Home / tuaw.com rss archive / October-05-2007


Macworld Editors' and Readers' Choice awards voting begins
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Software, Odds and ends, LeopardMacworld has announced that they're looking for nominations and votes for their fourth annual Reader's Choice awards-- they're asking interested parties to drop a note over on this forum thread in the categories of Apple Product of the Year, Third Party Hardware and Software of the Year, and Mac Gem of the Year (an under-$50 software out there that deserves more recognition than it usually gets).As I suspected, there's no question about Apple Product of the Year: it's definitely the Hi-Fi. Wait, no, I mean it's definitely the iPhone. Duh. And the rest of the votes are literally all over the place, from Parallels, Adobe's suites, and even Leopard (despite not actually being from a third party, but maybe it's just that good) to smaller stuff like Panic's Coda and Gus Mueller's Acorn. I gotta say good luck to Macworld's editors-- they're going to need it to come up with some good award winners from that...

Bungie says Mac games are still a possibility
Filed under: Macworld, Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Odds and endsMacworld has a quick chat with Bungie after this morning's big announcement that the company is "evolving" away from Microsoft a bit, and the good news is that a new Mac release from our favorite game developer (before they were bought out by the Evil Empire, that is) is not out of the question.Spokeman Brian Jarrard plays pretty loose with the announcement, and says that while Bungie and Microsoft are going to retain their developer and publisher relationship, his company won't "rule out anything going forward." He says the move will let Bungie "[control] our destiny, and that puts us in a position where we could put ourselves back on the [Mac] platform definitively again."We can only hope. EA and id games made a big appearance at this years' WWDC, and I think I speak for many, many Mac gamers when I say we'd love to see Bungie announcing a brand new game at Macworld in a few months.Read | P...

Long-awaited Nike Amp+ remote wristband finally on sale
Filed under: iPod FamilyHas it really been nearly a year since the Nike Amp+ wristband remote first appeared on the pages of Men's Health, teasing us with its polyurethane smugness? Sure, back in August the FCCians caught wind of it, but no joy for shoppers... until now. (Nike Store requires Flash, FYI)The futuristic wrist remote (vaguely Logan's Run-looking to me, but I am not an industrial designer) shows the time in bright red LEDs which also double as touch-sensitive iPod controls. Snazzy!If you're using your iPod Nike+ Sport kit for its intended purpose, exercise/running, the Amp+ can also provide immediate voice feedback on distance, calories burned, workout duration, and all that other stuff that runners find somehow motivational.If you or someone you care about picks up an Amp+, let us know.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

My iPhone's IMEI
Filed under: Bad Apple, iPhoneThis morning, my iPhone's IMEI was perfectly fine. My iPhone has never been unlocked. I was able to use my AT&T Pick Your Plan SIM. And as recently as a week or so ago, I wrote about using iASign, which picked up on and used my normal, correct IMEI settings.Today, as I liveblogged, I finally applied the 1.1.1 upgrade. This afternoon, when I finally got around to trying to reactivate my phone, which was displaying the "wrong SIM" message, I found that the iPhone update had apparently changed my IMEI to the dreaded 004999010640000. I cannot figure out any other way that the IMEI had changed. When I last used iASign, it showed the correct IMEI. Today, not.Basic facts: My iPhone has never been unlocked. When I used iASign the last time, my IMEI was correct and I was able to switch between my two AT&T SIM cards. I did pitch in very peripherally with the unlock effort. However, I used a version of the program that had every baseband...

iPod sets man's pants on fire
Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and endsA Georgia man got a surprise recently when his iPod caught fire -- inside his pants pocket. Danny Williams was working at a kiosk at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when he says he noticed "flames coming up to his chest." It seems the year-old Nano he had in his pocket spontaneously combusted and the only thing that kept him from sustaining serious injury was a piece of paper in the same pocket that acted as a shield. Williams told Atlanta's WSB-TV, "If [the] TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist."Williams says Apple has offered to replace the Nano, and his mom notes she's relieved it didn't happen while he was sleeping or driving because the outcome could have been "much worse." Not that it's a good idea to keep your Nano in a pants pocket while driving, and many people sleep without pants, but you get the idea.Read | Permalink | Email...

Rumor confirmed: Bungie is free, kind of
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, DeveloperWow. The rumors were true -- Bungie is "evolving" its relationship with Microsoft, and "embarking on a path" to become, once again, an independent developer. Pretty amazing.Unfortunately, the press release from MS makes it sound like Bungie's not quite free and clear yet. Microsoft expects Bungie to keep developing Halo, and working with them on future Halo-related projects. But that could be Microsoft just trying to look at things through rose-colored glasses. Or then again, it might not: the official word from Bungie is that they remain partners, and "nothing has changed." What a shame.My official guess (TM) is that Bungie will release a brand new intellectual property, and that it will arrive not only on the Xbox, but on other consoles as well (possibly including the Mac, but let's not count our chickens before they hatch). For all their talk of a split, Bungie still isn't as independent as it once was. Microsoft...

Liveblogging the big iPhone 1.1.1 hack
Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhone digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Liveblogging_the_big_iPhone_1_1_1_hack'; Last night, iPhone hackers "dinopio" and "Edgan" brought 1.1.1 hacking into a new arena. By using symbolic links before doing a 1.1.1 upgrade, they were able to gain access to the entire 1.1.1 file tree. Today, I'll be liveblogging my attempt to duplicate their hack. So sit back and reload as I put my poor iPhone to the test.Continue reading Liveblogging the big iPhone 1.1.1 hackPermalink | Email this | Comments