The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

For those of you in Canada, good news. The cell carriers Telus and Bell have announced pricing and availability for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. In addition, Rogers will be announcing an update to its pricing.

Telus is offering four plan levels with three extras each to chose from, for a total of twelve different plan options. Each plan provides subsidized iPhone pricing of $99CAD for the 8GB iPhone 3G (black), $199CAD for the 16GB iPhone 3G S (black/white), and $299CAD for the 32GB iPhone 3G S (black/white).

The actual plans from Telus do not change with respect to the iPhone you choose. The prices begin at $50CAD for 150 minutes and 500 MB data and move up to $100CAD for 500 minutes and 3GB data; all plans include a 36-month contract term. Additionally, all plans include mobile tethering with the iPhone. All plans excluding the entry-level $50CAD/mo. plan include an option for unlimited messaging.

Bell has also announced their pricing and availability; actual iPhone pricing is the same as the Telus offering ranging from $99CAD for the 8GB iPhone 3G to $299CAD for the 32GB iPhone 3G S.

Bell's monthly plans start at $55CAD and include 300 minutes with 1GB data (tethering included) and increase up to $95CAD including 500 minutes with and 3GB data. As with Telus, all plans include a 36-month contract. Unlike Telus, however, the Bell plans include unlimited Wi-Fi at any Starbucks location.

Not one to be left out of all the press buzz, Rogers may be announcing a new plan for $95CAD/mo. An anonymous tipster reports that the Rogers plan will include 700 minutes and 1GB data with tethering included. The plan will also feature unlimited messaging.

Things are definitely heating up in Canada for iPhone users. Each provider is offering a little something different in terms of minutes, data, and extras. As always, don't forget to consider your coverage area, which iPhone in Canada has helpfully compared for you here.

While I don't live in Canada myself, I am definitely jealous of all the competition going on. I would love to see three US carriers with the iPhone all competing for my pocketbook.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in, and iphoneincanada.ca for the in-depth coverage.

Former TUAW colleague David Chartier over at Finer Things in Mac has noted something interesting about the innocuous iWork '09 file format. What he found may surprise you.

An iWork '09 file created from Pages, Numbers, or Keynote actually lives a secret life as a ZIP archive. This trick isn't a new one; the most common example of archive trickery by Apple is probably the iPod/iPhone software bundle which uses ZIP as a container format. Previous iWork versions actually created folder-like bundle files by default, which made them tricky to upload to cloud storage or email to collaborators.

In the case of the new iWork files, changing the file extension to .zip and expanding the archive reveals the as-expected XML document and plist files (for the document and its formatting) as well as a little PDF surprise -- a preview version of the file. What this means for you is that you can send an iWork file to a friend or co-worker and regardless of their operating system choice or installed software base, they can "view" your document by unzipping it and opening the PDF.

On Windows, you would simply change the extension to .zip and open with your favorite un-archiving utility. Given the kludgy-ness of this process, it doesn't surprise me that Apple isn't promoting it. However, it would be interesting to see the folks in Cupertino release an iWork viewer for the Windows users in our lives (other than the extant iwork.com sharing service).

[Via Download Squad]

If you're rocking the Mac mini -- or any other Mac, for that matter --as a media center, then chances are pretty good that you've had some tough times following the upgrade to Snow Leopard. Anticipating such problems, some of us held off upgrading to Mac OS X 10.6. Now the wait is over.

Shortly after Elan discussed the details of a workaround for Plex, a new release has been let loose on the web. Plex 0.8.3 was announced earlier this week with improved Snow Leopard compatibility as well as several other fixes and new features. For users of Apple's latest OS, the biggest new feature is probably the integration of the Candelair driver which returns Plex to the days of Apple Remote compatibility.

Other notable improvements and new features include:

• Fixed an issue with MKV playback over the network
• A problem with the media server crashing has been fixed
• Video playlists work again
• A new feature where downmixing 5.1 surround audio to 2.0 stereo audio has multiple dynamic range compression options. In other words, surround audio will not be as "quiet" when played through headphones.
• New handling of quitting/suspending commands that includes a new scheduling feature.

The new release of Plex means I can finally stop holding my breath and upgrade my Mac mini to Snow Leopard. It is available now, for free (!!!) right here. Anybody else ready to upgrade to SL now that the Plex release is out? Once my mini is upgraded, rest assured that Plex will be the first thing I install.

[via Macworld]

VMware Fusion 3 features highly improved Snow Leopard support. Most notably, Fusion now sports native 64-bit compatibility and support for the 64-bit kernel. What this means for the average user is improved performance for both the host and guest operating systems.

Further, with support for OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3, gamers will now be able to play more demanding 3D games without the use of Boot Camp. Fusion 3 will also work beautifully with Microsoft's latest operating system by enabling the full Windows 7 experience, side-by-side with your Mac via Unity, complete with Windows Aero and Flip 3D.

VMware Fusion 3 is available for pre-order now and will be on store shelves October 27. Suggested retail price is $79.99US and on the day of launch upgrade pricing of $39.99US will be available for existing customers with previous versions of VMware Fusion.

I use Fusion 2 when I'm at my home office and while the performance has been good, I am really looking forward to Fusion 3's 64-bit support. Any other Fusion users out there, how will you make use of VMware's latest foray into the desktop virtualization game?

Courtesy molenlavapit.com

If you're the proud owner of a multi-camera/single Mac household then you've probably run into the problem of what happens when you plug in a camera not necessarily being what you intended. For instance, my wife used to have an issue where iPhoto would always launch when she plugged in her iPhone. This was because her Canon camera launched iPhoto whenever it was plugged in via USB.

Creig Sherburne has discovered that in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, however, camera/application management woes are tackled via an Apple utility that comes with the system. The latest iteration of Image Capture (version 6.0 at least) includes a preference setting for specifying which application to launch when connecting a camera. There's an even option for having no application launch, which is a nice feature if your Mac is running on scarce resources and some rogue program is taking up memory when trying to open.

Lest you think that by not upgrading to Snow Leopard you're in the lurch (though if you can, you should, it's only 30 bucks) fear not. There is a third-party solution for this issue; Cameras prefpane from Flexibits, which we noted back in July, beautifully (and freely!) solves this problem for Tiger and Leopard users.

Got any other handy, camera-related tips? Let us know in the comments!

[Via Daring Fireball]

Earlier we mentioned how to explore the iTunes LP format and how easy it is to peek inside and check out all of the non-Flash, CSS-based awesomeness. But if you happen to be somewhat less geeky, it's pretty likely that your definition of "exploring" iTunes LP is much more focused on playing music, reading liner notes, and checking out custom graphics.

If all you really want to do is check out your growing library of iTunes LPs then there's an easy way to bring them into one single collection. We have covered using Smart Playlists to manage your Library on several occasions. It's also possible to create a Smart Playlist that will list just your iTunes LPs. Just create a new Smart Playlist and set the filter field to "Kind," the operator to "contains" and in the text field type "iTunes LP."

That's all there is to it, and I'm honestly kind of surprised Apple didn't include some form of visualization a la Cover Flow to make it easier to peruse your shiny, new digital LPs. If you've got any Smart Playlists or other iTunes 9-related tips, let us know in the comments -- we'd love to hear from you!

Update: proper attribution to Jay Robinson now added to the image -- a glitch in our CMS caused the error, for which we apologize. - ed.

The Apple Support forums are a'buzz with reports of several users upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1 and discovering a new "feature" which was not available previously. As mentioned in our comments, after upgrading to 3.1, some original iPhone and iPhone 3G owners with Exchange accounts are having trouble accessing their email. Apparently the server-side encryption policy option for mobile devices (only available as of Exchange 2007 SP1) is now being appropriately enforced.

This is not affecting owners of the iPhone 3GS, due to the newer device's support for Exchange encryption. Prior to iPhone OS 3.1 the encryption policy was ignored for all models. Now that 3.1 is available, users are seeing this policy being correctly enforced and older iPhones without encryption support are left without access to Exchange services.

I have yet to find any reports of issues with the iPod touch, but I suspect that it will also be affected by this software change. We're awaiting confirmation from Apple on whether this will impact the newly announced iPod touch models as well.

While many are reacting to this issue as though it's a bug, and are reporting it as such, the reality is that the Exchange encryption requirement is a feature and the fact that it was not being correctly enforced was actually a security hole. IT administrators with Exchange 2007 SP1 servers and iPhone clients are probably going to be fielding an above-average level of incoming questions, but at least they can rest easy knowing that Exchange encryption is now working correctly. Cold comfort for their users, though.

If you are running into this issue, the straightforward (though pricey) solution is to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS; or consider bribing your IT guy with Red Bull so he will disable the encryption requirement for mobile devices. But we want to hear from you; are you using an Exchange account? Can you still access it following the upgrade to 3.1? Which device are you using, iPhone or iPod touch; 3G or 3GS? Is this a little thing that means a lot to you from a security perspective or have you been left high and dry without access to critical email?

Update: MacRumors points out that Apple has now covered this situation in a new KB article.

[Via Broadband Reports]

Important safety tip: Please read the instructions for TweetMyMac carefully, especially the part about creating a separate Twitter account for your Mac -- do not use your regular Twitter account, or anyone you follow will be able to control your machine.

We have previously covered some of the ways in which it is possible to remotely control a Mac at home or in the office. Most of our suggestions have required the use of Mail in order to process some rule and kick off a script or Automator action.

Alex P over at TheMacBox aims to change all of that. Enter TweetMyMac, the little program that lets you get screenshots, iSight snapshots, or launch a program through the use of Twitter. While the list of commands available is not currently as comprehensive as what your imagination can create with a little AppleScript or Automator whizzbangery, it is a good list and growing as well.

An obvious benefit of this approach is the ease of getting everything set up. In the past it took an AppleScript to call another Automator action or some other kludgey-at-best method to get things working. With TweetMyMac there is very little effort required for setup.

Another neat feature is that TweetMyMac will run a shell command. With a little scripting you can create your own custom commands. And using the previously-covered technique of sending tweets via the command line you can have your custom commands send information back to you as well.

Read more →

Here's an interesting feature of Snow Leopard that you may or may not (probably not) find particularly useful. Apparently after upgrading to 10.6 several users at the Apple Discussion Forums -- mostly owners of Mac mini or MacBook models with the GMA950 graphics subsystem -- are reporting poor performance with Front Row.

The performance issue seems to effect navigation as well as playback, resulting in jerky video/audio in the menu and when watching a movie. This is also not limited to pesky DiVx files or QuickTime plug-ins either, as some users are reporting seeing the problem with iTunes purchases and others are even running a completely stock installation. Interestingly enough, some of the same users with Front Row issues are not seeing the same problems when playing back with QuickTime X.

In my opinion, this is not much of a surprise following such a major upgrade to many of the OS's underpinnings -- including an overhaul to QuickTime on which Front Row is largely based. This is the reason I did not upgrade the Mac mini in my living room. Aside from being a full-time webserver, I also rely on it for multimedia functionality as well.

Some folks with complaints have found solace in either Plex or Boxee as these fine media players do not rely on QuickTime or iTunes. For most though, a working Front Row would be ideal. Personally, I have not checked for problems with Front Row since my multimedia Mac hasn't been upgraded. However, I did note some wonkiness on another machine when using QuickLook to playback some video files through Finder. I have a sneaking suspicion there is something going on related to QuickTime X being used by other programs (i.e. FrontRow or QuickLook). What say you dear readers? Is your Front Row experience causing you grief or are you simply smirking because you haven't received your pre-order upgraded yet?

Thanks to Ivey for sending this in via Twitter.

Got a fancy new Mac with some flavor of DisplayPort connector and a shiny new copy of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard installed? If you do and you also happen to hook said Mac up to an HDTV via an HDMI adapter, then head on over to System Preferences to check out the latest uncovered Snow Leopard nugget of awesomeness.

Three new resolution options are now available for your HDTV-viewing experience: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. This should be good news for anyone rocking the HTMac set-up, or even for anyone who wants to check it out and may not be fully-versed with some of the issues.

We've tried to reproduce the above using a DVI -> VGA adapter and have thus far found bupkis. We're not sure if this works with DVI -> HDMI either, but we do know it works with DisplayPort -> HDMI. Check it out for yourself and let us know your results.

Thanks to Jay for sending this in via Twitter.