Author: Blancer

Here we are again, another Sunday. Provided you survived Black Friday and the turkey-based festivities, we’d love to have you join the TUAW family for a post-shopping, post-tryptophan-coma Talkcast.

Most likely we will have a few of the regulars, providing what we’ll call “color commentary” in the chat room. Also, if you show up for the recording, you are automatically invited to stay for the aftershow. Learn why TUAWTF is never recorded!

Your calls and questions help us make the show the best it can be, otherwise I’m just talking to myself! To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (yay for free cellphone weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you’ve got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo, X-Lite, or Blink SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!

Talkcast tonight, 4pm HI/7pm PT/10pm ET: Holiday kickoff edition! originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to TUAW’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! We’re here to help you choose the best gifts this holiday season, and once you’ve received your gifts we’ll tell you what apps and accessories we think are best for your new Apple gear. Stay tuned every weekday from now until the end of the year for our picks and helpful guides and check our Gift Guide hub to see our guides as they become available. For even more holiday fun, check out sister site Engadget’s gift guide.

Updated to correct AirPrint availability for Lexmark and Epson.

As much as we’d all love to get away from the piles of paper that dominate our lives, it’s still hard to live without a way to commit digital content to paper. Whether you’re printing labels and envelopes, need to print a report for school, or you like to print photos from your iPhone or iPod touch, a printer may be a necessity for most computer users. Printers have come a long way from the days of the slow and noisy ImageWriter II shown above, and now even cheap printers can astound you with their high quality output.

In this edition of our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide, I’ll provide some hints on what you should consider when purchasing a printer to work with your Mac or iOS device. We’ll start with the basic questions you need to ask yourself about the way you print and the features you can’t live without.

All-in-one or print-only?

Most printers these days come in two styles — all-in-one printer/scanner combos (often referred to as multi-function devices or multi-function printers) and just plain printers. All-in-one printers are very useful if you often need to scan documents that have been signed, or if you want to be able to scan printed photos.

Those who are thinking about doing high-quality photo or slide scanning should opt for a separate printer and a specialized photo scanner. While the scanners in the all-in-one models have improved dramatically over the years, they usually can’t match the high resolution, scanning speed, and retouching software that comes with a dedicated photo scanner.

There are some differences in the all-in-one printers as well. Some are designed just for printing and scanning, while others provide the ability to send and receive faxes. If you’re still using the ancient technology of faxing to send documents, you’ll want to look for a model that has the built-in fax modem and RJ-11 telephone port.

Photos, printouts, or both?

The next thing to think about is what you’ll be printing. Photo printing is done on special coated paper that provides either a matte or gloss finish to your images, and even a low-cost photo printer can turn out fairly good printed pictures these days. On the other hand, if you do a lot of photo printing, it’s going to be much less expensive in terms of consumables (ink cartridges and photo paper) to just take your images to a local drugstore or photo shop on an SD card or flash drive for printing.

A 2005 New York Times article noted that printing a 4″ x 6″ photo from a home printer could cost anywhere from 28¢ to 50¢ per image. Consumers in the US can go to a number of retailers and get prints in the range of 10¢ to 16¢ a piece, or easily use one of a score of online photo printing services (including Apple’s built-in print service in iPhoto). Prices of consumables — the print paper and ink — haven’t dropped much, so these numbers are probably still accurate.

What are you paying for? Convenience. You can do one-off prints of favorite pictures in a minute or less. I’ve often been able to upload photo files to a local Walgreen’s store and pick them up in about an hour, which is still pretty convenient.

Most inkjet printers will do both photo and regular printing, so if you still think that you need a printer that does a decent job of making photo hard copies, go with inkjet. Which brings us to our next topic:

Laser or inkjet?

Laser printers have dropped considerably in price over the years while capabilities have soared. In fact, a quick look at the HP website showed two black and white laser printers with a price tag of less than $100. The least expensive color laser printer is now running $149 on sale.

What’s the big attraction of laser printers? Speed. Many laser printers can pop out a first page in less than ten seconds, then churn out pages at anywhere from 12 to 42 pages per minute. For the impatient folks in the crowd, that’s a plus. However, inkjet printers are no longer as poky as they used to be, with print speeds up to 35 pages per minute. Once again, it’s the consumables that will bite you every time.

Toner cartridges are expensive, especially for color laser printers that generally require four cartridges — black, cyan, magenta, and yellow — to print a full range of colors. It’s not uncommon to spend well over $200 for toner cartridges for a color printer, and $75 – $100 for black toner cartridges.

Inkjet printers are also quite inexpensive. HP has a low-end color inkjet printer that is available for $30. How can printer manufacturers sell printers cheaply? It’s easy — they’re using the pricing model that was pioneered by razor manufacturers years ago. You basically give away the razor and then make money on the consumables — the razor blades. In this case, the manufacturer makes a ton of money on ink (or toner) cartridges.

With that $30 printer I was referring to, you get a single black ink cartridge and a single color cartridge, good for about 165 pages of printing. When it’s time to buy a new set of cartridges, you’re looking at $58 — almost twice the cost of the printer! The page yield on those replacement cartridges is about 330 (color) to 480 (black) pages, which adds up quickly.

If you do a lot of printing, I’d recommend a laser printer. The toner cartridges are more expensive, but they also last a lot longer — usually in the range of 1,300 (color) to 2,000 (black) pages. The extra speed is also going to make you happy if you’re printing big reports all of the time.

For photos or casual color printing, it’s inkjet all the way.

USB or wireless?

Back in the day, every printer had a cable. Whether it was AppleTalk, Ethernet or (more recently) USB, you were constrained to printing from a computer that was tethered to a printer. Now many printers come with built-in Wi-Fi (or Bluetooth, rarely) connectivity so that you can print from anywhere on the network.

For those who just want to print from a desktop Mac or PC and don’t mind being anchored to a printer, then USB is just fine. For those who want to print from a laptop, Wi-Fi is the way to go. And for those who want to print wirelessly from an iOS device without an intervening personal computer running something like Printopia, you want to look for an AirPrint-compatible printer.

There’s a full list of AirPrint-savvy devices in this recently updated Apple knowledge base article. Lexmark is represented with the fewest devices (3) and Canon’s list is deceptively long, since most of those model numbers are variations on the three announced printers. Epson & HP, on the other hand, have a relatively complete suite of options there.

HP has the most AirPrint printers, with more than 20 models listed on the company’s US site as supporting direct printing from iOS (Apple’s list of HP devices is longer, including some not sold in the US). Canon recently added three AirPrint-compatible printers to its line and promises that future Pixma photo printers and all-in-ones will also support AirPrint. Epson supports AirPrint on most of the devices that fall under its Epson Connect feature branding; the three printers that don’t support AirPrint do work for photo printing using Epson’s iPrint app.

Conclusion

There are a lot of good printers on the market. Remember when you’re looking for one to use with your Mac that you should make absolutely sure that it supports Mac OS X printing. Printers from most manufacturers, including HP, Canon, Epson, and Lexmark, work very well with Mac OS X, but be sure to check older models for compatibility. If you’re trying to ditch the PC or Mac and just go straight from iOS, then be sure to look for AirPrint compatible printers from HP, Canon, Epson or Lexmark.

Be sure to check manufacturer online stores for deals that you can’t usually find in stores, and also keep an eye out on the Apple Online Store (or ask at Apple retail locations) for free or low-cost printers added to a Mac package.

Whatever printer you decided on, remember that consumables are the biggest part of the lifecycle cost of your printer. Look at the replacement toner or ink cartridge costs before you buy, and try to get a feel for the cost per page that you print.

Printers are becoming less of a necessity for computer users, so think about your needs before you choose. Don’t buy one with all the bells and whistles unless you have money to burn or really need all those capabilities.

Holiday Gift Guide: Buying a printer (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m a bit of an airliner freak, so I love looking up at the contrails of jets flying overhead and wondering where a plane might be going. I recently found out that Wolfram Alpha has the ability to tell you what airplanes are cruising around above you based on your position and its knowledge of where various airline and charter flights are located at any point in time. Since Siri has the built-in ability to work with Wolfram Alpha, I thought I’d see if I could just ask Siri to tell me about those flights overhead.

It took a few tries and some thought about what to ask Siri, but I finally got it to work. Telling Siri to “Ask Wolfram what flights are overhead” produces the correct results. That query displays a Wolfram Alpha printout showing the flight or aircraft registration number of flights that are currently visible from where you’re standing, their altitude, and the angle above the horizon. You also get information on what type of aircraft each is, how far away it is, and what direction to look, as well as a sky map showing where the planes are.

I then made an attempt to coax details out of Siri about individual flights. I thought I’d need to use the brains of Wolfram Alpha again, but found that by simply saying “Tell me about [name of airline] Flight [flight number]” prompted Siri to display a web page showing the departure airport and time of the flight along with the expected arrival airport, time and gate.

The search isn’t perfect. I often had flights between the West coast and Asia showing up on the search despite the fact that there was no way that the flights were going to be flying over Colorado. But as with many of the tricks we’ve demonstrated here at TUAW, this shows the surprising depth of knowledge that you have access to by asking Siri.

TUAW editor Steve Sande is the co-author and publisher of “Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple’s Intelligent Assistant,” found on the iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Bookstore.

Siri / Wolfram Alpha trick lets you know what is flying overhead originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most of the bag and case manufacturers that we receive review samples from are in the US, and their products are usually sold in Apple Stores in the US as well. An established UK bag maker, Marshall Bergman, is making a splash in the UK with the Corbin canvas bag (£79.95) for iPad and/or the 11″ MacBook Air. The bag will be sold at Apple Stores in the UK and a number of other European countries, so here’s a close look at a top quality way to carrying your favorite Apple toys.

Design

Back in the early to mid 1990’s, I carried my Newton MessagePads in a bag from Eagle Creek. The Corbin bag reminds me of a larger version of that beloved bag in both looks and functionality. It’s a cross-body bag that is designed up to fit the iPad or 11″ MacBook Air. The exterior of the bag is made of a water resistant canvas material, so if you’re in a rainy climate you’ll love the protection you get from the Corbin.

Around the sides and on the bottom of the bag is a rubberized material that provides even more protection so that the bag can be placed on wet surfaces with no worries. There’s a long and adjustable canvas strap for using the bag over one shoulder or cross-body, with nice brass hardware that really adds a touch of class. All of the zippers have long leather pulls attached for easy access to the main bag and pockets.

There’s a large snap-closure pocket on the front of the bag with a smaller pocket inside to hold an iPhone. On the back is a zipped pocket for those items you want to keep safe. The inside compartment is padded, and has a zipped pocket, a removable key holder, a couple of pen holders, and some slip-in pockets for organization.

The Corbin canvas bag comes in two colors, black and khaki. There are also leather editions of the Corbin in brown and black at £124.95.

Functionality

Marshall Bergman says that the Corbin bag is designed for the iPad or 11″ MacBook Air. Of course, that meant that I had to push the envelope and try placing both an iPad 2 and an 11″ MacBook Air in the bag. Sure enough, it worked just fine with both devices — and the iPad 2 is in a folio case.

Now you know that the Corbin bag has room to spare, but how about those other features I described earlier? There are two things that I think would improve the bag slightly. First, it would be nice to have a pad on the shoulder strap to make for more comfortable carrying, and second, there should be a Velcro flap to close over the iPhone pocket. That pocket is in a large snap-closure pocket, and it would be easy for an iPhone to slide out of both pockets.

The construction of the bag is flawless. The ‘gear bag’ space is chock-full of great US manufacturers such as Tom Bihn or Waterfield Designs, but for non-US shoppers I don’t think you can go wrong with the well-designed, spacious, and protective Corbin bag.

Conclusion

For our European readers who are near Apple Stores, you owe it to yourself to take a look at the Marshall Bergman Corbin bag for your iPad, 11″ MacBook Air, or both. The canvas bag is affordable and is well-suited for years of protective service, and you can go with the extremely classy all-leather version if you so desire.

The Corbin bag also makes a perfect holiday gift for the gadget geek on your list, so keep it in mind if you’re stumped about what to buy your favorite person.

Marshall Bergman Corbin bag for iPad and 11″ MacBook Air: Review originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As with all new technologies developed by or associated with Apple, competitors are stumbling over one another to dismiss Siri. Google has already played the “yawn” card, and now Microsoft’s Craig Mundie has joined the fray during an interview with Forbes. Here are Mundie’s remarks when asked about Siri, proving for the 65,536th time that Microsoft Doesn’t Get It:<b

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“TellMe facility’s been in the Windows 7 Phone (sic) for more than a year! I just think that people are infatuated with Apple announcing it… it’s good marketing. At least as a technological capability, you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows phones for more than a year. You could take these Windows phones and pick them up and say, ‘Text Eric,’ and it’ll say, ‘What do you want to say?’ and it transcribes it… You can query anything through Bing by just saying the words. I mean, all that’s already there. Completely functional, been there for a year.”

Can you really just pick up one of these Windows phones and use it right out of the box in the way Mundie claims? Not if the results of a video comparing TellMe versus Siri are any indication. Using Siri and TellMe simultaneously, an Australian user tries to create a meeting, send a text, check the time in Perth, and play songs by a certain artist. Siri doesn’t miss a beat, while TellMe fails every time, often with hilarious results.

Let’s issue some apologetics for TellMe: maybe it’s tripping over the Aussie accent. Maybe it needs to “learn” the speaker’s voice over time to deliver better results. Maybe the handset’s microphone wasn’t picking up his voice well enough to decipher his commands accurately. But the side-by-side comparison doesn’t lie; Siri kicked TellMe’s butt up and down the block.

The comparison video even handicapped Siri by using the sort of stilted, standardized voice commands that Android and Windows Phone 7 have indeed “already had for over a year.” But the thing that Siri’s detractors must keep in mind is that Siri is not just speech recognition. In fact, if you’re one of Apple’s competitors, and you’re going to try talking about Siri intelligently, I’d say the first step is writing “Siri is not just speech recognition” on a chalkboard 100 times.

Certainly Android and Windows Phone 7 have had basic speech recognition functions before Siri’s debut, but can you have a conversation with those implementations, or do you have to stick to a strict set of commands that the OS can interpret? You’re certainly going to have a hard time convincing me that I can have this sort of interaction with TellMe on Windows Phone 7:

“I’m in Chicago. I want pizza.” (I’m actually over 13,000 kilometers from Chicago, but never mind that.)
“I found a number of pizza restaurants in Chicago, IL, US.”
“How about New York City?”
“I found a number of pizza restaurants in New York City, NY, US.”
“Maybe hamburgers in Miami instead.”
“I found a number of burger restaurants in Miami, FL, US.”
“How windy is it?”
“The wind speed is currently 26 kph (ENE) in Miami, FL, US.”
“No, how windy is it here?”
“Wind speed is currently 21 kph.”
“Is it shorts weather?”
“Here’s the forecast for today through this Thursday.”

What makes Siri a revolutionary voice-controlled interface is the fact that you don’t have to stick to the standard “Search for pizza restaurants in Chicago” or “What is the current wind speed in Palmerston North, New Zealand” language that other interfaces require. Even more than that, Siri understands conversational context in a way that competing voice interfaces don’t.

Fine, Android and Windows Phone 7 beat Siri to market by being able to ask your phone questions, but that’s like the difference between issuing commands to your dog versus talking to a three-year-old human being. My greyhound is pretty much a canine genius, but once you stray from the hundred or so commands and concepts I’ve programmed into her doggy brain, she’s every bit as lost as TellMe would be if I asked it “Is it shorts weather?”

Siri is far closer to being able to understand natural speech the way a human would; it’s not quite there yet, but it’s often amazing how close it gets. On my first day with the iPhone 4S, I set a half-hour timer and later asked Siri “How’s that timer doing?” fully expecting it to choke. Instead, it showed me the timer immediately. I was startled that it worked at all, and worked well, and moments like this prove that Siri isn’t the also-ran that people like Microsoft’s Mundie are trying to claim it is.

Here’s the funniest part: just like Multi-Touch, I suspect Apple’s competitors are only being dismissive about Siri for as long as it takes for them to copy it… badly. Meanwhile, Siri and I will be over here waiting for you to catch up.

“Play some Led Zeppelin.”
“Here’s your Led Zeppelin.”

And of all things, what plays? “Communication Breakdown.” Siri, you so crazy.

Microsoft Doesn’t Get It, Episode 65,536: TellMe versus Siri originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I just touted the ThinkGeek/Ion iCade arcade unit for iPad in my recent accessories roundup for the holidays, and if you were on the fence about buying one for yourself or as a gift, that decision might be a little easier. The geeky gift site is putting the unit on sale for US$59.99 during Black Friday, down about $40 from its usual price. That’s a nice discount, and it might seal the deal if you haven’t picked one up yet.

Touch Arcade has a really great page about the iCade, with lots of specs and information, and a pretty exhaustive list of games compatible with the device. It’s made to work with Atari’s Greatest Hits app, which is free on the App Store and offers up a bunch of Atari classics that already work with a joystick and buttons. But other developers and apps have also jumped on the iCade train, so the unit will work with all kinds of titles. For anyone who enjoys playing retro games on an iPad, this would make for an excellent gift under the tree later on this year.

ThinkGeek’s iCade on sale for $59.99 today originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to TUAW’s 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! We’re here to help you choose the best gifts this holiday season, and once you’ve received your gifts we’ll tell you what apps and accessories we think are best for your new Apple gear. Stay tuned every weekday from now until the end of the year for our picks and helpful guides and check our Gift Guide hub to see our guides as they become available. For even more holiday fun, check out sister site Engadget’s gift guide.

Holiday deals are in full swing, and now is the time to start thinking about your gift list. If you are a Mac owner or buying for one, we have a list of some must-have accessories that’ll help you create the best all-around Mac work (or play) environment.

External Keyboard/Mouse

If you have an iMac or a MacBook Pro, your system already has a nice keyboard and mouse/trackpad combination. Mac mini or Mac Pro owners will benefit greatly from a nice keyboard and mouse. Top of the list is Apple’s wireless keyboard and its Magic Trackpad (US$69) or Magic Mouse ($69). The Apple wireless keyboard ($69) is rock solid and perfect for desktop use. If you pair it with a Magic Trackpad, you can duplicate the awesome keyboard/trackpad combination of the MacBook Pro/Air. The Magic Mouse is also an excellent product for those who prefer a mouse to a trackpad.

External Monitor

This is another category applicable only to Mac mini and Mac Pro owners whose systems ship without a monitor. Most people connect any old monitor, which you can do if you have the right Thunderbolt/Mini DisplayPort to DVI or VGA cable. If you really want a treat, you should take a closer look at Apple’s Thunderbolt Display ($999). At 27 inches, this display is big and beautiful. It also contains a MagSafe connector that’ll charge your MacBook Pro/Air and has a Thunderbolt port that can be daisy-chained with other Thunderbolt devices.

External Speakers

External speakers are essential for all Mac owners, because the ones that ship on a MacBook Pro/Air and the iMac range from merely decent to mediocre. One excellent but expensive choice is the Sonos Play:3 ($299), a wireless system that lets you pipe your iTunes library all over your house. We reviewed this system earlier this year and liked it quite a lot. There are also a handful of AirPlay-compatible speakers on the market now, including the Philips Fidelio SoundAvia, SoundCurve, SoundRing and the SoundSphere, which was reviewed by our sister site, Engadget. There’s also the JBL On Air Wireless ($200) and the compact iW1 from iHome ($299). You can find a full list of AirPlay speakers at the AirPlaySpeakers.com website. If you’re looking for wired speakers, Bose is an excellent choice if you can afford it. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with a mid-range offering from Logitech or Creative.

Printer

Every computer needs a printer, and there a lot of options for Mac owners. If you have a Mac and an iOS device, you will want to grab a printer with an AirPrint option, so you can print documents wirelessly from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Pickings were sparse when AirPrint was first announced, but most major printer companies now sell AirPrint-compatible models. Apple has compiled a recent list of AirPrint compatible printers from Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark. You can find this list in an article on Apple’s support website.

Backup Device

Every computer owner should back up their data on a daily basis, and Mac owners are no exception. Apple has made backups easy with Time Machine, a backup utility that ships on every Mac. The best choice for a backup storage device is Apple’s Time Capsule (starts at $299). It’s an Airport Extreme wireless router with built-in storage for backups. It’ll provide an almost zero-configuration way to start backing up your data. If you already have an AirPort Express and only need a hard drive for backup, you can purchase an external drive like the Western Digital My Book for Mac (starts at $139). If you need additional storage or RAID support, there are other options like the LaCie Network Space 2 (starts at $159) or the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo (starts at $299). Drobo and Pogoplug also sell backup solutions that offer greater capacity and additional features like cloud storage and media streaming. We’ve reviewed several of these products in the past, including the Drobo FS (starts at $699), the LaCie Network Space 2 and the Pogoplug ($45).

Wi-Fi Router

Another must-have for any home network is a wireless router, and your best choice in the Mac world is the AirPort Express ($99) or the AirPort Extreme ($179). Both have several Mac-specific features like built-in support for AirPlay and AirPrint which makes it attractive for Mac owners. The AirPort Express is the smaller of the two and is great for travel and use in apartments and smaller homes. The AirPort Extreme is its bigger brother and is great for use in a larger house with multiple machines. If you think the Airport Extreme is out of your price range, then you’ll want to read our article about buying the Airport Extreme to see if its multiple features change your mind. If you still decide to go with a non-Apple product, you’ll want to find a model that has gigabit ethernet, support for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and a USB port. D-Link, Netgear and Linksys make quality wireless routers.

External Hard Drive

Most Mac owners will want an external hard drive for file storage. You can choose from a portable, smaller drive like the Western Digital MyPassport for Mac ($199) and the LaCie Starck Mobile (starts at $109). LaCie also has a series of rugged drives (starts at $160) such as the Rugged Mini and the Rugged Safe, which includes biometrics and an encryption option. If you don’t need the portability of a smaller drive, you’ll want to consider a larger hard drive like the Western Digital My Book. We recently reviewed the 3 TB My Book Studio model. All these drives are formatted for the Mac and can be used for basic file storage and USB-based Time Machine backups. Those who want ultimate peace of mind in a storage device should look at the ioSafe drives. They are expensive, but they offer protection from fire and water. We recently reviewed the SoloPro model (starts at $249). iPhone owners may be interested in the GoFlex Satellite (starts at $209) from Seagate, a portable drive that lets you transfer media from your Mac and watch them on your iOS device.

Wireless headset/headphones

There are a variety of wireless headphones and headsets on the market, but the best ones for the Mac connect via Bluetooth. All Mac computers ship with Bluetooth and will easily connect to a pair of Bluetooth cans without the need for a USB dongle. I have a non-Bluetooth wireless headset from Logitech and am always losing the dongle. Plantronics makes several headphones and headsets that’ll work with the Mac including the popular BackBeat 906 headphones. There’s also Jabra, which makes the HALO headset and other less expensive models. We recently reviewed the NuForce BT-860, which is another inexpensive but capable wireless headset. When shopping for someone else, make sure you buy the right product — headphones are for listening only and headsets are for listening and talking.

Battery Backup

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. One day, you will be in the middle of editing an important document and a power surge or outage will cause you to lose your work. Notebook owners can skip this advice, but desktop owners need to keep reading. To protect your precious iMac, Mac mini or Mac Pro, you should be using a battery backup. They provide surge protection as well as a backup power source, which gives you ample time to save your documents and shut down your computer in case of a power failure. The most widely available consumer models are made by APC, and they cost as low as $60. CyperPower also makes a decent battery backup, and their latest Adaptive Sinewave models (starts at $130) feature a pure sine wave electrical output. This clean source of energy is better for sensitive electronics.

Accessories for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air owner

MacBook Pro and Air owners could use a few accessories specific to their portable needs. There are the protective accessories like the InCase cover for the MacBook Pro/Air, the Moshi Clearguard keyboard protector ($25), Trackguard trackpad protector ($12) and the PalmGuard palm rest protector ($20). You can also add an anti-glare film like the RadTech ClearCal (starts at $20) if you have a MacBook with a glossy screen. We’ve used some of their products in the past, and they make quality stuff.

MacBook Pro/Air owners always on the run may want a 3G/4G portable hotspot device so they have an Internet connection everywhere they go. They probably also need an external charging source like the HyperJuice external battery (starts at $160). Of course, they will need a case, and there are a variety of cases ranging from the ultra-rugged Pelican cases (starts at $200) to the sleek WaterField Designs bags, which are great for the MacBook Air.

Other devices that make having a Mac fun

The iPad ($499), iPhone ($199 for 4S) and Apple TV ($99). All three devices can share content via iTunes, AirPlay and iCloud. You easily can watch the videos on your Mac using the Apple TV and share your photos seamlessly between your iPhone and iPad using iCloud. Because they are so intertwined, it’s great to have all these devices in one household.

If there’s any must-have accessory that you use with your Mac, share it with us and others in the comments.

Holiday Gift Guide: The all-purpose Mac setup originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hope you had a great holiday yesterday! As expected, the App Sales are continuing through the weekend, and in addition to what we’ve already spotlighted, here are a few more.

• Steam is continuing its daily sales on all kinds of titles, Mac and PC alike, but Flight Control HD is the standout for iOS fans today.
• Space Ship Ion has gone free.
• Rolocule’s games are all on sale, including Flick Tennis: College Wars for just a buck.
• The 7th Guest is just $1.99.
• Retro arcade game StarDash is down to 99 cents today.
• Dark Nebula: Episode One is available for free.
• 8-bit RPG throwback Dragon Fantasy is only 99 cents — that’s the lowest I’ve seen it, which makes this a must-grab for old-school NES fans.
• The very popular astronomy app Star Walk is a dollar off right now, down to $1.99 on iPhone and $3.99 on iPad.
• iSequence HD is down to just $2.99 from $15.
• Algoriddim’s djay app for iPad is $9.99, half off.
• In my opinion, Gem Keeper is the best tower defense game on the App Store, and it’s only 99 cents. I would say this is another must-get today.
• Worms Crazy Golf is 99 cents on iPhone and $2.99 on iPad.
• Disney is having a 99 cent sale, with many of their apps on sale for just a buck, including the iPad version of Split/Second.
• MumboJumbo also has a 99 cent sale on, including Luxor and some other great puzzle games.
• GTA Chinatown Wars is down to $2.99.

Whew! The App Sales will all continue through the weekend, so we’ll likely have even more posts with dropped prices in them to come. Next week on Cyber Monday there will be yet another round of deals, but you can expect the sales waves to continue through the holidays until all those new iPhones and iPads get unwrapped. Stay tuned!

Black Friday app sales: Dragon Fantasy, Gem Keeper, lots more originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m really impressed when powerful applications or techniques migrate to iOS and seem to work as well (or better than) as they do on the desktop. A good example is Perfect365 HD.

This iPad app lets you take a photo of a person and modify it, ‘improving’ their facial structure, lips, eyes, nose, cheeks — just about any part of the face that may need a nip here or a tuck there. Basically, the app gives any person a one click makeover. It’s plastic surgery without the risk.

Portrait photographers and advertising agencies have been using these techniques for years, but usually the work is complicated and takes a long time. Perfect365 can do it in a click or two. Facial recognition features identify the parts of the face and with a couple of clicks your can turn your significant other into something a bit beyond their normal look. You can be subtle or extreme.

Images can be from your photo albums, or you can activate your camera and take the picture any time you want.

When you’re done, the enhanced image can be saved back to your photo album, or sent to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.

I tried the app on some pictures of people I had stashed on my hard drive, and I must say the results are pretty amazing and easy to accomplish. Some friends really liked the enhancements, some found it all a bit creepy. I found subtle changes were the best, cleaning up complexions or whitening teeth. The app provides a before and after view so you can see exactly what has changed. I have some examples in the gallery.

The app sells for US $4.99. I’ve used some Mac applications that are far more expensive but give similar results, although they offer more control and features. There’s an iPhone version of the app that is now selling for $1.99.

If you’re a casual photographer with friends that aren’t happy with their ‘look’ I’ll bet this app will please them and make you popular at the same time.

With the holidays here up you may be taking a lot of photos, and I think you’ll be pleased with Perfect365.

The app requires iOS 3.2 or greater. Arcsoft, the company that created the app, also has a Mac OS X version coming with, you guessed it, more control and more features.

Check the gallery for some before and after photos.

Daily iPad App: Perfect365 touches up faces in a snap originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this year, IK Multimedia introduced the iRig Mic and VocaLive app for the iPhone. Our very own Steve Sande did a review of the iRig Mic, which you can check out here. The app is good, but it’s not universal which is a big drawback for folks who have an iPhone and an iPad. Of course, you could use the VocaLive app on your iPad, but it was simply the iPhone version of the app enlarged 2X.

This month, IK Multimedia has brought VocaLive to the iPad.The new app is custom built to fit the tablet’s larger screen, and has some extra features, too. Vocalive for iPad can be expanded to 8 recordable tracks and adds a fourth effect slot. Two of these four effect slots can be used for vocal effects compared to a single slot on the iPhone version.

If you love singing, karaoke, doing voice overs or just hearing your voice warped through crazy effects, then check out VocaLive and the accompanying iRig Mic. VocaLive is free on the iOS App Store with extra effects available via in-app purchase. There’s also a full version which includes all the effects available for $19.99.

IK Multimedia’s VocaLive comes to the iPad originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As a general rule, I avoid reviewing apps from friends. You send me a pitch, I pass it along to the team. But when Matthias Ringwald, Bluetooth developer extraordinaire told me about Type2Phone, I really wanted to try it out myself. For $4.99, this Mac app transforms your computer into a wireless Bluetooth keyboard.

If you’re not exactly following why anyone would care about that, let me explain why this utility fills a huge hole in the iOS experience, particularly for developers.

Nearly all recent devices now support external Bluetooth keyboards for text entry. You navigate to Settings, enable Bluetooth, select a device and pair to it. You can then type using a physical keyboard rather than the onscreen touch one. This greatly speeds up text entry.

What Type2Phone does, by emulating a BT keyboard, is let you perform the same announcement and pairing tasks, but from your OS X desktop. That means, if you’re testing software on your device (or you just want to type to your device with your computer nearby for any other reason), you can pair and go in just a few seconds, without having to drag out a hardware keyboard.

The application remembers the pairing details for you, and you can select each device from a pop-up menu.

For devs, that’s insanely useful. You can instantly type into text fields, into text views, or into any object that implements a UITextInput protocol. Type2Phone means you can do your text entry from your normal keyboard, along side your normal development tasks. It evaporates a messy annoying detail of development.

Personally, I’d prefer if the app offered a way to switch off its scrolling text preview (you see it at the top of this post) — I type fast enough that the scrolling letters make me a bit dizzy — but aside from that, this app did its job exactly as promised.

You can grab Type2Go from the Mac App Store.

Type to your iPhone with Type2Phone and your Mac keyboard originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time to get up, get out and do some shopping for you or your Apple-owning friends! Apple’s Black Friday event has been going strong in Australia for over 12 hours and the sale has finally made its way to the US.

Similar to previous Black Friday sales, the discounts are modest. You can save:

• $41 on an iPad
• $21 on an iPod touch
• $11 on an iPod nano
• $101 on a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or an iMac
• $11 on the Magic Trackpad
• $11 on the Magic Mouse
• $11 on the Apple Wireless keyboard
• $11 on the AirPort Express
• $21 on the Time Capsule
• $21 on the AirPort Extreme
• $11 on the iPad 2 Smart Cover (Red)
• $5 on a $50 iTunes Gift card

There’s also steeper discounts on non-Apple products like backpacks, cases, speakers and more. The sale is available both online and in Apple retail stores. Have fun shopping!

Apple’s Black Friday sales now live in the US originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Around this time last year, Tascam introduced the Portastudio app, a 4-track recorder modeled after the legendary Portastudio 144 4-track recorder of some 30 years ago. Now, Tascam has debuted the iM2, a stereo recorder with two condenser mics and a built-in pre-amp that’s based on Tascam’s well known DR series of portable recorders.

The iM2 simply plugs directly into the dock connector of your iPhone or iPad, overriding your devices built-in mic to provide you with high quality recordings. The two mics are adjustable over 180 degrees for uni-directional recording, perfect for capturing a live recording as well as the ambience of the room you’re recording in.

The iM2’s built-in preamp can also handle 125 dbs of noise, so you could theoretically record a jet plane taking off without having to worry about any distortion to the recording, even if your own ears may suffer.

The iM2 is priced at around US$80 and is available for pre-order. For all the details, check out Tascam’s website.

[Via Engadget]

Tascam debuts iM2 stereo condesor mic for iPhone originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As is its custom, the Earth continues to spin on its axis while many of us in the States are working off our turkey and stuffing comas with a solid nap/some football on TV. That means that the expected Apple Store discount offers for Black Friday are already up and running in parts of the world where Friday coincides with now.

The Apple Store Australia’s discount page gives a solid preview of what US customers should expect tomorrow: about 10% off most-wanted products like the iPad, iPod touch and MacBook Air. While these discounts are certainly welcome, you might find as-good or better deals at Amazon, MacMall or big-box retailers; you can also check in with our pals at Dealmac for the latest savings.

Happy shopping, and happy Thanksgiving!

[hat tip to Macgasm]

Apple Store Black Friday discounts already live… in Australia originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re on the lookout for great deals this Thanksgiving weekend! Mike Schramm has already put up two posts on iOS apps which are on sale, and I’ve got a few Mac software deals to tell you about.

The first one is Soulver, which is an app I’ve had my eye on since Marco Arment mentioned it on Build & Analyze. Soulver lets you do all sorts of mathematical calculations using words as well as numbers. Speaking as someone who isn’t very good with numbers, I love Soulver because it lets me calculate things the way I think. It does conversions, currencies, file sizes (bytes to gigabytes), and yes, it can even calculate tips. To really get sense of how it works, watch the video. Soulver for Mac is on sale for $12 (50% off). The iPhone version is $1 (75% off) and the iPad version is $2 (66% off). This deal is only good the 24th and 25th.

Mariner Software is offering a deal through Saturday on Paperless for Mac for $30 (40% off the usual price of $50) through their online store. Check their site for details on what scanners it works with.

DEVONtechnologies is offering 25% off their apps DEVONthink, DEVONagent, and DEVONnote. Note that this deal doesn’t start until Friday and ends Monday. These are great apps for searching for and storing information.

Marked, from our own Brett Terpstra, is on sale starting Black Friday (and going through Sunday) as well, at 50% off. It’s a terrific Markdown tool for previewing your work from any text editor.

Speaking of Brett, if you look closely you can spot him in the team picture over at the AgileBits site (he worked there once upon a time). The company is offering a 50% off discount on all its products through 11/30, including the indispensable 1Password — if you get it through the Mac App Store, you’ll be upgraded for free to the forthcoming version 4.

And, just in time for Advent, the premium version of Glo Bible is available for $35. If you order through their website they are offering a free movie on DVD, as well as 3 DVDs worth of content which allows you to use most of the Glo Bible off-line. They won’t even charge you for shipping. You can download the “lite” version of the app for free and try it out first.

Have you spotted any great Mac deals? If so, let us know in the comments!

(Just a reminder, we have comment moderation turned on to stop the flood of spam comments we were getting, so your comments might not be visible right away, especially on Thursday!)

Mac software deals for this Thanksgiving weekend originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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