If you want an economical way to buy into the reigning speed champion of virtualization apps, the MacUpdate Promo Spring Bundle may be just the ticket. At $49.99, the 11-app bargain basket is headlined by Parallels Desktop 5 (normally $79 alone). The rest of the lineup is solid as well:

• Bee Docs Timeline 3D ($65)
• Spell Catcher ($39.95)
• Hydra ($79.95)
• Back-In-Time ($29)
• ForeverSave ($14.95)
• Hyperspaces ($12.95)
• Web Snapper ($15)
• Mac DVDRipper Pro ($9.95)
• MacScan ($29.99)

If you're buying the bundle early enough (within the first 20,000 purchases -- as of right now they are edging towards 14K), you get Metakine's DVD Remaster Pro as a bonus app. The bundle sale runs for 12 more days, but you've only got 2 days to get in on our 2-bundle giveaway; MacUpdate has reserved one bundle each for two lucky TUAW readers. See details by clicking "Read more" below!


To enter, just submit a comment below telling us which apps you think would be best for the next MUPromo bundle.

Summary of giveaway rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment below describing the app you think MacUpdate should include in the next bundle offering..
• The comment must be left before Sunday March 21, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One MacUpdate Promo Spring Bundle. ARV $49.99.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

TUAWMacUpdate bundle offers Parallels 5, we offer chance to win originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

Filed under: Steve Jobs

During a surprise appearance at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California, Steve Jobs joined California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to help advance organ donation legislation.

Last year, Jobs flew to Tennessee to receive a liver transplant, and spoke briefly of this. "There were not enough livers in California to go around," he said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. "I was advised by my Stanford doctors to enroll on a list at a Memphis hospital, because it was more favorable to get a liver there. I was fortunate."

And without the transplant, Jobs said, "I could have died."

Steve Jobs returned to work at Apple in June 2009 and, according to the report, told other transplant survivors that he is currently feeling fine. "It's been a pretty good last few months."

If passed, the legislation could help save more lives by making it easier for Californians to affirm their preferred organ donor status. The current system, says Jobs, "is an obscure process." Full text of the legislation, Senate Bill 1395, can be viewed here.

To find out more about organ donation, visit Donate Life America, the Mayo Clinic's 10 myths of organ donation, and, lastly, state organ and tissue donor registries at OrganDonor.Gov.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

TUAWSteve Jobs helps push organ donation legislation originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

Hacker, modder, and all-around madman KipKay is at it again. The guy who brought us the crazy Mr. Microphone spy hack has managed to figure out an easy way to make dice that roll the same number every single time you roll them.

The incredibly simple trick involves putting the dice in your oven, and melting them just enough so they get a tiny bit heavier on the bottom. Check out the brief tutorial video below to see how you can do this yourself.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now clearly, I’m not sanctioning the use of this cheat the next time you go to the craps table in Vegas, but it definitely could be fun the next time you have a pickup game of Yahtzee or Monopoly with your friends.

Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

I have to say that some of the steampunk mods that I’ve seen don’t always look that good, but I’m truly amazed at Woodguy’s creations. He does custom steampunk additions for your computers.

The steampunk aesthetic tends to polarize opinions. Some people love it, some people hate it. But no matter what you think of steampunk, you’ve gotta hand it to Woodguy for his craftsmanship.

His handmade steampunk computer accessories are made from wood, brass, and copper, then finished off with a patina to give them that truly antique look. I have to warn you though, they aren’t cheap. Prices start at $325 (USD) for a mouse/keyboard combo to almost $1,000 for a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

You can check out his website for further details, or his Etsy shop.

[via Yanko Design]

Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

My wife uses her iPhone for listening to music a lot. She uses these cheap pink earphones when she listens that sound worse than the stock Apple earphones. The other day I got a really nice set of earphones for her from V-Moda that sound great. I handed them to her and told her they sound much better than what she has and her first response was those aren’t very cute. I’ll never understand women. It seems many care more for what something looks like than how it works.

A company called chicBuds has some appropriately girly headphones that come in colors that would make Stevie Wonder say man that’s bright. You can get the things in a pink color that is typically only seen in an emo girl’s hair. If the pink isn’t obnoxious enough for you, a multi-color set is also available.

I wonder if the multi-color set was painted at a Blue Man Group concert. Either color headphones are available for $29.95 (USD) and will work with any gadget using a 3.5mm headphone jack. The headphones have 44mm drivers and a frequency response of 5Hz to 20KHz, not that the specs matter, they are (debatably) cute after all.

Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

Filed under: iPad

Last week at GDC 2010, I talked to quite a few iPhone developers, big and small, and they all told me exactly the same thing when I asked about the iPad: "No, I haven't gotten my hands on one yet." But apparently there are at least a few developers out there who've gotten test models from Apple, according to Business Week, and the requirements that come with them are as strict as you can imagine. There are 10 pages of rules and regulations, and those include that the iPad has to be kept secured to a fixed object in a windowless room, and the company actually requires photographic proof of compliance before they'll actually ship the device out.

Sounds crazy, but clearly there's reasons for such a strict agreement from both sides: developers really want to get a head start on what will surely be a huge market for apps and content starting on the iPad's release, and obviously Apple wants to make sure that the device stays under cover until it releases. You might think that they'd actually benefit from a little exposure, but don't forget: this is Apple -- they depend on the hype and interest that secrecy before release creates. After it comes out, seeing the iPad out in the world will likely sell even more units, but pre-release, Apple's customers are happy to stand in line to be the first to use the iPad.

Of course, this is all from anonymous sources -- it'll be interesting to see if any of these "iPads in the wild" find their way out to the public in the form of pictures or video. Until then, the rest of us (including many developers who've played big parts in building up the App Store to where it is today) will have to wait until April 3rd.

[via Engadget]

TUAWiPads sent out to select developers, kept under cover for now originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

Filed under: Apple

China Mobile announced at a news conference that it's going after service for Apple in that country -- it wants to host both the iPhone and the iPad in China for Apple. Currently, the iPhone service there is provided by China Unicom, but China Mobile has said that if the iPhone is ported over to its government-approved 3G service (similar, it seems, to the rumored deal with Verizon), then China Mobile would be interested in offering both.

Officially, Apple hasn't said anything about this -- it has been confirmed to be in talks about the iPhone, but those are only talks, of course, and it hasn't been talking at all with China Mobile about the iPad. Still, being that China Mobile is the largest data provider in the world, with over 520 million subscribers, Apple might eventually be enticed, especially if they need to widen the potential audience to sell more handsets. Plus, if the rumored deal with Verizon actually happens, Apple won't really have reason to be exclusive in the rest of the world, either.

TUAWChina Mobile angling for iPad, iPhone service in China originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Found Footage

After spending years trying, failing and trying again to teach a number of mature Apple users how to use various Apple products, I got a kick out of this video. It's funny because it's true, and it also shows that there are some less than optimum uses for an iPad. This iPad parody was made as a school project for a Comm 340 class. I think you'll get a chuckle out of it on this late Friday afternoon.

Thanks Justin for sending it in.

TUAWFound Footage: Grandma gets an iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod

Filed under: iPhone

Square is a very cool piece of hardware for the iPhone and other smartphones; when combined with the Square service, you can accept credit card payments right on your iPhone. TechCrunch reports that charity:water used Square at SxSW to collect donations, and other uses are already cropping up; flower carts and political fundraisers, for instance.

If you haven't seen it in action, check out our in-person walkthrough from Macworld Expo, or the official YouTube video demonstration. The demo features Adam Lisagor (creator of Birdhouse for iPhone and part of my favorite podcast You Look Nice Today) and Jason Permenter, who walk through a very simple real-life scenario: what do you do if you want to sell something, like a couch, to someone who wants to pay with a credit card? Square not only makes it possible to do that, but it adds some cool features such as showing a picture of the buyer and seller on the iPhone to verify their identity.

Square was born after Jim McKelvey couldn't sell a piece of art because he couldn't accept a credit card, a process that has traditionally been complicated and expensive. Part of Square's vision has included charitable giving, where a donation of 1¢ is made from every transaction to a cause of your choice.

When I was growing up, using a credit card meant that the clerk had to reach under the counter, pull out a device where you would carefully line up the credit card, then put special receipt paper on it, including two carbon copies (remember carbon paper?), they would push the handle across the device and it would push the numbers on the card into the carbon paper, then they would hand it to you to sign, and then the clerk would take it back, pull out one of the carbon copies, and hand it to you. If you were standing in line behind someone paying with a credit card, you'd react much the same way people do these days if someone pays with a check. Nowadays those PIN-pad credit card readers are in all the major stores and at gas stations. Being able to accept credit cards is almost a necessity in today's world.

Square could give individuals and small businesses the same opportunity, using a device that millions of people are already carrying around in their pockets. Check it out; even if you aren't a seller, you may want to sign up for Square to be registered as a buyer once it's out of private beta.

TUAWSquare used for fundraiser payments at SxSW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted under Cameras, Computers, GPS Navi, Gadgets, Monitors, Notebooks, PC Accessories, Printers, Scanners, iPod