news aggregator
Tronix Explorer XT3, XT SE, and Mini
Which Battery Pack is Right for You?
Innovatronix battery packs allow you to take your studio lights on location without having to buy a whole new proprietary system or rent a generator. Each one has two outlets into which you can plug your regular studio lights. The top-of-the-line Explorer XT3 is for photographers who use high-powered lights or have long shoots. It gets about 500 fires from an 800 W strobe at full power (2,400 Ws peak power). The midrange Explorer XT SE pack gets around 300 full-power fires from a 350 W strobe (2,400 Ws peak). And the Explorer Mini for quick shoots gets around 100 full-power fires from a 400 W strobe (1,200 W peak). Recycle times are around 1–2 seconds for all. As with any battery pack, it drains very quickly when the modeling light is in use. Obviously, this will also affect how many fires you get.
Each pack has three lights (green, orange, and red) that indicate battery level. A more detailed battery meter would be helpful, but most other battery packs have the same readout. The noise from the packs is on a par with the typical cooling fan on a strobe—much quieter than a generator.
Aesthetically, the packs have a pretty industrial, no-frills design. Each comes with a carrying case that’s useful for transportation and helps protect the pack from the elements when on location; however, the carrying strap is attached to the access panels on either end, so it makes it a bit awkward to access the receptacles.
In testing these packs, there was the occasional refresh hiccup where the strobe took about twice as long as it should have to refresh. This might be an issue for photographers who need absolute consistency, but if not, it’s a minor setback. Overall, these packs do exactly what they’re designed to do, and do it pretty well.
Company: Innovatronix, Inc.
Price: XT3: $790; XT SE: $429; Mini: $349
Web: www.innovatronix.com
Rating: 3.5
Hot: On-location battery power; quieter than a generator
Not: Aesthetics; can’t use modeling light long
ZipaClip gives you secure video sharing on iOS
ZipaClip is an interesting approach to privacy for videos that you don't want to share through social media services.
The free app encrypts video and sends it to a secure server. If the recipient has the app, they can download it from the cloud. It's good for family sharing or when you need security in a business environment. You can also use the app to send private text messages.
Free is good, but there is some fine print. If you want to send clips longer than 30 seconds, you have to buy additional time. It ranges from 20 minutes of storage(US$0.99) to 120 minutes ($5.99). The free version allows you to send unlimited 30 second clips until you exceed of 30 minutes of storage.
One clever feature is called ZipBack. If you sent something by mistake, it can be recalled if the person hasn't viewed it. I wish I had that for all the emails I didn't mean to send over the years.
The downside is that only way to see the sent videos is from an iOS device. If people try to link to the video from regular email, it won't work. I kind of find that a negative, but I understand that regular mail is a security issue, and keeping everything in-app keeps it secure. Of course, I don't see why there can't be an OS X version of the app, or a Windows version.
If you're looking for secure cloud-based text and video exchanges, ZipaClip will probably fill the bill. If you can live with the requirements to keep it free, all the better. If not, there are some paid options.
ZipaClip is a universal app that requires iOS 5 or greater.
Gallery: ZipaClip
ZipaClip gives you secure video sharing on iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Another Super Bowl Quickfire, You Say? Sure, Why Not
We’re sure to have post-Super Bowl thoughts as well, but in the meantime, read below on what Teddy Stoecklein, group creative director at Portland, Maine-based VIA Agency, has to say about big game advertising.
Who has the most anticipated spot in this year’s Super Bowl?
First, let me tell you who doesn’t. The idea of Doritos crashing the Super Bowl with user-generated spots has lost its orange, finger-staining luster. We all know those bags are half air. And Bud Light’s “Superstitious” campaign, void of the whiffle ball-to-the-groin humor—which, sadly, always resonates with the average viewer and gets them top honors—will probably not make the top 10.
My two most anticipated spots are from perennial Super Bowl powerhouses Budweiser and Volkswagen. What’s more American, or Dutch rather, than Budweiser’s Clydesdales (see touching 2013 Super Bowl spot below)? I was hoping they’d return to their glory days when they did things like play football in front of a couple of cowboys or engage in a snowball fight. Unfortunately, I saw the spot posted online. It’s not funny at all. Instead it’s just a long, albeit charming, story to get you to name a baby Clydesdale through Twitter. Hopefully you won’t miss the game-winning touchdown when you’re busy tweeting “Buddy” or “Suds” to #clydesdales.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Get a USB 3 hub plus Gigabit Ethernet with Kanex's DualRole
Even though shipping Macs have sported USB 3 ports for more than half a year, compatible USB 3 hubs have been thin on the ground. Expanding those 4.8 Gbps ports would make better use of all that bandwidth, and the increased bus power (900mA vs. 500mA for the older USB 2 standard) is perfect for juicing multiple devices. What about a Gigabit Ethernet port, too? That would be sweet.
Indeed, the Kanex DualRole hub delivers precisely that package -- a 3-port USB 3 SuperSpeed hub, and a Gigabit Ethernet port besides. The combination means that you can free up ports on your current-gen Mac, especially on the Retina MBP or the MacBook Air if you need to plug into Ethernet; you can claw back either a USB port or a Thunderbolt port that would have normally been used for networking.
Kanex is announcing and demoing the DualRole at Macworld/iWorld this week. In my hands-on time with the DualRole, I noted appreciatively that it includes a pigtail USB 3 connector built-in; finding the correct cable to connect a hub might prove frustrating when most of your cable inventory is USB 2. That 3" cable tucks into the side of the compact gray and white unit (about 3/4ths the length of an iPhone 5, and about 2x as thick) when not in use.
The three expansion USB ports are all on one of the long sides, with a fair amount of space between them to accomodate wider flash drives or other peripherals. There's a 5V power input for an optional AC adapter (not included with the hub), but I was able to power a standard 4GB flash drive and a LaCie rugged USB 3 hard drive simultaneously off the hub without external power and with no problems.
While the USB ports on the hub are entirely plug and play, the Gigabit Ethernet port isn't quite configuration-free. Using the port requires a quick driver install and a reboot on either OS X or Windows; the driver is downloadable from Kanex's product page for the DualRole. Once I installed the driver, the Ethernet adapter showed up immediately in the Network preference pane.
The DualRole is available now from Kanex's online store for US$69.00. If you're looking for a USB 3 hub that's easy to pack and adds networking savvy on the side, it's a find.
Get a USB 3 hub plus Gigabit Ethernet with Kanex's DualRole originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
And Now, Your Images of the Day, Courtesy of Zombies Invading Ogilvy NY
So…this went down today at Ogilvy’s New York headquarters and seeing as we love all things zombies, we couldn’t resist posting. Tipsters say that this particular group of undead interrupted client meetings with the agency’s CEO Miles Young among other things. From what we’re hearing from those in the know, though, this morning’s zombie invasion was part of an internal effort to make staffers aware of the fact that O&M will have a Super Bowl ad for Time Warner Cable airing in local markets that promotes AMC’s juggernaut, The Walking Dead. While it probably made for a fun Friday at Ogilvy, we believe this serves as a better metaphor for any given Monday.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Friday Likes 32
And Now, Your Weekly Video Miscellany
This week brought it with the internet videos. And I don’t mean just Super Bowl ads. In fact, I didn’t round up a single one because you’re going to be inundated on Sunday and I don’t want to be another asshole who’s all “look at the ads before they run” – what fun is that? I hate that. It’s dumb. So this week is about the videos that aren’t football related. Mostly. The Kid President plays with a football, but that’s the extent of it. So let’s go.
5. Thespians will love this redux of Anne Hathaway‘s performance in Les Miserables. Except instead of harping over dreams that didn’t die, she’s making a bid for an Oscar. Genius. Brilliant. Hooker’s gotta win. At 383,409, it’s not huge yet but is definitely poised given the Oscars are not long off.
4. Here’s a little logic for you on the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Yes, there is a conclusive answer and yes, it is confusing. But hey, you’ll actually get to use your brain for a few minutes. So there’s that. Coming in at a healthy 1,387,022, this is not one of creator AsapScience’s best videos, but it’s got time to get there.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Jam for iOS hopes to be 'Instagram for music'
Most of the apps on display in Macworld/iWorld 2013's "Appalooza" annex are of the productivity variety, but that doesn't mean there isn't some fun stuff to be found. One that caught my eye was Jam from Australian developer DreamWalk Mobile.
Launched two weeks ago on the App Store, it's a free music creation app for iPhone and iPod touch with a unique hook: You sing -- not even especially well, even -- and the app auto-tunes you and creates an original backing track, then mixes it all down into something you can share on Facebook.
The app, which has seen about 19,000 songs shared to date, came from the developer's desire to take an Instagram-style approach to music creation. That is, improving the source material -- in this case your voice, with "filters" replaced by auto-tuning -- and giving you a means to share the results with friends.
The backing tracks it adds to your vocals are generated from original loops and samples recorded in-studio by Jam's developers. They fall into several musical genes, including pop, rock and reggae. Only the pop rock genre comes pre-installed; others are available as US$0.99 in-app purchases. In an interesting twist, it's possible to buy the add-on genres without spending actual money. You can actually earn in-game currency in the form of "royalties" from others listening to and liking you songs, and these virtual funds can then be used in lieu of real money for the IAPs.
We've been playing around with the app a bit since our demo and have made a few little ditties this far, mostly about our co-workers and cats. It's a clever app for sure, and you can't really beat the price. Of course, whether it'll achieve its creators' Instagram-level aspirations remains to be seen, but it's nevertheless a fun diversion with some potential.
Jam for iOS hopes to be 'Instagram for music' originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Carrot Creative Nabs Wilson’s Social AOR Biz
Following a formal RFP process, New York-based Carrot Creative has been awarded social media agency of record duties for sporting goods brand, Wilson, which as you may or may not know puts out tennis racquets used by Roger Federer and a ball that serves as Tom Hanks‘ best friend in Cast Away among other things.
Anyhow, as Wilson’s new social media AOR, Carrot, which would not disclose the incumbent on the biz, will work on social strategy across the brand’s sporting lineup including baseball, its baseball bat line DeMarini, football, volleyball and soccer. Seeing as it’s that time of year and all, Carrot’s first order of business was to create a Tumblr site to tell us the tale of the Wilson Super Bowl football.
Regarding his company’s decision, Wilson VP of marketing Tom Gruger offers this statement: “Carrot was a great choice for Wilson; their passion for sports, community building and depth of digital knowledge will greatly contribute to our ability to unify Wilson’s brand online. As a brand, we’ve been connecting with a player’s sports journey for 100 years. We get it; the hard work, the commitment, the joy in the process. Social is a fantastic way to support our player’s journey, to let them know we’re there with them, helping them attain their goals.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
In Today’s Super Bowl Quickfire, We Talk to Saatchi LA’s Tanya LeSieur
The Big Game is almost here and in today’s Q+A with agency folks, we have a nice chat with Tanya LeSieur, who’s spent the last four years serving as director of integrated production at Saatchi & Saatchi L.A. As you’ll read below, he production vet has plenty to say about Super Bowl advertising.
What ads you’re most looking forward to this year?
Hmmmm. This is a hard one. I’m going to play Switzerland on this one and say all of them.
Oh. And our Toyota Superbowl Spot “Wish Granted” [above] produced by Saatchi LA featuring Kaley Cuoco in the first quarter of the game 
#wishgranted
Is there an advantage or disadvantage to releasing ads to social media ahead of time?
Sure there’s an advantage. It’s already been demonstrated from an analytics perspective that releasing your ads/work (if they are WORTHY of being shared i.e. engaging/funny/smart/ and CONSUMERS ACTUALLY DIG IT) in advance of the “big game” helps to drive metrics/views and creates conversation around your work.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Friday Morning Stir
-Charlotte-based agency BooneOakley welcomed Michael D. Greene as director, business development.
-Tongal, with the help of Colgate-Palmolive, has revealed the first “real” ad for Dunder Mifflin, which will air during the Super Bowl (above).
-L.A.-based Ignited was named AOR for travel brand, Contiki Vacations.
-Twitter is nearing $10 billion valuation. link
-The Bees Awards announced its 2013 call for entries. Deadline is April 12. link; link
-Doritos is apparently reciprocating the love for Taco Bell. link
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Chromebook 101: How to make your new toy more Apple-y
Steve is a deeply bad influence. He started the trend, which prompted me to order my own Chromebook (although I had been waiting to pull the trigger for several weeks). Slowly this US$250 MacBook-wannabe has been infiltrating TUAW households.
It's great for kids. It's a unit you don't mind taking on non-work trips. It's undemanding.
But it's not quite the MacBook experience, especially for our Apple-trained fingers. The problem is that we want the Control key next to the space bar, not waaaaaay off to the left.
Solution? A simple Chromebook option, similar to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard > Modifier Keys.
1. Visit chrome://settings/languageCustomizeModifierKeysOverlay on your Chromebook
2. Under Device > click Keyboard Settings. A little dialog opens.
3. Swap Alt to Ctrl, and Ctrl to Alt. And, if you like, bring back Caps Lock by selecting that from the Search pop-up.
And you're set. You're ready to Chrome like a real Machead!
Chromebook 101: How to make your new toy more Apple-y originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
OWC shows NuGuard KX rugged cases, 3.5" Viper SSD at Macworld 2013
Other World Computing is a popular manufacturer and seller of a big line of Apple-friendly hardware, and as usual they have a commanding presence at Macworld/iWorld 2013. Among the new products the company announced this year are the NuGuard KX rugged cases for iPhone and an upcoming 3.5-inch SSD under the Viper label that will provide high capacity and incredible speed.
The NewerTech NuGuard KX cases are Mil-Std-810G compliant, which means that the cases can take a drop of 4 feet without damage to the enclosed iPhone. The company tested them to much more extreme conditions, including 20-foot drops in the factory and a mammoth drop from the top of OWC's wind turbine (see video below).
The cases come in a variety of colors and have a lifetime warranty -- not something you see with many other iPhone cases. OWC also offers a 30-day guarantee, so if you decide you don't like the NuGuard KX, you can send it back for a refund.
But the big -- in terms of capacity -- news from OWC was the announcement of the Viper SSD. This 3.5-inch format drive will be available later this year in capacities up to 2 TB. The combination of SSD speed and huge capacity will make this SSD a winner for video editors and the like. At this point, the company has not announced shipping dates or pricing for the Viper.
The company will also be selling a commercial version of the Power2U USB wall outlet. According to Corporate Account Manager and OWC spokesman Alan Bitterman, the new version will be especially useful in hospital and hotel installations.
And last, but not least, the company was showing an amazing swivel arm mount for the iMac, Apple Cinema Display and Thunderbolt Display -- the Newertech NuMount Pivot Desk Mount ($189.00). It won't work with the new 2012 iMacs -- OWC notes that the aluminum is "too thin" to allow this type of mounting.
If you're at Macworld/iWorld 2013, be sure to drop by the OWC booth and tell 'em you read about their product line on TUAW.
OWC shows NuGuard KX rugged cases, 3.5" Viper SSD at Macworld 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple TV may get HBO Go in first half of 2013
Could it finally happen? Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is "in negotiations" with HBO to bring HBO Go to the Apple TV in app form during the first half of 2013. As our fearless leader Victor Agreda pointed out upon hearing the news, "Of course they're in negotiations -- they're in them all the time with everyone, and have been forever." (That's paraphrased, but you get the gist.)
Still, the prospect that another major streaming app may finally be on our Apple TVs sooner rather than later is enough to get us excited. Unfortunately, it sounds like the dream of getting HBO Go sans a cable and HBO subscription is still just that: a dream. According to Bloomberg's piece, you'll still need to have HBO as part of your cable package in order to use the app on Apple TV.
Apple TV may get HBO Go in first half of 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Spicebox's Mauz aims to make your iPhone an all-in-one controller
One of the weirdest devices I've seen so far here at Macworld is Spicebox's Mauz controller. The company recently started a Kickstarter for the project (their second, after a case that tracks your opening of multiple beers called the Intoxicase), but even though that campaign hasn't yet come anywhere close to the $150,000 goal, the unit is already being prototyped and built by the company.
It works like this: The company has produced a little box (only a prototype so far, though Spicebox told me that the circuits inside have been finalized and are headed to production already) that will plug into your iPhone's 30-pin adapter. I didn't see a Lightning version, but presumably it's being worked on as well.
Once that unit is plugged in, it connect via Wi-Fi to a driver running on your Mac, which Spicebox is right in the middle of developing. The unit on your iPhone will use the Wi-Fi connection to send information about movement bidirectionally, so not only can your phone tell your computer how it wants to move the mouse or keyboard, but the computer can tell the mouse, for example, what app has gained focus, or what kind of gestures should become available on the phone.
There are four different ways the phone sends control information, then. The first is just through the touchscreen itself -- as you can see above, the default look of the phone imitates two mouse buttons and a wheel, and those work just fine when you tap them. On the bottom of the plug-in accessory, there's also a (low power, says Spicebox) mouse laser, so the device can tell when you move it around on a mousepad surface. So at the very minimum, your phone can work as a tabletop mouse when the accessory is plugged in.
But of course that's not all. The little accessory also hooks into the iPhone to grab gyroscope and accelerometer movement, so the developers are working on allowing you to do Wii remote-style movement, where you can move the iPhone around in real space to push or pull around elements on your computer's screen. This function wasn't working when I saw it here in the booth at Macworld, but the developers say development is still well underway and they hope to have it up and running soon.
Finally, there's one more method of control with the Mauz, and that is a mode that uses the iPhone's front facing camera (while it's sitting face up on a flat surface) to read live video of your hand passing by, and attempt to turn that into not just 2D movement (so, for example, you'd swipe your hand in front of the iPhone to spin a Google Earth globe), but Spicebox even wants to try and track 3D movement (so you'd move your hand toward or away from the phone as it's lying down to push things in or out of the screen). That function was at least working on the show floor, but not in a usable way: The Spicebox guys were waving their hands back and forth above the prototype phone, with very little movement to see on the screen.
So there's a lot of work yet to be done. Spicebox says the unit's inner electronics are finalized, but the casing outside of the device is still being prototyped and developed. The software is still a work in progress as well. Spicebox says the beta for the device should hopefully start sometime in April, and then they're hoping to have everything finalized and ready to go later on this year. I was told the company is aiming for a price "in the $60 range, and I believe we'll get there," said one of the company's founders, Gilad Meiri.
Mauz is definitely an interesting idea. I have my doubts about how exactly the implementation will work, and while the company has some big plans, they're still very much in the prototype stage, especially in the software department. But I won't discourage anyone from dreaming big: If Spicebox can iron out the hardware and get the software to do what they want it to do easily and responsively, the Mauz accessory could be very useful indeed.
Spicebox's Mauz aims to make your iPhone an all-in-one controller originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Aspyr Media charges on in the wild world of Mac gaming
I've been vocal for many, many years now about Aspyr and their like, and exactly how I feel about them. I'm a big fan of gaming, of course, and a big fan of Apple and the Mac. And Aspyr sits right at the intersection of those two worlds: They're a company, based in Austin with about 50 employees, that ports AAA and big-budget games over to the OS X platform. Given my dissatisfaction with the company and how vocal I'd been about it in the past, it was with not a little bit of temerity that I went to finally meet with them here at Macworld 2013. But Aspyr's VP of Publishing Elizabeth Howard and Sales Manager Michael Blair kindly welcomed me into the company's suite and sat down to talk about the state of Mac gaming from their point of view.
The good news is that Aspyr has seen all of the signs that I've seen the past few years, and the two main concerns I've had for so long are their concerns as well. Buggy ports of PC games on the Mac was a big problem, but in the past few years Aspyr has worked hard to make things better, and even I'd agree that the ports we're seeing these days, from Aspyr and other companies, are light years better than what we used to see.
The other big complaint I've had is delays -- games on the Mac often come out months or even years behind their PC and console releases. But both Howard and Blair agreed this was an issue as well, and in fact one of their biggest concerns. Late Mac releases was "definitely the most important thing to us in 2012," said Howard. Aspyr is working as hard as it can to juggle licensing partnerships, engineers, code bases and platforms to try and get these games out as close to the PC release as possible, and Howard says that "it's getting much better." With a few exceptions, Aspyr essentially has the porting process down to just a couple of months, with most releasing coming out either day and date or soon after.
It's not perfect. Just recently, Aspyr had to release Borderlands 2 without multiplayer content on the Mac App Store, though it was able to get multiplayer ready for the Mac Steam release (and the Mac App Store patch is coming as soon as it's ready). But both Howard and Blair said they share the timing concerns, both because they are fans of Mac games, and simply because games released alongside the PC versions (and alongside all of the marketing and promotion for them) . "Revenue is a huge difference for us" when games are released together, said Blair.
It turns out that fans like me aren't the only ones bugging Aspyr -- the companies they license the games from aren't always helpful either. Not only do a lot of AAA developers not have time for Mac ports, but they often don't have time to even help Aspyr figure out what code goes where, which adds time to the process and frustrations to Aspyr's engineers.
Finally, Aspyr has one more source of concern, and it's the distributors that it chooses to deal with. The company releases games on its own website through the official GameAgent store, but most of its sales come these days through either Steam or the Mac App Store, and Howard says those are two very different marketplaces. How sales look on one or the other tends to depend on the title you're talking about (Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, for example, does well on the Mac App Store, while Borderlands 2 is a much better hit on Steam, presumably because of that multiplayer problem, among other things). But Howard said that just releasing games on one platform or the other is even more work for the company's engineers: Steam has its own achievements and features, and the Mac App Store of course has Game Center and other features to deal with.
I asked Howard, given how much success the company has found on the Mac App Store, what Apple could do better for games like theirs, and she said Steam is really leading the charge in supporting game developers. Steam "engages that audience constantly," she said, putting together lots of regular sales and promotions for customers to find, and leaving promotional banners and ads up as long as their relevant, rather than changing them out from week to week. Apple, on the other hand, isn't quite as active in its promotion, and definitely isn't as open in terms of how it deals with the store, says Howard. That seems to be a legacy of Apple's relationship with gaming in general: The company has never really understood gamers, and even on the Mac App Store tends to promote and sell more of its own apps rather than much more popular games.
Aspyr didn't have a lot of information to share about their exact catalog this year (unfortunately, recent changes in the gaming industry have put some of their titles in question for the moment), but Howard said the content lineup for 2013 would be very impressive. She promised more content for Civ 5 (Aspyr has published both the game and the Gods and Kings expansion on the Mac), some more indie-style titles, and lots of other new titles on Mac and Steam.
Howard also mentioned, though again without specifics, that the company was thinking about a new plan as well: Bringing "catalog Mac experiences" over to the iOS platform. She mentioned Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as a desktop game that had done well on Apple's mobile devices, and said that Aspyr was considering bringing games that were a few years old to touchscreens. There's no more information on that, unfortunately, but it was definitely an intriguing idea.
Aspyr is definitely working hard to try and make all of its Mac ports better, and while I'm still not completely satisfied with the release schedule (and I definitely got the impression that Howard and Blair weren't yet either), it's definitely clear that the company is facing a whole lot of pressure from all sides for doing something that all of us Mac gamers want: Bringing us high profile games that run natively on the computers that we love. The quality and timing of the ports has gotten better over the last few years for sure, and I would no longer call the company "a complete dealbreaker," as I wrote five years ago. Still, there's always room for improvement, and hopefully we'll see even more of it this year, as Aspyr is able to convince more and more of the companies it licenses games from just how wonderful and loyal the Mac community can be.
Aspyr Media charges on in the wild world of Mac gaming originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple fails to get Galaxy Nexus sales ban reinstated
After the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a proposed sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus this past October, Apple requested that the ban be reconsidered. The request was a long shot and it didn't swing in Cupertino's favor, as Reuters reports that the ban has been shot down by the court yet again.
The initial ruling to ban sales of the Galaxy Nexus came just prior to the courtroom battle that ended in a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung. In October 2012, the Court of Appeals sided with Samsung, stating that the feature at the center of this particular legal skirmish -- a device-wide search function -- did not "drive demand" of the device, and therefore wasn't important enough to lead to a sales ban.
[Via: The Verge]
Apple fails to get Galaxy Nexus sales ban reinstated originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Crowd-funding collective TinyLightbulbs shows off its iOS products
Last year, e-commerce site TinyLightbulbs formed in Denver, focusing on products that are funded via crowd-funding sites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. TinyLightbulbs brought five of the products available on its site Macworld/iWorld 2013, including:
- SlingShot: This smartphone stand received more than $70,000 in funding on Kickstarter and acts as a combination tripod and cradle for your iPhone. An attached handle helps create smooth panning shots. Erica Sadun took a look at it in October.
- Ultima: A smartphone stand for the car that is made with an aluminum body with a suction cup that is use to secure it to your car's interior. It raised more than $64,000 on Kickstarter.
- CableKeeps: This was my favorite of the products offered at this booth. These fish-shaped rubber cable holders were funded in 2011. Insert an Apple iPhone or iPad charger in one end, then thread the 30-pin or Lightning cable through the tail and wrap it around the fins to keep the cable in one place. When it's in use, you can use the fins as a stand for your iOS device. The CableKeeps are offered in three styles: two for iPad adaptors and one for the smaller USB adaptor used with iPhones, iPods and the iPad mini.
- SoundJaw: Steve Sande reviewed the SoundJaw in 2011. Originally developed for the iPad 2, this clip attaches to an iPad near the speaker and boosts the sound by directing the sound waves forward. It raised $17,000 on Kickstarter and is compatible with the iPad models that came out in 2012.
- Soft Touch Flex: This iPad mounting system is available with a clamp or a mic thread to fit it to a microphone stand. It comes in white and black.
Crowd-funding collective TinyLightbulbs shows off its iOS products originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Twelve South's SurfacePad for iPhone: sleek, slim and sleather
Yeah, sleather's not a word, but I'm going to use it anyway because I love alliteration. Twelve South, that wonderful company that has brought a gaggle of gorgeous Apple-only products to life, has just announced the SurfacePad for iPhone (US$34.99). Here's a quick review of this latest addition to the Twelve South family.
Design
I refused to put a case of any sort onto my iPhone 5 for one very personal reason; I love the sleek look of the phone. But, as expected, I got a little scratch on the anodized black aluminum as a result of my stubborn refusal to put the device into a case.
At a meeting with Twelve South founders Andrew and Leigh-Ann Green last night, the company unveiled the SurfacePad for iPhone. The case immediately attracted my attention -- it's thin and it's genuine leather. The leather makes each case literally one of a kind, with a unique feel and look that improves with age. The company built upon experience from the SurfacePad leather cover for MacBook, creating a durable and thin cover that wraps your iPhone 4/4S or 5 in black, white or red leather.
Gallery: Twelve South SurfacePad for iPhone
Rather than making the case thick by adding a plastic or wood cradle, Twelve South simply attaches the leather back to the iPhone with a removable adhesive pad. It's very easy to take off and replace later, so if you wish to protect your iPhone with something like an OtterBox Defender while hiking and then switch back to the SurfacePad for dinner at a nice restaurant, you can.
There are nice little touches; half of the adhesive backing is securely fastened to the leather, the other half isn't. That means that you can use the SurfacePad like a miniature Smart Cover to prop up your iPhone for watching video.
On the "spine" of the case there are two small embossed buttons so you don't need to open the SurfacePad to adjust the volume of your iPhone. It's a nice detail that fellow TUAWer Megan Lavey-Heaton pointed out to me, and another example of the fine design work done by Twelve South.
If you've been waiting for a classy protective iPhone case that doesn't add bulk to your device, your ship has come in. The SurfacePad for iPhone delivers a luxury feel and has great looks that compliment the sleek design of your device.
As one would expect from a firm that includes a former fashion designer and marketer in the list of founders, Twelve South shot a high-fashion video that highlights the case. Check it out below.
Twelve South's SurfacePad for iPhone: sleek, slim and sleather originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
