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OnLive for iPad – I Want One of These

Stephen Ashby — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:37:38 +0000

The iPad, and previously the iPhone, have fast become the biggest mobile gaming platform in the world, with millions of people downloading simple apps like Angry Birds to their devices to play on the move. Now, though, there is a new kid on the block, and it’s going to blow Angry Birds out of the metaphorical water.

The OnLive service launched in both the US and UK for Macs and PCs a few months ago, and it has changed the way a lot of people play games completely. The system allows you to play a high-definition game on any machine, whether it’s a £200 netbook running Windows Vista or a high-end gaming PC designed specifically for producing the best the graphics. What computer you use won’t actually make any difference to how the game looks, because the entire game is streamed to you from the OnLive servers.

You can now play HD games like Assassin's Creed on your MacBook Air, or even your iPad

When you input controls, they are beamed to the server farm, which works out what you want to do and instantly beams back the visual reaction to what you have done, with every part of the computing taking place in the server. All your computer needs is an internet connection and you can play any kind of game you want at the highest quality available. And it works. Exciting, eh?

Now, though, things are getting even more interesting. While you can already play OnLive on your Mac, and buy a wireless controller for the device if you want a more traditional gaming experience, you could previously only observe games if you use the free OnLive app for iPad. Flicking between the games that other users are play and watching their progress live was increidbly impressive, but what we really wanted was to be able to play these games on the iPad, right?

Lego Batman has been updated to include touch controls, and it's free when you download the OnLive Player app. Go get it!

Right – and the OnLive people have finally managed to do it. Check out this video, taken at E3 this year, shows an early demo of Batman: Arkham Asylum being played on an iPad, using a wireless controller. The app will be launching as soon as Apple approve it to the app store, and will include a whole selection of games that are playable with taps and swipes on the screen. At launch, there are three titles with Native Touch controls (one of which is the recent Rockstar title, LA Noire), which have been specifically designed to work with the iPad as if the game was built for Apple’s tablet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There will be a controller launching for the service very soon (£39.99 and $49.99 in the UK and US respectively) that will allow you to connect not only to your iPad but also to your Mac through bluetooth. You can play around 25 titles using touch controls on your iPad, but connecting a controller will unlock the full library of over 200 games currently available through OnLive. What’s really exciting is the potential here – with a MicroConsole and an iPad, you could display two different views of the same game, which could add a whole new dimension to gaming in the same way that AirPlay mirroring has with Apple TV and some iOS titles.

There’s also some great news for those in the US – OnLive have also been working on the service over 4G LTE networks with AT&T and Verizon, so you can play anywhere. Those who download the free OnLive Player app from the app store when it goes live will get a free copy of Lego Batman to test out the controls, and can test out other games for 30 minutes at no cost. So what are you waiting for – go get it now!

If you’re in the UK, you might also be interested to hear that BT is offering its home broadband customers an exclusive opportunity to get the OnLive PlayPack free for three months when they register online at bt.com/onlive before January 31 2012.

iLife Tutorial: Create your own iPhone ringtones with GarageBand

Freddie Harrison — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:52:26 +0000

One of the great things about Apple is that they are very good at integrating features across platforms and devices. A perfect example of this is the way that you can create a ringtone in GarageBand, send it to iTunes and sync it with your iPhone in less time than it would take to most Windows users to boot up and dismiss all of their virus warnings.

Of course, you need to know what you are doing, but that’s why we’re here. All you will need to complete this tutorial are your Mac and your iPhone, and in just a few minutes you can have a whole batch of catchy new tracks to alert you to incoming calls. And they will be uniquely yours.

Step 1: Load it, love it
Load up GarageBand and in the file-choosing window click on iPhone Ringtone in the left-hand pane. You then get presented with three possible options.

Step 2: Make your choice
There are two main choices – Loops or Voice. As we’re not great at singing, we’re going to opt for the Loops. Click on this so it turns blue, and then hit Choose.

Step 3: Properties
In the next window you need to pick a place to save your project. You can also make changes to the properties for the track you are about to make.

Step 4: Track
The ringtone track is set up especially to loop at the correct length of a ringtone and fade out too, to give you the gap between rings.

Step 5: Find it
Use the helpful guide in the Loops browser to narrow down your search for the perfect ringtone loops. Here we’ve started with All Drums.

Step 6: Build it
Drag and drop loops into the arrangement, having already previewed them in the bottom window of the Loops browser. They will play at your selected tempo.

Step 7: Quick copy
A quick way to copy loops across the arrange page is to hold the Alt key and drag a new copy out of the old one. Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 until your song is done.

Step 8: Share when ready
After you’ve built your song, click the Share option in the menu bar and then select Send Ringtone to iTunes. GarageBand will convert and add the file.

Step 9: In iTunes
Open up iTunes and click on the Ringtones tab in the left-hand pane. You will now see your newly created ringtone, which you can sync to your iPhone.

Click on the image below to view the annotations in detail.

iPhone Tutorial: View the world with Google Earth

Stephen Ashby — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:06:35 +0000

Google Earth is a free solution that offers more than you could have dreamed of only a few years ago. Once you get to grips with how it works, you will be flying through any city in the world and learning about the planet we inhabit in a fun and relaxing way. It’s not all about far-flung places, though, because you can also use it to view your own house and the town you live in, which makes for a somewhat convoluted satellite navigation solution, but one that is sure to give you a more realistic view than any other.

On the iPhone it is very much based around gestures, and knowing these will help you get the most from the app. With many extra features built in, it is worth spending some time exploring them, because this will help you to get even more out of it. It is addictive too, and once you start you may find yourself whizzing around the planet every day. In this tutorial we are going to show you how to make the most of the built-in features, and where the extra bits and pieces are that come together to make it an app all iPhone owners should have loaded on their phones.

1: Load it up
Google Earth is available in the App Store for free. Once you have installed it, tap the app icon and you are ready to start.

2: What to see
Agree for the app to use your current location. Now, tap the ‘i’ icon (bottom-right) and choose what you want to see from the list of options.

3: Zoom in and out
You can zoom in and out by pinching your fingers together. This works well, but you may experience minor lag when viewing the maps over 3G.

4: Tilting
Tilting your iPhone produces an even more impressive effect; it will give you a semi-3D view, which you can scroll around with one finger.

5: Find anywhere
Tap the magnifying glass, top-left, to search. For example, type in ‘New York’ to be taken straight to one of the most famous cities in the world.

6: More information
You will notice small square icons on screen that if tapped will bring up further information. Wikipedia, photos and many other sources are supported.

Click Image to Enlarge

Competition: Win £30 to spend on wrappz.com!

Freddie Harrison — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:47:46 +0000

Our good friends at wrappz.com have given us a code to get £30 off their online store, and we’re going to give it away to one of you lucky readers. In case you didn’t know, wrappz.com offer awesome vinyl skins for just about every gadget going, including our favourite Macs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones. Best of all, you can use your own images on the skins for a truly customised device, and with £30 to spend, you’ll have no trouble doing just that.

wrappz.com - you could have £30 to spend on skins like these!

We wanted to make this competition super easy to enter and give you as much chance to take part as possible, so we’ve designed two very simple ways to get involved. For a chance in winning £30 credit to spend at wrappz.com, you can either:

1) Follow us on Twitter (@iCreateMagazine) and Tweet the following message:

“Win £30 to spend at wrappz.com with @iCreateMagazine. Just tweet this tweet for a chance to enter. For details visit: bit.ly/oonh8z“

2) Or post the following message as your status on Facebook:

“Win £30 to spend at wrappz.com courtesy of iCreate Magazine. Just repost this as your status and remember to like and tag us for your chance to enter. Visit bit.ly/oonh8z for more details.”

(If you decide to enter via Facebook, please make sure you tag us in the post by typing ‘@’ followed by iCreate Magazine and select the page from the drop-down list – you’ve got to have ‘liked’ the page to tag us! If you don’t tag us we wont see your entry.)

You’ve got until this time next week (Tuesday 23rd August, 5.30pm GMT) to enter, and we’ll pick an entry at random from the Facebook statuses or Tweets.

Here’s a few terms and conditions: 1) The prize is one promotional code to receive £30 off an order at wrappz.com, there is no cash alternative. 2) One winning entry will be picked at random and the editor’s decision is final. 3) Facebook statuses that do not tag us and Tweets that do not mention us will not be counted. 4) You can enter on both Facebook and Twitter, if you want, but don’t enter more than once! It’ll clog up our feeds and make it harder for us to choose someone. 5) The competition runs from now (Tuesday 16th August, 5.30pm GMT) until this time next week (Tuesday 23rd August, 5.30pm GMT), entries made after this time will not be counted.

Now we’ve got that over with…good luck and get posting!

iPhone Tutorial: Gifting and redeeming apps

Stephen Ashby — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:00:23 +0000

Apple’s tremendous success with the iTunes Music Store showed that it could succeed where others had failed in selling digital music. As the store expanded to include movies, games and apps, the name eventually simplified to the iTunes Store, and it became even more successful. Part of the reason for this is its simplicity. Apple makes it easy for you to buy things, and as a result you are more likely to do so. The company offers iTunes gift cards, which you can give to someone to use the code contained within it to buy any content from the store. This is also possible for individual items, including apps. It’s almost the same as the process of buying something for yourself, except that you can choose who to send it to by email, and that person will receive a message containing a link to download the app. For them, it will be free as you will already have paid. They can either redeem the app on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, or on their Mac or PC using iTunes. In fact, you can even choose to print the gift out as a hard copy, to send via regular mail. All in all, it’s a great way to show someone you care…

1: Locate the app
In iTunes, find an app that you want to give to someone, then click on Buy App and, from the drop-down menu, choose Gift This App.

2: Enter the details
In the next screen, enter your name and the email of the person you’re sending to. Click Continue and iTunes will ask you to confirm the payment.

3: Get the email
Find the email on the iDevice. If you have received it on your Mac you can forward it and then open it on the iPhone. Click the Redeem Now button.

4: Sign in
Your iPhone will open iTunes and you may well be asked to sign in. The app will begin downloading in the background automatically.

5: View the app
Come out of the iTunes app and you should see the app has downloaded to your phone. Fire it up to check that it works okay.

6: Back up the app
Next time you connect your iPhone to iTunes on your Mac, you should see it appear in the Apps section. Choose Transfer Purchases to copy it over.

Click Image to Enlarge

Top 5 alternatives to Apple’s Mail app

Freddie Harrison — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:25:33 +0000

Chances are you’ve been using Mail since the day you bought your Mac. Much like Safari it’s become a mainstay of many an internet-savvy Mac user’s dock, and for good reason. Aside from being painless to set up, and even easier to tweak, like Apple say themselves, “it just works”. But what about those times when you get itchy feet? When Mail, in all its regimented Apple UI glory, just doesn’t quite cut it? What if you want to try something new? Then read on for our guide to the top five alternatives to Apple’s Mail app. Best of all, they’re conveniently situated in the Mac App Store!

1. Sparrow (£5.99, Mac App Store, sparrowmailapp.com)
As one of the youngest contenders to offer themselves up against Apple’s mighty Mail, Sparrow certainly looks like it was designed with youthfulness in mind. Gone are the rigid UI elements that the business-y types love, and in are the soft edges, light textures, and subtle transitions that tip a hat to Tweetie and, in turn, Twitter for Mac. Much like Mail, set-up is a breeze, and if you’ve ever used Tweetie or Twitter for Mac before you’ll have no trouble in working your way around the interface. Sparrow has some formidable tricks up its sleeve including threaded conversations, a unified inbox, drag & drop attachments, to name but a few. I’ve tried it with GMail, but it works with all the main players in the webmail business, as well as IMAP too.

Sparrow's inline replies in action

2. Postbox (£11.99, Mac App Store, postbox-inc.com)
In comparison to Sparrow, Postbox has been around for a while and it’s certainly built up an impressive list of users. It’s not hard to see why either – despite looking dangerously similar to Mail, it’s jam-packed full of features that must’ve had Apple kicking themselves when they first took a peek. The ability to group certain inboxes together really caught our eye, especially if you’ve got a few personal email addresses and a couple of business ones, for example. It’s also riding the latest email management trends flaunting vertical thread pane views and threaded conversation views amongst its myriad of features. It’s certainly a str0ng contender for the email power users out there.

3. Mailplane (£14.99, Mac App Store, mailplaneapp.com)
Taking on the ‘do one thing and do it well’ mantra of software development, the Mailplane team have focussed their efforts solely on making GMail a breeze on your Mac. Taking Google’s take on email out of the browser and into its own dedicated window may well appeal to many of its users, and features such as Evernote intergration and easy switching between GMail accounts are certainly a bonus, but we can’t help but feel that Mailplane is a bit of a one-trick pony. If you’ve not got GMail chances are you wont be that interested. If you have though, it’s certainly worth checking out.

4. Mail Access 2007 (£4.99, Mac App Store, mailaccessapp.com)
In the same vein as Mailplane, Mail Access 2007 takes on the dreaded Outlook Web Access and does, in our opinion, an absolutely stellar job of prettifying it for the Mac. If you’ve ever used Outlook Web Access you’ll probably agree when we say that, at best, it’s not exactly easy on the eyes, and at worst, it’s just a bit user-friendly, fortunately Mail Access 2007 is the exact opposite. Boasting a beautifully clean interface and an offline mode, it’s the perfect antidote to the bad UI you’ve been forced to stare at for years. Did we mention they also have iPhone and iPad apps too? That one-trick pony caveat might apply again, but there’s certainly a huge market for Mail Access 2007 to take a bit of.

Mail Access 2007's clean UI is a hit

5. Thunderbird (Free, mozilla.org/thunderbird)
As the open-source contender against Mail, Thunderbird has a lot of pedigree. Made by Mozilla (the fine folks who bought us Firefox, in case you didn’t know), it shares a lot of its features with its web browser brother. Tabbed emails, Smart Folders (haven’t we seen them somewhere before?), built-in Phishing protection and easy set-up wizard all make for a great open-source browser. The UI isn’t so great here, but if you’re looking for a free alternative to Mail, then Thunderbird should be at the top of your list.

So that’s our guide to the best alternatives to Mail, we cheated a little on the last one because you can’t actually get it in the Mac App Store, but the rest of them are all there. If you like the idea of finding great alternatives to Apple’s apps, make sure you pick up the next issue of the magazine, (Issue 97 – on the shelves on 28th July) we’ve got a great guide to enhancing iLife with alternative programs from the Mac App Store.

Learn Aperture For Free At London’s Regent Street Apple Store

Jimmy Hayes — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:39:25 +0000

If you’ve always wanted to get more from Aperture or if you’re interested in the software and want to know a bit more about it before you buy, you can head down to the Apple Store on Regents Street and get help from an Apple expert. There are four free workshops that will cover how Aperture lets you import, manage and enhance your photos in one simple, integrated workflow – with the end goal of showing how Aperture delivers streamlined tools for moving photos from capture to output with uncompromising quality.

These will be held at the store on:
Monday, May 10th, 3pm – 5pm
Monday, May 17th, 3pm – 5pm
Monday, May 24th, 3pm – 5pm
Monday, May 31st, 3pm – 5pm

These free workshops give members of the public a chance to learn Aperture from an expert – and give an excellent grounding in the software no matter what their background is.

WIN A Free Copy Of Socialite 1.1 For Mac

Ben Harvell — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:39:26 +0000

All your social networks in one convenient place. You too could become more sociable for free! You may remember us covering this brilliant social networking app in iCreate’s We’re Excited… section a few months back, and now we’re offering one lucky reader (and Twitter user) the chance to get a free copy of Socialite.

This freshly updated app from our friends at Realmac Software allows you to connect to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, read and share from your favourite RSS feeds and even access Digg and Flickr, all from within the beautifully designed app.

Find out more at: www.realmacsoftware.com

How to enter:

1. Make sure your’re following @icreatemagazine on Twitter

2. Tweet @icreatemagazine and tell us (in less than 140 characters) how your Mac keeps you sociable, using the hashtag #icreatesocial

3. We’ll pick one winner later on today and provide their code via Twitter DM

This competition has now closed. Congratulations to @lylehebel who won a free version of Socialite for his entry which made us chuckle; “I live all the way in Montana I need some social interaction.”

We will be running more competitions soon. Feel free to Tweet @icreatemagazine and let us know what type of product you would like to win next time.

For Apple Fanboys Only. Free iPad Wallpapers Courtesy Of iCreate Magazine

Ben Harvell — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:46:16 +0000

If you’ve got yourself an iPad and you love your Macs, check out these custom iPad wallpapers made especially for you by the happy band of design geniuses at iCreate.

Show off your fanboy credentials in style with our Macintosh Plus wallpaper specific to your iPad, whether it’s a 16, 32 or 64GB model.

To install one of the wallpapers, ctrl/right-click the links below and save the file to your computer. Then either add them to iPhoto and sync them to your iPad or email them to yourself and apply them as a wallpaper from there. Or, if you’re reading this post on an iPad, click the link and then tap and hold on the image to save it. Simples!

Once you’ve got your iPad wallpaper installed, don’t forget to tweet us a picture for the chance to win a brilliant prize… or something cool we have knocking around in the office.

iPad 16GB Mac Plus Wallpaper

iPad 32GB Mac Plus Wallpaper

iPad 64GB Mac Plus Wallpaper

iTunes Freebies For 12 Days Of Christmas Promo

Ben Harvell — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:21:02 +0000

iTunes is to give away more free downloads this holiday season in its 12 Days of Christmas promotion.

A special website goes live today where people can sign up for daily email alerts so they don’t miss their free track or video or TV episode or movie or app.

12 Days of Christmas runs from 26 December to 6 January and each download is available only for 24 hours.

Last year’s freebies included music from Katy Perry, Lily Allen and The Ting Tings.

The promotion is also running across Europe.

Head to www.itunes12daysofchristmas.co.uk to find out more.

Free broadband with tethering bolt-on for O2 iPhone users

iKungFu — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:27:23 +0000

O2 launches “Total Connectivity” for iPhone customers

O2 has announced the iPhone Total Connectivity Bolt On, which allows new and existing iPhone customers to purchase the iPhone Internet Tethering bolt-on and receive the standard O2 Home Broadband package completely free.

Pay Monthly iPhone customers who purchase the discounted £9.79 per month 3GB Internet Tethering Bolt On before 31 December 2009 will be entitled to the O2 Home Broadband standard package for free.

The service means users can stay totally connected and get the best connection possible, whether at home or out and about on their phone or laptop. The 3GB Internet Tethering and O2 Home Broadband package is available for just £9.79 per month and will be compatible with all versions of the Apple iPhone 3G. Alternatively, customers can claim a £7.34pm discount against any other O2 Home Broadband product including Premium, Pro or O2 Home Broadband Access.

Peter Rampling, Head of Consumer Mobile at O2 said, “This is a brilliant deal for people who want tethering and home internet. Effectively you get both for just £9.79 a month. Total Connectivity means our customers will always be connected, at home and on the move”

Find out more at www.o2.com