Mac|Life - News

Deals: Get $50 Credit at SlickWraps for Just $25

MacLife Staff — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:34:58 +0000

[This is an advertorial. Maclife gets a portion of each unit sold.]

You have all of the coolest tech, and it's with you at all times. Your iPhone 5 syncs up with your Macbook, which has your Beats by Dre headphones plugged into it. On your wrist is your Pebble Watch, which tells you the time so you can make it home to play games or stream movies on your Playstation 3. All of these are great pieces of tech, but they can be fashionable accessories too with the help of Slickwraps. Get $50 credit at Slickwraps right now in our Deals tab.

Slickwraps provides a unique service: It turns your already great tech into fashion statements. Compatible with the most notable names and most popular pieces of tech around, Slickwraps can fit on almost any device to give them a whole new look. You can skin just about anything with Slickwraps to take it from your standard hunk of plastic, glass, and metal to a stylized device that expresses your personality.

You can get $50 worth of credit for a Slickwrap of your own for just $25 right now in our Deals tab. That's a 50% savings on the normal cost and gives you enough for a Slickwrap to slap on your device of choice. Take advantage of this offer today!

Apple Boots 'Bang with Friends' From App Store After 10 Days

Leif Johnson — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:39:05 +0000

Considering how quickly Apple pulled the deceptively innocent Boyfriend Maker a few months back, it's a little surprising that they let an app called "Bang with Friends" go live in the first place. But it's down now, just a little over a week after its first appearance, presumably because someone at Apple just realized the none-too-subtle meaning behind the name. According to cofounder and CEO Colin Hodge, as reported by Gawker, the salacious app managed to snag over one million users before it was taken down.

It hasn't completely vanished. The website is still up despite a temporary outage earlier, although the App Store section of the site simply states: "Be right back: We're working with Apple to get BWF back into the App Store shortly." There's also text box where you can enter your e-mail address for an update in the event that Apple allows the site to go live again.

At the moment, it's not entirely clear why Apple took the app down after greenlighting it aside from the site's rather obvious intentions. Aside from a fairly explicit logo in the upper left hand corner and a suggestive background image, there's very little that's pornographic about the actual site. The concept, indeed, is simple. You're presented with a gallery of your male or female Facebook friends (your choice), and you press "Down to Bang" under their name if you'd, you know, like to learn how to play drums with them. If they're also using the service and they've selected you, you'll get an e-mail announcing the mutual interest.

Techcrunch suggests that the issue might not be so black-and-white as it initially seems, pointing out that Zynga went after CupidWithFriends because it was using their "With Friends" trademark, not because it was objecting to the content. Yet as CNET reports, Apple also has a history of removing apps with questionable content, such as one in 2011 that listed DUI checkpoints.

But if you're the kind of person who absolutely needs an app to see if certain things could happen with your friends instead of, you know, asking, you can take heart in the fact that Apple allowed BoyfriendMaker back on the App Store after the developers bumped up the age rating from 4+ to 12+ and cleaned up its act a little. And for what it's worth, Bang with Friends is still available over at Google's no-holds-barred Google Play store.

Follow this article's writer, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.

The Week's 10 Hottest Apple News Stories, May 17

J Keirn-Swanson — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

At last we appear to be seeing some movement on the Apple TV front. We can hardly wait. Sitting around with our little hockey puck sized hobby watching the Roku owners eat our lunch and have all the fun has been hard to swallow, but we expect great things. Find out about these developments and take a peak at one vision of iOS 7 in this week's hottest news.

Game Spending for iOS Outpaced 3DS, Vita in Early 2013

Leif Johnson — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:07:27 +0000

On the off chance that you need further evidence of mobile gaming's rapidly changing landscape, IDC and App Annie recently released the results of a study demonstrating that revenues for iOS and Google Play gaming rose sharply in 2013's first quarter. Revenues for the handheld gaming devices made by Nintendo fell during the same period. Google's still behind Sony and Nintendo's overall revenue for the time being, but with the rate of growth they reported during their recent I/O, it's expected that Google Play, too, will overtake traditional handheld gaming devices sometime during the next quarter.

Keep in mind that the study isn't skewed by non-gaming apps. Games account for nearly 40 percent of all downloads for both the App Store and Google Play, according to the study. The study also reveals that games account for almost 70 percent of consumer spending on the App Store and over 80 percent for Google Play. In some ways, as IDC and App Annie point out, such numbers might seem unfair to Nintendo and Sony. Both companies tend to experience explosive growth during the holiday season, which occurs directly before the first quarter.

But the study reveals that such seasonal cycles mean little to nothing in the world of mobile games for the iPhone and Android systems, particularly when you factor in cost and the availability of almost every game whenever and (depending on connection) wherever you want it. AllThingsD also reported that Nintendo and Sony are also simply against a staggering wall of numbers. The global install base for devices like Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's PlayStation Vita amounted to a "mere" 200 million, whereas research firm Gartner reports that more than 2 billion phones and tablets will ship out in 2013 alone.

There's still time for Nintendo and Vita to reverse their fortunes. One of the most touted features of Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 is its ability to support gameplay through its Vita device, and in a more dubious move, Nintendo's been working with developers of phone games to create versions for its Wii U. Both companies also have a substantial list of releases planned for the coming months.

But such measures may only delay the inevitable. At least there's a silver lining--if this keeps up, maybe we'll finally see Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda on the iPhone after all.

MacBook Air Shortages May Hint at New Release for WWDC

Leif Johnson — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:57:07 +0000

If you've found yourself wanting a MacBook Air over the last couple of days, you might be better off waiting, according to AppleInsider. In fact, you may even have a hard time finding it. All across the country. from Amazon.com to B&H and MacCollection, resellers and retailers are reporting that the lightweight laptop's completely or nearly out of stock, and the increasing shortage is being trumpeted as proof that Apple will release a new model at WWDC on June 10-June 14.

The news is well in line with the predictions earlier this year by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, which we reported on back in January. Kuo has a knack for accurately predicting Apple's releases, and as MacRumors reports, in April he announced her suspicious than the MacBooks and MacBook Airs built with Intel's latest Haswell processors would be the product highlights of WWDC. MacRumors went on to report that Kuo doesn't believe we'll see retinas displays with the release, citing "cost, thickness, and production concerns."

There's plenty of reason to believe that there's truth to the rumor; after all, reports of dwindling stock by third party resellers have been used to predict the release of upcoming new Apple products many times in the past. Still, it appears some resellers are doing their best to keep some of the virtual shelves (that, or consumers are returning them). In the time between AppleInsider's announcement of the shortages to the writing of this article, the number of available 1.7Ghz 128GB 11.6-inch MacBook Airs on Amazon went up from 10 to 13.

Follow this article's author, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.

Price Drop: The Weekend's Best iOS App Deals, May 17

J Keirn-Swanson — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:30:00 +0000

We've got some apps that will teach you things and get you your news and even maybe break the ice with that hottie at the party. So what are you waiting for? Go and improve yourself today.

Chess Pro - with coach

Want to get better at chess? Of course you do. You could play, or you could let this usually $10 app coach you for free.

Web to JPEG

Take screenshots of whole pages and turn them into jpegs. Do it for free, like the pros.

Hitpad - See What's Up

Find news by letting it find you and do it for a buck. An Apple featured app.

iCatcher!

We're no fans of Apple's free podcast app, but with iCatcher! you have a better solution, currently sitting at $2.

Calligraphy Art

Learn the ancient noble art of calligraphy for only a buck. Hey, get some class, eh?

National Gallery, London HD

Cheaper than a trip across the Atlantic, this app hooks you up with some incomparable art for one single dollar.

GPlayer

ZDNet said this filled the gap made by the departure of VLC, and for a buck you can get some of that sweet any-video action.

Funny Fish - Fishing Fantasy

Fishing should be relaxing, not a bloodsport, which is why Funny Fish for free can give you that relaxing time you want with a hook, line, and sinker.

You Gotta See This!

Create unique, artistically inspired, spacial collages of images that you take by slowly moving the camera around in 3D space. $2 when it's usually $7.

Fingle

Like Twister for your fingers, this game will break the ice and get you hand-holding in no time for only a buck.

ToonCamera

Turn your mug into a cartoon with this photo app and it only costs one single comic book we call George Washington.

BusyCal 2

We've heard nothing but good things about BusyCal 2, save that at $50 it's a chunk of change. How about if it was $29.99. Save $20 and grab it now while the getting's good.

Mathemagics

But why do we want to learn math tricks with summer coming up, your kids will whine. But you know this $2.99 will keep them on task and having fun until next year.

Bluenote

A neat little note taking app that syncs, encrypts, and saves on the fly. It's 90 percent off from AppyFridays, so it's only one buckaroo.

Deals: Clean Up Your iTunes with Tunes Cleaner

MacLife Staff — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:51:51 +0000

[This is an advertorial. Maclife gets a portion of each unit sold.]

Do you ever look at your iTunes library and suddenly have flashbacks to being a kid and having your mother scold you for not keeping your room clean? We all love iTunes for its ability to deliver music, but it really makes all of our laziness front and center when there is missing information or duplicates. Get those taken care of and make your iTunes look pristine with Tunes Cleaner. It's on sale in our latest Deal.

Tunes Cleaner is like your personal iTunes nanny, cleaning up everything that you've been neglecting. If you have an album by the same artist with their name spelled different ways, missing information about a certain song, blank album artwork, or anything else that may require a little bit of maintenance, Tunes Cleaner has you covered. It will even eliminate songs you have multiple copies of, clearing up some space for new songs to fill.

Tunes Cleaner from Leawo Software Company usually retails at $30. If you'd like to save on that price, head over to our Deals tab and take a full 83% off the cost. That means you'll pay just $5 for this powerful app. Get Tunes Cleaner while you can and get your iTunes in order.

The Week's Best Deals for Your Mac and iOS Device, May 17

J Keirn-Swanson — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:20:40 +0000

We've done it before, we're doing it again. Today's refurb specials are all right around the $1,000 mark. There are plenty of great Macs out there that won't break the bank. Sure they're not $400 plastic PCs that will fall apart after one year's use, but these are still some great deals. Plus great accessories, hand-picked just for you.

Mac

Refurbished 11.6-inch MacBook Air 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

4GB memory and a 64GB flash storage nets you this superlight model for only $849.

Refurbished 11.6-inch MacBook Air 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

Bump that storage up to double the previous model and slap down $60 more for $909, and walk away with this bad boy.

Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Air 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

This one tiptoes right up to the edge. $999 and you get everything from the previous model and a bigger screen.

Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Dual-core Intel i5

It's only $20 more than our limit for the week, but if you drop $1,019, you can leave the Air's flash storage behind and get 500 GBs of hard drive.

Refurbished iMac Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz

'Tis true. Even the desktop model is hooking it up with a $929 price tag. Sweet deal.

Refurbished Mac mini with OS X Server 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7

In another direction entirely from the portability of laptops, we have the tiny marvel that is the Mac mini and this workhorse will only set you back $759.

Refurbished Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Now, if you want a great monitor for that mini, you can't go wrong with this behemoth. Only $829.

Refurbished Time Capsule - 3TB

Storage will always be an issue, but for now we're thinking 3TB will be sufficient. $429 and you're set.

Refurbished Apple TV

Way under $1,000 comes this $85 refurb of the latest Apple TV. We figure with all the money you saved with one of these cut price computers, you'd deserve a treat, so here you go.

iOS Accessories

Klipsch G-17 AirPlay Wireless Speaker System

Great snakes, jump on this woot deal before it's gone. AirPlay speakers for only $179??? Get on it now!

XtremeMac Tango Air

Another AirPlay deal, this $49 speaker puts out good sound and looks slick to us.

LaCie 1TB Rugged Triple Portable Hard Drive

Refurb madness continues with this hardcore 1TB portable from LaCie for only $115.

Apple iPhone 4 / 4S Bluetooth Keyboard Case

The days are numbered for physical keyboards but for $15 you can keep the glory alive on your iPhone.

12X Optical Zoom Mobile Telescope Camera Lens + Tripod + Case For iPhone 5

Now the iPhone has a good camera, but check out this $17.80 super lens. Yeah, now we're talking.

Altec Lansing MZX2071S Noise-Reducing In-Ear Stereo Headphones

Headphones are always a great deal here and these $9.99 models with inline mic are the way to go.

OZAKI iCoat Notebook+ Folio Case with Stylus for iPad

You'll look quite the smooth operator with this case that's all business for $44.95.

Really Darn Cheap

Pirate Piggie Silicone Case for iPhone 5

Did we say really darn cheap? Well, we meant really darn cute to boot. Turn your iPhone into this cute little porker and do it for one single buck.

Apple Plans to Relocate San Francisco Retail Store to Union Square Area

J.R. Bookwalter — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:07:10 +0000

What gets Apple fans almost as excited as a new retail store opening? How about when a key U.S. city announces plans to have a high-traffic location moved to an even more perfect area?

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that Apple plans to move its existing retail store location at the corner of Stockton and Ellis to a new space in the city's Union Square area a few blocks away.

City supervisor David Chiu claims the new "silver box-shaped" Apple Store would help "turbo-charge" the area, which is currently home to a number of other high-end retailers. The existing Apple Store has been a fixture in San Francisco for nine years.

The former Levi's location at Stockton and Post streets will reportedly be 45 percent larger than the current store, and Apple plans to add an additional 50 jobs to the 350 already employed there.

“We’re thrilled to be working with the City of San Francisco,” an Apple spokesperson said following a talk on Wednesday at the Market Street retail store.

The city of San Francisco is hoping the move will increase foot traffic in the Union Square area, although neither city planners nor Apple have offered a timetable on when the relocation might take place.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

The CW Teases Dedicated Apple TV Channel On the Way

J.R. Bookwalter — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:51:23 +0000

Network television streams have been rumored for the Apple TV for quite some time, but we're finally getting a glimpse of what Cupertino may be working on, thanks to a new deal with The CW.

MacRumors reported Thursday that The CW will be coming to the Apple TV in the near future as a standalone app similar to the one already available for Microsoft's Windows 8 and Xbox 360.

The network announced the news to advertisers at its annual upfront presentation in New York, which CW President Mark Pedowitz views as a way to expand its viewerships without the subscriber authentication that plagues other solutions.

"This year we're reaching more viewers on more platforms," said Pedowitz. "We are reaching our audience everywhere they are, and we want you to be with us everywhere we go."

The CW already offers an iOS app for streaming content to mobile devices, but its arrival on Apple TV would complement existing services such as Hulu Plus and Netflix.

"It's a dedicated CW app that will work like our Xbox and mobile and tablet apps," a CW representative told MacRumors. "No cable authentication required, full episodes of our shows available next day after air, ad-supported."

The network didn't elaborate on exactly when the app might be added to Apple TV, but sometime between now and the new fall television season in September would be a likely bet.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter