Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (19 сообщений)

 rss2email.ruНа что подписаться?   |   Управление подпиской 

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)  RSS  The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
http://www.tuaw.com
рекомендовать друзьям >>


  • iPhone news for Switzerland, Spain and Poland

    Filed under: ,

    Here's some good news for people in Switzerland, Spain, Poland who are awaiting iPhones. According to Fortune, all three countries may sell them soon.

    Earlier this week, Le Matin Online reported (linked page is in French) that Swisscom will be the official iPhone carrier for Switzerland. Coincidentally, Apple is rumored to be opening an Apple Store in Zürich in July of this year (we first heard rumors of a Zürich store in 2006).

    Likewise, France Telecom stated their intention to extend coverage to "...more than just two countries" via their CFO Gervais Pellissier. As the largest European countries that still lack a carrier, Poland and Spain are obviously attractive to France Telecom.

    In related news, French iPhone customers can expect no immediate changes, as France Telecom intends to remain the country's exclusive carrier for the next two years.

    To all the TUAW readers in Switzerland, Spain and Poland ... we've got our fingers crossed for you! Let us know if you hear anything from your local news outlets.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Moody 1.0 is available

    Filed under: ,

    Last year, we wrote about the Moody beta. This week, the folks at Crayon Room made version 1.0 available. The idea is to sort music by mood, rather than artist, album or genre.

    The first step is to tag your music as sad or happy; calm or intense (fortunately, you can tag many tracks at once). As you do, the Moody track information is stored in the "Composer" field.

    Once that's done, you can keep the tiny Moody window open and click the color-coded button that represents your current mood. Other goodies include Twitter integration, support for uploading and downloading tags and the color editor for customizing those buttons.

    It's a great idea; I often listen to music by "mood." Moody is donation ware ($9US is suggested) and requires Mac OS 10.4 or better.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Rumor: .Mac relaunch to coincide with iPhone 2.0?

    Filed under: , ,

    A little birdy told us about some unusual happenings at Apple. According to our anonymous tipster, .Mac will undergo a complete revamp that will coincide with the iPhone 2.0 launch (which everyone expects to occur at WWDC 08). We posted about the .Mac push e-mail coming to iPhone 2.0 last night, but according to our tip, that's not all .Mac users are going to get.

    According to our little birdy, .Mac could undergo the following changes as soon as next month:
    • Full over-the-air syncing including calendars, contacts, and email (similar to Exchange)
    • .Mac syncing on Windows
    This makes sense, since why would Apple make using an iPhone with Exchange a better experience than when it is paired with .Mac? If these rumors turn out to be true, then the $99 price tag on .Mac could seem a whole lot more worthwhile in the coming months.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Found Footage: Managing Windows accounts with Workgroup Manager

    Filed under: , ,

    Years ago, Macs didn't even acknowledge the presence of Windows networks, which made those LAN wine-and-cheese parties pretty awkward. Now, however, OS X machines are exemplary network citizens, and apparently can even manage Windows workstations under the right circumstances.

    TidBITS linked to a roundtable discussion at Cornell University, where Philip Halcomb, of Cornell's Mann Library ITS staff, demonstrated managing user accounts in Active Directory. Now, this wouldn't be very exciting, except for the fact that he was using Mac OS X Workgroup Manager to do it. Sweet.

    Phil's part starts at about 7:30. It's a long QuickTime video, too -- almost an hour -- but for IT folks, especially in an education environment, the roundtable series is a must-see.

    (Thanks, MHA, for Phillip's name!)

    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Adobe Reader and Acrobat security updates

    Filed under: ,

    Adobe Reader 8 LogoDanger, Will Robinson! Adobe is warning that "critical vulnerabilities" have been found in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.1.1 and earlier. They are recommending that Acrobat 8 and Adobe Reader users install the 8.1.2 update as soon as possible. Those who are using Acrobat 7 are advised to install the 7.1.0 update quickly as well.

    A full summary of the security concerns and links to the update files can be yours by visiting the Adobe security update site. Note that while Acrobat & Reader 8.1.2 have been out for some time, the 7.1 update is fresh this week and the security issue is newly disclosed.

    [via Macintouch]
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Details on iPhones in Latin America

    Filed under: ,

    All indications point to a large, international distribution of the iPhone that's just waiting for to launch. Earlier in the week, Vodafone announced their intention to carry the iPhone in ten countries, and The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Vodafone, Telstra and Optus will carry the iPhone in Australia.

    Today, Reuters is reporting that America Movil will carry the iPhone across Latin America. They're in 16 Latin American countries, plus the Caribbean and the United States. As of March 2008, America Movil held more than 159 million mobile subscribers.

    Of course, they were tight-lipped about the details of the arrangement, like exclusivity or plan specifics. We'll see soon enough.

    Thanks, Rodrigo!
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • OpenOffice.org 3 for Mac Beta is available

    Filed under: , ,

    OpenOffice.org 3.0 on MacIf you've been cursing the big price tag and lack of VBA support in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, OpenOffice.org is coming to your rescue. Last September, the OpenOffice.org dev team announced that they would be porting the suite to run natively on the Mac. Previous versions ran under the X11 environment, which not only hogged resources, but didn't have the Aqua look and feel we all love.

    OpenOffice.org 3.0 is still beta, but a quick test-drive of the application showed that it is almost ready for prime time. OOo is a full-featured office suite, complete with word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation package (Impress), drawing app (Draw), as well as database tools (Base) that are sadly lacking in other office suites.

    The feature set of OpenOffice.org 3 is impressive:
    • Imports Microsoft Office binary (.doc, .ppt, .xls) and Office 2007/Office 2008 for Mac (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) files
    • A solver component for solving optimization problems, something lacking in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
    • Spreadsheet workbook sharing
    • Display of multiple Writer pages while editing
    • MS Office-like comments in Writer
    • Limited VBA macro support -- which is still better than no support
    • Extensibility with Mozilla Thunderbird and Lightning, Sun Wiki Publisher and Report Builder
    The price of OpenOffice.org 3 is, as always, free! If you're up to test-driving beta ware that may not necessarily be as stable or fast as your other office suite(s), click here to be transported to the beta site.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Safari 3 allows styled form controls

    Filed under: , ,

    This was included in WebKit builds beginning several years ago, apparently, but is something I recently stumbled upon. Historically, Safari has been pretty insistent on making sure web page form fields (like drop-down menus and buttons) retain the Aqua look-and-feel. Web designers, on the other hand, have gotten used to choosing colors and font sizes for those controls, so they fit in with their site's design.

    Hopefully everyone can now be happy: Safari 3 allows web designers to style form controls with CSS. The results are pictured: instead of a glossy, Aqua-like control, Safari displays a matte-finish control in the color and size of your choosing. You can even apply background images to form controls. If you don't apply styles to your controls, then Safari retains the Aqua look.

    This shouldn't require any changes to code that's already written for other browsers: Safari 3 should pick right up on the formatting, and display it as the designer intended. It does, however, open up WebKit-specific CSS to your form controls.

    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • AT&T lists WiFi hotspot access as part of iPhone plans

    Filed under: ,



    It looks like the reports of AT&T offering free Wi-Fi at their hotspots were not unfounded. Above you can see a new 'Included Feature' that AT&T is bundling with all their iPhone plans. Along with long distance calling, visual voicemail, call forwarding, 3-way calling and Caller ID you now get 'Access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots.' Not too shabby at all.

    [via iLounge]

    Update: And like that it is gone! AT&T really needs to get their story straight on this one.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Plasq ships Comic Life Magiq

    It's Magiq day. First announced and demoed at Macworld Expo in January, and eagerly awaited by doodlers everywhere: Plasq's new evolution in the Comic Life product line, Comic Life Magiq, is shipping now. Magiq is not an upgrade to Comic Life, which is still sold separately -- it's a whole new tool, including an embedded image editor and pro-level layout and masking components. A slew of new templates and a Core Animation-driven UI complete the package.

    As you might surmise, CLM is a Leopard-only Universal Binary release (it actually calls for 10.5.2 as a minimum OS version). A full license is $45 and cross-grades from Comic Life (including the bundled version that shipped with some Macs) are $30; however, for a limited time you can get a license for $40 and a crossgrade for $20. A 30-day unlimited demo can be downloaded from plasq.com now.

    We're looking forward to some hands-on Magiq time and posting some screenshots later today.


    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Found Footage: Mac for Attorney General

    Filed under: ,



    Greg Macpherson is running for Attorney General in Oregon. Normally this isn't the stuff of TUAW posts, but normally political campaigns don't run an ad that is very reminiscent of a certain computer company's advertising.

    It would seem that Mr. Macpherson's nickname is 'Mac,' and I think you can see where I'm going with this. Check out the ad here. Sure, it isn't a laugh a minute, but it is fairly clever.

    Oh, and this post should in no way be considered an endorsement for any political candidate of any sort.

    Thanks, Brant.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Mac 101: Quick Mac info

    Filed under: ,

    Here's a quick and unobtrusive way to grab some information about your machine. As you may know, you can select "About this Mac" from the Apple Menu to produce a small window which lists your version of the Mac OS, your processor type and speed plus the amount of memory installed. You could click "More Info..." to launch System Profiler and gain more information, or try this.

    Click the version number field and it changes to the OS X build number. Click it again, and your machine's serial number is displayed.

    But the fun doesn't stop there! You can gain even more information from the login window (accessible when you first start your machine or after logging out). Clicking the field under "Mac OS X" there reveals
    1. Your computer's name
    2. The OS version
    3. Build number
    4. Serial number
    5. IP address
    6. Any available network accounts
    7. Date and time
    Don't you just love Finder tricks and OS easter eggs?

    We tested this under Mac OS 10.5.2, so if your experience is different, let us know what version of the OS you're using as well as what you found.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Raging Thunder races onto the iPhone (unofficially for now)

    Filed under: , ,


    The iPhone continues to impress in terms of gaming possibility. Raging Thunder isn't actually done yet on the iPhone (obviously -- judging by this video there are more glitches on this thing than a Matrix full of black cats), but once it gets rolling, the award-winning game, put together by Polarbit, looks like a pretty sweet racing experience. The accelerometer actually serves as a nice wheel (with a little help from the Wii wheel), and the graphics aren't too shabby, either.

    We've already seen a few different games like this floating around at TUAW (including one from a big developer that we can't tell you about), but with a little bug fixing and optimization, the right tuning, and a horizontal mode, the iPhone could easily have a great accelerometer-controlled racing game available at launch. And that's just launch -- we can't wait to see what happens when a game like the Wii's latest Boom Blox (which lets you push and pull Jenga-type block structures around -- multitouch, anyone?) makes its way over to our little Apple handheld.

    Racing Thunder is available right now on Installer.app, but this kind of stuff is what we're really looking for in the SDK when it comes out in June.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Even more supposed 3G iPhone shots

    Filed under: , , ,


    Engadget continues to do their part in fueling the fire of rumors that we'll see a second edition of the iPhone this summer. First they supposedly touched it themselves, then they nabbed some shape and spec hints, and now they've got yet another set of "leaked" photos, from a Chinese phone forum.

    As usual, we have no idea if this is the real thing, a prototype, or just a little Photoshop fakery. The most obvious difference between what Engadget saw first and what's posted here is the color on the back, but then again, why wouldn't Apple release iPhones in different colors? They've certainly done that with iPods.

    None of this guarantees anything, but I will say that if I was shopping for an iPhone, the AT&T memo would be enough for me to hold off on a purchase until mid-June at least. There is an iPhone update storm coming, and the thunder and lightning seem to be getting closer together.
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • .Mac push e-mail coming to iPhone 2.0?

    Filed under: , , ,

    Sometimes, we at TUAW get awesome tips from our readers -- this is proof. A certain, unnamed individual sent us some pictures of the latest build of the iPhone firmware showing .Mac push e-mail. The picture shows the main Settings page with a new button: "Fetch new data." When you click the button, you are taken to a list of your mail accounts, where you can choose between either "fetch" or "push."

    According to Mr. Anonymous, while .Mac is offering push e-mail, you are currently not able to do contact or calendar syncing. You can see the iPhone screenshots in the gallery.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Beta beat: Silverflow Quicksilver interface

    Filed under: ,


    Julius Eckert has made splashes at TUAW before, namely for his Bezel HUD and Showcase interfaces for Quicksilver. Now he's released a beta of his much-anticipated Silverflow interface (inspired by designer Jono). The Cover Flow thing may be played out for some, but I'm finding this interface to be both elegant and useful.

    I'll admit that I've gone from a die-hard user to watching Quicksilver from the sidelines, mostly due to crashes I was experiencing with it since upgrading to Leopard. I'll also admit that I had high hopes for further development when the developers made it open source and have been a little disappointed. But Silverflow has rekindled my interest and after loading Quicksilver back up to try it out, I quickly remembered all of the extra reasons I had for preferring it to Spotlight. Whether you're a current Quicksilver user or you're in my boat as a previously rabid fan, this beta is worth checking out. Do note, though, that it is a beta and has some missing functionality and known (and possibly unknown) issues. I'm pretty enamored, nonetheless.

    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • EETimes: Apple was an investor of PA Semi before acquisition

    Filed under: , ,

    It was just a couple weeks ago that Apple bought PA Semi, a custom PowerPC chip design firm. But now that a few details about the acquisition are leaking out, a new light has begun to shine on this subject. According to an EETimes post, Apple considered buying PA Semi back in 2005, prior to the Intel switch. Oh yeah, and one minor detail ... Apple has been an investor in the company since that time. When Apple started using Intel chips, that move sent a death threat to PA Semi.

    Per the EETimes story, Apple came along to purchase a new chip from PA Semi. PA Semi didn't have enough investor funding to undertake a new project. So, what does Apple do? They pay off the investors and buy the whole company. Apple bought PA Semi for $278 million -- no pocket change, that's for sure. How important could this chip be for Apple to pay that much money? Well it might just be for a new tablet Mac (remember, you heard this rumor here first).
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • Itching to learn Esperanto?

    Filed under: , ,

    Hot for Hindi? Up for learning Uyghur? Wild about Welsh? LifeClever tipped us off to the fact that there are 926 free language training podcasts currently available in the iTunes Store. A quick glance at the available podcasts shows that you can learn 39 languages from Arabic to Yiddish with the help of your iPod or iPhone.

    To find this treasure trove of linguistic goodness, launch iTunes, pop into the iTunes Store, click on the Browse link, and navigate to Podcasts > Education > Language Courses.

    What am I going to learn on my summer vacation? I'm waffling between Sexy Spanish and Latinum. This is a great way to get your kids to learn a language and keep them occupied during that long, hot road trip to Wally World this summer.

    Thanks, Tipster Chanpory!
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  


  • LogicielMac Update keeps your applications current

    Filed under:

    Software Update is pretty awesome for Apple software, but have you ever wanted that functionality for the rest of your apps? 19-year-old developer Louka Desroziers created a nifty little menubar app called LogicielMac Update that checks for updates to the applications installed on your machine. There are options to automatically download the updates and install them. You can also create an ignored list of apps that you don't want to update.

    The app gets most of its information from LogicielMac (logiciel meaning "software," and Mac meaning "best platform ever"), a Francophonic site similar to VersionTracker and MacUpdate. But fear not, English speakers, as LogicielMac Update is localized for English. (Update: Reader Mark noticed that his copy of Firefox was updated with a French-localized version ... so take note, Anglophones! Thanks, Mark!)

    The only improvement I could see is showing the difference between free updates and upgrades (that you must pay for in order to get). I always hate it when I download an upgrade without thinking, wiping out my perfectly good old copy that I paid for.

    LogicielMac Update is donationware, so show Louka some love if you like what he's made. The download is 1.2MB, and Leopard is recommended. If you've felt unsatisfied by other update managers, check it out.

    Thanks, Michael G!
    Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments


    Переслать  





rss2email.ru       отписаться: http://www.rss2email.ru/unsubscribe.asp?c=6894&u=24004&r=484673635
управлять всей подпиской: http://www.rss2email.ru/manage.asp