Jun 24, 2008 Jun 26, 2008 Wednesday June 25, 2008
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AppleInsider: ‘Apple Memo Coaches Employees on iPhone 3G Launch Questions’
AppleInsider: Should a customer ask whether it’s true that iPhone 3G activation will have to take place in the store, then inquire about buying one without in-store activation, retail staffers should say: “I don’t have any details at this time about activation.” ★
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O2 pay-as-you-go iPhone plans announced, un-announced
Filed under: iPhoneUK mobile provider O2 posted a page earlier today offering the iPhone 3G with a pay-as-you-go plan costing £300 (≈ $593) for the 8GB model, and £360 (≈ $711) for the 16GB model. The plan includes six months of WiFi and browsing. After the first six months, you can purchase browsing and WiFi access for £10 (≈ $20) monthly. The offer is available to all new and upgrading customers who purchase an iPhone 3G with Pay & Go until December 31. The page, however, was taken down moments later, replaced with a page that omitted pricing. Some of the other pages (Tariffs, for example) were not found on the server. Strange. The page says that more information "will be available shortly so come back in a few days." Your conspiracy theories are always welcome in comments. Thanks, Matt, Visa, and Lewis!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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TUAW Tip: What to do when a disk goes bad
Filed under: TUAW TipsWe've all been there. The external disk you bought three or four years ago, which has been working great so far, starts to click. And it's not a good click ... it's the kind of click that gives you the spinning beach ball of death. Poopie. Sounds like it's time to get the data off that disk, and toot sweet, if you pardon my French. You buy a new disk, and you start copying. But then what happens? The Finder throws up an error saying it can't copy a certain file or folder, and it's 20 folders deep in an old archive of client data. The Finder stops the copy, and you have to figure out where the problem is buried, fix it, and try copying again. Meanwhile, seasons pass, civilizations rise and fall, and your fingernails start to grow into your keyboard. Double poopie. So what do you do? Believe it or not, the Terminal can be your friend to quickly copy damaged data, and power through disk errors. The data may still be damaged, but heck if it won't try to copy it somewhere safe. After the jump, find out how to recover your data, and fast.Continue reading TUAW Tip: What to do when a disk goes badRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Apple sends out iPhone 3G "questions" memo to retail stores
Filed under: Retail, iPhoneAccording to AppleInsider, Apple has started issuing memos stressing how to answer questions from customers that might come up between now and the iPhone 3G launch event on July 11th. According to the 3-page memo, there will be no waiting list for the iPhone (wow, this is a "duh" question -- they've never done this for any of their in-store releases). The memo also states what to do if customers ask the dreaded question of "which is better, iPod touch or iPhone 3G?" According to the memo, employees are supposed to tell the customer that the iPhone carries a 2-year contract with AT&T. When asked about iPhone activations, employees are to respond that they "do not have any information at the present time." AppleInsider notes that Apple will be holding a worldwide meeting on July 6 with retail employees (possibly both AT&T and Apple Store) to discuss launch procedures for the iPhone 3G. You can read more about the long memo by clicking the read link below.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iTunes remembers George Carlin
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iTunes Of all the things said about George Carlin over the past few days, I like what Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show most: he's getting awfully tired of people who we need leaving us. But as Stewart also said, the good thing about Carlin is that he left us "hours and hours of video." iTunes has posted a page of George Carlin's famous standup to honor a comedian that I and many, many other comedy fans looked up to for laughter and inspiration.If you need a place to start, the "seven dirty words" monologue is probably the most famous, but Carlin often said that his favorite performance was the "Jammin' in New York" show -- he said it was the first time he'd done longer pieces, and talked about stuff that he really put his heart into (it's actually the show that was used for the Moment of Zen on the Daily Show). Definitely a great listen.Of course, it's probably not quite right that iTunes' system automatically listed "Concert Tickets" as an option on the page. But in the world that Carlin worked his whole life to show us, big companies doing stupid things is nothing new.Thanks, Steve!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Microsoft Delivers Goodies For Older Office Users, Too
Along with Office 2008 updates and announced Macintosh Business Unit hiring, Microsoft has also bestowed blessings upon older Office users (2004) with the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update and version 1.0 of their Open XML File Format Converter for Mac. The Office 2004 update adds enhanced compatibility for documents that are in Open XML Format and fixes an issue where installer was not properly ignoring backup copies of Office that were created by the Time Machine backup tool. Word 2004 has stability improvements and there are fixes for table display and “Page Setup” dialog functionality. Excel has four groups of fixes and improves compatibility when running 2008 and 2004 side-by-side (and copying/pasting data between applications). Running both is not uncommon as the older version of Office still provides VBA support unlike its newer, shinier cousin. PowerPoint has two improvement areas and will be a welcome update for those with large presentations. You can grab the 59 MB update directly from Microsoft. The Open XML Converter allows you to convert Open XML files that were created in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for Windows so that you can open, edit, and save them in earlier versions of Office for Mac. Open XML Converter can convert Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations that are in the Open XML Format so that you can open and edit the files in Office 2004 for Mac and Office v. X for Mac. If you experience problems opening the converter application after you install it, make sure that /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office Converter Support is installed on the startup volume. If it is missing, or if any of the files listed above are missing, try installing the converter application again. If Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac is installed on your computer, you will also find the new fonts installed to either /Library/Fonts/Microsoft or /User/username/Library/Fonts/Microsoft (new fonts include: Cambria, Calibri, Consolas, Constantia, Corbel & Candara). Consolas makes a fairly decent Terminal font, btw. Drop a note in the comments if you make use of either the update or the tool.
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Sequence: Screencasting On AÂ Budget
App4Mac has introduced Sequence 1.0b1 a simple, yet powerful, screen capture/casting application for OS X Leopard. With Sequence, you can very easily capture and save an image or a movie of your screen to your computer's clipboard or to a file in practically any image format (bmp, pict, gif, jpg, png, tiff & pdf). The welcome screen explains most of the functionality pretty well. You can choose between image mode or motion capture mode and select fixed, free selection or full screen mode. Just move the selection area around, resize (if in free selection mode) and capture away. It's that simple. You may select where the image goes (including MobileMe) For movie captures, you have the option of turning on your Mac's microphone (if available) and also including input from your iSight camera (again, if available). You can choose what part of the screen the picture-in-picture display will be placed and all audio will be included (if you chose that option). It saves the output to a Quicktime “.mov” file. “Doodle” mode enables you to make annotations on screen, but options are limited at this point in the beta release. Application preferences are also not fully functional at this time. There are two truly amazing points about the program. First: both modes (image and video capture) work very well, even without binding to the standard capture keys (which is a forthcoming option). Second: it's $9.00 USD with lifetime free upgrades. While it may not have the high end features of similar programs, there is no way you can go wrong with ability to do picture-in-picture screen/app-casting with audiio for nine bucks (which may go up after July 4, 2008, so you might want to grab your copy now). If you do a great deal of screencasting, appcasting or screen image captures, let us know if Sequence is or may become a valuable tool in your workflow processes by dropping a note in the comments.
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Bill Gates on the iTunes Music Store (PDF)
Another 2003 email from Bill Gates, this time about the then-just-launched iTunes Music Store: Steve Jobs’s ability to focus in on a few things that count, get people who get user interface right and market things as revolutionary are amazing things. This time somehow he has applled his talents In getting a better licensing deal than anyone else has gotten fmr music. This one is less amusing but more interesting than the aforelinked Windows usability rant. What’s clear in this one is that Gates was smart enough to recognize immediately that Apple had struck a very good deal with the music labels, and that it put Microsoft in a bad spot. (Remember that at this time, iTunes was Mac-only; the Windows version didn’t appear for another six months.) His description of what happened, what Apple did, why this is bad for Microsoft, it’s all spot-on. But Gates doesn’t know what to do in response. Five years later, the iTunes Store has sold five billion songs, and Microsoft still doesn’t have an answer. ★
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Apple's Successor
So I've been asked about 50 times since Steve took the stage at the Developer's Conference - is Steve Jobs sick? This has become a big deal - if he's not well, who will carry the flame at Apple? I think Steve is fine, BTW, and I asked this question before on my April fools blog post, and now Fortune Magazine has done a pretty good review of the possible insiders in line for such a post. From a marketing standpoint, Apple knows it has impossible shoes to fill and silence on that front is the best response. I want to give credit to Steve for personally saving Apple in 1997 (by firing most of the Apple Board, focusing on better marketing, demanding people's best efforts, and creating better products) Recognize though that those efforts (and others) have now built Apple into an incredibly healthy company that can weather a transition to a new CEO. The now 11 year-old culture that Steve built is ready to thrive with or without him. That said, I think the next CEO should share the same first name as Jobs and Wozniak and so I throw my hat in the ring. UPDATE: June 26th. Investor's Business Daily had another take on the above story today. I agree with them that a team is needed to replace Steve. It's rare to find someone who is visionary, a true leader and can execute.
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Red Sweater Makes Easy Work Of Black & White Squares With 1.1.1Â Update
Red Sweater software (makers of the most excellent MarsEdit blogging tool) released 1.1.1 of Black Ink, your one-stop source for all things crossword puzzle-related. Black Ink makes it easy to download free puzzles from sites like the New York Times & Wall Street Journal and 1.1.1 has added the Boston Globe & Little Rock Daily Record to its source list (and has removed the Washington Post). Print output (to printer or PDF) has been greatly improved to near typesetting quality with many tweaks and enhancements to the overall layout of each element. There are also some bug-fixes in the mix as well. One of the core features of Black Ink is the ability to actually help solve crosswords, which should be a boon to anyone who is captivated by these puzzles but is often left stuck. For true aficionados, there are numerous features hidden beneath the surface. You can jump instantly to any clue simply by typing its number, or right-click to enter multiple letters and even start a timer if you plan on getting ready for some serious competition. The program really is easy to use and makes solving hard crossword puzzles much easier. I'm seriously hoping for an iPhone/iPod Touch version, either just as a solving aid or being able to do crosswords on the device. As it stands, Daniel has plans for even more printing enhancements, including mechanisms for adjusting print size and accommodating you left-handers out there. There is a 30-day free trial with the full version priced at $24.95. Downloads are compatible with OS X Tiger (10.4) or Leopard (10.5). If you use Black Ink, let TAB readers know what your experiences have been in the comments.
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Microsoft Stabilizes Office 2008 & Is Taking Names
On June 24th, Microsoft released Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.1 Update which included numerous fixes to stability & performance. This is almost a mandatory update as it addresses significant bugs in almost all Office components. Users experiencing crashes in all Office applications will be glad to know that this has been fixed across the board and Microsoft has also fixed a date issue in charts displayed in Word & PowerPoint. Six issue areas were corrected or improved in Word 2008 specifically, many of which are conversion-related (between various Word versions) and one involved a macro-glitch may have had a nasty impact in a multi-platform shop (as it lay waste to VBA macros in some circumstances). Eight groups of issues in Excel 2008 have been addressed including a formula bug that you may not have even noticed (formulas were not executed properly under a few scenarios). PowerPoint 2008 is not nearly as sluggish as it has been and you can more confidently sleep/wake your Mac with Entourage 2008 running. The Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Update (12.1.0) must be installed on the computer before you install the Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.1 Update. The 153 MB installer is available now from Microsoft via direct download or through their local software update service (that is installed with Office 2008). I have downloaded and installed the update with no ill after effects and can confirm that PowerPoint is noticeably speedier. Looking For A Few Good Macophiles Microsoft is also expanding its commitment to Mac products and is on a hiring frenzy. They are in search of candidates for multiple roles including Program Managers, Developers, Testers, User Experience, and Marketing, primarily in Redmond and Silicon Valley. You can send your resume to macjobs@microsoft.com if you are interested. This is your chance to make a difference if you are a fit for any of the open positions. If you have loaded the update, let us know your experience in the comments and if you successfully land a job, definitely drop us a note!
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WWDC '08: Justin Williams and Today 1.2
Filed under: Software, WWDC, DeveloperSecond Gear's Justin Williams released Today 1.2, um ... today. Justin (also known for PocketTweets) says he's shooting for a release every month -- just to keep things lively -- but he's managed to pack some big upgrades in despite the tight timeframe. You'll find a few nice UI tweaks and some massive date selection improvements, along with further incorporation of Leopard's own Mail and iCal. I interviewed Justin at WWDC, and he demonstrated the current-at-the-time incarnation of Today for me, but before I got the video uploaded he'd already added new features and asked if he could send me some updated footage. I took him up on it, and edited together a screencast of the latest update with a conversation from last week. That's right, let's do the time warp (again). Speaking of time warps, I'll have to ask Justin how he got June confused with November ... that'll make more sense after the jump. [Viddler Link|QuickTime Version]Continue reading WWDC '08: Justin Williams and Today 1.2Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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WWDC '08: Jeff Mancuso (Magnetk)
Filed under: WWDC, Interviews, DeveloperExpanDrive made a pretty good stir when it was released. If you haven't seen it, it's an application that allows remote SFTP servers to be mounted (using MacFUSE) and used seamlessly as part of the filesystem. We've been following it as it develops and I wanted a chance to talk to its developers about what's up next. I caught up with Jeff Mancuso of Magnetk last week and did just that. I found out where Amazon S3 plans are at, and what ExpanDrive has to offer Flickr, Facebook and other web applications. The video (after the jump) is very nicely lit, too, just for you. [Viddler Link|QuickTime Version]Continue reading WWDC '08: Jeff Mancuso (Magnetk)Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Keep your iPhone from losing its cookies
Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, iPhoneI've been getting more and more frustrated with the fact that every time I load up Google Reader on my iPhone, I have to log in again. I tried it with and without my 1Password bookmarklet, checked my javascript and cookie settings, all to no avail. And it's not just Reader, everywhere I turn, I'm logging in again. It was with great relief that I discovered the cure. iRemember is a lightweight hack that makes a few tweaks and tells you it's "safe to uninstall" before Installer even finishes cleaning up. Do you have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch with a foggy memory? Add http://repo.ispazio.net to your sources in Installer, refresh and search for iRemember. Your favorite web apps will give you a much warmer welcome. [via Lifehacker]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Top Ten Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts
With the release of Firefox 3, I thought I would share my top ten Firefox shortcuts. So without further ado, here they are: ⌘ + l = focus address bar ⌘ + d = bookmark current page ⌘ + k = focus google search bar ⌘ + f = find ⌘ + g = find next ⌘ + t = new tab ⌘ + w = close current tab ⌘ + shift + t = reopen accidentally closed tab (Best one ever!) crtl + tab = tab through tabs crtl + shift + tab = tab backwards through tabs Bonus for Delicious Extension users: ⌘ + Shift + . = pulls delicious page if you have delicious firefox extension installed Be sure to checkout our Browser Shortcut Cheat Sheet for a comprehensive listing of shortcuts for both Firefox and Safari.
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Winter Beach Holiday
The marking is all done, the students are spread to the four winds for semester break, school holidays are upon us. Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; (Then people long to go on pilgrimages and pilgrims to seek strange shores far-off shrines, known in sundry lands;) In short, we are off to the beach house for the winter break, as Geoffrey Chaucer recommends. Log fires, walks on the windy beach, books, Shiraz, S'mores, the complete boxed set of West Wing DVDs. No broadband. See you again in ten days or so. Tags: beach, not apple mail, not mail.app, personal, real life Related posts Moving house… Getting back into the groove Zimbra launches Desktop client Yojimbo and EagleFiler updates WordPress update not as smooth as hoped
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Snow Leopard’s shrinking mail.app: Mystery solved
Someone, who seems to have some personal knowledge of Snow Leopard, claims to have solved the mystery of Snow Leopard's shrinking mail.app. In a post that details the various myths doing the rounds on the shrinking apps—no PPC code (false!), smaller binaries (false!), missing language files (false!)—the writer spills the beans: When you look in Mail.app you see that language files use up most of the disc space. Inside the language folder (e.g. “German.lprojâ€?) are a lot of .nib files (the extension of Interface Builder). Inside normally are two files. One is a very small “keyedobjects.nibâ€? and the other is very big “designable.nibâ€? file… Now the “designable.nibâ€? is gone. It seems like it had no reason other than to give hackers a chance to mess with the application’s UI design. I guess he is referring to these two files which are inside each (c. 84) folder within every (18) lproj localisation folder, as in this example from the English.lproj GeneralPreferences.nib folder: Perhaps this is as false an explanation as all the others. Still, it has enough specifics, specifics that only someone with access to a build of Snow Leopard could know, to lend the story credence. Tags: Apple, Apple Mail, interface, mac osx, mail.app, nib files, snow leopard Related posts Why Apple Mail makes Leander smile Snow Leopard Mail.app to be two thirds smaller! New .Mac mail interface is here Mail.app on Mac trumps Ubuntu hands down Hacking Mail.app's interface
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Macworld’s Massive Mail.app Mélange
MacWorld seems to be heaving with articles of interest to Mail.app users today. Kelly Turner kicks things off with a confession about her bulging inbox, its 35,000 emails and the level of self-deception involved in telling herself that her system was working: …I often lost track of messages that still needed to be dealt with. As new messages arrived and older ones disappeared from my screen, I seldom thought to scroll down to see what was still unread. And although I’d developed elaborate coping mechanisms (using colors and flags and searches to identify messages) simply having an ocean of e-mail in front of me made the process of answering and checking e-mail seem like a Herculean task. This forms a nice segue to the first part of Joe Kissel's three-part “email renovation” series. He begins with a series of tips on reducing the amount of traffic that comes into your inbox in the first place—dealing with spam, all those hilarious joke-a-minute emails that your friends and family insist on circulating, learning what belongs in Mail.app and what belongs in iChat and more. Part Two is on “Meet your new filing system”. I'll be amazed if it doesn't mention Mail Act-on and MailTags , the two premier organisational plugins for Mail.app. If you can't wait for Joe's next installment you can browse through past posts of mine (one, two, three) on getting things done with Mail Act-on and MailTags. Or read them now and see how much better Joe's tips are when he posts them! Joe also takes the chance to put up some links to articles he wrote in February 2007 on “clearing away the clutter” in your inbox. Anything by Joe is worth the time spent reading it. These are no exception. Finally, Joe has written a piece on coming to grips with notes and to-dos in Leopard Mail. He offers some smart tips on moving your calenders and to-dos to an IMAP account. However, be sure to read the comments as well and see what problems people are having with getting iCal to behave. Tags: Apple Mail, email, getting things done, gtd, iCal, inbox zero, life-balance, mail.app, Productivity Related posts Productivity tips for profit and pleasure OmniFocus GTD app goes into public beta Mail.app/iCal/kGTD/DEVONthink Pro to get things done Mail.app without folders (or tears) Mail.app and Getting Things Done
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Mac OS Ken: 06.25.2008
Apple Brings TV Shows to iTunes Australia / iSuppli: iPhone Costs Apple $173 to Build / Apple Added to Suit Over Touch Screen Computing / iPod Tax for Spain Starts July 1st / Nokia Announces Plans to Acquire Symbian / Nokia Targets iPhone with New Phones, Entertainment Deals / Harris Interactive: Apple 19th in âReputation Quotientâ / Mercedes-Benz: iPhone Integration in New Models
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XP’s window is about to close
Need Windows to run on your Intel-powered Mac via Fusion or Parallels? Then now’s the time to buy Windows XP before it disappears from retail shelves.