OpenCL Specification Completed in Record Time for Snow Leopard

Macworld reports from the SuperComputing 08 conference which is taking place in Austin, Texas this week. The Khronos group was present to celebrate the launch of the upcoming OpenCL specification which Apple is planning to implement in Mac OS X 10....

First Look: FrontPocket for iPhone and iPod touch

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look

As a gadget hound and productivity freak, I've tried just about everything over the past 10+ years, both hardware and software. My gadgets have included a Palm IIIe, two Handspring Visors, a Newton 2100, a Newton eMate and a Palm Tungsten E2. They were all nice (some more than others), but each shared deficits of one type or another. Graffiti and easily-lost styluses were two biggies.

As for software, I've used iGTD, Omnifocus, Tracks, Midnight Inbox, Things, MonkeyGTD and more. Again, they're nice but share a common issue. Namely, each solution is limited to the author's interpretation of how an organizational system works best. I don't want to learn a piece of software before I can begin managing my stuff. Nor do I want to be limited to the author's ideas, even the great ones. Basically, I want an electronic version of my favorite tool - paper.

I do nearly all of my capturing and organizing with pen and paper, as nothing is more useful, flexible or promising. A blank page is pure potential. You can create a grocery list or sketch a solution to world hunger on the back of a napkin. I was about to give up on software when I tried Backpack. It's exactly what I was looking for.

Backpack offers users a blank page. You can type anywhere, move objects around, add notes, lists, to-do items or photos and files. There's no toolbar, no drawers, nothing. Just a fresh, white surface ready for input. I love it, and today my Backpack account is my virtual right arm.

On Sundays, I move all of the week's to-do items to a notebook, which I update from Monday to Saturday. On the following Sunday, I "sync" my notebook with my Backpack and start again. Sometimes, when I'm stuffing my cargo pants with the notebook, iPhone, wallet and keys, I think, "Wouldn't it be nice to eliminate something here?" Since Backpack on the iPhone is a dismal experience, I never did. Until now.

FrontPocket is a native iPhone and iPod touch application for Backpack. I've been using it for the past week and it's growing on me. It won't replace my notebook just yet, but it's got real potential. Click below to read more.

Update: The folks who produce FrontPocket let us know that version 1.1 is pending in the App Store now, and should fix the startup crashes and read-only errors that some users are experiencing.

Continue reading First Look: FrontPocket for iPhone and iPod touch

First Look: FrontPocket for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First Look: FrontPocket for iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Waiting on Quad-Core Desktop CPUs for January?

DigiTimes reports that Apple is amongst the vendors who are awaiting the release of three new low-power desktop CPUs due in January from Intel.

Intel will launch the Core 2 Quad Q8200s (2.33GHz/4MB L2), Core 2 Quad Q9400s (2.66GHz/6MB...

Top Paid App in App Store: Ocarina

To all of the Nintendo Zelda fans out there, this one is just for you. Smule has the number one paid app in all of the App Store currently with Ocarina. [iTunes Link] For $.99 you can really impress the ladies while playing songs from your iPhone/Ocarina!

Ocarina users are able to hear and see the origin of live performances and share their melodies with others around the world. In less than two weeks since the Ocarina launch, Ocarina users have listened to more than three million melodies, have generated over two hundred musical scores and have shared their creations here: Ocarina forums.

So there you have it folks, if you are a Zelda fan be sure to check this one out along with some performances in the below YouTube links.

Video 1

Video 2

And if any of our loyal readers can crank out song like this please let us know. We’d love to check it out!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Top Paid App in App Store: Ocarina

Adventure released for the iPhone

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone

Adventure released for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adventure released for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still Want MMS if It’s a Carrier App? (Telia Italia Rumor)

Daring Fireball links to a translation of a Swedish MacWorld rumor (Google translation) that quotes Telia Italia as saying as MMS app would soon be available for the iPhone. Phew! Broken telephone much? Tries to clarify Gruber:

Not sure if this means Telia is writing their own MMS iPhone app, or if they’re suggesting that Apple is adding MMS support to the system software. I haven’t seen any reports of MMS support in the iPhone OS 2.2 betas.

Could this be a surprise feature? Personally, I never use it. I prefer device independent protocols like email and IM to handle my communications, but I know many of my fellow TiPbsters are still dying to get their multi-touch on this baby, so what do you think?

Apple bringing it? Telia Italia? And if so, would other carriers like AT&T follow suit with MMS apps of their own? Do we want that kind of fragmentation, after it’s taken so long to get even the little interoperability that currently exists?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Still Want MMS if It’s a Carrier App? (Telia Italia Rumor)

Quick App: WaKi SNAP! for the iPhone

Nelson wrote in to tell us a little about WaKi SNAP!, a new game now available in the iTunes App Store:

WaKi SNAP! was created as our first project for the iPhone and we wanted to create something that used the touch capabilities of the iPhone in an innovative and immersive way…basically, something that allows two players to both enjoy the game on the one phone at the same time, which is different to the majority of the games out there.

We wanted to make something that was fun, simple to play, and almost universally known by both children and adults. The challenge was also to keep the interface as clean and minimalist as possible so that there was little clutter and the main focus was on displaying the graphics of the cards in as large a size as possible. Thus, WaKi SNAP! was born!

If you check it out, be sure to let us know what you think!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: WaKi SNAP! for the iPhone