The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) has copied Apple’s famous 1984 commercial to promote its upcoming new singing show called Duets.

Alluding to George Orwell’s 1984 novel, ABC’s commercial  copies Apple’s down to a lookalike of an unnamed heroine in white tank top that represented the coming of the Macintosh.

Instead of throwing a large brass-headed hammer to smash a televised Big Brother, in ABC’s version an Olympic track and field athlete hurls a stage microphon eat the big screen. Upon impact, the curtain falls down to reveal the familiar-looking set as the audience rises to a standing ovation…

The show will air next Thursday, May 24.

Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Nettles, Lionel Richie and Robin Thicke will travel across America to find their duet partners.

Television personality Quddus, best known from his days as the host of MTV’s Total Request Live, will host the series.

Here’s the commercial:

And here’s the original Apple ad:

For $5, Sting will teach you how to play "Roxanne."

Apple has made it really easy to learn how to play an instrument at home. The application GarageBand comes standard with the Mac OS, and with it, you can learn the fundamentals of how to play basic, rock or blues guitar, or piano.

To get started, launch GarageBand, and then click on Learn to Play. You’ll then be able to select the intro lesson to your instrument of choice.

“Intro to Guitar” comes with GarageBand.  On the timeline (located under the video) you are able to control which sections you would like to go over. On the top right of the full screen demo are a Glossary (for music terms), a Tuner (if you have your guitar plugged into your computer), a Mixer (for volumes of teacher’s voice, guitar, etc.) and Setup (for music notations or how you would like to view your music notes while in Play mode). When you feel ready to take a take on the song that you have been practicing in the video, hover over the video screen and click Play. In Play mode you are also able to pause, repeat, and slow down parts of the song to make it easier to learn. After a little practice you can record yourself and listen to what you sound like by hitting the  Record button on the bottom middle.

You can also learn from one of your favorite artists, such as Sting, but this costs about $5 per lesson (lessons go from Beginner to Advanced). All of this should be located in GarageBand’s Lesson Store.

See videos about using GarageBand on Apple’s website.

He writes, “The reasons the company is successful can be boiled down to six key principles that make it very hard for competitors to compete with Apple:

1. For any product that Apple creates, the people who create it have to want it themselves

2. The products have to be easy to use

3. Keep things simple

4. Offer great customer service and in-store experiences

5. Apple only makes a product if Apple can do it better

6. Apple stays at least two years ahead of its competitors

Great tips, Tim!

On your old iPad, go to settings, select iCloud and then choose Storage and Backup. Then tap on Backup Now.

On  your new iPad, select Restore From iCloud Backup from the Set-up screen.   Login to your iCloud account, select your most recent backup, and select restore. Let the transfer load onto your new iPad and you’re done.  Easy!

Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, a documentary feature, will open at select Landmark theaters in 19 cities around the US beginning May 11, including in Austin.

The interview was conducted by Robert Cringely a few months before Apple bought NeXT and brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded nearly 20 years earlier. Some small portions of the full, hour-long interview were used in Cringeley’s PBS series The Triumph of the Nerds but the bulk of the interview was long thought lost until a VHS copy turned up in director Paul Sen’s garage last year. A version of the film was screened in a handful of theaters late last year for award considerations.

Resolution enhanced

The resolution has been enhanced for the film using digital cleanup techniques, and Cringely provides some context and linking narrative. Even before NeXT was purchased by Apple, Jobs was feeling successful and vindicated—NeXT had successfully reinvented itself as a software company following its hardware failures, and Pixar Studios’ first major release Toy Story had become a massive hit. The interview shows Jobs “at the top of his game,” according to Cringely, and says the movie is full of memorable quotes, stories from the early days pre- and post-Apple, and “Steve moments.”

Jobs’ Musings

Included in the documentary will be some of Jobs’ musings on the (then) future of technology, outlining a number of ideas that found their way into Apple in later years, and on his overall philosophy on technology and business. The trailer, which first surfaced last November, shows that the interview is the source of the now-famous “the only problem with Microsoft is that they just have no taste” quote.

iPhoto for iOS received its first update since its release in March. Version 1.0.1 (113 MB) includes a Copy Link button for your journal’s URL to use when publishing a journal to iCloud. The update also fixes an issue that could cause duplicate photos to appear in Photos view.

The Cards update comes just in time for Mother’s Day—version 1.1.2 (33.8 MB) includes letterpress cards made with Mom in mind. Other updates include new Get Well card designs; plus new designs for birthdays, thank you cards, and more. Addressing envelopes will also be easier, as the app improves address verification accuracy and fixes an issue with editing addresses.

Apple fixed a few small issues with GarageBand, including an issue that sometimes caused songs to crash or go missing when being pushed to iCloud. GarageBand version 1.2.1 (801 MB) also fixes a SoundCloud error that occurs when logging in through Facebook.

iMovie version 1.3.1 (403 MB) fixes some minor stability issues, including a problem where the app displayed the incorrect frame after splitting a clip. The update includes one new feature as well—you can access Help when editing a project on an iPad.

All updates are available for free in the App Store. If you don’t already own these apps, they can be purchased separately. iPhoto costs $5 and runs on iPad 2 or later and iPhone 4 or later, and requires iOS 5.1 or later. Cards is free and is compatible with any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5.0 or later. GarageBand is $5 and compatible with iPhone (3GS or later), all iPad models, and iPod touch (3rd generation or later) running iOS 5.0 or later. iMovie is also $5 and is compatible with iPhone 4 or later, iPad 2 or later, and iPod touch (4th generation); and requires iOS 5.1 or later.

Want some great instruction straight from the source? Apple has a gem of a resource, available free.

Check out Apple’s great “Find Out How” videos—terrific resources for learning everything Mac, including wireless connections as well as Mac software such as iChat.

Mobee Technology‘s nifty Magic NumPad transforms your ordinary Magic Trackpad.

By applying one their of three magical, reusable films onto your Magic Trackpad, you can turn it into a numeric keyboard with a space for Trackpad gestures, or a full numeric keyboard, or a numeric keyboard with configurable buttons for increased usability.

It’s easy. You download the free software from the Mobee site, you apply the magical film you want to use, you tell the computer which film you’re using and you are instantly ready to use the Magic Numpad.  With just a couple of clicks you can tell the computer what to use the configurable buttons for, and then when you tap those buttons, more functionality is extracted from the amazing Magic Trackpad.  You can turn it off with the touch of one button and revert to original Trackpad use even with the Magic Numpad film on it!  You can, with one click, launch a calculator on your computer screen and use the Magic Numpad quickly, without the need to use Excel, for simple calculations.

Your desktop remains the same; the Magic Trackpad with a Magic Numpad applied is as Apple-Esque as your computer.

About $30.

It’s very easy, and requires a one-time change. These steps were performed using OS X Lion, but are the same for previous versions of OS X as well.

Option 1: If your favorite apps are already in your dock, either permanently or because the app is in use, right click (or hold Control and click) on the icon. If the app isn’t in use, you’ll see a menu with three items. If the app is in use, the steps are the same, but you’ll see a few more menu options. Click Options, and then select Open at Login.

Option 2: Alternatively, you can pick a bunch of apps and edit their launch settings for specific user profiles. Click the Apple menu in the top left corner, and open System Preferences. Under the System header, click on Users and Groups. Find the Group or Profile you’d like to set apps to launch, then toggle Login Items. That screen will show a list of items that are already scheduled to launch when you log in. If you’d like to add more, or remove some, click the plus sign to launch Finder, select the app, then select Add. If you want the app to run but remain hidden on your desktop, check the Hide box. You can change these settings at any time by going back into your System Preferences.

Snap Dot onto your iPhone 4 or 4S, download the free Looker app, and instantly record fully immersive 360° videos right on your iPhone. Going to a concert? You can record the show and the audience. Heading out on a road trip? Leave Dot on the dashboard and record your highway adventures. No matter what you’re recording, Dot sees everything!

Watch your videos on your iPhone 4 or 4S by swiping your screen to virtually spin around, or switch modes and view them in panoramic widescreen. Looker allows you to instantly share your 360° world with friends and family (via email, Facebook, Twitter or Kogeto.com) right from the palm of your hand.

Kogeto’s compact and durable iCONIC lens works with the iPhone 4 / 4S HD video camera to capture full 360° video — all at once — without stitching frames together. Its unique catadioptric optical system is fully AR-coated for excellent color fidelity in all environments. Dot is a lightweight attachment that doesn’t require batteries or external power.

Dot comes with a microfiber pouch that doubles as a lens cloth.

Pop in to Austin MacWorks and check it out!

Here’s a page of Kogeto Dot videos, from the manufacturer’s web site.

Here’s a video a YouTuber shot using the Kotego Dot (thanks to HopsNScotch):