So it was with more than a little trepidation that I accepted a new assignment from my editor (sort of a follow-up to my article "Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows") to give up my PC and try living for two weeks on the Mac. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!
iTunes price changes deliver mixed results
Price increases that took effect on Apple's iTunes Store last week reportedly hurt unit sales of some of the most popular songs but ultimately managed to drive marginal increases in overall revenues for the digital download service.
Mac 101: How to set a default printer
Filed under: Mac 101
Over time you may wind up with several printers set up for your Mac. This results in a list of available printers every time you go to print. If the default (the first one selected) isn't to your liking you can always change it. To do so, bring up System Preferences and go to Print & Fax. Now right-click (you can hold the Ctrl key down if you don't have a 2-button mouse) on a printer in the list and choose: Set default printer. There you go!
Note the plus and minus signs below the list of printers. If you're just getting started, click the plus to add a printer. If you've sold a printer, click the minus to delete one after selecting it. Apple has an excellent 101 of their own about setting up a printer on your Mac.
Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.
TUAWMac 101: How to set a default printer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Future iPhone may detect when you are truckin' like the doodah man, offer video chat
Macrumors has a detailed breakdown of a couple of new iPhone patent applications, but here's the gist: Apple is looking at how to trigger events based on movements (or gestures), and one patent filing shows a front-facing video camera. The camera is easy -- there's your 2-way video chat (we hope). The motion stuff? Well, Apple could go in several directions with that.According to the indications in the patent filing, Apple is suggesting the interface on the iPhone could change under certain conditions. Specifically, contacts would get larger if you are running. That makes them easier to tap when you aren't able to be as accurate. This is just one example, but I think the more the iPhone can correctly guess the context of its use, the better. We were all a little excited when we saw the auto-orientation of (some) apps, and the relatively minor miracle of a proximity sensor which turns off the screen when you raise the phone to your face. The motion-sensing stuff takes this way beyond all that.
While this stuff won't likely make it into the next iPhone revision, it does show you where Apple is headed: more features, better usability. Although I do notice the power button seems to have moved to the right, away from the top. Will that be part of the next iPhone? There's mention of everything from a stylus to a scroll wheel (like BlackBerry), but I think that's just patent chatter (covering the bases, as it were). Here's a link to the patent filing.
[thanks to Alejandro for help in plumbing the patent filing]
TUAWFuture iPhone may detect when you are truckin' like the doodah man, offer video chat originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple market share drops slightly in the past year
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends, Apple Financial
Don't look now, but Apple's slow market share incline may have just turned into a slow decline. Not only does a new report by research and advisory company Gartner, Inc say that Apple's market share in the US slipped just a little bit over the past year (from 7.5% to 7.4%), but that as you can see above, there's a steep little decline from the 8% it was in the last quarter of 2008. The PC market overall is down as well, a 6.5% decline since the beginning of last year.
Does that mean it's time to sell the AAPL stock? Probably not -- as you can see from the graph, there's still been a nice steady growth in market share since 2006, and the current economy has all ships falling a little bit with the tide as it goes out. But it does mean that Apple might be having more trouble than they want breaking out into more of the market. If that is their goal anyway -- Gartner's report also notes that Apple's relatively higher ASP (Average Selling Price) "created challenges for it in the tough economy," but when have we ever known them to go cheap?
So Apple's not up in the short term, but who is? Well maybe Goldman Sachs is. But we don't entirely trust those guys. And in case you're wondering: none of this is actual financial advice, and none of it should be used to make any decisions that might lose you money. You've been warned.
[via TechMeme]
Does that mean it's time to sell the AAPL stock? Probably not -- as you can see from the graph, there's still been a nice steady growth in market share since 2006, and the current economy has all ships falling a little bit with the tide as it goes out. But it does mean that Apple might be having more trouble than they want breaking out into more of the market. If that is their goal anyway -- Gartner's report also notes that Apple's relatively higher ASP (Average Selling Price) "created challenges for it in the tough economy," but when have we ever known them to go cheap?
So Apple's not up in the short term, but who is? Well maybe Goldman Sachs is. But we don't entirely trust those guys. And in case you're wondering: none of this is actual financial advice, and none of it should be used to make any decisions that might lose you money. You've been warned.
[via TechMeme]
TUAWApple market share drops slightly in the past year originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Verizon says iPhone deal more likely with advent of 4G network
Although his company snubbed Apple on the first go-round, Verizon's chief executive Ivan Seidenberg now says the chances of an iPhone on his network will be greater once a 4G cellular network is in place.
Apple Comments on Microsoft's Laptop Hunter Ads
Businessweek's Arik Hesseldahl analyzes Microsoft's latest ad campaign "Laptop Hunters". We've highlighted the ads here which have generated a massive amount of reader discussion. The ads specifically target Apple's Macs as having a higher cost tha...
Nambu native Twitter client for Mac
Filed under: Freeware, Internet Tools
Nambu is a native Mac application designed for multiple social networking services, but in practice it seems like its primary strength is as a Twitter client. It offers support for multiple Twitter accounts, which can in turn be viewed in several different ways. It also integrates support for the tr.im URL shorting service and the pic.im image service.
There's the standard list view which will automatically integrate tweets from multiple accounts into a single timeline. There's a three-pane view, somewhat similar to Mail, with a sidebar allowing you to choose between accounts, and finally (my favorite) there's a multi-column view reminiscent of the Adobe AIR-based TweetDeck and you can, of course, choose what appears in each column: main timeline, replies, sent messages, searches(!), etc.. In addition, replies are automatically threaded so they appear indented under the most recent tweet from the person to whom you are replying (as well as within the normal timeline). Another nice feature is that it automatically displays the domain of shortened URLs that appear in your timeline.
In short, I think I've found my new Mac-native Twitter client. Nambu is a free download from The Nambu Network.
TUAWNambu native Twitter client for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AT&T needs Apple, but does Apple need AT&T?
The chief of AT&T is dying to hold on to its exclusive iPhone deal with Apple, which expires next year. And I can't blame him.But it might not be a great deal for Apple.
Leaf Trombone out now in the App Store
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store
I've been down on the fine folks at Smule in the past -- I've said that their app Ocarina seems kind of silly (even if people have created some pretty awesome stuff with it and other less annoying music apps). And about the only thing they could have done to make it up to me was to develop some sort of super massively multiplayer music app, some app in which you could play a tune and have it sent all around the world. So I guess I have to call off my pretend grudge against them once and for all, because that's exactly what they did: Leaf Trombone: World Stage is in the App Store right now.
This is, of course, the app with the strange name that we saw at Apple's iPhone 3.0 demo. It features a Chinese leaf-type instrument that sounds, as you can hear above, like a trombone. But the World Stage part is the most interesting -- Smule has set up a way to share the songs you play in the app with people around the world, and the people who hear your work can send back short messages and emotes to say how they felt. It's an interesting idea -- kind of combines what they were trying to do with Zephyr into a more Ocarina-like app.
At just 99 cents, there will undoubtedly be lots of musicians out there picking it up. And while the video above is... cute... we're sure there'll be some even better stuff to listen to soon.
TUAWLeaf Trombone out now in the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Living on Air: A Windows guru spends two weeks with a Mac
So it was with more than a little trepidation that I accepted a new assignment from my editor (sort of a follow-up to my article "Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows") to give up my PC and try living for two weeks on the Mac. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!
iTunes price changes deliver mixed results
Price increases that took effect on Apple's iTunes Store last week reportedly hurt unit sales of some of the most popular songs but ultimately managed to drive marginal increases in overall revenues for the digital download service.
Mac 101: How to set a default printer
Filed under: Mac 101
Over time you may wind up with several printers set up for your Mac. This results in a list of available printers every time you go to print. If the default (the first one selected) isn't to your liking you can always change it. To do so, bring up System Preferences and go to Print & Fax. Now right-click (you can hold the Ctrl key down if you don't have a 2-button mouse) on a printer in the list and choose: Set default printer. There you go!
Note the plus and minus signs below the list of printers. If you're just getting started, click the plus to add a printer. If you've sold a printer, click the minus to delete one after selecting it. Apple has an excellent 101 of their own about setting up a printer on your Mac.
Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.
TUAWMac 101: How to set a default printer originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Future iPhone may detect when you are truckin' like the doodah man, offer video chat
Macrumors has a detailed breakdown of a couple of new iPhone patent applications, but here's the gist: Apple is looking at how to trigger events based on movements (or gestures), and one patent filing shows a front-facing video camera. The camera is easy -- there's your 2-way video chat (we hope). The motion stuff? Well, Apple could go in several directions with that.According to the indications in the patent filing, Apple is suggesting the interface on the iPhone could change under certain conditions. Specifically, contacts would get larger if you are running. That makes them easier to tap when you aren't able to be as accurate. This is just one example, but I think the more the iPhone can correctly guess the context of its use, the better. We were all a little excited when we saw the auto-orientation of (some) apps, and the relatively minor miracle of a proximity sensor which turns off the screen when you raise the phone to your face. The motion-sensing stuff takes this way beyond all that.
While this stuff won't likely make it into the next iPhone revision, it does show you where Apple is headed: more features, better usability. Although I do notice the power button seems to have moved to the right, away from the top. Will that be part of the next iPhone? There's mention of everything from a stylus to a scroll wheel (like BlackBerry), but I think that's just patent chatter (covering the bases, as it were). Here's a link to the patent filing.
[thanks to Alejandro for help in plumbing the patent filing]
TUAWFuture iPhone may detect when you are truckin' like the doodah man, offer video chat originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple market share drops slightly in the past year
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Odds and ends, Apple Financial
Don't look now, but Apple's slow market share incline may have just turned into a slow decline. Not only does a new report by research and advisory company Gartner, Inc say that Apple's market share in the US slipped just a little bit over the past year (from 7.5% to 7.4%), but that as you can see above, there's a steep little decline from the 8% it was in the last quarter of 2008. The PC market overall is down as well, a 6.5% decline since the beginning of last year.
Does that mean it's time to sell the AAPL stock? Probably not -- as you can see from the graph, there's still been a nice steady growth in market share since 2006, and the current economy has all ships falling a little bit with the tide as it goes out. But it does mean that Apple might be having more trouble than they want breaking out into more of the market. If that is their goal anyway -- Gartner's report also notes that Apple's relatively higher ASP (Average Selling Price) "created challenges for it in the tough economy," but when have we ever known them to go cheap?
So Apple's not up in the short term, but who is? Well maybe Goldman Sachs is. But we don't entirely trust those guys. And in case you're wondering: none of this is actual financial advice, and none of it should be used to make any decisions that might lose you money. You've been warned.
[via TechMeme]
Does that mean it's time to sell the AAPL stock? Probably not -- as you can see from the graph, there's still been a nice steady growth in market share since 2006, and the current economy has all ships falling a little bit with the tide as it goes out. But it does mean that Apple might be having more trouble than they want breaking out into more of the market. If that is their goal anyway -- Gartner's report also notes that Apple's relatively higher ASP (Average Selling Price) "created challenges for it in the tough economy," but when have we ever known them to go cheap?
So Apple's not up in the short term, but who is? Well maybe Goldman Sachs is. But we don't entirely trust those guys. And in case you're wondering: none of this is actual financial advice, and none of it should be used to make any decisions that might lose you money. You've been warned.
[via TechMeme]
TUAWApple market share drops slightly in the past year originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Verizon says iPhone deal more likely with advent of 4G network
Although his company snubbed Apple on the first go-round, Verizon's chief executive Ivan Seidenberg now says the chances of an iPhone on his network will be greater once a 4G cellular network is in place.
Apple Comments on Microsoft's Laptop Hunter Ads
Businessweek's Arik Hesseldahl analyzes Microsoft's latest ad campaign "Laptop Hunters". We've highlighted the ads here which have generated a massive amount of reader discussion. The ads specifically target Apple's Macs as having a higher cost tha...
Nambu native Twitter client for Mac
Filed under: Freeware, Internet Tools
Nambu is a native Mac application designed for multiple social networking services, but in practice it seems like its primary strength is as a Twitter client. It offers support for multiple Twitter accounts, which can in turn be viewed in several different ways. It also integrates support for the tr.im URL shorting service and the pic.im image service.
There's the standard list view which will automatically integrate tweets from multiple accounts into a single timeline. There's a three-pane view, somewhat similar to Mail, with a sidebar allowing you to choose between accounts, and finally (my favorite) there's a multi-column view reminiscent of the Adobe AIR-based TweetDeck and you can, of course, choose what appears in each column: main timeline, replies, sent messages, searches(!), etc.. In addition, replies are automatically threaded so they appear indented under the most recent tweet from the person to whom you are replying (as well as within the normal timeline). Another nice feature is that it automatically displays the domain of shortened URLs that appear in your timeline.
In short, I think I've found my new Mac-native Twitter client. Nambu is a free download from The Nambu Network.
TUAWNambu native Twitter client for Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
AT&T needs Apple, but does Apple need AT&T?
The chief of AT&T is dying to hold on to its exclusive iPhone deal with Apple, which expires next year. And I can't blame him.But it might not be a great deal for Apple.
Leaf Trombone out now in the App Store
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, App Store
I've been down on the fine folks at Smule in the past -- I've said that their app Ocarina seems kind of silly (even if people have created some pretty awesome stuff with it and other less annoying music apps). And about the only thing they could have done to make it up to me was to develop some sort of super massively multiplayer music app, some app in which you could play a tune and have it sent all around the world. So I guess I have to call off my pretend grudge against them once and for all, because that's exactly what they did: Leaf Trombone: World Stage is in the App Store right now.
This is, of course, the app with the strange name that we saw at Apple's iPhone 3.0 demo. It features a Chinese leaf-type instrument that sounds, as you can hear above, like a trombone. But the World Stage part is the most interesting -- Smule has set up a way to share the songs you play in the app with people around the world, and the people who hear your work can send back short messages and emotes to say how they felt. It's an interesting idea -- kind of combines what they were trying to do with Zephyr into a more Ocarina-like app.
At just 99 cents, there will undoubtedly be lots of musicians out there picking it up. And while the video above is... cute... we're sure there'll be some even better stuff to listen to soon.
TUAWLeaf Trombone out now in the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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