Xcode 4 introduces an integrated development environment incorporating functionality that was previously delivered through Interface Builder. Additional enhancements include Project Workspaces, which allow developers to easily work across multiple projects, using build outputs of one project to be used as dependencies in another project. (For Visual Studio developers, Project Workspaces are similar to Solutions.)

Xcode runs on Max OS X Snow Leopard and includes the Xcode IDE, Instruments, iOS Simulator, the latest Mac OS X and iOS SDKs and hundreds of new features. Among these are embedded LLVM technologies built into Xcode 4 Analyzer that travels code paths to look for logical errors before they become bugs and Live Issues underlines coding mistakes before building.

Xcode 4 is available via the Mac App Store for $4.99. (It is available at no cost to registered developers via the Developer portal at developer.apple.com.)

The Mac OS desktop version of Apple's phenomenally successful App Store has opened for business with over 1,000 apps available at launch. The Mac App Store requires Mac OS 10.6.6, which is now available for download via Software Update. (Note: Some users may not see the update available via Software Update immediately. Updates should appear as the software propagates through Apple's distribution network.)

Apple today announced that the Mac App Store is now open for business with more than 1,000 free and paid apps. The Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, download and install them in just one step. The Mac App Store is available for Snow Leopard users through Software Update as part of Mac OS X v10.6.6.

"With more than 1,000 apps, the Mac App Store is off to a great start," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think users are going to love this innovative new way to discover and buy their favorite apps."

The update comes a few hours ahead of The Loop's prediction of 12:00pm EST.

nPower PEG

nPower PEG
The nPower PEG catches our eye for a couple of reasons: First, anything that promises to save us from battery-drained gadget has our attention. The nPower is a little different in that it isn't one of the run-of-the-mill battery packs that require you to plug it in. (If I don't remember to plug in my iPhone, what makes you think I'll remember to plug in a battery extender?) The nPower PEG harnesses energy from movement. Drop the nPower PEG into you backpack and go for a walk or run. You can even shake the unit which will generate more energy than walking alone. After a few minutes of activity, you've got enough juice to extend your gadget for a few minutes. Exactly how long depends on a variety of factors. For more information, visit npowerpeg.com.






Mobee Technology introduced the Magic Charger, an inductive charger dedicated for the Apple Magic Mouse. The charger works by replaceing the batteries in the mAgic Mouse with a specially designed battery pack that can be recharged by simply placing the Magic Mouse on the included base station. The base station, powered by any available USB port, provides enough power tolast up to 6 days from a full charge. That's significantly less that the average usage you'll get from Apple's rechargeable AA option, but we're including this for the cool factor alone. The Magic Charger is available for $49.90 at Mobee's website.

iAd Producer makes it easy for you to design and assemble high-impact, interactive content for iAd. iAd Producer automatically manages the HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript behind your iAd to make creating beautiful, motion-rich iAd content as easy as point and click.

The tool is available for members of the iOS developer program and significantly opens up iAd creation. While Apple's iAds have generally been seen as a success, the slow content creation process has been cited as significant hurdle for some of their early partners. Prior to this tool, it was said that Apple handled all of the ad creation in house.

Apple's choice to use HTML5 for iAd creation has likely been part of this issue as the tools have not been as mature as those for Adobe Flash. iAd Producer offers visual layout and design with Page Templates, Pre-built animations/effects, advanced Javascript editing and more.

Long time Apple developers have speculated that the iAd Producer tool may also be a prelude to a larger, more sophisticated tool for web content creation in general.

But today, one application has captured my attention - and while there is plenty of room for improvement, the initial concept is intriguing.

QuestVisual has released an eye-catching iOS app called WordLens. Word Lens is an augmented reality app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (with video camera) which offers real time translation of text. You simply point your device's video camera at a sign and the program translates and superimposes the translated text onto the video - in real time. The demo video shows it in action:

Word Lens is available as a free download. In the free version, users can reverse or blank-out text in real time. Language packs for Spanish to English and English to Spanish are available for $4.99 each. More language packs are in the works.

The downside is that translations are done on a word-by-word basis, which is quite inaccurate - especially when translating entire phrases.  Further, if you've had a bit too much caffeine and don't have the steadiest of hands, you'll be frustrated with keeping your device fixed on the image long enough to allow the app to work its magic.

We're hoping that QuestVisual will be able to partner with other translation partners to provide more accurate translations and work out the usability issues.

I suppose that not only is it lonely at the top, but you somehow become the target of assassins, too. And lots of patent lawsuits, but that's another story.

As a matter of opinion, the iPhone is arguably the best device out there. (Let the flaming begin.) Unfortunately, it's somewhat crippled in the U.S. as a consequence of being available solely on the nation's worst carrier. These opinions aren't just mine, of course. According to ChangeWave Research, 99% of iPhone owners say they're happy with their device (saying they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied"). Interestingly, though, Consumer Reports recently rated AT&T the lowest in customer satisfaction. Perhaps the most interesting tid-bit in the Consumer Reports survey, though, was that over half of the survey's 58,000 respondents owned some version of the iPhone.

Summary: 99% of iPhone owners love their phone, but over half of those same consumers are dissatisfied with their carrier. That's not good news for AT&T. I don't think it's good news for Droid, either.

It certainly doesn't take a genius (not to be confused with Genius) to see that a VZW iPhone could result in AT&T losing a significant percentage of their subscribers to Verizon. But what could it mean for Verizon's "Droid" branded Android-based handsets?

We won't know for sure until (and if) the iPhone lands on Verizon's network - but based on an informal survey (and by "informal" I mean discussing this topic with several Verizon Droid owners over a couple of beers) it seems that many of them opted for an Android-based device because it was the next-best thing to an iPhone on their network. With an iPhone as an option, will Droid owners abandon the runner-up device?

It depends. Droid has a lot of good things going for it. If you're a particularly tech-savvy user, then you're aware that the Droid offers you a tremendous amount of freedom in fine-tuning the OS to work exactly to your specifications. The downside is that those not as skilled can easily make changes to the device that result in some nasty consequences - not the least of which are poor battery life and instability. It's less likely that the power-user will opt to make the switch - and those that do will probably be itching for the next jailbreak release that will give them the control to which they've become accustomed on the Droid.

Droid's worst enemy right now seems to be Android itself. While developers sing the praises of "open", the sad truth is that carriers and manufacturers have taken "open" to mean "we can change it and make it into what we want" including customized UIs, disabled functionality, and pre-installed bloat-ware that often can't be removed. Couple that with fragmented hardware options and you have... well, you have Windows Mobile*.

For now, I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to the long-term success of Android-based devices, including the Droid-branded Verizon handsets. I'm hoping for the best because I think the OS has great potential. But when (and if) the iPhone lands on Verizon, my prediction is that those huge gains in market share that Google loves to quote will start to level off.

* Prior to Windows Phone 7, which is an entirely different ballgame.

The first iAd for Apple's iPad will launch this afternoon for the upcoming Disney film, "Tron Legacy". A spokesperson for Apple told Advertising Age that the ad was a preview of what Apple's mobile ad format will look like on the iPad, and the only iAd planned for the device this year.

The format, designed to maximize the ad potential of Apple's tablet computer, will be launched widely in early 2011 when other ads start flowing onto the iPad platform.

iAds utilize proposed features of the yet-to-be-ratified HTML 5 standard in lieu of industry accepted Flash-based ad units. Apple has repeatedly cited performance and stability concerns as reasons to pass on support for Adobe's rich-media technology.

"Agencies providing digital media services for their clients are scrambling to expand the skill-set of their rich media development resources to include HTML 5 - not only to support iAd units, but to prepare for what is likely to be a much larger demand for digital media that can be displayed on all mobile devices," said David Reeves, founder and CEO of Romp Interactive, a digital marketing agency based in Atlanta, Georgia. "Mobile media presents a tremendous opportunity to reach consumers. Flash just isn't a viable option on most mobile platforms."

The full-screen "Tron" ad is said to include up to 10 minutes of video as well as images from the movie and previews of the film's soundtrack. Other rumored functionality includes a movie theatre locator which will utilize LBS (Location Based Services) available on the device.

iAd compatibility first appeared on the iPad with the release of iOS 4.2 late in November. However, iAd units have been slow to appear with Apple reportedly maintaining tight editorial control over the content. Adidas allegedly dropped a $10 million iAd campaign due to "control issues" that could not be resolved with Apple after the company had no less that three creative designs rejected.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been Disney's largest individual stock holder since the media and entertainment giant acquired animation studio Pixar in 2006. Jobs currently holds a seat on the board of directors.

Topics include:

• The Mobile Context
• Designing for touch
• Navigation models
• Visual Identity
• Gestures

Much of the content in this workshop is based on the book, Tapworthy - Designing Great iPhone Apps by Josh Clark. We highly recommend it! You can purchase it now at Amazon.com.

Date: Saturday, January 8, 2011
Time: 12:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Venue: The Rush Center, 1530 DeKalb Avenue, Atlanta GA 30307

To register for the free workshop, email info@rompinteractive.com.

The Beatles. Now on iTunes

The guessing game is over. Just 30 minutes prior to Apple's scheduled announcement, the Beatles are making their debut in the iTunes Music store. The offerings are headed by The Beatles Box Set, offering a total of 256 songs and other items, including an iTunes LP mini-documentary feature and a video of the band's first U.S. concert, all for $149.00.

Individual albums featuring enhanced iTunes LP content are also available, with the majority of them priced at $12.99 and a few others including "The White Album" and several greatest hits collections available for $19.99. Songs are generally also available on a per-track basis priced at $1.29 each.

Apple updated its homepage to reflect the addition to the iTunes Store and issued a press release:

"Apple Corps, EMI and Apple today announced that the Beatles, the most influential and beloved rock band in music history, are now available for the first time on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com). Starting today, the group's 13 legendary remastered studio albums with iTunes LPs, the two-volume "Past Masters" compilation and the classic "Red" and "Blue" collections are available for purchase and download on iTunes worldwide as either albums or individual songs. Fans can also get a special digital "Beatles Box Set" featuring the "Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964" concert film, a worldwide iTunes exclusive which captures the Beatles' very first US concert."

Additionally, Apple has created a page dedicated to the launch at www.apple.com/the-beatles/ which features a video gallery highlighting classic songs and performances of the legendary group.

Apple's homepage updated with iTunes teaser

The blogosphere lit up this afternoon as Apple's homepage was updated with a mysterious teaser prompting iTunes users to "Check back here tomorrow for an exciting announcement." Apple is well known for their well orchestrated media events and "one more thing" surprises and today's teaser has accomplished exactly what the consumer electronics giant wanted: Apple fans and financial analysts alike are drooling to find out just what Apple has up its sleeve for tomorrow.

Here's what we're talking about at Romp (or perhaps "hoping for" would be more appropriate):

1. The GM (Gold-Master) release of iOS 4.2 was seeded to developers a little over two weeks ago. Surprisingly, Apple released an updated GM release to members of its developer community a few days later, indicating revisions to what it has initially thought was the "final" build. Developers haven't been able to pin-point exactly what the change was although some reported WiFi connectivity issues with the initial GM release having been "fixed" in the second GM. However, we don't think today's "Tomorrow is Just Another Day" announcement is about iOS 4.2 While it is very likely that iOS 4.2 will be released tomorrow, the features have long been announced to the public. It is possible that Apple may be adding some "wow" feature that developers haven't had the opportunity to test, but it's unlikely to be iOS-centric. The announcement is about an "iTunes" event, after-all.

2. Apple and and Apple Corps (the Beatles founded holding company and owner of their record label, Apple Records) have long been in battle over trademark infringement and breach of contract. In 2007, there was a hint that relations between the two companies were improving when, at the January 2007 MacWorld conference, Jobs featured Beatles content heavily in his keynote presentation and demonstration of the iPhone. However, over three years after the launch of the iPhone and Beatles content is still absent. That hasn't stopped speculation regarding the much anticipated arrival of the Beatles' music to the iTunes Store, though. Could "Tomorrow is Just Another Day" a hint at an agreement between the two corporations? With "Tomorrow" and "Just Another Day" both titles of Beatles' hits, I'd chalk it up to a definite "maybe".

3. Apple has recently completed the construction of a massive data center in North Carolina. While Apple's cloud-based MobileMe offering has had time to mature, we're not 100% sure that the data center is all about MobileMe as it exists today. Coupled with the relatively recent acquisition of Lala (a cloud-based music service), all signs point to a cloud-based solution for iTunes at some point. The big wrench is this, of course, remains the music industry who isn't really known for embracing new distribution models (or change) without a big fight. That doesn't keep us from hoping that one day, we'll be able to buy a song and listen to it on any of our i* devices without hassle.

So what is it? We don't know. What we have learned from the past, though, is that HUGE changes in iTunes content rarely occur without a hint of what's in store coming from the music labels. With no evidence leaked from music industry sources to support something as big as a cloud-based music service, we're hesitant to place our bets on this one just yet. Until then, we're placing our money on the "safe" bet of Beatles content coming to the iTunes Store.

We can still dream, though.

[Update]

Rumors continue to surface regarding a possible iTunes streaming service launch tomorrow. The screenshot below is taken from a property list file from last Friday's release of iTunes 10.1, suggesting that Apple may be preparing to launch streaming services support soon.

Hints at iTunes Streaming Service?