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A new Apple patent uncovered by Macrumors showcases the work of FingerWorks, which Apple purchased in 2005. FingerWorks, best known now for being the base of today’s gesture-recognition technology, produced the TouchStream multi-touch keyboard early last decade. However, as demonstrated in certain products such as the Magic Cube, lack of tactile feedback along with the need to look at the keys while typing lest your fingers begin drifting are among the problems with getting such technology going mainstream.

According to the patent filing, FingerWorks co-founder John Elias is working to create a hybrid physical keyboard that doubles as a motion-sensitive device. There would be a typing mode and a mouse mode, toggled via a special key or key combination.

While using trackpads is normal for laptops, if Apple implements this sort of keyboard, it wouldn’t completely drive a physical mouse or stylus — like a Wacom tablet with pen — obsolete. As MacRumors points out, multi-touch keyboards aren’t quite ready to be sprung on average consumer yet. We’ll probably see other inventions such as a Magic Mouse with a display panel first.

Apple patent suggests multi-touch keyboards might be in the future originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to the week of Macworld Conference and Expo 2011! Several of your TUAW writers and editors will be in San Francisco this week checking out the sights, sounds and personalities at this annual uber-event for Apple fans, customers, users and buyers from around the world.

In fact, we’ll be live streaming from the Expo floor at booth #1012 starting Thursday and continuing until the closing hour on Saturday, January 29. Tomorrow we’ll post our official schedule so you’ll know exactly when to tune in to see your favorite TUAW franchises “come to life” with the authors on camera reviewing apps, hardware and rounding up the news or giving advice. Bookmark our Macworld hub page this week to stay up-to-date on everything happening on the ground (it’s a little bare now because the event hasn’t started).

Don’t forget, we have a special discount available for the conference and expo. We want to thank IDG and Macworld for again putting together a wonderful event and we look forward to meeting some of you in beautiful downtown San Francisco. Stay tuned for more exciting details as we unveil some awesome new stuff this week!

TUAW at Macworld 2011 — Join us! originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like the sightings of Bigfoot, Elvis, and leprechauns, the white iPhone 4 has a life of its own. Mentions of it keep popping up, yet nobody really ever seems to get a picture that’s more than a blur or a fantastic PhotoShopped fake.

The latest sighting emerged on BGR, where it was reported that two entries appeared in AT&T’s Online Account Management system. One was for the little unicorn, the 16 GB White model, and the other was for the full-sized 32 GB unicorn.

The online account tool doesn’t supply any information about when the bleached iPhone 4 will actually be found on store shelves. BGR conjectured that it might be just in time for iPhone users to jump to the white model, get locked into a new two-year contract, and then bash their heads repeatedly against a wall when the iPhone 5 appears in June or July.

If I were an Apple executive, I’d announce it this week to rain on the Macworld Expo parade. What about you, TUAW readers? Do you even care about the white iPhone 4 anymore? If you do, when do you think it will appear?

[via MacStories]

Mythical white iPhone 4 appears on AT&T’s account management system originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to IDC research manager Tom Mainelli, the iPad 3 and not the iPad 2 will be the lucky recipient of a high-resolution display. Previous rumors have repeatedly suggested the iPad 2 will sport a high-resolution “retina” display. Most of these rumors came from Asian sources and was cautiously repeated with skepticism that Apple could pack a retina display into the iPad 2 and keep the price competitive.

Mainelli bucks this trend by asserting that it is production and not cost that is the limiting factor for a 10-inch high-resolution display. The technology exists and is reasonably priced, but there are no production facilities capable of producing a retina display at the volume Apple will need for the iPad 2. Apple sold over seven million iPads in its last quarter and these numbers are expected to skyrocket in the upcoming year.

Rather than experience lagging sales due to component shortages. Apple may have opted to push off the high-resolution display and manufacture the iPad 2 with a standard resolution display. Apple is reportedly prepping manufacturers for the iPad 3, giving them time to ramp up their display production capabilities for the third generation tablet. If this analysis by Mainelli pans out and the iPad 2 does ship with a standard display, will you be disappointed? Disappointed to the point that you bypass the iPad 2 and wait for the iPad 3? Let us know in the comments.

iPad high resolution display rumored for 3rd generation originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may have heard that iPad or iPhone/iPod touch devices don’t do Flash. It’s been mentioned a few times, and it’s clearly the feature Android device makers are targetting when trying to answer the question “Why should I buy your device instead of an iPad or iPhone/iPod touch?”

Toshiba has a tablet which they claim is “coming this spring” (aka “it isn’t shipping yet”) which is tentatively called (are you ready for this?) “The Toshiba Tablet.” A teaser website is up at http://thetoshibatablet.com. If you visit the site on an iOS device, you will be redirected to a mobile site that ends with /mobile/apple.html, describing itself as one of the “interesting places on the internet you can’t see on your device. Of course, if you had a Toshiba Tablet you would enjoy the entire internet. Yep, Flash sites too.” At the bottom is the name “Toshiba” followed by “Leading Innovation >>>” but if you’re expecting that “>>>” to lead anywhere you’ll be disappointed.

First of all, instead of sending the message as HTML (after all, it’s only text on a colored background), the whole page is one large image file. That wasn’t innovative when people were doing it in 1998.

Continue reading Toshiba tablet teaser site teases iPad, iPhone

Toshiba tablet teaser site teases iPad, iPhone originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK was the winner of Apple’s 10 billion App Store download contest. The UK mother won the contest with the Paper Glider application that was downloaded by one of her daughters using an iPod touch. In a comical turn of events, Davis feared she had lost the US$10,000 prize when she inadvertently hung up on Apple.

According to Cult of Mac, Davis received a congratulatory phone call from Apple’s Eddy Cue, the Vice President of iTunes. Davis initially believed the phone call was a prank. She replied with a curt “Thank you very much, I’m not interested” and hung up on the Apple executive.

Panic ensued when her daughters informed their mother that the call may have been real. The teen-agers were downloading apps on their iPod touches when the contest ended at 9:30AM in the UK (1:30AM PST/4:30AM EST).

Fearing she had botched her chance at a $10,000 iTunes gift card, Davis called Apple’s support line to connect with the appropriate person and explain her mistake. Unfortunately, the customer service representative was not able to assist her with this unique request. Her daughters were reportedly getting “quite tense” at this point in time.

Thankfully, another Apple employee called Davis back a few hours later and she was able to tell her side of this story. After what must have been a good chuckle, Davis will receive the $10K gift card. This award will be put to good use by her daughters who are already marking off applications they want to download. Davis also mentioned that she and her husband may upgrade their aging iPod nanos so they can enjoy this unexpected bounty, too.

“10 billionth app” Mom hung up on Apple originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I remember the good old days of software distribution for mobile phones, when having an “app” on your phone meant you had to scour the depths of the internet to find and download the app that you wanted — most of which were written in Java and built for specific groups of devices. For a developer, distributing your software meant hosting downloads and instruction guides on your own website, or partnering up with a distributor like Handango in hopes of better exposure. Fast forward to today, where the App Store has opened the doors for independent developers and installing apps on your device is as simple as tapping a button. Well, at least installing regular apps from the App Store is simple; installing beta versions of an app that is not quite ready for prime-time is usually more complex and reminiscent of the antiquated installs of yore. That is, until now.

Enter TestFlight, a very interesting project with a simple goal: to make distributing and installing beta versions of apps as simple as tapping a button. In short, and to coin a phrase that is often synonymous with Apple products in general, “it just works.” TestFlight is one of those rare utilities that is able to evoke a feeling of magic when you first use it. This feeling is not just because it does exactly what it advertises, or because the process is so simple, but because it does all of this just by loading a simple web page from your device.

Sound interesting? Read on to find out how TestFlight is making the testing process better for everyone.

Continue reading TestFlight helps developers to prepare their apps for takeoff

TestFlight helps developers to prepare their apps for takeoff originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has countersued S3 Graphics after the company, a maker of graphics-visualization technologies for the notebook and desktop markets, originally sued Apple last June for patent infringement related to a number of Apple’s devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch and MacBook computers. The original complaint stated that Apple has violated four S3 patents relating to image processing systems and “fixed-rate block-based image compression with inferred pixel values.”

AppleInsider notes that at this time it is not clear why Apple is countersuing S3 Graphics. The details of their complaint, filed this month, remain unknown. Apple’s complaint in a US District Court in the Northern District of California is currently classified as an “oversized document,” which means that no one can download it (yet) to find out what it contains. The countersuit does appear to be related to patents. However, it is not currently clear whether Apple is accusing S3 Graphics of patent violations itself, or if Apple is seeking to invalidate the patents S3 is suing it for violating.

Apple countersues S3 Graphics in patent dispute originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple unveiled its first Macintosh-branded computer 27 years ago today. Steve Jobs introduced the Apple Macintosh on January 24, 1984 and received wild applause from the crowd of 3,000 people. The original Apple Macintosh was the first personal computer to be powered by the Mac operating system, then lovingly called System 1.0. The all-in-one beige case included a 9-inch greyscale monitor, a convenient handle and an accompanying keyboard and mouse. It also featured a 8 MHz processor with 128 KB DRAM, 16-bit data bus and non-upgradeable internal components.

It was originally introduced simply as the Apple Macintosh and was re-branded as the Macintosh 128K when its big brother, the Macintosh 512K, was introduced in September 1984. The history-making computer debuted with a price tag of $2495. For those that want to relive a piece of history, Steve Job’s unveiling of the Apple Macintosh is above and the famous “1984” Ridley Scott TV commercial which aired during Super Bowl XVIII is after the break. Enjoy!

Continue reading Happy 27th Birthday, Macintosh

Happy 27th Birthday, Macintosh originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I would say that this Canabalt-like game is good for kids (and it is), but I don’t suppose there are too many kids around nowadays who remember the early days of Inspector Gadget like I did in my generation. We 80s babies can fondly look back on Gadget, Penny, Brain and the mysterious Dr. Claw with nostalgia, so while this one is more or less a licensed tie-in game, it’s still good to see the old gang kicking around.

Actually, just calling it a tie-in game isn’t quite right — there are some new elements here, in the form of coins to collect as you run and a few interesting new sequences (including some hook-jumping and a train for Gadget to dodge). But it basically plays like a running game; Gadget constantly skates forward, and a touch on the screen let’s you jump up to safety. It’s just as fun, too — while it doesn’t have Canabalt’s cool flavor, it does have the Gadget theme, sounds from the series and everything else you’d expect from a licensed title.

It also has a nice curve of replayability — you’re not only scored as you play, you’re also granted Gadget Coins, which you can use to unlock extras both in-game and out (there’s a digital comic and a sound board, both of which are nice meaty add-ons). Plus, the game is half price right now at just US 99 cents ($2.99 for the iPad version). If you’ve got kids who like Canabalt, or if you just remember being a kid that liked Inspector Gadget, give it a shot.

TUAW’s Daily App: Inspector Gadget’s MAD Dash originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tonight’s show will mostly be filled with talk of Macworld, which takes place this week. There are quite a few TUAW bloggers going, and if you have any tips for us on how to survive the week or even just some cool San Francisco suggestions, I would love to hear them! We also have a bit of Apple news to talk about, from the earnings call to the new kid on the block. And remember: Kelly hosting equals aftershow!

Your calls and questions help us make the show the best it can be, otherwise I’m just talking to myself! To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HST/7 PST/10 PM EST Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (yay for free cell phone weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you’ve got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!

Talkcast tonight, 4 HST/7 PST/10 EST: Pre-Macworld Edition originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’ve tried just about every remote control application under the sun. iTeleport, LogMeIn Ignition, Mocha VNC and TeamViewer have all been on my iOS devices at one time or another. When I recently heard about Splashtop Remote, my initial thought was to delete the email about it and move on. Fortunately, my curiosity got the best of me.

Like most remote control apps, Splashtop comes in two pieces — the free Splashtop Remote Server part that runs on the target computer (either Mac or Windows), and a client app for iOS. The Mac server is still in beta, while the Windows piece has been in place for a while. The iOS apps run US$1.99 each for the iPhone and iPad versions, and there is a free time-limited (5 minutes per connect session) version for iPad that is useful for just trying out the app. That’s probably my biggest complaint right now — many of the other remote control apps are available in Universal versions that run on any iOS device.

Why am I so smitten with Splashtop Remote? Perhaps my biggest criteria for apps of this type are ease of setup, speed and a way of controlling the Mac or PC that makes the best use of the iOS touch interface. Setup is dead simple on both the desktop and mobile devices, although the Mac installation does require an installation of Soundflower. Since I already use Soundflower, I was able to skip that step. Launching the mobile app displays the computers that are running the server on the local network. A tap on the computer name launches the connection.

Continue reading Splashtop Remote for Mac and iOS: An unbeatable combo

Splashtop Remote for Mac and iOS: An unbeatable combo originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Love, peace and harmony. That’s what Apple seems to be pushing in the latest iPhone advertisement to hit the airwaves.

The ad, titled “Two is Better than One,” shows a pair of iPhones performing side-by-side synchronized app usage. The action is backed by that beautiful piece of waltz music used to good effect by ice skaters and Stanley Kubrick, Johann Strauss’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube.“

At the end of the 30-second piece, AT&T and Verizon logos are seen side-by-side. Considering the level of sniping being done by the two carriers, it’s nice to see Apple stepping in as a mediator. For US smartphone users, it’s great to finally have a choice.

Check out the ad, which was captured off of a TV screen by YouTube user DoctoriTouch, on the next page.

[via 9to5Mac]

Continue reading New Apple iPhone ad brings AT&T and Verizon together

New Apple iPhone ad brings AT&T and Verizon together originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Theme It is a new theme store for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch which is now officially launched along with an iOS app; theme it app which is available in Cydia for download.

The core idea behind “Theme it” is to put together high-quality themes for iOS devices all at one place with all necessary details. You can either use a user-friendly website or an iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Cydia app to browse through all the exclusive high quality themes.

Download Theme It App

Theme It app requires your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to be jailbroken.

The simplest way to download and install themes from Theme it store to your iDevice is to install Theme it App from Cydia. Follow the steps below to download and install Theme It App.

1. Launch Cydia
2. Go to the Manage tab
3. Tap on “Sources”
4. Now hit the “Edit” and then “Add” buttons.
5. Input the following repo url : http://www.themeitapp.com/repo (or follow: how to add repo to Cydia)
6. Now go to your just added repository and download Theme it.app and start enjoying great themes.

Overall the Theme It App comes with a neat and user friendly interface.

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This past weekend the Apple App Store reached a milestone that everyone has been anticipating for some time now, 10 billion downloads. Who would have thought when the App Store launched a little over two and a half years ago that many apps would have been downloaded so quickly.

In related news, the lady who won the $10,000 iTunes giftcard actually thought it was a prank and hung up on the Apple representative who called to let them know. Luckily for her they called back.

How long do you think it will take to hit 20 billion? My guess is by late April of next year. What do you think?