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.

Walt Mossberg Reviews iPad e-Reader Apps

In his latest column for the WSJ, technology pundit Walt Mossberg has taken a look at three different eBook reader applications for the iPad: Apple’s own iBooks, Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook app.

The verdict is interesting: according to Mossberg, they’re more similar than different. Read more




Steve Jobs Confirms White iPhone 4 Available for Christmas?

The white iPhone 4 has become some sort of unicorn amongstApple devices: where is it? It should have been available by launch, then it was delayed, and delayed again, and delayed again. We heard rumors about Apple facing issues with Chinese manufacturers (light leaking out of the metal band) and we also heard that, anyway, Apple should have the white model ready “later this year”.

Basing on a recent Steve Jobs email iPhoneDownloadBlog has received, it seems like Steve is indeed confirming the availability for Christmas. Read more


$250 of Mac & iPhone Apps Up for Grabs On MacStories

Two days ago we launched MacStories 3.0, and it was a great launch that went beyond all our most optimistic expectations. Really, thank you guys. To celebrate the new site we launched a series of giveaways, and many of you entered. For all those of you who didn’t win anything, though, we thought it’d be nice to offer a second chance.

So hit the break, check out the great Mac and iPhone apps we’re giving away and read the rules to find out how you can enter this awesome contest. Good luck! Read more


Airplay is Apple’s ‘Go to Market’ Internet TV strategy

Airplay is Apple’s ‘Go to Market’ Internet TV strategy

Apple’s three year campaign to get content producers to shift from Flash to H.264 has been largely successful and is now at a tipping point. You can now view ‘most’ video on the web on H.264.

That means you can watch most Internet video on AppleTV over Airplay.  The day AppleTV is released, you’ll be able to watch free SD versions of clips shows that appear on ComedyCentral.com like the Daily Show and Colbert Report via Airplay.  You theoretially should be able to watch Hulu Plus so long as it is encoded in H.264 (and doesn’t get blocked once the networks figure out what Apple has done).

Killing Flash video (or at least making content providers offer H.264 alternatives) is what made all of this all possible. Whatever video you watch on your iOS device, you can now watch on your  HDTV.

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Grazing: My New Favorite iPad Browser

I feel bad writing this. No, let me rephrase: I love when facts prove me wrong. I especially love when third party developers of iPad applications prove me wrong. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called “Your Alternative iPad Browser Sucks” in which I basically stated that every alternative browser I had tried on the iPad couldn’t keep up with the elegance and powerful engine of Safari. I still stand by that statement: 3rd party developers are not Apple and I’m pretty sure Safari has got some exclusive features buried deep down in the code engine (such as memory management) which 3rd party devs have not access to.

What’s great now is that I found an alternative that doesn’t suck. Actually, it’s a beautiful, powerful and feature-rich app for iPad called Grazing that has been sitting on my homescreen for a week now. Grazing is now my favorite alternative browser for iPad. Read more


DomainBrain 2.0 Is The Ultimate Domain Management App for Mac

I’ve got a bunch of domains to manage, and it’s not exactly the easiest of the tasks. Each domain comes with lots of information (Registrar, expiration date, WHOIS record) and it’s very easy to get lost in all these usernames and passwords. Plus, if you consider that you’ve purchased a domain because you probably want to run a website on it - then add database data, hosting, content management system, users.

1Password isn’t meant for managing domains, especially multiple domains at once. If you, like me, wanted to buy goodfuckingdesignadvice.com but went for other 5 similar domains instead, then DomainBrain 2.0 is for you. It’s the best tool to manage a “domain library” you could ever find on OS X. Read more