If you've heard the rumors about Apple retail laying off staff and wondered if the end was nigh, fear not! The whole thing was apparently just a misunderstanding, with Cupertino tinkering around a bit with retail staffer's schedules and causing some unintended mayhem. And hey, look at this: The company's retail VP has even 'fessed up to the mistake. That and much more can be found in our news recap for this terrific Thursday, August 16, 2012.
The folks at Instagram are back today with version 3.0 of their popular socially-minded photo sharing app, and it's quite a big update. Instagram junkies can now view their photos on a map, but the app wisely allows the user to determine which photos are viewable this way. The profile and upload screens have both been redesigned with version 3.0, and if you're a frequent user, you'll likely catch other improvements throughout the app as well. Finally, photo feeds can now be scrolled infinitely, and users can flag inappropriate comments in their feed. Still no universal version, but don't let that stop you from downloading it on your iPad, where it will work just fine in 2x mode, provided you're running iOS 4.0 or later and have a camera-equipped iPad 2 or third-gen iPad.
Goko has announced their ambitious new plans for an HTML5-based gaming company, which will offer developers a new platform for creating truly cross-platform social games. Two of the first titles debuting today are the first multiplayer version of Dominion as well as Catan World, a new MMO based on one of the bestselling board games of all time, Settlers of Catan. "Only the biggest games companies have had tools for creating and launching social games across all the big platforms," said Goko CEO, Ted Griggs. "Now we're bringing that massive advantage within reach of all developers. Today we're starting to release new games across Facebook, Google+, and Goko.com, Windows Store, Android and iOS. And we're also turning all of the tools and services that we've created over to developers so that they are empowered to do the same thing." If you're ready to play the next generation of HTML5-based online games, head over to the Goko.com website and check it out.
Amidst rumors of retail layoffs and scheduling cutbacks in recent days, Apple senior vice president of retail John Browett has stepped up to the plate to admit that the company made a mistake. According to NASDAQ.com, Cupertino had been "trying a new staffing formula" recently at its retail stores which caused some employees to see their hourly shifts cut back and worse yet, leaving some locations severely understaffed. Realizing the error, Browett instructed management to confess "we messed up," but stressed that layoffs were never part of the changes -- in fact, Apple retail is actually hiring new staff, rather than eliminating it. "Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed," said Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman. "Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve."
Ducky's Coffee developer Little Robot Studio has announced some major updates to its fun and addictive coffee-making, time-management app this week. The paid version of the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch game now includes "Blitz Mode" and "Caffeine Focus," with the former allowing players to jump right into the action for a quick game to challenge friends around the world, while the latter offers the ultimate in "on fire" style playing, with a 10-second 5x score boost once a six-combo is achieved. Of course, these new modes also kick up the pace of the game to increase overall difficulty, so good luck, coffee-makers! Ducky's Coffee is only 99 cents, with a lite version also available on the App Store if you want to give it a try before buying.
Adobe's John Nack has announced a number of new features in Proto 1.5, an update to the company's interactive wireframing tool for prototyping websites and mobile apps on a tablet. The new update available this week allows designers to continue work seamlessly from their mobile device to another machine, simply by syncing with Adobe Dreamweaver or emailing files as attachments, using Dropbox or another app. The wireframing experience is also improved in Proto 1.5 by showing the undo/redo count as well as using Paste and Pin to share objects across pages. Last but not least, the iPad app now features improved code generation on top of many other small enhancements. Adobe Proto 1.5 is now available in the App Store and compatible with all iPads running iOS 4.2 or later.
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