The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Software Update: iPhoto 8.1.1 released

Chris Rawson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:45:00 EST

Filed under: iLife, Software, Software Update

If you're running iLife '09, fire up Software Update, because Apple has a bug fix update out for you. iPhoto 8.1.1 "addresses issues affecting face recognition performance and accuracy. It also fixes minor issues in the areas of book ordering, and iPod touch support."

There's an extra step for getting Faces recognition working properly if you imported pictures in iPhoto 8.1, which Apple details on the support page for the update:

Important: If you imported photos of people while using iPhoto 8.1, there's an extra step you should take after installing the 8.1.1 update. Select all those photos, Control-click to open the contextual menu, and then choose Detect Missing Faces. This will redetect the faces in those photos and correct any face recognition issues introduced in iPhoto 8.1. You should not quit iPhoto during the Detect Missing Faces process.

iPhoto Update 8.1.1 is a 12.5 MB update available now in Software Update.

TUAW Software Update: iPhoto 8.1.1 released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gobble up this deal on 1Password Pro touch

Kevin Harter — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

To celebrate Thanksgiving, Agile Web Solutions is giving thanks to its customers this week in the form of a free iPhone app. Previously $7.99, 1Password Pro touch [iTunes link] is completely free until December 1st.

Whether or not you use the excellent Mac edition of this app, which was recently updated to version 3.0, 1Password touch is a great addition to your iPod touch or iPhone. Essentially a password manager, this app stores login usernames and passwords, wallet information like credit card numbers, software license keys, and secured notes behind one or two levels of protection (depending on how sensitive you deem the data). With cut and paste functionality, as well as a built-in web browser, it's a great way to simplify logging into password-protected sites or even making online purchases. Of course, to get the most out of the mobile version, a copy running on your Mac is a must. With it, you'll be able to sync your information between the devices.

The standard app is great and all, but since both versions are free for the time being, you might as well grab the Pro. Extra features include folders for better organization, the ability to copy multiple fields to paste elsewhere, and a unique switching mode to quickly copy and past info into Mobile Safari. In addition, there are some Pro-only features on the way including MobileMe and WebDAV syncing (I can't wait for that!), and Favorites.

If you already have the regular touch edition, make sure to back up your data before removing the old app and upgrading to the Pro version. Those with the Mac application can rely on Wi-Fi syncing to ensure the latest info is on the computer, however Agile has instructions on its site for those without. Once you've removed the standard 1Password touch and installed Pro, you can restore the data.

TUAW Gobble up this deal on 1Password Pro touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MusicNAO offers unique dock for iPhone and iPod touch

Mel Martin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Audio, Hardware, Bluetooth, iPhone, iPod touch, Music

Canadian company Cignias has announced an interesting product in the home audio/iPhone category. It's called the MusicNAO and it allows you to wirelessly control a docked iPod with an iPhone or iPod touch. It also lets you play music wirelessly to the dock from an iPhone or iPod touch. The music streams using the stereo Bluetooth capability of your iPhone or second generation iPod touch.

The base unit, which is a bit reminiscent of the Bose product, has 40 watts of output power, contains equalization circuitry, and uses 4" speakers. You can skip music, select music, and control the volume remotely. If you have an iPod plugged in, you can view and select playlists, artists and genres from your iPhone or iPod touch.

The apps for your iPhone or iPod touch are available free from the iTunes app store [iTunes link]. The control connections are through Wi-Fi, while the music streams through Bluetooth.

The unit also has an auxiliary input for plugging in another audio source. Hey, anyone still have cassettes?

The MusicNAO is shipping December 1, with an introductory price of U.S. $249.00 until November 30, then it's $299.00. The prices are the same in Canada. I haven't heard the device, so I can't give testimony to the audio quality.

I do think the MusicNAO is a unique twist on portable music integration with Apple products. The system also supports Blackberry cellphones that have a stereo streaming feature.

TUAW MusicNAO offers unique dock for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sneak Peek: ColorSchemer Studio 2, pick your palette

Brett Terpstra — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Cool tools

As part of my trade, I work a lot with colors. ColorSchemer Studio has long been a valuable tool in my toolkit for picking out color schemes based on solid color theory. It had its shortcomings, though, and some other tools had surpassed it, both on the desktop and on the iPhone. However, I got a sneak peek at the up-and-coming version 2.0 of ColorSchemer Studio, and I'm willing to say that it's poised to regain its lead in the field.

ColorSchemer Studio 2 adds an amazing number of new features, and improves on just about every aspect of the existing toolkit. Firstly, I want to highlight that it can now work entirely in the CMYK gamut, if you choose. Screen colors are adjusted to a CMYK profile, and there are export options to match. That's a big deal for those who take their colors off the screen and into the real world. Even though many modern presses can actually get better color from an RGB file, CMYK still rules in the world of offset printing. While it's a huge step for this app, it's not the coolest part ... read on for an in-depth preview.

Continue reading Sneak Peek: ColorSchemer Studio 2, pick your palette

TUAW Sneak Peek: ColorSchemer Studio 2, pick your palette originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magazine publishers joining together for iTunes-like magazine store

Steven Sande — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:15:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends

The New York Observer is reporting that Time, Inc. executive VP John Squires has been making the rounds of other major publishing houses lately with one thing in mind: creating an iTunes-like magazine store for digital distribution of their titles. At this time, it appears that Time, Inc., Condé Nast, and Hearst are all planning on joining the alliance, with over 50 top magazines that would for sale in the store. Those titles include Sports Illustrated, Time, People, The New Yorker, Vogue, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

The as-yet-unnamed store doesn't plan on adding a new reader device to the mix. Instead, the consortium is looking at ways to distribute content to existing platforms such as the iPhone, Kindle, nook, BlackBerry, and the major computer operating systems. Reading the post, it seems to this writer that although Squires and Co. have a great idea, the execution of the plan might be doomed already. Quoting from the Observer article:

The deal is taking time to complete because it involves so many moving pieces.

"It's pretty complicated stuff," said a source. "The really, really hard part is that you've got so many different kinds of devices running on different operating systems. And how do you handle that? The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer. When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want."

In addition to building up the store, each publisher will actually have to figure out how to build digital versions of their own magazines.

Continue reading Magazine publishers joining together for iTunes-like magazine store

TUAW Magazine publishers joining together for iTunes-like magazine store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Found Footage: Little World Gifts enters the world of virtual gifting

Steven Sande — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Developer, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Have you ever wanted to send a loved one a rose, but knew that you wouldn't be able to deliver it yourself? Or maybe you wanted to cheer up a friend in the hospital, but you were on another continent? If the Liverpudlians at Little World Gifts have their way, you'll soon be exchanging virtual gifts with your friends.

The six-person UK startup has been working on a self-titled iPhone app that they hope to ship in December. The app lets you purchase virtual gifts from a shop and send them to others who either have the app or are Facebook users. As you can see in the video above, the gifts are high-resolution 3D items that you and your friends can touch and manipulate.

Your friends receive push notifications that you've sent them a gift, and can then add them to their collection in their copy of the app, or enjoy them in a separate Facebook app.

In case you think virtual goods are a silly idea, Little Worlds Gifts points out that it is estimated that consumers will spend over US$1 billion on virtual goods in 2009 through online games and social networks. Facebook generates almost US$40 million annually through sales of virtual gifts.

Little World Gifts hasn't announced a price for the app or the virtual gifts, but TUAW will keep an eye on this virtual boutique for future reference.

TUAW Found Footage: Little World Gifts enters the world of virtual gifting originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chillingo officially launches Crystal SDK for iPhone game developers

Mike Schramm — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Gaming, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone, SDK

Chillingo recently announced that it would be launching Crystal SDK, a service joining the increasingly crowded social network market for iPhone games. Xbox Live on the Xbox is an official social network, but the iPhone has no such official service. A crowd of contenders, from the popular OpenFeint service to ngmoco's Plus+ network, are jumping in and trying to get developers on board with them. Crystal SDK is one of those -- they've now launched the official website and are asking developers interested to sign up and see what their software has to offer.

Like many of the other services, Crystal is offering to integrate challenges, achievements, leaderboards, and other social services into iPhone apps. The SDK seems like it's still pre-release, however -- there's only a signup, no information on cost or implementation or anything else on the site. Still, if you happen to be an iPhone developer still looking for a network to hook up with, they might be the one for you.

While we're at it: what do you consumers think? Have you actually chosen a network to go with, or are you doing what I'm doing and still basically going game by game? The goal of these networks eventually is to have a unified stable of developers, where you'll jump into a new game simply because it's linked to the network you're signed up with (and your friends will be playing over there and encouraging you to join). But in reality, I haven't seen that -- most people I know are just playing the games they're interested in, and the network the games are connected to hasn't made a big difference.

TUAW Chillingo officially launches Crystal SDK for iPhone game developers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Found Footage: Hands-on with Boardwalk Games from Skyworks

Erica Sadun — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Found Footage, App Review

For just US$1.99, you could do a lot worse than picking up Skyworks's new Boardwalk Games [iTunes link]. Offering three carnival-style attractions, Boardwalk Games takes you into the midway with good gameplay, quality graphics, and audible sound. To be honest, those audible sounds kind of drove me a little nuts and I couldn't find a settings screen to could turn them off.

The three mini games are all simple toss-something-at-something games: toss a ball at tiki statues, toss a ball at milk bottles, toss a dart at balloons. It's fun. Admittedly, a little limited, but fun. The fun is probably worth more than the two bucks the app costs.

Just in case you think you're getting a little bit too good of a deal, well, you are. Skywork's included some fairly heavy-handed upselling ads in the game, which appear each time you finish playing a round. It's not too bad as these things go, but clearly they intend to balance their relatively low price point with targeted advertising.

I found the games easy to play and engaging. Will the app remain on your phone for the long term? Probably not. This is one of those use-it-for-a-few-days-or-weeks-then-toss-it kinds of games. There aren't compelling learning curves and not much room has been left for the app to grow. I'd recommend this for a rainy day / DMV visit / Doctor's Appointment, but it's not so amazing that you should rush out and buy it right away. It's amusing, it's well made, and I hate that music.

TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.

TUAW Found Footage: Hands-on with Boardwalk Games from Skyworks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Schiller defends App Store approval process

Mike Schramm — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK

Well here we go. Up until now, we've heard a lot from developers about how much of a mess the App Store's approval process is, from people who've been rejected outright to people who've been forced to resubmit to people who've just given up completely. But we haven't heard much from Apple, and now Phil Schiller has spoken with Business Week about what it is about the App Store's approval process that has devs pulling their hair out.

The verdict? Schiller says the process is in place for a reason. About 90% of the apps submitted merely have bugs or technical issues, and he says for the most part that devs are happy to get that feedback (though TechCrunch doesn't buy that for one second). But the other 10% of the apps Apple denies are simply what they deem "inappropriate," which could be anything from problematic coding (code that steals passwords or other private information), or app content that doesn't belong on the store, from porn to apps that help break the law or steal in some way. Apple is also vicious about trademark defense -- Schiller says that "if you don't defend your trademarks, in the end you end up not owning them."

That all sounds fine and dandy (ok, well, the "inappropriate" label is a little unclear -- that's broad enough that Apple could fit almost anything under that umbrella, which is a bit troubling), but what about all of those angry devs? Unfortunately, Schiller doesn't address at all the idea that Apple might someday allow devs to release apps that haven't been through their approval process, on the App Store or anywhere else. As far as Apple is concerned, it seems like they're keeping their grip on what gets released, and anyone who doesn't like it is welcome to go elsewhere.

[via TheAppleBlog]

Continue reading Schiller defends App Store approval process

TUAW Schiller defends App Store approval process originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More growth seen for iPhone in business

Ken Ray — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Enterprise, iPhone

Support continues to grow for the iPhone in the enterprise. TBI Research (subscription required) says Apple's answer to telephony is gaining ground in business, thanks largely to employees and execs grabbing an iPhone for personal use and deciding they just have to have it for work as well.

TBI sees the iPhone having trouble in two of the biggest industries in the US. Government and finance are likely to keep favoring Research in Motion's BlackBerry, though Apple could take enough of the rest of the sectors to make up for what it misses. "The two industries we see as the least likely of switching from Blackberries are Finance and Government," says a TBI research note. "These are huge industries, but they make up only 20% of the total US workforce. That still leaves 80% of the total 150 million US workforce."

Meanwhile TBI sees iPhone adoption ramping-up aggressively in industries such as media, entertainment, hospitality, transportation, and consumer packaged goods.

TBI's report dovetails nicely with a report at the beginning of the month from Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore. Early in November, Whitmore said he expected to see 2 million iPhones in the enterprise market by the end of this year, giving Apple roughly 7% of the business end of smartphones in the US.

[via MacNN]

TUAW More growth seen for iPhone in business originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sneak Peek: Stair Dismount offers... broken bones, mostly

Erica Sadun — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Found Footage, iPhone, First Look, App Review

Remember Zen Bound? It's a gorgeous and fun-to-play little puzzle game. So when I heard that SecretExit, the makers of Zen Bound, were about to release a new app, I was excited to get a sneak preview.

Stair Dismount is a very different game to Zen Bound. Although, as you can see in the above video, the audio and graphics quality are consistently high, it's not really fair to compare the two. According to SecretExit, Stair Dismount is more focused on "humor and social elements" rather than problem solving.

The game basically involves pushing someone down the stairs and seeing how many bones they break. Playing this made me feel like the world's worst sadist. Hard to get game playing satisfaction other than tormenting the poor dude.

With Stair Dismount, you can add the face of a Facebook friend and send screen shots of their broken body lying at the bottom of the staircase. Secret Exit dev Jani Kahrama notes, "It feels better with a friendly Facebook face on the guy :)."

Your enjoyment of this will vary by your personal take but for me, I don't think Stair Dismount will be staying on my iPod or be exposed to my kids. Stair Dismount is due to hit the App Store within the week.

About the video: At this time, TUAW can only create preview videos for applications compiled for 3.1 or earlier using a development (not distribution or ad hoc) build and review videos for distribution-compiled apps that are 3.1 or earlier.

TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page.

TUAW Sneak Peek: Stair Dismount offers... broken bones, mostly originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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eBay Deals iPhone app pushes bargains in your face

Steven Sande — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Do you use eBay regularly for shopping for goodies? If you do, and if you're an iPhone or iPod touch owner, you probably ought to turn on your device right now and download the new eBay Deals app [Free, iTunes Link].

In eBay parlance, a deal can be one of two things:

An eBay Daily Deal, which is a limited quantity item from a trusted seller, provided with free shipping
An item that is in big demand (an iPhone, for example) with zero bids and with less than four hours to go in the auction

But wait, there's more! The app also uses push notifications to give you the bad news that you're being outbid on an item or to tell you that an auction is just about over. There's a "Shake for Deals" option that provides random deals when you shake your phone.

The app has a nice little tutorial that shows how the features work and what various icons mean. That's a nice touch for getting users up and running quickly. If you're looking for that perfect gift at a bargain price, you may need to look no further than the screen of your iPhone.

TUAW eBay Deals iPhone app pushes bargains in your face originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - AppStore - IpodTouch - apple - iTunes

Protect yourself from SSH-based iPhone worms

Aron Trimble — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Security, iPhone, Jailbreak/pwnage

The internet has been ablaze with reports of jailbroken iPhones being infested with worms. The exploit takes advantage of unwitting jailbreakers who install OpenSSH on their iPhones via Cydia without taking into account all of the impacts on security. The most notable, and now famous, hole in this theory is that every iPhone ships with the same default password for both the all-powerful "root" user as well as the more-restricted "mobile" user.

Not surprisingly, Apple has officially commented on the situation noting that "the worm affects only a very specific set of iPhone users who have jail broken[sic] their iPhones and hacked it with unauthorized software." It is pretty clear from Apple's statement their feelings on the jailbreak community and its effects on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Luckily, if you need to have OpenSSH installed on your iPhone (who doesn't want a remotely-accessible, full UNIX terminal in their pocket?), there is a pretty simple solution to this problem that will prevent this breed of infestation from ever reaching your iPhone.

Remember, this only affects jailbroken iPhone owners who have installed OpenSSH...
Begin by installing MobileTerminal via Cydia (alternately, you can login via SSH from Terminal.app or a Cygwin-equipped Windows PC).
Type "login", you will be asked for a login name which should be "root" then a password which should be "alpine".
Type "passwd" then tap return, you will be asked to type the new password. Tap return and type the new password again.

Repeat this same process for the "mobile" user by replacing "root" with "mobile" in step 3. Also, when using passwd to change the password for "mobile" you may be asked the old password which would be "alpine". It is not necessary to use a different password for "root" and "mobile" but if you're highly security conscious, it wouldn't hurt. The second half of this post includes a screen image of my exact process working successfully on OS 3.1.2 with an iPhone 3GS.

In addition to changing the user passwords for your iPhone, another good security measure is to use one of the jailbreak apps like BossPrefs or SBSettings to have a toggle that will disable SSH when not in use. Obviously, having SSH disabled (or not installed) is the best defense against worms of this sort. Got any other iPhone security tips? Let us know in the comments!

Continue reading Protect yourself from SSH-based iPhone worms

TUAW Protect yourself from SSH-based iPhone worms originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - IpodTouch - Apple - Jailbreak - Cydia

Mac Pro takes a bullet, brings justice

Brett Terpstra — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Features, Mac Pro

This piece isn't about shooting Mac Pros, but it is about how the Mac Pro is helping forensics professionals solve cases faster and more accurately. Pyramidal Technologies produces a system called ALIAS (Advanced balLIstics Analysis System), a replacement for standard ballistic investigation systems that offers faster ramp-up times, increases data accuracy in ballistics investigations, and lowers operator error.

Pyramidal's tagline, "Solve more crimes, Convict more criminals, Save more lives" sums up their mission pretty succinctly. ALIAS will help to convict more criminals with more accuracy, and should even solve some previously-unsolvable cold cases. Helping to proactively build a civil society by identifying wrongdoers and exposing them to justice is among the many socially conscious goals of Pyramidal Technologies.

I found this story of interest because, in my limited experience, the world of law enforcement does not lean very heavily toward the Apple side of the computing spectrum. I assume that this is for the same primary reason that any agency, organization or company tends to stick with Windows: the software they depend on is Windows-based and often proprietary. What intrigued me here was the fact that the benefits of various systems, both hardware and operating system, were weighed in an OS-agnostic fashion, and the Mac won. Here's what I learned about the reasons why ...

Continue reading Mac Pro takes a bullet, brings justice

TUAW Mac Pro takes a bullet, brings justice originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two new iPhone ads: Apple defends AT&T?

Chris Rawson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iPhone

Apple's jumped into the Verizon versus AT&T fray, according to BusinessWeek, with a couple of new ads -- and, somewhat surprisingly, they come out in full defense of AT&T. Both ads show an iPhone user in the middle of a phone call who multitasks by looking up movie information, restaurant ratings, and many other things over AT&T's 3G network. The ads end with the question, "Can your phone and your network do that?" with a very prominent AT&T logo in the final seconds of the ads.

As I'm personally somewhat on the outside looking in at the U.S. telecom spats, I don't know how much US smartphone users really miss the ability to do simultaneous data browsing and phone calls while on Verizon's network. Based on what I've heard about AT&T's network reliability, however, there are some areas of the U.S. where you'll be lucky to be able to make and receive calls at all, or hold on to a call in progress, much less multitask in the manner depicted in these ads.

What's most interesting about these ads is how favorable they are to AT&T. It's no secret that Apple's been less than thrilled with AT&T over the course of their relationship, and it's even less of a secret how dissatisfied U.S. customers have been with the telco giant. It's understandable that Apple wants to paint the iPhone in a favorable light, but I'm admittedly surprised that they seem to be going to bat for AT&T at the same time. Sure AT&T is their business partner, but from my point of view this smells a lot like telling your family that your less-than-presentable date for Thanksgiving has 'a really great personality.'

Read on to see the ads in action.

Continue reading Two new iPhone ads: Apple defends AT&T?

TUAW Two new iPhone ads: Apple defends AT&T? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - AT&T - Smartphone - Verizon - Apple

Apple's Black Friday ad possibly leaked?

Chris Rawson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Retail, Rumors, Deals

Boy Genius Report claims to have gotten its hands on Apple's Black Friday brochure. Although they had posted another brochure earlier that made less than credible claims of 30% iPod discounts and 25% Mac discounts, BGR claims this newest ad comes from "a pretty credible connect of ours." The new ad's discounts are also more in line with Apple's previous Black Friday deals, which tend to be fairly modest compared to other retailers.

Below are a few of the discounts on the "leaked" ad:
iMac: $101 off
MacBook Pro: $51-$101 off
iPod nano: $11 off
iPod touch: $21-$41 off

Boy Genius Report notes that these deals apply only on the online store, not at Apple's retail stores.

Though this ad seems legitimate on the face of it, it's worth noting that pretty much everyone here at TUAW agreed Boy Genius Report's last "leaked" ad was a fake. So take this latest "leak" with a grain of salt. However, after taking into account Apple's Black Friday deals in earlier years, whatever discounts it offers this year are at least likely to be similar to this latest ad leak whether it's the real deal or not.

[Via Mac Rumors]

TUAW Apple's Black Friday ad possibly leaked? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackFriday - Apple - Boy Genius Report - IPod - Unofficial Apple Weblog

iPhone and Android now total 75% of U.S. smartphone web traffic

Mel Martin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Odds and ends, Surveys and Polls, iPhone

It's a rather stunning number from AdMob in an October report. The firm reports on web requests from thousands of sites world wide. In the latest report, Apple has 55% of the domestic Smartphone traffic share, and Android has 20%. Interestingly, the Blackberry share dropped 2% to a 12 percent share, and Palm's webOS dropped from a 10% share to 5%.

Windows Mobile OS has 4% of the U.S. Smartphone web traffic.

The AdMob statistics do not show handset sales, but rather are calculated by measuring traffic on more than 15,000 web sites and applications.

The Motorola Droid, running only on Verizon, has captured 24% of all Android traffic, even though it has been out only a few weeks.

The iPhone has been on the market for 28 months. That 55% share of traffic is a pretty robust number for such a relatively new product. The Android numbers, especially those of the Droid are also good news for Google, Motorola and Verizon.

The balance of Smartphone data may change dramatically as the holiday season unwinds, and it will be interesting to watch the ebb and flow of the competing brands.

AdMob was recently purchased by Google. Apple also had reportedly had some interest in the company.

TUAW iPhone and Android now total 75% of U.S. smartphone web traffic originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Google - Apple - Smartphone - AdMob

ScreenSteps 2.7 preview and some Holiday savings

Brett Terpstra — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Productivity

We've mentioned ScreenSteps from Blue Mango Learning Systems before. A few times, actually. Version 2.7 is coming up quickly, and it's going to have some great new features. There's also a sale this week that I thought was worth mentioning, check the end of the post for details on that.

First, a recap. ScreenSteps is one of the best ways I've found to quickly create documentation for screen-based projects, whether it's company software, a CMS admin panel, or anything else you can document with screenshots. More recent versions of ScreenSteps can embed video, as well. You just snap a screenshot or screencast segment and add markup (arrows, highlights, sequence numbers, etc.) using the built-in tools. ScreenSteps handles creating lessons and manuals which can be templated and output to PDF, HTML, sent directly to a blog or wiki, or hosted online at ScreenSteps Live, where you can maintain a constantly-updated manual for company/client reference.

Version 2.7 of ScreenSteps desktop is going to have a couple of shiny new features. The first one I'll mention is aesthetic, but a welcome addition: drop shadows. Markup elements added to screenshots now have the option to include a drop shadow underneath them. This is not just better looking; it helps to call out the markup in a way that clearly distinguishes it from the screenshot itself. I got a chance to test this in private beta, and am pleasantly surprised at what a difference it makes.

The other new feature, and potentially a very useful one in many situations, is the ability to copy a lesson directly to the clipboard (video preview here), ostensibly with an email as a target, though the possibilities are a little wider than that. Blue Mango hopes to be able to open the beta to the public in the next few weeks so you can try it out for yourself.

Now, the sale. It's billed by Blue Mango as "The Sale that Goes Stale" and, as you might guess from the moniker, it decreases in value over the course of this week. Monday and Tuesday you can get 40% off of any purchase (including ScreenSteps Live accounts). On Wednesday it drops to a still-a-hefty-discount 30% savings. By Thursday it's down to 20%, and Friday, it's leftovers ... 10% off. Stop by the store to check prices on the desktop version ($39.95US-$79.95US, academic pricing available), and ScreenSteps live accounts ($19US/mo-$285/mo). Use the coupon THANKS at checkout to take advantage of the savings.

TUAW ScreenSteps 2.7 preview and some Holiday savings originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW - HTML - Software testing - Content management system - Wiki

New jailbroken iPhone worm is malicious

Dave Caolo — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Hardware, Security, iPhone, Jailbreak/pwnage

Last month a Dutch iPhone user demonstrated how careless jailbreaking can cause trouble. Namely, after finding users who enabled SSH with the phone's default password intact, he sent those phones a message that read, "Your iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files." A similar worm caused phones to rickroll their owners.

They could have done worse. This week, someone has. Again from the Netherlands and again finding jailbroken iPhones with SSH enabled, F-secure reports that this infraction puts up an ING Direct login page that lets the hacker gather login credentials and, we assume, move funds to wherever they please. This version also changes the 'alpine' password to block users from getting to the phone via SSH.

We'll have more on this as the story develops, but the moral is this: If you jailbreak your iPhone, you should know what you're doing -- and you should change your SSH password.

[via Engadget & ZDnet Asia]

TUAW New jailbroken iPhone worm is malicious originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IPhone - Netherlands - Jailbreak - Apple - Hacker

Apple's original tablet

Dave Caolo — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Hardware, Apple History

In 1979, the Apple II Plus was a badass piece of hardware, and the Apple Graphics Tablet was a flashy accessory. At $650US, it let users sketch with a wired stylus. Measuring 3/4 in x 15 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in, the Graphics Tablet was eventually discontinued when the FCC discovered that it caused radio frequency interference problems.

Sure, the wired stylus is a kludge, as is the general design (don't look at the back), but remember that 1979 was 5 years before the first Macintosh was released and computer mice became ubiquitous.

Edible Apple has some additional photos and an old ad promoting the tablet and Utopia software. Go and check out an interesting piece of Apple history -- complete with vintage scotch tape!

TUAW Apple's original tablet originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - TUAW - Graphics Tablet - Mouse

Apple announces one-day shopping event on November 27th

Joachim Bean — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Retail, Apple, Deals

As usual for this time of year, Apple has announced a special one-day sale on November 27th, which is Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). The page on Apple's online store reads:

"Come back to the Apple Online Store the day after Thanksgiving for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You'll find dozens of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas - all with free shipping.

Mark your calendar now. And until then, start your research by browsing the Apple Online Store to find iPod, iPhone, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list."

There's no details on what's exactly going to be on sale, and this doesn't look like the questionable leaked email we saw last week stating Apple's Black Friday discounts. Apple has in the past not posted the actual sale prices until early Friday. We'll let you know when we find out what's on sale and what those discounts are.

What are your purchase plans? Let us know by leaving a comment!
[via Mashable]

TUAW Apple announces one-day shopping event on November 27th originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - iPhone - BlackFriday - Macintosh - Unofficial Apple Weblog

The Barcodescan Pro app helps you find the best price

David Winograd — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: iPhone, App Review

Barcodescan Pro [iTunes Link] is an app that uses the autofocus camera of an iPhone running OS 3.1 or better to scan a bar code and provide a variety of information on the product including pictures, high and low prices and more depending upon how much information is in the Barcodescan database.

To scan a barcode, you just hold the iPhone so that the barcode appears in a highlighted window and as soon as the image is steady enough, the app automatically takes a picture, compares it to its database, and renders your results. Another way of getting information into the app is typing in the numbers of the barcode into an oversized numeric keyboard.

I had it scan the CD of Tommy and it came back with a picture of the album cover, a prices line showing the lowest to highest found price which when tapped upon, showed the underlying five vendors, another tap gets you to the selected vendor's site to buy it. You can also choose a tab to get to Google for a standard search and another for Amazon where you can log-in and put it on your wish list or purchase the item. The vendors in the low to high price list never included Amazon, which I thought odd since Amazon was a persistent button on each search.

You can check If the item is found on iTunes. If so, you are presented with a contextual service option which brings in iTunes information. Instead of giving me one entry for the album of Tommy, it gave me many instances that contained the word Tommy.

Results are saved to lists. The Recent list shows the last thing you searched for, the History list shows everything you've searched for. You can create custom lists and easily move any searches between lists. Results can also be shared allowing you to email the search.

So, is it any good? Read on...

Continue reading The Barcodescan Pro app helps you find the best price

TUAW The Barcodescan Pro app helps you find the best price originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Apple - Google - iTunes - TUAW

Drobo supersizes product line with the new, faster Drobo S and DroboElite

Steven Sande — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Enterprise, Hardware, Peripherals, Xserve

This morning, Data Robotics doubled the size of their Drobo storage line with two new products equipped with the proprietary BeyondRAID technology -- the Drobo S and the Drobo Elite.

The Drobo S (at right) is a performance storage device designed to answer the question "Why isn't there a Drobo with an eSATA interface?" Not only does the Drobo S have the eSATA interface that many have requested, but the device is now equipped with an even faster ARM processor for enhanced FireWire 800 connectivity.

Like the DroboPro, the Drobo S can offer protection from two simultaneous drive failures. To do this and still offer a large amount of protected storage capacity, the Drobo S has five drive bays instead of the four on the original device, while still maintaining a small desktop footprint. The dual-drive redundancy option can be switched on or off at any time.

As with the DroboPro, the new member of the Drobo family has self-healing technology built-in. The device constantly examines the blocks and sectors of all drives, and flags questionable areas. By scrubbing the drives, data is only written to "healthy" areas on drives in the array.

Mark Fuccio of Data Robotics told TUAW that the eSATA interface provides data transfer up to 50% faster than what was available with FireWire 800, or about 90 MB per second.

Earlier in 2009, the DroboPro brought even more expandability to the Drobo line with eight available drive bays and an iSCSI (Gigabit Ethernet) interface. While the DroboPro had immediate success in locations with a single server, it couldn't multi-host -- in other words, it couldn't be used by multiple servers simultaneously.

Continue reading Drobo supersizes product line with the new, faster Drobo S and DroboElite

TUAW Drobo supersizes product line with the new, faster Drobo S and DroboElite originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drobo - Serial ATA - Hardware - DroboPro - Storage

Mobile shopping's first Christmas

Mike Schramm — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:00:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, Deals, iPhone, App Store

I don't know that I completely agree with this article over at Business Week (technically, last year was our first Christmas with the App Store), but I think the concept is fascinating. Lauren Sherman and her interviewee Retails Systems Research managing partner Paula Rosenblum reason that this coming Christmas season -- surprise, we're only five days away from Black Friday 2009 -- will be the first where mobile shopping apps (and the smartphones that can run them) will be generally ubiquitous.

Not only will people have access to apps on their iPhone that help them find deals, stores, and prices, but they'll all have 'net-connected phones as well, which many of them actually got last Christmas. You'll see people sending texts to each other, playing games while in line, and even scanning coupons in at the register -- all with their phones.

As I said, this was all possible last Christmas, but since then, we've seen non-iPhones like the Pre and the Droid drop, and the iPhone itself has claimed a lot more customers than Black Friday 2008. These people won't be out buying smartphones, obviously, but they will be using them, and it'll be interesting to see how much this changes the experience. When I was a kid, you planned out your route ahead of time and hit what few stores you could, but between Twitter, apps, and all the other information available on a phone, shopping during the holiday season might be very different this year.

Although you can be sure there will still be lines, parking frustrations, and lots and lots of people buying junk just because it's cheap. Then again, maybe it's better to use that slightly older piece of technology, the desktop browser, and just do the shopping from home.

[via MacBytes]

TUAW Mobile shopping's first Christmas originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - App Store - Apple - Smartphone - TUAW

Gameloft backs iPhone and backs away from Android

Ken Ray — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: iPhone

To iPhone or not to iPhone? That is the question on which a number of high-profile app developers are weighing-in. A couple of weeks ago it was Facebook app developer Joe Hewitt and software maker Rogue Amoeba saying they'd had enough of jumping through hoops to be on the iPhone and that they'd be working on other things.

Last week, Instapaper web-service and iPhone app [iTunes link] developer Marco Arment said, "Go if you want to, but there are more than enough people in the App Store to keep me fat and happy and not nearly enough in any other mobile app ecosystem to draw me away." I'm paraphrasing of course.

Now, French mobile phone game developer Gameloft has given its two cents. According to a company exec, Gameloft and other software developers are drawing down the resources spent on developing applications for Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said at an investor conference late last week, "We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like ... many others."

Did he say what others? No. Did he say why? Yes.

Rochefort, like Instapaper's Arment, says the people just aren't there for the Android. "It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone," says the exec. "Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue."

Meanwhile on the App Store, money flows like water for Gameloft and the water's fine. Games for Apple's handhelds generated 13% of Gameloft's revenue last quarter. According to Rochefort, Gameloft is selling 400 times as many games for the iPhone and iPod touch as it is for the various Android powered phones.

[via Reuters]

TUAW Gameloft backs iPhone and backs away from Android originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - App Store - Apple - Marco Arment - IpodTouch

Finder icon birthday cake will make your day

Mike Schramm — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Humor, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Found Footage

If there's one thing I like better than pie, it's cake. And if there's a best kind of cake, it's definitely one that's shaped in the form of something geeky. Which means the video above, which shows what seems to be a tasty confection in the form of Apple's Finder icon, hits the spot perfectly. David B.'s wife made it for him for his birthday earlier this week, he says over on his Twitter account. He doesn't say what kind of cake it is, but given that it's Finder, I'm going to guess chocolate. An iTunes icon cake would give off a more "vanilla" vibe to me.

We've also, you'll remember, seen this Finder icon parading around on pillows as well. Which isn't too surprising -- who could pass up a face like that? Not only is he a handsome dude with a mischievous smile, but he's got access to all your files and passwords. That's the kind of guy you'd better get along with.

Thanks to Chris Pirillo for the tip!

TUAW Finder icon birthday cake will make your day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The cow says mooooo! Zoowawa, an app for toddlers and their parents

David Winograd — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review

Zoowawa [US$0.99, iTunes Link] is a cute app targeted for toddlers between the ages of two and three. Your child is presented with a split screen displaying two animals. Tapping on one of the animals plays the sound that the animal makes.

Each half of the screen can be swiped individually to reveal 14 animal pictures per half, or 24 animal pictures in all. The pictures are brightly colored and the app has a very clean look to it. Zoowawa runs on any iPhone or iPod touch using OS 3.1.2 or better.

My daughter is finishing a masters in education and has familiarity with very small children, so I asked her about the appropriateness of this app. My first impression was that along with the sound, the printed name of the animal should be shown. My daughter told me that for most kids in the targeted age range, adding the text would be too complex since reading often doesn't start until a child is three years old or older.

She did have few problems with the size of the pictures, saying that they may not hold a child's interest for very long. Kids like big things and dividing the screen to make each animal half of the screen size was probably not the best idea. Even at full size, a picture may not attract the attention of a toddler for too long.

I also had a bit of a problem with the quality of the animal sounds. Most are not digitized animal sounds, but rather a recording of someone making the sound with his voice. Since for many kids this app might be their first introduction to animals, I think that sound accuracy should be important.

Continue reading The cow says mooooo! Zoowawa, an app for toddlers and their parents

TUAW The cow says mooooo! Zoowawa, an app for toddlers and their parents originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - IpodTouch - Apple - iTunes - TUAW

Talkcast tonight: Holiday gift suggestions

Michael Rose — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

You can catch last week's show, the deep dive on the Psystar summary judgment with Lauren, via iTunes or Talkshoe. Granted, it was a bit single-minded compared to our usual attention deficit-driven topic hop, but I enjoyed it!

Tonight, we're going to cover the week in review as we often do; plus we'll take your calls and suggestions for our holiday gift guide choices. It's a great time to drop hints to family and friends about what you're hoping to get (for the record, the entire TUAW staff looks good in cashmere). Do join us.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or 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.

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!

TUAW Talkcast tonight: Holiday gift suggestions originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - TUAW - TalkShoe - Voice over Internet Protocol - User interface

Original Monopoly now available from EA for the iPhone / iPod touch

Steven Sande — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

If an angry, perspiring Steve Ballmer took over control of my iPhone and said I could only have one third-party app on it, I know which app I'd keep. EA's Monopoly Here and Now: The World Edition [US$4.99, iTunes Link] has been my favorite game on the iPhone since it first appeared. Just how much am I addicted to this game? I've played 272 games against three other AI players. At about 45 minutes per game, that's almost nine days of my life that I've spent enjoying Monopoly on my iPhone.

There was always one thing that bothered me about The World Edition: that it wasn't the game I remembered as a child. It uses cities from all over the world, from Gdynia to Montreal, transportation modes from rail to space instead of the four classic railroads, and had some other rule changes that were different.

EA just made my day, since they recently released Monopoly [US$4.99, iTunes Link], and this one is the original classic game. It uses all those streets in or around Atlantic City, N.J. like Baltic Avenue and Park Place, has the four original railroads, and seems to follow the original rules more closely.

Like The World Edition, you play against real or computerized opponents. For real opponents, Monopoly now provides Bluetooth play against up to two other players, or Wi-Fi play against up to three other players. My wife and I found the Wi-Fi play of the World Edition to be a huge battery hog; we'll be trying out the Bluetooth option soon.

The original Monopoly board game was a perennial stocking stuffer when I was a kid, and now the classic Monopoly for iPhone and iPod touch is sure to make a great gift for someone you love.

TUAW Original Monopoly now available from EA for the iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - AppStore - IpodTouch - Apple - TUAW

iPhone launching in South Korea this week

Ken Ray — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: iPhone

Just days after receiving final approval from regulators, the iPhone will go on sale this week in South Korea. KT Corp, the country's second largest mobile carrier, began taking orders for the iPhone today, with plans to launch the phone on Saturday, November 28.

Apple has confirmed the KT announcement, though it's offered no other comment. KT, on the other hand, is playing the announcement up. In a press release, Kim Woo-sik, CEO of KT's personal customer group, said, "We are thrilled to bring iPhone to South Korea. Our customers will enjoy the power and benefits of using the revolutionary iPhone on KT's 3G network."

Residents of South Korea will have access to the same array of iPhones available in the states. KT is offering the 8GB iPhone 3G as well as the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS.

[via Associated Press, Bloomberg]

TUAW iPhone launching in South Korea this week originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - South Korea - Apple - TUAW - KT Corp

TUAW Review: Checkout, top notch Point of Sale software for Mac

Josh Carr — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Reviews

I had the opportunity to speak with the creators of Checkout: an excellent Point of Sale application for the Mac. I've been working with the app for several weeks now and have been thoroughly impressed by it, especially after the developers shared their perspectives. Many thanks to Ed and Dirk for walking me through it.

Whether you're starting a new store or transferring your current system to Checkout, it's the best Point of Sale I've worked with in my many years of retail. The creators explained that they designed Checkout to help small and mid-sized retail stores make sales, print receipts, manage stock, organize customers, and collect payments.

This application focuses heavily on ease-of-use in everything from installation to managing metrics and allows the user to remove "unneeded complexities" from the system they work with every day.

Read on for a full walk-through of the application.

Continue reading TUAW Review: Checkout, top notch Point of Sale software for Mac

TUAW TUAW Review: Checkout, top notch Point of Sale software for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - Macintosh - TUAW - Point of sale - Retail

Mousing around: A review of Disney theme park iPhone apps

Steven Sande — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:20:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Holidays, App Store, App Review

My wife and I are unabashed Disneyphiles, so the last two months have been a lot of fun. After my wife taught a tutorial in L.A. last month, we spent a few days at the West Coast properties -- Disneyland and California Adventure. This month, we had some Disney Vacation Club points left over, so we spent five days at our "home" resort near Disney's Animal Kingdom, Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

I thought these trips would be a perfect opportunity to try out some of the many travel apps that have sprung up for the iPhone, all of which purport to be the solution to all of your Disney dining, lodging, and theme park information needs. As with any genre of app, there are a mixture of good and bad apps available. Since the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is generally a big time to visit the parks, here's a quick tour of a few of the apps that my wife and I used on our trips so you can load up your iPhone if you're going to visit The Mouse over the holidays.

Continue reading Mousing around: A review of Disney theme park iPhone apps

TUAW Mousing around: A review of Disney theme park iPhone apps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - App Store - Magic Kingdom - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Apple

The Huffington Post has seen the iTablet... not!

David Winograd — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:50:00 EST

Filed under: Humor, Rumors

Gerald Sinden of the Huffington Post writes, with tongue firmly in cheek, that he was given the first production model of the iTablet and 24 hours to play with it. According to his post, it's gesture based and sports a 10" screen along with being a phone, albeit a large one. And foam corners. To prevent people from inadvertently blacking their eyes when they try to use it as a phone. Mmm-hmm. Really.

There will be two cameras in it, and an option to mount it on the dashboard of your car when one camera will serve as a back-up camera, an option present in many high end automotive GPS systems. And it will come with apps to show you what your new haircut will look like. Insert giggle sound effect here.

Books will be sold by the chapter instead of by the book, which sounds odd to me but does seem to go along with the iTunes concept of buying individual TV episodes or songs. And it's at least consistent with Apple doing its best to extract maximum profits out of every device sold.

~~My first and primary thought is that T~~ The article is a hoax. The only reason I'm telling you about it is that it came from the Huffington Post which, in my experience, doesn't print many rumors and their fact checking has usually been excellent. Also their humor is a little bit... arch.

~~However, this does seem HIGHLY suspect. Why would Apple give the Huff Post one and no tech venues? And a 10" phone? Really?~~ It's beyond suspect. It's just not all that funny.

Take a gander at Mr. Sinden's post and tell us what you think. ~~Could this be real?~~ No. The consensus of the TUAW crowd around the water cooler says it's somewhere between parody and satire.

Thanks to Stuart Carnie for sending this in.

TUAW The Huffington Post has seen the iTablet... not! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - iTunes - Huffington Post - TUAW - Global Positioning System

Attention to Detail: What we love in an app

Erica Sadun — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, App Store

Software. It doesn't matter if it's for a Mac or for an iPhone. There are certain qualities we just love, that make an app really stand out to us. As a rough approximation, we call it "Attention to Detail" but there's a lot more going on than just looking at tiny details. It's about understanding the user, what he or she wants from the app and needs it to do and how the realities of being humans with weak eyes, large fingers, and bad memory affect the way software gets designed. I asked my TUAW colleagues to share their thoughts on what makes a good app.

Brett Terpstra loves apps that are designed with a unique look but that use familiar controls. As a design philosophy, his ideal applications are both easy to use and fun to look at. Delicious, if you will. Cookie-cutter app elements may be great for prototyping an application's infrastructure but to him an app that really stands out has a unique visual voice.

He really loves Tweetie 2's ability to refresh your Twitter stream by scrolling to the top (with a tap on the title bar, of course), then pulling down and letting go. It's non-standard, but so intuitive that it should be. That's the kind of attention to detail that makes him feel warm inside.

For me, it's all about putting yourself into the mindset of the user. Were features put in place because they need to be there or because the developer thought it would be cool? Is the developer really understanding how real people might use the app? Take the iPhone. Is there a switch that lets you disable autorotation when you're using a game while lying on a couch or in bed? Because that's how real users use real games. And if the developer hasn't thought about details like this, they haven't hit that design sweet spot of matching real world needs against programming limitations.

Chris Rawson loves well-designed icons. They should give you some indication of what the app does, so you can launch it with barely a glance. Want to use multi-touch controls? Make sure those controls are intuitive and that they provide an innovative use of the technology. In his opinion, Convertbot is a great example.

Remembering already-set preferences is another hobbyhorse. Take iPhone apps that connect with the Mac over Wi-Fi for example. A brain-dead simple initial setup should be followed by only needing to push a single button (if that) to connect on all subsequent connections. And as for a finishing touch, he feels that well-polished graphics shouldn't look like something squeezed out over a single afternoon by someone with no artistic skill whatsoever.

Well designed, easy to follow instructions are key for David Winograd. In the best of all possible worlds those instructions should even include user interaction, whether via Q&A or by modeling, to make sure the key points get through to the user. In his opinion, Irene's Spirit has the best tutorial he's ever seen in an iPhone app. If the app were as good as the tutorial, the world would probably implode.

These are just a few key points from our team. Add yours to the comments below. What are the key elements that make an application, whether for Mac or iPhone or any other platform, shine for you?

Image courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/silviu_ivan/ / CC BY 2.0

TUAW Attention to Detail: What we love in an app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - App Store - Apple - TUAW - Smartphone

Getting bit by the Gmail "exceeded IMAP bandwidth limits" bug

Steven Sande — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, Bugs/Recalls, Troubleshooting, Snow Leopard

I have a couple of Gmail accounts set up with Google Apps, so that Google is hosting my email using my own domain names. While those accounts have been working flawlessly for quite a while, I suddenly ran into issues a few days ago where Apple Mail couldn't pull email from the server. I could use the Gmail Web client and access the email, but using Mail or my iPhone, I'd get an error.

Both Mail and the iPhone initially reported that either my password or username was incorrect, but after restarting my MacBook Air, the message changed to what you see above. While I had been sending some large files through email last week, I wasn't using anywhere close to the 2 or so GB per day of bandwidth that Google allows.

A quick search revealed that there's a known bug where accounts are locked out for exceeding IMAP bandwidth limits when using Apple Mail under Snow Leopard. To quote Google's support page,

This is a known issue for users of Apple Mail on the Snow Leopard OS. We are working with Apple on a resolution to the issue. In the meantime, there are a few workarounds to reduce the likelihood of hitting the bandwidth limit:

Do not sync attachments.

Reduce the number of folders you sync by using the Advanced IMAP Controls tab in Gmail.

Close your email client when you are not using it.

For my business, I keep my email client up and running most of the day, so the third workaround was not an option. Syncing attachments is easy to turn off in Apple Mail Preferences for Gmail IMAP accounts by selecting "All messages, but omit attachments" under "Keep copies of messages for offline viewing" on the Advanced tab, but it didn't resolve the problem.

I fortuitously noticed that my MacBook Air seemed to be losing a lot of disk space, and searching the ~/Library/Mail folder indicated that the issue seemed to be in the "Recovered Items" Inbox for this Gmail account -- something I didn't even know existed! It was taking up a whopping 18.66 GB of space, so I went into Mail and deleted the "Recovered Items" inbox.

While this didn't fix the issue immediately, it did eventually allow the account to come back on line with no problems. All told, I was without Mail.app and iPhone access to the account for four days, but at least I could check my Web mail occasionally to see what was coming into the Gmail account.

If you're running Snow Leopard and get bit by the "bandwidth bug" with a Gmail account, I hope that this tip can help you out.

TUAW Getting bit by the Gmail "exceeded IMAP bandwidth limits" bug originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Mail - Google Apps - Apple - Internet Message Access Protocol

Super-panoramic showdown for Mac

Tim Wasson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Software, Reviews, Graphic Design

There are several photo-stitchers available for Mac (and several for iPhone as well), and most do a stellar job for stitching together 3-4 images into a panoramic image. However, I recently completed a project that required stitching together hundreds of images into some very large panoramas of several locations around beautiful Peoria, Illinois. What I found is that some of the programs which do admirable work on small stitching jobs performed very poorly on larger-scale panoramas. I tried several programs with varying results, and you can check out my showdown below.

Continue reading Super-panoramic showdown for Mac

TUAW Super-panoramic showdown for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - iPhone - Macintosh - TUAW - Unofficial Apple Weblog

Giving or getting a Mac for the holidays? 10 apps every new Mac user needs

Chris Rawson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Freeware

All new Macs come with great bundled software. Between the iLife suite, Safari, iTunes, and TextEdit, plus the ability to access and use cloud applications for free, almost all of the most basic modern computing needs get met for most users.

That said, having used four different Macs over the past seven years, there are several applications that don't come with OS X that I find myself immediately loading onto a new Mac. Most of these are big-name apps that you've probably already heard of, but it's still pretty amazing how much extra functionality you can eke out of a Mac with only ten additional programs, and all of them (save the last one) are free.

Whether you're buying a new Mac for a relative this holiday season or getting a new one for yourself, these are ten applications you should download as soon as that shiny new machine loads the desktop for the first time.

Continue reading Giving or getting a Mac for the holidays? 10 apps every new Mac user needs

TUAW Giving or getting a Mac for the holidays? 10 apps every new Mac user needs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - Macintosh - Mac OS X - iTunes - Safari

Cisco adds Security Intelligence Ops to iPhone portfolio

Michael Rose — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Security, iPhone, App Review

Despite some security-conscious enterprise experts pointing accusatory fingers at the rather bleak encryption story and only-recently fixed ActiveSync policy compliance on the iPhone platform, there's no doubt that IT and network professionals are grooving on the iPhone -- there are many apps designed for administrators to take control of their operations with a touch of a finger, and now Cisco has stepped in with an informational and alert resource that fits in your pocket.

The Cisco SIO (Security Intelligence Operations) to Go free app [iTunes link], requiring iPhone OS 3.0 or later, lets the ~~paranoid~~ properly alert and aware security professional keep tabs on the global threat landscape with Cisco's Cyber Risk Reports, Threat Outbreaks and Mitigation Bulletins, along with podcasts, blog posts and a slew of other branded content. There's also an IronPort-driven IP and email domain scanner, which will grab WHOIS data along with a brief reputation score for your hosts.

Having all this Cisco goodness in one place is handy, although the majority of the app's headlines link to pages on the Cisco site that remain largely iPhone-unfriendly -- even the press release announcing the app's launch is hard to zoom properly -- and there's none of the flexibility of a full-featured RSS reader to forward articles, bookmark or set read/unread points.

Still, as a gesture of goodwill towards the intersection of iPhone users and security professionals, it's a reasonable step. Cisco also has the WebEx Meetings app [iTunes link] and the Cisco Mobile telephony tool [iTunes link] in the store, both free.

[via TechCrunch]

TUAW Cisco adds Security Intelligence Ops to iPhone portfolio originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Apple - iTunes - TUAW - ActiveSync

Smoking kills... your Mac

Chris Rawson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends

It should be pretty obvious by now that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health. What's not as obvious is that it might be bad for your Mac, too. According to The Consumerist, two different people got turned down for AppleCare maintenance because their Macs were used in a house with a smoker. Both people appealed their cases all the way up to Steve Jobs, and both of them lost.

I've opened up a few computers that spent time in a house full of heavy smokers, and the insides weren't pretty. There was this disgusting brown resin built up all over everything, and it pretty much smelled like an ashtray stuffed full of 5-year-old cigarette butts. Though it's probably a stretch to call this "a biohazard" like in one of the cases The Consumerist cites, AppleCare agreements are worded loosely enough in their limitations of coverage that Apple seems perfectly within its rights to deny coverage in these two cases:

The Plan does not cover:

Damage to the Covered Equipment caused by accident, abuse, neglect, misuse (including faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider), unauthorized modification, extreme environment (including extreme temperature or humidity), extreme physical or electrical stress or interference, fluctuation or surges of electrical power, lightning, static electricity, fire, acts of God or other external causes.

It's that "other external causes" clause that's the catch-all, although you could probably argue that an atmosphere filled with smoke counts as an "extreme environment" as well.

Bottom line: if you have to smoke, you might want to step away from the computer first. With the investment that your Mac represents sitting there on the desk, why take the risk of messing it up in an easily preventable way?

TUAW Smoking kills... your Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Job - Apple - TUAW - Unofficial Apple Weblog - Hardware

TUAW's Steve Sande provides gift ideas on the latest MacJury podcast

Steven Sande — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Odds and ends, Podcasts, Holidays

Here it is, T-7 days until Black Friday, and you don't have any gift ideas?

I joined MacJury podcaster Chuck Joiner earlier this week to provide my ideas for gifting. This was part two of a holiday gift ideas episode on the popular podcast.

Joining me on the podcast were MacMouseCalls support genius (and grandmother) Pat Fauquet, Julio Ojeda-Zapata from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet.

Storage seemed to be a popular gift idea from the panelists, along with iPhone / Mac jewelry, video tools, and even some freebies. I take no responsibility for the singing that was taking place...

You can listen to MacJury Episode 918 at the MacJury website, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

TUAW TUAW's Steve Sande provides gift ideas on the latest MacJury podcast originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple - IPhone - ITunes - TUAW - BlackFriday