As Allan points out, there are two very strong pieces of evidence for this: 1) Allan emailed Robert, who told him Magnetosphere had been sold to a "third party", and 2) a twitter from Digg founder (and amateur Apple rumor mill) Kevin Rose on Sept. 2nd describing the new visualizer as "planet like objects wrapping around each other w/stars/light streams". As you can see in the image above, this sounds like a pretty apt description of Magnetosphere, which visualizes sound as particle explosions like supernovas. The Barbarian Group website's page for Magnetosphere says that "We've had a ton of interest in it, and we've got some exciting plans, but it's gonna take us a couple months to make it all happen."
Of course, nothing is confirmed, but it all points in the right direction. Personally, I'd love to see Magnetosphere on every iTunes user's screen, and not just because Robert is an amazing artist and also always gracious and helpful when I email him because my Processing particle system animations don't look as cool as his. The world just needs stuff this cool-looking everywhere.
Earlier tonight we saw the release of the ProRes Decoder tool for QuickTime. According to Apple, this tool will allow QuickTime to play Apple ProRes 422 files, using the codec that provides "visually lossless, uncompressed HD video at SD data rates" for Final Cut users. This is the first version of the codec that includes playback on Windows machines.
"It is an excellent choice for mastering and can easily be transcoded to distribution formats like H.264. With new support for playback on both Mac and Windows computers, Apple ProRes can also be used for review and approval of Final Cut Studio sequences," says Apple.
An employee of Cyan Worlds (proprietors of the legendary Myst series of games) has announced that they will be porting the original Myst to the iPhone. Apparently it's an "outside-funded" project -- though who might be funding it isn't yet clear -- and is apparently proving to be an "interesting and fun" project with a small team of just three people. No word yet on how it might work (or work differently) from the original, but the classic puzzle/exploration of Myst is good gaming no matter what platform you're playing it on.
Like many not-yet-released videogames, I'm a little worried that Astro Ranch won't be as good as the game in my head right now. Anytime a developer says they were influenced by great games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, as the Tag Games guys do in this interview with the cleverly-named iPwn Games, I get overly excited. A deep simulation game with a casual skin? It sounds just too good to be true.
But who knows -- maybe the upcoming Astro Ranch will be worth the excitement. Paul Farley certainly makes it sound good: they say they've been pushing the 3D system to new heights, and that they're aiming to provide a deep enough game to appeal to players with a lot of time on their hands, as well as a fun game that casual players can pick up and then put down after about 10 minutes.
They're aiming for connectivity as well -- the game is based on a '50s-style space ranch, and players will supposedly be able to visit each others' ranches, send messages back and forth and even compete and trade with each other. They even claim to be able to connect iPhone players to farmers playing on the DS, but we'll believe that one when we see it.
Unfortunately, the screenshots don't impress all that much, but just like the iPhone itself, it seems this game's got a lot of potential. Sounds like they're aiming for a release on the iPhone, DS, and the N-Gage (people are still making games for the N-Gage?) later this year. We'll keep an eye out for it.
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September. Read on cool software for K-8 classrooms.
Canvastic LLC has announced a new version of the Canvastic graphics, writing, and publishing tool. Canvastic is designed to be used in K-8 classrooms, and is fun and productive for students.
Canvastic 3.5 is designed for use on both PPC and Intel Macs (which is great, as many American schools still use older Macs). The student publishing tool includes drawing, text and presentation tools, plus an Audio Tool for voice recording, insertion of sounds and integration with iTunes. Audio tracks can be played in documents or presentations.
Other new features include:
Transparency and color tones in graphics and text
Teachers can enable or disable spell checking, and also keep students from "customizing" the dictionary
New brush shapes
The ability to import digital photographs
Additional templates, backgrounds, and art
As before, Canvastic presents a customized user interface depending on the grade level of the student. Canvastic 3.5 is a free upgrade for all registered users, and those with free site licenses can upgrade for 50% of the posted educational prices. Pricing ranges from US$39 for one user to US$949 for an unlimited school building license. Schools can do an unlimited pilot of Canvastic for up to 60 days, and many school districts qualify for a free site license for half of their schools.
We know -- you've wanted an iPod for years, but you've always wanted one branded with your favorite TV show, and that 90210 version didn't cut it. Boy, is it your lucky day. Fox has released some "Limited Edition" X-Files iPod Classics and Nanos, ready for your purchase right now for only $329.00. You read that right -- you're paying almost $100 for pictures of Mulder and Scully. But surely if anyone's worth it, they are, right?
Unfortunately, as TUAW's resident X-Files nerd (well, one of them) Robert Palmer pointed out to me, they're branded with the latest movie's title, not the original TV show, so those who don't actually Want to Believe (y'know, after all these years, why doesn't Mulder just believe already?) will likely be disappointed. But since you can customize them with your name (or whatever else you want on there -- we recommend "Clyde Bruckman"), hopefully the movie's title won't concern true fans too much.
It's easy to get spoiled using Apple's Media Browser, that little tool that pops up in many of the iLife and iWork applications and provides access to photos, music, graphics, and movies. But what about those cases where you want to use Media Browser and the application you're in doesn't support it?
Karelia Software, makers of the popular website creation tool Sandvox, has just shipped an update to iMedia Browser. iMedia Browser 1.1.1 works with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard). It provides all of the functionality of Media Browser, but for just about any application on your Mac. This update adds international support and new media sources.
iMedia Browser now supports the following media (information from Karelia's website):
Browse Photos: iPhoto / Aperture / Lightroom library, Pictures folder, and other predefined folders.
Browse Music: iTunes library, GarageBand songs, Music folder, etc.
Browse Movies: iTunes and iPhoto libraries, Movies folder, etc.
Browse Links: Bookmarks from Safari, Camino, OmniWeb, etc.
Drag and drop any folder into the source list to add to your library.
As the really old song says, "the best things in life are free", and iMedia Browser is no exception. Download it and start enjoying your media in almost every application you use.
Tate Liverpool, one of the Tate art galleries scattered around the UK (the two main galleries are in London, another is in St Ives) has opened an experimental online exhibition tour for iPhone and iPod Touch owners, which it says is the first of its kind in the country.
From now until the end of August, visitors to the Gustav Klimt exhibition will be able to browse the free guide content to their iPhones over the gallery's wifi network, or download it beforehand as a podcast. Spare iPod touches with the content pre-loaded will be available for hire for just $6 (£3).
According to an article about the experiment in Design Week magazine, the guide has been very popular and upped average visit times from 45 minutes to three hours.
If you want to try the tour for yourself without making the trip to Liverpool, you can enjoy it in full on the web.
Do you need to make basic sound level measurements? For example, do you want to prove that your next door neighbor really is playing music loud enough to make your ears bleed?
Faber Acoustical is coming to your rescue with their US$19.99 SoundMeter for iPhone. They discovered that both the built-in and headset microphones of the iPhone have a flat enough frequency response to make them useful for measuring sound levels.
To quote the technical part of their press release, "SoundMeter measures average sound levels with fast, slow, and impulse time weightings. Peak, maximum, and equivalent sound levels are also available. All sound levels may be measured with Flat, A, or C frequency weighting." Got that?
Faber notes that SoundMeter doesn't meet ANSI or IEC standards for precision sound level meters, but it works very well as an inexpensive level meter for hobbyists. They recommend not using the built-in mic on first-generation iPhones (the headset may be used instead), and SoundMeter should be calibrated prior to use.
Faber Acoustical also produces two other really impressive iPhone apps, SignalScope and SignalSuite. SoundMeter for iPhone is available in the App Store now (click opens iTunes).
As cool as this would be, I don't personally think it's a significant-enough development to warn investors about. Unless, of course, it's part and parcel of more substantial changes to Apple's product lines.
Having video playback functions handled by a separate microprocessor capable of dealing with the variety of media formats that QuickTime handles could yield performance increases for lower-end Macs (with less-powerful video cards) and battery life savings for handheld devices.
Also, depending on what codecs are included on-board, it could mean an end to countless hours converting video specifically for your iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple TV. Additionally, MacRumors' Arnold Kim notes that it could be of some use for encoding Blu-Ray video.
All I want is DivX AVI playback on my iPod touch. Pretty please?
Vara Software's fantastic screencasting application, ScreenFlow, has just been updated to version 1.2. Brett and I have both raved about ScreenFlow in the past, but the more I use the program, the more I love it. If you are even marginally interested in doing screencasts, you owe it to yourself to give ScreenFlow a shot.
Some of the highlights from version 1.2:
French and German localization
Redesigned keyboard modifier display
You can now copy and paste clips and actions in the same document
Lasso tool added to the timeline to select groups of clips
Separate mouse click radar animation for mouse up and down
General improvements to smoothness and memory usage
You can see the entire list of changes/additions here. ScreenFlow won the Apple Design Award for Best OS X Leopard Application and Best OS X Graphics and Media Application at WWDC 2008 and for good reason -- it is one of the best native Leopard apps that I've come across, taking advantage of Quartz and Core Image to produce stunning results.
ScreenFlow is Leopard only and is $99.99 US for new users. You can download a full-functioning trial program here (final video will have a watermark until the software is unlocked).
Boxee is an interesting new media center application for the Mac based on the XBMC. Separate from the OS X branch of XBMC (now called Plex), Boxee focuses on a social networking experience by allowing you to get (and give) recommendations to friends who are also on the service. You can also share your media activity with friends and vice versa.
Once installed, Boxee scans your hard drive for videos, music, and pictures. It also interfaces with various streaming sources, both for audio and video, including last.fm, revision 3, YouTube, etc. Even when playing local content it will download things like album covers and descriptions from the internet. All in all, Boxee looks like an interesting entry into the media center competition and its social networking features set it apart from more straightforward implementations like Plex.
Boxee is presently in a closed alpha test, but they're expecting to open a public beta by the early autumn. You can sign up to be notified when the open beta is available. Since it's based on XBMC it's Intel Mac and Leopard only.
I should say, even before I start this post, that I've moved my iTunes library from one installation of iTunes to another, and what I did was just copy everything in the /Music/iTunes folder from one Mac to the other. But that's the transfer equivalent of parallel parking a semi and stopping when it "feels right" -- it worked for me, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. I also have almost no iTunes purchased music in my library, and that's likely not the case for anyone else.
Fortunately, for people who don't enjoy playing Russian Roulette with their iTunes library transfers (and don't want to buy the software for it), here's a quick and easy guide to how to transfer everything over properly, and make sure that all the little hooks and crannies line up correctly in the new installation -- specifically, iTunes keeps an XML file that tracks where everything is, and you've got to change paths (using a quick find and replace) on all the tracks in your library. iTunes will then use that XML file to backup its own records, and then you're hunky dory.
What I can't find, according to this guide, is what damage I may have caused to my system by just hauling everything in and starting up iTunes -- I checked the Location key on both my new Mac and the old one, and the Locations are completely different, without me ever changing them. Either way, even though I throw around my libraries with abandon (look Ma, no backup!), you'd probably much rather be safe than sorry.
Italian developers DataMind Srl have announced the release of Jade 1.2, the latest in a series of image processing apps from the company. DataMind also has a version of Jade for iPhone and iPod touch (link to iTunes App Store) for enhancing photos on the run.
Jade provides one-click enhancement of digital images (see example at top of post) using a set of algorithms invented by the company founders. These algorithms enhance colors, contrast, and dynamics, and you can fine-tune intensity, contrast, and color correction to acheive perfection. I tried Jade on a few iPhoto pictures and found that the enhancements were less harsh than those provided by iPhoto.
The application is available in both Home (€19.99) and Pro (€49.99) versions for Mac and Windows. There's also an Aperture plugin, and the app works well with iPhoto. The 1.2 upgrade doesn't appear to add any major new functionality other than the ability to upload to Flickr directly from the application. It does, however, have a number of ease-of-use and preferences changes that streamline the image enhancement process.
Not sure if Jade is what you need? There's a 30-day free trial download available for the desktop version.
Earlier tonight we saw the release of the ProRes Decoder tool for 
Like many not-yet-released videogames, I'm a little worried that Astro Ranch won't be as good as the game in my head right now. Anytime a developer says they were influenced by great games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, as the 
TUAW's going 
It's easy to get spoiled using Apple's Media Browser, that little tool that pops up in many of the iLife and iWork applications and provides access to photos, music, graphics, and movies. But what about those cases where you want to use Media Browser and the application you're in doesn't support it?
Do you need to make basic sound level measurements? For example, do you want to prove that your next door neighbor really is playing music loud enough to make your ears bleed?
Silicon Alley Insider is offering "pure speculation" based on a tip that Apple's Fall 
Vara Software's fantastic screencasting application, 
I should say, even before I start this post, that I've moved my iTunes library from one installation of iTunes to another, and what I did was just copy everything in the /Music/iTunes folder from one Mac to the other. But that's the transfer equivalent of parallel parking a semi and stopping when it "feels right" -- it worked for me, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. I also have almost no iTunes purchased music in my library, and that's likely not the case for anyone else.
