Fresh Apple: The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (13 сообщений)

На что подписаться? | Управление подпиской

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
http://www.tuaw.com
рекомендовать друзьям >>

How to sell an iPhone app for $9.99
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Marco over on the Instapaper blog (which, of course, is the blog of the app Instapaper), posted a really interesting commentary recently on a subject we've been following since the beginning: App Store pricing. As we've said before, it's a strange thing -- developers want higher prices so that they can put more effort into making iPhone apps better. But customers have a perception already that anything above $5 in the App Store just isn't worth it.

So Marco offers his take: he's been selling an app in the store for $9.99, and it's going just fine. He has tips for how developers can sell their own apps for a higher price, and he settles on some good compromises for everybody: deliver a real value with your app (as economists know, an app is worth what people are wiling to pay for it, so if you produce an app that is worth $10, people will happily spend that much). Respect yourself as a developer, and don't cower to cheapskates (some people won't be happy with anything, even when it's free). And perhaps most importantly: offer a free version.

That last one may be the key -- our own Michael Rose was sold on Instapaper only when he tried it out. More and more, I'm thinking that it was a major mistake on Apple's part not to allow developers to easily offer demos and upgrades in the same app -- people are willing to spend money on an app that's worth it, but not if they aren't sure, and trying it goes a long way to making sure. I'm not in favor of app store developers banding together to raise prices, but Marco is right: if you make an app that's worth $10 and put it on the App Store for $9.99 (with an easy way to demo it out), people will come and buy it.
TUAW How to sell an iPhone app for $9.99 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
Apple releases Safari 3.2.1
Filed under: Software Update

Apple just updated Safari to version 3.2.1. According to Software Update, "This update includes stability improvements and is recommended for all Safari users." Apple updated Safari only a few weeks ago, adding protection from phishing websites.

If you've been paying attention to the Apple updates this week, then you know that they've done some heavy updating in this area. The past few days have seen updates to iPhone/iPod touch, iTunes, Apple TV, Pro Applications, Trackpad, and QuickTime.

You can get the Safari update, or any other updates you might be missing, by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update). You can also download the installer packages from the Apple Support Downloads website.

Thanks to monu, and others for the tips!
TUAW Apple releases Safari 3.2.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
TapeDeck discounted for National Day of Listening
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cool tools, Odds and ends, Deals, Holidays

I don't know that I've heard of the National Day of Listening before, but I like the idea a lot -- right around the holidays, StoryCorps and NPR sponsor a day when you're meant to sit down with loved ones and pick up some of that oral history that has served the human race so well so far. And the folks at Toasty Code are doing their part to get these recordings done by offering their TapeDeck audio recording software for 20% off all this week -- just follow the instructions on their website, and you too can pick up any oral history your folks can dish out along with the turkey and cranberries.

Of course you can do that with any software, from GarageBand (came free with your Mac) to Audacity (free to anyone). And it doesn't need to be only audio -- I'm taking a new Flip MinoHD home for the holidays with me to get some shots of my folks in my childhood home (they're currently trying to sell it off). But the Day of Listening is a great idea no matter what you use -- in these days of high definition, 1080p television, multichannel speaker setups, ubiquitous computing, and the 24/7 flow of text across blogs, Tumblrs and Twitter, it's easy to forget the value of actually sitting down and talking to someone. This week, as you're home with family, try it out.
TUAW TapeDeck discounted for National Day of Listening originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
TouchArcade: Second-generation iPod touch faster than iPhone
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch
TouchArcade interviewed Handheld Games Corp's Thomas Fessler, who noted an interesting bit of the company's research: Second-generation iPod touch devices are significantly faster than their predecessors when it comes to 3D rendering.

In fact, it's faster than both iPhone models as well. In its tests, the iPhone 3G ranked second, the original iPhone third, and the first-generation iPod touch lagged behind in fourth. Fessler is paraphrased in the interview, even suggesting he would not recommend anyone interested in gaming to buy a used first-generation iPod touch.

The primary difference is a faster processor: The second-generation iPod touch has a 532 MHz processor. The iPhone, iPhone 3G, and first-generation iPod touch all have 412 MHz processors.

Fessler also speculates in the interview that the GPU has also been improved, but has no evidence to support that claim. These performance differences may also explain why certain apps only run on second-generation iPod touch devices.
TUAW TouchArcade: Second-generation iPod touch faster than iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
BusinessWeek: AAPL 'ripe for the picking'
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Financial
BusinessWeek's Gene Marcial is gushing -- gushing -- over Apple stock, suggesting they're not only a good buying opportunity for those who already own some shares, but a good entry point for those who have never owned stock in the company.

"The case for Apple is simple: Its stock is cheap based mainly on strong earnings and sales growth, and the outlook for further expansion of sales and profits. And the stock's profile based on such benchmarks as its technical chart pattern and price-earnings ratio affirms Apple's attraction," he writes.

Marical quotes Standard & Poor's Thomas Smith, Barclays Capital's Ben Reitzes, and Needham's Charles Wolf -- all who have their own reasons to recommend buying the stock. Of 34 analysts who track the stock, 27 recommend buying and five recommend holding. Only two suggest you sell.

As of this writing, Apple was up by over $7 per share at 89.75 during a generally positive session this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up above 8,311, an increase of 265 points.
TUAW BusinessWeek: AAPL 'ripe for the picking' originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3
Filed under: Cool tools, How-tos, Open Source, Apple TV
We've covered boxee, a fantastic media center application that can run on your Mac or Apple TV. With its attractive interface and support for Hulu, boxee is what convinced my boyfriend and me to order an Apple TV. Predictably, the day our second Apple TV arrived from Apple (the first unit broke after watching just one movie), the 2.3 software update was released, nullifying our boxee goodness.

Fortunately, the boxee team has updated boxee to support 2.3. Even better, the geniuses behind USB Creator -- a tool that makes installing boxee and the XBMC on an Apple TV a snap -- have updated their awesome software to make the whole process seamless.

If you want to install boxee and XMBC on your Apple TV, this is what you want to do. You will need a USB flash drive (minimum of 512 MB, though 1 GB or higher is recommended):
Continue reading Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3
TUAW Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
Apple Xserve Field Guide
Filed under: Enterprise, Apple Professional, Xserve, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac OS X Server
Attention Xserve administrators: Apple has created an Xserve Field Guide web app that can you can use to jog your memory when you're standing in front of a server and can't remember how to perform some manual task.

The web app is designed to be viewed on a Mac, iPhone, or iPod touch, and requires Safari as the browser. If you need to identify what model of XServe you're working on, want to know how to install spare parts, would like to decode what blinking lights on the Xserve mean, or even determine how to choose a startup drive using the system identifier button, it's all in this web app.

You can visit the web app from your favorite browser here:

http://help.apple.com/server/guide/desktop.html

or from your iPhone at this URL:

http://help.apple.com/server/guide/main.html

Thanks to TwitterMail tipster mvcoile!
TUAW Apple Xserve Field Guide originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
TUAW Tip: use the Help menu to search Safari bookmarks and history
Filed under: TUAW Tips, Leopard

Note: This tip is Leopard-only, sorry Tiger holdouts.

The Command-? trick is easily one of my favorites among the less-ballyhooed feature expansions of Leopard. If you missed that one, it allows you to search for menu items in any application by pulling down the "Help" menu, which can be triggered from the keyboard with the Command-? (Command-Shift-/) shortcut. Typing the first few letters of the menu item you're searching for will highlight its location in the dropdown menus. I use it a lot, but somehow missed one great capability noted by TUAW reader Maarten: in Safari, the menu item search extends to your bookmark collection and Safari history!

Because the bookmarks and history items are contained in the menubar's menus, they're searched along with the other menu items, allowing blazing-fast navigation of the sites listed in the Bookmarks and History menus. I like speed; I have my bookmarks toolbar set up with numbered titles which correlate to their Command-number shortcut (the first non-folder item in the toolbar can be accessed with Command-1, the second with Command-2, etc.), and I have keyword shortcuts assigned to my other most-accessed bookmarks using various tools. There's only so much room in my life, however, for organizing bookmarks and assigning keywords. History search can be a tedious prospect, too, even using Spotlight or Safari's History menu hierarchy. This trick provides instant search and it's only a keyboard shortcut away. Because the History results are sorted into sub-menus named by date, the results from the history menu appear with their access date first, so it's easy to navigate the results to find what you're looking for.

The concept behind this tip applies to all kinds of applications. I started experimenting and found that the search bar in the help menu almost always included recent documents and open windows ... basically anything the application lists in its menus. The bookmarks/history search works in most other browsers, too. I use Firefox as well as Safari, so I was happy to find it worked there, with one minor caveat: the Command-? shortcut in Firefox opens the Firefox Help webpage, not the Help menu item, requiring a mouse click to focus the search box in the dropdown. I haven't found a way to add shortcut keys for top-level menu items in System Preferences, so if anyone knows that, or another way to access the search menu via a shortcut key, I'd love to know about it.

Happy searching, and a big thanks to Maarten for the tip!
TUAW TUAW Tip: use the Help menu to search Safari bookmarks and history originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
HandBrake 0.9.3 adds Universal Input
Filed under: Video, Open Source
The well known, open-source DVD ripping and video transcoding application HandBrake has been updated to version 0.9.3. Among the changes, perhaps the most exciting is universal input -- now you can use HandBrake to convert any kind of video file it recognizes, not just DVDs. This is particularly exciting given the recent demise of the much loved VisualHub (although the open-source reworking of VisualHub via the TranscoderRedux project is underway). In fact, the new HandBrake incorporates some of the same ffmpeg libraries that did the heavy lifting in VisualHub.

Among the many changes are an updated interface as well as improvements to both audio handling and video quality. Interestingly, the HandBrake developers have removed its internal DVD decryption which means you'll need to have the free VLC on your machine to utilize HandBrake's classic DVD ripping functionality (though as long as you have VLC they promise it will work as before).

HandBrake 0.9.3 is a free download from HandBrake.

Thanks Will!
TUAW HandBrake 0.9.3 adds Universal Input originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
First Look: Guitar Rock Tour for iPhone
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
Do you like to rock out with Guitar Hero or Rock Band? If you do, then you'll no doubt like Guitar Rock Tour [iTunes link] for the iPhone. The Guitar Rock Tour experience is similar to that of Guitar Hero, but portable. Unlike Tap Tap Revenge, Guitar Rock Tour gives you 17 licensed songs, including Rock You Like a Hurricane, Beat It, Smoke on the Water, and more.

The nice thing about this game is that you can play either the lead guitar or the drums. There are three difficulty levels for Guitar Rock Tour: Easy, Medium, and Hard. In addition, there is a quick play mode and tour mode. In quick play, you can play any song that you want, using any difficultly level -- assuming you've unlocked the songs.

In tour mode, you go around to different cities playing songs, earning points, and unlocking more songs. When you start the tour mode, you actually sign a contract for the band -- I thought this part was cool. The game play is identical to that of Guitar Hero or RockBand. You simply tap the notes that appear on the screen to make the music play. If you miss a note, then you lose points; if you get a note right, you gain points.

Overall, Guitar Rock Tour is a lot of fun and has great graphics -- I was surprised at how good and fluid the animations were. I experienced a lot of crashes, though this seemed to have been fixed with a reboot of the iPhone. I also found that sometimes the notes were not timed exactly right. This can be distracting, especially when you just want to play the song. If you are interested in Guitar Rock Tour, it is available from the App Store for $7.99 (US).

Gallery: First Look: Guitar Rock Tour
TUAW First Look: Guitar Rock Tour for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
First Look: Got Your BAC for iPhone/iPod touch
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, ipod shuffle
If you frequent the bar, or just like to have the occasional drink, then a new iPhone application has Got Your Back. As a matter of fact, that is the name of the application; except it is spelled BAC (as in Blood-Alcohol Concentration). With this application you will know exactly when you should call a taxi.

When you first launch the application, you'll enter some personal information, like age, weight, and gender, so the application can calculate your BAC correctly. The main display shows four drinks on a table. You can change the type of beverage by double-tapping and selecting a different one -- the icon will also change. Each time you drink a beverage, you drag the icon off the table and onto the screen. The BAC, Carbs, Calories, and number of drinks will be updated in the top-left corner of the screen. As you add drinks, these numbers will increase. The red line across the screen indicates the legal limit -- when you're above this line, a new button will appear called "call a taxi." When tapped, this button will launch the Maps app and search for taxis.

I love subtle UI features, and this application definitely has some: from the icon sets for beverages, to the sloshing liquid when you tilt the iPhone. The application is really great, and I would love to see the developer create a caffeine calculator that does the same thing. I would like to see the ability to input a number for a designated driver, that way you don't have to fumble through your contacts or call a taxi. Got Your BAC is available from the App Store for $2.99 (US). And, remember, the best thing to do is to not drink and drive.

Gallery: First Look: Got Your BAC
TUAW First Look: Got Your BAC for iPhone/iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
Found Footage: live rig with TouchOSC
Filed under: Audio, Multimedia, Found Footage, iPod touch

I recently offered a little introduction to integrating TouchOSC with Logic. In response, TUAW reader Tom Phillipson sent us a link to a video of his own integration of TouchOSC into his live setup. He modded a Novation ReMOTE 25SL Compact, extending its functionality via TouchOSC on his iPod touch. Check out the video to see (and hear) it controlling Ableton Live and an Access TI Snow.

Thanks for sharing, Tom!
TUAW Found Footage: live rig with TouchOSC originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать
Talkcast tonight: Black Friday, holiday shopping, and more
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week, with Christina at the helm, talkcastees and talkcasters reminisced with former staffer Nik Fletcher, now with the fine folks at Realmac Software. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tonight, November 23 at 10 p.m. ET for an hour of witty repartée about the week's news, and plenty of speculation about Black Friday and the coming holiday shopping season. Mike, Dave, Christina and I will be there, so join us, won't you?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.
TUAW Talkcast tonight: Black Friday, holiday shopping, and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Переслать