The nominations are out and voting has begun for the "Best App Ever" awards for 2008, recognizing the best iPhone and iPod touch apps of the year. Nominations have already happened -- the public submitted almost 18,000 nominations, and a panel of developers and experts was assembled to finalize the choices. You can vote right now over on the website for the winners in categories like "Best App Ever," "Best Musical App," and "Most Creative Use of IPhone Hardware" all the way down to "Best Word Game."

Quite a list of choices. Voting ends on January 6th (so get started testing those apps if there are some in here you've never heard of), and the winners will be announced next week at Macworld Expo.

Unfortunately, the App Store changes so fast and is so varied that some of the most useful apps (SnapTell Explorer is in for the hardware award, but it's missing on the "Most Useful" list) are not on the list in favor of more popular or well-known apps (Weightbot is a great app and very well done, but "Most Innovative"? And you know how I feel about Ocarina). Still, as a popularity contest, it'll be fun to see what comes out as the winners, and I can guarantee that in all of the many categories presented, there are a few really great apps that will come to your attention for the first time.

Today, Microsoft released updates for both Office 2008 for Mac, and Office 2004. These two updates fix several vulnerabilities within Office and add improvements.

Microsoft Office 2008 Update 12.1.5
This update contains several improvements to enhance stability, compatibility, and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, please visit the Microsoft Web site.

This update weighs in at 104 MB and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Office 2008 update website, or through Automatic Update (by choosing Help > Check for Updates from any Office application).

Microsoft Office 2004 Update 11.5.3
This update contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance. In addition, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. For more information about this update, please visit the Microsoft Web site.

This update is 15MBs, and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Office 2004 update website, or through Microsoft Automatic Update.

Update: Release notes for the Office 2008 12.1.5 update have now been posted. You can find them here.

[via @Schwieb on Twitter]

Last we heard from Rolando, perhaps the iPhone game we're most excited to play, ng:moco had announced that they were still aiming for a release date of "Holiday 2008." And now it's looking like that holiday is Christmas rather than Thanksgiving, because over on their site, they've put up a new video for the game, and they're now saying there will be a "December" release (strangely enough, Touch Arcade's URL for the story says "December 12th" at the time I write this, but that could have been just an error on their side).

Oh well. At least we've got the new trailer, which shows off some more of the way gameplay works, including the 2D physics, the great colors and art, and the use of the touchscreen to not only control characters, but sometimes rearrange and manipulate the game world.

Rolando continues to look impressive (rumor has it that it'll come with a $9.99 price tag, but hopefully we'll get a demo to try out first). We've waited months for the game already, so a few weeks probably won't be so bad, right?

[via Touch Arcade]

Microsoft has released a "critical" Office 2008 update, 12.1.1, which "contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance."

Several issues are fixed with the updates, including charting problems, Entourage crashing when the computer wakes from sleep, and issues regarding converting documents to and from the Open XML Format. A complete list of improvements is available in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

The update can be installed via Microsoft AutoUpdate (accessible by choosing "Check for Updates" in any Office application's Help menu) or from Microsoft directly. The update is a 153MB DMG file, and is available in 11 languages.

Thanks, Tommy!

The dust has settled from the stampede of announcements from yesterday's WWDC Keynote so it's time to take a look back at our predictions and see how we did!

First, let's take a look at what was released at this year's WWDC:

• Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) seeds for developers
  
• MobileMe
• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 2.0 firmware ship date

Let's see what we predicted:

• .Mac rebranding (with support for iPhone/PC)
• iPhone 3G
• Mac OS X 10.6 seeded
• iTablet
  
• Mac nano
• Flash on the iPhone
  
• Video on the iPhone
• Enterprise solutions for iPhone
• Over-the-Air syncing for "MobileMe"
• Redesigned MacBook Pro
• iPhone 2.0 delayed / ship date

So, how did we do?
Many of the things we predicted did actually come true (to our amazement!). We are extremely pleased with our predictions this year as we guessed everything that was released. All in all, we were 54.5% (6 right, 5 wrong) correct with our predictions. But we were spot on with the .Mac rebranding ("MobileMe"), 10.6 "Snow Leopard" preview, and the iPhone 3G / iPhone 2.0 announcement / delayed release.

With WWDC right around the corner, the bloggers at TUAW have compiled a list of predictions for WWDC '08. While we are not sure what will be released, this is a fun list of what we think might be coming, or things that we really want. Be sure to voice your predictions in the comments, and by taking part in our poll.


Steve Sande
I'll take ".Mac rebranding and expansion to iPhone and Windows, 3G iPhone, iTablet, and Mac nano" for $500, Alex!

Robert Palmer
I think we might find out what the next "big cat name" will be for 10.6. [We're pretty sure we know what that'll be.] I think we'll start to see a development toolset for bringing all of Apple's devices together. Imagine a novice user being able to create a small app that runs on the iPhone, as a Dashboard widget, and maybe as a widget for some future Apple TV in one build. To do that, we need the next generation of Apple development tools. That's what we might begin to see at WWDC.

Joshua Ellis
Flash on the iPhone, 3G, and I'd really love to see that iTablet and Mac nano action.

Mike Schramm
We'll see 3G and new .Mac for sure, and I think we'll see some more official iPhone apps from Apple, in addition to everything else from the App Store. I don't think we'll see any other new hardware (a redesigned MBP may be in the cards, but an iTablet or Mac Nano is a no), but I do think we'll see a years-off glimpse of 10.6 -- with Leopard out and updated, Apple needs to start up some more OS hype.

Chris Ullrich
iPhone 2.0 with 3G and video shooting capability. .Mac rebranding with new features similar to Google Apps and accessability to Windows users. iPhone 2.0 applications and some details on the next version of OSX code named "insert name of big cat here."

Cory Bohon
We'll definitely see some .Mac rebranding going on, some new "mystery hardware," and a sneak peak at what's beneath the hood of Mac OS X 10.6. I don't think we will see the iPhone 2.0 firmware hitting the streets just yet, and I think that Mac OS X 10.5.4 might be right around the corner.

Brett Terpstra
Enterprise solutions on the iPhone (I know, generic prediction). MBP update. Announcement that Apple was actually serious about using me.com, followed by a Keynote presentation with focus group study data indicating that it's actually a really, really good name.

Michael Rose
Can't wait for the over-the-air sync of .Mac/MobileMe, and I don't even own an iPhone! I think we'll get a launch date for the App Store and an on-sale date for iPhone 2, but neither of them will be during the show. I think we'll see a 10.6 seed preview and the Mac Nano... and maybe, just maybe, the iPhoneBig.

Scott McNulty
I'm with the crowd on the .Mac rebranding, and the 10.6 dog and pony show. We'll see (I think) iPhone 2.0, but what I'm really hoping for is a redesigned MacBook Pro. I'm about ready to replace mine, and I'd love to get one with a keyboard like the MacBook's.

Now, it's your turn.

The year is 1976, two high school students young guys (Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs) are in their garage working on their latest invention: the Apple I. Almost 200 of these machines were built before the fruity little company known as Apple Computer became a reality.

Fast forward to April 1, 2008, Apple has now surpassed 32 years of making wonderful products that capture the imagination of everyone. Their products have almost a "magical" feel to them. iPods, iMacs, Mac OS X; Apple certainly has come a long way since 1976.

Here's to wishing Apple a happy 32nd Birthday ... we certainly can't wait to see what the next 32 years bring.

Do you have a story about Apple's early days? Be sure to tell yours in the comments.

This is the second part of Mac Automation: automating Microsoft Office 2008. In this how-to, I will show you how to create an importer for Microsoft Excel 2008. This importer will allow you to type text in TextEdit.app (or other text editor) and import it into an Excel file.

For this automation, you will need the following Automator actions (in the same order):

• Create New Excel Workbook
• Set Excel Workbook Properties
• Get Specified Finder Items
• Import Text Files to Excel Workbook
• Save Excel Workbooks

Continue reading to learn how to automate this process.

Now that it's 2008, time to write down those New Year's resolutions; and why not use your Mac to make sure you stick to them this year! Here's a list of apps that will help you manage your resolutions, and hopefully keep them too:

1. Anxiety (donationware; get organized with to-do management)
2. Cha-Ching ($40, demo available; personal money manager)
3. Wallet ($14.95, demo available; keep those secrets, well, secret)
4. Writeroom ($24.95, demo available; get more writing done with less distractions)
   
5. Weight Tracker (freeware; keep track of your weight loss)
   
6. Pzizz ($29.95, demo available; allows you to get better sleep or "energize" you during the day)
7. Awaken ($12.95, demo available; you'll never be late for work again with this clock)
   
8. YummySoup! (shareware, $20; store recipes and share them, so you can start eating better)
   
9. Gyminee (iPhone web app; keep track of exercises, watch exercise videos, and keep up with calories)
   
10. No Smoking (freeware, Dashboard widget; keep track of how many days you've been without smoking)

Be sure to tell us your favorite resolution-keeping Mac apps in the comments. Here's to 2008!

We're getting closer and closer to the end of the year, and that means it's almost time for everyone to announce their "best tech product of the year" awards. Gadget website T3 has gotten an early start, and not surprisingly, Apple walked all over everyone else, with the iPhone grabbing tons of awards, and iTunes and the MacBook Pro picking up a few more.

Which means: get ready, because the iPhone is going to pretty much win every award imaginable for 2007. What else came out this year that came even close to moving gadget technology ahead? As predicted, it sold tons of units, captured the nation's imagination at launch, singlehandedly pushed cell phones ahead light years (even while bringing some harsh light to Apple's closed architecture policy), and just generally changed the world of gadgets. Is there any other product released in 2007 that could really be called "Gadget of the Year"?

I'd think not. The Wii is awesome and all, but my guess is as these end of the year awards come out, even Nintendo's little marvel of an input device demo won't hold a candle to Apple's communications device.

Thanks, Charles B!

QuickBooks 2008 apparently was released this week by Inuit-- unfortunately, this makes the release of the Windows client only. Macworld, however, is reporting that if QuickBooks is your thing, you've only got a few more months to wait. Intuit is still planning to release a version of QB 2008 for Mac... in 2008 itself.

The quote comes from the Intuit FAQ for Mac, which says basically that they're waiting for Leopard to reveal itself before they release their own software. Not a bad reason for delay, I guess, but I really wonder what extra features Inuit might include in their software that would require Leopard to work. Will QuickBooks really be using any of the Core Image stuff to beef up their presentations and spreadsheets? Doubtful, but it would be awesome if they did.

At any rate, Intuit says that if you need QuickBooks right now, there's always the 2007 version, and to stay tuned for everything else, including a release date for 2008.

"Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it...I made the 'Vote Different' ad," said Philip de Vellis on this recent Huffington Post writeup. A "proud Democrat" and Obama supporter, deVellis authored the Hillary-as-Big-Brother ad on his personal Macintosh, uploaded it to YouTube and passed the link around to some blogs. de Vellis has now resigned from his job with Blue State Digital, a firm that has provided technology to several campaigns including Obama's.

de Vellis does not specify which software he used, but iMovie and Final Cut are obvious candidates. He said he spent just one Sunday afternoon putting the ad together.