The most frequently repeated joke at WWDC about the new Mac Pro is that it looks like a trashcan or a cigarette tray. There's nothing trashy about it: it looks more like a jet turbine - an example of form following function so evident throughout Jony Ive's design catalog.
Live from WWDC 2013 I sat down with Dalton Caldwell and got a State of the App.net -- everything from the current and varied crop of micro-blogging clients to the new messaging apps and photo mashups to what ADN could do better and where they're headed in the future. It's refreshing to see a social platform that's happy to be the platform and not need to own every bit of interface and idea in the space.
It's a hefty 10 minutes, so grab a refreshing beverage, hit play, and enjoy.
Deus Ex: The Fall was announced at E3 2013, and we got a little time to check it out on the show floor. Those that have already played Human Evolution will feel right at home - you'll find plenty of action, stealth, and cybernetic upgrades to enjoy, as well as a rich dystopian storyline that ties in tightly with the canon.
Another bit of gaming goodness out of E3 was a fresh content patch for The Simpson's Tapped Out. The Waterfront update introduces a whole new range of buildings, decorations, quests, and characters. There are 30 new plots of land, so players can expand their own little versions of Springfield, and a new boardwalk section allows them to build out onto the water.
PYXL may be a casual puzzle game for iPhone but don't let its looks fool you, it's actually quite challenging. You'll play PYXL, a baby pixel with dreams of one day becoming a real life pixel. To do this, you'll have to collect dots floating towards you while avoiding and popping the black ones. There's one catch, the colors must hit the side of PYXL that corresponds with their color.
At E3, we caught up with Gameloft just as they were launching Minion Rush, an adorable endless runner based on the upcoming Despicable Me 2 film. Players dash through a veritable gauntlet of mad scientist contraptions as one of the bizarre yellow minions, collecting bananas along the way (they love those things, apparently).
Steve Jobs was not looking to enter the ebook market before the creation of the iPad. This is according to Apple's SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, testifying in the Justice Department's ebook price-fixing case. According to Cue's testimony, it was the iPad that caused Jobs finally come around to the idea of an ebook service from Apple.
Square Wallet has just been updated to version 3.0 which brings a completely redesigned interface that makes finding businesses easier, especially the ones directly around you. The payment screen has also been updated to make it quicker to pay at local businesses.
In the unfortunate event that you ever forget or lose the password to log in to your Mac running OS X Mountain Lion, hope does not have to be lost. Instead of fiddling around with recovery mode and terminal, you can easily reset it using your Apple ID as long as you've enabled your user profile to use that option.
Microsoft continues to try and use the iPad to sell Windows tablets with this latest effort, starring the Dell XPS 10. Never heard of it? That's possible, since there's a good chance outside of the store you've likely not seen one. The tactic is still the same -- highlight what the iPad can't do, that Windows can -- but at least this time they've moved away from using Office as a weapon.
