperatures. Also, since it is a wind/weather app, how about alerting me to high wind warnings at locations I specify?

The app comes from the developer of Seasonality Go, a very useful weather app for iOS and Seasonality Core for Mac OS X. There were some wind particle displays in these apps, but this is more detailed and a really nice presentation.

Windscape is a universal app and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It requires iOS 6.0. Several languages are supported.

Gallery: Windscape

View the winds with Windscape for iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Timehop partners with USA Today to bring old news back to life

Posted on by Posted in app, apps, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod, timehop, usa today, UsaToday

The iOS app Timehop offers you a glimpse into your social networking past, but with its newest update, it also lets you take a peek at antiquated news stories as well. TNW reports that Timehop has partnered with USA Today to offer the top news stories from years past that were published on whatever date it happens to be. Think of it like a "this day in history" experience, but with a social twist.

Another new feature that has been added to the app is called "Friendversaries." As the name implies, the new feature notifies you of the exact day you befriended certain people on your various social networks. The update is now live on the App Store, and as always, Timehop remains free. The nostalgia-centric app made our Friday Favorite list recently.

Timehop partners with USA Today to bring old news back to life originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily iPhone App: Food Run wants you to play with your food

Posted on by Posted in daily app, daily iphone app, DailyIphoneApp, food run, FoodRun, game, gaming, iOS, iPad, iPhone, newsletter, pixels on toast, PixelsOnToast, platformer, review

If the name Food Run sounds familiar, you've got a good memory. We featured it about a year ago (via the developer's blog post) as a gorgeous example of Retina display graphics. Now, a year later, the game is available from Pixels on Toast, and you can see those gigantic graphics in action.

The game is a nonstop platformer, similar to (though less inventive than) the great Run Roo Run. You play as a piece of food running along the screen, and you simply tap to jump at the right times, with the game doing everything else for you. Along the way, you can grab stars, dodge obstacles and jump up to grab other food items, which will run along after you.

The game's fairly simple, and the clean and clear graphics do make the whole affair very smooth. Personally, I prefer a little bit more action to my platformers (Mikey Shorts is another great iOS platformer, if you haven't played that one yet), but Food Run has a nice Zen quality, and of course all of those stars across the levels do well in pushing you to replay each one until you hit it perfectly. You can pick up Food Run on the App Store now for just US$0.99.

Daily iPhone App: Food Run wants you to play with your food originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone global market share grew to 25.1% in 2012

Posted on by Posted in apple, IDC, iPhone, samsung, smartphone market, SmartphoneMarket

According to data published by IDC, Apple's global share of the smartphone market grew from 18.8 percent to 25.1 percent during 2012. That share is based on sales of 93.1 million iPhones in 2011 and 136.8 million sold in calendar year 2012. While that growth rate of 46.9 percent sounds good, it pales in comparison to Samsung's incredible growth in the smartphone market in 2012.

Apple and Samsung were in a dead heat for global market share last year, with Samsung's 19 percent share barely edging out Apple's 18.8 percent. But Samsung's shipments jumped from 94.2 million units in 2011 to a whopping 215.8 million in 2012 -- an astonishing 129.1 percent increase in shipments.

The IDC data also shows that several low-cost manufacturers -- Huawei and ZTE -- are making significant inroads in the smartphone market. Between the top manufacturers and these low-cost entrants, Nokia, RIM and HTC are finding their once-solid places in the smartphone market melting away.

iPhone global market share grew to 25.1% in 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unauthorized unlocking of new phones to be illegal in US

Posted on by Posted in dmca, iPhone, unlocking

Unauthorized unlocking of new phones to be illegal in US

Have you been thinking about unlocking your iPhone? Unlocking is the process that allows your iPhone to work on multiple networks that use the same wireless standard, so it's perfect for international travelers who buy SIM cards from local carriers instead of being tied to international roaming charges. Other folks love the ability to switch carriers on a whim. Well, effective January 26, 2013 -- tomorrow -- unauthorized unlocking of new phones becomes illegal in the US.

If you want an unlocked iPhone, there are several legal workarounds. For example, if you buy an iPhone 5 from Verizon, it's unlocked out of the box. AT&T unlocks phones for customers once they're out of contract (usually after two years). Most carriers will sell you an unlocked iPhone at full price, as will Apple.

Anyone buying a new iPhone today who wants to personally unlock the phone before tomorrow needs to ask their carrier if they'll unlock the phone for you. Once they reject you, you're free to unlock the phone yourself using one of many online unlock services. However, starting tomorrow you'll be breaking the law if you do so.

What law, you may ask? The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a federal anti-hacking law. In October 2012, the Librarian of Congress decided that personally unlocking phones would no longer be allowed. A 90-day grace period during which consumers could buy phones and legally unlock them started at that time, and that grace period runs out tomorrow.

[via MacRumors]

Unauthorized unlocking of new phones to be illegal in US originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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