Macgasm

Good news, tweeps! Tweetbot, the incredibly popular Twitter client made by the folks at Tapbots, is now available for the iPad. Right next to the 2.0 release of their iPhone client, this brand new $2.99 USD Twitter app puts the competition to shame.

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Without a word, EA unleashed Battlefield 3: Aftershock into the US App Store today. One would assume that with the massive success of its cross platform predecessor, they might have made a bigger deal about bringing it to mobile. After playing it, however, one begins to understand why this might have been an intentionally quiet release.

There had been some talk back in mid-late 2011 from EA about releasing a mobile version of the huge success monster that is Battlefield 3. The release of that game came and went back in October without much further talk of the mobile game. Then today, out of nowhere, there it is in the US App Store. Sometime publishers are odd.

So, the game is awful. It looks nice, sure, but that doesn’t count for shit when the rest of the game is virtually unplayable. In fact, I’m so displeased with it I’m only going to offer a brief, bulleted list of why it sucks harder than a toilet in an airplane bathroom:

• Its online multiplayer component is slow as shit
• There is no single player feature
• In-game ads are there to stay since there’s no pay-to-upgrade-to-premium option
• Users have already been complaining of control issues and major glitches
• You only get four weapons, and that’s including your knife
• The game has a built-in movie trailer for Act of Valor, and when you watch it, you can unlock a new weapon. Are. You. Kidding.

Yes, I know it’s a free game, and you can’t really expect a whole lot from that. It’s just that this game seems painfully incomplete and lackluster considering the franchise it’s a part of. Hopefully this is simply a soft release, and there is more content and more options in the works. Please stop disappointing us, EA. Do the franchise a solid, and make Battlefield 3: Aftershock worthy of its title.

Source: TouchArcade

The Tapbots gang has rolled out version 2.0 of their popular Twitter client. Tweetbot has received a huge update today, including some new timeline features, support for readability so you can avoid advertisements and poor design on your favorite blogs, as well as all around design enhancements (DMs, image thumbnails, etc).

We’re going to let you discover the rest of the update goodness on your own.

The app update is free for anyone who has purchased the original Tweetbot, so you don’t have to worry about paying an additional couple of dollars to gain access to the update.

Tweetbot is easily my favorite Twitter app for the iPhone, and even more so now that Twitter decided to completely bastardize its own offerings earlier this year. Normally we’d suggest trying out a free alternative for Twitter, like the free Twitterific option, but Tweetbot is easily worth the $2.99 on the App Store. I paid the fee, and I haven’t made a switch yet, which is highly unusual for me when it comes to iOS apps.

Quick Look At Some Updated Features

Quick Update: Tweetbot is now available for the iPad too… we’re putting it through the paces and we’ll have an update here for you when it’s ready.

It’s well known that some shady developers use less-than-tasteful tactics to get their apps to the top of the charts on the App Store. Turns out, Apple is finally taking a stand, and warning developers to knock it off or face severe penalties.

From Apple’s Adhering to Guidelines on Third-Party Marketing Services document:

That’s right. If you are caught using third party services to attempt to manipulate your way to the top of the charts, Apple is willing to bring down the axe. Not only will your app be removed, but you’ll no longer be able to sell apps on the App Store at all. If these instructions from Apple aren’t clear enough to these shifty devs, we don’t know what is.

If you’re employing a company to do anything you would be hesitant to talk about in the presence of an Apple executive, you should probably cease and desist. Apple holds all of the power here, and the App Store is a place with a lot of potential for revenue. Don’t risk your business by trying to game the charts. Just focus on making great apps, engaging with the community, and listening to your users. If you have what it takes, you’ll be successful without any tomfoolery needed.

Hat tip to MacWorld
Image Credit: Lara604

With the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, BioWare and EA have announced that a full featured third person shooter companion game is coming to the iPhone and the iPad. I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m just going to let EA’s last attempt at a Mass Effect mobile game stay hidden in the darkest recesses of my memory and hope for the best on this one.

The premise of the game involves you having to rescue prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base. The word is that you’ll have access to a fairly stocked arsenal of weapons and powers from the Mass Effect universe, so you’ll get to take advantage of that as you gather evidence against Cerberus. One of the neatest features with Infiltrator is that each time you complete a rescue mission or gather intel, it will automatically increase your Galaxy Readiness rating through the Galaxy at War system in Mass Effect 3. If that actually works, it’s already better than the last one.

There’s no word yet on when Infiltrator will be available on the App Store, but it’s probably safe to assume it’ll be a timely launch with Mass Effect 3 which comes out on March 6^th. Keep your eyes peeled, Commanders.

Source: Slide To Play, IGN

Netflix is seeing some heavy competition from Amazon. Today, the Seattle-based online retail behemoth announced that they have struck a deal with Viacom for a massive catalog of TV shows for their Prime service.

Netflix, which has long used its contract with Starz for a nontrivial amount of their available streaming content, will be in for a substantial problem when that deal ends at the end of the month. This move from Viacom clearly shows that not only is Amazon very serious about competing with Netflix, but also that Viacom doesn’t want Netflix to get too big. Dominant distribution channels scare content producers like crazy it seems, and this wouldn’t be the first time Amazon steps in to be the shoulder the content producers cry on. Back when music still had DRM, the music companies were very grumpy with Apple, so they took their ball to Amazon’s court. Netflix is clearly in for a bumpy 2012.

So, what happens to Apple fans? Netflix is very popular among us because not only does it work on the Mac, but iOS and Apple TV stream Netflix content beautifully. There isn’t any way to stream Amazon Prime videos on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Would Amazon be willing to make an iOS streaming app? Is Apple willing to put Amazon Prime on the Apple TV? Let’s hope so, because soon it might be the only way to stream some of our favorite content.

Source: Amazon PR

Hey Beatlemaniacs! The “Sir” Beatle and Apple are teaming up to stream a live performance directly to iTunes and Apple TV.

Considering all of the tension between the two Apples, Paul sure does like to pimp his new work through Apple Inc.’s marketing channels. It’s an interesting way of promoting your album, but sadly, only a member of the most successful band of all time gets to take advantage. Think of a world where buying an album on iTunes was your ticket to see a band streaming live. It would make music less of a commodity and more of an event. We’re hoping that Apple does more events like this in the future with lesser known artists.

Are you planning on attending virtually? What if you had to buy the album first? Would you put up the $10 USD album cost to see the walrus live on the Internet? We’re curious if eConcerts could work, and if Apple would be willing to do them. Sound off in the comment section and hit us up on Twitter. Our handle is @macgasm. We want to hear what you think, so don’t hesitate.

Hat tip to MacRumors
Image Credit: Mike Krzeszak

Miniature iPhone speaker company Motz has created a nifty little wooden Apple logo-inspired speaker for your favorite iDevice. The speaker is 100% hand crafted, and contains a rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery so you can get some extra juice out of your music while you’re on the go.

The speaker lasts between 5 – 10 hours depending on how you’re using it. The speaker will set you back $55.00 and you can buy it on the Austrailian website ModLifeOnline.

To be honest, this probably won’t last too long on the market once Apple’s lawyers find it, so make sure you pick it up as fast as possible if you want it.