A Fantastical Giveaway

By Cody Fink

Your calendar application might be great at mitigating and managing various calendars, but entering new dates and creating events at a moment’s notice should be practical and easy. Digitally, it’s often difficult to remove the abstraction of pull down menus, date pickers, alarms, and event notes when you simply want to note a few meetings and your kid’s soccer game. I don’t like to fidget with my calendar software, and I don’t need it open all day. Fantastical does a couple of great things, such as allowing me to remove iCal from my Object Dock so I can quickly glance at the date, and it makes entering events painless since input is derived from plain English. Just tell Fantastical that you’ll be attending a two hour meeting at four o’clock on Sunday, and without any menu-selecting Fantastical will schedule that all important briefing. The interface is terrific, sporting an iOS-like popover with a fine attention to showing you matters most without cluttering your desktop. Fantastical is always ready when I need it to be, and I don’t need to open some gargantuan calendar app just to enter a few events. Between this and the recent OmniFocus update (a quick plug since these two apps work excellently in conjunction), you’ve got yourself a slick app handcrafted to help you schedule and manage your various activities. Fantastical is currently $14.99 on the Mac App Store, but we’re going to be giving away two copies to a couple of lucky calendar-needy MacStorians past the break.

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Dual-Mode Verizon iPhone 4S to be Released With AT&T Version

By Cody Fink

Verizon has been a leaky faucet lately, with our first real bit of insight into Apple’s strategy coming in April where CFO Fran Shammo spoke about a global iPhone hitting shelves at the same time as their competitors. The idea of a dual-mode phone was “reiterated” again by Shammo at Reteurs’ technology summits: to be clear, the idea that Verizon would launch a dual-mode, GSM/CDMA capable model alongside AT&T would give it equal footing when customers decide on a carrier. Shammo offered further clarity that the iPhone probably won’t be an LTE device, noting, ”It’s a bigger issue for Apple than it is for us.” Apple is focused on providing an iPhone that works globally at the moment, rather than focusing on LTE technologies. Verizon themselves aren’t concerned about the lack of LTE on the next iPhone, given that they already have a slew of Android devices that offer their functionality if consumers desire it.

Along with iPhone plans, Shammo also said family plans would get shared data plans after the switch to tiered pricing. An end to unlimited on-device data plans was still on track for the summer, but he said it was sure Verizon would have “mega-plans” where a certain number of devices had a larger pool of data.

If you’re planning on getting an unlimited plan under Verizon, your switch from AT&T to the big red may not matter once Verizon adopts tiered pricing. Likely to be competitive with AT&T who’re currently offering 2GB of data for $25 a month, Verizon may also offer customers buying multiple phones a discount, and that mega-plans may offer incentives such as the ability to ‘borrow’ plans from other 3G devices (read: free tethering).

The next iPhone is rumored to be on track for an improved camera, bigger display, and an A5 processor. Apple should currently be in the process of ramping down iPhone 4 shipments (expecting to ship 2 million less in Q2) as the new batch of next generation iPhones are scheduled to begin production in August. The next iPhone will also likely feature an 8 MP Sony camera, as well as sporting a new design with relocated flash. All of us are going to be incredibly anxious as it’s unlikely Apple will launch a new iPhone in June or July, but I’m guessing September is looking like it’ll be bigger than we expected.

[Reuters via Electronista]

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Could Aperture Be Coming to iOS?

By Cody Fink

This would be a photographers dream come true wouldn’t it? Even if you prefer Adobe’s Lightroom to Apple’s Aperture, I’d love to have the iPad play a larger role in field editing for photographers. The Photos app included on the iPad isn’t exactly prime for professional work (it’s great for displaying and browsing the end result), but Aperture on the iPad would give photographers an intuitive touch interface to edit photos in a library that’s perhaps separate from Photo’s library. Patently Apple reports that Aperture could well be on its way towards touchscreen devices such as the iPad (and maybe that touchscreen iMac we’ve heard about).

It’s the latter that’s interesting in light of Apple’s latest patent revelation that Aperture is coming to touch displays including handhelds like the iPad. It may even come to future desktops and laptops that offer touch displays, according to Apple. An advanced graphics pen would be great for fast photo touch-ups and appreciated by photographers using Aperture on-the-go.

The patent covers various means of interacting with Aperture, from touch input to pen input, and the descriptions of various GUI elements that can provide authors with an easy toolset at the ready for image editing. The authors are intrigued with the idea that Apple may be moving towards various forms of alternate input, such a smart light pen, that could aid future Apple device owners in precision editing.

[via Patently Apple]

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Foodish: Delightfully Mindful of What You’re Eating. Review & Giveaway!

By Cody Fink

Calories aren’t fun. No matter what kind of appreciation you have for food, watching what you eat while being a food-a-holic can be difficult when everyone else focuses on just the numbers. Eating should be about discovery. It should enjoyable, shared, and fun without making everything else out to be a dangerous game of cat and calories. In my opinion, it’s much better to be mindful of what you’re eating, and Foodish is exactly the kind of app that fulfills this desire very well.

Not only is Foodish wrapped in a beautiful user interface, it’s fun and simple to use. Based on good conscience alone, you simply snap a picture of your meals and rate them on a general “bad to good” scale that tracks your overall eating habits over time. The concept is great: not only can the foodie in you keep a record of all those great meals and memories, but it also keeps you aware of just what exactly you’re shoving into that pie hole. Plus, you get to totally brag about the incredible meal you’re having at that five start restaurant from within the app. It’s a win-win!

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Reposado, An Open-Source Update Service Independent of OS X Server

By Cody Fink

Hosting an internal Apple Software Update service involves having to rely on Mac OS X Server to update you various testing machines if you want to test software against various releases of Leopard and Snow Leopard across hardware. Walt Disney Animation Studios, however, have released Reposado, an open-source project founded upon Python that eliminates the need for OS X Server while alleviating some previous limitations.

The open-source benefit of this project is immediately applicable for small businesses. As TUAW’s Chris Ward points out, running your own update solution for businesses allows administrators to economize on bandwidth by downloading the update once, and distributing it internally. For both developers and IT administrators, Reposado takes this a bit further by leveraging what a company is likely to already have available in equipment. It’s a cost effective solution that’s currently available for download via GitHub.

All you need available is a box running an Apache 2 web server and the ‘curl’ binary tool, and provided you already have an old Mac around (such as a Mac Mini), utilizing these tools is incredibly easy. Replicating Software Update catalogs and updates, Reposado is powerful in that it supports deprecated updates. Apple’s course of action only offers and encourages admins to download the latest software, yet testing environments require that software be compatible across multiple iterations of software. With Reposado, you can branch any update to various machines on your schedule, giving you time to test new software before deploying it.

[Managing OS X via TUAW]

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Intel To Embrace Mobile Space with Silvermont, Airmont Atom Chip Architectures

By Cody Fink

Given the fierce competition in the mobile space and the increasing availability of smartphones and lightweight, low-power mobile devices, Intel currently doesn’t offer the mobile chips needed to compete with AMD. With the desktop being ousted for laptops, eventual chromebooks, and tablets, Intel wants to embrace a new strategy to take on the mobile space. CEO Paul Otellini said today,

“We’re shifting from 35-watt to 15-watt…the center is increasingly about ultramobility,” said Otellini. “Every device has to be always on and always connected,” he said. Today, a device with a 15-watt processor is typically an ultrathin laptop like the MacBook Air.

Intel specifically wants to shift company focus onto always-on and always-connected devices by revamping their product line with a series of new Atom chip architectures fit for low-power, constant draw devices. Silvermont, a 22-nanometer Atom chip, and Airmont, a 14-nanometer Atom chip, are currently under development and are to be included in future Android and MeeGo devices. As Intel “scales down” their current offerings to fit the tablet space, Otellini notes,

“No big announcement from Intel on smartphones today. Phones in first part of next year…an area of intense focus for us.”

It’s going to be a while before we start seeing a score of Intel powered smartphones on the market, but does this mean anything for Apple? With Intel somewhat inexperienced and still young in comparison to competitors, I don’t know if we’d see an Intel powered iPhone or iPad in the near future, or even in later revisions of the MacBook Air. I think Intel has a long lifespan when it comes to laptops and desktops, but Apple is intent on centralizing their products on their own technologies: if Apple is going so far as to include a proprietary SSD format in the MacBook Air, I’ll bet you’ll see the MacBook Air to be the first Mac in Apple’s lineup to include a future iteration of Apple’s A5 chip. Unless of course, Intel is successful and quick to iterate on their upcoming low-power offerings, there may not be much of a reason to make that jump.

According to Otellini, Intel is currently “on track” for 35 designs in the tablet space, but whether this includes Apple remains to be seen.

[via CNET]

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MacStories Product Review: Wicked Reverb

By Cody Fink

In the search for an affordable yet comfortable pair of headphones that could replace Apple’s earbuds (at around the same price), I was led to a pair of over-the-ear cans fit for any teenage snow-border who already didn’t own a pair of Skullcandys. The Wicked Reverb, fit for hoodie toting hooligans ready to faux-rock to 128 kbit mp3s, arrived at my desk in an oversized box littered with the kind of graffiti that speaks marketing over value. However, I didn’t want first impressions to ruin what could possibly be a charming relationship, so I’ve spent a couple week’s worth of alone time with my hot-rod red headphones just to see if something Wicked can actually sound, “wicked.” Past the break, a few pics and our conclusive review on whether these are an ample replacement for your worn out buds.

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Steve Jobs: Get Rid of the Crappy Stuff →

Linked By Cody Fink

Steve Jobs: Get Rid of the Crappy Stuff

Mark Parker talking to Steve Jobs over the phone, shortly after becoming CEO of Nike:

“Do you have any advice?” Parker asked Jobs. “Well, just one thing,” said Jobs. “Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff.” Parker said Jobs paused and Parker filled the quiet with a chuckle. But Jobs didn’t laugh. He was serious. “He was absolutely right,” said Parker. “We had to edit.”

Keeping focus is one of the most important things you can do for your brand. Sure you can sell twenty different models of the same thing over and over again, but when you really narrow down your product line to only the best available, the only things you have to sell are good products. It’s more desirable for both companies and consumers when effort is only expelled on the things that count.

“Can anyone innovate like Apple?” The simple answer: While anyone can learn the principles that drive Apple’s innovation, few businesses have the courage to do so. It takes courage to reduce the number of products a company offers from 350 to 10, as Jobs did in 1998. It takes courage to remove a keyboard from the face of a smartphone and replace those buttons with a giant screen, as Jobs did with the iPhone.”\

Carmine Gallo couldn’t have said it any better. While all of what I’ve said might be true, it takes courage. I recommend reading the rest over at Forbes via the read-more link below.

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ProductiveMacs Bundle: 8 Great Mac Apps at $29

By Cody Fink

Given all the great apps available for the Mac, wouldn’t be great if someone bundled together some really powerful utilities that help you get work done? How about utilities like Keyboard Maestro, Mail Act-on, TextExpander, and Path Finder all in one shot? If the addition of HoudahSpot and Today wasn’t enough, then how about the killer price tag of $29? The ProductiveMacs bundle, organized via Apparent Software (who just picked up Socialite from Realmac Software) are hosting a bundle that features a fine collection of seriously powerful software for your Mac.

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