As is traditional at this time of year, Apple held a media event to launch…
No…not The Beatles finally available on iTunes. Instead it was…
…the return of Steve Jobs on stage. Very nice to see and despite looking very gaunt after his recent medical troubles it should bring confidence that he is back at the helm and guiding the direction of the company. A pity then, that much of what he had to say and introduce was underwhelming. Here’s the highlights.
NEW iTunes 9
NEW iPod Nano with video camera
NEW iPod Touch and Shuffle range (with lower prices)
I’m interested in this…
iTunes 9
The features introduced in the latest version of iTunes are not min-blowing, but some deserve a mention. Take, for example, iTunes LP.
This allows you, with certain albums, to enjoy an interactive world of lyrics, photos, video and other “bonus materials” within iTunes while you listen to said album. If you’re interested in that sort of thing then you’re going to enjoy this. It’s one of Apple’s ‘nice touches’ and not a ground breaking development as far as this music listener is concerned.
Similarly, the iTunes store has been redesigned. Aesthetically more pleasing though it is, I’m not yet ‘feeling’ the improvement. I’m sure over time and with more experience I will find new features that do make life easier, but right now it’s just prettier.
Home Sharing, however, is an improvement. Allowing you to share everything purchased through iTunes with up to five computers on the same network, importing from them and automatically updating new purchases bought on any of them, Home Sharing could make family (or, let’s face it, work life) a lot fairer – and cheaper? More on this if and when I ever get to play with it.
Meanwhile, downloading movies through iTunes has now become even more like buying the DVD. The introduction of the unimaginatively named ‘Special Features’ means you get interviews, trailers and photos related to your chosen movie. Nice. But not stunning.
Not stunning is a common theme as we continue, with Genius Mixes (searches your library and returns songs that go well together, mixing them automtaically to create playlists (or channels as Apple likes to call them)), improved syncing (it is better – but for me, it NEEDED to be) and the late, late introduction of ringtones through the Store proving just as underwhelming – but at least welcome.
One feature I do want to look more closely at, however, is iPhone app management.
You know how moving apps around on your phone is a pain, especially when you have four or more pages of them? How moving one app from page five to page one usually messes up the other pages – even with Apple’s improvement of tha in OS 3.0? Well, now you can organise your apps through iTunes. Check out the screenshot on the right. This, frankly, is brilliant.
iTunes App Management
Drag and drop one or more apps from page to page within iTunes and then ‘Apply’ and your iPhone takes on the set up. You can check and uncheck those you want to include onyour phone too, taking management to a new level. Check…it…out.
It’s underwhelming is what it is. Nevertheless, I shall report back soon. But basically it’s iTunes 9 with a few nice but unamazing features and iPods with cameras…including the Nano!!
Blizzard has launched its WoW Armory iPhone app and I have to say…outstanding.
Called the World of Warcraft Mobile Armory, this thing gives you access to the Armory (whether Americas, EU or Oceanic) in full and in six languages.
Log in using your Blizzard account details and you’re good to go. Here are the features you get with this app:
Characters
From this tab you can access your own characters or your bookmarked characters from the Armory. Yes, you can browse the full Armory and bookmark those you find interesting. Maybe they are potential Guild recruits, out-of-Guild PvP partners, whatever you need.
When you click through to a single toon you get the basic Armory detail – name, class, level, server and Guild. In addition you can see the current spec (or specs if the toon has Dual Spec), current Achievement progress, health, mana and stats (all available by a dropdown menu).
What is really clever though, is the gear section. Like the online Armory the currently equipped gear is displayed around the stats. By tapping on an item you can view its stats. Tap the “View Item Details” button and you can view the item in its entirety – including where you can get it. Nice.
And, of course, you can bookmark the character from this page.
Guild
If you’re in a Guild, there is a handy tab immediately on the app’s homepage, titled with your Guild title, which gives immediate access to all the characters in the Guild, ordered by rank. Very useful for Guild Masters and Officers.
Calendar
Now…having direct access to your Guild calender from anywhere at any time is damn useful, don’t you think? Now you’ll never miss a raid, the start of a Holiday or World Event or any other date your Officers or GM wants you to be aware of.
You can also accept and decline invites to raids as well – that is truly innovative and makes you wonder why…
…you can’t add a new event through the app and have it show up in-game. Would be nice though, eh, Blizzard?
Leaderboards
This is purely for a bit of fun. Based on Achievement points earned, you can see where you rank amongst your Guild and your bookmarked characters, as well as view the achievement points earned by all your characters. Useful? Only if you’re in a race with a fellow Guild member or player to achieve the most. Fun? For sure!
Browse Items
Brilliant! Like AtlasLoot on your iPhone! Every item in the Armory searchable by type, (ie, weapons, armor etc) and by dungeon and raid, so you can find out who drops what where. All the item stats are included, as well as cost, vendors if appropriate. The best item search I have come across either on or offline.
Talent Calculator
Does what it says on the tin. Just like the online version, you can tweak your talent spec to your heart’s content. Doesn’t quite fit on the screen so a bit of dragging around is required, making it less useful than the online version – but only marginally.
News
I assume this will hold the latest news from wow.com or wow-europe.com at some point. At the moment it holds a welcome message and a full list of Realm firsts – which I like. Now I know who to tap up for that glyph or craftable gear item!
Settings
Sound, vibration and event alert on and offs. The app does seem to ding and vibrate a lot – but I’m damned if I know why. What those alerts are meant to mean is not clear so unless you can work it out, you may be better off setting the sound and vibrate to off. And if you DO find out what they are for – let me know!
Help & Logout
Provides…erm…help…and…erm…a logout.
Extras
Across the bottom is an always accessible menu list which contains a home button (nicely done with a Hearthstone icon), a search function – this is what will make this app most useful, especially when looking for items and specific characters, a character link just like the one described above and a direct link to your own characters so you can set which one you one to view the rest of the Armory against.
In summary, for the casual or hardcore WoW player, whether you are a GM, Officer, twink or solo player, this app has something for you. Get it. And get it now.
As is traditional at this time of year, Apple held a media event to launch…
