The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

We first told you about Grocery IQ in October of last year. Grocery IQ allows iPhone users to completely organize a shopping list, and even arrange the list by aisles in the store. While the application has grown since its first release, it is about to see some major improvements.

Grocery IQ was recently purchased by Coupons.com (a website for finding coupons). According to a press release by Coupons.com, the application could see a 2.0 update as soon as February and include the ability to find coupons right from the device.

The update will be free for previous purchasers of Grocery IQ. The application is currently the number one seller in the Lifestyles section of the App Store. Grocery IQ is available on the App Store for a US $.99.

Thanks, Kim!

After using iPhoto '09 for a couple days, I have come to love the new features, in particular the Places feature. However, one thing that annoyed me is that you cannot use the Multi-Touch feature on newer MacBooks to manipulate the maps (zooming in/out, etc.).

However, thanks to a Tweet-tip from Steven Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith), there is a way to enable this functionality. To add Multi-Touch maps to places in iPhoto '09, just open Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities) and type (or copy/paste) the following statement and press enter:

defaults write com.apple.iphoto MapScrollWheel -bool YES

When you restart iPhoto, you will notice that you are now able to scroll in/out of the Places maps with ease. If it turns out that you don't want the scrolling feature, just retype the statement, replacing "YES" with "NO."


Thanks for the tip, Steven!

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We had such a great response to our Six iPhone Games still worth playing that we decided to do a follow up. In this post, I'm going to tell you about 5 new iPhone games that are new, and look very promising.

Trivial ($4.99 each)
If you are a fan of trivia then you will love Trivial [iTunes link]. Trivial is interesting because it is not just one application -- it is actually a collection of six iPhone applications that together create a set of trivia games. There's an app for History, Movies, Pop Culture, Sciences, Sports, and Technology. Each Trivial app includes thousands of different questions that will tax your brain into thinking of the correct answer.

Trivial includes two great ways of playing the game: single player, or networked. In single player mode, you are able to choose between four different game types: Endless, Endurance, 100 Questions, and Timeless. Endless keeps throwing questions at you until you can't handle it any longer. Endurance will test your knowledge and reaction time by allowing you to answer questions until you get one wrong -- when you get one right, the scoring is based on how quickly you answered. 100 Questions allows you to answer a hundred questions in a row to see how many you get right. Timeless gives you the same great Trivial game without having to worry about the clock ticking. There is even an online score board that allows you to post your scores and compete against other Trivial players.

Playing a game of Trivial over the network is absolutely amazing. Handshake (an app by the same company) is the technology that powers Trivial's networked play feature. When you tap "Multiplayer" you have the ability to either host a new game or join a game that someone else set up. In addition, you can play against the computer. Joining a game is as simple as being in the same vicinity as the person you're playing against (the app uses Core Location to find your location using GPS/Cell Triangulation) or typing in someone's handle. You can easily choose any name you want under the "Settings."

In addition to all this, the application also includes several Pixel-licious themes to choose from (my favorite is Corkboard and Electronic Glow). The music in the game is also just too cool ... the pace of the music will change based on the difficulty of the question. If Trivia is your thing, this is a must-have. You can check out Trivial on the iTunes App Store -- each version is available for $4.99US each. My personal favorite versions is Trivial Science and Trivial Technology.




I Love Virus ($1.99)
I Love Virus: no really, I do. No, not those new Mac trojans, but the new iPhone game. The premise of the game is to follow a "young virus-in-training" as it makes its way through mazes and obstacles. The game is basically a cooler mixture of Dig Dug and Pac-Man.

As you move throughout the course you will receive different power-ups and abilities, some of which include the ability to eat enemies or speed up. There are over 30 different levels, each with their own styling. There are also three game modes (selectable in the settings): Regular, Clones Everywhere!, and Enemies Can Use Speed Power-ups -- each of these different types of game play can drastically change the the game.

You move the virus around by sliding your finger up/down/left/right to move throughout the maze. Since reviewing, an update has been issued to the App Store to allow the virus to move faster, it can also expand and contract when the virus accepts input. There is also better artwork. You can check out I Love Virus in the iTunes App Store for just $1.99US -- and that price will buy you several hours of gameplay.




Continue reading for more iPhone games worth checking out.

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Apple just released two new updates for both iLife and iDVD. The iLife Media Browser Update will "improve overall stability and address a number of other minor issues," according to the update page.

In addition to the iLife update, Apple also updated the iDVD authoring software. iDVD 7.0.3 "improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues."

Both of these updates are available to iLife '08 users. You can update using Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the two installer packages from Apple's Support Downloads site. Note that these updates do not affect the newly released iLife '09.

Thanks to Tarun for the tip!

Sometimes when working with Automator, you might want a workflow to loop (or go back to the first step and continue to run through the workflow). Automator includes an easy-to-use "Loop" action, and in this Mac Automation post, I'm going to show you how to use it.

Let's take a previous workflow that I wrote about: iCal to-dos. In this how-to, we got iCal to-dos sent to your mobile device via a simple workflow and e-mail. The method that I wrote about required you to send an email (and rely on mail rules) in order to retrieve your to-dos. However, with the looping action in Automator, you can easily automate this process.

Let's first build out the workflow by placing the following actions together (in the same order):

• Find Calendars In iCal
• New Mail Message
• Send Outgoing Messages
• Pause

Continue reading to learn more about the loop action.

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We're continuing our series of iPhone Dev 101 posts -- a TUAW feature devoted to beginning iPhone developers. I'm going to spend a little time talking about where to download and how to install the SDK. Let's first talk about what exactly an SDK is.

A software development kit is a set of tools and APIs (application programming interface) that allows a programmer the ability to develop for a specific system. Therefore, the iPhone SDK gives you the ability to program for the iPhone.

The SDK is just a waste of space on your hard drive unless you know the programming language associated with the iPhone. To program on the iPhone, you will need some Cocoa (Objective-C) knowledge. There are a ton of resources available online and in book form -- I'll cover these and more in the next post in the series. If you already know a programming language like C/C++/Java, then you should just need a refresher course on the classes, methods, and basic expressions.

To download Apple's iPhone SDK, you'll need an Apple ID -- this is a free account that you can use to access multiple Apple services including iTunes, Apple Discussions, the online store, and the developer site. If you don't have an account, you can easily get one on the iPhone Dev Center.

Continue reading to learn how to download and install the iPhone SDK.

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Welcome to the iPhone Dev 101 series. This series on TUAW is designed to tell readers about iPhone development, and give potential iPhone developers a look at the iPhone. In this introductory post, I'll walk you through some of the most asked questions about the iPhone & App Store. These posts will be a little geeky, but I will try to explain anything that you might not already know about.

Where do I start?
If you already have an Apple ID (either from iTunes/MobileMe/.Mac/etc.), then the first place to start would be to join the iPhone DevCenter. The basic (free) access will allow you to download the SDK (Software Development Kit), look at documentation, download example code, and test your applications in the iPhone Simulator (a Mac application that emulates the iPhone OS).

You will not be able to test and debug your application on your actual iPhone or iPod touch hardware, however. For that you will need to purchase a paid development membership.

Once you attempt to sign in to the DevCenter with your Apple ID, you will be presented with some terms and conditions that you will need to accept. Once you accept them, you will be taken to the main DevCenter -- this is the place where you will be able to download the SDK and access some other important information about iPhone development.

Read on to learn more about iPhone development.

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Do you want to use Automator's powerful features, but don't want to worry with "programming" the usefulness each and every time you wish to perform an action? With Automator for Leopard, you have the ability to easily record mouse moves/clicks and keyboard input with a feature called "Watch Me Do."

Initial Setup
Before using this Automator feature, you will need to turn on "Access for assistive devices." So head over to System Preferences > Universal Access. Make sure the checkbox is checked beside "Enable access for assistive devices." This allows Automator to control your mouse and keyboard movements/clicks/key presses. Watch Me Do will not work unless this box is checked.

Recording an Action in Automator
You are now ready to start recording your first Watch Me Do action in Automator. This feature gives Automator additional functionality if a prebuilt action is not readily available. So, before you go creating your own Watch Me Do action, look through the action list to make sure the functionality doesn't already exist.

When you are ready to record, press the "Record" button in the top-right corner of the window. The main Automator window will disappear, and you will see a heads-up display on the screen showing that Automator is recording; this display will also have a stop button -- when you are done recording your actions, you press this to return to the main Automator window. While recording, any mouse movements/clicks and key presses will be captured and added to your workflow.


Managing your recorded events
Each time you click, press a key, or move the mouse, you create an "event." Once you have recorded your Watch Me Do actions, you can reorder the specific events of the action. Just click and drag in the "Events" section. Be careful though, as some rearrangements can render the action workflow useless (i.e. reordering a click of a button before a specific dialog is displayed).

In the Watch Me Do action, you can also select a Timeout in seconds, and set the playback speed. Before changing these settings, note the defaults: Timeout is set to 0 seconds, and Playback Speed is set to 1x.

Read on to learn about running, saving, and get some tips about recording.

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If you have been following Saltatory Software's Family.app, then you know how great it can be for easily creating family trees. Recently updated, this application allows you to easily track your family's genealogy. The new update fixes some bugs that occurred with Leopard, like the iSight/iLife integration. Some of the updates to Family include:

• You can now export your Family file to PDF, and it will still be crisp if you zoom in.
  
• The iSight and iPhoto/iLife integration work again in 10.5.
  
• You can now zoom in 120% when in the main editor.
  
• Updated Family bubbles to make Family files look better in general, especially in printing.
  
• Minor bug fixes regarding text input.
  
• There is a fun little fade out when you close windows.
  
• Made it so that dragging a new connection is easier than before. Dragging a connection is not as particular about where you click like it was in 2.0.2.

If you want more information about this update, or would like to download Family.app, you can visit the Saltatory Software website. Family is $29.95US for a personal-use license and it requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

iPhone games are interesting because of the App Store... most people will download them, play them for a few hours (or minutes), and never think twice about opening them again. Is this due to the App Store's "candy-esque" display of applications, or is it that some apps don't possess a high replay quality? Either way, here are 6 applications that I love to play, and keep me coming back.

Hero of Sparta
First on this list would have to be Hero of Sparta [iTunes]. It introduced something that I hadn't seen in an iPhone game yet: stunning graphics. Yes, the "pixel heaven" in this game could compare to the PSP (Playstation Portable) or rival the graphics found on the Nintendo DS. If you like RPG (Role Playing Games) games, then this is a must-have. True to the title of the game, you play a Spartan King who goes on an adventure and encounters many enemies.

While this game doesn't really use the accelerometer to control movements, it does have game play controls that are one of a kind. Hero of Sparta features an on-screen "analog" control stick that allows you to move throughout the different levels. You will use this analog stick in conjunction with action buttons; the use of on-screen buttons seems natural after a while, but may take some getting used to at first. This game features 8 3D levels with awesome graphics and 5 changeable weapons, including: sword, axe, bow, or twin blades.

Hero of Sparta works on both the iPhone and iPod touch; however, I recommend restarting your iPhone before playing as this will lessen the possibility for crashes. You can pick up this game from the iTunes App Store for $9.99US.



BurnBall
BurnBall [iTunes link] is a nicely designed game that gives you the sense of playing inside of a comic book-like world. Even the instructions are a comic book ... a very nice touch! The basic idea behind the game is that you must block-off 75% of each level to advance to the next level. As you tilt the iPhone left/right and up/down, Roy (the character behind burn ball) will roll around. Use him to "burn" a path through the level -- this will block off where you travel. Once you have 75% blocked off you will be able to advance to the next level. However, there are robot obstacles that, if hit, will take a life.

This game is tons of fun, and addictive. It is certainly a game that keeps me coming back for more. And for $1.99US, this game will give you hours and hours of game play for your money. BurnBall can be downloaded on the App Store. There is also a lite version [iTunes] available for free.



Continue reading for more games that I can't stop playing...

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