wwdc-2011
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WWDC Interview: Southern Stars
Southern Stars made the first RS-232 dock connector interface, which we saw at MacTech last year, but they also make a really awesome stargazing app called SkySafari. I sat down with Tim DeBenedictis of Southern Stars to talk about their apps, the cable and how WWDC announcements will affect them going forward. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: WebIS
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Chris McSorley of WebIS, makers of Pocket Informant, at WWDC 2011. Chris was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote announcements and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. We'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: HearPlanet
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Steven Echtman of HearPlanet at WWDC 2011. HearPlanet offers an intriguing service: a location-based audio tour guide app. Available for iOS and Android, HearPlanet partners up with businesses and individuals to publish audio guides for locations and has optional coupon offers and informational links (like calling a location, or visiting a website). We covered HearPlanet a while back. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, at MacTech.com and at MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
Video App Demo: Meeting Spot
We spoke to Nilay Patel of Selligy at WWDC, and he was kind enough to show us Meeting Spot, an app for visitors in San Francisco attending events near Moscone Center. Selligy's backend technology sounds promising, as it goes beyond mere location-based data or simple keyword matches, and tries to bring you better information. In essence, they want you to get recommendations as though you had a resident there telling you all the cool, somewhat hidden places to check out. In practice the app worked reasonably well, perhaps better than Urbanspoon but not as thorough as Yelp (although you can see Yelp pages for venues). We're looking forward to seeing Selligy's tech expand beyond niche apps like this one. Check out the demo below. if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_1009390074001','codever':0.1, 'autoload':false, 'autoplay':false, 'playerid':'61371448001', 'videoid':'1009390074001', 'width':480, 'height':270, 'stillurl':'http://pdl.stream.aol.com/pdlext/aol/brightcove/studionow/p/55c2ecacd5921/r/6eb75fef09956/al/190838/poster-10.jpg', 'playertype':'inline','videotitle':'TUAW - App Demo - MeetingSpot','videodesc':'undefined','videolink':'#'});
WWDC Interview: Ultralingua
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Jeff Ondich of Ultralingua at WWDC 2011. Jeff was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements at WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, at MacTech.com and at MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: HansaWorld
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Erik Elmgren of HansaWorld at WWDC 2011. Erik was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: Tethras
Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Brendan Clavin of Tethras at WWDC 2011. Brendan was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward. Tethras offers localization solutions for developers. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: Houdah Software
In this installment of our WWDC interviews, our own Brett Terpstra talks to Pierre Bernard of Houdah Software at WWDC 2011. Houdah makes an interesting group of Mac products, including HoudahGeo (for geotagging photos), HoudahSpot (a sort of turbocharged Spotlight front end) and Tembo (another, super easy search tool). They also make a couple of Sudoku apps and more for iOS devices. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: blueHula Studios
I sat down to talk WWDC keynote reaction with the chief dude at blueHula Studios, Craig Vanderzwaag. BlueHula makes Beer Timer, an app to keep you from freezing your beer until it explodes. Pretty neat idea, and as Craig explains, they actually put research into it! TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: AssistiveWare
We've covered AssistiveWare before on TUAW, but this time Neil with MacTech sat down with David Niemeijer of AssistiveWare to talk about Lion, iOS 5 and keynote revelations at WWDC 2011. Tune in to the video below to find out what's new in assistive software for those who use it. TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: Bare Bones Software
In this interview, Neil Ticktin of MacTech talks to Bare Bones Software co-founder Rich Siegel about the WWDC keynote, and also potential issues with the Mac App Store going forward. Bare Bones produces BBEdit, TextWrangler and Yojimbo (see our coverage of Yojimbo here and BBEdit here). TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote announcements and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. We'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here.
WWDC Interview: Widget Revolt
TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote announcements and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. We'll bring you those videos here, at MacTech.com and at MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. Neil Ticktin of MacTech spoke to Widget Revolt about their apps, the keynote and WWDC 2011 in general. Widget Revolt has a game, a utility and a joke app on the store with more to come.
WWDC Interview: Push IO
TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote announcements and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. We'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. Victor Agreda, Jr. (Editor-in-Chief, The Unofficial Apple Weblog) interviews Joe Pezzillo of Push IO at WWDC 2011. Joe was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward.
WWDC Interview: 99Games
TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC 2011 about the keynote announcements and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. We'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Rohith Bhat of 99Games at WWDC 2011. Rohith was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving forward.
WWDC Interview: GroupLogic
This week TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. Neil Ticktin of MacTech Magazine spoke to Brian Ulmer of GroupLogic while at WWDC 2011. Brian was kind enough to give us his take on the week's announcements and how they impact GroupLogic.
WWDC Interview: IGG Software
This week TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. In this video, I interview James Gillespie of IGG Software, Inc. at WWDC 2011. James was kind enough to tell us about his thoughts on the announcements at WWDC, and how it will affect IGG's plans moving forward. IGG makes iBank (among other things), which is worth a look if you need a personal finance solution.
How iTunes Match solves my obscure downsampling problem
I have a longstanding audio quality problem with iTunes -- but iTunes Match will finally resolve it for me. Hurray! Hopefully this post will help others in the same situation. It all starts with the sad fact that I'm a perfectionist idiot about audio quality, so I still buy CDs and rip them myself using Apple's lossless codec -- I can't quite bring myself to (usually) pay more on iTunes for a lower quality file. The lossless codec achieves about 50% compression, yielding files about three times larger than the iTunes Plus 256-kbps AAC setting that most people rip in and the iTunes Store uses. It is, however, a complete bit-for-bit copy of the original CD. Note that its not so much that I can hear the difference; more that I don't drive myself mad wondering if I can. I have occasionally, but admittedly not often, picked up the odd rough-sounding cymbal splash in iTunes Plus files when listening on decent headphones; but I am by no means one of those audiophiles who believes in spending thousands on speaker cables and $2000 on a power cord that defies the laws of physics. Still, though, by using only Apple lossless audio codec (ALAC), I know that I can avoid even thinking about sound quality issues. That's the appeal for me. Even if you're unconvinced by my reasoning here (and I admit it has more to do with my own eccentricities than strict logic), there's another reason to prefer ALAC format ripping -- down the road, if I have to change to alternative music formats, I won't need to rip the CDs again. I can turn the ALAC files back into pure WAV format and then transform them into any other format without any further loss of quality. I do this occasionally when I want to put more music on the USB stick that I keep plugged into my car radio, which will play mp3 and WMA files but not AAC. In contrast, running a lossy encoded format file like AAC through the encoding process to another one like mp3 results in a really muddy, horrible sounding file. However, whilst ALAC is fine for use on my Mac where disk space is cheap and for streaming around my house's Ethernet network where bandwidth is plentiful, it's not really much use for syncing to my iPhone, because it's too darn big. I'd prefer to compromise quality a little on the iPhone in order to fit a decent amount music in and because I mostly listen to the iPhone when walking the dogs or in my noisy day-job office, neither of which demand the highest fidelity. Sadly, iTunes really doesn't want to work with me. It has the "convert higher bitrates" option, which is teasingly close to what I want, but it's irritatingly locked to only output 128 kbit/sec AAC. That really is too low -- I can definitely hear annoying compression artifacts. So, for a long time, I've been maintaining two iTunes libraries. One is full of ALAC and I use it for playback in the house; the other is full of AAC and I use it to sync my iPhone with. Hence, when I rip a CD, I have to rip it twice (or do a second pass of conversion from the ALAC files to AAC), and if any track names, album art, or other metadata need adjusting, I need to adjust it twice. This is tedious and annoying. Enter iTunes Match, which might just solve this problem for me at a stroke. I'm hoping it will allow me to rip once as an ALAC file, and upload that converted file to iCloud. Apple says that: [A]ll the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality -- even if your original copy was of lower quality. which implies to me that even ALAC files going in come out at the lower quality 256 kbit/sec setting. I wouldn't even need to cable my iPhone to iTunes to get new music any more, let alone rip CDs twice or juggle multiple iTunes libraries. For $25 a year, I'm in, although it seems that we'll be waiting until 2012 to get iTunes Match in the UK. Although this problem is fairly obscure, I have seen others people post about this problem from time to time (one, two, and many of the comments below). I hope this post will reach those folk and prompt them to look at this little side-effect of iTunes Match more closely.
WWDC Interview: Boinx Software
This week TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, at MacTech.com and at MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. In this video I have a chat with Oliver Breidenbach from Boinx Software, makers of FotoMagico, iStopMotion, PhotoPresenter, Mouseposé and one of the tools we use for our Macworld streaming setup: BoinxTV. This week at WWDC Boinx introduced Orientator for BoinxTV and LibOrientator for iOS devs. Most of the Boinx products are available in the Mac App Store as well, often in a "pro" and "home" version with pricing according to your needs. Oliver's team delivers a great suite of tools for animators, filmmakers, videographers and presenters. We spoke about their business and what the WWDC announcements mean to them.
WWDC Interview: Pangea Software
This week TUAW and MacTech Magazine teamed up to speak to developers at WWDC about the keynote and how Apple's new technologies will help them and their customers. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll bring you those videos here, MacTech.com and MacNews.com. Also, check out the free trial subscription offer for MacTech Magazine here. I spoke to Brian Greenstone of Pangea Software at WWDC, and he was kind enough to tell us about some new stuff Pangea is working on, plus the reason Cro-Mag Rally (US$2.99) was once featured in an iPhone ad. Check it out below. Pangea Software was an early entrant on the App Store and has had a string of successes. It's interesting to hear what the Mac App Store and Lion mean to their plans going forward, considering many of their apps predate OS X!
No comment: WWDC wristbands
We're pretty sure that these are for WWDC attendees who will be at the annual beer bash tonight, and not meant to be attached to devices that are loaded with REDACTED (iOS 5)... Somebody at Apple has a very good sense of humor. Overheard at WWDC: "How do I know if I'm drunk enough to wear it?" "As long as you can still redactulate, you're fine..." Thanks to everyone who sent in a photo, especially @shnhrrsn who volunteered his arm for this photo shoot.
