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- iPhone Crowd Control
So, any of you as hyped up and anxious to get their hands on a iPhone as I am? Well, if you're reading this I'm guessing you probably are. For those of you who are counting the moments until that sleek, shiny block of touch-screen goodness is actually in your hands, I have a word of warning for you -- especially if you intend to line up early and be the first kid on your block to have a new iPhone. This warning comes via the safety-minded folks over at the Boy Genius Report wherein they feature a document from "official" channels at AT&T which outlines how retail store managers are to handle the teeming masses who will no doubt be lining up early for the device come June 29th.
Among the methods featured in the document to help ease the situation and control the crowd, is an outline of a mock conversation where AT&T store managers explain to the stores near them why they need to stay open late and what steps they will be taking to help ensure the crowds don't spill into the surrounding stores and do all kinda damage. The document also reveals the super-secret method that will actually accomplish this miraculous controlling of the crowd. What is this miracle you may wonder? Stanchions. Yes, the proverbial "velvet rope" they use to keep people in line at events across America will be standing guard and providing security for the giant iPhone launch event.
Having been at a few Apple retail store events and openings (including the first one at the Glendale Galleria) I can attest to the fact that when Apple does almost anything, crowds of devoted users do show up -- and in really big numbers. For something like the iPhone, which really isn't just for Mac people but for anyone interested in a cool new device, I can only imagine how big the crowds are going to be. Reading this document doesn't really fill me with confidence that AT&T really has a complete grasp of what they're getting into here. I hope they do because we sure don't want a repeat of the iBook debacle from a couple years ago. So, just so I can get a rough count and maybe help AT&T realize the scope of this launch, how many of you are planning to line up early for an iPhone?Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/iphone-crowd-control/#comments - EMI sees boost in sales thanks to iTunes Plus
Filed under: iTS
Macworld UK reports that EMI is seeing an uptick in purchases from iTunes since iTunes Plus was introduced. For instance, sales of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon [iTunes Link] have increased 350% (we all know hippies don't like DRM. I kid, I kid).
The real question is whether the uptick in purchases can be attributed to the lack of DRM or the higher bit rate encoding? Either way, this is good news for those of us who welcome a world without DRM.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/emi-see-boost-in-sales-thanks-to-itunes-plus/#comments - CocoaHeads 2007 audio available
During WWDC some well-known Mac devs got together at the Apple Store in downtown San Francisco for CocoaHeads at WWDC 2007. Their topic was "Going Indie" with presentations from Daniel Jalkut (MarsEdit) on payment processing, Gus Mueller (VoodooPad) on day-to-day development, and Wil Shipley (Delicious Library) on marketing. Afterwards they were joined by Brent Simmons ( NetNewsWire) for questions and answers afterwards. Now the audio from those presentations has been made available by Steve Weller and Alien Orb software.
If you're interested in independent Mac software development, it's worth a listen.
[via GusMuller blog]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/cocoaheads-2007-audio-available/#comments - OS X 10.4.10 now available
Filed under: OS, Software Update, Apple
Fire up your Software Updaters, campers! Apple has just unleashed Mac OS X 10.4.10 for PPC/Intel Macs. Find out more about this update here (and the security implications here). Improved in 10.4.10 is:
- More RAW support for various cameras
- Improved decimal number rounding in certain applications
- Improves compatibility of Mathematica 6 with 64-bit Macs
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/os-x-10-4-10-now-available/#comments - TUAW Tip: Aperture can download videos, just not catalog them
Filed under: Software, Video, Productivity, Tips and tricks, TUAW Tips
Well shiver-me-timbers: while Aperture doesn't catalog anything but images, it at least helps you download 'non-image files' off your camera so you can manage them some other way. When I performed the initial import from iPhoto (using Aperture's handy File > Import > iPhoto Library command), a notification appeared at the beginning of the import letting me know that Aperture found a few files it wouldn't import. I realized the files in question were probably a few movies I shot with my point 'n shoot camera, which led me to assume that Aperture simply doesn't handle or even touch those files to begin with. Apparently, my assumption was a bit off.
As it turns out, plugging a camera or card into Aperture that contains either audio or video files (and possibly other types) will generate the dialog you see in this post, allowing you to download the files Aperture isn't designed to handle to another location on your Mac. This is great because you can set up another location to, for example, store all the home movies you've been shooting and manage those files with the Finder or another app like yFlicks once you're done working in Aperture.
As for those home movies in iPhoto, I guess I'll still need to dig those out some other way. Fortunately, iPhoto automatically applies the keyword 'movie' to all movies it imports, which should make this task a bit easier for anyone else making the upgrade to Aperture like I did.Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/tuaw-tip-aperture-can-download-videos-just-not-catalog-them/#comments - A is for AppleCare
Filed under: Apple
Laptop Magazine has run their Tech Support Showdown once again, testing the quality of tech support from various notebook computer vendors. And once again, Apple take the top spot with A's across the board. Gateway (surprisingly?) joins Apple as the only other vendor with an overall A. Apple maintained its A grade from the previous Showdown (while Lenovo, the only other A in the last survey, dropped off).
Apparently Apple phone techs went above and beyond, even answering questions beyond Apple's 90-day phone support limit. Strangely, Apple was alone in having an automated wait time annoucement on their phone system.
In any case, A is for AppleCare yet again this year.
[via Engadget]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/a-is-for-applecare/#comments - Mac consumer marketshare doubles since 2004?
Filed under: Apple Financial, Apple
Over at Mac Daily News, they're citing a USA Today article which indicates that Apple's "home computer market share" hit 7.6% in May 2007, up from 3.2% in May 2004. MDN says "we assume that the market share number came from USA Today research." Presumably this number is for the US and obviously focuses on consumers rather than businesses, but this feels right to me. We've already mentioned that sales are way up and Mac shipments are up 30%. Let the Mac train roll on!
[via Digg]
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http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/mac-consumer-marketshare-doubles-since-2003/#comments - Widget Watch: Delivery Status 3.6 remembers tracking numbers, gets even easier to use
Filed under: Software, Productivity, Internet Tools, Widget Watch
Mike Piontek can't stop making his phenomenal Delivery Status Dashboard widget cooler. As if features like compatibility with a zillion shipping services and Growl notifications aren't cool enough, a couple of recent updates have brought some handy performance enhancements and compatibility with even more services.
First up is support for Purolator, Google Checkout, and FexEd SmartPost. Next is a new drop-down menu on the tracking number entry box that remembers the last 10 numbers you've tracked with each service. Finally, new buttons appear on the widget when you mouse over to both magnify the widget for easier viewing and open a new Delivery Status widget altogether, making it easier to track a second package from the same service (by default) while still allowing you to select any other service in Delivery Status' expanding list. Of course, plenty of bugs have been fixed since the last time we've mentioned this widget, which is still provided as donationware from Piontek's site.
Update: Corrected the spelling of Mike's name -- sorry!Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/widget-watch-delivery-status-3-6-remembers-tracking-numbers-ge/#comments - Get rid of iTunes Plus "watermarking"
Our own Erica was one of the first to discover that personal information is encoded in DRM-free iTunes Plus files. If you want to remove that "watermarking," Playlist Magazine has a solution: TUAW favorite audio editor Fission ($32) from Rogue Amoeba "can strip out the identifying information in an iTunes Plus track without changing the file's audio." Basically, you just open the file then resave it as AAC (Original Format, Lossless) and the non-original format identifying information is not saved. Unfortunately, you have to do this for each file individually, but if you don't want your name and Apple ID in the file, this looks like it'll work (though I haven't tried it myself).
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http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/get-rid-of-itunes-plus-watermarking/#comments - Other new features from the Apple TV software update
Filed under: Software, Apple TV
While YouTube on the Apple TV stole the show of the device's most recent software update, Apple managed to sneak in a few other features and some intriguing hints at possible future features. As TUAW reader Brandon mentioned, there is a new iTunes Store section in the Settings menu, but all this does (for now) is allow you to select your country of residence. Could this be a precursor to shopping the iTunes Store from the comforts of your living room couch? Or is it simply a way to make the Apple TV access the streaming content (such as top songs, movies, etc.) from one's own country?
Also new is the ability to use iPhoto slideshows for the Apple TV's screensaver (and possibly Aperture slideshows as well; I'll have to check on that), and a new Parental Controls section in Settings that allows you to lock the Apple TV with a 4-digit numerical password. Brandon also says he now sees a 'no audio' feedback on the Apple TV when trying to use an Apple Remote to change volume, but I don't.
I'm also not sure about this one, but I believe a 'Shuffle' option is new above lists of items like playlists, artists, etc. Can anyone confirm that one? How about features we're missing? Let us know if anything else is new in the comments or via our tips form.Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/other-new-features-from-the-apple-tv-software-update/#comments - WWDC07: Bust or Boon?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, WWDC, Leopard, Developer
It's not often I agree with Paul "Argue Cuz I Can" Thurrott, but sometimes he hits the proverbial nail on the head: In one sentence on his blog, Internet-Nexus, Thurrott sums up the WWDC keynote snooze-fest that wedgied some of the Mac community: "And now we know," say Thurrott, "that OS X is as mature an OS as is Windows and, in the end, there's really just not much you can do beyond the evolutionary stuff." If you ignore the "as mature as Windows" bit, you see the inarguable logic: OS X is a beautiful, powerful, and mature operating system. It's feature-rich, stable, and could easily be considered the best operating system on the market today. So why mess with a good thing?
WWDC keynotes are no longer about announcing revolutionary new features of Mac OS X, for the simple fact that we're all revolutioned out. OS X has reached its prime: it does what needs to do, plenty more, and any major revisions could wind up doing more harm than good. So now it's all about the tweaks, the "evolutionary stuff," as Thurrott calls it: refining the Finder, cleaning up the interface, fixing the tedious quirks that have plagued the OS from day one, etc. Jobs can't get on stage anymore and wow the audience with drool-y features like Exposé.
One could easily argue that the keynote was fudged. Jobs may have the power to take even the most mundane and make it sound world-changing: but when (most of) the material is genuinely bland, and uninteresting, and expected, even His Jobness himself can't save it. Maybe the problem here is that Apple doesn't realize it can't wow the general public with the minor OS X tweaks anymore -- that instead, if it wants to publicize the hell out of its WWDC keynotes, it should focus on pro hardware upgrades, on maybe a few new software features that might turn heads, on the new markets Apple's posed to commandeer: mobile, web, etc.; on only the stuff worthy of a Jobsian appearance.
From what I'm hearing, with few exceptions, developers loved WWDC. It's all about the sessions, the learning experience, the dev networking. The keynote, on the other hand, is for the public, for the tech-ignorant media: and this year's WWDC failed to recognize that.
[Update:] Already a reader, theodorelee, makes a point I should've mentioned: I'm referring to the end-user perspective, not the dev perspective. Leopard (like Tiger) is full of drool-worthy developer features. Would be remiss to not mention that.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsКомментарии к сообщению:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/20/wwdc07-bust-or-boon/#comments
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