The Heist: An awesome puzzle game with a tangible reward

Two things I love: slick puzzle games and discounted software. MacHeist, providers of the biggest and best of the charity-contributing Mac software bundles is giving you both with their new iOS game, The Heist.

The Heist is a fantastic collection of increasingly difficult challenges, spread amongst four different puzzle types. The twist with this game is the promise of a real reward at the end. What is it? In their words: “You’ll have to beat The Heist to find out… but it’s fun, and it’s worth much more than the price of entry.”

OK, you’ve got me. Back to it, then.

The Heist is on the AppStore for 99c in the US and $1.19 in Australia.

You might want to check this out.

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Ultimate list of Cool Touch and Gesture Based Video Walls

So who has the best interactive walls? Here’s some of our picks below. As we move into a world which is transitioning to devices using the NUI (Natural User Interface) there’s a lot to keep an eye on. If you know any more please post them in the comments.

1.University of Groningen:
Pros: Looks awesome, very responsive. Multi-user capable.
Cons: You can’t go out and buy one off the shelf. Touch based only?

2. Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect AND Windows Phone 7, working together!
Pros: Kinect SDK on the way for PC (fingers crossed) so a very affordable way to develop. Multi user. Facial recognition. Supports second screen in this video.
Cons: None. Seriously! SDK pending, this will be the easiest entry point to start building your first video wall.

3. Toyota Vision Multi Touch Wall:
Pros: Massive 82 inch screens at high res. Very responsive.
Cons: Expensive setup.

4. HD 18 Screen 20 ft Paint Wall with iPad integration.
Pros: Very cool. Huge. HD. Responsive. Works with a second screen (iPad)
Cons: Looks a bit like a one off application for now. Can’t go out and buy one.

5.Yahoo’s Gesture based Video Wall. http://vimeo.com/19177169
Pros: Looks good, hi-resolution and seems responsive.
Cons: Tiled screens. Looks like only one user at a time?

6. Microsoft LightSpace
Pros: It’s a true 3D interface for an entire toom. It projects working interfaces onto your arm/ hand.
Cons: Early days. Long way to go here (but still very cool).

7. Hard Rock Cafe Vegas:
Pros: Multi user. Smooth and responsive. Great content.
Cons: Looks expensive?

8. Ring Wall http://vimeo.com/6648869
Pros: It’s a massive 425 square metres in size. Enough room for everyone to play.
Cons: With 15 HD projectors we’re betting the ongoing running costs might stack up? 

9. The Schematic TouchWall with RFID
Pros: It recognises RFID cards allowing you access to personal info. Social integration.
Cons: Nothing obvious. This wall is pretty cool.

10. The BendDesk.
Pros: It’s horizontal AND vertical.
Cons: Not quite wall sized! It’s a prototype so a little rough round the edges.

 

11. Canon’s big wall – Expo 2010
Pros: It’s looks big and multi user.
Cons: We can’t quite tell if this is a ‘smoke and mirrors’ job. This video is more about the camera than the wall itself.

12. HP’s video wall of touch (link):
Pros: Nice tight looking tiled screens. Cons Already looking a bit dated compered to the others. Touch only. Touch looks a little laggy.
 

13. The Giant iPhone – Table Connect
Pros: Pretty simple concept. Just plug in your iphone and mount it on a wall!
Cons: Do they make a wall sized one yet?

We’re pretty sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of these soon. Please send us any good ones we might have missed! 🙂

Wired iPad app sales to surpass print sales this month

Wired Magazine have reason to be extra excited about the release of the iPad this month. The iPad edition of Wired, which retails on the app store for $US4.99 has – as of June 7 – been purchased nearly 80,000 – the average monthly sales for the print edition. This is after just two weeks on the app store. This was tweeted by Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson on Sunday:

73,000 purchases of Wired iPad app in first nine days. Should beat newsstand sales of print mag (ave. mid 80s) this month.

He celebrated again during Steve Jobs’s keynote at WWDC10 on Monday with:

Can die happy now. Steve Jobs shows the Wired iPad app on stage at WWDC! http://twitpic.com/1utfrk

Obviously, with the iPad still being so new and shiny, app sales are likely to be much higher for the next few months, but even so, things look promising for the Wired app. In addition to getting all the articles (and ads) of the print version, there are extra animations, videos and sound clips sprinkled in there.

Personally, I think the Wired iPad app is amazing. After seeing the Wired app, the whole iPad thing made a LOT more sense. The iPad (to me) is a reading device. Reading blogs, articles, ebooks, magazines. It’s just so much easier than sitting at a desk or having the MacBook burn my lap on the couch. I’ll be happily throwing $6 a month into Condé Nast‘s pockets. Much better than the $13 is costs on newsstands in Australia.

Hopefully we’ll be seeing more creative use of the iPad from other magazine publishers.

Adobe responds to Steve Jobs’ “Thoughts on Flash”

Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe responded to Steve Jobs’ ‘Thoughts on Flash‘ open letter (summary here) with a short blog post late last week.Kevin writes that if Apple tried to cooperate with Adobe a bit more, then they could “provide a terrific experience with Flash on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch”.

Kevin wrote:

However, as we posted last week, given the legal terms Apple has imposed on developers, we have already decided to shift our focus away from Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices for both Flash Player and AIR. We are working to bring Flash Player and AIR to all the other major participants in the mobile ecosystem, including Google, RIM, Palm (soon to be HP), Microsoft, Nokia and others.

Read the full thing here.

Thoughts on Silverlight

Great article and helpful insight about Big Spaceship’s experience working with Silverlight.

“I had the pleasure of diving headfirst into Silverlight in building the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. I walked in with the same sort of attitude that I believe is prevelant across the industry at the moment — Silverlight is an inferior platform, that we were working with a Flash wananbe and that this would be to the project’s detriment. Why use Silverlight when I can already know Flash so well? It does the same things as Flash anyway, right?…”

Read the full article…

via Big Spaceship

@dankrause

Ghostly Discovery – Music discovery based on your mood!

This is awesome! Great music, great UX. Check it out.

A streaming radio station and mood-based music discovery tool, Ghostly Discovery is a free app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that lets you listen to the Ghostly International and Spectral Sound catalogs (full songs, nothing less) and share your favorites with friends.

Rhonda beta

Some years in the making, this 3d line drawing tool looks pretty amazing. Click on the image or view the video here.

Illustration by James Patterson, software developed by Amit Pitaru.

Via QBN

Eliss – Multitouch Game for iphone

Eliss is a multitouch game for iPhone and iPod touch (available at iTunes store).

Keep up harmony in an odd universe made of blendable planets. Touch-control multiple planets at once, join them together into giant orbs or split them up into countless dwarf planets, and match their size with the squeesars.

Via Computerlove

I haven’t played it yet, but if the video is anything to go by it’s a must.
Nominated for an IGF Award ‘Innovation in Mobile Game Design’

Razorfish Emerging Experiences blog and labs

If you’re into the next generation of devices, technology, multi-touch – check out the new Razorfish blog ‘Emerging Experiences’ – http://emergingexperiences.com – there’s some really fascinating content to explore. As we move from the GUI (Graphic User Interface) to the NUI (Natural User Interface) this is great first look into what’s coming.

WPtouch: WordPress on iPhone, iPod & Android

More than just a plugin, WPtouch is an entire theme package for your WordPress website. Modeled after Apple’s app store design specs, WPtouch makes your WordPress website load lightning fast on touch mobile devices, show your content beautifully, all while not interfering with your regular theme.

Find out more…

Details emerge for iPhone OS 3.0

Yesterday, Apple released details about the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 which adds a bunch of new things iPhone owners have been asking for… but leaves a few out.

The next version of the OS, which will arrive mid-year will offer developers “over 1000 new APIs” to work with.

Highlights of the feature-set include:

• Cut, Copy and Paste! – and about time too.
• MMS! – Quite frankly the lack of MMS was embarrassing to me and a source of amusement for those around me.
• In-App purchasing – A cool idea, but a way for iPhone app developers to potentially nickel-and-dime us to death.
• Peer-to-Peer connectivity – LAN games? Sweet.
• Push notifications – Developers will be able to build message, sound and badge alerts into their apps.
• Landscape keyboard available everywhere – Write texts and emails with a larger keyboard.
• Voice memos – No need to buy a separate app for this now.
• System-wide search – Easily find things in your messages, notes, mail and media files.

Sadly, the capability for applications to run in the background and (official) video recording using the camera is still out.

TUAW.com have a feature round-up here.

Apple have also released a video of the full presentation here.