Charge your phone, hide your family, and mourn the loss of your free time. Angry Birds has returned with the latest expansion of their fowl flinging empire, Angry Birds Friends. The new version looks a lot like the old one at first glance. You still fling super powered birds at structures in your quest to destroy the pig army. What’s new is the social interaction of judging your scores against your friends, across every platform Angry Birds on which is available.

Thats right; Facebook, iOS, and Android friends can all play against each other in a seemingly never-ending quest to cook the pigs’ bacon. If you’ve already purchased Angry Birds in the past and don’t want to shell out for another new version, don’t worry. Angry Birds Friends, like friendship, is free.

The app is available now in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

Angry Birds Friends recruits your Facebook friends in fight against the pigs originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 02 May 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new version of Instagram (free) just arrived this morning, along with the news that the photoblogging tool now has 80 million users. But there’s something missing in the update. If you’ve ever used the “Twitter Friends” feature, you’ll be dismayed to find that it’s no longer available.

As you can see in the screenshot from Instagram at right, Twitter is no longer allowing its users to find friends via the Twitter API. You can still tweet your photos; you just can’t tap the “Twitter Friends” button to automatically follow your Twitter friends who also use Instagram.

Our sister site TechCrunch reports that the feature is “missing due to API restrictions from Twitter’s end, restrictions likely resulting from concerns about Instagram’s scale and its strain on data pulls.” The feature is still available in other social apps, particularly Foursquare.

Alexia Tsotsis at TechCrunch speculates that “this is a competitive move on Twitter’s part, a direct attack on Facebook’s social graph via limiting access to its recent acquisition (Instagram).” Twitter recently moved to pull tweets off of LinkedIn; whatever the next skirmish in the API battles may be, it’s starting to get nasty out there.

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Continue reading Instagram update disables “Find Twitter Friends” feature

Instagram update disables “Find Twitter Friends” feature originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Romance is almost in the air (even, if you’re as single as I am, though you might not care), and that means what every holiday seems to mean around the App Store: More sales! With all these great deals on apps, you can either enjoy one with your sweetie, or use them to distract you from your lonely, solo existence.

• Match-3-alike Ablazed is free right now, as the recently re-released Hand of Greed (which has been re-released a few times now right?).
• Sega has quite a few of its titles on sale for just 99 cents, including most of the Sonic titles, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Altered Beast and Gunstar Heroes.
• EA (surprised? Us either) has lots of titles on sale too, including Scrabble, Risk, Spy Mouse, and The Sims.
• Telltale has Back to the Future Episode 1 up for free, and the rest of them up for just $ 2.99.
• Crescent Moon also has a solid sale on, including the beautiful Gears puzzle platformer, Pocket RPG for iPhone (no HD sale, unfortunately), and Evertales.
• Match 3 title Treasures of Montezuma 3 is on sale for iPhone for 99 cents, and the iPad version is $ 2.99.
• Vito Technology’s “Walk” apps are all on sale for the holiday.
• Fantasy Sky HD is free.
• The ad-free version of Zynga’s Hanging with Friends is just a buck. Careful with playing it on an airplane, though.
• WoW-alike Order and Chaos Online is also just a buck. Comes with a free three month subscription, but you’ll have to pay after that.
• TanZen for iPhone is free — but the iPad version is not.
• Loud Crow Interactive is putting one of its apps on sale every day up and through Valentine’s Day — you have to follow them on Twitter to know which one, however.

We might see even more as the holiday gets closer, so stay tuned.

Valentine’s Day app sales underway: Treasures of Montezuma, Hanging with Friends, Order and Chaos Online originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More evidence of a “Find My Friends” social networking service from Apple has surfaced, with alleged Apple-written HTML code suggesting it could be a part of iCloud when it launches this fall.

A new file found inside the latest iOS 5 beta reveals that regulatory information for an unannounced “N94″ iPhone model has already been assigned to Apple, suggesting the smartphone maker is on the verge of introducing its new family of handsets.

The San Francisco Police Department has said it has no record of a formal investigation into yet another missing prototype iPhone. In addition, the man whose home was searched claims people impersonating police offers came into his residence, with evidence suggesting one of the individuals was an Apple-employed “senior investigator” [updated with confirmation of visit from SFPD].

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When Facebook gaming giant Zynga bought Newtoy and rebranded it as Zynga with Friends, it was only a matter of time until games from the “with Friends” franchise started popping up on Facebook. Sure enough, Words with Friends is now playable on Facebook as of a couple weeks ago. The game’s interface is basically identical to the iOS games, so if you’re already familiar with those, you won’t need to adapt much to the Facebook game.

The coolest feature by far is the game’s integration with the mobile versions. Playing the browser-based version will sync game progress to Words with Friends on iPhone and iPad pretty much instantaneously if you have the app synced up with your Facebook account. You can start a game on Facebook, then pick it up later in the iPad app. It’s all very easy to set up.

Words with Friends on iPad has almost exactly the same interface

Unlike many other Facebook games, Words with Friends does not appear to require Flash, which is a definite bonus if you’re playing the game on a MacBook. My wife is a Zuma addict, and I can always tell when she’s playing because it sounds like she’s got a jet engine in her lap. Words with Friends doesn’t spin up the fans at all, and it runs quite smoothly on her Mac.

Words with Friends is free to play on Facebook, and there are free versions the iOS apps, including the HD version for the iPad. So if you’ve been curious to try the game, now’s your chance to get in on the fun.

Words with Friends now a Facebook game originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How do you know that you’re on the fast track to Hollywood stardom? Getting a good agent is the first step — and the fuzzy, funny characters in Outfit7′s app stable have found the best.

Talking Ben the Dog, Talking Tom Cat and the rest of the Talking Friends apps animated characters are now represented by William Morris Endeavor, the Tinseltown powerhouse led by Entourage inspiration Ari Emanuel (the brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel). The companies intend to bring the characters into films, TV and other entertainment properties.

The company’s apps have been downloaded over 135 million times across both Android and iPhone platforms; they feature characters that repeat back what you say in supposedly adorable fashion, and they react to various pokes, strokes and smacks in a cartoony manner. The latest Talking Tom 2 app (available free for both iPad and iPhone, but in separate versions) features interaction with Talking Ben (a cantankerous former chemistry teacher, which is actually quite academically impressive for a dog) and the option of having Tom call the ‘old’ Talking Tom on the phone so the two cats can mimic each other in a loop.

If you’re thinking “Wow, as a parent I have to be sure never to let my kids get hold of any of these apps, lest I lose my bearings and throw my iPhone out the car window in a fit of temporary madness,” it’s probably too late already. Did I mention they’ve been downloaded 135 million times?

Talking Ben and friends get representation from William Morris originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The last we heard about Acer’s Liquid Metal smartphone, an Android 2.2 unit with a 3.6-inch display and a lovely aluminum exterior, it was getting ready for a UK launch at the end of October. There’s just a little over a week left to meet that date, and all we have to show are some decidedly unofficial photos from Droid Sans. The first pic, above, shows off a very smudged up looking Liquid Metal (or what is said to be a Liquid Metal at least), but after that are photos of two mystery devices. The first of those (pictured below) has the same… distinctively lengthy form factor of the GW990, while the other device is a tablet that we’ve not laid eyes on before. It looks to be running Android 2.2 (or later) and is said to be “big enough to shift the iPad.” We’re not sure exactly how to parse that bit of auto-translation, but maybe it’s a coded reference to JT Wang’s prediction of doom for the iPad’s market share.

Continue reading Acer’s Liquid Metal spotted in the wild, chilling with two mystery friends

Acer’s Liquid Metal spotted in the wild, chilling with two mystery friends originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 4 users to get more video chat friends with Slide Users of T-Mobile’s Slide will be able to do video chat with iPhone 4 users, Yahoo said Wednesday Read more on PC World Philippines

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Astronaut reaches space station; daughter asks for iPhone A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut docks with the space station. The astronaut’s daughter promptly asks for an iPhone, “so I can keep up with your trip.” Read more on CNET

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If you’re planning on showing off your awesome gaming skills with Apple’s new Game Center, you’d better have a nice new iOS device to play on. Apple has released compatibility details for the fancy high-score table, and you’ll need to have an iPhone 3GS or 4, and second-gen iPod Touch or better. People who have the second-generation iPhone 3G can run iOS 4.1 (including HDR and bug fixes), but won’t get the Game Center. (Also, as with iOS 4.0, it won’t get the multitasking features newer phones have.) If you’re still rocking the original iPhone, you can’t have iOS 4.x at all — but you knew that already, and clearly you don’t care, you pathetic Luddite. Game Center was demoed by Steve Jobs at last week’s iPod event. It’s kind of a social network for gaming, allowing you to compete against your friends and compare results on the leader-board, and even invite people to play multiplayer games head-to-head. Right now the most common way to taunt your friends is to share your results via Twitter or Facebook, but that requires a log-in for each and every game. Of course, that old iPod might not have the guts to actually play some of the more demanding games available, but at least you can excuse yourself when you limp in at the bottom of the league-table by blaming your old, weak iPod’s stuttering frame-rate. Game Center [Apple] See Also: Apple Announces New Versions of iOS Apple Unveils Next-Gen, Multitasking iPhone OS Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter. Read the rest of this entry »

Comic books, graphic novels, sequential art or manga; whatever you call them, illustrated books are a great way to tell a story. I’ve been reading comics for most of life, except for a brief period from age 12 to 16 when I though I was too old for them. Boy was I wrong. I’ve been reading comics to my kids almost since the day they were born, mixing them in with other storybooks and eventually novels. One of the great things about reading comics is that graphic stories cut out all of the boring “He said” and “She said” stuff. If you combine this with distinctive voices for the different characters, your kids will always know who’s saying what, making stories much easier to keep up with. Here are a few of their favorites, roughly arranged for age appropriateness from younger to older readers. 1. Owly – Andy Runton Owly by Andy Runton Don’t let the insanely cute art and lack of text fool you: there’s some great story-telling going on in Owly . With the aid of his friends Wormy the Worm, and Scampy the chipmunk, Owly roams about his forest home facing challenges, overcoming obstacles, but always trying to help out. Winner of the 2006 Eisner Award for “Best Publication for a Younger Audience,” Owly escapes coming off as saccharin sweet by showing Owly dealing with problems most kids encounter, helping teach them how to persevere and overcome disappointment. One of my favorite Owly stories has Owly building a birdbath and entering it into a contest. Although he is very disappointed when his does not win, Owly is later delighted to discover that his is the bird bath the birds actually prefer swimming in, rather than the birdbath the judges chose as the “winner.” This teaches kids that there are actually more important things than winning a contest. It may seem odd at first to “read” a book without words, but what I do with my kids is point to panels and talk about what’s going on, explaining some of the pictograms that the author uses in place of speech. Even better is when your kids begin “reading” the stories to you, explaining what they think is happening. You can purchase the Owly series from Top Shelf Comics in the single issue magazine format or as part of the 5 collected trade paper backs. 2. Tiny Titans – Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani Tiny Titans by Baltazar and Franco The only Super-hero comic books I have in this list, Tiny Titans has short vignette stories with characters drawn from the youth of the DC Universe. The stories rarely go on for more than a few page, generally telling a story to get to a punch line at the end. This format makes it easy to read a few stories before bed time or the entire issue as time allows. The jokes are often really bad, but if you love bad jokes (like me and my kids do) they can be really funny, especially if you are a fan of the DC Universe (like me and my kids). My favorite schtick is having the Monitor (from Crisis on Infinite Earth ) as the Hall Monitor (hahahah) who is constantly being thwarted by the The Anti-monitor (bwahahaha), and Lunch Lady Darkside makes the Tiny Titans take their exams early, leading to the Finals Crisis (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). There are a lot of inside jokes, but whether your kids have read the DC books or not, there are plenty of great groaners in every issue that they will get. You can get a free preview online of the monthly Tiny Titans magazine or purchase the two collected trade paperback volumes Welcome to the Treehouse and Adventures in Awesomeness . 3. The Little Endless Story Book – Jill Thompson The Little Endless Story Book by Jill Thompson Although The Little Endless Storybook might be classified as a story book (thus the title) I’m including it in this list because it uses characters based on one of the best comic series ever: Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman . Little Endless uses characters Jill Thompson created as an artist for the original Sandman series—basically cute wide eyed versions of the Endless: Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium. The story revolves around Delirium’s dog Barnibus who loses his mistress one day—not hard to do, since she’s a wee bit scatter brained—and has to visit all of Delirium’s brothers and sisters (the Endless) looking for her. If you’ve ever read any of The Sandman series you might be asking how this could possibly be a children’s book, especially since it says “Recommended For Mature Readers” on it’s back cover. I can only assume that this warning was because of the original source material. I’ve been reading The Little Endless Storybook to my daughter since she was 6, with no ill effect. Well, she did dress as Delirium one Halloween. But she didn’t get lost. At least not for very long. The Little Endless Story Book is available in hardback , but it’s only $9.95 (US). What a deal! 4. Magic Trixie – Jill Thompson Jill Thompson makes the list again with the story of a little witch named Magic Trixie. Trixie whose friends include a Werewolf, a Mummy, a Frankenstien’s Monster, and Twin Vampires—is precocious as she learns the ins and outs of witchcraft from her very cool witch parents and struggles with her monster school lessons. Magic Trixie is full of energy and a lot of fun to read, but also shows kids as having relationships and interactions, having to learn about the strange habits of other families. For example, when Trixie spends the night, her friend Loupie (yes, she’s a werwolf) her family likes to stay up all night howling at the moon, a bit later than Trixie would like to be up, especially on a school night. There are three Magic Trixie trade paperbacks available. 5. Here Be Snapdragons – John Kovalic & Liz Rathke Here Be Snapdragons by John Kovalic and Liz Rathke GeekDad’s own cartoonist-in-residence — John Kovalic — makes the cut, but as an author. Along with Liz Rathke taking care of the art duties they have created a wonderful collection of stories about a group of young roll-playing gamers, with the occasional cross over of characters from John’s other series about gamers, Dork Tower . These are stories about the power of imagination, but always with a little twist when reality stampedes in through the door. My favorite is when the kids goth baby sitter, Gilly, helps the kids pull together last minute Halloween costumes. All is fine and dandy in their imaginations, but the final results leave a bit to be desired. There is currently only one volume of Snapdragons , but my daughter is hoping for more soon (hint, hint, hint John and Liz). 6. Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures – Various Based on the cell animation style of the Genndy Tartakovsky series rather than the current 3D animated stories, these books deal with the earliest part of the Clone Wars in the Star Wars universe that happens almost immediately after Star Wars: Attack of the Clones . Although the stories stand alone, they are full of action and adventure, recapturing what was always best about the the Star Wars universe: a sense of the mystery and majesty in a galaxy full of exotic planets and people. There are nine volumes of Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures available in trade paperback . 7. Bone – Jeff Smith Bone by Jeff Smith Bone is that rare bread of epic fantasy and light hearted humor that will keep you as interested in the story line as your kids are. The main character is Bone whose appearance is not unlike a cartoon bone from Tom & Jerry. He is accompanied in his adventures by his two similarly cartoonish cousins Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone who, for some reason, my son always insists I do with an Elvis voice. Despite the cartoonish nature of some of the characters, the characterizations are always strong in this book. The first volume, “Out of Boneland”, begins with Bone and his cousins fleeing to the other side of the mountains from their home land—yes, it’s called Boneland— when Phoney is caught in some shady scheme, a reoccurring them in the story. The cousins become trapped in the new land by a sudden snow storm—the entire blizzard falls in a single panel of the book in one great big “WHUMP”—and begin to make friends (Rose and Thorn), enemies (the horrible, but stupid “Rat Creatures”), and some uneasy but important allies (Lucias and The Great Red Dragon). Bone can be purchased in nine volumes or as a single massive Omnibus edition . I recommend the individual volumes, though, as they are easier to read to your kids in bed. 8. Myth Adventures – Phil Foglio & Robert Lynn Asprin Although commonly thought of as a multi-book fantasy series, my first exposure with the Myth Adventures stories was when I found the first three issues of the comics at a convention. Although I later grew to love the Robert Lynn Asprin books, it was Phil Foglio’s black and white comic adaptation of the first novel that won me over. I have never laughed as hard in my life as I did at those first few issues, in large part due to his incredibly expressive artwork. The story revolves around Skeeve, a magicians apprentice whose having a hard time with the basics, until his master, Garkin, is assassinated in the middle of summoning a demon. Hilarity ensues when Skeeve’s new master (the same demon who was being summoned when Garkin is killed) looses his powers and has to rely on Skeeve’s unsteady abilities. This is one of my daughter’s favorites, but, alas, I could only find a few of my back issues. So, joy of joys the day we found the entire Myth Adventures series collected and colorized in a single trade paperback . 9. Sugar Sugar Rune – Moyoco Anno There is a lot of great manga on the shelves, but, to be honest, I find it a little difficult to read to my kids. It’s not the whole left–to–right reading thing, but the nature of Japanese sequential art visual language that I find hard enough to follow while I’m reading it, but even harder when I’m reading it out-loud. So when my daughter brought me a copy of Sugar Sugar Rune and insisted I read it to her, I sighed and tried my best. Much to my surprise it turned out to be a great read. Like Magic Trixie , Sugar Sugar Rune is about witches. However, unlike the aforementioned story, there are multiple witches (Chocolate and Vanilla) who are best friends. There’s only one catch: they are competing to be Queen of the Magic World and only one of them can win. There are 8 volumes in the series. I recommend starting at the beginning . 10. Girl Genius – Phil & Kaja Foglio Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio Phil Foglio strikes again, this time with Girl Genius, a steam-punk extravaganza he is creating with his wife  Kaja Foglio. This is a fascinatingly detailed world full of clanking technology, floating airships, and early 19th century styles. The story centers around Agatha Clay and her quest of self discovery, as the ditzy young girl grows to realize that she is a lot smarter than she had thought. Agatha is a “Spark”whose had her intelligence inhibited so as not to reveal her true identity as the heir to a great lineage of thinkers: The Heterodynes. My daughter especially relates to the character of a brainy girl trying to make her way through the awkward phases of growing up. The Foglios moved Girl Genius online a few years back, forgoing individual printed issues, helping to pioneer online comics. You can read the entire series on the Web Site , with regular updates. But I would highly recommend buying the issues in PDF format , and then reading them on an iPad or laptop. If you are more *ahem* technologically challenged, you can purchase printed versions of any of the nine volumes . Read the rest of this entry »