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Apple's looking for a Verizon iPad system engineer
In yet more news of increasing links between Apple and Verizon, a job posting for a Verizon iPad system engineer has recently surfaced. Although the "engineer" title might make it sound like Apple's looking for someone to direct, say, putting a CDMA or LTE chipset into the iPad, the job description tells a different story. Apple wants someone who "will be responsible for developing carrier relationships within the carrier technical teams" and "play a critical role in helping key corporate accounts develop confidence in the Apple solution." It seems to be more sales-oriented than engineering, but it's also a sure sign that Apple and Verizon's iPad relationship may soon go beyond merely selling the existing iPad in Verizon's stores. We've already had word recently that Verizon wants to sell the iPhone and may start selling an LTE iPhone 4 immediately after Christmas, so it's not surprising that Verizon and Apple's relationship may be getting much cozier in the near future.

[via Electronista]
Apple's looking for a Verizon iPad system engineer originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Indie Mac Gift Pack offers discounted Mac software for the holidays

A crew of well-known independent Mac developers has banded together to offer a pretty good deal on some Mac software this holiday season. The Indie Mac Gift pack is offering six great Mac apps (Acorn 2, Delicious Library 2, MarsEdit 3, Radioshift, SousChef, and Sound Studio 4) for just $60, a savings of more than $200 if purchased separately at full price. That's a phenomenal deal -- in fact, the only reason you probably wouldn't want to take advantage of it is if you already own a few of these apps, which you might already, given that they're pretty darn good.

But if you haven't yet picked these up to use in the past, the gift pack is a nice little bonus right before Christmas. The sale's going on for over two weeks (right through the holiday season), so you've got plenty of time to head over there and both get some great software and support some of our favorite indie Mac devs.
Indie Mac Gift Pack offers discounted Mac software for the holidays originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Play with your brain: 3 Degrees of Wikipedia
I've been a trivia buff forever, and it seems like my brain has an endless capacity for relatively useless information while it has difficulty remembering important things -- like my name, for instance. With over 3,500,000 articles in the English version of Wikipedia, there's plenty of fodder for gathering information, whether it's real knowledge or just fun trivia.

One thing that always amazes me is the connections that you can find in Wikipedia. For example, many times I've found connections between rock bands while reading about a particular musician. I'll find that one of his or her bandmates in a certain band later leaves to play in another band that I like. Those kind of connections are what the iPhone game 3 Degrees of Wikipedia (US$0.99) by developer Ivan Zhao is all about.

Upon loading the app for the first time, a five-screen tutorial describes how to play the game. You need to solve puzzles that link two Wikipedia pages. The example used in the tutorial has you link the "Halloween" page on Wikipedia to the "Candy" page. How would you do that? Simple -- you'd look for a link to an article on "Trick-or-treating," which would have a link to the "Candy" page.

Gallery: 3 Degrees of Wikipedia

Continue reading Play with your brain: 3 Degrees of Wikipedia
Play with your brain: 3 Degrees of Wikipedia originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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11-inch MacBook Air review: Tiny awesomeness
Those TUAW readers who watched TUAW TV Live last Wednesday afternoon were treated to a live unboxing last week when an 11-inch MacBook Air arrived at my office. The Air was a replacement for a MacBook that I sold to a client, and since I had previously owned (and loved) one of the original MacBook Airs, I decided to go for the 11-inch model.

To be honest, I had a bit of cognitive dissonance after I ordered the little laptop, but that's gone now since I gave it a real workout last Friday and Saturday at the 360MacDev conference.

In the rest of this short review, I'll give you my opinions on the speed, battery life, display, and other features of the 11-inch MacBook Air. If you're considering purchasing a MacBook of any type as a Christmas present, be sure to at least take a look at this model.

The price of the 11-inch model starts at US$999 -- that's for a machine with 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, and a 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. While that doesn't sound like much power, the combination of the CPU, the fast SSD, and an NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU makes for a laptop that is much faster than the raw tech specs would indicate.
Continue reading 11-inch MacBook Air review: Tiny awesomeness
11-inch MacBook Air review: Tiny awesomeness originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPad leads gadget search queries in Google's 2010 Zeitgeist report
Surrounded by the likes of singer Justin Bieber, video chat site Chatroulette, and rapper Nicki Minaj, the iPad was was among the top Google search engine queries for 2010 according to the annual Google Zeitgeist report. The report is an indicator about what Google users were searching for throughout the year, and coming in second place among the "Fastest Rising" terms of the year and first for "Fastest Rising in Consumer Electronics," the iPad was definitely on everyone's mind.

This shouldn't really come as much of a surprise, with the iPad taking home top honors in Time Magazine's Top 10 Gadgets list this year while also placing third on Yahoo's 10 Obsessions of 2010 list. With rumors popping up about the iPad 2 starting to ship by the end of February 2011, I imagine the iPad will maintain a healthy position in the Zeitgeist for next year, too.

Also interesting to note is the "Fastest Falling" list for the year, which includes Susan Boyle, Circuit City, and MySpace layouts. I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that MySpace won't be making a big comeback in 2011, but I've been wrong before.

[via Engadget and CNET]
iPad leads gadget search queries in Google's 2010 Zeitgeist report originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Three Night Before Christmas versions arrive for iOS

In December of 1823, an anonymous poem was printed in The Sentinel, a Troy, NY newspaper, titled A Visit From St. Nicholas. It was widely reprinted, and eventually attributed to Clement Moore and re-titled as "Twas the Night Before Christmas." It's arguably the most famous Christmas poem ever written. It introduced the physical appearance of Santa Claus, the names of his reindeer, his sleigh, and his penchant of giving presents to all the good little girls and boys. It's a poem that most everyone knows by heart, or at least its first few stanzas.

This year, the much loved poem has spawned at least seven iOS versions available in the App Store, ranging from very traditional with old-time look and feel, to a complete re-imagining of the tale. I'd like to tell you about three of them. Two of the three use the original text of the poem, and they have a passel of animated elements, as do most interactive children's books. But outside of the Violet re-telling, I really don't consider these children's books per-se. Maybe they are creating a new category of interactive family books.
Continue reading Three Night Before Christmas versions arrive for iOS
Three Night Before Christmas versions arrive for iOS originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Analyst report: Why Verizon wants to sell the iPhone
Let's say straight out, this is just the opinion of one analyst, and the opinion is based on sales data assumptions that might or might not be accurate. Still, it's an interesting report, and it might help explain why Verizon, which originally rejected the iPhone, wants it back.

Horace Dedlu over at Asymco says basically that Verizon is having a rough time with smartphones. He cites three issues that is making life difficult for the big V.
- The iPhone has stolen its growth
- It's facing the prospect of a single OS platform supplier
- Android is not competitive vs. iOS
The report, citing sales estimates, says while Verizon has been growing sales of smartphones, AT&T has been outpacing Verizon by significant numbers. While Verizon increased sales from 2.7 million units in Q1, the iPhone at AT&T went from 2.7 million to 5.7 units in the same time period.
Continue reading Analyst report: Why Verizon wants to sell the iPhone
Analyst report: Why Verizon wants to sell the iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Toshiba and Apple working together on a display manufacturing plant
Toshiba and Apple are reportedly working together on a brand new manufacturing plant in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, specifically to build "low-temperature polysilicon LCD panels," to be used in Apple's iPhones. Toshiba will spend about $1.9 billion on the project, which is scheduled to start building in a month or so, and be done in time to start production by the end of next year. Toshiba already makes some 8.55 million units in its current manufacturing plant, but that production is supposed to double with this new facility.

We've posted before about the incredible scale of Apple's production process, and even with all of these plants churning out parts and units, Apple is only barely able to keep up with demand. In some places not even able to keep up. The other benefit is that the more of its production process Apple moves under its own purview, the more of an advantage it can have against competitors, some of which use the same manufacturers and distributors that Apple uses right now. The more plants Apple invests in, the more unique production locations it will be able to take advantage of later on.

[via 9to5Mac]
Toshiba and Apple working together on a display manufacturing plant originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BlueSLR allows iPhone users to remotely control DSLR cameras

If you happen to own both a Nikon digital SLR camera and an iPhone and have been looking for a way that the two could work together, you may now be in luck. blueSLR, which combines a Bluetooth accessory (dongle) that plugs into your SLR and an app you run on your iPhone (3G and up), iPod Touch (2nd generation or later) or iPad, enables you to remotely control your camera's shutter from up to 300 feet away. Photographers can also manually adjust focus and exposure length from that distance, along with the ability to tag photographs with GPS information.

Electronista reports that blueSLR only supports 11 models of Nikon's SLR cameras but that Canon support is in the works for the near future. The Bluetooth dongle that hangs off your SLR will run you US $149, but the app to control it is available from the App Store free of charge.

Most professional photographers have all sorts of gadgets and remotes to control their equipment, so for many of them this could be one more piece of equipment to carry around. But for the rest of us amateur photographers, this looks like it could be a pretty nice accessory to have in our camera bag. With the iPhone having the ability to remotely control almost anything, including driving your car, monitoring your own robot, and now your DSLR camera, anyone want to guess what could be next?

[via Engadget and electronista]
BlueSLR allows iPhone users to remotely control DSLR cameras originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ReTweetie adds legitimate retweeting to Tweetie Mac

One of the biggest frustrations with Tweetie for Mac is the lack of legitimate retweeting to your followers. While it's understandable that the developers have been a tad busy in the past year, it doesn't seem all that unreasonable to at least issue an update tp include a very basic Twitter function.

Developer Nick Paulson solves this by writing a plugin called ReTweetie. The ReTweetie plugin requires a download of SIMBL, which is a free bundle loader, and the program itself. After relaunching Tweetie for Mac, hit "repost" and enjoy full retweet goodness.

As for Tweetie for Mac itself, development on version 2 was alive and well as of October.

Many thanks to @AndruEdwards!
ReTweetie adds legitimate retweeting to Tweetie Mac originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Find My iPhone no longer needs automatic mail delivery to be enabled
Apple has recently eliminated one of the configuration requirements and potential points of failure for Find My iPhone (FMI) on your iOS device.

About a year ago we reported that there were three settings that you had to have enabled in order for FMI to work:

1. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > (Your Mobile Me account), you must set "Find My iPhone" to ON. This is not enabled by default.
2. Settings > General > Location Services has to be on
3. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, you must either enable Push OR have fetch set to Every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or Hourly. If you disable Push and set Fetch to "Manually" Find My iPhone will not work.

The first two requirements were fairly obvious. If FMI wasn't enabled, and if Location Services were disabled, you wouldn't expect FMI to work. The third requirement was a little less obvious, and I only discovered it when I tried to set mail to "manual" and was warned that it would make FMI cease to function.

Continue reading Find My iPhone no longer needs automatic mail delivery to be enabled
Find My iPhone no longer needs automatic mail delivery to be enabled originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Goldman Sachs resumes Apple coverage, targets AAPL at $430

Investing firm Goldman Sachs has decided to start covering Apple's stock profile, and that news sent the AAPL stock price up to $325.06 this morning, a nice boost from the day before. And that's not all -- not only did Goldman Sachs pull AAPL into its reporting fold, but it was about as bullish as you can get on a stock, saying through a spokesman that "we believe significant growth and profit opportunities for this platform still lie ahead." The company had been covering Apple previously, but when that special analyst left the firm, it took them a while to find a replacement. But it looks like they've found someone else they feel qualified to make a prediction.

The company predicts a $430 price target for AAPL, so if any of you happen to fall into some money over this coming holiday, you'll now know just where to put it (Note: this is not actual financial advice, obviously, and there's no guarantee of success in the stock market). Apple seems to be the success story that keeps on growing -- AAPL has hit a few all-time highs in 2010, and the forecast is pretty sunny all the way around.
Goldman Sachs resumes Apple coverage, targets AAPL at $430 originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft Office 2011 update fixes bugs
An update for Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 (14.0.2) boasts improved reliability when accessing Office for Mac through third-party applications, problems with Microsoft's AutoUpdate program and improved stability for Outlook 2011.

The update is available now through MacUpdate, where we were tipped off about it, or should eventually appear in the AutoUpdate.

[via MacUpdate]
Microsoft Office 2011 update fixes bugs originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New Aeon visualizer from SoundSpectrum enlivens iTunes

iTunes is loaded with features - some we love and some we don't. One feature that I really like for parties is the iTunes Visualizer, the trippy light show that plays in-sync with your music. The folks over at Sound Spectrum have released a new visualization tool called Aeon. There are three versions of Aeon: Free, Gold and Platinum.

The free version will run on both Mac and Windows. What you get is a set of default visualizations and the ability to customize the settings to create your own visualization. Not bad for free.

The two paid versions (Gold is US$20 and Platinum is $30) come with a bunch of extras that you may or may not need. What you get is the ability to set Aeon as your screen saver, allow Aeon to run in different media players (such as WinAmp, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player) and add visualizations to live audio such as a guitar or your microphone.

If you are not sure if you want to pony up for the paid version of Aeon, give the Free version a try. Your party guests will thank you.
New Aeon visualizer from SoundSpectrum enlivens iTunes originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Aigo's iPhone 4 battery case features internal charge cable
Heavy iPhone users live or die by their choice of battery case and Aigo has a new offering that adds a twist to the standard cases now on the market. On top of its advertised 300 hours of standby time, the Aigo aiPower i616 also includes an integrated charging/sync cable that folds into the case when not in use. The Aigo i616 offers a respectable 1500mAh external battery that promises up to 7 hours of talk time, 10 hours of Internet usage, 10 hours of video playback, or 40 hours of audio playback.

Included with the battery is a microUSB port for charging, a switch to manage battery usage, and a battery check button to display the charge level. When you don't need that extra juice, the battery case is easily removable so you can use your iPhone 4 in its sleek, smooth, and naked form. Reasonably priced, the Aigo i616 will set you back $79.99.

The Aigo is creative with its integrated cable but it faces some stiff competition from Mophie. Early last week, Mophie introduced its new juice pack plus for iPhone 4 which offers an impressive 2,000 mAh battery that delivers 8 extra hours of talk time, 7 hours of cellular Internet usage , or 11 hours of Wi-Fi Internet usage. A virtual speaker box is also included to help with speakerphone performance by redirecting the sound from the bottom of the handset to the front. The Mophie is available now in black for $99. A splash of color will be added starting in January 2011.

[Via Engadget]
Aigo's iPhone 4 battery case features internal charge cable originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Infinity Blade earns $1.6M in 5 days

Epic. GameIndustry (registration required) and AppModo looked at the Game Center data for Infinity Blade (our review) and found that 274,000 players had registered the game by the evening of December 12. At $5.99 a pop, that means that Infinity Blade earned at least 1.6 million dollars in five days.

We say "at least" because not all players will register with Game Center, so the number could be even higher. In any case, these stats beat out those set by Chillingo's Cut The Rope, which earned over $1 million in 10 days. The fantasy fighting game is the first iOS title to feature the Unreal Engine 3. The result is stellar graphics that look incredible on the iPhone 4's Retina Display.

While counting the number of Game Center-registered players isn't the most scientific way to measure sales, it does point to Infinity Blade having a very successful launch.
Infinity Blade earns $1.6M in 5 days originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ping allows users to share playlists
Apple continues to improve Ping, its iTunes-based social network, by adding support for shared iTunes playlists. Customers can now create a new playlist (or import an existing one) and share it with their Ping followers. Here's how it works.

To create new playlist to share, connect to Ping and then click your account. You'll see "Create a new Ping playlist." From there you can give it a name and description and start dragging tracks from your iTunes library into the list (any song that's in the iTunes store can be included). Songs can be re-ordered if you change your mind. When you're satisfied, click Publish.

To import an existing iTunes playlist, simply click its title and then the arrow icon. A dialog box appears. Click Publish Playlist. A similar composition window appears, this time with a montage of album art. Once you're satisfied with everything, click Publish. Note that songs can be re-ordered at any time, even after publication, and you can opt to let users add songs to your playlists.

It's a nice new feature and the latest evidence of Apple's dedication to the service. Recent Twitter integration and a new, Ping-exclusive Michael Jackson song also appeared in recent weeks.

[Via MacNN]

Ping allows users to share playlists originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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4G LTE Verizon iPhone 4 rumored to debut immediately after Christmas

Okay everyone, take this for what it is right now: a big rumor. That being said MacDailyNews says this information is from "a sole source that we believe to be credible." The rumor? The iPhone 4 is going to drop on the Verizon network right "after Christmas." Oh, and it will be a 4G LTE iPhone 4.

Here's what MacDailyNews' source says they know:
- The "after Christmas" unveiling of the Verizon iPhone was AT&T's final demand so they could squeeze as many Christmas iPhone sales in as possible.
- Verizon managers had training on the 4G iPhones last week and had functioning 4G iPhones in their hands
- The Verizon 4G iPhone 4 will be available the day it's announced
- The Verizon iPhone is already shipping to Verizon warehouses
- The Verizon iPhone is NOT being shipped to 3rd party resellers in order to control product leaks (good job)
- Verizon agreed to take complete responsibility for the security of the 4G iPhone before it's released to the public
- The Verizon iPhone will be marketed as the only "LTE iPhone"
- Since LTE is not widespread, Verizon will have multi-band chip backward compatibility with regular CDMA chips
Other notes include that the next major (5th generation) version of the iPhone was originally planned to be LTE-only but "nobody thinks either Verizon or AT&T can get to critical mass to offer an LTE-only version" by its debut in the summer, which Steve Jobs is upset about and Apple is therefore "helping" U.S. carriers to build out LTE networks faster than they could alone. It should be noted that this rumored LTE iPhone 4 will presumably not be the fifth generation iPhone, but that a fifth generation iPhone will still likely debut in summer 2011.

Without further confirmation, it's anyone's guess if this rumor is true. But everyone knows it's only a matter of time before the iPhone lands on Verizon's network. And there has been that rush of iPhone sales to get people to sign up for two year contracts with AT&T before Christmas...

We'll update any information we hear on this as soon as it becomes available.
4G LTE Verizon iPhone 4 rumored to debut immediately after Christmas originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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360 MacDev day two: a recap of the Denver nerd-fest
Saturday was the second and last day of 360 MacDev in Denver, and it was full of excellent topics from the world of Mac development. Although I was unable to stay for the last three speakers (my apologies, guys!), the morning and lunch sessions were very useful and educational.

To start off the festivities were Dave Wiskus of Double Encore (the sharp-dressed man standing next to the conference poster with legs at right) and Kyle Richter of Dragon Forged Software with a talk titled "iOS: the Gateway Drug." Wiskus and Richter were thinking of possible Mac-related papers for the conference a while back when they got the idea of taking one of the Double Encore "Massively Overrated" iOS apps -- KeyGrinder (free) -- and porting it to Mac OS X and the Mac App Store. TUAW reviewed KeyGrinder earlier this year.

KeyGrinder is a small app -- you get into the app, get a password hash, and then pop back out. The challenge was to turn this into something usable in OS X, so they decided to set the app up with a menu bar icon as a primary user interface element. Users would be able to drag a URL to that icon, then have the app open up with the URL pre-populated and password hash visible. Their usual modus operandi is to draw out ideas for the UI on paper, create a wireframe, then make a mockup and finally look at style guides for additional tweaks.

Continue reading 360 MacDev day two: a recap of the Denver nerd-fest
360 MacDev day two: a recap of the Denver nerd-fest originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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What would convince you to buy iPad 2?
It hardly seems like it, but it's been nearly a year since the announcement of the iPad. Soon, we'll no longer be able to call the device that's selling today by the simple name "iPad" -- instead, it will become "the original iPad," "iPad 1," "iPad 1G" or "first-generation iPad." If history (and leaks from Foxconn) are anything to go by, we may see an announcement of the iPad 2 in a little over a month, with devices hitting store shelves a couple months after that.

Undoubtedly we'll be hearing a lot about the forthcoming iPad 2 over the coming weeks (we've heard several iPad 2 rumors already). Maybe you have an iPad already and are looking to upgrade, or maybe, like me, you didn't find the current iPad compelling enough to purchase until the second generation. In either case, it's worth asking the question: what would convince you, savvy TUAW reader, to buy an iPad 2?

Personally, I've got a laundry list of features I'd like to see in the next iPad, but even if only one or two of them make it into the iPad 2, I'll be getting one. I originally thought there wasn't a wide enough gap between the iPhone and my MacBook Pro to justify an iPad, but with the advent of multitasking in iOS 4.0 and the iPhone 4's vastly improved CPU and Retina Display, I've not only found my iPhone taking over a lot of the functions I used to use my Mac for, I've also found myself thinking, "Gee, if only this thing's screen were bigger ... if only Apple made something that was basically just a big iPod touch." (That sound you just heard was a hundred iPad-hating pundits crashing to the floor simultaneously, crippled by cognitive dissonance.)

I've got my own thoughts on what I'd like to see in the next-gen iPad, which you can see by clicking "Read More." We also have a poll where we've asked you what you want to see most in the iPad 2.

Continue reading What would convince you to buy iPad 2?
What would convince you to buy iPad 2? originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google Latitude now in the App Store
Nearly 22 months after its first announcement, Google Latitude has finally landed in the iOS App Store. Unlike last week when the Latitude App appeared briefly in the Japanese store for a moment, this time it is official.

Latitude is Google's location-based service that lets you see the location of your friends on a map and share your own location. This sharing is done in real-time using your phones GPS receiver and mobile broadband connection. The app originally appeared back in 2009 for a moment, but Apple pulled it from the App Store. According to Google's mobile blog, Apple suggested that Latitude would be better served as a web-based application and not a standalone app. Unfortunately, a web-based app does not have access to the core iOS APIs and can't access key background GPS data. Without background GPS information, real-time updating was not possible and the utility of the web-based app was greatly diminished.

The new version of the Latitude app has been updated to support background processing on devices with iOS 4.0 or greater. Now with access to background GPS data, the Latitude app will continue to share your location in real-time, even when the app is closed or the screen is locked. This background location reporting may be a welcome feature, but don't forget to turn it off when you are done tracking yourself or your friends. You would not want Latitude inadvertently to track you to the movie theatre when you are supposed to home sick.

Continue reading Google Latitude now in the App Store
Google Latitude now in the App Store originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Address space randomization adds extra security for jailbroken iPhones
Reduced security is among the top reasons given by Apple and enterprise information technology managers for their opposition to iPhone jailbreaking, but at least one white-hat hacker is out to prove them all wrong. German security consultant Stefan Esser of SektionEins will introduce a tool this week called antid0te at the Power of Community conference in Seoul, South Korea. Antid0te will combine the ability to jailbreak iOS devices and then automatically add a capability called Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR).

Since the earliest days of computing, basic system files have typically loaded to the specific addresses in memory, which makes it easier for attackers to directly change the data or code stored there. Randomizing the locations where that code resides adds an extra layer of security. That's why Microsoft has incorporated ASLR into its operating systems since Windows Vista debuted -- even Windows Phone 7 has this feature. Apple, on the other hand, has only done a limited ASLR implementation in OS X and none at all in iOS.

The debut of antid0te comes on the heels of the news that Apple has removed a jailbreak detection API from iOS 4.2. This function was used by some corporate IT departments to ensure that company issued iOS devices were not jailbroken. Apple has not said why the API was removed, but at least IT departments can breathe a bit easier as long as employees stick to antid0te for their jailbreaking needs.

[via Engadget]
Address space randomization adds extra security for jailbroken iPhones originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Daily Deals for December 13, 2010
The MacBook Air listed below sells for about $90 more from Apple. Thanks to our friends at dealnews.com for these!
- iTunes Music Store: iPhone App Price Drops: Emoji+Unicode, Night Stand, more
- Walmart: Sony BRAVIA 40" 1080p LED HDTV w/PS3 160GB for $798 + free shipping, more
- HandHeldItems: HandHeldItems.com: Up to 70% off select iPad cases + 20% off coupon, $2 credit
- BuyDig: Toshiba 500GB USB Portable Hard Drive for $49 + free shipping, 1TB $99
- iMate: Keydex Stand for Apple iPad with Bluetooth Keyboard for $49 + free shipping
- Buy.com: Apple MacBook Air Intel 1.4GHz 11.6" LED SSD Laptop for $1,104 + free shipping
- OfficeMax: DYMO LabelWriter 450 Turbo USB Label Printer for $70 + free shipping
- HandHeldItems: HandHeldItems: Up to 83% off Apple iPod touch cases + 20% off, $2 credit
- Best Buy: Dynex 40" 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $386 + $70 s&h
- Best Buy: Logitech V220 Cordless USB Laptop Mouse for $10 + free shipping
- CowBoom: Kodak Easyshare ESP-7 Wireless Multifunction Inkjet Printer for $50 + $5 s&h
Daily Deals for December 13, 2010 originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Paul Allen's lawsuit against Apple dismissed
The suit filed against Apple (and others) by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was dismissed as being too vague on Friday. According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman has given Allen's company, Interval Licensing LLC (the plaintiff in the case), until December 28 to file an amended complaint. "The allegations in the complaint are spartan," wrote Judge Pechman. Allen called the judge's order a "procedural issue" through a spokesperson.

Allen's suit, filed in August of 2010, identifies four specific patents. Each appears to be a huge part of how contemporary e-commerce and Internet search tools work. For example, one addresses how websites suggest products based upon customers' recent searches. Another lets those reading a news story quickly find related stores, while the two others let ads and news items, among other things, flash on a computer screen adjacent to what the user is directly looking at. No specific dollar amount was identified.

Allen's suit names Apple, Ebay, Facebook, Netflix and Aol among others (Note: TUAW is owned by Aol). Apple joined Facebook, Yahoo! and others in formal opposition to the suit in October.

[Via AppleInsider]
Paul Allen's lawsuit against Apple dismissed originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chew through the undersea ecosystem in Hungry Shark Trilogy HD

I have a new favorite iPad game, and it is Hungry Shark Trilogy HD. Maybe it's because I have an unreasonable fear of sharks that I love Hungry Shark so much. It allows me to control the very thing I fear. In Hungry Shark Trilogy you play as the shark, and your mission pretty much mimics a shark's real life: your only goal is to eat and keep eating.

While a singular goal might seem rather monotonous, it's anything but. The Hungry Shark world is full of things to explore. As you chomp and bite your way though dozens of kinds of fish, penguins, scuba divers and seagulls, you'll discover just how rich the undersea environment is. There are hidden caves, sea mines and secret objects galore. As the shark, the more you eat, the more you grow and the stronger you become, which comes in handy when you come across the best boss of any iPad game -- the giant crab. Eating also allows you to earn points, which unlocks other Hungry Shark episodes, or levels, in the game.

Hungry Shark Trilogy HD for iPad is an update to the popular Hungry Shark series for iPhone. And if you've played Hungry Shark on the iPhone, you'll be blown away by the game on the iPad. The game really shines on the iPad's larger screen, and the developers at Future Games of London have been able to work a lot more background detail into the ocean environment. The iPad version also offers all three "episodes" of the Hungry Shark iPhone games in one. It also gives the user two ways to control the shark: via the iPad's built-in accelerometer, or by onscreen joysticks.

My only gripe with the game is that I wish it had an option where you didn't have to continually eat to survive. That way you could take your time and fully explore the game's undersea worlds. Hungry Shark Trilogy HD is available on the App Store now for US$4.99.
Chew through the undersea ecosystem in Hungry Shark Trilogy HD originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Woz gets quizzed on Wait Wait
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is something special. He has an uncanny wit and carefree personality that makes everyone smile. His latest foray into the public spotlight found him as a guest on the NPR program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! In the show, host Peter Sagal quizzes celebrities, asking them to figure out which statement is real and which one is made up. Woz's topic of apples, the real fruit kind, was aptly chosen.

While the three-question quiz on apples was enjoyable, the brief interview before the questionnaire is where Woz really shines. Host Sagal asks Woz about his early history with Steve Jobs and his thoughts on the computer and smartphone revolution. Woz reveals some gems, like the fact that he carries three iPhones - one Black model, one White model, and a third used for tethering and other testing purposes. Woz flashed this white iPhone on CNN last week and now admits with candor that his white model is one of those case hacks obtained illegally (at least from Apple's perspective) from China.

The ten-minute audio clip is embedded after the break (apologies for Flash) and is worth a listen to help chase away those Monday blues. Enjoy!

Continue reading Woz gets quizzed on Wait Wait
Woz gets quizzed on Wait Wait originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ColorSchemer Touch is out, and we have five copies to give away
The designers and color lovers among you may be familiar with ColorSchemer, or at least recall it from our coverage of the 2.0 release. Well, great news: ColorSchemer Touch is available on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch! We have five copies to give away, so be sure to enter for your chance at the end of the post.

ColorSchemer Touch is designed to make color palette creation on your iPhone or iPod touch fast and simple. It offers four tools: a Color Wheel, LiveSchemes, PhotoSchemer and Spectrum. Color Wheel and Spectrum are what you'd expect, standard means of finding colors. LiveSchemes provides one of the coolest features of the desktop version; it allows you to set points on a spectrum wheel and link them together to see what the same combination of hues and saturations will do as you move them around the wheel. PhotoSchemer, which is also translated from the desktop version, allows you to pull colors from a photo or, in the case of the iPhone, a picture you take on the spot. It's great for saving palettes when you see them in real life.

ColorSchemer Touch is tightly integrated with the ColourLovers website, which provides scads of palettes to browse, "Love" and comment on. You can add your own and interact with other people's work. It's a nice social take on the idea of palette creation.

ColorSchemer Touch is US$2.99 on the App Store. As I mentioned up top, we have five promo codes to hand out to lucky readers. If you'd like your own copy of ColorSchemer Touch for free, leave a comment below letting us know what you'd love to do with it. Good luck!

Here are the rules and a link to the 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 describing your plans for ColorSchemer Touch.
- The comment must be left before Wednesday, December 22, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prize: Promo code for ColorSchemer Touch. (US$2.99 value)
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
Good Luck!
ColorSchemer Touch is out, and we have five copies to give away originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW's Daily App: Neo Defender 2

Neo Defender 2 is another title from the good folks at Appular, who we've talked about here on TUAW before. Neo Defender 2 is an Asteroids-style shooter, but the twist is that instead of moving around the screen, your ship stays firmly in the middle, leaving you to watch all sides and protect yourself from attacking shapes and forms. This lets you use mechanics like multi-touch on the screen to send shots out in all directions, and since enemies split and spread when you attack them, you have to constantly be on the lookout for where to shoot and keep them at bay.

Unfortunately, the game's progression is a little slow. You can eventually earn cash to upgrade your ship with extra weapons and more power, and while the fully upgraded player is a force to be reckoned with, I found that getting there could probably have been paced a little faster. I'd also have liked to see a little more innovation; maybe an option to tilt to aim the gun would have been interesting. Still, the game is quite fun, and bosses later on in the game mix things up between waves and provide some interesting strategy to play around with. Game Center integration would have been good, but OpenFeint does provide some achievements to chase.

Neo Defender 2 is only 99 cents for the iPhone, and it's available in an HD version for $1.99. There are lots of great iOS games out right now, and there are even more coming out this week, so it's possible you've already spent your iOS gaming budget this year. But if you want something a little smaller than the big profile holiday releases, Neo Defender 2 is worth a try.
TUAW's Daily App: Neo Defender 2 originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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VoodooPad now available for your iPhone and iPad
VoodooPad gets its share of TUAW screen space, and it's one of the few apps that's always open on my desktop. As one of the original "personal" wikis, VoodooPad has a simple aesthetic and a great feature set for organizing and linking your important information, notes and everything from bookmarks to movies. It's a great desktop information manager, and as of last week, a great iPhone app, too.

VoodooPad for iOS is simple, but it makes a great little wiki for iPhone and iPad. It probably has significantly more appeal to users of the desktop version than to people who just want a wiki on their iPad. It lacks some of the features that made me fall in love with apps like Trunk Notes, but the fact that it syncs with my desktop notes via WebDAV or MobileMe is spectacular.

In my testing, the sync feature over WebDAV performed flawlessly. I could see changes made on iPad or desktop on the other device immediately, and I didn't run into any unresolvable conflicts if one was left open while working in the other. It even syncs over embedded media. Like the desktop version, though, it only edits the text of pages.

Tags and other metadata can't be edited or viewed on iOS, but all of the info appears to stay intact. The same can't be said for Rich Text formatting, which is lost if you edit the page on an iOS device. iOS doesn't offer many options for the kind of customization I do in VoodooPad on my Mac, but as long as I'm using VoodooPad for iOS as a companion app for the desktop version, it's going to work out nicely. VoodooPad for iOS is available on the App Store for US$9.99. If you're a VoodooPad user (or looking for a new iPhone/iPad wiki), it's worth a look.
VoodooPad now available for your iPhone and iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Talkcast tonight, 10 PM ET: You set the agenda
This week on the talkcast, we'll be talking about what you want to talk about! Yes, it's our potpourri show, where we'll discuss whatever you want us to discuss -- just show up and let us know, or comment on this post, and we'll tackle it. (Oh, by the way, we'll also be giving away some goodies!)

Here's the master page to listen or join in on the show. To participate live on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client (just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 PM on Sunday), the embedded Facebook app or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in.

To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage 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. (That's a toll call, just so you know.)

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac or your PC, you can connect via the free SJphone or X-Lite SIP clients or by using the TalkShoe client's ShoePhone tool; basic instructions are here.

We'll kick things off at 10 PM ET/ 7 PM PT this evening. See you there!
Talkcast tonight, 10 PM ET: You set the agenda originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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