Buttons Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Daily iPhone App: Combo Crew does beat-em-up on a touchscreen

by Mike Schramm (May 24th, 2013)

Combo Crew is an interesting experiment that just showed up this week on iOS. Beat-em-ups and fighting games are great on consoles, where you've got plenty of buttons and d-pads to pull off various moves with. But while they've appeared on iOS a few times (Capcom's Street Fighter IV has done ...

iControlPad 2 reaches Kickstarter goal, shipping later this year

by Mike Schramm (Oct 12th, 2012)

I'll be honest: I thought that US$150,000 as a Kickstarter goal for the iControlPad 2 wireless controller was too high, but it turns out I was completely wrong. Not only was the project funded, but backers have pledged $190k and still counting with a few more hours to go. The impressive ...

Use the Xbox 360 controller on your Mac

by Mike Schramm (Sep 13th, 2012)

TUAW reader Jon emailed in the other day to ask about possible game controllers for Mac, and while we've covered this issue before, it has definitely been a while. In short, the best way to use a game controller with your Mac is just to use one of the better controllers out there: the wired ...

Turning an old Apple mouse into a modern Bluetooth mouse

by Mike Schramm (Aug 14th, 2012)

This Instructable is a pretty sweet project that some of you might want to take on this weekend: It'll teach you how to combine an 80s-era Apple mouse body with the innards of a modern Bluetooth wireless mouse, thus turning Apple's user interface innovation into a device usable with almost any ...

The iCade Mobile puts console-style buttons on your iPhone or iPod touch

by Mike Schramm (Jun 12th, 2012)

We first heard about the iCade Mobile back when the unit was introduced at CES this year, and as mentioned last week, it's now out and available. I've been playing with one for a couple of weeks now, and I can tell you that it's an impressive device. The unit is sturdy, the buttons work ...

ThinkGeek announces 8-bitty wireless controller for iPad, iPhone

by Mike Schramm (Feb 13th, 2012)

It looks like ThinkGeek and Ion Audio were holding out on us when we visited the companies' booth at CES earlier this year. (See update below) In addition to the three new devices already announced for the iCade lineup by Ion (that allows you to use various controls for iOS games across ...

ION Audio follows up iCade with two new devices, iCade Mobile and the iCade Jr.

by Mike Schramm (Jan 9th, 2012)

ION Audio has had a hit this last year with its iCade arcade cabinet, a standalone Bluetooth controller for the iPad that turned Apple's tablet into a miniature arcade system. And now the company is following up that success with three new devices, meant to make games on the iPhone and iPod ...

60Beat GamePad controller works with iOS games through the headphone port

by Mike Schramm (Dec 29th, 2011)

There have been a few game controllers released for iOS devices like the iPad and iPhone, but none that I've seen that work as elegantly as the 60beat GamePad promises it will. The GamePad offers all of the buttons you'd expect on a HD generation video game controller (with analog sticks and ...

Chrono Trigger screenshots out, with touch controls and redone menus

by Mike Schramm (Nov 21st, 2011)

Square Enix's Members site has posted a few screenshots of the long-awaited release of Chrono Trigger on iOS, and truth be told, they're a little disappointing. Don't worry -- the game is still there, and as one of the best console RPGs of all time, I'm still excited to play through it again on ...

Dev Juice: Help me fix my UIView animations

by Erica Sadun (Jun 21st, 2011)

Dear Dev Juice, I'm having an issue with UIView animations, that I'm struggling to describe in keywords, so I can't find anything helpful with Google. The problem is that I can't seem to work out how to make a UIButton move relative to the bottom of the parent view, as I shrink the parent ...

Tactile+Plus adds buttons to your iPhone - kind of

by Mike Schramm (Nov 22nd, 2010)

Steve Jobs dislikes buttons, which is why one of the most premier gaming devices in the world has no tactile feedback whatsoever. But there's still a call for finding buttons on the screen by feel alone, and Tactile+Plus is designed to let you do just that. It's a little plastic sticker sheet that ...

A controller for the iPhone ... or bust

by Mike Schramm (Oct 13th, 2010)

The iControlPad project seems to have fizzled out, so another group is trying to bring the dream of a hardware iPhone button-based controller to life. Controller or Bust is a new project trying to move through the long list of steps required to get a hardware controller into production. The blog is ...

iControlPad using unlicensed dock connection, forced to go Bluetooth

by Mike Schramm (Oct 1st, 2010)

The folks at iControlPad can't seem to catch a break -- the design for the plug-in iPhone controller was finally finished, but the creators are now backing off of that design. Specifically, they're worried about Apple's lawsuit against Sanho, in which the battery manufacturer was sued for creating ...

iTunes 101: Using the Album Art widget

by Mike Schramm (Sep 3rd, 2010)

Here's a cool new feature in iTunes 10 that we haven't mentioned yet: when listening to any song in your library, you can double click on the album art window in the lower left hand corner to detach it from the main window and see it full size. That's not new -- you could get a closer look at the ...

Apple patents another haptic feedback solution

by Mike Schramm (Jun 25th, 2010)

AppleInsider reports that Apple is still bouncing around ideas for a screen that allows for haptic feedback on its iOS devices. A new patent filed this week outlines a system of screens on a device designed to not only detect touch and protect the underlying technology but also provide physical ...