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- Get a TUAW discount on Mac theft recovery service from hidden
Filed under: Software, iMac, Reviews, MacBook
Apple's laptops and iMacs are attractive targets for thieves, since they're easy to move and have a good resale value. We've seen several Mac applications or services that work to help you retrieve your favorite Apple product if it is ever stolen; LoJack for Laptops (US$39.95 per year), Undercover ($49.00 per year), and MacTrak ($24.95 per year) are all perfect examples of these programs.
Most of these apps have two things in common; they will attempt to locate the whereabouts of the computer and also send a picture of the thief using the built-in iSight camera. Now a new name has appeared in the field; hidden. The name is apt, since there's no visible sign on the computer that the software has been installed. There's no app in the applications folder, and no preference pane. To use the application, you simply download and install it, then restart your Mac.
Most of the time, your Mac won't be sending out updates of its location. When it is stolen or lost, you go to the hiddenapp.com website, log in, and then change the status for the tracked computer from "not stolen" to "stolen." The service begins looking for your Mac, and within minutes the site displays a Google map showing its approximate location (determined through Wi-Fi geolocation) and, more importantly, photos of the person using the Mac and screenshots of what they are doing. Location updates happen every 10 minutes and also include traceroute information including the public IP address of the Wi-Fi network being used by the thief. This information can be provided to ISPs and local police to help you get your computer back.Apple's laptops and iMacs are attractive targets for thieves, since they're easy to move and have a good resale value. We've seen several Mac applications or services that work to help you retrieve your favorite Apple product if it is ever stolen; LoJack for Laptops (US$39.95 per year), Undercover ($49.00 per year), and MacTrak ($24.95 per year) are all perfect examples of these programs.
Most of these apps have two things in common; they will attempt to locate the whereabouts of the computer and also send a picture of the thief using the built-in iSight camera. Now a new name has appeared in the field; hidden. The name is apt, since there's no visible sign on the computer that the software has been installed. There's no app in the applications folder, and no preference pane. To use the application, you simply download and install it, then restart your Mac.
Most of the time, your Mac won't be sending out updates of its location. When it is stolen or lost, you go to the hiddenapp.com website, log in, and then change the status for the tracked computer from "not stolen" to "stolen." The service begins looking for your Mac, and within minutes the site displays a Google map showing its approximate location (determined through Wi-Fi geolocation) and, more importantly, photos of the person using the Mac and screenshots of what they are doing. Location updates happen every 10 minutes and also include traceroute information including the public IP address of the Wi-Fi network being used by the thief. This information can be provided to ISPs and local police to help you get your computer back.TUAWGet a TUAW discount on Mac theft recovery service from hidden originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple - MacBook - IMac - ISight - Unofficial Apple Weblog
Переслать - Win a limited edition set of Beatles MusicSkins from TUAW
Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone
Although you still can't get your Beatles fix through the iTunes Store, Apple Corps has made a license agreement with MusicSkins, the maker of music-related vinyl skin products for electronic devices. As a result, you can now purchase Beatles personal device skins featuring the Beatles logo and cover art from "Abbey Road," "Yellow Submarine," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Rubber Soul," "Let It Be," "With the Beatles," and "Hard Day's Night."
We have something completely different we'd like to give away to one lucky TUAW reader -- a limited edition (one of only 250) Beatles Album Jacket set with MusicSkins for the iPhone (2G, 3G, 3GS), iPod touch (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation), iPod nano (5th Generation), and iPod Classic (80GB, 160GB). This features the full set of album cover art from the Beatles, and there are two MusicSkins for each of the iPod / iPhone types noted. If you don't have all of the devices, you can give some away to your friends as gifts!
To enter this special giveaway, just leave a comment below with the name of your favorite Beatle (and no, Pete Best, Stu Sutcliffe, and Brian Epstein don't count). Here are the details of the giveaway:
- Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
- To enter, leave a comment with the name of your favorite Beatle -- John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, or Ringo Starr
- The comment must be left before Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.
- You may enter only once.
- One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
- Prize: One Limited Edition set of MusicSkins featuring The Beatles (Value: US$120.00)
- Click Here for complete Official Rules.
TUAWWin a limited edition set of Beatles MusicSkins from TUAW originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - TeleNav: GPS helped guys get out of the Valentine's Day doghouse
Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPhone
TeleNav is known for its phone-based GPS navigation products, particular the AT&T Navigator app for iPhone. The company has over 11 million subscribers to its services, so it has a lot of data to sift through to find interesting location search trends.
That data showed that GPS location searches helped a lot of guys keep from getting in deep trouble with their significant others in the period surrounding Valentine's Day. Mark Burfeind of TeleNav tells us that they put together all the florist and flower-related GPS searches in their products around Valentine's Day, over 11 million users total, and "found that GPS may have come to the rescue for last minute shoppers." Among the interesting finds:
- During Valentine's Week (Feb. 8 - 14), searches for flowers increased more than 5.5 times over the previous, non-holiday week of Feb. 1 - 7.
- In fact, searches on Valentine's Day alone outnumbered searches for the entire week of Feb. 1-7.
- It looks like GPS may have helped some people get out of the "doghouse" following Valentine's Day. Searches for flowers by TeleNav's users the Monday following Valentine's Day were twice as high as those on an average Monday.
TUAWTeleNav: GPS helped guys get out of the Valentine's Day doghouse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy the 3G iPad?
Filed under: Apple
Dear Auntie T,
I was hoping you could help me decide something since I think many people will be trying to figure out the same thing. Namely, is the 3G on the iPad worth it for my purposes?
I live in NYC, which has lots of available Wi-Fi. I have a laptop and I also have a Sprint mobile broadband for those rare occasions when I can't pick up Wi-Fi somewhere. I noticed in the last few months that I haven't used it at all. The places I use my laptop (library, cafes, graduate school classes) all have Wi-Fi. These are the same types of places I'm planning on using my iPad (with one exception: Beth Israel hospital doesn't have Wi-Fi, although I've yet to need my computer there)
Is the 3G price tag, coupled with the AT&T price tag, worth it? Should I get the Wi-Fi only version now and wait for the price drop and hardware bump sure to come in version two?
I would greatly appreciate your opinions on the matter. I've read your blog for years and highly respect the articles and advice you produce.
Love,
Your niece Trish
Dear Trish,
A lot of people have spent a good deal of time guessing about the mythical and yet unannounced version 2 of the iPad. Will it have a camera? Will it have more storage? Will it cost less? Is it worth buying? Those are all the wrong questions in Auntie's opinion. The right question is this one: "Are you an early adopter."
If you're an adopteraholic, the only thing you have to ask yourself is 3G or Wi-Fi-only because the difference between "March" (most likely April 2nd) and "April" is just a few weeks. And the $130 answer is, in my opinion, buy both.
Wait, that wasn't the right answer. That just slipped out.
The actual answer is, wait if you can bear it. Ask yourself: how extreme an adoptaholic are you? Because I am, seriously, buying both. (See? That slipped out again.) As a tech writer, I need to acquire the first hardware I can get my hands on -- and I'll be doing that -- but as a customer, there is only one iPad out there: the iPad 3G.
That decision stems from two needs: data and GPS.
The 3G gives you the option of using AT&T's prepaid $15 or $30/month service if and when you want to use it with no obligation to do so. Data is there if and when you need it -- and most people will eventually need it. That's because many people do things like travel in cars, commute on trains, fly out of airports (many of which still don't have free Wi-Fi), visit doctors and DMVs and auto mechanics, and so forth.
Being able to opt into data at the drop of a hat is, in itself, worth a price boost. Is that option worth $130 to you, not to mention the extra monthly costs of actually using data? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly is to me. That's because the iPhone has completely trained me to be its data slave. I love the ability to hook myself into the vast windy intertubes, no matter where I am.
The other reason that $130 is worth the cost is GPS. I have become a complete and utter GPS addict in the past few months, ever since I got my 3GS. Wi-Fi location is nice, sweet, and occasionally useful but real, unfettered GPS is awesome. I'm a big walker and I find that GPS + walking + apps like Yelp are insanely wonderful.
Is Apple gouging you with the $130 upgrade? Er, probably yes. Is it worth just making do with Wi-Fi? That's the question you have to ask yourself. Me? I'm getting the 3G iPad.
Love & hugs,
Aunt TUAWTUAWDear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy the 3G iPad? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Australian Broadcasting Corporation wants to be on the iPad
Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Apple, Developer, iPad
ABC is making moves to bring their content to the iPad, but before you get all excited about seeing the Lost conclusion on Apple's tablet, let us point out that we're talking about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the guys who write Jimmy Kimmel's checks. The down-under version has told Adobe that they want to build content for the iPad as soon as possible, and while Flash is tied up in a lot of back-and-forth lately, ABC confirms that they're excited to bring some kind of content to the iPad, even though they're not sure exactly what content yet.
Why? They're convinced the iPad is a whole new outlet for content consumption. They aim to use the iPad to "bring about a very different relationship with our readers than other platforms," and their head of strategic development says the iPad could create a whole new category of mobile content. While the iPhone is made for more quick hits of content delivery, the rep says that "with [the iPad] you can imagine people sitting back on the sofa and enjoying something longer."
After seeing the form factor in action at Macworld last week, we can, too. It'll be very interesting to see the types of content that come from a device like the iPad, and it's great to see big content companies jumping at the chance to create it.
[Via iPad Insider]TUAWAustralian Broadcasting Corporation wants to be on the iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Review: Reiner Knizia's Poison a fun way to kill (a few minutes)
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
One of the criticisms launched against prolific game designer Reiner Knizia is that his games get their the theme pasted on. This means that whatever the players are trying to accomplish through the game's mechanics really doesn't have much to do with the graphics and the box description. He has at least 200 published games - and might have another one thought up by the time you're done reading this review - so we understand that they can't all be perfect matches.
Knizia's card game Poison, first released for the table top in 2005, is a perfect example of this. The game could almost be played with standard cards - the deck includes three colors/suits (each with three 1s, two fours and one each of 2, 5 and 7) and eight "poison" cards worth 4 each - but the company that released the game, Playroom Entertainment, printed it with a magician/warlock/witch theme. It was later rebranded and slightly tweaked to include donuts as the game Baker's Dozen in 2008.
The iPhone and iPod touch version of the game (US$2.99) uses the earlier Poison graphics, and it's a gorgeous looking little translation. The app was released 2009 by Griptonite Games and we honestly wish they'd have updated a few nagging items by now. Read on to find out what is good, and what could be improved, in this clever card game.
The Game
There isn't much to the rules of Poison. In fact, all of the rules fit onto one iPhone screen (right). For people who can't read the image, here's how the game works.
Each player is dealt a hand of cards and must, on their turn, play a card into one of three piles. Cards of the same suit need to go together, poison cards can go anywhere. If the sum of any pile (depicted as little cauldrons) gets to 14 or more, the player who broke the 13 barrier needs to collect all of the cards in that cauldron except the one he just played into his score pile. You go until everyone is out of cards and then count up your score. The goal is to get the fewest number of points.
Since this is a Knizia game, the fact that the scoring round has a bit of a twist isn't a surprise. Whoever collected the most cards of one of the colors gets to discard all of those cards. This is really what makes the game worth playing, since it gives you a chance to score low even if you get stuck with a bunch of cards early in the game. Also, there are interesting decisions to make about filling a cauldron with lots of low-point cards or one or two big cards, depending on what you have in your hand and what you're trying to collect. Each card you end up with after any discarding scores you one point, except the poison potion cards. These are deadly to your score as they are each worth two points at the end of the round. You play a number of rounds equal to the number of players in the game (between three and six IRL and four and six on your iPhone) and that's that.
The App
Playing the game with physical cards around a table, you get to see how many cards a player has collected, but not how many points in each color he or she has. The iPhone version does show your opponents' point totals, and therefore makes it that much easier to push your luck and try and take the majority of one color or to stick a particular opponent with a poison card. If you like to say "take that!" to a real person, you'll need to search out the real card version. The app is single-player only. Pass ʻn' Play would've been nice, and this brings us to our first in a whole list of improvements that we would like to see.
The level of addition needed to play Poison isn't exactly difficult. For most people, it'll actually be quite easy. Still, considering that digital versions of board game apps have the potential to add interesting flourishes, the lack of running totals next to each cauldron/pile feels like neglect.
They are hard to see, but there are two important buttons near the bottom of the game screen, above your hand of cards. On the left is the quit/back to menu button. On the right is an info button that toggles between showing you the number of points an opponent has (like this and at right) and the name and total score of that opponent (like this). Why not show both at once? We can see it getting crowded when playing the six-player version, so we'll cut Griptonite a bit of slack on this item.
One thing that's a lot less forgivable is that that you can't listen to music while playing the game. Yon can mute the game's music, but iTunes won't fill the void if you do. Is there something incredibly difficult about coding the app to allow iTunes to keep playing when the game is running that's preventing Griptonite from implementing this option? If so, why can other developers figure it out? Players have been complaining about this since the app was released last fall and it still hasn't been updated.
Another annoyance is that there is no way to change the AI's ability level. The standard AI plays well enough to make the game interesting, but a beginner level for the first game or two would be a nice touch. Also, some players have complained that it appears the AI opponents know what cards you're holding (which would be cheating in the real world) and play accordingly. Not fun, especially if you're into the whole winning thing.
Even with all of these shortcomings, Poison is a fun little app. It doesn't beat playing around a table with friends, but what should we expect from a three dollar mini app?TUAWReview: Reiner Knizia's Poison a fun way to kill (a few minutes) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Macworld 2010: A few more video tidbits
Filed under: Macworld, Video, Interviews
It's hard to believe that it's been a week since I left Macworld Expo 2010 to head home. Last night, I finally went through the last snippets of video from the Expo and put together this short compendium of three interviews.
The first company I talked to was Telnic.org, a group which champions the use of the .tel top level domain as a type of global address book. There's a free iPhone app available for updating your .tel domain information from anywhere.
Next, I visited shortly with John from Agile Partners, the developers behind GuitarToolkit. TUAW's resident musician, Mat Tinsley, reported on this app last September and it's quite impressive.
Finally, I talked with the folks from myRete, who have created an interesting social networking app called WhosHere. There are over one million users of WhosHere, and with the free texting and VoIP capabilities of the app you can ask the locals in cities around the world for travel tips or a date. Want to perfect your language skills with a native speaker? WhosHere is an easy way to find someone to chat with.
As with several earlier videos, this suffers from a bit of mic noise. Our apologies!TUAWMacworld 2010: A few more video tidbits originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Find My iPhone now works in Mobile Safari
Filed under: iPhone, MobileMe, iPod touch
Apple's MobileMe site at me.com used to be completely useless on the iPhone or iPod touch in Mobile Safari -- you'd get a splash page telling you to set up your contacts, calendars, and mail accounts, but that was about it. No webmail access, no direct access to galleries, iDisk, or even Find My iPhone. Apple introduced standalone apps that addressed some of these shortcomings (iDisk and Gallery), but there was still no way to access Find My iPhone unless you resorted to workarounds.
Things have improved somewhat with the new MobileMe page. Instead of simply admonishing you to set everything up on your Mac or PC, MobileMe now provides you with a link to instructions for setting up mail, contacts, and calendars. There's also links to download the iDisk and Gallery apps from the App Store. What's most useful about the change is you now have the ability to use Find My iPhone from an iPhone.
This might seem dumb at first -- "If I have my iPhone in my hand, why do I need to find it?" you may ask -- but if your household has multiple iPhone users and one of them leaves an iPhone at a pub, until now your only option was to dash home and try to find it on your computer. Now, you can access all the Find My iPhone features right at the moment your friend or significant other gets that wide-eyed, "I just misplaced a paycheck worth of electronics!" expression on his or her face. You can send an immediate message to the iPhone to get that loud, pinging submarine noise, which just might help you find the iPhone before you even leave the pub.
Find My iPhone is still only available as part of a yearly $99 MobileMe subscription.
TUAWFind My iPhone now works in Mobile Safari originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - iPhone accessories from Toy Fair 2010
Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPhone
Woot.com is one of my favorite sites on the entire Internet -- not only do they offer some great deals, and not only are they witty folks, but they're from my original hometown of St. Louis, MO. They recently went to the Toy Fair 2010, and in their roundup of the best stuff they saw are a few fun iPhone-related toys and goodies. First up is this monster-style iPhone skin that you can see above -- obviously, it's not the most practical way to protect your iPhone, but it does look cool. Apparently it's not in production yet, and there's no word on price, but we'll keep an eye out.
And then there's the My Ami Entertainment Holder, which is a bear with a place to put your iPhone so your kids can watch movies on it. Um, yeah. Not quite as cool as the robot iPhone skin, but a little more functional. Still, if your kids can't be troubled to hold their own iPhone, maybe they shouldn't be watching movies anyway. And geez, if we're going to have a place to set the iPhone in a teddy bear's lap, can we at least get a dock to plug it in to?TUAWiPhone accessories from Toy Fair 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Ask TUAW: Key remapping in Boot Camp, iPad tethering, file-sharing with a media extender, and more
Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAW
Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we deal with some technical issues on our production Mac before turning to questions about Windows key remapping in Boot Camp, sharing files with a LaCie media extender, downloading images in Safari, recovering from a hard drive failure, and more.
As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify), or if it's an iPhone-related question, which iPhone version and OS version you have.As you may have noticed, Ask TUAW is running a bit late this week. Perhaps somewhat ironically in a troubleshooting column, the reason is that my 24" iMac decided to go wonky right as I was preparing this week's column. I've decided to make a little lemonade, however, and describe a bit of my troubleshooting strategy. For no apparent reason the spinning pinwheel of death began appearing randomly, which would eventually result in the computer freezing completely and requiring a hard restart (holding the power button). After experiencing this a couple of times (and losing an earlier version of this column) I decided to reboot with my Snow Leopard install DVD to run Disk Utility. I repaired the disk and permissions but it didn't report any problems and the pinwheel continued to appear after a few minutes. At this point I figured the problem was not with the boot drive, but just to make sure I booted into single-user mode and ran the standard script with the AppleJack troubleshooting utility. Again, no problems were reported, but I continued to experience the freezing. At this point my suspicions turned to my third-party RAM. Of course, I had been running it for the last couple of years without problem, but I shut down the computer and removed one of my two 2GB SODIMMs. That appears to have done the trick and my iMac hasn't frozen in the last few hours. This is the second Mac I've had problems develop with third-party RAM after running for more than a year. So now with half as much RAM we can get on with this week's questions.
Feeney 22 asksHow would I reassign my control/command key in bootcamp, it's increasingly hard to switch back and forth.
To do this you'll need to remap your keys in Windows, using a Windows key remapping utility. There are a variety of Windows key remappers available, and this being a Mac site I don't really have any concrete recommendations. However, I can point you in the direction of KeyTweak a donations-requested utility that should do what you need.
tyronescott55 asksWill Apple allow iPhone tethering to the iPad?
Predicting what Apple (and, perhaps more to the point, AT&T) will do is a fool's game. While a feature like this would be great, I'm not even sure if it makes financial sense. Of course we're still waiting on AT&T to give us iPhone tethering, and once they do the pricing is likely to be in the range of $60/month. With the iPad's unlimited service at $30/month it would only take about 4 months to make up the 3G radio surcharge versus the Wi-Fi only version.
Just for information sake, I'd note that it's already possible to set up Wi-Fi tethering on a jailbroken iPhone with a utility like MyWi or PdaNet. These apps basically turns your jailbroken iPhone into the equivalent of a MiFi portable Wi-Fi hotspot. Presumably your iPad could connect to it like any other Wi-Fi source. Needless to say, this is all unauthorized and probably violates the AT&T contract.
pathumx asksI'm running SL on a Unibody MacBook and am backing it up to a 1 tb FireWire drive that is partitioned for a time machine back up and a carbon copy clone backup. In the event my MacBook harddrive were to fail, what would be the best way to restore from backup?
The quickest thing you could do to get back running is to boot the MacBook from the FireWire drive (reboot and hold the option key to select the drive). You could then replace the internal drive on the MacBook and use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone back to the internal drive. You could also use Time Machine to recover any changes made since the last time you cloned. While it is possible to recover directly from a Time Machine backup while booted from a Snow Leopard install DVD, the clone restore should be quicker.
Shears asksHi. I'd like to create an Automator service that would save me some clicking. Basically I'd like to have an extra option in the Safari Context menu that would save the selected image directly to the My Pictures folder.
It turns out that Safari will automatically change the contextual menu to save images to your defined download folder. So if you changed your default downloads folder in the Safari preferences to the Pictures folder, you wouldn't have to add anything else.
Melissa asksI bought a LaCie LaCinema PLAY drive to use as a sort of media server. It has wireless N connectivity and outputs HDMI to my TV. I have an Airport Extreme which is on the other side of the room. I'd like to be able to drag files from my computer (a MacBook 2.2Ghz, using 10.6.2) to the drive, but I can't see it in the Finder. I have another LaCie drive connected via USB to the Airport Extreme which I can see since I guess it can use AirDisk. The PLAY drive can connect to the network via WiFi. I'm confused because if someone brings another laptop into my house, I can see it in the Finder under 'shared'. How come I can't see the PLAY drive? Does it need to be formatted? I don't think I can since it has software for the remote and wifi on it.
I had a look at the manual PDF for the LaCie LaCinema PLAY and it indicates that the only sharing option for Mac is via the TwonkyMedia Server (p. 38). In order for the drive to appear in your Finder sidebar it would have to support the AFP or SAMBA file sharing protocols, but as far as I can tell the LaCinema does not. So, unfortunately, you won't be able to just copy to it from the Finder, but if you install TwonkyMedia Server, you will be able to copy files from the Mac to the LaCinema through its interface.TUAWAsk TUAW: Key remapping in Boot Camp, iPad tethering, file-sharing with a media extender, and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Notational Velocity, Simplenote, and Dropbox bring child-like wonder
Filed under: Software, Open Source, Friday Favorite
The phrase "game changer" is no doubt cliché and overused, but every now and again it just fits.I had heard about Notational Velocity when Merlin Mann posted about it on 43Folders. It changed how I use my iMac, MacBookPro, and iPhone, bringing them all together in a very cool way.
The app has been around for awhile (we talked about it five years ago!) but some new features and new technologies make it well worth another look. It took me a minute to understand why I'd want Notational Velocity, it because it sounded like yet another "everything box" like Yojimbo, which I was already using.
Notational Velocity does save notes, either in ASCII, RTF, or HTML, but with the latest version, Notational Velocity syncs with Simplenote or WriteRoom for iPhone. It also easily syncs via Dropbox if you follow the important configuration notes here.Imagine if Apple had created an over-the-air method of syncing Notes and it all Just Worked. That's what Notational Velocity has achieved. Notes on my iPhone, my iMac and my MacBook Pro. Edit a note anywhere, and the changes are synced nearly instantly and appear everywhere. It's fast, it's seamless. Thinking about getting an iPad? That's only going to make this setup even sweeter.
Once you have set Notational Velocity to store your notes in individual files, you can edit them with any text editor, or within Notational Velocity itself. You can edit them on Windows or Linux machines synced to your Dropbox. Spotlight can search them. Notational Velocity will search incrementally as you type in the main box, and if it doesn't find a matching note, it will let you create one.
It would be unfair and inaccurate to call Notational Velocity a replacement for Yojimbo. Notational Velocity has basic tagging features, but it doesn't store images or PDFs or web pages. However, during the many, many months when I couldn't get Yojimbo to sync over .Mac/Mobile Me, I fell out of the habit of using Yojimbo. Syncing Yojimbo via Dropbox is dangerous because it stores all the information in one large database. My new habit involves storing individual files in Dropbox: images in ~/Dropbox/Photos, PDFs in their own folders, and so on. Web pages, which I used to store in Yojimbo, I now put into Instapaper. While it is possible to use Yojimbo and Simplenote together, I haven't done it, so I'm not sure how well it works.After a few days of using Notational Velocity, I exported my entire Yojimbo database to a folder in my Dropbox. An app that used to sit in my dock and auto-launch when I logged in now sits empty. Notational Velocity changed the game, dramatically and quickly.
Notational Velocity is open source, and hosted on GitHub which means that anyone can access the source code and modify it for their own use. Steven Frank from Panic forked his own version of Notational Velocity that includes a third pane to display the note in Markdown format.
Of course you don't have to use Dropbox, or Simplenote, to use and enjoy Notational Velocity. They just work really well together. If you love text files, and especially if you're already using Simplenote, checkout Notational Velocity. It has brought together several bits of technology that I love into a big hot fudge sundae with cookie dough ice cream combination of nerdy yumminess.TUAWNotational Velocity, Simplenote, and Dropbox bring child-like wonder originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Foxconn: Apple supplier in China roughs up reporter
Filed under: Apple Corporate
"A Reuters employee who was investigating Apple's legendary secrecy visited Foxconn's walled city-like facility in Guanlan, China, and was reportedly roughed up by security."
The reporter took a taxi to the facility and left the taxi to take photographs of the front gate and security checkpoint. When a guard shouted, the reporter hopped back in the taxi. The guard then blocked the taxi from leaving.
This is where it gets hairy. The reporter stepped out of the cab and insisted that he was within his rights to take photographs because he was standing on a main road. The guard grabbed his arm as a second guard arrived and both attempted to drag the reporter into the facility. The reporter asked to be released and when the guards refused the reporter jerked free and began walking off. That's when one guard pursued and kicked the reporter in the leg. The other guard threatened to hit him again if he moved. Within a few minutes a Foxconn security car showed up but the reporter refused to get in. That's when the reporter called the police.
The police arrived, the guards apologized, and the reporter left without filing charges. Then the policeman told the reporter, "You're free to do what you want, but this is Foxconn and they have a special status here. Please understand."
In June 2006, Foxconn came under fire for its labor practices at an iPod facility. As a worker reported:
In response to the media outrage, Apple audited the facility a month later. But that wasn't the end of the Foxconn woes. In July of 2009, 25-year-old Sun Danyong, a Foxconn employee, reportedly committed suicide following the disappearance of an iPhone prototype. After losing the prototype, Danyong supposedly had his apartment illegally searched, and he was allegedly treated roughly by Foxconn security personnel."We have to work too hard and I am always tired. It's like being in the army. They make us stand still for hours. If we move, we are punished by being made to stand still for longer...We have to work overtime if we are told to and can only go back to the dormitories when our boss gives us permission...If they ask for overtime we must do it. After working 15 hours until 11:30pm, we feel so tired."
A contract from Apple for a part in or assembly of one of its iPhones, iPods, or Macs can mean tens of millions of dollars for a company. In 2008, TechCrunch reported that Foxconn was producing as much as 800,000 iPhones per week. It's unfortunately not surprising that the fear of losing an Apple contract over leaked information can lead to some abusive security measures. While its quite evident that Apple would never suggest illegal ways of maintaining that security, it seems like Foxconn will do what it deems necessary to ensure it doesn't incur the wrath of one of its largest clients - especially when Foxconn is investing $1 billion in a new factory in China that could be used to produce the next generation of Apple products.TUAWFoxconn: Apple supplier in China roughs up reporter originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Macworld 2010: Hangman RSS from Fingerarts
Filed under: Macworld, Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
We met many developers and tried many apps while at Macworld Expo last week. Among the more entertaining was Hangman RSS from Fingerarts.
Developer Luigi, a self-professed "news junkie," visited the booth to tell us about his company's latest app. It starts with the classic game of hangman that we all played as kids. Here's the twist: Instead of presenting the user with a random word to guess, it pulls a timely news headline and leaves a key word out. It's your job to guess that word. If it's too difficult, you can get a hint in the form of the article's abstract. If you win, you get to read the full article.
It was surprisingly fun and looked great. Watch the video above for a demo and our conversation with Luigi. Then check out the game in iTunes (there's a free version as well).TUAWMacworld 2010: Hangman RSS from Fingerarts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - App Store rules changed to allow sweepstakes and contests
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
The prospect of an always-on, portable and discreet e-lottery ticket in your pocket may thrill some and horrify others, but as far as Apple is concerned it looks like it's A-OK for the App Store. We were first tipped to a change in the iPhone developer agreement this past Monday by Joel Comm, the originator of iFart Mobile; the particular adjustment is in section 3.3.17 of the agreement:
This opens the door to all sorts of games, prizes and payoffs -- not to mention the possibility of intriguing legal battles, as games of chance and contests are subject to all sorts of differing rules in different jurisdictions. Comm's company's latest app, KaChing Button, will be offering users the chance to win cash prizes in a monthlong sweepstakes that kicks off next Monday. He predicts -- and I concur -- that a massive wave of payoff apps is just over the horizon. I hope all those iPhone developers have excellent lawyers.3.3.17 Your Application may include promotional sweepstake or contest functionality provided that You are the sole sponsor of the promotion and that You and Your Application comply with any applicable laws.
[H/T to RegHardware, AppFreak]
TUAWApp Store rules changed to allow sweepstakes and contests originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple banning sexual content in the App Store?
Filed under: Apple Corporate, App Store
Jon Atherton, the developer behind Wobble iBoobs, has just told TechCrunch that he received an email from Apple stating his application was being removed from the App Store because of a new policy change: "We [Apple] have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store."
The full email:
At this time it's unclear if Apple is removing all apps with the "over the age of 17" warning that contain sexual content, or just specific apps whose sexual content is deemed "overt" by Apple. While iBoobs has been removed, I was still able to download an app called "Sexy Screen Wash Lite" at the time of this writing. TechCrunch has also been able to download other "sexy" apps, which makes Apple's working definition of "overtly sexual content" unclear.The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution. However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately.
We have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, which includes your application.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you believe you can make the necessary changes so that Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored) complies with our recent changes, we encourage you to do so and resubmit for review.
Sincerely,
iPhone App Review
This isn't the first time iBoobs has been removed from the App Store. In 2008, Apple rejected it on the grounds of "objectionable content." The app was later allowed back in the App Store.
I wish Apple would either remove these apps, or file them all under a special "sexy" section in the App Store that remains hidden unless enabled. Of course a free T&A app is going to be a popular download, but when I'm searching for cool new free apps, it's annoying when the top list is populated by "sexy" junk apps.TUAWApple banning sexual content in the App Store? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Apple: What iPad freight records?
Filed under: iPad
Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Apple 2.0 is reporting that Apple has taken steps to hide ocean shipping data for its iPad. Several business intelligence companies exist that collect, analyze, and resell data of a company's shipping records. This data is sold to the company's competitors in hope that they can glean information on how well a certain product is doing by extrapolating potential sales data from the shipping records.
Companies like Trade Privacy also exist to protect trade data. Trade Privacy has stated that in anticipation of the March iPad launch, Apple has blocked its bills of lading and other import records from public access. "Apple is the only major electronics company so far to have protected their import data," Trade Privacy CEO Andrew Park told DeWitt. "Similar companies like Microsoft, Sony and Google continue to import with their product data exposed to the public."
It's unclear whether Apple is a Trade Privacy client or if Trade Privacy just has knowledge of Apple's steps to retain its iPad shipping privacy.
Apple was reportedly alarmed two years ago by media reports that predicted the arrival of the iPhone 3G before it had been announced based on data from Import Genius - a firm that collects business intelligence data on a company's shipping records and resells that data to competitors.
"Apple was caught off guard and took swift action to protect their trade-secrets from competitors," Park told DeWitt. Given Apple's history of cloak and dagger tactics, safeguarding its shipping data for the much-hyped iPad should surprise few.TUAWApple: What iPad freight records? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - Steve Jobs visits Wall Street Journal, trashes Flash again
Filed under: Internet Tools, Steve Jobs, iPad
Valleywag reports that during a recent iPad-promoting visit to the offices of the Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs spent a significant amount of time trash-talking Adobe Flash yet again, and doing his best to get the Journal to move away from what he called "old technology." Just like Jobs's comments during the recent Apple Town Hall meeting, these comments are unconfirmed, but Valleywag claims to have heard from people who were present at the meeting.
Click the "read more" link to see some more tidbits from the meeting and some analysis of the remarks.
It bears noting once again that none of these quotes are confirmed, direct quotes from Jobs, but rather hearsay from others purportedly present at the meeting. That having been said, Jobs allegedly:
1. Continues to call Flash a buggy Mac crasher.
2. Called the platform a "CPU hog," a source of security holes, and a "dying technology."
3. Compared Flash to other technologies Apple and other companies have abandoned, such as floppy discs and CCFL-backlit LCDs.
4. Claimed the iPad's battery performance would decrease from 10 hours to a shockingly low 1.5 hours if it ran Flash.
5. Said switching the Journal's site away from Flash would be "trivial."
If these are direct quotes free of any embellishment from their sources, they paint an interesting picture. On points 1 and 2, Jobs's claim is mostly true. While some people claim to have had no issues with Flash Player on the Mac, in my experience Flash has been the number one source of crashes and poor performance on every Mac I've come across. Whether Flash is truly a "dying technology" or not is something only time will tell. For point 3, Jobs seems to believe that Apple's abandonment of Flash on its mobile devices is trailblazing in the same manner as the iMac's ditching the floppy drive twelve years ago; this one is arguable, as there were viable alternatives to floppy drives back then, whereas HTML5 and other Flash alternatives are still in relative infancy. On point 4, while the claim may sound outlandish, Jobs is certainly in a better position than anyone to know how well the iPad would run Flash.
Point 5, however, is the most loaded. As Valleywag notes, shifting a site that's heavily dependent on Flash for not only video but interactive elements like slideshows to another technology would be far from trivial. That's not to say that it couldn't or even shouldn't be done, and the Journal and others are likely to shift away from Flash despite the difficulties involved, but the amount of money, resources, and programming time necessary for the task are by no means as trivial as Jobs is painting them.
One thing is clear though: Steve Jobs is on a mission, and if his recent (alleged) comments are anything to go by, part of that mission is killing Flash once and for all. No matter what you may think of Jobs or his opinions of Flash, it's undeniable that when Jobs speaks, people listen very intently. It will be very interesting to see how Adobe responds to this latest salvo.
[Via MacRumors]TUAWSteve Jobs visits Wall Street Journal, trashes Flash again originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - iPhone devsugar: Create shiny buttons easily
iPhone developer Jonathan "Schwa" Wight offers a great little trick for creating pixel perfect glassy buttons: using the unofficial UIGlassButton class in the simulator to build your art. In his code paste, he shows how to build a button and render it to a PNG, which you can then save to your desktop.
It's a great little trick, and one worth adding to your development arsenal. Be aware that UIGlassButton is a private class, and one that has long since been relegated away from the official SDK development path. Although it continues to work on the Simulator, it's not for use on the iPhone itself or in App Store projects.
Continue reading on to find the code. Don't forget to substitute your own user folder into the code (in my case, "ericasadun") for Jonathan's ("schwa").
// Code to create a "Glass" button and render it to a png on your desktop.
// Run this from the SIMULATOR and change my username to yours.
// Update: This uses a private iPhone SDK. Do not use this code in your shipping app.
// Use it merely to generate the PNG file for you to use in a fake button.
Class theClass = NSClassFromString(@"UIGlassButton");
UIButton *theButton = [[[theClass alloc] initWithFrame:
CGRectMake(10, 10, 120, 44)] autorelease];
[theButton setValue:[UIColor colorWithHue:0.267
saturation:1.000 brightness:0.667 alpha:1.000]
forKey:@"tintColor"];
[self.view addSubview:theButton];
UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(theButton.frame.size);
CGContextRef theContext = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
[theButton.layer renderInContext:theContext];
UIImage *theImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
NSData *theData = UIImagePNGRepresentation(theImage);
[theData writeToFile:@"/Users/schwa/Desktop/test.png" atomically:NO];
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
TUAWiPhone devsugar: Create shiny buttons easily originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Переслать - App Store categories get browser pages
Filed under: iTS, Software, Internet Tools, iTunes, Apple, App Store
Apple has apparently taken another step towards bringing iTunes to the browser, as you can now browse actual categories of the iTunes store right in regular HTML rather than having to click over into iTunes. There's still no support for television or movies, but you can dive in from categories to artists and then even explore and preview songs, right in your browser of choice. Assuming, of course, that your browser of choice is Firefox or Safari -- while Chrome or IE will probably work, we haven't tested them extensively yet.
All we need now is for iTunes to cut it out with the automatic jump into iTunes -- even though your browser will load up a real page in the background, the browser store still tries to throw an external link request out to iTunes. Our own Brett Terpstra found that when you copy or type a browser link directly into your browser, the store won't try to open, but if you click in from an external link (like those here on TUAW), iTunes will try to open. Apple may not want us just browsing iTunes outside of the official app, but it would be nice for those of us who are pointing out iTunes content to folks who may not actually have iTunes installed to have a link to share.
For more fun tricks you can do with do with browser-based app store links, look here.TUAWApp Store categories get browser pages originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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