Viximo has debuted TrueFlirt, a $5.99 iPhone application that demonstrates the capabilities of VixML, a simple development environment for creative entrepreneurs.

TrueFlirt, as you might suspect, allows you to send animated "flirts" to other users of TrueFlirt. You can "FlirtBack" with one of a few pre-populated "playful" replies.

TrueFlirt is -- while perhaps not suitable for the iTunes "productivity" category -- an interesting technology demonstration of VixML, an XML-based content creation platform that enables interactive designers to create native iPhone content for Viximo applications.

The way it works is a content creator signs up with Viximo, who provides them their framework and tools for development. Developing VixML uses structured XML that -- at first glance -- seems easy to understand, and includes code support for animation, interaction and music. Viximo says it's a much lesser investment in terms of time and money, since you don't need to become an Apple developer, nor pay to submit the app to the App Store.

Once an application is developed, Viximo will check it for problems, and submit it for publication in the App Store. It's unclear how pricing is structured, or how much of a cut Viximo gets for each application.

VixML applications are analogous to standalone Flash animations, but obviously they don't use Flash. Instead, they use the OpenGL 2D and 3D graphics engines built into iPhone OS. Applications can send and receive data (like TrueFlirt), as well as interact with the iPhone and iPod touch's built-in accelerometer.

Viximo, in addition to TrueFlirt, is releasing more titles expected to arrive in the App Store during the first quarter of 2009. TrueFlirt is available in the App Store now (for $5.99), and a free version is coming soon. The free version will be able to receive flirts, but the paid version can both send and receive them.

Call me a curmudgeon, but I detest slide presentations. Ugh, even typing that gave me the heeby-jeebies. I've sat through too many demos during which some absolute bore read to me as if we were in preschool circle time. Not to mention the blue, marbleized buttons and millions of bullet points. Oh, the bullet points.

When Keynote was introduced in January of 2003, my feelings were mixed. On one hand, Apple is a stylish company that makes thoughtful, easy to use software. On the other hand, this was presentation software. How good could it be? The answer is "pretty darn good," and even better now with the latest version of Keynote.

When you first launch the demo version of iWork, you're greeted with an invitation to try or buy the software. This splash screen is much more attractive in '09 than it was in '08, and that change is indicative of nearly every aspect of Keynote '09: It's very beautiful.

Click below to read more.

For your overnight viewing pleasure: More images from the show floor at Macworld Expo.

Just a reminder: at 6pm PT we're giving away two huge bags of loot to two lucky Macworld attendees. Be at the South Hall of Moscone, just past the coat check and media registration booth (head toward the stairs) for your chance to win.

If you're not here, don't worry; you'll have another chance (or two) to win stuff in a few weeks.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who attended! We'll post the video of the event when it's ready, of course. Also a big thanks to the vendors who were kind enough to supply the prizes. When we post the video we'll have a complete list.

Don't forget to come by Thirsty Bear tomorrow at 6pm PT and meet the TUAW crew!

solidThinking demonstrated its flagship 3D rendering application (of the same name) that simplifies the process for conceptualizing, revising and rendering for industrial designers.

The application makes it very simple to start with a two-dimensional sketch and rapidly create a three-dimensional model of it. For instance, with two cross-sections, users can apply a contiguous skin to create a solid, and not just a series of disconnected surfaces. Users can dynamically edit the points that define the solid, as well, and solidThinking updates the object in real time.

solidThinking also features the Construction Tree, a history-like area that remembers changes to a file. With the Construction Tree, minor changes to the same model can be contained within one file, and retain the surfaces and textures for the modified object. Entire objects can be replaced as well, while surface and deformation settings are retained.

According to product specialist Darren Chilton, rendering is "stupid fast." A demonstration using a photorealistic model of a car took less than 30 seconds to render.

solidThinking is very much a product for professionals, though, with licenses starting at $5,495 for a single computer. A USB dongle that can be moved from computer to computer (including PCs) is $6,000, and a network license for workgroups is $7,495. But, for those professionals who demand efficiency from their software, solidThinking is a strong candidate for those who want a quick, high-quality 3D concepting app.

solidThinking is at booth 3320 in the North Hall at Macworld.

His flagship application gave its name to an entire movement of graphical sophistication among Mac apps, so it should be no surprise that Wil Shipley's Delicious Monster booth at Macworld Expo carries Delicious Library's recognizable UI into the real world. Special care was taken to get bookshelves that matched the wood grain, the products on the shelves look unremarkably like themselves, and the leaves at the top of the booth are dead ringers for the ones on the DM site. The overall effect is a bit disconcerting, but still enjoyable.

We took a few minutes to discuss the booth design with one of the "Delicious Librarians," then talked to Wil about his approach to an iPhone version of Delicious Library and his thoughts on the development challenges he faced in creating DL2. Videos in the second half of the post.

One of my favorite things about Macworld Expo is the "stealth" apps for the Mac that make appearances on the show floor, addressing a specialized need or a focused market that bigger companies overlook. Some might deride these programs as unitaskers, but the investment of a few bucks in a tool that does one thing and does it very well should be weighed against the time and effort that the single-purpose app will save you compared to doing the same thing in a more flexible environment.

Case in point: BeeDocs Timeline & Timeline 3D, a couple of unitaskers with style if ever I saw some. Timeline first takes event data, whether manually entered, or imported/subscribed from a variety of calendar formats and apps. Then it lets you add your art for backgrounds and specific events, and it creates a beautifully formatted 2D or 3D timeline ready for print or online output. Teachers, presentation pros and even lawyers can leverage fast and easy timeline production to enhance their content.

During the show, you can get Timeline for the "lowest-ever" pricing of $30. If you teach, train or demonstrate, and your content includes historical overviews or change-through-time data, you should give it a look. See our video interview in the 2nd half of the post for a quick peek at the software.

Welcome the Macworld 2009 Best in Show liveblog!

I'll be chronicling what Macworld has deemed its "Best in Show" products. If we haven't already talked with the winners, be assured, we will find them tomorrow!

We've talked to a bunch of people here at Macworld from HP to Griffin and lots of things in between -- including some opinions from show attendees. Now, the fun and informative stream of information continues as TUAW's own Christina Warren interviews Lee Givens, iPhone product lead for AOL Mac.

In the video, Givens discusses AOL Radio [App Store link] video search and lots of other great things in store for users of AOL products and the iPhone. Click through to check out the video.

Yesterday, as soon as the Expo doors opened, I bum-rushed the Apple booth, trying to get access to the new 17" unibody MacBook Pros.

The decision to have a non-user replaceable battery is sure to be unpopular with some users -- at least in theory. Aside from the whole international flight issue, what effect does an 8 hour built-in battery have on heat? Having spent a few minutes with the new 17", I can say it is the coolest 17" notebook I have ever felt.

The 8 hour battery life is impressive. Obviously, we'll have to wait for the reviews to see how accurate that lifespan actually is, but it certainly sounds impressive. The touted 1000 cycle lifespan of the battery is significantly longer than any other laptop battery on the market. Even excessive recharging would yield 5 years of life (if you do 200 cycles a year).

I was most impressed with the screen. It's huge, it's gorgeous, and it has 1920 x 1200 resolution. I use my MacBook with an external monitor, but I could see using the 17" as just a main computer. Which is pretty much the point.

Check out the video:

Although Camtasia Studio, the pro-level screencast offering from TechSmith, is still a Windows-only affair (hopefully not for too much longer), the company is present on the Macworld Expo show floor with a booth highlighting the screencast.com website and Jing, one of our favorite screen capture tools. Jing's free offering continues to provide easy and quick screen snaps with tight web integration and handy SWF video capture, but the new announcement here is the introduction of Jing Pro, a new paid plan with additional features for heavy screencasting use.

Jing Pro, for $14.95/year, offers users H.264/MPEG-4 compression in addition to the FLV files produced by the free version; these videos are ideal for upload to YouTube or other online services (in fact, the Pro version includes a Send to YouTube button). The Pro build is capable of capturing full-motion video off your screen, putting it in the same league with tools like Vara/Telestream's $99 Screenflow. You can also skip the Jing ad banner placed on snaps created with the free version. Encoding MPEG-4 does require a bit more horsepower, so the minimum CPU for Pro is a 2Ghz Core 2 Duo Intel processor.

We talked with TechSmith's reps at the booth and a video of the conversation is in the 2nd half of this post.

One of the highlights of every Macworld is the Macworld Live session with New York Times columnist, musician extraordinaire and Missing Manual author David Pogue. Featuring trivia, parody songs and amusing guests, it's the perfect way to start your Expo day.

This year's show included musical performances such as "Where is Steve?" (parodying "Where is Love" from the musical "Oliver") and a special guest performance from Ge Wang (founder of Smule) on his best-selling Ocarina app. On top of the musical appearances, this years extra guests were Matt Harding from YouTube phenomenon "Where the Hell is Matt" and the folks behind "You Suck at Photoshop".

TypeDNA is previewing its advanced font management software at Macworld booth 4037, and gave TUAW a sneak peek.

TypeDNA (also the name of the product) is cross-platform, standalone font management software that also includes some advanced features to help you select fonts based on similarity and type features. Along with standard activation and grouping features, TypeDNA includes Font Harmony and Similar Fonts tools to help you select aesthetically-compatible fonts for your projects.

TypeDNA will begin a public beta program soon, with an eye to releasing the software in March. If you want to sign up for TypeDNA's public beta, you can.

I spent yesterday afternoon like many of you: Hunched over my keyboard in a posture-defying mound, my eyes locked on 1440 x 900 pixels of real-time information and fingers tapping keys like so many coked-up woodpeckers. A Mountain Dew and Cinnabun stood at the ready, should I need refueling. I was a gold-encrusted invitation to hypertension if you ever saw one.

As Phil Schiller gave his demonstration of iPhoto '09, with its face recognition, fancy travel books, themes and "Places" feature, I was most impressed by the geotagging. If shot with the right hardware, iPhoto recognizes where a given photo was taken, and places it on a Google map. If the photos in an event span several locations, it notices that, also. The built-in maps are very attractive and handy, as you can search your entire library by geographic location. As I watched all of this, one thought was echoing in my mind.

I don't have single piece of hardware that can do this.

It's what I call a Mario Batali Moment. I'm a real Mario fan, but every time I watch his show, I get a little depressed. As Mario sits down to a small family table in Umbria, olive trees and screeching cicadas in the background, I think, "There's another incredible Italian salami I'll never get to try."

A brief Google search turned up good news. I didn't have to spend several hundred dollars on a GPS-aware camera. Here are several devices that will get the job done without breaking the bank.

1. The Wolverine GEO connects to several Nikon and Fuji DSLR's and embeds GPS coordinates in an image's metadata (EXIF) during exposure. Just click and you're done. The Wolverine GEO costs $149.99US.
2. The GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr is a small GPS device that you carry around as you shoot photos. As you take pictures, you camera records the time. The PhotoTrackr also records the time and the GPS location. The included software merges the two. Small, tidy and $129US (the "lite" version is $99US).
   
3. Similarly, the Amod AGL3080 GPS Data Logger connects to your Mac via USB port, allowing you to grab the recorded log in standard NMEA format. Mac-compatible software is included. The AGL3080 will run you about $70US.

So there are three relatively inexpensive options. Yes, I realize that the 3G iPhone will tag photos with GPS information, but it isn't the greatest camera in the world. You can also add this information by hand, but who wants to do that? Instead, there's good news:

iPhoto geotagging needn't be your forbidden salami.

Update: Our readers continue to offer additional suggestions. Keep them coming, folks! Here are a few from the comments.

• David notes that "...the GISTEQ product does NOT support geotagging of RAW images," so keep that in mind. His solution: "I ended up using the iTU4l.pl perl scripts from http://www.schimmelnetz.de/projekte/iTU4l/ and HoudahGeo ($30US)."
• jadam points out another solution: "If you have a standalone GPS that supports track logging, turn tracking on and bring it along with you on your next photo shoot. Then once you are finished, use the free GPSPhotoLinker (Free) to geotag your photos."
• Tim suggests the SD GPS Data Logger ($125).
• John Fischetti and a couple of others suggested the Eye-Fi Explore Wireless card ($99US).
  
• John suggested the Jobo photoGPS (couldn't find a price for some unknown, frustrating reason), which mounts on your camera's hotshoe.

Others have recommended iPhone/iPod touch Geo Tracking software, like OnLocation ($2.99US) [App Store link] and Trails ($1.99US). Thanks, everyone! Keep the great suggestions coming.

If you were one of the many people who were expecting Apple to announce some sort of Mac mini-based home media server yesterday, you weren't alone. We talked about another media server solution, HP's MediaSmart Server, a small Mac-compatible device that can be used for Time Machine backups, iTunes and iPhoto library storage, and more.

I visited with Rick Spillers, HP's Mac-connect Worldwide Product Manager, at the HP booth yesterday to talk about HP iPrint, printer and scanner solutions, and other products from their Mac group. Also on the video is Glen Roberts, who discusses the MediaSmart and how it works well in homes with both Macs and PCs.

The video is after the break.