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TUAW on social, podcasts and more
Just a reminder as we start the new year that we have an active Twitter account, a hoppin' Facebook page, our very own Tumblr (where the weird stuff goes), and Google+ and App.net pages. You can sign up for our daily app newsletter using the box to the right (cleverly labeled "Subscribe to Newsletter") or contact us via our feedback page. You can get our Daily Updates on Stitcher, or listen to our Talkcast or 1:1 podcast on iTunes. We even have a YouTube channel with all the weekly videos posted, including TUAW TV Live. No, we're not on Myspace, Bebo or even Instagram or Pinterest, but should we be? Let us know what we're missing with social in the comments below, and have a great 2014!
TUAW Editor's Choice Award Winners for 2013
Today is the last day of 2013, which means that it is time to announce the TUAW Editor's Choice Awards. This is a compendium of the best of the best, the apps and physical products that we felt best represented the top of a specific category. Some of the products are brand-new, others are old favorites, but all of them earned a place in our list. You probably have favorites that we didn't include in our list, so feel free to use the comments below to add your own "best of" items for 2013. Happy New Year! iPad Accessory -- Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air With the release of the thinner, lighter iPad Air from Apple this year, Logitech somehow managed to make the popular Ultrathin Keyboard Cover even more svelte. At this time, it's simply the best keyboard available for the newest iPad. Long battery life, easy pairing and lightweight, durable construction make this the top iPad accessory for 2013. (US$99.99, available in black or white) Steve Sande Sleeve/Case -- (Tie) DODOcase Durables Sleeve / Pad & Quill Aria Case If you're just looking for en-route protection for a naked iPad of any vintage, you can't go wrong with the DODOcase Durables Sleeves ($69.95 for full-size iPads, $59.95 for iPad mini). Stylish, thin and protective, these waxed canvas and twill sleeves are well-made. For more complete protection and propping up your iPad Air or mini, there's simply nothing better than Pad & Quill's Aria Case. The luxury of leather, subtle embossments and Pad & Quill's durable and beautiful Baltic Birch frames make this the Mona Lisa of iPad cases and an instant classic. ($129.99 for iPad Air, $99.99 for iPad mini) Steve Sande Game App -- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Grand Theft Auto San Andreas may have originally released for the PlayStation 2 way back in 2004, but its triumphant return to the modern gaming landscape via the iPhone was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2013. Yes, the year was filled with Candy Crushes and Clashes of Clans, but this saga of crime, tragedy and redemption simply can't be missed. ($6.99, universal) Mike Wehner Music App -- AudioPhile Music Player I like the high-quality music playback that AudioPhile Music Player offers for headphone users. It also sounds great on external Bluetooth speakers. (Free, iPhone app also available) Mel Martin Photo App -- FaceTune We had a lot of fun with FaceTune earlier this year thanks to its ability to perform digital portrait makeovers. In a crowded app genre, it stood out for its ease of use and surprisingly powerful tool selection, and for its ability to make mugshots look like glamour shots. ($3.99, iPhone app available for $2.99) Mike Wehner Productivity App -- DeskConnect The ease with which DeskConnect lets you transfer files, links or contacts from iPad to computer or between iOS devices is a wonder. (Free, universal and for Mac) Mike Rose Social Networking App -- Flipboard Flipboard turns your favorite social network content and news sources into an easy-to-read magazine made just for your iPad. (Free, universal) Kelly Hodgkins Utility App -- Delivery Status Touch Delivery Status Touch tracks multiple packages from multiple sources and looks great on the large screen of the iPad. ($4.99, universal) Kelly Hodgkins Video App -- TwitchTV TwitchTV is a website for watching people play video games live and chatting with the broadcasters, and its popularity is skyrocketing. The TwitchTV app has seen some serious growing pains, but in the second half of 2013, a few key updates have helped it evolve from frustrating to fantastic. If you had previously given up on the app, give it another try and you'll be blown away. (Free, universal) Mike Wehner iPhone Accessory -- Motrr Galileo Despite growing pains as a Kickstarter project, Motrr's polished Galileo robotic iPhone mount shipped this year and it was worth waiting for. A growing number of photography apps work with the Galileo to provide precise motion control of the iPhone. It's the perfect companion to another Editor's Choice Award winner for 2013 -- Sphere: 360 Camera. ($149.95) Steve Sande Case/Sleeve -- Mophie Juice Pack Helium I have reviewed hundreds of iPhone cases, but the one I use every single day is the Mophie Juice Pack Helium. The iPhone 5 version of this classic battery case works with the iPhone 5s, providing plenty of power to go for those days when your iPhone use goes a little crazy... ($79.95, also available with more capacity as the Juice Pack Air ($99.95) or Juice Pack Plus ($119.95) Steve Sande Game App -- QuizUp QuizUp's claim to be the biggest trivia game in the world certainly seems to have become reality, with the free app (with in-app purchases) taking over the hearts and, more importantly, minds of the App Store faithful. With a whopping 150,000 questions spanning 280 topics, there's something here for everyone. Mike Wehner Music App -- Rdio With personalized music service, new "stations" feature (which works great in my experience) and streaming that almost never stalls out, Rdio is my favorite music experience on the iPhone. (Free, universal, with in-app purchases) Dave Caolo Navigation App -- Navigon Still the best of the navigation apps, although there are many to choose from. Onboard maps, Google search and Street View and integration with the Garmin HUD make Navigon the best of breed. (Price varies depending on country/region, universal, with in-app purchases) Mel Martin Photo App -- Sphere: 360 Camera Whether you're "connecting the dots" to take a manual spherical image with your iOS device or using a Motrr Galileo robotic mount to do the snapping for you automatically, the Sphere: 360 Camera app brings a whole new meaning to panoramic photography. An update this week brought "brushstroke recording" to the app for even more fun. Creating immersive, wrap-around images that anyone can view is a winner. (Free, universal) Steve Sande Productivity App -- OmniFocus 2 Last September, The Omni Group released OmniFocus 2 for the iPhone, and there was much rejoicing. It looks fantastic on iOS 7 and continues to be my go-to project manager. ($19.99, separate iPad app available for $39.99) Dave Caolo Social Networking App -- Tweetbot 3 Tweetbot 3 is the iOS 7-optimized version of arguably the most powerful Twitter client available on iPhone and iPad. ($4.99, Tweetbot 2 available for iPad for $2.99) Kelly Hodgkins Utility App -- DeskConnect No AirDrop between iOS and OS X? No problem! DeskConnect manages this magic, works perfectly and is free. I use it almost daily. Did I mention that it's free? Dave Caolo Video App -- Vine When Vine launched in January nobody really knew what to make of it, but in the months since its debut, it has blossomed into a massive social force. Its brief, GIF-like video format has become a standard for self-expression and it's showing no signs of slowing down. (Free) Mike Wehner Mac Accessory -- Audioengine D3 DAC A relatively reasonable way to improve the audio coming from your Mac, the Audioengine D3 is a high-quality DAC (digital to analog converter) that plugs into a USB port and lets your music come alive. ($189) Mel Martin Peripheral -- Logitech Easy-Switch Bluetooth Keyboard What's better than a really great backlit Bluetooth keyboard for Mac? How about a backlit Bluetooth keyboard that can also link to two iOS devices (think iPad Air and iPad mini) and switch between the three devices with the push of a button. The Logitech Easy-Switch Bluetooth Keyboard has it all, and is simply one of the best keyboards I've ever used. ($99.99) Steve Sande Game App -- BioShock Infinite BioShock Infinite is a ridiculously fantastic game that bridges first-person shooter mechanics with action and a story that will bend your mind. It's being offered on the Mac App Store for a rock-bottom price of $19.99, which will leave you feeling like a thief. Play it, and you won't regret it. Mike Wehner Music App -- Anytune Anytune is a music practice app that allows you to import music from your iTunes library, adjust the pitch and tempo with great detail -- without affecting sound quality -- and select and mark certain parts of the song to loop for focused practicing. ($29.99) Kelly Hodgkins Photo App -- Photomatix Now at version 5.0, Photomatix still leads the field for processing of high-dynamic range (HDR) photos. There are a least half a dozen similar apps for the Mac, but Photomatix trumps them all. ($99 for Photomatix Pro, $39 for Photomatix Essentials) Mel Martin Productivity App -- Dragon Dictate 3 Recently updated for OS X Mavericks, Dragon Dictate 3 is the standard-bearer for voice dictation. Apple has added very sophisticated speech recognition to OS X, but nothing is as powerful or accurate as Dragon Dictate. You can even play a digital file of speech into it and it transcribes it quite well. ($179.99) Mel Martin Social Networking App -- MenuTab Pro for Facebook MenuTab Pro for Facebook sits in your menu bar, providing instant access to your Facebook account. The app's outstanding feature is its notifications that allow you to see whether you have a new friend request, new wall post or new message. ($1.99) Kelly Hodgkins Utility App -- Shush A cough button for your Mac, so that you can mute yucky noises when recording audio. Shush works in FaceTime, iChat, Skype, Podcast Capture and more. I recently used it during the Talkcast, and it blocked every snuffle and cough! ($2.99) Mike Rose Video App -- MPlayerX MPlayerX ranks up there with VLC as a must-have playback app. It bundles up the FFmpeg and MPlayer libraries, enabling it to handle a wide range of media codecs without requiring you to install anything extra on your machine. (Free) Kelly Hodgkins Multi-platform Headphones -- JBL Synchros S700 JBL has nailed balanced, neutral headphones with the Synchros S700. These are comfortable, sturdy and built for anyone who appreciates clear, balanced audio. A special LiveStage audio enhancer, when activated, adds even more brightness to recorded audio. ($349.95) Victor Agreda, Jr. Speakers -- Wren V5BT and V5AP Hands-down, Wren's V5 speakers are the best-looking high-end speakers I've seen all year. The AirPlay-compatible V5AP and Bluetooth-friendly V5BT speakers don't come cheap at $399, but provide awesome sound and complement any decor. Save your pennies and buy one; you'll be very happy you did. ($399) Steve Sande
Daily Update for December 23, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get some of the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the player at the top of the page. The Daily Update has been moved to a new podcast host in the past few days. Current listeners should delete the old podcast subscription and subscribe to the new feed in the iTunes Store here.
Changes at TUAW for 2014
Season's greetings to all our readers! I wanted to thank you for being a part of our community, and share a few updates with you about our plans for TUAW in 2014. During the Christmas and New Year's weeks, expect the pace of posts on the site to slow down. We're working behind the scenes (and taking time off for the holidays in between) to make some changes. Starting this week (12/23), we're transitioning to a more reliable schedule for posting stories. Every day, a few times each day, we'll post news roundups. If a story is particularly important, we'll post outside of these windows, but we feel that our sister sites TechCrunch and Engadget do a really good job on breaking news stories, so there's no use in re-inventing the wheel. We're also looking to do more reviews in 2014, because we love creators! Seriously, we do love reviewing apps and hardware, so look for more of this in 2014. We're also going to bring you more how-to's, video and audio delivered on a regular schedule; all on tap for the new year. We'll have plenty of topical feature stories and in-depth analysis -- all of which you'll be able to find easily each day. I can't talk about some of the secret projects we're working on, but have you had a listen to the TUAW 1-to-1 podcast? We recently changed our newsletter frequency from weekly to daily, and it now covers all apps and app news (still only five stories a day, M-F). I should point out that the newsletter won't be running for this week due to our limited holiday schedule. Like many other sites that depend on ad revenue for their continued operation, AOL Tech's sites (Engadget, TechCrunch, etc.) no longer provide a full-content RSS feed. This change to RSS includes TUAW. It also helps us combat scrapers, which had become a huge problem. We realize this is inconvenient for those of you who prefer to interact with TUAW solely through our RSS feed, but I encourage you to check out the full site once in a while, and keep us in business. Lastly, the TUAW iOS app has been retired from the App Store and won't be coming back any time soon. Yes, that's a bummer, but again I encourage you to visit the site itself, where we've worked hard to deliver a decent mobile experience. Going forward into 2014 I'm truly excited to see the next phase in TUAW's development come to fruition. We'll have more articles by your favorite authors, plus a more set schedule so you'll know when to check for certain stories. Roundups of new apps, news and rumors will keep you in the know without having to wade through endless patent litigation stories or Apple Store opening announcements. Plus, we're working on some really wonderful new projects for the year that you'll start to see this Spring. If you need to get in touch with us to share a tip or send a correction, please use our feedback form and let us know. As always, thanks for reading TUAW! Please share the site with a friend, or mention it if someone you know opens up a shiny new Apple product this holiday. All the best, Victor Agreda, Jr., Editor-in-Chief
Introducing the TUAW One-to-One podcast, with first guest Brian Mueller
I'd like to introduce a new part of the TUAW family, our One-to-One podcast. This series will feature one host and one guest; focused on a particular topic, yet unafraid to weave into tangential traffic. Our first guest is the developer behind Carrot To Do, Carrot Alarm Clock and Recur. You can read our review of Carrot here and the alarm clock here. Brian Mueller walks us through some of the challenges in making Carrot, and how restrictions, limitations and a learning curve helped make it the great app it is today. We aim to deliver at least one episode a month, two if it's a particularly wonderful month. Best of all, each episode is less than 30 minutes (aiming for less than 20, honestly), so you don't have to dedicate half your life to listening. Listen through the web player embedded below or direct download the MP3 here. We'll post the iTunes link as soon as it is available.
Friday Favorite: Handbrake bridges the gap between DVDs and my iPad
Fact: It is often ridiculously cheaper to buy physical DVDs off Amazon than to purchase the same material in an existing digital format from your vendor of choice, like iTunes. Case in point, a friend of mine and I recently started watching Conviction, a one-season series that broadcast a few years ago. Shipped via Amazon Prime (unfortunately not Amazon Prime Air), the three-disc set cost all of US$3-7 depending on which day you shopped for it. Amazon prices jump around a lot day by day. The same series would have cost $20 at iTunes. Ripping DVDs does take extra time -- both for shipping the product as well as performing the rips, but the results are satisfying. One of our TUAW staffers adds, "I always get a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. I rip the DVD and keep the Blu-ray for when I care about the quality of picture." Enter Handbrake, our Friday Favorite of the week. From disc, it takes just a few steps in Handbrake (donationware see this, thanks evcjackson) to transform episodes to iPad-ready formats. You start by scanning the contents of a DVD, a process which takes a few minutes, and can sometimes be the most frustrating part of the sequence. Once scanned, you select which episodes you wish to rip (typically the items that are 40-odd minutes long), and add them to a processing queue. Click Start and let Handbrake do its work. Handbrake's presets simplify the process of converting files, ensuring that the ripped files are perfect for iPad viewing, as an example. Built-in presets also include iPhone and Apple TV. Handbrake will never win awards for interface beauty or simple GUIs. If you're willing to work with the presets on offer, however, and have the patience to Google up some basic how-to instructions, Handbrake provides a terrific solution for quick, easy, effective DVD rips. It's a reliable, time-proved tool with great utility, which is why we made it today's Friday Favorite. Got a favorite app of your own? Suggest it in the comments. Maybe we'll cover it in an upcoming Friday Favorite column.
This is the most important Mavericks keyboard shortcut you'll discover all day
Mavericks' new Control-Command-Space bar shortcut came up once again during conversation in the TUAW chat room this morning. Once again, I was surprised that this cool little trick isn't universally known. As a public service announcement, we'd like to continue to spread the word about this delightful shortcut. Get yourself over to any text entry field on your Mavericks Mac and give it a try by pressing Control and Command together and then tap the space bar. The resulting pop-up provides easy access to smilies and emoji that you can drag to your favorite app. To Emoji and Beyond There are a few really cool (and not immediately obvious) additional uses for this that you might not be familiar with, even if you're already using the pop-up. See the up-arrow at the top-center of the pop-up? Pull the dialog away from the text entry and the entire window switches to a free-floating Character entry palette, like you see below. This allows you to move the palette out of the way, but keep it on-hand for repeated use. Very handy, especially when sending an iMessage to your BFF. Searching for Characters Now see the button at the top-right of the palette? A single click converts the palette into the more classic form of the Characters window you might be familiar with from OS X Mountain Lion and earlier. Use the search field to find exactly the kind of pictograph you're looking for. Keep your search phrase as general as possible. A search for "triangle," for example, returns a lot more possibilities than "left triangle." Once you've found the item you wish to insert, just drag it from the center pane within the Characters window to whatever text you're editing. Adding Favorites You can click the Add to Favorites button for any pictograph to add often-used symbols to the main display of your Characters palette. Once added, these items appear beneath the most recently used items list. To add or remove items from your favorites list, you need to be using the old-style Characters window, which you access from that top-right button. Use the Add to Favorites and Remove from Favorites buttons when you view individual items. After defining at least one favorite, a complete list of favorites appears at the top-left of the Characters window, just below the Recently Used list. All favorites edits are reflected in the pop-up, but there's one more step you need. To return to the pop-up, don't forget to revert from the classic view by once again clicking the button at the top-right of the Characters window. Unicode Information for Programmers But wait! There's more! If you right-click (or control-click) the character, you can copy the character info to the system pasteboard. Then just paste it into TextEdit or your notepad. 😁 GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES Unicode: U+1F601 (U+D83D U+DE01), UTF-8: F0 9F 98 81 From there, you gain easy access to the exact Unicode information for the symbol, which (if you're a developer, who needs this kind of thing) is an absolute gift for programming. As promised, here's that most important tip for today: Search the Character Editor for "PILE OF POO" and favorite it for easy access. You'll be glad you did.
Friday Favorite: How Keyboard Maestro saved my Mavericks macros
Bless Keyboard Maestro. It's not as if we haven't already given it coverage here at TUAW, but I fought to make it today's Friday Favorite because it pulled my grits out of the fire after I upgraded to Mavericks. Me? I've been a Quickeys user since the freaking 1980's. One gets used to an app. Used to it enough that the thought of having to transition away from my decades-old keyboard macros to a new app was giving me hives. So I resisted, resisted, and then I resisted some more. After Lion debuted, I made excuse after excuse -- dropped a few of my daily macros, adjusted some others, and kept pushing forward with my old system just so I wouldn't have to start again from scratch. Startly, the guys who now own the app, hemmed and hawed, made some noises about eventual upgrades, but I was basically running abandonware. Finally when Mavericks debuted, my decades old macro set gave up the ghost. Even doing some emergency tweaks like switching off App Nap couldn't save my workflow. TJ Luoma, who had had just about enough of my "but my system works...or at least it worked" nonsense finally hit me over the head with a very large clue mackerel1. (The size of the clue-fish indicates how much this matters.) "Just. Use. Keyboard. Maestro." (I paraphrase.) So I did. Several weeks later, I am a rabid Keyboard Maestro fan. From its easy to use editor (with folders!) to its nuanced rule system (I can disable my keyboard Emacs equivalents for Terminal, Xcode, and Text Edit because they're already built into those apps natively), Keyboard Maestro is doing everything that Quickeys ever did for me but is doing it more smoothly, faster (seriously, no playback lag), and reliably. I love this app. It handles app launching, menu selections, complex sequences, and offers a solid Recording option that lets me demonstrate tasks rather than programming them. I can easily enable and disable shortcuts, which allows me to switch instantly from standard development mode to testing out Xcode betas. That's a huge time-consuming task for me usually. (Hint: You can bet I immediately remapped the new documentation keys for Xcode 5.1.) It's not just useful for development. I'm using Keyboard Maestro to apply AppleScript to QuickTime Player, adding timed skip actions for moving forward and back through videos. I've got it set up to enter my family's library card in Safari for when we need to reserve books. It's working in mail, helping to sort mail as I work through my inbox. In other words, it's not only doing all the tasks I normally relied on for my macros, it's opening new opportunities for me as I continue to explore its amazingly wide range of hooks. Keyboard Maestro costs US$36. It's free to download and you have 30 days to try it out before buying. I think I made it to day 3 before whipping out my Visa card. 1 The mackerel was, of course, a holy mackerel.
Friday Favorite: Yet another reason to love Printopia
I'm a huge fan of Ecamm's Printopia utility. For just 20 bucks, it enables you to print from iOS to any printer connected to your Mac. You don't need to buy a high-priced AirPlay-enabled system. I'm running Printopia with an old piece-of-junk Brother laser printer that is older than some of my kids. Until this week, I didn't really use Printopia's "Send to Dropbox" or "Send to Mac" features. I normally just connect my iPhone and iPad to my Mac using Image Capture to transfer pictures, which has been a terrific way to manage the images I need for TUAW write-ups. Yesterday, however, after installing Mavericks, that workflow broke. For whatever reason, Image Capture just would not connect properly to my iPhone. And that's when I thought of using Printopia rather than emailing individual pictures. The great thing about "printing" pictures is how well integrated the process is with the Photos app. It requires just a few taps to print. With Printopia's "Send to" options, I was able to transfer my pictures with a minimum of fuss and bother. Plus, bonus, I didn't need to connect any cables. It worked brilliantly. The convenience didn't stop there though. It occurred to me that I could "print" Safari articles that I wanted a copy of, directly from my iPhone without having to return to my desk. Sure enough, the Printopia Send to Mac option created a perfect PDF of the active webpage, saved it to my Documents folder and opened it in Preview. Although I haven't used these options much in the past, I can see myself starting to use them a lot more from here on. And, of course, Printopia still makes it simple and convenient to print from my phone.
MacTech Conference offers TUAW reader pricing
You know how you see TUAW staffers on the ground at various conferences? Well here's another to add to the list: TUAW is once again sponsoring the MacTech Conference, and as in the past, you can find some of us in attendance. If you haven't checked out MacTech Conference 2013, this year's speaker lineup is (as usual) fantastic -- including keynote speaker Jacqui Cheng from Ars Technica, and an incredible cast of IT leaders, as well as developers from around the world. Not to brag, but I've made it on the speaker list too, so you can hear me talk about things in person instead of on a podcast! This year's event has not only a new venue, but also an expanded schedule, a wide array of pre-conference workshops, more sessions, more labs, more certifications and a new Vendor Forum. Here are the two most important things to know about MacTech: You've heard me talk about the "hallway track" at conferences, and particularly for developers and IT folks, this hallway track is second to none. So not only do you get to hang out and chat with awesome attendees, but you also get to do it over some of the finest food available at any conference I've attended. Organizer Neil Ticktin has said on more than one occasion, "You will never walk away hungry from a MacTech event." Truly, if you are hungry at MacTech, you are actively doing it wrong. Not only is the conference full of great material, but also this year, MacTech has added four full-day pre-conference workshops. They are: iOS Development 101 by RayWenderlich.com; Mastering Auto Layout for developers by Rich Warren; The Automation Mindset-Scripting, Command Line, and More by Scott Neal; and iOS Mobility Solutions by Russell Poucher. Pricing for the pre-conference workshops is currently US$299, and includes lunch. Early Bird pricing of $999 for the three-day conference will end Monday, September 30. However, as a TUAW reader, you can save an extra $100 -- but you need to act quick. Discounted hotel guest rooms are selling out fast, and you don't want to miss out!
TUAW's list of best Twitter accounts for Apple fans to follow
Macworld UK recently compiled a list of Twitter accounts that Apple fans should follow. The list covered the executives at Apple who have verified accounts and some notable Apple analysts. We are going to expand their list and add in developers, bloggers and other notable Apple pundits that you should follow for the latest and greatest news and commentary on Apple. If you have any additional suggestions, please add them in the comments. Former and present Apple Executives Tim Cook: Apple's CEO just joined Twitter and has logged three tweets. Hopefully more are coming Phil Schiller: Apple's Senior Vice-President for worldwide marketing, and an enthusiastic presenter at Apple's press events Eddy Cue: Senior Vice-President for internet software and services Jony Ive: Apple's Senior Vice President of Design is most likely not on Twitter. There are few unconfirmed accounts, like @SirJonyIve, kicking around, but none have been confirmed Scott Forstall: Senior Vice President of iOS Software at Apple from 2007 until October 2012. Unconfirmed account with zero tweets Jean-Louis Gassée: Former Apple executive turned analyst John Sculley: Former Apple CEO who reigned over Apple's rocky years in the 80s. Unconfirmed account Notable Apple Employees, past and present Steve Wozniak: Co-founder of Apple and creator of the Apple I and II Chris Espinosa: Apple employee #8 Andy Hertzfeld: Member of the original Mac team. Not active on Twitter, but posts all the time on Google + Bill Atkinson. Member of the original Mac team Susan Kare: Member of the original Mac team. Highly-respected designer Guy Kawasaki: Former Apple evangelist, now a Motorola employee Daniel Kottke: Member of the original Mac team Michael Jurewitz: iOS and OS X developer now working for apple again Lia Napolitano: Designer at Apple in California Johnnie Manzari: User Interface Designer at Apple Steve Cotterill: User Experience Architect at Apple Graham Clarke: Designer at Apple, formerly at Glasshouse apps Official Apple Accounts Apple: Apple's official Twitter feed, though it's not verified. iTunes: Official iTunes account iTunesU: Official iTunesU account iTunesPodcasting: Official iTunes Podcasting account iTunes Music: Official iTunes Music account iTunesTV: Official iTunes TV account iBooks: Official iBooks account App Store: Official App Store account iTunes Festival: Official iTunes festival account Apple Evangelists Jake Behrens: UI and App Frameworks Evangelist Mike Stern: Apple User Experience Evangelist Allan Schaffer: Graphics and Game Technologies Evangelist Dave DeLong: App Frameworks and Developer Tools John Geleynse: Director of Media Evangelism, Technology Evangelism Stefan Lesser: Technology Evangelist Apple pundits and analysts Jim Dalrymple: Editor in Chief of LoopInsight John Gruber: The man and mind behind Daring Fireball Ross Rubin: Principal Analyst at Reticle Research focusing on consumer technologies Andy Ihnatko: Chicago Sun-Times technology columnist Clayton Morris: Anchor for FOX News Channel, technologist Stephen Fry: Popular British Actor and Writer MG Siegler: Partner @GoogleVentures. Columnist @TechCrunch Apple Journalists Dave Hamilton: @MacGeekGab podcaster, @MacObserver & BackBeat Media co-founder Matthew Panzarino: Senior Editor, Techcrunch John Paczkowski: Hails from AllThingsD Rene Ritchie: iMore chief, producer at MobileNations and more Arnold Kim: Manager of macrumors.com, toucharcade.com and appshopper.com Jason Snell: Editorial director for @Macworld/@TechHive/@PCWorld Glenn Fleishman: Editor & Publisher of The Magazine Andrew Cunningham: Senior Products Specialist at Ars Technica Jacqui Cheng: Editor at Large at Ars Technica Peter Cohen: Managing editor, http://iMore.com , Executive editor, The Loop Lex Friedman: Senior contributor to Macworld Federico Viticci: Editor-in-Chief of @MacStoriesNet Mark Gurman: Senior Editor at 9to5Mac Christina Bonnington: Staff Writer for Wired's Gadget Lab blog David Chartier: Contributor to Macworld and Mac Observer. Runs Finer Things in Tech Developers Matt Gemmell: iPhone, iPad and Mac developer Daniel Jalkut: Founder of Red Sweater Software Greg Pierce: Agile Tortoise Justin Williams: Second Gear Dave Barnard: Contrast (App Cubby) founder Dan Counsell: RealMac founder Michael Simmons: Co-Founder @Flexibits and @HockeyApp Cabel Maxfield Sasser: co-founder of Panic Inc. Steven Troughton-Smith: Irish indie developer of iOS, iPad and Mac software Erica Sadun: Writer, Developer, Legend Rich Siegel: Veteran Mac developer behind Bare Bones Software Brett Terpstra: Marked developer, host of Systematic podcast Craig Hockenberry: Twitteriffic developer Jean MacDonald: Partner at @SmileSoftware Marco Arment: Formerly of Tumblr, Instapaper, and The Magazine Paul Haddad: Co-founder of Tapbots Jailbreakers Evad3rs: jailbreak dream team pod2g: iOS security researcher, member of evad3rs Nikias Bassen, "pimskeks": iOS Developer & Hacker, Reverse Engineer, Security Expert @evad3rs Planetbeing: Jailbreak developer. Member of evad3rs Will Strafach,"chronic": the man behind Chronic Unlocks MuscleNerd: iPhone hacker Grant Paul, "chpwn": Jailbreak developer now working at Facebook Jay "Saurik" Freeman: Cydia founder Humour not Jonathan Ive: Parody account, NSFW The Macalope: Part man, part Mac, part antelope. Great commentary on people who just don't understand Apple Conan O'Brien: Often parodies Apple products and product launches TUAW Team TUAW: TUAW's main Twitter account Victor Agreda, Jr: Editor in Chief Dave Caolo: News and Managing Editor Michael Rose: Lead Editor Steve Sande: Features and Hardware Review Editor, TUAW TV Live host Chris Rawson: News Editor, in charge of the weekly Rumor Roundup Megan Lavey-Heaton: News Editor Michael Grothaus: European Editor Kelly Guimont: Social Coordinator & Talkcast Host Erica Sadun: Writer, Developer, Legend TJ Luoma:Writer and Community Liason Mel Martin: Writer, App reviewer. Not on Twitter Mike Wehner: Writer and Reviewer Yoni Heiser: Writer Ilene Hoffman: Writer John-Michael Bond:Writer Kelly Hodgkins: App Review Editor
Dollar Store Accessories: What ¥100 buys you
America has the dollar store. Japan has the ¥100 store. TUAW has been covering iOS accessorizing on the cheap in a series of recent posts. Today, the focus turns international. TUAW reader TokyoJoe writes, "This pic is from Daiso, one of the biggest ¥100 shop chains in Tokyo. They have a decent selection of iPhone 5 and 4S cases as well as cables and stands." Here you see just a taste of the variety on offer. The Daiso selection included many colorful options ranging from animal prints, to old fashioned book styles, to basket weaves. Have you found some great dollar store finds, whether in the US or not? Drop us a note; send in pictures; and share the low-end fun.
iOS 7 Quick Guide: Back up now!
It may not be "World Backup Day" by the letter of the law, but it might as well be in spirit. iOS 7 is due to drop tomorrow, and we at TUAW would gently like to remind you to perform a backup before the new firmware is released. You'll want a clean, recent copy of all your files (especially all those levels you so laboriously earned and all your precious media like the pics of your pets and kids, not to mention those awesome barista swirls). We recommend connecting your iPhone to a computer and using the manual "Back Up Now" option, so you can be sure that all your data and all your media is safely copied. Happy upgrades everyone!
Intermission transforms audio streaming with TiVo-like replay
I've been a huge fan of Rogue Amoeba products for years. They offer clever audio solutions for OS X. Rogue Amoeba's new Intermission (US$15) utility fills a role on my Mac that I never even knew I needed. Intermission enables you to pause, rewind and skip through live audio streams. This lets you take control of any audio you listen to, regardless of application. It just works, always passively listening and ready for you to take charge. Let's say you're listening to Spotify or Pandora, and you hear a great song. You can immediately rewind and play the song again. Intermission automatically buffers that audio for you. Or, say you're listening to a live stream. I do this all the time here at TUAW for product announcements and financial results calls. Intermission lets you immediately skip back and review what someone just said. This is perfect for anyone who listens to live audio from their Mac -- whether it's a sports broadcast, a talk show or a teleconference. I even tested Intermission with Skype. As long as you don't need to do person-to-person interaction, you can pause the audio, hit the restroom and pick up where you left off listening. It's brilliant. My favorite use was when I tested Intermission with Rogue Amoeba's free LineIn utility and a headset. LineIn allows you to pass audio from the default system input to the default system output. I warn you this solution is completely impractical, but it showcases some of the coolness of the app. Normally Intermission doesn't listen to audio entering your Mac, only to audio being transmitted and played back. LineIn re-routes audio from input to output, so you can control that audio stream with the Intermission app. With LineIn and a headset, you can attend class or listen to talks at a conference and use Intermission to automatically buffer whatever you're listening to. It basically enables you to buffer real life. Did your attention stray? You can "TiVo" back five seconds and replay whatever he or she last said. To make this work, you have to listen through the computer, which means setting up your microphone directionally to listen out and using good earphones to avoid any feedback issues as well as cut out the overlap between the live talk and what you're hearing through the head set, but it is possible (I tested it!) and it does work. Unfortunately, I was unable to get in touch with Rogue Amoeba while writing this review, so I'm unsure as to how long the buffer records. I suspect you can't start playing Pandora the night before in order to build up a long enough feed that you can skip songs whenever you like. Also, Intermission does not offer any record-to-file features that I could find. For $15, I think most people will find Intermission an excellent value -- especially anyone who regularly attends internet-based conference calls and training sessions, anyone who loves listening to sports and anyone who enjoys talk radio over the net. It's a really clever app that stood up well to all my testing and tweaking. Because of its functionality, Rogue Amoeba cannot sell Intermission through the Apple App Store. You can purchase a copy instead at the Rogue Amoeba storefront. A demo version is available for download, with a menu option for registering your product. The demo version overlays noise after 10 minutes of buffered playback. Update: Rogue Amoeba replies, "The buffer is three hours (we do note that on the site). It writes to disk in raw audio, so that's a couple gigs of space -- we'll see what happens in the future, as far as increasing that (if we compress the audio, we can record for a lot longer, obviously), without taking up more space -- but compressed audio is harder to seek through."
TUAW over-analyzes the Apple event invitation
Shortly after @jdalrymple announced to the world that the invitations for the September 10, 2013 Apple event had been sent out, TUAW Editor-in-Chief Victor Agreda, Jr. noted that @HereIsTrev had tweeted the following message: "Please don't over analyse every last aspect of the apple invite ... oh, too late." Here's our take on the invitation, BuzzFeed-style: There are 25 full or partial circles on the invitation (I counted). 25 is the square of five, which means that the "S" in iPhone 5S means "Five-squared." Of course, these colors represent the spectrum of case colors for your new iPhone. Only two of the circles are green, which Greenpeace should take notice of as it means that the new iPhone is ruining the environment. The four empty circles are representative of the loss of Steve Jobs, Scott Forstall, John Browett and (most recently) Bob Mansfield from the executive ranks of Apple. Blue is the most prevalent color on the invitation, which proves that Bondi Blue will be one of the colors for the new iPhone. The phrase "brighten everyone's day" is all about the new display technology for the iPhone, which will be incredibly readable in full sunlight. Many of the overlapping circles appear to be Venn diagrams. We are doing our best to determine what that means... The fact that Apple couldn't come up with a color for its logo in the center is a sign that the company is fresh out of innovative ideas. Tracing the path of the colored dots reveals a new gesture that'll conjure up the spirit of Steve Jobs. The dots are stylized fingerprints, meaning that the new iPhone will feature a fingerprint-authentication feature. The dot-filled invite also suggests iOS 7 will be sponsored by America's favorite candy, DOTS. See Android KitKat for context. The thin font used on the invite hints at a thinner bezel for the iPhone display. The multiple colors used on the invite suggest Apple will surprise us with multi-user support in a subsequent version of iOS 7.x. Those round circles are indicative of pixels on the screen of Apple's long-awaited HDTV, which will be known as "Munstervision" in honor of the one man who believed in the product, Gene Munster.
Dollar Store Accessories: Flip stand case
Not every Dollar Store accessory is going to be a great success and, sadly, this case with a built-in stand was an utter piece of crap. I selected it for review because I rather liked the notion of a flip stand, especially for watching YouTube videos and the like. The case clicked onto my 4S easily. Taking it off, however, was a bit of a nightmare -- the rigid case hugged my phone, making it really hard to find a way to remove it without destroying my device. And that stand? Useless. When installed on my 4S, I could not get that cursed stand to flip up. Although it was easy to manipulate when off the phone (basically you push it out from the inside), in its intended use, I could not get it open. I tried hair pins, keys, toothpicks, nails -- whatever you could think of. They all etched scratches into the stand's bottom without lifting the thing from its locked position. The case itself provided all the normal coverage you'd expect. There's a hole in the back for the Apple logo, an opening for the camera, spaces for the hardware toggles (mute and volume) on the side and headphone / speaker on the top and bottom. However, it barely came up those sides and really didn't make me feel that my phone would be protected even from short falls. In all, the whole thing was junk. My review unit is already in the recycling bin. That's a pity given how many reasonably good finds TUAW has discovered at the Dollar Store to date. Not recommended.
Twelve South introduces GhostStand for MacBook
Now here's a way to make your MacBook look almost like it's floating in mid-air: the design wizards at Twelve South have announced GhostStand (US$34.99), a transparent Lucite platform that elevates a MacBook about six inches off of the desktop for easy viewing. The two blades that make up the GhostStand have double-inlaid brushed-metal rails that are lined with silicone to both grip and protect the MacBook and desk surface. The stand is a wonderful way to elevate a MacBook screen to improve dual-monitor use, and also offers a more ergonomic arrangement for any MacBook user. As with Twelve South's previous recent addition to the family, the HiRise for iPhone 5 / iPad mini, the pricing on this attractive stand is quite reasonable. We're happy to see that Twelve South is making more affordable products that still offer beautiful design and top-quality construction. TUAW will feature a full review of the GhostStand in the near future.
Dollar Store Accessories: Flat-folding tablet stand is perfect for iPads
Of all the Dollar Store accessories I've tested to date, none of them has come close to exciting me as much as this simple folding tablet stand. For just a buck (of course!), this stand delivers heavy-duty plastic that capably supported every tablet I tested it with. The stand folds in half in the middle, and there's a tab that you push back to connect to any of the the three slots on the opposite side. This enables you to adjust your stand to various angles from quite upright (bottom slot) to nicely sloped (top slot). Two arms on the bottom of the stand flip out to support the tablet itself. When you're done using the stand, both the tab and the arms flip back to their original position providing a flat, unobtrusive bit of plastic that nicely fits into most handbags and backpacks. I keep mine folded in half rather than the full, unfolded style from the original bag. The center tab is a bit hard to insert and extract. You need to push in one side of the tab and then the other, and reverse that for removal. It doesn't take a lot of work and the tab (being the main structural component of the thing) needs that solid connection for reliable use. On the down side, I found the portrait orientation to be less steady than I'd like. If you're considering this product, I'd recommend only using it for landscape use with full-sized iPads. The flip-out arms, in addition, are the weakest component of this stand, and they're the bit you should keep an eye on in terms of aging and replacement. In terms of functionality and flexibility, the Dollar Store stand is a good value. Agreed, it doesn't present any challenge to my favorite Two Hands, which I intend to keep using for the forseeable future, but it does offer a product that TUAW tablet users may want to check out. For those who don't want to shell out a lot and are looking for a highly portable tablet stand solution, this dollar store option is certainly acceptable.
YAKiT: Silly addictive fun with pictures
Yakit for iPhone (free) is possibly the silliest, stupidest fun you can have with an iPhone and a photograph right now. A bunch of us here at TUAW love this ridiculous app. You snap a photo or pick one from your camera roll. You then interactively animate one or more mouths in the picture. The interactive tools are terrific, letting you choose from a variety of mouth shapes or roll your own to match the lip and chin line on a photograph. The app enables you to record a voice track, adding absurd processed effects for very high and low voices. The results are hilarious. Once created, you host your video on the YAKiT site and share it via Twitter for Facebook for others to enjoy, mock or revile. Go on. Download the thing and start playing. And don't forget to hashtag your videos with #tuaw. We're dying to see your videos.
Dollar Store Accessories: Tablet sleeves
Continuing with our series exploring dollar store accessories, I recently picked up a pair of sleeves compatible with original and bite sized mini iPads. Widely available at most dollar stores, low-cost sleeves provide utilitarian tablet protection. The ones I bought and tested consisted of a spongy exterior fabric, with a sturdy Velcro closing. Both were sized appropriately for Apple products. There's really not much you can say about a tablet sleeve beyond: "it fits" and "it worked." The ones I purchased met both criteria. They offered satisfactory tablet protection and seemed well-enough made for extensive use, which mostly consists of being placed into backpacks, luggage or briefcases. There were no sharp edges inside or any other concerns of that nature. Compared to home-brew solutions like padded mailing envelopes, these sleeves are lightweight and unobtrusive. They will not, however, win fashion awards or make anyone stop you to say, "Where did you get that fashionable tablet sleeve?" They're just, well, there. There, however, is not a bad thing -- especially when you're only looking for a bit of protection from sharp edges as you get around your day. At US$1, TUAW finds these sleeves to be a good, but unexciting value.
