Tiny Wings is back with a big update. Now there's local multiplayer in the HD version for the iPad, and a new racing mode called Flight School, which pits you against rival hungry birds. There are 15 hand-crafted stages, all Retina-optimized. There's cloud sync, so you can keep your progress saved across iPhone and iPad. Best of all, the update is free for previous owners of the iPhone version, and Tiny Wings HD is a steal for just $2.99.

Gameplay

The intuitive one-touch controls remain intact in Tiny Wings 2.0 - simply tap the screen to speed towards the earth, and catch the slope just right so you can slingshot over the opposing crest with even more velocity. Flight School is a new chapter which puts a fresh spin on things. Instead of trying to get as far as possible before nightfall, a bunch of inept little birds are racing to their mama for the best fish - the last one gets a distasteful prawn. As players earn higher scores, they're awarded fancier nests and unlock new islands to explore. There are new terrain elements to make things a little more interesting: bodies of water can quickly slow momentum, while inexplicably bouncy sunflowers can send birds skyward.

This racing mechanic is further extended to local multiplayer on the iPad. The screen is split in half in portrait orientation, and opponents are either attempting to be first to 10,000 points or get the highest score out of five islands. The one to nest first gets bonus points depending on how long it takes for the other to catch up, but leaders can also take automatic handycaps in furhter stages to give the losers a bit of a head start. It's a great balance mechanism and helps keep gameplay light and friendly. You can pick any of the available birds to use in multiplayer, and can assign custom names to them in Flight School. 

Despite the simplicity in the game mechanic, it can be quite hard to master, and now with multiplayer available on the iPad, skills can be truly put to the test. Although earning nests and and unlocking new levels is nice, it would be good to have some added sense of progression - maybe custom colors for birds, new birds to unlock, new backgrounds, hidden islands... There are all sorts of rewards that would be great to include fo playing the game, and they wouldn't have to necessarily come with the usual in-app purchase tagged on. Game Center is supported for leaderboards and achievements, but unfortunately there's no online multiplayer - yet.

Graphics and sound

Tiny Wings 2.0 hosts a few new soundtracks to liven things up, and the new birds all have their own distinctive voices. The art style retains the same colorful, slightly washed-out watercolor, and the menus are seamless from the proper gameplay. You can actually download the original version's soundtrack and a great wallpaper over at the Tiny Wings site. It's unclear if the HD version is fully optimized for the new iPad's Retina display, but generally if a dev doesn't say it is, it usually isn't. 

The good

• Gorgeous, unique art style
• Light, whimsical soundtrack

The bad

• No online multiplayer
• Few unlockables

The conclusion 

It is really, really hard to find anything bad to say about this game. The art style is as refreshing as ever, the music is still great, and the new gameplay modes add significant depth to the already excellent gameplay. Even the pricing is humane, as the developer released all of these new features without charging extra. The biggest thing that continues to surprise me about Tiny Wings is that even with its largely kid-friendly angle, it somehow strikes a goofy charm that appeals to all ages. If you haven't already bought Tiny Wings, get it now, and if you've already bought it, get the HD version - quality titles like this are few and far between, and deserve every bit of support.  

$0.99 for iPhone - Download Now

$2.99 for iPad - Download Now

Foodies rejoice! -- whether you like cooking or eating, mixing or drinking, dining in or dining out, Apple has you covered with the brand new Food & Drink category in the iPhone and iPad App Store. The Food & Drink category appears to be dedicated to creation and consumption apps, and doesn't currently include any shopping, ordering, or related commerce apps.

The Top Chart currently consists of Food Network in the Kitchen, Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner, FastPaleo, Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives Locator, Mixologist Drink Recipes, Local Eats, Cor.kz Wine Info, Grill-It!, Zagat, and Weber's On the Grill.

Although Apple hasn't publicly commented on the new category, like the recent addition of a Catalogs category, Food & Drink does help better sort content and allow apps a better chance at being discovered and featured.

It'll be interesting to see if Apple pulls the trigger on any other new categories. They were once rumored to be experimenting with the idea of an Explicit category, but it never made it into public release. Anything else you'd like to see in the App Store?

• Food & Drink apps

The European Union is seeking changes to current music licensing rules that prevent companies such as Apple with its iTunes Store from easily setting up an EU-wide online music store. If the ruling gets passed, it could force music royalty-collection societies to pass their revenue streams to their rivals if they fail to license music to online services in multiple countries. Bloomberg. reports:

Music copyright licenses are granted on a national basis in the EU so consumers can only download music from an iTunes store in their home country. The EU has sought to promote pan-European licensing for years, and the commission issued an antitrust decision in 2008 against national agencies that collect royalties on behalf of artists.

Under current rules, European consumers "have less access to innovative services," EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said today. "It's not surprising that young consumers look elsewhere than the legal" online music stores.

As an example, Apple launched its iTunes Store in the UK, France and Germany way back in June 2004. It took a further seven years for the same service to be rolled out in Poland, Hungary and ten other European countries; they eventually got access to iTunes in 2011. The reason that it took so long according to Apple was all down to problems obtaining licensing rights from publishers and royalty collecting societies.

The music industry along with the TV and movie industries really need to stop living in the past and realign their business models to reflect the massive change in the way we access media. One thing is certain, as long as they continue to make it hard to legally acquire their content, the less they will sell and the more money they will lose to illegal downloads.

Source: Bloomberg

Looking over the wreckage of ill-considered price hikes, ill-advised videos, and the ill-conceived Qwikster spin-off, it's hard to reconcile that Netflix of the last tear with the savvy, disruptive, almost prescient upstart service that was a favorite of iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV users. Yet CNET's Greg Sandoval has done just that, and lays the blame cleanly at the top.

[Netflix CEO Reed] Hastings was wrong. The price hike and the later, aborted attempt to spin off the company's DVD operations enraged Netflix customers. The company lost 800,000 subscribers, its stock price dropped 77 percent in four months, and management's reputation was battered. Hastings went from Fortune magazine's Businessperson of the Year to the target of Saturday Night Live satire.

Netflix still hasn't recovered from that single season of folly, and even if they one day do manage to succeed beyond their previous highs, or beyond anyone's wildest expectations, it still cost them a year, a fortune, and a large part of their reputation.

It's what happens when any company forgets what their business is, and who their customers are -- including the Apples, Googles, and Microsofts. Missing the mainstream PC market cost Apple years and billions; missing the internet and mobile cost Microsoft years and billions, and missing social cost Google years and billions.

Reed Hastings stopped listening, and that's when the trouble started.

It's a cautionary tale for any business, and it happens more often then we'd like to admit. Smart, creative, powerful visionaries start to think they need no editing, no argument, and no second guessing.

It's why we got everything from the Star Wars prequels to Qwikster. And it's something any successful company needs to be scared to death about, and relentlessly working to avoid.

The article is long, but definitely worth a read. Arguably this was a vital lesson for Netflix to learn. Apple found out once that everyone is beatable, and they came back stronger. Netflix could as well.

Source: CNET

Olympics Live Extra and NBC Olympics are two new apps that will let you follow the 2012 Summer Olympics from London right on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. You can stream Olympic coverage and access over 3,500 hours of content including access all 32 sporting events and over 300 medal events.

The two apps, created by Adobe, each aim to bring the most up to date and accurate information to users everywhere. NBC Olympics Live Extra offers live streaming coverage to cable and satellite subscribers with thousands of hours of coverage including access to both sporting and medal events. NBC Olympics gives users the most up to date statistics and results as they happen as well as show highlights from past events.

"NBC Olympics Live Extra puts the London Olympic Games into the hands of America's tablet and smartphone user, enabling us to once again use advances in technology to provide the broadest possible access to the thousands of hours of Olympic competition," said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. "The NBC Olympics app will be the definitive and most up to date source of information from the London Games, and the exclusive mobile source in the U.S. for London Olympic video highlights. It will also feature live results, dynamically served TV and online listings, and - during NBC primetime - a second screen for enhanced viewing and social interaction for when America again gathers each night for 17 nights to share in the incredible stories from London."

If you're following the Olympic games this summer make sure you check out NBC's offerings and let us know what you think.

Full press release below.

NEW YORK – July 12, 2012 – NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, is launching two apps today, both built by and powered by Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE), as part of its comprehensive coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games.

NBC Olympics Live Extra, will allow cable, satellite and telco customers to live stream more than 3,500 hours of content, including all 32 sports, every athletic competition and all 302 medal events. The second app, simply titled NBC Olympics, will provide short-form highlights, TV and online schedules, live results, columns and the new Primetime Companion feature -- the ultimate complementary, second-screen experience for NBC's nightly primetime Olympic broadcasts.

"NBC Olympics Live Extra puts the London Olympic Games into the hands of America's tablet and smartphone user, enabling us to once again use advances in technology to provide the broadest possible access to the thousands of hours of Olympic competition," said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. "The NBC Olympics app will be the definitive and most up to date source of information from the London Games, and the exclusive mobile source in the U.S. for London Olympic video highlights. It will also feature live results, dynamically served TV and online listings, and - during NBC primetime - a second screen for enhanced viewing and social interaction for when America again gathers each night for 17 nights to share in the incredible stories from London."

NBC Olympics partnered with Adobe, which built both apps and is powering them through the conclusion of the Games. The NBC Olympics Live Extra and NBC Olympics apps are available on select Android handset and tablet devices within Google Play, and on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

"It's been great working with NBC Olympics to change the way live sporting events are experienced by consumers. NBC is now able to create, deliver, monetize and measure the Olympics across mobile devices – using tools and technologies that make up Adobe's video solutions." said David Wadhwani, senior vice president, Digital Media Business at Adobe. "We're working closely with NBC Olympics and others to ensure viewers have a seamless viewing experience with two easy-to-navigate apps."

Zenkel added, "NBC Olympics is confident that Adobe, a proven technology leader and longtime partner, will deliver the best mobile event application experiences America has ever seen."

The entire Olympics mobile and tablet experiences were built by and are powered by technologies that make up Adobe's Project Primetime, enabling NBC Olympics to create, deliver, verify, monetize and measure the Games across mobile and tablet devices.

It's time to announce this week's photo contest -- and the winner of last week's car photography contest. Before I do, I want to congratulate everyone on their awesome entries. We've got some talented iPhoneographer readers here at iMore and it wasn't an easy decision!

And the winning entry is...

...this awesome photo of hitzatak's Mitsubishi! What I love about this photo is that hitzatak got down to an interesting level and also has his car parked at a beautiful location. The fact that the wheels are turned also adds interest to the photo. hitzatak also did a fantastic editing job with an HDR app to not only make the car look good, but the environment as well. Great work hitzatak!

hitzatak edited this photo with HDR Fusion.

• $0.99 - Download Now

This week's contest: The great iMore avatar race!

With the end of one photo contest, comes the beginning of new one, and this week is going to be a little different because we're asking you to take a killer photo for your avatar here on iMore! Although self-portraits are extremely popular for people to use as their avatar, this is not a requirement. Pick a subject that reflects you, get creative, and capture that killer image that translates into the perfect avatar for you.

The prize: Olloclip Lens System, Glif tripod mount, and $50 iTunes gift card

We're going all out this week and not only offering the winner one prize, but THREE! The winner will receive an Olloclip Lens System, a Glif tripod mount and stand, and a $50 iTunes gift card to spend on all those photography apps you've been wanting to buy! That's $140 worth of prizes!

The rules

The rules of entry are very simple. The photo must have been taken with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (we'll check the EXIF data of the original file to verify) and any edits must have been done with an iPhone or iPad app. No Photoshop CS6! If you have external lens accessories you are more than welcome to use them.

Additional Rule: In addition to the normal set of rules, this contest also requires that you set the photo as your iMore avatar and share it in the contest thread.

Resources

Now, before you run off to take your photo, remember that it's not technical skill alone that will claim this prize. Even if you're not the best photographer (yet!), a great eye and a great subject can still get you the win. However, a little help can never hurt, so make sure you check out these articles from our iPhone photography series for some tips.

• How to take great looking portraits with your iPhone camera
• How to edit portraits with iPhoto for iPhone and iPad
• How to make your iPhone photographs more powerful with negative space
• How to make your iPhone photography more striking with the "rule of thirds"

How to submit

Submitting your photo is easy. First, you must set your photo as your iMore avatar, then head over to the iMore Photography Forum and post your photo to the official contest thread. Don't forget to state which apps, if any, you used to edit your photo!

That's it! Now go out and shoot!

ENTER NOW

For today only, the iMore Store has the Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on sale for only $21.95! That's a huge 56% off! Get yours before they're gone!

Get the Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 now!

The Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case is engineered with five layers of protection, including a built in screen protector, water resistant mesh over all speakers and an extremely durable rotating holster. This case offers security from drops, fingerprints, scratches, dust, and more.

Features:

• Improved design
• Advanced five layer protection
• Layer 1: Built-in screen protector
• Layer 2: Ballistic shock absorbent polymer
• Layer 3: Tough impact resistant polycarbonate
• Layer 4: Additional shock polymer layer
• Layer 5: Optional outer layer of silicone
• Button and ports covers built right onto case
• Includes durable, rotating holster
• Water resistant mesh covering speakers

iMore 2.0 will be bringing you a ton of great new features, but one of the ones you can enjoy right now is our fancy new registration and login system, the glorious way it integrates with both the blog comments and the iMore Forums, and awesome way it lets you share the same avatar between the two.

Setting is all up is a breeze. Sadly, until iOS 6 and Safari uploads are generally available, you'll need to use a desktop browser to actually upload your custom avatar file, but everything else you can do just as easily on iOS.

1. Click/tap on Register or Login Here at the very top right of the page, directly beneath the Mobile Nations logo.
2. If you already have an iMore account, simply log in. If you don't, enter the username you'd like, your email address, and enter and confirm your password, and fill out the CAPTCHA so we know you're not a robot (or at least not an evil robot).
3. Our VISOR platform (my nickname for it!) will make sure everything is good, and show you big happy green checkmarks if so. (If you get a sad, red X, it means your username is taken and you'll have to pick another, or your email address was already used, and you can have the password reminder tool send you your login.)
4. Once you're logged in, click/tap on Forums in the top menu bar.
5. Click/tap on the User CP (control panel) drop down, middle left and choose Edit Avatar.
6. If the Use Custom Avatar button isn't selected, click/tap on it to make it selected.
7. Enter the URL of your avatar if it's already store someplace online, or on a Mac or Windows PC (or iOS 6 Safari, when it's released), click on Choose File.
8. Select the avatar you want to upload.
9. Click/tap on Save Changes.
10. And you're done!

Now you'll not only be able to add an insightful comment to an iMore article, or join the amazing -- and amazingly helpful -- discussions on the iMore Forums, you'll be able to do it in style.

Once you're signed up, add a comment below so we can see how it worked for you! Then, if you want to win an Olloclip. Gilf, and $50 worth of photo apps, go enter the Great iMore Avatar Race!

Georgia, Seth, and Rene talk about iMore 2.0, when accessory reviews go wrong, Twitter's antagonism towards developers, and luxury branded iPhones, and give away two $600 prizes! This is the iMore show!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

iMore 2.0

• Welcome to iMore 2.0
• iMore is hiring: World's best news, app, accessory, and how-to writers wanted!
• Failed review SMASH puny Georgia iPhone

Twitterpocalypse now-ish

• Editor's desk: Google I/O, Twitter-pocalypse III, 300 + 1, and more!
• Expanded tweets, per-user notifications, and more now available in Twitter for iPhone
• Tweetbot for Mac is here -- as a free alpha test app!

Community

• Would you pay a higher price for the next iPhone just so that you could feel more exclusive?

Giveaway

And there TWO winners of $600 U.S. Apple Store gift certificates are...

• iMore show 300 winner: tobearms111 for this comment

• iMore 2.0 winner: TurboTiger for this comment

Didn't win? Hey, we're giving away another $600 in our Mobile Nations Monday Brief contest, and we'll have more great contests coming up this week so keep it locked on iMore!

Hosts

• Georgia (GeorgiaTiPb
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

Apple arch-rival Samsung has just opened the doors at its first retail store in North America and we'll give you one guess as to where the design inspiration came from. The store, which has just opened at Burnaby's Metropolis at Metrotown, Vancouver looks awfully similar to any Apple Store you can walk into today. Minimalistic, open floorsplan, product demonstration benches, large screen TV's demonstrating products and software. The technical staff are even wearing blue t-shirts similar to Apple's genius bar staff. The Vancouver Sun managed to get a good look around the store.

The phones are lined up; there's a choice of tablets starting with the little Galaxy Note, the tablet with a 5.29-inch display that seems to have found a fit with a niche market, chalking up more than 5 million sales by the first quarter report. As you walk further into the store — the offerings get larger until you reach the notebook computers. Accessories line one wall and if you keep going right to the back, you'll find Samsung's version of the Apple Genius Bar, an area set aside for one-to-one or group demonstrations to help customers put the devices through their paces.

Samsung isn't the first to try to ape Apple's retail model -- Microsoft Stores are still rolling out across the street from Apple in as many cities as they can manage. Maybe one day every high-traffic corner and mall in America will sport an original Apple Store, and Microsoft, Samsung, and Google in a tidy square...

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but isn't all this Apple-like stuff getting just a little bit boring? You could argue that there are only so many ways to equip a sales floor that aims to show off consumer electronics, but as a customer, wouldn't you at least like them try something fresh and new? Maybe come up with something better? Or maybe that's everyone's grand plan -- to make Apple seem less special by sheer force of imitation? (Feel free to insert your own Apple Store design patent jokes here.)

There is a video giving you a brief look around the store and an interview with Samsung's director of channel sales Nelson Lemos. When you've watched it, let us know what you think. Is Samsung deliberately copying Apple's store designs?

Source: The Vancouver Sun

Amazing Alex for iPhone and iPod touch, and Amazing Alex HD for iPad, are now available in the App Store. The physics-based puzzle game, originally sold on the App Store as Casey's Contraptions, was bought and re-branded by Angry Birds maker, Rovio. It promises 100 levels of challenging fun, the ability to create and share your own levels, and the frequent, free updates that have made Angry Birds an enduring hit.

Based on the concept of a Rube Goldberg device -- cartoonish, comedic contraptions, outlandishly over-engineered to do simple things like catch roadrunners or put on trousers in as ridiculously complex a way as possible -- your job is to take the house full of toys and set them up to bounce, bash, and boom Amazing Alex through his tasks in as joyous, as calamitous a way as possible, trying to get as many of those now-infamous three stars along the way as you can.

Amazing Alex starts off easily enough, with a series of carefully guided levels that aim to teach you how to position and rotate options Enigmo-style around the virtual room so a soccer ball can land just-so in a basket. The difficulty levels rises from there.

Come up with the best solution you can to help Amazing Alex clean his room, battle card board robots, or accomplish any of the other 100 missions -- you know, everyday kid stuff -- and share them with your friends. Grab the 35 props and make your own missions, and share those. Or download missions shared by others. If user-generated content isn't your thing, Rovio also promises free updates to keep Amazing Alex on his toes and the game fresh.

If you previously owned Casey's Contraptions, which is no longer in the App Store, it does suck that you need to buy Amazing Alex again, but with Angry Birds under their belt, Rovio has shown they know how to manage a game and you should get enough updates and new content out of them to make up for the double sales dip.

We're playing Amazing Alex now and will be back with a review once we've knocked it, and him, around awhile. In the meantime, Amazing Alex is available now for iPhone and iPod touch, and Amazing Alex HD is available for iPad. If you grab one or both, let us know what you think. Hit game worthy?

$0.99 - Amazing Alex - Download now

$2.99 - Amazing Alex HD - Download now

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:

- iPhone Stolen, what do you do? - How to delete photos on iPad 3? - iPhone lockscreen's becoming boring? - Which is the best learning and fun app on iPad? - Missing icons and how to restore? - Crackle not working on Apple TV, any suggestions?

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