Iphone Updates

Filed under: Apple Corporate, OS, Apple, Developer, Snow Leopard

Apple has relaxed a long-standing policy of restrictiveness regarding open conversation about unreleased versions of Mac OS X by creating a Snow Leopard discussion forum for developers. Historically, Apple has prevented conversation about future versions even among those bound by the same Non-Disclosure Agreement (which proved very challenging in the rampup to the iPhone SDK going public).

These new forums aren’t available to the public or student developers, so don’t begin a fruitless search. Only the developers who receive seed releases (those in Apple’s Premier and Select developer programs) have access.

I’m not a member of the ADC. We know that some of you are. What’s your take on this? Is it a surprise, and do you plan to make use of the forum? Let us know.

TUAWNew Snow Leopard discussions on Apple’s Developer Forums originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 08 May 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a cool little find, still in the developmental stage. A prototype R2-D2 robot has been built to respond to movement of an iPhone’s accelerometer. Currently, R2-D2′s head moves round in one direction or the other based upon the accelerometer. Pretty neat. Here’s a short video of the robot in action.

A dedicated iPhone application based on Dragon’s Den-featured business LookAndTaste.com has launched today. Now users can view over 300 video recipes and 300 food glossary videos on the iPhone, with constantly updated content and the aim to eventually have over a thousand recipes online. It’s not the cheapest app available, retailing for $9.99 (£5.99) but given that its base of media-rich information will continue to expand, it’s a good investment for the budding home chef…

While there are a number of enjoyable crossword puzzle apps available for iPhone and iPod touch, most puzzlers love being challenged by the New York Times daily crossword. That you can do the puzzle on the go while listening to your own personal soundtrack makes the experience even more of a pleasure. And the app offers numerous options for working the puzzle and sharing solve times.

iPhone users who love Peggle will be pleased to hear that PopCap Games has released it for the handheld device. Now you no longer need to be chained to your desktop or laptop PC or Mac to get a bit of Peggle stress relief. It’s not just a simple port, either, which is unsurprising given the quality of work that PopCap puts out, and also because of the constraints and also the interface advantages offered by the iPhone…

Apple today announced that the 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference will begin on Monday, June 8, with a keynote address delivered by a team of Apple executives, led by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. The sold-out conference will offer developers in-depth sessions on both iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

Filed under: Rumors, iPhone

The Street is reporting on a rumor today that AT&T is planning to drop the cost of the entry-level iPhone plan in the US from $69US per month to $59 per month. The suspected drop will take place when new iPhone models are released, as early as “…next month.”

What’s AT&T’s motivation here? To attract price-conscious customers, woo Apple away from a rumored Verizon deal or simply clear inventory for the next-generation iPhone? As a person who’s on this plan, I honestly don’t care why — I just hope it happens.

The change would trim $120/year off of the current plan, reducing the overall cost of the 2-year plan to $1,760. [The original $240/year mention was due to an editing error. -Ed.]

[Via The Apple Blog]

TUAWRumor: AT&T to reduce cost of entry iPhone plan originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 07 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Rumors, Internet, Apple

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington is reporting that rumors beginning to float around the blogosphere are stating that Apple is interested in purchasing Twitter for US$700 million in cash. Twitter, in case you’ve been off of the planet for the last two years, is the magical “social networking” tool that has you answer the question “What am I doing right now?” in 140 characters or less.

Twitter currently has more than 25 million users, and it is rumored that growth has been exploding since Oprah blessed the service with her presence in mid-April. However, despite the size and growth potential of Twitter, there’s simply no compelling reason for Apple to spend part of its huge cash reserves to purchase the company.

Google recently tried to purchase Twitter, but was turned down by Twitter’s CEO Evan Williams. Today’s rumor comes from a “normally reliable source” who told Arrington that “Apple is in late-stage negotiations to buy Twitter and is hoping to announce it at WWDC in June.”

Despite the popularity of Twitter, the service hasn’t figured out a way to make a profit, and is strictly powered by venture capital at this point. Can any TUAW readers think of a reason why Apple should buy Twitter? Leave us a comment!

TUAWRumor Watch: Apple to buy Twitter originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 05 May 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fueled by the success of the App Store — which recently reached an amazing milestone, exceeding 1 billion app downloads — Microsoft, Nokia, and other vendors apparently hope that if they “build a mobile app store, cellphone customers will come,” reports Jenna Wortham (nytimes.com). But, Wortham wonders, “the real question is, will any of it help these companies grow market share?“

Filed under: Productivity, TUAW Tips

Call it what you will, but “Spring Cleaning” is just as important on your Mac as it is in real life. From cleaning out old files to organizing music/movies/TV shows that you “threw” into iTunes over the past few months, spring cleaning is a necessary evil.

One way to find large files that might be eating up space on your Mac is with a smart folder; it’s easy to set one up right from the Finder. To create a smart folder that will find large files on your hard drive, simply follow these directions:

1. Open a new Finder window and select File > New Smart Folder.
2. In the resulting window, select “Other” from the first drop-down menu (the default selection is “Kind), and search for the key word “size.” If you wish this item to remain in the menu, select the “In menu” check box. Select the OK button once you select the “Size” item.
3. Select “is greater than” from the next drop-down menu.
4. Type in the size that you would like to search for files. I would suggest searching using 1 GB, but you can use any size you wish.

Finder will immediately begin searching your Mac for any files that match the description that we just specified. When you are ready to save your smart folder, select the “Save” button from the top right of the Finder window. You will then be asked to specify a save name and location. Now whenever you want to look for large files that might be hogging space on your system, just open this smart folder, and let the search begin!

Beyond this tip, if you are looking for utilities that can help you keep your storage lean and free of bloated, legacy files, you may want to check out GrandPerspective, WhatSize or OmniDiskSweeper.

TUAWSpring clean your Mac with smart folders originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 May 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Touch Arcade has a slew of new screenshots from an upcoming free update for a game I’ve been coming back to more and more lately on my iPhone: Zen Bound. When I first installed it, I thought of it as more of a tech demo than a game, but as you load it up more and more, you really do start uncovering layers of competition — “if only I twisted the statue that way I could cover more ground, or maybe if I started from that leg I could wrap around closer on that side.” It’s pretty addictive, and it’s one of those games that starts tugging at your mind even when you’re not playing it.

The update probably won’t help free my mind — not only will it have a whole set of new objects to wrap up (featuring some fun retro-gaming themed pieces), but it’s getting some bugfixes and some performance tweaks as well. The paint spread by the rope will be smoother, and the problem of the rope crossing through objects should be better (while that happened from time to time, it wasn’t a huge complaint).

Still, especially for free, it sounds like the update will only make a great game better. Zen Bound is available right now in the App Store for $4.99 (with the free update available “soon”), and there’s a lite version to try out as well.

TUAWZen Bound adding new tree in free update originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 May 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Apple has offered developers a glimpse as crash reporting since the iPhone 2.0 firmware was released, however, it was a kludge to get users to email you the crash reports from their ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice directory. Apple has a solution that will make this a lot easier.

Enter iTunes Connect, where Apple recently added the ability for developers to view crash reports from users. iTunes connect is where developers can manage applications they have on the App Store, check their sales, and get promotional codes for their apps. When you log into iTunes Connect you will be presented with the following information regarding crash logs:

Crash logs for applications are now available. To view them, go the Manage Your Applications Module below, click to view the desired application’s details, then click View Crash Report.

When you navigate to Manage Your Applications > your app details > View Crash Report, you will be presented with a few items that could help you debug apps. Namely, developers can view most frequent crashes, timeouts, and memory usage right from iTunes Connect. You can find out more about crash logs on the iPhone by going to Apple’s Developer tech note.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

TUAWiTunes Connect now lets developers see crash reports originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 02 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Rumors

There’s a thin rumor at AppleInsider suggesting that Apple will introduce less expensive MacBooks and iMacs this spring. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t mention pricing or what concessions will be made to reduce the cost.

While it’s easy to assume that Apple is reponding to the Microsoft ads that depict their machines as too expensive, AppleInsider’s source suggests that the price reduction is a response to the popularity of netbooks (Acer has been showing growth).

Apple typically starts the back-to-school sales at towards the end of the summer, and has bundled an iPod with computers sold to students. That offer plus a low-cost Mac would be powerful.

TUAWRumor: Cheaper Macs soon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 02 May 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tags:advert fake funny iphoneadvert, fake, funny, iphone

Filed under: Odds and ends, Found Footage, iPhone

Take one radio-controlled airplane or helicopter, add a Wi-Fi router and some custom software, then mix in an iPhone’s accelerometer and touch interface. What do you get? An R/C aircraft controller.

Joshua Ziering loves to fly radio-controlled ‘copters and planes, and he describes exactly how he went about developing an app and the associated hardware to control their flight by tilting his iPhone and moving throttle controls on the screen in a post on his blog. Check it all out in the video below.

Gary Z. at MacMost.com — thanks for the tip!

TUAWFound Footage: Controlling radio control aircraft with an iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 02 May 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As Gerry Moffatt and his high-climbing team prepare the ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, Final Cut Pro and MacBook Pro allow them to create and post video dispatches on the team’s First Ascent website. The “trusty MacBook Pro” has “been functioning superbly all the way up — we’re at about 21,000 feet.” And when they’re not enjoying the view, the team get a lift from their iPod “entertainment kits.”

Ancient. As Professor Tim Bergin explains, the water in our oceans is one of the oldest things on the planet, created more than 4.7 billion years ago. You can watch the lecture and learn more about the origins of the earth’s water on iTunes U. The thought-provoking lecture, just one of many “Saturday Morning Physics” lectures, is brought to us by the University of Michigan Department of Physics.

Penelope, played by Academy Award–winning actress Rachel Weisz, is a beautiful and eccentric heiress whose sheltered life seems to make her an easy mark for The Brothers Bloom, a pair of notoriously successful con men. But the longer the con goes on, the more deeply Bloom (Adrian Brody) falls for her, much to the dismay of brother Stephen (Mark Ruffalo). The highly anticipated romantic comedy opens May 15. Enjoy.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, App Store

Bad news for those of you who’ve been drooling to play Peggle on the iPhone. As you may have noticed, it didn’t come out in March as we were originally told. The good news is that our friends at Joystiq have gotten a new date for the addictive PopCap game’s release on the App Store, and it’s close. The game will be out, we’re being told, on May 12th. There’s no price given yet, but we’re with Joystiq on this one too: it probably won’t be as low at 99 cents. At $9.99, it would probably be worth it (Peggle is awesome) but pricey — we’re guessing the price will end up right around $4.99.

Joystiq’s been playing the game too (lucky peg-hitters), and while they are saving their full impressions for an upcoming review, they hint that the game won’t disappoint. We can’t wait — even though Peggle is pretty much everywhere already, from the Mac to Xbox Live to the classic iPod and even in World of Warcraft, there’s still room for a little portable Peggle in our lives.

TUAWPeggle on iPhone delayed to May 12th originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hands up who wants to win an iPhone 3G? Well, the good news is that not one but two of you with your hands in the air are going to do just that because the chaps and chapesses over at FileMaker are running a competition to give away two of the Apple handsets fully loaded with the latest FileMaker app, Bento for iPhone and iPod touch. But don’t worry, everyone else, because there’s five £15 iTunes Gift Cards up for grabs too. Bento is all about organising your business and personal life in the kind of way that I regularly fail to do on my own. You can use it to keep a track of your expenses, diet plan, digital media, vehicle maintenance, event planning or just simple stuff like to-do lists and adding more details to your iPhone contacts list. So, to go with the theme of personal organization, FileMaker wants you to justify why it is they should send you a phone with Bento on it. Just how useless at organisation are you?

When extreme-distance athlete Ray Zahab travels to the world’s most inhospitable places, he invites thousands of students to go with him. Virtually, of course. Safe in school, they interact with Zahab over the Internet as he and other members of the impossible2Possible team brave the elements and inspire them to tackle seemingly unfeasible challenges of their own. And the Mac makes it all possible.

Adidas has created a free iPhone application that gives users access to a Google Map of Berlin pegged with locations of urban art. It offers a “find artworks nearby” mode, utilising geolocation, as well as a gallery that lets users browse all artwork and then get directions using Google Maps…

Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW

For this go-around of Ask TUAW we’re taking questions about moving an iTunes library between user accounts, dealing with a misbehaving Western Digital external hard drive, syncing folders containing sensitive information, reinstalling OS X without losing iLife, and more.

As always, your suggestions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you’re running and which version of Mac OS X (we’ll assume you’re running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don’t specify). And now, on to the questions!

Continue reading Ask TUAW: Syncing folders, hard drive problems, reinstalling OS X, and more

TUAWAsk TUAW: Syncing folders, hard drive problems, reinstalling OS X, and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hands up who wants to win an iPhone 3G? Well, the good news is that not one but two of you with your hands in the air are going to do just that because the chaps and chapesses over at FileMaker are running a competition to give away two of the Apple handsets fully loaded with the latest FileMaker app, Bento for iPhone and iPod touch. But don’t worry, everyone else, because there’s five £15 iTunes Gift Cards up for grabs too. Bento is all about organising your business and personal life in the kind of way that I regularly fail to do on my own. You can use it to keep a track of your expenses, diet plan, digital media, vehicle maintenance, event planning or just simple stuff like to-do lists and adding more details to your iPhone contacts list. So, to go with the theme of personal organization, FileMaker wants you to justify why it is they should send you a phone with Bento on it. Just how useless at organisation are you?

Enjoy carrying photos on your iPhone or iPod touch? Now with Cool FX, you can easily apply a wide assortment of top-quality effects to those photos — right on your favorite mobile device. Brought to you by the Tiffen Company, Cool FX lets you add vignettes, adjust color temperature, simulate diffusion filters, crop, rotate, and apply many other film and photo effects. Give it a try.

If you run your own web server or have the need to access a remote server over SSH while away from your desk, you may have wished your iPhone had an application to let you securely log in and access the command line. This became very real to me when I received a text message alerting me to a web server crash. I was away from any computer with a SSH client already loaded, and so had no way to reboot the server for several hours. That’s until I found TouchTerm…

Filed under: Software

Let me tell you about the fly paper storage method.

I spent my youth in a shoebox-shaped house in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It had vinyl siding, cracked slate sidewalks and an under-performing rose bush in the front yard. Inside you’d find my family: happy enough, God-fearing and terribly disorganized.

The kitchen was a narrow galley with pink laminate counter tops and linoleum floors. A row of cabinets ran along the wall opposite the appliances, and inside the door on the far right was my mother’s recipes. Unlike your mom’s collection, Carol’s never saw the inside of a cookbook. Instead, they clung to the back of the door from yellowing strips of tape.

A Hellman’s mayonnaise label dangled next to pages ripped from Family Circle magazine, supermarket hand-outs, index cards, torn envelopes with their stamps intact … anything flat enough to write on and light enough to stick to the door was used.

While the fly paper storage method keeps recipes accessible, it’s a poor filing system. Anchovy paste mingles with blueberry cheesecake, which should never happen, not even in print. What all this means is that I’ve got chaos in my blood. I’m not a fly stripper, but a stacker. Piles of this and that are everywhere.

I’m also a geek who wants a flying car, a lightsaber and a robotic sous chef. Instead, I’ve got a Saturn Vue, an iPhone App and MacGourmet. While the latter isn’t Rosie, it’s pretty darn close.

We’ve written about MacGourmet before, so I’ll give you a brief recap. It’s extremely useful for storing and sharing recipies and creating shopping lists. You can create smart lists, add a wine library and more. In fact, it’s a part of my Dream Kitchen Mac setup (I’ll have to write about that someday).

Earlier this week, Mariner Software introduced MacGourmet Deluxe 1.2, which adds unique features of its own. It includes a USDA nutritional database, letting you calculate the nutritional value of nearly anything you want to eat. You can also view the nutritional values of your own recipe collection and the individual servings.

The coolest feature for me is the meal planner. Plan what you’ll make on any given day of any given week and sync the results with iCal. As a father of two toddlers, I love this feature. It’s a real treat to eliminate the whole “What are we doing about dinner?” question. You can even order a hard-bound cookbook of your favorites. For Mac-toting foodies, MacGourmet is a must-have (not as cool as Scotch Tape, but what can you do?).

New customers can purchase MacGourmet Deluxe for $44.95US, while registered MacGourmet customers can upgrade for only $24.95.

TUAWMacGourmet improves upon a winner originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now you can keep your life organized—on the go. With its 25 ready-to-use templates, “Bento for iPhone and iPod touch” lets you take client information on the road, track trip expenses, create To Do lists, manage membership lists, or plan events. And since Bento for iPhone and iPod touch synchs wirelessly with Bento 2.0v4 for Mac, you can keep all your personal databases up to date. Just $4.99 in the App Store.

It happens all the time. While browsing your favorite news or product sites, you come across an item you can’t wait to share with friends or colleagues. If you find such an article while you’re surfing with Safari, you can immediately send someone a link — or even the entire contents of the page you’re reading. Find out how by watching the latest Mac OS X Quick Tip.

Kewlbox has announced its latest game for the iPhone. Land of the Lost: Crystal Adventure is a free game based on the forthcoming Will Ferrell movie of the same name. “Rick Marshall has been dropped in the Land of the Lost and is trapped in the Sleestak temple. Help him make his way through the levels of the temple by overcoming the pits and traps he’ll encounter. Each level presents its own challenging mix of obstacles to overcome in an effort to reach the large crystal. Push blocks, build bridges, and navigate around obstacles in order to reach the end of the level – all while avoiding the Sleestaks.”…

You don’t have to be a journalism student to enjoy — or benefit from — Roy’s Writing Tools. Brought to us by the Poynter Institute and Roy Peter Clark, Roy’s Writing Tools delivers one enjoyable, instructive, and short writing lesson after another. They explain why you should use active verbs and when you should embrace the passive voice. Why should you vary the length of your paragraphs?

The wait is almost over. Next week, Star Trek comes to theaters throughout the U.S. Directed by J.J. Abrams, the eleventh film in the celebrated Star Trek franchise, introduces us to characters we all know well — James T. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov — but in their early years with Starfleet. To prep for your mission, you’ll find trailers, TV spots, and film clips on the movie trailers site. And a phaser, too. Enjoy.

An alum of the Missouri School of Journalism, Zach Honig (appscout.com) was pleased to learn that his alma mater was hosting an iPhone app design competition. Seventy student teams vied for the yet-to-be-awarded top prize, and at least two of the apps created during the competition — NearBuy and Newsflash — have already appeared on the App Store. And earned rave reviews.

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review

The number of dialers for the iPhone give a pretty good indication that this is functionality that needs to be built in. Last week we took at look at one clever dialer; here’s another. The Dial 9 visual dialer [App Store link] has a nice GUI and a couple of clever features, all for a reasonable $2.99US price.

This dialer keeps track of who you dial, and what numbers you use, and offers you those smart choices when you are ready to contact someone. Dial 9 will automatically import any images that are associated with your contacts, and I was glad to see when I updated a contact with a picture after I installed Dial 9, the app picked up on that without any intervention from me.

When you tap on a contact, you can call them at any number they use, send an SMS, send an email, view the contact or edit it if you like, and show a map of where the contact is. The map is just a link to the maps app on your phone, and once you select that you have to navigate back to Dial 9 from the home screen (a limitation of the current iPhone software).

You can arrange the icons however you like, or have the app arrange them. You can display a first name, first and last, or just images, and can change the background colors, or have different themes for different pages.

This is far from the only dialer for the iPhone. I counted 22 in the store, last time I checked. Faces Visual Dialer is another option at $0.99 (on sale) that has similar capabilities. You’ll find free dialers and pay dialers. Other apps mimic old style rotary dialers such as this one, and this one, while others support speech recognition like the AdelaVoice Dialer and VoiceBox Dialer (this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list, just some samples).

I liked Dial 9. It looked nice, and had plenty of functionality. Help files are included and it worked as expected. The only downside of this app, and many that are similar, is that loading time is too long. It takes about 6 seconds to launch, likely because it is updating my contact list and loading images. 6 seconds isn’t an eternity, but it can seem like one when you are ready to call someone. It doesn’t really save you any screen tapping — if I use the iPhone contacts, or Dial 9, I am 3 clicks away from dialing in either case. It does save scrolling time though, if your contact list is large and your frequently called contacts are few. That’s my situation… I guess I need more good friends.

Here’s a link to a video if you want to see how it all works.

TUAWDial 9 is another smart dialer for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The results are in. And in its 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study, J.D. Power and Associates reports that “Apple ranks highest among smartphone manufacturers with a score of 791 on a 1,000-point scale, performing particularly well in ease of operation, operating system, features and physical design.”

Gameloft has announced that it has secured the rights to produce a mobile game based on the forthcoming Sherlock Holmes film. Though the iPhone and iPod Touch aren’t specifically mentioned, Gameloft has produced a number of games for the platforms so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the game, due out sometime before the US theatrical release on Christmas Day this year.

Smule calls their latest iPhone app “an instrument, a game, and a huge global social experience.” Most App Store reviewers simply call it “addictive.” And give it 5 stars. Like Ocarina, Leaf Trombone lets you turn iPhone or iPod touch into a musical instrument; this time, a trombone. But Leaf Trombone also lets you play for — and get instant reviews from — a global audience of fellow Leaf Trombone players. Ready to take the world stage?

At Doylestown Hospital, doctors don’t have to carry charts anymore. Instead, they carry an iPhone and enjoy secure, 24/7 access to patient records, including vital signs, medications, lab results, allergies, nurses’ notes, and therapy results. When with a patient, they can tap the iPhone screen, launch a program like Epocrates, and use it to help explain diseases, interpret lab results, or check on drug interactions.

“Mac mini–crazed,” Julio Ojeda-Zapata (twincities.com) “couldn’t be happier” with the “interesting uses” he has found for the new Mac mini. “Because it is so inexpensive,” Ojeda-Zapata found it a “compelling option” as a “mainstream Mac.” But the diminutive Mac mini “blew my mind” when he paired it with a 52-inch LCD. That’s when he realized why so many “Mac types have embraced the Mac Mini as the ultimate media center.”

If you can’t get to this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, you can at least enjoy trailers for a selection of the films that will be seen at the annual celebration of independent filmmaking. They includes the latest work from such directors as Atom Egoyan, Spike Lee, Carlos Cuaron, and other new and well-known filmmakers.

In his History of Jazz program, Dr. Gordon Vernick, Associate Professor of Music at Georgia State University looks at just one year in the rich history of this uniquely American musical genre. But Vernick sees 1959 as a “nexus point,” the year he “likes to think about as the most important year in jazz.” What occurred in 1959 to make it such a milestone for jazz music?

If you’re looking forward to the newest film in the X-Men series, you have only a week to wait. Opening on May 1, X-Men Origins: Wolverine — a prequel to the rest of the films in the series — focuses on Logan, the character, played by Hugh Jackman, who becomes Wolverine. On the Movie Trailers site, you’ll find an exclusive clip from the film, two trailers, and (coming soon) the Wolverine Weapons App.

Just nine months after the revolutionary App Store opened, Apple today announced, Connor Mulcahey, a thirteen year old from Weston, CT, downloaded the one billionth app. By downloading Bump, a free contact swapping app created by Bump Technologies, the teenager became the grand prize winner of Apple’s one billion app countdown contest and will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro.

“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, in announcing the company’s March quarter financial results. In its fiscal 2009 second quarter, Apple posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter.

“The App Store — stocked with 15,000 titles — is on tap to move its 1 billionth application any day now,” reports Jefferson Graham (usatoday.com). And it’s applications from relatively small developers, like Smule, that have created such entertaining apps as Ocarina (one of the best-selling apps on the App Store) and Leaf Trombone (a newcomer to the Store) that are leading the way.

In theaters on Earth Day 2010, Oceans invites us to journey beneath the waves to glimpse the wild and untamed world that few get to see. The Disneynature film tells the story of the perils and uncertain future the inhabitants of this world face while at the same time showing us the bright future that could occur if we’re willing to change the way we treat the world’s oceans.

Now you can enjoy the environmental friendly book from Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen on your iPhone. And save a few more trees in the process. The digital version of the New York Times Bestseller “is full of green living tips and each section is accessible through the table of contents.” If you’d like to see more app options for Earth Day, pay a visit to the Green Room.

Eager to hear new tracks from the Dave Matthews Band? Subscribe to the iTunes Pass for Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, and the hot single, Funny the Way It Is, will download immediately. The rest of the band’s eagerly anticipated eighth studio album will download as soon as it becomes available. And until the pass expires this September, you’ll receive bonus studio tracks, live tracks, and more.

Eager to hear new tracks from the Dave Matthews Band? Subscribe to the iTunes Pass for Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, and the hot single, Funny the Way It Is, will download immediately. The rest of the band’s eagerly anticipated eighth studio album will download as soon as it becomes available. And until the pass expires this September, you’ll receive bonus studio tracks, live tracks, and more.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Odds and ends

Reader Josh sent along this little note — nothing too important, just something for you to file away for future reference. He just wanted us to point out that way, way down in the stats for Adium, the IM client for everyone who’s not using iChat, there is one surreptitious listing for a “MacBookMini.”

Now, I assure you, we’re thinking the exact same things you’re thinking: these stats are totally bunk, anyone can edit their computer ID to be listed as anything they want, and one stat on Adium’s page does not mean that Apple is coming out with some sort of revolutionary miniature laptop.

And we agree with you — it’s almost certainly nothing of consequence. Or, that is, we would completely agree with you, except for one thing: it’s happened exactly this way before. A little computer called the MacBook Air first showed up in Adium’s stats, and people argued those exact same things at the time, and it all turned out to be real.

You might say that makes it doubly likely for someone to tweak their computer’s settings to show up as some legendary Apple test machine, and again, we’d agree with you. But it’s a big world out there — unless you work at 1 Infinite Loop, you have no idea what Apple is testing and working on right now. Like I said, we just thought we’d let you know. Just in case.

TUAWDept. of deja vu: MacBookMini found in Adium stats originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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