Apple’s latest event wasn’t particularly mind-blowing (for the most part). A new iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 are on the way, both slightly upgraded (iPad Air 2 gets thinner, better specs, and Touch ID while the Mini 3 simply gets the fingerprint sensor). They’re now available in the space grey, gold, and white/silver colors, too. OS X Yosemite has a fair amount of new features, and that is available now for free. But we all expected this. The most interesting news is that the iMac is finally being upgraded to a Retina display: 5K, 5120 x 2880 pixels, leading Apple to proclaim it the “world’s highest resolution display.” It’s pretty impressive! I want to see one in person. Check out some images below and a full rundown from the Verge here. Read more…
Yes, true believers, you can now get the most addictive digital card game on iPad, so you can play anytime. Say goodbye to your family and productivity as you whittle away the hours building the perfect deck and battling foes online. I’ll be honest, I haven’t played Hearthstone yet, but I’ve seen plenty of my friends really get into it. I’m not sure if I want to take the plunge just yet. Then again, it is free-to-play… No, no, not yet. But soon! Until then, I’ll just watch the trailer and marvel at the gorgeous playing animations and excellent art. Download the app here or watch the launch trailer below! Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Aug 1, 2012 in Animation, Tech
Like many of you, I’m always looking for new reasons to dust off my iPad or Kindle. To be fair, I use them for everything from casual gaming, to streaming films, and reading books, but being the creative type that I am, I’m never really satisfied. I’m constantly looking for new outlets for my creativity, and with their touch-based interface, you’d think visual art would be a natural fit for such a device. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve come across some fantastic applications, and I’ve managed to create some impressive works — at least, by my own standards — with just my fingers, but sometimes you just want to have a tool you’re more accustomed to. Introducing the Sensu Brush.
Sadly, The Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t seem to be amazing enough for many critics and fans alike. True, not every reboot can be as successful as the last, but you can’t really blame Sony for trying. It’s been years since the last Tobey Maguire film and even I have to admit I was a little sick of the kid. Nevertheless, we’ve got ourselves a new Spidey, so we may as well learn to cope. The first step might be to picking Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man Augmented Reality App for your favorite iOS device — mind you, an iPhone 4, 4s, or iPad 2 on up, is required.
New iOS game PSA time! Out now on the App Store is Beat Sneak Bandit, the latest game from Simogo. It’s a fantastic little puzzle game that also has a little rhythm game mixed in with it. The aim is to collect as many clocks as you can while staying in time with the beat of the music. It starts simple but ramps up and becomes really involving. And if you’ve ever wanted to play an interactive Saul Bass opening, this is probably the closest you’re gonna get. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Jan 16, 2012 in Tech, Videogames
I love the concept of tablet gaming, I really do, but like many of you, I find the touch controls absolutely maddening at times. This is especially true for any game or app that requires the use of a directional pad. Thankfully, the chaps at Ten One Design could read my mind. Introducing the Fling Joystick and Fling mini — a simple analog nub that sticks to your tablet, or smartphone and holds in place via small translucent suction cups. Read more…
he ultimate dream for many an illustrator is to turn their iPad into a Wacom tablet. Well here’s a hack which shows you how to do that: This Japanese video below shows a cool hack to turn a pen into a stylus for an iPad, iPhone,iPod touch. Read more…
Posted by Linda Yau on Jul 25, 2011 in Comic Books
In the past one of the problems with ebook readers is that it’s difficult to read small text, and this has made it difficult to read graphic novels from the print world. However today with the iPad and similar devices new worlds have opened up for graphic novels fans. Many established companies like Viz and Dark Horse have jumped onto this bandwagon, but now outsider companies from abroad are joining these ranks. Read more…
The other year we wrote about the LCARS Reader app for Apple’s iOS. I absolutely loved the concept, but it wasn’t long before the novelty wore off and I found myself deleting the app altogether. I’m not sure if it was just that I found the interface to be slightly buggy and difficult to navigate, or that it seemed to lack the polish I’ve become accustomed to with properly licensed products — maybe a bit of both. It’s been over a year, and CBS has finally got around to creating their own LCARS interface with their official Star Trek PADD app. Took them long enough, am I right?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 31, 2011 in Comic Books, Tech
Kondansha’s Morning 2 Manga magazine will be released in a digital version for both the iPhone/iPad and Android devices. What’s shown in the illustration is just a mock up, but what’s interesting to me is that this looks to be a larger part of the book industry flocking to mobile. Of course my hopes are that Kondansha will start to directly sell translated manga to the American market directly in this way, but that may take some time. In the meantime you can download the app here (which is in Japanese).
It wasn’t that long ago that Christmas shopping for me included two essential stops: Virgin Megastore and Tower Records. Both retail chains which had been pillars of the industry vanished overnight. And I now find myself wondering if during Christmas 2011 if the same thing will happen to Barnes & Nobel and Borders? Just as Napster and later iTunes devastated chain record shops I’m already seeing the signs that the Kindle and the iPad are delivering body blows to huge book stores. Read more…
I’m kidding, actually. I use my iPad all the time — I just wish it was more than a glorified ebook reader. Sure, I have a few apps that I use all the time, but aside from watching videos on services like Hulu, Netflix, or streamed over my Air Video server, reading books and playing a few games pretty much covers it. I’m not sure Apple will ever add functionality for the device — at least, not this generation — so I’ll take my added functionality wherever I can get it. In this case, it comes in the form of an HDMI adapter.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 21, 2010 in Animation, Tech
Everyone knows about Domo, but another famous mascot from Japanese television is Stray Sheep which was first spotted on Fuji TV in the mid 90s. Sadly Fuji TV has ignored poor Poe and Merry, however the folks at Robot Communications have given the woolies some love and created the interactive book Stray Sheep: Poe’s Christmas for the iPad:
Those of you with an iDevice may have noticed the recently released update for your iBooks app. Apple pushed their 1.2 update on the 15th, allowing users to view fully-illustrated children’s books, cook books, reference guides, and more. Personally, I can’t wait to download some photography books, though I imagine they’ll probably take up signifigantly more space on my hard drive — a small price to pay, or is it? Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 24, 2010 in Comic Books
Not so long ago New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger admitted that the New York Timesmay stop publishing a printed version in the near future. Of course the newspaper of record is an exception to the rule, so one should expect other publication formats to follow suite — and that very much will include comic books. My gut feeling tells me that while coffee table collector editions will be here for eons that the bread-and-butter comic book that you see published by Marvel and DC won’t be around in a few years. Read more…
When you think of technology companies that manage to turn a gimmick into gold, you usually would think Apple. Granted, those gimmicks are matched by a mostly smooth user interface so easy even your great-great-grandparents could use it, and they’re dead…but gimmicks they are. Touchscreens? Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. Tablets? Apple’s iPad. There are more examples, but I don’t like to think about them: I, after all, am a non-iFanperson. Read more…
Of course you can safely assume that as an anime fanboy I’m impressed with anything with One Piece artwork on it — but what impresses me about this is that it’s the first time that I’m seeing really accessories for the iPad start to emerge from Japan! This One Piece Hard Shell Jacket for the iPad protects your Apple gizmo from scratches with illustrations of Luffy, Chopper, Nico Robin and many more: Read more…
Sure it’s not Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, or even IDW, but if you haven’t read any of Boom! Studios’ comics since its inception back in 2005, you’ve really missed out on some amazing work. With licensed works based on films like Die Hard and 28 Days Later you really can’t go wrong — not to mention their outstanding line-up of original content that spans a variety of different genres. However, missing out can be easily remedied thanks to their recently released iPad app which promises to deliver roughly 50 titles straight to your iPad for a reasonable price. The app itself is built on the comiXology engine, the same engine used by other publishers such as Marvel and IDW. To download the app, or to learn more, check out the app store website.Read more…
David Blaine, eat your heart out. Today I stumbled across this awesome video, complete with subtitles, of a Japanese street magician playing with Apple’s iPad. Sure, he’s no Lance Burton, and it’s a pretty neat little presentation in terms of viral marketing. I also hate to say it, but aside from using it as a glorified ebook reader, this video has probably demonstrated the most practical use of an iPad I’ve seen to date. Kind of sad, huh? Read more…
When I first laid eyes on an iPad, I knew I had to have it. Sure, I didn’t really have a practical use for one, aside from using it to read e-books or check my mail, but the hipster in me just couldn’t resist. Besides, it was the closest thing to a Star Trek padd I could get, and now, thanks to the LCARS Reader app, it’s even closer than before. Let’s just hope that CBS keeps their grubby hands off of it. Read more…
On one hand I’m very impressed that Marvel is going ahead and doing an IPad app — but the pricing of $2 per issue seems a bit high to me. My gut tells me that the way Marvel makes their money is by merchandising and films, so the more kids that can grow up with the Marvel universe characters the more money you’ll make over the long term. I get it that you can’t go from charging something to nothing (currently most books are $4 in print), but honestly most comic books are too short to make the two bucks worth while. Imagine if you will if the cost per eComic was $1 per issue like iTunes songs, or if you had an all you can eat subscription model for $20 a month. But in any case my bet is that we’ll see other comic book publishers follow Marvel shortly (that or new publishers will enter the field).
So I started to think: What would it take to get Flash on the iPad? Seeing that it’s a political situation the clear answer is that the CEO of Adobe needs to make nice with Steve. And then it hit me: Who the hell is the CEO of Adobe? Back in the day THE guy at Adobe was Warnock but that was eons ago — so who is running Adobe today? And much to my shock after doing a Google search I came across the page below and it tells you everything that’s wrong with this picture: There is no strong CEO at Adobe — the company is still in the shadow of Warnock. Read more…
