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- iPods in uniform
Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Odds and ends
When U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need to communicate in Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish (spoken in north Iraq), or Dari and Pushto (Afghani languages), they can reach for an iPod.
Vcom3D, working with troops from the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, designed a software product called VCommunicator Mobile that uses the iPod to display a phonetic translation, "speak" a phrase through an attached speaker, display the phrase in local writing, or demonstrate hand gestures that are common in Arabic.
The Army is fielding about 260 iPods and iPod nanos equipped with this system, with about 700 individual troops using the device in Iraq and Afghanistan. The total cost of the system, including the software development for all of the specific dialects and languages, a speaker that plugs into the earphone port, and protective covers for both the iPod and speaker, was about $800,000.
Before someone makes a crack about the U.S. Military buying $3,100 iPods, remember that these are running custom software with key phrases that must be accurately rendered in a number of different languages, and custom software development and language localization is never inexpensive. The system also comes with a laptop-based editor for adding new phrases or editing existing ones.
Vcom3D chose the iPod platform for the system after realizing that both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians owned or were familiar with Apple's iconic media device.
[via MacDailyNews]
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Rumor: Apple and AT&T working on tethering deal
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Software, Odds and ends
A few weeks back on the Talkcast, we had an interesting little discussion about just where Apple's boundaries were on the App Store -- so far, you really only get kicked off if you charge too much, if your apps vibrate wrong, or if you steal someone's copyright. Oh, and there's that one more little exception: if you provide folks with the ability to tether the iPhone's networking ability to your own Mac.
But now the rumor mill says that last one might just have been removed because Apple is planning a tether solution of their own. Gizmodo claims that one of their readers is corresponding with His Steveness himself (a fact we find obviously dubious, but hey it's Friday of Labor Day weekend, so we'll give 'em a pass). You'd think that Steve Jobs would reveal the fact that AT&T and Apple were trying to offer a tether solution through a slightly better venue than a quickly jotted "Sent from my iPhone" email, but remember how we first heard about the SDK -- the man knows how to stick important pieces of news in strange places.
The original emailer mentioned tethering for the fee of an extra $30 a month (which seems exorbitant considering that Netshare did it for a one-time charge), but then again, AT&T's networks are going to get even more waterlogged should something like this come down. So odds are if Apple does work out a deal, it's not going to be cheap.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - My favorite iPod touch apps: Mike R.'s picks
Filed under: iPod Family, App Store
In contributing my share to our ongoing series of favorites for Mac and iPhone apps, I think I'm the first of our crew to focus on the iPhone's sleeker sibling. The iPod touch may not have the communications and GPS capabilities of the motherphone, but what it lacks in circuitry it makes up for in panache. I've found apps that are kid-pleasers, apps that leverage the touch's native WiFi location capability, and apps that challenge the brain. (All links are directly to the App Store.)
Comic Touch from Plasq. Although the iPhone's camera is absent, the ability to edit, annotate and humorize synchronized photos on the touch is a delight. Comic Touch may not be the only app in this space but it's proven its worth to me during evenings out or when traveling, as my daughters derive endless fun from captioning family snapshots with thought balloons.
Pandora Radio. Making the portable device into a full-featured internet streaming tool is a work in progress, but a WiFi-connected iPod touch with Pandora is an astonishingly fun and surprising music source, a glass-front Airport Express. I love the Pandora web app, so I was prepared to like the miniaturized version -- what I didn't expect was how connecting it to a stereo and letting it play would lead to "Wow, who's this?" moments. Lacking a microphone, I can't run Midori or Shazam on my touch -- but I can make iPhone users want to use those apps to find out what Pandora is playing through my speakers.
Scrabble. Yes, I know that Facebook users have dartboards covered with pictures of Hasbro's legal team -- I still enjoy the EA version immensely. It's colorful, easy to play and has the feel of the tabletop game and the tactile letter-dragging fun you expect. Shaking the device to shuffle the rack aside (it feels gimmicky and I never do it), all I really want to add is a copy of the Scrabble dictionary for training and reference.
Location-aware touch. Even without the GPS of the iPhone, I've been pleased that so many location-aware apps work just fine on the touch. Where To?, Twitterrific, Urbanspoon and Now Playing -- assuming there's a WiFi network around -- behave just as they would on the iPhone, and whether it's due to the solid location frameworks or thoughtful work by developers, I'm appreciative.
Honorable Mention: Simplify Media, Dot Game, City Transit NYC, and Facebook.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Meet Spore's creator at Regent St. Apple Store
Filed under: Gaming
Gamers, are you excited for next weekend's release of Spore? We sure are (even though the iPod game got pulled from the iTunes Store, darnit). I've created my first species in Creature Creator and he (it?) is ready to go.
If you're also anticipating the game, and happen to be at London's Regent Street Apple Store on Sept. 3rd at 3:00 PM, you can meet Spore creator Will Wright. He'll be talking about the game and showing it off. Here's your chance to talk with Will!
If you just can't wait, or if you want a little background to help you formulate a killer question, check out this interview Will did with cnet.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Final Cut Express 4.0.1 released
Filed under: Software, Video, Software Update
Final Cut Express owners, check Software Update because FCE 4 has just been updated to 4.0.1. The detailed (and I'm serious, for Apple especially, these are detailed) release notes go over what is new and what has been added, but here are the highlights:
- Permission issues resolved - There was an issue on Leopard systems where FCE 4 would not open a project if it contained media that the user didn't have permission to access. This has been fixed.
- Tons of AVCHD improvements - There are now Easy Setup options for the AVCHD format/codec and better support for AVCHD cameras.
- Improved plugin support and stability
Переслать - iPhone's arrival in Russia confirmed
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Rumors, iPhone
Earlier this week, Russian communications company VimpelCom announced their intention to bring the iPhone to Russia, the first company to do so. The particulars aren't available yet, but VimpelCom representatives said they hope to be selling the iPhone "...later this year."
Earlier rumors were pointing to this announcement. Last week, Reuters reported on a rumor about a deal that would bring the iPhone to Russia, identifying Mobile TeleSystems as the carrier. That rumor suggested an October launch. Also, when Steve Jobs spoke with CNBC shortly after the launch of the 3G iPhone, he said that a deal with Russia would likely happen "...later this year."Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - My Favorite iPhone Apps: Mat's Picks
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
For my shot at iPhone favorites I'm going with three apps I find myself returning to over and over.Zenbe Lists (iTunes link) - this is the third-party app I find myself using most often. It's basically a TO DO list manager, but with a big difference: online syncing. The Zenbe iPhone application interfaces with the online lists that you can manage from your desktop at lists.zenbe.com (free account required). But unlike some other iPhone apps that are front-ends for online services, Zenbe on the iPhone caches all your data locally. That means that you can access and edit your lists even when you can't get online (e.g. on a plane) and then sync when you get back online. With the absence of notes syncing on the iPhone I end up putting all kinds of things into Zenbe: shopping lists, travel info (flight schedules, etc.), various ideas that come to me on the go, and much more (free).
Moonlight Mahjong (iTunes link) - games are naturally a matter of personal taste, but this 3D implementation of mahjong on the iPhone is first class. It utilizes the standard iPhone gestures for zooming and panning, as well as automatically recognizes device orientation. The full version includes 19 different tile layouts for a very reasonable $4.99; there's also a free lite version (iTunes link), which will give you a good taste the gameplay but is limited to 3 tile layouts. Moonlight Mahjong does not include sound, but that makes it perfect for listening to your own tunes, which I much prefer.
Pandora (iTunes link) - Pandora has long been my favorite streaming music site, so much so that I run the dedicated Pandora client PandoraJam on my Mac. So I was thrilled when the iPhone version was released with full access to your custom stations. Unfortunately, Pandora is facing problems these days so there's no telling how long the service will remain up. But for the time being Pandora is my go to app for streaming music (free).Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Переслать - Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Mac and Windows
Filed under: Multimedia, Software Update
Earlier tonight we saw the release of the ProRes Decoder tool for QuickTime. According to Apple, this tool will allow QuickTime to play Apple ProRes 422 files, using the codec that provides "visually lossless, uncompressed HD video at SD data rates" for Final Cut users. This is the first version of the codec that includes playback on Windows machines.
"It is an excellent choice for mastering and can easily be transcoded to distribution formats like H.264. With new support for playback on both Mac and Windows computers, Apple ProRes can also be used for review and approval of Final Cut Studio sequences," says Apple.
The Mac update/plug-in can be downloaded for free from Apple's support downloads website, and if you are using QuickTime on Windows, there's a separate download.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - My favorite iPhone apps: Jason's picks
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, App Store
Picking my favorite iPhone apps was pretty straightforward. I went with three apps that save me time. The first one wows me because using it sort of feels like magic, and the other two are great mobile companion applications to wonderful Mac-based programs.
Shazam [iTunes link] Free
When I say using Shazam feels like magic, I'm not kidding. Shazam can listen to any music that is playing using the iPhone's microphone, and based on an acoustic fingerprint of the music can tell you the name of the song, artist, and album. It takes only seconds to listen, then a few more to look up the song and return results. Conveniently, Shazam maintains a list of songs that you've looked up (tagged, in Shazam's parlance) so that you can easily go back and follow up on the songs later. It also includes links to purchase the songs you've tagged from iTunes, as well as links to music videos for tagged songs if they exist on YouTube.
OmniFocus [iTunes link] $19.00
I have a particular preference for software that is available in desktop versions as well as mobile versions, particularly if they contain a solid synchronization function. While it can be somewhat of an acquired taste, OmniFocus on the Mac is arguably one of the most capable to-do list applications, particularly if you subscribe to the GTD methodology. Imagine my delight, then, when OmniGroup announced there would be an iPhone version of OmniFocus that synchronizes to the desktop version. What's even better is that the iPhone version isn't simply a clone of the desktop version, but includes iPhone-specific functionality such as being able to determine what context to display based on your physical location using GPS. As with all software that relies on remote synchronization, it can be a bit slow when starting up, but that's a hit you take to have the convenience of synchronization, it seems.
Evernote [iTunes link] Free
Evernote has been around for a long time as a capable Windows-based note taking product, but if ever there was an interesting story of a company re-inventing their product, this is it. Evernote in its modern capacity is a note-taking powerhouse, available on Mac, Windows, on the web, and on the mobile web. But even better, it also has an iPhone version. The beauty of Evernote is in its ability to capture various types of information easily, then make it searchable and easy to reference. Everything you store in Evernote is stored in an account for you on Evernote's servers, allowing them to apply advanced optical character recognition to your images and documents to make even non-text documents searchable. Like OmniFocus, Evernote can be a bit slow to start, and it's disappointing that Evernote's content is not stored locally on the iPhone, but is pulled down from their servers every time you access it. But for its ability to allow you to off-load important information to a secondary brain, Evernote is invaluable.
Honorable Mention
Given my attachment to synchronization apps, how can I not give a nod towards the iPhone version of NetNewsWire, which complements the entire stable of free NewsGator RSS clients, including NetNewsWire on the Mac. NNW would have made this write-up, had Steve not grabbed it first. But who can blame him?Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - 2Chicks1Mac: iTunes Rentals -- Hot or Not?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor
Christina Warren. Erica Sadun. Two Women. Two Opinions. One love of all things Macintosh. This week, we take on iTunes rentals. Are they the next best thing or a waste of your money? We'll start the discussion and you judge the smackdown winner for the week.
Erica: Totally hot! No commitment, less than it would cost in gas, time and popcorn at the local second-run theater. Plus (bonus!) no used bubblegum under the seats. Why wait weeks for Netflix? You can watch on demand for three or four bucks with at most an hour or two of download time. Plus there's that 99-cent special each week.
Sure, I'd prefer the rental to go for 48 hours instead of 24, but it's really convenient to watch movies that I'd otherwise never get around to seeing. Rock on, iTunes Rentals.
Christina: Erica, you ignorant slut! Hey, I'm always up for new ways to watch movies, but the only real reason I can see renting from iTunes is laziness or random 3 AM rental attacks. And I haven't had random, "Ooh, I want to watch Fletch at 3 AM on a weeknight" moment since college. Weeks for Netflix? More like a couple of days -- I often get my queue replenished in 24 hours. And then I can bask in the joy of extra features, like director commentary, surround-sound, and if it's an older film, I can make sure I'm getting the latest/digitally restored print and not some digital export of a 10-year old print that was just cheap LaserDisc to DVD hack-job back in 1997.
Really though, what saddens me is how many films are available to buy, but are NOT available to rent. I can find new releases at Blockbuster, On-Demand or catch them on any of the premium movie channels, but its the catalog titles that have real potential. The Movie Store baits me by featuring Secretary on its "What We're Watching" section, but when I try to get my Spader-fest on, I find out my only option is to buy the movie. If I'm going to do that, I might as well get the DVD and watch Sex, Lies and Videotape (which is not in the store, to purchase or rent) from my own collection in the meantime.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mac 101: Dealing without iCards
Filed under: Odds and ends, .Mac, Mac 101
Apple has posted a nifty tip for Mail users who miss the discontinued iCards feature from .Mac: You can use Mail stationery to create an attractive card-like message with your own photos.
In a post on the Mobile Me blog (hey, it's not dead!), Apple says "...it's like the old Make Your Own iCards feature on steroids, and a whole lot easier to use in the bargain."
For Leopard users, Mail comes with 30 email templates you can customize in lieu of sending an iCard. Personally, I think an email is better than an iCard anyway, what with all the greeting card spam that goes on.
You can use photos that you take with Photo Booth, for example, or pictures from iPhoto. Customize it with a clever note, and away you go.
If you don't have Leopard or still want to use an online greeting card site, there are plenty to choose from.
(And if you like our series for beginners, Mac 101, there's much more to learn.)
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать
Заработать на Forex можно не выходя из дома!
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