Londoners stuck in the tube now have a handy iPhone app to request ticket refunds. Tube Refund, which costs $0.99, zaps off the request for riders whose journey is delayed over 15 minutes. Depending on where you go and what time of day, a one-way tube ticket can cost from £1.80 to £4.00 ($2.75 – $6 circa)

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Commuter Delays? iPhone Tube Refund App Pays for Itself

Have Google and Apple stopped having super-fun sleepovers with smores and pillow fights? The New York Times seems to think so and we’re not that surprised. An analytics firm points to some surprising sales information concerning Android and iPhone handsets. Finally, one of our favorite apps and services makes an announcement that makes us sad. So very sad.  Plus, we answer your hard-hitting Twitter and Facebook questions! Okay, they weren’t that hard-hitting. Got a question, but you’re afraid to leave a voice message because of Witness Relocation Dept. rules? Drop us a question via Twitter twitter.com/maclife . This week’s Battlestar Applactica picks: More Toast! – $.99 Curious George Coloring Book – $2.99   Don’t forget, the Mac | Life staff would love to hear your thoughts, comments and ideas for the new podcast. Just leave a message on the Mac | Live question/comment line: (877) 404-1337, extension 622. Please limit the length of your messages to 1 minute max

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Podcast #132: Apple vs. Google and Android vs. iPhone

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iDevice Apps , Mac Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod/iPad product updates and announcements for March 16, 2010: Macintosh iPod Macintosh Selznick Scientific Software, LLC has announced PasswordWallet 4.5 , a major update to their best-selling password management solution for Macintosh and iPhone. The app now allows the user to automatically share all of their passwords between their Mac, iPhone and MobileMe accounts, as well as their Windows, Android, Windows Mobile and Palm Pre devices. Simple and secure, PasswordWallet encrypts and stores passwords and other private information in one, convenient location. Yazsoft has announced Playback 1.5.1 , an important update to their popular zero configuration media server for Mac OS X. Playback allows anyone to share their media with any Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or other supported UPnP compatible device. Playback can also share media stored in folders or even make entire disks available to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. By default, Playback will share almost any content on the users system.

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Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad product news – March 16, 2010

At least two major news media outlets aren’t going to let the iPad’s lack of Flash support keep owners of Apple’s latest creation away from their content. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and National Public Radio (NPR) are working on iPad-specific versions of their websites, set to launch next month alongside the official ship date of the iPad. The websites will launch automatically whenever someone navigates to either NPR.org or WSJ.com, and will replace the standard sites, both of which feature pretty significant quantities of Flash content. Peter Kafka at MediaMemo also notes that this workaround ensures that iPad owners will be able to access content from the two news sources without the organizations having to rush out a dedicated iPad application. According to Kafka, NPR is in the process of developing such an application, but it won’t necessarily be ready in time for the iPad’s launch. Also, having two options available for iPad owners means that no matter what a customer’s preference, they should be able to access all of NPR’s content. Just after the device hits the streets, consumer frenzy will probably be at its most heady, so anyone ready to go on day one stands to benefit the most by way of picking up new readers and/or customers. The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

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Wall Street Journal, NPR to Open iPad-Only Websites

We’re not sure what exactly is going on in this photo (below), so we’re asking you to tell us. It’s one of our favorite shots captured at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Show us how funny and clever you can be by writing a caption for this image (keep it clean, please!). As usual, the Mac|Life editors will pick our favorite and send the winner the excellent prize pictured below. Good luck! (Your caption here!)   WIN THIS! Elgato EyeTV One ($119.95, www.elgato.com ) delivers digital over-the-air TV channels straight from your antenna to your Mac.   Include your full name, email and mailing addresses, and phone number with your entry. Send us your best caption in the body of an email to contest@maclife.com with the subject line “Panda Says… Challenge.” Deadline for entry: March 31, 2010. Contest results will appear in the Jun/10 issue.  

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Got Something To Say? Enter this Month’s Contest! [March]

We’re not sure what exactly is going on in this photo (below), so we’re asking you to tell us. It’s one of our favorite shots captured at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Show us how funny and clever you can be by writing a caption for this image (keep it clean, please!). As usual, the Mac|Life editors will pick our favorite and send the winner the excellent prize pictured below. Good luck! (Your caption here!)   WIN THIS! Elgato EyeTV One ($119.95, www.elgato.com ) delivers digital over-the-air TV channels straight from your antenna to your Mac.   Include your full name, email and mailing addresses, and phone number with your entry. Send us your best caption in the body of an email to contest@maclife.com with the subject line “Panda Says… Challenge.” Deadline for entry: March 31, 2010

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Got Something To Say? Enter this Month’s Contest! [March]

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPod touch , iPod , iPod Accessories , iPod Headphones and Earbuds , Macintosh / Apple Hardware , Peripherals , Speakers and Headphones , Reviews Provides: On-ear headphones with inline microphone Developer: urbanears Compatibility: Any device with standard 1/8” headphone jack Price: $59.00 Heavy hitters: In both appearance and extra features, Urbanears’ Plattan line (pictured at right in the “army” shade) are indeed heavy hitters. The Urbanears website describes them as a “full size headphone allowing for rich, secluded sound,” which the well-padded cups and ample drivers do quite nicely. Available in a dazzling array of colors—ranging from blues with names like “Ocean” to a green “Sallad” to “Chocolate”—they certainly make a visual statement. The review unit came in a funky shade of dark blue called Navy. One thing is certain; these headphones do stand out visually!  Fit and finish on these are top notch. The head band is covered in a woven fabric, as is the cord; it is nice to see somebody change it up from the standard vinyl leather and plastic.  The fit was tight but not uncomfortable on a medium-sized head; those with larger noggins might need to give these a pass. One gripe is the lack of a carrying case. At this price point, it feels like a cheap cost cutting measure. The integrated inline microphone is also a nice touch.  It is a bit strange at first; the headphones isolate so much external sound that you will not hear yourself speaking. Callers reported no clarity issues, and the sound from phone calls was flawless.  Another… interesting …feature included on these headphones is the Zound plug (yes, that is a “z”).  It is an extra headphone jack on the right ear cup that allows you to plug in another pair of headphones—essentially daisy chaining the sound.  It came in handy for sharing PIxar’s Up from an iPod touch on a long car trip. Got it where it counts? Despite excellent visual appeal, the Plattans were decidedly lacking in the audio department.  They seem to be an exercise in form over function, and although they nail the form category, they are simply mediocre in audio function

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Appletell reviews the Urbanears Plattan headphones

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

A piece I wrote last week on the impact of iTunes web preview pages on App Store SEO brought up a little side conversation about how many people found it annoying that the links launch iTunes automatically. Sometimes you don’t even have any warning that the link is going to launch iTunes if you click on a shortened link. There are a few simple steps that you can take to stop this behavior and suppress iTunes in its eagerness to run and take you to the page for that app (or other iTunes content). Below, I have outlined the steps for Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. The Basic Concept The iTunes preview pages run a JavaScript function that attempts to load iTunes by opening an ITMS file. This file will launch iTunes and direct the application to open the iTunes Store to the specified content. I did not want to recommend just disabling JavaScript because that would interfere with a lot of websites that rely on the interactivity that is possible with JavaScript. We will prevent iTunes from opening by changing the way that these browsers handle the ITMS file. This approach will allow you to manually launch iTunes when you desire. In the case of Chrome, we can selectively disable JavaScript for iTunes links. Safari Safari uses the helper applications as defined in the “Get Info” dialog box for each file type. In Snow Leopard, Mac OS X relies solely on the file’s extension to determine the default application. This may behave differently in 10.5, which still respects the creator code attribute. Create a simple text file on your desktop.

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How-To: Stop iTunes Web Links From Opening iTunes

Filed under: Gaming , Software , Apple , Developer , iPhone , iPad On the third day of GDC 2010 , Ngmoco’s Neil Young took the stage in one of the largest rooms at the conference to talk about what his company had “unlearned” in its time in the App Store. Ngmoco has become a large and polarizing figure in the world of App Store development — after starting out with a big investment from the iFund, it’s moved quickly to become one of the biggest iPhone-only developers , and after starting out with a few premium titles like the very successful Rolando, have recently made waves with its “freemium” business model . Young talked about the company’s history so far, and went in-depth on Ngmoco’s plan for ruling the App Store and why he believes it’s the “most significant shift and opportunity for [game developers] since the birth of this business.” We’ve summarized Young’s long address in this post. It was pretty incredible — not only did Young lay out his idea of a clear plan for building and developing a large portfolio of very profitable App Store titles “at scale” (the company plans to release twenty new freemium products on the iPhone in the near future, as well as six titles on the iPad ), but he made it very clear that he fervently believes that freemium and the model he’s structured is the future of the video game business. Continue reading GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:00:00 EST.

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GDC 2010: Ngmoco’s Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world