Dec 30, 2009 Jan 1, 2010 Thursday December 31, 2009
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TUAW wishes you...
Filed under: TUAW Business ...a very happy New Year. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/london/ / CC BY 2.0TUAWTUAW wishes you... originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments New Year's Day - New Year - Holidays - London - England
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Engadget's top posts, 2009
Wow. Can you believe it? We made it all the way through 2009! We truly had some of the most amazing and exciting coverage ever on Engadget this past 12 months -- and we figured it's time to take a look back at the heaviest hitters from the last 365. This was a big year for us, we got a whole new look, an iPhone app (with more on the way), hired some new staff, got ourselves a show, went on late night TV, and managed to snap up some killer scoops and keep the news rolling (better than ever before, actually -- this was by far our heaviest year for traffic). So let's take a moment to reflect on what caused all the fuss in 2009, and yes, we know this list is Apple heavy. We blame you guys. Top 20 most trafficked posts of 2009 (in order) Phil Schiller keynote live from WWDC 2009 Live from Apple's 'It's only rock and roll' event Live from Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event Live from the Macworld 2009 keynote iPhone 3GS review Motorola Droid review Palm Pre: everything you ever wanted to know Exclusive: first Google Phone / Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board HTC Hero review Windows 7 review Palm Pre review Microsoft sucks at Photoshop Microsoft announces availability of Windows 7 Beta and Windows Live Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence from Apple due to health reasons Video: Sony's PSP Go leaks out before E3, is obviously a go Motorola Droid first hands-on Windows 7 Beta goes public Modern Warfare 2's Prestige Edition includes fully functioning night vision goggles Snow Leopard review Live from Palm's CES press conference And a few other statistics for 2009 (all related to Engadget Classic): $38,204.57 - Retail value of stuff we gave away to readers 12,681 - total number of posts for 2009 1,821 - Number of galleries on Engadget for 2009 454 - Number of hands-on posts 99 - Number of Engadget reviews 66 - number of podcasts 4 - number of Engadget shows Engadget's top posts, 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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TUAW bloggers post their Apple predictions for 2010
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, AppleIt's the end of another calendar year, which can mean only two things. First, every blog is going to be posting lists of 2009 retrospectives, and second, there are going to be a lot of posts filled with completely off-target predictions for 2010. So that we're not leaving our readership sitting in the dark wondering what the TUAW bloggers are prognosticating for the next year, here are our wild guesses well-researched and intelligent predictions for Apple in 2010. Enjoy 'em, and from all of us at TUAW, have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and Day. Steve Sande Big DUH! The Apple Tablet arrives. There are way too many hints flying around the blogosphere for this to be a non-product for another year. It's gotta happen! The Apple TV disappears from the Apple lineup. I hates it, I does. It just doesn't seem like an Apple product. iPhone moves to multiple US carriers, but not Verizon. Why? Wrong network for a world (read GSM) phone, and I think Apple is probably irritated with Verizon's Droid and their advertising. Apple closes some low-producing Apple Stores. The economy is still bad, and there have to be some locations with stores that aren't pulling their weight. Apple buys Dropbox, BackBlaze, and Evernote, makes MobileMe useful. Dropbox for better and faster folder syncing between devices, BackBlaze for external backups to the cloud, Evernote just because it's cool. Add 'em all together and what do you have? Something that's really worth paying $99 a year for. Apple definitely has the cash to buy these services. The Apple TV reappears in the Apple lineup as a high-quality autostereoscopic 3DTV with TiVo, Slingbox, and Boxee functionality built in. I can dream, can't I? Erica Sadun I'm hoping this will be the year of the tablet. Of course, I've been anticipating the year of the tablet since, oh say, around 1993 or so. Apple's future isn't about the hardware though, and it's not about their OS line: it's about their ability to deliver media. I'm thinking "iTunes gone large". Apple's Lala acquisiition, rumored TV deals, and possible textbook distribution agreements point to a renewed focus on content delivery devices. Admittedly, Apple TV has never really evolved into its promise, perhaps due to areas into which Apple was not able to expand due to licensing deals with companies with Cable/Broadband interests but the iPhone has gone above and beyond in the media realm. So do I see a tablet (or a line of tablet devices) as a natural extension of the Apple content store? Absolutely. Will we see it this year? Possibly. Will it be early this year? Hard to say. Ask me again in a month. Michael Rose The tablet, yes, there will be one, it will be spectacular, and about three months after introduction it will drop in price by $200. People who bought the original version would be annoyed except they're so giddy from having had a piece of the future in their knapsacks for three months. We'll see Apple get serious about cloud services by buying a company that's doing online storage right (Dropbox guys, don't make your numbers unlisted) and creating a capability that will actually rival some of the more effective platforms out there. Apple needs a Microsoft Mesh-like solution to really unlock the portable power of its devices. Then again, the tablet. 2010 will be the year that hackintoshes become more than a distraction and a legal burden. The Psystar battle shows that Apple knows there's risk, and sooner or later the netbooks-on-OS-X market will collide with the business realities of Apple's day to day operations. Then again, the tablet. We'll see a secondary carrier for the iPhone in the US (yay!). It will not be Verizon (darn!), it will be T-Mobile. The Verizon iPhone is a 2011 phenomenon, but by then the prevalence of portable Wi-Fi and VoIP solutions for mobile will start to scratch away at the cellphone market's power. Then again, the tablet. Mac OS X 10.7 will return us to 'new features' land; we'll learn about it at WWDC and see it by 2011. Mel Martin There will be a tablet. Even though Steve Jobs said Apple wasn't working on one, remember he also denied the iPhone was coming for a long time too. There seems to be a crescendo of stories about the tablet (i-Slate, i-Pad, whatever) and that's a pretty good indication something is on the way. Changes to MobileMe. Maybe cheaper, certainly some new features. The system has come a long way, but it can hardly be called reliable, and I think for the money it needs more features and/or a lower price. The notification system could use some improving as well. When things go down it seems to take an awfully long time for Apple support to post something about it. A new AppleTV. I think something is likely, something beyond the current hardware/software. I like my AppleTV, but it is still feature poor and very limited in sources for video. Apple should get something a bit more interesting out, or hang this product out to dry. Blu-ray. Originally Apple was a big proponent of this hi-rez video disc. Now, not so much. I expect Apple will have to start adding Blu-ray to desktops and laptops, maybe even to the AppleTV. Sure there have been some licensing cost issues, but others are getting past it and offering it on windows based hardware. Come on Apple, get with it. Apple will get 'Back to my Mac' working. It was a highly touted feature of MobileMe, but for a large population of Mac users, it simply doesn't work. Hard to get excited about a feature I pay for and can't use. Other applications seem to be able to solve these router and security issues. Back to my Mac should just work. A new iPhone. The easiest prediction of all to make. They seem to come out like clockwork, and force many of us to ditch our older models and re-up with our favorite carrier. Speaking of favorite carriers, I think Apple will finally end AT&T exclusivity. Apple's image has taken a beating over AT&T service and support. The world's best smartphone shouldn't be stuck on the world's worst network. I think Apple will change this. Apple market share will continue to increase. Apple users are generally happy users, and Apple users tend to be evangelical about their experiences. In both the U.S., and around the globe, I expect Apple to increase share of laptops, desktops, iPhones and following on that, OS share. Apple will move more services to the 'cloud'. MobileMe is certainly there, iWork looks like it is heading that direction as well. Microsoft and Google have ambitious cloud-based designs, so it's an easy prediction, and a likely outcome. Most predictions will be wrong. There's something about predicting the future. Things take unexpected turns and don't come out exactly as planned. The film '2001' is really dated, and 'Space 1999', well, it looks pretty silly today. My favorite bad prediction? The GM produced film [YouTube Video link] done for the 1939 World's Fair that predicted the sixties. My, what a miss. Michael Grothaus The iPod classic will be no more. By September 2010 the iPod touch will have a max capacity of 128GB, making the iPod classic look archaic and redundant. The iPod lineup will solely consist of 'iPod touch' and 'iPod' - the former 'iPod nano' that maxes out at 32GB. The iSlate is announced in January, followed by a mid-year product launch. The iSlate will make the iPhone look 2005. It will have multi-touch on front and back of the device. Sometime during the year there will be an interesting anecdote about Steve Jobs showing the iSlate to a famous industrial designer (no, not Johnny Ive) this past December whom Jobs then attempted to call a cab for when the designer was leaving Jobs' "modest" home. The industrial designer will tell how Jobs, the most creative tech genius on the planet, had trouble calling a cab from his home phone. Apple (AAPL) stock will hit $300 a share and the stock will do a 2-for-1 split. The iPhone will be the #1 smartphone in the world by a wide margin by December 2010. Blackberry will be #2, and the Google Phone will be a distant third. Palm isn't even a blip on the radar. 'The iSlate will bomb.' Or so will say numerous tech CEOs who will bemoan its 'limited appeal'. They will all be wrong. And though the iSlate won't kill it until 2011, the Kindle will be handed its hat at the door in 2010. Apple will partner with Visa and Mastercard for turning your iPhone into a swipe credit card using the 4th gen iPhone's RFID chip. iLife 2010 will replace iDVD with 'iLP'. iLP will allow users to easily created iTunes LP albums which they can instantly upload to MobileMe for download onto their friends and families new AppleTVs. The new AppleTV will have the cable companies quaking in their pants. Steve Jobs wants to do for the broadcast industry what he did for the music, movie, mobile, and publishing industries. 32" LED Cinema Display. iPhone: Two more US carriers, one of them Verizon. OLED screen and new industrial design that takes lessons from the iSlate. iPhone OS 4.0. Expect to see a multi-touch surface on the iPhone that is not part of the screen. iTunes Store: another late-year redesign to help facilitate making app search easier. Tabbed browsing. Apps top 200,000. Mike Schramm I think we'll finally see the iTablet this year, but it'll be much closer to an iPhone or a Kindle than a traditional tablet computer, with complete App Store integration and a relatively limited UI. The iPhone will finally be released to multiple carriers, T-Mobile first among them. And Apple will focus on cloud services -- they'll host your music and documents online whenever you want them, accessible from all your Apple devices and/or Apple software. What, those aren't out-on-a-limb enough for you? The Mac Pro will get a major update, possibly even a rebranding. The Apple TV will start running App Store apps. And the iPod touch will finally get a camera. Victor Agreda, Jr. Apparently the tablet is a forgone conclusion, so I'll just say that the tablet is just the beginning... I predict that Apple's tablet move will nearly cement its reign in the digital home of tomorrow. Apple will begin partnering with companies such as LG, KitchenAid and others to bring integration into the kitchen, the spare room, etc. The tablet ecosystem and 3rd-party markets will soon resemble the iPod ecosystems from just a few years ago. Remember the iPod dock with built-in toilet paper dispenser? Prepare yourself for a mirror with enough transparency so you can shave AND read your iTablet at the same time. Apple will also spend 2010 getting into the cloud like never before. iWork, iTunes and iLife will be the first to get online application, further hooks and functionality. But at WWDC Apple will announce 10.7 and some "really amazing" features that leverage the power of the internet with the power of their OS. Online backups? Yes, and probably something new and a little bit innovative to deal with what is now at least a decade for many of us with digital cameras... You didn't think iPhoto's crappy behavior when confronted by huge libraries would go on forever, did you? Speaking of data management, depending on which winds the wireless ones blow, Apple may tie ever more services from app makers to its own cloudy ambitions. Look for some ad-fueled functionality to be provided free to tablet and iPhone users, and for announcements regarding iPhone on other networks... Plus look for some needed upgrades to the iPhone OS itself. Apple isn't dumb enough to ignore the jailbreak community and many of the awesome, time-saving tweaks found there. PogoPlank is one example and Stacks is another. Why can't I see the weather without unlocking my phone? Fixing things like this will put an end to some of the "Droid Does" nonsense.TUAWTUAW bloggers post their Apple predictions for 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Steve Jobs - Microsoft - Apple Store - Apple Tablet
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Our favorite iPhone games of 2009
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch The first full year of the App Store is coming to a close, and so let's take a look back at our favorite games of 2009. Note that these aren't best-selling, most important, or even the best games of the year -- we'll leave those lists to other sites. But these are our favorite games -- the games we played this year that we feel stand out as our favorite experiences on the App Store. The list begins after the read more link below, and be sure to agree, disagree, or share your own favorite games as usual in the comments. Ramp Champ [iTunes, $1.99] This one's a no-brainer if you're a regular reader -- not only does Iconfactory's polished skee-ball simulator show up quite often in our posts, but it appears on the TUAW team's Twitter feeds and we've even had lots and lots of score bragging in the site's backchannels. And that's not surprising, when you consider that the excellent graphics, spot-on gameplay, and realistic soundtrack puts you right back in the old carnival arcades without having to deal with the carnies. Words with Friends [iTunes, $1.99, or a free trial] Say what you will about us TUAWers, but we do love words and writing them, and when it came down to it, this was definitely one of our favorite games. Featuring smooth and good looking Scrabble-style gameplay, complete with online options and iPhone-specific features like push notifications for ongoing games, there's no better way to lay out some letter tiles and challenge vocabularies with friends (and in the case of our staff, spouses). Doodle Jump [iTunes, $.99] An addictively simple platformer with a charming little protagionist and constant free updates? We'll buy that for a dollar. Canabalt [iTunes, $2.99] Canabalt is exactly what an iPhone game should be, in that it does a whole lot with as little as possible. It's a post-apocalyptic action game that has you running across rooftops, dodging still-dropping nuclear bombs, and jumping in and out of ruined skyscrapers, all with just one tap control. An amazing soundtrack and easy-to-share Twitter updates seal the deal on this one. Any iPhone developer that can squeeze this much polish and depth into a pick-up-and-play app like this has our money any day. Sway [iTunes, $4.99] There have been lots of platformers this year on the iPhone, but very few of them have innovated with the multitouch screen, and none of them have gone out on a limb as far as this one did. Sway has you moving along levels, collecting coins (stars) and saving friends, but it uses the iPhone's accelerometer and multitouch screen to make your character glide along: each side of the screen controls one of your character's hands, and so you have to tap back and forth to grab the surfaces as you go. It's an idea that's simple to learn but tough to master, and it puts a whole new tilt on platformer exploration that only the iPhone can provide. Zen Bound [iTunes, $1.99, or a free trial] Zen Bound wasn't a game created for the iPhone, but it found its home there -- the touchscreen is perfect for the slow, swiping gameplay that has you wrapping a rope around variously shaped objects. Like a few other titles on this list, this is a game that came up earlier this year, and it's only had one major update since. But we keep coming back to the slow burn allure of this one: it's a beautiful and sumptuous game that only reveals its genius with extended playtime.TUAWOur favorite iPhone games of 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - AppStore - ITunes - Apple - IPod Touch
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Palm App catalog hits 1,000 apps... okay, 946
Hey, good news everybody! The Palm App Catalog, which has lagged far behind its peers, has reached the 1,000 app milestone as of this morning. Well, to be precise, it's hit 946, as pointed out by Electronista, but still, it's a nice little sign of growth for the webOS apps, whose development was hampered by very restricted initial access to its Mojo SDK. In comparison to contenders such as Android, whose catalog numbers around 20,000, and Apples iTunes store, which boasts over 100,000, Palm's numbers are extremely modest -- but progress is progress, especially considering it launched its App Catalog in June with just 30 apps. We look forward to hearing Palm's CES keynote, that's for sure.Palm App catalog hits 1,000 apps... okay, 946 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Electronista | Email this | Comments
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Weekend Investor: Stock-fund investors greet new year with a grimace
What goes down mustn’t go up, but for investors in U.S. stock mutual-funds this year, the law of gravity reversed -- and in a big way.
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iPhone credit card reader to be demoed at CES
Filed under: Hardware, iPhone, App Store Coming this CES (which is actually next week): a complete credit card transaction accessory and service for your iPhone. If this thing works as expected, you might actually see it in more than a few places (think: street vendors that will take credit card payments). A company called Mophie is planning to show off an add-on that works with an app to deliver credit card payments through Square, a payment service recently started up by Jack Dorsey, a Twitter alumni. This is one of a couple such systems that will be vying to fulfill the function (and probably take a few cents from each transaction for their troubles), but so far all we've really got is demos, no actual releases planned. But maybe we'll hear more at CES. There's all kinds of applications here -- a solid, working implementation of a service like this could end up being extremely popular for anybody that regularly needs to conduct transactions out in the field.TUAWiPhone credit card reader to be demoed at CES originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Jack Dorsey - Credit card - Apple - Twitter
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100 Greatest iPhone Apps of 2009
From marking its first year this past summer, to boasting over 100,000 applications in its catalog, the App Store has been great for many developers on the iPhone platform this past year. With 2010 right around the corner, we wanted to take a look back at the 100 greatest iPhone apps of 2009. These applications were nominated by Mac|Life readers. All of these apps have something in common: They've helped make the iPhone better over the past year. MobileMe iDisk (free)This little iPhone app lets MobileMe users browse through files stored on their iDisk with ease. The app also lets you view files like PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Image files, and iWork files. In addition, you can share files right from your iPhone. Evernote (free)Evernote is the free online service/application that lets you store notes and images in notebooks for later use. The iPhone application really comes in handy, especially since it syncs with the cloud. Coupled with the new offline viewing for premium users, Evernote has to be one the best iPhone apps, hands down. Facebook (free)It seems like all of our friends are on Facebook these days, so why shouldn't Facebook be everywhere? Well, with their iPhone application it can definitely seem like that. This application allows you to manage all of your friends, posts, messages, uploads, and otherwise use Facebook without being inside of a browser. Shazam (free)Without this wonderful application, we would still have that snazzy song stuck in our heads without knowing the title or band. Shazam provides a great service to iPhone users for the wonderful price of free; however, if you're into product(RED), they have a Shazam(RED) version available as well. Tweetie 2 ($2.99) It seems like Twitter is becoming as ubiquitous as Facebook, and it also seems like there are a bevy of iPhone Twitter clients. Tweetie would have to be a newcomer that won the hearts of the iPhone users everywhere. Multiple Twitter accounts, contact linkage, multiple attachments, offline mode, and more. Tweetie 2 has you covered. Twitterrific (free)Twitterrific is the great-granddaddy of Twitter clients on the Mac and iPhone, but it doesn't disappoint. Twitterrific got a new face lift this year that updated the client to be in line with other clients like Tweetie. By far, this is the nicest looking Twitter client on the iPhone. SimplyTweet ($4.99)With the advent of push notifications for the iPhone, SimplyTweet is probably one of the cheapest solutions for bringing push to your tweets. This app also contains all of the features of other comparable Twitter clients. Zipcar (free)Zipcar is one of those revolutionary applications, giving you the ability to not only pick out a rental car from the Zipcar service, but also unlocks the doors on the car right from the iPhone. Dropbox (free)This small newcomer of a company has shown time and time again that they can play with the best when it comes to online storage in an iDisk-style fashion. Dropbox offers up 2GBs of free online storage to users (along with other premium paid services). With their iPhone application, you can view and manage files on-the-go with ease. Pastebot ($2.99)With iPhone 3.0, cut, copy, and paste became a reality on the iPhone. With Pastebot, multiple clippings in an easy to use clipboard manager become a reality. This application also lets you sync over your clippings from your Mac to iPhone and vice versa. Stanza (free)With Amazon Kindle-like finesse, Stanza lets you read eBooks on your iPhone for free or little cost. Download free Guttenberg Project books, or paid books from several publishers right from the app; then sit back and read. TomTom U.S.A. ($49.99)This year gave way to turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps for the iPhone. TomTom is one of the many GPS apps available that is really well designed. This app has 3D maps, fast route calculations, and a new lower price that many iPhone owners will enjoy. Navigon MobileNavigator ($59.99)With maps from NAVTEQ, and features like Lane Assist Pro, Navigon is a great navigation app for the iPhone. The app also includes Google local search, iPod control, and bird's-eye view of maps. Things ($9.99)Sure, it's been around since the App Store launched, but it gained tighter syncing with its Mac counterpart, which makes it all the better. Things is a complete GTD (Getting Things Done) solution for your Mac and iPhone. 1Password Pro ($7.99)What would we do without 1Password? This handy application manages all of our passwords on both the Mac and the iPhone. And with the pro version, you get all kinds of nifty features like copy/paste passwords, folders for managing, and copying multiple field values. If you're always forgetting your passwords, this app is for you. VNC Lite (free)This application is a must have if you want to control your Mac or PC right from your iPhone. It has zoom and scroll capability, landscape mode, and support for 8 and 32 bit color modes. AP Mobile (free)AP Mobile lets you browse local, national, and international news right from one iPhone application. Utilizing news from the Associated Press newswire services, this application sends out push notifications of breaking news straight to your device. You'll always know what's going on with AP Mobile. Air Sharing Pro ($6.99)Air Sharing Pro gives you the ability to turn your iPhone into a wireless hard drive that can be mounted on your Mac to add files for viewing from the device. You can also mount remote file server, connect to your computer, perform advanced file operations, and print files directly from your iPhone. Documents to Go ($9.99)Docs to Go has been around since the Palm days, but the application has also made its way over to the iPhone and it's pretty decent. The application lets you sync your Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, etc.) files to your iPhone and create/edit Word and Excel files. You can then sync the files back to your Mac or PC with the included Desktop sync utility. Yelp (free)Yelp has definitely helped us when we're hungry and visiting a new area. This application searches for places around you like restaurants, bars, cafes, and more; plus, it lets you write and read reviews. With the augmented reality of the Yelp Monocle built right in, this app is worth a look. Remote (free)Apple's Remote application has cut down on the clutter needed for a Mac or Apple TV. With one device you can control the ATV, iTunes or Front Row on the Mac via a Wi-Fi connection. Pandora (free) The iPod feature on the iPhone is great, but if you're looking for a great music experience, Pandora is a good way to go. This application allows you to stream uninterrupted music from Pandoras online service straight to your iPhone in an iPhone styled application. AOL Radio (free)AOL Radio gives you a streaming music experience from their online service and from CBS Radio. This app also lets you listen to streaming local radio stations, including live steaming sports stations. Plus, AOL Radio now streams 128kbps while on Wi-Fi, 3G, or EDGE. Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid (free)Ngmoco did something interesting with their latest iteration in the Rolando series. Rolando 2 is free for the first chapter, but other levels can be purchased using the in-app purchases. Ngmoco has created a game play that is like no other on the iPhone with the Rolando series. OmniFocus ($19.99)OmniFocus is similar to other GTD (Getting Things Done) applications, but it gives you the ability to manage tasks by location. OmniFocus is like a task list on steroids. Lose It! (free)So many people try to lose weight all the time, but often time fail to succeed. This iPhone application can keep you motivated to lose weight by keeping you on track with eating and exercise habits. Lose It! is a free application that also interfaces with an online companion website. Todo ($9.99)Todo is a great GTD task manager that lets you sync with applications like iCal, MS-Outlook, Remember the Milk, and Toodledo over Wi-Fi and 3G. You also get a full calendar view for choosing due dates. Assassin's Creed ($4.99)Gameloft has innovated the iPhone game marketplace with games like Assassin's Creed. They've taken a game that's from another console and brought it to the iPhone, but the game feels like it has been created especially for the device. You can take this great RPG with you anywhere. Dragon Dictation (free for limited time)Dragon Dictation gives you speech to text software for the iPhone that lets you speak what you want to say instead of typing it. This application, which is built around the popular Dragon Naturally Speaking Engine, works extremely well. Convertbot ($0.99) Ever out and about and need to convert between two units? Convertbot lets you convert between over 440 different units with ease. It can also convert currencies and the rates are updated upon launching the app. I Am T-Pain ($2.99)Admit it, you've been singing along to T-Pain songs and you've really wanted to make your voice sound exactly like his? Well, with this auto-tune music application for iPhone you can do exactly that. Just select your favorite song and start singing. Being famous not included. Shoot It! (free, paid service)Shoot It! is a social network application that lets you take any picture you want and turn it into an actual snail mail postcard. You can select a photo, add an address and note, and the next business day the postcard will be printed and mailed out for you for only $0.99 for the US. IMDB (free)The Internet Movie Database has long been the go-to destination for looking up information about movies and TV shows, and now it has its own app on the iPhone. You can get all of the information you would on their website, but now in a convenient iPhone-formatted way. Analytics App ($5.99)Analytics App for iPhone lets us see our Google Analytics stats no matter where we may be. This app offers up a Today report, dashboard quick view, and more analytics data than you could ever want. HyperBowl ($1.99)Sure, there are a lot of bowling games for the iPhone, but none of them match the legacy that HyperBowl has. The gameplay feels organic, with its beautiful outdoor themed bowling lanes. Wolfram Alpha ($19.99, on sale)Wolfram Alpha is the new smart search engine that Wolfram Research recently launched. You can now have all of that power right on your iPhone with this small application. Wunder Radio ($6.99)Wunder Radio is an iPhone application that can stream live from over 50,000 Internet radio stations. This application also includes a sleep timer and ability to listen to local NOAA weather radio streams. New York Times (free)Always stay up to date on the news with the New York Times application. The application synchronizes with the NYT news site so you can read stories even when you don't have an Internet connection. Occasions ($0.99, on sale) Never forget any of those important dates with this application. It syncs with Facebook and your contacts to find Birthdays and reminds you via push notifications. Also reminds you of holidays and other important events. Doodle Jump ($0.99) This addictive little game has been likened to the original version of Mario Bros. Tilt the iPhone to move around in this 2D game. Facebook and Twitter integration means you can brag about your accomplishments to your friends. Touch Todo ($0.99, on sale)Touch Todo lets you sync your todos with Google Calendar (not Google Tasks, however) and in turn to the native iPhone calendar. Application backs up your todos on Google Docs for safe keeping, and send tasks from one iPhone to another. Tap Forms Database ($8.99)The Tap Forms Database lets you easily and securely store information like social security numbers, drivers license number, or credit card numbers for later look up. Handy if cards get lost or stolen, and includes AES-256 bit encryption for all data stored in it. Bento ($4.99)Bento for iPhone is the companion application for the Mac version. It will sync with your Mac and bring over all of your databases. You can then edit and create data on-the-go. Daylite Touch (free, additional software required)The Daylite Touch application syncs with the Daylite Server on your Mac to help you manage your business projects, contacts, and tasks all in a streamlined interface that feels very native to the iPhone. Skies of Glory (free)Shoot World War II airplanes out of the sky in this action game. Featuring awesome graphics and great Internet 8-player multiplayer mode, this game is a great deal. BeatMaker ($19.99)Who says you can't create music on the iPhone? With BeatMaker that's completely possible. This application is basically a recording studio in your pocket with the ability to export your creations right from the device. Comics (free)Reading comics is just plain fun, and with Comics for the iPhone, you can read over 70 comics for free from one simple application. The app allows you to browse and view nearly 700 different comics. Ustream Live Broadcaster (free, account needed)UStream Live Broadcaster gives you the ability to stream live audio and video from your iPhone over Wi-Fi or 3G to the world via the free UStream.tv service. You can also take live polls and see the UStream IRC chat room for your stream. The Oregon Trail ($4.99)The classic Oregon Trail game is back in an iPhone version that's just as good as the original. In this side-scrolling adventure game, you'll guide a family through the Oregon wilderness in search of shelter. Along the way, you'll have to protect yourself from wild animals and other events that take place. Amazon Mobile (free)Amazon has changed the way many of us shop online, and they've also changed the mobile shopping experience with their iPhone application. This application lets you do all of the normal Amazon.com stuff, but you can also take a picture of an object and let Amazon figure out where the product is on the website via Amazon Remembers. Tap Tap Revenge 3 (free) A music rhythm game that started out life as a jailbroken game when the iPhone was first released has matured into a great game backed by music from popular artists. The third iteration of this game boasts extensive online multi-player support over both Wi-Fi and 3G. In addition, TTR 3 gives you weapons and shields for use when playing online. Gorillacam (free)The iPhone includes a great camera, but some of the functions are limited. Gorillacam is an application that can extend that functionality to include a bubble level, grid, time-lapse, and even a self-timer. You can also specify how many shots are taken over a specified interval. Photoshop.com Mobile (free)Good, free, photo editing software on the iPhone is hard to find, but who would have guessed that Adobe would release their Photoshop.com software on the iPhone for free? Well, you get some basic editing functionality and the ability to upload your photos to the Photoshop.com cloud. Mover Lite (free) Moving items like photos, video, contacts, and calendar events from one iPhone to another can be a bit of a kludge depending on what application you're using. But with the free Mover+, it's easy and cool at the same time. Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies ($9.99)A mini game from the World at War console game, CoD:WaW:Zombies lets you frag zombies all day... right from your iPhone, too! Choose from several different modes, including an infinite mode. This game makes any company meeting go by much faster (Please note: We're not responsible for any job loss resulting from the mention of this game). BeeJive ($5.99, on sale)BeeJive gives a lot of instant messenger bang for the buck. Not only does it support the most popular IM services, but it also lets you create as many logins as you need. Plus the application includes Push Notification support, and the ability to send and receive attachments like photos, video, and audio (recorded directly from the application). Awesome Note (+Todo) ($3.99)Combining both notes and to do lists, Awesome Note (+Todo) has a great-looking interface that lets you organize all of your ideas and projects in one app. In addition, you can insert images into notes from the camera, and import/export to Google Docs and Evernote. Credit Card Terminal ($0.99, on sale)This application has been shown on Apple's commercials and is quite nifty if you are a small business. Credit Card Terminal gives you the ability to accept credit card payments anywhere you may be, quickly and easily. ReelDirector ($7.99)Who says you can't put together a full movie on your iPhone? With ReelDirector you can, and you can even include opening and closing credits, transitions, and more. When you're done, save, email, or upload directly to YouTube. Trivium ($2.99)Test your trivia skills against the computer or against a friend around the world. Trivium has thousands of questions for you to answer and a head to head network play that works over Wi-Fi, 3G, and EDGE. Four different modes including: Endless, Endurance, 100 Questions, and Timeless. Rock Band ($4.99, on sale)A rhythm game to end all rhythm games, Rock Band lets you play the drums, guitar, or bass. Plus, you can sing your way to the top in this game that includes 26 free tracks. Tweetr ($3.99)Have something amazing to say on Twitter, but don't want to tweet it right now? Tweetr is an application that lets you schedule tweets for multiple accounts for a later time when it might be more relevant. Peggle ($1.99, on sale)Pop Cap's highly addictive game for Mac and PC made its way over to the iPhone in a move that just seemed natural. Shoot your way to becoming the Peggle master in this arcade adventure game. NetNewsWire (free)NetNewsWire changed the way that many people read their favorite RSS (really simple syndication) feeds on the Mac, but that same experience was moved to the iPhone. The earlier versions were a bit clunky, but NNW now syncs with Google Reader which makes reading feeds on-the-go that much better. Yowza!! (free) We normally stray away from applications with two exclamation marks in the title, but this one is just that good. Yowza can end up saving you a few chunks of change with its many coupons that are sorted by your location. WriteRoom ($4.99)Distraction-free writing at its finest on the Mac, and now the iPhone. Sync documents over with built-in syncing, and just write. Plain and simply. You can change the colors in the preferences. Wikitude (free)Augmented reality on the iPhone was a huge hit this year, and with Wikitude you can browse the space around you and see all of the Wikipedia articles that correspond to your location. Just launch the application and bubbles will appear all around you with Wikipedia articles for cities, buildings, etc. Mark the Spot (free) AT&T finally started paying more attention to its network and users when they launched the Mark the Spot application for iPhone. You can submit network trouble spots, which will help AT&T in fixing network problems. Sure, this app isn't the nicest looking, but it gets the job done. Ramp Champ ($1.99)Skee ball is just plain fun, and with the Icon Factory's Ramp Champ, it's even fun on the iPhone. Choose between several different lane themes, and even purchase add-ons that will expand the available themes. Earn tickets to "purchase" cool digital trinkets. WordPress 2 (free)Mobile-Blogging (MoBlogging) has becoming increasingly popular among people who travel, and it's extremely easy with WordPress 2 on the iPhone. If your blog platform is WordPress, then you'll be all set to connect and add content right from your iPhone. Fandango (free)Find movies around you, watch previews, get showtimes, and even purchase tickets on-the-go with the awesome Fandango application for iPhone. You can also see critic and fan ratings for different movies. Flickr (free)Upload, view, and share your photos with the world on Flickr with this application. In addition, you can view friends photos and comment on them from one convenient location. DOOM Classic ($2.99, on sale) Who doesn't love DOOM? Now you can play it all day long, right on your iPhone. Includes multi-player mode with up to four players over the Internet. MapQuest Navigator ($3.99, service plan required)MapQuest started offering turn-by-turn directions with its maps. Not only that, but they offered a completely different pricing strategy than the other guys: With the $3.99 purchase, you'll get 30-days of use, after which you can purchase different tiers of service between 30-days and one year. Where To? ($2.99)With GPS-style POI (point of interest) searching, Where To allows you to pinpoint a location, be it a restaurant, amusement park, or even an archery range. The application then locates the POI inside of the Maps application on the iPhone. Skype (free)Skype VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has been beneficial more than once for us, and with AT&T's announcement that they'll be allowing VoIP apps on the 3G network, we're extremely excited about Skype. This application will allow you to place calls through Skype and chat with your friends. Fring (free)Fring is a free VoIP and chat solution for the iPhone. The cool factor about this application is that they just started doing one-way Skype video chat right from your iPhone. SlingPlayer Mobile ($29.99)SlingBox Solo, Pro, or Pro-HD owners will appreciate the ability to stream live TV to their iPhone over Wi-Fi. In addition, you can control the video for many set-top boxes including the Apple TV. PocketGod ($0.99)A minigame that lets you rule over an island. You can bring life to new islanders, take life away, and otherwise demonstrate your powers in this hypnotic game. FlightTrack Pro ($9.99)Never be in the dark about your flight information again. FlightTrack Pro lets you track your flight and get updates via push notifications. You can also see a live flight map with weather radar. RedLaser ($1.99)Scan the barcodes of products and instantly get back product search results that includes the price online. A great way to bargain shop when in the store. Attendance ($3.99)Always know who was missing at that last meeting with Attendance. This iPhone application lets you mark atendees present or absent for any meetings or class for later reference. You can import people from contacts in Address Book or from a CSV file on a web server. Read It Later Pro ($4.99)Who says you can't put something off for later? Well, you can put off reading webpages with Read It Later. This application interfaces with a free online service and Firefox plugin that allows you to save webpages for reading later. FastMall (free)Ever been in a mall and didn't know where the rest room was? Well, you could find a mall guide, or you can also bust out your iPhone with FastMall. This application lets you download mall maps (for a small fee) that will guide you around the mall similar to the way a turn-by-turn GPS does. CBS Sports: Live College Games ($4.99) This CBS application lets you view stats and live stream video of college football and basketball games from the Big East, SEC, and Bit Ten conferences. This application will work over both Wi-Fi and 3G. Vintage Video Maker ($2.99)Turn your iPhone 3GS into a camera that can shoot video with three different filters: 20's movie, black and white video, and 60's home video. You can assign classical 20's piano music to accompany your video or the sound of a projector running. G-Park ($0.99)Never forget where you parked your car with G-Park. This application uses the GPS in the iPhone 3G or 3GS to park your car and locate it when you're ready to drive home. CubeCheater (free)Solving a Rubik's Cube is fun, but you might be in the mood for letting your iPhone solve it for you. With CubeCheater, just input your cube's state and it will tell you how to solve it. Where R U? ($0.99)Want to find out where friends or family are located geographically at a particular moment? If they have Where R U, they can let you know where they are and you will be shown their location on a Google Map. Nifty application for keeping tabs on your kids. Photo2Contact (free trial, in-app purchase)Do you get tired of sending photos to each and every one of your friends or family members? Photo2Contact allows you to easily export a group of photos as a zip file and uploads them to an FTP location, and automatically emails your friends to let them know how to download them. DogBook (free)Join the over 2 million pet owners who have created a Facebook profile for them. DogBook lets you see a list of your animals, their friends, and even lets you find nearby Parks. If your pet gets lost, use "Arf Alerts" to alert everyone in the area. Qik Live (free)When you just want to post a quick video to the Internet, Qik is a, well, quick solution. Their new Live application lets you stream live video from your iPhone over 3G and WiFi. You can also send and receive chat messages with your viewers. Cha-Ching Mobile ($2.99) Cha-Ching mobile is money management software that complements its Mac-counterpart. This application gives you the ability to manage your money and budget on-the-go and sync back later to your Mac over Wi-Fi. Amazon Kindle for iPhone (free)Read Kindle books on your iPhone without having to purchase a separate version of the eBook. Amazon delivers the content wirelessly over Whispernet. Get an almost identical reading experience as on the Amazon Kindle. Shelf Life ($1.99)Keep track of the expiration dates on food in your refrigerator and pantry with Shelf Life. This application uses a database that its users contributes to to determine the shelf life of foods found in your kitchen. You can also specify a custom shelf life. Pizza Hut (free)Need food and need it quick? Pizza Hut now allows you to place an order for anything on their menu, directly from your iPhone. Checkout and pay right from the device as well without ever leaving your house. Memento ($0.99)Send customized greetings to people through e-mail right from your iPhone. Memento lets you pick a template, add a photo and message, and send to loved ones. The application comes with 19 templates. Eventful (free)Never be bored with Eventful. This free application lets you find local events happening in your area and lets you know what venues and performers will be heading your way. OpenMaps ($1.99)OpenMaps for iPhone uses the open map data from OpenStreetMap.org, which contains editable maps for the entire world. The application lets you download maps for use when you don't have an Internet connection, and can use the built-in GPS to locate you. TextGuru ($4.99)Sure, there are a lot of text editors for the iPhone, but TextGuru will let you edit HTML documents and preview them right from the device. In addition, you can download PDF files from the Internet into TextGuru for offline viewing. Got a favorite app we missed? Drop it in the comments and share your excitement with the world.Â
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MagicPrefs is a must download for Magic Mouse owners
Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, FreewareWe know the Magic Mouse is selling well. I was one of the many who was pretty excited when I heard about it and grabbed one the first week it was out. When I actually went to use it, however, it was a major downer. On my Mac Pro the tracking was erratic, slow, and pretty unusable. I wasn't the only person reporting this. I put the mouse on my shelf of forgotten tech until a friend told me about MagicPrefs. MagicPrefs is a free utility that runs from your menu bar and fixes the problems some Mac Pros had with the Magic Mouse. This app goes way beyond fixing the tracking speed. This little utility allows you to assign actions to two, three and 4 finger clicks. Also to one, two, three and four finger taps. You can define two and three finger swipes for left, right, up and down. You can even define drag and pinch movements on the surface of the mouse. Pre-defined actions include control of Spaces, Dashboard, Expose, Quicklook and many others. You can create, load and save presets as well. Some of the gestures are a bit difficult and take some practice, and the app warns you which ones might be tricky. There is even a real time display on the app that lets you test different combinations of motions to see how they will work. For people who have a Magic Mouse that works great, you will love the power of this app. If yours was a dog with your Apple hardware, this app may fix all that. The developer says the app will eventually wind up as a preference pane, and that it will always remain free. The app requires OS X 10.5 or above. The price is very, very right, and the app fixes a lot of the weaknesses in the Magic Mouse. I say, go for it, and let us know in comments how it works for you.TUAWMagicPrefs is a must download for Magic Mouse owners originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Mac Pro - MagicMouse - TUAW - Mac OS X
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Five 2010 Predictions About Tech Companies
Five companies we heard a lot about in 2009, and some predictions of what we might expect from them over the next 365 days.
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iPhone/iPod apps for Dec. 31
Posted by Dennis SellersHere are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store.
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Apple updates patent for magic wand remote
Filed under: Gaming, Hardware, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, Apple TV Apple has updated a patent that they already held featuring a sort of a Magic Wand -- a remote control for operating a media system by controlling an on-screen cursor. That might sound familiar if you own a Wii -- even the pictures look very similar to the way the Wiimote currently works. And the pictures tell us something else: not only does the patent itself mention a "media system," but the user interface looks very similar to the current Front Row interface on the Apple TV. So it's likely that if Apple is updating this patent, they're working on a new remote to control their set-top box. But that doesn't mean it's the only thing they'd use a motion controller for -- I speculated a long time ago that Apple might want to put their now substantial App Store library into play on another platform, and a motion controller would go a long way towards replicating the touchscreen and accelerometer capability of the iPhone. Of course, this patent only means Apple is playing around with these ideas, not actually releasing hardware based on them. But it just shows that they're thinking along the same lines in terms of improving the browsing and interface experience.TUAWApple updates patent for magic wand remote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - AppStore - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog - TUAW
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Entelligence: Gartenberg's best of 2009 in personal tech
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. As the year comes to a close, it seems appropriate to cast my vote for the best (and some of the worst) gadgets I've seen. These are my personal choices for products that I felt were best of breed and really managed to differentiate themselves (or didn't at all). In no particular order, here are my picks and pans. Best Phones: This was a tricky category, and I'm not breaking it down into different segments. This is just the best on the market in my opinion -- no matter how smart it was considered to be, or how well it did in school. iPhone 3GS. It was a simple choice. Take the coolest phones on the market, bump up the memory and make it twice as fast. Add in some new features like a digital compass and toss in an ecosystem of 100,000+ apps. Sure, it's still locked to AT&T but the iPhone is still the phone that many others aspire to be. Palm Pre. At this point last year many had written Palm off entirely. Instead of fading away, Palm came back on strong with webOS, a new way of integrating diverse content called Synergy and two devices launched across the globe. Along the way, the Pre garnered much mindshare from consumers, and Palm showed that you don't need to clone the iPhone to drive the state of the art forward. HTC HD2. When Microsoft released Windows Mobile 6.5, there was a chorus of groans about more of the same. HTC took up the challenge and proved that there was more to Windows Mobile than slow devices and resistive screens. The HD2 takes Windows Mobile to places never seen before with a capacitive touch screen, a Snapdragon processor and HTC-created extensions that make multi-touch work the HD2's gorgeous 4.3-inch display. Wrap it all up in HTC's Sense UI and you've got the best Windows Mobile device on the market today. Continue reading Entelligence: Gartenberg's best of 2009 in personal techEntelligence: Gartenberg's best of 2009 in personal tech originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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'Macsimum Recommended Reading' for Dec. 31
Posted by Dennis Sellers “Sony and Nintendo should be very afraid: It was widely reported that Apple's App Store downloads jumped over 1,000 percent on Christmas Day and that for the first time, iPod touch app downloads outpaced iPhone App downloads. While this is all certainly good news for Apple, App Developers and the platform...
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AT&T fails to deploy iPhone Tethering and 3G MicroCell in 2009
Prince McLean, AppleInsider Facing intense criticism of its mobile network coverage from a variety of sources, AT&T has both failed to deploy its iPhone tethering strategy and to successfully get its 3G MicroCell product into widespread distribution. AT&T fails to deploy iPhone Tethering and 3G MicroCell in 2009 New tethering services would exacerbate AT&T’s existing network capacity problems, [...]
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Win a copy of the iPhone Developer's Cookbook
Filed under: DeveloperThe very first book I bought for programming the iPhone was none other than Erica Sadun's iPhone Developer's Cookbook. It wasn't the first book of Erica's I had purchased -- years ago I bought her Desktop Video book -- but it was an excellent introduction into the secret world of iPhone development. If you recall, Apple's cloak of silence (aka the NDA all developers had to agree to) prohibited developers from even talking about how to write programs for the iPhone! Erica, as is her style, was rarin' to go with a book detailing common practices all developers would find useful, especially n00bs like myself. I should note that InformIT, the publishers, also have sample chapters for a bunch of Mac and iPhone developer books available here. So I'm very happy to say we are giving away five copies of the second edition of The iPhone Developer's Cookbook. To enter, you must be over 18, in the US or Canada, and leave a comment on this post. The rest of the rules are below. Good luck and get coding! Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment on this post. The comment must be left before Friday, January 8, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: one copy of iPhone Developer's Cookbook, 2nd edition (Value: US$40.49) Click Here for complete Official Rules. TUAWWin a copy of the iPhone Developer's Cookbook originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - United States - TUAW - Canada
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Can't find the apps you need? Of course there's an app for that.
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch, App ReviewIf you're like me, you find it impossible to keep up with the constant stream of apps being written for the iPhone and iPod touch. As a result, you wind up missing some useful or fun apps that you would buy if you just knew that they were in the App Store. Searching the App Store using iTunes doesn't work very well, and there are plenty of sites that review apps (including TUAW), but there are so many apps out there that finding what you want can be a matter of luck rather than skill. That problem has largely been solved with Appsaurus [iTunes link], a U.S. $0.99 app that can quickly focus on what kinds of apps you like and make decent suggestions for new apps to try or buy. Here's how Appsaurus works. When you launch the app for the first time, it presents you with an explore mode. It displays a list of apps, and you tap the ones that are of interest to you. You may have some of the apps, but you probably won't have all of them. When you select a favorite you'll get a new list that includes apps that match the general description of the app you clicked on. Run through a few iterations of this process, and the app begins to learn your preferences.If you're like me, you find it impossible to keep up with the constant stream of apps being written for the iPhone and iPod touch. As a result, you wind up missing some useful or fun apps that you would buy if you just knew that they were in the App Store. Searching the App Store using iTunes doesn't work very well, and there are plenty of sites that review apps (including TUAW), but there are so many apps out there that finding what you want can be a matter of luck rather than skill. That problem has largely been solved with Appsaurus [iTunes link], a U.S. $0.99 app that can quickly focus on what kinds of apps you like and make decent suggestions for new apps to try or buy. Here's how Appsaurus works. When you launch the app for the first time, it presents you with an explore mode. It displays a list of apps, and you tap the ones that are of interest to you. You may have some of the apps, but you probably won't have all of them. When you select a favorite you'll get a new list that includes apps that match the general description of the app you clicked on. Run through a few iterations of this process, and the app begins to learn your preferences.TUAWCan't find the apps you need? Of course there's an app for that. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - iPhone - IpodTouch - Apple - iTunes
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Dozen Daily Deals for December 31, 2009
Filed under: Deals'Tis the season to shop until your brains melt (or skip it all entirely, depending on your interpretation of the term holiday). In that spirit, for the next few weeks we'll be rounding up a dozen daily deals courtesy our friends at DealNews.com. Each afternoon tune in to TUAW for this handy summary. Keep in mind that while our posts will live on, the deals won't. Each is lovingly generated by the deal-bot every day, so get 'em while they're hot. Enjoy! iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] App Store Freebies: Falling Gems, Koala Dartz, Stop and Go, Pattrns Turbo, more Finish Line: [iPod Accessories] Nike + iPod Watch Remote for $20 + $8 s&h Apple Store: [iMac] Refurbished Apple iMac Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 27" Desktop for $1,449 + free shipping MacUpdate Promo: [Home & Hobbies Software] Optimism 3.1 for Mac downloads for $20 Dell Home: [Headphones] Dell Bluetooth Headphones for $19 + free shipping Shop4Tech: [Digital Camcorders] 4GB Pen DVR Digital Camcorder for $33 + free shipping OfficeMax: [Office Furniture] OfficeMax Divoga Task Chair for $50 + free shipping, padding Dell Small Business: [Computer Speakers] Dell AY511 Multimedia Soundbar with Virtual Surround for $63 + free shipping, more PC Micro Store: [Store Events] PC Micro Store coupon: $9 off $18 or more + free shipping PC Connection: [24" - 26" LCD TVs] Samsung 24" 1080p Widescreen HDTV / Display for $240 + free shipping HandHeldItems: [iPod Accessories] HandHeldItems.com: Up to 80% off Apple iPod touch cases + 20% off coupon ExperCom: [MacBook Pro] Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 17" Laptop for $2,699 + $10 s&h TUAWDozen Daily Deals for December 31, 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - IPhone - iTunes - IPod Touch - App Store
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Orange to launch mobile HD Voice in 2010
Posted by Dennis SellersOrange, a brand of the France Telecom Group and one of the world's leading telecommunications operators, says it will HD Voice in the UK for customers on its mobile network in 2010.
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Mac 101: Making Text Replacement Work
Filed under: How-tos, Mac 101Text replacement: it's one of Snow Leopard's really cool features. With it, you can type abbreviations and they'll automatically expand into full text. You can convert your most common phrases into just a few keystrokes, and let Snow Leopard take care of the rest. Here's a quick summary of what you need to do to make text replacement work for you. Creating Macros in System Preferences. Open System Preferences (it's in the Apple menu at the top of your screen) and navigate to Language & Text > Text. There you'll find a Symbol and Text Substitution list. Click the + button to add a new item. For this example, put (tuaw) into the Replace column and The Unofficial Apple Weblog into the With column. Leave the box to the left of these items checked. So why use the parentheses? Strictly speaking, they're not necessary. You can define text substitutions on any set of characters, as shown in the screen shot below. What these parentheses do for me, is that they distinguish between when I want to type TUAW and not have it expand, and when I want the abbreviation to transform into the full Weblog name. Enabling Text Replacement Text replacement works on a per-application basis. Many applications default to this feature being off. To make text replacement happen, right-click within any text entry area such as a composition window in Mail or the text entry field in Colloquy, etc. The contextual menu provides a Substitutions submenu. Make sure Text Replacement is checked. If it is not, select it to toggle the option from on to off or off to on. Applying Text Replacment The big secret to making text replacement happen, once you've defined the shortcuts and enabled Text Replacement in the contextual menu, is the space key. Snow Leopard does not apply the shortcut replacement until it detects you have finished typing a phrase. Only then does it perform its internal look up and substitution. Also prepare to wait a second or so. The replacement text often lags behind your typing. So go ahead and keep entering text. The operating system will catch up and perform its substitution work without your oversight. For Mike G., with TUAW affectionTUAWMac 101: Making Text Replacement Work originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments Snow Leopard - Apple - Text Replacement - TUAW - Operating system
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â… The Tablet
Another former Apple executive who was there at the time said the tablets kept getting shelved at Apple because Mr. Jobs, whose incisive critiques are often memorable, asked, in essence, what they were good for besides surfing the Web in the bathroom. —”Just a Touch Away, the Elusive Tablet PC”, The New York Times, 4 October 2009 Here’s the thimbleful of information I have heard regarding The Tablet (none of which has changed in six months): The Tablet project is real, it has you-know-who’s considerable undivided attention, and everyone working on it has dropped off the map. I don’t know anyone who works at Apple who doubts these things; nor do I know anyone at Apple who knows a whit more. I don’t know anyone who’s seen the hardware or the software, nor even anyone who knows someone else who has seen the hardware or software. The cone of silence surrounding the project is, so far as I can tell, complete.1 The situation is uncannily similar to the run-up preceding the debut of the original iPhone in January 2007, including many of the same engineers and software teams at Apple — such as those who built the iPhone Mail, Calendar, and Safari apps — disappearing into a black hole. The iPhone remained a secret until Steve Jobs took it out of his jeans pocket on stage at Macworld Expo. All of which is to say that what follows is my conjecture. Pure punditry, not one of those smarmy “predictions” where I know full well in advance what’s going to happen. I have a thousand questions about The Tablet’s design. What size is it? There’s a big difference between, say, 7- and 10-inch displays. How do you type on it? With all your fingers, like a laptop keyboard? Or like an iPhone, with only your thumbs? If you’re supposed to watch video on it, how do you prop it up? Holding it in your hands? Flat on a table seems like the wrong angle entirely; but a fold-out “arm” to prop it up, Ă la a picture frame, seems clumsy and inelegant. If it’s just a touchscreen tablet, how do you protect the screen while carrying it around? If it folds up somehow, how is it not just a laptop — why not put a hardware keyboard on the part that folds up to cover the display? (Everyone I know at Apple refers to it as “The Tablet”, but so far as I can tell, that’s because that’s what everyone calls it, not because anyone knows that it actually even is, physically, a tablet. And “The Tablet” most certainly is not the product name.) If it’s too big to fit in a pants pocket, how are you supposed to carry it around? And but if it does fit in a pants pocket, how is it bigger enough than an iPod Touch to justify existing? And so on. But there’s one question at the top of the list, the answer to which is the key to answering every other question. That question is this: If you already have an iPhone and a MacBook; why would you want this? The epigraph I used to start this piece — the bit about Steve Jobs demanding that a tablet be useful for more than just reading on the can — indicates that Apple will release nothing without such an answer. I agree that such an answer is essential. Successful new gadgets always seem to occupy a clearly defined place alongside, or replacing, existing devices. The Flip filled a previously empty niche for a small, cheap, simple video camera. How was the iPod better than existing portable music players? It fit 1,000 songs in your pocket, with a fun interface that let you find them easily. Why buy an iPhone to replace your existing mobile phone? Because there was a clear need for a modern handheld general-purpose computer. But how much room is there between an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and a MacBook (or other laptop computer, running Windows or Linux or whatever)? What’s the argument for owning all three? “I’d use it on the couch and lying in bed” is not a good answer. You can already use your iPhone or MacBook on the couch and in bed. It strikes me as foolish to market a multi-hundred-dollar device that people are expected to leave on their coffee table. “It’s a Kindle killer” is not a good answer. If you think Apple is making a dedicated device for reading e-books and articles, you’re thinking too small. As profoundly reticent as Steve Jobs is regarding future Apple products, when he does speak, he’s often surprisingly revealing. David Pogue asked him about the Kindle a few months ago: A couple of years ago, pre-Kindle, Mr. Jobs expressed his doubts that e-readers were ready for prime time. So today, I asked if his opinions have changed. “I’m sure there will always be dedicated devices, and they may have a few advantages in doing just one thing,” he said. “But I think the general-purpose devices will win the day. Because I think people just probably aren’t willing to pay for a dedicated device.” He said that Apple doesn’t see e-books as a big market at this point, and pointed out that Amazon.com, for example, doesn’t ever say how many Kindles it sells. “Usually, if they sell a lot of something, you want to tell everybody.” Of course, this is the same Steve Jobs who back in January 2008 told The New York Times’s John Markoff: “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “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.” One could reasonably argue that the “people don’t read” comment, taken at face value, suggests that Apple has no interest in that market, period. I, however, would square the two remarks as follows: Not enough people read to make it worth creating a dedicated device that is to reading what the original iPod was to music. (Everyone, for practical definitions of “everyone”, listens to music.) But e-reading as one aspect among several for a general-purpose computing device — well, that’s something else entirely. The pre-Touch iPod was (and remains) an enormous success. It changed the music industry and rejuvenated Apple. But it was and remains a dedicated device; originally focused on audio, now capable of the sibling feature of video. The iPhone, on the other hand, was conceived and has flourished as a general-purpose handheld computing platform. It was not introduced as such publicly, and is not pitched as such in Apple’s marketing, but clearly that’s what it is. The iPhone was described by Jobs in his on-stage introduction as three devices in one: “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, a breakthrough Internet communicator”. Thus, it was clear what people would want to do with it: watch videos, listen to music, make phone calls, surf the web, do email. The way Apple made one device that did a credible job of all these widely-varying features was by making it a general-purpose computer with minimal specificity in the hardware and maximal specificity in the software. And, now, through the App Store and third-party developers, it does much more: serving as everything from a game player to a medical device. Do I think The Tablet is an e-reader? A video player? A web browser? A document viewer? It’s not a matter of or but rather and. I say it is all of these things. It’s a computer. And so in answer to my central question, regarding why buy The Tablet if you already have an iPhone and a MacBook, my best guess is that ultimately, The Tablet is something you’ll buy instead of a MacBook. I say they’re swinging big — redefining the experience of personal computing. It will not be pitched as such by Apple. It will be defined by three or four of its built-in primary apps. But long-term, big-picture? It will be to the MacBook what the Macintosh was to the Apple II. I am not predicting that Apple is phasing out the Mac. (On the contrary, I’ve heard that Mac OS X 10.7 is on pace for a developer release at WWDC in June.) Like all Apple products, The Tablet will do less than we expect but the things it does do, it will do insanely well. It will offer a fraction of the functionality of a MacBook — but that fraction will be way more fun. The same Asperger-y critics who dismissed the iPhone will focus on all that The Tablet doesn’t do and declare that this time, Apple really has fucked up but good. The rest of us will get in line to buy one. The Mac is, and will remain, Apple’s answer to what you use to do everything. The Tablet, I say, is going to be Apple’s new answer to what you use for personal portable general computing. Put another way, let’s say instead of a MacBook and an iPhone, you’ve got an iMac and an iPhone, but you also want a portable secondary computer. Today, that portable from Apple (portable as opposed to the iPhone’s mobile) is a MacBook. With The Tablet, you’ll have the option of a device that will more closely resemble the iPhone than the iMac in terms of concept and the degree of technical abstraction. The Tablet OS The original 1984 Mac didn’t abstract away the computer — it made the computer itself elegant, simple, and understandable. Very, very little was hidden from the typical user. Mac OS X is vastly more complex technically and conceptually, as it must be due to the vastly increased complexity and capability of today’s hardware. But Mac OS X has always tried to have it both ways: a veneer of simplicity that doesn’t cover the entire surface of the system. The user-exposed file system is a prime example. On the 1984 Mac, the entire file system was exposed, but the entire file system fit on a 400 KB floppy disk. On Mac OS X, the /System/Library/ folder, one of many exposed fiddly sections of the file system browsable in the Finder, contains over 90,000 items, not one of which a typical user should ever need to see or touch. The iPhone OS offers a complete computing abstraction. Under the hood, it’s just as complex as Mac OS X. On the surface, though, it is even more simple and elegant than the original Mac. No technical complexity is exposed. Hierarchy is minimized. It relegates the file system to a developer-level technology rather than a user-level technology. (Did you know the file system on iPhones is case sensitive?) But so while I think The Tablet’s OS will be like the iPhone OS, I don’t think it will be the iPhone OS. Carved from the same OS X core, yes, but with a new bespoke UI designed to be just right for The Tablet’s form factor, whatever that form factor will be. One common prediction I disagree with is that The Tablet will simply be more or less an iPod Touch with a much bigger display. But in the same way that it made no sense for Apple to design the iPhone OS to run Mac software, it makes little sense for a device with a 7-inch (let alone larger) display to run software designed for a 3.5-inch display. The iPhone OS user interface was not designed in the abstract. It’s entirely about real-world usability, and very much designed specifically around the physical size of the device itself. The size and spacing of tappable targets are designed with the size of human thumb- and fingertips in mind. More importantly, the whole thing is designed so that it can be used one-handed. Even an adult with relatively small hands can go from one corner to the other with their thumb, holding the iPhone in one hand. Mac OS X apps couldn’t run on an iPhone display because they simply wouldn’t fit, and the parts that did fit would contain buttons and other UI elements that were far too small to be used. Running iPhone software on a much larger display presents the opposite problem: it’s not that the UI couldn’t be scaled to fill the screen, it’s that it would be a waste to do so. A 7-inch display isn’t twice the size of an iPhone’s, it’s four times bigger in surface area. I’m not sure even Shaquille O’Neal could hold a 7-inch iPod Touch in one hand and swipe from corner to corner with his thumb. Why would Apple stretch a UI designed to afford for one-handed use on 3.5-inch displays to cover a 7-inch (or larger) display that couldn’t possibly be used one-handed? If Apple’s starting with a hardware size where the iPhone OS can’t be used one-handed, then trust me, they’re designing a new interaction model. Apple is not in the business of making monolithic OSes that they cram down your throat on as many widely-varying devices as possible. Apple is in the business of making complete products, for which they craft derivative OSes to fit each product. There is a shared core OS. There is not a shared core UI.2 If you’re thinking The Tablet is just a big iPhone, or just Apple’s take on the e-reader, or just a media player, or just anything, I say you’re thinking too small — the equivalent of thinking that the iPhone was going to be just a click wheel iPod that made phone calls. I think The Tablet is nothing short of Apple’s reconception of personal computing. “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.” —Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1864-1912) The only known breakage of the cone of silence around Apple’s tablet project I’m aware of are the meetings Apple has held with publishing industry executives. The way these meetings work, from what I’ve gathered, is as follows. Apple brings no hardware. They bring no software. They show no mockups. They do not even completely acknowledge that they’re making a new device. The people from Apple simply say something along the lines of, “If we were to create a new platform for book/magazine/newspaper content, would you be interested in offering your content for it?” Apple is, without any question in my mind, courting book and periodical publishers. But that doesn’t mean Apple trusts any of them enough to reveal or describe in detail what it is they’re actually working on. ↩ That said, I would not be surprised to find out that The Tablet uses UIKit, a.k.a. Cocoa Touch, as its programming API. I don’t think the same apps will run as-is on both OSes, but I do think you might use the same set of APIs to write apps for both platforms. (Or, perhaps iPhone apps could run as less-than-full-screen widgets on the larger tablet display.) ↩
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Appeals court sides with Apple in iPod hearing loss dispute
Well, it looks like that iPod hearing loss lawsuit that's been nagging Apple for the past couple of years may finally be going away (in its current form, at least), as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has now affirmed a 2008 district court ruling and rejected a class-action lawsuit that sought to hold Apple responsible for hearing loss allegedly caused by iPods. While that may be a possibility, the court said that the "plaintiffs do not allege the iPods failed to do anything they were designed to do nor do they allege that they, or any others, have suffered or are substantially certain to suffer inevitable hearing loss or other injury from iPod use" -- further adding that, "at most, the plaintiffs plead a potential risk of hearing loss not to themselves, but to other unidentified iPod users," which doesn't quite make the grade for a class-action suit. Not surprisingly, neither Apple nor the plaintiffs are making any comments on the verdict, and we're pretty sure that Apple would like to keep it that way.Appeals court sides with Apple in iPod hearing loss dispute originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Yahoo News | Email this | Comments
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Apple, censorship, and cogs in the wheel: the Dalai Lama is expunged from Chinese App Store
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, App Store It's being reported by PC World that Apple has begun censoring iPhone applications that contain any reference to the Dalai Lama in the Chinese App Store. At least five applications that contain references to the Dalai Lama have been banned: three of the apps - Dalai Quotes [$.99, iTunes], Dalai Lama Quotes [$.99, iTunes], and Dalai Lama Prayerwheel [$.99, iTunes] - contain quotes by His Holiness, while a fourth, Paging Dalai Lama [free, iTunes] tells users where he is currently teaching. A fifth app called Nobel Laureates [$.99, iTunes], details information about all the Nobel Peace Prize winners since the prize began in 1895. The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. If you don't know much about the Dalai Lama, there's a great documentary you should check out called 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama [iTunes]. The filmmaker poses some tough questions to the Dalai Lama about today's world and the individual's place in it, as well as presenting the viewer with an excellent biography of this remarkable man. In May of 2008 I had the honor of seeing the Dalai Lama speak in London. He's a wonderful person with an infectious laugh (and he even sounds like Yoda - no joke, check out my videos here). If his laughter doesn't win you over, perhaps the fact that he's a spiritual leader who loves and embraces technology will. It's no secret that I'm very bullish on Apple [AAPL] stock. I've made money investing in it since 2003. But as a shareholder second and a human being first, Apple's censorship sickens me. This is capitalism at its worst. It's no mystery why Apple, along with many other tech companies, cave to China's totalitarian demands: China has the largest population of consumers on the planet. Apple is gunning for many more than its existing 300,000-strong customer base of the 1.3 billion Chinese mobile handset market. Now, I'm a realist. Apple's move isn't surprising. Though it's publicly stood up for human rights in the past, Apple exists to sell products, and a billion people is a lot of cheddar. In Steve Jobs' eyes, the goal of the company may be continued innovation (he may even be "the Dalai Lama of integration"), but there are plenty of money men at Apple and their number one concern is to grow the bottom line. China can add a lot to that bottom line. So it's no surprise when Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller shrugs off Apple's censorship with a "We continue to comply with local laws" jibe. Just go ahead and read that as "Not our problem. Anyway, do you know how much cheese is over there?" But here's where the real problem lies. I'm a hypocrite. Things won't change until we do and I can't really convey to you just how hard that is. If you're a shareholder, as I am, you're complicit in Apple's and others decisions to cave to China (and capitalism) at the expense of human rights. I mean, I know I was downright giddy when I heard the news that Apple had come to an agreement with the Chinese government to sell the iPhone there. All I could think was ka-ching! We may read (or in my case, write) opinion pieces like this and lament "Gosh, that censorship is just horrible" but then we look at the ten-, fifty-, one hundred-thousand, or even millions of dollars of Apple stock sitting in our brokerage accounts and think, "But, that's my nest egg and I want to see that puppy grow. What's the harm in five little apps being censored?" The harm is this: that line of thinking doesn't change the status quo. It doesn't move the world forward. Our inaction is a form of complicity with Apple's deliberate censorship. But, as long as we don't experience the oppression first hand, what the shareholder wants will always outweigh the good of the individual - even if it's 1.3 billion individuals. I'd like to believe that I think mindfully; that I'm strong enough morally to sell my Apple stock as a show of solidarity for the greater good... but am I? Are you? We are all cogs in the wheel. Still, it's the end of the year, and I don't want my last post of the first decade of the twenty-first century stopping on a depressing note. So, I'll wish you all a Happy New Year now and leave you with this quote by the Dalai Lama (a quote which could easily apply to our conundrum): "Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." TUAWApple, censorship, and cogs in the wheel: the Dalai Lama is expunged from Chinese App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - Apple - IPhone - Steve Jobs - Dalai Lama
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Apple: All Signs Point to Growth
The second most important rule for growth investors might be to respect strong charts. Case in point, Apple (AAPL), which broke out of a basing pattern on Wednesday, gapping up to new all-time highs.
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The 12-hour iPhone app
Filed under: Developer, iPhone, App Store Gizmondo has an interesting story from David Quinlan, a coder who decided sit down over a weekend with a few friends to crank out an iPhone app. It's an excellent read, not only for the little quirks and tips about organizing a collaborative project very quickly (they sketch out features and then prioritize them, and use Dropbox to keep all the files in the right places), but for the sheer push of how you actually go from idea to concept to code and finally to released iPhone app. I won't say it sounds easy -- these guys had a good amount of experience at development and releasing software even before they started work on this app, and if you sit down with Erica's book and hope to release your very first piece of code after just a weekend of solo work, it's not going to happen. But it definitely sounds possible -- the iPhone's development platform is relatively easy to pick up (especially if you're already experienced with coding in other languages), and Apple's release process is open to anyone willing to spend the $100 to become an official developer.TUAWThe 12-hour iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - AppStore - Apple - TUAW - Unofficial Apple Weblog
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AT&T ironically dumps Tiger Woods
Daniel Eran Dilger AT&T has tipped the scales of ironic behavior by dumping Tiger Woods, apparently because it doesn’t want to be represented by a figure who cheats his partner and screws anyone willing to sign up for service. Perhaps the company should have instead signed up Woods as its primary spokesperson. Who else could better explain [...]
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Apple TV sales up less than 10% in 2009; AirPort product sales also flat
Posted by Dennis SellersSales of Apple TV are up less than 10% in 2009 on a unit-by-unit basis, Steven Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD Group, told AppleInsider. But without a definitive product to compare it against, its total market share presence is unknown, the article adds.
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The Most-Viewed Bits Posts of 2009
From announcements about new iPhones and e-readers to a mysterious apparition in Google Earth, a look back at which blog posts captured reader's attention in 2009.
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Apple patents range from a position fix indicator to semantic reconstruction
Posted by Dennis SellersIn addition to the “magic wand” patent, four other Apple patents have appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office on the last day of 2009. Here's a summary of each.
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News: Happy New Year and Thanks from iLounge
Heading into 2010, the entire staff of iLounge would like to thank our readers and community members for a great 2009. The year that's passed saw many exciting developments and changes, and we can't wait to see what's in store in the year to come. Thank you all for another great year—we hope you and yours have a terrific 2010! ...
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Apple patent for a 'magic wand' (well, a 3D remote controller) reappears with an update
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 20090066648) that previously appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office has reappeared with an update. Patent number 20090322676 is for graphical user face applications for use with a 3D remote controller—or a “magic wand.”
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Programmatically change URLs for Opera Speed Dial links
I like to keep a weather page from Wunderground on my Opera speed dial. The monthly summary page contains the information I'm seeking (moon phase and sunrise/sunset). However, the URL contains a date, and the page displays information for that date. I was changing the date manually once a month, but this method doesn't show accurate daily information. So, I wrote a perl script that changes the date every day. I use cron to run the script at midnight every day (I hate launchd; it's overly complicated). Opera stores information about Speed Dial links in a text file located at ~/Library » Preferences » Opera Preferences » speeddial.ini. This script closes Opera and changes the date in the URL in the speeddial.ini file. NOTE: This script uses killall to close Opera, since cron will not properly execute AppleScript. Use care on a multiuser computer. ...
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10.6: See time zone map change based on seasons
The following is not a hint, really, but an observation of a cool non-publicized Snow Leapord feature. While flying home from the west coast this holiday season and changing the time zone on my MacBook, I noticed a new feature on the map that you see in the TIme Zone tab of the Date & Time System Preferences panel: The map of the Earth changes based on the time of the year. For example, if you set the month to August in the Date & Time tab of the panel, the map will display a lush green northern hemisphere. Setting the date to December changes the northern hemisphere to the appropriate snow cover.
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10.6: Fix an Apple Software Restore font issue
Apple Software Restore (ASR) has a font issue when used from the command line (asr), or from Disk Utility (Restore tab) in 10.6. When booting off the imaged drive, upon first log in to each user account, a message pops up stating that the Lucide Grand font has been changed and restored. There are two ways to fix this issue: Run Disk Utility from the 10.6 install disc: this insures that all caches are in sync. In Terminal, do this: rm -rf /Volumes/some_drive/private/var/folders/*: this removes the font caches from the users' accounts. Hope this helps someone else.
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Boot Camp support for Windows 7 apparently delayed
Posted by Dennis SellersApple has less than 24 hours to add Windows 7 support to Boot Camp, which lets Mactels dual boot into either Windows XP or Mac OS X to meet a deadline the company set for itself.
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Ex-Google exec: iPad/iTablet to have 3D graphics, videoconferencing support, much more
Posted by Dennis SellersThe much-anticipated iPad/iTablet will be unveiled next month and will have 3D graphics and support for videoconferencing, according to former Google China president, Kai-Fu Lee (who also once worked for Apple), in an online blog (as translated and reported by IDG News Service). According to Lee, the device will have:
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Rumor Has It: January Event “Confirmed,” More on the Tablet
I'm really sorry. I do realize these tablet rumors are becoming tiresome, but you know, don't you, that they're going to get a lot worse in the coming weeks as we approach January 26 and Apple's not-yet-officially-confirmed-but-unofficially-will-definitely-happen media event? The latest tidbits come from Fox News' Clayton Morris and (somewhat unexpectedly given how he should know better) an ex-Apple, ex-Google China senior executive. Let's get started… Fox's Clayton Morris writes that he's been talking with his very own private mole inside Apple HQ about the as-yet unconfirmed media event (first reported by the Financial Times) and has this to offer us: While nothing official has been handed down from the notoriously tight-lipped company, my source took the Financial Times report one step further by saying this event will focus on the mobility space, meaning we'll see something related to the iPhone/Touch product line. Could this be the announcement of the mythical Apple tablet we've been hearing so much about? Well if it isn't, if El Jobso doesn't announce a tablet, if, instead, the whole event is nothing more than a high-profile sales pitch for a slightly-higher-capacity iPod shuffle, I'll be torn between shedding bitter tears, or laughing myself sick. Maybe both. “Focus on the mobility space,” eh? How charmingly vague. You have to wonder why these “sources” are always so…unhelpful. I mean, a real, genuine, worthwhile secret mole should be leaking specific, valuable information, right? That's what moles are supposed to do, it's in the job description. But when it comes to Apple's moles, this just doesn't happen, does it? Instead, they offer infuriatingly nebulous non-information that seems, if nothing else, perfectly suited to further fuelling speculation, rather than offering, y'know, facts. I think of these sources as the tech community's version of spirit mediums who, after (rolling eyes) 'miraculously' connecting with the dearly departed, then bafflingly waste that rare and wonderful chance at communication by playing an odd game of Guess Who? “Focus on the mobility space” might as well be “I see a man with thinning hair whose name begins with something sounding like Ste…” I have a modest theory; these “sources” are tasked with providing fuzzy details to media hacks. It's all part of a precise marketing strategy, pioneered by Jobs, designed to get the flames of the rumor mill burning brightly. It probably saves a fortune on actual advertising. A Little Less Vague Also fanning the flames today is a report by Engadget's Richard Lai who writes that former Google China president Kai-fu Lee has claimed privileged insider-knowledge of the mythical tablet. Lee's comments appear on Lee's microblogging site and, translated by GadgetMix, read in part: The Apple Tablet looks like a bigger iPhone that sports an awesome UI packed in a beautiful 10.1-inch screen. The tablet combines the functions of both netbook and kindle, an ebook reader. It has virtual keyboard for text entry and a webcam for video conferencing Lai adds: We've heard a lot of this same noise before: sub-$1000 price, an iPhone-like appearance, 10.1-inch multitouch screen, video conferencing, cellular connectivity, 3D graphics and virtual keyboard. What really got our attention is Lee's link with Foxconn — the Apple OEM is one of the main contributors to Lee's post-Google investment venture, Innovation Works, so there's a good chance that Lee's spoken to someone overlooking the manufacturing of a certain Apple device. Kai-fu Lee also adds in his blog that “Steve Jobs will be introducing this product in January,” lending credence to Clayton Morris' sepulchral source at Cupertino. Well, that's it — another day, another round of rumors. Make of them what you will. As far as I can see, we don't know anything more now than we did when we reached for our hot lava java this morning, but, please, don't shoot the messenger. At least this specumor (I'm enjoying my portmanteau's; this one's a cross between speculation and rumor) is bolstered by what appears to be sort-of-credible evidence. Honestly, though, January 26 can't arrive fast enough. I'm thoroughly sick of all this guessjecture. UPDATE: Looks like my modest theory is correct, if Fake Steve is to be trusted.
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“Magic Wand” Remote For Apple TV In The Works?
Those crazy kids at Apple are always cooking up something new, and as we wrap up another year, a newly discovered patent application update finds an old favorite is getting closer to reality.The patent application in question has previously been dubbed as the “Magic Wand” remote control, which is intended to provide a more natural control experience when using products such as the Apple TV, according to MacRumors. This project has been ongoing within Apple, with previous patents already filed for the technology in the past.Apple’s patent describes the use of accelerometers in addition to fixed points of reference to determine the movement of the remote. If this sounds familiar, it’s because similar technology already exists and is in use on Nintendo’s Wii game system with the Wiimote.What sets Apple’s patent apart is its intended use to browse media, fast-forward or rewind, rotate images and even zoom in and out by moving the wand closer or further from the TV screen:“A remote wand for controlling the operations of a media system is provided,” the updated patent describes. “The wand may be operative to control the movement of a cursor displayed on screen by the position and orientation at which the wand is held. As the user moves the wand, the on-screen cursor may move. The user may use the wand to control a plurality of operations and applications that may be available from the media system, including for example zoom operations, a keyboard application, an image application, an illustration application, and a media application.”As MacRumors notes, it’s not really expected that Apple will offer a standalone Wii-like remote, but instead perhaps use it as a replacement for the current Apple remote control. Apple’s free Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch already incorporates a number of accelerometer controls and gestures as well.
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How Will Apple’s Tablet Change Your World? Let Us Count The Ways…
Unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere without access to the Internet, you’ve probably seen or heard something about a new tablet computer that Apple is rumored to be cooking up. But what you may not know is how it might change your life.BusinessWeek’s Ben Kunz took a stab at addressing that very notion this week as Apple tablet rumors reach a fever pitch in the media, with an April, 2010 launch being pegged as likely.Kunz theorizes five ways that an Apple tablet -- which has recently been rumored under the names iPad, iSlate or even iGuide, depending upon who you believe -- might actually changes our lives.First up is that magazine and newspaper publishing will see a resurgence from such a device. This is what the print media likes to hear after having lost so many paid subscribers to the Internet in recent years. Publishers have already been quick to hype tablet mock-ups of their publications, even though Apple has yet to confirm its existence.Television and radio ratings actually aren’t expected to get a boost from an Apple tablet, and Kunz expects they will continue to fall. It’s probably a foregone conclusion that Apple’s tablet will also connect to iTunes (at least in a fashion similar to how the iPhone and iPod touch do today), but overall Kunz sees the tablet as an “interactive distraction” -- something to play with during commercial breaks while you’re watching television.Expect more augmented-reality views, which put computer graphics on top of live video feeds, similar to the yellow line you see on the field during NFL games. iPhone users already have a number of choices with App Store apps, and Kunz expects the tablet will take this even further.Finally, two-way video and telecommuting are expected to be a big part of the Apple tablet experience, presumably with a built-in iSight camera similar to today’s MacBooks. Video calls through services such as Skype continue to grow in popularity, and such services also lend themselves to businesses looking to keep employees in close touch.So, potential Apple tablet buyers: What are you hoping for from your tablet?
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Power Mac G5 turned time-teller
Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Mods This is great, and highly appropriate for the tick-tocking away of the year -- Japanese modder Nobon had an old Power Mac G5 (case, it looks like, though this would be cool on a working Mac as well) sitting around, and he wanted to know what time it was, so he installed a little clock in there. As mods go, it's pretty simple, but man that looks great. Like most users, I usually hide my actual boxes under the desk or in a cabinet, but if any of my computer cases were as beautiful and functional as that, I'd put them out front and center. There's a sequence of pictures on his site showing how he did it. It's all in Japanese, so you'll only be able to read it if you happen to be fluent. But it looks pretty simple -- drill a hole in the side of the case, install a battery operated clock, shine a light on it, and voila, instant Mac centerpiece. Apple products don't die, they just change function! [Via Cult of Mac]TUAWPower Mac G5 turned time-teller originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - Macintosh - Cult of Mac - Hardware - TUAW
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Patrick Stein releases JollysFastVNC 1.0 for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersDeveloper Patrick Stein has introduced JollysFastVNC 1.0, an ARD and VNC client for Mac OS X. Designed for IT managers, web developers and casual users alike, it was developed from the ground up utilizing the latest Cocoa technologies.
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iWork Sales Surge In 2009
Despite the presence of a strong Microsoft Office 2008 offering, Apple’s own iWork office suite continues to grow, with a 50% surge in sales in 2009.The NPD Group has announced that Apple’s answer to Microsoft’s popular Office suite, iWork ’09, sold 50% more units in the first 11 months on the market (from January to November of this year) than its predecessor, iWork ’08, sold in the same timeframe, according to AppleInsider.By comparison, the iLife ’09 bundle included with all new Macs -- comprised of iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band, iWeb and iDVD -- sold roughly the same number of units as the previous iLife ’08 during the same 11 months.For the first time, Apple also offered iWork this year in a $169 box set ($229 family pack) which also included iLife ’09 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. However, NPD’s numbers do not include those bundle sales.“These have been, I think, pretty successful products for them (Apple), generating a lot of pretty decent average selling prices and decent revenue numbers,” NPD vice president of industry analysis Steven Baker explained to AppleInsider.iWork ’09 includes the Pages word processor, Numbers spreadsheet software and Keynote presentation software in one bundle for $79, or in a $99 family pack that can be installed on up to five computers. Baker notes that the single-user version of iWork has quietly been a big seller for Apple.Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was also a big hit for Apple this year, particularly with its $29 retail price. The lower price strategy appears to have paid off, with record numbers for early adoption -- twice as strong as the previous version, 10.5 Leopard, and four times better than 10.4 Tiger.“They’ve been pretty successful, obviously, with being more aggressive in pricing,” Baker said. “Certainly that was a big reason why Snow Leopard got such a big uptick right off the bat.”
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Mac 101: Stop the iPhone from opening iPhoto
Filed under: iLife, iPhone, Mac 101, Snow LeopardMore Mac 101, tips and tricks for novice Mac users. I love iPhoto. I use it for most of my photo editing. The thing I don't like about iPhoto is how it opens each and every time I connect my iPhone to my Mac. What strikes my as plain silly is that, since the introduction of the iPhone two and a half years ago, Apple has not built in an option in the iTunes iPhone status window to disable the automatic iPhoto launch every time you plug in your iPhone. If you want to take control of this behavior, and you'd prefer to stick with Apple's built-in tools (rather than take advantage of the free and easy Cameras prefpane) there is good news: there's a simple way to disable this 'feature' and it doesn't involve command line stuff. Even better, it isn't an "all or nothing" solution - eg: you can still have iPhoto automatically open when you connect your camera, but not have it open when you connect your iPhone. Aron mentioned this approach a few months ago but I thought it would be helpful to walk through it in detail. It should be noted that this solution only works on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. If you are running 10.5 or earlier, you'll have to use one of the solutions noted above; we recommend the free Cameras preference pane as a quick fix. You'll see the image above is of iPhoto's preferences. You may think the option of disabling iPhone auto-open is in there, but it's not. To stop the iPhone from opening iPhoto you actually need to launch the Image Capture application. Step 1: Launch Image Capture (Applications>Image Capture). If your iPhone isn't plugged in already, plug it in to the USB port on your Mac. It should then show up in the devices source list. Step 2: Make sure you have the iPhone selected in the source list. When you do, you should see any photos you have on the iPhone appear in the right-hand column of the Image Capture application. Step 3: At the bottom of the source list, you'll see your iPhone's name then, below that, you'll see the words "Connecting this iPhone opens:" and a drop-down menu. Select "No application". Now close the Image Capture app and you're done. No more iPhone opening up iPhoto, but your other cameras will still auto-launch iPhoto when they are connected! TUAWMac 101: Stop the iPhone from opening iPhoto originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - Mac OS X - Mac OS X Snow Leopard - TUAW
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LG Electronics introduces first mobile DTV in the US
Posted by Dennis SellersNewly-certified to comply with mobile digital television (DTV) technology now being deployed by American broadcasters, LG Electronics is introducing what it says the industry's first portable, battery-operated mobile DTV in the United States, designed to receive new over-the-air signals being transmitted by local broadcasters.
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Our 10 favorite products of 2010
Posted by Dennis SellersBy the Macsimum crew There were a lot of great products introduced in 2009. Recently, the Macsimum team put its collective heads together to choose our 10 favorites. Here they are…
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My 2010 predictions, part two
Posted by Dennis SellersOnce again I'm gazing into my crystal ball to foresee what I see coming from Apple in the year ahead. Just remember: this is all for fun and I have no insider info, so these predictions are based on nothing but my experience and gut feelings. Part one can be found...
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Symwave, Super Talent to showcase USB 3.0 RAIDDrive storage solutions at CES
Posted by Dennis SellersSymwave and Super Talent y will demonstrate Super Talent's RAIDDrive, the world's first and only mobile USB 3.0 flash drive at CES 2010 in Las Vegas, Jan. 7-10.
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Nokia's Ridiculous Assault on Apple
Absolutely ridiculous broadening of Nokia's (NOK) already specious lawsuit against Apple (AAPL). Nokia has spent its life in the wireless standards game, which is a contest over who has the best lawyers. In this particular case, Nokia is the market leader and is losing share and feels like it can't do anything about it. How about hiring some decent software engineers to make some decent software? Instead you have, what... Symbian?
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Mophie iPhone credit card reader coming to a CES near you
iPhone accessory maker and recession antidote regular Mophie is about to make the most buzzworthy move of its short history by offering a credit card reader and accompanying transaction app for the Apple handset. Positioned as a direct competitor to Jack Dorsey's Square iPhone Payment System, Mophie's solution looks to be integrated into an iPhone case -- making it possible to keep the reader on permanently, albeit at a slight cost to your device's aesthetics. The decidedly cube-shaped Square system has a less ergonomic design, but we suspect that the winner (if either of these two succeeds) will be primarily determined by the usability of the app and affordability of the service. Look out for more info to emerge at some point during the maelstrom that will be CES 2010.Mophie iPhone credit card reader coming to a CES near you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Pocket-lint | Email this | Comments
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ArtOptimizer for Illustrator updated to version 2.3.2
Posted by Dennis SellerstOptimizer, its workflow automation solution for Adobe Illustrator, to version 2.3.1. The new version addresses a critical issue that could prevent ArtOptimizer from processing files on certain systems.
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Color Your MacBook
Apple makes iPods in a whole rainbow of colors, but the MacBook Pros only come in silver! I'm sick of blending in with all the other silver MacBook Pros out there.Don’t worry. If owning the best laptop ever made isn’t show-offy enough on its own, we can think of several ways you can make your MacBook Pro stand out in a crowd. The simplest option is a colored case such as Speck’s SeeThru or SeeThru Satin ($24.97 and up, www.speckproducts.com) or InCase’s Hardshell Case ($49.95, www.goincase.com).Or you could slap a design on your laptop by purchasing an artistically designed skin from companies like GelaSkins ($29.95, www.gelaskins.com), iamhuman ($30 and up, www.iamhumannow.com), or MusicSkins ($30, www.musicskins.com). If those aren’t enough choices, just search the Web for “Mac laptop skins.”How gorgeous (or maybe garish?) is this MacBook Pro we custom-designed on colorwarepc.com?Of course, you could go all-out. ColorWare ($499, www.colorwarepc.com) will take any Apple product--Mac, iPhone, iPod, mouse, whatever--and custom paint it in a staggeringly wide variety of colors. For a MacBook Pro, you can choose unique colors for the top half, the bottom half, the edges of your screen, the palm rest, the hinge, and even the Apple logo.If you just want to bling out your silver laptop, you can have your MacBook Pro laser-etched with any design that you choose, thanks to companies like ETCHamac ($25 to $75, www.etchamac.com).
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Ecommerce sales rise by 5% over the 2009 holiday shopping season
Posted by Dennis SellerscomScore, which measures the digital world, says that retail e-commerce spending for the holiday season from November 1 through Christmas Eve.