Mar 8, 2010 Mar 10, 2010 Tuesday March 9, 2010
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GDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store Tonight at GDC 2010, I went out and stopped by the Capcom Fight Club party here in San Francisco, and while there, Capcom projected the actual App Store interface for sending their Street Fighter IV app to the App Store on various screens around the room. We actually got to see them press the button on the release live and in person, and sure enough, the game is in the App Store right now for $9.99. Before you go press buy, though, I'll also tell you that I got a chance to play the game, and while it is about as faithful a Street Fighter IV game as you can get on the iPhone, playing a fighting game without actual buttons is not really an ideal experience. While I was able to pull off a Hadoken and almost all of the other old moves after a few tries, the highest levels of competition in a fighting game require precision and subtlety, and this control scheme has neither of those. If you just want to play Street Fighter on an iPhone, sure -- be an early adopter, pick up the game, and enjoy a few rounds of Guile vs. Ryu. But if you're looking for the kind of in-depth fighting experience that Street Fighter IV on consoles and in the arcades offered, you probably won't find it here -- the controls are a little too inconsistent to really dig into the deep counter and powerup systems on display. The game does have a lot of extras and addons, including a dojo mode for training and Bluetooth multiplayer. And while the game's eight characters offers up a pretty slim selection compared to the current console titles, these are definitely classic Capcom characters, and all of the old moves you'll remember still work. Save for the controls, nothing about this game is half-done -- it's definitely a premium port of a premium game. But as a true fighting game experience, this one comes up short. Buy it if you want, to see the spectacle of Street Fighter squeezed into Apple's touchscreen, an achievement in and of itself. But don't buy it expecting an ideal Capcom-style showdown that you'll be able to pull up time and time again -- for that, save your quarters for the arcades. Stay tuned -- we did get to talk with the Japanese producer of the game about what he thinks of the iPhone, the iPad, and the challenges he had to overcome by squeezing this one on to Apple's handheld. That interview is coming up later today right here on TUAW.TUAWGDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Street Fighter IV - App Store - Capcom - Street Fighter
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EA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galore
By and large, EA Sports' Season Opener event here at GDC was underwhelming, but one glimmer of newness did manage to shine through. Nearly a year after Active hit stores (video after the break) and encouraged Wii gamers to drop those unwanted pounds before hitting the soft sand in the summer, the company has announced that Active 2.0 (a working title) is currently in development for Wii, PS3, iPod touch and iPhone. We're told that a "new suite of fitness products" will be launching in the fall, with the Active 2.0 program delivering "true fitness results by featuring an innovative wireless control system powered by new leg and arm straps with motion sensors, a heart rate monitor to capture intensity and a new online hub to track and share workout data." Outside of that, details are nonexistent (like how exactly the iPod / iPhone components will factor into this equation), though we get the feeling that Xbox 360 owners may be left out of the party. Here's hoping we're wrong. Gallery: EA Sports Active 2.0 accessories at GDC 2010Continue reading EA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galoreEA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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eBooks outnumber games in the App Store
Filed under: App Store, iPad The number of eBooks in the App Store has surpassed the number of games for the first time, and the spread is widening. Mobclix, a mobile device advertising agency, reports that as of last month, there were over 27,000 eBook apps while games were relegated to the runner-up position of 25,400 apps. Over the last reported month, new introductions of eBook apps more than doubled that of games (158 eBook versus 71 game apps). There are a number of reasons being kicked around to explain this phenomenon. It's easier to churn out an eBook than a game app. There are more free eBook than gaming apps, since many of the eBooks are out-of-copyright classics or collections of free content; this lowers the cost of development. Once an eBook engine is built it's fairly trivial to use the framework for another book. Currently there are over 10 times more free eBook apps than paid ones. It's different in gaming where paid apps outstrip free ones by over 2 to 1. These eBook apps will, of course, work on an iPad, but the Apple idea is to have you use one eBook reader and that would be iBooks. Jason Kincaid of Techcrunch, admittedly with no background evidence, posits that there may be an eBook purge coming. It would be very un-Apple to have an iPad owner searching for a copy of Treasure Island, and letting them find over 25 apps with differing interfaces and many of them free. This could be confusing for new iPad owners, and more to the point, Apple can't monetize it. It doesn't sound unreasonable that Apple will do whatever it takes to make iBooks the eReader of choice at the expense of the plethora of current eBook apps. They will be doing it in the name of providing a simpler and more enjoyable user experience, but of course you can't pocket what you can't sell. It will be fascinating to watch the eBook market about two months from now, after the first iPads have been delivered, and to see what Apple has planned. [via The Guardian] TUAWeBooks outnumber games in the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments App Store - Apple - E-book - Mobclix - Jason Kincaid
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How Epic fit the Unreal Engine into the iPhone
The Unreal Engine 3 is on its way to the iPhone, though creators Epic Games have had to make some compromises to get there.
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Automatically open Bittorrent files using Dropbox and Hazel
Filed under: Internet, Internet ToolsEvery year there is a torrent made to let listeners download most of the music for SXSW. This year's torrent has recently been posted (previous years' are also available at the same site). I don't usually use Bittorent, so I asked around for client suggestions; Transmission seems to be a favorite among several of my TUAW colleagues. I also remembered a tip from my friend Guillermo Esteves (who did the awesome Star Wars crawl using only HTML and CSS), about using Dropbox to start torrents remotely. Guillermo provides some detailed instructions for Transmission and ľTorrent to set them up to "watch" a folder for new .torrent files, with an important caveat to make sure that you don't download the files to your Dropbox. One additional Transmission tip: be sure that you un-check the box next to "Display 'adding transfer' options window" so that files will automatically be added, and be sure to check the box next to the "Start transfers when added" option. Guillermo shows both of those settings in his screenshots, but it took me a few minutes to figure out that I had them set incorrectly. Then I asked myself: "How can I be even lazier?" and I remembered Hazel, a program for automatically moving files from one folder to another based on a set of predefined rules. So I added a Hazel rule for ~/Downloads/ which will move any file where "Kind is BitTorrent Document" to my ~/Dropbox/Torrents/ folder. I repeated this on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro. Now I can be on my MacBook Pro and download a torrent file to ~/Downloads/ and have it moved to my Torrents folder, and have the torrent automatically start downloading on my iMac. So when I'm done with my MacBook Pro I can just close it without having to worry about interrupting any of my downloads. You may have noticed that we're big Dropbox fans around here. We use it for syncing Things or instead of a USB sync cable or keeping our notes with us or sharing screenshots, along with any number of other uses. Do you know of any other unusual uses for Dropbox? Let us know in the comments. In the meantime, enjoy the free, legal music downloads from SXSW!TUAWAutomatically open Bittorrent files using Dropbox and Hazel originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments BitTorrent - Dropbox - Transmission - File sharing - ÎTorrent
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Synergy+ Gets a Fresh Breath of Air
Synergy+ hopes to breathe new life into the Synergy KVM switcher project that hasn't been updated since 2006.Synergy is an open source, cross-platform KVM solution that replaces a piece of hardware with a free piece of software that will let you control the keyboard and mouse on another computer. It works over the local network in your home or business. The problem with Synergy is that it hasn't been updated since 2006 by its author, Chris Schoeneman. A new team, however, hopes to change that by creating a new version called Synergy+ on Google Code that uses the same source, but it has been updated for 2010.The new Synergy+ can be downloaded for your system on Google Code.via DownloadSquad
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What We're Reading: Barbie, Steve Jobs and Carly Fiorina
Our daily roundup of Web gems includes a deeper look at Barbie the engineer, Carly Fiorina's tenure at Hewlett-Packard, Jonathan Schwartz's battles with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and a pricing glitch at Amazon.com.
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Former Sun CEO says Apple's Jobs threatened to sue
The former chief executive of Sun Microsystems writes on his personal blog that Apple CEO Steve Jobs once threatened to sue the company in 2003.
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Palm's webOS PDK beta adds Pixi native development, PDK'd apps will hit the Catalog mid year
We just sat down with Palm here at GDC and fished out a few more details on the PDK beta front. Firstly, and most interestingly, Palm has confirmed that the PDK now works on all of its handsets (instead of just the Pre and Pre Plus), which means Pixi buyers can stop hating themselves pretty soon. Apparently the level of performance degradation should be comparable iPhone 3G vs. 3GS, which doesn't sound too horrible. This is functionality that wasn't available even to Palm's early PDK partners like EA and Gameloft, so we should be seeing versions of existing games make the jump to the Pixi when the time for PDK beta-developed apps to hit the Palm App Catalog. When will that time come, you ask? The "middle of the year," or "a few months," whichever sounds more promising to you. Palm's not saying whether this new era for the App Catalog (anyone being able to release PDK apps, and those apps working on the Pre and the Pixi) will accompany a full-on webOS update, but it seems logical to us. On a more technical front, we're told the PDK supports the Linux standard SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) to ease in porting and development (Unreal for Linux runs using SDL, for instance), and that developers could even build apps like an audio processor that rely on PDK components but don't show up in the UI at all, or OpenGL-empowered things that aren't necessarily games or in 3D. Also, existing developers have only been able to do "full screen" games that rely on PDK components alone, but the PDK beta lets you mix and match webOS UI with PDK elements. Currently there aren't many PDK games that use the extra Palm hardware like the QWERTY keyboard and the gesture area, but we're told that's all exposed to the developer, along with any other element of webOS that Mojo SDK users have access to. One notable plugin hangup is the fact that Flash only works in the browser, and can't be embedded into a regular webOS app, PDK or no -- though we have to assume this is something that's in the works.Palm's webOS PDK beta adds Pixi native development, PDK'd apps will hit the Catalog mid year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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GDC 2010: From concept to Top Paid with Unity iPhone
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer Unity Technologies hosted the sponsored lunch panel during GDC 2010 today, and their "product evangelist" Tom Higgins gave a quick rundown of the software platform that enables developers to assemble and release games extremely quickly on multiple platforms. The company was actually founded in Denmark, but has since expanded around the world with just two products: Unity Pro and Unity iPhone Pro. The second product, as you might imagine, allows developers to put together an application that can then be exported out into an Xcode project and released on the App Store. Higgins said that they've had over 90,000 people download the software since it was released for free last fall, and that more than 500 games in the App Store were authored by Unity. He also ran a short demo of the software at the panel. While some of the coding got a little technical (the system allows you to create and change variables on in-game objects even while the game is running in the engine), the coolest feature was the way they simulated iPhone controls: by using a real iPhone as a remote. They've released a free app on the App Store that will connect via Wi-Fi with a copy of the development tool running on your Mac, and as you touch and turn the iPhone, the editor reacts, and sends the (slightly lower resolution) output to the iPhone's screen. You can also make changes to your code as the game runs in that mode, so you can be playing and coding at the same time. That was pretty impressive. Of course, Unity won't actually help you be a game developer -- like many of the tools on display at the conference this week, it's a professional tool that can only make your ideas and art come to life, not actually create them for you. But when you combine Unity's compatibility across platforms (there's even a web player that will play your Unity-created game on any web-compatible computer) with the ease of development (the app just outputs an Xcode project, so you can write an app in Javascript with the tool and output it straight to the App Store, or even edit the Xcode after the output if you want to take advantage of features that Unity doesn't support by default), it's definitely worth a look as an iPhone development tool. I'm not a developer, so I don't have much insight on how the program actually works, but just in terms of creating apps for multiple platforms at the same time ("author once, deploy anywhere," as Higgins said during his talk), Unity seems like a worthwhile solution. The Unity platform is available as a free download, and the iPhone app either comes in source code with the rest of the platform, or can be downloaded straight from the App Store.TUAWGDC 2010: From concept to Top Paid with Unity iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments appstore - IPhone - Apple - Unity Technologies - Game Developers Conference
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Pink Floyd sues EMI over iTunes payments
One of the most imposing (and wealthiest) bands of all time sues EMI over online royalties. EMI is reportedly arguing that an album-unbundling ban applies only to physical products.
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iPhone 4G: 25 most-wanted features
Apple's fourth-generation iPhone will most likely arrive in June. Here's a look at some of the feature and design upgrades we'd most like to see, including the odds of their implementation.
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Will Apple Kill Photoshop?
The Apple (AAPL) vs. Adobe (ADBE) flash war has been heating up for quite some time now, but the rivalry may run a heck of a lot deeper than you think.Adobe is best known for Photoshop, the defacto standard in photo and image editing software - and if my calculations are correct, Apple would like to kill it.
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Eternal optimist Verizon calls iPad launch 'an opportunity' to sell some data plans
That's the "glass is half full" attitude we like, Verizon -- always looking for a way to sign a few more of those lucrative data contracts, no matter the circumstances! Turns out Big Red is tipping off its staffers on how it can encourage customers to go with the WiFi-only version of the iPad and pair it up with a device like the MiFi rather than shelling out $130 more for integrated AT&T 3G and waiting a few extra weeks. As usual, Verizon's keen on playing up the anti-AT&T sentiment it's cultivated in its recent ad campaign by openly calling its biggest competitor's 3G network "overloaded," but we see one big hangup: 5GB of data on a Verizon MiFi is going to run you $60 a month, twice as much as AT&T will be charging for its dedicated, unlimited iPad plan. Then again, AT&T's own boss thinks WiFi's a bigger deal than 3G for this thing, so who knows -- maybe this is a zero-sum game for both of these guys. [Thanks, Mark]Eternal optimist Verizon calls iPad launch 'an opportunity' to sell some data plans originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Black Swan brings Google Voice back to the iPhone without the App Store
Filed under: iPhone, App ReviewGoogle Voice on the iPhone has been something of a sore subject for me. If you need a full-recap of the whole sordid iPhone/Google Voice story see this story from December or more of our coverage. I even started a little site devoted to waiting for Google Voice on the iPhone called IsGoogleVoiceAvailableForTheiPhone.com. It has been 6 months and 19 days since Apple claimed it had not "rejected" Google Voice but was "studying" it. During the course of Apple's "study" the company moved to purge all existing Google Voice apps from the App Store. There were three reactions to this from developers: Google revamped the Mobile Google Voice page so that it looks a lot nicer on the iPhone. GV Mobile released its app for free on Cydia for those who have jailbroken iPhones. The folks behind Voice Central went a different route. They decided to make a web app instead. I've been using it in beta for the past few months, but as of today it has been released to the public as Black Swan. The difference between the Mobile Google Voice site from Google and Black Swan is that Black Swan is stored locally on your iPhone, like Pie Guy from Neven Mrgan of Panic.com. Riverturn calls this a "weblication," which is a fairly awful name, but apparently they aren't the first ones to use it. An obvious benefit is that Riverturn doesn't need to wait for Apple to approve any changes, or wait for Apple to finish "studying" Google Voice. Simply go to the website and download it to your iPhone. It works really well, much better than I had initially expected it would. You can easily access voicemails to listen to them or read the transcripts. The "Call Details" page offers a button to call or SMS them back either from your iPhone or through Google Voice. There's a list of recent calls just like the regular iPhone app. Without question Black Swan is the best way to use Google Voice on your iPhone. If you pre-loaded this on an iPhone, I doubt most people would even realize that they aren't using a "regular" iPhone app. It even works in landscape mode. The only bump in the road for me was that it does not use the contacts list on my iPhone, but instead uses the one from my Google account. I presume this is necessary because they can't access the Contacts list through a "weblication" and the good news is that you can setup the Address Book in OS X to sync with Google Contacts. The only ones who lose out are those who are using Google Apps, as a regular Gmail account is required for Google Voice. There are two versions of the app available: a free, ad-supported version and a premium edition for $10/year payable either through Google Checkout or PayPal. Currently they are offering a discounted price of $6/year. In addition to removing the ads, the Premium version also adds some features including support for Contact Photos, enabling/disabling "Do Not Disturb" and direct customer support. My general rule of thumb for things like this is to use the free version first to see if you actually end up wishing you had the premium features. Personally I found the ads were distracting enough that $6 seems like a bargain, especially knowing that Apple can't yank the rug out from under them again. There is a 7-day trial of the premium version; just stick a reminder in iCal for +6 days from now to remind you to evaluate if it's worth $6. Who knows, maybe in a year's time Apple will have finished "studying" Google Voice. Ha ha! But seriously, I don't really expect that will ever happen. The good news is that as of today, most people will miss a native application a lot less. TUAWBlack Swan brings Google Voice back to the iPhone without the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - App Store - GoogleVoice - Apple - Unofficial Apple Weblog
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Hedge Funds Bet on Steve Jobs' Next Move
So here we are. Apple is at all time highs. The stock is up another $5 today. The Apple/QQQQ slingshot trade has generated huge returns. We're waiting to sell until Apple moves against the market to the downside. But what is really going on here? This stock action certainly isn't happening because mainstreaminvestors decided they wanted to buy in last Friday. This isn'tinvesting 101. This is advanced hedge fund action so let's make aneffort to understand things from their point of view.This run is happening because of Norway. About a month ago, some thirdparty Apple reseller decided to put a link on their website to allowcustomers to pre-order the iPad. They had to shut it down because thedemand was overwhelming. We all know that Steve Jobs worries just asmuch about marketing as he does about the products themselves. At theend of the day, nobody actually needs an iPhone or an iPad in the sameway that nobody needs an In-N-Out Burger or a Tito's Taco. Theatmosphere of standing in line to get your favorite product is veryimportant.
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Daily Deals for March 9, 2010
Filed under: DealsToday's deals are all generated from a friendly search-based robot courtesy DealNews. We didn't pick 'em this time, so no warranties expressed or implied. Aol uses a referral code for these deals. Apple Store: [iPods] Refurbished Apple iPod touch MP3 Players from $139 + free shipping iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] App Store Price Drops: Pocket Heart, Diner Dash, Magellan RoadMate, more MacUpdate Promo: [Security/Anti-Virus Software] Lockngo 4 for Mac downloads for $10 Buy.com: [Networkable Hard Drive (NAS)] Linksys NMH300 Two-Bay Media Hub for $130 + free shipping eBay: [Supplies] Quartet Magnetic Dry-Erase Board for $8 + free shipping Buy.com: [802.11g Wireless] Zyxel 802.11g Wireless Powerline Router for $40 + free shipping Adorama: [Printers] Canon SELPHY ES30 Compact Dye Sublimation Printer for $50 + free shipping Dell Home: [40" - 42" LCD TVs] Sharp 42" 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV for $539 + free shipping Shop4Tech: [Cell Phone Accessories] Universal GPS Car Mount for $5 + free shipping ThingFling: [Surge Protectors] Philips 8-Outlet Home Theater System Surge Protector for $50 + $6 s&h Buy.com: [Mice/Trackballs] Logitech Trackman Trackball Mouse for $22 + free shipping 6ave: [42" And Smaller Plasma HDTVs] Panasonic VIERA 42" 1080p Plasma HDTV, Blu-ray, more for $833 + free shipping TUAWDaily Deals for March 9, 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - IPhone - App Store - iTunes - IPod Touch
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iPhone/iPod/iPad apps for March 9
Posted by Dennis SellersHere are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod/iPad apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store.
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FileMaker 11 delivers charting, 'on-the-fly' reporting
Apple-owned company on Tuesday releases next major version of its database product, FileMaker Pro 11.
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Donât Hold Your Breath Waiting for an iPad Price Drop
Kevin C. Tofel: Much of this âwait for the price dropâ sentiment stems from the original iPhone 4 GB and 8GB models, which debuted in late June of 2007 for $499 and $599, respectively. By September of that same year, the 4 GB model was scrapped and the 8 GB unit dropped $200 to $399. The situation generated an early adapter uproar by many — myself included — and Apple tried to make good with $100 Apple Store credits for those who paid the higher prices. The entire event tarnished Appleâs luster in the eyes of consumers and this isnât a company that repeats mistakes often. â
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Microsoft updates Office for Mac 2008 and 2004
Filed under: Productivity, Software Update Microsoft has just released updates to the 2004 and 2008 versions of Microsoft Office. According to the company, the updates, which weigh in at 9.7 MB and 221.5 MB respectively, provide "fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code" as well as improvements to stability and performance. The update for Microsoft Office 2004 can be downloaded here, while those with the 2008 version can find it at this link. As with most Mac OS X-related updates, whether from a third party app or a system update, you should consider backing up your data before proceeding. Keep in mind, as you install this update, that right around the corner is Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. Notable updates for the next version of the suite for the Mac include the replacement of Entourage with Outlook, the return of VBA and, gasp (or hurrah!), a more ribbon-oriented user interface, ŕ la the Windows version of Office. TUAWMicrosoft updates Office for Mac 2008 and 2004 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments MicrosoftOffice - Microsoft - Apple - Mac OS X - Office for Mac 2008
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Why Apple Should Buy Adobe
The rumors of Adobe being bought by Apple come up every so often. Apple could easily afford such a purchase and the results would be interesting. I would love to see Adobe restructured by a company like Apple. Adobe has many applications that are the gold standard but it seems to lack focus. These are my thoughts on what Apple could do with Adobe's biggest apps and make everyone's life a lot easier. Video Adobe's video market could be trimmed down. Anything that can already be done in Final Cut Studio should be gone, including Premiere and Soundbooth. I'm not sure if After Effects would even be worth it in the end. Most believe that Final Cut is a very nice video suite on the Mac platform and in the PC world, AVID holds the crown. Why is a program like Premiere needed? It's not quite AVID but way better than Windows Movie Maker. Now throw Sony Vegas in there and it's starting to get crowded. Apple could create Final Cut for the PC or forget about them altogether. This would come down to money in the long run. I personally don't think Apple needs to worry about the PC side unless they are going to legitimately compete against AVID for dominance. Design Photoshop and Illustrator go hand in hand with Apple. The general public thinks of Apple when Photoshop is mentioned and vice versa. This is known as one of Apple's strongest markets. Most believe that these design apps run better on a Mac but as we know, Adobe is slow in keeping these flagship apps on the cutting edge. Apple could force them to be designed for the latest and greatest environments. While they're at it, stop releasing new versions every year that don't have any significant improvements. Adobe needs the money to keep rolling in through yearly revisions but Apple wouldn't have this problem. Make a new version when real features are created. In an educational environment, we are forced to upgrade every year because the textbooks only cover the newest versions. This puts a large strain on software budgets. Documents Acrobat should also be restructured and brought back to its core purpose. Every other week we hear of an exploit in PDF's and it's because they don't do the simple task they were conceived to do. Strip out all the extra junk and just make PDF's do what they need to do. Reader should be killed for the Mac OS also, Preview is way quicker and does the job just fine. Flash Then there's the elephant in the room, Flash. Oh my dear old friend, you were once so cool. Animations, games, crazy navigation menus and long site intros were such a treat. Now I have grown bored with you. The problem is that Flash is so ubiquitous with the web that it can't just be tossed out into the street. Apple would need to clean it up significantly and keep it around until HTML5 took over. They should only provide security fixes but no new features. This would allow it a peaceful death. Adobe has so many products that it's kind of ridiculous. Most of them could either be worked into existing Apple products or forgotten forever. If Apple did purchase Adobe, what about the PC side of Adobe's business? They would have to crunch the numbers to see what products are worth the extra cost of development, but Apple could really limit what's available for Windows. Whether that would that be a good or bad thing, I'm not really sure. In Apple's mind, if it sells more Macs then it's worth doing. I believe Apple could really improve Adobe's products and make them more reliable than they ever have been. It would end the grudge that they have against each other and hopefully get applications like Acrobat and Flash back to their roots. Adding useless features just to sell a different version every year will not win you any fans. Make it a worthwhile upgrade or inexpensive and I will gladly support you.
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H.P. Barks, Then Bites Apple on the iPad
Two of the world's computing powerhouses have started a war of words around their forthcoming tablet computers.
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News: Quirky outs Cloak case for the iPad
Quirky has introduced its new Cloak case for the Apple iPad. The Cloak sports an office folder-like design and non-slip rubber construction, with plastic on the hinge mechanisms and support braces. The iPad slides into the case from the top, and is completely protected when the case is shut; the case can also be used to prop the iPad up on a flat surface by either folding back the front cover or using the plastic support brace located on the case's…
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Slate comes to the iPhone, along with a lot of advertising
Filed under: Multimedia, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch, App ReviewI've always liked Slate Magazine on the web. It's sometimes sassy and irreverent, but always interesting -- an eclectic mix of politics, culture and tech news. Now, Slate has come to the iPhone in a US$1.99 app that features all the articles from the site, as well as the blog posts, staff tweets and streaming video from the Slate podcasts. Once content is downloaded you can read it off-line, which is a worthwhile feature. Access to Slate on the web is free, and you can read Slate from any mobile browser by going to mobile.slate.com. So why the charge for the iPhone app? Slate says it cost something to develop it, and it gives you a much richer experience in a portable form. I can't argue with that, but I can argue with the ads that appear absolutely everywhere. Even the splash screen popped up with an ad. I think that's a bit much after I've paid for the app, but I'm beginning to see a lot of this in other apps as well. I do like the app a lot, and it is a better experience for me than reading Slate stories in Safari on the iPhone. I even prefer the app to reading the site on my desktop or laptop. I just think the constant intrusive ads are a turn-off that will keep some people from pulling the trigger on what is an otherwise laudable effort. Slate works on any iPhone or iPod touch with OS 3.0 or greater. I expect we'll see an iPad version as well. Full disclosure: In the dim, distant past I worked at the Washington Post Company, which owns Slate. Take a gander at some screen shots below: Gallery: Slate for iPhone screen shotsTUAWSlate comes to the iPhone, along with a lot of advertising originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - IPod Touch - Safari - Slate
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Is Amazon hiring devs to build a robust web browser for Kindle?
Are you a software dev with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, familiarity with current Web standards, and experience with browser engines, Linux on embedded devices, and Java? If so, do we have the job for you. Lab126, the group at Amazon responsible for the Kindle, wants you to help "conceive, design, and bring to market" a new embedded browser on a Linux device. Might this be a sign that the company is ready to start taking web browsing on the e-reader seriously? We don't know, but it sure sparked some interesting discussion over at All Things Digital. As Peter Kafka points out, a decent browser for the thing is pretty much a no-brainer in light of the Apple iPad. On the other hand, the idea of a robust browser on the Kindle has its own complications. What about subscription content like the New York Times -- why would anyone pay for something that's available for free on the web, if you're using the same device to view both? And what about all that new data traffic? Surely AT&T will have something to say about that. Of course, we've been hearing enough scuttlebutt about a mysterious next-gen device being developed at Amazon that perhaps this has nothing to do with the Kindle whatsoever. Who knows? These are all questions that will have to be answered sooner or later, but in the meantime we can say with some certainty that E ink is definitely not the best way to troll 4chan.Is Amazon hiring devs to build a robust web browser for Kindle? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink All Things Digital | Amazon | Email this | Comments
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Fingerzilla App Causes Catastrophic Fun
Godzilla fans rejoice, as the awesome destructive power of the classic monster is currently free on the iPhone! The âFingerzillaâ application takes the playerâs thumb and puts it to good useâŚdestroying cities, property, vehicles and various people. For a limited time the âFingerzillaâ App is free to download in the App Store where it is currently the Number One Most Downloaded Free Game! Watch as a Sim City-looking cityscape fills the iPhoneâs screen in the game, and as the time ticks away Fingerzilla, the playerâs thumb, must do as much damage as is humanly (or monsterly) possible. Simply press the thumb onto the buildings to level them. Hit the big skyscrapers and power plant towers multiple time to raze them to the ground and get the most points before time runs out. Cars and trucks will continue to drive bye, but the cop cars will quickly grow as they follow Fingerzillaâs trail. Wiping out the homes, buildings and trees will cause the surviving people to flee from within the toppled pieces and run amuck to try and escape. The all-powerful Fingerzilla, with his Godzilla-like roar, can then snatch up and eat any of the lawyers, bankers and bosses that scurry about. When the damage becomes significant news helicopters will fly toward the fiery scene, and Fingerzilla can then knock them from the sky, like annoying gnats reaping the points. Catastrophe in the âFingerzillaâ App is simple, fictional and could not be more fun. IMPULSIVE Review Grade: B+
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Jonathan Schwartz on Patent Threats From Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
Jonathan Schwartz: In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were âstepping all over Appleâs IP.â (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, âIâll just sue you.â â
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Analyst: iPad will beat Kindle's all-time sales in three months
Posted by Dennis SellersApple could have the bestselling e-book reader of all time in just three months on the market, according to an estimate from FBR Capital analyst Craig Berger.
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Eliminate's 3G multiplayer: How'd they do that?
Ngmoco's Eliminate was one of the first games to offer 3G multiplayer on the iPhone. But how did they do it?
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GDC 2010: Ngmoco explains how Eliminate Pro was built
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Other Events, Developer, iPhone The 2010 Game Developers Conference kicks off today in San Francisco, and TUAW is in attendance to check out the latest and greatest in iPhone game development. The conference boasts a whole track dedicated to iPhone gaming this year, and all week long, we'll be bringing you panels, news, and interviews straight from the conference floor. This morning, panel number one was from Stephen Detwiler and James Marr, two engineers at Ngmoco, to talk to developers about how they put the server software together for Eliminate, the "freemium" first person shooter that's serving as their flagship app lately. As they explained during the presentation, they had a heck of a goal with this project: they wanted to put together "the definitive FPS for iPhone," complete with all of the functions of a standard console deathmatch-style FPS, in just five months with just three engineers. And they started with the toughest nut of all: the networking code. They looked first at commercial solutions for game networking, and it turns out that the Quake 3 engine that they eventually used fit their ideas well. The toughest obstacle was of course the lag -- in a fast-paced game like Eliminate, even a delay of 200 milliseconds is too much. But it turns out that the way the Quake 3 engine handled dialup Internet back in the day is very similar to the way many developers are handling the slower speeds of mobile 3G. As the devs said, "a dialup connection from 1999 looks a lot like a 3G connection today." In addition to the networking code, the Quake engine also gave them lots of other benefits during development, including graphics and lighting engines, a map editor, and an easy way to model animations in the game. The engineers said that using a commercial engine like Quake 3 allowed them to spend much more time on the out-of-game experience (the lobbies, the in-app purchases, and so on), and they really appreciated that. The next big hurdles were player management and matchmaking. After considering a few different options, they went with an open-source messaging server called ejabberd -- while it's written in Erlang, a language that they said had some "crazy syntax" (they showed an inexplicable piece of code on the projection screen to make their point), it scaled very well and clustered the way they wanted it to. Matchmaking was a little tougher -- they used console games by companies like Microsoft, Infinity Ward, and Blizzard as a model, and decided that they wanted to have players wait a max of about 10% of the time they spent playing. For console games, that turns out to be about a minute of waiting to make a game versus ten minutes of actual gameplay, but for Eliminate's shorter three minute games, Ngmoco decided they only had about fifteen seconds to make a match. Still, they were able to put a pretty robust system in the game even in that short time -- they assign players a number of various qualities (character skill, level, ping time, and so on), and then the matchmaking system searches for other game players, slowly expanding the limits on the search criteria. In other words, when players first start searching, they'll be matched up with players of approximately the same skill, but as time goes on, that skill window grows. Fifteen seconds in, the skill differential could be up to ten times what it was when the search first started. Not all qualities "degrade" the same -- party size, for example, degrades much slower, so someone looking for four players won't get hooked up with just two or three for a while. And while the devs originally didn't include character level in matchmaking at all (they figured skill was a better match for players than actual level), a "HUGE outcry" by players made them include level in the process. Players really didn't like being connected with opponents who were at a much higher character level, even if the skill level was the same. Ngmoco runs 16 different servers for each implementation of Eliminate: four for messaging with the clients, two for matchmaking, eight for what they call "game managers" (which are servers that run multiple game instances), and two management consoles that oversee the actual Ubuntu-based servers they're running, and update the 24 apt-get packages that make up the actual game software. Messaging servers are based in San Francisco with the company, but game servers are co-located around the world, in Chicago, Virginia, Amsterdam and Tokyo. Unfortunately, they didn't mention how many people are actually playing, but the servers were tested for up to 30,000 users just for messaging and 50,000 for matchmaking -- Ngmoco actually made a headless version of the game for OS X, installed it on "all of the hardware" in their offices, and ran it like crazy to load-test their software. It was a pretty interesting talk -- very much on the technical side, but Ngmoco set out to create a competitive online FPS on the iPhone and that's what they did. It was cool to hear some behind-the-scenes details on how a very complicated iPhone gaming network is designed and run. We'll have more from GDC 2010 all this week, including hands-on of the latest games from Ngmoco and lots of other game developers. Stay tuned!TUAWGDC 2010: Ngmoco explains how Eliminate Pro was built originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Ngmoco - San Francisco - Microsoft - Apple
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Stanford University study looks at 'iPhone addiction'
Posted by Dennis SellersAccording to a new Stanford University study, iPhone users are becoming so reliant on their iPhones that they are actually reporting being addicted to their the Apple devices.
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Setting up Parental Controls on the iPhone and iPod touch
My kid wants an iPod touch for her birthday. Iâm inclined to fulfill her wishes, but Iâm a little concerned about her looking at objectionable content on Safari or YouTube, or running up big bills downloading apps and music. Does the iPod touch come with parental controls?It does. You canât limit certain sites in Safari, but you could block the app altogether. And YouTube, the App Store, and the iTunes Store can all be restricted too.To get started, open the Settings app on the iPod touch, then tap General, and Restrictions. Youâll need to enter a four-digit passcode--donât share it with your kid, obviously. Then you can disallow Safari, YouTube, the iTunes Store, the App Store, the camera (iPhone only), and Location (which disables the GPS chip in an iPhone or the Wi-Fi-based Location Services on an iPod touch). Thatâll turn those apps off completely and forever--unless you go back to the Restrictions list and turn them back on.Setting limits, like a good parent should.If you donât want to totally disable the iTunes Store or App Store while still limiting what they can access, the Restrictions list also has an Allowed Content section. Here you can limit downloaded movies and TV shows by their age rating, exclude music and podcasts rated âexplicit,â limit app downloads based on age ratings, and even ban in-app purchasing.Oh, and if you want to protect your kidâs hearing, you can also check out Settings > iPod > Volume Limit to set the maximum volume to a lower level than the default. This can also be locked with a passcode so your kid wonât go right in and undo what youâve done.
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EFI criticizes the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement
Posted by Dennis SellersThe Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)—an organization founded to promote rights in the online and networked world—has blasted the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, saying that the “entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple...
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New FireWire design guide ready from 1394 Trade Association
Posted by Dennis SellersThe 1394 Trade Association—of which Apple is a member—has issued its new 2010 FireWire Design Guide, which details the guidelines for implementing FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports on high level complex devices such as personal computers and automobiles, and on simple devices such as consumer electronics products.
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Pearson announces iPhone Developers Conference
Posted by Dennis SellersOn April 24-25, Pearson will host the second “Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference,” at Seattle's Bell Harbor Int'l Conference Center. Authors and experts will join developers to share their knowledge, and participate in discussions, how-to sessions, and networking opportunities around the topic of application development. â¨
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Report: RIAA pressured Apple into creating iTunes LP
Filed under: iTS, Retail, iTunes, Apple This feature over at GigaOM has quite a few interesting insights about the iTunes LP program -- while Apple sells it wholeheartedly as "the visual experience of the record album," it appears the story behind the story is not quite so clean. According to an anonymous source in the industry (note, not Apple themselves), the service didn't come from Cupertino. Instead, it was designed by record companies, and agreed to by Apple as a "concession" to "make a gesture in favor of album sales." The piece also states that Apple subsidized the creation of the first few "LPs," some of which cost up to $60,000 to assemble and license. As you might expect with any other less-than-popular product at Apple, iTunes LP isn't exactly being thrown into the spotlight, either. While a much more visual music experience would be perfect for the iPad, GigaOM notes that it didn't even merit a mention by Jobs at the iPad announcement. It's certainly possible that iTunes LP could find a new home in the future, if bands really get behind the service and make their own (a few have, as noted, but the cost seems pretty prohibitive, especially if sales aren't that impressive), but from what this anonymous source says, the LP service is a record company concession that hasn't paid off for Apple even in the way its originators hoped. [via iPodNN]TUAWReport: RIAA pressured Apple into creating iTunes LP originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Apple - iTunes - Unofficial Apple Weblog - iTunes LP - GigaOM
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Source R&D debuts Mac compatible, wireless laptop docking station
Posted by Dennis Sellers Source R&D has released the the US$149.99 Warpia Easy Dock, which will allow users to wirelessly connect their Mac (and PC) laptop to any traditional desktop setting.
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Quirky unveils Cloak, an iPad case with a built-in stand
Posted by Dennis SellersQuirky has unveiled Cloak, an US$36, community-developed protective case for the iPad. It's constructed from non-slip rubber with plastic hinge mechanisms to enable viewing at different angles.
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Forget Microsoft Office! Here Are 3 iPhone App Office Suites That Can Save You Over $300!
Often seen as a prestigious tool, the iPhone is one of the few devices that has personally saved me over a thousand dollars thanks to the glorious app store. One prime example is office suites, as Microsoft can charge between $239-$400 just to install Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook (the latter which I loathe) upon your notebook. Instead of building up Microsoft's stock, iLovers can instead choose to be thrifty and download inexpensive office suite apps for under $20. Documents To Go Premium Documents To Go Premium (by DataViz) is an app that provides support for not only Microsoft Word and Excel, but PowerPoint as well (a rarity within the app store). Of the dozens of office app suites that I have tested, Documents To Go has provided the most elegant interface for both Word and Excel, although its lack of folder support within the iPhone may drive a few organizing gurus crazy. Documents To Go's strongest asset is its deep exchange support, which allows users to import attachments from various email accounts and edit them directly upon the iPhone. You can also sync files created on your notebook or desktop to your iPhone, or import and export files from the cloud via Google Docs. Price: $14.99 Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite The Quickoffice iPhone app supports both Microsoft Word, Excel and Notepad (with Powerpoint support coming in the near future). While it may lack some of the power of its rivals, Quickoffice's app suite is a lot more intuitive, giving this app more of an “Apple feel” than either Documents To Go or Office Squared (although the apps overall are not as powerful as its rivals). Quickoffice also heavily supports cloud services like Google Docs, MobileMe and Dropbox, making this app the perfect companion for road warriors on the go. Price: $9.99 Office Squared Created by Byte, Office Squared supports both Word and Excel with support for the cloud via Google Docs (plus MobileMe iDisk). While Office Squared's user interface is not as elegant when compared against its rivals, this app does pack a little more power as Office Squared allows users to insert multiple images and tables within a word document. Power wise this tiny app does match most (if not all) of the features of its more expensive rivals (especially with Excel), although hopefully the company can “freshen up” the user interface (hint, hint). Price: $4.99 Which should you buy? If you have cash to spare, I would highly recommend you purchase Documents To Go, although Office Squared and Quickoffice are decent (if not less expensive) alternatives. If anyone else has come across any other office suite apps (especially those supporting iWork for the iPhone) feel free to let us know in the comment section below!
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Tekken bound for the iPhone
Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App StoreNamco is bringing the popular Tekken franchise to the iPhone. It's not confirmed whether it's a port of the original game -- released back in 1994 in arcades, then on the PlayStation -- or the current Tekken 6. This comes a few weeks after Capcom announced the release of Street Fighter IV for the iPhone, leading to an eventual fighter game showdown in the App Store. While both games on the iPhone is pretty awesome, I'm waiting to see how they will look and play on the iPad. I also wouldn't mind seeing even more Namco titles on the iPhone - especially selections from the Tales RPG franchise. Namco has a number of games in the store, including classics like Galaga, which was "remixed" for the iPhone, Burger Time Deluxe, which graced arcades way back in 1982! Here's hoping for old-school Tekken. [Via Gizmodo]TUAWTekken bound for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - App Store - Capcom - Namco - PlayStation
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First Look: FileMaker Pro 11
A year after the launch of FileMaker Pro 10, the Apple-owned database company is back to debut the latest version of its franchise product. FileMaker Pro 11 introduces long-awaited features and builds on the interface and engine improvements to create new capabilities. I have been taking the product through its paces for the last few weeks and I am left with the impression that this is what FileMaker Pro 10 should have been because the changes made to the interface and the scripting engine are really evident in 11. The update includes a variety of improvements that will benefit both users and developers. A New Start When greeted by the redesigned Start Screen, among the starter solutions offered as a template is a new Invoices solution. This solution allows you to track customers, products, and invoices in a single database. Invoices implements multiple tables and relationships on multiple keys and provides a great introduction to a moderately complex database. I recommend peaking under the hood to get a feel for how things are done if you are new to FileMaker. Beyond the starter solutions, you can also create a new database by starting with data from Bento, XML files, Excel spreadsheets and other sources. Once you are up and running in a database, there are a few interface changes that will jump out at you immediately. First up is the new Quick Find feature. Quick Find adds a Spotlight-like search field to your toolbar that will search through multiple fields on the current layout. This feature is handy if you are looking for something like a phone number, but are not sure if the number is in the home, office, mobile, or fax fields. You can set which fields are included in the Quick Find index to limit the search and the size of the indexes. Quick Find works like an “AND” search across multiple fields and matches on the start of strings only. It does not do partial string matching so a search on “maker” will not match “FileMaker” at this time. Layouts One small refinement is Text Highlighting. You can mark text with a yellow background in a field to bring attention to the highlighted section. More significant changes have been made to improve the ease of working with layouts. The new layout assistant makes setting up table-based report layouts a breeze. The assistant walks you through choosing fields, setting the sort order and adding sub-summaries. In the table view itself, you can now directly add fields and records with convenient + buttons and change the sort by clicking on column headers. Layouts themselves can now be organized into layout folders to make it simpler for both users and developers to work in a database with a large number of layouts. Another layout option is Portal filtering. Portal filters allow you to limit related records that are displayed in a portal by either fixed or calculated criteria. When designing layouts, new Inspector palettes grant immediate access to common formatting functions and settings. The Inspector has three tabs, but you can open up multiple inspectors and have each tab visible. The addition of the Inspector may seem a minor change, but it does bring the database product into better alignment with the iWork applications. Inspectors are packed with detail that might be overwhelming to some users, but they do add a bit of convenience and expose some features to discovery that may have been hidden deep in menu options. Charting The biggest visual change to Filemaker Pro 11 is the addition of the new charting feature. You can create pie charts, bar charts (vertical and horizontal), line graphs, and area charts and include those directly in your layouts. The charts provide an opportunity to not only create better reports but also design completely new interfaces for dashboard views and other ideas. Snapshot Links Another new user-focused feature that takes a bit of explaining is Snapshot Links. You can take a snapshot of the current records that you are viewing and send those to a co-worker with access to the same database. The snapshot includes the current found set, but also remembers the selected record, the current layout, the focused tab on a layout and other information. Previously, you may have printed a report to PDF or saved a search in FMP 10. The problem with those approaches is that the PDF is completely static and the results of the saved search may change between the time you look at the records and send those to someone else. The snapshot link always shows the current information in the database, and keeps the found set intact even if the underlying data changes. It took me a while to fully grasp the implications, but the more I think about it, the more uses I find to use this feature in a workgroup environment. Other Improvements Recurring import will watch an external file like an Excel spreadsheet and update the data in FileMaker as the watched spreadsheet changes. You can set script triggers on this file as well to have it update every 15 minutes or some other interval. You can copy and paste scripts to make it simpler to bring tricks over from other solutions. External file protection improves the security of Filemaker databases. The server version has new diagnostics to help find out which user has issued the query that is bringing the system to a crawl. Filemaker Pro 11 Server Advanced also removes user limits in this version. System requirements are substantially the same. Pricing All FileMaker 11 products are immediately available. FileMaker Pro 11 is $299/$179 upgrade (U.S. suggested list price) and FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced is $499/$299 upgrade. FileMaker Server 11 is $999/$599 upgrade and FileMaker Server 11 Advanced is $2,999/$1,799 upgrade. For a limited time, FileMaker extends upgrade pricing to licensed users of FileMaker 8 and 8.5 products. This offer expires September 23, 2010, and details are online. Recommendation There is something for everyone in this update to FileMaker Pro. Users will love the convenience of Quick Find, the visual enhancements in charting and layouts, and sharing snapshots. Developers will love the Inspector for quickly making layout changes, the scripting improvements, and the flexibility of using portal filtering and charting to create great layouts and reports without extra plugins. I see great possibilities to use these new features to create solutions with FileMaker Pro and I am probably more excited about the future of the product now than I have been over the last few years. It feels like the investment in previous versions has paid off and everything is firing on all cylinders to move ahead.
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Microsoft researcher wins Turing Award
Researcher Chuck Thacker, who helped pioneer several key aspects of the personal computer, gets honor seen as the Nobel Prize of computing. In an interview, Thacker talks about the award, his work and why he's not retiring any time soon.
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iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 drops in
Suspense! Drama! Surprises! Unrealistic expectations! It's always a veritable roller coaster of emotions whenever Apple gets around to cutting a new SDK build -- and without a doubt, iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 is no exception. We don't yet have a good read on what's new here, so if you're a member of Apple's $99 dev program and happen to get it downloaded and installed, let us know if you find anything awesome, like an iPhone 4 or iPad 2. Or, you know, anything else. Have fun!iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 drops in originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink MacRumors | iPhone Dev Center | Email this | Comments
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'AP' hires 'NYT' exec to develop apps for the iPad, other digital devices
Posted by Dennis SellersAn executive who helped run “The New York Times” wWeb site has been hired to guide “The Associated Press” in its effort to sell consumer applications for the Apple iPad and other digital devices, the news cooperative said Tuesday.
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News: Apple releases iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 4 for iPad
Apple has released the fourth beta version of its iPhone SDK 3.2 for iPad. First released in January following the introduction of the iPad, the SDK is tailored specifically to the device, including support for its 1024x768 resolution, other iPad-specific interface functions, and includes an iPad simulator application so developers can pre-test their apps in an environment similar to that of the final device. It is currently unclear what, if any,…
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EFF releases iPhone developer license agreement
Filed under: Developer, iPhoneIn a step towards transparency, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has made the entire iPhone Developer Program License Agreement available for the general public. This is the document that all iPhone developers must agree to when they become part of the iPhone developer program. As EFF points out, public copies of the license agreement are pretty scarce thanks to developers being locked under a non-disclosure agreement as part of the contract. EFF used the Freedom of Information Act to get its copy from NASA, which is the version from approximately a year ago (Rev. 3-17-09). The agreement has been updated since then. The EFF characterizes the agreement as "a very one-sided contract, favoring Apple at every turn," and that's not an overstatement. Some of the clauses and conditions in the Apple developer agreement do smack of "our field, our ball, our rules" thinking from Cupertino. Highlights from the 28-page document include: A ban prohibiting developers from making public statements about the license agreement; however the contract itself is not considered "Apple Confidential Information." Apps developed from Apple's SDK are only allowed to be sold through the App Store. You can't push it anywhere else (Cydia, etc.), even if Apple has rejected the app for any reason. Developers are forbidden to tinker with any Apple products, not just the iPhone. This includes jailbreaking. Apple is not liable for more than $50 in damages in case something happens on their end to your app. This is laughable, and I'm honestly surprised that Apple has not had a legal challenge over this yet. Devices used for testing purposes could be locked into a "testing mode," and may not be able to be restored to their original condition. That is one way to brick your device. I discussed the EFF's post with Mike Rose, and he offered some editorial comment; read on for more. Mike's Op-Ed Soapbox Dept. To get a sense of where the EFF is coming from, it's worth taking a moment to review the first sentence of Fred von Lohmann's post: "The entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch [sic], iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple -- a major shift from the norms of the personal computer market." While that's a snappy lead, it's not technically accurate; all three of the devices are designed to run any compiled & signed application for the platform, and all developers may distribute ad-hoc builds of their apps to a limited number of users without Apple knowing or caring; enterprise developers (who pay $299 for the privilege) can distribute unapproved apps much more widely. The point von Lohmann is aiming for is that the iPhone OS ecosystem and application distribution channel is almost entirely controlled by Apple; that's obvious and clear. While it's certainly "a shift from the norms of the PC market," it's far less alien to the norms of the cellphone and consumer electronics market, and none of the devices in question is a personal computer in the traditional sense of the term -- not even the iPad. There doesn't seem to be a similar degree of campaigning for openness around the Xbox Live or Wii online marketplaces, for example. Although developers aren't supposed to talk about the program agreement, I'm sure we will be seeing and hearing quite a bit of public comment around it now that EFF has lifted the veil. The EFF post concludes with a call for developers to demand better terms and for users to support them; while it's unlikely that Apple is going to shift on this, some public feedback from prominent developers might make some difference.TUAWEFF releases iPhone developer license agreement originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Apple - appstore - Electronic Frontier Foundation - iPod Touch
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Analyst: Apple warned handset makers before suing HTC
An analyst report says that Apple gave plenty of warning it intended to sue competitors that moved too close to iPhone's territory.
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News: Elgato announces new, smaller EyeTV Hybrid
Elgato has announced its next-generation EyeTV Hybrid TV tuner stick for HDTV and analog TV. Hailed by the company as “America's smallest TV tuner stick,” the new EyeTV Hybrid features an ultra-compact enclosure, a matte aluminum finish, a built-in USB connector, an analog/ATSC tuner, S-Video, Composite video, antenna, and stereo audio inputs, an IR remote control sensor for use with the included remote control, and included…
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GameSpy updates suite of iPhone development tools
Posted by Dennis SellersGameSpy Technology, a provider of online gaming services, has announced updates to their suite of tools for developers of iPhone games, including an entirely new customizable user-interface (UI) toolkit and new services such as in-app purchases and push notifications.
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Your Macsimum Podcast for March 9th
Posted by Frank PetrieToday on your Macsimum Podcast: “Big Thumbs Up!” “I Want My Tuner Stick,” “It's The Law” and ”...Story 4.”
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Apple posts iPhone SDK 3.2 beta
Posted by Dennis SellersApple has posted the iPhone SDK 3.1 beta and iPhone OS 3.1 beta on the iPhone Dev Center. Apple says they're for developers and testing only and should be installed on devices dedicated to iPhone OS 3.2 beta software development.
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Macsimum Recommended Reading' for March 9
Posted by Dennis Sellers“Chasing Fact and Fiction About Apple's Future”—“The Tech Night Owl” (http://www.technightowl.com)
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Presented By:
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Found Footage: Deconstructing the iPad Ad
Filed under: Found Footage, iPad Neil Curtis, the guy behind the adjective-filled iPad mashup video we presented last month, has taken the iPad commercial shown on the Oscar broadcast and clarified it. Our own Sang Tang did a graphical breakdown of the ad's focus earlier today, so this is a nice companion piece. In his version, he slowed down the ad to 15% speed, which gives you a much better idea of what's really going on. He also comments on a few 'Emperor's New Clothes' moments like switching models in mid-stream and how a graphic dragged into text continues to move without any user intervention. Take a look at this iPad video and see what else you can find.TUAWFound Footage: Deconstructing the iPad Ad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Video - TUAW - Apple - Business - The Emperor's New Clothes
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Source R&D brings Wisair-based wireless docking station to Macs and PCs for $150
Remember that Wisair-based wireless display adapter that we knew was headed for Macville? Looks like she has arrived. Source R&D has just introduced a universal docking station of the wireless variety, and better still, it's completely plug-and-play with Windows 7, Vista, WinXP and OS X (Leopard / Snow Leopard). The Warpia Easy Dock is a pretty simple setup; just plug a transceiver into a free USB socket, attach two USB peripherals and a DVI monitor to the base station, and enjoy the luxury of using a real-deal keyboard, mouse and LCD when your laptop is at home. Unfortunately, the resolution of monitor is capped at 1,400 x 1,050, so you certainly won't be taking fully advantage of that Dell UltraSharp U2711 you just took delivery of. It should be available momentarily for the tidy sum of $149.99.Continue reading Source R&D brings Wisair-based wireless docking station to Macs and PCs for $150Source R&D brings Wisair-based wireless docking station to Macs and PCs for $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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The Abbey
So patient are monks that, even in times of unsolved murder mysteries, they manage to keep their composure and solve conundrums at a leisurely pace. At least thatâs how the monks behave in The Abbey, a point-and-click adventure that asks you to have the patience of a friar.Known as Murder in the Abbey to PC gamers, the gameâs storyline delves deep into the hidden underground world of your favorite religious devotees. You play Brother Leonardo of Toledo, a monk sent to escort his teenage sidekick, Bruno, to the Nuestra SeĂąora de la Natividad Abbey to participate in a study with the resident monks. As soon as you arrive, a stray boulder--as huge as the one Indiana Jones ran from--attempts to run you both off the road. You soon learn that another monk has been recently killed, so you presume that the boulder was planted by whoever committed the murder. As you venture further on, Leonardo assigns himself the daunting task of investigating the mysterious murder at the abbey.While the animation is a nice departure from the usual game aesthetics, the constant dialogue leaves much to be desired.The gameplay is very basic: point and click with your left mouse button to move around the map, and right-click to select an object, clicking it again to add to your inventory, which can be permanently docked on the right side of the game window. Every cutscene is integral to figuring out the end result of the murder and brings you further clues about where to explore, but if we picked the wrong question for Leonardo to ask, we would often leave the conversation without a clue as to what to pursue next. Considering that The Abbey isnât exactly an intricate role-playing game, your only real objective is to pick up every item thatâs selectable and then experiment to see which ones interact with which characters. Some puzzles are easy to figure out, while the answer to others may be hidden in one of your long conversations with the various characters around the monastery, so be ready for some chatter.The animation of the game is truly unique, throwing us back to the days when Don Bluthâs films were on loop in our VCRs, and the voice acting is remarkably on point. However, we found controlling the characters to be frustrating. Not only do Leonardo and Bruno walk at an unhurried pace, but playing the game in windowed mode made it difficult to maneuver our characters to the right or left. Such bland gameplay made this point-and-click adventure seem more like a âpoint-and-sit-and-watch.âWhile the game does redeem itself with that terrific animation, the dialogue is often too dense to get any sort of storyline out of it, and the end result just doesnât seem worth going through the hassle of trial and error. A novice or occasional gamer may find The Abbey engaging enough to pick up for a few hours, but donât bet on them finishing it.
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Harmony
Captivating little HTML5 drawing app by Ricardo Cabello. Works swell on the iPhone too. (Via Federico Viticci.) â
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FileMaker 11 now available with charting, reporting improvements
Filed under: SoftwareApple subsidiary FileMaker has been busy; the flagship database app grows by another leap today with the release of version 11. We were lucky enough to get a pre-release demo at Macworld Expo in February and were duly impressed. As someone who's been using FileMaker since version 6, I'm thrilled with some of the additions to this update; let's get to it. Launch Right off the bat, the introduction screen is new (after the splash screen "wobbles" into view). It's wider with more options, like a link to the online resource center. There you'll find video tutorials, starter solutions (more on that later) and access to consultants. They're all extremely useful and aimed at users and developers alike. Charts The big news starts with built-in support for charts. For years, developers and users have employed plug-ins and other 3rd-party solutions to get charting done, or they simply exported data to Excel. Now those extra efforts may be a thing of the past. As you would imagine, adding a chart is super easy. While in layout mode, use the new chart tool to drag out a charting area. From there, the setup screen appears. This is a real pleasure to use. You can select between a bar graph (horizontal or vertical), line chart, area or pie. Give your chart a name, or base its name on a field or calculation. Likewise, the X and Y axis can be labeled with your own titles or a field or calculation. If you've got more than one Y axis variable (for example, number of occurrences and procedure duration) adding each is as simple as a click. Finally, you can pull data from a found set, the current record only, or from related records -- which is awesome. Now it gets fun. Click "Format Chart" to style all aspects of your chart. Select your color palette (options are presented as cute color samples), fonts, backgrounds and axis labels plus scale minimums and maximums. It's full-featured and nearly everything I wanted when I was stuck routinely exporting data to Excel just to make charts with version 6. In my testing this was simple and effective. The only thing missing for me is a scatter plot option, but a line chart could do the job in a pinch. Gallery: FileMaker 11 Snapshot Link Another feature I'm excited about is the snapshot link. Let's say you've got to share a subset of your data with a colleague, like sales figures generated from the state of California, for example. First, perform a find for invoices with "CA" in the state field, then set the sort order and layout that you want. Then, select "Snapshot Link" from the File menu to produce a snapshot of that found set as a new file, including the sort order and layout that you chose. From there, you can email the resulting file to your colleague and s/he will see the very same found set of records, sort order and layout on their machine running FileMaker 11 (assuming they have access to the same original database). But wait, there's more! If either of you edit those records, the change will be reflected on the other's machine. Awesome, right? Yes it is. Recurring Import Here's another welcome new feature. Recurring Import lets you designate a .csv file or Excel spreadsheet as a target data source that will be imported each time a given database is opened. To set it up, use the import function as you typically do. But, just before you click OK, select the "Setup as recurring import" option. From then on, any changes made to that file will be sent to that database (read only) whenever that database is opened. FileMaker even creates a layout and script for you (of course, you can tweak either). You say you don't want to re-launch the database just to update that layout? No problem. Just click the "Update" button to grab the latest data on the fly. Back in the day, I managed a huge Excel spreadsheet of thousands of incident reports that had to remain in Excel for legacy support. We had an elaborate and time-consuming method of pushing that data into FileMaker. This would have been a lifesaver. Quick Reports Here's one that developers will appreciate. Quick Reports is a new way to make on-the-fly reporting incredibly easy. In fact, you don't even have to leave browse mode. Quick Reports treats your data as if it were a spreadsheet. That's clever, as many users are coming from spreadsheets (or still tied to them), and it's a concept they're comfortable with. You can add fields and records by clicking a column or row, and even change a field's type (number, text, time, container ... even calculation or summary) right then and there. The best part is that you can create a report with grouped data from browse mode. No more setting up the subsummaries, fiddling with layouts, etc. Just add a break field to automatically generate the summaries, add a subtotal type and you've built a grouped report in table view. That's awesome. There's even more to this incredible release. Quick Find is like Spotlight for your database. Again, back in the day we wrote elaborate search scripts that aren't necessary anymore. Quick Find is always available and searches all of the fields in the current layout for your search term. It also automatically saves recent searches for quick access in the future as a drop-down list. The Inspector acts much like its counterpart in some of the iLife apps. Familiar functions like alignments, positioning (front, back, etc.) and text properties have moved to the Inspector. Remember when they were in that left-hand sidebar? Me, too. Additionally, along with the 30+ bundled starter solution databases for common home and business needs, there's a new invoice starter solution. For basic client and billing management, it may do the job for some small businesses that otherwise would have pushed towards a narrower invoicing solution. I know this is an epic post, but it's only the beginning of what's new in this release. As a long-time customer, I'm excited about it -- even more so than when we made the leap from version 6 to version 7. If you use Filemaker in your day-to-day work, you'll absolutely want to check out this update. A single license of Filemaker Pro 11 costs US$299. Upgrades from Filemaker Pro 10 and 9 are available at $179. Additionally, those using version 8.5 and 8 are eligible for upgrade pricing until September 23, 2010.TUAWFileMaker 11 now available with charting, reporting improvements originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Database - Spreadsheet - FileMaker - Apple - California
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Analyst: Apple âDisruptingâ iPhone Competitors With Legal Threats
Via Apple 2.0, Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner asserts in a research note that Apple's lawsuit with HTC over the iPhone interface was the culmination of “blunt talks” with other phone manufacturers. According to Reiner, starting in January Apple began closed-door discussions with OEMs regarding the company's “growing displeasure” with the theft of Apple's intellectual property. That displeasure was first noted a year earlier at a conference call. Apple COO Tim Cook responded to a question about the Palm Pre by stating that “we will not stand for having our IP ripped off,” though Cook wasn't necessarily talking about Palm, or just Palm, anyway. Earlier this month, Steve Jobs publicly accused HTC of theft in a press release associated with the iPhone lawsuit. Unfortunately, that lawsuit may not ultimately protect the iPhone the way Steve Jobs thinks. However, in the short term tough talk and legal action has, according to “industry checks” by Reiner, resulted in hardware manufacturers reassessing their positions regarding Google's Android operating system. Rival software and hardware teams are going back to the drawing board to look for work-arounds. Lawyers are redoubling efforts to gauge potential defensive and offensive responses. And strategy teams are working to chart OS strategies that are better hedged. Ignoring the negative impact on consumers from stifling innovation in the name of intellectual property rights, the real-world implications of driving hardware manufacturers away from Google is that they will be going towards Microsoft. With Windows Mobile as good as dead, and Windows Phone Series 7 not to be released until the end of the year, it could have been argued that Microsoft was close to being pushed out of the mobile market entirely. Don't count on that now. Microsoft has been quick to sniff out this burgeoning opportunity and has begun to aggressively promote the strength of its own IP portfolio, as well as its willingness to join battle with customers that come under IP attack. It's one thing to threaten a relatively small company like HTC, but quite another to go after Microsoft, as Apple found out once before. While temporarily disrupting Android through lawsuits isn't going to make that problem go away, it might just help Microsoft get back in the mobile business.
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News: WaterField unveils Smart Case, Slip Case for iPad
WaterField Designs has introduced its new Smart Case and Slip Case accessories for the Apple iPad. Joining the company's previously announced Ultimate SleeveCase and iPad Suede Jacket, the Smart Case is a top-loading case featuring an impact-resistant plastic inner shell with light padding, leather accents on the sides, Ultrasuede lining for protection against scratches, a color fabric exterior, and a “powermesh” back pocket for…
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News: Genera Mobile releases FORMULA 1 Live Racing 2010
Genera Mobile has released FORMULA 1 Live Racing 2010, an unofficial Formula 1 information app that allows F1 racing fans to follow Grand Prix racing on their iPhone or iPod touch. The application provides live commentary, lap-by-lap race positions, live coverage of qualification sessions and real-time leaderboards for all Grand Prix 2010 races. Users can also view detailed circuit information including weather conditions, view stats on the drivers…
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EFF knocks iPhone developer license agreement
The Electronic Frontier Foundation used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the iPhone developer agreement from a federal agency and doesn't like what it found.
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Minibosses -- This Song Is for All the Geeks Out There
Ever wanted to play Street Fighter on a guitar? Nintendo-music masters the Minibosses share the secrets to their success. Case Study: The MinibossesOccupation: Rock band specializing in remixed Nintendo musicGear: Assorted Macs, iPod touch units running Bebot, Pro Tools, Tablature, and NES emulators like NESticle and iNES.Friends, rockers, geeks: The Minibosses. Take a great thing from your youth and run with it. This could be the motto of the Minibosses, a Phoenix-based rock band that for almost 10 years has taken original Nintendo videogame songs and strung them together with incredibly energetic riffs and long medleys in a standard four piece rock format (consisting of two guitars, bass and drums) to become one of the most popular touring acts for any geek event.The band, which consists of Aaron Burke (guitar), Ben Baraldi (guitar), Robin Vining (bass), and Matt Wood (percussion), originally began back in Northampton, Massachussetts, as the Jenova Project, which toyed with the idea of throwing old Nintendo theme songs into the middle of other songs for the fun of it. When the Jenova Project broke up at the end of the â90s and the Minibosses formed in 2000, the group had found its niche. Getting to the Good Stuff Itâs one thing to love and adore the Nintendo music you grew up with. Itâs another thing to get direct access to that music in order to learn how to play it with different instruments. This is where a series of free Nintendo Entertainment System emulators such as NESticle and iNes first came in. âThose are great because with most of them you can isolate the parts and only listen to the specific stuff you need to figure out,â says Burke.This process became even easier as media players like Winamp and iTunes allowed for Nintendo Sound Files to be loaded in. Third-party extensions like Slow Me Down allow the band the slow down the tempo in order to take the songs apart and reassemble them as needed. Enter the Mac Before any kind of CD release, or even a live performance, editing and mixing becomes crucial. âWe use a lot of stuff but most of the studios we deal with use Macs for hardware, and as far as software goes, it's usually Pro Tools or some other variant thereof,â says Burke. âA bunch of us have iPods as well that we want to incorporate into the performances. The Bebot app [a music synthesizer application for the iPhone and iPod touch] is amazing.ââI've used Bebot for some home recording and once or twice live...I tend to crank up all the settings but it depends on what's going on. It's VERY easy to integrate into recordings as a real instrument,â says Burke.Playing Nintendo, only with guitars instead of controllers.Other chunks of shareware have made the process that much easier. A small Mac OS X and Windows application called Tablature creates virtual charts that tell musicians what position on a guitar string to play at what time became handy. Once installed, files can be sent back and forth, with Tablatures playing the music back to let the band know if they got it right.âNot too long ago we recorded a secret song for an upcoming game on a Mac. That song was also edited and mastered on a Mac,â continued Burke. âAs for performances, we haven't used them in a musical capacity, but when we played a show in Mexico a few years ago, we used Macs to play movies of Nintendo games over us while we played.â Leveling Up Your Cred For bands just starting out, the Minibosses advise putting the same energy into your relationships as you do your playing. âMake friends with the people who record you, if they're not your friends already,â says Burke. âLearn from someone who already knows the stuff, that's the easiest way. Don't be afraid to experiment, but also seek out whatever help you can get, and have an open mind. You don't have to record/mix/do anything the same time over and over again.âPlaying live is hard work--they could probably use a power-up mushroom right now.And outside the studio, donât forget to use social media to extend your bandâs reach. The best method: Play the gig, record everything you can, drive home, and keep uploading those recordings until the sun comes up. âWe do use social media like Facebook, MySpace, and our own website. It's generated a lot of traffic over the years, especially when we first started,â says Burke.âWe use them like most bands do, to let fans know when we're playing or have something new coming out. But we also like them for sharing photos or stories...those are things I think not enough bands spend that much time on.â Bringing It All Together When itâs all said and done, the payoff is impressive. At larger venues, the band will find itself playing in front of hundreds or thousands of bouncing, energetic video game fans, each reliving part of their childhood through the music.As the set wears on, the energy increases, the fans associating the music with the struggle and the joy of the video games they grew up on. After the show, the fans wander up to the stage, have autographs signed, snag a CD or t-shirt and talk about the games and the music.âIf you get a chance to see us, come say hi,â says Burke. âWe're nice folks, and Robin will let you stroke his beard. Well, maybe.âFor more information as well as MP3s of their most recent album, Brass, check out www.minibosses.com.
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There's an app for that, if only I could remember it
A Silicon Valley startup just released a useful iPhone/Touch app to help connect you with your data â the data inside your head. Called Forget, it may even help you remember that you've got an app for that, whatever “that” is. Infomato describes its app as “the forgetful person's instant recall machine.” According to the company, it uses memory association and recognition principals to help you find the facts, names and stuff that we can forget. Of course, you have to click in the data first! The app lets users create items associated with a word or person that we won't forget. Say you have an work acquaintance but can't remember all the associated bits: wife, kids, pets. Forget is a little database that holds those associations for you. But it can be for anything you want to remember, such as the medicines you take, things you need to buy at the store or whatever. The inventor is Wayne Lo. Here's a bit from the PR: By tapping into the strength of recognition memory, FORGET provides an age-proof solution. Studies show that while our ability to deliberately recall details can drop to 50 or 60 percent by the time we reach age 65, the capacity of our recognition memory remains at the level of an 18-year old. “FORGET is specifically designed to establish a close complementary relationship with our brain, making use of associated lists to jog our recognition memory,” said Dr. Lo. You don't have to be 65 to have duh! moments, a couple of extra drinks the night before will get you there the morning after. Forget's UI appears quick too, using a a look-ahead engine that starts presenting you with choices as you click in letters. On the bottom of the site is this warning: Warning for students: This software is intended as a study tool ONLY. Please do not use it during school exams. This is considered cheating in most schools. Check with your teachers and school officials if you are unsure. This app looks interesting, useful and the price is right: free.
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iPad will lack some standard iPhone apps at launch
Filed under: Hardware, Software, App Store, iPadWired's Brian X. Chen noticed that Apple's iPad press release touts "12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad." Take a look at the screenshot at right and you'll see twelve apps: Videos, iPod, Maps, Photos, Mail, Safari, App Store, iTunes, YouTube, Contacts, Calendar and Notes. That means a few apps that ship with the iPhone -- Stocks, Calculator, Clock, Weather and Voice Memos -- are missing. Thus, the mystery begins. Where are The Final Five? Chen suggests that they'll be released as free apps in the App Store. John Gruber believes that design problems caused the team (specifically, Steve Jobs) to withhold the apps. I agree with John and Brian. Consider the calculator app. It looks great on the iPhone, as the iPhone is about the size of a pocket calculator. If it were simply "blown up" to accommodate the iPad's screen, it would resemble one of those dollar store calculators with the enormous buttons for older folks. Definitely not what Apple is after. Also, the press release says, "... designed especially for the iPad" (emphasis mine). The five missing apps haven't yet received that loving attention, at least to Steve's satisfaction. As for getting them on the iPad, I bet they'll be a part of the next OS release and in the App Store from then on. That way, Apple won't be tied to the OS whenever they want to update those apps, and they'll have time between now and then to get them just right.TUAWiPad will lack some standard iPhone apps at launch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - iPhone - Apple - Steve Jobs - YouTube
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Cisco Announces New Routers That Could Boost AT&T Service
Cisco, today, announced a new line of routers that could end up making your iPhone's data connection run faster.The new line of routers, dubbed "CRS-3" is three times faster than previous Cisco Carrier routers and can provide up to 322Tbps (that's right 322 terabytes per second throughput). Electronista notes that much bandwidth could service the entire population of San Francisco with 1Gbps access. These new routers could mean big news to customers like AT&T who could use them as the backbone of their landline and cellular data services to better serve their customers. This in turn could mean that areas with slow-to-non-existent cellular data (i.e. SF, LA, NY etc.) could see a boost in network reliability. Of course, this is just high hopes as AT&T hasn't been mentioned as a possible customer. We might end up hearing more about the CRS-3, however, as it rolls out this summer.
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Meizu MStore open for business, Mr. Jelly on sale now for 29 cents
We have some news on the app store that Meizu announced for the M8 a while back. The official name is apparently MStore, and it is indeed open for business with its first paid app, Mr. Jelly, going for about 29 cents (we believe it's a productivity tool for managing your, um, jelly). If that sounds familiar, it is -- the game is a port of an iPhone App Store gem. Regardless of its somewhat KIRFish nature, we do wish Meizu (its app developers) all the best. Now, when are we going to get Super Monkey Ball for this thing?Meizu MStore open for business, Mr. Jelly on sale now for 29 cents originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Meizu Me | Email this | Comments
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Yair Reiner on Appleâs IP Threats to Rival Handset Makers
Philip Elmer-DeWitt, quoting from a report from Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner on the behind-the-scenes aspects of Apple’s patent suit against HTC: Starting in January, Apple launched a series of C-Level discussions with tier-1 handset makers to underscore its growing displeasure at seeing its iPhone-related IP [intellectual property] infringed. The lawsuit filed against HTC thus appears to be Apple’s way of putting a public, lawyered-up exclamation point on a series of blunt conversations that have been occurring behind closed doors. Our checks also suggest that these warning shots are meaningfully disrupting the development roadmaps for would-be iPhone killers. Rival software and hardware teams are going back to the drawing board to look for work-arounds. Lawyers are redoubling efforts to gauge potential defensive and offensive responses. And strategy teams are working to chart OS strategies that are better hedged. Reiner concludes that the effect is going to be to drive would-be Android handset makers into the arms of Microsoft and Windows Phone 7. â
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Apple wins design patents for iPod shuffle, MacBook Air
Posted by Dennis SellersApple has won three design patents from the US Patent & Trademark Office. They involve a power supply, the iPod shuffle and the MacBook Air
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Valve Opens Pipeline for Mac Gaming
Valve one of the largest distributors of online games, has announced that it will make its Steam online gaming service and proprietary gaming engine, Source, available on the Mac. The service, Steamworks for the Mac, comes equipped with Steam Play, a feature that allows play on either a PC or Mac at no additional charge. It also supports Steamworks APIs. The inclusion of WebKit into Steam and of OpenGL into Source gives the company a lot of flexibility, according to John Cook, director of Steam Development.
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Found Footage: iPad intro video as captioned by Google
Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPad Auto-captioning, introduced last year by YouTube in a pilot test, uses voice recognition to create text captions for uploaded videos (via the same massively distributed approach that Google uses for machine translation, and with the same underlying engine that Google Voice uses to transcribe voicemail). Just last week the feature was opened up to all YouTube uploaders -- but apparently it still struggled with the iPad introduction video, with unintentionally hilarious results. I now want "and it helps so many basic technology of the applications the baltic countries are going" on a t-shirt. Yes, you've might have already seen this video, but you owe it to yourself to sit down for a few minutes and watch again. Just don't drink while watching, as a spit take is imminent. [Via Engadget]TUAWFound Footage: iPad intro video as captioned by Google originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Google - YouTube - Video - Speech recognition - Google Voice
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MSN decides to keep its makeover
Microsoft is making final a series of changes to the look of the MSN portal. The company hopes a cleaner page with more videos and fewer links will help give the it a fresher look.
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Not Every iPhone Apple App to Get the iPad Treatment
Apple has a default set of apps that come with every iPhone and iPod touch that you can't remove from the device, and that provide some basic features that are likely to appeal to a wide swath of users. The iPad will have a default set, too, but it won't necessarily include all the familiar apps you know and possibly love. According to John Gruber of Daring Fireball, apps that Apple didn't show off during its iPad unveiling event weren't just left out because there weren't many major changes made to them, they actually won't appear on the platform at all. Or, if they do, they won't ship with the product and instead will be downloadable after the fact via the App Store. The apps in question are Calculator, Stocks, Weather, Clock and Voice Memos. According to Gruber's sources, the apps won't be included not because Apple has deemed them any less useful or appealing to consumers in terms of function, but because Cupertino couldn't come up with iPad-complimentary large-format designs for their user interfaces. Personally, I'm not too upset about the omissions. I barely ever use Calculator and Voice Memos, and I've opened Stocks maybe once or twice. Weather I've replaced with a much more functional third-party app. Clock is the only one I use regularly, but I suspect it won't be that hard to replace it via third-party sources if necessary, either, and I probably won't have the iPad at the gym anyway, which is where I use Clock the most for its stopwatch functions. I'm still of the opinion that Apple should make all of its native apps downloadable content, aside from the iPod and phone-related apps on the iPhone, so this is probably as close as I'll get to that coming true. But it raises an interesting question about third-party apps: if Apple can't see a way to make some of its content work on the iPad, how are developers going to be expected to cope? Changing screen size doesn't only change the amount of space you have in which to display things. It changes a user's expectation of what a piece of software will be able to do, and the way in which the program will do it. Games may be able to escape this expectation gap, since they provide roughly the same thing whether portable or not (hence the success of PS ports on the PSP), but utilities and other apps likely won't. It's fine for existing iPhone and iPod touch owners, who will probably just find using old apps dissatisfying, but know to wait for iPad-specific programs. But what about users new not only to the platform, but to iPhone OS as a whole? Ill-fitting apps could sour these new customers against the iPad right out of the gate, conceivably alienating some so strongly that they might not return to Apple for future products. There's two ways Apple can fight this: from launch, it should highlight and drive new customers to an iPad-specific section of the App Store, possibly through a modification to the App Store application itself on the device. I'm almost certain this will happen anyway, but the app should default to iPad-only titles at launch to make certain that inexperienced users will only be exposed to those if they don't understand App Store navigation fully off the bat. Finally, Apple needs to better encourage developers to convert existing apps to the iPad's dimensions, and alter their UIs accordingly. I'm not sure yet how Apple is planning to deal with developers wanting to offer iPad and iPhone-specific versions of the same app, but making that process as simple as possible for consumers looking to choose one over the other will be key to establishing developer good faith, and convincing users that the iPad isn't jut the big iPod many detractors are making it out to be. Related Research from GigaOM Pro: Web Tablet Survey: Apple's iPad Hits the Right Notes How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad With the iPad, Apple Take Google to the Mat
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Analyst: iPad content to equal almost 30% of revenue from sales of the device itself
Posted by Dennis SellersAccording to Broadpoint analyst Brian Marshall, the sale of applications, e-books, newspapers and magazines for the iPad is predicted to equal nearly 30% of the revenue Apple will earn from selling the hardware by the end of 2011.
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What About Those Multitouch Patents?
Farhad Manjoo’s piece for Slate on Apple’s patent infringement legal action against HTC bears the headline “Apple’s Multitouch Lawsuit Is Both Dumb and Dangerous”, which is slightly odd, insofar as that none of the patents Apple cited are related to multitouch. Which raises the question: Why not? Multitouch is certainly the aspect of the iPhone user interface that has been most-talked about with regard to patents, ever since it debuted at Macworld Expo in 2007 and Jobs flat-out bragged about how patented it was. Maybe the aspects of multitouch that HTC has added to the Nexus One don’t violate the patents? Update: Nilay Patel says none of Apple’s multitouch patents cover pinch-to-zoom, which, as far as I can tell, is the only “multitouch” supported on the Nexus One. â
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Appleâs iTunes LP 6 Months Later: LP What?
When it was first unveiled, Appleâs new iTunes LP format -â codenamed âCocktailâ and introduced at a ârock and roll eventâ in San Francisco -â promised to give consumers a new reason to buy albums instead of individual songs. Offering expanded cover art, lyrics, videos, animation and other digital goodies, iTunes LP was intended to evoke the feeling of spinning an LP record and holding the jacket in your hands. Especially when paired with a tablet computer (then rumored, now real) that would provide a new way to view large-format art, consumers were promised a digital experience that mimicked a physical one. Six months later, however, iTunes LP doesnât prompt much consumer recognition, and none of the industry sources with whom I spoke said they viewed it as being anywhere close to game-changing from a format perspective. Rather, itâs considered more of a curiosity. Read the full article on GigaOM â
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Analyst: Apple's lawsuit against HTC a 'warning shot' to would-be iPhone killers
Posted by Dennis SellersOppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner has issued a behind-the-scenes report on the patent suits Apple filed last week against HTC, the Taiwanese smartphone maker. As noted by Fortune, Reiner told clients:
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Hey Look Who's Joining the Party – Sony Talks About PSP Go Phone
It took me a while to finally buy one, but about a year after the original PSP came out, I bought one. I had a lot of fun with that thing, although a few dead pixels pissed me off here and there, and it was perfect for road trips and long flights. Problem was, it was perfect for road trips and long flights – not much else. Since I don't travel all that often, it  seemed funny to me to have to lug the PSP, games, cases, charger and related accessories with me every time I wanted to hop on a plane. At 34, it gets kind of difficult explaining to the TSA security screener why you have the same console that the 7 year old in the next aisle has. But besides the embarrassment factor, there are other things in play as well. The proprietary game format, for example. The discs were just clunky to carry, and expensive to purchase. $40 for a new game? No thank you, I'll just buy the full size version for $60 and get more content. Then there was the Memory Stick, which you had to buy just to save your games. Then, when the PSP Go was released, I was told that there was no more physical game to purchase, you just buy everything online. Time to throw out that old collection. Sorry, I just wasn't interested. Not unless they did something different. Three years ago, I was just one of many people talking about the possibility of a PSP phone. In all their infinite wisdom, Sony figured that they had made enough money with the PS3, so they didn't need some hokey gadget phone. Now they do. The Christian Science Monitor is reporting (albeit via the Wall Street Journal) that Sony is looking to take on the iPhone. Had this been three years ago, I'd care. But at this point, Sony's lost so much ground to Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo, that I don't know how they're going to get a foothold in the market. Between proprietary hardware and software, hardware that turns off on specific dates, and abandoning those proprietary systems mid-stream, I just don't have the trust in the company anymore. No reason for me to buy a PSP phone, and I bet a lot of people feel the same.
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Amazon Hiring Web Browser Developers
Michael Calore: A job posting for a browser engineer at Lab126, the division of Amazon that develops the Kindle, indicates the company is looking for somebody to develop âan innovative embedded web browserâ for a consumer product. […] The Kindleâs current browsing experience is notably sub-par. Itâs good enough to check your e-mail, post to Twitter or read Wikipedia, but it doesnât handle images or more complex web apps particularly well. It certainly doesnât live up to the same vision of the mobile web being outlined by the iPhone, or Android phones like the Droid or Nexus One. Calore is right that the current Kindle browser is poor, but I wonder whether this job opening is for the Kindle. One problem Amazon would have with a Kindle armed with a good mobile browser is that it might encourage too much use of the browser — existing Kindles don’t have Wi-Fi and only access the Internet via “free” 3G networking. The reason Amazon can provide free 3G is that it’s typically only used for buying books. Add a great browser and I don’t see how they could afford free 3G. (Maybe future Kindles will be Wi-Fi only?) â
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Querious is new database manager for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersAraelium Group has released Querious, an US$29 database management application for Mac OS X. It includes the ability to view, edit, and search data, manage table schema, indexes, queries, and users, and ships initially with a native connector to MySQL 5. Direct, SSH, and SSL connections are all supported.
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March Madness over 3G and EDGE
T-Mobile switches its default mobile browser, Tekken is coming to the iPhone, and CBS has a new app that will stream March Madness over 3G and EDGE.
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News: Jays rolls out a-Jays high-performance earphones
Jays has introduced its new a-Jays high-performance earphones. Available in three models, all a-Jays earphones feature an 8.6mm driver and flat, tangle-free TPE cords. The One model offers a sleek black finish, while the Two model sports a highly polished finish, a more bass-heavy sound signature, and an included stereo splitter and flight adapter. Finally, the Three model features a rubber coating, as well as titanium coated diaphragm (TCD)…
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Ricky Sandler's Hedge Fund Eminence Capital Boosts Bet on Financials: 13F Filing
(This post is part of our series on tracking hedge fund portfolios. If you're unfamiliar with tracking investments they disclose via SEC filings, check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.) Next up is Ricky Sandler's hedge fund Eminence Capital. Prior to Eminence, Sandler started his career as a research analyst for Mark Asset Management and then went on to start Fusion Partners at the age of 25 with Wayne Cooperman. As their investment styles started to differ, Sandler went on to start his new hedge fund. Sandler employs a 'quality value' approach to running his portfolio, spending equal time on both the long and short sides of his portfolio. In the past, he has said they employ gross leverage and are typically around 120% long and 70% short. Sandler attended the University of Wisconsin and holds a CFA designation.
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Why Apple's Oscar Ad Won't Go Viral
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Apple went big on TV for the new iPad with multiple spots during the Oscars telecast, but don't expect "Meet iPad" to do huge numbers on the web.
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Steve Ballmer compliments Apple, Hell freezes over
Filed under: Apple Corporate, RumorsThe Seattle Times is reporting that Steve Ballmer, who notoriously laughed at the iPhone, had some good things to say about it last week in a speech he gave at the computer-science building at the University of Washington. "Apple's done a very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their intellectual property," he said. Ordinarily, a comment like this might not be significant, but in this case it adds fuel to the fire that Apple will replace Google with Bing as the default search engine in the next iPhone OS. Google and Apple are increasingly at odds and it's possible that Apple may see an alliance with Microsoft as a way to stave off Google's mobile growth. For Microsoft, a deal that puts Bing on the iPhone would be a huge win as mobile search is becoming increasingly common. Smart phones are becoming more mainstream and the iPhone is increasingly dominating the handset market. Currently Microsoft offers a Bing iPhone app. Whether Bing goes further on the iPhone remains to be seen because Ballmer, rather uncharacteristically, is staying mum. The Seattle Times cornered Ballmer after his speech and asked is there an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing going on, to which Ballmer just smiled, said he couldn't answer and climbed into his car.TUAWSteve Ballmer compliments Apple, Hell freezes over originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments iPhone - Microsoft - Google - Steve Ballmer - Bing
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WaterField Design announces iPad cases
Posted by Dennis SellersWaterField Design has introduced two cases for the Apple iPad: the Smart Case and the thin iPad Slip Case. Both new cases offer protection for the iPad and come in six colors.
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UniPrint 7.0 simplifies network printing for Mac
Posted by Dennis SellersUniPrint has launched UniPrint Version 7.0. Incorporating an enhanced printer driver, UniPrint Version 7.0 is the first printing solution that significantly improves overall printing quality, speed, manageability and security for Mac users working in a 32- or 64-bit physical or virtual desktop environment, according to Arron Fu, vice president, Software Development,...
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Widgets Are Indeed Missing From iPad, Says John Gruber
Almost as soon as the iPad was shown in Steve Jobsâ hands back in late January, speculation ran rampant about whether or not some of the stock iPhone applications were missing in action, or simply consolidated into some kind of secret âwidget mode.âMacRumors is letting the air out of the so-called âsecret widget mode,â a theory that missing iPhone applications have been included on the iPad, revealed only by way of some kind of Mac OS X Dashboard-style magic (with a five-finger gesture being proposed). Among the missing apps are Stocks, Weather, Voice Memo, Clock and Calculator.But according to Daring Fireballâs John Gruber, his sources dispute that thereâs any kind of âsecret widget modeâ and that the missing apps were in fact scrapped by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.âItâs not that Apple couldn't just create bigger versions of these apps and have them run on the iPad,â Gruber writes. âIt wasn't a technical problem, it was a design problem. There were, internally to Apple (of course), versions of these apps (or least some of them) with upscaled iPad-sized graphics, but otherwise the same UI and layout as the iPhone versions.âEnds up that just blowing up iPhone apps to fill the iPad screen looks and feels weird, even if you use higher-resolution graphics so that nothing looks pixelated,â Gruber continues. âSo they were scrapped by you-know-who. Perhaps they'll appear on the iPad in some re-imagined form this summer with OS 4.0, but when the iPad ships next month, there won't be versions of these apps. At least that's the story I've heard from a few well-informed little birdies.âFurthermore, Gruber notes that while iPhone games will work well on the iPad, simpler ânon-game iPhone applicationsâ may feel strange on the new device, regardless of which method they are run (blown up to full screen or at native resolution as a small box in the center of the screen).It seems like the iPad will be an entirely new user experience, which will likely require a lot more app tweaking to make enhanced versions of existing apps work well. Weâll all know soon enough, as the Wi-Fi enabled iPad will finally be available on April 3âŚ
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Disable AirPort when Ethernet cable is connected
At my office, I needed to find a way to turn of the wireless network when someone plugged in their network cable. I also did not want them to be able to turn the wireless network back on until the network cable was unplugged. I came up with the fallowing solution. I created a launchDaemon called com.companyname.ethernetmonitor, and saved it in /System ť Library ť LaunchDaemons: Label com.companyname.ethernetmonitor ProgramArguments /Library/Scripts/CompanyName/turnOffAirp...
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Clean .DS_Store, .Trash, and ._resources files prior to copy
Frequently we need to clean a directory before zipping it or copying it to an external USB drive to be used by Windows or Linux users. Apple Finder has the custom of populating directories with those unavoidable .DS_Store files, volumes with .Trashes, and some files (especially pictures) with ._resources. The following interactive script will safely remove these files prior to copying. #!/bin/sh # bash script to clean (delete) Finder .DS_Store, .Trashes and ._resources # Use cleandsstores.sh # juanfc 2010-03-06 if [ $# != 1 ] then echo "ERROR: usent`basename $0` dirtoclean" exit 1 fi res=`find "$@" ( -name ".DS_Store" -or -name ".Trashes" -or -name "._*" ) -print` if [[ -z $res ]]; then echo "nothing to delete" exit 0 el...
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News: CBS releases NCAA March Madness On Demand
CBS Interactive has released a new app for iPhone and iPod touch users to follow the NCAA March Madness tournament games on their devices. NCAA March Madness on Demand provides live streaming video of every game of the tournament, available over both Wi-Fi and 3G/EDGE connections. The application also provides Westwood One live radio broadcasts of all games, video-on-demand highlights, game previews and current scores and headlines. Users can…
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FileMaker Pro 11 Brings Faster Database Creation
(Images courtesy of AppleInsider)Veteran Mac database software FileMaker Pro 11 was released Tuesday, and among the new features are improved chart visuals, on the fly reporting, Quick Find and a host of new productivity tools to make database creation faster and easier.Appleâs FileMaker Inc. subsidiary announced the latest version of their flagship software today with FileMaker Pro 11. But they didnât stop there: Updates are available for the entire product line, including FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced, FileMaker Server 11 and FileMaker Server 11 Advanced, according to AppleInsider."FileMaker Pro 11 is designed for solving real-world business problems, such as the need for interpreting business data," explains FileMaker Inc. vice president of marketing and services Ryan Rosenberg. "With easy-to-use integrated charting, we bring dynamic visual reporting to FileMaker Pro 11 users. We also provide new tools to boost all usersâ productivity, helping novice and expert users alike build, share and publish better databases."Among the new features, FileMaker Pro 11 offers dynamic professional-quality pie, bar, area or line charts which allow users to visualize, evaluate and report on data in a new or existing layout. Add a pie chart tab within an existing layout, for example, and you can see your sales charted graphically in any way you choose. FileMaker Charts can also be published to the web, using FileMaker Pro Instant Web Publishing.Of interest to most users will be all of the new tools provided to build and use databases more quickly and easily: Innovative Quick Find with iTunes style that searches across all fields within a layout; Inspector, a master tool palette that controls layout objects and properties in one convenient place; Object Badges to visually identify scripted fields in layouts with color-coded icons; A new Invoices Starter Solution, one of more than 30 built-in solutions, designed to track product and customer details and create, manage and print customized invoices for every order; An improved Quick Start Screen to help users create new databases, manage favorite files and find helpful resources; and text highlighting to emphasize key words or numbers in fields.FileMaker Pro 11 is now available for $299 ($179 upgrade version), with pricing for other versions available at the companyâs website, www.filemaker.com.
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Steam Coming to Mac? Confirmed
For years, the Mac gaming has been about kids games, new releases released a year after the PC version ships, and lousy gameplay. Now, it's all been changed. We first posted about this back in February, but now it's all been confirmed. Steam is coming to the Mac. For the uninitiated, here's what Steam is, according to their website. Instantly access your favorite games The full Steam library and all future Steam releases are at your fingertips. After you've purchased a game, download it immediately and start playing. Join the Steam Community Now it's easy to find someone to play with, meet up with friends, connect with groups with similar interests, and host and join chats, matches, and tournaments. Best of all, it's all free. Chat with your friends while gaming With Steam's “Friends” service, you can talk to your friends while you play. You can also see when they're playing games and easily join the same servers together. Easily browse multiplayer game servers Steam's integrated server browser makes it easy to navigate thousands of Internet game servers. Receive automatic game updates Hunting for patches and downloading from unorganized web sites is so twentieth-century. On Steam, your games stay up-to-date by themselves. No hassles. Play your games on any PC Once you have a Steam account, you can sign in from any PC to access your games. Your games are associated with your account, not your computer. Enjoy Steam-only special offers From pre-release discounts to free-play weekends, Steam delivers what gamers value most. Now take out all of those “PC” references and swap them with “Mac,” and you've got online gaming for the Mac, all ready to go. But wait, there's more. “Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac,” said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play.” Meaning, if you already play Steam games on your Boot Camp drive or on another PC, you don't have to buy anything new to play on the Mac. They also announced that the Mac is going to be under the same release schedule as games for Windows and the XBox 360. All of a sudden, things are looking up. It's about time someone started taking Mac gaming seriously.
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Postbox adds Things and OmniFocus support
Filed under: Software, ProductivityThe first time I heard about Postbox, it was a relatively new email client for the Mac. Based on the details in the first announcement and my trial run, I was very intrigued. I recall telling the rest of TUAW that -- if its stated goals were achieved -- it had the potential to take over my Mail.app setup. See, I love my setup, but everything that I really like about Mail has been added by plugins, and those plugins require a certain performance and stability sacrifice. It would be bittersweet to part with everything I've built there, but it would be a welcome change if it were a step up. With better task management, great search features, tabbed views, a plugin architecture and more, Postbox has always struck me as a serious challenger. Since the last time we mentioned it, Postbox (which is Mozilla-powered) has continued to become more Mac-like, with system-wide Address Book sync, notification integration with iCal, Spotlight indexing, and more drag and drop features. There's even a way to instantly transfer photos to iPhoto, making it easy to save all of those travel pictures your mom decided to send ... one attachment at a time. Most importantly (to me), the most recent release (1.1.2) has added integration features for task managers Things and OmniFocus. If you've ever explored productivity apps on the Mac, you've probably at least tried one of these to-do list apps before. We've covered both Things and OmniFocus quite a bit in the past. The consensus that came out of the early battle between these two prominent apps was -- to put it (too) simply -- that Things (a 2009 Macworld Best in Show winner) was the simpler, more elegant one, and OmniFocus (a 2008 Best in Show winner) was the complex, more powerful one. Whichever you prefer, if your task manager is one of these, you can now turn emails in Postbox directly into tasks (with a link back to the original message in the notes). It's not a new concept to Mail.app users, but it's been something that many people who've switched to Postbox (or are thinking about it) have sorely missed. I'm hoping this is a step towards an architecture that will allow any task management app (or other note-taking/productivity apps) to do the same, in the way Mail's AppleScript dictionary makes possible. It is possible, right now, to drag a message to create a link to it in another app. I just want to be able to script that! I won't delve into all of the previously-existing features (we've been there before), but I'll highlight a couple that have really been tempting me. First, there's a great GMail vibe to the message handling, including "conversation" views (like threaded views where you can read an entire conversation at once), and Topics (essentially tags, or labels if you're familiar with GMail). A message can have multiple topics, allowing it to exist in multiple places in your organization scheme, similar to MailTags for Mail. Instead of flagging messages (or starring, in GMail parlance), you add a To-Do item to it, and those can be easily searched, pinned and integrated with your workflow. They show up as flags or stars, too, if you view the same message elsewhere. To-Do's can exist on their own, too, without being attached to an email. The search features of Postbox are pretty stunning, too, with speed, accuracy and flexibility. If you want to see all of the images, links, or attachments in a message, conversation or entire mailbox, you can pop up a new tab and do just that. It's a powerful package. I've only tested Postbox with IMAP, so I can't attest to its performance with POP accounts. My Google Apps account works great with it, and it causes no problems with Mail on my iPhone. I've tested it with both Things and OmniFocus, and the new integration features are working perfectly. You can read up on the latest developments at the Postbox blog. The Things/OmniFocus integration works right out of the gate, but you'll probably want to grab the latest version of your chosen task manager just to be sure. The prior inability to link back to my emails was the biggest issue holding me back, so I'm giving Postbox an extended test run right now. We'll see if it ultimately fits in to my up-'til-now Cocoa-only organization app lineup ... I'll let you know how it goes. If you're tired of Mail.app's lack of advanced features (or the shenanigans involved with adding them), you can try Postbox for free, and pick up a license for $39.95US. If you haven't already picked a task manager, Things and OmniFocus, both have free trials as well.TUAWPostbox adds Things and OmniFocus support originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Mail - Postbox - Email client - OmniFocus - Apple
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My iPad Wishlist: 10 App Requests
Watching the iPadâs first television spot on the Oscars last night, I got giddy all over again to get my hands on this hot new product. Though itâs still a few weeks away, Iâm even more excited for the applications that will be coming to the platform. Hereâs my top 10 list of apps that I want to see developed for the iPad. Coda As a graphic designer and web developer, Coda is a staple in my workflow. It features a built in FTP system which could be problematic to port to a mobile device, considering there isnât a traditional file structure to store data. However, perhaps the iPadâs new file storage system will provide an adequate solution. Regardless, as someone who codes, it would be awesome to sit next to a client and modify code and push changes to a site all from my iPad while they load and test the revisions on their own desktop. Photoshop Before you laugh, remember that Adobe has already released Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone; and, all things considered, itâs not such a bad application. A larger iPad version could allow support for opening and manipulating native Photoshop files as well as working between multiple files. CS4 introduced a new tabbed approach to viewing multiple documents at once. A similar setup could easily be implemented on the iPad. Katamari Damacy Whatâs a fun touchscreen device without a fun game? Katamari already exists as an iPhone app so itâll scale up decently on the iPad. But given the advanced graphics of the iPad and the larger screen, a native iPad version is a must. If youâve never played Katamari, check out this clip below. iMovie Call me crazy (it doesnât hurt to be wishful) but the feasibility of an iMovie like app is certainly within the realm of possibility. I would have never expected Apple to introduce video editing on the iPhone. Nevertheless, along with a video camera, the iPhone 3GS allows for simple video edits. Why couldnât we have a larger implementation of this on the iPad, provided it gains a video camera at some point? With the larger screen, thereâs plenty of room to view a larger timeline, add transitions or effects and with one tap, upload your masterpiece to YouTube. iChat Iâm actually quite surprised this app still hasnât made it to the iPhone yet, but as a platform thatâs designed to be âthe best way to experience the web, email, photos and video,â the iPad seems like the perfect device for iChat, especially if a future model gains a video camera. Screen Sharing or Remote Desktop There have been a number of third-party developers that have created similar apps for the iPhone, but Iâm honestly shocked to see that Apple hasnât implemented its own solution yet. With a larger screen and almost full-size keyboard, remotely accessing and interacting with other Macs on my network would be a breeze on the iPad. Preview While the iBooks application will open books that are in EPUB format, Iâd love to see a more robust implementation of Preview available on the iPad (and iPhone). Specifically, an app that is capable of annotating PDF files and provides support for links within PDFs. Since Iâm also an academic, some of the journals I read (as PDFs) contain bookmarks to other articles or chapters and currently, none of the built-in applications on the iPhone support interacting with them. Hulu I donât care how it has to happen or if it involves Flash or not. Who doesnât want Hulu on the iPad? Even if it required a small subscription, I would love to be able to access my Hulu queue on the go. Better yet, since the iPad is a closed system, the app could download and cache content so it wouldnât necessarily have to be streamed in real time. This could be a great solution to save AT&Tâs crowded bandwidth for 3G models and allow Wi-Fi only models to still play even if a network isnât around. Iâd pay for that; would you? Bento/Filemaker Now that we have iWork, how about a real implementation of Bento (or FileMaker if thatâs not too much to ask). The current iPhone version is pretty pathetic and really hard to manipulate larger databases. While FileMaker may be a stretch, Iâd put serious money on seeing an iPad version of Bento before the year is out. An Improved iTunes App It looks as though the new iTunes app represents a step ahead of the current iPhone version, but there are still some missing features that would make this app a definite rock star on the iPad. Adding support for Internet radio, browsing my other libraries by Home Sharing or support for iTunes Extras and LPs would be amazing. Honestly, why hasnât Apple announced support of iTunes Extras and LPs? The specs call for a viewing area of 1280×720 (the 720p high definition standard). They also call for building your iTunes Extras with whatâs called a bleed graphic, or a graphic that can âfill in the extra spaceâ if youâre viewing it at a size greater than 1280×720. Now given that as a way to compensate for a difference in aspect ratios, if you were to scale down an iTunes Extra for the 1024×768 display, wouldnât it just make sense? Come on, if the Apple TV can do it (and we all know how excited Apple gets about that product), shouldnât the iPad as well? What are your thoughts on apps youâd like to see? Share your thoughts in the comments below. The great thing about Appleâs developer community is that they keep up with whatâs discussed in the blogosphere. You never know; a developer might see your suggestions. So, share what youâd like to see on the iPad!
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Survey of IT Administrators finds that Macs cost less to manage than PCs
Posted by Dennis SellersIn response to a survey conducted by the The Enterprise Desktop Alliance—an organization to help IT departments integrate Macs into the corporate environment—260 IT administrators from large organizations with both Macs and PCs responded that Macs are less expensive than PCs to manage.
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FileMaker Pro 11 delivers charts, 'on the fly' reporting, more
Posted by Dennis SellersFileMaker, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, has released FileMaker Pro 11, which sports such new features as charting, “on the fly” reporting, a new Quick Find capability, and tools for easier database creation.
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Warehouse is new task-based backup solution for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis Sellers The Alchemist Guild has released Warehouse 1.0, a task-based backup solution for Mac OS X. The US$9.99 offers a lightweight single window interface for backing up files from your Mac to any removable media device such as external hard drives, USB memory sticks or even other Macs connected on a network....
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Elgato introduces the worldâs smallest hybrid TV tuner stick
Posted by Dennis Sellers Elgato has announced what it says is the world's smallest hybrid TV tuner stick. The next generation of EyeTV Hybrid introduces an ultra-compact enclosure in a matte aluminium finish.
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News: Case-mate ships Hug case and charging pad for iPhone
Case-mate is now shipping its Hug protective case and charging pad solution for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The Hug consists of a two-piece hard plastic case featuring aluminum accents and open access to the headphone jack, power button, volume buttons, and ring/silent switch, and a desktop charging pad with an aluminum base. When placed on the charging pad, the Hug case begins charging the encased iPhone wirelessly, shutting off automatically…
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iKit introduces iPhone 3GS flip case
Posted by Dennis SellersiKit has introduced the US$35 Chrome Flip Case for the iPhone 3GS. It costs and is available in red, blue, grey and white.
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Jumsoft adds to collection of add-ons for iWork
Posted by Dennis SellersJumsoft has announced Pages Clip 6.0, continuing its collection of add-ons for iWork, Apple's US$79 suite of productivity tools.
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Griffin + Threadless Co-Op Initiative unveil new case patterns
Posted by Dennis SellersGriffin Technology has unveiled a new collection of designs from the Griffin + Threadless Co-Op Initiative. Two new case patterns, Permafrost Pollution and Funkalicious, join the line of cases.
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Spying school district update: remote webcam functionality disabled, two IT monkeys suspended
We're still waiting for all the legal fallout from the Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District webcam spying case, but more news is slowly trickling out about the whole thing, including the technology that the school used: a remote administration suite called LANrev. An update to the software, releasing this week, will disable the option for admins (or pervy IT workers) to remotely switch on a computer's webcam, hopefully preventing a replay of this situation. Beyond that, two unnamed (and possibly pervy) IT workers have been suspended for their involvement in this whole situation. Are they the ones who went too far, or was it their managers who ordered them to do it and are now throwing their dutiful peons to the fire? We may never know the truth, but at least we can now frolic naked in front of our MacBooks without fearing that dreaded green light.Spying school district update: remote webcam functionality disabled, two IT monkeys suspended originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | The Unofficial Apple Weblog, The Philadelphia Inquirer | Email this | Comments
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EFF: Apple Owns Your Apps (and Maybe Your Soul?)
While most developers wonât hesitate for a moment to sign Appleâs iPhone Developer Program License Agreement in blood to have even a piece of the App Store action, a new legal analysis reveals some disturbing reasons as to why you might want to think twice.The Electronic Frontier Foundation has gotten their hands on a copy of Appleâs iPhone Developer Program License Agreement and have distilled a few choice nuggets which should give most developers pause before they drink the Kool-Aid, as it were. Thanks to the existence of the NASA iPhone app, the EFF was able to use the Freedom of Information Act to ask the space agency for a copy of the license agreement dated March 17, 2009, and hereâs some of what they discovered.Section 10.4 of the agreement âprohibits developers, including government agencies such as NASA, from making any âpublic statementsâ about the terms of the Agreement.â The EFF finds this section âstrange,â noting that the Agreement itself is not âApple Confidential Informationâ as defined in Section 10.1 -- meaning that âthe terms are not confidential, but developers are still contractually forbidden from speaking âpubliclyâ about them.âSection 7.2 makes it clear that if you use the iPhone SDK to develop your app, you canât sell it anywhere but Appleâs own App Store. All well and good, unless your app should get rejected -- meaning you are then prohibited from distributing it through Cydia or Rock Your Phone, both available for jailbroken devices.Section 3.2(e) was widely reported on when first added last year, which essentially bans jailbreaking to begin with. But it doesnât stop there: The EFF notes that âit appears to prohibit developers from tinkering with any Apple software or technology, not just the iPhone, or âenabling others to do so.ââ That could preclude iPhone developers from making iPods work with open source software, for instance.Section 8 is one of the more draconian: Apple can ârevoke the digital certificate of any of Your Applications at any time.â Yes, that means that Apple essentially has a âkill switchâ built into the App Store and they can remove your app from it at any time.Finally, Section 14 states that, âno matter what, Apple will never be liable to any developer for more than 50 dollars in damages.â Thatâs right: Apple has developers by the short hairs to begin with, but if they should happen to trip you up in any way, âthe Agreement tries to cap you at the cost of a nice dinner for one in Cupertino.âThe entire iPhone Developer Program License Agreement is available for download as a PDF on the EFF website.
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News: Surviving High School releases new Mega Pack
Electronic Arts has released the first new mega pack for its episodic Surviving High School game. “Homecoming Queen” casts the player in the role of a female student who must work on her popularity, dancing skills and find a date in order to become Homecoming Queen. While the original main game pack “Football Season” cast the player in the role of a male football player, the new add-on pack provides players with the opportunity…
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A look at the framework of Apple's iPad ad
Filed under: iPad The iPad, like the iPhone, used the Oscars to make its ad debut. As is typical with an Apple ad, the iPad's ad featured a montage of different uses for the device, all while set to the backdrop of a catchy tune. In making his case for the iPad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that it would offer a better experience than a smartphone and a notebook computer in the following areas: Browsing Email Photos Videos Music Games eBooks The iPad's first ad reflects this ideal. The ad, when analyzed based on the on-air time dedicated to a particular function, reveals a device that will be marketed for jack-of-all-trades functionality, with a particular focus on its media consumption appeal and differentiation. About 80 percent of all 720 frames (30 seconds of total ad's total time multiplied by 24 frames per second) of the iPad's ad showed an app being used. And within this time, the photo app was shown the most, accounting for 26 percent of total frames where an app is being used. The mail app came in second, with 22 percent. With 20 percent of airtime, the iBook app highlights Apple positioning the iPad to compete against eBook readers. While a New York Times app wasn't shown, the ad, which shows the paper being displayed in a Safari browser window instead, also points to Apple positioning the iPad to appeal those who consume traditional print media publications -- such as newspapers and magazines. Although a Safari browser was briefly shown toward the end of the ad browsing Facebook, almost all Safari activity displayed the New York Times. In a September 2009 interview with the New York Times' David Pogue, Steve Jobs provided somewhat of a glimpse into how Apple would market and differentiate the iPad. Jobs argued that while dedicated devices such as Amazon's Kindle will always exist and that they may have offer some advantages in doing just one thing, "general-purpose devices will win the day" because "people just probably aren't willing to pay for a dedicated device." The iPad's first ad clearly follows this ideal.TUAWA look at the framework of Apple's iPad ad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Steve Jobs - Apple - New York Times - Safari - iPhone
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Mapdiva updates Ortelius map illustration software for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersMapdiva has updated Ortelius, its map illustration software for Mac OS X, to version 1.0.7. With the update, Ortelius User's Guide is now online
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Analyst Predicts Content Sales Will Be Near 30% of iPad Revenue
While itâs widely known that Apple makes most of its money from hardware, one analyst predicts that the various content sold on the forthcoming iPad will equal nearly 30 percent of what Cupertino makes on the device by 2011.Itâs anyoneâs guess what will happen with the iPad when it starts shipping on April 3rd, but analyst Brian Marshall with Broadpoint.AmTech has some educated guesses, according to AppleInsider. Marshall issued a note on Tuesday morning predicting that the content revenue alone will top 10 percent of total iPad cash by December, 2010 -- and that number will triple by the end of 2011.âWe believe the iPad offers a rich media experience that will translate into a content-based recurring revenue stream over time,â Marshall writes.Should Marshallâs prediction pan out, it would be a flip-flop for Apple, who has historically claimed that the App Store and iTunes in general do not create significant revenue for the company. In fact, in January of this year, chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer noted that Apple runs âa bit over break evenâ for both storefronts. The official company line is that the two stores are not intended to be big profit machines, but instead a âloss leaderâ to attract customers to their hardware.Analyst Marshall had previously forecast that Apple would ship 2.2 million iPads in the 2010 calendar year, but has raised his estimates to 4 million units. However, âif the device lives up to its potential,â the analyst can see Apple shipping more than 7 million units this year -- a figure thatâs much higher than current Wall Street estimates.And what about the mediaâs often pessimistic view of the device itself?âWe note the vast majority of the naysayers have not yet had the opportunity to use the iPad on a firsthand basis,â Marshall writes. âAs we stated in the past, we were hooked after the first 15 minutes of use. In our view, the true genius of the device is its media/content specs (e.g. e-books, newspapers/magazines, apps/games, movies/TV episodes, etc.), which we believe will be recurring in nature.âYou can take the plunge for yourself when the iPad goes on preorder at Appleâs website this Friday, with the Wi-Fi model available on April 3.
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Animate 2 software coming for Macs, Windows
Posted by Dennis SellersToon Boom Animation has announced the upcoming release of Toon Boom Animate 2, an update of the animation software that lets you publish animation for all types of media, from online to HDTV.
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CBS Sports March Madness app will stream your games live
Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch I'm much more of a baseball fan (go Cubs!), but of course it is now March, and that means college basketball is about to heat up. CBS Sports has now released an official March Madness On Demand app, and just like the great MLB iPhone app, this one also offers streaming video on demand of 63 March Madness games. Video even comes over 3G and EDGE, so no matter where you are, you'll be able to keep up to date on what's happening in the big tournament. The app also offers scores and bracket updates (so you can see how your picks are playing out), as well as connections to Facebook and Twitter, so you can do a little trash-talking, too. There is a lite version that offers up just scores and news, but the US$9.99 premium version gives you live video of all the games, and/or audio broadcasts as they happen from Westwood One (and the press release says CBS worked in conjunction with MLB Advanced Media, so I'd guess the quality is pretty good). If you're planning on watching the tournament at all, and think you might spend at least a game or two away from the television, the app will probably be worth it. It's up for download right now on the App Store -- play ball! No wait. What do they say for basketball? Tip off?TUAWCBS Sports March Madness app will stream your games live originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments AppStore - IPhone - IpodTouch - Apple - IPod Classic
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Urban Airship's Flight Plan: Push Out Info, Pull In Revenue
Given the growing popularity of mobile devices and the great many applications to go with them, you would think that this new niche had plenty of room for newcomers. Many of those newcomers, though, will find it difficult to capture a great deal of consumer attention. Places like the Android Market and the Apple App Store are popular and growing fast, but they're awash in apps that struggle to stand out from the crowd. Urban Airship recognized the potential for mobile app sales.
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The iPad's Cruel Teaser
Apple debuted its first TV ads for the iPad during the Academy Awards television broadcast on Sunday, doing what Apple does best: showing us dozens of things we can do with an iPad in just a few seconds, all to the tune of some hip music we've never really listened to before. Yet these ads are like walking into a restaurant where the menu doesn't arrive -- we're hungry and salivating, but in this case, the key that holds the fine-print details won't arrive until April 3. In just 30 seconds, Apple showed off all the core features of an iPad.
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OWC announces Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini
Posted by Dennis SellersOther World Computing says its its OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini is the first 2.5-inch, 1TB, quad interface, bus powered portable storage solution on the market and available for immediate ordering with 10 models priced from US$119.99.
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Case-Mate's Hug wireless iPhone charging solution shipping now for $100
Remember that wireless induction charger that we saw poking around at the CES iLounge Pavilion earlier this year? Seems that Case-Mate has finally given that little doohickey a name, a price and a ship date. The aptly-titled Hug (which consists of the Hug Case and Hug Pad) slips onto one's iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS and allows Apple's darling to get recharged by simply laying on the aforementioned platter. Of course, the case itself is distractingly bulky, and this whole thing relies on the same eCoupled technology that we've been seeing for years now -- though, the fact that this pad will charge any other case that utilizes the same standard is worth noting. Is the ability to never need your dock connecting cable for rejuvenation purposes really worth the $99.99 asking price? We're guessing not, but those that disagree can get their own shipped out this very moment.Continue reading Case-Mate's Hug wireless iPhone charging solution shipping now for $100Case-Mate's Hug wireless iPhone charging solution shipping now for $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | PR Newswire | Email this | Comments
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MacVector 11.1 for Mac OS X consolidates and 'tweaks' new features
Posted by Dennis SellersMacVector has released MacVector 11.1. This release as been designed to consolidate and “tweak” the new features and changes that have been made over the last four major releases.
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Will Books Be the Next to Go in Apple's App Store Purge?
Over the last month or so, Apple (AAPL) has clearly been on a mission to trim down the App Store to applications that are useful and family friendly. First, it removed thousands of sex-themed applications, and it's also been making moves to crack down on overly simplistic 'cookie cutter' apps. But there may be yet another segment of the App Store on the chopping block: Books. According to a recent report, books represent 27,000 of the App Store's 150,000 applications, making them the most abundant type of application on the App Store. And they're becoming increasingly redundant. Before developers get alarmed, I should make it clear that I haven't heard anything about Apple removing the myriad book apps from the App Store. But given the impending release of Apple's own iBooks app alongside the iPad, and the recent App Store cleanup spree, I won't be at all surprised if they do something to change the way books are treated on the platform.
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Cramer's Lightning Round - Cisco Is the One (3/8/10)
Stocks discussed on the lightning round session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Monday March 8.Bullish Calls:Cisco (CSCO): "Cisco is my largest position… the stock is breaking out here… big announcement tomorrow… I reiterate, this stock could go to $35 before it is expensive… so I agree with you. Cisco is the one."
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Artman21 releases JeditAnywhere 1.0.2
Posted by Dennis Sellers Artman21 has released an update (version 1.0.2) of the system preference pane, JeditAnywhere, that lets you edit the selected text in mailers, word processors or other applications with the Jedit X text editor..
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MonkeyBread Software releases the MBS SQLite Extension in version 1.0
Posted by Dennis SellersMonkeybread Software has released version 1.0 of the MBS SQLite Extension.
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How about a division to help companies to integrate iPhone/iPad hardware into their systems?
Posted by Dennis SellersRecently I pondered whether closer integration between Mac OS X proper and the iPhone OS was coming. Regarding that convergence, I would like to see Apple either license or get into the business of helping a lot of different companies upgrade their interfaces.
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A Reason to Watch the Oscars – iPad Commercial Debuts
If you were watching the Oscars last night, then you probably saw the debut iPad commercial. Maybe even more than once. But if you haven't, head on over to the Apple website to check it out. Go ahead, I'll wait. A lot of sites are taking this ad apart like a Zapruder film, but I'm not going to do that here. Instead, I'll just make witty commentary and you can tear me apart in the comments. Here's the challenge I see with the iPad: Behind everything in this commercial is a pair of legs. That means to type, respond to an e-mail, or just watch a movie, you have to form a wedge with your body and prop up the iPad. That's not typically how I do things. With my iPhone, I just flip it around however I need to so I can do my work. I can typically type things out one-handed, and not have any concerns. I can also watch a movie without worrying about the people next to me watching it too, something I find a little creepy about the iPad. Plus, this commercial doesn't really sell me on what the iPad is. It looks like it's a commercial for a big iPhone – which a lot of people have said it is anyways – and it doesn't talk about all of the really unique features. What I'm hoping for is a commercial similar to the current iPhone commercials, where they discuss the functionality of the product, not just flip through a bunch of highlights. Stuff like that is what's going to sell the product to the mainstream; we all know that the fanboys are already waiting in line. They've got a month to build more hype. Can it be done?