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Temple Run 2 Hits 20 Million Downloads In Its First Week On The App Store

Even the game icon is surprised.

Today, Imangi Studios announced that Temple Run 2–sequel to runaway hit mobile game, Temple Run–recorded an outrageous 20 million downloads in its first week on the iTunes App Store. The game shot up to the number one free app in only eight hours, and is now the number 2 top grossing app on the App Store charts. Pretty amazing for a free to download game, right?

The original Temple Run was downloaded over 170 million times across the Google Play, Amazon Marketplace, and iOS App Store. In under one week, Temple Run 2 has been played in over 210 million sessions, which totals up to over 1,775 years of gameplay combined. Whew.

“The response from fans has been overwhelming,” says Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi. “We are thrilled players want more of the Temple Run universe, and we hope to grow and expand the game over the coming months.”

Shepherd and his wife, Natalia Luckyanova, started Imangi Studios in the early days of the App Store, releasing Word Squares to a small but dedicated audience. They have had some success with other mobile games, including Max Adventure and Harbor Master, but none quite as amazingly as with Temple Run and it’s sequel.

Temple Run 2 happens in a new challenging world with curvier roads, hills, valleys, and zip lines with a bigger, badder monkey chasing you down. A couple of wrong turns or missteps and it’s game over, monkey-lunch style. The graphics are improved, as well, bringing an almost console-quality experience to the iOS platform. The game is expected to release on Android platforms later this week.

Source: TriplePoint

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‘jOBS’ Stars Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad to Kick off Macworld/iWorld Next Week

Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, the actors who play Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the upcoming independent movie jOBS, will be hitting up the annual Macworld/iWorld conference in San Francisco next week.

The two actors will be attending a talk where they discuss their experiences portraying the two Steves, who famously began Apple Computer in 1976. The session is titled "Playing Steve & Woz," and it will take place on the main stage of room 2005 at 9:00 a.m. on the first day of the event.

jOBS will be premiering at the Sundance Film Festival later this week, with a public release set for April.

Musician Will.i.am also plans to attend the Macworld/iWorld conference this year, pairing with Intel futurist Brian David Johnson in a discussion on future technology and gadgets. Fred Armisen, of Portlandia and Saturday Night Live, will also be present.

Though Apple has not attended Macworld/iWorld since 2009, the conference has continued to be popular with third party companies, developers, and Apple enthusiasts. Over the years, Macworld/iWorld has expanded to include Apple's mobile operating system in addition to the traditional Mac hardware and software.

The conference, which features upcoming products, apps, and tech talks, is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased beginning at $25 for access to the Expo hall.

Macworld/iWorld begins on January 31 and will run until February 2 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco.

Shipping Estimates for 21.5-Inch iMac Begin Slipping to 2-3 Weeks [Mac Blog]

Shipping estimates for new orders of 21.5-inch iMac models began slipping in Apple's online stores in many European countries such as the United Kingdom today, moving from 7-10 business days to 2-3 weeks. The changes have not yet propagated to stores for other regions.


Estimates for the 21.5-inch models had remained steady at 7-10 business days since just after they became available for sale late last year. Apple has also been quoting even longer estimates for the 27-inch models, which are reportedly seeing more significant issues with display production due to a new lamination process. Estimates for new 27-inch iMac orders remain at 3-4 weeks for the time being, essentially in line with their status since just after pre-orders went live.

(Thanks, Neil!)

Burglar of Jobs Family’s Home Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison

IDG News Service reports that Kariem McFarlin, the burglar who stole $60,000 worth of Apple products and other items from the home of Steve Jobs' family last July, has been sentenced to seven years in prison. McFarlin entered the home while it was undergoing renovation and stole two iMacs, three iPads, three iPods, an Apple TV, jewelry, and other items.
REACT officers found McFarlin with help from Apple security, which tracked where the stolen devices were being used by matching their serial numbers with connections to Apple iTunes servers. The IP address in use matched a line in McFarlin's apartment in nearby Alameda that was also being used by an Apple device registered to a member of his family, according to a police report. [...]

McFarlin admitted to the burglary under questioning by Palo Alto police and said he had stolen from other homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, including two homes in Marin County, four homes in San Francisco County and one home in Alameda County.

Renovation work on the Jobs family home in July 2012 (Source: Forbes)
Immediately following the burglary, officials indicated that it appeared to be a random crime of opportunity due to the renovation going on at the house, with McFarlin having been unaware that he was targeting the home of Steve Jobs' family. At the time of his arrest, McFarlin still had a number of the stolen items in his possession, while others had been distributed to friends, including an iPad that made its way into the hands of a local clown.

Apple To Launch ‘iPhone Math’ With Larger 4.8-Inch Display This June [Rumor]

Apple is said to be preparing three new iPhone handsets for launch during 2013, two of which will appear in June, China Times reports. In addition to a slightly updated iPhone 5S, the Cupertino company is expected to unveil the “iPhone Math,” a larger device with a 4.8-inch display. Both devices are to offer improved internals and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.

“iPhone Math” doesn’t sound at all like a name Apple would choose for its iPhone — or any of its products, for that matter. But we must point out that the original report has been translated from Chinese, and may have been misunderstood. Some speculate that the actual name could be “iPhone Plus,” which sounds much more plausible.

This mystery device is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 5S in June. We don’t know much about its hardware, other than it will offer a large 4.8-inch display. And these won’t be the only two iPhones launching this year, according to the report. There is also expected to be a third that will arrive during the holiday season, which will offer a much-improved 12-megapixel rear-facing camera.

While these claims are certainly questionable, the report contains a lot of detailed information on suppliers and production plans. According to BrightWire, which translated the original story, shipments for components, including displays and cameras, will start rising significantly in March, and production for the iPhone 5S and the iPhone Math (I’ll never get used to typing that) will begin in April.

Hon Hai Precision Industry, which owns Foxconn, is expected to undertake 90% of the manufacturing orders, while Largan has received orders for 8 million camera lenses. Microelectrics Technology will start designing 4G network solutions for the devices.

The report also mentions the “iTV,” Apple’s much-anticipated television set, which it claims will launch before the end of this year.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard reports of a larger iPhone — and it certainly won’t be the last. Jeffries analyst Peter Misek reported back in December that Apple is working on a 4.8-inch iPhone, while DigiTimes has also claimed that a larger device is in the works. However, we’re still not entirely convinced.

Apple has only recently launched the iPhone 5 with a larger 4-inch display, and when it did, the Cupertino company made a big thing about keeping its display small enough for us to use with one hand. Not only that, but developers have had to adapt their apps and games for a larger display once already. Launching another device just nine months later, with yet another screen size, and forcing them to do that again just seems unlikely.

Source: China Times

Via: BrightWire

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Apple Rumored to Debut 4.8-Inch ‘iPhone Math’ in June

According to new information from the China Times translated by BrightWire, Apple is planning to release the iPhone 5S alongside a larger phone, deemed the "iPhone Math" by the report.

Because the iPhone Math name is highly unusual and does not fit in with Apple's traditional naming scheme, it is not clear if it is a code name or a potential mistranslation.

China Times says that the larger phone will come equipped with a 4.8-inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera. It is said that it will launch in June alongside an updated iPhone 5, which will also feature an 8-megapixel camera. An additional iPhone update is said to be coming during the holiday season, with a 12-megapixel camera.

Though the report contains detailed information on suppliers, manufacturers, and production times, it is difficult to believe that Apple will produce a bigger iPhone and that the company will release two iPhones in a six month time frame.
The shipments for components, including touchscreens and cameras, will start rising significantly in March, and iPhone manufacturers will begin production in late April. Hence, Apple's suppliers will see major growth in 2Q 2013.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. will undertake 90% of the manufacturing orders, and Largan has received orders for 8 million camera lenses. Fujikura, Flexium and Zhen Ding will share production orders for printed circuit boards.

Foxconn Technology and Coxon will provide molding parts for Apple's new models; Foxlink will continue to offer connectors; Hon Hai Precision's Microelectronics Technology will start designing 4G network solutions for Apple.
This is not the first rumor that has featured a larger iPhone. Jeffries analyst Peter Misek first reported in December that Apple was working on an iPhone with a 4.8-inch display, but just last week noted that he has seen no further signs of the device. Digitimes also reported in early January that Apple was working on a bigger, more affordable iPhone that was targeted towards emerging markets, and analyst Brian White suggested that Apple might be considering launching its next iPhone in multiple sizes.

While rumors from the The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg support the introduction of an additional iPhone at a lower cost, the device is said to be smaller, not larger.

As we noted the first time the 4.8-inch iPhone rumors emerged, Apple has just increased the size of the iPhone with the iPhone 5, and may be reluctant to face the same resolution and pixel density obstacles attempting to create an even larger iPhone.

Napkin Is An Essential Mac App For Editing And Annotating Images [Review]

Skitch used to be my go-to Mac app for annotating images. Now I just use OS X’s Preview to get basic editing done in a pinch. As a blogger, I frequently deal with screenshots and images for posts. Sometimes you need to draw an arrow or draw attention to a certain part of an image. There’s never really been a good tool to do so, until Napkin.

Created by the guys at Aged & Distilled, Napkin is a new app in the Mac App Store that aims to help you with “concise visual communication.” If you’re a creative type, then this app should be in your tool belt.

Opening Napkin presents you with a blank canvas. You can drag in images and screenshots from anywhere in OS X, and the app has a nifty screenshot capture tool baked in. The Camera button in the toolbar will let you quickly take and add a photo from your Mac’s FaceTime camera.

You can use the buttons in the toolbar to perform certain actions, but Napkin is so intuitively designed that you don’t really need to. Draw a line with your cursor to create an arrow, and you can adjust its size and dimensions like you would in Preview. What’s really neat is that you can create a rectangle or oval by holding command and drawing the shape you want anywhere on the canvas. Through some coding voodoo, Napkin will automatically create the shape you’re trying to draw. It’s kind of crazy how fast and accurate the app is at sizing up the shape you’re trying to create.

“A step in the right direction for brainstorming on the Mac”

Type anywhere to start adding text. Colors, sizing and fonts can be adjusted in the toolbar once you add an annotation. Parts of an image or text can be redacted with black by double clicking.

My favorite feature in Napkin is “Call-Out.” Draw a circle and the app will create a magnified area that highlights whatever aspect of the image you’re selecting. Drag the crosshairs to finely adjust the dimensions of your call-out, and double tap inside the magnified area to adjust the overall size. It’s a very intuitive process that you really have to try to experience. Now that I have, I can’t see myself using anything else for annotations.

The right side of the toolbar contains you’re basic layering options. You can bring something to the front or back of the canvas, group and ungroup sections, and lock certain aspects to keep them from accidentally moving.

You can send your creations just about anywhere.

The “.png” button on the far right of the toolbar is a really cool export implementation I haven’t seen in any other app. Drag the green pip anywhere in Finder to save your Napkin creation as a .png file. The Share option uses Mountain Lion’s share sheets to let you send your image just about anywhere. You can even create an iCloud-hosted link to send to someone.

Napkin is fully optimized for Mountain Lion, and it looks great on my 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. The app is fast and clean, which makes it easier to focus on whatever you’re working on. It’s a step in the right direction for brainstorming on the Mac. Now I really want an iPad version.

This is quality software, so it comes at a quality price. Napkin costs $40 in the Mac App Store, which may be a little too steep for some. But if you have been wanting something like Napkin, then it’s totally worth it. Aged & Distilled customer’s support is fantastic, and there are some handy video tutorials to get you going when you first open Napkin. There are also little purple question marks peppered throughout the app to help you learn about different features.

Sometimes Preview just doesn’t cut it. I’ll be using Napkin for all of my annotating and quick image edit needs from now on.

Rating: ;★★★★½ ;

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Ending Soon! Get All The Fonts You’ll Ever Need With The Ultimate Premium Fonts Package [Deals]

Tired of the same old fonts? Need to change up the text style in a presentation, print project, or a graphic design project? Simply want more design options?

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Is Apple Really Failing?

Apple has “stumbled lately.” That’s the overwhelming consensus coming from the press, blogosphere and Wall Street recently.

Demand for the iPad and iPhone is dropping, we’re told, and Apple isn’t doing interesting or exciting things anymore.

Here’s what’s going on. 

Big iPad, Small Demand; Small iPad, Big Demand

Reuters says Sharp, which is one of the companies making displays for iPads, has slowed production, possibly because of a reduced demand for iPads. Demand in the 4th quarter was weaker than expected, according to a Chinese market research company called TrendForce.

If demand for the iPad is real, it’s being blamed on two factors. The first is — finally — competition from the Android world. In Japan, for example, Google’s Nexus 7 is selling better than the iPad.

The second is that the iPad Mini is “cannibalizing” iPad sales or, in the words of one writer, has “killed off” the iPad.

The iPad Mini is selling far above demand, and that high demand delayed the Chinese launch of the product by two weeks, according to reports.

The Boring iPhone Can’t Keep Up With Exciting Market

The problem, some say, is that Apple screwed up and overestimated demand. It could also be that Apple is cutting demand artificially to prepare for a new iPhone 5S.

Others say the drop in iPhone demand is illusory, that if you look at all the data, there may be a tiny drop in demand, but nothing drastic.

Senior ABI Research analyst Michael Morgan wrote this week that “barring an unlikely collapse in Samsung’s business, even Apple will be chasing Samsung’s technology, software and device leadership in 2013 through the foreseeable future.”

A consensus has formed that the iPhone has peaked, jumped the shark and turned a corner. Some predict that half of all global smartphone shipments will come from Samsung.

Others have an alternative reason for the iPhone’s coming market share decline, which is the rise of cheap Chinese-branded Android phones, which are already hammering Apple and Samsung sales inside China, and now threaten to go after markets in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Lenovo, of all companies, is beating Apple for market share in China with 14.8% of the Chinese smartphone market. (Apple has 6.9% and Samsung has 16.7%.

A more distant threat comes from operating systems other than iOS and Android (and beyond Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10.)

Samsung and Intel are supporting a platform called Tizen, which is based on MeeGo and made by the Mozilla Foundation, which is best known for making the Firefox browser).

Ubuntu Linux has created an operating system designed for smartphones as well.

Some say that HP plans to revive the webOS.

Some analysts say the appeal of new operating systems by handset makers stems from Google’s decision to compete directly with its partners and make Android phones of its own, both with the Nexus phones and also with the acquisition of Motorola.

The Truth Is Even More Boring Than the iPhone

There are several competing dynamics at work that creating the perception that Apple is failing.

1. Apple’s fortunes are and have for a long time been boom-and-bust based on shipments. Apple ships a new iPhone. They dominate the market for a few months. Sales level off again, then the air gets sucked out of the room when everybody starts anticipating the next iPhone model. Right now we’re in the post-iPhone 5, pre-iPhone 5S doldrums.

2. Android phones have suddenly gotten super cheap. There is a class of people numbering in the hundreds of millions or possibly even a billion or two who never had a smart phone because of the high cost. Suddenly, Android handset makers are churning out very low-cost smart phones. So millions of people are moving from feature phones to smart phones, and they’re not buying the relatively pricey iPhone. So the market share numbers have shifted strongly away from iOS and toward Android.

3. Android phones have suddenly gotten super big. When the iPhone first shipped, it seemed like a normal-size phone. With the phablet revolution and the rise in very large displays on phones, Apple has become one of the tiniest phones out there. Big phones are popular, and Apple is currently missing out on this big-phone craze.

4. Apple’s conservative, iterative approach to iPhone development isn’t exciting. People get their information about phones from bloggers and journalists — people who writing about stuff when there’s something new to write about. Apple’s approach to phones is to have a single vision for the phone, then iteratively work toward that vision. The Android market is characterized by a lot more variety and experimentation. The iPhone, on the other hand, isn’t changing in ways perceptible to users — or bloggers and journalists.

5. In the tablet market, we’re moving from a historically unique situation that existed for the first two years of the iPad’s existence: No competition, to speak of. It took an eternity in Internet years for competitors to come out with tablets that anybody wanted. Now, finally and inevitably, they have. The iPad’s perceived troubles represent a return to normality.

6. The press and Wall Street are also cyclically oriented. There was a period of time, building up to 2010 and 2011 where Apple was a perfect, unstoppable juggernaut that dazzled everyone with its mastery of design, supply chain control, message discipline and more. The stock price soared past $700, and everyone perceived that Apple was the only company capable of this kind of total mastery. Of course, Apple’s success during this time was exaggerated, and so is the current “bust,” if you want to call it that.

In reality, people are confused by the complexity of the consumer electronics market, and focus on the horse-race aspect of marketshare numbers, stock prices and other metrics. But the reality is that Apple was very successful and very profitable two years ago, one year ago and remains so today. Android had and will always have much bigger market share by far, and Apple had and will continue to have much bigger profits by far, as it goes after the “sweet spot” of the market while competitors slug it out in the zero-margin segment.

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Boost Your Productivity With The Mac Freebie Bundle [Freebies]

The new year is well underway, and we’ve got a bundle lined up for you here at Cult of Mac Deals that will help you make the most of your Mac over the months to come. And the best part is that you’ll get all 8 of these time-savings apps for free as part of The Mac Freebie Bundle.

Here’s what’s included (Note: Regular price is listed.):

IconBox 2 – $15.00 Ondesoft Screen Capture for Mac – $30.00 VidConvert – $8.00 Image Smith – $16.00 Wallpaper Wizard – $10.00 ClipBuddy – $30.00 Type Fu – $5.00 Sweetie – $3.00

Let’s dive a little deeper into each of these apps…

IconBox 2: IconBox is a full-featured icon library for your Mac. It provides icon lovers new and old with a great toolset to manage the icons on your system. System icons, application icons, and even the dock are freely available to alter. If you want to revert to the defaults, a quick button will remove any changes you’ve made to the system.

Ondesoft Screen Capture for Mac: Have you been looking forward a screen capture app that can do it all? The easy to use interface and variety of customizable options makes Onde Screen Capture for Mac a must have application for graphic designers and novice bloggers alike.

VidConvert: VidConvert will convert just about any type of video into one of the many popular formats of today. Creating videos for your iPhone or iPad, for your Mac or TV, or formats such as DivX and MPEG are now just a click away!

Image Smith: Image Smith is a powerful batch image processing tool. With a variety of features you can easily scale, reorient, recolorize, convert, and flatten images. Image Smith can open numerous different picture file types, and output in the most common industry standard formats like JPEG, GIF, and PNG.

Wallpaper Wizard: There’ll be no more surfing the web to find a nice wallpaper that fits your screen. You’ll now have Wallpaper Wizard and its access to a private collection of more than 100,000 HD and top quality wallpapers!

ClipBuddy: Touted as the most comprehensive clipboard manager for your Mac, with ClipBuddy, you can easily save and organize all of your cut and copy contents – text, image or both – from any app. ClipBuddy does more than just copy and paste text, it automatically organizes all of your copied text from any program in easy-to-navigate categories.

Type Fu: Type Fu is the “go to app” when it comes to increasing your typing speed. It’s an insanely easy piece of software to use that allows you to run through typing exercises that will get your fingers dancing.

Sweetie: Sweetie stylizes your images and turns them into beautiful pieces of text art. The app has a simple and clean interface that allows you to choose tile type and size, font, character set, color option, and more.

All of these apps sold outside of this bundle would cost you $117. But with The Mac Freebie Bundle, you’ll get all 8 apps for absolutely free!

So what are you waiting for? Head over to the Cult of Mac Deals page now and get this free bundle while the getting is good.

#mc_embed_signup { background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } Want More Freebies And Deals On Mac Software And Apple Gear? Sign Up Below!

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