TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apps have created 466,000 U.S. jobs in four years

Steven Sande — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

Apps for mobile devices are a surprisingly robust source of jobs in the United States, according to research from TechNet. Since 2008, apps have created 466,000 American jobs. TechNet estimates that about 155,000 of those tech-related jobs are related to app development and tech support, while the remaining 311,000 jobs also require tech skills but include things like app marketing and art design.

Of those jobs, the highest percentage (23.8 percent) of the total are located in California. Other app hot spots include New York (6.9 percent), Washington (6.4 percent), Texas (5.4 percent) and New Jersey (4.2 percent). Central Florida doesn't want to be left out, as the Orlando Sentinel reports; local universities and training institutes are high on app development learning programs for would-be developers.

These numbers include not only jobs created for iOS apps, but also those triggered by the development of apps for Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Facebook.

[via The Loop]

Apps have created 466,000 U.S. jobs in four years originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari team rejoins to make mobile titles

Mike Schramm — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

Seamus Blackley is one of the co-creators of Microsoft's original Xbox console, and he put together a really interesting team of old-school Atari game developers recently to make mobile games. Blackley's new company is called Innovative Leisure, and while the website isn't anything more than a groovy logo, the devs he's got on board make for a pretty impressive list: Ed Rotberg (who made Battlezone), Owen Rubin (Space Duel), Rich Adam (who worked on Missile Command), Ed Logg (the creator of Astroids and Centipede), Dennis Koble (who programmed Shooting Gallery), Bruce Merrit (creator of Black Widow) and Tim Skelly (who is also an old school game dev, though not with Atari).

The company is completely separate from Atari (which already has a pretty significant presence on the App Store), but the team has some money already and is reportedly working on prototypes and ideas for a first game.

It should be interesting. The mobile gaming market is filling up fast, but there's no question that these guys know how to make solid and interesting arcade games. We'll have to see what they can do with iOS and other mobile platforms.

Atari team rejoins to make mobile titles originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacPractice introduces an iPad app to go with its healthcare software

Mike Schramm — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST

We've mentioned MacPractice a couple of times before -- professional software for the Mac designed to be used by doctors and dentists to do things like track patients' appointments, keep and share health information, and do all the things a small-to-mid-sized health clinic needs to do. We were able to meet up with MacPractice's CEO Mark Hollis this week at Macworld | iWorld 2012 here in San Francisco, and he chatted with us about the company's latest venture: A new iPad app called Clipboard that's designed to work directly with the MacPractice software to help doctors get and log their information remotely.

Hollis says developing for the iPad has been an interesting task for his company. Traditionally, he says, most doctors want bigger screens on their desktop computers. The MacPractice software is full of information (about scheduling, patients, charts, and so on), and so the desktop software has been designed to show as much of that information as possible. Most desktops it's used on also have bigger screens, which means anyone using the software can easily view or find whatever they need, clearly and quickly.

The iPad, however, while more portable, is a relatively small screen. So while many, many doctors, says Hollis, have asked for access to MacPractice through the iPad, the company has has to think carefully about how to provide the best experience. There is already an interface app that allows doctors to access information, and there are a few other apps for various purposes and specialties. But the Clipboard app is designed to take on the much-requested feature of allowing patients to enter and approve their information, so it was a tough one for Hollis and his company to get right.

Another obstacle to implementing iPad apps as quickly as doctors can use them is simply all of the various security and privacy protocols that MacPractice needs to follow. Patient and medical information is obviously very sensitive, and there are a whole host of guidelines and standards, required by law in many cases, that MacPractice needs to follow to make sure its apps are certified and can be used by medical professionals. Hollis says that most of the issue there is that MacPractice has to build in those standards by itself -- Apple doesn't have an official part of the iOS API, for example, designed to deal with medical certification. "It would be helpful," says Hollis, if Apple did provide some official code to help deal with those issues. But for now, MacPractice has to make sure its own apps are valid, and that takes time and effort, obviously.

Finally, Hollis mentioned Parallels Mobile as another option. Parallels is a completely separate virtualization app from a completely separate company, but the iPad version of the software, which lets you control and interact with apps remotely running on a separate desktop computer, allows doctors to really get into everything MacPractice can do for them, even when they're not at the desk.

If you do want to run the app locally on your iPad, however, the Clipboard app will be available for $9.99. It's currently in beta, and will be available for MacPractice users soon. Obviously, if you download the app itself, it won't do much without the MacPractice system set up around it, but Hollis does say that it will at least have some sample data included, so anyone who downloads the app can at least see what the functionality is like. MacPractice has been an excellent tool for doctors and physicians for a long time, and the company is making a big drive to make sure that tool is available on iOS as well.

MacPractice introduces an iPad app to go with its healthcare software originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Omni Group's Ken Case talks with TUAW at Macworld iWorld 2012

Steven Sande — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST

One of the most innovative and longstanding software development firms in the Apple ecosystem is The Omni Group. The company originally developed software for Steve Jobs's NeXT in the 1990's, created some of the first OS X software in the 2000s, and has gracefully made the transition to iOS with the advent of the iPhone and iPad. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of talking with Omni Group CEO Ken Case about the company's latest technical achievement -- building Siri capabilities into OmniFocus for iPhone -- and the history of this venerable favorite of Apple fans worldwide.

Over the next week or so, TUAW will be posting a number of interviews with both established development firms like The Omni Group and new startups that are just beginning to make their presence known in the Apple world. Be sure to visit often to check out our video offerings.

You can check out more of our Macworld|iWorld 2012 coverage here.

The Omni Group's Ken Case talks with TUAW at Macworld iWorld 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iOS app Viggle trying to turn second screen TV watching into cold, hard cash

Mike Schramm — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST

I've posted about the "second screen" idea before -- there is a growing trend among iOS and other mobile device users to both watch television or play games, and have their tablets or iPhones open and running apps related to that TV or gaming content, essentially using two screens at the same time. Viggle is another new app that is apparently going after that user, according to this article in the Denver Post, but with a new twist: They want to allow users to earn money by watching television.

As you might imagine, the math doesn't quite work out yet; at Viggle's current rates, you'd need to watch a few days worth of television to earn just one $5 gift card. But Viggle's real potential is in the "check-in" aspect -- the app is also working on ways for users to "check-in" to the TV shows they're watching, and participate in promotions like earning a certain bonus for watching a certain show, or more bonuses for various ads.

Now, Viggle's method of going about this seems a little shifty (you earn points that can be redeemed for deals), but I could definitely see a company working along these lines and creating sort of a Foursquare for media -- checking in whenever you happen to be watching or listening to something, and getting associated badges, deals, or whatever other offers on display for doing so. In fact, some apps like Dijit are aggressively pursuing a more social viewing experience. Viggle isn't quite out yet, and we'll have to watch and see how it does, but there's definitely lots of potential in the realm of apps that work in conjunction with and support the consumption of other media.

iOS app Viggle trying to turn second screen TV watching into cold, hard cash originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NimbleBit calls out Zynga clone of Tiny Tower

Mike Schramm — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EST

Zynga, which has made its fortune on Farmville, has released an app in Canada (not on the American App Store yet) called Dream Heights, which bears much more than a passing resemblance to Tiny Tower, a terrific and very successful freemium game from NimbleBit (the brothers-run company that we've posted about a few times before). By the looks of things, it seems that Zynga saw NimbleBit's success and decided to borrow most of the game's mechanics.

NimbleBit is pretty genial about the whole thing, but co-founders David and Ian Marsh haven't been completely kind on their Twitter accounts. Both have called out Zynga and posted a big infographic that compares the two games and their extreme similarities. They've also needled Zynga, with 2700 more employees than NimbleBit's three person staff, for not making anything better than a pretty blatant clone of Tiny Tower. Other developers have jumped to NimbleBit's defense on Twitter. It's possible that Zynga may decide not to release Dream Heights due to the pressure from developers; more likely Zynga will release it, and the game will perform decently, but not nearly as well as Tiny Tower has done.

I have asked NimbleBit about getting acquired before. The brothers seem like prime candidates for a larger company to come along and buy them out, and indeed Ian Marsh says during this whole affair that Zynga has offered to purchase NimbleBit and its games before. But as they told me, these guys aren't in it for the money. Certainly their games are very lucrative, but the Marsh brothers have said that they just like making great games on their own and will continue to do that for as long as they can.

It's a shame that Zynga has so blatantly imitated the Marshes' hard work, but you know what they say about imitation and flattery.

NimbleBit calls out Zynga clone of Tiny Tower originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atari follows up freemium Breakout Boost with paid Breakout Boost+

Mike Schramm — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:00:00 EST

A little while back, Atari continued its releases of updated classic games for iOS with Breakout Boost, a freemium version of the classic brickbreaking game that offers updated graphics and a few new mechanics to go with them. This week Atari announced another title called Breakout: Boost+, and while the general trend on the App Store recently is to go more towards freemium, Atari has actually made a move away from it. Breakout: Boost+ is a paid title, currently available for 99 cents.

The "plus" version includes 100 levels that aren't available in the free version, and it doesn't appear to have any in-app purchases. Other than that, the gameplay appears to be about the same, adding in power-ups and those improved graphics to the standard Breakout gameplay. It's an interesting choice; during a time when most games are dropping their price down to free to get the largest possible audience, Atari has followed up a free launch with a title that falls back on the old paid model while still leaving the freemium version available.

TUAW asked Atari what the deal is. Atari CEO Jim Wilson tells us that this title is definitely not a relaunch, and the choice to offer a paid app doesn't necessarily reflect disappointment with the free version. "Breakout: Boost was a big success for Atari that generated over 2 million downloads," says Wilson, "and we plan to continue supporting the title, having released an update since launch to enhance the initial free levels." Presumably both versions will be updated going forward, so customers can either download the free version as a trial, or buy the paid version to get access to all of the content right away.

This kind of experimentation definitely shows that Atari, a very traditional gaming company, is looking to grow its mobile offerings, especially on iOS. According to Wilson, "This latest release of Breakout: Boost+ is just one small step among many more to come that expands on our mobile games offering and an effort to keep iterating on our games to address consumer demands -- in this case, a call for an upfront premium download." It sounds like at least some of Atari's customers wanted the more traditional paid model rather than the freemium offering. It'll be interesting to see how these two apps do in the App Store going forward.

Atari follows up freemium Breakout Boost with paid Breakout Boost+ originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Avatron retires Air Dictate tool for remote Siri dictation

Erica Sadun — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST

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.

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Discount on 360|MacDev and a chance to win a free pass

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST

Last year's 360|MacDev was filled with good food and great company, plus sessions with some of the best developers in the world. The annual event in Denver is one of the must-attend Mac developer conferences out there if you want to learn from the best.

This year's conference is almost upon us, but there's still room to attend. Check out the conference schedule, and if you see what you like, use the code "TUAWRocks" (no quotes) to get 20% off your pass.

Better still, caption the pic of developer Mike Lee, seen below, exercising his Second Amendment rights. Next week we'll pick a winner of a free pass to 360|MacDev! Rules below. Keep it tasteful.

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 captioning the image of Mike Lee.
The comment must be left before MONDAY, January 23, 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
You may enter only once.
One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
Prize: Pass to 360|MacDev Conference Feb. 3-4, 2012 (Value: US$300)
Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Discount on 360|MacDev and a chance to win a free pass originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zynga picks up four more mobile gaming companies

Mike Schramm — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:00:00 EST

Mobile/social game giant Zynga has made four more acquisitions in mobile gaming, having already picked up quite a few iOS and mobile development companies in the past. This time around, the biggest pickup is a company from Germany named Gamedoctors, makers of the very popular ZombieSmash title. Page44 Studios is the second purchase. They did work on the also very popular mobile version of World of Goo (though Page44 isn't the actual developer of the original game; that's 2D Boy). Hiplogic and Astro Ape Studios are the last two purchases, each with their own libraries of a few mobile titles.

Zynga is building up quite a library of mobile developers and their titles, though we're not actually sure why yet. Most of the developers Zynga has acquired haven't actually put many other titles out on the App Store. Presumably all of these developers are working on something, and Zynga will probably use its new acquisitions to expand its social expertise into the mobile space as well, but the company's strategy hasn't become clear.

Stockholders are waiting on that strategy. The company had its IPO late last year at $10, but since then the stock has foundered and sits at just below $9. If Zynga wants to get that stock price rolling, Wall Street will want to see some action out of all of this spending.

Zynga picks up four more mobile gaming companies originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily Mac App: Slender

Erica Sadun — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST

New from Dragon Forged Software, Slender (US$9.99, currently on sale for $4.99) is a narrowly-focused utility that will either be exactly the tool you're looking for or one you can safely skip. It helps you non-destructively optimize Xcode projects by allowing you to view, evaluate, and adjust development assets.

For example, you can scan multi-resolution image collections. Slender detects when you might be missing a @2x asset or have used an incorrect dimension. That's particularly handy when you're working on large projects and may find it hard to otherwise audit your images by hand.

Slender also matches assets to source code, so you can automatically remove unused asset items to help save space in your shipping bundle.

You can use Slender to add its extra checking and validation to your normal workflow as a final project cleanup stage. Developer Kyle Richter adds, "This is the perfect app for anyone who is working on large projects with frequent asset changes and anyone trying to keep an active eye on their final bundle size."

Slender originated as an internal project. Richter explains, "When working on client projects, we frequently ran into issues with asset control. Slender was designed as an in-house tool to help us optimize our work flow and cut down on our development time. We found it extremely useful internally, as did the colleagues we shared it with, so we decided to release it on the App Store so we could share the tech with others."

Slender is now available from the Mac App Store. For more details about its features, you can check out this information page.

Daily Mac App: Slender originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WWDC Alerts will help make sure you get into Moscone

Mike Schramm — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST

Two Mac developers have created an alerts service, which you can sign up for free right now, that will let you know the very moment that tickets go on sale for this year's WWDC in San Francisco. Just put in your cell phone number, send back one code for verification, and then you'll get a text the instant tickets show up, which should give you a nice head start on making sure you get in the door for the conference.

There's also a Twitter account to follow if you want something that might get you a little less spam, but the makers of the alert system say they won't forward your details to anyone or misuse the list at all, so if you trust them, it shouldn't be an issue. Obviously this service is being seen by a ton of people, so I'm not sure how much help it will actually be, but any heads up is better than nothing. If you're planning to try going to WWDC this year, good luck!

[via TNW]

WWDC Alerts will help make sure you get into Moscone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EA staff leaves for Ngmoco Sweden

Mike Schramm — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST

A few more Electronic Arts employees have jumped ship for Ngmoco's newest studio, in Sweden. After Ben Cousins (who formerly worked at EA's "EAsy" division) left to form Ngmoco Sweden, he's apparently been building a wishlist of various developers, and now he's grabbed three more, this time from EA's DICE studio (creators of the Battlefield series). Torbjørn Lædre and Malte Hildigsson are joining as senior programmers, while Wille Wintertidh is on as a senior artist. Cousins has also previously grabbed some staff from Crytek, so he's building a formidable group over there at Ngmoco's studio.

It's hard to say what this will mean for iOS games specifically -- Ngmoco has said in the past that it definitely wants to expand away from just the Apple platform, and recently we've seen a pretty big push towards Android and even social games from the growing company (that originally started, you'll remember, as simply an iOS publisher founded by EA vet Neil Young). All of these acquisitions definitely point towards some sort of first-person shooter title (as most of these vets have experience on Battlefield and Medal of Honor games), but whether that's a free-to-play browser based game or something more mobile, we have no idea. But it is interesting to see that a company basically started under the iOS banner is growing so quickly. We can't wait to see what Ngmoco Sweden is working on.

EA staff leaves for Ngmoco Sweden originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reports suggest Apple retail had a great Christmas

Mike Schramm — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST

We've already heard that the iPhone and iOS had a record day this Christmas weekend, and here's even more stats proving that's the case. First up, the latest data from Flurry Analytics points out that both iOS and Android saw not only record activations over the holiday weekend, with as many as 6.8 million new devices connecting up to their respective app stores for the first time. And of course with new devices comes new app downloads: Flurry says there were around 242 million app downloads on Christmas Day alone, a rise of more than 125% compared to the previous month's average (which itself has been high, I believe, ever since Thanksgiving).

GigaOm also cites some other usage figures, including the fact that over 7% of new purchases made on a mobile device this past Sunday were on an iPad. That means people wasted no time at all in breaking open their new Apple tablets and using them to buy more stuff.

All in all, it sounds like quite the phenomenal weekend for Apple, and all of the various developers and services that rely on the App Store for their livelihoods. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of these kinds of statistics. Stay tuned for more in the coming days and weeks to hear just how great a Christmas it was for the iOS ecosystem.

Reports suggest Apple retail had a great Christmas originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance to acquire rival Vlingo

Mike Schramm — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:00:00 EST

Nuance, the company behind the Dragon apps and a whole slew of other popular software suites, has decided to acquire its rival Vlingo, another voice-to-text software developer. VentureBeat says it's for an undisclosed sum, but even though the two companies have sued and counter-sued over a series of patent applications, they're apparently putting those quibbles to rest, and instead will combine forces to beef up their voice-to-text solutions.

Siri has apparently lit a fire under the voice control market lately, and of course voice recognition is a big part of that. Siri was very impressive as just an iPhone app, but with the full weight of Apple's hardware support (not to mention marketing budget) behind it, voice control is inspiring a lot of R&D and funding, both in Cupertino and elsewhere in the tech industry. Nuance has fought to be the de facto standard for a lot of voice recognition software in the past with its Dragon Naturally Speaking apps, and that kind of thing is likely to become even more popular going forward.

Or as Nuance's own senior VP Mike Thompson puts it in a press release, "Inspired by the introduction of services such as Apple's Siri and our own Dragon Go!, virtually every mobile and consumer electronics company on the planet is looking for ways to integrate natural, conversational voice interactions into their mobile products, applications and services. By acquiring Vlingo, we are able to accelerate the pace of innovation to meet this demand."

Nuance to acquire rival Vlingo originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barbara Walters names Steve Jobs most fascinating person of 2011

Mike Schramm — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:00 EST

This probably isn't the most important honor Steve Jobs has ever picked up, but Barbara Walters has named Apple's co-founder as the most fascinating person of 2011, as reported by USA Today. Unfortunately the article doesn't actually tell us why, instead focusing reality show personalities, only mentioning Steve Jobs at the end.

If nothing else, this shows just how profound the effect of Steve's life and legacy has been. Amid an expected outpouring of emotion from the Apple community, several artists and mainstream news outlets have also honored Jobs and his work. Yes, temporary celebrity may be granted to these reality show stars and their ilk, but Jobs and his genius have built up a following across all kinds of different communities, and that's one of the most magical things about this man and his life.

Barbara Walters names Steve Jobs most fascinating person of 2011 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TeleNav announces free HTML5-based GPS nav service

Steven Sande — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

TeleNav is a large provider of GPS navigation applications for smartphones and in-car infotainment systems. Whether it's the AT&T Navigator app or Ford vehicles, TeleNav is behind the scenes. Today the company announced the upcoming availability of an HTML5-based navigation service that works on just about any smartphone platform -- including iOS5 -- and can be built into apps through an API.

The service is browser-based and provides voice-guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation services, full-color moving maps, and automatic rerouting. TeleNav says that the service will be free for both consumers and developers when it goes live in early 2012.

TeleNav wants to partner with mobile developers, stating that with one line of code, devs can add full turn-by-turn navigation to mobile websites and apps with local content. Sal Dhanani, co-founder and vice president of products for TeleNav said that, "With one line of code, you can give your customers one-click access to premium, voice-guided turn-by-turn directions to any location, including hotels, restaurants, merchants or deal locations. Customers never need to leave your app."

The company wants to partner with developers to test the service, and mobile website and app developers can apply for early access at www.telenav.com/developer/HTML5.

TeleNav announces free HTML5-based GPS nav service originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple iOS 5.1 beta 2 available to developers

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:05:00 EST

Looks like iOS 5.1 beta 2 is now available for developers, a few weeks after the first beta dropped. BGR has a nice list of what's new/fixed in this release but the big news appears to be that you can finally delete images in your iCloud Photo Stream. There's also the hope this will clear up any remaining battery issues still plaguing some iPhone users.

Apple iOS 5.1 beta 2 available to developers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily iPad App: Fuego's River Adventure

Mike Schramm — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:30:00 EST

Unfortunately, Fuego's River Adventure isn't actually that great of a game. It's extremely simple, the controls aren't precise enough to really make it fun, and while there are about 20 stages to float through where you need to go down a river dodging obstacles and picking up bonus items. I was done after about the second stage.

Fuego's River Adventure works much better as a tech demo, but it uses some really interesting code. The game runs on your iPad 2, and it needs that camera to serve as a controller. To play, you move your body back and forth in front of the camera, and that will guide Fuego down the river. The effect is very similar to Microsoft's Kinect, though obviously not nearly as complicated. The app is basically just scanning the camera input for action, not actually calculating where and how your body is moving. But it is interesting to see in action and works pretty well for what it is.

It's just too bad there's not a better game attached to it. For $1.99, it's hard to recommend Fuego's River Adventure for the fun. There is a lot more bang for your buck available elsewhere on the App Store. But paying two bucks is more or less worth it just to see this Kinect-like technology in action, and heck, supporting this app might lead to better games like this down the line. If you're interested in playing with the camera input for yourself, definitely give it a try.

Daily iPad App: Fuego's River Adventure originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LiveCode launches Game Academy

Kelly Guimont — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST

Starting today, if you want to be a mobile developer, you have a prime opportunity to make it happen. RunRev, makers of LiveCode, are offering Game Academy, an online course in game development. Here's how it works: Over the course of seven weeks (there's a break in the middle for Christmas), you will learn how to use LiveCode to develop a basic mobile game. Nothing fancy, just a little fun thing to help you learn your way around LiveCode. You'll get webinars, reading material, sample code, and even a free trial of the LiveCode software.

A couple of bonus things to know here: First, you can start with ANY level of development experience. I met with RunRev's CEO Kevin Miller at MacTech this year, and he assured me himself that even though I've never launched XCode, I will be capable of going from zero to finished game by the end of the course. Also, it's free! You can cancel at any point, but when you get to the end you can buy LiveCode for $99. Here's another bonus: Once you create your game or app, you can actually compile it for iOS or Android. Or both! Remember you will have to go through whatever the requirements are for distribution for your app in the respective stores.

Kevin himself gave a live demo at MacTech, where he went from zero to app in three minutes flat. If you're still curious how your app might turn out, you can always check out the list of apps built with LiveCode..

I'm excited about it, and already signed up. Will you be there?

LiveCode launches Game Academy originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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