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

MacStories Weekly Game: ChuChu Rocket! HD

I never had the chance to play the original ChuChu Rocket! 10 years ago on the SEGA Dreamcast. I didn’t have a Dreamcast back then. In fact, I think I was playing with the PSX back in 2000, and I’m sure I had a Game Boy Color. A few years later I bought the GBA, a Game Cube and a PS2 – but I never bothered grabbing a Dreamcast to check out the gems released by SEGA and other 3rd party developers. I regret that, mostly because I’m still lacking knowledge in true masterpieces such as Shenmue (although this one’s been re-released on the Xbox) or Jet Set Radio.

Luckily enough for me, looks like iOS devices are somehow here to save the day and allow us to re-enjoy games first appeared years ago and now ready to come to life again under the power of multi-touch. That’s exactly what’s happening with ChuChu Rocket! HD for iPad: released a decade ago and subsequently redesigned to appear on the Game Boy Advance, the game’s now running on the iPad taking advantage of its larger screen and touch controls.

So why is this a Weekly Game anyway? Because it’s as genius as it was 10 years ago, and it’s a truly addictive puzzle game. Read more

Overboard Now iOS 4.2.1 Compatible, Looks Great On iPad | Cydia Store

Overboard, the useful tweak by Ryan Petrich which allows you to easily switch between your Springboard pages with a nice overlay interface, has been updated to work with all devices running iOS 4.2.1. This means the tweak not only works great on the iPhone and iPod Touch, it also runs smoothly on iPads jailbroken using redsn0w.

You can assign a custom activation method to Overboard (with Activator) or simply call it using the icon on the Springboard. I’m using a pinch gesture and it works really well. In the tweak’s settings you can adjust the way it displays pages and icons, choosing from different column layouts, backgrounds and visible dock. If you’re really that convinced Overboard will become your most used app, you cam make it your homescreen.

Overboard is available at $1.99 in the Cydia Store.

The Glif: Now Available→

The Glif: Now Available

Small, simple, and elegant. That’s what we were going for when we created the Glif. But out of this simple design emerges countless uses. Mount your iPhone 4 to a tripod for taking great pictures or making movies. Prop your iPhone up for hands-free FaceTiming or to watch videos.

The tripod mount and stand for the iPhone 4 we’ve come to know and love. You can have one for 20 bucks, and shipping begins in 2-3 weeks.

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Shocker: Apple Rejects Magazine App About Android→

Shocker: Apple Rejects Magazine App About Android

A Danish magazine publisher called Mediaprovider submitted an iOS app to the Apple App Store recently – with probably a pretty good idea that it wouldn’t get approved. Why? Because the app was a digital magazine all about Android called ‘Android Magasinet’.

Straight from Apple’s Review Guidelines for iOS apps:

Apps with metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected.

Why even bother developing one?

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Times for iPad Updated: Meet Pulp, “Magical” News Reader

Times, a popular RSS app for the Mac developed by Acrylic Apps, made its way to the iPad with a beautiful mobile version known as Times for iPad which was a complete re-imagination and rewrite of the original desktop app, geared towards the new audience of “couch news readers” first discovered by the iPad itself. We reviewed Times for iPad when it came out:

Times is different from Flipboard. They’re different experiences with different goals. Times really is the ultimate visual newsreader for iPad and with Mac sync coming in Times for Mac 2.0 it’s going to be hard for all those other competitors to catch up. Once you see Times for iPad, you’ll understand that you don’t mess with an experienced OS X / iOS developer. Times is cleverly and beautifully crafted, it has its quirks and could use some additional online integrations – but it puts every similar app to shame.

Times for iPad was updated a few minutes ago, and it’s no longer known as Times. To stop dealing with media giants claiming the “Times” name was a no-no, Acrylic Apps changed it to “Pulp for iPad”. I’ve been beta testing the update for a while and it’s really good: most of all, because it brings a feature called “Magic Reader” which with the tap of a button will pull content from truncated RSS feeds and display it in-app. It’s fast (faster than web view), useful for 3G users and will piss off a lot of publishers. That’s what I call a great feature. Read more

The Cartographer Brings Beautiful Vintage Maps To The iPhone

They say art is about the details, and geeks say the same about Apple’s products. Are Apple’s gadgets and computers a new form of art then? I don’t know, but sure they are an example of excellent industrial design that meets consumers’ tastes and needs. So what could ever happen if art as we know it joined Apple’s design as an app for the iPhone?

I’m pretty sure something like The Cartographer for iPhone would happen. A simple app that turns Google Maps into a beautiful experience based on the maps that once were. Read more

Finally: Cydia Tweak Brings AirPlay’s Video Streaming To Every App

Looks like jailbreakers are giving users yet another reason to jailbreak their iPhones and iPads by activating what Apple leaves behind. So after the hack that turns the mute switch back to an orientation lock button, here comes AirVideo Enabler, which brings AirPlay for Video support to any app: Safari and 3rd partys apps.

You’ll be able to stream video from your device to the Apple TV no matter what, and I guess it’s based on Erica Sadun’s method.

This simple and must-have tweak is available in the following repository:

http://cydia.zone-mr.net

So if you have an Apple TV and have been missing the possibility to stream from Safari, AirVideo app or StreamToMe – go download it right now.

PhotoFast’s AP1000 Will Bring AirPlay To Your Car

With AirPlay finally available to iOS users (although not exactly in the way many of us wanted), I knew it wouldn’t take long before some third party accessory maker would come up with a solution to enable AirPlay’s streaming system in every car. The PhotoFast AP1000 (still looking for a distributor outside of Japan) is aimed at allowing you to easily enable WiFi in your car and connect your current audio system to any iOS device via AirPlay.

The device is a little black box that supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi and has to be wired to your car’s audio in order to show up in the list of AirPlay-enabled devices on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The setup seems to be fairly simple for any user, you just have to make sure you have enough space in your car to fit the AP1000.

You can see more details in the preview video below. [via TUAW] Read more