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Mac Automation: Get remote screenshots via Mail
Filed under: Features, How-tos
I've talked about getting your Mac to shutdown via an e-mail (or even take a picture from your iSight and e-mail it back to you), but I have received some comments and e-mails about using this script to send a snap of your computer screen when you want to "check up." So, in this Automator tutorial, I am going to show how to get a screenshot of your Mac no matter where you are -- via e-mail.

Continue reading to learn how to generate screenshots via Mail.

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WorldWide Telescope: Works great on a Mac (if you have Windows)
Filed under: Software, Education
You might have heard that Microsoft Research has released WorldWide Telescope (WWT), it's software to ~~devour the universe whole~~ provide a fun way to browse the planets and stars.

The BBC mentioned that you can run WWT on your Mac ... so long as you have Windows on your Mac. Sigh. VMWare helpfully gave the system a try, though, and found it worked great (and even posted a video about it.)

I fired up the ol' Boot Camp and saw it wasn't bad. It boasts high-resolution photography of many parts of the sky, and is reasonably easy to use (for a Microsoft product). There were some weird, annoying flicker problems, but I'll chalk that up to the fact that it's beta software on a MacBook with a pokey graphics card.

As an amateur astronomer with his own 10-inch Dob (that's right, ladies), I tend to use astronomy software less as a casual browsing tool, but more to find interesting things in the sky on a particular night. And for that, WWT ain't great. You won't find any satellites (like Iridium flares) in WWT. ~~Worst of all -- there's no horizon I could easily find.~~ (Found it, thanks to commenter dh!) So good luck trying to find that fuzzy thing next to the blue thing when it's under your feet.

The Mac, however, is blessed with a great variety of native astronomy tools, most of which are free. Stellarium is excellent, free planetarium software. It's worth noting that Google Earth has a spiffy sky tool built-in, too. Last but not least, Starry Night Pro is the king of all astronomy software (and my favorite), but is a little spendy at $150.
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iSepta gives iPhone users Philly transit insight
Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone
iSepta, a new iPhone friendly site, has a limited audience, but to that audience (of which I am a member) it's a game changer. As I've mentioned once or twice here on TUAW, I'm a proud Philadelphia resident. As such I find myself using public transportation fairly frequently, which means I am forced to use SEPTA's website (that's the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, to you).

SEPTA runs, amongst other things, the Regional Rail, which connects Philadelphia to its suburbs with a series of train lines. iSepta lets you plan your trip from the comfort of your iPhone without having to visit the official SEPTA site, which is decidedly mobile-device unfriendly.
Starting a new trip with iSepta couldn't be easier: Click the 'New Trip' button, enter your starting station, then select your destination station.
That's it. You're then presented with the next 5 trains that meet your criteria, as well as an option to view the weekday and weekend schedules. iSepta is even clever enough to simply swap your starting point and destination so you can quickly find out what time you need to be at the station to get back.
You can also text iSepta with your starting point and end point and it will text you back with the next 3 trains.

At the moment iSepta only offers up schedules for the Regional Rail, so users of Philadelphia's various other forms of public transportation are out of luck. The site also lacks SEPTA's up to the minute status about cancelled trains and late arrivals, but the developers are working on adding that.

If it seems like I'm gushing here, that's because I am. iSepta is such a vast improvement over SEPTA's website that I'll be using to get all the info I need about the Regional Rail schedule whether I'm on my iPhone or at my Mac.
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How much is an iTunes download worth?
Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, iPhone
How much is an iTunes download worth? About 70 cents, if conventional wisdom is correct. That's the commonly quoted number for the iTunes money that gets passed back to the record labels. And according to the New York Times today, the record labels are angling for more. They argue that broadband music sales through the mobile iTunes store somehow should bring them a greater profit than sales through the standard iTS, pointing to industry practice for ringtone and ringback sales.
I don't quite understand their reasoning. I think most phone-based ringtone sales are outrageously overpriced. Increased sales volumes will benefit the labels even at the current wholesale prices. Ah well, another example of Underwear Gnome economics in action.

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TUAW Special: 24-Hour Evernote beta invitation
Filed under: Software, Beta Beat

Your response to last week's post about Evernote was amazing, with over 250 people requesting beta invitations and jamming my email inbox. Evernote has followed up with a 24-hour open invitation just for TUAW readers. There's also a new 1.1.0a build of the beta that resolves a crashing bug.

Hurry over to this link:

http://www.evernote.com/Registration.action?code=tu4w7

before 2 PM ET on May 20th to get your very own invitation!
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Two-thirds of premium PCs sold at retail are Macs
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Retail, Apple Financial

In the "premium" computer market -- at least, for machines sold in brick and mortar stores -- Apple holds its own as number one. For the first quarter of this year, Macs accounted for 66 percent of computers that retailed for over $1,000, according to eWeek.

That's not all: 70 percent of desktops sold at the same price point (or higher) are made by Apple too.

Even though sales at physical stores represent only a fraction of the overall computer market, what's most impressive for this stat is the year-over-year growth. Apple had 18 percent of the premium market in January 2006. That grew to 57 percent in September 2007, and just six months later rose to 66 percent. In the same eWeek article, Joe Wilcox quotes NPD's Stephen Baker as saying "Windows notebooks had 'zero percent' growth year over year [and] Apple notebooks had '50 to 60 percent growth.'"

Of course, overall, Apple makes 14 percent of computers sold at retail. Compare that to Apple's nadir in the late 90s of around two percent, and you can see how the changes Apple made to its distribution and retail strategy over the last decade have really paid off.

[via Apple 2.0]
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My USB dilemma, can you help?
Filed under: Peripherals, Odds and ends
Here's my daily dilemma. Between work and family, we own 6 iPods (this includes our two iPhones), each of which has its unique playlists, podcast subscriptions and so forth. We also have a printer and scanner -- both used regularly, and an EyeTV tuner, again critical. We have an external microphone connector for Skyping and no fewer than three external disks. One is used for Time Machine, one for EyeTV recordings, one for my G4 backups.

My G4, with its ten built-in USB ports and connection to a single powered USB 4-port hub, is on the fast-past to dying. It's not right on the edge yet but all the signs are there. It's time to move on. But what is going to replace that G4 with its surfeit of USB ports?
Continue reading My USB dilemma, can you help?
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NEAT Receipts for Mac Advance Release
Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Peripherals, Software
Hey, slacker! You know who you are - the person who waited until 11:59 PM on April 15th to file your tax return. You've decided to get organized so you can file on April 14th next year. Windows users have had a leg up in the expense organizing world with a best-selling scanner/software combo called NEAT Receipts. Now Mac users are getting the love too.

Consisting of a sleek little scanner and some proprietary software, NEAT Receipts for Mac Advance Release is a complete solution for capturing all of life's little expenses automatically. You scan a receipt, and OCR software captures the vendor, price, sales tax, and other data into a library along with an image of the receipt.

NEAT Receipts for Mac Advance Release doesn't have all of the features of the PC version yet, but it will when the final version is released in January, 2009. For the time being, you can buy the scanner and software for $179.95 (a full $50 less than the PC version) and upgrade to the full Mac version for free when it ships.

Thanks to Rachel for the tip!
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