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- Watch the Ball Drop Live on Your iPhone
Don’t want to be glued to the TV tonight when the New Year officially begins? There’s a free app for your iPhone or Android (app link) device that lets you watch the ball drop live in Times Square over Wi-Fi and 3G connections, so you can be glued to your mobile’s screen instead!The app, descriptively named “Times Square Official New Year's Eve Ball App – 2011,” (iPhone app link) provides a live stream of the ball drop in Times Square at midnight, but it also lets you watch the pre-show leading up to that symbolic event, including musical performances and celebrity appearances.
You can use the app to learn more about the history of Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and the ball itself (for example, the ball drop gets over 1 billion TV viewers worldwide), share photos of your New Year’s celebrations to potentially get featured on Toshiba’s giant TV screen in Times Square, and send customizable postcards to friends and family.
The Times Square celebrations also embrace social networking this year. The app lets you post your location to Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, and tells you exactly how far away you are from Times Square. You can add a message to your location post, too, making it very easy to say publicly things you’ll regret later without even having to switch apps.
I love watching the ball drop, but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about being near a TV to make it happen. How about you?
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):
- How to Market Your iPhone App: A Developer's Guide
- Mobile App Developer Survey: Profiles, Platforms and Monetization
- App Developers: Are You Ready for HTML5 and Metered Data?
Переслать - New Year's Resolution: Get a Mac, but Which One?
You may have some cash on hand from the holidays, and buying a Mac is as good a way as any to spend that money. But when it comes to buying a new Mac, people seem to have an idea what they want, but aren’t sure exactly if that matches up with what they need. Here’s some advice to help you answer that second, more crucial question.Only need access to information in order to make decisions?
One unfortunate hand-me-down that iOS devices have inherited from their iPod ancestors is that they are all tethered devices. You need either a Mac or a PC to take advantage of many of the iPad’s feature, by design, making the iPad incapable of replacing someone’s only computer. It’s puzzling to see a Mac, a USB cord, iTunes and an Internet connection listed as system requirements for what is marketed as a standalone computing device. Still, if you already have a computer, and you’re looking for something that grab info for quick scanning and play media, then the iPad is perfect.
Need a travel buddy?
If you’re trying to decide between the Air and the iPad as a mobile solution, consider how far you’ll be traveling, and for how long. While the iPad is a perfect companion around the office or even for intra-city adventures, if you plan on being gone longer than a day, then the 11-inch Air would be the better choice. When away for even a few days, having access to the software available on OS X as well as being able to utilize a keyboard will be a welcome benefit of the 11-inch Air over the iPad.
Creating content on the go?
If you’ll primarily be creating content and media, or regularly use multiple applications, then the MacBook Air 13-inch may be the better choice than the 11-inch Air. The screen size of the 11-inch will prove to be a little challenging when utilizing multiple applications. While Exposé and Spaces will certainly help, sometimes the extra bit of screen real estate is what’s needed to get the job done.
Creating advanced content on the go?
If you do more than just simple graphic design, preparing office presentations and charts, or writing, then consider stepping up to something a little more powerful: the MacBook Pro. If you’ll have regular access to larger secondary displays, then the 15-inch model is the one to get. If a secondary monitor isn’t often going to be an option, then consider the 17-inch, but go to the Apple Store first and decide if you want to carry one around first. Both the 15-inch and the 17-inch MacBook Pros have the specs to handle most tasks, including video editing, photo manipulation, graphic design and more.
Will you be sharing with others at home?
Perhaps your family shares a household computer; which Mac is the right Mac to hold down the fort? That all depends on whether or not you have and are satisfied with an existing keyboard, mouse and monitor. If so, get a Mac mini, since it’ll save you a bunch of money, but if not, get an iMac. As for which size iMac, get the 27-inch if your budget allows. No one has ever wished they got the smaller monitor after purchasing the big one.
Do you tend to do a lot of really demanding things all of the time?
If you work on massive video projects that require lots of rendering time, use multiple virtual machines simultaneously, or if your Mac is used as a serious gaming machine, you probably need the power and expandability of a Mac Pro. Keep in mind that not every Mac Pro will outperform some iMac configurations, but you can customize them after the fact. With its dual Super Drives and expansion capabilities, you can add plenty of memory and storage to a Mac Pro. Having more cores allows it to do more things at the same time.
Whichever you choose, it’s still a Mac
A new computer is a major purchase, so there will almost always be second-guessing that goes on after you’ve made your choice. At least with Apple, you can be confident that whichever Mac you choose, your decision was overall a good one.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):
- Motives and Possibilities for a Big Apple Acquisition
- Why Browsers Don't Matter Anymore
- Why Humans are the Biggest Threat to Cloud Adoption
Переслать - How To Shorten URLs Anywhere With Automator
It’s become common practice to use services such as bit.ly to shorten URLs, but this is usually done using a bookmarklet script, which only works in web browsers. This Automator service allows you (on OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard) to select a URL in any application and shorten it using the bit.ly API.
First of all, you’ll need to open up Automator (Applications > Automator) and create a new Service by double-clicking the Service icon. If you don’t see this option when Automator starts, go to File > New and the new workflow screen will show.
At the top of the right-hand panel, there are two drop-down lists. Change the first to say URLs and leave the second on Any Application. Leave the Replaces selected text box unchecked.
Now, in the left-hand column, under the Utilities category, find Run Applescript and drag it over into the workflow on the right.
In the right-hand panel, replace the placeholder text in the Run Applescript action by copying and pasting the following script:
on run {input}
set inputResult to (input as string)
ignoring caseif (((characters 1 thru 4 of inputResult) as string) is not equal to "http") then
display dialog "Invalid URL"else
set curlCMD to "curl --stderr /dev/null \"http://bit.ly/api?url=" & input & "\""
set tinyURL to (do shell script curlCMD)
return tinyURLend if
end ignoring
end runNext thing to do is add a Copy to Clipboard action from the Utilities category underneath the Applescript action. This grabs the output from the script and copies it to the clipboard ready for you to paste wherever you want.
Finally, you need to save your Service so that you can access it in other applications. Call it something sensible like “Shorten URL” or “Send to bit.ly” so that it’s obvious what goes on when you run it.Once you've saved it, you can test it out by selecting a URL, right- or control-clicking and choosing the name of your service (in my case, it was “Shorten URL”).
Once you’ve activated the Service, wait a couple of seconds while the script contacts the bit.ly API, then paste into your browser. You’ll see that a bit.ly URL has been created, and if you follow it, you’ll be taken to the original page whose URL you originally selected.If right-clicking isn’t your thing, and you prefer using the keyboard, you can go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services and set up a keyboard shortcut. Now when you have text selected, just use that keyboard shortcut and you’ll get your short URL.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):
- Shopping Matters When it Comes to Location-Based Apps
- How the Little Guys Can Compete in Local Mobile Advertising
- Real-Time Advertising: How to Get in Early
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