Filed under: Analysis / Opinion , Odds and ends , Apple It’s the end of another calendar year, which can mean only two things. First, every blog is going to be posting lists of 2009 retrospectives, and second, there are going to be a lot of posts filled with completely off-target predictions for 2010. So that we’re not leaving our readership sitting in the dark wondering what the TUAW bloggers are prognosticating for the next year, here are our wild guesses well-researched and intelligent predictions for Apple in 2010. Enjoy ‘em, and from all of us at TUAW, have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and Day. Steve Sande Big DUH! The Apple Tablet arrives. There are way too many hints flying around the blogosphere for this to be a non-product for another year. It’s gotta happen! The Apple TV disappears from the Apple lineup. I hates it, I does. It just doesn’t seem like an Apple product. iPhone moves to multiple US carriers, but not Verizon. Why? Wrong network for a world (read GSM) phone, and I think Apple is probably irritated with Verizon’s Droid and their advertising. Apple closes some low-producing Apple Stores. The economy is still bad, and there have to be some locations with stores that aren’t pulling their weight.

Continue reading...

Section: iPod + iTunes , iPod touch , iPhone , iPhone , iPhone SDK & Apps , Originals It is a new year, and that means a new chance to re-sculpt your body. If your goal for this year involves getting in better shape, then these iPhone apps can help you to reach your goal. Weight Watchers Mobile Seller: Weight Watchers International Compatibility: iPhone and iPod Touch Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 above File Size: 9.7 MB Price: Free Age Rating: 12+ One of the most popular dieting systems in the world can go with your anywhere. You do not have to be a Weight Watchers online member to use this app, but it does get you access to a few bonus features. Without the subscription, you can still track foods, use the points calculator and keep track of your favorite healthy recipes all at once. Not to bad for a freebie! It also very visually appealing, with pictures of suggested meals. Download Weight Watchers Mobile My Weight Loss Coach Seller: Ubisoft Entertainment Compatibility: iPhone and iPod Touch Requirements: iPhone OS 1.0 or above File Size: 70.5 MB Price: $.99 Age Rating: 4+ Owners of the Nintendo DS may already be familiar with this title. It is a comprehensive tracker that allows you to input your foods and exercise, as well as provide you with fitness goals and suggestions. The file size is large, but this app is full of great things. If you love to cook, you will enjoy the food based challenges. If you can’t think of ways to get moving the activity ones will light your fire. The best part of this application is that it’s designed to fit into your real life.

Continue reading...

Section: Software + Apps , Miscellaneous , Third-Party , iPod + iTunes , iPod touch , iPhone , iPhone , iPhone SDK & Apps , Mac + Computers , Software Macintosh and iPhone/iPod updates and announcements for December 31, 2009: Macintosh Indie software developer Patrick Stein has introduced JollysFastVNC 1.0 , his powerful new ARD and VNC client for Mac OS X. Perfect for IT managers, web developers and casual users alike, JollysFastVNC was developed from the ground up utilizing the latest Cocoa technologies. It organizes the most useful features within an elegant user-interface that is powerful, intuitive and quick to work with. JollysFastVNC is very fast, and aims to be the best and most secure VNC client on the Mac platform. iPhone/iPod Surprise family and friends this holiday season by sending a colorful greeting card—personalized with your own voice—right from the iPhone. Greet , the iPhone Greeting app has been developed by Texas-based Impiger Technologies, who specialize in Mobile Applications for the global market. Users can choose from a colorful range of 63 cards for different occasions. Be it for Christmas, New Year, Birthdays, Anniversaries or Valentine’s Day. iPhone users can scribble personal messages on the ecards, record wishes in their own voice, and mail them out. One can even respond to emails with a ‘thank you” ecard. Giovannini Simone has announced Enigmo! 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Enigmo! is a new iphone application in where you can test your intelligence. Solve the many riddles divided in the 3 categories: logic, mathematic and various. Train your mind or challenge your friends and show them who’s the smartest

Continue reading...

From marking its first year this past summer, to boasting over 100,000 applications in its catalog, the App Store has been great for many developers on the iPhone platform this past year. With 2010 right around the corner, we wanted to take a look back at the 100 greatest iPhone apps of 2009. These applications were nominated by Mac|Life readers. All of these apps have something in common: They’ve helped make the iPhone better over the past year.    MobileMe iDisk (free) This little iPhone app lets MobileMe users browse through files stored on their iDisk with ease. The app also lets you view files like PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Image files, and iWork files. In addition, you can share files right from your iPhone.   Evernote (free) Evernote is the free online service/application that lets you store notes and images in notebooks for later use. The iPhone application really comes in handy, especially since it syncs with the cloud. Coupled with the new offline viewing for premium users, Evernote has to be one the best iPhone apps, hands down.    Facebook (free) It seems like all of our friends are on Facebook these days, so why shouldn’t Facebook be everywhere? Well, with their iPhone application it can definitely seem like that. This application allows you to manage all of your friends, posts, messages, uploads, and otherwise use Facebook without being inside of a browser.

Continue reading...

Filed under: Gaming , Hardware , Software , Odds and ends , Apple , Apple TV Apple has updated a patent that they already held featuring a sort of a Magic Wand — a remote control for operating a media system by controlling an on-screen cursor. That might sound familiar if you own a Wii — even the pictures look very similar to the way the Wiimote currently works. And the pictures tell us something else: not only does the patent itself mention a “media system,” but the user interface looks very similar to the current Front Row interface on the Apple TV . So it’s likely that if Apple is updating this patent, they’re working on a new remote to control their set-top box. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing they’d use a motion controller for — I speculated a long time ago that Apple might want to put their now substantial App Store library into play on another platform, and a motion controller would go a long way towards replicating the touchscreen and accelerometer capability of the iPhone. Of course, this patent only means Apple is playing around with these ideas, not actually releasing hardware based on them. But it just shows that they’re thinking along the same lines in terms of improving the browsing and interface experience. Apple updates patent for magic wand remote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Apple updates patent for magic wand remote originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Continue reading...

I recently made the switch to the newest version of the web development application Espresso . After having used Coda for all my previous web development needs, I’m naturally making some comparisons between the two. I’ll leave the blow by blow evaluation to others but thought it worth noting that the one feature I find myself really missing the most from Coda is the ability to quickly search through reference books. This surprised me a bit as I wouldn’t normally list this as a “killer feature” of Coda, but more than anything else I’ve found myself continuously cursing the lack of this option in Espresso. Thinking others might be feeling the same way I quickly threw together this Google Quick Search Box plug-in (ZIP, 742kb) that will let you send searches to reference sources for HTML, CSS, JQuery, PHP, MySQL, Python, and WordPress. You can start the query by entering text directly into QSB or by selecting text within Espresso itself, or any other application for that matter. It seems like a simple feature hardly worth mentioning but I’ve found that having the option to quickly check up on the details of a particular function, element, declaration, etc.

Continue reading...

Virtually every geek has spent, at one time or another in their lives, a lot of time playing with Lego bricks. They’re basically the single greatest creativity toy ever developed. And it’s been fun to see the world of Lego make a variety of appearances on the iPhone. The newest app from Billund, Denmark is Lego

Continue reading...

Virtually every geek has spent, at one time or another in their lives, a lot of time playing with Lego bricks. They’re basically the single greatest creativity toy ever developed. And it’s been fun to see the world of Lego make a variety of appearances on the iPhone. The newest app from Billund, Denmark is Lego

Continue reading...

This could be your last chance to buy a Mac for another year. Sure, it’s just one day, but can you wait that long when there are deals awaitin’? If you are one of the few souls left on the planet without an iPod touch, Apple has a 16GB version for $199. Maybe you’ve longed

Continue reading...

This could be your last chance to buy a Mac for another year. Sure, it’s just one day, but can you wait that long when there are deals awaitin’? If you are one of the few souls left on the planet without an iPod touch, Apple has a 16GB version for $199. Maybe you’ve longed

Continue reading...