Posts tagged with "iOS"

Apple iDevices Dominate Encoded Web Video

More than ever people are watching videos on mobile devices these days. So, when a website encodes their videos, they must decide which devices to support and encode their video to play on different smart phones and tablets. According to Encoding.com is reporting that, nearly 78 percent of its customers (MTV to PBS) encode mobile video to play on Apple’s iDevices, and only 4 percent specifically for Android devices. 18 percent encode for 3GP format, which is used by feature phones.

This data is based on which preset options Encoding’s customers choose. It doesn’t mean that only 4 percent of videos will play on Android devices (which after all support Flash, MPEG-4, and 3GP), but that only 4 percent of Encoding’s customers bother to select the Android preset, which provides the optimal viewing experience on those devices. Whereas choosing the Apple presets is pretty much the default right now, and as noted earlier, iOS was embraced rather quickly. Encoding’s 1,400 customers are fairly representative of video producers across the Web, spanning media, advertising, retailers, and developers.

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Lots Of Great iOS Games Coming Out Tonight

Today’s a great day for iOS games, just like last week when Infinity Blade and a bunch of other big names came out in the App Store. And it’s no surprise that right ahead of Christmas iOS users get to download the best gems of the year – who doesn’t want to spend the holiday season relaxing and playing games on a possibly new, shiny iPad?

Most of all, tomorrow will be the last Thursday before the iTunes Connect holiday shut down, when developers (from Dec. 23 to Dec. 28) won’t be able to submit apps and updates or change the price of their existing apps in the Store. Basically, everyone is rushing to get games approved and available before the 23rd.

Already available in the New Zealand store (time zone differences, you know) and coming out in about 14 hours in the U.S. App Store, the following games will be ready to be installed on your devices tomorrow morning. The links you’ll find in this post point to the New Zealand, but you’ll be able to find these games in the U.S. store later today. Read more

First Infinity Blade Update To Drop Next Week→

First Infinity Blade Update To Drop Next Week

Work started on new content the day after the game’s five-month development ended, so Chair already has some goodies on deck. Next week’s addition, as well as another planned for January, will include more “booster packs,” as Mustard describes them – some additional content to keep things fresh and help entertain us sad sacks who’ve mastered all the gear.

Next week’s pack includes five new weapons, five new shields, five new helmets and a new armor set; enough equipment to increase the level cap to 45.

Also: new areas to explore (dungeons), more details about the God King, new enemies for experienced users. Multiplayer mode won’t be available in next week’s update, and the developers didn’t provide a release date. I think January would be perfect.

Don’t expect free-roaming to come anytime soon.

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Apple Releases iOS 4.2.1 For Apple TV

As reported by MacRumors, a few minutes ago Apple released a software update for the Apple TV. The build is 8C154 and it’s labelled as iOS 4.2.1 for Apple TV second generation. This is a direct link to the update, courtesy of iOS E Lite. As you can see, it’s a 267MB download.

The update is also available through the Apple TV’s built-in software update checker. A changelog for the new OS hasn’t been provided yet, nor is the update online on Apple’s download website.

In spite of the update file being registered as “iOS 4.2.1” on Apple’s servers, the Apple TV reports “4.1.1” as the new installed OS. The same happened on November 22 when Apple released iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone and iPad and announced the availability of iOS 4.2 for the new Apple TV, although the built-in updater tool reported 4.1 as being installed.

According to early reports on Apple’s discussion boards, the update hasn’t fixed the color issues reported by several Philips and Sony TV owners.

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USB, SD and Micro SD In A Single iPad Camera Connection Kit

Feeling a little disconnected from your iPad lately? Do you think you could use some extra gadgets to make sure your favorite tablet can communicate with any other device in your room?

Give this 3-in-1 camera connection kit for iPad a try: it features USB, SD and Micro SD connection in a single (and unofficial) dongle that can be yours for just $25 from M.I.C. Gadget. Too bad it’ll be available “soon”.

While the idea sounds definitely interesting, I do wonder how many devices will be able to work with the connection kit on iOS 4.2. Granted, Apple doesn’t want you to use keyboards and Guitar Hero mics with the Camera Connection Kit, but I bought one yesterday and a simple 8GB USB key is not working on it thanks to iOS 4.2. Perhaps hackers will find a way to beam more power to the Camera Connection Kit soon. [via Gizmodo]

AirPlay Video From iOS To Mac With AirPlayer

If you’re familiar with AirPlay, you know that it’s a pretty sweet technology that allows you to stream audio and video from any Mac or iOS device to an Apple TV, AirPort Express Station (audio-only) and AirPlay-compatible speakers. That’s the way it works. You can’t stream from Mac to Mac, iOS to iOS, or Mac to iPhone and iPad – although there’s a way to do that via jailbreak.

AirPlay’s streaming is great and almost “magical”, but it has its limitations, possibly due to the fact that Apple introduced it less than a month ago with the release of iOS 4.2. Ever since AirPlay hit the internet with the final public build of 4.2, hackers started working on mods to make it work in any app (video streaming from iOS apps is limited to Apple’s applications), on any device. TUAW’s Erica Sadun, for instance, has been busy working on a solution to make AirPlay work backwards, from iOS to the Mac.

The result is AirPlayer, “a custom Bonjour AirPlay service that pretends to be an Apple TV” that runs on your Mac. It’s a Mac app that can accept  incoming AirPlay video streaming from iOS – very simple. Read more

#MacStoriesDeals - Tuesday

In case you missed our announcement yesterday, we started another new feature, and it’s called #MacStoriesDeals. We’ll try our best to update the list throughout each day.

Here’s some great deals for today on iOS & Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!

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