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A look back at Macworld 2006 - a TUAW gallery
Remember Macworld 2006? Boy, I sure do. It was my first trip to any Macworld, my first trip to San Francisco, and my first spectacular failure as a TUAW correspondent. This year it's going to be a little different. Not only does TUAW have a crew in effect for MWSF 2007, who will be bringing you total Macworld coverage all the way up to the wee hours of Friday evening (and beyond), but we've got new tricks up our sleeve as well.What new tricks? Galleries! I've put up a few pics from last year's Macworld, but keep your browsers tuned to the gallery pages for TUAW as we'll be posting like crazy this week.
Zephyr's HDMI port and new HANA scaler: up close and personal
Alright, so you've had due time to squabble over Microsoft's reasoning for apparently readying an Xbox 360 v2 -- supposedly prepared with a 65-nanometer CPU, 120GB hard drive, and an 1080p-pumpin' HDMI port -- and now XboxScene has dug up photos of what appears to be a prototype board sporting the coveted new HDMI port as well as a new "HANA" scaler. The materials on the PCB certainly seem to match up with what we saw yesterday, and moreover, the direct comparison shot between the current model's (presumably analog only) "ANA" scaler and the forthcoming version's "HANA" model adds a bit more consistency to the whole story. Indeed, if the current machine's scaler can't even output digital 1080p signals, it certainly helps to explain the missing HDMI cable that one would've thought went hand-in-hand with all this HD DVD hoopla Microsoft has got itself into. So be sure and hit the read link for a few more high-res shots, and click on through for the YouTube proof -- oh yes, there's a video.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
First pics of the LG KE850-based Prada cellphone
While it was but a week ago that we got word of a forthcoming mobile from LG and Prada, the first round of "official photos" (read: blurred almost beyond recognition) have already surfaced, and it will purportedly be based on the mysterious LG KE850. Foregoing the typical LG-branding, this black beauty looks to have Prada's fingerprints all over it, and instead of the typical keypad, it'll reportedly sport a touchscreen display that "changes based on the application being used." Moreover, the handset will feature a predictable minimalist design, boasting an all black color scheme and a simple black / white contrasting interface. Although we don't know a great deal about the feature set just yet, it supposedly only has a minimal amount of onboard memory, and while prices have "yet to be confirmed," we're led to believe the pricetag will be quite a bit lower than we're all secretly expecting when it hits "five European countries" in March / April of next year.
Lifehacker script to automate Project 365 with iSight-enabled Macs
Photojojo is a community focused on photography tips, tricks, DIY projects and other kinds of picture-taking goodness. Recently, they introduced Project 365, essentially coining a(nother?) term and offering tips for those take-a-picture-a-day-for-a-year-or-three projects that broke out on the interwebs over the last year or so.Inspired both by this Photojojo post and the recent 'snap a pic of users who commit invalid login attempts' hack, Adam Pash at Lifehacker penned a Photo projects for the New Year post in which he put together a script that can automate this process on iSight-enabled Macs, more or less taking the effort out of your own Project 365. The script can be set to run each time you login (properly, of course) or at a specific time of each day, and Adam includes instructions for tweaking them to your needs. By default, they're set up to snap the pic and save it in ~/project365/pics/, adding a timestamp to the name of each file to help you keep track of everything when you're ready to make your YouTube debut.I think this is a fantastic idea, and now that I have an iSight in both my MacBook and iMac, I think I might actually take a crack at this myself. A big thanks to Adam for putting together such a cool script, and be sure to check out Photojojo's original Project 365 post for tips, motivation and ideas on what to do with 365 pictures of you and/or your stuff.
Guitar Hero II: we have a winner
It takes guts for someone to dress up in a silly outfit, courage for them to pose for pictures, and a sense of humor to know that they'll end up on the internet. However, it takes real balls to do all of that while wearing a Victoria's Secret Angel costume and playing Guitar Hero. Thus, we have a winner for our contest. We apologize in advance if you can't get this image out of your head for several days, but hey ... them's the breaks.Kudos to Stacey for this winning entry, she'll receive a copy of Guitar Hero II with a guitar signed by Dave Navarro (eBay value of autograph = $1.57). Our two runners-up are Casethan and his dual-guitars of death/J.C. Penney catalog picture, and JediJoe9's proof that he might have some brain damage. They'll both receive signed posters and GH2 t-shirts.Thanks to everyone who entered!
DirecTV now friendly with Viiv boxes, other PCs to come?
After DirecTV's long-awaited HR20 HD DVR finally got its rightful announcements and actually hit users' hands, it wasn't too long before folks were plugging and praying in hopes of getting their new toy to play nice with that HTPC beside it. While we knew the two firms had gone hand-in-hand awhile back, we finally got the thumbs-up that a new, Viiv-alicious DirecTV Plus HD DVR would be unveiled soon to interact out-of-the-box with Viiv-enabled systems, but more importantly, that a software update was coming to the plain ole HR20s to accomplish the same thing. The time has come, and users are reporting over at DBSTalk that the "0x108 software" has opened up the Ethernet port for use, and allows browsing / connections via a Viiv-certified machine, but definitely made things difficult for those not exactly keen on shelling out for a few new components. Nevertheless, there's already been somewhat of a workaround worked out, which allows PCs with just Windows MCE installed to "see" the HR20, but not "serve up files in a way that HR20 can work with," which we're all but certain will change as the wheels spin in owners' heads. Reportedly, DirecTV is establishing a dedicated website to getting folks up and running with the new connectivity options, and be sure to keep an eye on the linked thread for any "future developments" regarding non-Viiv-savvy PCs.[Via PVRWire]
Sony Ericsson Ai pictures: the non-fuzzy edition
It's practically a foregone conclusion that the first shots of anything these days just have to sport the most atrocious quality possible, as anything better would just ruin the mystique and allure. Running par for the course, the first snapshot we saw of Sony Ericsson's presumably forthcoming "Ai" thinphone looked more like a smattering of pixels than an actual image, but we've now found a few pictures that confirm the general shape, size, and layout. While we're not sure if the firm will stick with the "Ai" moniker, there's word that it could be marketed as a Chocolate-rivaling Walkman (W880i?), but time shall tell. Be sure to hit the read link for a few more shots.
The Wii in motion (a Flickr photopool)
Nintendo should just gobble up the rights for the above image, slap some branding across the bottom, and run a nationwide ad campaign. Flickr user Michael T. Gilbert performed a Thanksgiving test on his father whose flannel shirt, Dickies, stoic face, leathered skin and spartan bedroom all evoke decades of hard work while his exceptional bowling form communicates something entirely different.The rest of Flickr's Wii Motion pool is full of photos (408 currently) of people, young and old, all captured mid-Wii, their flailing arms and exaggerated stretch preserved in digital amber for all time.[Via Wonderland]
Wii unboxing photos hit the internets
While we're still counting the days until the Wii's launch throughout the Americas (November 19), our amigos south of the border managed to get ahold of one just a little sooner; apparently Mexican gamer mag Atomix got their hands all over a unit that was sent to its offices for testing purposes. Check out the various pieces, unboxed, on página segunda.[Via Joystiq]
Apple's 2G iPod Shuffle unboxed and in the buff
While Apple's second-generation iPod Shuffle was unveiled quite some time ago, shipments just recently started flooding out of Cupertino's (or China's) doors to eager early adopters. Even more recently, Apple announced retail availability to the enthrallment of those who'd rather brave mall traffic than take advantage of free shipping. Nevertheless, *nathan has hooked us up with an early peek at what 2G Shuffle owners can expect when unboxing their precious little DAP, so be sure to hit the read link to see the shiny, silver device in all of its minuscule glory. [Via Nick Starr]
Eleksen's fabric keyboard / UMPC case in the wild
The fabric keyboard gurus over at Eleksen are apparently moving forward with its colorful fabric keyboard / UMPC case hybrid, which would add another clever offering to its already sleek Bluetooth and bendable options. While we the knew the company was eying opportunities to bring the vivid peripheral to market one way or another, it appears that Glen Evans of PocketPC Solutions has had the pleasure of testing out a working prototype of the aforementioned accessory with his very own TabletKiosk eo. His seemingly positive remarks suggested that it produces "an audible click when a key is pressed, and that it's very usable on a daily basis," which admittedly might not be all that long given the meager battery life in most UMPCs. While we're still not sure if Eleksen is looking to pump these out under its own name or offload the task to a willing OEM, be sure to click on for another shot of the cloth-based keyboard in its electric green glory.
PS3's SIXAXIS goes under the knife
When it comes to consumer electronics, there are basically two types of people in the world: those folks who'd rather remain blissfully ignorant about the inner-workings of their toys, and those who rip open a product's packaging, toss the instructions in the garbage, and immediately break out their screwdrivers and desoldering kits to discover exactly what makes their new tech tick. From the sheer number of naked gadget photo spreads we've featured on these pages, it's pretty clear that we fall into this latter group, which is why our heart started beating a little faster when we came across a thorough gallery of the PS3's SIXAXIS controller cracked open and splayed out for all of us silicon pr0n fiends to ogle. Thanks to a ChinaGBA forum contributor named Panpp, we not only have close-up shots of the SIXAXIS's every nook and cranny, but a layer-by-layer dissection of all its motion-sensing, rumble-free, non-replaceable battery goodness. So keep reading for a few more pics, and then hit the Read link for even more controller carnage (spoiler: we went over every photo with a magnifying glass, and unlike those sneaky engineers over at Apple, it seems that Sony isn't in the business of hiding highly-desirable, crippled components in its hardware).[Thanks, ChronoZaga]
Wii-cessory photos
As plays on the name go, "Wii-cessory" is probably not going to catch on, but y'know ... we're okay with that. It's so hard to come up with new witticisms when we're gazing upon the smooth, silky cables, so dark and lustrous. We can imagine how they'll slide through our fingers as we lovingly unwind them from their cruel and twisty knot of torture. The flat expanse of the sensor bar, just waiting, waiting for its place of honor atop our televisions. Ah, the pristine white shimmer of the nunchuk, so fresh and unspoiled by our grubby jam-hands. Oh, Wii. Why must we wait so long to be with you?[Thanks to creamsugar for the tip. The original site seems to be experiencing intermittent downtime, so we're linking to Go Nintendo's pictures. Look out for some severe watermarking, however.]
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom + Flickr Uploadr
Fraser Speirs already released a Flickr plugin for Aperture, but what about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users in the crowd (John Gruber has a nice piece on the ridiculousness of adding the 'Photoshop' prefix to Lightroom's name)? As it turns out, through a little trickery, Lightroom can be tweaked for uploading your images to Flickr.This Mac OS X Hints post describes the simple setup, as well as a couple of drawbacks, to using Lightroom and the official Flickr Uploadr tool in conjunction; one simply needs to change the external editor preference to the Flickr Uploadr, then chose the Uploadr as the option from the Post-processing page during an export. Check out Mac OS X Hints though for more details and possible inspiration for asking Mr. Speirs (nicely) for a true-blue Lightroom Flickr plugin.
TUAW Desktops of the week for 9/10/06
Being that this is the first official TUAW Desktops series roundup post, we couldn't force ourselves to chose just one. You readers have found some pretty creative uses for your desktops, and our new TUAW Desktops Flickr group is shining proof. As a result, we decided that in order to get this party started, we should round up a few desktops from different ends of the spectrum; some busy, some minimal, and some in a class of their own. First up is quite possibly the busiest Dashboard we've ever seen from Flickr user Z6p6tist6, pictured above. We're sure Apple would be proud of the little bit of business mixed with a little bit of play that's happening on this desktop.Read on for a few more desktops that made this week's roundup, and be sure to submit your own unique take on the desktop to our TUAW Desktops Flickr pool, as we'll round them up in this new series each weekend.
Getting intimate with Kacho-Fugetsu
You have $500 to waste, right? Well, someone did, and they took extensive photos of the Kachofugetsu Signature PSP. To be honest, it looks absolutely gorgeous. Mere mortals like ourselves will most likely never get a chance to see this system in real life, so make sure you check out the pics after the cut. It's the closest we'll ever get to the beauty.[Via PSP-Vault]
Fraser Speirs: "who wants me to make an ApertureExport?"
Fraser Speirs, creator of the highly useful FlickrExport and other apps, is asking for feedback on his blog as to whether users would be interested in a similar ApertureExport app. He warns that ApertureExport wouldn't be quite as well tied into Aperture as FlickrExport is to iPhoto, and this is due to the current version of Aperture (apparently) lacking a plugin API.Still, if the idea of being able to point at a feature in your own copy of ApertureExport some day and telling your friends "that was my idea!" sounds appealing, head over to Mr. Speirs' post and toss in your $0.02.
iLounge unboxes the Nike + iPod Sport Kit
iLounge has unboxed the Nike + iPod Sport Kit and decided to go full-on with pictures of everything, including some iPod-infused Nike apparel and screenshots of how exactly the software in the iPod nano works. While we've already seen some pics of the software, iLounge posted more images that reveal the workout options are surprisingly in-depth and customizable. There are various workout types that target distance running and burning calories, for example. iLounge even posted images of the Nike+ site and the user experience, even saying that it's hard to give Nike enough credit for the beauty and simplicity baked into the site. Head over to iLounge's First Look at this impressive new accessory.
iTheater media center launches new site, version bump
iTheater is an open source media center app for Mac OS X which we've blogged before. While I hear it's definitely still rough around the edges, the project has launched both a new site and a version bump to 0.1.2a - both sporting all-new UIs. Various bug fixes and other additions have made it into this updated version, but if you think it's still lacking in features (after all, it's a 0.1.2 alpha), you're in luck! They're also looking for developers to join the team and lend a hand.[via MacMerc]
Widget Watch: iPhoto mini 1.3 gains a new UI, more
We blogged the iPhoto mini widget back in December, and since then it has received quite the feature update and face lift. The widget is now resize-able and just plain sexier. In addition to being able to browse all your iPhoto albums complete with image counts, you can now set the current image as your desktop wallpaper with a single click. The little gear icon you see offers the ability to open the current image in four apps: Preview, Mail, Safari and a custom app you can define on the back of the widget.The iPhoto mini widget is free and available from DashboardWidgets.
