Real Racing 3 lands on the App Store – and it’s a free universal download.

Freemium is the new way to sell apps on the App Store it seems. Following the insane success of Temple Run in 2012, more developers are jumping on the Freemium bandwagon, EA included. The latest in its series of Real Racing titles has just been launched on the App Store and it costs nothing to download. What’s more, unlike the first and second versions, it’s a universal download, meaning it’s optimized for every iDevice. Obviously, your experience is enhanced using in-app purchasing. But, considering this is likely to be the best racing game of the year, you’re not going to lose anything by downloading it. The graphics and gameplay teasers we’ve been seeing for the past few months are nothing short of spectacular.

App Store Description: 

Hyper-realistic. Pure fun. And FREE. Real Racing 3 sets a new standard for mobile racing games – it really must be experienced to be believed. 

Trailblazing new features include officially licensed tracks, an expanded 22-car grid, and over 45 meticulously detailed cars from makers like Porsche, Lamborghini, Dodge, Bugatti, and Audi. Plus, racing with friends gets kicked into another dimension with the reality-bending Time Shifted Multiplayer™ (TSM) technology. 

**This is a highly detailed game of superior quality. Please make sure you have at least 2GB of free space on your device.**

REAL CARS
Featuring Real Racing’s largest roster of cars yet, don’t miss our new manufacturers like Porsche, Lamborghini, Dodge, Bugatti, and Audi. Take the wheels of over 45 intensely detailed racers and test your skills on an authentic 22-car race grid – for the first time on mobile.

REAL TRACKS
In another first for the Real Racing series, burn rubber on a full lineup of real tracks in multiple configurations from top locations around the world, including Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone, Hockenheimring, and many more.

REAL PEOPLE
Like nothing you’ve seen before, our innovative new Time Shifted Multiplayer™ lets you race anyone, anytime – even if they’re offline! Every career event is filled with fully interactive, AI-controlled time-shifted versions of your Game Center or Facebook friends, as well as other players from around the world.

MORE CHOICES THAN EVER
Compete in over 900 events like cup races, eliminations, endurance challenges, and drag races. Upgrade your car parts to maximize performance. See the action through a variety of camera angles and fine-tune the controls to your personal preference.

THE PREMIER RACING EXPERIENCE
Powered by the remarkable new Mint™ 3 Engine, Real Racing 3 features persistent car damage, fully functioning rear view mirrors, and dynamic reflections for a super-enhanced racing reality. Enjoy a rich, next-gen game with the most advanced cross-platform social and competitive racing community ever. Real Racing 3 delivers it all.

App Store Link.

Source:TodaysiPhone.

UK Judge involved in Samsung vs. Apple case joins Samsung.

Apparently Samsung were impressed with the judge, Sir Robin Jacob, who was involved in the UK iPad vs. Galaxy Tab trial last year. His legal knowledge and expertise in patent disputes was seemingly impressive enough to land him a job as a patent consultant for the Korean tech giants. Sammy is currently involved in tussle with Ericsson, and he was viewed as an ideal man to have onboard.

Although Jacob wasn’t the judge who made the final decision, he did work on the appeals case and was the one who forced Apple to change its non-apology and write a full and frank statement making it clear that Samsung did not willfully copy Cupertino’s designs.

Apparently, everything is all above board, despite it seeming a little odd. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not this will go further. From a report by Foss Patents (linked above) it doesn’t seem troubling at all to the authorities in charge.

Today’s Apps Gone Free: Boo Seeker, TopNotes Pro, Love Me Not And More.

Go on the hunt for cute little creatures in Konami’s augmented reality game, Boo Seeker. We also have a powerful productivity app that turns your iPad into a digital notebook, and a colorful arcade game that requires you to defend your flower from bugs.

 

iPhone:

AdSenseZen ($0.99 → Free, 6.5 MB): Keep track of your Google AdSense revenue while on the go with this stylish productivity app. The app’s clutter-free dashboard allows you to get a quick look at your daily and monthly earnings along with how they compare to the prior day and month. The dashboard also displays your earnings over the past seven days in graph form. You can break things down even further to view daily impressions, clicks, and CTR for the past 60 days. The app includes full VoiceOver accessibility support as well.

AdSenseZen is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3-star rating with a total of 12 ratings.

Tune Cruiser ($0.99 → Free, 6.5 MB): Cruise through your tunes with this music game. You’re able to import any song from your library, and the game will automatically generate a beat line. While the music is playing, tap the screen at just the right moment to nail the beats. The game includes the ability to challenge your friends on Facebook as well.

Tune Cruiser is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 10 ratings.

Universal:

Boo Seeker ($1.99 → Free, 31.8 MB): Go on the hunt for cute little Boo Seeker Buddies in this augmented reality game. It utilizes your iDevice’s camera to allow you to search for Boo Seeker Buddies in your environment. Watch the radar at the bottom of the screen for blips, and then turn your iDevice to get them in your sights. Once found, you can tend to your Boo Seeker Buddies to keep them happy and healthy. The game includes 10 buddies to discover, four modes, and the ability to capture and share photos of your Buddies.

Boo Seeker is available for free today only (02/28). It has a 5-star rating with a total of 7 ratings.

Plight of the Zombie ($0.99 → Free, 125.0 MB): Help zombies satisfy their cravings for brains in this line-drawing puzzle game. Guide different types of zombies around dangerous environments by drawing paths on the screen to collect all of the brains. Just watch out for those angry civilians who don’t want to lose their minds. Each zombie has their own special ability, which will aid them in their quest for brains. The game includes 50 levels, four zombie types, a huge collection of unlockable accessories, and achievements via Game Center.

Plight of the Zombie is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 389 ratings.

Love Me Not ($0.99 → Free, 42.7 MB): A stylish arcade game that has you firing pedals to defend your flower from bugs. You’re able to rotate the flower by tilting your iDevice. Tap on a pedal to launch it through the air and towards your attackers. The flower pedals take a moment or two to regenerate, so use them wisely. Don’t let any bugs reach your flower’s center, otherwise it’s game over. The game includes a touch control option, ever-changing environments, and leaderboards via Game Center.

Love Me Not is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 10 ratings.

Kid Vector ($0.99 → Free, 30.6 MB): A retro-inspired 2.5-D platformer that will make you feel like a kid again. Run and jump through vector environments using on-screen buttons. Try to collect all of the coins while making your way through each level as quickly as possible. The game includes 15 levels to explore, hidden stars to discover, iCade support, and achievements via Game Center.

Kid Vector is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 18 ratings.

Blast Soccer ($0.99 → Free, 41.4 MB): This is what you get when you add platformer elements to an arcade soccer game. Blast Ball requires you to run around the screen scoring goals with different types of balls while somehow avoiding the bad guys. The game includes retro vector art, three stadiums, dozens of ball types, iCade compatibility, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center. Two additional stadiums are available via in-app purchase.

Blast Soccer is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4.5-star rating with a total of 16 ratings.

Haunted Hallway ($0.99 → Free, 24.1 MB): Run for your life in this 3D endless distance game. Control Bob via on-screen buttons as he tries to outrun ghastly ghouls, skeletons, and bats. You can collect coins and diamonds along the way, but be sure to keep moving since evil doesn’t stop for anyone. The game also includes a challenge mode with 24 levels, and achievements and leaderboards via Game Center.

Haunted Hallway is available for free for a limited time. It has a 4-star rating with a total of 27 ratings.

Clipboard Manager and History ($1.99 → Free, 10.9 MB): A handy productivity app that automatically records anything you copy to your system clipboard. Just launch the app and allow it to run in the background. Then anytime you capture something in your clipboard, it will automatically be recorded within the app. Clipboard items are broken down into text, URL, and image categories, making it easy to find them later on. The app includes the ability to edit and add clips, passcode protection, 15 wallpapers to choose from, and 10 fonts and 13 font sizes.

Clipboard Manager and History is available for free today only (02/28). It has a 4-star rating with a total of 182 ratings.

iPad:

TopNotes Pro – Take Notes, Annotate PDFs & Sync Notebook with Dropbox ($2.99 → Free, 28.1 MB): This powerful productivity app turns your iPad into a digital notebook. When creating a new notebook, you’re able to title it and choose from 20 cover designs and 10 paper styles. You can then sketch, highlight, type, and add images to your notebook. The app includes loads of pen color and size options, undo and redo, password protection, the ability to reorder notebooks, and the ability to rearrange and reorganize pages.

TopNotes Pro – Take Notes, Annotate PDFs & Sync Notebook with Dropbox is available for free for a limited time. It has a 3-star rating with a total of 17 ratings.

BookBook Now Available for MacBook Pro with Retina.

The company Twelve South, which is well known for making iPhone and iPad cases that look like old books, has come out with a BookBook cover for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

The cover protects your MacBook Pro with too hardback covers enclosed in genuine leather, plus a cushioned interior. It’s all enclosed with a zipper.

You can use the MacBook with the case still on, or remove it.

There’s a BookBook cover for the 13-inch and also the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. It’s available now for $79.99.

The company also makes a BookBook for the MacBook Pro.

Source: Cult of Mac.

Instagram physical camera goes from concept to reality thanks to Polaroid and Socialmatic.

ADR Studio came up with a physical concept named Socialmatic a little while back. Essentially, it’s a camera that looks like the Instagram logo and has an inbuilt printer to instantly print your filter-covered images. Although there are online services that offer printed photos, stickers and magnets for Instagram, this option is certainly enticing.

The company behind the concept has just announced a deal with Polaroid to make the camera a reality. The Polaroid Socialmatic camera will be available in the first quarter of 2014.

“We are so proud to work together with C & A and Polaroid, giants of digital photography.” – said Mr. Antonio De Rosa, CEO of Socialmatic. “It ‘s been a long and difficult negotiation but we were strongly motivated to reach an agreement to create a small revolution in digital photography. This mix of Hardware and Software, together with our brand new photo social network will fill the gap between virtuality and reality.”

There aren’t many details on specification right now, but they will be released as the product gets developed further. Although this is almost certainly an interesting gimmick and collection piece, I’m pretty stoked and would love to get my hands on one.

Source: TodaysiPhone

Amazon’s Cloud Player now supports iPad natively.

If you’re an Amazon Cloud Player user and you have an iPad, you had best go and check your iOS updates. Amazon has updated its Cloud Player app to 2.0, and it now supports the iPad natively.

The update brings a tweaked look to the app as well as new settings to manage the cache size for downloading onto your iPad. Apart from that, there’s not much different from the iPhone / iPod version.

Similar to Apple’s iTunes Match, Amazon Cloud Player lets you upload your music library to Amazon and then stream it back using Amazon’s Cloud Player from up to 10 devices, or from a browser. Any digital music you’ve purchased from Amazon will automatically be added to your Cloud Player. Also, when you purchase a supported CD from Amazon, a digital copy will automatically appear in the Cloud Player.

Amazon Cloud Player is a free download from the iOS App Store. The service is free for Amazon MP3 purchases and up to 250 other songs. For additional space for music, there’s tiered pricing.

Source:TUAW.

13 MLB stadiums to accept Passbook in coming season.

If you are a fan of any of these 13 MLB teams, get excited: the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals. Why? Well, because these teams will all be taking advantage of Apple’s newest foray into mobile payments: Passbook. The MLB also said that there are 3 other teams that will be accepting the new ticketing system, however those have yet to make any official announcement. MLB tickets can be bought in the free MLB At Bat application.

MLB tickets were one of the main points of the Passbook application back when Apple announced the service with iOS 6, with Scott Forstall even showing how it could show your seat, row, and section. Finally, the MLB stadiums are beginning to adopt the slow growing service. Other companies including Fandango, Starbucks, and recently Delta Airlines also support Passbook. Personally, I believe there is a lot of potential in Passbook, however companies are taking longer to adopt it than many expected.

Source:TodaysiPhone.

iPad at Work: Helping the NFL Diagnose Head Injuries.

 

Over the last couple of years the iPad has made a big impact in the NFL – being adopted by numerous teams to use as their playbook, and for scouting and a variety of other purposes.

Now the iPad will have a new, and perhaps most important, use in helping teams quickly diagnose head injuries – as Apple Insider reports:

The NFL will be providing each team with an iPad application designed to help teams diagnose whether one of their players has suffered concussion almost immediately following impact, ESPN reported on Saturday. … Prior to the start of the season, and at different intervals throughout the season, the system will be used on players to perform a number of tests in order to establish a baseline score. In the event of a possible concussion, team doctors will use the app to evaluate players, and the app will compare their post-hit results against their established baselines. A large discrepancy could indicate that the player has suffered a concussion, and the protocols for such an injury would go into effect.

Concussions and head injuries in the NFL have become a very hot topic in recent years, and rightfully so. It’s great to see iPads being used for this purpose and to see the NFL using technology in their efforts to better protect players.

Once again, not a bad bit of work for the ‘only for consumption’ tablet. 🙂

Source: iPad Insight.

Apple’s Deleting iCloud Emails That Contain The Phrase ‘Barely Legal Teens’.

Apple has a well documented history of banning everything that has anything to do with pornography, even if it’s only remotely related. It’s nice that Apple wants to keep the App Store clean, but their obsession with eliminating porn from computing has a lot of collateral damage.

In its latest push to get porn off your computer, Apple now deletes all iCloud emails that contain the phrase ‘barely legal teens.’ It doesn’t send the messages to spam, or flag them, it just straight up deletes them, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

It sounds like Apple’s just trying to help you avoid child pornography, but the iCloud censorship was actually discovered by an Academy Award -winning screenwriter named Steven G., who has nothing to do with child porn.

Steven G. wrote to InfoWorld that his software was trying to send a script to a director by emailing it from an iCloud account. The director never got the script, so Steven sent it multiple times as he tried to figure out why the email was getting blocked.

Eventually, Steven started cutting the script down into pieces to see which sections of the attached script were getting flagged and blocked.

“AND THEN I SAW IT — a line in the script, describing a character viewing an advertisement for a pornographic site on his computer screen. Upon modifying this line, the entire document was delivered with no problem.”

Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but Steven took his testing even farther. He created a PDF containing the line: “All my children are barely legal teens — why would I want to let them drive by themselves?” And yep, Apple’s servers sent the attachment straight to hell. Then he just typed that phrase in a regular email and it was blocked too.

After more research, Steven found that under the iCloud terms of service, Apple reserves the right to remove any content at any time that it feels is objectionable, without telling you that they’re going to delete it. Apparently, ‘barely legal teens’ falls into that ‘objectionable content’ category, along with other phrases we’re probably not aware of.

We ran our own quick tests that seemed to back up Stevens claims. Apple was asked to confirm whether it’s actively scanning files in iCloud and deleting them if they have keyword phrases like “barely legal,” but they haven’t responded.

Is Apple overstepping its bounds here, or did Steven miss something else that might have caused the emails to get deleted? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments.

Source:Cult of Mac.

Late 2012 Macs Unable to Re-Install OS X Mountain Lion or Restore from Time Machine Backups.

If you’re a proud owner of one of Apple’s late-2012 Macs, including the latest Mac Mini, the new ultra-thin iMacs, and the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, you may have a more difficult time than usual re-installing Mountain Lion on your Mac, or restoring from a Time Machine backup.

A strange issue affecting these Macs renders it impossible to re-download the OS X Mountain Lion installer from the Mac App Store, resulting in an error stating that your Mac is not compatible with Mountain Lion (despite the fact that it shipped with Mountain Lion in the first place). Further, if you happen to have the latest version of the OS X Mountain Lion installer on hand, you won’t be able to use it, as the same error is displayed upon launching the installer.

The issue doesn’t stop at preventing you from downloading or using the downloaded OS X Mountain Lion installer, however – it also prevents you from re-installing Mountain Lion using the Recovery partition. I was able to work around that specific issue by repairing the install volume permissions immediately before attempting to reinstall, however.

Worse still, the issue also prevents users from restoring from a Time Machine backup using the Recovery partition. Any attempt to do so results in a message stating “An error occurred while adding a recovery system to the destination disk.” The message directs users to restart their Macs and try again – but unfortunately, restarting does not make a difference in the slightest. Instead of using the Recovery partition to restore from a Time Machine backup, users must use the Migration Assistant app from within a complete OS X Mountain Lion install.

Previously, a seemingly related issue prevented users of late 2012 Macs from updating to OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2. Apple released Supplemental Update 2 to address the issue – but even with that update installed, the issue persists. This issue is also much broader than the 10.8.2 update issue, as it also affects using the Recovery partition and restoring from a backup.

I’ve verified the issue with my own 27-inch iMac, and made calls to several Apple Authorized Resellers (thanks to the staff at Simply Mac and Weber State University!), all of whom confirmed that the issue is present on all of their display units of the new 2012 iMacs and Mac Minis. I was unable to verify the issue on the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro – but I have heard reports that the issue ranges to those devices as well.

It’s unclear just how long this issue has been present – it may well have existed ever since the affected Macs were first launched. Even reinstalling the OS X 10.8.2 Combo Update fails to address the issue, presenting the same “incompatibility” error. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, but so far have not received a response. Apple has been testing the OS X 10.8.3 update since November of 2012, which will hopefully address this issue.

It’s concerning that Apple hasn’t manage to patch the apparent long-term issue in meantime however, leaving their customers in a sticky situation after spending their hard-earned cash on new Macs. Disappointing indeed. I guess spending thousands of dollars simply isn’t enough to ensure that you’ll end up with a product that “just works”…

Source:MacTrast.