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

Apple Makes Find My iPhone Free (For Latest Gen. Devices)

An interesting tidbit from the official iOS 4.2 press release:

The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe℠ subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store℠ and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.

Apple is making the Find My iPhone feature free for all users running iOS 4.2 on latest generation devices: iPhone 4, iPad or new iPod touch – as you can see here.

The Find My iPhone feature allows you to remotely locate an iOS device you’ve previously configured the service on, and also lets you remotely wipe it, or send a message to whomever might have found it. It used to be available to MobileMe subscribers, now Apple is making it free enabling you to activate it using your Apple ID.

The first step towards MobileMe going free, or at least some parts of it? Great move, Apple.

World of Goo Is Coming To The iPad

World of Goo is one of my favorite games for the Nintendo Wii. Even though I haven’t been playing with a “physical” game for the Wii in years now, I don’t mind turning on the console every once in a while to enjoy a brief session of World of Goo. Sold through Nintendo’s WiiWare virtual store, 2D Boy’s still is the highest rated game for the Wii. I guess that says a lot. Read more

Orange and T-Mobile To Announce UK iPad Subsidy Later Today

According to Marketing Week, the company that owns the telecom brands Orange and T-Mobile, Everything Everywhere, will announce a deal for UK customers to purchase the iPad through their websites and retail stores later today. The iPad will go under a price cut, and customers will have to sign up to a contract for data usage.

It is also believed that subsidized iPads could be sold at £200. We’ll keep you posted about the announcement which should be coming later today.

1Password for iPad Updated with iOS 4.2 Support

Together with Dropbox, 1Password is the app for OS X and iOS I really depend on. The funny thing is, I also store my Dropbox credentials in 1Password, so I guess that makes it slightly more important. Anyway, if you’re not using 1Password to manage your logins, secure notes and software licenses, you’re simply making your life harder for no reason. Seriously, go buy it.

The iPad app has been updated a few hours ago to include support for iOS 4.2 and multitasking, although an update for the universal “Pro” version and the iPhone counterpart hasn’t shown up in the App Store yet.

The new 3.5.3 version for iPad also adds a “Lock when inactive” option in the Auto-Lock settings, improves Dropbox syncing (especially for the 1PasswordAnywhere feature) and introduces a variety of fixes to make the app more responsive and stable.

1Password for iPad is available at $9.99 in the App Store. Read more

Star Wars Dashboard Weather Widget→

Star Wars Dashboard Weather Widget

If only the Mac OS X Dashboard weather widget could tell us the weather in distant galaxies far, far away from famous science fiction movies… wouldn’t that be nice? If you enjoy Star Wars, you’ll probably enjoy these images from Cristian Kit Paul, a graphic designer who also must be a Mac user and Star Wars fan.

Totally useless, totally awesome for any Star Wars fan out there. Check out the original post from the creator here.

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Apple TV Owners Reporting Color Issues With Several Sony and Philips TVs

According to a thread on Apple Discussions that dates back to almost two months ago (October 2nd) which has received hundreds of replies, new Apple TV owners are reporting serious color issues when using the device with Sony and Philips televisions. The problems vary from “inverted color” issues to “green colors” and “black screen”.

Users reporting the issues suggest this is a problem with the Apple TV, the HDMI cable and certain models of Sony and Philips TVs. Models mentioned in the thread include the Bravia KDL-37S500, Philips 32PFL7404H/12, Philips 56PFL9954H. The same models worked fine with the first generation Apple TV. Read more

Rumor: European Carriers Force Apple To Give Up On Integrated SIM Plans

According to a rumor that surfaced in October, Apple was looking for a way to develop an integrated iPhone SIM-card that would allow customers to easily subscribe to a carrier’s plan and easily switch between networks when travelling abroad. An integrated SIM-card would cut carriers out of an important process of the iPhone purchase system: retail.

With such as SIM-card, Apple, and only Apple, would sell iPhones while carriers would just play the role of “service providers”. Similar rumors surfaced last week, together with reports of concerns about this approach. Read more