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- XMind goes open source
Filed under: Software, Productivity
XMind -- a powerful, Java-based mind mapping and charting application -- has been open-sourced (it's free!) with version 3.0. While it's not my absolute top pick for mind mapping, it ranks up there. I did have a license for the paid version, and I can tell you that it packs plenty of punch. It has all of the extra features I like: boundaries, relationships, summaries, notes, markers, outline view, floating topics and more, as well as intuitive keyboard navigation for rapid-fire brainstorming.
One of my favorite features was the drilldown; pressing F6 focuses in on the current topic, displaying only it and its descendants. Shift-F6 takes you back up. It's similar to MindManager's "Focus" feature, but faster (and more limited in scope). And for those who want (or need) to, just set all of the shapes to underline, turn on multiple branch colors and tapered lines and presto, you've got an honest-to-goodness Tony Buzan-style mind map ... or as close as you'll get without buying Buzan's software (which, despite it being relatively expensive and lacking in system integration, I am regularly tempted to do) or breaking out the colored pencils.
You can also create Org and Fishbone Charts with XMind. It imports FreeMind and MindManager maps as well as Marker Packages, and can export to HTML, image, Marker Package or Text. The HTML export is ... okay. FreeMind actually creates more useful HTML pages, but it works. Overall, it's great stuff, and it's exciting to see it open sourced.
So, how did software that once cost $299 end up being free? It appears to be a change in the business plan, with a subscription model for "XMind Pro" replacing retail sales. I'm a little sketchy on the details, but the Pro version seems to include online collaboration for XMind users, Gantt charts and a Presentation mode (among other features), with a range of subscription prices: $6USD for 1 user/1 month, $400USD for 10 users/1 year, and everything in the middle. It's not necessary to have a subscription, however, to use XMind. Just download a copy (or even the source code) and let the brainstorming begin. Oh, and tell your PC friends, too; like many Java apps, XMind also comes in Windows and Linux flavors.
TUAWXMind goes open source originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - VMware updates Fusion to 2.0.1
Filed under: Software
It's not as big a jump as an upgrade from v3 to v4, but VMware's fetish for releasing upgrades late on Friday continues with the 2.01 build of VMware Fusion, now available for download. The new version's DMG sizes up at a healthy 246 MB, and the list of enhanced features and fixed bugs is reasonably long. Standouts include several improvements to mirrored folder performance and a safety check that pauses snapshot creation when your virtual machine is active.Version 2.0.1 is a free upgrade for all VMWare Fusion owners. If you spend your Friday night upgrading it (we know you, and we know you will) please let us know how it goes. Note that there is still an incompatibility between Fusion and the CheckPoint SecureClient software noted on the release notes page.
TUAWVMware updates Fusion to 2.0.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Google is listening, and iPhone users are talking
Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone
According to the New York Times and the Google iPhone page, the big G is about to add voice recognition capabilities to its iPhone search app (iTunes link), with the new version showing up on the App Store any minute now. You'll be able to ask questions (the kind Google can answer, of course; someone else will have to tell you if those pants make you look fat) and get speedy search results returned from the web or your own address book.[As of Saturday afternoon 3:30pm ET, the new version is still not in the App Store; interestingly, the Google page no longer has the video embed of the voice recognition demo, nor does it show the new feature listing. Perhaps there was a last-minute delay? -Ed.]
The voice recordings from the application will be sent to Google's servers for processing "in the cloud." Given the size of Google's infrastructure and its ability to transfer gargantuan amounts of data, it may have the advantage over existing voice-driven search apps such as Yahoo's oneSearch. Google execs seem hesitant to quantify the accuracy of the voice recognition software, but here's hoping it at least tops some of the iPhone voice-dialers I've been playing with.
You can see a sample video of Googlers testing the feature in the continuation of this post.
[via Truemors / blogtopten]
Continue reading Google is listening, and iPhone users are talking
TUAWGoogle is listening, and iPhone users are talking originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Whip it! Whip it good! Pocket Jockey for iPhone is spanktastic
Filed under: Gaming, Humor, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
When this app made it into the TUAW mailbox this afternoon, it raised a bit of a ruckus. You'll see why if you continue to the video in the second half of the post.
Pocket Jockey (click opens iTunes) is a US$0.99 horse-racing game that can provide a workout while you play. You can race against friends or the iPhone three different ways:- Jump up and down while holding the iPhone in front of your face, then "whip" your horse by flicking the screen.
- Bouncing your legs like you're on the back of a horse after putting the iPhone in your back pocket. You can, ahem, whip the horse by spanking yourself.
- Tap the screen, and whip the horse by flicking the screen.
Multiplayer mode works with another player who is on the same WiFi network. Be sure to watch the video to get a feel for how the app works; TUAW is not responsible for injuries incurred while playing this game (or, for that matter, ridicule incurred).
There's no word on whether or not you can help your opponent's horse run faster by spanking her or him. We leave this as an exercise to the reader.Continue reading Whip it! Whip it good! Pocket Jockey for iPhone is spanktastic
TUAWWhip it! Whip it good! Pocket Jockey for iPhone is spanktastic originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Friday Favorite: ShareTool
Filed under: Software, Friday Favorite
Another Friday Favorite, our weekly opportunity to get all sloppy over our most-loved applications.If you have an always-on Mac at home, a decent upstream connection and another Mac anywhere outside of your home network, you might find ShareTool to be as useful as I do. It allows you -- with an amazing degree of simplicity -- to access your Bonjour services on a remote machine as if you were still within your home network. It does this over an SSH encrypted connection (and also automatically sets up a proxy for secure web-browsing over the tunnel). Yes, you can get some of these benefits with a simple SSH tunnel, or you could set up a VPN using HamachiX, but the simple fact that ShareTool "Just Works" makes it my favorite choice for everything from screen sharing to iTunes streaming.
I use ShareTool on a Mac Mini, with an Airport Extreme Base Station on a connection that gets about 800k average upload speed. iTunes streaming is flawless, and remote drive access is as good or better than just using SFTP. Setup is as simple as choosing a port (defaults to 22, the standard SSH port) to share on and hitting "Share" on your home Mac. After that, you can set it to start at login, and begin sharing on launch. Then, on your remote machine, you just need to enter an IP or domain and the port, and the rest is automatic. You can select which Bonjour services to enable or just go for broke and enable everything. I've got a static IP these days, but services like No-IP and DynDNS work great if you have a dynamic IP address. ShareTool can even handle updating the dynamic IP service for you, so you don't have to run any daemons.
ShareTool is provided by YazSoft, and a free trial is available for download on the main page. The pricing structure requires a license for every computer, and a pair of licenses costs $30USD (5 for $75USD). YazSoft provides free updates within a major version number (1.x customers get all 1.x updates for free). If you're looking for an easy way to keep your entire home network handy anywhere you go, it might be worth a try.
TUAWFriday Favorite: ShareTool originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Vintage games for the iPhone: Crystal Quest is back
Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store
Back when the Macintosh meant a machine with a built-in black & white screen, there were some extremely popular games -- but for the generation that remembers the introduction of the Mac II's color display, the unmistakable gameplay of Crystal Quest is sure to spark a deep sense of joy. Collecting those crystals and escaping through the hyperspace hatch caused your Mac to emit a sigh of... well, relief would be the polite way to put it (I'm trying to find a sample of the audio to link). Xbox 360 owners have had a Crystal Quest version for a couple years now, and Vista users also got a build to play with.The wild crystal excitement has made its way back to the future, as an iPhone/touch version of Crystal Quest is available. While it lacks the level-finishing 'ahh!' of the original, the rest of the gameplay should be familiar to graying fans of Mac OS 6-vintage entertainment. Crystal Quest is $4.99 in the App Store.
TUAWVintage games for the iPhone: Crystal Quest is back originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First Look: Freeverse Burning Monkey Casino
Filed under: Gaming, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, First Look
The evil geniuses at Freeverse have just delivered their new baby -- Burning Monkey Casino for iPhone / iPod touch!
For only US$0.99, you're getting more fun in your pocket than...well, let's not go there. The app is packed with seven different games: Slots, Blackjack, Video Poker, Money Wheel, Pachinko, Scratch-n-Win Lotto, and 3 Card Monty. Not only do you have 18 different video poker games, 9 slot machines, and a blackjack game with 1 to 8 decks, but what other game app comes with its own lounge act and stand up comedian?
Burning Monkey Casino (click opens iTunes) is the app that dares to prove that "casino" and "Cupertino" rhyme. Be sure to check out the video clip above for details.TUAWFirst Look: Freeverse Burning Monkey Casino originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Great iPhone applications for parents
Filed under: Software
Our sister site ParentDish has posted an article on their favorite iPhone/iPod touch applications for parents. As an iPhone-toting dad, I've used mine to keep the little nippers busy with cute applications, but Sarah James has found even better options, including- Baby Monitor Did you forget to bring Jr.'s monitor to Grandma's house? Put your iPhone next to his crib and launch Baby Monitor. When he starts to wail like a banshee, Baby Monitor calls a pre-determined number, like Grandma's landline. Baby Monitor costs $0.99US.
- Baby Tracker: Diapers I remember the days of The Diaper Pail* and anxious trips to the pediatrician's office. If that's still a part of your experience, check out Baby Tracker: Diapers. It lets you note the consistency, color and contents of Jr.'s waste. Giggle if you like, but I see exactly how this could offer peace of mind. Baby Tracker: Diapers costs $0.99US.
There are more, of course, so check out the full article. In the meantime, here are a few suggestions from this old dad:
- iChalky When my 3-year-old is out of patience, I hand over iChalky. Jiggle the phone and drag your finger to flip little Chalky all over the screen. The preschool set loves it. iChalky costs $0.99US.
- Jirbo Match My 5-year-old likes matching games, and Jirbo Match is challengeing enough to engage her. Jirbo Match costs $1.99US
- iTalk Think of something while you've got your hands full? Just launch iTalk and record that thought. Later, you can sync recordings with the desktop companion, iTalk Sync. iTalk is free.
While we're on the topic, I've got a request for the iPhone and iPod touch. The problem with letting the kids use them is that they sometimes navigate away from the application or video and get into other stuff (plus that whole "throwing and dropping" thing). Recently, my daughter deleted some photos I hadn't exported to my Mac.
That's hardly the end of the world, but it would be nice to put the phone in "Kid mode" and prevent them from navigating away from a video or application.
*Only today do I realize the insanity of having what amounted to a miniature cesspool in my bedroom.TUAWGreat iPhone applications for parents originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Hack your VW's budvase for the iPhone
Filed under: Hacks, iPhone, iPod touch
Perhaps you've seen a Volkswagen Beetle driving around with a flower in its dashboard bud vase. People put all sorts of things in there, but we say ditch the gerbera daisies and go for something more useful.
Bug owner Nathan Barry has hacked his bud vase to accommodate his iPhone. By sawing away one slot for his USB car charger's cable and another to steady the iPhone, he made a clever stand that's easy to see from the driver's seat.
Good job, Nathan! My iPhone can be found bouncing around the passenger seat when I'm in my wife's car. The audio jack in my car is hidden inside the arm rest, which is even less convenient. Yes, I've tried FM transmitters but decided that they're manufactured by Satan himself.
So, how do you listen to your iPhone (or iPod) in your car?TUAWHack your VW's budvase for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Optoma's palm-sized video projector looks great
Filed under: Multimedia, Video, iPod classic
Optoma's tiny Pico projector has caught our attention. This small device (50mm x 103mm x 15mm) weighs four ounces and features up to 2 hours of battery life, an LED lamp with a lifespan of 20,000 hours and mini USB connectivity.
The manufacturers claim that images can be viewed at 60" (measured diagonal from corner to corner) from a maximum distance of 2.6 meters. The AV Input combines stereo audio and composite video via a 1 x 2.5mm 4 pole jack socket.
In the video above, it's connected to an iPod Classic and the image looks pretty good. Of course, our experience is only as good as the quality of the clip, but it definitley looks like a fun device. Videos, images and even slide presentations could be run off of your iPod and pocket projector, eliminating the need to bring a laptop, adaptor and full-sized projector to your meeting.
The proof is in the pudding, and we'd like to get our hands on one of these. Optoma says they'll start selling sometime next year with a price point around $400US.TUAWOptoma's palm-sized video projector looks great originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Insomnia Film Festival postponed due to server problems
A few weeks ago, we told you about this year's Insomnia Film Festival -- a contest for high school and college students to create a 3-minute film in only 24 hours. However, eager contestants were greeted with some unfortunate news yesterday when they loaded the Apple Insomnia website.
Apple notes that "due to unexpected challenges" the film festival will be postponed until after the holidays. Many TUAW readers let us know they were unable to register, so server errors could be to blame for this postponement.
If you have already registered, Apple will contact you shortly with the new, rescheduled date. If you haven't registered for the film festival, and would still like to, you can do so on the Apple website.
Thanks to Michael, David, and others for their tips!TUAWInsomnia Film Festival postponed due to server problems originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Aquaria finally sees release
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Odds and ends, Developer
We first saw the dreamlike underwater adventuring of Aquaria way back in January at Macworld, and now, finally, Ambrosia has released the game for the Mac. It got pretty rave reviews on the PC, and the concept sounds like some great fun: you play an underwater dweller who can swim around in 2D while casting spells, singing magical songs, and just generally exploring a vast underwater world full of secrets. The graphics are simple but lush and beautiful -- looks like one of those games you can play to cleanse your palate in between the gritty urban wars of Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2.
The game itself is $30US which, even though it's huge and comes with a level editor for even more playability, is a bit steep (especially with the glut of great games we're about to get this Fall and Winter). Fortunately, there is a 30-day free trial version available. And it's definitely the kind of thing we'd want to encourage anyway -- even though the port is coming a little (OK, more than a little) late, having innovative, well-done games like this on the Mac is good for all of us.TUAWAquaria finally sees release originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Ask TUAW: iSync, migrating with Time Machine, hidden files and more
Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW
This time in Ask TUAW we'll be looking at questions about iSync, hidden files in the Finder, non-destructive disk partitioning, migrating to a new Mac and more.
As always, your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X, as certain answers will vary between different Macs and Tiger vs. Leopard, etc. (we'll assume you're running Leopard if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!Continue reading Ask TUAW: iSync, migrating with Time Machine, hidden files and more
TUAWAsk TUAW: iSync, migrating with Time Machine, hidden files and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TouchOSC and Logic: look mom, no cables!
Filed under: Audio, Multimedia, Features, iPhone, iPod touch
The App Store is somewhat deluged with music-related applications. While I find many of the instruments to be novelties, the iPhone-based remote controls available for various Digital Audio Workstations have really caught my attention.I've been playing around with the various musical remote controllers available for a while now. When the various iTouchMidi controllers were released, I got pretty excited. Problematically, I'm a fan of Logic Pro, and these intriguing but mostly Logic-incompatible controllers weren't up to snuff for my personal needs. It was a few weeks before I discovered the available OpenSound Control (OSC) apps in the App Store.
I've played with the lineup of controllers such as OSCemote and Mrmr (iTunes link), and both of those are a lot of fun with a good amount of potential. One stood out for me, though, and TouchOSC has officially become part of my home studio setup.
TouchOSC provides an array of control screens consisting of faders, rotary controls, buttons, toggles, XY pads, multi-faders/toggles and LEDs in various configurations. It communicates wirelessly with software and hardware which can receive and send the OSC protocol. I thought I'd offer a quick rundown of the steps I used to get from TouchOSC to Logic. I'm sure the same methods can be applied to other software, with a little variation.
An overview of the controller configurations in TouchOSC can be found in the gallery below. Read on for the lowdown.
Continue reading TouchOSC and Logic: look mom, no cables!
TUAWTouchOSC and Logic: look mom, no cables! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - WD TV provides subtle support for Mac-format drives
Filed under: Hardware
It wasn't the splashiest product introduction ever, but last week's launch of Western Digital's $130 WD TV high-definition media player may have caused a few smiles for Mac users. The playback unit -- a simple configuration of a USB2 port for connecting a hard drive, and either composite (SD) or HDMI signal output -- supports a veritable alphabet soup of audio, video and photo formats for playback, including the eminently Mac-friendly AAC and H.264 codecs (unprotected content only, so no joy with iTunes Store purchases).
The unit also supports drives formatted in HFS+ as long as you turn off journaling, which is a first for third-party media players as far as I know; while the Mac could easily write to a FAT32-formatted drive for media exchange (as long as file sizes stayed below
24 GB), enabling HFS+ is a very nice gesture towards detente with the Apple-loving world.The WD TV is available now and should work with any TV that supports composite or HDMI inputs. Without network connectivity, iTunes sync and support for protected content, it's no Apple TV -- but at $100 less for a BYOStorage player, it may just fit the bill. We'll try to get our hands on a review unit and see if we can stump it with ancient QuickTime clips and legacy MP3 files.
Update: Our pals at dealnews.com report that Dell is discounting these handy units by $30 right now.
[via Macworld]
TUAWWD TV provides subtle support for Mac-format drives originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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