Macgasm

As developers begin creating apps for the production side of the film business, I’ve seen a focus on call sheet apps before other areas. (A call sheet is a form generated for every day of production with pertinent details about the schedule for the day.) I suppose this makes sense as everyone on the set — cast and crew — interfaces with the call sheet every day.

Last week, I looked at doddle Pro, which added some call sheet functionality to its production directory service. While the implementation was pretty good, I was interested to see what other apps had to offer.

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I was sitting here, feeling incredibly fortunate about how the website’s been performing lately, so I decided it was time for another giveaway.

Just this week Twelve South released a new product called MagicWand. It essentially keeps your Magic Trackpad and Wireless Keyboard connected. It’s a great product, and I love it.

We’re giving one away today.

Here’s what you have to do. Share this post on Twitter, and let us know your favourite thing about Macgasm in the comments. Do those two things and you’ll be entered to win the MagicWand (Keyboard and Magic Trackpad not included).

The contest entry period will end Monday, February 21st, 2011, at noon EST. We’ll select a winner at random and mail off the product.

Contest Winner

Thanks to everyone who participated. The winner of the MagicWand is “WebGalPat ?”

[Download Episode] [Subscribe in iTunes]

Hosts: Joshua Schnell and Stephen Hackett
Guest: Dave Caolo

Show Notes:

This week we’re taking the longer podcast format for a spin. Instead of going to the 5 episodes over 5 days schedule, we’ve decided to hit the record button with Dave Caolo and see where it goes.  We spend most of our time talking about the way Apple blogs covered the news this week about Steve Jobs’ health, and where a journalist’s responsibilities lie in covering Steve Jobs’ health.

We also chat about a bunch of other stuff:

• The Steve Jobs Health Debacle
• The iPhone Nano Rumor
• The CEO Succession Plan
• The New MacBook Pros
• The iPhone 5 rumors

Special thanks to Dave Caolo for stopping by and chatting with us for an hour. You can find Dave at 52 Tiger and TUAW.

According to a new report  by IHS, Apple’s iOS App Store is king of the hill, but it’s growing slower than other mobile app stores.

For example, Blackberry App World is experiencing 360% year-over-year growth, which is pretty small compared to the 860% growth the Android Market is seeing.

With 10 billion downloads announced earlier this year, Apple is far in the lead in both revenue and number of users.

The company was one of the first to ship a mobile app store, back in 2008, alongside the launch of the iPhone 3G and MobileMe.

Article Via CNET, Via MacStories

First it was desktop computers and music libraries, and then it was netbooks and bookshelves. Today, an Apple patent shows off a MacBook without a keyboard. Instead of keys for input, it collects audio markers and determines interactions.

The acoustic based laptop would capture input based on acoustic noise in the environment. The idea would be that any surface could be transformed into a multi-touch device that could differentiate characters and button clicks based on frequency signatures.

Video after the jump

If there was ever an application that could be defined as having limited utility, this would be it. It’s probably the first and last time I would support Apple for pulling an application because of limited use.

The application lets you upload your personal photos so you can be voted “hot or not” by wannabe socialites. Hell you can also get an inside look on things that Hilton finds “hot,” her “BFFs,” and take stupid inane quizzes. Sounds like it’s worth $2.99 to me.

Maybe we should start an Anti-Macgasmic award ceremony for the dumbest iPhone app on the App Store; this would be the first recipient. Hell, The I’m Rich app has more utility than this thing.

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Oh man, this news just made my day. On the back of selling 6 million copies of Fruit Ninja, as well as the slicing and dicing of 150 billion fruits, Halfbrick, the studio responsible for Fruit Ninja, has partnered with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. We’re not joking.

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Ever since purchasing my first iPhone, I’ve relentlessly searched for the best and brightest of third-party applications to supplement the utility and enjoyment an iPhone delivers out of the box. As much as I might love Apple and the products they create, I have to admit this exploration often includes looking for potentially superior replacements to the default apps that ship with iOS. Apple is known for making useful and well-designed software, but it’s not always the very best.

Cloudy with a Chance for Improvement

The Weather app that comes preinstalled on every iPhone is a prime example of this good-but-not-great level of quality unfortunately present in some of Apple’s apps. To be clear, the Weather app is actually very useful; it’s beautifully designed and unusually restrained in its presentation of data. But beneath the attractive surface, the app is really no more than a glorified Yahoo widget and has remained virtually unchanged since the original iPhone was announced over four years ago. Needless to say, there’s plenty of room for improvement here.

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