When you start up iterum2 your last used radio station with automatically load, so you can quickly start listening to music. While you are listening to music, you can view the artist and title of the current track along with album artwork. You can also read the lyrics for the song. Oh the side of the screen you can tap buttons to buy the song, search for the song online, or share the song in an email or in a tweet on Twitter. You can add stations to a list of favorites to easily access them.

The channels in iterum2 cover many different genres; from reggae to spiritual. There are also some stations for talk shows. Most of the music channels play at 128kbps, which is pretty close to CD quality. You can also listen to music on Wi-Fi or on cellular connections.

iterum2 is a good application for internet radio, but it still has some problems. If you are listening to music and you switch to view the list of channels, or go to the settings, you’re music will stop playing.  I also had some occasional problems with the music slightly skipping. Finally, some genres only have one channel, and it would be great if the application had a wider selection.

If you are looking for an internet radio app that is similar to satellite radio, and isn’t like Pandora Radio, then you should try out iterum2. iterum2 includes a good list of channels, and more should be coming soon. iterum2 is currently available from in iTunes for $3.99.

Apple’s OS X changed the playing field back in 2001, setting Apple up to succeed for the next decade while Microsoft tripped over its own feet. Tools like Spotlight, Automator, the iLife suite, Safari, and the “Core” technologies all built into each new Mac have redefined how many use their computer. We can only hope that iTunes X will have the same effect, redefining how we use our media.

iTunes X Wish List (in no particular order):

Name and icon change

It’s time to put that amazing Apple creative team to work. No longer is iTunes merely a tunes manager. It’s a jukebox, a TV and Movie Manager/Player, it’s a sync utility, it’s a store, it’s an Audiobook player, and for over 20 million people it’s phone management software. Obviously iTunes and its icon both have serious street cred, but if the iBook can survive a name change, so can iTunes. Wow us Apple, we know you can.

Tighter control over the library

How many times have you had 3 songs by the same artist all tagged as different genres? How many times have you had mis-tagged genres? Bruce Springsteen isn’t grunge metal iTunes, it just isn’t. What about when you create a new MP3 in Audacity or GarageBand and iTunes automatically adds it to your library, duplicating the track to your music folder to keep your files organized? How about duplicates? Don’t even get me started on Album Art…

When you get a big library in iTunes, it can just be a headache keeping it all properly tagged, organized, etc. iTunes has tools to combat some of these difficulties, but sometimes you just wish they were smarter.

• Automatically remove the duplicates – analyze track length, match up the wave lengths, compare the tags
• Talk to Genius/the iTunes Store and find out the right genre for a song
• Call third-party services like Last.fm, Pandora, and Amazon to fetch missing album art (I know Amazon is competing with Apple, but they offer mostly open APIs to call product info).

Genius Mixes to go: Bridge the gap between the web and the desktop

iTunes has never been good internet radio software. Most attempts at internet radio in general have failed to launch. Apple knows what kind of music I like because of Genius analysis. Let me stream my Genius Mixes when I’m on-the-go and away from my library. Offer genre stations that will introduce me to new music. Partner with Last.fm or Pandora, or maybe build something new in-house (make better use of that iTunes.com domain name?). I would even pay a small monthly fee. Bridge the gap between the desktop and the web.

Please, pay attention to playlists

I love iTunes, but the playlist system leaves much to be desired. It’s been 8 years: give me a keyboard shortcut to add the currently playing song to playlist(s). The constant dragging of songs into playlists is maddening when you’re trying to build a playlist. How many times have you used shift+click or ctrl+click, selected 50 songs, and then forgotten to hold shift/click for song #51? Make it easy to build them, easier to share them with friends, or even allow the download/sharing of playlists from an online portal. Crowd-source playlist building.

Revamp Music navigation

The iPod has always been the true pioneer of intuitive music navigation. Navigate music via Artist, Album, Track, Genre, or Playlist. iTunes has always had the ability to sort these fields, and even used to have the old browse eyeball, but it’s never been as intuitive as an iPod. iTunes developers have tried Cover Flow, Album Covers, and many iterations of list formats. Cover Flow is without a doubt one of their better attempts, but it has it’s short comings. In a collection where many albums lack album art, it’s not very pretty or useful, and it can really lag on a machine with a slower processor.

Considering we’re in the age of netbooks, having an iPod-esque navigation option would be a great addition, and provide UI congruity. With the long-rumored upcoming Apple Tablet, this would be especially handy.

Redo Movie/TV navigation entirely

The iTunes Store has turned iTunes into one of the first successful digital film/tv distribution networks. Others have tried downloads via the browser, but the browser doesn’t seem to be a successful delivery network for digital video downloads. However, the way iTunes organizes the digital video from its store (or from your own rips, if you’re tech-savvy enough) is very early 2000’s. Digital video is not music, and should not be sorted as such.

This view is hardly helpful for navigating a big collection…

Movies: Genre navigation, DVD/Blu-ray cover art, plot descriptions, director/cast/crew lists.

TV Shows: Series navigation by network/genre, season navigation, episode summaries.

iTunes should be calling services like IMDB/the iTunes Store for information on movies in your library. Plus, there’s no easy way to integrate DVD/Blu-ray extras in the current iTunes. Making the desktop movie experience more like the streaming web experience with Netflix and Hulu would make it much more powerful. If a movie I downloaded with iTunes or imported had DVD extras, exclusive interviews, etc., I would drop my DVD’s like hot pockets. Until then… I stick with buying and watching DVD’s.

Audiobooks

Audiobooks have always been somewhat of a side-hobby of Apple. If they were done correctly, it would be much more exciting to buy them digitally. Book jackets/information would be huge bonuses, extra’s from the author. A ticker showing what Page # correlates with the current time. Easier chapter skipping, built-in dictionary/glossary to look up words/characters/events. It’s currently an untapped medium: tap into it.

Revamp the Sidebar

The iTunes Sidebar is one of the more intuitive navigation systems in applications today. There’s very little clutter, it’s quick, its attractive, and most importantly it’s quite usable. However, it’s ever-growing in each redesign of iTunes. If you have a lot of playlists, shared computers on your network, connected devices, etc, it grows to an astonishing length. While it allows you to close off certain sections, that’s useless for syncing and moving content around. Try adding one the playlists at the bottom of your long list of playlists to your iPod. Case and point.

Navigation similar to that featured in the new iTunes Store would be welcome. Using both vertical and horizontal navigation is going to be vital as iTunes continues to grow bigger and bigger.

Lets get real on syncing

It’s time for some meatier syncing tools. One thing that the iTunes’ competitor Zune does quite well is give users information about what in your library is on your device. In Zune software, indicators next to each track tell users whether the item is synced or not. In the age where we rip CDs, copy music off of friend’s iPods, take backups off our own hard drives, and can purchase music directly on some iPods, it’s long-time for more powerful syncing tools. Have a view option to show what’s synced with the currently connected iPod, and whether you’re allowed to sync the content in your library over (is the track’s DRM authorized for this computer yet?). Give an estimate for the time needed to sync. Wireless syncing for the iPod/iPhone would also be a nice touch.

iTunes suite?

Lets face it: iTunes is too bloated. It just tries to do too much. With big libraries it’s just plain slow. If I’m launching iTunes to simply catch up on a podcast, I have to wait for it to load all my music, movies, audiobooks, TV shows, playlists, applications/games, and preferences. With small libraries it’s manageable, with large libraries… it’s a nightmare. Apple, it’s time to compartmentalize iTunes, and turn it into a suite of applications. Apple already kind-of does this with the ability to open core components in new windows.

• iTunes – iTunes as we know it today : an implementation of all the applications when you want everything at once
• Music application – Let users organize music, play like a jukebox, sync with devices
• TV/Film/ application – Navigate video collection, watch videos, sync with devices
• Store/Download Center application – For when you want to go on a spending spree, without lugging everything you own with you to the store. Plus podcasts – weekly/daily updated content for download and play.
• Sync manager – for managing syncing with iPods, iPhones, Apple TV and other computers on your network
• Front Row – It’s always been a side-developed app with roots in the Apple TV. Take iTunes DJ and other miscellaneous tools (visualizers, full screen cover flow, etc.) Apple has built over the years , throw them into Front Row, and give it a face lift.

Give us the option to launch parts of it, and flesh out each app. iLife is a suite for media creation. iTunes should be split into a similar suite for media playback/management.

Conclusion

There’s plenty more to innovate in iTunes. Hopefully in the next major release we’ll see see some exciting new features, and some redesigns of things that don’t work so well in the current version.

Jim Whitelaw is a man with a problem.  Jim bought his 10 year old daughter an iPod Touch so that she could play some games without having to break the bank on her allowance.  He set her up with an iTunes account, gave her an iTunes gift card, and told her to go at it.  Only, she couldn’t.  Apple Canada doesn’t allow iTunes gift cards to be used for App Store purchases.

Whitelaw contacted Apple customer support via email and was given the following reason;

“…you will not be able to purchase software, games, or applications with store credit or an iTunes Gift Card in Canada. Customers residing in Canada may only purchase software, games and applications using a credit card. This is due to Canadian Commerce Laws that the iTunes Store must strictly enforce.”

This story seemed all too familiar to me — not because I’d heard it before but because I’d lived it myself.  Earlier this year I had gone through the exact same situation.  What’s worse, the gift cards in Canada give no such warning.  At the time this occurred I attempted to look up the law in question, and failing to do so assumed the fault lie with my research abilities and not with Apple’s argument.  Jim Whitelaw, however, wasn’t content to walk away without a better answer.

When Apple customer care was unable to cite the law in question or put him in touch with someone that could, Whitelaw contacted his MPP (think Congress representative, but Canadian) for answers.  His MPP, too, could find no such law on the books, and like Whitelaw, refused to leave well enough alone.  The matter was escalated to the highest authority on the issue in Canada, the Hon. Tony Clement, Minister of Industry.  Here is the minister’s official response;

“(I) am unaware of which Canadian laws the company representatives are said to be enforcing.  I am not aware of any laws that prevent a company from accepting its own gift cards when it sells certain products.  That said, merchants are generally free to set their own policies respecting the payment methods they accept.”

So there you have it.  If the Canadian Minister of Industry can’t name the law that prevents Apple from accepting their own gift cards for certain purchases in Canada, my money says that no such law exists.  Furthermore, with no such warning printed on iTunes gift cards in Canada one could argue that this is nothing more than a dubious business practice intended to force people to spend additional funds in the iTunes Store than originally intended by referencing an imaginary law.

Mr. Whitelaw has sent an email to Steve Jobs, and is awaiting a response.  To follow his story as it develops, visit jimwhitelaw.com.

Software exclusivity is quickly becoming a thing of the past.  What once was a killer app for one system or another has now turned into the consumer connundrum of which software to buy for which device and why.  Determining a winner based on techincal differences and personal preferences takes time and research, yet one thing has become readily apparent: the iPhone is home to some tremendous bargains on some amazing software.  What you may spend $20 on elsewhere could only cost you $2 in the App Store, and it’s entirely possible you’ll end up with a better experience too!  Don’t believe us?  Take a look at these 5 examples of spectacular AppStore savings;

Burgertime Deluxe – Mac $19.95, PC $6.99, iPhone $1.99

What is it? It may not get mentioned as much as Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, but Burgertime is an old school classic that every gamer from the arcade generation holds near and dear to their hearts.  Peter Pepper needs to navigate a series of platforms to drop all the parts of a burger down to the plate, and he has to do it while battling evil foodstuffs come to life.  Namco recently resurrected this much beloved franchise with Burgertime Deluxe for the PC and Mac, with an iPhone port following shortly afterwords.  $6.99 for the PC version is an excellent price, but they have the outrageous audacity to ask nearly $20 for the Mac version!  Apple fans, don’t spill the big bills on this fast food classic.  Grab it on the value menu instead — the iPhone version is only $1.99!

Is there a difference? Technically no.  Visually the game is dead on.   So are the levels.  The controls though?  That’s a different story.  While no means a deal breaker, it’s not always as easy as it should be to get young Mr. Pepper off a ladder.  This problem only pops up from time to time, but it was definitely aggravating enough to mention.  Still — for $18 in savings it’s a small price to pay.

Star Wars Legacy: Broken – Trade Paperback $17.95, Original Issues $17.94, iPhone $1.98

What is it? Star Wars Legacy is an ongoing comics series published by Dark Horse Comics.  Set more than 100 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, it tells the story of Cade Skywalker, padawan-turned bounty hunter in a dark and sithly future.  Broken collects the first six issues of the series.  With the trade paperback you’ll need to spend $17.95 to get started on the adventure — but on the iPhone?  Broken Vol. 1 and Broken Vol. 2 are 99 cents each on the App Store, and collect all six issues when combined.

Is there a difference? You’re going to lose the tactile feel and smell of a real comic, but if you can live with that you’ll find reading comics on the iPhone is even better than the real thing.  The panels are bigger and easier to read, the backlit screen makes the colors pop, and the panel-by-panel navigation feels more comfortable than we’d like to admit.

Toki Tori – WiiWare 1000 points (roughly $10), iPhone $4.99

What is it? One of the best puzzle platformers ever created, Toki Tori tells the tale of a chicken trying to save his friends.  Rather than controlling our hero first hand, you’ll simply point him to where you want to go.  When it debuted on WiiWare last year it seemed like a good use of the system’s much touted motion controls.  But let’s be frank — this thing was made for touching.  Thankfully you can pick up our recently hatched hero on the iPhone for half the price of it’s WiiWare predecessor.

Is there a difference? Yep — it’s better on the iPhone.  Drastically in fact.  We had two major complaints with the Wii version — the default view was zoomed out much too far, and the motion controls required far too steady of a hand to be effective.  On the iPhone, both of these concerns have been addressed.  Of all the versions of Toki Tori we’ve seen over the years, the iPhone version is easily the best.

Droplitz – PC $9.99, PS3 $9.99, iPhone $1.99

What is it? Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that we become the most passionate about.  Tetris.  Bejeweled.  And now, Droplitz.  The goal in Droplitz is to rotate pipes in an attempt to guide their contents down to the drains below.  On the PC and PS3 they expect you to droplitz $10 of your hard earned cash, but on the iPhone?  You’ll only have to droplitz $1.99.

Is there a difference? The PS3 and PC versions are definitely prettier, and the larger screen allows for a bigger playfield too.  Despite this, the iPhone version is crazy addictive and captures the spirit and intent of the game perfectly.  You’ll technically be settling for less, but it’s really 10% less the experience at 80% less the price.  You do the math.

Awaken – Mac: $15, iPhone $1.99

What is it? Awaken is the Mac’s leading iTunes-friendly alarm clock.  Want to wake up to your complete collection of Anne Murray classics?  It’s all yours, Snowbird.  With everything it has to offer, $15 has always been a pretty good price for Awaken.  But if you can live with the delicate sounds of morning coming from your iPhone?  You can do that for $1.99.

Is there a difference? This is the only app on our list that has some pretty drastic differences, but that has less to do with handicapping the mobile version and more to do with the needs of each device.  While both devices serve as an alarm clock built entirely around you music library, the Mac version offers a few neat twists like the ability to set alarms to launch programs or the ability to control the alarm from across the room with your Mac remote.  If you tend to wake up, shower, watch a video podcast, and then check your email over breakfast, you can program the Mac version to do all of these things for you.  Well, almost.  You’ll need to eat that grapefruit yourself.  Awaken for the iPhone is a great choice for an iPhone alarm clock, especially if you tend to travel.  But if you want a fully-featured alarm clock that will cater to you daily desktop needs, you may actually want to spend the extra.

After looking at the changelogs—both the shiny publicized one as well as the more technical support one—I realized that the primary changes that I had issue with were all covered under the phrase “an improved look and feel.” With respect to the geniuses at Apple, this is a terrible way of doing things. The largest way a typical user interacts with a program like iTunes, whether or not it has Home Sharing, Genius Mixes, and the like, is through its UI. We get very used to these interfaces. And yet, there are never any specifics given as to what the changes to the UI actually are. This itself must change.

I’m not saying that the old iTunes interface was perfect, but it was something we were all used to. To suddenly change things around in an interface that makes sense just confuses everyone. Take the new column view, for instance. It is useless to me to have a list of all my artists, and then a small window for the songs. I preferred the old way, when I could have albums, artists, and genres all along the top, while still being able to see the song list below. This doesn’t necessarily mean it shouldn’t have to be changed, but Apple should at least tell us how to make it look the old way. I only found the options for reverting the view by wandering around in the menus for some time.

The playlist and other icons were changed in the sidebar as well. I, personally, don’t really care about this one way or another, but again it brings up the question of why Apple would do this when the old ones worked perfectly well. Is an off-center note more trendy than one in the middle? Is a cut-off gear nicer than a complete one?

About fifteen minutes after upgrading, I had reverted most changes, and made my peace with the new changes that I couldn’t fix. Satisfied with my life, I clicked the green button to minimize the window into the Mini Player I always keep in the corner of my screen. The window simply jumped slightly. Huh. I must have pressed the wrong thing. I clicked again. And again. And again. My world exploded once again. That was the most useful feature of iTunes—to have the display become small and unobtrusive. Had Apple actually gotten rid of this? Luckily, this was not the case; I eventually discovered that you could bring up the Mini Player by pressing Shift+Apple+M. Although this made it possible, it still seems like a stupid idea on Apple’s part. Why make this so much more difficult to do? I’m all for keyboard shortcuts, but if my hand is on the mouse, it would be nice to click. At least, tell me how to make it appear, rather than, once again, making me hunt through menus.

So, I’m not against change. Many of the new features of iTunes are great (I love the new Genius Mixes, among other aspects), but just, tell us about them, okay? An “improved look” is not nearly descriptive enough for me. Make sure that I—and people with less patience for scanning menus—know how to make a program do what it had always done in the past. Progress should not come at the cost of information. We’ll like the updates more if you tell us what’s in them, I swear.

Accessing the Genius function is a simple enough process.  At the top of the App Store App beside the New and What’s Hot options that we’ve grown accustomed to will be a new to access Genius.  The first time you access this you’ll need to read and agree to the Genius Terms of Service, but once that’s out of the way it’s pretty much smooth sailing as it compiles a list of recommendations.

iTunes Genius has, in my experience, offered a wonderfully appropriate list of suggestions based on my listening tastes.  They’ve turned me on to new music, suggested music I already know I love — all in all it’s been a quality service since it launched.  It’s baby sibling, however, isn’t fairing as well.

While iTunes Genius seems to base it’s recommendations off of the purchases of like-minded individuals, App Store Genius feels as though it’s pulling random apps from similar categories and dumping them in your lap.  Paypal was recommended based on my use of CBC Radio.  NFL 2010 was recommended because I have Pac-Man Remix.  While these things might technically fall under the same category, their purposes and audiences couldn’t be less similar.

Still, it’s not all bad.  Based on my use of Tweetie a number of Twitter-related apps were suggested my way.  My use of Twitpic led to a recommendation for HP iPrint Photo.  These are all things that are thematically the same.  They make sense.  The problem is that more often than not I would be recommended MLB at Bat based on Twitpic or DOOM based on Civilization Revolution.

Looking at your purchases on the whole and making recommendations based on those might have made a little more sense.  If it did Genius would learn pretty quick how much I love tower defense games, and recommendations of those would have been a welcome addition to the sea of nonsense that’s currently presented.  It may break from the system used by iTunes Genius, but maybe that’s what’s needed here.  Music and apps are two very different beasts, and those beasts need two very different approaches to be tackled effectively.

One thing that surprised me was that Genius only factored in apps currently on your device.  If you’ve purchased apps in the past but removed them, those aren’t included.  One can appreciate the logic behind this — if you’ve deleted an app you probably don’t like it — but there’s a flipside to that argument.  What if you loved the app, but just didn’t need it right now?  Secret of Monkey Island SE easily ranks amongst my favorite iPhone games, but I deleted it once I was finished because of the space it took up.  In my mind, that’s something that should absolutely be factored in to any recommendation engine that’s trying to learn about my shopping habits.

App Store Genius is a great idea, but it’s execution is poor and contrary to the it’s own purposes.  Without consistently sensible recommendations, this just isn’t a part of the App Store that you’ll find yourself visiting.

It’s not a major update by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s definitely some unexpected additions in there.  Shopping for ringtones, App Store Genius, and more.  Here’s the complete breakdown;

Shopping

• Select from over 30,000 ringtones in the new Ringtones section of the iTunes app
• See available iTunes Store credit in both the iTunes and App Store apps
• Use redemption codes like iTunes gift cards and promo codes in the App Store app
• App Store Genius introduced, recommends new apps based on previous purchases

Video

• Trimmed videos can now be saved as new clips
• Save video received via email or MMS into Camera Roll

Phone

• Voice Control via Bluetooth on 3GS introduced
• Phone numbers can now be pasted into keypad

Performance

• Improved wi-fi performance when Bluetooth is active
• Improved syncing for audio, video, and photos
• Improved calendar syncing with Microsoft Exchange
• Corrects issue that displayed incorrect app icons for some

Other

• Use MobileMe to remotely lock iPhone
• Content organization for iTunes U
• Adds options to turn on 3GS accessibility features via Home button
• Safari will now warn you of dangerous/fradulent websites
• Other fixes to support changes in the upcoming release of iTunes 9

As someone who prefers shopping for apps on their iPhone, the addition of App Genius and code redemption are a welcome change.  Beyond that though, I’m not seeing a lot offered here.  Mind you, we shouldn’t really be expecting a major update so soon after the release of 3.0.  If anything, I think Apple’s spoiling us.

iPhone OS 3.0 and iPod Touch OS 3.1.1 are available as a free update on iTunes now.

The upgrade process is, in the spirit of most Apple products, incredibly easy to figure out. I popped the install DVD into my computer after taking it out of the packaging. The packaging itself I was less than impressed by, for other than the snow leopards scattered around, there was little else specific to this release. True, there were pages in the booklet extolling the features of the operating system, but most were ones that could be found in 10.5 as well. Nevertheless, this did not stop me from continuing with the installation. The DVD’s minimalist window showed up on my screen, with three choices. Two were folders, and the only one I was interested in was the installer itself.

I double-clicked on the icon, and was presented simply with the choice to install or not. I continued through a few windows, and input my password. And that was pretty much it. Unlike some other installers, this didn’t even have to restart before initiating the install. It quit all my programs, and then I was left with nothing to do. It also took, all in all, a surprisingly short time. It estimated an hour, and it took a little bit longer, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes. Now, I chose to upgrade, rather than to wipe my hard drive and do a clean install. I don’t know how the timing of this would be different.

The waiting was the worst part, however. I was constantly watching for any sign of the petrifying greyed-out screen that signifies a kernel panic. Or even worse, a black screen (or perhaps even worse than that, the smell of burning plastic). But none of these appeared, and my trusty Macbook went through the process unscathed. The computer restarted itself and I was greeted with the same orientation video I saw a few years back when Leopard came out (still cool, but I could have done with something newer).

And then came the other fear: Did my computer still work? Did all my programs—and more importantly the system—still do what they were supposed to? The answer to this, actually, for the first few minutes, was no. My menubar was, for lack of a better word, twitching. Spotlight kept appearing and disappearing, and I couldn’t see the date, or any of the apple icons. However, with some quick Google searching I discovered that the issue was iStat menus, a very handy little program, but one that has yet to be upgraded for Snow Leopard. The only other big problem for me was that I noticed that, for some reason, I was doing everything much more slowly than usual. I then realized that my application launcher Quicksilver was no longer working, and so I was doing everything by hand. This upset me greatly, but once again Google saved the day. There were a few other necessary tweaks, but in the end it was a very painless process.

So far, I’m very glad to have updated. At least as of now, it’s the little changes that I didn’t know about that I find most useful. Exposé is tweaked to be more helpful. The Dock pop-up menus are on grey instead of white, and so fit better with the aesthetic. The menu bar can finally show the date. The list goes on, but needless to say, updating was the highlight of my day. Oh yes, one more thing. There are many desktop pictures of snow leopards. And none of them are angry.

First of all, you have to hand it to Apple that it is, indeed, thinking different. Instead of a simple, confusable, numerical system, there is something that is easier to take a hold of and understand. Especially compared to its main competitor, who—at least up to Vista—pretty much just named their operating systems after the years they came out. Even Linux, with even more separate versions of its OS, does not have any particular system for naming them. I have had, in the past, some confusion between Jaguar, Tiger, and so on, but it’s easier than thinking “Oh, was that 10.3 or 10.4?”

A comparison can also be drawn between the ideal features of an operating system and these cats that are their namesakes. A computer should be fast, sleek, and powerful, just like a jaguar, or a tiger. Maybe a computer could do without the meat-eating nature, or the jaws and claws, but the basic features should be pretty much the same. This was probably one of the big aspects of the cats that led Apple to use them for marketing. But the system also raises some questions. Is Apple alienating some of the cat-lovers of the world by designating a strict hierarchy? Are leopards from this point on consistently better than tigers? Are snow leopards better than normal leopards? (I agree wholeheartedly with the latter, but the former I’m not so sure about…)

Snow Leopard itself seems to be milking the system for all it’s worth, more so than its predecessors. It comes preloaded with many desktop wallpapers including some lovely pictures of snow leopards in nature (including the one shown above). At least for Leopard, and I believe the other earlier systems, the only cat connection they had was the name, not any images. There is also the fact, which I think is remarkably clever, that the new update is just significant tweaks to the OS, not a whole different animal. Therefore, it’s just another kind of leopard, rather than a different family of cat.

The system seems to be good for Apple, or at least not bad. It gives people easily remembered titles, and a lot of brand recognition. It differentiates Apple from its competitors, and the names show the ideal traits of the systems themselves. But I do sort of wonder how far this is going to go. Lynx and Cougar are the two predators that are supposedly already trademarked by Apple, but that would only get us up to 10.8. In theory, there would be at least one more model, if they’re using a full decimal system. As much as I love Apple, and am always happy to buy their new systems—Snow Leopard is on order as we speak—I still think I would hesitate at least for a few minutes when presented with Mac OS X 10.9: Snagglepuss, even!

For many years now, the Get A Mac ad campaign, other campaigns, and general experience have led the typical Mac consumer to think that their computer is unreachable by anything bad, and that, especially compared to Windows, there are no real threats and using a Mac is safe and secure as ever. By including a program that appears—at least from the screen shot above—to scan downloads for potential security risks, Apple is admitting that there are in fact viruses that can infect Macs, and that its users are not as safe as they might think, at least not currently.

However, by creating this app, they are also, of course, making their computers safer. The theory is, many Mac enthusiasts think, that this is less to address a current, ongoing problem of Mac malware, and rather to keep people’s systems safe for the future. It is still certainly true that there are many fewer viruses and so on made for Macs than there are for PCs, most likely because the market share remains small and it’s just not worth it for the hackers. So, the inclusion of this feature should still be a selling point for the Snow Leopard upgrade which comes out this Friday.

Apple has yet to respond to comments on this feature, which seems to be working against the company. If they discussed the utility, its limitations and features, they might well get people more excited about Snow Leopard, happy to be safe, and so on. If not, as they are doing, it seems as if they are trying to pretend that viruses just don’t exist, which in the end will hurt the company.

Apple also wrote that no discussion with AT&T about the application had taken place, and that all the concerns that had been raised were from Apple’s side and not from the phone company. As had been suspected before, the application was not immediately approved because it was seen to duplicate features already on the iPhone. However, these were described more specifically: the Google Voice application would replace the phone button on the iPhone, and voicemails would no longer be stored on the iPhone itself but on Google’s servers. The same concerns were raised about the SMS section of the application. Apple was also concerned about the safety of the contacts imported from the iPhone to Google, and the company’s subsequent use of those contacts.

AT&T and Google also wrote letters to the FCC as part of the investigation. AT&T confirmed that Apple had not consulted them about the application, and defended its position on internet calling programs by stating that they needed to be sure that enabling VoIP on iPhones would not reduce revenues for the company. Google, always trying to gain the upper hand, stated in its letter that it did not, unlike Apple, screen any applications for its phone operating system (Android), with the exception of pornographic and potentially offensive material. These letters are part of a larger investigation by the FCC into internet calling on smart phones initiated by complaints from Skype. The investigation is expected to continue to discern the rights of wireless networks to screen applications, and whether or not it would make the system more amenable to a monopoly.

A recent study by the market research group NPD showed that digital music purchases continued their steady rise to market dominance during the first half of 2009.  While that fact in and of itself isn’t all that surprising, what share of the overall music market iTunes now makes up is enough to knock the socks off even the most passionate Apple devotee: 25%.

That’s not 25% of the digital market — that’s 25% of the total market.  This makes them the largest music seller in the US, beating out their closest competitor Wal-Mart, currently sitting at 14% of total music sales, by a whopping 11 points.

Other figures are just as impressive.  In the digital arena iTunes isn’t only #1 — it’s blasted away the competition.  In terms of digital music sales iTunes now represents 69% of the market.  It’s closest competitor AmazonMP3 comes in at only 8%.  This runaway lead in the digital music market is in stark contrast with the relatively balanced sales in physical music.  The four leaders of CD sales — Wal-mart, Best Buy, Target and Amazon are all within a few points of each other, covering 20%, 16%, 10% and 10% of the CD market respectively.

How could one market showcase such a distinct leader while another seems to offer up a balanced competition?  Brand recognition?  Strong hardware support?

AmazonMP3 has attempted to buck the trend, offering up DRM-free music and better prices and a host of other options.  When Apple saw that the service was gaining traction it went ahead and changed its feature set to offer up the things that were making AmazonMP3 so popular.   What can a company like Amazon do to climb past 8% of the market, or more accurately, bring iTunes down from 69%?

What is iTunes doing right that everyone else is doing wrong?  What, if anything, could competitors do to level the playing field?

The current thinking is that Apple will begin shipping Snow Leopard as early as August 28th, a week or so before the launch window would supposedly open—mid-September was the previous estimate. In addition to the revelation that they are indeed ready to ship and sell the operating system (shown by the mistaken appearance of the Mac Box Set), supposed photos of the packaging emerged over the weekend. Also, the most recent version of the OS appearing on the web was most likely the “Golden Master” version, the one that becomes the commercial product.

The error on the Apple Store was discovered when a potential customer called Apple Customer Service to ask if the typical 24-hour shipping also applied to the new operating system packaged with the Box Set. Unfortunately for all of us, the answer was—of course—no. It’s unknown what caused the product to appear as being immediately available, but the operating system is still available for pre-order at Amazon.com, with a single-user license starting at $29.99.

Apple isn’t the first company to get involved in live streaming of musical performances, but they are the first to try and put it in your pocket. This past Saturday the UK electronic group Underworld performed a concert live from Oakland, California, and for the first time ever you were able to watch this streamed live to your iPhone.

Live concert streaming seems to be gaining a lot of traction in 2009, and this is just the latest attempt to incorporate that into an already successful platform.  Back in June, for example, Hulu brought its users a live performance by the Dave Matthews Band.

While nothing has been confirmed regarding future concerts on either the iPhone or Hulu, I find it hard to believe this is the last stop.  There’s a lot of potential for both platforms to shape an experience that’s unique to what they’re offering.  It’s not inconcievable to think that we might see a “Concert Series” subscription come to iTunes, or some brilliant behind-the-scenes NBC performances live on Hulu.  Who wouldn’t want to live stream the rehearsal’s of Saturday Night Live musical guests?

The idea of streaming a concert over the internet is far from new.  A number of performers have attempted to stream concert footage dating all the way back to 1998, when John Tesh performed an intimate concert online by opening up whopping 100 phone line connections.  When you realize how many millions upon millions of people will tune in tonight, it’s kind of quaint and awe-inspiring when you think about the lengths Tesh had to go to perform to 60 people in the dial-up era.

It seems kind of strange that this Underworld streaming was announced so last minute (the news broke Saturday morning), yet there seems to be a general consensus amongst a number of blogs on why this information was held back.  The folks at NewTeeVee are suggesting that AT&T held onto the announcement for fear of their network being overloaded, which certainly doesn’t seem too far fetched a possibility.  Despite the delay in announcement, I’m sure the AT&T network went through a real stress-test Saturday night.

And yet things weren’t necesarily as “live” as advertised.  TechRadar is reporting that the concert itself actually took place the night before.  While the event was likely recorded in its entirety, and the broadcast still went out live, there’s definitely a difference between live and live-to-tape.  Regardless, multiple sites are reporting the event was executed flawlessly, with high quality video and audio broadcast to the masses with nary a stumbling block in sight.

To our readers who were lucky enough to hear about the event on Saturday, did you check it out?  How did you find the quality?  Was the stream as flawless as everyone is saying?

The official reason for the rejection was that the application would duplicate features that were already available on the iPhone. This is, to a certain extent, true. Google Voice is a service that routes all calls to any number of phones, and has cheap or free international calls. In addition, you can text message and call using your computer, very similar to what Skype offers. In effect, it is a phone completely on a computer, which of course is effectively what the iPhone is as well. However, general speculation is that the pressure for the rejection came less from Apple and potential conflicts with the iPhone software and more from AT&T and conflicts with their cell phone service.

Because Google Voice uses the phone line rather than the data connection, it can, in theory, replace AT&T’s actual plan. This is perhaps the main difference between the proposed application and others that came before. Whereas applications that use the Skype protocol are numerous in the App Store, they are programmed only to be used at Wifi hotspots, and not over the actual data line. Since Google Voice does not present this option, it is more difficult to regulate, from the perspective of Apple and AT&T. In addition to rejecting the official Google application, Apple also pulled some programs previously available that used aspects of the Google Voice service.

In the end, this rejection could hurt Apple. A possible effect of this decision—besides many disappointed iPhone users—is an increase in other smartphone sales. If, for example, the Palm Pre, which already has a rivalry with the iPhone, allows users access to Google Voice through its much more limited application pool, then potential buyers might prefer that option. Whatever the result, which remains to be seen, Google and Apple join Yahoo and Microsoft as two tech companies making big news this week, with a more belligerent connection.

Final Cut Studio has been around for a number of years, gaining traction on it’s Avid counter-parts. Being used by large-production companies for feature films, or short goofy clips by high school and college students, Final Cut serves a broad audience with its suite of editing, creation, and manipulating tools.

*Note: To be fair, we haven’t yet gotten our hands on the software, this is working from the advertised feature list from apple.com

Final Cut Pro 7

Final Cut gets the bump to the big 7.0, and while it offers a number of small new features, I was hoping to see a stronger feature set for a big version change like this. Apple calls it “the year’s most stunning new release.” If this is the year’s most stunning new release, it’s going to be quite a disappointing year.

• Current Final Cut users will be happy to get an improved export system called “Easy Export.” This one was common sense: allow users to continue working on a project while it’s encoding in the background. I’m excited for this, but it seems like something that should have been done in the first place.
• Apple is heavily touting it’s ProRes codec family as a big feature, and while a more extensive codec family is useful when working with multiple types of clips, I hardly see it as a big feature.
• Apple is parading better integration with iChat and Cinema Tools, support for more formats, more effects and transitions, and blah blah blah… None of these features are so earth shattering I would pay $299 for the upgrade.

Motion 4

I don’t event know what to say about Motion. No major updates to the interface, no major new features, just more of the same tacky templates, particle emitters, and preset patterns.

• Lots of other small little useful tools Motion has had for years made better…

Soundtrack 3

Soundtrack got the most new features of all the apps in my opinion, which is sad for this video-centric suite.

• Soundtrack sounds like it got a bunch of tools to repair common audio problems with just a few clicks. This will be refreshing change, as before it could be clunky to make smaller edits in a large timeline.
• Soundtrack 3 improves integration with Final Cut to make it a more useful counter-part in the editing workflow. Make precision edits to dialogue levels on two tracks to that they match perfectly. Another great feature, but it always seemed like a feature destined for Soundtrack, nothing that will change how you use the advanced multi-track editor.

Color 1.5

A lot more of the same. Color grows up a bit, and gains… you guessed it: tighter integration with Final Cut.

• Not much to report. Come back next version.

Compressor 3.5

• Compressor gets a bit of a facelift, and I understand that it’s hard to improve an encoder. Compressor does a better job of handling batch jobs, gives you better batch templates to work with, and a great 3rd-party-plugin system to let you better write your own custom workflows.
• Compressor supposedly now gives “pristine” format conversion, including excellent SD-to-HD up-conversion. A plus, sure, but it’s hard to quantify what “pristine” format conversion means in comparison to what Compressor used to be.

DVD Studio Pro 4

• To be honest the Apple website doesn’t really say much about DVD Studio Pro of consequence. It touts features already available in the software for years, and just more of the same.
• Blu-ray support? I’m guessing (and your guess is as good as mine). Compressor supports it now, so it leads one to believe that you would be able to burn Blu-Ray images at least. No where on the site does it say that it does though, and no Macs currently support Blu-Ray media, or have drives to read/write the discs.

Conclusion

I’m honestly at a loss of words as for what to say about the new Final Cut Studio. By no means do I think they’re bad programs, I think they’re all excellent, but there are no compelling features to justify the upgrade. It adds better inter-app integration, it offers some improved sharing features for popular formats and services, and just improves over-all. There’s honestly not much to report.

Either Apple did a terrible job advertising new features on their website, or the new suite is just the slightly more-polished version of Final Cut Studio 2 it sounds like. If users were planning on buying Final Cut Studio already, they should go for it, there are some useful new fixes and tie-ins, but it’s not really worth the upgrade from the current version.

There was something magical about it.  The small of the vinyl and cardboard.  Grabbing a record by the edges so as not to scratch it.  Dropping the needle.  And of course, picking up a 45 in anticipation of an albums release.  Now Apple wants to recreate this experience with Digital 45’s, virtual reproductions of classic singles on the iTunes Store.

At a glance, this whole thing might sound like a marketing ploy to simply bundle songs together at a discounted price, and should they begin to clutter the Digital 45 Store with new albums together it would be an easy argument to make.  As it stands now though, the Digital 45 Store is offering up reproductions of actual 45’s, complete with the original sleeve art and matching B-side.

In the cases where sleeve art isn’t available, they’ve opted to show the label art from the center of the disc on a vinyl background.  It’s a great look, one that some will actually prefer to the sleeve art.  For those who missed the heydey of 45’s and later, CD singles, the real highlight to these releases always lay in the B-side, which usually featured a song not available on the album.  Adding B-sides to the iTunes catalogue should seriously satisfy the needs of music fans who think they’ve heard everything from their favorite artists.

Click here to check out everything that is currently offered on the Digital 45 Store.

One of the most useful things about the Dock is that it tells you with a quick glance what programs are open. I can see that I have, for example, four different browsers running, and that’s probably what’s making my computer slow. Or, the reason I can’t find that window is not because I accidentally moved it but rather that the application quit itself. I can also easily see if there are files in a folder, using the Stacks. When this feature first came out, I was one of the people who were a little suspicious of its utility, but I have since been converted. I have a Temporary folder where I put things I have to deal with, and I can tell quickly whether or not there’s anything in there. I can also see whether I have to empty the Trash (a task that is much less arduous than its real-life counterpart, but still one I often forget to do). All of these tasks are very difficult to do with Quicksilver.

Now, you can move files through Quicksilver. You just have to find the file, usually by browsing through a directory, then tab over to the action panel, type in “move to,” and then tab again, and find the final resting place. But, with a few folders in the Dock, you can just drag the file straight in. I find this a lot easier, and a lot less time consuming. Although I might save time by using Quicksilver, I still open up the folders afterwards and make sure that the file was actually moved. That is one big problem with anything done through Quicksilver—opening applications, moving files, and so on—there’s no feedback. When you click on or drag something to the Dock, it bounces, or fades, or slides. You know something has happened. With Quicksilver, you just have to trust it.

But the biggest reason I keep my Dock around is for the sake of art. There are many programs out there, like Dock Library, SuperDocker, and so on, that allow you to customize the way your Dock looks. I can always be content that my Dock matches my Stack icons and the style of my computer by being “wooden.” You can customize Quicksilver too, but that’s only up for as long as you’re using it. With the Dock, you can also admire the well-designed icons of the world.

I wouldn’t want to compute without the Dock. It may not be my go-to application for launching applications, but it serves so many other purposes that it’s still worthwhile to keep around. Sure, there are scripts, programs, and hacks floating around the internet that allow you to do away with it, but I’m standing by my old friend. A launcher like Quicksilver is the easiest way to be quick, but the Dock adds style and utility to a desktop.

The iPhone winners were:

• MLB.com At Bat 2009
• Postage
• Topple 2
• Tweetie | MacApper Review
• Wooden Labyrinth 3D
• AccuTerra (3.0 Beta)

I have used all of these, and I must say, Apple is very right. There are a few apps that came out after the awards that I think would have won had the awards not been given out until after their release. A congratulations to all of these iPhone winners, we really appreciate your apps and the work you have put into them.

The Mac winners are:

• Billings
• BoinxTV
• Things | MacApper Review
• Versions | MacApper Review
• Fontcase | MacApper Review

Again, I have tried all these apps, and they are great. Congratulations to the winners of the Mac Apple Design Awards, we appreciate the work you have put into making your apps so great.

I recommend checking out all of these apps, not just because they won awards, but because they are great apps that really deserve notice. Especially the student winners (Fontcase and Wooden Labyrinth 3D), who not only create amazing apps, but also must manage schoolwork.

Songbird’s interface look familiar? A ghost from iTunes Past?

The most interesting thing about Songbird is the open-source code it’s built off of: Firefox. That’s right! The folks over at Pioneers for the Inevitable have built the entire thing on top of Mozilla’s popular browser, which brings me to my biggest complaint: my TI-84 graphic calculator could load my music library faster! Songbird’s Achilles heel seems to be it’s speed. It’s like trying to play streaming video on dial-up. The slow start times and rendering speeds that seem to plague the Mac version of Firefox get even worse in Songbird. I’m relatively impatient when it comes to app responsiveness and loading, but others I’ve spoken to agree: Songbird can be a bit of a clunker.

Songbird integrates Last.fm in a very classy way

Aside from my quips about speed, Songbird can be fun to use. Through extensions and themes (called “Feathers”), it has a number of fantastic features, and room for expansion. iPod support, Last.FM integration, QuickTime FairPlay integration, as well as the benefits of a built-in tabbed-browser (which I’m using right now to post this review). I know I was harsh on the developers earlier for using Firefox because of the speed, but it’s also my biggest compliment; browsing the web with your music elegantly placed in the same window is quite nice. Besides, the built-in web browser allows for easy integration of other Mp3 stores, and easy searching for legal music downloads on the web.

Firefox users will be met with a familiar preferences panel

Other features such as a Mini-Player, the ability to re-order your music window panes, song ratings, easy library search, and organizing features puts Songbird in contention with iTunes. It really is an intuitive program, and such an easy switch from iTunes, that you may not notice the difference (apart from the speed of course). Songbird will even import your iTunes library complete with music, playlists, and playcounts. If there isn’t a feature available built into Songbird check out their add-on’s page, where a number of incredibly useful plugins are available for download.

I do have one last issue to take with Songbird, and it’s video. When I imported my iTunes library, it brought in all of my video podcasts and integrated them into my music library. Songbird doesn’t support video playback, but will play the audio in a video. Putting my library on shuffle, I found it incredibly annoying to have to constantly stop and delete video from the library. Plus because I had Last.fm scrobbling enabled, I had to dig through my recent plays and pull them out. If the software isn’t going to support video, it shouldn’t allow it to import into the library.

All in all, Songbird makes a fantastic attempt at an iTunes replacement, but a number of short comings make it impossible for me to jump ship. If you can handle the slightly sluggish interface and you’re looking for an alternative to iTunes with support for other music stores, and iPod support; Songbird might just be your match.

Buddy the Bus offers up a 21st century take on the book-and-record sets we used to get as kids.  Back then you’d dig out your Fisher-Price turntable and listen to the narrator read along with the story.  Now that we live in “the future,” both audio and book are magically transported as one package in this totally free app.  Your kids can pop in their headphones and listen along as Buddy the Bus takes his passengers all over the town.

Baby Flash Cards is, to no ones suprise, exactly what it sounds like.  Flash cards are considered by many to be a great way to stimulate a child’s mind.  But why shell out $5-$10 for a set of real cards when you can get a fantastic free set right here?  The free set included in Baby Flash Cards features a variety of real world objects and animals paired up with their matching words.  Cards can be explored alphabetically or randomly, and you can set it so that all the info is on the card at once or the words are hidden until you touch them.

SimpleDraw proves one solid universal truth: kids LOVE coloring.  It’s timeless.  Give a kid in 12th century Mongolia a crayon and he’ll know what to do with it in seconds.  So it should come as no surprise that the one app my 2 year old is always trying to wrestle away my iPod for is the one she calls “COLOR!!”  SimpleDraw’s name couldn’t be more accurate.  You can select from a handful of colors and brush thicknesses, but asides from that things are kept alarmingly minimalist.  Your little one can just put a finger on the screen and go to town.

Children’s Classics let’s you put the tradition of reading with you’re kids right in your pocket.  Sure you could ask your child to sit quietly and patiently on that long train trip/airport wait/doctor’s office visit, but wouldn’t it be more fun to break out the bedtime stories in the middle of the afternoon?  Children’s Classics offers up 16 classics children’s reads ranging from Pinnochio and Robin Hood to Aesop’s Fables and The Secret Garden.  If you find your family is really digging it, make sure to do a search on the AppStore for BeamItDown Software.  Not only have they pblished this great collection, but they have a number of other classic family stories like Alice in Wonderland or A Christmas Carol available completely free of charge.

myHomework is an app that every iPhone/iPod toting student should own, and every parent encourage.  myHomework lets a child keep track of their class schedule, assignments, tests and other school activities.  Even better, it has color coded reminders to let them know when something is about to come due or has missed a deadline.  Organization is a cornerstone to success, and what better developmental task to apply this to than the daily juggle of academia?

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are many apps, both paid and free, that prove to be a great resource for parents the world over.  What iPhone apps do you share with your kids?

Whether we want it to happen or not, our systems all get a little sluggish from time to time.  Sometimes it’s a full hard drive slowing things down.  Other times we just simply need more memory for the modern apps than our Mac came installed with.  But for all those other times when things just need a quick tweak and tidy?  We’ve put together a quick list of five easy steps that should help get your Mac running like it’s factory fresh.

1. Do a widget inventory. Widgets are easy to forget about.  On a rainy afternoon you may add half-a-dozen just to check them out and then completely forget that they exist by the next morning.  But some of those widgets will keep running even when you’re not using your dashboard.  It’s always best to keep your widgets, like the rest of your digital life, stripped down to only what you’re actually using.

2. Declutter your desktop. Windows users enjoy the luxury of having a small army of icons cluttering up their desktop without any ill effects.  Us Mac users aren’t so lucky.  Each icon on your desktop is treated by OSX as its own window.  Same goes for the items on your dock.  And while having a handful of icons on your desktop probably won’t make a noticeable impact on overall performance, a full desktop will.  Time to get those organized and off the desktop!  (just a sidenote, this one shouldn’t help Leopard users.  It looks like OSX 10.5 finally tackled this problem.)

3. Keep an eye on the Activity Monitor. While this may sound like common sense, you’d be surprised at how many little programs are eating up big chunks of your memory.  The massive slowdown that prompted my most recent clean up was the result of a tiny little background application I used for PS3 media streaming eating up more than half of my systems available resources.  While I don’t have a fix for the program, disabling did provide an easy fix for my system.  Had I not checked the Activity Monitor I would have been losing my mind over this one.

4. Turn off unused features. Remember that time last Spring you turned on Bluetooth to get that picture off your mobile phone?  Or that roommate that wanted to jack your signal via internet sharing? Did you remember to turn them off?  Take a hunt through your System Preferences and make sure everything you don’t actually use is disabled (but if you’re not sure, and we can’t stress this enough, don’t disable it.  We’d hate to see you switch off something you needed and not be too sure on how to get it back).

5. Delete unused preference panes. Every now and then we download programs that install preference panes, and then forget all about them.  The real problem?  Lot’s of these will load in the background at startup.  Luckily it should be as easy as a right click to remove.  If it’s not you can always manually delete them by going to / Library / PreferencePanes.

A lot of this is probably common sense, but it never hurts to see it spelled out.  What tips and tricks have you found help you get the best performance out of your Mac?

When most people think of Apple and it’s relationship with Blu-ray, the first thing that usually comes to mind is what Steve Jobs said last fall.  When discussing the licensing and fees involved in manufacturing the hardware he pulled no punches; “Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt.”  But what most people seem to forget is the second part of that quote, where he goes on to say “we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.”

Well things have settled down a bit.  Blu-ray, once merely a contender for the future of disc-based media, has won a resounding victory over it’s competitor HD-DVD.  Blu-Ray drives are available (and now becoming commonplace) in higher end Windows-based PC’s.  Q1 2009 sales of blu-ray movies were more than double those from the previous year.  Yes, it looks like blu-ray is here to stay for the forseeable future.  But does that mean Apple wants any part of it?

According to PC World, a prerelease version of iTunes 8.2 was shipped to developers this past Tuesday that indicated the program would indeed offer Blu-ray disc playback.  While it does seem a clear indicator that we can expect a blu-ray rollout in the near future, there’s another side to this that’s just not being explored.

There seems to be a trend towards the abandonment of physical media in recent years, a trend that was spearheaded by iTunes at its inception.  And while blu-ray is certainly beginning to cement itself into living rooms and dens across North America, there’s another school of thought that sees it as the last in a dying series of store-bought goods.  Blu-ray may have won the battle over physical media, but it’s still embroiled in a war against downloadable content — a war in which Apple is a five-star general.  The iTunes Store already offers up high definition feature films that are in direct competition with blu-ray. Apple would essentially be adding the competitions hardware to Macs.

And yet maybe that’s what they need to do.  Staying relevant is an important thing in the tech world.  Offering consumers the choice between blu-ray films and downloadable HD content may be a step that Apple needs to take so that they aren’t defeated by their own hubris.  Even Jobs himself didn’t deny the possibility, remember?  “”we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace.”  Things settled down, even for the licensing headaches that last October were “a bag of hurt.”  In February Sony, Philips and Panasonic got together to announce a new licensing structure that should take all of the pain out of the process.

But what does this all mean?  The image seen above, while likely real, isn’t really confirmation of anything in particular.  It’s just as likely that Apple uses as blanket “About Us” statement across all platforms, and that iTunes 8.2 may simply offer blu-ray playback for PC users that are already enjoying the format through a different media player.  Will Macs ever see the option of blu-ray playback?  Given the seemingly dying nature of physical media, will you be annoyed if they don’t?

Those of you who have used the mac for a while are probably saying, “Hey, can’t you just press the Return button to choose the default button on a dialog box?”  Yes you can!  So, why not choose your mouse to hover over the Alternate Button instead?

LazyMouse is very customizable.  You can even have the preference put your mouse back to where it was before the dialog box appeared.  And if you need even more notification, you can have LazyMouse play a sound when the cursor moves – with a choice of 3 volume levels.  You can even exclude applications when you feel the need to put in the extra effort.

Overall this preference pane will speed up your productivity if your work requires a bunch of dialog boxes.  It works extremely well and uses little to no processing power.  LazyMouse requires a mac running Mac OS X.4 or higher to run and is available at http://www.old-jewel.com/lazymouse/index.html for the price of $9.95.

If the latest rumor making it’s rounds on the internet is true, YouTube uploading has just been made idiot-proof.  Apple Insider is reporting that, in addition to a host of new features, OSX 10.6 (better known as Snow Leopard) will allow YouTube uploading from Quicktime.  Apple has yet to confirm or deny the rumor, so we’ll have to treat this one with a real wait-and-see approach.

If true, this won’t be the first time Apple and YouTube have worked hand in hand.  Apple has previously played nice with the video sharing giant when it came to providing direct access to their content via AppleTV.  Similar arrangements were made in time for the launch of the iPhone.

Apple Insider has further gone on to claim that, in addition to the uploading of supported file formats via the new Quicktime, you’ll be able to export files to iTunes as well.  Expect to see fully-functional ways to convert and export videos for use on AppleTV and the iPod.  Here’s to hoping these changes actually materialize — they may be enough to send Mac-exclusive video converting giant VisualHub to an early grave.

No official word on Snow Leopard’s release yet, but analysts are predicting we’ll see it by the end of summer.

When downloading the disk image, two things come packaged inside of it.  The app itself, and the broadcasting preference pane.  To control your iTunes library from afar, you need to have the broadcasting preference pane activated.  To do that, double click it from inside the the already downloaded and now mounted disk image.

Be sure to drag the slider in the bottom left-hand corner to “ON”.  You may also choose to turn on the broadcasting feature every time you login by clicking the appropriate check box.

When opening TuneConnect on the computer that you want to use to control your library with, you’ll get an automatically updating list showing you  which computers are broadcasting their libraries.  If you’ve set up a password, you’ll need to enter it in order to control the computer.  If not, just go ahead and click your library.

The main window looks like the one to the right.  The song, artist, and progress are shown at the top.  You can drag the slider to go forward or backwards in the currently playing song.  Below that is the album art of the currently playing song.

At the bottom is a volume control along with and rewind play/pause, and fast-forward buttons.

In the bottom right-hand corner of the main window is a button that takes you to a window that resembles iTunes’s main window.  You then can browse through your music – playlists and all, to choose and play your songs.

In terms of performance, TuneConnect does not disappoint.  In it’s second iteration (at the time of writing v2.1) TuneConnect has been through it’s bumps and bruises already.  Controls are quick to respond and viewing large libraries take seconds.  Everything seems well thought out.  In order to use TuneConnect you need to have Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, however 10.5 Leopard is recommended.

One might compare this app to Apple’s Remote app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Both are extremely useful apps.  It all depends on what you have and what you are using at the time.  Both apps allow you to browse your library and play what ever you have.  If you like the ability to type in what you are looking for into a search box, then TuneConnect happily obliges.  If you aren’t near a computer but have your iPhone or iPod Touch, then Apple’s free remote app is the one for you.

TuneConnect is available at http://www.tuneconnect.net/ for the unbelievable price of free.

How does it work?

Simply put, doubleTwist is constantly updated with drivers and software designed to work with all of the latest gadgets and gear that stores all of your digital media assets.  Because of this, doubleTwist makes it as easy as plugging in your device, and dragging and dropping in your media files to and from your devices.

The Interface

DoubleTwist’s interface makes up a good part of it’s feature list.  DoubleTwist takes after a longtime design principal commonly found in iTunes and iPhoto.  In the right section of the window, you’ll find a sidebar filled with a list of sources where you’ll find your media content.  The sidebar is divided into four sections:  DoubleTwist “aka sharing information with doubleTwists’s own sharing service”, Library “used to access the media on your computer’s hard drive”, Devices “used to access your digital device’s content”, and Friends “which also works with DoubleTwist’s own sharing service”.

The right side of the app is where you view and interact with your content.  This side of the app changes based on what you have selected in the sidebar.  When viewing the “My Feed” section, you get at consecutive list filled with notifications.  Inside of these notifications are thumbnails of pictures, movies, and music which you can view at anytime.

When looking at any of the the Library sections, the right area of the app shows a simple browser interface designed for the one purpose of finding your media, and dragging it onto your device.

Which brings us to the Device section.  Clicking on the device itself shows a progress bar depicting how much storage space you have available.

PSP and Video!

One thing everyone always gripes about is video conversion.  Well gripe no more because doubleTwist automatically converts your video for you no matter what device you are using.  This is a big plus for PSP users.  Just drag in the video, and doubleTwist does the rest.  Thumbnail and all!

Sharing Online

Besides integrating with your digital devices, DoubleTwist also integrates with FaceBook, Flickr, and YouTube allowing you to share your captured media online.

DoubleTwist also has a sharing service built in.  This allows you to easily share your media with all of your friends.  When you receive a photo, video, or audio file, doubleTwist will automatically update your feed.

Final Thoughts

DoubleTwist is still very new, meaning the compatible device list is a little sparse however, because doubleTwist is an ongoing project, the developers are hard at work making more and more devices compatible.

In terms of performance, doubleTwist does not disappoint.  Depending on how much memory you have as well as the speed of your Intel processor, the time it takes to transfer and convert video will vary, however testing on a 2nd gen aluminum iMac I found that doubleTwist is quite fast and will not disappoint.

DoubleTwist is available for the Mac (Leopard only) and PC at http://www.doubletwist.com/ for the unbeatable price of free.

Last week, reports of the App Store breaking the 25,000 apps circulated around the web.  The proliferation of applications is astounding as consumer’s hunger for them.  Now Apple’s cohesive concept for easy access to applications is being duplicated by other phone OS’s such as BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Mobile, Android and others.  Can Apple stay ahead?

Snowballing

A big user base feeds developers desire for quick profits, so the App Store gets bigger and bigger.  Witness brands taking to iPhone Apps to connect with users; companies like Ralph Lauren are showcasing their latest collection via an iPhone app.  From fashion to home automation to games, it seems almost everyone is getting into iPhone apps.  But does it have staying power?

Reports last month showed 1% of iPhone App Store app downloaders become longtime users.  This is largely due to the way we use our applications: be it for a quick fix or to stave off boredom when waiting for a train.  Many analysts expected the App Store to be a flash in the pan, citing users would get tired of Apple’s walled garden.

Walled garden, unless you complain loudly
Last week, Apple bowed to public pressure on the app Tweetie.  Apple rejected the app based on some foul language users could find in Twitters trends.  Developer Loren Brichter loudly complained on Twitter, got everyone talking about it and by the end of the day, Apple changed its mind.

Apple provided Brichter with an image of exactly why his app was being rejected.  Brichter pointed out other apps that have the same feature and are thus capable of showing the same objectionable language and demanded they all be in or all be out.  A bold move to be sure and one that seemed to push Apple’s buttons.

This kind of response begs the question, “has Apple created something it can’t control?”  Does public opinion, or at least influential bloggers, control what is in or out?  Should they or is it still Apples game?

Jailbroke solution?
Last week also saw the rise of an application store from Cydia for iPhones that have been jailbroken.  Apple contends jailbreaking is a crime but has yet to get confirmation from any legal authority.  The Cydia store would operate in a similar fashion to the App Store, but allow all apps, not just ones Apple gives the thumbs up to.

Sad, little App Store Team
Over at ARS Technica, an interesting post from an app developer had this to summarize:
“The sad truth about App Store reviews is that Apple seems to be overwhelmed and understaffed. Add this to the company’s complete lack of procedural transparency and its unwillingness to reply to most developer e-mails, and you end up with a situation where developers are willing to throw common sense out the door just to get to where they need to be.”

And here comes HTML5
Will the App Store matter in the coming future?  Maybe, maybe not according to this awesome video taken in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress.  Google showed off a GMail application that is part cloud/part local thanks to the coming features in HTML5.  The features in HTML5 bring the capabilities to keep a database locally so GMail can be accessed like a native app when not connected.  Not only that, but the video shows how these applications become platform ambiguous as the OS no longer matters.  Interesting concept that is sure to rock our worlds shortly, check the video.

Summary
So with all this, the app store continues to snowball into bigger and bigger records.  Will it continue and fufill Job’s prediction of the biggest mark in his career or will this snowball implode as new technologies make native apps a thing of the past?  You can bet MacApper will be there, sheding light on what you need to know.

You may know dashcode to be a really useful tool to create dashboard widgets – but what are dashboard widgets but miniature web pages.  I’ve chosen this tool because it’s simple and free to download.  Here is where you can find Dashcode:

Like Xcode, Dashcode is free to those who have an Apple Developer Connection membership.  Go to http://developer.apple.com/mac/ and look at the paragraph at the top to sign up.  You then can click log in.  Once you are logged in, locate the download Xcode section halfway down the page.  Yes I know it says Xcode, but Dashcode is bundled with it.  Depending on your connection speeds, this might take a while. Open up the disk image “if it hasn’t already opened” and click on the Dashcode package installer.

In the Finder, create a new folder that will contain all of your web page’s files so that you can locate them in one convenient place.  Now, download the following template.

This will be used as a template which you can use to start creating any web page with.  Notice that it’s called “index.html”  By default a web browser looks for a file with the name “index.html” to display first as your web site’s home page.

Once you’ve downloaded the file, drag it onto Dashcode’s icon.  Be sure to also double click the file in the finder so that it opens up in your default web browser.

Switch over to Dashcode.  Notice how Dashcode automatically formats the code giving different “tags” a specific color. Dashcode, as well as many web development apps these days, does this making it easier for you to parse through your code.  Double click on a red tag and hit the escape key.  Notice the Dashcode brings down a popup menu with a list of tags in it.  This is a way that Dashcode helps you so that you don’t need to remember every single aspect of HTML.  This is known as auto completion.  Don’t worry if you don’t understand any of the code we’ve typed so far or any of the suggestions that Dashcode is giving in the auto completion feature,  We’re going to delve into HTML and all of it’s glory in the next installment.

Dashcode is a very easy to use program.  Though it is mainly used for developing widgets, Dashcode’s built in features like auto-coloring specific tags, and the popup menu that helps suggest the correct HTML syntax, are useful in any form of developing for the web – and best of all, it’s free!  Unfortunately Dashcode won’t allow you to create your own HTML files without them being part of a widget BUT because this series implements example files, you won’t need to worry about creating them from scratch.  Stay tuned for our next installment which will talk about Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML for short.

For those of you know don’t know of Boxee, it’s free media center software compatible with OS X, Ubuntu Linux, and (with a hack) the AppleTV. Boxee pulls music, photos TV shows, and movies from your own hard drive, as well as a number of streaming web services. Boxee works a lot like Front Row or the AppleTV, but with significantly extended functionality. Boxee has the ability to stream video from providers like CBS, CNN, YouTube, MTV, Netflix, Comedy Central, The WB, myspacetv, and up until recently Hulu.

The Hulu streaming implemented by Boxee was actually quite clever. Boxee was able to embed Hulu videos into their software while still keeping the Hulu advertisements in place. This seemed like a win-win for Hulu and Boxee users. Users who were tired of having to sit in front of their computer to watch Hulu content could now enjoy it on their HDTV through their AppleTV. Hulu gained hundreds of thousands of streams from Boxee users, and their ads were still played.

According to the blog post Hulu’s content providers asked Hulu to pull the Boxee streaming. This seems like yet again another short-sighted decision by the entertainment industry. What they don’t seem to realize is that users who are savvy enough to hack their AppleTV with Boxee will be able to hook up their laptop or MacMini to their HDTV without breaking a sweat. Hulu is arguably the largest legal TV streaming site on the web. With content from FOX, NBC, Sci-Fi, FX, The WB and much more, this is only going to hurt the entertainment industry. Hulu is one of the most popular ways to stream TV shows legally on the web. When content providers continue to remove and restrict legal ways to access content on the web, many users turn to illegal methods of getting content.

To add to a fantastic week for Boxee users, Apple released an update to the AppleTV that broke the Boxee hack (and seemingly added no additional functionality). As if Boxee wasn’t having a rough enough time, Hulu has yet again blocked the Boxee users from getting at their videos. Hulu has blocked the Boxee browser from calling the public RSS feeds. As pointed out by Boxee CEO Avner Ronan on the company blog Boxee’s browser “…is no different in how it accesses this content than Internet Explorer, Firefox, Flock, Opera or any of the other browsers out there.”

Media companies generally don’t fight so hard to keep users from using their service, it’s unfortunate that Hulu didn’t advocate for themselves a little bit more in meetings with their content providers.

For Boxee users worried about the fate of one of the applications most touted features: easy web video streaming shouldn’t worry. Ronan adds this note to users in his post:

To our users: if you choose to use boxee as your media browser to view legal and publicly available content on the internet, we will do everything we can to ensure that you can access it, no matter what the source.

If you’re a Boxee user having a rough few weeks from this Hulu ordeal you can comment on Hulu’s blog here. ]]> http://macapper.com/2009/03/11/news-boxee-loses-hulu/feed/ 1