The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

You may already use one of several different Dashboard widgets for listening to BBC radio programmes over the net; but the team at BBC Labs has just released a new one that offers something a bit different.

It's part of a wider project called Radio Pop that turns radio listening into a social activity. As long as you're listening to your BBC programmes via the Radio Pop player (available in-browser or, as I said at the start, as a widget), you can "Pop" your favourites - in other words, flag them.

Your Radio Pop profile page shows what you've been listening to. Your Pops show the things you liked most, and give you quick access to programme information pages. Right now it's limited to live radio streams, but plans are underway to add the BBC's Listen Again output as well, which will make it much more interesting. (Developers: there's an API for you to play with, too.)

Since I'm in the UK, I haven't been able to confirm that this works elsewhere; YMMV. One additional requirement for making it work is a copy of Real Player, which the BBC uses for all its radio streams. Download it via the links on this BBC help page and you'll get a version that doesn't come laden with ads.

Everyone else has had just three choice Mac apps, but I'm going to claim four because two of my choices live in the Menu Bar, and are therefore very small. Only you and I need to keep count, though, eh?

Bean

This marvelous little rich text editor is an excellent tool for writing to word counts, something I have to do very often. Bean packs in a lot of great features, and the developer is responsive to feedback and suggestions.

Either TextMate or BBEdit

When I'm not writing to word counts, I'm usually using Markdown to write for the web. Until last week I'd been using TextMate for this, exclusively, for a couple of years. Now, with the release of BBEdit 9.0, I'm wavering between the two. Both are wonderful, and writing with Markdown just isn't the same without one of them to help me out.

I Love Stars

I'm one of those weirdos who likes to keep the Dock out of sight most of the time. I don't use it for launching or switching apps, and I don't use it to keep minimised windows in either. But there are some functions that I like to have in easy reach from anywhere, and that's why I'm a big fan of Menu Bar applications. That said, there's not a lot of Menu Bar to be had on a little MacBook screen, so I'm very picky about which ones get the honor of a place up there. I Love Stars earns a spot. It does nothing but let me assign ratings to songs, but in my opinion it does it very well and, most importantly, sits in the best place for doing it.

Jumpcut

Another one from the Menu Bar, and this time it's a clipboard history utility that saves my backside 27 times every week. At least. It only saves text, but that's fine for me because that's what matters most in my line of work. With Jumpcut running (and it's always running), I can merrily copy umpteen things from a dozen different places and be sure of pasting them easily, and in the correct places, in the text document I'm writing at the time (see Bean and BBMate raves above).

OK, that was five. Sorry.

Starmap 1.1 (iTunes link) is a pocket-sized map of the sky that packs a great deal into a small package.

One thing that strikes you immediately is the challenge of incorporating all the options available into the iPhone's limited UI space. The button panel at the bottom of the screen is a 3D object that you can spin round to reveal more controls.

And you need them, because there's a lot Starmap can show you. Not just the stars and constellations, but also planets, expected meteors and "deep sky" objects like galaxies, clusters and nebulae.

Features I particularly like include: the night-vision mode (tints everything red to minimise your iPhone's own light pollution); the fact that, by default, only objects you're likely to see are shown in lists of stars and planets (you can toggle this on and off if you'd rather see a list of everything, below the horizon or not); and the general feeling that a great deal of thought has gone into building the app from the outset.

The main issue with Starmap, and it's one you'll notice pretty quickly, is speed. Right now, the app does not use any accelerated graphics and subsequently, the frame rate is 3 FPS. Dragging the night sky around beneath your finger is slow and the animation jagged; as a result, it can be a little frustrating to use. Consider this before you buy.

This is a known issue, though, and work is under way on a fully optimised 3D version running at 20 FPS. It might be released as soon as October, we're told.

That (and one or two crashes) aside, Starmap is a fantastic educational app and very good value for the price ($11.99). Existing users should hold out for future updates -- if they deliver what's promised, Starmap will be an almost irresistible purchase.

Oh, and one other thing would be nice: a function that controls the appalling British summer weather, and clears away the almost permanent cloud cover so that we actually have a remote chance of seeing some stars.

We're all taking turns at this. My turn:

• SMS - the built-in SMS app has changed the way I use text messaging, and for the better. My contract with O2 includes 600 text messages per month, and in the UK where everyone texts everyone about everything all the time (and no-one gets charged for incoming messages), that's extremely useful. On old phones, even using predictive text software, I found composing messages too long-winded and dull, and consequently didn't text much. Now I can compose as fast as I can tap-type, and my friends are all wondering why I've suddenly become so flippin' chatty.
• Cube Runner - Andy Qua's super-simple game is the only one I keep returning to time and time again. Nothing beats it for speed, simplicity, and fun. When I say simple, I mean simple: you pilot your triangle between the cubes. Hit cube, game over. That's it. There's not much that can improve it, except perhaps handlebars.
• Face Melter - A cheesy bit of fun, but everyone deserves cheesy fun every now and then. Face Melter just lets you mess about with images, pulling and dragging facial features into amusing shapes. Hardly a new idea, but it's great fun to have in your pocket. Good for amusing kids while waiting in restaurants, and for amusing fellow geeks in the pub. I've also been exploring its potential for experimental photography.
• Weather - I'm English. Need I say more?

I should stress -- and I suspect I speak for all my TUAW colleagues in this respect -- that this list of faves is merely a snapshot. These faves might change within days, even hours. The App Store is still only an infant, and holds many surprises for us in the future. I'm looking forward to discovering new faves as time goes on.

With 237 (and counting) almost universally glowing reviews, iFooty is one app that's scoring well on the UK iPhone App Store, riding high on the Top 25 Free apps list.

What it does it pretty simple -- aggregating football league data and news articles from a variety of BBC sources -- but it does it very well and with great style. As many of the user reviews [App Store link] point out, it's one of those apps that's really, genuinely, use-it-six-times-a-day useful.

I should point out, for the vast American majority of readers on this site, that when I say "football," I mean it in the UK sense of the word. I suspect you know it better as soccer. But over here it's football, or just footy, and iFooty's comprehensive coverage of the uppermost football leagues in England (Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two) and Scotland (Premier League) offers something for many millions of fans. And, better yet, it does so for free.

The official iFooty web site doesn't tell you much; you're better off going to the App Store for more info.

TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September. Read on for a timely app update useful for students.

PDF management app Papers has been bumped to version 1.8.5, bringing what the developers claim are 100 improvements. Top on the list is a new sharing feature called Papers Archives, which lets you share a PDF file and its associated metadata with a colleague.

Papers isn't for everyone. Instead, it's specifically designed for students and academics, particularly those who deal with a lot of scientific periodicals in the course of their research. It lets you search them, sort them (manually or using Smart Folders), find them on any one of 14 different online repositories, rate them, browse your library in tabs, and much more.

Papers costs $42 for a single-user license, but students qualify for a 40 per cent discount.

Here's BtBx, for the iPhone and iPod touch. I think you pronounce it "beatbox". And it's lovely.

There's so much potential for music apps on the iPhone and I'm one of the people who's very keen to try them out. BeatMaker is top of the tree in the App Store right now, but there's a lot about BtBx that appeals to me.

The interface is cartoon-like, but I like it that way. It works and it doesn't crash, and those things matter more to me than aesthetics. The controls might be a bit confusing to anyone who's never used a sequencer before, but there's a brief user manual built-in. The app was built by the same team that created Rhythm for the PSP.

BtBx is cheap and it's simple, and simple is always good in my opinion. Right now there's no way to import custom samples (but that's on the way), nor can you save your patterns or export them elsewhere -- BtBx's greatest drawback at this time. For many people, that will disqualify it immediately.

But: the limitations and drawbacks haven't stopped me playing with it, messing with the patterns to build something interesting, and that's what I like most. The simplicity encourages creativity.

BtBx is a $3.99 download from the App Store.

Look Dougal, we've done it!

Done what, Ted?

We're on iTunes, Dougal! In the UK store! Look at all the happy people waving at us! Wave back!

What people are you talking about, Ted?

The people out there with their Apple Macs.

It's not even raining, Ted.

Just shut up and wave, Dougal!

Are you imagining things again, Ted?

What do you mean, Dougal? When have I ever imagined things? I'm very rational, you know.

Well there was that time with that money...

It was just resting in my account, Dougal, I've told you before...

(Addendum, for the mystified: Father Ted was a hugely successful 1990s sitcom, broadcast by the UK's Channel 4, about three mad Catholic priests and their equally insane housekeeper, all living in peaceful chaos on a remote Irish island. If you've never heard of it before, just move on to the next TUAW post and pretend this one never happened. Any further questions will be answered by Father Jack: "That would be an ecumenical matter!")

Tate Liverpool, one of the Tate art galleries scattered around the UK (the two main galleries are in London, another is in St Ives) has opened an experimental online exhibition tour for iPhone and iPod Touch owners, which it says is the first of its kind in the country.

From now until the end of August, visitors to the Gustav Klimt exhibition will be able to browse the free guide content to their iPhones over the gallery's wifi network, or download it beforehand as a podcast. Spare iPod touches with the content pre-loaded will be available for hire for just $6 (£3).

According to an article about the experiment in Design Week magazine, the guide has been very popular and upped average visit times from 45 minutes to three hours.

If you want to try the tour for yourself without making the trip to Liverpool, you can enjoy it in full on the web.

Thanks to Jonathan for the tip.

Little noticed amid all the hubbub about Mobile Me, the App Store, iPhone killswitches and everything else, was the news from last week that Chandler 1.0 for OS X was finally released.

If that leaves you only fractionally less in the dark, here's some background: Chandler is a cross-platform, open source Personal Information Manager (PIM), and project of the Open Source Applications Foundation. The vision behind Chandler and the OSAF is that of Mitch Kapoor, designer of the original "killer app" for the PC generation, Lotus 1-2-3.

Chandler has been many years in gestation, but that's hardly surprising when you look at the feature set - there's a huge amount of stuff packed in there. The 3-minute guided tour (direct link to .mov file) is well worth watching for an overview.

The very first thing that catches my eye is the "Quick entry bar", which looks just like the search boxes you see in many other OS X apps like Mail and Safari. This one isn't just for search, though; it's also for rapid input. You type something, hit enter, and it instantly becomes a new item in Chandler for you to edit, expand on, and deal with later.

Chandler is a free download from chandlerproject.org. We'd be interested to hear what you make of it.

Via MacNetJournal