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- Mac 101: Adding new microphones to your Mac
Filed under: Audio, Hardware, Multimedia, How-tos, Apple
There are, roughly, several billion kinds of microphones and headsets, all of which can theoretically be used on your Macintosh to let you voice chat over iChat or Skype. The problem is that a fair percentage of them fail to work exactly right, just out of the box.
Fortunately, there are several tricks that can help you analyze why your audio chats aren't working quite right. Here's a quick run-down of the steps you should take.
Start in System Preferences. The Sound preferences pane lets you select devices for your sound input and output. And, importantly, it lets you test your input device and adjust its volume. After attaching your mic to your Macintosh, use this pane to set-up and test.
The device should be automatically recognized and listed in the columns at the top of the pane. If you do not see it there, disconnect from and reconnect to your Mac.
The Input level bar helps sound check your microphone. When the bar does not respond to your voice or to taps on the mic, you'll need to trouble-shoot your connection. Make sure you have not muted your mic. Many current-generation USB microphone solutions provide at least one, if not two, separate mute buttons. You'll usually find a mute toggle on the cord of the microphone or headset. Some USB solutions offer a second mute button on the dongle that connects to the USB port as well.
Most mic solutions are USB-based. For best performance, connect to a USB port directly on your Mac. The other day, I had a great deal of trouble setting up a voice chat with coblogger Dave Caolo until I switched my mic connector from an external hub to a built-in port. I could hear him; he could not hear me.Once you have confirmed that you have live voice input as indicated by the Input level bar, make sure you've set up audio properly in your chat client. Both iChat and Skype offer input settings in their built-in preferences (App menu > Preferences, or Command-comma). Make sure that your new microphone has been selected in whichever chat program you use.
Always allow a little more time than you think is necessary to get a new microphone set up with your Mac. Take time to get the input set up and verified before making your first call. Once you've set up your mic the first time, it's generally smooth sailing from there on.
Other tips, courtesy of our readers:- Option-click the volume control in the main menu toolbar to select input and output devices without opening up System Preferences.
- Some Microphones require power on the stereo mini jack and may not work on Mac systems. Try to check for Mac compatibility when buying USB microphone sets.
TUAWMac 101: Adding new microphones to your Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple - Macintosh - Skype - Universal Serial Bus - TUAW
Переслать - Macworld 2010: TMO's Dave Hamilton and IDG's Paul Kent
Filed under: Macworld, Video, Cult of Mac
Along with meeting readers and having a place to stash our laptops, one of the other novel pleasures of having a booth on the show floor this year was the serendipity of having our friends and colleagues in the Mac community walk on by -- just so that we could pounce upon them and interview them on video. Case in point: late on Saturday afternoon, we enlisted Dave Hamilton of The Mac Observer, Backbeat Media & the Mac Geek Gab for a quick chat, only to be unexpectedly joined by his bandmate-slash-Macworld Expo general manager, Paul Kent.
Dave & Paul each shared their impressions of the show, the expectations of vendors and attendees for next year, and the secret of putting together a great cover band when you only get one rehearsal before each gig. It's fair to say that the outlook for Macworld 2011, from their perspective, is much brighter now than it was in the leadup to this year's show.
Thanks to both Dave and Paul for joining us for the final livestreaming session of the week. Although this is the last interview we recorded on Saturday, it's far from the last one you'll be seeing here on TUAW; we have a shelf-ful of great conversations that will be posted to the site over the next few days.
Dave Hamilton interview:
Paul Kent interview:
TUAWMacworld 2010: TMO's Dave Hamilton and IDG's Paul Kent originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple bans hackers from App Store
Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPhone, App Store, Jailbreak/pwnage
"Banned" might not be the right word, but that's what user serif_hashim is saying.
He says he's been denied access to the App Store from their iPhones by Apple. When sherif_hashim tried to connect, he was greeted with the image at right, which he explained via Twitter:
"Your Apple ID was banned for security reasons", that's what i get when i try to go to the app store, they must be really angry :) )))) and guess what my apple ID was, "sherif_hashim@yahoo.com", what a fool was me not to notice :) )), can't help laughing, they are babies :) ))"
Sherif Hashim recently found an exploit in iPhone OS 3.1.3 to unlock 05.12.01 Baseband for iPhone 3G and 3GS, which was later confirmed by the iPhone Dev-Team.
Hacker iH8sn0w was the second to report the issue, saying on Twitter:
"@sherif_hashim lol, they did that to my ih8sn0wyday[@t]googmail.com too. (right after I posted XEMN)..."
iH8sn0w is the user behind Sn0wbreeze, the jailbreaking tool for Windows. It should be noted that these users aren't typical jailbreakers. One has publicized an exploit and the other maintains a jailbreaking tool. Plus, they used their handles in the account emails, which wasn't the best choice. We'll see if the issue becomes more widespread.
We question serif_hashim's used of "banned" because this message can be triggered by entering a bad password several times across any service that uses your Apple ID, like the App Store, iTunes, Apple Photo Services and MobileMe. It's not likely that he entered a bad password enough times, but it's possible. Users in this situation can use iForgot to regain access.
[Via 9 to 5 Mac]TUAWApple bans hackers from App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Macworld 2010: Steve and Mike's excellent HP adventure
Filed under: Macworld, Peripherals, App Store
One of the highlights of TUAW's visit to Macworld Expo 2010 was a pre-show tour of the HP booth on Wednesday, February 10. HP has a long and storied history with Apple, with both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak working for the company at one time before founding Apple. The company has created many Mac-compatible printers over the years, and has worked quite closely with Apple in recent years to insure that drivers for current and past printers are included in Mac OS X.
HP's team welcomed us to their booth as the show was still being set up. Eric Killian, Worldwide Training Manager for SMB Inkjet Printing Systems, showed off two brand-new printers for the Mac; the OfficeJet 4500 All-in-one and the OfficeJet Pro 8500 Premier. The OfficeJet 4500 is not currently listed on the HP site, but we'll update this post when a link to the new member of the family is added to the product pages.
Annamaria Pardini, Segment Marketing Manager for HP Mac-connect, is in charge of HP's iPhone apps and talked with us about their HP12C and HP12C Platinum financial calculator apps, the HP15C scientific calculator app, the HP MediaSmart Server iStream app, the new Snapfish app, and the revised HP iPrint Photo 2.0 app.
If you're in the market for a large-format printer, HP also showcased the DesignJet Z2100 24" Photo Printer. With 8 color cartridges, custom color profile capabilities, and a wide range of media (from paper to canvas) to print on, the DesignJet Z2100 is a power tool for design professionals.
Check out the HD video of our tour by clicking the Read More link. Many thanks to our ace videographer and editor, Chad Mumm.
TUAWMacworld 2010: Steve and Mike's excellent HP adventure originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Nuance acquires MacSpeech
Filed under: Multimedia, Software
Nuance Communications, the company behind Dragon Dictate and Dragon Search for the iPhone, has acquired MacSpeech, the company that makes MacSpeech Dictate and other voice recognition apps for the Mac platform.
The first product from MacSpeech was iListen, which was available until 2008. At that time it was the only speech recognition app that could provide dictation services for the Mac after IBM discontinued ViaVoice. iListen was replaced with MacSpeech Dictate, and the company licensed the Dragon recognition engine created by Nuance for the program. MacSpeeech Dictate was a big improvement over iListen, but it still wasn't as powerful or as full-featured as the Dragon versions running on the Windows Platform.
That's all going to change.
Last week I talked with Peter Mahoney, a Senior Vice President at Nuance, who told me the acquisition of MacSpeech will speed up the flow of new features to MacSpeech Dictate. At some point the program will acquire the Dragon name. Mahoney told me we can expect to see a macro scripting language, integrated support for digital recorders, and accuracy improvements.
Nuance made a big splash on the iPhone platform with Dragon Dictate [iTunes link] and Dragon Search [iTunes link]. Nuance also provided the speech recognition for Siri [iTunes link], which has received rave reviews.TUAWNuance acquires MacSpeech originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Coming to an iBookstore near you: The authorized biography of Steve Jobs
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is an intensely private man. He values his privacy so much, he's had no qualms fighting the Times of London about a profile they wrote on him last summer. Four years earlier, Jobs played hardball with Wiley & Sons, the publisher of 'iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business'.
Jobs told Wiley & Sons to halt publication of the unauthorized biography. Wiley & Sons refused to back down so Steve punished them by pulling every book by Wiley & Sons from all Apple retail stores. Talk about hitting someone where it hurts; some of Wiley & Sons' biggest selling books were titles like The Mac OS X Bible and Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies (you can see a full list of their Mac titles here).
It looked like anyone hoping for a look inside Steve's past would be hoping forever. Not any more. The New York Times is reporting that Steve himself is set to collaborate on an authorized biography, to be written by Walter Isaacson, the former managing editor of Time magazine. The New York Times says the book is still in its early planning stages and would cover the entire life of Jobs, from his youth through his years at Apple.
Isaacson is the author of two best-selling biographies, "Einstein: His Life and Universe" and "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life." All of his books have been published by Simon & Schuster who, coincidentally, got the center spot in the iBookstore participating-publishers slide during the iPad unveiling.
Neither Apple or Isaacson would comment on the rumors, but seeing how Apple is now in the book business, now's as good as time as any for an authorized Steven P. Jobs biography. What do you think? Buy an iPad, get the biography of its creator for free?TUAWComing to an iBookstore near you: The authorized biography of Steve Jobs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Notepod+ helps you sketch your iPad ideas
Filed under: Humor, Cool tools, Apple, iPad
From the makers of the Notepod comes the Notepod+, which does for the iPad what the original paper version of the iPhone accomplished. It allows you to sketch out any app ideas or UI insights you might happen to have laying around. One of the refrains we heard from at Macworld last week was that the iPad was a completely different animal -- apps on the new device won't (and shouldn't) be the same as apps already running on the iPhone (even though iPhone apps will work on both devices). So if you want an iPad-sized, erm, pad to draw your ideas on, Notepod+ is it.
And as you can see in the picture above, it doubles as a mousepad and/or a plain old pen-and-paper notetaker as well. The pad itself is US$19.95, and wireless filesharing comes free -- just rip the top page off and mail it out to anyone you want to share it with!TUAWNotepod+ helps you sketch your iPad ideas originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Aperture 3 already updated
Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Software Update, Snow Leopard
I didn't even have dust on the box yet, but Aperture 3 has scored an update within a few days of its release. The update, according to Apple, "...addresses an issue affecting the playback of video clips used in Aperture 3 slideshows on Snow Leopard."
The update is 65.2 megs to download. If it hasn't popped up for you yet, you can force it from the Apple Menu by selecting 'Software Update.'
I can't tell you it's a great fix because I haven't tried any video in my slideshows yet, but Apple suggests all users get the update.
I other words, be there, or be square.
[Thanks to Andrew for the tip]TUAWAperture 3 already updated originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Macworld 2010: MyFrogz cases, designed by an iPhone app
Filed under: Macworld, Accessories, iPhone, iPod touch
There were a lot of case vendors and manufacturers at Macworld, and we didn't have time to run around and talk to all of them (not to mention that most of them aren't all that interesting anyway). But we did make a stop by the iFrogz booth, because we'd heard about something interesting they're doing with their customizable MyFrogz iPhone cases. Theirs is the first case that you can completely customize with an actual iPhone app. To start, you go into an AT&T store (the deal is an exclusive there, but only for a little while longer), and buy a card with a code on it for US$39.99, which comes with just a plain clear case. With that code, you can then go onto the MyFrogz iPhone app, and design your own case in terms of top and bottom colors out of 100,000 combinations. Finally, you enter your information into the app, along with the code from the store, and iFrogz will send you your customized case.
Obviously, the process isn't exactly instant (and to be honest, the case isn't anything special). But the idea is very interesting -- they're using an iPhone app to conduct business that might be done more traditionally elsewhere. When the iPhone was first introduced, we heard all about Starbucks using it to order coffee, or Barnes and Noble using software to let you order books in-store. But we haven't seen much of that innovation at all, so it was surprising to find it (even in an imperfect form) in the iFrogz booth.TUAWMacworld 2010: MyFrogz cases, designed by an iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Macworld 2010: Armpocket cases are a family affair
Filed under: Macworld, Accessories, Odds and ends, iPhone
We stopped by the Armpocket booth at Macworld last week, and while we expected to find just another accessory sales pitch, we found something surprising: a family. The product was actually designed by a couple named Jyette Nielsen and Mark Morgan, and as Mark explained the cases to us (which are made from high-quality, renewable materials like recycled bottle plastic and natural bamboo), we could see that this was a product with real people behind it. He's a retired military guy, and he and his "significant other" ("She's too smart to marry me," he joked) simply had a problem and came up with a solution: they're both runners, and they needed a sweat-proof, secure case to keep their iPods and cell phones in. Armpocket was the case they came up with.
Morgan told me he didn't have any significant manufacturing experience -- the couple just went around to various trade shows and chose materials and designs based on what worked for them, and now they go around and sell their cases in retail and at the trade shows (their son was in attendance at Macworld also, selling and demoing the cases). And the Armpockets are impressive -- while they're a little bigger than the standard case, the material is all moisture resistant, the padding grips your arm well while holding your phone securely in place, and there's even something called a "flexi-lock" audio port for holding the headphone cord. The cases are US$22.95 for the regular iPod versions, up to $32.95 for more extensive models.
Obviously, we didn't get to go running around the Macworld floor, so in terms of testing, I can't recommend this case over any other sturdy iPhone armbands out there. Still, it was nice to find some real people behind these often faceless accessory vendors.TUAWMacworld 2010: Armpocket cases are a family affair originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple secures iPhone trademark
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Apple Financial, Apple, iPhone
Apple has expanded its trademark on "iPhone" with the inclusion of the US Patent and Trade Office's (USPTO) "category 28," which reads as "handheld unit for playing electronic games." Other USPTO categories included in the trademark are number 9 (mobile phone and digital audio player) and number 38 (electronic data-transmitting device). Note that Apple filed to include category 28 way back in December of 2007, so don't take it as a sign that the next gen iPhone will be a gaming monster.
This news is no great shakes, but an example of Apple covering its bases. For example, back in 2002, Apple applied to register the iPhone trademark in China, but that application was limited to computer hardware and software, not mobile phones. Earlier this year, Apple took control of the "i-phone" trademark in China (yes, "i-phone") from manufacturer Hanwang Technology, who briefly sold a device with that name in 2003 (three years before the iPhone's introduction).
[Via Engadget]TUAWApple secures iPhone trademark originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Review: Zooloretto game app turns your iPhone into a cute little zoo, with brains
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
When Zooloretto hit the board game scene in 2007, it pretty much became an immediate hit. It won the Spiel des Jahres (German Game of the Year) that year, after all. Sure, there was a lot of love for the basic game mechanics thanks to the elegant and popular card game Coloretto that came out in 2003, but gamers enjoyed the colorful animal graphics, the new decisions that needed to be made and, as time went on, plenty of expansions (14 small and large ones, plus the standalone game Aquaretto that can also be combined with Zooloretto.
The Zooloretto iPhone and iPod touch app (US $4.99) includes just one of those expansions - the polar bear - but it's a great introduction to the series. Serious board gamers who think that Zooloretto is a too-fancy version of Coloretto might find the app winning them over, because the play time is much shorter than the tabletop version (around 10-15 minutes, which is just a little bit longer than Coloretto takes, instead of 45). Gamers new to the 'retto series will find lots to like in this strategy game. The app is not a perfect representation of the board game, but it is a heck of a lot of fun. Read on to learn more about Zooloretto.
The Game
The main challenge of Zooloretto lies in how to place animals on the delivery trucks. Each turn, you are presented with the option to either place a tile (which can be an animal, a concession stand or a coin) on a truck or take a truck with at least one tile on it. The trick is that you can't do both in the same round, so you need to place tiles in such a way that the truck works with your zoo and not for anyone else. This is the basic mechanic from Coloretto, and Zooloretto makes it more complicated by needing to have places to put your animals in your zoo, trying to attract customers with the animals and the concession stands and using the coins to buy additions for your zoo. For the full ruleset, download this PDF.
The App
Let's start by talking animations and sound effects. SpinBottle Games and Chillingo have made sure they're cute and they certainly make the game a tad bit more inviting for someone making the transition from video games, but a tabletop gamer (like me) doesn't need them. While the animations certainly aren't a problem in and of themselves, they do show that this game could have been so much more had the designers focused on making sure the tough decisions were are clear in the app as they are in the board game. In fact, if there was a way to play the entire game with the drop-down overview screen (pictured at right) instead of just seeing your own animated farm, that'd be preferred. Pretty the app up all you want - and we like beautifully designed game bits as much as anyone - but the real beauty lies in the seeing what other people are collecting and trying to set up the trucks for yourself and not your opponents. The way the app flows, it's just too much of a hassle to do this accurately each time, and that's too bad.
The app does a fine job or warning you when the end of the game is coming. The end is triggered when the tiles are about to run out and the number of tiles scales with the number of players. There are eight types of animals and 11 tiles for each. With five players, there are 112 tiles, including the stands and coins. In a three-player game, you take out two animals. With four, you remove one. In the app, you start the game by only being able to play the three-player game and need to "buy" more opponents by playing and winning a few games and rack up some money. When a round starts and there are fewer than 15 tiles, the number signifying how many tiles are left to draw from turns red. Sadly, the included game manual doesn't explain this. It's obvious that the app writers just cut and pasted the rules from the board game version. Why else would the app say that the end-of-game state is determined "when a player draws and reveals the first tile from the stack covered by the wooden disc"? There is no wooden disc in the app.
Another difference from the board game version is that a points collection system between games has been built in. Each game you play earns you points based on how well you did and how many players were in the game. When you start the game, only the three-player option is available and collecting these points allows you to "buy" the fourth and fifth computer opponents as well as the polar bear expansion. Having the polar bear in the mix means that the first player to fill up their six-space enclosure will get to cut their negative points in half for having animals in their barn (i.e., collecting too many animal types). Another the main difference is that you are always the first player in the app. Considering how differently each round can play out depending on if you're going first or last, having the first player be picked randomly would be a good thing.
Oh, and you can listen to iTunes while playing a game. An undo button? Sadly, no. Still, as imperfect as it is, Zooloretto is one of the better iPhone app translations of a tabletop board game. Thinking ahead, Zooloretto is a perfect candidate to make a really good iPad app. Since it is a game of perfect information (i.e., nothing is hidden), playing on the iPad's large screen will be a treat. Almost.
The lack of an overview in the iPhone version - a problem that could easily be fixed for the iPad's larger screen - is that the game designers focused too much on showing off each player's individual zoo. Each time a new player is up, their zoo flashes by on the screen. As we described above, it's pretty to see the zoos, but that's not really what this game is about. Here's hoping we get an iPad version that fixes these shortcomings.
Another mobile version of Zooloretto was also released with some of the same graphics for other platforms as the game "Animal Tycoon." A video of the iPhone version awaits you below:
TUAWReview: Zooloretto game app turns your iPhone into a cute little zoo, with brains originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - First look at Final Fantasy on the iPhone
Filed under: Gaming, iTS, iPhone, App Store
Now that Plants vs. Zombies is out on the App Store, the new hotness to wait for is going to be Square's Final Fantasy. Courtesy of the guys over at Touch Arcade (who I'm disappointed I didn't get to meet at Macworld), here's the first trailer and screenshots of the retro RPG running on the iPhone. The games are definitely updated (the original game ran on the NES, and clearly the graphics above look better than that), but as for exactly what the differences are, or how they'll be released (will we get both in the same purchase?), we'll have to wait and see.
No date yet either -- all Square-Enix says right now is "soon." Still, if you're a Final Fantasy fan and the video above doesn't get your blood pumping, time to check your pulse. Can't wait to replay these old favorites on Apple's much newer handheld devices.TUAWFirst look at Final Fantasy on the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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