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- App Review: Streaks — Rewarding You for Repetitive Behavior
App Quick Stats
A calendar specifically designed for tracking your goals, Streaks aims to join the pantheon of excellent iPhone productivity apps.
Both the touch and the iPhone, the latter in particular, are ideal platforms for productivity tools. The connected nature of the pocketable Apple devices means we can be grabbing all sorts of data about our daily lives — processing, tracking and taking action.
This latest productivity app, Streaks, is an interesting offering in that it totes only one feature — tracking a repeated task on a day-to-day basis. The objective in using the app seems to be to motivate the user in to staying on course and so gives a serious boost to productivity.
Winning Streak
Once installed, Streaks takes moments to configure — you simply name your first calendar and then get tracking. Naming and creating new calendars is as simple as tapping the in-app settings icon and adding a new calendar.
Essentially the app is designed for those times in life when you need to ensure you’re repeating one task — the same task — on a daily basis. I wanted to make sure I work on my album everyday and also setup another calendar to encourage me to tweet on a daily basis.
I tested Streaks by tracking my Twitter use (ensuring I try to tweet on a daily basis), although more common uses could be tracking your daily run or exercise, a daily study or revision regime, or even as an aid for quitting smoking.
Each task you wish to track is given its own dedicated calendar. Each day, you simply load up the app and mark the calendar (by tapping today’s date) to indicate you’ve completed the task. The app gets exciting when you start to generate various stats related to each task.
Task Statistics
Displayed prominently on each calendar is the current streak and the longest streak. It’s a nice touch that highlights the app’s usefulness as a motivational device. Stats geeks can delve further in to the sea of numerical goodness via the list icon at the top right.
The in-depth stats screen provides further detail for the current and longest streak — displaying specifically which month/day the streaks began and ended. There’s also a potentially handy readout of past streaks, perhaps useful in showing when you may have been at your most productive.
Looks & Features
The app looks great, and yet take a closer look and you’ll see it’s incredibly light on features. The lack of features is a good thing, though; it’s less convoluted and therefore allows for the user to be much more focused on their tasks rather than grappling for control of the app.
The settings menu provides access to basic calendar management and the choice between two themes: Paper and Chalkboard. The Chalkboard theme seems a tad gloomy in comparison to the former, however it’s still a definite plus to be able to choose between two skins.
When first trying the app, it wasn’t immediately clear as to how to swap between multiple calendars. After much tapping, dragging and pinching, I discovered that simply dragging the current calendar up the screen slides the next one in to view — not so intuitive, but quite satisfying in practice.
Another nice touch to Streaks is the use of icon badges. Streaks will actually display the current streak on your primary calendar as a number on the app icon. It’s a great way of keeping the user informed and engaged with the app even when it’s not in use.
Quotidian Quest
The developer claims that the app can be used in less than two minutes, intended to be used daily. I wouldn’t disagree with this — it is indeed very simple to use — however I wonder if there’s enough meat on the bones of this concept to hold the target audience’s interest.
I’d imagine that the kind of person who uses Streaks feels that they need a tool to help them in becoming habitual about completing certain tasks. These people might just be busy, or they might be prize procrastinators, whatever the case, they need that extra boost when in comes to integrating certain tasks in to their daily routine.
It seems somewhat odd, therefore, to further convolute someone’s daily routine by adding in another tool, and thus another task — that of using Streaks — to simply keep score of the various objectives the user has.
There are also several improvements that I’d like to see in future updates to make it truly enhance a daily routine. Specifically, Streaks should do more to take advantage of the iPhone’s connectivity — mailing the user with congratulation notes on successful long streaks and nudging the user if they’ve stopped focusing on a specific task.
Summing Up
The app’s aim is admirable — in essence it makes you feel good for staying on track with a given daily task — and its execution is undoubtedly charming. It’s just that, despite the concept’s excellent execution, this clearly isn’t a tool that will prove effective for everyone.
However, there are going to be those that could certainly do with tracking tasks in this very specific way. And, for those that could use a tool like this, I think Streaks could potentially be a wonderful motivational device.
Переслать - Thanks to TheAppleBlog Sponsors!
We’d like to say thanks to this month’s sponsor of TheAppleBlog:
- WunderRadio: Wunder Radio provides access to thousands of streaming Internet radio stations and on your iPhone or Windows Mobile Phone.
- Mozy: Back up your photos, music, and files with Mozy for as low as $4.34 per month.
Переслать - My iPod Shuffle 3G Experience
I've had my new iPod shuffle for two days and thought I'd post my thoughts on it. We've already covered the out-of-the-box and setup experience elsewhere, so I won't repeat them here.
Playlist Support
I experimented with a few different setups, but finally settled on using three playlists:
- One contains all my "recent" music (basically, everything added in the last few months).
- Another contains all the "recent" music that's been rated one star and up. (This is just a subset of the above list, so it requires no extra space on the device.)
- The third one grabs songs at random — rated three stars or higher — from my entire collection, provided they’re not "recent."
The first playlist takes about a third of the shuffle's storage (though obviously it fluctuates), and the latter is specifically limited to the remaining two-thirds.
The interface to switch between playlists is pretty simple, and works great. Click and hold the center button, it first names the current song/artist and then beeps. Let go at the beep and it will name the current playlist, then “All Songs,” and then each playlist in alphabetical order. When it names the one you want, click the center button.
With up to six playlists, this works great. For 7-12 playlists I’d suggest using the + and - buttons to speed up the voice listing. Going past a dozen playlists I found it a bit too much, but it really all depends on your own patience level.
For my purposes, it's a great convenience to have playlist functionality, and a very welcome improvement in the shuffle.
Song Titles
This is a wonderful addition. Since a lot of the music on my shuffle is new, I'd sometimes hear a song and not be sure who it was, or what song it was. I'd have to make a mental note to remember that when I got back to my Mac I’d want to find it and see if it was rated. Now I just click and hold to get the artist and title.
Sound
I haven't used my 2G shuffle in a while, but I remember it being a little more "noisy" than this one. This one just seems quieter.
I think the sound is fine, but then again I use it walking or riding a bike and that's hardly the best time for the brain to be especially picky about high fidelity.
Gripes
The USB charger cable is three inches long. If my main Mac were a MacBook I'd probably prefer this; how much cable do you need for that anyway? But my iTunes library is on my iMac. I have to plug it in the back (kind of a pain) and then it just hangs there since it doesn't even reach the desktop. My iPhone dock is always plugged in; I just dock it when I need it. My old shuffle was the same way. But this device really can't work that way since I have to fumble around in the back regardless.
The headphone cable is shorter than Apple has supplied before. My plan was not to even clip the thing, but rather just drop it in my pocket. When I did that, I found the headphone cord uncomfortably short, yet the iPhone never had this problem. I compared it to the iPhone headphones and it's roughly eight inches shorter. Really, Apple, are you getting rich from all the cord you saved with this device?
Conclusion
I like this device quite a bit more than the 2G shuffle. I've been using headphone controls for a while with my iPhone and find them preferable to fumbling with the unit. I think they make even more sense on the shuffle. I also like the playlist and song title support, and of course holding 4GB of tunes is a big plus.
If you’re very happy with your 2G unit, I wouldn’t rush out and get a 3G. And if the Apple headphones are a deal breaker, you’ll need to wait until third party’s gear up. But if you’d like even a couple of these features: a lot more memory, headphone controls, more convenient size, playlist support, and ability to know what song is playing, then it’s an excellent upgrade.
Переслать - Seven Language Apps: Spreken Ze Francias, Por Favor
If one of your New Years Resolutions (remember those?) was to learn a new language, there are quite a few ways you can use your Mac or iPhone that will have you speaking in a foreign tongue in no time flat.
Keep Your Word
Keep Your Word is combination dictionary and flashcard trainer for the Mac and iPhone. For $24.95, you can create your own word dictionary, add images and tags, and organize them in whatever way works best for you (alphabetically, grouped by adjective, etc.). You can even let the app put your words in Smart Groups that function similar to the smart lists in iTunes. Once you’ve got your words assembled, choose one of three exercise modes — flash cards, quick quiz, or printed test — to help you learn them.
ProVoc
If you’re looking for a free app to get you started on the road to learning a new language, ProVoc is a good vocabulary training tool. Use it to listen to words on your iPod or print double-sided flash cards. Although it’s not as robust as Keep Your Word, ProVoc makes good use of your Mac best features. Use iSight to include images or video clips in your library, Spotlight to search for words quickly, and the Dashboard Widget to help you learn through repetition. Although ProVoc is no longer under development and has no user support, it’s a terrific free alternative to its commercial counterparts.
Eurotalk
Want to learn a really exotic foreign language, like Telugu or Gujurati? Chances are Eurotalk will have something for you. The company has put together learning sets for more than 115 languages, for every level of experience from children to advanced users. Eurotalk’s free iPhone app simply teaches you how to say “hello” in 115 languages, the CD-ROM sets offer iPod integration so you can listen to lessons on the fly. Depending on which resources you purchase, Eurotalk’s language programs will run you between $34.99 and $179.99.
Byki
Foreign language software vendor Byki may not offer as many languages as its competitors, but it has an active community of contributors, iPhone apps for eight languages, and offers tons of free downloads with no restrictions. The deluxe CD-ROM set costs $49.95 and offers extra learning activities, advanced pronunciation practice, and other additional features.
DialectX
If you’ve mastered your foreign language vocabulary lists but are still having difficulties with enunciation, use DialectX to improve your foreign accent and sound as if you were born speaking the language. It’s a simple free app that provides voiceback delay so you can teach yourself the nuances and subtleties of a new language by listening to yourself speak.
Bueno, entonces…
CD-ROMs are great for some people but others prefer total immersion. If you want to learn Spanish but don’t have a trip to Latin America scheduled anytime soon, check out “Bueno, entonces…” designed especially for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s a series of 30-minute, fast-paced classes that gradually ramp up the difficulty level until you’re speaking fluent Spanish. It’s creators warn, however, the series is not for the faint of heart. “This is a super fast and challenging class… If you prefer to learn at a slower pace, this is probably not for you.” ¿Comprende?
Rosetta Stone
Of course, the grandaddy of all language learning software is Rosetta Stone. It’s the product of choice for the U.S. State Department, NASA, and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Rather than rely on rote memorization techniques, Rosetta uses an highly interactive immersion process that mimics the way you learned your native tongue. Learning a language from Rosetta won’t come cheap, however. Prices for CD-ROM sets start at $259 and peak somewhere north of $500.
Once you mastered your foreign language of choice, don’t forget to adjust your Mac’s keyboard accordingly so you can email people using the correct character sets. Check out these instructions on how to manage the foreign language keyboard settings in Mac OS X.
Переслать - Spiral Frog: RIP
And so ends the life of another would-be iTunes competitor.
Spiral Frog, a Universal-backed subscription music catastrophe, has apparently called it quits. Though the service was "free" (using an ad-supported model), it still suffered from the five things that pretty much all subscription-based music models share:
- A requirement for recurring activity
- Limited content
- Risk of losing music
- Strict usage controls
- Does not work with iPods
Needless to say, even without a monthly fee I was not impressed with the service.
The only thing truly unique about this one is that it could be argued you get what you pay for. Even then I think it's a bad deal.
I visited the venture a couple months later when reports began surfacing that they were losing money hand over fist, and seemed to think a pro blogging campaign might save them:
Hmm, yes, good idea. Pummeling your users with ads isn't working, so let's get some of those Zune astroturfers to get on the Spiral Frog bandwagon.
Well, now I can pay my final visit (and respects) to Spiral Frog. They shut down Thursday:
A source close to the company told CNET News that SpiralFrog has ceased operations and assets have been surrendered to the company’s senior secured note holders.
Apparently, they went quietly and peacefully. Sadly (for them), I'm sure very few noticed. May they rest in peace.
Переслать - HD Movies Now For Sale in iTunes
Blu-ray took another today hit as Apple announced that it will be offering HD movies for sale (iTunes link), rather than just for rent. That means consumers can download HD quality movies directly into their iTunes library, for use on their computers or Apple TV, or TV-connected Mac mini, if you happen to be me. This probably explains why Blu-ray support hasn’t been forthcoming in recent hardware updates coming out of Cupertino.
Don’t get too excited, though; you don’t get much of a price break for giving up physical media. HD movies on iTunes cost $19.99, which, barring new releases, isn’t that much of a discount from Blu-ray prices. And the file sizes are likely enormous, so plan on either upgrading your internal or moving that iTunes library to an external drive in order to accommodate them.
Launch titles for the service include “Punisher: War Zone,” “Bangkok Dangerous,” and some movies that are actually worth buying, like “Transporter 3.” A number of pre-orders are also available, including the wildly popular teen vampire love story, “Twilight,” and the latest Bond installment, “Quantum of Solace.” The movie files will play no problem on your Apple mobile devices, too, although in standard definition.
I should point out that HD movie purchases are not yet available in the Canadian or UK stores (the only two international stores that I checked so far), and Apple hasn’t released details as to when they might be made available. Currently in the Canadian iTunes store, you can only buy HD TV shows using Apple TV, though the UK store has them available for computer and Apple TV users. I really hope they don’t plan on running the same scheme for HD movies here in Canada as they do for TV shows, because I refuse to be bullied into buying an Apple TV when we don’t have access to most major American network content.
Переслать - Elgato Releases Turbo.264 HD Video Convertor
Elgato is a company synonymous with television and video hardware products for the Mac. Today they announced the availability of Turbo.264 HD, a hardware conversion tool that offers a fast way to encode video between formats or move video off your HD camcorder.
Many different software tools exist for converting video on the Mac, ranging from QuickTime itself, to more advanced solutions such as HandBrake. Depending upon the Mac hardware you’re running, these software solutions may mean an extensive wait for converting video — particularly if you’re doing so at HD resolution. Hardware encoders such as the Turbo.264 HD can take the load off your Mac, and dramatically speed up the process.
Main Features
Convert between any and all formats
The main features and selling points of the new hardware encoder fall into four different categories:
- HD Camcorder Support — Provides far quicker conversion to a viewable desktop video format. The example provided by Elgato is that where it used to take over an hour to make a 15-minute movie, it now takes less than 20 minutes.
- Accelerate TV Export & Video Conversion — Either between video formats, or from the EyeTV recording software
- Preview & Trim Video Files — You can directly edit video before commencing a conversion or import.
- Suitable for all levels of knowledge — Default profiles allow converting for your iPhone, YouTube or HD. Alternatively, you can create custom video output profiles by adjusting size, aspect ratio, overscan, frame rate, data rate and more.
Software Interface
The software interface for Turbo.264 HD seems remarkably simple — important for a fairly technical process such as video encoding. It ensures that an average user won’t be confused when opening the application, while also offering a wealth of more advanced conversion options for power users.
After adding videos to convert, you can select a particular quality setting for each, ranging from “iPod Small,” all the way through to full 1080p HD. Obviously, the higher the quality chosen, the longer the encoding process will take.
Adding Video & Selecting Encoding
Once you’ve got the conversion going, a progress window shows how far along the current video is, along with how many other videos are still queued for processing. Also interesting is a reading which displays how many Frames Per Second are currently being converted:
Encoding Progress
Who Needs It?
It seems that there are two types of users who could benefit from purchasing a Turbo.264 HD. First are those who simply convert a lot of video, or regularly record live TV to move onto a portable device (or iTunes). If you regularly find yourself checking your watch while the fan whirrs away on your laptop, this could be a real time saver. It’s also particularly useful if you’re a big YouTube fan, as videos can be exported for uploading to the web (and even automatically uploaded to YouTube, if desired).
The other users are those who own a HD camcorder and would like a faster way to move their video off it to a usable desktop format. Doing this through an external device, such as the Turbo.264 HD, can make it a much more enjoyable process, rather than one which seems to take an eternity. It integrates in the background with iMovie or Final Cut Pro, so you can still benefit from all the great video editing features of those apps while enjoying improved exporting performance.
Pricing and Availability
The Turbo.264 HD is currently on sale for $149.95 and requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard. You can pick one pick one up directly from Elgato, and shipping starts on March 23.
If you don’t require HD functionality, the older model can still be picked up for $99 from the Apple Store.
Переслать - Opera 10 Turbo Gives Slow Connections a Kick in the Pants
Software innovations are often over-hyped, so I approached the Opera Turbo Labs preview version of the Opera 10 browser with — how shall I say? — hopeful skepticism. As one who has suffered (not too strong a word) with a slow rural dial up Internet connection for the past 12 years, I’m eager to embrace any technology that promises to help speed things up.
Opera Turbo is described as a server-side optimization and compression technology that speeds up data transfer by reducing the amount of data that needs to be downloaded in order to view web pages by up to 80 percent, thereby providing significant improvement in browsing speeds over limited-bandwidth connections like mine, which gives me stone-age 26,400 bps throughput on good days at times of the day when not too many of my neighbors are online.
However, Opera Turbo also sounded a lot like so-called “Dial-up Accelerator” software, activation of which I’ve been paying $4.95 a month extra to my “only game in town” ISP over the past 18 months for. The Dial-Up Accelerator is actually a product of Slipstream Data Inc. — a Canadian software development subsidiary of BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion. It helps somewhat, mainly by compressing, and therefore degrading the quality of web page images to varying degrees depending upon how much speed (ie: compression) you specify using a slider on the interface window. Although to get substantial improvement you really have to nuke the image resolution. It’s been helpful enough that I’ve kept paying the premium, but certainly no panacea.
This Thing Smokes!
However, Opera Turbo turns out to be a totally different story. This thing smokes! Well, relatively speaking. Broadband it isn’t, but it’s a whole lot faster than what I’m accustomed to. There’s a cost of course in terms of image quality. A lot of the time that’s a tolerable trade-off, and if you turn the images off entirely, page load times begin to approach the speed I get on my local library’s Wi-Fi hotspot (with images on in the latter case) fed by a DSL line.
Downside: Image Quality Reduction
This screenshot illustrates the degree of quality reduction with Opera Turbo enabled and reading out a 6.8 times speed improvement. It’s actually something of a worst-case example and some images don’t look all that bad for casual viewing.
As for the browser itself, it looks and behaves pretty much like the non-turbo Opera 10 alpha preview I’ve been checking out for the past few weeks, which is to say very well. Opera is in most respects my favorite browser already, and for me this turbo booster is icing on the proverbial cake.
The only interface difference is a small icon in the lower left corner that toggles the Turbo compression on or off and indicates status and the degree of compression achieved on a particular page load.
Still Needs Some Refinement
This is alpha level software in a time limited test phase, and Opera’s Turbo technology still needs some refinement. For example, I couldn’t get it to load the radar image on Environment Canada’s site, although other images on the site loaded fine. Dynamic Web technologies such as Ajax (XmlHttpRequests) and Flash are supported, but some plugin content will load only after clicking on the empty element. Note also that for undiminished security, even with Turbo enabled, encrypted traffic does not go through Opera’s compression servers, so when you’re on a SSL site, bypass kicks in and you communicate with the SSL site directly.
Works With Any Type of Connection
However, where Turbo works, it kicks butt, and I’m already addicted. Opera says it will work with any type of connection, but obviously you’ll get the most out of it when you’re stuck with limited bandwidth, not just poky dial-up connections, but also in circumstances like when too many people are on the Wi-Fi in the cafe or you’re surfing the Web through your mobile phone when commuting on the train.
Opera says Turbo will be part of future desktop versions of their Opera browser, and I can’t wait for a fully debugged final version to be released.
In the meantime, you can watch it in action or just download the preview on the Opera Labs site and try it out for yourself.
Переслать - First Look: iPhone OS 3.0 Beta
Being enrolled in the iPhone Developer Program, I was lucky enough to have access to the iPhone 3.0 pre-release beta, which I installed on my iPod touch as soon as Apple’s servers recovered from the initial shock. I was a little hesitant to put it on my iPhone 3G right away, since it is my primary phone and we are still talking about early beta software. After less than a day of working with the OS on my touch, however, I couldn’t resist any longer and took the plunge.
It’s not really the case that there are so many big changes that I just can’t live without, but the little ones make a big difference in the device’s usability and day-to-day operation. So if you do plan on installing this beta build, don’t expect to be blown away, but do expect a growing sense of contentment with your phone. As long as you don’t mind a few bugs, that is.
Cut, Copy, and Paste
While maybe not something I’ll find myself using every day, I do appreciate copy and paste being available now, and the implementation is fairly elegant, especially in Safari. Currently, it seems like you have to wait for a page to load fully before you can select any text, which may have something to do with the selection prediction algorithm that predetermines likely blocks of text for copying.
Once loaded, though, the interface couldn’t be easier. Just tapping and holding on a paragraph like the one you see in the screenshot selects it automatically, and you get control discs at the top and sides for resizing your selection. Changing the horizontal size brings you in to a more traditional selection mode, where you can alter the area by words and letters.
Pasting across applications works fine, which I found when I pasted the text from TAB into Notes. Copying and pasting within Notes, and Notes performance in general, is buggy in 3.0, but not so much so that it becomes unusable. I’ve tested out copy/paste with third-party apps like Tweetie, too, and had no problems so far. It just works.
Spotlight
This might very well be the best new user-side feature in iPhone 3.0. You access it either by clicking home or swiping left from your default home screen (the springboard with Apple’s default apps), and it searches your contacts, apps, music, podcasts, video, audiobooks, notes, mail, and calendar. And should you not require such an extensive search, you can turn off any of the above-mentioned categories in your iPhone’s Settings under General > Home > Search Results.
Just as advertised, clicking any result will open the appropriate application or play the media instantly, so it does work great as a launch pad, or even as a quick way to start up your iPod functions. I would love to see Google and YouTube results somehow integrated, but it might be hard to do so unobtrusively. A little laggy in beta, but considering what it’s accomplishing, that’s to be expected.
Voice Memo
A nice little app, although lacking some of the features of third-party offerings at this stage. It’s possible that they may be added later, but it may also be that Apple wanted to make a simple app for general use, and if people need something more involved they can go to other developers. The UI is nice, and the volume indicator lets you know if what you’re saying is actually getting picked up.
I can’t tell if there’s a time limit, but there is desktop sync, via an iTunes playlist. It seems pretty rudimentary at the moment, but likely they’re still working out how best to implement the desktop side of things. Ringer volume appears all the time, maybe to let you know that it’ll be recorded too? I found it annoying and unnecessary, though.
Landscape Keyboard
It’s there in Messages, and in Mail and Notes, and it works like a dream. There was a bit of an adjustment period because I’d become so used to the portrait keyboard, but pretty soon my words-per-minute were up to near-secretarial levels. I’m already getting stares of jealousy from non 3.0 iPhone friends when I turn the phone sideways to reply to a text.
Messaging
So far I’ve not been able to get MMS up and running yet, though some have by modifying their carrier’s IPCC file, which can also enable tethering. A share via MMS link is available when viewing contacts, but it doesn’t do anything. There are changes in the app itself, though, like the ability to add subjects to messages, and to delete individual messages from conversations. You can also select and copy individual messages, although thanks to a bug, they stay blue (selected) even when you select something else.
iPod
Aside from the publicized shake to shuffle feature, which is present, and makes a funny noise when used, there’s also new podcast features in iPhone 3.0. You can rewind 30 seconds with a conveniently placed button, shuffle and repeat no longer apply to podcasts even when turned on for your iPod in general, and you can send an iTunes link to the podcast via a mail icon. You can also navigate through the podcast with the playback slider, moving faster or slower by sliding above or below it, as if you were using a dictaphone or analog playback device. Really handy if you’re trying to track down a particular sound bite or song name. And you can change the playback speed by clicking the “1x” icon in the upper right-hand corner.
So, even though MMS and Tethering aren’t officially up and running, and I’m not sure about A2DP Bluetooth support, since I don’t have a Bluetooth stereo headset on hand, iPhone 3.0 already has a lot to recommend it. That’s before developers have even had a chance to show what they can do with the new API access, and before Apple has had a chance to iron out the details. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what the final product has in store come summer.
Переслать - Fonts 401: Additional Font Resources
There were a few additional resources that did not fit in our rundown on font management applications. So continuing our Font School series, here are a few additional apps and articles on fonts.
Some Reading
- Best Practices for Managing Fonts in Mac OS X - 5th Edition — This free PDF from Extensis is a great place to start to learn more about font management.
- Take Control of Fonts in Leopard — A $15 e-book from TidBITS publishing that is a wealth of knowledge about fonts and font management. I love how it walks you through finding all your fonts and organizing them. Highly recommended.
- Take Control of Font Problems in Leopard — A $10 e-book from TidBITS, this book focuses on fixing problems with fonts and is a great resource for anyone that supports designers.
Font Utilities
There are a few really important steps to fixing fonts — scan for corrupt fonts, identify font ID conflicts, and clear font caches. There are at least two dedicated utilities for this purpose.
- Smasher is included with FontAgent Pro and helps organize font suitcases and fix bad fonts. It is available for purchase separately as well.
- FontDoctor is included for free when you purchase Suitcase Fusion 2, or you can purchase it separately for $69.95. FontDoctor fixes common font problems and includes basic organization tools.
For most people, you would be better off to look at the professional font management apps like FontExplorer X Pro, FontAgent Pro, and Suitcase Fusion 2 which include these features.
Font Servers
The font management apps that I covered in the font management article are focused on managing fonts for a single workstation. If you need the ability to control fonts centrally to enforce uniformity or to track licensing so that fonts are only installed on certain machines, you may want to look into a font server. Here are the popular solutions, available from the same companies that make the desktop products included in the font management review.
- Extensis Universal Type Server Pro
- Extensis Universal Type Server Lite
- FontAgent Pro Workgroup Edition
- FontAgent Pro Server
- FontExplorer X Server
Technical Details on Mac OS X Typography
Apple publishes a fair bit of information on everything going on under the hood with your fonts in the Text & Fonts section of their developer web site.
Creating Fonts
If you are interested in designing your own fonts, then you will want to check out FontLab and see what they have cooking.
Web Typography
Rich typography on the web is limited to rendering out text as image files, or using CSS to specify certain fonts that you are reasonably assured are available on both platforms. You might also check out the sIFR project for another take on how to use your favorite font faces on the web. I also really like this reference article from Smashing Magazine on 50 Useful Design Tools For Beautiful Web Typography.
Where Are They Now?
Some of you may be familiar with other font management apps and are wondering why I didn’t include those in my font management apps article. Here’s a list of apps that have fallen behind over the last few years.
- MasterJuggler was last updated in July 2005. A very good tool in its time, this utility from Alsoft (publishers of DiskWarrior) has been left in the dust by the competition.
- Font Reserve is owned by Extensis, the makers of Suitcase Fusion 2, and was discontinued January 1, 2007.
- Fontographer was last updated on March 31, 2006.
- Adobe Type Manager Deluxe, or ATM Deluxe as we all knew it, is no longer necessary under OS X. Yes, we all had it back in the day and I included it here more out of a sense of nostalgia and respect for how important this was to Apple in the 90’s. ATM Deluxe was probably the most widely pirated software of that era too. If you still need font management in Classic, you can download Adobe Type Manager Light for free.
If you know of any other font resources, please take the time to post a link in the comments below and share with the rest of us.
Переслать - Shuffle's Hardware DRM Not DRM at All…Or is It?
Much has been made about the new iPod shuffle’s neat new features, like voiceover narration to make up for the lack of a display, and its incredibly small form factor. Much more, perhaps, has been made about the limitations the new form factor presents, since it lacks physical controls on the device itself, and also requires headphones specifically designed for the platform because of the unique control scheme it uses instead.
That unique control scheme recently raised even more eyebrows when it appeared as though Apple had not only forced customers to seek out specially designed headphones for use with the new device, but had also actually built-in a chip that would force third-party accessory manufacturers to pay them a licensing fee in order to be able to make headphones that would work with the new shuffle. When BoingBoing Gadgets took apart a brand new Shuffle, they found a unique chip soldered to the remote, from which a third wire was connected to the same ring on the mini-jack plug that governs the iPod’s controls.
Apple maintains that the chip is not hardware DRM, as many speculated immediately after the discovery. Instead, they claim the chip is just to ensure proper functioning of the headset-based controls, and that the specs of the device are made available to any hardware manufacturer that obtains a peripheral license from them (the one that allows manufacturers to use the iconic “Made for iPod” sticker). They acknowledge that clone chips will likely follow, and will be tolerated, although those manufacturers won’t get to officially claim that their devices are “Made for iPod.”
It may not be DRM, but it is all about control. Basically, if manufacturers care about having their device work properly, they have to go to Apple, hat in hand, and declare their intentions. This gives Apple the ability to scrutinize, and makes sure that they remain a necessary point of contact even in the aftermarket life of their products. Personally, I’m uncomfortable with any move that eschews open standards in favor of something that adds steps, extra manufacturing or unnecessary redesign, and therefore cost, to peripheral production. Apple is possibly the worst for this, and I’m actually hoping that shuffle sales give them cause to reconsider in the future.
Переслать - Minis and minis by Apple and Others
I’m a fan of automobile-computer analogies, and Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu came up with a dandy in a research note last week, noting that “sources” in Apple’s distribution channels are seeing a “stronger-than-expected reception” to new Mac desktop computers, especially the Mac minis announced a couple of weeks ago. “To us,” Wu wrote, “the new Mac mini is like a Mini Cooper, a premium small form factor product but with decent horsepower. We believe the Mac mini could turn out to be a surprise dark horse hit.”
The comparison is serendipitous for more than name commonality (although Mini — the car — has always been capitalized). That first commercial product imprinting the Mini name on cultural iconography was sprung on the world 50 years ago this year.
Minis Then and Now
Inspired by economic considerations interestingly analogous to our current contretemps (ie: fuel rationing due to the 1956 Suez Oil Crisis followed by a sharp recession), Turkish-born innovator and British Motors Corporation engineer Alec Issagonis conceived a car design concept never tried before: a transverse-mounted engine driving the front wheels — the prototype of the modern front wheel drive car. The Mini was intended to be the smallest possible car that could accommodate four adults and their luggage, measuring roughly 10 feet long by four feet high and four feet wide.
The original Issagonis Mini was unveiled on August 26, 1959, continuing in production until October 2000. Early Minis (properly known as the Morris Mini-Minor and its badge-engineered sibling, the Austin Seven) were incredibly austere. For example, inside door latch releases were plastic-coated wires strung across the door cavities, which were wide open with no upholstered side panels or roll-up window mechanisms occupying the space. However, the Mini was an instant marketplace hit.
“Car Of The Century”
Some 5.5 million Minis were sold during a 41-year production run, with the Mini voted European “Car of the Century” by an international panel. The form factor and appearance remained largely unchanged throughout, with some body panels interchangeable between the 1959 Mark I and the final 2000 Mark V models.
The Mini’s cornering and roadholding could embarrass many purpose-built sports cars of the day, and Mini-owning celebrities included the Beatles (one each), Peter Sellers, David Bowie, Britt Ekland, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Princess Diana, (Princess Anne learned to drive in one, but I don’t think it was her own), Tim Allen, the fictional Mr. Bean, and no less than Enzo Ferrari.
BMW acquired the Mini brand when it bought Rover Group in 2000, and set about designing a completely new Mini — the one Shaw Wu references in his analogy — owing inspiration but nothing else to the original, bringing a larger form factor and more than twice the weight of the original Mini.
Jaunty Insouciance
Apple’s Mac mini is conceptually and stylistically reminiscent of the original automotive Mini. Its ultra-compact 6.5″ x 6.5″ x 2″ form factor is similarly clean and, well, minimalist. It has the elemental essentials, without unnecessary frills. It is inexpensive (for a Mac), only as big as absolutely necessary to contain the designed contents, and has the same jaunty insouciance that Alex Issagonis’ four-wheeled creation did back in 1959.
Everything Most of Us Really Need in a Computer and More
In a nutshell, the mini, combined with a decent but not necessarily Apple-expensive keyboard, mouse, and monitor, has everything most of us really need in a computer and more at reasonably affordable price, especially this new model with the NVIDIA 9400M integrated graphics and FireWire 400 port. And of course one of the mini’s principal target markets has always been folks that already have a monitor, USB keyboard, and USB mouse connected to an aging PC (or Mac), and who can buy the Mac mini and substitute it for their old CPU module.
This latest Mac mini is unambiguously the best of breed, featuring a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor capable of driving a 30-inch Apple Cinema Display at full 2560 x 1600 resolution, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a slot-load 8x double-layer SuperDrive, a Mini DisplayPort and mini-DVI video output, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, and audio line in/audio line out port s supporting both optical digital and analog. That’s a lot of value and connectivity packed into an amazingly tiny package.
Energy Efficient
Like the automotive Mini, the Mac mini is energy-efficient, using less than 13 watts of power when idling — up to 10 times less than a typical desktop PC draws — making the new Mac mini the most power-miserly desktop computer in the world, according to Apple.
I wish it was easier to open up the mini for RAM upgrades and hard drive swaps, but aside from that it’s pretty much all good — definitely my favorite Mac desktop with the possible exception of the G4 Cube.
The first Macs were marketed as “the computer for the rest of us,” and the original Minis were pitched as inexpensive and economical basic transportation, but the Mac mini and today’s automotive Mini are premium-priced products in their size range, the car ranging from $19,200 for the base model up to $31,450 for a John Cooper Works Clubman wagon. North Americans used to cars being priced somewhat by the pound bridle at paying 20,000 bucks for a tiny hatchback sedan, let alone 30 grand. Similarly, some resist the idea of paying $599 to $799 for a tiny desktop CPU module without even a keyboard, mouse or display when you can get a fairly loaded cheapo desktop PC for under $500. In either case, it’s probably one of those “if I have to explain it to you, you’ll likely never understand” things. Both the Mini and the mini are pitched to demographics with taste and appreciation for more than the bottom line.
Переслать - Psystar Declares Gutsiness With New Apple Clone
Apparently Psystar isn’t content to sit back and rest on their laurels (which consist primarily of being really good at making loud fan noise). Despite the ongoing legal battle between themselves and Apple, they just released yet another addition to their line of Mac clones. The new machine, called the Open(3), is obviously meant to compete directly with Apple’s recently released Mac mini refresh.
And compete it does, when it comes to hardware specifications. The Open(3)’s base configuration includes a 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo E7400 processor, 2GB DDR2 800 RAM, a 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD, and a GeForce 8400GS 256MB graphics card. All of which nicely one-ups the Mac mini’s specifications at the same price point of $599. Of course, you don’t get the same small form factor that you do with the mini, but you do get the ability to upgrade to a 1TB HD, add in an extra HD, and choose from a bevy of other options.
It seems like quite the package, considering the price, but if you take a closer look at what isn’t there, it starts to look a little fishy. No FireWire, no Bluetooth, and no networking (Ethernet or wireless) are included at all at the $599 price point, and all are fairly costly add-ons. Plus, integrated Bluetooth isn’t available, and instead you get a USB dongle for your extra 40 bucks.
Psystar seems to be keeping the general price tag low by nickel and diming you on basic extras that should be included to begin with. Even if you still end up getting more muscle for your money in the end, I’m not tempted in the least by this offering. How future-proof is a Psystar machine, after all, even leaving aside the issue of their legal battle with Apple? Who’s to say that Snow Leopard, when it comes out, will be completely and permanently incompatible with Psystar hardware? You get what you pay for, and I think this is especially the case with these clone machines. That said, if anyone actually takes the plunge and decides to buy one of these, I’d love to hear about your experiences.
Переслать - Songbird Adds 7Digital Music Store Integration, Gains Ground on iTunes
The Mozilla foundation’s alternative media manager program, Songbird, recently got a nice new addition that brings its functionality even closer to that of iTunes, the Apple monopoly-holder it seeks to unseat. That addition is the ability to buy music from directly within the program, just like you can do with the iTunes store. You’ll be buying from 7digital, an online music distributor based in the UK.
7digital is the UK’s number one digital media distributor, and has localized stores for seven other European countries. Their library is nothing to sneeze at either, with 6 million titles and clients like EMI, Sony-BMG and Universal. That’s not too far behind the iTunes store’s roughly 8 million tracks, although the selection might differ according to the very different markets to which each store caters. Prices are similar to the iTunes store, with individual tracks priced at 99 cents. Track quality is excellent, too, thanks to DRM-free, 320kbps MP3s. You can also turn on 7digital’s recommendations engine to get suggestions from the service based on your purchases.
The 7digital music store is available as an add-on for Songbird 1.1.1, and appears in your left-hand menu under the sub-title “Stores,” which seems to imply that Mozilla plans to partner with other content providers in the future. They’ll definitely have to go elsewhere if they want to offer video for sale once they eventually get Songbird’s video playback features up and running. It’ll be tougher to crack the dominance of iTunes in that market, since there aren’t as many small, independent distributors with big-name contracts.
Plus they’ve got that little issue of adding device support for iPods and the iPhone before I can seriously consider throwing off the shackles of iTunes. Maybe Apple will play nice and help them out? That’s about as likely as me getting a Zune and any WinMo powered phone.
Переслать - Initial Thoughts on iPhone OS 3.0
The blogosphere will be “all OS 3.0, all the time” for a while. I wanted to wait a little bit and see some reaction to the update.
Predictably, Paul Thurrott didn’t approve. He cherry-picked a few things and claimed they should have been there from the start. He conveniently ignored the new APIs and other enhancements, and then just griped about there being no hardware announcements. At a software event. The man gets less relevant about Apple every day.
To me, the biggest surprise came from another GigaOM network site, jkOnTheRun. An article there noted that 40 percent of the readers polled were “underwhelmed” with the update. A few even said the announcement “pushed” them to the Palm Pre.
What announcement did they watch? Seriously, there were some things introduced that, had Palm announced them today, I’m sure would have been proclaimed as incredible, stupendous, colossal, way ahead of the iPhone, etc.
What I liked best about the announcement was that it was typically Apple. Sure, it included some “obvious” features, but it also included things no one had thought of or discussed.
Peer to Peer
This one is extremely interesting. As a developer you can write a device that will talk to another iPhone or accessory in question. It utilizes Apple’s proven Bonjour technology and wireless connection via Bluetooth (no Wi-Fi needed). No pairing is required, either.
This makes it a great impromptu setup for, say, the back seat of a car where your kids can play games with each other. The ability to talk to accessories is also big, and can be done over the dock connector as well as using BT.
1,000 New APIs
No, this isn’t big at all (*rolling eyes*). I still believe the biggest question mark on the Pre is using HTML/JAVA/CSS for app development. Some good stuff for the iPhone was written in this manner, but nothing like what we’ve seen since the bona-fide SDK. How will the Pre fair any better?
Meanwhile, the powerful SDK for the iPhone just took a leap ahead. You’ve got in-app e-mail capability, the proximity sensor is now available, the built-in iPod library is accessible, streaming audio and video over HTTP, a shake API is included, Apple’s data detectors are available, and even an in-game voice chat capability.
And that’s just scratching the surface of the new APIs for developers.
There’s also the push mechanism, which I think is great for background notification, though lacking elsewhere. I wrote about that here.
In-App Purchases
Another developer-enticing feature — and it’s hard not to see them excited by this — now you can sell your app for $5 or $10 but not allow every level, or every control. You can upsell for the more serious users willing to pay more, while still allowing the casual user to obtain an affordable version of your app. This makes a lot of sense to me.
Meanwhile, I applaud Apple’s decision to allow in-app purchases only for purchased apps. Some developers may balk at not being able to give it away and then upsell, but that’s borderline “bait and switch” in my opinion. I think Apple’s correct to claim that a free app should not prompt you to purchase anything.
Developer Demos
Depending on your interests, these ranged from interesting, to boring, to outright bizarre. But remember this was a software OS event. Sometimes there’s no better way to describe the use of a new capability than just to show it being done by others (some of which may be your own competition). These are, if you will, a “necessary evil” in an SDK demo.
I found ESPN’s demo pretty cool, and the medical apps amaze me as well.
Search
Apple’s implementation of this is sweet. Not only can you search in an app, like Mail, but they have a spotlight search page as well. I can search for songs, artists, calendar entries, etc. Bottom line is Apple brought Spotlight to the iPhone. Pretty obvious, but very nice.
Another cool feature is that for email it will search not just the 200 mail messages you have on the phone, but continue the search on the server as well. This is great! In fact, I may drop back to only 100 messages or so locally since I can now search them all anyway.
The Checklist Stuff
Then there’s the stuff Apple supposedly had to have. I say “supposedly” because Apple sold 17 million of these devices — 30 million with the touch — and 800,000,000 apps without any of these allegedly mandatory features.
- Copy and paste looks well done. Frankly, until I can get my grubby little fingers on it and try to drag the targets, etc., I won’t know how well it works in practice, but it looks good.
- I didn’t need MMS, but I’m glad I’ll have it. Some people I know don’t have smartphones (gasp!), so emailing a picture is pointless. They use MMS and I’d like to, too. Sucks that my 1G iPhone won’t support it, but I’m buying a new one with OS 3.0 anyway.
- The landscape keyboard is a big thing for a lot of people, though it means nothing to me. I don’t use my thumbs to type. Still, it’s a pretty obvious feature to add and will likely make a lot of people happy.
- I really like the improvements to the Messages app (formerly SMS?). Nice that I can delete specific messages and not the whole conversation. Also nice that I can forward messages.
Other Stuff
And then there were the things mentioned right at the end, with no further explanation or demo.
- Notes syncing. I’ve avoided a lot of notes for this very reason, choosing instead to use an open email or text file on iDisk so that I’d gave access to it all. Now I can just use notes and be done with it.
- Auto-Fill and anti-phishing should help Safari a lot.
- Auto Wi-Fi login. I use Easy Wi-Fi now and can tell you this is a very handy feature.
And More…
The above is just a rough summary of today’s announcements. There’s clearly a lot more there that wasn’t touched on.
It’s going to be interesting to see reports out of the developer community who got the beta today. As they play with the above features, we’ll see how they are implemented and get more details.
Anybody who thinks this upgrade is anything other than huge is deluding themselves. If 2.0 was the Enterprise upgrade with implementing Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology, then 3.0 is back to the developer and consumer community. Opening the floodgates on more useful and interesting apps while tossing in many of the “checklist items” people felt they needed.
I’m impressed with the breadth and scope of this release.
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