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Dear Aunt TUAW: What’s in Apple’s guitar hole?

Dear Aunt TUAW,

Maybe I’m completely wrong, but I eventually demystified the Apple 9/1/2010 Press Invitation. I had a look at the press release image I found on www.fscklog.com (it’s a little bigger than yours) in Photoshop.

Instinctively the soundhole was very interesting to me, especially the “barely lit” part underneath the strings, where you can see the inside of the guitar back. Classic guitars typically have a label of the guitar maker there and in the image you can barely see something that could be a label.

I found it very interesting that the Apple creative crew was so picky in such a detail, so this again pulled my attraction. Of course, it would simply look odd, if you couldn’t see anything of the guitar’s inside from a front shot like this, so maybe there’s nothing special about it. I then inverted the image in Photoshop and there was a “label” clearly visible.

TUAW Dear Aunt TUAW: What’s in Apple’s guitar hole? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple adds demo video to MobileMe mail

The MobileMe web app went down for scheduled maintenance last night, and returned this morning with an overview video. In about three minutes, it points out the features of the recently-redesigned Mail web app. Those who have been using it for a while won’t find anything new in the video, but it’s still a nice review.

It starts by describing the different view options and how to enable each. Next the friendly Apple voice demonstrates how to create and apply rules, and finally moves on to several formatting options (another recently-introduced feature).

Again, anyone who’s been using the web app for the last few weeks won’t find anything new, but it’s still a well-done overview.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

TUAW Apple adds demo video to MobileMe mail originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brabus’s iBusiness is a Mercedes-Benz S600 tricked out Apple style

We’ve seen the iPad implemented both at school and at work, but in your car? That’s the idea behind the iBusiness, a Mercedes-Benz S600 that’s been tricked out with Apple gear aplenty by Brabus. Get this — you can see the two iPads and keyboards in the back seats, but there’s also a Mac mini in the back and a 64gb iPod touch as well. The display above is a 15.2″ TFT display, and all of the gear connects to the Internet via a high speed 3G system. The iPads can also control the car’s multimedia system, navigation systems, and the built-in telephone system.

And it’s all built into a car that goes from 0 to 62 in 4.0 seconds, with a top speed of 211 miles per hour. Brabus has tricked out those interiors, too — there’s leather everywhere, power-operated curtains, wood trim, color-changing interior lighting, LED running lights outside, and anodized aluminum pedals under the sport steering wheel. Yowza.

Brabus doesn’t give a price for this made-to-order monster, but the car itself (without any options) starts around $150k, so the entire package runs into the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” range. What a set of wheels, though.

[via Electronista]

TUAW Brabus’s iBusiness is a Mercedes-Benz S600 tricked out Apple style originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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XNA Touch: Microsoft XNA Games Running On The iOS Platform

Microsoft’s XNA has persevered and become popular with hobbyist game developers on the Windows and Xbox 360 platforms. While I haven’t really fooled around with it much, I’ve always felt it would be nice to be able to develop XNA games that ran on the iPhone.

Apple has spoken out against cross-platform development, but it appears that the MonoTouch project bringing C# to iOS development has persevered, and a new project known as XNATouch has been created for MonoTouch developers. This has brought the ability to program 2D games using C# and XNA to the iPhone with 3D apparently in the works. There is also a similar project for Android, so theoretically games would run on the iPhone, Android (through another open source project), and Microsoft platforms including the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform.

You can find the project here: XNATouch at Codeplex

The project is still in active development, and if you’re a hardcore XNA fan you will want to check it out.

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Mophie and Intuit release Complete Card Solution payment system for iPhone

Square has made quite a few headlines with its in-progress payment system for the iPhone, but here’s that reader developed by Mophie (known for their battery pack add-ons) and serviced by Intuit. It’s called the Complete Card Solution for iPhone, and it’s costlier than Square’s extremely low cost of entry where all you need to start taking payments is a free account, free app and free card reader. This one runs $179 from the get-go; there’s also a $12.95 charge per month, on top of the per-payment fees that Intuit will take out. But Intuit’s reader is a little more friendly for big sales teams (allowing for 50 users on one account), and the transaction charge runs only about 1.7 percent as compared to Square’s 2.75 percent.

So if Intuit has a target, it’s probably larger businesses — Square’s reader is much more ad-hoc and easier for the smaller companies and individuals to use. There is one other issue, however — while Square’s reader just plugs into the headphone jack (meaning it can be used by any iPhone, and even some other smartphones), Mophie’s clearly fits all the way around the phone, which means it’s currently available only for iPhone 3G and 3GS. Still, if you don’t need one set up for the iPhone 4 right away, the Mophie reader is reportedly on Apple store shelves now.

TUAW Mophie and Intuit release Complete Card Solution payment system for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Royalty-free H.264 is a big win for HTML5, big loss for Flash

So far, one of the main arguments against widespread implementation of HTML5 video has been the uncertain licensing future of the H.264 standard. Proponents of Flash video and organizations committed to license-free software, like the Mozilla foundation, said that while H.264 was currently royalty-free (and would remain so until 2015), there was no guarantee that MPEG LA wouldn’t start charging licensing fees later on.

In that event, if HTML5 had supplanted Flash as the de facto standard for video on the web, it would have meant that organizations and possibly even end users would have found themselves saddled with onerous fees after 2015.

That theoretical stumbling block has disappeared. MPEG LA has announced that H.264 will be royalty-free forever so long as video encoded with the standard is free to end users. This means sites like YouTube and vimeo will never be charged licensing fees to serve video on the web; presumably, it also means that Apple will continue to pay licensing fees to sell videos in the iTunes Store.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser doesn’t currently support HTML5 video (via H.264, that is -Ed); the uncertainty of H.264’s licensing future meant Mozilla wanted to stick with Ogg Theora, a video codec Mozilla believed would be unencumbered by patenting issues. With MPEG LA’s announcement that H.264 will be royalty-free in perpetuity, it’s likely only a matter of time before Firefox joins browsers like Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer 9 in fully supporting HTML5.

This is good news for almost everyone except Adobe. Adobe’s main argument against moving away from the current Flash-dominated web video landscape to one with a truly open standard like HTML5 is now invalid. While Flash may continue to hold onto its grip on interactive web content, MPEG LA’s announcement likely points to an end to Flash’s dominance in video. This is also the last nail in the coffin for any possibility of Flash running in iOS — with possibly the biggest obstacle to widespread implementation of HTML5 video now gone, there’s zero incentive for Apple to hitch its wagon to Flash.

[Via Macworld]

TUAW Royalty-free H.264 is a big win for HTML5, big loss for Flash originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PPC Macs ‘likely’ to be unsupported by Firefox 4

While it may not come as much of a surprise, it’s still going to aggravate owners of aging PPC Macs that the upcoming Firefox 4 browser is probably going to drop support for the older architecture. Mozilla program manager Mike Beltzner noted that the next version of the open-source browser, currently in beta, is not working on PowerPC machines now and the update will not be automatically offered to them.

Computerworld points to two separate technologies in FF4 that are standing in the way of a PPC build: the OOPP isolated plugin system, which prevents browser extensions from gumming up the works; and the JIT (just in time) compiler for the new JaegerMonkey JavaScript engine, which sounds like a drunken simian but is actually supposed to speed up JavaScript compilation manyfold. Neither have a functional equivalent on the PowerPC.

It’s not clear if the Camino browser, which does work on both Mac processor platforms and is based on the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine, will be able to update to the Gecko 2.0 platform that powers Firefox 4. In the same message thread, Beltzner allowed that developers could certainly work on a PPC version that left out the two problematic components, but that it most likely would not be allowed to carry the Firefox brand (which has happened before with custom optimized builds for specific architectures). He also pointed out that there aren’t development resources within Mozilla to extend support for OOPP and the JIT compiler to PPC, and that outside help has not been forthcoming.

[via Download Squad]

TUAW PPC Macs ‘likely’ to be unsupported by Firefox 4 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Social networking coming to iTunes

There’s been lots of rumors in the past about iTunes going to some sort of a cloud-based service, with the ability to store or access music remotely over the Internet, but the new word around town is that what’s actually revealed at the event next week won’t be quite so ambitious. Peter Kafka over at All Things Digital now says that instead of streaming, the new iTunes might be more social, with iTunes accounts serving as nodes on which users can share recommendations for apps or songs, or even share playlists or song information. You wouldn’t actually be able to share music, but the idea would be to lay the groundwork on a more connected iTunes system, and set up the music software as not only a location to store your personal music, but to connect with others through the media.

Sounds interesting, and of course a rumor like that dovetails right into what Apple is working on with Game Center, where iTunes accounts will serve as the portal for connections in and around App Store games. This current round of speculation also includes improvements for the web-based version of iTunes pages, and presumably improved ways to browse and post app reviews and recommendations.

As always, we’ll have to see. Nothing’s confirmed until Steve walks out on stage and shows it to us, so even if Apple is working on a system like this, there’s no confirmation we’ll see it at the event next week until we, you know, do.

TUAW Rumor: Social networking coming to iTunes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Movies rented with iPhone 4 won’t transfer to iTunes

iLounge is reporing this week that movies rented from the iTunes Store with an iPhone 4 cannot be transferred to iTunes for viewing on other Apple devices. Which means you can only watch that movie on the iPhone 4 used to rent it.

This has been the case with the iPad and the Apple TV. As the iTunes Store terms and conditions points out, movies rented “using the Apple TV or iPad may not be moved.” So this isn’t unprecedented, and it is mentioned on page 99 of Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 4 Software (PDF link): “On iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, you can transfer rented movies between iPhone and your computer. On iPhone 4, you can transfer rented movies between iPhone and your computer only if they were rented in iTunes on your computer. Movies rented on iPhone 4 cannot be transferred to a computer.”

This must be due to a resolution issue, iLounge points out, as the iPhone 4’s retina display at 960 x 640 falls short of full 720p, and barely beyond standard resolution of 854 x 480.

TUAW Movies rented with iPhone 4 won’t transfer to iTunes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook numbers revised: 44 million iOS app users, not 104 million

A few days ago, Facebook divulged the number of users of its mobile apps. The most impressive figure from their posting also turned out to be the most controversial — according to Facebook, more people were using its Facebook for iPhone app (104 million) than the actual number of iOS devices out there (around 100 million units, inclusive of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad).

Facebook has given Engadget revised figures: according to Facebook’s spokesman, there’s actually only 44 million Facebook for iPhone app users. Apparently, Facebook was initially counting as “active” any user who used the app at all. After excluding people who only “liked” or commented on stream stories, Facebook revised their “active monthly users” figure downward by 60 million.

44 million Facebook for iPhone users is still a substantial percentage of the iOS devices out there, but it’s a number that makes far more sense than the earlier 104 million figure. Facebook certainly is ubiquitous, but it was stretching credibility to claim that virtually every iOS device out there was running its iOS app.

TUAW Facebook numbers revised: 44 million iOS app users, not 104 million originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iWork Update 9.0.4 brings ePub file support to Pages, fixes bugs

A new update to iWork is providing some fixes to bugs (primarily with tables) in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, but also provides a new export option that makes Pages documents compatible with iBooks.

The iWork 9.0.4 update is recommended for anyone using iWork 9.0 – 9.0.3. The fixes for Keynote include patching an issue that occurred when printing handouts with rule lines, resolving a problem with the slide switcher, and also fixes an issue when automatically resizing some images when changing the size of a slide.

Pages received the fix for tables, as well as the ePub export option. Numbers was impacted the least, with only the table fix being applied to the app.

The update is available via Software Update or can be downloaded from the Apple Support Downloads page. It’s about 71.2 MB in size via Software Update. There’s also a MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update for mid-2010 15-inch and 17-inch models.

Thanks to Michael K. for the tip!

TUAW iWork Update 9.0.4 brings ePub file support to Pages, fixes bugs originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In brief: Free iPod with Mac purchase offer ends 9/7

As expected, Apple has sent out a quick reminder that the annual discount offer for college students — buy a new Mac, get a free iPod touch — is expiring September 7. While this date was expected to coincide with the rock & roll introduction event, we now know that the big shindig will be taking place next ~~Tuesday~~ Wednesday, September 1.

Got some money burning a hole in your pocket? Are you, or do you know a college student? Time for that new Mac, but it’s running out.

TUAW In brief: Free iPod with Mac purchase offer ends 9/7 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TeleNav releases free OnMyWay notification app for iPhone

TeleNav is the developer of a lot of mobile navigation applications, including AT&T Navigator for the iPhone. Now the company has come out with an iPhone version of a popular app that originally launched for the BlackBerry platform — OnMyWay.

OnMyWay has a simple goal — it tells another person or group of people that you are currently “on your way” and sends them the estimated time of your arrival. The app sends new alerts to your contacts if your ETA changes (if you’re stuck in traffic, for instance), so that you can safely continue driving and not have to call or text someone else if you’re running late.

To set up a notification, the iPhone owner inputs a destination, an appointment time, and one or more phone numbers or email addresses to send alerts to, then taps the start button. iPhone contacts are integrated into the app to make setting up the notifications a snap.

OnMyWay takes care of the rest of the trip. It starts by sending an initial notification to the recipients telling them that the driver has started his trip, and then includes an estimated time of arrival. Up to three additional status messages might be sent, depending on how the driver has set up the app; if the sender is going to be late, if the person is within a pre-set number of minutes away from the destination, and when the driver is one minute from arriving.

Where I could see this app being a real boon is in letting my wife know when I’ll be getting back from an appointment. If I’m running a little late, she usually pings me via text, and I have to pull over and send her a response. With OnMyWay, she’d be getting updates and would hopefully leave me to my driving… Some screenshots are in the gallery below.

Gallery: TeleNav’s Free OnMyWay Notification App

TUAW TeleNav releases free OnMyWay notification app for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A study of 17 Apple press invitations

Reporting for Fortune, Philip Elmer-DeWitt reiterates Dan Frommer’s question: “Is Apple really going to announce a TV gadget at an event with a guitar on the invitation?” It’s a legitimate question, as Apple’s press events have the power to move AAPL’s price. When rumors become expectations that ultimately aren’t met, the stock price has shifted downward. In this case, the “TV gadget” Frommer refers to is the rumored iOS-powered Apple TV.

With that in mind, AAPLinvestors compared the wording on the last 17 press invitations to what was ultimately introduced at each event. What they found was that Apple often takes liberty with their often cryptic text. For example, the September 2, 2008 invitation read “Let’s Rock,” and Apple introduced the fourth-gen iPod nano, the second-gen iPod touch, iTunes 8 and HD TV shows. HD TV is cool, but does it really “rock?”

Also, the August 31, 2009 invitation read “It’s only rock and roll but we like it.” That afternoon Apple introduced iTunes 9, iPhone 3.1, the fifth-gen nano, the third-generation iPod touch and additional colors for the iPod Shuffle.

Reading into Apple’s terse press invites is part of the fun. So we still might see a new Apple TV next week. Who knows if we will, though.

[Via MacDailyNews and Fortune]

TUAW A study of 17 Apple press invitations originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, Plex. You tease!

All sorts of buzz in the blogosphere this afternoon after Plex, makers of a respected Mac-based digital media center application updated their blog with a cryptic hint that seems to point to next Wednesday’s Apple event.

Plex provides a centralized way to access your media library from a simple TV interface — think FrontRow on steroids. Many Mac mini-based media centers have been built around Plex.

So does Plex’s post add weight to “Apple TV” refresh rumors? It certainly tantalizes.

Thanks, Robert

TUAW Oh, Plex. You tease! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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