Why it’s good: It’s easy to get distracted while writing, especially when a dozen other apps are fighting for attention. WriteRoom enables you to block out the clutter and just get on with the process of writing.
Although other apps offer a full-screen mode (such as the latest Pages and the impressive Scrivener), WriteRoom’s take remains the best, largely due to its configuration options. It starts out resembling a primitive green-text-on-black-background terminal, but you can amend colors for text, page, background and scroller, adjust fonts, and toggle statistics (such as live word count).
WriteRoom isn’t Word, but it’s not meant to be. It’s a tool for writers, to enable them to get on with writing. And, as such, WriteRoom comes highly recommended if you’re an author, writer or journalist.
Where to get it: WriteRoom costs $24.95 and is available from Hog Bay Software.
UPDATED: It seems that David Hockney doesn’t like what he reads on Cultomac.com. We received an aggressive letter from Hockney’s lawyers demanding we remove the pictures posted here (which were copyright the Annely Juda Fine Art gallery); and correct an error: Hockney didn’t create the paintings on his iPhone, but on his desktop computer. David – we apologise for the error and are usually very careful and respectful of copyrights, but we were just trying to draw attention to the exhibition, not rip off your art. No need to sic the lawyers on us. We’re fans. I have a Pearblossom Highway print hanging in my house (which I paid for, btw). — Leander Kahney.
We wondered whether iPhone art was gallery ready, perhaps it took grandad of Pop art 71-year-old David Hockney to convince those who put art on the walls for a living that the output was more than random doodling.
The Annely Juda Fine Art gallery in London recently launched a show of Hockney’s entitled “Drawing In a Printing Machine” featuring iPhone works — created over the last four months — plus other drawings made with Photoshop and Graphics Tablet. All are displayed as inkjet printouts on paper.
For all the chatter generated by what may be the first major iPhone art gallery show, no one seems to mention what program he used, though it looks like Brushes.
Hockney’s technique, according to the Times, is to “stroke the screen very softly.” He reportedly sends fresh flower sketches to friends every morning, and says that he never could have imagined that the telephone would usher a renaissance in drawing.
You can see some more of his handiwork at the gallery here, if you’re in London, the show’s on until July 11.
Are his iPhone works in the gallery because it’s Hockney or because it’s art?
An App Store gatekeeper, whose name may or may not be Peter, officially positioned Apple as a ‘Holier Than Thou’ company recently, by rejecting the whimsical photobooth application Me So Holy.
The app would have allowed users to place photographs of themselves or others inside pre-set figure avatars that could let cousin Jim appear to be the face of Jesus, or Joe Bob to be Mohammed, or Mary Jane to be a bodhisattva, or, you get the picture.
Apple rejected the app, saying it “contains objectionable material,” according to Me So Holy developer Benjamin Kahle.
With less than a month to go before the anticipated launch of iPhone 3.0 firmware and a widely expected upgrade to the hardware, widely reported claims by a poster on a Chinese Apple fan site suggest the next version of Apple’s revolutionary smartphone will sport a faster processor, more disk storage and a much improved camera, among other upgrades.
The next gen device will have a 600MHz processor (up from the current 400MHz unit), 256MB of RAM (up from the current 128MB), up to 32GB of storage, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, as well as a digital compass and FM radio, all while retaining the same battery, basic shape, and screen size, according to the poster, who claims to have a connection at Foxconn, Apple’s China-based OEM for the iPhone.
Could it be? If you’ve got your ticket to the sold-out WWDC ’09 coming up in San Francisco, you’ll likely be among the first to know.
If you haven’t make it yet as an iPhone developer, Sam Kaplan and Louie Harboe, a couple of seventh graders from Chicago, may make you rethink your career choice.
The pair’s iPhone development company, Tapware, recently released its first iPhone application called “The Mathmaster” and has a second app in the hopper. Based in Hyde Park and supported by seed funding from a business school professor at the University of Chicago, Kaplan and Harboe have been plotting their success trajectory for years.
“Since the fifth grade, we’ve had this idea of working together and becoming successful,” said Harboe, a professional designer with a portfolio of images and icons at www.graphicpeel.com.
The Mathmaster is a simple tool designed to interest kids in things like square roots and multiplication tables. The pair developed the app in about a month and it was approved by Apple’s App Store within a week.
They hope to launch a second, quirkier advertising-based application around their site sipthatdrink.com in the coming months.
“Our goal was to get approved by the app store, sell a bunch of copies and make more apps,” said Kaplan, who has already completed an advanced placement computer science course and served as a keynote speaker at the National American Council for Online Learning.
Makes paper routes and lemonade stands look very 20th century, doesn’t it?
MICROSOFT SPOKESMAN: Hi — you look dumb. Would you like me to advance the dumbest possible argument for Zune ownership? See, it’s like this: iPods, though they’re really cool, cost money to get music on them! So you should pay a $15 monthly subscription for Zune music, which is basically free! You can trust me — I’m a financial planner. People in finance have never misled anyone!
APPLE BLOGGER: I had a music collection long before the iPod existed, dumbass. And who on earth owns an iPod classic these days?
Months ago, I wrote about my wrestling match to get the 64-Bit Windows 7 Public Beta installed on my MacBook. It took all day, and then, well, I had a copy of Windows on my computer that required a reboot to access. It was, as it turns out, every bit as pointless as many commenters accused my activity of being. I deleted my partition and never really gave it a second thought — even though I could use a Windows install to debug stuff for work.
Until today, that is, when Sun blogger The Fat Bloke provided detailed instructions for installing the most recent revision of the WIndows 7 Release Candidate on VirtualBox, the company’s totally free virtualization system. And I have to say, it works like a charm. I was up and running within about two hours, and I didn’t even need to follow the secondary instructions about Vista mode or whatever. If you’re curious at all, it’s absolutely the best way to get a Windows installation on your Mac for free.
Whether it’s useful remains to be seen. I might find myself deleting this next Sunday.
Police in Portsmouth, New Hampshire are setting up an iPod registry to thwart stealing. The registry covers the local high school, where staff and students reported high numbers of Apple snatching.
It works like much like bike registration: students fill out a form with a description and serial number of the device, verified by police staff at registration, and are given a sticker stating the device has been ID’d. The iPod is also photographed and the info is kept on file at the police department.
Police said the program is meant to speed up investigations and perhaps prevent thefts.
Do you think the registration will act as a deterrent?
The folks over at Pogo Stylus are offering $500 to the best artwork created on an iPhone or iPod touch made using said stylus (“no naked fingers allowed.”)
You can enter more than once (keep it clean and friendly, no copyrighted material, trademarks or logos owned by another party) and the deadline is July 1. Complete rules here.
The two works above are the first in the online gallery of contest entries.
Apple is getting down with the ‘Green is the New Black’ concept in a limited, though nonetheless laudable way.
The company is offering to re-cycle, free of charge, any school’s old, unwanted Mac computers, PCs, and other qualifying electronic waste, as long as schools register by July 31, 2009.
The program will only run for one month, until August 31, 2009, and schools must recycle a minimum of 25 pieces in order to participate.
Special consideration is being given to data security, according to Apple, which promises:
* All recycled hard drives will be ground into confetti-size pieces.
* Customers will receive a certificate of destruction for each lot recycled through the program.
* All asset tags and other identifying information are removed prior to destruction.
* All of the electronic waste collected through the program is processed domestically in the United States.
Apple has notified iPhone developers their submissions to the App Store must be compatible with iPhone OS 3.0 or they will no longer be reviewed, according to an iPhone Developer Program email.
Existing apps in the App Store should already run on iPhone OS 3.0 without modification, but Apple advised developers to test existing apps with iPhone OS 3.0 to ensure the absence of compatibility issues. “After iPhone OS 3.0 becomes available to customers, any app that is incompatible with iPhone OS 3.0 may be removed from the App Store,” the email read.
iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 and iPhone SDK 3.0 beta 5 are currently posted in the iPhone Dev Center, which means major hoopla in iPhone-world is likely mere weeks away.
What it is: A multi-account Twitter client, available for iPhone and Mac OS X.
Why it’s good: Both versions of Tweetie succeed in marrying a usable UI with a strong feature set. Although Tweetie for iPhone and Tweetie for Mac share some aspects of design, both play to the strengths of the host platform. On iPhone, Tweetie makes the most of the touch display, and its efficient UI means there’s never any stuttering. On Mac, Tweetie has keyboard shortcuts for practically every action, and its sidebar deals with the thorny issue of multi-account UI without resorting to tabs. In both cases, the app is feature-rich, providing a great experience for most Twitter users. The 1.1 update also brings saved searches, Growl support, and a bunch of other tweaks and fixes.
Where to get it: Tweetie for iPhone is available on the App Store for $2.99. Tweetie for Mac is available from atebits.com. By default, Tweetie for Mac is supported by unobtrusive and surprisingly relevant ads, but you can make them optional by paying $19.95.
Designer Dylan Roscover has created a fabulous portrait of Steve Jobs using the words of Apple’s seminal “Think Different” campaign.
At first, Dylan’s portrait looks like a pointillist painting. But on closer inspection, you see that Jobs is rendered in the words of “the crazy ones” TV ad, using a variety of Apple-related fonts — Motter Tektura, Apple Garamond, Myriad, Univers, Gill Sans, and Volkswagen AG Rounded, to be exact.
Dylan is a self-described ‘design nerd’ who lives in Aloma, Florida.
Says Dylan: “This is a typeface-driven design based on the “Here’s to the crazy ones” ad campaign from Apple in the 90s, using… fonts present in Apple branding and products.”
Hit the jump for a detail pic and link to the fullsize picture.
Welcome iHome: doors recently opened on a solar-powered, energy efficient prefab house that creators hope has the design cachet of Apple products.
Miles away from the usual trailer park digs, the homes feature v-shaped rooflines, bamboo floors and rooftop decks.
The name’s a hat tip to Apple — much like the iApartment building or the iHotel we’ve written about before.
“We love what it represents,” Kevin Clayton of Clayton Homes told the AP. “We are fans of Apple and all that they have done. But the ‘I’ stands for innovation, inspiration, intelligence and integration.”
The recession-friendly iHouse goes for $100 to $130 a square foot, depending on extras in what’s billed as “a moderately-priced plug and play dwelling” for the eco-conscious. The ribbon was cut on the iHouse in the US a few days ago at the annual shareholders’ meeting of investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway Inc. in Omaha, Neb.
Via AP
An iPod Touch or iPhone is now considered necessary equipment for journalism students at the University of Missouri.
As of fall 2009, an iPod Touch is the minimum requirement (an iPhone is a plus) for incoming freshmen to j-school, providing orientation information and course materials.
It’s not the first time universities have adopted Apple devices, but it may be the first time they approach something like mandatory. (Would-be Woodwards and Bernsteins won’t have to flash their iPods at the door and there will be no penalties for not having one, the requirement stated.) The journalism school has also required students to have laptops with wireless capabilities since 2005.
Brian Brooks, associate dean of the Journalism School, said the idea is to turn the music player into a learning device.
“Lectures are the worst possible learning format,” Brooks told the Missourian. “There’s been some research done that shows if a student can hear that lecture a second time, they retain three times as much of that lecture.”
What it is: Star Walk is the official mobile astronomy guide for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009), a $5 app for iPhone and iPod Touch that makes enjoyment of the celestial universe easier and possibly more enjoyable than anything outside a professional telescope.
Vito Technology, developers of the app, recently updated this popular title with improved existing features and several new functions. The new version (1.5) has even more striking graphics, enhanced speed, more images and a greater depth of information than the release version, which has already spent more than 4 months in the Top 25 paid apps of iTunes’ App Store.
Why it’s cool: Star Walk not only gives you a reliable guide to the present night sky based on your current location, it lets you change perspectives to locations thousands of miles away. It can also take you back in time to look at different events (such as eclipses) in the sky on specific dates; view lunar phases and learn about the discovery of constellations’ images and the reason for their shape. Use the super cool ‘infra-red’ night mode for easy outdoor stargazing without adding your device’s bright lighting to the ambient environment.
The new version has been improved with more stars and constellations to look at, with better and more precise images, more reliability and more speed.
The app makes stunning use of the iPhone accelerometer to change your perspective or point of view with just a swipe of the screen and provides zooming capabilities to allow you to travel in to deep space to find out the state of our knowledge of the outer universe.
New Features in the current version include:
♦ constellations on & off setting
♦ sounds on & off setting – but don’t turn them off; they are way cool!
♦ magnitude selection (allows you to show only stars with chosen brightness)
♦ spatio-temporal bookmarks – must admit to still learning about this one
♦ pictures of all constellations (from 10 upgraded to 110)
I’ve been playing with Star Walk for a couple weeks now and it’s definitely become a favorite app to use for stargazing as well as to show off some of my iPhone’s capabilities to friends and curious strangers.
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers and one of the most recognized engineering geeks in the world, joined the Board of Directors of TechForEducators.com – a Sausalito, CA-based purveyor of goods and services designed to improve the performance of educators – the company announced Wednesday.
“Woz inspired a generation of technologists – including myself,” explained Matt Spergel, President of TechForEducators.com. “The Apple II was an engineering tour de force and an amazing learning tool. We are deeply honored to have Steve contributing his infectious optimism and creativity to our company.”
Wozniak has a strong record of support for children and education, having been a founding sponsor of the Tech Museum of Innovation and the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. He also “adopted” the Los Gatos School District, near Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment.
In partnership with the Kids In Need Foundation, TechForEducators.com provides exceptional value to education: for every $1 a customer spends on product at TechForEducators.com, $1.25 worth of free school supplies is also provided to impoverished students. The company carries quality products at competitive prices, all with a money-back guarantee.
“TechForEducators.com represents the best in trying to do good things for our students and teachers,” Wozniak said. “I’m looking forward to the great things they have planned for education.”
AdWhirl, a platform for iPhone applications that allows developers to switch between ad networks on-the-fly, has released a report indicating that applications that crack the top 100 in the Free Apps list can make between $400-$5000 a day in advertising revenue.
Sam Yam, co-founder of the company formerly known as Adrollo, says AdWhirl has signed over 10% of the top 50 applications in the App Store to the platform and is serving 250 million ad impressions per month. AdWhirl’s platform gives developers access to multiple iPhone ad networks at once, allowing them to compensate when one network doesn’t have enough ad inventory, something Yam says happens as much as 40% of the time.
Having launched only in the last month, AdWhirl reports going rates of $1.90 eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) and 2.6% CTR (click-through rate), numbers that should make both advertisers and free app developers optimistic about the viability of the ad supported free app business model.
Apple got top marks all three laptop categories in “Consumer Reports” special computer issue.
Five Apple laptops made the cut. In the 13-inch category, MacBooks took all three top spots:
The 13-inch aluminum MacBook ranked No. 1, the solid-state MacBook Air No. 2 and the white plastic 13-inch MacBook came in third, in a tie with the HP Pavillion dv3.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro came in first in the 14- to 16-inch category.
In the 17- to 18-inch category — the same category where Lauren of “Laptop Hunter” ads chooses an HP over a Mac — was taken by the 17-inch MacBook, which scored 80 out of a possible 100. (The HP Lauren opted for ranks fourth.)
The results amount to “embarrassment of plaudits,” (Apple polishing?) for Fortune mag — perhaps to avoid looking gushy, Consumer Reports put a PC on the cover in question…
Apple moved quickly to remove an embarrassing listing on the iPhone web app directory which promoted the notorious QuickPWN software, which jailbreaks iPhones and iPod touches to allow unfettered application installation. Apple removed it tonight around 11 p.m. after coverage around the Mac blogosphere, including here at CoM. The link still comes up on Google, but the page is blank.
Why does this snafu matter? Because this little slip-up is yet another sign that Apple is completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content it needs to curate these days: Music, TV, Movies, and Podcasts in the iTunes Store; thousands upon thousands of apps for iPhone and many more that never make the cut; and an equally huge collection of web apps for iPhone on the website.
In a lot of ways, Apple has become one of the world’s biggest content gatekeepers. And the approval of Baby Shaker and the rejection of the Nine Inch Nails app are pretty clear evidence that the company still has a lot of work ahead to grow into the role.
Microsoft’s controversial Laptop Hunter ads were probably conceived, pitched and perhaps created on Macs, if these office snaps of the ad agency behind them are anything to go by. They show the desk of Alex Bogusky (with two Macs) at Crispin Porter + Bogusky plus the surrounding office space, also full of Macs.
I wouldn’t mind getting paid to sell PCs, as long as I didn’t have to work on them, too.
Kyle Buckner is a very talented fellow and his primary muse is Apple.
We’ve featured some of Buckner’s work before and he’s also got a spread in the June issue of Mac|Life magazine. He may well be one of the hottest Apple-inspired artists in the US right now.
Buckner sent us photos of his most recent school project, in which he was tasked to create a “Bookart”. Apple obsessed as he is, he was inspired to create a scale model of a MacBook.
Buckner constructed the casing out of wood, routering all the corners and then priming, sanding and painting the pieces white. The hinge system replicates the real Mac’s and is fully constructed out of hand cut MDF wood.
After he painted the pieces, he used a pencil to add the fine details. He drew the screen and full keyboard and penciled in every tiny phillips head screw at its location.
His piece is 3/4 the size of an original MacBook.
We apologize to anyone who got too excited by our earlier post teasing that this might be Apple’s new netbook. It’s a Monday night. It’s not football season.
Yesterday’s news that the Federal Trade Commission was investigating whether occasional collaborations between Apple and Google constitute anti-competitive practices is all the rage this morning. Apparently, a 1914 law makes it illegal for a person to sit on the boards of two companies if it will reduce competition between them. Apple and Google share two directors between their boards — so the only question is whether their presence has reduced competition.
And honestly, the answer is not at all. If anything, having Google CEO Eric Schmidt on the Apple board has made it more awkward as Android has started to diffuse into the market. Even though Google’s apps for the iPhone are among the best on the device, the proliferation of iPhone competitors from Le Goog is setting up for a head-on collision between Mountain View and Cupertino.
According to experts, even if anti-trust violations were determined, the likely upshot would just be for the directors to step down from one of their two boards. No biggie. But the case highlights that American business law doesn’t really understand Silicon Valley. Out here, it’s only natural that you would simultaneously compete and collaborate. You share secrets and then try to use them against each other. It’s in the DNA here. But the law, as they, is blind.
