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WaveJamr promises Bluetooth audio freedom, but delivers frustration
Update: The RadTech team has responded to this post (see comments below) and asked me to evaluate a more recent revision of the WaveJamr that resolves many compatibility issues. As soon as it arrives, I'll give it a try. No doubt, the idea of the US$39.95 WaveJamr audio adapter is a fine one. Got a healthy helping of 30-pin dock devices around the house or in the car? RadTech's slim, control-free WaveJamr pops neatly onto the dock connector, and allows any Bluetooth audio source (like your iPhone or iPad) to connect and transmit. Requiring no power and almost no configuration, the WaveJamr seems at first glance like a wonderful solution for your older docks if you want to use them with Lightning-equipped current generation iOS devices. There's only one slight flaw in the plan. Unlike iLounge's reviewer, I didn't notice any major audio distortion with the WaveJamr. What I noticed was a complete lack of audio. On dock after dock that I tried -- a Panasonic bookshelf unit, the Pure Contour 100i, the Time Command mini -- the WaveJamr would power up and pair with my phone, but the dock simply did not recognize that an iPod or iPod-equivalent was docked. I was just about to throw in the towel and call it a defective unit, but I finally found one dock (the Edifier Luna5 Encore) that consistently did recognize the WaveJamr and allowed me to play music from across the room. Audio performance was perfectly acceptable, once I got it working. RadTech sells a combo USB and 3.5mm headphone jack adapter to go with the WaveJamr, making it compatible with cars or stereos that don't have a 30-pin dock. At $24 for the cable, it might make sense for a room stereo, but in a car I'd say just plug into the headphone jack and save the money. If you're on the hunt for a 30-pin Bluetooth adapter, there is a suite of units from Exeter and Bell, all of which appear to be built on the same base hardware as the WaveJamr. At about $32 street price, just make sure you check the return policy before you buy. If your luck is better than mine, you may enjoy some nice mobile sound. As a quality alternative, one of our commenters suggests the Kickstarter-funded Auris adapter, which runs $50 and pairs with up to eight devices. Unfortunately it's back-ordered until February.
The Daily Grind: How long do you need to play a game before you get a fair impression?
First impressions are tricky things. Play a game for a little while and you'll get an idea of what the game is like, but you might miss some important parts that give it context. The combat doesn't change once you finish the tutorial in DC Universe Online, but you have a lot more powers and abilities afterward. Having your full skillbar in Guild Wars 2 changes a huge chunk of the gameplay, and you don't unlock your final slot until level 30. But some gamers would argue that you can tell whether you'll like a game earlier than that. Speaking as a journalist, I know I need to evaluate the game as a whole to make sure it's not just a good game that isn't to my tastes, but a casual player doesn't have that restriction. So how long do you feel you personally need to play a game to get a fair impression of the game as a whole? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Call Bliss for iPhone a would-be alternative to Do Not Disturb
Call Bliss for iPhone (US$2.99) from Clarke Hill is promoted as an alternative to Apple's Do Not Disturb feature. It would be handy to have this week, as Do Not Disturb is currently malfunctioning. While it works, I'm hesitant to recommend it. Here's my look at Call Bliss for iPhone. UI When you first launch Call Bliss, it presents a setup tutorial. It sets a bad first impression as it isn't very good-looking and contains a typo. I understand that the developer had branding in mind while assembling the introduction, but the result is too busy and distracting. The app's logo fills in the background, and text appears over a grey field to make it legible. Buttons are plain white and screenshots of Apple's Settings app have also been applied. The visual is so distracting that I had to read the short paragraphs several times before I understood them. The app has five main screens, and each is really sparse. Minimal design is one thing, but Call Bliss' UI feels unfinished. But really, it's a utility that you "set and forget," so it's not like you have to look at it often. %Gallery-174626% Use Call Bliss does work as advertised, though the user experience does need some TLC. To get started, follow the introductory tutorial. It's a hassle, as you have to jump back and forth between Call Bliss and the Settings app four times. That's not the developer's fault, as Call Bliss need certain iOS settings to be in place. I just wish it were handled more elegantly. Once that's done, it's time to add a few allowed callers. Tap the Allowed screen and then tap "+Add". Call Bliss presents a sorted list of your contacts. This is one of the few screens that looks good. Tap any that you'd like to allow to pass through and then hit Done. They're now listed on the Allowed Callers screen. You can also allow whole groups or go by location. This is the app's best feature. You can identify any location and determine which calls you're willing to receive and which should be blocked during your stay. Additionally, you can tell the app to block all calls while at a given location -- good if you'll be at a wedding, funeral, play, etc. -- or allow all calls. It's super-handy. Here's a bit that's confusing. Call Bliss creates a separate list for contacts allowed at a certain location vs. those allowed globally. These lists appear one on top of the other on the Allowed Calls screen. Unfortunately, you can't edit both from the Allowed screen. Tapping the Edit button makes the global list editable, but not the location-based list. This threw me for a loop for a few minutes until I realized that I had to go to the Places screen and then tap the current place to edit that second list. Also, if you have no global contacts allowed and only a few location-specific contacts, the Allowed screen doesn't make a clear distinction. It looks like the Edit button has just disappeared, though the Add button remains. I understand why it works that way, but the presentation is confusing. The Options screen lets you set a global blackout mode to deny all calls or an "open door" mode to allow all calls. Here's another nit to pick: the tutorial shows the both the blackout slider and the open door slider set to "On." Of course, they can't both be on at the same time. Finally, there's an in-depth help section built in. Unfortunately the formatting is off, many line breaks are in odd locations and there is no space between paragraphs, which makes it difficult to read the tiny text. Conclusion Call Bliss does what it says on the tin, and even improves upon Apple's currently malfunctioning Do Not Disturb. The location-specific settings are especially nice. Unfortunately, the unattractive and time-consuming tutorial, confusing elements, spelling errors and sparse UI prevent me from recommending it. Call Bliss is a great idea that's poorly executed. Hopefully a future update will allow this app to have the attention it deserves.
Unclutter offers digital pockets for your OS X miscellany
I have really mixed feelings about Unclutter for OS X (US$2.99). On the one hand, it's a pretty cool idea. The app offers a pull-out "drawer" on your desktop that lets you store files, make notes, and view your clipboard. On the other, parts of the app are unintuitive to use and could stand some design improvements to enhance the user experience. To begin with, I struggled to get the app to respond until I realized that you could not just click and drag from the top of the screen. I needed to use the scroll wheel to entice the application window to appear. Once I mastered that, opening the app became an easy process. The window consists of three embedded panels, each of which you can pull out and let float on your desktop. When pulling out each window, the other items resize to accommodate. When you close them (incidentally Command-W does not work, you have to click on the close X buttons), they return to the pocket window. I'm not entirely sure why anyone would extract the component panels and I'm a little surprised the developer even offers this feature, but there you have it. You cannot, however, push normal Finder windows into the pocket (I tried).T With Unclutter, you can: Preview the contents of your clipboard (left) Store files into a central folder for easy access (middle) Make notes (right) The idea is that the app gives you this instant availability without taking up space on your desktop. In practice, the three sections feel disjointed, consisting of one strong utility (the file drawer) and two rather weak ones (the Notes and Clipboard preview). I wonder why they were merged together into a single app. The Clipboard preview does exactly what it says on the label. It shows whatever items you've copied to the system pasteboard. If you copy a picture, it shows the picture. If you copy text, the text. It does not, however, reflect any styling hints you've copied (all text is shown in the same common font) and if you copy multiple images, it just lists them. I was hard pressed to find a compelling reason why the developer included this feature, but it's there. As for the Notes section, the built-in OS X Notes app does a far better job and is accessible with just a few keystrokes (Command-Space, Notes, return). OS X Notes offers tabs, sharing, and search, none of which are part of the Unclutter interface. I'm guessing the developer hoped to provide a single quick "to do" central scribbling area and it does work for quick reference. I'm just thinking that, again, it's a superfluous feature that should have been trimmed, with the app focusing on file access. The strongest portion of the app is that file storage, offering a pull-out drawer with a quick file reference. For those who wish to keep their desktop clean, this is the best of the Unclutter uncluttering tools. You can drag your files in, and access them by opening the pocket window. It's a pity then that the other two utilities take up so much of that pocket space. As is, most people will struggle to put more than a half dozen to a dozen reference items in, even users with large screen real estate. The app offers no option to disable the notes or clipboard viewer, and if you drag them out of the pocket, they're stuck on your desktop, doing the opposite of uncluttering. Adding files to the pocket was another task I struggled with. And unlike the opening and closing of the pocket, one that came with no hints or instructions. In the end, I figured out two ways to add files. First, you can drag the file panel out to your finder and add items by drag and drop. But far easier (and discovered much later), I found you could just drag files to the menu bar (this opens the pocket window) and then pull back down below the menu bar to drop them into the file panel. When you copy items to the panel, they're stored in a rather obscure folder in your personal library, specifically: ~/Library/Containers/com.softwareambience.Unclutter/Data/Library/Application Support/Unclutter/FileStorage. This is part of the OS X sandboxing system. In testing, I created a test RTF file with an easy-to-distinguish name ("snickerdoodle") and added it to my drawer. I then allowed Spotlight to update indexing. When I attempted to search for it with Spotlight, it could not be found. This would not be as much of an issue if Unclutter created aliases and left the files in-place, but since the actual file moves into the FileStorage folder, its unfortunate location may cause side effects like this. Dragging the folder back to the desktop, immediately restored its entry in the Spotlight search. As utilities go, I think Unclutter has a pretty cool basic idea -- the pocket drawer that can be accessed with a simple mouse combination. I'm just unhappy with some of the implementation details on what is otherwise a promising concept.
Trends of launch game review scores across generations
It can be really interesting to look through a bunch of well-organized data even (especially) if there are no easy conclusions to be drawn from it. Gamasutra's gathering of historical Metacritic/Gamerankings review data for home console launch games is just such a collection of interesting, difficult to interpret numbers.Aggregated looks at review scores for the launches of systems from the PlayStation to the Wii U show that the PS3, Wii, and Wii U's launch games had the widest spread of review scores – a phenomenon we might attribute to the larger number of reviewing press outlets that were present for those launches.The average review score was highest for GameCube, and lowest for PlayStation. And surprisingly, the Wii U has almost as many US launch games as the most populated platform, the PS2. That's at least one auspicious statistic for the Wii U's launch lineup, even if many of the games in it are ports.
Today Weather is a tidy weather app for iPhone
Savvy Apps has released Today Weather (US$1.99), a great-looking weather app for the iPhone. It lets you monitor conditions across several cities via four distinct views. Nice touches like weather alerts, NOAA scale-compliant colors and clever navigation make Today Weather quite pleasant to use. Looks Weather apps are interesting to me in that I don't spend much time looking at them, yet I really like it when the look good. I'll use a Twitter client, Apple's Mail or a calendaring app many times per day. By contrast I'll check the weather once, maybe twice at the most. But a great-looking app -- and, more importantly, a legible app with simple navigation -- can make those two occurrences very pleasant. In short, Today Weather looks great. There are four views: seven-day forecast, current conditions, hourly forecast (across three days) and the dashboard. There's also a simple preferences screen. Note that the photos in my gallery below show the darker night view. During the day, all screens have a white background. %Gallery-173163% The seven-day screen shows an icon representing the day's predicted weather, a percentage chance of precipitation (if any is expected) and a clever bar graph showing each day's highs and/or lows (more on that later). The current conditions screen shows the current temp in big, bold numbers that are so easy to read. White on grey, top of the screen and above additional information like high and low, icon representing the current condition, chance of precipitation, wind speed and direction plus three hourly highs. You can also tap a map icon to jump to that city's location on a map. The hourly forecast presents a list view of each day's hourly temperature predictions, including sunrise and setting times. Finally, the dashboard shows each city's name, current time, weather icon, current temp plus high and low. That's a lot of information and Today Weather manages to present it in an orderly manner. None of this feels cluttered. Use Start by adding a city (or several) whose weather you'd like to track. You'll find an upward-facing arrow in the lower right-hand corner of most screens. Tap it to enter the dashboard editor. From here you can add a new city, delete the defaults or re-order them. You can even insert a new city between two existing ones, so it appears in your preferred order right off the bat. Nice. Once that's all set, tap any city to return to the dashboard. You can scroll up and down or tap any city to jump to its hourly forecast. From there, you've got two navigational choices. Swipe up or down to move through the hourly forecasts for each monitored city. For example, if you're watching the weather in Paris, LA and Scranton (it could happen), swiping up and down will toggle through the reports for Paris, LA and Scranton, respectively. Your other option is to swipe left and right. Left and right moves you between screens. For example, tap Scranton on the dashboard to open its hourly forecast screen, then swipe left for its current conditions screen and left again for its seven-day forecast. Again, swipe up and down on any screen to toggle between cities. Got it? The seven-day screen has a neat trick. Tap on the bar graph to toggle between highs and lows vs. highs alone. Another trick lets you move between screens by pinching. Not the fastest way to navigate, but fun. When a weather app offers so much, it's easy to want more. An animated radar map would be nice, for instance. But really, this is what I'm most interested in. Today Weather is available in the App Store now.
This Is the Modem World: Review Sites Are Broken
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. I'm about to walk into my favorite restaurant in the world. The food is yummy, healthy and fits my budget. The staff knows my name and rarely has to ask how I'd like something served. And the location couldn't be better. It's the perfect place. But before I can pass the threshold to nosh nirvana, a stranger on his way out gives me a sideways glance and whispers, "This place is horrible. Don't bother." This place? My place? The best restaurant on earth? How can this be? Perhaps something has changed. Did the chef leave? Is the cute hostess gone? Have I been wrong this whole time? But I have faith. I follow through, and the best restaurant in the world is still just that, just as I remembered.
Korg microKEY-25 keyboard lets musicians practice and perform anywhere
Although the iPad was initially thought of as a media consumption device, it quickly became a popular tool for musicians on the run. And while a lot of musicians quickly got the hang of playing on virtual keyboards on the screen, many others opted to wait for "real" keyboards (aka MIDI keyboard controllers) to appear to provide a much more natural interface. On the low end of the keyboard market is Korg's microKEY-25 (US$69.99), a tiny companion to the iPad that fits easily into a backpack or bag for easy transport. Read the review, and then enter our giveaway of this ultra-portable MIDI keyboard controller. Design Like the larger keyboards tested by TUAW in the past (see our review of the Samson Carbon 49 and Line 6 Mobile Keys 49 keyboards), the Korg microKEY-25 is USB bus-powered. Unlike the Line 6 keyboard that comes with a special cable, you'll need to purchase an Apple Camera Connection Kit ($29) in order to connect to the microKEY-25. If you're thinking about hooking it to a fourth-generation iPad, you'll also have to pick up a $29 Lightning to 30-pin adapter. To me, there's something seriously wrong about spending $58 plus sales tax to be able to use a $70 keyboard with a current generation iPad. You can, of course, use the microKEY-25 with any Mac as well. %Gallery-172400% The microKEY-25 weighs just 1.44 lbs. and takes up 15.25" x 4.75" x 1.5" of volume in your bag. As the name implies, there are 25 keys -- 15 white and 10 black. On the left side of the keyboard is a joystick that acts both as a pitch bend controller when moved in the X-axis (left or right) and to transmit control changes in the Y-axis (up or down). There are also buttons for the arpeggiator, sustain and octave up / down. Functionality Once you've made the USB connection, the microKEY-25 comes to life. There are no switches or toggles anywhere on the device; you plug it in and it's ready to use. The octave keys are used to switch up and down the keyboard to emulate a full 88-key keyboard -- tapping the down octave button repeatedly drops down four octaves, pressing the up button takes the keyboard above the standard octave by a maximum of four octaves. The buttons shift from dark when in the standard (middle) octave, to green, orange, red and then flashing red to indicate what octave you're currently in. Using the microKEY-25 with GarageBand on either the Mac or iPad was instantaneous. The microKEY-25 was immediately recognized by Garage Band, and I could start tapping out tunes immediately. The keyboard has a surprisingly good feel to it, although those who are used to playing on high-end equipment or "real" pianos will find them a little mushy. Those thinking about purchasing this little keyboard should remember that it only has 25 keys. For about $20 more, you could get Samson's Carbon 49 and get almost double the keys. That will keep you from having to constantly switch between octaves. However, you'll be losing the incredible portability of the microKEY-25. You don't have to use the microKEY-25 with Garage Band. Korg includes access to a free copy of its M1Le software, and licenses are included for "Applied Acoustics Systems' Strum Acoustic Session, Lounge Lizard Session and Ultra Analog Session as well as a license for Toontrack's software drum sound module EzDrummer Lite, and a discount coupon for Ableton's 'Live,' 'Live Suite' and 'Live LE' DAW software, widely popular for its sophisticated functionality." Conclusion Musicians looking for a tiny MIDI keyboard controller should be happy with the Korg microKEY-25. The lightweight and compact keyboard can go anywhere, and it's a perfect match for anyone who wants to do iPad-based music. Pros Very lightweight and compact, can be used almost anywhere Bus-powered, requires no recharging or batteries Good feel to the keys Excellent software suite included with the unit Cons 25-key layout requires constant switching between octaves To use with Lightning Connector-based devices, requires purchase of $58 worth of adapters Who is it for? Budding pianists or musicians who want to be able to carry a keyboard with them everywhere Giveaway And now we have a Korg microKEY-25 to give away to one lucky TUAW reader. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before December 2, 2012 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Korg microKEY-25 USB MIDI Keyboard Controller valued at $69.99. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Daily iPhone App: QatQi is a free word game that's different enough to try
QatQi is, I am almost sorry to say, a new word game on the App Store. To be quite honest, I'm tired of spelling things out on my iPad's screen. That's not to say that there aren't good word games out there. Spelltower and Puzzlejuice are two great recommendations, but it's easier than ever these days to get all word-gamed out. I still recommend QatQi. It doesn't exactly transcend its word game roots. It has a lot in common with crossword puzzles, which are some of the oldest word games out there, but it's stylish and well-designed enough that it's worth downloading and playing a few levels to see if you like it. As you can see in the video below, the biggest twist is that you're building words on a limited playing space. Not only do you need to arrange your letters in the right order, but you need to do so within a confined grid, trying to earn as many points as possible. QatQi (pronounced "cat-key") is free, which makes it all the more appetizing. There's a lot of content too: One puzzle for every day in a year, which is very impressive. The app's paid for with in-app purchases in the form of undos, but I found that there were plenty of free undos to be had before I had to spend anything. Even if you're as burned out on word games as I am, QatQi's still worth a look.
Algoriddim's vjay for iPhone puts video mixing in the palm of your hand
With the ridiculous number of photo manipulation apps available for the iPhone, it's sometimes easy to forget that Apple's smartphone can actually be a powerful video editing platform as well. Developer Algoriddim aims to prove this by bringing its popular iPad video mashup app, vjay, to the iPhone, along with all of the bells and whistles of its bigger brother. If you didn't catch our original vjay review for the tablet, let me give you a refresher: The app's marquee feature is the ability to mix multiple videos together into mashups. While the app records your work, you can use real-time transition effects to swap between whatever two clips you happen to be using. You can loop sections of video or music, manipulate colors and tweak the audio of your work on the fly. You can also set up multiple cue points to make sure your video matches exactly what you had in mind. The number of options vjay presents to you is somewhat staggering at first, and it actually takes a fair bit of time to get a handle on just what the app is capable of. You can use the included music videos and montage clips in your work, grab your own video clips from your camera roll or even snag licensed videos from the iTunes store right from within the app itself. In short, you have a ridiculous number of options and starting points with which to craft something great. With the comparatively small screens size of the iPhone, compared to tablet, the tools you have to work with do feel considerably more compact on the screen. Thankfully, the app is laid out in such a way that you'll always know what tools are at your disposal. In portait mode, the app will switch back and forth between each of the source video clips in the source window depending on which is being used the most. When you flip your iPhone on its side, the app displays both source clips in the background with your work up front. The best thing about vjay is that it's almost impossible to fail at creating something cool. As you fade one video out and the other dominates the screen, with the pixelated visual touch you previously added, and your favorite song playing over it all, you'll feel like you created a masterpiece. In reality, it's the app that's doing the hard work, but we won't tell anyone if you don't. Once your mashup is complete, you can share it via YouTube and Facebook, or even toss it up on the big screen using an output cable, or wirelessly through Apple TV. As you might imagine, vjay demands a lot from your device, and as such it is currently only supported on iPhone 4S and 5. The pint-sized version of the app is currently on sale on the App Store for US$4.99, but only for a limited time, so video junkies be warned!
Ask Massively: Reviewing and re-reviewing MMOs
Back in September, Star Trek Online Producer Daniel Stahl gave an interview that proposed to tell game journalists how to do their jobs. That's only fair; we're always telling developers how to do their jobs, right? Stahl told [a]listdaily, "The whole game rating business doesn't necessarily do a great justice to MMOs. MMOs are designed to grow over time and get better with every major release. It might be better if sites like Metacritic could find a way to rate MMOs by releases instead of just the initial day one . . . There are plenty of MMOs that have made huge strides since day one and some that have even gotten worse. Until then, we will continue to offer the game for free and ask for people to try it out and decide for themselves." Quipped Massively reader Matthew12, "If only there were MMO gaming blogs and websites that keep up to date with the MMOs and their updates... oh wait; there are."
iHouseWatcher is a great idea with flawed execution
iHouseWatcher is a free, 4 channel house monitor that that's ready to work with a Mac or PC with a webcam, or an iOS device you're willing to leave at home. I downloaded the universal app to my iPad and my iPhone. After creating a free account, I identified my iPad up as the camera, left the house, logged in with my iPhone and received video and audio from home. Clever. Now on to the drawbacks. First, the iPad must be in portrait mode, or the picture was not oriented correctly. Also, the video feed looked fine on the local iPad, but was rotated sideways on my iPhone. The app only recognizes the iPad's front-facing, lower resolution camera. Not good. iHouseWatcher is ad supported, which is fine, but its ads are intrusive. In fact, I had to endure a noisy video ad when I first logged in. You can dismiss the video, but it is still a pain. Sadly, there is no paid version available so you can't forego the ads. You can go to the iHouseWatcher website and see your video from any browser, which is a good idea. There are Mac or PC clients as well. You can also initiate a two-way video chat between devices. iHouseWatcher is a really good idea, but it's weighed down with some software bugs and those aggravating ads. I think a reasonably priced ad-free version with a few bug fixes would be a winner. There is built-in help and more detail on the company website. For my own video security I use the terrific and inexpensive iCam app, and both a separate IP camera and the iSight camera on my computer. TUAW Editor Kelly Hodgkins likes the Loftek cameras and an iOS app called Total Control Multicam 8 which is available at the app store. The app requires iOS 5.0 or later. You'll find screenshots in the gallery below. %Gallery-170110%
iPad mini reviews roundup (updated)
The rest of us will have to wait until Friday, but a few lucky reviewers have already gotten their hands on the iPad mini to give it a test run. Here's what journalists and tech bloggers have to say about the svelte mini: Jim Dalrymple at The Loop: I was wrong. I have wondered publicly whether or not a smaller tablet would fit into my workflow and even suggested the larger iPad would be better. I was wrong... I went to a local big box retailer and used every tablet they had in the store, including Microsoft's new Surface. The difference was immediately clear. The quality of these other tablets is so inferior to what Apple manufactures that they felt like plastic toys in your hands... I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for." The iPad mini is a perfect example of that. If you want to save $50 and buy a cheap-ass tablet, go ahead. If you want quality the iPad mini will be waiting for you when you come to your senses. Tim Stevens for Engadget: This isn't just an Apple tablet made to a budget. This isn't just a shrunken-down iPad. This is, in many ways, Apple's best tablet yet, an incredibly thin, remarkably light, obviously well-constructed device that offers phenomenal battery life. No, the performance doesn't match Apple's latest and yes, that display is a little lacking in resolution, but nothing else here will leave you wanting. At $329, this has a lot to offer over even Apple's more expensive tablets. Joshua Topolsky for The Verge: The iPad mini is an excellent tablet - but it's not a very cheap one. Whether that's by design, or due to market forces beyond Apple's control, I can't say for sure. I can't think of another company that cares as much about how its products are designed and built - or one that knows how to maximize a supply chain as skillfully - so something tells me it's no accident that this tablet isn't selling for $200. It doesn't feel like Apple is racing to some lowest-price bottom - rather it seems to be trying to raise the floor. ...And it does raise the floor here. There's no tablet in this size range that's as beautifully constructed, works as flawlessly, or has such an incredible software selection. Would I prefer a higher-res display? Certainly. Would I trade it for the app selection or hardware design? For the consistency and smoothness of its software, or reliability of its battery? Absolutely not. And as someone who's been living with (and loving) Google's Nexus 7 tablet for a few months, I don't say that lightly. David Pogue for The New York Times: Over all, the mini gives you all the iPad goodness in a more manageable size, and it's awesome. You could argue that the iPad mini is what the iPad always wanted to be. MG Siegler of TechCrunch: The iPad mini isn't perfect - for one reason [the lack of a Retina screen] in particular - but it's damn close to my ideal device. In my review of the Nexus 7 (which I really liked, to the shock of many), I kept coming back to one thing: the form-factor. Mix this with iOS and Apple's app ecosystem and the intangibles I spoke about earlier and the iPad mini is an explosion of handheld joy ...But how will a $329 tablet fare in a world of $199 tablets? It's hard to know for sure, but my guess would be in the range of "quite well" to "spectacular." Walt Mossberg for The Wall Street Journal/All Things D: In shrinking the iconic iPad, Apple has pulled off an impressive feat. It has managed to create a tablet that's notably thinner and lighter than the leading small competitors with 7-inch screens, while squeezing in a significantly roomier 7.9-inch display. And it has shunned the plastic construction used in its smaller rivals to retain the iPad's sturdier aluminum and glass body. ...I've been testing the iPad mini for several days and found it does exactly what it promises: It brings the iPad experience to a smaller device. Every app that ran on my larger iPad ran perfectly on the mini. I was able to use it one-handed and hold it for long periods of time without tiring. My only complaints were that it's a tad too wide to fit in most of my pockets, and the screen resolution is a big step backwards from the Retina display on the current large iPad. John Gruber at Daring Fireball: If the Mini had a Retina display, I'd switch from the iPad 3 in a heartbeat. As it stands, I'm going to switch anyway. Going non-Retina is a particularly bitter pill for me, but I like the iPad mini's size and weight so much that I'm going to swallow it. My guess is that this is going to play out much like the iPod and iPod mini back in 2004: the full-size model will continue to sell strongly, but the mini is going to become the bestselling model. Ed Baig for USA Today: The smaller form changes the way you approach the tablet. I've never hesitated to travel with the bigger iPad. It's terrific for reading, watching movies and playing games on an airplane - but given a choice, before a road trip I would now more likely grab the little guy. It's the right size for immersing yourself in a novel. Held sideways, it's simple to bang out an email with your fingers. ... Despite a few quibbles and strong competitors in the space, the Mini is a splendid choice for folks who held off buying an iPad because it was too large or too expensive. Scott Stein of CNET: If the iPad Mini had a Retina display, a newer A6 processor, and a slightly lower price, it would be the must-have Apple gadget of the year. Even without that, it's still incredibly appealing. ...I'm not sure who the iPad mini is for. The budget-minded, perhaps, or kids, or those who want a second iPad. Businesses that want a more portable onsite iPad. People who want to mount an iPad in their vehicles. Actually, I guess I know exactly who the iPad mini is for. With iOS having such reach, this is another use case, another form. It's as simple as that. The iPad mini probably isn't for everyone, and that's exactly the point. Like the iPod and Nano, it's another style for another crowd. I will say this: when you see it, you'll desire it. Just remind yourself you may not need it. Harry McCracken of TIME: Aesthetically, the 7-inchers are all nice considering their price. The mini is nice, period. It's glass on the front and aluminum on the back, and at least as deluxe-feeling as any other iPad Apple has ever made. But the company didn't quite stick an iPad in a photocopier and press the Reduce button. ...If your budget's got more wiggle room, the iPad mini is the best compact-sized tablet on the market. Apple didn't build yet another bargain-basement special; it squeezed all of the big iPad's industrial-design panache, software polish and third-party apps, and most of its technology, into a smaller thinner, lighter, lower-priced model. The result may be a product in a category of one - but I have a hunch it's going to be an awfully popular category. Clayton Morris for Fox News: It's just a runty iPad, but the new iPad mini somehow manages to establish its very own identity. ... With stellar hardware and hundreds of thousands of apps, the iPad is the Kleenex of facial tissue. The Tivo of DVRs. It has all the perks of using an iOS device: AppStore, iMessages, FaceTime, etc. Bloomberg's Rich Jaroslovsky: Apple's most important products created their own markets: People didn't know they wanted or needed an iPhone until Steve Jobs & Co. showed it to them. The iPad mini, by contrast, is an attempt to follow competitors rather than find a new audience. Amazon.com's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7, to name two, have shown that users want something smaller than the 9.7-inch screen that's been on every iPad until now. Which isn't to say Apple has compromised the iPad experience. For the most part, it has simply shrunk it.... Which raises the question: How much is Apple's superiority in software and content worth to you? How about $130?... I can tell you the iPad mini is the best small tablet you can buy. The question you'll have to answer for yourself is whether it's that much better. Vincent Nguyen for SlashGear ... The iPad mini is a product that's resolutely "Apple": it distills the essentials of the 9.7-inch iPad – iOS app compatibility, multimedia functionality, premium build quality, and comprehensive connectivity – without diluting them to unnecessarily meet a budget price point the company has no real interest in achieving. ... ... What it also means is that the iPad mini isn't the iPad you buy simply because you can't necessarily afford the larger iPad with Retina display. There are legitimate arguments for the smaller model, not undermined by flimsy construction or compromised capabilities. ... In the end, it's about an overall package, an experience which Apple is offering. Not the fastest tablet, nor the cheapest, nor the one that prioritizes the most pixel-dense display, but the one with the lion's share of tablet applications, the integration with the iOS/iTunes ecosystem, the familiarity of usability and, yes, the brand cachet. That's a compelling metric by which to judge a new product, and it's a set of abilities that single the iPad mini out in the marketplace. If the iPad with Retina display is the flagship of Apple's tablet range, then the iPad mini is the everyman model, and it's one that will deservedly sell very well.
Note Anytime helps make notes easy and elegant
There are quite a few note-taking apps for the iPad, but I have to say Note Anytime has features that are compelling. Notes can be as simple as writing on a legal pad, or more complex with images, hand-drawn illustrations, diagrams and documents that can be helpful in anything from project planning to creating an ad campaign. The app is free for now, although there are a host of add-ons that range from US$0.99 to $6.99. None are necessary to use the app in powerful ways, but some may want the enhancements, like different patterns for papers or more artistic calligraphic fonts. %Gallery-167922% The app includes a series of introductory videos and extensive help, which really are needed, because to get the benefits of this app, you can't just sit down and hack away. Learning the app is a small price to pay for the power it gives you. Once you have your page or background chosen, you can start to type notes using the keyboard or you can use your finger as a pen. This is very accurate compared to other apps I've tried. The text looks like my writing, which is something I haven't seen in some other similar apps. You can import many elements to your notes, even web pages or PDFs. You can get images from your camera rol, or use the iPad camera from inside the app. You can export your notes email, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, to the photo album or print directly if you have AirPrint-compatible hardware. Some negatives: The handwriting can sometimes lag a bit, while the pixels are smoothing. I'd like to see the ability to turn my handwriting into text, perhaps as an in-app purchase. I'd also like to be able to record audio from within the app, or even shoot a quick video. As mentioned above, the app takes time to learn. It is not very intuitive, and sometimes next steps are not obvious until you've used the app awhile. That said, this app is great for note-taking during a meeting. I would have loved to have it when I was in college. If all this sparks your interest, I would grab Note Anytime while it is free. There are plenty of note-taking apps out there, most are four to five dollars or more. It's hard to describe what the notes produced can look like, so check the gallery for some screen shots. Note Anytime requires an iPad and iOS 5 or greater.
Prez Elect USA for iOS will let you run your own political campaign
Just in time for the political season, Prez Elect USA is a universal iOS game that allows you to choose your party and then campaign across the U.S. looking for electoral votes. You can try to get good press, make lots of speeches, engage in debates and raise money. The game is time limited, so you only have a certain amount of time to win. The game moves fast as you and your opponent compete for electoral votes. There is music and a variety of sound effects to enhance gameplay. The game seems short on strategy and long on moving quickly to secure each state. Playing it, I felt I was racing against the clock, rather than trying to make the best moves to get elected. I think this might be a good game for young players to introduce them to how our political system works, but it lacks detail and the kind of random events that can make the simulation feel real. The game is US$1.99, and offers a $0.99 and $1.99 in-app purchase to provide more campaign resources and a professional speech writer. I believe these features should be included in the game, not an extra cost item. Prez Elect USA is a clever idea. I wold have liked to see it offer a better, more detailed simulation, something along the lines of SimCity in terms of variety and randomness, but for a youngster it's a fun way to introduce our every four year election process. %Gallery-162364%
WSJ: Google set to acquire Frommer's from Wiley, add trusted travel reviews
Just one year after its Zagat acquisition, Google has made a move on another trusted lifestyle brand. John Wiley & Sons Inc., the current owner of the Frommer's network of travel sites and guide books, confirmed the Mountain View acquisition, with a closing expected shortly. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google hasn't made a call concerning Frommer's printed guidebooks, which don't necessarily fall in line with the company's otherwise online-only model. It's also unclear whether or not the new content arm will fall under Zagat's leadership, though a department executive did comment on the acquisition in an interview, saying that Google planned to keep Frommer's on its current path for the time being. Neither company was able to confirm pricing for the buyout, which could help Google boost its reviews portfolio, backing user-submitted travel content with professional credibility. Full details are at the source link below. Update: As it turns out, Google will reportedly be keeping the print staff on board, moving the team to its NYC offices. Online editors are less fortunate, however, with layoffs having already begun.
Toshiba Satellite U845W review: an Ultrabook with a screen size all its own
More Info Toshiba outs Satellite U845W Ultrabook with 14.4-inch, 21:9 display (updated: $999 and up in the US) The Ultrabooks of Computex 2012 Toshiba bows out of netbooks in the US, sees Ultrabooks as the wave of the future Ultrabooks now come in countless shapes and sizes, and we've seen display quality vary just as much. Though 1,366 x 768 may still be the norm, 1,600 x 900 panels aren't unheard of in this ultraportable category. But what about a screen that bucks the 16:9 aspect ratio for an extra-wide 21:9? Toshiba is mixing things up with its new premium Satellite U845W Ultrabook ($1,000 and up), the first laptop to feature that odd aspect ratio. Styled in the fashion of movie theater screens, the U845W's 14.4-inch, 1,792 x 768 panel adds more horizontal pixels -- ostensibly to enhance the movie-watching experience. In theory, too, that setup should allow for more room to multitask with windows side by side. So how good of an idea is a 21:9 screen in practice? Join us as we put it to the test. %Gallery-161861%
Checkmark for iPhone now available, simplifies reminders
Checkmark for iPhone, a new reminder app from Snowman, is now available. The app was teased earlier this month and is in the App Store for an introductory price of US$0.99. As I said before, Checkmark makes it easy to create location- and time-based reminders. Here's a look at Checkmark for iPhone. Looks Checkmark presents two main screens: Where and When. The former is your starting point for location-based reminders. It offers a 3x3 grid of icons representing your oft-visited locations. It's greyscale and the custom icons are easily recognized. You can re-order them as you wish with a function similar to "jiggle mode" in iOS. Tap and hold on any icon and they start to shake. Flip the Where screen over to view outstanding vs. completed tasks, or tap the location icon in the upper right-hand corner to add a new location from the map, your current position or from among your contacts. What's very cool is that Checkmark keeps your location-based tasks sorted by distance, starting from your current location. So, as you move through town, you can see which tasks you're closest -- geographically -- to completing. The When screen provides a list of time-based reminders, sorted by due date. Again, it's legible and you can flip between outstanding and completed tasks. My only complaint is due to an old habit. To exit Checkmark's "jiggle mode," you tap a Done button. I often hit the Home button, exiting the app. A little practice will cure that behavior. Use As I said, you can create two types of reminders with Checkmark: location-based and time-based. Let's start with location-based. But first, tell me if this scenario sounds familiar. "Hey honey, go to the post office after you get the kids from the bus." "Yep, no problem." Later, at the bus stop: Angry Birds Talking with neighbors Greet the kids Discuss macaroni jewelry, pros and cons Deflect requests for playdate/candy Get in car, drive home, with no recollection of promise to visit the post office Trouble Apple extended a hand to forgetful folks like me in the form of location-based reminders. Its developers figured out to put a "geo fence" around a location and trigger a reminder once a user's phone moves beyond it. It's brilliant. Siri is the obvious front end for Apple's Reminders app (though not the only one), and I find that, for whatever reason, Siri dislikes my voice and transcribes my speech incorrectly more often than not. I can create a reminder manually, of course, but Checkmark is so much faster. After dropping a pin on the location of the bus stop and naming it "Bus Stop," it's always available. Now I can simply tap the icon, add "check mail" upon departure, hit Save and I'm good. Of course, there's more. A notes filed let's me add task-specific information (like "Ask about packages" or "Buy commemorative Hello Kitty stamps") and a timer offers precise control over exactly when the notification will trigger: 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes after arrival or departure. That's pretty cool. You can even give Checkmark a radius to work with. For example, alert me when I'm within 100 feet of the destination. Other options include 150, 300, 800 or 1,600 feet. Creating a time-based reminder is just as snappy. Hit the "+" to begin, add your title and any notes and then choose the date and time. Click Save and you're done. There are a few settings to be aware of. You can choose between miles and kilometers and adjust sensitivity, or "accuracy" of location services. By default, Checkmark uses Normal accuracy. By flipping the switch to Best, you get a more precise reading but at the cost of additional battery drain. In my testing, Normal works fine and I suggest keeping in there. Finally, you can switch reminders, alerts, text alerts and badge counts on or off. Conclusion Checkmark is a good way to go. It looks good and niceties like icons, the timer and control over the size of the geofence are super handy. Those of you who, like me, depend a whole lot on receiving timely reminders would do well to check out Checkmark. Get it now for the sale price.
mophie goes pro with new 2500 mAh juice pack PRO for iPhone 4/4S
Imagine an iPhone case that gives you not only a healthy 2500 mAh battery pack, but also all of the incredible protection you'd find in a LifeProof or OtterBox case. There's no need to fantasize about this ultimate iPhone case, because it's now available in the mophie juice pack PRO (US$129.95). Read on for a full TUAW review, and then stick around to enter our giveaway for this new case. Review mophie is grabbing bragging rights with the PRO, which has the largest battery pack they've ever built into one of their iPhone cases and exceeds MIL-STD 810G for splash, rain, sand, dust, impact and drop, and vibration and shock protection. Since you might not want to have this bulky (1.02 inches thick) case in your pocket, it comes equipped with a 360° rotating belt clip for hands-free carrying. The case itself is wrapped in a rubberized material for both good gripping and impact protection, with an internal hard shell that also includes integrated screen protection, a pass-through home button, and a watertight speaker cover. The juice pack PRO weighs 5.4 ounces without the belt clip; the clip adds another 2.3 ounces. %Gallery-160346% All of the ports have watertight seals that close over them, all that much better for keeping the iPhone dry when the rain is pouring down. It's not waterproof; you won't want to go scuba diving with your iPhone in a juice pack PRO. But if you spend a lot of time outdoors and want something that's going to keep your pride and joy safe in the rain or when you're scrambling up a mountain trail, this is the case for you. As with the other juice pack cases, charging of the battery pack is accomplished through a USB to micro-USB cable. In normal usage, the iPhone is charged first, with the battery pack being topped off next. The PRO also has the four standard white LEDs on the bottom to give you an idea of charge level (from personal experience, those LEDs also makes a great emergency flashlight). I use a mophie juice pack air and usually wait until my iPhone battery is below 10 percent of capacity before switching on the mophie's power. You can keep the mophie in standby mode like I do, or keep it on and let it supply all of the power to your iPhone. The juice pack PRO comes fully assembled, which gives you some good practice disassembling the device prior to first use. I found that it was easiest to pry the rubberized material away from the hard shell near the iPhone's volume button, and then work around the device pulling it off. Once that's done, pulling off the bottom of the hard shell (where the Dock connector resides) makes it easy to split the screen cover and battery pack apart. Reassembling the case with your iPhone does this in reverse order -- you "stack" the battery pack and your iPhone, then snap the screen cover and plastic shell down over the phone. Snap in the base, and then wrap the rubberized cover over it all, and you're ready to go. Conclusion mophie continues to come out with new products that are extremely well-built and functional, and the juice pack PRO is the latest example of the company's innovation. The juice pack PRO is a worthy competitor to the OtterBox Defender series in terms of protection, but adds a 2500 mAh battery to the mix that the Defender lacks. Pros Powerful battery pack can add hours to the use of your iPhone 4S MIL-STD construction provides protection from shock, drops, impacts, dust, splashes, and other mishaps Rubberized exterior is easy to grip, even with wet or sweaty hands Belt clip holds the case securely Cons Bulky, definitely not pocketable Can be a challenge to install and remove Who is it for? Anyone who wants the ultimate in protection for their iPhone 4/4S, but also wants additional battery life. This is the perfect case for anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors. Giveaway And now the thing you've all been waiting for -- the giveaway! To enter, just fill out the form below completely, and we'll pick a winner through a random drawing. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before July 15, 2012 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a mophie juice pack PRO valued at US$129.95 Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
Stereophile Recommended Components for 2012 free for iPad
If you know anything about high-end audio gear, you know about Stereophile. Founded in 1962, it has become the bible of the high-end with in-depth reviews of equipment and music. Each year Stereophile publishes its list of recommended components, and now that issue, Stereophile Recommended Components 2012, is free on the iPad as an app. Of course much of the gear is expensive -- like speakers systems selling for many thousands of dollars -- but you can work your way down in price and sonic accuracy, and usually find quality items you can afford. The iPad app is complete, with mini reviews on hundreds of components, from turntables (remember those?) to headphones to amps and pre-amps. Many of the capsules link to full reviews with an online link. Even the Apple iPod classic gets pretty good marks for audio quality and the ability to play many different audio formats. If you're into high-end gear, or just want to lust after things you can't afford, I recommend the Stereophile iPad app. Of course I have a couple of quibbles. The app works in portrait mode only, which is really silly since many people are using their iPads in landscape mode. This app shouldn't force a choice. It's especially irritating if you are using a landscape iPad stand or case. Second, page turns require using a small arrow key at the bottom of the app. It would be a lot nicer if the app supported swiping turns so you can graze more naturally among all that great content. Having said that, the Stereophile app is a great resource, and if you are into high-end audio it's a must have. The app is a 6 MB download and requires iOS 5 or later. %Gallery-159100%
