Apple TV Sales Estimate: 1 Million Per Quarter

It’s nice when you can transform a geek hobby to a nation-wide consumer hit. It happened with the iPhone, it happened with the iPod Touch and it’s happening with the iPad as we speak. The latest research from JMP Research analyst Alex Gauna suggests us it may be happening with the new Apple TV as well. Read more

Shawn Blanc on OmniFocus→

Shawn Blanc on OmniFocus

Getting actions in is easy. It’s in the processing of those actions where the most friction exists. However, that’s because the organization and output is what makes OmniFocus so mind-blowingly powerful. I’m not exaggerating when I say that OmniFocus pretty much organizes your lists for you. It will take your relevant tasks and intelligently order them for you so you only see what you need to see without worrying about other stuff. After years of keeping a to-do list, I just may now be finally understanding what people mean by a “trusted system”.

That’s exactly what OmniFocus is all about: giving you powerful (yet unobtrusive) tools to help you sort your tasks and projects. Integration with other applications is the next logical step.

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Latest Apple Patent: The Ambidextrous Mouse (Which Sounds Familiar)

Tech companies patent a lot of stuff. From external devices to stands and screens and touch-based interactions, patents for “inventions” are all over the place. Apple patents are the ones we usually get excited about, though, as they’re probably the most curious ones.

The latest Apple patent filing shows us an “ambidextrous” mouse, a device capable of recognizing whether you’re holding it with your left or right hand, and able to work in either mode. Read more

Instagram: A New Social Paradigm for iPhone Camera Apps

It’s not easy to build an alternative iPhone camera app: many tried, most of them failed, the one I loved was removed and the developers never got back to us. It’s not easy because Apple’s default camera application requires literally two taps to snap a picture, and there you have it in your camera roll. Where many developers failed is in simplicity and user approach: they promoted their app as the “best camera app for iPhone”, and they stashed 300+ features in it, making it impossible to use for the average iPhone owner.

So either you build an app for professionals (almostDSLR comes in mind), or you create something different. The latter option is exactly what the Instagram developers got right: they built a simple app to take pictures and make them prettier, and they wrapped it up with social features in order to create a brand new community around Instagram. A camera app with a social network inside it? The cool thing is, this could singlehandedly redefine the concept of “simple camera apps” on the iPhone for the months to come. Instagram is that good. Read more

Ouch: New Apple TV Doesn’t Trigger 24 Hour Timer for Shows Rented On Mac

Interesting bug (or is it a feature?) discovered by MacRumors about the new Apple TV: if you try to stream a show rented on a Mac’s iTunes, the 24/48 hour countdown for the rental doesn’t get triggered. Instead, you’ll keep seeing the 29+ days message as if  you never opened that file.

This only happens when you stream the file from your computer to the new Apple TV which, as you may know, doesn’t come with storage capabilities like the old model. Read more

Google Goggles Now Available in Google iPhone App

Finally, I’ve been waiting for this: with a post on the official company blog Google has just announced that the Google Mobile iPhone app has been updated to include support for Google Goggles, the free service that allows you to search by taking pictures. An iPhone version of the popular Android-only service was first announced in June.

The app isn’t available yet in the US Store (I guess it’s still propagating). Check out the video below.

Update: the app is now live in the App Store. Update #2: I took a quick test, the app works great. Check out my screenshots below.

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