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- Jungle Disk 2.0 learns to share
Filed under: Software
Jungle Disk, one of the slickest ways to access your Amazon S3 account, has officially updated to version 2.0. I have two words to say: compatibility and bucket. Compatibility buckets are by far my biggest cause for celebration. You see, I have a disorder that doesn't allow me to do things with just one utility or application, I have to make use of every tool available. I guess it's similar to more mechanically inclined folks who fetishize power tools. I digress. The long and short of it is that compatibility buckets no longer store my files in a flat, proprietary file system. Not only does this mean other tools can access my Jungle Disk buckets, I now have the ability to move and rename files, which I didn't previously. Upgrading your buckets to the new format is optional, and in my experience can ruffle a few feathers if you use it in a shared environment. For reasons noted previously, I was willing to take the flak.
I've only toyed with -- but never used seriously -- the offsite backup features of Jungle Disk. I would say from my brief forays, though, that they rival CrashPlan's abilities. As noted by our friends at the Download Squad, the interface is much nicer now on every platform (Jungle Disk is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux -- there's even a USB version). There are also new command-line tools included, which is great for scripting and automation. If you use Amazon S3, or if you're looking for cheap and massive storage options, Jungle Disk has officially become worth looking at, in my book. The release notes shed light on quite a few improvements I've neglected to mention.
The program is $20 and is a one-time purchase with free upgrades for life. You get licensed versions for Windows, Mac and Linux, and free reign to install on as many machines as you like with a single license. For $1/month more, you can get Web-based file access, block-level file updates and upload resume features. The storage pricing itself is direct from Amazon and runs about 15 cents per gig with additional charges for transfers ($0.10/gig upload, $0.17/gig download). Jungle Disk is free to try.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - I'll take Freeverse games for $300, Alex
Those wacky and industrious people at Freeverse, developers of games and apps for Mac, PC, consoles, and iPhone, announced two new Mac games based on the classic TV game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
Wheel of Fortune Deluxe features 2,000 puzzles created by the TV show writers, a very realistic game stage, and a road-trip mode where you play in venues across the USA. Vanna White is not included (probably due to her successful lawsuit against Samsung). You can win "valuable prizes" like trophies and virtual cash with which to amaze your virtual friends.
If you're a fan of more cerebral game shows, you'll love Jeopardy! Deluxe. The TV show writers came up with over 3,000 clues, and the game has very realistic play including Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy! questions.There's a multiplayer mode so you can play against up to three of your friends.
To try out these games on your Mac, you can download demos from the Freeverse website for free. The games are $19.95 each.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Red Sweater updates Black Ink
Filed under: Software
If you enjoy "the crosswords" (as my uncle says, singular or plural), Daniel Jalkut at Red Sweater Software has updated Black Ink to 1.1 (and then again to 1.1.1). Black Ink helps you download, print, and solve crossword puzzles from a variety of internet sources.
The new version dramatically improves puzzle printing quality, and includes general fixes and stability improvements. You can view release notes on the Black Ink website.
Black Ink is $24.99, and is available as a free 30-day trial. It's universal binary, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Office 2004 users not forgotten, 11.5.0 released today
Filed under: Software
OK, you aren't running the latest and greatest version of Microsoft Office for Mac -- does that make you a bad person. No! You deserve updates too, just like the new stuff does. Along with Office 2008 12.1.1 sliding out the door today, Office 2004 11.5.0 is available, and it addresses the following pain points:
- Adds read/write compatibility for Open XML Format (.docx, .xlsx, etc.) files if installed with the Open XML Format Converter
- Better stability and printing/page setup fixes for Word
- Better paste compatibility with Office 2008 for all apps
- Powerpoint fixes for stability with large documents
Update: We initially failed to note that there is a new version -- apparently the final one -- of the Open XML Format Converter that pairs with 11.5.0 to provide full read/write compatibility with the new formats. It will work in standalone mode if you don't run 11.5, and it includes the new Office 2008/Office 2007 "C" fonts to provide maximum round-trippy goodness.
Thanks, Laurie!
Continue reading Office 2004 users not forgotten, 11.5.0 released today
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Office 2008 for Mac updated to 12.1.1
Filed under: Software
Microsoft has released a "critical" Office 2008 update, 12.1.1, which "contains several improvements to enhance stability and performance."
Several issues are fixed with the updates, including charting problems, Entourage crashing when the computer wakes from sleep, and issues regarding converting documents to and from the Open XML Format. A complete list of improvements is available in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
The update can be installed via Microsoft AutoUpdate (accessible by choosing "Check for Updates" in any Office application's Help menu) or from Microsoft directly. The update is a 153MB DMG file, and is available in 11 languages.
Thanks, Tommy!
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Evernote + Screencast ready for prime time and paid use
Filed under: Software, Video, Internet Tools
Two of my preferred Mac-friendly cloud services have now made the jump to actually accepting money from subscribers, which is a good thing (really, it is!). TUAW favorite Evernote has moved from private to public beta, and Techsmith video hosting site Screencast.com is now at 1.0 release status. Both services are now offering trial/free plans alongside their premium plans for paid subscribers.
The Screencast.com site is already integrated with the free Jing Project capture tool for Mac and the pro-level (and, at least for the moment, Windows-only) Camtasia Studio app; you can also upload screencasts that you create with almost any tool you like (including ADA multi-winner Screenflow) in a variety of formats for hosting on the service. Selecting which of your screencasts to share and which to password-protect is very easy, and the service automatically sets up RSS and iTunes feeds for the folders you choose to make public.The 60-day trial account includes 200 MB of storage and a 1GB transfer limit; paid plans start at $6.95 a month.
Evernote's private beta grew to include over 125,000 users (ahem), and the new public beta includes an option for a $5/month premium user plan that increases your monthly transfer quota/new note cap from 40 MB to 500 megabytes and gives you SSL for all data, priority access to the text-recognition queues and tier 1 customer support. Plus you get a snazzy t-shirt while supplies last (pink elephants on parade!). The web interface to Evernote has also gotten a facelift, with full drag-and-drop support and an improved clipper feature. Can't say yet if they've fixed the session timeout issue that ate a long note my wife was writing last night, but I surely hope so.
In a conversation a couple of weeks back, Evernote CEO Phil Libin shared some future directions for the product with us as well as a couple of tips from his personal use of Evernote.
First, what many are waiting for will be coming very soon: a native iPhone client for Evernote (shipping shortly after the App Store opens), including one-button publishing to Evernote and location tagging for every item you create from your phone, like a trail of breadcrumbs leading you back to that favorite restaurant or bargain spot. (Phil's tip: whenever he parks his car at the airport, he takes a picture of the parking spot and sends it to Evernote to help jog his jetlagged brain.)
Second, the upcoming platform-wide features for Evernote will soon include more granular controls on publishing and sharing, a revamped Windows client, Evernote for Blackberry, and audio notes. (Phil's tip: he uses Evernote notebooks to share collections of photos or screenshots, like this accidental poetry from CNN rundown.) Later this summer we should expect to see the first public release of the Evernote API, which will permit third-party devs to add features to the service (personally I'd love to have a business card postprocessor tool, which Libin sees as a good 3rd party opportunity).
Other future features are yet to be publicly disclosed, but Libin hinted that the image-processing power of Evernote's servers may be bent to teasing out specific features of photographs. Faces? Product barcodes? Geotagged landscapes? Can't wait to find out. Meanwhile, the free Mac version of Evernote (read Brett's original review here) is downloadable at evernote.com.Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - AOL Shopping settles Mac vs. PC debate?
Filed under: Switchers, Odds and ends
The fine folks at AOL Shopping, in their infinite wisdom, have summarized a quarter-century of debate in their feature on whether you should buy a Mac or a PC.
The bottom line? "You should buy a PC, if you already own a lot of PC software that you want to continue using. [...] If you want to do artistic work on your computer (photography, video editing, graphic design), you'll find Macs much more intuitive." Of course, that glosses over the fact that Apple makes excellent Windows PCs that will happily run your legacy Win32 applications.
Still, this seems almost reasonable, until you get to this (practically throwaway) sentence: "If money is not an issue, go with a Mac."
Yeah -- 1991 called, and they want their talking point back. Study after study has shown that the total cost of ownership of a Mac is less than that of a comparable PC. This includes post-purchase factors like software, repairs, and upgrades. Agreed: the up-front price is higher (in many cases), but over time, you spend less money owning a Mac.
AOL Shopping suggests the opposite is true, simply due to Microsoft's sluggish OS release schedule. Having to update your OS once every seven years, to them, is less costly than upgrading every year or so. They neglect to consider the cost of your time in support calls and aggregate ease-of-use savings.
Even so, if their poll is any indication, two thirds of their readers still plan on buying a Mac.
Disclaimer: AOL is the parent company of Weblogs, Inc. and TUAW.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Fortune Magazine: Possible Jobs Successors
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate
Fortune on CNN/Money.com has a rogue's gallery of photos online today. The gallery features 11 executives at Apple, each of whom is considered in one way or another to be a possible candidate to replace Steve Jobs if he steps down. If you want to skip the gallery, the full story is on one page at Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog.
My personal favorites for "The Next Steve" are Ron Johnson (Senior VP, Retail) or Scott Forstall (Senior VP, iPhone Software, pictured at right). Why? Johnson is charismatic and has established Apple as a retail powerhouse. Forstall, because he is as anal as Jobs about interface design and kinda looks like "I'm a Mac" actor Justin Long.
After you take a look at the article, come back to TUAW and vote for your favorite candidate for the next Apple CEO.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mac 101: Finder filename sorting
Filed under: Mac 101
The neat-freaks among us (myself included) enjoy keeping things in their particular place and order. When making a folder of files, sometimes I want items to fall outside their alphabetical order -- for instance, often I like to have a special folder that's always at the top of a list.
The easiest way to do that is to name your folders with a symbol as the first letter in the file or folder name: like a space, an underscore ( _ ), or a tilde ( ~ ). Mac OS X determines the order of these special characters using your language settings in the International pane in System Preferences.
The names of files and folders in Mac OS X can use almost any character out of thousands of Unicode characters, which include symbols, arrows, and icons as well. There are only two characters you can't use: one is the colon (because it's used by the system). You also can't usually use periods (or full stops) as the first character in a file name (because they're reserved for hidden files).
Also, as far as Mac OS X is concerned, the folder name "AARON" is the same as the folder name "Aaron" (or "aaron" for that matter): this is called case insensitivity. Mac OS X filenames are considered case insensitive.
After the jump, a list of 112 common, easy-to-type characters, and how they're sorted by Mac OS X for English.
Continue reading Mac 101: Finder filename sorting
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mod: use your MacBook Air Superdrive on any machine
Filed under: Peripherals, Hacks, MacBook Air
If you've got a MacBook Air SuperDrive and you've been hankering to use it with other computers (Mac or PC), tnkgrl over at tnkgrl Mobile has a solution. With a $9 part and some intestinal fortitude, you too can make your MBA Superdrive universally compatible.
Using the drive with other computers has been a desire from its inception. After some experimentation, tnkgrl found that simply replacing the IDE to USB bridge within the drive did the trick. Of course, that means removing the daughter-board and relocating the 12 MHz crystal. For an experienced hardware hacker, no sweat. For the average Joe, well, it's quite obviously an at-your-own-risk situation.
Check out the post at tnkgrl Mobile for the details.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TV shows added to Australia iTunes Store
Filed under: iTS, Multimedia, iTunes
The Australian iTunes Store has become the latest to offer television programming for purchase.
Shoppers will notice that pricing is standard across all shows at $2.99 AUS per episode. There are no season passes available as of this writing, and several American shows, like Lost, Pimp My Ride (we're sorry), Hannah Montana (we're really sorry) and Scrubs (we're indifferent) are available along side Australian shows like Sleek Geek and We Can Be Heroes.
ABC Studios, Disney, MTV, Nine Network and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are represented in iTunes.
[Via MacNN]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Logitech releases Mac-only webcam; cats, dogs reported living together
Apologies to Dr. Peter Venkman, but it's hard to believe that it's taken this long for a webcam vendor to encroach on the vacuum left by the discontinued iSight, even though we have hints that a new model of the Apple camera might be on the HD horizon. Logitech has now announced the QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac, featuring "premium autofocus technology and Carl Zeiss(R) optics." No word on whether the camera will feature fine Corinthian leather or Posi-traction, but there's hope.
Seriously, though, the camera does offer a voice coil motor for autofocus, RightLight exposure technology and a 2 megapixel sensor; this should allow for VGA-quality (640x480) videoconferencing and 720p HD (960x720) local video recording. Snazzy! Logitech expects to ship the unit in July for an SRP of $130.
Update: Commenters point out that the product is quite similar to the QuickCam Pro 9000, which isn't billed as Mac-compatible but actually works just fine with Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5; it's also list-priced $30 cheaper. Hrm.
[via Engadget]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Last day to buy MacHeist Bundle
Today is the last day to buy the much coveted MacHeist application bundle. MacHeist has decided to sweeten the deal by unlocking SoundStudio early and offering $5 off any Insanely Great Tee. If you are a registered member of the MacHeist site you can also get early access to Headline (an RSS reader).
The MacHeist Bundle currently includes the following Mac apps:
- VectorDesigner
- DEVONthink
- XSlimmer
- CoverSutra
- Awaken
- iClip
- Overflow
- Cha-Ching
- WriteRoom
- Enigmo
- Bugdom 2
- Nanosaur 2
- TextExpander
- SoundStudio
Переслать - Rumor: 10.5.4 due before July 11th
Filed under: OS, Rumors, Software, MobileMe
AppleInsider claims to have information on the next point update of Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5.4). According to AppleInsider, the build number of 10.5.4 is 9E17. They also reported that the beta of 10.5.4 has "no known issues" in its latest build, and that beta testers were asked to focus on AirPort, networking with Windows, Spaces and other frequently used (and often problematic) aspects of OS X.
As we reported a while back, OS X 10.5.4 should incorporate support for Apple's new MobileMe web service.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone App News Roundup: June 24, 2008
Filed under: iPhone, App Store, SDK
w00t! Another batch of iPhone App Store pre-announcements:
- Jeff at TrouserMac Industries sent a blurb about an upcoming iPhone app that's right up my alley. Brewing Buddy will be free from the App Store after launch and consists of a tool for calculating and refining beer receipes, a brewing helper, and a social recipe sharing application. Bottoms up! [Our esteemed colleague would like to remind everyone that pants-based computing is a registered idea of Erica Sadun Enterprises. -Ed.]
- TheBarCodeProject is readying TouchWord, an iPhone Holy Bible with sections for notes and an included RSS reader for Christian learning resources.
- Meanwhile, over in Oxford, Mississippi, Deepak Mantena and TapeShow, LLC are getting ready to release Chores for Mac OS X and a companion app called Chores mobile for iPhone. Deepak says that "all the unnecessary fluff that's in existing productivity tools is eliminated."
- While it's not an announced app, I loved reader Jack Chance's idea -- "Will someone write some software that turns the 3G iPhone into a bike computer? It should give speed, distance, and store the route so that you can sync with your Mac at home..." A lot of bikers would love this app idea -- go for it, developers!
- Long-time Palm game developers Seahorse Software are bringing Blackjack Run to the iPhone and iPod touch in July.
- Advenio, makers of MacGourmet, are bringing a yet-to-be-named recipe application to iPhone.
- The amazing ApolloIM app will be going legal for all of you IM addicts.
- Michael Howard at Midnight Martian Software is bringing his 3D OpenGL-based Midnight Mahjong Solitaire to market soon!
Переслать - Jeff at TrouserMac Industries sent a blurb about an upcoming iPhone app that's right up my alley. Brewing Buddy will be free from the App Store after launch and consists of a tool for calculating and refining beer receipes, a brewing helper, and a social recipe sharing application. Bottoms up! [Our esteemed colleague would like to remind everyone that pants-based computing is a registered idea of Erica Sadun Enterprises. -Ed.]
- MobileMe browser requirements page found
Joining in on the conversation about tonight's .Mac outage, reader Chad sent us a link to a page he discovered on .Mac. He said that while trying to access his .Mac service on his iPhone, he was redirected to a MobileMe browser requirements page. One of the suspicious things on the page is the fact that "calendar" is spelled wrong (i.e. "calender"). You can see a screen grab of the page after the break.
The page in question shows Safari as the top browser to use, followed by Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer 7. On last night's talkcast (MP3 Link) Michael Rose, Robert Palmer, and I talked about the possibility of Apple marketing the Safari browser for Windows users through the MobileMe service. It looks as if that guess is true.
Thanks, Chad!
Update: Apple has updated the page (see new screenshot after the break).Continue reading MobileMe browser requirements page found
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - .Mac down
Filed under: WWDC, Internet, Internet Tools, MobileMe
Some readers are reporting that they cannot login to their .Mac service. Apple is currently reporting that the Web Pages are down at mac.com.
"Members cannot access the www.mac.com website. It will be restored ASAP. Read more for interim solutions," Apple notes on the support website.
Could this mean that Apple is working on transitioning over to their MobileMe service? Well, time will tell. Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW for updates on the .Mac outage. If you spot any new changes with your .Mac service, be sure to leave a comment or send us a tip!
Update (7:05p EST): Some users are reporting that while .Mac is taking longer than normal, they are now able to login. Apple has yet to post any additional updates on their support website. The Web Page down status has not been removed.
Update (7:44p EST): Apple has updated the status page. The status currently reads, "Members cannot access the .Mac Welcome page. It will be restored ASAP." Stay tuned to TUAW for the latest about the .Mac outage.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать
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