Category: I-phone

A patent filed by Apple and discovered by AppleInsider seems to lead credence to the rumors that the next iPod nano may sport a rear-facing camera. The first rumors of an iPod nano with a camera emerged in April when Apple.pro posted images purporting to be the back casing of a next generation iPod nano with a hole that would be where a camera sits. Just a few days ago, Apple.pro posted more images of the housing.

The patent discovered by AppleInsider today, entitled “Environment Sensitive Display Tags,” describes adding new sensors to the iPod nano — one of which being a camera. Perhaps more surprising, the patent also references “screen saver” features that would allow content to be dynamically displayed on the nano and change based on sensor inputs. New sensors listed include a motion sensor, temperature gauge and a microphone, in addition to the camera. Finally, the patent suggest that the next iPod nano may be capable of playing games — something the current iPod nano can’t yet do. We’ll see — the original photos of a clipless nano made it seem unlikely that Apple would release such an easily-lost device, but this patent certainly lends credence to the idea.

iPod nano patent references camera, games originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

For whatever reason, there are a few solid free apps available on the App Store today. First up, Spirits, the excellent and artsy Lemmings-style platformer, is free for download on both the iPhone and the iPad. Supermarket Mania 2, the supermarket-based time management game, is also free for a limited time. Rat on a Skateboard has gone completely free after a recent update, and stick figure tower defense app Tesla Wars has also decided go for the low, low price of zero dollars (while adding some in-app purchases). All excellent apps — pick them up for free if you haven’t yet.

Elsewhere on the store, there are a few big releases that are not free. Backflip Studios has released its long-awaited Evil Dead game: Army of Darkness Defense uses clips and characters from the great Bruce Campbell movie in a sort of reverse tower defense game, and it’s only a buck for a limited time. And Sega has released Golden Axe 3 on the App Store for $2.99 — not only is the fantasy hack-and-slash sequel finally available, but this also means Sega has run out of old-school Golden Axe sequels to release on iOS. Maybe this means we can get an original Golden Axe game for the platform?

Spirits, Supermarket Mania 2, Tesla Wars free, Evil Dead and Golden Axe 3 out now originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Adding captioning to movies in Netflix for the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone is going to be a big deal for a lot of people, and Netflix has added that feature today. It’s already present when you watch Netflix movies with a browser on a desktop or laptop, but now mobile users can take advantage of captions as well.

Unfortunately, not all films have this feature. If there is captioning, a little voice balloon icon will appear on the volume control. Tap it and select English, which is the only option for now. I tried it in several movies, and about half of those I sampled have the feature. The captions are in yellow text and are easy to read. Captions are going to be really great for the hearing impaired, or even nice for watching a movie in a crowded environment.

As of this writing, the version listed in the iTunes store is 1.2.1, but the version that was delivered to my iPhone was 1.3. I think the iTunes store information is running behind, but make sure you have the latest version, which contains the captioning feature.

Netflix adds captioning to iOS apps originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The folks over at Other World Computing, best known for providing affordable upgrades for your Mac, delivered some bad news regarding installing a third-party hard drive in the new Sandy Bridge iMacs.

Apparently, Apple altered the SATA power connector in such a way that removing the hard drive from the system — or even the bay where it resides — will cause the hard drive fan to spin at maximum speed. Even further, placing any third-party drive in the machine results in the iMac failing the Apple Hardware Test, even if that drive was replaced with the same model that the iMac is shipped with.

Apple seems to be specifically disallowing hard drives that it doesn’t approve of, locking new iMac owners into AppleCare in case something happens to the hard drive within the first three years or using an Apple-authorized repair center. We’ve touted the virtues of AppleCare many times. However, a good many tend keep their iMacs much longer than three years, and a hard drive is guaranteed to eventually fail. But since upgrading the current iMacs involves removing the screen, even though iFixIt says it is fairly easy to access the internal drive, I wouldn’t want to go near that anyhow, and neither would your average customer.

[Via MacStories]

OWC: Replacing main hard drive with third-party is not an option in new iMacs originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The ability to copy and paste text is a staple of the modern OS. Even iOS can do it, but on the Mac, the default clipboard behavior can be a bit limiting at times.

CmdVees is a little US$0.99 US$4.99 Mac App Store utility that acts as an extension to the OS X clipboard, allowing sequential clippings instead of forcing one copy to overwrite the next. Say you want to copy three things from one app to another separately — with the default Mac clipboard behavior, you’d have to swop between those two apps three separate times (once for each piece of text you want to copy over). CmdVees allows you to copy the three pieces of text sequentially, one after the other, and then paste those clippings back in the order that you copied them, or combine them into one clipping.

Once each clipping has been pasted via Cmd+V, it’s removed from the CmdVees clipboard, making it a quick, one-time copy and paste enhancement, which allows for rapid re-arrangement of text among many other previously tedious activities. If you need something else, including multiple pastes from one clipping, you can use Cmd+Shift+V or activate it from the CmdVees menu bar app, which allows you to see everything on your clipboard, the shortcuts for various functions, and pasting of items via a single click. You can also tell CmdVees to strip out formatting from text, which is incredibly handy if you happen to write for a living.

We’ve previously covered another $0.99 tool from the MAS for similar uses, Clippy; there are also free alternatives (Jumpcut, ClipMenu), and the $2.99 but more sophisticated Clyppan along with its free, five-clippings-max sibling Clyppan Lite.

TUAW’s Daily Mac App: CmdVees originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Back in October, Apple shipped its first MacBook Air models without the Adobe Flash plug-in pre-installed. In the ensuing brouhaha, Ars Technica discovered Flash cut battery life by up to 33 percent on the MacBook Air and possibly other MacBook models. Personally, my MacBook often sounds like it’s preparing for space flight when I visit pages that use Adobe’s plug-in.

Whether you wish to conserve electricity, silence overactive cooling fans, boost the security of your browsing experience or protest against the use of media plug-ins, you can easily remove Adobe Flash from your Mac. Most often, the Flash plug-in can be found in the “Internet Plug-Ins” folder on your system’s hard drive. To get there, switch to the Finder and select “Go to Folder…” from the “Go” menu. When prompted, enter “/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/” and click “Go” to switch to the appropriate location on your system.

Once you are in the “Internet Plug-Ins” directory, make a new folder called “Disabled Plug-Ins.” Move the “Flash Player.plugin,” “flashplayer.xpt” and “NP-PPC-Dir-Shockwave” files into your new “Disabled Plug-Ins” folder. Or if you really want to kill Flash, toss these files into the Trash. (Note: if you don’t find these three files in “/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/” they may be hiding in “~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/”.) The next time you relaunch Safari or Firefox, Flash will no longer be enabled.

If you need to view a Flash-enabled page in a pinch, you can install and launch Chrome. This Safari-alternative ships with a Flash plug-in embedded in the browser. You can also install OmniWeb or iCab and copy the Flash plug-in into the browser’s plug-in folder. For OmniWeb, right-click on the OmniWeb application and choose “Show Package Contents” to reveal the PlugIns folder. Copy the Flash plug-in to the folder, and you should be good to go. iCab does not contain a PlugIns folder, but you can create one yourself and copy over the Flash plug-in manually.

Continue reading Removing Flash from your Mac

Removing Flash from your Mac originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Alfred is a launcher and Finder utility for the Mac that I dearly love. The team released version 0.9 today, which represents another big step toward the 1.0 version. This version adds global hotkeys, sync options, custom terminal commands, improved iTunes DJ and more. Here’s a look at what’s new in Alfred 0.9. Note that many of these features require the optional Powerpack.

Global Hotkeys

At the top of the list is global hotkeys. Now you can map a key combination to your favorite application, file or AppleScript and summon it in an instant, even when Alfred isn’t the frontmost application. I’ve already set up a couple for TUAW’s back end, Gmail and some other stats. It’s super handy.

Preference Syncing

Those using Alfred across Macs will enjoy preference syncing, which uses Dropbox or iDisk to share a preference file. No more, “D’oh! I’m on the wrong machine for that!” moments.

New Hide/Quit/Force Quit Commands

So many people use Alfred simply as a launcher, and that’s fine. Those who wish for more will find plenty of goodies. For example, I often use Alfred as a spell checker. Just call up its window and type “Spell” plus the word you’re after. The correct spelling will be pasted to the clipboard.

Version 0.9 lets you hide, quit or force quit an app just as easily. Enter the command and click the target app (or hit its corresponding key combination) for mouse-free action.

Also, the iTunes DJ function has been improved. Basically, this Powerpack feature lets you control what’s playing in iTunes. Version 0.9 steps it up by letting you add songs to existing playlists on-the-fly.

There’s more to this update, and we urge you to check it out. The team is working full steam ahead as they approach the 1.0 release, which we’re eagerly anticipating.

Alfred 0.9 adds global hotkeys, preference sync and more originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

A rumor from Digitimes suggests Foxconn may not be able to fulfill Apple’s upcoming orders for the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4. Sources from upstream component makers claim the Chinese company is facing a shortage of both labor and materials at its plant in Chengdu, China. This facility is one of several Foxconn locations that manufacture the iPad 2.

The bulk of Apple’s iPad supply still comes from the main Shenzen plant, but this slowdown at an auxiliary plant could prevent Apple from eliminating its iPad 2 backlog. Foxconn is reportedly assuring its customers that it will do all it can to meet its customers’ orders and is working on rearranging its workforce to get back to 100 percent productivity.

This rumored information contradicts comments made by Tim Cook during Apple’s quarterly earnings in April. Cook was optimistic that iPad 2 production levels were on the rise and was “very confident” that Apple could “produce a very large number of iPads for the quarter.” Cook also confirmed that iPhone 4 production levels were right on track to meet demand in all their markets. Either something has dramatically changed in the three weeks since this conference call, or this rumor from Digitimes is off-base.

Labor, materials shortages could affect iPad, iPhone shipments originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Omni Group has brought OmniOutliner to the iPad. The app is more of a collection of functions that allow you to gather, categorize and later reference a variety of information. In fact, you can use OmniOutliner for spreadsheets, documents and even photo management. Putting all of that power on the ultra-powerful iPad will appeal to many people.

OmniOutliner can be as simple or as involved as you like. Start with simple lists. Move on to hierarchical documents and tables. The iPad version offers the thoughtful design you’d expect from an app by the Omni Group. For example, you can indent rows with a tap while making a list, or utilize handy tap-and-hold contextual menus, like those found in OmniFocus for iPad.

When it’s time to share your data, OmniOutliner lets you export to your iDisk or WebDAV server, email your files or sync them with iTunes File Sharing. As for export formats, choose from plain text, simple HTML, dynamic HTML, or OPML.

We’ll have a more in-depth look at OmniOutliner for iPad soon. It’s available now from the App Store at US$19.99.

OmniOutliner for iPad is now available originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dear Aunt TUAW,

I just downloaded Hunter Hayes’ Storm Warning and loved it! [Ed: It’s free over at iTunes this week.] It’s a video, but I want to add it to my iPhone playlist as music, and I don’t wanna waste carloads of space syncing the video. Almost 50 MB!!!

Is there a way? How do I sync music but not video? Thank you Auntie. I know you can figure this out!

Your loving niece,

Jenny <3 P.

Continue reading Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me sync the music without the video

Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me sync the music without the video originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple is moving its Bellevue Square Washington store from its 4,600 square-foot location on the ground floor to a second level retail space that will double its current size. Besides increasing its retail footprint, the Apple store will be moving away from the giant Microsoft store, which is few doors down on the ground floor.

Interestingly enough, the Apple store will now be positioned above and across from the Microsoft store. Every customer leaving the Microsoft retail store may be able glance upwards and see a giant Apple logo looking down on them. Do you think, even a little bit, that Apple is doing this to lure customers away from its Redmond-based competitor?

The move should be completed by the end of the year, possibly in time for the big holiday shopping season.

Washington Apple Store to relocate away from huge Microsoft Store originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Twitter for Mac version 2.1 was released today with some significant changes. The popular Twitter client has some new looks, new functions and the ability to clone windows, among other things. Here’s what’s new with Twitter for Mac 2.1.

In one significant way, Twitter for Mac 2.1 looks like its forefather, Tweetie. The native toolbar and breadcrumb navigation are back. Now you can move between conversations, profiles, etc. step-by-step. Those who preferred the dramatically toolbar-free Twitter will be disappointed, but it’s really more useable this way.

Continue reading Twitter for Mac 2.1 adds multi-window “clone,” UI changes

Twitter for Mac 2.1 adds multi-window “clone,” UI changes originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

When you wake up in the morning, bleary-eyed and still in bed, do you reach for your phone to check Facebook or read an email? If you answered yes, you are not alone. According to a survey conducted by telecommunications hardware manufacturer Ericsson, 35 percent of respondents grab their iPhone or Android phone and launch a mobile app before getting out of bed.

Checking Facebook and other social networks is the most popular activity with 18 percent of people reading their news feed while still in the sack. This trend of early morning Facebook-ing may increase in the future as 20 percent of survey respondents expect to buy a new mobile phone in the near future. One with Facebook, we presume.

[Via Computerworld]

Many iPhone owners run apps before getting out of bed originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

A music insider told CNET that Apple’s cloud music service will be better than Google’s recently announced Music Beta or Amazon’s Cloud Player. The source did not elaborate on the differences between the music services, but did say the two competing services would not have the “same range of options” as Apple’s iCloud service.

Apple is reportedly working with music labels to secure licensing deals for its streaming service, while Amazon and Google launched without the backing of the recording industry. Apple may already have an agreement in place with Warner Music, and it’s in talks with several other labels.

Presumably, these deals could let Apple stream content from a large online library rather than rely on user uploaded tracks. Users could also share their favorite songs and playlists in an online version of Ping.

The music streaming service could be introduced as early as WWDC in June.

Apple cloud music will be better than Google or Amazon says industry source originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Streaming music is really impressive on the iPhone. For example, I’ve been using my Pandora app for workouts almost exclusively. I’m also a big fan of Hype Machine, a site that takes the best free MP3s from around the Internet’s best music blogs and puts them all together in one place for your listening enjoyment.

And now, you can stream all of that music straight from your iPhone with Hype Machine’s new radio app. You can choose from great music blogs, like Stereogum and Gorilla vs. Bear, or just let the app mix new music for you so that you can discover what’s out there. It’s a great and easy way to hear new music quickly, and while it’s not quite as full-featured as Pandora, Hype Machine Radio is a good way to introduce some new sounds into your listening.

The app is US$2.99, which is higher than I’d expect — I’d almost rather see some ads in the mix just to make the app free to download. But still, $3 is a small price to pay for what’s basically an endless, customizable radio station. If you’re a Hype Machine fan already, or if you just want something new to listen to while on your iPhone, give it a look.

TUAW’s Daily iOS App: Hype Machine Radio originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 12 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments