Filed under: iPad

It's the first official day of summer, so you know that it won't be long before people retreat to cool rec rooms and air-conditioned basements instead of venturing out into the oppressive heat. TUAW wants to help keep you entertained while you dodge the big glowing ball in the sky, so here's the first of our summer app giveaways.

Today's bonus moment comes courtesy of the Ping Pong Battle developers; we've got 10 promo codes for the iPad app to give away. As you can see in the exclusive video above, you can link multiple iPhones in via Bluetooth to act as paddles (using the free Ping Pong Paddle app) and start the fun. Of course, you can also play in 'finger mode' without other devices.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below letting us know your favorite summer pastime. Good luck!

Official rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment on this post.
• The comment must be left before Wednesday, June 23 at 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One promo code for Ping Pong Battle for iPad (Value: US$4.99)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

TUAWApp giveaway: Ping Pong Battle for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Users from time to time might need to convert flash video (flv) to other popular and widespread video formats or vice versa on desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones and various removable devices or audio players for some reasons. Users can do it via flv converter applications or convert it via some online converters. iSkysoft Studio, [...]

• Download DivX Pro (Codec) with Free Serial Number
• AnyBizSoft PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3 Free License Key Code
• Download Apex Video Converter Super Free License Key by GAOTD
• Fast Video Converter PRO (DVDFast) Free License Serial Code
• WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe Free Download With License Serial Key

Users from time to time might need to convert flash video (flv) to other popular and widespread video formats or vice versa on desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones and various removable devices or audio players for some reasons. Users can do it via flv converter applications or convert it via some online converters. iSkysoft Studio, [...]

• Download DivX Pro (Codec) with Free Serial Number
• AnyBizSoft PDF to Word Converter 2.5.3 Free License Key Code
• Download Apex Video Converter Super Free License Key by GAOTD
• Fast Video Converter PRO (DVDFast) Free License Serial Code
• WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe Free Download With License Serial Key

Hungarian police are raiding BitTorrent trackers hosted in the country. While raids against torrent sites are not uncommon, the current legal operations conducted by Hungarian authorities seem to be targeting multiple sites at once. As TorrentFreak reports, a number of Hungary based BitTorrent sites have gone down and this includes several well known private trackers such as nCore, GigaTorrent, BD (Blue Dragon) and PirateDay. So, does this mean it’s game over for the Hungarian BT scene? We...

If you were looking forward to becoming a member of CartoonChaos (CC), here’s some good news. CC now has an official invite application set up on its website which potential invite seekers can use to get into the site. This site was not included in our recent ‘25 Private Trackers With IRC Recruitment & Invite Applications’ article as CC invite applications were not online by the time we made that post. For those who don’t know about this tracker, CartoonChaos is a specialized cartoon...

Filed under: App Store

Apple has reversed a ban on the app version of Robert Berry's comic book edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses," which has nudity. Apple has also lifted a ban on a graphic that shows 2 men kissing in Tom Bouden's graphic novel of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."

The Associated Press quotes Trudy Miller of Apple saying the developers had been "allowed to resubmit their original drawings" and use the original artwork.

It was about 75 years ago that the U.S. Federal Courts ruled that "Ulysses" was not pornographic or obscene. The case did not go to the Supreme Court. The novel had also been banned in Britain, but was legalized in 1936.

TUAWApple admits mistake over pulling of graphic novel originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

The white model never appeared, AT&T's backend systems folded like Superman on laundry day and even new data limits (to be fair you can get your old unlimited data grandfathered in) and higher ETF fees couldn't keep the customers away. Yes, the mighty iPhone 4 (and Apple's marketing) have won the day and are, at this moment, currently sold out. In AT&T's words (via Engadget):

"Because of the incredible interest in iPhone 4, today was the busiest online sales day in AT&T history. As of Tuesday afternoon, customers who preorder iPhone 4 moving forward will receive their device on June 25 or later, depending on when the order is placed. We'll email customers with confirmation once their order is placed, and again when it ships. In addition, we will have devices available on a first-come, first-serve basis in our stores beginning on June 24."

Original photo by marfis75

TUAWiPhone 4 sold out originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

I suspect many people were very happy to see that the iPhone 4 was listed as having 802.11n. I know that I was. I have a dual-band network at home which separates 802.11n from 802.11b/g, and that's made a huge difference in transfer times. But there's also another benefit of 802.11n: it can use the 5GHz frequency band instead of the 2.4Ghz. Without going into too much detail, most (but certainly not all) of the benefit of 802.11n comes if you use 5Ghz, because it isn't cluttered with other devices like 2.4Ghz is.

So imagine my dismay when I went to the iPhone 4 technical specifications page and saw "802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)" listed there. I wanted to double check my suspicion that this was bad news for people who want to avoid the interference issues that come with 802.11b/g.

When you have a question about Wi-Fi, especially in the Mac world, the guy to ask is TidBITS & Seattle Times columnist Glenn Fleishman. If you've ever read a great, informed (and informative) article on Wi-Fi that even a mere mortal could understand, chances are pretty good that Glenn wrote it. He wrote the most thorough analysis of the Wi-Fi woes at the iPhone 4 demo that I have seen anywhere.

I asked Glenn about this on Twitter, and he confirmed my fears that 802.11n in 2.4Ghz will suffer from the same interference that b/g devices do. This makes "802.11n" partly just a marketing bullet point for iPhone 4 instead of a truly beneficial feature. If you're currently running a 5GHz-only N network, your iPhone won't take advantage.

For 2.4GHz N networks, you will probably get some speed boost over G (Glenn estimated perhaps 1.5x when using an 802.11n base station). When copying a 940MB file over my home Wi-Fi network between a Mac desktop and laptop, 802.11n took 2 minutes, 14 seconds compared to 15 minutes 45 seconds on 802.11g. Then again, most people won't be doing large wireless file copies to/from their iPhones until/unless wireless synchronization comes along.

So yes, Apple can boast that the iPhone 4 has 802.11n and they're telling the truth, but don't expect much practical difference day-to-day. Glenn suspects that given the newer chip and more efficient use of the radio spectrum, we might get better battery life on N than on G -- but we won't know for sure until the iPhones arrive.

TUAWiPhone 4 has 802.11n, but not the "awesome" 802.11n originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: TUAW Business

It's been a busy week of WWDC 2010 coverage, and of course a new phone announcement snuck in there. We'll wrap it all up in a tidy package and take your calls and questions tonight at 10 pm ET on the talkcast -- join us!

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here.

TUAWThe week that was: Talkcast tonight, 10 pm ET originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPad

It's been a busy few weeks for iPad RSS clients. The Early Edition saw an update, Pulse got keynote love followed by a quick yank from/return to the App Store... it's almost as if the whole Newspad idea is starting to catch on.

Judging by our inbox volume, a lot of you are very excited about the latest entrant in the iPad reader race: Reeder, a strong favorite on the iPhone, is now shipping in an upsized version for the bigger device. The US$4.99 client syncs with Google Reader, and provides a clean and clutter-free interface to your chosen feeds or foldersful of feeds. You can easily share selected stories on Twitter or via email, save items to Instapaper or ReadItLater, mark items as unread or bookmark them on Delicious.

The app is carrying a solid five-star rating on iTunes right now, and we're looking forward to doing a fuller review soon. In the meantime, if you're looking for another strong option for feed reading, check it out.

TUAWReeder client for Google Reader now available for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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