While we’re literally mere hours from the Mac App Store launch in MacStories time, I wanted to show you all a nifty little utility that you can get your hands on tomorrow. While I don’t like the idea of developers simply porting iOS apps to the desktop (I’m afraid of “gunking up” OS X), I do like the idea that small developers such as myself can get encourage to just start making things and have almost instant visibility. Chronos is one of those apps, a tool made to fill a missing spot on the OS X desktop that keeps track of how long you spend on a project, and its various tasks. What’s really neat is that it’s super simple to use: add a project, a few tasks, and start the timer. If you need to, you can add time to an existing task just in case you forgot to set the clock when you began coding away. Little indie apps like this are what I’ll be looking forward to: I like seeing good ideas that fill a gap and can be improved on over time.
Preview: Chronos Is A Simple Time Tracking Utility Heading To The Mac App Store
D-Pad, E-Pad, Badidea-Pad
Hey kids, an iPad Phone! The D-Pad and E-Pad are two small cellphones that somewhat resemble the iPad, except they’re telephones, much smaller, and nothing like Apple’s iPad. They have a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen, 2.5mm headphone jack, 0.3 MP front-facing camera and 2 MP rear camera with LED flash. Also included for you is dual SIMs, telescoping antenna (how cool will you look?), and a CMMB mobile TV tuner. Manufactured in Shenzhen, China and available now in white or pink 550 Chinese yuan (about $70).
Video and more images after the break
Echofon Acquired By PostUp (Who’ve Previously Acquired Twidroyd)
When Tweetie started to fall on the feature front, I immediately switched to Echofon and haven’t looked back. Why would you settle with an old, featureless, and bulky Twitter client like Tweetie when you can have a fast, streamlined, and full fledged app like Echofon? (It looked pretty, but I was never a fan of the original Tweetie.) Once the Streaming APIs hit the client a few months ago, it’s been one of my favorite apps on the Mac. Today, the company who develops Echofon, Naan Studio Inc., has been acquired by PostUp to compliment their previous purchase of Android’s Twidroyd. PostUp has a Twitter search algorithm that’s implemented on many sites to watch topics (our source TechCrunch uses it for example), and we can’t wait to see what exciting changes PostUp plans to make to improve Echofon.
[via TechCrunch]
iWork Update 5 Includes iWork.com, Keynote Updates Galore
Time to head over to Software Update iWork users: There’s a huge iWork 5 update in queue with your name on it. Most prominently featured is a major Keynote upgrade which allows you to play presentations over iWork.com with support for fifteen Steve Jobs’ approved animations. Keynote Remote 1.2 gets an upgrade as well, so you can playback hi-def slides on your iPhone during those killer presentation (eyeballs rejoice!). Some improvements have been made to the export of ePub files on Pages, but most importantly we’ll have public and private sharing options available for all iWork documents via iWork.com. You can read more about version 9.0.5 here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4386
Native Union Is Perfect For Cranky CEOs, Moms Who Want A Wireless House Phone
Remember those wireless house phones? Me neither. Native Union thinks you’ll want to take calls with the familiar shape and feel of a household handset through the power of bluetooth. Coming out of the 90s, we might fondly remember the angry clack of the phone as your mother hung up on your step-dad, or the times we spent talking to the girl down the street until the batteries went dead. Well you can relive those moments and charge your iPhone at the same time, and possibly power some wicked desktop speakers thanks to the 3.5mm output jack. Even more badass is your color choice of black or white, but unfortunately for Native Union, that white model might not sell until a matching white iPhone makes an appearance. This plastic block is $150, which I think is way overpriced for what you get. I’m calling it: “dead on arrival.”
[via Engadget]
Rumor: iPhone 5 Taken Apart, Shown Naked On Video?
The Boy Genius Report has uncovered an iPhone video from Youtube via Global Direct Parts, who claim to have the parts for the next generation iPhone. If this report is true, internally some of the changes could be speed bumps (such as we saw between the 3G and 3GS). On the outside, the steel band will see a relocation of the dividers that separate the antennas. Externally, we don’t imagine a visual difference between the iPhone 4, and the iPhone 5 (4G?). There’s been slight internal retooling of the next generation iPhone antenna, which may give customers with dropped calls some relief. Lastly, we can expect incremental improvements all around the board, but as you’ll see in the video after the break, we haven’t seen everything yet.
To The Future! Apple Granted Liquid Metal Patent For Fuel Cell Casing→
To The Future! Apple Granted Liquid Metal Patent For Fuel Cell Casing
Apple’s new patent describes “amorphous alloy” collector plates for fuel cells, an electrochemical battery that uses hydrogen to generate electricity. Although the patent doesn’t reference the Liquidmetal trademark, the material is an amorphous alloy or “ metallic glass.”
Last year, Apple signed an exclusive agreement to use the Liquidmetal Technologies’ IP in consumer electronic products. But of course, the ever-secretive company hasn’t hinted at its plans for the material. The possibilites are endless. Liquidmetal is a super lightweight, high-strength, scratch-proof metal that NASA says is “poised to redefine materials science as we know it in the 21st century.”
I don’t think we’ll see anything like this our next iPhone, but the prospect of having a fuel cell iPhone is intriguing. If you thought battery life was excellent now, just imagine not having to charge your iPhone for an entire month. The collector plates enable the chemical reaction that generates power - liquid metal is preferred because of it’s strong qualities as being durable and anti-corrosive.
#MacStoriesDeals - Wednesday
Ready for the Mac App Store launch tomorrow? We are! Here’s today’s deals on iOS & Mac apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot! Read more
Mac App Store and OS X 10.6.6 Coming Tomorrow at 12 PM ET
We know the Mac App Store is launching tomorrow, on January 6. We also know that Mac OS X 10.6.6 will be required to use the Mac App Store. Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop, however, confirms that according to his sources (and when Jim says “my sources tell me” he always means “someone at Apple told me”) the Mac App Store is launching tomorrow at 12 PM ET, 9 AM Cupertino time.
According to my sources, the Mac App Store will be available at 12:00 pm (noon) ET on Thursday. That puts it at about 9:00 am PT where Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, Calif.
Of course, this means that come 12 PM tomorrow we should fire up Software Update and find a 10.6.6 update that, among fixes, will include the Mac App Store as a new system app. It is still unknown whether or not Apple will also offer a standalone Mac App Store download for 10.6.6 users on its website.
So anyway, get your credit cards ready: we’re 23 hours away from the Mac App Store.