Category: I-phone

TUAW has been watching users’ need to stream music from the cloud for a while, especially since Apple acquired Lala some time ago. Understandably, we were a little disappointed when we found out that an official cloud-based iTunes would probably be limited in scope.

This roller coaster of emotion leaves us especially excited to see mSpot Music hit the App Store. The mSpot service allows you store your iTunes collection on the web in what mSpot calls your “music locker.” Once you’ve put that music online, you can stream it to your computer, iPad or iPhone. Your music lives in the cloud on mSpot’s service and is simply played on whichever device you’d like.

Storage for your music is free up to the first 2GBs, which translates to about 1,600 music files. You can pay $3.99 a month for 40GBs of music, if you find the first 2GBs inadequate.

[Via TechCrunch]

mSpot brings iTunes streaming to the iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PhotoPal, on sale for US $0.99 until December 20th, is aimed at the novice photographer who wants to do some pretty serious editing of images on the iPad. Fortunately, Apple’s tablet is well suited to this kind of work, simply because of the larger screen. The downside is that without a camera, the only photos to edit on the iPad are those that you download or sync to the device.

That said, PhotoPal has a lot of nice and easy to use features. This latest version adds a red eye removal tool, a spot healing tool, and clear, detailed help. The app contains the kinds of things you expect in a photo editing program, including level adjustment, color temperature, hue/saturation, shadows and color balance. It also has some higher end features like shadow detail, noise removal, sharpening and gamma adjustment.

There is also a nice option that lets you save your images to, or import them from, a folder that is visible in iTunes when your iPad is connected to your Mac. Of course, you can also open your iPad photo albums, or take a picture in via the clipboard. Your finished images can be saved to the iPad, or sent via email, Twitter, Flickr or Facebook.

Continue reading PhotoPal is a powerful but easy to use iPad photo editor

PhotoPal is a powerful but easy to use iPad photo editor originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iTunes 10.1.1 is ready for your approval via Software Update. This looks like a minor bug fix update with no new features. Here are the fixes:

• Addresses an issue where some music videos might not play on Macs with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics
• Fixes an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when deleting a playlist that has the iTunes Sidebar showing
• Fixes an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when connecting an iPod to a PowerPC equipped Mac
• Addresses an issue where some music videos might not sync to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad

Note: A number of commenters have reported that this update doesn’t work. I tried it myself and after applying the update, see what I got after the break.

Continue reading iTunes 10.1.1 is available in Software Update

iTunes 10.1.1 is available in Software Update originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TextExpander, a very useful application which will automatically expand various text macros for you, has been updated to 3.2.2. The release notes indicate that 3.2.1 was submitted to the Mac App Store, and that Dropbox syncing had been improved.

The Smile Software blog also notes that auto-capitalization has also been improved, solving many of the annoying issues with the recent feature. Notably, if you switched from one app to another and then back, TextExpander sometimes thought that was a new sentence and auto-capitalized it. There are some other notes that users should read for more details.

TextExpander also has a new welcome screen — presumably to help new users who find and download the app via the Mac App Store — which includes video tutorials and links to additional help files. Users can download the new version right now.

TextExpander 3.2.2 available, fixes auto-capitalization bugs originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in the olden days, when I bought my first Disk ][ to hang onto my Apple ][ Plus, I was amazed at how much the 140KB floppy drive could store. After using it for a while, I was sure that it was big enough to hold every program I’d ever buy, and most of the programs my kids would need as well. Nowadays, of course, I have a 32GB iPhone 3GS and a 64GB iPad, and I’m out of room.

The release of Riven brought into focus just how crazy this all is. Riven weighs in at 1.01GB and requires you to have 2GB of free storage just to install it. I don’t blame the game itself — in fact, I played it when it was the first DVD-based game ever for the Mac, replacing five CD-ROMs. The graphics were superb, and I understand that they require lots of memory to hold them, but really! I took a look at some of the larger iOS apps I currently have installed, and Treasure Island, the Experience is the largest, weighing in at 468MB, or nearly half a GB. The next seven biggest range between 393.7MB and 286.3MB, adding up to over 2GB. And I’m not even a game player — if you installed the HD version of Rage recently, you had to clear up 744MB of space for that one alone. These apps are mostly recent releases, and I don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

Continue reading A call for more storage in iOS devices

A call for more storage in iOS devices originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to another episode of TUAW TV Live! This should prove to be a lively and fun episode of the show, since I have a review of the Elgato EyeTV HD “Mac DVR” queued up to show you. This is a great idea if you have a traditional cable or satellite TV box and you wish to view or record TV shows in full HD on your Mac. I’ll have a full review of the EyeTV HD soon, along with a giveaway, but you can get a preview of the device today.

In addition, I’ll entertain questions about the 11″ MacBook Air. I’ve had it for a week now, and find it to be a very fast, capable, and compact Mac. Finally, I’ll show a video and demo of a new iPad app that brings back memories of the Apple Newton MessagePad.

How can you join in on the fun? From your Mac or PC, go to the next page by clicking the Read More link at the bottom of this post, and you’ll find a livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments.

If you’re driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you’re stuck in traffic, please don’t — keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone by downloading the free Ustream Viewing Application.

We haven’t neglected our iPad users, since you can tune in to TUAW TV Live on your iPad! That link will send you to a non-Flash page, although you won’t have access to our chat tool. And one final note — if the show has started and you’re seeing a previously recorded show instead of the livestream, you can always pop on over to ustream.tv/tuaw to join the show in progress. See you there!

Continue reading TUAW TV Live: EyeTV HD, MacBook Air, and a Newton for the 21st Century

TUAW TV Live: EyeTV HD, MacBook Air, and a Newton for the 21st Century originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday was a busy day for the gnomes at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as they awarded 19 patents to Apple for intellectual property ranging from “RF Pulse Synchronization for Data Acquisition Operations” to a couple of ideas that are implemented in Time Machine. All were reported on by the eagle-eyed bloggers at Patently Apple.

The Time Machine patents cover navigation of backups and a method of resolving conflicts when restoring files from a backup. The first patent describes the method in which users can navigate through backup snapshots to find a file to restore, while the second provides a way of notifying users when a file being restored could overwrite an existing, newer file. Whether the Time Machine patents will help Apple to appeal a patent infringement judgment paid to another company earlier this year is unknown at this time.

There were also four patents dealing with iPhone and iTunes, one of which describes the method in which the iPhone handles audio playback and call conferencing, while the other three look at aspects of the presentation, download, and sale of media in the iTunes Store. Several of the changes described in the patent actually showed up in iTunes in 2004; it takes that long for some patents to be awarded.

Apple’s fascination with flash memory was rewarded with another pair of patents, while video fanatics might find a patent on “Encoding a Transparency (Alpha) Channel in a Video Bitstream” to be exciting reading.

Apple awarded patents for RF synchronization, Time Machine, and more originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whenever I need to think of a topic for TUAW TV Live, I just look around my cluttered (or is it messy?) office and I usually find inspiration.

Today’s inspiration comes from a device that should have been reviewed long ago — Elgato’s EyeTV HD (US$199.95), a Mac-based DVR / Tuner that works with satellite and cable HD boxes. I’ll have a full review of the EyeTV HD in the next few days, but viewers will get to see this device in action this afternoon.

I’ve also had the 11″ MacBook Air for a week now, and I’ll fill you in on the details as part of the show. The action all starts at 5 PM ET (2 PM PT) here at TUAW.com. If you’ve never watched the show before, it combines live streaming video, taped segments, and an interactive user chat for a fun-filled hour of rampant Apple fanboyism.

For complete instructions on how to watch the stream and join the chat, come back to TUAW a few minutes before 5 PM ET. See you then!

TUAW TV Live at 5 PM ET — EyeTV HD, one week with a MacBook Air, and more originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was just two weeks ago that we looked at the Evernote for Mac beta. Today Evernote 2.0 for Mac is finally available, with a slew of new features like notebooks stacks and sharing, UI improvements and more. Here’s a quick look at Evernote 2.0 for Mac.

One of the marquee features is notebook stacks, and it’s what I’m most eager to play with. You’ve got many notebooks in Evernote, some on related topics. Sacks lets you organize those into a single location. Create stacks by dropping related notebooks on top of each other, and click the disclosure triangle to see what’s in there.

Another cool feature is notebook sharing right from the app. This was previously only available through a browser. To get started, just tap the new Shared button. You’ll see a list of notebooks. To share that awesome Macramé notebook with your Aunt Shirley, just click the Start Sharing button and you’re off. Notebooks can also be shared with the world at large or a group in addition to individual sharing.

There’s a lot more, like a re-designed left panel, support for up to 250 notebooks and the ability to attach files to a note. We’ll have a more thorough review up soon. Until then, grab it and start playing!

Evernote 2.0 for Mac is now available originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Mainichi Daily News and Japan Today are citing a “market research institute” which has ranked the iPhone fifth place in Japan’s dense cell phone market. This is for the July-September rankings, as Apple was seventh in the April-June quarter. Sharp is still the market leader in Japan, with Panasonic, Fujitsu and Kyocera following before Apple’s singular smartphone offering.

Not bad, especially considering the iPod is in a tight race now with Sony’s Walkman. Then there’s the Japanese publishers who have censured Apple thanks to some App Store shenanigans. Still, Apple’s iPhone appears to be moving steadily up the ranks in a country known to have a penchant for embracing new gadgets.

Apple climbs to 5th place in July-Sept. Japan cellphone market originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has released iBooks 1.2 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with some swell new features. First, it offers support for full illustrations (you know, just like real books). It will also create collections of your books and PDFs, which is quite nice. To create a collection, simply tap the collections button and choose a name. To add a book, tap Edit and then Move. Move between collections by swiping left and right.

AirPrint is also supported (as long as you’re one of The Chosen with a compatible printer) for printing PDFs and notes in books, and Apple has even managed to fit more words on a page by automatically hyphenating text (that feature is restricted to iOS 4.2).

Go and grab it, iBook readers. It’s available now.

iBooks 1.2 now available from the App Store originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The folks at Marketcircle have released Daylite Touch for the iPad, which joins the iPhone and desktop versions to further extend the productivity solution across Apple’s hardware. You can read this blog post from Marketcircle about the app.

Much more than a task tracker, Daylite offers complete project management for individuals and large companies alike. We’ve been beta testing the iPad app for a while now, and we are glad to share our experiences with you.

Please note that Daylite 3.13, also available today, is required to run Daylite Touch 1.6. Some other good news from Marketcircle is that they’ve changed the licensing structure. Now it’s based on a per-user basis (instead of per device), as customers often use more than one iOS device.

Getting started

As we said, Daylite includes everything you want: projects and tasks, contact management, a calendar, leads (they call them “Opportunities”) and more. You can use it as an individual, but its power becomes obvious when managing a team. The iPhone app added portability, allowing workers in the field to access information in a shared database via Daylite Server. Since changes made on the iPhone are synchronized in real time with the desktop version, remote workers and office-bound supervisors can stay on the same page. It works quite well. So why add the iPad?

Continue reading Daylite Touch for iPad brings project management to your fingertips

Daylite Touch for iPad brings project management to your fingertips originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Canadian government approved the Apple iBookstore today, paving the way for Canadian authors to offer their books for sale on the iOS platform. Apple’s iBookstore launched internationally on May 28th, but the Canadian government had concerns about the cultural effects of this Apple product. Instead of the full version, Apple rolled out a limited version of the iBookstore, populated with select U.S. and public domain titles. Meanwhile, the government scrutinized Apple’s iBookstore to confirm it helped to advance Canada’s cultural heritage and national identity. After several months of review, the government reached a deal with Apple to bring the full iBookstore to Canada. The Canadian version will be used to promote Canadian and Aboriginal authors and publishers, both in Canada and internationally. Apple will also help Canadian authors and publishers with the eBook creation process.

Today brings more good news to Canadians who have a contract-free iPhone on the wireless carrier, Rogers. According to a report from iPhone in Canada, Rogers is reportedly unlocking iPhones for customers who have finished out their contract or bought their handset at the unsubsidized price. To be eligible for this unlocking, customers must be up-to-date with payments and contract-free for at least 30 days before unlocking. A $50 fee is required for the unlocking and the iPhone must be in Rogers equipment history, i.e., you cannot walk into a Rogers store with a random iPhone you bought off the street and expect the carrier to unlock it. This report has not been confirmed by Rogers so may want to give your local store a call before you start to dream about using your iPhone on another carrier.

[Via AppleInsider]

iBookstore approved for Canada, Rogers to unlock iPhones originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Red Nova is now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. An Asteroids-like shooter, Red Nova sacrifices high detail for high framerates and provides frenetic but satisfying gameplay. The game is integrated into Apple’s Game Center for leaderboards and achievements, comes with Retina Display graphics and has various difficulty levels. Also, the game is universal and will run on your iPad as well as your iPhone.

What is really interesting is that Red Nova is extending the game concept first started by Chopper 2 where you can can use your iPhone as the controller and play the game on your iPad. As with Chopper 2, it takes a little while to get used to having the controls on the iPhone, but the idea is great.

We’ll have a full review later this week, but for now check out the iPhone-to-iPad gameplay on the next page.

Continue reading Red Nova for iPhone and iPad now available, features iPhone-to-iPad controls

Red Nova for iPhone and iPad now available, features iPhone-to-iPad controls originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are we there yet? No, still a few more weeks until the end of the year. Until then, there’s plenty of time for shopping. Take your card to the max and check out these deals from our friends at dealnews.com.

• iTunes Music Store: iPhone App Store Freebies: A Christmas Santa, Duke Nukem 3D, more
• MacPromo: MacPromo Mac Time-Saving Bundle: 10 utilities for $50
• iTunes Music Store: Revolt for iPhone / iPod touch for free
• iTunes Music Store: iPhone App Price Drops: Awaken, 2012 Zombies vs Aliens, Air Tycoon, more
• Seagate: Seagate Outlet Sale + 10% off coupon: 320GB HDD for $43 + $8 s&h, more
• Woot.com: Jakks Pacific EyeClops Portable Mini Projector for $25 + $5 s&h
• Meritline: USB MicroSD / M2 Memory Card Reader for 39 cents + free shipping
• ExperCom: Apple Mac Pro Xeon Quad-Core 2.66GHz Desktop for $1,749 + $29 s&h
• Meritline: OtterBox Impact Case for iPhone 3G / 3GS for $9 + free shipping
• Apple Store: Refurbished Apple Mac Pro Xeon Workstations from $2,039 + free shipping
• ExperCom: Apple iMac Core 2 Duo 3.33GHz 27″ Desktop for $1,499 + $29 s&h
• OfficeMax: Vizio 26″ 1080p Widescreen LED WiFi LCD HDTV for $300 + free shipping

Daily Deals for December 15, 2010 originally appeared on TUAW on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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