Home / tuaw.com rss archive / September-13-2007


iMac Software Update 1.1
Filed under: iMac, Software Update, AppleApple has released yet another tersely worded update, this time for everyone's favorite all in one Mac: the iMac. The iMac Software Update 1.1, ' provides important bug fixes and is recommended for 20-inch and 24-inch iMac models with 2.0, 2.4, or 2.8GHz processors.'Apple really doesn't make it easy to blog about these updates, since their descriptions tend to be a little light on details. But it is important and fixes bugs... so you know, download it and stuff.Thanks, monkeyclaw.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

More rumors about iTunes movie rentals
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, Multimedia, Video, iTunes, AppleCNN Money has more fuel for the fire on the iTunes movie rental rumors popping up lately. They say Apple is in talks to get the rentals up and running with major Hollywood studios.Supposedly the movies would be watchable on the iPod or iPhone, but could not be copied, and would not actually be purchased. You'd have a 30 day access period to the movie for $2.99, but CNN doesn't say whether that means you get to watch it once during the 30 days, or if it's yours for as many times as you want it during the period. The low price says just one viewing to me (since iTunes movie purchases are at least $9.99, if not more), but you never know.Of course, the big question is: would you do it? If incorporated with the iTunes WiFi store, I think it could be huge-- be somewhere bored on your iPhone, click a few buttons, and be watching The Incredibles within minutes. But as usual, it all depends on what the studios want--...

GelaSkins for your iPhone
Filed under: Accessories, iPhoneThe iPhone is great and all (expect my review of the iPhone within the week, I know you are all dying to hear what I think!) but there is one major problem with it: Apple is selling a ton of them but they all look the same. When you reach a certain density of iPhones within a group there is a high likelihood that someone will end up with the wrong iPhone. Luckily, GelaSkins offer up some highly attractive iPhone skins (with accompanying wallpaper) to help your iPhone stand out in the crowd.The GelaSkins iPhone skins cost $14.95 a pop.[via Laughing Squid]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

PC Mag gives iPod Touch an Editor's Choice
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iTunes, Reviews, ApplePC Magazine has given the iPod Touch a 5/5 score and their Editor's Choice award. High praise even from a definitely non-Apple source. Tom Gideon calls it "a thing of beauty," and says it's the best iPod ever. Well, no duh.He does say a major drawback is that the WiFi store doesn't contain movies, but that's just a matter of time, isn't it? Otherwise, he says the store works great, and will allow for plenty of spur-of-the-moment music purchasing (which surely Apple will love). Gideon even spends quite a bit of time on what I really think is one of the most important features of the iPod Touch-- the Starbucks integration. Every time you pass a Starbucks, an icon shows up in the dock of the iPod Touch's iTunes WiFi screen, and that is huge. Advertisers with even a little bit of forward-looking ability are probably fainting at the thought of what they can do with what.Strangely enough, Gideon doesn't mention the...

New Apple Wireless Keyboard unboxed (and shipping)
Filed under: Hardware, AppleTonight is the night of new Apple product unboxing! First we had the iPod Touch unboxing and now we have Flickr user MischievousOne's pictures of her brand new Apple Wireless Keyboard (which, it would seem, is finally shipping though the one I ordered hasn't shipped yet) here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.I asked MischievousOne how she liked the new keyboard and she said, 'I also love the feel of the keys. I've got a black MacBook and I love typing on it. This is very similar to that, if not exactly the same. So far, I like it a lot.' Sounds about right to me. Any of you received your new wireless keyboard yet?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone vs. dog: 1 - 0
Filed under: Humor, iPhoneThe sight of a poor, defenseless Nano getting smashed under a tire was bad enough but a dog versus iPhone story? Well, that's enough to bring a tear to the eye. Tyler Hall left his iPhone on a table recently while he took a shower and it seems his dog mistook it for a Snausage.Luckily, Tyler pried the phone away from Gracie before she could totally destroy it and the ringer/speaker seems to have sustained the most damage. The screen protector did its job and when Tyler removed it, there wasn't a mark on the glass.Continue reading iPhone vs. dog: 1 - 0Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPod Touch unboxing
Filed under: iPod FamilyNo sooner do we get word that some Apple Stores have the iPod Touch in stock do we find some unboxing pictures (via our sister blog, Engadget). The pictures aren't the best but it will give you a good idea of what comes in the box (here's a hint: other than the iPod, not much. Am I the only one that misses the days when you got lots of stuff with your iPod? I feel like an old man, 'In my day iPods came with docks! And they had a FireWire port! And they were Mac only! You kids with your iPods and your touching.').If those pictures leave you clamoring for more iPod Touch info check out the iPod Touch Feature Guide (yep, it is a PDF).Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPod Touch spotted in some stores
Filed under: iPod Family, RetailAn eagle-eyed and (understandably) excited reader let us know that the Apple Store Somerset in Troy, Michigan had a few iPod Touches for sale ahead of the September 28th ship date. A quick call to the store revealed Dan was right, they had 14 in stock but were already sold out. The store employee said that some retail stores, particularly on the East coast, have been receiving shipments already. He said that though they're mainly designed to be floor models, stores have been selling them to customers as well. He says the rolling shipments are expected to continue until the 28th when all the retail shops will have them in stock.The Apple Store employee added one last thought before the call was ended. "They're so worth the wait," he said. No doubt.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rig of the Week: Mac mini at sea
Filed under: Mac mini, Rig of the WeekWe've seen lots of Mac mini based carputers, but now reader Matt sends us a link to this excellent Mac mini "boatputer" setup. Running MacENC navigation software, this Mac mini is hooked up to a GPS reciever, waterproof display and waterproof touchpad to give real-time marine navigational charts to Bob Etter, the enterprising sailor who built it. I think this nice piece of nautical Mac kit is clearly worth a TUAW Rig of the Week nod.Thanks Matt!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Mac 101: change keyboard modifier keys with a Windows keyboard
Filed under: Switchers, Mac 101You may recall that one of Apple's slogans when the Mac mini was released was BYOKM-bring your own keyboard and mouse. Well a lot of those keyboards will of course be Windows keyboards, and while they work fine on a Mac, there's one particularly annoying thing. For some reason the keyboard Windows key is mapped to the Mac Command key and the keyboard Alt key is mapped to the Mac Alt or option key. The reason this is a problem is that on a Windows keyboard the Alt key is right next to the spacebar (where the Command key is on a Mac keyboard). So if, like me, your keyboard shortcut muscle memory is to the key next to the spacebar then all your shortcuts get messed up on a Windows keyboard. Fortunately, there's a simple solution to this problem in the Keyboard tab of the Keyboard & Mouse Preference Pane. There if you click on the "Modifier Keys..." button you'll be taken to a dialog where you can easily remap the keys. So to make a Windows...

InformationWeek sums up Mac buying for newcomers
Filed under: SwitchersMitch Wagner bought his first Mac in February of this year, and the 8-month gestation period has given InformationWeek's Mac blogger plenty of experience with his new platform of choice (and don't forget what "experience" really is); he's now realized that he can share this hard-won wisdom with other folks new to the platform. Hence, The Newb's Guide to Apple, a collection of the advice and buying guides from IW over the past year. In case you're wondering whether you should buy an iPhone -- Wagner says "I love mine, but you don't want to get one yet." OK, um, sure thing...Despite the slightly deprecatory title (seriously, I don't know anyone who likes being called a 'newb'), Wagner's helpful links are worth a visit for new users and anyone thinking about a new Mac purchase. His piece on where to buy and find support offers a suggestion I hadn't heard before: try scifi and fantasy discussion groups, that's where the geeks are (he recommended SFF.net's Mac...

Is the iTunes Music Store scratching and skipping?
Filed under: iTunesOver the past couple of days, we've received reports here at the TUAW home office (located in the seaside town of Ocean Beach, MD; excellent taffy) of multiple download problems in purchasing music at the iTunes store. While the transaction completes as far as billing is concerned, the actual file downloads... don't. Users are getting connection errors and the file never seems to arrive. In addition to the reader reports, a couple of us have seen the problem firsthand.There are several threads on Apple's discussion boards covering the issue, and most seem to converge on the suggestion that a large download queue may be behind the problem, or a single corrupt song that blocks further downloads. If doing a manual check for purchased and undownloaded music doesn't solve the problem, Apple's download support page for iTunes recommends submitting a problem ticket within your iTunes purchase history; this should allow the customer service agent to clean your queue...

iPhone Assassin (and 100 other iPhone games)
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, iPhoneReader Silver sent us his site of iPhone games, basically just a big linklist of online web games for the iPhone. There are buttons there for voting and "favorites," but I couldn't get them to work. Still, if you're looking for a big lineup of what's out there to play, there you go.And on that list, I found a pretty cool "game" that I'd never heard of before called iPhone Assassin. The concept is pretty interesting-- basically, you sign up on the web to play, and then whenever you see someone in real life with an iPhone, you call out that you've "killed" them, and then on the site, it tracks how many kills have been made and who's still alive.Now, yes, it does occur to me that while the idea may sound good in theory, the execution (pardon the pun) leaves a little bit to be desired-- I do agree that most iPhone owners probably don't want maniacs running at them yelling about a kill. And yes, it's probably true that not many iPhone...

Ringtonator, a GUI for the ringtone hack
Filed under: Software, Hacks, Tips and tricks, Open Source, iPhoneLast night, Joe sent us a GUI app he put together for Cleverboy's ringtone hack we posted yesterday. Ringtonator is a drag-and-drop application that will turn any AAC file into an iTunes/iPhone ringtone, or vice versa.One caveat-- while this program doesn't require a separate install of AtomicParsley, the application that makes the metadata edit possible, it does still require AAC encoding on the sound file-- Joe says he might add in mp3 to AAC conversion at a later date, but he doesn't really have to, as it's easy enough to figure out how to do that.But once you've got the AAC file, just drag it onto this little wrench phone thing, and iTunes (the current iteration, anyway) will play nice with it. Thanks, Joe!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple to host UK Special Event 18/9
Filed under: Other Events, AppleThanks to tipster Lee for sending this, courtesy of MacFormat. Apple has announced an invite-only event to be held next Tuesday morning (18th September) at London's Regent Street Apple Store. The event invite is simply headed with the tagline "Mum is no longer the word" and instructions on how to get to the Regents Street store. My money, as with most, is on an iPhone announcement, however we'll clearly have to wait until next week to get any more out of Apple.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments