Jan 15, 2008 Jan 17, 2008 Wednesday January 16, 2008
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Best of Show: Part 1, Etymotic hf2
This year we went back and forth through the floor to come up with 5 Best of Show for Macworld. We were specifically looking for products that were best of breed for iPhone users. The first award went to the always excellent Etymotic…
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iTunes Digital Copy from Fox DVD goes under the microscope
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video Where the failed promise of Managed Copy on Blu-ray and HD DVD left us all hanging, Apple, iTunes, and Fox have oddly picked up the pieces. Oh sure, the DRM's still there, but as paradoxically quietly announced at this week's Jobsnote, the new Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest DVD comes with an included movie file that one can pull off the disc onto their machine -- but only by making use of an included code (and a copy of iTunes with a valid account, of course). What's unclear is whether the movie file is DRMed before being pulled off the disc, or is encrypted specific to one's account during the process of download from the disc. Ultimately these details won't change the fact that it's a ripe target for people who wants to legitimately buy their media, yet doesn't think it should be friggin' DRMed. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Are we now being unfair to Apple?
Or is there now a backlash when Steve doesn't introduce something akin to the iPhone at Macworld? It seems to me to be another proof of one of the tenets of my eBook: "surprise and delight" your customers. The flip side to that seems to be that when Apple doesn't surprise people at each years Macworld keynote the stock takes a hit and the naysayers come out in force. I believe the leaks of information regarding the Macbook Air name, the iPhone 1.1.3 update, even the iTunes movie rentals pushed some stockholders to dump their shares because they were not surprised. Even more, and pretty rare for Apple these days, is that many people were clearly not delighted with missing features in the Macbook Air. It's almost as if people are spending more time surprised by what's missing than delighted they have another amazing notebook choice from Apple. No fundamentals have changed at Apple, there is now a sexy new computer on the shelves along with additional movie rental revenues coming in yet the stock has given up more than 10% its value. One question on branding. Why didn't they call it the Macbook Nano? Any ideas?
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★ Keynote Roundup
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations from yesterday’s Macworld Expo keynote: Office 2008 I was interested to see whether Microsoft would get some demo time during the keynote to show Office 2008. The Mac BU hasn’t always gotten stage time, but, I think, they have always gotten stage time in keynotes when they have a brand-new major version of Office. Not this year. Jobs did mention the Office 2008 release, but there was no demo, and, in fact, much of what Jobs actually said about Office was negative — emphasizing that they were “finally” native for Intel, and that they were the last of the major developers to do so, even later than Adobe. Maybe it’s a result of competition in the office software space with Apple’s own iWork. Maybe it’s resentment over the time it took for Office to go Intel-native. Maybe it’s a sense, by Jobs, that Apple is no longer in a position where it needs to reassure the press and its own customers that Microsoft supports the Mac. I think it’s a little bit of all those things. ‘Four Things Today’ Jobs actually talked about more than four things; what he did, really, was break the keynote into four sections. The third “thing”, for example, included both iTunes movie rentals and the new Apple TV 2.0. I think the “four things” idea was a great framework for the keynote, though, and a subtle change from Jobs’s traditional keynote structure. Time Capsule I love the idea of Time Capsule, and, assuming it works as billed, it’s going to accomplish something awesome: it will save data that would otherwise have been lost, because there will now be more people backing up their data regularly. I think you can really make an argument that Time Machine is the most important feature Apple has added to Mac OS X in years, maybe ever, and support for doing it over the network makes it better. But, when I predicted something like this would be announced, I assumed it would coincide with the restoration of being able to back up to any USB hard drive attached to an AirPort base station. That capability was billed as a feature of Leopard and Time Machine right up until mid-October, and was present in developer seeds of Leopard. The word I heard was that very late in the beta testing of Leopard, Apple discovered some sort of bug or security problem with feature, and that while it was pulled from 10.5.0 (because it couldn’t be fixed in time), it was scheduled to come back in a future Leopard update. But so now Time Capsule is here, and there’s no word from Apple about backing up to hard drives attached to base stations. Which in turn is leading to the suspicion that perhaps the reason hard drive/base station Time Machine backups were pulled from Leopard was to make the feature exclusive to Apple’s own Time Capsule hardware. Check the comment thread on this article at Macworld to see some angry customers — people who bought hard drives and base stations in advance of Leopard specifically in anticipation of this feature. Again, I think Time Capsule is a great idea and a great product. But if Apple has pulled support for hard drive/base station backups to eliminate Time Capsule competition, that’s shitty, pure and simple. To be clear, though, it’s still an “if” at this point. 4 Million iPhones, 4 Billion Songs Those are big numbers. Assuming sales continue to grow, and that Apple will release new iPhones with lower prices for next year’s holiday season, their stated goal of selling 10 million phones in 2008 looks like a sure thing. As I expected, there was no word on DRM-free music from the other three major music labels. But I think Jobs’s aside that they sold 20 million songs on Christmas day alone was sort of a message that iTunes music sales are still growing strong. Even at just 10 or 15 cents profit per song, when you’re talking billions, that’s a lot of money. The $20 iPod Touch Update There were audible groans in the keynote hall when Jobs announced that the iPod Touch update costs $20. That’s an interesting difference between the Touch and the iPhone. One reason, I think, is that unlike with iPhones, Apple is not accounting for iPod Touches on a subscription bases — so they have to charge something to add features in order to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. But they could charge something less than $20. I wonder how frequently Apple plans to offer $20 feature upgrades to Touch owners. But, on the other hand, if Apple is charging for the iPod Touch upgrade to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, why is the Apple TV upgrade free? As far as I know, they’re not accounting for Apple TV sales on a subscription basis. I’m left with the feeling that they’re charging $20 for the iPod Touch upgrade simply because they can. Cost aside, it’s an utterly compelling upgrade for the Touch; it’s hard to imagine any Touch owner not wanting it. But it seems weird to pay $20 for a bunch of apps that already existed. Apparently the apps are already there on the 1.1.3 Touch OS, because the upgrade itself weighs in at just 9 kilobytes. Apple TV 2.0 There’s an old saying about Microsoft that, historically, their products always have terrible 1.0 releases, better 2.0’s, and then finally succeed at 3.0. The idea being that they stick with a product idea for years and don’t give up after early failures. I think Apple is taking this sort of dogged, determined approach to Apple TV. The big problem Apple faces with Apple TV isn’t technical — it’s content. They’re constrained by what the TV networks and movie studios will allow them to do. The most obvious limitation is the way that they’re forbidden from ripping movies from DVDs the way iTunes rips music from CDs. The movie rentals at the iTunes Store should do as much to sell Apple TVs as any of the actual changes to Apple TV itself in the new software. But the software update is very nice — the UI is improved, and the Flickr photo integration (even though the demo crapped out on-stage during the keynote) is very nice. Cutting the price to $229 strikes me as a little strange for Apple. They usually stick to nice, round $50 price increments — most everything they sell has a price that ends in 99 or 49. My only guess is that they’ve cut the price as low as they can to help the product gain traction — that if Apple TV were selling better, the new price would be $249. Multi-Touch Gestures With MacBook Air Trackpad It’ll be interesting to see how useful this is in practice. The only apps that support it out of the box are Apple’s own — iPhoto and Preview for image zooming and rotation; Safari for text scaling. To take advantage of this, apps need to handle new event notifications. Something more or less like “the user is pinching at these coordinates”. No existing apps other than Apple’s handle these events yet. It’ll be interesting to see when (or if?) the other MacBooks get similar trackpads. The UI for the gesture-related settings in System Preferences is really quite clever: big QuickTime movies showing exactly how to perform the gestures and what effect they cause. I’ve never seen a prefs UI like that before, but I think it’s very appropriate — it’s a lot easier to explain them visually than with words. It’s a clever way to allow the UI to serve as documentation. Randy Newman Randy Newman’s keynote-capping scathing anti-Bush administration song was quite a thing. I loved it, and it seemed like everyone around me in the press section was enjoying it thoroughly. But, quite obviously, for humorless Bush supporters, it must have been infuriating. The song is chock full of “I can’t believe he just said that” lines. It’s certainly hard to imagine any other major corporation in the U.S. that would invite Randy Newman on stage to perform a song like that.
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Elgato delivers EyeTV 3: new UI, smart guides, and network sharing
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Portable Video For those who didn't realize that Macworld actually does keep on spinnin' once Mr. Jobs darts back to Cupertino, here's a little more proof. Elgato Systems is using the remaining spotlight in San Francisco to showcase its latest iteration of EyeTV, and we must say, we're digging the additions. Aside from the completely new user interface tweaked to match Leopard, users of EyeTV 3 will also notice an "extended program guide featuring intelligent searching and recording functionality," enhanced network sharing, Smart Playlists, bolstered AppleScript support and an integrated video editor. If that rundown has you overcome with the itch to upgrade, you can do so for $39.95 (or free for users of EyeTV 2 who obtained their license after December 1, 2007), and if you're looking to start fresh, you can snag the software right now for $79.95. [Via PCWorld] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Many laptops are lighter than MacBook Air
Apple's new MacBook Air may be the thinnest laptop on the market, but it isn't the lightest. The Air, which Apple announced at ...
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Macworld Swag-Grab: Skitch Tee
Filed under: Macworld, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends Everyone loves a bit of trade-show swag, and whilst we can't get our hands on anything as large (or perhaps more apt: costly) as a MacBook Air we have got our mitts on a selection of swag which the vendors have offered to give away. We kick off with everyone's favourite: a tee-shirt from Plasq, the makers of Skitch! We've got just one of these to give away, so how do you go about winning?Simple: after reading this post, comment below (making sure to read the terms and conditions) and then activate your comment! You've got until 11:59 PM EST on Thursday 17th January to comment, after which a real, live TUAW blogger will run over to the Plasq booth, and grab the tee in the correct size (which we'll confirm via email).You can only win once and the winner will be drawn, at random, after the giveaway closes at 11:59pm on Thursday 17th January.Continue reading Macworld Swag-Grab: Skitch TeePermalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple Gazette Daily 190 - Macworld Expo 2008
The first and second day of the Expo. 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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Greenpeace responds to MacBook Air
Greenpeace responds to Apple's most eco-friendly machine to date.Read More...
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Apple’s Documentation Is Wrong Regarding Web Clip Icon Size?
Ends up you get better results if you create a PNG file larger than 57 × 57 px. (Via Jon Hicks.) ★
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Reader question: Can you store other files on the Time Capsule?
Filed under: Macworld, AirportThe new Time Capsule peripheral is an interesting beast: an Airport Extreme with a Frankenstein complex, with an onboard drive for backup storage. What else can you do with that space? According to Apple reps at the booth, the drive appears just as a wireless disk would appear with the original AE base, so you can in fact put other data on there besides the Time Machine backups. Since TM backups tend to grow to consume all available space, partitioning the Time Capsule drive might be a good idea if you can do it in advance. We'll try to get hands-on with the Time Capsule utility later today to verify that you can split it up.As the Time Capsule is otherwise identical to an Airport base, you can hang printers or USB drives off the unit and share those as you would with the older gear.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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TUAW interviews Veronica Belmont
Filed under: MacworldIn our continued meanderings around Macworld we found Mahalo Daily's Veronica Belmont shooting some video of the Apple TV. Once again we asked for a little perspective on the keynote.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld.Ars: Eye-Fi simplifies photo sharing, adds iPhoto support
Eye-Fi's wireless 2GB SD card wins Macworld's best-of-show award and Mac Observer's editor's choice award. The Eye-Fi is a hit, and we've enjoyed using it over the past week.Read More...
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Dinosaur USB Flash Drive
Bone One's cuteness catches Robbie's attention.
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Gallery: The whirl-wind tour of the Macworld show floor
Filed under: MacworldAfter yesterday's keynote we spent the day wandering the show floor of the Moscone South hall. Along the way, we snapped a few snaps to give you a flavour of what's to come: we'll be bringing out more galleries as the week goes on.Gallery: Macworld 2008 Showfloor: Initial SnapsPermalink | Email this | Comments
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Axiotron's Mac tablet comes out of hiding
Start-up Axiotron shows off its Modbook, a keyboard-free tablet computer that began its life as an Apple MacBook. And yes, it's authorized by Apple.
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Renting a movie in iTunes
Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / Opinion, iTS, iTunesFive years ago, my wife and I often rented movies. "I think I'll get a movie on the way home from work," I'd think. It was spontaneous and simple. Then it happened.We had children.To say that parenthood is life-changing is like saying the sun is hot. While we were busily trying to keep a brand new human being alive (incidentally, there's no manual -- not even a supplement from Pogue -- the UI stinks and unexpected core dumps are frequent), anything as trivial as bringing home a copy of Dumb & Dumber fell off the radar completely.I miss the simplicity of watching a movie minutes after realizing I'd like to, and being rid of it when I'm through. Since we abandoned the brick-and-mortar video store, that scenario has eluded us.Continue reading Renting a movie in iTunesRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld Best of Show winners
Macworld presented 11 Best of Show awards this afternoon at Macworld Expo.
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Expo Notes: Podcasters in glass houses
Rob Griffiths learns what a fish must feel like, when he records a podcast from a booth in the middle of the Macworld Expo show floor.
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MacSpeech releases Dictate, wins Best of Show
Filed under: Software, ProductivityFor some time now speech recognition on the Mac has lagged behind Windows, particularly Dragon Naturally Speaking. Well, no more lag-behind, as MacSpeech, developer of iListen for the Mac, has managed to license the Dragon engine from maker Nuance for the new MacSpeech Dictate announced at Macworld.In addition to standard speech recognition and transcription into various applications like Word and Pages, Dictate also allows you to control your Mac by voice including support for Automator and AppleScript. According to our man on the show floor, it's impressive enough that it has won a Best of Show award.MacSpeech Dictate will be available soon for Intel Macs, and registered users of iListen will be able to crossgrade for $29 (iListen has been discontinued). Pricing for the full version has not yet been revealed.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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What Recession? PC Sales Stay Strong
Sales of personal computers increased faster in the fourth quarter of last year than expected, driven by lower prices and the move by Dell to sell through retail stores.
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Citi, Apple, Intel Fail to Get It Done
Remorse1. Deep and painful regret for wrongdoing2. Pity; compassion3. Moral anguish arising from repentance for past deeds- Source: American Heritage DictionaryThere is a lot of remorse these days, leaving the stock market vulnerable and in a state of pity. The rare rally has been met with instant buyers' remorse and massive selling in the following session.
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Update: Thinnest notebook crown belongs to Sharp
On Tuesday, we wrote that the 1998 Mitsubishi Pedion was the thinnest notebook ever. On Thursday, we learned that isn't the case, thanks to Jorge Pullin, at the Horace Hearne Jr. Institute for Theoretical Physics at Louisiana State University. Back in the first years of the decade, Sharp released ...
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Macworld.Ars: NewsGator to get your attention in 2008
NewsGator's NetNewsWire and FeedDemon will use your attention data in 2008 to improve your reading efficiency. We chatted with developers on both products to get a better idea of what's going on.Read More...
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Found Images: iPhone Dinosaurs of the Past
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhoneGallery: DemoApp Dinosaurs Lurking within my iPhone's secret Demo.app utility, I came across these screen shots that seem to date back to at least six months before the iPhone actually debuted. I dug them out, converted them to a standard form (they were saved using non-standard PNG encoding) and put them into a gallery for you to enjoy. I find the color choices quite interesting and am glad that they ditched the bronze tones and went for blue-greys instead.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: H2O Audio ships iN3 case for iPod nano
H2O Audio has introduced its iN3 waterproof case for the iPod nano (with video). The iN3 is waterproof up to 10 feet, and features a Commander Click Wheel control that allows full function control of the nano, a LatchTight locking closure that is designed to generate uniform compression for a waterproof seal, a SealTight headphone connector that offers compatibility with 3.5mm headphones and provides a complete waterproof seal when used with H2O Audio…
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Expo Notes: Hurrah for Houdah
Rob Griffiths pays a visit to Houdah's booth on the Expo show floor to check out the Spotlight enhancer, HoudahSpot, and the Google Earth assistant, HoudahGeo.
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Macworld.Ars: Macworld Best of Show 2008 awards
Macworld magazine gave out its 2008 Best of Show awards this afternoon to 11 conference exhibitors that are offering exceptional products. Check out the list and let us know if you think the awards were well-deserved or not.Read More...
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Terminal Tip: Syncing your iPhone or iPod touch from the command line
Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, How-tos, Terminal Tips, iPhoneThis is one of those completely useless but cool things that one figures out when one is spending far too much time trying to do something else and not accomplishing it. In my case, I'm trying to figure out how to force an iPod touch or iPhone to load a backup set. (Do you know? Let me know in the comments!) What I accomplished though was figuring out how to sync the unit with a simple command-line utility. Here's how. Launch System Profiler. Choose Apple > About This Mac > More Info. Identify your iPod In System Profiler, go to Hardware > USB and locate the iPod or iPhone you're using. Look up the Manufacturer ID (0x05ac (Apple Computer, Inc.) and Product ID (0x1291 for my iPod touch) Launch Terminal. This requires shell access. Find the utility. Change directories to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/A/Resources/. Run reenumerate Give it one argument: the vendor id followed by a comma followed by the product id, e.g. ./reenumerate 0x05ac,0x1291 Wait. iTunes will reload your iPod or iPhone and sync it.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Jobs on DVR in the Apple TV, the MacBook Air, and the Kindle
Filed under: Macworld, Steve JobsTUAW didn't get a chance to sit down with Steve Jobs after yesterday's keynote for some reason, but Mr. Jobs did find time to chat with the New York Times (it is a small paper out of Manhattan) where he talked about what Apple introduced, and gave his thoughts on some other happenings in the tech sphere.Jobs is a big fan of the MacBook Air.He thinks it is the best Mac Apple has produced and he'll be the first in line to buy one (Come on, Steve, didn't you pre-order one after the keynote like the rest of us?). After talking about the MacBook Air Steve said that the Kindle, Amazon's eBook reader, is doomed to fail because no one reads (which explains why all bookstores are closing), and that Bill Gates' retirement is a big deal. He didn't offer up any hints as to when he, himself, will step down from being CEO of Apple.[via Engadget]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld.ars: BusySync to sync with Google Calendar, more
Syncing and collaborative editing of iCal calendars will soon break out of the local network and into Google Calendar with a forthcoming 2.0 update.Read More...
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Live From Macworld: Fresh Air, Sharper iPod Video, User-Friendly Storage
It's Day 2 at Macworld, and even though the crowds have simmered down a little since Tuesday, the place is by no means dead. For instance, you still have to elbow your way through a crowd to get your hands on a MacBook Air, and they must have at least two dozen of those things on display. At first glance, the Air reminded me of the photos Palm released of the Folio before sending that product to an early grave -- but the Folio was something you couldn't quite call a real computer. The MacBook Air, on the other hand, stands on its own skinny legs.
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Confirmed: Caption Crunch Works with 1.1.3
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone Ecamm's Mac-side hacking Caption Crunch tools work fine with the iPhone and iPod touch running 1.1.3. You can use these tools to set and reset custom time and carrier strings on your devices. I gave Caption Crunch a try and my iPod touch now shows a "hi" message instead of the time. Ecamm wrote about these tools on their weblog a few weeks back. It's nice to know that even with the 1.1.3 jailbreak lock-out that some user customization hacks still work.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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ScreenSteps
Filed under: Macworld, SoftwareThe best part of Macworld, aside from the various TUAW groupies, is getting exposed to apps that I had no idea even existed. It is an even sweeter experience when the newly discovered app is actually useful to me. That's definitely the case with ScreenSteps. This little gem of an app makes creating documentation a breeze and I can see it soon becoming a very valuable arrow in my blogging quiver.Imagine you need to make a walk-through showing someone how to turn on a feature in Safari. Normally you would need a screen capturing app, a text editor, a image editor, and Safari running to get this done. Lots of switching back and forth, and lots of time later you have what you wanted. Enter ScreenSteps. It is smart enough to watch your clipboard for any screen grabs you make, and it enters them in a document. Just snap away, switch to ScreenSteps when you're done and there are all your shots waiting for you to type in some text. ScreenSteps also has some rudimentary image editing, and a host of graphics you can add to your images (to circle buttons and what have you).Once you have this ScreenSteps document you now need a way to share it with folks. You can export it either as a PDF, as valid HTML (with templates that you can customize), or share it on ScreenStep's hosted service.ScreenSteps comes in two flavors: regular goes for $39.95 while the Pro version that lets you create an index that lets you group together a number of ScreenSteps documents will set you back $59.95 (a full comparison can be found here).Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Article: 2008 Best of Show Winners Announced
iLounge's annual Best of Show awards are designed to recognize standout products and major innovations in iPod, iPhone, iTunes and/or Apple TV products and services. This year, iLounge considered hundreds of newly announced 2008 products, planning to award as many as 20 Best of Show awards to deserving recipients. On January 16, 2008, 13 winners were selected, with an additional 10 finalists selected as runners up. Here are this year's…
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Royal Caribbean new ships carry Mac infrastructure
Filed under: Macworld, EnterpriseAt today's Mac IT conference opening session, Bruce Wolf from the Royal Caribbean cruise line discussed the computing infrastructure for some of the company's newest ships. Since these ships are built for an extended lifespan, the technology choices made during the build process are still critical up to 15 years later. Apple and Nanonation provided a solution proposal that apparently knocked the socks off of the RC executive committee, and some of the proposed tech began to make its way into the ship's operations.Beginning in late 2006 with the Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, shipboard signage onboard was driven by Mac Minis with an XServe back end and Samsung displays. Later, custom messaging to the passengers (announcements, shore excursions, fitness center scheduling, casino promotions and touchscreen ship maps) appeared on the largescreen displays. Moving on from the big displays, some newer builds have entertainment and reservations capability (dining and activities) in the staterooms.Moving forward, ships will be equipped with a broadcast room that feeds content to both guest staterooms and crew cabins (each driven by either a Mini or an Apple TV). Back-of-house crew signage, guest enrichment centers for learning opportunities and public signage will all be Mac-driven. Eventually, every television on the ship will be backed by a Mac. On the Celebrity Solstice, now under construction, the build in progress is supporting 1000 stateroom TVs from a bank of XServes and Mac Minis.Next time you cruise the shining seas, keep an eye out for the Mac in the back!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: XtremeMac premieres Luna X2 iPod clock radio
XtremeMac has announced its Luna X2 clock radio for iPod, an updated version of the company's well-received Luna Alarm Clock. The Luna X2 features two full-range precision speakers and a hi-dynamic power amplifier that offer performance comparable to the original Luna. Other features include dual alarms that can be independently set to sound to iPod, radio or buzzer, with optional settings for volume, display brightness and snooze time, a new…
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iPhone v1.1.3 causing major issues with SMS message order?
Filed under: CellphonesApparently, a lot of iPhone users are experiencing issues related to out of order SMS conversations. [Thanks Mark and Sean]What's the deal, have you seen this? Shout it out in comments.A lot of people were pretty damned stoked about the SMS improvements Apple unleashed upon iPhone owners yesterday with firmware v1.1.3, but it's not all turning up roses. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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IDC: Apple Q4 Sales Up 30%
Hot off the presses and over the transom comes Wednesday afternoon’s PC market share report from Gartner and from International Data Corp., which shows Apple (AAPL) increased its unit sales in the U.S. by 28% in the fourth quarter, according to Gartner, and 30.9% according to IDC. Apple came in at 4th place behind Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and Acer. Apple had 6.1% of the U.S. market, up one percentage point from a year earlier. Gartner says the U.S. market ended the year better than expected, rising 7.2% in units year-over-year to 64.2 million computers.
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Need Netflix Worry Over Apple's Movie Rentals?
Apple (AAPL) makes a big plunge into the movie rental business and almost instinctively folks dust off the “Netflix is screwed� line. However, you may want to hold off on that Netflix (NFLX) obituary (again).
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ITunes Movie Rentals and Netflix Online: Different Markets
The movie download offering from Netflix only offers older movies, so it is not a direct competitor to the new iTunes movie rental service, which emphasizes new releases.
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Mac Expo in 2 Minutes 51 Seconds
Video of the show floor in Moscone south
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Jobs: China Mobile talks aren't off, because they were never on
Filed under: CellphonesIn a Macworld post-keynote interview with CNBC yesterday, Steve Jobs was pimping the iPhone's numbers since launch (over four million sold -- a number Wall Street didn't like, but what can you do?) between rants about the MacBook Air's qualities and, at some point, got on the topic of bringing the iPhone to China. The popular rumor over the last couple months has been that Apple had been working with China Mobile on making a launch happen but that talks eventually broke down. Here, Steve says that's simply not the case; a single rep from China Mobile visited the Apple campus all of once, and that's it. He'd love to bring the iPhone to the Far East (or so he says), but the fact remains that there aren't any heated discussions going on with the major players. At least, that's what Steve claims -- and as we all know, CEO reality can be very, very different from real reality.[Via textually.org] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld.ars: iTunes' new movie section could confuse customers
Movies available with seemingly arbitrary options for renting or downloading could continue to scare away customers.Read More...
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iTunes: Free Wednesday
Filed under: iTS, Features, Deals Once again, TUAW is pleased to present you with a selection of free songs and videos from around the world. Many of these iTMS items won't be free for long, so grab your copies before the week is up. And don't forget: If you want to buy these on your iPhone or iPod touch, make sure to sign into your account in iTunes before you sync.Continue reading iTunes: Free WednesdayRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Do you need iTunes 7.6 to upgrade to iPhone 1.1.3?
It looks like you may need iTunes 7.6 to complete your upgrade to the latest version of the iPhone software. I've gotten several reports that people are unable to complete the upgrade, and are getting a variety of errors because they have not upgraded to iTunes 7.6. If you're trying to upgrade an having problems - make sure you're running iTunes 7.6 before you install the software.
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Block Breaker debuts
Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family Gameloft debuted their new iPod game called "Block Breaker Deluxe" last night on the iTunes Store. This game puts a twist on the older "Breakout" game. The game is compatible with iPod nano (3rd gen), iPod Classic, and iPod with video (5th gen) only. "We revamped the graphics of Block Breaker Deluxe for iPod to make it the most feature-rich, action packed wall breaker game ever created," said Gameloft.This isn't Gameloft's first iPod game, as you may recall, they have also created Brain Challenge and the LOST game. You can download the new "Block Breaker Deluxe" from the iTunes Music Store's game section for $4.99 (US). Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: Gameloft releases Block Breaker Deluxe for iPod
Gameloft has released its Block Breaker Deluxe game for the iPod nano (with video), iPod classic, and fifth-generation iPod. Block Breaker Deluxe is an advanced wall-breaker game set in a “jet-set universe” that features 50 nightlife-based levels, 5 locations, 5 bosses, 11 types of bricks and 14 different power-ups. In addition, the game includes a level editor that allows iPod owners to build, create, play, and share their own unique…
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Those iPod touch MIA features
Filed under: iPod Family, Internet Tools, iTunes, iPhone If you've just updated your iPod touch to 1.1.3, you may have noticed that nearly every advertised 1.1.3 feature is missing in action. Frustrated? Annoyed? Well, you may be after I tell you that you're probably going to have to fork over another $20 to get those features. You may have thought the $20 January upgrade only applied to the extra software (Mail, Maps, Weather, Stocks, Notes) but apparently no. It also seems to be needed to release your iPod touch's new 1.1.3 features.Update: Readers are reporting that Apple may have pulled the update. The Purchase button has been replace for some users with a "Remind Me Later" button.Thanks Justin NolanRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: DLO debuts new cases for iPhone
Digital Lifestyle Outfitters has introduced three new cases for the iPhone. The SlimCase for iPhone is a form-fitting case that features a molded shell with a leather exterior and suede interior. The SlimCase also offers full access to all iPhone controls and ports, a open-face design, and includes a DLO Surface Shield screen protector and a removable wrist strap. The DLO SlimCase for iPhone is available now and sells for $40. The HybridShell for…
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Confirmed: iTunes 7.6 needed for some successful 1.1.3 upgrades
Filed under: iLife, iPod Family, iTunes, Troubleshooting, iPhone A heads-up for those who are struggling to get iPhones updated: If you've tried upgrading your iPhone or iPod touch to 1.1.3 and are getting mysterious errors that keep you from finishing the upgrade or restore process, make sure you're already running iTunes 7.6. I'm hearing reports from various parties that pre-7.6 iTunes installations will may fail to properly upgrade iPhones and touches. After installing the newer software, the upgrades begin to work properly. iTunes 7.6 is available in Software Update or directly from Apple.Update: It looks like there are 1.1.3 successes on Windows without 7.6. Any Mac ones?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple takes more hits following Macworld announcements
Apple shares continue to take a pounding for a second straight day, with investors and some industry analysts expressing disappointment with Apple’s latest announcements at the annual Macworld Expo.
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Macworld.ars: Griffin announces first FM transmitter for iPhone
GSM interference be gone! Griffin's new FM car transmitter for iPods will be music to iPhone owner's ears.Read More...
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iPhone 1.1.3 changes Gmail access to IMAP, affects mail deletion
Filed under: Macworld, Internet Tools, iPhoneIf you're a seasoned Gmail user, you're probably well aware that Google's email is available via IMAP for use with your iPhone. Of course, in previous versions of the iPhone firmware, the all-in-one Gmail configuration option was for the (very different) POP protocol: Gmail didn't enable IMAP until after the launch of the iPhone.If you know your IMAP from your SMTP, then you're probably already aware of why this is neat -- and also a curse over the previous POP system, if you don't take careful note of how the different protocols behave. Because IMAP actually keeps all your folders in sync with your server-side mailbox at Google, any changes you make to your mail on 1.1.3 will now also be reflected on the Gmail server. This means when you delete that message on your iPhone, in 1.1.2 it would still be archived on the Gmail server; with 1.1.3 and IMAP it now hits the master trash can and will be deleted after 30 days under Gmail's trash can rules. You have been warned!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: Griffin shows new iPod accessories at Macworld
Griffin Technology has announced several new iPod accessories at Macworld Expo, adding to the new products the company announced last week. The PowerDock is an iPod charging base which incorporates four Apple Universal Docks to allow users with multiple iPods and iPhones to charge up to four devices at a time. The PowerDock includes a collection of Universal Dock insert adapters, and will be available in March for $70. The RoadTrip with SmartScan…
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Downgrading your 1.1.3 iPhone or iPod touch
Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, How-tos, iPhoneIf for whatever reason you've upgraded your unit to firmware version 1.1.3 and wish to return to an earlier installation, you can. You won't be able to use your iPhone, however, as a phone but only as a glorified iPod touch. Here, by popular request, is a quick how-to guide.Continue reading Downgrading your 1.1.3 iPhone or iPod touchRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Reader question: Can you use the MBA Superdrive with other Macs?
Filed under: Macworld, MacBook AirSeveral readers have asked about using the MacBook Air's DVD SuperDrive on machines other than the MBA. As Engadget noted yesterday, the power draw on USB for the SuperDrive may be prohibitively high for standard ports to handle, and the MBA is engineered specifically to support the high-demand drive. An Apple support rep at the booth had only one comment: the drive is designed for the MacBook Air and supports the MacBook Air, full stop. If you absolutely have to try out the drive on a different machine, best bet is to bring your laptop to an Apple Store in a couple of weeks, plug in the DVD and see what happens (there aren't drives out on the show floor for me to test with, unfortunately). There are other USB-powered options for disc burning, including the Plextor portable -- it does use 2 USB ports to guarantee adequate wattage for the power-hungry burn process, and it looks pretty awful, but it should get the job done.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld.Ars: Hewlett-Packard Air
HP has new wireless printers that are fully compatible with Macs. Unfortunately, they didn't bring any with them.Read More...
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Explanation for 24-Hour Movie Rental Playback Window: Placating Cable Companies
Saul Hansell: Amid the frenzy, it’s worth noting that Apple did not get Hollywood to change the key restrictions it had placed on Internet downloads. Once people start watching their rented movies, they can only see them for a 24-hour period. (Apple does allow a movie to be started on one device and finished on another.) The studios want to keep this restriction so Internet rentals have the same terms as cable pay-per-view movies. Hansell doesn’t quote a source for that, but I heard the same thing from someone in the know here at the Expo: the 24-hour playback limit was imposed upon by the studios, specifically because they didn’t want to antagonize cable (and, I suppose, satellite TV) companies selling video on demand with 24-hour expirations. They’re idiots, because I think they’d make more money with a longer window, say, 48 or 72 hours, because more people would rent movies. ★
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If Jobs says "people don't read anymore," does this headline really exist?
Filed under: Handhelds Jobs to NYT on Kindle: "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore." Yes, it's true, the only books Steve thinks we need are MacBooks.Irony: You're reading right now.Further irony: You're probably not reading Engadget on a Kindle (at least not through its regular RSS reader).Is this like geeky Koan or something? Does this mean Engadget doesn't exist? Either way, we get his point. It's a damn shame fewer people aren't reading real books. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld.Ars: VMware on Importer, Leopard Server, and Fusion
VMware Fusion is demoing Leopard Server in a virtual machine on the Macworld Expo floor, and customers are reacting well to Importer. Things are going well so far in 2008 for VMware.Read More...
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Quick Tip: Apple Mail “Unread� Smart Mailbox
If you're like me you get a TON of email, and sometimes the stuff that you haven't replied to can get missed because it floats down to the bottom of the screen - then off the screen - where I will never scroll down to see just what it is. For some reason I am an organization nut when it comes to my email, and I really like to see JUST my unread messages sometimes. Well, there is a very easy way to do that in Apple Mail. All you have to do is go to Mailbox>New Smart Mailbox. There is a drop down box under the “contains” text. Select it and select “Message is Unread”. You can change the name of the Smart mailbox to whatever you want (I chose “Unread Mail”) and BOOM - done. You can get more complicated with it if you want, and even begin to sort it by person or subject that is unread. This simple tip, that I should have noticed a long time ago, is really going to make things simple. Special thanks to Richard Stevens of “Diesel Sweeties” for the tip.
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iPod touch owners rally to get new apps for free
Filed under: iPod Family, Bad AppleWhen Steve Jobs announced five new apps for the iPod Touch yesterday, people were ecstatic -- for about ten seconds. Once he mentioned the upgrade would cost current iPod touch owners $20 (they're included on all new units), most of the comments from participants following the keynote in TUAW's IRC channel were largely unprintable. Apple's customers aren't usually the sort to take things lying down, however, so now there's an online petition calling on Apple to make the apps free to current customers. As I write this, there are close to 600 signatures and climbing.It's worth noting that Michael Rose and John Gruber pondered the possibility of iPod touch updates and user costs back in October 2007, as Apple's quarterly earnings report indicated that the iPhone's subscription accounting model was not being used for the touch. At the time it wasn't clear what would happen when functional updates to the iPod touch were released; now we know that they come with a price tag.[Thanks, Daniel!]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Hands On “Spore� Creature Creator from EA
Spore is a game with a lot of hype behind it, and a very long development history. To some people, Spore may be their most anticipated game ever, and now we're looking at it being released in 2008. I stopped by the EA booth today and got a chance to play Spore for a minute. The only thing they are showcasing here at Macworld 2008 is the creature creator - so I certainly didn't get an “in-depth” look at the game, but I did get a few minutes to play what they had available. The creature creator really allows you to make some of the wackiest and unique monsters that I've ever seen in a game. You can layer the color and texture of their skin, you can give them dozens and dozens of different eyes, mouths, arms, legs, hands, feet - you name it. There must be millions of combinations of things you can do with this creator - and it's very simple. It really makes me excited for the game, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Thankfully, EA announced that it's going to release Spore for the Mac at the same time as it's PC counterpart sometime in 2008. I can't wait to try it out.
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Photo Gallery: Macworld 2008 Expo Day 1 pics
I'm roaming the floors again here today at Macworld 2008 - but I thought I'd drop in for a second and post some photos from yesterday. I'll be back later today with more info, and pics from today's activities.
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Putting your HDD on a 80GB diet
Like some of you I want a MacBook Air (actually, that’s the understatement of the year, I ordered one 30 seconds after the keynote address) but I have a problem. I currently use a MacBook Pro with a gargantuan 320 GB hard drive (a Western Digital Scorpio) and the MacBook Air has a teeny 80GB [...]
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1.1.3 update leaves GoPhone users stranded
Filed under: iPhoneSome iPhone users on the GoPhone plan across the country are finding themselves without access to the EDGE network after the 1.1.3 firmware update, and neither AT&T's customer support nor the AT&T forums are offering very many options for affected customers. "You are not subscribed to the EDGE network" is the message facing the affected users. Subsequent calls to AT&T have resulted in a mixed response. They're aware of the problem and generally offering a change of plans as a solution. The options seem to involve restarting your monthly billing or paying by the kilobyte, which is likely not a prospect most previously content GoPhone users are looking forward to.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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The iPhone Update Just Wasn’t Enough For Me. How About You?
After I had half a day to digest today’s keynote address. After I pulled my jaw off the floor and pre-ordered myself a MacBook Air (really excited), I had a chance to finally digest the iPhone announcements today. I had hoped that finally there would be an iPhone…
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Macworld Blast featured Devo
Filed under: Macworld, VideoIf you ever wondered whatever became of 80s rock fringers Devo, wonder no more; they were here in San Francisco last night, entertaining the faithful at the Macworld Blast party. Mark Mothersbaugh and crew were dressed in identical black t-shirts, shorts and kneepads as they delivered a sonic assault to a crowd partially adorned with classic Devo red plastic hats.The party, sponsored by Microsoft, also featured packs of Office-branded M&M candies. Chocolate and very loud music, always a delightful combo.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Blockbuster Rebounds on Upbeat Analyst Report
Shares of Blockbuster rose in Wednesday premarket trading, after a JPMorgan analyst said Apple's decision to offer movie downloads via iTunes will not affect Blockbuster's revenue, at least in 2008. In premarket trading, Blockbuster gained 25 cents, or 9.3 percent, to $2.94, following a finish at $2.69 on Tuesday. Shares of Blockbuster dropped nearly 17 percent on Tuesday, after Apple announced its new iTunes movie rental program. Blockbuster is already facing strong competition from rival Netflix, and some analysts wonder whether the online movie rental business is too saturated.
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Macworld.Ars: Logitech diNovo mini for Mac (maybe)
Logitech didn't announce anything, but that didn't stop people from talking. Let's hope it's not just talk.Read More...
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Meet the Disintegrator: 24 barrels of rubber band minigun madness
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets You've gotta admire folks who bring their trade to a whole new level, even if that does mean escalating the international arms race between builders of automated, wooden, rubber band miniguns. The 24-barrel, tripod-mountable monster you see above, lovingly known as the Disintegrator, was rather amazingly hand-carved and assembled by Anthony Smith of the UK, who spent four months on the ambitious build. Unlike your dinky little six-shooter, this model boasts a 288-band capacity and 40-round-per-second firing capability, making it one of the most dangerous weapons to remain unbanned by the TSA. To see this wonder in its full operational glory, you simply have to check out the video after the break.[Via TechDigest, image courtesy of Disintegrator.co.uk]Continue reading Meet the Disintegrator: 24 barrels of rubber band minigun madness Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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First Look: iPhone 1.1.3
Dan Moren has a nice rundown of what’s new in the iPhone 1.1.3 update. ★
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Skyhook Wireless
This is the company Apple has partnered with to provide “where am I?” positioning in the iPhone/iPod Touch Maps app based on nearby Wi-Fi networks. The iPhone also gets positioning information via Google based on cellular towers, but the Touch, obviously, only gets positioning data based on Wi-Fi. A few Touch owners here at the show report that it works great, at least here in San Francisco. ★
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Spore for Mac releasing simultaneously with PCÂ version
Spore, the game of origin, evolution, and life, is now officially slated to released simultaneously with its PC counterpart. Spore has had a number of release date delays and its future with the Mac platform was initially uncertain. It being one of the most anticipated games of the decade makes this a huge announcement for Mac users who are interested in the game. Used in previous EA Mac games, TransGaming's Cider Portability Engine will also be used in the Mac version of Spore. No word yet on an actual date…just “later this year”. Hat tip: TUAW
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Hands on With the MacBook Air
Jason Snell has a hands-on look at the MacBook Air. ★
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Fixes for three of the most common Windows glitches
Featured links from the CNET Blog Network Fixes for three of the most common Windows glitches -- Cures for an update gone bad, a trashed Registry, and a shutdown failure. A road warrior's view of the MacBook Air -- If I were to replace my Fujitsu with a Mac, I would certainly consider a MacBook Air. Albeit not without some qualms. The mass SMS-text strikes back: The 1.1.3 iPhone update rocks -- The latest 1.1.3 official update. Red Zunes -- Microsoft has added red to the 80GB Zune line-up.
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More on Custom iPhone ‘WebClip’ Icons
Cameron Hunt: Most people have Mint in a subdirectory like /mint/. This is a problem if you want to set an iPhone favicon for your root domain but change the favicon in subdirectories. This is because the iPhone looks in the root directory for the icon. That is, unless you tell it different. The friendly Apple engineers look for a special link tag before looking in the root for “apple-touch-icon.png”. ★
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Inquisitor answers the call
Filed under: Software, Internet ToolsInquisitor, Dave Watanabe's search tool for Safari, was the cause of a recent debate regarding disclosure of affiliate links. In response to public criticism, Watanabe has released a new version that both marks sponsored links and even allows you to disable the affiliate links entirely. He offers his response in a recent blog post.You'll notice an update to the download page as well, offering a statement regarding the affiliate links that Inquisitor (now, optionally) inserts into search results. I commend him for this response and I think a lot of people will be relieved that they won't need to give up one of the tools that makes Safari great, even if just on principle.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Paul Boutin on the MacBook Air
Like me, Boutin was hoping for ubiquitous wireless networking. The more I think about this, the more certain I am that it’s just silly that my phone always has a network and (as of yesterday) knows where it is, but my Mac doesn’t. ★
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Apple releases Guided Tour of MacBook Air
Apple has released the Guided Tour video for the new MacBook Air.Read More...
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Steve Jobs praises a retiring Bill Gates
In an interview with the New York Times, the Apple chief praises his longtime rival, saying the software legend "should be honored for the contributions he's made." He also offers a dim forecast for Amazon's Kindle, saying "people don't read anymore."
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Live From Macworld: What You Might Have Missed If You'd Been Here
My mistake was thinking that those who wake up early in the name of work have anything on those who skip sleep altogether in the name of fanatical love and corporate adoration. Despite my best-laid plans, I was not able to get into Steve Jobs' keynote presentation at Macworld Tuesday. Judging by the throngs of people still standing outside when I ditched the line to pursue Plan C at about 9:20 a.m., a lot of other conference attendees shared my pain.
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iTunes and Apple TV rentals and purchases: what you can (and can't) do
Filed under: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment Oh dear lord is there a lot of confusion about iTunes movie rentals, and how they differ from movie and TV purchases -- and how the Apple TV and iTunes computer-driven downloads aren't the same either. Granted, real world scenario won't be too complicated for most people, but the nerds around these parts will probably want to check out our handy, aptly confusing chart to know exactly what's in store. Hey, don't look at us, we just parse the data.Continue reading iTunes and Apple TV rentals and purchases: what you can (and can't) do Permalink | Email this | Comments
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EA promises Spore for Mac later this year
Filed under: GamingThe eagerly awaited game Spore from Will Wright (of Simcity and Sims fame) is coming to the Mac later this year. CNET broke the news earlier in the day, and EA confirmed it in a press release later. Like the releases promised (but not delivered) last year, the Mac version of Spore will rely on TransGaming's Cider technology and is set to be released simultaneously with the PC version. Nonetheless, they're hoping to do better this time and even Wright himself expressed confidence, saying: "We couldn't be happier to bring Spore to the Mac at the same time as the PC version. Spore is a highly creative game and I look forward to seeing what the players come up with to fill the universe they design."Here's hoping that Wright's right, because Spore has been looking like the hotness itself for quite some time now. Thanks David!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Jobs on the Air and Updates Galore
Jobs on TV and updates that won't tax your wallet.