Airfoil Speakers is an app from Rogue Amoeba that lets you turn your device into an AirPlay receiver. The iOS version has been in the app store since 2009, but unfortunately that has changed as of today.

Paul Kafasis, Rogue Amoeba:

This highlights one of the biggest issues for developers on the app store. Even if you follow all of Apple’s written guidelines, they still have ultimate say on your fate. Sadly, they have shown that they aren’t worried about removing apps for seemingly arbitrary reasons or no reason at all. Apple controls the vertical and the horizontal, and sometimes that means developers (and users) get the short end of the stick. Let’s hope that Apple reverses their decision here so we can get back to rocking out using AirPlay.

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The iPhone 4 and, to a greater extent, the iPhone 4S are excellent point and shoot cameras. For most cases, they are exactly what you want in a camera. Your phone is always with you, it is easy to go from 0 to record, and the clarity is acceptable in pretty much all situations. But what about some edge cases? Should you really buy a whole other camera when you’re mostly content with your iPhone? Well, consider the Olloclip.

Originally a Kickstarter project, the Olloclip is now available at good ol’ Thinkgeek for only $69.99 USD. This quick-connect lens system that attaches to your phone comes with three different lenses for your photographic fringe cases. Wide-angle, fisheye, and macro lenses can easily be attached to your iPhone in a snap, and you’re good to go. When you just can’t get that small knick-knack in focus, switch to the macro lens, and the problem is solved. When you need to take a group shot, switch to the wide-angle lens, and your iPhone becomes the best consumer camera you’ve ever owned.

If you like the Olloclip, or any other product we cover, please take a moment to hit us up on Twitter. When you take the time to give us feedback, our coverage will get even better, so don’t hesitate. We love to hear from readers.

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Today Bump has announced that it will begin letting its customers Bump photos directly from a mobile handset (iPhone, Android) to a computer. You can now head to their website http://bu.mp, select the photos you want to send in the Bump application on your iPhone, and then tap the spacebar with your phone, or finger.

From The Bump Blog:

It’s pretty snazzy, and it looks like it’s going to be a great way to share your photos with friends and family without having to send an iMessage or email. It’s pretty damn cool. Just make sure you don’t deny the bu.mp website access to your currently location in Safari. The app won’t work without access to your location. Learnt that one the hard way.

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Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

I’ve been saying for over a year now that Messages and FaceTime needed to be integrated, then technologies like iMessage/SMS need to find their way into iChat as well. We don’t need one application for each communication medium. What we need is one communication medium that wraps all of the other mediums into one all powerful communicating application. We’re almost there, with iMessages heading to OS X, and FaceTime getting integrated into the Contacts app in iOS. It’s time we merge these beasts entirely, once and for all.

John Herman over at Buzzfeed has put together an interesting concept that places text messages, FaceTime and file transfers directly into one application. Alongside the FaceTime video is a button for the telephone, access to contacts, and a history of previous SMS/iMessages messages sent between contacts. It certainly makes sense.

Shut up and take my money already. I’d pay for that app.

If Apple’s serious about bringing iOS back to the Mac, and a little more OS X to iOS, they’d be smart to reevaluate how we communicate in 2012 and then rebuild the tools we have to make those kinds of connections with friends and family a whole lot better. One app to rule them all, one app to find them.

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If you need to keep track of your environment from afar, your options aren’t great. Multiple devices would need to be purchased, assembled, and a workflow would need to be thought out on how to combine all of the data and send it to you. Knut is looking to make it simpler.

Knut is a tiny little sensor hub that operates on two AAA batteries, connects to your Wi-Fi network, and sends you the data it collects. A thermometer and battery level sensor are built into the device, and then additional sensors can be attached.

Here are the additional sensors they’re currently making available for Knut:

• Waterproof thermometer
• Humidity sensor
• 3-Axis Accelerometer
• Door switch sensor
• Water pressure sensor
• A breakout board (A device that allows you to attach your own sensors to the Knut)

Once it collects enough data, it then sends it as a CSV file to a designated email address over your local Wi-Fi network. Sadly, the device is 802.11b-only, but should spend most of its time sleeping, so it shouldn’t drag down your G or N networks too much. Then, you can view and manipulate the data using the Knut app on Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android.

If you want a Knut of your own, you need to pledge $95 or more on Kickstarter. Shipping is free in the US, $10 USD for Candian shipping, and $15 USD for shipping elsewhere. As of writing, they have raised just under $10,000 of their $25,000 USD minimum funding goal. The project ends on July 5th, so don’t wait too long to order yours.

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If you like the idea of a kind-of steampunk iPhone, this case will tickle your fancy. Available from Zazzle, this Rotary Dial iPhone Case brings the ascetic appeal of an old-fashioned rotary telephone to the back of your iPhone. Combined with the Rotary Dialer app for only $0.99 USD, you’re in good shape in the retro department.

If you want your very own Rotary iPhone case, you’re going to need to drop $51.40 on Zazzle.com. Shipping and handling prices will vary, and don’t expect international shipping to be cheap. That said, you can almost always find a decent deal for Zazzle on RetailMeNot.com.

Is this the iPhone case of your dreams, or are you much too hip and modern? Maybe you prefer something else? If you think you’ve found a case that we should know about, don’t hesitate to drop us a tip. We love to hear from readers, and we’ll certainly credit you if you spur us to write an article about something.

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Flipboard is a fantastic interface to your world online. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Reader, and anything else you’re into can be tossed into Flipboard and made into a glossy magazine. The one aspect of social media that it was missing was audio. As of today, Flipboard now integrates with Soundcloud so you can listen to the jams and podcasts that your friends and favorite artists create right inside of Flipboard. Never before has there been such a wonderful app to experience your favorite media in one place. Included with the Soundcloud integration are dozens of recommended audio feeds for your listening pleasure right in the content guide.

Worth noting is the addition of VoiceOver support in this version of Flipboard. Now visually impaired iOS users can more easily navigate Flipboard so they enjoy great content right alongside of people with normal vision. It’s nice to see an effort to serve the disabled, and we certainly would like to see more like this in all applications across the board.

Also in this update is Readability support, Japanese localization, and the ability to drill down into separate sections of social networks on the iPhone version of Flipboard. As always, Flipboard is completely free, and there is no indication of how they ever plan to make money.

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Today we’re introducing a new feature here on Macgasm. From time to time we’re going to be including a poll in a hot-topic post that asks you to weigh in on the topic. After a week, approximately, we’re going to write up the results of our findings.

So, here we go.

Last week we asked you if you would pay a subscription fee for Sparrow’s announced Push services in their iOS applications. While we don’t know the price, or how the company plans on releasing the subscription, we do know how you feel about the idea: 82.95 percent of you told us that you will not be paying a subscription fee for Sparrow’s Push email service. The other 17.05 percent of you said that you planned on paying for the service.

Some quick thoughts on the findings

Push email is not all that necessary for a majority of users. While it’s handy, it’s certainly not something that most actually “need” if they find themselves having to pay for it. So, we’re not overly suprised by the findings. Plus, if you really want Push services in your email, you could just head to Apple’s Mail app in iOS. They provide it for free.

Also, in the future, it may make more sense for us to figure out the price point at which people are willing to pay for the service. But, since this is our first Ask and Tell, we’ll have these things figured out in no time flat.

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Below is an except from each report, just so you can see who is saying what on the new iPhone.

From The Wall Street Journal:

From Reuters:

We’re still not 100 percent sold on the rumors, as it seems everyone, including mainstream media outlets, are getting in on the Apple rumor mill cash cow these days. That said, we tend to give publications like The Wall Street Journal and Reuters the benefit of the doubt in these matters. Only time will tell, I guess.

Image Credit: _GUIMS

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While the key points from Macquarie Equities Research are quite vague on the whole, we can take away that the company believes Google could introduce the browser as soon as Q2 2012. If history is any indicator, getting the browser into Apple’s App Store could take a while. Google Voice took a pretty long time to get approved on the App Store. We should also keep in mind that Apple may be looking to update Safari as well with iOS likely getting an upgrade and announcement at this year’s WWDC conference in June.

I’m not one of those people who claim competition for everything is a great idea, but this time, I have to say, I’m looking forward to whatever Google releases so long as it makes it to the App Store. Safari’s minimalistic approach in iOS, and more specifically on the iPhone, is great, but it’s certainly starting to feel a little bit dated. It’s time the mobile web browser gets some revolutionary attention in the mobile space. I’d love to see what a new approach could bring to the table. I’m not sold that Google will be the one to innovate or even bring the browser to iOS, but I’ll be interested to hear how this plays out nonetheless. The mobile browser needs a new direction, and hopefully someone smarter than I figures that one out, and soon.

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It’s nice to see the team at Apple having fun with the search queries. There’s no doubt that Siri’s personality is part of the charm in using the service. That said, if the Nokia Lumia 900 does in fact have a better consumer rating than the iPhone 4S, would you prefer Siri tell you the truth, or tote the company line?

Who am I kidding? Everyone knows the iPhone 4S is the best phone on the market, right?

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When the iPad launched, the dumbest of the dumb pundits went off half-cocked about how it is a consumption device that has no use as a creative tool. Clearly, they couldn’t be more wrong. People are using their iPads to make movies, compose music, write novels, and draw great works of art. Wouldn’t it be great if you could use the iPad to paint as well? Well, that is the goal of this capacitive paintbrush.

The Sensu brush is a stylus that works with any capacitive screen (pretty much every touchscreen device sold uses this technology). What makes it special is that once you remove the cap, your stylus is also a paintbrush. No, you’re not dipping it in paint, but you can use it to mimic the strokes and movements you make when painting on a canvas. When you combine this great technology with an app like Paper, you can actually come incredibly close to replicating the painting experience without any of the mess, and a tiny fraction of the cost.

If you want your very own Sensu, you can pick it up from their online store for only $39.99 USD. As it stands, you can only buy it in the US, but international sales are promised to be in the works.

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The technology safe decal is made of vinyl and only costs $5.00 USD for 1 White Macbook decal, 1 Black iPad decal, and 1 silver iPhone decal. Decal All the Apple stuff for $5.00.

Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

We don’t have much information on what the feature will cost, nor do we know exactly how Sparrow plans on implementing the subscription. That said, we’re not exactly sold on the idea of paying a subscription fee to get Push services in an application. It’s a foreign concept, that’s for sure.

Would you pay an additional fee for Push services, or would you just carry on using the official iOS Mail app for all of your email? Vote below.

Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

What could we expect in a new mapping system in iOS? 9to5 Mac elaborates:

9to5 Mac seems to think that the new Maps application will be released at WWDC alongside iOS 6. Like we said off the top, a new mapping solution in iOS has been rumored for years, and the rumors reached their peak when people began realizing that the new iPhoto application for iOS left behind Google Maps for an OpenStreetMap-based system.

I haven’t used the Maps app on my phone in ages, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a reworking of the app, especially if it means that we finally get our hands on a turn-by-turn system on the device. How fantastic would that be? Heck I’d settle for something that actually shows me where I’m standing in relation to the buildings around me.

Via: 9to5Mac

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An untethered iOS 5.1 jailbreak is just around the corner according to Chronic Dev Team hacker Pod2g. Pod2G took to Twitter to spill the beans. The jailbreak is already in testing, and works on most iOS devices that run iOS 5.1. The hack isn’t quite ready for production yet, needing some more fine-tuning and packaging, but rest assured, it’s close. Pod2G has also released a video on YouTube showing the jailbreak in action.

Not really much else to report. That said, there’s no word on if the iOS 5.1 jailbreak will work with Apple’s latest 5.1.1 iOS patch earlier this week. If we hear more, we’ll be sure to let you know!

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Instapaper, the progenitor of the save-for-later reading apps, has seen substantial updates in recent months. The 4.0 update back in October was huge as far as user-facing changes went, and the point releases were non-trivial as well since they brought back the old-style list view for the iPad. This week, Instapaper 4.2 has launched with completely revamped pagination.

If you’re a fan of the skeuomorphic design of iBooks, this update will tickle your fancy. An optional page-curl pagination function has been added to simulate actually reading a newspaper, magazine, or a book. If that kind of frilliness isn’t up your alley, you’re not left out in the cold. “Fast pagination mode” is available and has been completely redone to make it more accurate and snappier. Instead of the old scrolling method, a draggable dot-bar has now been added as well.

That’s not all, though. Here is a list of other changes added in 4.2:

• New two-finger-swipe gesture to close an article
• Full-screen now has “Auto” mode to switch to full screen after a few seconds
• The subtle Twilight Sepia color tint can now be selected at any time
• Added sharing to Drafts and the upcoming Quotebook 2.0
• Many bugfixes and performance improvements

This is a free update for existing users. If you don’t already have Instapaper, the app continues to retail for $4.99 USD.

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Business Insider reported:

Good. Open Fient-like integration would be a lot more useful than Game Center-esque integration. It’s also nice to see Google understanding that gaming on the mobile device is a key element in the iPhone’s success.

Most of you are probably thinking that I’m being hard on Game Center, but ask yourself this, when was the last time you used it for anything other than a leader board? There’s so much more Game Center could be, and we’re really hoping that Apple plans on addressing that with iOS 6 and Mountain Lion. We know Game Center is coming to OS X 10.8, but what we don’t know yet is whether or not anything drastic will be done to spruce up the paint on the service. It certainly needs it at this point.

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The new addition lets users sync photos with Google+ albums, video chat with upto nine friends, chat with messenger, as well as both view your stream and check out the stream of people around you. The app has certainly come a long way since its first release. It may not be enough to convince you to abandon Twitter permanently, but it’s certainly worth checking out.

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It’s simple really. Banks absolutely suck at giving you access to your financials when you need them the most. I mean, they don’t even let you create folders in a savings account so you can earmark funds for certain purchases. What kind of institution does that? Anywho, Simple, an app aimed directly at those of us who need access to our financial information in a modern and efficient way, is now available on the App Store. If you already have an account, you can sign right in and get moving. If you don’t, you’ll have to sign up on the waiting listing.

So, what is Simple? From the Simple announcement post:

Simple is exactly what we need in the banking industry. A company that comes along and turns the whole industry on its head is all aces in my book, and it is something we not only support, but would like to encourage. Sadly, the service is US only right now, so if you’re like me, and live in Canada, you’re out of luck.

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Before G.I. Joe and Transformers were big Hollywood franchises, they were poorly animated cartoons. I have a lot of nostalgia for that period, as bad as the animation was at the time. Saturday Morning RPG seeks to channel that nostalgia into an iOS RPG with a heavy dose of self-awareness and snark.

Fans of Earthbound and Contact will find something familiar about the game. The game has two available episodes both centered on Marty, who gets possession of a magic notebook after falling asleep watching some cartoons. The notebook bears a striking resemblance to a Trapper Keeper, and is covered in stickers that adjust and enhance his stats. Marty uses the powers of the notebook to fight Commander Hood and rescue Samantha. Though he was dreaming, he wakes up with the notebook.

If you want to find out about what Marty does while he’s awake, you’ll need to purchase the second episode for $1.99 (US). The first episode is a bit light, but it is free. It combines the game’s tutorial with a couple of quick quests and a boss fight. It should give you a taste for the game’s sense of humor and radical 80s dialog. It’s well worth free, and should be enough to make you shell out for the second episode.

The second episode is more fleshed out with several sub-quests as well as a much larger map. This time the Hood Troopers are in your school with the thinnest possible disguises and manage to let their giant laser spider loose. I completed every quest I came across and managed to wrap up both episodes in about five hours. I was ready for the next episode but it’s yet to be released. An endless battle mode is also promised, but also has yet to get a solid release date.

They do have a system that encourages replay in the meantime. The notebook can be equipped with five stickers that adjusts your stats. While you can find these in-game, there is also another in-game purchase where you can buy cereal box tops and trade them in for stickers. This is a big problem with the game, as you don’t get box tops any other way but by buying them.

The game controls very well. It’s designed around touch rather than a virtual controller. There is a virtual joystick to move the character around the levels, but you can move it anywhere on the screen. The rest of the controls are all hands on. The clearest example is the attack charging system which has you tap repeatedly. Depending on the weapons you equip, there may be mini-games or simple timing exercises. This was one of the best parts of the game; combat never got boring as you were always getting new equipment that felt completely different than what was already in your inventory. You can also defend against attacks by tapping the screen with the correct timing, but it’s a bit tricky.

The mixture of nostalgia and iOS centric design make this a no-brainer. This game has a few flaws, most notably it’s length, but it is cheap. The free first episode amounts to a demo of the game. Trust me, you aren’t going find another game on the App Store where you use Optimus Prime as a weapon. This is the sort of design focused game we need to see more of on iOS.

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The game’s premise? Mow down the competition using a machine gun and a second weapon of your choosing while racking around a track, collecting items as you go. You get to upgrade your car along the way, which is always a plus.

The game looks fantastic, and it’s easily worth the $4.99 price tag, but at the heavy cost of being free, this one’s a no brainer. Go pick up the game; you’ll love it.

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According to T-Mobile’s press release:

We should point out that Apple’s iPhone is, in fact, compatible with the HSPA+ network on the 1900 MHz band. So, while T-Mobile won’t be able to offer cheap iPhones to its users like AT&T and Verizon since they don’t have a deal with Apple, the company will be able to provide support for the phone on its network. iPhone users wishing to make the switch to T-Mobile will have to either unlock their phones or purchase unlocked handsets directly from Apple.

If you’re a fan of T-Mobile, there’s still hope for decent iPhone access. Thank goodness.

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It’s starting to look like Color wants to be what Flickr thought they’d be when they released their bit size video integration: Twitter, but for video. Honestly, we’re not even sure why we’re dedicating digital ink to this news. Color keeps pivoting and pivoting and pivoting, and one of these days it’s going to pivot right into my do not care folder. If there was ever a spokesapp for doing absolutely everything wrong at the exact wrong time, it’s probably Color. The app strives to be something to someone, but honestly, we have no idea what that something is, or more importantly, who even uses the application these days. Do you?

The best comment on the news has to come from Paul Heintzelman over on the TechCrunch article. It reads, “In the UK they spell it C O L O U R… clearly in Silicon Valley it is spelled Y A W N.” He pretty much sums up how I feel about this. I mean they’ve received $41 million in funding across series A and B rounds, and I still have no idea how this iPhone app does anything of value.

Via: TechCrunch

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Good news for frequent train travelers: Amtrak is joining us in the 21st century by implementing iPhones as a scanning tool.

Brian X. Chen, NY Times:

Last year, I did a lot of flying, and some airlines allow you to do electronic ticketing with your portable device. Whenever I could I took advantage of it. Printing tickets and keeping them with you is particularly a pain in the ass when you’re hopping from airport to airport or when you’re making travel arrangements on the go. Knowing that you’ll always have your ticket with you on your device is certainly reassuring. This is a big step forward, and it would be nice if more aspects of society would get on the smartphone bandwagon. I’m still waiting to be able to purchase my diet coke from a vending machine with an app. Rabble rabble, flying cars, et cetera.

Source: NY Times
Image Source: Mark Fischer

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The update doesn’t really bring anything exciting to the table, unless you find yourself suffering from a couple of bugs, like maybe you find yourself having a hard time switching between 2G and 3G networks, or you’re having problems bookmark syncing in Safari. This update fixes those things.

Here’s the changelog:

• Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
• Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
• Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
• Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase

Not too much happening in this one, but that’s to be expected in a point release. Make sure you let us know if this updates bricks your phones in the comments. We’d like to know how the update goes for all of you.

Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

Whenever we’re going somewhere, we bring our iPhone cable. Nobody wants to be caught with a dead iPhone with no way to charge it. Well, what if the ubiquitous cable you carry around with you everywhere could also be used as a stand for your phone? That’s the idea behind Une Bobine, and we think it is great.

This Kickstarter project, Une Bobine, is made out of a “metal gooseneck material” that allows the cable to flex into position, and then stay put as it supports the iPhone’s weight. Plug in your iPhone, position the cable, and it will stay put. It can hover next to your Mac or perhaps keep your iPhone off the floor when plugged into the wall wart. This is a very clever implementation, and it is a perfect example of what we love to see on Kickstarter.

If you want your very own Une Bobine, you need to back the project for $25 USD. The good news is that it include free shipping worldwide! As of publication, they have gone over $1,300 of their $9,800 USD goal, and they have 39 days to go, so it is looking good for the future of this project. If you want yours, don’t wait — pledge away.

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Due to supply constraints with the black iPhone 4 – they must be selling like wildfire – Apple has begun swapping out iPhone 4 models for the iPhone 4S version.

From the 9 to 5 Mac team:

It’s not a guarantee, but if your Apple store is low on stock, there’s a good chance that Apple’s going to do you a solid and hook you up with the latest iPhone instead of the one you’ve been carrying in your pocket for the last couple of months. Now’s probably the time to finally take your device in for service.

Image Credit: WBNQ

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This morning a major update to Vemedio’s podcatcher Instacast has gone live on the App Store.

Instacast, a Macgasm favourite (check out our interview with Martin Hering, Instacast’s creator), is probably the single best iOS application to discover, download, organize, and most importantly, enjoy the podcasts you love. The developers have been hard at work and made many changes, not the least of which are a completely revamped user interface and a pro version, available via an in-app-purchase.

The nice people of Vemedio have also lowered the price from $ 2.99 to $ 0.99. The application was a steal before, but this new price is almost shamefully low. If you haven’t downloaded it so far, now’s the best time and don’t forget to subscribe to Macgasm TV once you’ve bought it.

Below you’ll find the list of changes straight from the horse’s mouth:

NEW IN VERSION 2.0
+ Revamped and improved user interface
+ Episode archiving
+ Improved Podcast Player with:
+ Sleep Timer
+ Continuous Playback backward and forward
+ List of episode links
+ Sharing of playback position via email and Twitter
+ Chapter Navigation
+ Improved podcast Auto-Download management
+ Download Manager with:
+ Pause and cancel downloads
+ Reorder downloads to set priority
+ Improved podcast feed parser with:
+ Support for Atom feeds
+ Support for MP3 chapter markers
+ Support for Multi-Format Podcasts
+ Support for Episode Deep Linking
+ VoiceOver support
+ Data Export

WITH INSTACAST PRO as In-app Purchase:
+ Playlists and Smart Playlists
+ Bookmarks with Import/Export
+ Settings for individual Podcasts
+ Push Notification for new episodes

Source: Vemedio blog

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For those of you who are interested in doing a bit of development for iOS but find the design aspect daunting, DevRocket is here to beef up Photoshop and give you some tools to get the job done. The DevRocket website describes its offering as “a simplified solution to working between display resolutions, breaking down full ui designs into separate elements ready for Xcode and saving for the Retina display.” You can use it to generate portrait or landscape displays of your splash screen which are resolution-adjusted for either iPhone or iPad (and you can easily switch between them as you like). You can slice and assemble UI elements as necessary, design icons and tune your visuals for the Retina display.

DevRocket clocks in at a modest $10 and can be purchased directly from their site.

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If you wanted to grab yourself an iPhone 4 or 4S and you thought news of Walmart’s recent price drop was gonna be your lucky ticket, you’ll be sorry to hear that it was just a mistake. Reports of the 8 GB iPhone 4 falling from $88 USD to $34 USD and the 16 GB iPhone 4S from $188 USD to $114 USD may have been accurate, but Walmart has issued a statement claiming the deals were “a pricing error in limited stores.” 9to5Mac has a bit more to say about it:

Before we knew it was unintentional, the drop in price ignited speculation about a new iPhone possibly hitting the market soon. Then again, every time Tim Cook picks broccoli out of his teeth someone posts the new iPhone will ship with a broccoli-tooth-picker, so I wouldn’t get too cranked up about it.

Source: 9to5Mac
Photo Credit: People of Walmart

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Thank goodness, it’s Friday and the god-awful work week is over. Nothing like starting your weekend off with a couple of fancy new apps to play with while you’ve finally got some time to yourself outside of the purview of your douchebag boss.

iPhone / iPod touch: VSCO CAM

Yeah, yeah, VSCO CAM is another camera app for the iPhone. The really cool thing about this $0.99 application isn’t that it’s a camera app, but it’s all about its simple post processing methods. Tap to snap, and tap to apply filters based on a scale system. The app also integrates with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and email, so sharing your pictures is a breeze.

If you need to increase your Hipster points to level 99, you’re gonna want to check this one out before all of your friends manage to get a hold of it.

Quick aside, the VSCOCAM website is pretty fantastic too. Make sure you check that one out.

Download links below

iPad: Spell Tower

If you like word games and Tetris-style games that have blocks falling from the roof, you’re going to want to check out Spell Tower. Letters fall in Tower mode, and you have to spell words before the tiles rise from the bottom of the screen to the top. The game has five modes and tremendous replay value. I can’t believe this universal app (works on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) is only 0.99. Worth it. It’s quite simply one of the best word games I’ve ever played.

Download links below

The Mac: Found

Back in 2009 we wrote a post about Precipitate, a plugin for Spotlight that lets users search their Google documents from directly in Spotlight. Found is similar, but it lets you search multiple Gmail accounts as well as Google Docs. Instead of tossing up those results in Spotlight, Found hides off of the screen until you hit the control key twice. The app will also search your local filesystem and Dropbox folders. It’s pretty handy and I’ve been using it more and more over the course of the week. It’s worth a download.

This app’s a bit of a cheat be causes it’s still invite only, but the developers are adding people fairly quickly, so if you’re interested in checking it out, expect a small, worthwhile wait.

Download The App From Their Website

Game Of The Week: Cubis Creatures

I’ve decided to add a game to the list of Apps Of The Week posts in its own category. This week we’re recommending Cubis Creatures. Simply put, your job is to line up three like-colored blocks to collect points. It’s not as easy as it sounds, though. You’re locked into a fixed 7×7 grid to line up your blocks by sliding them around. Difficulty ramps up as new block types get introduced with different attributes. It gets pretty addicting, pretty quickly. Cubis Creatures is also universal, so it will work on both your iPhone and iPad.

Download links below

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Earlier this week, we showed you a stand that lets you stick your iPhone all around you. Well, we have another way of sticking your iPhone onto smooth surfaces, and this is quirky as all get out.

The Resin Uguard is a sexy iPhone case that enhances your grip on your little slippery hunk of silicon. Interestingly, it has the benefit of adhering to clean, nonporous surfaces. “GROSS,” you say. Hold your horses, bucky. It is grippy and does stick to your screen, but it won’t leave a nasty residue. If you want some more information about the resin, you can read this blog post written by the UGuard folks with some nitty gritty.

The resin-based case is available in eleven colors: black, brown, brushed silver, cream, fuchsia, green, orange fluor, pink fluor, red, white, and yellow fluor. They are all the same cost: €15.50. Currently, that is just over $20 USD. You can pay through PayPal, Visa, or MasterCard, so no reason to hesitate.

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In this week’s episode of Macgasm TV, Josh and Brennan do a little housekeeping with a couple of products we’ve been meaning to review for a while now. The guys show off the BoomBot 2, Alchemy (Free), Newer Technology NuTouch Gloves ($12-13), and Paper (iPad, Free, kinda).

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Republique, the stealth survival game headed for iOS and OS X, is getting into crunch mode over at Kickstarter. With only seven days left to reach their goal of $500,000 USD, they still haven’t reached the fifty percent mark. They saw a bump in the number of backers when they announced the PC and Mac port, but it still isn’t going at a fast enough pace to reach their minimum funding goal. Now it’s time to bring out the big guns: the voice cast.

David Hayter, best known as being the voice behind Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series, will be joining the voice cast of Republique as the head revolutionary in this 1984-influenced world. Jennifer Hale, best known as Commander Shepard from Mass Effect and Bastila Shan from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, will be coming aboard as “The Mentor” — someone the main character, Hope, knows intimately. Of course, David Hayter and Jennifer Hale have worked together on Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. This is an all-star pairing.

If you’re interested in getting in on the ground floor, you can pledge $10 for the iOS version of the game, $15 for the OS X version of the game, or $20 for both. If you’re interested, don’t wait. You only have a week left to make this happen.

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Already available for the iPad, The Daily brings a wide range of general interest stories to readers on a daily basis. Alongside the announcement of the new iPhone edition came a change in the subscription rates for the daily magazine. Starting today, iPhone users can now subscribe to The Daily for $2.00 per month or $20.00 for the entire year. If you already purchased a subscription for the iPad, the content will be free for the time being.

Sadly subscription rates for the iPhone and iPad are not the same. The iPad subscription still costs $1.00 per week or $40.00 per month for the same stories. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?

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Today, it’s being deemed a misunderstanding and a mistake by EA’s PR team:

Mistake, or simply busted? Because sending out an accidental push notification to all of your customers stating that you’re effectively treating their app purchase more like a rental is a pretty big error. It’s great that they’re letting people play the game still, but we can’t help but wonder what would have happened had the blogosphere not run with the story.

Our guess? EA would have disabled the game. That accidental push notifcation was way too specific to be a mistake. It’s not like it was a string of random characters or a smiley face, was it? The only mistake here was that they got caught red-handed. Let’s call a spade a spade.

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Jeremy Horowitz, of iLounge fame, states in a blog post:

In addition to the size differences, iLounge is stating that Apple will also introduce a new, smaller dock connector. Get ready to buy new docks, cases, and iPhone speakers. This version of the new iPhone could be pretty damaging on your pocket book. Also, a bigger screen would mean a new aspect ratio, and ultimately result in yet another resolution for developers to fiddle with to ensure previous generation iPhone users could still use their apps.

For those keeping score, iLounge has been doing these early looks at devices for the last two iPads with varying degress of success. The iPad 3/HD early look that they published was vague enough that it read like a horoscope out of a Sunday newspaper. Their iPad 2 hands on was a lot more accurate than the latest, but still had some holes in it. This iPhone rumor is a lot more specific, including the rumor of a bigger screen, and a “metal panel to the central back of the new iPhone.” That’s a make-or-break type of prediction. Horowitz seems pretty sure of his source, but that being said, last year around this time Joshua Topoolsky was pretty sure the iPhone 4S was actually going to be an iPhone 5 with a tear-shaped body and we all know how that one turned out. Oh, wait, it didn’t.

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I love listening to music across a wide variety of devices such as my iPad, iPhone and Macs. The only problem with listening to so much music is the price. Since iTunes charges up to $1.29 per song, buying music can end up being a pretty pricey habit. This is where subscription music services come in. These services give you the benefit of listening to unlimited music for a monthly fee. While you don’t actually own the music, most services allow you to save your collection to your mobile device for offline listening.

While there are a ton of music subscription services on the net, I’ve chosen three to compare in the article below: Rdio, MOG and, the most popular, Spotify. These services are all unique in their own way by providing different plans, music selection and mobile apps.

Rdio

I’ve been an Rdio Unlimited member since December 2010. This is mainly because I’ve had no problems with their service and they continue to expand their music library by constantly adding new record labels.

Rdio’s iPad app is absolutely stunning. I’ll even go far enough to say that it looks better than Apple’s standard Music app. This is because of its stellar interface, which uses a combination of dark blues and grays. The application also performs well on my new iPad and I recall it working fine on my iPad 2.

The iPhone app, on the other hand, is definitely less than desirable. It reminds me of the old Facebook app because of its “grid-like” interface, which is just plain clunky and annoying. The app is extremely unstable as well. We can only hope that Rdio updates this app in the near future.

Rdio, like most streaming services, offers three pricing tiers. Their free service gives you ad-free listening, but only allows you to listen to a few songs a day. Their $5 per month plan offers unlimited desktop streaming while Rdio’s $10 per month unlimited plan offers unlimited mobile and desktop streaming. Unlike MOG and Spotify, Rdio also offers a $17.99 per month Family Unlimited plan. This plan includes two separate unlimited streaming plans and saves you two bucks a month. Need three accounts? Rdio will hook you up for $22.99 per month.

Families and heavy iPad users definitely want to choose Rdio over MOG and Spotify as it features the best family pricing and iPad app. Rdio also supports a plethora of other mobile operating systems such as Windows Phone 7, Blackberry OS and Android.

Spotify

While Spotify has been available in Europe for years, it just recently launched in the United States (and not in Canada). While I don’t have experience with their premium service, I have tried their free service, which is decent. They do seem to have a smaller selection of electronic music, which is why I’m not switching from Rdio.

Spotify has just recently launched their iPad app, which includes Retina graphics and an OK user interface. While it looks nice from the get-go, I think it’s cluttered compared to Rdio’s app.

Spotify’s Mac app looks nice and features a ton of Facebook integration. For instance, you can see your Facebook friends’ Spotify activity in the sidebar of the Mac app at all times. While this is a nice feature to have, it may get a bit distracting.

Spotify’s iPhone app looks absolutely stunning and features a ton of added functionality over Rdio and MOG’s iPhone app. For instance, you can double-tap on a song to bring up a row of functions, just like in Tweetbot.

Spotify features similar plans to Rdio. Their free service is ad-supported and has limited listening while $5 per month will buy you unlimited desktop streaming. Their “Premium” plan is $10 per month and allows you to stream unlimited music to your computer or mobile device. Spotify currently offers apps for iOS, Blackberry OS, Windows Phone 7, WebOS, Symbian and Android.

MOG

MOG is the audiophile’s dream streaming service. This is because it offers streaming at up to 320kbps, which beats the 128kbps streaming quality on Spotify and Rdio.

MOG’s iPad app, to me, is pretty bland and ugly. It features a very dark interface, which can definitely get old after a while. The controls aren’t very intuitive when compared to Spotify or Rdio’s application.

I’m also not a fan of MOG’s iPhone app as it seems unfinished. This is because the user interface seems boring and the application feels very unorganized, as there is no clear homescreen.

MOG features virtually the same plans as Spotify. Free for an ad-supported experience, $5 per month for unlimited desktop streaming, and $10 per month for unlimited desktop and mobile streaming. If you do choose to use MOG for mobile streaming, keep in mind that it currently only supports iOS and Android. All in all, MOG seems to only be a good fit for anyone looking for high quality streaming music, not on-the-go mobile streaming.

What Do You Think?

If you can’t tell already, I prefer using Rdio to stream my music. But now that you’ve heard my opinion, what service do you use to stream your digital content? Or are you sticking to good ol’ iTunes for your music? Let us know in the comments section below!

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You don’t always have both of your hands free for manipulating your iPhone. Maybe you’re looking at your map, or perhaps you need to look at step 24 for your Ikea sofa. When you’re tinkering, assembling, driving, or sitting at an awkward angle, it would certainly be beneficial to be able to stick your iPhone in a handy spot for reference. That’s where the Oona iPhone Stand comes in.

The core of the stand is a solid hunk of metal with two threaded holes drilled into it. So what do you screw into it? Two things: suction cups and a metal base. If you want the stand to sit nicely on your desk, screw in the metal base on the bottom, and attach your phone to the suction cup up top. If you need to stick the stand to something like a windshield, then you replace the metal base with a second suction cup. It’s as easy as that.

If you want your very own Oona, you can grab it on their website.

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MG Sieger over at TechCrunch and Eric Savitz over at Forbes have both begun piecing together some of the results, and the conclusions they were left to draw suggests that Apple is actually dominating the US smartphone market.

Siegler, speaking to the percentage of iPhone sales on the major networks based on each company’s quarterly report:

Siegler and Savitz aren’t the only ones scratching their heads at the market numbers that trickle in quarter after quarter that indicate Android is dominating the market. Numbers aside, I often find myself wondering where all these supposed Android phones live while I’m out on the town. In a completely unscientific way, I find it hard to believe that Android numbers are as large as many suggest. I just don’t see an equal representation while I’m at the mall, or out at a restaurant. Maybe the domination is in Europe, or better yet Toronto. Maybe I just recognize iPhones at a higher rate.

I recommend giving Siegler’s article a read. He certainly raises some excellent points, and a couple cautionary examples of how relying on these analyst projections and surveys for information may not exactly always tell the whole story.

The numbers just don’t add up. Either Apple’s outselling Android in the US, or it’s not. The only question left at this point is whose numbers do we trust? Third party analysts conducting surveys with relatively small sample sizes or the major carriers quarterly earnings calls? Putting the numbers aside for a second, what’s your gut tell you? It’s telling me Apple’s doing a lot better than analysts credit them for in these surveys.

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This game is built on the classic fighter model of Street Fighter II, you get almost zero story when you hit the game, just a grid of characters to select. In fact, if you put in the frustrating hours to actually reach the final boss and win, you’re not even given a full on cut scene. This is good and bad, as you aren’t going to get a lot for your efforts. Unlocking new characters and galleries is it, there’s not a narrative at all. If you haven’t played the original game, rather never read the original’s manual, you wouldn’t have much of an idea of what’s going on in the story at all. Though you can’t really say that fighting games have ever had good stories; it’s the action that sells these games. Seeing Wolverine face off against Ryu should be enough to get most nerds excited. The selection of characters goes pretty deep into each franchise’s universes, especially as you unlock more.

The lack of polish doesn’t mean the game looks bad, it had pretty decent sprite art in it’s day. Some of the cinematics looks a little jittery, and you can tell the game is dated. However, that doesn’t really hurt the game. In fact leaving the graphics with a bit of a dated feel ups the nostalgia factor to gloss over some of the flaws.

The main flaw with the game is the controls. Fighting games barely map well to a standard console controller. Aficionados fork out hundreds of dollars for Arcade style sticks, all in pursuit of creating the right feel. I’m usually fairly tolerant of touch screen controls, but these don’t feel responsive enough. Trying to pull of the d-pad acrobatics need to make Ryu throw a fireball isn’t easy with the control layout, which maybe why they’ve added a button for special move and tags so that you can execute them with a quick press. This makes it a bit easier for complex moves, but it also crowds out the right side of the screen. This leads to a lot of accidental button presses, and with the tag button you end up accidentally switching characters.

At some point the controls, while still awkward, fade into the background. The game itself retains the signature Capcom feel. This game is a cult classic for a reason. You get three characters to fight with, and only one round. There are tag moves that combine the three characters in one attack. As you play you collect points to unlock new characters as well as galleries of bonus art. There are 16 characters to unlock in all, which should take a fair amount of time amass.

If you were a big fan of the game in the arcade or the Dreamcast, this game is worth picking up on nostalgia alone. Even if you haven’t played this game, I would recommend checking this out. This game is one of the high points in 2D fighting. The controls are still a real issue, but it does pass. If you haven’t played any fighting games, this might not be the best place to start. However, this game is only $2.99 on the App Store and is a good trip to gaming’s past.

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Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

Mounting as a storage device:

I want an easier way to get my files on and off of my device. Let’s admit that iTunes is a ball and chain and confess that iCloud is not magic. You know what IS magical and seamless? Connecting my device (physically or via network) and being able to just interact with it, like every other portable device since 2001.

The Home Screen:

Google stole borrowed the Apple approach to displaying installed apps (the “big ol’ grid of icons”), but quickly called it “App Drawer” and buried it a level deeper. With the home screen liberated, I can use it for “widgets” that give me at-a-glance information presented in (usually) well-designed panels. Interactive dialers, media players, toggles for settings (which would otherwise require navigating menus), and hundreds of other useful tools that are widgetized and ready to make my homescreen actually useful. Apple? Big ol’ grid of icons.

System-Wide File System Access:

This is a pipe dream because Apple has said in no uncertain terms that their “sandboxing” approach to applications is core to their security model. But it sucks. There are many good reasons to let applications talk to one another and only one good reason not to: “We don’t trust our users to make smart choices, so we’re going to protect them.” Any number of useful things I can do on my Android device are possible because of system-wide file system access, from amazing automation of tasks and events to simple things like uploading edited files to an FTP server.

App Management:

iOS app management is rough. I choose an app to download and I am unceremoniously dumped to the home screen to watch the cute progress overlay on the new icon. Back to the App Store to grab another app, dumped to the home screen again. Only, it’s not even downloading; it’s “pending” the completion of the first app. Frustrating, yes. But at least after they’re installed they will automatically update in the future, right? Nope. Just more one-by-one updating.

The current iteration of the Google Play Store is beautifully presented and intuitive to use, which hasn’t always been the case. But what has been the case is the ability to continue doing whatever you’re doing after choosing an app. And if that means grabbing more apps, they can all download at the same time. As they arrive in any order (the smallest will generally arrive first), you can start using them right away. And auto-update? Yep, that’s available for most apps from the Google Play Store.

Format Support:

Apple supports almost no media formats other than their own. The easiest compromise is to process everything through iTunes. ‘Nuff said. However, I can’t see Apple changing their stance on media formats and the iTunes yoke any time soon.

Flick To Scroll:

Apple has (hands-down) the most responsive mobile UI. You can’t deny it. But there’s something wonky about the iOS “flicking” (fast swipe) gesture to scroll a lengthy webpage or a long list. It seems to take 20 flicks where I expect it to take one or two. Here’s how it feels to me: You’re at the top of an awesome slide. You put your hands forward on the rails, “wind up,” and give yourself a huge push, expecting to hurtle down the slide! Instead, you move two feet and you find yourself stuck partway down. There’s no choice but to wiggle to the bottom, wondering how the person who built the playground could have failed to grasp the purpose of a slide. Just as Apple has failed to grasp that a mighty flick should speed me along rather than nudge me.

Android? I give myself that huge push and I hurtle to the bottom of the slide. I whip through long webpages, my app drawer view, or other long lists — not at an exaggerated speed, but at exactly the speed I should be going based on the gesture.

Conclusion

I do enjoy a lot of what iOS and Apple have to offer. The App Store is still home to the best apps, and I find it particularly useful for toddler-aged educational and entertainment tools. But I also find it very claustrophobic and limiting. I can admit that some of what I want in a phone is not going to happen any time soon (file system interaction for example), but these are the very things that will limit my willingness to buy more iOS devices. Other things (app management) pose no threat to the Apple way of life and I think they couldn’t arrive on iOS devices quickly enough! Apple needs to bring some of these things to iOS 6.

Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

Macgasm - Apple Tips, Apple News, Apple Everything.

In a release sent to The Age, RIM admited to the stunt:

The campaign, which included people who were dressed up in black yelling the phrase “wake up” outside of the Sydney Apple Store did little more than confuse the heck out of customers. Hell, it confused us, and we’re in the business of trying to figure this stuff out. RIM went on to say that a “reveal” will take place on May 7th that will help to explain the campaign as well as provoke a conversation on what “being in business” means to Australians. Given the results of the latest Good Technology survey, and the fact that iOS devices ruled the top 6 of 10 spots for device activations in the enterprise (the remaining four were Android devices), something tells us RIM has absolutely no clue what it means to “be in business” these days. In fact, at this point, we’d probably argue that companies would be more successful listening to what RIM has to say and then doing the complete opposite.

Image Credit: severinearend

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If you want a good laugh, listen to someone telling you about how Google was never influenced by the design of Apple’s iPhone, and that they came up with their own, fresh UI design. Then, once you’re done wiping away a tear of hilarity, take a look at the original “Google Phone” and notice all the ways in which it doesn’t resemble anything you’ve ever seen from them since the iPhone appeared.

According to The Verge, the original Google concept for a phone was quite different from the Android inventions that we  have since come to associate with “Google Phone”. It’s kind of funny to imagine that this was where Google was thinking the future would lead:

A lot of the important stuff was in there (Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth), some questionable stuff (a 2 megapixel camera) and some stuff that just makes you laugh (16-bit color support?). Obviously, Google took a huge leap forward and, in doing so, launched far away from this design and left it where it belongs: In the concept stage.

Source: The Verge

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From Network World:

Of the Top 10 devices in Q1 2012, Apple dominates six spots. The list, arranged by highest percentage point, is as follows:

1. iPhone 4S
2. iPad 2
3. iPhone 4
4. iPad 3
5. iPad
6. iPhone 3GS
7. Motorola Droid
8. Samsung Galaxy S II
9. Google Nexus
10. Sprint EVO 4G

If you’re wondering who Good Technology is and what makes them capable of commenting on device adoption in the enterprise, the company focuses on giving enterprise and governement the tools they need to protect their mobile employees and users’ sensitive data, as well as collaborate wirelessly in a safe environment. Many large corporations, including Union Bank, Patagnoia, and Active Interest use the company to mange their mobile workforce’s security.

Via: Network World

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