Software posts

Apple has released a new promotional video that informs customers about AirPlay, the iOS 4.2 (and iTunes) feature that lets customers stream movies, music and photos from an iOS device to a current-generation Apple TV, Airport Express-connected speakers or AirPlay-enabled speakers.*

We're testing this now, but the happy actor in the video makes it look easy. Just tap the AirPlay icon on your iOS device to send video, audio or photos to the appropriate device. With the multitasking power of iOS 4.2, you can even leave the video app playing, for example, and knock off a game of Angry Birds while you watch your show.

Note that AirPlay is very much a one-way street. That means you can send data from an iOS device to an Apple TV or speakers, and that's it. No iPad to Mac, for example, or Mac streaming to iDevices (although you can use third-party tools like Air Video and AirFoil to get the effect). Still, it's a swell feature that we'll cover more in-depth for you soon. In the meantime, enjoy the video after the break.

*From partners like JBL and iHome.

After some time off, we're back with an all-new edition of your favorite Q & A column: Ask TUAW. As before, I will do my best to answer your Mac and iDevice-related questions with as much candor and accuracy as I can muster.

In case you've forgotten, here's how things work: each week this column will appear with questions and answers. If you have questions for the following week's column, drop them in the comments, and I will do my best to get to them. I won't be able to answer them all every time, so please, be patient.

When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). If you're asking an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad question, be sure to note which model and version of iOS you have.

To kick things off this week we've got a new batch of questions about how to get books on your iPad, syncing music to an Android phone, changing the location of your iTunes library, printing without opening applications, and more.

TUAW dives into Microsoft Office 2011 with reviews of the apps that make up the suite.

The legend lives on, in somewhat different form. The last time there was a version of Outlook for the Mac, it was Outlook 2001, it ran on Mac OS 9, and it only spoke MAPI (the legacy Exchange mail protocol). It lived alongside Office 2001, which already included Entourage for POP mail and contact/calendar management, so the writing was on the wall.

Once Mac OS X came along, Microsoft settled on Entourage as the new Mac personal information management app, and Outlook was long thought to be dead on the platform -- until now. Is it a worthwhile part of the 2011 package, or does Apple's Exchange 2007 support in Snow Leopard's built-in apps match up well? Let's discuss.

First things first: Outlook 2011 is not actually Outlook as you know, "love," and use it on various flavors of Windows. It is essentially an upgraded and revamped version of Entourage 2008, but it's polished up with some changes that will make some workflows smoother. I have been using it as my primary email client at my day job, and so far it hasn't had the random fits Entourage was known for. Another thing to note is the difference in editions -- if you buy the Home & Student Edition of Office 2011, you won't even get Outlook. You have to buy Home & Business or the Enterprise corporate edition of Office to get Outlook at all, so if your focus is a shiny new email client, it will cost you (or your employer).

Click "Read More" to see the new features in this resurrected app for the Macintosh.

Gallery: Outlook 2011 Gallery

Ever since the success of MacHeist, it seems like resellers offering bundles of applications at heavily discounted prices are proliferating. MacBundles has an interesting new twist: a la carte application bundles. Just like buying a CD that has a few songs you really like along with a bunch of filler, the same is usually true for these packages of apps. But at MacBundles, you can now get a full slate of a dozen apps for $50, or if some of the choices don't strike your fancy, you can select as few as five to create your own bundle.

Customers who opt for five or more programs will pay just US$5.95 for each application, a price that drops to $4.95 per if you buy ten. Of course at that latter price you are already paying the same price as the full package of twelve, so you may as well just get them all. Given the discounts on these packages, it's usually worth just buying the whole thing even just to try out the apps. The current offering is available only until November 28.

[via Macworld]

Like anyone, we always appreciate free stuff. While it's important to be aware that sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes you get more. Such is the case for a batch of Mac utilities from DEVONtechnologies. For anyone that makes a living sitting in front of a computer screen, little tools that help speed your way through various tasks are always welcome, and at least one of these apps might be just what you've been looking for.

When you have a bunch of windows open for various tasks and you need a file or application, using Exposé to get to a Finder window is one approach, but you might find Xmenu to be a more efficient path. Xmenu adds a menu extra to the right side of the Apple menu bar that provides quick access to files and folders on your drive. If you're not sure where the item you want is located, EasyFind supplements Mac OS X's built-in Spotlight with the ability to search for hidden files, search inside packages, and even allows the use of Boolean operators to narrow searches.

ThumbsUp enables batch operations on clusters of images to switch formats, resize, sharpen and more. It's not quite like creating a Photoshop action, but for some quick and dirty operations it will do. PhotoStickies is less productivity oriented, but it allows you create an automatic collage of images that you select from your drive. The sticky images can even include live webcam feeds that automatically update.

You can grab all four utilities for free at DEVONtechnologies.

Man, it's about $*#(ing time. The storied (and dare I say classic?) Grand Theft Auto trilogy, featuring GTA 3, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas, is finally coming to the Mac thanks to Transgaming. Of course, it's about ten years late -- the first game in the grouping came out in 2001 on the PS2. On current-gen gaming consoles, gamers have enjoyed Grand Theft Auto IV for a few years, and Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption earlier this year and is priming for a game called L.A. Noire. I'm surprised these haven't been released on the Mac yet; especially with Steam on the platform, you'd think there would have been a port at some point.

You can order the Mac versions of the Grand Theft Auto trilogy right now for $15 each online, and in about a month they'll be showing up in various retail stores. If you somehow missed these the first time around, or if you just want a few terrific older games to play on your Mac, you can pick and play these. Just keep them away from the kids -- they're all very mature games.

As if Instapaper wasn't useful enough, version 2.3 for iPhone and iPad was released late last night and brings with it a long list of stellar features. Instapaper is the web service and iOS app that lets you save articles for later reading quickly and easily. My favorite new feature is OmniFocus support. Here's how it works.

Open an article and tap the Share button. A slip with several options will appear, including Send To OmniFocus. Give it a tap and OmniFocus launches, creating a new inbox item with your article's title and URL. Fantastic.

That's hardly the only change. Version 2.3 also includes a "length and progress indicator" in the form of a row of dots next to each article's title. The greater the number of dots, the longer the article. Also, the dots grow dark as you read further into the article. Now you can judge each story's length and approximate time to completion at a glance. We love it.

Other changes include a preview of the first few lines of an article on the iPhone (previously titles only), and an additional line on the iPad. The dark feature has also significantly changed on the iPhone. Now you can make adjustments without leaving the current article or, better yet, opt to have the dark theme applied automatically. If selected, the app will note the time and switch to the dark theme at night. How does it work? Instapaper 2.3 is now location-aware. Just enter your location and it will note the time of sunset.

There's so much more to this update, like Safari synchronization, meant to eliminate issues occurring when the iOS app and the web app are using different account names, plus an option to bypass the in-app browser and jump right to Mobile Safari.

Instapaper gets a lot of attention from its rabid fan base, and deservedly so; it keeps improving but never to the detriment of its usefulness.

Audio editors rejoice! Adobe Audition for Mac is now available for download as a public beta from the Adobe website.

Adobe describes Audition for Mac as bringing "modern audio post-production to the Mac." The application looks very full-featured and the performance seems good as well. The company touts the software as having "fast start-up, high performance multi-threaded processing, and parallel workflows." Audition provides standard audio editing and mixing functions and Adobe says that the noise reduction and sound sweetening capabilities of the application are excellent. Audition also provides native Dolby 5.1 Surround support and multi-channel effects.

So, what are you waiting for? It's free, it's beta, and it's powerful mojo for sound editing. When the app finally arrives for real, expect it to cost about the same as the PC version at US$399. A couple of videos explaining how the app works can be found on the next page.

Update: The correct price of Adobe Audition for PC, version 3.0 is $349, and the Mac version will be about the same.

[via MacStories]