Task management apps exploded with the introduction of the iPhone App Store, and leading the pack was Cultured Code’s Things , which earned an Editor’s Choice award from us back in late 2008. The iPhone version of Things had been adapted from the previous Mac iteration, and though it successfully distilled the essence of the popular program into a portable package, Cultured Code had to significantly simplify the way Things worked to fit it on the iPhone/iPod touch screen. But now, with the iPad and its glossy 9.7-inch screen on the horizon, Cultured Code is closing in on a version of Things that’ll find the happy middle ground between the two versions, pairing a touch interface like that of the iPhone with the screen real estate of a much larger device. "We have the desire to show users more information. Now with the iPad, we have much more screen space available, so now the information can be displayed again," says Werner Jainek, co-owner of Cultured Code and developer of Things for iPad. "We think it’s a huge advantage with the bigger screen." Jainek says getting the iPad project off the ground initially was a snap, since the shared OS between the two devices allowed them to reuse much of the core code from the iPhone version. This has allowed Cultured Code to focus on refining the user interface to take full advantage of the large iPad screen, which eliminates the need to drill in and out of menus as you would on the iPhone. As such, Things users will be able to pop between multiple lists with ease, utilize the new popover windows (which you’ll be seeing a lot of within iPad apps), and even access additional navigational controls when using the iPad in landscape orientation. Without actual iPad units in their hands during development, Jainek admits the biggest challenge has been developing an intuitive user interface, though it’s not for a lack of trying. "It’s pretty hard to actually see how Apple has designed user interfaces for its applications," he admits. "We have mined them all — we have looked at every screenshot in very much detail to figure out exactly how they did it." "We really don’t want to make any mistakes, and [want to] follow in the path that Apple has led," Jainek continues. "Not having a real device to play with is a limiting factor, definitely. For example, the iWork apps — I would be very interested to see how they solved certain problems, UI-wise, so that we can actually copy that for our application, or at least be inspired by it and see what we can come up with." However, despite having to work from screenshots and secondhand impressions, Cultured Code says they were greatly inspired by what Apple showed of its own iPad apps, especially with the Calendar and Contacts, which Jainek says use "real-world metaphors in [the] user interface." "Apple really put forth that paradigm that what you’re looking at are really objects behind a piece of glass that you’re manipulating with your finger," explains Jainek.

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Cultured Code Talks About Bringing Things to the iPad

Task management apps exploded with the introduction of the iPhone App Store, and leading the pack was Cultured Code’s Things , which earned an Editor’s Choice award from us back in late 2008. The iPhone version of Things had been adapted from the previous Mac iteration, and though it successfully distilled the essence of the popular program into a portable package, Cultured Code had to significantly simplify the way Things worked to fit it on the iPhone/iPod touch screen. But now, with the iPad and its glossy 9.7-inch screen on the horizon, Cultured Code is closing in on a version of Things that’ll find the happy middle ground between the two versions, pairing a touch interface like that of the iPhone with the screen real estate of a much larger device. "We have the desire to show users more information. Now with the iPad, we have much more screen space available, so now the information can be displayed again," says Werner Jainek, co-owner of Cultured Code and developer of Things for iPad. "We think it’s a huge advantage with the bigger screen." Jainek says getting the iPad project off the ground initially was a snap, since the shared OS between the two devices allowed them to reuse much of the core code from the iPhone version. This has allowed Cultured Code to focus on refining the user interface to take full advantage of the large iPad screen, which eliminates the need to drill in and out of menus as you would on the iPhone. As such, Things users will be able to pop between multiple lists with ease, utilize the new popover windows (which you’ll be seeing a lot of within iPad apps), and even access additional navigational controls when using the iPad in landscape orientation. Without actual iPad units in their hands during development, Jainek admits the biggest challenge has been developing an intuitive user interface, though it’s not for a lack of trying. "It’s pretty hard to actually see how Apple has designed user interfaces for its applications," he admits. "We have mined them all — we have looked at every screenshot in very much detail to figure out exactly how they did it." "We really don’t want to make any mistakes, and [want to] follow in the path that Apple has led," Jainek continues. "Not having a real device to play with is a limiting factor, definitely.

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Cultured Code Talks About Bringing Things to the iPad

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 15, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh PagePlanet Software, Inc. has announced the Golden Master release of Modular Gateway Interface (MGI) 3.2 for the Macintosh OS X and Linux operating systems. MGI is an Apache 2 module that adds full functionality to every website on your server using a simple tag structure. MGI includes 67 tags to enhance a website with everything from simple counters and form processing to custom databases and shopping carts. You can also combine MGI’s powerful programming tags to make your website do anything you can imagine.  Need to build a custom login and tracking system? No problem. TheMacBundles today released its March bundle and a new and innovative Build Your Own Bundle store. TheMacBundles has set a new standard of quality and value with its high quality, low priced bundles. These no-gimmick bundles provide users with the same software, support, licenses, and upgrade benefits that apply to users who paid the full price for the titles. The new BYOB store maintains these high standards and lets users create their own customized bundles with some simple mouse clicks. iWebTemplate has announced the addition of a free iWeb themes and templates section to be used with Apple’s iWeb Website building application. iWeb Free Themes includes seven great themes: Sky, Picture, Church, Joy, Love, Billiard and Cat. Each iWeb Free theme can be used as the basis for a great new website.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 15, 2010

There's an App for that!  Check movie times, find out exactly what your girlfriend's name means, or learn how to make a mean Tequila Sunrise. Fandango The iPhone, at least in its excessive marketing campaign, is often described as a possible hub for almost every type of function you can think of.   This is part of the shift to integrate everything onto a little portable device that you take with you everywhere.   For many people this means creating constant access to your IM and email accounts, and for others it means connecting with almost everything they do on a regular basis.   This can be as major as connecting to a bank account or something as simple as checking movie times.   There have been a number of free iPhone applications that will provide most of the movie services but, just like online, Fandango proves to be one of the best.   The Fandango free iPhone application is based around getting you the information about movies, which you can look at in a few different ways.   You can look at the films themselves, either those In Theaters or those Coming Soon, and then select to see production information or information about where they are playing.   You can also search by your areas to find theaters and then see what is playing there, and once here you can select the film to get information.   Fandango is also well known for allowing you to buy movie tickets ahead of time, and you can also get involved in this by logging in to your Fandango account.   Fandango turns out to be a pretty solid, though sometimes sluggish, application for movie information.     What Does My Name Mean Every simple programmer is looking to get you to download their free iPhone application.   Free iPhone applications are the easiest way to get an advertisement for a pay one, or a local banner ad.   What Does My Name Mean, which is also sub headed with 'FREE, FREE, FREE," gives you a large list of names that you can choose from.

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Mini Reviews: Fandango, What Does My Name Mean, Mixology

I first used Fluid , the site-specific browser creation tool for Mac OS X, a long time ago. But I didn’t find it compelling enough to integrate it into my daily life, in part because virtually all of my digital life still lived on the desktop. As I personally moved more and more to the cloud, it became key. I tend to use Fluid apps for things that I want to have open and at the ready all day. These are things I consider to be more like apps than websites, so having a separate window makes sense, if for no other reason than I can easily command-tab among applications by selecting the appropriate high-resolution logo. With Safari , Chrome and Firefox , I’m in and out of a lot of websites throughout the work day, but most are content sites, or web applications that I use once per week or less. Here are a few of the key ways I’m using Fluid today. Google Calendar I long ago tired of problems with invitations in iCal. There were just too many frustrating examples of invitations not coming through properly or at all, and I invested the maximum amount of time I was willing to solve it. Last year, I also tired of Mail.app’s performance when dealing with many accounts and large numbers of messages. I was using Google Apps for several accounts with IMAP enabled, and using Mail.app as my client.

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Revisiting Fluid

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

(Images courtesy of AppleInsider) Veteran Mac database software FileMaker Pro 11 was released Tuesday, and among the new features are improved chart visuals, on the fly reporting, Quick Find and a host of new productivity tools to make database creation faster and easier. Apple’s FileMaker Inc. subsidiary announced the latest version of their flagship software today with FileMaker Pro 11. But they didn’t stop there: Updates are available for the entire product line, including FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced, FileMaker Server 11 and FileMaker Server 11 Advanced, according to AppleInsider . "FileMaker Pro 11 is designed for solving real-world business problems, such as the need for interpreting business data," explains FileMaker Inc. vice president of marketing and services Ryan Rosenberg. "With easy-to-use integrated charting, we bring dynamic visual reporting to FileMaker Pro 11 users. We also provide new tools to boost all users’ productivity, helping novice and expert users alike build, share and publish better databases." Among the new features, FileMaker Pro 11 offers dynamic professional-quality pie, bar, area or line charts which allow users to visualize, evaluate and report on data in a new or existing layout. Add a pie chart tab within an existing layout, for example, and you can see your sales charted graphically in any way you choose

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FileMaker Pro 11 Brings Faster Database Creation

Filed under: Apple App Store clutter remains an ongoing issue. In addition to “business card” applications that offer little or no functionality beyond a simple web page [1] , there are lite editions, demo editions, full editions, and even in the case of Tweetie 2, completely new applications providing upgraded functionality . Each of those applications must be registered with a unique app identifier, each one takes up a separate slot when installed on your iPhone’s home screen, each application occupies a separate App Store listing, complete with its own screen shots, marketing material, reviews, and so forth. Each one must be managed by you in iTunes, where you must decide which to sync, which to keep, and so forth. Add to the mix, the possibility that we’re likely to see iPad- and iPhone-specific application releases in the near future in addition to the Universal Application solution that Apple has been heavily promoting. That’s because iPad applications offer developers the opportunity to re-imagine their interfaces, adding features without the constraints of the iPhone’s small screen and modal interaction limitations. An iPad app that adds significant new functionality may branch off and become yet another related app in a single application family. Continue reading iPhone devsugar: The need for multiple ipa delivery iPhone devsugar: The need for multiple ipa delivery originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

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iPhone devsugar: The need for multiple ipa delivery

It may be a little early to say this, but to me it seems like Microsoft took all the disappointment and fear resulting from Apple’s dominance of the mobile devices category over its own products through the years and used that energy to create the Courier . It’s the first time I’ve ever seen another company’s product and thought “That seems like something Apple would’ve made.” Engadget posted more details about the device late last week, including two lengthy HD interface videos. Microsoft isn’t yet officially saying anything about whether or not this will become a production device, but Engadget seems very confident in its sources, and I’d be inclined to believe them since it seems more than likely Redmond is taking a page out of Apple’s marketing playbook by keeping things somewhat hush-hush but using “leaks” to steal focus. Microsoft gets a lot of flak for doing a tablet the wrong way, as demonstrated by the HP model it unveiled ahead of the iPad to grab some of the attention away from that spotlight hog. But the Courier doesn’t have the same shortcomings. For one, it’s not based on Windows 7, but on a version of Windows CE 6, which also provides the basis for the Zune HD’s interface and the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 OS. It also runs on the Tegra 2, an impressive mobile processor. It also has some considerable advantages over its Apple rival, especially if the hype is actually representative of what a production version will look like. First, there’s the size. The clamshell design allows it to be smaller than the iPad, while providing more screen real estate.

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Microsoft Courier Shaping Up as a Truly Novel iPad Competitor

AppleInsider quotes a Billboard report that Apple has been irritated by Amazon’s MP3 Daily Deal. According to Billboard , "The labels make arrangements to provide an exclusive selling window with Amazon for a big release expected to do a lot of business on street date." In other words, Amazon gets to sell some new hot releases for 24 hours before they get to the iTunes store. It’s no surprise that Apple isn’t thrilled with that. It appears to have started when Island placed Mariah Carey’s "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" in the promotion. People could get the new album for $5.99 for a full day from Amazon before its September 29 street date–and appearance in the iTunes store. The report says Apple has been encouraging labels to reconsider that strategy, and backing it with warnings that they will withdraw marketing support in the iTunes store for releases featured as Daily Deals. Billboard says it’s working, with executives at Capitol and Capitol Nashville deciding not to participate in Daily Deal promotions they’d been considering. Billboard also reports that, "sources say that when Amazon recently approached Hollywood Records to highlight ‘Who I Am,’ the debut album by Nick Jonas & the Administration, the label declined." The iTunes store recently sold its 10 billionth song (if you’re the one who won the contest and $10,000, let us know!) and has been estimated to make up one-fourth of all music sales in the U.S.–by far the largest music retailer.

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Apple Pressures Music Labels to Drop Amazon Daily Deal