The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Reminder, talkcast at 10 pm ET Sunday night

Michael Rose — 2008-05-11T19:30:00+00:00

Last week's talkcast was a lively evening's chat, as Dave, Erica and I diverted from Mac geekery into Trekker nerd bingo (yes, that's not a $6 cab ride away, so no big surprise). Download the show from Talkshoe, play it from the Flash player in the continuation of this post, if you like, or pick it up on iTunes.

Tonight we'll be welcoming at least a couple of our newest team members to the Sunday night festivities, along with your veteran favorites, so do drop by and join us for all the fun at 10pm ET / 7 pm PT. Bring your Mac and iPod/iPhone questions along (no, we don't know when the 3G phone is shipping -- yes, we will be talking about the availability constraints) and we'll do our best to tackle them live on the show.

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Itching to learn Esperanto?

Steven Sande — 2008-05-07T19:30:00+00:00

Filed under: iTS, Education, Podcasts

Hot for Hindi? Up for learning Uyghur? Wild about Welsh? LifeClever tipped us off to the fact that there are 926 free language training podcasts currently available in the iTunes Store. A quick glance at the available podcasts shows that you can learn 39 languages from Arabic to Yiddish with the help of your iPod or iPhone.

To find this treasure trove of linguistic goodness, launch iTunes, pop into the iTunes Store, click on the Browse link, and navigate to Podcasts > Education > Language Courses.

What am I going to learn on my summer vacation? I'm waffling between Sexy Spanish and Latinum. This is a great way to get your kids to learn a language and keep them occupied during that long, hot road trip to Wally World this summer.

Thanks, Tipster Chanpory!

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Reminder: Talkcast tonight at 10 PM EDT

Christina Warren — 2008-04-27T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Well, it's Sunday, and as always TUAW will be starting the week off with our weekly live talkcast, thanks to the cool guys at TalkShoe. Michael Rose is on the road, but may still have a chance to call in and chat. I'll be taking over hosting duties for the night; we'll be taking calls and discussing the big Apple news (and Apple rumors) of the week. We'll also be giving away some schwag and software in what may possibly be our first "Movie Based Mac Trivia Challenge."

Once again, you can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny new browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077.

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Next talkcast: Open phones and giveaways

Christina Warren — 2008-04-26T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: iTS, Podcasts

This Sunday night at 10 PM EST, Michael Rose, our consumate Talkcast host, will once agin be out of town, so I'll be taking his place. Hopefully, we won't run into any of the technical difficulties we ran into last week.

We'll be taking open calls and discussing the top stories of the week, attempting to answer any of your questions, talking about Apple rumors...oh yeah, and we'll be giving away schwag (including some software) for correct trivia answers.

To join the conversation and try your hand at winning, just log onto TalkShoe, either with or without an account, by using the shiny new browser-only client (no downloading required and no registration needed). Just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID: 45077.

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TUAW Talkcast tonight: Mac and iPhone gaming

Mike Schramm — 2008-04-20T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Gaming, TUAW Business, Podcasts

Yes, the world famous TUAW Talkcast is back on the virtual air this evening kicking off at 10pm EST over on the Talkshoe site. Mike Rose is out of the hosting chair this week, but worry not -- I, Mike Schramm will be sitting in said chair running hosting duties as well as I can. And since I'm in charge this week, we'll of course be talking about server virtualization and security options for large scale enterprises. No, I'm kidding -- we'll be talking about games, and gaming on the Mac and iPhone.

Brian Akaka of Mac gaming giants and all-around good guys Freeverse will be on the show to chat not only about gaming on the Mac (and why it's not as big as it could be), but also what it's like to design games for the iPhone, and what kinds of things we might see coming out of Freeverse and other developer come June and the App Store. Dave Caolo and some other friendly voices from TUAW should be on as well. And of course we'll have the cast of thousands hundreds whoever joins us on the conference call, and they're very nice folks, too.

Be there at 10pm EST this evening for a talkcast to remember. Pertinent technical and sign-in info after the break. We'll see you there!

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Talkcast tonight at 10 pm -- Parenting and the Mac

Michael Rose — 2008-04-13T21:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Mac-loving moms and dads, unite -- you have nothing to lose but your sanity... oh, yeah, probably too late for that. Dave Caolo and I + some special guests will be discussing Macs and child-rearing at 10 pm on TalkShoe. If you're wondering how to introduce your tots to computers or whether content filtering/parental controls really work as advertised, call in and we'll talk.

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Next talkcast: Parenting with Mac moms & dads

Michael Rose — 2008-04-10T11:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, How-tos, Podcasts

We had a fun time on the ol' TUAW talkcast last Sunday, with panelists Christina Warren, Dave Caolo, Erica Sadun and reader Brett Peters (yes, the broken iPhone guy). Brett had a sad saga of MacBook Air performance woes to tell -- his machine refused to run on two cores under moderate load, apparently a thermal management feature run amuck, and it's going back to the mothership now (read the details here). We also ran through the iPhone 3G rumors with a coarse-toothed comb. You can download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.

For this coming Sunday's show (4/13), we're going to be talking about parents, kids and the Mac with Dave Caolo and hopefully some special guests. We'd love to get your suggestions and recommendations for the best educational software, kid-friendly peripherals and utilities, art and music tools for tots, and more. If you'd like to contribute your picks and pans, you can comment below or use our handy PBwiki page (you'll need a login, so just comment that you want to help out and I'll send you an invite). If you're wondering how to introduce your tots to computers or whether content filtering/parental controls really work as advertised, call in and we'll talk.

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Reminder, talkcast tonight at 10 pm ET

Michael Rose — 2008-04-06T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week's show with Mike Schramm & guest Tony Walla was a lot of fun; we dove into the Apple Store support experience and covered the week's news as well. Download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.

One topic that came up on the previous show: some of our readers are having trouble reading the site from their iPhones or iPod touch handhelds, with Mobile Safari sometimes locking up or causing the entire device to reset -- not at all cool. We're trying to sort out the exact issues and come up with a permanent solution, but in the meantime iPhone users can bookmark the lean mobile version of the site at m.tuaw.com to avoid problems.

Join us again for tonight's talkcast featuring Christina Warren and Dave Caolo as we get the lowdown on their WordPress 2.5 upgrades and consider the prospect of a 3G iPhone. Are you holding off on iPhone purchases while you wait for the new version, or moving ahead as planned? Tune in and let us know.

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Reminder: Talkcast tonight, 10 pm ET

Michael Rose — 2008-03-30T20:05:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Join us for tonight's talkcast as we hit the intertubes once again for a discussion of the week's top Apple stories via the fine folks at TalkShoe -- we had a few glitches two weeks ago but since then it's been pretty smooth sailing.

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny new browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077.

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Talkcast reminder, 10 pm ET tonight: Open Phones with Dave and Christina

Michael Rose — 2008-03-16T19:30:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

We are live tonight (Sunday 3/16) for this week's talkcast, 10 pm ET, with an open agenda and a willing spirit -- now all we need is you. Join me, Dave Caolo and Christina Warren (who's just back from SxSW with an update on Apple and the power geek crowd) as we take your calls and answer your questions.

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny new browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077.

For those of you eagerly waiting for last week's iPhone SDK show to hit the feeds... we appreciate your patience. Unfortunately we are trying to sort out the letter of the law on Apple's confidentiality clause for iPhone developers, and until we have some clarity on what our panelists can say publicly we have to hold onto the tape. I hope to have guidance shortly and get the show sanitized for release this week.

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Talkcast reminder, 10 pm ET tonight

Michael Rose — 2008-03-09T15:45:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

If you haven't checked out last week's show yet, by all means grab a copy. We were joined by Craig Hockenberry and Gedeon Maheux from Iconfactory, who gave us the lowdown on the history of the company, the origins of Twitterrific, the coevolution of Twitter with the now-dominant Mac client, and the promise of the upcoming iPhone development explosion. Download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.

Speaking of iPhone... We are live tonight (Sunday 3/9) for this week's talkcast, 10 pm ET, talking about iPhone for enterprise and the SDK -- featuring a taped segment with Erica Sadun and Apollo IM developer Alex Schaefer, who couldn't make the regular Sunday night show but felt they had to say something after 72+ hours deep in the SDK.

Join me, Scott, Dave and Mike Schramm tonight for the social. Bring your own ice cream!

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Reminder, talkcast at 10 pm: Jobs trivia & Freeverse giveaway

Michael Rose — 2008-02-24T20:40:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

In honor of the birthday of a certain iCEO, tonight's Sunday night talkcast will have a special feature: a brief Steve Jobs trivia quiz at the end of the show, with giveaways for the top SPJ knowledge-holders. Tonight's prizes are courtesy of our friends at Freeverse Software -- Periscope, Hordes of Orcs, and a limited-edition Freeverse Macworld 2008 t-shirt. Tune in and try your luck!

This evening's show will feature Mat Lu and yours truly taking a break from the Oscars telecast to take your questions, gripes and wishlist items for Mac OS X. Got display problems or wireless issues? We want to hear about it. Everything running smooth as silk? We want to hear about that too, but be warned that the people with problems may be very annoyed with you. See last night's post for full talkcast instructions; note that you must be connected to Talkshoe via the web client or the Java client to participate in the trivia quiz.

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Sunday night talkcast: Mac OS X gripefest + Ask TUAW

Michael Rose — 2008-02-23T17:30:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts, Leopard

Last week's talkcast featured the dulcet tones of guest host Christina Warren and a passel of MacBook Air owners sharing their experiences with the newest laptop in the Apple lineup. Download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.

Join us again on Sunday night for our next live show, 10 pm ET, where Mat Lu and yours truly will be taking a break from the Oscars telecast (if you're DVRing it, be sure to say so -- we don't want to spoil anything!) to take your questions, gripes and wishlist items for Mac OS X. Got display problems or wireless issues? We want to hear about it. Everything running smooth as silk? We want to hear about that too, but be warned that the people with problems may be very annoyed with you.

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MacBook Air owners, c'mon out for the talkcast Sunday night

Michael Rose — 2008-02-15T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts, MacBook Air

Last week's talkcast featured Tod Maffin of the CBC, some interesting technical challenges, and the debut of our Yahoo Live video simulcast -- an experiment we'll be trying again as soon as I get some additional upstream bandwidth. Thanks to Tod for a lively evening and an unflappable demeanor. Download direct, listen in your browser or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes.

Join us again on Sunday night for our next live show, 10 pm ET, where we want to hear from you -- specifically, the new MacBook Air owners among you. Is it everything you hoped it would be? Are the design choices / limitations of the world's sleekest laptop beginning to make themselves felt? Join cohosts Christina Warren and Chris Ullrich for the MBA chat and a review of the week's top stories.

As always, you can join the conversation on TalkShoe either with or without an account by using the shiny new browser-only client (no downloading required and no registration needed). Just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077.

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"Podmaps" concept patent sought by Apple

Mike Schramm — 2008-02-15T09:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTS, iTunes, Podcasts, Apple

AppleInsider has uncovered news of an Apple patent application for a software concept called a "podmap," which is more or less what it sounds like -- a series of maps or driving directions accompanied by an audio version of the same, downloadable into a portable media device. The way I understand it, think of it not just as downloadable directions, but also a kind of real-world tour. There is even mention of episodic content delivered via RSS.

Like many Apple patents, there's no indication (or even suggestion) that anything like this would ever see the light of day, but it does tell us that Apple is looking at doing more with marrying their hardware with maps software, just like the great improvements we saw in the iPhone's 1.1.3 update. Hardly a surprise, too, that a company so strongly turning towards portable computing is thinking about the needs of portable users. But a cool idea nevertheless, and it also confirms that Apple sees the iTS's podcast model as a strong and easy way of quickly distributing content of all kinds.

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Apple TV 2: Walk-through what's new

Christina Warren — 2008-02-12T15:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Hardware, iTS, Video, iTunes, Podcasts, Apple, Apple TV

So now that the long awaited Apple TV update is now available, let's take a look at some of the changes this new update brings to both the interface and the functionality of the product.

The interface has been slightly modified from the now familiar Front Row interface to something slightly different:

New Apple TV main screen

From here, the new options can be selected using the Apple Remote.

Read on to see more of the new Apple TV features in action.

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Talkcast is back Sunday 10pm ET with special guest Tod Maffin

Michael Rose — 2008-02-09T07:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

If you haven't tuned in yet for last week's talkcast, go check it out -- it's been up for a few days now, but the higher-quality version got lost on the way to TalkShoe's servers and I just got it re-uploaded. You can hear Mike Schramm and me talk football, MacBook Airs, and (with listener Tony Walla) discuss the prospects for WiMax on future Mac laptops. Download direct, or subscribe to the TalkShoe feed in iTunes. We are hoping to get the main iTunes feed back up and running shortly, just in time for some tasty screencasts now in the early stages of production.

Join us again on Sunday night for our next live show, 10 pm ET as usual. We'll be joined by a very special guest: Tod Maffin, technology columnist for the CBC. Tod is a Mac user, so we'll be quizzing him both on his general view of Apple and specifically on the company's prospects north of the border (assuming there's ever a Canadian iPhone!). Should be a fun show, so mark your calendars. Update: We're going to try something a little crazy -- simulcasting in video at Yahoo! Live. Swing by http://live.yahoo.com/tuaw before the show and see the insanity in progress.

Continue reading Talkcast is back Sunday 10pm ET with special guest Tod Maffin

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Talkcast #27 online, back live on Sunday night

Michael Rose — 2008-02-01T18:06:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts, MacBook Air

Last week's talkcast (featuring Christina, Scott, and a bunch of your Mac questions) has been available for a couple of days, but if you've still got our original iTunes feed for podcasts in your subscription list, don't forget to add the TalkShoe feed as well -- we're not currently updating the main podcast feed, as it does a number on those of you reading the main feed in Mail.app.

You can download last week's show directly from TalkShoe (or stream it from the player below), or subscribe to the RSS or TalkShoe iTunes feeds. We'll be back live on Sunday night at 10 pm ET with a post-Superbowl chat, as long as everyone promises not to tell me the winner of the big game (I'll be DVRing it and I might not have it all watched by 10 -- go Giants!). A special invite to all MacBook Air owners who have received their shiny new machines: join us for the talkcast so we can hear about how food tastes better now and there's a new spring in your step.

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How to: Create a smart podcast playlist in iTunes

Mike Schramm — 2008-02-01T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Multimedia, Features, How-tos, iTunes, Podcasts

I picked up Awaken with the recent Macheist deal, and with it I planned to do something I've been thinking about doing for a long time with iTunes: try and figure out a way to wake myself up with a short roundup of the daily podcasts I never seem to find a time to listen to during the day itself.

Getting your Mac to play a playlist on demand at a certain time isn't hard at all (Awaken will do it easily, or Alarm Clock 2 will do it as donationware), but the tough part is getting your podcasts rounded up into a playlist so you can hear all the new shows all in one go. What I wanted to do was create a playlist that contained one of each of the daily podcast shows that iTunes had downloaded for me most recently, and to have that playlist update as the podcasts did, so that every day I had a playlist full of new show episodes set to play one after another.

Easier said than done (and it's not even that easy to say). But I got it done, just by manipulating a few iTunes smart playlists. Here's my short tutorial how.

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Reminder, TUAW talkcast Sunday at 10 pm ET

Michael Rose — 2008-01-26T23:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

We fought the good fight last week, but the unstable combination of the new TalkShoe Java app and Skype did us in during the talkcast, resulting in an unpublishable recording (a shame, Mike Schramm and Christina were on and we had a good show once the fires were out -- those that stuck with us seemed to like it). To make up for it, we did a bloggers-only podcast during the week, listed as Talkcast #26; you can download it directly from Talkshoe (or stream it from the player below), or subscribe to the RSS or iTunes feeds. As noted before, we're leaving the regular iTunes feed idle until we can sort out the issues for Mail.app users reading the main feed.

We'll be back on the intertubes live on Sunday night at 10 pm ET for a listener-questions call. Bring your Mac stumpers and we'll do the best we can to answer them live, or promise to check them out after the show, or clear our throats and pretend to know the answers.

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