The Front Page

Early today as I'll be in Sydney and have to leave soon to go to the airport...

Apple denied Sony releasing it's eBook selling app to the App Store, on the grounds that Apple won't allow in-app purchases that don't go via Apple's purchase system. However, Apple allow this currently for Amazon's Kindle app. Let's see what happens with this.

Visa has released a PayWave addon for iPhone, that lets you pay for things with the iPhone. Your bank provides the hardware & softwawre. Just in Europe for now though. Rumours of the iPhone 5 having NFC built in, might make this redundant in a few months.

The ACT is investigating the use of iPads in their health system. ...

It's been 2 or 3 years since I last tried Zagg's Invisible Shields for my iPhone and I'll admit up front, from my initial experience with the product, I was pretty unconvinced. In theory, the product was great but trying to actually get it on was more work than trying to get an independent politician to decide between labour and the coalition.

The front screen was never the problem, that was the easy part. The rear part required getting the corners to stick on a curved surface and that was where the fun started. I tried to get it to work, but after about an hour, I gave up and consoled myself that I was too dumb to get the invisible shield on my phone. My self esteem was destroyed but I soon discovered other iPhone owners with equally terrifying experiences which prompted me to start the "invisible shield for dumb iPhone owners support group" or ISDISG for short.

On a more serious note, yes, I still do think the Invisible Shield concept was great idea which is largely one of the reasons I'm reinvestigating them for my iPhone 4.

Fortunately for Zagg, Steve Jobs must have seen the problems that Zagg were having with the curved iPhone and decided to make perfectly flat ones just so the invisible shields would fit better. Nice guys isn't he?

So after 3 years of plastic cases, I return to the land of Zagg for a trial run to see if the flatter phone provides a better environment for it's use. I hate phone covers. I hate the extra bulk from these covers, and these could just be what I need. ...

Following up from last weeks review of Calvetica. This week I'm taking a quick look at Dialvetica. Another default app replacement from Mysterious Trousers.

Dialvetica is meant to replace either Phone.app or Contacts.app. I never really understood why the built in Contacts.app existed. It's the same thing as the Contacts 'tab' in Phone.app. But I digress.

On launch, Dialvetica provides a constantly updated list of your most contacted, contacts. Think of it as an automatically generated version of Phone.app's Favourites. And while there are other features, this is really what makes it stand out.

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Forgive me, as this post was cultivated on an iPad. It's hot. My air conditioner is in the living room. Can't be arsed moving computer. I have no laptop. It was painful.

Disappointed that the XServe is now unavailable and you need an XSan metadata controller? Luckily for you, Active Storage have come in and made a replacement XSan metadata controller.

Christopher Breen at Macworld shows us how to do a full-screen video-out of the iPad. Great for when you want to do demos of iPad apps. It requires jailbreaking, but works well once you've done that.

Woz told Engadget that the white iPhone 4 is still delayed due to issues with the camera. ...

Today I got to watch my daughter roll for the first time. It may seem like a bit of a random announcement for Mactalk but I did so while I was sitting in my chair at work and my daughter was at home. It was at this moment that I suddenly realised how powerful technology can be if it's used in the right way. This may sound a bit like one of these soppy iPhone 4 adverts, but to me it is and was very real at the time. It was an important chapter in my daughter's life I was able to see through the joys of technology. I sat on the call for 5 minutes watching as my daughter persevered in her attempt to conquer something we all take for granted every day, and when she'd finally achieved her goal, I got to share the moment with my wife while my 3 month old daughter lay on her playmat basking in her achievement. ...

If you’re a tertiary student, faculty or staff member and you buy a qualifying Mac & iPod with education pricing between 4 January and 28 March 2011, you can get up to $289 back via mail-in rebate.

For more info, visit the Apple Online Store.

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I had never considered keeping a personal journal. It always seemed like too much effort. I'd have to remember what I did, when I did it and with whom. Most of us though have online profiles such as Twitter and FourSquare that we update multiple times a day with what we are doing right at that moment. Momento is an app designed to help you keep a personal journal of both your public online and private offline activities.

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Been a while since I've done this, so cut me some slack...

Google wanted a Mac OS X software distribution app. They couldn't find a suitable one. So they made their own and called it Simian.

There's now a 30-day free trial of Office for Mac 2011 available to download from Microsoft, so you can see what you're getting before you hand over any cash.

An iOS developer called Brittany Tarvin gives us 13 reasons why software is not free or as cheap as you might like. ...

Samsung and Apple don't seem like the most likely partners in the world but they've been working together for years. In fact, almost half of Samsung's processors go straight to Apple for their mobile devices – including the much discussed A4 chip which Jonny Evans predicts could find its way to other Apple products soon. This hugely valuable relationship is worth more than $3 billion according to Evans, who also notes “The last thing Samsung wants to do is damage Apple's 'iBusiness', despite the popularity of its own Android-powered Galaxy range.” An interesting dilemma (Samsung will ship half its processors to Apple in 2011 – Computerworld).

Speaking of dilemmas, indie software developers Panic have an update problem. They sell their popular Transmit app through their own website and the Mac App Store, and last week they pushed out an update. Those who'd purchased via the site got it right away, but App Store customers found themselves waiting for the update to be approved by Apple's approval team. Their blog post discusses the idea of an app being “half-available” and what their plans are for future updates (Transmit 4.1.5 Now Half-Available – Panic).

Last week I showed you Verizon's brand new iPhone commercial. This week Apple's at it again with another “iPad is” ad. Marilyn Monroe in the Vanity Fair app, American Airlines' e-ticket feature, illustrated iBooks, “fresh” music editing with djay and plenty more feature in Apple's latest thirty second spot, and the audio track once again is Gonzales' “Never Stop” (View iPad TV Ads – Apple).

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