Apps

Microsoft has released a new iOS app called My Xbox Live that lets users manage their Xbox Live accounts while on mobile. The app doesn’t have gaming of any sort, but lets users edit their bio, check messages, see what friends are online, and change their avatar. Xbox’s Major Nelson outlined the new features:

Read and send messages to friends
Manage your friends list, invite new friends
Read and Edit your full LIVE profile (name, bio, motto)
Change your avatar features/items with the avatar closet
View and compare your achievement progress with friends

Microsoft has made My Xbox Live available for free, on both iPhone and iPad. We’ve uploaded a few more photos of the app after the break.

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The Apple discussion boards are starting to heat up with an issue related to users not receiving emails from particular domains sent to their me.com/ .mac accounts. The problem appears to specifically related to RoadRunner and Comcast domains, and is affecting users across the U.S.

The issue is related to me.com accounts being unable to receive emails from rr.com and comcast.com domains. One user reports being unable to receive emails from “hawaii.rr.com”, while others report the same for “tampabay.rr.com”, and “rochester.rr.com”. It appears Apple’s servers aren’t playing nice with the domain, although some users report receiving emails up to 24 hours late, which would indicate the domain isn’t being blocked entirely. Emails forwarded from one account, such as an rr.com account, to a .me account are apparently not affected.  There are a few mentions of the same issue for emails sent from Comcast.net as well.

Just today my boss’s emails stopped showing up in my inbox – online, in Mail, or on my phone.  I am able to send files to him.  He is sending and receiving emails.  The problem seems to be entirely between hawaii.rr.com (his email, time warner/roadrunner) and my .me/.mac mail account (neither work).  I am able to use my gmail account and my .me/.mac account just fine together.

At this point the problem seems to be inconsistent, but impacting a lot of users across the country nonetheless. Users in the Apple Support Communities report that Comcast claims it’s a “a .mac problem”, while one poster says rr.com has forwarded the issue to their engineering team. Most seem to believe it’s an issue on Apple’s end. We’ll keep you posted when Apple addresses the problem.

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With the Flipboard iPad news application only growing in popularity, the company behind the software is launching an iPhone version. The iPhone variant of Flipboard looks just like and functions almost like its larger iPad sibling but is obviously formatted for the iPhone’s much smaller display. Flipboard explains Cover Stories, Flipboard’s latest enhancement:

With Flipboard for iPhone we’re introducing Cover Stories. Think of Cover Stories as the feed to check when you’re in line at the coffee shop, commuting on the train or just hanging out at home. It contains a constantly updated selection of interesting articles and photos being shared with you right now.

Cover Stories come from all your Flipboard tiles, including social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. As you add more sources to your Flipboard, their posts will begin to appear in your Cover Stories.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCaVzbvmVU]

Flipboard’s Cover Stories feature is currently exclusive to the iPhone and iPod touch, and an iPad version is coming at a later date. Flipboard for iPhone appears to still be propagating through iTunes, but is available for some. We have more screenshots of Flipboard for iPhone after the break. 

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Apple has pushed out a fairly major update to its iBooks application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The 1.5 update includes a new nighttime reading theme for a better digital reading experience in the dark. In addition, the new iBooks update adds a full-screen option – does wonders on the iPad – to focus on content and remove the tool bar, page numbers, and other distractions. The updated iBooks application also packs new “beautiful covers” for classic titles, popup footnote support, and an improved annotation system. On top of all of this, the free update includes performance and stability enhancements. (Thanks @chronic) Apple’s release notes:

iBooks 1.5 adds the following new features as well as some stability and performance improvements:

• Nighttime reading theme makes reading books in the dark easier on the eyes.
• Full-screen layout lets you focus on the words without distraction.
• iBooks now features an improved selection of fonts, including Athelas, Charter, Iowan, and Seravek.
• Beautiful new classic covers for public domain books.
• Support for pop-up footnotes, included in select iBookstore titles.
• A redesigned annotation palette makes it easier to choose a color for your highlighted text.

Apple also updated their Cards app to version 1.0.1, bringing with it improvements to the checkout process and verification of postal addresses, as well as enhancements to text entry.

Full screenshot gallery of the new iBooks update is after the break: 

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Baldwin, who among other things Tweets like crazy from his iPhone, was taken off an American Airline plane for playing addictive iPad game Words with Friends.

The “30 Rock” actor was asked to get off a New York City-bound flight for playing “Words with Friends” while the plane idled at a gate Tuesday, said Baldwin’s spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik.

“He loves `Words with Friends’ so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it,” said Hiltzik, who added that Baldwin boarded another American Airlines flight to New York.

Prediction: Words with Friends does some pretty good business this week.
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In July BBC’s iPlayer iPad app went global by adding eleven European countries to their subscription-based streaming service, and recently added Canada, Scandinavia, and Australia to top sixteen territories globally. Today the company has announced the app will be landing on iPhone and iPod touch starting Thursday, December 8 (via TNW).

President Worldwide Networks and Global BCC iPlayer, Jana Bennett, took the stage at this morning’s keynote:

“This platform extension shows how Global iPlayer isn’t just about moving TV to tablet devices, it’s also about a mobile strategy – about truly getting TV everywhere in a way that it hasn’t been before. We also want the global BBC iPlayer to be truly representative of the whole gamut of British creative output, to represent everything that is great about British content – not just the Best of British TV but the Best of British Culture.”

Bennett also unveiled a selection of new content to be made available through the app in 2012 including programming from DRG such as Peep Show, Black Books, Shameless, Father Ted, and Green Wing. They are also planning on adding new “Music” and “Arts and Culture” genre categories as well as selected speech programs from BBC radio. To wrap up the keynote, Bennett also noted some stats about the app:

–35% of viewers watch more than one show per visit, an average of 75% of subscribers use the app every single day, and 25% continue browsing programs after watching a show.

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Google has just pushed out an update to the Google+ iOS app compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, bringing it up to version 1.0.7.2940 and introducing a few new features including full resolution photo uploads, search, and photo +1. Also included are the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements. As always, you can grab the update from the App Store now or download the free app if you haven’t already.

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RockLive, best known for their popular Mike Tyson Main Event game for the iPhone and iPod touch, is back for another high-profile game partnership. This time, the game studio has teamed up with world-leading soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo for a very fun and addicting game called Heads Up with Cristiano Ronaldo (now available). The game is insanely addictive and combines aspects from puzzle and brick-breaker type games with eye-popping graphics, crisp animations, simple pick-up-and-play game play to make a great gaming experience.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mLap2bB0aQ]

The goal of the game – as displayed in our video above – is to knock out as many soccer balls above Ronaldo in order to advance to the next level. Unlike a simple brick-breaker, knocking soccer balls down is nowhere near the full story. In order to clear the soccer balls, two of the same colored soccer balls (whether they be blue, purple, green, or orange) need to be touching. In order for those two soccer balls to disappear, a third ball of the same color needs to be launched by Cristiano Ronaldo. Knocking away all of the balls, though, is still challenging as combinations need to be discovered by the user in order for all the soccer balls to completely disappear. This makes it a fun, pick-up-and-play puzzle-type game…

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-8oHqnAChc]

Spotify execs took the stage today in New York for the company’s “New Direction” event where they unveiled new features allowing third-party developers to integrate HTML5 apps into their desktop music streaming service. Starting with a handful of partners including Billboard, RollingStone, The Guardian, last.fm, and Pitchfork, the platform will allow HTML5 apps to provide services and features with music provided by Spotify. Jan Wenner of Rolling Stone explained how they would integrate Spotify content into their app. The Verge explains:

Much of what we’re seeing takes what is traditionally editorial content (i.e. playlists, reviews, concert listings), and wedding it to the Spotify music platform. For example, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone explained that the magazine and artists will be creating and curating playlists in the company’s new app, and the music backend will be provided by Spotify… The Rolling Stone app provides an editorial mix of reviews and playlists, with full songs and albums attached to the content.

Once you install an app, it will appear in a sidebar on the left, while a new “App Finder” for the service will also make finding new and free apps comparable to browsing iTunes. The apps will only be available to desktop users at launch, but the company apparently has plans to bring them to their mobile experience in the future.

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The CTIA has introduced a new five-point mobile app rating system and voluntary program operated by the ESRB who have been slapping similar “everyone” and “adults only” ratings on video games since the early 90s. Not so surprisingly, the biggest and second biggest players in the mobile app space, Apple and Google, aren’t supporting the program. Bloomberg reports:

The app program is aimed at helping parents monitor children’s increasing use of wireless technology, an issue drawing lawmakers’ attention this year… Apple, maker of the iPhone and iPad, and Google, whose Android software is the most widely used mobile operating software in the U.S., aren’t taking part in the program and have their own ratings systems.

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When Apple ships new hardware elements in a product, they typically have good reason. With the future of wireless input devices flashing forward, Apple has realized that the next-generation of Bluetooth – Bluetooth Smart (4.0) – will be the ticket to Apple being a part of this integrated wireless future. Apple demonstrated this with the release of this Bluetooth 4.0-powered phone – the new iPhone 4S – and also with the addition of bluetooth 4.0 in the latest versions of the popular MacBook Air and Mac mini computers.

More evidence for a next-generation Apple TV:

The next-generation Apple TV, the one we first revealed as Apple TV 3,1 with the J33 codename, will include Bluetooth 4.0 technology. Before even getting into the advantages of Bluetooth 4.0, it is worth noting that our code-based finding in iOS 5.1 beta 1 of a next-generation Apple TV with Bluetooth 4.0 is further evidence that an Apple TV refresh will soon be upon us.

The advantages of Bluetooth 4.0: 

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UPDATE [Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 1:52pm]: Apple has yanked the app from the App Store.

This one will probably be removed any moment now, but Apple has allowed an unlimited tethering application called “iTether” into the App Store. The $14.99 application is very simple. Install the app on your iPhone, install its complementing application for the Mac or PC, plug in your USB cord and you’re good to go. Speeds will likely depend on your network connection but it’s working great for me. In fact, I’m writing this post with an internet connection through iTether. Get it while you can! (Thanks, @hrbrt)

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We already know about all of the excellent Black Friday deals popping up in our live price guide— like an 11” MacBook Air for $849.99, and this 13″ 2.4GHz MacBook Pro for $1050. In addition to all of the great hardware on sale, almost all of the biggest iOS app publishers are running Thanksgiving and Black Friday promotions too. There’s also some great Mac App Store apps on sale. We’ve compiled the best of the best…
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHoukZpMhDE]

Microsoft’s Craig Mundie shoved his foot knee deep in his mouth this week when he said that Siri was nothing special, and Microsoft’s own voice capabilities have been around for over a year.  The reason for Siri’s success?  Marketing, of course.

People are infatuated with Apple announcing it. It’s good marketing, but at least as the technological capability you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows Phones for more than a year, since Windows Phone 7 was introduced.

To be fair, Siri isn’t even about the Voice Recognition, it is what the iPhone does with it.  The voice recognition is outsourced to Nuance’s engine. The Microsoft Phone barely made it to the point where you could make sense out of what its engine produced.

If you were Microsoft, would you rather Mundie be so out of touch with the technology he is talking about that he can’t tell the difference, or that he’s just flat out shamelessly lying?

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tAQMXbrDgbM]

Last week we saw how a developer created a proxy server to sit between Siri and Apple to make certain commands perform command line functions.  Another developer today took that proxy server and hooked it up to his Viper Car system which allows him to turn his car off and on.

The “Siri Proxy” plugin I wrote handles interaction with a php script that runs on my web server. The php script, which I developed months ago for personal use, allows me to send commands to my car which has a Viper SmartStart module installed.

Current commands accepted are: “Vehicle Arm”, “Vehicle Disarm”, “Vehicle Start”, “Vehicle Stop”, “Vehicle Pop Trunk”, and “Vehicle Panic”.

Siri hacking is rapidly turning into a fun sport.  How long until Apple blesses third parties with this type of functionality?

Locking and arming the car alarm video below:

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Bloomberg reports Apple has removed Big Fish Games‘ subscription based game from the App Store. Big Fish Games was reported last night to be the first to make available a game that offered a subscription model inside, a feature that was originally exclusive to news apps. After last night’s report that the game was able to receive this new subscription feature, there was much speculation that this app wasn’t actually offering subscription inside — as one of our readers explained. The game’s founder Paul Thelen says, however, that his team worked with Apple for several weeks to make sure it met requirements regarding in-app subscriptions, and that Apple even approved the press release announcing the game.

The way the app worked was a user could purchase a Big Fish Games subscription for $6.99 a month to play unlimited games that the publisher made available through the dedicated app. Games were then streamed to the user’s iPad from Big Fish’s data centers. Apple reportedly took 30% of the revenue, just like the company does with news apps.

Oddly enough, Thelen says Apple didn’t provide any information as to why the app was removed. We’ll let you know more as this story develops.

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Update: There has been some doubt regarding Bloomberg’s initial report and whether or not this is a new App Store policy introduced by Apple. One 9to5Mac reader writes:

This App is not doing any thing special that other subscription services don’t already do on iOS. This is nothing more than a remote desktop app (like iswiffer or many others) that let you play flash games. This is just locked down to their own server and their own flash games optimized for touch. You must have internet access for this to work (like all other remote desktop apps). This is not some new business model for the app store.

Apple will now begin letting video game publishers offer their titles to iPad users via a subscription model, a revenue stream for publishers and purchasing option for users that was previously only available for digital publications. Bloomberg reports:

Big Fish Games, a Seattle-based game publisher, won approval from Apple to become the first to offer users access to dozens of titles for $6.99 a month. Until now, games have only been available one at a time, requiring users to download individual applications.

So essentially, a user who buys into a Big Fish Games subscription will be able to play unlimited games that the publisher makes available through a dedicated app. Games will be streamed to a users iPad from Big Fish’s data centers, and will initially require the user have Wi-Fi access to play. As always, Apple will still collect a 30% cut of revenues.

When it comes to the process of Big Fish convincing Apple of the model, the company’s founder Paul Thelen had this to say:
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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NVyIslpS87Y”]

Dominos Pizza has launched a new marketing campaign using the iPad. The pizza giant has made a new app called Dominos Pizza Hero available on the App Store that lets customers make a pizza and then order it in real life. The app also has a game aspect to it, leaving you to compete against the clock and against each other on the leaderboards to create the best pizza.

Once you’ve created your pizza inside of the app, you can then use the “Make an Order” tab to order it through your closest Dominos store. A Dominos rep did say however there are limitations to what you can order — for instance you couldn’t order a pizza shaped like an Apple logo, even though that’d be really cool.

Dominos Pizza Hero is available for free on the App Store. This is certainly clever marketing by Dominos, but they aren’t the first to launch an iPad app for placing orders. Pizza Hut first launched an ordering app last May. Get ordering! (via Mashable)

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Former Googlers Robby Stein and Kevin Palms have launched a new iOS app called Stamped. Stamped is backed by Google Ventures, among other investors, and allows users to check-in to locations in a very simple way. Instead of whether you didn’t like the location, thought it was just ‘meh’, or totally loved it, Stamped uses a five star only recommendation system. If you like something you simply ‘stamp’ it. But get this — you only get a limited number of stamps to use, and earn more as your friends like your recommendations.

Stamped joins other check-in and ranking apps like the new Oink, Foursquare, and more. The ability to rank only what you only enjoy seems like a very smart idea, and throwing in the limited number of rankings makes it even better. Like any social network it’s about where your friends are, but being backed by Google this app has the chances of taking off.

Stamped is currently available on the App Store for free. An Android version is also currently in development, and should hit the Android Market fairly soon. Check out a few more screenshots after the break.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=djw6AJqHFOU]

Google has just released an update to their Google Search iOS app bringing with it a brand new design for iPad and full-screen mode for search results and pages on iPhone.

The new iPad interface is noticeably inspired by the design recently rolled out across the majority of Google’s web services. The main search page now has four grey icons as shortcuts to History, Applications, Voice Search, and Goggles, while a new side-by-side view allows you to browse webpages and search results simultaneously. Also included in the update in a full-screen browsing mode for images and a new visual UI for history allowing you to  thumb through results as pages. Instant Previews and Google Instant are now also baked into the iPad version.

As for the iPhone, the update only lists the usual minor bug fixes along with the full-screen mode mentioned above. As always, you can grab the updated Google Search app as a universal download now (iTunes link).  More screenshots below:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7YOSDLOW2k]

We told you about Condition One before, a first-person immersive video app that combines “the power of the still image, the narrative of films and the emotional engagement of tactile experiences”. In recognition of Veterans Day, developer Danfung Dennis has finally brought the unique, interactive video experience, which as of yet features mostly video shot in war-torn regions, to the App Store with a free app for iPad…
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