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TUAW Liveblog of the October 16, 2014 Apple event

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Jimi: A brilliant little innovation for iMac owners

The late great rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix was an innovator, doing things with amplifier feedback that had never been done before and changing the sound of rock music forever. Now design firm Bluelounge has given Jimi's name to a nifty little innovation that makes life easier for owners of the newer slim unibody iMacs. While it won't have as lasting an impact on history of the world as Jimi Hendrix's music did, the Jimi USB Port Extension (US$14.95) at least gives iMac users something to be thankful for every time they want to plug in a USB cable.

Jimi is cleverly designed to transition the vertical USB port on the back of the iMac to a horizontal USB port that pokes out from the bottom of your computer. Rather than blindly fumbling around trying to plug something into a port on the iMac, it's right at your fingertips at the bottom of the display. Jimi is unobtrusive and works on all four USB 3.0 ports on the 21.5" iMac slim unibody and the three leftmost (as viewed from the back of the computer) USB 3.0 ports on the 27" iMac slim unibody.

There's really not much more to be said about this little J-shaped port extender, other than if you have one of the late 2012 or newer iMacs, you need to buy at least one Jimi. The first time that you use it and don't have to grope the back of your iMac trying to find a port, you'll thank me.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible

The sexiest Mac desk you'll ever see... from 1988

Everyone takes photos of their Mac desks these days, but rarely do we get a glimpse at setups from yesteryear. Ned Raggett was ahead of the game in 1988, snapping a photo of his computer desk way before it was the cool thing to do.

His describes the setup as follows: "Let's see, dot-matrix printer on the left, my Mac 512K enhanced with the Kensington add-ons here and there (yes, including the little mouse pocket), extra disk drive on the right along with the disk holder itself, mouse pad...well well well. "

In 1988, this was a respectable rig, and that rather ornate table is the perfect place for it all to sit. Great stuff.

[Photo credit: Ned Raggett]

Daylite 5 adds refinements to the business management app

Marketcircle's Daylite has been around for a number of years, pulling in Best of Show awards at Macworld/iWorld and kudos from happy users. The application, which comes in Mac, iPhone and iPad versions, is a full-featured system for keeping track of your business. Whether it's calendar, email, or contact management; project tracking or following up on business opportunities, Daylite is hands-down the best and most comprehensive tool for managing a business. Now the company has just introduced Daylite 5, the latest version of the multi-platform solution.

Priced at US$299.95 per user, Daylite 5 includes licenses for the Mac, iPhone and iPad apps, as well as for the Mail Assistant (used to link Daylite and Mail) and Daylite Server. Existing Daylite 4 users can update for $199.95, while Daylite 3 owners can make the jump for $249.95.

What does the new version provide? A lot of refinement to an already polished set of apps. The new Insight View is described as a "visual summary of your data" that "helps you discover patterns and answer questions about your business." By displaying a number of graphs on one screen, it's easy to see patterns appear and then make comparisons. Clicking on a bar chart drills into summaries, and dragging across a timeline allows even further focus on project details.

My personal new favorite feature is the timeline, which provides a quickly scrolling list of project information and associated emails to give a history of what went on during a period of time. Hovering on a small graphical timeline to the left of the timeline detail allows you to quickly jump to a specific date, while filters create a way to grab only certain pieces of information -- like emails associated with a project -- while getting the others out of the way.

One feature that Daylite users had been asking for is now present -- repeating tasks. Regularly scheduled tasks such as project status meetings can be set to repeat daily, weekly, monthly or for any other time period.

The iPad and iPhone apps have received an amazing makeover, with a flat, simple design that would make Jony Ive happy. Searching is available from the Daylite home screen, and synchronization with the Daylite server is done in background. Those of us with mature eyes love the way that Daylite now uses the text size that's chosen in the Settings app so that it's possible to read details without squinting or holding the iPhone screen two inches from our faces.

On the Mac app, the sidebar now has the ability to have folders and subfolders added to group items, and since those folders can be opened and closed, it's possible to hide those projects or groupings that are unimportant at a particular time. You can even hide the sidebar altogether to make more room on your workspace.

The Daylite Mail Assistant now has the capability of allowing you to update details in Daylite right from within Mail.app. If a contact's information (email, address, phone number, etc...) has changed, or if you need to change the status of a project, there's no need to jump into Daylite -- it can all be done in Mail.

Marketcircle has also provided more advanced filtering capabilities to allow you to dig into your data -- for example, you can search all contacts that have no opportunity associated with them to provide a list of customers you should cold call.

Finally, the Mac app has received a redesign that provides a visual look and feel that is closer to the iOS apps. Things are less cluttered and much easier to read in the revised app.

Marketcircle has obviously listened to Daylite customers in making the changes to Daylite 5, and all of the apps now have a much more streamlined and polished feel to them. For existing Daylite users, making the jump to Daylite 5 might cause some temporary heartburn as you get used to the new features and find your way around, but you'll quickly get back up to speed and be able to accomplish more in less time.

Viva Mavericks: OS X Beta Seed program now live

Really, who among us hasn't wanted to run a presumptively unstable operating system? Until today, the delights of beta releases of OS X were reserved to those who signed up for Apple's developer program (and paid the $99 fee to enroll).

That fun and frolic is now open to anyone 18 and over with an Apple ID, via the new OS X Beta Seed program. Simply sign in at Apple's beta site, agree to the terms and conditions (including a prohibition on sharing information about the beta versions), and activate the Mac you want to use with the provided Beta Access Utility. Once you're live, the beta builds of OS X will appear in the Mac App Store.

It should go without saying that you need to back up thoroughly before updating to an unreleased Mavericks build; you also should not run beta software on any machine you need for production, time-critical or revenue-generating activities. If you can't live without your Mac, don't dance on the bleeding edge!

[hat tip Engadget]

Ask TUAW Live is on the air at 5 PM ET today!

"Ask TUAW Live" happens today, Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 5:00:00 PM EDT. You can check here for showtimes in your area. We're taking your questions now via the Ask Tuaw feedback form, Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

To watch the live feed and participate in the chat, jump over to the TUAW page on Google+. There you will find links to this Google Hangout. Bring your questions, ideas, tips and tricks, or recipes for craft cocktails to share with the rest of the TUAW community.

NOTE: Due to the way Google handles Hangouts for Pages, you will need to add the TUAW page on Google+ to your circles so we can circle back. Is that what they call it these days?

1Password 4.5 for iOS gains features, slims down

Ask any member of the TUAW team what they use to keep track of the swarm of passwords they are confronted with on a typical day, and they're likely to say 1Password. AgileBits today announced a major update to the iOS version of the app, which is available for free to current users. 1Password 4.5 will be on sale at half-price -- US$8.99 -- for those who don't already own it, through Friday, April 25.

What's new in the password manager? To start with, the app has a shiny new iOS 7 look and feel, complete with a new icon. But that's just the icing on the cake. Under that gooey frosting is:

• A 34 percent smaller app footprint, saving 8.6 megabytes of space


• Faster syncing


• Search available all the time at the top of the Categories tab and each main category


• AirDrop support for sharing items


• Support for multiple vaults once they're configured in 1Password for Mac


• A new Demo Vault replacing the venerable Demo Mode


• A redesigned user setup process, as well as an improved upgrade process from 1Password 3 for iOS


• Support for custom item images (must be added via 1Password 4 for Mac)


• Tags added in Mac version sync with iOS


• Improvements and bug fixes in Wi-Fi Sync


• Support for multiple Dropbox accounts

Enhancements were made to the built-in 1Browser to allow for easier logins, faster checkouts, and online form auto-fill much in the way 1Password mini works on the Mac.

And speaking of the Mac, 1Password 4.3 for Mac was also released today with a variety of improvements.

Mac on iPhone would be a lot of fun

It's a shame this doesn't actually exist, because I bet a lot of people would love to mess around with an emulated version of classic Mac software. Imagine "booting up" touchscreen versions of Artillery or 3D Checkers. It would a nostalgia trip worth at least a few bucks, right?

[Photo credit: Rob Marquardt]

Ahead of earnings, analysts anticipate uptick in Mac sales and slight downturn in iPad sales

Come Wednesday after the bell, all eyes will be on Apple's earnings report for the March quarter. While the key metric investors will be looking at the ever-critical iPhone sales numbers, it's just as important to keep close tabs on the health of the company's Mac and iPad sales. While the iPhone still accounts for the vast majority of Apple's quarterly revenue, Mac and iPad sales together accounted for 31.3% of Apple's revenue during the most recent December quarter.

With that in mind, Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Fortune put together a few handy charts which map out what analysts on Wall Street think Apple will deliver in terms of Mac and iPad sales.

With respect to the Mac, analysts are anticipating sales to fall anywhere between 3.65 million and 4.84 million units. Averaging all of the estimates out, the consensus for Mac sales is 4.06 million units, a figure which would represent an ever-so-slight sales increase of 2.8% from the same quarter a year ago.

With respect to the iPad, estimates range from 15 million units on the low-end to 21.81 million units at the high-end. The consensus lands at 19.33 million units, which would represent a slight sales drop of 0.7% year over year.

TUAW will liveblog the Q2 2014 earnings call starting just before 5 PM ET on Wednesday, April 23. Be sure to join our team for this always fascinating, sometimes entertaining event.

A roundup of last week's app reviews on TUAW

Last week was a busy one for app news and announcements, giving your favorite TUAW writers a chance to post some great reviews of the apps that grace their home screens. Here's a quick roundup of our recent reviews -- and a few app roundups -- you may have missed:

• iSpotlight is a news app for following the rich and famous


• Sketch 3 makes a great design tool even better


• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft arrives on iPad with zero compromises


• Breeze by RunKeeper steps up your activity level


• Power Grounds is punishing and playful


• The best Nintendo DS emulator on iOS doesn't require a jailbreak


• Daily App: Xtrapop adds pop culture to your photos as long as you pay up


• In the field with the Canon EOS Remote app for iPhone


• Daily App: Help Me Fly challenges you to solve snap circuit-like puzzles


• Daily App: Cinefy brings Hollywood-style FX to your iPhone or iPad at a cost


• IntroMate creates pro quality video intros on iPad in seconds


• PhotoFlip! annotates iPhone photos but needs work


• Daily App: Trials Frontier comes to iOS with solid mechanics, freemium features

TUAW will be back next week with another round of app reviews, so be sure to drop by to see what's new and what's cool.

Caturday: Gabby at work

Maybe she's checking owner/photographer Jim Koepnick's bank account, retouching a photo of her beautiful self, or just wondering what this thing is that her human spends a lot of time staring at, but Gabby seems to be looking at something very intently.

Koepnick says that Gabby likes to jump up in his chair when he gets up to "see what I was doing." Perhaps I need to see if I can train Ruby the Internet Famous Cat to do editing work for me...

We'd love to see photos of your favorite feline soaking up the warmth of an Apple product, chasing a Magic Mouse, or just being a general nuisance while you're attempting to work on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Please let us know via our feedback page and please remember that your cat photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple or its products. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link.

Many thanks to Jim Koepnick and Gabby...