Archive for July, 2008
Posted by: in Mac News
Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Hacks, Found Footage
 Jason W. has submitted a video demonstrating his latest innovation: a glove liner with magnetic contacts which functions as a wintertime remote and looks like a sweet way to geek out your cold-weather gear. It might quite possibly also be a less-expensive solution than some previously available winter gear.
Jason designed the interface — which assigns functions to each finger and is activated by touching that finger to a receiver — after watching a snowboarding friend repeatedly remove her gloves to control her iPod. I spend a fair share of time in the cold, and know the inconvenience well. I also happen to lack the ninja skills needed to control an iPod located in some of the awkward positions that armbands and winter jackets can place one in, which only heightens my interest in this invention. The subtle nature of the glove-bound controls promises a chance for me to look like that much less of a dork when attempting winter sports.
I haven’t been able to determine whether this is compatible with an iPod touch/iPhone yet. I would find it infinitely more useful with a touchscreen than with a clickwheel, which I had actually become relatively adept at using upside down and backwards before the advent of the iPhone. Some older remotes work fine, so perhaps this might already be an iPhone match.
You can see the video of the iPod glove liner on YouTube and revel in the chilly possibilities.
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Filed under: Desktops, Misc. Gadgets
While most of us can get by with a laptop bag on our travels, if you really need to have your primo gear with you at all times, you may want to take some cues from this one-of-a-kind trunk from the folks at Monolab Design. Apparently, this project began years ago when its creator was living from hotel to hotel, and it has now wound up as a fixture in the first Monolab|Workspace in Palo Alto, California. Not exactly fulfilling its purpose, to be sure, but it is undeniably a pretty impressive piece of work, with the entire 300-pound rid constructed out of anodized aluminum, and it boasting custom-built accommodations for a Mac Pro, a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display 23″, a Music Hall Mambo amplifier, and a pair of aluminum-enclosed Webern loudspeakers. No plans for building your own, unfortunately, but you can get a better look at it by hitting up the read link below.
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals
 Oftentimes, Brando’s assortment of “must-have” doohickeys don’t actually do much for your productivity level. This particular gizmo, however, bucks that trend in glorious fashion. The $23 USB 4-in-1 Web Cam is a fairly standard desk lamp with built-in LEDs that also acts as a webcam, voice input device and fan. Best of all, this one’s USB-powered, though that could spell disaster (or “USB hub”) if your sockets are already occupied with other Brando gear.
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Posted by: in Mac News
Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Hacks, Found Footage
Jason W. has submitted a video demonstrating his latest innovation: a glove liner with magnetic contacts which functions as a wintertime remote and looks like a sweet way to geek out your cold-weather gear. It might quite possibly also be a less-expensive solution than some previously available winter gear.
Jason designed the interface — which assigns functions to each finger and is activated by touching that finger to a receiver — after watching a snowboarding friend repeatedly remove her gloves to control her iPod. I spend a fair share of time in the cold, and know the inconvenience well. I also happen to lack the ninja skills needed to control an iPod located in some of the awkward positions that armbands and winter jackets can place one in, which only heightens my interest in this invention. The subtle nature of the glove-bound controls promises a chance for me to look like that much less of a dork when attempting winter sports.
I haven’t been able to determine whether this is compatible with an iPod touch/iPhone yet. I would find it infinitely more useful with a touchscreen than with a clickwheel, which I had actually become relatively adept at using upside down and backwards before the advent of the iPhone. Some older remotes work fine, so perhaps this might already be an iPhone match.
You can see the video of the iPod glove liner on YouTube and revel in the chilly possibilities.
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Posted by: in Mac News
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, SDK
If you’ve heard (as we had) that the journey to the beta 2.1 firmware for the iPhone is one-way only, TUAW reader Brian D. has some good news for you. He writes in to say that the journey back is not as impossible as once thought. “Users can downgrade merely by putting the iPhone into DFU mode, and restoring per usual in iTunes. Works like a charm. 2.1 stinks. Back to 2.0 and business as usual.”
Brian’s downgrade was done using an iPhone 3G. I haven’t had a chance to test out the 2.1 firmware, but it’s nice to know that upgrading is not a permanent decision.
Written by Erica Sadun
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Posted by: in Mac News
Filed under: iPod Family, iTunes, Mac 101
 If you’re anything like me — and I sincerely hope you’re not, for your sake — you have a large iTunes music library, but the music that you like right now is only a small fraction of that total. (Yeah, that embarrassing ‘96 Dave Matthews Band album is getting pretty dusty.)
Since my musical tastes vary from day to day, and songs quickly fall in and out of my fickle favor, I love assigning ratings to the music I like this minute. I have a five-star rating for la cr
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Not quite sure why, but we get this whole Get Smart vibe from this thing. IOCELL’s contents phone would probably be more suited for a highly covert spy agency rather than your grandmother’s home, but we suppose even granny could appreciate the built-in hard drive that logs conversations, plays ‘em back and makes remembering things that much easier. Furthermore, the firm asserts that this thing can send completed calls out on the internet should you want to pass along the audio to someone else, and there also appears to be a USB port for possibly offloading those onto flash drives. Heck, it even syncs caller ID information with calls and provides background music during conversations (uh, okay?). Take a wild guess on the price, chances are you’ll be fairly close.
[Via The Red Ferret Journal]
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
 Apple’s Push-like MobileMe launch has been such a debacle that they’re now in damage control mode. As a result, some poor soul has been tasked by Steve Jobs to post status updates “every other day or so.” The first update is already revealing:
- Last Friday, 1% of MobileMe subscribers were affected by a “serious problem” with one of Apple’s mail servers
- Limited web access has been restored to those accounts but full access won’t be sorted until next week
- Of these 1%, Apple admits to losing “approximately 10%” of the messages received between July 16 and July 18
For the rest of you MobileMe subscribers, Apple has added server capacity, tuned the software to scale superior, and fixed over 70 bugs to date. So the question is, how’s MobileMe working for you?
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Posted by: in Mac News
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate, iPod Family, iPhone, App Store, SDK
Something is rotten in the state of Cupertino. Mr. Jobs, TEAR DOWN THIS NDA.
If the new iPhone 2.1 beta firmware is anything, it’s a perfect excuse to say: “I told you so.” It explains why the NDA failed to disappear on schedule. Apple kept its promise — “Ve shall delivah the 2.0 iPhone und SDK on Yuly 11th” — while working around the fact that that SDK was half baked at best. It was certainly not ready for prime time. The NDA simply expands the beta period. It offers cover to Apple, as they scramble to finish developing ready-to-ship software.
In retrospect, there really was no need for the NDA in the first place, nor this second new 2.1 NDA that just debuted. Anyone, including Apple’s competitors — even the really evil “big brother” ones — can sign up and download the SDK for free. Apple isn’t exactly keeping things hush hush on the down low.
All the NDA does right now is keep developers from talking to each other and blogs, magazines and book authors from publishing how-to articles. Said articles, etc., could actually help Apple reduce its tech support overhead. It would certainly help solidify the brand and allow third parties to make better, stronger App Store entries.
It made no sense then. It makes no sense now. But that’s not where the grumbling ends. Our TUAW tipsters have been busy. They tell us that Apple is busy rejecting Applications from the App Store for grammar mistakes in onboard help files (not a joke) and for not presenting the user with the best playability options (also not a joke). Many of these frustrated developers tell us that some of their products have been waiting for review for four weeks and up and that their updates are getting caught in the gears. One wrote that his apps are getting poor reviews while fixes can’t see the light of day.
And if the TUAW tipsters’ tips are true (thanks TUAW tipsters), the new SDK throws a further wrench into the gears. 2.0 SDK Applications will not be immediately compatible with version 2.1 (although that could change between beta and release).
Other tremendously terrific tipsters tell us that the newest beta program isn’t fully open. Apparently only a subset of iPhone SDK development members have been granted access. That once again puts some developers at a tremendous financial disadvantage.
All in all, the buzz in developer circles is not happy. While some look forward to their first August paychecks from App Store, others remain waiting and frustrated in the wings.
As always, please continue to use our tip line if you have anything you want to add anonymously to the discussion. Otherwise, feel free to opine in our comments.
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
There was a time when the world was more innocent and Lincoln Logs in elementary classrooms were a given, but now that teachers are looking to squash every ounce of fun between 8AM and 3PM (okay, so maybe we just had a rough experience or two), LEGO’s taking the back door in. The WeDo robotics kit is marketed toward elementary schools and the younger kids within them, with each package containing 158 blocks, gears, levers, etc., a USB hub for connecting to your Mac / PC, OLPC XO or Intel Classmate, a motor, one motion sensor, one tilt sensor and a CD with a smattering of sure-to-be-riveting activities. Mum’s the word on pricing for now, but considering your tax dollars will be paying for ‘em, it’s not like you’ll really benefit from knowing.
[Via BoingBoing]
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