Category: I-phone

Mozy, the cloud-based backup service for both PC’s and Macs has just released version 2.0 of its Mozy for Mac software. Lifehacker reports that while most users won’t notice anything other than the shiny new Mac-native appearance, Mozy also added a new query builder to make creating advanced backup rules easier, improved performance and stability, increased backup speed, and added an easy on/off switch for setting up automatic backups. In other words, they have attempted to make it even simpler to use than it already was.

Mozy 2.0 for Mac is available for download now and just as before the first 2GB of online storage is free while monthly prices vary for larger home or corporate accounts. It’s interesting to see how far they have come since the first version of Mozy for Mac came on the scene.

I saw firsthand the value of having an offsite backup system in place when a buddy of mine lost both the internal drive on his iMac AND his external backup drive at home on the same day. He was a Mozy user and had them send him his complete backup on DVDs which he then used to import his data onto his new computer. Regularly backing up your machine (both local and in the cloud) is one of the most important things you can do as a computer user, and I myself have been a longtime user of backup service from BackBlaze. For $50/year, the expense of paying for an online backup is totally worth the safety net it provides.

[via Lifehacker and Online Backups Review]

Mozy 2.0 for Mac is faster, more Mac-like originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to the TUAW Holiday Gift Guide! We’ve sorted the treasure from the junk and are serving up suggestions to make your holiday gift-giving a little easier.

In the 1989 Batman movie, Jack Nicholson wonders, as the Joker, “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” You can spawn the same kind of envy in your friends (and arch super villains) with some of these goodies. We found a little something for everyone, so grab your shopping list and credit card.

For the young Apple fan

MyPhones (US$39.99)

My daughter has been begging for an iPod recently. I’m hesitant to give her one for a number of reasons (she’s young and excels at losing/breaking things), chief among them is her hearing. Most kids imagine themselves to be invincible, and will crank the volume to bone-rattling levels if they can. Yes, you can set the maximum volume on and iPod, but you can also use these. MyPhones offer “A safer way to listen” by keeping the noise to a maximum of 85db. That’s somewhere between a car’s engine (around 70db) and a gas lawn mower (about 105db). Plus they come with several cute covers sure to please the most discerning tot.

Continue reading TUAW’s Holiday Gift Guide: Toys for the Apple fan

TUAW’s Holiday Gift Guide: Toys for the Apple fan originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The official Office for Mac blog just posted a list of places interested buyers can get Office for Mac 2011 at reduced cost throughout the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. Here are the prices you’ll get if you buy during the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend from these retailers (note the special savings from Amazon):

• Apple Stores (US & Canada): $20 off Home & Student Family Pack for $129 (regularly $149 ERP).
• Best Buy and MacMall (US): $20 off Home & Student 1-pack for $99 (regularly $119 ERP) and $20 off Home & Student Family Pack for $129 (regularly $149 ERP).
• Amazon (US): $40 off the Home & Student 1-pack, cost of $79 (regularly $119 ERP) and Home & Student Family Pack for $109 (regularly $149 ERP).
• OfficeforMac.com (US): $20 off Home & Student Family Pack for $129 (regularly $149 ERP).

Office for Mac 2011 was released at the end of last month and has gotten generally favorable reviews, especially for its speed increases. If you’re in the market for an Office upgrade, it looks like next weekend is the time to buy.

Office 2011 gets hefty discounts for Black Friday originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toktumi is warning all all iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users with the handy VoIP app Line2 installed to avoid upgrading to the coming-any-day-now iOS 4.2.

According to an email sent to registered users today, users who run Line2 in the background after upgrading to iOS 4.2 may have trouble with the ringer. Specifically, it will continue to ring even after an incoming call is answered.

Line2 adds a second line to your iPhone that works over 3G and Wi-Fi. It also allows for unlimited texting in the U.S. and Canada. International text messages cost US$0.10 each. Tokutumi notes that Apple Developer Support has been made aware of this issue with the 4.2 release candidates. However, as of the most recent iOS gold master build, it’s still a problem.

Of course, Line2 will continue to work as normal under older versions of the iOS. If you’re using this solution, just sit tight and wait for Toktumi to announce an official fix.

Thanks Jon & e hewitt!

Line2 users shouldn’t update to iOS 4.2 originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does this case make my iPhone 4 look fat?

Uh, yeah. It sure does.

Remember during the introduction of the iPhone 4 when both Steve Jobs and designer Jony Ive touted the thin design? Well, the designers at Arkwhat in Oakland, CA have decided that your iPhone needs a little protection, and instead of trying to make a case with the svelte, skinny model look of the device, they’ve put it on a diet of McDonalds Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese and triple-thick chocolate milk shakes.

The Arkhippo I case is a plump, cuddly, and cheap (US$24) fatty that you can really grab onto. What other iPhone 4 case do you know of that will stand up on its own without resorting to some sort of mechanical flip-out leg? It comes in a variety of colors, including my favorite — purple.

You probably don’t want to put the Arkhippo I into your front or back pocket unless you’re wearing some really baggy pants. Video of the Arkhippo I in action can be found on the next page.

[via Yanko Design]

Continue reading Arkhippo iPhone 4 case gives your baby some back

Arkhippo iPhone 4 case gives your baby some back originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier today, Apple formally announced its plans to launch iAd in Europe (The UK and France specifically). The initial advertisers will be L’Oréal, Renault, Louis Vuitton, Nespresso, Perrier, Unilever, Citi, Evian, LG Display, AB InBev, Turkish Airlines and Absolute Radio. The Financial Times correctly guessed that Apple would announce its intentions this week.

Apple’s VP of iAd, Andy Miller, boasted about the program’s success in a press release. “In just four months, we’ve doubled the number of advertisers on the network and thousands of developers now have a valuable new source of revenue.”

It was only recently that iAds began to roll out globally. Meanwhile, Apple has begun building a new office space for iAd team members in New York City and reached an agreement with the Dentsu Group to bring iAd to Japan.

[Via AppleInsider]

iAd will launch in Europe this December originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve featured way too many photos and videos of people destroying Apple products in unique ways. Now, a collaboration between Michael Tompert and photographer Paul Fairchild features iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks “artfully” destroyed in different ways on a stark white background. Yes, they’re still trashing a lot of beautiful Apple equipment, but they’re doing it for art. That makes it OK, I suppose.

The trashed devices were photographed with a large format camera. Some of the “blood spatter” marks appear to have been added later, as they are exactly the same on both sides of the dead device. My personal favorite? The Apple Magic Mouse seen here that appears to have cut with a band saw no less than 11 times.

There are several close up photos of components in the wreckage. One particularly striking photo of an iPad screen still shows a partial image of the virtual keyboard hidden behind a tracery of cracks that are reminiscent of tree branches.

Fairchild’s website shows a complete gallery of iPhone photos; not the type where he’s shooting an iPhone and taking a picture of it, but photos that were actually taken with an iPhone.

[via BoingBoing]

The art of destroyed Apple products originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Falcon Gunner (US$4.99) is a Star Wars-themed, augmented reality game for iPhone that superimposes battle scenes over live video of your surroundings. You say people give you grief for staring at your iPhone too much as it is? Now you can annoy them with the power of The Force.

Like many young boys in the late 70’s, I dreamed of piloting the Millennium Falcon through space. That’s just the experience that Falcon Gunner hopes to emulate, swapping outer space for wherever you happen to be. Your mission is to destroy incoming TIE fighters and ultimately the Death Star. Once the game is up and running, you’re seated inside the cockpit, with two controls on either side of the screen. The left positions your gun while the right fires.

The augmented reality feature works much better than I expected. Ships zoom through your backyard as you fire. Authentic Star Wars sounds add to the experience, with roaring ships and encouraging squawks from R2D2 (at least I think he was being encouraging).

The temptation to blast lasers at your dog (or kids) is strong, but that leads to the Dark Side…and a quick death, as the TIE fighters aren’t fooling around. For five dollars it’s a good bit of fun and definitely challenging. Click the link below to see a video of Falcon Gunner in action.

Continue reading Falcon Gunner, Star Wars augmented reality game for iPhone

Falcon Gunner, Star Wars augmented reality game for iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Safari 5.03 is available via Software Update on your Mac, or Apple Software Update on your PC. Apple lists the following new and changed items:

This update contains improvements to usability, compatibility, stability, accessibility and security, including the following:

• More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field
• More accurate results in Top Sites
• Fixes an issue that could cause content delivered with the Flash 10.1 plug-in to overlap webpage content
• More reliable pop-up blocking
• Improved stability when typing into search and text input fields on www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com
• Improved stability when using JavaScript-intensive extensions
• Improved stability when using VoiceOver with Safari

This update (like all Safari updates) does require a reboot as the OS X Webkit framework is being upgraded, not just Safari as an application. Safari 4.1.3 is also available for Tiger. You can also check out the security updates included here.

UPDATE: Holy wow, Apple seems to have fixed the nasty address field behavior I wrote about some weeks back. Details with side-by-side comparison on the next page.

Continue reading Safari 5.0.3 update adds “more accurate” results in Safari’s address field, Flash fix, more

Safari 5.0.3 update adds “more accurate” results in Safari’s address field, Flash fix, more originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HootSuite for iPad is finally out of beta and available to all iPad users. We know what you’re thinking, “Uh, another Twitter app for me to consider?” We feel your pain, young one. But keep reading to see why Hoot Suite is worth your attention.

HootSuite offers support for three social networks: Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. You’ll be prompted through setup at launch. Once that’s done, you can begin using the network you configured. On the Twitter side, you’re presented with several columns: your main feed, mentions, direct messages (both sent and received) plus your favorites and your most recently sent tweets. Swiping lets you move from column to column.

Tapping the Compose button brings up a new window with the usual features like a photo option, location tagging and translation. Two interesting options let you schedule a tweet to go live some time in the future, and the Contacts option lets you scan a list of your Twitter contacts for quick reference.

On the Facebook side you can browse news updates and any posts that you’ve set to pending using a similar time-delay feature. All of your networks are listed on the left and it’s easy to hop between them.

Overall, the UI is quite nice and everything is legible. We especially like swiping between columns in Twitter. However, I had trouble setting up my Facebook account (I needed two attempts for some reason) and the results are frankly a bit disappointing. There are not direct messages or large photos, for example. As for Foursquare, I don’t use it so I couldn’t say.

The app is free and universal, so those with an iPad and an iPhone need only grab the one download. If you’ve been enjoying HootSuite on your iPhone, just grab the update for some nice bug fixes. While it’s not enough to tear me away from my preferred iPad Twitter client, it’s certainly worth a look for those still searching.

[Via The Next Web]

HootSuite for iPad now available originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After some time off, we’re back with an all-new edition of your favorite Q & A column: Ask TUAW. As before, I will do my best to answer your Mac and iDevice-related questions with as much candor and accuracy as I can muster.

In case you’ve forgotten, here’s how things work: each week this column will appear with questions and answers. If you have questions for the following week’s column, drop them in the comments, and I will do my best to get to them. I won’t be able to answer them all every time, so please, be patient.

When asking a question, please include which machine you’re using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we’ll assume you’re running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don’t specify). If you’re asking an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad question, be sure to note which model and version of iOS you have.

To kick things off this week we’ve got a new batch of questions about how to get books on your iPad, syncing music to an Android phone, changing the location of your iTunes library, printing without opening applications, and more.

Continue reading Ask TUAW: iPad books, Android iTunes sync, printing without applications and more

Ask TUAW: iPad books, Android iTunes sync, printing without applications and more originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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