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The Weekly Roundup for 12.31.2012
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The Daily Roundup for 01.04.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
iBook Lessons: Childrens picture books
iBook Lessons is a continuing series about ebook writing and publishing. I recently had occasion to give advice regarding an author considering the move from traditional books to ebooks. Normally, in these cases, I recommend starting with Amazon. It offers the simplest tools for publishing manuscripts with a minimum of effort. In this case, the material was a children's picture book. And because of that, I suggested going with the iBookstore instead. The iBooks Author software, available freely from Apple, provides a much better match to picture book layout and interaction than standard document-to-EPUB conversion tools. For picture books, which typically run 32 pages in length, the layout is just as important as the content. iBooks Author offers fixed page layout, so you can be sure that the page you design and the page the reader sees are essentially the same. This makes it the best match for many cookbooks, textbooks, and of course, picture books. Best of all, it's pretty easy to pick up for anyone with some technological mastery. As an alternative, advanced design tools like Adobe InDesign enable you to create fixed layout using traditional EPUB 3, but the software is expensive and the technological demands are higher. (Link is to a PDF describing the process of converting childrens books to EPUB 3 using InDesign.) The advantage to EPUB is a potentially wider audience, but you do so subject to the whims of the rendering platform without the guarantees of page fidelity that Apple brings to the table with iBooks. There's no implied contract of performance. As Smashwords CEO Mark Coker points out, "Any time you add complexity to a book, you create opportunities for incompatibility or limit the number of supported platforms." One of the challenges of a fixed format book is that it limits the platform on which it can be read. With iBooks Author, you limit your audience to iPad owners. The expanded iBooks format is only available for tablet reading. The unfortunate side of choosing fixed layout is that you lose out on many services that exist to transform manuscripts to EPUB formats. Sites like Smashwords, Lulu, and FastPencil offer simple-to-use book conversion and publishing options. You upload a manuscript, choose a template, and publish. They are a perfect match for casual writers without a tech background. That kind of automated conversion just doesn't seem to exist for fixed layout projects. Coker explained that fixed layout isn't an easy path, even for a constantly evolving service. "We're looking to the future to see how we can add other formats," he said. Smashwords currently supports EPUB 2, but is exploring additional formats including EPUB 3 and other fixed layout solutions like iBooks. "Just within the last week, we introduced a new feature called Smashwords Direct," he said. "The service allows authors and publishers to upload their own professionally formatted EPUB files." Prior to the Direct service, Smashwords limited their uploads to Microsoft Word documents. "This is the first time we've allowed a format other than just Word docs. We see this as the first step, a foundational element for supporting other file formats." Coker expressed interest in distributing books in iBooks format to Apple as well. "We're taking it one step at a time. Our Direct service is in beta. We're going to work on working out the kinks for the first generation then look to the future to see how we can add the other formats." Coker could not offer a timeline due to the exploratory nature of the initiative. In the end, the best bet for the picture book situation is probably to give iBooks Author a try. There are many excellent books and websites that guide you through the process and teach you how to use the app. Have experience using conversion bureaus? Share your stories in the comments.
The Daily Roundup for 01.03.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Griffin MOTO TC Monster truck offers Bluetooth control, so-so software
When Steve assigned me the Griffin MOTO TC Monster truck (US$49.99) to review, I basically assumed this was going to be the best review assignment ever. Sadly, it was not. This Bluetooth-managed truck offers solid hardware features, but its software is just not up to the task. The hardware consists of a standard RC truck that's well-built as these things go -- we buy a lot of RC trucks and helicopters in our household. The MOTO TC Monster truck was reasonably put together and stood up to use by excitable boys both indoors and out, with the most fun occurring when running it across roads, driveways and sidewalks. It pulls power off of a rechargeable battery that's quite easy to install and remove, although you do need a Phillips screwdriver. It takes about an hour to pull in enough charge for a good session of driving. Where the product really broke down was on the iOS side of things. Although easy to pair with Bluetooth (you do need a long flat probe to get to the pairing button), the software itself was poorly implemented. It felt like a total afterthought. The MOTO TC Monster truck offers several driving modes: A nearly impossible-to-use two-handed wheel-and-shifter shown at the top of this post (imagine if you will, trying to hold your phone, watch the car, and use both hands to steer). A tilt-to-drive mode that kept flipping during use because the dev forgot to disable autorotation. A drag-to-move mode that was merely meh (and that had the same flipping-screen issues). A pre-programmed figure-8 and serpentine mode that actually was the most successful of the four. The built-in help screens were particularly frustrating because they looked exactly like the screens they were intended to explain (albeit slightly darker), but blocked all user touches until dismissed. In the end, this unit received a big old score of "meh" from both myself and my junior testing squad. We wanted it to be a lot of fun and it really wasn't. That being said, we have a "virgin" Griffin MOTO TC Monster truck that hasn't experienced the rigors of testing available for one fun-loving TUAW reader to win. Here are the rules for the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button. The entry must be made before January 6, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected and will receive a Griffin MOTO TC Monster truck valued at $49.99. Click Here for complete Official Rules. Loading...
The Daily Roundup for 01.02.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The Daily Roundup for 01.01.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The Weekly Roundup for 12.24.2012
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Testing for OS X vs iOS
Yesterday, I was messing around building shared NSLayoutConstraint code to be used across iOS and OS X. I put in a few #if TARGET_OS_MAC directives, assuming they'd just work. They didn't. Turns out that you should always check for TARGET_OS_IPHONE first, before TARGET_OS_MAC because the latter is true on the iPhone but the former is not on OS X. Here are some of the most common checks suggested to me yesterday as I messed with this dilemma. #if TARGET_OS_MAC #if TARGET_OS_IPHONE #if TARGET_IPHONE_SIMULATOR #if TARGET_OS_EMBEDDED #if defined(__MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED) #if defined(__IPHONE_OS_MIN_VERSION_REQUIRED) And here are the results of running them on the Simulator, iPhone device and OS X: SIMULATOR Target OS Mac Target OS iPhone No Target OS Embedded Target iPhone Simulator Mac OS X Version Min Required is NOT defined iPhone OS X Version Min Required is NOT defined PHONE Target OS Mac Target OS iPhone Target OS Embedded No Target iPhone Simulator Mac OS X Version Min Required is NOT defined iPhone OS X Version Min Required is NOT defined OS X Target OS Mac No Target OS iPhone No Target OS Embedded No Target iPhone Simulator Mac OS X Version Min Required is defined iPhone OS X Version Min Required is NOT defined Since I was most interested in determining whether to use NSBox/NSView vs UIView, my solution ended up looking like this: #if TARGET_OS_IPHONE #define VIEW_CLASS UIView #elif TARGET_OS_MAC #define VIEW_CLASS NSView #endif This approach ensured that the iPhone platform triggered first, and then the second check mandated OS X. This created definitions that allowed my code to successfully compile and execute cross-platform. Thanks Gwynne Raskind and everyone else in #iphonedev
Dear Aunt TUAW: Buy an iPad mini now or wait?
Dear Aunt TUAW, Would you suggest this generation of the iPad mini is worth getting, or waiting for the next-generation, which may have Retina display is a better option? Your loving niece, Stephanie S Dear Stephanie, The best time to buy hardware is when you need it. If you can use the mini now, and feel it's a good value, then go ahead and pick it up. The secret is to make a buy/don't buy decision on the current offerings, not necessarily the iPad minis that may or may not be announced in the future. In the past few years, Apple has refreshed its iPad line around March/April. Auntie has no indication that they'll do so again this year -- especially after adding new hardware this Autumn -- or that they will not. It's likely that Retina displays will continue to appear across Apple's line, but the current budget-priced iPad mini has not received one. That the iPad 2 continues as a strong seller in the tablet arena shows that people want an iPad more than they want a Retina display. Several of Auntie's friends here at the Weblog own minis, and love the portable form factor combined with the iPad experience. Auntie is waiting for the first set of refurbished iPad minis, which she expects to see somewhere around April. Far from purchasing at the peak, Auntie often waits for better deals on slightly outdated hardware for the best buying value. If you want Retina, you can always consider purchasing a refurb third-generation full-sized iPad, starting at about $380. You will, however, sacrifice the mini's portability. Got advice for Stephanie? Add your thoughts to the comments. Hugs, Auntie T.
Ditching the iPhone? Planning for 2013
Ever since the iPad mini debuted, I've had a plan brewing at the back of my mind. Sometime in 2013, I'm considering ditching my iPhone, picking up a refurb 1st gen iPad mini 3G (I assume I won't be putting this plan into action until the spring at the earliest), and buying a cheap Tracfone with triple minutes for life. I figure it would save my family a bunch of cash. I'd be dropping my unlimited iPhone data plan, but since I'd also be dropping my voice plan -- a service I barely use, with expensive wasted minutes -- I could basically buy 3 GB/month for less than I'm paying for my voice/data plan combined. Instead of paying $70/month, I could cover my voice needs for $100/year and drop my data to maybe $30/month. Basically, my costs would go from $840-ish per year down to $480-ish per year. What's more, I'd address one of my biggest complaints about the iPhone -- the screen size. The iPad mini's larger screen would work far better for reading on the go. And yet, I hesitate. The honest truth is that I love my iPhone. I love its small portable form factor. I love how I can just put it in a pocket and I'm ready to go. Although I do most things in life with a small backpack, I really really really like how easily the iPhone allows me to grab it and go. I can use Siri when stopped at a light to message, to find directions, to make a note, to add a reminder, and so forth. I love how the iPhone is a single thing, not a pair, and how well it does all the jobs I give it to do. Moving from iPhone to mini means sacrificing that grab and use functionality. But is that functionality worth nearly $400 a year to me and my family? It's not as if I can't do all these things (excluding placing calls and SMS texts) on a mini. It offers all the iOS found on Apple's other devices, including Siri support, a camera system, and so forth. If I'd have to put a price tag on love, my iPhone love would cost about, well, $400. I've omitted the capital costs here since for my job I'd probably be picking up the hardware anyway at some point -- this only assumes that I'd buy a 3G instead of the WiFi that I'd normally purchase. So what do you think? Is this the biggest heresy since Grothaus suggested going Samsung? Or is this a reasonable and sensible direction during tough economic conditions? You tell me. Drop a note into the comments and share your opinion.
What are you looking for under your iTree on Christmas?
It's the weekend before Christmas, and all through the blogosphere, not a creature is posting, not even here. Are your stockings hung by your chimneys with care? In hopes that Santa Tim Cook soon will be there? We hope that you're nestled, all snug in your beds, while visions of Apple products dance in your heads. What are you hoping to see under your tree? An iMac for you? An iPhone for me? Please drop a note into comments below. (You'll find them down lower, near the TUAW mistletoe.) Tell us what you are getting and what you will share. When Tuesday arrives, what goodies will be there?
The Daily Roundup for 12.20.2012
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
TUAW Bookshelf: Mac Kung Fu by Keir Thomas
Mac Kung Fu by Keir Thomas, a collection of OS X tips and tricks, has entered its second edition. From Pragmatic Programmers, the new edition contains over a hundred more tips than the original version. Packed with fun customization tips, Mac Kung Fu shows you how to tweak your system to get the most out of OS X. Among its many other hints, you can learn how to find forgotten passwords, force scrollbars to appear, eject stuck CDs and DVDs, browse old Time Machine disks and lots, lots more. Mac Kung Fu combines all the kind of tweaks and tricks you normally find on sites like TUAW and Mac OS X Hints into a simple, easy-to-browse reference. The book itself can be a bit overwhelming if you try to sit down and read it, but it's terrific for scanning through when you have a moment here or there to pick up a new idea or a fresh technique. It's not really a solution book -- the chances are that when you have a problem, a quick Google search will work better. Instead, think of it as a volume of inspiration. You're sure to find something clever, amusing, and (best of all) useful by browsing its 400-odd pages of high-caffeine OS X utility content. The e-book retails for US$24, the paperback for $39, or buy both for $49. Recommended.
IBM's 5 in 5 predicts cognitive computing will complement our senses, virtualize touch
IBM thinks cognitive computers that can adapt to their surroundings will be a large part of our future, and that their ability to take unprocessed data and find patterns in different environments will augment our sensory interactions with our surroundings. While many of us associate haptic feedback with video game controllers, IBM says that we'll soon be able to use variable vibrations to feel physical textures while, say, shopping for garments on our mobile devices. If shopping is too material for your tastes, imagine farmers being able to touch their crops out in the fields to remotely monitor the harvest's health. On the chemosensation front, scientists envision phones that can detect biomarkers in our breath that may predict when a cold is coming, before you get your first sniffle (and it might be Dr. Watson making that diagnosis). While some of this seems even a bit far-fetched to us, it's inspiring to see what the researchers at IBM are thinking up. Check the videos in the source below to see what else could be in our future, and let's check back in December 2017 to see how far we've come.
Unclutter offers digital pockets for your OS X miscellany
I have really mixed feelings about Unclutter for OS X (US$2.99). On the one hand, it's a pretty cool idea. The app offers a pull-out "drawer" on your desktop that lets you store files, make notes, and view your clipboard. On the other, parts of the app are unintuitive to use and could stand some design improvements to enhance the user experience. To begin with, I struggled to get the app to respond until I realized that you could not just click and drag from the top of the screen. I needed to use the scroll wheel to entice the application window to appear. Once I mastered that, opening the app became an easy process. The window consists of three embedded panels, each of which you can pull out and let float on your desktop. When pulling out each window, the other items resize to accommodate. When you close them (incidentally Command-W does not work, you have to click on the close X buttons), they return to the pocket window. I'm not entirely sure why anyone would extract the component panels and I'm a little surprised the developer even offers this feature, but there you have it. You cannot, however, push normal Finder windows into the pocket (I tried).T With Unclutter, you can: Preview the contents of your clipboard (left) Store files into a central folder for easy access (middle) Make notes (right) The idea is that the app gives you this instant availability without taking up space on your desktop. In practice, the three sections feel disjointed, consisting of one strong utility (the file drawer) and two rather weak ones (the Notes and Clipboard preview). I wonder why they were merged together into a single app. The Clipboard preview does exactly what it says on the label. It shows whatever items you've copied to the system pasteboard. If you copy a picture, it shows the picture. If you copy text, the text. It does not, however, reflect any styling hints you've copied (all text is shown in the same common font) and if you copy multiple images, it just lists them. I was hard pressed to find a compelling reason why the developer included this feature, but it's there. As for the Notes section, the built-in OS X Notes app does a far better job and is accessible with just a few keystrokes (Command-Space, Notes, return). OS X Notes offers tabs, sharing, and search, none of which are part of the Unclutter interface. I'm guessing the developer hoped to provide a single quick "to do" central scribbling area and it does work for quick reference. I'm just thinking that, again, it's a superfluous feature that should have been trimmed, with the app focusing on file access. The strongest portion of the app is that file storage, offering a pull-out drawer with a quick file reference. For those who wish to keep their desktop clean, this is the best of the Unclutter uncluttering tools. You can drag your files in, and access them by opening the pocket window. It's a pity then that the other two utilities take up so much of that pocket space. As is, most people will struggle to put more than a half dozen to a dozen reference items in, even users with large screen real estate. The app offers no option to disable the notes or clipboard viewer, and if you drag them out of the pocket, they're stuck on your desktop, doing the opposite of uncluttering. Adding files to the pocket was another task I struggled with. And unlike the opening and closing of the pocket, one that came with no hints or instructions. In the end, I figured out two ways to add files. First, you can drag the file panel out to your finder and add items by drag and drop. But far easier (and discovered much later), I found you could just drag files to the menu bar (this opens the pocket window) and then pull back down below the menu bar to drop them into the file panel. When you copy items to the panel, they're stored in a rather obscure folder in your personal library, specifically: ~/Library/Containers/com.softwareambience.Unclutter/Data/Library/Application Support/Unclutter/FileStorage. This is part of the OS X sandboxing system. In testing, I created a test RTF file with an easy-to-distinguish name ("snickerdoodle") and added it to my drawer. I then allowed Spotlight to update indexing. When I attempted to search for it with Spotlight, it could not be found. This would not be as much of an issue if Unclutter created aliases and left the files in-place, but since the actual file moves into the FileStorage folder, its unfortunate location may cause side effects like this. Dragging the folder back to the desktop, immediately restored its entry in the Spotlight search. As utilities go, I think Unclutter has a pretty cool basic idea -- the pocket drawer that can be accessed with a simple mouse combination. I'm just unhappy with some of the implementation details on what is otherwise a promising concept.
Where's my convertible Mac?
Here at TUAW, we just received our 5 billionth review request for a new iPad keyboard system. More and more, makeshift solutions attempting to turn iPads into laptops is a "been there done that" for me. Is it "too Microsoft" to ask Apple to come out with a proper convertible notebook/tablet, a duo for the new decade? After all, Windows 8 hasn't exactly been redefining the user experience. That's something that Apple usually does. There are, admittedly, problems with the proposition: You can already "kind of sort of" get work done on iPads -- more than ever, now that software is expanding for the touch-based office, Bluetooth accessories are ubiquitous, and onboard dictation means you don't have to hunch over a desktop to get things done. OS X isn't meant for small screens or touch interfaces. You probably don't want to be running Xcode on an iPad mini. Even though many technologies for iOS and OS X are converging, the underlying basis for sandboxing the file system are still far enough apart that running both OS'es on a single unit would be a smidge difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. The raw power needed to compile efficiently would price a convertible out of the market and it would probably have to weigh as much as a Macbook Pro to get any real work done. On the other hand, wouldn't it be awesome if a tablet really could do full desktop-level creation work, be able to dock to monitors wirelessly, be able to operate in tablet mode, and provide all the power of Apple's top systems in a tiny package. By the way, I'd also like sparkles for my rainbow pony unicorn. None of these technologies are unachievable, although ports, storage and battery life would provide strong design challenges, not to mention balancing weight into the equation. And, of course, the bigger question is would a frankentablet sell? Are we heading towards a unified device solution? Or is the triumvurate of desktop / laptop / tablet due to continue for the foreseeable future? You tell us. Vote in this poll and then join in the comments. %Poll-79548%
Google adds confirmation click to mobile ads to combat accidental activation
Smartphone owners have learned to cope with the extra power drain in-app advertising can cause, but accidentally launching a web browser? That's a frustration that lasts forever. Google's hoping to mitigate the pitfalls of clumsy thumbs, however, by introducing two-step click-through for mobile ads. Text banners served through AdMob will now display a humble blue arrow on their starboard side -- clicking here takes the reader directly to the advertiser's preferred destination; touching anywhere else expands widens the blue square to coax users into giving the ad a confirmation click, just in case they fumbled the advertisement by mistake. The team's preliminary tests show that confirmed ad clicks sport a notably higher conversion rate, indicating that folks who clicked through the ad actually meant to. Google says solving what it calls the "fat finger problem" will be beneficial to the ecosystem as a whole. We prefer to think of our fingers as grand.
Infographic your world with Sitegeist
Sitegeist (free) is quite an odd little app. It's sort of a Yelp for statisticians. You set a location and Sitegeist provides you with infographics about it. View demographics, political contributions, median home values, local restaurants and the weather. It's a big, old jumble of facts and advertising, all mixed together in a magnificently whimsical bundle. Sadly, while I adored the graphics, the GUI isn't quite as easy to manipulate. Based on scrollable lists of visual data, it's quite hard to swipe between the five screens on offer. I recommend you tap on the bottom page bar instead as a workaround. I think the developers would have done better with a single scrolling list rather than trying to put up five, all with mixed levels of details. I'm not sure if this app will stay on my phone long term, but for sitting around at a coffee bar and passing an iPhone around with a bunch of interesting facts, it's actually pretty amusing. It's a good app for friends and chatting and exploring your curiousity about the political contributions of your neighbors.
Wii Homebrew channel sneaks onto Wii U, sticks with what it knows
Back in 2010, Ninteno's waggle-riffic wonder would occasionally pulsate with a charming blue glow: update me, it said, I have hackers to fight. Although its efforts were quickly circumvented by Hackmii's LetterBomb installer, the Wii's 4.3 update was Nintendo's last stand against the homebrew community -- it hasn't offered an update since. That isn't to say Kyoto's game giant gave up, though; Wii U owners can find a tweaked version of the system menu hidden away in the system's backwards compatibility mode, featuring just enough updated code to block existing exploits. It didn't take the community long to catch up, though -- the homebrew channel was working its way onto select systems using tried and true methods since launch day. Now, the HackMii team has compiled an official installer, letting the average joe bypass the menu's IOS files with ease. Like the PlayStation Vita's PSP-based homebrew loader, this exploit is trapped in the sandbox of its original hardware, effectively blocking it from making the most of the Wii U's fancy internals. It's a modest start (and perhaps a little too easy), but its encouraging to see both Nintendo and the modding community sticking to their guns. Check out HackMii's fancywork at the source below, and give us a buzz if you manage to find your way outside of Nintendo's last-gen sandbox.
