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.