Iphone Updates

The iPhone SDK isn’t the only product that is supposed to be ready for the world by the end of this month (though it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer for our iPhone SDK): Time Capsule should be available by the end of this month as well.

Time Capsule, you’ll remember, is network attached storage (either 500 gig or 1TB) that is designed to work seamlessly with Time Machine. The idea is that you plunk one of these down on your network (or use it to create a wireless network) and then have all your Macs back up to it.

Many readers are asking us where the heck the Time Capsule is. Apple has a few more days before they miss their deadline, and if my order status is any indication those that ordered Time Capsules from Apple fairly soon after the announcement should see them ship on, or a tiny bit before, Feb. 29 (and they may pop up in Best Buy too).

I bet there are some people in Cupertino who are very glad 2008 is a leap year.

Invitations have just gone out to the major tech and Apple sites (i.e. not us) inviting the media to a no-holds-bar hoe-down at the Infinite Loop Ranch on March 6. According to Ars, Apple will hold an iPhone Software Roadmap event (notice how it’s not called the “iPhone SDK introduction”?) to discuss the SDK and its new enterprise features (which means we were kind of right, only Apple was a week late). The party starts at 10 am Pacific, so make sure to put on your Yellow Sticky tees and square-dance with TUAW as we party like it’s 2008!

I’ve been a fan of TextPander for a while, but way back in the day I used to use TypeIt4Me for my auto-expanding text snippets needs. The developer, Riccardo Ettore, has been writing Mac software since before OS X and he’s got a new version of TypeIt4Me out that adds a couple of particularly interesting new features.

First TypeIt4Me can now automatically correct spelling typos using the built-in OS X dictionary (you can also use other typo databases). In addition, Autocue allows you to define templates containing variables or “cues.” So for instance you can define a template that includes variables for first and last names in separate fields. When you expand the template it will automatically highlight the variable text and allow you to start typing the names. This could come in extremely handy if you’re in the habit of typing boilerplate text that nonetheless needs to be tailored to specific purposes (answering support emails, for example).

TypeIt4Me is $27 ($14 academic); upgrades (for purchases before Aug 1, 2006) are $9 and a demo is available.

It was ten years ago today, February 27, 1998, that the Apple Newton was officially killed. During the five years that the Newt was in production it garnered nearly as many detractors as admirers, was the butt of jokes and set the ground work for Palm, Handspring and the like.

There’s still an active community of Newton users out there, and they’ve made some incredible accomplishments in those ten years, like:

• iTunes synchronization
• Web server
• Native sync with Mac OS X
• Blogging software
• WiFi support
• Phone

It beat the Windows UMPC in CNet’s head-to-head battle, and there’s even been a successful port of the Newton OS to other handheld devices. The Newt is gone, but not really. Long live the green PDA!

We just noted how some of the folks associated with unsanity were branching out onto the iPhone, and now unsanity itself is showing signs of life. In a couple of blog posts they’ve announced the return of their somewhat controversial Application Enhancer “haxie” technology with a Leopard compatible beta, APE 2.5b1. The APE plugins allow for unsupported functionality to be added to various parts of OS X, but have been blamed for causing problems. In any case, Leopard broke APE and along with it various popular utilities like WindowShade, FruitMenu and others.

So if you’re the type to throw caution to the wind and have been waiting to get your APE haxies back, the betas of APE, Smart Crash Reports, FontCard, Menu Master, Silk, FruitMenu, and WindowShade are available for download (scroll down) from unsanity.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Earlier this week, we wrote about a beautiful iPhone case mod that involved wrapping the whole thing in a ceramic coating called TiAIN. A lot of you wrote to say how much you liked it. Well, you’re in luck, because now you can buy one.

Just send in your iPhone plus $299US, and you’ll get

• Black back, no branding
• TiAlN Black (or gold) glossy logo
• TiAlN Black (or gold) back bezel
• Antenna Cover

Customization isn’t limited to the iPhone. They’re also doing the iPod touch ($129) and 3G iPod nano ($99). The process takes 2-3 days, and shipping is free. It looks pretty cool; let us know if you dress up your iPhone or iPod.

Thanks, Jason!

Abilene Christian University is announcing a pilot program to provide an iPhone or iPod touch to every new student. At first glance, I found myself wondering: if some colleges are providing MacBooks with tuition, doesn’t an iPhone seem like a less-expensive attempt to lure new blood? Upon further consideration, I think there are some distinct advantages to a pocket-sized device in a learning environment. From constant connectivity to ultra-portability, it could provide a means for every student to access learning materials any time, from any place.

ACU has obviously considered this, and then some. With apparently well-coordinated plans to take advantage of the devices – including podcasts, mobile-accessible class materials, active-learning strategies and a re-focusing of the campus media – they’re preparing to take maximum advantage of the iPhone/iPod touch possibilities. If it’s a gimmick, it sure seems like a useful, well-thought-out one. For more information, case studies and future plans, take a peek at the ACU Mobile Learning page.

iPod gamers (there’s an odd phrase) have got something new to try out. Apple released Bubble Bash this week [iTunes link], a new game for iPod (5th generation) and iPod nano (3rd generation).

I played it on my nano and it’s fun. Basically, you’ve got to toss bubbles into bunches of balloons, knocking out three or more of the same color. The graphics are nice for an iPod game and the music is only mildly annoying.

It doesn’t beat my favorite iPod game, Mini Golf, but it’s still fun. Check it out if you like puzzle games.

Earlier this week, The Iconfactory released iPulse version 2.1.9 (we’ve written about iPulse before). For the uninitiated, iPulse is a great system-monitoring utility which tracks information like CPU usage, motherboard temperature, available disk space and a whole lot more.

As you would expect from Iconfactory software, its appearance is customizable by applying any of a great number of skins, or “jackets,” from the jacket gallery. Changes to v. 2.1.9 include

1. Support for reading temperature on all Intel Macs
2. A new Dock menu
3. A global preference to hide the dock icon

There’s more, of course; you can get the full run-down here.

iPulse requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, and can be downloaded from the Iconfactory website. A single license costs $12.95 USD. Version 2.1.9 is a free upgrade for registered users.

We finally got the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros we’ve all been waiting for and now it time to dig into the fine print a little bit. As we noted earlier the new machines are shipping without the $19 Apple remote, but there are also some other subtle changes worth noting:

• The processors are confirmed to be Intel’s Penryn technology.
• Only the MacBook Pro is getting the multi-touch trackpad functionality of the MacBook Air. Apparently Apple is doing this deliberately to differentiate the higher-end portables from the MacBook line.
• Only the Pros are getting LED backlights, and that’s standard only on the 15″. LED backlighting is a $100 BTO option on the 17″ and simply not available on the MacBook. This despite Uncle Steve’s assurance that the entire Mac line would transition to LED backlighting “when technically and economically feasible.” I suppose that Apple would say that it’s not yet economically feasible in the MacBook line.
• The Pros feature a slightly new keyboard layout missing the virtual number pad.
• The Pros also have 3 USB ports now, instead of 2. Update: Oops, lots of people have pointed out that only the 17 incher has the 3rd USB port, and it has had that forever. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
• Perhaps most disturbing is that the official battery life estimates have dropped noticeably. MacNN notes that “Apple’s revised projections falls to a maximum of 4.5 hours versus six [on the MacBook]… from six hours to five [on the 15" MBP and]… from 5.75 hours of use to 4.5″ [on the 17" MBP].

Now none of these things is that big of a deal (hence the fine print), but there is some cause for concern, especially with the reduced battery life estimates. We may hope that perhaps Apple is being more realistic in their projections and that accounts for the reductions. It’s particularly confusing given that one of the supposed advantages of the Penryn processor is energy efficiency. We won’t know for sure until third-party benchmarks are available.

Thanks to everyone who sent in tips!

It’s only been about 12 hours since the new MacBook Pro’s were released and already someone has posted a tear-down online. AnandTech has a full gallery of pictures showing the tear-down process. Interestingly enough, AnandTech’s Anand Lal Shimpi reports that while the MacBook Pro’s processor got an upgrade today, it offers “very little performance boost.”

iPhone cases that don’t add bulk but still keep your iPhone protected are absolutely necessary. As much as some would like to think they can baby their iPhone to death and protect it from all harm, it doesn’t always work that way.

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In the making of No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen prove “just how influential a Mac and the right software can be,” writes Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com). “The movie won four Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In fact, it is the first movie edited with a completely digital workflow on Mac to win the Oscar. ‘They [Apple] made it really easy for us — we cut now much the same way we cut on film [using Final Cut Pro]. It’s hugely faster,’ said Ethan Coen.”

Our own Erica Sadun has confirmed that Zibri’s jailbreak does work with the 1.1.4 update, released today. We’re told that Nate True has tried it out with the new update installed, and that it does work.

So big news for jailbreakers — update away, because the jailbreak wasn’t one of the “bugs” fixed. Although if this update is, as we suspect, laying the groundwork for the SDK release, we may not have to worry about applications not working on the phone too much longer.

Update: While some users have upgraded with no problems, Zibri is asking that users not upgrade until the tool can be thoroughly checked with the new firmware. “People who donated will receive the next version a day before everyone else. Expect a new version in 2 days (3 days for non-donors),” he says.

Just connected my iPhone to iTunes. More details as they come in.

1:30: I’m downloading the software now… To download directly, the direct links are iPhone and iPod. (Do let me know if I messed either of those up.)

I’ve decided that my wee little iPod touch will be the update fodder this time–remember last time all the trouble I ended up with when I basically fried my iPhone when going back to 1.1.1 after testing 1.1.3? The things I do for TUAW!

Help requested If any of you are in ADC, please see whether the SDK is available? Thanks!!

Continue reading iPod/iPhone firmware update 1.1.4 released

Wanting to get the scoop on the new coffee generation, I put in a call to my secret barista, Ms. Coffee. “Quick, tell the dish about the nationwide Starbucks retraining this afternoon!” “Wish I could — got nothing to tell. All the stores close at 5:30 pm local time, no matter where they are. We have no idea what the training involves.” So I extracted a promise: any mention of AT&T, the iPhone, EDGE networks or WiFi and she is to dash to the bathroom on a “weak bladder” excuse and call.

For those of you who are completely caffeine deprived, Dunkin’ Donuts will “ensure that no coffee lover is denied a delicious espresso-based beverage,” offering lattes, cappucinos and espressos for $0.99 between 1pm and 10pm today.

So what do you think, TUAW readers? Is this the big AT&T intro we’ve been waiting for?

Thanks Nick

Several readers (thanks!) have pointed out that the new 2 gig iPod shuffle (which we blogged about last Tuesday) are now available to order. The Apple Store lists them as shipping in 7-10 days, for $69.

Let us know in the comments if you are ordering one.

I have an iPod, an iPhone, an Apple TV, and I manage all my music with iTunes as I am sure many, many other people out there do as well. Why do I mention this? Because some of my purchases (and yours too) contributed to making the iTunes Store the second largest music retailer in the US (according to NPD data) in 2007. That’s right, iTunes is second only to Wal-Mart in sales of music (though the iTunes Store does lack those greeters that make shopping at Wal-Mart so pleasant).

Let’s take a moment to reflect on this. Less than 10 years ago the idea that the second largest retailer of music wouldn’t have a single brick and mortar store would seem ridiculous. Today, it is a reality and digital distribution can only get bigger. We’re living in the future, I tells ya.

Apple also mentions that people downloaded over 20 million tracks on Christmas day alone. iTunes does face some tough competition (I’m a big fan of Amazon MP3), but the ease of use and integration with the iPod/iPhone really makes the iTunes Store a force to be reckoned with.

Thanks, zx.

For quite some time, people have been asking for a haptic keyboard on the iPhone — a way to produce tactile feedback when a user taps or hovers over a key. If you’ve used the Wii, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s that sensory feedback that confirms you’ve selected a wiibutton. This morning TUAW reader zebrum sent in a tip that a couple of University of Glasgow students (Malcolm Hall and Eve Hoggan) had built a prototype.

I gave it a try and while I applaud the students for their effort, it’s not exactly ready for prime time. It’s a proof of concept, not a general-use mod. You test it out in a simple text editor. You can’t for example, enable this for Safari. Moreover, it’s pretty darned unstable. Sometimes it crashes. Sometimes the vibration keeps going until you quit the program, re-launch and get it to stop by tapping a key.

What’s cool about this app? It shows a neat new way of thinking about iPhone interaction — even if that way is going to pay havoc on batteries if actually implemented — and to use a helpful technology that’s available on other devices. This kind of feedback uniquely highlights where keys start and end. Run your finger along the keyboard and receive instant tactile feedback (obviously in addition to the letter popups) when your selection changes.

Well, the rumors were right on target — new MacBook and MacBook Pros are finally here! Unlike the very minor updates in November, this refresh features across the board speed bumps, bigger hard drives, more stock RAM and for the MacBook Pro, a few new features sure to make every Apple fan’s mouth water. Both lines are now featuring the new Penryn Core 2 Duo chipset, with the higher end MacBook Pro models taking advantage of a spectacular 6MB of L2 cache.

MacBook

The price configuration is the same same (starting at $1099 US for the non-Super Drive white base model, $1499 for the BlackBook), but the base features have received a nice upgrade. The significant changes:

• Processor speeds now start at 2.1 GHz for the base model, 2.4 GHz for the $1299 and $1499 models
• 120 GB drive is standard for the base level MacBook, 160 GB for the $1299 MacBook and a whopping 250 GB drive for the BlackBook. All drives are 5400 RPM
• 2 GB RAM standard for all but entry-level MacBooks (that remains at 1 GB)

MacBook Pro

• Processor speeds now start at 2.4 GHz, and are available up to 2.6 GHz (2.5 GHz is standard for the 17″); the new 2.5 GHz chip has 6 MB of L2 cache
• The MBP 17″ now has an LED backlit screen option
• 200 GB is the starting HD size (this is up from 120 GB in the last revision), 250 GB standard for the upper 15″ and 17″ models. A 300 GB drive is available BTO, as is a 7200 rpm 200 GB drive
• NVidia 8600GT now starts at 256 MB of VRAM — 512 for the higher end 15″ and stock 17″
• Multi-touch trackpad a la the Air.

All in all, some very nice updates — particularly for the MacBook. The basic specs for the BlackBook and entry-level MacBook Pro are so similar, I have to think the MacBook is the better deal for anyone who doesn’t need the dedicated graphics card.

Update:
As the commenters have pointed out, the Apple Remote is no longer included in the box. That’s right, you know have to spend an extra $19, for what I think is one of the most convenient Mac accessories. With $18 billion in cash, you’d think they could throw in something that we all know probably costs $0.30 to make. Oh well.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

We covered Signal when it first dropped in the middle of last year, and now Alloysoft has sent us a note that they’ve upgraded to version 1.1. The app turns your iPhone into an iTunes remote through a server connection, so you don’t need to jailbreak or hack the phone at all — just run the program on your Mac, and you can use your iPhone as a replacement for the Apple Remote. And Signal actually works in Windows as well, so you can use it to control WMP, or even use a Windows Mobile device as a control instead. No idea why you’d torment yourself with Windows Media, but that’s your row to hoe.

Version 1.1 brings control for AirTunes, so now you can switch speakers directly from the iPhone, and there’s a host of new features — Webclip support, an Alphabetic library, and Landscape support. Nice little program that’s available as a free demo or as a registered version for $24.95.

Yes, we know.

Thanks everyone for the crack-of-East-Coast-dawn emails. As soon as new product shows up, we’ll jump up and down like schoolchildren.

Update: New MBPs! New MacBooks! Full details in a moment.

Amazon has started selling the iPod touch 32GB model. You might be asking, “What’s so special about that?” Well, if you read the page carefully, you will notice that Amazon also is offering up a free iPod shuffle with the purchase of an iPod touch 32GB. That’s right, you get a free 1GB iPod shuffle when you purchase an iPod touch.

The ad reads: “You qualify for a free 1 GB iPod shuffle with the purchase of this 32 GB iPod touch from Amazon.com. Eligible 1 GB shuffles include the blue, green, silver, and purple. Just add both items to your cart and you will not be charged for the shuffle.”

As you may recall, Apple lowered the price of the iPod shuffle to $49 last week. Amazon is currently selling the 32GB iPod touch for $494 while Apple is selling the same thing for $499 — seems that Amazon is wanting your business. Do you plan to use this opportunity to get a free iPod shuffle? Be sure to sound off in the comments!

Engadget hit on this one, and it’s technically possible to do it with a Windows PC, but considering that Mac users are greener than most folks, and lovers of both plants and cool tech DIY, we’re posting it anyway. Botanicalls, which is a project to help your plants make phone calls, has posted a how-to guide on getting your plants to twitter when they need water, got water but not enough, or are even being overwatered.

The whole rig requires an Arduino board, and it’s not exactly for Mom to do on her own (unless of course your Mom is an electrical engineer, which is entirely possible), because it also will walk you through making your own moisture sensor. Once you’ve got everything plugged in, the Arduino software will talk to the unit via USB and ethernet, and a terminal script will actually send the Tweets out. Unfortunately, despite a quick search on Twitter, I wasn’t able to find any plants actually tweeting, but if you have one, let us know.

Where’s all that cash that Apple made from the iPhone and all those iPods, Macs, and iTunes downloads last year going? Why, right into Apple’s mattress. According to the Financial Times, Apple currently has $18 billion sitting on their balance sheet, doing nothing much at all. And they’re OK with that — Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer recently said in the Q1 conference call that they like having that “flexibility.” And after all, you never know when you might need to drop $18 billion on something important.

All that money doing nothing isn’t so great for Apple’s investors though, some of whom apparently want a piece of the pie. They might like to see dividends, stock buybacks, or even actual spending come out of that on Apple’s part (later in the piece, I’m surprised to see that Apple only spends 3% of their sales on R&D, while Microsoft spends 14%). But no — Apple is flush with cash from all their big sales numbers, and they want to apparently stay that way.

Before this year’s Oscars, Larry Magid (cbsnews.com) realized that he hadn’t seen a number of the nominated movies. Last year that might have meant a trip to the video store. “But this year, we got to watch our rented nominated films in our living room on our high definition set thanks to Apple’s newly enhanced Apple TV.” And, Magid notes, “you don’t have to use your computer to buy or rent movies, music or download free podcasts to your TV. You can do it from the comfort of your easy chair using only the small Apple remote control. The process is incredibly simple.”

Apple today introduced new models of the MacBook and MacBook Pro. MacBook Pro models feature the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors (running at up to 2.6GHz with 6MB of shared L2 cache), larger hard drives (up to 300GB), and 2GB of memory standard in most models. They also include the latest NVIDIA graphics processors — with up to 512MB of video memory — and an innovative Multi-Touch trackpad, first introduced in MacBook Air.

The three new models of the MacBook feature faster processors and hard drives: sleek white 2.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz models with 120GB or 160GB 5400 rpm hard drives and a stunning black 2.4 GHz model with a massive 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive. The 2.4 GHz MacBook ships with 2GB of memory standard, expandable up to 4GB across the line.

Available immediately, the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models start at just $1,099 and $1,999, respectively.

Apple today began taking orders for the new 2GB iPod shuffle. Available in five colors — silver, blue, green, purple, and (PRODUCT) RED special edition — for just $69, the newest model of iPod shuffle holds up to 500 songs. Order yours today from the online Apple Store; or visit an Apple Store in your area and try one on for size.

Let’s all point and laugh: the folks at Microsoft use Macs! Because, you know, they make Windows, and Macs aren’t Windows, and Microsoft and Apple are competitors, and isn’t it funny and aren’t cats and dogs different?

Actually, let’s not do this. Let’s realize that Microsoft is a company and Apple is a company, and while yes, in some fields they are competitors, let’s just put the whole Apple vs. PC idea to bed. Guess what: a Mac actually is a PC. It’s a very, very well-made PC (in fact, the best made, in this blog’s humble opinion). And why wouldn’t the folks at Microsoft want to use the best PC out there to develop and run their programs?

The battle between Mac and PC was cute back during the PowerPC age, when there were major differences between the two platforms. But things have changed: Macs run Windows, dogs and cats are lol-ing together, and the war’s just not worth fighting any more. Of course Microsoft employees use Macs — who wouldn’t?

Aperture 2, the exciting new version of Apple’s powerful photo editing and management software, delivers more than 100 new features, and you can get a great introduction to many of them by attending the Aperture World Tour. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn about Aperture 2 from members of Apple’s photo marketing team. The free, in-depth presentation comes to cities around the world beginning next month. Sign up today and reserve your seat.

If you have yet to find speakers that satisfy your needs for your iPhone, these portable speakers from LiveSpeakR might be worth checking out. If you also own an iPod Touch, the speakers work for that as well giving them even more use.

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We’ve been sipping green tea in celebration here at TUAW HQ. Why? In honour of one Steven Paul Jobs, no less, for today just happens to be everyone’s favourite CEO’s 53rd birthday.

With 10 hugely successful years in the modern-era Apple saddle, let’s hope there’s many, many more of those to come. Happy Birthday Steve, from all of us at TUAW.

While we wait for the iPhone SDK, web developers are busily creating iPhone-compatible web apps and pages. There are a few cool ones out there, like Leaflets and PocketTweets. Even FedEx has created an iPhone-friendly page.

Recently we came across Springlets. Unlike Leaflets, which is a single site, Spinglets is a collection of sites with customized web clip icons that look right at home on your iPhone or iPod touch.

My favorite is WikiSearch. To use it, just tap the WikiSearch icon on your hompage, enter your search text and that’s it! You’re taken to the resulting page on Wikipedia. It eliminates several steps.

Other treats include Speed Dial (dial any contact number with a touch from the home page) and Text Sites, which strips all of the photos from a given web page (useful when you’re on Edge).

A while back we posted on the release of Speed Download 5, and that set off a firestorm in the comments. You see, Speed Download 4 was included in the recent Macheist bundle, but the developer Yazsoft was not offering free upgrades for the Macheist purchasers. This despite the fact that anyone who purchased SD 4 directly from Yazsoft between Jan 01, 2008 and Feb 12, 2008 (during which time Macheist ran) was eligible for the free upgrade. Further, Macheist purchasers were led to believe that they were getting full versions of the software included in the bundle. Yazsoft offered Macheist purchasers the same $15 upgrade price that users of SD4 who purchased before Jan 1 are eligible for.

In the aftermath, Yazsoft has twice offered a rationale for their actions, basically arguing that the Macheist deal was only for SD4 which they continue to support. Yazsoft insists that they only promised free updates (within a version number), not free upgrades (to a new version number). When this didn’t work they originally tried to placate the Macheist customers with a 2 for 1 deal offering them two licenses of SD5 for the same $15 upgrade price. The brouhaha also brought a response from MacHeist Director John Casasanta accusing Yazsoft of “malicious intent.” Perhaps most surprising of all is that there apparently was no contract between Yazsoft and Macheist, the entire thing being settled in informal emails.

Now I purchased the Macheist bundle with my own money and when SD5 was released I did not feel in any way cheated. I figured that I got a good deal on the bundle; I liked SD4 and did not really see the need to upgrade. However, there are aspects of the entire mess that call for some sort of rectification.

Continue reading The Speed Download – Macheist saga

Last week’s talkcast featured the dulcet tones of guest host Christina Warren and a passel of MacBook Air owners sharing their experiences with the newest laptop in the Apple lineup. Download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.

Join us again on Sunday night for our next live show, 10 pm ET, where Mat Lu and yours truly will be taking a break from the Oscars telecast (if you’re DVRing it, be sure to say so — we don’t want to spoil anything!) to take your questions, gripes and wishlist items for Mac OS X. Got display problems or wireless issues? We want to hear about it. Everything running smooth as silk? We want to hear about that too, but be warned that the people with problems may be very annoyed with you.

Continue reading Sunday night talkcast: Mac OS X gripefest + Ask TUAW

StyleTap produces software for Windows Mobile devices that allows them to run Palm OS applications. Now they’ve apparently produced an experimental build of the CrossPlatform Palm emulator for the iPhone / iPod touch, as you can see above. StyleTap makes clear that this is “NOT a product, nor is its presence here a commitment of any kind, express or implied, that StyleTap Inc. will ever release an official version of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Apple iPhone or iPod touch.” In other words — don’t ask for a copy, no it’s not in beta, and you can’t have it. Nonetheless, this proof of concept is quite intriguing. So the question is: would you like to be able to run Palm apps on your iPhone or iPod touch?

Many of you have no doubt noticed that there hasn’t been much happening over at unsanity since the release of Leopard broke their haxie “Application Enhancers.” Well, apparently some of the developers behind unsanity are now banking on the iPhone instead with a new “Mobile Enhancer” technology called Caterpillar.

Basically, Caterpillar adds customization options to a jailbroken iPhone. At present the tools include a Smart Dialer, customized wallpaper with calendar, customized SpringBoard backgrounds (the home page) and more. Interestingly, they’re planning to offer the package on a subscription model and it will be “constantly growing as [they] add new tools and functionality.”

The Caterpillar package is available now by adding their repository to Installer.app on a jailbroken iPhone. The service will run $20 for six months, $35 for 12 months, or $45 a non-expiring license. Of course, you jailbreak your iPhone at your own risk; I have not tested this myself.

iPods are great. They allow you to take your complete music library on-the-go, along with some iPod games, and movies. But what if you are in the middle of reading, say, your favorite blog (you know, us), and you want to go somewhere? Well, you certainly don’t have to stop reading! I am going to show you how to use Automator to create a workflow that gets the current text from Safari and syncs it to your iPod as a new note.

Continue reading to learn how.

Continue reading Mac Automation: Save websites to iPod for later

In a recent BusinessWeek blog post, writer Arik Hesseldahl says he has information from one of his sources that the long awaited iPhone SDK might well be delayed. According to the source, the delay could be anywhere from one to three weeks; with February drawing to a close and no announcement yet of an Apple event, this could very well be true.

The post goes on to say that last minute preparations are being made, and that the SDK release is a complex process (which tracks with our reporting as well). BusinessWeek has generally been respectable when it comes to sussing out Apple rumors (they did, in fact, break the rumor about the iPhone SDK a day before Steve Jobs announced it back in October). However, like with most rumors, there are always a wide variety of opinions.

Every time the Apple Store has some downtime, magic seems to happen, especially if it happens to be a Tuesday. Not surprisingly, we get a flood of emails from excited readers a few minutes after the yellow sticky note goes up, letting us know that we better be on our toes when the store comes back up. Follow that with some obsessive site-checking and collectively, that’s a lot of manual labor. It’s about time we started automating the process.

Pingdom, purveyors of website monitoring services, have produced a badge that puts the status of the Apple Store on your web page, blog, and maybe your dashboard with a web clipping. Pingdom does the work of pinging the Apple Store once per minute to determine its current state, and provides you with an image indicating up or down which is embedded in an iFrame. Simple, but effective.

So, save the wear and tear on your mouse and grab the badge rather than hitting refresh all morning this Tuesday. Pingdom also has a downtime history going, and an analysis of Apple’s “marketing by downtime.” After all, it is quite a well-planned marketing scheme, if not a growing national pastime for Apple fans.

There are quite a few ways online to see what your friends are up to in Xbox Live — the most fun way is probably the 360 Voice site (that lets your Xbox blog about what you’ve been playing lately), but there are also Facebook applications, Dashboard widgets, and all kinds of other ways to keep tabs on gamertags. And now, 1337pwn.com has released a browser widget for MobileSafari on the iPhone and iPod touch, so you can track any gamertags you like on the go.

It doesn’t actually nab tags from your friends list, so you have to type them all in separately (of course, that also means you can ninja-monitor folks), but once you get it set up, you get a URL that you can bookmark (or Webclip — there is a default Webclip icon as well) with each person’s GT, Gamerscore, last game played, and their icon and motto. So there aren’t too many stats there to deal with, but if you want to quickly see what your friends are up to on your favorite portable device, it works pretty well.

[Thanks, Det!]

Macs, in general, have always been works of art compared to their rivals, and the MacBook Air is a pinnacle achievement in the line of lust-worthy Apple computers. There’s just never been a lot of color choice in the Apple’s lineup. For the audacious souls who choose to express their personality through their hardware, ColorWare has been making Macs (et al) into vibrant articulations of individuality for 8 years. And now they’ll deck out your Air, too.

ColorWare recently announced the inclusion of the MacBook Air in its line of color-modded machines. Starting with a sleek black, the pigmentation possibilities branch out exponentially when you consider there are 34 other colors that can be mixed and matched in whatever combination best describes your individual taste. You can choose a metallic or solid type of color for the high-gloss, scratch-resistant, polymer-based coating.

For a lot of us – well, me anyway – I’m pretty happy with titanium and white as I’ve never needed my computer to be a distraction in and of itself. I have enough applications designed for that purpose. But I know there are more than a few people excited about a black MacBook Air, probably even a few tickled about the pink option and many more in the spectrum between.

You can send in your current machine ($500+) or buy one ready to go ($2568+). You can even play with the possibilities before you make the leap.

“We’ve earned a reputation for innovation, so we get to do incredibly fun stuff for great brands,” says Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz. “We like making people laugh, and we like making people scared,” he adds. And they like working on the Mac. “The Mac is the only platform that understands one of our key principles: How you engage with something has a direct impact on the results. I truly believe that working with thoughtful, human-oriented, creative technology makes you create more, and better, work.”

“Downloading and watching recent movies — in high-definition, from the comfort of your living room — is a stupendous experience,” writes Gary Krakow (thestreet.com)in his review of Apple TV. Krakow “chose the fabulous Disney/Pixar feature Ratatouille to test the system. All I can say is wow! Apple TV video quality is spectacular. The audio is pretty special, too. All in all, video rental has never been this quick and easy.”

“Apple TV: The Sequel,” writes Edward C. Baig (usatoday.com), “comes with a newly tempting price and a major software overhaul. And it eliminates the need for a computer. Now, you can preview and rent videos using Apple TV alone.” In fact, Baig points out that once you click Rent, you can begin to watch the rented movie “on your TV within seconds, even while a video downloads. It’s instant gratification to folks who might otherwise drive to the rental store or wait for DVDs by mail.”

Quite possibly a first: iBand is a group of innovative musicians taking iPhone music applications to the next level. Using a combination of iAno, PocketGuitar, iPhoneSynth and BeatPhone, they’ve created a sound (Mike Oldfield meets Mario Bros.?) that is certain to spawn some creative offshoots amongst musically inclined iPhone owners. There are already several video responses to their YouTube presentation.

If nothing else, they get due credit for a great execution of the idea. I’m sure that, with the presence of multiple music synthesis apps for the iPhone, there is a lot of musical innovation taking place. We’d be curious to hear about other mellifluous iPhone adventures. Maybe some of our own readers have already explored the pocket-sized music frontier in ways we haven’t considered yet!

Check out the iBand website for a little explanation and, hopefully, more updates as the idea develops.

Thanks Kacy!

Mice can be great, but sometimes my hands are too cozy on the keyboard to make the trip over to the aptly named pointing device. And contextual menus can be great, too, but I’ve got a few CM plugins creating a little maze of hierarchical menus. Some of them are used much more frequently than others and could benefit from … a keyboard shortcut!

In walks Shortcuts, another very useful contribution from Abracode, makers of ClipMaster and quite a few other great (free) plugins and programs. It simply allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to any contextual menu item. The interface shows you what menu items would be available for a file, folder, multiple selections and text selections in Cocoa text fields. You just select the menu item you want easy access to and assign a hotkey.

I experimented with a “Copy Path” shortcut and a “Secure Delete” shortcut with great results. My only significant complaint is the lack of Path Finder support, which could probably be fixed fairly easily. You can edit the way it interacts with various programs using AppleScripts, so it should be possible to add some new “context providers”. It will take a little more exploration on my part.

Shortcuts is a free download.

Thanks Michael G.

PC Magazine’s Edward Mendelson muses that “Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I’ve found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it.” Mac OS X Leopard, on the other hand, “is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today’s world of networked computers and peripherals.” In fact Mendelson believes “it’s getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else.”

For those that rely on their iPhone for photographs, it might be important to try to squeeze as much quality as you can out of it. Personally I’d just rather take my actual camera, I never have been satisfied with any phone’s quality of pictures. However, for some it doesn’t matter as much to get high quality, just to get as much picture as they can out of the iPhone.

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Christopher Breen (macworld.com) gives a four-mouse (out of five) rating to Apple TV, Take Two. Breen says he was “impressed by the look of the HD movies I rented and played on my 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV.” And he was “just as impressed by the sound. Live Free or Die Hard’s 5.1 sound track was nicely separated and huge through my 5.1 AV receiver. And I applaud Apple’s decision to include an AirTunes option—the ability to choose the Apple TV as a remote speaker system within iTunes and stream music to it and its attached AV gear.”