This Week's Sponsor:

Textastic

The Powerful Code Editor for iPad and iPhone — Now Free to Try

WWDC 2011 Session Videos Now Available

Right on schedule less than two weeks after WWDC, Apple has uploaded the session videos to its Developer portal and made them available for registered developers to download in iTunes, provided they log in with their Apple ID. Whilst the landing page for the WWDC 2011 Session Videos went live for a few minutes yesterday, the videos were not available yet. The videos are now available both in SD and HD at developer.apple.com/itunes. 109 files of sessions covering new iOS 5 topics like Notification Center and iMessage, new iCloud features, OS X Lion and memory management for developers can be downloaded now, for free and viewed on any iPhone 4, iPad, Apple TV, Mac and iPod touch 4th gen.

As usual, Apple reminds you that “content presented within the session videos and slides is Apple Confidential Information and is subject to the Registered Apple Developer Agreement.” The official Developer Videos webpage hasn’t been updated yet to reflect the changes, but the 2011 Sessions are available on iTunes.

Categories covered at WWDC 2011 include:

  • Apple Platforms Kickoff
  • App Frameworks
  • Core OS
  • Developer Tools
  • Graphics, Media, and Games
  • Internet and Web

Sessions can be downloaded as videos, or digital booklet slides.

Kickstarter: The InfiniteLoop iPad Stand

Designer / Engineer Tim Gushue lives in San Francisco and works in the consumer electronics field. Tim designs products that make sense, questioning what is truly necessary in a product to help solve a problem in a simple and elegant way. He also sounds like an Apple fan, and a minimalist, so many of us can relate to this project called InfiniteLoop.

The InfiniteLoop is a “simple solution to making the iPad truly useful.” It helps improve the iPad’s versatility when reading in bed, watching a movie, sitting in a plane, or doing FaceTime on the go. It was born out of the frustration with not being able to find an iPad stand that could accommodate all uses.

The InfiniteLoop is a maluable 4 foot loop that you can manipulate to virtually any shape to hold up almost any tablet. It’s made up of a patented co-molded metal and plastic band. Since it can be bent into any shape, you can get almost any angle you need, all with this “loop.” It also comes with suction caps and adjustable side slips to allow it to fit any iPad or tablet on the market. When you’re not using the InfiniteLoop, it rolls up into a coil and can fit in your pocket, purse, backpack, anywhere you can think of.

Video after the break. Read more

OmniFocus for iPhone Gets Forecast View, Lots Of Fixes

Users of the OmniFocus application for iPad who also happen to have an iPhone and are tied to The Omni Group’s software ecosystem might want to check for updates in iTunes and download the latest version of OmniFocus for iPhone. Released a few minutes ago, OmniFocus 1.10 adds one major new feature: Forecast mode for overdue, due, and future actions. Forecast was one of the new OmniFocus features exclusive to the iPad version, and a hint of things to come in the much-anticipated OmniFocus 2.0 for Mac. Just like on the iPad, you’ll have a bar along the top displaying a summary of your upcoming week, as well as past tasks and stuff that needs to be taken care of sometime in the future. Forecast mode replaces the Due and Overdue lists and it provides an incredibly useful way to see what’s going on at a glance, without having to find your way around sections and taps. It’s a huge time saver.

OmniFocus 1.10 also comes with several refinements all around the UI and bug fixes, which you can read in detail here. Just to name a few, the first-run sync process has been redesigned to be more intuitive, and the Action and Project editors got “Go to Project” and “Go to Context” buttons. Overall, the app feels a lot faster and it’s clear The Omni Group set out to fix all those minor annoyances that are not so minor when you have to work with an app on a daily basis.

You can find OmniFocus for iPhone at $19.99 on the App Store.

Mac OS X 10.6.8 Now Available

Apple has just released a new version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, reaching version 10.6.8. The update is available now in the Software Update control panel, or Apple’s website. Among various bug fixes including issues with Preview and the well-known Mac Defender malware, 10.6.8 “enhances” the Mac App Store to get it ready for Lion in July.

Changelog:

  • Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion
  • Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
  • Improve support for IPv6
  • Improve VPN reliability
  • Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender

Below are the direct links for all the updates (including Security) Apple released today:

Review: Pogoplug Software Puts Your Mac In The Cloud

Yesterday, I scored a free Pogoplug Software Premium account thanks to the good folks over at The Next Web. I’m a big fan of well-done cloud services that allow me to access my stuff anywhere I go, and as I’m also always interested in desktop solutions aimed at securely mirroring your computers’ contents to the cloud, I was excited to install the new Pogoplug app on Lion and take it for a spin. The results are surprisingly good, but far from perfect.

Pogoplug became popular a few years ago thanks to a network-attached device that enables you to put media in it, and access it from a variety of devices and the web because it is actually connected to the Internet. Rather than forcing you to buy an additional piece of hardware to plug into your home router and waste space on your desk, though, the new Pogoplug Software product allows you to access your media in your personal cloud at $29 per year for unlimited computers and devices. That’s undoubtedly a great offer: once installed on your Mac, the Pogoplug app will scan your computer’s drive and default locations (like Music and Movies) for content, and make it available online. Once authenticated, you’ll be able to stream music, watch a movie, or read a PDF from an iPhone, iPad, or web browser. The concept is not too far away from what Jim Dalrymple at The Loop said Apple was working on to enable users to put files in the cloud. The solution turned out to be a little different as we know, yet Pogoplug Software holds up to this idea: it’s your Mac, mirrored to the cloud, and available anywhere. Read more

Philips Introduces New AirPlay Products at CE Week 2011

At the CE Week 2011 event in New York City, Philips has unveiled new AirPlay-compatible speakers that will allow Mac and iOS users to beam audio from their devices to the external speakers instantly, without the need of an AirPort Express station. These speakers, in fact, come with AirPlay integration built-in thanks to a wireless chip that uses the licensed AirPlay technology to allow users to stream audio from mobile devices.

Following the Fidelio SoundSphere speaker unveiled back in March, Philips has outed four new products of the Fidelio line, all compatible with AirPlay, as reported by iLounge: the Fidelio SoundSphere DS6800W, the Fidelio DS8800W, the circular Fidelio DS3881W, and the Fidelio AD7000W. With the exception of the DS8800W shipping this July at $400, Philips’ new speakers will be available this holiday season with prices ranging from $229 to $500.

Engadget has also posted a hands-on with Philips’ new AirPlay speakers, you can check out the embedded video after the break and read the original report and with photo gallery here.
Read more

OS X Lion Concept: iMessage App

Ever since Apple unveiled iMessage for iOS 5, its new universal messaging protocol to send free text messages, videos and pictures to other iOS users, many have wondered whether the new app would be integrated with the Mac as well, perhaps in a new version of iChat. iMessage for iOS brings some new functionalities like delivery and read receipts in real-time, as well as sync and Messages.app integration, but it resembles the desktop iChat in the way it visualizes new messages, or lets you see when a person is typing. With the upcoming iCloud integration in OS X Lion, launching this Fall and available right now to developers for testing as a beta add-on, there is the possibility Apple will release a standalone iMessage app for Mac in the Mac App Store once iCloud is available for all. Just like they did with FaceTime, the app could be sold for $0.99 in the Store, and pre-installed by default on new systems.

Based on this kind of speculation, designer Jan-Michael Cart, creator of other iOS 5 concepts we posted ahead of WWDC, has come up with an interesting idea for iMessage on OS X Lion. The messaging protocol could have its own desktop app powered by real-time notifications, bounce on the Dock upon receiving new messages, and have a Mail-like toolbar for composing new messages and search among existing ones. We imagine having a desktop iMessage app could mean users would be able to rely on system-wide integration with Services to send any text to iMessage, as well as start a new FaceTime session from a contact in iMessage or the Address Book.

The concept video is interesting and we have embedded it after the break. iMessages are currently enabled in the iOS 5 betas for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, but some code strings found in the latest Lion developer preview suggest Apple might be working on a desktop counterpart to launch later this year.
Read more

Macs Now Account For 11% Of Corporate Computers, Windows PCs Still Dominate With 87%

A new report out today shows that whilst Microsoft may still completely dominate the enterprise landscape in terms of desktop computers, Apple is still making steady progress in the market. According to market research by Forrester, the share of Mac OS X in corporate USA has climbed from 9.1% in April 2010 to 11% in March this year.

Ben Gray, co-author of the report, attributed the increase in Mac OS X’s share of the market because of a shift towards “BYO [bring your own] device programs” that workers were pushing for - workers are now expecting Mac and iOS support. Such “consumerization” of the enterprise has been driven by the popularity of the iPad which has shown some significant penetration in the enterprise market - driven by workers wanting to bringing their own iPad into work.

Nonetheless, as Macworld notes, “Microsoft remains a hegemony in the enterprise – 86.7% of all corporate computers run one of its operating system”.  Windows XP, over a decade old, remains the dominate OS in the enterprise with 59.9% of the market, Windows 7 is next with roughly 21% and then Vista with just 6.2%.

[Via Macworld]