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Doxie's new DoxieGo + Wi-Fi: Demo video at Macworld iWorld 2012
Yesterday while I was on the show floor at Macworld | iWorld 2012, I came upon a 7-foot-tall scanner walking around. After I figured out that my cold medicine wasn't making me hallucinate, I knew that I was in the right place -- the Doxie booth. There I was able to interview Paul Scandariato of Doxie about their new DoxieGo + Wi-Fi mobile scanner and grab some video. The new scanner communicates with your Mac or iOS device over Wi-Fi, and allowing you to scan straight to the cloud if you wish. Paul noted that many users scan their documents straight to Dropbox, then open them for viewing or annotation on the iPad. The DoxieGo + Wi-Fi is priced at US$249, while the DoxieGo previously reviewed by TUAW remains at $199. For Macworld show-goers, you can the Doxie scanners for $50 off of list price through Saturday. Here's the DoxieGo + Wi-Fi in action:
Seen at Macworld | iWorld 2012: $68,000 diamond speakers
Standing in the middle of the Macworld | iWorld 2012 exhibit floor looking a bit out of place, Alljack's $68,000 diamond-studded speakers -- fresh from CES -- are drawing a bit of attention. Inspired by a wine bottle and a flower, the speakers are crafted with Russian diamonds, gold plating, simulated wood grain and other decorative metal. Alljack works with industrial designers and engineers to create their products, and these speakers are crafted from precision-controlled machinery. Alljack is a prototype center from Taiwan, so these are most likely the only set of these speakers that'll be made. They're here more to show off Alljack's skill more than get a pair of these speakers in your home.
Other World Computing at Macworld iWorld 2012
If there's one company at Macworld | iWorld 2012 that epitomizes the leading edge of Apple accessories, it's Other World Computing (OWC). At this year's event, the company is showcasing a number of new or soon-to-be-released products for Mac and iPad. In the Mac realm, OWC is about to release two new versions of the venerable miniStack external drives for the Mac mini. The miniStack Max and miniStack have the same footprint as the post-2010 Mac minis, and features FW 400/800, USB 2.0/3.0 and eSATA (optional) ports, as well as an optical drive (Max only) and USB hub. When it comes to enterprise storage, OWC has announced and was demonstrating their new Jupiter mini-SAS storage solutions. Jupiter features input/output speeds three times faster than fibre channel and twice as fast as Thunderbolt, all with an infrastructure cost much less than you'd pay for fibre channel storage. Companies deploying iPads will like the new GripStand Station, which charges and secures up to eight iPads at a time. There's more to come in this short video from the show floor:
OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity
It's MacWorld, which means those providers of Apple gear are busting out wares for aftermarket insertion into your objects of desire. Other World Computing's latest offering is a slender solid-state drive ready to be crow-barred into last year's MacBook Airs. The bombastically named OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is a SATA Rev. 3.0 drive with a promised 6Gb/s data speed at sizes of up to a staggering 480GB. Since the stock drives are limited to the 3Gb/s SATA Rev. 2.0 (but the controllers run 3.0), you should find a significant performance bump when swapping in the new unit. The toggle-synchronous NAND drives come in a variety of sizes, starting at 120GB ($260), but it's the brand new and quite beastly 480GB model that has us excited. Sure, $1,150 is a lot to ask for less than half a terrabyte of storage, but you'll get a three-year warranty for all that cash. We may never give you our money, nor our funny pages, but you can have the press release that's after the break.
2011 Best App Ever winners announced
Jeff Scott of 148 Apps has announced the winners for the Best App Ever for 2011, and you can review at the official site right now. Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick was the overall winner in the iOS devision (which is a great app, but probably also benefited from actually promoting the Best App Ever vote inside the app itself). There are several other winners across various categories like Most Innovative (Codea), Most Useful (Amazon Mobile) and Best Time Killer (Tiny Wings). Scott tells us that 148 Apps received a record 1.5 million votes this year, which is three times the total of last year's choices. Before voting began, there were 287,643 nominations across 7,243 apps. This year also featured Android winners in many categories, but Scott says that iOS topped the Android votes by a factor of 10:1. The Best App Ever awards are always an excellent check of what's available on the App Store, so review the list and find some great new apps. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to 148 Apps for putting the whole thing together.
HP at Macworld iWorld 2012
For the past three years, I've had the pleasure to meet with HP at Macworld to find out what new Apple-centric products the company has produced. This year afforded another opportunity for HP to showcase their products, and I've put together a booth tour video with many of the highlights. If you can't make it to Macworld | iWorld 2012, I hope you'll enjoy this visit with the fantastic HP team. Among the products you'll see in the video are the new HP LaserJet Pro 400 color M451 printer, an excellent device for small to medium businesses and home offices. There's also the HP LaserJet Pro 300 color MFP (multi-function printer) M375, an "all-in-one" printer/scanner/ copier/fax, and the faster HP LaserJet Pro 400 color MFP M475 printer. All of these devices are iOS compatible, using AirPrint for fast wireless discovery and printing. Have you ever tried to scan a three-dimensional object on a flatbed scanner? It doesn't work. That's why HP has introduced the TopShot LaserJet Pro M275, a surprisingly affordable color laser printer with a unique 3D scanner. HP has brought their top Apple support personnel to this year's event, and you'll meet two of the printer geniuses who are at Macworld | iWorld 2012 to answer any questions dealing with using HP products with Mac OS X and iOS devices. You'll meet the man behind all of HP's mobile apps, including the free HP PrinterControl app demonstrated in the video. Anyone who needs to print large format output from a Mac should get a lot out of the discussion of HP's DesignJet printers and the vast variety of media they can print on. Thanks again to the wonderful staff at HP, not only for taking time out of their work at the show today to talk with me, but for also sponsoring the highly successful TUAW Meetup at Jillian's last night (January 26). Several lucky TUAW readers in attendance are receiving HP printers as part of the awesome giveaways. Me? I was just happy to meet and talk with hundreds of TUAW readers. And now, on with our video:
Comixology reigns over comics on the iPad
While there are still quite a few good comic book reader apps on the App Store, there's really only one choice for buying digital comics directly from the publishers: Comixology's aptly title Comics app. Comixology launched early on iOS devices, beginning with a web interface and then the very popular iPhone app. Since the introduction of the iPad the company's really started to shine, bringing in huge partnerships with publishers like DC, Marvel, and Image Comics. Comixology provides both a very slick and usable reading interface and a very well-designed store that delivers digital comics through in-app purchases. Comixology's VP of Marketing, PR, and Business Development Chip Mosher kindly met up with us on the floor of Macworld | iWorld this week, and he agrees that the App Store has brought a lot of success for Comixology, both the app and the company itself (which also runs a few other standalone apps). Even so, Mosher says "really good" still isn't good enough. While Comixology does have most of the major comic titles covered, Dark Horse Comics still delivers its titles through its own store, and Archie Comics also come through a dedicated app run by competitor iVerse Media (though Comixology does carry the comics as well already). There are still some whales out there that Comixology is hunting in terms of delivering digital comics on the iPad. Mosher balked at revealing any major features of the app in the works, but he does say that Comixology is aiming for a "buy once, read anywhere" plan with its digital downloads. Even before iCloud took off, Comixology offered its own syncing service, so any titles purchased on the iPhone would show up automatically on the iPad and vice versa. Mosher says the company has worked to do that with everything, so purchases also cross over to Android devices, plus any readers on desktop computers or the web. He agrees that as long as the company can provide readers with their purchased comics when and wherever they need them, customers will be happy to jump in and buy them under the Comixology banner. Mosher shrugs at the mention of Apple bringing comic books to iBooks in a more official way. Certainly, Apple has shown some interest in bringing periodicals to iBooks, and a few comic authors are publishing their own books using iBooks Author. But Mosher believes Comixology will just have to continue to provide content users want in an app they're happy to use and worry about whatever Apple decides to do when that happens. Finally, we chatted about Comixology's "Guided View" technology, which provides a panel-by-panel look at each comic's art. Mosher says that when the tech was first introduced, "I don't think anyone at Comixology thought people would use it," but in fact "a ton of people have." Mosher says it's probably most valuable on the iPhone's smaller screen, but Comixology still uses the tech to provide the feature on all of its new comics, so clearly the company is committing to support it. Comixology has had a lot of success on the iPad especially, to the point where anyone looking for comics on Apple's tablet will likely end up in this app eventually. We'll keep an eye on the app and the company going forward, and see what they can do next to keep their growing hold on the iPad's comics market.
Audible Magic can recognize anything you watch on TV
An interesting piece of software I've run across at Macworld | iWorld 2012 is Audible Magic, automated-content recognition software that relies on digital fingerprinting. The Audible Magic technology will identify a TV series based off the audio as it's being broadcast. Audible Magic's customers include yap.tv and Miso, which will have the Audible Magic's recognition integrated into their apps. Check out the video as Audible Magic's Jay Friedman gives a demonstration of the software and explains how it helps viewers. Yahoo's IntoNow offers a similar feature, including for live sports or news.
Apparent announces WiFi-powered Doxie Go scanner
Apparent has announced a new model of its popular Doxie Go scanner with Wi-Fi support. The tiny appliance can be charged up, slipped into a bag and carried around for on-the-go scanning of documents, receipts or other slip of paper you want to digitize and save. When we reviewed the Doxie Go in December, a workaround with Eye-Fi Wi-Fi / SD cards enabled wireless scanning of sorts, but now the devices have wireless functionality built in. Documents scanned with the new model can be sent to your computer, mobile device, or to Evernote, Flickr, or an FTP account. Its street price is listed at US$239. Check back with us all week as our team at Macworld | iWorld is providing complete coverage of all the goodies on the expo floor.
Western Digital MyBook Thunderbolt Duo eyes-on at Macworld 2012 (video)
Here at Macworld 2012, Western Digital demoed a preview of their essentially finished, yet not final, MyBook Thunderbolt Duo. Scheduled to ship in Q1 for an "aggressive price," the unit plays host to two 3.5-inch drives, which'll come stuffed from the factory in either 4TB (2x 2TB) or 6TB (2x 3TB) configurations. On the outside, you're looking at the MyBook aesthetic you either love or loathe, but around back you'll find all connectivity has been gutted, save for power and two Thunderbolt ports. The latter means that up to six can be daisy-chained off one interconnect, which when setup in RAID 0 equates to rather speedy transfers, like 700MB/sec reads and 500MB/sec writes in the four-unit demonstration configuration we toyed with. And it's future proof too, as there's a door up-top which enables plebes to swap drives should the need arise. We'll keep an ear out for pricing, but until that day arrives, peep them in the gallery below, or in video form after the break.
Pocket Informant planning public beta for cloud service
The team from Pocket Informant is at Macworld|iWorld this week to show off the app and announce a new cloud-based service that will share information across all of the company's mobile apps and new web interface. Pocket Informant is a GTD/calendar/tasks app that combines all sorts of functionality in one place, and during Macworld|iWorld, both it and the HD version are on sale for just US$9.99. The app is great (and we've spotlighted it here before), but the online service should make things much easier for many users. You can sign up on the website now for the public beta of the web app. WebIS, the company behind Pocket Informant, told us that it wanted to start the beta as soon as this week, but it's instead waiting to see what the response is like before launch. The web app will be a fairly open beta, and the company will widen it as time goes on. The iOS beta, on the other hand, is a little harder to roll out. WebIS will do a closed beta using Apple's Enterprise distribution, so the public won't have much chance to try that cloud service before it's ready to go. But once the code is all set, Pocket Informant users will get a free update that will sync their information across all devices. And while iOS is first, the app will eventually sync info to Android apps as well, so if you use multiple devices, this should really come in handy. Check back with us all week as our team at Macworld | iWorld is providing complete coverage of all the goodies on the expo floor.
Macworld | iWorld 2012: Abvio reveals new features for Runmeter 7.0
There are a lot of Runmeter users on the TUAW staff, and when Abvio invited us to take a look at the upcoming Runmeter 7.0 (along with Cyclemeter and Walkmeter, which are the same app geared toward different users) at Macworld | iWorld 2012, we gladly took the chance to see what's in store. The app update, coming later this quarter, has an updated stopwatch that shows more than 150 data items, a new history navigation, social media interaction and more. My favorite feature was the ability to use the remote on Apple headphones to stop and start the app as needed. It's great for pausing at red lights or to take a quick break. CEO Steve Kusmer also showed me the Wahoo Fitness Blue HR Heart Rate Strap, which the app now supports for capturing heart rate data via Bluetooth. Check out the video below to see Kusmer demonstrate the new features. Runmeter is $4.99 in the App Store.
The Omni Group's Ken Case talks with TUAW at Macworld iWorld 2012
One of the most innovative and longstanding software development firms in the Apple ecosystem is The Omni Group. The company originally developed software for Steve Jobs's NeXT in the 1990's, created some of the first OS X software in the 2000s, and has gracefully made the transition to iOS with the advent of the iPhone and iPad. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of talking with Omni Group CEO Ken Case about the company's latest technical achievement -- building Siri capabilities into OmniFocus for iPhone -- and the history of this venerable favorite of Apple fans worldwide. Over the next week or so, TUAW will be posting a number of interviews with both established development firms like The Omni Group and new startups that are just beginning to make their presence known in the Apple world. Be sure to visit often to check out our video offerings. You can check out more of our Macworld|iWorld 2012 coverage here.
Take a tour of the Macworld | iWorld 2012 show floor
Just as soon as the show floor opened at this year's Macworld | iWorld 2012 in San Francisco, we grabbed a camera and did a run through the exhibitions on display. You can see all of the various booths and their vendors and showcases in the gallery below (everything from Mac and iOS accessories to app developers and even content producers), as well as shots from the "Macworld Midway" displays and the registration area. Things are hopping on the first day of the conference. There are some big names missing from the show floor; Apple obviously isn't officially here, and some of the big vendors from previous years aren't around. But as you can see below, there are plenty of exhibitors here, both big and small. We'll have lots more coverage from Macworld | iWorld all this week, from most of the exhibitors in the gallery below and even more. Stay tuned! %Gallery-145729%
Launch Center demo by creator David Barnard
Last night David Barnard of App Cubby swung by our makeshift studio in San Francisco to show off Launch Center, which had only been live on the App Store for a few hours. If you're wondering what Launch Center does, this video will explain it. Basically it's a shortcut app which allows you to save a few clicks doing things like texting someone or even doing a Google search of whatever is in your clipboard. But there are a bunch of great shortcuts in here, from tweeting to calling to launching a website. Plus, you can schedule shortcuts. I can't wait to prank someone by activating the flash on the iPhone at some time while my iPhone is on the table, explaining that it is a noxious fumes detector. (Update: OK, you can really only schedule a notification that, when you slide to open it, will then launch the action.) If you frequently find yourself tapping too many times on your iPhone, you should absolutely give Launch Center a look. Plus, if you want to schedule certain actions on your iPhone, Launch Center is a dream come true. I think it's a great idea, and David explains a bit about why it was initially rejected by Apple, but is now allowed. Check out the video below.
Western Digital announces My Book Thunderbolt Duo drive
It's the first day of Macworld | iWorld 2012 and the new Mac products are beginning to roll out. Western Digital is back with a hot, new Thunderbolt drive, the My Book Thunderbolt Duo. The external hard drive uses the 10 Gbps Thunderbolt port, and supports two 3.5-inch hard drives in a RAID 0 striped array. It'll send data at a speedy 2 Gbps (250 MBps) which will let you send a full HD movie to the drive in 30 seconds. This is fast, but not as fast as it could be because hard drive technology has not kept up with the speed of the ports. Despite this speed discrepancy, the My Book Thunderbolt Duo still beats any USB 2.0 drive on the market. It'd be a perfect drive for video professionals who regularly transfer large files. The My Book Thunderbolt Duo will be available in 4 TB and 6 TB capacities. The availability date and pricing are not yet known. Check back with us all week as our team at Macworld | iWorld is providing complete coverage of all the goodies on the expo floor. [Via Electronista] Show full PR text WD® PREVIEWS ITS REVOLUTIONARY THUNDERBOLT™ DUAL-DRIVE STORAGE SYSTEM DELIVERING ULTRA-FAST DATA TRANSFER RATES AT MACWORLD/IWORLD IRVINE, Calif. - Jan. 26, 2012 - (Macworld/iWorld Booth #401) - Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, will demonstrate the ultra-fast data transfer rates of its upcoming My Book® Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system at the Macworld/iWorld show (booth #401). Thunderbolt technology will dramatically improve workflow speed and efficiencies for enthusiasts and professionals dealing with large digital files such as video, audio and still photos. Thunderbolt technology is capable of producing up to 10 gigabits per second1 of throughput on each of two channels in both directions. Users can experience very fast read/write speeds especially during applications such as video editing, 3D rendering, and other intense graphics projects. To put Thunderbolt's speed into perspective, HD media creators will be able to transfer a standard size full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds, or backup an entire year of continuous music (approx. 8,600 hours of music) in roughly 10 minutes. "Thunderbolt technology offers the speed needed for creative professionals and enthusiasts who produce, edit, or need quick access to large files, including HD video," said Jody Bradshaw, general manager of WD's consumer storage solutions. "During the demonstration, twin Thunderbolt ports show amazing flexibility while allowing daisy-chaining of up to six My Book Thunderbolt Duo systems or other high performance peripherals for an enhanced workflow process. The combination of storage, backup, and speed could make the My Book Thunderbolt Duo the only drive a creative pro would ever need." About WD WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage, and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and home entertainment products. WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers, and retailers under the Western Digital and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information. 1 Stated transfer rate for Thunderbolt is based on published specifications from Apple. Actual transfer rates when used with My Book Thunderbolt Duo will differ significantly based on system configuration. Performance testing by WD resulted in an average actual transfer rate for Thunderbolt of >250 MB/s on 6 TB systems and >225 MB/s on 4 TB systems. Gigabits per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second; megabytes per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second.
TUAW Meetup: Join us tonight for fun and giveaways
For the second year in a row, TUAW and HP are teaming up to bring you fun! Whether you're in the Bay Area for Macworld iWorld 2012 or a resident of the area, drop by Jillian's in San Francisco (4th and Market Streets, across from Moscone West) and enjoy an evening with the TUAW crew. The festivities start at 8 PM and run until 11, and we have a huge cache of outstanding Mac, iPad, and iPhone accessories to give away to attendees. Refreshments will be served, and HP will have an array of their fine printing and scanning products on hand for demonstrations. It's free, it's a blast, and it's our opportunity to meet with the people who give us a reason to work -- our readers!
TUAW TV Live: The pre-Macworld | iWorld 2012 Episode
Today's TUAW TV Live will be a bit shorter than usual -- a half hour -- and come to you from a different location. I'm in San Francisco for Macworld | iWorld 2012 with a number of the other TUAW bloggers and editors, so I thought I'd do a quick show about Macworld | iWorld today. I may or may not have a guest on today's show, although I'm trying my darnedest to wrangle one of the other bloggers into joining me. The topics may range from iBooks Author to Apple's cosmic earnings report yesterday, although as you know I have a tendency to not follow a script... Below, you'll find a Ustream livestream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to participate by asking questions or making comments. If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone and join the chat by downloading the free Ustream App. It's a universal app and is wonderful on an iPad, both for viewing and participating in the chat. We'll start at about 4 PM ET, so if you're seeing a prerecorded show, be sure to refresh your browser until you see the live stream. For those of you who are not able to join us for the live edition, you'll be able to view it later this evening on our TUAW Video YouTube channel and as part of the TUAW TV Live podcast viewable in iTunes or on any of your Apple devices.
Macworld transitions to Macworld|iWorld as conference begins next week
Paul Kent, general manager of Macworld Expo, says that next week's renamed Macworld|iWorld show will be "the most interesting and certainly the most unique show that we've ever produced." The event begins next Thursday at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, and according to what Kent describes, there will be plenty going on. First up is the exhibition hall itself -- just like last year, it will be in the first floor of Moscone West. There are 271 exhibitors total, and 130 of those are app developers. Like last year, there will be plenty of iOS developers around, but one of the big pushes this year is to represent the emerging Mac App Store, so Macworld has set up an "OS X Zone," which will feature OS X apps and their developers. There are also plenty of iOS accessory and lifestyle item makers as well, says Kent. "iWorld is not just a new name, it's really a direction for the show, where all aspects of the mobile lifestyle are going to be brought to life." Upstairs in Moscone West will be the tech talks and the show's mainstage, and in those panels, says Kent, Apple users will find all sorts of great tips and insights on how their hardware and software works together. Some of the talks will be for a general Mac audience, featuring luminaries from the Mac community talking about their area of interest, and some of them will be very specific talks based on some technical issues, like dealing with Photoshop or Quicktime. Elsewhere on the main stage, there will be plenty of celebrities and artists coming in throughout the week to talk about how they use Apple products in their work. Modest Mouse will open up the event, and during the week, visitors will see all kinds of artists and musicians showing off their work, including bands like moe, Atomic Tom, and legendary electronic musician BT. And the last big exhibit is the Macworld Midway, also on the show's second floor, which will feature all kinds of different fan-centered exhibits based on Apple's hardware and software. In addition to musical shows and demonstrations, there will be an iPad sketch booth, where visitors can get sketched on an iPad, and a photo booth run with Apple devices. "In general show managers don't design attractions," says Kent, but Macworld this year is different -- he and his team have created a little something different from the standard convention. "We've kind of gone down the road of really creating this experiential environment." Kent says that the past few years in the Apple community have shown that yes, there are two camps: Old school Mac users, and those jumping on board the iOS/mobile device train. But there's no reason why those two camps can't come together, and have "unified view of what it means to be an Apple platform user," Kent tells us, "I'd be surprised if there are many Mac users that don't have an iPhone or iPad." The show definitely sounds fun, and of course TUAW will be there covering it from door to door, even if you're not in San Francisco and can't come by. We'll have a meetup next Thursday as well, so if you are headed to Macworld, make sure to visit us and say hi. Whether you're coming for a few hours, a day, or the whole show, it definitely sounds like there's a lot to do and see at Macworld this year.
Audio workarounds in iMovie for iOS
While iMovie for iOS is a technological tour-de-force that somehow crams a complete video editor into the limited real estate of an iOS app, it does have its Achilles Heel -- a less-than-stellar ability to work with audio. Macworld author, TidBits Editor, and all-around nice guy Jeff Carlson, who also just happens to have written The iMovie '11 Project Book for Peachpit Press, has written a nice roundup of audio workarounds to help you with iMovie for iOS. While I won't spoil the three well-written tips by repeating them here, I will give you an idea of Jeff's hints for getting the most out of audio in iMovie. The first addresses the fact that navigating the song list in iMovie's Audio pane is incredibly tedious. To fix this, Carlson suggests creating Smart Playlists in iTunes that ignore those songs with DRM that can't be used in iMovie videos. Carlson also notes that iMovie for iOS has a limited number of sound effects. This can be remedied by finding audio files on your Mac that you wish to use in your movie (from iMovie sound effects or GarageBand), opening them in QuickTime Player, exporting them to your hard drive, and then adding the file to your iTunes library before syncing to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Jeff's final tip deals with the iMovie for iOS problem of not being able to use a song track shorter than 60 seconds in length as a background song. If you've needed a workaround for this, check out the post on Macworld or consider buying his book.
