If – like me – your fridge is black, then these shiny iPhone app fridge magnets from Jailbreak Collective will look very smart indeed displayed on the door. Just 13 bucks gets you a set of these icon almost-replicas. I say almost because if you look carefully, you’ll see they’re not identical to the Apple originals.

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iPhone App Magnets To Appify Your Fridge

A few years ago it would’ve been only the insane and the insanely prescient who were predicting that Apple would replace RIM in terms of world mobile phone market share. Now it doesn’t seem that outlandish, but the question of how soon we’ll actually see it happen remains up in the air. According to a new financial analysis company, Trefis (via Forbes ), the iPhone will pass BlackBerries in 2011. So as of next year, the iPhone will supposedly overtake RIM’s varied line of smartphones, despite offering far less in terms of consumer choice, and being limited to only one network in major markets like the U.S. So how’s that supposed to happen? Before we get to how , let’s look at why Trefis thinks this information is important. If you’re looking to buy Apple stock, then it’s very important indeed. Trefis estimates that around 52 percent of Apple’s stock value is dependent upon its mobile phone business, so that as the iPhone’s global market share continues to grow, the stock price will climb accordingly. They have a neat little tool that illustrates this, and you can set your own prediction to see how it affects the model.

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Analyst: iPhone to Overtake BlackBerry in 2011

Almost as soon as the iPad was shown in Steve Jobs’ hands back in late January, speculation ran rampant about whether or not some of the stock iPhone applications were missing in action, or simply consolidated into some kind of secret “widget mode.” MacRumors is letting the air out of the so-called “secret widget mode,” a theory that missing iPhone applications have been included on the iPad, revealed only by way of some kind of Mac OS X Dashboard-style magic (with a five-finger gesture being proposed). Among the missing apps are Stocks, Weather, Voice Memo, Clock and Calculator. But according to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber , his sources dispute that there’s any kind of “secret widget mode” and that the missing apps were in fact scrapped by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “It’s not that Apple couldn’t just create bigger versions of these apps and have them run on the iPad,” Gruber writes. “It wasn’t a technical problem, it was a design problem. There were, internally to Apple (of course), versions of these apps (or least some of them) with upscaled iPad-sized graphics, but otherwise the same UI and layout as the iPhone versions. “Ends up that just blowing up iPhone apps to fill the iPad screen looks and feels weird, even if you use higher-resolution graphics so that nothing looks pixelated,” Gruber continues. “So they were scrapped by you-know-who. Perhaps they’ll appear on the iPad in some re-imagined form this summer with OS 4.0, but when the iPad ships next month, there won’t be versions of these apps. At least that’s the story I’ve heard from a few well-informed little birdies.” Furthermore, Gruber notes that while iPhone games will work well on the iPad, simpler “non-game iPhone applications” may feel strange on the new device, regardless of which method they are run (blown up to full screen or at native resolution as a small box in the center of the screen). It seems like the iPad will be an entirely new user experience, which will likely require a lot more app tweaking to make enhanced versions of existing apps work well. We’ll all know soon enough, as the Wi-Fi enabled iPad will finally be available on April 3…

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Widgets Are Indeed Missing From iPad, Says John Gruber

Up until now, the fidgety furballs of Chuzzle, which took Macs and PCs by storm in 2005, have been notably absent from PopCap’s iPhone library of puzzle games. An intensely addictive tile-matching puzzler in the style of Columns, Chuzzle presents you with six-by-six rows of brightly hued chuzzles–puffy, big-eyed critters that resemble Star Trek ’s Tribbles, only more high-strung. Slide the columns with your finger to match three, four, or even five chuzzles of the same color, and they’ll pop in delight, allowing more chuzzles to flood the game board. As you advance to later rounds, you’ll be hit with obstacles like chains that lock random chuzzles into place. The goal, of course, is to keep popping chuzzles until no moves are left. Pop multiple chuzzle strings for extra bonus points. The iPhone port of Chuzzle is nearly flawless, delivering all the one-more-level appeal of the original game, as well as its quirky animations and sound effects. In addition to the Classic gameplay mode, you can also play in Zen mode, an unending, obstacle free game; Speed mode, a faster-moving and more difficult version of the classic game; and Mind Bender mode, an offshoot where you must re-create a pattern by sliding chuzzles. Levels are even automatically saved when you quit out, allowing you to return to where you left off.

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Chuzzle

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Steam is finally coming to the Mac, and bringing the entire library of Valve games with it. The popular application is King of the Games on Windows, but now it has expanded its reign to include Mac OS X, too. Steam is a digital games distributor, a social networking platform for gamers, a multiplayer host for huge frag fests, and one of the most essential pieces of software for computer gamers everywhere. And if you still have no idea what we’re talking about, think of game titles like Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life, Portal, and Counter Strike–these gems will finally be available for Mac heads everywhere. The availability of Steam for Mac gamers means that we’ll finally be able to kick the butts of our PC brethern, without investing in a pricey gaming console, or a Windows PC. Additionally, game publishers will be able to distribute all of their latest game titles via digital downloads, and we’ll be able to play all the various Valve titles across a multitude of different computers, regardless of operating system. We don’t doubt that the Mac versus PC debate won’t continue on for generations to come, but at least there’s finally some common ground. The Steam client for Mac beta will be available in April. To prepare you for the inevitable long nights of multiplayer game playing and trash talking, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of the most essential things you’ll be able to do with the Steam client. Think of it as, a beginner’s guide to a whole new world. Create a personal gaming profile The avatar you choose is the first important step to becoming an integral part of the Steam community. Choose wisely, and your future as an elite computer gamer will flourish. However, if you choose poorly, you may be susceptible to a variety of cruel gamer jokes. See what your friends are up to Valve has managed to virtually emulate those treasured times during our childhood, when you’d head outside just to see what the neighborhood kids were up to.

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The Mac Users Guide to Cool Things You Can Do With Steam

Filed under: Cult of Mac , Apple , Developer I love these bits of art by Anders Clauson featuring iconography from the old Aqua OS X interface — obviously it’s not a straight representation of the actual interface, but instead, it’s kind of a weird deconstruction of the scrollbars. There’s one that’s just a random desktop screenshot, and another that shows the interface actually opened up in a Photoshop document. The overall effect is that the artist isn’t just showing off the parts of the UI, he’s also deconstructing the actual process of creating and using a UI as well. Good stuff. It’s also interesting to me to think that with the coming of the iPad, we may be seeing the end of interface widgets like this. When all you have is a touchscreen and gestures, you don’t really need to deal with buttons and widgets — if you want to close a window, just swipe it to the side, or to expand it, just pull two fingers apart. Of course, it’ll probably be a little while before the iPad and its interface fully replaces the more traditional UI, but I think it’ll happen at some point in the future. Aqua scrollbar art originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

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Aqua scrollbar art

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 5, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Hyperbolic Software has announced Tidy Up! 2.2.0 , the latest version of the award-winning duplicate finder and disk tidying utility. Tidy Up! has become a must-have utility to reclaim disk space being taken up by duplicate files and packages. Tidy Up! locates duplicate items using a wide range of criteria including owner application, time created or modified, name, label, extension and content. Version 2 introduces nearly 50 new features to this already comprehensive tool. Zenopolis has released Tiptoe 1.0 , a new privacy application for Mac OS X. Tiptoe is the first Mac privacy application to bring a “private browsing” like feature to all sorts of applications. This initial release supports 15 popular Mac applications, enabling users to run these applications without a trail of their actions being stored. The ability to reset (remove) existing privacy data is also included. Tiptoe is $19.95 (USD), a Universal Binary for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later. St. Clair Software has announced the release of Default Folder X 4.3.6 . Default Folder X enhances the file dialogs in all Mac OS X applications.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 5, 2010

When our community went live for AT&T U-Verse, we jumped right on the opportunity to get a service with advanced voice, data and TV on the same line. Unfortunately, we found out that U-Verse requires you use to use their router. So we had to replace our beloved Airport Extreme, right? Not quite. Our situation was U-Verse related, but others may have situations whereby your Extreme can no longer provide Internet routing functions. Fear not, because you can still take advantage of its features with Bridge Mode. Bridge mode essentially turns off the Internet routing portion of the Airport, but leaves intact all of its other features such as Wi-Fi, printer sharing, disk sharing, and Time Machine support. Let’s begin! Getting Started First, unplug all network cables from the Airport and reset it so you are starting with a clean slate. Instructions to reset can be found here . Next, plug an Ethernet cable from your computer into one of the Ethernet ports on your Airport Extreme

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How-To: Setup an Airport Extreme in Bridge Mode

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 1, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Divine Fiat has announced The Complete Set , their entire collection of high quality themes for Apple’s Keynote presentation software. All 14 themes are now available for 60% off the individual theme set price. This is a collection representing great variety and value. Every theme comes in both standard and Widescreen formats. Each theme also includes extras such as fully customizable icon objects, custom texture and color palates and video tutorials. SimpleLeap Software has released Cram 1.3.4 , an update to its popular flashcard and multiple-choice testing study app for Mac OS X. Cram is perfect for students, teachers, or anyone else looking to prepare for any subject matter on their Mac with flashcards and practice multiple-choice tests. Cram features multiple study modes, and the ability to share test material with friends. Version 1.3.4 updates with new easy installer and minor bug fixes. Keynote Zone has announced KeynoteZone Collection 7 . All the best of Keynote Zone themes are now available for special price. Keynote Zone Collection 7 includes seven HD version themes.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 1, 2010

Even before Apple unveiled the iPad, I was curious if their tablet-device would be able to function as a small secondary display to desktop Macs. I’ve long liked the idea Mimo’s miniature displays: a ten-inch secondary display isn’t enough screen real estate to add to productivity, but they are great places to corral widgets, contact

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The iPad as a peripheral or secondary display