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- Qik launches on Installer.app
Filed under: Video, Internet, iPhone
A while back, Qik announced that they would be creating a video broadcast client for the iPhone. When they first announced it, Qik was only available in a limited beta to jailbroken phones. However, Qik has announced that all jailbroken 1.1.4 iPhones will be able to get the client through Installer.app. Since Apple hasn't yet allowed streaming video using the iPhone's camera, jailbreaking is the only way to use Qik.
Qik, as you may already know, is a way to broadcast live, streaming video from a mobile device. While they are not offering an App Store version of their client, you can download it via Installer.app by adding "http://qik.com/iphone1" to your sources list. If you are using iPhone 2.0 software, you might be able to downgrade to 1.1.4, however, the risks outweigh any advantages you might get.
There seems to be a growing field of jailbreak applications as Apple continues to disallow some SDK-built apps. Even though we have the official SDK, there are still too many limitations for some apps and their users.
[via TechCrunch]Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - 'I Am Rich' makes author exactly that, does little else
Filed under: App Store
Got a cool grand to burn? Before you think about buying the brand-new app I Am Rich, there are a few charities I'd hope you consider. But if you truly have that kind of money to spend, you can buy an app that touts itself as "a work of art with no hidden function at all."
I Am Rich sells for $999.99 in the App Store. It also features a "secret mantra" that "may help you to to [sic] stay rich, healthy and successful." Uh huh. I've got a mantra for you: "Smile and be nice to people." There. That one's free.
Hey, you can't blame the author, Armin Heinrich, because just a few sales would set him up quite nicely. What you can blame, however, is the asinine App Store vetting process, which let this dollop of poop into the system. What rocket surgeon thought this would be better than eWallet or ListPro? I fear John Gruber's prediction that the App Store wouldn't become the next VersionTracker or MacUpdate is proving exceptionally false.
It's not only that I don't want to buy I Am Rich, it's that I don't accidentally want to buy it. It's ridiculously easy to buy apps for your device, and getting this one by accident would certainly ruin my day. Plus, I don't have the minimum system requirement of three popped collars to run the app.
The Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry notes, though, that he's willing to spend 99 cents on an app with graphics identical to I Am Rich, but only featuring the mantra "I'm not stupid."
Judging from the App Store's app admission track record, though, that one should get approved in no time.
Thanks, Mark, Oliver, Rubbinz, Sherman, William, and Gruber for the tip!
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iUseThis: iPhone app popularity ratings
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
iUseThis.com's new iPhone app ratings pages let you browse for software based on other user's recommendations. It's basically a Digg for iPhone apps. It offers new releases, new apps, top apps and reviews. Just started, the site is building up steam and users. When last I checked, it still had fewer than 200 apps listed. But given the growth of the iPhone application space, this site shows early promise should it manage to attract a large enough user base. Pop on by and see whether it suits your needs.
[Via Chockenberry]
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Apple to release new iPhone/iPod touch dock?
Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, iPhone
Electronista reports on a patent filing for an iPhone/iPod touch dock that could allow you to both charge and play video in landscape mode, simultaneously. The patent was filed on September 5, 2007 -- near the time of the iPod touch debut. The so-called "dock" looks more like the tiny holder that ships with the iPod touch, with the exception of a dock connector plugged in.
Apple does, however, file patents that it might not ever use -- as do most other companies. What do you think? Could this be a new dock design, or is it the patent for the included iPod touch stand?Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Consumer Reports pans Safari's lack of phishing protection
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Security
Consumer Reports, in its annual internet security survey, recommended that Mac users avoid Safari because of its lack of phishing protection. Instead, they recommend users install Firefox 3 or Opera 9.5 as their default browsers, since both will warn users before displaying the contents of sites known to be source of scams and personal information theft.
Jeff Fox, technology editor at Consumer Reports, noted that "e-mail is the weak vector on the Mac," meaning that most successful phishing attacks on Mac users arrive via email.
"Windows users are used to being paranoid about not clicking [links in phishing emails]," he said. "Mac users aren't, even though they say, 'Antivirus software, who needs it?'"
As we've mentioned before, 1Password does a great job of adding phishing protection to Safari. Also, always be extra-wary of clicking links in emails from people you don't know.
[Via Computerworld.]
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Freeway 5.2 available with new MobileSafari support
Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Softpress Systems has released Freeway 5.2, which includes new tools for building web pages for iPhone and iPod touch. Freeway is WYSIWYG website creation software that features a traditional, page-layout approach and omits the need to write any code (unless, you know, you really want to handcraft your HTML).
New in version 5.2 is the ability to create iPhone home screen icons and custom links to iPhone applications like Mail, Phone, Maps, and YouTube. Also, Freeway helps prepare QuickTime videos for playback on iPhone under a variety of network conditions.
Additionally, Softpress has published a best practices document for publishing web sites for the iPhone and iPod touch. The "Building websites for the iPhone with Freeway" document can be found on the Softpress website.
The update is free for registered users of Freeway 5 or higher. For new users, it's available in two flavors: Freeway 5 Express ($79) and Freeway 5 Pro ($249). The differences between the two versions are available here.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Mac 101: Using iChat with AIM Blasts
Filed under: Mac 101
More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips and tricks for new and returning Mac users. If you're an iChat user with a need for immediate attention, AIM Blasts makes it easy to add social networking groups to iChat.
When you want to have a conversation with a group of people, blasts let you IM everyone in your selected group at once, without having to invite them to a special chat room. For example, you might have friend groups, work groups, or, thinking of Scott McNulty, your special D&D buddies. MobileMe users can take advantage of AIM blasts, since all .Mac and MM users are automatically AIM users as well. Just log in to AIM.com as yourname@me.com (or mac.com) -- you'll be able to take advantage of all of AOL's instant-messaging hospitality.
You don't set up your blast in iChat. Instead, point your browser at blast.aim.com. There, you'll be able to invite your friends and establish your new group. All joining and messaging is done from inside iChat itself. Blast groups appear in iChat as a separate group in your Buddies list -- scroll down in the buddy list if you have trouble finding your blast groups. It may help to give them names that are distinct from any buddy groups you already have, or perhaps prefix your blast groups with a "B-" to help them stand out.
When setting up your blast group, you decide whether all members or only admins (i.e., you) can send messages and/or invitations. Blast recipients have to accept your invite to be part of a blast group, so you may want to give them a heads-up in advance (especially if your blast group's name is obscure or edgy).
Just so you know: TUAW and Weblogs, Inc. are part of AOL.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Animate your iPhone with Flickbook
Filed under: iPhone, App Store
No, you aren't seeing double, and yes, there is an eerily similar (and similarly named) iPhone animation app. This one -- Flickbook -- lets you create classic-style animations on your iPhone or iPod touch with a basic, no-frills simple UI. There's a large area of white space for sketching, which is done by drawing a finger across the screen. Create the next image in your sequence by touching an arrow in the bottom right-hand corner.
An 'onionskin' hint of the previous image can be seen under the current one, and a slider lets you navigate through your images. Errors are erased with a good shake. Finally, you can select from nine colors.
Playing and saving your completed animation is simple, but accurate sketching is not. I found it quite difficult to create consistent images with my finger (I was actually wishing for a stylus, believe it or not), but that could be due to my beefy paws or lack of artistic ability. Still, I'd love to meet the person who drew the gorgeous horse demo on their site.
I also wish complete animations could be exported as movie files, but perhaps that will be part of an update. It's decidedly more bare-bones than the $9.99US FlipBook, which allows you to animate on top of your photos and includes the flipbook.tv upload site for sharing your work. Still, it's fun to play with for $4.99US. Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TUAW Tip: Say goodbye to Marker Felt notes
Filed under: iPod Family, How-tos, TUAW Tips, iPhone
Many iPhone users have expressed negative feelings toward the default Marker Felt font used in the Notes application. Personally, I dislike it enough that I used a manual hack on my previously jailbroken phone to get some Helvetica relief, but since I haven't felt the need to jailbreak since the 2.0 upgrade, I've been living with Marker Felt for now. We got a tip today, though, that offers a quasi-solution for those willing to deal with a little extra hassle.
A quick Google search reveals that we're not the first to discover this, but we thought it was worth sharing. If you're interested in trying it, go into the International keyboard settings in the General section of your iPhone or iPod touch Settings and select any of the Chinese keyboards in addition to your current keyboard.
Now, go into an existing note or create a new one in the Notes application. Switch the keyboard to the Chinese keyboard using the globe icon to the left of the spacebar and enter a single character. Backspace it and switch back to your native keyboard. Presto, the note should be free of Marker Felt. Saving the note will reveal that the title in the list has also undergone the same font change, and future edits will maintain it.
Adding new notes will require this little tweak every time, so it's not an all-around solution to the lack of font selection in Notes. If you're really, truly bothered by Marker Felt, however, it's a step in the right direction.
Thanks David!Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - TUAW Hands on with FlipBook for iPhone
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store
Josh Anon's $9.99 FlipBook [App Store link] offers a well-designed animation building tool. Like other flip book drawing products, it lets you create movement frame by frame. What makes FlipBook stand out from the crowd of iPhone drawing tools is its fine attention to interface details and the addition of the flipbook.tv sharing site for the animations you create.
Read on for TUAW's take on this new AppStore offering, and see the gallery below for some screenshots of the delightful interface.
Continue reading TUAW Hands on with FlipBook for iPhone
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - At last, the iPhone comes to Vermont
Filed under: iPhone
After a fourteen-month wait, the iPhone is finally coming to Vermont.
"But isn't Vermont a part of the US?" you ask. Well yes, but AT&T -- the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the US -- has no wireless coverage in the Green Mountain State, so the iPhone has never officially been made available. Some enterprising Vermonters have set up blogs and even gone underground with their jailbroken iPhones, but that's all about to change.
Earlier this week, Vermont's WCAX TV reported that area providers Verizon and Unicel have merged, and AT&T will be awarded overlapping service areas to prevent a wireless monopoly in Vermont.
The wait is almost over, Vermonters! Now you can enjoy standing in long lines like the rest of us.
Thanks, B. Marriner!Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - AppleScript: Creating To-Dos in iCal
Filed under: Features, How-tos, AppleScript
Recently, a friend asked me to create an AppleScript that would allow him to automate To-Dos with a Mail.app mail rule. I immediately rose to the occasion because this was a cool idea: Mail.app could run the script when you get an ebill, for instance, for your car payment. The script would then create an iCal To-Do for "Pay your car payment, now!"
The script
set theSumm to "Pay My Bill Soon!"
set dueDate to (current date) + 10 * days
set theUrl to "http://www.paymybillexample.com"
set thepriority to 1
tell application "iCal"
make todo at end of events of (item 1 of every calendar) with properties {summary:theSumm, due date:dueDate, url:theUrl, priority:thepriority}
end tell
Customizing the script
To customize the To-Do's title, fill in the text you want, within the parenthesis on line 1. To Change the due date, change the "10" in line 2 to the number of days until it is due. If you want to change to weeks or months, use the appropriate wordage instead of "days" at the end of line 2. To change the URL, paste a URL in the parenthesis on line 3.
By default, the script will set the newly created To-Do to have a priority of 1, however, you can change this to your priority preference.
Continue reading to learn how to integrate the To-Dos with a Mail.app mail rule.Continue reading AppleScript: Creating To-Dos in iCal
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - 3G iPhone users experience carrier error with 2.0.1 update
Filed under: iPhone
iPhone and iPod touch software 2.0.1 became available yesterday, and today several iPhone 3G owners are reporting problems.
Specifically, users who paid to have their 3G iPhones unlocked by Vodafone* are unable to re-connect to the service following the update, and instead receive a "0xE8000001" error message. How helpful. It seems to happen on both Windows and Mac OS X.
As you remember, Vodafone is selling the iPhone in 10 countries, and a quick look at Apple's Discussion Boards reveal this problem popping up in Spain, Italy, Sweden and more, which leads us to believe that it's Vodafone's issue.
We haven't come across a fix yet, but we'll keep you posted. In the meantime, let us know if you've been able to squash this bug.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
*Update: Some of our tipsters have had luck restoring the phone to reconnect to Vodafone, but not all. Also, a reader from Finland reports the same issue with his locked phone on the Sonera network, and a Belgian correspondent chimes in with the same problem on Mobistar (Orange); looks like the issue is more widespread than just Vodafone's customers.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Second Australian Apple Store is ready
Filed under: Retail
Apple certainly took their time in establishing a retail presence in Australia, but now they're set to open a second store, this time in Chatswood.
Apple Store Chatswood Chase will open on Saturday, August 9th at 9:00 AM. The store is located at Chatswood Chase Shopping Centre, Victoria Avenue, Chatswood. You can get full travel directions here.
As usual, we're asking any TUAW operatives who visit this weekend to send us stories and photos. Good luck, have fun and we're hoping you score a T-shirt!
Thanks, Bryce!Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone 101: Speedier iPhone backups, three ways
Filed under: iTunes, iPhone, iPhone 101
Since the introduction of the App Store, the iPhone and iPod touch backup procedure has become quite time-consuming. The Panama Canal was constructed in less time. Fortunately, the impatient can speed up (or kill) the process in one of three ways.
The first is the simplest. When the backup begins, simply click the small "x" that appears in iTunes' main window. This will halt the backup but continue the sync, so those new podcasts you've downloaded will get transferred.
The second procedure is a bit more involved. Open a Terminal window and type the following:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true
That will kill the backup procedure until you enable it again by typingdefaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false
Just be aware that this method also kills SMS message backups.
Those of you uncomfortable with Terminal can use this tiny application which essentially runs the commands above at the click of a button.
Finally, you can follow the steps outlined at iPhoneFreak that involve disabling the option to send diagnostic information to Apple at sync.
So there you have it -- three ways to make your backup procedure more pleasant. If you need to recover files from a backup, you can use the mdhelper application, written by our own Erica Sadun.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Updating the elephant: Evernote version 1.1.4
Filed under: Software, Odds and ends
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOK, all you Evernote junkies! Fire up Evernote on your Mac and get the latest update to version 1.1.4. What's new in this version?
The Evernote team says they've made the following updates:
- Snazzy new welcome/login screen.
- Source-URL field will now properly accept "https" URLs and provides better user-error messages.
- Note editor focus will no longer be lost when a sync occurs while editing a note.
- Pasting or typing the CDATA closing sequence ']]>' will no longer break the note being edited.
- Fix *** -[NSCFNumber caseInsensitiveCompare:]: exceptions.
- Workaround a bug in some web browsers which prevented font colors from showing up when notes are viewed on the web.
- Chunks of text can now be dragged directly to the Evernote icon in the Dock.
- Dragging URLs from the URL bar in Firefox now works correctly.
- Dragging URLs from the body of a Firefox or Safari window now works correctly.
- Dragging a plaintext version of a URL will now fetch the contents of the URL for a new note.
- Drag-and-drop support for old-school textClippings.
- Minor performance enhancements.
- Stability improvements.
If Evernote 1.1.4 isn't immediately blasted to your Mac when you start up an earlier version, you can download it here.Переслать - Apple pulls out of proposed Black Hat talk
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Internet, Apple, Security
Though I'm far too dumb to understand what they're talking about, I like the Black Hat hacker guys. Most of the Internet is all "New Vegas" now; all (supposedly) family friendly and glamorous and glitzy. But those guys are back on Fremont Street, gambling with everything they've got and shoulder to shoulder with the dregs of society.
Unfortunately, Apple's marketing department doesn't share my feelings. Computerworld says they've put the kibosh on a speaking engagement they were supposed to have at the conference next week in Sin City. In fact, they can't even say they were asked to pass -- everyone involved in organizing the panel, which was set up early last month and "abruptly canceled" late last month, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Which is a shame -- organizers of the conference say the panel was supposed to be all about how serious security is at Apple and how they're committed to keeping users secure. And it wasn't even supposed to be a Q&A, which is why the organizers thought it would easily be approved by marketing.
That, however, wasn't the case -- while the panel wasn't yet approved by the conference folks, the request to have the panel was pulled. We're sure the Black Hat guys will still have fun (it is Vegas, after all), but it's a shame we couldn't get that look inside Apple's security team.Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Ars: Jobs agrees MobileMe not up to Apple's standards
Filed under: Bad Apple, MobileMe
How often does Apple admit a mistake? It's a once-in-a-blue-iMoon occurrence, but now that Ars Technica is reporting the contents of an internal Steve Jobs all-hands email regarding the MobileMe launch challenges we can add one more instance to the tally board. Jobs apparently acknowledges that trying to rush the MobileMe migration while pushing iPhone 3G hardware and iPhone 2.0 software out the door (not to mention the iTunes App Store) may have been too much to bite off at once.
The money quote from the letter (yet to be confirmed by TUAW sources) is here:
"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services," Jobs says. "And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year."
Ars also notes that MobileMe management will now be centralized under iTunes exec VP Eddy Cue, who will be leading the charge for all Apple internet services across the board. We've all been through the MobileMe ups and downs during the first weeks of the service; it's nice to know (belatedly) that Apple top brass is clued in.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - Diamond, the rich text editor that thinks different
Filed under: Software
Diamond is a free rich text editor with a difference. Lots of differences, actually, which combine to make it quite appealing. Developer Geoffrey Alexander has recently released Diamond 3, which makes this an excellent time for you to download and give it a try.
How is Diamond different? Diamond windows look different. Sometimes they're hardly there. They may or may not have title bars. They may or may not hover above a background (flat color, or photographic, it's up to you) that in turn hovers over everything else on your desktop.
Text inside Diamond documents flows in columns. Word and character counts float unobtrusively below the windows, as if hanging in space. If you want them to. Aspects of Diamond's differentness are yours to tweak in the prefs, of course, so you can de-weird things if you feel the need. But that takes all the fun out of it.
If I'm not making much sense here, I encourage you to take a look at the Diamond gallery or download the app to try it for yourselves. As Geoffrey himself once said: "Diamond isn't for everyone, and may not even be for anyone." But I rather like it, if only because it takes the mundanity of editing text and adds a bit of life that you don't find in other rich text editors.
Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать - iPhone 2.0.1 firmware out for iPhone and iPod touch
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, iTunes, Apple, iPhone
Apple has released the 2.0.1 firmware update for the iPhone and iPod touch, and as you can see above, it brings the much-awaited "Bug fixes" feature to bear. We first heard about bug fixes way back at WWDC '07, and since then there's been much speculation on Apple blogs of all kinds as to just what effects a feature like "bug fixes" will have on the market.
We're just kidding of course -- "Bug fixes" could mean anything. But the update is surprisingly large (242 mb) so as soon as we get it installed, we'll pick it apart.
It looks like the day of reckoning is here -- "bug fixes" is out, and may all the various Gods have mercy on our souls. The 2.0.1 software update for the iPhone and iPod touch is available in iTunes right now.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Permalink | Email this | CommentsПереслать
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