Filed under: Internet Tools, App Store, SDK

Opera Software CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner stated in a New York Times interview yesterday that its engineers have developed a version of the Opera web browser that works on the iPhone, but Apple has rejected it for the App Store because it competes with Safari.

This isn’t unprecedented: Apple rejected an app called Podcaster possibly because it copies functionality in an upcoming version of the iPhone software. Podcaster was (for a time) available via ad-hoc distribution before that, too, was shut down.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber advocates that Apple rejected Opera because the browser included its own JavaScript interpreter, something forbidden by the iPhone SDK developer agreement.

Opera makes two flavors of its mobile web browser: Opera Mini for most mobile phones, BlackBerry, Palm, or Windows Mobile; and Opera Mobile, a more featured version for Symbian and Windows Mobile. A beta version of Opera Mini for Android is also in development.

Opera: Apple won’t let us in the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Opera: Apple won’t let us in the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cool tools, Internet Tools, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, Friday Favorite

Another Friday Favorite, our weekly opportunity to get all sloppy over our most-loved applications.

I’ll admit that when I first started trying out Instapaper, as a swift and dirty “bookmark this for later” web service, I didn’t see that many advantages to it. There’s delicious.com for bookmarking and Evernote for saving clips and PDFs; NetNewsWire for following my preferred sites… I felt like I had the bases covered. Sure, Instapaper was fast and dead simple (you would anticipate as much from Marco Ament, lead developer at microblogging service Tumblr), and having a personal ‘newspaper’ page of items to review at leisure was nice, but nothing earthshaking. Then, wouldn’t you know it, everything changed.

The catalyst, of course, was the App Store version of Instapaper Free (since happily upgraded to the $10 Instapaper Pro). Suddenly, with the capability to wirelessly sync my reading list to my iPod touch, I had a two-click process that freed me from my browser for nearly anything I wanted to read online. At first, the relationship with Instapaper was tentative; I threw a few NYT articles or TUAW posts-in-progress onto the list, just to see how they looked in the iPod’s plain text view (answer: just fine) and how Instapaper cached the full, pictures-included web layout if I needed it.

Over the next few weeks, as my election-commentary addiction reached intervention-worthy levels, Instapaper became my savior. No longer was I locked to a browser tab or to my computer when something intriguing crossed the transom. If it was mostly text: boom! Instapaper’s bookmarklet to the rescue. I began diligently syncing Instapaper on my iPod wherever the WiFi permitted (a very quick process) so that I could follow up on my reading list on the subway, in the elevator… wherever and whenever I wanted. It’s the low-rent, DIY Kindle and it simply, completely rocks.

Instapaper’s current mobile build isn’t quite perfect; it switches from portrait to landscape too easily, losing your place in your list (could use a lockout switch) and it has a slight tendency to crash on longer articles. None of that makes me love it any less; with the Pro version’s flexible display options and tilt scrolling (I never realized how tired my fingers got with swipe-scrolling on long articles until I enabled the tilt feature and didn’t have to swipe any more) I’m satisfied and still eager to see the next version’s inevitable improvements. If you’re an avid reader of web content and blogs, you owe it to yourself to try Instapaper.

Friday Favorite: Instapaper for iPhone/iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Friday Favorite: Instapaper for iPhone/iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Thought, Software, Cool tools, Odds and ends, Internet, Internet Tools, App Store

I love this idea — if there’s one thing our voting system here in the US could use, it’s a little more transparency, both in how the votes are counted and weighed, and in how the polling itself takes place. And now there’s an iPhone app aimed at making sure that on next month’s Election Day, we get exactly that.

Vote Report is currently submitted to the App Store — all you do is download the app, punch in your Twitter information (although the site states you don’t have to, but I’m not sure how it makes the report otherwise), and then when you’re done voting, you can fill out a quick form that will send information on how it went straight to Twitter itself (you can see all the reports collected on this page as well).

Of course, the Internet (including Twitter) will be awash with reports from polling places on November 4th, but if you’re bringing your iPhone along, this will be a quick and simple way to get the word out if something went right or wrong. And Vote Report has teamed up with Election Protection, so if something does go really wrong at the polls, they’ll hopefully be standing by to get the word out.

If you’re in the US, no matter what your political leaning or affiliation, do make sure to vote on November 4th — the wheels of democracy only turn when we all get out and push. Let’s exercise those rights while we’ve got them.

Vote Report helps poll the polls on Election Day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Vote Report helps poll the polls on Election Day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Enterprise, Internet Tools, Beta Beat, iPhone

If you’ve got a far-flung assortment of personal to manage, there are some great zero-config paid and install-a-client-first free options out there — including the cross-platform hosted approach of LogMeIn. The LogMeIn Free client runs fine on Mac OS X, and the web-based control UI is capable; but how delightful would it be to take that same ability and stick it in your pocket? Very delightful.

LogMeIn has begun accepting applications for the private beta of LogMeIn Ignition for iPhone/iPod touch, the mobile client version of the remote control platform. With a final release planned for the end of the year, the client will allow full remote control of any computer in your list, including screen blanking and zoom/pan options.

While there are great IT admin tools for other mobile platforms (and some promising but never-completed iPhone tools), the iPhone admin explosion hasn’t quite arrived yet. LogMeIn is definitely an industrial-strength player and the presence of the client will help to legitimize the iPhone and iPod touch as an enterprise device.

Thanks Shannon

[via MacTech]

LogMeIn Ignition promises remote screen sharing from iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

LogMeIn Ignition promises remote screen sharing from iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet Tools

Netflix has been speaking about bringing its “Watch Instantly” motion picture streaming service to the Mac for a long time, and now Engadget is reporting that they’re finally beginning to roll it out. The “Watch Instantly” service allows unlimited Netflix subscribers to stream about 12,000 TV shows and movies to their computers (or set-top devices), but has been limited to Windows Computers since the service first appeared.

Ironically, this is being made possible thanks to Microsoft’s Flash-wannabe Silverlight browser plugin. As we noted way back in 2007, the holdup was the need for Microsoft DRM on the streaming videos and the new Silverlight-based player incorporates Microsoft’s Play Ready DRM.

Unfortunately, the initial roll-out is limited, but Netflix expects to bring “the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.” Sadly for PPC owners, it will be limited to Intel Macs. Nonetheless, it’s great to see Netflix finally coming through on the promise of Watch Instantly for Mac users.

Netflix begins testing Watch Instantly on the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Netflix begins testing Watch Instantly on the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, World wide web Tools, Open Source, TUAW Labs

I was really disappointed when Google released their Chrome web browser for Windows only. When it comes to browsers, I’ve tried them all. Right now I regularly switch between Firefox and the latest nightly build from Webkit (essentially Safari). Firefox has the extensibility I rely on, while Webkit has the performance I crave. I had hoped that Chrome would magically combine those two crucial traits and become my new go-to browser. Unfortunately, Chrome isn’t yet almost as extensible as Firefox, and isn’t available for Mac (yet).

So envision my surprise when I stumbled upon the latest experimental Firefox build from Mozilla, called Minefield. This Minefield should not be confused with the unofficial optimized builds of Firefox that Brett wrote about, which are also referred to as Minefield. Minefield is Mozilla’s code-name for this generation of Firefox, and the code name is used for unofficial builds to avoid infringing upon the Firefox name.

So, what’s so special about the Mozilla Minefield build? It’s fast… smokin’ fast. This is essentially a version of Firefox with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine under the hood, and as Ars Technica reports, it tests even faster than Google’s V8 JavaScript engine.

As most Mac users have noted, Firefox is kind of pokey on the Mac platform, particularly compared with WebKit or even Safari, and even when compared with Firefox on a similarly spec’d Windows machine. Version 3 of Firefox was supposed to repair the performance problem, and while it’s somewhat superior, it’s still not great.

Well, Minefield is great. Using Gmail or even a complex content management system is a breath of fresh air. I feel like my web apps are finally keeping up with me.

There’s one caveat, and it’s a massive one: though the current version number is 3.1b2pre (the “b” denoting beta status), this is really alpha software. That means there will be bugs, and you will experience problems. Surprisingly, though, Minefield has been very stable in my testing — not yet crashing in a full day of testing. I have restarted it a couple of times due to suspicion that something strange was going on, but I can’t say for sure if it was.

If you use it with your regular Firefox profile rather than creating a new one, Minefield will complain that most of your extensions are not compatible. Using Nightly Tester Tools, I re-enabled all of the extensions that it disabled, and each single one of them appears to be working normally, even the complicated ones like Superior Gmail 2 and TabMixPlus.

I’ve only had a problem with one site so far, but unfortunately it’s a big one: Google Docs. The page simply won’t load. But for now, I’m willing to open WebKit or Camino to edit my Google Docs, because I’m just too smitten with the raw speed that Minefield offers.

One last note: being a nightly build, you will likely find that new versions are available, well, nightly. Mozilla makes the process of upgrading to the latest version virtually painless by using the built-in version monitoring process that Firefox uses.

[via Ubuntu Unleashed]

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Filed under: World wide web Tools, Reviews, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

I love Box.net — the online file storage system that makes it simple to store and share files with other users quickly and easily. A couple of years ago, TUAW wrote up how to use Box.net as an iDisk (and this still works), but now the Box team has made it even easier to access your files while on the go, with the new Box.net iPhone app.

The app, which is compatible with the iPhone and the second generation iPod Touch (sorry 1st Gen touch users!), is simply awesome. Box.net already had an iPhone friendly mobile interface at i.box.net, but while you could access some files from that page, you couldn’t play back media and document viewing was more limited. The new application means you can play back audio and video (assuming the file is compatible with the iPhone 2.1’s firmware support for QuickTime), view PDF or Office files, view pics, and upload photos from your iPhone or iPod Touch directly to Box.net.

Even nicer, the Box.net app integrates directly with your address book, so you can share a folder or individual document with a contact, just by clicking the “Share” button and selecting the contact from the address book. The application also notifies you of any updates or changes made to your box, which is great for individuals who collaborate with other users using a Box.net account.

I have a free Box.net account (which limits me to 1 GB of storage space and puts a 25 MB cap on file sizes), but I was able to access all my files and documents with ease. On my iPod Touch, Box.net loaded PDF files faster than some other tools I’ve used for PDF viewing, though I did find that network activity did impact overall speed. When the bridged router I use with my non-802.11n devices was in heavy use, it could take quite some time to load a large PDF. When the G router was idle, load time was almost non-existent, even for 8 or 9 MB files.

I don’t have an iPhone, so I can’t vouch for EDGE or 3G speeds — but over WiFi, speed was solid.

The interface of this app, as you can see from the gallery, is just superb. It perfectly matches both the Box.net website and the iPhone user interface guidelines. Maneuvering through files was a cinch and I love the integration with the address book for sharing files or folders. Being able to upload photos directly to Box.net is also pretty great.

If there was anything that could be on my wishlist, it would be the ability to upload other types of tiles to Box.net as well. Of course, you can always e-mail uploads to Box.net, so this isn’t an absolute necessity.

Box.net is free and available from the App Store now.

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Filed under: Software, Cool tools, World wide web Tools

Video link

Last month, our friends at Realmac Software teased us with some screenshots of their newest application, LittleSnapper. LittleSnapper is a program that’ll let you take screenshots of full web pages, with adjustment and sharing features similar to Skitch.

The Realmac team has now produced a video (above) showing off how you can capture a web page, choose a specific element from that page and swiftly upload the image to Flickr. The video also shows off how LittleSnapper can be used to organize web screenshots into collections — kind of like iPhoto — complete with metadata.

For me, the DOM selector (it looks similar to what CSSEdit uses) is the most intriguing aspect of LittleSnapper. It isn’t uncommon for me to want to grab a specific section from a web page, only to find that the image is embedded within the stylesheet. I have the ability to manually choose that section with Snapz Pro or Skitch, but that can lack precision and will ultimately require me to spend more time prepping screenshots.

LittleSnapper is expected to be released at the end of the year.

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Filed under: Accessories, World wide web Tools

While most VoIP devices are made for Skype, IPEVO has made a version of its TR-10 conference phone with the Mac in mind: It can be used with both iChat and GarageBand.

For iChat conversations, the device can be used either as a speakerphone or traditional handset with full-duplex audio and echo cancellation. The buttons on the front of the device can be programmed to start iChat or record calls.

For GarageBand, the TR-10 can be used as an audio input device to record podcasts. The device only works with a Mac.

IPEVO sells the TR-10 for $79.90 in its on the internet store.

[Via Engadget.]

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Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

It’s been in beta for a while, but now Adobe’s ubiquitous media plugin (warning: LOUD) has turned 10 officially for the Mac. The 5.5 MB download (available in separate versions for Intel and PPC) gains a host of new and improved features, including custom After Effects-style filters, advanced text support, 3D effects, better hardware acceleration and streaming support, vamped-up APIs, and file upload/download improvements.

Flash 10 requires a 500 MHz G3 or better on the Mac, and runs on Tiger or Leopard: OS X 10.3 Panther users are out of luck. Download now from Adobe if you dare. Authoring content that takes full advantage of Flash Player 10 means using Flash CS4, which — what a coincidence! — is shipping as of today, along with the rest of the CS4 suite.

Flash’s ubiquity in the marketplace (99% of Internet users have some version of it installed, states Adobe) does give it a wide advantage over media alternatives like QuickTime and Silverlight, but one of the ongoing challenges for Flash is version upsell; getting people to move to the new build sometimes has to wait until a popular service requires it. For Mac users, the lure of upgrading includes a move away from the traditionally lackluster performance of Flash on the Intel hardware — I know many MacBook users who can tell when a Flash ad is playing in a hidden Safari tab just by the sound of the cooling fans ramping up — so with any luck, version 10 will address the challenges in that area while simultaneously adding all these cool new features.

Thanks Richard

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