Holiday time is drawing near, with Black Friday just over the horizon. So have you started thinking about what to get your favorite gal? You might want to subscribe to a Monoprice e-mail alert to catch the latest restocks for your beloved's iPhone or iPod touch. Last night, they sold out of their 2200 mAh charge boosters within minutes. I snagged mine just in time.

Because, gentlemen, you need to face it: cables, remotes, and batteries are made of holiday win. Why not consider a miniDisplay cable to give your lady that second Mac mini monitor she's been dreaming about? Those redesigned Apple remotes make the perfect accompaniment to the treadmill, when watching "The View." Or, for that matter, when watching the morning financial news. Whatever floats your boat.

One of my female TUAW colleagues writes, "Last year I got earrings and returned them for a MacBook. My husband also knows that on Black Friday morning, in the dark, I will be at Radio Shack or MicroCenter -- elbows out to fend off other customers -- hissing at the sunlight and hoarding hard drives, enclosures, and spindles of DVDs."

Face it: Chicks love technology. Trust me. I'm a woman.

Results are not typical or representative of all real women's buying habits. Please check with a lawyer before deciding whether purchasing Mac peripherals are right for you. Side effects, including being kicked out of your home and/or marriage, may occur. Peripherals are not a substitute for fine jewelry. Do not attempt to offer technology when the spouse is pregnant or nursing. Consult a physician should a piece of technology make an accelerated impact with your head. In case of technology overdose, seek professional assistance, or contact a family counselor immediately.

An IM conversation with Mike R. got me thinking about what iPhone apps could be useful when you're snowed in. Here's my list, and be sure to use the comments section below to leave your ideas.

You're going to be getting a little cabin fever after being stuck in the house a few days, so why not go insane a bit faster? There are a number of snow globe apps for iPhone in the App Store [iTunes Link], so you can shake them up and watch those little virtual snowflakes falling, all while laughing nervously and sharpening that butcher knife.

On a much more positive, happy-thoughts note, how about thinking about where you can go skiing or snowboarding when the roads are cleared and you can actually get the car out of the garage? The first thing you'll want to know are the snow depths at all of your favorite resorts. The US$1.99 Snow Reports [iTunes Link] does exactly that for over 2,000 resorts worldwide. Ski Lodge - Snow Reports [US$4.99, iTunes Link] is similar, but also provides detailed trail maps, directions to the nearest resort, and more.

When you're on the mountain and riding your board, it's always fun to use iTrailMap 3D [US$4.99, iTunes Link] to trace your runs via GPS on a map, then send the map to those obnoxious virtual coworkers who keep sending you pictures of the palm trees swaying outside their San Diego offices.

You have to hand it to Reko and Bobby John for their stick-to-it-iveness; they were behind a similar set of iPhone costumes in 2007, but those didn't have the fully-functional power of these new outfits. Yes, those are LCD TVs on the front (not touchable, sadly) showing content from the (almost certainly) jailbroken iPhones mounted on top; yes, each getup weighs 85 pounds because it includes a car battery to power the display. I can see how the illusion would be broken by a 500-foot charging cable trailing behind them as they trick-or-treat their way around the subdivision.

There's a part of me that wants to tell these guys to apply their wild, inventive energy to more productive pursuits. And yet... there's another bit of reptile brain that simply sits and watches, in awe.

Thanks to John for the tip!

[via MacRumors Forums]

Talk about embarrassing. Steve Ballmer guest hosted on NBC's Today Show yesterday to talk about the Windows 7 launch. Sadly for Steverino, Matt Lauer talked a lot about Apple and the iPhone. Even worse, sharp eyes noticed an NBC-produced graphic in the background with a Windows 7 logo appearing on the screen of what clearly is a Mac laptop.


You can watch the video here. That's probably not the kind of quality control Microsoft would have liked.

Thanks to Bill for sending this in (no, not Bill Gates)

[via TechCrunch]

Wow. This has been an especially long wait for the Apple Store to return. So here's TUAW's top reasons this is taking so long.

Reason #5 (via @serpicolugnut at Twitter, updated via TUAW reader Zaph):The App Store reviewers are "reviewing" the new store. The current average wait is 14 days.

Reason #4: They might be done with their Time Machine backup by now...

Reason #3: Man, WebObjects is outdated technology...

Reason #2 (Courtesy of @verso via Twitter): Still waiting for the iPhone backups to finish...

And our top reason?...

Dear Aunt TUAW,

I'm an iPhone developer. My applications really need some computing *oomph*. How can I ensure that the app is only distributed on the iPhone 3GS or the iPod 3G or later?

Speaking of which, what exactly is the adoption rate of those newer, faster units? How can I find that out?

Love & Kissies,

Mr. Gando


Read on for Auntie's response...

Earlier today we were inspired by Pepsi's AMP UP Before You Score app [iTunes link], which prompts the would-be ladies' man through several pickup routines, each suited to a different type of young lady (sorority girl, tree hugger, goth girl... that one probably requires a bit of sulking). It's a bit of fun if not a little classless (and Pepsi & AMP have since apologized). With that in mind, we've compiled 5 apps for the scoundrel.

Fake Call apps

This one is more of a trick than a particular app. Here, Manolith describes how to use one of the many fake call apps to your advantage. Before approaching the object of your affection, set up a fake "grandma" profile complete with picture and set to ring one minute into your conversation. Because starting off with deception is the way to go.

The fake call apps let you set up a fake phone call that looks and sounds like the real thing, even with a fake "voice" on the other side. Some are better than others, and could provide escape from a scrape.

Awesome Pickups

Awesome Pickups transports you to the Regal Beagle with the most horrendous pickup lines imaginable. That's probably part of the fun, in daring each other to actually tell a young single, "You must be Jamaican because you're Jamaican me crazy!" Simply tap to move from pickup line to pickup line until you're either slapped or asked to leave.

Amazing Rejections: Smackdown

If you're on the receiving end of a would-be suitor equipped with Awesome Pickups, Amazing Rejections: Smackdown is for you. Tap to view a laundry list of ill-advised pickup lines and their corresponding denials. Don't feel badly about using an especially vicious rejection, s/he probably deserves it.

Relationship Test

To end with something more savory than the rest, here's Relationship Test. This app presents a lighthearted quiz to share with your special someone. Have a few laughs while you learn about each others likes and dislikes. There's no heavyweight relationship advice here, just a bit of harmless fun. And it's better than targeting your tweets for a tree hugger.

I like the way Schiau Studios thinks -- when customers complained about the price of their $2.99US App Store game Alchemize, they raised the price up to $39.99. Over on the TouchArcade forums, they make their case: most devs, they say, when faced with complaints about price, will just lower their price even though their software is already cheap. So they wanted to buck the trend, and instead raised it up to almost $40 (which, incidentally, is slightly more than what you might pay for a handheld console game).

Lest you simply complain that they were greedy, they say they were only out to make a point: everyone who purchased the game at the higher price point will have all of their money go to charity, and now that the game's back at the $2.99 price point, 33% of all the profits to be gained will go to the same charity. Regardless of whether the game's any good or not, we like their thinking.

Can we all agree to stop griping about price points? I've actually heard this come up lately on a comedy podcast of all places -- when Chicago broadcasting legend Steve Dahl (and one of my favorites) started up a podcast about a month ago, and introduced an app to go along with it. Steve was inundated with comments complaining about the $2.99 price, which he responded to with a great argument on the show: he's put a lot of money into the app and the show behind it, and if you're already a fan of his, paying less than the cost of a cup of Starbucks should not even be an issue.

Sure, when the App Store first started up, it was the Wild West -- both prices and quality were all over the place. But at this point, Apple's review system has more or less settled down, and blogs like ours are full of recommendations, with enough free apps to last any rabid app user most of their iPhone time. If you have any interest in an app at all, a couple of bucks shouldn't be enough to give you pause -- either pick it up and make sure the dev gets their due (small as that may be), or move on to find an app you'd rather buy.

If you're the kind of person who complains in the comments whenever we post a useless app, then just move right on from this weekend post (or go check out Paradise Monkeys, it actually looks like a good one). But as weird and pointless as this app may be, we have to give the folks behind this iLickIt game credit -- they really took the multitouch screen to a place it probably shouldn't go. The idea is that you get a plate of food from Grandma, and then you have to lick it clean... by actually licking your iPhone or iPod touch. No thanks.

Actually, iLickIt isn't the first app that's asked you to lick something that's been in your pocket (and who knows where) all day long -- there's other ice cream-licking related apps on the store already. But its claim to the very first "iPhone game you play with your tongue" may actually be legit -- it actually times how long it takes you to lick up the food and turns it into a little game. Though we can't really recommend it, it is coming to an App Store near you, so just in case your tongue hasn't had enough to do lately (and yes, I'll just let that one go), there you have it.

Remember Pete's FishCam? Just before Christmas of 2008, we did a short post about Pete Raumann's web app that he developed that allowed him to watch his fish tank, turn the light on and off, and even open and close a treasure chest in the tank.

Pete's now presenting the newly renamed TankedCam to the world, and you get to be in control! While he still won't let you feed his fish (he doesn't want them floating upside down in the tank), you can now get in on the fun of watching and annoying the tank population by heading to either http://www.tankedcam.com or the iPhone / iPod touch-friendly http://m.tankedcam.com.

In his latest hit video, Pete uses an iPod touch and the latter link to control the tank that's in the background. I was playing with this last night while watching TV and trust me, the fish tank was much more interesting than the show. Pete has added an air stone that you can turn on and off, a dinosaur tank ornament with a mouth you can open and close, and one cam that you can pan left and right. A tap on your iPhone screen brings you to a stationary upper camera with a scuba diver that you can control in real time, another air stone controller, and a water pump that you can use to add water to the tank.

If you think that the latter control is going to let you flood Pete's office from your iPhone, you're wrong -- the system is set up with a level controller so you won't be able to add water beyond a certain level in the tank. This is a fun demonstration of remote control via iPhone, so be sure to give it a try. I've included some screenshots from last night's eerily-lit iPhone fish-bothering session, as well as some shots in the light of day. Enjoy!

A tweet earlier today pointed me to an iPhone calculator app that really got me laughing, as well as taking me on a trip down memory lane.

When I was in high school, calculators were expensive (US$200 for a six-function calculator with memory, for example) and just starting to make it into the hands of students. In those more naive times, anything that could be construed as even mildly suggestive got a lot of chuckles. One of the more amusing pastimes was to perform certain calculations that would come up with a result like 5318008 or 3104558 which, when the calculator was turned upside down, would spell a "dirty word."

Well, TLA Systems wants to make sure that its PCalc RPN [iTunes Link, US$9.99] and free PCalc Lite [iTunes Link] calculator apps for iPhone are used only for good purposes, so they've built in a special smut filter that will block these words when the calculator is turned upside down by displaying the word "CENSORED." Their blog entry is very tongue-in-cheek, asserting that they developed the filter to avoid getting a 17+ rating in the App Store.

Personally, I think TLA Systems developer James Thomson is just brilliant at getting blogs to write about his products. Well done, James!

Tip of the Tweet to @timhaines

We've mentioned Throwboy here on the site before -- they make handmade pillows, usually in the shape of Mac-related icons. And they just recently sent word about a brand new line of pillows: just in time for Halloween, they've branded the Finder and related icons with a little October 31st flavor. Sure, they're silly and pretty useless (really -- who buys a pillow for a one day-a-year holiday?), but just look at them! The FrankenFinder especially is pretty darn charming.

As usual, they're $29 each, or $100 for the whole set of four, which includes the Finderstein, Count Macula, Mac-o-lantern, and the great-looking Spooker. Shipping takes around 3-6 weeks, though if you order ASAP, they can probably make sure and get it to you before Halloween this year (and they're only available until 10/31 anyway, so pick yours up soon). Each pillow is 9" by 11" and made of comfy fleece, plus seriously, they're scarily cute.

Here's an earworm for you; hip-hop group FattySpins recorded a love song to ladies and to all things Apple, and filmed the video (above) at the landmark Apple Store Fifth Avenue.

The song manages to not only encompass a lot of Apple products in its lyrics, but also manages to poke some good fun at Microsoft. I mean, you've gotta love lyrics like:

"I know how to treat you – this ain't a reboot
I'll never find the need to Control ALT Delete you
I see no reason to mess with these slobs
Cause they're like Bill Gates... and I'm Steve Jobs"

The Apple Store Love Song was written and produced by Ray William Johnson, the likable nebbish with the glasses in the video. There's no word on whether or not Apple is going to hire him to produce catchy viral raps for future ads.

[via CrunchGear]

Some of you may have noticed that some of your screensavers don't work after upgrading to Snow Leopard. If you're running a 64-bit instance of the operating system, you won't be able to use most of your old third-party screensavers because they're probably not compatible. Many of our favorite screensavers weren't working... so instead of waiting for the developers to release them in 64-bit, we decided to see what else was out there.

iSight Screensavers from Majic Jungle (the creators of FluidTunes) isn't new, but it's something we've never covered here on TUAW. It was one that showed up first in our search and ended up killing our productivity for the rest of the day. And the next day. In fact, we've not really recovered productivity since we clicked the "test" button in System Preferences.

Majic Jungle has made a killer screensaver that allows you to interact with different effects and filters using the iSight camera, or any webcam attached to your mac. I won't get into the countless scenarios we created (we're pretty easily entertained), but here's a list of interactions from the creators' site to help explain what it does:

• Fluid - Play with a beautiful fluid dynamics simulation
• Particles - Create magical looking brightly colored particles wherever you move
• Champagne - Immerse yourself in a champagne world and watch as bubbles appear all over you
• Fire - Set yourself or your desktop on fire - in a painless kind of way!
• Water - Ripples appear wherever you move
• Flipping Grid - Can you get all of the squares to flip over together?
• Core Image - Over 30 configurable effects using powerful Core Image filters

iSight Screensavers is Universal Binary and Shareware. If you'd like to remove the watermarks, you can purchase a license for $4.99 -- pretty cheap considering my wife and I are more entertained by this than by a $25 night at the movies.