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What Starfish can learn from its failed Macworld appearance
If you haven't read it yet, please check out Lex Friedman's account on Macworld's site of his attempts to view the Starfish smartwatch prototype. Lex does an amazing job summarizing how the company stumbled and stumbled again in its attempts to show the Mac community its competitor to the Pebble smart watch. TUAW got lucky. It was by pure chance that I happened to return to the booth just as the working prototype was being passed from hand to hand. After about five minutes, the prototype was handed to me. Tale of a failed watch Midway through our Friday afternoon coverage of the show, TUAW editor-in-chief Victor Agreda forwarded the team a tweet from Panic Inc. co-founder Cabel Sasser that talked about the watch. "An AirPlay mirroring... watch? But... how would it.. and how do you.. can someone at Macworld report from Booth 214?!" Sasser tweeted. I was in-between stories, so I scooped up my camera and headed to the show floor. Starfish was on the far side of the exhibit space. A few booths were clustered near the tables where people grabbed a hurried bite to eat or rested their aching feet. It was easy to miss Starfish's booth at first. There were no products, no people clustered around the table like at the Square Jellyfish booth a couple steps away. Two women sat at the table doing what we all do when we're bored -- messing with their phones. I asked one of the booth attendants if I could see a demo. There was a delay, and the prototypes aren't here yet, one told me. I could come back tomorrow. I asked them a few more questions about the watch, but they didn't know much about it. Saturday morning, I returned to find no one at all at the Starfish booth. I shot a few photos of the empty table and headed off in search of a better story, namely the monkey across the room. A couple of hours later, I swung by the booth with TUAW colleague Randy Nelson shortly before 12:30 p.m. to find that the prototype had arrived, along with several watch bands with empty spaces where the device should be. The man at the table, who was not CEO Jason Buzi, admitted that neither he nor Buzi had ever used the prototype, and that he wasn't even quite sure of what it did. He told me to come back in 30 minutes to an hour. During that wait, I did some research. I found the Pocketables story from November 2012 with the initial ad in the November-December issue of iPhone Life. I found SlashGear's post about the plan to debut the watch at Macworld/iWorld 2013, and I checked out Starfish's Facebook page. About 30 minutes later, Kelly Guimont sought us out. She and Rod Roddenberry had gone by the Starfish booth after my initial report that the prototype had arrived. They approached the booth to ask some questions. The man covering the booth told them that he would be right back -- and then he walked off, leaving the booth (and empty watchbands) unattended. Kelly wasn't impressed. I decided to check the booth one more time. There was the usual throng of people wanting to check out a new product. And there was the watch, looking nothing like the magazine mockup. I made sure to capture a video for posterity. When it was passed to me, I held it, not quite sure what to do with it. I pressed a few buttons, tapped the screen, and nothing happened. I gave it to Buzi and asked for a demonstration. You could tell he wasn't used to this sort of attention, and he admitted on Facebook that it was a stressful experience because he didn't have a product to show. But neither he nor his friend were as combative toward me as his friend (the one who spoke with me earlier) later was when speaking with Macworld's reporters. I returned to the media room and showed the raw footage to Victor. "That's not an AirPlay watch," he said as soon as the first frames flickered on his MacBook Air. His guess? Buzi was obtaining a watch from China and trying to re-sell it here for a profit, and that's why he knew so little about his own prototype. Friedman's subsequent interview with Buzi confirmed Victor's suspicions. What can be learned from this? One of the main reasons that the Pebble smartwatch was funded successfully was because of how prepared they were at the beginning of the process. While production delays caused the watch to be delivered months after it was funded, they had working prototypes on hand before beginning the publicity process. Disclaimer: I have successfully run one Kickstarter in the past, and I'm in the middle of conducting a second one. Starfish has a long road to go if they want to succeed at funding any sort of Kickstarter, and to start with, they have to earn the trust of their potential backers. As one Macworld commenter pointed out, thanks to the catastrophic Macworld/iWorld experience, they're pretty much doomed from the start. As Friedman said, it's odd that this sort of vaporware doesn't show up more often at expos (though I am still waiting for that TARDIS iPhone dock from CES 2011). What could Starfish have done differently? Hold off on advertising. They shouldn't have run any ads or reserved a Macworld spot until a working prototype was in hand. They should have known exactly where they were going with the watch before spending thousands of dollars on magazine ads and an expo booth. That's money that could have gone into research. Choose the friends helping you wisely. Whoever is helping to pitch the product -- from booth sitters to best friends -- needs to know just as much about it as the CEO, and given the circumstances that's not much of a bar. Supply them cheat sheets. We heard answers ranging from "the Kickstarter has been conducted" to that it was coming later (the latter being the right answer). Teach them how to interact with people asking the rough questions. The friend trying to help Buzi who got aggressive with the Macworld reporting staff wasn't doing him any favors. The entire point of the expo was for reporters to come and ask those questions. Make face time for yourself. A CEO launching a product should spend as much time as possible at the booth, even if the product isn't there. Have your laptop out, show people schematics and discuss the product with them. These are your potential backers, and you owe it to them to be as open as possible about the project. Also, show enthusiasm about your product. Be excited about it, be into it, and convey that to people. Yes, it's extremely hard when you're not used to doing that. But that passion about your own work will go a long way toward convincing people to back you. Use prior experience you have to show that this isn't just vaporware. When I launched our first Kickstarter, I had never published a print book. But, I did have 10 years of newspaper experience as a reporter and designer. My partner and co-creator had two books published in Canada. Between us, we had a 14-month archive of comic pages online. Having that content available, along with our combined experience, helped both Kickstarter projects to be successful. Be realistic about your project. As we know with Pebble and Nifty MiniDrive, there could be massive production delays. Components might be faulty, and other factors might cause you to adjust your schedule. Be open about them with potential backers. Perusing the Pebble and NiftyDrive update schedules on their Kickstarters will help you get a good idea as to what can go wrong. Even smaller products can have this happen. With my current Kickstarter, our printer suddenly bailed on us. I had to rearrange for the book to be printed elsewhere very fast. If all else fails, bail out of the expo. Yes, you'll be out a few thousand dollars, but it could have also saved face for Starfish in the end. A straightforward "our prototype didn't arrive on time, and we didn't want to show people a product we didn't have" will go a long way toward earning good will. It means you're acting in good faith and not trying to scam folks. Things could turn around for Starfish, they could be successfully funded, and we could see Starfish watches alongside Pebble at some point in 2014. Or, they're not funded. Or, they could turn out like Code Hero developers and potentially face a class-action lawsuit, and that's something I don't want to see happen to anyone.
Three things about Macworld/iWorld 2013
For the TUAW staff, Macworld/iWorld 2013 enabled a good chunk of our staff to get together in a way that we normally can't because of distance. We had fun, as we do every year, and not everything we see on the show floor made it into a news article. So, here are three observations from each TUAW staffer that attended -- from the silly to the serious and everything in-between. Mike Schramm 1. The iPad-equipped telepresence robot was probably the most impressive thing I saw on the show floor. The price means I personally won't get one, but just seeing the robot in action (and controlling it with another iPad) made me realize the possibilities for using Apple's extremely powerful tablet to support and enhance other technologies. That's what Macworld is all about these days: you own Apple products, and what else can you do with them? 2. The Jam monkey was an endless source of fascination for me as well. It was a live wild animal on the show floor of Macworld! I'm hoping someone tries to up the ante even higher next year by bringing, say, a real mountain lion. 3. Finally, aside from all of the silliness on the show floor, I think the community is why a lot of visitors still come to this show, and it's definitely one of my favorite features. It's always great to see everyone we've known for years now in this community, whether it's shaking hands in the hallway, sharing stories over dinner, or clinking drinks at the TUAW meetup. Yes, it's always good to see the new apps and new accessories, but my favorite thing about this show is the people. Kelly Guimont 1. NOT all iPhone cases! I heard a lot of grumbling this year from people who were dismissive (I think the addition of "iWorld" to the name of the expo started it) of the entire experience, claiming it was just a room full of iPhone cases and that couldn't be further from the truth. There were a lot of iOS products, sure, but the show was, as Adam Christianson said, proportional. 2. There were some "novelty" items, but what I liked this year was the trend toward utility in accessories. Chef Sleeve is the first company that comes to mind, making kitchen accessories that incorporate the iPad. Now that people are done oohing and ahhing over The New Apple Thing, what other uses are there? It's exciting. 3. I'm going to crib from Mike, since this is always my favorite thing about Macworld: Community. I love getting to meet people, I love hearing about the new thing, and this year as a speaker I got to interact with a whole new group of people. We had the TUAW meetup, Smile's tenth anniversary party, Cirque du Mac, there were so many opportunities to hang out with the rest of the Mac community in a way that no amount of tweeting or podcasting will ever match. Steve Sande 1. OK, so I'm cheating by reading what Kelly and Mike already wrote, but they are 100% correct when they say that Macworld/iWorld is all about community. Seriously, I talked with so many people so much during the three days I was in San Francisco that I could barely talk when I got home. It's not just the other bloggers; it's about meeting the developers and manufacturers that we work with, and getting to meet a bunch of TUAW readers. The TUAW Meetup (see picture below) was a blast, although next year we'll need to schedule it so that it doesn't conflict with Cirque du Mac. 2. I'm always impressed by what I see at the OWC booth, and this year's selection of products was amazing. Whether it was the upcoming 2 TB SSD or their big NAS box, or the updates to existing products like the Power2U wall socket, it was a blast meeting with the OWC folks again this year. 3. While attendance at Macworld/iWorld 2013 didn't seem to be lacking, the amount of open space on the floor at Moscone West seemed to indicate that not as many vendors decided to shell out the money to exhibit their wares this year. Many of the booths were smaller this year than they were in the past. It's beginning to look as if the real reason to attend Macworld/iWorld is for the conference sessions and community, not to wander the floor in search of non-dairy cheese or children's bicycles -- both of which were items on display. Mike Rose 1. Appalooza. The "bullpen" exhibit area of small boothlets remains a dense yet pleasant sector. While it wasn't as packed solid as in years past (keeping in mind that I missed last year's show -- my comparisons are from 2011 to 2013), it still provides a much-needed opportunity for app developers and newcomers to the Apple ecosystem to get their products in front of people. In particular, it was great to talk to the guys from RAGE Software (EasyWeb), the ByteSquared team (Office2HD) and the VoiceOver-optimized VO Calendar developer. 2. San Francisco. So many of my friends, collaborators and past colleagues live in the Bay Area; it never seems like there's enough time to catch up with them all. Having a central event to pull everyone in makes it much easier to connect. 3. Loyalty. There's a solid economic argument to be made for participation in Macworld/iWorld as an exhibitor; one accessory vendor, with a centrally located booth, told me that they expected to make back their costs in sales alone -- meaning that all the brand awareness and user contact is just gravy. Still, the fact that some heavy hitters continue to bring full-size booths year after year is quite heartwarming. Thanks to you, HP and Crashplan, Belkin and OWC, Fujitsu and HYPER -- and thanks to your fellow travelers upstairs in the Mac IT mini-exhibit hall, Parallels, VMware, Absolute and JAMF. Your exhibitor fees help make the whole Macworld go round. Victor Agreda, Jr. 1. Developers! Like Mike R. said, there's never enough time to catch up with everyone. That's why we have so many parties and meetups to choose from. Still, meeting and sharing feedback one-on-one is so valuable that it's probably my favorite part of the entire show. 2. Wacky products. Starfish, the vaporware hit of the show is an example of bad execution. But then there's the Bowblade, which I dismissed at first. Then I went by the booth, spoke to the father/son team who made it, and understood that it's more of an exercise tool than archery simulator. A lot of writers seemed to chuckle at the homebrew nature of the device, and the price -- as did I -- but the creators have their hearts in the right place. Macworld's expo floor is a fun jaunt if you love entrepreneurs and creativity. 3. Programming. Not code, but the sessions, the presentations, the IT track... Even with quite a few TUAW writers on deck every day we weren't able to cover it all. As I wandered about I saw engaged viewers really digging whatever they were watching. We had a few attendees and speakers at sessions, and from what I hear the audience was thrilled with the content. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the talk with Josh Gad and Ashton Kutcher went, and was sad that I missed Fred Armisen. There's a lot more to the Macworld/iWorld experience than just the parties and show floor, and as a learning and growing experience, it's still one of the best conferences I attend. Oh, and I got a hug from Paul Kent. Randy Nelson 1. This was my first Macworld, so I went into it with only my own notions of what it would be like, and I have to say that they were pretty spot-on. I expected to see a lot of innovation and creativity and I wasn't disappointed. This was evident in all of the new approches to using iOS devices I saw, from the semi-ludicrous Bowblade to the imminently more functional (and portable) Olloclip lens system. It was just great to see so many new ways to use the technology we love in different ways. 2. Sharing! Even if there weren't exhibitors to visit or panels to attend, I would go to Macworld purely for the chance to meet so many devoted Apple fans and share the ways we've come up with to use the technology or use it better. 3. For the fans. Unlike other expos I attend every year such as E3 and Game Developers Conference, Macworld is open to the public. This means that it has a very different vibe, and frankly one that I like a lot more. It's not just about product demos and interviews with various companies; there's a chance for the everyday fan to interact with the people and businesses that drive their hobby, and I think it benefits both sides. I have to imagine the companies that attend leave the show with a much better appreciation for their customers along with a lot of ideas of how to better serve their needs with new products and enhancements to existing ones. Megan Lavey-Heaton 1. I'm the last one to add my thoughts, ergo I get to peek at what the rest of my co-conspirators wrote, and I agree with them on community and fans. My first Macworld was last year, and I was so overwhelmed that I didn't get as much out of it as I thought I had. This year was better in every respective -- from interaction with fans to networking with other people in the Mac community, vendors and developers. It felt like I had a place in this community, or as Randy told me at one point, I had found my people. San Francisco and the expo were no longer strangers, and I could navigate the show floor without having a map. That being said ... 2. I found that the show floor was laid out much better than last year's. I agree that it appeared that the number of vendors was less, but I think repeat vendors were also using their space more effectively. There was a nice seating area in the middle of the Appalooza, and the tables that were at the back last year was moved to the unused space on the sides. I noticed that they allowed the doors to open a few minutes early rather than have a huge mass of people force their way through right at opening time. It's these little touches that make the experience not only better for media, but for fans as well. 3. The tech talks, workshops and other sessions. They weren't just on the show floor either. OmniFocus had hosted one-on-one sessions at the Cartoon Art Museum to help users leap over the learning curve in using the program. I chatted with Macworld's Serenity Caldwell on Friday about her session on the basics of building ebooks, and other tech talks included digital art, photography, design, development security and more. They even allowed a couple of ne'er-do-wells (and Jeff Gamet) to run a session on how to pitch your app to the media. These sessions weren't just interesting, they were extremely useful for fans and the media. I just wish I had managed to attend some of them!
Belight Software takes a chance on gaming with Rails at Macworld 2013
Belight Software was showing off one of the few games on the floor of Macworld 2013 last week. The company usually makes utility apps, but just recently released its first game, called Rails, available on the iPad right now. The game is kind of a personal project for the devs -- they were big fans of an old DOS game called Short Line Express, and decided to make a game like that for the iPad. I found the game relatively similar to Matt Rix's game Trainyard, though it doesn't have that title's abstract feel. Instead, it's a little more straightforward -- you have a series of guidelines around each stage that you can draw tracks on, and then trains come out of different colored stations, and need to be delivered to stations of the same color. Trainyard's complexity came in its tracks, but Rails' complexity comes with its trains: Each one has a different ability that has to be either used or dealt with in a certain way as you guide them home. The game starts out simply, with the player just hitting switches and drawing tracks as needed. But things get very complicated. All trains will crash if they hit each other (except for bumper trains, which have the special ability of just reversing when they hit another train), but there are also trains like Kamikaze trains, which will do their best to drive towards other trains, or longer snake trains which are tougher to maneuver around, or trains that need to be kept on the track for as long as possible, or cleared through the station quickly. With all of these various elements, the game can get quite frantic, asking the player to switch trains and cars quickly after a while. Rails is a "project of interest" for Belight -- the company generally sticks with (and is happy with) utility apps, but the team obviously has a drive to make this one. It's done alright so far, according to the company's rep, and there's a Mac version coming to the Mac App Store as well. In the future, Belight is planning to add some features into this one, including the oft-requested ability to delete tracks. The rep also told us at Macworld that they may put some related games together for it as well, or the team may choose to create some other games. It's an interesting strategy -- the team is simply chasing their passions with this game, and it definitely shows.
Henge's horizontal dock will be a great investment for your Retina MacBook Pro
For Retina display MacBook Pro owners, the Henge Horizontal Dock will be the best investment you can make in your system beyond the computer itself, especially if you utilize multiple displays. Originally unveiled at CES, the US$249 system nabbed a Best of Show award at Macworld/iWorld 2013, and a brief demo proves that it deserves the status. This meaty dock boasts an impressive 14 ports, including two audio ports, six USB 3.0 ports, FireWire 800, Ethernet and an SD card slot. It can also manage up to three external displays, as seen above. A push button neatly ejects the MacBook Pro from the dock, and software will allow you to configure your screens so everything snaps into place once you plug it in. There will be two flavors of the horizontal dock: one with Thunderbolt support ($349) and one without. The horizontal dock without Thunderbolt support will be released during the third financial quarter of 2013, the one with Thunderbolt during the fourth quarter. The docks will accommodate MacBook Pros with Retina displays and all MacBook Airs.
Rain Design launches iSlider at Macworld/iWorld 2013
We haven't seen much out of Rain Design in the past few years. The iRest won Macworld Best of Show in 2011, but there was nothing new new at Macworld in 2012. Later in the year, the company rolled out the mTower, a stand that looks like it was designed to compete against TwelveSouth's BookArc line and upgraded its mStand to include a swivel base. For Macworld/iWorld 2013, the company unveiled another iOS-centered accessory: the iSlider. Made of anodized alumnium like many of Rain Design's other products, the stand can fold down into a small wedge and be tucked into the side pocket of a bag. It's billed as being used for an iPhone or iPad, but this is best suited for an iPad or iPad mini. The iSlider will retail for US$49.95, but Rain Design doesn't have it on its website yet.
Talkcast tonight: Post-Expo hangover edition, 10pm ET/7pm PT
We came, we saw, we sang a little karaoke and met an adorable monkey. Macworld/iWorld 2013 is in the books, and this is the first chance we've had to breathe a little and take stock. Of course, the best way to do that is to counterprogram the blackout-delayed Super Bowl and host our regular weekly gabfest, the Talkcast! Mike R. is fighting off the "expo crud" and sends his regrets, but I'll be there with bells on and ready to go. We'd love to hear your impressions of the show if you were there; your distant takes if you weren't. Products you saw, heard about or shook your head in disbelief at? Let us know. To participate live during the show, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, the best way to have your voice heard is to call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
Caturday: Actually, today is Macworld Monkeyday
It's Caturday, but we're also at Macworld/iWorld 2013, and it was the perfect chance to spotlight a special guest who made an appearance DreamWalk Interactive booth on the show floor: a capuchin monkey. DreamWalk, the developers of Jam for iPhone, use a cartoon monkey as an avatar. They admit that show organizers told them they couldn't have the real flesh-and-fur monkey on the floor, but they decided to brave the wrath of IDG and show off their friend anyhow. We'll see how long this visit lasts. Check out the video below, and we'll be back to our normal parade of felines next week. The cats will seem not to care that we left them alone for a week, but no doubt we'll find our iPhone sync cable shredded on the bathroom floor soon.
Pixelmator's Shapes interface coming soon
Pixelmator is one of my favorite apps on the Mac -- I've been following it for a long time, and whenever I want to do any photo editing beyond a quick resize (and sometimes even when I want to do that), I click the Pixelmator icon in my Dock. This week at Macworld/iWorld 2013, Pixelmator's Ausra Meskauskaite kindly stopped by the media room to visit with the TUAW team, and chat about what Pixelmator's Lithuania-based developers have been up to recently. It turns out they've been busy: The company is just about to introduce the long-awaited Shapes feature, allowing designers and artists to drag pre-created (or custom-made) shapes onto a digital canvas, and then edit various attributes of those shapes, like painting them with a color gradient, growing or shrinking them, and masking or layering them as needed. Pixelmator has planned to implement a shape element for a long time, and Photoshop users will know how useful dealing with shapes can be. But Meskauskaite told me that Pixelmator took its time working with the new feature, because they thought they could implement it better than Adobe did with Photoshop. The final interface certainly does seem simple -- you can just drag a shape out, and then drag a gradient onto it as needed. Clicking on the placed shape brings up a series of control points, and those can be dragged around to get the shape exactly where you need it. You can even convert text over to a shape, and then interact with it in the same way. I'm not a design expert, but the whole interface seemed very fluid and easy to use. Pixelmator is also working on an interface for layer styles, although I didn't get a chance to see that one in action just yet. Meskauskaite said that the company spent much of 2012 just making sure the app was running well and correctly, and now that 2013 has arrived, the focus will move to start putting new features in, like the shapes and upcoming layer styles interfaces. Unfortunately, not everything has gone smoothly with Pixelmator in the last year or so. Meskauskaite told me that whenever Apple offers a cool new feature in OS X, "we take it and place it in the app." Pixelmator saw Apple's Auto Save feature, and immediately decided to add it into the app, but that change ended up rubbing a lot of users the wrong way. The problem is that Auto Save automatically wrote over any changes users made to images, which means that "Save As..." no longer worked (since the original image was replaced by the image being worked on, rather than being separate from it). Instead of "Save As...", Pixelmator has implemented an "Export" screen, but the change in workflow has caused a lot of problems for users, admits Meskauskaite. She told me that "we had debates day and night" about how to deal with the Auto Save problem, and in the end, "we had to choose Auto Save." Users who understand how Auto Save works have dealt with the change better, she says, but Pixelmator also understands why users still attached to the old workflow would be frustrated, and the team is working on finding a solution that makes as many people happy as possible. Pixelmator famously moved exclusively on to the Mac App Store a little while ago, and Meskauskaite says they're very happy to be selling apps (a lot of apps) via Apple's platform. I asked what the company might want out of the App Store in the future, and Meskauskaite said the number one thing they're looking for is volume purchasing. That's a feature that came to the iOS store a while ago, but hasn't yet shown up on the Mac App Store yet, and Pixelmator believes they would do well with it. As for the future, Pixelmator certainly has plans, but couldn't share any of them just yet. Getting the 2.2 Blueberry "Shapes" update out is the current focus, and it should be available soon, and definitely in a beta form later on this month. As for the other updates, we'll just have to wait and see.
Digital artists take the spotlight at the Nomad Brush booth
Mike Schramm looked at the Nomad Flex in October, and he liked it as a tool for aspiring artists to use. I stopped by their booth at Macworld/iWorld 2013 on Thursday, and a bunch of those aspiring artists were clustered around iPads to try the brush out. The US$29.99 Flex is the star of the booth, as it has a synthetic soft brush tip and comes in five colors. Along with all of the demo units, Nomad has also recruited a number of iPad-based digital artists to discuss their work this week in the booth. I spoke with Sumit Vishwakarma, who led a tech talk on Thursday about creating art on the iPad. Vishwakarma is also offering classes that teach artists how to integrate digital techniques with traditional art. They're also giving advice to booth visitors, which is really a nice bonus for anyone who stops by. If you're heading to the expo on Saturday, take a moment to go hands-on with a Nomad Brush and get in touch with your inner artist.
Airturn is a Bluetooth-enabled music page turner for iPad
We heard about the Airturn when it first released a few years ago, and the company is here at Macworld/iWorld 2013 this week in San Francisco, showing off both the older two-pedal unit, and the brand new four-pedal unit you can see above. That piece in the middle of each unit is a Bluetooth device, and it hooks up to about 40 different music apps and score readers on iOS, so that musicians can turn pages and scroll down virtual music sheets without using their hands. There's even optional bite- and tongue-switch accessories The standard Airturn unit, called the BT-105, is US$120, and you can set up the pedals in quite a few apps to not only turn the page, but also toggle audio or navigate lists as you go. The four-pedal version arrived last year, and it's $159 (though both models have a discount on at the expo this weekend). Airturn shared a booth with a company called The Gig Easy, that makes music stands for the iPad. They seemed very sturdy indeed, and I'm not sure what else you'd want from a way to hold your iPad up while you play. Seems like there are plenty of excellent options for musicians looking to use iOS to read and play their tunes.
MMT offers a mobile monitor for your Mac or iPad
This is the first Macworld for MMT, Mobile Monitor Technologies, and the company is offering a slightly different twist on portable USB monitors. Each is wrapped in brushed aluminum, and each has a nice build quality with what appears to be an outstanding screen. But there's a model with a numeric keypad installed (handy for your laptop), and a model which allows you to show your iPad's screen (for presentations). The Monitor2Go model for iPad is somewhat like a clamshell case, but as you can see from the picture below, it's not really designed as a case. Instead, you have a monitor which you can flip up and swivel 180 degrees around, allowing you to show someone sitting across from your what's on your iPad. There are also USB and HDMI connections, which are handy. The 1,366 x 768 resolution Monitor2Go sells for US$299, while the 1,600 x 900 version sells for $329. Both screens are 15.6 inches diagonally, and both support the iPad 2 and iPad 3 with built-in slots for both. The Field Monitor Pro is the Mac version (seen below), with a numeric keypad built into the aluminum chassis. It's DisplayLink-certified, and according to MMT you can daisy chain up to six of these things off a single USB! The Field Monitor Pro also includes USB and HDMI, and features a resolution of 1,366x768 on a 15.6-inch screen. It retails for $289. We hope to have a hands-on with one or both of these in the future.
Daylight Viewfinder keeps the sun from spoiling your photo taking
I've been pretty successful thus far in my ongoing quest to find the most unusual accessories here at Macworld/iWorld 2013, what with products like the BowBlade catching my eye. Today I ran across a little doodad called the Daylight Viewfinder, which is an optical viewfinder -- the kind you'll find on DSLR cameras and the like -- that sticks to your iPhone or iPod touch screen and lets you see what you're shooting even if the sun's washing out your display. Launched in late December of last year, the Daylight Viewfinder was designed for use in settings where you're going to be battling the sun's rays, such as at the beach or while hiking. The lightweight device attaches to your display using strong suction -- there's no chance of it coming off unintentionally -- and telescopes out, so you don't have to put your eye right up against your screen. A soft rubber eyepiece helps to block out all external light. The Daylight Viewfinder works with a free app of the same name available on the App Store. When you fire it up, it displays a thick white circle indicating where to attach the viewfinder on your screen. In terms of controls, it features a shutter button, flash control and toggle for switching between still photo and view mode. It also offers a digital zoom and a means to access your camera roll. While looking through the viewfinder, you see a display very similar to that of a hand-held view camera. Since the accessory is enlarging it optically, the actual view is pretty low-res, but it gets the job done. Since you can't look at your device's display to change settings while you're peering into the viewfinder, the app uses a unique tap-and-lift interface, where you have to tap your screen, drag your finger -- represented by a circle -- to the option you want and release. It takes a little getting used to, but it's a clever approach to an obvious problem with the setup. We tried the Daylight Viewfinder outside of the Moscone Center in a setting that would normally have prevented us from getting a good view of what we were shooting and came away impressed. We've not sure about how often we'd find ourselves using the accessory day-to-day, but those who have frequent run-ins with wash-out and glare might think the US$29.95 price tag is worth it. The Daylight Viewfinder is available for order directly from its makers or at Macworld/iWorld for the reduced price of $22.99
Telekinesis Kyle is an upcoming platformer with psychic power
There aren't all that many games on the expo floor at Macworld/iWorld 2013 this year, unfortunately. It seems like a lot of game developers stayed home, as most of the apps on display are utility or productivity apps. There are a few games out there in Appalooza (as the app section of the show floor is called), and Telekinesis Kyle is one that stood out to us. It's an upcoming app from a company called Vellum Interactive, and it's based on a cool idea: You play as a kid who can not only jump around on various platforms, but he can also move various physics-enabled objects through the game's environments. The game is still in early production, so the graphics and the levels aren't at all finalized (and in fact, there was a bug in the scrolling mechanic in the part I saw in action), but the idea is a lot of fun. Jumping is handled automatically, so the only onscreen controls are to send Kyle left or right, and he'll go up on objects and platforms by himself. Once Kyle comes across an object to move, then, the player can just touch it on the screen, and then drag and drop it wherever it needs to go. The puzzle I saw consisted of two switches with two doors on two different levels. Kyle had to stand on the first switch to open the first door, behind which was a small crate. He could then use telekinesis to move the crate up to the second switch and open the second door, where there was a small gear he needed to complete the puzzle. Without leaving the first switch, he tele-moved the gear with his mind where it needed to go, and then he tele-moved the crate down to where he stood, so it could hold the door open for him as he moved through. As you can tell, Kyle's got an emphasis on puzzles and exploration rather than action, and that seems like a great fit for the iOS market. Later on, Vellum is planning to add puzzles with obstacles like lasers. The style of the game is done very well, too -- it's cell-shaded, and Kyle's relative physical weakness makes his mental powers all the more satisfying. Telekinesis Kyle looks like a great title -- it's due out near the end of March, so we'll look for it then. Oh, and of course I couldn't leave the booth without asking about the name. Yes, said Vellum, it is named after the famous Tenacious D lyric, but it doesn't have anything official to do with the song. The team just needed a name while they were working on the project, someone mentioned Telekinesis Kyle, and it just stuck. "It was one of those spontaneous things," a Vellum rep told us.
Macworld/iWorld 2013 Best of Show winners announced
More than 250 exhibitors and a plethora of media and fans are on hand at the Moscone Center this week in San Francisco, and there are a number of products that stand out. The Macworld staff cloistered themselves in their super-secret bunker to determine the absolute best out of the products on the show floor this year, and here are their choices for Best of Show: Belkin Thunderstorm: An iPad case with built-in speakers. The included app tweaks audio to your liking. It's available for US$199.99. Blue Nessie: A USB microphone that might remind some of a golf club and is designed to take the pitfalls out of recording audio, especially in places such as a crowded showroom floor. The microphone will be $100, and people can sign up to be notified when it's shipping. Boinx Software iStopMotion 2: A repeat winner, the update adds more audio tools and recording through the iPad mic. We've reviewed past versions of iStopMotion and always have been pleased with this app. Double Robotics Double: This $1,999 (after a $500 pre-order discount) robot looks like someone mated an iPad stand with a Segway. Mike Schramm took a look at it and says it's the coolest thing he's seen at Macworld this year. Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500: This scanner can handle 25 double-sided pages per minute and an iOS app lets you receive scanned images from the iX500 on your iPhone or iPad. Henge Horizontal Dock: This is another TUAW favorite. Victor Agreda wrote about another Henge product, the Gravitas, and we'll have a brief write-up of our experience with the horizontal dock later today. Reallusion CrazyTalk 7: Mac animation software that handles facial animation. Marry images and a voice recording to create 3D videos. Macworld reports that an iOS app will be arriving within the next few months. Seagate Wireless Plus: An external 1 TB hard drive that generates its own WiFi network so you can backup data from an iOS device. Spicebox Mauz: Mike Schramm also took a look at the Mauz, which is still raising money via Kickstarter. Despite the Best in Show status, Mike said there were some kinks to be worked out. "If Spicebox can iron out the hardware and get the software to do what they want it to do easily and responsively, the Mauz accessory could be very useful indeed," he said.
XMG Studios announces Evil Empire, Hero and one more at Macworld
Just as they were last year, XMG Studios is on the floor of Macworld/iWorld 2013 in San Francisco. XMG has three new games to talk about that aren't playable just yet, but should be released this year. XMG's Lydia Schaele told us about a big title called Evil Empire. It's darker and more stylistic than older XMG games like Cows vs. Aliens and last year's Ghostbusters title. Evil Empire is a military combat strategy game set in an alternate reality during the Cold War, in which the USSR is more powerful than it was at the time. In this wild, propaganda-filled setting, an alien creature lands on Earth. As the player, you must use various units and tactics to lead the rebels against a strong, alien military. Evil Empire is still in the planning stages, and XMG is dong its homework. The company took a close look at the App Store, and determined that going with a more complex strategy-style game would land them in the right part of the market. Evil Empire is also expected to be a free-to-play title, with in-app purchases centered around customization and extra content. The game is being designed according to XMG's new philosophy, which we were told targets four main pillars: Character, Choices, Collection and Community. Characters and story will play a big part in Evil Empire's narrative, while meaningful choices will keep player experiences very different each time through the game. Collecting will be a big part of replay value, and of course XMG has quite a bit of experience already with building up social features and communities, so Evil Empire should show off that talent as well. Evil Empire sounds fascinating, but Schaele said that XMG plans to take its time with development. We should see more on this one before the end of the year. Also in development is a game that's code-named Card Battle, which is very similar to the current hit Rage of Bahamut. It's due near the end of May, and will feature original, colorful card art. Card Battle is a card game that features an evolution mechanic and plenty of collection options. XMG wants to make a popular card game that's a little bit better quality than what's currently available, so that should be excellent. And finally, we got to see some concept art of a game called Hero, which is another card game, though this time much more character and story driven. That game will have a rarity system, with various tiers of cards to go after and collect, though the mechanics haven't been defined. Schaele also told us that XMG will attempt to beta test technique with this game. The studio may release it on Android for just a few devices, and let players try out the game on that smaller platform first, before eventually bringing it over to iOS. This isn't the first time we've heard this idea from developers -- right now, the traditional iOS beta test is to release the game in Canada before bringing it to other countries, but with cross-platform development easier than ever, a smaller Android release may become the testing method of choice. We should see more about Hero in June or July of this year. XMG's lineup for 2013 looks pretty solid, and we'll stay tuned for any more news on these titles.
A taste of Macworld/iWorld 2013: Bowblade, Eset, Kanex and more
Here's a little taste of the atmosphere on the floor of Macworld/iWorld 2013, plus a closer look at the Bowblade we wrote up yesterday, a chat with the antivirus/anti-malware maker Eset, and a look at what's new from Kanex. Enjoy!
Spicebox's Mauz aims to make your iPhone an all-in-one controller
One of the weirdest devices I've seen so far here at Macworld is Spicebox's Mauz controller. The company recently started a Kickstarter for the project (their second, after a case that tracks your opening of multiple beers called the Intoxicase), but even though that campaign hasn't yet come anywhere close to the US$150,000 goal, the unit is already being prototyped and built by the company. It works like this: The company has produced a little box (only a prototype so far, though Spicebox told me that the circuits inside have been finalized and are headed to production already) that will plug into your iPhone's 30-pin adapter. I didn't see a Lightning version, but presumably it's being worked on as well. Once that unit is plugged in, it connects via WiFi to a driver running on your Mac, which Spicebox is right in the middle of developing. The unit on your iPhone will use the WiFi connection to send information about movement bidirectionally, so not only can your phone tell your computer how it wants to move the mouse or keyboard, but the computer can tell the mouse, for example, what app has gained focus, or what kind of gestures should become available on the phone. There are four different ways the phone sends control information, then. The first is just through the touchscreen itself -- as you can see above, the default look of the phone imitates two mouse buttons and a wheel, and those work just fine when you tap them. On the bottom of the plug-in accessory, there's also a (low-power, says Spicebox) mouse laser, so the device can tell when you move it around on a mousepad surface. So at the very minimum, your phone can work as a tabletop mouse when the accessory is plugged in. But of course that's not all. The little accessory also hooks into the iPhone to grab gyroscope and accelerometer movement, so the developers are working on allowing you to do Wii remote-style movement, where you can move the iPhone around in real space to push or pull around elements on your computer's screen. This function wasn't working when I saw it here in the booth at Macworld, but its makers say development is still well underway and they hope to have it up and running soon. Finally, there's one more method of control with the Mauz. That mode uses the iPhone's front-facing camera (while it's sitting face up on a flat surface) to read live video of your hand passing by, and attempts to turn that into 2D movement (so, for example, you'd swipe your hand in front of the iPhone to spin a Google Earth globe). Spicebox even wants to try and track 3D movement (so you'd move your hand toward or away from the phone as it's lying down to push things in or out of the screen). That function was at least working on the show floor, but not in a usable way: The Spicebox guys were waving their hands back and forth above the prototype phone, with very little movement to see on the screen. So there's a lot of work yet to be done. Spicebox says the unit's inner electronics are finalized, but the casing outside of the device is still being prototyped and developed. The software is still a work in progress as well. Spicebox says the beta for the device should hopefully start sometime in April, and then they're hoping to have everything finalized and ready to go later on this year. I was told the company is aiming for a price "in the $60 range, and I believe we'll get there," said one of the company's founders, Gilad Meiri. Mauz is definitely an interesting idea. I have my doubts about how exactly the implementation will work, and while the company has some big plans, they're still very much in the prototype stage, especially in the software department. But I won't discourage anyone from dreaming big: If Spicebox can iron out the hardware and get the software to do what they want it to do easily and responsively, the Mauz accessory could be very useful indeed.
Aspyr Media charges on in the wild world of Mac gaming
I've been vocal for many, many years now about Aspyr and their like, and exactly how I feel about them. I'm a big fan of gaming, of course, and a big fan of Apple and the Mac. And Aspyr sits right at the intersection of those two worlds: They're a company, based in Austin with about 50 employees, that ports AAA and big-budget games over to the OS X platform. Given my dissatisfaction with the company and how vocal I'd been about it in the past, it was with not a little bit of temerity that I went to finally meet with them here at Macworld 2013. But Aspyr's VP of Publishing Elizabeth Howard and Sales Manager Michael Blair kindly welcomed me into the company's suite and sat down to talk about the state of Mac gaming from their point of view. The good news is that Aspyr has seen all of the signs that I've seen the past few years, and the two main concerns I've had for so long are their concerns as well. Buggy ports of PC games on the Mac was a big problem, but in the past few years Aspyr has worked hard to make things better, and even I'd agree that the ports we're seeing these days, from Aspyr and other companies, are light years better than what we used to see. The other big complaint I've had is delays -- games on the Mac often come out months or even years behind their PC and console releases. But both Howard and Blair agreed this was an issue as well, and in fact one of their biggest concerns. Late Mac releases was "definitely the most important thing to us in 2012," said Howard. Aspyr is working as hard as it can to juggle licensing partnerships, engineers, code bases and platforms to try and get these games out as close to the PC release as possible, and Howard says that "it's getting much better." With a few exceptions, Aspyr essentially has the porting process down to just a couple of months, with most releasing coming out either day and date or soon after. It's not perfect. Just recently, Aspyr had to release Borderlands 2 without multiplayer content on the Mac App Store, though it was able to get multiplayer ready for the Mac Steam release (and the Mac App Store patch is coming as soon as it's ready). But both Howard and Blair said they share the timing concerns, both because they are fans of Mac games, and simply because games released alongside the PC versions (and alongside all of the marketing and promotion for them) . "Revenue is a huge difference for us" when games are released together, said Blair. It turns out that fans like me aren't the only ones bugging Aspyr -- the companies they license the games from aren't always helpful either. Not only do a lot of AAA developers not have time for Mac ports, but they often don't have time to even help Aspyr figure out what code goes where, which adds time to the process and frustrations to Aspyr's engineers. Finally, Aspyr has one more source of concern, and it's the distributors that it chooses to deal with. The company releases games on its own website through the official GameAgent store, but most of its sales come these days through either Steam or the Mac App Store, and Howard says those are two very different marketplaces. How sales look on one or the other tends to depend on the title you're talking about (Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, for example, does well on the Mac App Store, while Borderlands 2 is a much better hit on Steam, presumably because of that multiplayer problem, among other things). But Howard said that just releasing games on one platform or the other is even more work for the company's engineers: Steam has its own achievements and features, and the Mac App Store of course has Game Center and other features to deal with. I asked Howard, given how much success the company has found on the Mac App Store, what Apple could do better for games like theirs, and she said Steam is really leading the charge in supporting game developers. Steam "engages that audience constantly," she said, putting together lots of regular sales and promotions for customers to find, and leaving promotional banners and ads up as long as their relevant, rather than changing them out from week to week. Apple, on the other hand, isn't quite as active in its promotion, and definitely isn't as open in terms of how it deals with the store, says Howard. That seems to be a legacy of Apple's relationship with gaming in general: The company has never really understood gamers, and even on the Mac App Store tends to promote and sell more of its own apps rather than much more popular games. Aspyr didn't have a lot of information to share about their exact catalog this year (unfortunately, recent changes in the gaming industry have put some of their titles in question for the moment), but Howard said the content lineup for 2013 would be very impressive. She promised more content for Civ 5 (Aspyr has published both the game and the Gods and Kings expansion on the Mac), some more indie-style titles, and lots of other new titles on Mac and Steam. Howard also mentioned, though again without specifics, that the company was thinking about a new plan as well: Bringing "catalog Mac experiences" over to the iOS platform. She mentioned Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as a desktop game that had done well on Apple's mobile devices, and said that Aspyr was considering bringing games that were a few years old to touchscreens. There's no more information on that, unfortunately, but it was definitely an intriguing idea. Aspyr is definitely working hard to try and make all of its Mac ports better, and while I'm still not completely satisfied with the release schedule (and I definitely got the impression that Howard and Blair weren't yet either), it's definitely clear that the company is facing a whole lot of pressure from all sides for doing something that all of us Mac gamers want: Bringing us high profile games that run natively on the computers that we love. The quality and timing of the ports has gotten better over the last few years for sure, and I would no longer call the company "a complete dealbreaker," as I wrote five years ago. Still, there's always room for improvement, and hopefully we'll see even more of it this year, as Aspyr is able to convince more and more of the companies it licenses games from just how wonderful and loyal the Mac community can be.
Crowdfunding collective TinyLightbulbs shows off its iOS products
Last year, e-commerce site TinyLightbulbs formed in Denver, focusing on products that are funded via crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. TinyLightbulbs brought five of the products available on its site Macworld/iWorld 2013, including: SlingShot: This smartphone stand received more than US$70,000 in funding on Kickstarter and acts as a combination tripod and cradle for your iPhone. An attached handle helps create smooth panning shots. Erica Sadun took a look at it in October. Ultima: A smartphone stand for the car that is made with an aluminum body with a suction cup that is use to secure it to your car's interior. It raised more than $64,000 on Kickstarter. CableKeeps: This was my favorite of the products offered at this booth. These fish-shaped rubber cable holders were funded in 2011. Insert an Apple iPhone or iPad charger in one end, then thread the 30-pin or Lightning cable through the tail and wrap it around the fins to keep the cable in one place. When it's in use, you can use the fins as a stand for your iOS device. The CableKeeps are offered in three styles: two for iPad adaptors and one for the smaller USB adaptor used with iPhones, iPods and the iPad mini. SoundJaw: Steve Sande reviewed the SoundJaw in 2011. Originally developed for the iPad 2, this clip attaches to an iPad near the speaker and boosts the sound by directing the sound waves forward. It raised $17,000 on Kickstarter and is compatible with the iPad models that came out in 2012. Soft Touch Flex: This iPad mounting system is available with a clamp or a mic thread to fit it to a microphone stand. It comes in white and black.
Bowblade is an exercise bow for your iPhone
There are a lot of accessories to be seen at Macworld 2013, but none caught our eye -- nay, shot an arrow into it -- like the Bowblade. After all, it's kind of hard to miss what looks like a hunting bow being brandished in the middle of a computing convention. Currently in prototype form, the 4-pound accessory holds an iPhone or iPod touch and uses a mechanism to tap your device's screen when you pull a string with a metal ring attached -- the equivalent (well, reverse) of releasing the arrow on an actual bow. The catch is that the mechanism won't work unless the bow is pulled back into its full firing position, a feat that requires a bit of strength. Thus, the accessory's makers are touting its use as a workout device. The Bowblade works with about 35 games currently available on the App Store, some of which allow you to aim using your device's gyroscope, providing an augmented reality aspect to the experience. Notable titles include Star Battalion from Gameloft, Sniper vs. Sniper from Com2us and Lazer Tag from Hasbro. In the event that a 4-pound plastic bow sounds like just the thing your iOS device has been missing, the Bowblade is available for pre-order now to ship in April. Oh, and the price... it's US$185. But, hey, if you want to make the trek to Macworld, you can snag a pre-order for only $155.
