The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

I don't know how I managed to avoid earlier versions of the Flyz Screensaver, but I just came across version 1.1.2 on VersionTracker and I am pleased to see they've "fixed a bug that was causing the flies and maggots to accumulate at the bottom-left corner of Intel Mac screens" and "increased the maximum number of flies to 40." W00t!

If you like being grossed out, or like grossing out others, the Flyz Screensaver might be an appropriate download for you. Flyz is "an infestation of ewwey, gooey, flies and maggots, making a mess of your Mac's screen." And if that's not appealing enough, perhaps the price tag (free, although there's an enhanced version for $5) will lure you in.

Of course some people already have a similar effect without having to download anything at all!

Oh, how I long for the days when Flying Toasters was enough to keep us entertained when our screens were idle...

I've never been a big fan of Mad TV (and I didn't really care for their iPad spoof - not because it was offensive, just because it wasn't funny), but a friend just sent me this clip from YouTube and I'll admit to being amused by it. The impression of Steve Jobs, as portrayed by Michael McDonald (not of Doobie Brothers fame), is not really very good, but I think the overall sentiment behind the skit is on the mark.

Is Steve Jobs an iWitch? You be the judge.

Thanks, DD!

Well that didn't take long! If you're currently toting around a Treo, but really jonesing for an iPhone, you can install the Mo's iPhony launcher and get all the great icons without waiting for all of the great features!

The current version, 0.2, is optimized for 320x320 screens, but a 320x480 will be released soon, which will make Palm TX users very happy.

Sure, when you click the Mail button, it's still SnapperMail you'll be greeted with, but your home screen will look so much cooler. Mo is quick to point out that iPhony is more about a fun UI for Apple freaks and less about becoming a full-fledged launcher, of which there are already many he'd have to compete with. Still, we admire his efforts.

Now, be sure to let me know when someone makes an iPhone theme for my Blackberry 8700!

Thanks, Sammual!

David Chartier and I made the obligatory pilgrimage to Cupertino this week to snag some Apple swag for ourselves, friends, family and potentially even for you - to win in a future contest. We've posted some Company Store and generic campus pics in the gallery for your enjoyment. So... enjoy!

The Stevenote was barely over on Tuesday and already the sign for next year's Macworld was up in the lobby of Moscone South.

For the first time in years, Macworld Expo in San Francisco will not overlap with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas. Macworld 2008 will take place January 14-18 2008, while CES is the prior week, January 7-10, 2008. I'm sure this has more to do with the fact that Apple is firmly a consumer electronics company itself now and will probably have a significant presence at both shows, and less to do with making Tech bloggers lives easier, but we'll take it however we can get it!

So who is going to make the first Countdown to Macworld 2008 widget?

Prosoft Engineering, makers of some popular Mac utilities like Data Rescue and Drive Genius, are getting ready to introduce something a little different than their flagship products. It's called Jax for iPod and it's expected to ship next month. I stopped by their Macworld booth for a preview and, unfortunately, left almost as confused about the product as I was before I got there. Not to mention, struck by how similar the Jax icon is to a certain iPhone carrier's logo.

Jax for iPod is difficult to describe. Not just for me - the press release and the people at the booth also failed the "elevator pitch." But I'll try to sum it up. It's an iPod/iTunes utility with a myriad of modules (er... Jaks, as they call them) that do a little bit of everything. Jax includes some new iTunes visualizers, a song lyric downloader, and an album art importer. It also allows you to sync up various bit of information with your iPod, such as directions, weather forecasts, stock quotes, movie listings, even local gas prices! It can sync RSS feeds, the contents of your email and your text documents in iPod notes format and play them back to you as spoken word tracks if you want. In addition, Jax allows you to download directly from YouTube and Google Video to your iPod, without going through another converter first. Jax features are upgradeable and many more plug-ins will be available for free as time goes on.

What I saw at the booth was an unfinished product, so it's hard to really judge until I get a full copy for review, but all of the Jaks are controlled through a menu in iTunes and the whole interface and concept reminds me a lot of Sherlock or Watson with all the different channels. That's what makes it so hard for me to grasp why I'd want it - it's doing too much. It seems to be trying to give my iPod a lot of PDA functionality, and make it a more versatile video viewer and feed me quickly-outdated information on stocks, weather and gas prices. Oh yeah, and give my iTunes some new visualizers. So far, I can't say I find the premise of Jax very appealing, and I can't help but wonder why they'd create this single app that serves so many different purposes, but I'll reserve further judgment until I see the finished product in February.

What the heck is one of my favorite guitar-playing, harmony-singing, songwriting hippies, Graham Nash, doing at Macworld?

Most of you probably associate Graham with the folk-rock band, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young). But Graham wasn't at the Peachpit booth this week talking about music... he was talking about photography (his own, which is excellent, and others), as well as fine art digital imaging and printmaking.

Graham, along with R. Mac Holbert (CSN's former road manager), conceived and founded Nash Editions in 1990 in order to develop methods of outputting Nash's digitally manipulated black and white photographs. Starting in the late eighties with a $125,000 IRIS 3047 Graphics Printer, which they heavily modified (warranty be damned!) in order to accommodate a wider range of papers, through their work today with Epson 9800, 7800 and 4800 printers, Nash Editions is now recognized as the premier fine art digital print studio in the country, if not the world. Both Graham and Holbert were on hand after they spoke to sign copies of their new book, Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing.

As a bit of a reformed hippie myself, I was just happy not to have to wade through clouds of pot smoke to get close to Nash here, as I have had to in some other venues.

The mad modders at MacMod have their very own booth at Macworld this year with a myriad of mods on hand for your enjoyment. Go check them out and say hello at booth N4320 in the oft-neglected North Hall of the Moscone Center. While you're there, grab a Sharpie and autograph the PowerMac to be a part of the community mod project!

Check out the Gallery for pictures we took of some of the mods currently on display at the booth.

Thirty years ago was just the beginning, you say? So now what? What's the next act? Where does Apple Inc, née Apple Computer, go from here?

Steve Jobs and Apple have reinvented or revolutionized so many things over the years, it's hard to imagine what their next big move will be. I don't mean new operating systems and general hardware upgrades. I mean new ground.

First the personal computer, then the way we listen to music and view photos and video - at home and on the go - and now they've made the phone and PIM their own, with the iPhone. So what's next?

Apple has already invaded our offices and our living rooms, our cars, our bedrooms, our nursery, our closets, our gym, and even our bathroom! Will they invade our kitchen next? Our lawns? Is an Apple iFridge far off? iMower anyone? Seriously... on what area of our lives can Apple possibly still leave its mark?

Rex Crumb from MarketWatch and the Wall Street Journal snagged an interview with Apple's Vice President of iPod marketing, Greg Joswiak. Greg talked about the iPhone and its awesomeness, of course, and Rex gets some rare hands-on video, too!

Although some of the footage is stock from the Keynote, there's also some real-live, hot hand-on-iPhone action. It's hard not to notice that while they are talking, Greg never lets the iPhone out of his own hands, whereas you'd normally expect to see the interviewer at least get to hold the thing. Clearly there are some pretty strict rules in place about who gets to touch one of the few demo units. Even Uncle Walt only got to handle it for a few minutes - but there's no video proof of that, so we'll have to take his word for it.

Thanks, Steve!