We've seen just about every type of iDevice case ever made, but this one takes the prize for originality.

Based on the famous Ohio Art Etch A Sketch magic screen drawing slate, the Etch A Sketch iPad Case ($39) from Headcase is very realistic looking, down to the cheesy gold paint on the logo. The case should be realistic, as it is officially licensed by Ohio Art.

There are some differences between the case and the real Etch A Sketch: the white knobs won't act as cursor control on your cursor-less iPad, the case has a couple of indentations for the ambient light detector and home button, and the battery life on the original Etch A Sketch is much better. Oh, and the original Etch A Sketch is $17.99, while an iPad costs considerably more.

Check out the gallery below for more shots of this clever iPad case.

TUAWOfficial Etch A Sketch case makes iPad even more attractive to your kids originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a Sunday press release, Apple announced an on-sale date for the iPhone 4 in China. Saturday, September 25, 8 am is when customers in the world's largest market can get their hands on the new phones; both the Apple Store Hong Kong Plaza in Shanghai and the Apple Store Xidan Joy City in Beijing will be carrying them, coinciding with the opening of the Bejing store.

China Unicom (the phone's domestic carrier) will also be selling them in retail stores. Just as in other countries, new purchases via China Unicom will require a two year service contract; however, the phone will also be available contract-free at the Apple stores.

Suggested retail price for the phone is CNY4,999 for the 16GB model and CNY5,999 for the 32GB model (contract-free pricing; China Unicom pricing includes service plan prepayments, and it's available here). China Unicom has been accepting pre-orders for a few days now.

[hat tip to @Khaled]

TUAWiPhone launch in China gets official date of 9/25 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 21:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has expanded its LifeCam portfolio with the launch of new Microsoft LifeCam Studio web camera, which the company claims as its first webcam equipped with a 1080p full HD sensor that able to deliver a superior sharpness and full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) image quality in 16:9 widescreen format. Key features of Microsoft [...]

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It's been a little while since we've heard from St. Claire Software, makers of the well-known system utility, Default Folder X (which we've covered before). You may recall that we caught up with St. Claire Software developer Jon Gotow at WWDC '09. Well, he's got something new to announce today: App Tamer, a system utility for keeping CPU-intensive applications under control.

App Tamer is similar to some other utilities, in that it allows you to "freeze" selected applications so that they use up zero CPU time, leaving more processing power for other applications. What makes App Tamer special is AutoStop, which pauses and unpauses frozen applications when you switch away from or back to them. It also has options for temporarily unfreezing applications at a configurable interval, allowing apps to complete background activities even while frozen. It's quite flexible, but takes very little user knowledge or time to get it up and running.

TUAWKeep your CPU under control with App Tamer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As Dave reported earlier, ABC and Nielsen have teamed up to develop an iPad app that supports the new series My Generation. Users run the app while watching the show -- either live or recorded -- and it will stay synced with the section of the episode you're watching by "listening" to the audio from your television, using the built-in microphone.

From there the app will present you with polls and quizzes related to what you're watching, along with other interactive elements. You can get a sense of how this new form of interactivity will play out by watching the video above. [Yes, it's Flash; sorry, but ABC's hosting it and that's the only way to get at it. -Ed.]

While you're watching TV, the iPad is actually watching you, in a manner of speaking; the app serves as a tool for Nielsen to understand viewing habits, as they will use digital watermarking to track user behavior. With such a small percentage of viewers likely to be using the app during the show, it's hard to tell just what kind of data they'll get. But it is an interesting experiment.

My Generation doesn't premiere until September 23. I tried it out on the screener (preview copies available to media and reviewers) of the pilot, and it wasn't able to sync, so hopefully that just means the app's just not ready to go live yet; either that, or the Nielsen audio encoding wasn't embedded on the screener but has been added to the broadcast version.

TUAWVideo demo of ABC's My Generation synchronized app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Left 4 Dead is the last promised Valve title to see release on Steam for Mac, and yet we haven't heard anything about an official release date. Valve was moving along pretty well for a while there, releasing games for our platform every Wednesday. But they've petered out lately, leaving a lot of Mac gamers wondering if we'd ever get to shoot zombies along with the rest of the gaming world. But a slip found by our former cohort David Chartier, now at Macworld, hints that we'll be exploring the zombie apocalypse soon -- he notes that Valve is bringing the game's new downloadable content, "The Sacrifice," to all platforms, including the Mac, by October 5th.

The Sacrifice is an extra level that's available for both the first and second games in the series, so there's still a chance that Valve will only give us the original Left 4 Dead, and save the sequel for later. But I'd guess the reason for the long delay is that they're bringing both games over, so we might see both of them released on Steam for Mac by then.

Of course, this could just be a slip of the blog, with the Mac just accidentally listed as an available platform. But that doesn't seem likely -- Valve tends to be careful about what they say. To whet your appetite, check out the game's brand new comic, created just for the new DLC.

TUAWRumor: Left 4 Dead on the Mac by October 5? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I used to think that if I ever got hit by a car while out and about (God forbid, of course), the most useful place to find identifying information would be in my wallet. But that's not really the case any more -- as cops are learning these days, the best place in a person's pockets to learn about them is their iPhone. Not only is the phone full of contact information (and indeed, I've included an "ICE" number on every phone I've ever had), but it's got lots of other information about me, including where I've been lately, what kinds of things I've searched for, and even what apps I've used and how often.

Besides the obvious places (in the apps themselves), there's a lot of information that you as a user don't have access to -- iOS apparently caches both screenshots and text used while multitasking and spellchecking, so even if you don't actively save information on your iPhone, odds are it's there anyway.

Before you panic and decide to ditch your iPhone for privacy's sake, keep in mind that whoever's trying to get this information needs to have direct access to the iPhone itself -- at this point, hackers can't dive into your phone over the air and steal your secrets (most of them, anyway). But this type of "iPhone forensics" is very useful for cops trying to figure out what anonymous victims have been up to lately.

Thanks, Colin!

TUAWCops hacking iPhones for information originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you buy one of those "quasi-RAID" storage devices over the last few years? You know, the ones that tried to squeeze a few hard disks into a shiny silver box and call it RAID? In many cases, those devices simply implemented RAID 0 (block-level striping without parity or mirroring) as a way to create a big drive out of two or more smaller drives. If one drive fails, the entire array is toast.

Well, Data Robotics wants to save Mac users from that harrowing experience by offering to "Upgrade your RAID." Until the end of the month of September, you can trade in a qualifying device (which will be sent to an reputable electronics recycler) and receive 10% off of a DroboPro or DroboElite, or 15% off the price of a Drobo, Drobo S, or Drobo FS.

To take advantage of this deal, register on the Drobo upgrade page or call the Drobo sales folks at 1-866-997-6268. This program is a good way to keep your data safe and probably gain a lot of capacity in the process.

TUAWDrobo wants Mac users to "Upgrade your RAID" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gamevil's new action RPG HYBRID 2 is an excellent game, but it's not one that I would recommend for just anyone to pick up. We've spotlighted plenty of great casual games and apps here on the Daily App, but HYBRID 2 doesn't fit in that category. If you've never played a Japanese-style action RPG, you'll probably get lost right away. There is a pretty solid tutorial for the combos, but soon after that, the game quickly falls into the kinds of tropes that only someone who loves old school RPGs can deal with; there's a convoluted plot in which the world has to be saved from a supernatural threat (again), jerky controls with lots of stats to oversee and upgrade, and even lots of typos and some Engrish in the menus.

Don't get me wrong -- HYBRID 2 is actually a lot of fun. If you've played the first one, you'll automatically know what to do, and even if not, you can skip right past the cutscenes and get right into the excellently stylish 2D fighting and rewarding level grinding. Once you actually wrap your head around it (and your fingers around the less than trustworthy D-pad and virtual buttons), there's some great hacking-and-slashing action to be had, with hundred-hit combos earning XP and loot all the way through the quest-based storyline.

The game is worth the US$4.99 for the right person. If the action sounds good to you and you aren't about to let a cluttered interface and clumsy story get in the way, have at it. Everyone else will probably have to wait for Dungeon Hunter 2 to get their action RPG on.

TUAWTUAW's Daily App: HYBRID 2: Saga of Nostalgia originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Many users probably like to put their earphones on for some music while doing their work. With the earphones on, sometime you can easily miss some important calls or text messages which need your instant reply. To prevent your big boss or clients from coming after you, Android Notifier, a free notification program can be [...]

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