Originstories Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Origin Stories: Victor Agreda, Jr.

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 17th, 2013)

I was lucky. My mom and dad had me while they were finishing up their graduate work in the 1970's at North Carolina State University. My dad was, at the time, a bit of a gadget nut. Of course, back then "gadgets" were more commonly found in the kitchen and came from companies like Ronco. My dad ...

Origin Stories: Saul Mora, developer

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 13th, 2013)

While the Origin Stories series has typically focused on products, in the coming weeks we're going to focus a bit more on the people and personalities behind the products. In this episode I spoke to Saul Mora of Magical Panda during the MacTech Conference in 2012 to learn about how he got started ...

Origin Stories: Naturespace

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 3rd, 2013)

I've always been a sucker for soundscapes -- those looping sound effect CD's that whisk you away to the beach, or a rainforest or whatever. As I have a hard time "shutting down" my brain, these sounds give me something to get lost in and focus on, helping relax me. I think it's the same way for a ...

Origin Stories: Index Card helps organize your notes like its real world namesake

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 3rd, 2013)

If you've ever used index cards to organize lots of notes or ideas, take a look at Index Card by Dennis Vogel. Available for iPad and iPhone, Index Card is ideal for researchers and fiction writers who need to put cards on a wall, but need that wall to go with them. A good example of skeumorphic ...

Origin Stories: Graze is an alternative browser for iPhone

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 3rd, 2013)

Why create a browser for iOS when Safari ships with every device? Creator Dave Wilson explains the numerous features in Graze, a browser for iOS. It has a very different user interface, and adds gesture controls and additional browsing oomph for iOS that has yet to be seen in Apple's Safari. While ...

Origin Stories: Tango Remote allows you to control music using iOS devices only

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 2nd, 2013)

I've run into this issue a number of times while producing comedy shows: I want to play intro music for a comedian, but I don't have a staff available to sit there and punch buttons on my iPad. Enter Tango Remote, a handy tool which allows you to remotely control your playlists from iOS to iOS ...

Origin Stories: Vectrex offers nostalgic gameplay

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 2nd, 2013)

If you were a kid in the 1980's you may remember the oddball consumer gaming console called the Vectrex. Notable for it's use of vectors instead of bitmapped graphics (like every other console), the Vectrex never quite took hold but before it was discontinued a number of fun retro games were made ...

Origin Stories: EpicSesh aims to improve sports tracking with Xensr

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 2nd, 2013)

While the iPhone has GPS, and it's good enough for most people, performance-oriented athletes may find the precision lacking. Enter EpicSesh, makers of the Xensr line of "sports motion-sensing devices." While it looks like the sensors are still undergoing testing, the promise is that athletes will ...

Origin Stories: Hopper

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Apr 25th, 2013)

Hopper is a Mac app for deconstructing binaries for analysis and debugging. If you're not a developer, it's probably not for you, but it's a cool tool nonetheless, built from scratch by a developer who built it himself. Once again a developer needed something, didn't like what was out there and ...

Origin Stories: Setlists

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Apr 12th, 2013)

Do you perform on a stage with a setlist? Most bands do, and even some comedians. Enter Setlists, created by a group of musicians as a virtual piece of paper for their setlist to display on the iPad. Setlists offers all the flexibility of a digital display and text in a searchable system with ...

Origin Stories: Sage Board Games

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Mar 29th, 2013)

Codito Development is behind Sage Board Games, a company which has been cranking out iOS versions of board games for a few years now. Perhaps most notably, Sage has released a number of classic Reiner Knizia games, but they also publish Ravensburger's Puerto Rico and recently released Uwe ...

Origin Stories: Dunno

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Mar 22nd, 2013)

Dunno is an odd little free app that allows you to take a note about something and have Dunno "research" the topic for you. After typing in a few words, perhaps about a car model or a book or author, or maybe something esoteric like the meaning of life, Dunno performs a search in the ...

Origin Stories: TestFlight

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Mar 15th, 2013)

This week's Origin Stories goes to the heart of a problem developers had at the beginning of the App Store: how to easily deal with beta builds. There are numerous restrictions and difficulties for developers who wish to give out beta versions of an app for review or bug testing, and that's ...

Origin Stories: The now-unavailable Fun Folds app

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Mar 1st, 2013)

Unfortunately Fun Folds is no longer available on the store, but I interviewed the creator in 2012 at WWDC. Of course, considering it was based on a bit of pop culture, do we expect those apps to last anyway? Occasionally I'll download the random meme app of the week, but in the end most of ...

Origin Stories: Living Earth HD

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Feb 15th, 2013)

I have a fascination with weather and our Earth's climate, so Living Earth HD -- which simulates a live view of our planet based on real data -- is a lovely find. You can overlay weather and clock info on the gorgeous renderings of Earth, and look at real phenomena based on satellite images. ...