Jul 13, 2008 Jul 15, 2008 Monday July 14, 2008
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The Loopt SMS Mess
Merlin Mann: Friends, my patience with organizations that feel you should have to email them in order to not have your private information abused has passed the breaking point. If Loopt chooses not to see this nonsense as an invasive and potentially costly breach of many peoples’ privacy, then I pity the actual Loopt users who agreed to let these people publicly announce where they are all the time. Suddenly this goes from “potentially kinda creepy” to “Holy mackerel, what the fuck were you thinking?” Update: Loopt has disabled this feature for the next update to the app. ★
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iPhone applications: roulette for dinner - urbanspoon
application review of urbanspoon
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27 international carrier iPhone 3G rates compared
After reading my piece comparing worldwide iPhone 3G data plans reader Fabio M. Zambelli has elaborated on it further and produced a global chart that compares how the 27 carriers in 21 countries charge for an iPhone 3G (8GB) and the two-year minimum contract after two years. The text of the article is available in Italian [...]
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PC World: 3G iPhone’s Mediocre Battery Life Still Beats Rivals
Longest talk-time of any 3G phone they tested, but 3G is so battery-intensive that it’s still not a great talk-time score. (Via MacDailyNews.) ★
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Cool iPhone App: Eventful
Eventful launched a free iPhone app (iTunes link) that complements their existing Eventful Web service which has nearly 7 million registered users already and is growing fast.If you’re not familiar, Eventful bills itself as the world’s leading events web site “enabling a community of millions to discover, promote, share and create events.” It allows you [...]
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Tearing down the iPhone 3G
iFixIt.com was one of the first to get their hands on iPhone 3G and they promptly ripped theirs apart to report on its internal working and components. Since then TechOnline has taken things to the next level – submitting individual chips to an acid bath to reveal their manufacturer, make and model.Among the secrets revealed [...]
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Free iPhone ringtone from Geoff ''I'm a TWiT'' Smith
RingtoneFeeder has announced a free tribute ringtone named "Worldwide hello" to mark the release of the new iPhone 3G and taking the opportunity to send a friendly native "hello" from RingtoneFeeder to the many new countries finally getting the iPhone. There is also a free demo feed available so the service can be tried out with no obligation. The free feed contains a few sample ringtones as... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Headline 1.0 a delicious new news reader for Mac OS X Leopard
Doseido Software just released the 1.0 version of Headline, their shiny new news reader for Mac OS X Leopard. Clean interface is designed to make catching up with the latest blog posts, articles and news feeds quick and more enjoyable. View articles in Headline directly or via Safari as well as play podcasts and videocasts on the fly. Headline can easily share articles over iChat and Mail, with... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Bugging
Craig Hockenberry on the difficulties iPhone app developers face attempting to debug problems encountered by App Store customers. ★
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Apple sends the wrong signal to iPhone customers
Sure, mistakes dogged Friday’s iPhone launch. But a bigger mistake would be to not acknowledge those problems and thank early adopters for their patience.
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Apple sends the wrong signal to iPhone customers
Sure, mistakes dogged Friday’s iPhone launch. But a bigger mistake would be to not acknowledge those problems and thank early adopters for their patience.
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Turn your iPhone into a wireless drive with DataCase
Filed under: Software, Wireless, iPhone, App StoreOne feature of many other handheld devices is the ability to use the device as a portable flash drive to move data between a couple of computers. The iPhone doesn't have that ability now, but will on July 28, 2008.That's the day that DataCase will be available in the iTunes App Store for $6.99. From Veiosoft, DataCase works with Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Bonjour to allow any Mac on the same network as your phone to transfer files to and from it.Your iPhone appears as a Mac volume, so you just drag-and-drop data you want to take with you. If you're a Windows or Linux user, DataCase gives you the same capabilities from your iPhone using HTTP and FTP.In case you want to view those files you've moved to your iPhone, DataCase lets you read Microsoft Office, PDF, and text files. You can create up to 16 different volumes on your iPhone, each of which can be set up with read/write/browse permissions. Volumes can be made invisible to protect data from unauthorized people or iPhone snatchers.This is an innovative app that I think a lot of iPhone owners are going to buy come July 28th.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Short Review of Evernote for iPhone
I can’t understand why anyone would deem an app in this state ready to ship. ★
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Thoughts on iPhone Apps Management
Filed under: iPod Family, iTunes, iPhone, App StoreI don't know about you, but those new longer iPhone syncs are just killing me. Once an App has been backed up, I don't see why Apple doesn't just back up the Documents and Library data rather than backing up entire applications every single time the iPhone connects. What I've been doing is keeping just one or two apps on the iPhone at a time. That's fine for when you're developing and reviewing apps but it absolutely stinks when you want to carry the iPhone around and actually use your applications on demand. After all -- why bother buying them if you have to keep taking them off in order to save on sync time? The worst offenders are the games. Full of yummy sound effects and graphics, they take up the most room during syncs and generally the software I least want to take off my iPhone. You can disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods in the Preferences > Syncing settings pane in iTunes but it's an option with high risk, especially when updated data is important to you. Here's hoping that Apple smartens up its backups and starts storing just changed data rather than every bit of every application.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Mystery Apple box
Filed under: Odds and ends, Apple History TUAW reader Gabriel Moore runs an Apple Certified Sales and Service store called Computer Evolution in Davenport, IA. He sent us a short note and link to a MobileMe Web Gallery with several pictures of a strange, Apple-labeled wooden box (picture above).Gabriel writes "One of our customers noticed that we have a small collection of Old Macs in my service department and thought That he would give me something to add to the collection... Problem is I have no idea what it is or why it has the Apple name. Is this an after market fan boy box or a real product from Apple Computer? Any help from the readers or you would be awesome."It looks like the 1980's Apple logotype, but I don't remember seeing a box like this anywhere. It's small enough that it could only contain something like an Apple IIc. Do any of you wonderful TUAW readers know what this box was used for? Let us know by leaving a comment below.Thanks to Gabriel for today's stumper!Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Create your own Mac tablet
Filed under: Hardware, Hacks, How-tos, ModsMany Mac users have wanted a tablet for years, but Apple has definitely failed to deliver such a device. But if you think that the ModBook is too expensive, or if you're the DIY type, then why not build your own Mac tablet? Hack-A-Day has posted a gallery of images showing some of the various types of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Mac tablets. If you are too scared to start ripping apart a Mac notebook and blindly build your own tablet Mac, then why not take a peek at this Instructables project. If you have built your own Mac tablet before, be sure to tell us about it in the comments. Thanks, Victor!Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Would the cloud have saved Apple's iPhone 3G launch?
Could Apple have relied on Amazon's cloud to have a successful product launch of its newest iPhone?
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Leaked Photos of Touchscreen BlackBerry Thunder
April 27, in an interview with The New York Times for a story on RIM’s competition with the iPhone: There’s a reason that R.I.M. is averse to the iPhone’s glass pad. “I couldn’t type on it and I still can’t type on it, and a lot of my friends can’t type on it,” says Mike Lazaridis, R.I.M.’s co-chief executive and technological visionary. “It’s hard to type on a piece of glass.” Perhaps he’s starting to get the hang of it. (Also: dig that Comic Sans.) Also, two paragraphs down in the same Times story: Indeed, two independent developers writing software for coming R.I.M. devices say that a touch-screen BlackBerry is in the works, and that R.I.M. engineers privately refer to it as the A.K. — for “Apple Killer.” ★
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First Looks: Blackjack 21 and Shanghai Mahjong
Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family, iPhone, App Store Today, I got a chance to play Mobile Age's two App Store games: Blackjack 21 and Shanghai Mahjong. As the names suggest, these two familiar classics were ported to the iPhone platform. I started off with the Mahjong, which is a solitaire game the goal of which is to remove all the tiles on-screen by matching pairs. The game itself is beautifully presented but the interaction falls short. Rather than re-design the game for iPhone, it was ported. The tiles are tiny. When I placed my finger tip on top of the display, I covered about 6 tiles at once. The presentation made selecting individual tiles tricky and identifying them harder -- especially for one as myopic as myself. Two on-board buttons at the bottom left and right of the screen proved particularly difficult to tap. The game does not offer zooming. In the end, I was unable to enjoy playing the game. To play Blackjack 21, you need to learn an odd swipe language. Swipe down to hit, swipe across to stay, double-tap to double-down, and so on. Although it was a bit confusing to pick up (and a little anti-intuitive, since in our family games, we double tap the table to hit and swipe our hands to stay), I soon was betting, hitting, standing and so forth. In Blackjack 21, most of the gameplay is about the animation and sound effects. There are plenty of both. I'm not a huge gambler so I can't really say much about the gameplay relative to real life. It seems to follow Vegas rules, offering you insurance, etc. at the proper places. Neither game really blew me away. I was more disappointed in Mahjong because that's normally a game I adore. Many wasted hours in Graduate School were dedicated to multi-player timed challenges. By porting the game rather than redesigning to meet the iPhone's small interaction space, Mobile Age missed an opportunity to deliver a hit. Blackjack 21 and Shanghai Mahjong each sell for $4.99 at the iPhone App Store and can be played on both iPhone and iPod touch.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Mac Mix Promo gives you deals on Mac apps, starts today
Filed under: Software, DealsWhile MacHeist is on their summer break, Mac Mix is hoping to shake things up in the Mac app bundle community. Their website went live early this morning and allows you to mix applications to make your own bundle. You might say, "What's so special about that"? Well, Mac Mix gives you a tiered discount based on how many applications you purchase. There are currently 28 applications to choose from including: Parallels iBank Yep! Photon TextExpander and more ... The pricing is similar to the way the Give Food to your Mac promo worked. The pricing tiers are: 10% off of any one app 30% off any 3 40% off any 5 50% off any 7 60% off any 9 75% off any 12 These deals will be available for 2 more weeks, so if you want to get a great deal on some great software, why not give Mac Mix promo a try. In addition, the 500th buyer will receive a "Super Bundle" that includes all 28 peices of software.Thanks, Vivek!Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Tear down the broadcast towers
My most striking realization since getting my iPhone (love it, thanks for asking) is that radio is doomed. Pandora is a wonder, creating my own radio station, live and on the fly without need for a broadcast tower. CBS is streaming all its stations over the cell network but when I told my wife this she kept asking, “Why would I want to listen to a CBS station?” That's not the point, I huffed; we don't need broadcast towers. OK, she said, but I still don't want to listen to CBS stations. So count that as two strikes against radio. Digital radio? Heh. Satellite radio? I'm paying for it and I want Howard on my iPhone. And then there's TV. Comscore just said that Americans watched 12 billion videos in May, up 45 percent over last year. Say that again: 12 billion. It's a mass medium, still: the mass of niches comes to life. Some more video stats: Google has a 35 percent marketshare. Fox is a very distant second with 6.4 percent. Huli debuts at 10th place with 0.7 percent, but I'll bet it will rise quickly. More: * Nearly 142 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 85 videos per viewer in May. Google sites also attracted the most viewers (83.8 million), who watched an average of 50 videos per person. * 74 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. * The average online video viewer watched 228 minutes of video. * 82.2 million viewers watched 4.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer). * The duration of the average online video was 2.7 minutes.
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New iPhone Applications Are Buggy but Have Great Promise
The first applications for the iPhone 3G have some bugs, but they nonetheless show that the iPhone is becoming a powerful device for reading, listening to streaming audio and watching video. And it is especially handy for looking up information tied to your current location.
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First Look: Chimps Ahoy!
Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family, iPhone, App StoreGallery: First Look: Chimps Ahoy Griptonite Games' Chimps Ahoy! is a silly, fun breakout game. I'm not a huge breakout fan (to be fair, I'd rather clean my house and do my taxes) but Chimps' beautiful graphics and silly music won my heart. It's a graphic design tour de force. You play by throwing a coconut between a pair of monkeys, chipping away at inner barriers. Control the monkeys by sliding your thumbs up and down the sides of the screen. The introductory material made me think that game play was going to be a lot more complicated than it was (game play is quite easy) and there's no accelerometer support. Plus it's a breakout game -- but there's no getting around that part. But if you enjoy breakout games, Chimps Ahoy!'s multiple levels and bright inviting screens offer a nice twist on the genre. Given their high design standards, I can't wait to see what other products Griptonite delivers at App Store. Chimps Ahoy! costs $9.99 and can be played on the iPhone and iPod touch.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Advice on the iPod Touch and iTunes 7.7--Ask the Editors
Get the answers to all of your questions about MP3 players, headphones, and more in this weekly feature.
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Motorola, Nokia, Palm, RIM Suffering iPhone Headache
That nice round number Apple (AAPL) announced this morning - 1 million iPhone 3G units sold in the first three days - has obviously given pause to shareholders in other handset stocks. Shares of Motorola (MOT), Palm (PALM), Nokia (NOK) and Research In Motion (RIMM) are all lower today, while Apple shares are now modestly higher after taking a bigger jump in early trading. Clearly, some or all of those companies are going to lose market share as Apple (AAPL) takes an increasingly large slice of the market. Palm countered Apple's big debut Friday by cutting the price of the Centro through AT&T (T) to $69.99 from $99. That seems like weird timing all the way around; it seems doubtful, somehow, that all the people who tried but failed to buy an iPhone through an AT&T stores over the last few days decided instead to buy the now-cheaper Centro instead.
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★ iPhone Display Color Temperature, and the Difference Between Builds 5A345 and 5A347 of the iPhone OS
So I [linked yesterday] to a piece by Jason Snell at Macworld regarding the different color temperature of new iPhone 3G displays. Snell asked iPhone product marketing director Bob Borchers (the same “Bob” from the iPhone Guided Tour videos, by the way) about the change, and Borchers said it was a deliberate design change. At Ars Infinite Loop, however, Clint Ecker is reporting that the color change is slightly less warm/yellow in build 5A347 of the iPhone OS, as compared to build 5A345. This is confusing, so bear with me. 5A345 is the version that iPhone SDK members received as the final beta, and it is the version that many brand-new iPhone 3Gs shipped with from the factory. 5A347 is the very latest version, however, and so it is the one iTunes will download if you restore an iPhone. I found that hard to believer — I had assumed that the differences between 345 and 347 were nearly insignificant. For example, if you have an iPhone with 5A345 installed, connect it to your computer, and tell iTunes to “Check for Updates”, iTunes will report: “This version of the iPhone software (2.0) is the current version.” I.e. iTunes does not treat 5A347 as an update for 5A345. [This] is the URL iTunes pulls down when performing a version check for an iPhone. It is an XML document (gzip-encoded). The pertinent section looks like this: 5A345 SameAs 5A347 5A347 Restore BuildVersion 5A347 DocumentationURL […] FirmwareURL […] ProductVersion 2.0 (I replaced two long URLs with “[…]” for the sake of clarity.) 5A345 is explicitly marked as being the same as 5A347, at least for the purposes of recommended software updates. It struck me as very unlikely that Apple would make a change as significant as tweaking the display color temperature at the last minute. But if they were to make a change like that, it seems even more unlikely that they would do so in a build that isn’t pushed out as an automatic update for iPhones running 5A345. So I asked a source at Apple on the iPhone engineering team who is, as they say, familiar with the situation, and my source told me there were no changes regarding display color temperature between 5A345 and 5A347, and that there’s no practical reason why someone with an iPhone with 5A345 installed should go through a complete system restoration just to get 5A347.
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Unsubsidized iPhone prices
Filed under: iPhone Stories about cell phone unlocking and resales have hit the news recently. TracFone sued numerous resellers who (legally) bought inexpensive subsidized units, unlocked them and sold them overseas. In the iPhone world, the story differs. Rather than leveraging subsidized prices, the way the TracFone defendents did, iPhone resellers added value on top of the unsubsidized units. The bought the phones, unlocked them and sold them for a profit. The story gets more interesting with the current generation "no commitment" iPhones. The latest 3G "no commitment" iPhone pricing appears to include an extra $200 profit margin on top of the $200 subsidy. TUAW reader Adam Jenkins offers proof. In Massachusetts, purchasers pay tax on the full unsubsidized phone price regardless of subsidies. The 5% sales tax for his new 16GB 3G iPhone came to $24.95. Clearly Apple and the State of Massachusetts believe the unsubsidized 16GB price is $499, not the $699 "no commitment" price. That extra $200 offers a nice cushion on top of the unsubsidized sale, providing pure profit. What's the opposite story of resellers taking advantage of cell phone subsidies? Seems to be the 3G iPhone.Permalink|Email this|Comments
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How We Built an iPhone App for $4873.92
Geoff Litwack: So last year I read Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start, inspiring, then I started reading his blog, and then he published “By the Numbers: How I built a Web 2.0, User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media Site for $12,107.09” and I was like whoa, that is useful information. But it turns out that if you do your own development work, you can launch an iPhone app for even less. Here’s what we spent. ★
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Pandora for iPhone will be a huge hit
I continue to be amazed at how pervasive Pandora is among casual music listeners. The iPhone's implementation could be a huge hit.
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Namco’s Ms. Pac-Man iPhone Game Controls
Good analysis from Touch Arcade on the dilemma facing developers writing traditional video games (like in this case, Pac-Mac) for the iPhone: how do you take input on a button-less system for a game conceived around a very twitchy joystick? Namco offers three choices for the iPhone Pac-Mac and Ms. Pac-Man ports: (a) an ersatz D-pad, (b) the accelerometer, and (c) “swipe”, where you just swipe your finger anywher on screen in the direction you want to move. I’m a Pac-Man junky, so I bought Ms. Pac-Man, and I agree with Touch Arcade that swiping works the best, by far. But, alas, it still stinks overall — you can’t make turns quickly or precisely enough. ★
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Apple sells 1m iPhone 3Gs, 10m apps
Filed under: iPhone, App Store Apple reports that it sold its one millionth iPhone 3G on Sunday, meeting (if not exceeding) many analysts expectations that it would do so. This came despite deep hurting surrounding activation of the new phones on Friday. But hold on: because of clever accounting, a sizable fraction of those handsets were already considered "sold" as soon as they left the loading dock in Asia, according to Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog. "In other words, some of those 1 million iPhones recorded as sold by Apple may still be in transit," they wrote. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster had conservatively predicted that it would take 17 days for Apple to sell a million of the new handsets. He may be closer to the truth, if one counts only the units sold at retail over the weekend. Additionally, Apple noted that users downloaded 10 million apps from the App Store since it launched last week. In another press release, The Stevester called the App Store a "grand slam."Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Forum Activity: July 14, 2008
School Software Office Alternatives? A Macbook, 3G… and a PS3 Dual vs Quad, 10.4 vs Tiger, Leopard iPhone Lines, Quanitites, how soon to start waiting?
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What happened to Mac-to-MobileMe push?
There has been a bit of confusion over the existence of Mac-to-MobileMe push, as explained by this article on MacRumors. Apparently as it stands, there is no way to “push” changes made in Address Book and iCal up to MobileMe right away; instead you have to wait for your Mac to sync with MobileMe, which occurs every 15 minutes or so when set to Automatic in MobileMe Preferences. There is some dispute in the associated forum thread about whether or not Apple misled users regarding Mac-to-MobileMe push. Let's take a quick look at three pages on the MobileMe promo site, and compare them to Google caches of the same pages. (more…)
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Apple sells 1M iPhones; 10M apps downloaded
Apple is touting the fact that they sold over 1 million iPhones and had 10 million downloads from the App Store on the iPhone 3Gs opening weekend. In the press release, Steve Job points out that “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly [...]
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Apple's iPhone Biggest Consumer Electronics Launch Ever
Josh Martin beat me to the punch with his post on the Apple press release this morning (curse you!), but I thought I'd add a bit more context to the story. Those one million iPhone 3Gs sold this weekend provide a pretty good clue for why Apple (AAPL) and AT&T's (T) activation servers are slammed and barely able to keep up. This was a big deal. Why? Because not only was it about 4 times more phones than Apple had to deal with last year at this time, but because it is probably the largest consumer electronics launch in history.
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TUAW Review: MobileMe
Filed under: Reviews, MobileMeMobileMe, the successor to Apple's lackluster .Mac service, is poised to bring subscribers into the realm of "cloud computing," one of those nauseating phrases that's been around for a while, but nobody has a better term for. MobileMe provides email, calendaring, contact management, photo sharing, and online file storage to Windows, Mac, iPhone, and iPod touch users for $99. A family pack subscription is also available for $149, which adds four 5GB accounts to a standard-sized 20GB account (making 40GB of storage total). Users can also add 20GB or 40GB of storage to their account for $49 and $99, respectively. MobileMe got off to a really rough start last week, but we still don't know exactly where the hangup was during the transition. I know I'm interested to know what happened, but for now, let's just all be glad that it's working, and have us a look-see at what's new. After the jump, join me for an in-depth look at MobileMe's features, and how they compare to .Mac and other free services available elsewhere on the web.Continue reading TUAW Review: MobileMeRead|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs in First Weekend
“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.” ★
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iPhone applications: A time sink and a battery sink
on the iPhone 3G applications have used battery like they never did on the 1.0 iPhone
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Typinator 3.1 now with built-in HTML snippets
Ergonis Software has announced the release of Typinator 3.1, the latest version of its auto-typing text application. Typinator detects specific sequences of typed characters and automatically replaces them with text snippets, graphics, URLs, dates and special characters saving you a lot of time, not only typing, but looking up information. The new version brings along a set of HTML snippets... [read more at MacMerc.com]
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Google GPhone May Really Happen
2007 was the year of speculation of a Google (GOOG) Phone, or Gphone. Handset manufacturer HTC was the center of attention around most of the rumors. But Google eventually squashed those rumors by announcing the Open Handset Alliance and Android. Instead of building an iPhone like device and service combined, they'd be backing an open source mobile operating system that could finally break the carriers' stranglehold on the mobile market.Android doesn't preclude Google from creating their own mobile device as well though, that will work as a best of breed device. Google has never said they wouldn't build their own phone exactly, but when they wrote last November that they were not announcing a Gphone at that time, most of the speculation died down.
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Increase frequency of Mac to MobilMe/iPhone synch
Feeling conned by the promised "push" technology of MobileMe, specifically when making changes on your Mac, only to find out that it will not push, but instead, sync at 15-minute (60 minutes in 10.4.11) intervals? I found the .plist file that controls the "Automatic" sync interval for MobileMe, and changed it from 15 minutes to 1 minute. The file is located in ~/Library » Preferences » ByHost » com.apple.DotMacSync.your_MAC_address.plist. Open this file in Property List Editor, find the AutoSyncInterval key, and then set it to the number of minutes after which you want it to sync with the server. I have it set to 1 right now, and it syncs every minute which is good enough for me at the moment. Hopefully this will be of value to anyone who needs something more immediate than a 15-minute sync, and doesn't want to bother with Manual sync. [robg adds: I was disappointed to read that the 15-minute sync from a Mac to MobileMe/iPhone ...
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Use an alias to ease resumable scp transfers
If you do a lot of downloading via scp and occasionally find yourself restarting a download that failed due to a closed connection, here's an alias that can help. Add the following to your user's ~/.profile file to create a "resumable scp downloading command: alias scpresume="rsync --partial --progress --rsh=ssh" This command uses rsync, and sets options for resumable transfers (--partial), displaying a progress bar (--progress), and insures that the transfer will be made using secure shell (-rsh=ssh). To use the command, open a new shell after saving your modified .profile file, and then type scpresume in place of scp in your normal transfer command. [robg adds: I added detail to the original hint submission, so I apologize if I got some of the details on the rsync options incorrect.]
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Switch spaces via gestures on newer laptops
If you find yourself switching Spaces frequently and use a laptop with multi-touch capability, you can use MultiClutch to map gestures to Spaces commands. First (and the order is important) disable any keyboard shortcuts you use for Spaces. Then go into MultiClutch and add (in the Global application) Swipe gestures to the key commands you want for Spaces up/down/left/right. Finally, set those key commands in the Exposé and Spaces pane. This lets you "sweep away" your old space with a single gesture (no finger juggling), kind of Minority Report-style. One caveat: although this overrides most applications' built-in three-finger gestures, it doesn't override the Finder's back/forward support, so you get stuck sometimes when a Finder window is in the foreground. Just choose another app, and you're on your way.
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TUAW Faceoff: Pandora vs. AOL Radio
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Internet, Reviews, iPhone, TUAW Faceoff, App Store When the App Store first launched last Thursday, I saw Pandora and AOL Radio and immediately wondered if they would work on my first generation iPhone using EDGE. The quick answer is yes, however, you do make some sacrifices in one of the applications. Read my full review below to get the full details. About Pandora (Download Link)Pandora is a part of the Music Genome Project and allows you to create "stations" of your favorite artists. Pandora then pairs those artists to others you might like and plays an unlimited playlist based on your favorite artists. Pandora tracks your likes and dislikes and will play songs based on those results. Pandora lets you find new music for free, and who can argue with that?Gallery: TUAW Faceoff: Pandora for iPhone/iPod touchAbout AOL Radio (Download Link)AOL Radio is a CBS Radio partner that provides online streaming radio stations. Unlike Pandora, AOL Radio is a true streaming radio station in the sense that you can play local stations which support in-audio advertising. AOL Radio can use the location feature in order to find CBS affiliate stations that bitcast near you.Gallery: TUAW Faceoff: AOL Radio for iPhone/iPod touchUser InterfaceBoth Pandora and AOL Radio follow a similar user interface design: they both look like the iPod feature on iPhone/iPod touch. Both of the interfaces are nice, however, I have the same gripes for both. The volume controllers in both seem to be independent of the iPhone's volume controller. This can cause the audio to be distorted if you turn it up too much in the applications themselves since you can use the volume buttons on the side to control the audio volume as well. Secondly, I would love to be able to quit the application and have the audio keep playing (I know, this is an Apple/SDK restriction, but it would still be nice). You can, however, lock the phone and keep the audio playing (which is a nice feature). Both applications allow you to purchase the currently playing song from the iTunes WiFi Music store. AOL Radio also provides a link to find out more about the currently playing song on AOL Radio's site. WiFi (or 3G) vs. EDGE UseWhen you are playing the music over WiFi (or the 3G cell network), you get awesome audio quality. Both applications seem to provide audio quality that matches that of purchased iTunes songs. On EDGE, however, AOL Radio falls short by providing very low quality audio (I would guess 56k audio). However, Pandora on EDGE seems to maintain good audio quality when you have a signal that is greater than 2/5 bars.So, who wins?Since both of these applications are absolutely free and have equal pros and cons, I would recommend downloading both to see which one fits you the best. If you are on a 3G iPhone, both will work well no matter where you are (assuming you're within 3G coverage). However, if you have a 2G iPhone, you might prefer Pandora because it provides better audio quality over EDGE. You can download both applications by clicking the download links above. Disclaimer: The Unofficial Apple Weblog and AOL Radio are both owned by AOL.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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App Store - Mobile software distribution solution
The macosxhints Rating:[Score: 9 out of 10] Developer: Apple / Product page Price: VariesThis week's Pick of the Week is somewhat unusual, but I think highly deserving. Instead of picking any one product, I've chosen to give the selection to Apple's new iPhone/iPod touch App Store. After using the App Store quite a bit over the last few days, I believe it truly is a paradigm-changer for the mobile applications business -- much as the original iTunes Music Store was when it opened years ago.Prior to my iPhone, I owned and used a Palm Treo. One of my frustrations with the Treo was finding and installing software for it. Although there's a huge universe of programs for the Treo,...
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Did Apple set developers up for failure?
Filed under: Bad Apple, Developer, iPhoneAs I'm sure many of you have noticed, many of the applications from the App Store are crashing frequently. Basically, an app I want to launch opens a blank screen, pauses for a moment, and then drops me back to my home screen without so much as an apology. Worse, it may even reset the phone. I've found with most of them that a simple reboot will allow them to launch again, but that's getting old and doesn't always help. You're probably, like me, thinking that it's a shame that so many developers rushed so quickly to make the App Store deadline and ended up putting out unstable applications. According to the development community, though, it's not their fault ... it's Apple's. Anonymous developer sources are reporting that they've been poring over crash logs and discovering that the reported crash has nothing to do with their application. There's a growing consensus that Apple has released a highly unstable "final" version of the 2.0 firmware. So, maybe it's more of a shame that Apple, who laid the groundwork for a multitude of useful and exciting applications, rushed development and failed to build a better foundation. Personally, I haven't seen the crash logs, and I am -- legitimately, in my opinion -- accepting the word of veteran developers. I also can't speak for individual applications, there are some pretty shoddy offerings in the App Store which may have their own reasons for crashing (i.e. "I look like I was written by a Windows developer, I can't show my face!"). There are also several applications whose requisite servers were overloaded initially, but are getting back on their feet now. But for a lot of the random crashes, it has nothing to do with the app itself ... so, before you write that complaint email, check your tone ... you might be getting snarky with the wrong party.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Why this year’s iPhone launch was very un-Apple
I remember standing in line last year for the iPhone. It was a momentous occasion. There was excitement in the air and people just having a great time waiting for 6 PM when the iPhone went on sale. People were camped out in lawn chairs and owners of shops came out to see what the fuss was about. They even brought us chairs from their stores to sit in and let us use their power outlets to recharge our laptops. Contrast that to this year, when the much anticipated iPhone 3G was launched at 8 AM local time. I was in line (with a few hundred soon-to-be friends) at 8 AM when the “launch” started. After 2 hours we had barely moved 10 feet. Around 11 AM, we finally got reports that there were server issues. At first they said the issues were with iTunes software activating new iPhones, but then they quickly shifted the blame to AT&T's servers. The mood quickly went from upbeat and excited to tired and irritated. Standing in line, hour after hour, this year was a stark contrast from last year. At Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, security guards wouldn't even let people sit down (on the floor, or in mall-provided seating) even though we were mall customers waiting to spend quite a bit of money in their stores. The whole atmosphere of this year's launch was of disappointment, disorganization, inconvenience and irritation. Very un-Apple. (more…)
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Mac OS Ken: 07.14.2008
iPocalypse Then: Four Launches Go Awry At Once / NetworkWorld: iTunes = Fail in Four Product Weekend Launch / Bloomberg: iPhone 3G in Short Supply Outside the U.S. / Apple Releases Mac OS X Update For MobileMe (for Leopard) / Developers Boo Name Games in App Store / Gizmodo: Woz Waited in Line (Did NOT Cut) for iPhone 3G / GeekBrief.tv, The MacCast, and Mac OS Ken on The iPhone Alley Podcast / Macenstein: Is iPhone 3G Plastic Back Really Plastic?/ Matt Pavlik of 123Hints.com Reviews OmniFocus iPhone App
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Battery Life: The dilemma of a 3G iPhone owner
A short and glorious life, or a long and dull one? Owners of the new 3G iPhone face the same dilemma put to the Greek hero Achilles by the gods of Olympus. In the end, he chose glory. But iPhone users might take a different view. The new phone has a more power-hungry chipset. Walt Mossberg is not the only one who has found “the battery indicator on the new 3G model slipping below 20% by early afternoon or midafternoon on some days, and it entirely ran out of juice on one day”. I take and make much fewer calls than he does, and I notice it too. Apple has published a page of tips to help users manage this Achilles' heel. Much of the advice is common sense: reduce the brightness of the screen, minimise or turn off the phone's “push” features, turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth if you don't need them, don't play games on it, and so on. But three of the suggestions were news to me. First, you can turn off 3G and still receive calls and data via GPRS and EDGE. Makes sense, but it never occurred to me. You will find the option in the Network section of General Preferences. Secondly, “applying an equalizer setting to song playback on your iPhone can decrease battery life.” You can switch that off, or set it to “flat” in the phone's iPod settings. Lastly, Location Services chews a lot of power. Switching it on only when you need it will prolong the life of your battery. Finally, it surprised me with its advice on cycling the battery: For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down). I have always thought—following someone's sage advice when I was a gullible new Switcher—that it was important never to let the battery level fall too low. Now I know. Luckily, just like Achilles my iPhone thirsts for a short and glorious life, so there will be no problem getting the battery charge down. [Via InformationWeek ] Tags: 3G, achilles, Apple, apple mail tips, battery life, iphone, Location Services, no Super Monkey Ball for you!, not apple mail Related posts xCut: Keyboard Shortcut Reference widget Whimsy: Vista and Leopard, Protestants and Catholics Quick insertion of Apple-centric glyphs More on iPhone's “rich HTML” email client Mark Pilgrim's Ubuntu/Ze Frank/WinFS/Apple mash-up
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Apple’s fistful of new MobileMe technotes
Given the recent rather rocky launch of MobileMe, it is no surprise that this week's list of new and updated technotes from Apple contains a large number of support documents relating to MobileMe. It is one thing to read the range of complaints in the MobileMe Apple Discussion Group . It's another thing to get a sense of big problems from the horse's mouth itself. Apple's new Support offerings for MobileMe are listed at the end of this post. All MobileMe services get a look in, but there is a concentration on Sync issues and how to deal with them. Some of the items are more useful than others. For example, I didn't know what the maximum size of a MobileMe email message was until I read that “you can send and receive email messages up to 20 MB in size with your MobileMe Mail account.” On the other hand, the technote on “How MobileMe filters spam messages” is less useful. It tells you that To minimize the impact of spam on MobileMe members, MobileMe employs several methods of detecting spam before it ever reaches your inbox. Spam prevention requires filtering mechanisms that include dynamic lists, trend analysis and content filtering. However, it continues, “Filtering spam at the server is only part of the equation. You may find it helpful to use your mail application filtering to complement the server filtering.” The only way to deal with false-positives is to contact MobileMe support: If you feel that a friendly message was inadvertently deleted, you may want to ask your friend for a follow up email before you contact support, if you notice that multiple messages are being delayed, bounced, or not delivered, you should contact MobileMe Support directly. Another cracker comes in the technote on viewing Mail.app's Notes in MobileMe Mail: Symptoms If you create a Note with Mail in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, then view the note with MobileMe Mail, the text of the note will appear but the background color of the note will not be yellow. Additionally, the notes cannot be edited in MobileMe Mail, and may appear to be from an “unspecified-domain” with no “To” address. Products Affected Mac OS X 10.5, MobileMe, MobileMe Mail Resolution This is expected behavior. For the best experience with Notes, use Mac OS X Mail only. This document will be updated as more information becomes available. Here is the full list of new notes relating to MobileMe: New and Updated Knowledge Base Documents Canceling your MobileMe account http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2174 How MobileMe filters spam messages http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1073 iDisk Syncing: Changes made directly to the iDisk may not immediately sync down to local iDisk http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1159 iDisk Syncing: iDisk may not sync if connected via a mobile high-speed connection http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1758 iDisk: iDisk Syncing takes up more hard drive space than expected in Mac OS X 10.5 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1771 iMovie and MobileMe Gallery: Some movie names may not work in MobileMe Gallery http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1038 iWeb: "This entry no longer exists" error when trying to add or remove comments on blogs published to MobileMe http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1763 iWeb: Default page fails to load & browser continuously refreshes http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1727 iWeb: In published site, Add Comment links don't display or work correctly http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1762 iWeb: Preserving website comments when upgrading from iWeb 1.x to 2.0 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2094 Mac OS X 10.5: About viewing Mail Notes in MobileMe Mail http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1756 Mac OS X 10.5: Address Book Sharing - clicking the sync icon does not start sync with MobileMe http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1757 Mac OS X 10.5: MobileMe Sync menu icon spins constantly http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1182 Mac OS X 10.5: Resetting the SyncServices folder http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1627 Mac OS X 10.5: Syncing preference settings with MobileMe Sync http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2085 Mac OS X: Can't connect to iDisk, get "Error Code -50" http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1429 Mac OS X: Do not remove or modify SyncServices folder http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1865 Mac OS X: Mail - MobileMe account mailbox is dimmed http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1726 MacBook (Late 2007): iDisk, MobileMe or remote home directory sync unsuccessful http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1759 Maximum MobileMe message size http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2069 MobileMe and Apple ID passwords cannot accept some characters http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1728 MobileMe iDisk: Cannot Check Disk Space in System Preferences http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1737 MobileMe mail messages are missing http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1730 MobileMe scans email for viruses http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2076 MobileMe Sync, Mac OS X 10.5: Calendar syncing issues http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1200 MobileMe Sync: About syncing third-party Dashboard Widgets in Mac OS X 10.5 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1751 MobileMe Sync: Alert after merging contacts http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1178 MobileMe Sync: Conflict Resolver states that seemingly-identical contacts have conflicts after Mac OS X 10.5 upgrade http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1174 MobileMe Sync: iCal Group Calendar name may change when syncing in Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1188 MobileMe Sync: Initial syncing of Dashboard Widgets may result in duplicate widgets http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1750 MobileMe Sync: Non-functioning web clips may be deleted after syncing Dashboard widgets http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1171 MobileMe Sync: Removing third-party items from the MobileMe Sync pane in Mac OS X 10.5, 10.4 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1153 MobileMe Sync: RSS status doesn't not sync between Mac OS X 10.4 and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1170 MobileMe Sync: Syncing contact addresses between Mac OS X 10.4 and Mac OS X 10.5 causes sync conflict or alert http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1754 MobileMe Sync: Syncing preferences may "hide" some application windows http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1199 MobileMe Sync: User moved via Migration Assistant does not register computer for syncing http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1183 MobileMe, Address Book Sharing: Contacts or Groups get out of sync http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1744 MobileMe, iDisk: About the invisible ".filler.idsff" file http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1065 MobileMe, Mac OS X 10.5: "An error was returned from the server" alert after changing your MobileMe password http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1748 MobileMe, Mac OS X 10.5: iDisk Sync may not automatically sync changes http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1745 MobileMe, Mail: Copying MobileMe or IMAP email messages to your hard disk http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1063 MobileMe: "iDisk full" error http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1764 MobileMe: "Temporarily unavailable" message when viewing a published calendar http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1658 MobileMe: "The size of the iDisk on your computer needs to be adjusted" alert in Mac OS X 10.4 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1160 MobileMe: About syncing more than one Mac to the same iDisk at the same time in Mac OS X 10.5 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1168 MobileMe: Arabic characters in file names change after iDisk sync in Mac OS X 10.4 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2079 MobileMe: Changes on an iPhone/iPod touch made to your calendars, contacts, or bookmarks while a sync is occuring may not sync to MobileMe http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1794 MobileMe: Computer has less free disk space after turning on iDisk Syncing http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1154 MobileMe: Configuring third-party email applications http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1625 MobileMe: Email message "bounces" back after sending http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1187 MobileMe: Empty browser cache if issues occur after a MobileMe Mail service interruption http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2078 MobileMe: File contributed to a MobileMe Gallery via email doesn't appear http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1747 MobileMe: Identifying fraudulent "phishing" email http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2080 MobileMe: iDisk Sync - Items in non-synced folders cannot be opened http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1761 MobileMe: Issues sending messages in Mail or other email applications http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1152 MobileMe: MobileMe Gallery maximum photo size http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1071 MobileMe: Prompted for password when opening some folders on your iDisk in Mac OS X 10.5 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1749 MobileMe: Prompted for password when syncing keychains http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1181 MobileMe: Providing MobileMe support with long email headers for troubleshooting http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT1066 MobileMe: Published photos or movies may take a long time to appear on your MobileMe Gallery http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1746 MobileMe: Troubleshooting Syncing from Mac OS X http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=TS1679 MobileMe: Using SSL encryption with your email http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2082 Publishing a password-protected iCal calendar to iDisk http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2071 Some items in Outlook may cause calendars to not sync http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306757 Why was I "spammed" at my MobileMe Mail address? http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=HT2073 Tags: Apple, Apple Mail, calendar, contacts, dotmac, gallery, iCal, iDisk, iweb, mail.app, mobileme, problems, support, sync, technotes, the week from hell Related posts Rui Carmo spanks .Mac MobileMe is live – more or less. Ten steps to a smarter Address Book SyncTogether: Syncing without .Mac More .Mac grumbles: value, missing features
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Maccast 2008.07.13 - iPhone 3G Day Special
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast. Interviews and thoughts from the launch of the iPhone 3G. Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3