The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

It's Cocktail time yet again -- the intrepid folks at Maintain are updating the Leopard version to 4.3, and bringing more utility than ever to the already extremely popular and versatile Unix function and OS X tweaking app. The new version adds the ability to clear harmful files off the system (including some nasty trojans), lets you clear out the CrashReporter and HungReporter logs, and fixes a few QuickTime compatbility issues as well.

The update is highly recommended for all users of the Leopard Edition, and available right now from Maintain's website. If you haven't yet taken the plunge on getting access to all of the weird and wonderful Unix widgets running inside your computer -- everything from cron jobs and maintenance tasks to network optimization -- the app itself is available for a single-user license fee of $14.95. Considering all of the things this app does (not to mention how often they update), that's a bargain.

For those elite geeks who feel like going free of charge and foregoing the pleasant interface to the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X, you can accomplish some of the same maintenance and cleanup tasks with CLIX.

Talks with Apple to sell the iPhone in the Chinese market have stalled again, according to Interfax -- this time over the fact that China Mobile wanted to sell iPhone apps directly to customers, rather than through the App Store.

A source in the Interfax story said that China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou said that buying extras for mobile phones is different for Chinese customers, since many are accustomed to using prepaid credits rather than a credit card. Wang said that China Mobile would have to play some part in providing apps to customers, if only to fulfill this payment scheme.

China Mobile's "application shop," announced in November, would have sold apps for not only iPhones, but for Symbian- and Linux-based phones, too. Apple obviously wanted to sell iPhone apps through iTunes, as it does now all over the world.

Wang declared to Apple that "China Mobile should operate the application store itself in order to maintain its advantage."

It's unclear what this means for the future of the iPhone in China. China has other carriers, like China Unicom, and the lengths that Apple has gone to to please China Mobile might be reason enough to look for another partner. Rumors last year suggested China Mobile demanded an iPhone with a reduced feature set that some analysts later predicted could be the iPhone nano.

[Via MacDailyNews.]

That thudding sound you're hearing is the head-to-keyboard collision of everyone who, for the purposes of wireless PIM sync to an iPhone, renewed a MobileMe subscription last week. Google announced today that the beta Google Sync for Mobile capability, long a feature on the Blackberry, has now been extended to iPhones (via Microsoft's ActiveSync), and also to other devices that support the SyncML standard. You can sync your Google-side calendar and contacts to your device of choice, free, bidirectionally, starting today.

There are a few caveats with this beta, as one might expect: the main one is that you cannot use the sync capability if you already synchronize with an Exchange account, as there can be only one ActiveSync config on the iPhone or iPod touch at any time. Setting up sync with Google will also nuke your local contacts and calendar on the device, so back up before you proceed. Still, this represents a big step forward in the delicate dance of Google services in cooperation with Apple's mobile gear.

If you configure sync for your device, let us know how it goes! Early comments note that the lack of multiple calendar support is a showstopper -- if that applies to you, check out the NuevaSync option. Update: You can apparently sync up to five calendars to the phone, see here for details.

[via Engadget]

Peterson's famous Field Guide to Backyard Birds [App Store link] has come to the iPhone/iPod touch, and in many ways it is a natural fit with the iPhone multimedia features. The field guide, which is a 92 MB download (!), contains hundreds of bird species, as well as the sounds of their calls, and of course illustrations and information about each bird.

I gave the app a try in my Arizona backyard. First, you enter the first two digits of your zip code, then you are provided a list of birds that should be local to your area. The quail that were sitting on my back wall were on the list, as well as the pesky road runner that peeks in the window every so often. I also learned that the roadrunner is part of the cuckoo family. Who knew?

The guide has some quizzes that can test your knowledge of our feathered friends, and tests to see if you can identify bird calls. You can also zoom in on the bird illustrations to see more details.

Some users have reported bugs and crashes of the app, but in my testing it was quite stable and I can't report any problems. The developer does have a note on the App Store web page saying a new version will be coming out soon with bug fixes and new features.

I think the app needs a search mode so you can type in the name of a desired bird. The information about each bird is pretty thin, and when the lists of local birds is displayed it doesn't seem to be in any order that I can fathom. I'd also like to see the program work in landscape mode.

Even with those criticisms, I found the app useful and informative. The app is $2.99US. Birders will also want to take a look at iBird Explorer Plus [App Store link]. It is pricey at $19.99US but it has a far more expansive catalog of birds, and does allow for searches.

Previously in the Apple-Psystar legal battle, the clone maker amended its countersuit to charge that Apple was unfairly leveraging its copyright by binding Mac OS X to Mac hardware.

On Friday, the federal judge assigned to the case ruled that the amendment will be heard by the court, a small victory for Psystar. It's something of a reversal for the company, since they had federal antitrust allegations thrown out in November. Similarly, Psystar's assertion that Apple is in violation of California's antitrust laws was thrown out Friday as well.

Judge William Alsup said, "Psystar may well have a legitimate interest in establishing misuse [of copyright] independent of Apple's claims against it -- for example, to clarify the risks it confronts by marketing the products at issue in this case or others it may wish to develop." This isn't to say that the judge necessarily agrees with Psystar's point, but just that it's legally reasonable enough to be argued in court.

Apple has also not yet revealed its 10 "John Doe" defendants: alleged conspirators who worked on Psystar's technique for loading Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware.

The case will decide whether or not Apple can disallow other hardware makers -- including Psystar -- from including Mac OS X on computers shipped to end users. Last week, a company in Germany claimed that Mac OS X's End User License Agreement didn't apply to them, and is selling Mac clones to customers.

The case is scheduled to go to trial on November 9.

[Via Macworld.]

We heard the rumors, but now it has been officially confirmed: Steve Wozniak will be appearing on the upcoming season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

We're as shocked/horrified as you, but apparently, ABC has deemed Woz Dance worthy. We're still awaiting word of his partner and we'll let you know as soon as we do.

Dancing With the Stars premieres on ABC on Monday, March 9 at 8/7 c.

Last week, Robert, Dave and Mel held the reins for a freewheeling discussion of the relative merits of MobileMe versus "having that $99 for something useful, like food and clothing." You can listen to the show via Talkshoe or subscribe in iTunes.

This week, Dave, Christina and Mel will be joining me as we open up the phone lines for your topics of choice, questions and concerns. Want to chat about iPhone app piracy? Got a favorite switcher tip? Still amazed about Apple's quarterly results? Call in and let us know.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Don't expect great art, but VoicePainter [app store link] for the iPhone allows you to speak, sing, growl, or put any other sounds into your iPhone while the software creates colorful abstract art.

The app has no instructions, you just touch any of three drawing modes and start making noise. The louder the sound, the bolder the stroke. I haven't quite correlated the colors to anything. I thought they might be related to frequency, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

If you get tired of your creation, just shake the iPhone and the screen goes blank and you can start again. I put some classical music on and didn't get as interesting patterns as when I was speaking or singing. Hmmm.

You can also save any of your compositions to the camera roll, and send them to friends and family to marvel over.

VoicePainter is US $0.99. It's not a stunner, but it is something else that is unique for the iPhone. Sing away!

Same sample screens are in the gallery below.

Good news for those of us who still have PowerPC-powered Macs lying around: while the new Garageband Learn to Play feature isn't actually designed to work with the old machines (part of Apple's switch to the new Intel chips), it apparently still does. If you've got iLife installed on your old Mac and double-click on the Learn to Play files themselves (hidden in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Learn To Play/), Mac.Blorge says that they'll work just fine. Unfortunately, you won't be able to buy new lessons from the store (people are still testing -- there may be a workaround here eventually), but if you want to play the ones you've got, they should work, even if playback isn't perfect.

Additionally, if you want to try to do a little hex editing, you may be able to get iMovie '09 playing on a PowerPC Mac as well. That one's just dodging the PowerPC check, though, so there's a good chance that some things won't work right on the old machine. Either that, or Apple is just trying to build in random requirements to get us to upgrade. Conspiracy hats, anyone?

At any rate, this isn't unexpected -- we're two years past the official switch, and of course at some point Apple had to move on with their new software. For the moment, you might get things working with a few tweaks, but eventually you'll have to look at replacing that old G4 if you want to run the shiny stuff.

Do you feel the need... the need for speed? With more and more of our computing lives taking place via our web browsers, eking out even a slight performance improvement for Firefox or Safari (or a similar reduction of resource demands; I'm looking at you, Flash Player) can improve the user experience noticeably. One way to improve browser performance, if you've got the chops and the time, is to compile the open-source browser of choice yourself, with all the tweaks for the specific processor platform you're using.

Web guru Neil Bruce Lee has offered the performance-hungry Firefox user the choice of G5 and Intel optimized versions of the 3.0 release; now, for those who want to live completely on the far side, Chris Latko has rolled out an Intel-optimized build of the beta Firefox 3.1 (Shiretoko) browser. With the architecture-specific tweaks Latko made, along with the inclusion of the TraceMonkey Javascript native compiler, this is the screaming-est version of Firefox ever to grace an Intel Mac screen... but be wary, it's going to be less stable than an official release, and many of your favorite plugins may not work (best to disable them all in the 3.0x version, then enable one at a time in the beta build to make sure they play nicely).

Don't roll the Firefox way? There's a bleeding-edge choice for you too: WebKit nightly builds, based on the most current code that goes into future versions of Safari. Again, you should see a boost in speed and possibly a corresponding decrease in stability, so tread with caution.

If you're running an optimized browser build, share your experiences with us below.

Thanks Chris!

[Hat tip: Mac.Blorge]