Tiny Wings 2 set to hit iOS on July 12th

Back in May, Tiny Wings creator Andreas Illiger told reporters that the world could expect a sequel to his popular mobile game “within 3 weeks.” But those 3 weeks came and went, and we haven’t heard a peep.

Then yesterday, Illiger finally broke the silence by releasing a Tiny Wings 2 teaser trailer. And while the video doesn’t give much information away regarding the game, we have to admit, it’s pretty fun to watch…

Luckily the clip does give away one important bit of information — the game’s release date. Tiny Wings fans can expect the sequel to iOS on July 12th, which happens to be next Thursday.

As usual, we’ll let you know as soon as the title hits the App Store.

Now, who’s excited for Tiny Wings 2?



iPad mini: made in Brazil, has 3G, almost as thin as iPod touch

Following up on a string of recent reporting which revives the iPad mini rumor, the usually accurate Japanese blog Macotakara claimed that the device will be produced in Foxconn’s new manufacturing facilities in Brazil. Manufacturing is apparently set to ramp up in September, just in time for mass availability around the holiday shopping season, as indicated in other reports…

Macotakara has the story (machine-translated from Japanese), based on a “reliable source from China”:

The tablet called iPad mini will be produced in Brazil, however production test to collect data for new cutting machine is already done in China. Source said that, production phase of this tablet will be started since September, and this tablet should be shipped until holiday season, but announcement will not be so soon.

The report goes on to note that the 7.85-inch device will be thinner that Amazon’s Kindle Fire (11.43mm), almost as thin as the iPod touch (7.2mm), according to people who have seen a prototype. Google’s Nexus 7 is 10.45mm thick.

The iPad mini is also said to include cellular 3G capabilities and that’s pretty much all Macotakara’s source knows about the gizmo.

Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal both threw their weight behind the iPad mini, both citing “people familiar with the matter” who said Apple is going to produce a miniaturized iPad with a 1024-by-768 pixel display, so apps could run without any changes.

Both media outlets mention an October release date. Some watchers, myself included, opine that Apple is doing the iPad mini as a response to competition, namely the growing popularity of Amazon’s Kindle and Google’s just-announced Nexus 7, each tapping into its maker’s ecosystem designed to rival Apple’s.

Thoughts?



Apple reportedly looking to launch new iPad in China this month

Apple released its third-generation iPad in March of this year, and by most accounts it’s been wildly successful. The company sold nearly 12 million tablets last quarter. And thanks to its agressive international push, it’s expected to top that this time around.

There has been, however, one notable country left off the new iPad’s passport: China. Complicated government approval processes and a nasty trademark battle with Proview have kept the popular tablet out of Apple’s second largest consumer market.

But it looks like the wait is almost over…

M.I.C Gadget passes along a report from PCPOP, a Chinese Blog, who cites a “knowledgable source” in claims that Apple is planning to launch its new iPad in China on July 27th.

“It will be available for purchase in the Apple Stores in China and Suning electronics (one of the biggest consumer electronics retailers in China). As with the price, we’re expecting it to sell at the same price as the current iPad 2.”

Since Apple has yet to officially announce anything, we have to file this one away as a rumor. Although with the Proview case behind them, and government approvals on both Wi-Fi and 4G models, we can’t imagine Apple waiting much longer to send its iPad to China.

Home to more than a billion cell phone users, and hordes of gadget-lovers, China isn’t just a country, it’s a market. In fact, it’s Apple’s second largest market, behind the United States. So needless to say, launching its latest tablet in China is of upmost importance to the company.

That being said, pundits are worried that the third-generation iPad won’t be the hit in China that its predecessors were, pointing to poor reception of the tablet in Hong Kong’s grey market. They believe that since the new iPad looks so similar to the old one, Chinese consumers will more than likely pass it up and save their money for the next gadget that looks new and different.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

What do you think, will the third-gen iPad be a hit in China?



Apple rectifies App Store updating glitch

Over the last 48 hours, the App Store has been suffering from a glitch that has been causing some newly-updated apps to crash upon opening. The bug has been a nightmare for developers, who have been taking a lot of heat over the issue.

Yesterday, Apple acknowledged the problem, and confirmed that it had a dedicated team working to resolve it. And it didn’t take long, last night the company started sending out official statements that the updating glitch has been repaired…

From AllThingsD:

“We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded, it affected a small number of users. The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again.”

Marco Arment, who kickstarted this whole story after receiving a number of complaints from Instapaper users, says Apple is way off on its description of “small number of users.”

“Based on my cumulative stats for July 3, Instapaper’s corruption alone probably affected well over 20,000 customers, and there were over 120 other apps affected, including some very big names such as Angry Birds, GoodReader, Yahoo, and the LA Times.”

But despite the fact that it seems to be downplaying the issue, we have to admit that Apple actually handled this very well. It acknowledged the problem early, fixed it swiftly, and Macworld is even reporting that it plans on removing all of the one-star app reviews that developers received due to the glitch. Cool.

If for some reason you are still experiencing problems with an app, Apple says you should delete it, and then re-download it from the App Store. Easy enough.



Corrupt binaries in App Store causing crashes for some

Something went amiss in Apple’s application stores for iPhone and Mac apps, causing newly updated apps to crash. Users are reporting that a number of popular apps quit immediately upon loading, though this issue only seems to affect freshly updated software.

Newly updated versions of Instapaper, Readdle Scanner Pro and Angry Birds Space HD Free have all been reported to crash upon being updated to the latest version.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment pinpoints the issue over at his blog to a likely server bug with the App Store’s content distribution network. Apple has yet to acknowledge the problem or issue a statement…

The problem seems to affect only certain apps and specific regional app stores. I’m based out in Europe but use the US App Store and the latest version of Instapaper that Marco pushed out this week crashed on my iPhone 4S running the latest iOS 6 Beta.

The Next Web has a comprehensive list of the affected programs.

According to Marco, Apple is to blame as it submitted corrupt binaries.

Last night, within minutes of Apple approving the Instapaper 4.2.3 update, I was deluged by support email and Twitter messages from customers saying that it crashed immediately on launch, even with a clean install.

He advises fellow developers to wait until Apple fixes the bug.

If you’re a developer, and you have a non-critical update pending release, I suggest waiting a few days for this to presumably get sorted out before releasing it.

Graham Spencer offers a remedy in his article over at MacStories:

If you’ve already been affected by the issue, the only real way to fix it is to delete the app and try re-installing the app – but this will only work if the app is no longer corrupted on Apple’s side.

followed his advice and re-installed the Instapaper app, but to no avail – it kept on crashing so clearly Apple hasn’t yet removed corrupt binaries from its servers.

Let us know in the comments if you’re seeing this issue with your favorite apps.



RedSn0w 0.9.14b2 released with improved baseband downgrading

Last month, the Dev Team released a new version of RedSn0w that allowed iPhone 3G (and some 3GS) users to downgrade their basebands. This was a big deal for users who had been stuck on the problematic 06.15 bb.

Today, the Dev Team has pushed out an update to the jailbreak utility that greatly improves on this feature. The downgrading process has been made simpler, and now works on a much wider range of devices.

MuscleNerd explains:

“Happy 4th of July! Today’s release of redsn0w 0.9.14b2 improves the iPad baseband downgrade and should cover anyone who couldn’t downgrade with 0.9.14b1. This version covers 3 different types of NOR chips in the iPhone 3G and 3GS (the earlier version covered only the most prevalent NOR chip). We’ve also simplified the process and added logging to help diagnose any remaining stubborn iPhones.”

Keep in mind that the 3GS warning still stands. So if your iPhone 3GS was manufactured in early 2011 or later, you shouldn’t even have the 06.15.00 baseband, let alone be trying to downgrade.



Galaxy Nexus pulled from Google Play Store in wake of Apple injunction

That didn’t take long. Less than 12 hours after Judge Lucy Koh denied Samsung’s request to stay the Galaxy Nexus injunction, the handset disappears from Google Play Stores.

Last week, Apple was able to convince Koh that the Nexus was infringing on its patents — enough to warrant a preliminary ban. And it looks like that ban is already in effect…

The Verge noticed the missing device, and contacted Google to find out what’s up. While the company wouldn’t get into specifics, the timing of the pull is certainly suspicious:

“The timing of Google’s missing Nexus is interesting, to say the least: we’ve just confirmed that Apple has posted the nearly $96 million dollar bond required to begin the Galaxy Nexus in earnest.

Update 3: We just spoke to Google, which confirmed that the Galaxy Nexus is no longer on sale right now, but Google says the device will begin shipping next week.”

The Nexus is still available from Amazon, Target and other retailers. But just because it’s available for order, doesn’t mean it will ship. It’s likely that these companies have yet to receive instructions regarding the injunction.

Last night we learned that Google planned to help Samsung get around the ban by issuing a software patch to remove the infringing invention. And The Verge has more on that as well:

“We just spoke with a Google spokesperson, who informed us that the update, which will be rolling out to all Galaxy Nexus devices in the US regardless of carrier, will essentially dumb down the quick search bar on the Android homescreen, limiting its results to just those from the web. No local searches on the device will be performed at all, taking on-device apps, integrated Gmail, and other search results out of play.”

The update could very well free the Nexus from the ban, and help Samsung circumvent any future litigation regarding Apple’s ’604 patent, which has to do with unified search functionality.

The patch is expected to start rolling out to devices OTA (over the air) as soon as tonight. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Apple gains ownership of iPad3.com without a fight

Wow, that was fast! Just a week following a complaint Apple lodged with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the original owner of the domain has transferred ownership to Apple’s legal team, reports The Next Web.

It’s interesting that the WIPO case was still filed as active at post time, meaning the organization hasn’t even reached an official ruling, which could indicate that Apple’s legal sharks scared the hell out of the domain owner. Who’s this guy, anyway?

Records exposes the domain’s registrant as a company called Global Access located in the Isle of Man. It’s no wonder they registered this domain as Global Access has been found guilty in cybersquatting cases involving MasterCard and AOL.

Fusible explains:

It appears the previous owner of the name didn’t even want to wait for an arbitration panel to issue the inevitable decision, and has instead decided to quickly transfer the domain following a complaint that was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at the end of June.

When Apple’s lawyers transfer the domain to Cupertino, expect it to simply forward to the iPad section on Apple’s website, like iPhone.com does.

The Next Web’s Matt Brian explains that in a recent case involving the iPhone5.com domain WIPO changed the status of a successful complaint to “Terminated”.

Also, having gone from filing a complaint to gaining ownership of the domain in just seven days also serves to illustrate that people should really think twice before intentionally registering a domain containing a brand name.

If Apple can force shady individuals into relinquishing ownership of misspelled domain names such as aplestore.com, obtaining control over something like iPad3.com is nothing more than a checkbox on Apple legal department’s morning meeting agenda.

Now, how about finally gaining ownership of that attractive iPad.com domain?



Popular Google Analytics client Analytiks receives major makeover

If you own or operate a website, chances are you have, or have had, a Google Analytics account. The service allows you to monitor your site’s traffic, and gives you all kinds of data regarding your readership.

For those of you who fall in that category, and are in the market for a new Analytics client, you might want to check out Analytiks. The popular app just received a major makeover to bring it to version 2.0…

Analytiks’ strong suit has always been its ability to display hordes of confusing traffic data in an easy-to-read format. And version 2.0 builds on that strength with a completely redesigned UI, which looks great.

But the app’s new user interface doesn’t just look pretty, it’s also a lot faster too. In fact, Blatt Labs says its the fastest UI they’ve ever created. You can navigate the entire app with just a few swipes and taps.

And for those of you who aren’t interested in bouncing around the app, version 2.0 also has a new home page graph, which allows you to see page view count and other useful information at a quick glance.

Whether you’re a novice blogger, or a seasoned web master, Analytiks is definitely worth taking a look at. It’s  so much better than the average Google Analytics app, and it’s a steal at $0.99. If you’re interested, follow this link to the App Store.

What do you think of Analytiks? What’s your favorite Google Analytics app?



Lumicon, word building madness on your iPhone

There are many a word game on the App Store and all of them offer a slightly varied experience, but Lumicon has separated itself from the pack with tense, fast paced gameplay and stunningly attractive graphics.

May I repeat: yes, it is a word game and yes, it is visually stunning. The newly released puzzler is sure to make a great addition to your already cluttered Home screen…

Design
I find the most simulating user interfaces to pose “detailed simplicity” and Lumicon achieves this particular double standard utilizing clean lines, uncluttered menus, and a constantly-changing-gameplay-determined background color. Adding to the visual finesse, the curves of the letters contrast well with the grid patterned board on which words are constructed. The typography really plays into the excellent overall design and garnered Lumicon a highlight from Beautiful Pixels.

Gameplay
At its core, Lumicon challenges the player to build 3+ letter words with a limited and randomly provided set of letter tiles. Time adds another ingredient to the tactical complication of word construction. Tiles drop into the “gutter,” which only holds 6 letters,  at an increasing rate of speed. If the gutter fills before the tiles can be placed, the game is lost. In later levels, even the gutter tiles have a timer and if not placed quickly, become a permanent and unmovable fixture in the available letter box.

Additionally, the playable board space is limited. Once 3+ letter words are built, they can be tapped/eliminated for points and popping multiple words in quick succession awards bonuses such as vowels, time delays, and point bonuses. However, if the letter gutter is filling, simply dump tiles onto the game board to eliminate losing; then, the challenge is to build new words on earlier mistakes, eliminating the tiles.

When described, the game sounds complex, but the learning curve is very short. My biggest challenge was placing the tiles: after many hours of Words with Friends, I tried to drag tiles from the gutter to the board. Lumicon is based on tapping, not dragging, therefore, tap the gutter tile, then tap the board to place it.



Apple settles ‘iPad’ trademark dispute with Proview for $60 million

A new report is out tonight, claiming that Proview and Apple have finally reached a settlement in their ‘iPad’ trademark dispute. The two companies have been in and out of courtrooms for over a year, fighting over the moniker.

The battle has seen Apple’s tablet barred from sales in a number of cities and provinces around mainland China. And Proview, an electronics manufacturer, was at one time reportedly seeking $1.5 billion in compensation…
 

But they didn’t end up getting quite that much. The Associated Press is reporting that Apple has reached a settlement deal with Proview in the amount of $60 million:
 

“Apple has agreed to pay a Chinese company $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market.

“The iPad dispute is ended,” the Guangdong High People’s Court said in a statement. “Apple Inc. has transferred $60 million to the account of the Guangdong High Court as requested in the mediation letter.”

Apple has maintained that it legally acquired the Chinese rights to the iPad trademark back in 2009, from Proview for $55,000. But Proview says that the subsidiary Apple purchased the rights from, never had the authority to sell them in the first place.

At any rate, it looks like it’s over. Although $60 million is a lot more than Apple’s initial $16 million offer, it’s far less than what Proview was looking for. Word is the company was pressured by creditors into taking an early settlement, due to its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

What do you think? Is a $60 million settlement a win or a loss for Apple here?



Speero is an upcoming system management tweak for the iPad

Speero is an upcoming jailbreak tweak for the iPad that places a system management utility at your fingertips by means of an Activator action.

Once Speero is invoked using Activator, you can manage apps, execute toggles, launch apps, and perform specific Activator actions from a list of up to 20 programmable actions.

There’s even a provision built in for further plugins to expand upon the premise of the tweak. If you’ve been looking for a decent system management tweak, then you may want to give Speero a look…
 

In addition to the aforementioned list of options, there are also settings in the Settings app panel that allow you to adjust the pop-up blur radius and tint. For those of you who prefer a way to dismiss the pop-up besides using the Home button, the developers have included a provision to dismiss with a double tap.

Speero should hit Cydia’s BigBoss repo in the very near future for $0.99. What do you think about this upcoming iPad exclusive tweak?



Survey finds 21% of iOS users wouldn’t change platforms for any price

For those of you wondering if Apple still has a strong cult following, here you go: a new survey from Goldman Sachs finds that 21% of iOS users wouldn’t switch to another platform, for any price.

The securities firm recently surveyed over 1000 smartphone users, in an effort to better understand the costs that consumers face when switching ecosystems. And this is what they found…

Out of the 1000+ participants, a whopping 62% of iOS users said that it was “highly likely” that their next smartphone or tablet purchase would be from Apple. And that number soared to 75% for users who currently own two or more Apple products.
 

And apparently, price doesn’t have anything to do with their brand loyalty. When asked how much of a discount it would take for them to switch to another platform, 23% of those polled said that the cost reduction would have to be between 21% and 30%. And an astounding 21% said that no discount would make it worthwhile for them to switch.

Obviously, this is just a small poll. But these numbers are probably fairly indicative of the actual market. And it says a lot about Apple, as a brand, that 1/5th of its users would switch to Android, Windows 8, etc., even if you gave them free devices.

Are these just fanboys here? Or does Apple still offer the best all-around mobile platform?



How to open Home screen shortcuts with Google Chrome

Earlier in the day we covered BrowserChooser, a jailbreak tweak developed by Ryan Petrich, which allows you to assign Google Chrome as your default web browser.

It’s a great tweak, and works exactly as expected; it was even recently updated with a few new additions such as the ability to have a dialogue to select your browser of choice when opening a link, and the ability to make the dialogue sheets say “Open with Chrome” instead of “Open with Safari”.

One thing BrowserChooser doesn’t do, however, (at least for the time being that is) is allow you to open Home screen shortcuts/bookmarks created via Safari with Google Chrome. Browser Changer is a tweak that’s been around for a very long time, and it was recently updated to allow you to do just that.
Browser Changer is a free jailbreak tweak that’s available for download on Cydia’s BigBoss repo. The tweak will also, like BrowserChooser, allow you to set Chrome as the default web browser for links, and it includes a handy kill-switch for moments when you want to quickly disable the tweak. Along with that, it retains support for many other browsers that you may choose to use as well.

Which tweak do you prefer? BrowserChooser, or Browser Changer? Both retain the same basic functionality, but there are enough differences that you may want to try each one separately, or maybe even combined. I found that using a combination of both gave me the best of both worlds. You gain the Home screen shortcut Chrome compatibility, and you also update the dialogue sheets with “Open With Chrome”.

What do you think?