There aren’t a lot of things out there that iPhone users wait for more anxiously than Apple’s free firmware updates. Unlike every single other company in the industry, Apple has taken it upon themselves to provide iPhone users with regular software updates that actually add valuable new features to these devices without costing them a dime (although iPod touch users do generally have to pay a price for them)!

All the iPhone and iPod touch users among our readership will be glad to know that, after a lot of leaks and rumourmongering, Apple has just made available the v2.2 firmware update for both these devices. The focus this time round has primarily been on enhancing Google Maps and adding podcasts to the “iTunes application” (that’s what Apple is calling it now because, with the addition of podcasts and the ability to download them over the cellular network, the original name ‘iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store’ would perhaps have been a misnomer).

After this update, the Maps application on the iPhone will become capable of displaying public transit and walking (turn-by-turn) directions, addresses of dropped pins, and even sharing your current location via email—at least in countries that are well mapped by Google (which, unfortunately, does not include India).

But that isn’t the real news, folks—the flashiest addition is the swanky Google Street View technology, which allows you to look at and virtually navigate the streets of most major cities in the USA as if you were actually there. Since the update is still downloading (you can blame the super fast broadband speeds out here for that), I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, but it promises to be snazzy!

The second big addition to firmware v2.2 is a new section for podcasts on the iTunes application that lets you download new episodes of both audio and video podcasts for free over both Wi-Fi and the cellular network (GPRS/EDGE/3G), though they have to be less than 10MB in size if it’s the latter.

Apart from these big changes there are several minor additions too, which I’m listing out here directly from Apple’s release notes, along with my own remarks:

• Enhancements to Mail (still no unified inbox or horizontal mode though)
• Improved stability and performance of Safari (and the slightly altered UI we mentioned earlier)
• Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops (I hear some people use these devices to call other people—weird, huh?)
• Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages (inapplicable for customers in a lot of countries, including India, where the iPhone doesn’t support said feature)
• Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you to the first Home screen (ah, what a blessing!)
• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings (a boon for people who generally transliterate from other languages while typing and find the keyboard’s auto-correction feature to be more a hindrance than an aid)

The update weighs in at a hefty 245.6MB, is free for all iPhone users and iPod touch users who are on v2.0 or later (and costs them $9.95 if they aren’t) and can be downloaded directly from within iTunes using the prominently displayed Check for Updates button. If you’d rather download the ‘IPSW’ file manually, right click on the appropriate link below and hit Download Linked File (courtesy: ‘Beau’ at MacTalk Forums):

• First generation iPod touch (1G)
• Current iPod touch (2G)
• iPhone (1G/2G)
• iPhone 3G

Note: If you either own a ‘jailbroken’ iPhone or an iPhone 3G that you intend to unlock if and when a software unlocking solution becomes available, it’s advisable that you wait it out and see what the iPhone DevTeam has to say before proceeding with the update.

Edit AsstEd: The 2.2 update does not bring street view to the iPod, unlike iPhone owners.

[Via iPhone Central | Macworld]

The iPhone might be the greatest mobile platform, but if you don’t realise its potential, then the Multi-Touch screen begins to get old. And unlike most of us geeks, ‘regular’ users find it hard to grasp basic concepts like the App Store and syncing with a Mac. 

In a bid to help out new users (while raking in cash), Apple has launched an “iPhone Your Life” website, which lists out all the crazy things you can do with your iPhone. The site is largely focussed on the App Store, and has sections for the App of the Week and top apps. The site of course looks super stunning, with gorgeous screenshots promoting all of the best apps in the App Store. Apple.com/iPhone/iPhone-Your-Life.

[Via Ars Technica]

Over the past several years we have noticed that various indie developers come together and offer a bundle of applications for a discounted rate. There’s the MacHeist bundle, the MacBundle, and for the third time now, we have the Give Good Food to your Mac bundle.

The difference in this one is that you can choose which apps you want rather than be forced to pay for those you don’t need. The rules are simple. Buy 3 apps and get a 20% discount, buy 4 apps and get a 30% discount, and 5 or more apps fetch you a 50% discount on the total. 

There are some popular apps like Speed Download, Rapidweaver, Houdaspot, as well as some little utilities that you always wanted to buy but found a little too expensive. 

The two week app sale runs until the 1st of December, so hurry if you need those apps. And while you are there, take a look at the neatly designed website that it is.

Aren’t there enough iTunes controllers out there? 

As it turns out no. Bowtie is the latest to the party, and I think its pretty good. Its still a beta, so it does have some bugs. Yes, I managed to crash it within the first 5 minutes of using it. So what makes Bowtie different?
 
Everything and nothing. It does things that other iTunes controllers do, but it does it better. The preferences interface is very simple, with only a few options, but you only need a few options for something like this. Most other apps are overly complicated.      

You can have it sit on the desktop, always float on top, or behave like a normal window.

Themes are easily added, although Bowtie does require a restart before they will show up in the menu. There is also a theme pack with 11 themes currently available for download now.
 
Since Bowtie is based on WebKit, creating a new theme is very simple. You just need to know some basic css, xhtml and javascript. From the Bowtie theme guide:

Bowtie is based on the powerful WebKit engine, the same one that powers Safari and Dashboard. In fact, creating a Bowtie theme is akin to creating a Dashboard widget: it’s as simple as creating a standard web page, only you also provide a bit of metadata (in Info.plist), and have a handy JavaScript API to access special Bowtie features.

But where are all the other shortcuts? You don’t really need them. Bowtie includes the 3 important ones. Most themes also have controls on the display, and will let you rate the song directly from the app.

Last but not least, probably one of the most important aspects of Bowtie, Last.FM support, so you don’t have to worry about your songs not getting scrobbled.
 
I’ve been using the “Wet Glass” theme, which includes the pop-up controls, star rating, and song/artist/album details: 

I’d highly recommend checking it out, it is current a free download, but please do remember it is beta, so it may have a few bugs.

Phil aka SgtStretch is the newest member to join up with the Smoking Apples team. The 22 year old has grown up all his life using Apple computers, and is an avid Photographer and music aficionado. When not writing for Smashing Apples, he writes on his own blog, and leaves interesting musings about working at a veterinary clinic on Twitter. Read more about him and the rest of the Smoking team on our About page.

On of the most wonderful utilities of OS X, is the Keychain Access utility. A system wide keychain for all your passwords, forms and other items stored in a secure location. For most part, this keychain remains totally transparent to the user as we surf the web, autofill forms and know, that if we forget our password, Keychain is there to save us. 

Given all this perfection in functionality, Agile Web Solutions feels that there are some gaps in the way Keychain operates. And they say they provide a solution, that is, 1Password. At first I didn’t think much of this utility, thinking that if OS X provides the functionality, I don’t need anything that can be considered ‘for power users’. However, after going through applicationss like TextExpander, SuperDuper!, and Pixelmator, I had to go through 1Password for all it’s worth. Read on for a smoking review of 1Password… Continue Reading »

When it comes to Mac applications, the ones that get talked about mostly are the ‘big brands’ as it were - MarsEdit, Netnewswire and so on. Apart from those, I am in love with these nifty little applications:

GimmeSomeTune
I like my iTunes Library to be organized - replete with detailed information: album artwork, lyrics and so on. After toying with several applications and Dashboard widgets that help you enhance iTunes’ features, I finally settled on GimmeSomeTune. (For more ways to extend your iTunes experience, check out our post on iTunes extenders)

Safari Stand
While I wanted to check it out for it’s sidebar tabs feature, I particularly like the ease with which one can download YouTube videos. Being a fan of TV ads I find it quite handy. Safari Stand also features a bookmark shelf, enhanced search features, and a whole bunch of other tweaks. Of course, there are other Safari enhancers (I have tried Saft for Panther) but Safari Stand is free.

Sniper
Think of it as iPhoto and an offline version of Flickr combined. Instead of clicking on links, Sniper allows you to download photos of your contacts and favorites right into iPhoto. [Ed: Unfortunately, there is no search feature which takes a way a lot of the Flickr experience. There is also no editing feature for tags or descriptions, and the interface is a bit windowsy.]

Pic-a-Pod
I am a sucker for good photographs and Pic-a-Pod makes downloading ‘picture of the day from sources like National Geographic and Wikipedia, a breeze. You can then directly set the wallpaper as your desktop background or switch between days. 

Which ones would feature in your list?

For a while now, Transmission has included the “Clutch” web interface, which essentially allows you to control your torrents from anywhere in the world. However, with limited ‘newbie’ guides around, most of us are left to admiring the Web Interface from a distance.

However, I promised one of our commenters on the µTorrent for Mac post that I would get to the bottom of this. And with the release of Transmission 1.4, the WebUI finally went from beta to full version with a special iPhone optimised theme. So without delaying any further, here’s the Smoking Apples guide to managing your torrents from distant lands. Continue Reading »

By now everyone is familiar with the Google app featuring voice recognition for the iPhone. The app was announced by Google on Friday, supposed to appear on Saturday, but when it didn’t, everyone thought Apple was playing spoil sport. Everything finally settled down when the update finally made it to the app store, voice recognition and everything. 

The problem is, while most of the reviews were raving about it, I couldn’t get it to recognize most of my search queries. Searching for “Smoking Apples” brought out a result of “clothes shopping” (and many more weird results). Then I stumbled upon this article on the Cult of Mac, which mentions that Google warns the user that the app works best with North American accents.

When you switch on Voice Search in Google’s Mobile App for iPhone, you see a little bit of warning text underneath which reads:
“Voice Search only works in English, and works best for North American English accents.”

So forget my Indian accent. The app has problems with any accent that is not an american one. Even that BBC news-reporter will have a hard time getting the voice search to work. 

I then tried some kind of an american accent and voila, “Uninstalling iPhone application” returned the exact result. There is no way that I’m going to force myself to change my accent to suit the app. Given the limited utility otherwise (there’s nothing in the app you can’t do with Safari), I’m going to have to take it off my home screen.

After playing around with Hyperspaces there was still one more thing Spaces is missing. Everytime I switch a space it would be nice to have a separate dock for each. Why did Apple never include separate docks for each space? It just seems like such a natural thing to do. For whatever reason, Patrick Chamelo is here to save the day with Dock Spaces.

Dock Spaces. The review begins. 

This app finishes what Apple and Hyperspaces couldn’t do. Dock Spaces has the ability to create up to 10 different docks in which you can assign to each space and even switch them on the fly. It’s great for keeping yourself organized. For instance I have a space for each type of workflow, one for graphics, video editing, and general purpose. Now I’m able to create a dock for each type. My graphics dock for example, has Photoshop, Bridge, iPhoto, and other apps like it. Continue Reading »

Not even a week after the 23″ Cinema Displays made their way out of the store, the 24″ LED display has taken over. The sexy display, which for the first time includes a built-in iSight, a glossy display, a new DisplayPort connector, as well as a Mag Safe connector to power your MacBook. Or to put things into perspective, your new MacBook. 

We all saw this coming (except maybe for Apple), that the new LED displays will only connect to a computer with a DisplayPort connector. And since besides the new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, there are no other devices in the market sporting the DisplayPort standard, the new display will only be usable with these three. They haven’t even made any converters to connect this to anything other than DisplayPort. Thankfully, the reverse of this is true, which is that you can connect any monitor (using converters) to a new MacBook or MacBook Pro. 

Apple seems to have made a mess with their display lineup. Not only is this a glossy (and therefore unprofessional) display, it also cannot connect to Apple’s own professional machine, the Mac Pro. Having being left to choose between just a 20″ display and a 30″ display, I’m sure Dell is going to sell quite a few of those new 23″ pro monitors. Come Macworld 09, Apple is definitely going to convert its entire lineup to feature DisplayPort connectors and glossy displays.

The new LED Display sells for a rather high steep price of $900, and is shipping today from the Apple online store (US). A few of the Apple retail stores have also got models for display and retail. The rest of the world awaits.