The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

It seems to be back to status quo ante now, and we're not sure exactly what was going on, but something apparently slipped off the crazy shelf and whacked the App Store firmly in the noggin. Multiple users and developers emailed to let us know that the Top Paid rankings in the store were completely jumbled up, with unfamiliar apps taking over the rankings from long-standing champs. iGlowStickPro? 301+ Short Stories? That ain't right.

The US store was definitely fritzy, but other tipsters report that the Australian store was affected as well. Now that things seem to be returning to normal, it's interesting to note how quickly everyone reacted to send a heads-up about the problem... when your monthly revenues depend on that Top Paid ranking slot, even a few minutes of confusion will get your attention in a hurry.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

When we first heard about the Kanex HDMI + digital audio converter a few weeks ago, I was eager to give it a trial run and see if it managed to deliver on the promise of integrated audio with HDMI video. I've been playing with the $70 unit for a few days now, and the answer is a qualified yes: it does the job, but depending on your home theater setup you may be able to get by with a less expensive option.

The digital-audio Kanex unit ships without a manual and is largely self-explanatory (although the company has now posted a basic user guide and FAQ) -- a female HDMI port on one side of the roughly iPod-sized unit, and three male cables coming out the other side. The cables connect to the mini DisplayPort, optical audio out, and USB port of your Mac; while Kanex does sell a $60 unit that handles audio over USB, this version only uses that connection to power the adapter and does not provide a USB audio interface. If you're running short of open powered USB ports you might opt to plug it into a USB power adapter instead.

In operation, there's not much to worry about: I plugged in all three ports to a unibody MacBook Pro and connected an HDMI display, then went to the normal Mac OS X Displays preference pane, where I found a full assortment of resolutions for my enjoyment. The top few 'television' options may vary with your connected gear; on my test set (a Vizio 42" 720p display) I was able to choose 720p and, oddly enough, 1080i and 1080p. Below that you have resolutions ranging from 640x480 up into the 1600x1000 range.

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Assuming that your Mac isn't still bogged down from the switch back to Standard Time, you should c'mon out tonight and join us for the talkcast. Tonight we'll be talking Apple TV 3.0; if you've upgraded already, we want to hear about your experience, and if you haven't upgraded yet, we want to know which hacks, patches or media players are holding you back. We'll also chat about the Motorola Droid, the latest cellphone challenger to iPhone hegemony. We'll be live at 10 pm ET, so call on in.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8.

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!

If you experienced some odd performance problems on your Snow Leopard-running Mac early this morning -- say, right around the time of the Daylight Saving 'fall back' to standard time -- you're apparently not alone. The Apple support boards are hopping with reports of 100% CPU spikes coinciding with the switchover from DST between 1 am and 2 am, mostly associated with having the menu bar clock enabled and/or having the clock automatic set feature turned on.

The workaround is apparently simple (if it hasn't already resolved itself after the cutover); just turn off the menu bar clock in System Preferences for a moment, and the problem should go away. On the other hand, the philosophical question of whether a system version that was billed as having no major new user-facing features outside of improved performance and stability should have arrived with so many fascinating quirks... well, good thing we got an extra hour of sleep last night.

Thanks to Gordian and everyone who sent this in.

Want to see something scary this Halloween? Like, perhaps, a browser that doesn't coddle you with all that silly stability and reliable performance? Feel like spending a little time on the bleeding edge? You too can taste the future (which, I am told, has a distinctive metallic tang) by downloading the first public beta of Firefox 3.6, now featured over at the Mozilla developer blog.

The next release of the open-source browser includes more flexible video options, better Javascript performance, updated font support and single-click appearance customization through the Personas skinning system. You can read more about the 3.6 changes from a web development perspective here.

The Mac version requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, and you can get it from the beta download page. Happy surfing!

There's a loud buzzing this morning, and it's not just the hangover from late-night celebrations of the Yankees' pennant win; quite a few tech and Mac sites (we heard it first from Edible Apple, although it's really everywhere now) are reporting on week-old remarks from the New York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, that were supposed to remain off-the record -- and of course are now playing on video all across the web.

If you look at the transcript of his chat, or the 8:20 mark in the video, you'll see him refer to delivery of journalism to mobile platforms, and then he mentions the "impending Apple slate."

Is this a simple moment of wishful thinking for Keller, or is it linked to the presumptive starring role that daily newspapers would play on the hypothetical Apple wundergadget? I can't wait to find out.

Read on to see the video.

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It's the Sunday before Halloween, and that can mean only one thing! No, not that you should have set your clocks back an hour -- that's next weekend. Tonight is about scary tech and the users that love it: Apple's most frightening products of all time. Whether the fuzzy-scary iPod Socks or the just-plain-scary Performa series, there are plenty of bonechillers out there... pick your favorites over at Apple History, the Apple Museum or Wikipedia and bring your nominations to our chamber of terrors tonight!

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

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]

Domestic TV watchers who tuned into the NBC Thursday comedy lineup or the Yankees-Angels playoff game on Fox were treated to three new Get a Mac ads in heavy rotation tonight, all focused on the launch of the latest Windows version. You can watch all three ads (Broken Promises, Teeter Tottering & PC News) over on Apple's site.

While these ads are pretty funny (Broken Promises, in particular, features some excellent work by the wardrobe department), it's not clear if the message of upgrade challenges from XP to Win7 is going to resonate. Apple's marketing team may describe Windows 7 as 'antiquated tech,' but the big M clearly is expecting plenty of PC users to buy brand new machines to run Win7 rather than upgrading their old gear. Will they consider a Mac as part of the mix? We can certainly hope so -- but by all indications, Windows 7 is no Vista, and it's quite a bit harder to sell against an operating system that doesn't actively shoot itself in the foot. Heck, it's possible that there may even be a few Mac diehards in the opening day lines to buy Win7.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Macworld and Business Week are reporting on the new hardware that's forthcoming as soon as the store comes up:

• New unibody low-end MacBook models with the polycarbonate shell -- still $999
• Entirely revamped iMac line, including a 27" quad-core powerhouse and optional HDMIDisplayPort inputs to allow using the screens as HDTVs (inputs on the 27" models only)
• Revs to the Mac mini line, including a $999 unit with Mac OS X Server preinstalled
• The 'Magic Mouse,' a multiouch wireless mouse that's supposed to run for months on 2 batteries (see above)

More in a moment. Details on all the new products now on display at apple.com