Apple has released a new iPod touch commercial that focuses on FaceTime, Game Center, and other awesome iOS features that really make the device shine. Things like iMessage really make ththe touch the perfect device for anyone not interested in paying the ridiculous prices for data plans.

We have an iPod touch, iPhone 4S, and an iPod nano in our house, and all of them perform a very certain function, very well.

Frozenbyte has just announced that the upcoming sequel to their original best-selling game, Trine 2, will be getting cross-platform multiplayer across the PC and Mac, courtesy of Valve’s Steam Play framework. Trine 2 will also be available on the Mac App Store when it ships some time next month.

According to Lauri Hyvärinen, CEO of Frozenbyte, “the cross-platform multiplayer between Windows and Mac makes it easier to find people to play with, allowing everyone to enjoy the full co-op potential of the beta and the upcoming game.” We’re pretty excited about that. Cross-platform multiplayer is something that we would like to see not only on PC/Mac versions of our favourite games, but also on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 moving forward. As it stands, people playing Trine 2 on their computer will not be able to co-op with people playing on the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3.

There’s no mention of when Trine 2 will be hitting the digital shelves of Steam, with the vague exception of a “later in 2011″ hint in the press release. That pretty much gives Frozenbyte a couple of weeks. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

If you want to get caught up with the series, you can currently get the original Trine on the Mac App Store. It’s worth the money. It’s one of my favourite Mac games.

We’ve mentioned a couple of Siri hacks that have shown off what the future of Siri may hold for us, and today we have another one. Using a proxy server, a developer has made it possible to start and stop a car using a Viper Control chain and Siri.

Like we’ve previously mentioned, the hack uses Plamoni’s Siri Proxy to both start and stop the car. The car hack makes use of a new ruby plugin alongside the proxy.

From the developers blog post:

The more we hear about these hacks, the more I find myself hoping that Apple will open Siri up to developers. As it stands, I already use Siri for all of my reminders and alarm settings. The sooner I can do things like adjust a thermostat, and start my car, the better.

It didn’t take long, did it? According to Bloomberg, Apple has already removed the Big Fish Games title that included an in-app subscription to gain access to their entire game catalog for $6.99 per month. Upon release, there was much ado about Apple opening up the subscription model to app developers, but as it turns out, Big Fish Games is both the first and last company to offer subscription based models in their application.

Bloomberg:

If true, it sounds like this may be a case of someone higher up the food-chain yanking the application. While some apps, like Netflix, work on a similar model, we can see why Apple may feel threatened by the move. Should major companies create a marketplace within their applications for their other apps, Apple’s App Store would become more confusing as a result.

The model, often deemed the Netflix Model, works for companies like Netflix, where movies don’t appear in the App Store on a singular basis; however, for games and other applications, a subscription model would essentially create a multi-level application store, potentially making it more difficult to find what you’re looking for on a search-by-search basis.

It’s something that could be addressed in the future, but as it stands, it’s a terrible idea and a nightmare for Apple. Could you imagine the number of people confused about why their games have disappeared when they opt-out of a subscription, thinking they paid for them in full?

Dear Mr. or Ms. Future iCloud Apple person,

Congratulations on your future role. You are stepping into shoes that no one really wants. Apple has had huge success with devices and software (specifically operating systems), but its forays into the Internet have been pretty weak so far.

Well, except for that whole iTunes thing.

For whatever reason, I woke up today thinking about all the ways in which iCloud’s Photo Stream is lacking. So, it’s interesting that news of Apple looking for cloud talent was at the top of my newsfeed this morning.

Photo Stream

Photo Stream in its current form works exactly as advertised and isn’t worthless. While I don’t know anyone that was really asking for something like Photo Stream, I felt the general consensus after the iCloud keynote was, “Oh… okay. Um, sure, we’ll take that for free…?” And, for the soccer moms and Scoutleader dads that are now buying Apple’s mobile tech, maybe it’s exactly what they want.

But for me, the hassles often outweigh the times I use it as advertised. Currently, when I take a picture with my iPhone 4, that picture is pushed to iCloud, then back down to my iPad and my iPhoto Library. The thinking here is, “take pictures anywhere, view them anywhere seconds later.” This is nice in theory, but severely lacking in execution.

(more…)

OK, most of these Apple Odd Stuff posts have been fairly tame. I actually have owned one or two items in each post. Not so with this post. I am proud to say I don’t own anything here. So, was there a big demand for an iPhone case that looks like your ear? Creep-eeeeeee.

Come on, you know you want the sort of NSFW stuff

There have been rumors circulating the Internet since word got out that the major studios were looking to make a film about Steve Jobs’ life that Aaron Sorkin, the man responsible for the screenplay of The Social Network, was approached by Sony to pen the screenplay.

Aaron Sorkin has gone on the record today about the project:

It feels a bit early for a biographical film on Jobs considering Walter Isaccson’s authorized biography was just published. Keeping in mind that this thing is in the early planning stages, and that it would be a number of years before the film hits the big screen, there’s obviously going to be a tremendous amount of interest in the film. The key difference between this film, and a film like The Social Network is the amount of time that has elapsed during the story. Going from 1970 through to 2011 is going to be a lot more difficult to pull off than writing a film about the relatively short period of time of Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg’s relevancy.

Souce: E!Online

Steve Jobs is currently being honored at an exhibit in Alexandria, Virginia, at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The exhibit consists of 30 giant iPhones displaying over 300 patent and trademarks that have been attributed to Jobs himself.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office:

Think Jobs sat around and only called the shots all day? Think again. He was constantly coming up with ideas of his own for Apple. Three hundred patents is nothing to balk at, and the exhibit illustrates just how passionate Jobs was about innovation and changing the world. Think different, indeed.

Photo Credit: MacRumors