(Credit: CNET )
Now that you have your iPhone 5, you've probably noticed that not all apps take advantage of the wider screen. I've been noticing that the updates have been pouring in fairly quickly, but unfortunately, I still have a lot of "letterboxed" apps and games that show black spaces on each side.
For this week's collection I put together three games that look absolutely fantastic on the iPhone 5's larger display. The first is the latest in a popular arcade-style racing franchise and gives you more viewing area as you blaze around the track. The second is an action RPG that pits you against demonic beasts as you hack and slash your way to saving a kidnapped queen. The last is the newest version of a popular soccer series that might be the best sports game available on iOS.
Asphalt 7: Heat is an excellent racing game that's been upgraded for iPhone 5
Asphalt 7: Heat Asphalt 7 has all the bells and whistles of a great arcade racing game and looks amazing on the iPhone 5. To start off, you get 60 licensed cars from manufacturers all over the world, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin, all intricately detail... [Read more]
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Lookout now warns you when you tap a malicious phone number link from your mobile browser.
Android fragmentation security patches, too. Instead of waiting to see which devices have been protected against a Dialer app vulnerability discovered earlier this week, Lookout Mobile Security (download) has stepped into the breach with a patch for it today. So far, it is the only known Android security app to block the exploit, but even their patch requires initial user input.
The vulnerability allowed some Samsung phones to be remotely wiped from the Dialer app, the "phone" part of your smartphone. While Samsung pushed out a patch quickly, it's not clear if other phones have also been patched. In its blog post announcing the fix, Lookout said that just because Google issued a patch for the default dialer months ago doesn't mean that all devices have it.
Penultimate is a 99-cent handwriting app from Evernote for the iPad. It's like Paper without artistic aspiration. You won't find any pencils or watercolor brushes here -- just pen and paper. But like Paper, Penultimate is simple and intuitive.
Penultimate organizes your notes into notebooks. When you first launch the app, you'll see a Welcome notebook that steps you through the app's various features. Tap the New Notebook button in the upper-left corner to create a new notebook. At the bottom of the screen are three buttons to share a notebook (via e-mail or send to iTunes, Dropbox, or Evernote) or open in another app, duplicate a notebook or merge it with another, and delete. You can give a notebook a title but you can't change the cover as you can with Paper; all of your notebooks will have a brown faux-leather cover.
A Google Street View shot taken at 12 Cheshire Street in London (right), alongside Paolo Cirio's re-creation of it.
Imagine turning a street corner and coming face-to-face with... yourself?
It could happen, if you've ever been captured by the Google Street View cameras. For his Street Ghosts project, artist Paolo Cirio prints human-scale pictures of people found on Street View and posts them where the shots were originally taken, thus placing the digital imagery firmly in the physical world.
"In this project, I exposed the specters of Google's eternal realm of private, misappropriated data: the bodies of people captured by Google's Street View cameras, whose ghostly, virtual presence I marked in Street Art fashion at the precise spot in the real world where they were photographed," says the Italian artist, a fellow at New York's Eyebeam Art+Technology Center who is particularly interested in exploring the flow of mediated information.
Cirio prints his low-resolution colored Street Ghosts posters on thin paper, cuts along the outline, and affixes them to the walls of public buildings. So far, he has posted images in New ... [Read more]
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Apps that make Android phones look like iPhones aren't new by any means, but they remain an interesting novelty that seems to appeal to a lot of Android users. If you've been curious about how iOS 6 would look on your Android phone, a new app called Fake iPhone 5 has just been uploaded to Google Play.
Created by a user at XDA Developers, Fake iPhone 5 is a replacement launcher that makes your Android phone's screen look almost exactly like an iPhone 5's. The main home screen's icons look like duplicates of iOS 6's. By default, the launcher starts with four rows of icons, but you can switch to five.
As great as the launcher looks, it does have some limitations that might prevent you from running it all the time. For example, you can't rearrange the icons on the screens and you lose widget support.
Also, while most of the iOS 6 app icons correlate to their Android counterparts, some, like Passbook, do not. Tapping on the Passbook i... [Read more]
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Twitter is rolling out new profile header photos to their users. The new option is very similar to Facebook's Timeline photo, in that it appears in a larger area along the top of your profile page.
Before, you would only have the small avatar image to work with when representing yourself or a brand. A larger photo on the profile page helps convey interests or services more clearly. Ready to add one? Just follow these steps:
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET )
Step 1: After logging in to your Twitter account, click on the Settings cog in the top right-hand corner and choose Settings.
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET )
Step 2: In the menu that loads on the left-hand size, choose Design.
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET )
Step 3: Scroll down and click the Change header button. Select an image and you're set.
Before adding a header image to Twitter profile.
After adding a header image to Twitter profile.
Twitter recommends an image size of 1,200x600 pixels to be... [Read more]
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Whether you're an old school gamer or a recent fan of Valve's Steam games, don't miss the chance to play (or replay) the critically acclaimed classic first-person shooter Half-Life in its latest re-imagining for free with the total conversion mod Black Mesa (download - 4GB).
After eight years of development, the Black Mesa Modification Team has finally released of their remake of the award-winning FPS Half-Life. Utilizing over 40 developers and headed by project leader Carlos Montero, the team has reconstructed the fan favorite into a polished Source Engine version complete with new models, maps, textures, voice acting, and even an original soundtrack.
Comparison between Half-Life and Black Mesa.
Born from the realization that Half-Life: Source was not all it could have been, Black Mesa lovingly and meticulously reconstructs the Half-Life universe utilizing the Source engine to its fullest potential. The project is less of a mod and more of a recreation that gives new life to the beloved single-player game. Black Mesa reintroduces the player as Doctor Gordon Freeman, along with the original cast of memorable characters and familiar environments of the original game. Not satisfied with a sim... [Read more]
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Apple's Numbers app running on Macs and iOS devices.
Apple has been sued by a Texas-based company for allegedly infringing on a patent with its Numbers spreadsheet software.
The complaint, which was filed on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division, accuses Apple of infringing on a patent covering a "system and methods for improved spreadsheet interface with user-familiar objects" with its Numbers software.
That patent was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1995, and now belongs to Data Engine Technologies LLC, a non-practicing entity, or what some would call a "patent troll."
In its complaint, which was spotted by Priorsmart yesterday, Data Engine Technologies says Apple knew about its patent in mid-2010, and referenced it its own patent for cutting and copying spreadsheet cells, which was issued more than a decade later in 2007.
The Leica M, shown here with an electronic viewfinder in its flash hot shoe, has a 24-megapixel CMOS sensor that for the first time supports live view. It'll cost 6,200 euros when it ships in early 2013.
COLOGNE, Germany -- Leica may not have the mass-manufacturing clout of Samsung or the retail footprint of Canon or the electronics know-how of Sony. But the German camera maker has got one thing in spades: a brand.
And nowhere is that brand more obvious than Photokina, the camera show that takes place every two years here in Germany, Leica's home turf. Canon and Nikon had bigger crowds, but the Leica had the better ratio of booth visitors to customers as it introduced two a new top-end rangefinder camera with new electronic abilities, a lower-end rangefinder that's not quite as expensive, a splashy new compact camera, and a hulking new medium-format camera.
The company was... [Read more]
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The new look at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Google Maps is getting a facelift in some parts of the world.
The search giant today announced that it has released new 45-degree imagery for 51 cities around the world, including 37 in the U.S. In one example, Google shows off its 45-degree view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In another, The Forks in Winnipeg, Canada, are on display.
Google has chosen a host of rather surprising locations for its 45-degree view, including Billings, Mont.; Utica, N.Y.; and Lancaster, Calif. The company has also added more well-known locales, like Detroit.
Google also said that it has up... [Read more]
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LogMeIn Pro offers a wealth of remote-access features.
Ever wonder how the sausage is made around here? I can't reveal all the tricks of the cheapskate trade, but I do want to shine some light on the "exclusive" deals I occasionally post.
Every so often a developer or vendor approaches me to ask if I'll spotlight one of their products. If it's a killer deal, I'll usually say yes. If it's a product or service I know well and really like, I'll usually say yes.
But sometimes I'll tell the rep or owner outright: This isn't a good deal. And I'll ask them to do better, to sweeten the discount, extend the subscription period, etc.
So it was with LogMeIn. For years, LogMeIn Free has been my preferred remote-access tool. So when a company rep offered me a deal to share on some commercial LogMeIn products, I was tempted -- but ultimately said no. The deal wasn't good enough.
The rep pitched me again a couple months later. Again I said no -- the deal wasn't good enough.
Finally, they came through with a deal I liked: Get one year of LogMeIn Pro and LogMeIn Ignition for Windows for $48. (Alternately, you can do them separately at $39 and $9, respectively.) Normally, that pa... [Read more]
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Sony has decided to help out Olympus.The companies announced today that Sony will acquire over 34 million shares in Olympus through a third-party allotment to the tune of $645 million in cash. The deal, which both sides are calling a "Capital Alliance," is designed to help keep Olympus afloat after a scandal earlier this year brought the company to its knees.
Olympus' troubles started -- on paper, at least -- last year when its dismissed president and CEO Michael Woodford presented documents to the media showing the company had allegedly used odd accounting practices, payouts, and other financial dealings designed to coverup its losses over more than a decade. When the dust finally settled, the alleged fraud was at the time, valued at about $1.7 billion.
Some people waited days in line for the iPhone 5. Apple fans must wait a little longer for new streaming-music service.
We might have seen a new Pandora-like streaming service in the iPhone 5 had negotiations between Apple and Sony/ATV not failed to produce a deal in time for last week's debut of the handset, according to a published report.
Sony/ATV, which is owned by Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson, wanted Apple to pay a higher fee for each song played than Apple was willing to shell out, according to the ... [Read more]
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