Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Tony Bradley at Macworld points out something interesting that I’ve also been thinking about: Apple is being awfully sneaky with its timing when it comes to product announcements.

The upcoming March 2 event happens to land not only right around the time that Motorola’s much-anticipated Xoom tablet will hit consumers’ hands, but also right in the middle of next week’s Game Developers Conference, when quite a few developers will be announcing new games for both the iPad and Android tablet platforms. The timing seems more than coincidental, especially with all of the announcements we’ve seen today.

And this isn’t the only recent Apple announcement apparently targeted at shaking things up: The Mac App Store’s launch date was set for January 6, right as this year’s CES was underway in Las Vegas, and much of that show’s sidetalk was taken up by rumors of the Verizon iPhone, which was announced a few days later on the 11th.

You could argue that this is just good business, and you’d be right — with its keynote events, Apple is the uncontested leader in product messaging for tech, and timing is a big part of that. If Apple is going to announce an iPad 2, why wouldn’t it be right when everyone’s focused on tablet software? (Not to mention that the event is being held at Yerba Buena, right next door to the convention center). But at the same time, it’s quite a coup, hijacking the attention of press and developers without any official involvement in the event they’re there to attend.

Apple’s announcement timing is uncanny originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

There’s a growing number of devices that allow Mac users to combine their keyboards and Magic TrackPads into a single unit. Steve Sande took a look at TwelveSouth’s MagicWand not long ago.

But if you have the money to spare and want something really sleek — and expensive — thodio will sell you the MacDec, a thick slab made out of wood or acrylic that will hold your devices securely in place with the aid of eight powerful magnets. The wood MacDecs run roughly $138 and the acrylic around $165 — the original prices are in Euros.

Unlike the MagicWand, which places the Magic Trackpad to the side of the keyboard, the MacDec orders them in a laptop-like configuration, actually in the shape of a 15-inch MacBook Pro.

[Via Wired]

MacDec provides another way to combine keyboard and Magic Trackpad originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand on Tuesday has caused incredible damage and hit close to home for many of us at TUAW. Developer David Frampton (@majicdave on Twitter) from Majic Jungle Software had a particularly scary few days. Although Dave lives in Wellington on the North Island, his mother Ann Bodkin was trapped in rubble for several days before being rescued. We were thrilled to read Dave’s tweet when she was close to being rescued: “Mum is alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still trapped, but talking to rescuers. So so unbelievably happy and relieved.”

Another developer and regular on the TUAW Talkcast is Layton Duncan (@polarbearfarm) from iOS development house Polar Bear Farm. Layton was at work when the earthquake hit, and he quickly started sending photos and videos via Twitter. You can see his office in the photo above, and read about his experience on his blog. We were very glad to see that he made it through the devastating quake unharmed, and can’t wait to talk with him on the next Talkcast.

Relief efforts will continue for some time, and New Zealand expat developer David Sinclair’s Dejal Software (@dejal) is helping out with an incredible deal — he’s donating 100% of all profits from the sales of his Mac Apps (Simon, TimeOut, Caboodle, and BlogAssist) between now and Sunday to rescue and relief efforts in New Zealand.

Here’s your chance to do good and get some great software at the same time. Many thanks from those of us at TUAW to David Sinclair and Dejal for this wonderful outreach to the people of New Zealand.

Photo by Layton Duncan

NZ earthquake hits Mac/iOS devs; Dejal Software creates relief effort originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Two of TUAW’s favorite App Store apps (and probably yours as well) have been updated with new content. Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja has a few new swords to play with, including one that plays piano music as you swipe. There are new leaderboards to fight your friends (and everyone else on) for the Classic and Zen modes. Great free update for a terrific app — no wonder it’s sold six million copies (inspiring Halfbrick to build up an orchard to pay back karma for all that destroyed virtual fruit).

Imangi’s great Max Adventure dual-stick shooter has also been updated with a new survival level and a few performance improvements and bugfixes. More importantly, it’s on sale right now for just 99 cents, so if you haven’t grabbed this one yet, now’s your chance. I just picked it up again recently, and despite the kid-friendly graphics and storyline, the action and progression are a lot of fun.

We’ve got appointments with both Halfbrick and Imangi at GDC next week, so stay tuned to hear what’s coming next from these two great iOS developers.

Fruit Ninja and Max Adventure for iOS updated with new content originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Here at TUAW, we often keep you up-to-date on Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the famed Apple cofounders. But Electricpig.co.uk today pointed out that there’s an Apple employee who has more years of service with the company than even Steve Jobs — Chris Espinosa.

Espinosa actually joined Apple at the ripe old age of 14 before the company was formally incorporated, and after the official launch in 1977, he became Employee #8. Espinosa was involved in writing the Apple II Reference Manual while attending college classes at the University of California, Berkeley and also had the fun of helping to write the preliminary business plan for the computer known as the Macintosh.

Electricpig notes that Espinosa still works with the company 35 years later and has never, unlike Jobs, had a tenure with another company. Jobs, you’ll remember, went off to found NeXT and was with that company for 11 years before returning to Apple, bringing his total years of service to a measly 24. Steve Wozniak still receives a paycheck from Apple, but hasn’t done any work for the company since 1987.

Espinosa is still actively involved with the development community and maintains a friendly face on Twitter as @cdespinosa.

Chris Espinosa: Apple’s longest-serving employee originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

DropPhox (US$1.99) from DaVinciWare Inc. is a little gem that everyone using an iOS device with a camera (and Dropbox) should go out and buy. This app allows you to snap pictures or videos, and have them wirelessly transfer to your Dropbox account via either 3G or Wi-Fi. We love Dropbox around here and use it for just about everything.

The first thing you’ll do is link DropPhox to your Dropbox account. By default a folder will be created in Dropbox — named, not surprisingly DropPhox, but you can change it if you’d like. Once you take a picture, if there is a connection, the pictures or videos will transfer. If no connection exists, transfer will be put on hold and resume as soon as DropPhox detects one. That’s it. It works seamlessly, perfectly and every time.

There are a number of things you can set either in DropPhox, or in the Settings app to tailor things to your liking. The first one is the size of the image. I don’t have an iPhone 4, but on my 3GS, I can choose between, original, 1200×600, 960×1280, or 600×800. This is important, since an original resolution shot can be over 3 MB large, and sometimes you don’t need the higher resolution image in Dropbox. In the Settings app, there are also options to enable or disable saving to your camera roll, choose a date format (all the shots are named starting with the date, so this may come in handy) and a few other settings. In the DropPhox app, you can provide the needed Dropbox settings, select a saving directory and turn Geotagging on or off.

Continue reading DropPhox wirelessly connects your iOS camera with Dropbox

DropPhox wirelessly connects your iOS camera with Dropbox originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Over the day we’ve been hearing about bugs in the developer preview of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, mostly with 3rd-party services like Dropbox (no sync, no menu bar icon), Evernote, the 1Password Safari plugin, Textual crashes, etc. But here’s a little video demonstrating an acute case of “sticky mouse” — not what you want in your shiny new OS, I should think.

Video on the next page, but what it shows is that clicking on an item in the new operating system can cause it to become stuck to your mouse. Luckily, Apple has a few more months of grooming before this cat is actually out of the cage.

Continue reading Bad kitty: Sticky mouse issue demonstrated in Lion

Bad kitty: Sticky mouse issue demonstrated in Lion originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you thought today couldn’t get any more hands-on, you were wrong. The folks over at our sister blog, Engadget, just received a review unit of the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt technology and posted lots of delicious photos for us nerds to enjoy. (Note that unlike many other Apple-branded technologies, there’s no InterCap-styled ‘B’ in “Thunderbolt.”)

Unfortunately, even though the model has Thunderbolt connectivity, there aren’t any peripherals yet available that use the new I/O tech. This means that we won’t be seeing any speed test demos in the immediate future, however much of a thrill it would bring. But it will work out of the box with all Mini DisplayPort connectors.

The model itself is nearly identical to the previous family of MacBook Pros from a visual standpoint (the only change is a Thunderbolt port vs. the Mini DisplayPort), but it’s still fun to watch an unboxing. On an already-busy day, this is a must-check-out for any major Apple geek.

Corrected editing error, the trackpad is identical to earlier version.

Engadget goes hands-on with the new MacBook Pro originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple is reportedly informing third-party resellers that boxed versions of MobileMe are now discontinued. Retailers can continue to sell their existing inventory, but supplies will not be replenished. This latest information falls in line with earlier rumors that suggest Apple may offer MobileMe as a free service with cloud-based digital lockers for music, photos and videos.

In this scenario, Apple may briefly move to a digital-only sales model to let retailers sell their existing stock. Once the standing inventory is depleted, Apple will transition MobileMe to a free service in the upcoming months. Adding fuel to the fire of these rumor, Apple has removed the paid version of MobileMe from its online store, offering the service as a free 60-day trial.

During its annual shareholders meeting on February 23, the Cupertino company also confirmed that it is getting ready to flip the switch on its North Carolina data center. The $1-billion center is rumored to serve as the hub for its free MobileMe service and possibly a cloud-based version of iTunes.

MobileMe boxed copies going away originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

According to Boy Genius Report, Apple has finalized the code for iOS 4.3 with build 8F190. The upcoming update is rumored to include a handful of new features like iPad FaceTime, PhotoStream, and PhotoBooth for iOS. If true, we’ll likely see iOS 4.3 discussed or released next week during the press event scheduled for March 2.

iOS 4.3 gold master rumored ready originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Today’s cloud-based release of the OS X 10.7 Lion preview adds one more nail to the coffin of removable media. Last September, TUAW declared that the disc is dead. Apple’s move today, in releasing Lion through the online Mac App store, helps reconfirms that DVDs and CDs are headed the way of the floppy, i.e. to dodosville along with the thylacine and Android the dot matrix printer.

As Apple’s new death star of a data center in North Carolina begins to serve its role in taking Apple to the clouds, the disc-less Macbook Air line begins to look less like a push to save weight and streamline hardware and more like simply doing business as usual.

What do you think?

View Poll

OS X Lion preview ably demonstrates that disc is dead originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

While there has been a lot of Apple news today, we can’t forget that one of the founders of the company, Steve Jobs, has a birthday. Yep, Steve turns 56 today, and health concerns aside we hope he has a great one.

Over the years he’s had a profound influence on our daily lives. From revolutionizing the computer industry to unleashing the creatitve power of Pixar to re-inventing Apple and making it a powerhouse of consumer electronics innovation, Mr. Jobs has almost been a national spokesperson for innovation and good design. A savvy businessman and astute judge of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to user-centric design, I think we all owe Steve a debt of gratitude for his uncompromising character and attention to detail.

On the next page there’s a YouTube tribute video that is short but sweet, plus a few links to some other videos of Steve throughout the years. Happy birthday, Mr. Jobs!

Continue reading Happy Birthday, Steve Jobs

Happy Birthday, Steve Jobs originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Today, Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion will include software that previously cost IT departments an extra $499: Mac OS X Lion Server.

“Lion Server is now part of Mac OS X Lion,” says Apple’s marketing web page. “It’s easy to set up your Mac as a server and take advantage of the many services Lion Server has to offer.”

Some advantages of the newly integrated suite of server administrative software include a guided setup process for configuring a Mac as a server; “local and remote administration – for users and groups, push notifications, file sharing, calendaring, mail, contacts, chat, Time Machine, VPN, web, and wiki services – all in one place”; “simple, profile-based setup and management for Mac OS X Lion, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices” with Profile Manager; Wiki Server 3, designed to make it “even easier to collaborate, share, and exchange information”; and WebDAV services that give iPad users “the ability to [wirelessly] access, copy, and share documents on the server from applications such as Keynote, Numbers, and Pages.”

The built-in server software joins a long list of new features planned for inclusion in Mac OS X Lion, including Launchpad, full-screen apps, Mission Control, new gestures, global auto save, Versions, Resume, and AirDrop. According to Apple’s documentation for developers, Lion Server will appear as a customizable option during the initial installation process.

Mac OS X Lion is available as a developer preview today. It is scheduled for release this summer.

Lion Server to be bundled with Mac OS X Lion originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The iPod nano software has been updated to allow users to control their music with the Sleep/Wake button. Specifically, there are two options. You can set the Sleep/Wake button to either skip to the next track or pause/play the current track with a double-click. Once the update is installed, you’ll find the option by tapping Settings, then Music and finally Sleep/Wake button.

Additionally, this update will let you turn the nano off completely. To do so, simply hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds. Note that if you turn the nano back on within 5 minutes, it will remember most recent playlist and what was playing. What a smart little device.

You’ll find the the update by connecting your iPod nano to iTunes. Have fun!

iPod nano updated, control music using Sleep/Wake button originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dig out your TV component cables if you have the SlingPlayer Mobile app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod — the latest version of the software now supports high quality mode video out to your television.

Version 2.1 of the popular TV-streaming app also includes a few unspecified bug fixes. You’ll need at least 800 Kbps of bandwidth over Wi-Fi or 500 Kbps over 3G for it to work on your iPhone 4, or 1200 and 800 respectively on your iPad. There goes the weekend…

[via Engadget]

SlingPlayer Mobile updated with video out originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments