Fresh Apple: March 2009

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iMovie 8.0.1 Update Brings Unadvertised Feature Changes

Over the weekend, Apple hit us Mac owners with a slew of updates for their iLife ‘09 suite of applications, all of which were described by Software Update as providing little more than stability improvements and minor issue resolution. It would seem that Apple was being modest with its descriptions, however, especially regarding iMovie 8.0.1, which brings some new features and major fixes to the video editing software.

Custom Location Coordinate Support

iMovie ‘09 has a large built-in library of popular travel destinations and landmarks, but sometimes you want to be more specific than they allow, or you’re filming in a place rather off the beaten path. Now you can input your own geolocation information, via latitude and longitude coordinates. Because, if you’re filming absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere, you want to be accurate about it.

Additional Export to HD Options

The proliferation of HD video means that more and more people are wanting the ability to easily export their movies in formats that are compatible with popular video sites like YouTube. You can now Share to YouTube or Export video at 1280×720, which is full 720p HD, in case you weren’t aware. I still don’t think YouTube’s HD backend is robust enough to make it truly usable, but at least now you can inflict stuttering video on your unsuspecting audience, if that’s what makes you happy.

Keyboard Shortcut for “Split Clip” Command

Better, easier editing control is nothing to sneeze at, even if it is only the introduction of a single keyboard shortcut. Being able to press “Command + Shift + S” instead of digging about in the menu should save cut-happy editors a ton of time.

In addition to the feature additions mentioned above, the fix also solves an ugly issue which affected the playback quality of 1080i video when exported to iDVD or Quicktime. That means you no longer have to add in the additional step of fixing the footage in other apps following an export.

Apple, next time you add such obvious improvements, instead of just poking about under the hood, don’t be so modest. We promise not to think of you as any less mysterious.

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February 9-13: Macworld Doesn't Roll Over and Die

Apple may have cut official ties with Macworld Expo, but that doesn’t mean the show is closing for good, as some originally thought. But don’t go looking for Macworld news next January either, because for the 2010 installment, it will take place in February instead. Specifically, February 9-13, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The reason for the change, according to TUAW and IDG World Expo, the event’s organizers, is mainly to allow attendees and presenters some time to chill out and let things settle down between the busy (and stressful) holiday season and Macworld. It makes a lot of sense, since main travel routes will also probably be less congested in February, when few people are likely to be returning home from holiday vacations.

If you’ll recall, this year Macworld and CES overlapped, forcing some exhibitors to choose one over the other. Given the increased Mac presence CES has planned for next year, avoiding such an overlap in the future makes even more sense. The move will benefit both conventions, as neither will have to vie for the attention of media outlets.

Depending on whether or not you have the amazing gift of being able to tell instantly what day of the week any given date falls on, or you checked iCal, you might’ve noticed that February 9-13 includes a Saturday, marking the first time the expo has extended into the weekend. Show organizers hope the addition of a Saturday date will help people who cannot take time off during the week to attend, broadening the audience to schoolteachers and others.

So, Macworld will survive for at least another year, and likely beyond. It may not have the flash and pomp of previous years, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it’ll give the little guy a chance to shine.

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Rowmote: Simple iPhone Remote Control

Ever since I owned a Sony Ericsson phone which connected to my Mac via Salling Clicker, I’ve been fascinated with controlling OS X remotely. The iPhone created a fantastic device for taking remote control to a new level, and a search for “remote” in the App Store illustrates how popular the idea is.

A relatively new app on the scene is Rowmote, which takes a much more simplified approach. Rather than trying to offer a huge array of functionality, it simply replicates the controls found on a standard Apple remote. This provides a thoroughly appealing solution as Apple doesn’t always bundle remote controls with new computers.

Initiating a Connection

Rowmote consists of two separate applications. As you’d expect, one goes on your iPhone and the other (a “helper app”) is installed on your desktop. The installation process is simple, although a restart was required by the desktop installer — something I’m not used to on OS X!

Provided that both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, they should see each other immediately and initiate a connection (as shown on the right).

One of the major advantages of connecting via Wi-Fi is that a line of sight isn’t required to communicate. Whether you’re wandering around the room or happily waving your iPhone around, it should still be able to skip a track or adjust your volume.

Application Switcher

The only aspect of the remote which goes beyond that provided by Apple is the ability to swap focus between different applications. These include Front Row, Airfoil Video, Boxee, iPhoto, iTunes, Quicktime, DVD Player, Keynote '08 and '09, PandoraJam, Plex, Powerpoint 2008, Skim, Spotify and VLC.

The latest version of Rowmote also has preliminary EyeTV support, allowing you to change channels and adjust the volume. It would be great if future versions could offer full control of EyeTV via their full-screen menu (in a similar fashion to Front Row).

Other Solutions

There are a number of other remote control applications available for the iPhone that are worth noting as alternatives.

For accessing your music and video, the first (and most popular) to note is Apple’s Remote app. This allows full control of iTunes playback, browsing of your library, and a whole range of other features. Other media-centric applications include VLC Remote for controlling the popular video player, a Boxee Remote, or jfControl for generic volume, track skipping, etc.

If you’re looking for a presentation remote control for Keynote, it’s definitely worth considering Apple’s official Keynote Remote. This is another visual treat, showing you which slides are coming up next along with any notes you’ve made. If you prefer to use PowerPoint (on Windows or Mac) it’s worth considering i-Clickr, which offers similar functionality.

Finally, a number of different remote controls allow you to actually control the keyboard and mouse of your machine. These obviously offer the broadest level of interaction, but can be incredibly fiddly to use. My favorite is Snatch, but other free solutions include RemotePad or Remote Desktop Light.

Conclusion

While I certainly admire the simplicity of Rowmote, in some ways I feel left wanting more. It’s great to have a low-cost application to replace a standard Apple remote, but the iPhone is capable of far more powerful and interactive connectivity (as some of the other remote applications go to show). It seems frustrating that you’re unable to interact with iTunes in a detailed level as you can with Apple’s Remote application. That said, if using Front Row, a similar level of navigation and control is possible.

Rowmote requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later, and is priced at 99 cents. It’s certainly a great deal cheaper than a replacement Apple Remote, and offers marginally greater functionality. If you’ve lost the remote that came with your Mac or want to replicate its simplicity on your iPhone, Rowmote is definitely the way to go.

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Five Location-Based Apps for the iPhone

With the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement that Apple’s new iPhone software update will include Google Maps integration, you can expect an explosion of location-based apps to start appearing in the App Store. There are already a few location-based apps available now, including ones we’ve written about before — Job Compass and Locly, for instance. Here are five more that are worth a look.

uSonar (Free)

There are lots of apps available that let you keep up with your social networks while you’re on the go, but what about when you’re bored and want to find someone local to hang with? uSonar lets you know who’s around and what they’re up to, whether they are someone you already know or not. Members post “blips” about their activities and locations, then you can message them directly through your iPhone or iPod touch. Everything about uSonar is opt-in, so you’re in control of who can see where you are, or send you a message or email. You can even post anonymously if you’d like.

Loopt (Free)

If you want people outside your immediate location to be able to find you, try Loopt. This app lets you broadcast your whereabouts or send pictures to everyone in your social networks, like Twitter and Facebook. It works across all major mobile phone carriers and supports over 100 different models of phones so your buddies without iPhones can find you. It also integrates nicely with the review Web site Yelp, so if you’re stumped on ways to spend your Saturday afternoon, you can find something to do.

Hear Planet (Free)

If you like to go sightseeing when you travel, then you’ll love Hear Planet. It uses geolocation to determine where you are, then feeds you tons of information about the area’s landmarks, famous buildings, historical sites, and more via your headphones. More than just an audio tour guide, listen while you drive around running errands and you just might learn something you never knew about your hometown.

Whrrl (Free)

Some folks love micro-blogging so much that they want to document every minute of their day. If that’s your thing, let Whrrl help. Use your iPhone’s camera to snap pictures of your lunch, trip to the market, and visit to the dentist, uploading to Whrrl as you go. You can even add text and messages if you choose. Your location and micro-stories are shown on a map, which is really neat if you happen to be around other Whrrl users doing the same thing as you. Imagine attending the Super Bowl and updating the experience as it happens, while simultaneously watching someone else across the stadium do the same. Cool. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s a lot like Brightkite.)

Traffic ($1.99)

This app will let you know what the traffic conditions are like in your area and display them in list form or superimposed on a map. Traffic gives you details on how severe the traffic situations are — is there a 4-alarm fire with road blockage on Main Street, or a small fender bender with a slowdown due to rubbernecking? The app automatically locates where you are, but you can enter the location of your choice so you can get traffic conditions anywhere.

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MacBook mini: Sorry Apple Fans, This Is Not Real

In case you’ve seen the most recent rumors about an Apple netbook currently circulating, which got their start at 9to5mac.com (whose server load problems seem to indicate that a lot of you have probably already seen this or are trying to as we speak), let me crush your hopes before they get too high: These are not photos of any real product.

Despite the claims of the source (a Russian magazine), the photos are clearly just Photoshop mock-ups.

Can anyone really look at these and entertain the possibility that they might be real? No mic input, no discernible MagSafe plug, and a less-than-accurate alteration of the MacBook Air text to read “MacBook mini”? Kudos to the Photoshopper for the keyboard work, but let’s not secure our reputation as the most gullible tech community in the world people.

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Skype for iPhone Gets Official, Details Revealed

Last week we got news via our very own sister site, GigaOM, that Skype would finally being releasing their own official app for the iPhone and iPod touch, and that the release date was imminent.

Skype has since officially confirmed the upcoming free app, releasing a slew of screenshots which were published over the weekend by SkypeJournal.com, among others. App usability and technical details were also made known, so we pretty much know exactly what we’re getting when the app drops tomorrow at CTIA ‘09.

First of all, in case you were hoping to circumvent your carrier’s talk time rates by using Skype over your 3G connection, you will be unable. Honestly, that’s not really a surprise, but I suppose there was no harm in hoping. Like any other VOIP application currently available, you’ll have to have an active Wi-Fi connection to place voice calls with Skype.

Skype’s UI on the iPhone is a pleasant surprise, at least in my opinion, since it resembles Apple’s own Phone.app interface. All phone features look the same, including the call screen and call history log. The chat interface is simple and clean, and resembles AIM or iChat for the Mac.

The new Skype app also integrates with your iPhone’s existing address book, allowing you to call any of your contacts from within the app (as long as you have SkypeOut credit). Another iPhone-specific feature is the ability to change your avatar using a photo taken from your iPhone’s camera, or one stored in your phone’s photo library. You can also participate in conference calls, though you can’t initiate them, only join in to those initiated by others.

Second-gen iPod touch users will also be able to use Skype for iPhone, so long as they have a headset or mic attachment. Unfortunately, first-gen users like me are out of luck, but Tom’s Guide thinks that’s only temporary, since iPhone OS 3.0 should activate the iPod touch’s Bluetooth chip for A2DP support, meaning we’ll be able to have all the fun of our newer counterparts. I remember the brief period of excitement when a teardown revealed hardware Bluetooth support on the 1G Touch, but I’d completely forgotten about it over time. Let’s hope it doesn’t remain just a vestigial limb.

There are some significant oversights in the 1.0 release of Skype for iPhone, including the ability to top out your SkypeOut credit directly from the app, and SMS support. I’m hoping to see those in later versions.

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Mega Man II for iPhone Lacks Polish, But Entertains

It’s still the only Mega Man game I’ve ever actually played through to completion, and it’s still a cult favorite among fans, and now it’s available for the iPhone and iPod touch. I’m talking about Mega Man II (iTunes Link), Blue Boy’s second adventure, originally released for the NES in 1989. Obviously, I had to download it as soon as I spotted it. And at $4.99, it’s not going to break the bank, either.

I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that I’ve already purchased the mobile version of Mega Man II for a my old LG Shine dumbphone. Capcom Mobile seems to have basically ported that version over to the iPhone platform, though they’ve implemented some device-specific changes, like the control interface.

Speaking of which, I’m afraid the controls feel rather clunky overall. You get an onscreen joystick and “R” and “L” buttons, which control jumping and shooting, respectively. For my largish digits, the interface feels cramped and even getting Mega Man pointed in the right direction is at times challenging. That said, I breezed through Flash Man’s level, and only really felt the control limitations when I got to the boss battle, which I still managed to win without much trouble.

I probably managed the victory because the game has had its difficulty rebalanced for the iPhone port. Enemies are easier to kill, you take less damage, and you can jump higher and further than on the original console version. That might not please the more traditionalist gamers in the crowd, but in my opinion it renders the game playable, whereas it would not be with the game’s original balance left intact. Metal Man felt pretty quick as well, but I was playing on easy, so higher difficulty levels probably offer more of a challenge.

Game saving isn’t exactly perfect, since exiting doesn’t save your state, but it does at least remember which bosses you’ve cleared automatically. Just choose “Continue” after you’ve selected “Start” from the main menu, and your stage cleared status will be restored.

There are a few caveats you should be aware of before you go buying this game. You will become frustrated with the controls, and the screen size used for the actual gameplay portion of the app might have you squinting to see what exactly is going on. Despite those failings, the game is very playable, barring some big headaches when jump-or-die platforming comes into play. Just like the version I had on my dumbphone, however, I predict Mega Man II for iPhone will prove amply distracting on those long subway and bus rides.

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Thanks to TheAppleBlog Sponsors!
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JavaScript 3-10x Faster On iPhone OS 3.0

There has been a reasonable amount of speculation surrounding JavaScript speed improvements in iPhone 3.0. Testing carried out on the iPhone Simulator bundled with the SDK didn’t lead to a conclusive outcome, but benchmarking done by Wayne Pan would seem to suggest that iPhone 3.0 handles JavaScript 3x-10x faster than iPhone 2.1.

Last year the WebKit development team released information about a new JavaScript engine, slated to have a dramatic improvement in performance. Originally dubbed SquirrelFish (now called ‘Nitro’), to date it has not been included in any major release of the iPhone OS. Expectations are that the performance enhancements found in iPhone 3.0 are due to the inclusion of the SquirrelFish engine, leading to faster web site browsing and snappier web app performance.

The new Nitro engine has gradually been improved by the WebKit team over the past year, and is included in the latest Safari 4 Beta. This new engine accounts for the dramatic performance improvement in Safari 4, which Apple states as enhancing both JavaScript and HTML rendering:

Using the new Nitro Engine, for example, Safari executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and more than 3 times faster than Firefox 3 based on performance in leading industry benchmark tests: iBench and SunSpider.

In addition to superior JavaScript performance, Safari offers top-flight HTML performance — the best on any platform — loading pages 3 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and almost 3 times faster than Firefox 3.

While Nitro is certainly responsible for the improved JavaScript performance, better HTML loading times may be due to other browser enhancements. Hopefully these will also make the move to Mobile Safari, increasing performance and page loading speed. This is even more important on a mobile device, where connection speed is far more limited than on most desktop machines.

Moving this new engine across to Mobile Safari on the iPhone is indeed the next logical step, and the 3.0 release of Apple’s iPhone operating system would seem a reasonable point at which to integrate it. John Gruber created a simple script to test whether a browser is likely to be running the Nitro engine — this tests positive in Safari 4, and he confirmed yesterday that the test is also passed on the iPhone 3.0.

All these pieces of an ongoing puzzle would seem to lead to a fairly strong conclusion that Mobile Safari on iPhone 3.0 will receive a completely new JavaScript engine, significant speed improvements, and better web application performance. I’m thoroughly looking forward to experiencing the same speed boost on my iPhone that Safari 4 brought to my desktop, and can’t wait to try out the new software.

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Skype On Its Way to the iPhone

The holy mecca of VOIP calling could be coming to an iPhone near you. Om Malik wrote that he received a tip that Skype is nearing release on the iPhone. What does this mean for us iPhone users?

Well, if I had my druthers, this would be the full VOIP application we’ve all been waiting for on the iPhone. No more third-party implementations (or imitations). No more waiting. This would be the real deal.

However, I might not get my way. In fact, we could receive a Skype iPhone app that sucks. Yes, it might just be an app that provides basic presence information to the rest of Skypedom. Or, it might charge me mobile minutes to use the service when making a call. If either is the case, then we might have a big Skype FAIL for the iPhone.

To our friends at Skype: will we see a fully enabled client for the iPhone? Will I be able to make calls as well as communicate with my existing Skype friends? What will the UI look like? I think that is my biggest concern. Having seen Skype 4.0 on Windows, I am scared to see what we might receive for the iPhone. The Mac Skype client is reasonable (kind of boring, actually), but at least it feels Mac-like.

In the end, the tip Om received is just that, a tip. We’ll all have to wait and see if the Skype for the iPhone makes its debut next week at CTIA Wireless. Until then, I am saying a little Skype prayer…

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Variable iTunes Pricing to Take Effect On April 7

Way back in January, at Macworld 2009 (the last Apple Macworld, remember?), Apple announced a change in the pricing structure for iTunes songs.

The new model, which basically seems to have been a concession to music publishers in order to secure DRM-free tracks, prices individual songs at 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29. Currently, all iTunes tracks cost 99 cents. No specific implementation date was cited at the time, but a new report from the L.A. Times indicates that the changes will come April 7.

Not everyone in the industry is thrilled with the new pricing scheme. According to the L.A. Times article, former EMI Executive Tim Cohen is quoted as saying that, “This will be a PR nightmare. It is for the music industry what the AIG bonuses are for the insurance industry.” Charging those who don’t pirate music more, when piracy is more widespread then ever, admittedly doesn’t seem like the way to go about curbing the trend.

Details of how songs would be priced also emerged in the report. It will not be determined based on the age of releases, as some had previously suggested. Instead, price will be determined based on artist popularity. That means that Flo Rida fans will have to shell out more, while people like me who listen to music no one else has ever heard of or cares about might wind up actually benefiting from the deal.

If I was a diehard Ciara or All-American Rejects fan, I’d think about getting my download on now while the old pricing structure is still intact. Of course, if customers are sufficiently scared off by the new price scheme, the music industry might be forced to go back to the tried and true 99-cents method. Not that they’ll go quietly, mind you.

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