Last week, TUAW showed you how to sign iPhone applications for informal developer-to-developer distribution. That approach lets you share applications between members of the iPhone developer program by using your signing credentials to authorize the application for use on your development units.

iPhone applications compiled for the Intel-based simulator can also be shared between developers. And, since the free developer program offers access to the simulator, the apps can be distributed even more widely than with the re-signing approach.

Simulator testing does not offer the full suite of device-specific capabilities. You cannot simulate the onboard camera or retrieve proper accelerometer feedback. The simulator does not vibrate or provide general multitouch input. (You can pinch, but that's about it.)

The strength of simulator-based distribution is that it lets you send out applications for early testing and feedback. Sim-only tests strengthen the preliminary design process; this approach helps solicit feedback on user interface and general program layout before the main development push gets underway.

Simulator-based apps are easy to transfer and easy to use, cutting out a layer of overhead that's needed for when you go to a full ad-hoc beta.

To distribute a simulator application, go to the Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/ folder in your home directory. There you'll find the application sandbox folders that are currently installed for your simulator. Each folder is named with a unique id (i.e. 56E66CE5...DC028F) that does not reflect the folder's contents.

You'll have to peek inside to determine which folder is which.The folder contains the application, and three sandbox directories: tmp, Library, and Documents.

To share a simulator folder compiled for 2.2.1 and earlier, you must zip up both the folder with the application and the .sb (sandbox) file that shares the same name as the folder. 3.0 and later applications do not use a .sb file. Just zip up and share the folder.

Install the shared app by decompressing its sandbox folder (and, for 2.x, its .sb file). The recipient must have installed the iPhone SDK. Drop it into the simulator's Applications folder on another machine and launch the simulator. The app should appear in the simulator, ready for testing.

I was just listening to the great Sound Opinions music podcast the other day, and they had a woman on who was campaigning against hearing damage. In fact, she actually called out iPod headphones (as I was listening to the show on my iPhone) as one of today's leading causes of hearing damage -- too many people are listening to music through those headphones way too loud.

Unfortunately, the iPhone can't fix your ears (yet), but it can help you figure out if there's a problem: Audiometry is a 99 cent app that will test your hearing for you through a range of frequencies, and let you know whether your ears are blown out or whether you've still got some good vibrations left. The app plays a tone at each frequency, asks you whether or not you heard it (though you've got to be honest -- there were a few times I could hear the tone stopping and starting but not the tone itself), and then gives you a results list on how you did.

Future versions of the app will include a dB test (for loudness rather than just frequency), and the ability to save and share tests with others. It's hardly a substitute for going to a real ear doctor (if you have serious issues, you should definitely do that), but considering all the damage your iPhone may have done to your ears, the least it could do is help you figure out how much.

While you're at it, review this article from Apple on setting the maximum volume limit on an iPod.

[via textually.org]

If you've been salivating for a shot of Espresso, the upcoming integrated web development environment for Mac OS X, you'll have to wait just a little bit longer.

An email sent this morning by the developer, MacRabbit's Jan Van Boghout, confirmed the status of those accepted into the beta program, but he also indicated that the top priority was to give plug-in developers working with the Sugar framework "a solid SDK to start with." Van Boghout expects that the company will release a beta in late November.

Espresso, which stares Coda straight in the eye and says, "Yeah, I'm lookin' at you," is from the same people who make CSSEdit, and was announced in mid-September.

Blogger Thomas Ricker over at our sibling site Engadget posted an interesting blurb early this morning. Curious about whether or not iPhone 3G is as bad as urban legend seems to make it out to be, engineers at Bluetest in Gothenburg, Sweden, tested it against a Nokia N73 and a Sony Ericsson P1.

The results? Although the P1 was slightly better at receiving signals and the N73 a little bit better at sending signals, the difference between these two popular 3G phones and the iPhone 3G was negligible. The degreed antenna engineer performing the tests pronounced the 3G's capabilities as "completely normal."

This testing equipment is similar to that used by the FCC and mobile phone manufacturers to make sure that their phones are able to properly send and receive signals without interfering with other devices. These tests only tested the iPhone 3G hardware. There are other factors involved as well, including the device firmware and software.

I personally haven't found the iPhone 3G's reception to be any better or worse than my original iPhone. How about you? Leave a comment!

UK web development team Clearleft has released its web site usability testing application, Silverback.

In short, Silverback turns a Mac into a portable usability testing laboratory. What used to require a complicated and cumbersome set up involving several computers, a video camera, and lots of time, can now be done much faster and with less hassle. You only need a Mac with a built-in or attached camera, and a copy of Silverback.

The application records video footage of the user, and combines it with recorded footage of their activity on screen. Clicks, inputs, pointer movements and the user's speech and facial expressions are all combined into a single video file that can be quickly exported. One nice touch allows the test facilitator to add "bookmarks" during a session by clicking a button on the Mac's Apple Remote. Nothing distracting will show up in front of the user, but the bookmark is still recorded invisibly in the background.

The only thing that doesn't appear to be included - at least in this initial release - is the ability to edit the output video file before exporting. Even so, it looks like it could be an invaluable tool for anyone who makes software or web sites for a living. If you want to find out more, watch the five-minute demo video, which is a useful summary of aims and features.

Silverback is Tiger and Leopard compatible, sells for $49.95 and can be used as a fully functional demo for 30 days. As an added bonus, 10% of all profits generated will be donated to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Our good friends over at WoW Insider (disclaimer: I'm a lead over there) have unlocked one of the first secrets about 10.5.2 (which dropped today in Software Update): it'll make World of Warcraft play faster.

After hearing that the patch made reader Jason's Mac play faster, WoW Insider's Adam Holisky saw his FPS jump from 30 to 50 on his first-gen Intel iMac (he also has 2gb of RAM, and installed the graphics update with 10.5.2). The picture on the upper right was a test under 10.5.1, and on the lower right was after the update.

Pretty slick. I'd imagine that this would probably affect most 3D games (although who knows how EA's games will work on the Mac at any given moment). The only note that might document this in the update itself is just a "general stability" fix for "third-party applications,' but if you see your 3D go faster after 10.5.2 let us know. Azeroth has never looked so good.

Mac|Life has a pretty neat breakdown of just how the iPhone's faux GPS work (or doesn't work, depending on the situation). Long story short, the Locations feature is pretty darn close-- unless you really do need GPS. On average, it seems like triangulation put the guessed location (represented by the blue pin in the pictures) off from the actual location (represented by the red pin) by about .5 miles.

Which is great if you just want to know where you are (which is what it was designed for, obviously). But not so great if you're actually trying to do something you'd need GPS for (like geocaching). Two drawbacks here -- I've been trying the Locations feature around Chicago, and I've found that if I try it more than once, or am moving, the app picks up a little better on where I'm at. Also, I've been in Chicago, and Mac|Life is in San Francisco, so it would be interesting to know how this works out where we might really get lost-- out in the country, farther away from cell towers.

Still, while it's not as precise as real GPSers might like, the Locations feature is pretty amazing for what it is. Your iPhone doesn't know exactly where it's at, but it knows close enough to get you where you're going.

A blue-and-green birdy is tweeting in our ears, this time telling us that iPhones running 1.1.2 firmware have been spotted in the UK during Apple training sessions.

Is this good news or bad news for the hackers? Well, it's hard to tell but clearly if 1.1.2 is already in use, it hasn't been patched to handle the ongoing exploits that have been filling your RSS feeds the last few hours.

Thanks to "D".

Reader John L kindly dropped us a tip that Other World Computing has upped their Mac mini memory upgrades up to a whopping 3GB of RAM. And in fact, if you really want a Mini that flies, they'll even squeeze 4GB under the hood, even though they say the Mac Mini can't really handle that much.

The performance testing they did just completely confounds me, however-- in situations where lots of memory was needed (the "RAM Hog" setup), 4GB clearly beats everything else. In fact, in most of the regular testing-- the Photoshop test and the "Stress Test" the memory runs exactly how you'd expect: more memory means quicker processing. But in the last two tests, the Halo test and the Xbench test, the mini actually ran faster at just 1GB (which is what it ships with) than the 3GB, and almost as fast as the 4GB. The reasons for that are probably technical (too technical for me, although I'm sure our talented commenters have some answers), but it seems that in some situations, extra RAM just doesn't help.

Still, in situations that ask for a lot of memory, having more will definitely give you a nice bonus in speed, and it looks like the mini can now hold more than ever. When I buy mine (in October when Leopard drops, assuming Steve lets it live that long), I'll probably just double it to a reasonable 2GB. But if you want that extra power, it's good to know it's there.

The Muscatine Journal reports that the Louisa-Muscatine School District in Iowa will start using iPods as part of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Special-education students will use the iPods to allow them to work on their tests at different rates, while still providing a standardized administration of the test. The iPod will provide both test instructions and spoken versions of the questions.

It's apparently a time consuming process getting everything transferred from the written page into a spoken format but it's also pretty exciting to see how innovative educators are using off-the-shelf technology to meet their student's special needs. Obviously technology isn't going to be the answer to every pedagogical problem but a creative application of the already-available iPod may go a long way.

Oh Paul Kafasis, you clever Rogue Amoeba. What with your two-punch post of a teaser and sign-up offer for a new mystery app dubbed "AHT." What could this new app from the makers of Audio Hijack, Fission, Nicecast and Airfoil be? Is AHT simply a code name, or an acronym? Will AHT complement Rogue Amoeba's presence in the audio space, or will it be some new venture into RSS, video or even GTD? No one knows yet, but Paul said they'll be picking their first pool of testers on Wednesday, February 28th, so head on over and toss your name into the hat to test what I'm sure will be an excellent new offering from one of Mac OS X's much-respected 3rd parties.

[Update: Rogue Amoeba has filled their list of testers for now, so the submission form has been closed.]

Some MacBook owners around the web are reporting a 'random shutdown' issue, where the machine will - as you might guess - seemingly shutdown at random; either during work or patiently idling for your next command. If you haven't experienced this issue yourself yet but are still concerned about it, The Apple Files has devised an unofficial test to see if you might be a victim.

The test involves entering a few simple commands into the Terminal and testing a few things over roughly half an hour of your time. Just to be thorough, the author recommends running this test two or three times to be sure, but it's really up to how paranoid you're feeling. Again, this is an unofficial test, and we haven't seen any official reports or announcements from Apple on this issue, its cause or how widespread it might be, but it's simply nice to have options, hey?

[via digg]

In a move that's causing many to check out their window to see if the sky is falling, PC World has laid out a welcome mat for Apple's hardware into their Top Power PCs testing charts, thanks to Boot Camp. So far, no Macs have made the charts due to some policy quirks (they typically only test stock PCs - Macs don't ship pre-installed with Windows) and test compatibility hiccups, but from a blog entry covering their initial tests, the iMac running Windows XP fared pretty well.

We certainly live in interesting times with Macs running Windows, rumors of virtualization in Leopard and now Apple's hardware being put to the test alongside its now (let's face it) PC brethren hardware. We'll keep our ears out for more results on just how well these new Macs stack up.