Macworld2010
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Found Footage: David Barnard of AppCubby talks about KaleidoVid
While roaming the floor at Macworld Expo 2010 in February, I had the opportunity to talk with David Barnard of AppCubby about several of their iPhone apps, including GasCubby and TripCubby. David also told me about a project that they had in the works at the time, which has recently been released -- a US$0.99 iPhone kaleidoscope called KaleidoVid. TUAW's Dave Caolo provided you with details about the app in an earlier post, but we thought you might enjoy this short interview with David where he talks about the app, his reason for developing it, and gives us a short demo of KaleidoVid in action.
Macworld 2010: Adam Jackson
Adam Jackson has been attending Macworld since 2003, including the New York and Boston shows. His devotion to Apple and the Macworld Expo was highlighted in the excellent "fanboy" film Macheads (available via iTunes). When I sat down with him at Macworld we spoke about the past, present and future of Macworld. Video after the link (pardon the abrupt start).
Macworld 2010: Steve Shepard of Storyist
Last year we reviewed Storyist, the software for writers. It's a great app that lets you manage all aspects of a writing project, like plot points, research, characters and more. Once you're done writing, you can export to many popular file formats, as well as prepare your document for an editor, for use as a screenplay or even digital distribution. I sat down with Steve Shepard at our Macworld booth to discuss the app, how to get the most out of it, his experiences at the show and finally whether or not he's got any plans for the iPad. Check out the video above to see our conversation.
Macworld 2010: Armpocket cases are a family affair
We stopped by the Armpocket booth at Macworld last week, and while we expected to find just another accessory sales pitch, we found something surprising: a family. The product was actually designed by a couple named Jyette Nielsen and Mark Morgan, and as Mark explained the cases to us (which are made from high-quality, renewable materials like recycled bottle plastic and natural bamboo), we could see that this was a product with real people behind it. He's a retired military guy, and he and his "significant other" ("She's too smart to marry me," he joked) simply had a problem and came up with a solution: they're both runners, and they needed a sweat-proof, secure case to keep their iPods and cell phones in. Armpocket was the case they came up with. Morgan told me he didn't have any significant manufacturing experience -- the couple just went around to various trade shows and chose materials and designs based on what worked for them, and now they go around and sell their cases in retail and at the trade shows (their son was in attendance at Macworld also, selling and demoing the cases). And the Armpockets are impressive -- while they're a little bigger than the standard case, the material is all moisture resistant, the padding grips your arm well while holding your phone securely in place, and there's even something called a "flexi-lock" audio port for holding the headphone cord. The cases are US$22.95 for the regular iPod versions, up to $32.95 for more extensive models. Obviously, we didn't get to go running around the Macworld floor, so in terms of testing, I can't recommend this case over any other sturdy iPhone armbands out there. Still, it was nice to find some real people behind these often faceless accessory vendors.
Macworld 2010: Solar Walk and Geo Walk from Vito Technology
Our own Mel Martin is a big fan of Vito Technology's Star Walk iPhone app, so when the company's rep stopped by our booth at Macworld this week to show us two apps that they're working on right now, we couldn't refuse. The first app we saw was called Solar Walk, and while Star Walk will help you find and explore information about the stars, Solar Walk is designed to do the same with planets. The app features a beautiful (and accurate) simulation of the solar system, complete with all of the planets orbiting trails, and an adjustable clock so that you can see where Mars will be in 2029, if you so choose.
Kanex shows off HDMI to Mini DisplayPort adapter, your iMac celebrates
It ain't the first HDMI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter that we've heard of, but there's nothing like a little competition in a market that Apple's own closed mindset helped create. Bitterness aside, we're pretty stoked to hear that Kanex -- the same company responsible for that oh-so-handy Mini DisplayPort Adapter for Mac mini -- has introduced its own solution for piping Blu-ray, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 signals right onto that gorgeous 27-inch panel that resides in your iMac. Our BFFs over at TUAW stopped by the outfit's Macworld booth in order to give it a look, and they said that every pixel looked absolutely fantastic. Sadly, it looks as if you'll have to wait until April to drop your buck-fifty (not including cables), but hey, it's not like using that 13-inch CRT for a few more months will kill you. Or maybe it will, on second thought. Update: Apogee is Kanex's parent company. Apogee specializes in audio and video solutions, while the Kanex brand focuses on audio and video solutions for Macs.
Macworld 2010: Hands-on with the Blue Mikey
Blue Microphones are on the show floor here at Macworld, and they invited us by their booth to take a look (and a listen) at the newest version of the Blue Mikey iPhone microphone. And with most of Blue's products (I have a Snowball that I use for podcasting, and it works and sounds great), it's quite impressive, producing excellent sound in a well-designed and easy-to-use form. Earlier this year, Blue announced the second revision of the Mikey, with enhanced features for $20 more than the first $79 version. That's the one we used, and it looked and worked great. They've added a line input (for recording guitars), and a USB passthrough, as well as put the entire body on a swivel (so it can even swing all the way around and point forward while shooting video on the 3G.
Macworld 2010: TUAW adventures, day 2
Day 2 of Macworld 2010 brought lots more work and lots more fun -- we spent the day covering the show floor, livestreaming right here on the site, and networking and interviewing with all sorts of Mac fans at the crowded show. In the evening, we headed out to a few media receptions, and were lucky enough to take a brewery tour at the Thirsty Bear here in San Francisco before braving the oncoming rain back to the hotel to take the Muni back to the hotel. Click on to see what TUAW's been up to behind the scenes on the second day of Macworld.
Macworld 2010: Chatting with Phil Libin of Evernote
There are some big fans of Evernote on the TUAW staff -- we've talked quite a bit about the app that promises to store important clips and notes from anywhere, and make them accessible at any time. But even if you haven't heard of the app before, the interview with CEO Phil Libin is definitely worth a watch. He explains why the app is both so magical and so hard to wrap your mind around, as he discusses the idea and the mechanics behind what the Evernote team has done. We talk about their retention problem (and I apologize for my investor-rousing mistake), and how Evernote has to actually make you remember to use it before you can use it to remember. He also talks about plans for the future, including the iPad (which is getting its own separate app, though the iPhone app will work on it as well), as well as the way he originally found out about our blog here at TUAW. Hit the read more link below to see the full video.
HyperMac Micro, Mini, and Nano hands-on
They're light, they're colorful, and with the exception of the Mini, HyperMac's new kandy-kolored iPhone / iPod batteries are easily pocketable. It's a shame the new style hasn't found its way to the MacBook-charging lineup -- let's hope that's in the cards -- but on the plus side, given it charges any USB-powered device, we can see this coming in pretty handy on an universal level. Like gazing upon rainbow-colored batteries? We've got you covered in the gallery below. %Gallery-85276%
Macworld 2010: Diagnose your car's issues with CarMD
Here's a cool device for anyone owns a car -- from gear heads to the rest of us. CarMD will diagnose your car's troubles and suggest a fix with your Mac's help, of course. All cars sold in the US after 1996 have a standard diagnostic port, typically under the dashboard by the driver's knee (a chart tells you where to find it on your car). It's the thing that the mechanic connects to when performing a state inspection or performing certain types of diagnoses. It's this port that the CarMD device connects do. Just plug it in and turn it on to begin. After a few seconds, one of three indicator lights will glow. Green means everything is A-OK, yellow suggests a pending failure and red means there's a problem that needs immediate attention. Once that's done, you pull the device from your car and plug it into your Mac via USB. From there, it launches a browser which connects to their database, tells you what's wrong and suggests a course of action. Pretty neat. If it's something as simple as a loose gas cap (this will trigger your check engine light), you can save yourself the cost and time of driving to a garage. Otherwise, you can print the diagnosis and tell the mechanic exactly what the issue is, saving labor costs. Additionally, the CarMD database has access to up-to-the-minute service bulletins, something typically reserved for dealerships. I'm no gear head but I see the appeal of this device. Anything that can save me some dough is welcome. CarMD is on sale now for $98.99US.
Macworld 2010: TUAW adventures, day 1
Yesterday was the first day in San Francisco here at Macworld, and while the show floor wasn't quite open yet, we were busy nevertheless. Lots of things go on outside of the meetings and the panels and the demos, and so to give you a little feel of what it's like covering a convention like this, here's a little look at what we did when we weren't taking notes or shooting coverage yesterday, from our early morning planning meetings, to the day full of booth setup, to the first evening of partying at last night's EFF anniversary bash. As you can see, TUAW works hard and plays hard, too. Macworld ahoy!
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%
HyperMac debuts kandy-kolored, streamlined, pocket-sized batteries (vroom! vroom!)
We fell in love with our HyperMac batteries during this year's CES, and now it looks like Sanho's decided to open its net a bit and introduce chargers for all you iPod, iPhone, and future iPad owners. All three models feature aluminum cases in colors that correspond to the ol' iPod nano (pink, red, orange, so on, and so forth), and all three have USB connections for charging your non-Apple gear as well. The HyperMac Nano (fully recharges your iPhone 1.5 times), HyperMac Micro (up to three times), and the HyperMac Mini (up to six times) are available now $70, $90, and $120 respectively -- and if you hop over to HyperMac.com now they'll knock $20 off the asking price. If that doesn't convince you, perhaps a gallery full of model-types showing off the devices will? Nah, probably not. PR after the break. %Gallery-85245%
Macworld 2010: Hands-on with the Parrot AR.Drone
We first heard about the Parrot AR.Drone, an iPhone-controlled RC quadrocopter, back when it made such a big splash at CES, but unfortunately, since we weren't there, we didn't get to see it in person. Fortunately Parrot did come by Macworld, and the day before the show, we finally got to see their iPhone-controlled, dual camera-equipped, high tech toy in action. So what's the verdict? It's not super easy to fly (we crashed it into the walls, the ground, and even their marketing guy), but it's the real thing -- the extremely light (3/4 of a pound, as our own Steve Sande estimated with remarkable accuracy) quadricopter is packed with all kinds of fun gadgets, including variable speed rotors, the ability to lift off, hover, and land on its own, and super-sensitive touch controls along with two 640x480 VGA camera feeds running back to the iPhone via 802.11G Wi-Fi. We're not sure how ready it actually is for market (or what it'll cost yet), but the AR.Drone does what it says on the not-yet-designed box: Allows you to control a real quadricopter with and through your iPhone. Read our impressions of the hands-on below, and don't forget to stay tuned -- we'll have video of our demonstration later on. %Gallery-85172%
Wisair-based wireless display adapters head to Macs
PC users have been able to take advantage of a range of Wisair-based wireless display adapters for quite a while now, and it looks like Mac users will soon be able to use them to cut a few cords as well. The first such device is a Mac-ready version of InFocus' wireless display adapter, which is designed specifically for use with InFocus' own DisplayLink-enabled projectors and should be available by the end of March. That looks to just be the beginning, however, as Wisair itself has also announced that no less than four other OEM vendors will be offering some Mac-ready, Wisair-based adapters of their own next month -- all of which, coincidentally, will be making their official debut at MacWorld 2010 this week.
Four out of ten IT professionals would buy a tablet, but would you?
Macworld is reporting that their partner Network World recently did a poll and came up with the figure of four out of ten Network World readers willing to buy a tablet on day one sight unseen. That's an interesting result (and it's not the only one seen along those lines), but I want to know what you TUAW readers think. We've got a pretty good group of professionals, "pro-sumers" (ugh, sorry, I'll never use that word again), and just plain Mac fans in the audience here, and I think we represent a pretty good cross-section of Apple's core audience. Jump in on our poll below, and let us know, if the impossible became possible, if you'd plunk down the rumored $1000 for a tablet even before Steve's demo, or if you'd rather wait and see (or maybe not even buy a tablet at all, no matter what it does). %Poll-40508% Personally, I'm more of a "maybe," though I can totally understand the belief that this is already a revolutionary project (we've certainly been waiting long enough for it). Or perhaps those of us who already have an iPhone and a MacBook aren't really as interested in the in-between as Apple might think.
Talkcast reminder: Join Kelly & crew at 10pm ET
Talkcast time again! This week (for the first time) hosting duties will be covered by me, Kelly Guimont. We'll review this week's in Apple news, speculate wildly about the upcoming Apple Event, and speculate only slightly less wildly about iPhone 4.0. We'll be live at 10 pm Eastern, 7 pm Pacific, and various other times around the globe. To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): 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 Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!
Going to Macworld Expo 2010? Join our community for updates and news
For the past several years, IDG World Expo has created a community on Ning for Macworld Expo. You can join up and follow various bloggers and companies, and now TUAW has a group page for the show. To join the group, just head over to http://macworldexpo.ning.com/group/tuaw. You can participate in our Macworld Expo discussion, find out where TUAW bloggers will be at the show, and even find out about possible meetups in San Francisco during Macworld. It's all free, and we'd love to have you join in on the fun. If you already have a login for the Macworld 2010 site, simply ask to be added to the group. For those who don't have a login, you can sign up by clicking the appropriate Sign Up link on the right side of the page.
CES Watch: The good, the bad, the ugly
CES wrapped up in Las Vegas on Saturday, so here's our third and final wrapup of iPhone and Mac-related accessories from the show. Enjoy! Posimotion introduced a Helix gaming grip for the iPhone -- like the Wii wheel, only for Apple's device. $20, which seems pricey to me. Don't even bother looking at these high-heeled speakers. This actually has nothing to do with iPods or Mac, but I just thought it was awesome: A mechanical autotuning system for your guitar. I want one! Here's a twirling battery concept that could charge your iPhone in a pinch and let you work on that finger strength. Cydle is a South Korean company that's planning to release this digital broadcast TV tuner for the iPhone for $150 in March. Kind of an old-school solution (in 2010, we stream video, not receive it), but it could be cool. The Fingerist is... well, it's a guitar adapter for the iPhone. Go see for yourself. Engadget tried out the Mophie TV adapter, VIZIO's iPhone remote app, and the ION iType keyboard and iDiscover piano adapter. Altec Lansing has some good-looking speaker systems and headphones. And finally, Macworld has an overview of the iLounge pavilion itself and how it reflects the market in general. Whew! We weren't even at CES this year, and I'm still feeling the conference hangover. There were definitely a lot of interesting bits of technology introduced, but we have a feeling that the most interesting gadget of the year will actually be revealed later this month.
