iPhone and LG KE850: Birds of a Feather?

Our sister blog Engadget has a post with pictures comparing the iPhone and the LG KE850, which is another all-touchscreen device of a arently similar size. They wonder if it will awn another lawsuit, but I'm doubtful. After all, what makes the iPhone ecial is the unique A le technology and, of course, the software and interface. We all know about how far a "look and feel" lawsuit will go. While interesting, I doubt this phone is in the same league with the iPhone (not much information is available on the LG as it a arently has yet to be released).

Follow-up on the "Muslim community offended by A le's Fifth Avenue NYC Cube" post

Earlier this week I posted a pointer to a story about how Muslims may have been offended by the design of A le's 5th Ave Cubic retail store design, and more ecifically what it looked like while it was still covered with black panels, before the clear gla structure was revealed. I came to the topic by way of Jason O'Grady's A le Core post on ZDnet and have since read the similar story and it's heated comments on SFGate.com from April '06.

The site/org that I referenced, which publishes English tra latio of mostly o cure Arabic media, is one of questionable intentio , but the validity of the tra lation in this case ha 't really been questioned. In its original form the claims that MEMRI cites may very well be false and MEMRI's reaso for tra lating/publishing those claims may indeed be nothing but propaganda, but there a ears to be no evidence that the tra lation itself was fabricated. I have emailed MEMRI requesting a link to their original source but have not yet received a reply.

It's important to note that nowhere in the 300 words that I wrote did I personally say anything derogatory about any religious or ethnic group. It's important not confuse the me age with the me enger and equally as important to co ider the context. This is an A le-related blog, therefore my reference and commentary were A le-related and not political or religious in any way. I was truly shocked by the volume and content of the comments that e ued. Those who know me and many of you who contacted me privately expre ed surprise at the reaction as well.

I do regret that some of you were offended by my even mentioning or linking to MEMRI, where the original report was cited. I regret the title I chose for the post. I meant no disre ect to those Muslims who felt they were being unfairly portrayed and I never meant to imply that all followers of Islam were represented by the MEMRI allegation. I felt - and still feel - that changing the title after the fact or disabling comments on that post does more harm than good as it makes it look like we're trying to cover something up, which we are not.

For the record, I live on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn, widely known as the Middle Eastern hub of NYC. I've had some interesting discu io about this topic with several neighbors and local busine owners that I've been friendly with for years. Everyone I showed the pictures of the A le Store (still veiled) and the Ka'ba to was shocked by the similarities. None of them were offended by my showing them the pictures, however, or by what I'd written. One of the men I oke with, who ow the deli I frequent acro the street from my apartment, was ha y to tra late this cached page I discovered from May that confirms what many of you pointed out in the comments... that the initial reports of this i ue were probably based on a rumor. While I never stated or think I implied that the source I quoted was credible, I also never clearly stated that I personally believed it to be inflammatory or biased. In retro ect, I should have made that point, making the e uing controversy le about me and more about the original story.

The MacBook compromise

The big difference between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro? In my opinion, and the one thing PC users will be quick to point out: the a ence of a dedicated video card. The video cards on the MacBook Pros are fantastic, and bring a lot to the table when doing graphically inte ive tricks like 3d animation or, say, games. I priced a MacBook Pro to my liking about a week ago, 120 GB drive, 1 GB of RAM, 2 GHz duo. Gue what? A similarly configured MacBook is a lot cheaper, but keep in mind the graphics compromise you're going to make. The proof will be when someone ru World of Warcraft on their MacBook... One thing I'm glad they added back in though: audio i ut, and they added digital I/O!

u ort Headband for your Shuffle

I'm sureyou love using your iPod Shuffle, but you have hoped and hoped that someone would create a product that would let youlook fairly silly while jamming out to some tunes. Enter the u ortHeadband, a nearly wirele way to listen to your iPod Shuffle.

I'm not the headband sort myself, butperha you are.

A le selling PowerSchool

Today A le a ounced that London based Pearson is acquiring PowerSchool. What's PowerSchool you ask? It is a web based Student Information System that A le acquired awhile back. Pearson will be adding new features to PowerSchool, as well as creating educational content for iPods.

The oddest thing about this story? Yesterday I was thinking to myself, 'I wonder what A le is doing with PowerSchool.' Perha I can control the future!

Packrat 0.87 released with page link editing, creation

Packrat, an offline Backpack client that I just can't say enough about, has been updated to version 0.87. Though it is another minor version point update, it features the ability to edit links, including dragging one page onto another to create a link. With all its other abilities of editing pages, tags, lists, and notes, as well as being able to create new lists and notes, Packrat is becoming a more powerful client by the day.

Packrat is a Universal Binary, with a demo available, while a lice es costs $24.95.

Huckleberry iSight periscope

The inclusion of iSight cameras in A le portables starting with the MacBook Pro was an exciting pro ect for many user just think about how useful it would be to have the ability to video conference wherever you had your notebook without having to lug around extra gear! But the secondary use of the built in iSight to take quick candid shots of one's environment is becoming more and more popular. The only i ue with this is the requirement that you flip your MacBook around to take the picture; something which is decidedly le than elegant.

Fortunately for people who practice this secondary use-case often, Charlie Dancey and Mungai Mirrors will release the Huckleberry mirror system at the upcoming Mac Expo London later this month. Although sexy and probably pretty high build quality, the $28 price tag for a piece of gla and some plastic might cause more mechanically inclined pro ective buyers to make their own. I'm sure it won't be long before someone posts an I tructable on how to make your own (if you do, send it in as a tip and we'll post it).

Rumors: eculating about .mac and iLife

TUAW readers have been writing in and commenting on posts with their eculatio about the mi ing-in-action .Mac and iLife/iWork a ouncements. Here's a quick summary of our favorite theories.

Loyal reader Andrew suggests that any iLife a ouncements may be due to Leopard-only compatibility. Why a ounce iLife/iWork if they won't work on the current system? During September's Showtime, Jo suggested that Leopard would ship mid-year. We also know that the public Dashcode Developer Beta page says that the beta release will cease to function on July 15, 2007 and that the Amazon product page has a ship date of August 14. So you'd expect a formal ship date a ouncement sometime over the next couple of months, po ibly with an a ouncement of iLife/iWork '07.

Another Andrew, also a loyal reader but a different person, points out that the current .Mac ecial ran between October 17, 2006, and January 22, 2007. "Last year, A le a ounced a ecial Event shortly after Macworld that took place in early February," he writes. "Maybe we'll see something like this again this year with .Mac?"

So what are your theories about the MIA products? Let us know in the comments.

Update: The Amazon page also states: "Scheduled to ship in ring 2007".

Macworld Keynote Purchase Safety Dates

One of the reaso A le tries so hard to keep upcoming products under-wra is something called the O orne Effect. In 1983, O orne Computer a ounced the future release of several new machines that would far out-perform their current offerings. Unfortunately, O orne was counting on sales from their current machines to pay for production of the next-generation products. As soon as people heard something better was in the pipeline, sales dried up, and O orne eventually went under. The very same thing would ha en if info were to get out about a new iPod or Mac; no one is going to buy an Mac now if they know that by waiting a month they can get a much better one.

The rumor mill however continues to feed that little nagging devil on our shoulder telling us to wait just a few more weeks to see what will be a ounced. The i ue is, there is a good chance that the thing we are expecting to get replaced is left alone, and we will have waited all that time for nothing. And when it comes to the holidays, when gifts are expected on very ecific dates, waiting often i 't an option at all.

Lucky for those of you co idering the last minute purchase of an A le product for the holidays, Gizmodo has a quick roundup of purchase safety dates after which you can buy from A le safe in the knowledge that if Unkie Steve does replace your product at Macworld, you'll be able to exchange it for a new model.

TWiT Number 38: Comments from the live taping

In lieu of other parties on Tuesdaynight, I was lucky enough to get registered for the live recording of This Week inTech, or as it is popularly called, TWiT. For those who don't know, TWiT is one of the most popular podcasts outthere, featuring the inimitable Leo Laporte (he used to be on TechTV) and hisband of merry tech pundits and writers. Regular guests include Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, and resident grumpy old guy John C.Dvorak.

This particular recording found a few Mac notables, including Chris Breen, and Amber MacArthur of Command-N (though shewas also on TechTV for a bit too, and still is in Canada). There was the potential of Woz joining in, but I believe hehad obligatio to his company Wheels of Zeus, who have an IPO begi ing soon. Thelast bit of the show found the Energizer bu y known as David Pogue alsojoining in. If you get a chance, be sure to listen. Hopefully it'll be ready by this weekend...

More afterthe jump.Some interesting tidbits emerged from the show. One big topic had todo with Otellini's presentation of the Intel chip to Jo . Otellini got like 2 minutes of Steve's time. He a eared in abu y suit, and practically knelt before Jo , offering him the sacrifice of an entire wafer of silicon. No man hug(which Leo and Breen demo trated) this time, as they had done at the initial a ouncement of their arrangement. Leosaid it was humiliating for Otellini. I don't know about that, but I do think it was kinda cutesy. No doubt theythought it was dramatic at the time it was conceived.

Now contrast this with Roz Ho's several minutes ofsolo performance, reading a script, informing the audience that Microsoft is formally agreeing to continue developingOffice (at least) for the Mac for another five years. Steve wa 't getting in her way, or being fu y. This wasstrictly busine . And it was clear that Microsoft had the u er hand. The me age seemed to be: "You have fivemore years. Enjoy it." This was an interesting switch from the Otellini song and dance. I wonder what the name ofthe readsheet a for iWork was? You know, the one A le is keeping in a vault next to the Intel-nativeVirtualPC/WINE killer a ?

Anyway, the TWiTs continued their analysisin a somewhat haphazard ma er. Leo and John, and perha others, had just come in from having di er, where a arentlya certain quantity of booze had been enjoyed so the conversation meandered a bit. Dvorak was o e ing overminute-by-minute details provided by Macrumors. Amber didn't say much, though what she did say was pretty accurate andto-the-point. Patrick Norton was his usual cynical self, explaining to the audience that his IBM laptop exists onlybecause it has to, and that he'd love to be ru ing a Mac.

Some hilarious confusion on Dvorak's part camefrom the discu ion around iWeb. Now, it seems like Dvorak can barely bother to care what A le is doing at all. I'vecome to expect this, but discu ion of iWeb had him alternately confused and a oyed. It didn't help when Leo (orsomeone) sort of compared it to My ace. Why? Because both a allow %26quot ormal" people (I'll leave the My ace= normal discu io to the comments) to create web pages with things like music, video, graphics, and blogs andsuch.

As anyone who has been on My ace for more than fiveminutes will tell you, iWeb and My ace are as different as Yoda and Darth Sidious. Let's face it, most My ace pageswill make your eyes bleed. While you can indeed use iWeb to generate hideous pages, you really have to try quite hard,and overcome the built-in design goodne A le provides. That is A le's eciality. My ace seems perfectly suited tohorrid desig never mind the audiences for the two are totally different. My ace is designed for tee , and iWeb isreally designed for family members, with some teen and college cro over. People can put ugly pics on Flickr too, butby and large the people on Flickr take pride in good photos, not bad ones.

At anyrate, Dvorak didn't quite understand what iWeb did. I kept wishing someone would shout "it's like Frontpage withoutthe suck" or "it's online publishing for the rest of us." Of course, it is more than those things, butyou have to dim it down a bit for John to get it. Amber had a clear explanation for grandpa though, and I thinkultimately he got the clue.

Audience members asked a few questio from time to time too. One young lady wasadamant that IR remotes are the work of the devil. She kept complaining that the IR remote on the Macbook was stupid,and that an RF remote was the only good a wer. I don't know about that, as another audience member brought up theavailability of programmable remotes. And Pogue nailed it: if you don't like it, throw it away and you have yourMacbook unfettered by evil IR.

The best question of the evening wasasked by a kid probably no older than 10. He asked why did A le release a pro Mac (sorry, the Macbook Pro) when thepro a aren't ready, and many people need those to work properly. The way he said it, and what he asked wasimpre ive for someone so young. Everyone in the audience was sort of looking at each other like, wow, who is this kid?Someone yelled from the balcony, "what's your podcast URL?" The kid replied, "oh, I'm not doing one anymore." Leo about fell back in his chair. The kid elaborated, saying now he helped one of his friends get onestarted. Patrick mentioned that's where the money is. Good to see there are some smart young folks out there in SanFrancisco... We were all very impre ed with the kid who was so advanced that podcasting was old school to him, beforepuberty even.

At the end of the show I managed to ap this pic ofAmber, and found out she does indeed read TUAW. So that's nice to know. I have no idea if Leo ever reads us, and I canonly a ume this blog would enrage and confuse the addled Dvorak (kidding John, love ya). While it might not be thebest TWiT ever, as Leo's toasty brain struggled to get the name of the Macbook Pro right (OK, to be fair, I've hadtrouble too, sa alcohol), Dvorak didn't seem to care too much, and Patrick kept working on his laptop, it was a lotof fun to be there live. If you ever have the chance to see a TWiT recording, I highly recommend it. Leo and the gang(yes, even JCD) are a swell bunch, and incredibly gracious and entertaining.

One final note: Leo or Chrissaid this keynote didn't have the arkle, or flair of past keynotes. True, there were no John Mayer jams, or dancingelephants. He said it was more busine like, sort of the meat, without the fat. Breen said it was a balanced meal ofsorts, nutritious, but not particularly ectacular. You got what you needed, but that's about it. What do you think?

OSx86 officially i off I anelyMac

The OSx86 Project a ounced a redesign and some new features a while back, and they have proven good on their word. I anelyMac has been introduced into the wild, and it is indeed good. With a dedicated news team, free blogging, a new theme and building their own CMS to handle it all - these guys must have been co uming a fair amount of caffeine over the last few weeks. They even hint at a few features to come over the next few months, including an integrated R reader and a photo gallery. Check out the a ouncement post in the forums for more details.

But what about the OSx86 Project? Rest a ured, it will not go gentle into that good night. In fact, this inoff was done largely in part so the OSx86 Project could focus on its main purpose: being a beacon of information for ru ing Mac OS X on x86 hardware. So check out the fruits of all the hard work from the OSx86 gang, and stay tuned for even more goodies in the coming months.

Acce Gmail through IMAP in Mail.a

Hawk Wings is at it again, and this time Tim Gaden has tracked down a method for using Gmail with IMAP in Mail.a . It might not be pretty - it's a Perl module that needs a little bit of finagling - but it a arently works. I can't even begin to fake that I know a lick about Perl, so I'm just going to have to point you to the original post to have at it yourself.

If any TUAW readers get this to work, feel free to post your thoughts on this most sought-after of (wholly nece ary) Gmail features.

First hand pictures of the new U2 iPod

Ash over at techpaedia dro ed us a line to let us know about some photos he took of the new U2 iPod at an A le retail store. The four photos over at his site show the rear black metal enclosure a little more clearly than the official ones on A le's site.

Ash reports that "like the traditional stainle steel mirrored finish enclosure, it is a fingerprint magnet." We'd also have to a ume that it scratches as easily as the reflective mirror finish on most other iPods too.

Now that A le has created a completely black bodied iPod, how long do you think it'll be until they start bundling black acce ories with its black products? Or will we just have to live with it, just like we've been living with the fingerprint and scratch magnet "feature" present on practically every iPod?

Yet Another Yasu Update

Unlike Windows, OS X is great at taking care of itself. Built in periodic maintenance such as cron jo (a holdover from the Free D on which OS X is based) and on-the-fly disk defragmentation of the journaled file system make OS X e entially self sufficient when it comes to keeping itself ru ing smoothly, so much so that many users never even co ider ru ing third party maintenance tools.

However, for older systems and systems in ecial usage cases such as computer la , the built in tools aren't always enough to stop system slowdown and other i ues. That's where programs like Yasu come in. Yasu, standing for Yet Another System Utility, is a donationware utility designed for administrators of large grou of systems and allows easy ru ing and automation of cache and log cleanup, permi io repair, and other similar activities.

YASU 1.3.9 fixes some early i ues with Intel/ C compatibilities, and is availalbe from the developers site.

Mac and Mobile: ti for Notebook Users

Samuel Cohen over at thea leblog has a nice post up on ten top a for laptop-toting Mac users. Many of his selectio are old favorites (Quicksilver), but there are a few here that are new to me. The CornerClick Preference Pane allows you to a ign various actio to the corners of your screen. According to Sam, fKeys lets you "remap the enter key (not the return key. The enter key. It's the one that's in between the command key and the arrow keys on the right-hand side of your laptop keyboard) to an option key, just like on a full-size keyboard." Finally, Noise is a simple a for generating pink noise for when you want to tune out the Muzak at your local coffee house. Check out the original post for the rest, while I go play with CornerClick.

[Edit: Corrected CornerClick descriptio thanks Dan. I was probably thinking of the replacement trackpad driver SideTrack which does allow for a igning functio to corner clicks on the trackpad].

TUAW Tip: How to enable Front Row on the Mac Pro

MacOSXHints reader posted a tip about how to enable Front Row on your Mac Pro. This trick will get around the problem of no A le IR remote being detected, which causes Front Row to fail to launch. Front Row is already i talled on Mac Pros - it just doe 't work. It just sits there, teasing you...

All you have to do is edit a plist file and you'll be up and ru ing. Which plist file to edit is dependant on which mouse you use, but if you don't use an A le or Logitech mouse you might have to scramble a bit to get it working. For complete details, check out the tip on MacOSXHints. Of course you're still going to need some sort of remote to actually use Front Row, and there are a number of optio available for that (a Salling Clicker-enabled cell phone, for example), but being able to activate it is a good first step.

I don't have a Mac Pro handy to test this with, so let us know if you get it working on yours!

UPDATE: We've added new i tructio for users of the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. See this post.

TUAW Show Floor Showoff: OWC's ModBook

There wa 't too much that was truly new and exciting on the Macworld Expo showfloor this year. Don't get me wrong, there was a ton of neat stuff but nothing huge. Nothing that is, other than the ModBook. We've covered it before, and now we have a video tour of the hottest item (other than the iPhone) on the showfloor. A little birdie tells me that OWC got lots of preorders for this baby, and I know their booth was packed for most of the Expo.Update: Some folks are complaining about the Netscape player, and the video quality. For all of these videos, if you head over to the Netscape page you can download the video in iPod format, or the original uploaded version. Here is the iPod version, and here is the original version (.mov) of this particular interview....

No Jo keynote at Mac Expo Paris

A le has confirmed today that Steve Jo will not be delivering a keynote eech at Mac Expo in Paris later this month. I tead, A le executives (including Jo ) will host a Q%26am A with members of the media. "Yes, Steve will be at A le Expo with other members of A le's executive team," said A le oke erson Bill Eva in a comment to Macworld.

No reason was given for the cancellation.

Thanks, Fabie e!

Flickr Find: iWoz sighting

TUAW reader Tyler Howarth had a rare encounter this morning with the elusive Wozbeast. The Woz, which is not often found in the wild, was encountered just outside of Moscone North this morning. By a roaching him carefully and not showing agre ion, Tyler and his friend Mike were able to entice him into a photo shot. The Woz was also otted shaking the hands of fa and signing a Macbook Pro. This probably does not technically count as twitching, as Mac events are the natural Woz habitat.

Could the keynote turn ugly?

Leander Kahney is concerned for the safety of Macworld attendee he posted his (hopefully somewhat tongue-in-cheek) prediction of a riot at the keynote over on the Cult of Mac Wired blog. With expectatio for product a ouncements ru ing so i anely high, the only outcome he can see is disa ointment.

It's no secret that keynote crowds can turn ugly. If you watch the video above, from the infamous "Big Brother" 1997 keynote, you'll hear a sound at the 4:50 mark (when SJ introduces El Bill) that can only be described as "booplause." I was at that keynote, and it was just as uncomfortable as it sounds on the tape.

Are A le fa really that prone to mi ehavior when we don't get the fresh gear and shiny goodne we crave? I'm sure that everyone will be well-behaved this year -- except maybe for one guy in the back yelling "BINGO!" during the Photoshop CS3 demo.

A le Inc., beyond the "Computer"

With all the hu ub today folks may have mi ed a small but telling detail. Given the focus on iPods and now the iPhone, Jo a ounced the company itself had changed its name from "A le Computer Inc." to simply "A le Inc." (already reflected on the bottom of the homepage, right).

Since the iPod became such a hit, many old-time Mac folks have worried that that A le was increasingly moving away from the Macintosh. While I think it's premature to worry too much, certainly the change in name reflects a su tantial shift in A le's (or perha better, Steve Jo ') understanding of what A le is as a company. It's starting to look like A le is repositioning itself into a co umer electronics company that also makes computers (Sony, anyone?). What this mea in the long term, both for the Mac and for A le, is anyone's gue . It's heartening, though, that the iPhone will run OS X, so we can hope that even as A le goes into new markets it won't forget the Mac faithful who got it here in the first place. What's your take on the name change?

Expre Sho ing at the A le Store

The A le Store gets it right again! I just ha ened to be in my local branch last evening picking up a Wirele Mighty Mouse (contrary to what my loved ones might tell you, I do not live in an A le Store), and I saw something pretty neat. They have a ton of A le goodies stocked up for quick sale. There are two statio in the middle of the store with friendly A le Store employees ready to check you out (credit card only) with hand-held card readers. They swipe your card, give you your box, and email you the receipt--Cool!

I've continually been impre ed by the A le Store experience. For i tance, tonight when I was getting the Mighty Mouse the chi er cashier inquired as to what Mac I had. I figured she was just doing the corporate "smile at the customer" thing. Later, however, I realized what she was really doing was making sure I was not buying the Wirele Mighty Mouse to work with a Mac without Bluetooth. In other words, she didn't patronize the customer ("let me make sure you know what you're doing in buying that"), rather she just seemed friendly and yet was also making sure I wa 't going to be unha y when I got home. As I said, A le is really doing this retail thing right. So if you're in need of a last minute A le gift (hi mom!) and you need to get out fast, the A le Store has got you covered. (Sorry for the crummy camera phone shot, this is the guy at the o osite station from the one that checked me out).

Fluffpod video: The circle is complete

First we wrote about the Fluffer case for 4G iPods, then the Fluffpod nano, which looked more like a fur-lined satinglove than an iPod case. Today, Fluffpod a ounces the availability of the Fluffpod Video which, you gue ed it, fits the 5G iPod (and looks like a Dr. Bu en Honeydew creation). It leaves thescreen and scroll wheel exposed (sort of), along with the headphone port. It comes in either pink or white, costs $25and is shi ing now.

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard build 9A283 seeded to ADC members

Mac Rumors is reporting that A le has seeded a new build of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (build 9A283, for those keeping track) to Select and Premiere ADC members, the first major seed since preview versio were given to the devs at WWDC 2006 in August. Interestingly, this build is meant to be a fresh i tall - not simply an upgrade over the previous version. Mac Rumors also has a roundup of at least some of the major changes from the WWDC build:

• new Parental Controls preference pane for content filtering, a , and curfews
  
• Significant user interface changes to iCal
  
• 3D audio cues to indicate locatio of items on the screen in the VoiceOver screen reader
  
• Basic editing in Preview

I can't help but hope one of those 'significant' UI changes to iCal includes a new 'unified' look to bring it more in line with their move away from the ill-fated brushed metal.

[via digg]

A le updates X11 for second time in two weeks

Hot on the heels of X11 1.1.2 comes X11 1.1.3.

From the Read Me:

This update addre es several i ues in the X11 for Mac OS X package, enabling it to better handle:

- GLX stereo visuals
- offscreen rendering to GLX uffers and Pixma

To tell X11 to take advantage of stereo visuals, enter:
$ defaults write com.a le.x11 enable_stereo -bool true

This update also addre es font i ues present in X11 1.1.2, and is recommended for all users.

FYI - Stereo viewing is a common technique to increase visual realism or enhance user interaction with 3D scenes and is typically used in scientific a licatio .

Release Candidate 2 of Cro Over Mac

The virtualization market for the Mac is hot. Cro over, a WINE link environment for Windows a on OS X, has just released their Release Candidate 2 for public testing. Release candidates traditionally signal that a product is almost ready for primetime. I haven't had a chance to play around with this release yet, but all it has to do is actually work to be better than my experience with earlier iteratio of the beta.

RC 2 introduces su ort for Quickbook, improvements to the web browser in Quicken 2007 (who knew Quicken had a web browser?) and several other improvements.

The beta of Cro Over Mac is free to use for 60 days, but the final product won't be.

TUAW Resolutio : Organize your life and get things done

t. The secret of the Getting Things Done philosophy? Keeping a calendar and doing regular reviews of your to-do lists. Yes, it's a bit counter-intuitive. Who would think that the underlying basis of controlling your life is to focus on pla ing rather than on actually doing the things that need to get done? But it's a fundamental truth that without a game plan for a ecific destination, many of us will get lost along the way wasting time and energy that would be better used productively. If we don't know where we're going, we end up someplace else. Getting-things-done relies on choosing tasks after a e ing all tasks that need getting done. Sure you could start juggling 43 folders and all that, but you don't have to. So long as you start making room in your life for pla ing, your life will get more organized. Your Mac can help you do that. Here are some ways to use your A le equipment to take control.

Use a calendar. iCal is the two-ton gorilla in the world of A le pla ers. It offers a single destination for all your a ointments. You can even su cribe to a Google calendar via iCal or use two-way Google/iCal synchronization via a ing Sync. Your (non-shuffle) iPod will sync to your iCal calendar and you can set alarms on iPods for calendar events. Use your calendar to make sure your time-dependent to-do items are kept on track. Best of all, if you're using OS X you already have it.

Create to-do lists. We're all waiting for Leopard's built-in "to do" lists exte io to Mail so you can organize your action items as you work through your i ox. Until then, there are many alternatives not the least of which are Actiontastic, Stickies and, yes, TextEdit. A simple text to-do list can bypa all sorts of technological confusion and encourage you to update, review and a otate your action items on a timely basis.

Use ticklers. Another feature of the getting-things-done philosophy is using a trusted system to remind you of items that have been lying dormant. You can send yourself scheduled e-mail via futureme.org, take advantage of any number of A leScript tickler scripts, many of which work with iCal. The Omni group is working on a GTD a called Omnifocus, which a arently will offer tickler su ort. They're pla ing a meetup at MacWorld to solicit design ideas.

Hide distractio . Uncluttering your work ace and trading multi-tasking for single-tasking can help some people focus on the at-hand task and better get things done. A licatio like irited Away and MenuShade let you neaten your desktop and hide items that might otherwise distract you. And avoiding distractio is certainly an important part of getting the job done.

Fluffer iPod case...um, yeah

Add to "iPod cases I'm least likely to buy." The Fluffer by fluffpod looks like a little shag rug. Lined with satin and covered in faux fur, the Fluffer leaves the iPod's scroll wheel, ports and di lay acce ible while looking..well..furry.

The Fluffer fits all 4G iPods, and costs $35US. They are shi ing now. Just don't let your cat see it.

Zune Marketplace: yuck

Today, I fulfilled my dutiful obligatio as an open-minded journalist (ha!)/hard-core masochist and purchased a Microsoft Zune to replace my SanDisk Sa a as my music su cription device of choice. (I am a fan of the su cription model, in case you're wondering.) The Zune device itself is truthfully pretty slick: the interface is re o ive and intuitive, not to mention purdy. It's a little bulky, granted, but the outer-casing is smooth and it feels comfortable and "right" in the hand. The controls are a bit slo y -- plasticky and noisy -- but they work as expected.

My real gripe here, that kinda rui the deal for me and I'm sure for a lot of you, is the craptacular suckine of the Zune Marketplace. First, as Engadget adequately reported: i tall is a pain. I had no errors, but just the amount of work involved was exhausting. Then I bought a Marketplace su cription, and lo-and-behold: some of my -- nay, most of my -- favorite bands are nowhere to be seen. And other albums I've searched for (ie, Radiohead) require that you purchase them, even if you have a su cription. (And the album price i 't even in dollars -- it's in Microsoft's convoluted points scheme.) Some albums -- ie, This Providence -- offer most of the songs for download, but the most popular (in this case, "The Road to Jericho...") you're only able to get if you actually buy the whole album. That leaves me asking: With all of these limitatio , what the hell is the point of actually buying a su cription?

So not only have I graciously donated a buck to Universal for simply buying a Zune, they've decided to screw me over by sabotaging the $15/month su cription they're dreadfully eager to impose on customers.

I was cheering Microsoft on here: As I mentioned, I'm a fan of su cription services, and the Zune device i 't so bad. I wanted to see some decent competition, and I want to see A le add a su cription option to iTunes. But they totally screwed this one up, and no amount of prettine will save them. Microsoft, fix your Marketplace and your su cription details, then we'll talk. Until then -- stay away. Stay far, far away.

(Stay tuned for my Zune vs. iTunes comparison. Post any questio you'd like me to cover in the comments below.)

Toast Titanium 7.1

Roxio released an update to their flagship CD and DVD-burning software for Macintosh this morning. Version 7.1 is now a universal binary and provides fixes with i ues related to Quicktime 7.1, A leScript, the Toast Setup A istant, and encoding A le Lo le files.

There aren't too many more a licatio on my Intel iMac that are not universal binary. The Adobe CS2 suite and Microsoft Office, of course, are the two outstanding holdouts. Virtually everything else has been updated to work natively on an Intel iMac. What other a licatio are you waiting for?

iTunes to allow video burning soon?

I used the question mark because nothing is set in stone here, but TUAW reader A -CA ti ed us off to a report at the DVD Newsroom that Hollywood might actually be close to lifting some of their over-the-top restrictio on DVD burning. This slightly loosened grip on their content could allow for things like DVD burning kiosks (it better be a darn fast burner), and it could also give the green light to vendors like the iTunes Music Store to allow burning of purchased videos.

The panel in charge of making and (finally) rewriting these rules is called the DVD Copy Control A ociation, according to DVD Newsroom. This DVDCCA is currently working on lice ing the encryption technology (Content Scrambling System, or: C - nothing to do with web design) to digital distribution services, which is the key to allowing video burning.

No ETA is offered on when these rewritten rules could see the light of day, or when video burning could arrive in the iTMS. If Hollywood's reaction times of the past are any indication (and I genuinely hope they aren't), however, we might all be using 7th or 8th gen iPods before we can watch iTMS video on something besides A le-branded devices.

A le Financials Q1 2007 Liveblog

Welcome to the TUAW liveblog for Q1 2007 A le Financial Results. Here's where you'll find all our updates, so open a window with this post and keep refreshing as needed. There is no "auto update" on TUAW so unle you refresh (please be gentle!) the page will not change. The conference call is due to start at 2PM PT/5PM ET.

The conference call is over, and this quarter was good for A le. Read on for all the details.

3:00 PT. That's all she wrote, folks.

2:58 PT. Retail News: Ended '06 with 6600 retail employees (21,500 A le employees over all) Opened 5 stores in Dec Quarter 7 in March, 35 to 40 in Fiscal '07

2:57 PT. Bootcamp: No virtualization in Leopard? Well A le su ort 3rd party a like Parallels? A le a wer, clearly.

2:55 PT. iLife refresh? "Stay tuned!"

2:55 PT. Cap Ex? 142 million. Retail 36 million.

2:55 PT. Japan? Market is overall weakest in world. MP3 maintained 50% of market, no growth.

2:50 PT. More aggre ive on iPod pricing? We don't disclose pricing pla . Point out that they've sold billio . No problem in selling iPods. (i.e. "No drop in price.")

2:50 PT. iPhone name "Cisco's trademark registration is tenuous at best...If Cisco wants to challenge us, we're confident we'll prevail."

2:45 PT. 1.5 million bootcamp downloads Will be part of Leopard.

2:45 PT. Mac Pro performance? Total pro market met expectatio internally, tempered by some customers still waiting for Adobe Creative Suite. Release in coming 2nd calendar quarter this year. Next quarter. Hope to see customers who have been delaying purchases.

2:45 PT. iPods factors? Favorable commodity pricing environment. Pleased with all elements of the iPod performance. Cash? Buy backs? Stock buybacks are reviewed with sr. management. Maintain strong balance sheets for strategic investments/acquisitio .

2:40 PT. 50% of Macs sold to new users? Best line of Macs ever shi ed before.

2:40 PT. iPod/iPhone ca ibalization? Too soon to tell. Hard to predict. Believe that iPod line shi ing today is great with all its form factors. 2 markets converge? We'll see. iPod has a significant line of difference price points and capabilities.

2:40 PT. Halo effect? Intent to buy Mac Portable 17 to 28% in a year. Mac has outgrown market again, higher than what we projected.

2:40 PT. How think about A leTV o ortunity? Only a few shi ing weeks for this quarter. Included as part of guidance. Too niche market? Broader platform? From a demand point of view, it's really too early to tell. How positioning, see it as the DVD player of the 21st century.

2:40 PT. iPhone question. 10 million units over calendar year is 1% of market. Enough capacity? Will share more details closer to launch.

2:35 PT. 200,000 increase in cha el inventory? Includes all iPods at 40,000 distribution points.

2:35 PT. Number of distribution locatio ? iPod 40,000. Mac 7,500 retail locatio .

2:35 PT. Pausing on Mac purchases due to Leopard? Selectively expanding Mac cha el. 7500 outlets, increased by 1500. 50 stores increase over holiday quarter. Do not see a Leopard-related pause. Looking back to Tiger, did not see a pause then. Average store revenue 6.7Million.

2:35 PT. Leopard? We continue to plan to ship in ring as a ounced at WWDC. Lots of people working on it.

2:35 PT. Product mix? What demand? Shuffles? Do not release ecific units within iPod family. All three models did exceptionally well.

2:30 PT. iPhone a ounced. Gro margin? Not shi ed until June. No product level gro margi per policy. June quarter do include anticipated iPhone shipments.

2:30 PT. International Sales? iPods vs CPUs? Europe Mac unit growth is 28%. Market growth was 9%. 3x market. Exceptional (over 50%) in UK, Switz, Canada, Australia and Japan. Other countries of interest: France, Germany, Italy, ain, Belgium, Austria, Denmark: between 10-20 points per share.

2:30 PT. How much of growth margin leverage is sustainable?

2:25 PT. Declines? Declines are seasonal in nature. Ha y with overall Mac sales.

2:25 PT. More aggre ive Mac pricing? Grew at 3x margin, at 31% market growth (versus 3% for PCs). The Mac continues to outgrow the market. Competitive product offerings delivering above market growth.

2:25 PT. Cingular. It has wide read coverage.

2:20 PT. Operating Leverage. Thrilled by operating margin, 18.6%, e ecially high, 31% gro margi . Positively influenced by revenue. Guided to slightly over 12% for March quarter. Will not project to continue long term (for presumably legal reaso ).

2:20 PT. iPod inventory question. 4-6 weeks of inventory.

2:20 PT. Stores were outperformed by your overall sales? Only 6% store growth? Retail store revenue grew 6% year over year, total Mac sales by 60%. Because of lower iPod revenue (price reductio ) and better distribution cha els. Pleased with stores' performance, bringing new customers to A le. Come June, will sell a lot of iPhones.

2:20 PT. Which commodities more favorable? Last quarter was a great time to be a buyer. LCDs and Flash memory and DRAM will be a good buy as well.

2:15 PT. What about the Feds? They've provided all the details to the SCC and the other feds. Internal review no misconduct. Voluntarily and proactively inform them of their findings.

2:15 PT. What factors for guidance? Great iPod product offerings, range of prices, form factors, to meet many customer's needs and uses. Can share more o ervatio next quarter iPod wise. MP3 market seasonality depends on holiday season buying and i ovative product launches. Always a drop between December quarter to March quarter. Mac-wise, education buying starts in the ring.

2:15 PT. Opening to questio .

2:10 PT. FY2007 off to a "tremendous start". Net income $1 Billion.

2:10 PT. Looking forward to the March Quarter 4.8-4.9 Billion revenue expected.

2:10 PT. Gro Margin is 31.2% Nice!

2:10 PT. $6.7 million in sales per A le store 13,000 customers per store per week. 170 retail stores. No wonder there's always a wait for a genius. 28 million visitors to the A le Stores in the quarter.

2:10 PT. Paramount 250 movies in iTunes (of which, a couple of dozen are watchable.)

2:10 PT. Macbook and Macbook Pro both refreshed. Portable Macs are particularly in demand. 65% portable growth year/year. 60% of all Macs sold were portable. Of course, some of this was probably due in part to the lag on the Mac Pro release.

2:05 PT. Peter O enheimer. Record breaking quarter for A le. 24% growth over December 2006. Driven by iPod sales, and also Macs. Margi were high 18.6%. Net income: $1 billion. Up 78% over last year's. $1.14 per share.

2:05 PT. A le shares rise. "A le shares rose more than 4% in after-hours trading." (Marketwatch)

2:00 PT. Waiting... Mike notes: "The analyst co e us was 0.78 per share and they actually made 1.14 a share." (cite).

1:55 PT. 1.6 million Macs. 26 million iPods A le shi ed 1,606,000 Macintosh%26reg; computers and 21,066,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 28 percent growth in Macs and 50 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter. "We are incredibly pleased to report record quarterly revenue of over $7 billion and record earnings of $1 billion," said Steve Jo , A le's CEO. "We've just kicked off what is going to be a very strong new product year for A le by launching A le TV and the revolutionary iPhone."

1:55 PT. $1.75 Billion "We generated over $1.75 billion in cash during the quarter to end with $11.9 billion," said Peter O enheimer, A le's CFO. "Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2007, we expect revenue of $4.8 to $4.9 billion and earnings per diluted share of $.54 to $.56."

1:50 PT. Results posted. http://www.a le.com/pr/library/2007/01/17results.html

TUAW Poll: Will you buy Leopard?

Steve gave us a eak peek at Leopard and now we've had some time to digest it all. Based on what you've already seen and read, how eager are you to get your hands on that shiny, black CD? Are you chomping at the bit, do you want to wait and see what the "top secret" features are, or are you ha y enough with your current OS to stave off any urgent desire to upgrade? Let us know, and check back tomorrow for the results.

Willyou buy Leopard?
	Now! I want it now!
	As soon as po ible
	Some weeks after release
	More info before deciding
	Nah, I'm ha y where I am
Free polls from Pollhost.com