Author: Blancer

Updated to reflect that the iPad version has been out for several months.

Google’s shopping-centric mobile app isn’t particularly new on the iPad — we checked in on it in August — but it’s finally made its way to the Android platform. It’s called Catalogs, and you can find it as a free download on the App Store or in the Android Market.

The big G has used its Google Books technology to scan and set up links on a number of different holiday shopping catalogs, so you can load up the app, flip through the virtual pages to find something you want, and then click away to buy it directly from your mobile tablet.

The links aren’t built in to the app — they more or less just open up an internal app browser that then lets you buy the product online. But the experience is pretty seamless otherwise; there are over 400 catalogs to browse through, and I quickly saw brands like ThinkGeek, Nike, Sonoma Williams, Sharper Image, and Pottery Barn on display.

It’s a pretty specific use of Google’s search and scanning software, but hey — it’s free, and it might help with the holiday shopping this year.

[via Engadget]

Google’s formerly-iPad-only Catalogs app now also on Android originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you’re keen on owning a piece of Apple history, and have a spare $100,000 lying around, check out the upcoming auction for the three-page founding contract signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne that created Apple Computer Co.

Bloomberg reports that the contract is a star attraction of a Sotheby’s book and manuscript auction on Dec. 13. The copy of the contract, signed April 1, 1976, was originally owned by Wayne. His subsequent withdrawal from Apple partnership on April 12, 1976, and the appropriate contract amendment also are part of the auction. The contract was sold to a manuscript dealer in the mid-90s.

Apple contract signed by Jobs in 1976 up for auction originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Did you buy anything good this weekend? It’s now Cyber Monday, and the App Store sales continue. I have to say, these aren’t quite as good as what we saw last week (though some of those are still going on), but there are still a few solid purchases here if you’re looking to load up a new iOS device.

• Halfbrick’s original Age of Zombies dual-stick shooter is down to just 99 cents.
• Double puzzle game Cohabit is on sale for the low price of free.
• Overhead racing game Tiny Cars is free today as well.
• Tom Tom USA is offering its usually very expensive software for a relatively generous price: $31.99.
• Cordy is an “exploratory platformer” that’s free to download, with an in-app price that’s been lowered to 99 cents for iPhone and $2.99 for the iPad.
• As mentioned this morning, Hothead’s Sea Stars is free for the next few days.
• And freemium puzzle title Monster Island is offering a sale on in-app purchases.

Slim pickings on new sales today, but some of those older sales are still on. And don’t worry — the biggest sales of the year on the App Store tend to show up around Christmas, which is when all of those new iPhones and iPads purchased this past weekend actually show up in consumers’ hands, and start filling up with all of these apps. Stay tuned.

Cyber Monday app sales: Tom Tom USA, Age of Zombies, a few more originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Copying and pasting text is something everyone does. In OS X you have two choices by default — copy and paste, which retains formatting; or paste and match style, which strips out the source formatting.

If you’re like me, you almost never want the source formatting. Cmd+V is the shortcut for regular pasting and Cmd+Shift+V is usually for paste and match style. However, depending on the program, the latter’s shortcut is sometimes Cmd+Shift+Opt+V, which is a bit of a stretch for my poor fingers.

You can streamline this process using FormatMatch to paste plain text at all times. When enabled, the menu bar utility makes pasting plain text the primary function for Cmd+V. A keyboard shortcut will disable FormatMatch when you want to retain styling. While it solves one of my pet hates, I wish you could disable the menu bar icon.

If you’re like me and almost never want the formatting to come with the text and can’t remember the right shortcut key combo for paste and match style depending on the program, then check out the free FormatMatch from the Mac App Store.

Alternatively, if you don’t like the switchable app approach, you can swap the shortcuts for paste and paste and match style as this tip suggests.

Daily Mac App: FormatMatch originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

I’ll admit that I’m not the best person to be writing about a do-it-yourself project involving electricity. After all, I’ve zapped myself more than once while replacing wall switches and installing light dimmers, and I once had smoke pouring from my kitchen ceiling after installing a new light fixture. But I’m going to get out my insulated gloves and screwdriver to install a Newer Technology Power2U AC/USB Wall Outlet (US$39.95) to replace a standard AC outlet in my home.

The Power2U is an innovative AC wall outlet that adds two USB 3.0/2.0 ports to the standard three-prong grounded outlets. Installable on any standard 15A electrical circuit, the outlet is fully listed and approved by Underwriters Laboratory (UL). You can plug standard home fixtures such as lamps and clocks into the two AC outlets and still have two fully-powered (10 Watt) USB ports perfect for charging up your iPad, iPhone, or other favorite electronic toy. What’s also nice is that you can dispense with the “wall warts” — the power bricks that you need for every device.

The Power2U has a Smart Power feature that outputs just enough power to match whatever the device being charged requires, and the USB ports have Safety Shutters that close and turn off the ports when the cable is removed. For do-it-yourselfers who are less likely to electrocute themselves than I am, the Power2U comes with a complete step-by-step manual for installation.

Before you try to install the Power2U, you might want to check the size of your receptacle box. The outlet requires a 16 cubic inch or larger receptacle — Newer Technology notes that you should power off the existing outlet, remove the faceplate cover, and then measure the height, width, and depth of the box to get an idea of the volume of the current box. If it’s too small, or if you have a fear of being zapped, contacting a licensed electrician to put in a new receptacle box and install the Power2U is a good idea.

If I was building a new home, you can be sure that I’d ask the homebuilder to install at least one of the Power2U outlets in every room. The Power2U wall outlet is a new take on an old standard, and a great way to bring order to the proliferation of USB power cables in your home.

Newer Technology Power2U AC/USB Wall Outlet: More power to your USB devices originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It’s the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You’ll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what’s happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today’s Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Daily Update for November 28, 2011 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Today’s edition of “1,001 amazing things you can do with Siri” comes courtesy of our sister blog TechCrunch. In a post this morning, TechCruncher Chris Velazco tells the story of hacker Brandon Fiquett, who has figured out a way to use Siri to control a Viper SmartStart system and start up his Acura TL.

Remember the story about “@plamoni’s” Siri proxy server that allowed him to control a thermostat with Siri? Brandon used the same proxy server, then whipped up a delicious plugin to interact with a PHP script running on his own web server. The script can send commands to any registered car with a Viper SmartStart system. The nice thing? You can leave the clunky blue Viper control dongle at home.

Not only can Brandon start his Acura, but he has the system set to lock and unlock doors, pop the trunk, and enable or disable the security system. If you have a Viper SmartStart system or have plans on buying one this Cyber Monday, Brandon has made his Siri proxy plugin and the PHP script available on GitHub.

Check out the video below to see the system in action, or visit Brandon’s site to see more cool demos.

A Siri hack to start your car originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple has rolled out its annual free holiday-shipping program through the U.S. online store. From now until Dec. 22, Apple has waived the $50 requirement for free shipping with the hopes of enticing customers to pick up accessories and other low-cost items through the Apple Store.

As MacRumors points out, this offer varies from country to country. New Zealand has free shipping until Dec. 25 while Canada and the United Kingdom only have free shipping today.

Apple offers free shipping with online purchases originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Best Buy is an authorized Apple reseller, and it wants its customers to know that this holiday shopping season. The retailer’s latest ad focuses on a customer who just discovered Best Buy sells all the hottest Apple gifts. The edgy commercial pits the customer who purchased all her gifts from Best Buy, against Santa who arrived too late to put anything under the tree.

Not all Best Buy locations carry Apple products, but those that do are a valuable resource for Apple owners. Best Buy carries most Apple products including the iPhone, iPod, MacBook Pro and the iMac. The retailer also lines its shelves with Apple-compatible accessories for those in a pinch who need a case or screen protector right away. It’s also a launch partner and carried both the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 on the first day of sales. Best Buy may not be your first place to go for all things Apple, but it should be on your short list.

[Via AppleInsider]

Best Buy touts its Apple store within a store originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Forty-six years after it debuted on prime-time television, the beloved Christmas classic A Charlie Brown Christmas comes to a new medium — the iPad. But instead of simply releasing it as a downloadable video, the A Charlie Brown Christmas app turns the story of an incredibly depressed child (yeah, you Charlie Brown) into a wonderful animated storybook that is sure to delight a whole new generation of children. The developers at Loud Crow Interactive who designed the app deserve high praise. I’m in my 30s and still the app has managed to keep me enthralled.

The A Charlie Brown Christmas app features the original music and voices from the television special, plus read-along narration by Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown. The book itself is made up of twenty beautifully rendered pages, each depicting a scene from the show.

But what’s really cool about this app is the interactivity. Children both young and old can tap on any word to hear it pronounced. Every page features elements that can be interacted with, whether is changing the sign on Lucy’s doctor stand, playing Schroder’s piano or popping snowflakes. I showed the app to my one year-old nice this past Thanksgiving and even at her age she had a blast tapping the characters, making them sing, ice skate and dance.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is actually a universal app, so its compatible with the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. In my opinion, the smaller screens don’t do the app justice. You really need to use it on the iPad to get the full experience. A Charlie Brown Christmas is available in the App Store for US$6.99.

Daily iPad App: A Charlie Brown Christmas originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple released a new commercial that debuted right before the Thanksgiving holiday break. The ad showcases the iPod touch and all the fun you can have when you share photos, messages and more with your iPod-owning friends. It’s obviously targeting younger people who don’t have an iPhone and prefer the iPod touch because it doesn’t come with a monthly cellular bill. This ad is a timely reminder of the capabilities of the iPod touch. iPod touch sales are declining, and the device could use a holiday shopping boost.

Apple releases “Share the Fun” iPod touch ad originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

As reported by Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune’s Apple 2.0 column, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster crunched his Black Friday sales numbers and found that Macs and iPads were popular gifts. Munster estimated the Apple store(s) he surveyed sold about 10.1 Macs per hour and 14.8 iPads per hour. This is a 23% increase in Mac sales and a 68% increase in iPad sales year over year.

Munster also counted the foot traffic and found that retail store(s) in this survey averaged about 544 people per hour. The Piper Jaffray analyst and his team collected these numbers by standing in the retail store(s) and counting people and products as they left.

Another report suggests the iPhone 4S sold equally well overseas. Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore polled local Apple stores and found that 75% had sold their entire inventory of the 4S on Black Friday. These stores were quickly replenished and, 30% of stores were sold out again the next day. Quarterly numbers won’t be available until January, but these early reports suggest Apple is starting strong this holiday quarter.

Updated the Piper Jaffray report section with the word store(s). Business Insider reports that Munster and his team surveyed “Apple stores”, while Fortune said Munster was in a store.

Piper Jaffray reports on Apple’s impressive Black Friday sales (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Whether your iPhone has been with you for years or you just picked one up this weekend during the holiday shopping rush, you’re facing the same problem either way: getting it to stay where you put it, in the car or on your desk. Scores of companies offer lots of different “stick it and forget it” solutions to this challenge, but one newcomer is putting together some innovative and attractive products for iPhone car/counter mounting — and doing it entirely in the USA, from design to hands-on manufacturing.

Insanely Great Products’ launch line includes six different mounting/stand solutions, all but one involving a powerful suction cup to attach the iPhone (or other flat-back device) to the mount. The Jack (image, right) and the Scooter are designed for desktop use, while the Willy (top image) and the Traveler can serve either in the car or in stationary settings.

The light and flexible Clip-n-Go combines the suction cup with a customized binder clip for easy air vent attachment of a cased or naked phone, while the anodized aluminum Norm uses the same binder clip with side arms to hold a case-free phone to the dashboard vent.

While the products are affordable (most of the line costs between US$10 and $20, with the aluminium Norm coming in at $35) they’re set apart from most of the accessory market by their made-in-the-USA pedigree. IGP was founded with the intention of doing all manufacturing domestically; currently, all the products are assembled by hand (from US-sourced materials) in the company’s Menlo Park facility.

In fact, every IGP employee spends at least part of every day filling customer orders by making products themselves. This agile/all-hands manufacturing process is intended to help keep the entire team connected to the products; IG is also able to create customized or branded versions of all the items in the line, on request.

It might seem a bit presumptuous for any new enterprise to call itself Insanely Great, but in this case the company at least comes by it honestly. IGP’s marketing lead/co-founder Richard Ford spent several years at Apple in leadership roles on the product teams that built most of the Internet underpinnings in Mac OS 9. The other co-founder, company president Jeff Osborn, was formerly a VP at mega-ISP UUnet.

For today, Cyber Monday, the company is offering 50% off three of its products — the Jack, the Scooter and the Willy — as long as you buy them in blue (the Monday blues, so clever) rather than the full line of colors shown above.

Insanely Great launches made-in-USA iPhone accessories with Cyber Monday deal originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sea Stars is Hothead’s latest game on the App Store, and it’s really good. You play as a little fish who can swim and jump through water with a touch of the screen. Your goal is to swim as far as possible while avoiding obstacles. It’s quite fun and well done.

There’s just one big issue: The game is basically Jetpack Joyride. Now, it’s not exactly Jetpack Joyride, since you’re not riding a backpack, and in practice, the controls are more or less upside down from JJ’s float-up-when-touched controls. But the other similarities are undeniable. First, you collect coins which can be spent on upgrades (coins can also be bought via in-app purchase). You’ll also find “friends” which work like JJ’s vehicles, making you survive an extra hit and switching up the control scheme. Finally, the obstacles move and turn like the electric spheres in Jetpack Joyride. It’s possible Hothead was working on this before Halfbrick’s big title, but not likely. This game is essentially Jetpack Joyride re-skinned.

That’s not necessarily bad. Jetpack Joyride is a great game, and if you’ve already prestiged in that one a few times, Sea Stars will definitely float your fish (though I do have to say that I don’t understand the “hurt your tail” reference when the game ends, whatever that means). But this is a blatant ripoff. I would rather have seen Sea Stars try to improve on Halfbrick’s great formula rather than borrow it.

Perhaps I’m complaining too much, especially considering the app’s current price. Sea Stars is a great title that just happens to be free thanks to a promotion in the App Store right now.

Daily iPhone App: Sea Stars originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The progressive left-leaning political news site Talking Points Memo issued an interesting set of (non-partisan) statistics that shows just how much the share of total devices running Microsoft Windows has declined in the last five years. As you can see from the chart above, in 2006 78% of visitors to TPM were using devices running some flavor of Windows (blue line). Total share of Windows devices started a rapid decline in the years that followed, thanks mostly in part to the increasing popularity of Macs (red line). By 2009, Windows devices had fallen 13% while Mac devices rose by 10%.

But what’s really interesting is what started to happen in 2009. With the rise of mobile devices like the iPhone 3G, mobile visits (green line) to the site skyrocketed from 3% in 2009 to 14% in 2011. More interesting is that mobile devices continued to take a huge chunk away from Windows devices. While Mac usage on the site only declined 2% between 2009-2011, Windows usage took a big dip, going from 65% to 57%.

TPM does note that the sites visitors tend to slant towards the Mac-favoring side anyway, but still founder Josh Marshall rightly points out that that the decline of visitors running a Microsoft OS from 78% in 2006 to only 57% is huge.

TPM further notes that the breakdown of mobile OS traffic is about 77% iOS and 23% all other mobile OSs. When you combine the 28% OS X traffic with the iOS traffic, devices that use an Apple OS account for a whopping 40% of the site’s traffic. Not bad for a company that only had a 20% share of the traffic just five years ago.

[via Daring Fireball]

Talking Points Memo sees Windows visitors decline, Mac and iOS users soar originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments