Michael Rose
New York City - http://www.tuaw.com
Mike Rose, The Unofficial Apple Weblog -- a 15-year Mac and magazine publishing veteran.
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
Congressional caricatures on the App Store: The nays have it
Let's face it, America: if you're looking for "obscene, pornographic or defamatory" content, you can pretty much count on the US Congress to satisfy your jones. Put those representatives into cartoon bobble-head form, however, and stack them up with contact and district info in a handy-dandy iPhone app... well, that's just not cricket, according to the App Store review team.Cartoonist & MAD magazine contributor Tom Richmond was commissioned to produce said caricatures for the iPhone app in question, and unfortunately they've run afoul of clause 3.3.14 of the developer agreement, the 'Apple's reasonable judgment' rule regarding potentially objectionable content. Richmond is scratching his head trying to figure out what about his caricatures could possibly be considered reasonably offensive, compared to some of the other fine entertainment apps already gracing iPhones worldwide. Still, it's at least consistent with Apple's previous rejections of things that are funny.
On some level it's unsurprising that an app filled with congressional bobbleheads is finding it a bit of a slog getting through review; that's a lot of potential angry phone calls for Apple to take.
[That's Dennis Kucinich over there.]
Shacking up: iPhone sales plan at RadioShack sparks rally
It's been in the rumor mix for well over a year now, first popping up in connection with the iPhones-at-Walmart & Best Buy deal, but now the cat is out of the bag and rummaging around in the shelves full of diodes, UHF antennas and talking robots: late last Friday, RadioShack announced that it would begin selling the iPhone in a few NYC and Dallas stores in time for the holiday shopping rush, with wider availability to begin in 2010.While the addition of another retail outlet to the mix of stores (including AT&T and Apple's own operations) that carry the iPhone may not do a whole lot for general availability of the device -- frankly, if you can't find an iPhone 3GS near where you are, you can get one online in a jiffy -- it certainly did a lot for RadioShack's investors. The stock was up over 14% on the first trading day since the announcement, with analysts suggesting that the presence of the iPhone may help to drive up in-store traffic for the Shack during the busy holiday season and year-round.
Let's think about that for a second. Just having the iPhone in the shop for shoppers to fondle, nuzzle and take home as their very own is considered, in the eyes of the market, a material advantage for an electronics chain with nearly 5,000 US stores.
You've come a long way, baby.
Filed under: Bugs/Recalls, Apple TV
Heads Up: Update your Apple TV to 3.0.1 ASAP, says Apple
We've heard a few reports of sync issues with the new Apple TV 3.0 software over the past few days, and apparently the chatter on the Apple support boards was on the mark: Apple has shipped 3.0.1, which is supposed to fix problems where 3.0 units would unexpectedly dump all their loaded content. You can get all the details from Apple's tech note. [According to our commenters, in most cases the content was not gone, simply invisible; a reboot of the ATV might bring back the media.]
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Filed under: App Store
Developers report a moment of upside-down app rankings, now returning to normal
It seems to be back to status quo ante now, and we're not sure exactly what was going on, but something apparently slipped off the crazy shelf and whacked the App Store firmly in the noggin. Multiple users and developers emailed to let us know that the Top Paid rankings in the store were completely jumbled up, with unfamiliar apps taking over the rankings from long-standing champs. iGlowStickPro? 301+ Short Stories? That ain't right.The US store was definitely fritzy, but other tipsters report that the Australian store was affected as well. Now that things seem to be returning to normal, it's interesting to note how quickly everyone reacted to send a heads-up about the problem... when your monthly revenues depend on that Top Paid ranking slot, even a few minutes of confusion will get your attention in a hurry.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Filed under: Hardware, Video, Reviews, Mac mini
TUAW Review: Kanex HDMI + audio adapter works fine but costs extra
When we first heard about the Kanex HDMI + digital audio converter a few weeks ago, I was eager to give it a trial run and see if it managed to deliver on the promise of integrated audio with HDMI video. I've been playing with the $70 unit for a few days now, and the answer is a qualified yes: it does the job, but depending on your home theater setup you may be able to get by with a less expensive option.
The digital-audio Kanex unit ships without a manual and is largely self-explanatory (although the company has now posted a basic user guide and FAQ) -- a female HDMI port on one side of the roughly iPod-sized unit, and three male cables coming out the other side. The cables connect to the mini DisplayPort, optical audio out, and USB port of your Mac; while Kanex does sell a $60 unit that handles audio over USB, this version only uses that connection to power the adapter and does not provide a USB audio interface. If you're running short of open powered USB ports you might opt to plug it into a USB power adapter instead.
In operation, there's not much to worry about: I plugged in all three ports to a unibody MacBook Pro and connected an HDMI display, then went to the normal Mac OS X Displays preference pane, where I found a full assortment of resolutions for my enjoyment. The top few 'television' options may vary with your connected gear; on my test set (a Vizio 42" 720p display) I was able to choose 720p and, oddly enough, 1080i and 1080p. Below that you have resolutions ranging from 640x480 up into the 1600x1000 range.
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts
Talkcast tonight: Apple TV 3 reactions and Halloween candy hangovers
Assuming that your Mac isn't still bogged down from the switch back to Standard Time, you should c'mon out tonight and join us for the talkcast. Tonight we'll be talking Apple TV 3.0; if you've upgraded already, we want to hear about your experience, and if you haven't upgraded yet, we want to know which hacks, patches or media players are holding you back. We'll also chat about the Motorola Droid, the latest cellphone challenger to iPhone hegemony. We'll be live at 10 pm ET, so call on in.
To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8.
If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!
Filed under: Odds and ends, Snow Leopard
Reports coming in of DST-related Snow Leopard issues
If you experienced some odd performance problems on your Snow Leopard-running Mac early this morning -- say, right around the time of the Daylight Saving 'fall back' to standard time -- you're apparently not alone. The Apple support boards are hopping with reports of 100% CPU spikes coinciding with the switchover from DST between 1 am and 2 am, mostly associated with having the menu bar clock enabled and/or having the clock automatic set feature turned on.
Thanks to Gordian and everyone who sent this in.
Filed under: Beta Beat
Beta version of Firefox 3.6 for Mac now available
Want to see something scary this Halloween? Like, perhaps, a browser that doesn't coddle you with all that silly stability and reliable performance? Feel like spending a little time on the bleeding edge? You too can taste the future (which, I am told, has a distinctive metallic tang) by downloading the first public beta of Firefox 3.6, now featured over at the Mozilla developer blog.The next release of the open-source browser includes more flexible video options, better Javascript performance, updated font support and single-click appearance customization through the Personas skinning system. You can read more about the 3.6 changes from a web development perspective here.
The Mac version requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, and you can get it from the beta download page. Happy surfing!
Filed under: Rumors
Did an NYT editor let the 'Slate' slip?
There's a loud buzzing this morning, and it's not just the hangover from late-night celebrations of the Yankees' pennant win; quite a few tech and Mac sites (we heard it first from Edible Apple, although it's really everywhere now) are reporting on week-old remarks from the New York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, that were supposed to remain off-the record -- and of course are now playing on video all across the web.If you look at the transcript of his chat, or the 8:20 mark in the video, you'll see him refer to delivery of journalism to mobile platforms, and then he mentions the "impending Apple slate."
Is this a simple moment of wishful thinking for Keller, or is it linked to the presumptive starring role that daily newspapers would play on the hypothetical Apple wundergadget? I can't wait to find out.
Read on to see the video.
Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts
Talkcast reminder: Macs that go bump in the night! 10 pm ET
It's the Sunday before Halloween, and that can mean only one thing! No, not that you should have set your clocks back an hour -- that's next weekend. Tonight is about scary tech and the users that love it: Apple's most frightening products of all time. Whether the fuzzy-scary iPod Socks or the just-plain-scary Performa series, there are plenty of bonechillers out there... pick your favorites over at Apple History, the Apple Museum or Wikipedia and bring your nominations to our chamber of terrors tonight!
To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!
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