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With a plethora of options available for any taste, it’s a better time to be a digital music fan than ever before. iTunes Match. Spotify. Rdio. Soundcloud. Grooveshark. There’s a streaming music service for every taste, a place for every song in the cloud no matter how obscure.

With all of these competing services floating around, though, finding music in your library isn’t as easy as it once was, though… mostly because you probably don’t have a central music library. Some of your favorite albums are on iTunes, while others might only be available on Spotify, or knocking around as demos on Soundcloud.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an iTunes-like media manager to consolidate all of your music? An app you could use to just find that song on all of your services, no matter where it’s stored: just type it in and hit play?

There is. It’s called Tomahawk. And it’s awesome.

Here’s how it works. Like iTunes, Tomahawk lets you play any music stored on your computer, and can also slurp in songs on your local network from playing remotely. Unlike iTunes, though, it scans your whole computer for MP3s automatically.

Where Tomahawk gets really cool, though, is that it can be extended to use a huge number of external music sources in addition to your local music. These are called resolvers, and there’s a number of them to choose from: Spotify, Grooveshark, YouTube, Dilandau, Soundcloud, 4Shared, Jamendo, Last.fm, Official.fm, Ampache / Owncloud and Ex.fm, for starters. And by choosing the Extended Network, you can access any friend’s library who is also using Tomahawk. You can even connect to friends using Twitter and Google.

It’s a really neat little bit of software, and the latest version 0.3.3 also gives you the ability to listen along in real-time with your friends’ music choices (sort of like DJing in Turntable.fm) or even make radio stations.

Tomahawk is for Mac and Windows only right now, and it can be downloaded here. I love it, but if only it had Rdio support!

[via Evolver.fm]

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• Spotify Is Officially Coming To The States

Like many Apple fans, I love the idea of the an iPod nano watch. I adore the fact that an idle comment from Steve Jobs about how the new nano is so small it can be worn as a watch got turned into a cottage industry of Kickstarters fashioning a multitude of hip new watchbands.

The only thing is I don’t want to wear the damn thing. I’m not a wristwatch kind of guy: I’m the sort of person who prefers pulling something out of his pocket, like my iPhone. So I wonder why it took someone so long to think of this incredible idea. Instead of a wristwatch, why not turn the iPod nano into a pocket watch?

That’s the ingenious thinking of Edwin Conan, a young industrial designer in Melbourne who is trying to get the iPW, or iPocketWatch, off the ground on Kickstarter-like crowdfunding site Pozible. Here’s the pitch:

Last year Apple updated the iPod Nano 6th generation with additional watch faces in its watch function. One of which is the classic roman numerals. Such a classic watch face needs a classic watch case to match and celebrate, and the most classic watch of all time is, of course, the pocket watch. The idea of turning the iPod Nano into a multi-touch, multi-function, high tech, modern day pocket watch was born.

The classic men’s watch will always be the pocket watch. While everyone else wears the iPod Nano as a wrist watch, why not bring a bit of yesterday to your style and distinguish yourself from the rest of the world by fashioning this admirable iPW (iPocketWatch)?

This looks great, and the enclosure is both classy, modern and in-keeping with an Apple-esque aesthetic. I’d be tempted to buy one of these.

Right now, Conan is looking for donors to make the project a reality. He only needs to get $6000 AUD to get the project off the ground, with a March 19th deadline. A $39 donation will get you an iPocketWatch when they are released, which is a pretty good deal considering Conan intends on selling these for $59.99 when manufacturing is off the ground. If you’d like to boast a more classical, elegant iPod nano watch solution more appropriate to pulling out of your dinner vest at the Drone’s Club, consider giving Conan some of your loot.

• The Proof Strap Makes Your iPod nano Waterproof And Introduces Bluetooth
• This Gorgeous iWatch Concept Is Part Dick Tracy, Part Blade Runner [Gallery]
• Geek Trend – The iPod Nano Becomes the iWatch
• New iPod nano: More than Just a Pretty Wristwatch
• Teardowns of new iPods nano and classic

Here at Cult of Mac, we’re big fans of Clear, the elegant, zen-minimalist to-do app for the iPhone released by Impending and Realmac Software. That said, for all its attractiveness, it doesn’t actually push the bar very far technically… which, as it turns out, makes it a fairly trivial feat to recreate in HTML5!

The web app called HTML5 Clear looks just like Realmac’s to-do app, but works within Mobile Safari. Developer Evan You states:

I was fascinated by the innovative gesture controls and wanted to see if I can implement the look and feel in HTML5 using CSS3 transitions. Didn’t get 100% of the details, and there are a lot of bugs, but it looks pretty close.

It’s a pretty cool demonstration. You’s recreation isn’t perfect, but it does show how far CSS and HTML has come, and how a lot of the best apps on the app store aren’t propelled by tech wizardry, but simply by a new way of thinking about old UI problems.

You can try out HTML5 Clear here.

[via iPhone in Canada]

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A few weekends ago, I had some friends over, and we all got drunk and played Beatles Rock Band for a fun couple of hours. It was great. There really is something for everyone in the Beatles’ music catalogue.

One particularly funny moment came as I was singing “I Am The Walrus.” John Lennon has always claimed that the song is a blistering parody of caterwauling crooner Bob Dylan’s nonsense lyrics, but a friend of mine made an utterly bizarre case that the song is, instead, a subversive anthem in support of polysexual sodomy… an interesting interpretation, to say the least.

The key to the interpretation, he argued, is the chorus line. “Ooompah oompah! Stick it in your jumper. Everyone has one,” my friend quoted, his eyes bulging meaningfully. I found the whole exchange so funny that I immediately made myself an iPhone ringtone of the appropriate section of the song.

On a tangentially related note, The Fab Four has just released their first ever batch of iTunes ringtones. “I Am The Walrus” isn’t there, making my ringtone unique and signaling a conspiracy, but there are a ton of good songs available. Full list below.

All of the following songs from The Beatles’ compilation album 1 can now be purchased as ringtones for your iPhone through iTunes for $1.29 each.

• “Love Me Do”
• “From Me to You”
• “She Loves You”
• “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
• “Can’t Buy Me Love”
• “A Hard Day’s Night”
• “I Feel Fine”
• “Eight Days a Week”
• “Ticket to Ride”
• “Help!”
• “Yesterday”
• “Day Tripper”
• “We Can Work It Out”
• “Paperback Writer”
• “Yellow Submarine”
• “Eleanor Rigby”
• “Penny Lane”
• “All You Need Is Love”
• “Hello, Goodbye”
• “Lady Madonna”
• “Hey Jude”
• “Get Back”
• “The Ballad of John and Yoko”
• “Something”
• “Come Together”
• “Let It Be”
• “The Long and Winding Road”

You can read more about the ringtones here.

• Ringtones Make a Comeback In iOS 4.3
• Create Free iPhone Ringtones Using Only iTunes [How To]
• Make Your Own Free Ringtones in iTunes 10 in Nine Easy Steps [How To]
• Sorry, Folks. No Beatles on iTunes.
• UPDATED: A Needlessly Complex Way to Get Free iPhone Ringtones on a Mac

One of the most beautiful games on the Mac App Store, Trine, is on sale for a limited time only for just $0.99. You should get it.

The award-winning game by Frozenbyte Studios is an absolutely stunning fantasy action platformer based on interactive physics. It literally looks like a page from a storybook come to life, as you play a wizard, a knight or a thief trying to save the world from an army of the undead.

Trine’s a phenomenal game, one of the very best the Mac platform has to offer, and this is a steal of a deal: the game usually retails for $9.99. And if this $0.99 offering ends up catching your fancy, you can immediately make the link to the even more impressive sequel, Trine 2.

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As we all well know by now, the smallest decision in an Apple product can be the sort of thing that Cupertino designers can have spent man years deciding upon, experimenting with iteration after iteration until inspiration finally and serendipitously strikes. But this obsession with detail isn’t just visual: it goes right down to the sounds you never think twice about.

Here’s one great example, shared by sound designer Jim McKee on the 99% Invisible Podcast. The sound of your iPhone or iPad unlocking itself? It’s actually the sound a vice grip makes opening itself up.

Here, listen for yourself. It starts at the 2:43 mark.

Fantastic, isn’t it? Listen to the whole podcast, it’s a beautiful five minute primer (masterfully produced) on the principals of sound design.

[via Reddit]

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Remember that Office for iPad product shot that was floating around earlier today? Well, Microsoft won’t actually come out and call it bogus, but they do say any report of Office for iPad is based on “inaccurate rumors and speculation.” So is that a denial or what?

The New York Times reached out to Microsoft, who said:

The Daily Story [about Microsoft Office for iPad] is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment.”

That seems like a pretty strongly worded non-denial that they are working on Microsoft Office for iPad. Rather, it seems likely that Microsoft is working on Office for iOS devices, but they aren’t ready to announce it… and it’s hardly imminent.

Ars Technica agrees that the Daily’s report is likely bogus:

Ars was unable to obtain independent confirmation of the app’s existence from our own sources, and as such, we’re left feeling skeptical of The Daily’s claims. For one, it’s likely that the Mac BU would be involved in the development of an iPad app, and the photo appears to show no Mac BU branding. Additionally, three-apps-in-one is atypical for the App Store and may not pass Apple’s review. And finally, the claim that Microsoft could take an app from design-to-finished product within weeks seems especially aggressive, and it’s highly unlikely that the app would be coded before the design is finalized.

In his original report, The Daily’s Matt Hickey has gone as far as to say that he played with a working prototype. Was he just lying, or was he scammed? Plus, the leaked shot seems to indicate that the app is being prepared for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, which would make sense as a venue for Microsoft to debut it.

So what’s really going on, here? We don’t know, but we’re skeptical it really matters anyway.

More from Cult of Mac:

• Microsoft Office Gets Spotted On The iPad, Expected To Hit App Store Soon
• Rumor: Apple To Launch 22-Inch Touch Computer in 2010
• Microsoft Planning Office For iPad, Lion Version Headed To Mac App Store [Rumor]
• Five Out of Six Viruses Prefer MS Office
• Leaked iPad Shots Prove iPhone 4G Will Have iPad-Like Design

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At this point, we’ve pretty much seen every part the iPad 3 has to offer: rear casing, Retina Display, logic board, CPU, Heck, we’ve even seen cables for the sleep/wake button, the volume rocker, the mute switch and other assorted guts. If you only had the digitizer and front glass pane, you could probably just slap all these parts together and build yourself an iPad 3 from scratch.

Oh hey, what do you know: here are the missing parts we need to build a complete iPad 3! Will wonders never cease?

The new front panel and digitizer, spotted by Apple.pro, confirms what we have long suspected: turned off, the iPad 3 will largely be indistinguishable from the iPad 2. Maybe a squidge thicker. The real distinction will be when the iPad 3 is turned on and that beautiful 2048×1536 kicks on.

Great, but when can we expect the iPad 3 to land. Only Apple knows for sure, but popular consensus indicates March 7th.

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Sometimes the morass of Mail windows on a Mac can just become too much. Various apps have tried to help manage this in various ways: Sparrow by bringing the streamlined Tweetie aesthetic to mail, Postbox by in-line quick replies, and so on.

Even so, more often than not, when I close Mail for the day, I’m closing about a dozen or two blank or half-written email windows that have been opened during the day, then forgotten. Why can’t sending an email be as painlessly fire-and-forget as sending an IM? Enter QuickMailer.

QuickMailer is a new $0.99 app in the Mac App Store that does just one thing: allow you to send quick email messages from the OS X menu bar, without getting distracted by other tasks.

It’s super simple to set up, automatically slurping in your main email account and allowing you to send mails. It also has full access to your address book. There aren’t many options, but that’s really the whole point: this is for firing off an email in a quick blaze without allowing yourself any time to be distracted, not a dedicated email app.

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One of the things I have always found interesting about bags is the way they are defined by their intent. There is more to them than their fabric and stitch. To judge a bag, you need to look beyond what it is to what it aspires to fill itself with. In other words, bags have souls, and like people, you can’t judge them just by what they are. You must also consider what they want to be.

The Acme Made Clutch is a bag that aspires to be as sleek as the 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Pro that it is designed to fit. At that, it succeeds. Those looking for an all-purpose laptop bag to throw anything and everything into should look elsewhere, though. The Clutch is as minimalist, meticulously organized and with as much eye to fashion and form, it’s as if Jonny Ive had designed it for Steve Jobs himself. But Steve never was a guy who needed to keep a lot of things in his bag.

Like its namesake, the Clutch is meant to be the effortless afterthought of laptop bags. As a bright young thing dashing out for a night on the town might grab her clutch purse on the way out the door, the Clutch is a light, slender and extremely fashionable bag, designed to hold the essentials of a digital life and nothing more. And again like its namesake, the Clutch is defined as much by what it won’t hold as what it will.

The Clutch is undeniably attractive, and I’ve gotten many compliments about it from more fashionable friends of mine. The exterior of the Clutch is made of a coated canvas with an appealing shimmer in direct light, and its design is simplicity itself: it’s a stylish padded envelope hanging over the shoulder by a black, silken strap.

Open up that envelope and the Clutch is still lovely. The interior is made of a quilted twill nylon, beautifully jet. Yet it’s the Clutch’s emphasis on svelte compartmentalization that really makes it just such a marvel.

A padded divider splits the main pocket into two sections: one is perfectly sized for a 13-inch MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, while the other is big enough for an iPad 2 and your power brick, side-by-side (or miscellaneous papers and folders). Beneath the flap of the envelope, there is a CD-sized zippered pocket, three business-card-sized holders, a couple of pen holders and a smartphone-sized pocket, perfect for an iPhone. Velcro keeps the flap closed, which is about the only criticism of the Clutch’s design I can muster, if only because velcro is the duct tape of fasteners: wholly inelegant, but nothing really works better.

Ultimately, the Clutch is lovely, but matching its intent to yours is important. This is not a flexible bag. It is not a jack-of-all-trades: just like a clutch purse is designed to hold just a stick of lipstick, a few keys, and some money, Acme Made’s Clutch won’t easily fit more than your mobile essentials. Your MacBook Air might slide into the Clutch as if they were concurrently designed, but try to cram a camera, a few books, a thick sheath of papers and a mess of other gadgets and knick-knacks in on top and the Clutch starts feeling like a dandy forced into a concrete-eating competition.

Not everyone is going to want to spend $99.95 for a bag like the Clutch. Attractive and well-designed as it may be, $100 is a lot to spend on a bag that fits less than most courier-style bags. And for those men who are already self-conscious of the supposedly feminine associations of an over-the-shoulder bag, the idea of buying a laptop bag that is so similar to a particular species of purse that it’s actually named after it is probably beyond the pale.

If you are a fan of Apple’s products and everything the represent, though, you will love the Clutch. As a bag, its intent is Jobsian: the Clutch smacks of zen minimalism, high fashion and a geek’s fascination with organization and compartmentalization, all at once. For me, that means it is the best laptop bag I have ever owned.

Rating: ★★★★¾ 

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