Macgasm

Six Indie game developers have joined up to create an iPhone sale for charity. Instead of lowering prices to dominate the charts before the holiday freeze like some of the bigger developers, these six indie developers have put their applications on sale and from December 21st to December 31st will be donating one-third of their total sales to Child’s Play Charity.

These indie developers aren’t a conglomerate of mediocre developers trying to get their games some attention. All six of these games have dominated charts, and a couple are personal favorites of mine. For six dollars, you can’t go wrong.

Included in the holiday sale:

• Canabalt
• Solipskier
• Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor
• Osmos
• Eliss
• Drop7

I can personally vouch for Canabalt, Eliss, and Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor.  I’ve spent a lot of my time playing those three this year.  I’ve added my personal favourites in the footer of this post for your convenience.  If you’re looking for new games during this upcoming holiday season, let’s start here.

Late last week, an unofficial WikiLeaks application made its way to the App Store. It was available for $1.99 and provided users will all of the information that was available from WikiLeaks (normally free) on their iOS devices. Apple removed the application from sale late last night, and it’s no longer available on the App Store.

The developer, Igor Barinov, provided Tech Crunch with a screen shot of the iTunes Connect information that shows Apple removing the App from distribution, but there’s no indication as to why it was removed.

At this point, it could have been Assange complaining that the free materials were being sold on the App Store for a premium, or it could be that Apple folded under the pressure from the US government just like Amazon, PayPal, and others.

If more information leaks about this, we’ll keep you posted.

Article Via AppsFire

According to a story on Mac Rumors, Apple will be shutting down the “Downloads” section of its website, in favor of the Mac App Store, which is opening on January 6. Here is the letter the company sent to developers earlier today:

Thank you for making the Mac OS X Download site a great destination with apps that offer users new ways to work, play, learn, and create on their Mac.

We recently announced that on January 6, 2011, the Mac App Store will open to users around the world, presenting you with an exciting, new opportunity to reach millions of customers. Since the introduction of the App Store in 2008, we’ve been thrilled with the incredible support from developers and the enthusiastic response from users. Now we’re bringing the revolutionary experience of the App Store to Mac OS X.

Because we believe the Mac App Store will be the best destination for users to discover, purchase, and download your apps, we will no longer offer apps on the Mac OS X Downloads site. Instead, beginning January 6, we will be directing users to explore the range of apps available on the Mac App Store.

Welcome to the new world, Mac users.

Article Via Mac Rumors

Apple has just unleashed an iAd creation tool onto the masses for free. Well, the free isn’t really true. You have to pay for the iOS developer package ($99/yr), but after that, there’s no charge.

The iAd producer gives developers the tools they need to create media rich advertisements for iOS devices using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Developers will have the ability to get their code on, but the iAd Producer also lets people drag and drop their way to “beautiful, motion-rich iAd content.”

The release is interesting, because up until this point iAd creators have been forced to work closely with Apple. This drag and drop tool reveals more questions than it answers. Is Apple looking to open up the iAd program to the general public? Currently Apple is only showing off a couple of select companies (Nissan et al.), but if Apple’s going to take on Google’s Ad business, they’re going to have to let more people in on the action. It might not be the Apple way, and this might not be the case, but the iAd producer release sure points to Apple opening up the market.

Article Via 9 to 5 Mac

If you’re using Shopify as your e-commerce package, you have the luxury of using their iPhone application to manage your internet store. That’s a huge benefit over the other competition on the market.

The Shopify team has rolled out a major update to their iOS app just in time for the last minute holiday shopping blitz.

Included in version 2.0 of the application is a redesigned dashboard, better order management and inventory control mechanisms, as well as push notifications and vital stats.

I’m a little bit biased when it comes to Shopify. They make their home in my lovely home town. But, they are top notch, and do what they do very well.

If you’re thinking about opening up your own online store, you might want to consider Shopify as an option.

Being a highly placed federal government employee comes with some benefits. In addition to liquor allowances, Canadian officials might also be walking away with iPads next year. Go Canada.

The justification is quite obvious: making the system more efficient. But, let’s be real for a second. Top level government employees are only as efficient as those who work beneath them. I’m all for revamping government agencies with more efficient technology, but when employees have to cater to the technology needs of upper management without having access to the proper tools to do the job themselves, the system’s going to break. Are agencies going to get access to scanners that convert to PDF?  What are the bureaucrats going to do when they have to access intranet applications built on non-webstandard technologies?

Treasury board spokesman Pierre-Alain Bujold argues that “The goal of the project is to determine whether the iPad could replace the printing of massive quantities of documents for meetings.”

He’s right. The iPad could solve all of those problems, but the real problem isn’t solved by making a select 6,700 employees more efficient. Ask a Canadian government employee about the hoops they have to jump through to get Firefox on their systems instead of Internet Explorer 6. Better yet, how are these bureaucrats going to get their digital documents on the iPad when their computers can’t even run iTunes, and a good portion of them can barely run two programs at a time.

Yup you read that right. While all the “big bosses” get the latest and greatest technology to get their jobs done, the people doing actual work spend their time on computers that barely function in a modern world.

How about we start arming the people who make this country a better place with better technology instead of those people who aim to be career-politicans for the perks.  It could be a better place to start.

Article Via The Niagara Falls Review

Everyone’s got the iWatch (iPod nano plus watch band) craze these days, and I have to say I’m one of them. I’ve been testing out the Griffin Slapcase and loving it, but I’m pretty interested to see where the TikTok team takes their Kickstarter funded project.

Scott Wilson, creator of the TikTok, was kind enough to film his trip to the manufacturing plant in China where the watches are being created, and then put it up online for us to watch.

You can watch the process of the TikTok being created right before your eyes. The video is pretty interesting, especially if you’ve ever wondered how those silicon wrist straps are created in China.

We’d embed the video, but for some reason Kickstarter has disabled that functionality.  So, if you want to see a TikTok being created from scratch, you’ll have to visit the Kickstarter page.

Pretty cool stuff.

According to a report in The New York Times, Google TV’s expected big splash at CES after the New Year might be less of a splash and more of a… whimper.

Forgetting mixed metaphors, it appears that several of Google’s partners — including Toshiba, LG and Sharp — had planned to unveil Google TV-powered devices. However, amid poor reviews of the initial release, Google has asked other companies to delay any product announcements until it can refine the software.

Obviously this has the potential to be a bad situation for Google. While the initial reviews of Google TV were less than stellar, future improvements are always welcome. However, when improvements mean delays, customers have a tendency to get upset. Not to mention those companies with hardware ready to announce.

I think that there is a huge difference between shipping beta web apps and beta software that is on an $800 device. I’m not sure Google understands that quite yet.

Article Via Electronista