One of the great excitements about the iPad bringing books to its large screen was the potential for comic books and magazines to really deliver some killer content. The 9.7" color screen could bring seriously enhanced readability as well as create a new genre of interactive graphic media. In response to one overlooked demographic, Oceanhouse Media has launched additional iPhone and iPod touch apps featuring some beloved children’s titles. And they’ve got their eyes set on the iPad. Released a week ago, the three titles The Cat in the Hat , Dr. Seuss’s ABC , and Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition render beautifully on the iPhone.

Continued here:
One iBook, Two iBook, Red iBook, Blue iBook

Perhaps it has to do with Apple positioning itself as a mobile devices company, but the iPhone is on a serious upswing in the U.S. smartphone market, even while all of its competitors seem to be losing ground. Except for one, that is, and the rate at which that company is building up steam should give the Mac maker cause for some concern. For the moment, though, Apple is doing much better than anyone in the space, really. The latest comScore report , which covers a three month period from September to December of 2009, shows Apple as having 25.3 percent of the total smartphone market share, up 1.2 points from 24.1 percent at the beginning of the period measured. Research In Motion (RIM) came in first place overall once again, with 41.6 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers opting for a BlackBerry device. But that number represented a slide, ultimately, as RIM began the measurement period with 42.6 percent. Microsoft and Palm likewise slipped, with MS dropping from 19 to 18 percent, and Palm losing 2.2 points, down to 6.1 percent. Google had the lowest market share of the bunch, with 5.2 percent of subscribers. But that number was up from only 2.5 percent in September, suggesting that it was probably helped along considerably with the introduction of the Motorola Droid.

View original post here: 
Apple Grabs a Quarter of U.S. Smartphone Market

Section: Software + Apps , Design , Mac + Computers , Software , Reviews Format: Download Developer: Pixelmator System Requirements: Intel or PowerPC, Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later, Core Image supported graphics card Review Computer: 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook, 4GB DDR2 RAM Processor Compatibility: Intel or Power PC Price: $59.00 single user Availability: Out now Demo: Download Despite the vast array of cloud-based apps and free software, many users still have a cadre of tried-and-true desktop programs they consider a must.  It is rare for these users to experience a Eureka! moment and want to convert to a competing app.  Pixelmator, billed as the the world’s only GPU-powered, Mac OS X-only image editor, is one of those programs.  Other reviewers have thrown out the idea that Pixelmator can go head-to-head with Photoshop…I would go so far as to say you could have a toss up between Photoshop Elements/Lightroom and Pixelmator, but I doubt most users of the full Creative Suite version would feel satisfied with Pixelmator’s feature set.  If Adobe’s products keep adding features you never use, however, Pixelmator may just be a (much cheaper) alternative.  Serious Photoshop users take note; if you are doing extensive photo retouching or basic layer-based image composition, Pixelmator blazes by Adobe’s products.  In the time it takes Photoshop to start up, Pixelmator can veni, vidi, vici before the PS splash screen is gone. The Good Pixelmator is FAST .  In testing on both a late 2006 MacBook and a summer 2009 MacBook Pro, the program was fast to start, quick to respond, and snappy in applying filters.  Pixelmator leverages Apple’s Core Image framework, which offloads graphical tasks to your Mac’s graphics card.  This means the speed of the program is based on your GPU and graphics memory.  The late 2006 MacBook did perform rather sluggishly, especially when applying filters to an entire image (back in the day when the PowerPC chip was first introduced, designers used to benchmark systems based on the speed of a Gaussian blur filter).  This result is hardly surprising given the MacBook’s Intel GMA 950 graphics chip.  On the ‘09 MacBook Pro, many of the filters felt real time, especially the Quartz Composer filters (many of them are applied real time to iChat/Photo Booth images as effects).  Filters in Pixelmator render in real-time much like Apple’s Instant Alpha feature in iWork. This familiar feeling is one of Pixelmator’s many standout features. Overall, the program just feels a Mac application (Apple should take note and start making some UI updates to Aperture). All windows use the HUD interface theme, and thoughtful touches throughout—like the fact that the currently selected tool pops from the menu bar—make the program much more visually appealing than its Adobe competitors.  There are even some nifty custom UI elements, such as filter windows that are literally attached to the image being edited, or how the Brush engine, which is one of the shining stars in the program, uses an image well much like OS X to allow drag-and-drop creation of new brushes.  You can even use the crayon box color picker if you want (I know serious artists scoff, but it is a user friendly way to present color choices—better than Microsoft’s little honeycomb color chooser). I used the brush engine to create a new snowflake brush using a snowflake clip art and then made my holiday card for next year. Hey, it is never too early to start! The Great As if speed were not enough, Pixelmator really is an incredibly powerful image editor. The speed can be attributed to the program’s use of Apple’s pre-built image capabilities, but the program’s power and elegance lend it a feeling of composure that make working on an image feel less like work and more like creation.  The interface literally gets out of the way when needed (via the “Hide unnecessary palettes” preference option).  Invoking the Curves adjustment pane causes the other palettes to fade so you can see the changes being made applied to the whole image: Overall, this feels much better than Adobe’s 2 step process of invoking an adjustment pane, making changes and seeing a preview of them (which is ridiculously small), then waiting for your changes to render on the whole image.  Pixelmator shines in both basic image editing and layer-based image composition.  Using the Appletell logo from the top of the site, I was able to compose a new image on 10 layers, adding a sunburst and diamond checkerboard pattern, blending these using full layer blending tools and opacity, then adding several layers of filters/effects.  Most of the abilities are nothing new or revolutionary, but the program’s speed and ease of use made the process feel less cumbersome.  For such a low price point, the program is exceptionally well designed, includes support for my Wacom tablet, and offers a full set of keyboard shortcuts that made sense to both a longtime Photoshop and Mac user

Go here to see the original:
Appletell reviews Pixelmator for Mac OS X

Filed under: Apple , App Store One of the biggest gripes we heard from iPhone developers during 2009 was that it took forever for their apps to make it through the iTunes App Store approval process. Often apps would be disapproved for seemingly illogical reasons after a long wait in the approval queue, and TUAW heard from more than one developer that had just given up. iTunes Connect , the portal through which iPhone developers submit apps and check sales, was down between December 23 – 28, 2009. Since that time, TUAW has received a number of positive emails from iPhone devs that indicate that Apple has resolved to quit holding up apps in 2010. How fast are some apps making it through the process? Take developer Aaron Douglas’s free Migraine Diary [ iTunes Link ]; he submitted it on December 28th at 9 PM CT and received notice of the approval a 4 PM CT on the 31st of December — that’s less than three days. But that’s downright slow compared to what Yuri, a developer at Atomic Cactus , experienced: I’m a developer behind Atomic Cactus, we have 3 games currently in the app store, and they all took approximately 2-3 weeks to get approved. Today at 4:00 am I submitted for approval our latest app, which isn’t exactly a “fart app” (it’s a pretty polished puzzle game with OpenFeint).

View original here: 
Apple’s New Year’s resolution? Get apps through approval faster

We offer some Mac deals for your listening enjoyment, including Logitech’s AudioStation iPod Speaker System for $68. The unit with iPod dock, wireless remote and AM/FM clock radio pumps out 80 watts of your favorite tunes. If you’ve already tired of the new cases from over Christmas, slip on this Pro Flexi graphic skin case

Read more from the original source: 
Daily Deals: Logitech AudioStation, Pro Flexi iPhone Skin, iPhone FM Transmitter

Just before Christmas, we asked you: What were your favorite desktop apps of 2009? Based on the responses we got, two apps got fractionally more mentions than most: Google Chrome, and OmmWriter. Neither of which were apps I expected to see topping many end-of-year lists. Chrome appeared as an official Mac beta just at the beginning of

More here:
Cult Readers Pick Chrome And OmmWriter As Best New Applications Of 2009

With more and more consumers consumers cleaving themselves from the fetid macro-organism of biomassed holiday shopping flesh and doing all of their Christmas shopping online, online customers satisfaction polls are more important than ever. No surprise, though, at the latest polls, courtesy of ForeSee Results: Apple’s simple, pleasant and spartan store did well in

Go here to read the rest:
Apple.com rates well in holiday shopping customer satisfaction survey

Are you finally getting over your New Year’s Eve partying? We got around to feeling human sometime late last night, just before bed again. Well, in case you were traveling or exercising your drinking arm excessively and didn’t have a chance to check out these hot hits, here’s a list of awesome Mac|Life articles to get you up to speed.   Features: – New Year’s Eve iPhone Survival Guide – It’s probably too late for this to help you with your New Year’s Eve doldrums, but these app recommendations have an evergreen quality to them. Escape bad dates, dull family get-togethers, or just entertain yourself and your friends. – 100 Greatest iPhone Apps of 2009 – 2009 could easily be remembered as the Year of the App. It was the year Apple’s store busted out its 100,000th app and crushed all competition.

Original post: 
In Case You Missed It: Dec. 27, 2009 – Jan. 2, 2010

Inspired, perhaps, by Steve Martin’s arrow-through-the-head schtick , Japan’s Solid Alliance store offers the Crazy Earphone collection of phone/media player earbuds.  Tired of those omnipresent Christmas carols?  Show your displeasure (and at the same time, drown them out with the music of your choice!) with the Katana (samurai sword) set.  Cat lover?  Let some cute cat paws pump “Stray Cat Strut” directly to your cerebral cortex.  Hungry?  Try the sushi or banana earbuds.  (The latter reminds us of the old burlesque-comedian joke “I said, ‘YOU HAVE A BANANA IN YOUR EAR!’”  “You’ll have to speak up, I have a banana in my ear!”)  Each set will run you about US$22.

See the original post here: 
Stick It In Your Ear: Crazy Earbuds Features Swords, Sushi, And Fresh Fruit

IT’S CRAZY EDDIE’S POST-CHRISTMAS BLOWOUT SALE ON IPHONE APPS!  WITH PRICES SO LOW, HE’S PRACTICALLY GIVING THEM AWAY! IN FACT, THEY ARE BEING GIVEN AWAY!  THESE SPECIALS WON’T LAST! DOWNLOAD NOW! GET THE GEM-BLASTING TUNNEL GAME RENEGADE RUBIES , ORIGINALLY US$1.99, NOW ABSOLUTELY FREE! TEACH YOUR KIDS TO SPELL WITH THE BALLOON-POPPING A BEE SEES !  NORMALLY US$0.99?  STILL TOO EXPENSIVE!  IT’S FREE, TOO! DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH TO TIP YOUR WAITER? FORGET ABOUT IT!  PLUG YOUR BILL, PARTY SIZE, AND PERCENTAGE INTO EASY TIP , AND IT TELLS YOU HOW MUCH EACH PERSON HAS TO COUGH UP! “I’D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR,” YOU SAY? NOT NOW, YOU DON’T! AND DON’T FORGET TO GET YOUR FINE LITERATURE ON WHEN YOU PUT 101 CLASSIC NOVELS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND!  FROM ROBINSON CRUSOE TO JANE EYRE, FROM HUCK FINN TO…FANNY HILL?!? HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY FOR THIS MUCH GREAT READING?  TWO BUCKS?  RIGHT NOW, HOW ABOUT PAYING NOTHING? SHOP AROUND, GET YOUR BEST PRICES ON THESE GREAT APPS, THEN COME TO CRAZY EDDIE AND, FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY, HE’LL BEAT ‘EM! CRAZY EDDIE: HIS APP PRICES ARE IN-SAAAAAAAANE!!!! (For those of you who didn’t live through Crazy Eddie’s TV ads in the 80’s, YouTube is your friend …)

See the original post here: 
Crazy Eddie’s Post-Xmas App Sale: Renegade Rubies, A Bee Sees, Easy Tip, 101 Classic Novels