Category: Tutorials

From MooCowMusic comes the latest iteration of their renowned iPad app, Pianist Pro 1.5 (£5.99). Most notably, Pianist Pro now incorporates the MIDI Mobilizer technology from Line 6, enabling Pianist Pro on your iPad, with the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer adapter (£45) or wirelessly over Wi-Fi, to be used as a MIDI controller as well as connecting with your existing MIDI devices and your DAW.

Pianist Pro has been extended further to work seamlessly with MIDI. Two of Its best features, the programmable arpeggiator and the Scale Piano (allowing for scales to be soloed with the swipe of a finger), are both now MIDI compatible, making the functionality of these features applicable to other MIDI devices. Pianist Pro becomes more than just a passive keyboard.

The built-in sampled sounds can also be used with an external MIDI hardware device or DAW, allowing Pianist Pro to become a sound source in itself (taking full advantage of its 88 key professionally-sampled virtual piano as well as the sampled organ, synth sounds and guitars). And let’s not forget the drum machine, too.

Another of Pianist Pro’s features is recording and overdubbing. Now, being MIDI compatible, you can do some composing / performing on the road, save it, and when you’re ready, export it in a Standard Midi File (SMF) for use with other compatible MIDI devices or your favorite DAW. And don’t worry, Piano Pro 1.5 imports SMFs, too.

MooCowMusic describes Piano Pro as a “a musical scratchpad or live performance tool.” Now with built-in MIDI support, thanks to Line 6’s MIDI Mobilizer adapter, it’s that, but to a whole new level!

Check out the demo video after the break.

TUAWPianist Pro 1.5 for the iPad adds MIDI Mobilizer support from Line 6 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I tried to update my iOS apps today using iTunes and was greeted with this error. Given that I had told iTunes to update all of the 60+ apps it told me were out of date, this was hardly helpful.

There are a lot of things wrong with this error message. First of all, it gives me absolutely no idea which app is not available. Second, I had asked iTunes which apps needed to be updated, and it told me that this Mystery App was out of date. How can it be out of date if it isn’t available at all? Third, after telling me that this one application wasn’t available, iTunes failed to update the other 60+ applications.

The prospect of manually updating them all was fairly annoying. As I looked through all of the apps shown on the Update page, I realized that one of the apps didn’t have the “Update Now” button next to it, and deduced that was the app causing the problem. I went into the main list of apps, control-clicked on it, and then chose “Show in Finder.” I moved the app from my iTunes folder to my Desktop, and then deleted the app from iTunes, and ran “Check for Updates” again. It showed one fewer app needing to be updated, and the Update All process went off without a hitch.

If you find yourself facing this fairly unhelpful message from iTunes, look through the list of apps-in-need-of-updating to see if any of them lack the Update Now button. It should stand out from all of the others.

I find it frustrating that iTunes continues to provide basic user feedback such as telling me which ‘item’ it was referring to in the error message above. iTunes is the link between Apple’s highly profitable iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices, not to mention perhaps the most important Windows crossover app that Apple produces. It should be one of Apple’s best applications, if not the best. Instead it is the one I least enjoy and which shows the most rough corners. I hope between now and iTunes 11 we see a whole lot of improvements, and less time spent tinkering around with the UI.

TUAWiTunes – the item you tried to buy is no longer available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP recently announced two new wireless, web-connected All-in-One printers that provide features that are sure to make Apple owners happy. The printers, the HP Officejet Pro 8500A e-All-in-One series (above at left, starting at US$299, currently available with a rebate for just $229) and Officejet 7500A Wide-Format e-All-in-One (above at right, starting at US$299, not currently shown on the US HP website) feature connectivity to the web, which allows them to print from various services without needing to fire up a computer to do printing. Here’s a quick look at some of the unique (and some not-so-unique) features:

• HP ePrint — sometime this fall, you’ll be able to download the HP ePrint iOS app and print documents on your device directly to your HP Officejet Pro 8500A or Officejet 7500A from literally anywhere you have an internet connection. Until then, or when you’re on any internet-connected device, you can attach your document to an email and send it to your printer. ePrint supports PDF, Word, PowerPoint, text, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, and GIF files, and you’ll receive feedback from the printer if the print job is successful or if there’s an issue.
• Borderless printing — If you want to print anything from a 3″ x 5″ card up to a 13″ x 19″ brochure, you can do it on the 7500A Wide-Format printer, and you can print to the edge of the paper. That’s useful for doing printing of business documents on-demand, rather than sending them to a printer.
• Wireless and Wired networking — Both printers have built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and 10/100Base-T Ethernet networking capabilities. The LCD display on the printers makes setup easy with on-screen instructions. (Correction: Wi-Fi is an option available at additional cost on the 8500A.)

TUAWNew HP e-All-in-One printers make it easy to print from anywhere originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As my partner in crime here at TUAW, Kelly Guimont, will vouch, I have a bit of a bag addiction. It started back in the Newton MessagePad days when I carried an Eagle Creek “man bag” complete with Newton, folding keyboard, and other accessories. It got worse when I started using laptop cases, since that pointed me in the direction of Tom Bihn’s line of awesome bags. With the advent of the iPad, I’ve been trying my best to avoid buying a bag — in fact, I should be getting a DODOcase today or tomorrow.

So what happened? The folks at Booq sent me a Boa push for iPad. Now, Booq bags are really addictive. They’re extremely well-made, stylish, and amazingly functional. Fortunately, we give away everything we review, so I’m not tempted to keep this bag. Read on for a short review and find out how you can win this bag from TUAW.

TUAWTUAW review and giveaway: Booq Boa push bag for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier today, Apple announced that the Wi-Fi enabled iPad will be available to customers in China via Apple Stores and authorized resellers on September 17th at 10:00 AM. Let the line ups begin!

As we saw in the US and elsewhere, Apple Store employees will offer a free setup service to anyone who buys an iPad in an Apple Store on launch day. This includes email setup, finding apps and so on. You know, the kind of stuff your relatives are always asking you to do.

iPad Wi-Fi pricing in China will be as follows: CNY3988 (US$590 as of this writing) for 16GB, CNY4788 ($710) for 32GB and CNY5588 for 64GB ($830).

You’ll remember last month when the iPad received the China Compulsory Certification from the China Quality Certification Center, the first official stamp of approval it needed before being OK’d for sale. Apple had trouble bringing the iPhone to the Chinese market, when wireless devices were required to use China’s own WAPI standard. Today, devices are allowed to have both WAPI and Wi-Fi.

If you buy one of these iPads in China, let us know!

[Via MacDailyNews]

TUAWWi-Fi iPads will hit China on Sept. 17 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the addition of the Safari Extensions Gallery to Apple’s website, TUAW is highlighting extensions that we think are special, useful, or just plain fun.

Today’s extension highlight is Add to Reader by Richard Käll. Like most of the extensions we’ve highlighted so far, it makes one aspect of online life easier. In this case, it’s adding feeds to your Google Reader account. Instead of clicking a site’s feed button and adding the address to Reader, you simply press the little toolbar button and presto! You’re done.

You’re still bumped away from the page you’re reading, which is unfortunate. I’d be happier if it worked in the background or by popping up and then closing a separate window the way the Instapaper bookmarklet does, but I still like it.

Finally, if the extension just doesn’t quite do it for you, the author has made the source code available, too. Have fun subscribing!

TUAWSafari extension highlight: Add to Reader originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s an interesting bit of data from Marco Arment. He created a script to find the most commonly-used words in 1-star and 5-star App Store reviews. His script scanned the top 100 apps in every category, ignoring duplicates. Here’s what he found.

The most frequently-used words in 5-star app reviews were:

• Awesome
• Worth
• Thanks
• Amazing
• Simple
• Perfect
• Everything
• Ever
• Must
• iPod
• Before
• Found
• Store
• Never
• Recommend
• Done
• Take
• Always
• Touch

An interesting list. As Marco points out, note that “simple” is included. Now consider the minor stir* that Twitter for iPad is generating over its unique UI. it’s not because it’s “good” or “bad,” It’s because users must stop and think before performing actions that seemed effortless on other applications. They don’t like that.

[Via Daring Fireball]

*While some folks absolutely love the UI of Twitter for iPad (see here and here and here), others found its unique approach confusing (see here and here and here).

TUAWThe words unique to 1-star and 5-star App Store reviews originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Both All Things D and AppleInsider report that, according to the analyst Maynard Um at UBS Investment research, the iPad is having a negative impact on the PC market. In a note to his clients, the analyst Um says, “Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets. We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment.”

Um goes on to say, “We are not sold that the iPad is purely cannibalizing PC sales, as the functionality of the iPad cannot yet deliver the functionality of notebook PCs. However, consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PCs.”

As a result of this, Um points to a “conservative” projection that Apple will sell 28 million iPads in 2011, and raises his target price for AAPL stock from $340 to $350. Um also pointed out that there is no evidence to say that the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales.

However, in contrast, V3.co.uk reports that 28 million is “a bit high,” according to analyst Tin Couling at analyst firm Canalyst. Canalyst predicts that Apple will have sold 12.5 million iPads by the end of this year, but shipments of the iPad will only reach 20 million in 2011 as new tablets flood the market, competing with Apple’s iPad.

V3.co.uk notes that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is going to be one of the first major competitors to the iPad, but analyst firm Canalyst showed concern over its £650 price tag, sighting that it could make the entry level iPad, at £429, look reasonable (we’re inclined to agree with that).

And still, only a few short days ago , analyst Katy Huberty from Morgan Stanley predicted that Apple is aiming to build as many as 3 million iPads a month by the end of the year. Meaning that Apple could make up to 36 million iPads next year, well above what both other analyst predict Apple will sell.

Apple announced in June that iPad sales had reached three million in its first 80 days. We’ll have to wait and see where it goes from there, but analysts seem to agree that Apple’s iPad will likely dominate the tablet market well into 2011.

TUAWAnalyst: iPad to sell 28m in 2011, impacting PC market originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is hardly definitive proof, but it’s still interesting. A tipster has sent Engadget some snapshots suggesting that a new electronic device will hit Target shelves (Target is a department store in the US) on October.

The mystery item (its name is hidden) comes is six variations, with item numbers that match the iPad price points exactly. Additionally, screenshots from a Target PDA have the item placed in the store’s Digitial Audio section, which is where the Kindle and iPods are sold.

Could it be the iPad? It’s possible, but these weak images won’t let us say definitively. We’ll find out on October 3rd, the day it’s supposed to go down.

[Via Engadget]

TUAWRumor: iPad to hit Target in October originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gamevil’s new action RPG HYBRID 2 is an excellent game, but it’s not one that I would recommend for just anyone to pick up. We’ve spotlighted plenty of great casual games and apps here on the Daily App, but HYBRID 2 doesn’t fit in that category. If you’ve never played a Japanese-style action RPG, you’ll probably get lost right away. There is a pretty solid tutorial for the combos, but soon after that, the game quickly falls into the kinds of tropes that only someone who loves old school RPGs can deal with; there’s a convoluted plot in which the world has to be saved from a supernatural threat (again), jerky controls with lots of stats to oversee and upgrade, and even lots of typos and some Engrish in the menus.

Don’t get me wrong — HYBRID 2 is actually a lot of fun. If you’ve played the first one, you’ll automatically know what to do, and even if not, you can skip right past the cutscenes and get right into the excellently stylish 2D fighting and rewarding level grinding. Once you actually wrap your head around it (and your fingers around the less than trustworthy D-pad and virtual buttons), there’s some great hacking-and-slashing action to be had, with hundred-hit combos earning XP and loot all the way through the quest-based storyline.

The game is worth the US$4.99 for the right person. If the action sounds good to you and you aren’t about to let a cluttered interface and clumsy story get in the way, have at it. Everyone else will probably have to wait for Dungeon Hunter 2 to get their action RPG on.

TUAWTUAW’s Daily App: HYBRID 2: Saga of Nostalgia originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been keeping a close eye on the race for the best HDR (high dynamic range) photo app for the iPhone. In my latest survey, I advised that progress would be fast as paid apps move to compete with the free Apple HDR software, and that’s what’s happened.

TrueHDR, a US$1.99 app, has been updated to add a fast Autocapture mode and a SemiAuto mode (where you can drag the exposure control points around to get the best picture).

I thought it was worth another quick look in order to see how the updated TrueHDR compares to Pro HDR ($1.99) and the built-in iPhone 4 camera (with and without the HDR processing).

TUAWThe HDR race continues as TrueHDR gets updated originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are times when you may want to load a web page, but usually for interfacing purposes will want to substitute remote requests with local data.  This is can be a great time saver as rather than create an entire interface within your app you can load up a webpage then insert your customized iOS components.

Matt Gallagher has created a tutorial illustrating how to intercept remote requests by overloading the cachedResponseForRequest: method and redirecting specific requests to the local cache.  Some sample code is included, and Matt gets into some of the specifics on the NSUrlCache and setting the cache within your app as the shared cache.

The full tutorial and sample code can be found here:
Substituting Local Data For Remote Requests

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