Category: Tutorials

When iOS 4.2 makes it to the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch in November, we’ll finally be able to print from those devices with a native Apple capability called AirPrint. In most cases, you’ll need to have a printer that has been shared on a Mac or PC, since AirPrint won’t have drivers available for the huge variety of printers that exist.

If you’re looking for a direct-to-printer solution, though, HP announced that three of its new printers will be ready for the proprietary ePrint technology, which allows driverless printing from iOS devices anywhere as long as they’re Internet-connected. These printers also work with AirPrint.

One of the printers was previously discussed on TUAW: the $299 (and up, depending on features) Officejet Pro 8500A. The cleverly-designed HP Envy 100 e-All-in-One (pictured above, link is to product PDF) is the least expensive of the new printers at $249, while the Photosmart eStation tops the base prices of the HP AirPrint-friendly printers at $399. The latter printer isn’t that likely to be attractive to iPad owners, since it comes with a detachable 7″ Android-based tablet “internet companion” that would be a bit redundant.

Having the ability to print recipes, boarding passes, and iWork documents directly from the iPad to a printer with no intervening computer is going to be awesome.

[via cnet]

TUAWHP reveals AirPrint-friendly printers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just like that, the multi-format video playback app VLC has now made it to the App Store in the form of VLC Media Player for iPad. As Chris reported a couple of weeks ago, the much-beloved open source media tool has been ported and is now available for free download.

We’re grabbing our copy right now and will soon be putting it through its versatile paces.

Thanks Bart!

TUAWVLC for iPad hits the store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That didn’t take long. Earlier this year, Nuance Communications took over the MacSpeech product, with the intention of improving what was already a good application.

That has now been accomplished, and today Dragon Dictate is available for the Macintosh platform — a reasonably priced upgrade for MacSpeech users.

The new version offers easier editing, the ability to switch between different microphones, and it uses a computer voice to proofread your dictated documents. The speech engine has been updated to new state-of-the-art technology.

It’s nice to see speech recognition on the Mac that finally has feature parity with the PC versions. There are some nice new and unexpected features like saying ‘search Google for Greek restaurants’, and you can do a Spotlight search by voice.

TUAWDragon Dictate for Mac now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has spent a little bit of that huge cash surplus to buy Polar Rose, a Sweden-based technology company that focuses on face recognition. In a blog post dated September 2nd, Thijs Stalenhoef notes that their face-tagging service is closing down, and, “You may yet see our technology in one of our licensees’ products in the future.”

Polar Rose produced a cool product called FaceCloud, which brought face recognition to web services. Think photo tagging on Facebook to get an idea. iPodNN guesses that Apple may want to bring the service to MobileMe, thereby providing the Faces feature to those without iPhoto.

In addition, their very cool FaceLib technology allows mobile devices to recognize users’ faces and pull up their associated social networking services, like Facebook, Twitter, Fickr and more. We can easily see such a thing working on the iPhone. Watch a video of FaceLib for Android after the break.

TUAWApple has bought out Polar Rose originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On Friday, Gawker ran the story of Chelsea K. Isaacs and her claimed email back-and-forth with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Now it’s all the buzz.

Isaacs, a self-described “renowned college journalist, artist and social fixture” (also apparently North America’s “most desirable hand model” at the age of 12, which is, if accurate, rather creepy), didn’t get the replies she sought when she reached out to Apple’s media relations team over and over for answers relating to a class assignment. Since her three iPad-related questions were apparently the key to her getting an A on her classwork, and she felt that she’d been ill-treated by the silence, she took her case to El Steve.

The exchange was spicy enough to get covered all over the place, from New York Magazine to the UK’s Guardian newspaper. Apparently, when a CEO bothers to answer his email at all, she thought he’d be friendly and helpful — not say things like “Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade” and “Please leave us alone.” Curt and more than a little rude? Sure, but a) that’s our Steve, and b) she kind of had it coming.

I’m not sure how much Ms. Isaacs knows about Apple, but if she was expecting a prompt and thorough response to any question that began “I’m working on a college assignment” from the PR folk, she’s not living on the same planet as any journalist or blogger who covers the company. From the bottom to the top, Apple employees hold their cards close to the chest, and often as not a request for comment goes unanswered — even from major media outlets, to say nothing of college seniors.

Calling repeatedly and desperately with the three mystery iPad questions, rather than rolling with a placid “Apple’s representatives were not available for comment” or seeking out other sources of info, doesn’t speak for her journalistic acumen. Emailing the CEO to complain that nobody would help her with her schoolwork? Well, that’s just sophomoric. One thing’s for certain, though, she’s got her good grade in Brand Promotion 101 — although who knows how well it will serve her out in the job market.

Of course, from a media relations perspective, far better if Steve had skipped replying at all, or come back with a simple “Sorry, can’t help” rather than getting in that satisfying but unnecessary dig about her grades. Then again, she’s fortunate he didn’t get really ticked off and go all ninja on her.

TUAWStevemail smackdown on student strikes sparks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week the Mercury News reported that Apple is working on plans to sell newspaper subscriptions to iPad owners. Today, a follow-up from the Wall Street Journal suggests that it could launch as early as next month, and will include magazines as well.

While Apple declined to comment, the WSJ’s sources note that plans are moving forward, even though publishers are hesitant. Some see Apple’s dominance over the online music market as foreboding, while others are leery of Apple’s typical 30 percent cut.

Among the reportedly agreeable publishers is Hearst, which owns huge properties like the Oprah Winfrey magazine, Esquire, Cosmo (admit it, you take the quizzes) and The Houston Chronicle, among others. I’ve used the current Popular Mechanics app, another Hearst product, and love it.

Also in contention is data that publishers use for their marketing efforts, like name, email addresses, subscription histories and more. Apple reportedly doesn’t want to turn it over, and publishers want it.

I’m hoping it works out, because I find I’m reading newspapers more than I have in decades since buying my iPad. Also, I’d love to have a regular subscription to my old hometown paper delivered to me digitally every day.

TUAWRumor: Apple’s newspaper subscriptions could debut next month originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After singer Lily Allen‘s laptop was hacked into, she turned to Apple for help in identifying the attacker. When they refused, she decided to sue Apple into helping her, according to The Sun.

As The Next Web points out, the Sun’s article is brief (to say the least) and the backstory — was Allen’s initial request for help refused by Apple? — is dubious. It sounds to us like she’s motivated to find the attacker, and the lawsuit is not necessarily designed to punish Apple. It seems there are 3rd-party companies that would gladly do what Allen’s after, so we’re not sure why she’s suing Apple.

Also amusing is this profile of Allen and Future Cut that Apple itself put out not too long ago, describing how they used Logic Pro to put her album together. Thanks to The Next Web for pointing that one out.

TUAWPop musician Lily Allen to sue Apple originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacScan is offering their anti-spyware program for free. All you have to do is download and run the 5.1MB installer. When prompted, click ‘purchase macscan’ and enter the coupon code ‘PIRATE’ during checkout.

The download, install, purchase and registration must all be completed by Monday, September 20th 2010 by midnight PST.

I am not a fan of Talk Like a Pirate day, but I am a fan of getting stuff for free. The software normally costs US$29.99.

The subject of whether or not Mac users need to run anti-virus/anti-spyware software is a perpetual debate, with one side saying all you need is common sense and another side saying you can’t be too careful. If you’re in the latter camp, here’s your chance to add security to your Mac for free.

Since this is a “talk like a pirate day”-related post, I think I’m contractually obligated to include at least one sounds-like-a-pirate word. So…”Djibouti.” There. Happy now?

Update: several commenters point out that if you are not located in the USA, be sure to change the costs on the checkout page to US Dollars or it ends up costing $0.01.

TUAWToday only: get MacScan for free originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Taiwanese customers placed 200,000 iPhone 4 pre-orders, yet carriers fear that only about one-fourth of those orders will be filled by the end of the year.

iPhonetouch.Blorge reports that Apple’s three Taiwanese carrier partners, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone, had access to a mere 1,800 iPhone 4s when they finally became available on September 15th. Additionally, the carriers expect to receive no more than 50,000 units before the year’s end.

Meanwhile, the chairman of manufacturer Foxconn told the press that his company is pumping out 1.5 iPhones per second — that’s about 137,000 units per day — to keep up with the enormous global demand. In fact, Foxconn recently bought 1,000 special machining rigs at $20k each to help them stay on track. Most manufacturers own one. Unless they’re on Kamino.

Remember that “antenna issue” that was supposed to doom the iPhone 4? Um, yeah.

[Via Macsimum News]

TUAWTaiwanese carriers can’t meet iPhone 4 pre-orders originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raise your hand if you remember gorging yourself at the feast that was Napster. After tough times and much retooling, Napster is now available for iOS devices (free) with a per-month subscription model.

Here’s how it works. For US$10 per month, users can stream and cache any of the 10 million available songs to their iPod touches, iPhones or iPads. You can create on-the-go playlists, re-order songs, cache up to 100 songs at a time and browse the Billboard charts all the way back to 1955! 80’s playlist, here I come!

New customers can enjoy the service for free for a limited time, and then receive 20% of should they become new customers. Have fun, music lovers.

[Via Engadget]

TUAWNapster app available for iOS originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cartolina is an app that I noticed over on the great Drawn! illustration blog. While you might not want to get it yourself (it’s the thought that counts with greeting cards, and I think that, with both cards and letters, the real thing is still better), you can’t disagree that the art of this one is pretty incredible. Cartolina is originally a stationery company, printing cards and letterheads with elaborate and elegant designs on them, but they’ve also released an iPhone app. For US$2.99, you get access to nine different artistic templates, which can then be made into beautiful email or text messages. It’s not a big deal (and it’s no substitute for actually writing someone a letter — something I already don’t do enough of), but for classing up the standard congratulatory or simply nice email or text message, it’ll work wonders.

The app also has a built-in calendar with reminders of major events, and the app promises even more designs and features coming soon. Again, if you already have a schedule and a plan for sending greeting cards, the app probably won’t interest you that much. But it’s always nice to send someone a reminder that you’re thinking of them, and having Cartolina around might help you do just that.

TUAWTUAW’s Daily App: Cartolina originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google, at its European Google Atmosphere event, has announced that Full Google Docs editing support is coming to the iPad soon. For now Google Docs only let you view your documents on your iPad.

“We’re launching new cloud-powered capabilities: two-step verification to help enhance security and soon, mobile editing in Google Docs on Android and the iPad.”

“We demonstrated new mobile editing capabilities for Google Docs on the Android platform and the iPad. In the next few weeks, co-workers around the world will soon be able to co-edit files simultaneously from an even wider array of devices.”

We’ll keep you posted as soon as the Google Docs Mobile Editing for iPad goes live.

via [OGB]

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Google Earth for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch has been updated with iPhone 4′s Retina Display Support and underwater and ocean surface contents.

Google Earth Description

Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s land mass.

With Google Earth, you can

• Navigate the world with a swipe of your finger
• Swipe with two fingers to adjust your view to see mountainous terrain
• Show the Panoramio layer and browse the millions of geo-located photos from around the world
• View geo-located Wikipedia articles
• Use the Location feature to fly to your current location
• Search for cities, places, and business around the globe with Google Local Search

New In Google Earth 3.1.0

• Native support for iPhone 4 and Retina display
• Underwater bathymetry and ocean surface
• Ocean content layer

Download Google Earth

You can download Google Earth for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch from the AppStore for Free! [iTunes Link]

You can follow us on Twitter, Join us at Facebook, and also Subscribed to RSS Feed to receive latest updates.

Also checkout:

• GV Mobile+ : Google Voice app
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• LockDown Pro
• Safari Download Manager