The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

How does a 20% discount sound? How about 20% off software from over 30 developers? This list has been growing since One Finger Discount started this week and continues to grow as developers jump on board with a pretty darn good deal if you're in the market for any one of these awesome applications. They run the gamut from productivity to games to blogging software.

Kudos to Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software for putting these deals together on one page, somewhat cheekily as a response to MacHeist, it would seem. The One Finger? Well, that comes from 1/5, 20% discount as opposed to a five-finger discount (free). 20% is still a steal, right? Very clever, Mr. Jalkut -- we'll leave the readers to consider which finger they should order with.

[via Macworld]

Welcome to the first of what we hope will be many, many TUAW Videos to come. We've done lots of video on TUAW, from Macworld Expo coverage to WWDC interviews to fart apps and more. This time we're trying something a bit different. This time we're taking it slow and profiling Mac and iPhone users, developers, mavens and anyone with a story to tell. If you've ever seen MacHeads or Welcome to Macintosh (both of which are awesome), you know there are plenty of passionate Apple fans out there. If you're reading this blog you probably know this, right? Well, now's the time to tell these stories.

We visited Freeverse in Brooklyn, NY and spent some time checking out the factory where Skee-ball, Moto Chaser, Big Brain Games, Burning Monkey Solitaire and the awesome Flick series of iPhone games come from. We found a passionate, creative team of coders and designers working hard to keep you entertained. We also got a peek at Warp Gate, which looks like a huge game to cram into an iPhone.

Watch the video and tell us if you'd like to see more of these profiles. If you're a passionate Mac user with an interesting story to tell you can get in touch with us here.

On an iPhone? Here's the link for the iPhone version of this video.


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I've become very accustomed to remote-controlling my computers for a while, but nothing ever seemed to get it right. Apple's Remote for iTunes is great, of course, but what about all my other stuff on my Mac, like Boxee or VLC? Yeah, you can get some specific remotes for those apps (frankly the VLC remotes I've used were terrible and would just quit working sometimes). But what you really want is a master remote that'll take all those tasks over for you. Enter Hippo Remote [iTunes Link], a wonderful, simple, brilliant little remote app for your iPhone or iPod touch and Mac -- or PC.

Hippo Remote starts off as a trackpad, and supports gestures, multi-touch (like scrolling and zooming) and even replicates circular scrolling. There's a keyboard with F-keys, a history and navigation keys. There are app profiles for Powerpoint, Boxee, VLC, even Gmail and Windows Media Center. There's also a login manager for stuff like Gmail or Twitter, so it's very, very fast at getting you to where you need to be all via iPhone screen.

Hippo Remote's response is like butter. Scrolling, swiping, tracking are all wonderful, even on my congested network. I can even use wake-on-LAN or wake-on-wireless to zap those computers alive from anywhere in my house.

All this and the only setup was to add a password for VNC connections in my System Preferences on my Mac. There is a HippoVNC application which enables a few other features, but I don't use it. Instead, I have a saved profile for the Mac I have hooked to my HDTV, and with one tap I'm controlling that Mac via iPhone. It just doesn't get any easier.

Now you can win a copy of Hippo Remote for your own iPhone or iPod touch. Just leave a comment on this post and you're entered. Promo codes are only available for the US, sorry.

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment on this post.
• The comment must be left before Saturday, November 7, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One promo code for Hippo Remote (Value: US$4.99)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Notice anything new at TUAW? We've had our job boards up for a week now, making sure all the tape would stick when new jobs were posted, and I'm proud to say that the doors are wide open for job seekers and for those looking to fill positions. We've got a button up top that'll take you straight to the boards, and on every post there's a handy button (see below) which will start populating with relevant job searches based on the content of our posts.
Still not convinced? Did I mention that those looking for hires will see their jobs on our boards, on the boards at Download Squad, plus those jobs are sent over to Juju, Simply Hired, Indeed and other job aggregation services. TUAW and Download Squad together serve up over ten million views a month, and serve over a million visitors each month. If you don't think your job posting will get seen, think again. We'll also write up interesting and amazing people and positions right here on the main page of TUAW from time to time, further extending your hiring reach.

If you're looking for developers, designers, Mac sysadmins or just about anything else, stop by the TUAW job boards and give it a try.

If you've seen Minigore [iTunes Link] or played iDracula [iTunes Link] you're familiar with this game mechanism, now quite popular on the store: left thumb moves, right thumb aims and shoots, all in an isometric 3/4 view. Boxhead Zombie Wars [iTunes Link] brings some nice weaponry to the game, plus a raft of defensive tools to allow a little more strategy than either of the comparison apps I mentioned.

Boxhead offers a Flash-based version of the game here if you're interested in how much gore and mayhem is involved. It's a lot, really, but perfect for the genre.

Now you can win one of 10 promo codes to try Zombie Wars yourself. If you don't win, there's also a Lite version [iTunes Link] to try before you buy. Good luck!

Here's a video of the game in action:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment on this post.
• The comment must be left before Sunday, November 1, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One promo code for Boxhead Zombie Wars (Value: US$1.99)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Engadget is reporting what everyone who has a twitchy refresh button already knows: iTunes 9.0.2 is out, bringing support to Apple TV 3.0. The iTunes update is available through Software Update, and the Apple TV update is right there in the box that says "Apple TV" on it.

The Apple TV update refreshes the look of the main menu, Genius Mixes and internet radio. It also adds iTunes Extras and LP support. Here's the official press release.

Notice any other new stuff? Tell us in the comments.

Reader Maik Lutze sent us some pictures from in front of "THE PLACE" shopping center in the CBD area of Beijing. As you can see, Apple is planning for a rather large event tomorrow! He notes the activation stations, with copiers for IDs and, sadly, Windows machines for activation. There's also a stage, presumably for live acts, and some very nice seats. If you're there tomorrow, tag photos on Flickr as "tuaw" (no quotes) or submit them to our Tumblr page.

Thanks for sending these in, Maik! His blog, in German, can be found here.

The French developers at Visuamobile make exceptionally well-designed apps. They sent me a promo code for GeoMaster [iTunes Link], and I wondered aloud how they would make geography attractive, both visually and as a game. Guess what? GeoMaster is pretty fun. If you know absolutely nothing about geography, then OK, this is like playing a strange guessing game. But I have to say it starts easily enough, so much so that you may be surprised what you DO know.

The game play is simple: countries, states or capitals appear on the screen, and you must point as close to them as possible on a map within a time limit. You can choose from US cities or states, countries by continent, world capitals or French departments. In the case of cities, accuracy earns extra points.

That's really about it, other than some high scores and an excellent amount of finish. This would make a good learning tool, I think, but it's also a fun casual game. Currently going for US$1.99 on the App Store, this is a good buy for parents and geography nerds, or anyone tired of the traditional puzzle games littering the space. Check out the gallery for shots of the game in action.

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Or maybe it was devoured first? Jerry Brito emailed a link to his wedding cake photos, made by the good folks at Charm City Cakes. It's an astoundingly accurate rendering of an iPhone save one thing our own Dave Caolo spotted: four bars on AT&T? Wishful thinking, although in the context of a wedding cake, maybe it's a good signal.

This is neither the first nor the last cake done as Apple gear, although it is certainly one of the best. But Charm City does nothing halfway, which you know if you've ever seen the show 'Ace of Cakes' on Food Network.

Congratulations to Jerry and his wife!