Tag: apple

IDW Publishing Breaks Into iBooks!

This is big news for the comic industry! IDW has just announced a deal in which their content will be made available directly through Apple’s iBooks service, making them the first major comic publisher with such an offering . Previously IDW’s books were made available digitally through providers such as ComiXology and iVerse in which you could purchase individual issues as well as collections, or numerous standalone apps for various series and titles (as shown below) created to take advantage of iTunes’ search function.

A deal such as this could potentially open IDW to a larger audience than ever before with impulse buys via the “Featured” section of the program. Apple has built a reputation of being a king maker whenever it features anything in one of its commercials, be it song, movie or app, and I would love to see this record include comic books.

Imagine this; the next generation iPad commercial just started and there is the device against a solid white background. As the narrational finger swipes across the screen, highlighting the device’s various functions in sync with a reassuring voice over, we momentarily stop on the cover for True Blood: All Together Now via iBooks. As the commercial moves on half a second later that ever so brief screen time could potentially drive a large amount of customers to purchase the book for themselves. In a time when the industry is looking at ways to bring in new readers an official Apple nod might be just what we need.

 

IDW is currently focused on using this format to distribute longer-form graphic novels and collections with hopes of bringing in new readers in the same way book retailers such as Barnes and Noble has. While the release schedule for upcoming titles are not directly tied to when we may see them in comic shops, there are a few titles books as Code Word: Geronimo that will see day and date release on iBooks to maximize its exposure as IDW continues to look toward the future of the industry and how fan consumption will evolve.

If you are not an iBooks customer or do not own an iOS device then don’t worry. IDW will continue to work with technology partners on distribution for iOS and Android apps, Sony devices, Nokia devices as well as the web. Also, content will remain available for purchase through these methods and pricing will be as closely consistent as possible throughout all outlets. Just consider this as another way for you to get the stories that you love.

Check out the official press release below for more information!

IDW Graphic Novels Debut on Apple iBooks

First major comics publisher to offer iBook graphic novels and comics
for the iPad™, iPhone®, and iPod touch® !!

[iBook Shelf]Continuing to lead the charge of digital comics, IDW Publishing, a leader in digital comics, proudly debuted today the first large collection of comic and graphic novel titles ever available within Apple’s iBooks store. As the first major comics publisher to offer significant content, IDW’s initial iBooks entrée features nearly twenty complete graphic novels, including award-winning books and works by best selling prose authors.

This one-of-a-kind launch kicks off with CODE WORD: GERONIMO, which is launched simultaneously in iBooks and in print. An original graphic novel detailing the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound by SEAL Team 6, CODE WORD: GERONIMO is expertly written by military insider Captain Dale Dye (USMC, Ret.) and Dr. Julia Dye, Ph.D., and offers the amazing, moment-by-moment inside story of the clandestine raid that rid the world of this terrorist mastermind.

“IDW’s graphic novel line is a perfect fit for iBooks,” stated Jeff Webber, IDW’s director of ePublishing. “While our various comic storefront apps, such as IDW Comics, TRANSFORMERS Comics or Doctor Who Comics, are extremely popular with experienced comics readers and fans of those brands, having this significant presence in iBooks will help readers discover creators and titles, much the same as browsing in major book retail chains.”
[CodeWord: Geronimo]
IDW’s rich catalog of top prose authors and comics creators is especially suited for iBooks. Fans of IDW writers such as Joe Hill, Anne Rice, Max Brooks, Peter S. Beagle, or James Patterson can now find IDW graphic novels right next to their respective prose releases. Award-winning creators like Darwyn Cooke and his acclaimed  adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker books and the first installment of the BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLETE LIBRARY are also included in IDW’s diverse iBooks line.

The IDW launch has something for all ages, from classics like Eric Shanower’s OZ series for younger audiences, and Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s best-selling LOCKE & KEY series for mature readers.

“Our internal technology team, led by Lorelei Bunjes, has put a huge effort into developing a great reading experience for iBooks,” Webber continued. “We’re very proud of the team’s efforts to create a quality experience.”

The initial lineup includes the following titles:
[Witch & Wizard]•    Code Word: Geronimo
•    Bloom County: The Complete Digital Library 1980-1981
•    Locke & Key Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
•    Locke & Key Vol. 2: Head Games
•    Locke & Key Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows
•    Locke & Key Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom
•    Parker: The Hunter
•    Parker: The Outfit
•    Star Trek: Movie Adaptation
•    Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon Movie Adaptation
•    The Last Unicorn
•    Little Adventures in Oz Vol. 1
•    Dead Space
•    Dragon Age
•    G.I. Joe: Hearts & Minds
•    Witch & Wizard: Battle for Shadowland
•    The Murder of King Tut
•    True Blood Vol.1: All Together Now
•    The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

Apple Introduces iCloud

Store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Apple® today introduced iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your devices. When anything changes on one of your devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly.

“Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.”

The free iCloud services include:

• The former MobileMe® services—Contacts, Calendar and Mail—all completely re-architected and rewritten to work seamlessly with iCloud. Users can share calendars with friends and family, and the ad-free push Mail account is hosted at me.com. Your inbox and mailboxes are kept up-to-date across all your iOS devices and computers.

• The App Store™ and iBookstore? now download purchased iOS apps and books to all your devices, not just the device they were purchased on. In addition, the App Store and iBookstore now let you see your purchase history, and simply tapping the iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost.

• iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up your iOS devices to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when you charge your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, Camera Roll (photos and videos), device settings and app data. If you replace your iOS device, just enter your Apple ID and password during setup and iCloud restores your new device.

• iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all your devices. When you change a document on any device, iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all your devices. Apple’s Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote® apps already take advantage of iCloud Storage. Users get up to 5GB of free storage for their mail, documents and backup—which is more amazing since the storage for music, apps and books purchased from Apple, and the storage required by Photo Stream doesn’t count towards this 5GB total. Users will be able to buy even more storage, with details announced when iCloud ships this fall.

• iCloud’s innovative Photo Stream service automatically uploads the photos you take or import on any of your devices and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices and computers. So you can use your iPhone to take a dozen photos of your friends during the afternoon baseball game, and they will be ready to share with the entire group on your iPad (or even Apple TV®) when you return home. Photo Stream is built into the photo apps on all iOS devices, iPhoto® on Macs, and saved to the Pictures folder on a PC. To save space, the last 1,000 photos are stored on each device so they can be viewed or moved to an album to save forever. Macs and PCs will store all photos from the Photo Stream, since they have more storage. iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days, which is plenty of time to connect your devices to iCloud and automatically download the latest photos from Photo Stream via Wi-Fi.

• iTunes® in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to all your iOS devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to all your devices. In addition, music not purchased from iTunes can gain the same benefits by using iTunes Match, a service that replaces your music with a 256 kbps AAC DRM-free version if we can match it to the over 18 million songs in the iTunes Store®, it makes the matched music available in minutes (instead of weeks to upload your entire music library), and uploads only the small percentage of unmatched music. iTunes Match will be available this fall for a $24.99 annual fee. Apple today is releasing a free beta version of iTunes in the Cloud, without iTunes Match, for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users running iOS 4.3. iTunes in the Cloud will support all iPhones that iOS 5 supports this fall.

Apple is ready to ramp iCloud in its three data centers, including the third recently completed in Maiden, NC. Apple has invested over $500 million in its Maiden data center to support the expected customer demand for the free iCloud services.

Pricing & Availability
The iCloud beta and Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iCloud will be available this fall concurrent with iOS 5. Users can sign up for iCloud for free on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS® X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available for $24.99 per year (US only).

iTunes in the Cloud is available today in the US and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Automatic download of apps and books is available today. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

New Version of iOS Includes 200 New Features

New iOS 5 features include: Notification Center, iMessage, and Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organize your newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Apple® today previewed iOS 5, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and released a beta version to iOS Developer Program members. The iOS 5 beta release includes over 200 new features that will be available to iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users this fall. New iOS 5 features include: Notification Center, an innovative way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption; iMessage, a new messaging service that lets you easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices; and Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organize your newspaper and magazine subscriptions. With the new PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box and get software updates over the air with no computer required.

“iOS 5 has some great new features, such as Notification Center, iMessage and Newsstand and we can’t wait to see what our developers do with its 1,500 new APIs,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Perhaps iOS 5’s paramount feature is that it’s built to seamlessly work with iCloud in the Post PC revolution that Apple is leading.”
With iOS 5 and iCloud®, you just enter your Apple ID and password and iCloud will seamlessly integrate with your apps to automatically and wirelessly keep all of your mail, contacts, calendars, photos, apps, books, music and more, up-to-date across all your devices without ever having to connect to a computer.

Notification Center provides iOS 5 users with an innovative way to easily access all notifications?text messages, missed calls, calendar alerts, app alerts and more, all in one place, from anywhere in iOS 5. When they arrive, notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen without interrupting what you’re doing. With one swipe you can see all your notifications, and a simple tap will take you right to its app for more detail. Notifications also appear on the lock screen, with the ability to be taken to the notifying app with just one swipe.

Newsstand is a beautiful, easy-to-organize bookshelf displaying the covers of all your newspaper and magazine subscriptions in one place. A new section of the App Store™ features just subscription titles, and allows users to quickly find the most popular newspapers and magazines in the world. If subscribed to, new issues appear in the Newsstand and are updated automatically in the background so you always have the latest issue and the most recent cover art.
Safari is the world’s most popular mobile browser, and with iOS 5 it’s now even better. New features include Safari® Reader, which gets all the clutter out of the way and sets the right font size on a web page, so you can easily scroll and read through a story; Reading List, so you can save articles to read later and they automatically show up on all your iOS devices; and Tabbed Browsing, which makes it easy to flip between multiple web pages on iPad.

iOS 5 includes built-in Twitter integration, so you can sign in once and then tweet directly from all your Twitter-enabled apps, including Photos, Camera, Safari, YouTube and Maps with a single tap. New APIs give third party developers the ability to take advantage of the single sign-on capability for their own iOS 5 apps.
iMessage in iOS 5 brings the functionality of iPhone messaging to all of your iOS devices?iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Built right into the Messages app, iMessage allows you to easily send text messages, photos, videos or contact information to a person or a group on other iOS 5 devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. iMessages are automatically pushed to all your iOS 5 devices, making it easy to maintain one conversation across your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. iMessage also features delivery and read receipts, typing indication and secure end-to-end encryption.

The new Reminders app helps you manage your tasks; create and group related tasks together; and set time or location-based reminder alerts, priorities and due dates, so you can be reminded of a task as its deadline approaches, or when you arrive or depart a given location. Reminders can also be viewed in iCal® and Outlook and are updated automatically.

New features in the Camera and Photos apps give you instant access to the camera right from the lock screen, and you can use the volume-up button to quickly snap a photo. Optional grid lines help line up your shot and a simple tap locks focus and exposure on one subject. The new Photos app lets you crop, rotate, enhance and remove red-eye, and organize your photos into albums right on your device to share them on the go.
With the new PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box with no computer required, and iOS software updates are delivered over the air and installed with just a tap. Wi-Fi Sync in iOS 5 transfers and backs up your content securely over SSL and wirelessly syncs purchased content from your device to your iTunes® library.

Additional new features in iOS 5 include:
• Game Center, now with the ability to add photos to your profile, purchase new games from within the Game Center app and easier ways to find friends and new games;
• Mail enhancements which include the ability to compose messages using draggable addresses, and a new formatting bar with bold, italics, underline and indention controls;
• AirPlay® Mirroring to wirelessly display everything you do on your iPad 2 right on your HDTV through Apple TV®; and
• a system-wide split keyboard to make it even easier to type on your iPad.

Availability
The iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (fourth generation) and iPod touch (third generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

OS X Lion Available in July From Mac App Store

The eighth major release of the operating system will be available to customers in July as a download for $29.99.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system with more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs, will be available to customers in July as a download from the Mac® App Store™ for $29.99. Some of the amazing features in Lion include: new Multi-Touch® gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best place to find and explore great software, built right into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.

“The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac.”

New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations built into Lion let you interact directly with content on the screen for a more intuitive way to use your Mac. New gestures include momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps. All Mac notebooks ship with Multi-Touch trackpads and desktop Macs can use Apple’s Magic Trackpad.

Full screen apps take advantage of the entire display and are perfect for reading email, surfing the web or browsing photos, especially on a MacBook Air® or MacBook® Pro. With a single click your app fills the display and you can swipe from one window to another, between full screen apps, or back to your Desktop, Dashboard or Spaces® without ever leaving full screen. iWork® and iLife® apps, as well as Safari®, iTunes®, Mail, FaceTime® and others, all take advantage of Lion’s system-wide support for full screen apps.

Mission Control combines Exposé®, full screen apps, Dashboard and Spaces into one unified experience for a bird’s eye view of every app and window running on your Mac. With a simple swipe, your desktop zooms out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps and your Dashboard, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere with a tap.

The Mac App Store is built into Lion and is the best place to discover great new Mac apps, buy them with your iTunes account, download and install them. Apps automatically install directly to Launchpad, and with Lion’s release, the Mac App Store will be able to deliver smaller “delta” app updates and new apps that can take advantage of features like In-App Purchase and Push Notifications.

Launchpad makes it easier than ever to find and launch any app. With a single Multi-Touch gesture, all your Mac apps are displayed in a stunning full screen layout. You can organize apps in any order or into folders and swipe through unlimited pages of apps to find the one you want.

Lion includes a completely redesigned Mail app with an elegant widescreen layout. The new Conversations feature groups related messages into an easily scrollable timeline, intelligently hiding repeated text so the conversation is easy to follow, and retaining graphics and attachments as they were originally sent. An incredibly powerful new search feature allows you to refine your search and suggests matches by person, subject and label as you type. Mail includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.

Additional new features in Lion include:
• Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
• Auto Save, which automatically and continuously saves your documents as you work;
• Versions, which automatically records the history of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, revert and even copy and paste from previous versions; and
• AirDrop, which finds nearby Macs and automatically sets up a peer-to-peer wireless connection to make transferring files quick and easy.

Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X Lion will be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard® from the Mac App Store for $29.99 (US). Lion will be the easiest OS X upgrade and at about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store®. Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and will be available in July from the Mac App Store for $49.99 (US).

Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM. The Lion upgrade can be installed on all your authorized personal Macs.
The Mac OS X Lion Up-To-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge via the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, 2011. Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their Mac computer. Customers who purchase a qualifying Mac between June 6, 2011 and the date when Lion is available in the Mac App Store will have 30 days from Lion’s official release date to make a request.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

New Galaga Titles Arrive This Summer to Commemorate 30th Anniversary

Released for North America in 1981, Galaga left an indelible mark across arcades throughout the 80’s.


PRESS RELEASE

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (June 6, 2011) – NAMCO BANDAI Games is proud to announce that 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of its celebrated space arcade shooter, Galaga(r). Released for North America in 1981, Galaga left an indelible mark across arcades throughout the 80’s and has been loved by gamers ever since. To commemorate this historic milestone, a number of exciting new Galaga games are planned to be released this summer for Xbox(tm) 360 video game entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation(r)3 computer entertainment system, the Nintendo 3DS(tm) system, iOS devices from Apple(r) and feature phones.

NAMCO BANDAI Games’ exciting Galaga product lineup for 2011 includes:

* Galaga(r) Legions DX (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) – Get ready for the anticipated follow-up title from the team behind PAC-MAN(r) Championship Edition DX. The Namco Generations team will make you rethink everything you know about Galaga with Galaga Legions DX.
Fast-paced gameplay along with fantastic new features, modes, and graphics await those ready to embark on the most destructive and chaotic space war ever encountered.

* PAC-MAN(r) & Galaga(r) DIMENSIONS (Nintendo 3DS) – Featuring Galaga 3D IMPACT, experience the invading Galaga alien armada like never before. Players will use the gyro sensor in the Nintendo 3DS system to take the role of a space ship pilot. Maneuver the Nintendo 3DS system in real-time to blast away the Galaga threat. PAC-MAN & Galaga DIMENSIONS also features PAC-MAN Tilt, a brand new side-scrolling PAC-MAN adventure. Players use the 3DS system’s motion sensor to tilt PAC-MAN’s world and use the surrounding environment to help him escape puzzles and defeat enemies.

* Galaga(r) 30th Collection (iOS) – The Galaga 30th Collection universal app will act as a hub for the Galaga universe across all iOS devices. iPhone(r), iPod(r) touch and iPad(r) owners will be able to experience the celebrated Galaga franchise at the tips of their fingers. Galaga 30th Collection will be available June 9 for free bundled with a copy of Galaxian(r). Future in-app purchases will be available through the year.

* Galaga(r) Special Edition (Java/BREW/Blackberry) – Galaga shoots its way to feature phones this year with a remixed version of the classic space shooter.