Macworld posts

We're back live tonight with the usual gang of ruffians, this time (partially) live from San Francisco as we warm up for Macworld Expo 2010! So what if the iPad isn't out for a few more weeks? We're revved up for the show -- it's our first year with a booth of our own, and our first year livestreaming video directly from the expo floor -- so what we need now is to hear from you. What coverage do you want to see, which products do you want reviews, who are the pundits and industry veterans you want to hear from? C'mon & call the show to let us know.

We'll kick things off at 10pm Eastern (7pm Pacific); hopefully the Superbowl will be over by then, and if not, we'll vamp. Once you sign in on Talkshoe, you'll be able to call in with your own phone and chat live with TUAW bloggers and listeners. See you then!

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!

Kirk McElhearn over at Macworld has attempted to answer the very first question I've had since I first heard that the iPad wasn't going to be in a widescreen format: Why 4:3? The answer: because for the majority of things you'll be using your iPad for, that's the right resolution you'll want. Magazines, books, the web, productivity, and so on, McElhearn argues that 4:3 is the right way to go.

Of course, taste plays a factor in there -- I prefer to browse the Internet on a widescreen monitor, actually, and I think games, which I'll be playing a lot of on my iPad when I eventually get one, tend to work better with a wider field of view. And let's be honest, the 4:3 ratio only allows Apple to start small and go with an "iPad XL" or an "iPad HD" in the future, widening the screen and perhaps even upping the resolution.

But McElhearn makes a good point that the 4:3 ratio has been Apple's home until only just recently, and for most objects that you hold in your hands and read like the iPad, from magazines to newspapers, the 4:3 ratio still fits. The ratio likely won't affect sales at all, but we'll have to see if movie watchers hold out for a better format for their media.

We posted a little while back about Telltale possibly bringing its games over to the Mac, and now there's even more rumblings to be interested in. Rumor has it that since most of their games use the same platform, one port is the same as all of them, which means we may see the whole catalog released in one fell swoop on OS X, and sold right alongside their PC brethren. Additionally, Telltale hints that we may even see iPhone and/or iPad versions of their games, including Sam and Max, the Monkey Island franchise, and all the rest (with the exceptions of the Bone series and Texas Hold 'Em).

They are saying that we'll hear more at Macworld next month, and since TUAW plans to be there en masse, we'll definitely keep our eyes open for anything they're showing off. Good to hear that one of the more interesting and quality developers out there is planning to come over to the Mac in a big way.

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Macworld is reporting that their partner Network World recently did a poll and came up with the figure of four out of ten Network World readers willing to buy a tablet on day one sight unseen. That's an interesting result (and it's not the only one seen along those lines), but I want to know what you TUAW readers think. We've got a pretty good group of professionals, "pro-sumers" (ugh, sorry, I'll never use that word again), and just plain Mac fans in the audience here, and I think we represent a pretty good cross-section of Apple's core audience. Jump in on our poll below, and let us know, if the impossible became possible, if you'd plunk down the rumored $1000 for a tablet even before Steve's demo, or if you'd rather wait and see (or maybe not even buy a tablet at all, no matter what it does).



Personally, I'm more of a "maybe," though I can totally understand the belief that this is already a revolutionary project (we've certainly been waiting long enough for it). Or perhaps those of us who already have an iPhone and a MacBook aren't really as interested in the in-between as Apple might think.

Macworld reports that the 2010 Game Developers' Conference will include an 8-class track on iPhone games. The iPhone Games Summit, which takes place over two days, replaces an older format where panels on the iPhone were mixed in with those on gaming for other mobile platforms or independent development.

Classes appear to be aimed toward niche development ("A Big Dash of Success: How to Capture the Female iPhone Gamer") and utilizing social networking and multiplayer capabilities for iPhone games. The two most interesting classes to me is a case study of one company's year in the App Store and a class aimed at covering the finer points of the iPhone contract. Given that this is their first year, it'll be interesting to see how these are attended and what changes they make next time around as well.

The Game Developers' Conference will be held March 9-13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Telltale Games has been rocking the retro lately, doing great things like bringing Secret of Monkey Island and Sam & Max back in new forms, and releasing new episodic classics like Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Now they might be doing so on the Mac: rumor has it that they'll be releasing their whole catalog on the Mac as soon as next month, just in time for an appearance at Macworld Expo. Apparently there are many Mac fans both on the team and in the customer base, and they're just figuring out a way to do it.

Sounds awesome to us -- Telltale's stuff is already available on a few other platforms (both PC and consoles), but they have a history of putting fans first, so we might even expect some goodies to come with a Mac release. We'll have to wait and see what they've got planned.

[Via IMG]

I've been messing around with more video lately, and considering doing some time-lapse work, so this post over at Macworld came at the exact right time for me. Heather Kelly walks you through some options, from expensive to free and complicated to simple, for creating time-lapse pictures and videos on your Mac and iPhone. Some of them we've already heard and written about, including iStopMotion 2 and the great open source Gawker, but there are a few new names in here for me as well. The $2.99 iTimeLapse Pro [iTunes link] and free GorillaCam [iTunes link] apps, both of which let you make some pretty amazing footage straight from your iPhone, are also mentioned.

Putting together interesting time-lapse photography is a great skill to have no matter what you're doing -- it can be used to show off your work online or just give you a look at visual trends in whatever space you tend to be studying. It's great that we've got lots and lots of different apps, on both Mac and the iPhone, that help make it easy to assemble this stuff.

Macworld notes that my absolute favorite application, and one of the reasons I became a Mac user in the first place, is not quite as dead and gone as many people suspected. Quicksilver has released their first new stable version in two years, besides the developer leaving for greener pastures and setting the project completely open source. Unfortunately, there aren't many new features, but as Macworld says, let's be honest: you don't understand everything that's in there already. No seriously. No, seriously, you don't.

What is new is compatibility with Snow Leopard (mostly -- some plugins are still lagging behind), and a host of background changes. Clang is being used as the default compiler, which the change notes say should speed up runtime significantly. Localization has been tweaked, and lots of previously buggy actions (mouse tracking on triggers, for one) have supposedly been smoothed out and improved. Not necessarily a marquee release, but at this point, any Quicksilver release is a good one.

And if you've never actually used Quicksilver, well, now's a great time to start. Ostensibly, it's a app/file launcher, but the more you learn and use it, the more it becomes a "connector" for everything on your Mac. Your mind is connected to your fingers, and your fingers connect to the keyboard to invoke Quicksilver, but Quicksilver is connected to everything else.

This is the kind of thing that probably should have been done a long time ago, but Macworld is reporting that Apple has launched iTunes Preview, a page that appears when you click an iTunes link (like this one) and your browser sends you over to iTunes. Previously, you just got that placeholder page that said "One Moment Please" and asked if you wanted to open the link in an external application, but with iTunes Preview, you get a nicely laid out page with information and reviews (and your browser still opens up the iTunes store).

Currently it only seems to work with music -- movies and television only get a small thumbnail, and applications get the same old gray page. But that'll probably change before long -- it's much smoother to see what you're clicking through to, and of course there's the added bonus for people who don't actually have iTunes installed. As MacWorld points out, there are actually no "preview" buttons on the page -- you can't listen to music there, only click through to the iTunes store. But like I said, it's better than a blank window and a browser popup asking for your permission. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see this grow a lot more in the future.

As a Mac-head who has attended the Macworld Expo and Conference on and off since the late 1980s, I met the announcement last December that Apple would no longer attend the event with a big, jaw-breaking yawn. Personally, I never attended Macworld for the Apple display, which was overcrowded and staffed by Apple employees who usually knew less about the new products than I did. The keynotes were usually a highlight, but hard to get into, and without Steve Jobs as the "star," it just wouldn't be the same. My reason for going to Macworld has always been the same; to see great new software or hardware made to work with Apple products, meet with manufacturers and developers, and to enjoy the camaraderie of the large group of buddies I've made at Macworld Expo in the past.

So, when I saw that registration for Macworld 2010 had opened, I immediately jumped on the website and signed up. To me, it's a no-brainer to attend the original and only US conference that is all about Apple. Macworld Expo has been around for 25 years, and all indications are that it will continue for as long as the Macintosh and other Apple platforms exist. Yesterday, I talked with Paul Kent, General Manager, Macworld 2010 and Vice President of IDG World Expo, about Macworld 2010 and how preparations are coming along for the show.

Macworld has spotted a new page over on Apple's website highlighting their dedication to making their products as environmentally healthy as possible. We've seen this pitch from Apple within the past few years -- they've recently slimmed down their packaging and started using recyclable materials in making their computers. It's pretty interesting to see them making such a push on this issue, but then again it not only helps them sell computers (assuming they don't have to raise prices too high due to the new policies), but of course helps the culture and the Earth at large in terms of making sure our environmental footprints are as small as possible.

The new site includes information about the impact of Apple's products both during manufacture and during usage, as well as reports on product performance, as well as a blog on what they're doing lately. They also have a link to their recycling program so that when you're done with whatever Apple products you're using, you can make sure that those recyclable products are actually recycled.

Pretty good deal all around, and good for Apple to make it clear how committed they are to this issue and acting on it.

TechStyle has begun round two of their giveaway on Stylit.tv, and this one ends September 15. There are even more prizes in this bag, and TUAW readers need only enter a special promo code to get extra chances to win. Thanks to our friends at Stylit.tv, host Shira Lazar and the vendors who donated the loot.

On the next page you'll find the special code, a video of Shira at Macworld Expo (plus see us give away the two other bags of goodies at the event) and a list of what's in this giveaway.

To celebrate the kickoff of their new show, TechStyle, the good folks at Stylit.tv are giving away a bundle of goodies. Not just t-shirts and tchotchkes, either, but a pretty massive haul of loot (see the list on the next page) gathered from Macworld Expo 2009. We met up with the Stylit.tv gang back in January to give away the first couple of bags of goodies at Macworld. But if you missed Macworld, now's your chance to take home a number of products seen at the show.

Before we get to the loot, we've got a special deal for TUAW readers. Stylit.tv goes to trade shows and glitzy events to get cool prize bags to give away. You pretty much just go to this page and enter to win. However, TUAW readers can enter a bonus code that'll give you 40 extra chances to win. The code is TUAW4EVER.

Only the first 500 bonus codes will give you this boost, so good luck! On the next page is the list of prizes you can win now and the premiere of TechStyle at Macworld. The current giveaway ends on September 8, but there is yet another starting after that with yet another big bag of goodies.

In a thorough review of the new speed-bumped white MacBook, Macworld notes an intriguing fact: the 2.13GHz model of the $999 entry-level laptop actually outperforms the base unibody model. The magazine's benchmarks show a 4 percent advantage for the new white MacBook over the $1299 2GHz aluminum laptop; the white model even outlasts the next-generation machine on battery life by more than 30 minutes.

Unless you absolutely have to have the new industrial design on your laptop and you're willing to pay an extra $300 for the privilege, it does seem that the new white model is the better buy... for now. A performance gap like this is a strong hint that the unibody models are due for a processor bump sometime soon, if only to restore the proper order of things: faster should equal more expensive. Right?