Sep 10, 2008 Sep 12, 2008 Thursday September 11, 2008
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Tidy Up adds iTunes 8 compatibility
Posted by Dennis SellersHyberbolic Software has released Tidy Up! 1.4.5, the latest version of their disk, file and folder processing utility for Mac OS X. Tidy Up! can find duplicate files and packages using any criteria. The upgrade adds compatibility with iTunes 8.
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WD ships 500GB capacity notebook hard drives
Posted by Dennis SellersWestern Digital has commenced volume shipments and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) qualifications of its WD Scorpio Blue 2.5-inch notebook hard drives with capacities up to 500GB. Utilizing 250 GB-per-platter technology, the new WD Scorpio Blue 500GB and 400GB SATA hard drives are designed for notebook computers and portable storage devices.
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Digidesign approves ExpressBox7
Posted by Dennis SellersMagma has announced that Digidesign, a manufacturer of digital audio production systems, has approved and will be distributing the ExpressBox7 with a 500W “ultra quiet” power supply.
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iPhone Apps Store Growing Twice as Fast as iTunes Music
Daniel Eran Dilger Everyone was impressed last month when Apple announced moving 30 million downloads through the new iPhone Apps Store, bringing in $30 million of revenue (or a million dollars per day). Well, growth more than doubled this month, bringing a total of 100 million downloads (and somewhere around another $70 million of software revenue). [...]
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Second Seinfield Microsoft Ad Airs; What?
So when the first ad featuring Jerry Seinfield and Bill Gates aired, I was mildly confused and more than anything really wanted to give it a chance. But this evening Microsoft aired the second ad in the series and now I'm really just flat out baffled by Microsoft's decisions with this ad campaign. This particular ad has a full-length four and half minute version (below), and in keeping with the theme from the first ad, mere 5 seconds of the 270 available are used to mention anything about Microsoft or Windows. Microsoft, bail out now before you confuse people even more.
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Webbla for Leopard updated to version 1.1
Posted by Dennis SellersCelmaro has released Webbla 1.1, an update of the visual bookmark library for Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”). The upgrade focuses on the integrity with different web browsers and gives the option to search and filter website content.
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Effigent announces PowerEasy Distribution for Mac OS X
Posted by Dennis SellersEffigent has announced that PowerEasy Distribution for Mac OS X is now generally available. It can be purchased directly from Effigent or through their reseller partners.
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★ Greatly Exaggerated
At Tuesday’s annual iPod/iTunes special event, Steve Jobs both (a) served in his usual role as showman, and (b) appears to be just as thin as he was at WWDC in June, when his appearance sparked rumors that he was seriously ill. Like it or not, his appearance and health remains a big story in the major media. The coverage of Tuesday’s event from the technology columnists for both of the U.S.’s leading news magazines — Josh Quittner at Time (headline: “Steve Jobs: Not Dead Yet”) and Dan “Fake Steve” Lyons at Newsweek (who persists in referring to Jobs as “Dear Leader”) — was focused squarely on Jobs, not the day’s product announcements. The speculation is not wholly unfounded. If Apple and Jobs do not wish to discuss the details of his health other than in the broadest of terms (e.g. “doing just fine”), that leaves the outside world with only a few cold hard facts, one of which is what our eyes tell us — that Steve Jobs has lost a tremendous amount of weight — and another is that he had surgery for a rare, treatable form of pancreatic cancer in 2004. The other fact we know is that The New York Times reported that Jobs had a second “surgical procedure” earlier this year, “to address a problem that was contributing to a loss of weight.” The good news, such that it is, is that there are explanations other than a recurrence of cancer that would explain these facts. The pancreaticoduodenectomy (a.k.a. “Whipple procedure”) Jobs underwent in 2004 to treat his pancreatic cancer can lead to complications which require intestinal surgery, which surgery can lead to digestive changes and significant, perhaps permanent, weight loss. The best and most informative speculation I’ve seen is this piece on ScienceBlogs, written in late July by a pseudonymous surgeon. The details are unpleasant, and include severe diarrhea, nausea, and radical weight loss. But the conclusion is a good one: What’s more important, though, is that Jobs’ appearance (at least as far as I can tell from the limited information that I have) is almost certainly not due to a recurrence of his tumor, and it’s not something that can’t be fixed. Chances are Jobs will be fine, and will remain as cantankerous, arrogant, dictatorial, and wildly visionary as ever for many years to come. The author speculates that the procedure Jobs underwent this year is a Roux-en-Y, which according to Wikipedia is the surgical procedure that forms the basis for gastric bypass. Gastric bypass is a procedure that helps the obese lower their weight to a normal level. Steve Jobs was, if anything, already on the thin side before having surgery. We don’t know because Jobs won’t say, but this is my best guess as to what the deal is with Jobs’s weight loss. In a post-event interview with CNBC’s Jim Goldman Tuesday, Jobs reiterated that he’s “doing just fine”, but admittedly could “stand to gain 10 or 15 pounds”. Goldman then reports: I asked [Jobs] about the rampant speculation and rumors on the blogosphere about the issue, and whether he was surprised by it. Where did he think it all came from, I asked. He picked up his briefcase and told me it was from “hedge funds with a big short position in Apple.” I think a little context here might be helpful. He said it in passing. It wasn’t as if he was lobbing some specific grenade on Wall Street. I didn’t follow up with which funds he was talking about because it wasn’t relayed to me that way. He just said matter-of-factly that it’s what he thought. Or felt. Nothing specific on which to base it, or maybe there was, but he didn’t share that with me. I don’t have a problem with Jobs’s assertion that the specific details of his health are a private matter. But this sort of speculation regarding the cause of his weight loss is inevitable in the absence of full disclosure. What made matters worse is that, in the aftermath of WWDC, Apple PR put forth the claim that Jobs’s gaunt appearance was the result of “a common bug”. That seemed so Kremlin-esque, so clearly an insufficient explanation, that it’s understandable that some people, including investors, jumped to the worst-case conclusion. Jobs actually broached the rumors regarding his health on stage at the beginning of the event, standing beneath a slide that read “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”, a deft way of using Bloomberg’s accidental publication of their canned obituary as an excuse to assert publicly that he’s not going anywhere. Well-played. Quittner and Lyons don’t seem to be buying it, though. Lyons, on his weblog:1 But Dear Leader remains alive and well (see photo above). Oh, and they’ve got some upgraded iPods and a new version of iTunes. Seriously? That’s it? I’m still trying to figure out why they held an actual event today instead of just putting out a press release. As a fellow filthy hack commented to me after the big show, “Can you imagine if Sony did this?” Afterward I wondered if the entire purpose of the event was simply to have a reason to put Dear Leader out in public. Thing is, Dear Leader, while definitely still alive, nonetheless looks frail. […] It’s hard to describe this but there’s something not quite right about the way Dear Leader walks. I thought maybe I was imagining this but another hack said he thought the same thing. Quittner is of a mind with Lyons: Apple’s big event today in San Francisco left many people wondering: What the heck was that all about? Normally, the great Steve Jobs uses his time on the podium to delight and surprise the masses. But today he gave little more than a preview of the new holiday line of iPods, and the TV ads that will accompany them. You don’t have to be as cynical as me to understand the real reason this event was staged: It was so the world could watch Jobs swim the Yangtze River. The obvious reason as to why Apple holds this event annually is “because they can”. They fill a room with press and analysts, and the press fills newspapers, magazines, and web sites with coverage of what Apple announces. If (to take Lyons’s example) Sony could do this, they would. But Sony can’t, because they don’t have iPod-caliber players, or iTunes-caliber software, or an iTunes Store-caliber service. They have none of those, and Apple has all three. Quittner and Lyons are either ignorant or are being disingenuous. To claim that this week’s event was in any way not normal is to ignore the fact that Apple has scheduled an event just like Tuesday’s during September every year since the iPod debuted in 2001.2 Eight years in a row. Take it to the bank that there will be another such iPod/iTunes event on a Tuesday in mid-September 2009, too. Some years the announcements are more significant than others. Last year’s introduction of the iPod Touch was a bigger deal than this year’s introduction of the updated iPod Touch. But you can’t expect a Touch-like leap forward every year. In the eight years Apple has held this event, I’d say the coolness factor of this week’s news falls squarely in the middle: the new Nano is a complete redesign (and it’s already winning rave reviews); Apple is positioning the iPod Touch as a major handheld gaming platform; and the “genius” suggestion engine is a useful addition to iTunes. What gives resonance to the rumors regarding Jobs’s health is the suspicion that if he were terminally ill, that this is how he’d play it, denying it until the end. He’s intensely secretive and private, and the backstory regarding his original diagnosis and surgery, as reported by Peter Elkind at Fortune, is that he didn’t announce it publicly until after he’d had surgery on July 31, 2004 — eight months after the cancer was originally diagnosed in October 2003. But that suspicion doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. If Apple’s board of directors knows Jobs’s full bill of health, it would be illegal for them to stand by and allow Jobs and Apple’s PR department to make statements to the contrary. And if the board does not know Jobs’s full bill of health, they’re neglecting their legal responsibilities. There’s a difference between 2004, when Jobs and Apple kept his original cancer diagnosis a secret, and what Lyons is suggesting now, which is that Jobs is lying. The difference is that lying about this would constitute securities fraud. Under this scenario, Jobs himself would no longer be around to take the rap for it, but the members of Apple’s board would be. So consider this: What if instead of holding Tuesday’s event, Apple had instead done just what Lyons and Quittner propose, and announced this week’s news via press release? What would Lyons have written then? My guess is he would have jumped on it as evidence that Jobs was too ill to take the stage, and that his hubris was now harming Apple and its shareholders by robbing the company of the free publicity these events generate. Lyons’s article for Newsweek (a “web exclusive”), is more formal, dispensing with the “Dear Leader” nickname, but devotes just under half the article to Jobs’s weight and health: “Jobs still looks gaunt and frail. He walked under his own power but didn’t look like a fit healthy man in his early 50s.”↩ The original iPod debut was in October, not September, 2001, pushed back one month in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.↩
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Objective Development Software releases version 1.3.0 of their WCMS WebYep
Posted by Dennis SellersObjective Development Software has released version 1.3.0 of WebYap, its online CMS. The upgrade sports a new Image Gallery Element (with Lightbox support), a new editable menu and various enhancements and fixes.
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Greenpeace hails less toxic iPods, kicks gift horse
The environmentally-focused organization is happy about cleaner, greener iPods, but is still waiting for Apple to make good on a number of other promises.Read More...
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Case-Mate releases Clear Armor for new iPods
Posted by Dennis SellersCase-Mate has released Clear Armor protective films for the new iPods announced this week (the second gen iPod touch, fourth gen iPod nano and 120GB iPod classic).
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iPod Touch 2G takes CNET Editors' Choice
CNET's Donald Bell offers his full review of the second generation Apple iPod Touch MP3 player.
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Spore Origins
All eyes are on Spore Origins for iPhone. read more
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iPhone Tips: Safari
Explore the Web broswer like an expert. Jump to the Top Chances are that you've found yourself at the bottom of a very long web page, thinking that the only way to get back the address bar is to scroll, scroll, scroll your way to the top. Not so! Quickly jump to the top of any page simply by tapping the time. read more
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Macworld '09 registration opens today
Filed under: MacworldPull out your credit cards, Apple fans. Registration has officially opened for next January's Macworld Expo in sunny California. There are eight tracks of events to follow this year, including graphic design, digital photography, digital music, IT and more. Plus, Steve Jobs usually shows up with an announcement or two.We'll be covering the events at Macworld '09, so make sure you've got TUAW bookmarked.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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RiffRumble 12 Online Song Contest for RiffWorks uses puts out call for entries
Posted by Dennis SellersSonoma Wire Works has announced the RiffRumble 12 Online Song Contestwith up to US$2,500 in prizes for the best songs made with RiffWorks.
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Apple has patented "smart garments"
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, Portables, RumorsWould you believe an article of clothing that knows what you're doing?Apple has filed a patent for something called "smart garments." We can only assume this refers to something that will add functionality to the Nike+ kit, as it describes "...a method of electronically pairing a sensor and a garment, comprising:(a) establishing a communication link between the sensor and the garment;(b) determining if the garment is an authorized garment; and(C) electronically pairing the garment and the sensor."The main complaint about the current Nike+ kit is the lack of information that professional runners want, like GPS location, heart rate and so on. The interesting thing about this filing is that it could monitor things like shoe wear and geographic location.Sounds pretty cool, right? Before you answer, check out point B above. "...Determining if the garment is an authorized garment." Many people who run in shoes other than Nikes would like to use the kit, which they can do with the help of a small pouch. New Scientist suggests that clothing equipped with an RFID chip -- which is necessary for the transmitter/iPod paring -- could be embedded in "authorized" clothing, rendering the kit inoperable with, say, New Balance shoes (Steve's personal favorite).Of course, it's common practice for large companies to copyright things they'll never use, so don't hold your breath for an iShirt.[Via Macsimum News]Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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New iTunes Visualizer Based on Magnetosphere
The Barbarian Group: We’re insanely, ridiculously proud to say that Magnetosphere now lives in iTunes. (Via David Dahlquist.) ★
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Yes, Zune does support iTunes libraries
In his "Bits" blog on the New York Times site Thursday, Saul Hansell mistakenly says that iPod users won't switch to a Zune because they don't want to convert their iTunes libraries. In fact, they don't have to.
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Apple Refutes NBC’s Pricing-Policy Claims
Eddy Cue tells CNet that Apple conceded nothing to NBC to get their shows back on iTunes. ★
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Yahoo! Messenger available on iPhone through Yahoo! OneConnect
Posted by Dennis SellersYahoo! has announced the availability of Yahoo! oneConnect for the iPhone, a new social address book that brings together a user's circle of friends, their lives, and all the ways they communicate into one application. It's available at the Apple App Store.
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Tip: How to disable Genius in iTunes 8
Here's how to disable the new Genius sidebar in iTunes 8: In iTunes 8, choose Turn Off Genius in the Store menu.
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NetworkLocation brings WiFi positioning to the Mac
Filed under: Software, Wireless, Cool toolsSince the introduction of the 1st-gen, GPSless iPhone and the iPod touch, the WiFi location awareness of those devices has been a continuous source of delight to me -- with the underlying technology from Skyhook Wireless, that brave band of cross-country wardrivers, these handhelds manage to know where they are remarkably well (at least, most of the time). Having the same capability on your Mac certainly seems like a logical next step... and what would you do with that location data? Maybe you'd like to find your friends or hunt for restaurants with the Loki plugin for Firefox, but the real power of location awareness comes to bear when you can have your Mac automatically act on that information: to optimize your configuration, or change your settings to the appropriate choices for the place you're at.Enter the newest offering from centrix.ca, the Skyhook-enabled version of NetworkLocation 3.0. This $29 settings management utility (we've covered it before) can perform all the necessary changes to your settings: tweaks to network, email, proxy, sound and screen, or even arbitrary modifications via triggered AppleScripts or Automator actions (much like similar apps Location X or WiLMa). With the connection to Skyhook's database, NL3 can now switch profiles when you're in proximity to a known point, along with the previous options to flip over based on network connection or the presence of a specific device. Plugins add support for launching a VPN connection or changing Entourage or Mail's SMTP config. It's a beautiful thing.You can check out the gallery for a peek at some of NL3's options. For anyone who uses a portable machine in a large campus or corporate environment and wants to take the aggravation out of changing settings for each spot you sit in, this tool is definitely worth a look.Gallery: NetworkLocation 3 with SkyhookRead|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Jobs and Apple execs to finally settle over stock backdating
Two years and 21 lawsuits in the making, Apple's execs, including Jobs, are finally settling a shareholder suit over the stock options backdating scandal.Read More...
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Macworld 2009 Registration Now Open
Today, Apple's biggest conference Macworld, opened for registration. The dates for Macworld 2009 will be January 5-9. Apple has traditionally used Macworld as a time to make some fairly big product announcements and updates. In 2008, Apple announced the MacBook Air, Time Capsule, iPod touch software update, Apple TV 2, and the iPhone/iPod touch SDK. In 2007, they announced the iPhone, the final name for Apple TV, and the change of name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. The
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CNET News Daily Podcast: Standouts from CTIA, Launch Week
New cell phones and overall trends emerge at the CTIA Wireless show; the fave five from TechCrunch50 and the DemoFall launchfests; plus iTunes glitches and Google's sliding stock.
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Genius makes iTunes 8 a worthy upgrade
The Genius feature of iTunes 8 does a remarkably good job of building comprehensive playlists from a single song.
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iPod touch Nike+ Interface Pics
When we launched our iPod touch for the first time after syncing we searched frantically for the Nike+ app on the homescreen. After scrolling through our five homescreens of apps, we checked the Settings app. There it was, just waiting to be turned on. Check out the images below and feel guilty for watching bad summer re-runs instead of running. The Nike+ setting is hidden in Settings. Okay, I guess it's not "hidden." read more
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Wired: 'iPhone takes screenshots of everything you do'
Filed under: iPod Family, Security, iPhoneOn your iPhone or your iPod touch, when you press the Home button, there's a nice little animation that takes you back to the home screen. To create that animation, your iPhone takes a screenshot of whatever it is you're doing, and uses it for the transition. Sounds innocent, right? Not so much, says data forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski (thank you, clipboard). The screenshot is presumably erased from the iPhone after the application closes, but is any digital file really gone after you delete it? Survey says no. Forensics experts have mined for these screenshots, successfully recovering evidence against criminals accused of rape, murder, and drug deals. They can also recover data from the iPhone's keyboard and web caches, too. In his presentation, Zdziarski also demonstrated how to bypass an iPhone's passcode in order to own the device and access personal data. Time-consuming? Sure (it took JZ about an hour and involved a custom firmware build). Impossible? No. As with all things digital (and networked), your privacy is largely illusory. Time to go Don Draper on this one and just use Field Notes books, my stack of business cards, and the rotary dial. [Via Wired.] Thanks, Kenny!Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Ölens Technology introduces XPJ projector
Posted by Dennis SellersThe XPJ Personal Entertainment Projector (PEP) from lens Technology is a new, portable digital video projector designed for use with all gaming systems, computers, DVD players, cameras and many other devices.
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Fire Your Boss
This week marks the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. This week is also a time when the world economy is under stress comparable or greater to that imposed seven years ago. Whatever you are feeling in your wallet, I can't overemphasize the impact the current global credit crunch is having on our economy and that of other nations, including Germany and Japan. We're in a mess -- one that is at least TWO YEARS from being resolved no matter who is the President. This matters to a technology columnist because it is something the technology community will eventually have to address, just as we did 9/11. I think some coping skills are in order. First let's take a look at a small part of my column from September 13, 2001 -- a column that wasn't especially popular with readers at the time, but I think stands up pretty well with time: " 'To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail,' wrote Mark Twain. In the current context this means that the organizations charged with reacting to this catastrophe will do so by doing what they have always done, only more of it. Congress, which controls the budget and passes laws, will want to pass laws and to allocate more money, lots of money, forgetting completely about any campaign promises. The military, which is the nation's enforcer, will want to use force, if only they can find a foe. The intelligence community, which gathers information, will want to be even more energetic in that gathering, no matter what the cost to the privacy of the millions of us who aren't thinking of terrorist acts. And agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulate, will want to create more stringent regulations. Now here is an important point to be remembered: All these parties will want to do these things WHETHER THEY ARE WARRANTED OR USEFUL OR NOT." In 2008 we're facing cuts in IT that are prompted by economic decline. Many of the IT shops I talk to are in denial about this. Many more, while not in denial, are making bad decisions. I think this is a good opportunity to do some housecleaning that probably should have been done years ago. If you have to cut your budget by 10 percent, where do you cut? What if you have to cut by 30 percent? As I have written before, one of the great problems in IT management is that the big bosses typically haven't a clue what is happening, what is needed to happen, and what it all should cost. There is a role for trust here, but if the Big Guy is signing off on a budget he can't even read, much less understand, well something is wrong. Some IT departments like this, of course, just like my students liked it when class had to be cancelled (they liked getting LESS for their money), but in tough times, facing reality and speaking the truth is usually the best course. Because power in IT organizations tends to be based on head count, preserving jobs takes a priority. And when jobs have to be eliminated, they tend to come off the bottom of the organization when they should more logically come off the top -- or at least from near the top. A tech who directly helps users is more important than a manager who can't manage. This is especially true if that manager is making 2-3 times as much as the tech. If your boss doesn't understand your job enough to describe it in technical detail, that boss is in the wrong job. If you are managing an IT shop and can't write the code to render "hello world" in C, html, php, and pull "hello world" from a MySQL database using a perl script, then YOU are in the wrong job. I should point out that these latter tasks can be copied and pasted straight from properly composed Google queries. They aren't a test of programming knowledge at all, just of the ability to use the Internet. Yet many technical managers will fail and should get the boot as a result. You can't manage what you can't understand. Think about whole projects that can be chopped, too. What's really needed, after all? That knowledge is in your organization, though often not where it is available to the decision makers. The essence of efficiency is doing only the parts that are absolutely needed and almost every shop has at least one project that everyone except the big boss knows is either pointless or hopeless. Cut it. One can argue, of course, that MORE IT, not less, is in order, and maybe that argument will work. But make it only if it is true. I think a good argument can be made for embracing cloud computing, even to the extent of eliminating data centers and facilities. We're very close to the point where relatively few organizations really ought to have their own data centers. This could also be a good time to embrace open source tools. Yes, there is a learning curve, but the price is right and I can argue that open source quality is substantially better. Oh, and cancel those contracts with Gartner, Forrester, IDC, etc. You'll feel better in the morning. Some folks who WON'T feel better in the morning are the next class of IBM employees to see their jobs moved overseas. I understand that there is a new round of cuts coming in October and it will be different from the "death by a thousand cuts" that has been happening for the past year. The technique is the same, of course -- cutting unneeded workers in the U.S. while suddenly needing virtually identical (if younger and cheaper) workers in India and Argentina. It's pure coincidence. Yeah, right. If you were disappointed with Apple's product announcements this week, take cheer from knowing that more announcements are coming, including new MacBooks and iMacs. You don't have to take my word for this -- just look at the closeouts Apple is offering on current models. Christmas is still the most important quarter for Apple so they won't let these announcements wait too long. I just wonder how they slipped out of this week's event. And finally, I am surprised to admit that the latest version of 64-bit Windows Vista seems to be running pretty darned well on my desktop. No driver problems, 32- and 64-bit apps seem to be running well -- why hasn't Microsoft been shouting about this? 32-bit Vista still sucks, of course.
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OS X-installing EFIX device gets unboxed
Filed under: Desktops While some may have rightly questioned whether the OS X-installing EFIX device would ever actually see the light of day, it looks like the Apple irritant is very much real, and now in the hands of at least at two adventuresome InsanelyMac forum members, one of whom thankfully took time time to snap a few unboxing pictures. The other member, "np_," went one step further and tested the device with an Asus motherboard and found that it worked "perfectly," despite the fact that EFIX only officially supports Gigabyte boards. Hit up the link below for a few more pics and impressions.[Thanks, Rich] Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Big Bang Board Games come to iPhone/iPod touch
Filed under: Gaming, App StoreIf you're looking for a collection of classic timewaster games for your iPhone or iPod touch, look no further than Freeverse's Big Bang Board Games, which includes Chess, Backgammon, Checkers, Mancala, Reversi, 4-In-A-Row, and Tic-Tac-Toe. The artwork and gameplay is taken directly from the Mac version of the game, and Chess has a portrait (3D) and landscape (2D) mode. Unfortunately, each game only has a one-player mode. It would be nice to have a two-player option, for those situations where you're waiting with your significant other for a table, or in line for a movie. Other than that, they're great games for my (sigh) favorite activity: sitting quietly through endless telephone meetings. Note to self: my clients don't read TUAW, do they? Just kidding, everyone! Big Bang Board Games is available in the App Store for $7.99. Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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iTunes 8 adds convenience for Podcast listeners
Apple has added a nice new feature for those of you who really like your podcasts and want to tweak individual settings for each of your favorite shows. Read More...
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iPod touch 2G unboxing, hands-on, and first impressions
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video We'll tell you that when we first got a chance to handle Apple's latest generation of the iPod touch on Tuesday, our gadget-nerd alarms went clanging like there was a really, really bad fire somewhere. The improvements the company has made in design aren't remarkable, but they are entirely welcome. The new housing is smooth, incredibly thin, and feels like a solid metal brick in your hands. The built-in speaker is a nice addition, as are those volume controls (finally!) -- the screen is incredibly bright (on par with the iPhone 3G), though it also looks like it got the 3G's new color temperature. On the software side, 2.1 is definitely feeling smoother and slicker than previous versions, the Nike+ inclusion is huge if you're a runner, and the implementation is well integrated -- overall, we're leaning towards a thumbs-up on those bug fixes too. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to get the Genius function working on the device (anyone else having this issue?), though that may be more of a server-side conflict than something funky with the player, as we were getting errors in iTunes when trying to flip the switch. We'll be blowing this out with a full review, but for now you can enjoy the succulent pics in the gallery below!Gallery: iPod touch 2G unboxing, hands-on, and first impressionsPermalink|Email this|Comments
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Genius Recommendations Get a Thumbs-Up
Click to embiggen read more
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UK iPhone sales reportedly strong
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Retail, iPhoneMobile Today, which tracks mobile trends in the UK, is reporting today that the 3G iPhone is selling very well. Specifically, retailers are averaging 27,000 phones sold per week.That's good news for Apple, especially since the 3G launch went rather poorly in the UK. Specifically, activation issues were rampant and ongoing. Sound familiar, Americans?Apple and O2 are hoping for continued strong sales during the holiday shopping quarter. Considering O2's a pay-as-you-go option, they just might get it.[Via MacNN]Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Apple: no pricing concessions to NBC on its return to iTunes
Posted by Dennis SellersNBC is back on the iTunes Store, but Apple says it made no pricing concessions to the network.
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New iPods not available for Apple back-to-school special
Posted by Dennis SellersIf you buy a qualifying Mac and iPod with your Apple education discount from June 3 through Sept. 15, while supplies last, and you can get a free iPod. But not of the new models introduced this week.
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NBC and Apple still bickering over iTunes pricing minutia
So, who caved on the whole pricing issue when it came to NBC making its triumphant return to the iTunes Store? NBC points its finger at Apple, while Apple points right back. Read More...
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Fantasktik update adds Auto-hide option with settable delay, more
Posted by Dennis SellersDockland Software has released Fantasktik 1.1, an update of the taskbar application for Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”). The upgrade adds an Auto-hide option with settable delay, automatically hides when an application goes full screen, handles more windows types and more.
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Recordare releases XSD Schema version of MusicXML 2.0 format
Posted by Dennis SellersRecordare has released a W3C XML Schema Definition (XSD) version of its MusicXML 2.0 format for digital sheet music. Recordare has also released version 4.5 of its Dolet 4 for Finale plug-in, including support for validating MusicXML files against the new XSD version of the format.
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iPhone iSpy? Hacker says device captures it all
Forensics expert says iPhone caches screenshots of everything users do. Presumably the screenshots are deleted but, he says, they can be retrieved.
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New iPod touch Unboxing Pr0n
iPods are encased in a white cocoon. It's like a musical burrito. read more
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Sony's latest boombox treats your iPod like a mixtape
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio We've seen the iPod-as-cassette-tape design in older speaker docks like Altec Lansing's inMotion iM7 bazooka tube before, but Sony's bringing it back with its new ZS-S4iP boombox, which appears designed for only iPhone and iPod touch owners. Apart from the novelty of hitting eject to insert and remove your player, it's pretty much the generically boring CD boombox it looks like, although you do get MP3 CD playback. It's preordering in black and white in Australia for about AU$179 ($142), should make it Stateside in October.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Yahoo releases oneConnect preview for iPhone
Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone, App StoreYahoo has released a preview of an iPhone client (iTunes link) for their oneConnect service. Basically, it integrates your Yahoo and iPhone address books with a variety of social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, etc. (see here for the full list). You're then able to use Yahoo Messenger or SMS to communicate with contacts, or see their status updates, etc. from the various services.The idea behind oneConnect is to aggregate your different social networking sites into one interface so you don't have to keep switching between, say, Twitterrific and the Facebook application to keep on top of what's going on with your various friends. It looks like it could definitely be handy if you have friends spread across different networks.[via MacNN]Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Apple patent involves portable multifunction device
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 200802220752) for a portable multifunction device, method and graphical user interface for managing communications received while in a locked state has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It relates generally to portable electronic devices, and more particularly, to portable devices that receive communications via...
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Gallery: iPod nano 4G unboxing
I received my iPod nano 4G today and posted a quick gallery of the unboxing. So far, it’s pretty damned sweet although I was slightly disappointed to learn that the screen is exactly the same as the 3G nano, just in a portrait as opposed to landscape orientation. Image Gallery: iPod nano 4G unboxing.
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Quickoffice demos iPhone apps at CTIA
The publisher of document-viewers plans to break into the iPhone market with four new applications, the first launching as early as November.
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'Macsimum Recommended Reading' for Sept. 9
Posted by Dennis Sellers“How Apple is Changing the PC Software World … Back: Despite Apple's current successes, it seems that nine out of ten pundits agree: Apple needs to change its hardware-centric business model to copy the software-oriented success that Microsoft saw in the 90s, or die trying. They're wrong, here's why.”—Roughly Drafted...
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Apple Gazette Daily 345 - Macbook event rumor + iTablet Rant = Today's Episode
podcast sponsor link:Click Here to check out Blogflux Groups! Today's Show: Macbook event rumor + iTablet Rant = Today's Episode 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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News: Tunewear unveils accessories for iPod nano 4G, touch 2G
Tunewear has announced its first accessories for the fourth-generation iPod nano and second-generation iPod touch. Icewear is a frosted high-density silicone case for iPod nano 4G and iPod touch 2G offering ribbed sides for added grip and small holes in the rear for attaching charms, lanyard, or straps. On the nano, Icewear offers open access to the Click Wheel and screen, and offers open access to the touchscreen on the iPod touch, along with access…
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The Nano Has Landed!
When we got into the office this morning, a box from Cupertino—well, Mira Loma actually—was waiting for us. read more
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Splash that iTunes visualizer across multiple monitors
Filed under: Tips and tricks, iTunes iPodHacks has a very easy way to display your iTunes visualizer across multiple monitors using Mac OS X's built-in accessibility zoom feature. The instructions show you how to enable Zoom in the Universal Access system preference pane. When the visualizer is playing, you can zoom in on the iTunes window, and the image of the window is spread across all your screens. The quality of the zoom, of course, is a bicubic interpolation of the screen image, so it's not as crisp as it could be. Also, the fluidity of the display depends greatly on how powerful your video card is, and how it's connected to your computer. Multiple video cards also don't necessarily help, unlike with the original Magnetosphere visualizer. For a party, though, it's a neat trick. If you have other ways to make this happen, feel free to leave a comment!Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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iPod nano 4G unboxing, hands-on, and first impressions
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video We had a chance to paw this beauty on Tuesday at the Apple event, but finally getting home and spending some quality time with the device has given us a far deeper impression of just what the folks in Cupertino have done. So far our impressions are favorable: physically, the nano redesign is a move in the right direction for the company, leaving that awkward previous generation nano on the cutting room floor, and falling much more in line with Apple's current design language. The player feels solid and compact -- maybe a bit too tiny for our big paws -- though build quality is on par with the 1st generation iPhone. You can tell a lot of careful rethinking went into this, and there's not an edge out of place. We're going to be doing a full review of the device and its new software, but for now feast your eyes on the gallery below.Gallery: iPod nano 4G unboxing, hands-on, and first impressionsPermalink|Email this|Comments
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Macworld Expo 2009 registration now open
Don't wait until the dust settles from the last Apple event to get ready for the next one. Registration for Macworld Expo 2009 is already open.Read More...
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Yahoo Lays Out Blueprint for Mobile Ubiquity
Yahoo is trying to carve out its niche in the mobile market with a newly expanded platform for mobile application developers. The company's Blueprint platform will now allow for the creation of standalone apps for any Java, Windows Mobile or Symbian device, executives revealed at a wireless industry conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. It will also provide tools for developers to build mobile-focused Web sites. Until recently, the platform was used primarily just for the creation of widgets within Yahoo's own Go application.
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Mac 101: Using your Windows keyboard
Filed under: Switchers, Mac 101If you switch frequently between a Mac and a PC, chances are you have to deal with a Windows keyboard from time to time. Thankfully, this can be easy with third-party utilities, or even features already built in to Mac OS X. For most switchers, the hardest part about learning to use a new Mac is dealing with your muscle memory. For example, if you're really used to typing Control + C to copy something, Command + C means using your thumb instead of your pinky to perform the operation. In System Preferences, you can click Keyboard and Mouse to change how your modifier keys (that is, Control, Command, Option and Caps Lock) work. Click the Keyboard tab, and then click the Modifier Keys button at the bottom of the window. You can map the Control key to the Command key (and vice versa, if you prefer) to help ease you in to Mac key commands.Continue reading Mac 101: Using your Windows keyboardRead|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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FlyCast challenges satellite radio with new iPhone app
Posted by Dennis SellersThe native iPhone/iPod touch application for FlyCast's mobile broadcast network is now available for free at the Apple App Store. The content line-up, with over 1,000 digital channels, includes virtually every genre of music, terrestrial radio, weather, talk, and traffic.
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Apple patent involves video conferencing apparatus, method
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 20080218583) for a video conferencing apparatus and method has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. The invention generally pertains to video conferencing and, more particularly, to a video and/or audio capture device for video and audio communications.
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MacBook revision rumored for October 14
Daring Fireball’s Jon Gruber posted an interest mention in his Notes and Observations piece after Apple’s Let’s Rock event on Tuesday. Buried at the end of his third paragraph is this little gem that predicts the date of the upcoming MacBook revision: Those of you holding out for a new lineup of MacBooks will have to [...]
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News: Korean iPhone debut delayed?
The debut of the iPhone in Korea could be delayed into 2009 or later, according to a Korea Times report. KTF, Korea's second-largest wireless carrier, has been negotiating with Apple to sell the iPhone 3G, but has hit a snag with regulators. “For now, there is no agreement of any kind between KTF and Apple over the release of iPhones,” said a KTF official. “Even after a deal is inked, the network interoperability tests will…
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Fommy.com offers Amzer Jelly Case for iPhone 3G
Posted by Dennis SellersFommy.com has released the US$8.95 Amzer Jelly Case for the iPhone 3G. It's a flexible cover made of silicone, patterned with a smooth flexi-grip design so 3G owners can avoid accidental drops.
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News: Fall 2008 iPod coverage round-up
There has been a lot going on around iLounge since Apple's announcement of new iPods on Tuesday, making it quite easy to miss something — so we've prepared a round-up of all our coverage concerning the fourth-generation iPod nano, second-generation iPod touch, second-generation iPod classic, and Fall 2008 iPod shuffle. As we prepare our reviews of the new devices, you can find links relating to each new iPod, and of course you can…
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Disassembled Nano and iPod Touch
Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, How-tosThe screwdriver-happy mavens over at iFixit.com have taken it upon themselves to disassemble the iPod Nano 4g and the iPod Touch 2g announced at Tuesday's Let's Rock event. Take-aparts are always cool, but the dissection of the iPod Touch 2g is especially interesting because it reveals that the device actually has an on-board Bluetooth chip! Although this is likely what is powering the built-in Nike+ support, this particular chipset supports EDR and -- if we're really lucky -- could potentially support A2DP for wireless stereo headphones. On the Nano's side, the new glass screen is separate from the metal casing. The battery is soldered into the logic board, which makes replacement probably more trouble (and more expensive) than it is worth. The processor is an Apple-branded Samsung ARM chip. And although his Steve-ness went on about how the newest Nano is the thinnest iPod ever, we're talking micrometers when stacked up with the original and second generation Nano. Still, thin is in!Read through both of iFixit's guides for more details at the interior and take-apart instructions in the event of a self-repair emergency.[via Register Hardware]Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Abaltat ships Abaltat Express 2.0 for Leopard
Posted by Dennis SellersAbaltat, a developer of audio workflow solutions for postproduction and broadcast markets, has released Abaltat Express 2.0 for Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”). Based on the company's flagship Abaltat Muse application, Abaltat Express enables editors to compose royalty-free, multi-part soundtracks.
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Free NBC television shows in HD
NBC is offering one free High Definition episode of each a dozen different television shows. They’re great to show off of the HD quality of the shows and a good way to try before you buy. You need to have iTunes 8 installed first though. (The following links will open in iTunes) 30 Rock Battlestar Galactica Eureka Heroe In Plain Sight Lipstick [...]
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Apple Execs to Pay Back $14M to Settle Stock Option Suit
Apple CEO Steve Jobs and several other senior executives and board members have agreed to settle a lawsuit that claimed the company was damaged by their role in Apple's mishandling of stock option awards. Because of the structure of the lawsuit, insurers representing Apple's directors and officers will pay the iPod and Macintosh maker $14 million. The settlement is designed to repair damage to Apple that the shareholders, who are suing on behalf of the company and not themselves, claimed the company suffered because of the stock options tampering.
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Apple releases 'Smart Garment' patent
Posted by Dennis SellersA new Apple patent might should be dubbed iWear. Well, maybe not but it does indicate a future, clothing oriented upgrade of the Nike + system used with the iPod.
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Apple patent is for personal media device docking station with acoustic interface
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 20080219488) for a personal media device docking station with an acoustic interface has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. It relates to docking stations for personal media devices (think iPods and iPhones) and, more particularly, to docking stations having acoustic interfaces for personal media...
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No 'Macsimum Podcast' today
Posted by Dennis SellersThere'll be no Macsimum Podcast today as Yours Truly is seeing his daughter off for 3.5 months for study aboard (Vienna, to be exact). The podcast will return Monday.
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Apple patent involves animating thrown objects in a project environment
Posted by Dennis SellersAn Apple patent (number 20080222540 for animating thrown objects in a project environment has appeared at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Techniques described in the patent allow user sort data objects in a user interface.
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Creative patent reveals mysterious media player
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video Not much to go on with this one, but a patent issued to Creative at the start of this year and apparently just recently made public has revealed this rather curious looking media player, which doesn't quite match up with anything the company has released thus far. Of course, that could mean it's just an idea the company has since scrapped or, as Anything But iPod speculates, it could be an indication of a forthcoming Zen Vision media player -- or, less likely, an internet tablet of some sort. Hit up the link below to peruse the patent for yourself.[Via Anything But iPod, thanks Jamil] Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Macware Releases MacTuneUp 3.4.5
Posted by Dennis SellersMacWare has released version 3.4.5 of MacTuneUp , a utility that discovers and fixes problems, restores hard disk space, creates bootable disk backups, and maximizes Internet and network connections.
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Apple to open new retail stores in New Jersey, Maine
Posted by Dennis SellersApple will open new retail stores in New Jersey and Maine this weekend. The Willowbrook store is located at 1400 Willowbrook Mall, Wayne, NJ 07470. Store hours will be: 10 am to 9:30 pm, Monday-Thursday; 10 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday; and 11 am to 7 pm, Sunday.
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Jobs, other Apple execs settle shareholder backdating lawsuits for $14M
Filed under: Misc. GadgetsIt looks like the Apple options backdating mess is finally drawing to a complete close, as the last of the shareholder derivative suits against Steve Jobs and other Apple execs will reportedly settle for $14M pending the court's final approval on October 31. Apple has also agreed to reform parts of its options plan, but in the end all of this has basically come out to nothing -- particularly since shareholders in a derivative suit sue on behalf of the company, meaning the $14M is being paid by Steve and the other execs' insurance companies back to Apple, which doesn't really need it. Oh well, at least we briefly got FSJ out of it, right?[Via AppleInsider]Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Elliott Carter vs. iTunes 8 Genius
iTunes's new Genius sidebar happily recommends Pink and other top songs and albums when it can't find any matches for your current selection within iTunes, even when your current selection is A Symphony of Three Orchestras, a composition by Elliott Carter, a distinguished American composer still actively composing as he nears his 100th birthday—about as far away as you can possibly get from Pink. These wildly incongruous recommendations alone are reason enough to disable the Genius sidebar. But hey, look! Carter's Symphonia shows actual recommendations. What's that first one? Adams: The Dhar…, hmm, that's probably John Adams, but whoa, he's like in a separate universe from Elliott Carter. We're not talking a Pink universe, but separate anyway. What's that next one? Berstein Conduc…, probably Leonard Bernstein, but could be Elmer too. And conducts what? Heh, look at that last one, Requiem in D Minor, K…. If it wasn't for that last K, I'd have little clue whose Requiem, but the K probably means Mozart. Notice how in the Top Songs list, song title and artist name are generally quite short. Only three ellipses in the Top Songs section, in fact. Now notice how every one of the classical music recommendations has an ellipsized title and artist. So close. Well, not too close at all really. The Genius might turn out to be great for commercial music, but for art music? Not a chance. Hey Apple designers, why isn't the Genius resizable?
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XThemes: Your favorite TextMate themes ... in Xcode
Filed under: Software, Cool tools, DeveloperI unabashedly love TextMate, and I love my TextMate themes. I do, however, spend a fair amount of time in Xcode, which is why I was excited to find XThemes. With a little bit of drag and drop, you can convert any TextMate theme -- in all of its splendor -- into an Xcode theme.Yes, it's for a limited audience ... namely TextMate die-hards who also use Xcode frequently enough to miss the themes they love (and have probably spent a fair amount of time tweaking). If you fit into this niche, you'll definitely want to take a look. XThemes: $0. Feeling at home coding outside of TextMate ... priceless.Read|Permalink|Email this|Comments
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Quick Tip: Print to PDF
Printing to a PDF is a useful feature to have for saving receipts of online purchases or sending screenshots of webpages to friends (these aren't the only useful times to print to PDF's, but they are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head). In OS X printing to a PDF is a as simple as: File > Print PDF > Save as PDF
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Rage WebCrusher update adds one-click MobileMe support
Posted by Dennis SellersRage Software has released Rage WebCrusher 1.1, a major update to the web site optimizer for Mac OS X. With the upgrade, users can now publish their optimized websites directly to their iDisk. It also fixes issues with optimizing CSS and PHP files.
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Is an AppleTV software update just around the corner?
It seems odd that Apple would release iTunes 8, and add HD TV Shows into the mix without updating the AppleTV to be able to get in on the action. That's the case, though - at least for right now. If you own an AppleTV and you've tried to purchase one of your favorite television shows in HD, you've probably noticed that you can't. So far Apple hasn't offered an update to AppleTV to correct this, but if you purchase an HD TV Show in iTunes then stream it to your AppleTV it will play just fine. So, the question is - will Apple be releasing a software update to the AppleTV soon - or will they hold out until newer models are released with higher storage capacities. I have one of the first units released, so its 40GB hard drive is certainly not ideal for downloading HD TV shows on. Currently I couldn't download the first 3 seasons of “The Office” on the device because it wouldn't be able to hold them. Forget downloading any other shows. This problem could be easily solved, however, if Apple would simply activate the USB port on the device and let us add extra storage. Could we see that in the next update of the AppleTV? Stranger things have happened. What do you think?
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Freeverse releases Big Bang Board Games for iPhone, iPod touch
Posted by Dennis SellersFreeverse has released Big Bang Board Game for the iPhone and iPod touch. The collection brings Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Reversi, 4-in-a-Row, Mancala and Tic Tac Toe to the devices.
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Revolution 3.0 shipping, gets price reduction
Posted by Dennis SellersRevolution 3.0, the latest version of the programming tool from Runtime Revolution is shipping. The new version dramatically improves the script editor, making it easier for newcomers and more comfortable for experienced programmers, says Runtime Revolution CEO Kevin Miller. The company also slashed the retail price of the product line...
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Corrections: Apple settles options-backdating cases
On Sept. 10, a MarketWatch report incorrectly said Apple Inc. executives would pay the $14 million to settle some stock-option backdating lawsuits. The company's liability insurer will make the payment. See corrected story.
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CORRECT: Apple settles opti