Macgasm

I’ve spent the last week with my DODOcase and, quite frankly, I love it. It has some quirks that I’ll mention in an upcoming review, but on the whole it’s been a great iPad case. It’s worth the cash in my opinion.

If you’re of the same opinion as I, then you might be interested to know that DODOcase has put together a promocode. If you enter “vday11″ as you check out you’ll get 10% off any of their cases until the 14th. Score.

Originally we assumed that this case was for sale, but it turns out that it’s not.  It’s just a “relevant photo” for the promocode.  I’m not sure why they wouldn’t make the red edition of the case—the graphic is gorgeous.

So, my bad for saying this was available for purchase. It’s not.  But, the good news is that all of their other cases are still available, and they’re equally awesome… right?

Monty Python’s livestock catapult from the Holy Grail is being made into an iOS game. Just when you thought Angry Birds couldn’t get any cooler, Zen Worldwide will be giving us a game that lets you toss cows, chickens, and other livestock directly into your enemies’ castles one animal at a time. If it sounds a lot like Angry Birds to you, you’re probably right, but according to MacLife the game will bring with it all of the Monty Python staples, including quirky British humor and bizarre animations.

The game isn’t ready to ship just yet, but if you want to give yourself some time to gear up for the game, I’d recommend checking out Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Netflix. They’re all hilarious, and the humor really is priceless.

If we can get a cut scene with the man-eating bunny in Monty Python cow-tossing, my life as an iOS reviewer will be complete.

If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited about this one.

Article and Photo Via MacLife

Donald LeBuhn has decided that Apple needs to be punished for selling iPhones made of glass. No, really. The LA resident has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for “misleading customers as to the strength of the glass” used in iPhone 4 handsets

Excuse me while I go recover from the laughing fit LeBuhn just provided me. LeBuhn clearly realizes that the phone is made of glass, but still somehow thinks that the iPhone 4 was too fragile, and that Apple should pay for his repairs.

Here comes the rant

I’ve dropped my iPhone 3G plenty enough to know that repeatedly dropping your phone can result in the screen shattering, which in case LeBuhn isn’t aware of yet, is made from glass. I don’t have an engineering degree, and I couldn’t even begin to tell you the science behind breaking glass, but I don’t need it. I’m armed with common sense, and common sense dictates that glass will break when dropped.  Sign me up for a Nobel Prize.

Apple didn’t market the iPhone as “break-proof” and LeBuhn needs to take some responsibility for letting his daughter play with the phone. She dropped it, she broke it, and she should be on the hook to pay the fee to fix it.

Can someone please tell Mr. LeBuhn that glass breaks, and that he broke his phone, because I’m tired of this giant whinefest that’s going on right now.

The iPhone 4 is made of glass, and if you’re not responsible enough to take off your kid-gloves when you’re playing with one, maybe you should go out and buy the worlds most padded iPhone case. Stop blaming others for your irresponsibility. If you can’t stop breaking nice things, don’t buy nice things.

When I drop my phone and it breaks, I foot the bill, because I DROPPED IT.

Please tell me, is it possible to file a class action lawsuit against stupidity in the US? I might have some people I’d like to sue.

Article Via The Next Web

Skype has revisited their popular chat and video calling application in the last couple of months, the result of which is a complete reworking of their popular application. Skype 5 is now out of beta and available for download.

The beta version of the application was super buggy. It managed to hose my USB and line-in inputs on my Macbook Pro, but with the release of the Gold version of the application, most of the kinks seem to have been worked out.

The new UI is a drastic reworking of the previous Skype version, and it’s going to take some getting used to for most. The development team seems to have taken the time to rethink every single aspect of the application. Personally, I think it looks great. Most people have a hard time with change, but I think this is a step in the right direction for Skype.

The Skype team has also added some new premium payment plans to their offerings, which will surely be controversial for some. While Skype still offers their free, pay as you go, and monthly plans, they’re also now selling a Skype Premium package.

If you want to do video calls with more than three people, or if you want live chat support from a Skype representative, you can buy a day pass, or a subscription to their monthly plan for $8.99 per month.

If you’re constantly video chatting with a team, then it might be worth the price, but we don’t see too many “consumers” taking advantage of the offering. Heck, we don’t see too many small businesses taking advantage of it either. If you work for a small business who operates remotely, that $8.99 per month cost could be multiplied based on the number of people in your group. It adds up really quickly.  According to the Skype website, only one person on the call needs a Skype Premium account to gain access to the 3+ video conference feature. So, for a business of 3-5 people, it won’t be so bad, but if your firm has 20+ people, you’re likely going to need multiple accounts.

You can download the new verison on their website.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. held a press conference in Japan to unveil their successor to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) which is for now code-named NGP for “Next Generation Portable.” Alongside of that announcement, they also unveiled plans for a cross-device online store which will deliver downloadable games to the new portable, as well as to Android devices for the first time (version 2.3 and later). Dubbed the PlayStation Suite, Sony plans to offer classic PlayStation 1 games for both platforms. “Through this entirely new initiative, users will be able to enjoy PlayStation content on an open operating system for the first time in PlayStation history,” according to the press release. The expected date for PlayStation Suite is by year end 2011.

Sony is also hoping that developers will create new games on this platform, offering a game development environment that will apparently allow for cross platform development.

While I’m all for Sony getting a piece of the mobile game pie, it won’t affect Apple’s business at all. On the store side, Apple has already proven itself able to attract game developers, offering a good SDK and amazing sales numbers if the game is any good. They also have momentum on their side, having been in this market for several years, while Sony has yet to even come to market, and will not do so until the end of the year. That’s another year for developers and Apple to crush it with new games and new hardware.

Then there’s the issue of cross-device games. The fact that most Android devices (except for perhaps Sony’s own new gaming phone) lack hardware game controls will present a problem for game developers. Do you move all the controls on to the touch screen, replicating dual analog sticks and four buttons? Or do you have to modify the control scheme? It’s potentially another hurdle for developers to jump.

That being said, I wish Sony the best of luck. Competition keeps innovation alive.

Article Via MobileCrunch

NoteNow is a simple note-taking app intended for one purpose: allowing users to type out a short note and make it the wallpaper of their iOS device. As a concept, it makes sense. Whether grocery shopping, responding to important emails, or reorganizing the carefully-selected ink pens in my messenger bag, I often find myself first typing a few short notes to use as a reference during the day’s work. Since my iPhone’s screen is often locked when I actually want to reference said notes, viewing them requires a tedious dance that involves the slide to unlock gesture, typing a four digit pin, and relaunching whichever note-taking app has most recently captured my fancy. After doing this for the forty-seventh time, most users begin to ask the same question: Why can’t my notes reside on the iPhone’s lock screen, only a single click of the home button away?

A Fatal Flaw?

NoteNow answers this question, but unfortunately, it’s probably not the answer you’re hoping to hear. As frustrating as unlocking your phone and launching an app to access your notes can be, it turns out creating notes and saving them as a wallpaper is just as tedious, if not more so. First, iOS doesn’t currently provide developers with an API to update the iPhone’s wallpaper from within an app. This can only be done from within two native iOS apps—Settings and Photos. Although third-party apps can save images to the camera roll, users must still switch to either the Photos or Settings app to actually change their wallpaper. This turns out to be NoteNow’s fatal flaw. Each time you create a new note or even edit an old note that you’ve previously saved as your iPhone’s wallpaper, you’re required to launch two separate apps and navigate at least a half dozen screens. The truth quickly becomes all too clear: the workflow problems NoteNow creates are actually worse than the problem it was created to solve in the first place.

A Glimmer of Hope?

To be fair, NoteNow isn’t all bad. It’s simple and straightforward. It uses slick multitouch gestures to navigate it’s limited feature set, and it lacks the cluttered interface and usability issues that often plague other apps trying to accomplish too many things at once. NoteNow even gives users a limited number of well-designed backgrounds and note styles to choose from, providing options for customization of the look and feel of the wallpapers they create. But in the end, none of this can compensate for the overwhelming sense of frustration one gets while trying to use the app in day-to-day life.

The Wrap Up

NoteNow is the sort of app one wants to like. It focuses on one specific task. It attempts to provide a solution to a very real problem. It uses a simple interface and limited feature-set to accomplish all of this. But unfortunately, the app’s downfall is the OS in which it lives. As with most apps that try to provide workarounds for missing features or functionality in iOS, NoteNow strives valiantly but fails miserably.

This is a really cool effect for your homescreen—but only if you’re a jailbreaker. A hacker has created a program to provide your homescreen with a 3D-like representation of your app icons. What’s really ultra cool is that this tweak doesn’t require 3D glasses. Have a look at this macgasmic video!

The app is called 3DBoard and is available soon on a jailbroken iOS 4 device via the Cydia App Store for $4.

Article Via 9to5Mac

I am really hoping this rumor proves to be true, because I have always wanted the white iPhone. There have been sightings of the white iPhone 4 in inventory systems which could suggest that the release of the elusive handset may be imminent.

There is a report from Japanese blog Macotakara that says their leaks are true and claims that the issues of the white paint for this device have been solved. They say that a new process has been developed that has to do with the thickness of the paint layer applied. If this breakthrough proves true then we may finally get those white handsets.

The report claims that the issues may have been fixed by a small company in Japan that has developed a new type of paint which enables it to be applied in a more uniform way than was possible before. This would mean more even, intense colors, which would fix the previous printing of the white color which resulted in a huge number of defective products.

Apple had announced the white handset back in June and for a while people debated wether to get the black one or wait for the white—it seems the wait for the white one was far longer than any of us could have imagined. The actual reasons behind the problem was only ever stated officially by Apple to be due to a ‘manufacturing problem,’ but the rumors were explicit in saying that it was actually the paint, and that the thickness and opacity of it distorted the colour.

I really want to see this handset but I’m not sure Apple will launch the white iPhone when it is predicted they will have a new handset in June anyway. It might make more sense for them  to wait until the new handset is out and then release them together (if the rumor is true).

Will you sell your iPhone to get the new handset if it’s true? Are you past caring and are happy with your device? Have you been waiting for the white device all this time?

Article Via TUAW

Photo Credit: redmondpie