Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Apple Blog (6 сообщений)

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The Apple Blog, published by and for the day-to-day Apple user, is a prominent source for news, reviews, walkthroughs, and real life application of all Apple products.
http://theappleblog.com
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  • Solving Software Purchases the iTunes Way

    softwareThere’s no debate that the iTunes Store has been a tremendous success. It’s rapidly rising through the charts of music retail outlets, recently passing up Amazon.com. Much of the credit can be given to the wide array of offerings available, to be sure, but I believe the critical elements behind why iTunes is winning are its simplicity, its uncomplicated interface, and rapid, accurate downloads. When contrasted with either the brick and mortar experience, or the P2P experience, iTunes wins.

    Earlier today, I was thinking of how Apple could take a further leap toward making iTunes more than just media - but instead, something akin to an e-commerce engine. As I already have my credit card detail in iTunes, and Apple has clearly invested in a top-notch content delivery system, why not make an iTunes-like interface for other downloadable data, such as shareware or full-rate software applications?

    The Current Model

    Today’s software downloading experience, to me, is hit or miss. VersionTracker and MacUpdate do a great job in presenting software titles, version numbers and categories, but the descriptions are typically one liners, consisting of the date it was updated, the size of the file, and the author-submitted description. But if I’m searching for a new shareware game or productivity application, I won’t get an experience of how good it is until I’ve downloaded the file, expanded it, and run it from my computer. And for developers, the sell-through percentages for shareware can’t be all that high.

    The Promise of Change

    But if software authors were to offer their programs through an application like iTunes, the benefits would be immediate. Instead of customers blindly downloading, you could show 30-second demos, just like Apple does with music videos, TV shows and films today. Instead of one-line descriptions, the developer could describe their offering with full paragraphs, explaining the benefits, and happy users could add reviews. And leveraging the iTunes infrastructure, one-click payments and rapid downloads would be a piece of cake.

    In this model, the iTunes Store for Software could soon become the #1 destination for new software downloads and purchases. While it would be some time yet before you could expect to download new Microsoft Office or Adobe applications through this store, it could be the very best venue for the small to mid-size software developer today yearning for exposure. The only question is, does Apple want to further extend their business model?

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  • Essential Metadata Tips

    I’ve written at length about putting metadata to good use on OS X. There are many benefits to ‘tagging’ files, but topping the list are probably quick retrieval of files, and more intelligent storage methodologies. But the features I’ve put together on the topic have been aimed a little more at the advanced user, leaving the non power users a bit behind - likely because I lean so heavily on Quicksilver to execute my tagging workflow. So I wanted to do a ‘lite’ post about metadata with the newer user in mind.

    Apple offers the means to get your tag on within OS X, no third party apps required. The trick however is making it viable to use on a regular basis. To do this, I highly recommend 2 pieces of software to help you on your way to tagging-bliss:

    Default Folder X
    The most logical point in time to add a tag to a file’s metadata is when you save it. DFX gives you that ability, which is so much more intuitive than having to locate the file after the fact, and append its Spotlight Comments. One better, is that DFX will even remember your recent tags so you can select them from a drop down rather than retyping, and potentially creating a one-off rather than adding to a single list of tags. (This last comment gets much more into the methodology that I cover in depth, here.) DFX does a lot of other cool and useful stuff too, but that’s outside the scope of this commentary.

    TagBot
    In this internet age, it’s entirely possible that you’re downloading more files than you’re creating, so DFX’s at-save-time capabilities don’t help quite as much. Enter TagBot. A quick access palette interface makes it easy to drag/drop files onto the tags you wish to apply to your file’s metadata. Better yet, is the ability to see at a glance, how many files are associated with any given tag. Double-clicking a tag brings up a Smart Search window showing you all your like-tagged files, wherever they reside on your system. A quick screencast demo can be found here.

    So while Apple will get you there, they don’t currently make it all that easy. (My fingers are crossed that they fix this in Leopard.) For now though, these couple tools can propel you easily into a solid practice of tagging your files for quick and convenient access and storage.

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  • Pong with a Twist for MacBook/Pro

    Nothing more than a terrific [and FUN] waste of time, Tilt SCREAM Pong takes full advantage of your MacBook’s sensory input devices. By tilting your Mac notebook, you can move your paddle from side to side. Screaming at the mic on your MacBook will aid you in growing the size of your paddle for better chances. Shaking the notebook will speed the ball’s speed, while keeping it more steady will reduce the projectile speed.

    Tilt SCREAM Pong is open source, so any budding (or otherwise) developers can see what it takes to utilize the motion sensor hardware if that’s your thing.

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  • Quicksilver Quick Print Tip

    I’ve been a bit light on Quicksilver love lately, and for the fans out there, I apologize. (Though from some of the comments I’ve seen, there are those who appreciate this, so there ya go.) But this morning there’s a great tip that Merlin points out, coming from the Mac Law Students Blog.

    If you print a lot of files, but hate waiting on the applications to open just so you can hit Print, then this tip will really light your fire. Essentially you eliminate the middle man using Quicksilver (it does this a lot, and I love it!) to send all your print jobs rather than Word, or Preview, or whatever.

    Quicksilver printing

    While the above image should tell the tale, reading the full post will show you how to setup Quicksilver to do this for yourself, as well as show you different methods to use this.

    And don’t worry, there are more of my own Screencasts on the way. In fact I’ve got a doozy I’m working on [which is Quicksilver focused] and hope to drop later this week.

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  • Next Gen iPod Interface Footage?

    I doubt this is legitimate footage of the next interface we’ll see on forthcoming iPods, but in the interest of helping you waste a little time, you can see the video below. It definitely looks like Apple’s style, but the functionality of the interface itself seems a bit behind the curve. Perhaps part of me is just hopeful that we’ll see something similar to what I wrote about here in the next iteration of the mobile audio juggernaut.

    Via Engadget

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  • Default Apps Across Platforms in Parallels

    I found something neat when I updated my Parallels install at work today - SmartSelect. For someone like me, already unable to function without Parallels' Coherence mode, this is just a further step in this app's takeover of the way I work. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, it's a pretty simple concept (that was probably a bit harder in execution.) You can choose to open any file with any app – on your Mac, or on the virtual machine.
    A quick screenshot from my computer, and there you see it.

    open with dialogue

    Parallels will automatically start your VM, run the app, and open the file. It doesn’t need to be running, either.

    Why so nice?

    -Comparing webpages in IE, Firefox for Mac and Windows, Safari for Mac and Windows, Opera, whatever.
    -That stubborn app that doesn't have a Mac version? Default its file types to open in Parallels, and Parallels will automatically detect the request and start the app.
    -Any Adobe CreativeSuite app. There is no need at all for a Windows and a Mac version of that expensive license, and you still don't have to wait for massive .psd documents to copy to the Parallels VM. Or even better, for those who don't want to run it in Rosetta.
    -Applescripts in Windows file trees. Dave's AppleScripts for iTunes, anyone?

    That's four reasons for my 40$ upgrade, but here's another: I need to know whether I can do this with my Ubuntu VM too.

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