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- Found Footage: One designer's vision of an iPhone 4G
Filed under: Video, Odds and ends, iPhone
Before the original iPhone and iPad appeared, TUAW and other blogs were inundated with mockups of what the devices could look like. Some of them were hastily thrown-together Photoshop mashups, while others were beautifully-rendered depictions.
Antonio De Rosa of ADR Studio has created his own vision of what the next-generation iPhone could look like. In both the short video seen above and the individual renderings displayed on the ADR Studio website, De Rosa shows a thinner device with an aluminum shell and stand, AMOLED screen, and a "frontal camera."
Of course, this design could be as far off as some of the impressive mockups that were developed for the iPad, but we appreciate De Rosa's detailed work and beautiful design sense.TUAWFound Footage: One designer's vision of an iPhone 4G originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone - Smartphones - Handhelds - Apple - TUAW
Переслать - Terminal Tips: Generate random filenames for digital photo frame images
Filed under: Tips and tricks, UNIX / BSD, Terminal Tips
It's not at all unlikely that you or a relative have received a digital photo frame as some sort of gift. The concept is great, one frame on your mantle, many pictures on display. Unfortunately, Apple has yet to enter the photo frame market -- at least until the iPad is released, that is. In the interim, we are stuck dealing with photo frames that look good but do not always function as we expect.
One example of a photo frame feature gap is the lack of ability to "shuffle" photos so that they can be displayed in a random order. While sitting at my grandma's house for hours on end, it quickly became a personal challenge to try and successfully guess the next photo that would appear.
Luckily, the screencast junkies over at Murphy Mac have found a somewhat simple solution to this conundrum. The problem is the result of frames using the all-too-common alphabetical sorting method when showing photos. While this is useful for organization, it is less helpful for the purposes of the photo frame. The answer lies in assigning totally random filenames to your digital photos. As the title indicates, this is a Terminal.app-based tip so you'll have to get your hands a little dirty with this one.
The process is something that could take a long time, especially when you consider that many photo libraries have thousands of images. However, through the power of Terminal and the use of a for-loop, it is possible to randomly rename an entire folder of images with one fell swoop.
To begin, you will need to place all of your images in a single folder. We here at the TUAW HQ cannot recommend strongly enough using copied image files and triple-checking your backups prior to moving forward. Open up Terminal.app and usecdto navigate to the new directory where you placed your image copies (now might be a good time to check your backups a fourth time). When done, type the following command and then press return.
for i in *.jpg; do mv $i $RANDOM.jpg; done
Assuming all of your photos are jpegs and located in same directory, then after some whizzbangery you will have a folder filled with very strangely-named images. Copy these files to your photo frame and you now have a fully randomized photo slideshow. Feel free repeat as often as your guests (or your OCD) require. Got any other handy Terminal tips? Feel free to share them in the comments!TUAWTerminal Tips: Generate random filenames for digital photo frame images originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW review: Smoother iPhone browsing with VanillaSurf
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
While most iPhone and iPod touch users make do with the built-in Mobile Safari web browser, there are a number of alternative browsers that offer features that didn't make it into Safari. All of these alternative browsers have one thing in common -- they are all based on MobileSafari as a result of Apple's policies. What the other browsers bring to the table are features like full-screen browsing, different ways of organizing tabs, and ad blocking.
Many of the alternative browsers have passed by my iPhone home screen at least once before being summarily dismissed, but there is one that has actually been getting some use lately; bitStorm's VanillaSurf. The free browser, which is now at version 2.1, offers features that seem more at home on a laptop or desktop machine than on a smartphone.
Launching VanillaSurf for the first time brings up a blank screen with the familiar address bar at the top and an unfamiliar toolbar at the bottom. The toolbar sports eight icons -- back, forward, settings, downloads, actions, bookmarks, tabs, and full-screen. The back and forward (or previous and next) icons provide their usual functionality, while the settings icon is a portal into some more useful items.While most iPhone and iPod touch users make do with the built-in Mobile Safari web browser, there are a number of alternative browsers that offer features that didn't make it into Safari. All of these alternative browsers have one thing in common -- they are all based on MobileSafari as a result of Apple's policies. What the other browsers bring to the table are features like full-screen browsing, different ways of organizing tabs, and ad blocking.
Many of the alternative browsers have passed by my iPhone home screen at least once before being summarily dismissed, but there is one that has actually been getting some use lately; bitStorm's VanillaSurf. The free browser, which is now at version 2.1, offers features that seem more at home on a laptop or desktop machine than on a smartphone.
Launching VanillaSurf for the first time brings up a blank screen with the familiar address bar at the top and an unfamiliar toolbar at the bottom. The toolbar sports eight icons -- back, forward, settings, downloads, actions, bookmarks, tabs, and full-screen. The back and forward (or previous and next) icons provide their usual functionality, while the settings icon is a portal into some more useful items.TUAWTUAW review: Smoother iPhone browsing with VanillaSurf originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Find my iPhone rescues two phones at Busch Gardens
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, MobileMe
It was like something out of CSI. The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that the snatched iPhones incident began when a mom and her stepdaughter were getting aboard the SheiKra roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. The theme park provides unlocked storage bins for people to put things in so they don't fly away during the ride, so their two iPhones (in purses) were dropped in. Probably not a very safe thing to do, but that's what they did.
When the 13-year-old girl cut her lip during the ride, the pair was about to rush off to a first aid station -- forgetting about their possessions -- but before they could get back to the storage bin, someone snatched the purse with the iPhones inside.
The police and park security were called, and then the 13-year-old crime victim remembered MobileMe. In an employee break room, the teenager logged into the family MobileMe account using an officer's laptop.
The officers dispatched another squad car to go to the displayed location, where a man sitting outside an apartment building hurriedly concealed a cellphone when the officers approached.
You guessed it. He had one of the stolen iPhones; the other one was inside the apartment. Police reports say Richard Emerson, 25, admitted the theft and is charged with grand theft. He's out on bail, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement says it is his 19th arrest.
It took 45 minutes from the time of the theft to the arrest of the man. MobileMe may not be for everybody, but the Find my iPhone feature is getting a pretty good track record.
It's probably a good idea to emphasize that recovering stolen property is a police matter, not something you should do on your own.
[Thanks to Dan for the tip]TUAWFind my iPhone rescues two phones at Busch Gardens originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Leaked file might be the first promo list of iPad books
Filed under: iTS, Rumors, App Store, iPad
The authors include Stephen King, Timothy Ferris, Malcolm Gladwell, Dubner & Leavitt, Kennedy, Agassi, Palin and Beck. There's bestselling fiction (The Lovely Bones), fact (A History Of Modern Britain) and autobiography (Wishful Drinking). The prices range from $14.99 (for Too Big To Fail) all the way down to the magic of free (Heat Wave). It's an eclectic list... and it might be the first round of books to be highlighted on the iBooks app in a few weeks.
These titles are sampled from a list of ebooks that one of our tipsters turned up; we were then able to confirm that it was sourced from Apple, and it was found with other assets used to populate the iTunes store UI. It's not immediately clear whether the 112 titles listed are truly destined for sale on the upcoming iPad book store; we thought it might be a list of titles used for the device's launch demonstration, but there are books seen in the video that are not on this list, and vice versa.
The books list includes the pricing information, the associated audiobook ID (a possibility for cross-media sales), the genre and a brief description of the title; the list appears to include the New York Times bestsellers as a separate category. The list of included publishers is as seen here; notably, the overzealous McGraw-Hill is still not present in the mix.
We've asked Apple for comment on this list; what do you think? If this is the promotional list for the iBooks store launch with 100+ core titles -- including a lot of freebies -- is that going to spark your ebook spending appetite? Or would you rather use the presumptive Kindle app for the iPad and keep all your ebook eggs in one basket?
Thanks to Ryan for the tip.TUAWLeaked file might be the first promo list of iPad books originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Mac 101: 3 volume control tips
Adjusting the volume on your Mac via the keyboard is pretty easy: there are 3 buttons, one for Volume Down, one for Volume Up, and one for Mute.
When you adjust the volume, a sound is played to help you determine when it is loud enough or quiet enough. Most times I find this helpful, but sometimes I want to adjust the volume without hearing the noise. To temporarily disable the "volume change" sound, hold down the shift key while you adjust the volume. You will see the visual indicator on-screen, but no sound will come out.For example, on my iMac keyboard, I can increase the volume by pressing fn+f12, but if I press fn+ shift+ f12 it will increase the volume without making any sound. Very handy especially if you are in a meeting or working in a library, etc.
(Thanks to TUAW reader @webgalpat for that tip!)
But what If you never want to hear the sound when you adjust the volume? Go to "System Preferences.app" and then click on the "Sound" preference pane, and UNcheck the box next to "Play feedback when volume is changed" (That tip and others were covered in our recent 5 Tips for Switchers article.).
Now let's combine those two tips: what if you have changed the preference so that the sound is not normally played when you adjust the volume but you decide that just this once you want to hear the sound level changes? In that case, just hold down shift while adjusting the volume and it will make the noise.Bonus tip: you can use the keyboard to adjust the volume of your Mac, or mute/unmute it, even when the screensaver is on -- without entering your password or disabling the screensaver.
TUAWMac 101: 3 volume control tips originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Rumor: UK iPad pricing
Filed under: Retail, Rumors, iPad
Website Geeky Gadgets has reported a tip they received on UK iPad pricing. Apple's UK website still lists the cost in US dollars with the disclaimer, "Please note, pricing is in US dollars. International pricing will be announced at a later date."
According to Geeky Gadgets' unconfirmed source, the iPad will be priced as follows when it's launched across the pond:- The 16GB Wi-Fi will be £389
- The 32GB Wi-Fi model will be £439
- The 64GB Wi-Fi model will be £489
As of this writing, those prices put the UK version at a slightly higher cost than those in the US, as £389 is approximately $594.89 (the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad will sell for US$499). This is all completely unsubstantiated, of course, so treat it accordingly.
Thanks, Roland!TUAWRumor: UK iPad pricing originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple announces winner of the 10 billion songs promotion
Filed under: Apple Corporate, iTS, Apple Financial, iTunes
Just yesterday Apple's iTunes store reached a huge milestone -- 10 billion songs sold. That's an incredible number. In fact, it's almost as incredible as the prize that Mr. Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia received for buying the magic song. As his reward, he received a $10,000 iTunes gift card, which he may use towards any of the music, TV shows, movies, apps, books, etc. in the store.
What was the 10 billionth song downloaded? "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash.
Apple's vice president of Internet Services Eddy Cue remarked on the milestone in a recent press release. "We're proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering."
Congratulations to Mr. Sulcer! Enjoy that hefty gift card. Might we suggest a little Battlestar Galactica [iTunes link]?
[Via MacDailyNews]TUAWApple announces winner of the 10 billion songs promotion originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Full text searches on the iPhone? There WAS an app for that.
Filed under: Rumors, Software, iPhone, App Store
Sometimes you can't win for losing. A few weeks ago, I was talking to fellow blogger and all-around genius Brett Terpstra about how I wished there was a full-text search for iPhone mail. He told me that there was, and it was called reMail. I immediately downloaded the free app, paid the US $3.99 for the in-app feature of using IMAP mailboxes, and reMail started downloading copies of all my mail. This took overnight, but so what? When done, I could search on any word or term just like the Macintosh Mail application, and be rewarded with a listing of all the incidences of the term in my 3,000 or so email messages in a fraction of a second.
This worked like a dream. I immediately put reMail on my home screen and was happy. At least, that was, until last week when I read that Gabor Cselle, reMail's creator, announced that the app was being put out to pasture, and was immediately being removed from the App Store. Google both bought the app and hired Gabor to be a Product Manager on the Gmail team.
As a nice gesture, Gabor decided to keep supporting reMail until the end of March and make the two in-app purchases free. Along with IMAP support, you could also buy the option of having it work with Rackspace email. And thus started the conspiracy theories. Techcrunch surmised that this could be another shot over the bow in the Apple-Google smartphone war, and that Google bought the technology to kill it off, so Apple couldn't buy it first. There may be something to that since reMail is arguably a better mail app than the one that built into the iPhone.
On the other hand, it may be that Google, seeing a widening of the search market, wants to build reMail's functionality into another product. It would be foolish, in my opinion to not do so. Google has worked with Cselle before as part of the Gmail team and knows what he can do. With reMail as part of the bargain, he's more important to them than during his earlier tenure.
There is a rumor floating around that someone has reverse-engineered reMail and will release it as open source. This could be interesting and may change the game, but it may be just a rumor. Whatever happens, it'll be intriguing to keep your eye on the evolution of mail apps on smartphones, and to learn just what Google has in mind.
TUAWFull text searches on the iPhone? There WAS an app for that. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Quicken Essentials for Mac now available
Filed under: Software
After a four year absence, the next version of Quicken for the Mac is here. It's called Quicken Essentials for Mac and is a ground up Cocoa rewrite. I've been using the program for a few weeks now. Is it worth the wait? Well that depends what you need in your financial software.
When I interviewed Aaron Patzer, VP/GM of Intuit's Personal Finance Group, he was quick to point out that it's called Quicken Essentials for a reason: "It's called Essentials because it's what we consider to be essential for most users - about 80% of users. We went to people's homes and watched them use it. The majority of them just want to know: How much do I have? How much do I owe? How much do I spend on gas and food? How many times do I go to this restaurant? How many times do I go to Starbucks? What investments do I have? Let me set a budget to control my spending."
If an easy overview of your financial life is the goal Intuit had in mind, they've outdone themselves. The first thing you'll notice is the completely redesigned interface. Gone is the horrible toolbar navigation with multiple windows. Quicken Essentials has got that familiar streamlined iTunes/iLife look and feel with all your accounts, reports, budgets, and tools nicely displayed in a source list. It's single window interface makes it easy for the user to get a complete snapshot of all their finances. The interactive pie charts are snappy and responsive, and the built-in reports make it easy to view your checking, savings, and investing accounts.
Perhaps the most standout feature of this revamp is the improved categorization that takes a ton of work off the plate of the user. The guys at Quicken have developed a learning algorithm for Quicken Online that allows users to self-tag, with the Quicken Online software remembering those tags and then applying them to other people's data. The more people who use it, the smarter the tagging gets. In my tests, the automatic categorizing/tagging works exceedingly well. Though Quicken Essentials takes a lot of cues from Mint.com, it's method of categorization is different (and superior). Mint obtains its categorization by performing a relatively simple Yellow Pages look-up. Later in the year Intuit will be combining the two approaches and hopes to achieve 95% categorization accuracy (Intuit bought Mint in 2009).
Out of the box, Quicken Essentials supports 12,000 US and Canadian banks. That will grow to 16,000 banks in the next 2-3 months. That's full coverage of every credit union and bank in the country. Transferring and converting your data from Quicken for Windows to Quicken Essentials worked pretty well in my tests. I just saved a copy of my Quicken for Windows file, moved it to my Mac, and double-clicked on it. All my data was easily imported without any errors. Keep in mind that I was only working with two years of Quicken data though. Quicken Essentials allows for conversion from previous Mac programs, Quicken for Windows 2007+, and the now defunct Microsoft Money.
If you're like me and just want a simple program to view all your financial accounts, see where your money is going, and keep track of balances and upcoming bills, I highly recommend Quicken Essentials. If, however, you're a Quicken power user who needs investing and planning tools, investment buy and sell tracking, TurboTax integration, or in-app bill pay, then QEM is not for you. Think of this edition of Quicken Essentials as iPhoto for your finances. It presents a snapshot of your finances and transactions in a simple to use interface. If you need more than that, it's best to look at iBank or Quicken Premier for Windows running under VMWare Fusion or Parallels.
Quicken Essentials for the Mac goes on sale today for $69 and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6, an Intel-based Mac, and 1GB of hard disk space.TUAWQuicken Essentials for Mac now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TUAW Quick Plays: Alchemize, Dizzypad, Alice in Wonderland
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Here's a quick look at three games for the iPhone and iPod touch we've gotten a chance to play lately.
Alchemize is an interesting twist on the old Tetris/Dr. Mario dropping block gameplay. The idea is that you twist and drop pairs of potions that will match up whenever three of the same kind touch each other, and then leave one transmuted element of the next level in their place. There are five different modes to play as well, including an Avalanche mode that will drop a line of elements on the field if you fail to make a match in a certain time frame, and even a Bejeweled-style timed mode with a full field of elements to switch around for matches. The game is a lot of fun to pick up and play, and while the graphics aren't much more than sprites, the gameplay (and the music) more than make up for any disappointment in that area. If you enjoy a good dropping-block game, you'll like this one, too. It's $2.99 but has been known to go on sale occasionally.
Two more quick plays after the "Read More" link below.
Nimblebit calls their new game Dizzypad "...Koi Pond meets Doodle Jump," but I'd say there's more of an "Ancient Frog combined with Canabalt" thing going on. You play as a little frog that jumps from little lilly pad to lilly pad on a beautifully rendered pond, with the added difficulty that the pads happen to be spinning. The one you're on has a little arrow on it facing in the direction that the frog is pointed, and you tap to jump, so the game is essentially you timing your taps to hit just the right angle to the next pad. It's addictive and simple fun, with every missed jump just one tap away from starting over again and that familiar thought that "this time, I can do it better."
The game's presentation is great, too -- Ngmoco's plus+ handles achievements with ease, and there are little frog skins to earn for each one, all excellently designed and quite cute. The only thing missing is social integration -- this seems like the kind of game you'd want to brag about to your friends on Twitter -- but I didn't see it outside of Ngmoco's system. Excellent game for $1.99, and the extras will keep you hopping right along.
Finally, Disney has released an Alice in Wonderland tie-in game in advance of the Tim Burton movie, and while the platforming is serviceable (and the art style is an impressive conversion of what we're almost certain to see of the extravagantly beautiful designs on the big screen), this one is probably worth skipping unless you have some die-hard young Alice fans in your family (or happen to be one). There are a few intriguing platformer twists, like the chance to switch various characters for various environmental abilities, or mechanics like rotating your iPhone to flip switches or using GPS to visit real world locations. But in the end, the game doesn't do much that any other $4.99 platformer does (may I recommend Castle of Magic?), and though I haven't seen the movie, I do believe I got some plot points spoiled as well. If you absolutely have to revisit the world of Alice after the movie, it'll be there for you then.TUAWTUAW Quick Plays: Alchemize, Dizzypad, Alice in Wonderland originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Battle of Puppets brings the fight to the marionette stage
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Deals, App Store
Battle of Puppets fell through the cracks here when it was first released, and that was unfortunate -- it's a 2D real-time strategy game for the iPhone with a distinctive art style and a plethora of cool features that definitely deserves a look. The team has been updating the app often, and the latest update not only adds in achievements and leaderboards via the OpenFeint platform, but also has dropped the price to just 99 cents for a limited time.
The game has a surprising amount of strategic depth -- more than you'd expect for an iPhone title. There are five different armies (each one representing an "opera" theme), each with its own strengths and weaknesses, and the little unit battles play out over 22 different theaters, where various environmental changes can actually affect the strategy of the game. And in addition to commanding your puppet troops, you can "cast spells" on the screen with gesture input, which will also affect the flow of battle. It's almost too much to handle on the iPhone's small screen, but the developers have added in a tutorial that should help you figure it out.
At 99 cents, Battle of Puppets is a steal. More casual game players might get a little dragged down by the complexity, but those looking for strategy will find it underneath the cutout art designs. And if they continue to update the app at the rate they have so far, there'll be even more coming in the future.TUAWBattle of Puppets brings the fight to the marionette stage originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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