Category: I-phone

“MacTech Boot Camp is specifically designed for those techs and consultants supporting home users, small office/home office, and small-to-medium sized businesses. This one-day, hotel-based, seminar is designed specifically to help you be the most successful consultant you can be. Learn. Network. Expand your horizons.”

We’re a media sponsor for the MacTech events, and from what we have seen they are quite excellent. Plus, there’s a special deal for TUAW readers here that’ll save you US$200. To see what sessions and topics will be covered, check out this page. For a full schedule, look here. Did I mention lunch is included?

Seriously, if you are a consultant for the clients mentioned above, these Boot Camp sessions are an excellent way to get up-to-date on what’s going on with Apple technologies.

MacTech Boot Camp originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You always hear about a lost cat or a dog traveling hundreds of miles to find its owner. Here’s a story from WFMY2 News in Greensboro, NC about an iPod that traveled thousands of miles to make its way home to a soldier in Iraq. The story begins with Venice Curtis,who had an iPod that he used for music, to take photos and keep track of contacts while serving in the Middle East. He sent the device home to Louisiana, but it was lost in transit. Believing the device was gone, Curtis got a new one for Christmas.

In the meantime, fourteen-year-old Dalton Williams was at Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. Deep in the crack of a waiting room couch, he found an iPod. He reached down into the crevice, so small his hand could barely fit, and pulled out the device. Browsing through the iPod, he saw pictures of military helicopters and names of people with their ranks. After doing some sleuthing with his Dad, Williams found Venice Curtis, the iPod’s rightful owner. The teenager sent the device back to Curtis, with a note thanking him for his service to our country.

Curtis talked to News 2 and said he was thankful that Williams sent him his iPod back, but was more grateful for the heartfelt note.

Iraq war veteran’s iPod found 6,000 miles away, returned to him originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW,

I was wondering how you felt about AppleCare+ vs Best Buy‘s extended warranty. My wife and I just bought 2 iPhone 4S’s and would like to protect our investments. The Best Buy option would cost us US$15/mo. for each phone. That is $720 over the next two years. AppleCare+ is $99 for two years of coverage but has the $50 service fee. Can you do a pros and cons list of these two options? Thank you guys.

Your loving nephew,

John

Dear John,

AppleCare+ is easy to do — just buy it when you purchase your iPhone 4S. And when things go bad, which they often do with devices that get used in your hands in real-world conditions (i.e. more often that you’d like, and “all the time” when you’re looking at the population as a whole), it’s more cost effective.

What’s more, with AppleCare+, you’re in the Apple system. You’re going to deal with Apple Geniuses and Apple Retail, which Auntie assures you provides more happy outcomes than dealing with Best Buy. An Apple Store’s environment of hands-on help is fantastic.

When it comes to “who do you trust,” Auntie trusts Apple’s service techs over those at Best Buy.

Hugs,

Auntie T.

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy AppleCare+? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is reportedly cutting the minimum cost of its iAd service again. According to Ad Age, the threshold for advertisers to acquire the iAd service has dropped from US$500,000 to just $100,000. Furthermore, Apple will reduce revenue sharing by no longer charging advertisers when users click on an ad, as has been the case since iAd launched.

Apple’s iAd service has not seen the greatest of success. Having launched in 2010, Apple originally charged $1,000,000 for an ad campaign, but many of its initial clients abandoned iAd for services like AdMob, Greystripe, and Millenial Media who operate on multiple platforms.

Apple then reduced iAd’s minimum rate to $500,000 per campaign. And in July, 2011, Apple offered further incentives by lowering the cost to $300,000 under certain circumstances.

At the beginning of this year, Apple brought in former Adobe VP, Todd Teresi, to reinvigorate the service. The new price point seems to be the first step in getting iAd back on track.

Apple reduces iAd pricing, revenue sharing originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We got a sneak peek at Clear last month, and fellow TUAW editor Steve Sande and I have been happily playing with the beta ever since. The collaboration between Realmac Software, Milen and Impending, Inc. has turned enough heads that it caused a knockoff to briefly appear in the App Store over the weekend.

Clear lives up to the hype. It’s a simple to-do list and that’s it. Don’t expect to be able to schedule reminders, time-specific appointments, or even create complex layers of lists and tasks like OmniFocus or Things.

Its strengths lie in its interface and innovative use of the iPhone’s gestures. If you’re a fan of basic lists and want to jot stuff down, then you will love Clear. I personally wish the lists went down another couple of layers, just enough to tuck a grocery list under “go to grocery store” in an errands list, but that’s a very minor quibble. If you revolve your life around the Getting Things Done system, you might not care for Clear. I like it because I can just make a list and not worry about priorities or due dates.

We’ve done a video demonstration of Clear to demo a new process of creating app reviews. Watch the full video to see Clear in action.

Clear is 99 cents on the App Store, and even if you’re not interested in it as a to-do list, it’s worth checking out for the interface and innovative use of gestures.

Daily iPhone App: Clear uses iPhone’s intuitive interface to its advantage originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We recently reported that the App Store was more popular among developers than the Android Market, well now data suggests that the number of new Apps in the Apple App Store outnumbers those entering the Android Market by three to one.

According to sources as of January, iOS held a total of more than 550,000 apps in its arsenal, while Android’s Market introduced over 400,000 since the platform’s launch in 2008.

According to the app developers one of the reasons why developers are more interested in iOS app development could be  the fragmentation of Android’s ecosystemt. Some developers argue  that Apple’s iTunes system allows for a comparatively streamlined process that can quickly move an idea to a finished product, thus allowing companies to generate revenue with less overhead.

Apart from platform fragmentation, the Android Market has multiple app stores whereas Apple relies on iTunes, which stores users’ credit card data to make purchasing a simple and fast experience.

What do you think, will Android take over, or will iOS Apps continue to be more popular?

 

Several in the past I’ve mentioned some great libraries modeled after the UI of the Path app which has been somewhat of a game changer when it comes to UI design on the iPhone.

Another app that has been touted for having a very elegant and intuitive interface is the Clear to-do list  app for iPhone .

The intuitiveness of the tableviews within the app have been lauded because of how they respond to different pulling, pinching, and swiping gestures.

You can see a demonstration in this video review:

James Tang has created a library based on the tableviews within the clear app.  While the library does not yet implement all the gestures available for tableviews it’s great to look at and see how James used gesture recognizers within the tableview and implement your own.

You can find the library on Github here.

If you want to check out the Clear app you can find it on iTunes here.

Looks like another great pattern for iOS UI design.

©2012 iPhone, iOS 5, iPad SDK Development Tutorial and Programming Tips. All Rights Reserved.

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Did you ever look at one your own baby photos and wonder how old you were when that photo was taken? Or perhaps, it’s a grade school picture and you can’t remember when you parents took you to Plimouth Plantation. If you’re a parent there’s no excuse for your kids to have these same questions when they are grown up. You have apps like Cherish which will let you take and tag a picture of your tot.

Picture taking is quite easy. You launch the app, click on the camera icon and you’re ready to go. The app lets you toggle between the front and rear camera as well as control the flash. You can also use the two noise makers (a quack and a rattle) to get your youngster’s attention. If you already have some memory-worthy images, then you can import a photo from your photo library. You have to carefully choose the correct date for each photo you import. I found if I selected today’s date for a photo I took last week, the app would not import it. All I would get was a blank white image.

Cherish Kids does more than just snap photos. It’s a app that’ll record the date, time and location of a picture. It’ll also automatically calculate your child’s age when the photo was taken. You can play around with the pictures and add effects that’ll change things up, too. Right now, the filters only change the hue of the image to kiwi, mango, grape and so on. It would be nice if the app added more creative tools to let you add borders or even a collage, but those features are just not there yet.

If tagging the photo with child’s name isn’t enough, you can also add a note so you won’t forget those precious moments. When you’re done with the photo, you can save it to the iPhone’s photo album, send it via email or share it via Facebook.

Cherish Kids does a nice job organizing your photos. It’s so easy to select a child and see all the pictures you took of them over time. I would like to see more creative tools, which would entice me to use the app before other photo apps to take pictures of my kids. Right now, I would be inclined to take a shot with Camera +, edit it in Photogene2 and then import it into Cherish Kids.

Anyone with more than one child is probably rolling their eyes at the amount of work that’s involved in that process. Given time, I think Cherish Kids will improve. I’ve talked to the folks behind he app and their committed to making it better with each new update. It’s available for 99-cents in the iOS App Store and definitely worth a look if you have kids.

Daily iPhone App: Cherish Kids saves your children’s memories for a lifetime originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We first looked at Dropzone a few years ago when it launched for OS X and the little utility app is growing up. Now at version 2.0, Dropzone has a fresh, new circular look that’s inspired by Path. It also includes a bunch of small improvements that’ll help you manage your apps and files.

For those that have never used Dropzone, its a shortcut utility that lets you setup destinations to open up recent docs, send files to an Amazon S3 servers, launch applications, shorten URLs, compress files and more. It includes a variety of built-in destinations that are available from the menu bar. The latest version also includes new Path-inspired, desktop circles.

These destinations are fluid and can be changed as your workflow changes. If you’re programmer, you can extend Dropzone’s functionality using the Ruby API provided by Aptonic. There’s also a GitHub repository where users can upload their custom-made destinations.

Dropzone is a huge time-saver. I use it regularly to sort important files from my downloads and move them to my documents folder in one, quick and easy step. The Recently Shared feature also makes its simple for me to keep track of the images I’ve uploaded to Flickr and which ones I haven’t.

Dropzone is available for US$13.99 from the Mac App Store.

Daily Mac App: DropZone circles your life with shortcuts originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a lot more to building a business with your app idea than simply building the app. Having seen great apps wither on the vine due to bad marketing or poor planning, it’s nice to see fresh efforts among developers who aim to enable great apps to find their market. AppCartel is a crowdfunding effort to pool resources for developers, allowing them access to a promotional team and other resources, plus money to build and launch their apps.

In fact, if you’ve got a team ready to make a great app, AppCartel wants to hear from you. If you’ve simply got an idea, or you don’t know how to actually create an app, this isn’t for you. AppCartel is looking for teams needing funding for their project, which should be ready to enter development.

I spoke to the creator of AppCartel, Dane Baker (also the guy behind Villian, a successful app company itself but otherwise not connected to AppCartel) about the effort. He said, “Funding is really only part of the equation for success. It’s a large part, but only part. The other big piece is promotion, getting your app and company out there. Rather than just providing a page for you on our site and calling it a day, AppCartel has an internal promo team of social media gurus and marketers to promote our app projects to the world.”

According to Baker, AppCartel is accepting applications and will choose among projects based on developer team skill, experience and project quality. Full disclosure: I have been asked to serve in an advisory role on the board, in an effort to help developers understand how to pitch to the media. It is my sincere hope we can help everyone understand first what it takes to make great apps, and then how to tell the world about those apps. If you’re interested in applying, hit up the link to AppCartel and let them know.

AppCartel offers new crowdfunding opportunity for developers originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Aunt TUAW,

I was looking at some apps that claim to help remove stored caches and temporary files. Are these apps a good way to clean up my Mac and remove temporary files?

Your loving nephew,

Chris

Dear Chris,

Auntie is super-paranoid about these third-party tools. When it comes to clearing data, Auntie generally sticks with Apple’s built-in functionality and reasonably-regular reboots.

Auntie knows how easy it is to mess up system files and how hard it is to restore to a pre-mess state. They say Time Machine heals all wounds, but despite the name it doesn’t actually get your time back.

Hugs,

Auntie T.

Got advice for Chris? Disagree with Auntie? Leave a note in the comments.

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I clean up my drive? originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In early January, TUAW ran a story about Apple accessory manufacturer Happy Owl Studio. The company, now based in Golden, Colorado, makes some of the finest Apple accessories I have had the pleasure to review. I had a nice meeting with Happy Owl CEO Devon Read (right, above) and Chief Design Officer Ryan Jordan (left) the other day to get an idea of their design philosophy and future product plans. In the process, I was able to get a hands-on look at some of their iPad and iPhone products, as well as gaze longingly at samples of their upcoming MacBook Air briefcase. Let’s take a look at some of the products from Happy Owl Studio.

The Wallet

The Wallet for iPad 2 (US$79.99) could easily become a favorite of iPad-toting folks all over the world. Think of a wallet that’s big enough to swallow your iPad 2 and also carry credit and business cards, pens, accessories, and your iPhone in a zipper-protected folio, and you’ve got The Wallet. I was reminded of the Day-Timer planners that people used to carry in the pre-iPad days.

The Wallet is made of black pebbled leather that’s easy to grip, and the two halves of the case — the iPad side and the zippered side — are snugged together with a snap closure strap emblazoned with the iconic Happy Owl logo. On the iPad side, your device slides in from the left side and is held in place with a small Velcro closure. Your iPad screen rests against a smooth Microsuede material, and the entire device is held in place with a leather bezel complete with openings in all of the right places. And yes, there is a magnet for automatically turning the iPad 2 on and off, as well as an opening for the rear-facing camera.

If there’s one teensy little complaint I have about The Wallet, it’s that leather bezel. On the sample I was using, the iPad didn’t appear to be centered (i.e., there was more of the iPad bezel showing on the the right side of the display than the left side). Then again, only an obsessive person like me would probably be concerned about it not being perfectly centered…

Like many folio-type iPad cases, The Wallet can serve as a stand or prop up your iPad for typing. The same strap that closes the folio can also be routed so that it holds the iPad in a perfect position for typing or, when flipped, watching movies.

The pocket side has a ton of space. Should I ever decide to do away with carrying a wallet in my back pocket, I’ll carry The Wallet instead. I can see where this would be perfect for international travel. Pop your credit cards in the slots, and put cash and those pesky Euro coins into the zippered pouch in the center. The second zippered pouch is big enough for a couple of passports and other travel documents. The entire pocket side closes securely with another zipper, this one with a large and helpful leather pull attached to it.

The Clutch

The Wallet is more of a unisex design, but The Clutch ($79.99) is designed for the ladies. Available in either black or a lipstick red, it’s stylish and functional. The design is very similar to that of The Wallet, but with a more feminine look and a detachable strap.

For women who are used to carrying either a small purse or a clutch, The Clutch would be perfect. For my engineer wife, who carries a purse that has to have everything including the kitchen sink in it, I have a feeling this would be a bit too limiting. However, The Clutch would be perfect for the female executive with a serious iPad fetish who just wants to carry one well-designed bag.

The Clutch also performs folding magic to become a useful iPad stand. Unfortunately, it’s too late the sexy red Clutch as a Valentine’s Day gift for your favorite lady, but it’s an awesome way to insure your popularity with her at any time of the year.

The Shell

A lot of iPad owners like the minimalist protection of the Smart Cover, but end up buying a cheap and ugly plastic shell to protect the back of the iPad from scratches. The Shell ($39.95) once again showcases the design savvy of Happy Owl Studio with a thin leather shell that works with the Smart Cover to provide classy iPad protection.

If you have one of the black leather Smart Covers, you’ll love The Shell as it has the identical luster and feel of the leather used for the Apple covers. It has a wonderful feel and provides a non-slip grip when carrying an iPad around.

The Shell snaps onto the back of your iPad 2 easily (it has a thin plastic interior shell). If you like the smell and feel of leather, you’ll want one of these on your favorite tablet. There are cutouts in all of the proper places, and The Shell accommodates the Smart Cover nicely.

The Bamboo Skin and Leather Skin for iPhone 4/4S

Both Devon and Ryan from Happy Owl Studio noted that they love the design of the iPhone 4 and 4S so much that they decided to just protect the relatively fragile back of the design with skins that would offer more grip.

The resulting products are the Bamboo Skin ($19.99) and Leather Skin ($19.99). These are very thin stick-on skins that provide the natural feel of wood or leather and protect the glass on the back of your phone while adding virtually no additional weight or thickness.

For those of you who don’t use GPS apps regularly like me and need to use a battery pack case just to make it through a day, these skins are pretty nice. Like The Clutch, the Leather Skin comes in both black and red leather.

Coming Soon: The Briefcase for MacBook Air

Some day soon, I am going to need to go through a twelve-step program to cure me of my addiction to computer bags. That day will be when The Briefcase for MacBook Air arrives from Happy Owl. It is totally sweet, and I have to apologize to Devon and Ryan for drooling on the two samples that they brought to our meeting.

This gorgeous bag won’t be cheap at $299.99, but trust me when I say that it is the nicest MacBook Air bag I’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s big enough to carry a 13″ MBA in a padded pocket, has built-in slots for pens and business cards, and cable loops to organize those dangling messes. There’s an beautiful interior lining, and the attention to detail extends to the silver finish on the metal hardware.

The company is now taking pre-orders for The Briefcase, and is lopping off $100 to bring the price tag to a more palatable $199.99.

Closing Comments

While the Happy Owl Studio team have had their products made in China up to this point, they noted that they’re seriously looking to bring production to the U.S. In addition to the existing product line and The Briefcase, they’re also working on a Square-enabled iPad cash register called The Cashbox … but that’s a topic for another post.

It’s always a pleasure to talk with startups that are making a difference in the Apple ecosphere, and Happy Owl Studio is a perfect example of such a company.

Happy Owl Studio’s beautiful Apple accessories originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We learned not too long ago that Siri is on schedule to speak a few more languages soon, specifically Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Japanese. Siri herself (itself?) has confirmed that at minimum Japanese support is coming soon, according to 9to5 Mac. I personally verified that asking Siri “What languages do you speak?” returns Japanese as a result, along with the English, French, and German that Siri supported at launch in October 2011.

Despite what Siri says, however, Japanese is not yet showing up as an option in Siri’s languages settings. Full support for Japanese and any additional languages will likely require an iOS update. With the last update to the iOS 5.1 beta having taken place more than a month ago, industry speculation points to iOS 5.1 getting its public launch alongside the next-gen iPad, which we expect to see announced in early March.

Apple has committed to increasing Siri’s linguistic capabilities in 2012, with support for Spanish, Korean, and Italian expected later this year. Sadly, it appears Siri still has no love for the Scots.

Siri’s upcoming Japanese language abilities leaked – by Siri originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tim Cook spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and he’s shared a few up-to-date numbers about a few of Apple’s platforms and services. iCloud is probably where he shared the most fascinating insight: The service now boasts over 100 million users, which is a very sizable user base. I don’t know offhand how many Apple accounts are out there, but that seems like a significant amount of growth for a service that’s not all that old (although MobileMe customers were obviously migrated).

Apple TV is also growing — we’ve already heard this year that it was big, but Cook says that Apple sold over 3 million set-top boxes last year, and a million last quarter already. He confirmed that the Apple TV was still just a “hobby” for the company, but noted Apple still wants to see more mainstream acceptance of the streaming media device before really dumping in.

We’ll leave it up to your imagination as to what the Apple TV would be like if Apple decided it was a real market instead of a hobby. Finally, Cook also pointed out that Apple is growing at a gigantic rate in the developing world, earning twenty times the income from previous years in developing tech nations like Asia, India, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It certainly sounds like Cook has confidently moved into a leadership role at Apple — not only are things going great, but he definitely has a plan for the future.

Cook: iCloud has 100 million users, 3 million Apple TVs sold last year originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is prepping a new retail store in Amsterdam, and MacRumors has collected pictures of the orange and white window coverings that have shown up at the location. They’re pretty unique and striking, with the bright orange modern look really standing out in the colder, more traditional buildings of the city.

The orange in the coverings represents the Netherlands’ national color, and the three Apple logos above are standing in for the three crosses in Amsterdam’s coat of arms, the official symbol of the city. Messages on the covering say in Dutch that the store will be “opening soon.” Originally, the store was rumored for an opening later on this week, but the latest looks inside the store say that ceremony has probably been delayed. Not too big an issue — with those coverings on, this is probably the best looking “store under construction” around.

Wall coverings appear at forthcoming Amsterdam Apple Store originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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