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Phil Nickinson, Rene Ritchie, and special guest Michael DeGusta talk about fragmentation, legacy, forks, and flexibility and how they challenge developers, designers, but most importantly — consumers. This is a Mobile Nations Special Edition!

Agenda

• Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support
• Editorial: Fun with 'fragmentation' charts (or, why you shouldn't be distracted by shiny objects)
• Android ‘fragmentation’ — why it really matters to you and me
• Forked up
• Everything is a grid

Hosts

• Phil Nickinson of Android Central
• Rene Ritchie of TiPb
• Michael DeGusta of The Understatement

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Credits

Thanks to the Mobile Nations network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

Apple has announced that Bob Iger, President and CEO of Disney is joining their board of directors, and that Genetech’s Art Levinson would be assuming the role as Chairman of the Board.

“Art has made enormous contributions to Apple since he joined the board in 2000," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "He has been our longest serving co-lead director, and his insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders."

"Bob and I have gotten to know one another very well over the past few years and on behalf of the entire board, we think he is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board," said Tim Cook. "His strategic vision for Disney is based on three fundamentals: generating the best creative content possible, fostering innovation and utilizing the latest technology, and expanding into new markets around the world which makes him a great fit for Apple."

"I am honored to be named chairman of Apple's board and welcome Bob to our team," said Art Levinson. "Apple is always focused on out-innovating itself through the delivery of truly innovative products that simplify and improve our lives, and that is something I am very proud to be a part of."

"Apple has achieved unprecedented success by consistently creating high quality, truly innovative products, and I am extremely pleased to join the board of such a wonderful company," said Bob Iger. "Over the years, I have come to know and admire the management team, now ably led by Tim Cook, and I am confident they have the leadership and vision to ensure Apple's continued momentum and success."

The late Steve Jobs was the previous Chairman of the Board, and also the largest shareholder of Disney following their acquisition of Pixar. Tim Cook joined the board following his promotion to CEO of Apple.

Source: Apple PR

Nancy Gohring over at IDG/Macworld quotes John Stanton, Chairman of Trilogy Partnerships, as saying that, prior to launching the iPhone in 2007, he spent a couple of years with Steve Jobs trying to figure out how to do it without the likes of AT&T or Verizon.

He wanted to replace carriers. He and I spent a lot of time talking about whether synthetically you could create a carrier using Wi-Fi spectrum. That was part of his vision.

Jobs gave up on the idea and ultimately signed with Cingular which became AT&T, but Apple did manage to disintermediate the carriers to a large degree with the iPhone, and take back considerable control of the customer relationship with everything from software updates to apps to device design and release.

Stanton thinks carriers should be concerned about the “dramatic shift in power” that occurred. They should. They should emulate it with other platforms because it leads an equally dramatic shift in customer experience and satisfaction levels.

Just imagine if they’d been able to nail the carrier part too?

Source: Macworld

BallAHolic is a new game for the iPhone and iPad that claims to have the “biggest balls in the App Store”. In this game, you must guide Uberhero through a 3D world with a lazor beam. He’s stuck in this world filled with balls, keys, and monsters, and you’re the only one who can help him.

I am having so much fun playing BallAholic! The graphics are great and the gameplay is really fun. The game opens up with an fun intro that tells the story about who Uberhero is and how he got stuck in this strange world. BallAHolic is a game that I can technically pick up and play for just a few minutes, but end up playing for much longer.

Check out the video trailer below!

BallAHolic – the game with the biggest balls in the App Store introduces:

UBERHERO – beloved friend, attractive, admired by millions, made out of steel, loves frozen peperoni pizza, women want him, men want to be like him and some men even want him too… long story short, THE role model of our generation finally arrived on iOS.

Unfortunately, a small accident – nothing serious – has brought him into an uncomfortable situation. Uberscientists have worked hard to find a way to communicate with UBERHERO and bring him back to our world.

Now it’s your turn! Get up! Prepare for an incredible journey! Leave your lousy life behind and become a hero yourself. Of course not an UBERHERO, that would be beyond your capabilities. But if it makes you happier consider yourself as the chosen one… alone at home… when nobody’s watching. Well, back to the topic.

YOU are UBERHERO’s last chance to guide him out of this mess!

On your journey you will discover

• 59 stunning balls make you wanna scream
• true 3D GRAPHICS you have never seen before
• brand new AMBIENT OCCLUSION lighting system
• mean monsters whose sole purpose is making your life very hard down there

Get ready for a new gaming experience!

• 3 different game controls using every single feature an iPhone/iPod touch provides
• AWESOME GYROSCOPIC game controls – move around in 360 degrees for a totally new way to play
• TILT your device or SWIPE on the multitouch display to experience the 3D world
• PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE – worry about other things! Play in your preferred orientation or change it while playing
• use your brain to solve tricky puzzles and complete strategic levels
• destroy everything that stands in your way back from this hell!

BallAHolic provides

• highly varying level structures unifying different genres into one game
• amazing 3D menu with real time lighting for a new way of navigating
• Meteors, snowflakes, bubbles – the 3D particle system will make you wonder ‘how the hell did they do that?’

Giveaway

The good folks at A Local Chaos Project have given us promo codes for BallAHolic to giveaway to 5 lucky winners! For a chance to win, just leave comment below and let us know which version you would prefer to win – iPhone or iPad?

BallAHolic is available on the iPhone for $1.99 and on the iPad for $2.99.

[iPhone App Store link] [iPad App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Some major retailers seem to be selling the Apple TV 2 at a discount, leading 9to5Mac and TechCrunch to speculate a new model may be incoming and soon.

It’s also being tagged as the 2010 Apple TV, leading to further speculation a 2011 model is nigh, though I think the Apple TV 2 has been referred to as Apple TV (2010) almost from launch to differentiate it from the original, non-iOS model.

If there is a new Apple TV in the works, here’s hoping it gets an Apple A5 chipset for easy 1080p handling. (And no, there’s no expectation of Siri so let’s not anyone start going pre-emptively nuts, okay?)

Either way, if you want a cheap(er) gift for the holidays, head on over and grab an $89 Apple TV 2 on Amazon while you can.

Source: 9to5Mac, TechCrunch

Apple has sent out their customer note to app developers that iTunes Connect, the web-based backend for managing app submission, updating, and reporting, will once again shut down for a week.

iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down from Thursday, December 22 to Thursday, December 29 for the winter holidays.

During this shutdown, the following functionality will be unavailable:

• Access to iTunes Connect
• The delivery of any apps or updates
• Additionally, the following will be delayed:
• Releases scheduled to appear on the App Store for the first time
• Pricing changes scheduled through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect

We strongly recommend that you do not schedule pricing changes through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect that would take effect from December 22 through December 29. Pricing changes scheduled to take effect during this date range will not be reflected in the App Store and the app will become unavailable for purchase.

We also recommend that you do not schedule any apps to go live during the shutdown. Releases scheduled with a sales start date between these dates will not go live until after the shutdown.

Last year this resulted in week-long app sales for users, as developers wanted to lock in deals for the holidays.

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Virus War Game: A real time strategy, that demands immediate decisions, cold foresight, accurate and well co-ordinated actions. This is the world, where every action determines the fate of the battle. Head the colony and lead it to the victory. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• KILLMAG: A free interactive visual arts magazine on the iPad. ocusing on emergent phenomena, a spirit of refinement and qualitative excellence, KILLMAG isolates, catalogs, and excels in emergent digital culture [Free for iPad - App Store link]

• Audium: By stripping away often over used features such as the playlist or track listing and putting the album front and centre, Audium encourages the listener to appreciate the album as a whole and rediscover all those forgotten tracks. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• PufferPops: Kids find it a delight to pop little fat puffer fish with their fingertips. You can capture as many puffers as your heart desires! The pleasure of seeing them pleasantly pop like fire works while being fathoms deep under the ocean floor makes a heart gitty with the joy of conquest. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• Gumi Bounce: Holy Cats! The shady villain King Nibblekins has stolen all of the magic gems. Gumi ate a magic gem which allows him to fly in any direction and now it’s up to him to get all of the magic gems back… or just search for food. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Since Apple just recently launched their iTunes Match service for users in the United States, you might be curious how to subscribe? Luckily, subscribing to iTunes Match is just about as easy as making an App Store or iTunes music purchase. Once you’re all paid up — it’s $24.99 a year — and set up, you’ll be able to access an online version of your iTunes library via iCloud from devices such as your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and AppleTV without physically having a computer to stream from.

1. First launch iTunes on your computer and make sure you are running iTunes version 10.5.1 or higher.

2. Next you should see an iTunes Match section under Store in the left hand pane. Select it. (If you don’t see this, you can alternately go to the iTunes Store homepage and select iTunes Match from the Quick Links section on the right. This option was missing for me at first and then magically appeared… weird.)

3. Next you’ll need to click Subscribe to iTunes Match for $24.99. You’ll be asked to input your iTunes password. (You’ll only see the not taking subscriptions message when the servers are slammed. If you get this, just try subscribing later.)

4. Next click iTunes Match in the sidebar just like you did to purchase it and you should now see an option to add your computer. Do so by clicking the Add this Computer button.

5. iTunes will begin Step 1: Gathering information about your iTunes library. In this step Apple scans all your songs to see what’s in your library.
6. In Step 2: Matching your music to songs in the iTunes Store, Apple compares your library to the massive iTunes Catalog. Anything that already exists in the iTunes Catalog is immediately made available to you in standard iTunes format — 256Kbps AAC with metadata and album art.
8. Step 3: Uploading artwork and remaining songs takes any other music in your library — anything Apple couldn’t match with the iTunes Catalog — and uploads it to Apple’s servers so it will still be available to you from the cloud (albeit in its original format, if that format was worse than iTunes standard.)
9. That’s it, you’re all set up.

Troubleshooting iTunes Match

A few things you’ll want to pay special attention to:

• iTunes Match can only handle 25,000 songs. If your library is bigger than that, iTunes will refuse to match it. About all you can do right now is create a new iTunes library on the same computer with a subset of your songs — no more than 25,000 — and use that library to set up iTunes Match. (Just make sure you don’t copy your music into new folders, leave it in its existing folders or you’ll waste a lot of disk space.)
• iTunes Match isn’t currently doing a great job actually matching a lot of songs. It could be an issue with metadata, if the song information is really different between the iTunes Catalog copy and your local copy. You could try updating the metadata on your local copies before going through iTunes Match, but it can take a lot of time and results may still vary. (Anything iTunes doesn’t match gets uploaded to Apple’s servers, so you still have access to it, but in its original form, not the iTunes Catalog copy in 256Kbps AAC with “official” metadata)

That’s it! iTunes Match should be happily processing, matching, and uploading your library. In the meantime, let us know how the setup went for you, and if you have any issues, jump into our iTunes Match Forum and get some help!

• iTunes Match Forum thread

The Capta mount is an all in one stand, cable management and tripod mount designed for the iPhone and other smartphones. It has just received Kickstarter funding with double the pledges required and there are still seven days to go.

Designed by two freelance designers, Bojan Smiljanic and Adewale Adelusi-Adeluyi they set about originally creating a simple and elegant tripod mount. That has now expanded and the Capta can be used for many more things. The Capta is made from airplane grade aluminium and has a adhesive pad that can hold an iPhone securely. There is also a groove for cable management as well as threaded hole for a tripod attachment.

According to Smiljanic, "With the form factor and technology of smartphones always changing we designed Capta to be the hybrid accessory that could keep up with those changes. For example for iPhone users regardless of generation, Capta replaces the iPhone tripod mount, iPhone stand and iPhone cable management with one simple device. Capta has exceeded our original expectations and when paired with a suction cup or tripod mount the uses increase exponentially. We are humbled by how versatile Capta truly is."

If you want to be an early adopter, you can still head over to the Kickstarter page and make a pledge; $20 will get you a silver version. If you are really impressed, you could pledge the maximum $265 and get two exclusive black Capta’s as well as a lot of extras too.

Source: Kickstarter

The guys from Applidium claim to have cracked Siri's security protocol and it could open the floodgates to third party developers and of course other hardware too. There is a downside, in order to use Siri on one of these other devices; you still need to have a UDID of an iPhone 4S device. A UDID is a Unique Device Identifier and is a 40 character unique number assigned to every iPhone.

The iPhone 4S sends identifiers everywhere. So if you want to use Siri on another device, you still need the identfier of at least one iPhone 4S. Of course we're not publishing ours, but it's very easy to retrieve one using the tools we've written. Of course Apple could blacklist an identifier, but as long as you're keeping it for personal use, that should be allright!

We have already seen Siri running on an iPhone 4 and an iPod touch; so this looks like another step nearer to getting it out there. Of course there is still the question of legalities and Apple could block the security hole at any minute. If you are a developer and want to play around with Siri integration in an app, Applidium has released a set of tools to help with that too.

Source: Applidium

The classic Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin, is now available on the iPhone and iPad as an interactive storybook. All scenes feature 360º viewing and tapping on objects and characters will result in animations and dialog.

Silicon Beach Software invites you and your child to explore a new type of interactive children’s storybook. Created and rendered in 3D, all the scenes feature 360º viewing. In Rumpelstiltskin HD, the classic Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale comes alive with narration, stirring cinematic music, and delightful animations. Tap on characters to hear what they have to say in each scene (but watch out, Rumpelstiltskin will give you a little attitude in one scene if you keep poking him).

• Tap on objects to see more animations
• All characters speak in every scene, adding to the story
• Find gold coins in each scene
• Turn narration on or off with one tap
• Tap on torches to turn them on and off, changing the lighting
• 31 fun-filled pages
• 26 pieces of music
• Developed in a 3D game engine
• 3D training room teaches how to use gestures with 3D scenes
• Magnifier allows zoom in and zoom out, as does the pinch gesture
• Universal: buy once, install on all your iOS devices

Rumpelstiltskin HD is available on the iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Georgia and Rene discuss how to deal with stress at work, including settings expectations, setting boundaries, communicating, taking breaks, and not becoming a slave to your smartphone. This is ZENandTECH!

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Hosts

• @GeorgiaTiPb (Georgia)
• @reneritchie (Rene)

Contact

You can reach all of us @ZENandTECH, via email at podcast@zenandtech.tv, or leave a comment below!

Thanks everyone, you’re the best community on the web and we love having you with us!

Disclaimer

While Georgia is a therapist, she’s not YOUR therapist. Everything said or implied on this show is for informational and entertainment purposes only. And shouldn’t be taken in any way as a replacement for proper, professional care.

Credits

Music is Peace on Earth by wellman.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

SugarSync is an online storage solution for your iPhone, iPad and computer. With SugarSync, you can store files, photos, and music to the cloud and access from any of your devices and you can even be stream your music and play in the background while using other apps.

Have you ever been away from home or the office and realized you need a file that is on your computer? SugarSync puts ALL of your data from all of your computers right at your fingertips…anytime, anywhere from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. With SugarSync, it is dead simple to sync and share your files online, giving you easy access to everything directly from your mobile device. If you like Dropbox, MobileMe, or Carbonite, you'll love SugarSync.

• Get anytime, anywhere access to all of your files, photos, and music
• Share any file via email, or copy and paste links to share with another app
• Backup photos/videos taken on your iPhone/iPad to your computers (without wires!)
• Stream your entire music collection, even while you use other apps
• Download files or entire folders for fast, offline viewing
• Share, move, and even delete files saved on your computers
• View photos from all of your computers (and easily save any to your iPhone/iPad)
• Edit documents locally (using a document editor), then sync it your computers

Giveaway

The good folks at SugarSync have given us a code for a 30 GB/year account for one lucky winner! For a chance to win, just leave a comment below! Must provide a valid email address to win.

SugarSync is available on the iPhone and iPad for free. A free account includes 5GB. Paid subscriptions are available for 30-250 GB and start at $4.99/mo.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

An iPad with a smaller display, and an iPhone with a larger display may sound like familiar rumors by now, but Korean Times says an “industry insider” approached them with some new details about them, specifically that LG had been contracted to work on them.

“Next year’s iPhone to feature a 4-inch display by LG Display, half an inch larger than the 3.5-inch display and retina display resolution will remain unchanged because LCD is currently being regarded as the right solution to offer value with better cost-cuts”

So are you getting tired of all these different sized iPad and iPhone rumors now, or just tired of Apple not releasing them already?

Source: ComputerWorld

Hello everyone and welcome to TiPb's weekly celebrity iPhone and iPad sightings roundup! Time to take a little break from your daily routine and relax with some gossip from the world of the rich and famous. What do all of these celebrities have in common? They all were spotted with an iPhone or iPad, of course. Check out a ton of pictures after the break, and if you spot a celebrity rocking an iPhone or iPad, drop us a note at news@tipb.com so we can include them in the next roundup, next week!

Please note: Some pictures may from time-to-time be NSFW (Not Safe For Work) so use discretion when viewing.

Actress Amanda Seyfried enjoys some sun with her iPhone.

 

Actor Darren Criss tweeted a pic of himself before a big scene in Glee.

 

Jimmy Fallon cracks me up. Here he is with his iPhone.

 

I won’t lie, I’m not sure which of the mini-Kardashian sisters this is – Kylie or Kendall. Anyhow, here she is with a white iPhone.

 

Lance Bass is hanging out with that dude from Girls Gone Wild (not to be confused with Girls Gone Gadgets).

 

Miranda Cosgrove, aka iCarly, has an iPhone. In the show they always make it a pear instead of an apple. Kinda funny.

 

Happy couple Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied enjoy a jog. He’s got a cool little pouch for his iPhone in his sweatshirt.

 

Daughter of hockey player Wayne Gretzky, model/singer Paulina Gretzky poses here with her iPhone.

 

Actress/TV personality Ricki Lake paid the Twitter headquarters a few months back.

 

Sharon Osbourne having a bit of fun.

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Potter used an iPad briefly on the last episode of Sons of Anarchy.