Today at the Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari announced that its four-seat FF sports car, originally debuted in 2011, is getting a touch of Apple in the form of two iPad minis mounted in the headrests of its front seats. According to Bloomberg, the inclusion of the tablets marks the start of an expanded partnership between the Cupertino company and the renowned Italian auto maker, which added Apple's internet software and services boss Eddy Cue to its board of directors last year.

There's no further word from Bloomberg -- which insists on referring to the iPad as "I-Pad" for some reason -- on how the deal will unfold, but the inclusion of iPad mini in other models makes sense for starters. As it stands with the US$300,000 FF, the car's entertainment system supports audio integration and Siri-based voice controls.

Apple puts an iPad in a Ferrari, more collaboration on the way? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Version 3.1 of iBooks is out today and while it might not bring much in the way of new features for Western users, it's a pretty big deal for book lovers located in Japan. That's because the latest update introduces paid content on the order of hundred of thousands of books -- encompassing novels, manga and more -- something that the country's iBookstore has been without up until this point. Before now, iOS users in Japan have needed to be content with public domain e-books.

In addition to the paid content rollout, the 3.1 update also introduces some improvements when reading Asian language books.

iBooks 3.1 brings paid content to iBookstore in Japan originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week, we shared how the folks at Panic had pulled apart one of Apple's Lightning to HDMI digital AV adapters in an attempt to figure out why it didn't seem to output true 1080p HD video. To their surprise, they found that it contained a tiny computer featuring an ARM processor and 256 MB of memory. They had some thoughts on how the accessory might be working its magic, namely that it could be using AirPlay in some way, but now someone claiming to be an Apple engineer has come forward with what's said to be the official explanation of how it works.

Posting to Slashdot, the anonymous individual claims that AirPlay isn't actually being used at all, and that contrary to some speculation the adapter's processor doesn't run a stripped-down version of iOS:

What happens here is that we use the same hardware to encode an output stream on the fly and fire it down the Lightning cable straight into the ARM SoC the guys at Panic discovered. Airplay itself (the network protocol) is NOT involved in this process. The encoded data is transferred as packetized data across the Lightning bus, where it is decoded by the ARM SoC and pushed out over HDMI.

This setup is apparently future-proof according to the poster, since it's entirely software-driven. Apple engineers are apparently aware that the current implementation leaves something to be desired since it introduces lag and compression artifacts, but the adapter's firmware is supposedly upgradeable and improvements will evidently be made to the compression in future iOS updates.

The information coming from this anonymous source lines up pretty closely with what we've been told by David Stanfill, founder of AirParrot and Reflector developer Napkin Studio. Stanfill, who has extensive experience with AirPlay, told us that he "[doesn't] believe that the AirPlay itself is being used here, [but] it certainly seems like the underlying hardware that powers AirPlay mirroring is being used for the AV Lightning adapter." Stanfill concurs that this "also explains the limited resolution support -- keeping costs down and performance up means the higher h264 levels needed to support more pixels likely aren't supported by the SoC employed in the adapter."

"This does not seem very forward thinking on the part of Apple," Stanfill added. "If the lightning cable is their solution for the foreseeable future, don't hold your breath on putting that retina iPad full-resolution on your 4K TV in a few years. At least not without heavy MPEG artifacts."

Here's how Apple's Lightning-to-HDMI digital AV adapter probably works originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Mar 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you're a TweetDeck for iPhone user or have been clinging to the Adobe Air version of the app for dear life since the native Mac version debuted, we've got some bad news for you. Twitter has decided to end support for those versions, along with TweetDeck for Android. You'll be able to download them until early May, but after that they'll cease to function. Since these clients also rely on v1.0 of the Twitter API, which is being retired soon, they might experience connection problems in the run-up to their removal.

In addition to killing the iPhone and Air apps, Twitter is planning to remove Facebook integration from all versions of TweetDeck. The company says that it's making these moves in order to "focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck." This means the web-based and Chrome extension versions of the software, although the native Mac app (shown above) will also continue.

[Via Engadget]

TweetDeck for iPhone and Adobe Air will end in May originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The folks at Coda and Unison developer Panic Inc. have a good old fashioned mystery on their hands, and it all revolves around Apple's digital AV adapter for iPhone 5 and iPad mini with Lightning connectors. As they tell it, the Coda crew was recently trying out the accessory for capturing video from iOS devices when they noticed something wasn't quite right -- namely that the maximum resolution capable using the adapter wasn't full 1080p and the video signal didn't seem as pristine as it should have been.

This lead Panic to wonder if the adapter wasn't sending a "pure," direct signal via HDMI. Lo and behold, when they literally cracked open the US$49 accessory, they found that it seems to contain what amounts to a dedicated, ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) with 256 MB of RAM.

They believe the SoC could be performing something akin to AirPlay streaming from the attached device to the HDMI connector, resulting in the compression artifacts and other quality issues including input lag. Of course, they can't be entirely sure this is what's happening, but all available evidence points in that direction.

Why take this approach versus the direct output provided by the 30-pin digital AV adapter? Panic thinks it may have something to do with the Lightning connector not having enough pins to provide true video output, or that Apple wanted to shift as much hardware outside of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini as possible to keep production costs (and weight, and battery drain) down to a minimum. Either way, it certainly is an unusual find and one that anyone planning to output video from newer iOS devices will want to bear in mind.

Panic digs into the Lightning digital AV adapter, finds a surprise originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's been a significant development in the court case that saw Apple awarded US$1.05 billion in damages last August. According to The Recorder, Judge Lucy Koh has ordered that the amount Samsung must pay Apple be reduced by $450 million, or almost 40 percent, and that a new trial be held to decide how much of that amount will still be paid.

There's evidently been some question regarding 14 of the Samsung devices covered by the lawsuit and exactly how much of the damages originally awarded to Apple can be attributed to them. This new trial will look more closely at the specific intellectual properties these devices are violating and could possibly result in the damages being reduced or increased based on the findings. A new jury will need to be selected before the trial can take place.

FOSS Patents reports that the devices in question include several smartphones from the Galaxy line, the Galaxy Tab and the Nexus S 4G.

[Via Apple Insider]

Judge Koh reduces damages in Apple v. Samsung case by $450 million, orders new trial originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Greenlight Capital hedge fund manager David Einhorn has decided to end what Apple CEO Tim Cook has referred to as a "silly sideshow" by dropping the lawsuit he'd brought against 1 Infinite Loop in early February. Filed in conjunction with other Apple shareholders, the lawsuit sought to force Apple to share more of its cash with investors and kill a vote by shareholders involving preferred shares.

Einhorn and company had been awarded a victory by a federal judge last week who intervened and forced Apple to postpone the vote in question. Seemingly content with the fact that the vote had been blocked by the court, Einhorn and Greenlight have dropped the suit entirely, telling AllThingsD, "Apple removed the bundled proposal from the shareholder meeting, therefore resolving the issue." One legal matter for Apple down, countless others to go.

David Einhorn drops his lawsuit against Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back in November, InfoWorld's Robert Cringely told the story of a Hollywood screenwriter's travails involving his iCloud email account. It appeared that iCloud was unable, or unwilling, to deliver messages with a PDF attachment containing the words "barely legal teen."

Granted, that's not an issue most people should have to worry about, but the disappearance of emails without warning (rather than filing them to spam, as one might expect) did warrant some investigation.

As Macworld reports today, Apple has been filtering email based on certain keyword combinations as spam for some time. Rather than move the flagged messages to a spam folder as most services do, in some cases iCloud email simply erases all existence of them.

Macworld was told by an Apple representative that "occasionally, automated spam filters may incorrectly block legitimate email." In admitting that there is some filtering going on behind the scenes, the company also advised those who've encountered problems with said filtering to contact AppleCare.

Of course, as Macworld authors Lex Friedman and Dan Moren point out, there are a few problems with this: how do you report not getting an email that you never knew was sent, because you never got it? Should we be following up by fax, skywriting or carrier pigeon? And, if you do have occasion to call AppleCare to report that your emails about "barely legal teens" aren't showing up, Friedman & Moren note that there's probably no more awkward conversation you'll have that week -- unless by unfortunate chance the AppleCare rep is a relative, former grade-school teacher or mandated reporter.

The unsavory combination of keywords at the center of all this will apparently cause an email to never arrive at an iCloud recipient if they're contained in the message body, within an attached PDF or even within a compressed file. Encrypting the attachment, however, defeats the filter -- since the attachment can't be decoded, it can't be matched for content. Macworld also noted that outbound iCloud email with problem phrases is not filtered, nor are replies to a message with a filter trigger if the original email was sent from iCloud.

The simple fix, should you wish to correspond comically about a young relative's recent 18th birthday? Change the "teen" to "teens," plural.

For what it's worth, the iCloud terms of service have granted Apple the right to determine what content is appropriate -- and censor it without notice -- for some time.

[Hat tip Ars Technica]

Overzealous spam filter causes never-delivered iCloud emails originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Mar 2013 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here's one way to force two warring companies to hash things out. A federal judge has ordered Apple to cough up more than US$360,000 daily to VirnetX until the two can come to an agreement on the former licensing four of the latter's patents.

The penalties stem from a verdict delivered in November of 2012 which found that Apple's FaceTime and iMessage infringed on four of VirnetX's patents. A jury in Texas awarded VirnetX $368.2 million in damages, and Apple can still appeal that verdict.

US Circuit Judge Leonard Davis has ordered Apple to pay $330,000 in damages and $33,000 in interest to VirnetX daily for the next 45 days, or more than $16 million in total, in an effort to get the two companies to the bargaining table. Additionally, Davis is making the companies meet with a mediator in an effort to help them reach a licensing deal.

If a deal can't be ironed out before the 45-day period ends, VirnetX will be able to seek a sales ban on devices it believes are in violation of its patents, which originally included the iPhone 4 and first-generation iPad.

Apple ordered to pay VirnetX $363K daily in patent dispute originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Strategy game fans got some great news today with the announcement that XCOM: Enemy Unknown is coming to Mac (can we please call it "OS XCOM" now?) this spring. The highly rated game from Civilization developer Firaxis is being ported to OS X by Feral Interactive from last October's PC release. Dubbed the Elite Edition, the Mac version will include three DLC add-ons: Slingshot, Elite Soldier and Second Wave. Pricing and an exact release date will be confirmed closer to launch.

A reboot of the classic X-COM: UFO Defense, which was released in 1994 by MicroProse, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based title that sees players commanding a squad of elite soldiers in combat against extraterrestrial threats. The game also includes a base building element where players expand their secret XCOM headquarters, research alien technology and train their forces before sending them into battle.

[Via MacRumors]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown headed to Mac in Elite Edition originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Parents whose children purchased in-app items for real money without them knowing are going to receive compensation from Apple. As reported by GigaOM, the company has reached a settlement today in a class action lawsuit filed against it in 2011, and will issue a US$5 iTunes gift card to those who make a claim. If the claim is for more than $5, Apple will add a credit to the person's account, while claims over $30 will be paid in cash.

The suit was originally brought against Apple by a Pennsylvania man named Garen Meguerian, whose daughter racked up more than $200 in in-app purchases without his knowledge. For its part, Apple sought to limit such purchases by requiring an account password to be entered for each IAP. In the suit, Meguerian suggested that a second, different password be required for IAPs.

Under the proposed settlement, those seeking to receive payment from Apple will have their iTunes purchase histories reviewed to ensure that the purchases were actually made, and must attest that their children made the purchases without their knowledge and without being given the account password. The settlement is currently awaiting approval by a federal judge.

[Via Apple Insider]

Apple reaches settlement with parents over in-app purchases originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just over a week after a flaw was discovered in iOS 6.1 that grants unauthorized access to passcode-protected devices, a new exploit has surfaced that opens up user data to prying eyes even further. Threatpost reports that the newly discovered vulnerability lets unscrupulous folks connect an iOS device via USB and transfer data -- including photos -- to a computer without needing to enter a passcode.

Apple has publicly confirmed that it intends to fix the passcode security issue that surfaced earlier this month in a forthcoming iOS release, likely 6.1.3. It's not clear if the company is aware of this second flaw or if a fix for it is also inbound. Since this new exploit is based off of the earlier one, it's possible that Apple will be able to kill two data-harvesting birds with one stone.

[Via MacRumors]

Another passcode bypass flaw found in iOS 6.1 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Despite ending on a down note for the first quarter of Apple's 2013 fiscal year, Mac sales seem to be on the rise. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has crunched the latest NPD sales figures and concluded that US sales of Mac desktops increased by 31 percent in January when compared to the same month last year. This is despite the fact that the wait time for iMac orders is still greater than two weeks in the US and even longer in other parts of the world.

Still, Munster notes that Apple has seen improvements in its shipments of the machines since the end of 2012. If you recall, Mac sales were down 17 percent for the quarter ending December 31, 2012. For its part, Apple has said that it isn't entirely sure it will be able to meet demand for iMac during its fiscal second quarter. It remains to be seen if the trend of increased sales will continue through the end of March or if this was just a jump created by initial orders being filled.

In other sales-related news, Munster concluded that iPod sales actually climbed 2 percent in January versus the sale month last year. Piper Jaffray had previously predicted a 17 percent decline in iPod sales for the January through March quarter, so it'll be interesting to see where things end up.

Analyst: Mac sales up 31% for January 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It took a while, but it looks like Apple is finally cracking down on the untethered evasi0n jailbreak with some bug fixes set for inclusion in iOS 6.1.3. Forbes is reporting that David Wang, one of the jailbreak's developers, has tested iOS 6.1.3 Beta 2 and found that it fixes one of five bugs exploited by evasi0n, breaking it in the process.

Wang believes that it may take Apple a month to release iOS 6.1.3 publicly, and says that evad3rs -- the group behind evasi0n -- has uncovered some additional exploits that may allow them to create a new jailbreak that will work on 6.1.3 and subsequent iOS releases. In the meantime, the more than 7 million users who've installed evasi0n since it launched earlier this month will need to put off updating to 6.1.3 when it hits if they want to stay jailbroken.

[Via MacRumors]

Latest iOS 6.1.3 beta breaks the evasi0n jailbreak originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Greenlight Capital hedge fund manager David Einhorn has scored a legal victory against Apple in the lawsuit he and shareholders filed against 1 Infinite Loop earlier this month. Reuters is reporting that US District Judge Richard Sullivan has sided with Einhorn and ordered Apple to postpone voting on a contested measure during a shareholder meeting scheduled for February 27. In a statement, Greenlight called the ruling "a significant win for all Apple shareholders and for good corporate governance."

Called Proposal 2, the measure would, if approved, require a shareholder vote before the Cupertino company could issue preferred stocks. Einhorn is opposed to the measure and has instead proposed "iPrefs," a form of preferred stock and perpetual divided.

In the wake of the decision, Apple has formally removed a vote on Proposal 2 from next week's meeting agenda. The measure had been paired with two other unrelated proposals -- both of which Einhorn agrees with -- in a proxy vote. Einhorn contends that combining the items amounts to "bundling," a practice which violates Securities and Exchange Commission rules.

While Einhorn and company are obviously pleased with the court's decision, Reuters reports that other Apple shareholders, including pension fund CalPers, are not so happy. Einhorn's end goal is to see the matter of preferred stock issuance unbundled from Proposal 2, but Apple has so far given no indication that it intends to willingly cave to these demands.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple cancels shareholder vote after judge sides with Greenlight's Einhorn originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hello there, it's Friday and time for your regularly scheduled update on the continuing courtroom hijinks between Samsung and Apple! Today we bring word via FOSS Patents that a German court has stayed one of the approximately 200 million cases (give or take a few) brought by the former against the latter. This one involves a Samsung patent covering the translation on onscreen text to voice, or, as Apple terms it, VoiceOver.

Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court is putting the brakes on the case, citing the fact that the patent in question is currently having its validity examined by a different German court. In fact, Samsung has already had to narrow down its claims against Apple vis-à-vis the patent, as it is so very broad.

As FOSS Patents points out, this lawsuit is a particularly sticky one for Samsung, as it is essentially seeking to prevent Apple from providing a feature that specifically helps the blind and those with impaired vision. We imagine the court that's currently reviewing the patent all this is based on is taking a long, hard look at that very fact and it will factor heavily in whatever decision is ultimately made.

[Via AllThingsD]

German court issues stay in Samsung's VoiceOver suit against Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In case you're one of the handful of people who hasn't played PopCap's fantastic tower defense-style game Plants vs. Zombies since its release in 2012, we've got some good news for you. The game has gone free today on iPhone and iPad as the App Store's latest App of the Week. Both versions will remain until the next App of the Week pick is named on February 28.

Even if you've played PvZ on other platforms, the iOS versions are definitely worth checking out for their excellent touch-based gameplay and unique content. Plus, you can bone up on your zombie-thwarting skills in preparation for Plants vs. Zombies 2, which is scheduled to hit sometime this year. We only ask that you don't hold us accountable when you realize a week has passed and you've forgotten to eat and bathe. PvZ is the kind of game that'll do that to you.

Plants vs. Zombies for iPhone and iPad now free as Apple's App of the Week originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since the release of BBEdit 10.5 last fall, Bare Bones Software has been working on bringing some of its features -- including support for Retina displays -- to its free text editor, TextWrangler. Today, those efforts have resulted in the release of TextWrangler 4.5, still free and sporting a number of enhancements brought over from its for-pay sibling.

Retina support, Bare Bones tells us, was something users have been requesting since mere seconds after the announcement of the MacBook Pro with Retina display. As it turns out, implementing the feature is a fairly massive undertaking, requiring significant changes to large portions of TextWrangler's core -- all for something that non-Retina users will never see. Still, the work's been done, and Retina fans will definitely appreciate the results.

All users will see a refreshed document view, which borrows from the one introduced in BBEdit 10.5 and features a sidebar providing quick access to open and recently opened documents. Lion users can now run TextWrangler fullscreen, while everyone will get a new preferences screen, switchable color-coding schemes, file versioning using save points and a Go menu offering user-set navigation points through a history of document changes.

You can see the full list of enhancements at the Bare Bones site. TextWrangler 4.5 can be downloaded directly from the developer or via the Mac App Store.

Bare Bones Software launches TextWrangler 4.5 with Retina support and more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you're a user of FileMaker Go 12 on the iPhone or iPad, its creators want to give you a better idea of the sorts of things the mobile database software can do. To that end, FileMaker has launched a lineup of demo solutions that you can download and try out right from within FileMaker Go 12.

The demo solutions cover a range of applications, from customer relationship management to mapping to invoicing and point of sale. The solutions were created by companies that use FileMaker Go 12 in order to better show what the app is capable of. FileMaker points out that the demos are either limited in features or by a timer, but they should give you a good idea of what the free app is capable of when paired with FileMaker Pro for Mac.

FileMaker offers demo solutions for FileMaker Go 12 on iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

High school students Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen have to be pretty proud of themselves. The duo, based in Boulder, Colo., recently released their own iOS to-do app, called Finish, on the App Store -- our own Dave Caolo took a look at it last month -- and now reports that they've seen it downloaded more than 16,000 times. For a US$0.99 app from a couple of part-time developers, that's not shabby.

The two just had their story written up by The Denver Post, and as that article points out, Apple has actually taken an active interest in Finish and its young developers as of late, promoting the app on the App Store and talking to the public about its creators. Of course, not every small developer gets that kind of attention and it's easy for apps to get lost in the App Store (the Denver Post mentions that two-thirds move fewer than 1,000 copies in their first year) but it's heartening to see a couple of dedicated youths and Apple fans getting their time in the spotlight.

16-year-old developers of Finish rack up 16K downloads originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Earlier this month, David Einhorn of hedge fund Greenlight Capital and Apple shareholders brought a lawsuit against Apple seeking to force the company to share more of its massive cash reserves with shareholders, and claiming that it had violated SEC rules in a proposed amendent to its corporate charter. Yesterday in New York, US District Judge Richard Sullivan, who's hearing the case, said that the "likelihood of success is in favor for Greenlight on the merits," according to a report by Fortune.

Einhorn is seeking to block a vote on the proposition that Apple intends to conduct during its next shareholder meeting on February 27. Judge Sullivan stated that he wasn't entirely convinced that Greenlight would suffer "irreparable harm" if the vote goes through, and is inclined to let it happen since the results could be undone if he later finds that Apple violated SEC rules. Einhorn actually supports two of the three items in the proposition, but strongly opposes the third, which would let Apple issue preferred shares without a shareholder vote.

Judge Sullivan said that he will issue a ruling on Einhorn's request to block the shareholders from voting before they gather next Wednesday. It's seeming likely that Sullivan -- who called the situation "a mess" -- will simply wait to see what the shareholders decide before taking further action. For his part, Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling the hole thing a "silly sideshow."

Judge believes Greenlight Capital has a strong case against Apple originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Armchair adventurers take heed: Beamdog has announced that its 2012 remake of the classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons-based title Baldur's Gate is finally arriving on Mac this week on February 22. Developed in conjunction with Overhaul Games, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition features redrawn artwork and other, well, enhancements that bring the 1998 title by BioWare more in line with today's technological standards.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition will initially be available from Beamdog's site for US$19.99. The company plans to bring the game to the Mac App Store as well, but there's no ETA for it there just yet.

The iPad version of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was released on December 7 of last year. If you simply can't wait two days for the Mac release -- and think mouse-based gameplay is très passé -- you can get the tablet version on the App Store for $9.99.

[Via Loop Insight]

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition coming to Mac on Feb. 22 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Morning Star, the upcoming iOS first-person shooter from Industrial Toys and Halo co-creator Alex Seropian, will be getting the comic book tie-in treatment in the form of an interactive graphic novel designed for Apple's mobile devices. Called Morning Star Alpha, the comic is being penned by Redshirts author John Scalzi with art by Mike Choi, who's known for his work on the likes of Witchblade, X-Force and Green Lantern.

The plot of Morning Star Alpha will tie directly into the game -- and on some pretty deep, interactive levels at that. Readers will be able to make choices while reading the comic, which will then affect the game. In-game discoveries will, in turn, make new elements of the comic available for reading in order to provide more context to the on-screen action.

There's no release date set for Morning Star -- which will also feature a score by System of a Down's Serj Tankin -- or the Morning Star Alpha tie-in, but we'll have more on both as Seropian and company reveal it.

Halo co-creator's iOS game Morning Star getting a tie-in comic app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Following today's widely reported breach of security affecting Apple's employees, 1 Infinite Loop has issued Java for OS X 2013-001, an update intended to address the issues leading to the hack.

Aimed at Macs running OS X 10.7 and later, the download -- available now through Software Update/MAS -- updates Java SE 6 to version 1.6.0_41. It also includes a new malware removal tool.

In addition to the Java update, Apple has rolled out version 11.0.2 of iTunes via Software Update. This release lets users sort songs and other content by composer, improves app performance when syncing large playlists and fixes a bug that was preventing some purchases from appearing in users' libraries. It also brings with it the usual "stability and performance improvements" -- we love those things!

Apple issues Java security update and malware removal too, iTunes 11.0.2 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Held concurrently with Macworld/iWorld 2013, MacIT is a conference dedicated to the deployment of Mac and iOS products in enterprise. Our own Mike Rose delivered a great writeup on this year's MacIT, and now a number of the presentations given at the conference have been made available in PDF form for those who weren't able to attend in person.

Enterprise iOS has rounded them up, and will be adding to its list as more authors contribute the presentations in digital form. Some of the current offerings include "7 iPad Deployment Mistakes," "App Deployment Strategies for iOS" and "The Changing Role of IT to Service Provider."

If you're an IT professional whose company is one of the many turning to iOS in enterprise settings, they're all must-reads.

iOS enterprise deployment presentations from MacIT now online originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you're an AT&T cellular customer, you're due for some free WiFi on your next trip to the UK, courtesy of The Cloud. The company, which is owned by satellite and telephony provider BSkyB, has inked a deal with AT&T to offer its customers free access to 16,000 WiFi hotspots throughout the United Kingdom -- up to a point.

Under the deal, you'll be able to get up to 1 GB of data usage a month from hotspots operated by The Cloud. There's no word on whether or not AT&T customers will receive any special pricing on additional data if they go over that amount. Still, it's a nice bonus and should be enough for most travelers who'd normally have to pay for additional data bundles before heading abroad to avoid massive roaming charges.

AT&T offers a free WiFi International app on the App Store for finding hotspots abroad -- including those operated by The Cloud -- and signing into them without the need for password-based authentication.

[Via iMore]

The Cloud offering free Wi-Fi hotspots to AT&T customers in the UK originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

UK-based RunRev is working on the next generation of LiveCode, which for the uninitiated is a cross-platform scripting language inspired by Apple's HyperCard and HyperTalk. This new version of LiveCode is intended to be open source and free for schools, in addition to offering a number of improvements including an entirely new visual editor for bringing apps and games to life.

In order to make the new LiveCode a reality, RunRev is turning to Kickstarter to crowdfund its development. With just over a week to go in its campaign, the company is less than halfway to its funding goal of £350,000 (US$541,436) so it's not a sure bet that the current plan will work out. Should funding fail, RunRev is hoping to take a more conservative approach to a second campaign, according to company reps posting in Kickstarter comments.

We wish RunRev the best of luck; we've been impressed by LiveCode in the past, and what they're looking to do with the next generation definitely looks promising. We'll be keeping an eye on the Kickstarter campaign's progress as the clock ticks down.

LiveCode creators look to go open source with crowdfunding help originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The popularity of urban exploration has skyrocketed in recent years, with would-be adventurers sneaking into abandoned buildings such as schools and factories for thrills and the opportunity to fill online photo galleries with snapshots of some truly amazing -- often creepy -- finds. One gallery assembled by Macworld illustrates what happens when urban explorers come across some familiar artifacts, namely Apple computers, during the course of their adventures.

The photos are all utterly haunting, offering glimpses into a derelict Detroit schoolroom containing dozens of orphaned MacBooks and a Niagara Falls fire station filled with mounds of Bondi blue iMacs, just to name a couple. It's enough to make you want to cry -- and send chills up your spine. Take a look!

[Image credit: Ismael Villafranco]

Macworld offers a haunting look at abandoned Apple computers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here's some late-breaking Presidents' Day news for iOS gamers: EA has dropped the price of more than 50 of its mobile games to just US$0.99 in celebration of the holiday. Titles on sale span both iPhone and iPad and include the likes of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Dead Space, Monopoly Millionaire and more. You can view a full list of games on sale in iTunes by following this link.

EA hasn't put a solid end-date on the sale, but it's safe to assume that the reduced prices won't last long. So, if you've had your eye on any of the publisher's games, here's a chance to finally get them, and save yourself a couple of green presidents in the process.

EA drops dozens of iOS games to 99 cents for President's Day originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hot on the heels of recent additions to its apps including automatic reconnects for dropped calls and e-gifting, Microsoft-owned Skype is rolling out a short-form video messaging service within its iOS and Mac clients. The new feature allows users to send each other video messages up to three minutes in length, which can be sent to other users even when they aren't online.

Since this is a beta of the feature, it's not available to all users. If you're one of the lucky few, the video messaging option will appear in your app without requiring an update. You just need to make sure you're running the most recent version of the iPhone, iPad or Mac app in order to receive it. Skype says it'll be rolling the feature out to more users soon, so if you don't see it yet, sit tight.

[Via iMore]

Skype testing video messaging service in iOS and Mac apps originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bump, the app that began its life as a way to transfer business card type info between two iPhones by bumping them together, has taken another evolutionary step today by allowing you to transfer files between your Mac and iOS device and vice-versa. The app gained the ability to transfer photos and files from iPhone to Mac last year via a web interface, but now works in both directions.

In order to make it work, you must download the latest version of the free Bump app -- 3.5.6 -- from the App Store, then fire it up on your device and go to www.bu.mp in your Mac's web browser. From there, you simply tap the spacebar with your phone and you'll get the option to send files to your iOS device. They can be photos, music, videos, whatever. As in previous versions, you can also select photos or other files within the Bump app on your device, then "bump" the spacebar to send them to your computer.

Basically, it's a quick form of two-way wireless syncing that's worked really well in our initial tests, and it's definitely made the Bump app itself more indispensable. This writer, for one, previously used it for sending photos and screenshots to his Mac, but can now see using it much more frequently.

[Via Gizmodo]

Bump can now transfer files in both directions between iPhone and Mac originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Collaborative chat service HipChat has been available on multiple platforms including Mac and iOS for some time, but the desktop iteration has until now existed as an Adobe Air app. Citing an outpouring of requests from its users and an internal unhappiness with Air as a platform, Atlassian has launched a beta of a fully native Mac client that addresses technical shortcomings and adds new features.

Speed and stability are the obvious initial upsides of the move away from Air, and Atlassian claims that the native app isn't just faster, but reduces CPU overhead by more than five times. The new client also features a redesigned left-hand navigation pane for organizing chats, the ability to display inline animated GIFs and full support for OS X staples such as Notification Center, fullscreen mode and Retina resolution.

The Mac client beta can be downloaded from HipChat's site. The service itself runs US$2 per user per month and offers a 30-day free trial.

HipChat ditches Adobe Air for a native Mac client originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adobe recently released version 12 of Director, its interactive app creation system, and in doing so introduced the ability for those who use the app to create iOS games to publish their titles directly to the App Store. As it turns out, that potentially time-saving capability comes at a premium. 9to5Mac reports that Adobe is asking for a 10% cut of all profits for games created in Director 12 -- if they make more than US$20,000 in the App Store.

Director users on Adobe's forums are upset by the move, which is outlined in the application's new terms and conditions. Evidently, it's up to app authors to inform Adobe of any sales beyond the initial $20,000 mark and pay the company directly. This differs from other development products such as Unity, which charge app makers up-front or on a per-title basis in order to utilize their software to make commercial products. In this case, there's a $999 initial cost for Director plus a royalty, which seems to be a little more than these devs are willing to pay.

Adobe charging 10 percent royalty on iOS games made with Director 12 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There seems to be no end to the grievances when it comes to Australia and the inaccuracy of Apple's mapping information. Case in point: The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia's Country Fire Authority (CFA) is claiming Apple Maps is responsible for creating "potentially dangerous situations" for those using the agency's FireReady iOS app to determine the location of wildfires.

The CFA contends that it was "forced" to use Apple Maps within its app, despite the fact that Google offers an SDK to integrate its maps within iOS apps. Perhaps the CFA wasn't aware of this fact, in which case this seems like an open door for Google to swoop in and save the day in a PR win.

The problem the CFA has with Apple's maps involves the placement of labels for townships, which appear centered in their respective regions rather than over the actual towns they represent. The fact that they're not visible at all zoom levels is also of concern. You'll remember that Apple Maps caused a bit of a stir in Australia back in December 2012 for a more significant misplacing of a town, when Mildura was transported 70 kilometers from its actual location, causing motorists to drive into the middle of the Murray-Sunset National Park instead.

Australian firefighters call Apple Maps 'dangerous' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pocket, the handy app that lets you "pocket" articles from the web to read later on Mac or iOS, saw a noteworthy update to its companion plugins for Safari and Chrome today. Among the notable new features is the auto-completion of tags, along with the ability to save articles from Reddit, Twitter and other sites to Pocket with one click on inline badges added by the plugin.

In terms of fixes, the update addresses the following:

• Improvements to the display of the Pocket save link on Twitter.com.
• In Google Reader, clicking the Pocket button now saves the selected article.
• Better experience when saving pages while not logged in.
• Scroll position no longer jumps to the top while typing tags in Safari.

You can get the Pocket app for iOS and Mac for free from the App Store and Mac App Store, respectively.

Pocket for Safari and Chrome updated with tag autocomplete and more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just shy of its sixth birthday, streaming music service Slacker flipped the switch on a major relaunch today that it hopes will put it ahead of competitors like Spotify and Pandora. The company is maintaining a free-to-stream, radio-style model for all users but also has two paid tiers that allow for more listening options.

The new service is built on a library of more than 13 million songs, which Slacker is saying makes its offering 10 times that of Pandora's. (But it's a bit shy of Spotify's 15 million tracks as of last summer.) Another of Slacker's biggest new selling points: More than 200 "stations" of curated music in various genres.

While all users are able to stream an unlimited number of tracks with commercial interruption, a US$3.99-per-month Slacker Radio Plus subscription removes ads and restrictions on how many songs can be skipped in a row. For those who want more, a $9.99-per-month Slacker Premium subscription offers direct access to every song in the service's library and the ability to create custom playlists.

We'll have a deeper look at the new service soon, but for now you can check out what it has to offer via the web or the redesigned Slacker iOS app now available on the App Store.

Slacker music service relaunches, takes aim at Spotify with new iOS app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's a new Lord of the Rings game on the block and it's coming to Mac later this month. Oh, and it features characters and a world that are literally made out of blocks. Feral Interactive is preparing a port of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's LEGO Lord of the Rings, released last fall on other platforms, and will be launching it on the Mac App Store and via its own site on February 21 for US$29.99.

The game adheres to the formula employed by other LEGO titles from developer Traveler's Tales, such as LEGO Batman and Star Wars, and sees the Fellowship of the Ring battling orcs and other baddies from Tolkien's tomes while assembling things out of LEGO bricks to help them on their quest. Two players will be able to collaborate on the adventure which will offer the opportunity to unlock more than 80 playable characters. (Let us just suggest that you keep plastic Frodo and the gang away from the fires of Mt. Doom.)

If this sounds like the sort of adventure you'd like to embark on, you'll need a Mac running OS X 10.7.5 with 4 GB of RAM and 256 MB of video memory to play.

[Via Loop Insight]

LEGO Lord of the Rings brings Middle-earth to Mac on Feb. 21 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The pace is picking up in the lawsuit filed against Apple by Greenlight Capital fund manager David Einhorn. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1 Infinite Loop will issue its response to the suit by this Wednesday, February 13, with Greenlight expected to follow up with its comments by Friday in the US Court for the Southern District of New York.

George Riley of O'Melveny & Myers, a longtime Apple attorney and close friend of Steve Jobs, will be arguing the case. Apple is eager to address the suit quickly, before its scheduled shareholder meeting on February 27. The suit is likely to be a top topic during the meeting, as it concerns the belief of Einhorn and other shareholders that Apple should share more of its earnings -- particularly a more than $100 billion cash stockpile -- with investors.

We'll have more on the story after Apple files its response in court.

WSJ: Apple will respond to Greenlight Capital lawsuit by Wednesday originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The brains in Cupertino have come up with a way to unlock your iPhone and other devices that's definitely a lot more novel than entering a passcode. In a patent application uncovered by Patently Apple, the company details a way to authenticate your identity by speaking the names of Address Book contacts as their photos are displayed on-screen.

The application also mentions some variations of the process, such as displaying more than one photo in sequence for added security, or allowing you to tap on the correct name from a list of several choices in case you can't or don't want to speak out loud.

This isn't the first novel concept for user authentication that Apple is looking into, based on patents it has filed. The company is also apparently investigating the use of built-in fingerprint scanners on future iOS devices, along with facial recognition using the integrated cameras found on iPhones, iPads and Macs.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple seeks patent for unlocking devices by identifying contact photos originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When First Lady Michelle Obama sits down with members of Congress to listen to her husband deliver tomorrow's State of the Union address, she'll be joined by another Chief Executive: Apple CEO Tim Cook. The head honcho of 1 Infinite Loop will be joined in the First Lady's box by another notable tech figure, NASA/JPL's Bobak Ferdowsi, better known as the "Mohawk Guy" on the agency's Mars Curiosity mission.

Guests of Mrs. Obama will also include military families, immigration reform proponents and individuals whose lives have been affected by gun violence.

Cook isn't the first Apple notable to be a guest of the First Lady at one of President Obama's State of the Union addresses. She was joined last year by Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Tim Cook will be Michelle Obama's guest at the State of the Union address originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.