There are no strings attached, no royalties and no license fees. This is just an extension of Unity Free which we launched in 2009. Individual developers and startup studios can simply download Unity and get going on mobile game development. As before, companies and other “incorporated entities” (you know who you are) with a turnover in excess of $100,000 in their previous fiscal year are required to use our paid version. That way, we can keep the lights on and continue to make Unity better for everyone.

Unity is making its game development tool for iOS and Android free for developers earning less than $100,000 per year. This is great news for new game studio or indie developers.  

This is the experience of a friend solving Wi-Fi connection issue on his iPad mini. 

He bought a iPad mini Wi-Fi model last December and has been happily using it in his home network until last week. Suddenly the network connection became slow, way too slow to be usable. He was able to get web pages to load only when the iPad mini was within 1 metre of the Wi-Fi router.

He did a network speed test using the Speedtest.net app and found out that the speed had drop below 1Mbps for both upload and download. Normally the Wi-Fi speed is between 10Mbps – 25Mbps in his home network.

To make sure there were nothing wrong on the Wi-Fi router, he tested the connection speed using a iPhone 5, a MacBook Pro and a Windows notebook. All devices’ Wi-Fi were working normally except for the iPad mini.

To troubleshoot further, he upgraded the iOS from 6.1.2 to the latest 6.1.3, but it did not solve the problem. He tried to reset the network settings next from Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Still, the Wi-Fi connection persisted.

He then backed up his iPad mini’s data, and did a complete wipe using Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. And his woe continued despite all the steps he tried.

So he brought the iPad mini down to Apple. The staff did a simple check on the iPad mini, and within less than a minute informed him that Apple would do a one-to-one exchange of his iPad mini. Judging from the quick diagnostic from Apple support staff, it appeared to be a common issue. A quick search on the web suggests that this issue might affect only the first batch of iPad mini.

If you encounter similar Wi-Fi issue on your iPad mini, do not despair. There is no need to buy an additional Wi-Fi signal booster. Just back up your data and bring the unit down to Apple for a free replacement as iPad mini is covered by a one year warranty. That is the only way to solve the Wi-Fi problem.

When you are composing a new message in Mail app and then tap the “Cancel” button, there are options for you to delete the draft or to save the draft. Saved draft can be retrieved later to continue writing the message.

To access the saved drafts, tap the email account under “Accounts” section at the main Mail app screen, then tap on “Drafts”.

To quickly access the saved drafts, tap and hold the compose button on the main screen. Mail app will display a list of saved drafts. Simply tap to select the draft to continue message composing.

Developer Silvio Rizzi is making Reeder for iPad and Reeder for Mac free, until its next major version 2 release in the coming months. Reeder for iPhone remains a paid app.

Reeder for Mac and iPad will be updated to 2.0 in the coming months. Version 2.0 will add all the features of the iPhone version, including all sharing and syncing services. Until then, Reeder for Mac and Reeder for iPad will be free, starting today.

Reeder is designed to be a Google Reader client when it was first released, and is one of the more popular Google Reader client for iOS. Since then Feeder for iOS version has added support for other feed services. With the impending closure of Google Reader on July 1st, Feeder developer has promised that development of Reeder will continue after July 1st.  It is not clear however if Reeder will provide its own web backend similar to Google Reader or a migration path for existing Google Reader users.

Reeder for iPad

Reeder for Mac

Wondering why some of your favourite iOS apps have yet to support iCloud sync? Many developers are voicing out their frustrations to give us a clearer picture. 

“I’ve rewritten my iCloud code several times now in the hopes of finding a working solution,” wrote developer Michael Göbel in a blog post, and “Apple clearly hasn’t.” The problem is this: Apple has failed to improve the way it syncs databases (“Core Data”) with iCloud, yet has continued to advertise and market iCloud as a hassle-free solution.

There are a number of technologies under the iCloud umbrella. Turns out that if an app is using the Core Data technology, then iCloud sync will have unpredictable behaviour that could cause data loss. If the app is using the document-based sync technology, then iCloud sync will be far reliable. To make matter worst, it is not easy for an app using Core Data to switch to use document-base sync. Doing so amounts to the work of rewriting the entire app.

Even Apple’s own Trailers app, which uses Core Data sync, fails to keep track of user Favorites due to data loss. And we can only speculate why Podcasts app just added iCloud sync with the latest version released last Thursday.

Apparently these stability issues with Core Data iCloud sync dates back to iOS 5. And Apple has been quite about it. Although Core Data iCloud sync has improved in iOS 6, but reliability issues remains. And there is no promise if Apple will solve the bugs with the upcoming iOS 7.

With its Maps fiasco and developers unhappiness, there is lots of room for Apple to improve on its software and cloud offering. The worst nightmare for Apple will happen when the most polished apps appear on Android first. 

Here is an interesting look of iOS vs Android 2012 market share in the USA laid out in the USA election style of blue vs red. The data is from Mobify’s mobile website traffic that covers over 20,000 sites. Blue state is iOS. The bluer the colour, the more dominant is iOS in the state. States that is close to 50/50 will be in a shade of purple.

Chevrolet has rolled out a campaign for its 2013 Sonic model featuring Siri’s Eyes Free mode. This is the first car in the world to support Siri allowing driver to use Siri service while driving. Beside Chevrolet, Apple highlighted BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, Audi, Jaguar, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Chrysler as its Siri Eyes Free partners when it introduced Siri as part of the launch of iOS 6.

Apple released iOS 6.1.3 to the public today. The latest update is available via over-the-air update in Settings > Software Update.

This update includes fixes to passcode security bug that allows someone to bypass the lock screen. In addition, this release also include enhancements to the Maps app for Japan users.

Mr. Schiller shared data on the iPhone’s popularity and said Apple’s own research shows that four times as many iPhone users switched from an Android phone than to an Android phone in the fourth quarter.

It appears more of an attack rather than defensive remarks from Phil Schiller. It is also rare for Apple to make public such views right before its competitor’s product launch. This suggests that Apple is taking Samsung Galaxy S4 pretty seriously.