Found Footage: Band brings multiple instruments to iPhone

Filed under: iPhone If you're musically inclined and the owner of a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, keep your eyes and ears out for the impending release of Band (video here), the latest app from Moo Cow Music (the mad scientists responsible for Pianist, Guitarist and Drummer). Coming soon via the ModMyiPhone sources, this application promises to put all your musical fun into one touchable tool.You'll be able to record and play back your compositions, which is bound to make you the most...

Filed under: iPhone If you're musically inclined and the owner of a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, keep your eyes and ears out for the impending release of Band (video here), the latest app from Moo Cow Music (the mad scientists responsible for Pianist, Guitarist and Drummer). Coming soon via the ModMyiPhone sources, this application promises to put all your musical fun into one touchable tool.You'll be able to record and play back your compositions, which is bound to make you the most popular person around (as if the iPhone itself wasn't enough for that).[via JustAnotheriPhoneBlog]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

  • 50 Killer Mac Apps For Under $50

       Who doesn't need more for less? We present 50 Mac|Life-approved applications--many free, all under $50--that'll guarantee you get the most from your Mac without traumatizing your wallet. The Internet is full of noise--countless different applications for every occasion, with reviews everywhere that love and hate them at the same time. While that’s hardly news, it’s still a hassle that isn’t going away. Say you picked up a spiffy new MacBook Pro, and it’s time to kit it out with the leanest, meanest software. After all, Macs have that rich history of garage-roots development, of a few folks in a basement brewing up quality software that smokes the big-name stuff. So you’ve got a feeling there’s great, affordable software just waiting for you to find it--and you’re right. But how do you sift through the zillion calendar apps and jillion media players to find the gems worthy of your hard drive space? And more importantly, your time and money?We’re here to help with a compendium of essential software. It didn’t come easily--we debated, argued, haggled, and even pleaded to secure a prized position on this list for our favorite, most useful applications. But by limiting the software we’re highlighting to 50, we’ve guaranteed you the best of the best--no Internet spew here. And by capping the cost of the software we’ve selected at $50, we’ve made sure you can reasonably buy what you need. You may love your Mac already, but you’re not gonna believe how much it can do once you load up even a few of these choice applications.   Entertainment Sure, iPods and iTunes make music and movies easier to enjoy, but they're not without headaches of their own. That's where these awesome apps come in. They take the pain out of kicking back with your favorite flicks and tunes. Simplify Media Share & stream your iTunes library over the Internet.The iPod has made several portable music formats obsolete, and we sure don’t miss schlepping around fragile cassette tapes or heavy wallets full of CDs. But even the mighty iPod has its limits--namely capacity. That’s where Simplify Media (free, Simplify Media, simplifymedia.com) comes in handy. It guarantees that the size of your music library doesn’t matter by letting you stream music between computers via the Internet. Yup, this app will play your entire library on any computer (as long as the one that has your library is powered up and online).Stream your tunes from home or the next cube.Once installed, a simple login fires up your music. Simplify Media works with iTunes just like the built-in LAN sharing does, and the remote libraries appear under Shared, alongside any local shared libraries. Even better, you can add up to 30 friends’ shared libraries, and an iPhone app ($5.99) lets you pipe your music to your iPhone or iPod touch.  SuperSync SuperSync keeps multiple iTunes collections in sync. Speaking of iTunes libraries--streaming is great, but what if you want to sync libraries across multiple Macs? SuperSync ($22, SuperSync, supersync.com) makes it so. Sure, Apple introduced limited music-transfer capabilities with Home Sharing in iTunes 9, but that feature requires computers to be on the same local network. SuperSync one-ups iTunes by syncing iTunes libraries over the Internet. It’s perfect for anyone who uses multiple Macs, and SuperSync also has a bunch of other tricked-out features. In deference to the record companies, Apple makes transferring music from an iPod to a computer unnecessarily difficult. SuperSync handles the task with ease, making it a bacon-saver when the hard drive in your Mac kicks the bucket. SuperSync will even allow you to sync libraries cross-platform.SuperSync's color-coded interface helps you synchronize your iTunes tracks across multiple Macs.  VLC Media Player Never worry about video file types again. If most of your Mac video-watching happens in the form of DVDs or QuickTime movies, you probably don’t think too much about player software. But move beyond the most basic video types, and you’re asking for trouble. With the myriad formats, containers, and encoding parameters available, the simple act of playing back a cat video can become incredibly frustrating. VLC Media Player (free, VideoLAN, www.videolan.org) is like a Swiss Army knife for digital media. It’s open source and cross-platform, and the app will play back practically any audio or video file you throw at it. VLC also handles file conversions with ease, so you can use it to convert audio and video for use online or on portable devices.It plays, it converts, it makes toast (okay, maybe not that last one.)  RipIt Backup & convert DVDs with RipIt.There are plenty of legit reasons to rip a DVD. Backup copies of kids’ movies for the minivan, watching Glee on your iPod touch while you’re on the bus, or even just saving battery power on your laptop (playing back a file from a hard drive is much more efficient than spinning a DVD).RipIt's simple interface makes ripping DVDs seamless and easy.Once the domain of ĂĽbernerds, DVD ripping is a one-click affair thanks to RipIt ($19.95, The Little App Factory, ripitapp.com). And since it makes full rips, all of the menus, bonus features, and subtitles remain intact. You can play back the resulting files with DVD Player on your Mac or use a freeware tool like Handbrake to convert your rips into iPod-friendly formats.   Delicious Library We love the iTunes Store, but we still end up accumulating books, DVDs, console games, and, yes, even CDs. Delicious Library ($40, Delicious Monster Software, www.delicious-monster.com) helps catalog your collections by--get this--taking snaps of UPCs via your webcam and then automatically organizing your meatspace content onto virtual shelves for easy sorting and browsing. You can track loans to friends, post items for sale on Amazon, and publish Web catalogs formatted for your iPhone. That way, you can avoid buying another copy of John Hodgman’s More Information Than You Require.   Connect360 We’re Apple-faithful, but that doesn’t stop us from engaging in a little Modern Warfare 2 on our Xbox 360. And since the 360 is much more than a simple gaming machine, we also use it to stream iTunes tracks to our entertainment center and view pictures from our iPhoto library on our HDTV--with the help of Connect360 ($20, Nullriver Inc, www.nullriver.com), that is. It works over wired or wireless networks, and it even streams H.264 video straight from our MacBook. Sweet!   Peel Pack rats, beware: Peel ($14.95, Hjalti Jakobsson, www.getpeel.com) can get really overwhelming, really fast. But if you’re an avid follower of music blogs, Peel can automagically grab new tracks as they’re posted. So forget all that pesky right-clicking and manually adding to iTunes. Just feed Peel a list of your favorite music blogs, and then kick back as tons of new, free tunes get downloaded straight to your Mac. You may never have to buy (or pirate) music again.    CoverScout Cover Flow is one of those features that looks great in a demo but doesn’t quite translate at home. iTunes can attempt to find the album art that makes Cover Flow actually useful, but it’s limited in scope and can’t make fuzzy matches. CoverScout ($39.95, equinox USA, www.equinux.com) scours the Internet to find your missing album art and presents you with multiple options to let you choose the best images. Don’t Cover Flow without it.   TuneUp For all of those untitled and mistitled tracks in your music library, there’s TuneUp ($19.95/one year, $29.95/lifetime; TuneUp Media; www.tuneupmedia.com). Like CoverScout, TuneUp can find and download missing album art, but its best trick is cleaning up your ID3 tags--the artist, title, and album info displayed in iTunes. A quick search is all it takes to clear up all those Track 1s and Unknown Artists in your library. It sure beats cleaning up metadata by hand. Next Page: Productivity Apps >>  Productivity Takin' care of business, every day. Takin' care of business, every way. Workin' on a Mac, it's all right. This productivity software is workin' overtime. WriteRoom Blocks distractions so you can write in peace.Proving the tired adage that “less is more,” WriteRoom ($24.95, Hog Bay Software, www.hogbaysoftware.com) is a light text editor with a full-screen mode. Start a new document, and everything else fades away--your Dock, your menubar, and other windows on your Desktop. You’re left with a black screen and friendly green text for a clutter- and distraction-free experience. The Escape key toggles between full-screen mode and windowed mode, which resembles TextEdit with a live word count.WriteRoom can save your work as plain text, rich text, or Microsoft Word’s .doc format. The preferences offer tons of customization: auto-save, character counts, the appearance of text in full-screen mode, and more. But WriteRoom’s real magic is how it gets out of your way and lets you focus on what you’re doing.  BusyCal One calendar application to rule them all.BusyCal ($40, BusyMac, www.busymac.com) is iCal on steroids. It dances circles around iCal, chanting, “Everything you can do, I can do better.” And it’s right. Sharing is a snap: You can set up two-way syncing with your Google Calendar or with other BusyCal calendars on your local network or the wide-open Internet. But even aside from sharing, BusyCal offers tons of calendaring bells and whistles: customizable views, sticky notes, weather forecasts, moon phases, graphical icons, a to-do list, notes, tags, and much more. And since it uses the Sync Services built into Mac OS X, your BusyCal calendars can sync with MobileMe and your iPhone. You can even switch back to iCal anytime without losing any of the events or to-dos you entered in BusyCal.So what if iCal is free? BusyCal is better.  Things Flexible to-do list syncs with iCal and the iPhone. For busy people like us, a good to-do list is beyond essential. But some that we’ve tried are so complicated that just managing your tasks becomes a chore in itself. So the light, easy-to-understand Things ($49.95, Cultured Code, www.culturedcode.com) is a breath of fresh air. You can go the full Getting Things Done route, adding contexts, priority levels, a tickler file, and so on. Or you can keep it simple, with one-off and repeating tasks and multistep projects. iCal syncing can get your deadlines on your calendar, and Things on the Mac can sync wirelessly with Things on the iPhone ($9.99 in the App Store). We’ve tried multiple task-managment systems, from Web-based ToodleDo to iPhone apps like ToDo to Mail’s built-in To-Do list to good old paper and pencil. Things is the cream of the crop for its good looks, quick entry, and easy syncing.Things uses tags to organize your projects in a million ways--or you can ignore the tags altogether and just work.  Express Scribe Transcriptions made easy... well, easier.Transcribing an interview, lecture, or other recording is hard enough, just with the listening and typing. Toss in the extra arm movement as you frantically click from your text editor to your audio-playback application every time you want to pause the recording or rewind a few seconds, and your transcribing job just got tougher and more frustrating. Express Scribe (free, NCH Software, www.nch.com.au/scribe) lets you set system-wide hotkeys for audio playback so you can stay in your text editor, fully control the audio, and never need to reach for your mouse.Express Scribe can also slow down your audio without changing the pitch, supports video, works with lots of file types, loads recordings from analog or digital audio recorders, and more. Plus, it’s completely free. Wahoo!  NoteBook The Mac is silly with note-taking applications (Evernote, Yojimbo, ShoveBox, MacJournal…shall we go on?), but Circus Ponies’ NoteBook ($49.95, Circus Ponies, www.circusponies.com) is a standout. If you subscribe to “a place for everything, and everything in its place,” NoteBook can be the place for notes, Web clippings, bookmarks, documents, voice memos, photos, and more. It struts its flexibility with ready-made templates for planning a trip, writing a research paper, collecting recipes, keeping a journal, and so on, while its fun spiral-notebook interface is a nice touch.    TextExpander A thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters could produce Hamlet a lot faster if they knew how to use TextExpander ($29.95, SmileOnMyMac, www.smileonmymac.com). This wonder app installs as a System Preferences pane and lets you define shortcuts for your most commonly used words and phrases. Abbreviate long URLs, your email signoff, even your own photo or scanned signature file. Then as you type those shortcuts, they’re automagically expanded to what you really wanted to say. Brilliant.   iFinance 3 Sure, Quicken is popular and Mint.com is free, but iFinance 3 ($29, Synium Software GmbH, www.synium.de) was built from the ground up just for Macs, and it shows. The intuitive interface makes it a cinch--dare we say a pleasure?--to track your accounts, keep an eye on your cash flow, set up a budget, and graph your expenses. It can also import from CSV and QIF files for easier data entry. Plus, a companion iPhone app lets you enter transactions on the go.  FlexTime This charming timer app ($18.95, Red Sweater Software, www.red-sweater.com) lets you set up multistep routines that run once or repeat ad nauseam. Each step can be marked by a sound, spoken text, or even running a script. Once your routine is perfect, you can export the audio to iTunes--great for following a recipe’s carefully timed steps or taking your favorite yoga routines on the road.   DEVONthink Personal Another great catch-all for storing, sorting, organizing, and searching information, DEVONthink ($49.95, DEVONtechnologies, www.devon-technologies.com) can take almost anything you can throw at it. Documents, PDFs, photos, multimedia files, bookmarks, webpages, iChat logs--all of those can be imported, sorted, and read right in DEVONthink. Searching is easy, and you can cobble together a brand-new document from items in your DEVONthink database and export it to your favorite text editor for printing or as HTML for posting.  Next Page: Internet Apps >>  Internet It's a wild place, that Interweb, so there's nothing like a few primo apps to tame everything from blogging to FTPs to Twitter and Flash banners. Transmit Traveling the two-lane FTP highway.FTP has been around forever. Social networking and cloud computing may come and go, but FTP is in it for the long hall. Fortunately, there are a wealth of great FTP clients for the Mac, and the best of those is Transmit ($29.95, Panic, www.panic.com/transmit). The client utilizes a split directory window that shows the path on your computer and the path on the FTP site. With in-app search and the ability to sync folders on your Mac and on the FTP site, Transmit helps alleviate the search and drag-and-drop blues of other clients. The sync feature is especially helpful for Web developers and designers. You can even create desktop droplets for quick uploads to heavily used sites.Two-window FTP FTW.  Mac-Journal Web-based apps suck.Blogging about your life is a faux pas. Blogging about anything else that people actually care about is the proper way of utilizing of the blogging systems available out there. The ongoing problem is that most blogging platforms are bit of a pain to use because they’re Web-based. Plus, if you’re somewhere without Internet access, you can’t start laying out your blog posts for your site. MacJournal ($39.95, Mariner Software, www.marinersoftware.com) solves that problem with an easy-to-use multiplatform blogging client. Lay out your articles offline with images, video, and audio, then save them for later posting. The app includes the ability to both write in full-screen mode so you won’t be interrupted by your Twitter friends, and to record an audio podcast in the client.Create blog posts quickly and without browser issues.  Tweetie Multi-account Twitter action.After wowing the world with its iPhone Twitter app, atebits decided to release a desktop version of Tweetie ($19.95, atebits, www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac/). The app can handle multiple Twitter accounts, compose tweets in a separate window, allow you to change the account you’re sending a tweet from on the fly, and let you drag and drop pics and videos right into the Compose window. Don’t have the perfect media on your Mac for a tweet? Record a video or shoot a pic from your iSight camera directly in Tweetie. And since Twitter conversations can be difficult to follow, Tweetie displays the conversation you’re having in a timeline if you just double-click one of the pertinent tweets. The Tweetie bookmarklet in Safari also allows you to share links quickly from your browser.Have an actual conversation on Twitter with Tweetie.  Dropbox Stop, drop, and roll on home.Transferring large files can be a huge pain. Where the hell did you leave that thumb drive? External hard drives leave an unsightly bulge in your pocket, and all those cables are always getting tangled in your shoes. That’s a safety hazard, son. Dropbox (2GB storage for free, 50GB for $9.99/month; Dropbox; www.dropbox.com) is a cloud-based storage drive that you can access from any computer or iPhone. Just pop files into the Dropbox folder on your Mac, and it automatically syncs up with the online disk (which you can view on Dropbox’s website) and with any other machines you have the application installed on. You can even share folders and files with other Dropbox users. If the free 2GB box doesn’t cut it, you can upgrade to 50GB for $10 a month.Access your files from anywhere in the universe (with an Internet connection).  LogMeIn If you need to remotely access a Mac or (gasp) a PC with Windows on it, LogMeIn (free, LogMeIn, logmein.com) allows you to peer into your remote computer from anywhere. You can launch apps, move files, and adjust your preferences via a Web-based interface, as if you were sitting at that computer. For $29.99, you can get your iPhone in on the action too.   TweetDeck If you’re a Twitter power user, TweetDeck (free, TweetDeck, www.tweetdeck.com) should be in your arsenal of Twitter apps. The interface is a series of columns that displays info like your friends’ feeds, saved searches, mentions, direct mentions, and Facebook updates. You can also keep up with trending topics with just a quick glance. If there’s something you need to track on Twitter, TweetDeck can make a column for it.   Vuze Allegedly, BitTorrent steals medication from senior citizens, but isn’t it time to forget about all the evil things it supposedly does? Instead, focus on the greatness of Vuze (free, Vuze, www.vuze.com) and its ability to download legally available video files. After you’ve done the downloading, Vuze can convert your files for use on the iPhone, Apple TV, iPod, Xbox 360, TiVo, and PlayStation 3. It’ll even stream videos to your set-top boxes. Nice!   BannerZest Creating Flash banners is difficult, especially when you don’t know or own Flash. BannerZest ($49, Aquafadas, www.aquafadas.com) takes the pain out the process and gives you a simple way to create quick, beautiful Flash banners. From a standard gallery to an interactive experience, BannerZest comes with a collection of themes for different uses, and it uploads your banners to your FTP or MobileMe disk.    FileChute Sending large files over email can result in the dreaded bounced email. FileChute ($17.95, Yellow Mug Software, www.yellowmug.com) works with your MobileMe-, FTP-, or WebDAV-accessible Web server. Drop your file into the app, and it uploads it to your online server of choice and then creates a URL to add to your email. If you drop more than one file, you get an archive uploaded to your server. Adios, bounced emails!  Next Page: Content Creation Apps >> Content Creation Sure, Adobe's stuff is the gold standard, but you don't want to have to count on a good night at the poker table to pay for it, right? Cue these killer applications, which let you effectively draw, edit photos, render, animate, and even scratch for a very fair price. djay 3 Budgeted beats to grow on.You want to spin phat beats, but your slim bank keeps you from purchasing the high-end DJ equipment and software. That’s okay, young DJ-in-training, djay 3 ($49.95, algoriddim, www.djay-software.com) gives you everything you need to rock the house without losing your shirt. This surprisingly robust audio-mixing software integrates with your iTunes library and puts all the usual mixing and scratching right on your desktop. The application supports multitouch trackpad scratching and fading between tracks, so it’s especially perfect for the last few generations of MacBooks. And as you grow as a DJ, the application will grow with you thanks to its support for MIDI controllers. That means when you get the cash for those fancy digital mixers and turntables, djay will be right there with you.With your iTunes catalog at your fingertips, you'll find some pretty interesting mashups.  Audacity Free audio editor extraordinaire.Audio editing seems simple at first. Then suddenly, you’re knee-deep in samples, frequencies, and bitrates. Sound editing really is part science, part black magic, so we’re thankful that Audacity (free, SourceForge, audacity.sourceforge.net) removes one of the biggest obstacles: choosing a quality application and figuring out how you’re going to pay for it. Audacity is both terrific and free, which is kinda hard to beat. An audio-recording and -editing application, it captures up to 16 channels at once from multiple sources, features noise removal, includes a metadata editor, and supplies unlimited undos. It can handle most of the audio files out there, and it’ll work with multiple files types in the same project. Audacity is also is cross-platform, so if you’re a recent Mac arrival, you may already know about its awesome power.So many features, you'll second-guess the price: free.  SketchUp 3D for you and me.Maya, 3D Studio Max, and SketchUp--all of these will let you create magical 3D worlds. Only one will do it for free, and you probably nailed it in one--it’s Google’s SketchUp software (free, Google, sketchup.google.com) that brings the world of 3D to the average Joe. You can create your own items or utilize Google’s 3D warehouse to find models created by other SketchUp users. With all those models at your fingertips, you can create floor plans for your home, build a level for your favorite FPS, or export the files to animation software or Photoshop. The application includes tutorials that’ll get you up and rendering in no time at all… so now nothing stands between you and virtual-world domination!Build a virtual man-cave for you and your stuff.  Ringer Wham-bam ringtone, ma'am.We get tons of people asking us, “How do I make a ringtone for my iPhone?” Until recently, we told them to launch GarageBand, cut a ringtone, and export it to iTunes. Now we recommend Ringer ($15, Pixel Research Labs, pixelresearchlabs.com/ringer) as the quickest and easiest way to create ringtones from your favorite songs and audio files. Ringer has access to your entire iTunes library and works with MP3, AAC, MOV, MP4, M4V, and QuickTime files. Yeah, you can make a ringtone from a video file. A super-simple editor with waveform information makes it a snap to select the perfect section of audio, and you can fade in and out of the file and preview the ringtone before cropping it and sending it to iTunes for a sync with your iPhone.   Acorn Using an image editor doesn’t have to cost you hundreds of dollars. In fact, with Acorn ($49.95, Flying Meat, www.flyingmeat.com/acorn), you’ll get features like layers, AppleScript support, 64-bit support, drawing, and filters in a package that’s easy on the wallet. This easy-to-use software strips away most of the features most people don’t use and gives you a clean image-editing tool.   Inkscape While raster-based image editors like Photoshop are great at pushing pixels around, the vector-based drawing programs are where all the real action happens. The open-source application Inkscape (free, Inkscape, www.inkscape.org) is similar to powerhouses like Illustrator and CorelDraw, but with one important difference--it’s free. The app utilizes the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format and includes a nice 3D drawing tool that allows you to set your vanishing points.    Screenflick With Snow Leopard, Apple introduced screen-capture into QuickTime, and it’s a nice feature if you’re looking to make a quick full-screen screencast. But if you want something that has features like fixed location output at up to 60 fps, Screenflick ($25, Araelium Group, www.araelium.com/screenflick) is an application you can get behind. It’ll highlight mouse clicks and keyboard events, adding a nifty visual cue into your screencasts that highlights what you’re doing.   Bracketeer While your eye can take in an amazing range of light to dark, your camera cannot. In order to help create images that include a tonal range that the average camera can’t capture, HDR applications and plug-ins have appeared on the market. These applications take a series of images that have been bracketed from dark to light and combine them to include the darkest darks to the lightest lights in one HDR image. Bracketeer ($29.95, Pangea Software, pangeasoft.net/pano/bracketeer) is a standalone application that does just that. Adjust the saturation, the contrast, and exposure from within the application. The application will even auto-align your images in case you got the hiccups while taking your pics.   iStopMotion 2 Home Most animators’ first animation was probably a stop-motion piece with Star Wars action figures. And whether those childhood lightsaber battles have you hoping to become the next Brad Bird, or you just love the look of stop-motion, iStopMotion ($49, Boinx Software, www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview) is a quick, easy way to create simple stop-motion animations. Use your iSight or connect a camera to your Mac and start making your own Wallace and Gromit short. You’ll feel the Force, Lu… sorry.  Next Page: Utility Apps >> Utilities Slick utilities can add crucial functionality to your Mac, so we've selected the best options for everything from secure password managers and system-troubleshooting tools to an app that will let you play Windows games on your Mac... without Windows! AppZapper Completely trash applications.Unlike using Windoze, installing and uninstalling apps on a Mac is painless. Drag an application’s icon into your Applications folder, and you’re pretty much good to go. Deleting them is just as simple--just grab them and toss them into the Trash. But if you’ve ever dug around Library or System folders on your Mac, you’ll see that even after you Trash an app, many of them leave crumbs in different parts of your machine. For cleaning up those last little bits, AppZapper ($12.95, Austin Sarner and Brian Ball, www.appzapper.com) is a must-have utility that’s also great for troubleshooting problems. Wiping out all of an application’s preferences and other random files can often turn a troublesome app into a perfectly behaved one after a clean reinstall. Completely remove unwanted applications with a simple drag and drop.  Hazel Clean and organize your Mac--automatically.Hazel ($21.95, NoodleSoft, www.noodlesoft.com) is kind of like Rosie the Robot for your Mac. Or it’s like OS X’s Folder Actions… if they were super-awesome, easy to use, and perfect for helping you keep your Mac’s folders and files organized. Hazel installs as a pane in System Preferences, monitoring locations that you choose, and performs actions on files based on your criteria. By creating simple rules, you can delegate repetitive and annoying file-management tasks to Hazel--for example, automatically add downloaded MP3s to iTunes or move DMGs to an archive on an external drive. Hazel can delve deep into metadata for complex actions like copying images into subfolders by ISO settings or reorganizing music files according to bitrate. You can even set up simple rules for auto-deleting items that have been in the Trash longer than a certain amount of time.  1Password Keep all your confidential info on lockdown.You’ve heard it before--secure, unique passwords are the way to go. Yet there you are, still using the same password for everything from your maclife.com login to your Gmail and your bank account. Do we even have to tell you again why that’s a colossally bad idea? 1Password ($39.95, Agile Web Solutions, agilewebsolutions.com) can help clean up your online act, creating and managing complex passwords for every online account and then logging you in with a keyboard shortcut. The app can also be used to securely store personal information like credit card numbers and addresses for use in Web forms. And since all of your passwords are unique, you won’t have to worry about your banking info being compromised because of a data breach at that sketchy Russian website you used to download MP3s for a penny.1Password securely stores Web passwords, logins, software licenses, and other important information.  iPhone Explorer Store & browse files on your iPhone.Breaking tradition with the iPods of yore, Apple doesn’t provide the ability to use your iPhone as a USB drive. iPhone Explorer (free, myPod Apps, www.mypodapps.com) is a simple app that will let you drag and drop files onto your phone for easy portability. The app itself is lightweight, and all it takes is a USB cable to view your iPhone’s folder structure. In addition to storing files, iPhone Explorer can be used to restore iTunes tracks from your iPod to a Mac or to rescue photographs from the depths of your iPhone’s memory. No jailbreaking is required, but more adventurous users with jailbroken phones can also recover contacts, messages, email, and other data. It’s a powerful tool, but it’s simple to use for the careful novice.  AppleJack AppleJack (free, The Apotek, applejack.sourceforge.net) is one of those things you’ll install once and never think about again—if everything goes right. But if, god forbid, your Mac starts acting weird one day--or stops acting, period--it’ll be AppleJack to the rescue. It’s a command-line utility for diagnosing and repairing problems with your computer. Use the menu-driven system to repair permissions, validate preferences files, and remove screwy cache files.  SuperDuper With Time Machine built into OS X, there’s really no good reason not to have an automatic backup. But Time Machine has its limits--a big one being the lack of bootable backups. SuperDuper ($27.95, Shirt Pocket, www.shirt-pocket.com) easily handles creating and updating bootable clones of your Mac’s hard drive so you’ll be ready to go when disaster strikes. Just plug in your clone, restart, and you’re up and running again.   CrossOver Games PC fanboys like to slag the Mac for having fewer games, but with CrossOver Games ($39.95, CodeWeavers, www.codeweavers.com), Mac users--and Linux fans too--can easily play games coded for Windows machines. The list of officially supported games is hundreds deep, and since CrossOver is based on Wine, you don’t even need a copy of Windows just to play Team Fortress 2.   Clean My Mac Hard drives are never big enough. Whether you have a MacBook Air or a Mac Pro, there always comes a point when there’s just not enough space on your internal disks. Clean My Mac ($29.95, MacPaw, macpaw.com) can help with that problem, scouring your Mac’s drive and tossing out all sorts of gunk you don’t need. Use it to toss unneeded language files, scrub extraneous code from universal binaries, and thoroughly clean up after deleted applications.   rooSwitch OS X’s Fast User Switching is handy for juggling multiple user accounts and their corresponding settings, but rooSwitch ($19, Rocket, rooswitch.com) allows you to maintain different settings on a per-application basis. Use it to manage Home and Work browser profiles, for example, or to have different profiles in your word processor for writing or editing documents. rooSwitch works with nearly any application, and it supports Automator and AppleScript for the ultimate in customizability.  Next Page: Wild Card Apps & Staff Picks >>  Wild Cards Not all Mac apps fall into your neat little categories. These five break the mold and completely deserve a place on your hard drive. Bricksmith Virtual bricks you can't lose or step on? Sold!Legos are the official plastic brick of Mac|Life--we’ve had many discussions about the empires we built in our childhood bedrooms and how much we miss “playing Legos” as the soulless adults we are today. Bricksmith (free, donations accepted; Allen Smith; bricksmith.sourceforge.net) lets you recapture the magic in a highly geeky way. It’s a 3D Lego-model creator, offering drag-and-drop construction using thousands of parts in every color of Lego’s rainbow. Tutorials and the one finished model that’s included show you the ropes, and once you’re done with your virtual creation, you can export step-by-step instructions to build it for real. There’s even a mini figure generator where you can design and outfit a matching Lego man and insert him into your model. This software couldn’t be cooler.We can't believe an application this sweet is donationware.  CameraBag Desktop Give your photos a new identity or some old-timey charm.We named the iPhone version of CameraBag one of our “101 Essential Apps for 2008,” and now the same fun can be had on your Mac, thanks to CameraBag Desktop ($19, Nevercenter, www.nevercenter.com). You drag in a digital image, and the app re-creates the look of a real film photograph--choose from Helga, Lolo, Mono, 1962, 1974, Instant, Magazine, Cinema, or Colorcross.For more variations, click the Reprocess button, and all the options will change their look and coloring just slightly. Or check the Multi-filter box and experiment with adding multiple filters to a single photo. Of course, you can export your altered images back to your hard drive without affecting the original file. The novelty of taking an everyday digital snapshot and making it look like a Polaroid image or washed-out 1974 photograph never gets old.Your digital photos, plus extra personality.  SousChef Recipe database + shopping list + cooking assistant = one kitchen lifesaver.SousChef ($30, Acacia Tree Software, acaciatreesoftware.com) edges out MacGourmet ($49.95, www.marinersoftware.com) in the cooking-assistant category for its cloud database of recipes. Every time a SousChef user enters a recipe (133,000-plus at press time), it’s synced to the cloud, and you can search those and import them into your own library. You can also opt out of sharing your own recipes so Aunt Erma’s secret matzo ball soup stays in the family.Once a recipe’s in your library, you can edit, print, email, or blog it--or even add its ingredients to your grocery list. Click the Cook button for a full-screen view of the instructions that you can read from across the room, keeping your Mac out of the splatter zone. The Mac’s built-in speech recognition lets you advance the recipe’s steps with your own voice, or you can use the Apple Remote or a Keyspan Front Row Remote.  Temporis Attractive, drag-and-drop timelines make it easy to "show, don't tell."Everyone loves a good infographic, or at least geeky types like us do. (And the geeks shall inherit the earth, don’cha know?) Temporis ($24.99, Bartas Technologies, www.bartastechnologies.com) makes it easy to create neat-looking timelines on your Mac, which you can then print or export as PDF or TIFF files that are ready for importing into your presentation software, word processor, or page-layout app.Adding new events is just a Command-click away, and it’s a snap to drag the start and end dates around on the timeline. The Arrange button will automatically stagger your timeline’s events into the most logical and easy-to-read order, and the Inspector lets you tweak fonts, colors, titles, labels, and your timeline’s span and intervals. You can even export the event data separately as an XML or CSV file.  Manga Studio Debut 4 Create your own comics and manga, and even manga-fy your photos.Manga Studio Debut 4 ($49.99, Smith Micro, my.smithmicro.com) is a must-have for fans of Japanese manga or anyone who wants to make their own comic books. Its ingenious Beginner’s Assistant groups together the tools by processes so you can intuitively wind your way through a typical manga workflow: sketch, panel, draw, tone, and add character dialogue.You can scan or draw your own art (graphics tablets supported, natch), play with the included samples, purchase manga content from www.contentparadise.com, or even import your own digital photos and watch Manga Studio make them all comicky-looking. Draw speed lines, add dialogue bubbles, move your pages around, and then print or export your finished comic book. Manga Studio Debut 4 is the younger brother to professional-level Manga Studio EX 4 ($299.99), but Debut has plenty of advanced features too, including layers, templates, customizable patterns, and more. Mac|Life Staff Picks  Bass Tuner I’m a beginning bass player--like, very beginning. So it’s a huge help that I don’t have to worry about staying in key. This terrific, simple, and streamlined little app ($9, www.rustykat.com) lets me quickly get in tune in front of my MacBook using the built-in mic. With that necessity sorted, I can fire up some tracks and tablature and focus on struggling to play along.   Multiwinia Multiwinia ($19, www.ambrosiasw.com) offers crazy replayability. You devise a strategy for your stick-figure army, then watch them take on up to four other teams in six game types on 40 vector-graphic maps. Online multiplayer against Mac and Windows players works flawlessly and keeps me coming back for more. No Napoleon complex necessary.    MetaX If you need to tag a large amount of MP4 files, you could use iTunes’ painfully slow process. Instead I found MetaX (free, www.kerstetter.net) for all my tagging needs. The app will search the IMDB catalog and plug the information into the appropriate fields, then share that info via tagChimp. You can even scan DVD barcodes via iSight!    Bean For a word dork like me, word processors are a big deal. Bean (free, www.bean-osx.com) is a lightweight, open-source word processor. It’s missing many of the blinky lights and thingamajigs of the big boys, and that’s exactly the point. Fewer distractions equals better writing, faster. And for anyone who needs to hit a certain length, the live word count rocks.    Fluid I often find that Firefox has the tendency to crash when I have too many Web applications running. But Fluid (free, fluidapp.com) lets me create a site-specific browser out of my most essential websites, like Google Docs and Flickr. Simply plug in the URL, and voilĂ ! You have a separate application running that won’t go down if something else does.   Next Page: More Gaming Bang for 50 Bucks >>  More Bang for 50 Bucks Some of the Mac's best games are also its cheapest? Sweet!Fifty bones won’t buy you even one new Xbox 360 or PS3 game, but on the Mac, you can snap up a stack of premier games for less than that. Or at least, that was our theory when we gave Florence, our new associate online editor, 50 whole American dollars and asked her to max out her Mac with the best gaming that short stack of money could buy.  Man, did she score--check out the results of her diligent “research.” Plants Vs. Zombies $16, amazon.comLine up perilous peashooters and sun-soaking sunflowers against an abominable horde of zombies in Plants vs. Zombies.This animated tower-defense favorite pits you against a horde of zombies with one thing on their (decaying) minds--invading your home for brains! Pit your arsenal of zombie-fighting plants, each with their own spectacular organic weaponry, against 26 zombies and 50 levels of adventure. Fair warning: Once you start playing this excellent game, it’s incredibly hard to stop.  World of Goo $10, amazon.comStack up adorable globs of goo to build structures and watch them band together as you help transport them across various levels.World of Goo is another addictive and totally adorable puzzle game. Created around the idea that circular goo balls make adequate building materials (naturally), the game has you solving puzzles by dragging and dropping goo to create all kinds of crazy structures that enable you to transport your goo across the level. The oh-so-cute googly-eyed blobs pack the game with charm, and you can also connect online and play against other Goo architects around the world. Braid $15, playgreenhouse.comBraid's aesthetically appealing backdrop and profound storyline will keep you engrossed until the very end.Some games defy description, and Braid might be easy to pass over because it appears to be just a mix of platforming and time control set against a gorgeous backdrop. But it subverts and transcends those two well-worn clichĂ©s with brilliant design and an absorbing story that packs a twist that you’ll never see coming. Watch the YouTube videos if you need help solving its puzzles, but just make sure you see this masterpiece through to the end. Balcassa $8, openplanetsoftware.comBalcassa has a mountain of exciting brainteasers for the puzzle fiend.Balcassa feeds off those nightmares you still have about attempting to master that archaic, rainbow-colored Rubik’s cube. And while most of you probably never cracked the damn thing (we didn’t!), Balcassa gives you a second chance. The objective of the game is to slide the cubes into a specific sequence, pattern, or orientation. It may sound like a simple task, but much like fiddling with a Rubik’s cube, figuring it all out is the real reward. Freeware Fun If you’re interested in first-person shooters and MMORPGs, Quake Live and Second Life can give you hours of entertainment at our favorite price: $0.00. Both games perform smoothly on Mac OS 10.4 or later. Quake Live doesn’t require beefy hardware because it runs through your Web browser. But that doesn’t stop it from delivering all the fast-paced action of the classic first-person shooter. Second Life, while not as packed with storyline as World of Warcraft, offers a similar massively multiplayer world where you can meet people, customize your character’s look, and participate in a virtual world that’s just like our own. You don’t even have to watch the clock to make sure you’re on time for a player-versus-player raid!You don't need fancy computer hardware to frag your way through this beloved shooter. Vital Statistics on Our 50 Killer Apps Total cost if you bought all 50 apps: $1219.83Number of apps that are free: 13Apps that have an iPhone counterpart: 15Whaddaya waiting for? (apps that have a free demo): 39Number of countries these apps were born in: 7Apps named "iSomething": shockingly... just 3!Apps that require Snow Leopard: 1Apps that require Leopard: 14Apps that promise "iLife integration!": 9 

  • How to Use Your Mac and Your iPhone to Completely Automate Your Home

    Modernize your home and simplify your life with these painless products and strategies that automate your house, apartment, castle, or whatever keeps the roof over your head.   Illustrations by Hanoch Piven Still using jagged little strips of metal to unlock your front door? Paying someone to feed your pets while you’re away for a weekend? Then it’s time to truly enter the second decade of the 21st century. Setting up home-control automation that runs from your Mac and iPhone is surprisingly simple, and the results can feel like magic. We kick things off with a primer that takes the hassle and jargon out of home control, then dive straight into showing you the best possibilities for managing your home’s lights, entertainment, security, and loads more. Just wait until you check out the washing machine that tweets when it’s finished a load… What Exactly is Home Control? You might’ve also heard it called “home automation,” and you might be a bit reluctant to slog through all the jargon and devices that the phrase brings to mind. But really, it’s simple. There are two types of home-control systems: the fantasy technology you see at Disney’s Tomorrowland and the gear you can actually deploy in the real world. Unfortunately, manufacturers of home-control systems have overpromised and under-delivered for so many years that many people have just stopped listening.Good news: It’s safe to start listening again. There’s still a yawning chasm between fantasy and reality--we’re a long way from having a robot butler greet us with our smoking jacket and a perfectly muddled mojito as we step out of our flying car. But we can manage nearly every system in and around the home: lighting, heating and cooling, home theater, security, even irrigation.Why bother? Home-control systems are appealing for many reasons: They deliver unparalleled convenience and efficiency, they add value to your home, they strengthen your home’s physical security, and they help reduce your impact on the environment. With the right tools, you can monitor and manage all your home systems whether you’re on the couch, in the car, or at work. We’ll discuss those specific applications in the following pages, but first, it’s important to begin with an overview of the basics. Which home-control standard do you want to use? There are four major ecosystems to choose from, and naturally, they’re mutually exclusive (at least for the time being)… X10/Insteon Introduced by Pico Electronics way back in the 1970s, X10 is the granddaddy of home-control technology. The passage of time and the long absence of significant competition helped X10 amass the largest installed base of any home-control technology, despite a reputation for being as reliable as a British sports car from the same era.X10 devices use a primitive form of power-line networking, meaning commands travel over your home’s existing electrical wiring. The X10 protocol doesn’t include a feedback loop, so there’s no way for devices sending commands to know whether those commands have been received and executed. The technology is also highly susceptible to electrical noise, which X10 devices sometimes interpret as valid commands. This can result not only in false negatives (a light or an appliance doesn’t turn on or off in response to a command), but also false positives (turning on or off in the absence of a command).Insteon, developed by SmartLabs (a major distributor of X10 products) in 2001, builds and improves on the X10 protocol without rendering X10 devices obsolete. Like the ZigBee and Z-Wave standards we’ll discuss next, every node on the Insteon network is capable of receiving information and passing on the command to the next node if it’s not the intended target. Unlike those two standards, Insteon devices use both radio frequencies (RF) and power lines to communicate (this retains X10 compatibility and reaches devices where radio waves can’t penetrate).SmartLabs' Insteon uses radio frequencies and power lines to communicate.SmartLabs maintains its own online retail operation and sells directly to the do-it-yourself market. The Insteon ecosystem is extremely robust in terms of the systems it can manage. You can buy plug-in and in-the-wall lighting controls; thermostats; motion, door, and window sensors; irrigation controllers; and more. Third-party support is very good in some respects and surprisingly limited in others. For instance, you’ll find a number of Mac software controllers (see below), but none of the major lighting-control manufacturers in the U.S. (Cooper Wiring Devices, GE, Intermatic, or Leviton) build Insteon-compatible switches, dimmers, or receptacles.Insteon’s failure to gain support from other manufacturers will likely limit its long-term prospects. The development of a bridge (a device capable of translating commands from one standard to another) would save Insteon customers from getting hosed if the market ultimately embraces one of the other competing standards.  ZigBee ZigBee is the only home-control specification based on an IEEE standard (IEEE is the leading standards organization for device manufacturers; you’ve likely heard of its 802.11 standard for wireless networking). And you might think ZigBee’s designation as an international standard would automatically render it the marketplace winner (after all, how many wireless-networking products buck 802.11?), but far fewer ZigBee products are available to the do-it-yourself crowd than either Insteon or Z-Wave.Part of the problem is that early versions of the ZigBee standard didn’t guarantee interoperability; companies were allowed to develop products that worked only within their own proprietary systems. ZigBee does have a strong presence in the energy-consumption and -management market, where it’s embedded in thermostats inside the home and in utility smart meters outside it. One of the largest home-control manufacturers, Control4, builds complete ZigBee-based systems; but you must acquire it from a contractor who will handle the installation (charging you handsomely and limiting your expansion options in the process).Few ZigBee devices are sold at retail today, and none of the Mac home-control software programs we looked at are capable of operating a ZigBee network yet. Still, ZigBee’s status as an IEEE standard carries a lot of weight, and that could make it a major contender down the road. Z-Wave Z-Wave is a proprietary wireless home-control standard developed by Zensys, and it enjoys robust support from more third-party manufacturers than either Insteon or ZigBee. Cooper, GE, Intermatic, and Leviton offer comprehensive Z-Wave lighting controls; Wayne-Dalton builds garage-door openers; Schlage manufactures door locks; and so on.Control your home's temperature with this Z-Wave thermostat from Trane. You can buy nearly all these products at retail, but Wayne-Dalton’s HousePort and TrickleStar’s Z-Wave widget are the only Mac-compatible home-control programs we’re aware of, and they’re both very rudimentary. But Z-Wave has gathered more industry-wide momentum than either Insteon or ZigBee (including a critical endorsement from Intel), which could help it become the eventual home-control standard. Hybrid ZigBee/Z-Wave systems are also an option--Control4, for instance, introduced a bridge device late last year that enables its ZigBee system to control Z-Wave devices. Handy. The Future Awaits…  Even more good news: There’s no need to make a decision just yet. In the next few pages, we’ll outline the most useful automation options for everything from automatically turning on your lights to amazingly simple webcam security to streaming video servers. Once you decide what’s right for your home, refer back to this primer to decide which hardware standard and corresponding software is right for you. Then it’s time to get your DIY on… even if doing it yourself amounts to Googling “professional home automation installers.” Home-Control Software You'll need to manage your entire home-control system by running software on your Mac that "talks" to your various interfaced devices. The major software players are:Indigo: Perceptive Automation’s Indigo Lite ($89.95) is compatible with Insteon and X10 modules, but not ZigBee or Z-Wave. It includes both a built-in web server and client/server architecture, so you can control the entire system locally or remotely. You can also schedule events (turn on the outside lights at dusk), set up triggers (send an email message if a door sensor is activated; monitor and program your Insteon thermostat), and more. Indigo Pro ($179.95) adds a host of advanced features, such as voice-command response. You can also control Indigo with your iPhone using the free app Indigo Touch.Indigo's software enables you to control your system remotely.XTension: Sand Hill Engineering’s XTension ($149.95) is compatible with X10 devices, several RF and niche interfaces, and certain wireless weather-monitoring products manufactured by Oregon Scientific. A technically savvy audience--even home automation contractors--will find a lot to like, but the software doesn’t support ZigBee, Z-Wave, or Insteon modules, which is… odd.Thinking Home: Always Thinking’s Thinking Home ($79) works with X10 and Insteon modules, but not ZigBee or Z-Wave devices. It’s not as sophisticated as Indigo, but it covers the basics and boasts an easy-to-learn user interface.  Next Page: Lights, Power, Heating, Actions! >>Utilities: Lights, Power, Heating, Actions! Play puppetmaster with your home's utilities from your Mac and iPhone, and reap the benefits of convenience and efficiency. Light Your Way Lighting automation puts the “utilitarian” into home-utility automation. These upgrades are flashy only on a literal level; you probably won’t go bragging to coworkers about how your House of the Future can turn its lights on and off. But these techniques form the foundation of home automation and make a great place to kick things off.For starters, try teaching your house to turn on the lights as you pull into the driveway. In addition to a basic home-control setup with Mac software and a hardware interface, you can add driveway-sensor modules ($169.99) or an automation-savvy garage-door retrofit ($71.99). Or just get a new garage-door opener ($189) with a Z-Wave interface to both control and monitor the door. With your Mac software, you can then build an if-then script that ties into your home lighting. If a car pulls into the driveway, activate the exterior house lighting. If you open the garage door, turn on the entryway lights inside.XTension lets you graphically assign icons that match your home setting.More sensors can create additional options. An outdoor motion sensor with floodlights ($54.88) can turn on when someone passes by. Your Mac could then log the time it happened and snap a webcam picture of your yard.You can take the process indoors, activating room lighting based on a motion sensor ($34.99). Full indoor automation can be harder since you might want to lounge around, but sitting without moving would turn the lights off. Still, it can work well in certain situations, such as lighting up a party as it moves around into different rooms. Control Utilities and Devices Over the Internet Most home automation software can connect online, letting you control devices from anywhere. Cancel your sprinkler schedule on a rainy day, open the shades in your teenager’s room at noon, adjust your thermostat when away, and otherwise tap into your setup over the Internet. Indigo and Thinking Home (see above for details) enable a web server within the automation interface. XTension uses an optional plug-in, X2Web ($39.95), to connect online.Indigo Touch, a free iPhone app, lets you change home-heating conditions from wherever you are. You could also remotely connect to an online Mac and control the whole computer as if you were sitting at home, directly using the automation software of your choice. Several remote-access tools enable this approach, including GoToMyPC ($19.95/month) and LogMeIn Free (free). LogMeIn even offers an iPhone version of the app, LogMeIn Ignition ($29.99). Or if you’re on MobileMe ($99/year), the Back to My Mac feature does the same thing. These tools might also be easier alternatives to setting up online components in the automation software because you shouldn’t have to make special network configurations on your home router to allow access.Open-ended plugs, such as the EZ102X4 (top) and the ApplianceLink V2, let you connect any device to your automation network.And many iPhone apps offer another way to connect to your hardware over the Internet. Indigo Touch (free) is a companion for that desktop software. Otherwise, just search for “X10,” “Insteon,” or “home automation” to browse the App Store. Be sure to read the requirements closely--some interface with software on your home Mac, while others talk directly to certain Internet-enabled automation controllers. Create Your Own Animal House You can more easily take good care of your pets in an automated house, especially if you’re coming home late or taking a short vacation. Some hardware ties directly into your setup, while you might have to creatively hack other devices.For occasional meals, consider an internet-connected device, such as the Petwatch feeder ($269.99). The hardware includes a webcam so you can view your pet wherever you are.With this Petwatch feeder, you can watch and feed your pets remotely.If you’re technically minded--or you can draft someone who is--get creative with other home automation devices for great pet combinations. Some pet doors unlock when Fido or Whiskers get close; their collars hold a key. For one option, try a Solo Pet Door ($395 and up). This device retracts when it senses a magnet that your pet wears.We couldn’t track down any pet doors that talk to home automation systems, but you can combine a door like this with your own sensors. Add a proximity sensor and webcam to track and record your pet movement; you could even have your Mac email or SMS a picture. If you add a power relay to the mix, such as the EZIO2X4 ($134.99) or Insteon ApplianceLink V2 ($34.99), you can lock the door remotely. Maybe you want to give your pets access depending on the time of day. Or you could lock the door after a cat returns from a night of carousing. (There’re loads of creative options out there; for a few more, see Top Ten Wonders of the Home Automation World below.) Use Home Control To Live Greener A home-control system can also help you to reduce your carbon footprint and use previous resources more efficiently. Here are six ways to get started:>> Rather than leaving your exterior lights on all day so your home isn’t dark when you get home, retrofit your light switches and use home-control software to turn them on when the sun sets.>> Conserve water by installing programmable sprinkler controllers that can adjust their irrigation schedules in response to weather conditions and forecasts.>> Create a vacation “scene” that turns your HVAC system off while you’re away. The system can also turn various lights on in the evening and off at night, using a randomized pattern that will fool prospective thieves into thinking the house is occupied.>> Install a programmable thermostat that turns your climate-control system off 30 minutes before you leave and 30 minutes before you’re scheduled to return home. Use your iPhone to remotely update the routine should your plans change.>> Reduce your electrical consumption and improve your media-room ambience by installing a dimmer that brings down the lights when you press Play on your remote control.>> Add an Insteon-enabled 220-volt control to your current high-voltage electrical appliances, such as a water heater (a notorious energy-waster), and conserve money and power by shutting them down during the day or when you’re away from home for extended periods. Next Page: Become Master of All You Survey >> Security: Become Master of All You Survey You install software updates to keep your Mac and iPhone secure. Let them return the favor by keeping tabs on your home while you're away. Keep an iSight on Things Mac has a built-in iSight--or almost any QuickTime-compatible camera attached--you’re one step away from a surveillance system. All you need is software like Security Spy ($50) or EvoCam ($30), and you’re in the counterespionage business. Each application records pictures and video to your Mac continuously, according to schedules you define, or when it detects motion in a camera’s field of view. Just launch the app, point your iSight where you expect snoops to sneak (like a doorway or maybe the desk holding your plans for world domination), then leave your computer running. When the camera picks up movement, the software can start recording, email you a photo of the suspicious event, or alert the Mac running your home automation system to trigger a larger security plan. If you’re more curious than concerned, both applications can upload pictures to an FTP site and serve video to the internet, letting you view your camera’s feed from a browser. You can even log in remotely and tweak your security camera’s settings.EvoCam's surveillance system indulges your counterespionage fantasies.An iSight or webcam is fine for a small room, but Security Spy and EvoCam can monitor and control multiple video sources simultaneously. If your need to know extends to several rooms or even outdoors, you’ll want to weave a larger web of spies... er, cameras. Expand Your Horizons Stepping up from a single-camera system doesn’t have to be difficult. The same software and principles apply; you’ll just add additional cameras, video servers, or network cameras to view and control it all from a central Mac. Video servers send footage from multiple cameras to your wired or wireless network. If your cameras are digital, other Macs running surveillance software can do the job of the server. But if you’re using analog cameras like Q-See’s night-vision-capable QSC48030 ($199.99), you’ll want a dedicated server like Axis’ 240Q ($499.99) to digitize the signals so they can be seen by your Mac.Monitor from afar with Axis's 214 PTZ camera.Network cameras have built-in web servers that can join networks without the need for extra gear. A wide range of network cameras is available for every budget, from Panasonic’s webcam-style, 802.11g-enabled BL-C131A ($299.95) to the Axis 214 PTZ ($1299.00), which wouldn’t look out of place in a villain’s lair (or on a department-store ceiling). These and many other network cameras also sport lenses that can remotely pan, tilt, or zoom in to give you a better view of the action.There are endless varieties of hardware to consider, but the good news is there’s plenty of gear out there to fit your needs. Both Security Spy and EvoCam’s sites offer lists of compatible equipment that make good starting points for building a home-surveillance network. Sensor Yourself Handy as video surveillance is, it probably won’t be a good fit for every room in your house. For places where cameras are impractical, obtrusive, or just plain weird, Insteon motion sensors and magnetic door switches can keep tabs on who goes there when you’ve gone out.SmartLabs Design’s battery-powered Wireless Motion/Occupancy Sensor ($34.99) installs almost anywhere to detect motion in a 110-degree arc at a range of 40 feet. When an intruder is discovered, the Mac running your Insteon system can send you an email, turn on lights, or release the hounds. Because these motion detectors work by sensing heat, you’ll want to install yours in places without extreme fluctuations in temperature. That includes areas near heating grates, fireplaces, or large windows that get lots of sun.SmartLabs' wireless motion sensor alerts you to intruders.If motion detectors won’t do the job, guard your perimeter with SmartLabs’ TriggerLinc Wireless Open/Close Sensor ($34.99). Half the sensor attaches to a door, and the other half installs beside it on the door frame. Opening the door breaks the magnetic contact between the halves, letting your network know a would-be 007 has entered the room or found the hidden compartment in your desk. Since the TriggerLinc is compact and wireless, it installs on just about anything that opens: windows, drawers, server closets, you name it. You’ll never wonder if the babysitter has raided your liquor cabinet again. Unlock the Possibilities Security isn’t just about keeping people out. It’s also about letting the right people in, and the internet can help. The web lets you access secure information... why can’t it open your front door? For a monthly fee of $12.99, that’s just what Schlage’s LiNK Starter Kit ($299) can do. Its lever lock (also available in a dead bolt model) replaces the one already installed in your door, and ten buttons above its traditional keyhole allow entry with a programmable access code. But the lock also sports a battery-powered transmitter that talks to the included Bridge, a base station that connects to the internet and creates a wireless network for other LiNK devices, like the lamp controller that rounds out the kit.Schlange's LiNK Starter Kit remotely opens your front door.Once you’re a LiNK subscriber, you can log in to Schlage’s site and control your lock from anywhere. Need a friend to check your house while you’re away? No problem--remotely program your lock with a custom access code. The in-laws arrived while you’re stuck at work? Just open the door for ’em (or don’t, we won’t judge). You can even use the free Schlage LiNK iPhone app to manage access while you’re on the go. If you’re worried about being locked out when the internet is down, Schlage claims its locks’ batteries will last up to three years... but keeping a spare key on hand never hurt anybody. Put Professional Security a Touch Away Schlage’s LiNK is one of several commercial packages that combine home security, automation, and the iPhone to monitor and control your home without fuss. Even if you’re not the DIY type, you can bring your peace of mind into this century.Commercial security companies offer plans and products designed to work together seamlessly. Products can include motion detectors, cameras, and other sensors run from a central control panel on a wall instead of your computer. While the basic idea is the same as a home-built system--devices monitor your house and warn you in case of trouble--commercial systems can offer integrated fire detection and alerts to personnel who will contact the authorities in an emergency. Plans cost anywhere from $30 to $50 a month (plus installation fees), but their features and simplicity may be worth the expense.For a monthly fee, commercial security companies can provide more than peace of mind.Alarm.com, CPI Security Systems, and Platinum Protection each offer free applications that let iPhone users control their security systems. These apps let you arm and disarm your system, monitor camera feeds, receive notifications when sensors detect something, and view a history of recent security events. Want to know what time your teenager really got home from his friend’s house? There’s an app for that. Next Page: Just Stream It >> Entertainment: Just Stream It Your entertainment wants to be set free... and you want it to be too. These four easy setups will help you get the most out of your music, movies, and TV. Enjoy Your Music Everywhere Setting up a streaming audio system for the first time is like that day when you switched to a DVR to watch TV--you’ll wonder how you ever enjoyed your tunes without it. Once all your music’s on a home network, you can listen to your songs from any computer or standalone music-playing device. Whether you’re unwinding, waking up in the morning, or broadcasting beats throughout your house for a party, you don’t have to fuss with issues like which Mac has which MP3 or where that blasted CD got to--all your music is where you want it to be.Mac fans typically choose between three major music-streaming systems: Apple AirPort Express ($99), Sonos hardware ($349 and up), or Logitech Squeezebox devices ($149 and up). Each system has its own infrastructure, including ways to control everything from an iPhone or iPod touch. And each one has benefits and drawbacks in certain situations.Apple's AirPort Express wirelessly connects your Mac to your stereo.As expected, Apple’s AirPort Express is the best match for iTunes… and little else. These little boxes connect to a small set of computer-style speakers or into a home stereo, so factor those costs into your budgeting. You’ll need one AirPort Express and speaker set for each room you want to play music in. An Apple TV ($229) can also do double duty, streaming music even when your TV is off.While AirPort Express scores with simplicity, there are a few drawbacks. One or more Macs will have to be left on to play music, and extra features that the other systems pack--such as alarms and online services beyond basic streaming radio--don’t work without additional software.Next up: the Logitech Squeezebox devices. They work well once set up, but they feel more complicated than the other choices. Their server software runs off one of your Macs, telling Squeezeboxes where to find your songs. Like the AirPort Express, you’ll have to have a Mac running to access home audio.Sonos Bundle--along with the Sonos app--turns your iPhone or iPod into a remote control.Unlike Apple’s option, Squeezebox devices can play back more internet choices, including Rhapsody and Napster subscriptions. And you won’t have to keep a Mac running when playing online sources--woot! Logitech also offers several Squeezebox devices, from a clock radio–style box with a built-in speaker to hardware that connects to an entertainment center. Consider the Squeezebox if you can sacrifice some of the AirPort Express’s simplicity for better internet features.Last but not least, Sonos rules high-end audio streaming because of the care put into its hardware and interfaces. And audiophiles can really hear the difference between a Sonos device and its competitors. Like Logitech, Sonos hardware comes in a few packages, some designed to attach to a home stereo, one with built-in speakers, and some that connect to speakers. Sonos devices lack an interface beyond volume/mute buttons, so you’ll typically control everything with the excellent standalone remote ($349) or iPhone app. Sonos’ internet streaming choices match the Squeezebox, but unlike either competitor, Sonos hardware can play music directly from a network hard drive, so you don’t need to keep a Mac running. But Sonos might K.O. your budget as much as it does its competitors. You can pick and choose which gear you want, but plan for roughly $500 or more per room. Yowza. Share a Single iTunes Library with Multiple Macs You’re probably thinking, wait… iTunes works well to share libraries and stream audio over a network. And if you’re happy with that method, there’s no harm in sticking with it. But iTunes sharing doesn’t let you sync music from any system to an iPod or compile ripped songs in a single location--and again, your main Mac needs to be left on for it to work. Fortunately, you can show your music who’s boss and let all of your Macs access a consolidated iTunes library.Before you begin, consider using TuneRanger ($29.99) to sync different libraries together into one master audio source. Then transfer that combined music folder to a network server or always-on Mac that everyone can reach. Launch iTunes on one Mac while holding Option, pick Choose Library, and navigate to the library file on your network.This time, the dreaded can't-find-library box is a good thing.On the other Macs, hold Option when launching iTunes, but make a new library on the local hard drive when prompted. On those systems, change the media folder location in the advanced iTunes preferences to point to the music shared on the network. Within the advanced iTunes preferences on all Macs, be sure to enable the checkbox to copy files to the media folder when adding to the library.Now install Syncopation ($24.95) on each Mac to keep the iTunes libraries synced. Check the setup documents for details, but be sure to click the option to Import Tracks Without Copying in the Advanced preferences. Breathe Music into Old Macs and iPods If you’ve got an old Mac sitting around, you can dust it off and turn it into an audio client. Translation: You’ll be able to control it from another computer, pushing songs over your network as if it were Squeezebox or AirPort Express hardware.You’ll never have to turn on--or even connect--a display, either. Try Airfoil on your host computer ($25) with Airfoil Speakers for Mac (free) on the old-Mac-turned-audio-client. You can even duplicate results on an iPhone or iPod touch with Airfoil Speakers for Touch (free).Stream MP3s and internet radio to your stereo with Softsqueeze.Even if you have no Squeezebox hardware, you can install the basic Squeezebox Server (free) software on your main computer to stream audio. Then add Softsqueeze (free) to your old networked Mac, and the Squeezebox software will treat it just like standalone hardware from Logitech. Get Started on Streaming Video Yes, your screen-viewing time can get better. Instead of sharing videos directly between various Macs, you can streamline your consumption of movies and TV by creating a central server that holds all your video. With this method, you’ll leave the server running instead of having to keep various Macs online. You’ll be better organized too.Don’t overthink the biggest piece of hardware in this process: the server. Just repurpose nearly any Mac sitting around. Even a five-year-old laptop or iMac will do the trick. Or for bonus points, turn an old PC into a Linux server.Once you scrounge up an old computer, consider its drives. For a moderate video collection, you’ll want about 60GB of free space. If you gobble down video like Wimpy takes to cheeseburgers, plan for 120GB or even more. Also aim for a speedy drive interface; essentially, just avoid connecting over original USB, which you might find on old systems. And be sure you’ve got a DVD drive if you’re going to transfer over movies. Check out this article for tips.Your network makes up the other biggest factor for streaming success. 100BASE-T is a must; if you have any old 10BASE-T devices between the server and clients, video will stutter. Ideally, consider gigabit (1000BASE-T) devices. If you must have a wireless client or server, get at least 802.11g or 802.11n Wi-Fi, and keep 802.11b devices--the original AirPort standard--off the network. In many situations, old devices slow down the network to maintain compatibility. That said, more than 10 years after Apple introduced AirPort, we still prefer an all-wired connection because it’s more reliable and faster than most wireless networks.Once you connect everything, you’ll just store all video files on the server and play them from client Macs or other devices. Again, iTunes provides the simplest way to manage everything: Run it on both systems, and use shared libraries to stream the video.iTunes can also help you get started with video streaming.But several other software options deliver fine alternatives. Bundled with OS X, Front Row’s big interface is ideal for watching shows across the room. Plex (free) and Boxee (free) are also built around long-distance interfaces and add more internet features than Apple’s software. Check out this article for even more tips, including additional TV-connected devices that can stream shows and directions to hack an AppleTV to run Boxee. Have fun! Next Page: Top Ten Wonders of the Home Automation World >> Top Ten Wonders of the Home Automation World You've seen home automation by the book--now check out home automation off the hook. These labors of love take the good life to a level even the Jetsons never imagined. 10. Grass Has a New Enemy  We’re all about using the right tool to make a job easier, especially when that job is mowing the lawn in the summer heat. Terry Creer must agree--his remote-controlled lawn mower grafts an electric lawn mower to the wheels of a motorized wheelchair operated with a hobby-store radio controller. Swapping out the wheelchair’s original joystick for a wireless receiver keeps the mow-bot on the right path, and a fail-safe mechanism kills the motor if the controller’s signal is ever lost. Total cost for the project was less than $500. Sipping a cold drink while the lawn mower does all the work? Priceless. 9. Tweets, Shoots, and Leaves Want to make the world a greener place? The Botanicalls tweeting plant monitor lets you do just that, one plant at a time. It’s a $99.99 kit that, along with a soldering iron and a little patience, lets you build a leaf-shaped moisture sensor that you stick into a plant’s soil. Once installed in your plant’s pot, the Botanicalls runs on AC power and plugs into your router’s Ethernet port to tweet when your leafy friend is feeling a little dry. With Botanicalls, you can embrace the DIY spirit, expand your techie know-how, and keep the flora in your life happy. What could be better? 8. "Alcohol? Why, It's My Primary Function, Sir." When you sense the need to party, Jamie Price’s Bar2D2 is definitely the droid you’re looking for. Built in eight months from plywood, polycarbonate, and a used electric scooter, Bar2 works the room by remote control, serving drinks wherever he’s needed. A beer elevator brings cold bottles to any partygoer’s reach, and six onboard mixers let Bar2 make a galaxy of cocktails with the push of a button. And when the music starts, his sound-activated neon lights help make the party fully armed and operational. Maybe the Empire would have been cooler about that whole rebellion thing with a few of these guys scooting around the Death Star. 7. Dryer Sheets and Washer Tweets Getting clothes dirty is fun, but washing ’em is a drag. Who needs the stress of waiting for the spin cycle to end? That’s why we wish we had Ryan Rose’s tweeting washing machine. The limit switch installed on its timer lets a simple microcontroller know when the washer is on or off. Red LEDs added to the washer’s controls show when it’s waiting for a wash to start, and a green LED shows when a wash has begun. When the load is finished, the washer tweets an update and displays an alert on a wall-mounted screen. It’s the coolest thing to happen to cleanliness since the bubble bath! 6. The World Will Tweet a Path To Your Door  You might think a wireless doorbell would be convenient enough, but not Roo Reynolds. His tweeting doorbell transforms an everyday wireless doorbell and ringer into an internet-connected chatterbox that gets two alerts for the price of one. The doorbell works like any other, but the ringer mechanism--squeezed into an Altoids can carefully cut to expose the ringer’s wireless antenna--sports a tiny circuit board that’s attached by a USB cable to a nearby computer. When visitors drop by and ring the doorbell, the computer tweets a simultaneous alert. Now that’s a curiously refreshing idea! 5. Just the Cats, Ma'am  When the neighborhood critters started sneaking through Ioan Ghip’s cat door for free meals, he took matters into his own hands, DIY-style, to make a tweeting cat door. First he outfitted the collars of his cats Gus and Penny with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags. Then he added an RFID reader and computer-controlled servo to the cat door so it would recognize only his two cats--no squirrels, raccoons, or bears allowed. Now when the spare laptop that monitors the cat door detects the lucky kitties nearby, it opens the door and tweets an update, while a webcam snaps a shot of them coming or going. Say cheese, guys! 4. And We Thought Kernel Panics Were Scary  Who says all automated homes have to be convenient and relaxing? Not automation contractor Jeffrey Lehman. Years ago he teamed with Halloween Park, a haunted-house attraction in Strinestown, Pennsylvania, to turn the spook show into a fully interactive, living videogame. Fiendishly clever use of motion detectors and other sensors guides victi… er, visitors through 26 rooms of creepy interactive puzzles that must be solved to escape the park… alive! Doors creak, lights flicker, and the terrifying Dead Fred leaps out of nowhere--all in response to people’s actions. Amazing what you can do with the right gear, ingenuity, and a healthy desire to scare the crap out of folks. 3. "Incoming Romulan Ship! Fire Blu-ray!"  Maybe it’s the big screen, but doesn’t it seem natural to mix Star Trek with a home theater? Yet that’s only half of what’s so cool about Gary Reighn’s entertainment command station, The Bridge. Sure, it’s packed with a starfleet of gear: a video projector, media players, and X10-powered lights--all under remote control. But what makes The Bridge so appealing isn’t its slick final-frontier technology--it’s that it looks like a fun place to hang out, just like the original Enterprise. Gary didn’t forget the home when he set out to build himself the ultimate home entertainment center on a budget, and it sure looks like he got his money’s worth. 2. Now U Can Automate Cheezburger?  The problem: feeding Mathew Newton’s cats Frankie and Elmo while he’s away. The solution: the internet-controlled cat feeder. A cereal dispenser stores the cat food, and a motor turns a flap to drop food into a splitter that sends the kibble to each kitty’s bowl in roughly the same portions. Here’s the trick: The feeder is controlled by the port status lights in an old Ethernet switch. Remote commands from a browser activate the lights, and their signals tell the feeder when to let Frankie and Elmo get their nom-nom on. Wow. No one can say these cats don’t have a well-trained owner. 1. Push-Button Party Palace  Each Wonder uses home automation in cool, creative ways, but the sheer excess of Zack Anderson’s MIDAS--ahem… that’s a Multifunction In-Dorm Automation System--deserves special notice. Made from a mini ITX motherboard and a battery of X10-controlled sensors, appliances, and displays, MIDAS transforms the room with the tap of a touchscreen (or even voice commands). There’s a work mode for studying and a relax mode for chilling, but when it’s time to party, swatting a big red panic button dims the lights, draws shades that serve as projection screens, and kicks out the techno jams. Sound-activated strobes, laser lights, and a fog machine do the rest. Surveillance cameras and a fingerprint-scanning security system keep everything safe while Zack’s away, but we have to wonder--why leave?  

  • 57 Ways To Supercharge Your Browser

       If you only use your browser to, well, browse the web, you have not yet begun to harness its power. Learn how extensions and bookmarklets can throw the doors of the internet wide open. Your web browser can Google, it can YouTube, and it can even Twitter, but if that’s all you’re doing with it, you haven’t scratched the surface of its potential. A universe of extensions and bookmarklets is out there, and these free software add-ons give your browser the power to remove ads, reshuffle web pages to your liking, speed up your downloads, rip videos, and perform other wizardly feats. You can even get into the act with Mobile Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re already armed with a suite of your favorite extensions, our guide to the best browser add-ons will transform your time surfing. It’ll practically feel like magic. Mac Extensions It’s an exciting time to surf the web on a Mac. No, really! We’ve never had so many top-notch browsers to choose from. But as good as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are, each can be made even better with extensions. (Wondering what this extension business is all about? Navigate to our beginner’s guide.) The right extension can improve your browser’s existing features and even add new ones. We’ve picked the most useful extensions no Mac user should be without, and then we unearthed some hidden gems you that’ll help you work easier and play harder online. Power Surfer's Toolkit: You’ll surf smarter and faster with these must-have extensions. Don’t leave your homepage without them. FreshStart Save your current session or restore an old one.This simple extension saves all tabs in a window (or just the ones you check) in sessions you can restore later. Sessions are saved with the date and custom names in a convenient dropdown window. Cooler still, FreshStart backs up all your windows and tabs at timed intervals to protect your browsing against crashes.Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/ye7k4m6 GreaseMonkey Don’t like how a webpage works? Get Greasemonkey. With it and some of the thousands of Greasespot scripts available online, you can make your favorite pages do your bidding. Want to strip ads out of Facebook? There’s a script for that. And Chrome users, set your faces to smug--most Greasespot scripts install in your browser without any extra extensions.Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox · greasespot.net Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer Chrome’s PDF support is a little…nonexistent. Bring Google’s shiny new browser into the 21st century with this extension that displays PDFs and PowerPoint files as Google Docs right in your Chrome window.Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/ydx44tn Shareaholic Shareaholic lets you broadcast to a zillion blogs and social networking sites, squash long URLs, and even email links to friends like folks did back in olden times. Don’t worry about running out of things to share—Shareaholic brings you the latest news from Twitter, OneRiot, and Buzzster as you browse.Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari · shareaholic.com Xmarks Xmarks syncs and backs up bookmarks automatically across multiple computers and browsers. Better still, you can assign profiles (Work and Home, for instance) to browsers so only certain sets of bookmarks are synced. That’s handy if you don’t want business and pleasure links to mix on the same machine.Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari · xmarks.com ClickToFlash ClickToFlash doesn’t just block Flash, it manages it. A click loads an individual Flash element, all Flash on a page, or adds the current domain to ClickToFlash’s list of unblocked sites with Flash content you want to play normally. Compatible with: Safari · tinyurl.com/laoc8q 1Password   1Password is a Mac application and extension combo that saves login and form data as you surf, guarding it all with one password. It also generates strong passwords for secure sites and syncs them--with form data, credit card numbers, notes, and more--across multiple browsers and Macs. Better still, your sensitive data is secured in style with 1Password’s beautiful interface. Compatible with: Firefox, Safari · agilewebsolutions.com DownThemAll!   Grab a page's downloads quickly and easily.DownThemAll accelerates your downloads, retries stalled attempts, and grabs all a page’s downloadable files with just a few clicks. Oh, and that acceleration? Our demo download crept along at 40kbps until DownThemAll gobbled up the same file at a smokin’ 150kbps. Compatible with: Firefox · downthemall.net StumbleUpon   StumbleUpon helps you find sites you didn’t know you liked. Just browse normally and rate sites with a thumbs up or down, or browse StumbleUpon categories that interest you. Soon StumbleUpon will know enough about you to recommend web pages that are right up your alley. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox · stumbleupon.com PriceTrace Toolbar   Always get the best deal. Attention, Kmart.com shoppers--and shoppers at over 40 other online stores. PriceTrace Toolbar lets you instantly compare an item’s price, view price trends, and subscribe to price alerts with a click. If you want to save money, put PriceTrace on the case. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox · pricetrace.com Next Page: Cool Browser Tricks >>Cool Browser Tricks You think different, why not browse different? After all, there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all web. Firefox Environment Backup Extension FEBE backs up and restores Firefox extensions, bookmarks, passwords, and more to every computer in your life, saving time when fine-tuning multiple Firefox installs. You can copy your extras to local disks or send them to the cloud with built-in Box.net integration. There’s nothing feeble about FEBE. Compatible with: Firefox · tinyurl.com/y9293md RSS Subscription This extension lets you subscribe to RSS feeds with a click in Chrome’s address bar. Google Reader is the default, but you can use Google, Bloglines, My Yahoo, or another online service to get your RSS fix. Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/yjbshqs Chrome Themes   Themes alter Chrome’s look to suit your mood--whether that means Mariah Carey or Infected Mushroom is your call. Find a look you like, click its Install button, and you’re good to go. When your mood changes, you can drop back to the default appearance in Chrome’s preferences. Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/mucqd6 Send From Gmail Send From Gmail lets you mail links to your current page via Gmail. Cooler still, it makes email addresses embedded in web pages launch a new Gmail window when clicked, instead of activating your old-fashioned desktop mail client. If you live in Gmail, Send From Gmail. Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/ye2toyj TabExposĂ©   It's like ExposĂ© for your tabs--get it?TabExposĂ© tidies a window of cluttered tabs just like OS X’s ExposĂ© cleans up your Desktop. A toolbar button (or customizable hotkey) sends your pages zooming into view. Your browsing will be so…how you say…elegant. Compatible with: Safari · cocoamug.com FastestFox   FastestFox is a potpourri of browser boosters that give you context-click web searches, Google search results in the address bar, a configurable bookmark launcher, and much more. Pick and choose which features you want and let your browser do the work faster. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox · tinyurl.com/af2v5t Evernote Web Clipper   Evernote Web Clipper lets you add links, text, and images to your Evernote account from wherever you are on the web. Just don’t forget to check in with Evernote for OS X to get the big picture. Better write yourself a note to be sure. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari · tinyurl.com/m4z9gz Google Mail Checker Plus   Google Mail Checker Plus’s toolbar icon displays your unread message count, new Gmail message alerts, and lets you preview new mail or mark it as spam. You can even load full messages in a mini-window and compose a reply without leaving your current page. Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/yd8u55k Tab Mix Plus   My name is Firefox, and I'm a tab-aholic.Tab Mix Plus adds rows of tabs to Firefox windows, keeps track of unread tabs by styling their titles to stand out from the pack, and much more. Its session manager even saves your tabs for later when you can’t bear to close them. It’s a treasure trove of tab tools at your fingertips. Compatible with: Firefox · tmp.garyr.net Yoono   Yoono lets you flit among multiple social networking and media sites in a collapsible sidebar where you can also search for YouTube videos, Wikipedia articles, and Amazon bargains while gabbing with friends. Why open another window again? Compatible with: Firefox · yoono.com Integrated Gmail   If you use Google’s services regularly, put them all in a single window with Integrated Gmail. Just log in to Gmail and get Google Calendar, Maps, Notebook, and more through unobtrusive, collapsible icons. Why didn’t Google do this first? Compatible with: Firefox · integratedgmail.com CosmoPod   Download a YouTube video or nine. CosmoPod converts Flash and other non-QuickTime web videos to iTunes-compatible files--and even rips DVDs--in preset formats for the iPhone and other iDevices. Videos can be tagged before export to iTunes, and CosmoPod even recognizes your Elgato Turbo.264 devices to cut conversion times. Think of it as a little HandBrake DNA spliced into Safari. Compatible with: Safari · cocoamug.com FlashBlock   FlashBlock lets you allow Flash on your current site, disable it entirely, and add sites to a list of sites with Flash content you want to allow. If you think Flash takes the shine off Chrome, FlashBlock is for you. Compatible with: Chrome · tinyurl.com/ye5srym Personas Plus   Skin your browser with nifty designs. Spice up Firefox windows with a persona makeover. These themes are easy to apply from getpersonas.com, but for more options, install the Personas Plus extension. It lets you switch personas right from your Firefox window. Compatible with: Firefox · tinyurl.com/cu4y2b RSS Ticker   RSS Ticker scrolls Live Bookmarks beneath your toolbar or at the bottom of the page. Mouse over items to see more information, then click to open the article in a new tab. You’ll never be at a loss for cocktail party conversation. Compatible with: Firefox · tinyurl.com/5suwzf Glims   Extend the search box beyond Google. Glims adds multiple search engines to Safari’s search field, web page previews to Google search results, favicons to tabs, and a full-screen mode to Cupertino’s favorite browser. Features can be customized or turned off entirely to suit your needs. Compatible with: Safari · machangout.com LastPass   LastPass secures usernames, passwords, and notes with one password—the last one you’ll ever need—to let you access them across multiple browsers in a friendly web interface. If you can’t run 1Password or you just want a free solution to your security needs, don’t pass on LastPass. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari · lastpass.com History Tree   Extend the search box beyond Google. History Tree displays your history as a flowchart complete with screenshots, page names, and more. Search pages’ descriptions, reopen old pages in new tabs, and fine-tune your settings in a full-screen window. You’ll never look at browsing the same way again. Compatible with: Firefox · tinyurl.com/n4svje Adblock Plus   Install Adblock Plus, and your browsing will be free of unwanted ads. Block them all, Control-click specific ads to keep them from loading, or allow certain sites to keep displaying important messages from sponsors--like MacLife.com, for instance. Compatible with: Firefox · adblockplus.org Cooliris   Flip through images in Cover Flow fashion, thanks to Cooliris. Cooliris turns YouTube, Facebook, Google Images, and other sites into Cover Flow–like 3D galleries. It even recognizes and displays your iPhoto library in the same slick style. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox, Safari · cooliris.com SafariSource   Flip through images in Cover Flow fashion, thanks to Cooliris. If Safari’s plain black View Source text has you seeing red, try SafariSource. It lets you customize source text and colorize tags, comments, and other elements to make them easier to read. If only learning HTML was this simple. Compatible with: Safari · tinyurl.com/2pltoo Glubble   Share with your family, not random weirdos on Facebook. Glubble is like your family’s private Facebook. Family members can log in to send messages, share photos, and schedule activities. Better yet, Glubble lets kids surf safely by limiting their access to sites that were approved by Mom and Dad. Compatible with: Firefox · glubble.com FireBug  Because every page could use a little tinkering. Firebug puts a web development toolbox in your Firefox window. Edit HTML, fine-tune CSS, and much more in a simple, easy-to-read interface. Now there’s no excuse not to write the next great American webpage. Compatible with: Firefox · getfirebug.com Fox Splitter   Three pages open side-by-side--looks a little odd, but maybe you'll love it anyhow. Why view just one page when Fox Splitter can divide your window into multiple panes with a click? Keep your web mail or calendar at the ready as you surf, compare multiple versions of the same page, or just make modern art as you browse. Compatible with: Firefox · tinyurl.com/24n3ct TooManyTabs   A dumping ground for tabs. Don’t close tabs--tuck them away. TooManyTabs frees up RAM by letting you nest tabs in a special menu to retrieve and reload later. Chrome’s extension lets you search saved pages; Firefox’s offers better organization. Whichever you choose, you’ll be browsing better. Compatible with: Chrome, Firefox · visibotech.com/TMTChrome Next Page: Mac Bookmarklets >>Mac Bookmarklets Like rabbits you pull out of your bookmarks toolbar, these little snippets of code have lots of useful tricks up their sleeves.Besides just being a fun word to say, a bookmarklet is a snippet of JavaScript that you can store in your browser’s bookmarks bar, just like a regular URL. When you click it, it’ll perform some kind of action on the page you’re viewing, instead of taking you to a new page. They’re fun, they’re free, most work in all browsers, and if you know some JavaScript, you can even program your own. Until then, we’ll get you started with some super-useful bookmarklets that’ll add some magic to your web surfing. We’ll also make it easy to find these bookmarklets by posting them online at maclife.com/bookmarklets, where they’re ready to be dragged to your toolbar. Share on Facebook   When you find a thought-provoking article, amazing video, or hilarious photo of a cat, click this bookmarklet for a pop-up window that lets you post a link to your Facebook profile, optionally adding your own two cents too. Use it judiciously--a handful of truly excellent links per week will make your friends think you’re King of the Internet. facebook.com/share_options.php Readability   Make any site more readable--even MacLife.com.This slick bookmarklet makes articles and other text-heavy pages easier on the eyes by stripping away all the ads and clutter, so you feel like you’re reading a document in a word processor. You even get to select the settings before dragging the bookmarklet to your toolbar. lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability Wayback Machine   Ever surf to a page and notice something missing--that a controversial blog post has been pulled or the whole site has simply disappeared? Click the Wayback Machine bookmarklet to be transported to previous versions of that page, all courtesy of the Internet Archive. archive.org/web/web.php Lingro   Simultaneous translation, just like the UN.The translation service Lingro.com offers two bookmarklets. The full-service one opens the page you’re viewing inside of Lingro.com, letting you click on any word to get a definition or translation. The quick-lookup version works the same but keeps you at the original URL and omits the full version’s toolbar. lingro.com/docs/browser-tools.html Linkify   This one is a big time-saver for bloggers. You highlight text on a page, click the Linkify bookmarklet, and you’ll see a pop-up of Google search results for that string of text. You click a Create Link button by the webpage you want, and the text is now a hyperlink to that page. It’s great for linking up the names of people and places in your blog posts. mattcutts.com/blog/linkify-the-best-bookmarklet-youre-not-using/ Bit.ly   When you want to shorten a long URL for posting to Twitter, including in a blog comment or any other short-URL needs, just click the bit.ly bookmarklet to launch a new window with the URL all shortened and ready to go. bit.ly/pages/tools Remove Bloat   Remove Bloat yanked the ads and video player off the MacLife.com home page for us. Oops.Nothing’s more annoying than coming across a page with auto-playing music, obnoxious Flash-based ads, or other browser-slowing nonsense. Remove Bloat strips all that away with one click. cybernetnews.com/cybernotes-the-best-bookmarklets-for-your-browser Clip to Evernote   Keeping track of all the information, links, images, and PDFs you want to save is easy with Evernote’s clipping-and-syncing service, which boasts Mac and iPhone apps (and Windows and Android and BlackBerry), along with the web app at Evernote.com. And the bookmarklet makes using Evernote even easier by adding selected text when you click it, or adding the whole page if you haven’t selected any text. evernote.com/Login.action Instapaper and Read It Later   The pop-up lets you know Instapaper did its thing.We can’t put one of these nearly identical services above the other. You sign up on the website, then drag the bookmarklet to your toolbar and click it when you’re on an interesting article or page that you want to keep to read later. Each service also has an iPhone app, a full-fledged Firefox extension, RSS feeds, Kindle integration, and more. instapaper.com/extras · readitlaterlist.com/bookmarklets BugMeNot   If you don’t feel like signing up for your own account on a website, click the BugMeNot bookmarklet to log in anonymously with a public login and password created by the users of BugMeNot.com. bugmenot.com Note in Reader   Google Reader has social features that let you share articles from your RSS feeds with your contacts and comment on them. This bookmarklet extends that to the whole internet, letting you share any URL without having to subscribe to its RSS feed first. googlereader.blogspot.com/2008/05/share-anything-anytime-anywhere.html Map This   One of several useful Google bookmarklets, this one lets you select an address on the page you’re viewing and click to see that location pinpointed on Google Maps. googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/07/useful-google-bookmarklets.html Remember the Milk  An easily updated to-do list is the best way to ensure you use it.Versatile to-do service Remember the Milk has a handy bookmarklet that launches a Quick Add dialog for adding a new task to your to-do list. rememberthemilk.com/help/answers/quickadd/firefox.rtm Next Page: iPhone and iPad Bookmarklets >>iPhone and iPad Bookmarklets As awesome as they are in your desktop browser, you can also bring the power of bookmarklets to Mobile Safari on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The installation can be a little trickier on these devices, but the right set of bookmarklets can add functionality that the iPhone OS lacks and really soup up your mobile browsing.On your Mac, installing a bookmarklet is as simple as dragging it to your browser’s bookmarks toolbar. But since Mobile Safari doesn’t support such drag-n-droppery, you’ll need to work a little harder to get bookmarklets on your phone. The simplest way is syncing bookmarklets from a desktop version of Safari via iTunes. That works fine, but what happens when you come across something useful when your Mac is in another zip code? Thankfully, you can add bookmarklets directly on your device, though it is a little trickier. Reorder your iPhone's bookmarks to put bookmarklets on top.To save a bookmarklet in iPhone OS, you’ll need to navigate to the address where it is located and tap the Plus icon to create a new bookmark. For sites that allow you to generate customizable bookmarklets that don’t have a single address, we found the easiest way to install them was to copy/paste the bookmarklet code into an email that you then access on the phone, pasting it into a new bookmark. Often, you’ll need to slightly modify the bookmarklet before it will work by tapping the Bookmarks icon, tapping Edit, and choosing your newly saved bookmark. Usually it’s just a simple matter of removing some extraneous text from the Location field of the bookmark. And while bookmarklets are freely available all over the internet, you can also buy an app like Tap Factory’s WebToolbox ($0.99) to browse and install a large collection of bookmarklets.Once you’ve got your bookmarklets installed, using them on a device running iPhone OS is a snap. From a web page in Safari, just tap the Bookmarks icon and select the bookmarklet you want to activate. You might find it easier to collect all your bookmarklets in a single folder, or you can manually move them to the top of the Bookmarks list by tapping the Edit button and dragging them to a new location.You'll usually have to edit an iPhone bookmarklet to paste in the JavaScript.To get you started with bookmarklets on the iPhone, here are a few of our favorites:Find In Page is probably the most popular bookmarklet for iPhone OS--versions of it can be found with a simple Google search. Find In Page allows you to search text-heavy websites to quickly find the exact information you’re looking for. It’s so simple--and useful--that it points out a glaring hole in Mobile Safari’s functionality.Find In Page adds text search that should have been in Mobile Safari in the first place.Dictionary.com offers a trio of bookmarklets for quickly looking up words via Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com. Now you won’t have any excuse for misspelling antidisestablishmentarianism or not knowing a synonym for adventitious.Like its Mac counterpart, Instapaper is one of our favorite tools for marking articles and websites to read later. There’s a dedicated iPhone app for reading your marked stories and a bookmarklet for use in Safari for tagging stories as you browse.Lots of iPhone Twitter clients support bookmarklets. Some of our favorites include Tweetie, Twittelator Pro, and Twitterific. All of them let you tweet links to whatever you’re currently reading with a single tap.As it does on the Mac, Readability strips web pages down to the bare bones, which is even more of a relief on the iPhone’s screen. It’s a great tool for quickly removing images, styles, and other extraneous elements from articles online.The popular link-shortening service bit.ly offers a Shorten with Bit.ly bookmarklet that’s every bit as useful in iPhone OS as it is on your Mac. We like to use it for quickly firing off complicated links via text message, which are faster than email and show up to the recipient as instantly clickable links.And if these options don’t suit your needs, there are literally thousands more to choose from all over the web. If you need a truly custom solution, you can always roll up your sleeves and learn some JavaScript to create your own. Next Page: The Beginner's Guide >>The Beginner's Guide Master the basics of extensions and bookmarklets in a flash. (No, not that Flash.)Before you install your first extensions and bookmarklets, take a minute to learn more about them and how they can help--or hinder--your surfing. What are extensions, exactly? Extensions are small programs that run inside your browser to add to, replace, or improve its features. Because each browser has its own way of talking to extensions, an extension written for one browser won’t usually work with another. How do bookmarklets differ from extensions?  Bookmarklets are small snippets of JavaScript that you can bookmark like normal URLs, and when you click on them, they perform an action on the page you have loaded instead of navigating you to a new page. Some of them duplicate the functions of browser extensions--Evernote, for example, has full-blown extensions for Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, but it also has a bookmarklet that does pretty much the same thing. Where can I get them?   Download thousands of extensions from the official Firefox (tinyurl.com/yr5dxm) and Chrome (tinyurl.com/ygy8qkj) websites. Safari extensions are fewer in number and a little harder to find, but sites like pimpmysafari.com can make your search easier. For bookmarklets, try marklets.com, pimpmysafari.com/bookmarklets, squarefree.com/bookmarklets, or operawiki.info/BookMarklets. Why aren't there as many extensions for Safari as there are for other browsers?   Short answer: Steve likes it that way. The long answer is Firefox and Chrome come from a tradition of open-source software in which anyone is welcome to expand on a program’s features. Apple disagrees, but that hasn’t kept developers from bringing great extensions to Cupertino’s browser. Someday Apple may change its mind and make Safari easier to tinker with, but we’re not holding our breath.Chrome is highly extendable. Are extensions and bookmarklets safe?   Most are harmless and work as advertised. But as with any software, they can have security flaws that may be exploited for nefarious purposes. However, you’re less likely to encounter hackers and more likely to run into headaches over extension conflicts when two or more extensions interfere with each other’s functions.Your best bet is to download extensions and bookmarklets from trusted sources, check user comments before you download, and avoid being the first person to install one if you can help it. Be sure your browser and all extensions are updated to the latest version too. Updates not only bring you the latest and greatest features, they often plug security and compatibility holes. How do I organize or turn them off?   Firefox and Chrome offer extension-management tools that let you easily disable, uninstall, and update your extensions. In Firefox, select Tools > Add-ons, and click the resulting window’s Extensions button to see which extensions are installed and alter their settings. To do the same in Chrome, select Window > Extensions, and a list of your installed extensions will open in a new tab.Because Safari lacks this centralized approach, users must manage extensions individually, and that’s not always easy. Some Safari extensions can be turned off or uninstalled from within their preferences, but many require finding and deleting files in the Finder. The developer’s website or the Read Me files that came with the extension will usually offer specific instructions.If you don’t want to use a bookmarklet, simply don’t click it or just delete it from your bookmarks.Manage your Firefox extensions from Tools > Add-ons. How many can I install?   You can install as many extensions as you want, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. An active extension uses your Mac’s valuable RAM just like any application does. Running too many at once can lead to sluggish surfing or even crash your browser. And the more extensions you install, the greater the risk that some will conflict with each other. So read the developer’s notes and use common sense when adding bells and whistles to your browser. You probably don’t need to run half a dozen mouse-cursor managers all at once, for instance.On the other hand, bookmarklets work across more browsers, and opting to use them instead of installing an extension can keep your browser lighter and speedier. So go crazy with these bad boys. Return to the main article.

  • 100 Greatest iPhone Apps of 2009

    From marking its first year this past summer, to boasting over 100,000 applications in its catalog, the App Store has been great for many developers on the iPhone platform this past year. With 2010 right around the corner, we wanted to take a look back at the 100 greatest iPhone apps of 2009. These applications were nominated by Mac|Life readers. All of these apps have something in common: They've helped make the iPhone better over the past year.   MobileMe iDisk (free)This little iPhone app lets MobileMe users browse through files stored on their iDisk with ease. The app also lets you view files like PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Image files, and iWork files. In addition, you can share files right from your iPhone.  Evernote (free)Evernote is the free online service/application that lets you store notes and images in notebooks for later use. The iPhone application really comes in handy, especially since it syncs with the cloud. Coupled with the new offline viewing for premium users, Evernote has to be one the best iPhone apps, hands down.    Facebook (free)It seems like all of our friends are on Facebook these days, so why shouldn't Facebook be everywhere? Well, with their iPhone application it can definitely seem like that. This application allows you to manage all of your friends, posts, messages, uploads, and otherwise use Facebook without being inside of a browser.   Shazam (free)Without this wonderful application, we would still have that snazzy song stuck in our heads without knowing the title or band. Shazam provides a great service to iPhone users for the wonderful price of free; however, if you're into product(RED), they have a Shazam(RED) version available as well.   Tweetie 2 ($2.99) It seems like Twitter is becoming as ubiquitous as Facebook, and it also seems like there are a bevy of iPhone Twitter clients. Tweetie would have to be a newcomer that won the hearts of the iPhone users everywhere. Multiple Twitter accounts, contact linkage, multiple attachments, offline mode, and more. Tweetie 2 has you covered.   Twitterrific (free)Twitterrific is the great-granddaddy of Twitter clients on the Mac and iPhone, but it doesn't disappoint. Twitterrific got a new face lift this year that updated the client to be in line with other clients like Tweetie. By far, this is the nicest looking Twitter client on the iPhone.  SimplyTweet ($4.99)With the advent of push notifications for the iPhone, SimplyTweet is probably one of the cheapest solutions for bringing push to your tweets. This app also contains all of the features of other comparable Twitter clients.   Zipcar (free)Zipcar is one of those revolutionary applications, giving you the ability to not only pick out a rental car from the Zipcar service, but also unlocks the doors on the car right from the iPhone.   Dropbox (free)This small newcomer of a company has shown time and time again that they can play with the best when it comes to online storage in an iDisk-style fashion. Dropbox offers up 2GBs of free online storage to users (along with other premium paid services). With their iPhone application, you can view and manage files on-the-go with ease.  Pastebot ($2.99)With iPhone 3.0, cut, copy, and paste became a reality on the iPhone. With Pastebot, multiple clippings in an easy to use clipboard manager become a reality. This application also lets you sync over your clippings from your Mac to iPhone and vice versa.   Stanza (free)With Amazon Kindle-like finesse, Stanza lets you read eBooks on your iPhone for free or little cost. Download free Guttenberg Project books, or paid books from several publishers right from the app; then sit back and read.   TomTom U.S.A. ($49.99)This year gave way to turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps for the iPhone. TomTom is one of the many GPS apps available that is really well designed. This app has 3D maps, fast route calculations, and a new lower price that many iPhone owners will enjoy.  Navigon MobileNavigator ($59.99)With maps from NAVTEQ, and features like Lane Assist Pro, Navigon is a great navigation app for the iPhone. The app also includes Google local search, iPod control, and bird's-eye view of maps.   Things ($9.99)Sure, it's been around since the App Store launched, but it gained tighter syncing with its Mac counterpart, which makes it all the better. Things is a complete GTD (Getting Things Done) solution for your Mac and iPhone.  1Password Pro ($7.99)What would we do without 1Password? This handy application manages all of our passwords on both the Mac and the iPhone. And with the pro version, you get all kinds of nifty features like copy/paste passwords, folders for managing, and copying multiple field values. If you're always forgetting your passwords, this app is for you.   VNC Lite (free)This application is a must have if you want to control your Mac or PC right from your iPhone. It has zoom and scroll capability, landscape mode, and support for 8 and 32 bit color modes.  AP Mobile (free)AP Mobile lets you browse local, national, and international news right from one iPhone application. Utilizing news from the Associated Press newswire services, this application sends out push notifications of breaking news straight to your device. You'll always know what's going on with AP Mobile.  Air Sharing Pro ($6.99)Air Sharing Pro gives you the ability to turn your iPhone into a wireless hard drive that can be mounted on your Mac to add files for viewing from the device. You can also mount remote file server, connect to your computer, perform advanced file operations, and print files directly from your iPhone.    Documents to Go ($9.99)Docs to Go has been around since the Palm days, but the application has also made its way over to the iPhone and it's pretty decent. The application lets you sync your Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, etc.) files to your iPhone and create/edit Word and Excel files. You can then sync the files back to your Mac or PC with the included Desktop sync utility.   Yelp (free)Yelp has definitely helped us when we're hungry and visiting a new area. This application searches for places around you like restaurants, bars, cafes, and more; plus, it lets you write and read reviews. With the augmented reality of the Yelp Monocle built right in, this app is worth a look.   Remote (free)Apple's Remote application has cut down on the clutter needed for a Mac or Apple TV. With one device you can control the ATV, iTunes or Front Row on the Mac via a Wi-Fi connection.   Pandora (free) The iPod feature on the iPhone is great, but if you're looking for a great music experience, Pandora is a good way to go. This application allows you to stream uninterrupted music from Pandoras online service straight to your iPhone in an iPhone styled application.   AOL Radio (free)AOL Radio gives you a streaming music experience from their online service and from CBS Radio. This app also lets you listen to streaming local radio stations, including live steaming sports stations. Plus, AOL Radio now streams 128kbps while on Wi-Fi, 3G, or EDGE.   Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid (free)Ngmoco did something interesting with their latest iteration in the Rolando series. Rolando 2 is free for the first chapter, but other levels can be purchased using the in-app purchases. Ngmoco has created a game play that is like no other on the iPhone with the Rolando series.  OmniFocus ($19.99)OmniFocus is similar to other GTD (Getting Things Done) applications, but it gives you the ability to manage tasks by location. OmniFocus is like a task list on steroids.    Lose It! (free)So many people try to lose weight all the time, but often time fail to succeed. This iPhone application can keep you motivated to lose weight by keeping you on track with eating and exercise habits. Lose It! is a free application that also interfaces with an online companion website.    Todo ($9.99)Todo is a great GTD task manager that lets you sync with applications like iCal, MS-Outlook, Remember the Milk, and Toodledo over Wi-Fi and 3G. You also get a full calendar view for choosing due dates.   Assassin's Creed ($4.99)Gameloft has innovated the iPhone game marketplace with games like Assassin's Creed. They've taken a game that's from another console and brought it to the iPhone, but the game feels like it has been created especially for the device. You can take this great RPG with you anywhere.   Dragon Dictation (free for limited time)Dragon Dictation gives you speech to text software for the iPhone that lets you speak what you want to say instead of typing it. This application, which is built around the popular Dragon Naturally Speaking Engine, works extremely well.    Convertbot ($0.99) Ever out and about and need to convert between two units? Convertbot lets you convert between over 440 different units with ease. It can also convert currencies and the rates are updated upon launching the app.     I Am T-Pain ($2.99)Admit it, you've been singing along to T-Pain songs and you've really wanted to make your voice sound exactly like his? Well, with this auto-tune music application for iPhone you can do exactly that. Just select your favorite song and start singing. Being famous not included.  Shoot It! (free, paid service)Shoot It! is a social network application that lets you take any picture you want and turn it into an actual snail mail postcard. You can select a photo, add an address and note, and the next business day the postcard will be printed and mailed out for you for only $0.99 for the US.   IMDB (free)The Internet Movie Database has long been the go-to destination for looking up information about movies and TV shows, and now it has its own app on the iPhone. You can get all of the information you would on their website, but now in a convenient iPhone-formatted way.   Analytics App ($5.99)Analytics App for iPhone lets us see our Google Analytics stats no matter where we may be. This app offers up a Today report, dashboard quick view, and more analytics data than you could ever want.   HyperBowl ($1.99)Sure, there are a lot of bowling games for the iPhone, but none of them match the legacy that HyperBowl has. The gameplay feels organic, with its beautiful outdoor themed bowling lanes.  Wolfram Alpha ($19.99, on sale)Wolfram Alpha is the new smart search engine that Wolfram Research recently launched. You can now have all of that power right on your iPhone with this small application.   Wunder Radio ($6.99)Wunder Radio is an iPhone application that can stream live from over 50,000 Internet radio stations. This application also includes a sleep timer and ability to listen to local NOAA weather radio streams.   New York Times (free)Always stay up to date on the news with the New York Times application. The application synchronizes with the NYT news site so you can read stories even when you don't have an Internet connection.   Occasions ($0.99, on sale) Never forget any of those important dates with this application. It syncs with Facebook and your contacts to find Birthdays and reminds you via push notifications. Also reminds you of holidays and other important events.   Doodle Jump ($0.99) This addictive little game has been likened to the original version of Mario Bros. Tilt the iPhone to move around in this 2D game. Facebook and Twitter integration means you can brag about your accomplishments to your friends.  Touch Todo ($0.99, on sale)Touch Todo lets you sync your todos with Google Calendar (not Google Tasks, however) and in turn to the native iPhone calendar. Application backs up your todos on Google Docs for safe keeping, and send tasks from one iPhone to another.   Tap Forms Database ($8.99)The Tap Forms Database lets you easily and securely store information like social security numbers, drivers license number, or credit card numbers for later look up. Handy if cards get lost or stolen, and includes AES-256 bit encryption for all data stored in it.  Bento ($4.99)Bento for iPhone is the companion application for the Mac version. It will sync with your Mac and bring over all of your databases. You can then edit and create data on-the-go.   Daylite Touch (free, additional software required)The Daylite Touch application syncs with the Daylite Server on your Mac to help you manage your business projects, contacts, and tasks all in a streamlined interface that feels very native to the iPhone.   Skies of Glory (free)Shoot World War II airplanes out of the sky in this action game. Featuring awesome graphics and great Internet 8-player multiplayer mode, this game is a great deal.    BeatMaker ($19.99)Who says you can't create music on the iPhone? With BeatMaker that's completely possible. This application is basically a recording studio in your pocket with the ability to export your creations right from the device. Comics (free)Reading comics is just plain fun, and with Comics for the iPhone, you can read over 70 comics for free from one simple application. The app allows you to browse and view nearly 700 different comics.  Ustream Live Broadcaster (free, account needed)UStream Live Broadcaster gives you the ability to stream live audio and video from your iPhone over Wi-Fi or 3G to the world via the free UStream.tv service. You can also take live polls and see the UStream IRC chat room for your stream.  The Oregon Trail ($4.99)The classic Oregon Trail game is back in an iPhone version that's just as good as the original. In this side-scrolling adventure game, you'll guide a family through the Oregon wilderness in search of shelter. Along the way, you'll have to protect yourself from wild animals and other events that take place.   Amazon Mobile (free)Amazon has changed the way many of us shop online, and they've also changed the mobile shopping experience with their iPhone application. This application lets you do all of the normal Amazon.com stuff, but you can also take a picture of an object and let Amazon figure out where the product is on the website via Amazon Remembers. Tap Tap Revenge 3 (free) A music rhythm game that started out life as a jailbroken game when the iPhone was first released has matured into a great game backed by music from popular artists. The third iteration of this game boasts extensive online multi-player support over both Wi-Fi and 3G. In addition, TTR 3 gives you weapons and shields for use when playing online. Gorillacam (free)The iPhone includes a great camera, but some of the functions are limited. Gorillacam is an application that can extend that functionality to include a bubble level, grid, time-lapse, and even a self-timer. You can also specify how many shots are taken over a specified interval.  Photoshop.com Mobile (free)Good, free, photo editing software on the iPhone is hard to find, but who would have guessed that Adobe would release their Photoshop.com software on the iPhone for free? Well, you get some basic editing functionality and the ability to upload your photos to the Photoshop.com cloud.  Mover Lite (free) Moving items like photos, video, contacts, and calendar events from one iPhone to another can be a bit of a kludge depending on what application you're using. But with the free Mover+, it's easy and cool at the same time.    Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies ($9.99)A mini game from the World at War console game, CoD:WaW:Zombies lets you frag zombies all day... right from your iPhone, too! Choose from several different modes, including an infinite mode. This game makes any company meeting go by much faster (Please note: We're not responsible for any job loss resulting from the mention of this game).   BeeJive ($5.99, on sale)BeeJive gives a lot of instant messenger bang for the buck. Not only does it support the most popular IM services, but it also lets you create as many logins as you need. Plus the application includes Push Notification support, and the ability to send and receive attachments like photos, video, and audio (recorded directly from the application).    Awesome Note (+Todo) ($3.99)Combining both notes and to do lists, Awesome Note (+Todo) has a great-looking interface that lets you organize all of your ideas and projects in one app. In addition, you can insert images into notes from the camera, and import/export to Google Docs and Evernote.    Credit Card Terminal ($0.99, on sale)This application has been shown on Apple's commercials and is quite nifty if you are a small business. Credit Card Terminal gives you the ability to accept credit card payments anywhere you may be, quickly and easily.   ReelDirector ($7.99)Who says you can't put together a full movie on your iPhone? With ReelDirector you can, and you can even include opening and closing credits, transitions, and more. When you're done, save, email, or upload directly to YouTube.  Trivium ($2.99)Test your trivia skills against the computer or against a friend around the world. Trivium has thousands of questions for you to answer and a head to head network play that works over Wi-Fi, 3G, and EDGE. Four different modes including: Endless, Endurance, 100 Questions, and Timeless.   Rock Band ($4.99, on sale)A rhythm game to end all rhythm games, Rock Band lets you play the drums, guitar, or bass. Plus, you can sing your way to the top in this game that includes 26 free tracks.  Tweetr ($3.99)Have something amazing to say on Twitter, but don't want to tweet it right now? Tweetr is an application that lets you schedule tweets for multiple accounts for a later time when it might be more relevant.   Peggle ($1.99, on sale)Pop Cap's highly addictive game for Mac and PC made its way over to the iPhone in a move that just seemed natural. Shoot your way to becoming the Peggle master in this arcade adventure game.   NetNewsWire (free)NetNewsWire changed the way that many people read their favorite RSS (really simple syndication) feeds on the Mac, but that same experience was moved to the iPhone. The earlier versions were a bit clunky, but NNW now syncs with Google Reader which makes reading feeds on-the-go that much better.    Yowza!! (free) We normally stray away from applications with two exclamation marks in the title, but this one is just that good. Yowza can end up saving you a few chunks of change with its many coupons that are sorted by your location.  WriteRoom ($4.99)Distraction-free writing at its finest on the Mac, and now the iPhone. Sync documents over with built-in syncing, and just write. Plain and simply. You can change the colors in the preferences.  Wikitude (free)Augmented reality on the iPhone was a huge hit this year, and with Wikitude you can browse the space around you and see all of the Wikipedia articles that correspond to your location. Just launch the application and bubbles will appear all around you with Wikipedia articles for cities, buildings, etc.  Mark the Spot (free) AT&T finally started paying more attention to its network and users when they launched the Mark the Spot application for iPhone. You can submit network trouble spots, which will help AT&T in fixing network problems. Sure, this app isn't the nicest looking, but it gets the job done.   Ramp Champ ($1.99)Skee ball is just plain fun, and with the Icon Factory's Ramp Champ, it's even fun on the iPhone. Choose between several different lane themes, and even purchase add-ons that will expand the available themes. Earn tickets to "purchase" cool digital trinkets.  WordPress 2 (free)Mobile-Blogging (MoBlogging) has becoming increasingly popular among people who travel, and it's extremely easy with WordPress 2 on the iPhone. If your blog platform is WordPress, then you'll be all set to connect and add content right from your iPhone.   Fandango (free)Find movies around you, watch previews, get showtimes, and even purchase tickets on-the-go with the awesome Fandango application for iPhone. You can also see critic and fan ratings for different movies.   Flickr (free)Upload, view, and share your photos with the world on Flickr with this application. In addition, you can view friends photos and comment on them from one convenient location.   DOOM Classic ($2.99, on sale) Who doesn't love DOOM? Now you can play it all day long, right on your iPhone. Includes multi-player mode with up to four players over the Internet. MapQuest Navigator ($3.99, service plan required)MapQuest started offering turn-by-turn directions with its maps. Not only that, but they offered a completely different pricing strategy than the other guys: With the $3.99 purchase, you'll get 30-days of use, after which you can purchase different tiers of service between 30-days and one year.   Where To? ($2.99)With GPS-style POI (point of interest) searching, Where To allows you to pinpoint a location, be it a restaurant, amusement park, or even an archery range. The application then locates the POI inside of the Maps application on the iPhone.     Skype (free)Skype VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) has been beneficial more than once for us, and with AT&T's announcement that they'll be allowing VoIP apps on the 3G network, we're extremely excited about Skype. This application will allow you to place calls through Skype and chat with your friends.   Fring (free)Fring is a free VoIP and chat solution for the iPhone. The cool factor about this application is that they just started doing one-way Skype video chat right from your iPhone.   SlingPlayer Mobile ($29.99)SlingBox Solo, Pro, or Pro-HD owners will appreciate the ability to stream live TV to their iPhone over Wi-Fi. In addition, you can  control the video for many set-top boxes including the Apple TV.   PocketGod ($0.99)A minigame that lets you rule over an island. You can bring life to new islanders, take life away, and otherwise demonstrate your powers in this hypnotic game.   FlightTrack Pro ($9.99)Never be in the dark about your flight information again. FlightTrack Pro lets you track your flight and get updates via push notifications. You can also see a live flight map with weather radar.   RedLaser ($1.99)Scan the barcodes of products and instantly get back product search results that includes the price online. A great way to bargain shop when in the store.   Attendance ($3.99)Always know who was missing at that last meeting with Attendance. This iPhone application lets you mark atendees present or absent for any meetings or class for later reference. You can import people from contacts in Address Book or from a CSV file on a web server.    Read It Later Pro ($4.99)Who says you can't put something off for later? Well, you can put off reading webpages with Read It Later. This application interfaces with a free online service and Firefox plugin that allows you to save webpages for reading later.   FastMall (free)Ever been in a mall and didn't know where the rest room was? Well, you could find a mall guide, or you can also bust out your iPhone with FastMall. This application lets you download mall maps (for a small fee) that will guide you around the mall similar to the way a turn-by-turn GPS does.   CBS Sports: Live College Games ($4.99) This CBS application lets you view stats and live stream video of college football and basketball games from the Big East, SEC, and Bit Ten conferences. This application will work over both Wi-Fi and 3G.   Vintage Video Maker ($2.99)Turn your iPhone 3GS into a camera that can shoot video with three different filters: 20's movie, black and white video, and 60's home video. You can assign classical 20's piano music to accompany your video or the sound of a projector running.  G-Park ($0.99)Never forget where you parked your car with G-Park. This application uses the GPS in the iPhone 3G or 3GS to park your car and locate it when you're ready to drive home.   CubeCheater (free)Solving a Rubik's Cube is fun, but you might be in the mood for letting your iPhone solve it for you. With CubeCheater, just input your cube's state and it will tell you how to solve it.   Where R U? ($0.99)Want to find out where friends or family are located geographically at a particular moment? If they have Where R U, they can let you know where they are and you will be shown their location on a Google Map. Nifty application for keeping tabs on your kids.   Photo2Contact (free trial, in-app purchase)Do you get tired of sending photos to each and every one of your friends or family members? Photo2Contact allows you to easily export a group of photos as a zip file and uploads them to an FTP location, and automatically emails your friends to let them know how to download them.    DogBook (free)Join the over 2 million pet owners who have created a Facebook profile for them. DogBook lets you see a list of your animals, their friends, and even lets you find nearby Parks. If your pet gets lost, use "Arf Alerts" to alert everyone in the area.   Qik Live (free)When you just want to post a quick video to the Internet, Qik is a, well, quick solution. Their new Live application lets you stream live video from your iPhone over 3G and WiFi. You can also send and receive chat messages with your viewers.   Cha-Ching Mobile ($2.99) Cha-Ching mobile is money management software that complements its Mac-counterpart. This application gives you the ability to manage your money and budget on-the-go and sync back later to your Mac over Wi-Fi.   Amazon Kindle for iPhone (free)Read Kindle books on your iPhone without having to purchase a separate version of the eBook. Amazon delivers the content wirelessly over Whispernet. Get an almost identical reading experience as on the Amazon Kindle.  Shelf Life ($1.99)Keep track of the expiration dates on food in your refrigerator and pantry with Shelf Life. This application uses a database that its users contributes to to determine the shelf life of foods found in your kitchen. You can also specify a custom shelf life.   Pizza Hut (free)Need food and need it quick? Pizza Hut now allows you to place an order for anything on their menu, directly from your iPhone. Checkout and pay right from the device as well without ever leaving your house.   Memento ($0.99)Send customized greetings to people through e-mail right from your iPhone. Memento lets you pick a template, add a photo and message, and send to loved ones. The application comes with 19 templates.  Eventful (free)Never be bored with Eventful. This free application lets you find local events happening in your area and lets you know what venues and performers will be heading your way.   OpenMaps ($1.99)OpenMaps for iPhone uses the open map data from OpenStreetMap.org, which contains editable maps for the entire world. The application lets you download maps for use when you don't have an Internet connection, and can use the built-in GPS to locate you.  TextGuru ($4.99)Sure, there are a lot of text editors for the iPhone, but TextGuru will let you edit HTML documents and preview them right from the device. In addition, you can download PDF files from the Internet into TextGuru for offline viewing.  Got a favorite app we missed? Drop it in the comments and share your excitement with the world.  

  • 50 of the Most Burning Apple Questions Answered

    You asked for help with the thorniest problems facing Mac, iPhone, and iPad owners, and we answered, providing 50 foolproof solutions that’ll come in handy for anyone who uses Apple gear. For months now, we’ve been asking you to send us your most burning Apple questions, and to put it mildly, you came through. The queue in our inbox looked longer than the lines that curled around NYC’s 5th Avenue Apple Store for the launch of the very first iPhone. And when we dug into the meat and potatoes of your queries, we could only marvel at the insightful list of vexing technical issues and twinkle-in-your-eye trivia tidbits that you challenged us with. We distilled all those inquiries down to the 50 best, most burning questions about Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple itself. Then we put our crack team of experts on the job of coming up with this ultimate answers guide for all things Apple. Struggling with iTunes syncing? iPhone backups? RAID cards? iPad printing? Or just wondering exactly what Steve actually wears every day? The answers await, backstopped and bulletproofed by the pros at Mac|Life. 1. Duplicates in iPhoto I can’t find any options in iPhoto for removing all duplicate pictures in one fell swoop, and I don’t want to find and delete them all myself. Any ideas?iPhoto lacks iTunes’ duplicate-deleting prowess, but the shareware app Duplicate Annihilator can fill this gap and free your photo library of clutter. Despite the name, it identifies and tags duplicate pictures with a keyword so you can collect them in a Smart Folder to review and annihilate at your leisure. 2. Wi-Fi DropoutsSince upgrading to Snow Leopard, my Wi-Fi connection randomly drops for no reason. I still get Wi-Fi reliably on my iPhone, and my wife gets it on her PC. Any advice?This problem seems to be affecting many Snow Leopard users, so we’ve come up with a series of steps that should resolve it. Start with the first and work down until the problem goes away:» Update to Mac OS X 10.6.3 or later.» Restart your modem and router.» Upgrade your router’s firmware to the latest version, particularly if it’s a non-Apple router.» Turn AirPort off then on again from your menu bar.» In your Network System Preference, create a new location and delete all of the previous locations.One of our best tips for troubleshooting Wi-Fi connection problems is to create one brand-new location and then delete all of your previous locations.» Within your new location, drag AirPort to the top of the service order by clicking on the gear icon and choosing “Set Service Order.”» Delete all of your preferred networks. To see your preferred networks, click on AirPort in the left margin, then the Advanced button, then the AirPort tab.» Within that Advanced area, click on the TCP/IP tab and turn off IPv6. Then, go into the DNS tab and make sure that your DNS servers are correct. If in doubt, try Google’s DNS servers of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.» Run Keychain First Aid in Keychain Access, which is located in your Utilities folder.» Manually change your router’s wireless channel to another channel to avoid interference with other wireless networks. See which channels are being used by other networks with a utility like AirRadar ($20, koingosw.com).» Turn off 802.11n mode on your router, leaving it in 802.11b/g mode only.» Change the security settings on your router from WEP to WPA/WPA2.» Zap the PRAM on your Mac (get instructions here). 3. Multitouch Gestures Why can’t I do the one-finger double-tap to open documents in Snow Leopard?You can absolutely use the one-finger double-tap on your Multi-Touch trackpad to open documents in Snow Leopard. Simply go into your Trackpad System Preference and make sure that “Tap to Click” is checked. Your confusion may also stem from the fact that your Multi-Touch trackpad is capable of understanding many gestures. So if you’ve enabled “Dragging” or “Drag Lock,” you might be holding down your finger too long after the second tap. If you’ve enabled “Secondary Click,” you might be tapping in the wrong area of your trackpad. 4. Syncing iPhone Photos When I sync my iPhone, all 6,000 of my MacBook Pro’s photos move to the iPhone--very uncool! How do I remove them from the phone and ensure one-way photo transfers to the Mac in the future?That’s at least 5,950 pictures too many. Just connect your iPhone to your MacBook, then select the iPhone in the iTunes sidebar. Click the Photos tab, where you can choose to transfer none of your pictures or just specific iPhoto Albums, Faces, and Events to your iPhone. Re-sync to apply your new settings and get back a few gigabytes on your iPhone. 5. Uninstalling My Mac still runs processes from a program I deleted. How do I delete an application entirely and prevent this from happening?Unfortunately, there’s no standard way to remove a program from your Mac, but some developers simplify the job by including an uninstaller with their application. It may lurk in the main folder of the app you want to terminate--check those subfolders!--or it might be in the original installer itself. Launch the installer and proceed through it carefully. An uninstall feature may be obvious, or it could be hidden among options to customize the installation process. Be sure to quit the program you want to delete before uninstalling it.If an application didn’t come with an uninstaller, then the only way to delete it is to drag it to the Trash. However, this won’t remove preferences and other support files left behind on your Mac. You can use Spotlight to search for the deleted application’s name to find these strays, but if you have a lot of applications to remove, consider investing in a dedicated uninstaller like CleanApp, AppZapper, or AppCleaner. These programs automate the process of zapping unwanted programs--and their stuff--off your drive for good. 6. File Compression I’d like to save hard drive space with the Finder’s Compress command, but I’m not getting useful results. I recently compressed a 117.4MB file to just 116.7MB. Am I doing something wrong?Not all file types can be compressed with the same space-saving results. For example, compressing a ZIP archive won’t make a significantly smaller ZIP file. Some files, such as JPEGs, MP3s, and other media formats, have a certain level of compression already built in, but the sizes of text files and uncompressed image file formats can be dramatically reduced with ZIP compression. 7. Remote Control When I use my iPod touch as a remote for my Apple TV, it appears to only give me access to the Apple TV’s library as if it were an iPod. Is there a way to use the iPod touch like the traditional Apple remote? For example, can I use the touch to navigate to the YouTube app and search for videos, or to browse the movie rentals?Apple’s Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch lets you control the playback of media that you’ve already purchased or downloaded. But for content that doesn’t live on your Apple TV, such as YouTube videos or the iTunes Store, you’ll still need your traditional Apple remote to navigate to those screens. However, the good news is that whenever an onscreen keyboard appears on your Apple TV, the Remote app will display its own keyboard, which lets you quickly type what you’re searching for. 8. Photo Migration Can Faces and Places data in iPhoto â€09 be moved to another Mac, or do I have to click on all those faces and enter all those locations again?All your vacation sites and friendly faces will transfer to another Mac with OS X’s Migration Assistant, or you can drag your iPhoto library file from your Pictures folder to the same location on a new Mac. When you launch iPhoto on the new machine, you’ll be told the locations of pictures containing GPS data must be retrieved again, but custom locations you’ve entered yourself (for pictures taken with older cameras, say) will remain intact. 9. Gmail, Behave! I sync Gmail with OS X’s Mail, but when I delete a message from Mail, it remains in Gmail’s All Mail folder in the sidebar. What’s the right mailbox setting to move a message deleted in Mail to Gmail’s Trash?All your Gmail goes into the All Mail folder, whether or not it’s been recently deleted and no matter which Gmail folder label is attached to the message. Google’s default IMAP Mail settings (available here) are correct, but to send a Mail message directly to Gmail’s Trash, you’ll have to drag it to the [Gmail]/Trash folder in Mail’s sidebar. 10. Crash-Tastic It always happens at the worst possible time: I’ll be using my PowerBook G4 when the screen suddenly dims and shows a Rosetta Stone’s worth of languages telling me to restart the computer. Why does this keep happening, and how can I stop it?Ouch. What you’re describing is a kernel panic, a cute name for a not-so-cute problem. An operating system’s kernel acts as a bridge between applications and the computer’s hardware, and kernel panics are the last-ditch efforts of the operating system to recover from serious conflicts between them. The chief causes of kernel panics are faulty RAM and software incompatible with the operating system you’re running. Unfortunately, that range could include any number of bad things that may be happening on your poor PowerBook.Happily, even a kernel panic isn’t the end of the world, and we can offer some pointers to help you figure out what’s wrong. The first step is to look at your Mac’s history. Was there a time when it didn’t get kernel panics? Think back to any (and we mean any) new hardware or software you installed before the panics began. Update or uninstall them one item at a time to isolate the panics’ cause until you narrow down the trouble. Also note which hardware and software you’re using just before they strike--there may be a pattern. Whatever the issue, your Mac isn’t happy, so be sure to back up important files and verify your hard drive with Disk Utility regularly.Next page: Answers Guide continued >> 11. Get Zippy iPhone Backups How can I speed up iPhone backups so I’ll never have to cancel mid-backup again? They seem to take forever when a couple minutes really should do it.A. First off, keep your iOS software current. Not only will the latest updates squash bugs and add features, they can improve backup times. To update, sync your iPhone, select it in the iTunes sidebar, then go to the Summary tab.B. Pare down the number of applications on your iPhone. Application data like in-app purchases, saved games, and new documents are all backed up when you sync, and that can add up to a long wait while the backup progress bar creeps by. To start cleaning house, connect to iTunes, select the Apps tab, then delete your most infrequently used applications. You’ll lose the data saved in these apps, but you’ll gain speedier backups.Ask yourself this: Are those apps you never use on your iPhone really worth slowing down your backups?C. Sync often. If you sync at least once or twice a day, fewer applications will have new data to back up when you reconnect to iTunes. If you can’t bear to part with any of the applications on your Home Screen, making multiple faster backups will let you keep all your favorite apps at your fingertips.D. Keep Camera Roll clean. While the contents of your iPhone’s photo library aren’t backed up during a sync, the photos, movies, and screenshots in Camera Roll are. Transfer this media to iPhoto as soon as you begin a sync, and delete the files from Camera Roll when the transfer is complete to get this data copied onto your Mac while excluding it from being backed up in iTunes.More photos = slower backups.E. Connect to a USB port on your Mac instead of an external USB hub. Not all USB ports are created equal, and connecting to a powered, full-speed USB port that’s built into your Mac will ensure the fastest possible transfer speeds during backups. That means you can be off to your next port of call quickly, secure in the knowledge that your iPhone data is safe on your computer.F. Before you sync to iTunes, purge unnecessary SMS messages, old call histories, and non-essential files downloaded by apps that store data on your iPhone. For example, if you regularly copy files to your iDisk app or productivity apps like DocsToGo, make sure you’re only carrying what you need before a backup. Odds are these files live elsewhere on your Mac or iDisk, so there’s no need to back them up again.Junk your old, unused files, too. 12. Time Travel I’ve been running Time Machine for months in Mac OS 10.6.3, but I’ve never seen instructions about how to go back in time and retrieve information. Help!Mount your backup drive, then launch Time Machine from your Mac’s Applications folder. Your desktop will be replaced by a timeline and Finder windows showing your Mac’s contents as they were in the past. Just click a Finder window (or click within the timeline) to return to a specific date. You can also search within Finder windows for specific filenames, and more. When you find a missing file, select it and click Restore to return to the present with your document. 13. Rip Encrypted Movies I want an easy way to download a DVD to my computer so I can put it on my iPod or iPad. I used to use HandBrake, but that no longer works for encrypted DVDs.HandBrake (free, handbrake.fr) is still the quickest and most reliable tool for directly converting DVDs into video files that will play on your iPod or iPad. But you’ll also need to install VLC (free, videolan.org) if you want to decrypt commercial DVDs. Place both HandBrake and VLC into your Applications folder, and you’ll be able to convert encrypted DVDs with HandBrake once again. 14. Dump Discs I want to go disc-free on my MacBook, but a few of my games require a CD or DVD to play. Is there any way to make OS X think the disc is in the drive when it’s not?OS X’s Disk Utility can make a duplicate of your game’s CD or DVD and save it to your Mac as a file called a disk image. Once created, disk images can be double-clicked to open and mount on your desktop just like a conventional disc (you’ve already seen them in software installers downloaded from the internet). But there are two things to remember: copy-protection schemes on the disc may prevent duplication, and you should have plenty of room on your MacBook’s hard drive before you begin. A DVD’s disk image will take up several gigabytes.To get started, insert the disc you want to dupe, then launch Disk Utility from your Utilities folder. Select the disc in the sidebar, then click New Image in the Disk Utility toolbar, set the image format to DVD/CD Master in the resulting sheet, and save the disk image to your Mac. Next time you want to play your game, double-click the image file, then launch your game normally once the virtual game disc mounts. When you’re finished, you can drag the mounted disc to the Trash to eject like any conventional media, leaving the disk image on your Mac for the next time you want to get your game on. 15. Branching Out Which operating systems—and I mean all of them, not just Mac versions—will run on a PowerPC-based Mac?The PowerPC processor has become something of a museum piece since Apple abandoned it for Intel’s chips, but these Linux distributions can help you breathe new life into G5- and G4-powered Macs. Ubuntu, Yellow Dog, and Fedora all maintain builds that run on PowerPC hardware. When you’re looking to run a worthwhile alternate operating system on older Mac hardware, the penguin has you covered. 16. The $1M Question When will Adobe Flash content be viewable on iPhones and iPads?Never. In April, Steve Jobs had this to say about Flash on Apple’s website: “Flash was created during the PC era--for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low-power devices, touch interfaces, and open web standards--all areas where Flash falls short.” 17. iLife Oops I accidentally deleted iMovie and the Apple Loops that came with GarageBand. Can I reload them from the original disc without losing all my other iLife files?Sure! First, launch the iLife â€09 installer from your disc. At the bottom of the final screen is a Customize button that lets you install iLife components individually. Click it, then select the items you want to reinstall. The installer will insist on installing GarageBand along with your missing loops, but your missing applications and files will return to your Mac without affecting other iLife applications and documents, including GarageBand preferences. Just remember to run Software Update afterward to ensure that everything’s up to date. 18. iPad Printing What are the best ways to print from the iPad?Until Apple decides to build printing into iOS, there unfortunately isn’t a “best” way--although there are several apps in the App Store that might meet your needs.Canon’s Easy-PhotoPrint for iPhone runs on the iPad and will print photos to certain Canon printers. And the App Store is full of plenty of third-party apps that promise printing from your iPad, although in our experience the results are decidedly mixed. PrintBureau ($12.99) searches your network for shared printers. It reliably printed to one--but not another--of the printers on our home network without any intervention. There’s an optional free helper application you can run on a Mac to give PrintBureau access to your printers (a solution common to several iPad printing apps), but we’d hardly call that true iPad printing.We also had success with Air Sharing HD ($9.99), which is packed with features for moving and sharing files with your iPad. It didn’t work immediately with our Wi-Fi–enabled printer, but turning on Printer Sharing on our Mac made all our printers visible to the app. But--like using a companion app--that also requires that you have a Mac running. Ultimately, the least fiddly solution often ends up being emailing yourself a document and printing from a computer. Hopefully Apple has something better in the pipeline… 19. Tame Bookmarks I have tons of Safari bookmarks on my Mac. I don’t want them all on my iPhone, but Apple only allows syncing of all or none. Is there a fix?It’s almost elegant. Xmarks (xmarks.com) syncs bookmarks across multiple browsers, and its profiles let you decide which bookmarks appear on specific devices, including your iPhone. Best of all, you can view (and even search) them in a layout formatted for Mobile Safari. Just sign up for Xmarks, follow their instructions, and disable iPhone bookmark syncing in iTunes. Unfortunately, Xmarks doesn’t sync new bookmarks made on your iPhone back to your Mac. Like we said…almost elegant.Next page: Answers Guide continued >> 20. Stay Safe How can I tell if someone is using my Wi-Fi? Elementary, my dear Wi-Fi user! The mystery’s solution lies in MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, which are unique codes that identify network devices. Different routers have different ways of showing which addresses (and thus, devices) are accessing your network. If you have an AirPort router, launch AirPort Utility from your Utilities folder, double-click your router’s icon, then click the Advanced icon in the resulting window. Click Logging and Statistics, then Logs and Statistics. In the Wireless Clients section, you’ll see a graph showing the address of each device connecting to your network. The list will include your Mac, the AirPort router itself, and any other computers, iPhones, game consoles, or other devices using your Wi-Fi connection. Next, match the MAC addresses to your network devices. We’ll get you started: your computer’s address can be found in the Network section of System Profiler. When you’re finished, you’ll know the addresses of devices you want on your network, so you can tell when something with a foreign address is using your Wi-Fi. Then the game’s afoot! 21. Sim-plify I have a 1G iPhone that I want to use as a simple iPod touch, leaving aside the phone features entirely, but I don’t have the original SIM card. What are my options?Your options are slim. Unlike later models, the 1G iPhone requires a SIM card to operate as a basic iPod, even after AT&T service has been terminated or transferred to another phone. You can get a new SIM card from AT&T, but this will require signing up for a new phone service contract. Unfortunately, there’s no way around this limitation besides jailbreaking your iPhone with one of the methods floating around on the internet. 22. Merge Partitions Is there any way to un-partition a non-boot hard drive in OS 10.6 without wiping the data?You’re in luck. Since 10.5, OS X’s Disk Utility has been able to add and remove partitions from disks without affecting other data on the drive. However, Disk Utility won’t merge data from the deleted partition to another partition on the drive, so back up all your data--especially files on the partition you’ll be removing--before you begin.Once all your data’s securely backed up, launch Disk Utility from your Mac’s Utilities folder, then select the drive in the sidebar (be sure to choose the icon noting the drive’s capacity, not just its name). Click the Partition button, then in the shaded box showing the drive’s Volume Scheme, select the partition you want to remove. Click the minus button below the Volume Scheme chart to remove the partition (don’t worry, it won’t disappear right away). Click and drag other partitions to resize them and fill the empty space that will be left behind by the deleted partition. You can also click the plus button to add a new partition that can also be resized. Click Apply to commit your changes and begin Operation: Un-partition. 23. No Scratching I just bought a new 21.5” iMac (late 2009 model) and found a serious design flaw: the CD slot has sharp aluminum edges that can inflict permanent, irreversible scratches to valuable CDs. Help!These days, Apple’s really into razor-sharp edges. For example, the unibody MacBooks also famously have sharp edges where users rest their wrists, and those very same sharp edges have made it onto the slot on the side of the iMac where CDs are loaded. Luckily, those sharp edges are just on the outside, not on the internal drive itself. So if you carefully and slowly slide in your CD without touching the outside edges, you may avoid scratching your CD. But here’s a more practical solution: Put electrical tape around the edges of the slot. This isn’t the most beautiful thing to look at, but it’s almost guaranteed to keep scratches at bay. Another option would be to purchase an external CD drive to either use as your primary CD drive or to make copies of your valuable CDs. That way, if a CD gets scratched, at least it’s not the original. 24. Font Fixes When using Mail, any font that I use in my outgoing email always shows up on recipient PCs as Courier--that archaic, typewriter style font. How can I get my Mac fonts to translate onto PCs?In order for a font to be successfully seen on somebody’s computer, they need to already have that particular font installed on their machine. If your recipient doesn’t have the same exact font as you, their computer will substitute your font with a font that is already installed on their system. This applies to emails, websites, Word documents, almost anything. If maintaining the integrity of fonts is important to you, you’ll need to create PDF files or images and attach them to your outgoing email message. 25. App-Update Errors When I try to update apps from my iPhone, I get a “Cannot Connect to iTunes Store” error, yet I have no problem downloading new apps, and no problem updating them in iTunes on my computer. What gives?Assuming the problem is reoccurring and not a freaky networking accident, it sounds like your iPhone (or the problematic apps themselves) may be confused about the status of your iTunes account. This could be because a different user has logged into your iPhone, because you have multiple usernames or passwords tied to your iTunes account, or even because your billing information was recently changed on another device. The easiest place to start is by navigating to Settings, tapping Store, and confirming that yours is the currently active account on your iPhone. If it is, try signing out and signing back in with your most recent iTunes account information, then verify that your address and billing information are correct. If the problem persists, the apps may the culprit. Try updating them in iTunes, then deleting them from your iPhone. Reconnect your iPhone to your computer to sync the updated apps back to the phone. If, down the road, these same applications refuse to update from your iPhone again, deleting them from your Mac and re-downloading them from the iTunes Store may fix this. 26. Make Windows Behave I have various finder windows set to appear in different views depending on their content. But certain windows stubbornly--and randomly--refuse to remember my preferences. Is it a bug, or am I missing a setting?Setting a specific folder to open in a particular view (such as columns, icons, or lists) can make browsing files in the Finder a lot easier. Just open and set each folder to your preferred view, then select View > Show View Options in the menu bar and check the topmost button in the resulting window to force the Finder window to always open in that view. Unfortunately, the Finder has ignored these helpful preferences since the earliest days of OS X. Your stubborn folders aren’t the first!Your folders may be confused by corrupt .DS_Store files, the invisible files created by the Finder to store icon sizes, window backgrounds, and more. System utility apps like TinkerTool and Cocktail can reveal or delete these files for you, or you can use the Terminal to delete them yourself if your UNIX Fu is strong.If those options don’t do the trick, your Mac may think you don’t have permission to reset the view options of certain folders. Some, like the Applications folder, don’t technically “belong” to any user except the system itself, and only the system (also known as the root user) can make permanent changes to these directories. What looks like random stubbornness may be OS X remembering that it’s in charge of these folders, not you.To show your Mac who’s boss, log in as the root user, then set uncooperative folders to the view setting you prefer. Just be careful, and remember to log back into your normal user account and disable root access when the job is done. Moving or deleting the wrong files while logged in as root can have serious consequences for your Mac. Apple explains how to log in as root here. 27. Just Open! I used to double-click any photo, and it would open in Photoshop. When I installed 10.6, this feature disappeared. Now I have to drop the photos onto the Photoshop icon.Snow Leopard ignores “creator codes,” which changed its file-opening behavior--it’s all about file extensions now. Right-click a JPG, choose Get Info, and under Open With, choose Photoshop, and click Change All. Do this again for PNG, PSD, TIF, and any other photo file types you want Photoshop to get first dibs on. 28. iPads Kill Wi-Fi When enough of us use iPads on the office Wi-Fi, it can crash the Wi-Fi itself! I’ve heard this is a common problem--is there a fix?You’ve heard right, and it’ll take an OS and/or firmware update from Apple to vanquish this annoying glitch. Until then, know that the issue is caused because an iPad can stop renewing its DHCP lease when it goes to sleep, so if you set your iPad to never sleep (Settings > General > Auto-Lock > Never), you’re good. That’s hardly ideal, and at Mac|Life HQ, we set up an iPad-only Wi-Fi network, which creates a smaller pool of DHCP leases and keeps the main Wi-Fi network safe. Interestingly, iPads are also prone to other Wi-Fi glitches, like sketchy signal strength, frequent drops, and slow speeds. Bizarrely, one of the first things you should do is increase the brightness upward and turn off the Auto Brightness option (Settings > Brightness & Wallpaper). We can only guess that something’s screwy with iPad power management… 29. Mac Pros Are Hot I just wanted to bring to your attention a widespread, frustrating issue that exists with all 2009 Mac Pros. Whenever you play any audio, the CPU rapidly heats up (core temperatures as high as 90ÂşC, CPU heat sink 60ÂşC). This problem exists in 10.5 and 10.6, but does not happen in Windows running in Boot Camp, so it appears to be a Mac OS X bug. And after spending $8,000 on Apple’s top machine, I feel like I have been had.Yes, this seems to be a prevalent problem with the 2009 Mac Pros. Playing any type of audio heats up the Pro precariously close to--but not quite at--dangerous heat levels. If your Mac actually reached dangerous heat levels, it would shut itself down. This increased heat also causes decreased performance. Unfortunately, we don’t have any solutions for you, but we’re publishing your letter in the hopes that greater publicity on this issue will help get a speedy resolution from Apple.Next page: Answers Guide continued >> 30. What a Mess!One of my co-workers spilled juice on his older MacBook Pro, and now the keys are sticky (when pressed down, they don’t pop up right away). What’s the best way to clean up?Sounds nasty! Although this particular spill has long dried, we’ll start these cleanup instructions from the moment right after spillage to make them more widely useful. So: Immediately power down, disconnect the power cord from the MacBook, and remove the battery (if it’s removable). After doing as much as you can with paper or cloth towels, turn the machine over with the lid partly open to allow the liquid to drain, making sure that the laptop doesn’t close all the way. Give it about 72 hours to completely air dry and then take apart the machine to thoroughly clean the innards. The website iFixIt.com has great step-by-step guides to taking the keys off and getting your MacBook back to normal. When dabbing at disassembled keys and other parts, we recommend a bit of gauze lightly dampened with rubbing alcohol. 31. Airport Fizzles I stream my music from iTunes to an AirPort router, but it frequently cuts out. What can I do?First, make sure your iTunes and AirPort software are up to date. If the problem persists, move your router away from possible sources of interference. Wi-Fi is convenient, but it’s not an exact science. Signals can be impeded by microwaves, wireless phones, thick masonry, and more. If dropouts continue, try changing the channel on which your AirPort broadcasts in the Wireless tab of the AirPort section of AirPort Utility. 32. Family Planning My wife and I have our own iPhones and iTunes accounts, and we’re adding an iPad to the happy family. Can we sync both iPhones and the iPad (plus our Apple TV) to a single iTunes account, and share our apps on all devices without affecting our current library and future purchases?Bad news first: there’s no way to merge multiple iTunes accounts into one, so your family will have to keep juggling separate accounts and purchases from your iPhones, Apple TV, and bouncing baby iPad. The good news is that apps, like DRM-protected movies and TV shows, can be used on up to five authorized computers and the iDevices that sync to them. Just open iTunes, select Apps in the sidebar, then drag iPhone applications you want to share from iTunes to a networked computer or removable hard drive. Select File > Add to Library in iTunes on the second authorized computer, then choose the exported apps to load them into that computer’s library. These apps won’t retain saved data from the original computer, but otherwise they’ll be fully operational and can be updated normally. Apple TV purchases, however, will still be tethered to one of your computers. But even these files can be synced and transferred to multiple computers and iDevices.Here’s the better news: Home Sharing, introduced in iTunes 9, simplifies this process by allowing users to drag and drop media to shared computers within iTunes. Activate Home Sharing by selecting Advanced > Turn On Home Sharing. Repeat this step on all your computers, entering one iTunes account username and password on each. Then you can drag media from shared libraries in iTunes’ sidebar into a computer’s local library at will. Future purchases can be shared automatically by clicking the Settings button at the bottom of Home Sharing iTunes library, then selecting which media you’d like to share. Once you set up all computers on your network, syncing works automatically, zapping new media off to each machine. 33. Double the Addresses Why do I have duplicate Contact entries on my iPhone but not on my Mac?Odds are your iPhone has gained multiple groups of contacts after syncing them both wirelessly through MobileMe and through iTunes when you connected your iPhone to your Mac. Whatever the cause, check your iPhone Contact app’s Groups. If you see a group named From My Mac in addition to groups you’ve created in OS X’s Address Book, it’s a sign your iPhone thinks you have two distinct sets of friends.It's hard enough to find the contact you're looking for--who needs duplicate entries?To fix the problem, first back up your Mac’s contact data. Connect your iPhone to iTunes, uncheck Sync Address Book Contacts in the Info tab, then re-sync. If that doesn’t remove the extra contacts, turn off MobileMe contact syncing in Settings on your iPhone, choosing to delete the existing contacts on your phone. Next, turn Contact syncing back on, and choose to merge MobileMe’s data onto your iPhone if asked. Now you should have just one set of contacts shared between your iPhone and Mac. You’ll have half the friends, but half the hassles. 34. Conquer Syncing What's the most elegant way to sync iTunes libraries between work and home computers?We use SuperSync, a program that lets you sync your iTunes library among multiple computers on local networks or over the Internet. SuperSync’s busy interface can seem a little daunting, but in just a few quick steps, you can start copying music from your crib to your cubicle and back again. Casual Fridays will never be the same.A. Buy the SoftwareSuperSync looks and feels kinda like iTunes, but is a whole different beast.To get started, you’ll need a copy of SuperSync running on both your home and work computers. Two licenses will set you back $24, or you can snag ten for $34 and give one to your manager for Boss’s Day.B. Make the ConnectionsWhen you first launch SuperSync on your home Mac, it loads and displays your iTunes library in an iTunes-alike window organized by genre, artist, and playlist. While SuperSync may look a little like iTunes (and it can even play some unprotected audio files), it’s really a conduit and control panel for syncing, not a jukebox. Your DRM-protected files must still be played by an authorized copy of iTunes, although SuperSync will transfer them just fine.SuperSync can even keep metadata updated across different Macs.If your music collection doesn’t live in your Mac’s Home folder, you can point SuperSync to a library stored on a remote or network drive and share from there. To set up sharing, just check the obvious boxes and enter a password in the application’s Network preferences. While you’re there, you can fine-tune what you sync and how. For instance, you can keep specific media types--all videos, for instance--out of your shared library and pick which metadata changes will be synced back to your home machine. Whether you simply want to copy files or meticulously update their play counts, ratings, and more across your computers, SuperSync has your back.C. Start the SyncTo sync your library, install and launch SuperSync on your work machine, then turn on sharing and connect to your home computer. This is easiest (and fastest) on a local network, but you can sync your music over the internet by manually forwarding ports on your home router, or by using a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) router and letting SuperSync do the work for you.When the syncing starts, SuperSync's interface gets pretty busy.Once you get both computers talking to each other, you can synchronize your entire library in one go, sync individual files, or transfer albums, artists, and whole genres at once. You can even sync your playlists--both their music files and the lists themselves in the iTunes sidebar. Naturally, files added to iTunes on your work computer can be synced back to your home Mac. Just finish your download in iTunes, then phone home with SuperSync. New files will be noted automatically and can be transferred with a click. 35. Hot Flash My MacBook Pro has been acting strangely. It will become sluggish, get hot, and the fans will come on at full speed. Activity Monitor shows that a process called “PTMD” is taking over 60 percent of my CPU. How do I prevent PTMD from taking over my Mac?This may not be a common question, but it certainly is a burning one! According to Apple’s Mac OS X Reference Library, PTMD stands for “platform thermal monitor daemon,” and it communicates any OS notifications effecting thermal conditions to your hardware. This daemon is supposed to automatically quit itself when it’s done communicating, but apparently your Mac erroneously thinks that its thermal conditions are continuously changing, so it’s trying to let your hardware continuously know this incorrect information.This seems to be a new problem that has cropped up for some users in Mac OS 10.6.3, so hopefully it will be fixed in a future update to the operating system. In the meantime, you can manually quit out of PTMD in Activity Monitor (launch it from your Utilities folder) whenever it starts acting up. You may also try resetting your Mac’s System Management Controller, which is responsible for thermal management (follow the directions here). 36. It's a RAIDI have Apple’s RAID card in my Mac Pro, and it always pops up this error message: “Write cache disabled due to insufficient battery charge.” But...what is a RAID card, and what should I do?Apple's Mac Pro RAID Card improves RAID performance and reliability.RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks, and it’s a tech that lets you combine multiple hard drives so they appear as one. RAIDs can either be mirrored or striped--in the first, each drive is an exact copy (or mirror) of the other drives, so if one fails, you’ll still have all of your data intact on another (known as redundancy). If you configure your drives as a striped RAID, the storage space of all of your drives is added together into one larger drive. This will give you increased performance and increased storage space, but no redundancy unless you’ve configured your RAID with parity handling (which uses a portion of each drive to hold identical copies of data from one of the other drives). RAIDs can be controlled by software like Apple’s Disk Utility or the excellent SoftRAID ($129, softraid.com), or they can be controlled by hardware like your RAID card. The main advantages of a hardware-controlled RAID are increased performance and reliability. With the error message you’re receiving, it sounds like the battery on your RAID card has died, so take it into Apple to get replaced. 37. iPad 2 What upgrades will we see in the next version of the iPad? (We emailed a trio of well-known tech experts for their predictions.)  Daniel LyonsNewsweek"I'd guess the following:» Front-facing camera for videoconferencing» Multitasking (duh, already announced)» Higher-resolution screen» No Flash» Gorgeous ads that will change your life» Unicorn tears"    Christopher NullYahoo! News, Technology"Dual cameras--a front-facing camera for videoconferencing will be huge for opening up a whole new market for the iPad."        Dylan TweneyWired"One of the things most obviously missing from the current iPad is a webcam. This would instantly transform the iPad into a videophone, and its size—just slightly bigger than the human face—would be perfect for face-to-face video chats. It’s also likely that the next iPad will have more memory and a faster processor. If we’re lucky, it might have an HDMI port too, so you can hook it up to a TV to show off photos, videos, and apps. One thing it definitely won’t have, though, is support for Adobe Flash. That door is closed, probably forever."   38. Mac Van Winkle When I wake my MacBook Pro from sleep, it doesn’t connect to my Wi-Fi. Sometimes it even forgets the Wi-Fi password. How the heck do I get it to remember?First, check out the extensive troubleshooting steps that we gave in Question #2 to see if any of those ideas solve your problem. Beyond that, your problem may be caused by one of the following issues:» Two Wi-Fi networks with the same SSID (wireless network name). For example, do you connect to one wireless router that’s named “Linksys” at work and then another router that’s named “Linksys” at home? If so, your Mac may be trying to apply the password from one router to the other router. Rename one of the wireless networks.» Keychain problems. Launch Keychain Access (in Utilities) and delete any AirPort Network password entries for the wireless networks that are giving you problems.» Preferred Networks problem. Go into your Network System Preference, click on AirPort, then the Advanced button, then the AirPort tab. Delete any unused networks, and drag your current network to the top of the list.» Corrupt preference file. Trash the file located at Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist and restart your Mac.» Security incompatibilities. Try changing the type of wireless security on your router (for example, WPA instead of WEP).» Wireless interference. Turn on interference robustness on your router or change the wireless channel.» Your system may need a general maintenance. Run Disk Warrior on your machine, repair permissions with Disk Utility, empty the caches, and run the UNIX maintenance scripts with Cocktail. 39. Style Manual What exactly does Steve wear on a daily basis?We asked our team of fashion experts, and they said, “The same dang thing no matter what.” So we made them stalk the streets of Cupertino and watch hours of keynote footage to bring you the scoop on Steve’s sartorial secrets. That’ll show ’em.Next page: Answers Guide continued >> 40. Sad Mac My iMac flat-out freezes when I try to wake it from sleep. I ran DiskTools Pro, which verified and repaired my hard drive, but it still hangs after waking from sleep.This is often a symptom of a failing graphics card or a failing logic board inside your Mac, in which case you would need to take your Mac into an Apple Authorized Service Provider for repair. However, before assuming the worst, you can perform a series of basic troubleshooting steps to rule out other variables that may be causing this symptom.» External devices: When your Mac fails to wake from sleep, try unplugging any external hard drives or peripherals to see if doing so makes your Mac suddenly wake from sleep. If so, those external devices may be to blame. » RAM: You may also have bad RAM inside your machine. You can try to pinpoint bad RAM by either removing one of your RAM chips and see if the problem continues, or by running the Apple Hardware Test to see if it can identify any bad RAM. To run the Apple Hardware Test, take a look at the DVDs that came with your Mac; one of them will say that the Apple Hardware Test is on it. Insert that DVD and restart your Mac while holding down the D key on your keyboard. » Reset your Mac’s System Management Controller (get instructions here).Next, try to rule out the software problems: » Trash the following files and then restart your Mac: Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.AutoWake.plist and Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist » Reboot your Mac in single-user mode and run fsck (file system check)--get instructions here. » Back up your Mac, then erase and install Mac OS X.If all of these steps fail, it's time, sadly, to bring your Mac into an Apple Authorized Service Provider. 41. Stop Time When Time Machine is running, my Mac virtually comes to a stop. What is happening, and what should I do?Any time an application such as Time Machine is actively reading or writing to a hard drive, you may notice a tiny bit of a speed loss if you’re also trying to access your hard drive as well because the read/write heads take time to physically move to different locations on the hard drive platter.However, the key phrase is “a tiny bit of a speed loss,” meaning that the speed loss should be negligible to most computer users. Time Machine is designed to be fast and extremely lightweight, so if your computer is actually coming to a standstill, then something else is going on. The best way to troubleshoot this is by eliminating variables. First, make sure that you do not have any virus software scanning your backup drive. This is a known factor that could slow down your Time Machine backups to a crawl and that may affect your computer’s overall speed as well.Then, eliminate the possibility that your backup drive has a hardware problem by swapping it out with a different backup drive. If you don’t have another drive handy, a utility such as Drive Genius ($99, prosofteng.com) or Disk Warrior ($99, alsoft.com) can help you sniff out failing hard drives. Your backup drive must also be partitioned properly, as explained at tinyurl.com/3zne68.Next, use a different backup program like ChronoSync to see if the slowdowns continue. If they do, ChronoSync will let you see which file is actively being backed up while the problem is happening. It could indicate a problem with that particular file or with your internal hard drive.Other than that, you can try some general tips to speed up your Mac overall: Upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard; purchase faster internal and external drives (7200 RPM or SSD); use a faster connection interface (eSATA or FireWire 800); add more RAM to your Mac; and turn off hard disk sleep in the Energy Saver System Preference (this last one has a huge impact if your hard drive is powered via USB only and has no separate AC power). 42. Display Despair Why has Apple used so many display interfaces recently, and is the current Mini DisplayPort standard the best tech for the job?Mini DisplayPort meets VGA with this adapter.Apple’s flirtation with different video interfaces makes it seem like a puppet of the International Dongle Cartel, but it’s really all about doing more with ever-shrinking video ports. That includes today’s Mini DisplayPort, which can carry video and audio and connects to VGA, DVI, or HDMI displays at resolutions up to 2560x1600. We’re not sure if that makes it the best technology, but if it lets us carry just one small adapter that works on both MacBooks and iMacs, we’re happy. 43. Feelin' Social Does Apple have a Twitter account or Facebook page of any sort whatsoever?YouTube has your favorite Apple commercials.Steve may be cool with answering emails, but the company isn’t too keen on Twitter. There is no official Apple Twitter account. Facebook is a bit more complicated. While Apple hasn’t set up an official company page, it has created an App Store Facebook page: facebook.com/AppStore. Our preferred destination, though, is the Apple YouTube channel, which lets us check out all of our favorite Apple commercials: youtube.com/apple. 44. Feelin' Blu When will Apple include USB 3.0 and Blu-ray in Macs? What’s taking so long?USB 3.0 gear is already trickling onto the market, so it’s probably just a matter of time before the first computers sporting the blazing new standard roll out of Cupertino. Unfortunately, Blu-ray is another story. Apple’s interest in promoting its HD iTunes movie downloads and Steve’s declaration that bringing Blu-ray to the Mac is “a bag of hurt” don’t bode well for Blu’s chances on the Mac. 45. Photo Downloads There seems to be no way to download my photos from my iPhone directly to my Mac without using iPhoto. Even then, I have to drill down through some crazy iPhoto directories in the Finder just to copy the photos somewhere else. Can’t I just pull these photos off my iPhone and put them wherever I want?Any photos that are in iPhoto can be easily and quickly copied somewhere else on your Mac simply by dragging and dropping them out of iPhoto. For even more control over the size, format, and name of your photos, use the File > Export command in iPhoto. You don’t need to--and you really shouldn’t--be drilling down into any iPhoto directories on your Mac.Now, onto your next question of bypassing iPhoto altogether. In Mac OS 10.6, the Image Capture application gives you a significant amount of control over what happens when you connect your iPhone. If you have multiple cameras or iPhones, Image Capture even lets you set different preferences for each individual camera.Image Capture is the place to go to directly download photos from your cameras or to set what happens whenever you connect your cameras.You could have your iPhone launch Image Capture itself, which lets you manually download your photos into the directories of your choice and then delete those photos from the iPhone. You could have your iPhone launch Preview, which lets you import iPhone photos from the File menu. You could have your iPhone run an AppleScript.But perhaps best of all, your iPhone could launch AutoImporter, a hidden application that automatically imports photos to the directory of your choice, without you intervening at all. It’s located at Macintosh HD/System/Library/Image Capture/Support/Application/AutoImporter, and you can set this application’s preferences by choosing AutoImporter > Preferences. 46. Tame MobileMe I have four Apple devices: two MacBooks, an iPhone, and an iPad. It would be wonderful if MobileMe would do its job and sync all of my calendar and contact information, but I continually have glitches. One of the devices will often stop syncing, and then I have to wipe out data and start all over again. Is there any way to alleviate these problems?We’ve heard from an Apple support representative that syncing problems with MobileMe are very common because the MobileMe servers are not yet robust enough to handle more than 1,000 synchronizations before everything needs to be reset from scratch again. While 1,000 synchronizations might sound like a lot, consider that a sync takes place every single time you make a change to a contact or a calendar. The good news, however, is that this same representative told us that Apple is aware of its MobileMe syncing shortcomings and is continuously working to increase the competency of its servers.In the meantime, if you want to stick with MobileMe syncing, your best bet for solving the glitches you’re experiencing would be to follow our extensive guide from our November 2009 issue (or find it online here--scroll down to #37) on how to reset your MobileMe syncing from scratch on all of your devices.Alternatively, you may want to ditch MobileMe altogether and explore alternatives such as the web-based calendaring and contact solutions from Google, which can synchronize to your iPhone and iPad using Google Sync (google.com/mobile/sync). On your Mac, you can synchronize to Google using Spanning Sync ($25 for one year, spanningsync.com) or use the built-in (but more limited) syncing tools within Snow Leopard’s Address Book and iCal.If you have an extra Mac that you can use as a server machine, you can even take syncing into your own hands by using a product like Apple’s Snow Leopard Server ($499, apple.com) or the outstanding Kerio Connect ($540, kerio.com). 47. The Other Team I’m running Windows 7 on my Mac using Boot Camp. How do I maintain my computer so both the Mac and Windows platforms stay healthy? And how can I make a clone of my computer that captures both?For tips on how to keep your Windows 7 partition healthy, you’ll want to turn to our sister magazine Maximum PC (this is a good place to start), where you’ll find the experts on all things PC-related. Although conventional wisdom about PCs dictates that you’ll want to defragment your Windows hard drive regularly and immediately install antivirus software on your Windows partition, those are two things that Mac users are not required to do.Your Mac will continue to maintain its health as long as all those hundreds of thousands of Windows viruses can’t reach your Mac files from within the Windows 7 environment. And they won’t be able to since Boot Camp only allows you to read your Mac partition but not write to it.If you gotta run Windows 7, Boot Camp can get it done on your Mac.However, if you install a program like MacDrive 8 ($49, mediafour.com), you’ll have full read and write access to your Mac partition...and so will all those Windows viruses. So be doubly sure to have antivirus software on your PC side.To clone your entire computer, you’ll need to make two clones: one for your Mac partition and one for your Windows partition. For the Mac partition, use a tool like SuperDuper ($28, shirt-pocket.com) or Carbon Copy Cloner (donations requested, bombich.com). For your Windows partition, we recommend Winclone (donations requested, twocanoes.com). 48. Log Me OutMy iMac has separate user accounts for my wife and me, plus a Guest Account for when we have parties and people are drawn to the 27-inch screen to play. Can the Mac automatically return to the login screen after some period of inactivity? I don’t want guests to have access to our accounts, and I don’t want my wife to have to remember to log out when she’s finished. I just want it to go back to the login screen to force the next person to log in as a user or guest.No problem--head to System Preferences > Security and check the box for Log Out After X Minutes of Activity, setting X to be any number you like. While you’re there, make sure Disable Automatic Login is checked too. That way, the login screen always appears when you start up, instead of a default administrator account.The auto-logout option is in System Preferences > Security.It’s also easy to lock down the Guest Account with System Preferences > Parental Controls, which lets you select which applications will be available. By default any files in a Guest Account’s Home folder are deleted when they log out, but you could park an alias in the Dock to a shared folder on your hard drive, called, say, “Save Stuff Here.” While you’re sprucing up the Dock, add some big, pretty icons for party-startin’ apps like Photo Booth and Camera Bag.Set up a Guest Account with System Preferences > Accounts, then manage--or spy on--it with Parental Controls. 49. Silence How do I disable voice control on my iPhone 3GS? I never use it, and it's annoying when it's in my pocket and accidentally activates.Good news: You can shut off Voice Control dialing. Bad news: Voice Control everything else stays on. To shut down Voice Control dialing, you need to turn on the Passcode Lock option for your iPhone. To do this and turn off Voice Control Dialing, navigate to Settings > General > Passcode Lock. Once you turn on Passcode Lock, you can turn off Voice Dial. 50. Behind the Black Shirt What does it take to become a Genius Bar technician?There are fewer great occupations in life than working at the Genius Bar. Think about it: When someone asks you what you do for a living, you get to tell them that you’re a Genius. On top of that, you get to manhandle Apple computers all day long, dealing with situations like figuring out what in the heck is going on with a MacBook that a carpenter impaled with his drill (remember to tell him it’s no longer under warranty). Check out our handy chart to see what it takes to become a Genius Bar employee. A. Get Smart! First things first: You gotta have plenty of knowledge about past and present Apple products. Geniuses must know hardware ranging across entire generations of Apple products, as well as software offered for all of the latest operating systems. After all, you never know what to expect when you work at the bar. For all you know, a customer might bring in their Performa 460 and ask you to transfer their hard drive data to one of those newfangled Mac Pros. B. Be Happy--and Discreet Employees at the Apple Store must be like employees at Disneyland--you’re in the Happiest Place on Earth, so smile…and keep your lips zipped tight about any advance knowledge of upcoming Apple products you might have. Or else. C. Magic Hands Before you can get your hands on customers’ gear, you need to get trained. A lot. Applying to be a Genius begins with a battery of tech questions--and we’re not talking the ins and outs of GarageBand, either. Applicants are expected to have deep knowledge about how to diagnose and fix serious hardware and software issues--after all, most of their job involves coping with damaged or seriously broken gear. Survive that hurdle, and it’s off to Cupertino for four weeks of sessions that include acquiring three Apple certifications (OS, Desktop, and Portable) and practice time with fake customers who are really good at being a pain in your backside. After that, the apprenticeship continues in a real live Apple Store for as much as another month before you become true blue Genius material. D. Black is Boss The shirt color is an essential part of working in the Apple store. The shirt depicts what department you work in and makes it so that customers know who exactly the Geniuses are who can help them with their waterlogged iPhone. E. Load-Bearing Can you diagnose a problem and solve it within 15 minutes? The Geniuses at the Bar can. Appointments taken at the back of the store are only supposed to take as long as it takes to get you halfway through your favorite sitcom, which ensures that even stores with heavy traffic volumes have a chance to help everyone out.

  • The Works: What’s Included in Adobe CS5 Master Collection

    Adobe took the wraps off the Creative Suite 5 Master Collection today, which prompted us to ask: What does your $2,599 (or $899 upgrade) get you these days?As it turns out, the CS5 Master Collection packs quite a punch for the money. In keeping with their historical trend, Adobe has put everything but the kitchen sink into the CS5 Master Collection (and we assume that’s just because the kitchen sink wouldn’t fit in the box). The only software that’s not included with the Master Collection is Adobe Photoshop CS5 -- but that’s only because it instead includes the more-powerful Photoshop CS5 Extended, which is the Cadillac edition.With that in mind, let’s break down the list of individual components included with Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, which bundles together $6,987 worth of software for a “mere” $2,599 (for new purchasers -- an upgrade is also available from prior versions, as well as from other Creative Suite bundles).Adobe Photoshop CS5 ExtendedBy far the anchor of the entire Creative Suite family, Photoshop is actually available in two editions: The Extended edition adds 3D design capabilities that aren’t found in the standard version, which is available individually for $699 as well as part of the $1,299 Design Premium bundle (the $999 Photoshop CS5 Extended is included in the remaining four bundles, including the Master Collection).Other than that, both editions of Photoshop CS5 pack on the new features, including content-aware fill, which allows users to remove any object from an image and magically fill the space left in its place. Adobe has also made it easier to make complex selections as well as adding new painting effects, such as changing a photograph into a work of art. Automatic lens correction and Puppet Warp are two other new features, the latter of which allows users to easily straighten part of an image that’s bent at an awkward angle (among other uses).In the “improved” category, Photoshop CS5 is now 64-bit when running Mac OS X Snow Leopard (or Microsoft Windows 7 or Vista, if you swing that way). Better media management, easier user interface management and a more efficient workflow also cap off a long list of enhanced features.Adobe Illustrator CS5The only major application to be featured in all five Adobe CS5 bundles is Illustrator ($599 individually), which also happens to have received more new features in this version as well. The latest edition of the vector-based drawing program allows you to draw accurately in perspective, create variable-width strokes, paint with lifelike brushes and much more.Illustrator CS5 also allows for roundtrip editing with Flash Catalyst, which means you can edit in Illustrator and keep interactivity with the new Catalyst application. Resolution-independent raster effects will also look great and maintain a consistent appearance across any media. Adobe has also enhanced the program with support for up to 100 artboards of varying sizes in a single file, organized and viewed the way you want.Adobe InDesign CS5If you tend to focus more on print or digital publishing, Adobe InDesign CS5 ($699 individually) won’t disappoint, with a host of new & enhanced features. The most prominent among them is the ability to create interactive documents and presentations which feature motion, sound and video that are easily exported straight to SWF format for use in Adobe Flash Player (that is, unless you have a mobile Apple device -- be it iPhone, iPod touch or iPad).Repetitive layout tasks just got easier with simplified object selection and editing and a redesigned Layers panel. Multiple page sizes within a single document are also new, as well as the ability to have headlines either span or split multiple columns with ease (no more seperate blocks of text to create a headline!). Generate static or live captions automatically from image metadata, and quickly find & drag images into your page layouts from Adobe Mini Bridge without ever leaving InDesign. Eliminate problems with missing fonts thanks to the new document-installed font capability.Among the CS5 enhancements in InDesign are easy creation of EPUB-format e-books (just in time for the iPad!) and better export to Flash Professional. Because InDesign is more print-centric, it’s only included in three of the CS5 bundles: Design Standard, Design Premium and Master Collection (of course).Adobe Acrobat 9 ProFor whatever reason, Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro remains the lone program to not get the CS5 moniker, even though it’s bundled with all but the $1,699 Production Premium package. Available individually for $449, Acrobat 9 Pro gets less new features than most of the other applications this time around.PDF Portfolios is one of those new features, which allows you to package a broad range of media (including layouts, images, video, animations and more) into one file. Print media will gain a boost from the new intelligent overprint preview, which enhances the display of overlapping elements in a PDF file. Finally, PDF forms and data collection is promised to be much easier in Acrobat 9 Pro, as well as enhanced web page capture to better preserve your final design and even include SWF content playback.Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5One of the new kids on the block, Flash Catalyst CS5 is aimed at making interactive content design & creation easier for everyone. The $399 application is included with all but the $1,299 Design Standard bundle.Flash Catalyst allows you to transform Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks artwork into expressive, fully interactive projects without ever having to write a single line of code. Making this possible is Adobe’s “love it or hate it” Flash platform, and some of the many things Catalyst is capable of include defining the navigation of a website, pitching an idea or presenting a portfolio.Adobe Flash Professional CS5Also featured in all but the Design Standard bundle is Adobe’s most controversial product of late, Flash Professional CS5 ($699 individually). While there’s no denying that Flash is a worthwhile content creation tool and it has a vast array of developer support, Apple has gone to great lengths to keep Flash off their iDevices (iPhone, iPod touch and now iPad), primarily due to the extensive processor and memory demands it places on the system.Be that as it may, Flash Professional CS5 continues to build upon the previous versions, adding a print-quality text engine, a Code Snippets panel to ease in reusing prebuilt code and advanced animation effects to the Deco and Bones tools. Flash Professional is now integrated tightly with Flash Builder as well, in order to use Builder as your primary ActionScript editor.The CS5 version of Flash Professional also gets a few enhancements, notably in streamlining video with on-stage scrubbing and a new cue points property inspector, as well as wider content distribution courtesy of Adobe’s AIR platform, which promises to bring Flash apps to the iPhone -- “subject to Apple’s current requirements and approval.” Ouch.Adobe Flash Builder 4 StandardFormerly known as Adobe Flex Builder, Flash Builder 4 is another new entry to the Creative Suite lineup, offering professional-grade development tools for quickly building cross-platform, rich Internet applications and content using the open-source Flex framework. The $249 application is only included with the Web Premium ($1,799) or Master Collection bundles.The biggest new feature of Flash Builder 4 is integration with the rest of the Adobe Creative Suite, including Flash Professional, Illustrator, Photoshop and Fireworks as well as direct integration with Flash Catalyst to quickly import Flex FXP projects. Also on deck is new data-centric development which allows a simple drag & drop approach to creating user interface components, as well as enhancements like intelligent code editing and debugging.Adobe Dreamweaver CS5If you’re a web designer, chances are good that you ply your trade using Adobe Dreamweaver, the $399 application that Adobe inherited from its Macromedia acquisition a few years back, kicking their own GoLive to the curb in the process.Featured in the Design Premium, Web Premium and Master Collection bundles, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 brings on the goods, with new integrated CMS support at the top of the list. Dreamweaver can now be used for authoring and testing of content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, complete with site-specific code hinting.In addition to new integration with both the Adobe BrowserLab and Business Catalyst services, Dreamweaver CS5 adds PHP custom class code hinting to display proper syntax for custom functions, yet also promises to simplify site setup at the same time.Adobe Fireworks CS5Also featured in the Design Premium, Web Premium and Master Collections is an upgrade to Fireworks CS5 ($299 individually), Adobe’s solution for creating expressive, highly optimized graphics for the web as well as virtually any device, including smartphones, kiosks and embedded displays.New to CS5 is pixel-precise rendering to keep your designs crisp and clear on screens of almost any size device, FXG export of objects, pages or entire documents to Adobe Flash applications, saving frequently used projects as templates and new mobile integration with Adobe Device Central. You’ll also get work done faster thanks to Fireworks CS5’s improved efficiency and faster performance.Adobe Contribute CS5Included only in the Web Premium and Master Collection bundles, Adobe Contribute is a $199 application ($799 for a five-user multipack) allowing for collaborative authoring, reviewing and publishing of websites. New features include predefined content templates, cross-browser previewing and XML editing.Adobe Premiere Pro CS5Moving on to the first of five applications featured only in the $1,699 Production Premium and Master Collection bundles, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 ($799 individually) aims to stake out some of Final Cut Pro’s video editing turf in a big way with a host of hot new features.Front and center is the new Mercury Playback Engine, which brings 64-bit, GPU-accelerated playback to the application. That means projects open faster, you can scrub through HD footage more fluidly and play back longer, more complex timelines than ever before. Premiere Pro CS5 also promises dozens of time-saving improvements such as automatic scene detection from HDV tapes and importing assets from DVDs, a new, more accurate Ultra keyer and even native support for DSLR cameras -- with no transcoding or rewrapping necessary.On the enhancement front, Premiere Pro CS5 promises the ability to better open (and export) competing Final Cut Pro and Avid projects, expanded native tapeless workflows, faster editing with metadata and a new script-to-screen workflow to generate metadata-rich assets that will speed up editing. Premiere Pro also includes the Adobe Media Encoder to produce content in virtually any format.Adobe OnLocation CS5 (included with Premiere Pro CS5)Included with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, OnLocation CS5 (not available separately) is a powerful, direct-to-disk recording, logging and monitoring solution to ease your script to screen workflow. New features include the ability to import metadata-rich shot lists from Adobe Story scripts, tapeless recording, logging and camera support, file browsing directly from disk, powerful shot list management, publishing and customization and an automatic reopen option.Adobe Encore CS5 (included with Premiere Pro CS5)Also included with Premiere Pro CS5 is Adobe Encore CS5 (not available separately), a versatile, interactive authoring tool that goes several steps beyond Apple’s own (and sadly, languishing) DVD Studio Pro by adding Blu-ray and web DVD authoring to the mix. New to Encore CS5 is the ability to create multipage menus, a sleek new interface for web DVD titles, 4k Blu-ray mastering, 24p support, AVCHD output to Blu-ray, direct DDP Master support for DVD discs and even cross-platform compatibility between the Mac and Windows versions.Adobe After Effects CS5One of the grandaddies of the film & video post-production world, Adobe After Effects CS5 ($999 individually) gets a major new version, starting with native 64-bit support which promises wickedly fast performance and the ability to work on larger, more complex projects while using all of your system’s available RAM.Also new to After Effects CS5 is a Roto Brush tool to isolate foreground elements from backgrounds in a fraction of the time it used to take, support for AVC-Intra and RED tapeless formats, the Digieffects FreeForm plug-in to turn flat objects into virtually any 3D shape, color lookup tables (LUT) support, auto keyframes and a Refine Matte effect. Enhancements include the powerful mocha shape plug-in as well as Color Finesse LE 3.Adobe Soundbooth CS5One of the earliest CS5 applications to be previewed from Adobe Labs is Soundbooth CS5, the company’s premiere software for creating and editing audio. In addition to a host of task-based features, the $199 application also features tight integration with other Adobe software, including improved multitrack editing and more royalty-free sound effects (over 10,000!) and more than 130 customizable Soundbooth Scores to cap off your production.Adobe Bridge CS5Included with all five Creative Suite bundles, Adobe Bridge (also included with the separate CS5 programs) is a powerful media manager that provides centralized access to all of your media assets. With CS5, Adobe has added Mini Bridge, a customizable panel within InDesign and Photoshop to better integrate your media files into your applications. Bridge CS5 can also display linked files from your InDesign documents as well as export any graphic, image or document to JPEG format to share in websites or via e-mail.Additionally, Bridge CS5 has several enhancements on deck, allowing drag & drop between applications, custom image sizing and PDF watermarks for web galleries and more flexible batch renaming.Adobe Device Central CS5Also included free of charge with all of the CS5 bundles is Adobe Device Central, software to simplify the production of compelling content for mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. Device Central CS5 now offers support for HTML and the latest versions of Adobe’s Flash Player as well as advanced device input emulation like location and movement. You can also get Device Central CS5 packaged with the separate key applications, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash Professional and Dreamweaver.Adobe Dynamic LinkIncluded only with the CS5 Production Premium and Master Collection, Adobe Dynamic Link gives you tight integration when moving assets between After Effects, Premiere Pro and Encore. Among the application’s functions are the ability to send sequences directly from Premiere Pro to Encore without rendering them first, including using Premiere Pro markers as DVD chapter stops.Adobe CS LiveAnother new addition to the Creative Suite 5 lineup, Adobe CS Live is a set of online services to harness the connectivity of the web and integrate with your CS5 software to simplify the creative review process, speed up website compatibility testing and more. CS Live is complimentary for a limited time and integrated with all of the key CS5 applications and bundles.The five components of CS Live include Adobe BrowserLab for previewing dynamic web pages and local content, Adobe CS Review for creating & sharing design projects and getting feedback right inside your CS5 application, Acrobat.com for web conferencing, file sharing and collaborative document authoring, Adobe Story for pushing your script data into your video production and SiteCatalyst NetAverages for optimizing design for web and mobile screens.*****Announced today, all of the new Adobe CS5 applications and bundles will be shipping in mid-May (with Acrobat Pro 9 available now). You can preorder any of the CS5 products now as either downloadable versions or in retail packaging; the retail versions will have free shipping if purchased through April 29th. 

  • Minibosses -- This Song Is for All the Geeks Out There

    Ever wanted to play Street Fighter on a guitar? Nintendo-music masters the Minibosses share the secrets to their success.    Case Study: The MinibossesOccupation: Rock band specializing in remixed Nintendo musicGear: Assorted Macs, iPod touch units running Bebot, Pro Tools, Tablature, and NES emulators like NESticle and iNES.Friends, rockers, geeks: The Minibosses. Take a great thing from your youth and run with it. This could be the motto of the Minibosses, a Phoenix-based rock band that for almost 10 years has taken original Nintendo videogame songs and strung them together with incredibly energetic riffs and long medleys in a standard four piece rock format (consisting of two guitars, bass and drums) to become one of the most popular touring acts for any geek event.The band, which consists of Aaron Burke (guitar), Ben Baraldi (guitar), Robin Vining (bass), and Matt Wood (percussion), originally began back in Northampton, Massachussetts, as the Jenova Project, which toyed with the idea of throwing old Nintendo theme songs into the middle of other songs for the fun of it. When the Jenova Project broke up at the end of the ’90s and the Minibosses formed in 2000, the group had found its niche. Getting to the Good Stuff It’s one thing to love and adore the Nintendo music you grew up with. It’s another thing to get direct access to that music in order to learn how to play it with different instruments. This is where a series of free Nintendo Entertainment System emulators such as NESticle and iNes first came in. “Those are great because with most of them you can isolate the parts and only listen to the specific stuff you need to figure out,” says Burke.This process became even easier as media players like Winamp and iTunes allowed for Nintendo Sound Files to be loaded in. Third-party extensions like Slow Me Down allow the band the slow down the tempo in order to take the songs apart and reassemble them as needed. Enter the Mac Before any kind of CD release, or even a live performance, editing and mixing becomes crucial. “We use a lot of stuff but most of the studios we deal with use Macs for hardware, and as far as software goes, it's usually Pro Tools or some other variant thereof,” says Burke. “A bunch of us have iPods as well that we want to incorporate into the performances. The Bebot app [a music synthesizer application for the iPhone and iPod touch] is amazing.”“I've used Bebot for some home recording and once or twice live...I tend to crank up all the settings but it depends on what's going on. It's VERY easy to integrate into recordings as a real instrument,” says Burke.Playing Nintendo, only with guitars instead of controllers.Other chunks of shareware have made the process that much easier. A small Mac OS X and Windows application called Tablature creates virtual charts that tell musicians what position on a guitar string to play at what time became handy. Once installed, files can be sent back and forth, with Tablatures playing the music back to let the band know if they got it right.“Not too long ago we recorded a secret song for an upcoming game on a Mac. That song was also edited and mastered on a Mac,” continued Burke. “As for performances, we haven't used them in a musical capacity, but when we played a show in Mexico a few years ago, we used Macs to play movies of Nintendo games over us while we played.” Leveling Up Your Cred For bands just starting out, the Minibosses advise putting the same energy into your relationships as you do your playing. “Make friends with the people who record you, if they're not your friends already,” says Burke. “Learn from someone who already knows the stuff, that's the easiest way.  Don't be afraid to experiment, but also seek out whatever help you can get, and have an open mind.  You don't have to record/mix/do anything the same time over and over again.”Playing live is hard work--they could probably use a power-up mushroom right now.And outside the studio, don’t forget to use social media to extend your band’s reach. The best method: Play the gig, record everything you can, drive home, and keep uploading those recordings until the sun comes up. “We do use social media like Facebook, MySpace, and our own website. It's generated a lot of traffic over the years, especially when we first started,” says Burke.“We use them like most bands do, to let fans know when we're playing or have something new coming out.  But we also like them for sharing photos or stories...those are things I think not enough bands spend that much time on.” Bringing It All Together When it’s all said and done, the payoff is impressive. At larger venues, the band will find itself playing in front of hundreds or thousands of bouncing, energetic video game fans, each reliving part of their childhood through the music.As the set wears on, the energy increases, the fans associating the music with the struggle and the joy of the video games they grew up on. After the show, the fans wander up to the stage, have autographs signed, snag a CD or t-shirt and talk about the games and the music.“If you get a chance to see us, come say hi,” says Burke. “We're nice folks, and Robin will let you stroke his beard.  Well, maybe.”For more information as well as MP3s of their most recent album, Brass, check out www.minibosses.com.  

  • Hot Future Tech Coming to Your Mac, iPhone and iPad

    Some seriously cutting-edge tech is cresting the horizon, ready to take your Apple devices and other gear to the next level of awesome. We’ve searched out the breakthroughs on the verge of becoming reality to discover how Macs, iDevices, and other tech are about to become even more impressive. Illustrations by ArtBombersIf you’re a regular reader of Mac|Life, you know that every January we look at the fanciful future of Apple, ranging from the prototype cars to the VR goggles that might emerge from Cupertino one not-so-soon day. This is not that story. This story is about real tech that genuinely works--it’s visible on the horizon, and it could be in your Apple gear in a year or three. Think of this story as a preview of the near future.Of course, we can’t say for sure that all this technology will end up in future products (we’re good, but we’re not psychic). Some of it may never leave the lab. What you can rely on is that old standards will hit their technical limits, and progress will march on. But for a reasonable-guess preview of how Macs, iPhones, iPads, iPods, and other tech will grow, evolve, and improve in the coming years, continue reading. The Display's the Thing Since the original Macintosh, our screens have been passive windodws into Apple's machines. That's about to change. 3D in Your Home Three-dimensional TV has been a glimmer in the eye of television and movie studios since House of Wax and other 3D features first popped out at audiences in the 1950s. But the gimmick never caught on, thanks in large part to clunky technology that sacrificed picture quality. As James Cameron would be happy to explain to you, times and tech have changed, and in 2010, 3D is making the jump from the big screen into our homes…and hands.Despite technological advances, the principles behind 3D haven’t changed much in 60 years. When a 3D image is displayed, two pictures of the same scene taken from different perspectives are shown. Those spiffy glasses make sure each is sent to only one eye, then our brain combines the two images into one, complete with the illusion of depth. A more mysterious part of the brain is responsible for deciding if it’s worth paying 10 bucks for popcorn at the multiplex.But really, we can’t picture Steve wearing those dorky glasses at the introduction of the iMac 3D (but when we do, it always puts us in a good mood). Simplicity is Apple’s mantra, and what’s simpler than 3D screens that do the filtering for you, providing a 3D picture while eliminating the need for special eyewear? Such screens--called autostereoscopic displays--exist today. Some are peppered by tiny lenses that direct images to each eye; others use a layer of fine slits to split the display’s light in two. One of these technologies is about to get a boost from Apple’s biggest mobile-gaming rival, Nintendo. Announced this March and due for release in spring 2011, the Nintendo 3DS will be nothing less than a shot from the House That Mario Built across Cupertino’s bow. This next-gen upgrade to the popular DS handheld will sport sophisticated dual touchscreens, motion control, and--mamma mia!--autostereoscopic 3D.Competition is another Apple mantra, and it’s no secret that Apple sees games as a big part of the success of its Multi Touch devices. Steve won’t sit still if competitors like Nintendo can gain an advantage that draws gamers away from Apple and back to the Mushroom Kingdom. If Cupertino can improve on the 3D experience offered by Nintendo’s next handheld, you can bet that App Store games--and maybe even the iPhone and iPad OS--will enter the third dimension too. OLEDs...So Pretty! Today we watch videos everywhere from the living room to the hotel room on our HD TVs, MacBooks, and iPads. As great as those devices are, couldn’t they all stand to have even thinner, brighter, and more energy efficient screens? Trick question--of course they could. The good news is they will, thanks to OLEDs, an acronym for organic light-emitting diodes.OLED screens aren’t grass-fed, free-range displays sold at Whole Foods, but they do use organic material (that is, material derived from the element carbon) to produce a picture. Unlike traditional LCD screens that require power-hogging backlights to project their images, OLEDs generate their own light when electricity passes through the organic polymers sandwiched between layers of film in the display. Because those layers are only about 500 nanometers thick (that’s even skinnier than a human hair) and don’t require much else besides a power source to work, OLED screens can be dramatically slimmer and lighter than conventional displays now on the market.Better still, large OLED displays are relatively easier to make than LCDs, and their gorgeous picture makes your spiffy plasma TV look like a 1950s Zenith. That’s because there’s no need to grow sheets of fragile crystals. Instead, organic molecules are sprayed onto film in a process much like inkjet printing, and that film can be transparent, flexible, or even foldable. An OLED screen’s flexibility and toughness make it suitable for use in a wide range of gadgets, most of which haven’t been invented yet. From giant HDTVs and miniaturized smartphones to futuristic heads-up displays in cars, OLEDs can potentially be incorporated into almost anything--potentially even woven into clothing. And because of their brightness, vibrant colors, and wide viewing angles, you’ll always look great in your 720p iSweatshirt Pro.But don’t camp out in front of your local Apple Store for certified-organic MacBooks or casual wear just yet. While OLED screens are popping up in more and more devices (perhaps most famously in Google’s Nexus One smartphone), the technology’s best days are yet to come. Manufacturing OLED screens is still an expensive proposition, leading to high prices and tepid consumer interest. But as OLED’s momentum builds and costs drop, expect to see a gradual shift in the computer and electronics world away from LCDs, much like the transition that phased out bulky, inefficient CRTs. And expect to see Apple jump on the OLED bandwagon when the time and money are right. With its combination of energy efficiency, size, and image quality, we think OLED has a bright future in Apple’s Macs and its growing line of sleek mobile devices. E-Papers, Please Popularized by e-readers like the Kindle, e-paper has plenty to offer a company focused on mobile devices. Its slim design is durable, lightweight, and legible in bright sunlight. The secret lies between the sheets--plastic sheets holding tiny wells filled with black and white particles suspended in liquid. When the wells are charged, the particles move to the screen to appear as text. No backlight is required, and because electricity is only used once to draw the contents of each page, e-paper sips power compared to the LCDs in Apple’s portable lineup. Color e-paper is so hot, you gotta wear gloves. Metaphorically speaking, that is. Photo: LG.Phillips LCD., LTD.But while e-paper does monochrome well, most of today’s e-readers use filters to colorize their black and white text with pictures--and they simply can’t compare to LCDs. That will change. Philips is working on new technology using colored particles in a process much like blending ink dots in traditional print. The results should finally make good on e-paper’s promise, but they’re still years away.Even then, will Steve subscribe to e-paper? The iPad’s LCD screen would seem to be the last word on the subject, but Apple could always use multiple displays in its devices. For instance, e-paper battery monitors could offer much more information than the little green lights they use today. The Wireless War If you’re like us, your living room entertainment setup is the second most precious collection of gear in your home (next to your beloved Mac, of course). Every night, you’re on the couch with a bowl of popcorn in front of an HD screen complete with a Blu-Ray player and 7.1 sound. Trouble is, that sweet setup means fistfuls of wire to fuss with. But those knots may not stay tangled much longer.As home entertainment setups get more complex, something has to give. If two competing wireless standards--WirelessHD and Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI)--have anything to say about it, that something will be our HDMI, DVI, and other AV cables. Both standards promise something like Wi-Fi for multimedia. Compatible devices (laptops, game consoles, and mobile phones) will use them to find your HDTV automagically over the air in a system that “just works”--and the whole idea of ditching all those cords works in a big way for us.WirelessHD devices may be available from Panasonic, LG, Vizio, and other manufacturers by the time you read this. WirelessHD delivers uncompressed video up to 1080p, multichannel audio, and other data--including Hollywood-approved DRM--at speeds up to 4Gbps, with a theoretical ceiling of 25Gbps. That’s a lot of data, but WirelessHD will only carry it up to 33 feet. The WHDI standard will move your movies as far as 100 feet, but at only up to 3Gbps. You’ll be able to compare how the two standards fare against each other when WHDI devices hit stores late this summer or early fall. Only time will tell which of these standards will be a hit with consumers or whether Apple will adopt one or play a waiting game. Let’s hope we’re not kept waiting for the release of Avatar 2 before we can stream movies, games, and more from our iPads to our televisions.» Future Apple Devices: iPad 3, iMac 3D, Cinema Display» Expected Arrival Date: 2013» You'll Also See It In: HDTVs, handheld game consoles, displays» Future Awesomeness Rating: Deeply AwesomeNext page: Printers and Processors >>Powerful Prints Yes, print and printers have a future in our networked world. No, they won't be like anything you've seen before. Fab It Yourself Teleporters and matter replicators may be the stuff of science fiction, but with 3D printers, you can create physical objects with your Mac out of thin air (and a lot of plastic). Apple hasn’t sold printers since 1997, but if anything could get them back into the game, 3D printing is it.For decades, 3D printers have been used to create “rapid prototypes” for manufacturers and architects. The idea is much the same as conventional printing--you design something on your computer, and the printer produces a hard copy. But these hard copies need time to cool. 3D printers take designs built in 3D modeling programs and melt plastic to “print” them with thin strands built up layer by layer into a finished product. The idea is about to get a big boost from HP, which will begin selling 3D printers this year at “bargain” prices expected to start under $15,000. So much for 3D printing for the rest of us, right?The MakerBot prints...in 3D! Want.Not quite! If you have a techie DIY streak, 3D printing can be yours today for under $1,000. MakerBot’s compact Cupcake printer is available as a kit that, once assembled, lets you manufacture objects up to 4x4x6 inches using Lego-quality ABS plastic. The idea is catching on, and other low-cost 3D printers (like the RepRap and Desktop Factory) are poised to slowly do what HP’s high-end offerings probably won’t--make 3D printing the desktop publishing of the next decade.Of course, it will take a while for 3D printing to catch on, but if it does, expect Apple to take note. After all, our Macs have helped us make things since 1984. There’s no reason to stop now. An Inkless Job, But Someone Has to Do It Let’s face it, next to Mafia Wars and Farmville, printing is one of the biggest energy hogs in an office. The paper and toner cartridges required by today’s printers consume a lot of energy to use and recycle. But greener workplaces may be one step closer to reality thanks to two new inkless, reusable printing technologies that are poised to send old-fashioned hard copies sailing on a one-way trip into the wastebasket of history.Late last year, Japan’s Sanwa Newtec company introduced the PrePeat 3100 II, a compact black-and-white printer that prints using heat instead of ink. The secret’s in the “paper”--flexible, waterproof, recycled plastic that reacts to the PrePeat’s thermal mechanism. Best of all, when you don’t need a page any longer, you can just feed it back into the PrePeat to erase it or print a new document as many as 1,000 times per page. Right now this green new world will cost you (the PrePeat retails for $5,600), but expect prices to drop if the technology becomes more widely adopted.Meanwhile, researchers at Xerox are using ultraviolet light to develop a technology called Erasable Paper. The process hits specially coated paper with a specific wavelength of UV rays to print your document to the page, and you can erase and reuse a sheet whenever you need to. If that sounds like a tanning bed for interoffice communications, you’re more right than you know. Like a tan, these printouts fade away over time, and within 24 hours, a UV-printed page will be blank again. While self-destructing Mission: Impossible documents are cool (and well-suited to sharing data with short lifespans), the limitation is one reason Erasable Paper is still being refined in Xerox laboratories.» Future Apple Devices: iLife '13» Expected Arrival Date: 2013» You'll Also See It In: iLife '13» Future Awesomeness Rating: Fit To Print Dueling Processors Current technology can only take CPUs so far. But don't worry--tomorrow's breakthroughs are being designed today. More Cores for Your Buck Smaller processors offer greater speed and improved energy efficiency, but engineers racing to make the best chips possible are running afoul of the laws of physics. Conventional manufacturing methods can only make circuits so small, and even the power of Steve’s reality-distortion field can’t change that. But some amazing new technologies might.For years, multi-core technology has given us Apple chips that pack the power of multiple CPUs into a single chip. Intel’s Xeon, Core i7, and venerable Core 2 Duo processors deliver up to six cores, and eight-core machines are coming soon. We hate to break it to those processors, but a new prototype from Intel unveiled late last year promises that a lot more muscle is on the way to the Mac.Intel calls it the single-chip cloud computer (SCC), and it boasts a whopping 48 cores on one processor…with room to grow to over 100. Computers derived from the SCC will bring the brawn of today’s massive data centers (the “cloud” of the chip’s name) to desktop-sized machines, paving the way for smaller, greener clusters. Initially, Intel is planning to build only 100 of these experimental chips so engineers can figure out what to do with all that power before it lands on the market. Intel is just one of the companies now developing “many core” processors, but given its relationship with Apple, it’s a good bet that the first Mac with the power of the cloud will have Intel inside. DNA Processors Meanwhile, another company is taking a radically different approach to building tomorrow’s processors. Last year, researchers at IBM announced a chipmaking breakthrough that uses something called “DNA origami,” and it’s as cool as it sounds. The process arranges strands of DNA into shapes used as scaffolding for carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires, the tiny structures that could one day move data through really, really small processors.DNA origami is a “bottom-up” approach to chipmaking that builds the chip’s circuits, as opposed to more conventional “top-down” methods that carve silicon away, and it has a promising future. DNA designs could potentially deliver chip circuits as small as 6 nanometers--that’s just dozens of atoms wide! So Apple has good reason to keep an eye on how its story unfolds. They’ll have to be patient. The technology is still evolving and likely won’t produce commercial chips for another five years at the soonest.» Future Apple Devices: MacPro Extreme» Expected Arrival Date: 2015» You'll Also See It In: Windows PCs, Skynet» Future Awesomeness Rating: Sheer GeniusNext page: New Wires and New Storage >>Magic Buses Our future gadgets will do more wirelessly than ever before. But they'll be able to do even more with wires. It's USB's World, We Just Live Here Once an upstart newcomer, USB has become an elder statesman in the electronics world with a presence in almost every device on Earth. But USB’s data-transfer speeds, last boosted by USB 2.0’s introduction in 2001, haven’t aged gracefully. Thankfully, USB 3.0 is here to breathe new life into an old favorite.USB 3.0 cables definitely lose the beauty contest to Light Peak (below).At first glance, USB 3.0 (a.k.a. SuperSpeed USB) doesn’t seem like a radical departure from its predecessor, and that’s a good thing. It’s backward-compatible with USB 2.0 and even uses the same rectangular port we all know and love, so your old devices will work just fine with the new standard. So don’t worry, you won’t have to buy a new USB beverage warmer for your cubicle.But USB 3.0 brings two new tricks to the table. The first is speed--its transfer rates reach up to 5Gbps, or 10 times USB 2.0’s performance. The second is improved power management, which means reduced power consumption and more juice for devices that need it. USB 3.0 gear is already on the market, so it’s only a matter of time before Cupertino rolls out the first Macs with the SuperSpeed standard. We hope they come soon--we’ve got HD video to import! One Wire to Rule Them All Fiber optic cables, long used by telephone companies to connect landline phone calls, have numerous advantages over traditional copper wires. So why haven’t they made it to the desktop yet? Intel hopes to put that question to rest with a new technology called Light Peak.Light Peak is Intel’s answer to…well, just about every cable in use today. From HDMI to USB, if it carries data, Light Peak can replace it. That’s because Light Peak’s bandwidth starts at 10Gbps, and its theoretical ceiling is a whopping 100Gbps. And since Light Peak’s flexible fiber optic cables transmit light, not electricity, they can carry data up to 100 meters without a hitch. That’s plenty more meters than we need, but some room to grow can’t hurt, right?Light Peak brings fiber optic speed to computing. And pretty colors, too.However, despite a planned 2011 rollout, don’t expect to sync your 5G iPhone with Light Peak. Intel is still working out ways to combine power with Light Peak to charge devices while beaming data at warp speed. One thing’s for sure, though--when Light Peak finally strikes, it’ll be fast.» Future Apple Devices: Almost all of 'em» Expected Arrival Date: 2011» You'll Also See It In: Every gadget on Earth» Future Awesomeness Rating: Blazing Hot Reading, Writing, Revolutionary Say goodbye to your old drives. Say hello to a new world of speedy storage. It's RAM! It's a Hard Drive! It's Both! There’s nothing New Age about “universal memory,” but it could usher in a new age of computers and electronic devices. Universal memory is any next-gen storage that combines the speed and affordability of today’s DRAM with the permanence and capacity of flash memory. Two technologies are fighting to rewrite the rules, and the winner may be coming to the Mac sooner than you think.Phase-change memory (PCM) gets our vote, if only for its cool name, which is derived from the use of chalcogenide glass that changes from a crystalline to an amorphous state with heat. It’s the same material used to make rewritable optical discs, but in PCM, the two states represent different electrical charges, or a zero and a one. PCM represents a major leap in durability over flash memory, and can be written to up to 100 million times versus flash’s upper limit of just 100,000 read-write cycles. Samsung has already begun producing 512MB PCM modules for use in mobile phones, but 1GB modules are still on the way. Looks like phase-change doesn’t happen overnight.The race for better memory is run on a tiny field, though, and IBM’s racetrack memory may have the inside track. It uses something called spintronics--don’t you want to hear Steve say that at a keynote?--to manipulate electrons into moving magnetic bits down nanoscopic, U-shaped “racetracks” to read and write data at blazing speed. Yet racetrack memory’s biggest asset may be its scalability, theoretically allowing HDD-size capacity to be squeezed into a much smaller area than competing technologies allow. But until racetrack memory is ready to leave IBM’s labs, this dark-horse contender will be one to watch, not buy. Kind of Blu Steve famously quipped that bringing Blu-Ray to the Mac was “a bag of hurt,” but Sony’s multimedia power-platter is still rolling along after years of Cupertino’s cold shoulder. Movie lovers--and anyone who wants to share giant files--can take comfort that when Blu-Ray finally arrives on Macs, it’ll be better than ever. Having long shed its 25GB limit, Blu now boasts capacities of up to 400GB, and 1TB discs are coming in just a few years. The promise of this year’s 3D Blu-Ray players is just one more feature that will keep Mac fans gazing longingly--sigh--at Big Blu’s bag of tricks.» Future Apple Devices: MacBook nano, Apple TV Blu» Expected Arrival Date: 2013» You'll Also See It In: Smartphones, PCs» Future Awesomeness Rating: Memorably CoolNext page: Networking, Power, and Interaction >>Network It Out Tomorrow's wireless communications will be more important than ever. Good thing our networks will be able to keep up. 4G or Not 4G? Poor AT&T. Just as it’s getting the hang of supporting the iPhone on its 3G network, 4G networks will begin popping up from Sprint this year and from archrival Verizon in 2011. What does that mean for us, besides catty PR fights among the carriers? A blazing fast mobile internet with enough bandwidth for HD movies, video chats, and--we hope--fewer dropped calls.Like 3G wireless networks, 4G isn’t a single new technology. It’s a blanket term for a range of technologies and specifications that add up to the same thing: speed. Current 3G offers downloads of roughly 1.4Mbps. Compare that to 4G’s promised bandwidth of at least 100Mbps, and you’ll see what the fuss is about. 4G works its magic in part by using MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) technology to broadcast using several antennas simultaneously on multiple frequencies.4G’s strengths make its eventual adoption by Apple a no-brainer, no matter which carrier has the iPhone next year. Apple is serious about establishing the iPad as a mobile media device, and it’ll want a big pipe to carry movies and music to cellular customers. That’s just what 4G provides. As for the iPhone, who knows? Steve may decide to stick with AT&T and its 4G network expected to roll out alongside Verizon’s in 2011. Crank Up the 802.11AC Closer to home, we’ll use 802.11n Wi-Fi, but at faster speeds than we’ve seen before. Apple has sold 802.11n devices since 2007, but the protocol’s final standard was only approved in 2009. Happily, that means the business of making Wi-Fi as fast as possible can begin in earnest. Like 4G, 802.11n uses MIMO to improve performance, but manufacturers couldn’t take full advantage of the technology before the protocol was complete. Now that it is, devices can officially support maximum speeds between 400 and 600Mbps…if your hardware has the antennas to deliver the boost. Expect that hardware to start arriving in stores later this year.But the Mac life is never a simple march of progress, and there’s always something new on the horizon. Sweet! Work drafting the next Wi-Fi protocol, 802.11ac, has already begun. Devices supporting the new standard aren’t expected until 2012 at the earliest, but they’ll boast speeds of up to 1Gbps when they’re available. At press time, Ethernet’s agent was unavailable for comment.» Future Apple Devices: 2G iPad, Airport Express Plus» Expected Arrival Date: 2011» You'll Also See It In: Smartphones, netbooks» Future Awesomeness Rating: Wildly Wireless More Power to You Apple is going power mad. Its future devices will charge up almost anywhere. Powered by the Sun Solar power is overdue for a makeover, and if anyone can do it, it’s Apple. In 2008, it applied for a patent to slip solar cells beneath a device’s LCD screen, and early this year, it applied for another patent to cover portable devices with solar collectors.Solar-powered MacBooks? Yes please! Wilder still, a March 2010 patent describes a MacBook with a solar panel that folds to collect sunlight or even to illuminate the LCD screen without drawing power from the battery. We’re still waiting for these designs to see the light of day--ha!--but it’s clear someone at Apple has spent a lot of time looking at the sun. Go Wireless Besides flying cars, wireless electricity is the ultimate in futuristic convenience. Today’s charging mats come close, but the magnetic induction they use keeps devices tethered to one spot. That’s why we hope Apple adopts WiTricity’s technology for truly wireless power up to several feet away from the base station. The science involved would baffle the DHARMA Initiative, but it involves something called sharply resonant strong coupling to generate an oscillating magnetic field that’s captured and converted to electricity by a sensor in your device. Or it will, anyway, when WiTricity-powered gear reaches stores sometime in the future.Wireless power? As in, electricity beamed through the air? Shocking.» Future Apple Devices: iPod solar, ElectroMagneto MacPro» Expected Arrival Date: 2015» You'll Also See It In: Nice weather, mad scientists' lairs» Future Awesomeness Rating: Simply Electrifying Your Valuable Input No matter how cool Apple’s upcoming products are, they’ll only be as good as what we can do with them. Here’s how we’ll interact with the future. Touchier Mice The mouse has plenty of life left, at least according to Microsoft. It’s produced some stellar mice over the years, but Redmond’s recent Multi Touch prototypes could be the best yet. The FTIR (Frustrated Total Internal Reflection) Mouse’s high-res camera tracks finger gestures through a curved piece of clear acrylic so you can scroll, swipe, and pinch around on the acrylic in order to manipulate onscreen objects. The Orb Mouse works on much the same principle, but offers a whole hemisphere to interact with in your hand.The shrunken Side Mouse looks more like a wrist rest than a traditional rodent--its tiny camera tracks your fingers as they move across your desk or whatever surface you happen to be working on. Best of all, these mice incorporate the Multi Touch equivalent of keyboard shortcuts to perform zooms and other common commands quickly. Cupertino, start your copiers!Microsoft's FTIR Mouse makes magic out of a high-res camera and a piece of acrylic that together create Multi Touch-style input.But the coolest input technology on the horizon for Apple’s gear lies in--big surprise--touchscreens. Future Multi Touch devices will sport haptic feedback, or the sort of physical response you’ve gotten for years from vibrating gamepads and cell phones, to help make input feel more natural. In 2011, Artificial Muscle is bringing to market its EPAM (Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscle) technology, which tenses and relaxes touchscreens in response to input. That sounds pretty fascinating all by its lonesome, but Apple’s recent patent applications show it has something more subtle in mind--a layer inside the touchscreen that delivers vibrating feedback localized to specific onscreen buttons and switches. That level of fine-tuned feedback would make typing on the iPad’s large screen even more satisfying and could pave the way for MacBooks without physical keyboards.» Future Apple Devices: Majestic Mouse, MacBook Touch» Expected Arrival Date: 2012» You'll Also See It In: Microsoft's mice» Future Awesomeness Rating: Terrifically TactileNext page: Too Wild for Apple? >>Too Wild for Apple? Some of these technologies may seem out there even for Apple, but yes--chuckles aside--they’re real. Besides, today’s head-scratchers could be tomorrow’s game-changers. Maybe. Huff and Puff into the Mic You’ve finally gotten your mind around Multi Touch, but are you ready for Multi Puff? Zyxio’s Sensawaft technology lets you control a mouse cursor, scroll through text, or do just about anything else with your electronic devices using only your breath. The assistive possibilities for disabled users are obvious and awesome, but breath control could have other, less practical uses, too. Imagine blowing into your earbuds’ microphone to control music playback, skipping an annoying voicemail with a hiss, or puffing on your iPhone to zoom in for a kill while playing your favorite shooter. Apple’s engineers could do so much with this, it’s breathtaking. Keep Your Finger on the Pulse An iPhone fingerprint scanner makes a lot of sense, especially considering that Apple has so many intriguing patents out on the idea. Sure, a fingerprint-savvy screen would simplify security--and make “slide to unlock” really mean something--but we like to think about the possibilities for everyday iPhone control hinted at in Apple’s patents. With the iPhone of tomorrow, specific fingers could be used for certain functions, letting you change settings without even looking at the screen. You could use your thumbprint to play a song, your index-finger print to rewind, and your middle-finger print to...er…emphatically skip a song for those tunes so bad that a one-star rating just doesn’t cut it.You might not be able to remember a passcode that unlocks your iPhone, but we're betting you'll be able to remember your fingerprint. Project Your Ideas Pico projectors--low-power, handheld projectors--are handy for quickie presentations or impromptu slideshows with the family. Some of them even project with RGB lasers instead of white light for a picture that’s always in focus. But the image of these mini projectors will really improve if Apple ever makes good on recent patents to integrate them into MacBooks and iPhones. Sure, you could strike up a Keynote presentation on the go with a MacBook Pico, but throwing up movies, music, iTunes visualizations, and photo albums anywhere sounds like a lot more fun. Wii Want Our Apple TV Motion control brought gamers flocking to the Nintendo Wii, but can it do the same for Apple TV? Someone in Cupertino must think so, judging by a patent for a Wii-like motion-controlled remote to go with Cupertino’s set-top box. Sounds good to us. Apple’s Remote iPhone app is great, but it’s always seemed very “un-Apple” to require another device to deliver a satisfying Apple TV experience. Motion control--especially with the enhanced precision and reliability brought by the floating magnetic compass noted in Apple’s patent--would be a slick solution, and not just for easier navigation. Apple’s patent also describes using the remote to draw on the screen and manipulate photos with the flick of a wrist. That could give Steve’s favorite hobby product some much-needed pizzazz to help it catch the public’s eye. After all, the day will come when Cupertino will update the Apple TV again, and when it finally does, you may not even recognize it. What can we say? We want to see the little guy make good.Next page: Patently Awesome >>Patently Awesome Apple’s patents are tea leaves that portend what technology’s cutting edge will look like for years to come. Here are some of tomorrow’s ideas Cupertino thinks are worth protecting today. Nine Lives, Three Dimensions OS X is the big cat that makes Cupertino’s products tick, but it’s Apple’s hardware that usually captures the public’s attention. That oversight will finally be corrected if a patent for 3D OS X becomes a reality.The 3D in question depends on parallax, the effect by which objects appear to change their position relative to each other as a viewer’s perspective changes. By keeping tabs on your position (likely with a head tracking iSight camera), this “OS parallaX” would alter the appearance of onscreen objects to form a simulated 3D space in which you could interact with files, study 3D objects, and more. While this could open up exciting new ways to use your Mac, it would also require complex new hardware and software, so don’t count on peeking behind alert boxes anytime soon. An iPhone Gamepad Judging by a recent patent, the iPhone and iPod touch might have more than just high-tech improvements in their future. Thanks to a unique accessory, someday soon we may be gaming old-school--with a twist--on our Multi Touch devices.In a few years, near field communication will let your iPhone be the boss of your videogame console, TV, and even your sprinkler.We love playing games on the iPhone, but sometimes we pine for the 20th century simplicity of physical controls. Call Apple’s potential solution the “GameFrame,” a shell that fits around your iPhone to add a D-pad, buttons, and other handy moving parts to the iPhone experience. Too old-fashioned for you? The device could also communicate wirelessly with HDTVs, opening the door to big-screen App Store gaming on the go. Hero of Sparta 3 on a 40-inch flatscreen? We’re so there! "Home Screen" Gets a New Meaning The iPhone’s superpowers seem to be growing by the day, but you haven’t seen anything yet. In the future, you won’t think twice about using it to lock the door, turn on the lights, and even water the lawn of your personal fortress of solitude.Apple’s recent home-control patent hinges on a technology called near field communication (NFC), a short-range wireless technology that’s slower than Bluetooth while offering a much quicker pairing time. That’s just the thing to control the Xbox, DVD player, and garden-sprinkler system shown in the patent application. Unfortunately, this remote-control magic requires NFC-enabled devices that are, like the iPhone that will interact with them, years away. Slice the Mac into Pieces To create, sometimes you must destroy, and the most intriguing Apple patent we’ve come across yet takes apart the familiar Mac we’ve used for decades and scatters it into…well, something else. We’re not sure if what it describes is a portable computer, a desktop machine, or something in between, but we call it the “MultiMac.” And we want one.The "MultiMac" splits a Mac into its component parts, which live where you'll use them.If it was built today, MultiMac’s components--a projector display, input devices, and a CPU--would be separate components, each powered wirelessly and communicating with each other over the air from wherever you wanted them to be. You could tuck the CPU on a bookshelf, surf from the couch, and project a movie on the wall as if using one device. Apple’s focus (pardon the pun) seems to be on the projector, which would do more than just show vacation pictures. The patent describes it as a networked device with multiple sensors controlling focus, color, or even built-in cameras. What are the chances those cameras could power a 3D OS X? Hey, we can dream.Will MultiMac be a novel new computer that ties together exciting new technology, a sophisticated Keynote presentation system, or a hub to synchronize a home full of mobile devices? We’re not sure, but that’s half the fun of being a Mac fan. Only Apple knows what’s coming next, and they’re not telling…yet. 

  • CNN Launches iPhone App, Includes Lazy Reporting Feature

    As a major news outlet, it's a little late to the iPhone party, but CNN has finally released an official app that covers its entire news network, unlike the previously available CNN Money application. The paid app features text, video and photo updates throughout the day, including breaking news updates that make use of the iPhone's push notification features. I was looking forward to a Wolf Blitzer splash page, but so far, none has been found. Maybe it's an Easter egg. CNN for the iPhone also includes support for iReport functionality, the scheme by which you can become a reporter simply by snapping a photo or shooting some video and sending it off to the giant news corporation without hope of compensation. Pricey and Polished My own personal distaste for CNN's crowd-sourcing lazy reporting scheme aside, they do provide a pretty slick app, especially compared to some of its peers. And it should perform well, since the cost of entry for the end user is $1.99. Since it's a paid app, I'd also expect not to be burdened by intrusive advertising. CNN does however sport the occasional banner ad, sandwiched lovingly in between news items. Not unforgivable, but irksome in a paid app. Navigation is nice, though, with stories loading quickly, and appearing in a list-style view when the device is vertical, or in a cover-flow type interface when you hold the iPhone horizontally. Tapping a story in cover-flow mode brings up a summary with the key points in bullet form, so you no longer have to go through the hassle of actually reading an article to stay relevant and informed. Social News You can also click through to the full article, and share any piece quickly and easily via email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook. When you tweet a story, the app asks for your Twitter account credentials, and allows you to customize the post before it's published. Facebook sharing uses Facebook Connect to automatically post content with optional comments to your wall. CNN really has nailed down the social media aspect of this app. As mentioned earlier, iReport is built in, so you can browse user generated stories, sign-in to your account if you have one, or just anonymously post photo and video content using a guest account. Truly, the culmination of responsible journalism. It is admittedly cool to be able to browse through and watch multiple first-hand accounts of events that would've maybe been caught on one or two surveillance cameras 10 years ago, though. My CNN Like AP News, CNN allows you to customize the content you see using location information you manually input or the location info taken from the device's core location services. You can also “follow” a developing story, so that as new content is published relating to the topic, you'll receive notifications via push. Interestingly, I couldn't follow the topic “tsunami” when I tried just now, although the term “baseball” worked just fine. Video You can also stream live video or watch on-demand clips from the app, which is a big plus considering CNN's extensive commitment to live multi-stream video news via the web. Finally, if you want to access stories later when you're not connected, you can save any story for viewing. Good news for iPod touch users. Is it worth $1.99? That depends on how much you like the news, and on how much you like CNN's coverage of said news. It feels a lot more professionally done than other apps in this category, and video feeds and archived footage seems to load and play quickly and without issue, but there is the occasional ad and you have to pay for the privilege. Ideally, I'd like to see a scaled down free version, but don't expect that to happen unless CNN sees lackluster sales during the launch of this current iteration. Subscribe to GigaOM Pro and gain access to our Webinar, "Biggest Opportunities in the Smart Grid," on Oct. 7, 2009.

  • Ten Big New Features in Mac OS X Snow Leopard

    Daniel Eran Dilger Apple is marketing the idea of there being “no new features� for Snow Leopard and instead promising an overall improvement in how Mac OS X works under the hood, thanks to a diligent code optimization and refactoring cycle discussed in the previous article. At the same time, there are plenty of significant new features coming in Snow Leopard to look forward to. Here are ten big new features (plus a few minor ones) that you probably haven't heard much about from anywhere else, including my previous articles on the subject that already described QuickTime X, Grand Central, and OpenCL. WWDC 2008: New in Mac OS X Snow Leopard Snow Leopard Server Takes on Exchange, SharePoint Pulling Invisible New Features into Snow Leopard. Apple's increasing collaborations with the open source community have pulled back the veil of secrecy on several new but mostly invisible enhancements that will be showing up in Snow Leopard. One relates to LLVM, the Low Level Virtual Machine compiler architecture project originally founded at the University of Illinois. Apple began contributing to LLVM development in 2005, and started using it Leopard to expand support for OpenGL hardware features. Lower-end Macs that lack the silicon to interpret that specialize graphics code can now do it in software. LLVM is also working its way into Apple's Xcode IDE, initially as a highly efficient optimizer and code generator that works as a bolt-on upgrade to components of GCC, but eventually as a complete compiler replacement. That project, known as Clang, was opened up last year. LLVM compiler technology not only makes developers more productive, but also results in code that runs significantly faster on the same hardware. Apple's other open secret: the LLVM Complier The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure Project Another openly hidden secret in Mac OS X is CUPS, the Common Unix Printing System. Beginning with Jaguar in 2002, Apple adopted and licensed CUPS from its developer as Mac OS X's printing engine. It then purchased the project outright. CUPS is also the de facto printing system for Linux distros and is available for BSD and other commercial Unix systems. That means Apple owns the project that develops the printing architecture for Linux. That's not an issue because Apple has established a reputation in open source as a strong contributor and open sharer. According to a review of bug fixes and improvements in CUPS software, 24% of the enhancements came from Apple while 76% came from free and open source software contributors working with Linux, OpenSolaris, and other projects. Of course, 100% of both sides benefited from that sharing. CUPS collaboration has resulted in high quality code and the advancement of new features. CUPS 1.4, the version sources say Snow Leopard will use, adds performance enhancements and a variety of security improvements that use sandboxing to prevent malware attacks on the printing system from being able to read sensitive documents that may be in use by printers. Common UNIX Printing System A third significant new feature originating from an open source project in Snow Leopard is ZFS support, portions of which come from the OpenSolaris project (along with Sun's DTrace technology, which Apple uses in its Instruments performance profiling tool). Leopard debuted read-only ZFS features, but Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server will provide both read and write support for Sun's new 128-bit file system. ZFS was designed to provide “simple administration, transactional semantics, end-to-end data integrity, and immense scalability.� ZFS hype during the development of Leopard helped the new file system reach buzzword status as news of the three letter acronym swept through blogs and the tech media. It is frequently described as being the imminent replacement for the Mac's native HFS+. However, the benefits of ZFS including as storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion, and snapshots all apply primarily to servers and higher-end workstation users who deal with multiple disk drives. ZFS isn't going to replace HFS+ outright in Snow Leopard, and has limited relevance today to desktop and laptop users, particularly those who never move beyond the single disk drive installed in their system. More Predictions for WWDC 2007: Solaris, Google, Surround Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Developer Tools - Instruments Symbiotic: What Apple Does for Open Source Apple's Open Source Assault Pushing Visible New Features in Snow Leopard. Apple's extensive work in developing push support for Exchange Server on the iPhone will also be included in Snow Leopard's Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Push support in those client side apps are also being used to power MobileMe's push messaging subscription service and Snow Leopard Server's push messaging services. Apple will be offering both in parallel as alternatives to Exchange, thanks to smart planning on the part of Apple's engineers to develop an interoperable push architecture in Mac OS X and on the iPhone. There is also a fourth application of push that has developed alongside push messaging: Apple's new Push Notification Service. PNS allows iPhone and iPod touch users to set up server side notification alerts that don't require mobile applications to stay running in the background just to update users of the external events they track. Along with Bonjour discovery, PNS will keep iPhones wirelessly connected in all sorts of sophisticated ways that third party developers can imagine in their applications. Whether Apple will integrate a listener for the same PNS system into the desktop side of Mac OS X remains to be seen, but it would allow a single, unified interface for alerting client users of new events. I proposed a system wide, Growl-style notification system in the Leopard Wish List published back in 2005. Snow Leopard Server Takes on Exchange, SharePoint Apple’s Mobile Me Takes On Exchange, Mobile Mesh With the strong push into push messaging, Apple will make mobile devices even more tightly integrated with its desktop products. Leopard delivered Back To My Mac as a novel way to use Wide Area Bonjour's dynamic service registration as a mechanism for sharing resources served from home to any location without configuring static naming services for address lookups. Because any software can register itself with .Mac/MobileMe, this opens the door to third party developers with the vision to exploit the potential of these enabling technologies. A Global Upgrade for Bonjour: AirPort, iPhone, Leopard, .Mac Ten Big Predictions for Apple in 2008 Among the technologies profiled earlier in Myth 3 that have been trickling from the iPhone into Mac OS X, there's at least one idea I proposed for the iPhone that will be in Snow Leopard's Safari: self contained web apps. The new feature will allow users to run web applications as a local app in its own window, essentially making the web platform into a native-looking app that can run outside of Safari. I proposed a similar feature as a possibility for the iPhone prior to the announcement of the Cocoa Touch SDK: web apps packaged up into a set of files that could be run on the device as a Dashboard widget-like standalone app, even when off the network. Why Apple hasn't pursued such an obvious strategy is a little hard to figure out, but it seems they've got the ball rolling on the desktop. That ball will be rolling even faster thanks to SquirrelFish, a new JavaScript interpreter that will make Safari and any other WebKit-based browsers, standalone self contained apps, and Dashboard widgets all a lot faster. Apple's MobileMe, Yahoo's Flickr, and Google various web apps will all gain new speed thanks to faster JavaScript execution. SquirrelFish will also raise the bar in performance and efficiency in the Rich Internet Applications sector in general, giving Flash, Silverlight, and Java a faster, simpler, and more openly interoperable runtime to compete against. RoughlyDrafted: Leopard Wish List: 2005 How Open will the iPhone Get? Surfin’ Safari » Announcing SquirrelFish Microsoft's Application Features in Mac OS X, System Wide. Microsoft's business model of tacking on features hasn't been a total wash. The company's desperate efforts to invent novel marketing features for every new release of Windows and Office have pioneered a number of ideas that have later found their way into Mac OS X. One example is the idea of Fast User Switching, which Apple added to Panther. Windows XP pioneered the trick, but built it upon the kluge that is Terminal Services. Microsoft also helped originate the basis of Ajax web apps by inventing XMLHttpRequest in order to make its Outlook Web Access 2000 web app work decently within Internet Explorer. Today, standards-based web apps are eating a hole into Microsoft's monopoly on the proprietary desktop platform, and tools such as SproutCore and resulting products such as MobileMe are poised to tear down interoperability barriers and level the playing field. Microsoft may now regret having opened Pandora's Box in terms of standards-based web applications, but its efforts to seal the web back up with the proprietary Silverlight plugin, which turns web apps into .NET programs, will now be next to impossible. Another example of a Microsoft innovation are the fancy text features in Word, such as red underlining to highlight spelling mistakes and the green squiggle for grammar errors. Word also features a variety of word auto correction, smart dash insertion, and text replacement features (such as typing TM to get the ™ character). The former have already become system-wide features in Mac OS X, while sources indicate that the latter text processing features will find their way into Snow Leopard, and therefore every application that runs on it. RoughlyDrafted: Remote Display part 3: Terminal Server Cocoa for Windows + Flash Killer = SproutCore Super Size Me. On top of injecting Word features into its OS for the use of every application, Apple will also expand the use of its own Data Detectors, a technology it invented in the mid 90s for identifying useful bits of text and making it actionable. Leopard introduced Data Detectors in Mail as a way to extract contacts and events for use in Address Book and iCal, but Snow Leopard will expose Data Detectors everywhere it draws text. Sources also indicate Snow Leopard will expand upon Font Book to provide full Auto Activation of any fonts requested by any application, using Spotlight to track them down. Snow Leopard is also suggested to have a new set of frameworks specifically for working with multitouch trackpad gestures, patterned after those introduced with the MacBook Air. Speaking of the ultra-thin Air, sometimes less is more. However, the high cost and relatively low capacity of Solid State Drives like the $1000, 64 GB SSD option offered for the Air means that one Microsoft feature Snow Leopard could do without is bloat. As one reader noted, “Currently, Leopard requires 9 GB of available disk space for installation and iLife requires an additional 3 GB. This means that a product such as the [SSD] MacBook Air comes with the hard drive 20% full.� How the MacBook Air stacks up against other ultra-light notebooks Leopard Predictions for WWDC 2006 WWDC 2007: An Inside Perspective From the Halfway Point Think Small. Snow Leopard aims below the bloat to accommodate the coming wave of SSD-based systems. In the latest build, sources say Apple's own apps are losing weigh dramatically across the board. The apps in the Utilities folder all drop from 468 MB to 111.6 MB, for example. Other apps are similarly svelte, as the graph below indicates. Is this the product of just code optimization and shared resources? One factor likely relates to work on Resolution Independence, which substitutes bitmapped raster graphics (which define every pixel) with smaller vector graphics files (which draw GUI elements and controls by recipe). Vector graphics can be scaled to any size while retaining a high quality appearance, while bitmapped graphics can quickly look blocky when scaled up. Adding larger bitmapped versions can solve that problem, but at the cost of consuming more disk space. Apple earlier told developers it would be providing a library of shared, high quality vector graphics they could use instead of each packaging their own bitmapped art into every app. The dramatic size reductions in these apps must also involve more efficient Localization. For example, Mac OS X Leopard's Mail currently weighs in at over 285 MB, but the majority of its bulk comes from 18 language localizations inside the application bundle that consume 276 MB. The actual Universal Binary code is only a few megabytes and even its associated graphics and other resources only amount to 2.8 MB. Why does Apple default to dumping support for 18 or more languages in every app without providing any simple, centralized way to get rid of the unnecessary ones? Perhaps that question is answered in Snow Leopard, where Mail is reportedly just 91 MB. That's too big to simply to be an English-only, stripped down version for developers, but still far smaller than than Leopard's. Across the board, it appears Snow Leopard apps are about a third as large as their Leopard equivalents. And so while Snow Leopard paradoxically gains more useful features through code improvements and under-the-hood retooling rather than from a Microsoft-style new feature focus that aims to deliver “wow� with flashy marketing gimmicks, the system is also getting smaller and tighter. There must also be some other subtraction, right? Will Snow Leopard scrape away the old Carbon API? That's the next myth. WWDC 2008: New in Mac OS X Snow Leopard WWDC 2008: Is Mac OS X 10.6 the Death of Carbon? I really like to hear from readers. Comment 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! Submit to Reddit or Slashdot, or consider making a small donation supporting this site. Thanks! Technorati Tags: Apple, Development, Mac, Software

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