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Well I hope Neil Young will remember, an iPhone man don't need him around anyhow
Remember Neil Young's PonoPlayer? The Kickstarter campaign for the vintage rocker's "revolution in music listening" raised a huge US$6.2 million, with notables like Norah Jones, Elvis Costello and Tom Petty spouting about how the new $400 music playing box made them "feel the music" more than standard digital music players. Well, industry pundit and former professional musician David Pogue took on PonoPlayer in a Yahoo! Tech post last week, finding that a majority of listeners in a blind test actually preferred playback of music from an iPhone over the pricy and oddly-shaped yellow block. I'll let you read the full article from Pogue over at that other site, but the gist of it is that a) most people cannot hear or "feel" the difference of the Pono playback, b) many songs in the Pono store have not yet been remastered in the 192kHz/24-bit format Pono is promising, and c) it's a lot cheaper to buy a pair of good headphones and use your iPhone than buy a new player and re-purchase all of your music. Pogue's "taste test" can be seen below in this little video clip. Enjoy!
First reviews of iPhone 5s are in, and they're great
The first reviews of the new iPhone 5s are in, and for those of us who are drooling over the specs of this newest member of the iPhone family, those reviews are good news indeed. The foremost, and probably the review that will be quoted the most by the rest of the blogosphere, is from AllThingsD king 'o the hill Walt Mossberg. We'll jump straight to the closing line: "Overall, however, the new iPhone 5s is a delight. Its hardware and software make it the best smartphone on the market." Mossberg waxes poetic about the Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 5s, saying that "In my scores of tests, with three fingers, the reader never failed me and none of the 20 or so people I asked to test it was able to unlock the phone." That statement alone should relieve those potential iPhone 5s buyers who were worried that Touch ID was just a gimmick. Mossberg goes on to say "It sounds like a gimmick, but it's a real advance, the biggest step ever in biometric authentication for everyday devices. After using Touch ID, I found it annoying to go back to typing in passcodes on my older iPhone." Mossberg's not the only reviewer who is ecstatic about the iPhone 5s. Jim Dalrymple from The Loop reported that "Speed increases are something we expect with new Apple products, but the iPhone 5s goes above and beyond expectations. In addition to the faster processor, the iPhone 5s is also the world's first 64-bit phone. These changes make the 5s up to twice as fast as the iPhone 5-that's a significant increase." Darrell Etherington at our sister site TechCrunch was also thrilled with the 5s, noting that the "camera is epic" and providing this input about Touch ID: "At first glance, it's easy to dismiss the fingerprint sensor as a whiz-bang feature designed to attract eyeballs and do little else. But this isn't that. The fingerprint sensor, unlike some other questionable recent smartphone tech like gesture control or eye-tracking, doesn't feel like a gimmick or tech demo; it feels like a mature feature that actually enhances the overall experience of using an iPhone in a noticeable way that you encounter very frequently." Tech Crunch has also posted a video review. New York Times tech writer David Pogue was equally thrilled with Touch ID: "The best part is that it actually works - every single time, in my tests. It's nothing like the balky, infuriating fingerprint-reader efforts of earlier cellphones. It's genuinely awesome; the haters can go jump off a pier." CNET's Scott Stein also weighed in on Touch ID, saying "The Touch ID-enabled home button feels invisible; it works with a tap, can recognize your finger from many angles, and feels like it has less of a fail rate than fingerprint sensors I've used on laptops. It's impressive tech. It worked on all my fingers, and even my toe (I was curious)." Myriam Joire of our other sister site Engadget, a true fan of the Nokia Lumia 1020, spent a lot of time talking about the iPhone 5s camera: "First, let's tackle the camera's low-light performance. The shots we took with the 5s were consistently better than what we took with the 5: they were sharper, with finer details, more natural colors and far less noise. As you might expect, our daylight shots were roughly on par, though there were a few times when the 5s won out by a slight margin, offering just a little more detail. All told, the 5s plays in the same league as all those other flagships with a bigger emphasis on imaging. Even so, our sample shots still showed more noise and less detail than the same images taken with the Nokia Lumia 1020. The 5s also does a good job of reproducing color, but it's not the best performer in this category, either. Make no mistake, though: the iPhone has been – and continues to be – great as a simple grab-and-go camera. It may not be a best-in-class performer, but the vast majority of iPhone users will still be happy." If you're looking for the definitive monster review of the iPhone 5s, I'd suggest going to Anandtech.com's review by none other than Anand Lal Shimpi, the editor-in-chief of the site. It's an epic review of the proportions usually written by John SIracusa or Federico Viticci, and it answers questions you didn't even think of. Enjoy the reviews, and be sure to come back to TUAW for our coverage of the release of iOS 7 and the two new iPhones.
David Pogue's iPhone lost, searched for, found, world safe for kittens
Are you sitting? You'd better be sitting down for this one. Go ahead, we'll wait -- safety first. Sitting now? Ok, here we go: David Pogue lost his iPhone. Don't worry, don't worry! It's ok -- he found it eventually. Pogue, author and personal tech columnist for the New York Times, lost track of his iPhone on an Amtrak train back from Philadelphia, and after searching for it on the train he discovered that it had been taken and powered down. Later, Pogue's phone reappeared online, so he was able to spot its location. After he tweeted out pictures of the location via Find my iPhone, Gizmodo tracked down the house corresponding to the GPS signal, and the local Prince George's County police stopped by to see what they could do. We hate to spoil the big reveal (which Pogue has posted to his NYT blog), but the happy ending is that David Pogue has been reunited with his iPhone, and all's right with the world once more.
Mac Pro refresh irks Andy Hertzfeld, Apple confirms revisions 'likely' in 2013 (update)
Along with the introduction of new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro computers, Apple yesterday introduced a new swath of Mac Pro desktops. The introduction was a quiet one for sure, and WWDC attendees of Tim Cook's keynote were none the wiser. It's hard to fault Apple for the decision, as the upgrade was modest at best, but that's exactly what has most upset Andy Hertzfeld, one of the Mac's original designers. Now an employee of Google, Hertzfeld directed harsh criticism at Apple. The following is an excerpt from his Google+ profile: "The specs for the "new" Mac Pro had hardly changed, except for a tiny, inconsequential processor clock bump. Still no Thunderbolt, still no USB 3.0, no SATA III or RAM speed improvements -- it seems like it's stuck in time in 2010. The only thing that's still high-end about it is the bloated price." Yesterday's speed bump to the Mac Pro might've come as a disappointment to many power users, but we're given reason to believe that a more substantial upgrade is on the horizon. While it's somewhat uncharacteristic of Apple to comment on unreleased products, company representatives have confirmed to both David Pogue and Forbes that a new Mac Pro and iMac "will likely be released in 2013." Naturally, the wording intentionally leaves the possibility that we may see refreshes come a bit earlier -- and we'll certainly cross our fingers -- but for the moment, both systems seem like safe buys for those needing to upgrade their desktop Macs. For those willing to wait, however, we'd like to believe that Apple has a few tricks up its sleeve for 2013. Update: Apple has since circled back to Forbes to clarify that only the Mac Pro is targeted for an update in 2013. As for the iMac, we're merely left to hope that an Ivy Bridge refresh is already in the pipeline.
Apple product managers respond to Final Cut Pro X criticism
During our call to discuss Final Cut Pro X earlier this week, an Apple product manager boasted about the product's low price, media management, and ground-up redesign. Unfortunately, when starting from scratch, developers seem to have overlooked a few features that professional users have come to depend on, prompting widespread backlash -- both on internet forums and even on Apple's own App Store, where the $300 download-only app currently has a rating of just 2.5 stars (out of five), including nearly 500 one-star ratings. (Note: you must purchase the app before submitting a rating or review.) The New York Times spoke to product managers about these issues, which include an inability to import old FCP files, no multicamera editing, no support for RED cameras, and no ability to specify QuickTime export settings, among many others. Apple says there are (pricey) workarounds available, or fixes on the way for all but the first issue, but head over to the source link for the full rundown at NYT.
Final Cut Pro X complaints fly between editors and developers (Updated)
So, hey guys, Final Cut Pro X, eh? Conan's editors aren't the only ones arguing about this update. The NYT's David Pogue, who admits that he is not a professional video editor, also jumped in on the discussion and tried valiantly to convince the complainers that it's OK, all of the features you really need are in there, and the ones you want weren't needed anyway. That, of course, is like throwing gasoline on a fire, and what he got was multiple corrections and updates, due to lots of multicolored, blockquoting rebuttals like this one from pro editor Richard Harrington. To make a long (and if, like me, you're also not a professional video editor, somewhat unexciting) story short, many pro editors dislike the new version of Final Cut Pro. Passionately. Which complaints get the most airtime? One frequent issue seems to be that you can't open up projects created with the older version of FCP in the new one, and that because of this, a lot of editors are having issues with both applications installed on the same Mac. There's an official support article on just this issue, strongly recommending that users who want to maintain access to both FCP 7 and FCP X actually partition their hard drives, install a separate instance of Mac OS X, and reboot every time they want to switch from one to the other. I said, reboot every time they want to switch from one to the other. It's true -- Apple likes to burn its bridges in terms of upgrades, and in a professional environment, that kind of incompatibility is just not going to fly. Other issues revolve around a lack of support for various formats the pros use, though a lot of these are supposed to get filled in by third-party add-ons (some of which can be pricey, even for big-time editors) or by Apple's own updates, including those coming with Lion. The inability to interoperate with edit-standard files like OMF and EDLs is a problem, along with limited control over the locations of scratch files and a complete absence of multi-camera editing tools that were present in FCP 7. Pogue's conversation with Apple's FCP product managers hints that many of these will be addressed in future updates. But there are definitely some legitimate concerns -- the previous version of Final Cut Pro was a well-traveled app, with plenty of updates and workflows that had lots of time to polish and settle in. This new version doesn't fit as well in those same cracks, and FCP 7 has been abruptly removed from Apple's product list, meaning that editors can't even buy new licenses of the product they use to earn a living. We'll have to see what Apple does to smooth things over with editors forced to re-learn one of their most important tools -- or depart the platform for the fairer shores of Avid or Premiere Pro. Update: Pogue follows up with another article today admitting that he feels "Apple blew it." We'll see how Apple continues to refine Final Cut Pro for professionals and keep you posted.
iPhone 4 to get AT&T mobile hotspot capabilities on February 13th?
So you might have noticed a few reviews of Verizon's iPhone 4 crop up last night, nothing unusual about that, but a couple of its reviewers have had something to say about AT&T's version of the phone as well. Walt Mossberg and David Pogue (who has since stricken the date from his review) both pinpoint February 13th as the date when they expect AT&T to turn on the Personal Hotspot capability that Verizon's iPhone will have from launch. That's expected to happen with an update to iOS 4.3, which recently went out to developers in its third beta iteration, suggesting the software's nearly mature enough for public consumption and seemingly fitting right into this timeline. Mind you, this is still not concrete information, as Mossberg could conceivably have been talking of AT&T's Mobile Hotspot app which is launching on the same day on devices like the Inspire 4G, and Pogue could have deleted the date for similar reasons, but we're somehow disinclined to believe that two gentlemen in a position to have insider(ish) intel would both make such a mistake at the same time.
Make a free Apple-oriented Christmas Creche
If you've got a bit of time on your hands before Christmas (yeah, that could happen), you might want to build a Christmas Creche using a bunch of Apple favorites and pundits to witness the birth of the iPad. Our Dutch friends at One More Thing have put together a free print, cut and glue kit, where you can download all that you need to build your very own version of the Apple nativity scene. If you know your way around a pair of scissors, you can probably construct it in about an hour. The cast of characters include: Steve Jobs and a segway-riding Steve Wozniak as Joseph and Mary, Jonathan Ive, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller as the shepherds, and three pundits -- David Pogue, Walt Mossberg and John Gruber -- as the three wise men. Interesting choices there. It looks like Pogue is announcing the miracle using FaceTime. Take a look after the break for a quick video on how it all goes together.
Macworld 2010: David Pogue hosts the keynote
The official ceremonies of Macworld 2010 started off this morning with David Pogue's keynote "Late Night with David Pogue" (which started at 9am -- "it's a joke," he explained in his usual corny way). He began by talking directly about the missing elephant in the room: "I have four words for you: 'Steve Jobs isn't here.'" After a few jokes about how Macworld could now say anything they wanted to about Apple behind its back (digs at the hockey puck and AT&T service got cheers from the crowd), Pogue dived into a song parody with a backup band that included Paul Kent and a few other Mac luminaries, and then sat down at a talk show desk where he waxed technical about Twitter, and shared tidbits from his book. From there David rolled out his first surprise: The Autotune the News folks! They sat on the couch and after showing the audience some of their videos, talked with David about how they do what they do. "We bought a green bed sheet that wasn't very comfortable, so we hung it on the wall." The rest is history. As a special treat, they made a brief (and we mean under 10 seconds) clip of an autotuned Steve Jobs discussing the iPad. It was cute but oh, so short. %Gallery-85260%
Paul Kent gives TUAW the latest news about Macworld 2010
As a Mac-head who has attended the Macworld Expo and Conference on and off since the late 1980s, I met the announcement last December that Apple would no longer attend the event with a big, jaw-breaking yawn. Personally, I never attended Macworld for the Apple display, which was overcrowded and staffed by Apple employees who usually knew less about the new products than I did. The keynotes were usually a highlight, but hard to get into, and without Steve Jobs as the "star," it just wouldn't be the same. My reason for going to Macworld has always been the same; to see great new software or hardware made to work with Apple products, meet with manufacturers and developers, and to enjoy the camaraderie of the large group of buddies I've made at Macworld Expo in the past. So, when I saw that registration for Macworld 2010 had opened, I immediately jumped on the website and signed up. To me, it's a no-brainer to attend the original and only US conference that is all about Apple. Macworld Expo has been around for 25 years, and all indications are that it will continue for as long as the Macintosh and other Apple platforms exist. Yesterday, I talked with Paul Kent, General Manager, Macworld 2010 and Vice President of IDG World Expo, about Macworld 2010 and how preparations are coming along for the show.
Apple rejects Macworld iPhone Superguide from App Store... for using the word 'iPhone'
The iPhone App Store's arbitrary and inconsistent approval process continues to baffle and annoy on every level, as Macworld Editor-in-Chief Jason Snell just had his iPhone book rejected... for using the word "iPhone" in the title. Apparently Apple doesn't like app names or icons to include the word iPhone or images of the iPhone -- which arguably makes sense on some level -- but you'd think a freaking iPhone reference manual would warrant an exception, wouldn't you? Making matters worse, it appears that one Mr. David Pogue didn't have this problem, as his iPhone: The Missing Manual was approved with title and icon intact. Sigh. Phil Schiller -- deploy! Update: And just like that, Apple has reversed its stance and approved the app unchanged. Internet high-fives all around. [Warning: iTunes link]
Take Back the Beep: AT&T promises to make some changes, T-Mobile and Verizon slow on the uptake
Two weeks into the campaign, David Pogue has an update about Take Back the Beep. So far we'd say the winner by far is Sprint, who lets you remove the pre-voicemail instructions with a relatively small amount of hassle (we're upgrading to green because Pogue has taken the carrier off his hit list). The other carriers have yet to get on board, however. T-Mobile says that "these comments are being taken into consideration in our planning," but hasn't promised any specific action -- sort of promising, but hardly a win. Meanwhile, Verizon was quoted by ABC News as saying that you could already turn off the message, but apparently what the rep meant to say is that if you don't like the message you can turn off voicemail altogether. Great. So far no hints of real action have come from big red, but the company is responding to complaints with a canned, "The voice mail instructions are there to assist the many callers who may be unfamiliar with the correct prompts." so at least we know they're getting the emails. AT&T is perhaps the most promising of the remaining carriers, saying that while Visual Voicemail (which doesn't suffer in this way) is the true hotness, and it hopes to get that to other devices soon, "In the meantime, we are actively exploring how to shorten the voicemail message on our other handsets." That sounds promising. In the mean time, we literally have no idea why these carriers haven't gotten together over coffee and at least figured out a unified button for skipping over the messages. It's true madness.
Take Back the Beep: how to disable voicemail instructions on Sprint (updated!)
While we wait for all the carriers to get on board with nixing their endless, unhelpful voicemail pre-beep messages, we've already got instructions from Sprint on how to disable it for your own particular voicemail box on that network. It's pretty easy: Call your voicemail At the menu, press 3 for personal options Press 2 for greeting Press 1 to change the greeting To enable / disable the instructions, press 3 Trust us, we did some serious searching for similar instructions on the other major carriers, but had no luck. If you know of anything, let us know! Update: Thanks to some helpful comments we've got instructions for AT&T and Verizon for lopping off bits of the message, and, in Verizon's case, speeding up the talking. Check 'em out after the break. Consider yourselves upgraded to orange, guys!
David Pogue launches all-out war on canned voicemail messages
You know, we love fighting the good fight -- especially if it means calling out corporations on their untoward business practices. Today we're joining David Pogue of the New York Times in calling foul on cellphone carriers' insistence that users be forced to listen to those maddening, pointless 15-second canned carrier messages. In case you've held off on owning a cellphone or calling anyone who has one, they go a little something like this:At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. (Beep)Not only is Pogue mad-as-hell-and-not-going-to-take-it about the ridiculous idea that we still need to be told how to use voicemail, it turns out those additional messages are actually costing you cold, hard cash. He estimates that Verizon, for instance, is netting around $620 million a year thanks to these little annoyances. So what's to be done? Well Pogue wants the citizens of the internet to take up virtual arms... and complain like nobody's business. He's wrangled together all the best contact points for the four largest carriers in the US (included for your convenience after the break). Let them know you know don't want to pay for voicemail instructions. And hey, while you're at it, tell them the price-gouging on text messages needs to go, too.
Macworld 2009: Interview with David Pogue
Hot 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.
Macworld Live with David Pogue
One 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%
Found Footage: David Pogue reviews the iPhone 3G
In regular David Pogue style, he has published a half-comedy, half-review of the iPhone 3G. In the video, he shows a side-by-side comparison of the loading speeds of EDGE vs. 3G. It took only 40 seconds for a page to load on 3G, while to took over 3 minutes for the same page to load over EDGE. He also swings by the 5th Avenue Apple Store to speak with the people waiting in line.You can view this comical video review of the iPhone 3G by David Pogue on the NewYorkTimes video website. In addition, be sure to take a look at our summary of the top technologist's iPhone reviews.
Mossberg, Pogue, Baig review the iPhone 3G
While most people are waiting in line for their soon-to-be new friend, pal and everyday communications device, the world's top tech reviewers have already been playing with the long awaited device. Below is a summary of their findings along with links to their full reviews of the iPhone 3G. Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal) Pros: Faster cell network data speeds, GPS Cons: Weaker battery life due to 3G/GPS Bottom Line: If you don't already have an iPhone and can live with the weaker battery life, then you should go ahead and buy; otherwise wait out for the 2.0 firmware update (hmm... I think I've heard this advice somewhere else) David Pogue (New York Times) Pros: You can talk and access 3G data network simultaneously, cheaper, improved audio quality Cons: 3G isn't wide-spread, AT&T pricing, Bottom Line: "iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade," 2.0 firmware update will make your original iPhone in most ways similar to the iPhone 3G Edward Baig (USA Today) Pros: Faster data network, cheaper, GPS, Visual Voicemail Cons: Slow EDGE speeds when not in 3G area, no video, no memory expansion Bottom Line: "The Sequel, is worth the wait," he also shows a side-by-side comparison between EDGE and 3G speeds As an interesting note: David Pogue says that the iPhone's GPS antenna is too small to provide you with turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps -- this is something that Apple has failed to note until now.
Pogue finds the OLPC XO "absolutely amazing"
With the OLPC Foundation's "Give 1 Get 1" holiday promotion fast approaching, New York Times tech pundit and occasional crooner David Pogue decided to see for himself if the long-hyped XO lives up to its promise, and he's now delivered a full review of the not-quite-$100 laptop. While he recognizes some of the laptop's shortcomings (including a two-minute startup time), those proved to be insignificant compared to the laptop's many benefits, which he says "exhibit breakthrough after breakthrough." Garnering particular notice from Pogue was the XO's sunlight-readable screen, its mesh networking capabilities, and it's long-lasting (and, just as importantly, cheap) battery. He even went so far as to perform a few drop and spill tests on the laptop, which the XO apparently had no trouble withstanding -- check out the video also at the link below to see for yourself.
David Pogue on Macro programs
NY Times tech columnist David Pogue has done it again. I'll admit that more than once I've wondered about David after watching one of his whimsical video reports for the Times, but then he offers up a gem like the one in his latest column and I realize why he is a powerful tech columnist and I'm a lowly blogger.Pogue takes a look at several Macro programs for both Mac and PC (a Macro program is one that allows you to assign certain actions to corresponding key strokes. Launch an app with a push of a button, have a script fire off, things of that nature). He takes Keyboard Maestro, iKey, and QuicKeys for a spin on the Mac side. They all fare well, but QuicKeys is the one the gets the highest marks, and the one that spawned the tip which has me believing in Pogue all over again. QuicKeys allows you to remap the tilde key (pictured to the right) to any button you would like. David uses it as a left hand delete button so he doesn't have to move his hand off the mouse whilst editing. Brilliant.
