Aug 11, 2008 Aug 13, 2008 Tuesday August 12, 2008
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Fire Reported at Apple Campus
According to ABC News 7 in San Francisco, a fire has broken out at the Apple Campus in Cupertino. A building is burning at 2705 #6 Valley Green Dr. The fire started at approximately 10:30 p.m. It is a three-alarm fire. An Apple representative isexpected to give an official comment soon. We'll keep you updated as this story develops. read more
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Portable USA PU-10WE Digital Picture Frame
The cherry wood frame is interchangeable for black wood, depending on your home décor. read more
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Best Buy to sell iPhone 3G starting next month
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds And now for the irony: it'll be no better a buy than what you can find at ye olde Apple or AT&T store. Best Buy officially becomes the first third-party retailer in the US to sell the iPhone in an official capacity -- 3G or otherwise -- when it launches the iPhone 3G in some 970 stores plus an additional 18 dedicated Mobile locations on September 7 for the same $199 and $299 price points found elsewhere. Quoth Best Buy Mobile's CEO, "We had a lot of work to do, obviously, to get in a position where Apple and AT&T would feel good about Best Buy Mobile carrying it, and that's what we've done in the last 18 months." In other words, this has been a pretty persistent effort to score the third-party exclusive essentially since the original model was announced, and it's just now paying off. There's no indication on how the addition of Best Buy to the US sales mix will affect production or distribution, but at least there'll be one more place to try to find some frickin' stock.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Jean-Louis GassĂ©e Returns from Obscurity… to Talk About MobileMe
Daniel Eran Dilger MobileMe has attracted more vulture critics than Apple TV, the last product Apple launched without immediately earning billions of dollars from it. Joining the frothing dogpile of critics who can't get in enough edgewise on the bumpy rollout of MobileMe is none other than Jean-Louis GassĂ©e. Who? Oh yes, him. The Infamous JLG. In the early 80s, GassĂ©e was the manager of Apple France. John Sculley brought him to Cupertino to replace Steve Jobs in 1985 after wrestling away control of the company that Jobs had founded with Steve Wozniak a decade earlier in 1976. Sculley and GassĂ©e then took the phenomenally successful Apple empire of the mid 80s, crafted from the idealistic, early 20-something visions of Jobs the marketer and Wozniak the technical genius, and pointed it toward the ground, sending the company into a frightful trajectory that nearly resulted in its complete destruction within the next ten years. While much of Apple's early 90s failure can be pinned on âI Was A Terrible Managerâ Sculley, GassĂ©e contributed his own fingerprints of disaster. It was GassĂ©e who ridiculed Jobs' strategy for marketing âthe Macintosh Officeâ to businesses, referring to it as âthe Mac orifice.â GassĂ©e also refused to license Apple's technology or to partner with vendors to expand the Mac experience outside of Apple's niche markets. The GassĂ©e Way: High Prices, Low Innovation. Following Sculley's leadership of tacking a $500 marketing tax on top of the $1995 price of the original Macintosh, which had been set as low as possible by Jobs and his engineers, GassĂ©e replaced Jobs' vision for bringing âinsanely greatâ technologies to the mainstream with an effort to idly profiteer from the intellectual property Apple already held. Between 1986 and 1990, while Jobs' independent NeXT developed and delivered a high performance, UNIX-based workstation with advanced development frameworks and innovative hardware features that pushed the state of the art, Apple's Macintosh group under the direction of GassĂ©e only made incremental updates to the same old technology, and then sold its machines at prices higher than NeXT was charging! By the time GassĂ©e bailed from Apple in 1990 to start his own company as Jobs had done, Apple's only affordable Mac was the Mac Classic, a pathetically recycled version of the five year old Mac Plus. The Mac IIfx was being sold as its $12,000 high end workstation, but it was still running the same crippled classic Mac OS from the early 80s and used an 030 processor. By that time, NeXT was already selling an 040 in the NeXTcube for less, which also offered the option of an Intel i860-powered NeXTdimension board for handling futuristic 32-bit PostScript color and video sampling. NeXT didn't have a low cost model because Sculley's Apple had sued the company to prevent it from entering the consumer market in competition with Apple. Platform Crisis: The Lazy Dinosaur 4 1990-1995: NeXT, Be, and the Mac PC Newton Rising: Is the Next iPhone Device a G3 MessagePad? Byte's original NeXT review GassĂ©e's Plan Be. After slashing Apple's tendons and leaving it to slowly bleed to death, GassĂ©e left to start Be, Inc. The company developed a nice looking interface for a hobbyist system running oddball hardware. It then copied Apple's PowerPC architecture before moving to a platform based on Intel-standard PCs. However, between 1991 and 1996, Be was unable to reach beyond offering an early developer preview of its new operating system. It demonstrated some new ideas, but lacked even a basic printing architecture and had no provision for a multiuser security model. NeXT had developed a far superior operating system and set of development frameworks in a much shorter period of time, and had matched the transition to PowerPC (and several other architectures) and then Intel. By that time however, the Sculley-GassĂ©e mutilation of Apple in the late 80s had resulted in the rise of an opportunistic, malignant boil on the computing landscape. Just like Australia's rabbit plague or Jim Henson's fatal 'flesh eating bacteria' strep infection, the wild landscape and creative potential of personal computing was overrun and destroyed by the scourge of Microsoft's soulless Windows PC. There was apparently no longer any room for innovation in the PC world, thanks to Sculley's opening of Pandora's Box (by handing Microsoft a free license to most of Apple's Mac-related intellectual property) and GassĂ©e's efforts to make sure that Apple didn't open its own. It was GassĂ©e who pulled the plug on Apple's partnership with Apollo to create Unix workstations with the Mac OS interface, and it was his decision to rebuff AT&T's advances toward licensing the Mac human interface for its systems. Microsoft didn't earn the Windows monopoly; it was simply handed it by the incompetence of Sculley and GassĂ©e after the duo ignored Bill Gates' suggestions on how to promote the platform. Steve Jobs and 20 Years of Apple Servers Undoing the Sculley-GassĂ©e Crisis. In its last gasps of breath in 1996, the old Apple briefly considered buying GassĂ©e's BeOS before realizing that Jobs' NeXT operating system was vastly superior, already proven in the enterprise market, and could easily run on existing PowerPC Mac OS systems because of its inherent portability. After acquiring NeXT, it took Apple another six years to commercially rerelease it as a mainstream operating system in Mac OS X, and it has taken nearly another six years for the media to recognize the new significance of a Mac platform based on NeXT's technology. Apple's Macs are now profitably selling with a regular 40% growth year over year, despite the overall PC industry barely finding 4% growth and while many PC makers are losing money. Apple has since parleyed it technology into Apple TV as a set top box and the iPhone and iPod touch as a new mobile platform. GassĂ©e's own Be, Inc. was bought out by Palm and went nowhere. He now serves as a partner at venture capital firm Allegis Capital. Having poked the computing industry in the eye, GassĂ©e might be expected to live out his term quietly. Instead, he has resurfaced to squawk about MobileMe, and actually makes some interesting points amid his long winded, âwhite man in a suitâ corporate-speak (and apparently ghost written) blog entry. Can Apple Take Microsoft in the Battle for the Desktop? SCO, Linux, and Microsoft in the History of OS: 1990s Cocoa and the Death of Yellow Box and Rhapsody Patting the Back Once Stabbed. GassĂ©e's blog entry on MobileMe makes mine look short and to the point. He starts off by musing, âdoubts linger: Is Apple able to run a worldwide wireless data synchronization service for tens of millions of users?â After weary paragraphs that drag on for seemingly hours about nothing, GassĂ©e observes: âApple 'pushes' somewhere between 100 and 200 megabytes of [Mac OS X Software] updates per month to each Mac user. Last week, the iPhone 2.0.1 update was announced, I connected two iPhones within minutes, the 200Mb files were downloaded and installed without a hitch and I havenât heard any blogosphere complaints on the matter. iTunes has sold billions of songs, serves tens of millions of customers everyday and everything works with very few exceptions. In other words, some very large scale Apple systems do work.â GassĂ©e then noted, âlast week, parts of the Gmail service were down for 15 hours or so. Last month, Amazonâs respected Web Services went down. And, last year, RIMâs servers went down for about half a day in the Western Hemisphere, freaking out Wall Street investment bankers and management consultants. Even the best players must endure their share of false notes.â âBack to MobileMe today: if you ask subscribers whoâve never experienced a Blackberryâs smooth delivery of sync, they love MobileMe. It works, itâs easy to set up and in the simple (most frequent) case of a PC/Mac with an iPhone, it does the wireless (OTA, Off The Air) sync job as now advertised. Weâll see how this scales once iPhones are sold in 21 more countries, 43 total starting August 22nd.â GassĂ©e's final three paragraphs are remarkably relevant and astute. It's too bad he didn't just publish them alone, as most readers probably couldn't make it down the page that far to ever see them. Launchpad Chicken: MobileMe and Sync Trouble | Monday Note Faith in Jobs Means Forgiving JLG. Now that Apple is back in its leadership position thanks to Jobs' miraculous powers of corporate resurrection, we can forget about the whole âwho-killed-what and left us with Windows.â It's too bad that the last fifteen years were tainted by a dominant third rate platform that introduced malware, viruses, spyware, and adware and undid much of the work that early Apple engineers did to usher in a classy, consistent and attractive user interface, but that's all in the past now. JLG, you may have forced me into a pitiful career arc that involved supporting Windows through most of my youth, but the sweetness of the current Apple world is even easier to appreciate after having experienced the pestilent famine of a lack innovation and class in the Windows heyday that you kicked off while illegitimately standing in Jobs' shoes. I can't exactly thank you for that, but consider your sins forgiven. I might occasionally write them up again here and there however, but only for the purposes of historical interest. It's nothing personal. Did you like this article? Let me know. Comment here, in the Forum, or email me with your ideas. Like reading RoughlyDrafted? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, and subscribe to my podcast (oh wait, I have to fix that first). It's also cool to submit my articles to Digg, Reddit, or Slashdot where more people will see them. Consider making a small donation supporting this site. Thanks!
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Best Buy to sell iPhones in September
Move makes Best Buy the first national retail chain outside of Apple and carrier AT&T to offer the wildly popular device.
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Best Buy Will Starting Selling iPhones in September
The Associated Press: Best Buy Co. will start selling the iPhone on Sept. 7, becoming first U.S. chain to do so outside of Apple Inc.’s and AT&T Inc.’s own stores. â
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Terminal Tip: Burning a disc
Filed under: Hardware, Terminal Tips, TUAW Tips Are you a Terminal geek (or wannabe, but not the pop star type)? If so, did you know that you can burn discs right from the Terminal window with a simple command and a drag/drop? Just enter the following command followed by the path to a folder or disk image: drutil burn filehere Don't type the "filehere" -- that's where you put the path to the file/folder that you wish to burn. You can either type the location manually or drag and drop the file onto the Terminal window. But that's not all you can do with drutil; you can also eject media from the optical drive by typing "drutil eject." To see all of the available drutil options, just type in drutil for a quick list or man drutil for a full description.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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MobileChat now available in the App Store
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App StoreToday Twenty08 released a new instant messaging client for the iPhone/iPod touch. MobileChat (iTunes Link) allows you to connect to multiple IM services, including: AIM/ICQ/.Mac/MobileMe Windows Live/MSN Yahoo GTalk Jabber In many ways, this application for the iPhone looks like a cross between Adium and AIM for iPhone. This application is feature rich, allowing you to take and send images or IM a phone number from any of your 10 supported IM accounts, Most notably, MobileChat allows you to use Apple's forthcoming "Push Notification" system for notifications when the application is closed. This feature is built into this release, but will not be active until Apple "flips the switch." You can download MobileChat today from the App Store for $2.99 (USD).[via MacRumors]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Found Footage: Misleading iPhone ads?
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Found Footage, iPhone A slight kerfuffle has kicked up in the last few days about whether Apple's iPhone 3G advertising is too misleading. 37Signals raised the complaint that a recent iPhone 3G ad (YouTube link) set up false expectations, as it shows an iPhone loading a web page, finding a location on Google Maps, and downloading an attachment at lightning speed. Now comes this nice side by side demonstration video as embedded above.What do you think? Is this false advertising on Apple's part, or should everyone just know that TV ads are always unrealistic?[via DF/Gizmodo]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Logitech MX Air Reviewed: All Air is Twice the Fun
Looking for a new mouse (rechargeable and cordless of course) or a new remote control for your media-prolific Mac? How about both in one package? Get your mousing off the ground with Logitech's MX Air. Find out if this mouse performs as well off the desktop as it does on in our review of this new, multi-talented peripheral.
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News: Best Buy to begin selling iPhone Sept. 7
Best Buy will become the first independent retailer of the iPhone in the U.S. when it begins selling the iPhone 3G across 970 full-size stores and 16 Best Buy Mobile locations on September 7, reports the Associated Press. “We had a lot of work to do, obviously, to get in a position where Apple and AT&T would feel good about Best Buy Mobile carrying it, and that's what we've done in the last 18 months,” said Shawn Score,…
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Best Buy to sell iPhones soon
The Apple Store and AT&T stores soon won't be the only places you can stand in line to buy an iPhone: Best Buy, the nation's ...
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Microsoft Office 2008 updated to version 12.1.2
Filed under: SoftwareEarlier today, Microsoft released the 12.1.2 update to Microsoft Office 2008, downloadable via MS Software Update and from the MS website. The 160 MB update requires Office 12.1.1 and, in addition to security fixes, resolves several bugs. The hit list includes two of my personal annoyances: Word's sluggish launch speed and Entourage's insistence on truncating URLs after the ampersand character. The full list of changes is in the continuation of this post.Installed the update? Let us know if you see any dramatic performance changes, gotchas or improvements.Thanks to Erik Schwiebert for the heads-up (and best wishes from TUAW for a speedy recovery).Continue reading Microsoft Office 2008 updated to version 12.1.2Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iPhone 3G will be coming to Best Buy in September (Updated)
Best Buy's relationship with Apple has been improving over the last couple of years. All those friendship bracelets have apparently paid off, too, because the big box retailer will allegedly begin selling the iPhone 3G in almost a thousand locations come this September. Read More...
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Because Theyâre Spiteful Small-Minded Idiots Who Hate Their Own Customers
The number two item in PC World’s “11 Things We Hate About iTunes” list is “DRM (Boo!)”: iTunes gave us the 99-cent song download, thus paving the way for honest people to buy music at a fair price. So why does the iTunes Store still employ digital rights management (DRM) for the majority of songs in its library? Blaming the record labels no longer holds water: AmazonMP3 and Rhapsody are among a growing number of services selling DRM-free MP3s from all the major labels, not just EMI. At least iTunes no longer charges extra for the latter’s “iTunes Plus” selections, but why hasn’t Apple given DRM the heave-ho once and for all? Because the music labels (other than EMI) won’t let them. â
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Updates for Office 2004 and 2008 improve security
Microsoft has released updates for Mac Office 2004 and 2008 that plug a critical security hole. Office 2008 also received numerous improvements and fixes.Read More...
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Microsoft Updates Office 2008 For Mac To 12.1.2, Office 2004 for Mac to 11.5.1
The fine folks in Redmond have released Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 update which includes stability and performance enhancements for Office 2008, Office 2008 Home and Student Edition, Office 2008 Special Media Edition, Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, and Entourage 2008. In addition, this fixes several vulnerabilities, some of which may allow an attacker to run code on your machine if you open malicious document. The download is 160MB and is available at the aforementioned URL (English direct download here) or via the Microsoft AutoUpdate agent. Microsoft has stated that you should have installed the 12.1.1 Update prior to installing 12.1.2. In similar fashion, Office 2004 has been updated to 11.5.1 which also has security, stability and performance fixes for Office 2004 Standard Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Office 2004 Professional Edition, Word 2004, Excel 2004, PowerPoint 2004 and Entourage 2004. The 15MB download (English direct) is available via similar channels as the Office 2008 update. Microsoft has stated that you should have installed the 11.5.0 Update prior to installing 11.5.1. For what it's worth: no problems on my end for Office 12.1.2, but I have not had an opportunity to do extensive testing. Since these updates do include security fixes (have I mentioned just how annoying it is when vendors mix security patches with other fixes?) you should install this immediately (after testing, if you're in a more formal/larger production/working environment). AutoUpdate should engage at some point today (it has not been populated as of this writing) and the direct links to the info-pages have not percolated to all of Microsoft's web farm yet. Let TAB readers know your post-update praises or woes in the comments!
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Yahoo vetting Biondi, Chapple for Icahn's board seats - report
SAN FRANCISCO (Marketwatch) -- Yahoo Inc. is preparing to name two new members nominated by billionaire activist Carl Icahn to its board of directors by the end of the week, according to a report late Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.
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iPhone-Optimized Google Translate
Terrific web site for the iPhone. â
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Stocks to Watch: Stocks in focus for Wednesday
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Wednesday's session are Deere & Co., Macy's Inc., and Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc.
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TextExpander defeats its Spinning Beach Ball of Death!
It usually makes me cringe to post news about a product while a previous story about it is still on our front page. I don't have that feeling as I write this particular post about TextExpander because in the 2.4 update posted today, SmileOnMyMac defeated the programs Spinning Beach Ball of Death--an achievement worthy of a second post. As previously stated, TextExpander saves you time and typing by allowing you to replace commonly entered text with simple, customized abbreviations. I love TextExpander and the only thing that ever made me hesitant about insisting it be used by every Mac user is that clicking its menu bar would frequently result in the summoning of the Spinning Beach Ball or Death. Now, not only does the menu bar respond immediately, but you can navigate it from the keyboard. TextExpander sells for USD$29.95 and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or higher.
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Aug. 12 'Macsimum Podcast' now available
Posted by Dennis SellersThe Macsimum Podcast for Aug. 12 is now available here and the RSS feed is here.
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Cinema 4D R11 re-engineered for Leopard
Posted by Dennis SellersMaxon has unveiled Cinema 4D Release 11 (R11), the next generation of its 3D animation software suite. It will go on sale next month. Pricing starts at US$895.
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Silly accessories: The Steve Jobs iPhone dock
Filed under: Accessories, Analysis / Opinion, Humor, iPod Family, iPhoneThis thing is right up there with the iPod sex toy and toilet paper dispenser. The Steve Jobs iPhone Dock features a plastic bobble-head doll of Mr. Jobs, gesturing elegantly (as elegantly as a plastic doll can gesture) towards your docked and charging iPhone. Unlike many cool bobble-head dolls (including those that are life-sized), this thing says, "I'm a fanboy of legendary status." Expect your friends to treat you accordingly.Originally intended to be a one-off piece, the scuptor has put four up for sale on Ebay. Impress your geek friends and scare away potential dates with one of your own.Other Apple-inspired oddities include a 60x optical zoom lens for the iPhone camera iLidz, which is a hat-based multimedia viewer for the iPhone/iPod touch The R2D2 projector (a steal at $2500) And finally, this list would be incomplete without the KNG iPod DJ Dock. Oh, yeah.[Via MacUser]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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SoundMeter turns the iPhone into a handheld sound level meter
Posted by Dennis SellersFaber Acoustical has released the SoundMeter, which turns an iPhone or iPod touch into a handheld sound level meter. It's available for US$19.99 at the Apple App Store.
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Evernote 1.2 for iPhone kills 1.0 bugs
A new version of Evernote's "digital brain" iPhone client fixes many of 1.0's launch bugs. With the new ability to edit existing notes and a completely redesigned audio recorder, Evernote is becoming one of the best iPhone apps yet.Read More...
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Mac 101: Spotlight, your application-launching pal
Filed under: Mac 101More Mac 101, our series of tips and tricks for new and returning Mac users. Love it or hate it, Spotlight's ubiquitous search has changed the Mac OS X experience; quick and (mostly) reliable full-text indexing is now part of the landscape. It's not just for finding files, however; did you know that Spotlight makes a handy application launcher too?You can launch most any application by hitting the Spotlight hotkey (â-Space by default), then typing the first few letters of the application's name. Chances are it will be the "top hit" for your search, so go ahead and hit Return or Enter to launch it immediately. This approach doesn't have the power-user moxie of third-party launchers like QuickSilver, Butler or LaunchBar, but it's helpful for applications that don't live in your Dock when you want to reach them quickly.If you've got ideas, suggestions or questions on the Mac 101 front, just let us know below.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Steve Jobs on âConcept Carsâ
Speaking of Apple and “concept designs”, here’s an apt bit from Lev Grossman’s 2005 “How Apple Does It” profile for Time magazine: Ask Apple CEO Steve Jobs about it, and he’ll tell you an instructive little story. Call it the Parable of the Concept Car. “Here’s what you find at a lot of companies,” he says, kicking back in a conference room at Apple’s gleaming white Silicon Valley headquarters, which looks something like a cross between an Ivy League university and an iPod. “You know how you see a show car, and it’s really cool, and then four years later you see the production car, and it sucks? And you go, What happened? They had it! They had it in the palm of their hands! They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory! “What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers, and the engineers go, ‘Nah, we can’t do that. That’s impossible.’ And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people, and they go, ‘We can’t build that!’ And it gets a lot worse.” (Thanks to Scott Stevenson.) â
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Developer Aims to Unlock iPhone's VoIP Potential
The iPhone-using world just got a shot in the arm for VoIP communication. Global IP Solutions has announced support for application developers for VoIP-based utilities running on the iPhone -- which means that actual VoIP calling might not be far off. In simple terms, VoIP lets a phone make calls using the Internet as the delivery backbone rather than a regular telecom service. Some cell phones have the ability to make VoIP calls via a wireless Internet connection.
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Apple software updates for Aug. 12
Posted by Dennis SellersMacvide has updated their VideoFlash Converter, a video to Flash conversion utility for Mac OS X, to version 1.7. It's a maintenance update with some bug fixes and performance tweaks.
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'Macsimum Recommended Reading' for Aug. 12
Posted by Dennis Sellers“A very bad experience at the Apple Store Walnut Creek: My name is Patrice Calligaris. I'm the CEO of a french software company named app4mac.com. I'm writing this opinion at news4mac.com to explain my case and complain about Apple service. ”—App4Mac
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NetNanny's parental controls come to the Mac
If you're a parent of a Mac-using kid and you want to be able to impose more technological limitations on your kids' surfing than what Apple gives you, ContentWatch has released NetNanny for the Mac. Hopefully (for you, not them), they won't learn how to get around it.Read More...
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Nvidia announces mixed financial results
Posted by Dennis SellersNvidia, which makes graphics cards for some Mac models, has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2009—and they could be better. Revenue decreased to US$892.7 million compared to $935.3 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2008, a decrease of five percent.
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Can Appstore Downloads Generate Real Revenue for Apple?
In politics, or even for the reign of a new CEO, one hundred and eighty days are the usual benchmark for the first measurements of achievement. In the consumer electronics world, with the instant gratification generation of the Internet driving things, the pace is far quicker. It's been only a month since Apple (AAPL) unveiled the iPhone 3G to the world but measurements are flowing. And like a blockbuster movie touting weekend box office tallies to sustain momentum, Apple too is shrewdly using the press to maintain and build buzz for the phone.
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T-Mobile Netherlands puts reception issues on Apple
In a corporate blog posting, T-Mobile has told iPhone 3G users in the Netherlands that a hardware or software issue is to blame for the reception problems they have experienced.
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Apple Gazette Daily 324 - iPhone 3G problems, MobileMe problems, and Singapore!
podcast sponsor link:Click Here to check out Blogflux Groups! Today's Show: iPhone 3G problems, MobileMe problems, and Singapore! 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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Refurbished iPods, iPod Touches, and Nanos at the Apple Store
Apple is offering current generation refurbished iPod classics in two configurations at discounted prices. The 80Gb model is $179 and will hold up to 20,000 songs, and the 160GB model is running $279 with a capacity to hold 40,000 songs. Both models are available in silver or black and come with Apple earbuds, a USB cable, and a dock adapter. The iPod Touch is also available in an 8GB model for $199, a 16GB model for $299, and a 32GB model for $399. 8GB Nanos are available for $149 in silver, blue green, black, and pink as well.
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Clipboard Evolved: Mac OS X clipboard manager
Posted by Dave MertenMach Software Design has announced Clipboard Evolved. Clipboard Evolved makes it fun and easy to manage all your important data. Unlike most clipboard managers, Clipboard Evolved features both a beautiful clipboard window and a menu for easy access to all your important data. There's many ways to get data into...
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News: App Store Finds: iDrum, 2008 Olympics, GTS World Racing, Dice
iZotrope has introduced the first of its iDrum series of beat creation applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. iDrum allows users to access professional sound content and patterns to create their own music. Users can tap virtual pads to create rhythms, shake the handset to clear patterns, and use slide and flick gestures to navigate the interface. According to the developer, a special combination application will also be available to turn created…
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Yazsoft releases ShareTool: access your Bonjour services from anywhere
Posted by Dave MertenShareTool is one of the fastest, easiest, and most secure ways to access all of your Bonjour services from anywhere in the world. No server or technical skills required. Just a simple mouse click. Also works with VPN connections. For anyone that's been itching to get Bonjour working over VPN,...
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Podcast #51: App Store Download Report, Bonjour Bookmarks and We're Not Rich
Steve Reports that the iTunes App Store has generated $30 million in sales and 60 million downloads. I Am Rich is downloaded by eight, hopefully, rich folks and Ray suggests we create our own app for the upper middle class. read more
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The Lessons From the Kindle's Success
An analyst now estimates Amazon.com will sell 380,000 of its Kindle e-book readers this year and it may have a $1 billion business from Kindle by 2010. The lesson of this: just as there is a wide range of tastes in books, different electronics will appeal to different people.
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Creative Inspirations debuts 'Big Spaceship' documentary at Flashforward
Posted by Dave MertenCreative Inspirations: Big Spaceship, the fourth release in a new documentary series for lynda.com, makes its theatrical debut at the Flashforward Conference and Film Festival August 20th in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Screening Room..
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Ubermind unveils Maperture, a geotagging plugin for Aperture
Posted by Dave Merten“Before today, geotagging photos either required you to own expensive camera equipment or was a slow and painful process involving multiple applications,” said Shehryar Khan, Ubermind's CEO. “With the release of Maperture, we've streamlined that process by giving photographers an integrated solution for adding GPS data to their images. And...
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Evernote for iPhone revved to 1.2, allows on-device editing
Filed under: Internet Tools, App StoreIf you were underwhelmed by the initial release of Evernote's client app for the iPhone ("Hey, I can't edit these notes -- what's up with that?") you might be a bit happier now that version 1.2 has been cleared for takeoff in the App Store [store link]. The geotagging, photo-note-taking, audio-recording backup brain now gets editing features on the device, longer audio clips, bug fixes and more.One feature that's been in demand from iPhone users without unlimited data plans is a failsafe switch to prevent note synchronization unless the device is using a WiFi connection; it's present in this version, and it seems like a clever adaptation to the multi-network nature of the iPhone (of course, iPod touch users don't know from this 3G business, and Evernote works fine for them as well). You can download the updated version or check for updates in the App Store to get it.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Why Apple Doesnât Do âConcept Productsâ
Brilliant essay by Kontra at Counternotions: Why hasn’t Apple, the most innovative and visionary company in computing, produced a single concept product or vision in over a decade? Because, to paraphrase Jobs, real artists ship. â
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5th annual 2008 'Great Mac Mod Challenge' sponsored by 'iFixit'
Posted by Dave MertenMacMod has announced the 5th annual “Great MacMod Challenge” sponsored by iFixit. MacMod is home to Apple Macintosh computer users who modify their computer and software, in sometimes extreme cases. The Great MacMod Challenge 2008 is the fifth of the annual event where computer “modders” submit their creations for a...
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Going Green for Some Green
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Send text messages from Apple Mail with Phone plugins 2.2
Posted by Dave MertenPhone plugins is a utility to quick-dial a selected number and quick-send a text message with one click from any program in Mac OS X Leopard and does not require to open any extra application. Version 2.2 features context menu support for Apple Mail and supports many additional cell phones.
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Inside MobileMe: iPhone Mail
MobileMe upgrades .Mac email on the iPhone to use rapid push updating. Here's how it works, and what's new and different in MobileMe mobile mail, how to configure junk mail and security, and what's still missing. Inside MobileMe: Secrets of the Cloud and Mobile Push Inside MobileMe: Mac and PC cloud sync and mobile push Inside MobileMe: Apple's Push vs Exchange, BlackBerry, Google Inside MobileMe: iPhone Mail Continues: Inside MobileMe: iPhone Mail
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Vongo dies, very few notice
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video Vongo gave it a solid go there for a while, but a supported device list that totaled seven (and was missing a certain white whale) combined with lukewarm support and lackluster marketing always spelled doom for the scrappy video-on-demand service, and it looks like Starz has gone ahead and pulled the plug. If you're one of the, uh, dozens who were paying the $10/mo fee, you can still use the service until September 30th, but after that there'll be nothing left -- literally, since all your Vongo content will be deleted. Yeah, that's fun way to make customers check out the new, seemingly-identical Starz Play service. Anyone still intrigued by this kind of subscription video model? We're pretty over it.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Intua BeatMaker
It's a handheld music studio on your iPhone. read more
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Apple patent is for multimedia file format
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 7411590) for a multimedia file format has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Apple wants to tackle the shortcomings of current formats with a native file format in XML that has the ability to handle a variety of data types, including those of which...
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Analyst: Infineon chipset possible cause of iPhone 3G issues
The reception issues experienced by some iPhone 3G users might be the fault of an "immature" Infineon chipset that has trouble with weaker signals.
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Apple patent looks at pronunciation guide compression
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (RE40458) for a system and method for using a correspondence table to compress a pronunciation guide has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention relates generally to data compression, and more particularity to a system and method using correspondence techniques to compress a pronunciation...
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A month later, it's still Mobile 'Meh'
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, MobileMeYesterday, Mobile Me was down again, underscoring how little the service has improved since its introduction last month. Pockets of users have been affected regularly by outages and slowness since the service first came online. MacRumors calculates that Mobile Me has been up 96 percent of the time (that is, down for 13.5 hours) over the last two weeks. As a Mobile Me subscriber, I wonder if the opening-day trial subscriptions will matter in yet another month: that's when, for many (but not all) the 60-day trial period expires. If those disappointed with the service choose to flee, then perhaps the server load will decrease, and performance will improve for the rest of us. Of course, we all read Steve Jobs' leaked email, and surmised that he gave many more expletive-laden tirades before the memo was released. We have a promise from the top that service will improve by December, and that's some solace, but what of the meantime? And what of the blog? Your friend and mine, David G., hasn't posted a thing since July 29, promising an update post that never arrived. Until then, I suppose all we can do is watch the support page, keep calm, and carry on. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Increased popularity of Macs and iPhones may attract hackers
With Macs selling in record numbers and iPhones flying of shelves, hackers may find Apple machines a more alluring target. But keeping a level head and using safe computing practices are still the best security measures.Read More...
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Olympics on the iPhone
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MobileMe continues to Disappoint Me.
Yesterday afternoon my mail just stopped working. MobileMe went down, and there was no way - not through iPhone, Desktop, or Webmail to access my email. Since I depend on my email heavily for work, to say that it was a bit upsetting would be an understatement. To make matters worse, Gmail went down at the exact same time - making my alternate email unavailable as well. Had that not happened, there would probably be an article today about how I was dropping my MobileMe account, and it was time to move back to Gmail. Unfortunately, now I'm sitting here not sure what to do. The MobileMe situation is getting past the point of acceptable. I mean this is a paid service that can't even keep my email available on a consistent basis. My subscription expires in a month or so - and I see no reason to renew it. Not one…except that I don't want to lose email from people that might be sending something to my @mac account. The Gmail situation is a one time thing (for me anyway) in the last several years - so I don't think that you can say that gmail is as unreliable as MobileMe has become - but all of my email address are set up with one of these two services - and have been for years. As a result, I don't really want to look at Yahoo! or (God forbid) Hotmail. So it seems, for the time being, I'm just stuck with Apple's crappy MobileMe service. I would warn others, though, that MobileMe is not something that is currently good enough to pay for. In fact - I almost feel like Apple should be paying ME something for putting up with this crap.
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Mozilla CEO John Lilly on Apple and iPhone
The current issue (16.08) of Wired Magazine has a brief interview with Mozilla CEO John Lilly just before the launch of Firefox 3 in June. In it Lily makes two interesting comments related to Apple: Wired: …Do you worry about competition from Apple now that it has enabled Safari on Windows? Lilly: I used to work at Apple. [...]
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Farmington, New Mexico middle schoolers get MacBooks
Posted by Dennis SellersThe Farmington, New Mexico school system has provided all middle school students with MacBooks, reports The Daily Times. The Apple laptops come equipped with a 160GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, a wireless internet adapter and a built-in iSight camera.
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Lenovo Olympics 2008 App
Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone, App StoreDo you want to keep up with Michael Phelps and his quest for Olympic gold? Are you Interested in seeing photographs of women beach volleyball players competing on the sand (nudge nudge, wink wink)? Lenovo, the Chinese manufacturer of ThinkPad and IdeaPad notebook PCs and other electronic devices, is providing the free Lenovo Olympics 2008 App [iTunes link] in the App Store now. You can download it from your iPhone or iPod touch by going to the App Store and searching for Lenovo; the same app is available for Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices via lenovo.zumobi.com. While the app is filled with advertising for Lenovo and Intel, it also provides you with photos taken at the Games, news (a bit behind the sports websites), profiles of random Olympic athletes, and blog entries by anonymous athletes. The latter is particularly frustrating, as the blog entries feature the sport and country of the athletes, but not their names!The app will be available for the duration of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and was developed by Zumobi.Thanks to everyone who sent this inPermalink | Email this | Comments
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'Macworld UK': Apple Australian market share up 52 percent
Posted by Dennis Sellers Apple Australia market share is up around 52 percent, according to two new reports from the Gartner and IDC research groups, according to Macworld UK.
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Report: iPhone 3G connection woes may be due to chipset
Posted by Dennis SellersAn immature chipset solution from Infineon Technologies AG may be at the core of reported connectivity issues with the iPhone 3G, Nomura analyst Richard Windsor said in a note to clients (as reported by MarketWatch).
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AMD releases ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series of graphics cards
Posted by Dennis SellersAMD has released its ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series of graphics cards, including the including its flagship ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 dual-CPU graphics cards.
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First Looks: BTA Workshop/Jet Navy Collection Illusion Cases for iPhone 3G
As much as we enjoy checking out new iPhone and iPod accessories, no one should need a chemical engineering or math degree in order to understand the differences between a company's products. BTA Workshop, a company also known as Jet Navy Collection -- yes, we're confused, too -- is offering a bunch of new cases have been generally branded "Illusion," but break down into multiple models with differing physical characteristics. When we first saw the…
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Analyst: don't expect Mac ultraportable before 2010
Posted by Dennis Sellers Mike Olson, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, reaffirmed, in a letter to clients, the firm's expectations of a redesigned iPod touch and new MacBooks at a special event next month—but said not to hold your breath waiting on the eternally rumored ultraportable Mac.
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AMD to Nvidia: Two chips are better than one
Featured links from the CNET Blog Network AMD to Nvidia: Two chips are better than one--AMD's new dual-chip graphics technology matches Nvidia at high end. NBC's Olympics. Separating the half-baked from the half-faked--NBC has been dealing with numerous criticisms on its coverage. However, the technological fakery is less powerful than the scheduling manipulation. (Re)writing the Web with ShiftSpace--Is it useful to be able to annotate web pages with ShiftSpace? Not really. First Look: Stitcher's iPhone app beta--Stitcher has released a beta version of its iPhone app, which allows users to customize a radio station with various informative streams.
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First Looks: Uniea U-Suit Premium Folio for iPhone 3G
Fourth in the new Uniea iPhone 3G case lineup as the U-Suit Premium Folio ($TBD), a leather, flip-style hardshell that seals almost every feature of the iPhone 3G off from access when closed. There are headphone, Sleep/Wake button and camera holes, but none for the speakerphone features, Dock Connector, ringer switch or volume buttons, which all need to be used only when the case is opened. Sold in red or black versions, U-Suit Premium Folio comes…
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First Looks: Uniea U-Skin for iPhone 3G
Uniea's first rubber case is the U-Skin for iPhone 3G ($TBD), an inexpensive-looking, simple sleeve that comes in your choice of three colors and includes a clear screen protector. The only novelty here is the inclusion of a flip-open bottom that is compatible with the iPhone 3G Dock; a molded in rear texture with what appear to be horizontally running drips alternates between extruded and embossed to provide grip. Like the other Uniea cases we're…
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First Looks: Uniea U-Suit Premium for iPhone 3G
As an iPhone 3G version of an earlier iPhone case, U-Suit Premium for iPhone 3G ($TBD) from Uniea is a cheap quality leather hardcase with matte silver accents. While we felt that the last Premium was an improvement on the original iPhone U-Suit, the new ones we received for testing were extremely difficult to remove the iPhone 3G from, and had poorly crafted leather corners. This no longer seems really "premium;" we'd call it mediocre. It comes with…
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First Looks: Uniea U-Feel for iPhone 3G
As one of four unimpressive new iPhone 3G cases from Uniea, U-Feel ($TBD) is a hard plastic case with an integrated touch-through screen protector. The design comes in several inexpensive-looking pearlescent colors, each with a detachable belt clip and nub. Uniea's screen covers aren't especially taut on the iPhone 3G, so you need to apply a little pressure to use them. Our overall impression is that these cases detract from the iPhone 3G's looks,…
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Apple patent is for adaptive motion estimation
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 7412080) for adaptive motion estimation has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention is directed towards a method for adaptively performing motion estimation.
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O'Reilly Media releases 'slide:ology' (video)
Posted by Dave MertenNo matter where you are on the organizational ladder, chances are you're required to deliver visual presentations to your peers, boss, or your customers. Indeed, presentations have become the de facto business communication tool. Yet unlike verbal communication, thinking visually isn't easy, natural, or commonly taught in schools or business...
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Ohio Apple Store robbed in early morning hours
Filed under: Retail, AppleEarly yesterday morning, an Apple Store in Ohio was robbed. The Easton Town Center Apple Store's glass window (or door) was shattered and the robbers began snatching merchandise and placing it in their car's trunk. The robbers were reported to be driving a black Lexus. When police arrived on the scene, the robbers drove off, hitting the police car. If you are in the Columbus, Ohio area and have information for police, you are urged to call the Columbus Police Department at 614-645-4545. There is no word yet on when the Apple Store will re-open for business.[via NBC4 Columbus, Ohio]Thanks to everyone who sent this in!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Study: US falling behind other advanced nations in real-time Internet connection speeds
Posted by Dennis SellersThe results of a nationwide study of Internet connection speeds in the United States reveal little progress over the previous year in the country's median data download speed. At the present rate—with a gain of only four-tenths of one megabit per second—it will take the U.S. more than one hundred...
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Is Cloud Computing Ready for Prime Time?
Google's (GOOG) Gmail outage on Monday was the latest stumble for nascent cloud computing services, which are becoming the lifeblood for small businesses and startups. The Gmail outage–along with Amazon's (AMZN) stumbles of late–raises a few key questions: Where's the offline synchronization capability? Can we depend solely on the Web? Is Microsoft's (MSFT) software and services mantra the best path forward? Those questions don't have easy answers at the moment. But one thing is clear: If you're depending on these Web-based applications you need a backup plan. To wit:
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Microsoft offers student, teacher discount pricing on Office for Mac
Posted by Dennis SellersOffice 2008 for Mac is available for up to 30 percent off with the purchase of any Mac at Apple resellers now through Sept. 8, 2008. A full list of participating Apple resellers is available by going here and clicking on a “Save Now” link.
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Truphone introduces iPhone-compatible mobile long distance plan
Posted by Dennis SellersTruphone, a global mobile service provider, is offering a new bundle-of-minutes offer called “Tru Saver” for users of the iPhone and Nokia smart phones.
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Apple patent involves a hybrid ground grid for a printed circuit board
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 7411134) for a hybrid ground grid for a printed circuit board has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention relates generally to printed wiring board layout.
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Follow the Olympics on your iPhone with Fandora's Box
Posted by Dennis SellersMarvel Apps has released the first product from the Fandora's Box franchise, the 2008 Summer Games iPhone and iPod touch application. It provides medal standings for all participating countries, news native to the app, events schedule and results.
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Apple may add QuickTime acceleration hardware to future Macs
A new rumor says that Apple is adding custom QuickTime encoding/decoding chips to new Macs. Whether or not such hardware is part of Apple's "future product transition" is still anyone's guess, but it's fun to speculate.Read More...
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10.5: Avoid strange GUI behavior with certain aliases
The first time I open /users/shared using an alias, the folder comes up with a sidebar, even though I've repeatedly set it to turn off the sidebar. Strangely, the animation appears to be opening the folder twice. If I then close the folder and re-open it, it shows up without the sidebar, just as I've configured it in previous sessions. From then on, every time I open the alias, it comes up without the sidebar. But if I log out and back in, I get the strange first-time behavior again, with a double-animation and a sidebar. If I use the Finder's Go -> Go to Folder menu for the first access, I can get to the target folder without the double-animation and without the sidebar. But the first time I use the alias, it shows the double-animation and the sidebar, so it really appears to be related to the alias. (I've tried re-creating the alias and even tinkering with it's extended att...
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Pass command line arguments to GUI apps by default
Recently I've been wanting a way to pass command-line arguments to GUI apps by default, in my case a -geometry parameter to Emacs.app to make it start up in something approximating full-screen mode. It turns out there's a very easy way to do this. As many already know, what appear as applications on OS X are in fact directories, containing the actual executable in their Contents » MacOS subdirectory. To cause this executable to be run with specific arguments, simply rename the existing executable to something else (I've used something like appname-bin) and replace it with a shell script that exec`s the renamed binary with whatever arguments you please (followed by chmod 755 or similar to make the script executable). For example, my script for Emacs.app looks like this: #!/bin/sh exec /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/emacs-bin -geometry 177x47 $@ The $@ at the end may or may not really...
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Quick sync Address Book and iCal data to the iPhone
An easy way to sync just the Address Book and iCal with the iPhone is to use iSync. Although the iSync application doesn't recognize the iPhone, you can sync with the iSync menu in the menu bar. Make sure the iPhone is connected with a USB cable to the Macintosh, and then choose Sync Now from the drop-down menu under the iSync icon in the menu bar. [robg adds: Obviously, this will work best as a time saver if you have your phone set to manually sync in iTunes.]
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Send certain emails from non-default account on iPhone
With the iPhone's original 1.x software, when you send a photo, web link, etc., you could only send it from the default account. With version 2.0, however, you can now send it from any account on the iPhone. After you create a message to send the photo, link, etc., notice that there is a header line labeled 'CC/Bcc, From.' Tap this line, and it will expand into three lines: Cc, Bcc, and From. Tap the From line, and a menu will appear to allow you to select any account you have on the iPhone.
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News: Apple, AT&T look into iPhone 3G connection issues
Numerous reports indicate that Apple and AT&T are investigating a rash of iPhone 3G connection problems affecting some handsets. A San Francisco Chronicle article tells the story of one iPhone user, who claims to have had ongoing connection problems with the 3G. “I was driving down Folsom Street in San Francisco, and I got a dropped call 10 times. I get dropped calls just standing in one place,” said Stephen Yarbrough, a 34-year-old…