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- Scott McNulty, signing off
Filed under: TUAW Business
I'm not used to writing about myself here on TUAW. I'm usually not the story, but just this once we thought it would be appropriate to break with tradition.
After 3.5 years here at TUAW (here's my first post), and serving as lead blogger for a good portion of that time, I will be moving on to other things (perhaps bigger, if I'm lucky, but it is hard to think that they will be better. If they are just as good I'll count myself as a lucky fellow indeed).
TUAW's destiny is now in the very capable hands of Dave Caolo and Mike Rose. TUAW will continue to grow by leaps and bounds under their leadership, and it will bring you all the great tips, tricks, and Mac news you have come to expect.
Read on for more of this treacly goodbye post.
Continue reading Scott McNulty, signing off
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Dialectic provides system-wide dialing
Filed under: Software
As a fan of his EntourageABMenu utility, I was pleased to discover that developer Jon Nathan has a new item in his kit: Dialectic, a phone dialing tool that has more tricks than a magician's convention. Dialectic replaces the older Jon's Phone Tool and provides a bridge between almost any Mac PIM or database (including Address Book, Entourage, Now Contact, Daylite and more) and phone dialing via VoIP systems, hardware dialers, modems, Skype and other voice chat apps, Bluetooth-enabled cellphones... the list goes on.
Dialectic can trigger events via AppleScript when a call starts, so pausing your iTunes playback (or indicating a call start in your billing tool) is straightforward. If you make a lot of phone calls, you might be interested.
The online help includes a crowded page of resources, apps and scripts to get you rolling. Dialectic is a Universal Binary, costs $25 for new users and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.
Thanks, Rich.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - The strange economy of the App Store
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Freeware, Apple, iPhone, App Store
A few App Store apps have already gotten the public browbeating for tweaking their prices, and here's another: as Johnathan notes, there's a new app on the top of the heap in the paid pile, and apparently the only reason "Units Convertor" (sic) is there is because it used to be free.
We can't necessarily call them out for switching just to sit on top -- what would you do if you had a free app that was being downloaded like crazy and decided you wanted to make some money from it? But being that free apps far outweigh paid apps in terms of distribution, even the #21 free app can quickly jump to the top of the paid pile. We've already posted about how developers might be getting a raw deal out of the App Store (and some publishers have told us personally that they agree), but the economics are very interesting in there right now -- you've got a basically free economy, and considering that most of the apps out now are easy to make, it's just as likely that you'll see a free version of an app that does the same thing as a paid app.
Of course, what's happening in there actually mirrors what's happening out here with software: some of the best applications around are actually being given away for free. We're still in a strange place with the App Store and its pricing, and you have to think that eventually things will settle down and the developers who deserve to get paid will.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Apple readies 10.5.5 developer seed
AppeInsider is reporting that developers may receive their seeds of Mac OS X 10.5.5 as soon as this weekend, calling it a "maintenance and security update." They go on to say that the 10.5.5 Leopard update could provide support for those new notebooks we've been hearing about.
Apple released their last update (10.5.4) on June 30th. 10.5.4 included bug fixes and provided the framework for Apple's MobileMe webservice.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone Push Notification API released to select developers
CrunchGear notes that a version of the iPhone Push Notification Service API has been released to "a handful" of developers, and, according to them, will "surely" be released to everyone when iPhone OS 2.1 is released.
If you remember our WWDC keynote coverage (around 11:05 a.m.), the Push Notification Service maintains a connection with third party servers to alert you via an icon badge, custom sounds, or text alerts.
An app that uses this feature isn't really running in the background, but instead sort of registering itself with a metaphorical "hotel operator" that lives in your phone. Once there's something new to tell you, the hotel operator notifies you.
Hopefully this has little effect on battery life, but without actual, real-world use, it's hard to say.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - First picture of the Greensboro, NC Apple Store under construction
Filed under: Retail, Flickr Find
North Carolinians can start to polish up their credit cards, as the long-awaited Greensboro Apple Store (to be located at The Shops at Friendly Center, a heck of a nice place to spend your money) is now underway. The Iconfactory's Ged Maheux was kind enough to send us this parking-lot snapshot of the site -- looks like a big one.
ifoAppleStore had a midsummer target for the Greensboro store to open, which seems optimistic bordering on impossible at this point. A commenter on Ged's blog hinted that the delay in construction may have been the result of a proximity dispute; Apple is a bit picky about which stores can cohabit with the glass wonderlands, and now that the neighborhood is up to snuff the project is underway.
By the way, if you've ever wondered what the offices (and the denizens) of the Iconfactory really look like, you can catch a glimpse via this local news report on the company.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Easy iWeb Publisher 3.0.3
Filed under: iLife, Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, Internet Tools
Although I've written a book about iWeb, I often tell my clients to avoid using it for their websites if they're planning on hosting anywhere but on MobileMe. Why? When you post to MobileMe from iWeb, you "Publish" and your site is uploaded. Minor changes to a site only take a few seconds to upload, since iWeb uploads only the changed files to your web server. That doesn't happen when publishing to other servers. Instead, you publish to a local folder, and then usually upload the entire folder to your web server. That can take a long time with a large site.
Plyxim's Easy iWeb Publisher 3.0.3 fixes that problem. The shareware ($7 donation requested) application makes it simple to publish to any web host. It's an ftp client that takes the local folder you've published your iWeb site to, compares it to the folder on your web server, and then uploads just the files that have changed.
I've found that Easy iWeb Publisher works much faster than most dedicated ftp clients when syncing iWeb files that have been changed, added, or deleted. Until Apple fixes iWeb '08 to make publishing easier for people who don't use MobileMe, this is a great way to work with your own hosting.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Jade 1.2: digital image processing for Leopard
Filed under: iLife, Multimedia, Software, Odds and ends
Italian developers DataMind Srl have announced the release of Jade 1.2, the latest in a series of image processing apps from the company. DataMind also has a version of Jade for iPhone and iPod touch (link to iTunes App Store) for enhancing photos on the run.
Jade provides one-click enhancement of digital images (see example at top of post) using a set of algorithms invented by the company founders. These algorithms enhance colors, contrast, and dynamics, and you can fine-tune intensity, contrast, and color correction to acheive perfection. I tried Jade on a few iPhoto pictures and found that the enhancements were less harsh than those provided by iPhoto.
The application is available in both Home (€19.99) and Pro (€49.99) versions for Mac and Windows. There's also an Aperture plugin, and the app works well with iPhoto. The 1.2 upgrade doesn't appear to add any major new functionality other than the ability to upload to Flickr directly from the application. It does, however, have a number of ease-of-use and preferences changes that streamline the image enhancement process.
Not sure if Jade is what you need? There's a 30-day free trial download available for the desktop version.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TUAW Tip: a shortcut to the Character Palette
Filed under: OS, Odds and ends
I'm not the world's most patriotic Englishman, and I'm also not keen on allowing icons to fill up my Mac's menu bar unless strictly necessary.
That's why I don't let the Input Menu flag hog space up there; one of the first things I do on a fresh Mac system is remove it (by unchecking the "Show input menu in menu bar" box in the Input Menu tab of the International preferences pane).
That said, there are occasions when I wish I had quick access to the Character Palette - which can normally only be reached via the Input Menu. Grrr.
Which is why I dug around online to find a script that would call up the Character Palette for me, and saved it as an application, and Bob's your uncle. Now I can get to the Character Palette, via Spotlight, by typing "Command+Space CHAR return". Excellent.
You can get the script from this page on Mac OS X Hints. Click the "Get this script" thingy and it will open in Script Editor. Click Compile, then Run, just to check it does what you want - then Save As... an app, or a script if you prefer.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - App roundup: Timekeeping and billing (Part II: The Quickening)
Filed under: Software
I got a lot of feedback from commenters yesterday about the app roundup of timekeeping and billing software. Turns out that little part about not having a comprehensive list didn't satisfy anyone!
So let's add to our list, and include five more apps and services to make you a billing maestro and timekeeping maven:
Continue reading App roundup: Timekeeping and billing (Part II: The Quickening)
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - The wrong kind of 1%
Filed under: MobileMe
MobileMe account holders trying to contact Apple's email outage chat support service have been promptly and brutally cut off if they're not on Apple's list of the "1%" of users affected -- and in one case, even if they are.
Some TUAW readers have been in touch to tell us that when they tried to get chat support for MobileMe email, they were quickly given this automated (or hastily pasted-in) response:
"I'm sorry, according to our records, you were not one of the members affected by the email outage that began on July 18th. MobileMe Mail 24-hour chat support is a temporary measure designed specifically for users whose accounts were affected by that outage. For help, please visit http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/ww for access to all of our support resources. I apologize for any inconvenience."
But one of our correspondents was doubly displeased, because he insisted he had been one of the 1%. But here was Apple telling him he hadn't -- and not giving him any chance to argue the matter.
It's that "according to our records" bit that seems to be the problem. What if Apple's records are wrong?
Thanks to Bill and Dom for the tip.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mac 101: Folder shortcuts in the Finder
Filed under: Mac 101
Another quick tip in our Mac 101 series for beginners: Some special folders on your computer have keyboard shortcuts that you can press to instantly navigate to that folder when using the Finder.
For example, to open your Applications folder, click on your desktop and use the shift (⇧) and command (⌘) keys to type ⇧ ⌘ A. Voíla! Your Appplications folder appeareth.
Other folders have shortcuts too:
- Your computer: ⇧ ⌘ C
- Your home folder: ⇧ ⌘ H
- Your desktop: ⇧ ⌘ D
- Computers on your local network: ⇧ ⌘ K
- Your Utilities folder: ⇧ ⌘ U
- Your iDisk: ⇧ ⌘ I
You can also bring up a dialog box to specify a path to a specific folder on your hard disk by typing ⇧ ⌘ G.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TUAW Hands-On: Square Enix's Song Summoner for the iPod
Filed under: Gaming, Multimedia, Software, Features, Apple
Square Enix dropped a huge bomb at E3 a few weeks ago with the fact that their latest Final Fantasy title, number 13, was coming to Microsoft's Xbox 360. But a week before, they dropped another piece of surprise news on iPod owners: that they had released a game for the music player, and that not only was it an RPG, but it was actually a tactical RPG that used the iPod's own songs as characters.
If you're a Squeenix fanboy, your mind is probably just blown by the idea, and as we reported last time, our Nintendo-biased friends were thrilled to hear about the game. But how does it actually play -- is it worth picking up if you're not a Square fan, and/or you just want to hear music on your iPod?
Short answer: Probably not. While Square Enix's Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes is a pretty amazing game for the iPod, the iPod is meant to be a music player, not a game platform, and a few hardware drawbacks keep Song Summoner from shining as a game just for iPod owners. Square fans will enjoy it very much, RPG gamers will probably get their money's worth (the game is only $5, cheap by any estimation), but anyone looking for a pick-up-and-play iPod game will likely get mired in the slow pace.Continue reading TUAW Hands-On: Square Enix's Song Summoner for the iPod
Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Psystar fights back, hires attorney
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Apple Financial
The Apple vs. Psystar battle continues to heat up as Psystar has hired a "well-known" attorney to handle the case. Attorneys at Carr & Ferrell (who won the 2006 burst.com lawsuit against Apple) have filled for an extension to the suit, which gives Psystar until August 18th to make a reply to Apple. Both Apple and Psystar agreed to the extension.
You may recall that Apple filed the lawsuit in a California court earlier this month, and later demanded that Psystar issue a recall for the Mac clones. When Apple filed the suit, they claimed that Psystar had violated their license agreement and committed copyright infringement by shipping "hackintosh" PCs with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
[via ComputerWorld]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iTunes 7.7.1 update now available
Filed under: Software, iTunes, Software Update
Apple just released an update for iTunes. The release indicates that iTunes 7.7.1 "includes fixes to improve stability and performance." You may recall that the last update for iTunes (7.7) was released on the iPhone 3G release date.
You can download this iTunes update by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update).
Thanks, Michael!Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - VMWare Fusion 2 Beta 2 available now
Filed under: Enterprise, Software, Leopard
The VMWare team has just released the second beta for VMWare Fusion 2.0, the company's popular virtualization program for the Mac.
The new beta adds a TON of new features, as the video above demonstrates. I got a chance to talk to VMWare today about the new beta and it is HOT. I'll be posting a more in-depth overview tomorrow, but until then, here are some of the highlights:
- Unity 2.0 - The newest version of Fusion is really focused on better Windows-Mac integration. You can now launch Windows programs from the dock or access Mac programs from within your virtual machine. You can also link folders like Documents, Pictures and Music on your virtual machine with those folders on your Mac.
- Multiple Snapshots VMWare has worked really hard to bring a Time Machine-like ease to backing up and protecting your virtual machine. You can now designate how often you want to take full system snapshots of your VM, whether once an hour, once a day or once a week, and how many copies you want to keep.
- Better Video and Graphics Graphics and shading support has been improved for Macs that have higher-end graphics cards, and even integrated Macs can now play 1080p HD video in virtual machines with considerably less CPU overhead.
- Support for more client OSs, including Leopard Server You can now run Leopard Server as a VM in OS X 10.4 and 10.5, even on client machines (virtualizing Mac OS X client is blocked by Apple's license terms). Support for the latest version of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) is also available right out of the box with Unity integration. Power users can now designate up to four virtual CPUs per virtual machine, which is great for anyone wanting to take an XServe or Mac Pro to the next level.
VMWare Fusion 2.0 beta 2 is available for Intel Macs running OS X 10.4 or OS X 10.5. New users can try the beta for free and the upgrade path (including future betas and the full version of Fusion 2.0) is free for all existing Fusion 1.0 customers.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Battery calibration recommended by Apple, why no utility?
Filed under: Hardware, Portables, iBook, PowerBook, PowerMac G5, Macbook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air
Like virtually all mobile computer manufacturers, Apple recommends that users calibrate their laptop batteries every few months, as Scott pointed out a couple of years ago. Unlike many manufacturers, however, Apple does not include a utility to automatically perform a calibration. Given Apple's uncanny ability to make things user-friendly, this seems like a bit of a glaring oversight.
What are the benefits of calibration? Primarily the goal is to ensure that the microprocessor in your battery provides an accurate estimate of how much time you have left on the battery. Over time it can lose track of just how much juice your battery has in it, and calibration gives it a very accurate reading on the battery's health.
Older battery technologies also benefited from a process called conditioning, which was typically performed the same way as a current battery's calibration process. In a nutshell, you fully charge the battery, fully discharge it, then fully charge it again. It's unclear whether modern lithium batteries gain anything in an actual capacity perspective from this process, or if it is simply a calibration of the microprocessor for the purpose of providing accurate time estimates.
Continue reading Battery calibration recommended by Apple, why no utility?
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Two auto performance meters for iPhone
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Software, Tips and tricks, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store
I've seen a lot of fun accelerometer uses in the App Store so far, but this is probably the coolest -- Dynolicious will actually use your iPhone's accelerometer to determine all kinds of stuff about how awesome your '92 Subaru is, from 0-60 and 1/4 mile time up to lateral Gs and horsepower. Just throw your iPhone somewhere secure in the car, hit go, and Dynolicious will track all that hardware stuff for you (even over multiple runs). Very awesome -- it's in the App Store right now for $12.99, which is pricey, until you see what an actual GTech meter will set you back.
What? Gas is super expensive right now, and you want it even cheaper? Wish granted: our friends at Autoblog have also dug up an app called g-tac, which will track your times and even graph them out for you. Unfortunately, g-tac won't do the cool accelerometer stuff, measuring out your lateral gs and horsepower for you, but you know the old saying: you can have things fast, good, or cheap, and you only get to pick two.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Panorama Enterprise Server
Filed under: Enterprise, Software, Internet Tools, Developer
When I saw the words Provue Development and Panorama in a press release this morning, I felt like I was suddenly transported back to the 80s. When the Mac first came out in 1984, Provue was there with the first real database manager for the Mac (OverVue). It's great to see that they're still developing innovative products like Panorama Enterprise Server. The $399 Panorama Enterprise Server is a RAM-based database server for Mac OS X 10.4 and above.
Panorama Enterprise Server works with Provue's desktop database application Panorama 5.5 to create network-based databases. It distributes RAM-based copies of shared data across a network in a mesh architecture. By distributing the load of common database actions over a number of machines, speed is improved dramatically.
Another unique feature is that users can disconnect from the network, work offline, and their database changes sync back up to the rest of the meshed computers when they are reconnected. Panorama Enterprise Server has remote configuration, management, and debug tools to keep DBAs happy, as well as automatic backup of live databases. Designers will like the visual design tools for building HTML and CSS-based forms, and support for Google Analytics.
Provue offers a 45-day free trial of both Panorama 5.5 and Enterprise Server.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Apple to channel partners - stock up now
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Retail, Macbook Pro, MacBook
AppleInsider reported today that Apple is advising resellers to stock up on the better-selling iPods and MacBooks, as factory supplies are expected to slow to a trickle in August. There's speculation that this could be due to a release of new models.
For 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros and the standard MacBooks, Apple was recommending that channel partners place orders that would give them a 3-week supply. For iPods, a 4-week supply was advised.
Apple usually notifies resellers via bulletins like this when they're getting ready to refresh a product line. This points to a product introduction for the new laptops and iPods (most likely the iPod touch and nano) in late August or September. While this is late for the school buying season, it could mark an early entry into the holiday buying season with an agressive launch of new products.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать
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