If you remember painstakingly constructing 3D models using points, polygons, and splines back in the days of the Video Toaster, then the Arqball Spin is bound to bring a smile to your face -- because it lets you do it with your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

The Arqball Spin app has been available on the App Store for a while, but now they're upping their game -- and the quality of their scans -- with the Acqball Spin stage. And they've turned to Kickstarter to fund it.

• The hull is CNC lathed from 6063 aluminum and powder-coated in the color of your choice—red, white, or black.

• Our stages are rugged and portable (powered by batteries) and possess a beautifully simple design inspired by Arne Jacobson's "salad bowl."

• 5" diameter and 3" tall and powered by 6 AA batteries, the stage can comfortably rotate up to 5 lbs (2.2 kg).

You can grab the free iPhone and iPad app if you want to try it out now, but if the idea of a higher quality 3D model makes your inner artist happy, head on over to Kickstart and make with the backing!

Free - Download now

Source: Kickstarter

Sparrow for iPhone is an email client for iPhone that offers many more features than Apple's built in Mail app such as the ability to add attachments when composing a message, a multi-pane navigation layout, and custom signatures. The main new features in today's update is landscape composing, the ability to edit and create labels/folders, and easier navigation between messages. Unfortunately, the biggest feature that users have been waiting for, push notifications, is still absent from Sparrow.

The folks at Sparrow headquarters have been hard at work to bring push to their users, but Apple has denied them the VoIP privileges needed in order to offer push notification for email, so they'll be doing it on their end. But here's the catch - push will not be a free upgrade. It won't even be a one-time in-app purchase. Push for Sparrow will be integrated as a yearly subscription.

You were more than 16 000 helping us on our Apple quest to get the VoIP privilege. We can't thank you enough for your support. Unfortunately, Apple has confirmed that they are not willing to do any exception to the rule and that Sparrow will NOT be granted with the privilege.

This means we'll have to do Push on our side and that it will be integrated as a yearly subscription into Sparrow's future update.

There's no word yet on how much the subscription will cost.

How much would you be willing to pay to have push included with Sparrow? Personally, I'll wait to see if Apple has any surprises for the built-in Mail app in iOS 6 before committing to a subscription with Sparrow. But if Apple doesn't address some basic needs like adding attachments and custom signatures, I'll jump ship to Sparrow in a heartbeat -- I already have for Mac.

$2.99 - Download Now

Source: Sparrow

Found an interesting article you want to share with iMore? Have a burning question about that feature you just can't figure out? There is ALWAYS more happening just a click away in the forums. You can always head over and join in the conversation, search for answers, or lend your expertise to other members of our community. You check out some of the threads below:

• Large music library slowing down Itunes store?
• Buffering Problem? Network Problem? iTunes Problem?
• Goodbye Blackberry - hello Apple!
• I won't buy a new iPhone if it doesn't have...
• iCloud makes my home life easier
• Weekly Photo Contest: Black and White!

If you're not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!

iMore has teamed up with the amazing folks at Scout to give away FOUR new iPads (with 16GB & WiFi) featuring Retina Display, iSight camera, & more! You can enter for your chance to win over one our iMore Facebook Page, and you can get more chances to win by sharing with your friends.

The contest starts now and ends May 21, 2012 at 11:59pm PDT so don't waste any time -- Enter now!

• iMore Facebook page

The Ten One Design Pogo SketchPro stylus is a fantastic all-around style, with best in-class sensitivity

Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Pro, part of the Pogo Sketch line up of stylus pens, one of the best we've had the pleasure use with the iPad. It's not as cheap as some of the competition, however, and not as specific as some others. So is it worth it?

Unlike some other iPad stylus pens, the Pogo Sketch Pro doesn't look like a traditional pen. It's longer and far more tapered than most. It's got a solid aluminum unibody and an excellent ergonomic grip. This puts the weighting far more forward than most other stylus pens, and that's a good thing. It lets the weight of the tool do a lot of the work for you.

Rather than a traditional pen, the Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Pro is longer and more tapered, yet still comfortable.

The tip is special designed and patent pending. While it's a soft Ten One claims this makes the Sketch Pro effective at every angle, and the most sensitive on the market. Our tests showed the Pogo Sketch Pro to be the most sensitive stylus we've tried to date. To achieve this sensitivity, the tip has holes in it. That does raise some concerns over wear and tear, but you can buy replacement tips from Pogo.

The unique Pogo Sketch Pro tip provides excellent sensitivity over a wide range of angles thanks to its unique tip design.

The Pogo Sketch Pro is available in any color you want, provided that color is black and silver. This matches a lot of the Apple aesthetic, especially if you have a black iPhone or iPad, but it's limited compared to other pro stylus pens.

For note-taking, the Pogo Sketch Pro is very good. We had no problem writing long form notes. If you're used to a more standard pen shape, you might not like the Pogo Sketch Pro feel as much, but the results are top notch. For art tasks, it's okay. It's not as good as a hard-tipped stylus for line work, or a softer tip for brush work, but the sensitivity makes it good enough for both. For gaming it's great, and the accuracy really pays off. Out of all the pro stylus pens we tried, the Pogo Sketch Pro is our favorite.

The Pogo Sketch Pro is an excellent all around stylus but is especially good for gaming.

The good

• Incredibly sensitive
• Good ergonomics
• Great gaming stylus
• Replaceable tips

The bad

• Okay but not excellent for art

The conclusion

The Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Pro stylus is simply one of the best iPad stylus pens on the market. It has remarkable sensitivity. While it doesn't feel like a traditional pen the way the SGP Kuel H12, its long, tapered design is really comfortable. We absolutely love it for gaming, and it holds their own in note-taking. For art it's more than serviceable, but for dedicated line work you're still better off with the Adonit Jot Pro. For general use, however, the Pogo Sketch Pro is absolutely one of the best in class.

$24.95 - Buy now

Apple might just be ready to add photo and video sharing and commenting to iCloud, most likely at WWDC 2012 this June. According to The Wall Street Journal:

The new features, expected to be announced at Apple's world-wide developer conference beginning June 11, will allow iCloud users to share sets of photos with other iCloud users and to comment on them, these people said. Currently, users can only store one set of photos in iCloud through a feature called Photo Stream, which is designed to sync those photos to other Apple devices, not share them.

Apple is also working on a new feature that will allow iCloud users to sync their personal videos via iCloud, these people said, as well as allow users to access "Notes" and "Reminders"—two of its apps for jotting down quick thoughts—through iCloud.com. Currently, those items have to be accessed via apps for those features.

iCloud's predecessor, MobileMe, included a gallery feature that provided sharing functionality, but it was not migrated to iCloud. When Apple introduced iCloud, they included Photo Stream, which handles backup but not sharing.

The recent, apparently inadvertent publication of an iCloud beta site also showed Notes and Reminders web apps that seem likely additions to iCloud.

WWDC 2012 is less than a month away. What else should Apple be adding to iCloud?

Help Mobile Nations help you! Yes, the network behind iMore -- and all your favorite smartphone and tablet communities -- wants to get a little more insight into your phone buying habits. When the iPhone 5 hits this fall, will you be pre-ordering online or lining up at an Apple Store? Will you be getting it on-contract, or buying officially unlocked? (And if you're planning on buying something other than an iPhone, we'd love to know how you're planning on buying that too!

The survey will only take you two minutes or less, and we really appreciate your time. Thanks!

Take the Survey now!

It's been almost a week since Apple released iOS 5.1.1 but not everyone seems to have heard about it right away. Some may not have received or noticed the popup notification or badge on the Settings app to advise them it was available. Others may have been waiting to see what, if anything, iOS 5.1.1. did to battery life and performance before updating. Still others aren't updating until a nicely packaged, unthethered jailbreak is available for iOS 5.1.1.

If you're in the first two groups, however, our latest reader survey shows that iOS 5.1.1. is about the same, if not a little better, when it comes to battery life and performance, so you can go ahead and update without any worries. If you still haven't received your update alert, or you missed it, or simply haven't gotten around to it yet, it's really easy, and really fast, to manually start the updating process right on your device, and over-the-air (OTA).

How to manually update to iOS 5.1.1

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap General
3. Tap Software Update
4. If there's nothing new, you'll be told just so. Otherwise, you'll be presented with all the details about the update.
5. Tap Download and Install
6. Agree to the Terms and Conditions
7. Watch the progress bar (This part depends on the speed and quality of connection. Don't be alarmed if it takes a long time, speeds up or slows down, or appears to jump around -- be patient.)
8. Once it's finished downloading, you'll be prompted to instal (and restart) your device. If you don't explicitly hit Later or Install within a few seconds, it will install on your behalf.
9. Agree to the Terms and Conditions yet again.
10. Apple will verify the install.

See our complete how to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud guide for more, and if you need any extra help, or need to trouble shoot, jump into our iOS 5 Forum.

MGTitleMenu is an open source iOS interface component that lets developers conveniently add pop-up, tile-based contextual menus to iOS apps. It makes the most sense on big screen iPad apps, but can also be used on iPhone or iPad touch. MGTileMenu, as the name hints, is from well known iOS developer Matt Gemmell under a free, attribution license (it can also be licensed without attribution for a small fee).

The idea is, if you're holding an iPad, you can invoke the context menu via a gesture (for example, a double tap). You can the quickly tap one of five action icons, or tap a "more" icon and get additional sets of action icons to choose from. MGTileMenu can also be configured for left handed or right handed use.

Gemmell was also kind enough to include his design and development process in his blog post about the component.

MGTileMenu was created as a way to show options or tools contextually, wherever your hand might be on the iPad's screen. It's for use in an app that I'm working on, and I thought it was worth releasing as a useful component.

The tiles are exactly the same size as app icons on the iPad's Home screen, which provides a sensible consistency and presumably capitalises on Apple's own research and testing. Believe it or not, the identical size was actually a happy coincidence: the first rounded-rectangle I drew by eye in Photoshop turned out to match iPad app icons to the pixel.

Having made the mockup, I felt there was something visually missing; the tiles needed something to unify them. A bezel seemed like a reasonable choice, so I started experimenting with the concept.

Check out the video below and then go read the whole post via the source link below. The parts about the bezel and the animation flocking are particularly interesting.

Source: mattgemmell.com

For today only, the iMore Store has the Marware SportShell Convertible for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 on sale for only $22.95! That's a whopping 45% off! Get them before they're gone!

Get the Marware SportShell Convertible for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!

This versatile, elegant, and cross-functional design offers: a hard shell case, an armband case, a belt case, and a tabletop viewing case–all at a single price, in a single product. By utilizing a system with a quick-release/quick-attach armband design, Marware is able to offer a solution for any carrying style you prefer–pocket, belt, purse, or armband.

It all starts with a rigid, polycarbonate shell that offers scratch and impact protection. Also included is a comfortable, reflective armband that keeps your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 safely away from perspiration and provides an easy quick-release solution for when you want to detach your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 from the armband in a hurry. The secure, rotating clip on the back of the case attaches quickly and easily to the included armband, or to a belt, purse, bag, or strap. This same clip also locks into "viewing" position so your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 can stand horizontally or vertically for viewing on a flat surface. Or, use the case with the flat black back piece that doesn't have a clip. All of this without major sacrifices to form factor, functionality, or aesthetics. You no longer need to purchase multiple cases for your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4–the SportShell Convertible offers a total solution at a reasonable price.

Features:

• 4 cases in 1–armband case, shell case, clip case, and viewing case
• Quick release/attach armband design is easy, fast, and keeps perspiration away from iPhone
• Securely clip iPhone to waistband, belt, purse, bag, strap, or armband
• Clip locks in place to become a stand (horizontal or vertical)
• Includes: Hard shell case, black back piece, clear back piece with clip, armband

Get the Marware SportShell Convertible for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!

From iPhone to iPod touch to iPad, Apple has slowly but surely rolled Retina displays across their iOS device lineup, and according to the latest rumors, they may be ready to start bringing it to the Mac. 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman has the scoop:

Apple will also introduce the Mac Retina Display in this new MacBook Pro, according to these sources in the far-east. The display is quoted as "jaw-dropping" and "definitely the most important Mac innovation in years," by sources familiar with the quality of the screens in test-production.

Sources familiar with software strings left behind in OS X Lion 10.7.4 and Mountain Lion betas say that this Retina Display MacBook Pro features multiple Retina resolution modes, so users are able to adjust the sharpness and image sizes to their liking.

Reportedly also in the pipeline is a new, thinner design that may ditch the chunky ethernet port, but add a fast USB 3 port to the mix, as well as the MacBook Air-style keyboard.

Retina Display on iOS uses a "point" that contains four pixels for each single pixel on old, non-Retina displays, resulting in text and images that are four times sharper. At that size, the individual pixels are typically too small for the human eye to see, and the results are more like digital paper than traditional dot displays.

Since Apple only had two screen sizes to handle in iOS -- iPhone/iPod touch and iPad -- it was a fairly straightforward transition for developers and designers, and transparent to end users. How they'll handle it with OS X, which goes from the 11 inch MacBook Air to the 27-inch iMac will be interesting.

Talk of Retina display Macs (or HiDPI or resolution independent) has been around for a while, as have signs that Apple has been preparing for it. After the new iPad in March, after using it for long periods of time, going back to the Mac made the text look pixelated.

Hopefully we'll learn -- and maybe even see -- more of these next generation Macs at WWDC 2012 this June.

If you're waiting on new MacBook Pros, jump into our Apple Forum and tell us just exactly what features you'll need to hit the buy button. And for more on Retina display in general, check out our Iterate podcast Retina round table.

Source: 9to5Mac

With both Mothers Day and a birthday in the family this weekend, I didn't have time to compile my usual weekly column. But there are a few things I'd like to comment on and draw your attention to. So let's dive right in.

Podcasts

We've changed up the format of iPhone & iPad Live so that we're talking about less, but talking about it more in-depth. We'd gotten a bunch of feedback about this over the last few months, with many viewers and listeners saying there was just too much news and not enough analysis, too many app mentions and not enough opinion or discussion about how we use them, too many accessories and not enough comparisons. Well, we listened. Now we have one, more in-depth spotlight topic each week and a couple of discussion points. We're still tweaking things, so please keep the feedback coming. (Due to popular demand, we're going to start featuring your feedback on the show as well -- so if you haven't left a comment on last week's episode yet, get to it!)

Speaking of podcasts, the feedback on ZEN and TECH lately has been off the charts (special thanks to the blogging community who've told us how much they like it). The world we live in is more stressful than ever, and Georgia is by far the best in the business at helping people center their inner geek and deal with their connected lives. If you haven't watched or listened lately, do yourself a favor and watch or listen now. It can literally change your life for the better.

Last but certainly not least, we had Loren Brichter on Iterate this week. He created Tweetie which became the original Twitter for iPhone, and is still Twitter for iPad and Twitter for Mac. He also invented pull-to-refresh. Yeah. Genius. Give him a listen.

Rumors

iMore is really careful about rumors because we really value your attention. We're not a rumor site -- we're an enthusiast site. 9 out of 10 times we'll just link to rumors posted on rumor sites. A few times a year, however, we're fortunate to get some really good information about upcoming Apple products, and we're able to check into it and determine it's really good information. Like the iPhone 4S and the new iPad. It's never all the details, so sometimes we misunderstand pieces (i.e. we heard quad-core for the new iPad, and it turned out to be specifically quad-core graphics, not CPU), but overall the info we've gotten has been rock solid. Here's hoping last week was no different.

• 7-inch iPad on track for October 2012 release, $200 to $250 price: Apple doesn't want to leave any room for Amazon in the lower-end tablet space.
• iPhone 5 to be another Google killer -- but with a twist: A new Apple-powered Maps app in iOS 6 might just be the tip of the iceberg.
• iPhone 5 design still not finalized, still no big screen, still no metal back, still on track for October release: Despite some recent rumors to the contrary, we've heard Apple hasn't settled on a widescreen display or metal back yet.

Features

Some great stuff this week:

• Jailbreak concepts Apple should implement in iOS 6 by Ally Kazmucha. Last year Apple took Notification Center, Wi-Fi sync, and more from jailbreak. What should they take this year?
• Is there a future for jailbreak? by Ally Kazmucha. On the flip side, if Apple keeps Sherlocking jailbreak, is there a future left for it?
• Weekly Photo Contest: Black and White! by Leanna Lofte. She's been showing you how to build your iPhone photography skills, and here's your chance to wins some prizes.
• iOS 6: The opposite of widgets by yours truly. Rather than having widgets that take information from apps and splay it on the Home screen, we want that info inside other apps.
• SkyDrive vs. Dropbox vs. Google Drive: best cloud storage option for iPhone and iPad users by Ally Kazmucha. Whether you're new to cloud storage or simply want to check out other options, here's your breakdown.

And the stylus showdown begins:

• SGP Kuel H12 stylus for iPad review by Georgia. Your best bet for long-form note-taking.
• Adonit Jot Pro stylus for iPad review by Georgia. What you want if you're a technical artist.
• Wacom Bamboo Stylus review by Georgia. An okay stylus but not as good or as cheap as the pro-level competition.

Keep an eye out for a pro-stylus battle royal on iMore TV this week!

Another supposed part leak from Apple's next generation iPhone 5 has shown up online. The component is listed as a headphone jack/earpiece/Wi-fi antenna. The iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 parts are grouped a bit differently -- but that's not what I find interesting. If this is indeed a part from the next generation iPhone, I don't think what it's listed as is what we're actually looking at. I think it's possible we're looking at Apple's new micro dock connector, the one iMore first reported on back in February.

As you can see, the part leak above shows more of a resemblance to a dock connector and loud speaker assembly. The upper portion also looks like it contains a cellular antenna as opposed to a Wi-Fi antenna.

While it is correct that the headphone jack, volume buttons, and mute switch are grouped together on one component in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, I don't believe that's what this component is at all. The picture above is a photo of an iPhone 4S with an iPhone 4 dock connector below it. As you can see, the part leak shares a pretty strong resemblance to the dock connector and loud speaker of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. What I think we are actually looking at is a dock connector/loud speaker/cellular antenna assembly. Currently the dock connector and loud speaker are on the same assembly but the cellular antenna is its own component that is fastened to the speaker housing with adhesive and a set of screws.

The cellular antenna in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is affixed to the speaker assembly. Part leak photos may show the cellular antenna attached to the dock connector and loud speaker flex cable instead.

People also tend to confuse the Wi-Fi antenna (which is actually located in the top portion of the iPhone 4 and 4S) with the cellular antenna located in the bottom portion along with the housing. Above you can see a photo of an iPhone 4 cellular antenna. If you refer back to the supposed iPhone 5 part leak photo, you can see the resemblance to a cellular antenna, which actually would make a bit more sense considering these parts are all grouped in similar areas already. The fasteners are very similar though so I wouldn't rule out it being a Wi-Fi antenna just yet.

What intrigues me the most about this image is that the dock connector (which is what I believe it is along the bottom) does indeed look quite a bit smaller than the current version. This lines up with the new iMore broke back in February -- that Apple would be ditching the traditional 30-pin dock connector and going with a smaller micro dock connector in the next generation iPhone. 

While this could be a component for the iPhone 5, it's also too early to assume that this is the final assembly Apple will go with as we've heard reports that the design has not been finalized just yet.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Source: PirateXMac via MacRumors

Marc, Seth, and Rene iterate through Google's Project Glass, upgrade pricing, and Instagram's sale to Facebook, and interrogate Tweetie creator Loren Brichter of Atebits. This is Iterate!

• Our podcast feed
• Download Directly
• Subscribe via iTunes

• Quasar jailbreak concept for iPad windowing
• BlackBerry 10
• Dev Rocket
• Sketch 2
  • Daniel Cooper tested Sketch 2 and found some fairly significant rendering issues Illustrator rendering issues when working on screen art (web and apps)?
• Keith Lang tested Fireworks and found an issue with inner shadow. Marc added Photoshop to the test
• What can you do in one layer in Photoshop?
  
  • 1 Layer Chainsaw by Marc
  • 1 Layer Portal Gun by Jared Sinclair
  • 1 Layer iMac by Daniel Cooper
  • 1 Layer Mona Lisa by Marc
  • 1 Layer Burger by Matt Kelsh
• Adobe CS6

• Loren Brichter of Atebits

Hosts

• Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) of Bjango
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford) of Nickelfish
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) of iMore.com

Feedback

• Email: podcast@iterate.tv
• Twitter: @iteratetv
• Facebook: Iterate page

If you're one of the best-of-the-best-of-the-best in mobile design for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, or Windows Phone, we'd love to get you on the show, or if you've found a drop-dead gorgeous app on any platform and really want us to talk about it, contact us and let us know.

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