According to a report from CNET, Apple is actively negotiating with music labels to secure international licensing for both iTunes Match and iCloud. Currently, iTunes Match only functions for US-based developers; iTunes in the Cloud, which auto-syncs purchases across devices, is also a US-only affair. CNET believes the service may be able to roll out internationally and debut at Apple's October 4 press event if negotiations can be completed in time.

CNET's sources have said the service may roll out to the UK, France, and Germany initially. Hopefully it won't take too much longer for licensing deals to enable service across all nations with access to the iTunes Store.

iCloud and iTunes Match are both expected to debut this fall, possibly soon after Apple's media event next week. The services will likely launch alongside the public release of iOS 5 and OS X Lion 10.7.2.

Apple seeks international licensing for iTunes Match, iCloud originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The great game developer Double Fine has released an app for the App Store, and it's related to their very popular game Psychonauts (which recently arrived on the Mac App Store itself), but it's not, unfortunately, a port of the game. The Psychonauts Vault Viewer is instead sort of an ancillary add-on to the title, a compendium of all of the game's "memory vault" animations, along with new commentary from the game's creators Scott Campbell and Tim Schafer. It's interesting but if you've never played Psychonauts, you probably won't find a lot of enjoyment in the app itself. If you love the game, the app is like an extras DVD, with lots of game content and some other features.

Vault Viewer is a free universal app, available now on the App Store. We've seen quite a few game companies use Apple's platform in this way, creating ancillary apps to their main games, and making use of the mobile platforms as a sort of a "second screen" for players either while they're playing or for a game on another platform. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see a full iOS game from Double Fine, but for now, this is what we've got.

Double Fine releases Psychonauts app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A report from Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita claims Apple is preparing to launch its iTunes music store in ten new countries throughout Europe. These new additions may include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and seven other unnamed locations.

If Rzeczpospolita's report is correct, this rollout will significantly boost the reach of Apple's music store. Apple currently operates its iTunes music store in a little over 20 countries globally. Its reach is hindered by music licensing agreements that limits sales to select countries. As a result, the iTunes Music store only logs about 12 million song downloads each month. It is outpaced by Apple's App Store which has a wider reach and over 31 million app downloads each month.

[Via MacRumors]

Report suggests iTunes store coming to additional European countries originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've been waiting awhile for an official Minecraft client for iOS, and it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer. According to Pocket Gamer, Minecraft - Pocket Edition will debut for Android devices on September 29, but Minecraft developer Mojang has offered only a vague "before the end of the year" launch for iOS.

Minecraft - Pocket Edition has been an exclusive for Xperia Play so far, but its wider launch on Android devices means it's just a matter of time before the game comes to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

A video of Minecraft - Pocket Edition running on a phone from Sony Ericsson is embedded below. The controls look quite intuitive, and scrolling around seems very smooth. If you're already addicted to Minecraft, things are only going to get worse for you later this year when you can take the game with you wherever you go.

Minecraft Pocket Edition headed to iOS later this year originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Any medical student or professional will instantly recognize the name "Netter." Frank H. Netter was a physician and artist who drew over 500 plates, or individual medical illustrations, covering virtually every aspect of human anatomy. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy, the book, is a classic in the field of medical reference. It outshines Grey's Anatomy, not only in its depth and accuracy, but also because of the detail of the images (not to mention, they're in color). If you're a medical student, Netter's is a must. However, the biggest problem with Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy, as with most medical reference books, is medical students might break their backs carrying the book around. It's a tome that weights close to ten pounds. The extra weight has now been alleviated however, thanks to Elsevier Health Sciences finally bringing Netter's Anatomy to the iPad.

Netter's Anatomy Atlas for iPad offers users all the benefits of the book and more. Because it's an app and not an ebook, Netter's Anatomy Atlas offers interactivity that could never be obtained in paper format. You still get all 531 Netter plates, but the app also gives you the ability to bookmark individual plates, add notes to the plates, customize and toggle labels, and offers a search functionality that allows you to quickly find a plate by plate number or keyword. The app also features some cool extras, like an additional 40 Netter plates once you register the app.

Though I'm glad Netter's is finally available on the iPad (my copy of the 4th edition is literally falling to pieces), there is one major drawback to Netter's Anatomy Atlas for iPad. In a baffling move, the app only works in landscape view. You can't look at the images in portrait orientation even though that's how they were drawn. This means you're scrolling a lot through some of the taller images. I imagine this landscape-only limitation will be addressed in a future update (at least, I hope it will be).

Besides that landscape orientation problem, the rest of the app is solid and I highly recommend it for anyone in the medical field. Like the book, the iPad app isn't cheap. Netter's Anatomy Atlas for iPad costs US$89.99. But there is also a free sample version, Netter's Anatomy Atlas Free, for those of you who want to try out the app first. If you do buy the full app, be warned: because of all the highly detailed plates it takes up a whopping 1.35 GB of space on your iPad.

Gallery: Netter's Anatomy Atlas for iPad

Daily iPad App: Netter's Anatomy Atlas originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Programs that offer corporate some latitude and personal discretion in their technology choices are growing, said the NYT on Friday, and while the relaxing of IT standards mandates means there are plenty of market losers (HP, Dell, Lenovo, RIM and other enterprise-centric vendors), there's one big winner: Apple.

At companies like Kraft Foods, rather than providing some employees with a standard laptop configuration, a stipend is offered to let staffers simply go out and get what they want. This shift toward a 'bring your own device' policy, also in place at companies like Netflix and Citrix, provides a substantial advantage for those technology companies that know how to market to consumers instead of corporations.

A Forrester Research study cited in the article also shows how IT's ability to lock down the ecosystem has been challenged by smartphone preference, with 48 percent of the surveyed information workers buying their phones with no regard for corporate standard-setting. Forrester's Ted Schadler sees this shift in the balance of device-approval power being driven by change at the top: "What broke the camel's back was the iPad, because executives brought it into the company and said 'Hey, you've got to support this.'"

The full measure of the Mac's benefit from these moves toward IT openness may be hard to quantify, but in the case of Citrix, it's there in black and white: 46 percent of the nearly 1,000 participating BYOD employees chose to buy a Mac. Citrix's CIO, Paul Martine, delivers the understated quote of the day: "That was a little bit of a surprise."

If you're an enterprise employee or an IT leader, please share your Apple integration experience or your BYOD stories in our comments or our feedback page.

'Bring your own device' programs give Apple a boost in the enterprise originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's only fair and right that one of the world's most popular content management/blogging platforms should have a snazzy and capable iPhone app to go with it. The WordPress app has been updated to version 2.9, adding three new features for mobile users.

The new version adds handy styling buttons right above the keyboard, so you no longer have to put in your markup manually for bold or italic text, links or lists. Full-screen editing gives you more real estate to view what you're working on, especially handy on the iPhone's screen. You can also now follow other subscribed Wordpress.com blogs directly in the app.

WordPress for iOS is free on the App Store.

WordPress iOS editing app gets styling buttons, full-screen mode originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While getting ready for my husband's move to the US from the UK, we've both been digitizing our DVD collections so it's less for him to haul, and I gain extra room for what he does bring. What I'm using to tag the files for easy browsing in iTunes and on the Apple TV is MetaX.

We wrote a tutorial on using the meta-tagging program in 2009, and it pretty much holds true still in Lion. Drag a video file into the program and you can search for associated tags through tagChimp and Amazon, or write your own. If the file isn't in iTunes, it'll copy or add it to your library based on your settings. To edit an existing file in iTunes, right-click the file, select "Reveal in Finder," and drag the file to MetaX. It'll replace the one in iTunes. If you're using Handbrake, you can set the preferences in Handbrake to send a file straight to MetaX once it's done ripping or converting it.

There's a robust feature set in MetaX, including various browsers to aid your search for tags and cover art, a frame grabber if you'd rather use a still from your video file and a barcode scanner for using the DVD packaging to search for tags.

There are a few glitches. Sometimes, the file will have two entries in the iTunes library. Delete the duplicate entry, but do not delete the file. I learned this one the hard way when I accidentally deleted the iTunes copy and had to rerip part of a DVD. The tag search also tends to stop after a period of time, but relaunching MetaX will take care of that.

MetaX is a free download, and it's worth checking out if you're considering digitizing the DVDs you already own.

Daily Mac App: MetaX originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

To new Mac users, the Downloads folder is quite confusing and even "invisible." As a Mac consultant, you wouldn't believe the number of times I've found multiple copies of downloads, updaters, and pictures in the Downloads folder -- all taking up valuable room on your disk.

Reader Joe Delk brought this to my attention recently and thought it would make a great Mac 101 post. Joe said "My harddrive has filled up recently and even after deleting most of the movies, iTunes or otherwise, it was still a struggle finding enough space for new movies and new programs. One day last week I had the epiphany of deleting everything in my 'Downloads' folder older than six months (I've had this MBP for around 2 years). It immediately freed up 18 GB. I was astounded. And I haven't missed anything since. Even after going through the recent stuff, I found that I had downloaded some items three, four, ten times, adding much additional space."

I'm personally pretty good about cleaning out Downloads on a regular basis, but when I did my cleaning today, I was able to toss 3 GB worth of unneeded files. Many Macs have a Download folder icon in the Dock, usually on the far right side near the Trash. If you don't have that icon, the easiest way to jump into the folder and start tossing things is to click on your Mac desktop, then select Go > Downloads from the menu bar.

Fellow TUAW blogger TJ Luoma pointed out one of his favorite ways of saving space on Macs. It's a relatively new app called Spacie (US$1.99) that's available on the Mac App Store. Spacie lists files by size or location along with their sizes, making it easy to see where you may have duplicates or large unwanted files that can be deleted.

Cleaning out the Downloads folder can be very helpful whether you have a new Mac with a smaller drive (like a MacBook Air) or an older Mac that's losing space. Be sure to remind yourself to clean it out often.

Mac 101: Reclaiming space by cleaning out the Downloads folder originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

123D Sculpt is a virtual sculpture program designed by Autodesk, a software company known for its 3D business software like AutoCAD. Though Autodesk has a rich history of creating professional applications, 123D Sculpt is designed to the artist inside all of us.

The iPad application lets you sculpt a 3D model out of a lump of virtual clay. It supports multi-touch so you can use all your fingers to mold thel clay into any shape you like. For the beginning artist, 123D Sculpt includes several pre-defined shapes that include animals, objects like cars and shapes like a cube.

Once you decide on a shape, you can use a suite of tools to manipulate the clay by pulling, smoothing, pushing, pinching, flattening it and more. You can even apply textures and add color to each creation. And if you want a personal touch, you can import a photo from your camera or photo library and use it a custom texture. When you 're done with your sculpture, you can export it to a transparent PNG. It's unfortunate the app does not let you export the creation to a 3D file format.

Though I am not an artist, I found 123D Sculpt to be very easy to use and enjoyable. The interface is intuitive and the app has a nice help section to explain what each tool and menu bar contains. A multiple undo feature lets you backtrack when you realize you've made some design mistakes.

If you are a budding Michelangelo, then you should check out 123D Sculpt. It' s available for free from the App Store and ships with 15-20 clay models. Additional models are available as an in-app purchase.

Daily iPad App: 123D Sculpt originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.