Apple - Mac - iPhone

Filed under: Accessories, iPhone

Here at the TUAW giveaway headquarters near Denver, Colorado, we get a lot of fun items to give away to readers. So many, in fact, that sometimes we neglect to give away some of the items until they reappear from the bottom of a pile.

With sincere apologies to the wonderful folks at Fusion of Ideas, that's what actually happened to the four StealthArmor for iPhone 4 kits they sent to us. For iPhone 4 owners who want to resolve the "grip 'o death" issues without an Apple bumper, StealthArmor provides a classy solution.

Each of the four kits we have to give away comes with a set of parts. There's a nano-fusion scratch-resistant screen protector, a set of custom-cut corner and side bezel pieces, and then an industrial-grade back cover. Unlike the bumper and most cases that are on the iPhone 4 protection market, StealthArmor adds very little weight and bulk to your device -- but does add a lot of protection. The kits also come with complete installation instructions, although you might want to view the video (above) before attempting the install.

The four kits we're giving away are each a bit different:

• Matte White back with clear corner and side bezel pieces
• Carbon Fiber back with brushed aluminum corner and side bezel pieces
• Woodgrain back with clear corner and side bezel pieces
• Tungsten back with brushed aluminum corner and side bezel pieces

To enter the giveaway, leave us a comment telling us which of the four kits you'd most like to win. We can't guarantee that you'll get the one you want, but we'll try our best. Here are the official rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, leave a comment telling us which of the four StealthArmor kits listed above you'd like to win.
• The comment must be left before midnight on Sunday, August 1st, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Four winners will be selected. All will receive one Fusion of Ideas StealthArmor for iPhone 4, valued at $35.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Good luck!

TUAWTUAW giveaway: Fusion of Ideas StealthArmor for iPhone 4 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s cute how he still calls them “slates”. It’s sad that their answer is still Windows 7.

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Nice bit of open source iPhone code from Leah Culver, implementing Tweetie-style refreshing by pulling at the end of a list.

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Nice technical write-up of what’s going on. It doesn’t appear that any particularly sensitive data is getting transmitted, but it sure is curious why they’re transmitting anything at all.

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Web app contest from An Event Apart:

It’s time to get back to basics — back to optimizing every little byte like your life depends on it. Your challenge? Build a web app in less than 10 kilobytes.

 ★ 

Filed under: App Review

Civil War: America's Epic Struggle (US$4.99) from MultiEducator Inc. is a full history course in an iPad and iPhone app. It contains at least as much information as most textbooks on the Civil War at a fraction of the cost, while adding elements that no textbook can. There are 24 multimedia presentations, some as long as nine minutes, a nice selection of music popular during the Civil War, and a wonderful navigation system that just makes sense.

When starting the app, information can be sorted 18 ways, from a changing Categories bar including Battles (sorted either chronologically or alphabetically), Multimedia Presentations, Statistics and topics like Navy, Economics, Railroads, Music, etc. Depending upon where you are in the app, tapping on Categories brings up a contextual listing of what you can see. For example, tapping on Major Battles Chronologically changes the bar to a listing of battles grouped by year. Tapping on a battle such as Bull Run, brings choices of a text summary of the battle, a five minute multimedia summary, seven text articles on aspects of the battle, 20 photos or drawings, most of them taken from the Matthew Brady Archives, and full color maps. Depending upon the battle there is more or less information available, but this is done for 26 battles in total; clearly, there's a phenomenal amount of information in the app, plenty for even a Civil War buff to peruse.

Gallery: Civil War: America's Epic Struggle

TUAWCivil War: America's Epic Struggle comes to the iPad and iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now in production: the final film in Gary Hustwit’s documentary trilogy on design, following Helvetica and Objectified:

Urbanized looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design, featuring some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call a city home by 2050.

 ★ 

Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

I was first introduced to the wonders of the mobile Wi-Fi hotspot at Macworld earlier this year -- our own Mike Rose was carrying one around, and it was like magic. A Wi-Fi connection for up to five people anywhere you go? Yes please. I don't think the charges make it necessarily feasible for someone on a budget (say, a humble blogger like yours truly) to carry around every day, but it's certainly handy to have around, especially if you're traveling.

And now Sprint is apparently looking to piggyback one of these devices on Apple's iPod touch. Macrumors reports on new filings to the FCC that show a device that's almost a case; it's designed to be attached to the back of Apple's handheld, providing local Wi-Fi service anywhere you happen to be. It's called The Peel, and it doesn't connect to the iPod touch at all except physically -- it's just a case that wraps around and sets up a Wi-Fi spot whenever it's hooked up.

It's worth nothing that this isn't the first time Sprint has tried to pair up their 4G service with an Apple device -- you might remember the iPad 4G case that came out a while back. Makes a lot of sense -- Apple's devices need a connection, and Sprint has a much better chance of making you get one if you've already got a device to use it with. We'll keep an eye out for an official release of The Peel.

TUAWRumor: Sprint working on iPod touch-friendly 4G hotspot called "Peel" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interesting, but not surprising.

 ★ 

Filed under: iPad

It was earlier this week that Jeff Bezos, father of the Kindle and CEO of Amazon was saying that "A color screen doesn't make an Ernest Hemingway novel any better."

True enough -- the Kindle has a beautiful sharp screen that is a pleasure to gaze at. Not all books, however, are Hemingways, and we're starting to see so-called multimedia titles showing up in the Apple iBooks Store.

One example is the 'Enhanced Edition' of Nixonland, by Rick Perlstein, a chronicle of our 37th President. The book contains the full text of the book first published in 2008. It also includes 27 videos of the former President and newsreels that put those turbulent years into perspective.

Gallery: Enhanced iBooks

TUAWiBooks Store adding increasing number of multimedia titles originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPad

CNET's Crave blog compiled a great list last week of twenty great, free comic books to read on your iPad. For me, more than anything else, the iPad seems perfect for a visual, interactive medium like comics. Movies are better on my big screen, and books can be read on a Kindle (or just on paper -- weird, I know), but for the iPad, having the ability to zoom in on a great piece of comic art or download new comics straight to the device to be read on that big, colorful screen seems perfect.

Enter this list, which has some great free samples from both the DC and Marvel comics apps, or a few other free Comics reader apps available on the store. There's some really good stuff out there for the low price of absolutely nothing, from some classic books that are hard to find in print to some newer promo books for current series or comics that have been made into movies.

Man cannot live on free alone -- if you're really into comics, you'll probably want to buy a few from their official apps (though it's a shame that pricing and selection isn't quite there yet, but hopefully Marvel and DC will eventually figure that out). And this article doesn't even mention the tons of great single-app books you can find on the App Store, for both the iPhone and the iPad. The iPad was designed for consuming media, and comic books are one of my favorite media around.

TUAW20 great, free iPad comics originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

Imagine if Apple's handset prices in the US weren't announced at WWDC, and the subsidy pricing was up to AT&T. Imagine if AT&T told potential iPhone customers that the iPhone 4 would launch on July 30, and pricing info would be released well in advance of that.

Now imagine the weeks leading up to July 30 went by, and AT&T didn't say a word about the iPhone 4's pricing, even though many other countries had already released handset and plan info. It's July 29, and instead of working with its customers, throwing them a bone, giving them some sort of information, AT&T instead remained utterly reticent and deleted any posts on its forums remotely critical of its handling of the situation. Imagine AT&T followed up by deleting all mention of the iPhone 4 from its website: no pricing info, no pre-orders, not even a "coming soon" link.

Imagine that July 30 comes along, with the usual line-ups happening nationwide. You'll also have to imagine there's no Apple Stores, and AT&T is the only place in the country where you can buy a subsidized iPhone. At eight in the morning on the day the iPhone 4 is supposed to launch, there's no trace of it at any AT&T store, or Best Buy, or Wal-Mart, or anywhere else you might reasonably expect to find an iPhone 4 on the day it's launched. And even in the midst of all this, and with media reports flying about that Apple's partnership with AT&T has been cancelled, AT&T still doesn't have a single scrap of information to spare for its loyal customers. Not a word of explanation. Not a single excuse. Nothing. And no iPhone 4 anywhere in the nation.

Now replace "AT&T" with "Vodafone," and you have a picture of the iPhone "launch" in New Zealand. I put "launch" in heavy sarcasm quotes, because the iPhone 4 is not launching in New Zealand today... and thanks to Vodafone, no one has any idea when or even if it will be coming to New Zealand at a subsidised price. Read on for a textbook example of how to generate a PR disaster, and also an example of how not to treat potential customers.

Update: I just got off the phone with my local Vodafone retailer, and they claim they will be selling the iPhone 4 today starting at mid-day, but only to those willing to sign a 2-year plan; they are not selling unsubsidized handsets, and the iPhone 4 will be available for online sale "in the coming weeks." I'll be heading over there momentarily to try my luck, and will update later whether I'm successful in getting one or not.

Update 2: It turns out the store reps were correct, and my local Vodafone retailer did indeed get a supply of iPhone 4s just before noon. An orderly group of about a dozen customers lined up outside the store while Vodafone employees set up iPhone promotional materials and waited for clearance from corporate to sell the units. In a case of "better late than never," Vodafone sent a text to all iPhone owners at exactly 12:00 telling people iPhone 4 was available in limited quantities. By that time, it wasn't clear if there'd be enough stock to go around for people who may have given up hope earlier in the day, although store employees didn't seem to be worried about having enough iPhones for the group which showed up at mid-day. There's no way to know how many potential early adopters might have gone home with an iPhone 4 this morning, but who will now have to wait for more available stock to arrive.

I now have a 32 GB iPhone 4 syncing with my Mac, thanks in large part to the efficiency and friendliness of the retail staff at my local Vodafone store, who handled the launch with brilliant professionalism. If their company's upper management had handled things half as well as the rank and file, I might not have needed to write this article in the first place.

TUAWiPhone 4 launch takes place in New Zealand, but confusion reigns down under originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

Rocknor's Donut Factory is due to hit App Store on Monday. It is an iPhone update of a Windows game that was critically acclaimed back when it was released in 2003. It offers terrific puzzles and fun gameplay that's unfortunately hampered on the iPhone by a too-literal transition from the original game.

In this game, you move dough through a factory -- shaping it, cooking it, topping it, and shipping it out -- using a variety of assistive machines. You have to be clever. Some of the factory floor layouts are fiendish. Getting each donut produced to order to meet your quotas isn't as simple as you might think.

TUAWFirst Look: Rocknor's Donut Factory originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, iPad

if(typeof AOLVP_cfg==='undefined')AOLVP_cfg=[];AOLVP_cfg.push({id:'AOLVP_us_115551290001','codever':0.1,'autoload':false,'autoplay':false,'playerid':'61371447001','videoid':'115551290001','publisherid':1612833736,'playertype':'pageload','width':480,'height':270,'videotitle':'TUAW','bgcolor':''});

It's a tip calculator, check-splitter all-in-one app... and yes, there are a bunch of 'em on the store. Check out the demo to see if BistroMath combines the power you need with ease of use you're comfortable with. Ultimately, that's the differentiator in these calculator apps: usability. If you can't quickly split a bill, or split a bill fairly (say some guy ordered a bottle of champagne just for himself), then the calculator isn't for you. BistroMath seems to do this and more quite easily, so if you're in the market for such a calculator -- and yes, some people use these quite often -- check it out for iPhone or iPad for US$2.99. Try not to confuse it with the other Bistromath, which is not in the App Store.

TUAWApp demo: BistroMath originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, iPad

Many developers and users of Apple's iOS devices bemoan the "walled garden" of the App Store approval process, but it appears that the company's measures have prevented mass data theft from iPhones, and iPads.

At the Black Hat security conference being held in Las Vegas this week, mobile security firm Lookout announced that an app distributed in Google's Android Market had collected private information from millions of users, then forwarded it to servers in China. Worse than that, the exact number of affected users isn't known, since the Android Market doesn't provide precise data. Estimates are that the app was downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times.

The app appeared to simply load free custom background wallpapers, but in fact collected a user's browsing history, text messages, the SIM card number, and even voice mail passwords, and then sent the data to a web site in Shenzen, China.

This is different from the recent AT&T website leak that could have let a hacker access 144,000 iPad 3G user email addresses, since in this case the data theft actually did happen, was being perpetrated by malicious hackers, involves much more personal information, and affected many more people.

So what's the difference between the security methodologies used by Google and Apple? Apple approves iOS apps only after they've gone through a strict (and frustrating to developers) process, while Google's Android Market simply warns the user that an app needs permission to perform certain functions during the installation. iOS apps must be signed by an Apple-created certificate, which means that malicious developers have a harder time distributing malware anonymously.

Lookout also noted that iOS remains virus-free, since third-party apps can only be distributed through Apple's heavily-moderated App Store, and the apps run in a sandbox environment where they can't affect the system. Lookout chief executive John Hering said that "he believes both Google and Apple are on top of policing their app stores." It's just those odd cases where apps don't do what they're advertised to do that can cause problems for users.

[via AppleInsider]

TUAWWhy Apple's "walled garden" is a good idea originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, iPad

I'm not the most musically inclined person, but I do tend to try out a bunch of different music generating apps on both my iPhone and iPad. Sometimes the end result is more or less successful, while other times I may as well have been sitting in front of a Baby Grand with just my index fingers and the sheet music for Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor in front of me. The newly released Hexaphone from Impresario Digital, thankfully, fits the former quite well.

Hexaphone uses samples generated from an expensive Nord Lead 3 synthesizer to provide you with five different sound patches and eight different scales to use, as well as 17 percussion beats to accompany your music. You can lay down a drum beat, then record a bass line and play it back while you lay down another track, and then more upon that if you want.

What's most interesting and different about this music app is how the keys are laid out, making it much easier to hit the intended notes on a smaller iPhone screen. The app works quite well on the iPad, though one optimized for the larger iPad screen would be most welcome. See the video on the next page.

My only gripe with the app so far is not being able to easily export recordings, though the developer says that's coming in a future release. The developer's website has lots of instructional videos for musical newbs like me, and they do a good job of showing you the capabilities of the app, before or after you buy. You can grab Hexaphone in the app store now for $2.99 (25% off).

TUAWApp Review: Hexaphone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The comeback episode of Dan Benjamin’s and my podcast, talking about this week’s new Macs, the Magic Trackpad, Antennagate, and more. Sponsored by MailChimp.

 ★ 

Filed under: Accessories, iPhone

And you thought using an iPhone as a flashlight was crazy...

Apparently the above image is just a concept for a flexible iPhone dock that one can easily bend into the form of a lamp. Obviously, the screen is bright enough to give enough light for a small desk area, but is it at all practical? Of course it's not. It should be using the iPhone 4 and its much brighter back-facing LED!

To me, the stand looks much too narrow to be practical as an iPhone stand, never mind as a lamp. Still, I've seen crazier things being done with the iPhone when one is in a pinch.

[via Obama Pacman]

TUAWInteresting, impractical iPhone concept lamp originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone

ClearCam has been around for a while, and I first took a look at it more than a year ago. It was a clever app that had two modes. One mode took a series of four pictures in rapid succession, and then it saved the best and sharpest one in your photo library; the other mode took six images together and stacked them in order to increase resolution and reduce noise. In practice, it meant that the old 3G 2MP camera became the rough equivalent of a 4MP camera.

The app had been pulled from the App Store for a while -- the SDK did not allow access to raw iPhone images (only compressed images), which meant it was impossible to run any enhancement algorithms on the data. The SDK now allows for access to those uncompressed images, iPhone cameras are better, and ClearCam has returned as a regular iPhone app. It runs on the 3GS and the iPhone 4, and it requires iOS 4.

The app is similar to the original version, although now it chooses the best shot out of three instead of four. For the stacking or enhanced mode, it still takes six images and then aligns and processes them.

Gallery: ClearCam example images

TUAWClearCam goes legit, will increase image resolution at a price originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hardware

It's so thin and barely there. What could be inside Apple's Magic Trackpad? The folks at iFixit took theirs apart, photographing and describing each component in great detail. Here's what they found.

Inside there is, well, not a whole heck of a lot. A large spacer prevents the user from pressing down hard enough to damage the small logic board. That board is connected to the trackpad itself via two "ridiculously thin" ribbon cables, which are glued into place. They used a hot air gun to soften the adhesive. So, tread very lightly if you plan to remove these.

Speaking of the board, the gang found that it holds a Broadcom BCM2042 for Bluetooth connectivity and a Broadcom BCM5974 touch screen controller chip (the same on used in the iPhone, iPod touch and MacBook Air). A SST 25WF020 provides 2 Mbit of serial flash memory. On the back, there's just a whole lot of glue.

Here's a bit of good news: the Magic Trackpad's battery is user-serviceable! Just good luck getting to it. It's also notable that pressure applied to the surface is translated to the feet, which in turn presses on a plate attached to the chassis. That place squeezes an electronic mouse button switch. In essence, as pointed out by Macworld, it clicks with its feet.

Thanks to iFixit for another well-documented tear down, and for sweating the (very tiny) details.

TUAWA look inside the Magic Trackpad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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