Saturday, August 11, 2007

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (7 сообщений)

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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
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  • Save space on your iPhone by re-encoding movies and TV shows

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    If you encode your own video for watching on various devices and you're looking to save every last MB on your iPhone, it could be worth your time to re-encode at least some of your larger files with more conservative settings. While I, for example, have been copying the iTunes Store's settings and encoding my DVD movies at full dimensions and about 1500 Kbps to really let H.264 shine, the truth is you don't need anywhere near that much data to watch quality video on an iPhone's display. By re-encoding your videos and perhaps keeping them in a special iPhone playlist for synching, you can bring even more of your favorite videos with you in a fraction of the space. Unfortunately can't re-encode videos you've purchased from the iTunes Store because of the DRM; this primarily applies to video you download from the web or encode yourself from DVD movies and other sources.

    To keep things simple, I'll use Blade Runner as our encoding guinea pig (which runs a length of 1:56) and Handbrake for all the encoding. Following are a few sample screenshots of how far you can compress a movie, along with the settings you can use in apps like Handbrake and TUAW favorite VisualHub to try this out for yourself.

    Continue reading Save space on your iPhone by re-encoding movies and TV shows

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  • iMac design vs. Audi

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    We've already seen the iPhone's influence on the new iMac, but the Audi? A British ConceptCar site claims the aluminum and glass casing of the new iMac reminded them of another chrome, aluminum and glass design-- that of an Audi. As you can see in the picture above, the comparison kind of works. Kind of. I especially like the coloring on the windshield.

    I really doubt the iMac's design was directly inspired by the car-- I don't see Apple designers sitting around a table while one of them looks out the window and is suddenly inspired by something he sees driving past. Rather, my guess is, as ConceptCar says, that they're both headed towards the same things: form mixed with function, and grace mixed with power.

    But then again, who knows what inspired Apple to make that logo black? The iMac certainly costs about as much as my first car did.

    Thanks, Christian!
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    Комментарии к сообщению:
    http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/11/imac-design-vs-audi/#comments



  • Found Footage: Calamari retro

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    So, say you're watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Mmmm... Did somebody say, "Calamari?"

    Before there was the iPhone, there was iHome. And strangely enough, it worked pretty much the same-- just a little slower, and you could only do it from home, and you had to decide who was going to get the phone book out and look it up. My only question is what exactly he's doing at the beginning. Is he pretending to drive the ship?

    Thanks, Stephen!
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  • Get Desktoptopia for half off

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    Desktoptopia (not to be confused with Desktopia) is a program by Josh Spear that automagically delivers the latest and greatest in wallpaper right to your desktop-- just press go, and the app will drop a new desktop on you as often as you want, from any categories that you want, rated however you want. For people who love seeing a brand new desktop, but don't want to take the time hunting around to find one all the time, it's the best. The best, Jerry, the best!

    And now it's even better, because Spear has posted a coupon code on his site that drops the normally $20 shareware application down to just $10. Enter "luckyme" at checkout, and you'll be wallpaper browsing and changing in no time. More desktops, no worries-- sounds great to me.

    Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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  • TUAW Best of the Week

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    Once more a week has flown by. Like the wind, like a condor, like a bologna sandwich. Because it's the weekend, TUAW invites you to join us in reflecting back on the week gone by--the new iMacs, the new iLife, and all the other highlights that made this week stand out.

    Control an iPod with your watch
    Dick Tracy--or is it James Bond?--enters the 21st Century.

    Open-Source iClip SVN established on Google Code
    The issues page is downright hilarious.

    VMware Fusion officially available today
    VMWare finally hit the streets. Bad news? Full price. Good news? Rebate until December 31st.

    iPhone Coding: Recording Audio
    How to record audio on your iphone, with links to the voice recorder software.

    Karl Rove uses an iPhone
    And someone out in TUAW-readerland makes a mark on his card, stands up, and shouts BINGO!

    iPhone NES: Fast, usable, totally rewritten
    Programmers give up sleep and food to bring. you. gaming.

    Will the Mini live or die?
    As refreshes go, the mini gets a solid C. Is Apple trying to tell us something?

    Liveblogging Apple's Special Event
    Mike took us live into, well, into other site's live blogs in this awesome metaliveblogination event.

    iLife '08
    Not News: Apple Townhall Meeting. News: iLife '08. Fark: iMovie '08.

    iTunes: Free Tuesday
    Still free.

    iWork '08 30 day demo available
    Try. Before. You. Buy.

    Pages '08 opens Word 2007 documents
    Ah irony. A Mac program opens Word 2007 *in* 2007. And it doesn't come from Microsoft.

    iPhone Hacking 101: Jailbreaking
    The first tutorial in a "how to hack" series.

    TUAW Poll: Most desirable new product
    Speaking truth to Apple.

    Trick your iPhone voicemail into using voice recording data
    Copy your voice messages into your voicemail--at least until your iPhone refreshes itself from the voicemail server.

    Videos imminent for UK iTunes store
    Videos in 3...2...oh wait, is that the guy from Jekyll over there buying tea?

    Apple sites worldwide gain the new metal look
    If you metallicize it, they will come...

    Universal to sell DRM-free Songs--but not on iTunes
    Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, me hearties!

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    Комментарии к сообщению:
    http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/11/tuaw-best-of-the-week/#comments



  • Sticking with the Apple Remote

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    On that unboxing video we posted the other day (sorry about the ads-- point taken), it was noted that the Apple Remote no longer stuck to the side of the new iMac. Reader Sal emailed me this morning to point out that not only did his Remote not stick either, but apparently he rang up Apple, and the "product specialist" said the Remote should stick. I also called Apple, and they told me the Remote should stick as well.

    But neither the Unboxing Remote or Sal's Remote actually stuck, so what's the deal? Our commenters have noted over the past few days that aluminum eats magnetic fields, so it could be that the aluminum makes sticking the Remote on a no go. I don't know exactly how it worked with the old iMac (whether there was just a magnet inside or in both the Remote and the iMac), but Sal points out his Remote won't stick to the fridge either. After he told Apple that, they even offered to send him a new Remote, so maybe the Remote he has is defective (which means this is the second new defective product we've heard about in the past few days). One more wrinkle-- other commenters have suggested that instead of the side, the Remote now sticks to the "chin" of the iMac, but Sal tried that and said it didn't work either.

    At any rate, Apple says the Remote should stick, but everything we've seen says it doesn't. Which is it? Anyone have a new iMac and want to confirm that it sticks? It's not a big loss, of course, if it's really not sticking. But like the Open Apple button, that's another special Apple touch that's been lost on the new iMac.

    Update:     This video, courtesy Rizza in the comments, shows the Remote stuck on the front right corner of the glass (which is one way to get around the aluminum, I guess). So looks like Apple moved the magnet there.
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  • Denver man hacks thumbs for more efficient iPhone use - literally

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    Keyboards on handheld devices and smartphones have often been debated in terms of how much work they actually let you get done. Tiny displays, limited functionality, itty-bitty keyboard buttons and now the iPhone's entirely virtual keyboard whose keys can be hard to hit for some people have given folks something to talk about. Taking matters to a level that I believe is unheard of in the technology world, however, 28-year-old Thomas Martel in Bonnie Brae (a Denver, CO neighborhood) decided to solve his large handed problem by surgically altering his thumbs to make it easier to use his iPhone.

    Through a procedure called "whittling" which the North Denver News described, an incision was made into each of Martel's thumbs. The bone was shaved down, muscles were realigned and his thumbnail was modified to help bring it all together. His new 'streamlined' thumbs may look out of place in relation to his other fingers, but Martel says all the time and frustration he'll save should make the surgery pay for itself in ten to fifteen years. Of course Dr. Spars, the man who helped develop the procedure, is excited about this new avenue for plastic surgery; it aint just for makin' pretty faces anymore - now you too can have your very own iPhone-optimized thumbs for the low, low price of... well the North Denver News article doesn't say. My guess on the procedure's price though is somewhere in the range of 'a heckuva lot', given that time and frustration are tough things to add up over fifteen years. Depreciating values and market shifts in the value of frustration alone are enough to make one's head spin.

    What about you, TUAW readers? Anyone planning on hacking their thumbs for more better iPhone usage? How about whittling out a spot in a thigh so the phone rests a little better? I'm thinking about bypassing an armband case altogether and simply chopping out a chunk of my arm for taking the iPhone running. Maybe I'll see what Dr. Nick's prices are like this week.

    [Update: As these stories sometimes go, it appears that this might not all be true. Richard Martin at InformationWeek did some digging for Dr. Spars and James Benfly, the author of the article at North Denver News. Benfly hasn't returned any of Martin's calls, and Martin finds it a bit suspicious that there is no phone book listing for a Dr. Robert Fox Spars in the Denver area. While I too found it a little odd that Denver North News is using what looks like a default template for the open source Joomla software to power their site, a friend did some checking and found four Thomas Martel's in the Denver area. I also don't find it at all strange that Dr. Spars isn't listed in the phone book, because he could very well be listed under his practice's name which Denver North News didn't list in their article. Still, it was worth mentioning that folks are punching some potential holes in the story. I'll see if I can follow up to get any more solid information.]

    [via iPhone Alley]
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