Filed under: Hardware , Apple , iPad Apple’s new iPad battery replacement service is actually an iPad replacement service. Apple announced this week that if an IPad requires service due to a dead or dying battery, it will replace that iPad entirely with free shipping. The service itself costs US$99. Note that the battery must have died on its own accord; if you dropped it, spilled Mountain Dew inside or otherwise damaged the iPad in a way that diminished the battery’s functioning, it’s not covered. Also, the iPad you receive will not contain any of your data, so make a full backup before you send the defective unit off to Apple (and do a factory restore to remove all of your data if you’re the paranoid type). You can get the process started at an Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider . Apple says to expect the whole exchange to take about 1 week. [Via MacUser ] Apple announces iPad battery replacement service originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Apple announces iPad battery replacement service originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Gaming , Software , Apple , Developer , iPhone , iPad On the third day of GDC 2010 , Ngmoco’s Neil Young took the stage in one of the largest rooms at the conference to talk about what his company had “unlearned” in its time in the App Store. Ngmoco has become a large and polarizing figure in the world of App Store development — after starting out with a big investment from the iFund, it’s moved quickly to become one of the biggest iPhone-only developers , and after starting out with a few premium titles like the very successful Rolando, have recently made waves with its “freemium” business model . Young talked about the company’s history so far, and went in-depth on Ngmoco’s plan for ruling the App Store and why he believes it’s the “most significant shift and opportunity for [game developers] since the birth of this business.” We’ve summarized Young’s long address in this post. It was pretty incredible — not only did Young lay out his idea of a clear plan for building and developing a large portfolio of very profitable App Store titles “at scale” (the company plans to release twenty new freemium products on the iPhone in the near future, as well as six titles on the iPad ), but he made it very clear that he fervently believes that freemium and the model he’s structured is the future of the video game business. Continue reading GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST.

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Are Microsoft employees “nuts for the iPhone?” According to a Wall Street Journal piece, yup… and that’s starting to cause some problems at Redmond as they prepare to roll-out their own would-be iPhone OS killer, Windows Phone 7. Essentially, everyone within Microsoft knows that their current smartphone operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5, chonks hoad. Microsoft employees

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Gary Katz, patron saint of kids and parents stuck indoors with his iPhone theater in a box, has now developed a download version. (The mail-order version cost $20.) For just $12 you get high-quality images and a choice of walls, ceilings, roofs and curtains and plus extras for a touch of customization. It comes with instructions, you

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In the Hackintosh community, the MSI Wind is somewhat legendary for being the first netbook out there that could essentially run OS X out of the box, with all features working and no hardware hacking required. Now it looks like the venerable Wind has another Apple bragging point: with its keyboard ripped out and its

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Section: Haven’t caught all of the Appletell news this week?  Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles! Appletell giveaway: Saddleback Leather laptop case “A few months ago, the fine people at Saddleback Leather provided us with a medium laptop case for review. Now they’re extending that generosity to you by allowing us to give it away to one of our readers. This is 100% waterproof full grain boot leather with a high density…” MORE » Appletell reviews HyperMac External Battery for Apple MacBook MBP-060 “Provides: Extended battery life Developer: HyperMac Minimum Requirements: MacBook or iDevice needing enhanced battery life Price: $199.95 Availability: Now What’s worse than seeing your MacBook’s battery dip below 10%? Seeing it hit zero? Okay, fair enough. But if this happens to you often, you need…” MORE » Gaming gets serious – Steam coming to Mac “If you’re a serious gamer, it’s unlikely you have an all-Mac setup. If you do, there’s probably enough power to comfortably Boot Camp into Windows 7, and enough for a decent frame rate in the latest titles. Otherwise, it seems developers aren’t so…” MORE » Apple’s iPad ad reveals new details “As reported at Appletell, the first TV ad for Apple’s iPad made it’s TV premiere during the Oscars. And you’re probably not surprised that the story doesn’t stop there. No, we actually gained some real information about the iBookstore,…” MORE » Appletell reviews the Moshi Voice Control Alarm Clock “Provides: Voice activation for alarm and time settings Developer: Moshi Lifestyle Minimum Requirements: AC wall outlet (3 AAA batteries for backup), voice Price: $49.99 Availability: Now What does an alarm clock have to do with Apple products? Not much, in this case. There’s no iPhone…” MORE » Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 9, 2010 “Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 9, 2010:  Macintosh iPod Macintosh FileMaker, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of FileMaker Pro…” MORE » Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 8, 2010 “Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 8, 2010:  Macintosh iPod Macintosh Zevrix Solutions is offering BatchOutput Server—its output workflow automation solution…” MORE » First iPad ad hits screens during the Oscars [video] ” If you were watching the Oscars last night, you may have caught sight of Apple’s brand new advertisement for the much awaited iPad. The ad itself races through (with shortened sequences, of course) several features of…” MORE » What will books actually look like on the iPad?

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Section: Mac Software , Games , Reviews Category: Real-time strategy Developer: Firaxis System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5.8, Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.83GHz, 1GB RAM, 1GB hard drive space, 128MB video card Review Computer: 2.2GHz 13” Macbook Pro, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM Network Feature: Yes Processor Compatibility: Intel Price: $39.99 Rated: E for Everyone (10+) Availability: Out now I might like Civilization IV: Colonization better if it were just called “Colonization,” rather than associating it with probably the best game series of all time . Then again, maybe not; its restrictive gameplay and limited amount of power in a “god game” make it something of a throwback to the early days of graphic gameplay. You are, as you might expect, a colonist who lands in the New World (either North America or the islands of the Carribean). You establish towns, exploit the land and the natives, and sell your goods back to the motherland, where you recruit more settlers to further expand your hold in the west. Your ultimate goals are self-sufficiency and, finally, rebellion. Stir up enough independent feelings, then you can break away from your homeland and, if you can survive the military reprisal, win the game. Colonization is very much a micro-management game, your population is measured by individual colonists who can be assigned specific tasks such as harvesting food or other raw materials (cotton, sugar, silver, etc.) from the land surrounding your town, or converting those raw materials into finished goods. You can assign any colonist to any task, but specialists will do it better. You can recruit colonists and specialists from Europe (or they may offer to come in search of religious freedom), or you can send missionaries to native villages in hopes of gaining converts to live in your towns.  If you buddy up to the natives, you can send your colonists to their villages to get specialist training. Managing your population and keeping them on task will eat up half your time, with the other half being devoted to trade, carting your goods around to the other colonists or shipping them back to Europe. Producing finished goods (which are more valuable) is a multi-step process; you have to have a citizen harvesting, say, tobacco, as well as another citizen working to convert the tobacco into cigars. You add more people to a particular job, or improve the buildings to make them more productive. And that’s the game, really, to try to build up trade while also building up the desire for independence (that’s a job, too; you add workers to your Town Hall). There’s very little exploration and practially no technology research (beyond building new structures that give you access to new units). Raising armies is a matter of assigning colonists to defend a city (or hiring professional troops).

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Curvy iPod speaker also makes desks more stylish   The Zeppelin Mini from Bowers & Wilkins is certainly a sight to behold. This elliptical iPod speaker dock slickly incorporates a pair of three-inch drivers with a swiveling dock connector that allows you to rotate your device 90 degrees, which makes it easy to take advantage of Cover Flow navigation. It’s beautiful and well designed, and though the sound performs equally well, the bass on this $400 dock is a bit underwhelming. While its larger sibling is intended to fill rooms with music (Apr/08, 4 out of 5 stars), the more compact Zeppelin Mini is better suited to your desktop. At 12.6 inches wide by 4 inches deep, it’ll fit nicely next to your Mac, and it can also serve as both a syncing cradle for your iPod or iPhone (when connected via an optional USB cable) and an external speaker for your computer’s audio. There’s even an audio input on the back that’s handy for using the Mini to pipe out audio from other external sources. Bowers & Wilkins includes a small seven-button remote that controls playback, adjusts volume, and switches input between the dock connector and the auxiliary input. Disappointingly, it doesn’t let you navigate menus or playlists, which is an odd oversight. When it’s not in use, the rounded remote sits snugly on the Zeppelin Mini’s concave top. That’s a good thing–the main unit only features Power and Volume Up and Down buttons, so if you lose the remote, you’re out of luck (which is also a good argument for keeping a spare battery on hand). To our ears, the Zeppelin Mini sounds great for its size. It gets plenty loud (especially since most people will probably use it on a desk near their workstation), and the tone is even and clear. Zeppelin Mini avoids the common problem that many small speakers have in overemphasizing the treble, although after extended testing, we still wish the Mini’s bass was a bit stronger, especially given its relatively high price and ported design. We were also bummed that spending four bills on a Zeppelin Mini doesn’t get you a printed manual or a USB cable for connecting with your Mac.

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Verizon sees a way to cash-in on the iPad, despite AT&T having the exclusive data contract for the Apple tablet device. In a memo, the rival wireless carrier sees the new Apple gadget as “an opportunity for VZW” and urges employees to promote its MiFi wireless router as a stop-gap connection method until a 3G

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Forget Plants vs. Zombies… how about Tweets vs. Zombies? Tweet Defense is a cute little tower defense game for the iPhone and iPod Touch that boosts your units power based on your Twitter activity, including status updates and number of followers, as you fight off wave after wave of the undead. A Twitter account is not

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