Macgasm

I, like many iPad owners, really enjoy using my iPad. Specifically, I enjoy playing games. One of the games that has been ported from the iPhone to the iPad is called Mini Gore.  The iPad version is called Mini Gore HD.  We received a code, and I thought I’d let everybody know my thoughts.

MiniGore HD is a fun game that has some interesting game play.  For some background, you begin as ‘John Gore’.  You have your trusty machine gun and you try and defeat the Furries.  With each kill you are able to unlock new characters like ‘Jerry Gore’, a WWII veteran who has some good lines, or even XMas Gore, where John Gore is dressed as Santa, and a bunch more.  There are some ‘Premium’ Characters included with the iPad Mini Gore HD app. Under Mini Gore for iPhone, these premium characters were $0.99 each.

MiniGore HD has two different control modes. The simpler method, and the one I prefer, is where you just move your character around.  This makes it a bit easier than having the second method; which makes you use two hands, one to control and one to fire.  While this method works, it should be used by those who know what is going on in the game.

Within the game, there are different power-ups that allow you to continue your quest against the Furries.  Some of these include grenades and clovers.  The clovers, if you collect some, will allow you to turn into a giant Pig.  When you do this, you’re able to basically run and destroy the Furries.  This is quite helpful when you have a whole mass of Furries and you need to destroy them very quickly.

There are three different difficulty levels.  You do start with more points on the high difficulties, but the levels are instantaneously more difficult.  If you’re comfortable with this, or if you are adventurous, you can start at a harder level.

There is one downside to Minigore HD, which I’m assuming is coming soon, is the lack of additional areas.  You have the Forest and the Winter Forest.  While this isn’t a huge deal, it can get rather monotonous doing the same level over and over.

Minigore HD is $4.99 in the App Store.  As I stated earlier, you do get the Premium characters, so it’s worthy of the price. Not to mention, it’ll keep you busy for a few hours, so be prepared to block off some time.

On a number of occasions, Mac-centric journalists have noted that it was a well known “secret” that the iPhone 4G was “stolen,” and that both Apple and the engineer were looking everywhere for the thing.

If true, as speculation suggests, Gizmodo could have known that they were buying up stolen property, “allegedly”. We’re sorry for all the air quotes and assumptions, but anyone who pretends to know what’s going on is speculating at best. Can you see why this thing is such a mess?

According to the San Jose Business Journal Apple Inc. requested the investigation, and interviewers said, “they have identified and interviewed the person who took the phone from the Gourmet Haus Staudt on March 18 after it was left there by Apple engineer Gray Powell following a birthday celebration.”  The article also references the fact that both Apple and Mr. Powell called the police to report the device stolen.

What would you do in this situation if you were either Mr. Powell, or a business owner?  Do you think the item was stolen? Or, do you think that it was found?  Is a found and kept item regarded as “stolen” by law enforcement officials? If so, I may have to call in this ten dollar bill I just found on the sidewalk.

But, outside of that little snippet of gold, the police aren’t really talking, Gizmodo’s saying very little, and Apple Inc. is as quiet as usual. There’s also rumours that the police are taking a step back and placing the investigation on hold because of public pressure that’s been mounting.

Who knows how this whole thing plays out, but either way, you should get some popcorn ready.

“It’s gonna change the way kids learn” exclaimed Oprah. And with that announcement, bazillions of rabid Oprah fans pulled up Apple.com and ordered an iPad for their kids. While that was happening international iPad fans, cried out in unison, worrying about US soccer moms creating another iPad shortage.

Looks like that end of May shipping date is now sometime in June.

All kidding aside, I agree with Oprah, and I’m looking forward to showing my nephew some children’s books on this thing.

Hopefully I’ll be the “Cool” uncle again.

Here’s the “revelationary” segment from the Oprah show.

Article Via Just Another iPad Blog

Everyone’s favourite media player got an update today, bringing iTunes up to the 9.1.1 version mark. Apple, being cryptic as ever, has announced that the update addresses a bunch of VoiceOver problems, issues surrounding converting songs to 128 kbps AAC, and other performance type things.

Nothing really new to see here though, so start up your software update and get your patch on.

The Blackberry Storm isn’t exactly a new model anymore, so the touch screen feature isn’t new technology for RIM. However, the unveiling of the new Blackberry 6 OS at WES 2010 has given us Blackberry users a little something to feed on while Appleholics awe over the recent iPhone 4.0 announcement.

These upgrades include multitouch, an integrated media player, and integration with social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook. A big step forward for RIM, but only a tiny baby step for digital-kind.

Check out the video that was released at WES here:

Business Insider is reporting that even though RIM’s Blackberry phones have a larger share of the smart phone market than Apple’s iPhone, the App Store has ten-to-twenty times more daily downloads than Blackberry applications. RIM reports that there are almost one million Blackberry apps downloaded a day, but Business Insider puts app store downloads between ten and twenty million each day. That is quite a substantial difference there.

If nothing else, it shows that the iPhone OS is a great platform for developers to get their applications in front of a lot of people. If you’re looking at making a mobile app, which platform would you be drawn to? Blackberry users are probably more interested in using their e-mail client than your application. That’s not a bad thing, but I believe it does help developers chose which platforms to go towards.

Article Via Business Insider
Photo Credit: MattHurst

Panic has released a full version update to 4.0 today. 5 years after releasing the 3.0 version, the Panic team has decided that faithful users could use a major update. The application is $34 for a full license and $19 for an upgrade from version 3.0.

I was a little annoyed at the cost for the upgrade, but after looking at the new feature set, I can hardly complain.

Some of the new features include:

• One-Click SFTP Key Import
• FXP Support
• Multi-Connection Transfers
• 25x faster for small files
• Twin Progress Bar

In my opinion, the FXP support is worth the upgrade price alone.

One of the key new features is the Disks feature.   Disks lets you mount any of your favourite ftp/server locations directly in the Finder, even if transmit is closed.  The Disks integration with the Finder has just made my day a little bit easier.

Last week I wrote about what seems to be the first iPad theft, in which the victim had an iPad stolen from him in the mall during the day.  Unfortunately, Bill Jordan the victim, lost more than the iPad.  Consequently, he lost part of his pinky on his dominant hand.  As I wrote in my previous article both myself, and Bill Jordan saw this crime as a senseless act, by a very selfish individual.  As it seems the law has caught up with the individual that perpetrated this horrible crime.

Denver’s ABC 7 News is reporting that Brandon Darnell Smith was arrested during a traffic stop.  This is one model citizen.  First he steals from and dismembers Bill Jordan, then he is arrested in a traffic stop days later.  Here is what ABC is reporting:

“DENVER — Denver police have arrested a man suspected of mangling a shopper’s finger while stealing a brand-new iPad.

Authorities say 20-year-old Brandon Darnell Smith was arrested early Saturday in a traffic stop.

Police suspect Smith is the man who yanked the shopping bag containing the iPad from 59-year-old Bill Jordan on Thursday.”

Bill Jordan was able to pick Brandon Darnell Smith out of a Police photo lineup as the individual that stole the iPad from him.  Bill is happy that Brandon Darnell Smith was apprehended.  This is what Bill had to say,

“For people who may have been harmed in the future, it’s a wonderful thing,” Jordan said to 7NEWS Reporter Jaclyn Allen. “It’s bittersweet. The bitter part of it is there is nothing anybody can do to replace this. It is what it is.”

The one good thing to come of all of this it that he is off the street.  Bill Jordan made the following statement, “If there’s anything good that comes out of this it will be that people will say to themselves, ‘We need to be more careful.’”  In addition, Denver’s ABC News stated, “Smith faces charges of robbery and second-degree assault. He hasn’t entered a plea and it’s unclear whether he has an attorney.”

Photo Credit: Handcuffs

Article Via Denver ABC 7 News