Thursday, March 15, 2007

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (9 сообщений)

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  • Be a Mental Case

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    Mental Case is an interesting new application that brings a Mac twist to flash card memorization. As the developer notes: "all you do is gather tidbits of information in 'mental notes'. Enter some text, drop in an image, take a screen shot, or even snap a picture with your iSight. Mental Case schedules the note to reappear at future date."

    Basically, you create the equivalent of flash cards in sets called "Cases." Then at scheduled intervals (which you can adjust) Mental Case will ask you if you have time to run through one of your cases. If so, it will display the cards with a rotating cube effect (though this is customizable in the preferences). This looks like a great way to learn the sorts of things one learns with flash cards (e.g. simple facts, languages, etc.). I like the idea of having it prompt me while I'm using my Mac (which is to say about 50% of my waking hours), since that way I don't have to formulate a specific intention to run through the cards. As the developer says: it's like "RSS for you head."

    Mental Case is in beta right now and a free download, but it will become commercial at some point.

    [Via MacNN]
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  • Avid2FCP: making the switch to Apple's Final Cut Pro

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    Avid has been the standard, and long-established, non-linear editing software of choice in the film industry until Apple's Final Cut Pro began to challenge its dominance, and now many Avid editors are making "the switch" to FCP as it has picked up the pace. With that, the "Avid versus Final Cut Pro" debate has always reared its head wherever editors gather, on websites, forums, etc., but now, Avid2FCP, an official resource has launched that hopes to ease the user transition from Avid to Apple's own video editing application.

    Avid2FCP is run by a group of experienced editors who hope to shared their "Switcher Stories", and other beneficial resources and guides for editors from Avid backgrounds that now work with Final Cut Pro. Despite the name of the site, it is not intended to be a jab at Avid, but instead make easier the shift to FCP, in a friendly and responsible fashion. There is some interesting content up now, and I expect that this site has the potential to grow into a very valuable resource for all video editors.
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  • Making Screencasts

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    Don McAllister over at ScreenCastsOnline points to this great tutorial for making screencasts on your Mac. Miraz Jordan has a bunch of suggestions for setting up and recording a screencast bringing together a number of tools like Backdrop, Mouseposé , iShowU, and Snapz Pro X, all of which we have mentioned at one time or another.

    Rather coincidentally I also ran across (via Cocoablogs) this discussion by Peter Hosey of optimizing iShowU for screencasts, but the comments there suggest that Snapz Pro X is able to capture at a higher resolution than iShowU (with the trade off being the time it takes to save the movie when you're finished recording). Unfortunately, though it works with Intel Macs, Snapz Pro X is not universal (unlike the less expensive iShowU). So TUAWers, share your own experiences: what have you found that works particularly well for screencasting? And if you don't have any experience yet, but would like to get some, check out Miraz Jordan's tutorial to learn how to get started.
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  • Rotate just one PDF page in Preview

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    Over at MacOSX Hints, a poster has figured out how to rotate a single page in Preview without affecting any other pages in a PDF file. The secret lies in the option key. By holding it down before clicking either Rotate Left or Rotate Right, you limit the rotation to the currently displayed page rather than the entire document. This is particularly convenient when you want to rotate a single portrait figure into landscape or vice versa.

    For those of you looking for the Rotate Left and Rotate Right icons while displaying your PDFs, be aware that you may have to resize your window to reveal the entire tool palette.

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  • First Impressions: Mailplane - the desktop Gmail client

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    The fusion of web services and desktop software is a holy grail of computing bliss that few can claim. The web can often be clunky and limited by the constraints of a browser, while the data in your desktop software takes a swim with your MacBook when you drop it at the beach. Anyone who has ever gone back and forth on whether to use the convenience and innovation of Gmail on the web vs. the power and integration of a desktop email client like Apple's Mail.app knows what we're talking about. While the melding of these two universes might seem like an impossible hope to some, Mailplane is a new desktop Gmail client in private beta that just may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

    Continue reading for the details on just what Mailplane is about, and be sure to check out our screenshot gallery for a taste of how well (so far) Gmail and the desktop are getting along.

    Gallery: Mailplane - Gmail desktop client

    Mailplane appDrag files to create a new message and attachMailplane taking screenshot to attachMailplane new compose window

    Continue reading First Impressions: Mailplane - the desktop Gmail client

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  • Struggling with Mac-ness

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    Tom Yager over at InfoWorld has posted an update on his friend the Mac switcher. Yager is observing and documenting her switching attempt over time. This latest installment talks about the struggle to move into the Mac conceptual space, e.g. why two files with the same extension can launch two different applications and why items restored from trash don't return to their original locations. There's certainly a particular mindset for doing things on the Mac and moving into that mindset can be more challenging than you might first think.


    Thanks, Phillip

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  • Apple leads in website traffic in computer hardware category

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    According to a study by internet traffic analyst comScore, Apple currently leads in website traffic in the computer hardware category, attracting more than 36.7 million unique visitors this year as of February. Compared to last year, Apple garnered 24.2 million visitors in the same amount of time, which translates into a 50+% traffic increase over the past year.

    As far as other traffic stats, there were 66.4 million visits this February, with visitors averaging 1.8 visits. Notably, iTunes witnessed traffic growth of 71% since last year, with 26.5 million unique visitors this February. Whew.
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  • GeekTool: Run UNIX Commands on the Desktop

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    Today I ran across this excellent tutorial on lifehacker about using GeekTool, and I was amazed to discover we haven't mentioned it here at TUAW. GeekTool is a cool little preference pane which allows you to run terminal commands, show logs, or even display pictures (e.g. from the net) directly on your desktop. Common uses include running the command top which displays which processes are utilizing the most system resources, displaying the console log, or even putting a live weather map (from the net) on your desktop. As I mentioned before, Gina at lifehacker has an extensive discussion of how it can be used.

    GeekTool is open source and a free download from Tynsoe; donations are requested.
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  • iTunes: Free Thursday

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    Just a quick update today, to bring you up to date with Japan's free single of the week. I love the album art for this single with its bright colors, don't you?

    Japan 今週のシングル: Boku To Sekai No Kyokaisen by Chata
    無料でお試し頂ける今週のシングルは、茶太（ちゃた）による"僕と世界の境界線"。
    無料でお試し頂ける今週のシングルは、茶太（ちゃた）による"僕と世界の境界線"。 声優としての経験も持つ彼女、甘くファンタジックに囁くようなボイスがとても魅力的だ。アニメ/サウンドトラックを中心に手掛けるアーティストが中心となるインディーズ音楽レーベル Voltage of Imagination がリリースするアルバム「あさやけぼーだーらいん」から。

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