Home / tuaw.com rss archive / September-19-2007


The falling price of the iPhone
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Financial, Apple, iPhoneThe NYT's Bits blog has a post up by Matt Richtel that has some interesting info on the numbers behind iPhone sales. Richtel has analysts saying that the iPhone is selling so well that, based on volume alone, Apple can sell the iPhone at a loss, and come out on top. They can even cover all those rebates Jobs is giving out to people who bought the iPhone early.Not really surprising, of course (especially not about the rebates-- Apple wouldn't have done it if they couldn't afford it). But it is a reminder that Apple is no longer playing the computer game. They're playing the cell phone game now, where you sell the hardware cheaply (relatively cheaply, anyway), and make it all up in the subscription. Richtel's analyst says AT&T is likely paying Apple $360 an iPhone in subscription payments over the two year contract.And that means that the iPhone's price definitely isn't done dropping yet. Considering the iPhone's...

NBC to offer content, DRM via NBC Direct
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Video, iTunesThe latest news in the NBC/Apple battle? NBC is going to make their own iTunes. With blackjack! And women! In fact, forget the blackjack and the women-- they're calling it "NBC Direct," and a brand new player (not available on Mac for a little while, go figure) will be used to download and play television shows just as soon as they finish airing on television.Sounds cool, right? What's the catch? The player is NBC only, and heavy DRM in there keeps it from playing anything else at all, including that scary "stolen copyrighted material." If you're going to use their player, you'll have to watch their shows, or else. I'd make a prediction that someone will hack it to play other stuff, but frankly, who cares. If NBC wants to go play in their own (non-Mac pool) let 'em, I say.They also say that, in the future, they may even offer download-to-own, rental, and subscription business models. If only there was a well-designed, very established...

Madden, Tiger Woods '08 now available on Apple Store
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, SoftwareAs a couple of you astute readers have noticed (thanks!), Madden NFL '08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 are now available on the Apple Store, just a little over a month after they were released for PC and consoles last August. A month isn't too bad for Mac ports-- at least the football season is still going on.I haven't played this year's Madden yet, but I can wholeheartedly vouch for Tiger Woods-- I've been playing the Xbox 360 version of it, and it is some good (if sometimes very difficult, read: frustrating) golf. If you do pick up either game, however, make sure to check your innards first-- neither game will work on Intel's GMA950 graphics processors, found in the MacBook and the Mac mini. If you're boasting a MacBook Pro, a Mac Pro, or a new iMac, you're in the clear, as they use higher end video cards.So there's what EA's got. id, you're next.Read | Permalink | Email this | Co...

Navizon "virtual GPS" comes to iPhone
Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhoneToday Navizon "virtual GPS" announced support for the iPhone via an application available through Installer.app. Navizon is an interesting concept for getting location information on mobile devices which lack GPS. It does this through a system that Navizon calls "peer-to-peer wireless positioning." Basically the way it works is that people with GPS devices record the location of wifi access points and cell towers. This information is then collated in a database so that when you use your iPhone to connect, it is able to triangulate your location to within a few hundred feet if you're in an area Navizon has data for ("most major metropolitan areas worldwide").The Navizon for iPhone application is $24.99 and a demo is available (get it through Installer.app or go here)Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ed Burns premieres movie on iTunes, defends digital distribution for smaller features
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, Multimedia, Video, iTunes411Mania's got an interview up with actor and filmmaker Ed Burns, whose latest movie, Purple Violets, is going to be distributed exclusively through iTunes for four weeks. Apparently he says he had a couple of "half-assed theatrical offers" for it, but none of them panned out, so when iTunes promised to promote his movie (maybe we'll start seeing it at keynotes rather than The Office?), he decided to go for it.And lest you think the movie's stuck on the super small screen because it isn't any good, our friends at Cinematical rather liked it, calling it his best film since The Brothers McMullen. Still, even Burns admits that it's definitely a change. Movies are made for the big screen, and always will be-- just like the interviewer at 411, I have a real problem with someone seeing The Godfather, Jurassic Park, or even Star Wars on an iPod screen for the very first time.But this is the future, I suppose-- movie theaters...

Ask TUAW: Automounting a network drive, iPhone flash memory, XMP photo metadata and more
Filed under: Features, Tips and tricks, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAWLast week's Ask TUAW prompted an avalanche of questions, so we're going to have to pace ourselves. For this episode we'll tackle questions about auto-mounting a network drive, sending email across an internet sharing Mac, wearing out iPhone flash, using Adobe XMP photo metadata in Windows and OS X, monitoring bandwidth usage and more.We'll get to more questions in the near future, but please leave suggestions and new questions in the comments.Continue reading Ask TUAW: Automounting a network drive, iPhone flash memory, XMP photo metadata and moreRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Another piratical tool: Captain FTP
Filed under: Humor, SoftwareWe're all talking like pirates today, savvy? Best way to stay clear of Davy Jones' Locker is to have a sure way of gettin' ta yer treasure, like maybe a map, or a compass, or perhaps a shareware FTP client. We be downloading Captain FTP even now.The Captain keeps a pretty tight ship, despite all the plundering and pillaging; in fact, in version 5.0, he's got a handy local LAN version of FTP, extremely useful for transferring files 'tween the crow's nest and the poop deck. Built-in file viewers and easy transfer acceleration top off the treasure chest.Captain FTP be $25 dubloons, and ye have a fortnight of demo time before ye puts the cash on the barrel of grog.Thanks Tom.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Secure your Mac: strong passwords
Filed under: OS, Tips and tricks, SecurityIt is a sad fact of life that your Mac is only as secure as your password is strong. A good password is complex enough to thwart both idle hands ('I wonder if Scott is as dumb as he looks. I bet his password is 12345. Let me try it and find out') and dastardly hackers out to steal your personal information ('Ah, some fool has left his Mac unattended, let me try some brute force dictionary attacks in hopes that I will gain entrance into his digital domain and clear out his bank account AND delete all his iPhoto pictures'). Sadly, passwords that make security conscious paranoid freaks like myself happy are both difficult to remember and to type (it is all part of their charm). Luckily, Apple has included a small utility that can help you find a password both complex and memorable.Read on to learn how.Continue reading Secure your Mac: strong passwordsPermalink | Email this | Comments

MailTags 2.1.1 available now
Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Productivity, Internet ToolsScott Morrison sends word that MailTags, the Mail plugin that lets you both tag your emails and connect them directly up to iCal, has hit 2.1.1. The 2.1 release came a few days ago, and introduced incoming reply tagging-- whenever you sent out a message with tags on it, the reply that came back automatically received the same tags-- and the 2.1.1 update improves that feature. You can now tag an outgoing message as "expect reply," and MailTags can notify you through Growl and with highlighting that the reply has arrived.The release also includes an example AppleScript that lets you use a "killed" tag to mark a message and any incoming replies to it as read-- if a thread has ceased to be important to you, you can ignore it completely. Bugfixes involving iCal interaction have also been implemented, and a column sizing interface improvement has been added.The 2.1.1 update is a maintenance update and available for free...

The latest on Acorn
Filed under: Software, How-tos, Odds and ends, DeveloperJust about a week after its release, Acorn (Gus Mueller's sparkling little image editor) is looking a 1.0.1 release dead in the face. Mueller hasn't updated it officially yet, but he has released development builds of both VoodooPad and Acorn over on his site.The newest Acorn release will include a JPEG compression/quality slider when saving, as well as a number of bug fixes (everyone loves those, right?). If you want to try it out now, you can hit the dev build, but the rest of us will be happy waiting for an official release I'm sure.Mueller has also created a wiki just for Acorn, and it's got a few nice tips and tricks, a plugin section, and a writeup on the Acorn file format. It's pretty barebones at the moment. but hey, it's a wiki, and it just started. Give it some time (or some contributions of your own), and it'll likely soon be an invaluable guide to all the Acorn users out there.Read | Permalink&...

Other companies and Apple's iTunes price war
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTunes, AppleNBC has gotten all the press in their big fight with Apple, but a few other companies are currently considering their options about what to do with iTunes pricing.News Corp is apparently ready to draw a line in the sand. Their COO Peter Chernin says "negotiations will be prickly and dicey and contentious, like all negotiation are and like all negotiations should be." Interesting point of view there. He earlier promised that they wouldn't be pulling content from iTunes like NBC is (or at least says they are-- the content is still there for now, but on the way out soon), but says that they should be the ones determining prices for their products, not Apple. Which is true-- unless Apple believes otherwise. If Apple offers you $1 per song or nothing, Chernin, which one are you going to take?And CBS, on the other hand, is asking everyone to just chill, OK? CEO Les Moonves is the only one that actually sounds like he knows what's going...

World's most piratical Mac utility -- arRsync
Avast, me hearties, as Erica noted earlier, today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. We be scourin' the series of tubes makin' up this World Wide Web, hunting for buried software treasure in honor of the occasion, and here you'll find a prime piece of plunder: arRsync, a graphical front end for the UNIX rsync utility.arRsync is only at version 0.4.1, and may not have the polish and refinement of other rsync handlers like RipCord and RsyncX, but for simple and low-impact backups it may be worth a try. Besides, where else are you going to get an icon like that? Arrr.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPod touch 101: Access playback controls during lock
Filed under: iPhone 101Here's a nifty iPod touch-only feature that isn't yet implemented on the iPhone. When your touch is locked, double-tap the home button. iPod playback controls instantly appear. You can do the same thing from your home screen and get the bonus of a "Music" button that takes you instantly into the iPod application. Give it a try. I'd have taken a screenshot but Apple hasn't let us into the touch yet to install custom software like that. The best part? It looks like this feature will be coming to an iPhone near you soon(ish?).Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone coming to Germany, again on November 9th
Filed under: Other Events, Apple, iPhoneThe Guardian newspaper seems to have its sources right, as today sees Steve in Germany to announce the availability of the iPhone there. The 8Gb model will go on sale on 9th November (anyone want to bet against a November 9th launch for France being announced tomorrow?), cost €399 ($553 / £276) and will require a 2-year T-Mobile contract. T-Mobile also points out that "By the end of 2007, T-Mobile will be the only network operator in Germany to offer EDGE throughout its entire GSM network" - at least some European operators are ensuring the data technology is commonplace before offering the iPhone. There's currently no word on how much the monthly contract will cost, but I'm sure we'll hear about that shortly.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Mac 101: Three Dock tips
Filed under: Switchers, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, Mac 101There's a lot to love about the Mac's user-friendly desktop and one of my favorites is the Dock, otherwise known as "that spot at the bottom of the screen where all the application icons line up." Here are a handful of nifty tricks for the dock that new users might like to know about, and long-time users may have forgotten.Continue reading Mac 101: Three Dock tipsPermalink | Email this | Comments

TUAW + iPhone turns your loved ones into pirates
Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhoneGallery: Yarrrrrrghhh. TUAW PiratesArrrr, me hearties. A TUAW exclusive for your iPhone today (since it be Talk Like a Pirate Day). Download a copy of Pirate.app onto your iPhone and you're ready to turn any landlubber into a true Pirate. (A package should be available through Installer.app by the time this post goes live.)Launch the app, aim the camera at a loved one, and tap Stop. This stops the preview and freezes the picture. If you don't like it, tap Start to go back to a live preview.After freezing, arrange the props -- pirate hat, mustache, beard and parrot -- as you wish. Then tap Snap. The iPhone captures your work and creates a new email photo enclosure for you to share with loved ones.Shiver me timbers! Now that's a good reason to keep the iPhone a semi-open platform!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Coming in iPhone 1.1.1. probably
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Open Source, Software Update, Apple, iPhoneEagle-eyed reader Travis (thanks!) went over Engadget's photos of the O2 iPhone announced yesterday morning, and sussed out every little feature and update he saw on their iPhones that current owners don't have. We can only believe that the iPhones shown must have already been updated to 1.1.1, and that US iPhones, via Software Update, will receive these features soon. Now Playing controls everywhere! Double clicking the home screen goes to Favorites or iPod, similar to what the iPod touch can do now. The iTunes WiFi Store (well duh) Closed captioning, and the already leaked support for Video Out. New Calculator icon-- to match the iPod touch as well International keyboards Network setup with VPN support and EDGE disabling A "Carrier" menu, but your guess is as good as ours on that one. This could simply be a European thing, as their rules may not match American regulations. I...