Apple Loosening It's Grip On iTunes App Approval Process

MacRumors is reporting that Apple is letting previously banned apps into the iTunes app store and loosening it's grip on the approval process. According to an app developer quoted in the MacRumors article, "[Apple] told me that they are going to start approving a whole new "genre" of apps, and that Pull My Finger will be the first to be accepted in this genre. As of now Pull My Finger is available in the app store.

The very kind Apple Team Member told me that they didn't want to reject it originally, but that they were sorting out how this "genre" of apps were going to be handled. She told me they'd be lifting the restriction on them, and more apps will follow that may have been previously not allowed."

This is great new to anyone needing that all important iPhone/iPod Touch farting app.

First Look At Realmac Software's LittleSnapper

Realmac Software released it's new screen snapping utility, LittleSnapper 1.0 on Thursday. LittleSnapper is a screen snapping utility that incorporates an cataloging and organizing mechanism reminiscent of iPhoto. It solves a problem encountered by anyone who takes a lot of screen shots: keeping screen snaps findable and organized. If you use OS X's built in screen snapping feature (

⌘

+

⇧

+4) you'll soon end up with tons of screen snaps named "Picture 1.png", "Picture 2.png" etc., scattered about your desktop and hard drive. Even if you're diligent about keeping your screen snaps named and organized you still have to physically go through the motions of dragging and dropping them into your organizational system.

LittleSnapper solves this problem by automatically importing screen shots into it's library.

Once in the library you can name, rate, describe and tag the screen snap for easy searching and finding later. You can further organize your library into folders, Collections and Smart Collections. Folders can contain anything you like: more folders, Collections or Smart Collections. Collections can only contain screen snaps and Smart Collections contain screen snaps based on rules you set when creating the collection. If you've ever used iPhoto or similar cataloging software you'll be comfortable with LittleSnapper's features and modes of operation.

So far, what I described above could be achieved with Skitch, SnapzPro, OS X's built in screen shot taking feature or any other screen capture program and your own organizational folder scheme (folders for libraries and collections) and although it wouldn't be automated, it is certainly doable. What sets LittleSnapper apart from these apps, however, is that the whole process is mostly automated. After taking the screen snap, LittleSnapper imports it and you just drag and drop it to the appropriate Library and collection. If you set up Smart Collections LittleSnapper can do this for you as well.

Another killer LittleSnapper feature is it's ability to take screen shots of full web pages. No longer do you have to take multiple screen snaps of really long webpages only to have to stitch them back together in an image editing app. Just navigate in Safari, Firefox, Camino, Omniweb or other supported browser to the page you want and tell LittleSnapper to snap the page. This type of functionality won't be of use to everyone but it's a boon to web developers and designers.

Of course, LittleSnapper comes with all the "normal" annotation tools you'd expect: Square, Circle, Text, Lines and Arrows. It also comes with a really slick Blur tool that allows you to obscure parts of your snap, like a username that was taken as part of the snap for example, or you can emphasize parts of your snap by blurring everything else. Slick!

All Capture commands are readily accessible in LittleSnapper's menu bar control: Snap Web Address From Safari, Open Current Website In LittleSnapper, Snap Full Screen, Snap Area, Snap Window. You can also open LittleSnapper's Preferences from the menu bar as well as quit the program.

By now you're probably thinking that LittleSnapper just might be the best thing since sliced bread and we'd probably agree but it gets even better. LittleSnapper allows you to take screen shots of individual elements on a page. Just load the webpage into LittleSnapper and then using it's DOM Element snapping feature move your cursor around and different page elements will highlight. When you find the one that you want, click it and then click Snap. You now have a screen snap of just that element. The real beauty of the webpage and element snapping features is that LittleSnapper also saves the associated HTML for you to look at later!

The last and possibly most important feature (ok they're all important but this is the one that'll allow us to move away from Skitch) is Realmac's QuickSnapper screen snap sharing service. Like Skitch, the QuickSnapper service is free and comes integrated with LittleSnapper: you just have to create an account which you can do right from within the app. With QuickSnapper

you have the ability to upload snaps directly from the Share button in the LittleSnapper toolbar. Once shared, others can view and comment on your snap. QuickSnapper also automatically generates code for inserting into forum posts, code for an HTML link and the URL to the full image. Best of all QuickSnapper will generate a tiny URL for using with Twitter! You can also search other users images and import them into your own library with a click of a button.

LittleSnapper isn't perfect yet and is missing a few key features. We here at AYAAW need to be able to tale snaps of application menus as well as menu bar menus. As of version 1.0 there is no way to do this and we had to dust off Skitch to take the snap of LittleSnapper's menu bar menu. SnapzPro can take snaps of menus via a hot key combo and Skitch's timed snap allows for this as well. It would also be nice to be able to name, rate and tag snaps as they're imported. As it is now, you take the snap, LittleSnapper imports it and you then enter this info in the Inspector. This isn't a huge issue but if naming, rating and tagging the image were part of the importing workflow, it would just be a lot quicker process. Also, as the world's worst speller's we need LittleSnapper to be able to tap into OS X's spelling and grammar checker for Text annotating. No doubt Realmac is already busy on the next version of LittleSnapper and maybe these features will make it into a future release. Keep your fingers crossed.

LittleSnapper is an incredible tool for those of us who have to take and organize screen shots on a daily basis. Even for the casual snapper, LittleSnapper is a compelling application. Realmac Software has priced LittleSnapper at $39 which is a steal if you ask us. Check it out and download the demo over at Realmac's LittleSnapper website.

TweakerSoft Releases VectorDesigner Update

TweakerSoft recently updated it's awesome VectorDesigner to 1.4.7. The update fixes a few bugs and is free to all existing VD () owners.

RWT Releases Buzz Theme For RapidWeaver

We're not sure how this slip past us but RapidWeaver Themes, one of our favorite RapidWeaver design outfits, released a new theme on Friday by the name of Buzz. Buzz incorporates the new Extra Content feature we reported with the announcement and release of seyDesigns Gotem theme.

NOT ONLY IS THE BUZZ THEME A "3 COLUMN MASTERPIECE" IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST THEMES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ALL NEW "MY EXTRA CONTAINERS" BY ADDING 4 EXTRA CONTENT CONTAINERS TO THE THEME. THE "MY EXTRA CONTAINERS" IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT FROM ADAM MERRIFIELD AT SEYDESIGN, GIUSEPPE CARUSO AT (((BONSAI STUDIO))). THESE EXTRA CONTAINERS WILL GIVE YOU CONTROL THAT YOU HAVE NEVER HAD IN A RW ... UNTIL NOW.

Besides the Extra Content feature, Buzz offers:

• 17 Stock and Customizable Headers
• 5 RWmultitool Header Slots
• Web friendly width of 960 px
• 7 Pre-Installed "File Sharing" Icons
• Ability to show Blog Categories in either sidebar or in both sidebars
• Colour Picker Options for nearly everything including the "My Extra Containers"
• Valid XHTML and CSS

Buzz is priced at $15.00 and can be purchased at RWT's theme store.

DRM Free iTunes?

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is on the verge of going DRM-free with the iTunes music store. The DRM-free move is rumored to start tomorrow, December 9th:

A report from last week brought to AppleInsider's attention by French technology site ElectronLibre asserts that it's now "clear" Apple will spark new interest in its music store by removing DRM from tracks published by Sony, Universal and Warner on December 9th.

The site doesn't point to specific sources but is careful to note that Apple is moving cautiously on the matter following difficult negotiations that allegedly had the labels hoping to negotiate what EMI had done for the launch of iTunes Plus in 2007, when it successfully negotiated prices higher before ultimately agreeing to reduce the price to Apple's standard 99 cents. Labels had also been hoping to switch from a monthly reporting of iTunes sales stats to live data, the earlier story suggests.

Talks between Apple and the remaining three labels may have been corroborated by a previous CNet story which also mentioned ongoing discussions that would let Apple switch to music without FairPlay restrictions.

Shoppers themselves have also noticed songs briefly selling unprotected that weren't either from EMI or independents.

More recently, the same site also believes Apple will quickly follow up the move with a promo campaign nicknamed the "12 Days of iTunes" that will let shoppers in France, Germany and the UK download an "unlimited" amount of content just after Christmas.

Read the full story over at AppleInsider.

We don't know about you but if this comes to pass tomorrow it'll make us very, very happy. DRM, even Apple's Fair Play, is onerous and completely unnecessary for the vast amount of people. Success stories like Apple's iTunes Music store show that when given the opportunity, most people are very willing to buy music legally and won't share/pirate digital content as the RIAA and the music industry would have us think. Sure, there will be those that do but treating the vast majority of honest people like thieves and criminals has been a slap to our collective face and no doubt contributed to the slide in sales for the big labels.

This of course is a rumor and should be viewed as such. Luckily, unlike most Apple rumors, we won't have to wait long to find out if it's true.

seyDesigns Releases seyDoggie Gotem Theme For RapidWeaver

Yesterday, seyDesigns released seyDoggie Gotem theme for RapidWeaver. Gotem is the first RapidWeaver theme that incorporates a new feature: ExtraContent. ExtraContent allows the user to insert extra content into areas of a webpage not normally available in RapidWeaver via a special code snippet that comes bundled with Gotem.

ExtraContent came about when a handful of 3rd party developers got together to address the need for more content spaces in RapidWeaver. While the content area and sidebar are ample space for the vast majority of RapidWeaver users, there are some who want more flexibility to add content in ways keeping with todays modern web designs.

ExtraContent was the solution agreed upon by (((Bonsai Studios))), RapidWeaverThemes.com and seyDesign, as an easy means of end users adding more content to their site, in developer designated areas of ExtraContent enabled themes. While these areas will vary from theme to theme, the process will be very much the same. These developers worked closely to come up with a solution that would give all users a common experience.

Features:

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ExtraContent enabled

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Two ExtraContent areas

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10 Custom headers

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RWmultitool Ready

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Split navigation

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Width control

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Header height control

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3 background textures

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Dual sidebar control

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Choice of font style

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Color control

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and more...


Gotem sells for $19.49 (CAD) and you can preview the new theme over at seyDesigns.

MacUpdate Holiday Promo

Those crazy cats over at MacUpdate are at it again this year with another fantastic holiday promotion. This years bundle includes some outstanding software and as usual you can get it at a ridiculously low price. The promo runs through December 17th and includes the folowing applications:

• RapidWeaver 4
• MacGourmet Deluxe
• iVolume
• WhatSize
• MacPilot
• Default Folder X
• KeyCue
• VirusBarrier X5
• Drive Genius

In addition, if you're one of the first 5000 purchaser's you also recieve iDive from Aquafadas as well, all for only $49.99. That's one heck of a deal espeically if you consider RapidWeaver normally goes for $79 by itself!

Don't be late, as we said this promo runs out on the 17th. Oh, and if you're feeling a little love for AYAAW for pointing out this deal to you, please consider using our affiliate link in the sidebar to purchase the bundle.

$99 iPhone: They'd Sell A Bazillion

Wal Mart isn't my favorite store. In fact, if I didn't live in the sticks and had a choice I'd be doing all my shopping at Target (I know, big difference). Anywho, MacRumors is running a rumor that Wal Mart will be selling 4GB iPhones for $99 and a two year contract starting on December 28th. If true, I can hear collective sigh of surrender over at RIM. I know I'd buy one for my Wife to replace her 1st. Gen iPhone and I also know about 15 other people who'd be lined up at the Wal Mart iPhone counter on December 28th ready to dump their other phones in favor of the 3G iPhone.

It's a rumor so take it with a grain of salt.

Joseph Henry

Storm iPhone/iPod Touch Backup Battery

Looking for a backup power solution for your iPhone or iPod or another stocking stuffer idea for your iPhone/iPod using loved one? If so then check out our Storm Backup Battery review over in the review section. We think it's a winner and sure to please just about anyone. Continue reading after the jump...

Black Friday Sales

Are you looking for a new Mac this holiday season? Perhaps a really nice gift for that special someone? Check out MacRumors Black Friday sales page. They've broken down the best deals on new iMac's, MacBooks, MacBook Pro's and iPods so you don't have to run around checking ads, visiting various websites, etc. Oh and if you're like my brother, who just bought a new MacBook Pro three days ago, sorry about your luck. You could've waited until today and saved an extra hunsky.

The Apple Store even has a few things on sale as well, so if you prefer to buy directly from our favorite fruit company, here you go.

Joseph Henry

Happy Thanksgiving!

From all of us to all of you, Happy Thanksgiving!

iPhone 3G Case Review Part 5: More-thing.com's Noel Collection Metallic Series Case

Just in time for Black Friday, the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Review has been posted over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at More-thing's Noel Collection Metallic Series case. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

Pixelmator Updated to 1.3.1

The Pixelmator team today updated Pixelmator to version 1.3.1. The updated brings a new Color Management Sheet and a new Refine Selection tool. With the new Color Management Sheet Pixelmator seeks to simplify the process of color management which is often one of the hardest things to grasp for beginning digital photographers and artists. The Color Management Sheet brings all the color management tools into one place for easy selection.

The Refine Selection tool offers users the ability to dramatically improve selections made with selection tools. The tool features Smooth, Feather and size settings and of course works in real-time so you can see the results instantaneously.

Other improvements included in the update are improved Type tool stability, user interface tweaks and compatibility improvements, as well as some bug fixes. The update is free to all existing Pixelmator owners and new users can get the full Pixelmator 1.3.1 for $59.

MacJournals Digs Into Safari's New Anti-Phishing Feature

MacWorld.com is running an excerpted version of MWJ's examination of Safari's new anti-phishing feature. The excerpt is at times a little deep but not so much that the average reader can't follow along. If you're discerning enough to be reading AYAAW then you're way above average so the article shouldn't pose a problem for you. Anyway, the excerpt is very interesting and highlights a problem with our favorite fruit branded company: transparency. It also goes into depth on Google's Safe Browsing technology and how Safari uses it in it's new anti-phishing feature.

MWJ has a problem with Apple's reluctance to tell it's users what it's doing with data transmitted from Safari to Google. In the conclusion they state:

This is not how companies like Apple are expected to behave towards their customers, even if Firefox already had the same feature. Mozilla is very clear about how Firefox does this. Apple refuses to say anything about how Safari does this, and for no other reason than that the company simply thinks so little of its customers that it doesn’t feel the need to keep them informed about data Safari transmits on their behalf. For a Web browser to do things like this without explicit documentation is inexcusable.

We’re not so sure we agree with the statement “the company simply thinks so little of its customers” but it would be nice if Apple were a little more forthcoming about issues dealing with user privacy. Don't take our word for it, though, read the article and come to your own conclusions. Then, if you have anything "above average" to say about it, post a comment.

Give Good Food To Your Mac

Give Good Food To Your Mac is back and this years software line up is impressive. Over 65 apps are available during the promotional period. Four of our all time favorite apps are included in the promo: BannerZest Pro, Yummy Soup, Together and RapidWeaver (of course). Here's how Give Good Food To Your Mac works: buy any three of the 65+ apps and receive 30% off your total order, buy any 4 apps and receive 40% off, buy 5 or more apps and receive 50% off. Do the math and that's a heck of a deal. You'd normally pay $316 for our 4 favorite apps and Pulp Motion (we own it but just haven't had a chance to play with it much). If you buy them from Give Good Food To Your Mac you only pay $158! Sound too good to be true? Well it's not but you do have to act fast. As of the writing of this post you only have 5 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes and 27 seconds to make your purchase.

Here's a sampling of some of the other apps offered in this deal:

Toon Boom Studio
Tangerine
Relationship
Pear Note
Nutritionist
Hydra 1.6 + Aperture Plug-in
Comic Boom
Bee Docs' Timeline
Many, many more!

Walk don't run (virtually) over to the Give Good Food To Your Mac page and order up some goodies for your Mac. You won't find better prices anywhere.

iPhone 3G Case Review Part 4: Speck SeeThru

We've posted the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Reviews over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at Speck's SeeThru. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

yabdab Software Releases FormLoom Beta

yabdab Software, makers of the PayLoom and GoogaLoom plug-ins for RapidWeaver, announced today the immediate availability of FormLoom. FormLoom is a plug-in designed to create forms that go beyond what the Contact page included with RapidWeaver can do. FormLoom offers the following features:

• AJAX Powered (never leave the page submission).
• Include CC and BCC addresses.
• Limit which files can be attached based on file extension.
• Filter input for possible spam injections.
• Includes reCaptcha security questions.
• Send Receipt email to sender.
• Custom Success message to sender.
• Customize look with CSS
• Automated MySQL Entry (coming in final release)

Requirements for building and serving up FormLoom pages are:

RapidWeaver 4
Server running PHP 5 or better.
Server running MySQL 5 or better (optional).

We here at AYAAW are very excited about this new plug-in and we've even thrown together a Contact Us page using it. Unfortunately there are a few kinks to work out yet so don't bother trying to send us anything through the page. We won't get it. Don't worry, as soon as its functional we'll let you know.

Apple Offering "iPhone Your Life" Website

Apple debuted a new website Friday designed to help new iPhone owners get the most out of their phones. The "iPhone Your Life" site offers up app recommendations for:

• Around Town
• World Travel
• At Home
• Getting Things Done
• Fun and Games

There are also links to an iPhone Tips and Tricks section, App of the Week and Top Apps.

If you've owned your iPhone for awhile you probably won't find anything new and startling here but it seems like a pretty nice place for new owners.

Invoking Google Maps Street View

How do you invoke Google Maps Street View? Do you know? We do and we're not telling. Just kidding! We'll tell you but you have to take a trip to the 3G Survival Guide to find out.

Apple Releases iPhone And iPod Touch Firmware Version 2.2

Unless you're living under a rock you know Apple released iPhone/iPod Touch Firmware version 2.2 on Friday. The update brings enhancements to:

Google Maps

• Google Street View.
• Public Transit and Walking Directions.
• Share Location Via Email.

Mail

• Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email.
• Improved formatting of wide HTML email.

Safari

• Improved stability and performance.
• Rearranged menu bar to included both the Google Search box and the URL address.

Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages.
Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you to the first Home screen.
Preferences to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard settings.
Direct downloading of Podcasts from the iTunes Music Store.

For all the details and a list of undocumented 2.2 features and enhancements read the MacRumors article.

Our favorite feature is the enhancement to the Home button. When you have app spread like we do this is a welcomed addition indeed. Below you find a few screen shots of the various enhancements, and if you haven't already done so, get to downloading version 2.2. We've experienced no downside to the update.

RapidWeaver MultiTool 2 $12 On MacZot

RapidWeaver MultiTool 2 will be on sale today over at MacZot for the low, low price of $12.00. Normally a $20 application this companion app to RapidWeaver makes swapping out RapidWeaver theme graphics a cinch. With a simple drag and drop approach, RW MultiTool 2 allows you to replace many of the theme elements quickly and easily without have to know anything about theme or how they're made.

RW MultiTool 2 also includes many image editing tools so you can tweak the look of your graphics or images until they're just right: layer transparency, Text tool, flip, rotate and scale, hue, saturation and brightness, filters and borders. As always, you can try RW MultiTool 2 before you buy but the sale does end at midnight tonight so don't dilly dally too long. If you've ever wanted to change a graphic or the look of your RapidWeaver project's theme, but didn't know how, look no further than RW MultiTool 2.

New Item In The 3G Survival Guide

Just a quick FYI: we've posted a portion of yesterday's Bulging Laptop Batteries And My iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe article (the part about the iPhone battery) in the 3G Survival Guide. There are some good tips in there which have dramatically increased my battery time so head on over to the guide and check them out.

Building Better 404 Pages

Hey all you budding RapidWeaver's check out our hot-off-the-presses Building Better 404 Pages tutorial over in the RapidWeaver Tutorial section. We give you the low down on creating custom 404 redirect pages that not only make life easier on your website's visitors but it'll make Google happier. After all, that's what its all about right? Making Google spiders happy. ;-)

Bulging Laptop Batteries And My iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe

Bulging Laptop Batteries

While perusing the iTunes app store the other day we stumbled upon a new app from Consumer Reports. The app is free and as we’ve so often mentioned, free is good so we downloaded it straight away.

Upon launching the app for the first time, however, we were shocked and dismayed to find the first article about “bulging” Apple laptop batteries. Apparently this isn’t an isolated issue and many MacBook and MacBook Pro owners have experienced similar issues.

Consumer Reports reported the issue to Apple and after a fairly lengthly customer service call to Apple they were authorized an immediate overnight shipment of a new battery.

Aside from the long call, this speaks to why Apple tops our annual survey on computer tech support.

states Consumer Reports.

Oh and the free Consumer Reports is kind of cool as well. Check it out on iTunes here. If you want to read the online version of "Apple's Bloating Batteries" check it out over at Consumer Reports.

iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe

Speaking of batteries, my iPhone has been suffering progressively worsening battery life. I’d start the day off fully charged and by supper I’d be at or getting close to 20% left. This was odd as I’d not overly taxed the phone. I’d probably use an hour or so of Talk Time, checked my email every hour or so and brought up iCal 10 or 15 times. I'd also take a trip to Twitterland via Twitterrific (now replaced by Tweetsville by the way) and maybe use a few other apps along the way but did nothing that I felt should be running the battery down that fast.

A visit to Apple’s support forums has hopefully nipped this issue in the bud. Seems that although lithium-ion batteries like the ones in iPhones and iPods don’t suffer from “memory” problems like NiCad batteries do (we all knew that) they do benefit from completing complete charging cycles. Apparently this tunes the charging circuitry so that your phone knows when it’s fully charged and when it needs charging.

That day I let my phone discharge completely, to the point that it was at 5% and would only offer me the option to make an emergency call or charge the phone. I plugged the phone into a wall outlet for 5 or 6 hours and now everything seems to be back to normal.

Here’s a link to the myriad battery charging threads in the discussions forums. Apple also posted this interesting and useful lithium-ion battery tips page as well as this iPhone specific battery tips page. I believe much if not all of this info is contained in one of my many owners manuals but who reads those things?
Er, maybe I should. Nah!

For those too lazy to click on links, here are the iPhone specific tips Apple suggests. The ones in bold and underlined were news to me:

• Minimize the use of location services
• Fetch new data less frequently
• Turn off push mail
• Auto-check fewer email accounts
• Minimize the use of third party applications
• Turn off WiFi
• Turn off Bluetooth
• Use Airplane mode in low or no coverage areas
• Adjust brightness
• Turn off EQ
• Turn off 3G

Ok, lets get real. The reason I own an iPhone is solely (almost, I do use the phone for "phoning" people occasionally) for using third party applications so that one is just ridiculous. Also, putting the phone in Airplane mode kind of defeats the purpose of having a cell phone, doesn't it?

Anyway, the tips are good and along with following the monthly charging cycle tip I'm hoping to get more out of my iPhone's battery. One more little tidbit I hadn't even thought of:

Make sure your computer is on while charging iPhone via USB. If iPhone is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPhone battery may drain. That's

a quote straight from the iPhone Battery tip page. I knew it wouldn't charge when the computer is turned off (duh!) but didn't know about the sleep or standby mode thingy. That's some good info!

iPhone 3G Case Review Part 3: Clear Naked

We've posted the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Reviews over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at Case-mate's Clear Naked. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

And Yet Another Twitter App For Your iPhone: Tweetsville

It had to happen sooner or later. I finally paid for an iPhone Twitter app. I'm not sure which is more disturbing, that I paid for an app that has many, many free alternatives or that I'm tweeting at all. First, generally speaking, I don't mind ad supported apps especially Twitter apps. I've been using Twitterrific and I've tried both Twitterlator and Twitterfon. I'm getting good at tuning out advertising. For whatever reason, though, today I just had to pay for an iPhone Twitter client.

The weird part of this whole thing is that I'm still Tweeting after I swore, not 5 months ago, that I'd never become a Tweeter and that I thought it was probably the biggest waste of time yet conceived by mankind. Seriously, does anyone really care what I'm doing right now? I sure as heck don't care what you're doing so don't Tweet it.

Twitter, however, grows on you. Sort of like ear hair. You don't really know why it's there but you still end up paying way too much attention to it. I vowed back in July to give it a try for a few weeks and I'm happy/sad to say I'm still Twittering. Worse, I'm buying Twitter apps.

Anyway, Tweetsville is a nice Twitter iPhone app and goes for a reasonable $3.99. I'm finding that I much prefer it's UI over Twitterrific: it's a very clean and standard iPhone UI. The search option is handy as well and something that Twitterrific is lacking.

If you're ready to make the leap to a paid Twitter client for your iPhone, I'd highly recommend you take a good look at Tweetsville.

Joseph Henry

Leopard 10.5.6 Focus On MobileMe

AppleInsider is reporting that the latest Leopard build seems to be geared toward improving MobileMe syncing with portables under various circumstances. The build also includes the usual laundry list of bug fixes. As of today we've not heard of any timetable for the release of the next Leopard update. We'll keep you posted.

Pixelmater 1.3 Released

Yesterday the brothers Dailide (Saulius and Aidas Dialide are the creators of Pixelmator) announced the immediate availability of Pixelmator 1.3, code named Tempo. The update provides more than a few bug fixes, major performance improvements, click-and-drag Magic Wand, Paint Bucket and Eraser tools, improved Hue and Saturation, Replace Color and Colorized tools, a Smart Palette hiding feature and more.

Pixelmator 1.3 Tempo delivers performance gains in almost every function of the application. It takes even more advantage than before of Core Image, OpenGL, and the power of other Mac-only technologies so that dramatic performance improvements are easily seen when one is working with large images—opening and saving, using filters and adjustments, and more.

We haven't had any time to play with the new version but it sounds like a great update. We use Pixelmator on a regular basis here at AYAAW so we're pretty excited about taking Tempo for a test drive. Do you use Pixelmator? What do you think about the latest version? Post your comments in the comment section.

For more info on the update check out the official Pixelmator Press Release.

You can download the latest version here (if you're a new customer) or just use the built in auto updater.

iPhone Number One "Handset Purchased By Adults" In The Third Quarter

Whew! I was worried about that: the iPhone being the leading handset purchased by adults in the third quarter that is. Really, I was losing sleep. Ok, in all seriousness, the iPhone overtaking Motorola's Razr is pretty big stuff and a testament to what a great piece of technology the iPhone really is. We already knew that the iPhone was crushing the Blackberry in satisfaction among the business crowd. Add this latest Razr tidbit to the mix and you've got definitive proof that the iPhone is already the technology and smart phone of tomorrow, and we lucky Apple iPhone users clutch it in our sweaty little palms today.

This news won't come as a surprise to anyone who actually use an iPhone everyday. After Apple fixed all the problems associated with the 2.0 debacle the iPhone, at least mine, has been nothing short of stellar. I've not experiences a single Silver Apple of Death screen since and I've not had to do even one restore and reset. Woo hoo!

If you look beyond the 8,000 Tip apps, 200 million Sudoku apps and the 225 "I have to take this call and oh by the way I need to leave" emergency bad date call apps the iPhone and the iTunes apps store have been an astonishing success. There is only one company that could've pulled this off and it's Apple. Don't argue Windoz fan boys you know it's true. Just as Microsoft brought affordable computing to billions (okay, the Windows experience can hardly be called computing) Apple has brought an amazing smart phone and application infrastructure to the masses. So go suck eggs Balmer!

The iPhone platform based on Leopard is truly a revolution. All hail the revolution (gratuitous Blue Oyster Cult link)!

Joe Henry

Steve Jobs Successor?

CNN's Fortune Magazine is speculating on who will be Steve Jobs successor. This is always a hot topic and one which analysts and industry observers tend to get excited about. You can't blame them, though. Thinking of an Apple post Jobs sends shivers down our collective AYAAW spine. It will happen someday, however, and speculation is always good fodder for pundits, Wall Street and Apple observers alike.

The big question is, of course, would Apple continue to thrive as the industry leader in design and innovation with Jobs gone? Who at Apple would be able to take the company reins without negatively affecting continued product innovation, financial growth and the stellar profits Apple has been posting quarter after quarter? We sure as heck don't know but after every MacWorld keynote, Developers Conference and/or product introduction where Jobs shares the stage, potential CEO successor names get thrown about. At this point in time, Furtune's Adam Lashinsky seems to have fingered the logical choice in Tim Cook. It's not the first time his name his name has come up in this discussion and it certainly won't be the last.

One surprising omission in the article is Phil Shiller, Apples Senior VP of WorldWide Product Marketing. Seems logical that a marketing guy should be included in any Apple successor discussion but Lashinsky must not think so.

Anyway, the article is a good read and we highly recommend it. It offers up some good insight on an Apple exec you don't often hear a lot about and why he may or may not be Jobs' successor.

The Onion Now Offering ONN Video On iTunes

The Onion is now offering it's ONN video content on iTunes. You can subscribe here (iTunes store link). According to the Onion News Network (Video) podcast page "The Onion News Network is the 24-hour cable TV news choice for billions of viewers in 811 countries. Now the hard-hitting, award-winning news you need is available anytime and anywhere you want."

In case you haven't had the pleasure of reading the Onion or watching Onion video, it is without a doubt the funniest fake news outfits there is. The Onion's satire and parodies will make you laugh out loud and possibly even double over in pain from laugh cramps. It's seriously funny stuff. Seriously.

We here at AYAAW are regular readers of the Onion's online version including ONN videos. Now we can even enjoy ONN content on our iPhone! What could be better then that?

Our favorite clip of all time has to be "Breaking News: Series Of Concentric Circles Emanating From Glowing Red Dot". It's truly hilarious! So Onion readers what's your favorite? Post it in the comments. You mom always told you it's good to share.

iPhone 3G Case Reviews Part 2

FYI, we've posted the second iPhone 3G case review over in our Reviews section. This time we take a look at PDO's Sleek Crystal polycarbonate case.

RapidWeaver Plugs Releases Styled Text +

Gary Byrd of RapidWeaver Themes and Mudbug Software (maker of Webify), and Ollie Levy have teamed up as RapidWeaver Plugs and have released a killer RapidWeaver plug-in as their inaugural offering: Styled Text +. Styled Text + is a new page type that builds on the Styled Text page included with RapidWeaver by adding a dedicated header and footer area on each page. The header and footer are set up as mini Styled Text pages within the page so you have all the regular Styled Text page tools at your disposal. This is a truly sweet plug-in and RapidWeaver Plugs is selling it for the absurdly low price of $5. If you use RapidWeaver for building sites and use the Styled Text page Styled Text + will quickly pay for itself in time saved not having to fiddle with snippets or trying to decipher all the code you have pasted into your Styled Text pages. We love it here at AYAAW and are already using it on our site.

Download the demo and try it out before you buy.

iPhone 3G Case Reviews Part 1

If you remember back in October we promised to bring you the most complete iPhone 3G case review ever. That was a pretty lofty goal and we’re not sure we can live up to it. It’s the whole “ever” thing that we may have a problem with. Besides, trying to review a whole slew of cases at once, well we just weren’t using our noodle. So what are we going to do about it? Instead of all the cases all at once, we’re going to break it down a bit and spread the reviews out over the next few weeks. In the end we hope to come down to a couple of favorites and we’ll tell you why.

To get the low-down on the first case we're reviewing head on over to the Reviews page and check out Griffin Technology's Clarifi.