Iphone Updates

“Cambridge, Mass.-based car-sharing service Zipcar this week launched an app that lets you locate and reserve one of its vehicles, unlock it using the iPhone touch-screen and drive it off the lot,” reports Jefferson Graham (usatoday.com). Graham notes that while there are many iPhone apps for autos “Zipcar’s app is the first to control the operation of a car.”

Citing significant upgrades to the Podcast Producer, Wiki, and Mobile Access components of Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard, reviewer Cameron Sturdevant (eweek.com) recommends that IT managers “put Snow Leopard Server on their short-term evaluation list when considering system updates in creative departments where Mac systems predominate” or in any enterprise “where high-value content is produced.”

Bento 3, a breakthrough new version of the popular personal database for the Mac, now integrates with iPhoto, allowing you to store more info about your photos and link them to contacts, projects, events and other information stored in Bento. The new Bento also offers multiuser sharing and new security options. “Think of Bento 3 as a powerful, easy way to bring together all of your key Mac information and photos,” said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services, FileMaker, Inc.

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

Just the other day I was talking about how prices were all over the place for in-app purchases, and now here’s a company that’s just going all out with the microtransaction model (or macrotransaction, maybe, in this case). Urban Rivals is an online MMO trading card game, and they’re going to start selling packs of the cards directly within the game. And the pricing is interesting — you can buy one pack of three cards for 99 cents (same as the price of the game itself, though there will be a free version to play as well), or you can pick up 11 packs of those cards, 33 cards in total, for $9.99, almost ten times the price of the actual game.

This is an interesting case: the game itself already has a working model outside of the App Store, so they’ve already proven elsewhere that people will pay for this extra gameplay, not to mention that players of the iPhone game can play right alongside players on other platforms. And there’s an interesting twist with the game’s currency — outside of the iPhone, the game lets you either win currency which you can then use to buy cards, or buy the currency with real money and then buy cards with that. But Apple has apparently said no to ingame currency being sold for real money, so instead, Urban Rivals is selling cards during the in-app purchases, skipping the ingame currency completely.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not this will actually work — just because the game is successful outside the iPhone doesn’t mean it’ll work on Apple’s platform. But if in-app purchases of this kind do become a big deal, we might see other developers trying to come up with ways to sell content like this — for developers who feel that the App Store’s prices are too low, they may instead be able to come up with the funds they need through sizable in-app purchases.

TUAWiPhone TCG to charge $9.99 for in-app purchases originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Peripherals, Odds and ends, iPhone

The TomTom navigation app [iTunes link] for iPhone has been available since August of this year, but many TUAW readers have told us they’re holding off on a purchasing decision until they can see how the announced iPhone car kit enhances the use of the app.

The car kit, which includes a secondary GPS receiver and speaker as well as a mount for holding the iPhone, is scheduled to ship in the U.S. in October. TomTom International B.V. has announced the pricing for the mount, which has a suggested retail price of US$119.95 or €99.95.

Several GPS blogs are already questioning the pricing, noting that the total price for the kit and app will be US$219.94, more than some much more capable personal navigation devices. On the other hand, the car kit isn’t patented, so other companies may come out with less expensive options in short order.

[via GPSTracklog]

TUAWTomTom announces iPhone car kit pricing originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone – TomTom – Apple – GPS – GPS navigation device

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, App Review

The first time I saw the classic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey,” I was 10 years old. If the story and the underlying meaning were confusing to me as a kid, the futuristic technology wasn’t, and I liked the video communications devices and the flat Newspad.

It’s almost 9 years late (2010), but we finally have a cool way to communicate with video, and it doesn’t require using a wall-mounted AT&T pay phone. 12mail Video Messenger [iTunes Link] for iPhone brings clear, fast video messaging to your device in 12-second chunks.

An offshoot of 12seconds.tv, 12mail Video Messenger grabs up to a 12 second video on the iPhone 3GS and delivers it to your Facebook and Twitter pals with push notification. If your buds don’t have 12mail, they can view the video on their Facebook wall or through Twitter.

While there’s not a lot you can say in 12 seconds, the app is great for sending friends short video blips, showing them something funny, or inviting them to join you for a drink. Since 12mail uses geolocation, your friends will know just where you sent your message from.

Some folks may wonder about the advantages of 12mail over MMS, particularly since AT&T is supposed to finally “flip the switch” on that service today. Those advantages are the integration with Facebook and Twitter, as well as the fact that this won’t use up your text message allotment.

12mail is fairly simple to use, although I had some issues returning a video message to a person who had just been added to my Twitter “following” list. A query to 12mail’s tech support got me a quick response, and I found out that I just needed to tap the refresh button in the top left corner of the list of Twitter users to get the latest people that I’m following. One other little bug seems to be that the “tilt iPhone to start recording” function doesn’t work, at least not for me. If you don’t have an iPhone that supports video recording, you can still record audio and take one picture to illustrate what’s going on.

If you’re a Twitter or Facebook user, particularly one with an iPhone 3GS, installing 12mail is a no-brainer. It’s fun, it’s free, and it’s a taste of the future. Check out the gallery for some screenshots of 12mail.

TUAWFirst Look: 12mail Video Messenger for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big news today, Vodafone is also coming in the UK iPhone market later this yeat. So now I guess all American customers of AT&T are waiting to have the same kind of choice as in UK, because AT&T hasn’t been known as being a good mobile operator with the iPhone.

Tags:apple AT&T iphone uk united kingdom vodafoneapple, AT&T, iphone, uk, united kingdom, vodafone

After being the partner of Apple in France, Orange will sell the iPhone later this year in UK.

That’s very good news for customers, who were quite disappointed about the upgrade from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS for existing customers with O2.

The competition on prices could finally start!!!

Tags:apple france iphone O2 orangeapple, france, iphone, O2, orange

Filed under: Software, iPhone

As the AT&T iPhone MMS launch is only one day away now, Engadget is reporting that they heard some launch details from AT&T. Specifically, AT&T has stated that it expects MMS for the iPhone to launch in the “late morning” Pacific time, which would mean it “early afternoon” Eastern time.

Also, this update will arrive as a carrier settings update, which means you’ll have to connect your iPhone to iTunes to update. These updates are very small and don’t require a restart. Just make sure you and your iPhone are ready to update on Friday.

TUAWAT&T states more MMS details for Friday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Bugs/Recalls, Bad Apple, Snow Leopard

Something seems rotten, at least for some Mac users, with the Apple Mail program. Apple support boards are lighting up with reports of email messages being downloaded multiple times. This problem seems to be mostly with POP mail accounts, but even IMAP users are seeing it. There is another Apple support thread here with 10 pages of comments from unhappy Mail users.

I’ve noticed it myself twice. In the morning I bring up Mail and read what’s come in overnight. Then a little later I re-open Apple Mail and the same messages download again. Of course my POP account is set to delete everything from the server, and my settings have not changed.

This is the first really bad behavior I’ve seen from Apple Mail since OS X came out in 2001. This most recent glitch seems to have popped up in the 10.6.1 update. There are enough people reporting it that it seems like there is an issue for some users, but obviously not everyone is seeing it.

There have been some suggestions posted, but while they worked for some they did not work for all. Are you seeing this strange behavior? Did it start with 10.6.1? Let us know, and hopefully Apple will kick the code for the next update and put this bad boy to rest.

Thanks to Mark for the tip.

TUAWRead that email again. And again. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hardware, Tips and tricks, Snow Leopard

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve been going back and forth with readers who truly believe that Snow Leopard is reporting battery errors when they have a perfectly good battery. There’s even a substantially large thread in Apple’s Discussions forums about this topic. I’ve been notified of that thread many times, accused of not covering real issues, hiding the truth and just plain refusing to believe that it’s an issue with the Operating System.

After trudging through all of that, I’ve determined that it’s a whole bunch of hoopla. I’m not saying that some of these people aren’t experiencing real issues with the software — just the sheer amount of complaints in the discussion forums would say there are problems — but the “Service Battery” complaint doesn’t appear to be related to software issues at all.

One of the big differences between Leopard and Snow Leopard is how they report issues with the battery. Leopard didn’t report issues in a place where most users would know to check: System Profiler – Power – Health Information. Snow Leopard reports issues directly from your Menu Bar as shown in the picture. This difference caused a real stir in our tips box because many users never knew that their batteries were bad before Snow Leopard. “My battery isn’t bad, it worked fine until I installed Snow Leopard” — Yes, it may have worked fine but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have issues before the upgrade. Apple just made the problems more noticeable in the OS. In fact, they’re helping their users catch them sooner.

Most of the time, people don’t realize their battery has issues until it REALLY has issues like 20 minute run-times, random shut downs, the black “x” in the battery icon, etc. All of these are issues we (technicians) use to identify a bad battery. These new battery checks could actually help you find out your battery is bad before the warranty runs out; before it gets to the point of no return.

Genius Bars and Apple Authorized Service Providers now have a special utility that actually reads the health information directly from the battery and can determine why the Operating System says the battery needs serviced. Most of the time the problem will fall into two categories: battery failure or depletion. This diagnostic tool is actually a game-changer in the world of Apple’s battery warranty: batteries are no longer automatically covered through the first year. If the battery legitimately fails, they’ll replace it free of charge. If you happen to deplete the battery within the first year, you’ll pay for a new battery.

Take all of this information with a grain of salt. Apple IS helping us by having the OS show us when the battery fails, but they’ve also made warranty battery replacements a little more fair on their end. Having blanket warranties for a year probably cost them a lot of money considering it’s pretty easy to deplete a battery within that time if you don’t take care to keep it healthy.

I’ve had the battery in my MacBook Pro for 9 months now. I have 245 cycles on the battery, 3-4 hours of pretty heavy usage (without the killer graphics enabled), and 99% health rating according to iStat Pro. I’ll leave you with a few tips to help maintain the health of your battery:

• Never leave the machine plugged in all the time. Laptops are meant to be portable. Using it as a desktop that never runs on the battery will destroy your battery life.
• Cycles are your friend. Never letting the battery complete a cycle will greatly diminish your run-time. Try to avoid charging the battery unless it’s drained past 30%. Any time the battery drains past 50% and charges more than 50% counts as a cycle. The farther you let it drain before the charge – the better its overall health will remain.
• 30 cycles in a year is not a good thing.
• Let the battery drain completely a few times a week.
• Never let it sit for long periods of time without use. Batteries need to be loved or else they won’t love you.

For more information on batteries, check out apple.com/batteries

UPDATE — There have been a lot of opinions expressed in the comments about the proper care and feeding of Apple laptop batteries, especially the newer lithium ion units. I’m happy to see that this article sparked such a healthy debate. To be clear, my tips here are not directly based on Apple’s recommendations. They are driven by my personal experience servicing Apple laptops and Apple batteries for customers, and my own battery health history. For a different take on proper battery care for modern gear, we were pointed to feedback from Marco Ament that’s worth a look. If we have electrical engineers or battery designers in the audience that wish to weigh in, we’d be happy to hear from you.

TUAW10.6 falsely reports ‘service battery?’ … I think not originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Odds and ends, Airport, Mac mini, TUAW Tips, iPhone, iPod touch

Earlier this month, I wrote about connecting my old Mac mini to my television . My mini offers a great Apple TV-style lifestyle with none of the Apple TV limitations. It’s a real Mac running real Snow Leopard, albeit on an older, admittedly limited mini. I have Front Row, EyeTV, QuickTime, and more, all ready to entertain me on demand, as well as standard system access to mail, web browsing, etc.

The sound in my living room is powered by a couple of speakers that shipped with an ancient computer monitor. Their audio works fine for close-up TV watching and Wii playing. Move across the room and those speakers prove how limited they are. Add in a treadmill with its motor noises, and the sound decreases to virtually nothing.

So how can one listen to those great shows that are playing back on that lovely large screen across the room, especially when walking or jogging on the treadmill? I messed around with several solutions until I stumbled across one that really worked well for me. Using my home’s 802.11g Wi-Fi network, I could call my iPhone from my Mac using Skype. With only the most minimal of lags, I was able to transmit live audio and watch my favorite shows on the Mac while listening on the iPhone from my treadmill.

Read on to learn how I accomplished this…

Continue reading TUAW Tips: Send Mac audio to your iPhone for cheap

TUAWTUAW Tips: Send Mac audio to your iPhone for cheap originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s going faster and faster with 85,000 Apps on board in the most successful Application marketplace so far.

It is incredibly successful, and will it slow down? Apparently, the numbers are quickly going up.

Tags:App Store apple appstore iphoneApp Store, apple, appstore, iphone

Apple today announced that more than two billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. There are now more than 85,000 apps available to the more than 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide and over 125,000 developers in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program. “The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Internet Tools, iWork

Last January, Apple released iWork.com at Macworld Expo. For the unfamiliar, it’s a collaborative site that allows a team to share and review any iWork document. I’ve used it with Keynote and found it quite handy. Invited participants can comment on a document, download it in multiple formats and upload revisions. There’s even some integration with Google Docs.

It was almost a year ago that Apple released the beta of iWork.com, and little has been mentioned since. It definitely needs work. It’s slow with large documents which is a turn off for many users. Still, I think it has potential and hope it doesn’t go the way of AppleWorks. Perhaps that new data center they’re building in North Carolina (schedule to open sometime in 2010) will throw a little horsepower to this project.

Have you used iWork.com or is there another neglected Apple app that needs some attention? Sound off below.

TUAWWhat’s happening with iWork.com? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Reviews

“I switched to the Mac to use this!” might be the highest praise a Mac developer could ever hope to hear. Switching platforms means not just buying a new computer, but also buying a bunch of new software. There are probably only a handful of applications that merit changing platforms all on their own, but Accordance Bible Software is one of them. Accordance isn’t just widely respected within the Mac world, it’s widely respected within the entire scriptural research software universe. Bible Software Review wrote: “Anyone who knows a little bit about Bible software has heard of Accordance.”

The current version is compatible with Snow Leopard, and yet still runs on System 7.5! This is the first time I’ve seen a Mac application vendor talk about running Mac software in emulation rather than the other way around. Accordance is proudly Mac-only, suggesting to users that once they have switched to Mac they shouldn’t put up with “Windows software” on their Macs, and offering crossgrades for those who have made the switch.

Being first is nice, but once other companies have come into the market, it doesn’t take long to forget who was first and start to compare based on which features each product provides. Fortunately, Accordance has a lot to offer. There are a wide variety of packages available, ranging from $49 to several thousand dollars, depending on the library options. Like other Bible software programs, you are buying two parts: first, the app itself; second, items for your library, such as commentaries, different translations of the Bible, maps, and so forth. Most users should expect to make an initial investment of at least $100, perhaps $200-$300, but those purchases will almost certainly reflect savings over buying the printed versions.

Continue reading Accordance: powerful Bible study software, only for the Mac

TUAWAccordance: powerful Bible study software, only for the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, iTunes, iWork, Ask TUAW

Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly Mac troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we’ve got questions about target disk mode, energy saver prefs, Safari file issues, iTunes album artwork, iTunes sharing and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions 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.

computergeeksjw asks:

I have an old iMac Blue G3. The fliesystem failed, but I can’t reformat because there is a disc in the slot-loading drive. I tried the tricks I know like Open Firmware (gives me a weird error) and holding in the mouse button (I hear the drive spin up but nothing else happens). I have a newer G4 Quicksilver. Will it be able to boot up into Target Disk Mode even though the filesystem is damaged? (Then I can try to repair with Disk Utility or reinstall from there) or will it fail like a normal boot does?

Continue reading Ask TUAW: Target disk mode, energy saver prefs, iTunes sharing and more

TUAWAsk TUAW: Target disk mode, energy saver prefs, iTunes sharing and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review

The first thing I normally do when someone names their application “The Best…” is roll my eyes and delete the PR email. However, when I saw a press release about the Best Camera app for iPhone, I decided to take a look and I’m glad I did.

Best Camera [iTunes link] is a collaboration between professional photographer Chase Jarvis and iPhone dev firm Übermind. The app gets its name from Jarvis’s book “The Best Camera is The One That’s With You,” a collection of photos taken all over the world by Jarvis with his iPhone.

The US$2.99 app features 14 useful filters and effects that can be stacked; in other words, you can take a photo with the iPhone camera, then apply several filters and/or effects before sharing your handiwork. The filters and effects are on a side-scrolling “dock” at the bottom of the screen, and you apply them by simply tapping on the icons. Sharing includes saving the photo on your iPhone camera roll, sending it out via email, or blasting it to your Facebook or Twitter account.

There’s also one more place to share your photo. While filters and effects are nothing new, Jarvis has created a community at thebestcamera.com where photos that have been submitted are displayed on a constantly changing photo wall. These photos are also viewable in the app itself, and by tapping a photo in either location, you can view information about the photographer. On the website, the information also includes a list of the filers or effects that were used on the original photo so you can re-create photos that you find fascinating.

Check out the gallery below for some screenshots of the Best Camera app in action.

TUAWFirst Look: Best Camera App for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reviewing the iPod nano, Stanford student Annika Heinle (stanforddaily.com) declares it a “masterpiece.” Citing both its classroom utility (built-in mic and speaker for note-taking) and extracurricular benefits (video camera for YouTube and Facebook posts; step-tracking accelerometer and FM radio for the gym), Heinle concludes: “It’s no longer entirely about the music with the iPod, but about improving lifestyles overall.”

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Snow Leopard

The more we use Snow Leopard the more niceties we uncover. This week I found a simple little check box that has made my life infinitely more awesome. Yes, my entire life.

First, a bit of background. When Mac OS 10.0 was released in September of 2001, we all went crazy with the genie effect, watching windows slip in and out of the newly-introduced Dock with silky smoothness.* Window after window slid into place.

The problem was this: minimized windows moved neighboring icons aside, making everything a bit smaller and harder to identify. Eventually the whole mess became unusable. Sure, you could mouse over or check the identifying icon but ancient eyes like mine aren’t meant for such strain.

Snow Leopard has come to the rescue. Now you can minimize windows “behind” their parent app’s icon. Here’s how. First. launch System Preferences and click “Dock.” Then, select “Minimize windows into application icon.” As Jeff Goldblum said, “There’s no step three.” Now, minimized windows scoot behind your Dock icons and there’s no more crowding.

*OK, jaggy, halting smoothness. Still, it was cool. Mostly.

TUAWSnow Leopard tip: Minimize to icon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, App Store, App Review

Our Saturday review of CoPilot Live [iTunes Link] raised some interesting questions among users of the US$34.99 app.

TUAW reader Jeremy sent us an email this morning wondering why the Live Local Search feature of the app is now a paid feature, when it was free on the first version that was released. This clever feature used an internet connection to find nearby points of interest, even though the maps and bulk of the POI database are on the app itself. It was a great way to keep the app up to date, using a blend of static maps and info with an internet supplement.

With the latest update to the app (version 8.0.0.096) that feature is now part of a US$19.99 annual update that also adds real time traffic updates and gas price searches.

At first blush, it seems like features should not be taken away in an update. I contacted ALK, the app developer, and received a response from spokesperson Mary Kelly:

“Local Search was included in the first release of the App as a taster of this premium feature. We did not advertise it as being an included feature in our original App or at any time promote it as being included. In fact it was listed on the App description as a premium service ‘coming soon’. We may offer similar trials for a limited period for other services in the future. The Live Services which we promote as ‘included as standard’ remain so, namely: LiveLink location sharing and Live Weather.”

The company apologizes for any confusion. CoPilot Live still remains a pretty good deal for a low-end navigation service. I found quite a few map errors and omissions, but the company has set up a mechanism for people to report any problems with the accuracy of the maps.

I can understand users being upset at losing the feature, and ALK should have made it more clear that Live Local Search was just a temporary sampler of a future paid service.

TUAWTUAW Follow Up: CoPilot Live missing features originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peter Burrows (businessweek.com) reports that Apple is working “to change the terms of the debate” on green accountability by revealing its total annual corporate carbon emissions on its new Apple and the Environment site. Writes Burrows: “Apple argues that broader, more comprehensive figures for carbon emissions should be used—for everything from materials mined for its products to the electricity used to power them—and it’s offering up its own data to make the case.”

Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks, iWork

I recently noted the image-editing functionality of Preview.app, which can act as a “good enough” image editor for many that don’t have access to Photoshop. While it’s difficult to argue with the free price tag, Preview is not without its limitations. Fortunately, many of these limitations are unlocked if you happen to own Apple’s iWork suite, which in its own right can serve as an image editor for the budget-minded.Read on to see how to use iWork in this unconventional way.

Continue reading Using iWork as an image editor

TUAWUsing iWork as an image editor originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: App Store, SDK

As part of Apple’s efforts to make the ins-and-outs of the App Store more clear to everyone, Apple has just Introduced the App Store Resource Center. Apple states this new site is “a single destination where you can find everything from how to prepare for submitting your app to managing your app once it been posted to the App Store.”

Basically, this new site offers an easy way for developers to read over and learn the many different policies and details about the App Store. It covers app submission, the App Store approval process and managing your app details, among other things There’s really not much new, but you maybe able to find stuff easier now instead of looking through large PDF App Store guides.

If you’re one of those developers who feels lost around iTunes Connect, you’ll probably want to look over the guides in this new site. Anyways, if you’re a registered iPhone developer, check out this new site, you just might learn something, maybe.

TUAWApple introduces the App Store Resource Center originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Noting the popularity of taking and sharing pictures with iPhone, Jim Dalrymple (loopinsight.com) selects and reviews “a few of the best” iPhone photo apps. Writes Dalrymple: “There are apps available on the App Store that will help you take better photos and edit them before you upload them to MobileMe, Facebook or Twitter.”

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

Innovation is a wonderful thing. Developers are taking built in features of the iPhone and improving upon them. As Bookmarks is a subsystem for iPhone/iPod touch Audiobook listening, Say It & Mail it [iTunes Link] is a subsystem for Voice Memos that outclasses the Apple-designed feature by a mile. Apple’s Voice Memo app lets you record a memo and optionally create an email to send it. That’s pretty neat, but how about recording a voice memo and sending it as a pre-addressed email along with the option of attaching a picture (either shot from the camera, or photo library) and tossing in your location for good measure?

Say it & Mail it does all this in the easiest and most intuitive way imaginable for $1.99. Start by tapping on ‘Say it’ and record a voice memo. Tap ‘Play it’ and listen. From this point you can Mail it, or tap on a camera icon to take or use an existing picture. Then click on the little ‘Interstate 10 sign’ icon and the built in GPS will find you, display a road map or satellite view of your location, and add the clickable Google Maps link to the email.

You don’t need to use it all, but you can’t send email unless there is a voice memo created first. The other two options are, well, optional.

Read on for more details & a video preview.

Continue reading Say It & Mail It: iPhone voice memos on steroids

TUAWSay It & Mail It: iPhone voice memos on steroids originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone – App Store – Apple – IpodTouch – ITunes

The GarageBand ’09 Lesson Store has added three new Artist Lessons, videos that let you learn to play a song from the artist who made it famous. Reports Dan Moren (macworld.com): “Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson contributes two lessons, ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Limelight.’ The new offerings are rounded out by John Legend, who explains how to play his song ‘Ordinary People’ on the piano.”

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod nano, App Review

Some of us here at TUAW have been known to hoist a pint or two of a frosty beverage now and again. When doing so there’s quite a few selections from which to choose to satisfy that urge for something cold and refreshing. One choice often made by me personally is Guinness. But what if I want a Guinness after a long day but can’t figure out where to go and get one? Fortunately, there’s an app for that: the Guinness Pub Finder.

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Guinness on September 24th they have created a new iPhone and iPod Touch app that will, according to the company, allow “consumers of legal drinking age across the US (to) join the celebration and more easily raise a toast with friends in the future.” Which, of course, sounds great unless you happen to live in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas or West Virginia where the app is forbidden by law from working. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Even if you can use this app for its intended purpose, it actually isn’t just about helping you find a drink, although it does do that pretty well. Here’s a breakdown of its main features:

o. Locate a Pint – uses GPS to locate the consumer and the pubs serving Guinness nearest to their current location. It then provides name, address and telephone number of the pub chosen, access to directions, and an email setup to invite friends to join.

o. Know Your Pint – provides a tutorial on the 6 Steps to Creating the Perfect Pint, and also includes a ruler that can be used to measure your pint’s head.

o. Fun Extras – includes animated screensavers, a countdown clock to the “Arthur’s Day” celebrations and a live feed of the latest news regarding the Guinness 250th Anniversary celebration

o. Responsible Drinking – Provides consumers with the DRINKiQ resource which shares important facts about alcohol to aid responsible choices.

The app is US$1.99 in the iTunes store and its available now.

TUAWNew ‘Pub Finder’ app helps you find a Guinness originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Peripherals, Odds and ends, iPhone

The iPhone has made photography fun for me again. I frankly hated the cameras I had in some of my other, older phones, and I don’t like carrying around my big Canon digicam all the time, so having a fairly capable camera in my pocket has opened up my photo-taking horizons again.

When I got the 3GS this summer, one of my first tests was to take some macro pictures using the camera. Sure, the 3GS is better at macro photos than the original or 3G models, but it still isn’t a “real” macro camera. What if I wanted to take close up pictures of a tiny insect or a detail of a flower stamen?

The Apple Press has a great little tutorial today on how to take better macro photos with the iPhone using alternative lenses. I’ll leave reading the post as an exercise for our readers, but let it suffice to say that you can do a lot of really cool macro shots with an iPhone by putting a small drop of water onto the lens. The Apple Press also provides a link to Amazon for an inexpensive magnifier that can fit in your wallet, perfect for those who are a bit queasy about putting even a drop of agua on their iPhones.

Meanwhile, the geniuses at Mobile Mechatronics are now selling an inexpensive product designed to help you take better photos with your iPhone. The Blur Tripod ($US14.99) consists of an iPhone tripod adapter, a mini tripod, and an upcoming companion app called Blur Software that provides an adjustable delay to your iPhotography so that all vibrations in the iPhone / tripod combo are damped out before the photo is snapped. The app is going through the labyrinthine approval process right now, and will hopefully be approved by Apple in the near future.

In the meantime, I’m going to go out and take some more pictures and video with my iPhone. What’s your biggest wish for iPhone photography? A telephoto lens? A flash? Leave your comments below.

TUAWiPhone photo news: tripods and water drop lenses originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For global consulting firm Logica’s perpetually mobile consulting staff, iPhone provides reliable connectivity and new offerings in the way of custom-built iPhone applications for their customers.

When Airship Ventures’ Jim Dexter suits up to fly Eureka, one of three Zeppelin airships in the world, he takes along iPhone as his go-to device for flight planning, weather reports, and keeping in touch with the ground crew. “It’s a huge leap in technology,” he says.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Bugs/Recalls, Bad Apple, iPhone

In the last week, we have had a constant barrage of iPhone issues break through the lines… so much so that we feel it is our duty to inform the two of you who haven’t updated what you could experience by updating to version 3.1 of the iPhone OS. This is no small problem, as you can read from the discussions on Apple’s website here, here, here, and here.

The first two links are where we’re getting the majority of our tips — random shutdowns and very poor battery life. The second two, bricked phones and general slowness are still worth a mention — even prompting our own Erica Sadun to do a live walk-through for debrickifying iPhones. We received a lot of praise for her help in that session and we’d encourage you to go back and read through the chat if you’re experiencing trouble with a bricked iPhone.

I’ve spent quite some time reading the hundreds of posts about the “mysterious random shutdowns” and have determined that it really is what it is. As of this writing, there have been 409 posts and 28 pages in that discussion — I’ve seen very little repeats and no real solutions. Some people have said that they’ve gone to Apple and received replacement phones because of this issue but for those of us who have out-of-warranty phones, Apple has merely said “It’s $199 for a replacement.” I have to agree with our tipsters — this needs to be addressed. These people simply did not break their phones, it’s a well-documented issue which we, as consumers, shouldn’t have to pay to fix.

Battery life is a completely different debacle. I cannot seem to find a trend in the discussions at all. Some people claim to have removed certain apps, some claim that MobileMe sync is the culprit — all of them agree that there is an issue with 3.1 and that battery life shouldn’t dramatically decrease overnight. I’d really love to get into one of these phones and replace the battery to see what happens because the hardware guy in me says that it’s not impossible. However, deductive reasoning says that there’s something in the software. Whether there’s a memory leak in 3.1 itself, or some apps that we’re running aren’t as “compatible” as they should be… we need to see another update soon to help alleviate the issues with version 3.1 of the iPhone OS.

Please feel free to use our comment system to express your concern, anger, resentment… whatever. Try to be helpful if you’ve come across a solution and be nice if you’re not having these problems. Until Apple issues a fix or acknowledges the problem at all, just hope that you’re still in-warranty.

TUAWiPhone 3.1 problems flood our tip box originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Rumors, Leopard, Developer, iPhone, iPod touch, Snow Leopard

I was chatting with my TUAW colleagues this morning about Mac versus iPhone programming. And as per usual with these conversations, we veered in the direction of unfettered speculation. It’s an occupational hazard.

As someone who regularly develops on both platforms, I declared that the iPhone represents the future of Mac programming. The iPhone, I posited stated, offers a great new platform without the need to be fully backwards compatible like the Mac. Our own Victor Agreda challenged me to back up that position. After a bit of time and thought, I decided to do so in this post.

My key point is this: Apple’s engineers have learned a lot of important design lessons during the history of OS X. When the iPhone debuted, it gave those engineers the chance to rebuild an OS and an API from the ground up. Those engineers could craft a platform and its libraries that built on the Mac’s successes without dragging along its less fortunate design decisions. Yes, there were some lemon frameworks that initially made the grade, but over time, Apple has reduced their number.

Even now, Apple continues its iPhone design process, adding new frameworks and APIs at a prodigious rate. The iPhone OS remains a work in progress, developing in ways and directions that the initial release two years ago could not have anticipated. And Apple does this, knowing fully that the closed platform allows them a great deal of design freedom that would not have been possible on the open Macintosh.

In contrast, consider in how many ways the Mac’s successful history drags the platform down. A commitment to existing APIs and historical design practices show up in nearly every Mac development project. The simple elegance of the iPhone’s built-from-the-start-as-Objective-C 2.0-based API is largely missing from Cocoa libraries.

Whether you’re working with buttons, menus or simple text views, the iPhone development approach simply works better: beautiful 2.0-style properties, consistent API design, better-thought-out object inheritance trees, and so forth. With the iPhone, you see a great new platform evolving without the need to be fully backwards compatible

Snow Leopard, with its minimal API changes has bought the Macintosh a few years of stability. But I think it’s time for Apple to rethink the platform as a whole, re-imagining its API through the lens of current iPhone OS development. While Snow Leopard offers Apple the room to stay still for now, I can see Apple moving forward in a separate engineering effort to Cocoa Touch Mac, a hypothetical cross-platform OS that supports general development on iPhone and future Mac devices like my imaginary snow-princess-rainbow-pony-iTablet.

The ghost of NeXT-past, as TUAW-colleague Joachim Bean puts it, still haunts us. It’s time to exorcise the unhelpful bits of that pervasive spirit and usher in the new age of the iPhone and its API design examples. Mac OS X is, and has been, a superb development platform. What I’m suggesting is that iPhone OS might just be a better one.

TUAWIs the future of Mac…the iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reviewing iTunes 9 at All Things Digital, Walt Mossberg calls it “the biggest overhaul of the familiar program in recent years.” Citing Home Sharing (“worked perfectly”) and easier app organization on an iPhone or iPod touch as his favorite new features, he concludes: “Overall, iTunes 9 is a nice improvement on a much-used program.”

Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Andy Ihnatko (suntimes.com) writes that the iPod nano “continues to build upon the nano’s tremendous equity,” adding that: “Apple has another winner here.” After testing the new video capabilities of the iPod nano, he recommends it to readers as “still the go-to choice.”

Reviewer Tim Bajarin (pcmag.com) writes that the iPod nano could “change the way families integrate video capture into their lives” and “take spontaneous video capture to new levels.” Bajarin suggests that “given its aggressive price, it just might become the No. 1 digital video camera for the modern family.”

Reviewer Donald Bell (cnet.com) gives the iPod touch a 4 1/2 out of 5 rating, declaring it still “king of the hill.” Writes Bell: “We think the second-generation iPod touch is one of the best iPods ever made. Inside and out, the iPod touch is in a league of its own in the world of portable entertainment.”

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

Say farewell to the free Wall Street Journal on the iPhone.

According to Paid Content, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch announced that readers of the WSJ on the Blackberry and iPhone will be charged $2 per week for the privilege of reading news through the respective apps. Online and print subscribers of the WSJ will only pay $1 a week. No time limit has been set yet, but Murdoch says it will be within the next few months.

There’s bad news for Hulu lovers as well. Murdoch also said News Corp is considering either a pay-per-view or subscription model for Hulu. “No final decision has been made,” Murdoch said via Webcast at an investor conference today. The WSJ itself reports that subscription offerings will roll out for media content before the end of the year, though it was made in a different context from the Hulu statement.

TUAWWSJ to start charging for iPhone content originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iTunes, Mac 101

Photo courtesy of Jay Robinson

Earlier we mentioned how to explore the iTunes LP format and how easy it is to peek inside and check out all of the non-Flash, CSS-based awesomeness. But if you happen to be somewhat less geeky, it’s pretty likely that your definition of “exploring” iTunes LP is much more focused on playing music, reading liner notes, and checking out custom graphics.

If all you really want to do is check out your growing library of iTunes LPs then there’s an easy way to bring them into one single collection. We have covered using Smart Playlists to manage your Library on several occasions. It’s also possible to create a Smart Playlist that will list just your iTunes LPs. Just create a new Smart Playlist and set the filter field to “Kind,” the operator to “contains” and in the text field type “iTunes LP.”

That’s all there is to it, and I’m honestly kind of surprised Apple didn’t include some form of visualization a la Cover Flow to make it easier to peruse your shiny, new digital LPs. If you’ve got any Smart Playlists or other iTunes 9-related tips, let us know in the comments — we’d love to hear from you!

Update: proper attribution to Jay Robinson now added to the image — a glitch in our CMS caused the error, for which we apologize. – ed.

TUAWiTunes 101: Wrangle your iTunes LPs with Smart Playlists originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reviewing the iPod touch, Tim Gideon (pcmag.com) makes it an Editor’s Choice (5/5) for high-end portable media players, declaring that “there’s still not a better portable media player out there.” Adds Gideon: “In three years, the competition has yet to catch up. When you improve the best player on the market, even in tiny increments, it remains the best.”

Dan Frakes (macworld.com) awards iTunes 9 four out of five mice and calls it a “worthy upgrade for new users, those with massive media libraries, and those who want to more-easily share their media between family members.” Frakes says that iTunes 9 makes it “easier for new users to bring in media and start enjoying it.”

Reviewer Jamie Lendino (pcmag.com) names iTunes 9 an Editor’s Choice for music software, rating it 4/5. Citing the redesigned store, improved syncing, and more sophisticated Genius recommendations, Lendino writes: “With iTunes 9, Apple is pulling further and further away from the pack.”

By moving your cursor to the corners of the screen you can start and disable the screen saver or even move all of your windows aside to show the desktop. This short video shows you how to customize these active screen corners.

Reviewing Snow Leopard, Troy Dreier (computershopper.com) recommends that everyone with an Intel-supported Mac “absolutely get it.” Dreier rates Snow Leopard an Editors’ Choice, arguing that “for $29 you can’t afford to be without it.”

Having used Snow Leopard for a week, reviewer Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus (www.chron.com) declares the release “quite stable” and recommends an immediate upgrade for his readers: “Install Snow Leopard, and in less than an hour almost everything you do with your Mac will be faster, and almost every feature you came to know and love in Leopard will be improved and refined by Snow Leopard.”

Apple today introduced iTunes 9, the latest version of the world’s most popular software application to purchase, manage and play media, packed with innovative features such as iTunes LP, Home Sharing and Genius Mixes, as well as a redesigned store and improved syncing. iTunes 9 makes it easier than ever to discover, purchase and enjoy your music, movies, TV shows, and apps for iPhone and iPod touch from Apple’s revolutionary App Store.

The new iPod nano adds a video camera, mic and speaker to the world’s most popular music player, allowing you to shoot video wherever you are, view it on your iPod nano and use your computer to easily transfer your videos to YouTube. The new iPod nano—available today in an 8GB model for $149 and a 16GB model for $179—features an ultra-thin and sleek design with a larger 2.2-inch color display and gorgeous polished aluminum and glass enclosure in nine brilliant colors.

The new iPod touch, starting at just $199, gives you a great iPod, a great pocket computer, a great game player and access to Apple’s revolutionary App Store with over 75,000 applications. iPod touch features Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface, a gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen glass display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a built-in accelerometer and speaker in an amazingly thin metal design that slips easily into your pocket.

The iPod shuffle, the world’s smallest music player and the first music player to talk to you, is available now, starting at just $59, in five great colors. iPod shuffle’s intuitive controls are conveniently located on the headphone cord, letting you navigate and enjoy music without even looking.

Filed under: Hardware, Multimedia, Software, Internet, Internet Tools, iPhone

We’ve posted before how popular the iPhone is as a camera on Flickr, with people uploading tons of photos, both shot by and straight from the iPhone. But now, The Next Web has covered a huge drop in photos referencing the iPhone over on the popular photo sharing site. The suspected culprit? Flickr themselves.

TNW suggests that the problem is the Flickr iPhone application, which will upload pictures straight to the service — but not include metadata information like the fact that the pictures were taken with the iPhone. Still, even they sound a little skeptical: not all of that drop can be attributed to just the Flickr app’s shortcomings. They also suggest that the iPhone is wearing out its welcome — lots of people jumped to use it as a camera when the 3GS introduced a better lens and the video capability, and now in day-to-day use, they’re not using it as much. Other commenters to the post suggest that the vastly improved Facebook app may be eating away at the use of the built-in Camera app.

I know that my photo habits for the phone haven’t changed — I use the iPhone quite a bit to take pictures, but looking at my own usage, I don’t use Flickr nearly as much these days, as I use services like Twitpic and other sites built up directly around the iPhone. A drop in usage on Flickr doesn’t mean people aren’t using their iPhones to take snapshots — they could just be sending their photos and media somewhere else.

Update: One of our commenters, echoed by our old friend & past colleague Barb Dybwad at Mashable, notes that Apple’s change to the EXIF data recording for iPhone photos (breaking out the different iPhone models to indicate which specific phone took the picture) may be partly responsible for the drop.

TUAWiPhone usage metric for Flickr drops big time originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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