Jan 13, 2008 Jan 15, 2008 Monday January 14, 2008
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Live Keynote Coverage
Live coverage of Steve Jobs' keynote begins at 9:00AM Pacfic, 12:00PM Eastern.
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The public beta of Freeway 5 available now
Softpress has announced the Freeway 5 Public Beta Program. Like most public beta programs, this one will give you a sneak peek at the software in question while also, hopefully, getting you hooked on it. By accepting the role of beta tester, you are encouraged to give feedback. The beta will be available from the Softpress website as a thirty-day fully-working "preview". A web form will be... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Live Chat The Stevenote
While we here at The Apple Blog will be offering our 2 cents (not that you asked…) on tomorrow's announcements during and following the Macworld Expo Keynote, you may be looking for the straight dirt as it drops. Well whether you're at a computer, or sporting your iPhone (ok, or any other mobile with a browser) you'll probably want to check out WebChattr's coverage from the floor. Our boy Chris Holland has some cool mojo going on to bring the details to the masses in a format that will allow near instant updates in a web-based chat application - WebChattr! Check out his page explaining the whole thing here. It sounds like an interesting solution, and more interactive than the typical, 'stare at a blog waiting for it to update every 60 seconds'. Happy Stevenote Eve everyone!
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China Mobile Apparently Pulls a “Verizon� with Apple over the iPhone
Talks with China Mobile for exclusive rights to carry the iPhone have ended and it looks like they may have followed Verizon’s lead in the United States by refusing to give Apple too much of the pie. You can’t really blame them. Telecom companies are not used to…
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What are you hoping for in tomorrow's Keynote?
Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / OpinionAs the final hours tick away to tomorrow's Keynote by Steve Jobs (which we'll be liveblogging) what do you find yourself hoping to see from Apple? We TUAW folks have already outlined what we think will be announced tomorrow, but what do you hope to see? No matter how crazy it might seem, tell us in the comments. It'll make you feel better.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Podcast #39: Mac Expo Edition
The staff discusses the Mac Expo and how you can win a Mac|Life T-shirt.
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iPhone Ordering Concept Mimics Starbucks Purchases
A patent recently made available (filed in 2006) shows plans by Apple to implement a mobile ordering system. To what this could be applied is endless and could foster a widespread adoption of wireless payments. To go with this, Phil Lu had created a concept of what such…
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Is this Apple's ultraportable?
Filed under: Macworld, Rumors, AppleWired's Gadget Lab blog has posted a mockup of the rumored MacBook Air. They based their mockups on what inside sources had to tell them. The big points are that this thing is supposedly very, very thin and lack and optical drive and Ethernet port. I can see omitting networking ports and an optical drive if there is a docking station involved, but I would be hard pressed to buy any computer that didn't have a dedicated networking port.What say you, does this look like something out of Cupertino or something out of the Macworld addled brain of a Photoshop guru with a little too much time on their hands?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Customers that care
I visited the new Apple store in NYC on 14th Street yesterday. This one isn't as flashy as the one in midtown, and it has a fairly annoying design flaw. The two front doors don't close. Push them open, walk away and the door stays open. On one visit, they had two full-time employees standing there, walking over to each door to close it. At the time, I figured it was actually a design feature... they had a doorman. How quaint. Yesterday, though, with the temperature outside about 45, they just left both doors open. I asked Jeff, the employee greeting visitors, "why don't you guys keep the door shut?" After all, it seems extremely wasteful. Al Gore is on the board, but even if he wasn't, it must be costing them a fortune. Jeff told me that people complain all the time and it can't be fixed. Obviously, not everyone complains all the time. Perhaps it's just a few a day. But the people who complain, care. And it's the customers that care that actually have a huge impact on your business. If no one cares, you've got trouble. Goal one is getting people to care. Goal two: listening to them.
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Macworld.Ars: Registration Mayhem
The day before the Keynote, Macworld Expo 2008 is already crazy enough, starting with registration.Read More...
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Expo Notes: Seeing Expo, Flickr-style
For the second consecutive year, we've set up a Flickr Group for all of your Macworld Expo photos, and we'd love for you to participate.
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RuhSuhSuh brings news to iPhone
Filed under: Freeware, iPhoneRuhSuhSuh is a brand-new way to read RSS feeds on the iPhone. Unlike Google Reader, RuhSuhSuh simplifies things. When you load the page, you are presented with four categories: news, technology, entertainment, and sports. In each of those four categories, the developer has included 6 popular website feeds (TUAW is on page 2 of the technology section). The cool thing about this iPhone RSS reader is that the news articles are presented to you like a ticker at the bottom of a news broadcast. The articles just slide across the screen; you can then tap on them to access the full article. But the even better part about RuhSuhSuh is the fact that it loads very nicely over the EDGE network -- something we all want.To use RuhSuhSuh, just point your iPhone's Safari browser to RuhSuhSuh.com.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhone browser share may surprise some
The iPhone mobile browser share over the Christmas holiday was good, will the trend continue?Read More...
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Google’s New iPhone Interface
The iPhone revolutionized the industry by making it easy and affordable to use the Web on a cell phone. With that in mind, the company thought to make the iPhone’s web capabilities even better. Today, the first day of…
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Is Apple readying a wireless announcement? Maybe not
The day before Macworld is set to begin, rumors are flying that Apple will make a big wireless announcement.
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Is Apple readying a wireless announcement? Maybe not
A banner at the Moscone Center in San Francisco where Apple will host its annual Macworld conference has many in the technology sector buzzing about a possible wireless announcement coming from CEO Steve Jobs' keynote on Tuesday. The banner that reads "There's something in the Air" has prompted much ...
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Sunset: an FPS RPG for the iPhone
Filed under: Gaming, Freeware, iPhoneThis is the last thing I expected to see a day before Jobs is (hopefully) destined to reveal what can be done with the iPhone SDK, but nevertheless here it is. Donald Hays sent us a link to "Sunset," which is a game he wrote for the iPhone. I was skeptical when he described it as "a 3D RPG," because this is the iPhone we're talking about -- the thing can't even run Flash -- but lo and behold, that's exactly what it is. The graphics are homemade (he says he been working on the game since August of '07), and the genre conventions are many (it's an RPG in the old Dungeons of Daggorath style), so you run around, kill stuff, complete objectives, and level up), but in this case it's not the game that's so amazing, but where and how you're playing it.Seriously -- go to Donald's site on your iPhone and give it a look yourself. The game's even got an inventory system and a save system built into it. Very impressive work.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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The calm before the Macworld Expo storm
SAN FRANCISCO — There’s a quiet, serene kind of feeling in the Fourth and Mission area of San Francisco tonight. The kind of quiet before something big happens. It’s not completely silent though. People are buzzing about the under construction lobby of the Marriott SF. Expo badges can be seen swinging from around random pedestrian’s [...]
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First Looks: Carl Zeiss Cinemizer
Co-developed by German optics company Carl Zeiss and FROG Design, the Cinemizer (€369/$399) is the first wearable video display we've tested with dual 640x480 displays. Compatible with the third-generation iPod nano, iPod classic, iPod touch, and fifth-generation iPod -- full iPhone support is forthcoming -- as well as possessing a standard video input port for other devices, Cinemizer uses a formula familiar to fans of the earlier Myvu and…
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Another Get a Mac ad: are they even trying anymore?
Those who dislike Justin Long's Mac character in the Get a Mac ad series will not be happy with the latest television commercial.Read More...
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★ Macworld Expo Predictions
Predictions and advance commentary for tomorrow’s Macworld keynote, some based on consensus rumors, some based on no more than wishful thinking on the part of yours truly. This is all conjecture and tea-leaf-reading (well, mostly), so, please, no wagering. I keep two questions in mind when evaluating Apple product ideas: Would people run out to stand in line to buy this immediately? If not, is there a long-term strategic reason for Apple to start selling this now? If the answer to both questions is “no”, then Apple isn’t going to do it. The iPhone is a perfect example of a #1; the Apple TV is a #2. New Sub-Notebook MacBook: Yes Apple hasn’t had a small notebook in its lineup since the 12-inch PowerBook G4, which I still see in wide use. If you’re using a portable as a portable, smaller size and lighter weight make a tremendous difference. The demand for a good notebook smaller and lighter than standard MacBooks is strong; I think it’s a sure thing that Apple is set to announce one. (Of course, I said so before last year’s Macworld, too.) I say the consensus rumors are right: super-thin, no built-in optical drive, widescreen 12-inch display. It will use a hard drive, not flash memory, for storage. (Look no further than the iPod Classic to see how hard drives don’t keep a device from being super-thin). Rumors are already running strong that it’ll be called MacBook Air. (I like it, not sure though if Nike would.) Newton-y Tablet Thing: No I am nearly convinced that this product exists, at least as a project in development. My hunch is that AppleInsider has it spot-on: it’s in development, but not yet ready to launch, and, perhaps, never will if Apple can’t get it right. (Recall Steve Jobs’s statement to Walter Mossberg that he’s as proud of some of the products Apple decided not to ship as he is of the ones they did.) Like the iPhone, it runs “OS X” but not Mac OS X, does not run Mac apps, and will not be called a “Mac”. The big problem with a “tablet” computer of any sort is that 15 years of industry history indicate that people do not want to buy tablet computers. But the iPhone, arguably, is a tablet computer — a sub-tablet, if you will. The key mistake with failed efforts like Microsoft’s Tablet PC (and even Apple’s own Newton) was that these devices attempt to do too much. It’s seen as a feature that Tablet PCs run the full version of Windows. But why force software UI’s designed for traditional hardware form factors upon a totally different device? A successful tablet-like device from Apple, I think, would clearly be designed as a secondary computing device — a satellite attached and synched to a Mac or PC (probably, of course, through iTunes). There’s still the “what would I use it for?” factor. It seems to me it would need to be something more than just an iPod Touch with a larger screen — if that’s all it is, then what’s the point of buying one instead of a smaller, poctetable, iPod Touch or iPhone? I simply lack the cleverness to imagine what that hook might be — but I can’t imagine Apple releasing such a product without an obvious “Oh I gotta buy that” hook. Anyway: I do think something like this is in the works, but I don’t think it’s coming out now. I’d love to be wrong. Ubiquitous Wireless Networking for MacBooks: Please After using my iPhone for a few months, it started feeling weird that my PowerBook doesn’t have ubiquitous wireless networking: Wi-Fi when available, and seamless, instant switchover to something else when it isn’t. Just what that “something else” is, I don’t know. EVDO? WiMax? A Bluetooth connection to share an iPhone’s EDGE connection? I don’t care. But I’d pay for it. Ubiquitous networking is certainly the most intriguing thing about Amazon’s Kindle. It just feels crippled that I can’t get a network connection — even a slow one — once I’m outside the range of Wi-Fi. Wireless Time Machine Backups: Yes Time Machine is very cool; the first backup that qualifies as “you don’t have to do anything, it just works”. But currently it only works using a storage device connected via USB or FireWire. Tethered backups are irritating with notebooks — and MacBooks are the fastest-growing segment of Apple’s Mac hardware sales. The problem is that when you want to use your portable away from your desk, it’s a pain to disconnect mounted USB and FireWire drives. You can’t just pulled the plugs — you’ve got to unmount them in the Finder first. And, once you do so, to get Time Machine backups running again, you’ve got to re-tether your storage drive. Leopard developer seeds all supported network backups to USB drives connected to an AirPort base station. The feature was also demoed at WWDC. It was removed (or, better said, disabled) very late in Leopard’s development, supposedly because of a security problem that was discovered, but I expect the feature to return, perhaps in 10.5.2. It’s a terrific idea, perfect for multi-Mac homes and small offices. But so why not sell a device as a dedicated product — a big 500 GB or larger hard drive (or array of them) with built-in AirPort networking. No need to attach it to a separate AirPort base station, no temptation to use the device for anything other than one purpose: backing up via Time Machine. Just plug it into a power outlet, run through a simply configuration tool a la AirPort Utility, and it’s ready. When it first appears on your network, your (Leopard-running) Mac could prompt to ask if you’d like to use it for Time Machine, the same way it prompts when you first plug in a new USB or FireWire drive. iTunes Movie Rentals: Yes This one seems like such a done deal that it barely qualifies as a rumor. It seems obvious: Unlike with music, there’s been a strong market for movie rentals for as long as there’s been a home video market. Most movies aren’t worth watching more than once. Reports (based on leaks from studio executives) indicate rentals will cost $3-5, and will expire after 24 hours. If true, presumably that means they’ll expire 24 hours after you beginning playing them, not 24 hours after downloading. It’d be nice if the terms were a bit more flexible than that. One of the best things about Netflix, and something which makes it far more appealing than traditional brick-and-mortar Blockbuster-style rentals, is that you can watch movies on your own terms. A Netflix-style iTunes movie subscription service that lets you keep a certain number of unlocked movies open at the same time would be killer. Apple TV 2.0: Yes Jobs has called Apple TV a “hobby” for Apple. I think they have high hopes for it, but calling it a hobby is a practical way to buy time for it. What Apple did with the iPod was start as small and simple as they could — one device, in one configuration, only for the Mac, and all it did was play recorded audio — and then build the platform slowly from there. Things like Windows support, color screens, video playback, and expanding to a range of form factors all came incrementally. I think that’s the plan with Apple TV. Start simple and humble, and build from there, year after year. One obvious improvement (albeit contingent upon another rumor) would be to allow us to buy (or rent) movies and TV shows directly from the iTunes Store, right from the Apple TV. If the iPhone can do it, the Apple TV should too. I still think it’d be good business for Apple to sell their own HDTV sets with Apple TV built-in — more money for Apple, one fewer device spewing cables behind the display. DRM-Free iTunes Plus Music From the Other Major Music Labels: No I think Apple would love to have this, but it seems pretty clear that the major labels — other than EMI, of course — are convinced that it’s in their interest to withhold DRM-free music from Apple, in the hopes of helping Amazon gain market share. It actually agree that it’s in the music labels’ interest for Amazon’s music store to succeed. I’m not sure, though, that withholding DRM-free music from Apple is spiting anyone other than iTunes customers. I suspect the vast majority — an overwhelming majority — of iTunes music purchases are made by people who have at best only a vague inkling of what “DRM” is. If there’s any actual logic to it, it’s PR — withholding DRM-free music from Apple makes it easier to paint Apple as a company bent on using iTunes as a competitive cudgel to lock customers in to iPod hardware. Only a hack reporter would buy into that line, given Steve Jobs’s unequivocol “Thoughts on Music” open letter last year. One thing that would dispel any negative stories on the state of the iTunes empire, of course, would be the long-awaited debut of The Beatles catalog, exclusively at iTunes, perhaps with an on-stage visit from Paul McCartney. New iPhone Hardware: No, With a Minor Exception Apple announced the original iPhone a year ago, but they didn’t ship it until six months ago. They’re not going to announce new iPhones six months in advance again. (It was to their advantage last year to cause people to postpone phone purchases until the iPhone appeared; that’s not the case now that the iPhone is on the market.) If anything, I don’t expect new iPhones to appear until next fall, at the yearly iPod/iTunes pre-holiday season special event, leaving the original iPhone on the market for over a year. Why revise hardware for a product that, by all accounts, is selling remarkably well as-is? The only exception I could see would be a 16 GB iPhone that’s otherwise unchanged from the current 8 GB model. iPhone SDK News: No I can see the upcoming iPhone SDK getting a mention from Jobs on stage, a reminder that it’s coming and that’s it’s going to be great, but Macworld isn’t WWDC, and SDKs don’t make for splashy presentations. If I’m wrong, it’ll be because they have a demo queued up from a third-party developer with early access to the SDK. Actual third-party software (written against the actual official SDK) is demoable. Games, perhaps? The apparently-leaked 1.1.3 firmware might make for a good demo, what with the jiggly icons and whatnot. Cinema Displays With Better Resolution, Brighter Screens, and Built-In Cameras: Yes If I keep predicting it, eventually I’ll be right.
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TUAW Macworld Talkcast #2 at 8pm ET tonight
We'll be live again tonight at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT for another preshow talkcast, with Scott McNulty and the entire team musing on the next-day excitement. If you've got a burning question that you want answered, call on in and join the fun. It's worth noting that the TalkShoe Java client (long a subject of discussion among our listeners) has been superceded by a shiny new browser-only client, no downloading required and no account registration needed. Just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 8 pm tonight.We'll also be live on Tuesday evening at 7 pm ET/4 pm PT for a full wrapup of the keynote, first day reactions, and more. Don't miss it!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Last rites for free banking
A long-awaited test case to establish the legitimacy of bank and building society current account charges kicked off in the High Court yesterday ? the start of a legal wrangle between the Office of Fair Trading and eight of the sector's biggest institutions that is unlikely to reach a conclusion before 2009.
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Talks to offer iPhone in China called off
Apple's long march to world domination suffered a temporary setback yesterday as China Mobile, the largest phone operator in the world's most populous country, pulled out of talks aimed at launching the iPhone for its 350 million subscribers.
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[Sponsor] H-Squared
H-Squared produces a wide range of mounts for Apple products. If you’ve got an Airport Extreme, Mac mini, or Apple TV, head on over to the site to see what’s available. Whether you’re setting up your new Airport Extreme network, putting together a home theater, setting up a computer lab, or just about any other project, chances are there’s the right mount product to help you get the job done. For this week, Daring Fireball readers receive 15% off of their orders when using the code “DF08� at checkout.
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Google Sees Surge in iPhone Traffic
Miguel Helft in The New York Times: On Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device, according to internal Google data made available to The New York Times. ★
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Requiem for a Rendering Engine
Agreed: Having laid out these feats of strength, it is time to remind everyone of the most shocking fact about iCab: all of this was done by one person, Alexander Clauss. In spite of all the obstacles the modern web threw at browser developers, the fact that one man could single-handedly write an entire rendering engine that “kept up with the Jonses� and ran natively on Mac OS 8.5 - Mac OS X 10.5 inclusive is nothing short of miraculous. (Via Michael Tsai.) ★
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Music Industry, Souring on Apple, Embraces Amazon Service - New York Times
Jeff Leeds, reporting for The New York Times on Pepsi’s upcoming billion-song giveaway promotion with Amazon, on why iTunes only has DRM-free music from one major label: A senior executive at another record company, who requested anonymity out of concern about irritating Mr. Jobs, said he was prepared to keep copy restrictions on his label’s songs on iTunes for six months to a year while Amazon establishes itself. Mmm, smell that spite. ★
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iTransmogrify brings more flash content to the iPhone
Filed under: Multimedia, Video, iPhone iTransmogrify is a bookmarklet for iPhone Safari which will allow you to view certain Flash content by, well, transmogrifying it. Actually, what it does is just replace the embedded flash player with a link to natively supported formats (i.e. QuickTime formats). So if you're looking at a page with an embedded Youtube video in Safari you can use the bookmarklet to view the video if Youtube has already converted it behind the scenes. It will also allow you to listen to embedded Flash MP3 content in the same way. You can get the iTransmogrify bookmarklet from joemaller.com and the source is available on a Google code page.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Shipping Off to Macworld
The bags are packed, the batteries are charged, and in a few hours I'll be on a plane to San Francisco for Macworld '08. All eyes will be on the Moscone Center Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. when Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage to present the company's latest products and services. Whatever he has in store will probably dominate the headlines in tech news circles, but there's more to Macworld than his 90-minute speech. Here's what you can expect MacNewsWorld to cover at the conference.
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How the Writer's Strike could cost iTunes subscribers
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Video, iTunes, AppleMacworld (the magazine, not the party that many of us are missing out on this week) has an interesting note up about how the writer's strike is going to be bad news for iTunes subscribers, and it's not what you think. Sure, the whole strike is supposedly about television writers getting paid for their work from online sales (which means that if the writers win, networks will likely claim they have to charge more for sales on iTunes and other digital outlets), but there's another negative: no writers means shorter seasons, which means iTunes subscriptions aren't worth as much. Desperate Housewives and Prison Break had both of their seasons cut short, and that means that anyone who bought either of those seasons isn't getting as much as they expected for their money.As MW says, the closest thing they've heard to an answer from Apple on this is an example of The Daily Show and Colbert Report subscriptions-- subscribers of those shows were told that their subscriptions would resume when the shows did, so people who have subscribed to Desperate Housewives may just expect to have part of the next season paid for already as well (or may get refunds of iTunes credit for other shows that are available).And it'll be interesting to see what effect this has on the keynote at Macworld tomorrow-- will Apple promote television shows that are headed off the air for a while? Or maybe the rumored movie rentals will draw attention away from iTunes TV subscriptions anyway.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Final Macworld predictions?
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Tomorrow morning the tech world will tune in as Steve gets on stage to kick off another Macworld expo -- an event Apple usually uses for only its biggest product announcements. There are all kind of crazy rumors going around, but this year there are a few picks that have seem to stuck: an ultraportable MacBook (Pro) of some kind, iTunes movie rentals, and, of course, the iPhone SDK. But what rabbit will El Jobso pull out of his hat marked one-more-thing? Find out tomorrow when we bring you our live coverage at 9AM PT (and check out other local times here). Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Expo Notes: Office gets its day in the sun
Microsoft got a jump start at Macworld Expo, with a 10-hour session devoted to the ins and outs of its new Office 2008 release.
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Polaroid launches Freescape digital media ecosystem
Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment On the real, we're not quite sure we're ready to sink hard-earned dollars into a digital media "ecosystem" crafted by the same folks working up mobile printers and craptastic portable DVD players, but we suppose we can't kvetch over any extra competition. Apparently, the firm's Freescape initiative is based around the Digital Media Exchange (pictured), which stores your precious content and passes it along to other Freescape products -- you know, like the accompanying Digital Media Extender, wireless digiframe and wireless PMP. No word on a price for any of this kit just yet, but we've all ideas that's a-okay with the most of you.[Via Pocket-Lint] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macheist bundle completely unlocked
Filed under: Software, DealsWe've covered this year's Macheist a couple of times already, but they hit a milestone today and all the software, including heavy hitters CSSedit, Snapz Pro, and Pixelmator, is now unlocked. Whatever else you might think of the concept, it's a mighty good deal for all this software. I just purchased it myself and received the serial numbers immediately (excepting Cha-Ching which will shortly release a new version with new serials). In addition, Speed Download has been re-added to the bundle after appearing and disappearing earlier. Finally, they're offering a copy of LaunchBar if you can convince a friend else to buy it too.The full bundle (11 apps) remains $49 and is on sale for another 9 days.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld 2008 keynote leaked? Nope, not a chance.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets For those not paying attention, there's a "leaked" Macworld 2008 keynote making the rounds today, and we'd just like to make sure you know it's completely and utterly false. Not only is it one of many fabricated keynotes making the rounds this year, and part of an annual ritual of keynote fabrications, but it even manages to be self-damning with its listing of a Mac Pro refresh -- which obviously happened last week. Let's try a little harder, people![Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Insanity: AT&T Imposing 5GB Soft Cap For Data
After their recent and bold statement at CES about considering a filter placed on their Internet services, AT&T is imposing a 5GB cap for data on mobile devices. The cap although low is not meant to trap customers into paying outrageous fees or into void their…
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Apple, China Mobile Talks Fizzle
Apple's bid to sell its iPhone in China has apparently failed with the news that China Mobile is ending talks to market the device there. The two firms reportedly ceased negotiations because they were unable to agree upon a revenue-sharing model for the music, games and video downloads that China Mobile would offer. Apple was requesting up to 30 percent of user fees from iPhone users in China, for instance, according to Chinese Internet portal Sina.com.
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We're at Macworld and we want to talk to you
Filed under: Macworld, TUAW BusinessTeam TUAW is on the ground here at Macworld 2008. We're already posted a bunch of pictures, scouted out the scene, and obtained our media creds. Now all we need to do is hear from you. If you're at Macworld and have a cool product, app, or service we want to hear about it. Email us using the following address: macworld AT tuaw DOT com.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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There’s something in the air…
Today, Apple updated their home page with the graphic above showing what appears to be Apple's man slogan for Macworld 2008. Many readers are predicting that “air” is the name of a new line of MacBooks from Apple that will be released tomorrow. Other's are guessing it has something to do with wireless networking or WiFi. I'm guessing no one really has a clue. Tomorrow at 9am PST, Steve Jobs will deliver his infamous keynote speech and is sure to release and announce things that will make your head explode. Tune in tomorrow for commentary and updates on new announcements related to all things Macworld.
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Rumors: Possible early confirmation of iTunes movie rentals
Filed under: Macworld, RumorsA little blue and green birdie has been tweeting into our ears about today's Dreamworks Animation employees talk. Jeffrey Katzenberg apparently said that "tomorrow Apple will announce film distribution in iTunes. Physical media delivery is inherently flawed." Hmm. Sounds interesting but we have no way to confirm -- until tomorrow afternoon.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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MacBook Air wafts around the rumorscape
Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Airport Of our predictions about Macworld this year, the subnotebook likely topped the list for most mentioned, and though the name MacBook Air sounded strange to me when I first heard it (come to think of it, it still sounds weird, unless this is actually a product made out of hardened atmosphere), it looks like the evidence is mounting. Over the weekend, the name appeared in an Adium X usage log, and now we've got news that search engine ads and domain name lookups all point to Apple as the owner of macbookair.com (even if the site itself doesn't).So is this the name of Apple's new subnotebook? Of course, we won't know for sure until Steve says it on stage, but while it's not, on the surface, Apple's best naming choice, it could work, in an "Airport" and "Air Tunes" kind of way. It could be worse-- the thing could be called the MacPod. Or the PodBook. Or the PodMac. Or the Lisa.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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"Leaked" Keynotes
Filed under: MacworldBy definition, all leaked keynotes are bogus. That doesn't mean, however, that they aren't an artform unto themselves. I used to adore the fake iPhone concepts that "leaked" before the real one toddle along and I don't think I'll soon lose my love of the fake keynotes. Various TUAW readers have been tipping us off to the latest round of faux keynotes including that Wikipedia one. (Of course, the bit about refreshing the Mac Pro "today" is kind of a give away since the Mac Pro was refreshed last week.) In any case, what are your favorite "leaknote" products that you've read about this year? Let us know in the comments. I hold out hope for the Nike Air Phone, bringing back the glory of the "Get Smart" shoe phone. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Creator of Lost & Alias is a Certified Apple Fanboy
I was getting my weekly dose of TED Talks when I saw J.J. Abrams as a speaker. If you haven’t ever heard of TED Talks, Abrams’ is a great one to start with. His antics are hilarious and it results in a strong presence on-stage. In his talk, he discusses the element of mystery behind his shows as well as the impact of the digital age on filmmaking. The real takeaway from his talk is (mind you, I’m paraphrasing) “He loves him some Apple.� My favorite quote from him: “This Powerbook challenges me. What are you going to write worthy of me?� This complete, self-proclaimed Apple fan watches Stevenotes and uses his Powerbook on stage. For the record, he was just as surprised as the rest of us to see Lost behind Steve Jobs when they announced TV Shows on iTunes. Apple ‘Heart’ image from Insanely Great Tees.
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Macworld.ars: MacBook air evidence cropping up online
Rumors are flying as the shadow of tomorrow's keynote looms over those in attendance at Macworld 2008. Some evidence of the MacBook Air has been dug up--let the conspiracy theories fly!Read More...
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News: Live from MWSF08, starting 9AM PT, tomorrow
iLounge's editors have arrived in San Francisco, California to provide live coverage of the 2008 Macworld Expo, which kicks off tomorrow morning at 9:00AM Pacific Time with a keynote speech from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The Expo, which traditionally sees the introduction of new Apple and third-party hardware and software, is expected to include substantial upgrades to iTunes, the iPhone, and Apple TV, and other Apple wireless products, as well…
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Overnighting in the Macworld registration line
Filed under: Humor, Found Footage Sure, the Macworld registration line was kind of long this morning, but overnighting outside Moscone? Uncalled for -- this ain't the iPhone launch. Despite the futility, Justine and friend decided to "spend the night" waiting for Macworld registration to open. I guess they didn't want to wait in line -- and interpretive dance is always in good taste.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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More "MacBook Air" evidence wafts by
Filed under: Laptops Sure, all will be revealed tomorrow, but rather than twiddle their thumbs, the Apple curious are scouring the internet for further evidence of the MacBook Air. A certain tipster named "byrd" searched for "macbookair" on Dogpile and found a Google ad listing up top, which redirects to the MacBook page of the Apple Store. Meanwhile MacDailyNews reader "mango" tracked down the macbookair.org domain name and found that it is indeed listed under Apple -- the Whois domain name lookup won't show any info on the .com or .net versions. Obviously these are pretty minor details that don't say a lot in themselves, but the more of these that pile in, the more we're inclined to believe in a magical ultraportable from Apple tomorrow that will fulfill all our wishes -- we're suckers like that. [Thanks, byrd]Read - MacDailyNews domain name lookupRead - Dogpile search results Permalink | Email this | Comments
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BusySync 2 to include Google Calendar to iCal capability
Filed under: Software, Beta BeatIf you're iCal-based for your scheduling needs and you want to share calendars with family or colleagues, you're probably already hip to BusySync and the delights of iCal syncing Mac-to-Mac without a .Mac account. Now the BusySync team has announced a key feature for 2.0, shipping in February: Google Calendar synchronization. You should be able to share calendars across the internet with other Google Calendar users, and if they have BusySync on their machines the Gcal data will slide neatly into iCal for them.BusySync 2.0 will ship for $24.95 per computer, a $5 price increase -- if you buy a BusySync 1.5 license today for $19.95, you can upgrade for free to the new version. There's also a public beta on the way if you want to check it out.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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NewerTech intros USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter
Filed under: Peripherals Sure, we've seen similar adapters in the past, but NewerTech's latest is quite a few rungs higher on the attractive scale than its most formidable rivals. The inelegantly named USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter allows users to easily connect any 2.5-, 3.5- or 5.25-inch HDD / optical drive to a computer via USB, enabling folks to transfer critical data or backup an internal drive altogether without having to hunt down some snazzy external chassis. Notably, the adapter plays nice with IDE, ATA and SATA (among others), has no qualms dealing with OS X / Linux and will set you back just $29.95. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld.ars: Ars Technica keynote live coverage info
The Macworld.Ars team has come together as we prepare for tomorrow's live keynote coverage. Check here to find out how to get all the details on our coverage of Macworld 2008!Read More...
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Macworld 2008: The Build-Up
Filed under: Macworld As the Steve Jobs keynote draws ever-nearer, the TUAW team has been busy preparing for our hectic coverage. In between the partying hard work and sleep, we ventured around San Francisco to sample the atmosphere as the registration for the Conference and Expo started at 8am this morning.Gallery: Macworld 2008 Build-upRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple Gazette Daily 188 - Macworld 2008 Pre-Show
Getting ready for Macworld, where to find all the coolest things happening in and around the event, and what to expect - and not to expect - tomorrow. You can subscribe via iTunes, or by RSS feed, or… you can listen to the episode right here: In addition to that, you can also download the Apple Gazette Daily Widget and listen to every episode of the show right on your Dashboard. Click Here to download.
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Google's Working with Microsoft's Playbook on iPhone
People just don't get how good web apps on mobile can be. I get stuck in many conversations about native apps on mobile, which always strikes me as vestigial. The same way that I live in mostly browser-based apps on my desktop and laptop, I am convinced I will live in web apps on my mobile device. Pretending otherwise seems wrong-headed and self-defeating.
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There's something in the air.
Hmm. What. Could. That. Be? Apple TV wireless content downloading? Wireless backups? WiMax-enabled laptops? Free bean burritos under every seat? The Macalop's leaning toward WiMax right now. It seems a typical Apple-y move and one that's occurred to the horny one ever since he got his iPhone. "Boy it'd sure be nice to be able to have ubiquitous Internet access with my laptop," the Macalope would say to the dryads and nymphs around him. They'd just mumble "Yeah" and go back to playing Wii bowling. The Macalope never should have bought them that. They're supposed to be making dewy nectar but all they do is play Wii bowling all day. Anyway, the safe picks this year seem to involve some combination of the following: New Apple TV with movie rentals. Lightweight laptop, possibly with docking station. An iPhone update might be announced, but certainly won't be released yet. The Macalope actually doubts it'll be announced yet, despite the loose lips of AT&T executives. That thing that's in the air. The horny one got sucked into the Beatles speculation last year and refuses to get roped in again this year. Which, of course, means it'll probably happen this year. But the Macalope still says no. No, no, no, no, no. You're just going to have to keep listening to the White Album on vinyl as God intended it. Bonus points if you have the White Album on white vinyl. Ah, those were the days! Unless "the device that dare not be called a Newton" gets unveiled, this keynote will probably not be of the magnitude of last year's and that's OK. Contrary to jackasstic belief, not every keynote has to introduce a game-changing device or Apple will "die". Mac, iPod, iPhone, remember? Unless the Macalope is very mistaken, Apple didn't release those at consecutive Macworld Expos. Whatever gets announced, the Macalope will be there. 24 hours to go.
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Mobile Scrobbler adds command-line track metadata
Filed under: Software, iPhoneMobile Scrobbler is the Last.fm client developed for the iPod touch and iPhone. In its upcoming 1.4.0 recent release, Mobile Scrobbler will allow you to query its metadata database by searching on track and artist from the command line. To do this, you need to access the MobileScrobbler executable inside the application bundle on your iPhone and issue a command along the following lines: ./MobileScrobbler -track "Shimmer" -artist "Fuel" -album "" The developers write, saying the album string will be optional--you can pass an empty string as shown here. This is a great little feature that shouldn't be overlooked by anyone who has command-line access on their iPhone or iPod touch. For a further preview of Mobile Scrobbler 1.4, check out this screenshot tour.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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VMware beefs up Importer beta 2 with Virtual PC 7.0 support
VMware has released a second beta of its Mac-specific Importer application, which now has support for importing machines created with Virtual PC 7.0.Read More...
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News: Marware unveils new cases for iPhone, iPod nano
Marware has introduced new C.E.O. cases for the iPhone and iPod nano (with video), as well as its Sidewinder case for iPod nano. The C.E.O. Flip Vue for iPhone is a flip-open leather case that features unique vertical and horizontal stand capability, a removable 360-degree rotating ratchet clip, included screen protector film and microfiber cleaning cloth, and access to all ports and controls. The C.E.O. Cover Vue is also a flip-open leather case,…
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The Night Before Expo, iPhone Talks with China Hit Wall, Apple's Big Holiday Season
A subcompact notebook. iTunes movie rentals. A 3G iPhone. Everyone has an opinion as to what Apple will announce tomorrow. Mac Expo is just hours away.
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Apple promotes keynote playback on home page
Apple's home page has been updated to encourage browsers to come back and watch the keynote on "Tuesday afternoon." As far as we know this does not mean a live stream of the event (thank goodness, otherwise who would read our liveblog?) but the after-event video should be up quickly and streamable for your viewing pleasure.Thanks elixirgraphics!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Be here Tuesday for live Macworld coverage
Steve Jobs will deliver his annual State of the Mac address at San Francisco's Moscone Center at 9 a.m.--and we'll be there to bring you the news.
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'Ginormous' Holiday Season for Macs says RBC's Abramsky
Apple (AAPL) shares are up smartly heading into Tuesday morning keynote by CEO Steve Jobs at the Macworld trade show in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. One week later, the company will report earnings for the fiscal first quarter ended December.
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'Ginormous' Holiday Season for Macs - RBC's Abramsky
Apple (AAPL) shares are up smartly heading into Tuesday morning keynote by CEO Steve Jobs at the Macworld trade show in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. One week later, the company will report earnings for the fiscal first quarter ended December.
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Community Activity: January 14, 2008
MacWorld 2008 Predictions Rotatable Displays MacHeist Bundle - are YOU taking the plunge? Memory chip in 17″ Powerbook G4 Parallels
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Macworld 2008: Pre-Show Photo Gallery
Well, things are gearing up and Macworld 2008 is ready to go. Below is a small photo gallery of some of the signage and things you can see here as people register. It's not the most exciting stuff in the world, I'll grant you, but if you're into it - here they are…
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The ROKR: The Best Thing to Happen to Apple
There is a truly enlightening article on Wired called, �The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry�. In the article, published last week by Wired and written by Fred Vogelstein, it talks about…
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iPhone Tip: Prepare Your iPhone For Macworld
Venturing to Macworld can be a daunting trip for newcomers and packing light is advised but if you want to make use of your iPhone along the way, TUAW has compiled 5 important things you should do so you you…
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TUAW Responds: MAC Addresses on the iPhone
Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, Internet Tools, Security, iPhone In the "use at your own risk" department, TUAW reader Carter P. wrote in asking, "Hey, I know this is a lot to ask, but would it be possible for you to build me a simple application? All I would like the app to do is to spoof a MAC address on my iPhone." MAC addresses are Media Access Control identifiers that are used to distinguish one network adapter from another. Spoofing involves changing your hardware's MAC address from one setting to another. You can use spoofing to fix problems connecting to your ISP or to test your network firewall. To help Carter out, I put together this iPhone/iPod touch utility. It prompts you to enter a new MAC address and then runs ifconfig en0 lladdr address. No further error checking is done so use the tool with all due caution.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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China Mobile shoots down Apple over revenue sharing
China Mobile has "terminated" talks with Apple over the iPhone, reportedly due to major differences in revenue sharing. It's not gonna be as easy to bring the iPhone to China as some have thought.Read More...
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Mac OS X source for ZFS filesystem released
The source code for the ZFS filesystem on OS X has been released on Mac OS Forge.Read More...
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Brother HL-4070CDW
Employee of the Month.
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Bear Cuts Hardware Targets
Bear Stearns hardware analyst Andy Neff Monday morning cut his price targets and earnings estimates for a host of hardware, data storage and imaging stocks he follows, due to the weakening economic outlook.
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Google Beefs Up iPhone Interface
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This Day: January 14, 1999: Bondo, er Bondi… Whatever, People Love It
The original iMac was kind of a make or break proposition for Apple. The company had only recently returned to profitability but was offering very little to get consumers truly excited. Then Apple unveiled the gumdrop shaped original iMac. Reaction was mixed. Some said it was revolutionary, some…
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From Apple to Target: Design (thinker) hubris?
Featured links from the CNET Blog Network Red One: The HD Camera -- The Red One camera has a 12MP sensor that records HD, 2K, and 4K video with frame rates ranging from 30fps (@4K) to 60fps (@2K) to 120fps (@2K windowed mode). Weighing less than 10 lbs, the Red One is the new top-of-the-line digital video camera. Design (thinker) hubris? -- From Apple to Target -- the understanding of design as holistic innovation driver and change agent has long become business mainstream. Sinobyte's new mobile arm: the HTC Touch/Dopod S1 -- After too long with a single-ringer, no-frills, colorless, call-and-text-only Motorola cell phone, this blogger has upgraded to a touch-screen, Windows Mobile, wi-fi capable, hand-held nugget of a computer. Pining for an open-source political campaign -- I hate telemarketers, especially political ones.
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Google refreshes iPhone interface again
Filed under: Macworld, Internet Tools, iPhoneThe developers at Google are hot on the iPhone, due in part to something called the "Christmas cross-over."The number of global Google queries (say that five times fast) from iPhones surpassed queries made from Symbian-based phones for the first time in December, probably due to all the iPhones that were activated over the holiday.Earlier this month, Google released iGoogle for the iPhone as well as an iPhone-optimized Google landing page. Today at Macworld, they announced more improvements for iPhone users (beyond those made in December).First all, Gmail features auto-refresh. Calendar is speedier and features a month view that isn't available at calendar.google.com, and iGoogle gadgets can be used with the iPhone. I've found that Picasa web albums are significantly faster, both over Wi-Fi and EDGE.These are great changes. We don't know just how Google is rolling this stuff out, so keep checking google.com/m today.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Steve Jobs Keynote: Fun and Games
Play Steve Jobs Keynote Bingo while at MacWorld.
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IBM leads technology sector rally; H-P, Dell, Apple advance
Technology stocks advanced solidly late Monday morning, pumped by news that International Business Machines Corp. will exceed Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings estimates.
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Macworld 2008: Hess Memorial Macworld Event List
The Hess Memorial Macworld Event List has been updated again this year for 2008, and it is your one stop source for everything that's happening at Macworld. This is the 13th year of publication of the list, and it's named after Robert Hess of Macweek, and now managed by Ilene Hoffman, a Macintosh Consultant, writer, and photographer. If you're looking for a definitive list of all the great stuff happening at and around Macworld, click here and start making plans.
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Video: ‘Get A Mac’ - “Time Machine�
Apple has posted their latest 'Get a Mac' ad just before the 2008 Macworld Expo kicks off. The ad does a good job of what I think these commercials should be doing - showing off a feature of OSX and explaining how it works…and it's worth a chuckle ta boot.
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News: Apple, China Mobile end iPhone talks
Apple and China Mobile have broken off talks to bring the iPhone to China, according to a Reuters report. In November, it was reported that talks between the two companies had failed, but China Mobile quickly denied the report, and said that it was still in negotiations to offer the handset. China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou had previously warned that he disliked the revenue-sharing business model Apple had used elsewhere for iPhone agreements, and it…
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Mac OS Ken: 01.14.2008
Can you smell what Steve Jobs is cooking?
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Mac OS Ken: 01.14.2008a
Can you smell what Steve Jobs is cooking?
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Hidden Gems In Leopard:Â OpenSnoop
I have a confession to make: I have not always been a Mac person. For the period of time between the retirement of System 9 and Panther (yes, it took Apple showing a real commitment to Unix for me to give them a shot again), I abandoned our fine operating system for greener pastures, well, green screen at least. Work drove me into Windows (as it has for about 90% of the workers out there) but my real outlet was anything Linux, BSD or Solaris-related. There was nary a distro that did not cross my hard drive (virtual or otherwise) and I was very happy programming, scripting and living life on the command line, with an occasional, lingering trip into X11 when necessary. OS X changed all that, since Apple managed to make Unix look very good while keeping all of the real power that lies beneath the GUI.Now, one may be able to argue the aesthetics of  Leopard (hey, Panic should be happy, it took Leopard to finally drive me into purchasing CandyBar), but none can dispute the gems that await those who dare to invoke the Terminal, and I'll be taking the opportunity over some of the coming posts to dwell on the nuggets that bear a deeper look. For those that are not as comfortable with the more textual side of their systems, I'll be making these trips as painless as possible (you may not need to delve into the Utilities folder to find the Terminal icon at all). The first stop is a little utility called opensnoop. Leopard ships with something called DTrace that gives developers and administrators the ability to take a peek at what all running code is doing in a flexible and dynamic way. Giving DTrace the coverage it deserves is beyond a simple blog post, but there are some smaller utilities - like opensnoop - that take advantage of the power of DTrace, but on a more targeted scale which are worthy of a minor exposition.The main purpose of the opensnoop utility is to provide a report of file opens as they occur. Curious as to what really happens when Safari opens a web page? Want to see what files are accessed from that latest program you downloaded? You can find the answers with opensnoop. If you can get to a terminal prompt, the simplest way to see what this utility does is to just type: sudo opensnoop Non-Terminal folks can just run the OpenSnoop.app application from the OpenSnoop App Archive (354KB ZIP file). (Either way, you'll be asked to enter your password since opensnoop requires higher-level privileges to run.) Output will look something like the following, though your listing contents should be very different: UID PID COMM FD PATH 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf 501 218 Finder 11 /.vol/234881026/571978 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf 0 110 WindowServer 4 /var/log/windowserver.log 0 110 WindowServer 4 /var/log/windowserver.log 501 286 SystemUIServer 17 /System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Spaces.menu/Contents/Resources/SpacesBackground.pdf For each line: UID is the numerical ID of the owner of program that has the file opened. PID is the process ID of the program that has the file open COMM is the actual name of the process (this is something we care about) FD is the numerical file descriptor (ID) of the file being accessed PATH is the full OS X path to the file being accessed (this is also something we care about) The sample output is what occurred when I switched to/from Spaces 1 & 3. Just that simple case shows how interesting opensnoop can be since we see that the SystemUIServer and WindowServer were both invoked when I worked just a little bit with Spaces and that SpacesBackground.pdf was loaded from one of the Spaces app bundles. While this is useful in-and-of itself, we can use opensnoop for more targeted and detailed inspection. The following command: sudo opensnoop -avgn Safari (Non-Terminal users can run the SnoopSafari.app from the archive) Produces the following output when I tell it to go to google.com: TIME STRTIME UID PID FD ERR PATH ARGS 8071248908 2008 Jan 10 21:33:13 501 1153 17 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db-journal Safari 8071249029 2008 Jan 10 21:33:13 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari Safari 8071249636 2008 Jan 10 21:33:13 501 1153 24 0 /var/tmp/etilqs_rjFUOz2TEh7AaoG Safari 8075981916 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/.tracked filenames.plist Safari 8075982865 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2F.webhistory Safari 8075983663 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/http:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F.webhistory Safari 8075984521 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari/History/.tracked filenames.plist Safari 8075980917 2008 Jan 10 21:33:18 501 1153 18 0 /.vol/234881026/713654 Safari 8077969298 2008 Jan 10 21:33:19 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/.dat0481.441 Safari 8077966383 2008 Jan 10 21:33:19 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/.dat0481.440 Safari 8080982146 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/lock/.dat0481.442 Safari 8080983115 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Library/Safari/lock/details.plist Safari 8081191826 2008 Jan 10 21:33:23 501 1153 18 0 /Users/bob/Li