Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Originals Anyone who loves nature knows that camping can be both a fine art and a subtle science. When you do it right, it can be an amazing experience. Doing it wrong can make for a nightmarish evening in the woods. These applications can help make for a memorable and entertaining trip: Campwhere from Big Nerd Ranch, Firefly Night from Joseph Walters, and 100 Horror Stories, Sounds and Scares from Vroom LLC. Campwhere Seller: Big Nerd Ranch Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch Requirements: OS 3.0 or higher File Size: 1 MB Price: $3.99 Age Rating: 4+ Anytime you camp, you need to find a camp site.  No doubt if you are an outdoor lover you have some favorite sites, but visiting those places over and over again defeats the exploration spirit that drew you out to begin with. Campwhere can help you to expand your options easily. The interface is an easy to use map that allows you to zoom in and out with a pinch.  The listings are color coded so you can tell if you are looking at a National Park, city or county park, state park or army corp of engineers site. It also has a handy array of secondary features that let you search parks, find the closest to your location, and save easy access to a few favorites. The new version covers Canada as well as the U.S. Buy Campwhere Firefly Night Seller: Joseph Walters Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch Requirements: 3.0 or higher File Size: 20.2MB Price: $0.99 Age Rating: 4+ As things get dark, you may be in search of summer’s iconic bug: the firefly. If you can’t find any, this game can help you to get the experience. The game mode lets you sort different color flies into jars as a speed trial. Numbers mode is all about unlocking achievements by creating sequences of numbers in jars. Buy Firefly Night 100 Horror Stories, Sounds and Scares Seller: Vroom LLC Compatibility: iPhone or iPod Touch Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or higher File Size: 29.9MB Price: $0.99 Age Rating: 12+ When things get good and dark, the time has come for ghost stories. If your imagination is light or if you simply enjoy classic tales of terror, then this application is for you.  It houses more than 100 stories and has classics such as The Fall of The House of Usher , The Phantom of the Opera and The Monkey’s Paw , as well as a lot of newer, but compelling tales

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iPhone and iPod touch apps to take on the camping trip

Looks like the House of Jobs’ hype machine worked. According to estimates by Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board , Day One pre-sales totals for the iPad topped out at just under 120,000.  In the first two hours alone, 50,000 units were bought.  (Note: these numbers do not include iPads reserved but not actually purchased.) The graph shows some interesting facts: sales were evenly spread among the 16, 32, and 64 GB models, while Wi-Fi sales were more than double that of the 3G version.  (Remember: the Wi-Fi is definitely coming out on April 3, while the 3G is still sporting a “later in April” release date.) Victor Castroll, an analyst with Valcent Financial Group, summed it up best: “Apple has been able to generate over $75 million in revenue in one day on a product that 99.9% of purchasers haven’t touched or for that matter, even seen in person.  And, we’re still three weeks away. That is amazing.” [Via Fortune Brainstorm Tech ]

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iPad Pre-Sale Day One: 120K And Counting

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 12, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Alesis has announced that the MultiMix 6 USB six-channel USB mixer, is now shipping to retailers. The MultiMix 6 USB is a six-channel desktop mixer designed for easy integration into a computer-based recording environment. This compact mixer is perfect for use in recording setups, video editing and production studios as it outputs not only line-level analog audio, but also stereo 16-bit, 44.1 kHz digital audio over USB for low-noise, simple computer connection. MacinMind Software has released Radiologik DJ 1.7 , optimizing loading and playback for this radio automation and DJ tool. This release includes several optimizations to help ensure the Radiologik system is as reliable and robust as possible for 24/7 radio stations both streaming and terrestrial. Radiologik DJ is the DJ music and playout system for radio or most DJ needs, offering beautiful real radio transitions by employing Track Prep through the accompanying scheduler program. Mode de Vie Limited has announced MyThoughts 1.1 , an update to their popular Mind Mapping software for Mac OS X. Intuitive, flexible and powerful, MyThoughts for Mac provides an ideal solution for those wanting to improve their brainstorming, learning and recall abilities through the use of Mind Maps. MyThoughts for Mac features an intuitive interface that lets the user focus on expressing and developing ideas with fluid, organic, Mind Maps. Bohemian Coding has released Fontcase 1.5 , a free update to the Apple Design Award-winning font manager that is like an iPhoto for your fonts. A few feature-highlights include versatile metadata support, the ability to share fonts on your local network and fantastic ways to preview all your fonts. Version 1.5 adds much-requested auto-activation, duplicates detection, speed increase and stability among other things

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 12, 2010

Square-Enix recently brought its popular Final Fantasy series to the iPhone, and now another heavy-hitter, Capcom, is bringing yet another marquee title to the platform. That title is Street Fighter — and Street Fighter IV, a port of the latest installment in the series, is now available for purchase in the App Store for $9.99. But wait, that’s a fighting game. On the iPhone. Which has no physical controls. Sure, there’s been a few to date, with mixed results, but there must be a reason the genre hasn’t caught on with developers with the ferocity of, say, accelerometer-based driving games, no? That’s definitely what I thought, but I purchased and downloaded the game anyway, against my better instincts, because I love the series, notably Street Fighter IV for the PS3. And because when I was considering a purchase, it had only received five-star reviews, which is rare even in the early going for any iPhone game. Luckily, I was not disappointed

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Street Fighter IV Arrives on the iPhone

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 10, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh iWebThemesPark has launched ten new iWeb Themes for Apple’s iWeb. In addition, a free iWeb Theme has been released for all iWeb users. Brand new, amazing and supreme quality iWeb Themes from iWebThemesPark are the perfect way to create or update a website. Some iWeb Templates are recommended for building business websites, so everyone can find a perfect theme for any kind of website. The package of ten themes for an unbelievably low price is most likely to be the best offer ever. iUseMac has announced that it will be featuring the innovative image identification software PhotoBrain at 50% off on Wednedsay March 10th and Thursday March 11th. PhotoBrain is an advanced software for image identification and photo matching, it’s the first image search engine on the local drive to use image identification technology. iUseMac offers popular Mac applications at reduced prices for limited time periods. This offer will start on Wednedsay March 10th and will end 48 hours later. Intego has announced VirusBarrier X6 Dual Protection , featuring the latest version of its acclaimed anti-malware and network security software together with BitDefender Antivirus 2010 so Mac users can protect their Windows installations. The latest version of Intego’s anti-malware and network security program includes new threat-detection techniques, improved methods of detection, combined detection protocols, proactive behavioral analysis, and a full range of defensive functions. Bambooapps today announce Quiet Read Pro , an important update to their popular link management application for Macintosh. Quiet Read lets you save any link for later, and is an unobtrusive, easy to use application that features a clean interface. Quiet Read Pro features a comfortable and simple user interface, providing support for bookmarklets, syncing with MobileMe, short URLs, with list searching and filtering capabilities. Eltima Software has announced the release of Folx 1.0 , a free download manager for Mac OS X

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 10, 2010

Ever wanted to play Street Fighter on a guitar? Nintendo-music masters the Minibosses share the secrets to their success.       Case Study: The Minibosses Occupation: Rock band specializing in remixed Nintendo music Gear: Assorted Macs, iPod touch units running Bebot , Pro Tools , Tablature , and NES emulators like NESticle and iNES . Friends, rockers, geeks: The Minibosses.   Take a great thing from your youth and run with it. This could be the motto of the Minibosses, a Phoenix-based rock band that for almost 10 years has taken original Nintendo videogame songs and strung them together with incredibly energetic riffs and long medleys in a standard four piece rock format (consisting of two guitars, bass and drums) to become one of the most popular touring acts for any geek event. The band, which consists of Aaron Burke (guitar), Ben Baraldi (guitar), Robin Vining (bass), and Matt Wood (percussion), originally began back in Northampton, Massachussetts, as the Jenova Project, which toyed with the idea of throwing old Nintendo theme songs into the middle of other songs for the fun of it. When the Jenova Project broke up at the end of the ’90s and the Minibosses formed in 2000, the group had found its niche.   Getting to the Good Stuff   It’s one thing to love and adore the Nintendo music you grew up with. It’s another thing to get direct access to that music in order to learn how to play it with different instruments. This is where a series of free Nintendo Entertainment System emulators such as NESticle and iNes first came in. “Those are great because with most of them you can isolate the parts and only listen to the specific stuff you need to figure out,” says Burke. This process became even easier as media players like Winamp and iTunes allowed for Nintendo Sound Files to be loaded in. Third-party extensions like Slow Me Down allow the band the slow down the tempo in order to take the songs apart and reassemble them as needed.   Enter the Mac   Before any kind of CD release, or even a live performance, editing and mixing becomes crucial

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Minibosses — This Song Is for All the Geeks Out There

Watching the iPad’s first television spot on the Oscars Sunday night, I got giddy all over again in anticipation of getting my hands on this hot new product. Though it’s still a few weeks away , I’m even more excited for the applications that will be coming to the platform. Here’s my top 10 list of apps that I want to see developed for the iPad. Coda As a graphic designer and web developer, Coda is a staple in my workflow. It features a built-in FTP system, which could be problematic to port to a mobile device, considering there isn’t a traditional file structure to store data. However, perhaps the iPad’s new file storage system will provide an adequate solution. Regardless, as someone who codes, it would be awesome to sit next to a client and modify code and push changes to a site all from my iPad while they load and test the revisions on their own desktop. Photoshop Before you laugh, remember that Adobe has already released Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone, and all things considered, it’s not such a bad application. A larger iPad version could allow support for opening and manipulating native Photoshop files as well as working between multiple files. CS4 introduced a new tabbed approach to viewing multiple documents at once. A similar setup could easily be implemented on the iPad. Katamari Damacy What’s a fun touchscreen device without a fun game? Katamari already exists as an iPhone app so it’ll scale up decently on the iPad. But given the advanced graphics of the iPad and the larger screen, a native iPad version is a must.

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My iPad Wish List: 10 App Requests

Don’t get us wrong, we appreciate tasty eye candy like Avatar. But documentaries tend to be the films that really amaze us. The impact of the right story told by an artist compelled to share it tends to stay alive in our hearts and heads long after we’ve forgotten whatever passed for a plot in the big blockbuster productions. And our fondness for documentaries and independent film makers was deepened this year when we found out that nine of the ten Oscar nominated documentaries in both the "Documentary Feature" and "Documentary Short" categories were made using Apple’s Final Cut Pro software. Some of the 2010 documentary nominees kindly took time out of their busy Oscar weekend to talk to us about their films and how they made them.   Credit: Errol Webber Music by Prudence Director: Roger Ross Williams The story of Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Prudence Mabhena, 21, who was born severely disabled and has struggled to overcome poverty and discrimination What made you want to make this film? Roger Williams: I was very interested in making a film in Africa, yet I didn’t want to make a film about struggle, war, or aids.

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Oscar Nominated Documentary Film Makers Talk About Their Films and Final Cut Pro

We know spring doesn’t officially start for another two weeks, but the way the weather and the sun have been playing with our minds lately, it feels like it might really happen on schedule. Of course, if we know winter, there’s always at least one more trick up its sleeve. But this weather! It almost makes us not want to be inside playing with our tech toys.  So load up these links on your iPhone and get stepping out like us, because it’s another sunshiney week of the best of the best from Mac|Life. Features: – 10 Reasons Why You Can’t Always Rely on GPS on the iPhone – We like to laugh when we see people with smartphones and a GPS system; it seems so redundant. But the iPhone’s GPS isn’t perfect (none are), and you might find yourself needing and not wanting. Here’s how it can happen, in ten easy steps. Worst case scenario isn’t the bear, however; it’s having to use Bing maps. How-Tos: – Getting Started with Final Cut Pro – If there’s anything as complicated and as ever-changing as digital video editing, let us know, because it makes our head hurt. Apple’s good for taking the sting out of lots of things, and Final Cut Pro goes a long way toward doing so, but if you’re just getting started, it’s good to get a little help from your friends. Of course we mean your friends at Mac|Life. Reviews: – CarMD 2100 Handheld Tester – It seems only yesterday we were talking to a coworker who needed just this exactly little handy device. Well, actually, it was over a year ago, but you get the picture. If it had been yesterday, we’d have shoved this article under his nose and told him to diagnose his own car trouble in a snap.

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In Case You Missed It: Mar. 1 – Mar. 7

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPad , iPhone Carriers , Features , Opinions and Editorials , Originals When Apple announced the iPad at the end of January, it was met with both excitement and contempt. There had been so many rumors leading up to the announcement that it was guaranteed to leave somebody disappointed. One of the questions leading up to the event was “How would it connect to the internet?” WiFi seemed to be a given, but lots of people hoped there would be a 3G option as well. But along with the prediction of 3G was the hope of maybe Verizon or even Sprint as data providers this time instead of AT&T. But during the keynote Apple announced to a stunned audience that they would once again be working with AT&T . Why AT&T Again? Since that announcement, lots of people have asked “Why AT&T again?” This question is based on the fact that many people have been very disappointed—and even frustrated—by the performance of AT&T’s 3G network performance and coverage. There are states like North Dakota and South Dakota where AT&T has little or no coverage at all, and even the big cities like New York or Los Angeles have been plagued by very poor performance. My experience has not been so bad. I live in a rural area that also happens to be covered by AT&T’s 3G service, and it works very well. I know this has not been the case everywhere, and I can attest to that when I travel to places like San Francisco or Chicago. I also experienced the coverage issues as I traveled cross country this past summer. But I think the answer to why AT&T was chosen again is not as much an issue of network performance as it is network technology.

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The iPad and AT&T; here we go again