The end of the week is here, and most of our U.S. readers are ready to dive into the last full week of November with a light workload thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday (not to mention next Friday’s Black Friday insanity). So let’s head into the weekend with a couple of fun new iPad apps that harken back to a kindler, gentler era, ruminate on 2012 Apple products and brag about our U.S. carrier on this Friday, November 18, 2011.
Two icons of the funny pages (and cartoons) have arrived on the iPad, just in time for the holiday season. First up is none other than The Man of Steel himself starring in Chillingo’s Superman HD, an officially licensed $2.99 new arrival which is also available in a small-screen iPhone/iPod touch edition as well (99 cents). As you can imagine, the game’s “18 levels of superpowered action” pit you against Lex Luthor and his band of cronies, complete with original story and comic book panels for an authentic experience.
On the lighter side of the coin, Loud Crow Interactive has just given the iPad treatment to the perennial classic A Charlie Brown Christmas, featured original dialogue from the 1965 animated classic, narration from Peter Robbins (the original voice of Chas. Brown himself) and even the ability to decorate your own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree -- which is well worth the $6.99 price of admission for those of us who grew up watching this favorite every year.
Though details are a bit scant, iLounge is reporting that their “most reliable source” has spilled the beans on what to expect from Apple next year. First up, the iPad 3 will be “modestly thicker (0.7mm) in order to accommodate the twin light bar system needed for its higher-resolution display,” with a release date pegged for March and a public unveiling as early as January. For those of you waiting for that rumored teardrop-shaped iPhone 5, you’re likely to keep waiting: Next year’s model “will have a four-inch display and with 8mm longer than before, with a metal casing (probably aluminum),” and the company will get back to its traditional summer release schedule. Last but not least, the anticipated new design for the MacBook Pro is expected to arrive next year, but all iLounge says about it is to “think thinner.”
Avid editors with 64-bit systems will be thrilled to know that Tiffen has just updated their award-winning Dfx filter suite to version 3.0.5, making it compatible with Avid Media Composer v6, Symphony v6 and Newscutter v10. The update also adds support for a long list of Sony DSLR, NEX, SLT and STV model cameras as well as adding new blur controls to the Paint Mask tool for more control over blending and transitioning in effects and filters. Last but not least, the suite now includes a new adjustable brush slider for large areas (up to 50 percent of the screen). Existing users can download the update from the Tiffen website while new users can explore the standalone app or two different plug-in versions with free trial versions.
That headline may seem obvious to those of us the least bit educated about our U.S. carriers, but BGR is reporting that the assumption is now based in fact. According to “performance analytics company” Metrico Wireless Inc., the iPhone 4S (and also last year’s iPhone 4) perform better on AT&T for data, where the speeds “crushed the competition.” Verizon and Sprint came in second and third, respectively, but Verizon shone more brightly on the calling side, with a 2.1 percent call failure rate versus AT&T’s 2.8 percent and Sprint’s third-place 3.7 percent. Simply put: If you’re a chatterbox who uses data infrequently, go with Verizon or Sprint -- otherwise, stick with AT&T if you do all your talk via 3G data.
Bloomberg is reporting that Apple stands to lose upwards of two billion Euros ($2.7 billion USD) if a German court rules in favor of Motorola Mobility in their patent battle with the company. That sum is what Apple claims it stands to lose in sales should Motorola prevail in receiving an injunction against Cupertino over patents relating to email account synchronization. Of course, the German suit is just one such front where Apple is grappling with Google Android device makers. The search giant is buying up Motorola Mobility in an effort to “gain mobile patents and expand in the hardware business,” which had made some of their partners rightfully nervous. The German court is expected to rule on the suit on February 3, 2012.
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