A lot of us around the TUAW offices are big fans of everything that comes out of Tapbots, so when Tweetbot for iPhone came out we dutifully shelled out our bucks to get a decent Twitter app for our favorite phone. Just a little while ago we told you about version 2.0 of the iPhone app, and now we can spill the beans on the latest from Tapbots -- Tweetbot for iPad. We weren't expecting Tapbots to announce it quite so fast, but apparently they just could not wait a moment longer.

Gallery: Tweetbot for iPad

I won't do a complete review today, but will entice you with a few screenshots from the app. I was fortunate to be a beta tester for Tweetbot for iPad, and let it suffice for me to say that if you like Tweetbot on your iPhone, you're going to love it on the iPad.

The app is available here for US$2.99.

Tweetbot for iPad ships, millions rejoice originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tweetbot for iPad ships, millions rejoice originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are tons of to-do list managers in the App Store, so many that you'd need another list manager just to keep track of them. Fortunately, a collaboration between Realmac Software, developer Milen Dzhumerov, and developer Phill Ryu's new studio Impending Inc. has created a to-do list management app that looks like it will make the rest of 'em obsolete. In the video embedded below, you'll see a quick demo of the gesture-driven UI that makes Clear so different from the competition.

TUAW App Editor Megan Lavey-Heaton and I spent a few minutes with Realmac Product Manager Nik Fletcher on the floor at Macworld | iWorld 2012, and we have since had the thrill of putting Clear through its paces. While this isn't a review, let's just say that I wish every developer put this much time and attention into making apps that are intuitive and simple to use.

Clear should be "shipping soon" at an as-yet undisclosed price. You'll hear about the release of the app as soon as it's in the App Store, and a review will follow close behind.

To-do list manager Clear demoed at Macworld iWorld 2012 (video) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

To-do list manager Clear demoed at Macworld iWorld 2012 (video) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jeff Scott of 148 Apps has announced the winners for the Best App Ever for 2011, and you can review at the official site right now. Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick was the overall winner in the iOS devision (which is a great app, but probably also benefited from actually promoting the Best App Ever vote inside the app itself). There are several other winners across various categories like Most Innovative (Codea), Most Useful (Amazon Mobile) and Best Time Killer (Tiny Wings).

Scott tells us that 148 Apps received a record 1.5 million votes this year, which is three times the total of last year's choices. Before voting began, there were 287,643 nominations across 7,243 apps. This year also featured Android winners in many categories, but Scott says that iOS topped the Android votes by a factor of 10:1.

The Best App Ever awards are always an excellent check of what's available on the App Store, so review the list and find some great new apps. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to 148 Apps for putting the whole thing together.

2011 Best App Ever winners announced originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

2011 Best App Ever winners announced originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Avatron is a company well known for their iOS and Mac utilities. We are particularly fond of their Air Sharing apps and Air Display, among others. They have a reputation for building solid, reliable products. I could sense the dismay in CEO Dave Howell's message when he pinged me today to let me know that Avatron would be pulling their Air Dictate app.

In order to comply with App Store rules, Air Dictate used a little trick to hide the standard keyboard while offering one-button access to Siri dictation functions. This is distinct from the non-App Store-safe approach I wrote about on Thanksgiving.

Howell explained, "What we did was to hide the keyboard and text field entirely. We did that by putting another view in front of the keyboard window. When you press our big Start Dictation button, we map that to a tap on the little microphone button. But how? There's no public method to change the location of a tap event to some other location. The solution to that was the clever part of Air Dictate. We actually changed the position of the keyboard window so that its mic button is directly under whatever point you tapped. Then we move it back again after the event has passed through. Same thing for the Done button."

The app relied on interface assumptions that could possibly change without warning in future Apple updates, or could vary with international keyboard layouts. This caused a point of conflict with Apple review. "The cold hard fact is that every update of iOS is likely to break all of our apps for one reason or another," Howell said. "Sometimes new Apple bugs, sometimes intentional changes to their frameworks. You don't have to break any rules for your apps to be broken by an iOS update!"

Apple further proposed that Avatron discard their custom interface, which was both eye-catching and streamlined, and ask users to locate and tap the microphone button directly. "Apple's suggestion was that we should throw away our custom interface (sacrificing its convenience for the blind and disabled, who would have trouble tapping the tiny mic button), and just throw up a standard keyboard. We don't want to do that so we're not planning to release any more updates to Air Dictate."

RIP Air Dictate.

Avatron retires Air Dictate tool for remote Siri dictation originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Avatron retires Air Dictate tool for remote Siri dictation originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you use the video hangout feature of Google+ on a regular basis? If so, you might be happy to hear that you can now use your iPhone to join those video hangouts from the Google Messenger IM app. There's an update now available for the Google+ app that will give you the video love you crave.

I was interested in the hangout capability, which arrived back in September, because there's a meeting I need to join into every week or so. That meeting takes place in a Google+ hangout, and up until this time I've been tied to either a desktop or laptop. Now if I'm out doing my daily exercise walk or lounging on a cruise ship, I can pull out my iPhone or iPad and join into the meetings. If nothing else, it should be fun to see if I can videoconference and walk at the same time.

To join a hangout, you tap the Hang Out button while in a Messenger chat with others (see below -- and no, I am talking with Erica Sadun, that's not my name).

You can do the same for hangouts announced in the Google+ stream. I tapped a large green Join The Hangout button and was talking to fellow blogger Kelly Hodgkin and her baby in seconds (see picture at right).

We didn't try the hangout feature over 3G, but if any TUAW readers give it a try we'd like to hear how it works ... or doesn't.

Google+ app for iPhone updated to launch hangouts from Messenger originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google+ app for iPhone updated to launch hangouts from Messenger originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The nine writers in the group say that 37 of their works have been sold as pirated copies on the App Store, with Apple of course taking a 30 percent cut from the proceeds. Apple refused to remove the books from the App Store after being asked in July of 2011, noting that there was not enough evidence to provide that the works were unlicensed.

Authors are frustrated with the slow pace at which Apple removes the pirated ebooks, with the executive for the Writers Rights Alliance noting that it sometimes takes two to three months before the pirated versions are canceled. Once that's done, new pirated versions often pop up.

According to the group, some of the pirated ebooks may have seen more than a million downloads without the authors receiving revenue from Apple. The company has told the group to contact the developers creating and selling the products, but the Alliance says that the contact information for developers is often bogus.

This won't be the last we hear of the Writers Rights Alliance. They're expected to file another lawsuit against Apple after January, seeking damages for alleged piracy on behalf of ten other authors.

Chinese authors want Apple to pay $1.88 million for allegedly hosting pirated ebooks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chinese authors want Apple to pay $1.88 million for allegedly hosting pirated ebooks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Many people downloaded the app sight unseen since it came from Apple, while still others downloaded it out of simple curiosity. GameStore cost US$0.99, and according to Mac Rumors and a few other outlets, Apple is now offering refunds to people who bought the app.

An email sent to customers who purchased GameStore says that "the app was made available for sale prematurely," and refunds will be issued within five business days.

Apple offers refunds for 'premature' GameStore app purchases originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple offers refunds for 'premature' GameStore app purchases originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rovio says that it saw a whopping 6.5 million downloads of Angry Birds this past Christmas Day, which is just phenomenal, even for this overwhelmingly popular game. That number is very close to the number of iOS and Android devices activated overall, which means that most people who got an iPhone or other mobile device that runs Angry Birds over the holiday ran to download the game as quickly as they could.

I've heard this before. One of the creators of Doodle Jump told me a while ago that whenever Apple released a new device, that app saw jumps of approximately the same numbers in downloads. Angry Birds is obviously quite a phenomenon, and it's so synonymous with the mobile experience that apparently the only limit on it out there is simply how many mobile devices manufacturers can sell.

Rovio also says there's more coming in 2012. We'd hope for Rovio to get back to actually making mobile games not about Angry Birds (the company made more than 30 before Angry Birds hit), but given its popularity, we'll probably still see these frustrated avians even more in the future.

[via Joystiq]

6.5 million downloads for Angry Birds on Christmas Day originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

6.5 million downloads for Angry Birds on Christmas Day originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beats+ is a niche app, but it's probably very useful for the kind of person who could use it. It's a simple but powerful drum machine app, featuring over 50 different drum loops (frequent updates keep the library fresh) to be used as accompaniment with whatever kind of music you want. In addition to playing with the drum loops (which run the gamut from pop and country to R&B and rock), you can adjust the beats per minute tempo of each, or just hit a button to randomize everything.

The app's interface is clear and easy to use. It could have a few more options, like maybe the ability to time out different beats or somehow set up different changes in the rhythm, but what's there is very easy to navigate through and control. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a musician. I tried to strum along on my guitar to a few of the beats, and it sounded all right, but you'll need to really know how to play in a group to make the best use of this one.

The app itself is only US$0.99, though, so if you have any inkling to use it, it's probably worth the buy. Extra track packs are 99 cents via in-app purchase. You get about 15 just with the basic buy, and that's enough to play around, unless you're really interested in playing a certain type of music. And of course the audio can go out via the iPhone's standard jack, or via AirPlay, so there's a few ways to get it where you need it to go. Beats+ is a solid tool for any practicing musicians, available on the App Store now.

Daily iPhone App: Beats+ originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Daily iPhone App: Beats+ originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Voting has been opened up for the 2011 Best App Ever nominees. These awards have been put on every year for a few years now by our friends over at 148 Apps, and they feature many of the greatest apps you'll find on the iOS store, chosen by users. To vote on this year's awards, head over to the Best Apps Ever page, and choose your favorites from all of the various different categories from Best Overall App to the various technical choices in each category.

For the first time I can remember, the awards also talk about Android apps this year, so if you have an Android device and some favorites on that side of the fence, be sure to represent over there as well. But despite the fact that Android is being honored, Best App Ever is still planning to announce the final winners later this month at Macworld, as usual. Voting is open until January 25, and be sure to put your votes in. We're curious to see which of these great apps is crowned with a win.

Voting now open for Best App Ever awards originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Voting now open for Best App Ever awards originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tiny Places is the latest title from Big Fish Games, which typically releases games on PC (mostly casual stuff like find-an-item and puzzle games), but lately has been making a big push on iOS as well. What's interesting about Tiny Places is that it borrows from from iOS games rather than Big Fish's PC catalog. Specifically, from Cut the Rope.

Tiny Places is similar to Chillingo's other physics title (the one that's not about angry birds), in that it features a cute little protagonist trying to reach a goal in a colorful 2D level while using real-time physics to move around. In this case, you play as a chameleon who uses his tongue to hang from various objects, trying to collect "starflies" while moving towards a hole in the wall that kicks off the next level. To start, you can fling the little chameleon around, but as the game progresses, there are other objects to interact with.

Tiny Places is harder than Cut the Rope as precise, airborne is required. Especially if you want to get all of the stars and extras, you'll need to make some pretty tough jumps. But resetting the level is quick and easy, so the game encourages replaying to get things just right. The polish isn't quite as good as Cut the Rope, but if (like me) you've already run through all of the levels of that one, Tiny Places offers a worthy alternative and a fun time in and of itself.

The iPad version is US$1.99 while the iPhone version is just a buck, and there are free versions of each to try out as well. Tiny Places isn't a classic, but if you enjoy physics games, the many levels on display here (with lots of updates to come, according to the app itself) will provide plenty of entertainment.

Daily iPad App: Tiny Places HD originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Daily iPad App: Tiny Places HD originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I'll be honest: I have come down with a pretty bad case of freemium ADD. Pocket Frogs was my first real freemium hookup on the iPhone (and it's still pretty great), but since then, I've made my way through a train of freemium games, including We Rule, Tiny Tower, Battle Nations, We Farm, more Tiny Tower, DragonVale, and now all the way over to Spellcraft School of Magic. If you've played any of these before, you probably know how it goes: The game is completely free to download, and free to play, though you can spend money on in-app convenience items if you want to save time or level yourself up more quickly.

But Spellcraft has caught my attention for quite a while this time, because it's a little more "game"-y than some of the other games. Instead of just managing a farm or building a city, you're actually delving through a dungeon, casting spells against bad guys and uncovering various treasures. The idea is that you're a magical student who needs to delve the dungeons to find your professors, and you can cast spells to fight bad guys from scrolls that you can carry and make.

Scrolls are created from spell ingredients that at first you just find, but you can also grow them in the greenhouse, which is where the "freemium" cycle comes in: plants can be planted, and then you need to wait real time to let them grow. The gameplay itself is actually pretty well done -- the graphics are nice and polished, and there's a fun arcade-y element to casting spells that allows you to do better or worse depending on how you time your casts.

Unfortunately, the in-app purchases aren't quite as "nice" as, say Tiny Tower -- your plants can die on the vine, losing you lots of money, and later in the game, you can also get pets that won't necessarily die, but will get very pitifully sad if you don't feed them (shame on Appy Entertainment for tying the sadness of a hungry animal to an in-app purchase -- that's a little below the belt if you ask me). But the game is definitely playable even without the in-app purchases, and the fact that you can lose plants does at least provide a little encouragement to log in to the game and play it.

If freemium isn't your thing, you won't find much new here. This game runs about like a Facebook game, and while there is some nice polish, especially on the iPad, there's not a lot here that you won't find in, say, DragonVale or We Rule. But as is always the case with freemium, the price is right, and it's at least a game that will hold your attention and scratch that freemium obsession itch -- at least until the next fun candidate comes along.

Daily iPhone App: Spellcraft School of Magic originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Daily iPhone App: Spellcraft School of Magic originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW,

More of a question rather than a tip, but with the App Store lockdown today, I presume OnLive's Player App will not be live in time for Christmas.

I was thinking: Do you think Apple delayed approval of the app to maximize profits by sales over Christmas, including the significant revenue likely generated by the release of Grand Theft Auto 3?

Your skeptical nephew,

Chris

Dear Chris,

Hey bud! It's your cousin Mike -- Auntie asked me to field this one, since I recently had a chance to play with the very impressive OnLive app in question. You're right: We heard great things about the app and its accompanying controller a few weeks ago (and I promise they're real, since I've still got the app installed and working on my personal iPad), but since then we haven't heard anything from OnLive, and the promised software has failed to materialize.

That only applies to iOS, for the moment; we're told the app is available on the Android store right now, so if you have an Android tablet, you can play with it there. But most of us TUAW folks don't bother with Android, so when is it coming to iOS?

I asked OnLive, and they tell me that both the iOS release of the app and the controller are still pending. The app specifically, an OnLive rep tells us, "in the approval process with Apple." The rep couldn't provide any further information, and it's possible that even OnLive doesn't know what the holdup is. Apple's approval process can be pretty secretive, even for the developers in it.

There's possibly a few things happening here. First, OnLive might just honestly be waiting on approval -- it's too bad they didn't clear the process before the big announcement, but them's the breaks, and maybe they are just waiting on a release. Second, Apple could have denied the app for some reason, and it's possible that OnLive is working to fix or resubmit the app in order to get Apple's approval. I've used the app, and I can't think of any reason technically that the app wouldn't be accepted, but maybe there was something.

Third, as you say, there could be something a little sneakier going on here. OnLive's service is paid for by selling access to PC games running on their own servers, and the way they have it set up, you can't buy those games through the app (you need to buy them from a regular PC before playing them on the iOS app). That means that Apple doesn't get any cut of games "sold" on OnLive, and that may be causing issues with the approval process. But that really shouldn't matter -- Apple doesn't take a cut of Netflix subscriptions, for example, and the Netflix apps are up and running without a problem.

Or, as you suggest, Apple could simply want to sell iPad native games, and is holding the OnLive app off in order to increase native app sales rather than OnLive game sales. That seems a little too sneaky to me, but you're welcome to be as paranoid as you want.

Honestly, I don't think there's a conspiracy here. The OnLive app makes your iPad more useful, and that's in everyone's favor. My guess is just that the app is caught up in the process. You're right in that it won't be approved over the App Store freeze, so we at least have to wait another week, but I think it'll either be approved soon, or we'll hear back from OnLive or Apple that it hasn't been accepted for whatever reason. In the meantime, OnLive is available on the Mac as well, so you can play all the games you want there for now. And we'll keep checking back with OnLive to see when the app is ready for release.

Happy Holidays!

Cousin Mike

Dear Aunt TUAW: Where's the OnLive App? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dear Aunt TUAW: Where's the OnLive App? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The App Store freeze goes down today, so this is the last chance for many developers to put their apps on sale. And of course, many have taken advantage of that chance.

• Before we even start listing sales today, many of the sales previously listed, including EA and Gameloft's whole-catalog 99 cent sales, are still ongoing through the weekend.
• The anniversary release of Grand Theft Auto 3 is only $2.99. That's a bargain no matter which way you slice it -- pick it up.
• Japanese developer Cave is having a big 99 cents sale, with some of its bullet-hell shooters available for cheap.
• id Software is also going cheap, with Rage HD, Doom Classic, Doom II RPG, and more going on sale for just a buck.
• Hack-and-slash Aurum Blade (above) is free for the holidays.
• Monster RPG 2 is 99 cents.
• Comixology's great Comics app is having an in-store sale, with lots of comics for only a buck.
• Dungeon Raid is one of the best games of the year, and it's only $1.99 in a rare sale.
• Dragon Fantasy is an excellent 8-bit style RPG that's only a buck.
• Wayforward's excellent Shantae: Risky's Revenge platformer is only $1.99.
• Gamevil's Zenonia and Zenonia 2 are both completely free.
• iPad exclusive tower defense/strategy game Ant Raid is only a buck.
• Chillingo's Ravensword: The Fallen King is only 99 cents, and there's plenty of other Chillingo titles on sale for cheap as well.
• Disney's in on the sale, too, with Where's My Water, Jelly Car and lots of others for only 99 cents.
• Companions for iPad is only a buck.
• Galaxy Pirate Adventure got renamed as Galactic Phantasy, and it's only 99 cents right now.
• Word game Welder is just $1.99.

And that's only the ones we've heard of -- there are probably lots more sales out there. In other words, if there's an app that you've been wanting to buy, you should probably check up on it today, because if it's not on sale now, it probably won't be this year. Good luck, enjoy all of your new apps!

App Store holiday sales on now: GTA 3, id software, Dungeon Raid, lots more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

App Store holiday sales on now: GTA 3, id software, Dungeon Raid, lots more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's no secret that Apple has big plans for China. During several of the past quarterly earnings calls, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer have made repeated references to both past growth and future plans for the nation. Now a report from app market research firm Distimo [via GigaOM] indicates that the App Store for iPhone in China is growing rapidly.

In the report, compiled by Distimo analyst Hendrik Koekkoek, he notes that the Apple App Store for iPhone in China generated only 18 percent of the downloads of the combined US and China stores in January of 2011. By November, that number had jumped to 30 percent.

Even more amazing are the numbers for iPad apps. As of November of 2011, the number of downloads from the Apple App Store for iPad was almost identical for the US and China. A summary of the Distimo report is available (PDF download), containing information about all of the various app stores for different mobile platforms.

Report suggests App Store growing rapidly in China originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Report suggests App Store growing rapidly in China originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And so it begins -- the App Store has its busiest time of the year over the Christmas holiday, when iPhones and iPads and iTunes gift cards are unwrapped under the Christmas tree, and millions of people take to the App Store to pick up some great apps. There are lots of sales coming out this week. We'll have more posts each day, and stay tuned to our Twitter account for even more.

• Velocispider is free right now.
• ComicBook! is down to just 99 cents.
• Sesame Street's Monster at the End of this Book (starring Grover, of course) is only 99 cents right now as well.
• 1Password for iPad is on sale for $5.99, well worth it according to fans of the app.
• The micro version of Sword and Sworcery is just 99 cents, while the universal version is $1.99.
• EA's mobile sale continues -- Trenches 2 is currently on sale for just a buck, along with more than a hundred other EA titles. Odds are that if EA makes it, you can get it for cheap this week.
• Sega also has a big 99 cent sale going on, with Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Gunstar Heroes, and many other titles available for just a buck.
• Gameloft's also got a nice library of titles on sale, including the Gameloft Action Pack of games.
• And so does Square Enix, but those games have only dropped a few bucks to around $4.99 to $11.99, rather than down to 99 cents. Still, Final Fantasy Tactics for $11.99 is not a bad deal if you've been waiting for it to drop.
• Firemint (through EA) has Spy Mouse on sale for a buck. You've bought that one already, right?
• Readdle's got a sale going on its apps, including ReaddleDocs for iPad on sale tomorrow for $2.99.
• Happy Hills has gone free for a limited time.
• Big Fish Games is having a huge sale on most of its titles starting tomorrow -- there's a lot of good stuff in there, including Drawn: The Painted Tower for cheap, and Azada HD as well.
• In Case of Fire is free through the holidays.

That's just the beginning -- stay tuned all through the week for more deals on lots of different apps and games around the App Store. Everything will likely be sorted by Thursday (as that's when developers become unable to make any more price or app changes), but before then, we'll see lots and lots of apps on sale, no doubt.

iOS deals begin, App Store freeze coming Thursday originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iOS deals begin, App Store freeze coming Thursday originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: As commenters have pointed out, this is for iPhone users on Verizon ONLY. Pity.

I'm excited about this one, both for what it is, and for the potential of what it could be. The NFL has decided, in a (rare?) move of generosity, to stream the Super Bowl broadcast out to its mobile device apps, including the official NFL app on the iPhone and iPad. The stream on the app will actually have more information, including more camera angles and live stats on it, than the official television broadcast, and of course it'll be available in places that people without a normal television setup might not reach. The NFL has already provided some games for streaming, but this February's Super Bowl (and also the Pro Bowl) will likely be one of the largest potential audiences the apps could yet reach.

I think this is awesome -- I don't have an HD cable set up any more (instead, I use Netflix and Hulu for my television content), and so, at the bare minimum, this gives me a way to watch the game officially. But even more than that, I'll probably be at a friend's house to watch the proceedings anyway, and this means that we'll have second screen access through my iPad to more information, stats, and live updates as the game goes on. That means more engagement for the NFL, not to mention more places to sell more ads, and create more revenue on what's already one of the most profitable broadcasts around.

In short, this is a great move, not only for us the NFL's consumers, but for the network itself. I'll bet that we'll see some very surprising stats after the game in February on just how many people tuned in this way. Given how popular "second screen" content is getting, I think this will do very well.

NFL to stream the Super Bowl to iPhone, iPad apps (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NFL to stream the Super Bowl to iPhone, iPad apps (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's that time of year again: Snow is in the air, presents are underneath the tree, and Apple is about to shut down the developer's side of App Store for its yearly freeze. The New York Times has done some solid coverage on the shutdown this year, which will start this Thursday, and run for a week and a day after that.

Apps will still be for sale, of course, but developers won't be able to release new apps or updated released apps. Every year, developers have to rush to not only, as the NYT says, get their apps out on the store and available before the freeze, but also to try and get their apps in the top 25 paid and free lists, which is where many post-holiday new iPhone and iPad owners start their app shopping.

Electronic Arts, which the NYT quotes in its piece, has probably been the most public beneficiary of this App Store break -- a few years ago, the company dropped all of its apps on sale to 99 cents in the days before the freeze, which enabled it to grab most of the real estate in the "top apps" lists, and that big bump has even dictated company mobile policy until now.

There's no doubt there is plenty of money to be earned on the App Store this holiday again (and we'll likely see some developers reporting big bumps next week), but I'd suggest that things are changing, soon, if not already. Back in the early days of the App Store, there weren't too many ways to find good apps besides those top 25 lists. But these days, there are a lot more resources, both for users to find the apps they want, and for developers to promote their own apps. So I don't know that we'll see as big an effect from the top 25 lists this year as past year. We'll still see big sales, I'm sure, but I think those will be more spread out than last year.

And of course the App Store freeze has one more benefit for Apple: In addition to allowing the company to do maintenance and updates on the store and its infrastructure, it also allows the review and support staff to take a much-needed break for a few days. We'll have to wait and see how it works out for the company and 3rd-party developers this year.

Developers eager to submit apps before App Store vacation originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Developers eager to submit apps before App Store vacation originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, Christmas isn't until next week, but around here, a free app is always welcome. Here's some apps that have gone free for this holiday season.

• The excellent match-3 Call of Atlantis is free this weekend.
• Chillingo's puzzle platformer NyxQuest is also free.
• Babo Crash is another match-3 title that's gone free.
• Pro Zombie Soccer, where you use a soccer ball to kill zombies, is free.
• Bejeweled is usually 99 cents, but you can get it for free thanks to a promotion on Apple's Facebook page.
• Gameloft's Asphalt 6 racer has gone free.
• And the great RPG Fara is now completely free as well.

And there's some solid sales going on as well:

• Com2Us has most of its catalog on sale for 99 cents.
• Peggle and the HD version are down to just a buck each.
• Just in case you missed it on our Twitter account, Edge Extended is on sale for just 99 cents, while the original Edge is free.
• And EA is continuing its daily deals through the holidays with lots of free and discounted games inside their catalog.

Lots of great games for cheap or free this weekend! Enjoy.

Lots of free and discounted apps this pre-holiday weekend originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lots of free and discounted apps this pre-holiday weekend originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari's been on a remixing jag lately, and I was really impressed by the recent iOS take on Asteroids. Now with Breakout Boost, Atari aims to update another old gem.

Unfortunately, this one isn't quite as successful. It certainly is Breakout, as you control a little paddle across the screen, bouncing balls up to hit bricks, earn powerups, and score points. The controls are well designed for touch, too. There's a virtual handle underneath the paddle, and there's an added element of a slider that will make ball go faster (and earn more points) or go slower (and earn fewer). That's a fun mechanic, but otherwise, there's no real innovation. In fact, I've seen better Breakout clones on other platforms (including iOS).

That said, Atari sidesteps most of those issues by offering up the app for free, so if you like the Breakout style of gameplay at all, you might as well download it and test it out. I'm not so sure you'll be convinced to buy any of the level packs as in-app purchases, but that's up to you -- if it floats your boat, they're there. But I'm sorry to say Asteroids Gunner did a better job of updating the Atari classic, and hopefully Atari will take those notes to heart when it decides to update any other titles (Missile Command, I hope).

Daily iPhone App: Breakout Boost originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Daily iPhone App: Breakout Boost originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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