Thursday, March 22, 2007

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (14 сообщений)

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  • HOWTO: Setting up Apple TV

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    It turns out that setting up Apple TV and getting it to function couldn't be easier. Here's a quick run down of the steps involved.

    1. Attach the power cord. Remove the plastic wrapping from the Apple TV unit and insert the power cord into its jack. It fits very snugly and you may need to apply pressure to get it to seat properly.

    2. Attach your media cables. In the gallery below, I am using a component video cable (which shipped with my TV) and a separate analog audio connection (white/red). Apple TV supports HDMI and digital audio as well. Connect the cables to the jacks on the back of your Apple TV and to the jacks on your TV set.

    3. Power on your Apple TV. Plug into a power source. The LED on your Apple TV will flash amber for a few moments and then change to a solid white light.

    4. Select the proper video source. Power your TV on and select your Apple TV as its the video source.

    5. Select a language. Apple TV prompts you to select from its lists of supported languages.

    6. Select a network. Choose from a list of the detected wireless networks.

    7. Make a note of the PIN code. Apple TV displays a 5 digit identifier that you need to use to connect to your unit from iTunes and set that computer as your main host for the Apple TV.

    8. Go to iTunes on your computer. Select the Apple TV from the source list. iTunes prompts you for the 5 digit PIN. Enter this. iTunes now allows you to rename your Apple TV and it automatically begins to sync your data to the unit.

    9. Wait. It takes some time for your unit to sync.

    Once you've set a home computer and have begun to sync, you can begin to explore your Apple TV immediately. You may begin to use Apple TV as soon as any content arrives. You do not have to wait for the sync to finish.

    Gallery: Setting up AppleTV

    AppleTV and CordConnecting Audio and VideoConnecting to the TVSelect a LanguageSelecting a Network
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  • Omnidrive finally releases Mac client

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    After promising and promising yet failing to deliver their Mac client, online storage firm Omnidrive has finally released this elusive product as a free download. As you can see, the Omnidrive client mounts the remote storage as a Volume in your file system so you access it in the Finder, save to it, open from it, etc. Like Apple's iDisk the Omnidrive client works in the background to manage file transfers, hopefully cutting down on network lag.

    In many ways it works like WebDAV, but with the considerable advantage that they have a web client that works properly with Safari and other browsers. This makes it very easy to access your files when your away from your main machine (or to give somebody else guest access to a file).

    You can get 1GB of free storage just for signing up, or bounce that up to 10GB, 25GB, or 50GB for respectively $40, $99, or $199 per year. This looks like a good alternative to Apple's iDisk, particularly since 1GB of storage on .mac runs $99 (though of course there are the other .mac services as well). By my calculations, if you maxed out the Omnidrive's storage and bandwidth allotments using instead Amazon's S3 service,with something like JungleDisk, the S3 price alone would run about $14, $66, $165, and $330 respectively. So especially if you're likely to use most of the bandwidth allotment, Omnidrive looks like a good deal.
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  • CUPS-PDF for OS X: Make a PDF "Printer"

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    Sometimes my students annoy me, particularly when they turn in papers as Microsoft Word documents (but not just then). I have to open each one and go through the Save as PDF dialog over and over again. It occurred to me, however, that computers are good at doing repetitive tasks (that's why I'm the instructor, it only took a couple of years for me to come to that realization). A search yielded this tip from macOSXhints on batch converting Word files to PDF, which in turn lead me to discover the CUPS-PDF Package for Mac OS X, a nice little utility that wraps the CUPS-PDF module in a standard Mac installer. Once you do this you'll have a new "virtual printer" which, when you send it a standard print job, will automatically spit out a PDF to ~/Desktop/cups-pdf/. It's like "Save to PDF," but without having to name the file and choose the location, etc. You can even create a Desktop Printer (as we showed you earlier) and leave it on your Desktop or in your Dock for drag and drop converting.

    So if you just want to save a few clicks, or you're interested in automating print to pdf tasks, CUPS-PDF is very handy. It is a free download from Adam Knight at codepoetry.
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  • Ars: 'Leopard will be late.'

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    Everyone seems to have that "reliable inside source" feeding them tasty morsels of information about possible release dates for Leopard. For most other rumors, these disparate (and in most cases non-existent) sources would all be saying wildly different things. It gives credence then to both the validity of the tipsters and their rumors these days that they all seem to be saying the same thing; Leopard will be late- at least relative to earlier estimates of when we'd see it.

    Infinite Loop over at ArsTechnica breaks down some of the logic behind these new predictions of a later (can you say WWDC?) release, including an analysis of the normal ramp-up to Gold Master production and where Apple seems to be in the process on this cycle. According to one Ars tipster, current builds are "Barely beta."
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  • Logickeyboard offers keyboard shortcut replacement keycaps

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    If you really want to master a powerful piece of software like Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, or Aperture you need to use the keyboard shortcuts. Of course, memorizing all those combo can be quite daunting, and so keyboard overlays have long been a convenient "cheat sheet." Logickeyboard takes this idea to the next level by offering a complete set of replacement keycaps preprinted with the keyboard shortcuts. They have recently released a set for Aperture, but they also have sets for Photoshop, Pro Tools, Logic, Final Cut Pro and more. The keycaps set even includes a tool for yanking the keycaps off your keyboard. Most of the sets are only for the presently shipping white Apple Keyboard. If you're the less adventurous type you can also just purchase a wired or wireless keyboard with the keycaps pre-installed.

    Needless to say, this kind of thing is probably only going to appeal to somebody who spends a lot of their time in a singe application. Nonetheless, it might be a helpful way to speed up the process of becoming a keyboard ninja in your program of choice. The keycap sets run $59 for mangling your own, or you can purchase a pre-made one for $99 wired or $119 wireless (versus Apple's standard price of $29 and $59, respectively).

    [Via DigitalFreak.net]
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  • Unboxing AppleTV

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    Here's TUAW's exclusive first look at the new AppleTV box and its contents. As you can see from the pictures, there's not all that much to be found inside the box: the AppleTV, some documentation, a power cord, and a remote control. The remote control was a lot harder to extract from the packaging than you might think--expect to do a bit of digging to get it out. I ended up using a butter knife to flip it up.

    Gallery: Unboxing Apple TV

    The BoxOpening the BoxApple TVOpening the PackageInside the Box
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  • PodCamp

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    You've heard of SpaceCamp. You've heard of FatCamp. Now, discover "PodCamp". MSNBC posts about this latest kind of retreat. PodCamp offers BarCamp-style off-site conferences allowing people to learn about how to create video and audio content for sharing over the Internet.

    Recent sessions have been held in Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Berlin. MSNBC reports that about half the participants were new to podcasting, attending so they could pick up basic skills like creating notes in advance and learning not to say "ummmmmmm" a lot.

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  • VisualHub 1.23 adds Apple TV export

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    TUAW isn't my only online endeavor. I also produce a video podcast with some of my friends, and I really couldn't imagine doing it without the help of the fantastic VisualHub from Techspansion. Sure, you can convert video using other methods for free, but VisualHub makes it so easy to do, and the UI is straightforward enough that even I can use it.

    VisualHub 1.23 has just been released with the big ticket item being support for exporting video in Apple TV friendly formats (and they claim VisualHub is faster than QuickTime for this purpose). There are also a number of other fixes in this point release. VisualHub is $23.32 and worth every penny. If you only care about iPod formats you should check out VisualHub's little sibling iSquint, which is free.

    Oh, and as Mike pointed out to me, you might want to take a moment and read the release notes. They are more entertaining than most.
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  • TUAW Tip: switch to the Mac on the cheap

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    The word that there might be as many as 9000 switchers a day got us thinking: maybe all those switchers could use some tips on how to save a few bucks while hopping the fence to white, black and aluminum pastures. Sure, Apple typically doesn't offer much in the way of excitement when it comes to zany blow-out sales on their products, but who says you have to buy your Apple stuff from Apple? There are plenty of resellers who offer some great deals to lure customers away from Apple's shiny stores, and discount watching sites can help you jump on time-sensitive sales. If you take our tips to heart, we guarantee both you and your credit card will sleep better at night with your next (or first) Mac purchase.

    Read our recommendations after the jump.

    Continue reading TUAW Tip: switch to the Mac on the cheap

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  • Apple posts Apple TV manuals

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    Who is ready for more Apple TV news? I am, I am! Apple has posted both the User Guide and the Safety Information for the Apple TV. in PDF form. This is a great way to check out the Apple TV without having to plunk down your cold hard cash. To the right you see everything that your $300 gets you:
    • The Apple TV
    • An AC power cord (which might look different than the one pictured)
    • An Apple Remote
    Lots of people are making a big deal that there are no AV cables with it, so just make sure to pick up the appropriate cables for your TV before, or at the same time, you are getting an Apple TV.

    Paging though the user guide makes it crystal clear that Apple is positioning Apple TV as an iTunes Store add-on. Very clever, if you ask me.
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  • Follow Up: Hillary-as-Big-Brother authored on a Mac

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    "Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it...I made the 'Vote Different' ad," said Philip de Vellis on this recent Huffington Post writeup. A "proud Democrat" and Obama supporter, deVellis authored the Hillary-as-Big-Brother ad on his personal Macintosh, uploaded it to YouTube and passed the link around to some blogs. de Vellis has now resigned from his job with Blue State Digital, a firm that has provided technology to several campaigns including Obama's.

    de Vellis does not specify which software he used, but iMovie and Final Cut are obvious candidates. He said he spent just one Sunday afternoon putting the ad together.

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  • Novell releases Get a Mac spoofs

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    Apple's Get a Mac ads have inarguably struck a chord with both the advertising and our culture. People clearly either love 'em, hate 'em or wanna spoof 'em, and one only needs to comb our archives or check YouTube to see what we mean. Recently, Novell (yea, the Linux guys) tossed their hand into the mix with their own spoofs which debuted at their BrainShare conference (which you can attend virtually). The first video, linked here at YouTube, plays off the Win/Mac rivalry and pokes fun at how the industry often ignores Linux and its surprising (to some) user base size. The second video, embedded in this post, is arguably funnier, as it does a great job of poking fun at the way Microsoft and Apple market their products while pointing out open source software's advantage of being a community effort. They're both good for a chuckle and a nice effort from Novell, or whoever actually put them together.

    Thanks, geezer.
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  • Yahoo! Widgets 4 released

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    We give Apple's Dashboard widgets a lot of time in the spotlight (hah!) here at TUAW, but that doesn't mean we aren't paying attention to Yahoo!'s Widgets community. Today, the company released a major v4.0 update that apparently was a long time coming, and they dropped 'Engine' for a name change to simply Yahoo! Widgets 4 (nice move). A meaty blog post on their official blog explains all the major new features in detail, and our own sister blog Download Squad got the scoop last night in their own lengthy post with more screenshots and a review. To summarize the new features, we're looking at: a 40% reduction in memory usage, automatic updates for widgets, a new widget browser, much improved UI and options, as well as some big new features for widget developers like SQLite support.

    If you haven't looked at Yahoo! Widgets Engine lately, this jam-packed new release just might have enough to warrant another go-around. What have you got to lose? After all, it's free.
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  • Best Buy gets 2 week Apple TV exclusive

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    You should be able to buy an Apple TV at your local Apple Store very soon (I imagine if they don't have them today they'll be getting them over the weekend). What if you are one of the many folks who do not live near an Apple Store? According to CNet Best Buy has worked out a deal to get Apple TVs this Tuesday, a full 2 weeks before other retail outlets. Apple is only shipping them 3000 units, which will be spread out to over 800 Best Buy locations, but if you are jonesing for an Apple TV you might have to 'turn on the fun' at Best Buy.

    Update: It looks like Best Buy might have been overly zealous with the whole 'exclusive' claim. They are still getting about 3000 Apple TVs though, so check it out if you're in the market.
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