You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m tellin’ you why: Santa Claus is coming to town! That’s right, folks, the Christmas weekend is here and the fat man will be slipping down the chimney to gorge on your milk and cookies mere hours from now. Last chance to get those gift requests in! It’s also your last chance to read some “hot off the press” tech news before Christmas, so here’s the latest for Friday, December 23, 2011.
Confused about the recent launch of iTunes Match overseas? So were we, which is why it’s good news to hear that Apple is clearing the air on the unannounced debut of the service. According to 9to5Mac, iTunes Match is now available in 17 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and, of course, the U.S. Oddly, users in Brazil are reporting the service is working there, but Apple doesn’t list it as being officially available yet. 9to5Mac also has a rather confusing-looking chart detailing which country has access to which iTunes in the Cloud services -- they’re all clear for apps and e-books, but far fewer gain the benefits of cloud-based music, music videos and TV shows. Worth a look if you’re still scratching your head over what’s available where...
Remember the exploits of Richie Rich, the richest little kid in the world who spent his time (and money) helping out those less fortunate? This week, Ape Entertainment and Classic Media have resurrected “the poor little rich boy” and brought him into the modern era with the free Richie Rich Comics app. The 8.9MB universal download includes all-new adventures and stories in Rich Rescue -- and for those of us at a certain age, the app also digs up fond old memories of a bygone era courtesy of the “Richie Rich Classics” series, digital remasters of the original 28-page comic books we enjoyed as kids. The new Rich Rescue series issues are available for $1.99 each as in-app purchases, with the classic books also available for just 99 cents each. Richie Rich Comics is available now from the App Store, compatible with all devices running iOS 3.0 or later.
MacRumors has been quick this year to produce mockups of what future Apple products might look like, and they’ve come through again with the image above, comparing a potential 7.85-inch iPad against the current 9.7-inch iPad 2. “According to Chinese manufacturers, Apple is buying up 7.85-inch screens for this upcoming mini iPad,” the report reveals, which prompted the website to enlist CiccareseDesign to create the aforementioned mockup. If you’re the type who would rather hold something in their hands to get the feel of it, MacRumors even has a downloadable PDF of this “iPad nano” at its presumed “actual size” for all to enjoy. Will we see a seven-inch iPad from Apple next year? The magic eight-ball says, “Ask again later.”
Easy come, easy go: Earlier this week, a little app named iMAME slipped into the App Store, a game ROM emulator based on the popular MAME software which many use to play classic arcade games on Mac and Windows. The app immediately raised the pulse of legacy gamers when it was discovered that ROMs could be sideloaded with little effort (complete with iCade support!), but apparently the Grinches over at Apple weren’t in a holiday frame of mind. According to TUAW, the free, universal iMAME app is now MIA from the App Store as of 1:30pm today, and its chances of returning are probably slim to none. So if you’re celebrating Festivus instead of Christmas, there’s another grievance to air with your family...
2011 was supposed to be the Year of Thunderbolt -- while we got the computers (save for the Mac Pro), the tsunami of promised peripherals planned for last summer washed ashore as more of a few small waves, mostly for storage. One of the more intriguing of the announced peripherals is the Magma ExpressBox 3T, a Thunderbolt to PCIe expansion box that allows up to three PCI cards to be used on systems like the iMac, which have previously had no way of using PCIe devices. While Magma anticipated having the expansion box available by year’s end, that estimate has now pushed to “early 2012” according to an email sent to customers, but the company is accepting preorders on their website for the box, which starts at $979. Magma also gave the happy news that they have “benchmarked full Thunderbolt bandwidth” and the company is getting “very positive results with Windows using Boot Camp,” both of which sound like they’ll be worth the wait. Magma is “working with a comprehensive list of development partners” for the release, and their website offers up-to-the-minute compatibility information.
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(Image courtesy of MacRumors and CiccasreseDesign)
