Though Apple last exhibited at Macworld San Francisco back in 2009, the show is still going strong under the new Macworld/iWorld name. It’s changed in ways both big and small since Apple bailed, but it’s still well worth a visit, particularly if you’re local. You really can’t go wrong with the world’s largest event dedicated to Mac and iOS users. As you may know, Rogue Amoeba has continued to exhibit our wares at Macworld (in even-numbered years, like 2012 and 2010). We’re in an off-year for exhibiting, but I’ll still be attending the show for meetings, events, and to wander the exhibit hall. In addition, I’ll be participating in three different talks, all foolishly crammed into one day, Thursday, January 31st.

“A Word from the Developers”

(January 31st, 11 AM, Macworld Live stage)

First up, I’ll be on a developer panel run by Macworld’s Dan Moren. Along with Rogue Amoeba alumnus Guy English (now working on a great new app called Napkin) and Rob Rhyne (of contract shop Martian Craft), we’ll be discussing the decisions developers make every day as we try to make the best possible apps for mass audiences. This talk is open to all attendees.

“iCloud, App Stores & Other Things to Fear: Has Apple Forgotten Power Users?”

(January 31st, 1 PM, Room 2014)

Next up, I’ll be joining Macworld’s Lex Friedman for a panel chock full of writers. Also on that panel will be John Gruber (of Daring Fireball fame), Rene Ritchie (of iMore.com), and Matthew Panzarino (of The Next Web). We’ll be talking about the changing approach Apple has taken in the past half-decade, as they’ve taken over the mass-market.

“Answer, Please: An Apple Trivia Extravaganza with Glitz, Glamour & Great Prizes”

(January 31st, 3 PM, Room 2011)

Finally, Dan Moren and I will be combining our powers once again, to host a trivia event for the ages! The description may be overstating the glitz and the glamour, but I can assure you that the prizes are indeed great, thanks to our generous sponsors. Show off your Apple knowledge, and you could win the nifty olloclip iPhone camera lens (check them out at booth #716 in the Exhibit Hall), Studio Neat’s wonderful Cosmonaut stylus (they’re over at booth #554), BusyMac’s fabulous calendar BusyCal (visit the Appalooza area to find them), and more!

So bring a team of up to 6 people, along with all the Apple knowledge you can cram into your brain. We can’t promise this event will be as educational or informative as other talks, but we’re betting it’ll be more fun. Best of all, you could walk out of there with a great prize from our sponsors.

Getting In

To get in to the 1 PM and 3 PM events, you’ll need an iFan pass. Fortunately, with this link you can get pick one up for half-price, just $50. If you win one of our fantastic prizes, that pass will have paid for itself. Plus, the iFan pass will get you in to all the other Tech Talks, as well as the Special Events, including actors Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad discussing their upcoming film jOBS, hip-hop star will.i.am talking about the future, and veteran of Saturday Night Live Fred Armisen talking technology and creativity. Be sure to order your iFan pass by January 30th to save.

Alternately, you can get a free Exhibit Hall pass through that link, but the iFan pass is really the best way to see it all (and the only way to get a chance at those prizes).

I hope to see you at Macworld!

Using our popular Airfoil app, you can stream audio from your Mac or PC out to hundreds of compatible devices around your house. That list includes Android devices, thanks to our free Airfoil Speakers for Android, released last month in the Google Play store.

If you’ve got a Kindle Fire, or simply prefer the Amazon Appstore on any other Android device, you’ll now be able to find Airfoil Speakers in Amazon’s store. Though we submitted the app at the same time we released it in the Google Play store (seven weeks ago), Airfoil Speakers for Android has only just now been approved — quite the delay. Nevertheless, the wait is over. Read more about Airfoil Speakers for Android or just head over to the Amazon Appstore directly to download and getting sending audio to your Android device.

Earlier this month, Macworld’s Dan Frakes posted his Mac Gems of the Year for 2012, and we were honored to see our streamlined audio editor Fission included in that list! You can read about it with the link above, or listen to Dan and Chris Breen chat about all the winners on the Macworld podcast. Of course, we already knew Fission 2 was a hit, lauded by critics and users alike. We’ve been both thrilled with the reception and busy making it even better.

Since its initial release in September, we’ve put out a decent-size update in the form of version 2.1, which offered full Retina compatibility, support for the AAC-HE audio format and MP3 CBR (in addition to VBR), as well many other improvements. We’re now working on squashing various bugs. We’ve already released a bug fix version 2.1.1, and have lots of great updates and improvements to come.

If you haven’t tried Fission yet, you can learn more right here.

After two months in beta testing, we’re delighted to unveil the first public release of Airfoil Speakers for Android. It’s now available in the Google Play store, so if you’ve got an Android device running 2.3 (Gingerbread) or higher, get it now. You can also click here for more information.

By running Airfoil Speakers on your Android device and coupling it with Airfoil, you can play audio from any Mac or Windows machine, all around the house. Now anything playing on your computer can be heard on your Android phone or tablet too.

Airfoil Speakers receiving audio on Android

A Few Notes

Here’s a few items worth noting while you use the app.

• Due to issues with the operating system itself, Airfoil Speakers for Android will not always play in sync with other AirPlay receivers. We’re still working on this, but at this time you can manually adjust the delay using the slider in Settings. If you tweak this and find a stable value, please report in with your device type and Android version, along with that ideal latency value.

• Airfoil Speakers for Android currently receives audio solely from Airfoil for Mac or Airfoil for Windows. In the future, we’ll see about making it possible to receive audio directly from iOS and iTunes.

• Airfoil Speakers for Android does not currently offer reverse connect or remote control, two features found in some other versions of Airfoil Speakers. We’ll see what happens there.

• We have no current plans for Airfoil for Android (that is, an application which would send audio from Android out to AirPlay receivers). Android does not currently provide the level of access needed to create this. We’ll see what happens in the future, however.

Stay Tuned

As you can see by the version number, this is just the initial public release. We have plans for updates and more features, so keep an eye out. For now, just grab Airfoil Speakers for Android 1.0, and enjoy!

As you may know, we released version 2 of our audio editor Fission recently, and it’s been very well-received. We’re never content though, so we’ve been spending the past weeks fixing problems and adding features.

Now, we’re pleased to release Fission 2.1. This is a major update, with a lot of useful changes and improvements our users have asked for, and we’re eager to get it in your hands.

New and Improved

So, what’s new? The first thing some of our users will notice is that Fission 2.1 is now fully Retina-ready. So, if you’ve got a 15″ Retina MacBook Pro or the new 13″ model, Fission will look gorgeous on your display.¹

We’ve also got some new features and functionality. For audiophiles, Fission now offers both VBR and CBR MP3 exporting, in its Custom settings, and also features support for high-efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) exporting. Fission can now open and import audio from more formats, open files dragged directly from iTunes, write iTunes-style AIFF tags, export to many more sample rates, and much more.

MP3 CBR and HE-AAC are now available in Fission’s Custom settings.

And of course, we’ve squashed a slew of bugs. Most importantly, an alert which could appear when trying to save a file has been fixed. Support for slightly malformed FLAC files has been improved as well, along with other improvements to the Batch Converter. We’re also properly handling extensions in Save panels, correctly handling album artwork in file icons, avoiding overwriting files imported via QuickTime, and fixed many other small issues.

This update fixes and improves myriad items on our list, and should improve the experience of using Fission for all of our users. Get it today!

Updating to Fission 2.1

If you purchased directly through our store, Fission is immediately available for download. You can head over to the Fission page or just open your copy of Fission 2 and choose Check for Update from the Fission menu. This is a free update for all users of Fission 2, so get it now.

If you purchased Fission via the Mac App Store, you’ll need to wait for Apple to approve the update we’ve submitted. We’ve strived to have simultaneous releases in the past, and hope to continue to do so in the future. However, recent extended waits for approval by Apple’s review team have convinced us it’s in the best interest of our direct purchasers to provide Fission 2.1 to them as quickly as possible, despite the fact the Mac App Store version is not yet available for download.

We’ll have the Mac App Store version updated as soon as Apple allows, and we’ll update this post when it’s available.

Update (November 20th, 2012): Apple has finally approved Fission 2.1, and it’s now available on the Mac App Store. Click here to get it.

Upgrading

If you’re still using Fission 1, now’s a great time to upgrade! You can do so at a greatly-discounted price, right here.

Footnotes:

1. We’re slowly working on Retina updates for all of our software. Next up is likely to be Piezo, hopefully by the end of the year, then others to follow. Stay tuned!   ↩