What happens when you tweet a silly off-the-cuff remark about wanting a Country/Objective-C song called "Retain My Heart (Or you might point to an invalid memory reference)"? Magic. That's what happens. Absolute weekend-ready magic!
Italian Mac aficionado and brilliant songsmith Andrea "Camillo Miller" Nepori jumped into my e-mail in-box and delivered exactly what I had asked for: a heartfelt country rendition of what has got to be one of the lamest geekiest puns I've ever made.
Nepori tells me that he recorded the music on his iPhone, adding a little reverb and compression in GarageBand before sending it on over to TUAW. A big round of public acclaim for the next biggest geek hit! Bravo! Download your own copy here (mp3).
The little Objective-Country pun? Thanks to Neil Twist.
The PC platform has seen a racing game after some time. Split Second : Velocity (aka Split/Second) has now been released to the public. From the brief experience I had with the title, this looked like a fun game to play with more arcade style gaming elements. However, Split/Second is a console port and like most console ports, it does not appear to be the most optimized game to run on PC hardware. In other words, some of you with even high end systems might run into performance woes. Anyways...
I've been a fan of the Netflix app for iPad (free) since it first arrived on the scene, but it always made me sad that I couldn't use my little Apple Dock Connector to VGA Adapter to display videos through a projector or TV.
Now I have a happy face. As of this afternoon, Netflix has updated the app to version 1.0.2, which provides support for video output via the aforementioned VGA adapter as well as the component and composite video cables. That means that you now have the ability to stream a movie from Netflix to your iPad, then zap that movie out to your projector, VGA monitor, or any TV with component or composite inputs. The resolution might not be what you're used to with an HDTV, but this does have a high coolness factor...
Excuse me, but I'm going to stop writing now and go watch all the Netflix movies available for instant play that have a 4-star or higher rating.
As loyal readers know, Apple stores are not particularly cash-friendly; in the case of the iPhone and the iPad, they're downright cash-hostile. Both devices require a credit or debit card for purchase, although you can waltz down the block and buy an iPad with cash at Best Buy if you like (and you can use a gift card for iPhone, but not for iPad).
There are some points on Apple's side for the pay-with-plastic requirement (the primary one being that it's hard to enforce the two-per-person purchase limit without some way to track buyers), but it's clear that the rule is a source of annoyance to some potential customers. Now the annoyance is getting magnified.
In a post that is destined to be enshrined under the Wikipedia entry for "irate screed," David Gewirtz at ZDnet reacts to this KGO-TV story about Diane Campbell, a Palo Alto woman who tried (and failed) to buy herself an iPad using good old greenbacks. And when I say Gewirtz reacts, I mean he absolutely goes medieval about this "outrageous" miscarriage of justice.
Back at Macworld, I checked out a company on the show floor that made solar (photovoltaic) panels. I was hoping to see a panel for sale ready to charge the iPhone, because an easy-to-use panel at a reasonable price would have probably had me opening my wallet on the spot. Unfortunately, they only made custom-designed panels, and nothing mass market (or in my price range), so I was disappointed. But this one might be what I was looking for: Quickertek, makers of all sorts of Mac-related accessories, has adapted its MacBook "Apple Juicz" solar panel to the iPad. This provides 10 watts of sun-based power (reportedly the same as the regular iPad charger) to your magical and revolutionary device.
I don't have an iPad yet, and the price of the Apple Juicz (US$250) is still a little steep for me, even though it's probably cheap for what it is. But I am always in favor of using solar technology, and if you're doing something like camping in the middle of nowhere and using your iPad or MacBook a lot, this might be a workable solution.
If nothing else, at least we're getting closer. Someday, photovoltaic panels will be so good at grabbing light and batteries will be so good at storing the generated power that all you'll need to do to charge your iPad is go read outside in the sun for a bit.
When it comes to unexpected functionality on Apple devices, the current leader is the iPad'sCamera Connection Kit. The USB adapter dongle has been found to work with plenty of unsupported peripherals, from audio headsets to external storage. Keyboards, in particular, are popular partners; not all of them will work, but quite a few do.
Granted, it may seem a bit weird to carry a second machine along just to type into your tablet, but to each their own. Now, if we could get an import utility that would take text files from the Neo and put them on the iPad...
Panasonic has announced its latest rugged notebook which is known as Toughbook 31. The rugged notebook has been designed to meet the military standard 810G for protection from six-foot drops, dust, shock, vibration, salt, fog and humidity as well as temperature extremes. The casing of the notebook has been fully sealed with magnesium alloy [...]
Since Apple acquired Lala back in December, we've wondered what its developers would do with their new purchase. Rumors suggest we'll find out in a few weeks at WWDC. Macsimum news is reporting that a live streaming version of iTunes will debut at the conference.
Some have speculated that iTunes will move to a subscription model, but others don't see it that way. Michael Robertson, former CEO of mp3.com, believes that Apple will create an "online locker" of your iTunes purchases. Once you buy a song or show or movie, it's added to your online library for you to stream at will. That would be a great solution for users who currently have several space-hogging videos in their purchase history. Perhaps that's what the North Carolina facility is for.
Personally, I'd welcome such a service with open arms. Even now, I play "video shuffle" with my iDevices, moving TV shows and movies back and forth as room and my interests change. How nice would it be to pull up any episode of BSG on any approved device without having to make room for it first? Very nice indeed.
Elgato Systems has been in the business of turning Macs into TVs for quite a while now. The company's most powerful USB digital TV tuner, the EyeTV Hybrid (US$149.95), is an amazing little dongle that comes equipped with EyeTV 3 tuner / recorder software for Mac. The EyeTV Hybrid has gone through a few iterations, many of which we've previously reviewed on TUAW.
I'm not much of a TV viewer; my tastes tend to run towards The Food Network and Fringe, so I don't spend hours sitting in my La-Z-Boy recliner flipping the remote. After using the EyeTV Hybrid and experimenting with the US$4.99 EyeTV app for iPhone, I was considering changing my mind. Most content available on TV is still dreck, but EyeTV made it incredibly simple to watch and record on my Mac, and to send that content to my iPhone when I'm not near the office.
Read on for a hands-on review of the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid and the EyeTV iPhone app (version 1.0.2) to see how they worked during my time with them.
Before either Apple lovers or haters get into a lather over this latest development in the ongoing patent infringement saga, it helps to be aware that HTC's complaint is highly unlikely to result in any actual importation bans. Patentlawsuits between large companies are a lot like chess games, with the same sort of move/countermove ploys. Rather than resulting in iPads sitting idle in Shanghai container ships, HTC's countersuit is far more likely to result in an expedited out-of-court cash settlement in the patent infringement matter. Which way the cash will eventually flow remains to be determined; HTC seems to be building its side of the case on being "the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone Edition in 2002" if remarks by its vice president are anything to go by.
I'll refrain from any further armchair lawyering other than this: considering the outcome of previous patent battles, probably all that's going to come out of this in the end is a few tens of millions of dollars flowing in one direction or the other. Once money changes hands, that'll most likely be the end of it.
What happens when you tweet a silly off-the-cuff remark about wanting a Country/Objective-C song called "Retain My Heart (Or you might point to an invalid memory reference)"? Magic. That's what happens. Absolute weekend-ready magic!
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As loyal readers know, Apple stores are not particularly cash-friendly; in the case of the iPhone and the 
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