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Filed under: Found Footage

Filed under: Developer, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Found Footage: Little World Gifts enters the world of virtual gifting

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Nov 24th, 2009


Have you ever wanted to send a loved one a rose, but knew that you wouldn't be able to deliver it yourself? Or maybe you wanted to cheer up a friend in the hospital, but you were on another continent? If the Liverpudlians at Little World Gifts have their way, you'll soon be exchanging virtual gifts with your friends.

The six-person UK startup has been working on a self-titled iPhone app that they hope to ship in December. The app lets you purchase virtual gifts from a shop and send them to others who either have the app or are Facebook users. As you can see in the video above, the gifts are high-resolution 3D items that you and your friends can touch and manipulate.

Your friends receive push notifications that you've sent them a gift, and can then add them to their collection in their copy of the app, or enjoy them in a separate Facebook app.

In case you think virtual goods are a silly idea, Little Worlds Gifts points out that it is estimated that consumers will spend over US$1 billion on virtual goods in 2009 through online games and social networks. Facebook generates almost US$40 million annually through sales of virtual gifts.

Little World Gifts hasn't announced a price for the app or the virtual gifts, but TUAW will keep an eye on this virtual boutique for future reference.

Tags: facebook, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, virtual gifts, VirtualGifts

Filed under: Found Footage, App Review

Found Footage: Hands-on with Boardwalk Games from Skyworks

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Nov 24th, 2009


For just US$1.99, you could do a lot worse than picking up Skyworks's new Boardwalk Games [iTunes link]. Offering three carnival-style attractions, Boardwalk Games takes you into the midway with good gameplay, quality graphics, and audible sound. To be honest, those audible sounds kind of drove me a little nuts and I couldn't find a settings screen to could turn them off.

The three mini games are all simple toss-something-at-something games: toss a ball at tiki statues, toss a ball at milk bottles, toss a dart at balloons. It's fun. Admittedly, a little limited, but fun. The fun is probably worth more than the two bucks the app costs.

Just in case you think you're getting a little bit too good of a deal, well, you are. Skywork's included some fairly heavy-handed upselling ads in the game, which appear each time you finish playing a round. It's not too bad as these things go, but clearly they intend to balance their relatively low price point with targeted advertising.

I found the games easy to play and engaging. Will the app remain on your phone for the long term? Probably not. This is one of those use-it-for-a-few-days-or-weeks-then-toss-it kinds of games. There aren't compelling learning curves and not much room has been left for the app to grow. I'd recommend this for a rainy day / DMV visit / Doctor's Appointment, but it's not so amazing that you should rush out and buy it right away. It's amusing, it's well made, and I hate that music.

TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.

Tags: Boardwalk Games, BoardwalkGames, carnival, game, midway, Skyworks, TUAW peek, TuawPeek

Filed under: Found Footage, iPhone, First Look, App Review

Sneak Peek: Stair Dismount offers... broken bones, mostly

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Nov 23rd, 2009



Remember Zen Bound? It's a gorgeous and fun-to-play little puzzle game. So when I heard that SecretExit, the makers of Zen Bound, were about to release a new app, I was excited to get a sneak preview.

Stair Dismount is a very different game to Zen Bound. Although, as you can see in the above video, the audio and graphics quality are consistently high, it's not really fair to compare the two. According to SecretExit, Stair Dismount is more focused on "humor and social elements" rather than problem solving.

The game basically involves pushing someone down the stairs and seeing how many bones they break. Playing this made me feel like the world's worst sadist. Hard to get game playing satisfaction other than tormenting the poor dude.

With Stair Dismount, you can add the face of a Facebook friend and send screen shots of their broken body lying at the bottom of the staircase. Secret Exit dev Jani Kahrama notes, "It feels better with a friendly Facebook face on the guy :)."

Your enjoyment of this will vary by your personal take but for me, I don't think Stair Dismount will be staying on my iPod or be exposed to my kids. Stair Dismount is due to hit the App Store within the week.

About the video: At this time, TUAW can only create preview videos for applications compiled for 3.1 or earlier using a development (not distribution or ad hoc) build and review videos for distribution-compiled apps that are 3.1 or earlier.

TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.

Tags: http:stairdismount.com, iphone, secret exit, SecretExit, stair dismount, StairDismount, violence, zen bound, ZenBound

Filed under: Humor, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Found Footage

Finder icon birthday cake will make your day

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 22nd, 2009


If there's one thing I like better than pie, it's cake. And if there's a best kind of cake, it's definitely one that's shaped in the form of something geeky. Which means the video above, which shows what seems to be a tasty confection in the form of Apple's Finder icon, hits the spot perfectly. David B.'s wife made it for him for his birthday earlier this week, he says over on his Twitter account. He doesn't say what kind of cake it is, but given that it's Finder, I'm going to guess chocolate. An iTunes icon cake would give off a more "vanilla" vibe to me.

We've also, you'll remember, seen this Finder icon parading around on pillows as well. Which isn't too surprising -- who could pass up a face like that? Not only is he a handsome dude with a mischievous smile, but he's got access to all your files and passwords. That's the kind of guy you'd better get along with.

Thanks to Chris Pirillo for the tip!

Tags: birthday-cake, chocolate, finder, icon, itunes, logo, mac, parading, vanilla

Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, Found Footage, Apple History

Found footage: History of Apple in 2 minutes

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Nov 19th, 2009



Here's a great video assembled by applemctom that presents the history of Apple (more or less) in two minutes. There are some huge leaps in time and some obvious errors (Apple Mac II? MacIntosh?), but that's OK. It isn't easy to cram decades of history into 120 seconds.

There's much nostalgia for old-timers like me, as the Pippin and Newton make an appearance. Though I still use my Newt, I've never had the pleasure of a face-to-face meeting with a Pippin. The dark days described in the video (the early 90's after Steve left) is exactly when I started using Macs in earnest. It's amazing that I stayed a customer after bloodying my hands on a 7100's beastly innards.

The video ends with the introduction of the iPhone, so don't expect to see anything beyond that. Still, it's a bit of fun. Check it out.

Tags: 7100, apple, apple history, AppleHistory, found footage, FoundFootage, pippin

Filed under: Freeware, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Found Footage: TweetDeck for iPhone gets a major makeover

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Nov 11th, 2009


The press release I received tonight said it all: "TweetDeck for iPhone -- now with added awesome." I use TweetDeck on my Macs, but had used another competing app for tweeting from my iPhone. After this update, which is the first major upgrade to this free Twitter client, I may have to reconsider!

The features in TweetDeck 1.1.1 [iTunes Link] have been given a squirt of goodness, with these new features added to the mix:
  • Video tweeting via integration with 12seconds (record video and send to Twitter or Facebook using 12seconds platform)
  • Facebook integration (updates, FB columns, wall posts, etc.)
  • Landscape composing (for those with stumbly thumbs)
  • Trending Topics to see what's happening RIGHT NOW
  • Save Draft for later
  • Bit.ly support
  • And some additional goodies...
As with the Mac and Windows versions, the TweetDeck for iPhone user interface makes great use of columns, each of which can show a different feed, direct messages, or mentions for multiple accounts. Be sure to watch the video above, and if you're still looking for an iPhone Twitter client, give this fun freebie a try.

Tags: freeware, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, tweetdeck, twitter, update

Filed under: Retail, Apple, Found Footage

Men in kilts: video from the Aberdeen, Scotland Apple Store opening

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Oct 29th, 2009


TUAW fan George sent us a link to some video he shot earlier today at the grand opening of the Apple Store Union Square in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The video is fun; not only is there the usual high-fiving and applause as customers enter the new store, but one of the Apple employees is wearing a kilt and there was a kilted piper entertaining the folks in line.

In other Apple Store news, reader Christophe pointed us to exclusive photos on Macgeneration of the interior of the new Louvre store in Paris, France, which is scheduled to open on November 7th, 2009. That store will be the first Apple Store in France.

Apple's plans to dominate the European computer and consumer electronics market continue to bear watching, as these new Apple Stores are bound to increase international sales to impressive new levels.

Tags: aberdeen, apple store, AppleStore, louvre, opening, scotland

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Retail, Found Footage

Microsoft retail store opening in AZ copies freely from Apple Stores

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Oct 24th, 2009


The day is Thursday, October 22nd. You're in Scottsdale, Arizona, and you walk into a brand new store being opened by a multinational corporation that produces technology products, including popular operating systems for computers and mobile phones, music/media players, and 'cloud' email and storage services for consumers.

As you walk into the store, employees in brightly-colored t-shirts cheer and applaud. The store is spacious, with large wooden tables placed far enough apart that the opening-day crowd, standing on a hardwood floor, isn't packed into the place. At the back of the store is an "Answer Bar," where you can ask questions about the operating system on your computer.

No, Apple didn't open a new Apple Store in Scottsdale on the 22nd. Instead, this was the opening of the first Microsoft Store. As expected, the stores draw heavily on the highly successful Apple Store concept; the stores are opening near Apple Stores, the former real estate chief for Apple (George Blankenship) was hired to consult on location and placement of the stores, and Microsoft has even attempted to hire away Apple Store managers to run their retail outlets.

The personal shoppers are a blatant rip-off of Apple's Concierge concept, and Personal Training is an echo of Apple's One-to-One training. The Microsoft Store website has similarities to the pages for individual Apple Stores, down to a scrolling list of in-store classes and events (the list for the Scottsdale store is empty at this time).

It's fascinating to see that Microsoft has decided to copycat the Apple Store concept, but it remains to be seen if the execution will be as successful for Microsoft as it has been for Apple.

[via MacRumors]

Tags: apple, microsoft, scottsdale az, ScottsdaleAz, store

Filed under: Hardware, Humor, Video, Odds and ends, Internet Tools, Found Footage, iPhone, iPod touch

Found Footage: New & improved TankedCam, now with even more iPhone

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Oct 1st, 2009


Remember Pete's FishCam? Just before Christmas of 2008, we did a short post about Pete Raumann's web app that he developed that allowed him to watch his fish tank, turn the light on and off, and even open and close a treasure chest in the tank.

Pete's now presenting the newly renamed TankedCam to the world, and you get to be in control! While he still won't let you feed his fish (he doesn't want them floating upside down in the tank), you can now get in on the fun of watching and annoying the tank population by heading to either http://www.tankedcam.com or the iPhone / iPod touch-friendly http://m.tankedcam.com.

In his latest hit video, Pete uses an iPod touch and the latter link to control the tank that's in the background. I was playing with this last night while watching TV and trust me, the fish tank was much more interesting than the show. Pete has added an air stone that you can turn on and off, a dinosaur tank ornament with a mouth you can open and close, and one cam that you can pan left and right. A tap on your iPhone screen brings you to a stationary upper camera with a scuba diver that you can control in real time, another air stone controller, and a water pump that you can use to add water to the tank.

If you think that the latter control is going to let you flood Pete's office from your iPhone, you're wrong -- the system is set up with a level controller so you won't be able to add water beyond a certain level in the tank. This is a fun demonstration of remote control via iPhone, so be sure to give it a try. I've included some screenshots from last night's eerily-lit iPhone fish-bothering session, as well as some shots in the light of day. Enjoy!

Gallery: TankedCam

The front pageEerie night scene!More controlNow shut your mouth!In the light of day

Tags: aquarium, dinosaur, fish, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, remote control, RemoteControl

Filed under: Humor, Video, Odds and ends, Apple, Found Footage, Music

Found Footage: "I fell in love at the Apple Store"

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 28th, 2009


Here's an earworm for you; hip-hop group FattySpins recorded a love song to ladies and to all things Apple, and filmed the video (above) at the landmark Apple Store Fifth Avenue.

The song manages to not only encompass a lot of Apple products in its lyrics, but also manages to poke some good fun at Microsoft. I mean, you've gotta love lyrics like:
"I know how to treat you – this ain't a reboot
I'll never find the need to Control ALT Delete you
I see no reason to mess with these slobs
Cause they're like Bill Gates... and I'm Steve Jobs"
The Apple Store Love Song was written and produced by Ray William Johnson, the likable nebbish with the glasses in the video. There's no word on whether or not Apple is going to hire him to produce catchy viral raps for future ads.

[via CrunchGear]

Tags: apple store, apple store fifth avenue, AppleStore, AppleStoreFifthAvenue, hip hop, HipHop, rap, video, youtube

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Video, Odds and ends, Found Footage

Three new iPhone ads make their debut on prime-time television

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 22nd, 2009

Were you watching the two-hour season premiere of House last night on Fox? Maybe you were watching one of the other prime-time shows, but if you had your eyes on the screen during some of the commercial breaks, you probably saw at least one of the three new iPhone ads that hit the airwaves last night.

Each of the new ads highlights a total of six apps, up from the three that were formerly the focus of the older ads. The first ad I saw last night, "Dine," looks at Zagat to Go, QuickOffice, TripCase, New York Subway 09, Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List, and Gap Style Mixer. [Note: all app links will open the iTunes App Store]

The next ad I viewed was "Nature," featuring iXpenseIt, Daily Finance, Guitar Toolkit, Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook, iBird Explorer Plus, and the ever-popular Pizza Hut app. I didn't get a chance to see the third advertisement, "Pass," until I visited the Apple website this morning. It's a 30-second quick look at Fandango, G-Park, VocabWiz College Vocabulary, 365 Crosswords, Classics, and ABC Animals.

I'm happy to see that Apple is maintaining focus on the number and variety of apps in the App Store, instead of resorting to the narcissistic, touchy-feely, celebrity-filled tripe that T-Mobile has been using for their Android-based MyTouch 3G ads.

Tags: ads, apple, iphone, prime time, PrimeTime, tv

Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends, Other Events, Steve Jobs, Apple, Found Footage

Found Footage: The reality distortion field, caught on video

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Sep 17th, 2009


Think Apple's products are "really great," "incredible," "amazing," "really easy" to use, "awesome," "terrific," "incredible," "great," and "amazing"? If so, it's probably because Apple told you that's what they were in last week's presentation. The above video's been making the rounds -- it's all of the adjectives cut out of the recent Apple event, and compiled together into a machine-gun lineup of just how Apple sets up their products.

Now, just because these words kept showing up and being used doesn't mean there's some malicious brainwashing going on here -- it's probably true that Apple really does think that their products are "incredible," and "amazing," and "really great." And let's face it, they've never really been real up-to-date on the language anyway. They probably could use a thesaurus: maybe at the next event, the new MacBooks could be "marvelous," "extraordinary," or "glorious."

But it does show you just how much we're shaped by what we see at these events -- Steve's and Apple's enthusiasm for these things is infectious. Apple's products really are amazing, but it doesn't hurt that most of us sit down to watch, read, or listen to an hour or two of them telling us just how "amazing," "incredible," and "really great" they are.

Tags: amazing, apple-corporate, cult-of-mac, culture, enthusiasm, event, great, incredible, rdf, reality-distortion-field, steve-jobs, supercut, thesarus, video

Filed under: Video, How-tos, Found Footage, Snow Leopard

Found Footage: Snow Leopard hidden features, great video by a 16 year-old

by David Winograd (RSS feed) on Sep 5th, 2009


Matt Fisher is a 16 year old high school junior and Apple enthusiast who has been putting up tutorial videos on all things Macintosh since December of 2008. I just saw one that is so good I wanted to bring it to your attention.

Matt has created a video on hidden features in Snow Leopard and although we have covered some of these before, this you have to see. In four minutes and twenty-nine seconds Matt covers more content than most people can cover in an hour, and he does it with grace and total clarity.

Matt found hidden features in:
  • Coverflow
  • Spotlight
  • Resizing of icons
  • Preview viewing modes
  • Hiding windows in dock icons
  • More organized keyboard shortcuts
  • Location based setting of time and date
  • Showing the date in the menubar
  • Stacks
  • Text and symbol substitution
  • The re-emergence of the trash 'put back' feature.
Take a look and I think you'll not only be impressed, but pick up a few things you didn't know.

Thanks go out to Mustafa Histoni for sending in this tip.

Tags: snow leopard, SnowLeopard, tutorial, tutorials, video

Filed under: OS, Bugs/Recalls, Bad Apple, Security, Found Footage, Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard: Apple ships old, security-compromised Flash plugin with new OS

by Michael Rose (RSS feed) on Sep 3rd, 2009


It's not that we have anything against the Flash plugin for Mac browsers. Well, other than the fact that it's crashy, and slow, and makes our laptop fans spin up like we're doing wind tunnel testing for the Air Force. But other than that, we have nothing against it -- and it's lovely that the new 64-bit version of Safari in Snow Leopard can isolate Flash-related stalls and hiccups from the main browser process for enhanced crash protection. Very nice.

Unfortunately, as pointed out initially by Graham Cluley over at the security and anti-virus vendor Sophos, the version of the Flash plugin that Apple bundles with Snow Leopard is old. It's the 10.0.23.1 version, old enough that it has some notable vulnerabilities versus the currently shipping 10.0.32.18 version. You can check which version of the plugin you have by visiting this Adobe check page. Even if you had the current build on your machine before upgrading to Snow Leopard, the upgrade process replaces your Flash with the vintage Flash instead -- poor form! Cluley recommends, and Adobe concurs, that the best thing to do is head over to Adobe's download site and get the most up-to-date version instead.

It's understandable that Apple had to lock down a version of the Flash plugin for inclusion in the OS golden master, but if you're gonna do that then you've got to provide an integrated method for users to update to the current build when the time comes (like, say, via an OS-wide Software Update utility). Downgrading user security while upgrading OS versions is a rotten way to run a railroad.

[Side note, does Cluley's narration in the video above make you wonder if, just maybe, he's moonlighting as Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw over at The Escapist? NSFW!]

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Tags: flash, security, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, vulnerability

Filed under: Video, Odds and ends, Macbook Pro, MacBook, Found Footage, MacBook Air, Snow Leopard

Have a MacBook running Snow Leopard? Give someone your Autograph

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Sep 1st, 2009

Up to this point in time, if you wanted to "sign" an electronic document (other than a secure PDF), you either had to scan your signature with a scanner and import the resulting graphic into your document, or purchase a digitizing tablet. Ten One Design, the same folks who brought us the Pogo Sketch stylus, have come up with a way for anyone with Snow Leopard and a MacBook that supports multi-touch gestures to sign documents.

Autograph (US$6.95) is a signature capture application that works with your MacBook and a finger or stylus to make signing your name a snap. If you don't know if your MacBook will work with Autograph, you can download a trial copy that adds a watermark to the signature just to try it out.

To add your John Hancock to an email or document when Autograph is running (I have it set up to launch at startup), you can either select the menu bar icon or press control-option-A, and then a semi-transparent gray window appears. Using your finger or a stylus on your trackpad like a pen, you can write your name or draw a little picture. Pressing return embeds the signature or sketch into your document.

Autograph works great! I was able to use it in Mail, Word, Keynote, and Pages, and I'm assuming that it will work fine in any Mac application that lets you paste in a graphic. I know I'll be using this handy little program to add a personal touch to my documents. The short silent video below demonstrates Autograph in action.

Tags: autograph, signature, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, software, stylus

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