Friday, February 12, 2010

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (27 сообщений)

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  • NPD: Apple ranked #5 US electronics retailer in 2009

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    Market research firm NPD Group has published its annual report profiling the consumer retail sector for 2009, and guess who made the list of top five electronics retailers? Hint: If you guessed the Microsoft Store, you would be wrong, and everyone would be pointing and laughing at you right now. No, I'm talking of course about Apple, who came in at a respectable number five, alongside such industry stalwarts as Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Dell, to name a few.

    While the report primarily details consumer spending trends throughout 2009, as well as other dry and boring data interesting only to bean counters and TUAW's own Mike Rose (because he loves numbers and cheats at poker), NPD's study does show some growth in Apple's favor, lifted no doubt on the back of iPhone's popularity. Especially when you consider that their competitors sell many, many brands, and Apple sells just their own product line, their achievement is that much more impressive.

    In other news, 98% of people surveyed in my own study find Apple to be awesome. And lest you question my sample source, I will reply that the TUAW staff are an excellent focus group for conducting such studies.

    TUAWNPD: Apple ranked #5 US electronics retailer in 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - iPhone - Dell - BestBuy - NPD Group
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  • Macworld 2010: Chatting with Phil Libin of Evernote

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    There are some big fans of Evernote on the TUAW staff -- we've talked quite a bit about the app that promises to store important clips and notes from anywhere, and make them accessible at any time. But even if you haven't heard of the app before, the interview with CEO Phil Libin is definitely worth a watch. He explains why the app is both so magical and so hard to wrap your mind around, as he discusses the idea and the mechanics behind what the Evernote team has done. We talk about their retention problem (and I apologize for my investor-rousing mistake), and how Evernote has to actually make you remember to use it before you can use it to remember.

    He also talks about plans for the future, including the iPad (which is getting its own separate app, though the iPhone app will work on it as well), as well as the way he originally found out about our blog here at TUAW. Hit the read more link below to see the full video.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: Chatting with Phil Libin of Evernote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    IPhone - Phil Libin - Evernote - Apple - TUAW
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  • Doom II RPG unleashed on iPhone

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    I remember there being a joke about new devices coming out: Yeah, but does it run Doom? The iPhone does, and apparently Id is on a hot streak now. According to TouchArcade, the Doom II RPG [$3.99, iTunes Link] was released Tuesday on the App Store. What I've seen is that people are enjoying it. I tend to take my time with quest-style games, so I am not really far into it (stage one of nine), but I am liking it a lot.

    I never had a device before that I really wanted to be playing games on, so I never spent a lot of time with Doom's previous flavors -- this one is an RPG variant on the classic Doom shooting gameplay, made just for the iPhone by Id. Right now I'm digging really digging it, and for me it's worth the time spent because I'll have my phone awhile still. There's been thought and effort put into the controls of this one, and you can tell it's a game designed to play on the iPhone.

    Releases like this and the continuing efforts to port old-school games forward to the current generation of hardware have been going on for years. I think it's been going on long enough that people are less interested in doing it for the cred and more because these games are genuinely fun to play. Unless someone makes a better suggestion in the comments, once I conquer Doom II RPG I'll be (not so) patiently waiting for the iPhone port of Riven. (Ed: Don't tell Kelly, but that's out, too!)

    TUAWDoom II RPG unleashed on iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    iPhone - AppStore - Apple Inc - Touch Arcade - iTunes
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  • Macworld 2010: TUAW interviews Tim Hickman of Hard Candy Cases

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    Hard Candy Cases runs a booth right across from ours here at Macworld 2010, so when they offered to come on the livestream and show us their cases for laptops and the upcoming iPad, we gladly accepted. Co-founder Tim Hickman brought along a bubbleshell MacBook case to show us, and talked a little bit about the kinds of protection and style his cases bring to your favorite Apple gear (I offered to hit his MacBook with a hammer for testing purposes, but he said they were really meant for bumps and scratches only).

    We also chatted about their iPad cases, and how you design and produce retail cases for a device that you haven't actually seen in person yet; apparently they took hundreds of pictures of the iPad keynote, measured the iPad dimensions up against a real-life wristwatch, and even "obtained" some manufacturing plans from somewhere in China. Very interesting stuff -- give it a watch below.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW interviews Tim Hickman of Hard Candy Cases originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Macworld - Apple - China - TUAW - MacBook
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  • Partner snore? There's an app for that

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    Ilan Aisic, the CEO of Pointer Software, had a problem. Or rather his wife did. Ilan snores and it was driving his wife crazy, so he developed Snoring U (US$4.99), an unusual iPhone app that monitors snoring while you sleep using the built-in microphone. You wear your iPhone using an arm band or put it on your night table and when it detects at least four snores, measured by a change in the decibel level of the room, the app will vibrate or play a sound clip that you can record to tell you to turn over, stop snoring or whatever you like.

    It was developed under the guidance of an Israeli specialist in internal pulmonary and sleep medicine. Although no specific claims are made, I can easily see this working since I have exactly the same problem and this seems to automate what goes on three or four times a night. The snoring wakes me up, I ask my partner to turn over or change position and go back to sleep until the snoring wakes me up again. This app does the same thing but, from what I've been told, without the non-snorer waking up.

    You can control just about everything in the app from number of snores to sensitivity determining when the app should kick in, to how long it should wait before it recognizes another snoring event. It also graphs what happened, so the next morning you can see a chart showing you all the times the app kicked in, what times it happened and the loudness of the snoring. But the neatest part for me is that it provides prima facie evidence against the daily intoning of "...But I don't snore."

    Ha! Busted.

    TUAWPartner snore? There's an app for that originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    iPhone - Apple - Smartphone - TUAW - Snoring
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  • Macworld 2010: TUAW interviews Jeff Scott of Best App Ever

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    We've been livestreaming all day long from the floor of Macworld 2010, and our very first interview of the day was with Jeff Scott, both of 148Apps.com and the Best App Ever awards. Jeff just announced the Best App Ever winners (in all fifty-six categories) at the show last night, and he brought the list of winners to our booth today to discuss the winner of the 2009 Best App Ever (spoiler: it's Pocket God) and all the other winning apps. Additionally, we show off a little of the show floor around our broadcasting booth, and we chat about what we expect to see at Macworld and how it's changed in years past.

    Excellent interview, and thanks to Jeff for stopping by to help us kick off the livestream right. Hit the break to watch the video, and stay tuned all this week for more interviews and coverage just like this, as TUAW covers every single inch of the Macworld show floor at the Moscone Center.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW interviews Jeff Scott of Best App Ever originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    iPhone - App Store - Apple - Moscone Center - Macworld
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  • Macworld 2010: Diagnose your car's issues with CarMD

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    Here's a cool device for anyone owns a car -- from gear heads to the rest of us. CarMD will diagnose your car's troubles and suggest a fix with your Mac's help, of course.

    All cars sold in the US after 1996 have a standard diagnostic port, typically under the dashboard by the driver's knee (a chart tells you where to find it on your car). It's the thing that the mechanic connects to when performing a state inspection or performing certain types of diagnoses. It's this port that the CarMD device connects do. Just plug it in and turn it on to begin.

    After a few seconds, one of three indicator lights will glow. Green means everything is A-OK, yellow suggests a pending failure and red means there's a problem that needs immediate attention. Once that's done, you pull the device from your car and plug it into your Mac via USB. From there, it launches a browser which connects to their database, tells you what's wrong and suggests a course of action. Pretty neat.

    If it's something as simple as a loose gas cap (this will trigger your check engine light), you can save yourself the cost and time of driving to a garage. Otherwise, you can print the diagnosis and tell the mechanic exactly what the issue is, saving labor costs. Additionally, the CarMD database has access to up-to-the-minute service bulletins, something typically reserved for dealerships.

    I'm no gear head but I see the appeal of this device. Anything that can save me some dough is welcome. CarMD is on sale now for $98.99US.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: Diagnose your car's issues with CarMD originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - Macintosh - Macworld - TUAW - Operating Systems
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  • DiscCloud teams up with Attevo to provide remote home folder service

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    For a Mac enterprise administrator, hosting your users' data someplace other than their valuable, easily-misplaced laptops is generally a good idea. Combining that with the powerful management and storage capabilities of a VMware infrastructure seems like an equally good idea, and that's where the DiscCloud platform comes in.

    The toolset provides login and sync for remote users on their Macs, with all their data stored in VMDK files back in the home data center for easy backup and management. Unlike terminal services (Citrix-esque) solutions for distributed user populations, this approach preserves the application performance of the local machine while only sending the changed data back and forth to maintain synchronization between the user and the servers.

    DiscCloud is teaming up with integrators/consultants Attevo to provide service packages for companies and institutions that are interested in implementing this approach. See the video below for a short demo.

    TUAWDiscCloud teams up with Attevo to provide remote home folder service originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - VMware - VMDK - Citrix Systems - Macworld
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  • Macworld 2010: A crowd on opening day

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    Apple may not be the main draw at Macworld Expo anymore, but that hasn't stopped the Mac-loving throngs from showing up. The show floor is shoulder-to-shoulder and the registration line was packed, as you can see in this short clip. If you're here at Macworld, brave the crowd and swing by booth #654 to say "hi" to TUAW!

    TUAWMacworld 2010: A crowd on opening day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - Macintosh - Macworld Conference & Expo - TUAW - Macworld
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  • iPhone 101: How to force quit an unresponsive app

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    We here at the TUAW headquarters rely pretty heavily on our iPhones when we're away from our desks. This is especially true for the lucky ones on the floor at Macworld 2010. Sometimes however, our little pocket computers go haywire and refuse to respond to our commands.

    To force quit an unresponsive app all you have to do is press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until you see the red slider. Normally, this is what you would do to power down your iPhone or iPod touch. In this case however, when the slider appears, release the sleep/wake button and then press and hold the Home button. If it works correctly, your iPhone will forcefully quit the unresponsive app and return you to your home screen.

    I have found this especially useful on the rare occasion that Mail begins to choke on my multi-thousand message inbox. Sometimes this simple kick in the pants is all that is needed and is a lot quicker than a hard reboot followed by the waiting required during boot up.

    TUAWiPhone 101: How to force quit an unresponsive app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    iPhone - IPod Touch - Apple - TUAW - Macworld
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  • Macworld 2010: Kanex shows HDMI to Mini DisplayPort for iMac input

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    I stopped by the Kanex (pronounced "connects," I soon learned) booth to check out their latest product offering: an adapter that lets you plug external HD video (and audio) sources into your 27-inch iMac, which was honored with a Macworld Expo Best In Show award. They demoed the product playing video from a Blu-Ray DVD player, and Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3, and it all looked great. The video is converted from HDMI to DisplayPort format with no upscaling, and the results are quite impressive. The hardware is compact with a solid enclosure, which I always appreciate. It's planned for launch in April, and will be available for $149.US.

    Kanex also demoed some of their existing offerings, which include a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter with digital audio support and video at 1080p ($69), and a similar adapter with a USB audio device for analog audio ($59). Both are worth a look, especially if you're planning on (or already are) using a Mac as part of your home theater.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: Kanex shows HDMI to Mini DisplayPort for iMac input originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Mini DisplayPort - HDMI - PlayStation 3 - DisplayPort - Kanex
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  • Macworld 2010: Hands-on with Musicskins

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    Musicskins was kind enough to show us around their booth on the Macworld floor, and while we expected to see the usual vinyl case stickers, what we found was actually pretty impressive. The 'skins, which are made for almost every accessory and device under the sun (the rep told us they add five to ten devices to their roster per week) are actually very durable.

    For one thing, they're made to be removed and replaced as much as you want, so while attaching one to the back of your iPhone, you don't have to worry about making one minor mistake and having to stare at it every time you check Twitter. The skins themselves have little grooves on the surface, which we were told acted as air channels, so if you ever did get a bubble underneath, it's much easier to squeeze out.

    But the most interesting part of skins like these isn't on the side towards the phone, it's on the side away. Musicskins is one of the biggest licensors of art for device skins, and as you can see in the gallery below, they've got all kinds of different famous and infamous licenses to stick on your iPod, iPhone or Macbook. They just recently made Apple history, too -- read on to learn how.


    Musicskins is apparently the first licensee to ever create a Beatles licensed product for an Apple device. Thanks to the longtime feud between Apple Corps and Apple (formerly Computers), The Beatles had never, ever been licensed for a product that had anything to do with Apple, including the iPod or the iPhone. But with the recent decision in the case, and the make-up between the two companies, Apple Corps recently approved Musicskins to make iPhone and iPod accessories, which were revealed at this year's CES.

    They also license from all sorts of different artists and brands, from other musicians and artists to video games and comic books. They recently inked a deal with manga company Tokyopop to manufacture skins with their art, and here at Macworld, they're announcing a deal with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, so they're showing off skins from the popular Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Metalocalypse shows. The aforementioned Beatles skins are by far their most popular, but in terms of straight art, an Exploding Dog robot skin tops the list.

    Finally, we asked about the iPad and skins for that device, and Musicskins told us that they're finished and ready to be printed -- as soon as they were able to pull up the dimensions from Apple's site, they created production models of the skins. Of course, they haven't touched one yet (neither have we), but we were told that when the iPad goes on sale, they'll buy one on the first day and test it out, make sure the skin fits correctly and works well. There's only a 24-hour turnaround on any edits they make, so while they'll start selling orders on day one, they'll do their tests and make changes before they actually send any out.

    iPod and iPhone skins are $15, and all of the Macbook and laptop skins retail for $30 -- you can buy them over on the Musicskins website or in your local retail store. If you want protection for your device, you'll have to look elsewhere -- these skins are straight up vinyl, so they don't pad the iPhone or iPod at all. But if you just want the back (and the front -- each skin comes with a downloadable wallpaper that matches the skin) of your device to look good, Musicskins will do the trick.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: Hands-on with Musicskins originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - iPhone - IPod - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
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  • TUAW Livestreaming from Macworld 2010

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    We'll be livestreaming every day that the show floor is open!

    TUAWTUAW Livestreaming from Macworld 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Macworld - TUAW - Apple - Steve Jobs - Unofficial Apple Weblog
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  • Macworld 2010: MacSpeech Scribe brings transcription to the Mac

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    Being a user of MacSpeech Dictate, a program that allows me to speak to my Mac and wind up with nicely formatted text, I was very happy to learn of today's release of Macspeech Scribe (US $149), which turns recorded audio into Rich Text Format files easily readable by TexttEdit or any word processor. Tom Vain from MacSpeech walked me through the program and it's really quite impressive.

    Using recorded audio from just about any source, including an iPhone, Scribe transforms a wide variety of audio file types into text, but oddly enough it won't work with .mp3 files. This isn't a major problem since you can convert them to .aac files in iTunes, but not inviting .mp3 files to the party seems like a major oversight.

    After playing a few minutes of audio into Scribe, you train a small portion of the transcription by correcting mistakes in a few paragraphs. This trains the program to recognize the voice. Scribe can handle six unique voice profiles. Once done, Scribe takes in the audio at about twice the speed of speech and delivers your text file in a raw format, but with no punctuation. If you included words like 'comma' and 'period,' they'll be turned into actual punctuation. Using the Nuance engine, it's remarkably good. I've found MacSpeech Dictate to be around 95%, and MacSpeech Scribe should be just as good since it's using the same engine.

    I can see this being incredibly valuable for students who want to record lectures, and have a printed copy. But there are many other uses. I did my share of ethnographic research which entailed many hours of recorded interviews and transcribing the data. This was both tedious and mind-numbing. MacSpeech Scribe does the grunt work, since fixing punctuation is a snap when compared to transcribing dozens of hours of speech. I would have killed for something like this in grad school.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: MacSpeech Scribe brings transcription to the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    MacSpeech Scribe - iTunes - Apple - iPhone - MacSpeech
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  • Apple's iTunes nears 10 billionth song download

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    Apple has announced it is nearing the 10 billion mark for iTunes music downloads.
    iTunes changed the way you buy music, making songs and albums available for download, day or night. Seven years later, we're about to celebrate our biggest milestone for music, yet -- 10 billion songs downloaded.
    In celebration of this, Apple is running a promotion that awards a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the person who downloads the 10 billionth song.

    The promotion is open to residents (age 13 or higher) of all fifty States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

    You can enter up to 25 times a day by buying songs. Alternatively, Apple doesn't require you to purchase a song to qualify for the promotion: they've set up a handy "No Purchase Necessary" form which you can fill out up to 25 times per day.

    From the tally on their counter, it looks like they come 1,000 songs closer to the 10 billionth download every eleven seconds. At the time of this writing, that means they should hit the 10 billion mark in a little over two weeks.

    Apple has posted the Official Rules here.

    TUAWApple's iTunes nears 10 billionth song download originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - iTunes - Unofficial Apple Weblog - TUAW - Music download
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  • Macworld 2010: TUAW video interview with The Neat Company

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    Steve Sande visited with Kevin Garton of The Neat Company today to hear what the scanning superpower is up to at Macworld 2010.

    The company is about to go live with a beta of a new version of NeatWorks for Mac, and Garton noted that Mac users will be able to join the beta program. Just in time for the tax season, the new version will provide the capability of flagging receipt scans with taxing categories, as well as creating numerous levels of folders and subfolders for organization of your receipts.

    If you'll be at Macworld Expo 2010, drop by the Neat booth (#847) to see the software and several of the company's other products in action.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW video interview with The Neat Company originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - Macintosh - Neat Company - Macworld Conference & Expo - TUAW
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  • Microsoft may create Office for iPad

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    T3 is reporting that Mike Tedesco, Microsoft's Senior Product Manager for WindowsBU, stated that a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad is "something that we're looking at." Tedesco stressed that he couldn't make any official announcement today, but from the sounds of things, Microsoft is at least considering a version of Office for Apple's newest creation.

    The iPad already has the ability to run a productivity suite -- Apple has created iPad-specific versions of its own iWork programs, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for $9.99 each -- but as T3 notes, bringing Office over to the iPad would go a long way toward establishing it as a legitimate productivity device. Whether those Office apps would be bundled together, offered individually, or cost as much as or more than iWork is, of course, impossible to say at this point. We'll keep you updated as we learn more about Microsoft's intentions.

    [Via MacRumors]

    TUAWMicrosoft may create Office for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    MicrosoftOffice - Microsoft - Apple - Office suite - Keynote
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  • Macworld 2010: TUAW adventures, day 1

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    Yesterday was the first day in San Francisco here at Macworld, and while the show floor wasn't quite open yet, we were busy nevertheless. Lots of things go on outside of the meetings and the panels and the demos, and so to give you a little feel of what it's like covering a convention like this, here's a little look at what we did when we weren't taking notes or shooting coverage yesterday, from our early morning planning meetings, to the day full of booth setup, to the first evening of partying at last night's EFF anniversary bash. As you can see, TUAW works hard and plays hard, too. Macworld ahoy!

    TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW adventures, day 1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    San Francisco - Macworld - TUAW - Electronic Frontier Foundation - IPhone
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  • Macworld 2010: David Pogue hosts the keynote

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    The official ceremonies of Macworld 2010 started off this morning with David Pogue's keynote "Late Night with David Pogue" (which started at 9am -- "it's a joke," he explained in his usual corny way). He began by talking directly about the missing elephant in the room: "I have four words for you: 'Steve Jobs isn't here.'"

    After a few jokes about how Macworld could now say anything they wanted to about Apple behind its back (digs at the hockey puck and AT&T service got cheers from the crowd), Pogue dived into a song parody with a backup band that included Paul Kent and a few other Mac luminaries, and then sat down at a talk show desk where he waxed technical about Twitter, and shared tidbits from his book.

    From there David rolled out his first surprise: The Autotune the News folks! They sat on the couch and after showing the audience some of their videos, talked with David about how they do what they do. "We bought a green bed sheet that wasn't very comfortable, so we hung it on the wall." The rest is history. As a special treat, they made a brief (and we mean under 10 seconds) clip of an autotuned Steve Jobs discussing the iPad. It was cute but oh, so short.



    Next, Dave discussed an article he wrote for Macworld Magazine long ago that was a take-off on the Jimmy Stewart movie, "It's A Wonderful Life," in which Steve Jobs is given a glimpse of what the world would be like if he had never founded Apple. In fact, he wrote a brief play based on the article that the group performed, with surprise guest LeVar Burton as Steve Jobs, complete with black T-shirt and jeans.

    The performance was quite funny (see our photos in the gallery below), and David and LeVar wrapped up the keynote with a sit-down interview. LeVar talked about the visor he wore on Star Trek: The Next Generation ("I hated it with a passion") and how Reading Rainbow, his landmark television series, will soon be back with new episodes on the Internet "...sometime in the 3rd quarter."

    No, the show wasn't dripping with the reality-distorting unicorn tears that Steve typically distributes at these events, but it was a lot of fun, well-received and a strong sign that Macworld 2010 has arrived.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: David Pogue hosts the keynote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Steve Jobs - David Pogue - Apple - Wonderful Life - Reading Rainbow
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  • Macworld 2010: The show floor in 56 seconds

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    Have a spare 60 seconds? Want to see the entire Macworld Expo 2010 show floor? Take a look at the above video, which is a time lapse of a walkaround of the show floor this morning before the Expo opened. This was taken with an iPhone 3GS and the iTimeLapse app, so the quality leaves a little bit to be desired.

    Remember, if you're at Macworld Expo 2010 in San Francisco, be sure to drop by booth #654 and say hello to the TUAW team.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: The show floor in 56 seconds originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    IPhone - San Francisco - Apple - Macworld Conference & Expo - Macworld Expo 2010
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  • Macworld 2010 Best In Show liveblog

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    We're live with the Best In Show announcements for Macworld Expo 2010... Jason Snell is onstage now and introducing the six winners who will demo onstage (and the five others who will present on the mainstage).

    12:06 PM: And that's the end of Best in Show 2010! Thanks for reading along.

    12:00 PM: It's web-based and pretty neat. Enter your feed and tab icons to start. You get a real-time representation of what it'll look like as you work. You can add up to 12 feeds per app. You can then choose an app icon and app name plus your own splash image. Finally, enter your keywords, categories, etc. Special Macworld Expo pricing is $99 per app. Other options like iPad version ($99) or push notifications ($50) are available. They submit to the App Store for you, handle certificates, future compatibility, etc. Looks like a nice way to make a quick-and-dirty feed reader app.

    11:58 AM: Their new product is Yapper, a self-service tool that lets you make your own native iPhone/iPad apps using existing RSS feeds.

    11:57 AM: Next up, SachManya



    11:53 AM: Select any number of files to download to your phone to work with when the network isn't available (airplane mode, for example). Nice spreadsheet and text editing.

    11:51 AM: Share files from any of these accounts without having to download it to the iPhone first. Cool.

    11:50 AM: Quickoffice Connect Suite for iPhone. Connects cloud services: MobileMe, Google Docs, Box.net and Dropbox with more to come.

    11:48 AM: Up now, Quickoffice.

    11:47 AM: Shipping in Europe now; in the US in March. Price: $500.

    11:45 AM: Now connected to an iPod touch with the included component cable. It's always in focus no matter how close or far you are. Neat. Red, green and blue lasers are producing very bright colors; 5000:1 ratio -- black is really black.

    11:44 PM: Projecting snowboarding videos onto a wall from an iPod nano. Neat. Now were projecting a live soccer game onto a wall from an iPhone.

    11:42 AM: The 1st laser Pico projector. It's about the size of a Flip Mino. 14mm thick. User-replaceable ion battery holds a 2 hour charge. Demo time!

    11:41 AM: Up next is Microvision.

    11:38 AM: Launch with a hotkey, a white, rectangular area appears on the Photoshop canvas. Cool. Pressure applied with a generic stylus determines the thickness of the line. You can pan w/2 fingers to move the work area within the canvas via the trackpad. This thing is pretty cool. It's only $25.

    11:37 AM: Inklet turns a multi-touch trackpad into a tablet for sketching with Photoshop complete with pressure sensitivity.

    11:30 AM: Next up, Ten One Design. Peter Skinner is talking on the stage.

    11:35AM: Price: $199

    11:31AM
    The paper has an infrared-visible grid and a preprinted toolbar. Can change line thickness, color, etc. Trying to get a good camera view...

    11:30AM Pen talks to a USB dongle over Bluetooth.

    11:29AM Uses a sensor pen and tagged paper to put notes up on the screen... very interesting. Like the Pulse pen?

    11:29AM Lets you write down notes and have them appear in real time on a projected screen -- like a virtual flipchart -- and can share them via email instantly

    11:28AM Papershow -- brand new way of doing presentations. A plug and play solution for notes display or web conferencing. (We're going to their booth later to check it out)

    11:27AM Matt is back, talking about the range of company sizes. Canson coming up, Giulia Giovanelli.

    11:26AM Realizing that the device is a platform to talk to lots of different hardware devices that speak serial when using the iPhone. Very nice.

    11:25AM Telescope moved! Oooh.

    11:24AM Company built a telescope controller solution... Skyfi, a wireless hub for controlling the telescope over serial connection. Slick!

    11:23AM If you want to find a particular astronomical object, can search for an individual planet or star. For planets, can call up all information, NASA pictures, etc.

    11:22AM Now demoing Sky Voyager app -- live, augmented reality view of the starry sky on the iPhone screen. Ooohs and ahhs.

    11:22AM Astronomical software -- as astronomers, people are always asking us "Hey what's that bright star up there" -- answer is always Venus, so first idea was an app that would just say "It's Venus."

    11:21AM Representing key trends: Interconnectivity and interoperation. Now introducing Creative Software -- Tim DeBenedictus

    11:20AM Macworld reached out to bring the DEMO experience to you...

    11:19AM Matt Marshall, CEO of VentureBeat and exec producer of DEMO is onstage...

    TUAWMacworld 2010 Best In Show liveblog originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    IPhone - Matt Marshall - Macworld Conference & Expo - TUAW - Venus
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  • What's that menu item mean on my Mac?

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    Ever since you've started using your Mac, you've been looking at those icons towards the top right of your display in your menu bar. These items can direct to many different things, from connecting to a wireless network, to finding items on your Mac. These items not only can be clicked on to show a pop-up menu to perform actions, they can also indicate activity depending on what that icon if for. Here's a summary of some of the most widely-used icons, some menu items you might not have seen before on your Mac, common applications that have uses for menu items, and some extra functions in these items.

    Spotlight: The Spotlight menu item provides an easy shortcut to finding files on your Mac. Clicking it will show a search box directly under the menu bar, and will provide a summary of results when searching. This icon will also indicate when your Mac is indexing new search results, like when you plug in a external hard drive, by a pulsing dot inside the magnifying glass.

    Bluetooth: This icon (which is a Bluetooth logo) will show the current status of Bluetooth on your Mac. If Bluetooth is turned on, it will simply show the Bluetooth symbol. If it's turned off, the item will appear faded. If the Bluetooth part has been unplugged, it will slow a line and it will also appear faded. If your Mac is connected to a Bluetooth device, it will show three dots along with a faded Bluetooth logo. If your Mac is connected to an Apple Wireless Keyboard or Mouse, there will be a low battery warning displayed on the icon if their batteries are running low.



    Date and Time: This item will show the current system date and time of your Mac. It can be configured to show many options with the current date and time. You can also configure the item to show a analog clock in System Preferences.

    AirPort: This icon shows the current strength of the signal of the wireless network you're connected to. Clicking it will also allow you to do other things. You can turn your AirPort card off by clicking on the first option in the menu bar. You can see a list of networks, and connect to that wireless network.

    Time Machine: When you're Mac is backing up its data to an external storage device, it show indicate on the Time Machine icon. If you click on this item, you'll be able to see when the last time your Mac was backed up with Time Machine.

    Sync: If you're a MobileMe subscriber, you might see this item in your menu bar. It will indicate when your Mac is syncing data to MobileMe.

    Power: If you're using a portable Mac, you probably have a battery icon in your Menu Bar. This icon can indicate many things about your battery and its status. If you're Mac has been plugged in and is fully charged, the item shows a plug inside the battery icon, indicating that it's fully charged. If it shows a line, you're battery is currently charging. When you're using your battery, it will show a battery icon indicating the current amount of power in the battery.

    You can also set this item to show the current percentage of charge of your battery, or its estimated time you can continue to run off the battery. If your battery gets below 25%, the battery item will display red. It will show an X inside the icon if there's currently no battery inside your computer. Also, new in Mac OS X Snow Leopard, this icon will also indicate if your battery in your Mac will need to be replaced soon, or if it should be immediately replaced.

    Here's some others menu items that you might have also seen on your Mac:

    Spaces: If you're using Spaces on your Mac, you can enable a Spaces menu item, which will display a number of the current space you're in.

    Screen Sharing: If your Mac is currently connected to something else with VNC, like Steve Sande does for his clients, you'll see an icon on your menu bar when your Mac is connected.

    There's also many other menu items that are a part of Mac OS X that might in your menu bar, so these aren't the only icons you might be seeing.

    There's also 3rd party applications from developers that use menu items to indicate activity, including a few applications that some of us here at TUAW use.

    Facebook Notifications: This application for your Mac, which is just visible by its menu bar icon, indicates any new notifications from Facebook (like Friend Requests, messages and comments), by turning to blue. It also displays a preview of the notification below the menu bar also.

    Tweetie: This application for Twitter on the Mac (that's also on the iPhone) displays an item in the menu bar when it's running. This icon will turn to blue when there's a new tweet in your timeline, a mention, a direct message, or a search term.

    Twitterrific: Another Twitter client for Mac and iPhone, this one practically lives in the menu bar, floating atop windows until dispatched back into its nest up top.

    iStat Menus: Yet another favorite of TUAW bloggers, this menu item can display all sorts of hardware information from your Mac.

    Adium: This popular IM app for Mac also can display a menu bar item when it's running. This item can indicate many things, like when you receive a new instant message.

    Menu Extras:
    These menu items might also have some hidden functions you might find useful. These are usually activated by holding down the Option key on your keyboard when clicking on the menu item. Here's a few of these functions for some of the most commonly used menu items. In the Bluetooth menu item, there's many things that are displayed, like the version of the Bluetooth firmware, and access to some other Bluetooth applications, in addition to other Bluetooth details. There's many other extras in other menu items, so try it out yourself.

    What's the menu item you're always keeping a watch on? Leave a comment below and let us know!

    TUAWWhat's that menu item mean on my Mac? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Mac OS X - Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Apple - iPhone - MobileMe
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  • Macworld 2010: First look at the show floor

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    The show floor doesn't actually open for about 40 more minutes (as of this writing), but here you go -- we'll get you in, let you look around, and see what Macworld has to offer this year. From the indie dev booths to the towering Dr. Bott and IBM booths, to our own TUAW livestream studio (look for our livestream later today) and all of the different accessory manufacturers, browse through the gallery below and take your own pre-show walk around the floor.

    Stay tuned all the rest of the week for coverage from almost all of these exhibitors, as well as more pictures, video, and blogging direct from the show floor. Even if (like one Steve Jobs) you're not here at Macworld this week, we'll make it feel like you are!

    TUAWMacworld 2010: First look at the show floor originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Steve Jobs - Apple - Macworld - IBM - TUAW
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  • Bill Gates on the iPad: Needs a stylus and a keyboard

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    Bill Gates thinks the iPad is OK, but lacking compared to his own vision of tablet computing. Speaking to business blog Bnet he said, "You know, I'm a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen, and a real keyboard-in other words a netbook-will be the mainstream on that."

    He added "So it's not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with the iPhone where I say, 'Oh my God, Microsoft didn't aim high enough. It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done that."

    He was a lot nicer than when Steve Ballmer famously dissed the iPhone. Of course Microsoft has been flogging tablet computers for years, and hasn't had the buzz that the iPad has received.

    Of course, the iPad does allow a hardware keyboard to be used with it. As far as a stylus goes, Apple has been there and done that with the Newton. Gates also wanted to see voice input on the iPad, but with a built in microphone and some iPhone apps that already do that it's not a stretch to assume voice input will be available.

    How about you? Will a stylus make the iPad just what you want?

    [Thanks to Tommy for the tip]

    TUAWBill Gates on the iPad: Needs a stylus and a keyboard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Microsoft - iPhone - Bill Gates - Apple - Steve Ballmer
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  • Macworld 2010: Adam Savage re-enacts the EFF's history

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    We visited a lot of parties last night (and the TUAW bloggers are nursing hangovers because of it), but the best was undoubtedly the Electronics Frontier Foundation's 20th anniversary bash at the DNA Lounge. It wasn't strictly Mac-related, but Mythbuster Adam Savage was in the house, and he led a hilarious re-enactment of some of the major moments in the EFF's history, assisted by various objects and people "found around the club". Of course, since there were quite a few luminaries in the house (including the founders of the EFF, the crew from Steve Jackson Games, and other tech who's whos), the re-enactment actually ended up being re-enacted by most of the actual participants. We captured video of the event, and it's both informational and hilarious -- you can catch it in two segments after the break below.

    Stay tuned for more from Macworld 2010 all this week -- the floor opens today, and we'll have live streaming video right here on the site, as well as hands-on, interviews, and news from the show in San Francisco all week long.

    For the iPhone-friendly YouTube video, click here.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: Adam Savage re-enacts the EFF's history originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Apple - San Francisco - Adam Savage - DNA Lounge - Electronic Frontier Foundation
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  • Activision "selectively expanding" brands onto iPhone

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    Activision is probably the biggest gaming company going these days, and in their conference call earlier this week, CEO Bobby Kotick briefly mentioned its foray into the world of the iPhone. We've talked a lot in the past about indie developers and how they find their way on to the App Store, but it's the larger companies that sometimes have a tougher time of it, making larger games that don't always make back their accordingly large development costs, much less make any money. Kotick says that Activision is still a bit leery, but that they will continue "selectively expanding our brands" onto platforms like the iPhone (he basically says that Guitar Hero is coming to Apple's handheld soon), and that the company is looking into Apple's platform more as a brand extension rather than a potential source of financial revenue. Case in point: Blizzard's release of the Mobile Authenticator for their World of Warcraft. They're not planning to release games necessarily, but just other ways for users to connect with the company and its brands.

    Not that they can't release successful games -- Activision is also dropping the first downloadable map pack for its very popular World at War: Zombies game (based on the Call of Duty brand). The pack is $5 (on top of the $10 app price, though there is a free version available without the DLC to try), and adds a second map to the game, more than doubling the size of the in-game world, as well as adding more perks, content, and other goodies. Interesting to see the approach that a larger developer is taking with Apple's platform.

    TUAWActivision "selectively expanding" brands onto iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    iPhone - AppStore - Guitar Hero - World of Warcraft - Activision
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  • Macworld 2010: TUAW attacks San Francisco with the Parrot AR.Drone

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    OK, let's face it. It is the coolest iPhone accessory since, uhhhhhh, the iPad?

    We're talking about the Parrot AR.Drone, the iPhone / iPad touch-controlled quadricopter that, when it finally ships later in 2010, will be one of the hottest geek toys on the market.

    TUAW bloggers Mike Schramm, Dave Caolo, Steve Sande, and David Winograd visited with the oh-so-lucky dudes from Parrot yesterday pre-Macworld, and had a chance to try our hands at flying this incredible little device. No, we don't know what this is going to cost, nor do we know when it will ship other than "in 2010," but if you have your geek on, you're going to want one of these. Watch the above video by our awesome videographer Chad Mumm for the scoop.

    TUAWMacworld 2010: TUAW attacks San Francisco with the Parrot AR.Drone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    iPhone - Macworld - Apple - San Francisco - TUAW
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