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Choosy helps those with Browser Commitment Phobia
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Are you the type of person who just can't settle down? Do you find your needs just can't be met by any one of the multiple options available to you? Can you even remember how many different browsers you've been with? If that sounds like you, you should be glad to hear that Choosy has left beta.

We've mentioned Choosy before but in case you missed it during the beta cycle, here's what Choosy does for you: Choosy is a preference pane which lets you keep your browser options open.

Do you love Safari, but sometimes find that you need to use Firefox for a particular website? Are you a fan of Fluid (which lets you create site-specific browsers), or you want all your RSS links to open in your personalized Google Reader browser?

When you select a link, instead of your default browser, a Choosy window will appear; you can configure it to show all of your available browsers, or just the ones which are currently running. Or you can set a default to use except if you hold down the shift key, for example.

That latter functionality is what led me to give Choosy another look. I tried it during the beta period and found that most of the time I wanted links to open in Safari, but there were some I wanted to open in Firefox or Fluid. While having to choose a browser for every link proved to be too distracting, the 1.0 version allows you to create very precise rules.

For example, I can setup Safari to be my default browser, but if I click a link while holding down the shift/command/alt key, then that link will automatically be opened in Firefox.

My favorite rule? If Web address contains constantcontact.com then use Firefox. Constant Contact is a great service, but they are very aggressive about which web browsers they support. Now I can stop thinking about this, and if I come across a Constant Contact link, it will automatically open it in Firefox.

Do you have a Fluid SSB for Facebook or Twitter? If so, you can make sure that all of those links open in your site-specific browser.

Choosy is shareware. You can try it free and without any limitation for 45 days. In my experience that will be plenty of time to decide if Choosy is the right choice for you. If it is, you can register it for $12 and continue to enjoy surfing the web with multiple partners... err, browsers.
TUAW Choosy helps those with Browser Commitment Phobia originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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IPCC tethering trick no longer works in iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2
Filed under: iPhone
Torqued over the lack of tethering support from AT&T? Taken matters into your own hands? TUAW has learned that, with the release of iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2, tethering via the IPCC hack no longer works for AT&T customers.

While iPhone OS 3.0 provides support for tethering, AT&T has yet to officially support it. As a workaround to obtain tethering (as well as MMS for some), some users have modified their carrier files (IPCC). As of 3.1 beta 2, this no longer works.

It's not that surprising that Apple would want close this loophole... but it is a little surprising that AT&T has yet to announce a firm date or rate plan for US customers to tether their iPhones.

[It should go without saying, but if you enable tethering on your 3.0 iPhone, you do so at your own risk; AT&T may slam you with a data overage bill or worse.]
TUAW IPCC tethering trick no longer works in iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple posts beta 2 for iPhone OS 3.1
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, SDK
Are you an iPhone dev? If so, head on over to Apple's iPhone Developer Center and download the latest 3.1 beta. Although 3.0 is just a few weeks old, Apple is already busy at work creating the next release and causing those of us who do technical writing to try our hardest to keep up.

3.1 remains under an ongoing NDA and I cannot post details about any changes. So far the servers do not appear to be swamped so head on over and start your downloads. Separate SDK releases are available for Leopard and Snow Leopard, a policy Apple began with its 3.0 gold master SDK.

Thanks, everyone who is e-mailing us about this!
TUAW Apple posts beta 2 for iPhone OS 3.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hands on with TuneWiki for iPhone
Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Reviews, iPhone, iPod touch
Yesterday I downloaded a copy of TuneWiki, the new free iPhone application that lets you listen to streaming radio and your personal media collection while displaying lyrics. I tried out Lyrics+ last week and was looking forward to seeing what TuneWiki would bring to the table. What I found was a mix of promising capabilities mixed with a few preliminary growing pains.
What's great about TuneWiki (iTunes link) is its ready access to so many media sources. When I started it already listening to music, it immediately loaded the proper album, cued up the lyrics to the proper point, and started showing me a live feed of the synced words. That's pretty awesome.

It should be noted that TuneWiki has a direct licensing deal with Universal EMI, Sony, and about 16,000 publishers in 1800 groups including Warner (via the Harry Fox Agency) as well as deals in Greece, Israel, Spain, Germany, Turkey, and so forth. Every attempt has been made to license this lyric use world wide. Amnon Sarig, TuneWiki founder, told TUAW that he's worked hard on securing these world wide licensing agreements to ensure that TuneWiki has rights to display lyrics wherever it is used. "No one else has worldwide exploitation rights," he told us. "I've been in the licensing business for 11 years and as far as I know, the only other application on App store that exploits lyrics legally has their licenses limited to the United States."

Continue reading Hands on with TuneWiki for iPhone
TUAW Hands on with TuneWiki for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Infectious sponsors "Cut to the Core" design contest for new laptop skins
Filed under: Accessories, Cult of Mac, Macbook Pro, MacBook, Graphic Design

If you'd like to see your design on a laptop and earn a little extra money to boot, head over to Infectious and check out their Cut to the Core design contest. They are accepting entries for a new run of MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop skins from now until August 4. Each skin is designed around a cut out that'll expose the glowing Apple logo on laptops. Be sure to read the rules carefully (you can't, for example, use the Apple logo in your design) and remember that the contest is voted on by the Infectious community.

First place winner gets $1000 cash prize, $100 of Infectious product and 5% net sales. All winners get $100 Infectious product and 5% net sales. Yep, net sales. Winning designs will be announced exclusively on TUAW around August 20, 2009. Stay tuned and good luck to those who enter!
TUAW Infectious sponsors "Cut to the Core" design contest for new laptop skins originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Visua Mobile's old Apples collection
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends
A couple of months ago I wound up in Paris and received a surprising direct message via Twitter from a young employee at Visua Mobile. Having nothing better to do in the City of Light, I wound up at their offices. I'm often suspect when a "mobile" development company rings me about their iPhone stable. Just like my tea, I prefer my developers steeped in Apple. Well, Visua Mobile is certainly made up of Apple fans. Just check out the gallery of their offices to see what I mean.

Visua's raison d'etre would be iPhone apps. To my astonishment, none have been runaway hits. They are beautifully designed and generally work well (some 3.0 bugs crept up). Visua gained some noteriety around their app, Fracture, that would make the iPhone screen appear broken when pressed. But they make a host of already-approved apps, including Celebrity, which features a special magazine cover just for TUAW fans.

Gallery: VIsua Mobile
TUAW Visua Mobile's old Apples collection originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A funny Microsoft ad? Yes
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Odds and ends
I'm not a big fan of Microsoft marketing and promotion. The Seinfield/Gates ads left my scratching my head, and the Laptop Hunter ads really irritated me.

Now Microsoft has released a really clever marketing video, but apparently had to leave their regular (Mac loving) agency behind.

The video, called Microsoft Office 2010-The Movie (YouTube link) was made by Dennis Liu of Traffik Filmworks (we interviewed him last year). He had a free hand and a big checkbook, and the video that resulted is hip, clever, and fun to watch. We even get a quick glance of Clippy's grave.

I was beginning to think that Microsoft was suffering from a complete humor bypass, but this shot at building expectations and mindshare for Office 2010 is a sure winner.

And remember that Microsoft will offer a free, web based stripped down version sometime next year that supports the Mac on Safari or on FireFox.

Now what happened to Microsoft Bob?
TUAW A funny Microsoft ad? Yes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mac 101: iCal calendar subscriptions
Filed under: Productivity, Tips and tricks, Mac 101
iCal has always been an elegant program. Though it has a "subscribe" function for public calendars, it hasn't always played nicely with other devices and other calendars. This limitation forced many a user to seek greener pastures elsewhere, like Google Calendar. Calendars created in Google's web app permitted a better cross-platform solution for home and mobile use, but made iCal clunky and hard to use, even when you only subscribed to your own Google calendars.

Recently, Apple enabled CalDAV subscriptions on the iPhone (which also play well with Google Calendar); that made me dust off my copy of iCal and take a second look. If you're not using iCal at all, you may want to take a moment to learn about what you can do with it.

The idea of calendar subscriptions is simple: store a calendar event database somewhere online, and then provide a link in a common format for calendar programs such as iCal to access. The calendar program then imports the calendar data and puts it in your calendar, updating itself at a frequency of your choosing.

Online databases of public calendar links abound, and you can add calendars from your local little league schedule to stargazing guides to the galaxy in your area. The format that Apple uses is the "ics" format, and you'll see calendars with that extension all over the web.
Continue reading Mac 101: iCal calendar subscriptions
TUAW Mac 101: iCal calendar subscriptions originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Two song Digital 45s now available in iTunes
Filed under: iTunes
Apple today added new "D45s" to the Music section in the iTunes Store [iTunes link]. This package includes two songs, just like many of the old 45 RPM records back in the day. Their prices range from $1.49 - $1.99, with over 20 different artists to choose from. There are some old favorites, along with recently released content. Many of the D45s include some uncommon songs not previously released on the iTunes Store. This follows in the tradition of some B-side music, where tracks were thrown on the back of the 45 for "added value." Check it out, there should be something for everyone to enjoy.

[Via iLounge]
TUAW Two song Digital 45s now available in iTunes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple distributes 1.5B apps in App Store's first year
Filed under: Apple Corporate, App Store

Apple announced today in a short press release that it had ~~sold~~ distributed 1.5 billion iPhone and iPod touch applications during the App Store's first year of existence.

Despite the slow economy, App Store ~~sales~~ downloads appear to have accelerated since last year, showing a fairly positive polynomial trend. Apple is ~~selling~~ offering (via a packet-switched network) apps roughly five times faster than it did when the store opened.

The App Store now features 65,000 apps available to users in 77 countries. The iPhone Developer Program includes 100,000 members, too.

(Chart sources: 1, 2, 3, 4.)
TUAW Apple distributes 1.5B apps in App Store's first year originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWDC Demo (and sneak peek): SciFly 2, a dogfight app for your iPhone or iPod touch
Filed under: Gaming, WWDC, iPhone, iPod touch

I was shocked to discover the young author of SciFly (iTunes link) hadn't even graduated high school when he first started coding, and wrote the original game while in high school. Based on his success with the first version, he dropped out of high school and has dedicated himself to iPhone development. From what I saw of SciFly 2, it may pay off. The sequel is a massive expansion on the original, with every bit of it written by a young man who seemed to have a versatile skill set and a passion for mobile development. We'll post on Twitter and Facebook when the sequel is available on the store. You can also try a a Lite version of the original here (iTunes link).
TUAW WWDC Demo (and sneak peek): SciFly 2, a dogfight app for your iPhone or iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lyric fetchin' lovin': how to batch fetch lyrics with GimmeSomeTune and Needle Drop
Filed under: How-tos, iTunes, AppleScript
One neat little thing about the iPod and iPhone family of devices is their ability to display lyrics -- supported by all iPod nanos as well as the iPhone/iPod touch, and iPod Classic 5th generation and higher. On the iPhone and iPod touch, lyrics show up when a song is loaded (and can be re-displayed by tapping on the screen while a song is playing); while on the iPod nano, pressing the center button several times while a song is playing will cycle you through to display lyrics.

But the real issue isn't so much about displaying lyrics as much as it is obtaining them. PearLyrics was once my tried and true favorite way of getting lyrics, but it passed away some time ago.
Continue reading Lyric fetchin' lovin': how to batch fetch lyrics with GimmeSomeTune and Needle Drop
TUAW Lyric fetchin' lovin': how to batch fetch lyrics with GimmeSomeTune and Needle Drop originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Easy visualization with Daisy Disk
Filed under: Software, Leopard

Daisy Disk is the perfect example of one of those tools that should be built right into OS X.

It's the latest in disk visualization utilities -- software that scans your hard drive and lets you know which files are being hard drive hogs (in my case, World of Warcraft - no big surprise there). But, it's the added features that turn this from basic to "wow, why didn't Apple develop something like this?"

Once you initiate the software, you'll see a list of mounted drives on your network that you can scan. I scanned my main drive. It took less than four minutes for it to go through the 120GB drive and display everything in a circular graphic that does remind you of a daisy wheel.

Each section of your drive is color-coded for its specific purpose. The closest parts to the center of the graphic are the root levels. Going further out will net you very specific details on file sizes. Clicking on one section move it to the forefront and let you see everything on that level. When you get down to the files themselves, tap the space bar to preview the file. Then, right click to expose those files in the Finder, then do what you wish with them. Then, click on the inner circle to go back out to the level above. For smaller files and folders, it's better to use the list on the side rather than try to pick things out of the wheel.

Doing this enabled me to find large files that I hadn't seen in years, including a folder of old backups from 2006 that got carried over from my iBook. Deleting those netted me 7GB of space. The only feature really not working properly is the preview portion. When I tried playing .M4V video sources, I was rewarded with a grey screen. Regular .AVIs were fine.

DaisyDisk costs $19.95USD and requires OS X 10.5 or higher. You can do a full-featured download for free, which gives you a great taste of what it has to offer. For those wanting the same sort of tools, but for free, give OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective a try.
TUAW Easy visualization with Daisy Disk originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWDC Demo: Slick Shopper
Filed under: WWDC, iPhone, iPod touch

Slick Shopper is a slick little list app. It does one very specific thing: make shopping lists. In fact, the developer thought through little details such as a location-specific context for your lists. If you're needing things only in your bedroom (perhaps a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond is in your future?), Slick Shopper will winnow the list down to just those items with a couple of clicks.

While list apps are plentiful on the store, yet again we see a plethora of choices covering niche angles. Now the only problem is not littering your iPhone with list apps -- not to be confused with "to do" apps. Slick Shopper (iTunes link) is currently $.99 on the App Store.
TUAW WWDC Demo: Slick Shopper originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Finding an app in a haystack
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

As of July 11th, the iPhone/iPod touch App Store housed 56,081 different apps according to Jeff Scott of 148apps.com.

Taking a quick look, I found over 400 different fart apps. This alone is pretty scary and would lead me to believe that any app that might be either useful or funny, or even totally pointless, has so many variations that without knowing an app name, searching for something that interests me would soon become a Herculean task.

Apple hasn't made this easy since using the iTunes store search is pretty rough and usually brings up many choices that don't seem to contain what you want. i really hope that Apple addresses this in the future since the current method just isn't nearly good enough.

As is often the case, intrepid app aficionados have jumped into the fray and given us some help in finding just the right app:
- Freeappalert.com prints a listing, updated daily, of apps that have just gone from paid to free. This is a great place to start a search because more than once have I run into the situation where I bought an app and later found that a free one did just as good if not better. To give you an example, the site has listed fifteen apps that just went free today, July 13th. They also provide a listing of apps that became free over the last few days.
- Appshopper.com lets you search by topics such as: what's new, what's free, what has been updated, and what has changed in price. The site mentions that it's still in testing and more features will be forthcoming. Recent additions to the site include buttons for "Want it" and "Have it."
- 148apps.com, along with listing what's new and free, relates their favorite 148 apps along with tracking 148 games, both free and paid, as well as 148 general apps, again both free and paid.
- Iviewer.com is in the midst of collecting apps from readers. They are looking for apps that haven't appeared in any top 10 lists. This doesn't seem as if would provide as broad a field of information as the other sites.
- Macworld's App Guide is the best-organized and most functional site I've found. Apps are categorized by type, which alone saves a lot of time. Price reductions are noted as well as groups of popular apps featured. The nicest part of the site is a really functional search box that puts the one found in the iTunes store to shame. Type in a phrase and you will get nicely sorted, useful results. I've found this to be less than complete, but as someone once said: 'in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King.'
Try some of these out and see if it helps you successfully navigate through the quickly increasing mountain of apps.

I know that I haven't scratched the surface of sites that can help with app searching, so please tell us what you have found and what makes your site discovery unique and especially helpful in marketing iPhone/iTouch apps.
TUAW Finding an app in a haystack originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The mighty mini, take two: DIY video baby monitor
Filed under: Video, Cool tools, How-tos, Mac mini, iPhone
What do you get when you combine a new parent on maternity leave with a love of gadgets and Apple products? Why, you get "baby monitor overkill!"

In response to Dave Caolo's recent ode to the Mac mini, I figured it was time to step up. I had two things gathering dust: my old standalone iSight, a gorgeous example of Apple design sadly idle since the advent of built-in iSights, and a lovely new Intel Mac Mini that was recently scored on sale at MicroCenter with plans to set it up for my older two kids once I could get my hands on a small LCD monitor.

I figured in the meantime it would serve nicely as a baby monitor, since I couldn't find a matching transmitter/receiver pair among the various baby monitors I had accumulated over the years. My idea was that it would live discreetly, headless and tailless (monitor, keyboard, and mouse-free) in the baby's room, and broadcast both locally on my network and also wide-area so grandparents could tune in remotely.

For the initial setup, I needed a monitor, but fortunately my TV has a PC (VGA) port, which I used to configure the mini. I set it to login automatically to the main account and join my Airport network. In System Preferences, I enabled screen sharing and added iChat as a login item. In iChat, I enabled Bonjour and instant messaging, added myself as a buddy, and restricted chats to preapproved users under security preferences. Because I didn't want to connect via screen sharing every time I wanted to initiate a chat, I typed the following into Terminal so that it would auto-accept any incoming video chats:
```
defaults write com.apple.ichat AutoAcceptVCInvitations 1
```
After that, I set it adrift on the network. From my main computer, I watched the mini pop up on Bonjour after reboot, and we were off and running.

While this worked great for my own local use, it had some inherent restrictions: remote users (aka "grandparents who love to watch sleeping grandsons") couldn't join the chat easily. Spouses at work had issues with company restrictions on AIM. Plus, it was iPhone-unfriendly; the holy grail for me was turning the iPhone into a video terminal that followed me around.

I went through a few different ideas: private channel on Justin.tv (great for multiple viewers, but awash in advertising, restricted at work, and unavailable on iPhone), Skype (great video, automatic call acceptance and limited iPhone capabilities, but terrible for multiple viewers), and complicated setups involving QuickTime Broadcaster. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel (well, no more than I already was doing), I hit upon SJKM's iCam software, which is an iPhone application & accompanying cross-platform video streaming tool specifically designed for video monitoring, available in the iTunes store for $4.99. Initially dismissed for lack of audio, it has since enabled audio monitoring and non-iPhone web access, making it an almost perfect setup. Why "almost?" Well, for reasons I cannot quite figure out, the video is much choppier than AIM, Bonjour, Justin.tv, or Skype. But it works over 3G and Wi-Fi, and it connects multiple viewers without requiring conference setup.

And now, with SJKM's latest update, iCam can run in the background and push notification will alert me to sound or video motion. I have not yet enabled that feature, as it is a $.99 add-on and still pending Apple approval in the store.

Ultimately, I ended up using a variety of different applications, but I can report a lot of very satisfied relatives dreamily cooing at the computer screens from Portland, OR, to Philadelphia, PA. All thanks to the mac mini and the standalone iSight. And one very cute baby (if I do say so myself.)

Upcoming: that's great, but can you make it work in the dark? Adventures in IR.....
TUAW The mighty mini, take two: DIY video baby monitor originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWDC Demo: Flogger, a flight logger for iPhone
Filed under: Cool tools, WWDC, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

We're winding down the last of our WWDC video demos this week, and today we're looking at Flogger, a simple but powerful flight logger for iPhones and iPod touch handhelds (despite a name that might make you look twice). I'm not a pilot, but some of the features sounded pretty nifty, including a method for exporting your logs to Google Docs, right in the app. Other nice options include a huge database of airport codes, the ability to flag entries as simulator flights, and a fast method for adding crew members from your Address Book.

Flogger (iTunes link) is currently $9.99 in the App Store.
TUAW WWDC Demo: Flogger, a flight logger for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Fortune: Microsoft about to offer online version of Office for free
Filed under: Rumors, Freeware, Internet Tools
Yep. Zip. Zero. Nothing. Fortune Magazine is reporting that Microsoft will announce a free, web based version of Office to be available sometime next year.

Before you ask, it appears the online version will support Firefox and Safari, as well as the ubiquitous Internet Explorer.

Is Microsoft nuts? Maybe not. The software giant is fighting free versions that do pretty much everything Office does. Microsoft apparently believes it can hook people on the free version, while getting them in the tent and anxious to upgrade to the application version that will work better and faster and have some more features.

On the Mac side, Apple sells the iWork package for US$79.00 which is cheaper than any Mac version of Office available. There is also Neo Office (free-donation requested) and Think Free Office ($49.95) along with Google Docs -- which is not as feature rich as Office but it is offered at no cost. Open Office (free) is also a possibility. There is a version for both Intel Macs and PowerPC hardware.
TUAW Fortune: Microsoft about to offer online version of Office for free originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mac 101: Force Quit
Filed under: Mac 101
If you're switching from Windows you may be familiar with an old friend, the Task Manager. Apple provides a similar tool, with an easy way to force unruly applications to quit. I'll get to why you'd want to do this in a moment. To access Force Quit, you can either go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen, and choose Force Quit... Alternately, you can press three keys at once: Command + Option + Esc.* It's sort of the Mac version of Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Why would you want to force an application to quit? Sometimes applications get "stuck" for whatever reason and can't recover. If you notice the "rainbow wheel" spinning when you try to access the application and it just won't do anything, check the Force Quit tool and see if the name of the application is red and there's a parenthetical warning "not responding." This is your cue to use Force Quit -- just be aware that sometimes an application might not be responding, but might still be "alive." Typically what I do is go grab a cup of coffee, or stretch, and give the app 2-5 minutes to get itself together. If it is still stuck, I force quit.

For more on Force Quit, check out this Apple tips article on "Knowing When to (Force) Quit." And knowing is half the battle.

*Fixed, thanks to the handy commenters!
TUAW Mac 101: Force Quit originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rumor Watch: Apple touchscreen netbook on tap for October
Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Apple
Rumors about an Apple "netbook" or "tablet" have been rampant for years, but if a report today on the Taiwanese news site Info Times is any indication, a touchscreen Mac may finally be coming to market in October of this year. This would put the new device in stores in time for the prime holiday buying season.

MacRumors has published a translation of an Info Times article that states that Taiwanese manufacturers Foxconn, Dynapack, and Wintek have all received orders from Apple for components or (in the case of Foxconn) finished product with respect to a 9.7" diagonal screen tablet device. Foxconn reportedly lost out on much of the manufacturing of the new generation of MacBooks, but has been tapped for the touchscreen netbook due to the success they had working with Apple on designing and manufacturing the iPhone.

Earlier this year, TUAW reported that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster expects Apple to release a touchscreen device. However, his prognostication pointed to a release in 2010.

Several updates have been posted to the MacRumors translation. The first notes that the manufacturers have all denied being involved with Apple on a netbook. In all cases, the manufacturers have company policies that prohibit disclosure of client information. Another update reports that several British reporters have received confirmation from Foxconn employees about the device, while a third mentions that the screen size choice was based on that of the Amazon Kindle DX.

Due to the integration of touchscreen technology into the device, it is expected that it will retail for more than traditional netbooks at around $800. As with all rumors dealing with new Apple devices, take this with a very large grain of salt, and don't put off any purchase decisions based on what could once again be wishful thinking on the part of Mac fans.
TUAW Rumor Watch: Apple touchscreen netbook on tap for October originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Blinded by the light? RadTech's ClearCal may save your eyes
Filed under: Accessories, Odds and ends, iMac, Macbook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air
Since Apple made the design decision to forgo glare-free screens on MacBooks, iMacs, and Cinema Displays, a common problem for lots of users is reflection of light off of displays. It seems to be particularly bad if you sit with your back to a window, and it can cause both figurative and literal headaches.

RadTech has come out with some cool products for Macs over the years. For example, I've owned at least one of their ScreenSavrz "LCD Display protection, cleaning, and refinishing systems" for each MacBook I've had. The company is always in touch with the pulse of the Mac community, so it didn't entirely surprise me when they recently started selling ClearCal Anti-Glare films for MacBook, MacBook Pro, 24" iMac, and the 24" Cinema Display.

ClearCal is similar to the films you can get for iPhone and iPod touch screens, but in addition to protecting your screen, it also provides a solution for those pesky reflections. As you can see in the marketing shot to the right, it appears to do a decent job of making your Mac screen anti-glare. You can even remove the ClearCal a few times, wash it, and re-install it.

RadTech has an installation video if you're interested in seeing how easy or difficult it is to apply the ClearCal film to your display. Pricing starts at US$19.95 and peaks at US$25.95 for the 24" iMac and CInema Display. As soon as I replace my old iMac with a new 24", I'm installing a ClearCal so I can see more of my screen and less of the glare from the picture window behind me.
TUAW Blinded by the light? RadTech's ClearCal may save your eyes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Talkcast reminder: 100th show tonight at 10 pm ET
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week, Mel and I joined newcomer Sang Tang for a review of the week's news and rumors. You can download the show, along with all past shows, from Talkshoe or subscribe in iTunes.

Believe it or not, tonight is our 100th talkcast, and we're bringing in a crowd to take your calls and questions. When we started back in August of 2007, the iPhone was only a month old, the Leopard on-sale date was still two months away, and the App Store was just a glimmer in our collective eyes. A lot has changed in those two years -- c'mon by tonight and let us know what your top stories are from the past 100 weeks.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then! Transcripts of the Talkshoe text chat are available here.
Recording support for the talkcast is provided by Call Recorder from ecamm networks.
TUAW Talkcast reminder: 100th show tonight at 10 pm ET originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Radio Gaga, music lovers' new best friend
Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Deals
Would you like to simultaneously record multiple Internet radio stations and rapidly increase the size of your iTunes library? Allow me to introduce Radio Gaga. It's essentially Snowtape on steroids, capable of recording dozens of stations simultaneously. Of course, it's great for just listening to Internet radio, but with multi-recording and scheduling features, track separation and tagging, and one-click export to iTunes, it's also a handy way to beef up your music collection. With the wealth of radio stations available on the 'net, you're guaranteed to find music you've never heard, but will probably dig.

You can set preferred bitrates and filter the listings (thousands built-in or add your own) based on bitrates or your own ratings. Search by keywords in titles and descriptions and narrow down the very general genre categories to your particular tastes. The built in player works with stations or tracks you've recorded, and has a minimized "Remote Control" view, easily triggered with a Command-2 shortcut. Optional Growl-like notifications keep you up-to-date on what's playing and what's recording.

You can organize your favorite stations and tracks with folders and playlists. When it comes to tracks, I'd much rather build an iTunes playlist, which is a simple matter of highlighting the tracks you want to keep and hitting the "Send to iTunes" button on the track page. You can set a preference to have tracks removed from the Radio Gaga folder and track listings when they've been added to iTunes. I'm unsure, as usual, about the legality of recording 'net radio in this fashion, and what implications it has for the stations themselves. I guess we'll see.

The program is polished and usable right now, but I'd love to see a few things improve: better keyboard navigation and configurable hotkeys, on-the-fly normalization, an option to save only full tracks, and a track/artist display in the mini-view when listening to live radio. Despite my nit-picking, the app is really impressive, and thanks to a special introductory rate at the MacUpdate Promo site, good through July 19th, I picked it up for $19.99US. It will be $39.99 after that, but you've got a few days to take advantage of the intro rate. A free trial is available, check it out.
TUAW Radio Gaga, music lovers' new best friend originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone may debut in Chinese market by early 2010, sans Wi-Fi
Filed under: Apple, iPhone
Two reports from Friday indicate that the iPhone will soon make it to market in China, although the Communist government wants to make sure that users aren't free to use their newly-acquired Apple goodness to criticize official policies.

Gizmodo published an unconfirmed report that China Unicom may have a deal with Apple to sell iPhones with Wi-Fi blocked. Some of our readers might comment that China Unicom could just sell customers devices that have been upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0, since Wi-Fi doesn't appear to be working properly on many of those iPhones, but the Chinese government wants assurance that Wi-Fi is blocked on any iPhones sold in the country.

Why? To quote Gizmodo, "it's harder to sniff local packets than ones drifting through a wide-area network." What they're referring to here is the Golden Shield Project, known to many as the "Great Firewall of China." That's the Internet censorship and surveillance project run by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

The Gizmodo post is in turn based on a story by Business Week, which is reporting that Apple applied yesterday (July 10th) to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for a Network Access License to sell the iPhone in the country. Business Week notes that Apple may receive permission to officially sell iPhones in The Middle Kingdom by the time of the Spring Festival in 2010, which occurs in January.
TUAW iPhone may debut in Chinese market by early 2010, sans Wi-Fi originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TUAW picks the 10 worst App Store search phrases
Filed under: App Store
Recently Fortune picked the 10 dumbest iPhone apps for 2009. In response, I thought we should pick ten search phrases that are more or less guaranteed to produce a list of horrible applications.

Our list follows. Are they the worst possible search terms? Probably not. But they're certainly guaranteed to return subquality results in your App Store search. (Yes, it is the weekend.)

So join in and add your favorite (bad) search phrases to the comments. And remember, unless a search phrase returns at least three or four really appallingly crappy applications, it does not qualify for the title.
1. jiggle: While not as salacious as you might first imagine, this search does bring up both Wobble iBoobs!! [sic], iJiggles Your Mom, and Bikini Fart.
2. pong: We love pong, but we hope we've moved past its retro appeal as far as the App Store goes. Current pong search results include Beer Pong (in several forms), iBlow Ping-Pong Ball (from CLapps!), and Cow Pong Beef.
3. gross: No, we're not talking about items that come 144 per case. An App Store search for 'gross' returns such winners as 101 Gross Sounds, Gross Facts, and (strangely enough) Speed Muscles MD, a game that challenges you to point to specific muscle groups on a cadaver. (Okay, the reviews for this last one aren't bad but the idea is just freaky unless you're a medical student.)
4. stupid: What did the great F. Gump say on this topic? One is what one does? Or at least something like that. A search for stupid returns an absolute bonanza of applications from developers who clearly have a sense of humor. Titles include Make a Face, Stupidity Test, The Idiot Test, Are You Stupider than a Kindergartner and the $0.99 A Stupid Button, which says "That's Stupid" after you have already bought and paid for it.
5. annoy: From dog whistlers, to random noise, to apps targeted to irritating our furry friends, bad App Store entries abound. There's a "Wooo!" Button app, a Free Turkey Calls app, and even one called Annoyance!. The exclamation point is courtesy of the developer.
6. jared: I know it's a little disingenuous for me to include Jared as a search term, given how I love that insanely stupid little app. But after searching for it on the App Store and finding Top Sexiest Men-Jared Leto, Screen Cleaner (from Jared Judd), SupaFan for Supernatural Fans, and The Book of Mormon Plants and Animals (no insult to LDS members, it just seems like a poor choice for an iPhone app), I knew I had to add this phrase to the list.
7. calm: I don't care how much you love your iPhone, it's not going to deliver a light spa day, provide ultimate relaxation or iSoothe your soul. I'm sure those apps are well intended but I'm also sure they're...well, see the title of this piece.
8. pickup: Without being overly insensitive, if you're carrying around an iPhone full of pickup lines, you've probably missed the point. Standouts include Lovetricity, iWingman, and (yes, you knew this was coming), Coed Spring Break
9. strip: If you're sensing a theme, well so am I. Soft pr0n seems to sell a lot of iPhone applications. Items on this search include iStrip (including its Sexy Pen edition), Poker vs Girls Strip Poker, and of course some sort of Hooters app. Sheesh.
10. fart: Yes, no worst search list would be complete without a search for "fart", including such marvelous cultural treats as Fart Shaker Deluxe, Juicy Fart, Fart Lighter, and Atomic Fart. With about 500 fart-related apps in the store, it's a benchmark of goofy that other app categories can only aspire to meet.
So, that's our list. Now let's see your picks for the worst searches in the App Store.
TUAW TUAW picks the 10 worst App Store search phrases originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lessons from Marcia Brady: why Eric Schmidt should resign from Apple's board
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate
One of my favorite episodes of The Brady Bunch is "Quarterback Sneak." In it, Marcia starts dating Jerry Rogers, quarterback of the Fairview High School football team. Problem is, Fairview happens to be the rival of Marcia & Greg's Westdale High School, and the two teams are scheduled to play in their annual big game on Saturday.

Marcia may not see it (Marcia, Marcia, Marcia never seems to), but it's fairly apparent that Jerry Rogers isn't as concerned about winning Marcia's heart as he is about winning the big game against Westdale.

But Marcia has to find this out the hard way, as she always does. The story unfolds in an oh-so-predictable sitcom television manner:
Marcia invites Jerry in for a drink of lemonade.
While Marcia is preparing the lemonade, Jerry snoops around and takes a look at the Westdale playbook, which happens to be on the coffee table.
Bobby, who just got flattened by the teeter totter outside, sees that Jerry is up to no good. Marcia sees none of this. She's too busy preparing lemonade.
Bobby and Greg confront Marcia about Jerry's evil, no good do-er ways; Marcia, being Marcia, is obviously in a state of denial and dares Bobby and Greg to prove her wrong. And they did.

On their next lemonade date, Marcia sees that Jerry, indeed, could not resist swiping the Westdale playbook. Needless to say, Marcia's crushed.
With Google announcing its intention to develop the Chrome OS, Apple has a Jerry Rogers-like situation right now with Google CEO Eric Schmidt sitting on its board of directors. Although Schmidt says there's "no issue" at the moment, the best situation for both parties would be one in which Schmidt relieved himself of his duties on Apple's board of directors.
Continue reading Lessons from Marcia Brady: why Eric Schmidt should resign from Apple's board
TUAW Lessons from Marcia Brady: why Eric Schmidt should resign from Apple's board originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday Favorite: SpreadTweet
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Friday Favorite
Not since the Cola Wars or the Cold War have we seen a battle as fierce as The Twitter App Wars. Like salmon swimming upstream, each little app is fighting to gain your affection. I believe that there's no one Twitter app to rule them all. Instead, individual tastes and needs dictate which one becomes your go-to solution.

Unless you're trying to be sneaky.

If you're the type who loves to tweet but works for a boss who'd rather you spend your time being productive than tweeting pictures of your lunch, SpreadTweet is for you. Just launch, sign in and you're good to go. SpreadTweet looks just like an Excel spreadsheet. In fact, we'd wager that it'd fool anyone who doesn't actually stop to read what's written there.

It runs on Adobe Air, which turns some people off. Those folks can use the web-based version (which probably kills the illusion).
TUAW Friday Favorite: SpreadTweet originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Did an iPod toast a Saab?
Filed under: iPod Family, Bad Apple
Apple always seems to have a lot of fire-related news. Overheating iPhones, power adapters melting down, and now we have word from Sweden that a 2007 Saab burned to a crisp, and the experts there suggest an iPod as the culprit.

It as been determined there was no technical problem with the car, but the owner had an iPod, a mobile phone and a digital camera in the car. The iPod was on the front seat, and that is where the fire apparently started. The Saab was not even running when the fire broke out. It's not known if the iPod was charging, or just sitting there by itself.

The investigation is ongoing. We all know Apple makes some hot products, but this one may have been a little too hot.

Here's a link to the Google translation of the original Swedish article. We'll let you know if we hear more.

[via Engadget]
TUAW Did an iPod toast a Saab? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple proposes iPhone/iPod touch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth fixes
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

Apple has just released a Knowledge Base document detailing a number of potential fixes for one of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth problems that have plagued iPod touch and iPhone handhelds. The article specifically addresses the inability to use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth due to not seeing the Bluetooth or Wi-Fi address on the device. This includes getting a Wi-Fi signal but not being able to access the Internet, not being able to pair a Bluetooth device, and having the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth icon grayed out.

Four solutions are proposed in a step-by-step manner. The solutions range from resetting the network settings to restoring the device back to a bare 3.0 install, which erases all data. No worries there, since you can always re-sync your device with the information on its host computer, assuming you have a current backup.

The fourth solution is a bit darker. Call Apple for service. If this doesn't do it, you are directed to a second article which talks about re-doing your network settings and turning the network settings off and then on again.

Neither article deals with the basic problems of speed and sporadic signal strength. Please let us know if these solutions do the trick for you.

[via iLounge]
TUAW Apple proposes iPhone/iPod touch Wi-Fi and Bluetooth fixes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dateline - add a linear calendar to your Mac's desktop
Filed under: Freeware
I love simple utilities, and Dateline certainly fits that bill. This small application puts a linear calendar on your screen that shows a dot on the current date, and will jump to a given date in iCal if you double-click it. That's pretty much the full extent of what Dateline does, but in this case simplicity equals elegance.

Considering its functionality, Dateline contains a reasonably complete set of preferences that control how it is displayed. You can choose the colors and opacity for each visual element, the size of the overall date line, the window level (as Gruber points out, setting this to Desktop icons seems to be the most reasonable setting), whether or not to show the month's name, and the option to hide the app's icon in the dock.

After trying it for only a couple minutes, Dateline immediately went into my list of applications that automatically open at login.
TUAW Dateline - add a linear calendar to your Mac's desktop originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WWDC Demo: two tip calculators
Filed under: WWDC, iPhone, iPod touch

What do Calcutipr and Gratuitous have in common? They are both tip calculators. Yet what seems like a simple thing shows amazing diversity on the App Store, with well over 3 dozen tip calculators available. What makes these two different from the rest? I have no idea, not having tested the dozens of other options available.

But I can tell you choosing a tip calculator has now become largely one of personal preference. Calcutipr (iTunes link), for example, has a sleek and functional interface with lots of options. You can hit a button to round up, for example. Gratuitous (iTunes link), on the other hand, is more "designed" and streamlines functions like splitting a bill. Both do the same thing, but in different ways and with different options. Tip calcs are like shoes: they all do essentially the same thing, so your decision boils down to what you like and what you'll pay. Calcutipr is free and Gratuitous is $1.99, which may make the decision a simple one for some. Both work on iPhone and iPod touch.

I don't know if you'll like either one of these, but they do the job. If you don't like them, you have plenty of other options (iTunes link).
TUAW WWDC Demo: two tip calculators originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dinner and a movie or... an iPhone?
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store
It was inevitable. One day the iPhone was going to turn into an impulse purchase. In two short years we've gone from the iPhone as a serious $500 commitment to a grab no more expensive than dinner and a movie. The AT&T store now has a refurbished 8GB iPhone 3G for $79, with free two-day shipping, a $20 savings over the cost of a factory-new iPhone 3G. (You'll have to enter your zip code on that landing page to click through and see the refurbished unit's price.)

Of course, your dinner doesn't make you return every month for two years, for a total outlay well over $2000. However, most people now consider cell phone plans -- even their associated data plans -- to be as utilitarian as the electric bill. So scoring a small hand held computer with a phone function on a whim just seems... as benignly impulsive as going out to dinner and a movie.

Ahh, the good ol' days. When people stood in lines to spend $499 (or, in my case, $599) just for the chance, nay, privilege of owning one of these. And back then it didn't even have iFart applications on it.
TUAW Dinner and a movie or... an iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Worms for the iPhone submitted to Apple
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Everyone's favorite battling invertebrates are coming to the iPhone and iPod touch very soon -- the game was actually announced a little while ago, but Team 17 now says the game has been sent off to be examined by Apple's eyes, and so, as long as it doesn't have any objectionable content (you can't object to exploding sheep, right?), we'll see it up for download very soon.

Exciting. Unfortunately, I'm coming off of a Worms 2 purchase on Xbox Live, so I'll probably be passing on this one, but if you haven't had a Worms fix in a while, the video on the next page shows what Team 17 is saying over on their Facebook page: it's "a full console-style experience," with extra options, including probably the ability to play your own music as you play. Multiplayer will only be pass-to-play to start with (bummer!), but they're hoping to add in both Internet and Bluetooth local multiplay at a later date. And there's no official word on price yet, but we should know it soon: look for Worms on an iPhone near you.
Continue reading Worms for the iPhone submitted to Apple
TUAW Worms for the iPhone submitted to Apple originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Byline, others offering anniversary sale prices on Saturday
Filed under: Deals, App Store
Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! One day only! You may buy the whole app -- but you'll only need the edge.

Sorry about that. Nevertheless, Byline -- Phantom Fish's flagship Google Reader app and offline browser -- is on sale Saturday only for $1.99. (It goes back to its regular price, $4.99, on July 12.) Not only that, but the first 40 people to forward their sale-price receipt to birthday@phantomfish.com will receive a promo code that entitles them to a free second copy of Byline for a friend.

We've covered Byline before here at TUAW, and version 2.5 includes speed and caching improvements, a spiffy new dark interface, and matching new icon.

In celebration of the App Store's anniversary, Sophiestication Software is also offering 75 percent discounts to their two apps: Groceries (a shopping list app) and Tipulator (a tip calculator) at 99 cents apiece. Both apps are available in the App Store.

Edovia is also offering its six products (Rocket Taxi, Linguo, NumPad, Steps, Find Me!, and Currencies) for 99 cents apiece, down from $1.99. All these are also available in the App Store, as you might imagine.

Have you found more sweet deals today? Let us know by leaving a comment!
TUAW Byline, others offering anniversary sale prices on Saturday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hands on with Lyrics+
Filed under: iPod Family, Software, iPhone
I love singing along to my iPod. Not well, mind you, but loudly with lots of enthusiasm. I assure you my children love this exactly as much as you'd expect. So I was excited to test out Lyrics+ from SchroederDev. Lyrics+ helps find and display lyrics on your iPhone or iPod.
Although there are many Mac-based solutions that add lyrics to your iTunes library, Lyrics+ provides a simpler to use solution. You launch the app, choose "now playing song..." and *boom* the lyrics are right there for you. Or mostly there. Because there are significant breaks in their library of lyric coverage. For example, lyrics for the London Revival of Roger and Hammerstein's Oklahoma (yes, starring Wolverine) were completely MIA, as were those for the Drowsy Chaperone. Billy Joel's Ain't No Crime was also a no-show but Matt Wertz and Dixie Chicks lyrics were on offer.

Lyrics+ depends on several lyrics databases including LyricWiki.org. But for a $1.99 app (currently on sale for half price), were you expecting Gracenote Lyric Service? That kind of data base access could be offered affordably by major players like AT&T and Apple but for independent developers, Lyrics+ is about as good as you're going to get.

I found the app easy to use and fun, although I wish it would automatically update when the currently playing song changed. (I believe there are callback hooks and notifications in the Music Player frameworks that let you know when this occurs like MPMusicPlayerControllerNowPlayingItemDidChangeNotification.)

The interface is really basic. You can pick a song from your library, search by the currently playing song, and search by artist/song. Stability was just so-so. The application crashed several times during playback but it was easy enough to re-launch, and get back to the lyrics page and pick up with the currently playing song.

In the end, I really do like Lyrics+ despite its relatively limited feature set. Is it worth the two bucks (or one, during the current sale)? I'd say yes. With just a few taps, you can peek at the lyrics of the song that's currently playing and sing along to your heart's content and your children's dispepsia.

Name: Lyrics+ (iTunes link)
Developer: Bruce Schroeder
Platform: iPhone or iPod touch
Price: $1.99 (Sale: $0.99)
TUAW Hands on with Lyrics+ originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ChangeWave survey shows a bump for business Mac purchase plans
Keeping an eye out to the we-think-we-hope imminent economic recovery in the US, survey purveyor ChangeWave is seeing a bit of an bump in anticipated overall corporate PC purchases; in particular, the Mac-buying numbers are up. This month, 9% of responders say they expect their companies to buy Mac laptops in the next quarter, and 7% expect Mac desktop purchases -- a 1-point and 2-point uptick from the previous month's survey.

ChangeWave's methodology emphasizes the expectations of buyers, so it can drift away from the actual reality of purchasing budgets, but it does help measure the attitudes of corporate users. Separate and apart from business purchases, there's another Apple product that's resonating with personal buyers; the other ChangeWave survey published this week shows enormous consumer demand for the iPhone 3GS, with 44% of the respondents who plan to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days expecting to buy themselves an iPhone.

[via Ars Technica]
TUAW ChangeWave survey shows a bump for business Mac purchase plans originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Scoreloop introduces Scoreloop Community for the iPhone
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK
We've talked about OpenFeint quite a few times on the site before (and even interviewed the creators), but while they're definitely one of the biggest names in creating gaming communities for the iPhone, they're not alone. A company called Scoreloop has today announced a service called "Scoreloop Community," made up of two different features: a web presence, and a downloadable application for the iPhone that hooks right into other developers' games and apps and allows players to create avatars, view friends and their activities, and share challenges and high scores with others. Just like OpenFeint, Scoreloop says they're offering an easy-to-implement solution for push notifications, letting players send and receive messages (as well as promote and encourage usage of games in the service) and earn achievements and tokens.

Of course, the real test for services like this will be in the implementation -- while OpenFeint claims a nice stable of developers, we still haven't seen too many apps take advantage of the latest and greatest versions (Pocket God is an extremely popular app that has implemented OpenFeint, but they use an older version of the software that doesn't have nearly as many features as the latest). Scoreloop says they've got over 50 game commitments from third-party developers already (it sounds like Zombie Pub Crawl is their biggest title yet), but even then, it remains to be seen exactly how devs will implement their functionality, and how players take to the service.

If you're a developer looking to implement push notifications and social challenges and networking in your app, it seems that there's no shortage of companies willing to step in and help you do exactly that (you can download the free SDK, if interested, on Scoreloop's site). But in terms of how consumers view and will use these networks, it's still a very wide open field.
TUAW Scoreloop introduces Scoreloop Community for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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First Look: Make cool slide shows with Pix Remix
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, First Look
It's summer, a lot of people are going on vacation, and here at TUAW we've been inundated with postcard apps. First there was my not-so-glowing review of Postcard Express, and then C-mac published her look at Postman 2.0. Today, I received word of something a bit different -- an app that turns your iPhone photos into animated collages and slideshows that can then be shared with friends or the world through email, Facebook, or Twitter.

Pix Remix [App Store, US$2.99] was previewed for TUAW at WWDC '09, and you can watch Victor's video of the app in action.

Creating these animated shows is simple and intuitive. You pick a show type (collage, slideshow, or pan & zoom), select some photos from a photo library or camera roll, and then drag, pinch, and tap to arrange the photos or determine the start and end points of the pan & zoom. Don't like how your photos are arranged? Just shake your iPhone to let the app do the job. You can add titles to every slide, and when you're ready to share your work, you just tap the send button.

However you choose to send your show, the recipient gets a link that takes them to the Pix Remix website to view it. If another Pix Remix users sends you a show, you can view it from within the app.

The developers at Jump Associates have done a wonderful job of making this app bug-free. It's one of the cleanest version 1.0 apps I've used in a long time, and considering all of the iPhone technologies and external links it takes advantage of, that's saying a lot.

Why just send a postcard to your friends to make them jealous of your vacation when you can send them a Pix Remix show instead? Check out some screenshots below and check out a demo slideshow here.

Gallery: Pix Remix in action!
TUAW First Look: Make cool slide shows with Pix Remix originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lifted tutorial code winds up in $0.99 App Store tennis game
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
For some, the recently released iTennis game in the iTunes App Store looked extremely familiar -- that's because it was a rather blatant ripoff of code provided by the iCodeBlog, a site known for its free iPhone coding tutorials. The original tutorial, written by Brandon Trebitowski, was apparently compiled and submitted by Peter Sheen of BlaBlaIncTech and placed on sale for $.99USD on iTunes in late May.

Trebitowski revealed the theft through iCodeBlog yesterday, and Jonathan Siegel got in touch with us regarding the situation. As response has gotten out through iCodeBlog, there has been a backlash through both BlaBlaIncTech's site and the App Store. As a result, around 4:45 Pacific Time, the game was pulled from iTunes.

In an attempt to contact someone from BlaBlaIncTech, I headed over to the site to find no contact information except for a support chat that was spammed with nearly 15,000 comments regarding the theft. While I was writing up this post, BlaBlaIncTech removed the link to its guestbook from the front page of the site. Ten minutes later, the game was gone from the App Store. Ten minutes after that, all mention of iTennis was gone from BlaBlaIncTech's site.
TUAW Lifted tutorial code winds up in $0.99 App Store tennis game originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Loss of Wi-Fi connectivity plagues the iPhone 3G as well
Filed under: iPod Family, Troubleshooting, iPhone

Wi-Fi connectivity problems are not limited to the iPhone 3GS, not by a long shot. The iPhone 3G is widely reported to have connectivity problems that, according to the large number of people discussing it on the Apple Support Discussions, dwarf the reports regarding the 3GS.

In over fourteen Apple Discussion threads, over six hundred messages have been posted with the first one being written on June 17th, shortly after the release of iPhone 3.0 software. These threads have been read by thousands of users. Unfortunately, to date, a solution is not at hand.

The problem, verified by many, is that when updating to the new software, Wi-Fi connectivity on the iPhone 3G either decreased or vanished entirely. Those who were used to getting full bars of Wi-Fi connectivity now experience markedly less bars. Worse, even if some signal strength bars are displayed, often there is no Internet connectivity.

Many solutions have been proposed including resetting the router, changing settings (seemingly at random), and even putting the 3G in the freezer:

"Also i might note, I turned off wifi, turned off the phone, put it in the freezer (in a bag) for 10 mins, turned the phone back on, put the phone right next to my wifi antenna and then turned on wifi and it joined, it JUST joined and I couldnt believe it," says one forum poster. Several others report similar results, but this fix did not last long. In fact, blog posts have been written about possible solutions, but none of them seemed to pan out after using Wi-Fi for a short period of time.

Some writers have said that the 3.1 update will fix the problem while a larger number say that the new software release won't help at all.
Continue reading Loss of Wi-Fi connectivity plagues the iPhone 3G as well
TUAW Loss of Wi-Fi connectivity plagues the iPhone 3G as well originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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