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Posts tagged with "iOS"

Infinifolders Updated, Now Supports iOS 4.2.1 On iPad | Cydia Store

Infinifolders by chpwn is one of our favorite Cydia tweaks here at MacStories: not only it allows you to put as many apps as you wish inside iOS folders (current limitation is 12 on the iPhone, 20 on the iPad), it also lets you customize the way folders become “scrollable” and activate a neat vertical paging functionality.

The latest update, version 1.3.3-1, adds full iOS 4.2.1 support for the iPad, which can now enjoy the power of unlimited folders as well. I’ve been testing the update on my jailbroken iPad and it works perfectly.

If you’re considering a jailbreak for your iPad running iOS 4.2 but looking “limited” in certain features, Infinifolders is one of those tweaks that leverage the real potentialities of the Cydia community. Recommended.

Camera Connection Kit on iOS 4.2 No Longer Powers Some USB Devices - Bug or Feature?

When Apple unveiled the iPad, they also announced they would release a dongle called Camera Connection Kit to allow users to connect digital cameras and SD cards to their iPads. When the Camera Connection Kit became available, users found out that it was possible to plug a series of USB devices, keyboards (even Apple’s ones) and microphones in the iPad. The device running the old iOS 3.2 recognized the peripherals just fine.

As reported by Mark Gurman at 9to5mac last night, though, it seems like there is a bug on the recently released iOS 4.2 that prevents devices requiring more than 20mA of power to be connected to the iPad:

The essence of the issue with the connection kit and iOS 4.2 is that connected devices that require power of more than 20mA will no longer work. That means that many USB keyboards (Apple’s included) will no longer work with the iPad, as well as USB flash drives. When the user connects a device that is not self-powered and requires more than 20mA of power from the iPad they get the following alert: “The connected USB device requires too much power.

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Microsoft’s Silverlight To Gain iOS Support in 2011

At the Silverlight Firestarter event two days ago, Microsoft announced a new version of its cross-platform runtime and development platform, Silverlight. The new version, dubbed Silverlight 5, will see a first public beta release in the second quarter of 2011, with a final release to follow before the end of next year.

Silverlight 5 will focus on better, more interactive media experiences for Microsoft’s suite of business application; Redmond’s giant wants to offer a technology that will help developers create great user experiences. While we don’t know about developers’ support for the platform, it’s interesting that the new version of Silverlight will introduce support iOS devices. At the event in Redmond, Microsoft demoed the new Silverlight on an iPad, and confirmed that during 2011 they’ll roll out support for iOS and Windows Phone 7.

Good luck with the HTML5 and Flash competition, Microsoft.

[iSpazio via CMSWire]

MacStories Preview: Screens, New VNC Client for iPhone and iPad

When the iPad came out in April, there was a category of apps I was looking forward to trying on the tablet: VNC clients. Those apps that allow you to connect to your Mac using OS X default sharing capabilities, enabling you to mirror your computer’s screen on an external device – such as the iPad, indeed. I got my iPad, and soon after that I installed iTeleport on it.

I’ve been using iTeleport on a daily basis since then to check on my computer when using the iPad in another room – usually the living room –  to change songs in iTunes, quickly move files to Dropbox and stuff like that. iTeleport is a fast and stable application, and it also comes with a feature that lets you connect over 3G routing the computer through a Google Account. Using a computer remotely over 3G isn’t the best experience you can get, but it works fairly well to start downloads and trigger actions on the go.

A few weeks ago Luc Vandal from Edovia contacted me and asked me if I’d be interested in trying a new VNC client they had been working on for months. I said yes, and now the app is basically ready for App Store submission. I’m running a final version of the app, the same that Edovia will submit to the App Store.

Screens by Edovia has become the best VNC app I’ve ever run on my iPhone and iPad. Read more

Air Video Update: Retina Graphics, Multitasking - Still A Must-Have

Air Video is one of our favorite iOS apps here at MacStories. Not only does the app come with a nice icon and polished interface, the real deal’s about the functionality: Air Video allows you to effortlessly stream any video from your computer to the iPhone or iPad – even with live conversion. No matter the format, no matter how big the file is (seriously, you can try with music videos or 3GB movie files), Air Video will stream to iOS just fine.

An update to the app was released yesterday, and it’s a pretty sweet update: Air Video 2.4.2 now comes with Retina Display-ready graphics, support for iOS 4.2 multitasking, performance improvements and enhanced file sorting capabilities.

An already must-have app basically got a lot better with these new features, so if you still don’t own Air Video, go buy it right now in the App Store at $2.99. Also, check out a video below of Erica Sadun from TUAW demoing a custom version of Air Video with AirPlay support. We can’t wait for Apple to open up its APIs and allow third-party apps like Air Video to stream to the Apple TV. Read more

iTunes Connect “Sales & Trends” Down For Developers

We received several tips from developers this morning informing us that “iTunes Connect was down”. We just checked, iTunes Connect works just fine but the “Sales and Trends” section (where developers can check on detailed reports of their app sales in the Store) is down.

When trying to access it (link), iTC returns the following error:

Your access is in the process of being set up, please return in 24 hours.

It seems like a maintenance routine that will be finished by tomorrow or later today, but we can speculate Apple will also roll out smaller improvements to the Sales interface once it goes back online. Anyway, developers, don’t worry: it’s not just you. It’s down for everyone, you just have to wait.

The Sales and Trends page is also unaccessible from the iTC mobile application.

Update: many developers are reporting Sales and Trends are back up. It sure is for us now.

OpenFeint X: Sell New Content Without Updates

After Apple released Game Center, OpenFeint’s survival plan was to provide even more services on top of the Game Center functionality, now OpenFeint X hopes to cash in on this. It’s a service that allows iOS developers (plus other mobile platforms) to add over-the-air purchasable content to their games on top of Apple’s already popular in-app purchasing. OpenFeint X works outside of Apple’s store, and allows devs to quickly add in-app content without going through Apple’s approval system. Only a few devs have worked with it so far, but it’s new and more will surely follow soon, especially after their “Million Dollar Challenge” announcement.

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The Incident 1.3 Goes Live. Finally, An iPhone Game I Can Play On My TV.

We love The Incident for iPhone and iPad. In fact, Big Bucket’s retro-style platform is easily one of my favorite iOS games of all times. It features incredible pixel graphics, an addictive gameplay and a catchy soundtrack. If you read MS, you know we’re totally into The Incident.

A few weeks ago we reported the developers were working on an update to let users play The Incident on their TVs while controlling it with an iPhone. Sounded like magic back then. It turns out, all you need is a VGA Adapter or Composite AV Cable to mirror the game on your TV and start jumping with Frank, the main character. That’s it. No complex pairing process – although we’re already thinking about a future AirPlay feature to beam games from your iOS device to your TV.

This feature of The Incident 1.3 is something we’ll remember in the months to come. It marks the arrival of iOS as a gaming platform on our living rooms, and we’re sure other developers will implement it in several other games. We’re waiting.

In the meantime, The Incident 1.3 is available here and it rocks. Strongly recommended.

John Carmack On iOS Performances→

John Carmack On iOS Performances

From Ars Technica’s interview with John Carmack:

Whether the iOS devices will reach that same level of performance before the next console generation ships is quite an interesting question. There are some very different designs for power consumption considerations that go into their hardware design, and cranking things up to give that level of power but gets burning hot in your hands and uses up the battery in 30 minutes is absolutely possible with the form factor right now, but it’s probably not the right decision from the standpoint of what the device really is and is supposed to be. But even at the same power draw, they’re going to be doubling and doubling again the performance level.

In the not-too-distant future, we’re going to be seeing multicore on mobiles, and I’m very interested in when the transition to 64-bit addresses is going to come in the mobile space.

If there’s one thing that’s holding developers from creating full-featured game experiences on iOS, that would be battery life.

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