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Astute followers of the TUAW Macworld 09 Twitter feed will know that yesterday evening saw us host a small yet fun reader meetup at San Francisco's very excellent Thirsty Bear brewery. In amongst the fine local ales and great food (the roasted apple and cider ribs come recommended), we also gave away yet more swag from the show floor. Thanks to all our readers who showed up!%Gallery-41302%
Read MoreHot on the heels of the Macworld Live show Wednesday morning, we caught up with New York Times columnist David Pogue to talk about what's hot (and not) at the show this year, his thoughts on the "Philnote" and the future of Macworld, the iPhone's phenomenal success in 2008 and his undying love (ahem) for the Blackberry Storm.Click through to check it out.
Read MoreOne of the highlights of every Macworld is the Macworld Live session with New York Times columnist, musician extraordinaire and Missing Manual author David Pogue. Featuring trivia, parody songs and amusing guests, it's the perfect way to start your Expo day.This year's show included musical performances such as "Where is Steve?" (parodying "Where is Love" from the musical "Oliver") and a special guest performance from Ge Wang (founder of Smule) on his best-selling Ocarina app. On top of the musical appearances, this years extra guests were Matt Harding from YouTube phenomenon "Where the Hell is Matt" and the folks behind "You Suck at Photoshop".%Gallery-40875%
Read MoreWay back in December, our Christmas Gift Guide featured our pick of the many OS X-related books out there. One of the recommendations was the (very excellent) Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass - commonly referred to as 'The Bible' in the Mac development community.At the time the book was a little outdated -- however in the last couple of weeks an updated third edition has been published. New sections feature Objective-C 2.0, Core Data, Garbage Collection, Xcode 3 and Core Animation, meaning this third edition is all ready for many of the new technologies in Mac OS X Leopard.At just $32 (via Amazon.com), this updated version clearly ought to be on every developer's bookshelf (and aspiring developer's wishlist).
Read MoreBack in January, the folks from Creaceed released version 1.0 of Hydra -- a Leopard-only, GPU-powered photo application for creating High Dynamic Range photos that competes with the much-renowned Photomatix Pro. Just in time for the Apple Design Awards version 1.5 of Hydra is available. With more tone-mapping options, an image-navigation HUD, RAW importing (should you wish not to convert to 16-bit TIFF before importing), a plethora of Aperture options (more on those in a moment), and many more new features it's certainly a compelling release.As mentioned before, there's plenty of Aperture integration with this release. As well as being able to import photos from (and export photos to) Aperture, Hydra is now available as an Aperture plugin (beta) - based on the all-new Aperture 2.1 Plugin SDK - that allows you to create HDR photos from within Aperture.Unlike the cross-platform Photomatix Pro, Hydra's UI is the epitome of OS X slickness -- replicating much of the look and feel of both Aperture and other iLife applications. We'll be taking a look at both Hydra and Photomatix Pro in the near future to see whether Hydra's charms are merely skin deep.Hydra 1.5 costs $59.95, and is a free update for those we already have a license.
Read MoreIf you think back to June last year, Picturesque - a neat lightweight image editor - was the deserving recipient of an Apple Design Award for 'Best Student Product'. So it's fitting then that, just in time for this year's Apple Design Awards, Acqualia Software has released version 2.0 of Picturesque. So what's new? First of all, it's a Leopard-only application with a Core Animation-powered graphics engine. Throw in an entirely new all-in-one window interface, plenty of fancy new effects (such as the 3D iChat effect), a Media browser for easy iPhoto access and AppleScriptability (Picturesque meet Cory) and it all adds up to a rather tasty upgrade. With the release of version 2.0, a license for Picturesque will now set you back $34.95 whilst owners of version 1.0 can upgrade to the latest version for just $12.95.
Read MoreWe may not have movies in the U.K. iTunes store, but that hasn't stopped the UK broadcasters from slowly but surely adding their wares to the UK shop. First the BBC pitched in with a selection of shows such as 'Spooks' (it airs in the US as 'MI:5') and then Channel 4 added the likes of Black Books (amongst others). So today adding to the mix is commercial broadcaster ITV, which has added 'Lewis', 'Goodnight Mr Tom', 'Brideshead Revisited', 'Cold Feet', 'The Saint' and 'Captain Scarlet' to the UK store.That may not sound like a great deal of content, however ITV is clearly looking to milk the archive shows for all they're worth. Apple UK's Hot News quotes Dawn Airey from ITV: "[We have] thousands of hours of classic content in the archive which we are bringing to a whole new audience via iTunes". and then leaves us with the perennial teaser of "Watch out for more great additions coming soon on iTunes".As usual, iTunes UK TV show pricing of £1.89 (US$3.75) an episode applies to all the ITV content.
Read MoreLike it or not, unboxing is a ritual for many Apple users, and when there's a new product on the streets, Flickr is home to many Mac users' latest acquisitions. We don't feature unboxing photosets for no-longer-new products all that often here at TUAW, but upon seeing a photoset on Flickr from user ntr23 this morning we couldn't help but share these frankly incredible unboxing shots of an iPhone. Lego men abound in the set, with precision unboxing being captured (including ladders to help scale those heights) in a truly amazing set of shots. Yes, it's Apple unboxing shots. But of all the unboxing shots we've seen here at TUAW, these have quite possibly captured our hearts as the best we've seen to date. Be sure to check out ntr23's full set on Flickr and admire these works of art. [Via]
Read MoreBritish readers listen up! If you're a resident west of London, your choices for UK Apple Stores are -- shall we say -- somewhat limited. With just one store in the southwestern part of the UK (Exeter), and one on the south coast in Southampton, Apple's retail clout has yet to extend to the area in between (such as to other larger cities like Bristol). Fear not though, as Apple is indeed planning to open an Apple Store in Bristol later in the year.Apple has posted job vacancies for the (to be determined) location just today - meaning that the store will likely open in advance of Christmas. If you hear anything about the location, be sure to let us know.Thanks to all those who sent this in!Update: Multiple tipsters say the Cabot Circus development (scheduled to open in September) is home to the new store. Thanks folks!
Read MoreAre you a browser fiend? The sort of person who loves Safari, yet can't quite live with some of its peculiarities? If you hadn't guessed, I certainly am one of those people. I love the speed and simplicity of Safari, but it never worked as well as (say) Camino, particularly when it came to persuading links from the likes of Gmail to open in the same window. No number of SIMBL hacks (yes, hacks) seemed to persuade Safari to open links in the existing window - driving me away from Safari, and instead swear by Camino. But that's about to change, as Apple has added a hidden preference to Safari 3.1 that allows you to tell Safari to stick to one window. Even in Gmail. Tipster Dennis Stevense, explains in a blog post that through a simple Terminal command, true one-window mode is finally, finally, here for Safari. All you need to enter is the command below into Terminal, hit enter, and you're sorted. defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool true Thanks Dennis! Update: If you want to reverse the change, it's a simple matter of entering the following into Terminal: defaults write com.apple.Safari TargetedClicksCreateTabs -bool false
Read MoreWith the iPhone SDK announcement last week, some of us here at TUAW were expecting a Worldwide Developer Conference date to be announced. Thankfully, the world has been put to rights, as Apple has now announced that WWDC will run from 9th - 13th June at San Francisco's Moscone Centre (West Hall). With three tracks (iPhone, Mac and IT) if you're a developer or IT Pro this is probably a conference you'll want to be at -- and students are encouraged too, with Student Scholarships usually available.Whilst the ticket prices are forthcoming, it'll Tickets get you 5 days of sessions, Apple engineers, (likely) a Steve Jobs keynote and plenty you can't talk about. With the arrival of the iPhone SDK, we'd wager this years conference is frankly going to be a little popular (what with the full public release likely to arrive around the same time) so it might be prudent to book at your earliest convenience.Pricing for this year's WWDC is US$1295 for a single ticket, US$5180 for 5 tickets (saving you $1295). Apple are also offering combined packages of ADC membership and a WWDC membership.
Read MoreRemember the recent unconfirmed quotes from the BBC that a version of the iPlayer was coming for the hallowed iPhone? Well in a surprise move, no doubt trying to gain a little momentum with today's SDK furore, a limited selection of shows from the iPlayer have been made available to UK residents on their iPhones. It's worth noting, however, that the service makes use of existing technologies on the iPhone -- not anything announced today.At the moment only the BBC-produced 'Whistleblower' documentary seems to be working from the iPlayer website, with content being streamed-only via the iPhone's built-in QuickTime player -- quite the surprise given the heavy use of Windows-only technologies until fairly recently -- although we'd guess there's more shows on the way.Of course, it's a beta service (when aren't they?) so you may not be able to access all the content and the usual caveats apply. As ever, the iPlayer is only for UK residents.
Read MoreFor those expecting a low-level bit-by-byte account of what the SDK means, Erica will return momentarily after a break from her (epic) type-a-thon this afternoon to give you the low-down. While we all wait for our downloads of the SDK to start here at TUAW's globe-spanning offices, let's just recap on what you need to build your next, earth shattering, application for the iPhone and iPod touch: Mac OS X Leopard An Intel-based Mac (sorry, PowerPC folks -- this one's an Intel-only show) Xcode a free Apple iPhone developer account and the SDK itself -- note that access to the SDK is not going to cost you ninety-nine bucks. It's free, though getting the application approved and out onto devices will set you back the $99. Sadly, if you're wanting to run off and pick up a copy of said SDK, you're likely to be left wanting. Apple Developer Connection is 'pulling a Twitter' (much like Twitter itself did, during the event) and is totally unresponsive to most visitors. That said, when the ADC site comes back online, be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page to get in on the SDK (note, existing ADC members need to update their memberships too and sign up as iPhone developers to access the SDK).
Read MoreReady to crack on and unleash some applications for the iPhone later this year? Be sure to set aside $99 to get your application onto the store however, as Ars Technica reports "Developers have to register with [Apple]. For that $99, we give them an electronic certificate that tells us who they are .... if they write a bad app, we can both track them down and we can turn off the app's distribution".In addition to the $99 licensing charge to distribute the application (whether it's a free or commercial app) companies seeking a proprietary solution will need to cough up another $200 ($299 total) for the 'Enterprise Programme'.Another item worthy of note those still using PowerPC machines: if you want to develop for iPhone, you'll not only need Leopard, but an Intel-based Mac to run the SDK. Disagreements about architectures aside, what does your $99 get you? Complete set of resources in the iPhone Dev Center Testing of your code on iPhone and iPod touch Code-level technical support from Apple engineers the ability to reach every user via the Application Store The paid-for Developer Programme is currently US-only "and will expand to other countries in the coming months."
Read MoreAs many of our readers know, London is already host to the world's largest Apple store (pictured above) on renowned shopping-mile Regent Street. However, Apple's ambitions for the UK capital have yet to be fully realised according to a Macworld UK report today - for Apple is preparing to open another store just over a mile away in Covent Garden. The new store is touted as being a 3-storey affair taking up around 25,000 square foot. The existing Regent Street store is approximately 28,000 square foot, and according to ifoAppleStore remains one of the best performing stores - clearly Apple thinks there's plenty more custom to be snapped up and certainly TUAW visits to the flagship store have never been quiet affairs.The Covent Garden store is apparently going to be located at 4 The Piazza, in a location currently taken by a restaurant and nightclub -- it is of course too early to guess when the new store will indeed open.
Read MoreBack in early February, we reported that sources had given GearLive (of jiggly-icon fame) the nod about Flash coming to the iPhone 'very, very soon'. Unfortunately, anyone hoping to get Flash on their iPhone (or iPod touch) anytime soon is likely to be left waiting, as Steve Jobs yesterday pulled a broadside on Adobe Flash, saying it simply wasn't suited for the iPhone. Ouch. Of course, some folks are likely to be more than disappointed with this announcement (not least Adobe and perhaps GearLive). Others, myself included, are simply relieved that our iPhones will remain clear of Flash's clutches [call me bitter, but I've seen enough 'Unresponsive Script' errors for my liking]. Either way, with Flash now brushed aside by Steve-O, it's all-eyes on Apple's Campus Event tomorrow, which starts at 10am PST, as the veil of secrecy (hopefully) rises on Apple's plans for third-party applications.
Read MorePodcasters, wannabe music stars, and GarageBand dabblers of all ages -- it's that time again for Apple has released an update to your beloved application (bumping it to version 4.1.2). It goes without saying that this wouldn't be an Apple consumer-software update without a simple one-sentence release note (Aperture 2.0.1's release notes are somewhat more substantial), so if you're wondering what's been fixed:"This update improves overall stability and addresses issues with the automation of software instrument parameters, FireWire and USB based audio devices and Magic GarageBand."The update is available through Software Update or through Apple's Download Site, weighing in at just over 19MB. Rock on!
Read MoreHere at TUAW, we've been greatly enjoying the latest version of Aperture, which hit earlier in the year. With a few minor bugs slipping under the radar, the experience has not been entirely annoyance-free, and today Apple has released Aperture 2.0.1 update. Areas receiving treatment include: Library upgrading from previous versions .Mac Web Galleries AppleScript support 'Export Plugin API reliability' - presumably to fix issues with Export Plugin statuses not being showed in the Activity Window (much to the chagrin of third-party developers) and lots, lots, more. The 43.9MB update is available now through Software Update (if you're running a fully-licensed version of Aperture) or Apple's Download Pages -- if you're running the Aperture Trial, you'll need to re-download the demo from Apple's site as the updater will not work with the Trial version. Aperture costs US$199, with upgrades from version 1 costing US$99.
Read MoreIf you're a social-network-junkie (and most of us here at TUAW are to a certain extent), keeping all the services up to date has always been a bit of a chore. Thankfully, MoodBlast (written by our very own Brett Terpstra) arrived on the scene to cure our service-update blues, making life super simple when it came to letting people know exactly what we're doing.One of the most frequently-requested features has been Pownce integration -- something that's not been possible due to Pownce's lack of a full API allowing 3rd-party applications to post to the service. Pownce has since released a new version of the API with posting, and Brett has been quick to add the service to MoodBlast with version 3.0.7.1, released today. Simply enter your Pownce details into MoodBlast, check the Pownce box to ensure you're posting to it, and click 'Blast' as you normally would.MoodBlast remains donationware, and is available to download now.
Read MoreIf you've been giving presentations or product demonstrations and needed to highlight your cursor and keyboard shortcuts, then there's a good chance you've heard of, or even own, Boinx Software's excellent application "Mouseposé".If you're one of the above owners of Mouseposé then you might want to visit the Boinx website, as today Mouseposé version 3 has been released with a few new snazzy features: audible feedback on mouse-clicks (to add to keystroke visualisation in version 2), allowing you to play a sound when clicking a mouse button window highlighting is now possible, with Mouseposé able to detect when you're hovering on a window, and expanding the in-focus area to include the entire window. The folks at Boinx have also brought out a family-pack license (for five computers in a private household) for just $29.95, whilst a single-user license is just $16.95. Best of all, Mouseposé 3 is a free upgrade to customers who bought version 2 and is available to download now.
Read MoreEarlier today Scott posted that the long-awaited Time Capsules are indeed now starting to ship. However someone ought to go let the folks at Apple's Hot News team know, as this entry in the Apple Hot News feed is somewhat perplexing."Time Capsule, the wireless hard drive you can use to back up multiple Mac computers using Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard, has begun shipping. "Notifications of the shipments began reaching customers that pre-ordered the device early this morning," according to Jim Dalrymple (macworld.com)."I'm sure that Apple wants to vaunt the arrival of the delayed Time Capsule (I'm very tempted myself, now that they're arriving). However here at TUAW (and we're not alone) we fail to see how leaving this announcement 'according to [much respected Macworld writer] Jim Dalrymple' is in any way beneficial to Apple: if Time Capsule is shipping, why isn't Apple willing to yell it from the rooftop themselves?
Read MoreHear ye, hear ye Britons! If you were wondering when the much-delayed Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes retail store was opening, you can wonder no more, for this Saturday the store is throwing open its doors for the first time. ifoAppleStore (the site in the know about all things Apple Retail) points to 'mis-sized glass' causing the store's opening to slip well past the intended pre-Christmas opening. As with all Apple Store openings, there's a "Digital Lifestyle Collection" of a black MacBook and silver iPod nano to be won, with the first thousand people through the door nabbing a free T-shirt.The store opens at 9.30am this Saturday, 1st March. If you're attending, do send us your reports (and maybe watch for a TUAW operative amongst the sheep queue-rs) -- here's to hoping you manage to bag a T-shirt!Thanks to all those who sent this in!
Read MoreWe've been sipping green tea in celebration here at TUAW HQ. Why? In honour of one Steven Paul Jobs, no less, for today just happens to be everyone's favourite CEO's 53rd birthday. With 10 hugely successful years in the modern-era Apple saddle, let's hope there's many, many more of those to come. Happy Birthday Steve, from all of us at TUAW.
Read MoreUpdate-addicts listen up: it's that time again, as iTunes 7.6.1 has hit Software Update. For a change, the release notes take up a good few paragraphs (at least on first inspection). Skipping the Apple TV marketing spiel, however, the release notes for this update amount to "several bug fixes and improve[d] compatibility with Apple TV software version 2.0." -- music to your ears if you've been experiencing issues.The 44MB update for Apple's ubiquitous jukebox is available now through Software Update, and presumably Apple's Download pages momentarily.Thanks to all those who sent this in!
Read MoreHot on the heels of Auntie releasing a selection of videos for sale via the iTunes Store, we somehow missed yesterday's sneaky revelation that the BBC is intending to release some form of the BBC iPlayer for iPod touch and iPhone 'in the coming weeks.'Why on earth is this important? The much-maligned quarter-billion-dollar iPlayer project has been thus-far Windows only (if you want to download content for the 7 days that it's available) or online-streamed via a Flash player. Astute readers may well also recall that the iPlayer has seen much criticised for its use of Microsoft DRM -- one of the main reasons us Mac citizens lack the ability to download shows from the service.Quite what the forthcoming release means, in terms of watching the content, remains unclear. Digital Spy reports that the iPlayer will only work over WiFi -- meaning that it may not offer download-and-watch capabilities, choosing streaming or a Flash option like the one currently available. On top of that, this month we're told to expect the iPhone SDK, and that brings up some interesting questions.Has the BBC signed up with Apple to use the DRM scheme currently found in the movie rentals our American cousins enjoy? Will the playback be done via some form of iPhone app surely not dissimilar to the YouTube app we currently have residing on our iTouches and iPhones, or will those continually-swirling Flash-for-iPhone rumours bring us answers? We'll let you read the tea-leaves, but this is quite an astonishing move from a corporation whose digital effort I had come to disregard in the wake of the initial iPlayer saga.The iPlayer is, of course, UK-only now [and don't complain, non-British readers: we pays our moneys for the privilege, comprende?] so whatever comes of this, expect it to work only on our fair isle.
Read MoreIf you're a fan of Handbrake -- the tool that allows you to extract your DVDs* into more portable formats (such as your iPod / iPhone / Apple TV) -- listen up. Handbrake has hit version 0.9.2!So what's changed from the last version, released back in October last year? Well, first-off the application is Leopard-only which may well irk some readers (debate away in the comments, folks). Throw in improved queueing, Sparkle updating for keeping Handbrake up-to-date, iPhone Anamorphic video, 'multi-track audio on Apple devices' and Elgato .eyetv file support. Of course, there's many, many, more enhancements that we're not mentioning, and the changelist shows there's plenty of new goodness in this release.All for the very excellent price of free, the new version is available from the Handbrake site for Mac, WIndows and Linux citizens.*It goes without saying that you should only use Handbrake for DVDs which you are licensed to do so. TUAW does not condone piracy.Thanks, Rouven!
Read MoreRumours have been a-flying here in the UK that the publicly-funded BBC would be bringing its shows to the iTunes Store in some form 'this week'. Citing 'TV Industry Sources', The Register reported that "BBC Worldwide will on Tuesday detail plans to set up shop at Apple's online media mall".It turns out, perusing the iTunes Store this evening, that the BBC Worldwide content has already appeared. Shows initially showing up include Torchwood, Spooks, The Mighty Boosh, Life on Mars, The Catherine Tate Show, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and finally Little Britain. All the episodes cost the regular UK pricing of £1.89 and currently, there's just a selection of series available: Spooks (known in the US as MI:5) is showing just Series 6 currently.At least for now, the shows appear to be UK-only. Updated: shows will be available to download and buy 8 days after broadcast.
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