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- First Look: MLB.com At Bat 2009
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Opening Day of the Major League Baseball 2009 season is just around the corner, and MLB.com At Bat 2009 (click opens iTunes) has been released. Beware -- this post contains bad baseball metaphors.
This year's app has all the tools. After you agree to a list of Terms and Conditions as lengthy as a major-league player contract, a list of all of the games currently in progress or scheduled for the day appears. Starting on April 6th, every game will have Gameday enabled, which lets you view stats and a pitch by pitch recap of what's happening. Tapping a player's name brings up a virtual baseball card, complete with career and season stats and a line score for the game in progress.
Also on April 6th, a new feature will touch all the bases -- live Gameday Audio from either the home or visiting team radio announcers streamed to your iPhone. As with last year's At Bat app, you'll be able to pull up video clips of games shortly after key plays occur.
Do you miss plays while buying a beer or standing in line for the men's room? No problem, since the app also has a live box score.
MLB.com At Bat 2009 hits a home run! You can get the entire season (including postseason play) for US$9.99. Note that you'd pay $14.99 for just the Gameday audio on MLB.com. There's also a rookie (lite) version available for free that doesn't include the streaming audio. Check out the gallery below.
TUAWFirst Look: MLB.com At Bat 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Road Tested: EcoRunner by Marware
Filed under: Accessories, iPod nano, Road Tested
As promised, we're launching a new series called Road Tested where we try out various products for a month or more, see how they hold up to extended "real world" use, and report back our findings. To kick things off we're looking at the EcoRunner from Marware [thanks to our friends at Dr. Bott for the review unit].
The EcoRunner is a "green" product in that the primary material is not neoprene, but "a revolutionary environmentally friendly material." I'm not sure what that is, but I can say I like it better than neoprene -- it feels just as soft, but the cells are smaller and thus the material is more supple. The EcoRunner can be worn on the wrist or arm (using an extender strap, included) and is designed for the 4th-gen iPod nano. There's the requisite vinyl window for controlling playback and viewing the screen, plus the case can be used with the Nike+ Sport kit attached (there's a strap to keep everything in).
Does it work? Well, there's one caveat to our test: we used a 1st-gen nano, the white model that was infamous for being easily scratched. It's increasingly tough to find cases for this model, but we found the EcoRunner is stretchy enough to accommodate the slightly thicker model. The side effect of this, possibly due to thickness or the more squarish design: the vinyl window busted (see gallery), leaving the unit exposed and capable of falling out. Call it a "stress test." It's definitely a design challenge to secure the vinyl in a way that won't get too stressed, especially in cases where everything else is so stretchy.
The softness of the case can't be understated. It is really smooth and lightweight and stretchy. I'm partial to wrist straps, because I tend to skip around my playlists depending on my workout. If you find yourself monkeying with your nano during a workout, this is a terrific wrist strap. The extension strap to use it on your arm adds virtually no weight, and holds up well, but bulging biceps might strain that window. The Velcro used is very high quality, but the stitching on the end can sometimes be a little tricky to thread through the grommet -- so I recommend not removing it entirely. Just pull it off your wrist. One upside is that you can charge the nano in the case, so the entire unit becomes home to your nano. If you only use your nano for working out, you'll never have to remove it from the case.
After a month (OK, nearly 2 months) of solid use -- we're talking about near-daily use on the treadmill and at the gym -- the EcoRunner holds up well. As I said, using a 1st-gen nano isn't recommended by us or the manufacturer, so I don't know if the thinner nanos would bust the window after prolonged use. Other than that, there's very little visible wear-and-tear, and I'd recommend this especially if you a) prefer your nano on your wrist, and b) need a case that'll hold the Nike+ Sport kit. Your choices are pretty limited when it comes to both of those criteria, but the EcoRunner is a good bet either way. If you've had experience with this particular model, let us know in the comments.
TUAWRoad Tested: EcoRunner by Marware originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - DirecTV beams down iPhone app
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Long rumored and eagerly awaited, DirecTV has finally posted their free iPhone app for finding and recording content. The DirecTV app [App Store link] has been pretty hard to find. It didn't come up in an iTunes search last night and this morning, but that may have been fixed.
Locating programming is much faster and friendlier than using the iPhone friendly web page that had been the way to look at the DirecTV schedule.
The new app allows you to search for any shows up to 14 days in advance. You can browse the DirecTV schedule by date and time or by channel. You can select from multiple DVRs if you have them, and you can record a single episode of a program or a series.
The app runs on either the iPhone or iPod touch with version 2.2.1 software or above. You can search the schedule even if you're not a DirecTV subscriber, but if you want to trigger recordings you must use your DirecTV password. I set up a few tests and all the recording worked, one DVR request was made 2 minutes before the program started and the data made it to the DVR via satellite in time to catch the show.
I liked the old web-based method, but this is light years better. You get good program descriptions and ratings when available, and speed over the 3G network or even EDGE was quite usable.
Note: DirecTV says the app requires DIRECTV Plus(R) DVR (models R15, R16, R22), DIRECTV Plus(R) HD DVR (models HR20, HR21, HR23) or TiVo(R) Series 2 receivers with 6.4a software.
TUAWDirecTV beams down iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Giveaway: four lucky winners to get Agile Messenger for iPhone/iPod touch
Filed under: Cool tools, iPhone, iPod touch
We'll have a head-to-head comparison of the just-released Agile Messenger [App Store link] versus Beejive in a few days, but why not test drive Agile Messenger yourself first? Four lucky winners will get to do just that, courtesy Agile and TUAW. Just tell us which chat protocol you prefer (AIM, Jabber, Yahoo, etc.) and we'll pick four winners at random. Sorry, we've got to limit the winners to the US, as promo codes don't work anywhere else.
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. (Sorry, we know our international readers want to participate, but promo codes don't transfer outside the US.)
- To enter leave a comment telling us your preferred IM protocol (AIM, Jabber, etc.).
- The comment must be left before April 3, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Four winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prize: Promo code for free copy of Agile Messenger for iPhone (US$9.99).
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
TUAWGiveaway: four lucky winners to get Agile Messenger for iPhone/iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Macworld 2010 moves to February
Filed under: Macworld, Cult of Mac, Developer
IDG World Expo has just announced the dates for Macworld Expo 2010, shifting the conference's historical January jaunt to February. The Macworld 2010 Conference and Expo will take place in San Francisco from February 9 - 13.
When I spoke to Paul Kent, the General Manager for Macworld Expo, earlier this afternoon, he stressed that IDG is answering a call from exhibitors and attendees to move the event to a less stressful time of year. Developers won't have to rush through the holidays to finish up software demos that might not be ready for a few months anyway, and exhibitors won't need to balance the holidays and booth-planning all at once.
The date change isn't the only new development: the Expo will run from Thursday February 11 - Saturday February 13 (the conference will run from the 9th - 13th). This means that attendees who are full-time professionals won't have to take off as much time from work. Can't make it on Thursday? Come on Saturday. Paul told me the real goal for Macworld 2010 is to make Macworld about the community.
After Apple announced that Macworld 2009 would be its last expo, the Mac community (and tech community at large) started speculating about the future of the event. Emerging from all this speculation is an interesting opportunity for Macworld to reinvent itself.
IDG announced during Macworld 2009 that Expo-only registration would be free. Already, more than 10,000 people have registered for the 2010 show.
Losing the largest show exhibitor does mean that the Expo floor will be scaled down. The Conference will be held in San Francisco's Moscone Center West, while the Expo will be in the North Hall (rather than the North and South as in years past). I think scaling the Expo down is a good idea. It's easier to interact with fellow show-goers in one space. In this economy, scaling down just makes sense.
Paul emphasized that there will be a real focus on independent software developers. I think this is a good thing and that Macworld has a real opportunity to define itself as not only a Mac community Woodstock, but also as a place for developers to talk, discuss, learn and show-off their wares. With iPhone development as hot as it is, a stronger focus on that audience has real potential.
TUAWMacworld 2010 moves to February originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mac Automation: Integrating Spotlight searches with your workflows
Filed under: Features, How-tos, AppleScript
We've discussed some pretty neat uses for Automator workflows in the past, but did you know you can easily integrate Spotlight searches into your automation workflows? Well, you can, and it might be easier than you think. In this Mac Automation post, I'm going to show you how you can integrate it into a workflow that will burn the resulting files to a CD or DVD.
Creating the workflow
To create this simple workflow, you'll need to use two actions. Find the "Spotlight" action and drag it to your workflow section; then, find the "Burn a Disc" action and drag it below the newly added Spotlight action. That's it; your workflow is now completed, but we need to tweak the actions.
Using the workflow
To test the workflow, you can enter a search term in the Spotlight action, and a Disc name in the Burn a Disc action. Insert a rewritable disc, or a regular CD/DVD, and click the "Run" button in the upper right corner of the Automator window. Automator will then go to work finding all of the search terms that matched files, then will then burn all found items to the disc. This could take a while to burn, depending on the resulting files.
Remember that all of the Spotlight tricks, such as exclusion, denoting kind, etc. are still available even though you're using the Automator action.Continue reading Mac Automation: Integrating Spotlight searches with your workflows
TUAWMac Automation: Integrating Spotlight searches with your workflows originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - What's new in iPhoto 8.0.2
Last week, Apple released iLife updates with typically terse descriptions. Dissatisfied with "...overall application stability improvements," I explored iPhoto 8.0.2 for obvious changes. Here's what I found.
First, Faces offers Address Book contacts as potential matches for unrecognized faces (based on initial letter), each labeled with an Address Book icon. Formerly, you'd be presented with the names of previously identified faces only.
Also, the label that identifies an unknown face has been changed from "unknown face" to "unidentified."
This one could be just in my head, but zooming in on the Places map with a double-click seems a lot faster now.
They're minor changes, but definitely welcome. Many people dismiss iPhoto, but as a snapshot professional, I love it.TUAWWhat's new in iPhoto 8.0.2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Some thoughts on the new Microsoft ads
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
Well, the new ad blitz from Microsoft has begun. Advertising agency Crispin Porter + Boguksy is back at it with a new web video and click through banners that tell the story of Lauren, a Los Angeles woman (and member of the Screen Actors Guild) who was recruited from Craigslist. She supposedly didn't know she was in a Microsoft ad, but instead thought she was in a laptop marketing test.
She was given a thousand dollars after saying she wanted a 17-inch laptop with a good keyboard. She tried an Apple Store, but couldn't find anything at the price she wanted. She wound up with an HP Pavilion (here are the specs) running Windows Home Premium and a pretty slow AMD processor. She has minimal screen resolution and about 2 1/2 hours of battery life if she's lucky. All in all, not a bad machine, but certainly not a 17" Mac which would have been a lot more money.
Of course the laptops were not comparably equipped, so the cards were stacked in Microsoft's favor. That's what commercials do. Microsoft has been pummeled for more than 3 years by the extremely popular Mac vs. PC guys. Microsoft responded last summer with the Mojave ads, where people were tricked into believing they were seeing a brand new OS from MS, when in fact they were just seeing Vista. They were told about the features, and loved them. What they weren't allowed to do, however, was actually use Vista, or try to install it on their own PCs. Those were telling omissions.
Microsoft followed up with the Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates ads. They were fun to watch, but had no discernible message. Interestingly, Vista was never mentioned.
Now we come to the new ads, which doubtless will be followed by more shopping trips. In the first ad, Vista is never mentioned, just like in the Seinfeld commercials. Interesting. MS does not make computer hardware. Instead, their main product is an OS which is currently Vista. Yet in 2 out of 3 'expensive' ads, not a word about the flagship operating system.Continue reading Some thoughts on the new Microsoft ads
TUAWSome thoughts on the new Microsoft ads originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Skype for iPhone coming Tuesday, says CNET
Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone
Update: Our pals at Engadget are reporting that Skype for the iPhone has just hit Japan!
We heard it was on the way, but now CNET says it's official: the Skype application for iPhone and iPod touch should be available tomorrow on the App Store. As expected, the voice-over-IP app will require a WiFi connection to place and receive calls; it will also handle conference calling as a participant, not an initiator, and the first version leaves out SMS, call waiting and an integrated voicemail tool. Skype text chat, unlike voice traffic, will work fine over an EDGE or 3G connection.
Imperfect? Yes, and there are other apps -- Fring and Nimbuzz, for example -- that can talk to the Skype voice network... but the big blue S is providing the stamp of approval for VoIP on the iPhone, and you can bet that Skype's app will shoot to the top of the App Store charts as soon as it's released.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.TUAWSkype for iPhone coming Tuesday, says CNET originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: Convertbot
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look
Last October, we posted about another iPhone app -- Weightbot -- written by Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad at Tapbots. Now the company has shipped their second app, an iPhone conversion calculator called Convertbot (iTunes link).
Like Weightbot, Convertbot is a classy-looking and extremely functional iPhone app. Every detail of the user interface shows obvious thought, resulting in an app that is easy to use and look at. As with Weightbot, Convertbot also features sound effects that provide an extra level of fun.
What can you convert with Convertbot? Temperature, time, volume, work, angles, area, currency, length, mass, power, pressure and speed. How do you do it? There's a rotating selector wheel on the Convertbot screen to choose the type of conversion (temperature, for example), and a button to select the units (degrees Fahrenheit, for instance). To enter the known unit, you tap the converter display to bring up a keypad for tapping in numbers. As you tap in the numbers, Convertbot is busily converting the units.
If you're an aspiring developer and want to see a well-designed app, or if you're an iPhone or iPod touch owner who just likes cool apps, check out this US$0.99 app. There are tons of conversion apps in the App Store, but Convertbot is just too nice to pass up.
See the gallery below for screenshots.
TUAWFirst Look: Convertbot originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Beta Beat: Twitter app Lounge
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Beta Beat
In the history of marketing battles, The Cola Wars have nothing on the Twitter App War that's currently raging online. Twitterrific, TweetDeck and others (popular with commenters: Pwitter and DestroyTwitter) are waging the ground battle, while Twitterrific (mobile), Tweetie and TwitterFon (to name a few) are fighting it out in the air.
Today we got our hands on a beta of Lounge, a new client for Mac OS X (and iPhone/iPod touch). It's definitely got a way to go (I saw more beach balls than Memorial Day at Hilton Head), but I see where they're going and I like it.
First off, there's support for multiple accounts, and switching between them is easy. A series of buttons appear horizontally in the left of the window, including "My 2 Cents" (which displays just your tweets), Favorites, Friends, Replies and my favorite, Vanity, which finds all occurrences of your Twitter handle.
Mouse over a user's tweet to see options to re-tweet, copy the URL, open in a browser and more. I really like the option to view user details, which lets you see just that user's tweets, his followers, those being followed and profile and URL.
It is kind of wide (wider than Twitterrific but not TweetDeck, of course) so those with small displays be warned. Also, some may be put off by the pastel-colored icons. Still, it shows promise. Check it out if you're up for it, and provide some feedback to make Lounge better.TUAWBeta Beat: Twitter app Lounge originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: Pocket Money 2.0 for iPhone
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look
It always makes me happy to see a familiar name on a press release, so when I received a note this morning about PocketMoney 2.0 for iPhone (click opens iTunes) now being available in the App Store, I took more interest than usual in the news.
Hardy Macia and his company, Catamount Software, have been developing software for mobile devices and Macs since the Newton MessagePad reigned supreme in the PDA world. In fact, that's when I first became familiar with PocketMoney. Fifteen years later, PocketMoney is still an excellent mobile app for keeping track of expenses, incomes and budgets.
There are so many new changes and features in the 2.0 version of PocketMoney that Catamount has released a 13-page document (click to download) describing them in detail. I like the new budget features, which show you at a glance how you're doing with meeting or missing a categorized budget. Catamount has added a library of video tutorials that take users step-by-step through almost every function of the app.
If you'd like to give PocketMoney 2.0 a try, there's a free Lite version (click opens iTunes) that has all of the capabilities of the full version, but is limited to 2 accounts and 2 repeating transactions. The full version is currently on sale for US$4.99.
To learn more about PocketMoney 2.0, check out the gallery below.
TUAWFirst Look: Pocket Money 2.0 for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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