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Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Here's a little fireworks video I've shot to usher in the new year.
Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker
A lot of anecdotes regarding slow iTunes and Apple TV downloads are spreading around the internet, and it turns out third party DNS—like previously mentioned OpenDNS or previously mentioned Google DNS—might be the problem.
Jay J. Nelson, Macworld
Dana Mattioli, Wall Street Journal
Companies in recent months have launched a slew of photography applications for the iPhone and other smartphones, but many of these start-ups are still trying to figure out the best way to profit from their software programs.
Fraser Speirs
I have no problem paying for software. I have no problem living within the rules of licensing. What does annoy, though, is that there are no tools to make this easy and that the tools we have are quite opaque in their operation.
MG Siegler, TechCrunch
Laura Sydell, NPR
The two men seemed to agree on a basic philosophy about design and products: Make the designs and the software simple and and easy to use.
Both Ive and Jobs believe that the hardware must work together seamlessly with the software.
Leslie Horn, PC Magazine
David Chartier, Macworld
Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Mathew Ingram, GigaOM
Better to focus, as Wilson suggests, on helping your readers by filtering and curating and making sense of things for them (and giving them tools to do that themselves), and building a relationship with them based on that, rather than nickel-and-dime-ing them for every little thing and forcing them to stay inside your walled garden. Then maybe when you offer ways they can contribute monetarily, they will actually take you up on it.
Darrell Etherington, GigaOM
As if you needed another reason to ditch cable in 2011, it looks like prices are going up at some of the biggest providers. So if you’re finally tired of getting fleeced, here’s how to cut the cord and go cable-free the Apple way. You even have more options than you did the same time last year, too.
Topher Kessler, CNET
The first thing to do is to double-check the system requirements for the software. While many installers will run a program that ensures the hardware and OS version meet the minimum requirements, others may not have this feature and will rely on you to have the supported system requirements.
Marius Masalar, App Storm
If it’s actual word processing we’re after rather than document design, then what functionality do we actually expect? Text wrangling with fonts, styles, and justification? Check. Tables, charts, and images? Check. Spelling and grammar checking? You bet.
As it turns out, there’s a lot of power under TextEdit’s hood, so let’s open her up and introduce you to some of the lesser-known features.
David Winograd, TUAW
We're all used to dumping Finder's trash frequently to reclaim drive space, but what some of you might not know is when you delete pictures from iPhoto, they remain on your computer since iPhoto has its own trash. If you've never done this you may have hundreds, or for that matter, thousands of pictures or videos in iPhoto that are just clogging up your drive.
Steven Sande, TUAW
Joe White, AppAdvice
Joel Evans, ZDNet
While there are plenty of apps out there for all of the standard eReaders (Kindle, Nook, etc.), if you want to enjoy an interactive storybook you have to download separate apps. Here’s a quick roundup of mine and my kids’ favorites.
Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac
Skype just updated their Skype application for iOS to include video chat functionality. It works both over WiFi and 3G networks and two-way video calling is supported by the iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, and iPhone 3GS. The iPad and third generation iPod touch support one-way video calling. Just like on Apple’s FaceTime application Skype for iPhone will video conference in both portrait and landscape orientations.
Seamus Bellamy, Mac Life
There's a quick, easy--and most importantly, free--method for bringing a good chunk of your iTunes library with you. It involves our good friends at Dropbox, and just a few minutes of your time.
MacNN
The new version was rejected for the same reasons as previously given, the company's belief that the app would "expose a group to harm" and that the intent of the app is to be "objectionable and potentially harmful to others."
Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
The real question, I think, is whether the built-for-tablet magazines (or newspapers) will have an advantage over magazines that come from the old media world.
Ron McElfresh, Mac360
Who would have thought that the simple answer to a complex life of dates, calendars, address books, personal information managers, to-do list apps, and project managers would be digital Post-It Notes on your Mac?
Joe Kissell, Macworld
James Galbraith, Macworld
With multitracking, GarageBand allows you to record up to eight real instruments and one software instrument simultaneously, more than enough tracks to record an entire band at once.
Stephanie Kent, Macworld
Bejeweled 3 doesn't do anything particularly earth shattering and it doesn't re-invent the wheel—but it doesn't have to. The new modes are on the whole just fantastic. They all operate under the same rules and controls of the simple game, but require separate strategies and change in degrees of difficulty. I suspect that the key to PopCaps’ success with this series lies within its high replay value. If this is the case, Bejeweled 3's new modes, sights, and sounds is certain to bring many converts over to the church of Bejeweled.
Los Angeles Times
Magazine sales on the Apple iPad have dropped sharply since their debut on the leading tablet computer, according to data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Mike Schramm, TUAW
You can browse pictures of various foods near your location, and then from one of those, follow the user who took the picture, find out about the restaurant it was taken at, or look for other examples of the same dish from other restaurants. The interface is fast and slick, and especially if you're in a place where there are plenty of restaurants to try (I'm right in the middle of Los Angeles), odds are that you'll find something good to go taste.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Shawn Blanc
Electronista
Interval Licensing took a second shot at its dismissed lawsuit with an updated filing. The Paul Allen-owned company's new complaint still accuses Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix and others of infringing on e-commerce patents but now includes specific, claimed examples of how the companies allegedly copied Interval's technology.
Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice
Alexis Kayhil, Mac360
Steven Sande, TUAW
In this edition of Mac 101, I'll take you through the basics of setting up your Time Machine backup to a local hard drive, explain the power of cloning apps, and tell you why off-site backups are a good idea.
iDev Recipes
Ryan Singel, Wired
Apple and a number of iPhone app makers including Pandora and Dictionary.com were sued Monday for allegedly helping advertisers secretly create profiles of iPhone users, including their location, without their consent.
Joel Mathis, Macworld UK
iSource
Airfoil is a great solution for using Apple’s AirPlay technology to its fullest. The tech needs a fairly solid wireless network to work seamlessly, but provided you’ve got one, Airfoil is an amazingly simple way to sling audio around your house to AirPlay-capable speakers and iOS devices.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS
Brian X. Chen, Wired
The company recently approved an iPhone camera app that carries a special feature: the ability to snap a photo by pressing the physical Volume button rather than tapping the touchscreen. Oddly enough, about four months ago Apple banned a top-selling iPhone app for including the same “volume-snap” functionality.
Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review
What happens though when an hour after you were ‘killing time’ your phone buzzes to remind you about your Angry Birds process? Of course that would be annoying, so Angry Birds has disguised this action as a notification that the Mighty Eagle is back to soar.
How cool is that? A genius move I’d say.
Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post
True, flash drives probably can't fit all of your data. But one can certainly accommodate such critical information as your e-mail, your calendar and address book and your work documents. And if a lack of funds or general indecision has held up your purchase of an external hard drive, what else are you going to do? Grab the biggest-capacity USB flash drive you have handy, plug it into your Mac and let Time Machine use it while you figure out that purchase.
Om Malik, GigaOM
It aesthetically pleasing, it is well constructed, it is well priced and it is not ostentatious. It is a classic, much like a well-made plain white shirt. I get more use from this device than anything else I own. It makes working fun.
Andy Ihnatko, Macworld
As users of Apple's hardware and software, we do have a weird relationship with that company, don’t we?
Craig Grannell, TechRadar
Washington Post
Al Gibes, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Apple has perfected simple.
Alex Knight
One other interesting thing that I find is she no longer calls software “programs” or “applications”. She just calls them “apps” which clearly shows the power of Apple’s marketing influence. iOS devices and the process of installing “apps” has become so ubiquitous now that I think people are starting to forget what we used to call software.
Associated Press
Victor has a rare genetic disorder that delays development of a number of skills, including speech. To help him and others with disabilities, his father, Paul, and some of his students at Wake Forest University have created an application for the iPhone and iPad that turns their touch screens into communications tools.
Adam Dachis, Lifehacker
You've taken your requisite Apple product unboxing video and boasted about your brand new Mac on Facebook, but now it's time to get down to business. Whether you're new to the Mac or not, here's how to set up and get started.
Topher Kessler, CNET
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Just in time for all the iPads Santa’s cramming into stockings, AFK Studio has released The Funnies. It’s an app that lets you enjoy all your favorite comic strips and editorial cartoons, without staining your hands with icky newsprint.
Design Sojourn
The 13” version is not much heavier or less portable than the 11”, however it is far more comfortable to use. One word of caution though, you should carefully think how the MBA, or any Apple product for that matter, fits into your lifestyle. If you already own a number of Apple products (say an iPad and a MacBook Pro), every time Apple introduces a new product to fill in a gap, the usage scenarios will start to overlap more and more. This means products can end up doubling up its use and you are paying for something you don’t really need.
Gary Coyne, Applelinks
TJ Luoma, TUAW
Select the folder or file that you want to show/hide, and check the box next to "Invisible Finder Attribute." Voilà, the file will be hidden in Finder, although you can still access it using the Go » Go to Folder... command.
Stuart Gripman, Macworld
Murray Evans, Associated Press
Nearly two centuries after a blacksmith named Sequoyah converted Cherokee into its own unique written form, the tribe has worked with Apple to develop Cherokee language software for the iPhone, iPod and—soon—the iPad. Computers used by students—including Lauren—at the tribe's language immersion school already allow them to type using Cherokee characters.
MG Siegler, TechCrunch
Dan Bashur, Low End Mac
David Chartier, Macworld
Joel Mathis, Macworld
Squarespace, a popular premium blogging platform, launched its new iPad app on Tuesday, offering users the ability to do complex editing and site-management tasks from Apple's tablet.
Erica Sadun, TUAW
Version 2.1 brings several new features to the table including AirPlay video support and Internet radio control.
Dan Miller, Macworld
It duplicates the functionality of Folder Actions without requiring AppleScript or Automator, and it includes simple yet powerful filtering for restricting actions to specific files.
Nathan Alderman, Macworld
If you have to print something from Flash, try using Chrome. If you need only excerpts from a series of pages, or want control over page header formatting, Firefox is your best bet. But for design fidelity, Safari seems like the relative champ among this underwhelming group. You won't achieve pixel-perfect printouts, but Websites will probably look better from Safari than they would with any other browser.
Nathan Alderman, Macworld
If you’d like a top-notch upgrade to your e-mail experience at a reasonable price, and you can live without Exchange support, the terrific and thoughtful features built into Postbox definitely deserve your consideration.
Tomasz Kolinko, Work In Progress
The majority of goal-trackers are not good for the New Year's resolutions. They encourage you to write down everything that comes to your mind and after a while your goal list turns into a todo list. Below I listed a couple of applications that help to do resolutions the right way.
Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed
One semester of campus pilots has hardly resolved those questions. But early returns from a number of institutions offer some clues about the iPad’s applications, and limitations, on college campuses.
Mikael Ricknäs And Agam Shah, IDG News Service
Based on interviews with early adopters and enterprises evaluating the tablet, the iPad is emerging as a tool for many enterprise users to access e-mail, calendar and corporate documents, helped by the quality of the screen, the long battery life, weight and ease-of-use.
Thorin Klosowski, Denver Westword
MacNN
Cultured Code
Stephanie Kent, Macworld
The holidays are a time for traditions and, like clockwork, Acclivity has released AccountEdge 2011, the latest version of its small business accounting software. The application is rife with new features; most notable among them are Web-based time-tracking capabilities, advanced support for paying retainers, and a brand new iOS app.
Rob Johnson, Lifehacker
Miguel Helft, New York Times
Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, said the company had removed the app “because it violated our developer guidelines.” Ms. Muller added: “Apps must comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or group in harm’s way.”
Susie Ochs, Mac Life
St Clair Software
Dan Moren, Macworld
It’s a question as old as the iPhone itself: how come we can sync calendar events between our Mac and our iOS devices, but not to-dos? BusyMac’s new BusyToDo app is the spackle for that particular hole—as long as you’re using Apple’s MobileMe service, that is.
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
The company’s Navfree USA app, released last Friday for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, features all the bells and whistles of a good GPS program—spoken turn-by-turn directions, automatic rerouting, and 1.6GB of offline map data—and it’s all available for free.
Rich Mogull, Macworld
Despite all the vulnerabilities, and the mass exploitation of Reader and Acrobat on Windows, the actual risk to a Mac user today is immeasurably low. We just aren't seeing the attacks. But since there is no technical obstacle to exploiting a Mac running a vulnerable version of Acrobat or Reader, I still suggest keeping your eyes open for that dreaded day when some outlaw finally gets bored with the Windows platform.
Mel Martin, TUAW
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica
We now have feature parity with our Windows-using colleagues, as well as a couple of features they don't have. The app isn't clunky or ugly, and as long as you can live with the limitations regarding multiple computers and the lack of CalDAV support, I see little reason not to upgrade from Entourage.
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
Peter Cohen, The Loop
It appears that the Apple TV is a “hobby” no longer. Apple announced Tuesday that it expects sales of its recently redesigned Apple TV to top one million units later this week.
Michael Grothaus, TUAW
Michael Grothaus, TUAW
Ian Sherr, Dow Jones
Ezone
Topher Kessler, CNET
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
When you want to find a specific song or album in your iTunes library, you can use the Search field at the top-right of the application’s window and type part of its title. But one efficient way to access the content in your iTunes library is to use the iTunes Column Browser.
Karl Hodge, Macworld UK
Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review
The only thing I can think of is that being left handed the left edge feels most natural for me.
Bonobo
So we spend hours cutting, trimming and squishing and finally got it down to 19.9MB, we patted ourselves on the back and submitted. Two weeks later Apple approved the app, we checked and it was 20.1MB!
Ah well we thought, won’t make that much of a difference will it? Yes it did, 40% drop in sales.
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
Apple on Monday released a new app called iAd Producer, giving developers a quick and easy way to make iAds for apps in the App Store.
Steven Sande, TUAW
The free app has just been updated and now adds two fun features -- adding photos and comments to check-ins. This is handy, since I currently have to use multiple apps to a) check in and b) send photos of delicious food to friends. Now it's all possible in one app. There's also a history page on the Foursquare website where you can see all of the places that you've visited.
Darren Murph, Engadget
Lex Friedman, Macworld
The true significance of the Journal’s supposed exposé seems less sensational than the piece’s tone would indicate. Basically, these apps are sharing the same kind of data as nearly every Website you’ve ever used.
Joe Kissell, Macworld
You can create impressive, professional presentations in both Keynote ’09 and PowerPoint 2011, and can do so more easily, and with more pizazz, than in the previous versions of each. But each has its unique strengths.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Christopher Breen, Macworld
James Fudge, GamePro
Aron Trimble, TUAW
Microsoft has released an update for Windows Phone 7 Connector, the still-in-beta OS X application that works with iPhoto and iTunes to allow you to sync your DRM-free multimedia with Microsoft's 'wares.
Mike Schramm, TUAW
Waffle
Raw demand is a computationally cheap and good indication of what people want, but it takes extensive editing, thinking and experimenting to go from that to what’s actually right. Sometimes, you can’t even trust your own intuition to find out if something is awful or awesome. Where most software projects fail is in taking this in account.
Steven Sande, TUAW
Joshua Johnson, Design Shack
The next time you’re faced with the task of designing an interface, why not learn from those who have already succeeded? Below we’ll take a look at the interfaces of ten beautiful and fairly new Mac applications and discuss what went right.
Amanda L. Husson, Associated Press
Barbara and C.C. Chamberlin of Las Cruces, New Mexico, are game designers and programmers with New Mexico State University's Learning Games Lab. They decided to put their expertise to use to reach a very small target audience: Their two sons, Alex, 5, and Carter, 2.
MG Siegler, TechCrunch
Steven Sande, TUAW
The Elgato EyeTV HD is a great product for those who have cable or satellite HD TV service and who would like to watch and record shows on their Macs. The EyeTV software adds features every time we look at it, and Elgato is on top of new viewing trends by making the EyeTV HD device and software work well with other Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
Richard Gaywood, TUAW
Because of how Apple structured them, any developer adding notification support to their app has to commit to keeping servers alive to send the notifications through -- even if the app doesn't have any other need for hosting. Once the app sales saturate the developer is left with dwindling income but a significant fixed ongoing cost hosting and maintaining the servers.
Scott Thurm And Yukari Iwatani Kane, Wall Street Journal
An examination of 101 popular smartphone "apps"—games and other software applications for iPhone and Android phones—showed that 56 transmitted the phone's unique device ID to other companies without users' awareness or consent. Forty-seven apps transmitted the phone's location in some way. Five sent age, gender and other personal details to outsiders.
The findings reveal the intrusive effort by online-tracking companies to gather personal data about people in order to flesh out detailed dossiers on them.
Patty Seybold, Outside Innovation
My iPad was mysteriously turning itself on, opening an application, selecting a song, turning the audio on, and blaring it out.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360
If you’re not a Mac power user but you’re not afraid to try something new to enhance your Mac experience, then TinkerTool is for you. Mac OS X ships with hundreds of hidden features.
Brodie Beta, The Next Web
The app uses the devices camera to augment a colour blind person’s perception of colours by enabling users to differentiate between tones, hues and colours that would normally be invisible to them. After launching the app, it automatically allows you to view the world through the camera while overlaying different colour schemes.
iDev Recipes
Topher Kessler, CNET
Dan Moren, Macworld
The battle for king of the iPad text editor heap has a new contender: Writings. It faces off against the likes of Elements, PlainText, and WriteRoom, but it has a plenty of nice tricks up its sleeves that make it a worthy competitor in this increasingly crowded arena.
Steven Harms
Ted Landau, Macworld
Joe White, AppAdvice
Word Lens is a new iOS app that uses the power of “augmented reality” to instantly translate text viewed via the iPhone’s camera.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Frustrated though I am with SoundSaver’s enforced window size, it has a lot going for it. The workflow is logical. The ability to clean up tracks as one step of the process is welcome. Just as welcome is the ability to auto-tag tracks. And while a lot of people will never have the need to encode a 78 RPM record, I very much appreciate that BIAS included the option. My hope is that in a future update the auto-define feature becomes more accurate, but again, I’ve yet to find the perfect solution in a product offered at this price.
Chris Rawson, TUAW
Dropbox reaching 1.0 is more than a numerical milestone for its developers. They've also made hundreds of bug fixes, reduced resource usage (memory usage in particular has been reduced by 50 percent), and made tweaks to the interface to make it more user-friendly. The most intriguing new feature is Selective Sync, which allows users to choose which of your Dropbox folders to sync to their devices, which the developers say will come in handy on netbooks or other devices with limited storage space.
Devin Coldewey, CrunchGear
Emil Protalinski, Ars Technica
Microsoft has updated its Bing for Mobile apps for iPhone and Android with a bigger focus on streamlining how mobile users discover relevant local information. Separately, the software giant has updated m.bing.com with "the latest HTML5 technologies."
Michael Grothaus, TUAW
The update "fixes some issues with AirPlay streaming."
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
First released in 2005 as a way to send audio from any application to an AirPort Express, Airfoil has grown to support audio streaming to the Apple TV, iOS devices, and other computers within your local network. The latest version, released Thursday morning, brings an interface redesign, improved audio reception, and major updates to both of Airfoil’s companion applications: Airfoil Speakers and Airfoil Video Player.
Michael Rose, TUAW
The new one-click buttons let you prefill the most popular options for your custom config, including such favorites as "more RAM," "faster hard drive," the matte screen for the 15" MBP and pre-installed versions of iWork or Microsoft Office.
Serenity Caldwel, Macworld
Apple on Thursday released an update for Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’11 to add raw image support for certain Canon, Leica, Nikon, and Panasonic cameras.
Trevor Sheridan, AppAdvice
Pocket God: Journey To Uranus has a great pedigree, and goes a whole new way on the iPad from the iPhone version. It offers three enjoyable games, but sadly none of the interactions the iPhone game is known for. The game is wonderfully designed in most regards, and the only real downfall is the lack of content in comparison to the amazingly value packed iPhone version while costing five times as much.
Trevor Sheridan, AppAdvice
Real Racing is simply the most technologically advanced game for iOS. It offers the best racing experience around with such deluxe career, challenging races, and the difficulty balance. Real Racing 2 could go toe to toe with any game on any other mobile platform, and is an amazing accomplishment on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Dave Caolo, TUAW
The store will be available in 90 countries and feature games, productivity apps and a whole lot more.
Jay J. Nelson, Macworld
David Dahlquist, Macworld
Circus Ponies—a company, not actual circus ponies—has released a version of its Mac OS X note-taking app, NoteBook, for the iPad. NoteBook is a powerful note-taking tool that includes a full-featured outliner with multi-font text, and lets you add files, diagrams, and sketches to your notes.
Andrew Batson, Wall Street Journal
The researchers say traditional ways of measuring global trade produce the number but fail to reflect the complexities of global commerce where the design, manufacturing and assembly of products often involve several countries.
Trade statistics in both countries consider the iPhone a Chinese export to the U.S., even though it is entirely designed and owned by a U.S. company, and is made largely of parts produced in several Asian and European countries. China's contribution is the last step—assembling and shipping the phones.
MG Siegler, TechCrunch
Jennifer 8. Lee, New York Times
Call it the male iPad dilemma: too large to slip into a pants pocket, too stiff to be curled up like a magazine and too precious to leave unprotected. With its rigid tablet shape, Apple’s iPad has raised an awkward consideration for many men: how to carry it in a manner that is practical and yet, well, masculine.
Amro Mousa
So I'm convinced Apple uses a Priority Queue to prioritize app reviews. I believe the following three factors greatly affect the priority assigned to an app submission.
Aron Trimble, TUAW
In order to input a pause in your contact's phone number, you need to open the contact for editing using either the Phone or Contacts app on your iPhone or iPod touch.
AppleInsider
Some users are reporting that updating to iTunes 10.1.1, which is supposed to resolve issues that could cause it to crash, causes iTunes to crash, leaving them unable to open the application.
David Chartier, Macworld
Office for Mac version 14.0.2 tackles a handful of stability and reliability improvements, which Microsoft detailed in a support document. In particular, Office would sometimes refuse to open compatible documents that were sent from a third-party application, and the new Outlook could crash when importing .pst files containing categories that did not have names.
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
Dave Caolo, TUAW
First, it offers support for full illustrations (you know, just like real books). It will also create collections of your books and PDFs, which is quite nice.
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
Among the issues fixed in iTunes 10.1.1: a problem where music videos weren’t playing properly on Macs with Nvidia GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics cards; the program unexpectedly quitting when deleting a playlist with the iTunes Sidebar visible; iTunes crashing when syncing an iPod on PowerPC Macs; and music videos not syncing to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.
Dave Caolo, TUAW
Much more than a task tracker, Daylite offers complete project management for individuals and large companies alike.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Charlie Sorrel, Wired
The app runs a Bonjour server on the Mac which identifies itself on the network as an AppleTV. Start it up and it shows up in your iDevice’s AirPlay list as a destination. Touch it and the video streams magically to your Mac.
Brad Nicholson, Touch Arcade
Jeffrey L. Wilson, PC Magazine
Olivia Oran, The Street
While the grape fields of Northern California may be the last place you would expect to see one of tech's hottest-selling gadgets, that's not the case at Jordan Winery, where the company recently gave iPads to all 97 employees.
Dan Moren, Macworld
Joshua Gans, Harvard Business Review
In an age where the flow of information to large corporations might be overwhelming and noisy, it creates incentives for obtaining higher quality and timely information. For some corporations, a twitter account is playing this role. For Apple, the CEO is an active part of the game.
Mark Webster, New Zealand Herald
There are far more Mac users with very little Mac experience than there are like me, these days.
Topher Kessler, CNET
Topher Kessler, CNET
Sometimes after adding new system components or otherwise changing the hardware configuration of your system you may find that the OS will load rather slowly. Usually this will only happen after the first restart as the system configures the kernel extensions needed for the new hardware; however, there are times when it can persist. If the system always runs slowly then there may be problems with the hard drive, or the configured filesystems on it, and you should run diagnostics utilities to tackle the issue. If on the other hand the system runs fine except for slugishness or pauses during boot, then there are several options you can try to help fix the situation.
MacNN
The Ministry of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages has granted formal approval to the Canadian iBookstore, opening the door to a flood of new content from Canadian publishers and authors. While the iBookstore has already been operating and offering some -- mostly US-based -- paid titles along with the usual assortment of free public-domain and PDF texts, the approval is expected to boost both the offerings available to Canadian iOS device owners as well as help promote Canadian works in other countries.
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
John Brownlee, Cult Of Mac
Natalia Nowak, Mac360
Mashable
TJ Luoma, TUAW
Pariah S. Burke, Macworld
If you can manage to find all the commands you need in the menus, task panes, Quick Tools, or other toolbars, you’ll find that Acrobat X Pro is a fantastic program with universal function improvement, phenomenal content-exporting capabilities, incredible power to automate task- and document- processing, and compelling document-distribution capabilities. Unfortunately, Acrobat X’s messy and unintuitive new user interface throttles the excitement somewhat and makes this less than a must-buy application.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
How many ways can you capture a screen on a Mac? There’s keystroke combinations (if you can remember them).
And there’s a bunch of apps that capture screens, or app windows, or images, or sections of your screen. There’s even one that captures everything on a screen in a multi-layered Photoshop file. For real.
Natalia Nowak, Mac360
Sam Felsing, Macworld
If the target demographic of Lego Star Wars is purely kids, then Feral Interactive has ported a game that is worthy of their attention. It's cute, geeky, has plenty of funny slapstick moments, and isn't too challenging. Adults may be put off by the low difficulty level, but Star Wars fans of all ages will enjoy the playing as Lego versions of their favorite characters as they work to complete recreations of the movies’ best scenes.
Michael Grothaus, TUAW
Joshua Kors, Huffington Post
Two weeks later I'm back at Apple headquarters -- my teeth worn down, my face prematurely aged from endless hours of sleeplessness and technological frustration -- certain that the iMac was the worst purchase I'd ever made.
David Quilty, TUAW
Available for the first time on the iPad, SimCity Deluxe allows players to act as Mayor and City Planner to build and control their very own cityscape. Using multitouch controls optimized for the iPad, players can build, destroy, rebuild, and manage cities inspired by famous locations around the globe.
David Chartier, Macworld
Philip Michaels, Macworld
Dan Moren, Macworld
In addition to the expanded device support, Google added a few other enhancements and bug fixes in this version: for example, enabling Push Notifications will now automatically disable text-message forwarding, preventing you from getting multiple copies of the same message and helping you avoid exceeding your text message limits.
John C. Welch, Macworld
MG Siegler, TechCrunch
There was something peculiar about my iPhone in Paris. It actually worked. Like it was supposed to. All the time. And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why: there is no AT&T in Paris.
Mike Schramm, TUAW
The Indie Mac Gift pack is offering six great Mac apps (Acorn 2, Delicious Library 2, MarsEdit 3, Radioshift, SousChef, and Sound Studio 4) for just $60, a savings of more than $200 if purchased separately at full price.
Daisuke Wakabayashi, Wall Street Journal
Japanese consortium of book, e-book, magazine and digital comic publishers issued a stern rebuke of Apple’s enforcement of copyrights on its App Store. The group said certain works by renowned Japanese authors Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino have been illegally scanned and distributed over the App Store.
The consortium goes on to say Apple’s claim that it is not able to check for copyrighted material during the App screening process is “a wholly unconvincing explanation.”
Charles Moore, Appletell
Topher Kessler, CNET
When you empty the trash in OS X, the system will usually present a progress bar showing the number of files remaining to be removed if the number of items in the trash take longer than a moment to delete. Normally this will only take a few minutes and there is some indication that the trash process is working, such as the number of calculated items increasing, or the progress bar moving across the window; however, sometimes the progress window may appear to hang.
Steven Sande, TUAW
There are two things that I love about this computer already -- the lack of noise and heat.
Peter Burrows, Adam Satariano, Bloomberg
With more business people attracted to iPads and iPhones, Cupertino's Apple has been able to grab a share of corporate information-technology budgets without having to make so-called back-office gear.
Ben Gross, Messaging News
Bill Stiteler, Appletell
If your desktop is overwhelmed with text notes and screenshots, Yojimbo will make a great personal organizer that allows you to forget about them until you need them, and find them when you do. But despite this being the third version of the app, its functionality is peculiar and it doesn’t take advantage of all the information provided by image files. It’s not a seamless app, and if you want it’s help in organizing your desktop, you’ll have to spend a little time getting used to how it works. It’s a great thing for dumping files into. I just wish it were a little easier to get them out.
Seamus Bellamy, Mac Life
Patrick Rhone, MinimalMac
I’m using it as close to “out of the box” as I can and being very picky about the apps I install. As of this writing I still have over 30GB available.
David Chartier, Macworld
When you click the arrow icon on a selected playlist in your iTunes sidebar, a new “Publish Playlist” option entices you to share your meticulously crafted collection with your Ping friends. You can give your published playlist a unique name and description, then drag and drop songs to put them in optimum listening order.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Megan Lavey, TUAW
TJ Luoma, TUAW
Stephen Shankland, CNET
Nearly two years after Google announced its Latitude for tracking friends' locations, the service is available as an application for iOS.
Matt Gallagher, Cocoa With Love
Version control systems protect your work, help you review what you've done, help you share code if needed, work like a massive undo buffer when necessary and help can help you keep your code tidy. Always use one.
Luis Villazon, TechRadar
How to set up and troubleshoot an OS X network.
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note
Two and half years later, things are better, but MobileMe still looks disjointed, half-hearted, not very competitive. And certainly devoid of the flair and finish of most other Apple offerings.
Ben Brooks, Brooks Review
Did you know though that as a Mac user you can actually rid yourself of the caps lock key right now, no tools needed?
Jolie O'Dell, Mashable
A court has sided with Google et al. in a motion to dismiss the case, saying Allen’s claims were too vague and lacked “adequate factual detail to satisfy the dictates of Twombly and Iqbal” — two cases that are precedents for requiring adequate evidentiary support.
George Mann, Dpmac
John Cox, Network World
Apple has disabled, without explanation, a jailbreak detection API in iOS less than six months after introducing it. Device management vendors say the reasons for the decision are a mystery, but insist they can use alternatives to discover if an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad has been modified so they can load and modify applications outside of Apple's iTunes-based App Store.
Sarah McBride, Reuters
It may be unassuming and, yes, a bit uncool, but it's not forgotten, not by Christmas shoppers who flock these days to the Glendale Galleria mall and especially not by Appleheads at the core of the cult brand.
Staff couldn't talk officially to a visiting reporter, but they did say they do nothing to encourage the store's cult status. Nevertheless, every few weeks, die-hard fans stop by and take pictures or engage them in conversation about the store's pedigree.
Dave Caolo, TUAW
David Chartier, Macworld
Dan Frakes, Macworld
IDG News Service
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Mozilla on Thursday patched 13 vulnerabilities in Firefox, including a re-patch for a bug that was thought quashed in March 2010.
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
Chances are, if you're a holiday card-making aficionado, you've had them printed, labeled, and prepped since Thanksgiving. However, for the rest of us, iPhoto ’11 can help even the most craft-illiterate put together something special—without needing to put in hours of work. To get you started, here are a couple of tips to streamline the card-making process.
Michael Rose, TUAW
Plasq released version 2.0 of Comic Life, which adds template support, Facebook integration, advanced word-balloon controls, and more.
Wang Hanlu, People's Daily
Apple's official maintenance point said the dust accumulation inside the screens cannot be cleared, and users should change screens to get rid of the dust. And an Apple technician in Singapore said the dust accumulation was the result of the computers being used in a bad environment, such as one in which people are smoking, in China.
MacNN
At least for the time being, Apple is forbidding the use of in-app purchases in Mac apps hosted on the store, and has informed developers that Game Center will not be a part of it as well.
Stephanie Strom, New York Times
No one, including Apple, has data on how many nonprofits have created apps for the iPhone. Organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and American Cancer Society have them, but none can be used to make gifts. Prospective donors instead are directed out of a nonprofit’s app and to its Web site, which the organizations say makes the process of contributing more cumbersome.
Ken Segall
So here we go again. MobileMe will “get a lot better” in 2011. Forgive me if I hold back emotionally on this one. This product and I have had relationship issues, and I want to be sure before I get involved again.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
Associated Press
Rummelhart joins a number of parents who have been horrified by purchases of Smurfberries and other virtual items in top App Store games. The 17 highest-rated comments on "The Smurfs' Village" in the App Store all complain about the high cost of the Smurfberries, and two commenters call it a "scam."
Jonathan Seff, Macworld
Aperture 3.1.1 addresses problems with iLife ’11 compatibility, importing, upgrading, adjustments, publishing to the Web, slideshows, and vaults.
David Quilty, TUAW
This new version has 8 different game modes, including Classic Bejeweled, non-stop Lightning, and Zen mode, and also allows players to collect up to 65 achievement badges and unlock 4 new games as they play.
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld
Pages and Word both do the job well. If you want a unified visual look across all kinds of documents, Word has some advantages (thanks to its templates and themes). Pages is much better at handling things like charts, tables, and images. Google Docs might be fine for editing documents in the cloud, but it’s comparatively useless when it comes to anything beyond the most basic word processing chores.
Dave Caolo, TUAW
MacNN
While this will not require changes to existing iOS apps, Apple explains, developers will need to update their own push notification servers to the higher standard.
Steven Sande, TUAW
According to Maclocks, once the lock and the case are joined together, thieves can't remove the case without damaging the iPad.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360
Dan Frakes, Macworld
As with DejaMenu and MenuEverywhere, pressing MenuPop’s configurable keyboard shortcut brings up a hierarchical menu, directly under the cursor, containing the menus of the active program. Each of those menus is itself hierarchical, if applicable. Choose a command from the MenuPop menu and it functions just as if you’d chosen it from the actual menu bar.
Dan Frakes, Macworld
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Regrettably, there isn’t (at least not one that doesn’t require a soldering iron and far more skill than I possess). Rather, you use VNC (Virtual Network Computing) over a network to place the image of one Mac’s screen on another screen.
David Dahlquist, Macworld
MacNN
Eric Slivka, MacRumors
Apple today issued an EFI firmware update for the new 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models, the latest in a series of software updates released since the line was revamped in late October as some users have complained of display problems, kernel panics, and other issues.
Matthew Campbell And Jonathan Browning, Bloomberg
Google Inc., Apple Inc., and Facebook Inc. need to pitch in to help pay for the billions of dollars of network investments needed for their bandwidth-hogging services, European phone operators say.
As mobile and Web companies add videos, music and games, operators including France Telecom SA, Telecom Italia SpA and Vodafone Group Plc want a new deal that would require content providers like Apple and Google to pay fees linked to usage.
Joe Kissell, TidBITS
MacNN
The new version improves pronunciations for artists and song names; improves voices in Korean, German and Russian, and adds Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak and Thai language support to the fourth-generation iPod Shuffle.
MacNN
You can create a host of sounds to use in various music styles. AmpliTube 2 adds a 4-track recorder, additional stompbox effects, and enhanced sound effects.
Topher Kessler, CNET
In several situations when running OS X you may encounter question marks. Of course there should definitely be one somewhere on your keyboard (likely next to the right Shift key), but there are other instances where question marks may appear in the system where there shouldn't be one. Usually these indicate an instance in which the system cannot locate a specified file, location, or other resource and in its confusion shows a question mark.
Wil Gomez, Mac360
Mike Schramm, TUAW
Apple has updated QuickTime to version 7.6.9, bringing out a whole slew of security fixes protecting against various "maliciously crafted" file formats.
David Goldman, CNNMoney
When you think about Apple, you think about stylish consumer gadgets like iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macs -- but you don't necessarily think of a business IT company.
Apparently, Apple doesn't either.
Pierre Igot, Betalogue
Instead of automatically adjusting the row height based on the height of the cell’s contents, Pages ’09 tries to outsmart me by assuming that, since the previous row needed more height, from now on I’ll need more height for all subsequent rows. It can be rather frustrating, especially when there are wild fluctuations in the length of text from row to row.
Joel Mathis, Macworld
Macworld
Dan Miller, Macworld
Nate Anderson, Ars Technica
Still, given the improvements that the new version brings, we remain optimists about voice recognition on the Mac. Dictate continues to get better, and this version is more robust than its predecessors (I noted only occasional crashes while testing). Recognition is phenomenal, and control is improving. Just know what you're getting—and what you need.
TidBITS
So this year, we’re emphasizing bits over atoms with a variety of recommendations from TidBITS staffers, focusing on virtual goods and services that don’t add more plastic and metal to the pile. That’s not to say that each of the recommendations below is entirely based on flittering electrons, but those that aren’t are listed with an eye toward improving our virtual lives.
Michael Jones, TUAW
Galen Gruman, InfoWorld
If you or your employees use iPads for work, here are the apps you should install.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Dan Moren, Macworld
The company says that in addition to a Web-based reader, it’s created free apps for Android and iOS devices, allowing for mobile shopping and reading.
David Chartier, Macworld
Harry McCracken, Technologizer
But while it’s true that the iPad can’t replace a Mac or Windows PC for every creative task, the evidence is piling up mighty fast that it is an exciting creative tool.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
And that—as much as the miracle of e-books for the aged—may best explain Lew’s 101st birthday present.
Pagetable.com
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note
And as for Steve Jobs’ controlling manners, who’s complaining? Customers, shareholders?
Oppressed employees?
The Rodinhoods
Now, the magazine is streamed directly into my iPad – I download it first thing on Saturday morning! No more delays, watchmen, the Indian Government and neighbors to worry about.
Seth Weintraub, 9 To 5 Mac
Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac
Among the many changes in iOS 4.2 for iPad Apple has apparently decreased the amount of power that the iPad’s USB port can emit from 100mA to 20mA. The good part about this is that your iPad’s battery will probably last longer but the downside is that Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit is crippled for many people.
Geoffrey Goetz, GigaOM
John Biggs, CrunchGear
Topher Kessler, CNET
Remiel
It used to take 28 seconds for my 13-inch MacBook Pro to load the folders on my desktop after I logged in. Now it takes five seconds.
TJ Luoma, TUAW
Why keep two separate sets of Applications?
Dan Moren, Macworld
Ted Landau, Macworld
Is iTunes having problems getting along with your iPhone or other iOS device? Does your iPhone fail to sync in iTunes? Does iTunes refuse to recognize that your iPhone even exists? If so, you may be surprised at these two unlikely but effective solutions.
Mel Martin, TUAW
Michael Grothaus, TUAW
I laughed at the program manager's story because it surprised me that something (even relatively simple) like exclusive widgets for .Mac members wouldn't require a little more thought or discussion than just the promise of a whim from an intern. Apparently not.
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Google on Thursday patched 13 vulnerabilities in Chrome as it shifted the most stable edition of the browser to version 8.
Sam Oliver, AppleInsider
Apple this week provided more information to developers regarding its forthcoming Mac App Store, and informed them that, unlike on iOS, trial versions of software will not be allowed.
Chris McVeigh, Macworld
Joe Kissell, Macworld
On the whole, the current version of MobileMe is an improvement over what was available two years ago, although it’s of uneven quality. But then, not all MobileMe features are equally important to all users. If you plan to use only e-mail and Web hosting, for example, it’s hard to justify spending $99 on the service. However, if you use most of its features or don’t want to register for, install, learn, and configure products from a variety of vendors to get most of the same features, MobileMe is a bargain.
Mike Cassidy, San Jose Mercury News
Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker
Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider
Apple's open, third party iOS ecosystem is enabling retailers to build mobile point of sale devices based on the iPod touch independently of the EasyPay solution used in its own retail stores, with new retail applications of the iPad also in progress.
Jonny Evans, Computerworld
Mac OS X contains many shortcuts, special keyboard combinations you can exercise to make things happen, but unless you make the effort to learn them there's no guarantee you'll recall the one you need at the time you most need it. Fear no more: there's ways to make finding shortcuts easier. Bring out your inner power user
Erica Sadun, TUAW
This post isn't about how the iPhone saved one guy's life after the Haiti Earthquakes. Here's how iPad applications can fix your workday with simple, helpful solutions that will free you from the laptop and live "la vida tablet." We've got five real world scenarios, including the iPad apps that will be there for you.
Dan Frakes, Macworld
With Neu running, whenever you’re working in a Finder window, you can use Neu in one of five ways to create a new document.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
If you buy your own CDs, ripping audiobooks is simple, but you’ll likely want to do so differently from the way you rip music. You won’t want to use the same import settings, because spoken word recordings don’t need the same audio quality as music.
Katie Marsal, AppleInsider
Apple has silently removed the compact wired keyboard from its online store. The product is no longer available for purchase, and it cannot be selected as an option when configuring a new Mac.
Mauricio Longo, iPad Watcher
I already knew that some people get iPhone withdrawal, but it hadn’t really occurred to me that the same would be true of the iPad, as the iPhone seems to be even a bit more personal as you can always have it in your pocket.
TJ Luoma, TUAW
Apple has made it clear from day one that the App Store is "curated" according to its standards, and included in those standards is a clear message that attacking religion is off-limits.
Adam Hartley, TechRadar
The new tune, from Jackson's posthumous record, Michael, represents Apple's latest attempt to kickstart Ping, which has got off to something of a slow start since launch back in September.
David Quilty, TUAW
Apple's latest iPad commercial, "iPad Is Amazing", is touting iOS 4.2's new features including AirPrint, AirPlay, multitasking, and folders. Seemingly trying to reign in some of those holiday shoppers, this new ad definitely offers up something for everyone in the family.
Stephanie Kent, Macworld
Aspiring pages, knights and wizards: rejoice! Majesty 2: Fantasy Kingdom Sim, an epic real-time strategy game set in a high fantasy world, has finally arrived on the Mac.
Topher Kessler, CNET
Dan Gilgoff, CNN
A coalition of conservative Christian leaders blasted Apple on Wednesday for discontinuing an app the group had created because the technology giant said the app was offensive.
Colson and two other declaration drafters sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Monday asking that the app be reinstated. In an interview, Colson said that if the quiz was considered offensive, he would have it removed.
Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal
Overall, Apple TV is a reasonably priced, well-designed device. It is especially attractive for viewing videos and photos from your computers, and Apple devices, on your TV. But it doesn't deliver most Internet video sources, or even all online network programs.
Topher Kessler, CNET
There are four main libraries in OS X that serve similar but different purposes, and if you have a font or other item you would like to install, placing them in these different libraries may have different effects on the system.
Thomas Boyd, Mac Create
Here’s why, Aperture has the ability to allow a user to browse, adjust, and export before all of the images are done copying off the card.
Milind Alvares, Smoking Apples
Most of the tasks we use the computer for remain the same. You can’t type faster than *any* computer. The iBook ran MS Office just fine, it ran Safari just fine, and email worked perfectly. If it did so much back then, why not make it do all that today?
MacNN
Erica Ogg, CNET
David Chartier, Macworld
RapidWeaver sits comfortably in the space between drag-and-drop Website creation, like Apple’s iWeb, and everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink suites like Adobe’s Dreamweaver. While it is based around themed Website templates and provides no direct access to your site’s code, you can customize many behavioral aspects of your sites, install a wide variety of officially supported add-ons and themes, and add things like reusable text snippets and Website traffic analytics.
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
I’ve made videos in previous versions of iMovie, but none have turned out so good as with iMovie 9. If you’ve ever wondered when you should jump in and start making movies, this is it.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Joe Aimonetti, CNET
Tests conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks confirmed that Apple has included support for the Network Controlled Fast Dormancy technology developed by Nokia to reduce network congestion and improve battery life in iOS 4.2.1.
The NCFD technology works by keeping smartphones in a perpetual "intermediate state" and "makes the network and the handset work together to create the best conditions for smartphones to work quickly, yet have a long battery life and minimize network congestion."
Neil Hughes, AppleInsider
A newly filed lawsuit claims that Apple's MagSafe charger, attached to a 2007 MacBook Pro, caused a major fire at a Connecticut home.
The Star
Could the secret be in its simplicity and intuitive user-interface? The iPad does not try to equal a portable computer, and anyone who can operate a smartphone can use it. The iPad does not intimidate most people the way computers do.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360
If there is one thing every Mac user with a browser needs, it’s to use RSS to browse web sites. It’s the killer way to view more sites in less time.
David Dahlquist, Macworld
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Asian technology company PhotoFast announced one of the first replacement SSDs for Apple's new, slimmer MacBook Airs shortly after the ultraportable notebooks were announced in October. However, Apple has asked the company to stop all production of the upgrades, which used much faster controllers than those in Apple's official SSDs.
Jonny Evans, Computerworld
I'd hate the App Store team to begin to allow/disallow titles on anything other than clearly explained and expressed pre-known guidelines.
Farhad Manjoo, Slate
The basic idea of disposable computing is to separate your data from your machine—to make all of your stuff easy to move and access.
Simon Royal, Low End Mac
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.