As I write this, I just got off the phone with a colleague. He just now is realizing that Apple is end-of-life-ing all those great little hotkey shortcuts that used to let us bring an app to the forefront and do something.

QuickSilver? TextExpander? Things? Alfred? Launchbar? All those other great system hotkey apps? These apps use hotkeys to let you jump to what you want to do while you work on what you must do. And they're on the way out of the Mac App Store as Apple paves the path to safer, more consumer-oriented computing.

Basically, if you're developing one of those apps, an app that assumes you can still add hotkeys, don't bother submitting it to the Mac App Store. TUAW has been told that Apple is automatically rejecting hotkey functionality.

It's not just press-to-switch apps that are feeling the pressure of the future. Many cross-app scripting utilities and macro programs already can't step foot in the App Store and will have to fight for a space on your computer under Mountain Lion's GateKeeper. The Quickeys macro program I've depended on for decades is still limping along for the moment in its creaky 4.0 build, but I don't expect it to last more than a year or so.

OS X 10.9 or OS Xi, whichever comes after Mountain Lion, isn't about to let an app completely redefine the user keyboard. Those macros that let me use Emacs keys regardless of app, and that let me launch all my most-used apps with one combination...I know they're next to die.

I've seen the future and it is iOS. Apple is moving solidly and confidently towards consumer computing and away from mollycoddling the power users. The company knows where its profits come from and power users ain't it. The iPad -- with its simple interface, strong security, and dependability -- has set the standard for what's next.

For all the moments when I want to rage against the coming of the Nanny OS, I know it's on its way. I've lived in iOS now for 5 years. I've played in the sandbox, I've grown to know the sandbox, I've come to accept the sandbox.

I'm not super thrilled by it, but you can't deny the reality.

Goodbye hotkeys, macro programs, end-user customization, and all the detritus of operating systems that were full of holes to crawl into and dumpsters wherein to dive. The new, clean way of computing is on its way. It may be a lot less fun but it's gonna sell a hell of a lot of Macs.

Thanks, Gwynne Raskind

"Nanny Computing" and the future of OS X originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 16 May 2012 08:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple received a legal slap on Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Denise Cote rejected a request to dismiss a class action lawsuit against Apple and five publishers.

Cote scoffed at the idea that Apple and the publishers acted independently in coming up with what's known as agency pricing, their defense to the charges that they were price-fixing ebooks. Not only that, she accused Steve Jobs at being at the center of it all. Parts of the opinion, as excerpted by paidContent, reads:

In short, Apple did not try to earn money off of eBooks by competing with other retailers in an open market; rather, Apple 'accomplished this goal by [helping] the suppliers to collude, rather than to compete independently.'"

"Finally, the fact that Apple might have had different motivations for joining the conspiracy, and was involved in only a portion of it, does not undermine the existence of the conspiracy itself or Apple's role as a participant.

Cote also cites ongoing investigations against Apple, including the antitrust suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, as other reasons to maintain the class action suit, filed in August 2011.

Judge refuses request to dismiss ebook class action suit originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 23:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner's office has released a picture of Boehner meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday. While Boehner's staff didn't go into details about the meeting, MacRumors theorizes that Cook was lobbying for a tax holiday, allowing Apple to bring some of its offshore funds back into the U.S.

Fortune first reported in February that Apple was lobbying for a tax holiday to alleviate the 35% rate that repatriated funds are currently taxed at. Apple and other corporate entities would like the government to drop this rate to 5% for a year.

Tim Cook meets with Speaker of US House of Representatives, John Boehner originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Aaron Sorkin, fresh from winning an Oscar for writing "The Social Network," will move from covering Facebook to Apple. Sony has hired Sorkin to turn Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs" biography into a feature film, Variety reports. Sony acquired the movie rights to Isaacson's biography a couple weeks before it was released in October.

Another Jobs biopic is scheduled to begin filming this month. This film, with the working title "Jobs," stars Ashton Kutcher and covers the years 1971-2000. "Jobs" is slated to be released in the fourth quarter of this year.

[Via Mashable]

Aaron Sorkin to pen Jobs' biopic, Variety reports originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Inkling is an e-book publishing platform that's currently running an app on the App Store, and while Apple has been making an official push for more textbooks in iBooks, Inkling is strengthening its own holdings. The company has made a deal with Follett to bring hundreds of Inkling titles into college bookstores, where students can buy the ebook content right there in person.

The company is selling whole textbooks, or it's also offering a program called "Pick 3," which allows students to grab three chapters of a book at a time, keeping costs down if teachers or students don't need the whole book. Overall, this may not be cheaper, however -- don't forget that students who buy real books can often have a chance to resell them, or can buy them used, and with ebooks, there's obviously no resale value.

The Follett deal should be ready by the time students head back to school in the fall.

Inkling to sell iPad textbooks in over 900 college bookstores originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Subscribe via RSS

Daily Update for May 15, 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ozgood is an interesting little iPhone game from a few developers who've worked for bigger game companies, and have recently gone independent. Most iPhone games deal with the platform's hardware by either just going with 2D graphics or trying relatively simple 3D -- it's usually only bigger developers like Epic Games that can really use an engine like Unreal to wring really colorful graphics out of the iPhone. But RunWilder, the developers of Ozgood, took an entirely different tack: They took video of a real life puppet, and then put it together with 2D backgrounds and 3D items to make this virtual pet game.

The result is a very unique kind of wonderful. Ozgood is a crazy little guy full of personality, and the app (which is free right now) is full of content. There's a "story" you can play through by feeding Ozgood certain things and interacting with him in certain ways, there's a "studio mode" where you can use him to make messages to send along to friends, and there's an ongoing metagame as well, where you can feed Ozgood a fake soda called Chugg and even share six packs of it with your friends online.

The app is silly -- it's very kid friendly, and Ozgood can sometimes be crass with his burps and various bodily functions. But even for adults, it's wild to see how these developers used a puppet to make this app, and there's clearly a lot of skill in how it's all put together. Ozgood is a free universal download that's definitely worth checking out.

Daily iPhone App: Ozgood is a lovable piece of puppet tech originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Over the past few weeks, several ad networks have announced "UDID-independent" conversion tracking tools. As Apple's UDID ban has gone into effect, mobile advertising has had to find other ways to track device users.

The problem with this is, of course, that they're still tracking. Apple's SDK supports lots of ways to retrieve hardware data that's not limited to UDID, and it's easy enough to re-build the same UDID that Apple's APIs no longer support.

What's uncomfortable about this transition away from UDID tracking to other forms of user identification is how hard these firms are scrambling to keep tracking users. In a nutshell, companies want to track because it's of value to advertisers, not because it's of value to users. iPhone owners are giving up some of their privacy, and for what? The ad companies are not creating coherent user experiences (UX) across time and device; they're just targeting ads.

Ad networks might reply that a clear audience demographic allows for more effective (and profitable) advertising on mobile, which in turn supports a more diverse and dynamic population of ad-supported free apps. Certainly the App Store's free lineup reflects a degree of ad-driven revenue that would be missed if it evaporated.

Of course, TUAW is an ad-supported site. We have to personally acknowledge the role of tracking cookies and other advertising technologies in supporting what we do. Mobile, however, feels different. It's more personal, it's location-aware, and it's less transparent to the end user.

What we're not seeing is transparency and explicit opt-outs. On-device tracking is done completely silently in applications. You can't open up a device's "cookies" to see who is tracking you, and what information is being shared. That's fundamentally different from the desktop browser experience.

It's a bit surprising we haven't seen a user-facing control panel for this. Whether provided device-side or as a webpage you can visit from your device, apps and advertising networks aren't allowing users to willingly opt-out from (or, even better, choose to opt-in to) this tracking.

As one developer shared with TUAW, "[O]ne of the differences about website tracking is that you're actively requesting something from an external entity. If I walk into the grocery store and the guy behind the counter remembers me, there's no surprise. App tracking is often more like if I pull my milk out of the fridge to pour a bowl of cereal and the fridge autonomously contacts the grocery store to tell them what kind of cereal I'm eating."

Often app developers say they track only to provide a more coherent launch-to-launch experience. But Apple has long since addressed the UX question of hardware tracking. iCloud allows apps to help customers build that coherent experience. You can lay down one device and pick up whatever you were doing on another. Not all applications support this integration yet, but the tech is there and working. Applications can coordinate bookmarks, data, game progress, and more.

That's not what these ad networks are doing and it's not what a lot of devs are doing either. They're tracking customers for marketing purposes. All these tools we're seeing, and all these press releases, are essentially an end-run around Apple's attempts to guard consumer privacy. It's treating paying customers as the "other side" in an adversarial relationship, as if they were nothing more than commodities -- and, as far as ad networks are concerned, users are the product.

Unfortunately, Apple has yet to come out with a clear statement of expectations even as it has tweaked its own ad solution to be more appealing to buyers. We have yet to see developers form a coalition saying, "Here is our pledge of professional conduct." Over the years, Apple has demonstrated how to profit by putting the customer first. Maybe it's time for the iOS developer community to do the same.

On the UDID ban: Tracking devices, users and advertisers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover (US$99) has been out for a while, but TUAW didn't receive a review device until last week. After a weekend of happily pounding on the keyboard and giving this shiny new product a workout, I'm pleased to say that it's the best iPad keyboard case I've reviewed so far.

Design

Logitech appears to have started with a clean sheet of paper when they came up with the design for the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover. While the rest of the teeming mass of accessory manufacturers have pretty much all chosen to take a folio case and throw a keyboard -- removable in some cases -- into it, Logitech took the unique idea of making the keyboard the case cover.

The thin (.31 inch) and light (11.6 ounce) keyboard has a Smart Cover-like hinged magnet on one side. Drag that magnet against the left side of an iPad and it snaps into place. The Ultrathin also has magnets on the right side to turn the iPad 2 or third-generation iPad on or off.

Gallery: Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover

The back of the Ultrathin is made with aluminum that matches the material of the iPad. If you'd like to customize your Ultrathin, Logitech provides free laser engraving if you order the keyboard from its online store.

When the keyboard cover and iPad are mated together, they form a nice curvy aluminum shell about .68 inch thick. That just so happens to match the maximum thickness of a MacBook Air. The combined weight of the Ultrathin and third-generation iPad is 2.185 lb., .2 lb. (3.2 oz.) less than that of an 11" MacBook Air.

The right side of the keyboard has a small Bluetooth button (used for re-pairing the device), an on-off switch, and a micro-USB port for recharging the battery. The port isn't going to get much use, since Logitech manages to squeeze six months of battery life out of the keyboard based on two hours of use each day.

Once the keyboard is flat on your desk, you see a white angled slot above the top of the keys. That slot is where your iPad fits in, either in landscape or portrait orientation. If the iPad is placed in that slot with the left side down, magnets hold the iPad in securely. That keeps the iPad from sliding out if you're holding it on an uneven surface like a lap.

The keyboard is almost identical in terms of key placement to the Apple Wireless Keyboard, which is my personal standard by which all other keyboards are measured. The only exception is the number (top) row of keys, which serves not only to provide the standard numbers and characters but also performs a variety of functions when used in conjunction with the fn key.

Those functions include home, search, virtual keyboard enable/disable, select, cut, copy, paste, and volume controls. The bottom row of the keyboard is a bit taller than the others, making the space bar almost identical in size to that on the Apple keyboard.

Functionality

When it comes to Bluetooth keyboard functionality, there's really only one thing that I'm interested in -- the feel of the keyboard. If it has a good feel, good positive feedback, and the keys are spaced properly, I can type quickly. That's the case with the Ultrathin.

With most other keyboard folios and standalone keyboards for iPad, the spacing and placement of the keys is all wrong. Since typing is mainly all muscle memory at work, those other keyboard really throw off my typing until I have used them for a while. I had no such issues with the Ultrathin; it felt so much like my Apple Wireless Keyboard that I was able to type at full speed almost immediately. Kudos to the engineers at Logitech for creating a keyboard with such a perfect touch.

As a protective device, the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover provides just as much care for the screen on your second- or third-generation iPad as the Smart Cover; possibly more. If you would like for the back of your iPad to be protected as well, you won't be happy. I tried using one of the many lightweight iPad shells to protect the back and found that it made the iPad too thick to use with the Ultrathin. You might be able to squeak by with a film cover like those made by Zagg. However, there's one thing missing, and that's the ability to prop the iPad up in several configurations. I wasn't used to using my iPad in a "standup" mode similar to that of a laptop screen, but fortunately it didn't take long for it to me to get used to that configuration.

Of course, the angle at which your iPad is standing cannot be changed; it's fixed to the angle of the slot on the keyboard. I found myself occasionally grabbing the iPad to change the angle, as if it was the screen on my MacBook Air. If you can stand a little more thickness and weight, you might want to look at Logitech's Solar Keyboard Folio ($129.99). It's adjustable to a variety of angles and never needs to be plugged in.

Researching some other reviews of the Ultrathin showed that some bloggers have seen issues where a key will stick and/or repeat when the iPad is pumping out a lot of Wi-Fi traffic. This never happened to me personally, but it's worth reporting as a possible issue.

We've had the debate about iPad + Keyboard versus MacBook Air quite a few times here at TUAW so I won't repeat it. For some of my work, I still require Mac OS X and the MacBook Air as there just isn't a viable solution on the iPad. However, the introduction of high-quality, lightweight keyboards like the Ultrathin is rapidly decreasing the number of situations where I need a full laptop. If the TUAW content management system provided a way for me to upload images from an iPad, I'd seriously consider using the iPad and Ultrathin Keyboard Cover as my "laptop".

Speaking of TUAW, blogger Richard Gaywood mentioned that he uses the UK version of the Ultrathin -- "Can I add a small point to your review? Mine came with a UK keyboard layout -- a £ sign on shift-3, and (more importantly), a double-height (as opposed to double width) return key. This is really great for people used to UK keyboards, and it wasn't at all obvious from Logitech.com that that would be what I got -- all the press pics are a US keyboard layout. Many no-name iPad keyboards only offer US layouts so that was a welcome surprise"

Conclusion

The ultimate convergence of laptop and tablet might not be here yet, but products like the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover are making it easier to blur the lines every day. Combining the protection of Apple's Smart Cover and the typing ease of the Apple Wireless Keyboard into a wafer-thin cover is a great idea, and Logitech's execution of the concept is essentially perfect. Without a doubt, this is the best iPad Bluetooth keyboard on the market at this time.

Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover: The best iPad keyboard case yet originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are more than half a million apps in Apple's App Store. Some are stunning achievements. Others are not.

Below is a video demonstration of the app Airplane. Touch the "Take Off" button to hear the sound of an airplane engine. Shake the phone to hear a flight attended tell you to put your seatbelt on. That's it.

We leave you with this free app from the "Entertainment" category (that's a stretch) and a hearty "no comment."

No comment: Unimpressive iPhone app, Airplane originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you repeatedly have a problem receiving iMessages on your iPhone, then you should try this fix from Brian X. Chen of the New York Times. In a recent Gadgetwise column, Chen explains how he missed appointments because his iMessages were often delayed. He complained on Twitter and was counseled to uninstall Messages Beta for the Mac. Apple hasn't said anything about a potential problem with iMessages for iOS and Messages beta for the Mac, but it's an easy thing to try if you're having trouble with iOS Messaging service.

Misbehaving iMessage and a potential fix originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When it comes to evaluating the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is Mountain Lion.

During the Q2 financials, Apple told us it would debut "late summer," but some sites insist we may see it earlier. Sure, everyone wants to get started using OS X 10.8 as soon as possible, but when do you really see it launching?

You tell us. Place your vote in this poll and then join in the comments with all your analysis.

View Poll

You're the Pundit: When will Mountain Lion launch? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've been using Due for iOS for quite a while now (our review) It's exciting that there's finally a Mac version of Due available. It's just as useful as its mobile counterpart an offers wireless sync, rapid reminder creation and great looks. Plus, it's still a nag, which is exactly what I need. Here's a look at Due for Mac.

UI

Due for Mac is quite good-looking, as you'd expect. The main window is small and unobtrusive by default, though you can resize it. Four icons line the top of the main window: view reminders, view timers, view logged reminders and create a new reminder. The pinstriped window is tidy and resembles Due for iPhone. When you create a new reminder or edit a timer, a pop-up window appears which also looks very nice.

Use

Creating a reminder is simple. Click the new reminder button (or hit Command-N) to open the creation window. You can use natural language here, which is great. "April 10" works as well as "tomorrow" or "in four days." Also, "10:00 AM" works as well as "10am."

Also, you needn't tab into each field. You can simply type "Pick up mail at 2pm tomorrow" and everything will be filled in properly. The reminder is set as soon as you finish typing, so there's no "confirm" button to click.

Keyboard support is extensive. You can create reminders, hide the app, pull it up front again, reschedule things, mark them as done and so on without touching a mouse.

The snooze feature that I like on my iPhone has made it to Due for Mac. When a reminder's due date passes without being marked as done, the app will repeatedly remind you that it's still outstanding.

Of course, the cool new feature is cloud sync between Due for Mac and iOS. All of your reminders and timers can be synchronized via iCloud or Dropbox. In my testing, this works flawlessly. Reminders created on either device showed up on the other almost instantly. Also, marking a reminder as completed did the same thing. It's really nice to create errand-based tasks on my Mac and have them ready to go on my iPhone when I leave the house.

Finally, the customizable alert sounds are pretty cool. You can assign a longer or louder alert to an especially important task. That's also useful if you know you're going to be in a noisy setting when the reminder will sound.

Conclusion

At US$9.99 it's not a throw-away app. I think it's worth it for the cloud sync alone. Due for iOS has kept me on track many times, and now I'm glad to have my Mac in on the fun. I recommend checking it out.

Due for Mac now available with cloud sync, much more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Dear Aunt TUAW,

I want to buy "A Dance with Dragons" as an eBook and I am hesitating between buying it for Kindle or iBooks, the reason being the Kindle version will be available on my Mac, my iPhone and my iPad. Is it possible to do the same if I buy it for iBooks or will I be "stuck" with reading on my iPhone and iPad?

Your loving nephew,

Andre

Dear Andre,

Although Auntie is looking forward to iBooks for Mountain Lion, she's not holding her breath either. Apple hasn't announced it.

The practical answer is that Kindle books can be read anywhere: from Macs to Windows, Linux to Android, iOS to webOS. Plus, Kindle books can be loaned. iBooks is iOS-only.

So yes, if you buy it for iBooks, you'll be "stuck" reading on your iPhone or iPad, which isn't a horrible thing for most people but keeps you from reading it on your Mac.

Hugs,

Auntie T.

Dear Aunt TUAW: Where should I buy my George R. R. Martin fix? originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You have to give Psystar credit for being tenacious. The Mac clone company spent four years fighting Apple and took its legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court. According to a CNET report, the Supreme Court on Monday refused Psystar's request to review a lower court decision that prevents the company from selling non-Apple hardware with OS X.

The decision upholds the original ruling in 2009 which said Psystar "violated Apple's exclusive reproduction right, distribution right, and right to create derivative works." Apple was awarded a permanent injunction against Psystar and the company was forced to stop selling its Mac clones. This Supreme Court rejection should put an end to litigation between the two companies.

Court refuses request to review Psystar case originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple has done it again, topping the American Consumer Satisfaction Index survey for cellphone manufacturers and wireless carriers. The company ended up with a score of 83 points out of 100 possible, higher than any other manufacturer.

ACSI polls 70,000 consumers each year, asking questions about customer satisfaction with over 225 companies in 47 industries. This year Apple was nine points above the industry average of 74, and eight points above runners-up Nokia, HTC, and LG.

Arch-rival Samsung was near the bottom of the satisfaction barrel, with a dismal 71 point total. The formerly powerful RIM, manufacturer of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, was at the bottom. It could only scrape together 69 points, a full 14 points below Apple and five points below the industry average.

The survey also listed customer satisfaction with wireless carriers. Sprint came in at the top spot with 71 points, Verizon at 70, and AT&T and T-Mobile at 69 points. Surprisingly, AT&T's score was four points higher than its 2011 score.

[via Wired]

Apple tops ACSI satisfaction survey for cellphone manufacturers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, Apple is now battling one less lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida. Apple was fighting two separate lawsuits in the courts, one filed by Motorola Mobility and another by HTC. Judge Robert Scola decided to merge the two lawsuits because "the parties have shown a complete inability to agree upon anything and it is frustrating the progress of these cases." Apple reportedly pushed for this consolidation, while HTC and Motorola opposed it.

Apple vs. Motorola, HTC cases consolidated originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple has released a security update for Leopard, the first in quite a while, as well as a Flashback removal tool for that version of the OS.

According to Apple, Leopard Security Update 2012-003 "disables versions of Adobe Flash Player that do not include the latest security updates and provides the option to get the current version from Adobe's website."

Also, the Flashback Removal Security Update "removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware. If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will notify you that malware was removed. In some cases, the update may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware."

Grab them both to secure your Leopard machine.

Apple releases Leopard update, Flashback removal tool originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you're like me, you've got a hard drive filling up with images. I do a lot of landscape photography, and while I normally shoot in RAW format, they get output as jpegs for the web, email, and the printing service I use. Over the years I've seen a lot of applications that will shrink jpegs, and the jpeg itself is already much smaller than anything that started out in raw, native Photoshop or TIF format.

I was offered a new OS X app called JPEGmini to test, and it is impressive. You can drag a folder of photos or even a complete hard drive onto JPEGmini and it goes to work, showing each image it opens and keeping track of how much is saved. It supports images from 2 MB to 17 MB in size, and I have some larger files so the app warned me those would not be shrunk. (Note: The developer says the limitation is resolution, not file size, so any resolution greater than 17 MP will be rejected.)

I was a bit skeptical of this shrinking process, so I opened up some of my detailed landscape images and looked at them in Photoshop. I couldn't see any significant difference in the before and after images. I should note that I duplicated a folder of images for this test and worked on the copy, because once you shrink the photos, there is no going back. I saw more than 50% reduction in file size, and there would have been more if I didn't have so many files in that folder larger than 17 MB. This is very nice for sending files via email because I can reduce the file size while keeping the quality.

Best of all is that your photos stay in jpg format. No program is going to have trouble opening them.

If you want some details on the process, the developers go into more depth about how the application works. Besides the file size caveat, the program only works on jpegs.

JPEGmini is US $19.99 through the Mac App Store. It's a little pricey, but it does what it claims. It mightnot be for the pro photographer, but I think most amateur and semi-pros will be thrilled at the drive space you get back. If you'd like to see how the program works without any investment, the developers have a free service on their website where you can upload some files and let their server shrink them and return them to you.

Check the gallery for some comparison shots, but remember that these examples are further reduced in quality when we publish them.

Gallery: JPEGmini

JPEGmini puts your images on a diet originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I first saw Chillingo's latest title, This Could Hurt, at GDC earlier this year, and back then I didn't really get into it. It's a one-button title that I thought looked a little too simple. But after giving it a longer try post-release, there's actually a lot of surprising depth here. Yes, there's only one control (touch on the screen to make your character stand still), but developers Orange Agenda do an impressive job of wringing a whole lot of gameplay out of just that one mechanic.

As your character runs along, he'll come across lots of strange contraptions designed to hurt him, and the goal of the game is to time your stopping just right so that he isn't harmed by whatever dangers await him. There are powerups in the game, but they mostly just involve moving slower or faster, so really, the game is just a list of ways to test your timing skills. And that list is surprisingly long. There are forty levels in the game, and each one of them puts a new spin on ways to try and avoid getting hurt.

This Could Hurt does a whole lot with very little, and on the App Store, that's always impressive. It's available for 99 cents right now.

Daily iPhone App: This Could Hurt dodges danger with ease originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is preparing laptop upgrades with models that are thinner than the existing Pro units; the new machines are expected to run on Intel's Ivy Bridge processors. This follows on rumors from earlier today that a new MacBook Pro and iMac appeared on the Geekbench benchmarking tool.

The machines, which Bloomberg says are to be announced during WWDC, are also expected to sport Retina or HiDPI displays and a flash memory subsystem to speed up boot times. All those details are in line with a post from 9to5 Mac earlier today.

Bloomberg also says that Apple might announce Mountain Lion's release date during WWDC as well.

Bloomberg: Apple will debut new laptop lineup at WWDC originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sometimes we don't even need a reason to do a giveaway of some fun swag. Our friends at Wicked Audio were in the giving mood, so we teamed up with them to give away three pairs of their new Metallics earbuds.

The Metallics (US$12.99) are noise-isolating earbuds that are extremely lightweight for your listening comfort. They come in five tasty metallic colors -- black, green, white, blue and pink. Just fill out the little entry form below and we'll randomly pick three winners, all of whom will get a pair of Metallics in their choice of color.

Here are the official rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.
• The entry must be made before May 16, 2012 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Three winner will be selected and each will receive a pair of Wicked Metallics earbuds valued at $12.99 in the color of their choice.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Wicked Audio Metallics Earbuds Giveaway originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

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Daily Update for May 14, 2012 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Perian has been a steadfast friend on my computer for years. With Perian, nearly any video format I throw at QuickTime simply works. Perian has been a wonder. It supports AVI. It supports DivX. It supports MKV.

It's been one of the best and most useful tools I have had access to and invariably the first thing I reinstall after any upgrade.

And now, according to a statement by its devs, it's reaching the end of the road.

Today, the Perian dev team announced that the software will no longer be updated. They will release all the source code to Google Code or Github, but the team is moving on.

We here at TUAW give them a well-deserved round of applause for the excellence of their effort, and their contribution to the OS X community. Perian will be missed. Thank you to Chris "Growl" Forsythe, Graham "Adium and Fire" Booker, Alexander "ffmpeg" Strange, and Augie "mecurial" Fackler, as well as everyone else who contributed in the past.

For now, Perian continues to work with OS X Lion. From here, however, it's unsure whether it will make the leap to Mountain Lion. Check out NicePlayer, which remains in development.

The dev team is no longer accepting contributions and requests that you send any money in their honor to Ronald McDonald House, Child's Play, or the EFF.

Goodbye Perian. You were amazing.

Perian posts end of life notice. Mac video enthusiasts weep. originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here at TUAW on the tipline, we have heard no end of complaints about MobileMe. Some days, it seems like every other tip is about how much of a mess MobileMe email is. Which is probably why Apple is finally shutting the service down in a month or so, transitioning over to the new iCloud instead. But as TidBITS notes, MobileMe users will still be able to use their email addresses even after the service is gone: All you'll have to do is follow the instructions on the transitions page to set an option on the main site, and then you'll be able to keep accessing your MobileMe email even after the transition.

My advice? Unless you're thrilled with MobileMe, it's time to move on to one of the many great free email services, of which Gmail is my first recommendation. Yes, changing your email address is a pain, and there are probably some of you out there on so many lists and services that you'll stick with MobileMe as long as you can. But if you want my advice, use this opportunity to get out while you can. Good luck!

How to keep MobileMe mail working after iCloud turns it off originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn A. Britt admitted he is unfamiliar with AirPlay, said a report in the New York Times. During a group interview last Friday, Britt said there was no easy way to get Internet video onto a TV, overlooking AirPlay. Apple's wireless video option easily sends a media stream from your iOS device to your TV via an Apple TV. (Not to mention other options like the Boxee Box, Roku or Google TV, which in some cases offer even more web-based video options than Apple TV does.)

Britt, who claims to be an Apple user, said, "I'm not sure I know what AirPlay is." He added, erroneously, "the current Apple TV, the little thing, the hockey puck, really doesn't do anything to help enable you to get Internet material on your TV." It's a shame that the head of one of America's largest cable companies is so blissfully unaware of the technology that's driving innovation on mobile devices and the internet.

Time Warner Cable head unfamiliar with AirPlay originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Update: Engadget smelled something funny in this story, and turns out they were right; Kaspersky is now saying that the comment about "working with Apple to analyze OS X" was taken out of context, and that Apple has not invited the security firm to analyze its desktop OS. Full statement is here.

The CTO of computer security firm Kaspersky Lab says was quoted as saying that Apple has asked them to take a look at Mac security, and the malware targeting it. Nikolai Grebennikov says that the "Mac OS is really vulnerable," and that the company's "first investigations show Apple doesn't pay enough attention to security."

Go figure -- the head of a security firm claiming that people should spend more money and time on security. Who knew? But the recent small outbreaks of malware targeting Macs gives a little more credence to these claims, and if Grebennikov (whose firm has publicly gone after Apple on this before) is to be believed, then Cupertino is finally ready to hear about possible improvements. Grebennikov agrees that there hasn't been any iOS-specific malware spotted yet, but he says we'll probably see it in the next year or so. Hopefully, if Kaspersky is working with Apple, they'll be able to keep the OSes completely secure anyway.

[via MacRumors]

Apple doesn't invite Kaspersky Lab to examine Mac security (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ars Technica posts about the cautionary tale of how vengeful exes and others can use your iPhone to stalk your movements, then offers a great guide to getting your privacy back.

The case in point comes from Reddit where someone admitted to using his girlfriend's iCloud account to track her via Find My iPhone, then changed her contacts information so she was sending text messages to him instead of her friends. While the original poster has since altered the post to remove most of information and admitted that what he did was wrong, commenters have chimed in on doing similar things or having the same sort of access.

Ars uses this as a springboard to write an anti-stalking guide for the iPhone, which contains a lot of common sense ideas and how-tos on changing your Apple ID, iTunes password and more. If you're looking to protect your mobile privacy, it's a terrific place to start. Ars gets kudos for going the extra step and providing information on where to get help if you are being stalked, whether it's by a former loved one or a stranger.

Protect your iPhone from prying eyes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Does it seem like every TV show or movie you've watched recently has a MacBook, iPad, or iPhone in it? There's a reason for that; the cool factor of Apple's product line is resulting in more placements of its products on the big and little screens. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Apple product placements increased by 45 percent between 2009 and 2011, and that the familiar fruit logo showed up in 40 percent of movies atop the weekly box-office charts.

While directors may be looking for the cool factor, Apple loves the placements for another reason -- they don't cost a penny. Unlike some other manufacturers, Apple refuses to pay for product placement, just riding on the success of its products to propel them into view in your favorite shows and movies. Apple currently has almost twice the product placement penetration of such well-known brands as Chevy and Ford.

Apple products had an astonishing eight minutes of screen time in the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible movies, which would have an advertising value of about US$23 million. The total cost for Apple? Nothing. On-screen product placements have another benefit -- since the advent of DVRs, fewer viewers have the patience to sit through advertisements. When the products are included as part of the scenery or even as part of the story, viewers tend to talk about them on social networking sites, which in turn influences purchasing decisions.

Fox's House -- and its many Apple product placements -- might be disappearing from TV after next week's episode, but the iPhones and MacBooks will live on in syndication for years.

Apple movie/TV product placement is on the rise originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Who wants a Blackberry-style predictive typing setup on their iPhone? (Don't all raise your hands at once!) Developer Mario Hros gave iDownloadblog a look at the upcoming Octopus Keyboard tweak he's working on.

Octopus Keyboard looks similar to the iPhone keyboard, but you'll notice the RIM influence once you start typing. Just like RIM's upcoming mobile keyboard, Octopus will display word predictions on each key while you type. You can continue tapping letters or input a word easily with a quick upward swipe.

The alternative iPhone keyboard is in the early stages of development, and won't be available in the Cydia repository until sometime next week. The first version will be a basic keyboard, while later versions will include features like auto-capitalize, punctuation and support for longer words.

You can watch a preview of Octopus Keyboard in the video below.

RIM's predictive typing on jailbroken iPhone originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sparrow for iPhone just received a nice update that marks several items off users' wish lists. Among that is the ability to compose in landscape mode, create/edit labels and swipe between messages, plus additional localization. Sparrow now is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Russian and Chinese.

However, the developers announced on Sparrow's blog that they were unable to get VoIP privilege from Apple for push notifications. Sparrow will have push introduced in a future update, but it will be done on Sparrow's side, and the company will charge an annual subscription.

Sparrow for iPhone is US$2.99 in the App Store.

Sparrow for iPhone 1.2 adds new features, push will be subscription-based originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to Cult of Mac, Best Buy has cut the online and in-store prices on most of its Mac lineup. The price reductions range from $31 on the Core i5 Mac Mini to almost $300 on the high-end Mac Pro. We spoke to a Best Buy sales associate, who confirmed these price drops went into effect last month. It's possible that Best Buy is trying to move current inventory in advance of an upcoming hardware refresh. Apple is rumored to be announcing new Mac hardware with Intel's Ivy Bridge processors soon.

Best Buy cuts price on Macs originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As Chris Rawson noted in today's rumor roundup, there are some fascinating indications that new Macs may be on the way to an Apple Store near you.

Geekbench is a cross-platform processor benchmarking tool that is used to provide numbers on the relative capabilities of computers with various CPU / GPU combinations. The results end up being posted on the site and are available for browsing, so it was a bit of a surprise when figures showed up for what appear to be a new MacBook Pro and iMac powered by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors.

The MacBook Pro is listed on Geekbench as a previously unknown "MacBook9,1" with an Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM running at 2.7GHz. The benchmark number of 12252 is about 17 percent better than the number generated by an existing Core i7 MacBook Pro. The "iMac13,2" shows a Core i7-3770 desktop chip clocked at 3.4GHz pumping out a Geekbench score of 12183 -- probably lower than it should be due to only having 4 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM installed.

Engadget notes that the scores are roughly equivalent to what they've seen for benchmarks on other platforms running the Ivy Bridge processors -- a bump in the speed, but nothing earth-shatteringly big. While benchmark results can be faked, MacRumors says that the various motherboard identifiers and special Mountain Lion build number are consistent with past practices.

MacRumors also points out that premature benchmark results have shown up in the Geekbench database before, just prior to the release of new equipment from Apple. While all rumors should be taken with a very large grain of salt, there's a possibility that the next-generation MacBooks and iMacs are just around the corner.

Another Mac site, 9to5Mac, is also stating that they've pulled code from the latest Mountain Lion beta that appears to show that the Ivy Bridge MacBook Pros will come with USB 3.0 complementing the Thunderbolt high-speed external bus and a new NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GPU. 9to5Mac also postulates that a new 15" MacBook Pro will arrive complete with a Retina display. Whatever the truth may be, it's refreshing to see that some glimmer of new Mac models is beginning to excite the Mac faithful.

MacBook Pro, iMac with new Ivy Bridge processors show up on benchmarks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Data vendor MM Research Institute tracked smartphone sales in Japan and discovered the iPhone is greatly outselling its competitors, says a report in Computerworld. According to the company's analysis, about 24.2 million smartphones were shipped in Japan and 30 percent were iPhones. This compares to Samsung which accounted for only 8.3 percent of the total smartphone shipments in the country. Most of Apple's success in the island nation is attributed to the iPhone 4S which is sold by Au and Softbank.

Apple ahead of Samsung in Japanese market originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

See Editor's Note at the bottom of this post.

This past week saw appearances from all the usual suspects populating the Apple rumor mill: So-called "analysts" claiming to be able to predict Apple's fortunes a full three years in the future. Booming proclamations from sites claiming to have inside info on unreleased (and probably nonexistent) products. And everyone's favorite source of utterly inaccurate Apple "news": the Asian newspaper DigiTimes. Much more on them later.

Apple stock seen hitting $2,000 by the end of 2015 (AppleInsider)

Some analyst throws a dart at a wall full of numbers and claims Apple's stock price will nearly quadruple in three and a half years.

B.S. detector reading: 10/10. Forecasting the fortunes of a company like Apple more than 40 months into the future is a fool's game, whether you're predicting unprecedented growth or unparalleled DOOOOOOOM. And besides, prevailing "wisdom" among all the other analysts says Apple will be out of business by the end of 2013 anyway, right? Because Apple's "free ride" is over, and either Microsoft or Google is going to take back the keys to the tech kingdom for reasons never adequately, logically, or even sanely explained?

GOOGLE AIN'T PLAYING: Will Clone A Key iPhone Feature (Business Insider)

GOOGLE'S GOING TO COPY IOS GAME CENTER, at least according to Business Insider. The feature would improve the gaming experience for all seven games available on the Android platform.

B.S. detector reading: 3/10. And the only reason it's even that high is because this is coming from Business Insider. From any other source, this would merit a 0/10 reading, because honestly, anyone who points to a feature in iOS and says "Google will copy that" is going to be right eventually, assuming Samsung doesn't beat them to it. (Cue the Android loyalists grousing about Notification Center in iOS 5 "ripping off" the notifications in Google's mobile OS.)

Our Source Has Seen The Apple HDTV, Here's What It Looks Like (Cult of Mac)

"Sources" claim to have seen the HDTV of myths and legends in person, then go on to parrot every single rumor we've heard about the device over the past year, bringing essentially nothing new to the table. But hey, Cult of Mac has some Photoshopped mockups to go with it, so it must be true!

B.S. detector reading: 8/10. Even if Apple is making an HDTV -- something that is a matter of ongoing discussion amongst the TUAW team, but that I personally rate as only slightly more likely than the Earth spontaneously exploding when I type the end of this sentence -- the handful of Apple employees who actually would have seen a prototype aren't all that likely to be leaking those impressions to their blogger buddies. Maybe someone saw something that looked like a new Cinema Display... and maybe what they saw actually was a new Cinema Display.

Foxconn plans renewed shift into distribution (China Daily)

At the end of a yawn-inducing article about Foxconn's business plans, included almost as an afterthought, are three brief paragraphs claiming Foxconn's chief spilled the beans on the supposedly forthcoming Apple HDTV. He allegedly confirmed that Foxconn is preparing to build the as-yet still mythical device.

B.S. detector reading: 10/10. Yeah, I'm sure that a company that's already on thin ice with Apple is going to go blabbing to the public about unreleased and unannounced products. That's exactly how you retain a business relationship with a company possessed of a legendary obsession with secrecy. Why not risk losing a manufacturing contract worth billions of dollars in order to give a BREAKING EXCLUSIVE RUMOR to China Daily.

Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt does a good job of dissecting this one, calling it a "soufflé" of a story -- meaning you kick it once or twice and it collapses in on itself.

Apple rumored to be in talks to acquire German HDTV maker Loewe (AppleInsider)

"Sources" claimed Apple was going to buy a German TV company. Only one thing that could mean, right? Right?!

B.S. detector reading: 9/10. Loewe itself said there was "absolutely nothing to" the rumor. Looks like AppleInsider got punk'd. You had to figure something like this would happen once Ashton Kutcher started dressing up like Steve Jobs. Extra credit to you-can't-spell-B.S.-without Business Insider, which managed to wring three or four items out of the Loewe buyout rumor before it was denied and demolished.

Unreleased 2012 MacBook Pro and iMac Models Showing Up in Benchmarks (MacRumors)

For a change of pace, MacRumors sources from somewhere other than DigiTimes. This time, benchmarks popping up on Geekbench show numbers coming in from unreleased, presumably forthcoming MacBook Pros and iMacs.

MR also points this morning to a 9to5Mac story citing Retina displays, USB 3.0, no Ethernet port and a sleeker but not quite Air-esque design for the anticipated pro laptop refresh. Among the presented evidence are strings referencing USB 3 in the recent 10.7.4 update and in betas of 10.8 Mountain Lion; the inclusion of USB 3 (which is natively supported in Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture) means that an external Ethernet dongle could support gigabit speeds rather than the 100 mbit limit of the current MacBook Air Ethernet adapter.

B.S. detector reading: 3/10 on average. These kind of "leaks" have happened before, and not just with Macs; unreleased iPhones and iPads have popped up on Geekbench before, too. While MacRumors itself notes these results are easy to fake, they're also consistent with the performance gains expected from Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture. The 9to5 report includes a lot of speculation around the industrial design of the next laptop line, but most of the onboard features mentioned are of a piece with the direction Apple has been heading with the Pro line.

Reported AppleCare training points to June Mountain Lion launch (AppleInsider)

"Unnamed sources familiar with the matter" claim AppleCare's Europe, Middle East, and Africa division is hiring and training new people. Somehow, for some reason, that apparently means the next version of OS X will launch in June.

B.S. detector reading: 8/10. Even assuming the source is correct and AppleCare EMEA is hiring new people, that could mean just about anything. And no reputable source I know of has pointed to a Mountain Lion launch any earlier than July, probably even later than that.

iPhone 5 design still not finalized, still no big screen, still no metal back, still on track for October release (iMore)

iMore contradicts every other site out there by saying pretty much every rumor about the iPhone is complete bunk. No 4-inch screen, no metal backside, no booze, no women, and absolutely No Stairway. Denied.

B.S. detector reading: 7/10. iMore and its sources seem to be leaning toward a theory I've had for awhile: Despite a mountain of increasingly disreputable rumors to the contrary, the next iPhone probably isn't going to look significantly different from the iPhone 4S.

That having been said, even if I agree with iMore that doesn't mean I trust the site's unnamed source, particularly over the claim that the iPhone's design hasn't been finalized yet. If the device will indeed launch in October, it seems very unlikely that the hardware design is still in flux.

'iPhone 5' Headphone Jack and Earpiece Component Surfaces (MacRumors)

The same source that gave us classic hits like "slightly different Home button" and "barely changed micro-SIM tray" brings us its latest chart-topping iPhone part: weirdly altered headphone jack cable.

B.S. detector reading: 7/10. At this point, three different parts leaks from the same source is looking like a simplistic con to draw attention to the site's parts reselling business. This newest "leak" is a bit on the outlandish side, as the supposed new cable looks like an absolute mess next to the cable in the iPhone 4S.

7-inch iPad on track for October 2012 release, $200 to $250 price (iMore)

The 7-inch iPad will supposedly launch in October, featuring a screen the same 2048 x 1536 resolution as the current iPad (3). It'll have an 8 GB capacity and start at $200 -- the same price as the current 8 GB iPod touch.

B.S. detector reading: 10/10* (or 5/10 -- See note below). A product that's been rumored but never seen for almost two years, the "iPad mini" would serve no other purpose than to cannibalise the existing iPad line. Even if you assume that making a 2048 x 1536 7-inch screen is technically feasible, saying Apple could sell such a device for the current asking price of the iPod touch is downright laughable.

The iPad mini already exists. It's called an iPod touch. Those who claim Apple wants to address the mid-sized market the Kindle Fire took by storm in late 2011 seem to be conveniently ignoring the fact that Kindle Fire sales went down the tubes in early 2012.

As for a lower-priced option to address budget-minded consumers, that already exists too. It's called an iPad 2. Maybe you've heard of it. It's just like the new iPad, only it's $100 cheaper and its screen looks like it's been smeared with Vaseline when you put it next to the new iPad.

*Editor's Note: After some consideration I'm disagreeing with Chris on this one and saying there's some chance of a 7-inch iPad. Why? The Nook/Kindle form factor has proven it has a market, and if Apple had a product in-between the touch and the iPad, it would obliterate Android in that category not unlike how the iPod soared to the top of the MP3 market. As an entry-level "halo effect" device on the cheap, such a tablet need not be called an iPad, even. - Victor Agreda, Jr.

Report Claims 7-Inch iPad in August, New iPhone in September, New 10-Inch iPad by End of Year (MacRumors)

DigiTimes claims blah blah blah yadda yadda. I'd tell you more, but I immediately stopped reading when I saw the word "DigiTimes."

B.S. detector reading: Off-scale high due to use of DigiTimes as a source. On the subject of the 7-inch iPad itself, I remember the first time I heard of this still-fictitious device: an August 2010 "report" from iLounge, complete with Photoshop mockup of course. Let's look at the claims from that long-ago report:

1. New iPod nano, new iPod touch, 1.7" touchscreen replacement for iPod shuffle, and a shrunken 3" touchscreen for the iPod touch. Partial credit for predicting a new iPod nano, but credit taken away for not realizing it was the same thing as the touchscreen "replacement" for the shuffle (which still lives on). Partial credit for predicting a new iPod touch, but credit taken away for the spurious shrunken screen rumor. Total points awarded: 0.
2. A 7" iPad in late 2010 or early 2011. Nope. Didn't happen.
3. Fifth-generation iPhone release bumped up to early 2011. Nope.
4. Silicone-only iPhone bumpers. Nope.

So, the first time we heard of the 7" iPad, it was included in a rumor blitz from iLounge where the vast majority of the rumored items never came true. In nearly two years since then, the "iPad mini" is still nowhere to be found, and most of the subsequent rumors about it have come from either from DigiTimes or "analysts" with no more clue about Apple's plans than my cat.

I'm sure Apple has been technologically capable of making an iPad mini for years. All the company lacks is the poor business sense to actually release one.

Rumor: Apple planning to launch $799 MacBook Air in Q3 2012 (AppleInsider)

Apple plans to "aggressively combat" ultrabooks -- that special category of notebook that PC makers dreamed up specifically so they could try to copy the MacBook Air -- by, um... selling a budget-priced MacBook Air. Because as anyone who's followed Apple for the past 15 years knows, that is totally something Apple would do. (ALERT: Sarcasm approaching critical mass!) And the source of this report is, of course, "sometimes reliable DigiTimes."

Those are AppleInsider's words, not mine. I've tried to find a more appropriate adjective for DigiTimes than "sometimes reliable," but so far all I've come up with is "standup philosophers DigiTimes." (Video NSFW if your boss is uncomfortable with one of the Golden Girls repeatedly saying something that rhymes with bullspit.)

B.S. detector reading: Once again, off-scale high due to use of DigiTimes as a source.

Apple rumor sites, it's time for an intervention. Or, at the very least, a scorecard.

DigiTimes is the scourge of the Apple rumor scene. It's been funny to watch sites like MacRumors, AppleInsider, BGR, and 9to5 Mac take DigiTimes less and less seriously over the years as the site's record has gotten worse and worse. These sites still breathlessly report every last bit of information effluent that drips out of DigiTimes' rumor sewers, but the way they refer to DigiTimes has shifted over time.

It started with "DigiTimes has given reliable information before," then shifted to "DigiTimes has been reliable in the past." Then it became "DigiTimes has been hit-or-miss lately," then "occasionally reliable." Now we've reached the point of "sometimes reliable DigiTimes."

What's next? "Archaeologically reliable" DigiTimes? "Fossil records indicate DigiTimes provided reliable information during the Cretaceous, prior to the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs and the site's legitimacy."

I decided to find out just how "reliable" DigiTimes has been. My study was thoroughly unscientific, though still performed with far more rigor than anything that's come from that site. I simply did a "site:www.macrumors.com digitimes" search on Google and went through the first 7 or 8 pages of articles I found. MacRumors posts a story pretty much every time someone at DigiTimes mutters something that vaguely sounds like "Apple," so this seemed like a good way to get some traction.

I didn't rate rumors produced in the past two months -- I figure I'll give DigiTimes more time to be wrong -- so I started with rumors in early March of 2012, then worked backward.

Here's a rundown of the true or at least partially true reports MacRumors has printed in the past few years with DigiTimes as a source.

1. iPad 3 Display Supply Constraints to Result in Early Shortages? (March 2012: 100% true)
2. Display Panel Shipment Plans Suggest Apple Will Offer iPad 2 Alongside iPad 3 (January 2012: 100% true)
3. iPad 3 Display Shipments Nearing 3 Million Units with Assembly Set for January Start (November 2011: Mostly true, but mentions B.S. about a 7-inch iPad)
4. Apple LTE-enabled iPhone Due in 2012, iPhone 4S Preparations for September 2011 (May 2011: Mostly true, and remarkably, one of the first sites to correctly refer to it as the iPhone 4S rather than iPhone 5)
5. iMac and MacBook Pro Upgrades in First Half of 2011? (December 2010: 100% true, but talk about your all-time easy calls)
6. Cortex A9-Based iPads, Verizon iPhone, iOS-Based Apple TV Set for 1Q 2011 Launch? (August 2010: 2/3 true. They got the CPU and launch date for the Apple TV wrong, and mentioned some 7-inch iPad B.S.)
7. DigiTimes Claims Display Improvements in Next-Gen iPhone (May 2010: 100% true, but multiple sources were claiming the same thing)
8. Next-Generation iPhone Set to Carry 5-Megapixel Camera? (December 2009: 100% true)

So that's roughly 7 2/3 stories in the past few years. Not a bad record... until you look at all the things DigiTimes has said over the years that have been, as the kids in the UK say, utter bollocks. And this is far from a comprehensive list. I only made it through the first several pages of a Google search before I had to step away from my Mac and find a martini to chase the stupid away.

1. 8 GB iPad 2 Coming Alongside 16 GB and 32 GB iPad 3 Next Week? (February 2012)
2. Intel Delaying Mass Availability of Ivy Bridge Processors Until 'After June'? (February 2012)
3. 'iPad 4' Headed for October Launch with iPad 3 as Interim Upgrade? (January 2012)
4. Pegatron to Become Apple's Primary iPad Manufacturing Partner? (January 2012)
5. Apple to Use IGZO Displays to Achieve a Thinner Lower-Power iPad 3? (December 2011)
6. Mid-Range and High-End iPad 3 Launching at iWorld Seems Unlikely (December 2011)
7. Thunderbolt Coming to PCs in April 2012 (December 2011)
8. Rumors of a 7.85-Inch 'iPad Mini' Revived (Again) for Late 2012 (December 2011)
9. Suppliers to Begin Preparing 32" and 37" Apple Television Sets in Early 2012? ((December 2011)
10. Updated MacBook Air Line with New 15-Inch Model Coming in 1Q 2012? (November 2011)
11. Apple Cutting Fourth Quarter iPhone Component Orders? (November 2011)
12. Apple's 15" Ultra-Thin Notebook Due in March 2012 (November 2011)
13. Next iPad Coming March, But "Real iPad 3" Not Until Q3 2012? (November 2011)
14. iPhone 5 with Metal Chassis and Less Than 4" Screen? (August 2011)
15. Apple Increasing iPhone Production with iPhone 5 Ramp-Up (August 2011: This one is especially laughable, as DigiTimes' predicted iPhone sales figures were off by more than ten million units)
16. Apple Orders 15 Million iPhone 5s, Shipping Begins in September (July 2011)
17. iPhone 5 to Have a Dual LED Flash? (June 2011)
18. Apple Ramping Up New MacBook Air Production in July (June 2011: DigiTimes's claim of 8 million MacBook Air units was only off by, oh, 5 or 6 million)
19. iPhone 5 to Use a 4-Inch Screen? (February 2011)
20. 5.6-Inch and 7-Inch OLED iPad Models Coming in Q4 2010? (July 2010)
21. Touch Panels for Apple Netbook Ordered? (July 2009)
22. And one from the vaults: DigiTimes Reports PowerBook G5 and iBook G5 Contracts (January 2005)

For every one report DigiTimes gets right, you get almost three more that are complete garbage. "Reliable" and "DigiTimes" are essentially antonyms at this point, and any site that still regularly relies on them as a source has absolutely no credibility.

That's it for this week's rumors. Next week, we'll find out the 7-inch iPad mini was actually released long ago... it was inside our hearts all along.

Editor's Note: Just as this post went live, we spotted Harry McCracken's thorough processing of DigiTimes's track record on rumors. Chris's deep dive into the past outcomes of DigiTimes reporting at the end of this post is similar by coincidence, not by design.

Rumor Roundup, Episode 4: 'Sometimes reliable' DigiTimes (Updated) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As reported by 9to5 Mac, Apple has changed the name of the iPad WiFi + 4G to the less descriptive iPad WiFi + Cellular. The change is the result of criticisms from customers and consumer advocacy groups about the iPad's 4G branding.

Groups in the UK, Sweden and Australia complained that the 4G label confused customers in areas that did not have compatible cellular networks. Customers expected to get a product that delivered fast 4G mobile broadband speeds and were disappointed when the iPad connected to a slower 3G network.

To quell customer's discontent, Apple added a disclaimer to the iPad that clarified the tablet was compatible only with 4G networks in the US and Canada. In Australia, Apple also argued that its labeling adhered to the marketing standard set by the ITU. These changes apparently were not enough, and Apple decided a small name change was the best course of action.

Apple changes name of 'iPad WiFi + 4G' to 'iPad WiFi + Cellular' in several countries originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The iPhone Dev Team released version 0.9.11b1 of redsn0w last week that lets you restore IPSWs directly to your iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPhone 4S. This means recent iOS device owners can now downgrade their firmware using the jailbreak tool. This is good news for folks who updated to iOS 5.1.1 or iOS 5.1 and want to go back to iOS 5.0.1. You do need your SHSH blobs from the earlier firmware if you want to downgrade, but Cydia usually saves those files automatically for you. For detailed instructions, point your browser to the iPhone Dev Team's blog.

[Via JailbreakUntethered]

Redsn0w update lets iPad 2, new iPad, iPhone 4S downgrade to older firmware originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I'm always looking for impressive free apps to show what the iPad can accomplish, and I've done that this week with 123D Catch from AutoDesk.

This iPad app (iPad 2 and new iPad only) allows you to use the iPad camera to photograph any object from a number of angles and elevations. Then the app sends your images up to an AutoDesk server where the object is rendered as a 3D file. You can even create 3D files for large objects, like a building, by moving parallel to it to allow the rendering to display the changing perspectives. Even people can be rendered in 3D if they don't move during the imaging sequence. It's all covered in the included help files and videos.

This is pretty amazing on any computer, and even more impressive on a tablet. Once you get the image back, you can rotate it in 360 degrees, zoom in or out, and even change elevation if you provided the appropriate images for the rendering. You can submit up to 40 images. Rendering can take a bit of time. Some complex objects took about 20 minutes but the app will send an alert when your file is ready.

The resulting 3D object can be shared with other AutoDesk users, or viewed on a Mac or PC with a free viewer. Just trying it out on some household objects worked very well. The renderings were complete and in sharp focus. It's pretty amazing to do this on an iPad and it is a good demo if you don't mind waiting for the rendering to finish.

AutoDesk also offers an app we've previously reviewed called 123D Sculpt. It allows you to create a virtual 3D sculpture on your iPad. I consider these free apps sort of a gateway drug to get people interested in the amazing capabilities of the AutoDesk family of products. AutoDesk even sells some of its industrial strength products through the Mac app store.

Give this free iPad app a try and prepare to be impressed.

Gallery: AutoDesk 123D Catch

AutoDesk provides impressive 3D captures on an iPad with a free app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Not just Sunday, but Mother's Day Sunday! Once you've wrapped up brunch and presents for Mom, join us for the show tonight! We'll have a little news about system updates and new maps but mostly we want to talk to moms. We'll spend some time with a few of our favorites, provided they aren't still off getting massages or enjoying a Mother's Day that extends well into the evening.

Kelly hosting the show means Kelly hosting the aftershow, and you know that's always a good time. Join us for the non-recorded, off-topic, random conversation.

Since it's really all about you, the community, join me won't you? To participate, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (Viva free weekend minutes!): 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 X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!

Talkcast tonight, 7pm PT/10pm ET: Mamas edition! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 13 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's Mother's Day here in the US and in a handful of other countries around the world. To celebrate this holiday, I've compiled a list of five outstanding apps that are perfect for all the iPhone-toting mothers out there. These titles will help Mom get organized, share memorable moments and have some fun. If you have any suggestions not on this list, please add them in the comments. Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and Moms-to-be!

iAllowance ($3.99)

iAllowance is a versatile chore manager that lets you set up comprehensive chore charts for several children. Besides listing each child's responsibilities, you can assign a value to each task and let your child earn money, stars or time for each job they do. The app keeps track of each child's earnings, so you can dole out rewards when they reach a specified amount. iAllowance is chock full of features that'll make doing chores as much fun as possible for both parents and their children.

Pic Collage (Free)

Pic Collage is a free app that lets you choose the best photos of your kids and assemble them quickly and easily into a collage. You can import photos from your camera, your photo library or even Facebook. All photos are dropped onto the canvas and you can resize, rotate and move them to get the right look. Once you've arranged your photos to your liking, you can change the background, add some text and send the masterpiece off to the grandparents.

Day One ($1.99)

If want to remember those precious times with your kids, you can't go wrong with Day One, a terrific journaling app that makes it easy to jot down your daily thoughts. Day One's strongest feature is its cross-platform availability. You can use Day One on your Mac, iPhone or iPad and sync your entries across devices. Unfortunately, Day One doesn't let you import photos, so you can't add that precious photo of your baby to an entry. Photo support is on the developer's list of upcoming features, and, for me, Day One is such a good journal that I am wiling to wait. If image support is a must-have, then you should check out alternatives like MyOwnDiary HD, My Daily Journal or Dailybook for the iPad.

SpellTower ($0.99)

There are so many iOS games, but one that always seems to be at the top of my list is SpellTower. The word puzzle game challenges you to spell words using adjacent letter tiles. The game includes several modes including a Tower mode that lets you spell as many words as possible, and a Puzzle mode that adds a row of letter tiles every time you spell a word. There's also a local multiplayer mode, so you can challenge your spouse or kids.

AllRecipes Dinner Spinner Pro ($2.99)

AllRecipes Dinner Spinner is a cooking app that'll help you find the perfect meal. The DinnerSpinner lets you add an ingredient, shake your phone and retrieve a matching recipe. You can read reviews for each recipe and add the ingredients to your shopping list. If you're an AllRecipes member, the Pro version of Dinner Spinner lets you view your recipe box on your iOS device. You can also share your favorite messages with your family and friends via Facebook, Twitter or email.

5 apps for Moms on Mother's Day originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 13 May 2012 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.