TUAW
GDC 2010: Hands on with Pocket Creatures
One of the best things about going to a convention like GDC is what we in the business call "doing research," which you might know as "playing games." We often get to check out the latest and greatest that developers are working on, and so when Tactile Entertainment offered us a chance to check out their upcoming Pocket Creatures title, we gladly took it. The company is founded by four friends from Denmark, one of whom used to be the Development Manager at Crytek (makers of the PC graphics engine and its flagship shooter Crysis), and Pocket Creatures, due out later this year, is their first title.
The game's backstory tells of an island somewhere with an egg in an ancient temple, and in an intro movie, the egg hatches to reveal the game's main creature character. But the game isn't merely a virtual pet simulator. While you can pet the little guy to make him happy or slap him to make him sad, the rest of the game actually embodies a pretty complex ecosystem, of which the creature and his emotions and abilities are only a part.
Early on in the game, the creature was hungry, so we shook a tree growing elsewhere on the touchscreen, and out dropped a banana. The creature wouldn't eat it at first, so instead we pulled a carrot out of the ground and fed that to him. As he interacted with the carrot, a meter showed up on the bottom of the screen, with the marker all the way to the green, positive side on the left -- the creature liked carrots. He didn't like bananas, however, but with a little petting and reward added to the banana offer, he eventually learned to like it and ate it up.
The peel was carried away by a few ants who appeared on the scene, and this was where things got interesting. Almost anything on the island can be interacted with in some way, and often even more than one way. We dragged an ant to a small nearby pond, where a set of eyes was peeking out, and dropping it in there brought out a platypus. Grabbing the platypus and scratching him across the ground created a small hole in the dirt, and placing the half-eaten carrot there created a sproutling. Sproutlings need water to grow, of course, and while we were told that there were a few ways to get water to the hole, one seemed pretty sadistic -- we smacked the little creature around until he began to cry, and a small raincloud appeared above his head to show that he was sad. Dragging the raincloud over to the sproutling watered it, and we were off to the races.
The game is full of relationships like that -- feeding the creature certain things can activate certain powers as well, and those can be used on critters and items in the rest of the world for all different kinds of interactions. He can eat a lightning fruit, and gain the power to zap all sorts of things, changing them in some way. Or he can eat a love fruit, and gain the power to convert enemies into friends. Tactile made it clear that if you wanted to turn the island into your own personal garden of peace, that was possible, but they want to make sure and "play in either direction" -- you can turn your creature and his surroundings into a mess, if that's what you'd rather do.
For each of your actions, you'll get rewarded with various achievements. Those achievements not only track everything you do in the game, but they also give you items that you can use to customize the creature's appearance -- earn the "Devil" achievement and you can get some horns to wear, or earn the "Angel" (whatever that is -- they haven't created all of the different criteria yet) achievement, and you can wear some wings. You can even earn both, and keep both items -- however you want to play it is fine.
Tactile says they're planning to keep the content coming as well -- "we like the way Pocket God is doing it," they told us during the demo. They haven't settled on a price yet, but they do realize that the game has a lot of potential on the iPad. Even before the game was announced, they said, "the concept was already there for a touch tablet," even if it wasn't done by Apple. But like all developers, they're unsure of making any plans before they actually see the product. "Our destiny is sealed by somebody behind a secret door somewhere."
If there's an issue with Pocket Creatures, it's that the game might be too open in this early stage -- there were so many things to do and so many relationships that not too many of them were clearly apparent in our short time with the game. But we did get to see a feature that allowed them to place some tips in the landscape, and they're continuing to tune and work on development, so hopefully by release, even the most complicated of relationships will be accessible. We'll keep an eye out for it when it shows up on the App Store in a few months.
TUAWGDC 2010: Hands on with Pocket Creatures originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AppStore - Crytek - Game Developer Conference - Apple - game
Talkcast Reminder: Tonight at 10pm EDT, now with added fun!
Filed under: Hardware, Retail, iPad
Yes, that's 10pm Eastern DAYLIGHT Time; hopefully by now you've worked out exactly what time it is where you are so you can show up on time instead of coming in at the end. (Thanks, cell phone with automatically updated clock!) Tonight's show will also include the debut of a TUAW challenge! What kind of challenge? Tune in to find out!While you're there, I'm sure we can find some other Apple news to discuss this evening. I'm sure if we look really hard there is some interesting tidbit out there for all of us to chat about...
Unlike those customer service recordings that try to convince you, your call really IS important to us. Without the audience, we are just talking to ourselves, and what fun would that be? To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!
TUAWTalkcast Reminder: Tonight at 10pm EDT, now with added fun! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Facebook - Apple - TalkShoe - TUAW - Podcast
Ask TUAW: Clocks, screen guards, MacBook hard drive replacement, NFS automount, and more
Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW
Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we have questions about replacing a MacBook hard drive, refreshing a NFS mount, getting a simple clock on screen, improving iCal's note handling, and more.As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify), or if it's an iPhone-related question, which iPhone version and OS version you have.
Felix asks
I'm a iMac user in search for a USB hub and a FireWire hub with a Mac-like design. Sure there are several of them (especially USB hubs) that have a Macish look but then theres the thing about performance. Some years ago I bought a USB2.0 hub just to find that some of the ports feel much slower than others and that sometimes my iPod (now my iPhone) just don't get recharged at all when connected to the hub. So my question is, what do you think are the most Mac-like looking and well performing USB and FireWire hubs available?
Here are a couple of combo hubs you might be interested in from Belkin and IOGEAR. The Belkin hub does not feature its own power supply (apparently it draws more current from the FireWire port), whereas the IOGEAR does have an independent power supply, so if you're concerned about power you might want to go in that direction. In general if you want particularly "Macish" hubs, I'd recommend searching for ones made for the Mac mini (there are quite a few out there).
Derek asks
I recently replaced the LCD in my aged Powerbook 15" 1.33 (A1095). When it arrived on my doorstep there was a plastic film applied on the face to protect it during shipping. I've always had a problem with the LCD on this Powerbook (and my old G3 Wallstreet, for that matter) touching the keyboard when the lid is shut, thusly leaving permanent marks on the face of the display. So, I left the film on the replacement LCD, and it has worked very well to protect the new screen. However, it's starting to peel and bubble on one edge and I'd like to replace it. Does anyone make screen protectors such as the variety of stick-on protectors for iPod Touch/iPhones in sizes for laptop screens? I have considered hitting the local megamart and just getting several to piece together, but I think the seams would be more annoying than the bubbling.
There are several different film screen protectors available, such as this Crystal Screen Guard at Amazon. The biggest problem is finding one that will exactly fit your PowerBook, since most everything sold today is made for the MacBook Pro line. I think that the PowerBook actually had a 15.2" screen, rather than the 15.4" screen on the MacBook Pro. So I'm guessing you'd have to trim down a MacBook Pro Screen Guard to fit your PowerBook.
SMartenup asks
I would like to find a way to save all of my open programs / documents, and then restore to that same set of programs & documents. Is there any way to do this?
OS X does have a feature called Safe Sleep, which is much like the hibernation features on other operating systems. When invoked it saves the state of your Mac to the hard drive and then actually shuts the computer off. When you restart the machine, it will be restored to the state that was saved. There's a handy Preference Pane app called SmartSleep that will allow you to invoke Safe Sleep automatically.
I get the sense, however, that what you want is something analogous to session saving a web browser's tabs, but for all your open documents. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of anything that does quite what you want.
ooglek asks
I have a 250GB SimpleTech SimpleShare NAS. I've had it for about 3 years, and it works well enough. Now on Snow Leopard both my 2008 Mac Pro and my 2006 Macbook Pro can access the NAS via NFS Automount setup in the Disk Utility (new for Snow Leopard). My problem is that when I take my laptop out of my home office, when I come back, I have no way to "refresh" or reconnect to the NFS mount. I'm not sure if it is hung (used to have to kill nfsd in Leopard), awaiting some user action or just not set up right.
I don't have much experience with NFS mounts, but if I'm understanding the problem correctly you need to flush the cache with the sudo automount -vc command. That should cause it to essentially "refresh." Check out this thread over at Apple Discussions.
vulgo asks
I am a long time Mac user and as far as I can think back I was using Microsofts Entourage as a calendar and before that Outlook for Mac. Since I got my iPhone 2 years ago I always wanted to migrate to iCal to use that as my main calendar application because of synching reasons. Unfortunately iCal is in my opinion a bad solution. It sure does allow notes in the notes field but there is no way to work properly with lots of text in the notes field like you can easily do in Entourage. You cannot just drag the corner of the window and make it bigger to get a good overview about what you write or copy/paste there. The column is and stays just too small. Do you have any idea for a good solution to make iCal fulfill the task of a proper note field without moving to another software?
I know you asked for a solution that involves iCal, but I don't really think there is one. I completely agree with you that the iCal notes interface is terrible, but I'm not aware of any way to make it work better. However, if you are willing to drop a little coin, you should check out BusyCal ($49), which offers iCal / MobileMe / iPhone compatibility and superior better features, including a much more robust notes field (especially in List View).
David asks
I desperately need a bigger drive for my MacBook. Everyone says it's pretty easy to replace, I just need to buy a 2.5" SATA drive. But I'm so afraid of buying the wrong drive that I can't make a purchase. Here's why: Some folks have strongly recommend not using a drive that is larger than 250GB, and/or faster then SATA 150, 5400RPM. And most of the drives available out there are at least 320GB and often SATA 300 and 7200RPM. Am I being too conservative in my desire to stick to the recommended guidelines? Should I just stop worrying and buy a bigger/faster drive? If I understand the articles, I could/should be safe with a bigger drive as long as I don't use more than 250GB of the drive? I'm nervous enough about replacing my drive so any advice you have would be much appreciated.
Frankly, I don't really understand why anybody would tell you that you have to be limited to 250GB. I am aware of no reason whatsoever that you would need to limit yourself to a drive that small. You should be able to install any 2.5" SATA drive you like, including SATA 2 (SATA 300) / 7200 RPM drives. One thing to consider is that faster 7200 RPM drives will be more power hungry, thus reducing your battery life and increasing heat (your MacBook likely shipped with a 4200 RPM drive, so a 5400 RPM drive might be a good compromise). If you're particularly paranoid you could get a Mac-specific upgrade kit, like those from MCE Tech or OWC, but you don't really need to do that. One nice thing about some of these kits is that they include an external enclosure allowing you to continue to use the old drive as an external hard drive.
No matter which drive you end up with, it's a good idea to get an external enclosure, or at least a USB to SATA adapter (like this one). That way, as soon as you get it you can use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! ($27.95) to clone your existing drive to the new drive. Then install the new drive into the computer and you should be able to start right back up where you left off without reinstalling anything. Good luck!
Brent asks
I am running dual monitors with my macbook and I don't need a menu bar on both, but I would like a clock running on the second screen. What is the best thing I could use?
There are a gajillion little clock apps available for OS X. Check out this search at MacUpdate for a sense of what's out there. You'll probably have to churn through a few of them until you find one that fits your style. If you want a place to start, check out SimpleFloatingClock.
David asks
For the upcoming iPad my wife and I are planning on sharing one. Our question is about the email. Is there a way to switch users so to our email is not available to the other. I don't see any way of doing that on the iphone, but we don't share them.
Obviously we don't know for sure yet, but everything so far indicates that the iPad will function more or less like the iPhone. That being the case, just as the iPhone doesn't support multiple users, I consider it extremely unlikely that the iPad will either.
TUAWAsk TUAW: Clocks, screen guards, MacBook hard drive replacement, NFS automount, and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - Mac OS X - Mac mini - MacbookPro - IPhone
Boo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction
Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools, iTunes, iPhone, Music
The problem is, we just don't know where they're going. In a Saturday blog post, the company announced it is "...taking a new direction" and won't be offering their current apps to new users.SimplifyMedia has been offering free software for computer-to-computer and iPhone-to-computer music sharing over the internet. Using the iPhone app, you could connect to your computer at home and stream albums, playlists or songs without any complicated firewall setups. A newer version of the software also allowed remote access to your iPhoto library.
It also looks like the company is going to slowly sunset current customer accounts but will continue to keep them functioning for at least another 3 months.
The Simplify iPhone app has been removed from the App Store, and the company says new account creation will be disabled soon.
I don't have any idea where the company is headed, but the current product will be missed. SimplifyMedia was offered for Mac, PC and Ubuntu.
[Thanks to Robert for the tip]
TUAWBoo Hoo! SimplifyMedia dropping products and changing direction originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AppStore - IPhone - Apple - iTunes - Handhelds
GDC 2010: Civilization V probably Mac-bound (eventually)
The rep was noncommittal, as you might expect, but he did say that every single previous version of Civilization has eventually come to the Mac, and that Civ V would probably not be an exception. He didn't have a timeline, but given the recent arrivals in the world of Mac gaming, I'd guess that it'll be sooner rather than later. The game's not due out until fall on PC, but I'll keep an eye out for it. Here's hoping that Valve's big announcement will encourage other great game companies to hit our platform as early as they can.
TUAWGDC 2010: Civilization V probably Mac-bound (eventually) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Civilization - Firaxis Games - Apple - Macintosh - Personal computer
Rumor: iPad in-store reservations may be over 40,000
Filed under: Retail, Rumors, iPad
Apple Store Sydney by Shaondiwakar - FlickrIn the wake of yesterday's iPad sales estimates of 50K in the first couple of hours (now revised by Silicon Alley Insider and Apple 2.0 to about 91,000 in the first six hours), we have an unconfirmed but plausible number from inside the retail stores. According to our source, the in-store pickup reservation count differential between the start of the day and closing time was about 41,000; that represents reservations for the WiFi iPad only.
tweetmeme_url = "http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/13/rumor-ipad-in-store-reservations-may-be-over-40-000/" tweetmeme_source = "tuaw" If you've got a pickup reservation and you happen to know your ID number for it -- and you made your reservation either at the very beginning of the day yesterday, or at the very end of the day -- let us know in the comments and we'll start doing some arithmetic. We'll also try to cross-confirm this number with other little birdies from the retail front. Update: Looks like there's no tracking info on the registration emails. Drat.
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaondiwakar/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
TUAWRumor: iPad in-store reservations may be over 40,000 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - Wi-Fi - Retail - Cosmopolitan Lifestyle - Apple Store
iPhone backups a bit slow? Dump those images
Filed under: Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, iPhone
If your iPhone backups and restores are taking a ridiculously long time, Apple suggests you take a quick peek at your Camera Roll.In a new Knowledge Base entry, Apple reminds users that photos are backed up each time you do a sync, even if there are no changes to the Camera Roll. The result can be a sluggish backup or restore.
If you already have the photos copied into iPhoto, you're good to erase them from the Camera Roll. Apple has some advice for getting the pictures back to your iPhone if you need to:
1. Ensure the iPhone is connected to your computer.
2. Open iTunes.
3. Select the iPhone in the Devices list in the left column.
4. Click the Photos tab.
5. Ensure that "Sync photos from" is enabled and choose the appropriate source from the adjacent pop-up menu. For example, if you imported your photos into an application (like iPhoto), you would select that application in the list. If you imported your photos to a folder (using Image Capture, Scanner and Camera Wizard, or Windows Photo Gallery), you would select Choose Folder and then the folder in question.
6. Click Apply or Sync.
The article details procedures for Macs, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.
There are other things that can slow down backups. I've seen them be very slow one day and quite snappy the next. Explanations can sometimes be hard to come by, but regular backups will keep the times down. Also, if you've added a lot of new apps, your first backup after adding them can be pretty long.
For more details on the issues with a full Camera Roll check the Knowledge Base article, and don't let those photos on your phone get out of control.
TUAWiPhone backups a bit slow? Dump those images originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone - Apple - iTunes - Windows XP - Microsoft
Checking in from Samana Bay, Dominican Republic, aboard the M/S Regatta
Filed under: iPad
It seems that a lot of Apple-related events happen while I'm on cruise ships. Back in 1998, for example, I was aboard a cruise ship when I read the headline that Apple had decided to drop the Newton MessagePad. Before we went on this trip, I knew that Apple would start taking iPad pre-orders and reservations on March 12, so I expected that I'd just be able to pull up the Apple website early in the morning, pop in my reservation, and then go on with my vacation. Little did I know that it was going to take me until 4 PM local time (3 PM ET) on March 12th to get my reservation into the system.Just before I went to sleep the evening of March 11th, I saw a post here on TUAW that outlined when the Apple Online Store would open for pre-orders and reservations. Doing a quick time calculation in my head, I determined that I'd be able to pop in at 9:30 AM local time and make my order... no, wait a second. At 8:30 AM, I was going to be taking a ship's tender over to shore. Dang.
We were scheduled for the proverbial "three hour tour" in this beautiful tropical location, so I decided to be patient and wait until I got back to the ship at about 11:30 AM local time. Of course, when we were on the other side of the Samana peninsula at 12 PM local time and still hadn't left, I realized that I was going to really have to put the order on hold for a while.
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed... well, at least the tender going back to the ship was getting bounced around pretty good. We finally headed back towards the ship when they announced that we'd have to go to Cayo Levantado, a small resort island in the midst of the bay, to transfer to a larger tender before returning to the ship.
Eventually, at about 2 PM, we were back aboard the ship and I was ready to run to our stateroom, fire up the MacBook Air, and make my order. However, "she who must be obeyed" was starving (as was I), so we stopped at the ship's poolside grill for a quick bite to eat. Everyone else who had been on a shore excursion was thinking the same thing, so the line for a quick bite was moving slowly.
Finally, after talking with some fellow passengers, having a beer, and finishing our lunch, we made our way down to the stateroom where I fired up the computer, hooked into the horribly expensive and ridiculously slow shipboard Wi-Fi, and started the reservation process at about 3:15 PM local time.
How expensive? Can you say US$0.60 per minute? Of course you can! How slow? I think the 300-baud modem that I had with my original Commodore VIC-20 was faster! The total reservation process, which would probably take about 5 minutes on my office Internet connection, took about 45 minutes to complete. Thank God we had a bottle of wine to open and drink while waiting....
Well, all is done and I've reserved a 64GB iPad for pickup on April 3rd. I'll also have some great and funny memories of this day every time I turn on that iPad.
TUAWChecking in from Samana Bay, Dominican Republic, aboard the M/S Regatta originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Dominican Republic - AppleStore - Samana Bay - MacBook Air - Wi-Fi
Use DynDNS for better success with Back To My Mac
Filed under: MobileMe
Many folks were excited when Apple announced Back to My Mac as part of MobileMe. Being able to remotely access your Mac from anywhere sounded like magic. We're used to products from Apple that "just work" but for most people most of the time, Back to My Mac "just doesn't."
To maximize your chances, you're supposed to use a supported router, but even that's no guarantee. At home I have an Airport Extreme Base Station (Wireless-N), and at the office I have an Airport Extreme Dual-Band model. I don't think it's possible to get a "more compliant" setup, yet I still can't get it to work most of the time.
Under the adage "nothing ventured, nothing gained," I took a chance and signed up for a free account with DynDNS. DynDNS gives you a free hostname which will go to your computer even when your IP address changes. There are scads of DynDNS domain names available, but for the purposes of this example, let's assume that your domain name is imac.homeip.net.
After you've signed up for your free account and chosen a hostname, download and install the DynDNS Updater for Mac and install it on the machine you want to access via Back to My Mac. (If you want to do this for more than one computer, you will need a different DynDNS hostname for each computer. You can get up to five at no cost.)
Once you have it running, make sure that it has updated, and then switch to your other Mac. You could launch Screen Sharing.app directly from /System/Library/CoreServices, but a much better suggestion is to install the free ScreenSharingMenulet which will sit in your menu bar. ScreenSharingMenulet will remember hosts that you have previously connected to, meaning that you don't have to re-type the hostnames. Click on the menu bar icon, select "New Connection..." and then enter your DynDNS hostname (i.e. imac.homeip.net) and check the "Add to My Computers" box so it will appear in the My Computers sub-menu in the future. Click "Connect" and cross your fingers.
If it still doesn't work, I have a few more suggestions, but I warn you, we're going to get a little technical here. First, you're going to want to setup a DHCP Reservation for the computer you are trying to connect to. The process isn't very difficult. Essentially what you are doing is telling the router to always assign the same IP address to the computer you are trying to access. After you have done that, tell the router to send all traffic directly to that computer. On the Airport Express this is called the "Default Host" and is found on the Internet Tab under "NAT" but other routers have different names for it (I believe Linksys routers refer to this as the "DMZ" host. Check your router's documentation if you're not sure.)
Warning: once you do this you are bypassing your router's firewall. Mac OS X has a firewall, but it is not enabled by default. Launch System Preferences and click on the Security panel followed by Firewall tab. If it doesn't say "Firewall: On" be sure to enable it.
Update: Several comments below suggest that putting your Mac as the "Default Host" or "DMZ" will make your Mac insecure. I don't know of any evidence that that is true - "gut instinct" is not evidence - assuming the Mac OS X Firewall is enabled. That said, you can try using Port Mapping or Port Forwarding to forward to port 5900 (the port Screen Sharing uses). If you can block all access to your Mac except for that one port, it obviously reduces the number of potential ports that a malicious attacker could try to access your Mac. As one commenter suggested, you could even map different ports to forward to port 5900 on various Macs behind the same DynDNS hostname. In AirPort Utility you can find Port Mapping configuration under "Internet" and then click on the "NAT" tab. This will still require that you use DHCP Reservations, as above.
If all else fails, you might want to try another direction: Back to My Mac through iChat. I haven't actually tried that, but it's another option.
I can't explain why using a DynDNS domain name works more reliably than the built-in Bonjour sharing/connecting method, but after days of unsuccessfully trying to connect to my work computer, I have been able to connect via DynDNS without fail. As my Dad taught me long ago, "A good strategy is that which works."
TUAWUse DynDNS for better success with Back To My Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - Mac OS X - MobileMe - Unofficial Apple Weblog - AirPort
"Overwhelming" demand limiting iPad in-store pickup
Filed under: Retail, Apple, iPad
According to MacDailyNews, shoppers who placed iPad pre-orders this morning are being told by Apple Store employees that demand could affect their plans for in-store pickup.It seems that several customers ordered iPads this morning, opting for at-home delivery. For whatever reason, they later changed their minds and opted for in-store pickup. That's when things got tricky.
When requesting the switch, those customers are being told that their existing orders will have to be cancelled and new in-store orders placed. However, the employees warn, demand for the iPad has been so "overwhelming" today that they can no longer guarantee that an in-store pickup order will be available on April 3rd if placed at this late hour.
As of this writing, the online Apple Store notes that Wi-Fi iPads ordered today will be able for pickup at Apple Retail Store "...between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 3."
In other words: Selling like hotcakes.
TUAW"Overwhelming" demand limiting iPad in-store pickup originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AppleStore - Apple - Retail - Wi-Fi - MacDailyNews
Possibly as many as 50,000 iPads pre-ordered in first two hours
Filed under: Retail, Apple Financial, iPad
The early adopters are out in force today. Based on analysis from Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog & the investors of the AAPL board on Investor Village, it seems that as many as 50,000 iPads were pre-ordered in its first two hours of availability this morning. That's pretty staggering demand, especially considering that on a typical day Apple only receives an average of 15,000 online orders for all products combined.Naturally, we have no way of knowing if these numbers are exact as of yet. The numbers reflect over 50,000 orders placed in two hours, and the percentage of those that are iPad orders isn't clear. Considering that the iPad was just made available for pre-order today, however, and the 15K daily average noted above, it's likely the majority of orders placed this morning were indeed for the iPad. Additionally, the numbers only reflect the number of orders placed, not the number of units ordered; taken with the 2-pad maximum for today's pre-orders, the data does suggest that somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 iPad pre-orders were placed within two hours of its availability.
This suggests a huge demand for the device, at least among early adopters. It will be very interesting to see if this trend is repeated once the iPad is actually available in stores.
One interesting note: even if all 50,000 of those iPads were the $499 version (which is very unlikely), based on iSuppli's analysis of that unit's build cost, it means Apple gained nearly $13.5 million in revenue profit from the iPad alone in a mere two hours -- and that's the bare minimum. Once you factor in all the other models and their higher prices, the numbers climb by several million dollars. Even for a company with a market cap in excess of $205 billion, that's still pretty amazing performance.
[h/t MacRumors]
TUAWPossibly as many as 50,000 iPads pre-ordered in first two hours originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - Pre-order - Fortune - IPad - retail
iPad 101: iPad AppleCare pros & cons
Many Apple aficionados tend to avoid buying AppleCare for robust devices like the Mac mini series. Those units tend either to die right away or last forever. They are highly self-serviceable for anyone who has a reasonable degree of comfort with a screwdriver.
The iPad and the iPhone, on the other hand, can feel like accidents waiting to happen. Without a simple avenue for owner-repair, they are more of a black box purchase. And their components can and do die much more unexpectedly. In my history of purchasing iPhones and iPod touches, I have personally encountered video driver death and massive touchscreen failure.
To be fair, both of these incidents happened within a month or so of purchase, so keep that in mind as well. For many devices, component failures tend to show themselves fairly soon. With a standard iPad purchase, you are covered for 90 days of phone support and a 1 year hardware warranty without any need for a further AppleCare payment, according to the Apple representative I talked to this morning.
What's more, if you want to wait, you can. Purchasing AppleCare extends standard iPad coverage to 2 years each of phone support and hardware warranty. You can buy AppleCare up until the last day of your 1 year complimentary coverage, so there's not really a rush unless you need phone support during that time.
I know I'm completely out in speculation territory, but I kind of think that the component failure rate for these devices tends to be a bit higher than for desktop systems. I base this on several years of hanging around with other iPhone and iPod touch users and listening to their stories rather than on any consistent study. So I tend to err on the "I know I'm kind of getting ripped off buying this extended warranty from AppleCare but that's okay for my piece of mind" side.
AppleCare may be a big additional price to grapple with when you're already coughing up $499 or more for the device, but consider that this object is going to bounce around with you most of the places you go, and take abuse accordingly. TUAW colleague Mike Rose suggests AppleCare on any mobile device where paying the repair or replacement cost out of your own pocket would be more painful than you'd like. TUAW commenters also point out that buying your iPad with American Express automatically doubles your warranty coverage so you won't need to buy AppleCare at all (or gives you 4 years of coverage with Applecare -- TUAW reader TJ contacted Amex and a service rep stated that they only double original mfgrs warranty, not extended care.)
Apple tends to be one of the least obnoxious companies around when it comes to actually following-through on their extended warranties. Anyone who has visited a genius bar with a sick Apple product will recognize that having a diagnostic and repair service in-store helps create an atmosphere of getting devices fixed without an argument. And that's a very nice thing, indeed.
Admittedly, Apple has been a little rotten about it's various moisture sensors (especially the ones near the microphone for the iPhone -- where you naturally blow hot moist air while talking) but you can always insist that repair persons open devices to check the interior moisture sensors as well.
Another thing about AppleCare is that it does make your early-adopter iPad a lot more re-sellable via eBay. As TUAW commenters have pointed out, being able to state that your device has an extended warranty in place can help it stand out among other auctions and offer extra end-purchaser confidence.
So, bottom line? You will have a year or so to decide about AppleCare after purchasing your new iPad, but sometimes it's simply nice to know that a problem will be taken care of.
TUAWiPad 101: iPad AppleCare pros & cons originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - IPod Touch - IPod Classic
iPad 101: Managing your 3G data plans
Filed under: iPad
Much as I love AT&T's prepaid services, their interactive system for purchasing feature packages... well, it kind of sucks. I can't count the number of hours I have spent on their 611 purchase line trying to get the chirpy fake human at the other end (no, seriously, the robot is very cheerful and upbeat) to properly confirm my correct order.With the help of human operators (who cannot, by the way, actually effect the purchase), I have a cheat sheet that sits next to my computer and gets updated as they change their menu system: sometimes you have to say "yes". Sometimes you have to say "buy it". It's all a bit of a mess.
So when I read through Apple's updated iPad 3G page, I was delighted to see that you can add your prepaid 3G feature packages from the iPad without ever having to speak to chirpy fake humans. It's all done from the padtop. And that, let me say, is marvelous.
No, you won't be able to use AT&T prepaid cards, which is a pity. I'd rather enter a card number onto my iPad when sitting at an airport, for example, than my personal credit card information (thank you, AT&T, not), and you have to sign up for recurring plans (see the screenshot), but it looks like it's going to be a way better and friendlier experience than my 611 nightmares.
One of the great things about the 250 MB limited plan is that you'll be warned about how much of your data you've used. Apple's writeup states, "[iPad] will even let you know when you're running out [of data]. You'll get three alerts as you near your 250MB limit -- at 20 percent, 10 percent, and zero." At that time, you can add more data (in 250 MB increments) or upgrade to "unlimited" (likely capped at 5GB) for the forseeable future. There is no option for "oops, I underestimated my needs, can I just pay the remaining difference and hop onto the unlimited plan just for this month," so keep that in mind as well.
There's a big old "Cancel Plan" button that you can tap at any time that will get you out of any further purchases. Being a pre-paid AT&T plan, there's pretty much a zero percent chance that you'll get any refunds on unused services, so watch your calendar carefully while living in auto-renew-land.
As TUAW reader DJFriar points out, the service change takes effect when your current plan runs out of data or reaches its normal expiration date, i.e. it follows AT&T's norm for prepaid feature plans. See the Plan Options wording on this graphic from Apple's website.
Apple's write-up indicates that your device can automatically take advantage of Wi-Fi connections when they are available, in places like Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, which offer free Wi-Fi for anyone who has signed up for an AT&T data plan. That's going to be another way to stretch your data if you opt for the 250MB plan.
TUAWiPad 101: Managing your 3G data plans originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - AT&T - Wi-Fi - 3G - Credit card
iPad 101: Reserve an iPad from outside the US
Filed under: iPad
If you're living in Canada or Mexico -- but close enough to the border to make a trip to a US Apple Store -- Clean My Screen has posted instructions for reserving an iPad outside of the US. There are 23 steps in the guide, but it doesn't look terribly complicated.
It involves the creation of a new account with a US address and no payment method, but with a real email address. Then you can confirm your account and make a reservation, although you'll need to make a trek (or have a friend in a convenient location do it) to a brick-and-mortar US Apple Store to retrieve your iPad.
As noted in the article, having a US iTunes account can be handy for a handful of other reasons, including being used to buy free apps and music, and potentially get free eBooks once the iBook Store opens. If you live outside of iPad reservation territory, give it a shot and let us know how you fare.
TUAWiPad 101: Reserve an iPad from outside the US originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - ITunes Store - IPad - Macintosh - Unofficial Apple Weblog
Quizarium the multiplayer trivia app is nearly ready for prime-time
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
Quizarium [free], a multiplayer iPhone/iPod touch trivia game, arrived in the App Store today. I got a chance to look at a pre-release copy and I found some problems with the interface and flow of the game. Some problems will be solved either upon release, since an update is being approved right now, or within a few days after release. According to Anthony Almanza, one of the developers at Lithuanian software development firm On5, Apple has gotten much quicker with approving updates. I spoke with Anthony at length about the app and offered a number of suggestions that will be implemented quite soon.
Quizarium uses the Plus+ social play network which allows many players to compete against each other by answering trivia questions in a number of set category rooms, or in new rooms that can be created by users. A server problem was found yesterday (and a revision quickly submitted), so room creation may or may not be activated upon release. I really didn't get a great feel for how a multiplayer game would look since, at most, I played against two people from On5, but I can imagine that the action will be pretty intense.
To play, you flick the screen up to view the entire list of category rooms, and when you tap on a room, the game starts. You are shown with a trivia question for 60 seconds, or until someone gives a correct answer. You can see the minute tick down by watching a progress bar at the top of the screen. Hints are given as time passes, showing you how many letters are in the answer and, as time is running out, you'll see the first few letters of the answer appearing. If you are the first with the correct answer, you gain points and receive awards courtesy of the Plus+ network. Tapping the Plus+ button on the main screen shows you your awards and takes you to the leaderboard where you'll see just how well you've done. Weekly leaderboards will be updated every Monday night. There is also an overall Plus+ network leaderboard.
Quizarium [free], a multiplayer iPhone/iPod touch trivia game, arrived in the App Store today. I got a chance to look at a pre-release copy and I found some problems with the interface and flow of the game. Some problems will be solved either upon release, since an update is being approved right now, or within a few days after release. According to Anthony Almanza, one of the developers at Lithuanian software development firm On5, Apple has gotten much quicker with approving updates. I spoke with Anthony at length about the app and offered a number of suggestions that will be implemented quite soon.
Quizarium uses the Plus+ social play network which allows many players to compete against each other by answering trivia questions in a number of set category rooms, or in new rooms that can be created by users. A server problem was found yesterday (and a revision quickly submitted), so room creation may or may not be activated upon release. I really didn't get a great feel for how a multiplayer game would look since, at most, I played against two people from On5, but I can imagine that the action will be pretty intense.
To play, you flick the screen up to view the entire list of category rooms, and when you tap on a room, the game starts. You are shown with a trivia question for 60 seconds, or until someone gives a correct answer. You can see the minute tick down by watching a progress bar at the top of the screen. Hints are given as time passes, showing you how many letters are in the answer and, as time is running out, you'll see the first few letters of the answer appearing. If you are the first with the correct answer, you gain points and receive awards courtesy of the Plus+ network. Tapping the Plus+ button on the main screen shows you your awards and takes you to the leaderboard where you'll see just how well you've done. Weekly leaderboards will be updated every Monday night. There is also an overall Plus+ network leaderboard.
TUAWQuizarium the multiplayer trivia app is nearly ready for prime-time originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
App Store - iPhone - Apple - IPod Touch - Trivia
GDC 2010: Fallen Earth comes to the Mac, brings an iPhone app
Filed under: Macworld, Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store
Fallen Earth is a respectable postapocalyptic MMO -- I've never played it (one MMO is enough for me, and the gigantic World of Warcraft is still claiming my time), but it's grown pretty popular since release in September of last year. And now the game is set to pick up another chunk of audience, as the owner Icarus Studios has announced that they're releasing a Mac client for the game. It's currently in beta (and was made using Wine), but if you're interested in trying out a new MMO with a postapocalyptic twist, head on over, give the client a download (you'll need a game account, though there's a free trial available), and give the team a good Mac welcome.That's not all, though -- Icarus is also working on their very own iPhone app, and I got to play with it this week at their GDC 2010 booth. For Fallen Earth players, it'll be a must-get, but even if you're not currently a player of the game, the app is a shining example of what's possible with a "supplementary" game application -- it allows for all sorts of in-game functions directly from Apple's handheld device.
Gallery: Fallen Earth iPhone app shots and concepts
The app is pretty barebones in terms of main screen UI -- there's simply a menu that leads you off to all of the app's various functions. But the functions are what's most fascinating about this: almost anything that you can do outside of combat in the game can actually be performed using the iPhone app. It works as a full gear and inventory viewer -- Icarus has replicated the game's UI for the player character's gear and inventory, so you can browse and examine your gear within in the app just like you can any time in the game.
That's not unheard of in the current MMO space (Blizzard has a similar viewer app for WoW), but this is: Fallen Earth's app goes beyond just viewing to actually acting and interacting with items in the real game. Logging into the app is just like logging into the game, so you can check the ingame mail system directly from the app, and even send mail out to other players from the iPhone. You can craft items directly on the iPhone, assuming you have the items in your inventory -- and even if you don't, you can access the in-game auction house to both buy and sell items from within the app. Purchased items appear in the mail window, so you can collect them there -- if one of your guildies needs a certain item crafted and you're away from your main PC client, you can log on to the app, buy the necessary crafting materials, craft the items (crafting is a passive action in the game that can sometimes take hours, so you can set items in the queue via the app), and then send them items away to your friend all without ever using the desktop client. Crafting gives XP, too, so you could potentially level your character using just the iPhone app. That's pretty incredible.
The app also has full messaging and chat ability -- you can chat directly with players either in the game (or even logged in using their own iPhone), and send private messages, chat in certain channels, and anything else you can do in the normal game. And it also has a full set of in-game maps installed, so even though you can't explore the game world with your character, you can still examine it.
It's a pretty impressive application, especially for one that's designed just to supplement the full game client. Dave Haydysch, Icarus' associate production manager, told us that the company had worked with Showtime to make an iPhone game based on the Dexter television show, and since they'd already ported most of their game engine for that project, they figured it wouldn't be too hard to make their own iPhone app. He wasn't sure on a release date yet, and the company hasn't yet decided a price -- "talks" about whether it should be free or not "are ongoing," he said.
And just for the heck of it, we asked him about the iPad -- certainly, the app would work on the iPad, but would Icarus want to put their game on there? Like most developers, they haven't actually seen the device yet, so he didn't have a firm word for us. "We haven't looked at the iPad," he said, "but the possibilities are there." Very interesting to see a larger MMO developer use the iPhone to extend their brand in this way.
TUAWGDC 2010: Fallen Earth comes to the Mac, brings an iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone - Apple - AppStore - Game Developers Conference - World of Warcraft
iPad adds Screen Rotation lock. Recumbent users scream "Finally!"
Filed under: Apple
Apple has finally added a screen rotation lock to one of its iPhone OS computing products. The button, which appears on the side of the new iPad will lock the device into its current orientation, preventing the unit from responding to re-orientation events. For everyone who has ever tried to play a game while lying down on a couch or a bed, let me say: Thank you, Apple!Finally, we'll be able to lock our orientation in place and not worry about an overly helpful system trying to do its best to keep up with the way we hold our screens. If you've ever tried reading a webpage, scanning mail, or just playing a game on the iPhone while lying on your side, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
Can't wait for this to appear on the next iPhone as well!
Thanks, Attila - hat tip to The Loop
TUAWiPad adds Screen Rotation lock. Recumbent users scream "Finally!" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone - Apple - Operating system - TUAW - Smartphones
iPad fever: What didja get?
Filed under: Retail, Apple, iPad
With iPad preorders finally available, at least for USians, I was relieved to place my order for an 16 GB iPad, due to be delivered on or after April 3rd.Along with a bluetooth keyboard (which I've been meaning to pick up for some time now), a case, and taxes, the whole kit & kaboodle came to about $650 for me.
I declined AppleCare for the moment, and am now feeling a little conflicted. At $99 for two years of coverage, it seemed a little steep. However, AppleCare has saved me in the past; it's something I've meant to buy on less robust items and earlier technology. I'm probably going to end up adding it on, although please feel free to convince me otherwise in the comments.
I kept with my decision to go with the 16GB unit for now. I may end up passing the unit along to family once I'm ready to upgrade to a better system, but I do need a unit as soon as possible for work. Out of the accessories on offer, I felt that the case was going to be really handy for day-to-day use.
I passed on the dock (both the regular and keyboard varieties; I have enough charging desk space without), the USB power adapter (I've got plenty left-over from iPhones, along with Apple-branded cables), the VGA adapter (my existing component cable should work for the moment, but it's something I'll likely pick up at a later date), and the MobileMe membership (do I even need to justify that decision?). None of these seemed compelling enough for immediate pre-order. Interestingly, Apple does not seem to offer any engraving options for the iPad yet, although I'm guessing they will at some point.
So what did you end up ordering? Did you go for one of the overseas ordering work-arounds that have been posted around the 'net? What size did you buy and why? Did you pick up accessories? If so, which ones did you decide on and what motivated that decision?
Share your pre-order details in the comments!
TUAWiPad fever: What didja get? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple - IPhone - AppleCare - MobileMe - Unofficial Apple Weblog
GDC 2010: From rags to riches on the App Store
Filed under: Gaming, Developer, App Store
While we weren't able to stay the whole time (the life of a TUAW blogger at a covention is varied and hectic), the iPhone Game Developers' Luncheon at GDC 2010 was a pretty enlightening experience. After a little varied networking among guests, hosts PlayHaven, Cooley Godward Kronish (a law firm that specializes in startup companies), and MplayIt started up the panel discussion. The iPhone developers in attendance were Igor Pusenjak of Lima Sky (the creators of the very popular Doodle Jump) and Bryan Mitchell, a solo developer who created a game called Geared that's risen to the top of the App Store charts.The most interesting thing we learned at the luncheon (in among a lot of legal talk about forming corporations and copyright law) was where these two developers came from. Mitchell was a filmmaker who had to work construction "after film work dried up in Las Vegas," and decided to jump in on the app business to make extra money. His game only made a few bucks a day at first, but after spending a little on advertising, Apple featured his game in "What's Hot." After that, he was off to the races.
Likewise, the Lima Sky developers came from humble roots. Pusenjak and his brother are from Croatia, and when the brother's job there looked a little shaky, Pusenjak decided to get into game design to try and earn his brother some extra cash (and himself some beer money). Doodle Jump was the latest in a long line of projects that included a bubble wrap simulator (Mitchell actually said he had five games that "failed" -- only had a few bucks coming in a day), and Pusenjak said that even though they "already had the computers," he feared at first that the $100 dev program investment might not have been money well spent.
Doodle Jump didn't fly off the shelves right away, either, according to the developers -- the very first day, they had 21 copies downloaded (which sounds pretty good, but they thought it was a minor start). But eventually, it got up to the point where they were making a few hundred dollars a week, and of course now the game is competing with Bejeweled as the highest-grossing game on the App Store ever.
Pusenjak also shared a little insight on how a developer should represent itself in the App Store. While there are good reasons to stay as an individual in the store, his company had to make the jump to a business account. It worked out better for them, but it took them a while to get around to changing the actual name listing in the App Store.
It wasn't the longest or most in-depth session that we've seen this week, but it was cool to get some more insights about the App Store directly from developers at the luncheon.
Update: A few corrections have been made to this post: Doodle Jump was not Lima Sky's second project, Apple changed Lima Sky's listed App Store name very quickly when asked (the delay was the result of the company, not Apple), and comments about App Store customer registration were misinterpreted.
TUAWGDC 2010: From rags to riches on the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone - AppStore - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Cooley Godward Kronish
ClickToFlash 1.6b7 solves YouTube's "Old Flash? Go upgrade!" message
Filed under: Internet Tools
If you have ClickToFlash installed, you may have seen a note telling you that you have an old version of Flash and encouraging you to upgrade.
As you might expect, you don't need to upgrade Flash, but you do need to upgrade ClickToFlash. The current version is ClickToFlash-1.6b7-upload1.zip, but you may have go to the Github page for ClickToFlash to download it.
Jonathan Rentzsch explained that he hasn't been able to update it himself due to illness. However, given that it is open-source, four others (identified as ndfred, Justin, ssp and lapcat) identified the problem and a solution, and Rentzsch merged it back into the main branch of the code.
That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.
So if you've run into this problem at YouTube, take a few minutes, download the new version, quit Safari, and run the installer. Voilà!
TUAWClickToFlash 1.6b7 solves YouTube's "Old Flash? Go upgrade!" message originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
YouTube - Safari - Adobe Flash - Apple - ClickToFlash
