Mac Fanatic » Apple

New iMac and Apple Genius Bar

Matt — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:27:00 +0000

I recently purchased a new iMac, a lovely Core i3 27″ beauty that swayed me over from six year of Apple laptop use. So far, the computer has been wonderful. The processor and faster memory offered a great performance improvement over my unibody MacBook, and the improvement in graphics power was incredible. Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase.

I bought this computer as a replacement for my main work machine. Previously, I had been a full time employee at a start up, with no company provided computer and needed the mobility to have a computer for school, consulting, and my main day job. In December, I joined a larger software development corporation in town and was provided a PC to work off of. Having always wanting the desktop iMac, and being out of school, I purchased one for a casual computer at home and my consulting machine.

This morning I went in to check email and noticed that the computer had frozen up and would not respond, and also noticed that the fans were going full blast. I did a hard reset of the hardware and walked away, assuming all was fine. Coming back some time later, the iMac had booted to the terrifying missing system icon folder. After using the restore disk to run some quick tests, Disk Utility confirmed that the iMac could not find a hard drive at all.

I pulled out the trusty iPad, now serving as my only computer device (an iPhone does not count, no matter how productive you might be on yours, I am not) and made a reservation at the concierge desk for later this afternoon. Upon arriving at the local Apple Store, an employee promptly greeted me and took the very heavy 27″ iMac from me to the genius bar, much to my delight.

A few minutes after arriving and checking in, I was talking to the genius. A few questions and a diagnostic test later, the genius confirmed that the hard drive had failed in the unit. Much to my relief, he said that the repair could be easily performed in house and wouldn’t take but a few minutes. Up until this point I was convinced the unit we be shipped off, as the front glass & display has to be removed to get to the hard drive.

The genius looked up the serial number of my iMac and confirmed, that yes I had only had the unit for 7 weeks and it was still under warranty. I had even purchased Apple Care on the product. At this point however, I was told that the store did not stock that hard drive, and the part would have to be ordered. I conveyed my dismay at this decision, as this was only a hard dive replacement, and not a more specified part, such as a logic board, display, or graphics board. And, that I use this machine for my consulting work – so having to wait for the part & repairs was going to cost me several hundred dollars.

The genius did offer me a list of three other authorized Apple service providers in town which could provide the warranty work on the machine, possibly faster than the Apple Store. Being a Sunday afternoon, none of these places were open, so I opted to leave the massive machine at the store and await for the part to come in.

Obviously the best experience would have been to have the computer serviced while I waited, but I am rather bummed that I did not have the option of using a loaner machine or having the unit simply swapped out for another one in store right then. For this experience, I rate the Apple Store at 7/10 stars for helping me with a problem after purchase. The employees seemed very understanding and helpful, but I simply did not receive the service I expect for paying two thousands dollars less than two months ago on a machine.

What are your experiences with the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store?

iPad is Changing Things

Matt — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:15:43 +0000

The iPad is changing things. How do I know this you ask? Take my word for it. I met a friend for dinner last night, another programmer and Apple “enthusiast” like myself and brought along the iPad for him to play with while we were geeking out. The waitress asks us what that gorgeous thing is and we tell her it’s an Apple product to which she responds, “Oh, they make the coolest stuff! I love my iPod but hate my computer. So is this like a big iPod that I could use?”

Bingo.

Before she left the table a few other servers and even a woman from a few tables over were crowded around the table poking and swiping. I was quizzed on the battery life, if it could print wirelessly, if you could share photos easily with the grandkids or do online banking.

All these people who admitted being intimidated of their PC at work or home felt at ease using this device and didn’t once ask me “how” to do something. They just tried whatever seemed natural and smiled or giggled when the device actually did what they expected it to.

If random people at a restaurant, most of which had no clue what brand of PC or even said “I’m running Windows 2004″, knew they wanted this device and could use it, then Apple has hit upon a great market. Oh, and not a single one of them flinched when I responded with the price tag. They all expected a $1000 device, and $500 made them very happy.

“Back to the Mac” Event – October 20th

Matt — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:30:46 +0000

Apple announced today that they will be holding an event for the media on October 20th entitled “Back to the Mac” where they will showcase the next version of Mac OS X.

I’m really hoping for something in Mac OS X to blow me away – so far 2010 has been relatively quiet on the Mac front, with WWDC this year being all about the iPhone. Some love for the Mac as a platform would be welcome news to me. I’m not going to take the time to speculate and list what I’d like to see in the the iteration of my favorite OS, but if you want to drop your ideas in the comments below, I’d love to see what you’re itching to see!

Updated Apple Developer Terms

Matt — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:44:47 +0000

For those of you that haven’t heard the “earth shattering” news that Apple released yesterday in a a press release, shame on you.

Developer Agreement

Essentially, Apple tweaked the terms that were added earlier this year in the developer agreement restricting the languages and tools that a developer could use to produce an application for the iOS platform. The removal of these terms opens the door for developers to once again consider non-Apple methods to create applications for the iTunes Store.

This is of course great news for developers – freedom of choice is what it is all about. There is no way that I would want to spend my time in Adobe Flash CS5 to create an application destined for iOS devices – the first reason that I despise the Flash application itself. However, all my personal reasons aside, other developers may welcome the choice to do what he/she pleases. And that is major progress from a company that is traditionally tight-lipped and a control freak.

Review Guidelines

Apple also has posted an easier to read outline to the guidelines an application must follow for it to be approved by the iTunes Store application review team. Up until this point in time, there was no formal documentation shedding light on the subject. There is official documentation (the developer agreement) – but certain applications seemingly following the agreement would not be approved, while others which seemed to clearly not follow the guidelines would be approved. Apple has taken a step to more clearly outlining the process to alleviate some of the frustration felt by the development community.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the announcement and have to revel in the sheer enormity of the product releases & policy changes that Apple has had in 2010. Quite a great year indeed.

Read more from the Apple PR: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/09/09statement.html

MobileMe Calendar Beta

Matt — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:33:00 +0000

I love Apple’s MobileMe service – and the improvements that came to the Mail service last month were a huge step forward in the right direction, bringing features such as easy archiving, server side rules, vacation messages, and rich text formatting when composing messages on the web.

Now that the update to the Mail service is live for all MobileMe users, Apple is hard at work pushing out a new beta, this time for the calendar application. Updates in the calendar beta include:

New web application interface
Calendar sharing (full editing support)
Calendar publishing (.ics feeds)
Event invitations from within the web application

That’s a fairly nice update to the calendar service and web application all together. The redesigned web app looks very similar (read: almost identical) to the calendar application introduced on the iPad back in April 2010.

Registering for an invite

To register for an invite into the Calendar beta program, go to www.me.com/calendar/ and click “Request an invitation” to receive an invitation via email.

Requirements

Using the calendar beta requires iOS 4 on an iPhone/iPod, iOS 3.2 on iPad, and Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 on a Mac. Outlook on Windows in not currently supported at this time.

Ars Design Awards

Matt — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:48:13 +0000

Apple traditionally gives out Apple Design Awards in several categories for Mac applications every year at WWDC, the Worldwide Developers Conference (running this week – keynote from Steve Jobs at 10am PST this morning). However, this year Apple did not have categories for Mac applications, only for iPhone. Therefore, the popular tech website Ars Technica announced a few weeks ago that they would take nominations for Mac applications and take over where Apple left off this year.

The results are in, so head on over to the Ars Technica page to view the results for this years Ars Design Awards.

Apple Developer Terms of Service

Matt — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:39:28 +0000

Check out this awesome article reviewing the hot topic of the Apple developer TOS (Terms of Service), including some email correspondence between the article author and Steve Jobs.

Read the article here.

iPhone OS 4 and Flash CS5

Matt — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:10:59 +0000

With Apple’s announcement of the next version of the iPhone OS yesterday, Apple slipped in a contractual change that is raising some hairs in the development community.

Previously section 3.3.1 of the iPhone Developer contract prohibited using private APIs in your application. With the announcement of iPhone OS 4, Apple added wording prohibiting using third party translation frameworks to build iPhone applications. This rules out Adobe’s upcoming Flash CS5, whose big feature was the ability to create iPhone applications from your Flash project.

This also rules out frameworks allowing developers to write in C#/.Net or frameworks allowing developers to easily write an application once and have it run on several mobile platforms, including Android.

I personally see this as a big win. Cross platform applications always suck on Mac. Firefox is probably the biggest cross platform application for the Mac. It doesn’t use native controls, has strange font rendering, for two good examples. Does that mean I don’t use firefox? No. I use it because it has the best web debugger tool known to man. But I bet that most of those items mentioned above would easily be solved if the application code wasn’t written to work on Linux, Windows, Mac and other platforms.

Want another example? Take any application written in Java. Or the new Kindle application for Mac, written with Qt Kit. These applications do not provide the same level of user experience and cannot because they are not using built in frameworks. Apple put a lot of time writing those frameworks for a reason.

Following that logic, it only makes sense that an application written in Flash CS5 and exported to iPhone will have a sub-par experience. Developers would be waiting on Adobe to introduce updates to Flash allowing them to make use of whatever new APIs Apple has introduced. And users would suffer.

With Apple’s mantra of “control the whole experience and deliver a superior product”, it comes as no surprise Apple is expressly prohibiting these translators and frameworks in the future.

I encourage you to read Gruber’s post on the issue here.

WebKit 2

Matt — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 12:50:32 +0000

Pretty exciting news from the WebKit team:

This is a heads-up that we will shortly start landing patches for a new WebKit framework that we at Apple have been working on for a while. We currently call this new framework “WebKit2″.

WebKit2 is designed from the ground up to support a split process model, where the web content (JavaScript, HTML, layout, etc) lives in a separate process. This model is similar to what Google Chrome offers, with the major difference being that we have built the process split model directly into the framework, allowing other clients to use it.

Some high-level documentation is available at http://trac.webkit.org/wiki/WebKit2.

Currently WebKit2 is available for Mac and Windows, and we would gladly accept patches to add more ports.

WebKit is the rendering engine behind Safari for Mac, Windows, and iPhone OS. Google Chrome also uses the WebKit rendering engine.

Application developers for both Mac and iPhone can use “web view” that is essentially the guts of Safari, for rending web pages and content in their application. Updates to the core framework mean that these third party applications will have access to these additions, and not just Apple’s own Safari browser.

iPhone OS 4 Announced

Matt — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:48:07 +0000

Apple announced the immediate availablility of a developer preview of the next version of the iPhone OS yesterday, with plans to bring the update to iPhone 3G & 3GS and late model iPod Touch users “sometime this summer”, with the iPad lagging behind “sometime this fall”.

The announcement hinged upon seven major features, with well over 100 features for users and thousands of APIs added for developers to bring a richer experience to their applications. I’m not going to go over all the features mentioned during the announcement, you can read about all that on Apple’s website here and here or even watch the keynote coverage itself.

Multitasking

Apple is late to the game with multitasking, but as Jobs said during the keynote: “We might be late to the game, but we’ll be the best”. Being the best is fine by me.

Apple brings multitasking to the iPhone platform by exposing core functionalities to iPhone developers through additional APIs. This means that iPhone applications will have to be written to make use of these new technologies and will most likely be iPhone OS 4 compatible only.

The new APIs expose functionality for background audio, so Pandora radio can continue to play in the background while you use another application for example, Voice over IP, so Skype can receive calls while the application is not in use and even continue a conversation while using another application, and support for task completion, which just let’s a developer schedule a long operation to be completed even after the application exits. A good example of this is uploading photos (or any web related work really) so that closing Flickr doesn’t stop the upload. Some built in applications that make use of this functionality include Mail, as you can quit the application and it will continue to send your emails, and iTunes, as it will continue to downloads purchases even if you quit the application.

If there was a service not exposed for developers to take advantage of, and I’m sure there are plenty, then those applications won’t have the ability to use “multitasking” in the general sense.

I plan to read the technical docs for this release, but have a feeling that the pretty animated dock for switching between applications is just a visual representation of what’s going on – i don’t think the phone is providing anything new in terms of multitasking support here. I wouldn’t even be surprised if developers have to “request” their application have multitasking, so that Apple and the phone know which applications make use of these new technology.

iAd

Apple also introduced a new mobile advertising framework for developers to leverage in their applications. This is a huge deal. Huge.

Imagine if Microsoft had taken the time to bundle an ad framework in Windows, so that anyone could easily push ads to your desktop. How would you feel?

Granted, the ads that Apple demoed were very cool (and all written with HTML5, CSS, & JS). And this will be great for advertisers to get their ads on the 85 million devices available today relatively easily. And developers will even make good money off of it i think. But for the end user, there will be even more ads since developers will have an easy way to integrate the ad framework and get paid.

Is this a big deal for users? Maybe. If you’re too cheap to even buy the full version of the app, then you’ll just have to deal with some cool ads. Surely if you have a paid app, it will be ad free. We’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.

Other Announcements

Apple also announced better support for Exchange servers, several enhancements to the built in Mail client, and also announced a social gaming network available to users later this year.

Overall, this was a pretty action packed release for Apple, laying the foundation for another great set of devices and applications to run on them.

iPad as a Platform

Matt — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:06:39 +0000

Adam Engst gets it:

So what’s the difference between a Mac and an iPad? It’s that blank slate thing. No matter what you do on a Mac, the keyboard and mouse and window-based operating system make it impossible to ignore the fact that you’re using a Mac, and it’s often equally impossible to ignore the fact that you’re using a particular program.

In contrast, the iPad becomes the app you’re using. That’s part of the magic. The hardware is so understated – it’s just a screen, really – and because you manipulate objects and interface elements so smoothly and directly on the screen, the fact that you’re using an iPad falls away. You’re using the app, whatever it may be, and while you’re doing so, the iPad is that app. Switch to another app and the iPad becomes that app. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

Impact of the iPad

Matt — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:47:42 +0000

With every new product release, there are several skeptical reviewers and users who just don’t see the merit in the product, claiming a lack of functionality or expandability will ultimately put the device to death. The iPad is no different in this regard. There have been plenty of reports that the iPad launch would be over hyped and short lived.

Not for Everyone

The iPad is not far everyone. If you absolutely needed more computing power and didn’t want to carry around an external optical drive, then the macbook air wasn’t for you either. I don’t believe that the Apple TV is a fit for me, but I understand it is perfect for some people.

The iPad is not designed or built for upgrading, or even installing software not approved by apple.

What it is Made For

The iPad is good at making computing simpler for more people. I just convinced my mother to switch to a Mac about a month ago, and she is loving it. iMovie and iPhoto are giving her ways to interact with media at a level she understands. Getting to create home movies and photo books was a huge selling point for her. But the computer is still too complicated. She doesn’t understand email, or where her documents get saved to after typing something in Pages. An iPad is technologically more at her level.

The Washington Post says it perfectly:

The first iPad is a winner. It stacks up as a formidable electronic-reader rival for Amazon’s Kindle. It gives portable game machines from Nintendo and Sony a run for their money. At the very least, the iPad will likely drum up mass-market interest in tablet computing in ways that longtime tablet visionary and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates could only dream of.

If nothing else, the iPad will get people talking and thinking about tablet computing. Something that companies have dreamed of for years and haven’t been able to do.

You can read the entire article here.

iPad Review

Matt — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:57:21 +0000

Saturday April 3rd saw the introduction of the much anticipated Apple iPad.

News sites and tech blogs especially will be providing tons of coverage of the new device and macfanatic is no exception here. I just purchased a 32GB model from my local Apple Store earlier this morning. In fact, I’m typing this review in the updated WordPress application for iPad.

I had not actually planned on purchasing an iPad on launch day, and had not taken the time to pre order or reserve one at the apple store. However, after making my way through a crowd to get to a device and play with it for a few minutes, there was no question in my mind about purchasing one.

First Impressions

My first reaction when picking up the gorgeous device was how heavy it was. Apple lists the device at over a pound, which doesn’t sound like a lot. But when picking an iPad up, the weight is more than one would expect. Not that this is a bad thing. Actually, it gives the device a very expensive and secure feeling. I wouldn’t intentionally harm the device, but i think it could take a pretty good beating before giving up the ghost.

The aluminum back is simply superb. The feel of the device in your hands is what the whole experience is all about. Just holding such a huge touch screen device and having the content be your entire focus and “experience”.

The keyboard is quite easy to get used to, in landscape mode. It’s very close to a real life macbook keyboard, but just off enough to make me keeping making a few typos. I’m having to train myself to think where the key would be on a normal keyboard and not on my iPhone keyboard after all these years of typing on an iPhone.

Conclusion

Overall, the device is absolutely stellar so far. I highly encourage everyone to pick up a $40 Apple branded case. It’s actually quite a wonderful case and all the positions it allows you use the device in makes it an absolute must. My local apple store was actually about out of this accessory already. I picked up one of the last 5.

You still might have time to pick yourself up an iPad if you didn’t pre order or reserve one like me. This is a purchase that I’m looking forward to playing with for time to come. If you are one of the lucky ones to already have yourself one, I’d love to hear your first impressions!

Slew of Apple Updates

Matt — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:27:50 +0000

Apple has released a slew of updates this week. Be sure to run Software Update to get:

Snow Leopard 10.6.3
iTunes 9.1
iPhoto 8.1.1
iMovie 8.0.6

Apple iPad Now Shipping

Matt — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:59:02 +0000

According to two users on twitter, the Apple iPad is already shipping to some customers who have pre-ordered the much anticipated Apple tablet.

@phillryu

cool, wifi iPads have begun to ship, just got my apple store shipment notification

@flyosity

Just got notification that my iPad has already shipped! Says it’s been origin scanned in China. Early delivery maybe?

Let us know if you have received a shipment notification from Apple as well! Read more about the Apple iPad from Macfanatic here.

Apple iPad Now Available for Pre-Order

Matt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:38:50 +0000

Just in case you haven’t heard, if you’re wanting to get an Apple iPad as quickly as possible, head on over to the Apple Store online to pre-order yours today!

Apple iPad on Sale March 12th – Available April 3rd

Matt — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:43:57 +0000

Apple’s eagerly anticipated iPad will be available in the United States on April 3, the company said Friday.
Wi-Fi models of the tablet-style computer will go on sale that Saturday, while ones with Wi-Fi and 3G networks will be released later in the month.

Customers can start pre-ordering the iPad on Apple’s online store on March 12.

Surprised the product launch wasn’t delayed. I had suspected an early May introduction and 3G models by WWDC.

That’s What She Said Jokes – Now Available!

Matt — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:57:06 +0000

Enjoy the world’s best joke on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Browse both user submitted and featured scenarios focusing on That’s What She Said! Get involved by submitting your own That’s What She Said funnies and commenting and rating hilarious entries submitted by others just like you!

Be sure to check out all the features of the only application for iPhone and iPod Touch delivering Thats What She Said Jokes to your device on the official site at http://twss.macfanatic.net

Aperture 3 Announced

Matt — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:04:05 +0000

Apple is no longer present at Macworld conferences, but still managed to announce a major product update to get some attention this week at the start of the annual tradeshow.

Aperture 3, Apple’s pro level photo management and editing software, adds “over 200 new features”. Most notable about this release:

Includes pro level versions of Faces and Places introduced in iPhoto ’09
A new image refinement tool called Brushes, allowing users paint directly on images
Projects – for organization and flexibility
Full screen photo browser
Advanced Slideshows
64-bit capable on Snow Leopard, requires Mac OS X v10.5.8 or v10.6.2 or later

Apple just updated the Aperture site, so head on over to read more about this update.

Found via | MacWorld Magazine

Upcoming iPhone Application

Matt — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:15:29 +0000

I’m really excited to announce that my first iPhone application, That’s What She Said Jokes, wil soon be available on the iTunes App Store!

From the App Store description:

That’s What She Said Jokes is the perfect companion for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Browse both user submitted and featured scenarios focusing on That’s What She Said! Get involved by submitting your own That’s What She Said funnies and commenting and rating hilarious entries submitted by others just like you!

I’ll be submitting the application for review later today and then the wait is on the App Store review team. Hopefully the app will be for sale later this week, at $0.99USD.

Microsoft’s Internal Struggle

Matt — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:40:26 +0000

NY Times Contributor Dick Brass provides some insight into Microsoft’s corporate culture and why the giant company struggles in delivering cohesive products to the masses.

Internal competition is common at great companies. It can be wisely encouraged to force ideas to compete. The problem comes when the competition becomes uncontrolled and destructive. At Microsoft, it has created a dysfunctional corporate culture in which the big established groups are allowed to prey upon emerging teams, belittle their efforts, compete unfairly against them for resources, and over time hector them out of existence.

This statement actually makes me feel a little sorry for Microsoft engineers. I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that there are many talented people at Microsoft and sadly the internal competition and office politics restrict the company’s effectiveness.

Pastebot for iPhone

Matt — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:00:34 +0000

Pastebot for iPhone warrants mentioning for two very important reasons. It is an important enough application to have earned its place on my dock. Phone, Messages, Pastebot, and Mail. That is what is most important to me throughout my day.

First, the UI of the application is absolutely superb. I place it in the top 5 of iPhone apps I have seen that leave no detail unthought, every pixel is used and beautifully designed. The fact the application actually works like a charm and makes me more productive is merely convenience.

What really prompted this post, however, was the stunning website that accompanies the application. It just reminds me that the iTunes store and the application aren’t the only places a developer really has to pour resources and soul into. The simplest and gorgeously architected site really do go a good ways in creating a resoundingly impressive user experience.

Introducing the Apple iPad

Matt — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:05:29 +0000

Today Apple introduced the newest product, the Apple iPad. The age of the Apple tablet has arrived.

9.7″ multi-touch display and 0.5″ thick. 10 hour battery life. Apple designed and produced A4 processor. 16, 32 or 64GB of flash memory. Wifi. Bluetooth. Runs most existing iPhone and iPod Touch applications. 3G service provided via AT&T for an additional $130USD, with no contract and unlimited data at $29.99USD/month.

The Apple tablet is quite impressive, especially with the level of detail and polish that has went into the updated applications provided on the device. The best way to sum up today’s event is to quote Scott Forstall, Senior VP of iPhone Software:

“There’s going to be a new gold rush for app developers.”

And from Bob Mansfield, Senior VP of Hardware:

“We build battery techology, we build chip technology, we build software. And we bring all those things together in a way that no one else can do it.”

Be sure to watch the video and read all the documentation at http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Flash on iPhone – Gordon JS Library

Matt — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:18:19 +0000

Flash on iPhone is now a possibility. Sort of.

The Gordon JS library aims to provide a javascript interpreter to replace the Adobe Flash runtime. The advantage is existing Adobe Flash documents will bypass the Flash runtime itself (which is what is banned from the AppStore) and instead directly execute through Javascript, which is allowed.

As a simple exercise, pull up any of the demo pages on an iPhone and you will be viewing a Flash file (.swf) embedded in an HTML page, that runs with Javascript and works perfectly on iPhone. Very interesting idea and the best part is, it’s open source on GitHub!

Worth noting, this project is in very early stages as is certainly not ready for a production environment.

Git Source

Gordon Project Page & Demos

Apple Tablet Wishes

Matt — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:01:30 +0000

With Apple announcing a January 27th 2010 date for a special media event advertising “Come see our latest creation”, I wanted to get the rumor mill started and really have some fun speculating about what we could see at the event, and what I would like to see.

As a simple precursor, I was not anticipating the iPhone to be as successful, or simply revolutionary in my personal workflow, as it was. As the rumors of a possible Apple designed and manufactured phone surfaced leading up to WWDC 2007, I was skeptical and actually annoyed that Apple would be spreading resources even thinner around the company and take focus of the Mac lineup. Looking back on the decision, I think everyone can agree it was a great one. Because of this, I’m much more excited about a possible Apple tablet or netbook.

“The Tablet”

John Gruber from Daring Fireball has dubbed the unannounced and very fictional Apple tablet as “The Tablet”, with a lack of anything better or more information to the contrary. Without further ado, I have compiled a wishlist for this mystic Apple computer.

Form-Factor

I’m hoping for a 10″ clamshell design. The 11″ iBook and Powerbook back in the day were already small, but I think 10″ for a netbook would be just right. I’m stuck on a clamshell versus a “giant iPhone” design for durability and flexibility. If the tablet is one solid peace, it would be awkward to use with both hands, because you would have to lie it down flat to use it, and then focus all your attention on your hands. There is a reason laptops have evolved into their current form. Ideally I’m hoping for a even smaller Macbook Air.

Make sure to continue reading after the break.

User Interaction

This is of course what will define the user experience and make the tablet a quality Apple product. I envision no keyboard or trackpad – both the bottom portion and the traditional screen portion would be essentially an iPhone screen, providing me with touchscreen goodness and all the pinching and flicking I could want. I imagine the Apple provided software would be a mesh between the traditional keyboard/trackpad based navigation (with a mouse pointer and cursor) and the iPhone’s direct finger manipulation technique. The “keyboard” would ideally be a software keyboard that appears on the lower portion of the tablet when needed, that utilities the size of the tablet well. A simplistic “outline” keyboard, which would very much resemble the MacBook Pro keyboards with backlighting, would be an attractive and functional keyboard. And because the keyboard is software based, is much larger than the iPhone and requires both hands, I would hope the tablet would feature haptic feedback so you can “feel” what you are typing. Without this feature, the computer will be completely un-usable in my opinion as it would require too much focus to keep you hands on the “keys”.

Cocoa Touch Software

I think with the success of the iPhone platform and the App Store, there is no doubt in my mind that the tablet will be based upon the Cocoa Touch OS. The work that has already went into the platform, stable APIs and third party developer familiarity from iPhone development are too much to ignore for a “mobile” platform of larger size. I can easily see Apple locking down software distribution to channel software through the App Store just as with the iPhone.

Removable Battery

Don’t think we’ll see one because of the small size of the tablet, but it better offer 5 hours or more of battery life.

Wireless Everywhere

Ideally the tablet will ship with either a few configurations, allowing you to pick a wireless carrier and be on the cellular network at all times, giving you that freedom of internet everywhere. If not, I can see the tablet coming with no wireless and requiring WiFi to operate. This would be a great time for AT&T to finally roll out tethering for the iPhone. Using the iPhone wireless network through your Apple tablet would be somewhat sufficient, although not ideal.

Pricing

I’d love to see a sub $500USD tablet, but I’m not going to get hung up on this one. I think a $799USD and $999USD tablet would sell perfectly fine. I just won’t be getting one.

Wrapping Up

I’ve listed what I would love to see in an Apple tablet, but ultimately, I want to be surprised. Apple has a wonderful way of innovating to produce a product with features I didn’t know I wanted. Call it marketing genius, or an engineering marvel, but Apple has a way of selling us on the “one more thing”.

Apple Controlled Leaks

Matt — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:15:46 +0000

From the Wall Street Journal:

Looking to build on the momentum of its iPhone and iPod, Apple Inc. will unveil a new multimedia tablet device later this month, but isn’t planning to ship the product until March, say people briefed by the company.

The MacObserver has an interesting article, detailing marketing strategy from a formal Apple employee. Most notably, leaking the information informally protects both Apple and the publisher, providing valuable feedback of potential customer’s reactions before launch.

You can read the entire article from MacObserver here.

Snow Leopard 10.6.2 Released

Matt — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:05:05 +0000

Apple has announced a maintenance release for Snow Leopard, available today through Software Update.

an issue that might cause your system to logout unexpectedly

a graphics distortion in Safari Top Sites

Spotlight search results not showing Exchange contacts

a problem that prevented authenticating as an administrative user

issues when using NTFS and WebDAV file servers

the reliability of menu extras

an issue with the 4-finger swipe gesture

an issue that causes Mail to quit unexpectedly when setting up an Exchange server

Address Book becoming unresponsive when editing

a problem adding images to contacts in Address Book

an issue that prevented opening files downloaded from the Internet

Safari plug-in reliability

general reliability improvements for iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, MobileMe, and iDisk

an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account

You can read more about the release in this Apple Knowledge Base Article.

Adobe Announces iPhone Support in CS5

Matt — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:48:56 +0000

Adobe made a groundbreaking announcement today. Action Script 3 developers can now write applications and target the iPhone. Note that this functionality is outlined in CS5.

Essentially, developers will be able to write their applications in Action Script 3 as always. However, Adobe has written a front end component for the LLVM compiler (shipping with Snow Leopard) so that the Action Script 3 code that is normally compiled Just-In-Time (JIT), can be compiled to ARM assembly. Then Adobe doesn’t have to distribute a run-time framework (which is in violation of Apple’s Terms and Agreement). Now you have AS3 applications that will run on iPhone, complete with access to the OpenGL ES 2.0 rendering pipeline.

Read more from the Adobe Developer Connection site.

iTunes LP – Inside Look

Matt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:00:33 +0000

Jay Robinson has taken an in depth look at the new iTunes LP format and offers some great insight into Apple’s fresh approach at digital music.

Essentially an iTunes LP is an interactive website with music, photos, videos and text wrapped inside iTunes. What I found the most interesting of all this was the fact that the gorgeous and fluid interface is simply HTML, CSS and Javascript. Makes a great deal of sense since the new iTunes Store itself is now standard HTML (instead of the past proprietary markup) and is rendered via WebKit, the same engine used in MobileSafari and Safari for your Mac.

The gorgeous CSS transitions and animations that debuted in Safari 4 (along with HTML5 support) are heavily used. You can take a look at the source by just ctrl-clicking the “ITLP” file in the Finder and choosing “Show Package Contents”.

For more information and tons of screenshots of two iTunes LP releases, visit jayrobinson.org

Grand Central Dispatch – Source Posted on MacOSForge

Matt — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:35:55 +0000

Grand Central Dispatch, introduced in Snow Leopard, brings a C API for effectively managing concurrency in your applications. Apple has now posted the code for the user space implementation online at MacOSForge. The kernel optimizations are linked in the project page, but the API only requires a C compiler supporting Blocks, such as the LLVM compiler.

Grand Central Dispatch – Wiki
Grand Central Dispatch – Apple
Grand Central Dispatch – MacOSForge
Blocks Programming Guide – Apple

10.6.1 Out in the Wild

Matt — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:49:33 +0000

Less than 2 weeks after Snow Leopard goes on sale, the first dot release is out the door.

The 10.6.1 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes for:

compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems

an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly

some printer compatibility drivers not appearing properly in the add printer browser

an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock

instances where automatic account setup in Mail might not work

an issue where pressing cmd-opt-t in Mail brings up the special characters menu instead of moving a message

Motion 4 becoming unresponsive

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3810.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Available now through Software Update.

MMS Comes to AT&T Sept 25th

Matt — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:37:05 +0000

AT&T announced in a press release today (here) that MMS support will arrive for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS users starting on September 25th, 2009.

AT&T explained the significant delay in providing MMS support for iPhone users as:

We know many of our iPhone customers are eager for an update on our rollout schedule for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). We’ve been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches – and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.
We know that iPhone users will embrace MMS. The unique capabilities and high usage of the iPhone’s multimedia capabilities required us to work on our network MMS architecture to carry the expected record volumes of MMS traffic and ensure an excellent experience from Day One. We appreciate your patience as we work toward that end.

Snow Leopard Intro Video

Matt — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:20:53 +0000

Turns out that the post I published back in March 2008 about viewing the introduction video when you first start your Mac was a hit.

To follow on that success, I want to remind everyone that the video is still on your Mac with Snow Leopard, just in a very strange place. Turns out that nothing changed between Leopard and Snow Leopard in this regard, so my original post, with instructions and a quick automator action to grab the video for you and place it on your Desktop, still works with no modification.

Download the Automator Action

View the Leopard Post

Quick Tip: Compiling for Tiger on Snow Leopard

Matt — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:15:45 +0000

Just to save someone 3-5 minutes of time, if you install the 10.4u SDK to target Tiger machines with Xcode 3.2 (Snow Leopard), you will have to change a build setting to get Xcode to compile.

In the settings for your target, change the compiler option from “System Default – GCC 4.2″ to “GCC 4.0″. Then the error message will go away and you can build for Tiger.

Snow Leopard Review

Matt — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:00:20 +0000

I thought I would highlight what I found to be the most interesting points from the Snow Leopard Ars Technica review, for those who couldn’t make it through the 23 page review and provide a few thoughts on the OS overall.

Read after the break for a list of UI and usability changes as well as a list of interesting changes for Cocoa developers, including code samples.

User Centric Thoughts

Through the first half of this article, I’ll focus on user interface changes and just general usability improvements in the OS.

Dock

There were several changes to the Dock, but the one I found the most interesting (and didn’t know before reading) was the “Minimize windows into the application icon” option. Instead of little windows appearing in the Dock, when clicking the application icon you are shown a list of minimized windows. Very reminiscent of Windows and the task bar (as there is no preview, only the window title), but surely useful for those out there who minimize lots of windows.

Finder

The Finder was completely rewritten for Snow Leopard and should provide a strong foundation moving forward. There is heavy use of Core Animation in the new Finder, meaning that it just “looks prettier” most of the time. There are animations when renaming files on your Desktop for instance. And a feature that I personally love:

List view also has a few enhancements—accidental, incidental, or otherwise. The drag area for each list view item now spans the entire line. In Leopard, though the entire line was highlighted, only the file name or icon portion could be dragged. Trying to drag anywhere else just extended the selection to other items in the list view as the cursor was moved. I’m not sure whether this change in behavior is intentional or if it’s just an unexamined consequence of the underlying control used for list view in the new Cocoa Finder. Either way, thumbs up.

Overall the Finder looks very similar to the Leopard version, but is more responsive and has a feature here and there that reminds you that this is a new version.

Radnom Refinements

This is just an assortment of interesting tidbits I picked up while reading.

Safari runs plugins as separate processes. If a plugin crashes, Safari won’t.
Menlo is the new default font for Monospaced fonts (See my article here)
Resolution Independence still sucks
Core Location support – your Mac can find itself
Wake from Sleep feature – with a Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme station, you can access contents from a sleeping Mac over the local network at any time. Works great with the “Back to my Mac” feature.
No ZFS support

Developer Centric Thoughts

Here on out is several points of interest for developers.

File Compression

Snow Leopard introduces per file compression to the HFS+ file system used by Apple.

Resource Forks & Extended File Attributes

To bring file compression to the already fragile HFS+ file system and maintain backwards compatibility, Apple stores the compressed file data in resource forks, and either compressed or uncompressed in extended file attributes. What this means:

And where can the complete contents of a potentially large file be hidden in such a way that pre-Snow Leopard systems can still copy that file without the loss of data? Why, in the resource fork, of course. The Finder has always correctly preserved Mac-specific metadata and both the resource and data forks when moving or duplicating files. In Leopard, even the lowly cp and rsync commands will do the same. So while it may be a little bit spooky to see all those “empty” 0 KB files when looking at a Snow Leopard disk from a pre-Snow Leopard OS, the chance of data loss is small, even if you move or copy one of the files.

Performance Gains

You might first think that all this file compression would either waste space or waste CPU cycles. John from Ars Technica proposes that given the known fact that the physical motions of a hard drive are the slowest part of modern computers, storing the compressed data in resource forks and extended attributes makes sense because that data is stored in one of two locations on the disk. And because these two areas are frequently used, the read/write head of the hard drive is close by and has less moves to make and can be quicker. Also, because the two files are accessed so frequently, caching occurs providing even greater performance benefits.

QuickTime X

Snow Leopard introduced a completely rewritten 64-bit API for QuickTime. The new QuickTime X Player is nice and fancy, but the underlying API has underwent the knife. QuickTime debuted in 1991 and after 18 years has finally seen a significant update.

64 Bit

The interesting part is the new QuickTime X API in QTKit is smart. The API is optimized for playback and is 64 bit only. Transparently, if an application needs features that QTKit (QuickTime X) cannot deliver (and there are many currently), QTKit will revert to the previous QuickTime 7 API. And if a developer writes a 32 bit application and wants to use the newer QuickTime X API, QTkit will just spawn another process that is 64 bit to deliver content back to the 32 bit application, all transparently. The user will get the best experience with the least amount of effort from the developer, which is always a win.

File System API Unification

Briefly, between POSIX functions, CoreFoundation, and Cocoa itself, there are several ways to access data about the filesystem. Currently there is no unified approach to fetch all this data.

When opening a file in Leopard Preview, there are:

Four conversions of an FSRef to a file path

Ten conversions of a file path to an FSRef

Twenty-five calls to getattrlist()

Eight calls to stat()/lstat()

Four calls to open()/close()

Snow Leopard will use NSURL for all file system operations, instead of strings representing file paths. To the end user, this means the user could move a file and the application wouldn’t lose track of it as the NSURL has a unique identifier that is not based on file location alone.

Clang and LLVM

Performance Gains

Clang brings with it the two headline attributes you expect in a hot, new compiler: shorter compile times and faster executables. In Apple’s testing with its own applications such as iCal, Address Book, and Xcode itself, plus third-party applications like Adium and Growl, Clang compiles nearly three times faster than GCC 4.2. As for the speed of the finished product, the LLVM back-end, whether used in Clang or in LLVM-GCC, produces executables that are 5-25% faster than those generated by GCC 4.2.

Static Analyzer

The static analyzer is the single best feature in Snow Leopard as far as I’m concerned. Essentially Xcode is smarter and can analyze all ways your code might interact to determine errors in your logic. Unprecedented.

Read more about my thoughts on the static analyzer in Xcode 3.2 here.

Blocks

Blocks are an extension to C based languages, currently only supported by Apple in it’s 4 compilers shipping with Snow Leopard. Essentially, blocks are a way to pass a “block” of code. Not the same as a function, which has it’s own scope.

Example

FILE *fp = fopen(filename, "r");
 
if (fp == NULL) {
  perror("Unable to open file");
}
else {
  char line[MAX_LINE];
 
  while (fgets(line, MAX_LINE, fp)) {
    work;
    work;
    work;
  }
 
  fclose(fp);
}

The example above is boilerplate code and assumes you want to do some “work;” with the line once you’ve read it in from a file. By using blocks, you could create a function that takes the filename and a block, simplifying moving through the file greatly.

foreach_line(filename, ^ (char *line) {
  work;
  work;
  work;
});

API Use

John informs us that Apple uses blocks in over 100 new API calls that would simply not be possible prior to Snow Leopard.

Threading and Grand Central Dispatch

The age old problem in computing:

This is the enemy: hardware with more computing resources than programmers know what to do with, most of it completely idle, and all the while the user is utterly blocked in his attempts to use the current application.

Grand Central Dispatch makes great progress in helping developers alleviate the headaches in asynchronously executing tasks in their application.

Overview

Essentially, Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) is a system level library that manages a global pool of available threads, and grabs tasks from queues your application sets up. The more resources the system has available, the more threads GCD has free and the faster it can grab tasks from your application queues. Since the system is managing the threads, there is no application overhead for thread management and the possibility of too many threads, and yet your application can get the last bit of performance from the system by using all available resources. All automatically.

Let’s say a program has a problem that can be split into eight separate, independent units of work. If this program then creates four threads on an eight-core machine, is this an example of creating too many or too few threads? Trick question! The answer is that it depends on what else is happening on the system.

If six of the eight cores are totally saturated doing some other work, then creating four threads will just require the OS to waste time rotating those four threads through the two available cores. But wait, what if the process that was saturating those six cores finishes? Now there are eight available cores but only four threads, leaving half the cores idle.

There is a performance gain here is as well. If you were managing threads at your application level, you have to create and release threads as you use them. GCD uses a global thread pool, so the threads are always active. Whether or not they are working is the only change. By simply maintaining active threads, the system can pull just a little bit more performance from the system.

First Example

- (IBAction)analyzeDocument:(NSButton *)sender
{
  NSDictionary *stats = [myDoc analyze];
  [myModel setDict:stats];
  [myStatsView setNeedsDisplay:YES];
  [stats release];
}

The above method is a simple action called by a button click that will analyze a document and display the results. Under normal circumstances this would be nearly instantaneous. However, if a user attempted to analyze a very large document, the processing still takes place on the main event processing thread and the application appears to hang. Refactoring this to use threads and avoid race conditions, with callbacks for analyzeComplete would be a mess and most developers would balk at the trouble to make this four line method asynchronous. However, with GCD and Blocks, it becomes trivial.

- (IBAction)analyzeDocument:(NSButton *)sender
{
  dispatch_async(dispatch_get_global_queue(0, 0), ^{
    NSDictionary *stats = [myDoc analyze];
    dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
      [myModel setDict:stats];
      [myStatsView setNeedsDisplay:YES];
      [stats release];
    });
  });
}

Now when the user clicks the “Analyze” button, a block is placed on the application queue to be processed as soon as possible. This block analyzes the document, and once that is complete, the block placed onto the event queue with ” dispatch_async()” will be called, therefore updating the UI. Simply wonderful.

Second Example

Here is a truly gorgeous example from John.

for (i = 0; i &lt; count; i++) {
    results[i] = do_work(data, i);
} 
 
total = summarize(results, count);

Taking this simple for() loop and making it execute asynchronously with GCD is actually quite simple.

dispatch_apply(count, dispatch_get_global_queue(0, 0), ^(size_t i) {
    results[i] = do_work(data, i);
});
 
total = summarize(results, count);

I love it.

GCD Conclusion

John sums up the importance and far reaching effects of GCD on the future of Mac OS X.

When I first heard about Grand Central Dispatch, I was extremely skeptical. The greatest minds in computer science have been working for decades on the problem of how best to extract parallelism from computing workloads. Now here was Apple apparently promising to solve this problem. Ridiculous.

But Grand Central Dispatch doesn’t actually address this issue at all. It offers no help whatsoever in deciding how to split your work up into independently executable tasks—that is, deciding what pieces can or should be executed asynchronously or in parallel. That’s still entirely up to the developer (and still a tough problem). What GCD does instead is much more pragmatic. Once a developer has identified something that can be split off into a separate task, GCD makes it as easy and non-invasive as possible to actually do so.

Cocoa Framework Changes of Interest

The faster shutdown time for Snow Leopard is partly possible due to the system killing your application. You can mark your application as needed to properly shut down and stall the process. However if you don’t, your application will be sent the SIGKILL signal.
NSCashe class
NSBlockOperation class
Hefty work to NSURL
Gesture and multitouch event support
Ability to set desktop images
Block-based sheet APIs
Block-based enumerations for lines, words, and the like in NSString and NSAttributedString
New NSPropertyList APIs with better error handling and performance
Core Data integration with Spotlight
Read more at the Mac Dev Center from Apple

Xcode 3.2 – Static Analysis

Matt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:04:40 +0000

I have only heard rumblings on the net regarding the new static analyzer built into Xcode 3.2 that ships with Snow Leopard. However, Apple has updated their Dev Center to include documentation on several new developer tools and features with the release of Snow Leopard today.

The Xcode analyzer is simply put, a way for Xcode to inspect your code logically, in addition to syntactically as traditional compilers do. The analyzer can investigate each path your code can logically take, reporting errors on memory leaks, type mismatches, return values, and more.

From the Appe Mac Dev Center article:

New for Mac OS X v10.6, Xcode 3.2 introduces a revolutionary feature known as static analysis. You can think of static analysis as advanced warnings, identifying bugs in your code before it is run—hence the term “static.” Unlike traditional compiler warnings, the Xcode 3.2 static analyzer has a much deeper understanding of your code. The static analyzer travels down each possible code path, identifying logical errors such as unreleased memory—well beyond simple syntax errors normally found at compile time.

Essentially Xcode 3.2 can help you find errors in how you think. This is a very powerful feature, and should help you write much better code and understand your code better by helping you find logical errors that would normally creep up after your code has went to production (most of the time).

For more information the static analyzer used in Xcode 3.2, visit the clang website, a C frontend for the LLVM compiler.

Read more about Xcode 3.2 and the static analyzer at Apple’s Mac Dev Center

iPhone Facebook App 3.0

Matt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:36:07 +0000

The 3.0 version of Facebook for iPhone has finally been released to the Apple Store and it’s a significant upgrade.

3.0 brings features such as events, pages, groups, uploading video, creating/editing/deleting photo albums, uploading photo/video to any album, “Like”, commenting, notes, notifications, news feed filtering and more. The UI has had a major overhaul and overall is much more put together and easier to use. See below for some screenshots.

Snow Leopard – GB vs GiB

Matt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:11:08 +0000

I just finished reading a very interesting article from MacWorld UK concerning file sizes in Snow Leopard.

In brief, all your files will appear larger (the larger the file, the larger it will be on Snow Leopard). For example, a 241.2MB file on Leopard is now 252.9MB on Snow Leopard. Technically, the files have not changed at all, and the number of bytes (basic unit of measurement) is exactly the same (252,916,507 in our example). What has changed is how Apple converts the number of bytes into KB, MB, GB, and TB.

I’m a Computer Science graduate and I consider myself very familiar with computer terminology and arithmetic. I’m ashamed to say that I had never heard that there are in fact two ways to measure bytes – a power of 1000 and a power of 2.

I’ve done a good bit of math based on numbers that are powers of 2. 2^9 is 512 and 2^10 is 1024. In Leopard and anywhere else I’ve seen the conversion, to convert bytes to KB you divide by 2^10, into MB by 2^20, and into GB by 2^30. However, according to Wiki (and not my college professors) a MB (Megabyte) is in fact 1000^2 bytes. It’s the prefix Mi(Mebi) byte that is 2^20 bytes.

What does this all boil down to? First, Apple’s calculation of file sizes will line up with their definition, but not how anyone else in the world (to my knowledge) measures files. Second, users won’t be so confused when they are looking at a “Get Info” window for a file, because the math is just moving decimal places now instead of diving by strange numbers such as 1024.

One final interesting note: Apple claims that you can free up to 7GB of hard drive space by upgrading to Snow Leopard (presumably by removing all that legacy PPC code). 7GB ( 1000 ^ 3 * 7 = 7,000,000,000 bytes) in Snow Leopard is significantly less than it was in Leopard ( 2 ^ 30 * 7 = 7,526,192,768 bytes) . So, if Apple hadn’t changed it’s conversion scheme, they could have only claimed that Snow Leopard in fact freed up ( 7,000,000,000 / 2 ^ 30 ) 6.52GB. Just to put that into perspective.

Wikipedia – Gibibyte
MacWorld UK – Snow Leopard’s New Maths
Apple Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard Available Today

Matt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:50:23 +0000

Just a reminder that Mac OS 10.6, Snow Leopard, is available starting today (August 28th) for $29 USD. This price only applies to those upgrading from 10.5 Leopard. Apple instructs users running Tiger to purchase the Mac Box Set at $169 USD to give you Snow Leopard, iWork 09, and iLife 09. From what I’ve heard on the web, there is no technical reason you can’t upgrade from Tiger straight to Snow Leopard; however, this is not legal.

Note that Snow Leopard is the first Intel-only OS release. If you are running an older Mac with PPC processors (such as a G3, G4, or G5) Snow Leopard will not work on your Mac.

I’ll be grabbing my upgrade copy later this evening and I’ll report back for everyone.

Snow Leopard – Aug 28th 2009

Matt — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:40:45 +0000

Apple announced that Snow Leopard will indeed be available starting August 28th. Seems like it has had enough time to be a stable release, and still come in a couple months before the official Windows 7 launch.

Just wondering who is planning on purchasing Snowy on launch weekend? For the 29 dollar price point, I’m not sure that I’ll pass it up this weekend.

Email Full Res Photos from iPhone

Matt — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:05:41 +0000

Turns out that simply using the “Email Photo” link to send a photo from an iPhone only sends an 800×600 image instead of the full resolution. Found a quick tip: simply copy/paste photos in an email to send the full resolution version.

Read More.

Subscription Calendars Arrive to MobileMe/iPhone 3.0

Matt — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:06:49 +0000

Finally, you can have subscription calendars sync with your iPhone/iTouch using OS 3.0 and MobileMe.

Open iCal

In the Calendar list, under Subscriptions, Control-click (or right-click) the calendar you want to copy to your iPhone or iPod touch

In the menu that appears, select “Copy URL to Clipboard”

Compose an email message to yourself (to an email address you are checking on your iPhone/iPod touch), and paste the URL into the body of the message

Send the email

On your iPhone or iPod touch, open the email and tap on the URL

Tap “subscribe” in the dialog that is triggered by the link

For more information, visit the knowledge base article from Apple.

MobileMe iDisk App for iPhone 3.0

Matt — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:23:38 +0000

For MobileMe users out there, Apple has announced a nice addition to your iPhone available with the iPhone OS 3.0 update as a free app from the App Store.

You will have access to all the files on your iDisk on the go. Features such as sharing are available, and you’ll even be able to view others public iDisk, which is a nice touch.

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/whats-new/

Safari 4.0 Released

Matt — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:00:33 +0000

I updated to the final version of Safari 4 released during yesterday’s WWDC 2009 Keynote and came to a shocking discovery: turns out that the tabs that were controversially placed on top in the window’s titlebar have now moved back to their previous location below the toolbar.

I’m slightly upset about this for two reasons. First off, the updated design had grown on me and I was used to it. Moving it back down to where it was in Safari 3.x ( and most other browsers, besides Google Chrome ) is time I have to retrain myself. Second, I was convinced by the initial argument. The controls ( refresh, home, stop, even the progress indicator and the URL itself ) are tab specific. They change based on what tab you are in. Therefore, it makes sense to have the tab be the top-level container element with the controls placed inside it.

All that said maybe Apple’s market research gave it good information and it was able to make the right informed decision. Personally, I would like the hidden preference setting to have my tabs back up top again, but that option was removed in the final shipping version.

Apple Developer Awards 2009

Matt — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:23:18 +0000

I wanted to congratulate the engineers at Apple for dishing out some well deserved awards this year.

The top 3 applications winning awards in the Mac showcase category were Versions, Things, and Billings 3. All of these apps are simply astounding.

I use Billings 3 for my freelance work and I save a lot of time and look more professional because of it.

Versions is slick, but I haven’t come around to purchasing this one as I’m handy enough with the command line to use version control the old school way.

And hands down the best Mac app around (and for iPhone too) would have to be Cultured Code’s application, Things. If you want a powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use personal organizer/GTD application, you have to check out Things. Check out my review of Things or an interview with lead Things developer Jurgen Schweizer here.

A link to the article detailing the full list of winners can be found here.

WWDC 2009 Thoughts

Matt — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:10:56 +0000

I’m not going to waste your time with a rehash of yesterday’s Jobs-less Stevenote, but I will mention a few things that I found interesting after the dust settled.

Notebook Lineup

Apple has put itself in a very nice position with its current notebook offering. The three sizes of MacBook Pro are all very nice machines, with great tech specs and those special features that make a Pro laptop from Apple. With the integrated lineup and price drop across the board, Apple is making an aggressive move.

The 3 year old Macbook design is showing its age and doesn’t really resemble anything else sold as a Mac. The iMac, Mac Pro and the MacBook Pro lineups make a cohesive design. Only the Macbook and Mac Mini stand out still in plastic. I expect to see somewhat updated designs to better match the rest of the Apple family, or possibly the removal of the two products altogether, replaced with something else entirely. Maybe that will be the news at MacWorld 2010?

Snow Leopard

I somewhat expected Apple to have some killer feature that we would all want in Snow Leopard, something they had help back until the last minute to build up marketing hype right before the big preview. However, we received no such incentive this time around.

That being said, the 29 dollar upgrade price is very attractive, and is great news for the Apple community. A cheap upgrade price point will entice most users to upgrade and since users will make the switch quicker, developers will invest the time to make their applications take full use of Snow Leopard only technologies. It’s a great plan that should shore up the Mac foundation for some years to come.

The refinements made to Snow Leopard certainly have come about to some extent from lessons learned developing Cocoa Touch. QuickTime X is a prime example of rewriting a Foundation level framework into a modern and robust API – something already tackled in Cocoa Touch. It’ll be interesting to see what advancements made in Snow Leopard might make their way into iPhone OS 3.1 or later.

iPhone OS 3.0

Stating the obvious, this is a huge update. The developer API has seen major advancements, opening up the device to developers so they can innovate and surprise users even more than before. The biggest news I took away from the iPhone OS announcement concerned AT&T. Evidently AT&T doesn’t feel the need to keep up with Apple’s progress. I’m just as annoyed and peeved as every other AT&T iPhone user out there: I’m waiting for MMS and tethering to come just like the next guy. However, I’m almost relieved as well. With AT&T slipping behind, surely Apple can use that as leverage in future talks and either get some cool things from AT&T this time next year, or open up the platform to more providers here in the US and get the iPhone platform really off the ground.

Conclusion

If you have any comments about the keynote, I’d love to hear them. Personally, I’ll be picking up a family pack of Snow Leopard soon after it’s available, I’m already using Safari 4 final release to type this post, and I’ve reserved my 32GB Black iPhone 3GS to pickup on D-Day.

Enable Java SE 6 on 64-bit Leopard

Matt — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:19:49 +0000

Strangely enough, I have three classes this semester that focus on Java development. One of which suggests 1.6 development and I found it strange that Apple didn’t provide the Java 1.6 release on Leopard.

Turns out that if you absolutely need Java 1.6 (to use Limewire, for example), it is most likely already installed on your Mac, just not being used by default. To set it as the default, open Java Preferences in Applications -> Utilities -> Java and drag Java SE 6.0 to the top of each table shown. That’s it.

Of note, Apple has only release Java SE 6.0 for 64 Intel Macs. So if you have a Core Duo Mac or earlier, you are stuck with Java SE 5.0 and earlier.

For those having trouble setting Java SE 6 as the default VM on their Intel Mac, see the comments below for a user’s trick. Involves the Terminal and I guarantee nothing.

Rendering iDVD Projects in Bulk

Matt — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:58:21 +0000

I recently came across a home project where I needed to render multiple iDVD projects, about 8 different projects in all. And for each of those, I needed 10 copies for friends and family. My first thought was to simply the process by creating disc images from iDVD, so that I could then open the disc image in Disk Utility whenever I wanted and burn multiple copies quickly.

I did this for the first few, but as it took about 3.5 hours per project, it was a pain to schedule, and there was a lot of wasted time at night that my MacBook could have been rendering, except that after the project finished, I couldn’t figure out how to get iDVD to start on a second one.

I started writing an AppleScript to automate this, and then decided to just Google for one as someone surely had thought of this before me. Turns out there is a very nice script that allows allows you to choose the iDVD projects you want to burn, and where you want to save the disc images. Then, away iDVD goes.

Very nice script to have. Mac OS X Hints.com

Nifty Terminal Trick – Autocomplete

Matt — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:52:44 +0000

I’ve often wondered why using some Linux machines allowed me to simply press the TAB key after entering a few characters, and the terminal would suggest auto-completions for filenames in the working directory. It’s a very handy feature and I love it, but never could figure out why it didn’t just work automatically when I used the Terminal is OS X.

Turns out that you can quickly enable this feature by copying a few files according to this tip from Mac OS X Hints.com.

% echo “source /usr/share/tcsh/examples/rc” > ~/.tcshrc
% echo “source /usr/share/tcsh/examples/login” > ~/.login
% echo “source /usr/share/tcsh/examples/logout” > ~/.logout

As far as I know, this doesn’t affect any of your settings, but I didn’t look through these provided sample shell configuration files to make sure. All I know is that I can now TAB to auto-complete and nothing else has been broken so far.

Jobs Leaves Apple

Matt — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:20:40 +0000

The title says quite a lot. I feel like this should be the only item on the blog, because of its importance, however real it may be.

Jobs wrote an email to the team at Apple, and since then has been published in the PR section. It reads:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

I’m personally glad that the man is taking time to better himself. I love Apple. That has only happened since Jobs has returned, so I naturally connect the two as inseparable and codependent. But I’m with the other pundits in the blogsphere in that Apple can, and will, survive without Jobs. Maybe he knows this and that is the real reason he is taking a leave of absence. I tend to think that if he wasn’t sure things would continue, he would probably stay until his death, or the Board of Directors got up the courage to make him stay home.

Will Steve actually return this summer, to wow us with some new gadgetry at WWDC 2009? Who knows. I sincerely hope that all is well and even if he decides not to return, he can at least enjoy time with his family. The man has brought so much to Apple, the computing industry, and my life, that he deserves a break if he wants one.

Here’s to Jobs’ return. But if not, to a long and happy life doing whatever the hell he pleases. And if that’s selling some new product, I might just buy it.

iPhoto 09

Matt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:30:25 +0000

I have to say that I’m in utter amazement at the feature set demoed for iPhoto 09. The work that went into this product is evident, with a polished interface and solid goals.

Faces

iPhoto has been given facial recognition as a feature called “Faces”. iPhoto automatically recognizes people in your photos and gives you the chance to give the person a name. Then, iPhoto will suggest photos that the person appears in. As you continue to use iPhoto, essentially tagging all the people that appear, iPhoto just gets smarter and can even more accurately recognize faces. To make this feature useful, you can now view your photos by Faces, in addition to Events, to view all photos that a particular person appears in.

And here is the coolest part yet: Facebook integration with Faces. You can quickly and easily publish and album to Facebook, with the album appearing in the iPhoto source list. And the photos are automatically tagged for you. And, if someone tags himself in the photo, iPhoto is aware of it and will notify you, so you can add that information to your iPhoto library. Now that is integration and makes this Facebook photo junkie happy!

Geo tagging support is built in on several levels, easily using the information from your GPS enabled camera, such as the iPhone, to place your photos by locations. Don’t have a GPS camera? You can easily add the location to your photos within iPhoto, so you won’t be left out. Great for viewing all the photos taken in Paris, for example. Or how about when creating a physical photo book and having a map in there, complete with arrows for the trip you took. Very polished indeed.

Slideshows

The slideshows feature has been greatly improved, with support for some pretty cool themes and finally the ability to quickly share with iTunes to take on your iPod or iPhone and share with your friends. And slideshows even use face detection to make sure that it doesn’t crop people out when displaying the pictures. Now that’s impressive. Another nice step forward.

I have to say that I’ll be ordering my copy of iLife 09 simply for iPhoto. The face detection and Facebook integration is well worth the 80 bucks as far as I’m concerned. A truly great release!

Apple Opposes Propisition 8 Banning Same Sex Marriage

Matt — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:32:56 +0000

In a move that fills me with hope for equality for all one day, Apple publicly announced opposition to California’s Proposition 8, which would ban same sex marriages in California. The fact that a company would take a stand on such a controversial issue says much right there. However, Apple took it a step farther by donating 100,000 to the No on 8. Campaign. To make the situation even more amazing, turns out Apple already offers equal rights and benefits to employees’ same sex partners. I already love Apple hardware, software, and culture, but finding out that my most admired company for innovation has taken a stance and supports who I am and embraces equality for everyone, it makes me speechless.

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Speechless.

Found via | One Digital Life

Vote NO on 8!

Apple Notebook Event Oct 14th

Matt — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:05:56 +0000

For all those waiting for updated MacBooks, we finally have an official date. Apple sent out media invites this morning for 10am PST on Tuesday October 14th. “The Spotlight turns to notebooks”.

I have several friends waiting since school began this semester, to make the switch to Mac and I’ve convinced them to hold off. Plus, there is a good possibility I’ll be purchasing a one myself. Hopefully we won’t be disappointed!

iPhone NDA Dead

Matt — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:39:59 +0000

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software. We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others. However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released. Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

The NDA is gone. Finally books can be published and developers can share code. Whether this will ultimately hurt things is just a wait and see.

From Apple Developer Connection

MailWrangler Denied for iPhone App Store

Matt — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:40:19 +0000

Yet another iPhone application has been denied from the App Store this week, and yet again the reason is quoted as “duplicating functionality” of an already available iPhone application. In this case, the application in reference is Apple’s own Mail.app on the iPhone. MailWrangler gives a way to easily use multiple GMail accounts simultaneously. Something that you can not do in Safari on the iPhone, as you would have to continuously log in and out of GMail. And why even use the web version of GMail and not use Apple’s own Mail? Access to Contacts, threading and other features that aren’t available. That by definition suggests that the developer isn’t “duplicating” functionality.

The reasoning behind these denials is seemingly more frequently described as duplicating functionality. However, as Macworld points out, Apple seems to have no problem admitting applications that do duplicate most functionality, or even admitting applications by the same name.

… Your application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion. …

As Dan from Macworld points out, Apple owns the App Store and has the right to admit or deny admittance to anyone. However, it would be wise to apply those rules equally and so far it seems safe to say that Apple is not doing so. Let’s hope this changes, or I sincerely believe that the iPhone platform will suffer greatly as developers lose confidence in building great applications for a device that they might never be able to sell it to.

Read complete article on MailWranger denial from Macworld

Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster fame wrote up a lengthy proposal of ways to fix the App Store and the approval process. Mostly Wil discusses the fact that Apple is having to come up with ad-hoc solutions on the fly and needs to set down and fix the real problems (such as allowing a user to buy a 1000 dollar app without a confirmation click) before resorting to censorship. Overall, a very interesting read.

Daring Fireball: Digging Deeper

Matt — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:48:06 +0000

Recently on Daring Fireball, John discusses the basic concepts behind Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign and Microsoft’s new “I’m a PC” rebut. John points out a few differences between the tactics and why in fact Microsoft’s commercials are more detrimental rather than helpful for the company and the brand.

The framing of Apple’s ads is not about either/or. Not Mac or Windows, a choice between two rival products, like Democrat/Rebuplican, Chevy/Ford, Coke/Pepsi. The framing instead is special vs. regular. Not Coke vs. Pepsi but Coke vs. “soda”.

This is a very important point to be had. While Apple is advertising a superior product that distinguishes your computing experience from the norm, Microsoft is advertising more of the same. More of the same that consumers are already familiar with. The larger picture is that if you want to be generic and blend in with the crowd and have a mediocre computing experience, then having a PC is for you. However, if you want to have that extra special product, and who doesn’t want the Sirius satellite radio or the leather seats in a new car, then the Mac platform is right for you.

I think John’s insight into the differing marketing strategies for these two companies is refreshing. Read the complete article at Daring Fireball.

iTunes 8 Album View Still Exists

Matt — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:05:21 +0000

With the Grid View being introduced in iTunes 8, all the buzz I’ve read on the net suggested that the previous Album List View was deprecated in this release. However, its still lurking in the shadows.

In the iTunes toolbar, there are three buttons. From left to right: List View, Grid View, and Cover Flow View. If you want to see your album artwork while in List View, in the very top left of the list, there is a small “disclosure” triangle that almost looks like a “now playing” icon on the iPhone and such. Click this and the album artwork displays inline with all your songs in List View.

It’s the same functionality as the previous view, just better implemented as far as I can tell. Can be useful at times, because you can still see your album artwork and have the list sorted by Date Added, for example. You cannot do that in Grid View because all the songs per Album, or Artist, etc, are grouped together.

“Let’s Rock” Event

Matt — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:37:06 +0000

With the updated iPod Touch, iTunes 8, addition of HD TV shows on iTunes and the return of NBC, the redesign of the Nano seems the most significant to me.

The previous design, 3rd generation, were quite ugly I think. Just the design as well as the colors. However, the updated Nano is simply stunning in color and shape. The updated software, including Cover Flow, is quite impressive as well. I can’t wait to play with one of these in person.

iCard Service Ends with Introduction of MobileMe

Matt — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:32:44 +0000

The WWDC 2008 keynote today saw the rebranding of the .Mac package, yet again. There are certainly some nice features being added, such as push email, contacts and calendars, revamped web interface, and storage upgrades. You can read more about the MobileMe features here.

However, we should take this time to mourn the loss of a very dear friend: iCards.

iCards was introduced with the introduction of iTools (the precursor to .Mac) back in 2000, in the OS 9 days. The service has remained practically the same, and has always been my favorite way of sending cards to all of my friends and family online. MobileMe will see the discontinuation of iCards. Everyone should take a moment of silence to commemorate the passing of an age.

★ Spaces in 10.5.3

Matt — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:35:00 +0000

From Daring Fireball:

Spaces was one of the new features in Leopard I was most excited about, but I found the actual implementation unusable. [Henry Story wrote a fine description][d] of the problems with Spaces in 10.5.0. When I linked to his critique, [I wrote]:

I’ve tried to love Spaces but can’t, because I want to divide spaces into tasks, and some apps, like my web browser, need to have windows in every space. If I’m in, say, space 3 and Command-Tab to Safari, I want Safari to activate in my current space, not jump me to whichever space contains the frontmost Safari window. In short, Spaces seems designed for app partitioning, not task partitioning.

Take, for example, the task of writing this article. What I want to be able to do with Spaces is dedicate one space solely to the task. I want Safari windows pertaining to any web pages related to the article, and MarsEdit and BBEdit windows for the article itself. But I don’t want all open Safari, MarsEdit, and BBEdit windows in this space — I only want those pertaining to the article. There was simply no way to make this work in 10.5.0 through 10.5.2; you could get the windows grouped this way, but you’d keep getting switched to another space when what you wanted to do was switch to another app within the current space. Spaces really only seemed suited to putting all of any given app’s windows in a particular space (or making all an app’s windows visible in all spaces). This isn’t to say Spaces wasn’t usable, only that it wasn’t usable for grouping a few windows from different apps together in one Space.

This week’s release of 10.5.3 brought good news: Apple has addressed this problem with a few seemingly minor changes to Spaces. Apple’s release notes for 10.5.3 hint at the changes, but don’t explain them in any detail:

Spaces

Resolves an issue in which switching to a different space and returning back to the original space may reorder the application windows with a different active window.

Resolves an issue in which activating an application from the Dock switches to a different space, even if there is a window for that application in the current space.

Fixes an issue in which Command-Tab may incorrectly switch to a new space.

Addresses reliability issues with Spaces when syncing preferences over .Mac.

Some of these are simply bug fixes. Clearly, for example, switching between spaces shouldn’t have changed the window ordering within a space. But some of these describe new behavior which only kicks in if you turn off a new-to-10.5.3 checkbox in the Spaces panel in System Preferences: “When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application”.

By default, it’s checked, which means app switching under Spaces remains much the same as it was on 10.5.0–10.5.2. For example, let’s say you have two spaces, with one or more Safari windows in space 1, and no Safari windows in space 2. If you’re in space 2 and activate Safari — whether by clicking the Dock icon, Command-Tabbing, or by opening a link in some other app’s window in space 2, then Spaces will jump you to space 1, where there are already open Safari windows.

If you turn this new checkbox off, however, activating an app, even one that has no windows in the current space, will not jump you to another space. Once you’re in a space, you stay there until you explicitly switch spaces, not just switch apps. This makes all the difference in the world for the way I, and others, want to use Spaces.

This is a major change to the way Spaces works, but the checkbox label doesn’t exactly make it clear. (I don’t have a better label to suggest; it’s a tough feature to describe in the length of a checkbox label.) Sadly, the help content for Spaces does not seem to have been updated to even mention this checkbox, let alone describe what it does.

One non-obvious detail is that you can switch to another space by clicking an app’s Dock icon multiple times. If you click a running app’s Dock icon once, that app will activate in the current space. If it doesn’t have any open windows in the current space, it will activate without creating a new untitled window. But if you click that same app’s Dock icon again, you’ll jump to the next space in which that app does have an open window. If the app has open windows spread across multiple spaces, subsequent clicks on its Dock icon will cycle through those spaces. So if you have four total spaces, with Safari windows in spaces 1 and 3, you can repeatedly click Safari’s icon in the Dock to cycle between spaces 1 and 3. If you’re starting in space 2 or 4, clicking Safari’s Dock icon once will activate Safari in that space but without a window.

Using Command-Tab to switch between apps, you will never automatically switch to another space when this new “switching” checkbox is turned off. (It’d be nice if the Command-Tab window provided some sort of indication for which apps have open windows in the current space.)

I also ran into an issue specific to web browsers. In the General tab of Safari’s preferences window, you can specify whether links from other applications open in a new Safari window or in a new tab in the frontmost existing Safari window. I had been using the “in a new tab” option. However, with this new Spaces feature, opening a link from another app in a space that has no Safari windows will jump you to the next space that does have one. Ideally, I’d like to see Safari create a new window in the current space in this situation, but as it stands, changing Safari’s preference to open links in a new window is good enough. (This same thing applies to other tabbed web browsers, such as Firefox and Camino.)

In short, if you were happy with the way Spaces worked through 10.5.2, you shouldn’t notice any changes, because the default behavior remains the same in 10.5.3. But if, like me, Spaces drove you nuts by switching between spaces when you only wanted to switch between apps within the current space, give it another shot after turning this new checkbox off. Kudos to the Spaces team.

Lastly, I should mention that I had problems getting this new feature to work at all. After upgrading to 10.5.3 and seeing the Spaces-related changes in the release notes, I tried it out. Toggling the new checkbox made no difference for me, however — I got the same old “jump to another space when switching apps” behavior either way. I solved the problem by trashing my com.apple.dock.plist preferences file (which, since Spaces is controlled by the Dock, is where most Spaces-related prefs seem to be stored). After logging out and logging back in, the new checkbox worked perfectly.

[From ★ Spaces in 10.5.3]

iPhone SDK Anticipated Problems

Matt — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:23:25 +0000

Slash Lane, from AppleInsider, wrote an interesting article detailing some anticipated issues surrounding the recently released beta of the iPhone SDK, allowing developers to get started developing apps that will run on the phone when the 2.0 release of the iPhone software is made publicly available as an update in “June”.

Pangea’s Brian Greenstone says:

My only concern is that everyone and their brother is jumping on the iPhone app bandwagon, so it may make it difficult to market a product when there are a zillion others coming out at the same time.

I think that Brian brings up an excellent point. There will be a ton of apps available relatively close to the iPhone OS v2.0 release, and customers will most likely be flooded with choices and some great apps will be temporarily lost in all the fuss. However, it will be a perfect time for bloggers, such as myself, to create “Top 20 new iPhone Applications” articles.

iPhone SDK Available for Download

Matt — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:15:47 +0000

According to the Apple website, the iPhone/Touch SDK is available for immediate download at Download the SDK.

At this moment, the page isn’t up, but I would imagine it would be available shortly.

Apple Launches Video Tutorial Site

Matt — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:03:05 +0000

The new subsection of the Apple website showcases quite a few impressive video tutorials for those new to the Mac, as well as more experienced Mac users. Take a quick look around, you might learn something!

Found via | AppleInsider

Looking back at MacWorld 2008

Matt — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:16:58 +0000

The MacWorld 2008 keynote has come and gone and now it’s time to look back and see what was released, and more importantly sometimes, what wasn’t. I’ll be taking a look back at my predictions here as well to see how close I came to the mark.

I might as well start off by discussing the single largest announcement during the keynote: the MacBook Air. I personally have been very unimpressed with ultraportable computers in the past and didn’t see Apple trying to get a piece of this market, even though there had been a lot of speculation about a possible release. However, after seeing this beauty, I simply want one.

The MacBook Air is beautifully designed. That’s a good start in and of itself. What gets me excited about this beauty? It weighs just 3lbs vs the 5lbs for my first generation MacBook. The battery life is rated at 5 full hours. The screen is the same 13.3″ widescreen in my MacBook, but it is LED backlit and therefore brighter and quicker to turn on. The keyboard is backlit and the same as the wonderful one found on the MacBook and iMac. Need I say more?

One feature that warrants closer inspection is the larger, multitouch trackpad. I’m immensely curious as to see how well this works and how easy it will be for developers to support this feature in their applications. So far it looks very promising, but I won’t truly know until I play with a MacBook Air myself.

A few problems and concerns I have about this lovely laptop: there is no user replaceable battery. I’m not concerned about having to take the baby in to an Apple Store and getting a new battery in 2 years (I’m hard on batteries, I’m on the computer way too much). What does disappoint me is the fact that carrying around an extra charged battery is no longer an option. That’s my only complaint there. I’m also slightly sad about seeing the optical drive go. I understand that it was a necessary design option, but I would have liked to have seen the $99 Apple External SuperDrive bundled with the computer, not packaged as an optional accessory. And while we’re talking about the external drive, does it strike anyone that for $99 you can get a SuperDrive now? I’m hoping that it works on just a regular USB port and that the one on the MacBook Air isn’t a special powered port. I can see buying one of these as a cheap and wonderful upgrade for older Macs. Or for having a second optical drive on my laptop.

The January iPhone update is fairly disappointing in some respects. If Apple hadn’t have included multiple recipients for SMS messaging, I might have went crazy. However, there is still no MMS support (texting pics or vids), as well as a huge long list I posted in my MacWorld 2008 Wishlist. I’m just disappointed and can only hope that yet another update will make the phone more unusable. And of course the iPhone SDK is exciting in and of itself.

iTunes Movie Rentals is a nice addition, albeit not exactly the scheme I had been hoping for. However, 2.99 for Library title rentals and 3.99 for New Release rentals is very competitive. You have 30 days to begin watching the video and 24 hours after starting to finish it. I wish that the 24 hour window was about a day longer, but I imagine that this was a stretch as it is. Also of note is that the Apple TV is the only way to get HD rentals and they can’t be transferred to your Mac.

There were a few other smaller announcements, such as Time Capsule which is essentially an Airport base station with a built in hard drive for network backups, the updated Apple TV, updated iPod Touch and more. Overall, I don’t see why investors would be upset with the announcements as Apple simply can’t keep topping the previous keynote every time. Looking back at my predictions, there was no updated Mac Mini, Cinema Displays, new Mac PC commercial, or a Leopard Docks area added to the Mac Downloads page.

Anything I miss?

HUD Controls in Leopard

Matt — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:53:36 +0000

So I have finally found about 30 minutes of free time to just have fun with XCode 3, Objective-C 2, Interface Builder 3 and the like all bundled in Leopard. I’m extremely impressed with all the improvements made to the development suite, minus one major shortcoming: HUD Controls.

HUD (Heads Up Display) are those gorgeous black windows that have started popping up all over Mac applications. Especially in iPhoto and Aperture, as well as Pages and more, these beautiful windows serve a specific purpose. Apple went so far as to finally include a HUD window in Interface Builder, so that developers don’t have to use a hacked together version (Interface Designers like uniformity, so it is better when everyone is using the same thing vs 15 different versions of the same window, which is the case now). So, I naturally assumed that Apple also provided HUD versions of buttons, lists, and more, to match this window.

I was wrong.

I can create this nice window with no effort now, but as soon as I place something on it, it looks stupid. The simple screenshots above illustrates the effect. (Also notice the differences in the window itself. See how big of a difference there is just on the lines at the bottom right of the window where you resize? Now imagine that every time I had to write an application, I had to make this from scratch. With all the Mac developers out there, you can imagine that there are lots of variations). I sure hope that Apple fixes this soon and doesn’t wait until 10.6 and a new window style to add this for developers.

iPhone SDK Coming in February

Matt — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:29:55 +0000

So it’s official, Steve Jobs himself has written a note on the Apple website announcing a publicly available SDK for the iPhone and iPod Touch that will be available in February. Jobs lists the reasons for the delay and gives some hints at the possible application delivery method (read: Nokia approved apps are good), so it will be interesting to see what turns up.

I hope that the platform remains open enough that developers are squashed out of the model and that there will still be free applications available. I’m all for keeping my iPhone stable though. Certainly a day to mark on the calendars!

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developersâ€™ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because weâ€™re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at onceâ€”provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phonesâ€”this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than â€œtotally open,â€ we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhoneâ€™s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.

Steve

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]

300+ Leopard Features: The Cool Ones

Matt — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:14:42 +0000

So I was wasting a few minutes in class since Apple has posted all the new features available in Leopard on the website. I just had to post a few of the really cool ones that I haven’t heard of or was just too cool to not post. You can see the entire list on the Apple site here.

# Spring-Loaded Dock
Items in the Dock are spring-loaded. Just drag a file, hover over any application in the Dock, and press the Space bar â€” the application opens instantly. For example, to add a picture to your iPhoto library, just drag the image file and hover over the iPhoto icon in the Dock. Press the Space bar, and once iPhoto opens, you can drag the image into your iPhoto library. If you drag a file and hover over a stack, pressing the Space bar opens a Finder window showing the contents of the stack.

# Workflow Variables in Automator
Automate more productively by creating workflows that can store and retrieve data during execution. Workflow Variables let you use the same information at different steps of the workflow, giving you added functionality and flexibility.

# Scratched Disc Recovery – DVD Player
Smoothly play back even DVDs that may be damaged. New technology in Leopard can locate and avoid scratched areas of the disc.

# Instant Screen Sharing from the Finder
Start an interactive screen sharing session with other Macs on your network. Just select the Mac from your sidebar and (if authorized) you can see and control the Mac as if you were right in front of it. Change a system preference, publish an iPhoto library, or add a new playlist to iTunes.

# Hide Local Video – iChat
Remove the picture-in-picture view from your iChat video conference if you prefer not seeing yourself in the chat. Just select Hide Local Video from the Video menu.

# iChat Hot Key
Bring your iChat window to the front anytime with a dedicated keyboard shortcut.

# PDF Manipulation in Preview
Re-create your PDF as you like. Move individual pages around, or remove pages altogether. You can even combine PDFs with a simple drag and drop.

# Printer Drivers via Software Update
Make sure you always have the latest printer drivers. Download directly to your system using the familiar capabilities of Software Update.

# Dictionary Definitions in Spotlight
Quickly find the definition of any word by entering it in the Spotlight search field.

# Calculations in Spotlight
Find answers fast. Just activate Spotlight and type in a simple or sophisticated equation, and Spotlight will instantly show you the result. Enjoy support for over 40 functions ranging from simple math to logarithms to trigonometry.

# Scroll Non-Active Windows – System
Scroll any open window, even if itâ€™s not active. Simply position your mouse over the target window and scroll.

Leopard Available on Apple Store Online

Matt — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:38:24 +0000

The Apple Online Store was down for service earlier this morning (according to the articles that were in my news feeds) but the store is back up online right now and in the “New to the Store” area, Leopard and Leopard Server are listed.

Preorder today with free delivery on Oct 26th!

iTunes Gift Card a Joke

Matt — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:24:46 +0000

Be warned, I shall rant.

I have an American Express card and have racked up some points over the last few months and thought I might actually redeem them on something in the near future. Since I purchased my iPhone, I have wanted some music videos that are in better quality and might also buy some ringtones if Apple keeps locking out custom ringtones with every iTunes update (separate rant altogether). So, I decided to redeem 5,500 points for a $50 iTunes Card and just entered the code into iTunes to redeem it.

I’m mad.

The first item I knew I wanted was a music video by Rihanna. After clicking the “Buy Video” button, this message appeared.

So, iTunes will only let me purchase songs and iTunes Plus songs. I have $50 of credit in the store, but I can’t apply that to music videos, movies, tv shows, ringtones, or anything else. What good is $50 of songs? It expires in about 11 months, so I might have possibly used 1/2 of it by then….but what the hell Apple? Or is this some kind of weird conspiracy that I should complain to American Express about?

iPod Touch Introduced & iPhone Price Drop

Matt — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:03:03 +0000

Yesterday was a very surprising day in the Apple community for several reasons, not the least for the ugly new iPod Nanos. But I’m skipping ahead of myself.

First off, there were tons of new products introduced that fulfilled many of the rumors circulating the event. The biggest announcement of the day was the new iPod Touch. Basically, it’s a stripped down iPhone, but not in a bad way. The iPod Touch has the wonderful multi-touch screen that displays video and all your media beautifully and because of that is the first ‘full-screen’ iPod, even though there have been rumors about this for years now. The new iPod Touch also features Wi-Fi, letting you browse the web with Safari and download music directly from iTunes via the new iTunes Wi-Fi Store. You can grab one in any color you like, as long as it’s black and there are 8GB and 16GB versions with impressive battery life.

There were also new regular iPods released, albeit re-branded under the iPod Classic name. These new iPods feature interface enhancements, such as CoverFlow, longer battery life and a new all-metal enclosure that seems pretty sexy. The updated iPod Nano is sadly enough the “fatty” circulating the web a few weeks ago. It is smaller and slim, but because of a bigger display to allow the Nano to finally play back video, it looks really fat. The colors aren’t that attractive either, but they may appear better in person. There are also new iPod Shuffles, available in four new colors.

iPhone Update

The iPhone didn’t see a new product release, but is still causing a stir because of yesterday’s keynote. Because Apple released the iPod Touch, with it’s sleek design, built-in Wi-Fi and multi-touch display, Apple lowered the price of the iPhone by 200 USD. So instead of a 4GB version at 499 and a 8GB at 599, the iPhone comes in a 8GB version at 399. Very impressive price dive indeed, just to keep it competitive with the new iPod. However, this led to lots of very unhappy early-adopter iPhone customers and Steve Jobs released a letter to the public today on the reasons for the price cuts and offering 100 USD in Apple Store credit in compensation to the loyal Apple customers. Overall, a very nice way to deal with an angry/adoring public Steve!

On the iPhone note, if you’re thinking about buying one, now is still a good time. I just orded a 4GB version (discontinued) for 299USD. That’s a steal as I’m concerned, and brand new from the Apple Store, not refurbished or anything. So, in about 24 hours I’ll have an iPhone and I’ll be reporting back to everyone shortly.

Read Jobs’ letter to iPhone Customers

Time Machine in iLife 08

Matt — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:55:00 +0000

Not that it’s any major surprise, but I thought that I would share a quick screenshot to remind everyone that Leopard is indeed on its way to us. Read: “An audio preview lets you audition Garageband projects in the Finder, Time Machine, and other applications, but takes longer each time you close a project.”

Just a quick mention of Time Machine, even though this software runs on Tiger.

iStuff ’08 – Apple’s Product Releases

Matt — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:33:13 +0000

Apple released a slew of Mac-related products on August 7 and after using a few of them already, I figured I would take the time to comment on the products themselves, as well as the strategy Apple is taking.

First, the ‘new’ iMac is new.Â Sort of.Â Yes, it has a redesigned keyboard and is now in a very professional, metal casing.Â And the new iMac has a glossy screen, just like the Macbooks.Â And it’s smaller.Â But all in all, this is not the machine I was hoping for.Â Performance-wise, the iMac is just as blazingly fast as ever and is a real competitor to other products out there.Â However, the form factor hasn’t really changed in several years and I was hoping for, and indeed expecting, something radically new that would push the bounds of computing today as we know it.Â I guess we got that with the iPhone and Apple’s designers need a rest for now.

Apple finally released some important software about eight months later than expected, iWork ’08 and iLife ’08.Â We were led to believe that both of these products were pushed back because the software was heavily tied to new features and technologies only available in Leopard.Â With this wee’s release, we now know that this isn’t the case and that leaves me a bit disappointed.Â Let me elaborate.

First, iWork is a mixture of feelings.Â Numbers finally made it’s debut, and a rather strong one at that.Â I have used the software for about 30 minutes and it seems to be a robust and very elegant spreadsheet application.Â Way better than Excel has ever hoped to be.Â But Pages gained only marginal features (read: changes tracking) and poor Keynote just gained some new transitions and templates.Â That’s not really a new release at all folks, who are we kidding?Â UPDATE: Somehow I missed the ‘instant-alpha’ feature, to instantly erase backgrounds from images.Â I haven’t tried this feature out yet.

When reading over the presentation notes, I was initially excited about one announcement in particular.Â iMovie.Â Not because I use iMovie that often, au contraire.Â I was excited because I saw the phrase ‘video library’.Â Jobs was on stage telling viewers that iMovie wasn’t really iMovie anymore, that it had been rewritten from the ground-up based on a new workflow and had gained a horrid icon.Â But I was excited.Â iTunes just isn’t designed to manage my video library.Â And I thought that Apple had finally decided to fill this need with a new iMovie.Â After reading more about the software, I realized that this wasn’t the case at all.Â However, the software does seem promising and takes a new approach to film-editing.

For the other iLife applications, I can’t think of anything to say.Â iTunes saw no update, apparently iTunes is no longer part of iLife in any shape or form.Â iPhoto saw significant updates, using the term ‘event’ quite a lot, but I’m not interested in this update either.Â Garageband gained 24-bit audio support and a live band feature, but nothing as groundbreaking as the previous release with iLife ’06.Â Oh, and iDVD received new themes.

It was exciting initially for Apple to release so many Mac products and let us know that the iPhone and the iPod are important, but not the only thing Apple does.Â However, I feel like a lot was left out of this release at the same time and that projects were stalled and then hurried out the door to make a deadline, with a lot of features left out just to make some marketing buzz.

I’m just a little disappointed, but I’ll let you know more when my copy of iLife ’08 arrives.

QuickTime 7.2 Adds Full Screen Support

Matt — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:50:27 +0000

I, along with numerous other users out there, have complained about the lack of full-screen support in QuickTime player for years now. Especially since iTunes was updated for video support awhile back and you could watch videos in full-screen from iTunes, but not within QuickTime. You had to pay the fee for a QuickTime Pro Key.

Today, that has changed.

Apple previewed Leopard at WWDC 2007 and one of the technologies called QuickLook, makes heavy use of full-screen video support directly from within the Finder. After the WWDC keynote, speculation that Leopard would provide full-screen support without the need to purchase a QuickTime Pro Key arose. With QuickTime 7.2 released today for Tiger, you can finally watch all videos full-screen without the need for a Pro Key.

QuickTime 7.2 addresses critical security issues and delivers:
- Support for full screen viewing in QuickTime Player
- Updates to the H.264 codec
- Numerous bug fixes

QuickTime 7.2 is a free update.Â Check Software Update.

Apple Design Awards

Matt — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:01:22 +0000

Well, the Apple Design awards have been announced for this year.Â Looking through all of them, I’m excited to see that Jan from MacRabbit Software received an award for Best Developer Tool for his work on CSSEdit 2.5.Â This is an amazing piece of software that I just love.Â I know Coda has been well received by the community, but I’m not sure that I agree with Best User Experience.Â I would have liked to have seen Schoolhouse 2 as the winner for best Student Application, but Picturesque is an awesome application as well.Â Read the full list of winners here.

A Look at Leopard

Matt — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:52:17 +0000

Jobs faced a very tough audience this past Monday as he delivered his keynote speech to over 5000 attendees at Appleâ€™s annual World Wide Developers Conference. With the previous announcement of the iPhone and the delay for Leopard, everyone was wondering what Jobs would pull out of his box of tricks this time.

Sadly enough, this WWDC wasn’t quite as exciting as we’d been led to believe. At last year’s conference, I was thrilled with several of these features and spent a week in hands-on sessions learning about the technologies. Therefore, most of this was a repeat for me. I had still held out hope for the "secret" features to be announced. There were a few new features announced, but nothing that blew me away like I was expecting. However, Leopard is a huge release and should thrive for several years. It will really shine once we start seeing applications that are Leopard-only. The possibilities are simply amazing. Letâ€™s discuss some of the finer points of Leopard.

Multicore Support

This is a major improvement for all Intel Mac users. Even first generation Macbook users and all the early Intel adopters should see performance gains in Leopard. Tiger was designed to run on one-core processors, which was fine at the time. However, all Intel Macs have at least 2 cores, with the high-end Mac Pro having 8 all together. Can you see the reasoning here? With Leopard optimized to make the best use of all those cores, and new ways for developers to further improve their programs (read more about NSOperation and NSOperationQueue ), Leopard should see a significant performance improvement.

Safari 3 for Windows

I’m not sure if Safari 3 for Windows is a secret feature of Leopard or not. I’m actually using the beta on Windows right now to write this article and so far it has behaved itself rather nicely. The attention to detail in making Safari for Windows just like Safari on Mac is incredible. Even the contextual menu (right-click) gives you the same options, such as "Save Image to Desktop". I mean, that’s just crazy.

Boot Camp

Most were hoping for Jobs to announce some amazing virtualization technology built right in to Leopard. Iâ€™m rather glad that this approach wasnâ€™t taken for a few reasons. First, there are already two options on the market today: Parallels and VMWare. Parallels has proven they are dedicated to providing new features and constantly improving the software. I love Apple, but if they incorporated virtualization into Leopard, the updates would be few and far between when compared to Parallels. Just check out Parallels new 3.0 release to get what I mean.

What Jobs did tell us is that Boot Camp will allow you to switch between Windows and Leopard faster. Quick example: If you’re in Leopard and need to switch to Windows, be sure to use the Restart in Windows option from the Apple Menu. This will place Leopard into a hibernating state and, if youâ€™ve previously used Windows, should start Windows from where you left off. This will make the process much more relatable to Suspending a virtual machine in Parallels.

New Desktop

The redesigned Desktop is touted as the number one feature for Leopard. However, I donâ€™t see anything revolutionary or amazing about it.

The Menu Bar has a new look. Itâ€™s very comparable to the trashy-translucent taskbar in Vista. Iâ€™m not excited, but Iâ€™ll put my concerns aside until I see it in person.

The Dock has seen a facelift. Your icons now sit on a silver background that reflects any window behind it, making it look 3D. Might look cool, but is that really a feature?

No blue background. Iâ€™m very sad. For me, the Mac experience has always included a new, cool Aqua background with every major release. Jobs explicitly stated that no one ever uses these and itâ€™s a waste of time. I like them Steve!

Anyone else notice that the hard drive icon wasnâ€™t on the Desktop. Very minimalist look.

Stacks. Iâ€™m actually fairly excited about this new feature. Basically, itâ€™s a way to organize your files and preview the contents in a cool new way, without opening a Finder window. This was originally rumored to be included in Panther, then in Tiger, and now in Leopard. Nice to see it finally made it in. All the demos show the stacks being used in the Dock. I wonder if weâ€™ll be able to use them other places. I love the concept, but wonâ€™t use it that much if I have to use them only in the Dock.

EA Games

Not really a feature of Leopard itself, but an important announcement for the Mac anyway. Traditionally, game titles were released for console and PC and then ported over to Mac several months later, if at all. EA announced during the keynote that they are committed to delivering new titles to the Mac alongside the console and PC releases. As time progresses, the Mac should shun its reputation as the â€œnon-gamingâ€ platform.

Core Animation

Remember when I said we would are going to see some awesome applications that are built as Leopard-only? The main reason for that is this technology right here. Core Animation let’s developers create very fluid, interactive, and attractive interfaces with ease. There were several demos of the technology at WWDC last year and I’m sure it’s a main focus this year as well. A quick example was given in Monday’s keynote. If you’ve ever seen the AppleTV intro movie, you’re on the right track. Very cool applications will follow.

Improved Developer Tools

The mac is only as strong as its developers and Apple realizes this. So with Leopard, developers get a XCode 3, sporting tons of new features including refactoring (even in nib files) and function collapsing, XRay for seeing exactly what your app is doing at any time, DTrace, Dashcode for creating widgets, and Interface Builder 3. All of those mentioned are huge updates and improvements, and XRay and Dashcode are new applications all together. XRay will make performance tuning your applications so much easier. I love you Apple!

Back to my Mac

Dot Mac didnâ€™t see any other improvements besides this one feature as far as I can tell. Basically, you enable a setting on all your Macs and those computers talk with the dot Mac service. Then, if youâ€™re on the road with your laptop and realize that you need something off any of your other computers, you fire up the Finder and they appear in the sidebar for you. Works just like youâ€™re on your home network. Details havenâ€™t been released about the service working with firewalls or routers. Iâ€™d imagine an Airport Base Station update might introduce this functionality at a later time.

New Finder

I think everyone was hoping for a new Finder. I personally feel disappointed however. The Finder does have a new interface, but then again, itâ€™s not new. Itâ€™s just iTunes for your files. Coverflow in the Finder looks remotely useful, but Iâ€™m not sure just how much Iâ€™ll use it. The overall appearance seems a little drab, especially if youâ€™re already not a fan of the iTunes 7 look. That look will be everywhere in Leopard. No hiding. It will find you. Also of note is a report that the new Finder is the first one to be scrapped and written in Cocoa. And because of the multitude of updates to Cocoa, including multicore and 64-bit support, performance is drastically improved. At least that part is welcome.

Spaces

Spaces is just Appleâ€™s incarnation of a virtual desktop manager. Granted itâ€™s a very nice one, but still nothing that wasnâ€™t available before Leopard (see Virtue). Spaces will allow you to group application windows in â€œspacesâ€ so you can better organize screen clutter. Itâ€™s a natural extension to Expose and should be very useful.

Quick Look

This new technology is everywhere in Leopard. If you are in the new Finder and want to quickly preview a Word, Excel, PDF, or some other common file, just tap the spacebar and a black translucent window pops up letting you scroll through the document with ease. It will even let you preview pictures and movies in full screen mode. Which raises the question: Will full-screen mode be enabled without Quicktime Pro in Leopard?

Quick Look is a plug-in architecture so developers can easily add support for their applications, just like Spotlight plugins were everywhere after Tigerâ€™s release. This will also allow these documents to work with the Finderâ€™s Cover Flow view. Therefore if OminGroup releases a Quick Look plugin for OmniOutliner, you will be able to quickly preview the file without opening OmniOutlier from right within the Finder and also be able to scroll through the document in Cover Flow view. Pretty cool stuff.

Time Machine

If you havenâ€™t heard of Time Machine by now, youâ€™ve lived in a hole my friend. Basically, this is Appleâ€™s very pretty way of dealing with backup software. You attach an external disc, Leopard asks if you want to enable Time Machine, and from there youâ€™re all set. If youâ€™re ever missing a file, start Time Machine and you get this spacial 3D view of your files and once you locate the old file, you just â€œrecoverâ€ it to the present. Very easy representation and should be accessible to more users as well.

Front Row and DVD Player

These werenâ€™t talked about in the keynote, but are mentioned on the Apple website. Front Row is now like the AppleTV interface. Iâ€™m not quite as excited because I find the current Front Row interface to be superior to the one in the AppleTV, but thatâ€™s the update. DVD player also sports more HUD style windows and several new features for bookmarking playback and more.

Parental Controls

Parental controls have been beefed up in Leopard as well. Now Leopard can filter out websites based on content and parents can set time limits on the computer. The time limits can be based on usage, say a one hour limit, and also for times the child can use the computer. Useful for setting bedtimes and such. Iâ€™m not sure if Vista has anything like this or not.

Photo Booth

If you read the fine print, Photo Booth has seen some updates as well. There are more effects to use on your pictures, backdrops, â€œburstâ€ pictures, and Photo Booth now does video too. The â€œburstâ€ pictures are a quick series of 4 pictures in succession which can be made into an animation. And the fact that Photo Booth does video is just cool. Applying all those effects to your video in a snap will be even more fun at parties!

iChat

iChat has seen some major updates, many of those mentioned above in Photo Booth. Backdrops, like sitting in front of a green-screen, are a touted feature. Photo Booth effects are now supported in iChat as well as tabbed chats to clean up window clutter. iChat Theater is a new technology that lets you share photos, presentations and more in a video chat, just like if you were giving a Keynote presentation in person. Also of note is the following text from the Apple website: â€œChat works with AIM, the largest instant messaging community in the U.S. You and your buddies can be either AIM or .Mac users. Text, audio, and video chat whether your buddies use a Mac or PC. Sign in with your AIM account and all your buddies appear in your iChat buddy listâ€. Does the Tiger version of iChat support video and audio chats with PC users? Iâ€™m pretty sure it doesnâ€™t and this is a very welcome feature!

Conclusion

There are several other features that I didnâ€™t discuss, such as the new Mail and iCal. You can read more on all the features in Leopard here. The Apple website has finally seen a facelift and looks fairly impressive, so check that out as well. If youâ€™re interested, the WWDC keynote is available online and there are several videos and images showing the new applications and features available in Leopard.

Let me know your impressions about Leopard. With only a few months until the release, we are in the final stretch.

A Greener Apple

Matt — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:47:00 +0000

I have to admire Apple for finally confronting the opposition and stating its position on recycling and usage of dangerous materials in its products. This has been one hotly discussed topic in the last few months as other computer manufacturers released information concerning the “green” quality while Apple remained mum about the whole ordeal.

What We Learned

In the press release today, we learned that Apple is a leader in green-friendliness, but just hasn’t been as public as its competitors about it.Â Apple no longer sells CRTs, therefore eliminating most lead from its products.Â LED backlighting for displays is in the works to reduce Arsenic and mainly Mercury found in LCDs today.Â Apple has been shipping PVC-free packaging materials and such for the last 12 years while HP hopes to do that sometime this year.

That’s all very interesting and inspiring, but just company propaganda at the same time.Â It’s nice to know that Apple takes the environment and peer pressure seriously.Â Also note the promise of newer, brighter, “greener” displays in all models by 2008.

Read Press ReleaseÂ

Leopard Delayed Until October

Matt — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 22:41:18 +0000

First words: noooo!

This is a little disappointing for a few reasons. First, it shows that Apple is more dedicated to pushing the iPhone out the door than releasing software for Macs. Clearly stated as:

iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price — we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team

I understand the importance of the iPhone, but I really want Leopard. That initial point made, it’s also worth noting that while Vista debuted in January, a full 5 months before Leopard was originally going to be released, Vista now has a 9 month lead to market. Feature wise and all that, I’m not saying that Vista is in better shape. Just that as a proud Mac user, I can’t tout that Leopard is lightyears ahead of Vista and only a few weeks behind in release.

Overall, I’m sure that it will be worth the extra couple months. It seems that Apple will provide a full unveiling at WWDC this year and distribute more beta builds for testing and then release all that to production soon after. The increased time should allow for a more stable and impressive release.

Found via AppleInsider

New Mac Pros

Matt — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:16:31 +0000

Just thought that I would mention that Apple rolled out some new hardware today. New 8 core and 4 core Mac Pro systems. I can only imagine what an 8core 3Ghz with 16GB of Ram, 3T storage, two super drives, ultimate graphics card and two 30″ displays would be like. Oh, and it costs a mere 370 USD per month my friends. Or, 15,638. Wow….

EMI and Apple Offer DRM-Free Music Starting in May

Matt — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:47:16 +0000

Apple and music label EMI held a press conference this morning and have announced that there will be “premium” music tracks offered on iTunes free of DRM, as well as keeping their current selection online as well. What does this mean?

If you pay the 1.29 for the premium 256kbps AAC DRM-less tracks, you get better sound and aren’t locked into a certain player or iTunes, per se. A huge jump forward in the industry. The 30 cent price increase is simply a shrug of the shoulders in my opinion. And of course you can still get the lower quality (what we have today) with the DRM for the current .99 per song. Also of note is that all music videos from EMI will now be DRM free as well. What a day in history it is!

UPDATE: I don’t know how I missed it when reading the first press release, but it turns out that users will be able to pay a 30 cent upgrade fee to upgrade their previously purchased regular DRM tracks to the new premium ones. Didn’t see any information about limitations on this, but seems to coincide with the Complete My Album feature which debuted last week. Interesting….

MacRumors Coverage here.

Apple Press Release here.

Complete My Album

Matt — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:07:13 +0000

One word: Awesome!

A description as taken from MacRumors:

Did you know that if you’ve purchased one or more songs from an eligible album, you may now be able to buy the rest of the album at a reduced price? You have up to six months after first downloading a song from an eligible album to purchase the remainder of the album.

To expound upon, this is really cool. I fall into this category all too often. I buy the latest and hottest singles as soon as they’re on iTunes after hearing them on the radio. Then a few months later, I sometimes find myself purchasing the album. That isn’t my general case, I’ve only purchased around 6 albums or so from iTunes. But still, it counts. I wish I had know about this earlier in the week because I had purchased 4 songs from Three Days Grace’s first album a few months back. This week I decided to buy the rest of the songs. It was basically the same price to just buy the whole album, and I figured I was supporting my band, so I did that anyway. So I really paid 1.99 for 4 of those songs. And I’ve done that before.

The service works really well actually. Once in the iTunes Store, click the “Complete My Album” link. From there you are shown all the albums you have purchased at least one song from. I have 108 albums listed, shockingly enough. Now I know where my money goes! Of those albums, however, the pricing is listed beside that. Most albums I just bought one song from, and the pricing is 9.00 (9.99 for album – .99 one song). Others I purchased more from and the pricing is lower, like 6.00. I’m not sure if age plays a part in the pricing right now or not either.

Hurry if you believe you’ll want to do this, as right now this offer applies to all the songs you’ve every purchased (some were like 2 years ago or more for me). This lasts until late June, when after that, the offer only applies to songs you’ve purchased in the last 6 months.

iTunes 7.1

Matt — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:24:37 +0000

If you have somehow missed all of the noise behind the iTunes and Quicktime updates this week, here is a bit of info for you. Basically, fire up Software Update or download the updates here. There is a lot of technical reasons to upgrade, but besides adding AppleTV support, there is actually a nice new features in iTunes. CoverFlow has an additional full screen mode now, which is very snazzy. It’s easily responsive on my first gen. Macbook and looks beautiful. Will be a lot of fun to use, so be sure to download the latest iTunes and try it out now.

New Apple Patent for Optical Drive on Ultra-Portables

Matt — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 18:21:12 +0000

Apple likes to patent things, that much is evident by now. Any little thing they come up with, patent it! So, it comes as no surprise that Apple has patented a new place for the optical drive on a laptop. Simply put, as laptops get increasingly smaller in size, one of the biggest components is the optical drive and where to mount it becomes a major problem. Apple has seemed to fix that issue with this patent by placing the drive on the bottom of the device.

This design reminds me a lot of a simple CD player. The lid pops up and you push the disc on, then close it. I know that Apple is just toying with this idea and trying to find a solution to the problem, but I don’t care much for this fix. I love the simple elegance of my slot-load drive. Face it, it’s just freaking cool. You don’t get that with other laptop manufacturers. I wouldn’t want to have to flip the unit over to pop in a disk, and then there is now a part to break off. Just not a good design path, but I’m sure there are people at Apple well aware of all the issues. A point for innovation, but no cigar.

(Sketch taken from Macsimum News)

You can read more about the patent with a lot more description, here.

18 Months of Free Service with Purchase of iPhone

Matt — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 18:14:32 +0000

This is pretty awesome news for everyone who is even remotely excited about the iPhone. Basically, Cingular will supposedly give 18 months of free service to users who purchase an iPhone when they become available. From the article, it sounds like Apple won’t let Cingular do a mad discount on the phone, so Cingular is going to try and lure new customers by giving away service, you just have to buy the phone. Sounds like a pretty cool deal to me. We’ll have to see how this pans out later though.

Read Original Article

iPhone Ringtone!

Matt — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:48:52 +0000

I thought I was geeky, but I have been beat. Many thanks here, I feel much better about myself.

Some guy took an incredible amount of time to extract the iPhone ringtone used during the Macworld 2007 Keynote a few weeks ago. Extracting and cleanup had to take forever to eliminate the sounds of hundreds of people nearly fainting and the fact that the audio quality most likely wasn’t all that great to begin with.

Download iPhone Ringtone.

Visit website to read more.

1.99 Upgrade Fee for 802.11n Ability on Macs

Matt — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:43:48 +0000

The basic news is that Apple has been shipping computers for the last few months that have had the hardware for 802.11n support, but that support was blocked by software. With the new Airport Extreme and Apple TV, 802.11n is now an official Apple technology in their products. However, users will have to pay a small fee, $1.99, to download the software that will enable existing Core 2 Duo Macs to make use of their hardware.

Supposedly this is a required practice because Apple is adding features to products they have already sold and accounted for. So, while the original fee was rumored to be $4.99, Apple has heard our cries quite well and lowered it to 1.99. Still rather expensive, but affordable all the same.

Found via | Mac Rumors

Axiotron ModBook: First Mac Tablet Computer

Matt — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 02:44:13 +0000

Let’s talk about tablets.

I’ve had plenty of experience with Tablet PCs from Gateway while working on campus for tech support. We have setup and delivered several of these units to faculty members over the last year. What I would define a tablet device as is simply the device’s ability to receive input other than traditional ways, such as keyboard, mouse, or speech (even though most of us don’t use this anyway). The Gateway Tablet PCs that I’ve used suck. They are huge, heavy, have an obnoxiously large and deformed battery, the latches on the lid are horrible and it runs Windows. I think that about sums it up.

What are the aspects that I liked about the Tablets I’ve played on? Hand-written input is very appealing for certain tasks and can just plain be fun at times. I’m not sure that I would take notes like that in a class, because I can usually type faster than I write and what I’ve typed is far more legible, editable, and readable at the end. However, Tablets are pretty cool because you can use a pen to provide text-based input and do a few mouse-like actions.

Multi-Touch

The iPhone is beautiful. But before I got lost in the sheer beauty of the device, I was amazed, in love, drooling, almost panting because of the multi-touch display. I’m extremely interested in human-computer interaction ( Computer Scientist in training here ) and this is a wonderful step forward in the evolution between man and machine. The interaction looks so natural, so beautiful. The computer understands basic human actions that make sense at a very low level of our mind. Simply amazing. The double-finger pinch to zoom in and out…..Yeah, I want an iPhone just to do that. But just think what that technology would allow.

ModBook

At Macworld this week, the first Mac based Tablet solution was released, with availability promised in April and base model pricing starting at 2,279. This unit is basically what the name implies, a modded Macbook. This company has removed the screen and inserted a stylus driven screen in it’s place, complete with iSight reinstalled. I’m not sure if the screen swivels to reveal a keyboard, as the pictures online don’t show, but I would surely think so. However, I’m not 100% sure either.

So is this Modbook exciting? If I had seen this before the iPhone, I would have said yes. Inkwell, built into Mac OS X from at least Panther onward, is wonderful hand writing recognition software. I would have said the Modbook was a cool piece of hardware. After iPhone? I have to say I’m not interested in paying for a modded Macbook. I want the entire interface to be alive and waiting for me to just touch it with simple gestures to indicate actions. I want to have iPhoto or Aperture open and to reach out and pinch, flick, drag and tap to do all of my editing. It would be something just like out of a science fiction movie, or a TV show that depicts extremely advanced technology only available to the government.

Where to next?

We have a tablet Mac, although not directly from Apple. We have multi-touch, which will be used in the iPhone and most probably new iPods here shortly. That only leaves actual laptop-like devices to receive this new technology. Am I excited? You bet I am. I would buy something like I described above in a heartbeat. Of course, I would want Leopard installed as well….

What do you think? Do you believe that Apple will roll out new iPhone like iPods in the next few months with possibly a new smaller form-factor multi-touch device to follow? Or do you think that this is all a phase and we will out grow it? Some people are really against tablet-like devices, so your thoughts would be great.

More Pictures and details from Apple Insider about ModBook

New Mac OS X Downloads Page

Matt — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:55:21 +0000

I noticed that the Apple homepage underwent a major change, as it has now finally given into the black that is taking over Apple everywhere. However, I checked the downloads page just now and noticed that this page has seen an update as well. It’s looking pretty cool now, especially compared to what it was beforehand.

Mac OS X Downloads

Brief thoughts on Macworld today

Matt — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:36:00 +0000

Yes, the iPhone looks way cooler than I ever imagined. However, it’s not available till at least June here in the US and will cost so much I won’t be buying one. $500 with a new contract….

Apple TV looks pretty cool, I’ll have to think about this one. The new Airport is really exciting as well, but I don’t have any Core 2 Duo computers at home, my 6 month Macbook won’t benefit, so I won’t be buying one of these until I have an upgrade to my computers at the house.

I’m excited about more movies available on iTunes, that’s always a very cool thing.

Apple Computer, Inc = Apple, Inc. A time has ended my friends. Apple is no longer a computer company, but a consumer electronics company that somehow manages to make computers on the side.

No Leopard preview at all!?!?!?

No iLife or iWork updates. Very odd. All in all, I guess this was exciting, but nothing is shipping right now or is out of my price range, so just another day for me. I wanted more Leopard buzz…..

Leopard Build 9a321

Matt — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:38:40 +0000

AppleInsider has some more details about the latest build of Leopard and I thought I would bring forth a bit more information to those.

The feature that has been in the news the most in the last few days is the addition of ZFS support in Leopard. For those that really don’t care about filesystems (me included for the most part), should you be excited? My short answer: no. To the end user, some stuff will certainly change for the better, but it won’t be like you’ll install Leopard by formatting your Mac with ZFS and all of your worries will disappear. The addition of ZFS might enable some really cool features to be added to applications and the OS itself later (sorta like Time Machine), but for Leoarpd’s initial release, I really don’t see it being anything that exciting.

A few other notes about this latest release include update builds of Quicktime sporting the HUD-style Inspector windows (see my previous post my thoughts on this matter), updated screen saver options, more parental control options and updates to the Quick Look feature in the Finder, where you can preview files in a cute little window instead of having to open up an application to do this.

Overall, I haven’t had the change to play with any version of Leopard since I received my WWDC copy without updates, so I’m not really sure how the progress is going. Of note in the article, the author doesn’t feel like Apple will be able to deliver a production release of Leopard at MacWorld in January. This is a little disappointing, but at the same time I’d rather Apple spend the little extra time needed to deliver a stable and well-rounded product than try and rush something out the door to compete with a buggy initial release of Vista.

Found via | AppleInsider

Digg Comments

Matt — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 02:58:46 +0000

I get a lot of my news from digg, sadly enough. One of the things that I find so funny sometimes is the comments after each article. These comments get heated very quickly and the argument I love most is the guys who complain about Apple stories. Let me elaborate.

e2superman says: Digg is a bitch. They are complete apple fanboys themselves. Note the Apple Section and lack of Microsoft Section. That about sums it up. Digg loves Microsoft bashing.

Great. So you hate reading about Apple stories, yet you take the time to leave comments on one. Makes complete sense in a way, but aren’t you complaining to the wrong group of people at that point?

MisterCookie says: Good. After they try the overpriced piece of shit that is Apple products, maybe they’ll appreciate Windows or Linux more.

There were other comments in between these two, but basically it’s a back and forth anti-Microsoft, anti-Apple related stuff. I mean, I dislike using a PC, but I don’t go around using foul language and talking bad about their products. I’m intelligent enough to have an informed conversation with someone over the pros/cons of both platforms and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter whether MSFTdaBomb38 thinks that Apple products are horrible or not.

Bottom line? Just how childish is this? If the hardcore Windows users are so fed up with the amount of Apple-related content that is on digg (and there is enough to keep me reading, otherwise I would move on) why don’t they create their own Windows-centric kinda place and be happy there together? Just my thoughts…

You can read the comments and digg the article I’m referring to here.

Leopard iChat Answering Machine

Matt — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:35:59 +0000

In the latest seed of Leopard there is a new feature for recording video greeting to be played when someone tries to contact you and you are away. Then that person can leave you a message. I’m not sure how useful this could be, but sounds like it would be cool. A pic taken from MacRumors is below.

Found via | MacRumors

Killer iTunes Download Speeds

Matt — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 16:54:14 +0000

I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced superior download speeds in the last few days when downloading from the iTunes Store. I purchased a few songs that downloaded in just a couple seconds and then purchased last weeks episode of CSI and it downloaded in just a couple minutes. I looked a the progress bar to see how fast it was going and it was almost finished, I was astonished. Just to prove that I wasn’t lying, below is a picture of Activity Monitor showing a download speed of 759kbs. Not too shabby at all my friend.

Interview with Steve Jobs

Matt — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 04:57:06 +0000

I believe that I found this off of digg, so don’t get upset for me regurgitating news. However, it’s a really nice interview, not the standard boring ones, so head on over to the site and read it!

The actual site itself is down from the traffic, but you can catch the mirror below.

Read the interview here.

Apple Gets Rid of Justin Long for Mac Commercials

Matt — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:44:52 +0000

I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed with this decision from Apple. For those that don’t know, I’m a huge fan of this latest round of Apple commercials. These are far better than the switcher ads and other stuff previously and really gets the point across about just how great the Mac really is. I think that Justin comes across as a really likable, hip Mac. I had no idea that evidently there were so many people out there that liked the PC guy better. I mean, he just comes off as a loser to me. Maybe I’m entertaining the thought that I’m somehow cool because I use a Mac, but that’s how I look at it. I see the Mac community as superior in most respects to the rest of the computing community for various reasons and Justin just personified that for me. To get rid of him and to continue this current line of advertisements just seems like a very stupid decision. I guess I could be wrong and I’ll be the first to admit if the next generation of Apple commercials are still awesome and as easy to fall in love with. However, I’m just voicing my concern that I think Apple has made a big mistake and should have tried to keep the hip and cool Mac guy. Geeky isn’t the new cool. It won’t ever be.

Found via | Fresh Intelligence

First Experience with Genius Bar

Matt — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:50:55 +0000

Up until just a few days ago, I haven’t had any serious problems with a Mac that have required me to take the unit in for professional attention. That doesn’t mean that I’ve had a trouble free computing experience, just that I’m pretty good at troubleshooting and know how to find information on the internet.

I was using my Macbook Friday night when it suddenly just froze up. I waited awhile and couldn’t get any response from the unit, so I held the power button down until it turned off and then tried to restart it. I waited for what seemed forever and didn’t get past the white startup screen (before the Apple logo however) so I powered off and tried again. No luck. I tried one more time, but this time left the unit alone for about 5 minutes. When I came back I had the blinking question mark over the folder. No System folder found. Just great.

I read around on the internet some for suggestions. I tried resetting the PRAM. I tried resetting the PMU. I meditated. Finally I booted off my Restore DVD and went into Disk Utility. The harddrive didn’t even show up there at all, so I couldn’t verify or repair the disk. I used Terminal and didn’t see it mounted at all in /dev, so I was getting wary about the actual health of the disc by then.

I finally got fed up and just went and booted into Leopard off of my external hard drive and messed around more in there. I was hoping to find a way to grab some data off of the drive because I had been coding an application for a class and was at about 600 lines of code when the thing died. I was out of luck as I couldn’t even mount the drive. I was going to try and hook it up some other way (I have a IDE to USB and laptop IDE to USB cable tucked away for just the emergencies) but I forgot that this is a serial drive. So, I just decided to work off of Leopard for the rest of the night and pray I didn’t have a power outage and then go to the Apple Store in the morning.

The guy at the counter was really nice and let me talk first before interrupting me and asking me questions that I was telling him the answers to begin with. He was very knowledgeable and made me feel respected and that is a big thing for me. I spent a lot of time Friday night trying to work the problem out myself. If I had went into the store and the guy had cut me off short and then did all the stuff that I did to come back 45 minutes later and inform me that the drive was physically bad, I would have been upset. Not the case however. The nice Mac Genius listened and then said, “Sure sounds like the drive is bad.” He then offered to try to get the drive to mount in another laptop just to make sure it wasn’t my laptop’s serial connection or anything internally, which pleased me because he wasn’t taking any shortcuts.

After affirming the drive was indeed dead, he offered to replace it if he had one in stock. I was about to get upset at this point because I needed my Macbook back ASAP so I could code that afternoon and couldn’t afford to wait any longer. Thankfully he had another hard drive in stock and replaced it quickly. We then booted the Mac off of a firewire drive with Tiger installed just to make sure my Macbook read the drive okay, I signed a warranty paper, and I was out the door.

Overall this had potential to be a very nasty experience. I wished that I could have retrieved some data off of the drive (I had made a backup of stuff on Monday of that week, so I wasn’t out that much) but the time to get the drive processed wasn’t worth the effort as I wouldn’t need anything off of it by then. I’m also not sure if there would have been a fee involved or not. I wonder…

I’m glad to have my Macbook back up and running and I have to say that I’m very pleased with the service I received at the Apple Store. Too bad I they turned me down for a Mac Specialist position, I would have been very happy working there!

Interview with Disco Developer Austin Sarner

Matt — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:56:27 +0000

It was just a weeks ago that I had set down with my private beta copy of Disco, the new disc authoring app that has taken the Mac community by storm. Overall the application is very nice and seems to earn its keep. All of the bugs aren’t worked out of it just yet because it is still beta, but it’s a nice piece of software that clearly shows just how much work went into the project and will surely be one of those apps that Mac users keep around in their Applications folder. You can listen to my initial impression of Disco here.

What better way to learn more about Disco then talk to one of the guys from the Disco team, Austin Sarner!

Me: How long have you been using a Mac?

Austin: I’ve actually only been using Macs for about 5 years now.

Me: What was your first Mac?

Austin: A Titanium iBook, 1 Ghz.

Me: What is your current hardware setup?

Austin: MacBook Pro with a 23″ Cinema display

Me: What kind of educational experience have you had?

Austin: I have just finished up high school and I’m looking into going back to school down the road. Not sure what I’ll major in, but definitely something non-computer related.

Me: How long have you been developing on the Mac?

Austin: I’ve been developing since a few months after I got my first Mac, starting with AppleScript, then RealBasic, and now Cocoa.

Me: Do you have any other software that I’ve missed and should know about?

I’ve worked on a handful of other shareware and freeware apps in the past, most of which aren’t worth mentioning. AppZapper is my other significant project alongside Disco.

Me: What are you most excited about in terms of developer technologies to debut in Leopard?

Austin: Without breaking our WWDC NDA, I can safely say that Leopard so far appears to be a very developer centric release. There are plenty of new technologies that will allow us to take advantage of some pretty advanced UI functionality with little effort.

Me: Who is on your team and what is everyone’s main focus?

Austin: Our team is made up of Jasper Hauser, Brian Ball, and I. Brian handles the crazy marketing promotions, Jasper designs the pretty graphics, and I code it up. Together, Jasper and I design the workflow and interaction and also handle the blog.

Me: Who came up with the original idea for the app?

Austin: I originally had the idea to make a simple disc copying app. We started with that and things just kind of evolved.

Me: How long has the project been underway?

Austin: We’ve been working on Disco since late June.

Me: What features are you hoping to put tin the final 1.0 release that we haven’t seen in the beta so far?

Austin: For the most part, the beta is feature complete.

Me: What are your future plans for Disco?

Austin: We have quite a few cool features in the works. Things like Discography and Spandex push the boundaries of what you would associate with a burning app.

Overall, Disco is not a direct Toast competitor. We’re out to make a real disc burning app for real people and appeal to the actual user in every way possible.

Well, there you have it. Seems like Austin and Jasper make an amazing team and I’m excited to see what else they come up with not only with Disco, but for the Mac community in the coming years.

If you are interested in grabbing your own free trial copy of the Disco beta, you can check out the Disco website here for more info with introductory pricing starting at just 14.95 USD.
Also of note is the newly launched website created by theMacNurse called Mac App A Day which promises to have copies of some of Austin Sarner’s apps as part of their giveaway, so be on the lookout for those and more awesome Mac shareware applications for free on that website starting December 1.

Cocoa Dev Central Gets Beautiful Site Update

Matt — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:11:01 +0000

The great website for all kinds of useful information about Cocoa has seen an update to the site. The older design was still nice, but the new one is a huge difference and strikingly gorgeous. Cocoa Dev Central is Leopard ready

read more | digg story

Macbook Pros See Core 2 Duo

Matt — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:11:32 +0000

Just because I like to blog about all the latest and greatest, Apple did in fact bring out Core 2 Duo based Macbook Pros today. The rumors had been circulating but I didn’t really expect it so soon. Nice to be surprised like this though. Impressive specs and a great price. I just love my Mac!!

WWDC 2006 Session Videos Available on iTunes for Attendees

Matt — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:27:50 +0000

I received this email from the ADC team today, so it’s super exciting that I now have access to all of the presentations that I attended and even the ones that I had to miss because I had to choose between some great ones in the end. The source code and all the example stuff that we were promised from many of the sessions is available online if you log in to your ADC area and use the Leopard area of the site. Very nice addition indeed.

Visit ADC site to login and get your WWDC videos here.

Apple Shipped iPods with Windows Virus

Matt — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:54:22 +0000

This is extremely bad stuff for marketing and PR, but Apple sure enough shipped some Video iPods after Sept 12 of this year with the Windows virus RavMonE.exe virus. You can read more here.

More Funny Apple Ads

Matt — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:34:31 +0000

I’ve started to really enjoy the ads that Apple is turning out nowadays simply because they are so humorous. Apple rolled out three more today and they’re all pretty funny, but the one where PC tries to make a home movie and we see his version next to the one that the Mac guy makes, it’s just priceless. Someone hit gold with this marketing strategy as far as I’m concerned.

Watch the videos here.

My Mac is Sick

Matt — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 14:22:31 +0000

I’ve had a whole mess of problems here lately and I’m sitting here right now really frustrated.Â The biggest problem being that for some reason, whether a software update or the beginnings of the dreaded macbook shutdown problem, my Macbook has just started dying.Â This usually isn’t the case unless the battery starts getting low.Â At about 50 minutes remaining, instead of even getting close to giving me a low battery warning like it has done in the past, it just dies.Â No hibernating, sleeping, nothing, just a cold stop.

I’ve lost a bit of data because of this and it’s getting on my nerves.Â As long as I watch the battery and don’t let it get below the 1 hour mark, I seem to be just fine.Â However, I’d like to know what has made the computer just recently start this.Â I guess it’s time to try and maybe reset the PMU and if that doesn’t work, off to the Apple Store and my local Genius Bar.Â Yeah (sarcasm).

Other problem that is aggravating me is my upgrade to XCode 2.4.Â I was able to use the app just fine for one night, then the computer died because of low battery life, and now I can’t get the app to run at all.Â The only thing that I can find that won’t hang the app is using the “About” box, everything else, opening projects, reading text files, just messing with the Preferences, locks it up cold turkey.Â I installed this release off of my September Developer DVD, so right now I’m at the library using the campus bandwidth to download the almost 1 gig disk image and see if a reinstall with this one helps.

Last little bit of complaining is totally unrelated to my Mac, but we’ve been without power since about 7pm last night when a storm took out our side of the street (about 7 houses total).Â I went to bed early and didn’t get anything accomplished, so I came down to school early this morning to get some work done.Â Haven’t heard anything from the power company and no one has showed up as of 10:15 this morning.Â I know the people have lives, so I wasn’t really upset when they didn’t show up during the night or anything, but at 10:15 in the morning, the work day has already started a few hours ago.Â Only thing I can assume is that there must be other places that lost power that were a larger area than us.Â I hope it’s on when I go home today, or I’m never going to get anything accomplished.

10.4.8 Update Available

Matt — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:21:19 +0000

The 10.4.8 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

- connecting to wireless networks using the EAP-FAST protocol
- Apple USB modem reliability
- using OpenType fonts in Microsoft Word
- compatibility with 3rd party USB hubs
- scanner performance
- RAW camera support
- printing documents with Asian language names
- performance of the Translation widget
- broadband network performance
- security updates

Check Software Update to grab the download.Â It’s a whopping 211Mb for Intel users.

.Mac Mail Update Soon

Matt — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:18:48 +0000

I was pretty excited to see the news for this even though I’m not a .Mac subscriber and despise webmail for the most part. If anyone was going to do webmail right (GMail users don’t start in on me) then it would be Apple. The interface looks almost exactly like Mail.app and sports some really cool features to be a web based application. There is a preview page up right now so you can learn more info. It looks very cool and seems to be a nice use of Ajax as well. I’m wondering if storage updates will be accompanying this as well?

View new .Mac webmail here.

Aperture 1.5 Update

Matt — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:23:41 +0000

I haven’t had the change to really use this application and wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway since I’m clueless when it comes to photography, but I thought it was worth mentioning of the significant update simply because there is always a lot of drama surrounding this app and the fact that I am in love with the interface so much.Â I love charcoal HUD windows and such!!

Â Aperture homepage

iPod Nano Pictures

Matt — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:32:07 +0000

Well, I’m not going into an all out review here, but I went out and bought a new green Nano as a treat for myself earlier this afternoon. Have to say that the black was a very tempting choice, if it wasn’t the same price as a 30Gb Video. I’m not that stupid, Apple.

The new Nano comes in a very nice little package and reminds me very much of my Mini. Almost too much in fact, I feel like we’ve went backwards in design a bit. But anyway, it’s a nice and solid unit with a great screen and audio quality. Can you tell I like green? Read the rest of the entry to see more than this first pic.

iTunes 7 Is Amazing

Matt — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:49:53 +0000

Well, I just finished installing and playing around with iTunes 7 and let me tell you that it is amazing! The interface is absolutely wonderful. I mean, this is great! The icons are gorgeous (except for the main app icon that was changed, reminds me of the older 10.1 iTunes icon) the iTunes Store has seen a major upgrade, everthing is just great. The views are also a nice touch. There are tons of features that I didn’t even hear about and only saw on the website.

Your Library is now divided, quite nicely, into Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, etc and it’s wonderful! Even the default view for the TV Shows makes sense now.

The Cover Flow view is simply a nice touch…(cough, cough…where are the developers of that application now I wonder?)

Even the Mini-store sports some nice updates that keep it in touch with the new look of the store itself.

Another very cool feature that I’ve wanted was the ability for iTunes to download new TV Show episodes for you as they become available. Buy a season pass, and there is now an option that will “Automatically download pre-purchased content” for you. Nice.

UPDATE: I just had to add that Apple has addressed the TV Show bug so that you can now view your TV shows on your iPod and with Front Row.Â They also added more info in the Get Info area just for TV shows, which is really nice.Â And controls for full-screen playback!

New Products

Matt — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:26:02 +0000

In case you haven’t heard about all the cool stuff that was announced today, Apple released a new version of the iPod Shuffle, new higher capacity and more colorful Nanos, and some cooler Video iPods. The expected films in the iTunes Store were announced as well as iTunes 7, which looks like a major upgrade already. And the much talked about iTV or iHome product so you can stream video, pictures and more from your Mac or PC to your TV was also released. Everything we heard except for the lovely iPhone rumors.

Everything is available today except for the wireless device.

It’s Showtime

Matt — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 13:12:16 +0000

There are several rumors surrounding today’s event, the biggest of which being the addition of movie downloads to the music store. I was downloading an episode of Eureka (a great TV show from Sci-Fi) last night and when I took a look to see if it had finished, I had received an error message about my download telling me to try again. Checking for purchases got me the following message box from the iTMS. Enjoy.

Checking out the store itself results in a black window like the one below

New iMacs and Mac Mini

Matt — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:17:54 +0000

I just thought that I would throw in my two cents on my feelings about the new iMacs. The specs on these things are amazing, especially when you consider the price. They make me want a desktop now more than ever and the 2000 dollar one with the built in 24″ display makes my mouth water. I can’t wait to get to my nearest Apple Store and see it first hand!

All are impressive machines and the 24″ model has some extra goodies like a better viewing angle on the display, a better graphics card, Firewire 800 and 24 watt built-in speakers (as opposed to 12 watt, I wonder if they really sound that much better?).

A killer machine and the 17″ model looks like a good place to start looking for a replacement for my mom’s aging 1.8Ghz P4 Dell machine from a few years back. The Mac mini is of course a good choice as well, but for the extra couple hundred bucks, this thing rocks.

Oh, and we now have all of our desktop machines (except for the Mac Mini) over to 64 bit processors. I just thought that was cool.

Exciting Rumor Roundup

Matt — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:39:23 +0000

So I expect that most people that check in here are pretty well aware of what’s going in the Mac community. However, this post over at AppleInsider gives me goose bumps with excitement. New high-capicity iPod Nanos, video-streaming AirPort Express stations, movie downloads via the iTMS, 23″ HD Core 2 Duo based iMacs…..wow, if we even get a few of those on the September 12th date we will be lucky.

Read article from AppleInsider here.

CrossOver and Boot Camp Review

Matt — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 15:05:20 +0000

The ability to use Windows application on the new Intel Macs is a great marketing strategy and buying point for several switchers now. There are several solutions available now and I go into some detail about the latest one to hit the market by Codeweavers in this episode.

Codeweavers CrossOver for Mac is still a beta release. However, it seems to be a solid beta release and with the promise of new features to be added and more applications to be officially supported by the time we see a final release, this product looks like it will shape up to be a serious contender in the growing Windows virtualization sector of the Mac software community.

Essentially, you can get most of the same basic functionality of this product for free from an open-source project called Darwine, which is a port from the Linux project WINE for Mac OS X. I have tried using Darwine before, including using this same application, but I wasn’t sucsessful in getting it working. So, my experience with CrossOver for Mac was much better, but the open-source alternative (on which CrossOver is based) is available if you’re a tinkerer.

CrossOver and Darwine are described as a Windows API compatibility layer on top of the host OS. What makes this solution different from a complete virtualization solution like Parallels Desktop is that instead of having to run a full OS, like Windows XP, with all it’s services and processes, you are just going to be running the application. CrossOver will fool the application, in our case DVD Shrink, to believe that it is running on a Windows 2000 installation, and with a very few small exceptions, it runs withtout a glitch right beside all of our other Mac OS X applications. That being said, this is the holy grail in some respects, but the worst thing to happen for Mac developers in others (think “Let’s just write Windows software, they can always just run that on a Mac with CrossOver….”).

CrossOver for Mac

So let’s get started using DVD Shrink for Windows on our Mac! ~~Of importance in this tutorial is the fact that you don’t have to have an Intel Mac to get this working as far as I can tell, although I haven’t tested it on a PPC one yet.~~ (I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking here.Â Yes, WINE ran just fine on Linux, but it was Linux x86, not Linux for PPC.Â Therefore, CrossOver is for Intel Macs only, although I can’t find that on their website easily.Â First, you’re going to need to download and copy the CrossOver application to your Applications folder (or where you keep your apps). Download CrossOver Beta 1 here. Now, fire up CrossOver for the first time. You’re going to get a box begging for financing everytime you launch the app, register if you wish to support the effort and get in on lower intro pricing (like what Parallels did). If not, just click “Continue”.

Now we need to install a piece of software. We’re going to be working with a program for Windows called DVD Shrink. This piece of software lets you take a DVD that is larger than the standard 4.7GB and shrink it to fit on that size disc, allowing you to make a backup copy of a commercial DVD. (NOTE: I do not condone or suggest that you use this tuturial as a way to break the law. Only copy or backup DVDs that you own and don’t distribute those). You can download DVD Shrink 3.2 here.

Once you have downloaded DVD Shrink, you need to unzip the zip archive. You will now see a program labeled “dvdshrink32setup.exe” on your Desktop with an icon with some gears and the CrossOver logo. If you double-click this, it should launch CrossOver, even if the program isn’t currently running. However, I recommend (just because I haven’t tested installing something that way) to go through the “Install Software” feature inside of CrossOver. Use the “Configure > Install Software” feature to bring up a window like the one below. The list of supported software isn’t very long (there is an online list as well that you can talk with other people about your experiences with a certain piece of software), so we’re going to use the “Install Unsupported Software” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the window.

Click “Continue” in the next window. The next window is informing you that installing software that isn’t officially supported has a good chance of messing up what you already have installed and working. If you follow the suggestions, then you can create a new “bottle” which is essentially a little container where your application thinks it’s running in Windows. For this tutorial I haven’t installed anything before, so I had to create a new bottle to start with. It’s up to your discretion whether you’d want to keep using different bottles for every program or not. I’m not sure what the effects on hard drive space and the like would be.

The next window that appears lets you choose the installer that you’re going to use. This is the “dvdshrink32setup.exe” file that we unzipped on our Desktop. Choose the left option in the window and then browse to that file and click “Continue”. From there it will launch the actual DVD Shrink install program for you to install with. Use all of the default options until you are finished with the installer.

Once you have that installed, go back into CrossOver and go to your “Programs > DVD Shrink > DVD Shrink” menu to start the program that we just installed. It will launch the program and then we can get started backing up a DVD. I won’t go into much detail here because there are numerous tutorials available on the net about using DVD Shrink. Use Google and find those. I’ll mention just a few quirks with the program here because they are related to CrossOver and the Mac.

You won’t be able to access the disc itself in this program. CrossOver doesn’t let the program see the physical drive itself. This being said, you won’t be able to use the built-in burn functionality either. You’re going to need some free hard drive space to get this accomplished because we’re going to be copying the entire DVD uncompressed to you hard drive (from 4.7 up to almost 9GB in some cases), then we’re going to encode it in DVD Shrink (I’m assuming that takes up some space somewhere) and then we’re going to create another 4.7GB disc image.

To access your DVD, you’re going to need an application that will “rip” the DVD to your hard drive. There are a few solutions available for Mac, the most used being MacTheRipper. (I’m not linking to that here for copyright violation issues. However, you can find it on VersionTracker or MacUpdate). Rip your DVD to your hard drive and it will create a folder with the name of your DVD and in that it will have a “Video_TS” folder. That’s all good. (Recommend placing this on your Desktop as it will make locating it easier later).
Now, back in DVD Shrink, we need to open up the DVD we just ripped to the hard drive. Click the “Open Files” button back in DVD Shrink and we’ll have to browse for the “Video_TS” folder that we just ripped to the drive. If you placed this on your Desktop, you can use the “My Mac Desktop” folder in the file browser for easy access. If not, finding it is going to be a pain. Your hard drive shows up a few different ways in the browser (Your home folder as well as the root of the drive) and if you have stored it on an external disc, you would have to use the “/” and then “Volumes” to be able to find the name of your disc. This is very confusing for some Mac users because they have never seen folders with that name before. If you’re interested in why you are seeing that, read more up on Unix and it’s underpinnings in Mac OS X.

Now that we have sucsessfully opened our DVD, you can change a bunch of settings to tweak the compression on your extras, languages, submenus and more. You want the whole bar across the top to be green, saying that it will fit onto one disc just fine. Once that is done, we’re going to want to “Backup” our DVD. After clicking the “Backup” button, you have a couple options to save our work. You can either save it as a Disc Image which we can later simply burn to a DVD using Disk Utility, or you can save it to a folder, which will create another Video_TS folder, which you would need something like Toast, or LiquidCD (which is very nice and free, I’ll be talking about it in another episode) to be able to burn to DVD.

With whatever option you choose, you now have a working version of the disc you started out with, except that you have it on a smaller, regular DVD now. If you’re confused about how to burn a disc image using Disk Utility, you need to open Disk Utility (Applications/Utlities) and open an image from the “File” menu. Then select that image in the left-hand pane and click the “Burn” button to burn the image. You can also do this with several other applications, but this is an easy way as well.

I hope that everyone has had sucsess with DVD Shrink and can now sit back in wonder at what you’ve accomplished. Be sure to send me emails and talk to me on AIM if you have any questions about the topic and I’ll get back to you shortly. Also, if you found this article helpful, be sure to click the big “Digg This” button at the bottom of the page so that we can share this info with others.

Boot Camp

I was originally going to do an indepth review of Boot Camp here as well, but after looking around the net for awhile, I realized that there is already several hours worth of reading available for people to read. That said, I was pretty impressed with the painlessness of the whole process and I didn’t have any problems getting Windows XP SP2 installed on my Macbook. My whole obsession with this started because I was going to place and boot XP from my external USB drive, but not having time to get this accomplished right now, I settled for trying this out. If you have a need for better video and graphics support (such as games!!) than what Parallels provides, than this is a pretty cool solution. It’s also free and will be bundled in with Leopard itself when that finally launches. Key thing to remember is to just backup your data before you get started, and that you can’t use any disc except a full install, no upgrade discs.

CodeWeavers Releases Crossover Beta

Matt — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 20:28:53 +0000

There are more and more solutions for using Windows and Windows applications on new Intel Macs, some of those springing up seemingly almost monthly. The biggest solutions at the moment are the virtualization method (Parallel’s Workstation) that runs a compelete version of Windows on your Mac, inside of the Mac OS itself. The other is Boot Camp, provided by Apple, where you actually install Windows (XP SP2) on your computer and use that.

This other alternative is wonderful, depeneding how good they get it working. If you come from a Linux background, you’ve heard of WINE, or possibly CrossOver Office. Basically, these projects and products allow you to run certain Windows applications on Linux without having to go through the complete hassle of having Windows itself. So, Codeweavers is giving out a free 60 day trial of their software, just mind you it’s still a beta. My copy is downloading right now and I’ll report back shortly after I try a few apps with it, and of course some games!

Get CrossOver for Mac here.

3 New Mac Ads

Matt — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 01:26:51 +0000

Always nice to have new and funny commercials. This one isn’t the best of the bunch, but I like the fact that PC is in a wheelchair because of his powercord incident. Funny, I just imagined him to be a desktop…..

Found via One Digital Life

List of Mac OS Error Codes

Matt — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:45:53 +0000

I just ran across a complete list of those pesky Mac OS error codes and thought that I would share. Turns out that error code -36 is just an I/O Error. Go figure….

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=9805

There are links at the bottom of this page to get the rest of the codes. Pretty helpful article actually.

Notebook Batteries

Matt — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:48:57 +0000

I’m hoping that there is someone out there reading who is a bit more knowlegable on this matter than me.Â Question being, exactly how hard is it to design and produce a notebook battery that you don’t have to recall?

Apple is constantly recalling batteries from previous generation laptops, with the FCC just clearing the 15″ Macbook Pro batteries today.Â Dell is constantly recalling batteries and reports of one burning down a guy’s house circulated the net a few days back.

So, how hard is it to build a battery that doesn’t explode?Â Just food for thought.

WWDC 2006 and Leopard Preview

Matt — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 20:14:55 +0000

Well, I figured that everyone would want to know a little about what went on at WWDC this year (what I can legally tell) and that I’d fill everyone in on some of the key features of Leopard and how they’ve held up so far these past weeks weeks that I’ve been playing with the preview release. Music this week is “Miss Murder” by AFI.

Playing with Leopard

Matt — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:00:26 +0000

I just figured that I would give everyone a taste of what Leopard has been like for me in the past 12 hours or so, what I can legally talk about, that is.

First off, this is going to be a major upgrade from Tiger. There is all kinds of goodies that are under the hood that when applications start rolling out that take advantage of these technologies, end users are just going to be so much happier. Developers are pretty happy right now too.

So for the things that I can talk about, and elaborate on what you’ve heard all about so far.

Time Machine. This is a major innovation when you stop and think about it. Backing up your software and system isn’t a new idea, but the way that Apple has chosen to implement it is quite astounding and revolutionary. Basically, you can use Time Machine to back up your entire system, with some few tweaks for excluding stuff you don’t want backed up. That’s the only thing that Time Machine has in common with regular backup solutions of the past, however. Time Machine provides a really cool interface for locating files that you have deleted in the past. So, if you open a Finder window and see that you’re missing “foo.txt”, you can fire up Time Machine, you enter a cool 3D space view, and you can fly back day by day until you see your file. Then, you just hit the recover button to bring it back into the present, you exit Time Machine, and you’re all set!

Mail 3.0 brings some interesting features, especially if you spend a lot of time in the app. Mail now supports stationary, so you can easily create impressive emails and send out to friends. There is a system-wide To-Do system that both Mail and iCal tie into, allowing developers to be more creative in the future and tie into it as well. Mail is also a decent RSS reader and supports Notes as well.

iChat 4.0 packs quite a punch. This app now provides support for animated buddy icons, sports a new interface, and provides support for goodies such as Photo Booth effects and backgrounds, both video and images.

Spaces is another feature built into the OS this year that will kill yet another small developer. Applications like Virtue and Desktop Manager have been available on the Mac platform to allow users more room to work with. Expose was a step in the right direction a few years ago, but Apple has introduced a full multiple desktop manager into the OS called Spaces. You can configure this for several individual desktops and it works wonderfully. You can use Expose when you zoom out and see all of the spaces, so that you can see all the windows in each desktop and you can even drag windows from one space to another, a very, very cool feature.

There are several other new features demoed in Leopard during Steve Jobs’ Keynote address here at WWDC yesterday, so be sure to head on over to the Apple website and look at the Leopard Preview here to learn more about the technologies!

On a more personal note, this is a beta release and there are a few things that have bothered me enough that I’ll mention them here. First off, the feature that I love most about my Macbook might even be the ability to tap with both fingers and have that act as a ctrl-click. Yep, that’s not working right now. Spotlight is very, very, very fast for launching applications now, thank goodness! However, this will hurt the wonderful app Quicksilver some in the future. It’s not a replacement, but it does cover the basics.

Leaving for WWDC

Matt — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 02:07:42 +0000

I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m leaving for San Francisco in the next day, so with all the packing and last minute lose-ends to tie up, I won’t be making any more posts until I’m actually in SF and living the good life. Wish me a safe trip, and I hope to meet some people there. Check back on the site for some impressions of SF and just general stuff about the conference, what I can legally post, anyway. Don’t expect live coverage or the like, I’m going to be immersing myself in the keynote and conference. Also note no podcast for the next two weeks.

Apple Does Away with Apple Discussion Moderators

Matt — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:34:17 +0000

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has officially got rid of the forum moderators that provided support in the discussion area on the support tab of the Apple website. Seems that paying these people became too much of an expense here now that we’re selling computers faster than ever, or is that just me? So, say good-bye to an era when customer support was at least recognized by Apple. I guess you’re left with phone support pretty much anymore now. Of note, the message boards are still up, but aren’t of the same caliber as they once were. What a shame.

Apple Replacing Discolored White Macbooks

Matt — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 23:26:15 +0000

Users started reporting that their computers where turning shades of orange around the palm area of their laptops soon after purchasing them, over a month or more ago. Users had trouble getting anything done because it was supposedly normal wear or could be cleaned, etc etc. So, Apple has officially (about time) recognized this as a design/production flaw and will be replacing and repairing the affected computers.

Only white Macbooks with serial numbers ranging between 4H617XXXXXXXX and 4H627XXXXXXXX will be replaced, but you will still have to take your computer to a local Apple authorized repair center or retail store for them to replace it. If there’s not one near you, then you can call this phone number (1-800-800-2775 in US) to begin the process. It sounds like Apple is going to try their best to clean your laptop, even though you’ve most likely tried all of that before on your own. However, it will be replaced, so that’s the good news.

Found via AppleInsider

Wireless Mighty Mouse

Matt — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:44:22 +0000

Just to join in the fun and numerous posts that have went up online in the last 24 hours, Apple introduced a wireless version of it’s Mighty Mouse. It’s frankly taken them forever and I would never spend 70 bucks on a mouse, so I don’t know what all the fuss is about. If the regular wired version is cheaper, that could be nice.

Playing BINGO at WWDC

Matt — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:03:28 +0000

I ran across this on Digg earlier and just had to share because it strikes me as so funny. Basically, someone created a BINGO card with squares labeled with product announcements rumored to appear at WWDC. So, as Jobs calls out announcements, he’s actually calling out squares, and then everyone is supposed to shout BINGO if there’s a winning row (like real BINGO, except there’s no variations on the card, so it would just be a bunch of people getting up and yelling at the same time “BINGO!”).

The super-funny part comes in when I was reading the comments on the article from Digg and ran across this user’s reaction.

“Oh, and for BINGO, just one more thing…”

That’s Steve Jobs’ famous “one more thing”, with a BINGO twist for this special occasion. I plan on having this with me at the keynote, but I’m not making bets about standing up and screaming “BINGO” during a major Apple event

You can grab the PDF that has the BINGO card here, so you too can play along at home.

Jobs as well as others named in Apple stock options lawsuit

Matt — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:03:59 +0000

This comes to me as a great surprise.Â I had to read over the article twice just to make sure that I was reading it correctly.Â Basically, there has been backdating of stocks to top Apple Execs for the past 10 years or so.Â Conceptually, you would watch for the price of Apple stocks to rise, then say that you bought the stocks right before the price went up, so that you were assured to make money, taking the risk out of playing the stock market.

The fact that Jobs, as well as several other influential Apple Execs, are supposedly involved in this scandal and are named in the investigation, makes me furious.Â I look up to Steve as a person, mentor, and idol.Â He has accomlished much with his life, started my favorite company, and brought it back into it’s prime.Â However, I can’t and won’t overlook moral wrongs.Â I just hope that this all gets settled out and I can be assured that he wasn’t involved.Â We’ll see.

You can read more about this from AppleInsider.Â While I’m wary about some articles posted on this site, the fact that there was an Apple issued Press Release helps assure me that there is some truth to this claim.

Flock Beta 1 Review

Matt — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 20:03:40 +0000

Flock is an amazing web browser. Most people would argue that the great browser wars of the 90s are over. However, with the growing popularity of Firefox and the introduction of Flock, I’d have to argue that things are starting to heat up again.

Flock builds on Firefox’s features. This browser adds native support for:

Posting to many different types of blogs
Flickr and Photobuck integration that includes uploading and viewing photos
A great RSS reader
A “snippet” clipboard for keeping snippets of info around (hence the name)
Spotlight-like searching with Yahoo instant search results
Delicious bookmark sharing between multiple computers, advanced bookmark tagging and searching, as well as support for multiple bookmark toolbars, so you’ll always have access to your important bookmarks right there on the toolbar

This is an amazing browser with huge potential in the marketplace. While it still may only be a Beta 1 (0.7) release, it is very stable and I highly recommend downloading it and trying it out for yourself.

Technorati Tags: Review, Browser, Flock

Grand Opening of Apple Store – West Town

Matt — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 19:47:53 +0000

Well, I went to the grand opening of the new Apple Store in West Town Mall this morning, and let me say it was quite an experience. I knew that the store opened at 10 am, but I never thought that the mall would have opened it’s doors at 7 am just to let the line get started. People took advantage of this too, because there were a few hundred people, if not more, already in line by the time that we got our spot at 9:30. There was a good couple hundred more lined up behind us before the line ever started moving.

There were Apple employees all over the place. They were walking around in jeans and t-shirts with their little tags hanging around their neck. They were handing out sweepstakes entry forms, pens, and just laughing and chatting with the group of people that had gathered to enter this store. Several people passed us in line asking, “What are they giving away?” I simply said, “Nothing, we’re all just excited to have one of these stores in Knoxville and wanted to be here when it opened.” That got many confused looks, but I got a lot of agreement from people standing around me in line.

I wore my Tiger shirt with a big Tiger DVD on the back and fit right in with the crowd. I saw little kids from about 3 years old wearing colorful Apple logo shirts all the way up to this old couple in their 70s (I asked and they graciously replied). People from all walks of life, most of them wearing some assortment of Apple gear. I saw system 7 shirts, OS 8 shirts “Hands on experience”, original OS X shirts (the aqua style X) as well as all kinds of stuff in between.

Just standing in line was a blast. There was a guy wearing a “Campus Representative” shirt and sure enough, he was the rep for UT. So, I got to talk with him for awhile while we were in line, talking about the projects that he was dealing with for orientation and a Mac introduction week at the beginning of the fall semester. We’re also supposed to be having a few developer sessions for the computer science minded people (yay!) in the fall, with a preview of Leopard as well. Sounds very cool to me indeed.

The store was great, little larger than what I expected. The place was packed, people were so happy, smiling faces everywhere. The employees were having a blast having so many enthusiastic people in there. My brother walked up to a Nano and there were literally four or five other customers there and they just started talking about specs, the U2 edition and all that, which was right up my brother’s alley, since he is an iPod freak .

All in all, I’m still dealing with the experience as it was so awesome and I’m ready to go right back down there. Plus, I got a free t-shirt out of the deal. Just as a note, I think that Apple assumes all people in the world to be an XL, as my Developer Connection shirt was the same size. I understand the whole mass production thing, but couldn’t we get a few choices? This thing is huge!

So, I didn’t really get a chance to talk to anyone that might have had hiring power at the store. I plan on making another trip down there very soon to make some connections and hopefully get my foot in the door. As it looks right now, it seems they have a fully trained and enthusiastic staff and they won’t be needing people anytime soon. Hopefully that’s wrong, as I’m dying to work there!

Sorry I don’t have any pictures to show, but it was an awesome experience! Also got to enter to win an iMac, digital camera, printer, and digital camcorder, so we’ll see how that pans out. The summer is looking better than ever with a local Apple store so close!

West Town Mall Apple Store Grand Opening

Matt — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 02:22:26 +0000

Well, it turns out that the Apple Store that is opening in my own town is opening it’s doors a lot sooner than what I first expected. Grand opening is at 10:00am tomorrow morning (July 1) in West Town Mall, if you’re in Knoxville, TN that is.

If anyone is going from Ktown, I’ll be there from around 10 until 11, as I have to run off to work soon after since I hadn’t planned on the store opening this early. Maybe I’ll meet someone who can pull some strings and get me a position there soon. Be on the lookout for me and I hope to grab myself a t-shirt!

10 Things I Want in Leopard

Matt — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:12:14 +0000

Everyone has a wishlist of features for an upcoming OS release, so I talk about mine.

Improved Spotlight

Revised Handling of Applications

Integrated iCal, Address Book, and Mail

Front Row on Steroids

Better built in RSS Support

More Eye Candy

Better Dashboard Implementation

To Quit or Not To Quit?

iTunes: for Movies

Death of Plastic

Technorati Tags: Apple, Leopard, RSS

Nike Added to Music Store

Matt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:31:36 +0000

Well, it’s official. “TV Shows” doesn’t have the little orange “new” icon beside it anymore, just as the podcast area and others before it have fallen into place and lost part of their new iTMS smell.

So, what’s the new kid on the block look like? Well, quite cool actually. Just head on over in the Music Store and click on “Nike Sport Music”. Picture of a girl running, cool tables, nice red banners, little different than what you’re used to in the store.

You have podcasts available in this area, as well as music, iMixes, and “workouts”. If anyone has a Nano and gets some of the stuff from that area, let me know how it all works out.

Summary of Updates 6-28-06

Matt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:18:42 +0000

There have been a few updates released in the past few days, so here is a quick summary. An iPod updater adds bug fixes for most models and gives the Nano Nike support. A new version of iTunes adds Nike support. A Quicktime update fixes some bugs with iDVD and the Intel version of the 10.4.7 update released a day or so again is said to be missing several files, so all we got was bug fixes, not any of the OpenGL stuff that would have been nice to get in the update. Still waiting to see if a newer version of the 10.4.7 appears on Apple Downloads of Software Update.

Quicktime 7.1.2 51.4MB
iPod Updater 6-28-06 41.8MB
iTunes 6.0.5 18.9MB
Mac OS 10.4.7 49.8MB

If that doesn’t keep everyone on top of everything, I don’t know what will. Update your Macs people!

iTunes 6.0.5 Adds Nike Support

Matt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:13:40 +0000

In conjunction with the previous post, this update to iTunes adds support for Nike + iPod workout stuff to iTunes.

iTunes 6.0.5 allows you to sync your Nike + iPod workout data to nikeplus.com, where you can easily track your progress, set training goals, challenge others, and much more. Visit the Nike Sport Music area on the iTunes Music Store to download workout mixes, Athlete Inspiration playlists, Nike podcasts, and more.

I’d be really interested to see how all of this fits together and if it really works out nice as well. Seems like an awesome idea I have to say.

iPod Updater 2006-06-28

Matt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:11:59 +0000

A new updater for iPods has been released and I thought it was worth mentioning just because it shows support for the Nike + Apple ads that we saw awhile back. Note that under the stuff listed for iPod Nano.

iPod Updater 2006-06-28 delivers:

New iPod Software 1.1.2 for iPod
New iPod Software 1.2 for iPod nano
New iPod Software 1.1.4 for iPod shuffle
For all other iPod models, iPod Updater 2006-06-28 contains the same software versions as iPod Updater 2006-03-23.

Important: After downloading the iPod Updater software, connect your iPod to your computer and launch the iPod Updater application. If iPod Updater determines that your iPod needs to be updated, click the Update button to install the latest software on your iPod.

Features of iPod Software 1.1.2 for iPod:

Bug fixes
Features of iPod Software 1.2 for iPod nano:

Nike + iPod support
Bug fixes
Features of iPod Software 1.1.4 for iPod shuffle:

Volume limit
Bug fixes
Note: iTunes 6.0.5 or later required to set a maximum volume limit for iPod shuffle. For information about how to set the maximum volume limit, open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes and Music Store Help.

Newton Ad

Matt — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:31:33 +0000

I found this video clip sometime ago from somewhere in the bowels of the internet.Â I was looking for a decent video clip to post this week and just happened to run across it again on my computer.Â I have to say that if the year was 1993 and I was at the same stage in life as I am now, I would be excited about a Newton and probably would have bought one just because they are so intriguing.

I’ve never seen a Newton in real life before, but I think this is one of those things that Apple users need to see and get cultured in our unique ancestry….so, expect the 1984 commercial in the upcoming weeks as I try to spread some culture to any new Mac newbies that may be out there watching.Â Buckle up, drive safe, and have a good week!

Extreme Engineering on iTunes

Matt — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 01:25:28 +0000

I’m a sucker for TV shows that put most of my friends to sleep in a matter of seconds. Some great examples of those are pretty much anything forensic related on Court TV, ME (Medical Examiner) kinda stuff, lots of stuff on the History channel, and some of my favorites being the Modern Marvels from Discovery. Since Modern Marvels isn’t on iTunes and I want to watch something I want to watch right this second, I just happened to run across Extreme Engineering. I’ve seen a few episodes of this before and it’s exactly what I was in the mood for. Cheaper than On-Demand too.

Click on image to go to Music Store. US Only, as far as I know.

Mac OS 10.4.7 Update

Matt — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 00:31:51 +0000

This update to the Mac OS actually introduces a few new features that I’ll report on in just a few minutes, the most interesting being the support for chat rooms with iChat over AIM.

The 10.4.7 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies. It includes fixes for:

- preventing AFP deadlocks and dropped connections
- saving Adobe and Quark documents to AFP mounted volumes
- Bluetooth file transfers, pairing and connecting to a Bluetooth mouse, and syncing to mobile phones
- audio playback in QuickTime, iTunes, Final Cut Pro, and Soundtrack applications
- ensuring icons are spaced correctly when viewed on desktop
- determining the space required to burn folders
- iChat audio and video connectivity, creating chat rooms when using AIM
- importing files into Keynote 3
- PDF workflows when using iCal and iPhoto
- reliable use of Automator actions within workflows
- importing and removing fonts in Font Book
- syncing addresses, bookmarks, calendar events and files to .Mac
- compatibility with third party applications and devices
- previous standalone security updates

RSS Tutorial

Matt — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:00:06 +0000

I have received a couple requests for a podcast dealing with RSS, asking for a basic explanation of the technology, it’s uses, and how to get setup and use it with Rapidweaver and iWeb. So, in this episode I talk about RSS and how to implement that in your site with both Rapidweaver and iWeb. The guide below details how to get setup and use Rapidweaver and iWeb for RSS in your site. Music this week was “Jerk it Out” by the Cesears.

Implementing RSS using Rapidweaver

I imagine that the majority of the listeners of this are going to be Rapidweaver users, since I get a lot of feedback asking for stuff dealing with Rapidweaver. So, I’ll spend most of my time focusing on this. Rapidweaver only has one type of page that supports RSS, that being the “Blog” page. You use this type of page for creating blog entries, as well as if you were going to produce and distribute a podcast.
First add a blog style page. Then click on the “Setup” button and view the “RSS Feed” options to get your feed setup for use.

In Rapidweaver 3.5, you can add text in the “Summary” field. Adding text here lets you summarize what is displayed when people view your feed. They would only see this text and then your readers would have to view the full article to get the text in the “Main Entry” area.

Once you click on the “Setup…” button, you get the following window where you can customize your RSS feed even more. Most of the fields are self explanatory and I briefly talked about them in the podcast as well.

Now that you have all of that setup, you just need to publish and view your site in a browser and there will be a little blue icon with RSS in it or the orange feed icon if you’re using something besides Safari. Congratulations, that wasn’t hard, was it?

Implementing RSS using iWeb

iWeb is actually a lot easier to get up and running with RSS. You have to have either a “Blog” or “Podcast” style page, and there are options for both of them under the “RSS” tab in the Inspector window. It’s already enabled for you, all you have to do is to add entries to your blog and you’re all set!

All you have to do is add entries. To do that just make sure that you’re viewing the “Entries” part of your blog page.

The “Blog” part of the Inspector gives you options for your blog page while the “Podcast” part gives you more control over your podcast, while using iWeb.

Anyone should be able to get all this setup pretty easy if they wanted to. The key thing is to figure out if you really need RSS for your site. If you’re going to podcast, then it’s a must. If you add a lot of stuff to your site, or blog, then it’s a must. If you just have a website that you change once a month, you probably don’t need the trouble of setting this up.

Read more about Rapidweaver, the awesome website creation and management application from RealMac Software here.

Read about Apple’s own iWeb here.

Read about Newsfire, the killer RSS aggregator for Mac OS X here.

Technorati Tags: Rapidweaver, iWeb, RSS

Shake for Linux?

Matt — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 04:52:05 +0000

I was just wondering if there were any other applications that were available for other platforms besides Mac OS X. I didn’t know that Apple developed apps for other OSes and I was just looking over the Shake area of the site for more info and ran across the blurb about system requirements. Linux is an option. How peculiar….

Headphones Turn off Mute?

Matt — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 05:09:21 +0000

I was just using my Macbook and plugged my headphones in to listen to some music without disturbing others at this late hour. I noticed a funny thing however.

I had the computer muted, but as soon as you plug the earbuds in, the mute goes off and the volume is about half-way. Unplug the earbuds, muted again. This must be some sort of undocumented feature, and I don’t remember ever seeing it before. Now I lay here wondering of my iBook did this. It does make sense, as if you’re going to plug in a pair of earbuds, you’re most likely going to listen to something. But it’s kinda eery at the same time.

Let me know if I’ve just missed out on this feature. I’d also like to confirm it with others.

Leopard Screenshots?

Matt — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 04:59:27 +0000

I hate to fall into all the excitement about an OS release, but it’s what I live and breath for, so I’ll just go ahead and say it.

I’m not sure if the three pictures that were posted are real or not. First, the blog is a blogger account, which doesn’t give much credit. The fact that these pictures are the only things posted on the blog certainly doesn’t help either. Finally, screenshots mean nothing now a days with Photoshop gurus lurking in every corner.

So, with all of that stuff put aside, let’s get excited about what these “screenshots” tell us!

First, the thing I’m super excited about is the integration of iCal and Address Book into one. I think Apple could make a killer organization app, so I’m just excited about this. I hope this really comes out in Leopard. I have to say that having tabbed windows in the Finder is cool, but the Finder itself is downright ugly in these. Can we please stop the plastic interface from invading??!!

Last, I’m not sure what the desktop switcher is supposed to be for. I’m not sure if you’re supposed to be flipping from Mac to Windows on the ‘fly’ or what the deal is. If we could get data to play nice across partitions, as with the Windows partition mounted on this desktop, that would be nice.

Overall, I’m not really that impressed with what I’ve seen here. I’m not sure what the next killer technology is that I won’t be able to live without (cough, cough….Spotlight!), but I hope that Apple gives us a peak at WWDC this year and I can start counting down the days to it’s release. God it’s nice to be a Mac user.

View the blog that posted these shots here. I would just show the images, but I’m afraid of nasty legal consequences and value my life. View them from the other site. They’re pretty good mockups if they’re not real.

Superman Returns Clip – Free on iTunes

Matt — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 21:47:48 +0000

The newest installment of the Superman movie series is coming to theaters on Wed, June 28th. If you check out the iTMS right now, there is a free 2:33 clip from the movie. It’s not really an interesting point in the movie or anything from what I can tell, but it’s a free clip from a movie all the same. I’m really loving all this stuff from the iTMS lately. I’m one of the poor souls that preview a pilot for a new season (thinking Kyle XY at the moment…or the entire season of Conviction I watched from iTunes this last season), get a free episode and pay the rest for life. A great marketing strategy, I must say.

I highly recommend checking out the Kyle XY listed below, as it looks to be a very interesting series, if you’re into oddly produced sci-fi stuff. Click on the images to be taken to the iTMS.

Currency Converter – My First Cocoa App

Matt — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:29:46 +0000

In case everyone hasn’t figured out by now, I at least like to consider myself geeky and technically well-rounded. So, now that I’ve been a solid Mac user for the past year and I’ve got a basic understanding of C under my belt, I figured what better than to tackle with my copious amounts of free time during the summer than Cocoa!

As a preface, I have had 4 months of immersion in C. We’re talking reading the textbook as leisure reading kinda thing. A real page turner. I’ve had my “Programming in Objective-C” book by Kochran for about the past year, but couldn’t get very far into it because I had no programming experience at all, and I don’t care what the author says, you need some to keep up with the stuff in the book.

With my free time I’ve caught up my reading on Cocoa. Cocoa is object oriented where C is procedural, so there were some fundamental design changes that I had to get my head around, but in general, objects rock! I’ve worked out a half dozen normal starter programs involving manipulating fractions, but I wanted to really learn something new and work with a GUI.

In this tutorial, you are talked through the steps of creating a currency converter application. This is pretty easy to follow and understand and I highly recommend it if you’re just wanting to learn what programming is like. It will give you a deeper appreciation for the applications you use everyday, and if you’re a developer, will give you a profound appreciation for Cocoa.

I added some stuff to this project not found in the tutorial.

NSNumberFormatter (Formatting the numbers in the text field to show up like dollars and cents)

Adding Help Documentation to your application

Adding “Scrolling Credits” to show more info in the “About MyApplication” area

Quitting when last window closed (aka new app style, like iPhoto, Photo Booth, etc)

Launching a URL (If you click “Help” and then “Visit Developer’s Website” it launches the site)

You can download a disk image that has the compiled program (Universal) and the source project for you. Grab that here or off the downloads page.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Cocoa, XCode

First off, if you wish you can open up the XCode project and just play around in there to see what is happening. The tutorial does a good job explaining a lot of stuff, so I’m not going to repeat that here.

Adding a URL Object to launch a website
If you want to add this functionality to your application, you can get it very easily actually. While you’re in Interface Builder, click on the “NSObject” in the “Classes” area of the window and create a new object. Name it whatever you want, but we’re calling it “URLController”. Create the files for that object, add a target/action called “goToUrl” and then initiate that object. Now select what interface element you want to use this controller (the “Visit Developer’s Site” in this case) and ctrl-click and drag from that object to the controller we just created. Connect the element to the “goToUrl” target/action we created. Save your .nib file.

Back in XCode, your ‘URLController.h’ file should look like this:

@interface URLController : NSObject
{
}

//This is the action called by the “Visit Developer’s Website” in the “Help” Menu
- (IBAction)goToURL:(id)sender;

@end

Now that you’ve done that, you need to add the code to actually launch the site. We do this by calling a method ‘openUrl’ of NSWorkspace which takes a “NSURL” as an argument. You can simply assign your URL to the NSURL and then you’re all set. The following tidbit of code will launch the site, place it in your ‘URLController.m’

- (IBAction)goToURL:(id)sender
{

//Every app has access to a “NSWorkspace”. We call the method “openURL” which takes an NSURL as an
//argument to open up our webpage.

[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.macfanatic.net/blog/"]];

}

Now that you’ve got that setup, save, build and run your app. You should have that working right. If you don’t, don’t go on until you have that up and running. As always, email me with questions!

Adding Help to your Application
This is actually quite simple, especially if you have some HTML and CSS behind you already. You’re just going to create some HTML files and have them all working in a directory called ‘YourAppName Help’. (The Help Viewer window is around 500px wide, for your info). Once you have that all up and running, just drag that folder into your XCode project, choosing the options to copy the stuff into your project as well as the bottom option of recursively add the folders. Now you need to add a little bit of stuff to your ‘info.plist’ that you edited earlier in the tutorial. Add the following lines to your file, replacing ‘Currency Converter’ with your app name.

CFBundleHelpBookFolder
Currency Converter Help
CFBundleHelpBookName
Currency Converter Help

Formatting your NSTextFields
This is actually a very broad topic that I can’t even possibly get into today, but a very basic explanation follows. If you’ve ever used C, then you’re familiar with all of the ways you can ‘format’ messages to the shell, via spaces, etc. There is a lot to be said for ‘%.3f’. So, how do you get that same functionality with a GUI in Cocoa? Just drag and drop of course!

You just need to fire up Interface Builder and drag the little field with some numbers on it ONTO the NSTextField that you already have in your app. This will add a ‘Formatting’ item if you view the Inspector window, and here you can change the actual formatting options.

Scrolling Credits
Now that you have that setup, you just need to add your scrolling credits and we’re almost done. Create a ‘credits.rtf’ in your project (or create it with your text editor of choice and add it to your project, doesn’t matter). Whatever this file says will show up in the “About MyApp” menu item.

Quitting after last window closed
Finally, since this little application only has one window and no way to open a new one, we’ll just go ahead and let it quit the program once the window is closed. To do this we just need to add a simple method to one of our controllers and add that in Interface Builder.

- (BOOL)applicationShouldTerminateAfterLastWindowClosed:(NSApplication *)theApplication
{
return YES;
}

Adding the above code to the ‘URLController.m’ file lets us close the app when the last window is closed. We need to fire up Interface Builder and select the “delegate” option first off to make our ‘File’s Owner’ connect to the ‘URLController’ so that it will use the code we just put in the ‘URLController’

After you build and run this last time, everything should work. Help for your app, credits, ways to launch a URL as well as quitting after closing the last window. Pat yourself on the back, you just did what it took me a full 8 hours to research and implement

iPhoto 6.0.4 Released

Matt — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 04:25:34 +0000

A new release of iPhoto is out with some minor updates. Grab it via Software Update.

This update to iPhoto contains a variety of new Greeting Card and Postcard themes for use with Apple print services, including invite and thank you card designs for summer parties, weddings, birthdays, etc.

Hardware Monitor 3.7 Released

Matt — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 21:16:38 +0000

This is the application that I use to keep tabs of my CPU temperature on my Mac. I have it conveniently configured to show up in my Menubar taking up very little space. It’s a nice little application, very versatile, and free.

This version brings support for the developer’s own implementation of Intel Macs CPU temp, so it doesn’t require that you download, configure, and launch the SpeedIt kernel extension anymore. The application itself will do all of this for you. It can also show you the different temperatures per core of your Core Duo, so that is a very cool feature also.

Visit the developer’s website here.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Macbook

SpeedIt Install and Launcher v1.2 Released

Matt — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:29:03 +0000

This is a simple installer for the SpeedIt kernel extension provided by InCrew Software. Running my installer correctly installs the extension and also gives you a simple application to load the extension for you, so you don’t have to get your hands dirty at a terminal window.

The kernel extension lets other programs, such as CoreDuoTemp or the iStat Nano Widget, see just how hot your Intel Mac is running. Without this little piece of software, there isn’t any software currently available that can give you this information.

Grab it from our Downloads page.

Changelog v1.2
Updated speedit extension v.50 – Caution: This update seems to have problems on my system, don’t recommend the update as of yet.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Macbook, SpeedIt

Tricking Out Safari

Matt — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 18:23:15 +0000

Safari is something that I think most people take for granted. However, there is a lot of untapped potential with this program that you don’t hear a lot about. Coming from a strong Firefox background, switching over to Safari left me without several of the plugins and ability to customize my browser the way I wanted, or so I thought.

Searching around on the net turned up some good resources for getting plugins for Safari. You can grab a lot of good stuff at Pimp my Safari. I also encourage web developers to take a look at WebKit as well.

Some plugins that I highly recommend are the Safari Stand and Safari Teflon plugins. If anyone has used Saft, please let me know about your experiences.

Music this week is “Born to Lead” by Hoobastank.

Chat Rooms Coming to iChat

Matt — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 02:59:21 +0000

AppleInsider is reporting that 10.4.7 is going to be bringing chat rooms to iChat, among various other fixes to audio and more in Tiger. I’m interested to see just what Apple’s implementation of chat rooms will be. I’m excited about this feature if it indeed makes it into the release.

Testers have also disclosed that Apple has implemented fixes into the release for saving Adobe and Quark documents to AFP mounted volumes, syncing files and other data to .Mac, and using iChat to create chat rooms over the AIM protocol.

AppleInsider | Mac OS X 10.4.7 to deliver audio fixes, more

Technorati Tags: Apple, iChat

Quick Tip: Creating Shapes in iWork for use in other apps

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:23:11 +0000

This might be a long title for a post, but it’s one that I just discovered today on a stroke of genius (or at least that’s what I tell myself). I head read from somewhere awhile back that the easiest way to get the cool reflection effect on images, that is quickly becoming a Mac trademark feature, is to drag the image into an iWork app and apply that effect, and then just drag it back out.

So, as I was trying to create a graphic for the post about my switch back to Apple Mail, I thought that I would try my hand at creating a simple little arrow in my graphic. I just fired up Keynote, created a blank slide, added an arrow from the shapes menu and voila! Turns out if you just select the little arrow that you just made and copy it, then you can paste it directly into Photoshop as a vector graphic, being able to rotate it around and everything.

Moral of the story: Don’t underestimate the hidden power of iWork apps and use them in your day to day life!

Technorati Tags: Apple, Keynote

Parallels Workstation 2.1 Released

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 04:40:01 +0000

The final release of Parallels Workstation is out, so if you’ve been a loyal beta tester, you can now download the real deal and get started using your activation key!

You can download Parallels here.

Returning to Mail

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 03:06:45 +0000

When I first started using my Mac about a year ago, I was amazed at the quality of the applications that come bundled with the OS, like Apple’s own Mail.app. So for the longest time, I was strictly using iChat, Mail, iCal, etc for all my needs. Then I realized just how much other software was out there and how much I could customize those applications and I moved away from Apple’s apps.

I used Entourage for a couple months because I thought I liked the idea of everything being integrated together. However, as I used Entourage more and more, I started to see that while everything might be integrated together, it lacked a lot of features and style that I come to expect of Mac applications.

So, with a heavy heart I thought about making the move back to Mail. I had not saved all my mail from my iBook from Mail.app, so all I had was my Entourage database to work from. Surprisingly enough, it’s really easy to import mail from Entourage into Mail.

So if you think that you might want to switch to Apple’s Mail (and I highly recommend it) then give it a try. You can import your mail from several different locations, and even more if you want to search for some 3rd party apps to help you in the process. It was really easy to do and I’m glad that I rejoined the ranks of Mail, Address Book and iCal once again, leaving Entourage and it’s hideous interface (and extremely pitiful performance compared to Universal apps) in the dust.

Widescreen Plugin for Mail

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 03:04:07 +0000

I love the awesome screen on my new Macbook. The quality and lighting is stunning, absolutely wonderful. Far surpasses even the nice 20.1″ widescreen LCD I bought a month or more back. I have quickly fallen for the widescreen format. DVDs look great. Garageband is made for widescreen, as well as several other iLife 06 and iWork 06 apps.

So, what better way to enjoy all this screen space than to add another view to Mail? With this plugin, Mail turns into an almost Entourage style view (setup of panes) with your mailboxes and folders on the left, your list of messages in the middle and message previews in the far right. I personally like this view as I can see more of my message at a glance, but it does need a widescreen monitor for it to truly shine.

Note: When you install this little application, it changes your layout in Mail. To revert, you need to uninstall the bundle itself. The developer has listed a preference pane that would allow you to change this a little easier as a feature on a wishlist, but it hasn’t been implemented yet. Therefore, if you feel queasy about installing this, I would stay back. It shouldn’t mess your Mail up, but if you plan on switching back and forth (between widescreen and normal view) quite often, then this isn’t a solution for you.

You can view the developer’s site here.

You can download the plugin from the developer here or from our downloads page.

Technorati Tags: Apple

Quick Tip: Multiple Monitor Screenshots

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 02:51:08 +0000

I’m not sure how many people have multiple displays, but I enjoy mine so much. I just thought that I’d chime in with a hint that I hadn’t even thought of before and don’t know if most people know about it.

Tip being that if you have external displays hooked up and you take a screenshot (Cmd-Shift-3 by default) you actually get two images placed on your desktop, one for each display. I thought this was really cool. I don’t know why I was not expecting to get an image for my external display, but it was a nice surprise to just get two images and…it just work.

Flock Beta 1 Review

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 01:27:52 +0000

I just mentioned yesterday about the very cool web browser called Flock. I have been using it exclusively for the past day or so and plan on continue using it. I love the interface, all of the features and just can’t imagine living without it.

So, to get everyone started, I found this nice review highlighting some of the features for Flock. I most likely will make an episode on Flock here in the upcoming weeks, but I figured that for those who like to read stuff online, this would be good for you.

Read the review from Paul Stamatiou.com here.

Sharing iCal Calendars for Free

Matt — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 01:10:09 +0000

I had read about using Box.net with a Mac awhile back. It was nice to see that with this free service you could get 1Gb of space and mount it on your desktop, using it just like a regular mounted drive. With that in mind, I setup a free account earlier this evening.

After getting my account setup, I first have to say that the web design is extremely incredible. I was just awed at the use of colors, rounded edges, gradients…it was just so beautifully crafted, you could tell that people put so much time into this, and to then think that it’s free. I’m contemplating upgrading just to give them some money for such a superb product.

So, the uses of this are pretty limitless in some respects. I have been using the Macfanatic.net server as a way to share files with friends for awhile now, just uploading stuff and then they download it. However, most of my friends aren’t technical enough to use an FTP client to upload stuff back to the server, so that we could share. I wouldn’t want to have to setup more FTP user accounts either.

Box.net is a great way to share stuff then. You can have public files and folders, or make some of them strictly private. With that thought, you can simply share all kinds of stuff easily between users. Another use that is pretty cool and is almost strictly reserved to .Mac users is iCal Publishing.

I’ve never used .Mac and don’t plan on it, even though I get in moods every now and then where I want to buy a subscription and play around with the features. Being able to easily share your iCal calendars is a major plus. Basically, you need to head on over to www.box.net and setup a free account, keeping in mind that if you want to share stuff with people, they’ll need to login and they will require your email (username) and password. Choose something unimportant.

Once you have the account setup, you simply select the calendar you want to share in iCal, select “Publish” and enter the server address of “https://www.box.net/dav” with your username and password. You might have to try using just “http”, but play around with it until you find a way that works. You can read a better set of instructions from the site I found over here.

Parallels or Boot Camp?

Matt — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:57:10 +0000

I have had my Intel Mac for about 3 weeks now and have enjoyed every minute of it.Â I have also had Windows XP running under Parallels for about 2 weeks.Â

However, if you’re not sure just what solution is right for you, then you might want to read this article.Â It explains the differences between just dual booting and running a virtual machine like Parallels.

My recommendation on that matter?Â If you’re going to want to game, then using Boot Camp might be for you.Â I can’t comment much more on that besides the fact that I’m not sure about driver availability for some things.Â I know that Boot Camp provides many of the drivers, but stuff like your built-in iSight isn’t going to work.

If you decided that Parallels is easier, then go for it.Â There is currently a free trial for you to get your feet wet.Â It generally takes up less hard drive space and makes switching between Windows and Mac applications a breeze.Â You will need a lot of Ram with this solution though.

Basically, just try it out and see what is best for you.Â I would try Parallels first as it is easiest to remove from your system and will do less damage to your Mac if you mess something up.

Blogged with Flock

Leaky PowerMacs

Matt — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:46:02 +0000

Scary as it sounds, there are reports that liquid cooled PowerMac G5s are starting to leak. And to beat it all, it leaks green goo!

Seriously, I’d check yours out if you have one and possibly be purchasing some AppleCare…

Found this from One Digital Life

Blogged with Flock

Easily Resize Images

Matt — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 01:06:17 +0000

I do reviews of software all the time. I need to be able to get good quality icons for those applications and be able to put that on the net.

So, I grab the applications image (like if you’re changing it’s icon) and save it as a file. But this is 128×128, and a little big for most web uses. For the longest time the only way I knew of shrinking the image down to use it on the site was to use Photoshop, which is overkill.

However, I ran across a nice tip from MacOSXHints.com the other day and love it. I modified it just a tad for use with the site, but that’s it. Works wonderfully. You can see the code if you “Read More…”

There’s also a download for it on the Downloads page. You just drag an image onto the icon and it creates a copy that is resized to 64×64 on your desktop. Very nice, huh?

–Found this from MacOSXHints.com
–Modified slightly to make a 64×64 image for uses on Mac Fanatic.net site

– save in Script Editor as Application
– drag files to its icon in Finder

on open some_items

repeat with this_item in some_items

try

rescale_and_save(this_item)

end try

end repeat

end open

to rescale_and_save(this_item)

tell application “Image Events”

launch
set the target_width to 64
– open the image file
set this_image to open this_item

set typ to this_image‘s file type

copy dimensions of this_image to {current_width, current_height}
if current_width is greater than current_height then

scale this_image to size target_width

else

– figure out new height
– y2 = (y1 * x2) / x1
set the new_height to (current_height * target_width) / current_width
scale this_image to size new_height

end if

tell application “Finder” to set new_item to ¬

(container of this_item as string) & “scaled.” & (name of this_item)

save this_image in new_item as typ

end tell

end rescale_and_save

One Man Band and Cars

Matt — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:30:05 +0000

I went to see Cars this past weekend with high hopes that it would be a good movie. I’ve got used to seeing top notch stuff come out of Pixar Studio here in the last few years. This movie was no let down.

I won’t go into all the details of the movie, but I absolutely LOVED it. That’s saying a lot since I was the oldest person there (that wasn’t a parent with screaming kids..from excitement). The plot was wonderfully crafted, the characters were well rounded, Tow-mater (Larry the Cable Guy) added tons and tons of comedy and it was just a great movie. I highly recommend seeing it.

As Pixar does with it’s movies though, they have a short film at the beginning. So, I was almost as excited about the short film (I’ve bought all of them from the iTMS already) as I was about the picture itself. Sure enough, I wasn’t let down.

One Man Band is a short film where these two hilarious paupers are playing instruments to get the one coin from this little girl. I just like her facial expression once she drops her coin and demands that the paupers pay her back. (The picture above…hint hint).

You can buy this short film from the iTMS already, so be sure to head on over here and check it out. And go see Cars in theaters now, it’s worth it!

Going to WWDC 2006

Matt — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:22:17 +0000

I have some super news to report, everyone. I just received an email from Apple saying that I’d been selected as a recipient of a 2006 Student E-ticket to the WWDC this summer!

I applied never thinking that I’d get the opportunity to go to this event, but it seems that luck is on my side. I’m really excited about this and looking forward to it so much. I have to raise money for the flight (think $500 round trip) and then cash for food, a motel, etc, so I’m going to be in a very tight squeeze.

Ultimately I think I’ll end up going (I have yet to accept, can wait until June 26) but I have to have money for tuition first.

If anyone wants to send a penny my way, I’d greatly appreciate it. If not, then just think of me, I’ll be having a blast at a major Apple event getting experience that will benefit me for a lifetime.

Tips, Tricks, and Rapidweaver 3.5 Impressions

Matt — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 02:34:26 +0000

This episodes is a little different than what I normally go over, but I had a lot of stuff that I wanted to go over that wasn’t really related to a specific app or one hardware issue.

I talked about several WordPress plugins in this episode. You can find links to all those I mentioned at the post below:

http://www.macfanatic.net/blog/2006/06/07/wordpress-plugins/

I talked about Canvas in this episode (the editor for WordPress themes). View that at the below address.

http://www.freshpursuits.com/canvas/preview

Grab the AppleScripts for editing all kinds of stuff for iTunes at:

http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/

Finally, the biggest topic that I covered and need to link to is for Mint. You can grab Mint at: http://www.haveamint.com

You can grab all kinds of Peppers (plugins for Mint) at the below address:

http://massiveblue.net/pepperminttea/

Sorry about all the links in this episode, but be sure to get out there and explore!

Music this week is “Searchlights” by Falling Up.

Adding Text to the “Description” Field in iTunes

Matt — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:44:11 +0000

This is just a quick tip that I ran across today as I’m converting several videos that I have over to iPod compatible format and throwing them in iTunes to free up some disc space.

The Description field is something that I thought was restricted to Podcasts. However, as I was looking through my library a little more, I realized that any videos I’d downloaded from the iTMS already. So, I searched around on the net for a few minutes and ran across a site that has tons of AppleScripts for tinkering with iTunes.

I downloaded a script called “Enter Description Text” that lets you select a track in iTunes, and then just type in (or paste). It adds it to the right field and all is well. It doesn’t work exactly as I thought it would however. If you have downloaded content from the iTMS or have a podcast, you will notice that there is that little grey “i” that lets you read more about the description. That little icon isn’t present when you use this method. So, while your text will be in that field alright, you really can’t read it all if you have a lot because you would have to stretch the field out extremely wide, reading it in one line.

Visit Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes here.

Using a Macbook with Main Display Off

Matt — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:42:56 +0000

I found this post over at MacOSXHints.com, but I thought that I would post it here as it is a nice hint that I hadn’t thought of using with my Mabcook until I was watching a movie on my second monitor last night.

If you want to use an external monitor with your MacBook in “clamshell” mode (but with the screen open), but don’t have the peripherals, here’s what to do:

With your MacBook on and running, plug in your external monitor and turn it on (if the monitor isn’t already on).

Depending on the way you have your display prefs set, you’ll either be in mirror mode or extended desktop mode. If in extended desktop mode, change to mirror mode. If in mirror mode, keep it that way.
Close your MacBook. The whole system (including external display will go to sleep).
Take any kind of USB device and plug it into the MacBook (I used an external media card reader). This will wake up the external monitor and the MacBook. You should have your desktop displayed on your external monitor at its full resolution (as long as it’s equal to or less than the MacBook’s highest achievable resolution, I think).
Now, you don’t have an external keyboard and mouse, so how do you control the MacBook? Well, just open the MacBook up now. The screen will stay off (and it is off, not just dimmed), but the MacBook’s keyboard and trackpad will be fully functional, controlling the pointer on the external monitor’s desktop! Why would someone do this instead of just keeping the MacBook open in the first place while in mirror mode?

Well, I find having the external monitor and the MacBook’s screen both on in mirror mode to be quite distracting. Since you are using the MacBook’s keyboard and trackpad, you pretty much have to have it sitting in front of you. And, you pretty much have to have the external monitor sitting in front of you as well. With both the screens on, your eyes tend to wander from one to the other, even though they are both showing the same desktop (ie, mirror mode).

However, with the MacBook’s screen off, there is no distraction. In fact, you can partially close the MacBook, keeping enough room for your hands to access the keyboard and trackpad, so you would have even less distraction. Another benefit is not having to worry about the MacBook overheating with it completely shut (clamshell mode), but on. With it open (either fully or partially), I’m sure it helps to vent heat away from the MacBook.

I think this is a nice feature to comment on for anyone who is getting a new Intel Mac laptop.

Read the original post here

Macbook Advice

Matt — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 22:42:27 +0000

I have had my Macbook for around 2 weeks now and I can already see a major issue that I wish I’d looked at more when I decided to purchase my laptop.

Hard drive size.

There are more options, including getting a drive up to 120Gb with the new Macbooks. I opted for the stock 80Gb with my black one because I didn’t wanna wait for a custom built one and I figured that since I didn’t run out of room with 80Gb on my iBook G4, that I’d be all set. Major mistake.

There is so much more to do with an Intel Mac that you need the extra space. If you fall into the Parallels Workstation category, you’ll most likely have a couple virtual machines. We’re talking around 5gigs per one no most cases and that is just basic stuff in the OS, not storing any files, etc.

If you opt for Bootcamp, that’s 10Gb gone from the start. No getting it back.

With all the horsepower at your fingertips (I also highly recommend maxing out a 2Gb of ram, the perfomance is amazing and you’ll love the 2Gb if you want to run Parallels and still use your Mac like you’ve become accustomed to) you are more likely to do stuff that you wouldn’t have done with a PPC Mac.

Some examples of that are go crazy with video. Having a built-in iSight and all this power enables me to play around with iMovie a lot more than I ever thought I would in the past. Result? I now have around 20Gb of video footage, and that’s growing fast.

More power means more fun with Garageband. Simple as that. This holds true for several other apps as well.

Bottom line here? Take the time and think about how you’re going to use your new computer. If you even have a small thought that you might like to use Parallels or try out Bootcamp, then I strongly recommend going with at least the 80Gb, if not something higher. I only wish now that I’d chosen the 120Gb. My only hope is that upgrading the HDD seems to be fairly simple now. Now just to get up the money and do it.

Desktop Manager

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:33:28 +0000

In connection with the previous post dealing with the hard drive motion sensor, this little application lets you “slap” your mac so that you can switch between virtual desktops. I’m not sure if I like this, but you can try it out for yourself.

Download the slap-happy desktop manager here.

Macsaber Fighting

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:28:38 +0000

Someone had posted a comment earlier about two applications making use of the Motion Sensor built-in to most new Mac laptops and I happened to run across those today. Here is a video showing the one that lets you swing your laptop around while it makes lightsaber noises. Totally useless, but funny.

Download Macsaber here.

iTunes Track Badly Encoded

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:16:52 +0000

I’ve downloaded a lot of music from the iTMS in the past couple years and never had any quality issues before. However, I fell in love with a new band while on vacation this past week and couldn’t wait to get back to my Macbook and grab their album.

All the songs were fine, except for one that was horribly encoded with tons of skips. It was a bad experience. What made it all worse was the hassle of trying to find out how to contact Apple about the issue. It took me awhile, but you can use the link below to submit a form with the track if you have had any similar issues with a song from the iTMS.

The band mentioned above, that has an incredible sound, is “Falling Up”. Rest assured that you will hear some of their songs in future podcasts.

Submit a complaint to iTMS Staff here.

Update on Apple Store in Knoxville TN

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:00:21 +0000

I’m excited about the opening of an Apple retail store in Knoxville, TN (my town).

I recently inquired about the progress and thought that I would share in case there are any other Knoxvillians out there.

The store is going to be in the West Town Mall and is slated to open in late July. You’re supposed to apply online somewhere. Believe me, I’ll be checking into this here shortly, as I can’t wait to apply!

Misbehaving Spotlight

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:58:35 +0000

There is so much info on the net about Spotlight that it isn’t even funny. However, I recently ran across a problem that upsets me greatly. Basically, Spotlight stopped working for me. No matter how you used it, it would return “no results found” The little progress circle never appeared either, like it wasn’t even searching.

I reindexed several different ways, restarted, etc. The solution to my problem ended up being to open up Activity Monitor and search for “SystemUIServer”. If you hit “Quit Process” and the choose “Force Quit” it makes the whole right part of your Menubar reload. This fixed my problem every time.

I’m not sure why I have the problem to start with. Sometimes it’s there as soon as I restart the computer, other times it’s not. If I ever figure something out, I’ll let you know.

Quick Tip: Creating an Alias When You’re Mac Won’t Let You

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:55:00 +0000

I personally don’t use aliases that much, if at all. However, there are times when they come in handy. Normally there is a simple shortcut “Cmd-L” or you can use the “Make Alias” option from the “File” menu in the Finder.

However, you can run into folders that the system won’t let you make aliases. After searching on the net for a bit, I found a nice little tip that lets you not only make aliases to any folder from the finder, but is also a nicer way of doing it that the “Cmd-L” mentioned above.

All you do is select the folder or item that you want to link to, and hold down the “Option-Cmd” buttons as you drag the item to a new location. It will show a little alias arrow as your drag it, and when you drop it, you have an alias where you wanted it anyway, without the “alias” stuck the end name too. Pretty useful tip, huh?

First Impressions of Rapidweaver 3.5

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:51:03 +0000

While RW 3.5 is technically a beta 1 release, I’m very excited about this product.

I downloaded the new version to play with last night and have got to use it for about an hour so far. Overall, it’s a nice change from the previous version.

The blog page has seen the most improvements from what I gather, including the introduction of permalinks. While I won’t be using this for any real-time production, I’ll most certainly use if for testing purposes a little later.

There are some nice new themes included with this release as well. The interface has seen a nice change and some things have been simplified. To get the full effect, head on over here and download the beta to try it out.

Macbook Battery Life

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:45:11 +0000

I had mentioned the battery life of the new Macbook in my review last episode, but I wanted to add a tad more info on the subject.

The battery life is on par with the previous 14″ iBook G4 I had. However, I think there is a difference when you put the computer to sleep. I don’t have hard numbers for this, but I’m 99% sure that I could leave my iBook in sleep for a few days at least, without it draining the battery. However, after about 24 hours in sleep, my Macbook will have drained a full battery and be dead.

Just a word to the wise, if you’re not going to be using your Macbook, shut it down.

Samba Issues and Error Code 10810 – Launch Services

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:33:36 +0000

I spent the good part of this morning trying to get the networked drive I bought awhile back to work with my new Macbook. The thing worked just fine with my brother’s eMac running Tiger (drive wouldn’t show up in Network area, but changing him to the correct workgroup solved that problem entirely) and got it working with a Windows XP computer.

Read the article I wrote concerning all the drive setup and network config stuff for WinXP and Tiger here.

The problem comes into play here though. I had enabled “Windows Sharing” on my user account in my journey to get this drive working. I was using my computer and then I started getting error messages saying “error code -10810″. Basically, after googling around for about another hour, I had so many processes running, that the system wouldn’t let me start anymore. So, after restarting several times and trying to be quick enough to open up the Activity Monitor, I found the culprit. (Also note that my Macbook was running at full steam ahead, see pic below)

Turns out I had several, and I do mean several, instances of “smbd” running. While it wasn’t using any of the processor and only 300kb of memory of each instance, it had hanged my laptop. Solution was to be quick enough to fire up System Preferences and turn of Windows Sharing. Problem fixed.

From my reading, it can be anything, not just samba. So, if you’re getting the same problem, fire up Activity Monitor (or the terminal if you’re so inclined) and see what process is there several (and we’re talking a few hundred) times. That’s your bad guy.

Kitten vs Front Row

Matt — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:13:22 +0000

I found this from One Digital life.

I think it has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. That kitten is so cute!

Add right-click to XP on MacBook and MacBook Pro

Matt — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:26:19 +0000

I’m not sure how many people actually use Bootcamp, but I thought this would certainly be a welcome tip if you do use it. I’m very skeptical about installing Windows on my new Macbook, so I can’t vouch for this.

I do have to mention that if you have a new Macbook, you have a feature that is specific to your laptop, and one that I think most users will love at that. If you open up your Keyboard and Mouse settings in System Preferences and click on the Trackpad tab, you have an option now labeled “Tap trackpad with two fingers for secondary click”.

Enabling this little feature lets you tap on your trackpad with both fingers and get a crl-click. I love this feature!

Add right-click to XP on MacBook and MacBook Pro:
If you’ve used Bootcamp to install XP on your MacBook or MacBook Pro, you might have been frustrated by not being able to right-click. While shift + f10 will usually work, you might be looking for something more familiar. Apple Mouse Utility will let you use Control-click to right click. Simply place it in your Startup folder, and call it with /s, so that it launches silently on startup.

Also, KeyTweak will allow you to remap your Windows keyboard, useful for reassigning modifiers like Control-C to the Mac’s Command-C, etc.

Think Different Ad

Matt — Wed, 31 May 2006 15:13:15 +0000

This is an ad that always inspires me and makes me realize that Apple has done something right. Apple is the only company that makes me feel good about spending money, like I’m supporting a cause. This commercial just reinforces that.

“About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they change things…..The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do”

That, my friends, is a phrase worth thinking about.

Apple Store shoppers rescued from glass elevator

Matt — Tue, 30 May 2006 21:31:55 +0000

Apple Store shoppers rescued from glass elevator:
The New York City Police Department on Thursday was called to the site of Apple’s flamboyant new retail shop to rescue a group of students who had become stuck inside store’s glass-encapsulated elevator system.

The six students were visiting Manhattan and got stuck inside the elevator. I’m sorry, but I find this very amusing at the expense of others. I bet Jobs fired someone over this.

Technorati Tags: Apple

Macbook Review

Matt — Mon, 29 May 2006 00:28:05 +0000

I discuss some of the stuff happening in the Apple community this week, talk about the joys of the site’s RSS reader widget and installation package for getting Intel Macs up and running with CPU temperatures.

Talk about using the new black Macbook for a little over a week, all the pros and cons to the system.

Music this week is “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers.

There is no podcast next week, I will be on vacation.

DivX 6.5 Released

Matt — Sun, 28 May 2006 22:27:54 +0000

It took quite awhile for a Mac version of DivX 6 to come to light, but now there is a 6.5 release of this awesome product.

I’m sure there are some people that would easily argue that the DivX codec is much better than Apple’s pushed H.264, but for all practical purposes, I don’t usually see that much of a difference. However, if you’re looking for a very cool alternative to Quicktime in some cases, then I urge you to download DivX and try out the all new player that is included, it’s truly amazing.

The new player has support for features like fullscreen (you don’t get this unless you hack QT or buy Pro), faded windows which is very, very cool, and some other interesting features.

Read more about DivX 6.5 for Mac here.

Technorati Tags: Apple

Temp Monitor Launcher v1.0 Released

Matt — Sat, 27 May 2006 03:49:50 +0000

I mentioned a few posts back that I was having some issues getting a simple temperature reading from my CPU on my new Macbook.

After doing research and a few hours of tinkering before I realized what I needed to do, I was able to get the kernel extension working that allowed programs like Temperature Monitor to read the CPU temperature from my new Intel Mac.

However, this was really tedious to do every time I started my computer and I’d always thought about trying to learn some simple shell scripting and AppleScript, so I dove in for the past 8 hours or so and have created my scripts, images, installers, and disk image to get everyone else with an Intel Mac up and running in no time.

You can download the Temp Monitor Loader here. Basically, the installer that I included correctly installs the SpeedIt kernel extension and places the Temperature Monitor apps along with my custom AppleScript app in a folder in your Applications folder.

If you put the AppleScript application that I created in your startup items list, then it prompts you for an admin password, loads the extension in the background, and then starts up the Lite version of Temp Monitor for you. Only have to configure the Temp apps once and you’re all set. Instructions and pictures included in the disk image, along with my AppleScript source.

This is just my way of having a good time and giving back to the community. Let me know if you run into any problems with this. I’ve tested it on a few new Macbooks and it worked just fine on all of them. It should also work fine on PPC Macs if you use the custom install option and just install the Temperature Monitor applications themselves.

EDIT: I contacted the developers of both the SpeedIt Extension and Temperature Monitor. While I’m waiting to hear back from the developer of SpeedIt Extension, the developer of the Temperature Monitor apps has clearly expressed that he doesn’t want his producted distributed/associated with this application. So, in compliance with his requests, I have modified the installer and disk image. Now the installer doesn’t distribute/install the Temp Monitor apps and the disk image has a quick link so that you can download and use them yourselves. Sorry about the confusion, but laws are laws, even though I don’t quite understand the dramatic ramifications that were supposed to come from this one.

Macbook Vent Blockage

Matt — Thu, 25 May 2006 19:50:03 +0000

I wanted to join in the uproar of the reports of vents being blocked by plastic on new Macbooks.

Mine was not blocked. Now you know. For those who have bought one, be sure to check around your hinge and the vents on the back of your laptop. Running your Macbook even hotter might make it explode.

iBook Sold

Matt — Mon, 22 May 2006 00:22:07 +0000

Well, it seems that I priced my iBook at a good price, as it was up for sale for less than 48 hours (with about 3.5 days left) and is now sold. I got a call at work from the buyer asking a few questions, namely about the crack that is in the case, and when I got home from work he’d already bought it.

If you’re reading this post, thanks for purchasing the computer. It’s been my passion for the past year and I’ve enjoyed it. May it serve you well. It ends an era in Mac computing and for me, as my first Mac and my last PPC Mac leaves my house tomorrow morning. Amen.

iBook For Sale — eBay Auction

Matt — Sat, 20 May 2006 04:38:25 +0000

I mentioned that I’d picked myself up a new Macbook yesterday and have been loving it. However, this means that I have to part with my faithful iBook G4 for the past year. So, here is your lucky chance to cash in if you’re in the market for a used iBook.

Click here to view the eBay auction for my iBook. Happy Bidding!

Macbook Arrived

Matt — Fri, 19 May 2006 02:43:30 +0000

It’s a little late, but I sit here in the living room typing on my new black Macbook. I’ll give tons more details tomorrow, but it’s getting that time of night where I go to sleep….will be tons of fun moving all my data over tomorrow.

First impressions though, the screen is a lot better than what I had feared. You really can’t tell that it’s the “glossy” kind, in a bad way at least. It does have a wonderful resolution and brightness compared to my old iBook.

It’s blazing fast, most of the time. I’ll be throwing 2gb of ram in here in another day or so, this stock 512 is all eaten up just sitting here typing this.

The keyboard is sorta different, but not all that bad. The keys feel like they are just a little bit farther apart in some places, but overall it’s kinda nice. A lot quieter than my clacking iBook’s keyboard.

Magnetic latch is cool. Black is awesome.

Anyone else notice that the speakers are missing? Sound comes out just fine, but you can’t see speaker holes

Hard drive motion sensor is listed in the Profiler, as someone else suggested that it had been removed (want to say someone from Macworld)

Trackpad has the ability to right-click (have to enable it in preferences) by tapping it with both fingers

Battery life seems to be about the same right now.

Macbooks Already Shipping?

Matt — Wed, 17 May 2006 11:46:05 +0000

I purchased a built-to-order black Macbook around noon EST yesterday, but went back and cancelled my order to place an order for a stock black Macbook about 4pm EST yesterday.Â Estimated shipping was 3-7, however, when I woke up this morning and checked my email, I had an email from Apple already saying that my order has already been shipped.

I have to say, this is quite a nice surprise.Â I was even debating driving the 3.5 hours one way to an Apple Store this weekend if they had one in stock and would hold it for me.Â Looks like I won’t have to go to that extreme now.

Tracking info on my order isn’t as promising.Â Says of 2:35pm later today (maybe time zone differences) that FedEx has received my package data, nothing about the package itself.Â We’ll see if it actually ships out today or not.

Thanks for sharing in my excitement!

Fun Widget

Matt — Wed, 17 May 2006 03:56:01 +0000

I regularly check the Apple Downloads page (and have subscribed to it as well) and ran across this nice little widget today, a way to show my support, even though I’m already on an Apple Computer.

This widget gives you several different logos to display, ranging from all of the colored ones (remember the good ol’ grape and tangerine, I still think of Orange/Red = Darwin) to a Jaguar furry one to the nice, current minimal white.

Download the widget here.

What Costs 2.2 Million Dollars?

Matt — Wed, 17 May 2006 03:44:27 +0000

My brother has this fascination with online shopping — as in seeing just how expensive he can make his shopping cart.Â As he was playing around with some numbers, he came across a very stunning combination.

999 Macbooks (120GB HDD and 2GB Ram) comes in at a whopping 2,196,801.00 dollars.Â And this is even before tax.Â On my 1400 dollar order today, 140 in tax was added on top of that.Â Just imagine the bill if you included taxes and shipping.

So, in high spirits (and partly because this is an excellent way to procrastinate studying for an exam just hours away) I decided to compile a short list of amazing shopping cart totals.Â Enjoy.

999 PowerMac Quad G5′s completely maxed out with 16GB Ram, etc along with 999 30″ Apple Displays to go with them:Â Â Â Â Â 18.6MÂ (18,604,377.00)

One maxed out Mac Mini (1.66Ghz, 2Gb Ram, 120Gb HDD) and a 23″ Apple Display comes in at 2,523.00 dollars.Â I wonder if anyone has seriously considered this configuration before.

Question: Is there a limit on other types of online stores that let you go past digits in a regular Apple Store.Â I was wondering if you had a business account if you might be able to place a larger order?Â Although, if I placed an order for 999 computers, or even saved the cart, I’m sure I would be having a pleasant call from an Apple employee shortly.

I’m sure there are other wild ways to dream about spending a small government’s worth of funds, let me know if you have anything else creative.

Two Wishes Came True

Matt — Wed, 17 May 2006 00:36:35 +0000

While I’m making myself sick continually talking about the new Macbooks released today, I have ran across another feature that I haven’t heard anyone besides Macworld mention and I had to share.

Right-clicking enabled.Â Yep, not two buttons per se, but supposedly if you tap both your fingers on the trackpad, it interprets this as a ctrl-click.Â This would be wonderful!Â I actually like this approach better than having two physical buttons.Â The other thing I was excited about was that it has native support for extended desktop.Â This is a big plus for me as I’m now completely hooked on my 20.1″ widescreen display from BenQ.Â Being able to have a wonderful 1280×900 on my laptop and 1680×1050 on my desktop LCD will be quite stunning.

Bad boys, Bad boys…Apple Security Comes for You…

Matt — Tue, 16 May 2006 23:58:14 +0000

Sorry for the title, I couldn’t resist.Â This picture is absolutely hilarious.Â Not that shoplifting is a humorous matter, I’m not perpetuating that idea at all.Â I just find it amusing that these “Apple Security” people would tackle someone to the ground.Â Although, as expensive and high demand as some of these products are getting to be nowadays, I don’t suppose that it should come as a surprise.

Update: Sorry for leaving off where I got this.Â Found this via CNet.

Apple’s Stock Dips

Matt — Tue, 16 May 2006 23:24:35 +0000

Does anyone else find it odd that Apple releases a new line of notebooks that are very impressive compared to their predecessors as well as updates several other computers, yet the stocks took a dip today, dropping 2.81 as of 7:23 EST tonight.Â I figured that stocks would go up.Â Disappointed over iPods maybe?

Macbook Photos

Matt — Tue, 16 May 2006 17:46:54 +0000

I don’t know whether everyone is as excited as I am about the new laptops just released earlier today, but someone was nice enough to post some good pictures of the new black model over on AppleInsider (from a retail store).Â I ordered a lovely Macbook with a 100Gb drive, the black model earlier today from Apple and purchased a gig of ram from Newegg also.Â I’ll be sure to let everyone know when my new baby arrives, as well as if you’re interested in a pristinely kept iBook G4 1.42Ghz that will be available on eBay here shortly.

See the photos of the black Macbook over on AppleInsider here.

New Macbooks and Updated Macbook Pros

Matt — Tue, 16 May 2006 14:58:26 +0000

For those of you who haven’t seen the latest news today, Apple has released their new Macbook computers with blazing fast Duo processors, the 13.3 widescreen display among other nice features.Â The Macbook Pro has seen speed bumps and the addition of widescreen displays with a glossy finish, all for ffree.Â Also, the new Macbook comes in black and white now.

Most likely I’ll be placing and order for a new Macbook this afternoon

iWeb 1.1 Adds Comments

Matt — Tue, 16 May 2006 00:27:10 +0000

Well, if you didn’t pay attention to the description of the updates (like me) you would have missed a big set of features besides just “minor bug fixes”.Â iWeb 1.1 gets native support for comments on the blog and podcast pages as well as a built-in search functionality.Â Unfortunately, this is limited to those who publish to .Mac.Â Thanks Apple, really, thanks….(I always think of iTools, even though I wasn’t a Mac user back then..that was a big appeal).

Slew of iLife ’06 Updates

Matt — Mon, 15 May 2006 21:32:17 +0000

There were updates released for iDVD, iWeb, iPhoto, and iMovie today:

iDVD Update – 6.0.2
This update to iDVD addresses issues with burning some 16:9 projects and improves overall stability.

iWeb Update – 1.1
This update to iWeb adds comment and search support for blogs and podcasts published to .Mac. It also addresses a variety of usability and performance issues for all users, including image management fixes to improve site load performance.

iPhoto Update – 6.0.3
This update to iPhoto addresses issues with Photocasting of Smart Albums, sharing iPhoto libraries, and creating calendars and books. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.

iMovie HD Update – 6.0.2
This update to iMovie HD 6 addresses issues with PAL audio and displaying iLife Sound Effects automatically in its iLife Media Browser. It also improves overall stability and address a number of other minor issues.

Interesting Apple Product Markups

Matt — Sun, 14 May 2006 19:33:42 +0000

A friend I was talking to earlier today ran across this site as he was searching for photos of the rumored iPhone.Â However, the site has some other interesting mockups, such as the “Powerful Mac” (instead of POWER in the name, I guess).

Anyway, check out the cool site here.Â Warning: Parts are in some foreign language.

ecto, Journler, MacJournal and BlogThing Review

Matt — Sun, 14 May 2006 15:39:35 +0000

Might be a long name for an episode, but I look into the top 4 candidates that I found for managing a blog and compare their strengths and weaknesses. Cover the usual rumors and news, ask for feedback from listeners on the iTMS and music this week is “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” by Big & Rich.

iPhoto Problems

Matt — Fri, 12 May 2006 23:52:27 +0000

Well, I’ve posted about my iPhoto problems, and those of my younger brother, in the past.Â I’m starting to get really sick of loosing my images in this great, I repeat, great application.Â It’s not that the images just disappear completely, quite the opposite.Â I don’t even realize that there’s a problem until it’s too late.

Basically, I go to use an image, and it’s “not there” per se.Â I can click on a thumbnail to bring up the image for editing, but there is just a dotted outline of a box with an exclamation mark in it.Â So, I did the rebuild database, and rebuild thumbnails, and rebuild all the other stuff, but after 40 minutes (~1800 photos) I was still in the same boat as before.

So, if you have any suggestions besides just manually reimporting everything, let me know.Â I checked into the iPhoto Extractor, but it doesn’t support iPhoto 6 library databases, so I can’t use that.

Press Event May 18

Matt — Fri, 12 May 2006 17:15:09 +0000

Apple will be holding a press event next Thursday, the 18th, to celebrate the opening of it’s newest retail store on 5th Avenue in New York. There has been no hints as of yet as to product announcements at this event, but the delayed introduction of the Macbooks and the rumors of new iPods leads to speculation as to whether there might be announcements on Thursday after all.

Read the article from Macrumors here.

Apple Security Updates and Quicktime Update

Matt — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:41:35 +0000

Apple released a security update to Mac OS 10.4.6 today along with an update to version 7.1 of Quicktime.

Release notes for the Security Update are:

Security Update 2006-003 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components.

AppKit Bom CFNetwork CoreFoundation CoreGraphics curl Finder Flash Player Plug-in ImageIO LaunchServices Mail Preview QuickDraw Ruby Safari securityd

Organize Spotlight

Matt — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:20:22 +0000

I was really excited about a plugin for Spotlight just a day or so ago called Google Importer and thought that was the best thing ever (and it really is an AMAZING feature to have). However, I ran across something else that adds even more features to Spotlight today when I noticed a very annoying “feature” of Spotlight and googled around to see if there was a fix. Sure enough, there is a free product that fixes it!

My problem was that I use Newsfire for all of my RSS reading and love it. It supports Spotlight just fine, but when I search, the results would show up for a few seconds under the “Documents” category, and then just disappear to somewhere where I couldn’t use the results. I was going to contact the developer about this, but then it dawned on me that it probably wasn’t specifically that guy’s fault (Newsfire is another great Mac application) but more inline with the way that Spotlight categorizes results.

So, after searching for a few minutes, I ran across BSP “Configurable Categories for Spotlight”. Sounds like it’s exactly what I wanted. So, after reading the usual “it might self-destruct” warnings from the developer, I downloaded the zip archive and ran the package. Behold, a new icon in my System Preferences called “BSP” (imagine that).

So, clicking on that gives you some interesting options. First off, if you’re really desperate to limit your returned results, you can simply remove document types that appear in categories. You can remove whole categories in the Spotlight Preferences area, but with BSP you could just remove Mail, Address Book, and all related iCal items from showing up in the appropriate list if you use Entourage for example.

So, to add my Newsfire articles (the individual RSS entries in this case) to my Spotlight search results, I first added another category because that made sense to me. You could add them where ever you wanted, but having their own category made sense to me. From there, I searched for something that would give me some Newsfire articles for that split second and when it briefly appeared I was quick enough to Apple-Enter to bring up the enclosing window. From there I used the method of holding down command “Apple” and clicking on the title part of the Finder window to see just where I was finding these little things Turns out they were stored in /Users/user_name/caches/metadata/Newsfire/

To add the articles into my newly created category using BSP, I clicked on the “Choose” button in the right-hand window and navigated and clicked on one of these newsfire articles. I just clicked “Apply Now”, watched in horror as the right side of my menubar disappeared, and then in amazement as it reappeared and I was able to search with ease with my new “Newsfire Articles” category I created.

At this point I was feeling a little creative and had already liked the Google Importer that I had installed a few days ago, so I played around with those settings for the first time. Turns out if you set the delayed time that the importer waits before it even starts searching (supposedly to help people who make a lot of typos) down, then it speeds up soooo much and makes it a wonderful experience.

I wasn’t happy with the search results showing up under “Bookmarks” even though that’s technically the file type that it is, and your Safari bookmarks would show up under this category also. I just changed the name of this category to “Google” and moved some of the categories around to my personal preference, and that is what appears in the screenshots below.

Overall, I think that an average user can do this, but it might be a little intimidating. I definitely recommend the Google Importer as a must have tool for Spotlight and think that the BSP is another feature that adds even more depth and usefulness to this key technology of Tiger.

You can check out the Google Importer site here.

You can check out the BSP site for organizing categories in Spotlight here.

Ars Technica Reviews Aperture 1.1

Matt — Wed, 10 May 2006 18:42:34 +0000

Although I haven’t had a chance to play around with Aperture (think money and iBook != Aperture). So, the wonderful people over at Ars Technica have done one of their famous (I personally think they are the best and most full featured) reviews of the Apple product that has been all in the news recently.

Be sure to check the review out here.

Sony Adopts AAC

Matt — Wed, 10 May 2006 17:39:34 +0000

Even though AAC isn’t technically an Apple technology, because Apple uses AAC for it’s iTMS and therefore it’s THE format for the iPod, Sony giving in and supporting the format finally means that the format wars (related to distributing music content) is at its end for right now. If we could just decide on Blu-Ray or DVD HD….

View the article here.

Macbook Letdown

Matt — Tue, 09 May 2006 21:09:44 +0000

Well, I sit here at 10 minutes past 5 pm this afternoon, subtracting 3 hours for time zone differences, and can’t see a press conference or product release after 2 pm. Therefore, I think that the Macbooks are taking a back-seat for now and everyone will just have to wait for their arrival. It’s left a bitter taste in my mouth though, bitter taste…

Google Importer

Matt — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:52:22 +0000

I do a lot of searching on the internet using Google, and made the switch to Firefox ages ago (think .3 release time frame) simply because of the integrated Google search (before toolbars were all the rage for IE).

As someone just mentioned in the previous post’s comments, you can easily search with Google if you know some easy key commands to open yourself a new tab, “tab” over to the searchbar and then enter your info into that and hit enter.

However, I was looking on the Apple Downloads page today and saw a feature that I have been wanting since I first booted into Tiger and got to use Spotlight: Integrated Google Search. If you use Google Desktop for Windows, you get this functionality built-in, and I’ve been very jealous as of late because of that. However, with this simple installer, when you search using Spotlight, Google search items are displayed right there in your list. Clicking on them brings up Safari or your browser to the page right-away.

It seems like it slows down Spotlight just a tad, but not anything too incredible. As well, I’m sure that it will be just a tad confusing for some users at first, even though there are separate icons for the Google items. As such, the items show up under a “Bookmarks” subtitle, just like “Images” or “Documents” and so forth.

I’m very excited about this plug-in because it’s something that I’ve been wanting for forever now.

You can grab a copy of Google Importer (requires Spotlight and Tiger) from Apple here.

Cool Keyboard Shortcut

Matt — Tue, 09 May 2006 14:38:10 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me that I have been using a Mac for close to a year now and I’m still uncovering little things that I just gasp and say “Thank You!!” for, though they are things that I took for granted during my Linux and Windows years before.

A great example of this is the ability to hit the backspace button and go back a page. This works just as expected when you’re in Safari or Firefox for example, but because the Finder isn’t tied into Safari like Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are tied together, hitting the backspace key doesn’t work to go back a page when you’re just browsing your computer.

I had just given up and decided that because the applications weren’t related as closely, that the functionality just wasn’t present in the Mac OS. However, I was searching through some menus just the other day and ran across the keyboard shortcut that allows you to go back a view, essentially.

I’ve been using the “Apple-Click” the title area of the Finder to get a list of folders above that one, so that you can go up a directory. The shortcut for this is “Apple-Up-Arrow”, which makes sense enough. This isn’t the same as the back button, but as most people go down into directories as they browse, it’s very close most of the time.

If anyone knows how to enable this feature, or what I’m missing if it’s there and I just haven’t seen it, let me know and I would be very grateful. I think I need to get a Mac OS X for dummies book or something….

Screen Spanning Doctor — Must Have!

Matt — Tue, 09 May 2006 01:11:11 +0000

Okay, so I posted as one of my main points of upgrade to a Macbook Pro was the fact that you could have extended desktops while you can’t have this feature on an iBook (even though they both use the same graphic chips basically). Someone was very kind enough to post this link to an AppleScript that adds this functionality to certain models, including some iMacs, eMac, and iBooks.

So, I was able to install this very easily, then all I had to do was restart my computer and plug in a monitor. Voila! After unchecking a box that said something like “Mirror Desktops” I was able to drag around my displays to get them setup the way I wanted (external on left) etc, just like it was from the factory! Best of all, I’m hooked up to a 17″ CRT right now (one I had lying around) that supports 1280X1024, so I have a very cool resolution on that monitor, while I still have my stock 1024X768 on my main iBook screen. Very, very nice!

Expose is just a tad sluggish with this setup, but it works none the less. Supposedly this script also enabled a “clamshell mode” so that you can shut your main display, wake the computer with the lid still shut, and then use the external that way. Although, it warns you several times that it won’t vent properly and may overheat, so I don’t think that I’ll be trying this feature out for long periods of time.

However, I can’t thank the person enough who submitted the link for this script, I will be playing with this for awhile now!

You can grab the AppleScript that enables this wonderful feature for iBooks and more Mac computers here.

Macbooks Not Tomorrow?

Matt — Tue, 09 May 2006 00:43:51 +0000

I will be a very unhappy camper tomorrow if there aren’t any Macbooks released, let me just get that off my chest. I take great pride in not being an iPod fanatic, and can care less about those refresh cycles, besides the fact that it brings revenue into Apple, which is always a good thing.

Appleinsider is now reporting (Talk about changing your mind..) that there won’t be any Macbooks tomorrow, that it will be later in the month at the earliest. Every-time that this happens (think iBooks last summer, while I was waiting expectantly for about a month) I swear that I won’t get all tied up and get my hopes up, but it just never works out that way.

That leads me to a point. How many PC users get excited about upcoming products? I mean seriously. I never hear of someone going “Oh my gosh, it’s the new Dell Platitude 7300NGC F Series!!” (Dramatization). And, with the past few “fund raisers” that have been on the net, the first one where a guy blew up his PMac G3 on film so that he would raise money for a G5, and then a new guy in college that is raising money to get a new iMac, you just have to wonder…..I don’t see PC users banding together and donating money so that Billy Bob can get himself a new Gateway Tablet. I love being a Mac user!!

Typo in iTMS

Matt — Mon, 08 May 2006 19:50:21 +0000

I was browsing through the iTMS this afternoon while I was at work and found this rather humorous typo. If anyone knows what a “Vingle” is, just let me know!

Apple Wins Trademark Battle

Matt — Mon, 08 May 2006 18:57:54 +0000

Apple was in a court battle with Apple Inc over their use of the Apple logo in the iTMS. (Apple Inc was the record company that signed the Beatles) So, Apple has won their battle with the trademark dispute and all is well in the world. The funny thing is that Jobs actually had the audacity to ask Apple Inc to put the Beatles on the iTMS. I just find that hilarious.

Macbooks Coming Tuesday?

Matt — Sat, 06 May 2006 00:56:27 +0000

Well, us Apple fans just love to speculate and sit around wondering about the “next big thing”. So, to keep everyone happy, I have to shed some light to the rumors surrounding the new Macbook that is supposedly slated to come out next Tuesday.

Macrumors and Appleinsider are both reporting that displays are showing up at retail stores marked as not to open until the 9th of May, as well as manufacturing already taking place on the machines themselves. Then today, there was a “glitch” in the ipod directory of Apple’s site that had a breadcrumb showing a link to the “Macbook” without the Pro on the end of it.

Personally, I think they’ll release it when they’re ready, and that’s the way I want it to be, since I am most likely going to put my name on a waiting list as soon as it’s out. I would like the product to have some time to get the bugs out before it’s released so I don’t leave it one day to find that the power adapter burnt my laptop, that it produces a very annoying whine, or that the screen is dimmer in some areas than others…but maybe I’m just picky.

As for the features that are being touted and promised with the new Macbook, I have to say that it will be one nice machine and that it leaves me in a sticky predicament. Price-wise I’m more of an iBook user, being in college and not being able to go all out for a Powerbook/Macbook Pro. So, that’s one thing for the new Macbook. Then, I hear that it’s going to have similar features as the Pro model, such as the built-in iSight, Front Row, the remote, and PhotoBooth. That list right there is enough to make me want to run out and buy one right now. Through in a Core Duo processor, some faster RAM, maybe a larger hard drive (please!!) and the nice widescreen and I can’t wait. A very sexy magnetic latch and the MagSafe power adapter just keep making it better. Here’s the topper though: colors. I LOVED the clamshell iBooks because of their color scheme. I think Apple has kinda grown up a little bit since then, and I feel like the mature grey and white scheme needs to be on its way out the door for right now.

I think a sexy black would be a very hot seller, since that is what I want the iPod Nano so much for. I’m sure some other colors would only help, and bring life back into an essentially youth product. My problem comes in that I really like a few of the Pro features, and would love to have them in the regular line. One of them that I can’t stress enough is support for extending your desktop. It absolutely infuriates me that I can’t hook my iBook and use another monitor, instead of just mirroring. Even the cheapest Dells can do this, yet my iBook can’t!? I will refrain from harsh language. The other feature that I would really like to have brought over from the Pro line would be the feel of the machine. I just have to say that the weight (some would say this is bad, but I’m just meaning solid, well built, etc) is impressive and I like that feeling in the product.

I know that the lines have to be kept separate, so I won’t ever be completely happy. I would just like to maybe get the Pro model in colors, I’d be willing to splurge a bit for that if I could get all my features, plus a little extra power. So, as I sit at work on Tuesday glued to Apple’s site, Macrumors, Appleinsider, Macworld, etc etc just waiting for a product release or a conference, think of me.

Aperture Not Over Yet

Matt — Thu, 04 May 2006 16:26:02 +0000

Apple released updates to Aperture and Logic Express yesterday while disbanding rumors that the Aperture team was being scrapped and the product put to bed. Long live Aperture!

Check the article from MacRumors here.

Macbook Pro Battery Recall

Matt — Thu, 04 May 2006 02:57:04 +0000

Evidently there have been some problems with some of the new batteries for the Macbook Pro’s because Apple is recalling them. This sounds pretty serious indeed with dying batteries, batteries with no charge even though they are reading they’re charged, and more. Thankfully it is only supposed to be affecting those that were made in the first few weeks.

Read the article from AppleInsider here.

Steve Jobs to Open Manhattan Store

Matt — Thu, 04 May 2006 02:54:40 +0000

Supposedly good ol’ Steve will be making a trip up to New York to help open up the cool new Manhattan store here in the next few weeks. This store is the one that is a few stories, has the ever famous glass cube, and is rumored to be open 24/7. We’ll have to see if that last part pans out, but still, I wouldn’t mind walking around in amazement in that place.

Read the article from AppleInsider here.

More Funny News with New Apple Commercials

Matt — Wed, 03 May 2006 20:28:37 +0000

I have mentioned the the new “Get a Mac” campaign commercials already, but after reading an article from CNet, I think it’s even better! In the networking ad where the digital camera (Japanese woman) joins the duo, there is some language exchanged (presumably Japanese). Anyway, the author of this article was able to find out what it meant and pointed the funny out:

Hey, don’t you think he looks nerdy?

When the digital camera starts thinking that about the PC’s, look out…..

Check out the story from CNet here.

Macbook Rumors Updated

Matt — Wed, 03 May 2006 16:49:38 +0000

For those keeping up with Macbook rumors, everything is still inline for a May release of the successor to the iBook. Macrumors.com has the specs listed as similar to the Macbook Pro with the reintroduction of colors. If all that happens with the widescreen, this will be one hot product that I won’t be able to say no to.

Check out the story from Macrumors here.

New Apple Ads

Matt — Tue, 02 May 2006 13:19:09 +0000

There were rumors about new Apple ads being released this week, and lo and behold, there were. They feature an older guy with glasses being a “PC” and a younger, hip guy as the “Mac”. They just stand there and talk to each other, but it’s still pretty funny. There are six altogether, and you have to watch because these are just great.

Leopard Seeing File System Overhaul?

Matt — Tue, 02 May 2006 03:43:17 +0000

According to this article Apple is contemplating switching to a new file system. This would be a welcome change from the current system of resource forks and all that like, that I won’t even pretend to know about. However, much of the excitement about Windows Vista was WinFS and all the improvements that would ensue from it.

I guess what I really like about this idea is that Apple pulled off Spotlight so well with just a traditional file system with journaling thrown on top. Just imagine what Apple can pull off with a new file system….

Keynote and Pages Updates

Matt — Mon, 01 May 2006 21:11:04 +0000

I know that we just had some updates to these two applications last week, both of them getting updated to a .0.1 statues, but evidently something wasn’t right with that release as Software Update informed me tonight that a “.0.1v2″ update was available for both of these apps. I just have to wonder what went wrong with the first one. I haven’t heard complaints from users or anything.

Garageband Update

Matt — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:01:04 +0000

Apple has released an update to Garageband bringing it up to 3.0.2 just the other day. Supposedly it’s going to fix some issues, so I’ll let you know if I find anything weird.

17" Macbook Pro Released

Matt — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:14:02 +0000

Apple has released a 17″ version of the Macbook Pro for everyone. Click on image to check it out on Apple’s website.

Leopard Preview at WWDC Confirmed

Matt — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 23:23:42 +0000

Apple sent out emails to it’s Developer Connection Members last night (I found mine this morning) stating that everyone needs to hurry up and sign up for WWDC in August so that they can play with Leopard before it becomes publicly available.

The email doesn’t detail any new features at all, just lays out five major categories that will be covered. I imagine with this approach we won’t find out specific features until WWDC itself, unlike hints of features we’ve had in the past.

For a more complete list of features that will be covered in each category (very general) visit the WWDC area of Apple’s website below:

WWDC on Apple.com

Apple Legal Yells at 3rd Grader

Matt — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 05:46:14 +0000

I can’t express just how upset I am that Apple, the company that I adore on so many levels, could treat someone like this.

A 3rd grader was having to write a business letter for class, so she chose Steve Jobs as her recipient. However, Apple’s legal department wrote her back with a very official letter detailing how Apple doesn’t accept unsolicited letters or advice, etc.

First of all, no matter who wrote the letter to you, you shouldn’t go around telling your customers that their ideas suck and that you don’t want to hear about it. Second, giving this type of letter to a child is even worse, especially coming from a company that supposedly fosters creativity and education.

You can watch the news video here.

Boot Camp Issues

Matt — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:05:43 +0000

All the initial reports that I heard from people were that Boot Camp was a blessing and was being well received, working just as it was advertised (though not supported). However, reports are coming in now that the software is destroying some hard drives and making it impossible to boot back into OS X. We’ll see how this pans out, but is definitely scary. Not being able to boot into OS X…..stuck with Windows…a nightmare!

You can read the article from CNET here.

Remote Desktop 3 Released

Matt — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:04:04 +0000

Apple has released an update to Remote Desktop. It was originally thought that this would be heldd back and released alongside Leopard later on this year or next, but it seems that this goody was too good to wait.

Some pretty nifty features that have been added included remote Spotlight searching of client computers, Automator support, and support for Intel Macs.

You can read more from Apple here.

Macbook Rumors

Matt — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 02:40:51 +0000

There is a lot of speculation surrounding the iBook’s successor (with good cause I might add) and I’d like to add my two cents worth here.

The above is an image taken from engadget

When Apple decides to make a change to a computer, I’m sure they put a lot of thought and money behind the decision. However, here are what I’d like to see in a new Macbook (although I like iBook better).

First, I want support for extended desktop. This might not be high up on some people’s list, but this is a feature that I absolutely love, but just can’t afford. The fact that you can get this on ANY Windows computer, even the 500 Dells, makes me infuriated.

I like the latchless look that the above picture has, it looks very clean. However, I also like the way the new Macbook Pro closes and feels so solid. If I can’t have that tight fit, I want the double latch.

The screen has to be beautiful. 1024 X 768 isn’t going to cut it anymore. I want a higher resolution, and I want it now. The brightness on my current iBook suits me just fine, but I want more pixels. I have mixed feelings about a widescreen model. While I like the looks of one, I’ve had bad experiences hooking one up to an external monitor (running Windows, the new Gateway tablet PC’s no less). If it’s going to be widescreen, make sure that if I hook this puppy up to a projector, I’m not going to have to go choose a different resolution that looks okay on the projector, but sucks on my laptop. I think Apple could get this right.

One color. Right now my iBook is a nice white, and that’s fine. However, it’s two tone. While the bottom and the top are pure white, the main body looks like a dingy grey in comparison. Give me one color so I don’t have to decide what’s wrong with my laptop.

The choice of a 7200 RPM HD (a large one at that). While you can get this now, you pay extra for the same size drive, just faster. I want both worlds, a larger drive that is faster. I’ll pay, just let me at it.

iSight. I love the built-in iSight and Photobooth with the new Intel Macs. If we go with the magnetic latch, then I’m torn between the iSight because it would dirty up the design. However, if there is a real latch on the new Macbook, I better have an iSight or I’m going to be angry.

Two Ram DIMMS. I’m not putting much hope into this one, and I can understand that Apple needs to keep their laptop lines separate and cut costs to keep the Macbook cheaper than the pro model. However, I’d love to be able to throw in as much RAM as possible.

No MagSafe. This probably should be up higher on my list. After playing around with a MB pro for awhile, I don’t want MagSafe. It’s too much trouble to keep it plugged up if you’re an active user. I work on my site, podcast, research papers, research for chemistry, chat with friends, and keep up with news and politics all at the same time most days. And I like to do this from the comfort of my bed, the floor, or anywhere I choose without having to worry about becoming unplugged just as I’m trying to encode that 45 minute movie I’ve thrown together in iMovie.

Basically, I want the perfect Intel-based computer that has power to throw around with the comfort and style of a Mac. We’ll see how much of my wants are actually full-filled, but I’m hoping for all of them.

.Mac Sync Services Down

Matt — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 07:20:25 +0000

The .Mac services that allow you to sync between different Macs have been down since Tuesday morning according to CNET. I suppose that it has something to do with the 10.4.6 update that rolled out around the same time.

You can read the article from CNET here.

New MacBooks Coming?

Matt — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 07:04:40 +0000

Thinksecret reports that the iBook’s replacement, the MacBook, is indeed finally in production and should see a launch date in the next 30 to 60 days. Thinksecret also reports that the new MacBook will sport specification similar to the Mac Mini with a 13.3 screen.

You can read the article from Thinksecret here.

Flash Rendition of Mac OS 7

Matt — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 06:58:34 +0000

Okay, this is really impressive. Someone has spent an incredible amount of time and effort to create a flash version of Mac OS 7, and it looks and acts so much like OS 7 that it’s scary.

Be sure to check out this link to play around with this.

Virtualization Software for Intel Mac

Matt — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 03:50:04 +0000

So, here’s some pretty big news. We now have software that lets you run Windows (and other OSes that are x86, including Solaris, Windows 3.1, Warp, etc) at almost native speed.

This is amazing, considering that Apple just announced it’s Boot Camp technology a few days ago at best, and today we have something even better. This is kinda like Virtual PC that we once had, but is much faster because Windows will run on a new Intel Mac already, so the software doesn’t have to do a lot of translating code and all that.

So, check out the link to the software’s page here.

It’s in a free beta right now, and once it’s released, it’s supposed to be 50 dollars.

Boot Camp

Matt — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 02:54:13 +0000

Apple has released a beta version of a software installer that helps a user partition and install Windows XP (Intel Mac) so that they can dual boot. A firmware update for Intel Macs also lets you dual boot much easier than before.

The requirements for the software were about 10GB free space and an Intel Mac, of course. Supposedly this is going to be a feature that will be included in Leopard.

Front Row not Broken

Matt — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 05:53:12 +0000

For those of you out there who did install our Front Row patch (that has been since removed by Apple legal from the Andrew Escobar site where it was taken from), good news!

10.4.6 doesn’t break the functionality of this install, it works just like before! Very exciting indeed, since all of the 10.4.x upgrades so far have broken the hack. Maybe Apple is having to put it’s efforts elsewhere instead of trying to keep Front Row off of a few harmless geek’s Macs?

Check out our Front Row patch to put Front Row on any newer Mac (not just the ones that support it) here.

10.4.6 Update and No New Macs

Matt — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:16:49 +0000

Well, the 30th Anniversary has come and gone with no new products. But we did get a software update that is actually kinda exciting in some small respects.

iSync now officially supports the V557 without any tinkering or hacking.
Improved USB audio interface (better recording in Garageband for me)
Resolves that nasty error about copying files and folders via samba
Fixed a very, very, very high priority bug where Calculator would divide if you hit the % button
Disk Utility now gets rid of the “We’re using special permissions for…” message

All in all, I think that I’ll be pretty happy with this update (have yet to install it, but it’s waiting). I just hope that it doesn’t break my hacked Front Row install (I’m 99.9% sure that it will, Apple…..).

Hope everyone’s having a good week.

Test Your Mac Knowledge

Matt — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 07:41:31 +0000

Here is a link to a quick little quiz from BBC to test your Apple knowledge. I scored a 7/10, go find out how much you know!

Take the quiz from BBC here.

30th Anniversary

Matt — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 09:53:27 +0000

Man Behind OS X Leaves Apple

Matt — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:17:21 +0000

The man behind the core of OS X will have his last day at Apple this Friday.

Avie Tevanian is leaving Apple this week. He started out his career designing the Mach kernel, moved on to Next with Jobs and worked on NextStep, and then ended up at Apple bringing his earlier technologies together to form the basis of OS X.

Knowing all of this now, it makes me wonder if I shouldn’t have sent him a birthday card as well as Jobs

Read the article from Macworld here.

Local Apple Store Coming!!!!

Matt — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:30:12 +0000

Okay, this is soooo exciting for me, I can’t even say it!

According to this article (and another source of mouth from someone just the other day, can’t remember who though) I’m getting an Apple Store in my city!

This is exciting because I’ve never lived within about a 3 hour distance (one way) from one before and I loved going to it. So, needless to say, I’ll be sure to quit my current job and apply there at the first opportunity. Being able to spread the word about Macs to potential buyers…..ah, bliss!

For all those interested, I live in Knoxville, TN and it’s coming to West Town Mall (in case you happen to be in K-town too, and then, drop me a line if you like!)

Back to our normal scheduled programming.

5 Years of OS X

Matt — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 03:19:46 +0000

I was just thinking about this the other day, when I was pondering about Leopard and it’s release date. However, Mac OS 10.0 was released five years to the day. A lot has happened in that time, a lot indeed.

You can read a good article from Ars Technia here.

To put my two cents in:

I had only used a Mac once or twice before OS X. This was at school, using one of those All-In-One G3 macs, with the weird tops. Anyway, not a good experience with those. But I saw an iMac at Circuit City one day, and it had something different on it. I played around on it for a bit (10.0 release) and got excited. I researched, and a mac fanatic was born.

The only thing I’m ashamed about is the fact that I call myself a fanatic, yet never used OS 9. I used 7.5.5 for a little while in Basilisk after having a run in with 10.0, but never a real Mac user. So, I have to call myself a OS X fanatic in some respects. Let me in on your thoughts as well!

Another Reason Why I Want A MacBook Pro

Matt — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:55:31 +0000

I’m playing around on this MacBook Pro at work some more, and just ran across one of the top reasons why I’ve GOT to get one of these this summer.

EXTENDED DESKTOP

Those words above say it all. Being able to hook this baby up to another monitor, and be able to have all that extra space (even though this screen is impressive already) is beyond words. I was like a little kid jumping around! Having my terminal windows open on the 17″ flat panel on the desk, iTunes open along with Safari on the main display…

Best of all, Expose still works and shines beautifully. Just great….great!

Terminal Tip

Matt — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:52:13 +0000

Okay everyone, this is a HUGE find for me. I log into the servers at school all the time via the lovely terminal (my most used app behind iTunes, Mail, and RW). Anyway, when you login and use vim for something, the “delete” key works as a regular Windows Delete key…not a backspace key that I’ve got used to using since my switch to Mac (this is soooo confusing, I miss a real delete key, but you’ve got to have a Backspace key).

To cut it short, I just found out how to make the Terminal treat the “Delete” key as a Backspace key! Just fire up Terminal, go to “Terminal”, “Window Settings…”, choose “Keyboard” from the pop-up list, and then check the box that says “Delete key sends backspace”.

I’m so excited about this, I’ve been going nuts using it the way it is for ages now, but I’ve got it working. This really should be enabled by default though.

Front Row Sharing

Matt — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:11:21 +0000

I’m sitting here at work yet again, and as I still have yet to find the woman that this new MacBook Pro goes to (yes, the college ordered a computer for a faculty member that we can’t locate…so it’s my plaything right now) I’ve been playing around with Front Row this morning.

I have a hacked version of Front Row running on my iBook G4, the latest version that supports sharing even. However, I don’t find Front Row that useful on this computer for a few reasons. First, I have no remote to use it with. I want a remote. Second, I can’t figure out to keep the screensaver from kicking in while I’ve got Front Row running. This isn’t a problem on ‘official’ computers, so I assume it’s something dealing with the hack.

Moving on, it’s just really easy to find computers with shared music, photos, etc. It’s now just under a menu option under each ‘main’ program, that’s like “Shared Music”, something like that. The only problem I see with this is that if you don’t want someone to see what you’re sharing, then you’ve got a problem. I don’t know how this handles password protected shares, if it displays the normal “This computer only allows 5 connections per day” from iTunes, or how it handles DRM, and telling you that your computer isn’t authorized to play this content. I’ll play around some more.

Bye Bye to PPC iMac's

Matt — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:44:52 +0000

I was just browsing the net before leaving work today, and ran across this article over at AppleInsider.

I thought the article had a real nice reminiscent feel to it, and made me feel sad that the PPC era is driving to a close.

It was nearly seven years ago that Apple introduced the PowerPC iMac on May 6, 1998 at its Cupertino, Calif.-based headquarters. The first iMac, a bulbous bondi-blue desktop computer, packed a whopping 233MHz PowerPC processor and 32MB of RAM. 

 ”We designed iMac to deliver the things consumers care about most–the excitement of the Internet and the simplicity of the Mac,” Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at the time. “iMac is next year’s computer for $1299; not last year’s computer for $999.”

–From AppleInsider

New iPod Commercial

Matt — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 07:43:16 +0000

I just thought that’d I’d let everyone know about the latest iPod ad that was just released a little while back evidently. You can get to it from Apple’s home pages, or by clicking the link below.

New iPod “1000 Songs” Ad

iTunes Movie Back Up

Matt — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 17:03:55 +0000

I’m getting sick of posting about this already, but since I’ve covered everything so far…

The first movie from the iTMS is back online, at a price of 9.99 instead of 1.99 that it was listed for earlier. So, I’m not sure if you can navigate directly to the page yet (I can’t figure out how) but you can view it with the same link below:

First iTunes Full-Lenth Video

First Movie Removed from iTMS

Matt — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 06:04:40 +0000

It was just earlier today that I posted about the first full-length movie being available on the iTMS (from Disney). I just tried the link a minute ago because someone told me it wasn’t working, and sure enough, it’s not. It was working earlier today, so the good folks at Apple must have caught whiff of the deadly rumors and yanked the accidental (I’m guessing) page as soon as they found out. At any rate, it at least confirms the earlier rumors of full-length movies sometime soon. April 1st anyone?…

NCAA to iTunes

Matt — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 05:23:55 +0000

This is of no real interest sports wise to me, but supposedly Apple is going to offer coverage of the NCAA tournament for download in cooperation with CBS. Only mentioning because this just shows how the steam is picking up behind the video part of the iTMS now. We’ve had a huge surge of TV shows here recently, plus multi-pass just this last week. Now our first movie is on there (previous post) and now sports coverage.

Ahh, yes, the time for Apple and home entertainment is right, my young apprentice..

First iTunes Movie

Matt — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 20:29:24 +0000

According to Macrumors, iTunes has its first full-length movie up. Granted, it’s a Disney TV movie, but a movie all the same. Weighing in at 470 somthing MB, it’s pretty impressive as far as compression goes.

Click here to launch iTunes Music Store to see movie

SVU Arrives on iTunes

Matt — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:13:30 +0000

My favorite show of all time, Law and Order SVU, has finally made it’s debut on iTunes. You can purchase the whole first season, get individual episodes from the first and the current one, and sign up to the get this whole season as it airs. I’m excited except for the fact that I won’t be able to burn these to DVD’s to save up some room on my Mac. I’ll quickly fill up this hard drive at this rate!

Monthly Subscription on iTunes

Matt — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 01:32:39 +0000

We now have monthly subscriptions on the iTunes Music Store. For 10 bucks a month, I think you get unlimited downloads to the shows that are on that “Movie Pass” thing. Right now it doesn’t make any sense, but as more shows are added, it’ll be cool.

EDIT: I didn’t pay close enough attention to the detail when I first posted this a few days ago, but this seems to be a deal where you pay the 10 bucks, and then get access to 16 episodes, 15 after the one you start with. I’m not sure if this is going to let you keep the videos after all is said and one, but is still a pretty good deal. We’ll have to see how it pans out. I’m excited that I’ll be able to purchase a simple subscription and be able to keep up to date with my show automatically!

Windows XP Boots on a Macbook Pro

Matt — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:09:27 +0000

I thought that was pretty clever, myself. I was duped to digging the article, and found that image. Kudos to whoever made it

WWDC 2006

Matt — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 05:31:20 +0000

Apple announced WWDC 2006 dates today. The event will be held in early August this year, even though if memory serves me, it’s traditionally been held in mid July for the past few years. Anyway, the big thing will be a preview or 10.5 “Leopard”.

Read a slightly longer and more official announcement from Macrumors.

Hi-Fi

Matt — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:24:37 +0000

Apple also released it’s second iPod accessory today, a very overpriced, but attractive, boom box for the iPod.

Intel Mac Mini

Matt — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:22:14 +0000

Well, today has came and on its way out.

But we have an Intel Mac Mini! Let the home entertainment experience ruled by Apple begin

Only thing worth noting here is that you have Intel integrated graphics (eww) as well as updated Front Row that supports streaming media from other computers in your house, so that’s a nice feature.

UPDATE: Did anyone else notice the price hikes on this thing? Whew! We went from 499 and 599 to 599 and 799! That’s a huge difference, even given that you get a dual core processor. Our entry level Mac is slowly creeping up in price again!

1 Billion Songs…

Matt — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 19:33:15 +0000

I’m a little late on posting the news for this one, but we’ve hit 1 billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. That’s a lot of legal music. I wonder if they’re counting the number of videos downloaded too, and will do the same thing later on? I suppose so, cause they’ve got to have statistics.

Mini-PCI in Macbooks

Matt — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:19:55 +0000

Okay, I was just reading an article about thoughts on the new Macbook, and found something that is so amazing, I just can’t stress it enough!!

“In what appears to be a huge step for Apple, the new AirPort card is a mini-PCI Express card that should improve bandwidth and compatibility. Mini-PCI express is a standard socket, which allows for a variety of upgrades to be done internally, however it’s unclear if Apple will fully support the technology in this fashion.”

Read full article here.

So, we may actually be able to pop in a regular card here in the next bit, instead of paying for an over priced Airport card? While this is exciting, I don’t think that it will be of much use in the near future. Apple most likely won’t support anything besides their cards, and it’s hard enough to shop for a printer with Tiger drivers, let alone get a wireless card for Mac. The possibility exists though. I’m sure someone will get a Super-G type card working….wouldn’t that be fun? Not to mention that other internal cards besides wireless are possible.

Mini-PCI in a Mac, imagine the possibilities…

Flight Simulator X

Matt — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:01:25 +0000

I don’t play in flight simulators, but the screenshots for this look awesome! I always love to see great graphics, and this looks just pain gorgeous. Click picture for more screenshots.

Macbook Pro Pictures (And Not Just the Packaging)

Matt — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:52:12 +0000

Click on the pic above to be taken to a site where someone has already got their lovely new Macbook Pro and taken it apart!! Very nice pics though, someone knows how to use a good camera. Makes you realize just how beautiful this baby is.

Free Episode of New Drama on iTunes

Matt — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 06:27:50 +0000

I’m a HUGE Law and Order SVU fan, so this got my attention real quick. There is a new show being produced by Dick Wolf (this guy must never sleep he produces so many shows) called “Conviction”. It depicts the lives of young Assistant District Attorney’s from NYC. I was interested because it brings back a character that we lost from SVU back in it’s 5th season, Alexandria Cabot played by Stephanie March. Anyway, the first episode is available free for download, as well as an accompanying music video and some behind the scenes stuff.

NOTE: Just click the picture above, and it’ll take you directly to the page in the Music Store. It won’t open an iTunes window however, you have to open it yourself

Revised Apple Intel Ad

Matt — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:27:38 +0000

I know I’m starting to post a lot of stuff from digg.com over here, but I’ll try to trim it back. However, I really like this link. The guy took the Apple Intel Ad and edited the very end.

You can view the video here.

iLife '06 Updates Rolled Out

Matt — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 08:09:23 +0000

The good folks at Apple must have heard my rumblings yesterday about not getting iLife ’06 updates. Installing all of these bumps each app a .0.1 up, and supposedly fixes some bugs. I’m hoping it address my Garageband and iMovie bugs that I encountered, but I haven’t had time to fiddle with them tonight.

10.4.5 Availabe

Matt — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 06:26:23 +0000

Mac OS X update 10.4.5 is available, presumably for both Intel and PPC. Just came home and opened my iBook and software update told me it was available (PPC version) so, update em! Hopefully this won’t break any apps that I have…maybe Front Row will start working again….that would be nice.

Macbook Pro Speed Bump

Matt — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 20:10:58 +0000

I’m sure people all across the net are murmuring about this very thing this exact instant! Apple has upped the speed on the new Macbooks, leveling them with the iMac, and then went farther than that to add an option to get a 2.16Ghz Intel Duo!! It’s very nice when the product hasn’t even shipped yet and we’re seeing improvements. Check the picture above taken from the Apple Store to see.

Intel iMacs

Matt — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:55:34 +0000

Just a quick note to everyone. I got a chance to play around on new Intel iMacs yesterday when I stopped by the computer store on campus. I work for tech support for a college on campus, and we had just received two new ones yesterday while I was at work, so stopping by did pay off for me.

As far as looks go, these iMacs are identical to the last generation as far as my eye can tell. I played around a little in some iLife applications (I was short for time and there wasn’t any media to do anything with anyway). All I can say is the system seemed very responsive, at least for launching applications. Just one bounce in the dock and the app was open for most apps. Spotlight was just as fast, and the interface was identical. When playing around on the system, the CPU usage was never more than about 10% (it’s usually VERY high when I have magnification on for the dock and you scroll over it very fast—my own test) This could be attributed to better graphics and bus, or the Intel chip, I don’t know. The two cores also show up in the Activity Monitor as two chips, each with it’s own meter. The only thing besides a noticeable speed increase (again, this is compared to my iBook, so this might not mean much at all) to let you know that this was Intel inside was when you check the “About This Mac”. Other than that, it’s seamless. This could confuse a lot of non technical users, since there is no easy way to quickly identify if you have a PPC or Intel Mac (this surely will only come into play later when apps are starting to be released as Intel only), but it doesn’t really matter as of today.

Bottom line: Apple seems to be doing great with the Intel transition. More time with this product would certainly make me feel better about it, but right off the bat, it seems like a winner. I’m just really excited about the Macbook’s now.

WINE for x86 Macs

Matt — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:01:17 +0000

According to OSx86 Project (a site that deals with running Mac OS on x86) there is an official build of WINE for Intel Macs out. If this works (I’ve never had much luck with WINE on x86 Linux, and certainly even less on PPC Mac) then theoretically you could run your Windows Apps right inside the Mac OS, at almost native speeds, since no emulation would be required (assuming you’re using an Intel Mac of course).

However, looking over at the Darwine page, it doesn’t mention this newest build with x86 support, so I have to wonder where they got this information. I’ll be checking back later today to see if the Darwine page is updated to show this new info.

New iPod Nano Model

Matt — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 19:08:32 +0000

Was just looking around the Apple Store and found out that Apple has quietly released a 1GB Nano that comes in at 149. So, we still have the two Shuffle models, but they are 69 and 99 respectively. Kinda interesting to see where this is going, the Nano is slowing creeping into the cheaper player market…..

PowerPC vs Intel

Matt — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 06:21:46 +0000

This news will be regurgitated for years to come, but here is a short history of the PowerPC architecture and reasons Apple left PPC for Intel. I nice read to catch up on times that I don’t remember..

You can read the article here.

iBook and Powerbook Power Issues

Matt — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:06:08 +0000

I’ve had some this happen to me a few times in the past. Be using the computer, and when you bring it out of sleep, the screen won’t turn back on. Just nothing. The only solution I’ve had is to remove the battery to force it to turn off, the restart it. I know that is rather harsh (and after reading this article I learned that you can supposedly force a shutdown by holding the power button down for 10 seconds) but it worked. I wonder if the PMU has anything to do with it as this article suggests. The only thing I have to say is that it certainly doesn’t happen often for me, so I wonder what causes it to do it when it does. The following is a technical article from the Apple Support site detailing how to reset your PMU for your laptop to potentially resolve this issue.

You can read the support article from Apple here.

iPhoto Thoughts

Matt — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 03:09:16 +0000

People all have different opinions about software they use, etc. Here is something that aggravates me to no end, and it’s not just iPhoto that does it. For the vast majority of Mac applications, if you close the window, the app is still running. This was a nuisance when I first switched over from Windows and Linux, but now I like the feature. The programs that don’t follow this guideline should be punished severely A prime example is iPhoto. I just wonder why it is the only app from iLife that acts this way?

Universal Binary Logo

Matt — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:07:40 +0000

Just thought that I would show everyone what the new logo is going to be for the Intel Macs. Having the Universal logo shows that the program will run on either Intel or PPC, so if you’re even thinking about buying an Intel Mac in the near future, make sure that you start looking for the universal applications, or you might have to buy the app all over again when you get your new Mac.

Adobe Lightroom

Matt — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 06:58:44 +0000

Adobe’s competitor (early beta stages though) to Apple’s Aperture app is available for download from Adobe. Since Aperture isn’t free (neither will it run on my iBook) I decided to download Lightroom and give it a try. I’ll be posting my brief results from playing around with the app here shortly.

No More WMP for Mac

Matt — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 04:12:54 +0000

Even though this is no great loss for Mac users, Microsoft has quietly announced that it won’t be developing Windows Media Player for Mac anymore. They haven’t had a new version out to my knowledge in quite some time, and even at that, it’s a buggy piece of software by my standards. However, with the 5-year commitment between Apple and Microsoft just updated on Tuesday at Macworld, I find it a little odd that they would discontinue their product now.

New iPod Updater

Matt — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:53:00 +0000

This updater includes software for the iPod Mini, Nano, newest iPods, maybe the shuffles, and possibly 4G iPods. Just head over to http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ and check out the updater. This applies to Windows user also.

A Little Mac Humor

Matt — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:21:35 +0000

I was reading somewhere on the net about this and thought I just had to share, since it is so ironic. For those who don’t keep up with the Mac scene, Mac’s have been using PowerPC chips for quite a few years now, while all of the Windows computers you’ve been using have had Intel inside.

Before the first Pentium was released, the chip naming scheme from Intel was numbers based. So we had the 386 and the 486. However, we also had the 8086 processor. The ironic part comes in when you look at Apple’s closing stock price yesterday. Apple released two new computers that run on Intel chips (x86) instead of the PowerPC chips. And, their stock was…..80.86 Just a bit of history and pure coincidence for everyone.

New Products

Matt — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:21:56 +0000

Macworld Roundup

Matt — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:55:09 +0000

After sitting here and reading what happened at Macworld today (from Macrumors.com live coverage), I have to say I’m a little dissappointed. Here is what was released, briefly though:

No more Powerbooks….called MacBook Pro now. Intel chips, Front Row, Apple Remote, built-in iSight, the works. Ships in February…I’m assuming a regular MacBook will replace the iBooks sometime soon.

New iLife ’06. Very cool updates to all apps with the addition of iWeb. However, I think it only publishes to .Mac, so that’s a loss….

New iMacs. These are basically the same thing except they’re Intel and have a better graphics card. Ships now.

Updated iWork. Nothing special, just a few more features, no new app added.

The thing that I really wanted from Macworld was Front Row added to iLife and the addition of a bluetooth Apple Remote, instead of the IR one. The MacBook gets the IR receiver built in, so I guess all updates to Mac in teh future will gain Front Row and an Apple Remote a little at a time.

Thoughts on Apple

Matt — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 01:18:12 +0000

While I do love Apple’s products and am excited about Macworld. However, with the possible announcement of iWeb this Tuesday, I feel like I need to comment on Apple’s innovative strategy per se.

Apple does come up with original ideas, or at least, come up with new ways of implementing existing ones. Just like Apple introduced Widgets in Mac OS Tiger (and I’m sure countless other features earlier than that), Apple is supposed to release a program called iWeb that integrates with .Mac and allows publishing of webpages, etc. The problem I have with that is widgets were a knock off from Konfabulator and now the iWeb sounds a lot like the program Rapid Weaver I’m using. Getting rid of third party software isn’t good for business. Apple should know that.

Macworld Predictions

Matt — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 22:40:19 +0000

I listed my own predictions for product announcements at Macworld a few days back, but I just ran across this interesting article over on ZDNet. It is pretty detailed and the list has a lot to get excited over. Check it out here.

New Intel Logos

Matt — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 09:31:30 +0000

I wonder why these didn’t make the cut?
From Joy of Tech.

Man Buys His Own Stolen Camera on Ebay

Matt — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 01:40:01 +0000

I’m sorry that I find this funny, but the irony of the situation and the stupidity of the seller just make me laugh!!

BERLIN (Reuters) – A 44-year-old German businessman whose digital camera was stolen at a restaurant was relieved when he managed to buy exactly the same model on the eBay Internet auction site to match his accessories.

But he became suspicious when it emerged the seller came from his home town. It proved to be the same camera.

Police said on Thursday they were questioning the 34-year-old vendor who, a statement said, “claims he got the camera at a flea market, but was also offering other cameras on the Internet”.

Source: Reuters UK

Amazing feature…

Matt — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 03:44:57 +0000

I was just ctrl-clicking (right clicking for windows users…I don’t have a second button though) and came up with a few pretty useless features of Rapid Weaver on the blog page (this page). You can ctrl-click and get these four options:
1. “iTunes Track” which adds this to the text:
{Listening to ”Scars”, by Papa Roach (Play Count: 129)}–what you’re currently listening to.

2. “Safari URL”–Just opens Safari (Apple Web Browser), I don’t see what use this is.

3. “Stock Quote”–Just enter the ticker symbol and it gives you results such as:
{The delayed stock quote for AAPL is: 73.5}

4. “Today in History”–Gives you some things that happened today in history:

{Today in History:
12/21 Benjamin Disraeli born, 1804
12/21 Phileas Fogg completes his trip around the world in less than 80 days
12/21 Women gain the right to vote in South Australia, 1894
12/21 Women gain the right to hold political office in South Australia, 1894
12/21* Parashat Va-Yechi
12/21 Frank Zappa is born in Baltimore, 1940
12/21* Winter Solstice}

Who even decides what’s important enough to be placed in the “Today in History” category anyway….it’s like some kind of Big Brother control, only letting you see what happened in the past because they say so, kinda scary when you think about it.

Mac Fanatic » Apple

New iMac and Apple Genius Bar

iPad is Changing Things

“Back to the Mac” Event – October 20th

Updated Apple Developer Terms

Developer Agreement

Review Guidelines

MobileMe Calendar Beta

Registering for an invite

Requirements

Ars Design Awards

Apple Developer Terms of Service

iPhone OS 4 and Flash CS5

WebKit 2

iPhone OS 4 Announced

Multitasking

iAd

Other Announcements

iPad as a Platform

Impact of the iPad

Not for Everyone

What it is Made For

iPad Review

First Impressions

Conclusion

Slew of Apple Updates

Apple iPad Now Shipping

Apple iPad Now Available for Pre-Order

Apple iPad on Sale March 12th – Available April 3rd

That’s What She Said Jokes – Now Available!

Aperture 3 Announced

Upcoming iPhone Application

Microsoft’s Internal Struggle

Pastebot for iPhone

Introducing the Apple iPad

Flash on iPhone – Gordon JS Library

Apple Tablet Wishes

“The Tablet”

Form-Factor

User Interaction

Cocoa Touch Software

Removable Battery

Wireless Everywhere

Pricing

Wrapping Up

Apple Controlled Leaks

Snow Leopard 10.6.2 Released

Adobe Announces iPhone Support in CS5

iTunes LP – Inside Look

Grand Central Dispatch – Source Posted on MacOSForge

10.6.1 Out in the Wild

MMS Comes to AT&T Sept 25th

Snow Leopard Intro Video

Quick Tip: Compiling for Tiger on Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard Review

User Centric Thoughts

Dock

Finder

Radnom Refinements

Developer Centric Thoughts

File Compression

Resource Forks & Extended File Attributes

Performance Gains

QuickTime X

64 Bit

File System API Unification

Clang and LLVM

Performance Gains

Static Analyzer

Blocks

Example

API Use

Threading and Grand Central Dispatch

Overview

First Example

Second Example

GCD Conclusion

Cocoa Framework Changes of Interest

More Reading

Full Ars Technica Review