Mac App Store; Timely CES Announcement

With the Mac App Store, getting the apps you want on your Mac has never been easier. No more boxes, no more disks, no more time-consuming installation. Click once to download and install any app on your Mac. The Mac App Store is now available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

The Mac App Store is just like the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So it’s as easy to find and download Mac apps as it is to add your favorite magazine to iPad or a new game to iPod touch. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music, and more. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it.

The Mac App Store revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer — it happens in one step. Enter the same iTunes password you use to buy music and apps on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Within seconds, your new app flies to your Dock, ready to go. So you can spend more time enjoying new apps and less time installing them.

Google Chrome App Market Is Awesome

Google Chrome has been getting all kinds of press recently as they continue to develop their OS. I've been a Mac user my whole life, but would seriously consider a PC for personal use if this OS comes to fruition. I use Chrome as my browser and the app functionality really blows me away. Take the above Gilt Group app for example...it mimics the functionality of the iPhone/iPad app that Gilt built and it takes full advantage of the visual space allotted by the browser. It's this type functionality that is totally changing the way we view a browser, and more importantly, the way designers and developers look at the browser and OS landscape.

In theory, if the app market continues to grow, I'm willing to bet certain brands move their emphasis from an engaging destination site to a fully functional app. Gilt Groupe is the perfect example; looking at the app, and understanding this is a retail company, why would they ever need a site when an app is so much easier to develop and manage?

Microsoft To Open Retail Stores

It's been going around for awhile, but CNET is reporting today that it's legit, Microsoft will open storefronts to push their gear.

Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday that it is planning to open its first stores this fall, with at least some of the locations likely to be right near an Apple store.

"As we progress on our retail strategy there will be scenarios where we have stores in proximity to Apple," a representative told CNET News. "We are on track to open stores in the fall time frame."

The fall timing is not surprising. One would assume Microsoft would want to have the stores open in time for Windows 7's October 22 retail launch and for the holiday selling season.

It was this past February when we first learned that Microsoft brought in an ex- Wal- Mart man in David Porter to head up their retail strategy...

Microsoft Corp. today announced that David Porter will join the company as corporate vice president of Retail Stores. He will lead Microsoft’s efforts to create a better PC and Microsoft retail purchase experience for consumers worldwide through the development and opening of the company’s own retail stores. Porter will report to Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner. He is joining Microsoft from DreamWorks Animation SKG, where he was head of worldwide product distribution.

So now the nerds on both sides of the coin will have their way. We can have water balloon fights from across the street, where Zune's and iPods will be tossed around like candy. Let the shenanigans begin!

Hulu iPhone App Coming Soon

Safe to say this will be the greatest iPhone app in the history of the app store...

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that a dedicated Hulu application is indeed on its way to the iPhone and should be here in just a few months. SAI says the application will work over Wi-Fi and AT&T's 3G network, meaning that users will be able to view programming anywhere with a fast data connection.

Rumors suggesting that an iPhone-friendly version of Hulu swirled around this time last year, however, they predated the launch of the App Store, and Hulu flat-out denied that one was being worked on.

This time around, though, it's far more plausible, with the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 software update, which lets developers bake streaming media into their applications. For Hulu, this means that the advertising could be stuck into the mobile stream and that users would be able to watch videos without leaving the application.

One of the things that keep this rumor from holding water is that Hulu is in direct competition with Apple's iTunes business. Users of Hulu can watch ad-supported, full-length television shows and movies on their personal computers for free, instead of paying Apple to download a copy for offline viewing.

If such an app were available on the iPhone, it would also offer portable TV and movie watching, something not yet offered in Apple's own mobile iTunes app, which is limited to video podcasts. In past instances of this, the company has simply denied applications such as Podcaster from making it through the app approval process, only to launch it as a first party feature later on.

On the other hand, some of Hulu's competitors have already gotten a foot in the door, including Joost and CBS-owned TV.com, which has its own iPhone application that streams in content in chunks. In addition, Google's YouTube, whose application comes preinstalled on the iPhone, has recently reached an agreement with major studios, including Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS (publisher of CNET News), to offer visitors full-length TV shows and feature films.

If Hulu can't manage to pull off getting advertisements in the stream, using this system, it would be fairly simple to force users to sit through advertisements between clips.

iTunes 8.1 coming soon

Following the release of the new iPod shuffle, it appears iTunes 8.1 is on its way. It’s not going to be a big release, but as with the new desktop line, there will be a few small changes to enhance the application further.

iTunes 8.1 will respond quicker when syncing your iPod/iPhone, loading large libraries and when you’re browsing the iTunes Store. I personally hope this lives up to expectations, because syncing the iPhone can be quite painful with a lot of applications. It’s slowly been getting better, but a speed boost would certainly be great.

If you’re a fan of Genius, you’ll be glad to hear it’s coming to your movies and TV shows, too! I’ve only used it once or twice to create a few playlists, but I have been introduced to some great tracks through it, too. This is the part I’ll be looking forward to especially for TV shows.

If that isn’t enough for you, any music you import from CD will be a higher quality. 256-Kbps iTunes Plus (AAC) files to be precise. You will be able to change from the default, if you preferred MP3 files, but the 256Kbps AAC is the same encoding used for the iTunes Store, and is a brilliant quality for your music.

I'm A Huge Fan Of The Safari 4 Browser For Mac

Using my PC at work has always pained me. But one of the few things that kept me going was Google's Chrome browser. I absolutely loved it and have been waiting for them to create a Mac version. Well finally Mac has released a public Beta of Safari 4, and it clearly resembles the best parts of Chrome. From smart searching, to expose style Top Sites windows, it really has all the fluidity and personalization a browser should have. In all honesty though, I'm way too lazy to pick apart the individual pieces so I found a great review online from a guy with whom I agree whole heartedly.

Just click here to get to the review....

>

The Simpson's Get An Apple, I Mean Mapple Store

Google Speech-To-Search iPhone App

This is unbelievably cool.

"MacHEADs" Is A Documentary About...Mac?

I write about Apple products quite a bit because I was raised on them and I like to think they are more interesting and capable machines than any and all PCs. (I'm currently on an HP, not by choice, but because someone has to pay the mortgage and this is apparently the magic carpet to that check).

Anyhoo....the coming documentary called "MacHEADS" is a great resource for me to use to get my friends to stop calling me Geek Squad and show them that there a lots of people out there who put my Mac affinity to shame. Drumroll please....


http://view.break.com/588706 - Watch more free videos

Updates From Apple’s Notebook Media Day

The Apple notebook media event starts at 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern. The Apple Store has already gone down for updates.

High level updates are new pricing and casing for the MacBook line, as well as the intro of a 13" screen. Macbook Air got some tweaks as well.

Courtesy of MacRumors:

Event Started. Jobs intros Tim Cook to talk about state of the Mac. 2.5 million Macs sold last qtr. growing 2-3x the rate of the market.

- Cook attributes Mac growth to better computers, software, compatibility (bootcamp), poor Vista reception, Mac v PC ads, and retail stores.

- Jobs intros Jon Ive: challenge of building MacBook Pro both strong and thin. MB Air introed new techniques. Start with 1 pc of aluminum.

- Been working on new Uni-body enclosures.

- Back to Jobs: NVIDIA approached Apple re new chipset. GeForce 9400M. 15 parallel cores. 54 gigaflops.

- MultiTouch Glass trackpad. "silky smooth travel" Entire trackpad a button. 39% larger. new 4 finger gestures. multi-buttons via software.

- New MacBook Pro:glass screen, thin display, connectors on one side, glass trackpad, uni-body enclosure, mini display port, next-gen graphics

- Both GeForce 9400M (integrated) and 9600M GT (discrete) in MBP. 5hrs battery w. 9400M. 4hrs w. 9600M. Battery indicator on side of MBP. (that was the mystery port)

- $1999, 15.4" LED display, 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM. 256MB VRAM, 250GB HD, SuperDrive; $2499, 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 512MB VRAM, 320GB HD. SuperDrive.

- MacBook Air update: 9400M in Air. 120GB HD. 128 SSD Option. Same processor speeds as before. mini display port. Also, new 24" LED Cinema Display

- Air prices $1799, $2499. LED Display: $899. Both avail in November. MacBook Pros shipping today. Dropping current MacBook to $999.

- New MacBooks: same features as MBP. Metal enclosure, faster graphics, LED display, glass track pad. $1299, 2GHz; $1599, 2.4GHz; both 13.3"

- MacBooks should be in stores tomorrow. New Apple 24" LED has iSight, speakers, Magsafe to charge notebook, 1920x1200 pixel rez.

- Q/A session: no blu-ray yet, complex licensing issues; glossy only option on laptops "You offset the reflection by the brightness".

Want To Build An iPhone App?

Apple is traditionally the most secretive tech company there is.  Despite the amount of leaks for new iPhone designs and iPod color releases, Apple has always made a concerted effort to keep mum about their upcoming designs and products.

iPhone App developers traditionally had to sign a non- disclosure agreement, preventing them from discussing developing apps with anyone else.  Apple has recently done away with the policy, as they get set to embark on the iPhone Tech Talk World Tour:

Apple technology evangelists and engineers will soon be traveling the globe bringing iPhone development expertise to a city near you. Learn about the tools and technologies you’ll use to create great iPhone applications, then work with the experts to optimize your code, refine your user interface, and apply the knowledge you gain from the sessions to enhance the capabilities of your iPhone application.

The major benefit to consumers is less clunky apps, as developers can now collaborate and create functionally seamless apps for all.

Thanks Apple.

CBS Creates iPhone App...And Supplies Porn

Who said CBS had lost it's cutting edge?

In a classic case of citizen journalism gone awry, CBS’s iPhone application Eyemobile has created a big stir today in the application market. Eyemobile provides users an easy link to CBS’ user generated news platform CBSEyemobile.com where citizens can upload photos and short pieces as their version of “news.” Straight from the AdAge presses:

Karl Johnson, chief operating officer of BrandContent, a Boston-based agency, uploaded the app last night and saw a picture of a young woman bent over her kitchen stove, her skirt hiked up. Later he saw video of three women performing sexual acts on one another. A visit to CBSeyemobile.com turns up a few photos that walk the line of not-safe-for-work, a jarring juxtaposition with CBS's storied news brand. What's more, Google is advertising on the clips via AdMob.

As a huge supporter of the application movement and the Mac community, I will be jumping on the bandwagon of calling out CBS’s moderating system as faulty. The same way Facebook and other massive user initiated sites are monitored, there is a built in system to track content uploads and safety of said content.

CBS does have a moderator, but it seems the system isn't working, or perhaps not as well as they would like. "We've been posting user-generated content since April, and this is the first known incident along these lines," a CBS spokesman said. "It was removed promptly and we will redouble our efforts in this regard."

While CBS’ debacle will probably only leave a temporary stain on the growing app market (enter T-Mobile and G1 stage left), we should all remember the potential pitfalls of putting the word “news” in front of the UGC acronym.

Sidenote, could you ever turn on the TV for your 6 o’clock news and accidentally get porn? No, which is why everyone loves the Internet; it keeps you on your toes.

XBOX.com -- WOW!

I just stumbled upon the new XBOX Great Britain website, and wow. I'm a Mac loyalist, as any Digicrest reader knows, but Microsoft or whoever is responsible has done an UNREAL job with the new XBOX environment. Pure class!

Why this is only the look for Great Britain, I have no idea. But who cares, it's awesome.