Jan 24, 2008 Jan 26, 2008 Friday January 25, 2008
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Patent granted on smartphones, everyone sued
Filed under: Cellphones What would you do if the US patent office gave you the go-ahead on a far-reaching, non-specific application filed for a "mobile entertainment and communication device"? If your answer was that you would immediately draw up lawsuits against almost every major electronics manufacturer that even looked at a smartphone funny, you get a cookie. Yes folks, as impossible as it is to believe, the holders of the aforementioned patent have just sued Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, AT&T, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, and Samsung... amongst others. So eager was this company to sue, in fact, that legal papers were filed a day before the patent was granted, and subsequently had to re-submitted. The real sucker-punch here is that the patent simply combines a list of prior technologies jumbled into one product, a practice which has recently been ruled against by the Supreme Court. Still, we doubt it will stop the holders from trying to nab a few dollars in settlements, staying the work of real innovators, and generally making a mockery of our patent system. Bravo![Via Slashdot] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Macworld: MacBook Air: First Lab Tests
Jason Snell, Macworld: Our tests reveal that the slower processor and disk make the MacBook Air quite a bit slower than the other portables in Apple’s product line. The MacBook Air was also outpaced in our tests by the its closest desktop cousin, the ultra-compact 1.83GHz Mac mini Core 2 Duo. ★
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Life After Death
Reincarnate old and broken iPods with these fun projects.
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TUAW Interviews Mike Lee of Delicious Monster, looks at Delicious Library 2
Filed under: Macworld, Software Mike Lee, the "world's toughest programmer," and official Major-domo for Delicious Monster sat down with Scott to show off some features coming to Delicious Library 2. We know a lot of you are itching for the release of this one, and Mike gives an answer to when it'll ship... sort of.Other items in the video:- sharing your library- media launching- more categories (now tracks gadgets)- .Mac (and more) publishing options- metadata support- robust import/export tools- one click backup- why no pro version?- scripting support!- plus a first look at a feature that will have Cory flipping outMike also talks about charity, and his efforts to help in Madagascar. The read link will take you to Mike's Club Thievey where you can help. The video is after the jump.Continue reading TUAW Interviews Mike Lee of Delicious Monster, looks at Delicious Library 2Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Engadget reviews the MacBook Air
Filed under: Macworld, Apple, MacBook Air If you've been dying to find out what the MacBook Air is really like, and weren't fortunate enough to be at Macworld to spend a little time hands-on with the latest Apple laptop, our colleagues over at sister-site Engadget have been busy testing the MacBook Air, and have just posted their review. Taking you through all the innovations (and compromises) it comes highly recommended especially with the galleries. Even as someone who was at Macworld, I remain astounded at the engineering involved in getting this machine just as thin as it is. Ryan Block makes some excellent points, and his concluding sentence (not wanting to ruin it for you) will undoubtedly resonate with a lot of people -- TUAW staff included.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Things that suck somewhat: Mac OS X Sheets
There's a time and a place for transparency in the user interface and Mac OS X usually is right on the mark (unlike Windows Vista). However, Sheets, the animated window that holds buttons for some modal dialogs needs work.
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Mac BU aware of security hole caused by Office 2008 installer
Although a flaw in the Office 2008 installer causes incorrect permissions to be set for Office-related files, the problem is only a small security concern.Read More...
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Using Your Mac Wisely: Video Content
When it comes to harnessing your Mac’s power for video encoding, you’re left with two choices: digital or physical. Digital Handbrake is the go to source for creating digital copies of your video. With Handbrake you can pop in a DVD and select the appropriate preset. You can encode straight to iPod, iPhone or Apple TV. Handbrake is open source, and completely free. iSquint is great for converting DivX/XviD to Mp4. It’s freeware for basic use, or you can purchase Visual Hub which offers a variety of services. For basic use, iSquint works well and converts fairly quickly. For the best iPod TV out settings, select: Check Optimize for TV Check H.264 Scale the slider to the quality setting of your choice Quick tip for your iPods. If you want to import a video without transferring it to iTunes. Be sure your iPod is set to “Manually Manage� and you can now drag and drop files right onto the iPod icon in iTunes and transfer straight to it. Physical MacTheRipper allows you to import DVD Vob files right to your Hard Drive. Couple it with Dvd2OneX and you can shrink the file down to 4.4 gigs so it will fit right on a single layer DVD-R. Personally, if you can find it, I prefer the original version of Dvd2OneX, not the new Dvd2OneX2. Also Dvd2One isn't freeware and requires purchasing. Toast 8 will take your Dvd2One or MacTheRipper file and burn it for playback on DVD players. Toast 8 is not freeware and will require purchasing to unlock all its features. Be sure to select UDF in Toast 8 to ensure proper playback. iTunes When dealing with importing videos into iTunes, it's a simple drag and drop. If the video you copy doesn't go into the proper category (Movie, TV Show, etc) be sure to edit the Metadata as follows: Right click and select 'Get Info' Click the 'Video' tab From the drop down select: TV Show, Movie, or Music Video Comment any questions, I'll see if I can answer them. Also if you use any other resources or methods for converting your videos, I'd love to hear about them. Disclaimer: This article is not intended for any illegal activity. What you do with it is your problem.
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Ask TUAW: sending Pages, proxy serving, Finder annoyances and more.
Filed under: Features, Troubleshooting, Ask TUAWIn this round of Ask TUAW we'll cover a couple of common Finder annoyances. setting up an OS X proxy server, attached Pages documents to emails, watching out for spyware, and more.As always your suggestions are most welcome, and questions for next week should be left in the comments. And now, to the questions!Continue reading Ask TUAW: sending Pages, proxy serving, Finder annoyances and more.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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MacBook Air review
Filed under: Features, Laptops It fits in a manila folder, you can slide it under a door, and if you threw it hard enough you could probably chop someone in half with the thing. It's the thinnest, and if we may say so, the sexiest laptop around today: the MacBook Air. But looks aren't everything to everyone, and despite all the rhetoric about being a no-compromises ultraportable, Apple did leave plenty on the cutting-room floor to get this laptop so absurdly thin without having to skimp on niceties like a full size keyboard and a roomy 13-inch display. But, as many potential buyers have been asking themselves since last week, is the Air right to be your next machine? Read on, we'll tell you what we think.Continue reading MacBook Air review Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Tom Krazit of CNET and Eric Savitz of Barrons Deny the Jesus Phone
Daniel Eran Dilger According to speculation published by pundits, Apple's iPhone sales have fallen into a mysterious time portal somewhere between Apple selling them and AT&T activating them. The conclusion reached by these wags is that Apple lied about actually selling them and really only pushed them into the channel to fake the appearance of demand, as Microsoft did this year with the Xbox 360. They're wrong, here's why. (more…)
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Apple Gazette Daily 196 - Another Apple suit, Macbook Air benchmarks and more
Another Apple lawsuit, iTunes Rental problems and Macbook Air benchmarks. You can subscribe via iTunes, or by RSS feed, or… you can listen to the episode right here: In addition to that, you can also download the Apple Gazette Daily Widget and listen to every episode of the show right on your Dashboard. Click Here to download.
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Apple and a blogger, Part 2
Very interesting post by a now former Apple employee on why he left the Cupertino mother ship. Interesting to note Jens' perspective on Apple's employee blogging policy. Or lack thereof. Perhaps it's no wonder that one of my best friends and long-time Apple employee told me I had big balls for starting this blog. One of the fundamentals of Apple's remarkable marketing is "one voice". Very few executives get to speak out on Apple - lest they go off message - and consequently Apple maintains a very well crafted public face and simple positioning that helps generate lift. I remember back at Avid; my entire executive team marveled at how well every event Apple put their name on was simply perfect. Cookie-cutter, but consistent. I personally invested in expensive web conferencing software to help all the various worldwide sales teams follow our corporate messaging playbook. (Full Disclosure: I'm now working for a company that creates free, open source web conferencing software that puts the $85,000 I spent to shame.) Apple takes its controlled messaging to a whole different level these days. They don't create pretty data sheets (even PDFs), they produce little polished collateral (outside their Pro Apps division), and have eliminated much printed documentation from the product. It's just a few press releases, a few keynotes, immaculate package design, their friendly stores, and a website. And all us bloggers do their viral marketing for them. Apple, it's time to open up and let your employees blog free! We can use the help.
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Build your own Apple Store
Filed under: Retail, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, AppleThe fixtures at Apple Stores are very physical manifestations of Apple's legendary attention to detail. They are amongst the best designed consumer experiences I have ever had in an electronics store (many high end boutiques offer up the same attention to detail, but they are also not selling computers and iPods). Therefore, it makes sense to me that some people might want to buy similar things for their own and now you can. OOBject has compiled a list of all the materials that go into an Apple store (OK, if not everything in an Apple store, then lots of things that you might find).Remember, TUAW isn't responsible for any damage to your credit cards that this link might cause.[via Kottke]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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News: Mix: Patent, Sierra, iHaloStats, 500XL
A new Apple patent application recently published by the US Patent and Trademark Office suggests that the company may be planning to introduce illuminated touch pads in future iPod models. Patent application 20080018617, titled “Illuminated touch pad,” describes an “illuminated input device” comprised of “an object sensing mechanism capable of sensing a user input over an input surface; and a visual feedback system configured…
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Apple Minus AT&T Equals Lots of iPhones Somewhere Else
The latest iPhone controversy comes courtesy of a grade-school math problem: If Apple reports that 4 million iPhones have been sold, and AT&T reports that 2 million iPhones have been activated with AT&T accounts, and current estimates peg iPhone sales in the UK, Germany, and France in the neighborhood of 350,000 to 400,000, and if 20 percent of all iPhones sold are hacked and unlocked, how many iPhones are left unaccounted for? After doing the math, Toni Sacconaghi, a financial analyst for Sanford Bernstein, reportedly thinks there's 670,000 iPhones that are unaccounted for.
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Show floor video: Rogue Amoeba moves to the beat
Filed under: Macworld, Audio, SoftwareWe stopped by Rogue Amoeba's booth last week and chatted with Paul Kafasis, CEO and big amoeba on campus, about all of their apps. Paul was kind enough to give us a quick demo of Airfoil 3 (I loves me some Airfoil Speakers) and Fission. Check out the full interview after the jump.Continue reading Show floor video: Rogue Amoeba moves to the beatPermalink | Email this | Comments
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Genius PenSketch 9x12
Sketchy Tablet
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Seeing iPhone in non-carrier countries? We want photos!
Filed under: Cult of Mac, iPhoneSome critics scoff at the notion that as many as 30% of all iPhones are being used in countries without an official carrier agreement. Just from our own reader comments/reports (and dim-witted criminals) we have no problem with the plausibility of those figures. One thing is for certain, plenty of people outside the officially contracted countries have and are using iPhones. And we want pictures!Reader Jim wrote to us with this suggestion, and we think it's just great. So, here's the deal - if you live in a country where the iPhone is not officially available (or you are visiting one of those countries) and you spot someone using an iPhone, take a picture. If you are a non-carrier iPhone owner yourself, we want your pictures too! We would like to see shots that at least somewhat indicative of their geographical location -- just so we can answer any of the nay-sayers who try to claim the photos are fake.Send your pictures to photos AT tuaw.com and we'll post up a gallery of the submissions. I think it will be interesting to see how many places the iPhone has traveled, even without an official contract.Thanks Jim!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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A different look at Apple's stock drop
For the first time in recent memory, Apple’s stock declined after Macworld. What happened?
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iPhone Heist, Microsoft Admits Office 2008 Issue and Build Your Own Apple Store
Truck drivers try to score with iPhone shipment and Office 2008 creates a security problem with install.
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News: GizMac premieres new cases for iPod nano 3G
GizMac has introduced two new cases for the iPod nano (with video). The Aluminate is a hybrid case for iPod nano made from a combination of aluminum and polycarbonate. The front of the case is thin, colored aluminum, while the back is clear polycarbonate. Features include built-in screen and Click Wheel protection, and an included lanyard and carabiner clip. The DuraSport is a silicone case for the iPod nano featuring Click Wheel protection, a clear…
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MPAA Admits 'Math Error,' Viewers Flock to Online Video
Now, we all know that college students aren't necessarily the best-behaved people on the planet, but to hear the movie studios tell it, college students are the enemy that must be destroyed. Much of that belief might have been based on a study the Motion Picture Association of America commissioned in 2006, which found that college students were responsible for more than 40 percent of all illegal movie downloads. Now, it turns out that college students really only account for just about 15 percent of the piracy going on.
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Quick video of Plasq's Magiq
Filed under: Macworld, Software Click To Play It's no big secret we love the funky look and wonderfully simple apps that come from the Plasq team. And there's no denying that Comic Life was a big hit for them. To follow that act they've been working on Comic Life Magiq, which we only had a taste of so far, but it looks just as funky and useful as you'd expect from these guys. Check out one of those age-old photo tasks: cutting a person out of a background. They actually make it look fun.Also on:YouTube, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Viddler and CrackleRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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MacBook Air battery fairly simple for mortals to replace
Let's hope Apple comes to its senses and releases a kit for home use. Yes Apple, believe it or not, we know how to use a screw driver.Read More...
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Macworld puts the MacBook Air through the paces
Filed under: MacBook AirThe MacBook Air is a sexy machine, there is no doubting that, but how does it perform? Our buddies at Macworld ran some preliminary tests and this thing isn't a speed demon. Macworld tested a stock MacBook Air 1.6GHz processor and the 80 gig harddrive and compared it to a stock MacBook (2Ghz Core 2 Duo), a MacBook Pro (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo), a Mac mini (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo), and a PowerBook (1.67GHz G4).How did the MacBook Air rate? Well, it beat the PowerBook and that's something, right? All the other Intel based Macs were faster than the MacBook Air, but these results aren't too shocking. If you're interested in a MacBook Air you aren't buying it for performance, but rather for its compact size.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Davos08: Collaborative innovation
In a session on collaborative innovation — a theme of this year's Davos — Mark Parker of Nike tells the crowd that Nike plus — the gadget you put on your shoe to hook you into your iPod and the internet and a network of runners — has hit 40 million miles run so far. What's coolest is that the system connects runners so they communicate and get together to organize races. The internet is all about making connections. Those who enable those connections win. Later, Reuters' Tom Glocer says the company has an internal innovation program that budgets money to ideas employees can submit in one page.
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Mondrianum
Filed under: Software, Graphic DesignMany TUAW readers, I would assume, are in either employed by, or dabble in, the creative pursuits. This means from time to time you have to fire up an illustration program, or design something using a color scheme. Luckily, I spend most of my time writing, not designing. I am mildly colorblind, and have very poor color sense (if you've watched any of our videos from Macworld featuring me you know I'm not kidding) so picking the right color scheme for anything is often beyond my feeble talents. That's why I was so very excited when I first heard of kuler.kuler is a rather cool Flash web app, from the fine folks at Adobe, that makes it simple to pick a pleasing color combination. Even better, if lets you save your combo and share it with the rest of the kuler users, who can rate the combos and find one that is just right for that Knight Rider tribute website they are working on.But, I hear you asking, what the heck does this have to do with Macs? Well, my impatient reader, let me tell you about Mondrianum. Mondrianum is a cool plugin for your Mac that lets you access kuler combinations from within any app that has a color palette available. You can search kuler combos, see the highest rate, the most popular, or the most recent additions and you can even save favorite colors in little wells at the bottom of the window.Mondrianum (which is a very clever name) is currently in beta and only works with Leopard.[via Drawn!]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple Bloggers Talk Performance, Portable, Pro and Pink
This week, the Apple- and Mac-focused blogosphere is all over the map. Macworld is far from gone, of course, and while the MacBook Air is still hot enough to float, there's Apple's quarterly financial report, OS X 10.5.2, pent-up demand for a MacBook Pro refresh, and even some talk about the cute little pink iPod nano. First, the money. Apple released its financial earnings for the fourth quarter of 2007, which turned out to be the company's "best quarter ever."
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Are one in three iPhones sold being unlocked?
Filed under: CellphonesWhile it likely won't come as much of a surprise to those reading this, it seems that Apple's recently released iPhone sales numbers and AT&T's customer number don't exactly match up, leading those ever so insightful analysts to conclude that many of the phones are being sold with the sole intention of being unlocked. What is somewhat surprising, however, is exactly how many phones that might be. As MacWorld reports, Apple says it sold 3.7 million iPhones in 2007, while AT&T says it signed up about two million or so iPhone customers during the same time period. While those aforementioned analysts point out that Apple's numbers were boosted by 300,000-400,000 sales in Europe, and likely a few sold over the holidays that were yet to be activated, that still leaves over a million iPhones running free out there. If you do the math, that seems to suggest that roughly one in three iPhones sold are being unlocked although, obviously, we're not about to get a confirmation on that number from anyone. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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A Quick Look at the DRM restrictions of iTunes Movie Rentals
So, I decided I was going to rent a movie in iTunes and review the process, including video quality, here on the site. With that in mind, on Tuesday I rented 'The Simpson's Movie' for $3.99. I chose to rent this on our Mac Mini because that is the Mac that syncs with our AppleTV, and I wanted to watch it on my television, not the computer screen. Well guess what? Apparently until the software upgrade for the AppleTV is released, you can't watch these rentals on the AppleTV. No big deal, it'll be fixed next week, and then it'll work fine. So, I decided to load it onto my iPhone…but wait…I can't do that either. Why? Because even though both of the computers in the house that have iTunes are working off the same account, my wife's iPhone is the one connected to the Mac Mini so she can have all her playlists and music preferences. That means my iPhone can't connect to it at all. Well that shouldn't be a big deal. iTunes on my Macbook Pro is under the same account as the one on the mini, I'm sure I can move the file over to the iPhone through iTunes and our shared library…but no. That doesn't work either. I could load it onto our 5th generation video iPod - but I have no desire to watch a feature film on a device that small, and since I'll only have 24 hours after I start this video to finish it, I'm not going to start it on a tiny screened video iPod. The DRM here is too over the top. I'm not a terribly “anti-DRM” person - especially with the concept of rentals - I get that these big giant companies need it to sleep better at night. I understand its purpose, and I can live with it - but there is a level of inconvenience here for households with more than one Mac that I find very frustrating. If my two machines were under different accounts in iTunes I could understand why the video wouldn't go from one to another, but if its the same flipping account and you're only giving me 24 hours to watch the damn thing - make this easier. I'm into the idea of iTunes Movie Rentals…but the DRM is going to have to lighten up just a bit. It's going to choke itself to death if it doesn't.
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iTunes video offerings expand in UK,
Apple has added a number of new TV shows to the UK iTunes Store. How does £1.89 ($4) for The Jetsons sound to you?Read More...
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Show floor video: Netgear ReadyNAS stores and plays it all
Filed under: Macworld, Hardware, VideoNetgear's ReadyNAS is a NAS, yes, but it comes pre-configured with an iTunes server, bittorent, wireless disk and printer support and more. Quite the plug-and-play darling, Netgear was kind enough to create some Mac-friendly tools to manage the thing (it's got a Widget!). You can configure the thing to your heart's delight , which makes it that much more versatile.There are several flavors of ReadyNAS: a rackmount server for business folk, a cute entry-level NAS called Storage Central, the Duo series, and the terribly gorgeous NV+ series. The sweet spot for most people will likely be the Duo or NV+, as the Storage Central doesn't have the extensive RAID tools every other model above does. The product grid says something about embedded mirror/data protection, but I'm not sure that is RAID (or configurable).Prices for the NV+ with a whopping 4TB of X-RAID storage ran from roughly $2,000 to $3,000. By comparison, the old Storage Central lines can be found online for around $70 (hard drive not included, $90 from Netgear), but the new line, Storage Central Turbo, was floating close to the MSRP of $200 (shows $189.99 on the Netgear store).Check out the demo with Scott after the jump.Continue reading Show floor video: Netgear ReadyNAS stores and plays it allRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Review: Griffin Technology iTrip Auto with SmartScan
Before saying anything more about either of these products, it's important to note up front that Griffin has repeatedly “revved” past iTrips, making post-release, generally undisclosed changes that have generally—but not always—improved them. Though we typically strive to review iTrips immediately after their release, we held off a little on these because we heard that revised versions were coming. Our reviews below note…
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A Look at Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Lisa Brennan-Jobs is not a woman we hear much about in connection with Apple. She is the daughter of Steve Jobs, the namesake of Apple's infamous “Lisa” computer, and an accomplished magazine writer. Her most recent work can be found in the February issue of Vogue magazine. Valleywag posted a image of her yesterday (a very poorly scanned one, I might add), and it's amazing how much she looks like her father. Lisa is obviously very successful in her current career, and there is no reason to think she might one day be involved with the company her father co-founded, but wouldn't it be interesting to see this woman…Jobs 2.0… delivering a Keynote one day?
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Another way to move between iPhone 1.1.3 app pages
With the new iPhone 1.1.3 update, Everyone likes the ability to have multiplehome pages which will hold more icons. It is a sure sign that new programming will have new places to add icons.Everyone knows that you simply "flick" the screen to the left or right to move from one home screen to the next. What Apple didn't say was that there is an easier way to do this. As you add additional home pages to the iPhone, multiple dots start appearing just above the icon dock that by default displays the main functions of the iPhone (Phone, Mail, Safari, iPod). You can easily move from one home (or Springboard) screen by simply touching the area to the left or right of those white dots.That's it, no more flicking the screen right or left to move to the next screen. Just touch the active area to the right or left of the row ofdots, and the screen instantly changes. Of course this won't work if you don't have multiple screens created.
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Merge movies with QuickTime Player's non-pro version
I never noticed this until now with the Quicktime 7.4 (and I'm using Tiger). Open a movie in QuickTime Player. Now drag and drop another movie onto the player window. (I wanted to open and play the second movie, but it didn't work.) When I tried to close the QuickTime Player window, I was asked if I wanted to save my changes. I did save it to see if I'd get the "This feature requires Quicktime Pro..." notice, but it just saved and closed.I reopened the movie and the two movies have been merged into one file.[robg adds: I can confirm this works without QT Pro, but note that it will overwrite the original file, with no chance to rename it before saving.]
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Extend 24 hour movie rental period on iPods
This works at least on the iPod Nano, though I hope it works on the Mac as well. If you start to watch a movie but do not finish it and the 24 hour period is running out, just start the movie playing on the iPod and press Pause. The movie will remain playable until you close the movie -- even past the 24 hour time period. When you finally decide to stop the movie, you will receive a warning from iPod that the time has expired and will be prompted to resume watching or delete the movie.[robg adds: During Expo last week, I wrote about my concerns with the 24-hour limit. Yesterday, my colleague Chris Breen stumbled on this same solution to the problem. Chris notes that you must choose one of the resume or delete options when you go back to the iPod; he force-restarted his iPod just to see what would happen, and found th...
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A list of known issues with Microsoft Office 2008
Perhaps someone has already noted this, but Microsoft lists (in the Help file) a number of known issues with Office 2008. Some of them are fairly significant, and may explain some troubles you may be having with Office 2008.You can read the full list of issues on Microsoft's support site, where they have a page of known issues for each program: Word • Excel • PowerPoint • ...
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iPhone DOOOMED!
This came to the Macalope inbox (which, oddly, is also brown and furry) just before Macworld Expo and he didn't have time to get to it then but it's still so funny it's worth noting (tip o' the antlers to Aymerik Renard). Did you know that the iPhone is doomed to failure? Well, it's true. The reason? Well, it seems that just as rock crushes scissors, Microsoft's plans for Windows Mobile 7 (due in 2009... or sometime thereafter... you know, when they get to it) totally beat the crap out of the 2007 iPhone! Don't believe the Macalope? Well, it's right there in black and white, mister. Would "the independent voice of Microsoft customers" lie to you? It's amazing how future Microsoft products beat current Apple products time and time again, isn't it? You'd think Apple would have just given up by now.
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Top Leopard Rumors
Leopard has already been released to the masses, proving to be a bigger success than Tiger during its launch; but before the Beta was seeded, rumors on what the final build would contain ran amok. Let’s see how well they hold up with the final product. Leopard Will…
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Coladia released Personal Trader 3.0
SO - are you looking for a great utility to watch your stocks tank? Well, if so, Coladia has the application for you! Personal Trader 3.0 is “a stock market utility designed for managing your stock portfolio. Intuitive and easy-to-use, Personal Trader helps you track and analyze your investments. Personal Trader can get current share values from the Internet and update your portfolio, showing you its total value and the value of individual stocks.” The software costs $30, but is available for a free 30 day trial if you want to give it a shot. Click Here to check it out.
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Review of iTunes movie rentals: What you need to know
We've been playing with Apple's new iTunes Store movie rentals for a week now, and it's a big step forward for the industry. Still, it's not without some quirks.Read More...
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News: Widespread iPhone, iPod touch 1.1.3 update problems
Since last week's release of new 1.1.3 software for the iPhone and iPod touch, a number of users, including iLounge editors, have experienced serious problems when trying to update the devices. In some cases, the update appears to have been completed successfully, but renders the devices inoperable, leaving them stuck in recovery mode. When an attempt is made to restore the devices, one of several dialog boxes (pictured below) pops up and says…
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News: Tunewear offers Prie Ambassador for iPhone in new colors
Tunewear has announced that its Prie Ambassador case for iPhone is now available in four new color combinations. The Ambassador is made from leather, and features white contrast stitching, a magnetic side latch, a slim card holder, and an integrated Tunewear removable metal hook. It also offers full access to all ports and controls, and comes with a Tunefilm clear screen protector. The Tunewear Prie Ambassador for iPhone is now available in traditional…
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Apple Sitting on Excess Inventory?
Morgan Stanley notes this AM that the key bear case on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares is that iPod unit growth is slowing with no clear indication of new products to pick up the slack. While they don't disagree this would be a negative scenario for the stock, growing research and development expense indicates a product cycle is in the works. If history is any indicator, this is the wrong time to bet against AAPL.
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EXCLUSIVE: TUAW Hands-on with the Zeiss Cinemizer, 3D goggles for your iPod
Filed under: Macworld, VideoThere have been plenty of attempts at LCD glasses, iPod goggles, 3D eyewear, and even a hacked iPod cyborg model, but the Zeiss Cinemizer is a little different. First of all, if the name Zeiss looks familiar, it should be. That's Carl Zeiss, one of the most respected names in optics. The Cinemizer, as a result, has a pristine viewing experience, but perhaps more importantly, doesn't suffer from the front-heavy, nose-jamming weight you find on previous offerings. The Cinemizer supports 3D (if the video is 3D to begin with), and has a battery/control system that's about as elegant as you're going to get with something you have to strap your iPod into. Check out the video as Mike puts it through the paces. Unfortunately our "mind's eye" adapter was in the shop, so you won't be seeing what Mike sees, but his description and facial contortions are hilarious ample enough.(Video after the jump)Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: TUAW Hands-on with the Zeiss Cinemizer, 3D goggles for your iPodRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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A Look at Native KDE 4.0 for OSÂ X
This week Slashdot (and many, many others) reported that KDE 4.0 has been released for Windows and OS X. KDE (K Desktop Environment) has been a popular GUI for *nix systems and there have been ways of getting it to run (mostly) on OS X prior to this native port if you were willing to use X11 on OS X). RangerRick (of OpenNMS “fame” did much of the heavy lifting for the Mac side of this project, including the package distributions. To start, you'll need to grab the torrent download – I picked the one labeled “everything,” weighing in at over 2GB. Once the download eventually finishes (it was slow for me, but I may have been a bit impatient and started mine before all the primaries were seeded), mount the KDE dmg file and double-click on the kde.pkg installer. It will do most of the heavy lifting and put the base packages and applications on your system. One bit of annoyance is that installer stores everything in /opt, so you'll have to ⌘-Shift-G (goto folder) in the Finder and enter /opt/kde4/bin to get to the apps (alias this into the /Applications folder for faster access). (more…)
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equinux offers up TubeStick hybrid USB TV tuner
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment If neither of Elgato's latest from Macworld tickled your fancy, there's a decent shot you may like what equinux has going on instead. The TubeStick hybrid is the firm's newly announced USB TV tuner, which is housed in a diminutive chassis that won't block nearby ports and offers up OTA reception of NTSC, ATSC and digital (QAM) signals. Furthermore, the unit comes wearing the whitest of white outfits and also touts an external antenna and a one-month trial of the TubeToGo software. Yes, this critter will play nice with Windows machines as well, but we hear it tries to avoid such predicaments whenever possible. Ready to snag your own? Catch one next month for $129. [Via The Mac Observer] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Under The Radar News - Friday
UK's Brown: Worst yet to come. UK PM Gordon Brown told the World Economic Forum in Davos the worst is yet to come for the world economy, and said banks have been guilty of underestimating risk and undertaking too much off-balance sheet activity.
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Details surface on the MacBook Air
Some lucky stiffs have already received the MacBook Air and details are starting to emerge.Take for example Walt Mossberg’s revelation that “it’s beautiful and thin, but omits features.” Mossberg also reveals that the MBA gets 3 hours and 24 minutes of battery life running full kilter: In my standard battery test, where I disable all power-saving [...]
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Early MacBook Air reviews trickling in
The first reviews of the MacBook Air are beginning to appear in the media, from a variety of big names, including Walt Mossberg.Read More...
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Dumb and dumber: truck drivers replace iPhones with paper
Filed under: iPhoneSometimes I wonder if the frequent use of the terms "unlock" and "jailbreak" in conversations about the iPhone has caused a cognitive break for people who would otherwise keep to the straight and narrow. Case in point: two New York truckdrivers and an accomplice decided the best way to easy money was to crack open a shipment of 300 iPhones bound for Hong Kong, pull the phones out of the bottom of the shipping crate, throw in some reams of paper for weight and then re-shrinkwrap the package for delivery. Genius!Unfortunately for the three men, the package didn't look quite right to an airline worker in Hong Kong, who alerted cops. The investigation led back to the Baldwin, LI shipping company that had transferred the iPhone crate, and the drivers who had sold the illicit phones (some on Craigslist) for an $80,000 windfall. The men were arrested in possession of $23,000 (quite a bit of cash already gone on luxury splurges) and just about to move to Florida. Per the NY Daily News:When he was asked about them last week, the truck drivers' boss said, "It's funny you should be asking about them. They just resigned."No kidding. I think we've all learned something today... first, if you're going to replace packaged iPhones with something, rock beats paper. Second, 300 iPhones in a crate going to Hong Kong, where they aren't officially on sale? Maybe those 30% unlock estimates aren't so wacky after all.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Maccast 2008.01.24 - Macworld 2008 Eye-Fi
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. We check out one of the coolest hardware products on the show floor at Macworld 2008, the Eye-Fi. An SD card that works with your digital camera and a web service to send your images directly to your computer on on-line sharing services over your wireless network. Amazing. Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
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Maccast 2008.01.24 - Macworld 2008 SuperSync
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. Keep multiple iTunes libraries in sync with SuperSync. Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
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Maccast 2008.01.24 - Macworld 2008 Route Buddy
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. Mac GPS enabled software takes another step forward with Route Buddy version 2.0. We talk with the developer on the show floor at Macworld 2008 about this great new update to an already loved product. Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
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Maccast 2008.01.24 - Macworld 2008 Skullcandy
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. We take a look at Skullcandy's new iPhone FMJ iPhone headphones along with a preview of a great new upcoming product. Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
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Maccast 2008.01.24 - Macworld 2008 Belkin
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. We take a look at Belkin's upcoming Podcast Studio. Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
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Mac 101: Don't move those files!
Filed under: Mac 101No, this won't be another post where I explain my reasons for loving and ordering the MacBook Air. That will come later when I actually have the MBA in my hands. Until then, I want to pass along a little bit of knowledge I learned while doing Mac consulting many moons ago: many files and folders on your Mac should to be left alone and not moved or thrown away.One particular incident that illustrates this point happened to a user who called me one day saying his entire Microsoft Entourage store of emails, contacts, etc. had just "disappeared" and Entourage had "reset to when it was new." Well, naturally that sounded a bit odd to me so I went over to see what I could do to resolve this little problem.After a bit of searching around I discovered the user had "accidentally" moved a very important folder out of a folder called "Documents" (which is located in his individual "Users" folder) to the Trash. For the win, can you guess which folder he threw in the trash? iI you guessed it was his "Microsoft User Data" folder, you would be correct. Fortunately for this particular user, after moving the folder back where it belonged all was well with Entourage and his data was restored. Let's go over that again, just to be clear. This particular folder, the "Microsoft User Data" folder, is located in your particular "Documents" folder on the hard drive of your computer. Continue reading Mac 101: Don't move those files!Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple's Handy Touch-Up Highlights Touch Shortcomings
In a review of Apple's iPhone, I wrote glowingly about a few features that had nothing to do with making a call. I loved the simple Notes program used to jot reminders you could then e-mail to a friend or your office inbox. Another plus was the ease of e-mailing a photo, the best such application on any device I have used. Well, now I can do those things, plus a few other tricks, on the iPod touch thanks to a substantial software upgrade. The only feature I can't do on the touch that I love on the iPhone is text messaging.
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MacNotables #802: MacNotables at Expo - In the Macworld Podcast Booth with Tonya Engst, Andy Ihnatko, Ted Landau and Friends
In the Macworld.com Podcast Studio, Ted Landau and Chuck Joiner start out alone covering the Macworld Expo keynote and picking some favorite new products, and are are gang-tackled as Tonya Engst, Andy Ihatko and guests Dori Smith and Tom Negrino join them for a discussion of all things Expo. Ted comments on the MacBook Air from a troubleshooting perspective, Tonya applauds the number of products designed for women, Andy talks about why his backpack glitters and a favorite new tripod, Tom and Dori cover a new calendar-sharing utility and Chuck plugs a set of in-ear earphones (no pun intended). Tonya Engst Andy Ihnatko Ted Landau Chuck Joiner Dori Smith Tom Negrino (more…)
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Apple at $135: Low Hanging Fruit
Apple Inc. has enjoyed being a cornerstone of the bull market of recent history. Between July 2006 and the end of 2007, AAPL shares experienced dramatic and impressive price appreciation from about $50 to nearly $200. However, as is true of the market in general, 2008 has not been kind to Apple. At present, Apple is trading just above $130, an almost 35% drop in just over 3 weeks. This selloff has brought Apple shares back into an attractive enough level that it is now on Ockham’s buy list. Apple shares were headed down from their lofty levels before the Macworld conference on January 15th in San Francisco. The annual Macworld event showcases Apple’s newest products for the marketplace to salivate over. However, this year lacked the kind of epic product that makes investors swoon, unlike last year which saw the introduction of the iPhone. Steve Jobs, Apples’ charismatic, visionary leader has not been resting on his laurels, and the ultrathin MacBook Air was introduced weighing just 3 pounds. It was also announced that Apple looks to take a share of the movie rental business, a service that will be available via the iTunes interface and capable to watch on an iPod as well as TV or computer. Apple also announced updates that will improve already existing iPods, iPhones, and Apple TV which should make these products even more desirable. However, without the eye-popping headliner that the iPhone was last year, the devoted fan base was not impressed, and neither were investors as the stock continued to drop in an admittedly weak environment. Then on Wednesday AAPL provide earnings guidance that fell below estimates and this initiated another sell off. Even though the revenue target predicted growth of 29% it was still considered well below what Wall St. expected. It is clear to us that analyst estimates were way out of line with reality. It seems illogical, but Apple has set the bar so high, that if they don’t unveil the sexiest product on the market every year then their Macworld showing is deemed a failure. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the future of Apple Inc. For starters, the stock is almost 35% cheaper than it was a month ago. Furthermore, Apple has developed a multifaceted entertainment and functionality based empire. iPods have revolutionized the music industry and almost single-handedly pushed the industry into a digital age. And they still control over 70% of the market for digital music players. iPhone is on the same path in the rapidly growing smart-phone arena, and Apple expects to meet sales goals of 10 million units by year end 2008. The Apple OS Leopard is selling quite well and is considered by many to be superior to rival Vista. To sum it up, Apple has the products that consumers want, and as seen with the newest software updates, they are constantly striving to improve. They have developed a large, growing, and devoted customer base, many of which own several of Apple products. The company, under the leadership of Jobs, is integrating products to do more for the consumer. Jobs will continue to lead, innovate, integrate, and challenge AAPL’s competitors to live up to its products, and he shows no signs of slowing down. The recent sell-off exposes estimates that were not realistic, but AAPL is now an attractive candidate for those looking for a smart buy.
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This Week's Market Quiz
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Mac OS Ken: 01.25.2008
Analysts: Apple Sell Off Was Silly / ATRs Wu Slashes Apple Target Price by $35 / CNET: iPhone Demand Waning in the States? / Report: Apple Cuts iPhone Production for 2Q / Report: Apple Cuts NAND Orders (Could Lead to NAND Crash) / Computerworld: 10 Reason to Consider Waiting for the Next MacBook Air / IFPI Report: Mixed Messages on Legal Music Downloads / Report: Yahoo in Digital Music Talks / Netflix to Offer Streaming for Mac in 2008 / Mac Turns 24 Yesterday / Mac OS Ken Turns 2 Tomorrow
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Jim Cramer's Mad Money In-Depth, 1/24/08: CSX on the Right Track
Stocks discussed in the in-depth session of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV program, Thursday, January 25. Click on a stock ticker for more analysis:
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USB To Z-Wave Adapter, Houseport software comes to OS X
Filed under: Household Admirers of Macs and Z-Wave have longed for the day in which they could finally use their two dearest loves simultaneously, and thanks to Wayne-Dalton, that day is upon us. The WDUSB-10MAC is hailed as the world's first Z-Wave-enabled home control system "designed specifically for the Mac OS X operating system." Mac users simply plug in the USB dongle, install the bundled Houseport software and go wild creating and managing their home network. When all is said and done, OS X users will be able to "control light switches, appliances, electronics, thermostats and other Z-Wave-enabled devices from their computers or through the internet" -- a feat previously only achievable by booting into Windows. Not too shabby for $87, eh?[Via CEPro] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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1Password 2.5.9 adds Password Strength Meter and more
If you bought the MacHeist bundle this year, you got 1Password and you should be using it. If you didn't buy the MacHeist bundle, it's too late but not like I didn't try to tell you. At USD$29.95, 1Password is still a steal for what it does. How many password protected web services do you use? Dozens? How many of them have pathetically simple passwords based on dictionary words or pet... [read more at MacMerc.com]