Iphone Updates

Users of popular iPhone/iPod Touch book reading application Stanza will now have access to the independent online book publishing company Smashwords, with the ability to download book samples and free books, access a personal library of titles, and download full books purchased online at Smashwords.com. All indy authors need to do to to take advantage of this new audience (around half-a-million at present) is to upload their manuscripts as Microsoft Word files, which are then automatically converted to DRM-free ebook formats. They then receive 85% of net sales plus a range of marketing tools…

In the last few days, UK mobile operator O2 has announced that it has developed an energy-efficient universal mobile phone charger which claims to cut energy consumption by as much as 70 per cent compared to standard chargers thanks to a significant improvement over the EnergyStar benchmark. The charger eliminates heat loss and cuts power when the attached mobile phone has been fully charged…

Remember “push notifications”? Course you do. It’s the nifty feature that will allow applications to alert a user when an event has happened, getting around some of the problems caused by the ban on third-party apps running in the background. Originally planned for September, the delay has been caused because of some of the problems with MobileMe and syncing, and because Steve Jobs said that Apple wanted to get things right first time…

Popular online video service Joost is now available as a standalone application for the iPhone, offering users access to the complete video library when connected via Wi-Fi – that’s some 46,000 videos at present. The free application will soon be expanded to include social features and personalisation options. Presumably the app refuses connections via 3G because the viewing experience could be compromised. Joost (iTunes link)

Remember “push notifications”? Course you do. It’s the nifty feature that will allow applications to alert a user when an event has happened, getting around some of the problems caused by the ban on third-party apps running in the background. Originally planned for September, the delay has been caused because of some of the problems with MobileMe and syncing, and because Steve Jobs said that Apple wanted to get things right first time…

iPhone cases come in all types of materials and textures, but here’s one that’s made to look like a bit of a car tyre. The Case Mate Vroom Tire Tread iPhone 3G case will protect your phone by encasing it in textured impact-resistant rubber, so that it’s less likely to slip from your hand, but if it does it will more likely bounce than break…

To effectively train and communicate with its 4,000 staff members, 800 reserve personnel, and nearly 20 divisions, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department found a great solution in podcasts. Unfortunately, it could take weeks for the department’s video staff to produce and deliver their podcasts in a variety of formats. Until, that is, Podcast Producer turned weeks of arduous production into mere hours of automated production.

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends

The Big Mean Folder Machine is a useful tool from publicspace.net (developers of the indispensable A Better Finder Rename 8) that takes the drudgery out of either splitting files into multiple folders or merging files from different folders.

Why would you want to do either of these tasks? Let’s say you’re trying to back up 30 GB of photographs to DVD. You can either start dragging files to a folder and keep checking with Get Info to see if the folder size is less than the writable size of a DVD, or you can just have BMFM automagically split the group of files into folders that are perfectly sized for DVD burning. Or let’s say that you want to take individual folders for former clients and turn them all into one big “Former Client Archive” folder. It’s easy to merge all of the files in those different folders into one big archive folder. The Big Mean Folder Machine takes care of file name conflicts in that case.

Version 1.5 adds the ability to create deeper hierarchy levels (dependent on the number of files per level) and restores MP3/AAC functionality. A trial version limited to 100 files is available for download, or you can buy the application for $14.99.

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Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week on the talkcast, Christina led a lively discussion of the laptop announcements, the lack of Firewire on the MacBook, and more. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tomorrow 10/25 at 10 pm ET for this week’s live show, hosted by me and featuring a special guest — he’s a mild-mannered industry analyst by day, a tech columnist by night… our friend Ross Rubin will be joining us, as we delve into the astonishing impact of the iPhone on Apple’s bottom line and the wireless market at large. Has our favorite computer company truly gotten past the Mac?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

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Did you know that in Safari, you can easily bookmark multiple sites at the same time? Or that once you save your new collection of bookmarks, you can open them all at once in separate tabs? Find out how by watching the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

Filed under: iLife, Software, Freeware

While most people are probably satisfied to send their photos from iPhoto through their Gmail accounts using Mail, some people would rather have a more direct option. For example, sending large files through Mail seems to be no problem for me, yet from the same network with exactly the same settings, my wife’s Mail chokes and spits and frequently fails when she tries to send a bunch (or even a few) pictures from iPhoto.

Tired of playing with her SMTP settings and getting everything working for one message, just to have it fail on the next one, I finally went in search of a more direct approach. My wife and I are both “switchers,” and back in Windows we were used to Picasa, which has the ability to send photos via a Gmail account built-in. Makes sense, since Google owns Picasa, but that’s exactly what I was looking hoping to get iPhoto to do.

In my searches I came across an iPhoto plugin called iPhoto2Gmail. When I tried it last week, it hung my iPhoto instance every time I tried it and I had to force quit iPhoto. I gave up on iPhoto2Gmail, but couldn’t find anything else. In desperation, I went back to have another look at iPhoto2Gmail and discovered that it had been updated to version 1.0. Crossing my fingers, I gave it a try, and… it works great!

Though I don’t need it on my machine, I really like the direct simplicity of sending my photos from right inside iPhoto, and I think I’ll continue to use iPhoto2Gmail. If you’ve been struggling with sending photos through a Gmail account, this might be a useful option for you.

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Filed under: Airport, Software Update

Now you see it, now you don’t — and now it’s back. The very brief tenure of AirPort Extreme Update 2008-003 (it was available on Tuesday for a while, but then withdrawn) has given way to the shining reign of update 004. The update is a 2.2 MB patch recommended for all Intel machines on 10.5.5, resolving “some issues with Airport connections when roaming in large WiFi networks.”

Some of the commenters who installed the earlier build didn’t experience any obvious ill effects; others reported installation hangs, lockups on reboot or problems connecting to wireless LANs, so your mileage may vary — with any luck the new build has a steadier grip on stability.

You can download the new update via Software Update or (shortly) from the Apple support downloads page.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in

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Filed under: Other Events

You may remember that Steve Jobs attended Apple Expo Paris in 2005 after undergoing successful pancreatic cancer surgery, but didn’t deliver the keynote speech. Instead, Steve and a few other Apple Executives held a Q&A session.

Apple did not participate at all in 2008, and it was announced this week that the 2009 Apple Expo Paris has been cancelled all together, according to a report from Macworld. There were 30 events in this past September’s expo.

It’s unfortunate for all of the participants and attendees that the major European Apple trade show is going away, but in light of yesterday’s news for Macworld Expo it’s not entirely surprising.

TUAWApple Expo Paris has been cancelled originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Unfortunately, not one of them is Contra. But the iPhone is going to get some pretty big name titles from Konami — the company announced yesterday that Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Dance Dance Revolution, and Frogger were all coming to our favorite mobile gaming platform from the company’s vaults.

Frogger you know, and Dance Dance Revolution and Silent Hill look like fairly faithful (if a little tweaked) recreations of the dancing and horror games that both series are known for. Metal Gear Solid Touch seems the most interesting title — that series seems to reinvent itself almost every time it reaches a new platform. There have been strategy versions, card-based versions, squad-based versions, and even the old 2D games, so though all we know is that MGS Touch has eight levels and will use the touchscreen, from there Konami could do anything they can think of.

Great to see that a historic publisher is investing heavily in the App Store, though. If these games turn out to do well, we could see some other big-time developers follow suit.

TUAWKonami announces four big titles for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / Opinion, Steve Jobs

Late yesterday, Apple surprised pundits, fans and presumably IDG by announcing that Macworld Expo 2009 would be their last as an official exhibitor. Along with that news came the announcement that Phil Schiller will deliver the keynote address in place of Steve Jobs. People will speculate about the reasons for Apple’s move for some time. Here are my thoughts.

There must be a financial component. Sure, Apple announced $25 billion in cash reserves and no debt at the end of Q4 in October, but it’s very expensive to attend these events, even for Apple. Consider the extent of Apple’s presence at Macworld Expo, between machines, people, displays, etc. Even software giant Adobe has dropped out.

Of course, it goes beyond the cost of the show. Nearly every year, Apple’s stock dips after the keynote presentation when rumored products or services aren’t introduced. It’s a silly, unfortunate and routine drop… which brings me to point number two.

The rumors themselves. The current iPod nano model was all but revealed prematurely when photos of a case produced by a 3rd party manufacturer appeared online. When Steve Jobs mentioned it at the official press event a few days later, some attendees laughed. Steve responded by saying, “It’s not funny” in a stern tone of voice. He was clearly pissed.

That wasn’t the first time Apple had been scooped by the media. In 2002, the Canadian edition of Time Magazine leaked a cover photo of Steve and Jon Ive with the G4 iMac just prior to its introduction at Macworld Expo. You’ll also remember that Apple aggressively pursued rumor site Thinksecret last year, and it’s currently offline. Not only do rumors hurt the company financially, they take some of the excitement out of product updates, and in turn, the media’s enthusiasm. When the media basically knows what’s coming, their interest wanes just enough. Apple wants more control.

Control over product schedules outside the constraints of Expo keynotes. Once Apple steps away from the tick-tock of January showcases, it will be able to stage a press event and introduce a product or service when it’s actually ready, not when a certain calendar date arrives.

Finally, I’ve always found the timing to be odd. The first week of January is right after all the major winter holidays. People are tapped out financially and enjoying the loot they picked up the in weeks before from family and friends. Asking them to spend another grand on a computer just then isn’t ideal. Alternatively, Apple has consistently released iPod updates in September, just as kids are going back to school.

The inevitable question is one of Steve’s health, but I think John Gruber got this one right. If Steve was ill, they’d send in a proxy like Phil but keep the rest of the game intact. The fact that they’ve abandoned the whole thing says to me that it’s a political and financial move more than anything else.

Time Magazine asks the health question right away in their reaction article, quoting an Apple spokesperson as saying, “Phil is giving the keynote because this is Apple’s last year in the show, and it doesn’t make sense for us to make a major investment in a trade show we will no longer be attending.” Even if Steve is as healthy as a horse but still looks thin, his appearance could have an affect on the company’s stock. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a company whose financial well being is so closely tied to the health of its CEO.

For now, at least, IDG plans to put on Macworld Expo 2010, with or without Apple. I say more power to them, but as a person who attended two Macworld Expos in Boston without Apple, my faith is waning.

It is a bit sad that Steve won’t wrap up the final Macworld Expo; we can hope that he’ll make a special appearance as Phil Schiller’s One More Thing.

TUAWThoughts on Apple’s last Macworld Expo keynote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Retail, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Target has decided to release released its own iPhone application a couple of weeks ago, possibly to encourage holiday shopping online. Stepping beyond the basic web application that Walmart released, the Target application [iTunes link] offers an interesting concept — like an Urbanspoon for gift ideas.

The idea is to generate gift ideas quickly. First, select the gender and age of your recipient. Then shake the iPhone and the snow globe will display a potential gift. Don’t like the recommendation? Shake the iPhone again, and another item will be displayed.

You can tap the item to access actions: add it to your favorites, purchase online, or start your selection over. With the favorites list, you have the ability to create a personalized holiday shopping list that you can carry with you. You can mark off items on the list as you purchase them. The application also allows you to find the nearest Target store.

The Target Gift Globe application can be found in the iTunes App Store for free.

TUAWTarget releases ‘Gift Globe’ iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It has already been nominated for multiple prestigious film awards. Yet, one of the curiosities about “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is that so little of the film was actually shot on film. In fact, most footage was captured digitally on HD cameras directly to hard drive. Then, the $150 million dollar film was post-produced in Final Cut Pro using a completely tapeless digital HD workflow from camera to final output.

Yes, you have a number of simple ways to capture screenshots in Mac OS X Leopard. Some may require you to use an image editing application to remove unwanted elements. But one lets you save clean screenshots of Finder windows, menus, and icons. Find out how by reading the latest Mac OS X Pro Tip.

Deep in the heart of Texas, they’ve learned a thing or two about successful study habits. And you can, too. Just by listening to Wired Study Tips. Brought to us by the Continuing and Professional Studies Office at Texas A&M University, the tips are just a few minutes long but offer great advice that, thanks to iTunes U, we can all take advantage of.

Ever wish you could grow younger with the years? Then you’ll want to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Coming to theaters on Christmas Day, the film, based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was written by Eric Roth and directed by David Fincher. It stars Brad Pitt as Benjamin and Cate Blanchett as Daisy. Do the two lovers grow old together?

Konami, creator of a number of popular arcade, console and mobile games, has announced that it will be supporting the iPhone and iPod touch. It will initially launch four titles ported/modified from other platforms: Metal Gear Solid Touch, Silent Hill: The Escape, Dance Dance Revolution 5 Lite, and Frogger…

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch, First Look

If you like to cook and eat Italian cuisine, this iPhone app will make you very happy. Il Cucchiaio d’Argento (The Silver Spoon) has been the definitive recipe book for traditional Italian cooking for the past 50 years, and now it’s available for iPhone.

This cookbook, available in the App Store for US$9.99 or €7.99 (click opens iTunes), features over 250 classic and tested recipes. Updates will add more of the 2,000+ recipes in the cookbook. Many of the recipes include notes about their history or tradition, or provide hints on excellent wines to try as an accompaniment to your meal.

Ingredients are listed in both metric and imperial measures. There’s space to add your own notes to recipes; this is helpful when making variations to the standard recipes.

In real-life usage, the app works well. My only complaint is that the “add to shopping list” button only adds the ingredients, not the actual quantity of each item. There’s no Mac version of the application, but you can always purchase the analog version of Il Cucchiaio d’Argento from most bookstores and Amazon. Check out the gallery below for more screenshots of the app in action.

Many thanks to the readers who corrected Google’s lousy translation!

TUAWPrimo Sguardo (First Look): Cucchiaio d’Argento originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Macworld, Rumors, Mac mini

Wired’s Brian X. Chen writes that Apple will release a new version of the Mac mini at Macworld Expo early next month.

Chen’s unnamed source didn’t disclose any details about the Mac mini, but Chen offered plenty of specification speculation.

Based on “trends seen in Apple’s latest products,” Chen expects the new Mac mini to feature a unibody enclosure with speeds and video specs that closely match the new unibody MacBooks.

This follows another rumor of a budget-priced, small-form-factor iPhone that could be announced at the same time. Nilay Patel, of our sister blog Engadget, notes that this may be a reaction to slowing sales numbers, and an overall reticence by consumers to drop large amounts of money on a new computer system.

We’ll see next month: The keynote presentation is scheduled for January 6. Macworld Expo typically announces by now if Steve Jobs will give the presentation, but they’ve been keeping mum about his involvement so far.

TUAWWired: New Mac mini to be announced at MWSF originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Webahn has announced Capzule, an iPhone-friendly web application that will allow doctors to care for their patients while away from their main surgery. The $50 per month service lets physicians review patient files, check messages and schedules, review charts and…

No, unfortunately O2 isn’t hand-delivering bottles of Baileys and large boxes of mince pies to each of its iPhone customers, but it has created a free, branded iPhone application that can be downloaded from the App Store. The “Festive Kit” contains some sleigh bells, a snow globe, and mistletoe. Add your own picture and create a snow scene or stick with the default of the O2 in London…

I’ve mentioned in the past that China uses a different standard (TD-SCDMA) for its third-generation cellular networks to those of the US and Europe, and that China Mobile may have requested a version of the iPhone that didn’t include existing 3G and Wi-Fi technology. According to a report from Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes, China could get its own version of the iPhone early next year. While Apple probably wouldn’t design an iPhone with different technology for a small market, the fact is that if it can crack China, that’s a huge number of potential customers…

There are some pretty good games and applications for the iPhone, but there’s something really special when an absolute classic comes to the handset. So it is with SimCity from Electronic Arts. I’ve played it on several platforms and it really is, truly, a classic strategy/”god” game…

When Nine Inch Nails went on tour, there used to be “racks of equipment that we had to carry around to reproduce all the different elements,” explains Keyboard and Sound Technician Mat Mitchell. Now all they need is a MacBook Pro and Logic Studio. With MainStage, says Trent Reznor, “I can do all of my synth work, and my guitar rig, and my vocal processing in an understandable graphic interface that’s easy to change.”

If you use Aperture 2 or iPhoto ’08, the free update extends RAW file compatibility to eight additional cameras, including the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon PowerShot G10, Pentax K2000K-m, Leica M8.2, and four camera systems from Leaf, including the AFi-II 6, AFi-II 7, Aptus-II 6, and Aptus-II 7.

Run completely on Macs, Charity Checks is a giving program that lets you make contributions to any charity while your gift recipient chooses the cause. With Charity Checks everyone comes out a winner.

Filed under: Software, Universal Binary, Deals

Update 10/28: Welcome, Digg fans. CodeWeavers’ site is getting crunched under the massive demand for the free versions of CrossOver, so there is now a minimal site at down.codeweavers.com that will accept your email address; you will be mailed your registration code in the next couple of days.

— original post below —

Three months ago, CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White offered a challenge to another CEO — the nation’s chief executive, George W. Bush. If the president achieved one of White’s six “Lame Duck” goals during the twilight of his 2nd term, White would make Windows-API enabler & WINE GUI CrossOver free to customers for one day. Some considered White’s proposal a great motivational tool for GWB; others found it smug, partisan and kind of a goofy way to promote the company’s products, but in any event none of his six challenges seemed to be on the path to achievement, so that’s where the story should have ended. CrossOver is a fine way to run Windows apps on your Mac, but as a force for political change, not so much.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to January 20th: due to global economic conditions and through no fault of the president, the price of crude oil dropped precipitously and the cost of gasoline moved in parallel… bringing the average price per gallon in Minneapolis down to the target $2.79 level called for in White’s goal #1. Can anyone say “Taco?”

The Star-Tribune is reporting that White is planning to follow through on his pledge: on Tuesday 10/28, all CodeWeavers products (CrossOver Mac, Linux & Games) will be freely downloadable. One license per customer, and we assume that the free licenses will be for the standard versions of the apps. Update: Word from CodeWeavers execs is that the free license will be for a download-only flavor of the Pro version (!), including the Games optimized build and the option to share a Windows ‘bottle’ among multiple users on the same machine. You will have to choose either the Mac or Linux product for your free copy (and I’m looking forward to the stats on that split once the dust settles). Pro licenses are eligible for support/update renewals after one year for $35.

You might argue with White’s politics or his promotional instincts, but you can’t argue with free software. CrossOver Mac normally retails for $40 and requires an Intel machine running either Tiger or Leopard.

Update 2: A number of commenters have pointed out that the original challenge rules said the giveaway day would be on the first of the month following the goal, meaning Nov. 1 instead of Oct. 28. CodeWeavers’ press release confirms that the giveaway day will be 10/28 and not 11/1. The giveaway runs from midnight to midnight CST.

Thanks Austin!

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Reviews, Macbook Pro, MacBook

As many TUAW readers know, I was dealt a bad hand with the last generation MacBook Pros, so I met the new MBPs with open arms. My first impression of the new machines: the new MacBook Pros are absolutely amazing, but not all of the changes are good (we’ll get to those in the second half of the review). Read on as I tackle each of the new features.

The New Design
I think Apple made a big improvement with the new laptop design. Overall, it is sleek and beautiful – the design is reminiscent of the MacBook Air, only thicker. Previous MacBook Pro generations had a physical latch mechanism for opening/closing the screen, but Apple has moved to the newer magnetic latch that can be found on both the MacBook Air and MacBook models.

Earlier generations of the MBP had two USB ports, but on opposite sides of the case. When you have cables coming out of both sides, it makes the system almost unusable as a notebook, and makes it look less attractive. Apple has changed this by moving all the ports to the left side of the machine, while the SuperDrive has been moved from the front to the right side. This is a big improvement.

How many people do you know who have successfully upgraded their MacBook Pros hard drive? On previous generations, this task was almost impossible due to the fact that you needed to disassemble the entire machine to reach the drive. Apple now has a door on the bottom that, when opened, gives you instant access to the removable battery and hard drive. You do have to remove the back of the machine to reach the RAM, but it only has a couple of screws.

The new casing feels sturdier when you pick it up; you can definitely feel a difference in the quality of material used to make the new MacBooks. This is largely due to Apple using the new “brick” manufacturing method. In addition, this casing makes the entire computer run cooler … in previous models, you could (almost) fry an egg on the back of the machine, but I haven’t noticed much heat being produced on the new machine.

Continue reading for the full review and pictures…

Continue reading TUAW Review: MacBook Pro (Late 2008)

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Others might consider his mobile — and home — studio sparse, but producer Dave “Switch” Taylor has all he needs in his ”MacBook Pro, Logic, the Apogee Duet, and a set of Adam S3A monitors.” It’s what he used to record and produce Kala, Maya “M.I.A.” Arulpragasm’s last album, even allowing the pair to “capture open-air, off-the-street vocals, instrumentals, and serendipitous ‘noise’ into Taylor’s mic’d MacBook Pro.”

Steve Jobs will not deliver the keynote speech at Macworld 2009, Apple has announced today. Additionally, once the doors close on next month’s Apple-focused trade fair, that’s it for Apple – the company will no longer exhibit at the event….

Great for text messaging and video conferencing, iChat offers a new feature — screen sharing — that lets colleagues (in the science lab or the office) collaborate in exciting new ways. For example, you could drag a file from your Mac and drop it on your colleague’s desktop. Or use iChat Theater to give a full-screen presentation in real-time — while you continue to video chat. Take a look.

If you run a business, you know how helpful it is to have one place to go to find most of the information you need. That’s why we created the new Resources page on the Apple Business site. With close to 100 white papers, tech previews, QuickStart guides, user manuals, and tech overviews, it offers a rich collection of information on file sharing, mail services, collaboration services, storage and backup, and more.

If birds are visiting your backyard this winter, your iPhone or iPod touch can help you identify the species coming to your feeders. With iBird Explorer Backyard — a true multimedia field guide — you can hear bird songs, read behavior and identification notes, view range maps, and see both illustrations and color photos of birds. (Want to see all the versions of the iBird field guides available in the App Store?)

Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, Found Footage, Holidays

No, not really.

The guys at Apple retailer and repair shop BeamEcho in Toronto, Ontario, Canada decided to make a horror epic for the ages and came up with the ultimate nightmare: a Mac virus. Just in time for Halloween, TUAW presents their very scary film. The production values are just what you’d expect for a shooting budget of $6. Watch this one with lights on, kids…

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Filed under: Internet Tools

Netflix has been talking about bringing its “Watch Instantly” movie streaming service to the Mac for a long time, and now Engadget is reporting that they’re finally beginning to roll it out. The “Watch Instantly” service allows unlimited Netflix subscribers to stream about 12,000 TV shows and movies to their computers (or set-top devices), but has been limited to Windows PCs since the service first appeared.

Ironically, this is being made possible thanks to Microsoft’s Flash-wannabe Silverlight browser plugin. As we noted way back in 2007, the holdup was the need for Microsoft DRM on the streaming videos and the new Silverlight-based player incorporates Microsoft’s Play Ready DRM.

Unfortunately, the initial roll-out is limited, but Netflix expects to bring “the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.” Sadly for PPC owners, it will be limited to Intel Macs. Nonetheless, it’s great to see Netflix finally coming through on the promise of Watch Instantly for Mac users.

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To celebrate the release of Folie à Deux, their fifth studio album, Fall Out Boy has invited its fans to remix America’s Suitehearts using GarageBand and share the remix with everyone else. Fans of GarageBand, the band has placed the instrument files for America’s Suitehearts on an interactive website, where you can easily download them. Have fun.

To celebrate the release of Folie à Deux, their fifth studio album, Fall Out Boy has invited its fans to remix America’s Suitehearts using GarageBand and share the remix with everyone else. Fans of GarageBand, the band has placed the instrument files for America’s Suitehearts on an interactive website, where you can easily download them. Have fun.

ngmoco:) has released a number of very popular games on the App Store, including Maze Finger, Topple, Dropship, and Doctor Awesome. On Thursday, the company releases its newest title, the eagerly awaited Rolando, which you can preview on the company’s website. And did you know that ngmoco:) has dropped the prices of its current game titles to celebrate Rolando’s impending arrival?

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Open Source, TUAW Labs

I was really disappointed when Google released their Chrome web browser for Windows only. When it comes to browsers, I’ve tried them all. Right now I regularly switch between Firefox and the latest nightly build from Webkit (essentially Safari). Firefox has the extensibility I rely on, while Webkit has the performance I crave. I had hoped that Chrome would magically combine those two crucial traits and become my new go-to browser. Unfortunately, Chrome is not yet nearly as extensible as Firefox, and isn’t available for Mac (yet).

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the latest experimental Firefox build from Mozilla, called Minefield. This Minefield should not be confused with the unofficial optimized builds of Firefox that Brett wrote about, which are also referred to as Minefield. Minefield is Mozilla’s code-name for this generation of Firefox, and the code name is used for unofficial builds to avoid infringing upon the Firefox name.

So, what’s so special about the Mozilla Minefield build? It’s fast… smokin’ fast. This is essentially a version of Firefox with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine under the hood, and as Ars Technica reports, it tests even faster than Google’s V8 JavaScript engine.

As most Mac users have noted, Firefox is kind of pokey on the Mac platform, particularly compared with WebKit or even Safari, and even when compared with Firefox on a similarly spec’d Windows machine. Version 3 of Firefox was supposed to fix the performance problem, and while it’s somewhat better, it’s still not great.

Well, Minefield is great. Using Gmail or even a complex content management system is a breath of fresh air. I feel like my web apps are finally keeping up with me.

There’s one caveat, and it’s a big one: though the current version number is 3.1b2pre (the “b” denoting beta status), this is really alpha software. That means there will be bugs, and you will experience problems. Surprisingly, though, Minefield has been very stable in my testing — not yet crashing in a full day of testing. I have restarted it a couple of times due to suspicion that something strange was going on, but I can’t say for sure if it was.

If you use it with your regular Firefox profile rather than creating a new one, Minefield will complain that most of your extensions are not compatible. Using Nightly Tester Tools, I re-enabled all of the extensions that it disabled, and every single one of them appears to be working normally, even the complicated ones like Better Gmail 2 and TabMixPlus.

I’ve only had a problem with one site so far, but unfortunately it’s a big one: Google Docs. The page simply won’t load. But for now, I’m willing to open WebKit or Camino to edit my Google Docs, because I’m just too smitten with the raw speed that Minefield offers.

One last note: being a nightly build, you will likely find that new versions are available, well, nightly. Mozilla makes the process of upgrading to the latest version virtually painless by using the built-in version monitoring process that Firefox uses.

[via Ubuntu Unleashed]

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Filed under: Internet Tools, Reviews, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Update 2: Box.net will work with first generation iPod Touch units. The team is going to push an update very soon to make this visible on the app description page. You can download the program right now and it is fully compatible with all iPhone and iPod Touch units.

Update: Box.net is looking into why its new app is not working with first generation iPod Touch units and hopes to push out an update soon. We’ll keep you posted!

I love Box.net — the online file storage system that makes it easy to store and share files with other users quickly and easily. A couple of years ago, TUAW wrote up how to use Box.net as an iDisk (and this still works), but now the Box team has made it even easier to access your files while on the go, with the new Box.net iPhone app.

The app, which is compatible with the iPhone and the second generation iPod Touch (sorry 1st Gen touch users!), is simply awesome. Box.net already had an iPhone friendly mobile interface at i.box.net, but while you could access some files from that page, you couldn’t play back media and document viewing was more limited. The new application means you can play back audio and video (assuming the file is compatible with the iPhone 2.1′s firmware support for QuickTime), view PDF or Office files, view photos, and upload photos from your iPhone or iPod Touch directly to Box.net.

Even nicer, the Box.net app integrates directly with your address book, so you can share a folder or individual document with a contact, just by clicking the “Share” button and selecting the contact from the address book. The application also notifies you of any updates or changes made to your box, which is great for individuals who collaborate with other users using a Box.net account.

I have a free Box.net account (which limits me to 1 GB of storage space and puts a 25 MB cap on file sizes), but I was able to access all my files and documents with ease. On my iPod Touch, Box.net loaded PDF files faster than some other tools I have used for PDF viewing, though I did find that network activity did impact overall speed. When the bridged router I use with my non-802.11n devices was in heavy use, it could take quite some time to load a large PDF. When the G router was idle, load time was almost non-existent, even for 8 or 9 MB files.

I don’t have an iPhone, so I cannot vouch for EDGE or 3G speeds — but over WiFi, speed was solid.

The interface of this app, as you can see from the gallery, is just superb. It perfectly matches both the Box.net website and the iPhone user interface guidelines. Maneuvering through files was a cinch and I love the integration with the address book for sharing files or folders. Being able to upload photos directly to Box.net is also pretty great.

If there was anything that could be on my wishlist, it would be the ability to upload other types of tiles to Box.net as well. Of course, you can always e-mail uploads to Box.net, so this isn’t an absolute necessity.

Box.net is free and available from the App Store now.

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Anyone wishing to keep Microsoft stuff off their iPhone should avoid the Seadragon application, now available for free, because it’s been developed by the Redmond giant. In a veiled endorsement for the iPhone, whatever head honcho Ballmer thinks about Apple’s wonder phone, or indeed about giving away free stuff. Microsoft Live Labs group product manager Alex Daley said that the iPhone was “the most widely distributed phone with a GPU,” adding that “I couldn’t just pick up a BlackBerry or a Nokia off the shelf and build Seadragon for it without GPU support”…

Sennheiser has announced a new professional line of in-ear earphones, the IE series, offering high quality, accurate sound for a range of budgets (well, except under £120). The Sennheiser IE 6 are hi-fi earphones with enhanced bass and come in at £119.99. The Sennheiser IE 7 are classic hi-fi earphones with a balanced sound, for £169.99, while the top-of-line IE 8s are aimed at audiophiles and cost £249.99. All feature high-end, accurate, pro-grade audio and are based on Sennheiser’s in-ear stage monitors, having a single driver to eliminate distortions, strong Kevlar cabling, metal carry cases, and a two year guarantee…

Spaces in Mac OS X Leopard makes it easy to create one space for iPhoto, one for Safari and Mail, and still another space for Pages and Numbers. Switching from one space to another helps you concentrate on one task at a time. But what happens if you decide to move an application from one space to another? Find out how to reorganize your Spaces in the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends

The Big Mean Folder Machine is a useful tool from publicspace.net (developers of the indispensable A Better Finder Rename 8) that takes the drudgery out of either splitting files into multiple folders or merging files from different folders.

Why would you want to do either of these tasks? Let’s say you’re trying to back up 30 GB of photographs to DVD. You can either start dragging files to a folder and keep checking with Get Info to see if the folder size is less than the writable size of a DVD, or you can just have BMFM automagically split the group of files into folders that are perfectly sized for DVD burning. Or let’s say that you want to take individual folders for former clients and turn them all into one big “Former Client Archive” folder. It’s easy to merge all of the files in those different folders into one big archive folder. The Big Mean Folder Machine takes care of file name conflicts in that case.

Version 1.5 adds the ability to create deeper hierarchy levels (dependent on the number of files per level) and restores MP3/AAC functionality. A trial version limited to 100 files is available for download, or you can buy the application for $14.99.

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Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week on the talkcast, Christina led a lively discussion of the laptop announcements, the lack of Firewire on the MacBook, and more. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tomorrow 10/25 at 10 pm ET for this week’s live show, hosted by me and featuring a special guest — he’s a mild-mannered industry analyst by day, a tech columnist by night… our friend Ross Rubin will be joining us, as we delve into the astonishing impact of the iPhone on Apple’s bottom line and the wireless market at large. Has our favorite computer company truly gotten past the Mac?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

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Pangea Software’s Brian Greenstone has written Mac games for more than two decades, reports Dan Lyons (newsweek.com), but with $5 million in revenue this year alone, he may now focus his attention on iPhone. “In the last four and a half months we’ve made as much money off the retail sales of iPhone apps as we’ve made with retail sales of all of the apps that we’ve made in the past 21 years—combined.”