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- Is This the (Rear) Face of the New Mac Mini?
This photo has been making the rounds since yesterday, after having originally popped up in the MacRumors forums. The photo’s poster claims that it is the business end of the new, redesigned Mac mini, which he was apparently shown by a friend. No word on who that friend might have been, but “Monthy,” the original poster, does claim the new machines will be on store shelves in about a month or so, which is convenient given his name.
At first glance, the specs on this device seem preposterous, since it has five USB ports, which is unheard of outside of the Mac Pro line-up, and a FireWire 800 port, which seems bizarre considering the price range and its absence on Apple’s MacBook line of products. Plus, support for both Mini DisplayPort and Mini-DVI appears to be present, which, though I love Apple dearly, seems far too kind a gesture to be in character for the Cupertino-based computer company.
Monthy goes on to describe the internal specs of the new hardware, which include a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 3MB L2 Cache and 2GB of DDR3 RAM at 1066MHz, and a SATA HD (no word on base size). While not totally unthinkable, these do conflict with earlier reports that Apple would be moving to an Atom-based platform, with recent rumors even pointing to a device built around NVIDIA’s upcoming Ion platform.While it may conflict with some rumors, it also agrees perfectly with some others, including predictions made much earlier by AppleInsider based on reports by “people familiar with the matter.” It is hard to deny that the picture, bearing exactly the hardware details outlined by AppleInsider in their January articles, doesn’t strike one as just a bit more genuine as a result. For what it’s worth, AppleInsider also claims the new photo depicts the exact same device as they had seen in a previous picture, which they were compelled not to share with the public.
I’m skeptical, because this seems to be a departure from the Apple-NVIDIA partnership that was meant to set the course of future hardware, but at the same time I’m hopeful, because this seems like an ideal machine for home theatre integration, especially if both of those video out ports can be used simultaneously. Add in a USB TV Tuner, replace the optical drive with a second HD, and you’ve got yourself one mean media server/DVR that can also hook up to a second monitor so that I can browse and watch without interruption or switching. Pardon my drooling.
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Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Thanks to TheAppleBlog Sponsors!
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Переслать - Goodbye, 20″ Cinema Display. No Hello, 20″ LED Cinema Display?
Another one bites the dust. Another in Apple’s line of Cinema Displays, that is.
Apple pulled the 20″ entry-level model of their popular professional caliber display line Thursday, leaving behind only the legacy 30″ model and the 24″ newly updated LED Cinema Display with DisplayPort that was introduced alongside the new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros at the notebook event late last year.
Last time a model was pulled, its replacement was already available, since it was the mid-range 23″ display and the 24″ had already been announced and was available via the Apple Store. The discontinuation of the 20″ leaves a significant hole in the existing line-up, since the mid-range 24″ display is a full $200 more expensive than its smaller sibling. Curiously, AppleInsider is also reporting that all backlogs are to be cancelled and that no replacement is to be offered to fill those orders already existing.
It seems an odd move for Apple to leave such a gap in their offerings, and most retailers suspect that a refreshed model will be made available soon. If we look at the 24″ for cues, it’s reasonably safe to say that the new model would use MiniDisplay Port for video connectivity, and might offer power supply and USB hub functions as well. Suddenly those $400-range used 20″ Cinema Displays I found on craigslist the other day are looking mighty appealing, since all of my existing Apple computers still use the mini-DVI standard. Yes, I’m living in the past.
As of yet, there is no way for Apple users with Mini-DVI connected hardware to hook up with the new 24″ display, and presumably with any other forthcoming devices that will use DisplayPort tech. I think I’m gonna go inquire to that craigslist poster after all, before he realizes what he’s got his hands on and the price gouging starts.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Of Packages and File Compatibility: iWork '08 and iWork '09
I’ve seen a few articles lately on the file incompatibility between iWork ‘08 and files saved in iWork ‘09.
Macnn and other sites have discussed it. As usual, there are the silly comments regarding Apple not having tested this, it’s worthy of Microsoft, blah, blah, blah. Many comments tended to be more rational, though, pointing out that new versions of software frequently “convert” older files and then are not compatible with the older version. This isn’t really that unusual.
I think Apple could have made this easier if they had explained in the tech note a primary reason for the incompatibility. It’s the old standard support line: It’s a feature, not a bug. Really.
The iWork ‘08 saved files are packages. For those unfamiliar with this, a package is essentially a specialized directory (yes, I’m simplifying it). Most Mac applications are packages, as is the iPhoto library. If you right-click a package file and select “Show Package Contents,” it’ll open like a folder to reveal other files and folders below. Here you see the package contents of a Numbers ‘08 document.
The problem with this approach comes when you want to transfer these files. Some email systems or file shares don’t know what to do with a package file. For example, when I look at iWork ‘08 documents in Windows they appear as folders. In short, the package format was hindering transfer and sharing of iWork files. Not good if you want your product to become more popular.
Enter iWork ‘09, which saves documents as a more traditional “flat” file. Apple’s implementation of this is that the file is still a package, but compressed into zip format, which makes it flat. In fact, you can see this for yourself by changing the file name’s extension to .zip, then decompressing it by double-clicking. The uncompressed file will be a folder containing some files/folders like you saw in the iWork ‘08 file. (As you can see, it’s not an exact match, so some data appears to be stored in the file itself.)
As a flat file, you should be able to email it and share with other iWork users without problems. iWork ‘09 opens it easily, knowing it’s compressed and handling it accordingly. iWork ‘08, however, is expecting a package file; it doesn’t know what to do with the flat file iWork ‘09 uses. This is why it cannot open those files.
I think Apple really needed to address the package issue for transporting iWork files, and I’m glad they did so in iWork ‘09. It neatly addresses a problem that was only going to get worse as the package became more popular. I don’t think having a new version not opening in an old version of the program is that egregious, especially given the problem the new version is addressing.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Taking Control of AppStore Reporting With AppViz
Like the majority of Apple products and solutions, Apple’s App Store is sleek in its presentation to the consumer. However, one of the less polished aspects is the developer back end, iTunes Connect. Don’t get me wrong, this is functional, but it’s not targeted at the consumer market and as such it just does the necessary job without any of the usual Apple polish.
While you can get email notification of the availability of official monthly reports, it is up to you to open your browser and log into the web page. There you can view and download daily, weekly and monthly sales reports by using a basic user interface that lets you manually select one file (raw text data files) at a time to download. You can then take this raw data and do any fancy data analysis that you require with software such as Excel or Numbers.
Thus a new market has been created for applications to assist businesses in taking control of their App Store reporting. As a lone independent App Store developer I wanted to find such an application that would provide a ‘one-stop’ place to enable me to appraise the performance of my applications.
AppViz, by ideaswarm, is just such an application. To get the best appreciation of what it has to offer, a glance at the Dashboard tab presented on launch tells the story.
The Dashboard gives you an excellent summary of your state of play, enabling you to quickly see totals, charts and trends on sales, revenue, upgrades and downloads for one or all of your applications. After installing AppViz you simply provide it with your iTunes Connect username and password and it can do the rest. When you want to see the latest stats, you just fire AppViz up, tap Command-i and it will go off and find any new sales reports for all your applications. You can also import any reports you have already saved to disk directly from file if you have them.
The Dashboard provides a great summary, but if you would really like to dig down to specific data, the Graphs tab gives you the power to do so, allowing graphing Sales or Geography (with a map and pie chart), Revenue, Downloads and Upgrades by any date range and country.
To see the original, individual Apple-provided reports all nicely presented in a grid that can be sorted, the Reports tab gives you an easy user interface to access it all. If you do want to do your own manipulation of the raw data, AppViz has an Export function to write these original reports out as a file for loading into a spreadsheet.
Finally, AppViz can download App Store reviews from all iTunes stores. This lets you easily stay on top of your App's user feedback. If a user edits their review, AppViz will update it accordingly, too. Being able to sort the reviews by the date that they were downloaded just makes it too easy to see what's new at a glance.
AppViz is $29.95 and a free, 30-day trial is available. I'm currently halfway through my trial and have been extremely impressed by the functional utility provided, as it’s letting me focus my time on more enjoyable things. In the 15 days that I've trailed so far, AppViz has had two updates (provided by way of the standard Check For Updates menu option) and is in rapid development, taking note of comments from existing customers. I'm looking forward to seeing what other great timesaving functionality will be included in the future.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Doing the Job With Obsolete Hardware in a Recession
While my new unibody MacBook is pretty state-of-the-art, and indeed the most contemporaneously avant garde computer I’ve ever owned, I’m still a fan of good older hardware and getting a lot of useful work out of my two nine-year-old Pismo PowerBooks.
The Pismo, for a variety of reasons, has proved an extraordinarily long-lived machine in terms of practical usefulness, thanks in no small part to its expandability, connectivity, and upgradability, representing what was arguably the all time high-water mark for those qualities in Mac laptops. It also has a really good keyboard, which makes it a continued tactile pleasure to work with.
Both of mine have been upgraded with G4 550 MHz processors, replacing the original 500 MHz G3s, and 8x dual-layer DVD-burning SuperDrives. The also have 576MB and 640 MB of RAM respectively (and would support up to 1 GB), larger capacity 40 GB and 100 GB hard drives, plus Wi-Fi and FireWire 800 PC Cardbus adapters. They’re running Mac OS X 10.4.11, which is as far as I intend to go with system software notwithstanding the potential for hacked Leopard installs. Pretty modest by today’s standards, but they’re lively enough as to not be at all frustrating for the sort of basic text and web-based stuff I do with them.
Just Plain Nice to Use
Heavier lifting I leave to my newer G4 PowerBook and now the unibody MacBook 2.0 GHz I just bought, but I have no intention of putting the Pismos out to pasture anytime soon. They suit a niche in my workflow and are just plain nice to use.
However, even more typical and less hotrodding-friendly laptops (and desktops as well) are capable of providing longer service than has been customary, or at least was before the economy nosedived.
Sufficiently Powerful
BusinessWeek’s Roger L. Kay sensibly contends, and I agree, that if your ancient IT equipment is running fine and sufficiently powerful for the work it’s tasked with, you shouldn’t hesitate to try squeezing a few more more years of service out of it until this foundering economy hopefully begins to recover.
Kay cites the example of his Hewlett-Packard Jornada notebook that’s even older than my Pismos, being a demo unit from a HP press event in 1998, observing that although dated by any definition (to say the least!), “the old Jornada remains - year after year - exactly the right tool for the job at hand… Every time I open this device, I of course have to endure the mockery of my peers. But at the same time, I am struck by a number of principles.”
One of those, he says, is longevity of technology, speculating that his Jornada could easily remain in service for another decade if not for a deliberate cycle of planned obsolescence characterized on the PC side by Microsoft’s replacement of Windows XP by Vista, Intel’s ongoing architectural changes, and the push to substitute Blu-ray for older optical drive formats, conceding that computers are getting better in some ways, have more features, but not necessary longer-lasting or more reliable.
The “Good Enough” Factor
Then there’s the “good enough” factor, which must be determined in the context of what you need it to be good enough for. If an electronic notebook is all you need it for, that ancient HP Jornada with its instant-on 8.2″ display, puny 190MHz StrongARM processor, 16MB of RAM and 16MB SSD running Windows CE and Pocket Word is more than adequate. I used to do real work — graphics creation as well as word crunching — on an 8 MHz Mac Plus with 2.5 MB of RAM, and it was lively too.
Compared to Kay’s old Jornada, my Pismos are powerhouses, and again, in the context of what I need them to do for me they are quite adequate, demanding little sacrifice in convenience, and regardless of what the economy does I’ll be surprised if I’m not still using at least one of them three or four years from now.
This distempered year, with household and enterprise budgets in tatters, leaving both individuals and corporate IT managers wondering if they can wring another year or two of useful service out of their existing hardware, the good news is that they probably can. As Roger Kay says, “A good tool should last a long time.”
That said, I’m going to enjoy using my new MacBook.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Super Simple Invoicing With Involer
There’s no shortage of invoicing applications for OS X, with a notable few including Billable, iBiz, Billings, and On The Job. They all offer different functionality, and may fit your requirements perfectly. However, another contender has recently emerged on the scene in the form of Involer.
Rather than attempting to be a complete solution for project management, tracking time, and storing client details, it sticks to the basics — sending and managing invoices. Involer aims to keep this process as simple as possible with an intuitive user interface and basic invoice designs.
This review will take a look at the main features of Involer, explaining what the app does well and where the areas for improvement lie.
The Interface
The Involer interface takes one of the most simplistic approaches I’ve ever seen. Consisting of four areas: Company, Client, Invoices, and Invoice Preview. While dauntingly sparse at first, you do come to realize that it covers most of the basic functionality you need.
One gripe I had immediately was the lack of any visual hints on how to get started after opening the application. It isn’t possible to actually add an invoice until you’ve entered a company and a client — something which would be easy to explain in any of the empty space when opening the app.
The preferences pane is equally sparse, with only a few options to handle updates and excluding certain items from an invoice.
Adding Information and Creating Invoices
Adding a client and company is as simple as hitting the + icon in the left hand sidebar. This creates a new blank record, which then needs to be double clicked to edit the name. If you don’t add a name straight away, there’s no way of knowing that an empty client actually exists — some form of dialog box to request a client’s name when being added would be beneficial. However, it is possible to import client data from Address Book (limited to their name and email address).
Creating an invoice occurs in an attractive interface, with a simple two column layout for item and amount. You can edit the title and thank you note, and optionally add a tax value. Tax rates are specified for every company on an individual basis and calculated automatically for each invoice sent to them.
Previewing an invoice looks good, and the layout and style retains the simplicity inherent within the app itself.
Sending and Exporting
There are two ways to distribute an invoice — via PDF or Print. Both generate a decent looking simplistic invoice, but I’d appreciate a way to have greater control over customizing the font and appearance to match my branding. In addition, it would be great to generate an email with the PDF attached, automatically addressed to the invoice recipient.
Searching and Organizing
Two of the main aims of Involer are to have “all of your invoices stored in the application, allowing you to refer back to them at any point” along with the ability to “find a specific invoice with just a few keystrokes.” This is achieved through both a timeline-style browser and a search function.
The timeline browser is a great addition, especially if you send out a large quantity of invoices. Unfortunately, the search feature didn’t work at all for me, likely a glitch with the latest release and something which will be high on their list of priorities to fix.
Simplicity Gone Too Far?
Generally, I’m a huge fan of applications which cut back on unnecessary features and execute the bare minimum excellently (WriteRoom for instance). However, I feel that Involer may have taken this concept a little too far in cutting back on features that people do actually need.
One major oversight would seem to be the lack of any Invoice ID. This is almost always a requirement, and while it could be added manually to the title, it makes sense for a piece of software to automatically generate this for you. Design wise, I generally find that companies often use invoices and receipts as a good way to project the professionalism and style of their brand. Stripping all this away may not suit everyone’s taste.
Conclusion
Ironically, many applications which are perfectly production ready are labeled as a beta. Involer is one advertised as a full release, when I think actually it could have done with a few months of limited beta testing. There were a number of issues which made the app feel slightly difficult to use, not least of which was the search function not working correctly.
If you’re searching for an app to create and manage invoices in a basic way, Involer could well be for you. I’m confident that updates and enhancements are being made to fix problems with the early release of the app. An updated version (1.1) was released this past weekend with a whole host of fixes and updates from the original release, with more coming soon.
The concept of the app is great, but the execution needs a little more polish before I’ll be considering using it for myself. Involer is priced at $19.99 and a fully functioning 10 day trial available to download. It requires Mac OS X 10.5 and higher (Mac OS X 10.5.2 or higher recommended). Involer runs natively on bother PowerPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - AirPhones: The True Potential of AirTunes on Your iPhone
I like my Airport Express with AirTunes. I use it to connect my home theater set-up to my iTunes library, and more frequently, for listening to Internet radio via iTunes. But it’s always bothered me that I couldn’t use it to listen to audio from any other source beyond iTunes. I don’t know about you, but the majority of my video collection is in non-iTunes-compliant format, and so when I’m watching movies, I have to run a super long mini-stereo capable from my Mac to my stereo to get the sound working.
Overnight, a solution appeared via my iPhone (and iPod touch) in the App Store. It’s called AirPhones ($6.99, App Store), and it’s an app that lets you stream any audio directly from your Mac to your iPhone or iPod touch. Or, at least it claims that you’ll be able to hear any audio. I found out that wasn’t exactly the case, but more on that later. Let’s just say that it definitely lets you hear more audio than your iTunes-connected Airport Express.
The iPhone app that makes up half of the AirPhones setup is not much in and of itself. Basically, all you see is a volume slider on a blue background with the AirPhones icon above it. It will display warning messages if you’re not connected, instructing you how to connect, but if it is working, it won’t tell you anything. On the computer side (which currently has to be an Intel Mac), you’ll need to download and run AirPhones Server, from which you will activate the audio streaming.
Setting up AirPhones was not at all difficult, and I actually like the server app, which takes up very few system resources, and hides itself well as a menu bar item (dock icon can be turned on, but there’s really no need). From the preferences window, you just turn on the server and it will automatically detect and connect with any devices on your local wireless network running the AirPhones app.
Once they’re connected, your Mac’s volume is muted, and instead any sound is played via your iPhone’s speaker or connected headphones/speakers. At least that’s the case with audio from most sources. iTunes, Quicktime, and Firefox all played nice, but popular media player VLC did not, with sound playing from the Macbook’s speakers despite the connection being up and running between AirPhones Server and the app on my iPhone.
If you try using this in conjunction with AirTunes, you’ll notice there is a slight delay when it comes to the sound delivered to your iPhone or iPod touch, which means it’ll have to be an either/or solution when it comes to playing music. Likewise, the video is ever so slightly out of sync with the audio with AirPhones. I still found it very tolerable, because the lag is minimal, but some perfectionists might take issue. Hopefully future updates will correct this minor latency.
Overall, it’s a handy solution, especially if you’ve got mulitiple iPhones and iPod touches lying around the house. They could easily become the basis for a wireless set-up that Sonos would charge you an arm and a leg for, and you’ll definitely hear it when you have a call coming in, to boot. And while $7 is a little steep for an iPhone app, once you have it, you can put it on as many devices as you want, so you can go ahead and recruit the whole family’s devices for the cause.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Don't Be Fresh
Fresh — is this app “Fresh” or is it “Exciting”?* Well, let’s talk about it. Just this week, the folks at Ironic Software released this clever little utility for all to use. When I first read the product information and watched the instructional videos, my interest was piqued with what the product could do for me.
So what does Fresh do? From the Ironic site, here is their description:
“Fresh was born on that sinking feeling we have whenever we head into the Finder to ‘Find’ that file that we are working on, just downloaded, or like to keep handy. Fresh is designed to hide itself when you are not using it — keeping your onscreen clutter of windows more manageable.”
Translated, Fresh does multiple things:
- Using the Fresh Files Zone, it’s a replacement for the Finder Recent Items/Folders/Drives feature.
- Using the Cooler Zone, it is an enhancement for the Open (not Save) dialog box in that you can quickly drag files as email attachments or insert files into another document via drag-and-drop.
- Using either zone, you can organize your items with tags and filter either the Fresh Files or Cooler Zones by those tags.
The Main UI
Let’s take a look at Fresh. Here is what the app looks like when launched:
Fresh Main UIAs you can see, the two zones are delineated by color (not customizable). The Fresh Files Zone is on top and shows the recently open/edited items. (Note, the blurred items are blurred by me, for privacy…that’s not a “feature” of any sort.)
The Cooler Zone below shows files that I have dragged into it for quick re-use (emails, discovery of files).
If you are a mouse-driven user, then the drag-and-drop Cooler Zone is very useful. If you are keyboard driven, then Fresh’s UI can be a little clunky to use. One good thing is that in the preferences, you can define a hotkey to bring Fresh to the forefront:
Fresh Main Preferences
Tagging
Within Fresh, it is pretty easy to Tag items either within the Fresh Files or within the Cooler Zones. Select an item, right-click it and then click Edit Tag.
I would argue that the folks at Ironic Software are pretty Tag “happy” seeing how they provide TagIt for free and the rest of their app suite supports tags (Yep, Leap, Deep).
Regardless, I don’t really see the point in tagging items within Fresh. The application seems more about discovery and convenience, not about “organization.”
Here is an example of the tag UI:
Fresh Tag UI - Type your tags here
Conclusion
I would say that Fresh does have a bias toward the unorganized masses — no offense folks. For those who keep their desktops clean as well as their download folders empty, this application might not be that useful.
When I first installed it, I thought “hey, maybe I won’t need Default Folder X anymore.” Well, that was wishful thinking. Fresh is pretty, but it just isn’t that functional for someone like me (hyper organized anal retentive). However, for $9 it’s a cheap tool if you like a slick UI wrapped up in a one-trick pony.
My recommendation is to save the $9 and not buy Fresh. Use the Finder. Use Spotlight. They work and they are included in the OS for free.
* I know, I dated myself with this terrible music lyric reference. Get over it.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Band Gives Away Everything (Sort of) for $3 Via App Store
The headline in this case is slightly misleading. The Presidents of The United States of America (remember Lump, anyone?) are giving you access to four Presidents’ albums (all the ones the band owns the rights too), plus rarities and b-sides. The key word there is “access,” because while you can listen to the songs as much as you’d like, they’re streamed via an iPhone/iPod touch app, not physical MP3 files that you could actually add to your iTunes library.
The app is the brainchild of Dave Dederer, onetime singer and guitarist for the Presidents, who now acts as VP of Business Development for Melodeo, a company that deals specifically in software designed to stream iTunes content to other sources. In an industry that needs to look more and more at alternative content delivery methods, Dederer may be on to something. A $3 investment is probably going to attract a lot more attention than a 99-cent single track, since it gives interested customers the chance to sample a wide selection of a band’s work before making the decision to buy a full album or a number of tracks for more flexible use via their iTunes library.
For most other bands, this sort of thing is a problem, because they don’t usually own their own distribution and copyrights. That’s why Dederer is currently in talks with indie labels to release similar apps that cover entire stables of artists, thereby lessening the number of steps required in order to get legal permission to reproduce the tracks.
I am very much in favor of this new model. I prefer the idea of getting similarly grouped artists (by label, by genre, etc.) to go in together on an app like this, because then it becomes a sort of digital jukebox or focused Internet radio channel that you can have with you wherever you have cellular reception. At the same time, from an artist/label’s perspective, they’re getting great exposure with a growing market of people who tend to have disposable income and spend some on music. The Presidents’ app even has “Buy” links that redirect users to the iTunes purchase page so they can directly add tracks to their library.
It’s such a good idea, in fact, that I hope it catches on with other media. Imagine how great an NBC app would be that works along the same lines, providing the same full episodes they have on their site for streaming via iPhone on a dedicated app. They could include their commercials, and again, provide buy links that lead to their iTunes store.
What do you think, is this kind of delivery something you’d be interested in? For music, video, or both? Do you think it’s a realistic possiblity that the big networks will ever come on board?
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Beginning Mac: iChat
A wide range of different applications and protocols exist for communicating via voice and instant messaging, with some being far more popular than others. OS X comes bundled with iChat, a client offering a number of great features. While not perfect for everyone, it does a good job of providing a ready-to-go instant messaging app, complete with powerful support for audio, video and screen/application sharing.
This overview will walk you through setting up various accounts through iChat, using the basic features, and even dabbling with some high quality video conferencing!
Getting Started & Adding Accounts
When opening iChat for the first time, you’ll be asked to set up your profile. If you already have an account with MobileMe, Mac.com, AIM, Jabber, or Google Talk, you can integrate it with iChat. It’s possible to use other protocols through iChat, but the solution is a little more complicated. For more information, this tutorial is useful.
Certain advanced features are only available when using an AIM or MobileMe/.Mac account, so if possible using either of these is preferable. After adding your account, you’ll be given the option to encrypt your messaging which is advisable if possible. When done, you’ll be presented with a concluding screen which encourages to get started using the app.
Basic Messaging
The basic screen for iChat is very simple, just showing a list of your “buddies” along with their audio/video capabilities. Double clicking a contact will initiate a text conversation with them. If you haven’t yet added any contacts, doing so is a simple process — all you need is their MobileMe or AIM email address. Click Buddies > Add Buddy from the menu bar and follow the simple instructions that follow.
Conducting an IM conversation is simple and effective, with each response taking the form of a speech bubble:
Multiple people can easily be added to a conversation through clicking Buddies > Invite to Chat, and each individual has their own colour scheme and icon to easily differentiate between participants. If you’d like to keep copies of all your conversations, a preference setting can automatically save chat transcripts to a designated folder on your hard drive — worth doing if you plan on holding an important conversation or meeting through the app.
If you’re holding multiple chat sessions, these can be organized into tabs to save having several windows open at a time. Transferring files is also simple, supporting drag and drop from anywhere in OS X.
Audio & Video Conferencing
Obviously instant messaging is great for certain scenarios, but in the age of ubiquitous broadband and in-built iSights it seems a little dated! iChat has evolved rapidly in recent releases to offer a comprehensive set of audio and video conferencing features. Initiating a video call is as simple as clicking the video icon next to a buddies name (providing you both have a working microphone and webcam). If a webcam isn’t installed, the system will fall back to audio only.
Just as with instant messaging, multiple chat participants are supported through clicking Buddies > Invite to Video Chat. In typical Mac style, the display changes to create a dynamic video ‘room’ complete with reflections and visual effects.
The fun doesn’t end there, however. The latest version of iChat has a feature called ‘video backdrops,’ making it easy (supposedly…) to convince people you’re chatting from the Eiffel Tower, under the sea, or from the moon. You can also create your own custom backdrops with your own photographs. It can lead to some really fun effects — I don’t think this guy was actually sitting in front of a waterfall:
As with chat transcript logging, it’s also simple to save a copy of an audio or video chat. iChat will automatically notify buddies that you’ll be recording the session and ask for their permission. Chats are saved in an iTunes compatible format for later viewing on your Mac or iPod.
Sharing Content
The ability to transmit video and high quality images also leads to other uses. iChat in OS X Leopard introduced functionality for conducting presentations remotely via Keynote, sharing a photo slideshow with a buddy, or even a full screen movie. Any file which can be viewed through Quick Look on OS X is able to be broadcast and shared via iChat.
Sharing your screen is also possible, enabling remote desktop control through iChat while simultaneously chatting to each other through an audio link. Great for helping out your technically-challenged uncle without needing to be physically present — perfect!
Alternative Applications
As with most OS X features, there are a number of other applications capable of performing similar functions. While none have quite the same level of integration with Leopard itself, they excel in other areas. A few others to consider are:
- Skype - Great for video, audio and IM with other Skype users, and also allows you to make low cost international calls. No integration with other protocols, however, and multiple video chatting isn’t supported.
- Adium - A great tool for basic instant messaging, supporting every different protocol under the sun. The interface is highly customizable and a number of useful plugins extend its functionality.
- AOL Instant Messenger / MSN Messenger for Mac - Both of these are the official releases from the relevant protocol. Great for supporting more features of that particular system, but fairly incompatible with other users.
- There are far too many more to mention. A full list can be found here with other notable apps including Proteus, Fire and Colloquy for IRC.
Conclusion
Instant messaging has come a long, long way since the early days of IRC. iChat does a great job of offering powerful and innovative functionality, but may not fully support the network which many of your colleagues or friends use. However, for a free application bundled with OS X, the sharing and collaboration features are impressive.
If you have any further questions (or use a different app I haven’t mentioned) do let me know. Also, if you somehow manage to convince a family member that you’re chatting to them from the Eiffel Tower I’d be fascinated to hear about it!
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Analyst Talks Apple Netbook, iPhones; Has Actual Source for Once
Normally, industry analysts are a talkative, confident bunch, but generally speaking, they are like old fisherman, spinning yarns and telling tales that have become exaggerated through constant retelling.
Recent comments by leading Apple analyst Toni Sacconaghi, however, actually came out of discussions with a very good source: Tim Cook, Apple COO and acting head honcho at Cupertino during Steve Jobs’ medical leave. Not only that, but CFO Pete Oppenheimer and head of marketing Phil Schiller were there, too.
Which is why this time, when he says Apple is likely still working toward producing a netbook, I didn’t just roll my eyes and go about turning my Eee PC into a hackintosh. Not that Sacconaghi provided any firm details, just the tantalizing info that Cook “hinted” that Apple was still turning over “ideas” surrounding a netbook. Not a lot to build hope on, but better than the usual “predictions” based on “market trends.”
Other developments Sacconaghi foresees coming out of his all-star confab include pricing changes to the iPhone line-up, and new devices in the smartphone category. This, again, is speculation based on Cook’s own words, which are quoted by Sacconaghi as follows:Tim Cook stated that since Steve Jobs announced his leave of absence, he was spending more time on new products, how Apple could take the iPhone into new markets and examining iPhone’s business model.
Cook has been hinting at new products for quite some time, so we’re bound to see some before Jobs’ scheduled return in June. Sacconaghi predicts those will be new iMacs, which might come as early as next month. It’s true the iMac is overdue for an update, and that predictions of possible new quad-core models have been surfacing lately. That said, this appears to be more Sacconaghi’s analysis and less anything said by Cook, so don’t go throwing your old iMac out the window just yet.
The unusual move on the part of Apple’s top brass to meet with an industry analyst (albeit the top rated analyst, according to Institutional Investor Magazine) is perhaps more newsworthy than the predictions themselves. They suggest a Cupertino that is willing to openly court some media speculation, even if they are still playing their hand very close to the chest. Maybe rumors of a growth slowdown are true, in which case Apple might be looking to fuel the speculative fire that represents so much of their publicity machine.
The good news for us as Apple users is that if Apple is inviting this kind of attention, they’re probably planning to deliver something soon that will benefit from it. In other words, they’re turning down the house lights and getting ready to raise the curtains. Let’s hope the show starts soon.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - EFF Volleys to Make Jailbreaking Free of "Jail-Time"
As most savvy technology readers know, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits “circumventing” digital rights management (DRM) and “other technical protection measures” used to protect copyrighted works. While this ban was meant to deter copyright infringement, many corporations have misused the law to chill competition, free speech, and fair use. Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office convenes a rulemaking session in order to consider granting exemptions to the DMCA’s ban on circumvention to mitigate the harms the law has caused to legitimate, non-infringing uses of copyrighted materials.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is presenting three exemption requests during the 2009 exemption cycle, one of which is of particular interest to that segment of the Apple community who seek to free their iPhones from the perceived draconian management practices of Apple and its partner carriers.
The 15-page exemption request is being filed on behalf of The Wireless Alliance, ReCellular and FlipSwap – three companies that specialize in breathing new life into previously-used cell phones. The two key arguments for the exemption are:- It encourages competition – The rationale here is that using a mobile handset on the network of the customer's choosing is inherently pro-competitive and does not infringe on any manufacturer/distributor rights. “Jailbreakers” access the device firmware merely to reprogram it to work on a different network, or to utilize a different SIM card, not to copy it or claim ownership of it.
- It is better for the environment – The three companies that are making this request either recycle phones or, when possible, unlock them to make them more marketable and put them back into marketplace. Resale is the most environmentally friendly alternative to the problem of handset obsolescence. They make the case that unlocked phones have a greater chance for resale, because they can be sold to more people and the ability to choose a carrier makes them more desirable.
In the end, if this exemption were granted, carriers would still be allowed to lock their handsets, but talented and enterprising consumers could unlock their handsets if it was worth the trouble to do so. These users would continue to pay their monthly service fees under their service contracts, and would be subject to penalties if they terminated their contracts early.
If this exemption is granted (ruling scheduled for October 2009) it would truly open up the iPhone market to carrier- and application-competition since there would no longer be any fear of prosecution. It may even encourage Apple (and others) to re-think their carrier-exclusiveness model and work towards a more open framework for their devices.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Apple Mac OS X Window Management: Way Ahead of Windows 7
Much is being made lately of Microsoft Windows 7 and it’s new taskbar. I’ve been running the beta myself and consider it a nice improvement over Vista. One of the improvements is in the area of window management. The new taskbar shows previews of all the open windows in an app when you hover the mouse over it, and will switch to that window if you click it.
While the above is nice, I’ve seen a few comparisons of this windows management to that of Apple’s Dock. The problem there is that OS X’s windows management is not handled by the Dock. About the only “window management” you get from the dock is that if you right-click an icon the popup menu will list open windows. Big deal.
If you want to compare Windows 7’s windows management to that of OS X, then you have to compare the new taskbar features to that of Apple’s Expose and Spaces. In this comparison, in my opinion, Windows 7 falls far short.
One thing to consider is that Spaces is fully customizable, and you really should look into the way you work and set it accordingly. By default there are four spaces, but for my work I decided that six made the most sense. I’ve set them up as follows:
- Space 1 - My information space. Mail, Address Book and iCal run here.
- Space 2 - My “web” space. NetNewsWire and Safari run here. I probably spend more time in this space than any other.
- Space 3 - My music space. Generally, iTunes is always running here, and GarageBand opens here as well.
- Space 4 - My productivity space. All the iWorks apps open here.
- Space 5 - My media space. Aperture, iPhoto, iMovie, Graphic Converter, and others open here.
- Space 6 - My “Microsoft” space. VMWare Fusion (I have VMs for XP and Win7) and Microsoft’s Remote Desktop open here. So does Firefox, since its home page is set to quickly check my Outlook email.
In addition to the above, I have numerous apps designated to “float” from space to space. Essentially, these follow me to any space I enter. A few of these are:
- iChat
- TextEdit
- Preview
- Finder
- Dictionary
- Skitch
There are more, but the idea is these are apps I don’t want to be “cut off” from just by swapping spaces.
With all the above, Spaces and Expose work beautifully together to make a boatload of open apps and windows seems trivial. Easiest way to show this is via some screenshots.
Below is Space 5 (you can see the number in the menu bar). I generally run my media apps full screen.
Below is the same space with Expose activated. You can see I have TextEdit and iChat open, and since they follow me from space to space they are available here.
Below is Space 5 with Spaces activated. You can see all I’ve got going on with this shot. The front window in each space is what happens to be in front at the time I invoked spaces.
Now let’s take this to the final step, and invoke Expose after Spaces. You can see that every window is available to me with just a click, no matter what space it’s in.
I am constantly switching windows, so another important form of customization is in how you choose to invoke Expose and Spaces.
On later model Macs F3 invokes Expose, and on the unibody MacBooks a four-finger swipe down does the same thing. Since I think the glass trackpad on the unibodies is one of he greatest Apple advancements in recent years, I always use it to invoke Expose. However, aside from the four-finger gesture, I’ve set it to activate when I move to the upper right screen corner. As for Spaces, by default it’s in the Dock, but I remove that and invoke it by moving the cursor to the lower left screen corner. Since I’m right-handed, the gestures to lower-left and upper-right screen corners are most natural to me, and make switching windows incredibly fast.
The beauty of Apple’s windows management implementation is that by spreading out your apps among various spaces, no one space ever tends to overwhelm you. Personally, I never need to hide apps any more.
Further, there are customizations of Spaces for switching between spaces, or switching directly to a space, with the keyboard. And Expose has customizations to show all windows, or just those of the current app, or clearing all windows and showing just the desktop. The latter is particularly helpful in that once the desktop is exposed it’s “live”. By that I mean you don’t just get to view it, as Windows 7’s desktop feature allows, but you can actually grab icons and “hold” them while sliding the app windows back in “underneath” what you’re holding.
In my opinion, Mac OS X’s windows management is still light-years ahead of Windows 7. If you’re not taking advantage of what OS X offers in this regard, then you’re missing out on some very efficient ways to work.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - 10 iPhone Apps for Sports Freaks
Back in the day, you used to have to count the hours until your favorite sports team took the field or court, and there was precious little to do in between games. Fortunately, now there are a metric ton of apps in the App Store that help you while away the hours until tipoff or first pitch. Here are my top 10 favorite.
Baseball (free)
If you follow baseball, then you know half the fun of the game is talking about player stats. When a player steps up to the plate, guesses on what they are about to do are largely based on what they did during their last at bat, last game, and last season. Keep statistics on each player right at your fingertips with Baseball. Stats go back as far as 1871 so the next time you’re having a friendly argument about whether Evan Longoria is the next George Brett, you’ll have hard, cold data to back you up.
NFL Live (99 cents)
Predictably, there are around eleven billion football apps in the App Store. I’ve probably tried most of them, but my top pick for this category is NFL Live. It corrals all the news from ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, and Fox Sports in one place and even features offline browsing. NFL Live tracks scores in real-time and also allows you to email links right from the App.
Soccer Now (free)
Though soccer fans are constantly overshadowed by the NFL (the other football) in the U.S., that’s not the case in the App Store. There are loads of great options for soccer enthusiasts to choose from, but my favorite is Soccer Now. It tracks scores and news from both Major League Soccer (MLS) and the English Premier League. Use it to access schedules, check team rosters, and even interact online with other soccer fans.
Fanball.com Fantasy News and Updates (free)
Hardcore sports fans spend a day or so grieving over the end of the season, then immediately start planning their fantasy teams for the following year. Fanball.com has released an app that gives in-depth player news for NFL, MLB, NHL, and the NBA. It’s updated every single day of the year to provide fantasy team owners with the latest on injuries, trades, and cuts. This app also includes a section called “Our View” where Fanball.com staff gives opinions on how news affects fantasy players.
Races! Plus (99 cents)
Whether you’re into NASCAR, Indy, Formula One, or even your local auto racing teams, you’ll find the information you need with Races! Plus. This app lists events by type, venue, day of the week, or general geographic location. Use Races! Plus to mark the events or locations you’re partial to as favorites, get news for all the major auto races, and even publish information about your local event so fans can find you.
EZ Gps Golf Lite (free)
It would be easy to create an app designed exclusively to report golf scores and standings, but EZ Gps Golf Lite gets my vote for best golf app because of its ingenuity. After you’ve clobbered the ball across the green and then walked (or driven your cart) to it, this app uses your iPhone’s integrated GPS to figure out what the distance of your last drive was and how far it is to the next green. Some golf courses are pre-loaded or you can create your own right at the developers’ Web site.
Pro Hockey Insider (99 cents)
This app for hockey fans stands out from the others because is has video highlights from past games (shouldn’t that be a standard feature in all pro sport apps?). Pro Hockey Insider also gives you access to news from around the league, player stats, schedules, and team standings.
Pro Basketball Scores (free)
This handy app tracks scores, news, and player stats for all the teams in the NBA. It’s a rather basic app, but it has a cool native chat feature that lets you talk with other fans during games. Plus, you can designate teams as favorites so you can access their scores with one click.
iTeam ($1.99)
If you’re on a local sports team or coach little league, you know it’s tough to track contact info and important data on the players. Use iTeam to keep everything organized in one place, including game schedules, results, and history. iTeam will even automatically email team members important game information. This app supports baseball, hockey, and football teams of course, but it even helps you manage cricket, lacrosse, and rugby teams as well.
The Score (free)
If you’re a mulitfaceted fan who keeps track of lots of sports, you must get The Score. This free app tracks scores in near real-time for everything from football and baseball (pro and college), to soccer and golf. The Score also offers news headlines sorted by league, player stats, and even betting odds in case you’re into making friendly wagers.
This list only scratches the surface of all that are available in the App Store. What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - App Store Moral Battleground: "South Park" Nixed
Apple may or may not be thinking about it this way, but the iPhone App Store is fast becoming a moral battleground for the gaming and entertainment industry.
Forget the ESRB, forget the MPAA, the new moral authority developers and studios have to contend with is Apple’s App Store reviewers, and they may be setting the bar pretty high, at least judging from a recently publicized rejection. The app denied, in this case, is a “South Park” one (not the original Imaginationland game, which remains available), which would have brought a range of “South Park” content to the iPhone and iPod touch.
The app had been submitted in October 2008, but kicked around the review process for quite some time, actually being rejected twice until its development team finally decided to stop bashing its head against the wall and let the thing die a peaceful death. Apple’s reason for blocking the app, which provided clips, information, and other media for “South Park” fans to use and view on their phones, was that it was “potentially offensive.” Throwing the “potentially” in there is a nice attempt to evade being painted as arbiters of morality, which is just what I’m doing in this article.
Macworld UK points out that full seasons of “South Park” are available uncensored from Apple via iTunes as it is, and can therefore be easily transferred to the iPhone, so refusing to offer clips of the same content via an iPhone app seems a little arbitrary. “South Park” developers said that Apple suggested App Store standards would evolve, just as iTunes standards did (explicit lyrics were originally not allowed), but why should it require a separate evolutionary process? It is, after all, an addition to iTunes, not an altogether different beast.
My big problem with this latest rejection is that Apple is beginning to take on the role of industry councils set up for the purpose, made up of members representing a variety of concerns. Because of the success of the App Store, and since they are able to set the terms of access for developers, they are becoming a private company with the authority of a regulatory board, and as such have undue influence over what does and doesn’t get made. Hopefully the advent of mobile app stores from so many other carriers will force the establishment of some kind of standards governing software in this space, so that Apple can’t keep single-handedly setting the industry tone.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - First Look: Cha-Ching Touch for iPhone
There are plenty of offerings in the App Store to track your finances on the go. So Midnight Apps’ Cha-Ching Touch is just another addition to a crowded space then, right? Not exactly. Besides bringing their stunning user interface and ease of use to the iPhone/iPod touch, Cha-Ching Touch is also location aware, which makes logging transactions that much simpler! Oh, and then there’s the added benefit of being able to sync with the desktop version of Cha-Ching too. Interested? Here’s a peek at what you can look forward to once it is released in the coming weeks.
Budgeting
I think it’s safe to say that Cha-Ching Touch easily tracks your expenditures — as do all the apps in this space. So one standout feature for me is the budgeting. Entering the total amount you have to work with for the month gets you started. From there you have over three dozen useful categories to choose from, to allocate your funds and track spending. (’App Store’ is one of the budget categories…probably one that many of us could use, eh?) If you need to add a category that is absent — I added ‘business meals’ — you can do so in the settings. There’s an overall budgetary meter showing how much you’re in the black (or red), and then each of the categories has a similar meter as well. Budgeting in Cha-Ching Touch can quickly show you where all that extra money goes each month, if you’re not already aware.
Payees
At first I was a bit annoyed at the necessity to add each of the Payees I need. Sure, I’ve got some regular payees like my mortgage (yeah, I’m one of the suckers actually paying their mortgage…), the grocery store, Target, etc., but there are so many more that tend to be one-offs or rarely patronized. I should have known better than to worry, Midnight Apps has thought it all through already.
What I’ve found, is that when I need to log a new transaction and I haven’t yet created the Payee, it’s ridiculously quick to do so — and it should be, because presumably you’ll add the new Payee as you make a purchase at that place. Then the next time you need to use that Payee, it’s even quicker and completely painless to add a new transaction. You can also mark them as favorites, which will come in handy as your list grows (quickly) out of control.
Location awareness (especially useful on the 3G with GPS) comes into play with the Payees as well. Assuming you add the transaction — and the Payee for the first time — at the actual location, you can attach the current location to your Payee. So the next time you’re there you just let Cha-Ching Touch tell you which Payees are nearby and select the one you need. This is a nice feature, but I do see room for improvement. For instance, there are about 6 Conoco gas stations between my home and work that I may stop at, and setting a single location for my Conoco Payee doesn’t help much. I’ve already submitted the idea to mimic the functionality of OmniFocus (for iPhone), where you can tag the location as a business search to be dynamic, rather than hard coding a single place. No idea if this’ll happen in the official release, but I think it would greatly increase the usefulness of the location feature.
The only downside I found with using Payees, is that you can assign them categories (which are tied to your Budgets), and sometimes a single category doesn’t do the trick. In this case, you’ll need to add the Payee more than once, each time giving it a different category (which are differentiated by nice little icons). If you want to fully utilize the Budgets feature, this may be a necessary step, and while a tad clunky, it’s really not too painful.
Gallery
Syncing
The forthcoming version 2 of Cha-Ching for Mac is still in beta, and you can check it out here. If you don’t use Cha-Ching on your desktop, you can still utilize Cha-Ching Touch to manage your finances on the go — they certainly function independently of one another. Assuming however, that your desktop is the main platform for keeping all of your master records, you may be manually entering transactions on a finance app for your iPhone, and then again later on your Mac in another application. But if you are a current (or prospective) Cha-Ching user, the ability to sync the two (which comes in version 2) is fantastic! Enter a transaction once, return to your Mac, sync the two, and move on with your life.
Beta/Release
Enough rambling, you say? Ok, here’s what you need to know to get Cha-Ching Touch. It’s still in closed beta testing, but you can head over to the Midnight Apps preview page and sign up to be notified when it’s baked and ready to serve. (There’s also a Midnight Apps Twitter account if you’re into that sort of thing.) In the meantime, you may want to give the desktop version of Cha-Ching a try, and see how you like it — and if you’re a current user, you may find the version 2 interface is far better than the original, at least that’s my opinion.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Missing Sync 2.0 Brings Apple Users and Their BlackBerrys Closer Together
Once upon a time, RIM appeared to be on the verge of joining this century and offering native Mac syncing support for Apple-friendly users of the BlackBerry smartphone devices. Unfortunately, nothing has yet come to pass with regards to this tantalizing release, so BlackBerry owners are stuck, for better or for worse, with third-party solutions for the time being. One such solution is Mark/Space, Inc.’s The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 2.0, whose name actually depends on RIM continuing to ignore their Mac customers.
The Missing Sync recently received a major update that will likely leave BlackBerry owners much more content to wait while RIM drags its heels. One of the most significant new features introduced is over-the-air syncing via Bluetooth, which is something I really wish my iPhone could accomplish, since it has everything needed to do so except for the software implementation.
Not only can you sync via Bluetooth, but with Proximity Sync, you can do so automatically whenever your Mac and your BlackBerry are in range of each other. As an added bonus, Proximity Sync does not interrupt anything else you happen to be doing on your computer or your phone at the time, either.
The Bluetooth features may be the show stopper, but there are other new features as well. The Missing Sync now supports iTunes playlists, syncing of other media, and video transfer to and from your BlackBerry device. Not to mention storage and archiving of your SMS and call history, which can be very handy if you bill clients for call time and/or need to settle a lover’s quarrel with hard evidence that yes, she did in fact say that, and you have the text to prove it.
The Missing Sync for BlackBerry 2.0 is available now for $39.95. Existing users of version 1.0 may qualify for a free upgrade, depending on when you purchased it, or special upgrade pricing of $29.95 is available.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - UPDATED: Twittering Without a Client App
Many of us are hip to Twitter these days, and there are a myriad of options for keeping track of the resulting tweets. I personally bounce between the webpage itself and Tweetdeck (while on my Mac). But sometimes I want to trim down my open windows to the bare minimum. Here’s one way to keep up with your Twittering, without having any windows open.
Twitter w/o Windows
You’ll need Geek Tool to monitor incoming tweets. (Geek Tool is a free utility that runs as a Preference Pane and lets you embed shell output, URLs, and more in your desktop.) I set up a new Shell Command entry, with the following command (all on one line):
curl -s -u username:password http://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline.rss | grep title | sed -e 's// /' | sed 's// /' | sed 's/ //'This command uses the shell command
curlto pull the RSS update feed of those you follow. Be sure to substitute username:password with your own Twitter credentials. Thesedcommands mainly perform a find and replace to clean up the output, removing html title tags and leading spaces. If you’re looking for more information on the curl and sed commands, pop open your Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities), and typeman curlorman sedfor the manual of usages for each. Geek Tool offers other customizations like font and positioning on screen so play until you find your sweet spot.
Using either Quicksilver or Google’s Quick Search Box (Quicksilver’s new sibling), will allow you to post tweets easily without a client app front and center. With either, you can quickly invoke the input window, type your 140 characters, and send it off to Twitter — and like that, the interface vanishes until you need it again. Using Quicksilver requires that you download an Applescript which gives you a ‘Tweet’ action, and then modify a Keychain setting for your Twitter login credentials — the latter can be a bit messy for a novice. Quick Search Box is much easier in comparison, only asking you to add your Twitter account details in one of the preference windows. Once you’ve setup Quicksilver or Quick Search Box, invoke the interface, type your Tweet, and send it off. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy.This setup may not be useful for everyone, but it is nice when you want minimal interference while you work. I’m quickly finding this interface to be my preferred mode of interaction with Twitter.The GeekTool/Quick Search Box (or Quicksilver) combo do nicely to sit in the background until you’re ready, and then fade back out as soon as you’re through with them.
Update
Two TAB readers were kind enough to provide some modified code that are a bit cleaner than what I posted and are tweaked a bit to their liking.
Scott: “Here is the updated code that I’m using, which only uses one sed invocation so avoiding another process spawn (the head and tail are obviously because I only want the most recent 14 entries and don’t want the top line):”
curl -s -u username:password http://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline.rss | grep "<title>" | sed -E 's/^[ ] //; s/<title>(. )<\/title>/\1/' | head -n 15 | tail -n 14Matt:
curl -s -u username:password http://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline.rss | grep title | sed -e 's/<title>/ /' | sed -e 's/<\/title>/ /'
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Microsoft Finally Found a Group They Can Impress
Joe Wilcox has an article on Microsoft Watch about Microsoft’s new ads with kids. The series is called The Rookies, and there’s a second spot up.
Joe is less impressed with the second spot than the first, but goes on to explain how these ads have potential, Microsoft needs more of them (I’m sure more are coming), the kid should get an ‘A’ on the project, etc.
That’s all nice, but it misses an awkward thing about this whole series. Cute? Yes. I’ve liked them both. But then we all know kids and animals are everyone’s favorite commercial subjects. Still, why isn’t anybody stating the obvious? When you’re 4 and a half or 7 years old you have no idea what the phrase “I’m a PC” is supposed to mean.
Joe mentions the buzz Apple got with the old Switcher ads, but those were adults making real decisions. What can these kids do? Explain why mommy or daddy got a PC? Can they even tell us what a “PC” is? If you think Kylie and Alexa wouldn’t have been equally “impressed” if Mom or Dad were using Macs, or Linux, or something by Fisher-Price, you’re kidding yourself.
As near as I can tell, Microsoft has opted to use a group that can’t truly speak for itself. But maybe that was the only choice left:- They tried getting teens and 20-somethings with “The Social,” and failed.
- They tried getting young adults with “Wow!”, and failed.
- They tried getting older adults with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, and failed.
- They tried getting non-technical adults with “Mojave Experiment,” and failed.
- They tried getting any adults with the initial volley of “I’m a PC,” and failed since a) they’ve moved on, and b) each one affirms what Apple has said all along: A Mac is not a PC, it’s better.
So now Microsoft has cute kids — using whatever their parents put in front of them — proclaiming they’re a PC. Fine. Maybe it’ll pull in some sales for them. If so, good for them. Personally, I think Microsoft has had to set the bar too low in terms of who their software is supposed to impress. Then again, Microsoft Live Photo Gallery isn’t likely to impress the average iPhoto user, presuming they’re old enough to make a choice.
For me, I’m less inclined to look for the next Mikey or Oscar Mayer bologna kid in one of these ads, and more curious to see when Microsoft will move on to the next logical group: Animals. With the Super Bowl well out of the way, I’m sure the Budweiser Clydesdales are available.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать
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