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- App Store approvals and the tablet: why it matters
Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends, Other Events, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK
When iTunes Connect returned after its Christmas break, developers noticed that things had changed quite a bit on the App Store approval front. Applications that had formerly taken ten to fourteen days to work through review were now getting processed in a couple of days or less. The upshot? Happier developers, better bug releases for users, and a healthier App Store ecosystem.
There's another consequence of the new, speedier approvals: the tablet. With the device due to ship March/April (late Q1, early Q2), and no announced 4.0 SDK, developers were left wondering how they'd have the time to bring their software up to date. Under the old review process even a single procedural rejection, which are quite common for small GUI details, would have exhausted nearly all of February in non-productive "wait mode".
With the enhanced review system in place, it's likely that developers will be able to spend those extra weeks refactoring their software, allowing it to ship in a timely fashion once the actual device appears on-scene. Apple is expected to push their SDK to developers within two weeks of their late January product announcement, probably by 15 February. Assuming a 2 April product launch, that leaves nearly six weeks to update and test software.
Not that developers are waiting. Many devs are already working on resolution independent versions of their applications. They are tasking their designers to re-imagine screens, to test hand-held cardboard prototypes, and otherwise start the process of scaling their products to new dimensions.
It should be noted that some of the App Store heavyweights have suddenly become quite tight-lipped in recent days, refusing to talk in any specifics about how their upgrade process is proceeding. The rest of us will have to get by on guess work, at least until the product announcement at the end of this month.
Without specific leaks regarding hardware changes (for example, will there really be a front facing video camera? and if so, will expanded Image Picker/Media Player classes support access?), it's hard to pin down exactly what new features can be leveraged in third party software. But it's a fairly safe bet that nearly all features available on the current iPod touch line will be in play on the new tablet. And that alone is enough to hedge some safe business bets about pushing forward with large screen development.
It's still too early for most of us to start playing -- those tight-lipped folk have a bit of the wild "Apple will kill me if I speak" look around their eyes -- but it's not too early to begin planning and working. Even without specifics, there are ways to move forward on the development front. Carpe diem. There's not much time left before the yet-unannounced tablet ships.TUAWApp Store approvals and the tablet: why it matters originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone - App Store - Apple - IpodTouch - TUAW
Переслать - Count The beats: Training your ear with RelativePitch
Filed under: Audio, Reviews, Music
Relative pitch, let alone perfect pitch (some people are born with it, everyone else has to learn!) is an invaluable skill required when it comes to playing an instrument and understanding the music you are hearing. Thankfully, Easy Ear Training has developed a nifty little app to help you along with all your pitch training needs.
The idea is to learn how to hear the difference between two musical notes in a given key / octave, and be able to identify what that difference is, based on the root note. This is otherwise known as an interval: the space between two notes. For example, a minor 3rd, or a perfect 5th (think the Star Wars theme tune!).
For a great description of what an interval is, click here. I also came across this iTunes U video lesson by Shawn "Thunder" Wallace [iTunes Link] describing the difference between perfect pitch, relative pitch and something that Shawn calls true pitch. Very interesting!
This may sound rather complicated, but really you don't need to know any of the theory when it comes to using the Relative Pitch app. At its simplest, it will help you to hear with more detail what it is that you're listening too
Relative Pitch [iTunes Link] consists of two main modes: training and testing. When you open the app, you kick off with the first lesson (of which there are 14) in the training mode. Once the first lesson is complete, a corresponding test is unlocked to examine what you have learned. On passing that test the next lesson is unlocked, and so forth.
Relative Pitch will teach you to distinguish ascending, descending and harmonic intervals across four octaves. With in-app volume control, in-depth customization of the training mode, and even being able to choose the root note of the octave you want to train from, you'll make strides.
Whether you are a seasoned musician or a complete beginner, Relative Pitch will have you listening with a sharpened ear and a greater appreciation of the music you love.
The Relative Pitch app costs £4.99, but there is a lite free version of the app here [iTunes Link] so you can try it out.
Also, keep an eye out for the revamped Easy Ear Training website launching in the coming weeks.TUAWCount The beats: Training your ear with RelativePitch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW Tip: Veency remote controls your iPhone from your Mac
Filed under: Hacks, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, iPhone, Jailbreak/pwnage
Reader Kevin C. sent us a tip the other day -- he recently got a Bose SoundDock II, which is a nice little speaker dock, as a Christmas gift, and he wants to know: with his iPhone sitting all the way across the room, is there any way he can control the iPhone from his Mac? Obviously there are lots of ways to control your Mac with your iPhone, from Apple's official Remote app to multiple VNC programs on the App Store. But in this case, we want to go the other way: control your iPhone's iPod app with a Mac.
Turns out there isn't a way to do it -- unless you jailbreak your iPhone. Using Veency, a jailbreak app that Erica covered about a year or so ago, you can head into your iPhone from your Mac and do anything you want, from changing tracks in iTunes to even sending text messages. Here's an older how-to on getting it working.
Unfortunately, other than that (according to our research -- commenters feel free to jump in, of course), you're out of luck -- Apple is fine with sending commands from the iPhone to the Mac, but not the other way around. Maybe Bose needs to come up with a way for you to stream music over Bluetooth to their speakers so you can keep your iPhone with you.
Update: Our commenters come through as always: Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil will supposedly send audio from your Mac out to your iPhone, and while I haven't tried it myself, we're told that the Bose dock will then play that audio for you. So instead of playing sound on your iPhone, you can just send it music from the Mac and control things that way. And Jeff points out that Belkin makes a Bluetooth dongle, so you can stream music that way as well (and just carry your iPhone with you). So there's a few solutions to try.TUAWTUAW Tip: Veency remote controls your iPhone from your Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - CES Watch: The good, the bad, the ugly
Filed under: Hardware, Other Events, Internet Tools, iPhone, iPod touch
CES wrapped up in Las Vegas on Saturday, so here's our third and final wrapup of iPhone and Mac-related accessories from the show. Enjoy!
- Posimotion introduced a Helix gaming grip for the iPhone -- like the Wii wheel, only for Apple's device. $20, which seems pricey to me.
- Don't even bother looking at these high-heeled speakers.
- This actually has nothing to do with iPods or Mac, but I just thought it was awesome: A mechanical autotuning system for your guitar. I want one!
- Here's a twirling battery concept that could charge your iPhone in a pinch and let you work on that finger strength.
- Cydle is a South Korean company that's planning to release this digital broadcast TV tuner for the iPhone for $150 in March. Kind of an old-school solution (in 2010, we stream video, not receive it), but it could be cool.
- The Fingerist is... well, it's a guitar adapter for the iPhone. Go see for yourself.
- Engadget tried out the Mophie TV adapter, VIZIO's iPhone remote app, and the ION iType keyboard and iDiscover piano adapter.
- Altec Lansing has some good-looking speaker systems and headphones.
- And finally, Macworld has an overview of the iLounge pavilion itself and how it reflects the market in general.
TUAWCES Watch: The good, the bad, the ugly originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Telltale Games may be releasing all games for Mac
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer
Telltale Games has been rocking the retro lately, doing great things like bringing Secret of Monkey Island and Sam & Max back in new forms, and releasing new episodic classics like Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Now they might be doing so on the Mac: rumor has it that they'll be releasing their whole catalog on the Mac as soon as next month, just in time for an appearance at Macworld Expo. Apparently there are many Mac fans both on the team and in the customer base, and they're just figuring out a way to do it.
Sounds awesome to us -- Telltale's stuff is already available on a few other platforms (both PC and consoles), but they have a history of putting fans first, so we might even expect some goodies to come with a Mac release. We'll have to wait and see what they've got planned.
[Via IMG]TUAWTelltale Games may be releasing all games for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Found Footage: That sinking, gonna-need-a-new-phone feeling
Filed under: Found Footage, iPhone
What other recent TV show (Big Bang Theory aside) has given geeks as much cred as Chuck? The hourlong spy-dramedy returned with first-run episodes this week, but promptly threw a wet blanket on our enjoyment by... well, just look. No matter what Andy Ihnatko's experiments demonstrated, I don't think a pile of white rice is going to fix this.
Past episodes of Chuck have featured an all-knowing classic Mac, a thinly veiled dig at our favorite iCEO and a weaponized G5 tower, much to our delight. We've been loyal fans, NBC, but we must protest the wanton cruelty shown to an innocent smartphone in this scene: it's brutal, it's damp, and it will not stand.
[Apologies to our international readers for the US-only Hulu clip. Once there's a geographically agnostic version of the video available, we'll link to it.]TUAWFound Footage: That sinking, gonna-need-a-new-phone feeling originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - The Street: Features can't sway Apple customers' trust
Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhone
Jason Schwarz over at TheStreet has written an article analyzing Apple's current position in the marketplace and what Apple's competition needs to do in order to catch up.
The article focuses mostly on Apple's iPhone/iPod + iTunes ecosystem, which isn't surprising. Though Mac sales bring in a fair amount of cash to the company, Apple's handheld market is the company's most current success story, and everyone from Microsoft to Palm to Google has spent the past several years trying (and failing) to duplicate that success.
Schwarz notes that Steve Jobs's recent claim that, "We see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon," doesn't necessarily apply to the feature set of the iPhone or its integration with iTunes, but rather Apple's financial success and brand impression. He has a point. Recent ads have been trying to sell the Droid on its feature set, telling us all the things that Sega does that Nintendon't - er, I mean, all the things Droid does that the iPhone doesn't, but trying to sell the Droid on features hasn't exactly toppled the iPhone's dominance quite yet, and all indications are that the Nexus One isn't likely to take a big chunk out of Apple's smartphone sales, either.
Schwarz argues that more and/or better features don't mean a thing if the public has a poor impression of your product. For supporting evidence, look no farther than Windows Vista. Vista may or may not have deserved all the rabid criticism it received, but even if it had been the best thing to ever come out of Redmond, the damage to its reputation sealed its fate in consumers' minds. Meanwhile, Schwarz writes that "Apple currently holds a monopoly on brand trust," a claim borne out in numerous consumer satisfaction surveys. Google's phones may not have a Vista-esque reputation, but they definitely have a very long way to go before they can approach the success of the iPhone in either marketshare or mindshare.
All of that having been said, even though Apple finds itself at the top of the music player market and within spitting distance of the top of the smartphone market (not to mention atop a gargantuan heap of cash), all it takes is one botched product to tarnish a formerly sterling reputation. That's why I feel a slight trepidation about Apple's supposedly forthcoming iSlate. Pundits the world over have been hyping this product and claiming it'll be the Next Big Thing, that it'll revolutionize the industry the same way the iPod and iPhone did for their respective markets. For Apple's sake, I hope they're right, because if the iSlate bombs, there's every chance Apple could experience the inverse of the vaunted "halo effect" that brought increased Mac sales thanks to positive impressions of the iPod.
Brand loyalty is indeed crucial to Apple's success. It is for any company, of course, but in Apple's case, where it sells its entire product line as a tightly integrated ecosystem of products, it becomes even more critical. It seems highly unlikely that any of Apple's competitors will catch up to or surpass Apple's success in the near term on their own merits, in which case Apple's only real threat to continued prosperity is Apple itself. It's had a spectacular run over the past decade, but if Apple stumbles now, the company has no one but itself to blame.TUAWThe Street: Features can't sway Apple customers' trust originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dragon Dictation and Search now updated, supports iPod touch
Filed under: Developer, iPhone, iPod touch
If you lust after Dragon Dictation [iTunes link] and Dragon Search [iTunes link] and own an iPod touch, your prayers have been answered. Nuance, the creator of both apps, now has updated versions of the free apps that allow 2nd and 3rd generation iPod touch devices to dictate and search all they want. Of course, you'll need a microphone if you don't use the Apple-included headset/mic.
iPod touch users were sorely disappointed when the Dragon apps came out last month, but they should be happy now. In addition to the iPod touch support, the new version of Dragon Dictation has an enhanced UI, and now the app can figure out that you are done dictating when there is silence. This is configured on the iPhone settings menu, rather than in the Dictation app itself. There is also an opt-out button if you don't want the app to send your list of contacts to the Nuance server for enhanced recognition. Dragon Search also has an updated UI and sports some bug fixes.
I think the major complaint against the Dictation app is the 20-second limit on length of the audio clip that will be processed into text. That may be to keep the bandwidth to the Nuance servers low, but I think it is the only real weakness the app has.
I think it's likely we'll see more updates of these apps with extended features. The apps are free for now, but Nuance has said they may not be free forever, so if you crave an app to send a quick email or text, or search the web using only your voice, best to get off the dime and download these puppies.TUAWDragon Dictation and Search now updated, supports iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate now available
Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, Internet, Developer
Mozilla has dropped a Firefox 3.6 release candidate which you can download and install it now if you want to try the browser's latest and greatest. It's a big, significant update, including many bug fixes, built-in Persona support, fullscreen for open native video, and an improved automatic form fill. For developers, there's even more updates, including support for the HTML5 File API, and new features in CSS and DOM as well.
Despite the recent emergence of Chrome and the continuing popularity of Safari, Firefox remains my browser of choice. It's good to see that the latest release pushes the envelope. Of course, it's fine to wait for the official version, but if you want to get your hands on the new features right away, here's your chance. Firefox 3.6 Release Candidate is a free download as always.TUAWFirefox 3.6 Release Candidate now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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