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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tribal Trouble 2

by Franklin Pride, Inside Mac Games

Six Quick Fixes You Should Never Skip

by Ted Landau, Macworld

Here are a few tried-and-true remedies you shouldn’t forget in the rush to try more-complicated troubleshooting techniques.

In Major Shift, Apple Builds Its Own Team To Design Chips

by Yukari Iwatani Kane and Don Clark, Wall Street Journal

Apple Inc. is building a significant capability to design its own computer chips, a strategy shift that the company hopes will create exclusive features for its gadgets and shield Apple's work from rivals.

The Silicon Valley trend-setter has been hiring people from many different segments of the semiconductor industry, including engineers to create multifunction chips that are used in cellphones to run software and carry out other chores.

Apple's 17-Inch MacBook Pro Is Long On Looks, Battery Life

by Cameron Sturdevant, eWeek

Apple's 17-inch MacBook Pro is the thinnest and lightest notebook in its category, and the system is well-engineered and powerful. It also boasts up to 8 hours of battery life—a very good thing given that the battery is built-in. All of this earns the MacBook Pro eWEEK Labs' Analyst's Choice award.

AT&T Re-Inserts Slingbox 3G Terms

by Electronista

AT&T on Wednesday quietly updated its cellphone terms of service to again potentially ban devices like the Slingbox on its network.

Remotely Fixing The Family Printer

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Adobe Updates InContext Editing Service

by Jackie Dove, Macworld

Adobe on Wednesday released an update to its InContext Editing service, the Web content maintenance tool introduced last fall in conjunction with Dreamweaver CS4. Version 1.5 of InContext Editing offers simplified administration and complete editing capabilities within the browser.

Crabble: The iPhone, iPod Touch Stand That Fits In A Wallet

by David Chartier, Macworld

Seskimo makes a clever plastic stand for iPhone and iPod touch called the Crabble, which has recently been updated with a much better design that, like the original, still folds and fits in a wallet.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Apple Using iPhone To Play AT&T Against Verizon?

by Sinead Carew and Gabriel Madway, Reuters

Apple Inc appears to be playing the top two U.S. mobile operators AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless against each other as it shops for the next distributor for its popular iPhone.

Whether one or both operators sign a deal, analysts are in no doubt that Apple wins in the end.

MultiBrush 4.0 Adds New Tools, Restoration Options

by MacNN

AKVIS has released MultiBrush 4.0, an update to its tool suite for retouching and enhancing photos. New tools are designed to improve retouching, restoration and collage creation. All pens and brushes feature automatic adjustments for preserving colors, texture, brightness and tonal range from the original image, allowing the restored section to blend into the existing background.

iPod To Reach Out And Touch Someone

by Katherine Boehret, Wall Street Journal

This week, I tested ways to make the Touch even more like the iPhone: apps that use the Internet to make phone calls.

Doylestown Hospital: Always On Call

by Apple

A community medical center near Philadelphia, Doylestown Hospital relies on a mobile workforce of 360 independent physicians to provide a highly responsive healing environment for thousands of patients. Those physicians stay connected 24/7 to colleagues and hospital staff with their first responder: Apple iPhone 3G. With iPhone, doctors get access to patients’ vital stats, medical reference applications, and breaking health alerts to provide collaborative and efficient patient care.

Apple's WWDC 2009 Conference Is Sold Out

by Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com

Apple Adds New Artist Lessons To GarageBand

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

With the latest update, Apple added two new Sting songs—"Message in a Bottle" and "Fragile"—and Sarah McLachlan's "Angel".

NetworkLocation 3.0.5

by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

This clever utility examines data about your network and USB connections to determine your present location, and can then modify your other system settings based on rules you configure. NetworkLocation gets you most of the way to your desired state, and can get even closer if you know a bit of AppleScript.

Notebooks For iPhone

by Lex Friedman, Macworld

Note taker benefits from in-app help, usable interface.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tweak Your Sound In iTunes And On The iPod

by Kirk Elhearn, Macworld

Equalization is changing the volume of certain frequencies to change the sound of music during playback.

15 Easy Fixes For Mac Security Risks

by Ryan Faas, Computerworld

The truth is that Apple Inc. does provide a pretty safe platform. The company leverages a number of advanced technologies to keep users and their data safe from harm. But no system is perfect, and there are a number of security holes — many of them easily closed — that are common on Mac OS X systems. Here are 15 ways to fix the most frequently exploited security risks and protect your Mac.

By My Way Of Calculating It, Apple Is The Number One Computer Vendor In The US

by Dennis Sellers, Macsimum News

Figure in the iPod touch and Apple moves into the number one spot.

The Best iPhone Music Apps

by Wendy Sheehan Donnell, PC Magazine

Here's what you need to transform your iPhone into the ultimate mobile music machine.

FileZilla 3 Review

by Karl Hodge, Macworld UK

The Tale Of Steve Jobs, An Old House And Preservationists

by Therese Poletti, MarketWatch

This is a story that normally wouldn't get a lot of attention here, but this yarn involving a high-powered tech chieftain, a kowtowing Silicon Valley township, an old house and a clash of wills is worth telling.

Getting Around Apple's App Store Vetting Process

by AppScout

So, there you go. If you want to make it into the App Store—more flowers!

Apple 'Pretty Messed Up' When Steve Jobs Returned

by Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek

Jobs' comments made to the SEC during his stock backdating deposition reveal the lengths the co-founder had to go to reset Apple's direction.

Amazon Buys Creator Of Stanza iPhone App

by Electronista

Apple Offers Live 24/7 MobileMe Chat Support

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Apple Hires Former ATI Graphics Chip Designer

by Electronista

Apple has quietly signaled a new emphasis on graphics by hiring an influential graphics chipset designer from AMD.

Essential Tips To Get The Best From iTunes

by TechRadar

Whether it's converting movies to watch on your iPod while out and about, building party playlists, getting album art online, buying music, renting films or backing up iPhones, there's an awful lot under the surface. Most importantly, many of the tips and tricks we're going to show you will save you time, and maybe even reveal a few things you didn't know you could do. So read on to become an iTunes and iPod expert.

A Few Thoughts After 19 Years Of TidBITS

by Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the content industry (with newspapers especially up against the wall), I believe there are plenty of solid livings to be made publishing content on the Internet. Publishing hasn't been easy in the past, and it won't be easy in the future, and serious money will accrue only to a lucky few. But with an eye toward producing original content and creating an appropriate scale of business, I think we will be able to keep publishing TidBITS as far into the future as we can reasonably see.

Apple Is Sued After Pressuring Open-Source iTunes Project

by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

The operator of a technology discussion forum has sued Apple, claiming that the company used U.S. copyright law to curb legitimate discussion of its iTunes software.

iMovie And The Uncooperative Camera

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Monday, April 27, 2009

ProfCast Prodcast Tool Adds .m4v Export

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Apple Xserve Review

by Dave Mithcell, IT Pro

Apple "Say On Pay" Motion Approved By Shareholders

by Reuters

Apple Inc said a shareholder proposal for more say over executive pay was approved at its annual meeting on February 25. The iPod, Mac and iPhone maker originally said it believed the resolution had failed. But it said on Monday that it had incorrectly counted abstentions as "no" votes.

An internal investigation found the mistake was due to human error, Apple said, adding the problem was discovered shortly after it filed its 10-Q with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last Thursday.

iPhone Is Boosting Demand For Location-Based Services

by Om Malik, GigaOm

Why Apple Isn't Feeling The Bite Even As Other Tech Titans Stumble

by Andrew Keen, The Independent

The iPhone is more than just a successful hardware product. With its telephone and internet access, it is driving the real-time communications revolution.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Review - SplashNotes - Yet Another Outliner For iPhone

by Mobile Tech Addicts

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Did Apple Just Fire 1,600 Retail Workers? Nope.

by Peter Kafka, Wall Street Journal

The very strong likelihood here is that Apple cut a lot of workers’ hours, but not workers themselves.

Apple Store: The Big Chill

by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

Is there an Apple Store near you? Count yourself lucky, because the days of Apple’s aggressive expansion into the branded retail space are over — at least for now.

Pixelpipe For iPhone

by Rob de la Cretaz, Macworld

Upload once to share photos with more than 75 online destinations.

Cut Down On Cables

by Dan Frakes, Macworld

Instead of carrying fewer cables, I carry smaller cables.

Mac Mini Media Center: Is It Worth It?

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Here’s what it costs to turn your mini into a media center—and how it performs.

Apple Found Guilty Of Willful Patent Infringement

by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

Apple has been found guilty of willfully infringing on a "predictive snooping" patent awarded to Opti Inc. in 2002. The company has been ordered to pay just over $19 million in compensation, despite its attempts to have the patent thrown out.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Thirteen Year-Old Revealed As Winner Of Apple's Billion App Contest

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Connor Mulcahey downloaded the one billionth app: Bump, a contact information swapping application developed by Bump Technologies.

How To Recycle Your Mac

by Lisa Schmeiser, Macworld

Here are a variety of solutions—from low-effort to time-intensive—that’ll keep your conscience and your closet clear.

Mac Malware Not A Big Deal - Yet

by ZDNet

Review: FontExplorer X Pro 2.0

by Jay J. Nelson, Macworld

FontExplorer X Pro 2.0.1 is an advanced, feature-complete font-management tool. It's as if the developers asked hundreds of designers and prepress professionals what they wanted, and then delivered everything on the list.

Why Does Apple Rise While The Rest Fall?

by John McKee, TechRepublic

Apple Inc’s leadership has shown vision, guts, and determination. They created a clear business plan and executed it without any outwardly visible hesitation.

Apple Retails Shed 1,600 Full-Time Positions

by Tom Krazit, CNET

The retail arm of the company now employs 14,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 15,600 at the end of Apple's first fiscal quarter, according to a filing with the SEC.

Apple Is Already Selling A Netbook

by Michael Hickins, InformationWeek

Why Apple's MobileMe Doesn't Work As A $100 Service

by Wilson Rothman, Gizmodo

The service itself is made up of many pieces you already have. This presents a complicated economic argument.

Apple's Guidance Game

by Dan Frommer and Kamelia Angelova, Silicon Alley Insider

Why does Apple (AAPL) always "beat expectations?" Because it sets the bar so low it could fall over it.

The End Of Innocence At Apple: What Happened After Steve Jobs Was Fired

by Frank Rose, Wired

It seems unthinkable today — but more than two decades ago, when personal computers were still new and everybody listened to music on a Walkman, Steve Jobs was cast out of Apple. The year was 1985. IBM and Microsoft dominated the world of computing. The revolutionary Macintosh, launched with such fanfare just a year earlier, appeared to be foundering. And Jobs, the guiding force at Apple from the beginning, seemed not just expendable but a threat to the company he’d built.

JellyCar For iPhone

by Zach Okkema, Macworld

Simple driving game is a fun way to pass the time—particularly for kids.

Apple Sells Its One Billionth iPhone App

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Nine months after opening its App Store, Apple announced on its Web site that it reached the milestone of selling its one billionth iPhone application on Thursday.

Apple Apologizes For Baby Shaker

by Tom Krazit, CNET

Just hours before the App Store offers up its 1 billionth download, Apple was forced to acknowledge that perhaps the most notorious iPhone application ever constructed was "deeply offensive" and a "mistake." Baby Shaker appeared on the App Store Monday, and was pulled Wednesday after a media frenzy grew following the discovery of the application by the founder of a shaken baby syndrome foundation.

HanDBase For Mac Can Synchronize With iPhone

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Mac Mini Media Center: Control Everything Remotely

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Software and hardware options abound for controlling your media center from the couch.

Why I'm Switching From Twitterrific To Tweetie

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

I would highly recommend giving Tweetie a try—you won't regret it.

Tips For Greener Computing

by Michael Gowan, Macworld

There are two really good reasons to practice green computing: It saves you money, and—bit by bit—it helps save the planet. It’s a major win-win. Here are just a few of the little things you can do to make a big difference.

Ancient Frog For iPhone

by Lex Friedman, Macworld

Ancient Frog is a meditative puzzle game from Ancient Workshop with beautiful imagery and a serene soundtrack that’s as unusual to play as it is to describe.

Apple's iPod Touch Sales Double, Nearly On Par With iPhone

by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider

Sales of Apple's iPod touch, once discounted as a pricey niche product, have more than doubled over the past 12 months to rates nearly in line with the iPhone, fueled by an explosion of attractive gaming titles on the App Store that are boosting overall multi-touch device shipments into Nintendo DS territory.

Steve Jobs: Nobody Loves Me

by William P. Barrett, Forbes

Steve Jobs, the man rolling out iPods, iPhones and cool computers to millions of adoring customers, once felt he wasn't getting enough respect—from his own board of directors. That, at least, was what he told the Securities & Exchange Commission while explaining his actions in the Apple option-backdating scandal that broke in 2006. The scandal, which was part of what caused Apple then to take an $84 million earnings writedown, raised questions about whether Jobs had helped set advantageous grant dates for options for himself and other executives.

Charge It On Your AirEx

by Dan Frakes, Macworld

Thursday, April 23, 2009

How Apple Is Squeezing Out More Profit Than Ever

by Bobbie Johnson, The Guardian

iPod Touch Is Apple's Sleeper Hit

by Dan Frommer, Silicon Alley Insider

Capo For Mac May Be A Musician's Best Friend

by Jeff Smykil, Ars Technica

If you are a musician of any level and enjoy incorporating your Mac into your practice sessions, you owe it to yourself to give Capo a try.

Apple Partners Wait Patiently For iPhone Opportunity

by Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb

Apple talks a lot about the brand halo effect between the iPod, iPhone and Mac sales. According to many Apple resellers, this effect could be exponentially amplified if Apple were to allow them to sell the iPhone.

Why AT&T Wants To Keep The iPhone Away From Verizon

by Saul Hansell, New York Times

AT&T’s earnings report on Wednesday highlights the enormous stakes involved in the renewal of its exclusive contract to distribute Apple’s iPhone in the United States.

In Defense Of Baby Shaking On The iPhone

by Saul Hansell, New York Times

Do we want Apple to be able to block applications that include praises for the Palm Pre or criticisms of the salary of Steve Jobs?

On the other hand, should we force Apple — or any business — to sell anything and everything?

Downsizing My Mac Software To Work Better For Me

by Bambi Brannan, Mac360

The trend today is toward data portability, which means it’s my data and I should be able to use it anywhere.

Will Apple And Google Go To War Over Netbooks?

by Preston Gralla, Computerworld

To succeed, both Google and Apple will probably have to take somewhat of a similar marketing approach —- we're not Microsoft.

Apple CFO: Consumer SPending Stronger Than Business, Govt

by Ben Charny, Wall Street Journal

Steve Jobs To Return As Scheduled In June: Apple

by AFP

iPhone Teleprompter, Accessories Demoed At NAB

by iPodnn

Bodelin Technologies has created an iPhone app and several accessories that turn an iphone or iPod Touch into a teleprompter.

Apple Q2 09 Call: Apple "Very Happy" With AT&T, Still No Netbooks

by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

Once again, Apple COO Tim Cook shot down the idea of Apple selling a netbook. "When I look at what's being sold in the netbook space today, I see cracked keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens," Cook said. "[That's] not something that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly. It's not a space, as it exists today, that we're interested in."

Apple Removes 'Baby Shaker' From App Store

by Tom Krazit, CNET

In the past, Apple has shown no hesitation in rejecting iPhone applications that it felt contained offensive language or objectionable content.

Strong iPhone And iPod Sales Drive Apple Profits To $1.21 Billion

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Apple on Wednesday reported a profit of $1.21 billion for its fiscal second quarter ending March 28, 2009, buoyed by strong iPod and iPhone sales. Mac sales were down three percent for the quarter compared to last year, but sales of the iPod and iPhone were up for the same period.

Mac Mini Media Center: Get Content

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Much to Apple’s dismay, music and video don’t begin and end with the iTunes Store. Multimedia content is available from DVDs you own, live television broadcasts, and content streamed across the Internet.

AT&T Reports Smooth Sailing On The iPhone Front For Q1'09

by Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

AT&T's results for the first quarter of this year spell good news for the company as well as Apple. Over 1.6 million iPhones were activated on AT&T's network in the first three months of 2009.

Managing An iWeb Site From Multiple Macs

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Unfortunately, MobileMe doesn’t support this kind of syncing. But other services do.

Trend Smart Surfing Protects Users From Online Scams

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Trend Smart Surfing for Mac blocks instant message and e-mail links that lead to dangerous Web sites. It can also protect users from “phishing” scams that try to trick users into revealing confidential information, and it keeps Web sites from installing software of the Mac.

BIAS Unveils SoundSoap Pro 2

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

BIAS introduced the next version of its noise reduction utility, SoundSoap Pro 2, improving on the applications ability to remove unwanted noise from a sound file.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Media Survey: Apple Oriented Businesses Have Bright Outlook

by Lonnie Lazar, Cult Of Mac

Fliq Notes, Doc 2.0 Add Two-Way Sync To The iPhone

by MacNN

Mark/Space has released version 2.0 updates for Fliq Notes and Fliq Docs on the iTunes App Store, adding support for two-way syncing of notes, documents and files with both Macs and PCs.

Google Joins Effort For 3D Web Standard With New Plugin, API

by Ryan Paul, Ars Technica

Google has released a new open source browser plugin that provides APIs for displaying rich 3D graphics in Web content. Google hopes that the plugin will help to advance a collaborative effort to create open standards for bringing 3D to the web.

How Green Is Apple: Cleaning The Supply Chain

by Jeff Bertolucci, Macworld

Like most electronics manufacturers, Apple doesn’t actuallly make its own products. That can make it hard to assess the environmental impact of its production processes.

How Green Is Apple: Where Does The E-Waste Go?

by Jeff Bertoulcci, Macworld

This lack of transparency makes it difficult to assess Apple’s e-waste operation.

How Green Is Apple: Good Citizenship Or Good Business?

by Jeff Bertolucci, Macworld

There’s little doubt that Apple is turning greener. But industry watchers say that the company is crowing about improvements it would have had to make anyway. “It’s not just about manufacturers doing the right thing,” says IDC research analyst David Daoud. “It’s really the market forcing them to do so.”

A Beautiful Machine: Two Months On The Unibody MacBook

by Charles Moore, The Apple Blog

After two months of getting configured and acquainted, I’m pretty much comfortably settled in with my first Intel Mac — a little jewel of a 13″ unibody MacBook — and thus far it’s pretty much all good.

Jer's Novel Writer Is A Memorable Writer's App

by John martellaro, The Mac Observer

Riding The New Wave

by Phil Elliott, Gameindustry.biz

Follow The Cash

by Macsimum News

Cash is king, and more so, especially in these recessionary times when it comes to comparing and valuing possible business performances.

Why Snow Leopard Should Be (Almost) Free

by Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

From a business standpoint, older versions of Mac OS X do nothing but create costs for Apple and for developers, but it's difficult to encourage users to upgrade without an incentive. With the bold move of making Snow Leopard free or very cheap, Apple would attract not just all Leopard users, but every user of Tiger who had put off upgrading to Leopard because the new features weren't worth $129.

Jeopardy! Super Deluxe

by Ted Bade, Inside Mac Games

I found playing with the AI’s a bit odd feeling, but I do like the challenge of finding the answers, so I gravitated toward the single player options. There are lots and lots of clues in this game. If you like that aspect of Jeopardy, you will definitely find a lot of fun here. Because you can play with real people, this version has the potential to be a fun family game.

Why Time Capsule Is Doomed To Suck

by Louis Gerbarg, /dev/why!?!

Dictionary.com For iPhone

by Lex Friedman, Macworld

Overall, the app is solid, and it works as advertised. I did find that typing stalled a bit when the app had a lot of type-ahead suggestions to offer, and it can sometimes take a noticeable half-second for definitions to appear—even though they’re all residing on the device.

Sway For iPhone

by Chris Holt, Macworld

Sway is ideal for gamers looking for a quick challenge on the iPhone’s mobile platform, and can enjoy a long gaming experience (owing to the difficulty).

DMG Canvas 1.0.8

by James Dempsey, Macworld

DMG Canvas is dead-simple to use, and makes the otherwise-boring task of creating custom volume windows fun.

On Macs And Malware

by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek

I’m living proof that a Mac user can exist happily without using anti-virus software on their computer, and I have done so for about a decade.

Quick Look And Video Files

by Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Quick Look, the OS X 10.5 feature that lets you peek into files without opening them, is a great time saver, and the interface is about as simple as it gets.

Mac Mini Media Center: Configuring Front Row

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Connect your mini to your AV system and configure Apple’s software.

A Little Over A Week nd A Half Ago...

by Garrett Murray, Maniacal Rage

Perhaps it’s just frustration speaking here, but when Apple ties my hands behind my back and lets users punch me publicly in the face without allowing me to at least respond back, it’s hard to get excited about building an app.

PopChar X Adds 'Reverse Search' Feature

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

PopChar X helps you find and insert special characters into applications — making it unnecessary to memorize complicated key sequences need to invoke extended ASCII or Unicode characters.

Stay Oriented With The Finder's Path And Title Bars

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

When you move around in the Finder, it’s easy to get confused about where you are. For example, you may navigate deep into a set of project archives and become unsure about which year or month you’re in. Two bars can help you figure out where you are and offer some shortcuts.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Why Apple's New Ad Campaign Is Genius, And Why Microsoft Can't Win As 'PC'

by Andrew Nusca, ZDNet

Simply stated: Microsoft can’t win if it embodies the PC role. Big as the company is, it simply doesn’t control enough of the process to make arguments on behalf of OEMs.

FlipBook For iPhone

by Chester Baker, Macworld

Animation tool makes wonderful use of iPhone’s multi-touch controls.

Media Express 2.0 Improves Mac Compatiblity

by MacNN

3 Mac Apps To Help You Concentrate

by Milind Alvares, Smoking Apples

For those who want a forced environment, which will make sure your procrastinating (means twittering) days are over, here are a bunch of them that will help you out.

Hands-On: Tweetie For Mac Shakes Up Twitterverse

by Brian X. Chen, Wired

Tweetie is a beautiful, slick and intuitive app that meets and exceeds the high standards set by its mobile predecessor. We love it, and we'll go as far as to say that Tweetie will create a significant impact on Twitter as a whole.

Why I Care About This Apple Vs. PC Business

by The League Of Ordinary Gentlemen

It’s Apple that started this. To me, it seems like this mirrors attitudes of users as well– I don’t go to the coffee shop and talk shit to Mac users, but I’ve seen the same from the other direction.

Apple Needs China More Than It Does Verizon

by Joe Wilcox, eWeek

For Apple's iPhone to truly be a world-class smartphone, it needs to be everywhere in the world. But the iPhone isn’t officially distributed where it needs to be most: China, the world’s largest cell phone market.

To me, personally, being in China is way overrated.

Apple Rejects App For Using An Icon That Somewhat Resembles An iPhone

by MG Siegler, TechCrunch

Developer Marco Arment submitted version 1.4 of Instapaper several days ago for approval into the App Store. He’s had several other versions approved in the past, but this one was rejected. Why? Well, he decided to use an small icon within the app that looks like it could be an iPhone.

Legal Copy

by MacJournals

Here it is—complete with inconsistent grammar and punctuation.

Chop Sushi For iPhone

by Omaha Sternberg, Macworld

Chop Sushi is a puzzle game that requires a lot of tactical thinking during play, and a large number of hours to complete.

The State Of The Smartphone: iPhone Is Way, Way Ahead

by Sarah Perez, Read Write Web

What the report confirms is what we've been hearing for some time now: the iPhone is king, smartphones are the new laptops, and iPhone applications can and do make money.

There's A Newspaper In My iPhone

by Rich Rosen, O'Reilly

While I wouldn't want to see the Times or the Journal mimicking USA Today's look-and-feel, they could learn a thing or two from some of the advanced techniques that USA Today employed, to make each of their apps a little more distinctive.

Navigating The Next Generation Of Mac Twitter Apps

by Julio Ojeda-Zapata, TidBITS

A recent crop of Mac-based Twitter clients gives me reason to hope that my days of tweeting from a Web browser might, at last, be numbered. The recent releases of Tweetie, Lounge, and Nambu provide power and flexibility, along with the elegance and flair Mac users demand.

LittleSnapper Arrives For iPhone

by David Chartier, Macworld

Revisiting The Mac Mini Media Center

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Prepare the mini for life as a media center with more RAM, an external drive.

Tweetie For Mac Released

by David Chartier, Macworld

Tweetie features a unique UI with separate sections for your friends’ timeline, replies and mentions, direct messages, and a search panel that can be torn off into a separate window.

Word Twiddle For iPhone

by Tony Craine, Macworld

Random word generator can help spur creativity.

Nvidia Offers Quadro FX 4800 Card For Mac

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Nvidia on Monday announced that their high-end Quadro FX 4800 graphics card is now available for the Mac. The card is coming in May, 2009 and will be available for $1800 from Apple and select Mac resellers and workstation integrators.

Apple To Release Q2 2009 Financial Results On Apirl 22nd

by Eric Slivka, MacRumors.com

Monday, April 20, 2009

Five Tips For Reading Apple Security Articles

by Rich Mogull, TidBITS

As someone who spends most of his time reading, writing, and speaking about security, there are five things I tend to look for in Apple security news to cut to the heart of the story. After all the hype in recent days over the "Mac botnet," I thought it was time to share some of my skeptical tricks.

Gourmet Gathering In Singapore Defies Lean Times

by Miral Fahmy, Reuters

Some 85 percent of tickets to events at the World Gourmet Summit (WGS), an annual fest organized by Singapore's tourism board and culinary firm Peter Knipp Holdings, have been sold so far despite the economic slowdown, which has hit luxury goods and entertainment the hardest.

MeeHive For iPhone

by Ben Boychuk, Macworld

App tailors the news to your interests, but lacks some customization capabilities.

Four More "Get A Mac" Ads, No Direct "Laptop Hunters" Rejoinders

by Harry McCracken, Technologizer

maybe ignoring “Laptop Hunters” is Apple’s way of responding to it. Apple is returning to the basic mantra that “Get a Mac” has repeated all along–that Macs deliver fewer hassles and more powerful included software than Windows PCs. The implied message is that you should be including those factors when you do the math on a computer purchase. It’s a far more reasonable point than the one that Microsoft has busily hammered away.

iPhone And Games

by Venuri Siriwardane, The Star-Ledger

If there is ever an iPhone hall of fame, Tyler Auten wants his portrait on the wall.

Chosen for his good grades and programming talent, Auten is part of an elite group of students enrolled in NJIT's iPhone app development course — among the first of its kind in the nation.

Apple Apps Ahead

by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Wall Street Journal

The shackles have been taken off developers of iPhone applications. Here's what they're working on.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Apple's New Weapon

by Benjain Sutherland, Newsweek

To help soldiers make sense of data from drones, satellites and ground sensors, the U.S. military now issues the iPod Touch.

Our Secret Shopper Tests The Apple Genius Bar

by TechRadar UK

Are the Geniuses all they're cracked up to be?

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Apple Is Approaching A Defining Moment

by Kevin Kelleher, GigaOm

For the best insight into how successful Apple will be after Steve Jobs' eventual departure, the first glimpses will come this quarter.

Apple Tops PC Customer Satisfaction Survey

by Tom Krazit, CNET

Apple easily outdistanced its peers in a PC industry customer-satisfaction survey conducted by Forrester Research that found PC companies are only slightly more well-liked than insurance companies.

DBS Publicly Criticises AWARE's New Head

by Lee Lilian, The Itch To Write

Encrypt Mail Keeps Prying Eyes Out Of Messages

by Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer

Apimac announced the immediate availability of Encrypt Mail 1.0 for Mac OS X on Friday. Encrypt Mail lets users send encrypted messages and attachments to Mac OS X, Windows and Linux users.

The New York Times Crosswords Daily 2009 For iPhone

by Jonathan Seff, Macworld

Friday, April 17, 2009

Airfoil Speakers Touch Streams Audio To iPhone, iPod Touch

by David Chartier, Macworld

Josie Lau: Please Answer Your Question First!

by Sam's Thoughts

Review: WSJ -- The Wall Street Journal For iPhone

by David Chartier, Macworld

This mobile version of The Wall Street Journal offers equal doses of appreciated polish and unfinished features in its initial release.

Apple's Not So Subtle Shift Over The Years

by Applepeels

I have seen nothing within the last few years to indicate that Apple is trying to drive down the price of computing for users. That is clearly something than many computer users would hope to see. I have seen Apple become a huge money machine.

Apple's Latest Weapon In The Neighbourhood Wifi Wars

by Sydney Morning Herald

Apple's new dual-band Time Capsules could provide the killer punch if you're engaged in wifi warfare against your neighbours.

Apple's iPhone Is A Developer's Goldmine

by Claudine Beaumont, Telegraph

Amateur software developers are finding it easy to make thousands of pounds a day by building simple games and applications for the Apple iPhone and the iPod touch, then selling them through the iTunes store.

New Yelp For iPhone Lets You (Sort Of) Write Reviews

by Jessica Dolcourt, CNET

Cell Minute Tracker For iPhone Fills AT&T's Void

by Jessica Dolcourt, CNET

'Flower Garden' - Well, It's Not Really A Game

by TouchArcade

Noel's Flower Garden app is just that — a virtual flower garden in your iPhone.

Evidence Suggests First Zombie Mac Botnet Is Active

by Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

Security researchers have discovered that payloads delivered by trojans in pirated versions of iWork and Photoshop earlier this year are being used to create a Mac botnet.

Undercover Can Track Down Your Lost Or Stolen iPhone, Kinda

by David Chartier, Macworld

Undercover can covertly transmit your device’s location and IP address to authorities when you report it as lost or stolen. It’s a great idea with some clever features, but even this private i-detective has its limitations.

Strategery For iPhone

by Lex Friedman, Macworld

If you like turn-based strategy games, you’ll enjoy playing Strategery. It’s attractive, quick to play, and charmingly addictive.

Apple Responds To Microsoft Ads: "A PC Is No Bargain"

by Prince McLean, AppleInsider

Apple has responded to the new Microsoft ads promoting low-cost generic PCs as a cheaper alternative to the Mac, stating "A PC is no bargain when it doesn't do what you want."

iTunes Price Changes Deliver Mixed Results

by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider

Price increases that took effect on Apple's iTunes Store last week reportedly hurt unit sales of some of the most popular songs but ultimately managed to drive marginal increases in overall revenues for the digital download service.

DivX 7 Video Software Released For Mac

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Media 100 Suite Unveiled

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Media 100 introduced its latest editing and postproduction system, Media 100 Suite. The suite features Multicam Editing and Boris RED, as well as a new Voice Over Tool for audio recording direct to the Media 100 timeline.

Researcher Finds Possible Bug In iPhone

by Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service

Charlie Miller said he’s found a way to trick the iPhone into running code that enables shellcode. To run shellcode on an iPhone, however, an attacker would first need a working exploit for an iPhone, or a way to target some software vulnerability in, for example, the Safari Web browser or the mobile’s operating system.

Drop7 For iPhone

by Bonnie Ruberg, Macworld

Every so often a casual game comes along that’s entirely simple, entirely original, and entirely addictive. Area/code’s Drop7, which challenges players to line up numbered balls in a grid seven squares wide and seven squares high, definitely falls in that category. Like Tetris or Bejeweled, it’s easy to learn, difficult to master, and even harder to put down.

'Through The Looking Glass' Game Resurrected For iPhone

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

The Macintosh’s first game was called “Through the Looking Glass.” Sometimes referred to as “Alice,” It featured pieces that looked like characters from the Lewis Carroll story. The game has made its return on the iPhone in the form of AliceX.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

LinkedIn For iPhone

by Dale Gardner, Macworld

Mobile version of business networking service missing key functionality.

Cell-Phone Multi-Player Gaming Posed For Take-Off?

by Olga Kharif, BusinessWeek

One Tale Of Woe: Apple, HP Laptop 'Refurbs'

by Brooke Crothers, CNET

Refurbished laptops from Apple and Hewlett-Packard are relatively inexpensive and, in many cases, virtually new. But it all depends on how you define "new."

Smule Releases Leaf Trombone: World Stage For iPhone

by iPodnn

Smule has released Leaf Trombone: World Stage, its latest massively multiplayer online (MMO) musical game for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Latest MobileMe Takes Out Glitches And Eases Syncing

by Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal

Apple has fixed all of the speed and reliability issues I encountered last year.

Apple, Your Mighty Mouse Sucks. Please Fix It.

by MG Siegler, TechCrunch

By far the worst part about the Mighty Mouse is its top track ball. While it’s nice that the thing can move in any direction, because of that, the ball accumulates much more dirt than regular mouse scroll wheels. And once it gets clogged up enough (which you can’t see mind you because it’s all inside), it is completely unusable.

Did Apple ever make a good mouse? Maybe Apple should just OEM Microsoft's. :-)

iTunes Price Hikes Treating The Industry Just Fine

by Jared Newman, Technologizer

AT&T May Have To Pay Dearly To Retain iPhone Exclusively

by Matt Hamblen, Computerworld

Five analysts interviewed today were divided over what Apple might do about extending the arrangement, but all agreed that an extension would clearly benefit AT&T.

The Ultimate Mac RSS Reader Roundup

by Milind Alvares, Smoking Apples

Review: Pixelmator - Is It A $59 Photoshop? In Many Ways It Is

by MacRevu

It’s not a $59 replacement for Photoshop, but it is a design tool that offers a great many of Photoshop’s core features at only a fraction of the cost.

Avoiding iPhone App Rejection From Apple

by Brian Stormont, Mobile Orchard

As has been mentioned many many times on the various developer forums, Apple’s approval process can be very frustrating and inconsistent. However, if you are careful, you can greatly reduce your risk of getting an app rejected.

Amazon Mobile For iPhone

by Jeff Whitfield, Macworld

With access to all the details of items sold on Amazon, wish lists, and the Remembers feature, Amazon Mobile is one of those apps that you’ll find yourself turning to just about every time you go shopping.

CNBC's Jim Goldman On Eric Schmidt, Google CEO And Apple Director

by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek

Presuming this Android-based netbook product takes off, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where Apple also launches a netbook that makes Apple and Google direct competitors on that front too.

Vocal Effects Come To The iPhone With StompVox

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Complete Software and iPhonicus have a released a new application for the iPhone and iPod touch called StompVox that gives users the ability to put effects on their vocals.

A Year On, Psystar Still Defying Apple

by Tom Krazit, CNET

SpiderOak Sync Delivers Cross-Platform Syncing

by Jim Darlymple, Macworld

SpiderOak on Wednesday introduced a new syncing service for users of multiple cross-platform computers that want to sync documents, photos and other types of media.

Encrypt More Data With Latest SecuriKey Version

by Philip Michaels, Macworld

VMware Bug Allows Windows Hack To Attack Macs

by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

A bug in VMware's Fusion virtualization software could be used to run malicious code on a Mac by exploiting Windows in a virtual machine, a security researcher said today.

VMware has released Fusion 2.0.4 to plug the hole.

Snatch For iPhone

by Chester Baker, Macworld

The concept behind Snatch is simple—Hoofien’s app turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a trackpad and remote keyboard that controls your computer over a network. It’s quickly become one of my most used iPhone apps.

Late To The iPhone, Trip Hawkins' Digital Chocolate Falls In Love With It

by Dean Takahashi, Venture Beat

A New Way To Read The WSJ For Free: On Your iPhone

by Dan Frommer, Silicon Alley Insider

Another way to escape the Wall Street Journal's famous pay wall: Its new iPhone app, which is available for free on the iTunes app store.

Money 3.3 Adds New Languages, nvoice Template Editor

by MacNN

Users can now create templates and change fonts, colors, paper sizes or table styles from within the program.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

You'll Get Used To $1.29 Songs At The iTunes Store

by David Zeiler, Baltimore Sun

The reality is neither Apple nor its rivals needs the 99-cents fits all policy anymore. Yes, it was genius in 2003. It kept things simple and encouraged a wary public to try out iTunes. But as a business tool, it has outlived its purpose.

Switching Again

by AppleDifferent

Mac simply makes my life easier and more comfortable.

Apple Selling 22 iPhones, 28 Macs Per Store Each Day

by Kasper Jade, AppleInsider

Observations made at more than two dozen Apple retail stores over the last few weeks show Apple to be maintaining healthy sales of Macs and iPhones that aren't far off from rates seen during the lead-in to last year's holiday shopping season.

iPhone Wi-Fi Failures Caused By Battery Heat?

by David Martin, CNET

Many people think that the problem is caused by the iPhone overheating, and some go so far as to place their iPhone into a refrigerator to speed up the cooling process. (We don't suggest that you do the same; refrigerating your iPhone could cause water damage and void your warranty.) We recommend letting the iPhone cool at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes, or until cool to the touch.

Skype No Longer Works On Jailbroken iPhones

by Quincy Pince-Nez, 9 To 5 Mac

Why Apple Should Not Extend AT&T's Exclusive iPhone Service Deal

by Lonnie Lazar, Cult Of Mac

AT&T Chief Looks To Keep iPhone, Deepen Wireless Push

by Amol Sharma, Wall Street Journal

AT&T's exclusive deal to carry the iPhone in the U.S. expires next year, according to people familiar with the matter, and CEO Randall Stephenson is now in discussions with Apple Inc. to get an extension until 2011.

Fully Functional Office 2008 For Mac Trial Is Now Available

by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

Those who want to try out Office 2008 for Mac but don't want to fork over hundreds of dollars just yet can now use a 30-day trial of the software.

Microsoft Updates Office 2004 And 2008

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Back-In-Time 1.3.4

by Dan Frakes, Macworld

Tri-Edre’s Back-In-Time is a useful utility that aims to address Time Machine's shortcomings by providing a very different interface for accessing Time Machine backups

Crazy Penguin Catapult For iPhone

by Kyle Bailey, Macworld

It's penguins versus bears in this chilly casual game fare.

Apple Updates Aperture, iMovie With Bug Fixes

by Dan Moren, Macworld

3G iPod Shuffle Teardown Reveals Same Costs As In 2007

by Aidan Malley, AppleInsider

In spite of fears that Apple was suddenly inflating its margins, a new teardown from iSuppli has revealed that the third-generation iPod shuffle costs as much to make as its predecessor did two years ago.

Apple iPhone And The Enterprise: Happy Together?

by Michelle Maisto, eWeek

The Apple iPhone can find a comfortable home in the enterprise, a new report from Forrester Research suggests. The RIM BlackBerry is still a superior messaging and calendar device, eWEEK is told, but with the iPhone 3.0 addressing many often-voiced security concerns, for content-centric applications, the iPhone is becoming the sanctioned enterprise device of choice.

Schizophrenic's Will Valid

by K. C. Vijayan, Straits Times

Judges should not let medical opinions sway their decision if they are not backed up by the facts, the chief justice has said.

Apple, Grow Up: It's Time To Fix App Store Approvals

by Shawn King, The iPod Observer

Apple's decisions are obviously not consistent, not well understood (even by people at Apple) and simultaneously confusing and frustrating for both the users and the developers. And it's particularly egregious when it doesn't have to be this way.

app4mac Announces Jump 1.0, Projector 1.0

by MacNN

Jump is a quick-access utility, aimed at making the launch of apps, documents and folders more convenient; Projector, meanwhile, tracks and calculates a project's tasks and costs.

Adventures In iTunes Sitting

by John Martellaro, The Mac Observer

It was a simple desire: display the name of the currently playing song within the Mac OS X Menu bar. Not in a menu item, something that requires a click, but right there, in plain sight, impervious to changes in Spaces. It took some searching, but I found one, and several other interesting iTunes helpers along the way.

REAL Software Ships REALbasic 2009 Release 2

by Chris Barylick, The Mac Observer

The new version includes more than 70 improvements and new features as well as COM automation support for Windows and support for MySQL.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

What A Teardown Is, And Isn't

by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek

One thing I constantly have to explain when I write these stories is this: A teardown analysis doesn’t give you a full picture on a particular product’s profit margin, and it’s not intended to, nor do I suggest anywhere in the story that it does. But if you were to ask how much Apple or anyone else makes as on each unit sold of a given product, a teardown can help you get a little closer to an educated guess.

CinemaView Displays Equipped With Mini DisplayPort

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Consumers and businesses who want Mini DisplayPort-equipped monitors without paying Apple prices may soon have a new option: Collins America has announced its line of CinemaView displays — three forthcoming LCD monitors designed especially for the Mac.

Photo fx For iPhone

by Tim Mercer, Macworld

Maybe you find the iPhone’s built-in camera wanting. Or perhaps you just want a way to take the ordinary pictures that camera produces and turn them into something really special. In either case, Photo fx from The Tiffen Company is worth a look.

Yep (Mac OS X App)

by Craig Grannell, Cult Of Mac

BackBlaze Online Backup Debuts For Mac

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

BackBlaze, an automated online backup service for PC, is now available for the Mac. It’s priced at $5 per computer per month.

What Are All Those iTunes Files?

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

You’ve probably peeked into your iTunes folder (It’s located in your user folder: Music: iTunes) and may have been perplexed by all the files and folders it contains, wondering what they’re all for. Here’s an overview of the files and folders that iTunes uses, both in the iTunes folder and elsewhere.

HD Camcorders: Capturing Video Into iMovie

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Apple Bores A Big 'iHole' In Korea's Walled Garden

by Jean K. Min, OhmyNews

For an average Korean, mobile Internet has remained the exotic hobby of a few early adopters. There are a number of reasons for this: The screens of average handsets are too tiny for pain-free Web browsing, home-grown user interfaces are clunky and service providers built heavy walled-gardens around their poor content and charged ridiculously exorbitant prices.

The "Jesus phone" from the Cupertino, California company shattered all these preconceptions in a day. Apple's iPhone proved that sleek Web-browsing beyond any carefully groomed walled-garden is feasible and even enjoyable on a tiny screen if assisted by intuitive software, all without paying a dime to greedy telcos thanks to its Wi-Fi connectivity.

iPhone Jailbreaking Still Going Strong

by Mel Beckman, Computerworld

Although most iPhone users seem satisfied with the smorgasbord of applications delivered by Apple's iPhone App Store, power users yearn for more.

Why Developers Are More Excited About The iPhone

by Jason Spero, Venture Beat

What iPhone Effect? Some Mobile Industry Insiders Are Still In The Dark

by Matthaus Krzykowski, Venture Beat

Rehr Asks Apple To Add FM To iPods

by Radio Ink Magazine

NAB president/CEO David Rehr has written to Apple COO Timothy Cook to urge the electronics maker, "as a recognized leader in both the mobile phone and portable music player arenas," to begin including FM radio capability in iPhones and iPods.

Birdhouse Helps You Polish Your Twitter Posts

by Dan Moren, Macworld

The $4 Birdhouse only concerns itself with one facet of Twitter: the composition of award-winning, needle-sharp tweets of infinite wisdom.

Wish You Were Here: Send Real Postcards From Your iPhone

by Nicole Martinelli, Cult Of Mac

An app called “Wish You Were Here” lets you use pics taken with your iPhone, personalize a greeting and caption and then send them via snail mail.

Apple To Sell $899 20-Inch Aluminum iMac To Schools

by Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

Apple this week quietly announced plans to begin selling an aluminum 20-inch iMac configuration to qualified educational institutions for just $899, effectively closing the book on the white 17-inch legacy model that had previously assumed a similar role.

iPhone Finds A Home In The Enterprise Market

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Disk Doctor Releases Photo Recovery Software For Mac

by Bryan Fergus, The Mac Observer

Mac Pro: THe Perfect Workstation

by Tom Sullivan, InfoWorld

With more than double the memory throughput of an eight-core, 3GHz Xserve, the massively parallel Nehalem-based Mac Pro is built to rock your world.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Apple Arbitrage

by Anita Raghavan, Forbes

The weak pound is turning the U.K. into a discount shopping mall for some U.S. goods.

How Apple Put Everyone In An App State Of Mind

by Om Malik, GigaOm

Ask mobile app developers, and an overwhelming number are going for iPhone platform first, everything else later.

Mac Security Part II: It's A Numbers Game

by Riva Richmond, New York Times

HP Adds iPhone App, Trnscoding To Home Server

by Electronista

Get Efficient With The Finder's Sidebar

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

Whenever you’ve got a Finder window open, the sidebar can give you one-click access to the items you use most. Items here are arranged by category—Devices, Shared, Places, and Search For.

Gmail Sidesteps The App Store

by Kate Greene, MIT Technology Review

The technology behind the new Gmail could challenge Apple's control over third-party applications.

Apple Closes First Quarter Without Jobs At Helm

by Rex Crum, MarketWatch

When Apple Inc. delivers its next earnings report later this month, it will mark a milestone of sorts: the company's first reporting period without Steve Jobs, its co-founder and chief executive.

So, Am I An "Apple Fanboy"?

by Random Digital Musings...

I am not an Apple fanboy. I am a tech aficionado. There’s a stark difference.

Apple's "Billion App" Countdown Clock, It's Fake

by Uneasy Silence

According to the algorithm that Apple is using for the fake counter, the billionth App would be sold sometime on the 20th at 4:57am.

iPhone Changes Dynamics Of Game Software Industry

by Alex Pham, Los Angeles Times

After years of building large, graphics-intensive blockbusters, developers are starting to make shorter, less expensive games for the iPhone and its phone-less sibling, the iPod Touch.

Deconstructing Apple's Tiny iPod Shuffle

by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek

A teardown by researchers shows the device's components cost a mere 28% of its retail price—a fat profit margin. Biggest supplier: Samsung.

The Problem With Push: Can Small Developers Afford It?

by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

It's likely that most small- and medium-sized development houses may completely opt out of being push providers. Between infrastructure and security concerns, the infrastructure it will take to properly offer this kind of service may price itself out of reach for those developers. Background processes may not be welcome to Apple and other handset manufacturers, but when looked at closely they offer a more economically sound approach for developers.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

iPhone Apps Are Changing The World Of Software And The Way We Work And Play

by Luke Bainbridge, The Guardian

Since they launched last July, iPhone applications have become one of the fastest - and most popular - technological innovations ever. There are thousands of simple and free apps, including ones that are altering the face of music.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Steve Jobs Maintains Grip At Apple - WSJ

by Reuters

More than three months into a medical leave from Apple Inc, chief executive Steve Jobs remains closely involved in key aspects of running the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Apple Releases iPod Shuffle VoiceOver Kit 1.0.1 Upgrade

by Joseph L. Flatley, Engadget

The 17MB download corrects pronunciations for several artist names, as well as correcting a few "minor bugs."

Twitterlator Pro 2.1 Saves Tweets For Offline Reading

by iPodNN

Searching For Boggle: Word Spotter And Quordy Both Satisfy

by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

While neither offered the perfect Boggle experience, both provided usable, fun applications. Simply put, you would not go wrong with either product. Word Spotter and Quordy both provide entertaining takes on Boggle and are well worth the $1 or $3 that they cost on App Store.

BumperCar Kid-Friendly Web Browser Improves Performance, Security

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

New to the 2.2 release is an updated version of Apple’s WebKit engine, which works faster and is more secure. Also new in this release is compatibility with Adobe Flash 10.

Go Apple, Young Man

by Cameron Sturdevant, eWeek

Once a fixture only in graphics departments and on rogue users’ desks (or laps), Macs are making their way into the enterprise. As a lifelong Microsoft/PC user, I’ve decided to “live the Mac life” so that I can put both platforms in perspective in my Labs analysis and reviews.

inTouch Contacts For iPhone

by Dale Gardner, Macworld

Interesting contacts organizer marred by flaws, limitations.

Two NBC Shows Rib Steve Jobs

by Dan Moren, Macworld

10 Undocumented Changes In iPhoto '09 8.0.2

by Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

Friday, April 10, 2009

iTunes Price Changes Hurt Some Rankings

by Glenn Peoples, Billboard

Two days after the Apple iTunes Music Store raised prices on some individual tracks, there was evidence the price increases have hurt the sales rankings of songs given the higher $1.29 price.

Apple Begins Countdown To 1 Billion iPhone Apps Downloaded

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

First, you have to be amazed that people have downloaded one billion applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Second, you can win some cool stuff if you download an app between now and the time that Apple reaches the one billion mark.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3

by Chris Holt, Macworld

When many developers are foregoing storytelling, originality, and creativity in designing their games, the well-cast cut scenes, bizarre unit types, and the weird storyline of the Red Alert series offers the strategy world a refreshing change.

The Good Blogs Explorer For iPhone

by Ben Boychuk, Macworld

The Microsoft Discount

by Dan Miller, Macworld

Forget the “Apple tax”—maybe PCs cost less because Windows is worth less.

When iPhone Pushes, Text Message Fees Fall

by Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS:

Review: iStat For iPhone

by James Savage, Macworld

iStat displays data about your iPhone. But its true value comes when you pair it with the free iStat Server for the Mac to get remote access to your Mac's statistics.

Ambrosia Updates WireTap Studio, Snapz Pro, WireTap Anywhere

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Ambrosia Software released updates to three of its applications to add compatibility for Mac OS X 10.5.7.

Tip: You Can Turn On An iPhone's WiFi While In Airplane Mode

by David Chartier, Ars Technica

ouT can easily turn on an iPhone's Airplane Mode, then turn WiFi back on.

Apple To Disable .Mac Website Tools In July

by AppleInsider

MobileMe subscribers using legacy .Mac website tools have been warned by Apple that the .Mac Groups and HomePage features will be discontinued in July, leaving existing pages live but taking away the ability to edit or update them.

Pocket God Weekly Update Hindered By Apple's Review Process

by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

Apple's opaque review process has long been an issue for iPhone developers. With unclear guidelines and fortune-cookie-like rejection notices, developers often have to guess as to what they did wrong in order to remedy their submissions. Bolt Creative, the maker of the wildly successful Pocket God recently found itself at the receiving end of a cryptic rejection.

Tidy Up 2.0 Adds Almost 50 New Features

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Tidy Up has been update with a new user interface and the ability to exclude any supported applications from a search, among other changes.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Cost-Comparison Caveats And Lessons

by Dan Frakes, Macworld

Crticism And Praise For Apple's Push Notifications

by David Gartier, Iljitsch van Beijnum, Ars Technica

The topic of background applications is a hot one among iPhone enthusiasts. Some feel that Apple is restricting iPhone OS 3.0 too much, while others are happy with the compromise of Push Notifications.

Sweaty Workouts Killing iPhones?

by David Martin, CNET

Apple's sensor (at the bottom of the iPhone) could easily be set off by sweat from your hands.

AT&T And Apple Needlessly Shackle Skype Users

by Bill Snyder, InfoWorld

I think Ma iPhone is way off base in its treatment of Skype, and I urge you to defend the principle of Net neutrality, whether it be wired or wireless. But don't do so in a knee-jerk way: The destruction of business models by new technology is of great importance to those of us who make our living in media and information technology, and I'd urge you to give it real thought.

Benchmarks: 2.93GHz Xeon-Based Mac Pros

by James Galbraith, Macworld

Customized Mac Pro sets Speedmark benchmark record.

No iTunes Tax For New York

by FMQB

The proposed "iTunes tax" in the budget for New York state has been dropped by Governor David Patterson. The sales tax would have been imposed on digital downloads as a way to raise funds in and close a budget gap. However, the tax was left out of the state budget that passed last week.

Revolution 3.5 Adds New Data Grids, Behaviors

by MacNN

Runtime Revolution has released an update to its programming tool for professional data presentation on the Mac OS X, Revolution 3.5.

iPhone's Wi-Fi Problems Cause Heated Speculation

by Bill Ray, The Register

iPhone users who found their Wi-Fi failing after the last firmware upgrade are starting to identify what went wrong, while some have managed to get Apple to replace iPhones with handsets that have never seen 2.2.1.

Apple Sued Over Touch-Screen Rights

by Jonathan Adams, New York Times

The Taiwanese company Elan Microelectronics has sued Apple, alleging infringement of two of its touch screen patents, an Elan spokesman said Wednesday.

Read It Later's New iPhone App Works Offline

by Josh Lowensohn, CNET

iPhone Skype May Be Tip Of The Iceberg For Carriers

by Stephen Lawson, Computerworld

Though mobile operators say they want more open phone platforms and are moving toward packet-based 4G networks, they are stuck between a future of being "dumb pipes" like DSL or cable operators and a present in which the bulk of their revenue still comes from the sale of voice minutes.

Apple Addressing Cracks On White MacBook Casings

by Slash Lane, AppleInsider

Apple is privately acknowledging an issue with the enclosure on some of its white 13-inch MacBooks, which in some cases have seen the formation of hairline cracks during normal usage patterns.

The Importance Of Color Management

by James Dempsey, Macworld

I recently had a conversation with Andy Hatkoff, Vice President of OEM and technology licensing, at Pantone. Andy is in charge of making sure that hardware and software companies can successfully integrate the Pantone Color System into their digital color workflow. This encompasses graphic design, print, publishing, fashion design and product lifecycle management solution providers such as Adobe, Microsoft, Quark, HP, Xerox, Ricoh, and many other companies where color plays a critical role.

Oregon Trail For iPhone

by Chris Holt, Macworld

Gameloft does a lot of things brilliantly in this latest edition of Oregon Trail. The visual style is fun, the controls are intuitive, there’s plenty of new content and it’s genuinely funny. If players can get beyond the long load times and the drain on their iPhone’s battery, this is a rich and rewarding experience.

Locating A Lost Cursor

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

There are a couple of things you could try. The first is to simply make the cursor larger.

Gift Card Scammers Soliciting iPhone Devs

by Jason D. O'Grady, ZDNet

Bloom For iPhone

by Beau Colburn, Macworld

Make beautiful music—or let Bloom do the work—with this gorgeous app.

Dictionary.com Comes To The iPhone

by Stan Schroeder, Mashable

I Switched To Mac After A Lifetime Of Windows, And It Doesn't Matter

by Adam Frucci, Gizmodo

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Review: Galcon For IPhone

by Jeff Whitfield, Macworld

In this entertaining game, you try to conquer planets controlled by your enemy. Galcon is fast-paced and a perfectly fun way to pass five minutes.

Tap Tap Is Tops

by Maggie SHiels, BBC News

The very addictive Tap Tap Revenge, that involves users tapping through beats or shaking their device along with the music, has made history by becoming the most downloaded of all the 15,000+ apps in the App Store.

Is All Fair In Apple's iTunes $1.29 Variable Pricing?

by Seth Weintraub, Computerworld

Sources at Apple tell me that Apple is getting different prices than Amazon from the recording idustry. The record companies are, and have been for awhile, favoring Amazon. In fact, Amazon is selling songs for less than the price that Apple pays for them in some cases.

Nambu: New Twitter Client Rocks The Mac Desktop

by Scott Gilbertson, Webmonkey

Nambu is a curiously-named but powerful new desktop client for Mac OS X that’s built for Twitter addicts. Its primary strength is that it offers an interface for Twitter not unlike Apple’s Mail client. Nambu also manages to pack in most of the features found in its competitors and offers some very cool additions of its own, including threaded conversations, support for multiple Twitter accounts and the ability to isolate tweets with links.

iTunes' New Pricing Structure Is A Band-Aid

by Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired

Although new prices will be a step in the right direction for many iTunes customers, they are a superficial fix for iTunes' real threat: that most consumers and even some artists think 69 cents per track is far too dear.

Yahoo Messenger Brings Full-Featured IM To iPhone

by Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable

Yahoo Messenger for iPhone, which debuted in the app store this morning, does more than just let you chat with your buddies. The application’s feature set offers the next best thing to online IM, and it’s all packaged inside a slick and easy to use interface.

Can A MacBook Replace A 12-Inch PowerBook?

by Derik DeLong, Macworld

About a month ago, I finally had to let go of an old friend. After a couple years of propping him up, it was time to retire my 12-inch PowerBook.

New $1.29 iTunes Tracks Provide An Opening For Competition

by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

The music sold on the iTunes Store is now 100 percent DRM-free with Apple's new tiered pricing in place. However, not every song that was sold with DRM is available on the store anymore for an iTunes Plus upgrade, and we weren't able to find any music that fell into Apple's lowest-end pricing tier. So why not go to Amazon instead?

DRM-Free iTunes: What It Means For You

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Citrix Introduces App Receiver For iPhone

by John C. Welch, Macworld

CoverScout 3.1

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

CoverScout is designed to help you find and edit album art for tracks in your iTunes library or in any folder on your hard drive.

WordsWorth 1.4 For iPhone

by Chris Barylick, Macworld

WordsWorth is a puzzle gamer’s dream come true, well worth its $2 price tag on the App Store and could be truly great with a few bug fixes to round out the title.

Apple Announces First Batch Of WWDC09 Sessions

by Jonathan Seff, Macworld

Series Of New iPhone Commercials Highlight More Handy Apps

by Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

Apple has released three new ads, each highlighting three apps that might appeal to certain demographics—the idea being that whatever you need, "there's an app for that."

Macs Aren't Safer, Just A Smaller Target

by Riva Richmond, New York Times

Just how relaxed (or smug) should Mac users be?

Could MacHeist Prompt Apple Into An App Store For Macs?

by Kit Eaton, Fast Company

Since its inception in 2006, MacHeist has been variously reviled, applauded and seen soaring success. The annual event, which mixes entertainment, charity, free software, and software bundling, has become a phenom in the Mac world. Given the success of Apple's iPhone App Store, could MacHeist prompt Apple to create an App Store for Macs too?

Consumers Don't Care If Steve Jobs Is Apple's CEO

by Dan Frommer, Silicon Alley Insider

Some 80% of consumers surveyed by ChangeWave say Jobs' retirement would have no effect on their likelihood of buying Apple products in the future.

Scrivener Brings Out The Scribbler

by John martellaro, The Mac Observer

Scrivener is a writer's tool that assists with a wide range of writing tasks, not just a novel, that can benefit from organizational support.

Apple Refusing Royalty-Free License To Widget Patent

by Tom Krazit, CNET

Apple believes it has a patent that could potentially throw a wrench into an effort to develop a Web standard for updating widgets.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Apple Rebrands iPhone Stereo Headset, Drops 'iPhone'

by Charles Starrett, iLounge

Data Robotics Intros 8-Bay, 16TB DroboPro

by Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer

Houdah Releases HoudahGeo 2.2 Geocoding Software For Mac OS X

by Chris Barylick, The Mac Observer

The update adds support for iPhoto '09's Places feature, as well as new interface enhancements and other changes.

App4mac's Presto 1.0 Abbreviates Common Phrases

by Bryan Fergus, The Mac Observer

App4mac released Presto 1.0 on Monday. Presto 1.0 is a utility designed for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard that allows users to define text abbreviations for frequently used phrases.

iTunes Is DRM-Free, Adds Variable Pricing

by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

Nineteen Ways To Open A File

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

You may content yourself with double-clicking on files to open them, but depending on what you’re doing, there may be a quicker or more convenient option. Here are 19 different ways to get the job done.

Apple Introduces Nehalem-Based Xeon Xserves

by Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

As expected, Apple on Tuesday announced an updated family of Xserves that deliver an 89 percent improvement in performance per watt and up to twice the overall performance of the previous models by tapping Intel's "Nehalem" Xeon processors and a next generation system architecture.

Contour 1.1

by Tm Haddock, Macworld

If you’re trying to finish a big box office feature but your story seems to run out of steam around page 60, Contour 1.1 could help you lay a proper foundation that better equips your story for success. If you prefer spending weeks working on backstory and character development for your Altman-esque ensemble film, you might find Mariner Software’s Contour too plot-centric for your taste.

CanIAffordIt For iPhone

by Ben Boychuk, Macworld

Expense tracker puts purchases in perspective.

Labels Bet Flexibility Boosts iTunes Sales

by Yinka Adegoke, Reuters

Apple Inc and major music labels are betting that the launch of three-tier pricing at the iTunes Music Store will boost music sales with a new mix of song-based packages and give consumers more options.

Music Labels Pitch Extras On iTunes

by Ethan Smith, Wall Street Journal

Record companies, weary of scraping by on 99-cent song downloads and dwindling CD sales, are trying to dress up and reimagine their most profitable product — the album — to woo music fans on Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store.

Locking The Door On Mac Security...

by Mac-Techs Blog

Just because OS X has a stellar record among users does not mean that OS X is secure.

Apple: A Sleeping Giant In The Enterprise And The iPhone Its Trojan Horse

by Brendon Chase, Technology & Business

Even if Apple doesn't seem too interested in the corporate market, some commentators believe the industry is at a tipping point, and Apple is slowly creeping in to the world of business.

Steve Jobs' Killer Instincts

by Brian Caulfield, Forbes

Despite Microsoft's recent anti-Apple ads, the iPhone maker still has the upper hand in craftiness.

CopyPaste Pro Updated

by Jim Dalymple, Macworld

The latest version also adds a preference to paste a clip on double click instead of opening it in the Editor. An open editor tool has also been added.

Combination Offers Challenging iPhone Puzzles

by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

For only a dollar, this game has enough challenges to keep you busy for hours.

Apple Updates iTunes TO 8.1.1

by Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com

Accounted 2 Accounting Software Adds New Reports, Multiple Currencies

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

SelfControl Blocks Internet Time Bandits

by Doug McLean, TidBITS

SelfControl is an excellent little tool for blocking out Internet distractions without sacrificing access to sites on which you rely.

Scheduling Software Update

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Benchmarks: Mac Pros, iMacs Gaming Performance

by James Galbraith, Macworld

A Special Phone App Helps Visually-Impaired Use The iPhone

by Dan Moren, Macworld

Brightkite For iPhone

by Chester Baker, Macworld

Privacy features make this location-aware social networking app compelling.

4 Elements

by Richard Hallas, Inside Mac Games

Once you start on it, it's quite compulsive, in a mechanical sort of way, and it's not hard to find yourself playing through large chunks of it without coming up for breath. But it's so easy that one could theoretically just run through the whole thing in one sitting (given enough time), and there's not much replay value because there's no real challenge. It's such a pity because there's clearly a lot of potential here; it just hasn't been fully explored.

Skype's iPhone App May Force FCC Hand On Wireless Net Neutrality

by Roy Mark, eWeek

It's a wireless carrier's worst nightmare: software on devices such as Skype's VOIP app for the iPhone and other innovative mobile video technologies that allow users to bypass the carrier's own services. The FCC must decide if the agency's network neutrality rules apply to the wireless world.

Monday, April 6, 2009

ImageBuddy 4 Adds Raw File Format Support

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

ImageBuddy helps users rotate, size, crop, mask and layout digital photos for printing. ImageBuddy supports drag and drop printing and layout from iPhone and Aperture.

iStat Menus

by Craig Grannell, Cult Of Mac

ColorSplash For iPhone

by Aayush Arya, Macworld

Image-editing tool brings selective desaturation to the iPhone.

Micro-Billing, Byte By Byte, Suits The World Of Cellphones

by Matt Richtel and Bob Tedeschi, New York Times

Apple’s payment model strongly resembles that of the phone industry. A consumer enters his credit card data once, and all subsequent downloads are automatically charged to that account.

By making the process convenient, Apple has been able to sell software applications that, accessed through a computer, would be free. LiveStrong’s calorie-counter app, for example, is free online but a version of it costs $2.99 in the iPhone App store.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Turn Your iPod Or iPhone Into A Portable Drive

by Kris Fong, Macworld

Whether you use your iPod or iPhone for entertainment, communication, or to amplify your cool quotient, all models share one thing in common: They can function as portable storage devices. Depending on the model, your device features either a hard drive or flash drive that allows you to read and write files to it just like an external drive once you enable it to do so. Here’s how.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

When iPhone Apps Annoy

by Brian Caulfield, Forbes

Developers should stick to Apple's guidelines if they want their apps to work well on the device.

Snow White Chomps On Poison Apple Mod

by Darren Murph, Engadget

Oh sure, this MacBook Apple mod isn't nearly as functional as that secondary display one, but you just can't beat the artistic flair here.

The iPhone Gold Rush

by Jenna Wortham, New York Times

Is there a good way to nail down a steady income? In this economy?

Try writing a successful program for the iPhone.

Default Folder X 4.2 Adds OpenMeta Tags, Bugfixes

by MacNN

Version 4.2 now supports OpenMeta tags in the Spotlight and Open dialogs, and adds a new AppleScript command, ClearRecentFolders, which clears the list of recently-used folders in an active folder set.

Demo Your iPhone Without Cables

by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

DemoGod utility lets you skip the cables and send your screen directly to a Mac. Apparently based on VNC and the venerable iPhoney utility, DemoGod displays your screen using data transmitted over WiFi. It's a great way to create demonstration videos.

Multiwinia

by Chris Holt, Macworld

I’ve seen better real time strategy games, but few with such an original look and so easy to just pop in and play. Multiwinia is light, humorous, and not particularly deep strategically, but its price and status as an independently developed game helps me justify its recommendation. The story could be better incorporated in the overall arc of the game and hopefuly future update addresses the crates. Overall, this is one of the most memorable strategy games I’ve played in a while.

Friday, April 3, 2009

I Hate My iPhone

by Virginia Heffernan, New York Times

The vaunted Apple user-friendliness was exposed, before my eyes, as bossiness and insincerity.

How Many MacBooks?

by Andy Ihnatko, Macworld UK

When your MacBooks die like Andy's, be sure to have a backup plan or three.

A Potentially Risky Finder Permissions Command

by Ted Landau, Macworld

Most Mac users have probably never used the Get Info window’s “Apply to enclosed items” command. Which is probably just as well. While this Finder command can sometimes be quite helpful when you’ve run into file-permissions problems, it can also result in unwanted headaches.

Leeloo's Talent Agency Casual Game Released

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Like other time management games, Leeloo's Talent Agency focuses on having you do multiple things in series successfully.

T-Mobile Germany Banning Skype For iPhone

by Dan Moren, Macworld

Not only has T-Mobile said that the use of Skype is forbidden, but it’s also declared its intent to cancel the contracts of any users who use workarounds to run the program anyway.

LightWorks 8 Adds Progressive Rendering

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

The new release supports progressive rendering, which provides immediate feedback of the final image with a fast preview of lighting and materials in the scene. It provides users with a way to get their desired image with less iteration.

Add Keyboard Shortcuts To Services In Leopard

by Rob Griffiths, Macworld

FCC Asked To Investigate iPhone's Restriction On Skype Calls

by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider

An Internet advocacy group has asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether Apple and its US wireless partner AT&T are violating federal guidelines by restricting consumers from using Skype's new iPhone application to make low-cost internet calls over AT&T's network.

StoryMill Takes A Novel Approach

by John Martellaro, The Mac Observer

StoryMill is a writer's tool that provides organization and composition support for writing a novel. It exploits the strengths of a computer, especially in the context of Mac OS X and a Cocoa application, to assist the novelist with scenes, timelines, characters, locations and some tactical assistance such as cliché detection.

Apple Blunder Confirms Imminent Nehalem Xserve Launch

by AppleInsider

In what appears to be a slip-up on one of its international online stores, Apple has inadvertently revealed that it plans to announce shortly new Xserves featuring Intel Corp.'s Nehalem-based Xeon processors.

Why Boxee Loves Apple

by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

OmniFocus, TaskPaper, And Things

by Frank H. Wu, About This Particular Macintosh

For the most detail and power, chose OmniFocus; for the fastest and easiest introduction to these concepts, Things; for the best notes and the sheer elegance of it, TaskPaper. If you are disciplined, any of them will improve your life. If you are not disciplined, the programs at least will facilitate the development of good habits.

Apple - Evolutionary Or Just Reinventing The Wheel?

by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

My take is that Apple is in an unique and enviable position of having a user base that’s cool enough to do without certain features for as long as it takes.

Simplify Renaming Multiple Files In The Finder

by Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Fast Tap Camera For iPhone

by Beau Colburn, Macworld

Tap anywhere to take a photo—but be prepared for long save times.

The iPod's Alarming Options

by Christopher Breen, Macworld

Most of us are accustomed to using our iPods in our waking hours—for the morning commute, afternoon workout, and ride home from work. But you needn’t restrict your iPod’s duties to the daylight. Your little portable media player can also act as a sleep and wake aid.

Apple's Q2 '09 Financial Results To Be Discussed On April 22

by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

Apple plans to announce its second fiscal quarter results on April 22, 2009. At that time, we expect the company to focus largely on how little of a hit it's taking compared to other manufacturers in this slowing economy.

Vuzix Offers 'Works With iPhone' Cables For Video Eyewear

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Vuzix goggles enable you to view video privately by wearing a headset that displays the image in front of your eyes.

Things 1.0.4

by Dan Frakes, Macworld

While Things is on the expensive side, it offers a unique combination of ease of use, a great interface, and flexibility that sets it apart from other to-do managers I’ve used. And if you’re an iPhone user, right now the combination of Things for Mac and Things for iPhone is my favorite task-management system.

iPhone OS 3.0 Beta Successfully Jailbroken

by Dan Moren, Macworld

Stanford iPhone Developer Course Available Free Via iTunes U

by Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

Stanford is making lecture videos and slides from its 10-week course on iPhone development available for the taking. You won't earn college credit, but it may help you on your way to being the next App Store star.

Microsoft Optimistic About Office Making Its Way To iPhone

by Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

Microsoft still holds aspirations of delivering a version of its leading Office suite capable of running on the iPhone but needs a bit more time to get it all sorted out.

How Apple Could Change The Face Of Digital Music

by Tim Nash, Low End Mac

Older Slingboxes Incompatible With Sling iPhone App

by Erica Ogg, CNET

Sling Media has announced that the first few models of the Slingbox won't work with new Sling software, including the much-anticipated SlingPlayer for iPhone.

iPhone Reversi Games: A Bunch Of Losers

by Ted Landau, The Mac Observer

Unfortunately, none of these apps are worth their cost. And I say this knowing that several of the versions cost nothing at all. To be fair, I didn't assess all the different Reversi games in the App Store; rather, I selected 4 that appeared to be representative. Perhaps I overlooked some gem. But I doubt it.

Weber State University: Dual-Boot iMac Shaves Computing Costs

by Apple

Thanks to the Intel-powered iMac’s ability to run both the Windows and Mac operating systems, WSU is now enjoying a significant savings in its hardware expenditures. And students visiting the computer labs and kiosks in the Student Union building have the convenience of using two computers in one.

Third-Gen iPod Shuffle Experiencing Control Issues

by iPodnn

According to support discussions, play and volume controls may malfunction when used during activities associated with sweat, such as a run or a workout.

Yelp To Release New iPhone App

by Caroline McCarthy, CNET

Apple Cracking Down On Rogue Apps

by Marin Perez, InformationWeek

The revised SDK forbids developers from jailbreaking the devices or creating apps that are distributed outside the App Store.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Apple Offers Free Accounting And ERP Seminars Online

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Apple Mac Pro

by Stephen Dean, Register Hardware

It’s expensive, but the Mac Pro's price is justified by the raw power of the Xeon processor.

Skype's iPhone Limits Irk Some Consmer Advocates

by Leslie Cauley, USA Today

Apple's unique treatment of the new Skype Internet calling feature on the iPhone — the free app works only on Wi-Fi, not the cellular or 3G network — is raising concern among public-policymakers and consumer advocates. They say it's a clear example of AT&T, the sole carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., trying to handicap a direct competitor.

Canadians Can't Use New Skype App For iPhones

by Chris Sorensen, The Star

Millions of iPhone users around the world now have the ability to make cheap or even free wireless calls using Internet calling service Skype — unless, of course, they happen to live in Canada.

Withdrawing From The Addictive iPhone

by Stephen Lawson, Macworld

My true addiction was the mobile Web. I’m not talking about the useful parts, such as the application that told me when the next bus was coming, though not having that reshapes my day a bit sometimes. What keeps me reaching for my iPhone like a phantom limb is just the diversion of something new to look at during the innumerable downtimes of my day.

Complex

by John Gruber, Daring Fireball

The way to build a complex device with all the features you want is not to start by trying to build a device with all those features, but rather to start with the fundamentals, and then iterate and evolve.

On the other hand, how many company have the luxury of time to evolve?

App Store Lessons: Dealing With Pink Uploads Of Doom

by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

Did iTunes Connect reject your application upload?

April Fools Day: The 'Rosebud Technology' Hoa & Xanthoma

by David Morgenstern, ZDNet

On the day we celebrate tricks, it’s perhaps a good time to remember a major computer industry hoax: Rosebud Technology. At the April Macworld Expo in San Francisco (this is no joke), a group of Mac tricksters hoped to lure the press into covering an exciting and new networking technology for the Mac. Of course, some took the bait.

iPod Shuffle Sales Surge 50% As iPod Touch Maintains Top Slot

by Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

Sales of Apple's most affordable iPod shot up more than 50 percent a week after the company unveiled new, more compact models that shift the push controls from the player itself to the included pair of earphones.

Rainbow Painter 3 Now Available For Mac

by Bryan Fergus, The Mac Observer

Rainbow Painter 3 is an advanced image editor for retouching photos, painting and drawing.

Apple Turns 33, No Fooling

by Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer

Apple opened shop on April 1, 1976 as Apple Computer, Inc. and despite some rocky times, is still going strong 33 years later.

Steve Jobs Should Not Come Back To Apple

by Shawn King, The Mac Observer

Look at it from two points of view: Does Apple need Jobs as CEO and does Jobs need to be Apple's CEO?

Seeking Enterprise Mac Support?

by Tom Kaneshige, CIO

CIOs regularly turn to the tight-knit Mac user community to solve their enterprise Mac problems and to stay abreast of everything Apple.

Apple's iPhone Emerges As Gaming Platform

by Gabriel Madway, Reuters

Apple's iPhone has emerged as a serious videogame platform, fulfilling the long-held promise of mobile phone gaming and positioning itself as a legitimate competitor to handheld consoles.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Review: Skype Finally Does VoIP Right On The iPhone

by David Chartier, Ars Technica

Skype for iPhone delivers on most, but not all, of the potential of Skype's VoIP service. The app is designed well, call quality is surprisingly excellent (most of the time), and this 1.0 release leaves plenty of room for the company to pick up the straggling features with a future release.

Flash'in'App Embeds Flash In Mac Apps

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Eltima Software on Wednesday introduced Flash’in’App 2.0, a new version of its programming tool that helps developers load and manage Flash movies within Mac applications.

Troubleshooting Back To My Mac

by Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

Frequently, getting the service to function can be maddening. In some cases, it won’t work—no matter what you try.

PhotoSwap For iPhone

by Chester Baker, Macworld

PhotoSwap provides instant access to random pictures from random people. That said, it’s unfortunate that you cannot save contacts or jump back to old conversations.

TimeBridge

by John Brandon, Macworld

Meeting scheduler has a good concept but limited features.

First Look: Daylite Touch

by Steven Sande, The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Organizer For iPhone

by Kate Dohe, Macworld

Feature-rich day planner is marred by clunky interface.

An Apple For The Teacher

by Gary J. Kunich, Kenosha News

Washington Middle School, one of Kenosha Unified’s most impoverished based on free and reduced lunches, has been honored as an Apple Distinguished School for its one-to-one laptop computer program and how it incorporates technology into class work. It is one of 33 nationwide — and the only one in Wisconsin — to receive the recognition.

Skype For iPhone: An iTunes App Store Hit

by Jessica Dolcourt, CNET

If Skype for iPhone seems like a big deal to you, you'd be right. It's topping iPhone App Store charts for nine countries, Skype says.

TimeCache 8.0 Adds Report, Invoice Improvements

by MacNN

The update focuses on improvements to reports and invoices, and provides more customization options for sub-sorting and sub-totalling, the ability to produce instant reports and invoices from saved settings, and an option for using a PDF file as a report or invoice background.

Diary For iPhone

by Kate Dohe, Macworld

Journal app is off to a good start, but more features are needed.

Hands-On: SelfControl For Mac Blocks Distractions—Seriously

by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

SelfControl is a new, free app for Mac OS X that helps you enforce your own self control when it comes to Internet-related distractions. Create a blacklist of servers that will be blocked during a certain time period, but you had better be ready to commit, because there's no way to turn off the block until your time period has expired.

SlickEdit 2009 Debugs Perl, Python, PHP

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

SlickEdit is a multi-language code editor that lets programmers work in over 40 languages on seven platforms.

MLB.com At Bat Back For 2009, Now Includes Gameday Audio

by Justin Berka, Ars Technica

Major League Baseball's MLB.com At Bat baseball app is back for the 2009 season, now with Gameday Audio. The price has also risen, but if you don't feel like buying the new version, you'll still be able to get real-time scores via MLB.com At Bate Lite.

Disable Support Site Help Searches In Leopard

by Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Macs In The Enterprise: The Cost Factor

by Tom Kaneshige, CIO

Few CIOs want to shell out recession-scarce dollars for pricy Macs when a cheap PC will do just fine. Microsoft drove home this point last week with attack ads showing cash-strapped consumers choosing PCs over Macs. But are Macs really too costly in the business world?

DirecTV Releases Remote Recording Application For iPhone

by Justin Berka, Ars Technica

iPhone owners with DirecTV service now have an easier way to schedule recordings when they're not at home, thanks to the new DIRECTV app. The software lets users browse programs, search for shows, and record shows to any DVR associated with the account. It does it all with an interface that's tailored to the iPhone.

SongGenie 1.1

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

If you’ve got lots of music files with incomplete or missing artist, album, or song tags, and you want to spare yourself the time of figuring out what those tags should be, SongGenie can help tidy up your music library.

Vicomsoft FTP Client Gains QuickLook, Growl Support

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

The new 4.6 release features support for Leopard's QuickLook feature, which lets you preview the contents of a file without opening it first. Also new in this release is support for Growl, the notification software for Mac OS X.

Playing Go On The Mac

by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

Your Mac and your iPhone can give you a platform for playing this strategic board game.

WireTap Studio Improves AAC Recording

by Peter Cohen, Macworld

VeriSign Brings Authentication Tokens To iPhone

by Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS

Apple's $500 Or Microsoft's 81% Tax?

by Robin Harris, ZDNet

Just the cost of anti-virus protection for Windows justifies the mythical $500.

Hitch Seen In Potential China Unicom Deal

by Eric Savitz, Barrons

Apple's App Store: A Rapidly Growing Marketplace

by John Boudreau, San Jose Mercury News

Less than a year old, Apple's online App Store is on its way to becoming a billion-dollar marketplace for iPhone applications that often sell for no more than a few dollars, according to Mobclix, a startup that offers developers analytical data garnered from mobile devices.

Greenpeace: Apple Greener, But Still Has A Ways To Go

by Troy Wolverton, SiliconBeat

Greenpeace gave Apple some kudos on Tuesday for improving its environmental policies. But the environmental activists made clear that the iPhone maker still has a long way to go before earning Greenpeace’s stamp of approval.

Apple, Dell, Intel Sued Over Encryption Patent

by Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek

The patent in question is U.S. patent No. 5,963,646, "Secure deterministic encryption key generator system and method," which describes an encryption key generator. The system allows for "the destruction of an encryption key after each use by providing for the re-creation of the key without need of key directories or other encryption key storage processes."

My Apple Laptops: Past, Present, And Future

by Charles Moore, Low End Mac

'Bookworm' Sets The Standard For iPhone Word Games

by Eli Hodapp, TouchArcade

While there are word games on the App Store that offer similar game play–and even some fairly obvious clones–none really compare with the complete Bookworm package as it has evolved over the years.

Clearwire Offers iPhone WiMax Hotspot

by Roy Mark, eWeek

WiMax provider Clearwire said March 31 it plans to begin offering a Wi-Fi device that allows users of Apple's iPhone and other Wi-Fi-emabled devices to tap into Clearwire's 4G mobile WiMax network. Clearwire claims its WiMax technology will deliver wireless Internet speeds several times faster than users' phones with embedded 3G technology – without having to find a Wi-Fi hotspot.

By Heng-Cheong Leong

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