Filed under: Features, TUAW Business, Weekend Review

It's the weekend. W00t! Time to kick back, relax and read the latest installment of TUAW's best of the week, where we gather up our favorite posts for your easy clicking enjoyment.


Data-only iPhone plan for $20/month
Erica shows you how to get an iPhone with unlimited data plan for only $20 per month. "iPhone Black" appears on AT&T ordering site
As if AT&T doesn't make mistakes, the "black" color iPhone was speculated all over the blogosphere this past week due to an AT&T "mistake." Jobs WWDC keynote all but confirmed
Well, if you thought Steve Jobs had been replaced by Steve Ballmer for the upcoming WWDC, then you are saddly mistaken, because Jobs is back for yet another WWDC. In addition, WWDC 08 also sold out earlier this week. Apple gets trademark for iPod shape
Does this seem a little odd to anyone else? I mean, I've seen several bars of soap that look exactly like the shape of an iPod. VBA to return in next version of Microsoft Office; SP1 released
We never thought we would miss VBA until Microsoft released Office 2008 for Mac. Oh yeah, we missed it, but now it's back. $45 credit for Canadian iPod owners
Apple announced this past week that Canadians would get a $45 credit for batteries in first, second, or third gen iPods bought before June 24th, 2004. iTunes: Free Tuesday
Get some free tunes. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Internet Tools, Developer

Over at the Official Google Mac blog they've announced the release of App Engine Launcher for Mac OS X. Basically, its a Mac-native project manager for creating web applications to run on Google App Engine, which allows third-party developers to write web applications that run on Google's infrastructure. The Launcher makes it a matter of a couple of clicks to create and (when finished) deploy projects to Google. In the words of author John Grabowski, "with the Launcher, you can focus on your app instead of the tools."

The App Engine Launcher is available for download with the Google App Engine SDK at Google Code.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Leech is a download manager from Many Tricks that seems to take a "less is more" approach to controlling downloads. With the newly released version 1.1 it integrates with Safari, Camino, and OmniWeb via a SIMBL plugin (or, as some insist, hack), allowing it to take over downloads from any of those browsers. In addition to pausing and resuming downloads, Leech also features a rule based system that allows you to control what happens to files once they're downloaded, filing them to different folders or opening them in different applications according to file type. It also features drag and drop of URLs onto its Dock icon, Keychain integration, and a full searchable history menu.

Leech is €9.95 (~$15) and a demo is available. Registered users of other download managers can get a 30% off coupon.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Video, iTunes, Apple TV

In a recent Ask TUAW we addressed a question about getting divx video files to register properly as TV Shows in Front Row. In the discussion that followed one of our readers suggested VideoDrive as an easy way of accomplishing this. Basically, VideoDrive allows you to import your videos into iTunes without converting them, while still having full control over the metadata, including the tags that control placing videos either in the TV Shows or Movie categories. That way they will appear in the appropriate submenus in both Front Row and on the Apple TV. VideoDrive can also download cover art form Amazon as well as clean up file names and more. Keep in mind, however, that the appropriate codecs must already be installed to use this (check our Perian for this purpose).

VideoDrive is €12.99 (~$20) and a demo limited to 12 videos is available for download.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhoneDevCamp 2 will be held 1-3 August 2008 at Adobe Systems headquarters in San Francisco (601 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103). iPhoneDevCamp 2 is a not-for-profit gathering to develop applications for iPhone and iPod touch using both the native SDK and Web standards. To keep up with updates add the feed to your RSS [...]

I’ve been using the tiny IRIS Business Card Reader II for about two years and love it. A colleague, Ryan Kaplan, recently shared his experience with CardIris scanning software: Having purchased several scanners in the last year to make my life more paperless I finally decided to take the leap and scan all the business cards [...]

Filed under: Odds and ends, Open Source, Found Footage

Lux is an experimental framework that brings full screen multi-touch to OS X. As you can see in the video above it allows a quasi-iPhone like experience in OS X. The project is scheduled to go live in June. Over at Gizmodo they have an interview with the developer, Christian Moore, who talks about the project and how it was built.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Software, Freeware

Up until today, entering to-do info into iCal was an exercise for my mouse-clicking finger. I'd click iCal in the Dock, click again on that little pushpin icon, and then finally double-click to create an empty to-do task to fill in. One more double-click, and I could actually edit the to-do and put in the information I needed.

Enter FlexTD from flexgames. It's another unitasker, but it does one task very well - just hit a pre-defined hotkey and it brings up a transparent edit window. Type in your to-do, press return, and the info is entered into your favorite Mac calendar app.

One suggestion for the developers; the hotkeys only go up to F8, and I'd love to be able to assign something to F13 through F19 on my keyboard. How 'bout it?

The app is free, appears as a pref pane in System Preferences, and can start up at login. Many thanks to flexgames for a nice productivity booster!

Tip 'o the TUAW homburg to Elsa for the news!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPod Family, Developer, iPhone

If you lost out on the chance to attend WWDC 2008 and your development focus is the iPhone, you're in luck. iPhoneDevCamp 2 is scheduled for August 1 - 3, 2008 at the Adobe offices in San Francisco. A follow-up to the first iPhoneDevCamp held in early July of 2007, iPhoneDevCamp 2 is a non-profit event dedicated solely to development of applications for iPhone and iPod Touch using the native SDK and web standards.

As an attendee, you'll work with other developers to create new iPhone/iPod Touch apps, learn how to migrate Mac apps to the Apple handheld platform, and find out how to test and optimize your apps. If you're a Cocoa Touch developer, web developer, UI designer, or tester, this is the place to be the first weekend of August. The registration links aren't yet up and running, but be sure to bookmark the iPhoneDevCamp 2 site for future reference.

A big TUAW thank you to Raven for the tip!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

There was no lack of enthusiasm — or videography — at Thursday’s opening of the company’s new flagship store in Boston. Thousands of fans turned up and at least a dozen videos have already been edited and posted on YouTube; three representative clips are pasted below the fold.

Anyone who hasn’t been to one of these events might find these images shocking.

It’s one thing to stand in line for hours and share in the growing excitement and anticipation. It’s another to watch it cold, from the outside. There’s a lot of stage-managed hysteria here, whipped up by blue- and orange-shirted Apple staffers working from a script. It’s like a college-town pep rally with just a whiff of Nuremberg.

But what the hell. The fanboys like it, and it sells computers. A lot companies would kill for the kind of loyalty Apple (AAPL) can command.

Videos below, as promised:

Filed under: Accessories, MacBook Air

Playing on the MacBook-Air-in-a-manila-envelope meme started by Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo 2008, Marware has announced the sexy leather C.E.O. Envi sleeve for the MBA. The $89.99 C.E.O. Envi features a premium leather exterior and a soft lining, and is designed to be used either on its own or in another bag. A magnetic closure keeps the sleeve safely shut, while the interior lining protects the exterior of the MacBook Air from scratches.

Of course, it's too late for my MacBook Air, which is beginning to look a bit scuffed up on the bottom. But I may still look into one of these sleeves as a way of preventing even more scratches.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Oh, glorious FCC! Bringer of upcoming products. Thank you for the gift we've just received....

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Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster summarized the flood of recent iPhone deals in a note to clients Friday. The key numbers:

• 46 carriers announced to date (up from 6 currently)
• 42 countries covered (up from 6)
• 575 million total available market (up from 153 million)

Munster had expected Apple to announce a flurry of deals with overseas carriers in 2008, but not this fast. “The iPhone’s international rollout,” he writes, “is about 8 months ahead of our original schedule.”

Assuming that the device maintains its current 3% market penetration, the recent announcements give Munster “increased confidence” that Apple will meet his published sales target of 12.9 million iPhones in calendar year 2008.

Well they should, since 3% of 575 million is 17.25 million iPhones.

For 2009, Munster is sticking with his estimate of 45 million iPhones — a target that represents the high end among mainstream Apple analysts. Apple achieves this, he says, by 1) opening up China and Japan, for a total available market of 1.1 billion, 2) introducing a lower-cost iPhone in January ‘09, and 3) increasing its market penetration to 6%.

As for the current round of deals, Munster believes that most of them are non-exclusive, a change that he expects will have a positive impact on iPhone sales, a slight negative impact on iPhone revenue, but “no material” impact on Apple’s (AAPL) published earnings.

Filed under: Audio, iPod Family, Multimedia, Software, iPhone

Back in 1984, Roland released the TR-909 drum machine as a successor to their legendary 808. Over the years, the 909 became one of the most influential and widely-used instruments in the history of electronic music, right up there with the Minimoog and the AKAI MPC sampler.

Now you can pick up IR-909, a free iPhone / iPod Touch version of the 909 over at roventskij.net. It has the 909's 16-step sequencer, eight drum sounds, and four pattern storage.

The minimal, lovely interface is close enough to the 909 for aficionados of the original hardware without sacrificing usability on the iPhone / iPod Touch's small screen.

IR-909 may not be a full-fledged replacement for your software sampler or old-school hardware 909...but I'm betting it's fun to play with on the bus or the train. Or hook it up to a pair of portable speakers and get your "Planet Rock" on anywhere and everywhere. 'Cause I know you got the funk in you.

[via Create Digital Music]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPod Family, Software, iPhone

Here's an iPhone app with some potential. Greg Elliot of Poke has released SynchStep, an app for iPhones and iPod touches that chooses songs based on your walking pace. The project began before the iPhone, conceived as a self-contained MP3 player with the necessary hardware. Upon the advent of the accelerometer-toting iPhone/touch, it became more feasible to bring the idea to the masses.

The app has a simple, good-looking interface. I couldn't get it to work very well, though, after about 20 minutes of building and analyzing playlists followed by many carefully paced steps. Quite a few people witnessed me walking quickly by, only to see me pass a while later at a much slower pace, repeated ad nauseum nauseam with an increasingly frustrated look on my face.

I love the concept, though. I want it to work and I'm hoping I'm just doing something wrong. Maybe you should give it a try. I've always wanted a real-time, personal soundtrack. Coincidentally, the previous name for the project was PersonalSoundtrack, which I mention only because I like the former moniker slightly better for its more intimate connotations. Now, back to walking around like I'm in a Monty Python sketch.

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Apropos of nothing other than the fact that I occasionally mention my love for Jazz in this space, and have found that many readers share it as well, I wanted to recommend this profile of the New York DJ Phil...

Filed under: Apple, Graphic Design

As reported elsewhere, Apple today won two Black Pencil awards from D&AD, a British organization (or "organisation," I suppose) that promotes the very best of design around the world.

This year, the iPhone and aluminum iMac both took home the top award. The iPod touch received second prize (a Yellow Pencil), and the iPod nano and aluminum keyboard were each nominated. Apple has won six Black Pencils since 1999.

This year, six Black Pencils were awarded, though some years D&AD hand out zero (Graphic designers, for example, were a little miffed this year that none of their work was good enough). Sixty-four Yellow Pencils were handed out, among 143 total nominations.

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Apple’s deal to add HBO programs to its iTunes offerings also added variable pricing to the online digital media store. Peter Cohen looks into whether different prices for different programs will become a common practice at the iTunes Store.

Filed under: Accessories, Macbook Pro, MacBook

FastMac announced a new line of Mac notebook chargers today. FastMac found a work around for Apple not licensing the MagSafe chargers. TruePower U-Charge allows you to charge your notebook's batteries externally. Note that this does not power the Mac, it only charges batteries.

This charger will charge iBook G3/G4 12", PowerBook, MacBook, and MacBook Pro batteries without skipping a beat. FastMac also has plans for a 14.4V charger that would charge batteries for the clamshell iBook, iBook G4 14", and Ti PowerBook 15".

The TruePower U-Charge comes in 2 different colors (black and white) to match your machine better. The prices for these chargers start at $69.95. You can purchase the U-Charge on the FastMac website.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Audio, Software, Freeware

If you frequent the library (or quiet places) then Breakaway could be a god-send. You'll never be afraid of your headphones becoming unplugged when you have John Mayer playing loudly in iTunes. If you have ever used an iPod, then you know that when you unplug your headphones while playing a song it is automatically paused; Well, Breakaway does this for your Mac and iTunes.

You can choose from many different settings in Breakaway, including setting triggers and fade in/out speeds. The only downside to this application is that it doesn't work with USB headphones, only ones plugged into the audio out port on your Mac. However, this freeware is handy to have around.

You can download Breakaway for free from the developer's website.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments