BuzzFeed:
Impress and delight your favorite food lover with any one of these budget-friendly presents.
These are some very creative and original gift giving ideas but make sure you’ve eaten before you read the story because otherwise, you’re going to be hungry afterwards!
Back in April we brought you news about Shenandoah Studios’ plan to introduce a turn-based World War II-era strategy game for the iPad. Now it’s available: Battle of the Bulge is a $10 download from the app store.
Although it’s totally original for the iPad, Battle of the Bulge invokes classic turn-based strategy board games like those from SPI and Avalon Hill. The company’s founder, Eric Lee Smith, is an SPI alumnus. The Battle of the Bulge’s designer, John Butterfield, is a member of the Board Game Design Hall of Fame with games like “RAF” and “D-Day at Omaha Beach” to his credit.
Battle of the Bulge is a simulation of the single biggest battle waged in World War II by the U.S. Army, in which Allied forces faced off against the Germans at the end of 1944.
You can square off against other opponents over Game Center, pass and play or play against the computer. The game features historical photos, film and commentary, a tutorial and quick start guide and more.
This is the first in a planned series of World War II-era themed strategy game from Shenandoah – next up is a North Africa campaign set in El Alamein.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that I supported this game on Kickstarter and am very excited to be trying it out for the first time this weekend. So if you fancy yourself a strategy game enthusiast in the classic style, this one is sure to please.
Many thanks to Doxie for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop.
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John Gruber:
Google wasn’t trying to bolster Android by withholding turn-by-turn and vector tiles from iOS. They were withholding those features as a negotiating tactic to get Apple to integrate iOS Maps further with Google’s services.
I don’t mind the fact that Apple stood up to Google to protect our privacy. You shouldn’t either.
Matthew Handrahan, Gamesindustry.biz:
Games dominated the App Store again this year, comprising seven of the ten highest-grossing iPad apps and every one of the ten highest-grossing iPhone apps.
Does anyone else see a trend here?
Sacha Greif looks at Google Maps for iOS from a design perspective. He’s right that Google is finding its voice as far as design goes.
Marcelo Somers has a nice write-up on using 1Password. The only nitpick I have is that I would recommend everyone use 1Password — it may be difficult to get used to not using the same simple password for every site, but you’ll be far more secure.
This is just incredible.
This is cool. I wasn’t all that impressed looking at the picture of the button, but the demo is much better.
Dell is definitely pulling the plug on the smartphone business, globally. A tough decision, leaving a market that is expected to reach $150.3 billion in 2014, according to MarketsandMarkets.
Now they just need to quit selling computers and we’re all set.
Great article from Stephen Hackett. This brought back some memories.
Anytune has been updated with a number of new features.
Derek Kessler:
Had Microsoft launched Office on the iPhone and iPad early on, they could have furthered the impression that Office was a must-have for anybody serious about anything, even on iOS. But they let years pass, and now Microsoft’s flagship applications aren’t so must-have anymore and Apple isn’t overly eager to accommodate them. It’s easy to imagine that four years ago when preparing to launch the iPhone App Store Apple may have been more willing to negotiate with Microsoft to get flagship apps like Word and Excel on the smartphone. But today? Apple’s doing just fine without them.
Spot on.
David Dennis, a man with an impressive beard himself, did a nice write-up on beards. Strange, still no picture of “the beard” in this batch either.
A new page from Apple that updates users on the status of its services, stores and iCloud.
Apple on Thursday posted its holiday shipping deadlines for any product you may want to receive before Christmas.
The shipping deadlines differ for each product and even products within the same category. For instance, the deadline for an iPad with Retina Display non-engraved is December 18. However, if you want the iPad engraved, you’ll have to order by December 17.
You can check out Apple’s Web site for a full list of products and dates.
Rod Christiansen posted about how the default search now works in iTunes 11 and how you can bring back the old version of the search. Such a simple solution.
Ian Betteridge:
The fact that Google is, on one hand, creating great applications for iOS and, on the other, fighting tooth and nail for market share against it makes me wonder if the company is divided into two factions, with a battle raging between them over its future direction. On one side, there’s the group who want to promote Android as a coherent product, and beat Apple into a pulp with it.
[…]
On the other side, there’s the “Pragmatists”. These are the ones who realise Google makes its money from advertising, not directly from selling products.
As Ian points out later, Google’s iOS apps have to be good. They’re a company that makes its money from advertising.
I received the following email from The Loop reader Keith Huss1:
Situation: Apple cannot get Google to update its maps app on iOS. It was ok, but Google refused to update it to include turn-by-turn directions or voice guidance even though Android had these features forever. Apple says, “Enough” and boots Gmaps from iOS and replaces it with an admittedly half-baked replacement. The world groans. Apple has egg on its face. Google steps up it’s game and rolls out a new, free new maps app in iOS today that is totally amazing, I’m sure to stick it in Apple’s face… Ooops
Bottom line: Apple took one for the team (ate some shit) and fooled Google into doing exactly what Apple has been asking for years. Users win.
Printed with Keith’s permission. ↩
“I don’t think anyone I was corresponding with actually went and did this search to see what I was finding,” Welter says. She eventually wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and a few days later she got a reply from a representative in Amazon’s Executive Customer Relations department.
“She told me I was searching wrong,” Welter says.
Sam Rijver made this using Foldify for iPad. Much respect Sam.
My latest feature at Macworld has been posted, entitled Give a Mac game this holiday season. I round up a few eclectic Mac game offerings to give gamers on your holiday list.
There’s stuff for kids, strategy game fans, old school gamers and more on the list, and what’s more, you don’t need to wait for any of them to be delivered: They’re all available for online purchase and download.
ABC News:
Beer aficionados are pouncing at the rare opportunity to buy one of the world’s most elusive and revered beers for the first — and perhaps only — time in the United States.It is called Westvleteren XII, and it is often hailed as the “world’s best beer” by reviewers and fans.
Westvleteren XII is produced by Trappist monks in Belgium and sold at the abbey of Saint Sixtus in the Belgian countryside.
First person to compare this to Heineken gets punched in the junk.
Amplified, The Talk Show with John Gruber and Before you Buy were named the “Best New Technology” podcasts in Apple’s App Store Best of 2012.
Thanks.
If you were wondering what the best apps, books or songs were for 2012 on the App Store, you’ll be glad to see Apple’s App Store Best of 2012.
The Best of 2012 is split into a number of categories including Movies, TV Shows, App Store, Books and Podcasts. The App Store category is further split into iPhone and iPad apps.
It’s quite a comprehensive list, so head on over and check out what made the list.
Feral Interactive on Thursday announced the release of Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition. It’s available for $40 from the Mac App Store and elsewhere.
The action adventure game brings you into Batman’s world as you fly around Arkham City, a much larger environment than Arkham Asylum, and home to all of Gotham City’s bad guys. It’s an open world you can explore as you see fit, loaded with side missions, secrets and puzzles. You’ll also square off against Batman’s legendary foes like The Joker, The Riddler, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, The Penguin and Mr. Freeze.
The Game of the Year Edition comprises all previously released Downloadable Content (DLC) including the Harley Quinn’s Revenge pack. Other DLC included with the Game of the Year Edition incldues the Catwoman pack and the Nightwing and Robin pack.
Check Feral’s mini-site to make sure your machine complies with system requirements before buying it.
Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer in the US:
OK, so think about Apple compared to Samsung. I use a Mac, actually, at home. I’ve always used Mac, an iPhone, and an iPad. I also have the Galaxy. So I’m a great example.
If you look at the strengths of Apple, in a way it’s not the product per se. It’s that consumers like their ecosystem such as iCloud. I like that my family 6,000 miles away in Korea is able to see my schedule and see all of my contacts and photos. It is sticky, but it is a proprietary architecture.
The anticipation for the arrival of Google Maps last night was incredible and rightfully so. However, after using it, I’ve decided I’m sticking with Apple Maps.
Google’s interface for Maps isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. I like the interface on Apple Maps a lot better — the little Apple-esque touches that they put in their apps is second to none.
Interface aside, it’s how the app works that makes the real difference. Like millions of other people, I downloaded Google Maps last night and decided to get directions to one of my favorite restaurants, just a few miles from my house.
After typing in the name of the restaurant, Google Maps took me to India, which is on the other side of the world from where I am.
This morning, I took my daughter in town and used Google Maps to find our location. It found the place just fine and gave me a route close to what I would normally take. On the way, I ignored some directions to see how it would handle being re-routed.
It did okay, but there was a long lag as it figured out where to take me next and instead of finding the best route from where I was, it kept trying to take me back to the original route.
I used Apple Maps on the way home and it did a much better job of alerting me to upcoming turns and being quick to recognize when the route had changed.
I recognize that Apple Maps needs some work — there is no doubt about that. However, I have said from the very beginning that Maps worked well for me in the cities I’ve tried it. That continues to be true.
I’m glad Google released maps on iOS, even though it was a dick move to not give iOS users turn-by-turn navigation until Apple threw them out.
Competition is good for users and I support that, but I’m not about to throw out an app that works great for me.
I’ve been testing out the new version for the past couple of weeks on my iPhone and it’s great. 1Password has become one of my favorite apps.