Federico Viticci

10804 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
@viticci@macstories.net
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

Secret of Mana for iPhone Goes Live Internationally, Coming To The U.S. Tonight

Secret of Mana, also known to the Nintendo nerds among us as Seiken Densetsu 2, was an action RPG for the Super Nintendo release by Square in 1993. I remember playing this as a kid on my SNES, and I remember the pleasure of playing it again a decade later on a modded PSP through a SNES emulator. Secret of Mana is considered one of the best games ever released on Nintendo’s 16-bit consoles, or one of Square’s finest action RPGs, period.

The fact that Secret of Mana still holds up to most similar games 17 years after its original release says a lot about the current status of role-playing games and the excellence of Square’s team back in the golden days. Still, let’s focus on yet another comeback of SoM, this time on the iPhone. Which is the same Secret of Mana you know and love, only with a couple of virtual buttons on screen to move you character, attack and change weapon. Yes, the Ring Command menu system from the original game is still there. Nothing else seems to be different.

The game is now live in most international App Stores and will likely become available in the US in 3 hours.

Sorted, Simple To-Do App for iPad, Gets A Lot Better With Version 2.0

Sorted is a very simple (and beautiful) to-do / list app for the iPad we first reviewed in May. The iPad was “the new hot thing” back then, not so many productivity apps were available and Things was my GTD app of choice. Sorted managed to stand out because it was elegant and provided a new way to simple list creation and task management on the tablet. It wasn’t meant for the average GTD power user still it captured the hearts of many hardcore users by being the “alternative” to more popular software like the aforementioned Things or, months later, OmniFocus for iPad.

I liked Sorted because it was the app I used to create lists out of my daily GTD environment. In fact, I still have the app on my iPad. But it’s a lot better now, as version 2.0 was released in the App Store a couple of days ago and it’s really good. Read more

Whited00r Project Brings Folders To Older iDevices

Whited00r is a project aimed at bringing several features of iOS 4 to older devices such as the original iPhone or the iPod touch 1st generation that are “stuck” on iPhone OS 3.1.3 as Apple officially dropped support for them earlier this year. Some of the features include multitasking, voice control, substrate processes via jailbreak, Springboard wallpapers and Bluetooth tethering. We last covered Whited00r in July.

A new version of Whited00r, released a few day ago, adds support for folders on iPhone OS 3.x. The feature, though, is not a straight port of folders from iOS 4, the developers created a new version from scratch instead and made it running on older devices as a MobileSubstrate addon. As you can see in the video below, those folders look just like the standard iOS 4 ones.

More information about “iOS 3 Folders” are available here, and make sure to check out the Whited00r installation guide here. Demo video below. [via iSpazio] Read more

Apple Launches iAd Producer - HTML & CSS Layout App for iAds

A few minutes ago Apple launched a new app for the Mac called iAd Producer which is aimed at developers and designers willing to create visually rich, interactive iAds. iAd Producer “automatically manages the HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript behind your iAd” and also offers advanced Javascript editing and debugging.

iAd Producer is available for download on Apple’s developer website and it requires Mac OS X 10.6.5, Safari 5 and iOS SDK 4.0. A user guide is available here. Read more

Dungeon Defenders Will Bring Android & PC Cross-Platform Multiplayer to iOS

Dungeon Defenders (universal, $2.99) is a recently release game for iPhone and iPad that it’s like a mix between Diablo and the classic Tower Defense; it’s got nice graphics and loot system but apparently gets lost when it comes down to UI (lots of huge buttons on screen) and 3D camera controls. In spite of the flaws of the first version, we should all look forward to the next update. Dropping sometime next year, an updated Dungeon Defenders will bring proper iOS, PC and Android cross-platform online multiplayer.

Several developers tried to follow the road of mobile and desktop cross-platform online battling before, and most of them failed. In the video below, though, you can see the DD developers playing the same game at the same time on an iPad, a PC and two other Android tablets. It all looks smooth and fast. It’s cross-platform multiplayer between the desktop and two different mobile OSes. Pretty intriguing.

We, too, do wonder whether the game’s servers will actually hold up once the update goes live, but right now – it looks perfect. iOS, PC and Android running the same game online? Don’t tell this doesn’t make you excited. At least a bit. [via TouchArcade] Read more

GoodReader for iPhone: New PDF Engine, AirPrint, Improved Annotations

Popular document management / viewing / sharing / all-in-one app GoodReader for iPhone was updated yesterday to include a plethora of new features, improvements and most obvious bug fixes. With this “App Store update” massive trend that is going on this week, it was no surprise to see GoodReader for iPhone show up in the “Updates Available” screen.

This new version of GR adds a brand new PDF displaying engine that allows for smoother zooming and panning, with the possibility to go back to the old engine if the new one isn’t working well for you. Weird choice? Maybe. Still, options are always welcome. The app now also has support for AirPrint (iOS 4.2 is, of course, needed) and sports improved annotations with adjustable drawing opacity and line thickness.

GoodReader for iPhone is available at $2.99 in the App Store. Full changelog below. Read more

“Yes, I’ve Always Wanted A Naked iPhone 4”

If all you’ve ever wanted is trick your friends to think you’re using a broken iPhone 4 with exposed internal, well – first I feel bad for you because, honestly, all you’ve ever wanted can’t be this, then I’m about to tell you this kind of weird dream can now come true thanks to a decal available on Etsy.

Well, it could have come true – the item’s been sold. But hey, maybe the creator will put new ones up for sale. Maybe there’s still a chance all you’ve ever wanted will be online again.

Anyway, it’s a decal that will make your iPhone 4 look “naked” on the back, with battery and camera lens well visible. I do think it’s pretty great and geek.

Still, you’ll have to wait for new units to become available. Dreams can take a while to come true. [Gizmodo via Etsy]

Screens 1.1 Available: More Gestures, Better SSH, Bug Fixes

Edovia released Screens for iPhone and iPad last week, and it quickly became thousands of people’s new favorite VNC client for iOS. The app makes it easy to access a computer remotely and actually use it on the iPhone or iPad thanks to the support for multi-touch. No mouse cursors to move, you just touch the windows. Also, Edovia’s Screens Connect feature is simply great to log in a computer while on the go with a 3G connection. Tested last week and it was perfect.

Screens was updated a few minutes ago, and this 1.1 version brings a lot of improvements, new features and bug fixes to make the app even better. Screens now supports customizable 3-finger gestures to map to any action you want and lets you launch the Mac’s app switcher with a 4-finger gesture. Edovia improved SSH in the app, which now allows for an address for the SSH tunnel, lets you customize the port and also doesn’t force you to activate SSH tunneling when connecting to a computer on a local network.

The list of changes and bug fixes is huge, so check it out below. Support for more gestures single-handedly makes this update worth it, so go buy the app at $14.99 now if you still haven’t. Screens is the best VNC client for iOS, hands down. Read more

OpenDNS May Slow Down Your Apple TV Streaming

I noticed this issue last week and I thought it was, once again, my ISP’s fault. The Vodafone Station connection I have here doesn’t exactly play well with…anything. Basically, I tried to set up the device using OpenDNS and I saw streaming speed of iTunes content go terribly down – even lower than what I’m used to with the Vodafone Station. It turns out, though, that it might not be Vodafone’s fault at all this time. Instead, it appears that the Apple TV doesn’t play nice with third-party DNS providers such as Google’s DNS or OpenDNS.

According to TUAW, developer Joe Maller and quite a few users on Apple’s discussion boards, setting different DNS other than your ISP’s in the Apple TV can cause iTunes to take even hours to start a streaming session. Maller’s Apple TV took 2 hours to start streaming content under a 20 Mbs connection. Read more