Watch: Apple’s unreleased Retina MacBook stars in a 15-minute hands-on video

Remember when Apple products had to be released before they appeared in extensive hands-on videos? Well that's no longer the case, as Ukrainian electronics retailer Rozetka has just published an in-depth video of the unreleased Retina MacBook in action. We first saw an unboxing video starring the new laptop surface last week, and now a much more extensive look at the stunning new computer is available for your viewing pleasure.

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Posted in 2015 at 08:08PM, April 06

How to stop Facebook from sending you those annoying birthday notifications

Ahh, Facebook. The social network we love to hate and hate to love. Facebook is easily the most trafficked social service in the world and people spend countless hours stalking, err, keeping up with friends, sharing news stories and posting about their own lives. Of course, there are also plenty of things about the service that are a little bit annoying or even downright infuriating.

The birthday notifications that are enabled by default for each and every one of your Facebook friends falls somewhere in between "a little bit annoying" and "downright infuriating," but luckily it couldn't be easier to disable them.

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Posted in 2015 at 08:08PM, March 20

Smartflash Hits Apple With Second Lawsuit After Winning $533 Million Verdict

Just one day after Apple was ordered to pay a $532.9 million settlement to Smartflash LLC for infringing upon its patented technologies, the Texas-based patent licensing firm has sued the Cupertino-based company a second time over the same patents (via Reuters ). The new lawsuit covers Apple products that were introduced after the original case was filed, including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2.

"Smartflash filed the complaint to address products that came out too far into the last proceedings to have been included," Smartflash's attorney, Brad Caldwell, told Reuters on Thursday. "Apple cannot claim they don’t know about these patents or understand that they are infringing. A diligent jury has already rejected those arguments."

The new lawsuit was filed in the same Tyler, Texas district court on Wednesday night, only hours after a federal jury found Apple guilty in the original trial. Apple plans to appeal the decision in the original lawsuit under the belief that the patents are invalid. The patented technologies relate to digital rights management for downloaded songs, videos and games.

“Smartflash makes no products, has no employees, creates no jobs, has no U.S. presence, and is exploiting our patent system to seek royalties for technology Apple invented,” said Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman. “We refused to pay off this company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating and unfortunately we have been left with no choice but to take this fight up through the court system.”

Smartflash LLC fits the definition of a so-called "patent troll," which is generally considered to be a company that licenses patents but does not sell any products or services based on the inventions. The small company has also filed similar lawsuits against Samsung Electronics, Google and Amazon in recent months over the same patents. The new lawsuit against Apple was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

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Posted in 2015 at 08:08PM, February 26

'Bowling Central' Expands Wii-Style Gaming on Apple TV [iOS Blog]

Back in 2013, Rolocule debuted Motion Tennis , an iPhone game that brought Wii-style gaming to the Apple TV via AirPlay. Using AirPlay Mirroring, users could display the game on an Apple TV while using an iPhone as a tennis racket. The setup drew natural comparisons to Nintendo's Wii Sports, with the iPhone playing the role of the Wii Remote.



Motion Tennis wasn't perfect, as it did suffer from minor lag and there were naturally concerns about users accidentally throwing their iPhones across the room or into their televisions, but it did serve as an interesting glimpse of both the potential of AirPlay and the possibilities for Apple TV gaming.



Rolocule is now back with an addition to its sports-themed Apple TV games, earlier this month debuting Bowling Central . The game itself is fairly simple, allowing users to bowl a classic game of 3, 6, or 10 frames, or take on a challenge mode that currently offers 30 stages with various stationary and/or moving blockers in the way of the pins.



Bowling Central is by no means the first bowling game for iOS, nor even necessarily the best or most realistic, but once again the selling point is Apple TV compatibility via AirPlay. When in AirPlay mode, the user can wave his or her iPhone side to side to set the release point and then swing the device to bowl the ball, even imparting spin depending on the trajectory of the swing.






In our testing, we found very little lag when playing via Apple TV, an important factor considering the need to accurately time throws in challenge mode. Throws also felt natural with the iPhone after a bit of practice that involved getting used to keeping a thumb on the screen during the throw rather than releasing as on Wii Sports. Rolocule co-founder Anuj Tandon notes the controls were specifically designed to keep the thumb in place during throws in order to maintain better control of the device and minimize the chances of accidentally throwing it.



We did experience some crashing problems when AirPlaying to a second-generation Apple TV, although these appear to be due more to AirPlay issues on the older set-top box than an app problem. No such issues were seen with a third-generation Apple TV.



Overall, Bowling Central is a fairly straightforward bowling game with limited gameplay options so far. For example, there is no live multiplayer option and the 30 challenge levels can be completed rather quickly, although it can take a bit longer to achieve "three-pin" ratings on each.



More challenge levels appear to be in the works, however, and the Apple TV compatibility is what makes Bowling Central an interesting concept as party entertainment. With Apple yet to allow games or any sort of App Store for the Apple TV, Rolocule's AirPlay implementation gives a nice impression of the potential for the set-top box should Apple ultimately decide to open it up to third-party developers.



Bowling Central is available now in the App Store for $2.99. [Direct Link]

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Posted in 2015 at 08:08PM, January 26