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Road Tested: LaCie iamaKey, the USB flash drive you'll actually use
Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Peripherals, Road Tested
USB flash drives are a dime a dozen. They've gone from being a "wow" item a few years ago to a throwaway handout item. Many are cheap plastic devices that either come with a neck lanyard attached or with a small loop for attaching to a key ring. More often than not, they end up falling to pieces or getting lost.

The new LaCie iamaKey (highlighted above) is a USB 2.0 flash drive you'll actually use. Rather than being made out of plastic, it's made of solid metal. Rather than having a useless lanyard attached, there's a hole in the metal so you can put it on a key ring. It's about the size and shape of a key, so it's not out of place on a key ring.

iamaKey came with a tiny plastic cap that covered the connector. Of course, after about 15 minutes the cap disappeared. I was concerned about that until finding out that iamaKey uses a gold SIP connector that resists scratches and water. You don't need the cap at all.

So, does it still work after almost two months of riding around in a pocket with a bunch of other keys and change? Absolutely! It's been dropped multiple times, it's gotten soaked in the pocket of a pair of jeans I was wearing during a sudden downpour, and it's put up with winter cold while I've been out walking. iamaKey is rugged and fast, with up to 30 MB/s read rates and 10 MB/s write speeds.

iamaKey comes in 4 GB (US$19.99) and 8 GB (US$29.99) flavors. LaCie also sells the less rugged and larger itsaKey, which retails for US$3 less than iamaKey.

TUAW Road Tested: LaCie iamaKey, the USB flash drive you'll actually use originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Happy Easter from TUAW
Filed under: Humor, Cult of Mac, Steve Jobs, Holidays

Today is Easter for those of you celebrating around the world, and what better way to celebrate than with Peeps? Specifically Peeps attending an Apple event -- these guys were made by Sarah Kohari and Erin Mastrangelo of Washington, and are part of the Washington Post's yearly Peeps diorama contest. This one is number 38, and they also made number 39 as well.

We like it, obviously, especially the little Steve Jobs peep, as well as the iPeep nanos (in, apparently, all of the different colors Peeps come in). Happy Easter to everyone -- may you have candy and chocolate of all kinds (if that's what you're looking for today), and may all of your egg finding go well.
TUAW Happy Easter from TUAW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW giveaway: WeightBot and ConvertBot
Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch
TUAW would like to help take away a bit of the sting of tax week by giving away something for free. That's why we've teamed with Tapbots to give ten lucky US readers licenses for WeightBot and ConvertBot.

Although you'll probably be a lot lighter after the IRS empties your wallet, you may want to lose some weight. That's where WeightBot comes in handy. It's a great-looking and very functional weight tracking app for iPhone that has been featured on TUAW in the past.

Should you decide to skip the country in order to avoid paying taxes [which we do not recommend --Ed.], you might find ConvertBot's ability to convert units of measure and currency to be a big help! If you're not one of the giveaway winners, these apps are available for US$0.99 (ConvertBot) and US$1.99 (WeightBot) respectively.

Tapbots has won accolades for their innovative design of iPhone apps, and we'd like to help them come out with another really cool app. To enter the giveaway, write a comment with your idea for the next Tapbots app.

Here are the rules and a link to the obligatory legal statement:
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
- To enter leave a comment with an idea for a new Tapbot iPhone app.
- The comment must be left before Monday, April 13, 05:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prize: One license each for ConvertBot and WeightBot (US$3 value)
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
Good luck!
TUAW TUAW giveaway: WeightBot and ConvertBot originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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First Look: Travel organizer Tripit.com offers iPhone app
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look
Do you travel a lot for business or pleasure? If you do, then you'll find the new free iPhone app (click opens iTunes) from Tripit.com to be a great way to organize your trip plans.

Tripit.com imports and interprets your itineraries from airlines, hotel chains, ticket outlets, and other travel companies. When you receive an itinerary from one of these providers, you forward it to a special Tripit email address to have it translated into a trip plan automatically (the site supports hundreds of travel providers, and the translation from email into structured itinerary is really quite amazing). You can share your travel plans with friends or colleagues via LinkedIn, and see when your fellow travelers are heading to a city near you or when their plans align with yours.

That collection of trip plans is what you view with the Tripit.com app. The app is linked to your Tripit.com account, and displays a day by day list of flights, car rentals, and other events that make up your trips. Each event can be opened in further detail to show information such as arrival and departure times, confirmation numbers, and more. Links for airport codes bring up Google Maps of the airport vicinity, and other links can check your flight status with a touch.

Since you can always access the mobile version of the Tripit site from a connected iPhone or iPod touch, the big advantage of the native application is that the travel data is cached locally on the phone for offline review (mid-flight, for example). More full-featured apps like the $9.99US TravelTracker or FlightTrack Pro can also store and display your Tripit itineraries via the service's API, and Tripit's developers tell us that they intend to continue supporting third-party application access.

To use the app on your iPhone or iPod touch, all you need to do is sign up for a free Tripit.com account or forward your first itinerary to plans@tripit.com. Take a look at the gallery below for details of the Tripit app at work.

Gallery: Tripit.com iPhone App
TUAW First Look: Travel organizer Tripit.com offers iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Baseball fans were quite excited to learn that this years MLB.com At Bat 2009 iPhone app [App Store link], selling for $9.99US, would include game day audio. We reviewed the app in March and it received good notices but there was no audio to test at that time. Since baseball season began, the App Store reviews have been filled with comments from angry users saying there are frequent crashes and the audio keeps dropping out. Many wanted their money back.

The good news is that yesterday the app was updated to version 1.01 and most reviews are now positive. The crashes have been pretty much fixed, and the audio streaming is working very well. There are some scattered complaints about the game day pages being a bit behind, but generally people are now very pleased.

In my tests of the first version, I had lots of crashes, and indeed, the audio streaming was spotty. The new version has been crash-less so far, and the audio has been smooth and starts up quickly. I've listened via WiFi and 3G with no issues -- although if you are trying to use the app from your local ballpark, as Steve points out, you'll be competing with thousands of other fans for scarce 3G bandwidth and you may not be able to use the audio features (or do other things involving the cell connection, like making and receiving calls).

The app itself is a bargain, since getting audio from any game all season long costs $14.99 via MLB on the web. For 5 bucks less you get it on your phone. If you can live without streaming audio you can get MLB.com At Bat 2009 Lite for free. Now, if my hometown team just wouldn't come in last again this year all would be well. I guess the iPhone can't fix that.
TUAW MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New shuffle gets an update
Filed under: iPod Family, Software Update, ipod shuffle
Got a new iPod shuffle? Hook up to iTunes and check Software Update, because there's a holiday surprise waiting there for you. The revised VoiceOver Kit 1.0.1 corrects artist name pronunciations and includes a few other fixes.

If you've downloaded the update let us know how it's working for you.

[via Macworld]
TUAW New shuffle gets an update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Talkcast preview: special guest Mitch Wagner from InformationWeek
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts
If you joined us last Sunday night, you heard an unvarnished rant in five-part harmony as Dave, Christina, Mike S., Mel and I all weighed in on the ongoing series of "Laptop Hunters" Microsoft TV ads (yes, there's a third one now: an adorable mother-and-son team of laptop shoppers who shockingly still find time to slag the Mac as a kiddie machine while they browse the aisles) along with MacHeist and the other news of the week. You can download the show from Talkshoe or subscribe in iTunes.

Tomorrow night -- Easter Sunday, 10 pm ET -- we'll be joined by a special guest: Mitch Wagner of InformationWeek, also known (in Second Life, anyway) as the metallic talkshow host Copper Robot. Bring your questions for Mitch about Apple news, virtual communities, social media & the public sector... we'll be covering the entire waterfront.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only interface, or you can stick with the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in so we can hear your dulcet tones. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. SIP or Gizmo users can connect directly to Talkshoe by following the instructions here. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the talkcast is provided by Call Recorder from ecamm networks.
TUAW Talkcast preview: special guest Mitch Wagner from InformationWeek originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dictionary.com for iPhone. Everyone should have it
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Freeware, iPhone, iPod touch
Every so often a free app comes along for the iPhone/ iPod touch that I think everyone should have. That certainly applies to Dictionary.com [App Store link]. It's an iPhone version of the Dictionary.com web site which gives you definitions, a thesaurus, audio pronunciations, and my favorite, word origins. (I was interested to learn that the word 'waver' goes back to the 13th century German word for moving about. I love stuff like that.) The app also provides a word of the day, and examples of your specified word in sentences.

This app is every bit as good as the paid dictionary apps, and oh so more versatile. Happily, Dictionary.com does not need an internet connection for the dictionary and thesaurus, but does need it for the rest of the features. With all that information on board, the download is about 36 megabytes.

As you type a word, the dictionary auto-completes, saving you some time, and when you go back to your 'recents' list you have a choice of seeing the thesaurus or the dictionary. Nice. Pronunciations of the words are quite handy. Sometimes you get a female voice, other times a male.

One small nitpick. You should be able to click on words that the thesaurus finds and get a definition. You have to retype them.

Dictionary.com was released in late March, and I don't think the word is out sufficiently so people know it is there. Consider this the 'word', and consider the occasion a propitious one. Look it up.

Screen shots:

Gallery: Dictionary.com screenshots
TUAW Dictionary.com for iPhone. Everyone should have it originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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