Andrew Shebanows Retort Regarding Open Government
and PDF

post from Daring Fireball on 03 November 2009 12:42:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Andrew Shebanow:

The issue at hand is not whether governments should pick HTML or PDF. The issue at hand is whether governments are capable of publishing information at all. Show me an HTML creation tool that creates high quality, standards conformant markup from a Word document or any of the zillions of editing tools that government employees use.

Good point, and I regret having lumped PDF in with Flash in my criticism yesterday. It’s the idea that Flash should have any role whatsoever in a serious debate on open publishing formats that I have a problem with.

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Read The Full Article:
http://shebanator.com/2009/11/02/open-government-and-pdf/

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Ngmoco’s Eliminate and Touch Pets Dogs Come
to the App Store

post from TheAppleBlog on 03 November 2009 12:30:00 PM. © TheAppleBlog

dog-touch Ngmoco has been talking up its new offerings for a while now, including the visually stunning first-person shooter Eliminate, and the virtual pet Touch Pets series of apps. Both of these are now available, free of charge, on the App Store, as of yesterday.

Even though the apps are indeed free to download and install on your device, it should be noted that both of these apps represent the latest attempts to capitalize on Apple’s in-app purchasing system, in perhaps some of the most diabolical ways yet. ngmoco has recently used in-app purchasing to sell level packs for Rolando 2, which can now be downloaded for free with Chapter 1 included.

Eliminate (Free, iTunes Link)

Space marines, jumping, shooting, glowy surrounding, what more could you ask for? Eliminate is the first fully functional, original IP (not that we’re saying it isn’t derivative, mind you) first-person shooters to hit the iPhone platform, and it’s been highly anticipated as a result. It features global matchmaking for multiplayer combat over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Sorry, no EDGE, but it probably couldn’t handle the action anyway.

eliminate There’s also Plus+ network integration so you can track your stats and invite your friends and contacts to go toe-to-toe in deathmatches, and compare stats on the leader board. And the game includes a leveling and credit for weapon and armor upgrades and customization. Sounds pretty good, right? Now the bad news.

Eliminate is free to play, but it definitely gives you an advantage to pay. As the cleverly designed opening sequence relates, you are equipped with a set amount of energy in Eliminate, and when said energy runs out, you no longer earn credits for kills. Energy refills over time, or you can simply buy more using the in-app purchasing system. Credits allow you to upgrade weapons and armor.

You start with 30 power cells of energy. Based on my trials, that will probably last you about 10 to 15 minutes of play, if that, though I’m not sure of the actual conversion rate. Once you expend any points, a countdown clock starts until you charge again. The clock lasts around 240 minutes, so you are recharged every four hours, basically. You can buy additional power cells in blocks of 20, 280, and 975 for 99 cents, $9.99 and $29.99 respectively if you’re not the patient type.

The game is fun, and works surprisingly well given the touch controls you’re stuck with on an iPhone or iPod touch, and you can practice against bots or play without earning credits for free any time you want. All of which means that ngmoco is being pretty fair with its use of in-app purchasing this time around. Basically, you pay to progress, but the game is still enjoyable by all without that aspect. It’s a nice blend, and one that I predict will be hugely successful once Eliminate hits wide release.

Touch Pets Dogs (Free, iTunes Link)

I admit to once having owned a tamagotchi. Or if not owned, at least permanently on loan from my sister. The problem, of course, was that they always proved more of a nuisance than anything else. All of the demands of a real pet, and none of the benefits, like companionship or snuggle-ability.

Touch Pets Dogs follows in the footsteps of Nintendogs and other pet simulators before it. You pick out a puppy, name it, and then begin taking care of, playing with, and training it. It has a Sims-like interface for checking on your dog’s skills and happiness level, and even their Job status, which is a unique feature introduced by the ngmoco sim. You can train your dog to follow a career path, which makes it even more like The Sims.

There’s actually a lot to do in Touch Pet Dogs, and you gain levels as a dog owner in different areas, just like your dog can gain skills and job levels. It’s much richer than any other pet sim I’ve played, and it managed to keep my interest for more than one play-through, which is a record I think.

The in-app purchasing component to Touch Pets is fairly devious, though. You have to pay for food, which seems extremely cruel, since it’s such a basic necessity for your dog’s well-being. Luckily, your food automatically refills to a maximum of two bowls, and does so relatively quickly, so you can still play without having to cough up micropayments, but it will be harder to keep your dog hale and hearty. You can also buy more Puppy Bucks by converting food that you buy via iTunes.

The Future of iPhone Gaming?

Both of these new games from ngmoco show different types of attempts at capitalizing on the iPhone’s in-app purchasing system. It’s a thorny issue to navigate, since on the one hand, you could stand to make a lot more money than by selling apps in a more traditional manner, but on the other, you could inspire the rancor of your customers if you appear to be using the system unfairly. In my opinion, ngmoco’s done a good job of treading that thin line thus far, and it looks like they’re committed to making changes to make sure they strike the right balance.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/11/03/ngmocos-eliminate-and-touch-pets-dogs-come-to-
the-app-store/

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Apple tops in retail, universal stores lead
online

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 03 November 2009 12:20:00 PM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Apple leads in brick-and-mortar retail stores but is no match for more universally oriented stores o...

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http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=7144eee90e19d00ed33063d4d60e1987

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Philadelphia set to gain first Apple Store

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 03 November 2009 12:00:00 PM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Apple is on the verge of building the first Apple Store within Philadelphia proper, writes Metro. T...

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The Ones That Win Are the Ones That Ship

post from Daring Fireball on 03 November 2009 11:48:00 AM. © Daring Fireball

Mark Pilgrim asks (and answers): Why do we have an IMG element in HTML? So good.

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http://diveintomark.org/archives/2009/11/02/why-do-we-have-an-img-element

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Rumor Has It: China Ontrade Reveals iPhone 4 Part

post from TheAppleBlog on 03 November 2009 11:45:00 AM. © TheAppleBlog

iphone-midboard-apple-generation-4 China Ontrade, a wholesale parts distributor that ships pre-production parts from upcoming devices, has just posted a part it calls the “Apple iPhone 4 Generation Midboard.” While not particularly pretty to look at, or indicative of any exciting new features for the upcoming model, the part is tantalizing because it represents the first piece of leaked, hard info potentially linked to the next-gen iPhone.

It’s even more exciting because China Ontrade has a history of being accurate with its early leaks. As Gizmodo points out, the site began selling spare LCDs and other parts for the 3GS a month before its official release, and the parts turned out to be accurate when the iPhone received its customary teardown examination following its launch in June of 2009.

But that was a difference of one month, not eight months, as would be the case with this new part if Apple sticks to its standard June release schedule for new iPhone models. To have production parts ready eight months before launch is just bad business, since it costs money to store them all. It could be a part from a pre-production testing model, but it doesn’t make sense that the factory would be building them in large enough quantities that they’d have lots of spares to sell through China Ontrade.

Gizmodo suggests an interesting alternate theory: What if a new iPhone is only around a month away? It seems far-fetched, but there is some solid reason to suspect it might be possible. First, the 3GS, while successful, represented only an incremental update. A true successor coming around half a year after its launch wouldn’t be out of line with the product life cycle of some of Apple’s other hardware.

Second, Android is gaining ground and becoming more popular with network operators, due largely to Google’s less-than-free model for licensing its OS and applications. Further product line differentiation, and the availability of three distinct models of iPhone simultaneously could help Apple block Google’s progress.

For now, I remain skeptical, but China Ontrade has promised to offer more parts for the upcoming 4th generation iPhone for sale on its site in the near future, and shots of the device itself, too. The site also recently posted a part they claim is from Apple’s upcoming tablet, too, so it’s entirely possible that following that and the 3GS part reveal last summer they experienced a heady spike in traffic and orders, and have thus learned, through positive reinforcement, that making claims about having hands-on access to parts from upcoming Apple devices is good for business.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/11/03/rumor-has-it-china-ontrade-reveals-iphone-4-pa
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iPhone game aims to raise funds for Swine Flu
relief

post from prMac on 03 November 2009 11:32:00 AM. © prMac

VFSoftware LLC today announces Beat the Swine '09, the first iPhone app to raise monetary donations for H1N1 relief. VFSoftware LLC will donate to the CDC Foundation's H1N1 relief fund for all downloads, increasing donations as a player's score goes up. Similar to the classic Asteroids, Beat the Swine '09 has a medically inspired theme and updated pandemic information, making it the first to target gamers to help combat the spread of Swine Flu.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-8394.htm

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New Meizu M8 firmware clones Android, iPhone 3.0

Meizu's M8 phone is about to undergo a major overhaul that draws on interface elements from at least...

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Early China Unicom iPhone sales underwhelm

China Unicom has only acquired a little over 5,000 iPhone subscribers since officially introducing t...

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Is Backup on Apple’s Back Burner or Simply
Abandoned

apple_backup

When Leopard was introduced, backing up became an automatic and effortless operation. Set it and forget it. Unfortunately, Time Machine backups are not off-site and don’t protect you against an on-site disaster. When I previously covered some online off-site backup solutions, Apple’s backup utility was not one of them.

Apple Backup is still a nifty way to back up critical files to your MobileMe account, or any hard drive you can mount, and I personally use it every day to back up my most critical files. I have tons of space on my MobileMe account, so I might as well use it. Best of all, it’s a free program with a MobileMe subscription.

However, in the move from .Mac to MobileMe and from Leopard to Snow Leopard, the development of this utility has seemingly stopped. The latest version is 3.1.2, and it was released on Oct. 27, 2007 — over two years ago. The branding of the program still states it does backups to your “.Mac” account and doesn’t mention MobileMe. I find it a complete resource hog while running in the background. Obviously, it’s not optimized for 64-bit processors. Humorously, it still has Quickpick options in the interface to automatically back up Internet Explorer data. Internet Explorer hasn’t been released for the Mac in over half a decade. If that doesn’t convince you Apple Backup needs updating, then I’m not sure what will.

Apple, it’s time to update Backup, and here’s what I want on the feature list.

First, make it fit into the current Apple product line. Change the references to .Mac, and optimize it for Snow Leopard. Additionally, allow me to schedule backups directly from iCal.

Next, give me Quickpicks for programs currently in use by typical Apple users. Remove the backup options for Internet Explorer and add programs such as Firefox and Quickbooks. While you are tweaking the code, make it easy for users to back up their Preferences directory. Sure, it’s not that hard to do it manually, but the average Apple user doesn’t realize how critical preferences are.

If you really want to knock my socks off, include encryption options like you did with the latest iPhones. I hate not having encrypted backups. Speaking of iPhones, how about a Quickpick to allow the automatic off-site backup of our existing iPhone backups?

Apple’s Backup application used to be a great added value for .Mac/MobileMe users and a convenient way for all Mac users to do backups. It has grown very long in the tooth and needs to be made relevant again. Apple, you have your marching orders, so get to work! Readers, don’t forget to add feature request in the comments below.