Following on from the release of the teaser trailer that pretty much gave the game away that the Angry Birds piggies were about to get their own franchise, Rovio has today announced that Bad Piggies will be landing (and then cackling!) in the iOS and Mac App Stores on September 27. Fast Company has a big feature all about Bad Piggies, including an exclusive hands-on look at the game at Rovio’s headquarters in Espoo, Finland. The game is a physics puzzler, after the fashion of Angry Birds, of course, where the piggies are now the stars of the show, although some might say they always were! The gameplay is very different from that of Angry Birds though, with the piggies stranded on a desert island and having to build vehicles and gadgets to help them get to the eggs that they still crave. Fast Company says that there is not even the merest hint of a bird feather in the game, and the pigs are very much more likeable than they are in Angry Birds.

“I played it all last week during my holidays, and I was just loving it,” Niklas Hed, Rovio cofounder, told Fast Company, although he would say that, to be fair! “You have to get the details right and iterate it so that it feels good.”

Rovio also told Fast Company that they see Bad Piggies as a whole new franchise.

Source: Exclusive Look At "Bad Piggies," "Angry Birds" Maker Rovio's Latest Addictive Game | Fast Company

The Guardian reports today that the BBC is to update its very popular iPlayer with the ability to download BBC programmes to watch anywhere and at any time. The downloaded programmes can be kept for 30 days, and will be available to BBC licence payers (i.e. pretty much everyone in the UK, as you have to have a BBC license in order to watch TV in the UK) for free, as is the app itself. As the Guardian notes, this is a change in approach for the BBC as far as its iPlayer is concerned, as it has previously only streamed programmes to tablets and smartphones, although the programmes have been downloadable onto computers.

“This fundamentally changes one of the most annoying restrictions about viewing programmes,” Daniel Danker, BBC general manager of on-demand programmes, told The Guardian. “It means audiences are liberated from the constraints and it fundamentally changes what it means to go on holiday.”

At present you will need a Wi-Fi connection in order to download iPlayer content, but The Guardian says that you will soon be able to download certain shows via 3G.

Click here to download the free app: App Store - BBC iPlayer

Source: BBC allows mobile iPlayer downloads | Media | guardian.co.uk, iTunes.

Finally we have confirmation from Apple that the next iPhone is on the way! Well, almost, anyway. Jim Dalrymple at The Loop reports today that Apple has sent out the invitations for its special event in San Francisco on September 12. According to his invite, the event will be held at Apple’s usual spot for big launches, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and will start at 10:00 am. At first, it seems that the invitation does not give much away, simply bearing the words “It’s almost here,” with the Apple logo in the top right-hand corner. But if you look closely, the number 12 casts a big shadow on the invitation, and the shadow is not that of the number 12, but of the number… 5!!! Sneaky Apple! Great news to finally get the official word, now we can all start getting really excited!

Source: Apple announces special event for September 12

A very serious security story here from AppleInsider, with news that AntiSec hackers are claiming to have leaked 1,000,01 iOS IDs from an FBI laptop that they hacked, and which apparently had more than 12 million Apple iOS IDs, along with personal information belonging to the IDs. The UDIDs are unique codes belonging to those iOS devices that have a cellular connection, and which are mainly used for app registration and tracking by developers. AppleInsider reports that AntiSec says that not all the UDIDs had personal information attached, whereas some even had full names and addresses. As AppleInsider notes, if the attack is actually confirmed, it will lead many to question just exactly what Apple UDIDs were doing on an FBI computer. It will also raise further questions about UDID security. AppleInsider points out that Apple has recently started to block UDID app access due to security concerns, especially about how UDIDs enable OS-wide tracking of users.

Source: Hackers leak 1M iOS device IDs supposedly taken from FBI agent's laptop

iMore writes today that Rovio has just released an intriguing teaser video that seems to be hinting at a new game from the Angry Birds franchise. It’s clearly something big, or “Something PIG”, as Rovio says, because the company has created Twitter and Facebook sites for the new release as well. Rovio loves to tease the Angry Birds fans, so this new trailer gives very little away, but it’s clearly looking like the pigs are finally turning the tables on the birds! Watch and chuckle as a big green pig lands noisily on the head of an unsuspecting bird, with the naughty piggy laughing as usual at the bird, which gets angrier and angrier. The pig then whistles nonchalantly as more pigs land on the hapless bird’s head, a virtual pig-storm, in fact, until the poor bird is literally buried in smug green pigs! Wonder what it can be? Well we won’t have to wonder for long, hopefully, as it’s “coming soon!” according to Rovio.

Source: Angry Birds maker Rovio teases Something PIG | iMore.com

Reuters reports that Wal-Mart Stores Inc is currently testing a new system whereby you would be able to use your iPhone when shopping to scan items and then pay for them at a self-checkout. The “Scan & Go” test invite appeared last week on the Survey Monkey website, with Walmart asking for employees with iPhones to sign up for the test, which will be conducted at a Walmart supercenter in Rogers, Arkansas, close to Walmart’s company headquarters. Reuters notes that Walmart, and other retailers, should they see fit to follow Walmart’s example, stand to save millions of dollars by getting customers to scan their own shopping with their smartphones and even make payments without using cashiers. Anything to speed up lines at Walmart would be welcome, as Reuters notes, shoppers frequently bemoan long lines at Walmart on Twitter and other social media platforms, and it’s the same here in the UK, where Walmart is called Asda, but the lines are just the same, despite the different name!


Source: Exclusive: Walmart tests iPhone app checkout feature | Reuters

MacRumors reports today on a video that turned up over the weekend on GSM Israel, taken at the IFA 2012 consumer electronics show in Berlin, and showing a mockup of the next iPhone that was built by a case manufacturer for the purposes of testing case designs for the next iPhone. Although the YouTube video uploaded by GSM Israel claims to be an “exclusive hands on” of the iPhone 5, it has subsequently been proved to be a mockup. However, despite only being a mockup, as MacRumors says, the video gives you a good idea of the next iPhone’s size and weight in comparison to the iPhone 4S. Although the mockup is a dummy shell, the case manufacturer responsible for making it says that it is “very confident” about the design of the next iPhone resembling the mockup, and have already started large-scale production of cases based on the design.

Source: Hands On with a Physical Mockup of the iPhone 5 - Mac Rumors

MacRumors has news today of a video that has appeared on Vietnamese website Tinhte.vn, which shows that the next iPhone will have completely re-designed headphones. In the video, the old-style headphones are shown in comparison with what it’s claimed is the new style of headphone. According to the translated video text, the new headphones are made at Phax Co factory in Vietnam. The commentary on the video says that the new design looks like “a horse’s head”, which seems a bit of a strange analogy! The earphones certainly seem to be quite different though; they have a smaller profile, and a totally different shape. Apparently they also look much more like a single, integrated unit. MacRumors says that Tinhte.vn seems convinced that the headphones are genuine. Amazingly, this video has already had over 88,000 views on YouTube since yesterday! Just goes to show how interested people are in finding out more about the next iPhone.

Source: Video Shows Completely Redesigned Headphones for iPhone 5 - Mac Rumors

AppleInsider reports today on some really impressive new comparison photos of what is said to be the iPhone 5 that surfaced today on Nowhereelse.fr, which show the new phone lined up alongside an iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, where you can really see how much thinner the iPhone 5 is than the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. You can also see how much taller the new handset is, and the SIM slot on the right of the phone is also visible, as are the volume buttons and a mute switch, on some of the photos. Also visible is the mysterious new hole that has appeared in between the flash and the camera lens, which has also shown up on leaks of Apple’s new iPad mini and iPod touch ranges. It seems like we are no further in finding out exactly what this hole is for though, we’ll just have to be patient until launch day!

Source: New 'iPhone 5' shots show side-by-side comparison with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS

A new patent has surfaced this week via the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which highlights Apple’s efforts in building an intelligent messaging system that will be capable of sorting email content automatically.

The patent is called “Addressee Based Message Prioritization” and uses “a customizable rule set determined by how a sender addresses the recipient” technique which basically allows for automatic text sorting, email classification. iMessages might be included in the algorithm as well but it’s not entirely clear at the moment.

Imagine a scenario where an email that provided a name in the “To” field would be prioritized to an email that was just spam for example. This way emails would self-organize based on how they were addressed. This software could end up being implemented in Mac devices as well as iOS powered gadgets.

From the patent application:

“For example, allowing the recipient-user to specify how messages should be presented to the recipient user may allow the recipient-user to quickly and easily identify messages that require immediate attention and response while deferring less urgent messages to a later time.”

The patent was first filled back in on the 28th of February 2012 and has listed Bruce Reynolds and Charles Reynolds of Gilroy, California as inventors.

By Radu

Source: United States Patent Application: 0120221961

Subatomic Studios announced today that it has just released a new update for the always popular Tower Defense game, Fieldrunners 2, adding Game Center support for global leaderboards and achievements, as well as an all-new Time Trial map called Flash Fire. Subatomic says that aside from the new additions, it has also tweaked the gameplay to make Casual mode more accessible to new gamers, including adding better pro tips, as well as making Endless mode more challenging. Other social media goodies brought in with the new update include in-game coin rewards for liking Fieldrunners on Facebook and/or Tweeting your high score. Here’s a complete list of the new update’s features, courtesy of Subatomic:

• Beat those hard levels with an easier Casual mode!
• Amazing new time trial map - Flash Fire!
• Conquer the leaderboards with Game Center!
• Faster levels fit your on-the-go lifestyle!
• Finally beat Scrambled Eggs on Hard!
• Can you spot the changes in Bizarre Bazaar?
• Get coins for sharing scores on Twitter!
• Glorious music is now bug free!
• Enable low-fi mode to fix crashes!
• Save your progress when exiting maps!
• Push notifications that won’t annoy you!
• Tackle the challenging Endless mode!
• General bug fixes and more!

Click here to download the game for £2.99: Fieldrunners 2 for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Source: Subatomic Studios

Konami held a big Metal Gear Solid event today, as part of the game’s 25th Anniversary celebrations, during which it revealed that it will be launching a Metal Gear Solid game for smartphones and tablets later in the year, called Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops. Pocket Gamer reports that the game is a fully 3D game for the GREE platform, and is powered by the Unity engine. In typical Konami fashion, the legendary company is not giving too much away about the game yet, save to say that you will have to cooperate with other players if you want to vanquish Metal Gear. However, the art accompanying the announcement will make a lot of Metal Gear Solid fans very happy, as it reveals who will be in the game, and clearly features all the fan favourites that you can think of, such as Snake of course, old Solid Snake, Raiden, Meryl, Olga, Eva, and a few others I can spot there too, possibly Liquid. This is going to be fantastic! As Pocket Gamer notes, specific mobile platforms have yet to be announced by Konami for the game, but I think we can safely assume that iOS will be one of the main platforms that the game will be designed for.

Source: Konami announces Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops at 25th anniversary MGS event | Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops news | iPhone | Pocket Gamer