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David Chartier, Macworld
Sebastian Anthony, Switched
WebKit2, rather than being a whole new rendering engine, is a layer around WebKit that adds more stability, security and speed -- not entirely unlike the Google Chrome sandbox, which is also strapped onto a version of WebKit. The most exciting feature of WebKit2 is that it splits the browser UI and the rendered content into separate processes. It's possible that each tab will have its own process, too, like Chrome.
AppleInsider
AppleInsider
Apple has enhanced its Font Book app for managing installed font faces, and has added a new Emoji font commonly used in chat to express ideograms.
AppleInsider
While Lion continues a trend toward user interface simplicity, it's still getting powerful new features. Among the improvements to the Finder are new search suggestions for refining queries, as well as ways to view items the file system.
Arnold Kim, MacRumors
Federico Viticci, MacStories
AppleInsider
In Mac OS X Lion Apple has integrated Spotlight search features with Quick View for previewing results, allowing users to see documents and metadata inline while performing a search.
David Morgenstern, ZDNet
According to an Apple support note released Friday, the new MacBook Pro models and the recently refreshed MacBook Air won’t support Windows XP and Windows Vista.
AppleInsider
Apple has added support for Yahoo Messenger to Mac OS X Lion's iChat app, reportedly enabling text, voice and video chat over Yahoo's instant messenger protocol.
Bill Husted, Ventura County Star
Jeanne Carstensen, New York Times
Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” a provocative monologue that challenges Apple Computer over labor conditions in the factories in China where the iPhone and other devices are produced, ends a successful run at Berkeley Repertory Theater today.
But Mr. Daisey is only beginning a long conversation about what he called “a charged ethical dilemma that is literally in our pockets.”
Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS
You can read 1,000 articles about the new Thunderbolt input/output bus in Apple’s latest revision to MacBook Pro laptops, and the new revelations from Apple about Mac OS X Lion. But via Twitter, I discovered that many people are unaware of or concerned about certain features close to their heart. From online sources and a briefing with Apple last week, I can provide some reassurance.
James Galbraith, Macworld
The benchmark results for Apple's latest MacBook Pros are in—and they’re impressive. In testing conducted by Macworld Lab, the laptops released Thursday turned in Speedmark scores between 13 and 53 percent faster than the systems they replace.
Prince McLean, AppleInsider
AppleInsider
The latest developer release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion excludes support for Rosetta (used to run PowerPC code on Intel Macs), Front Row, and Oracle's Java runtime, although Apple includes a mechanism to automatically download an updated Java runtime for Lion.
Prince McLean, AppleInsider
The command now launches a simple new app titled System Information, which provides an Overview panel linking to both Software Updates and a hardware System Report (which launches the existing System Profiler for more detailed information).
AppleInsider
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
I’m a belt-and-suspenders guy when it comes to backups. All this began one day in the mid-1990s, when I lost a day’s work on my PowerBook 100. From that day on, I have been extremely prudent about how I protect my data, and I currently use a multi-pronged backup approach, and even use multiple backups for important data.
TJ Luoma, TUAW
Robert McMillan, Computerworld
Sophos hasn't seen the Trojan used in any online attacks -- it's more a bare-bones, proof-of-concept beta program right now -- but the software is pretty easy to use, and if a criminal could find a way to get a Mac user to install it, or write attack code that would silently install it on the Mac, it would give him remote control of the hacked machine.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
When should you buy software from the Mac App Store, and when should you buy directly from the developer? Here is a list of what needs to be considered when you're buying new Mac software.
Michael Rose, TUAW
Apple's not saying yet, but the machines based on these 32-bit Intel CPUs may not have the horsepower or addressable memory space to support Lion, or Apple may be pushing towards a full 64-bit OS and kernel (which might cause some issues for hardware drivers and peripherals). In any event, if you've got a first-generation Intel Mac that's more than four and a half years old, you may be staying with 10.6 Snow Leopard (or Leopard or Tiger, for that matter, if you haven't updated).
Ben Camm-Jones, Macworld UK
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
It’s clear that Apple’s decision to merge the client and server versions of Mac OS X into a single installer is a strong statement that the company wants more people to use the server software. At a time when Apple has stopped selling its high-end Xserve and focused only on the Mac mini server, combining the two versions of Mac OS X shows that the server software is intended to work on any Mac.
David Chartier, Macworld
When Lion arrives, the Mac might begin to resemble some aspects of Apple’s simpler, more streamlined OS that’s designed for mobile devices. But that’s only because they are fundamentally good ideas that can polish a full-featured desktop platform and make it even easier to use, without sacrificing any of the power and flexibility that brought users to the platform to begin with.
Arnold Kim, MacRumors
In Mac OS X Lion references to Resolution Independence has been replaced with a new system that could pave the way for these super high resolution "Retina" monitors.
Andy Ihnatko's Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA)
The Lion discussion had a consistent theme: there are a lot of iPad concepts that translate nicely to the desktop. Silly people have mused on that idea and imagined that Mac OS X would inevitably turn into a tablet-style, multitouch OS, if it even continued to exist at all. But when Apple talks about bringing iOS features to the desktop, they’re just referring to features that make the iPad slightly more awesome, like remote-nuking a stolen computer, and being able to close an app without having to spend five minutes closing all of its windows and saving its data.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
MacNN
The South China Morning Post is reporting that the first of two planned Hong Kong stores will open before the end of the year. The first store is described as a 15,000 square-foot store in the IFC Mall in Central, while the second store will be an even larger 20,000 square feet in Hysan Place in Causeway Bay, which is expected to open in the third quarter of 2012, according to the paper.
Leander Kahney, Cult Of Mac
It’s another example of the influence of iOS on OS X.
Elinor Mills, CNET
Apple not only released a preview of its next operating system, Mac OS X Lion, to developers today, the company is also giving it to security experts for review.
Mike Schramm, TUAW
Dan Gallagher, Wall Street Journal
Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider
At a press conference earlier this morning, Intel offered additional information about its new Thunderbolt interconnect technology being pioneered by Apple in its latest batch of MacBook Pros, noting Apple will have a year long head start in deploying the technology.
Dan Frakes, Dan Moren, Macworld
Dan Ackerman, CNET
Sam Oliver, AppleInsider
Apple on Thursday removed the $99 MobileMe product from its online store and notified resellers that it has discontinued the retail box for its cloud-based syncing product, suggesting the company is prepared to launch a rumored overhaul of the service.
Peter Cohen, The Loop
Features of the new Lion Server include easier Mac server setup, providing local and remote administration for users and groups, push notifications, Time Machine backups, Virtual Private Network (VPN) settings, and more.
Michael Rose, TUAW
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Registered Mac Developer Program members can get Lion directly from the Mac App Store. The final version of Lion will be available to everyone this summer, according to Apple.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Leading the new feature charge is AirDrop, which sounds like a Dropbox alternative. In press materials announcing the developer release, Apple describes AirDrop as “a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup.”
Another new feature called Versions promises to automatically save successive versions of a document as that document is created, which Apple says will make it easier to revert to previous versions of a file. That feature seemingly dovetails nicely with AutoSave, which automatically saves documents as you work.
Dan Moren, Macworld
The new versions feature a new series of Intel processors, updated graphics cards, and a new connectivity standard dubbed Thunderbolt.
Co-developed with Intel (which calls the technology LightPeak), Thunderbolt has two bi-directional channels that can transfer data at up to 10Gbps each. The port supports a variety of difference protocols, including PCI Express, FireWire, USB, and Gigabit Ethernet, meaning you’ll be able to connect different devices (presumably, along with an adapter). In addition, it carries DisplayPort and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI, and VGA video formats. Apple expects Thunderbolt to adopted widely as a new standard for input and output.
Joe Wilcox, AppAdvice
The application brings HD video calling to “supported Macs,” and will come preinstalled on new MacBook Pro laptops.
Philip Michaels, Macworld
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Apple revealed during its annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday that the huge data center it has been building in North Carolina will finally come online this spring. The data center, which at 500,000 square feet is five times the size of Apple's current Newark, California data center, will be used to support iTunes and MobileMe services.
John Murrell, Wall Street Journal
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
If you like to go to sleep or wake up to your favorite tunes, you’ll find it’s an excellent program to have.
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
The Federal Trade Commission will investigate Apple's marketing of iOS games with in-app purchases to children. The decision comes after a wave of complaints about kids running up huge bills on their parents' iTunes accounts. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz acknowledged in a letter to US Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) that the FTC shares his concern over the phenomenon, saying the Commission would dig deeper into it.
"Companies shouldn’t be able to use Smurfs and snowflakes and zoos as online ATMs pulling money from the pockets of unsuspecting parents," Markey said in a statement accompanying his letter.
Roman Loyola, Macworld
Though you probably don’t want to primarily rely on the Backup software, if you have MobileMe, the software is available to you, and you can use it in addition to Time Machine and any other backup method, such as disk cloning or saving to a cloud service. Read more about what you can and can’t do with Backup.
Andy Ihnatko's Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA)
Overall, I’m expecting a “refresh” rather than a reboot of the iPad. I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a price drop, either. Nothing dramatic…but even a $49 drop on the cheapest iPad would inflict an amount of pressure on both new, competing tablets and ebook readers that would be geometrically greater than the amount of effort Apple would need to spend to make it happen.
Derrick Story, Macworld
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
In some cases, you may not want to rip CDs with iTunes: you may want to rip to formats that iTunes doesn’t support, such as FLAC; you may want to make an “accurate” rip; you may want to rip CDs using a database other than the Gracenote database that iTunes accesses to get information about your music; or you may want to rip audiobooks. Here are some reasons why you might want to rip differently.
Garett Sloan And Kaja Whitehouse, New York Post
Apple investors are on track to vote down a proposal that would force the tech giant to reveal its succession plan, sources told The Post.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac 360
On every new Mac I install Default Folder. It’s a Mac app that extends the functions in the dialog boxes. There are four notable functions that make using Default Folder a pleasure, even for experienced Mac users.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac 360
Jackie Dove, Macworld
The new version of QuarkXPress—which will integrate the new App Studio and Blio e-reader design functionality in the package—will allow designers to publish directly to digital devices, notably the iPad and eventually other tablets, as well as to e-readers, smart phones, and other cross-media systems. Version 9 will also offer new design-automation features to assist in the production of multimedia documents and periodicals for print, Web, and interactive Flash (SWF) media.
Mel Beckman, InfoWorld
Tablets and cloud storage seem like a marriage made in heaven, but it takes third-party apps to bring them together.
Jonathan Seff, Macworld
New in the 1.1 software are the abilities to completely turn off the iPod (rather than just put it to sleep) and to control music or radio playback using the Sleep/Wake button.
Rob Beattie, Macworld UK
Bolstered by a wide range of innovative plug-ins, page types and customisable third-party themes, it lets you add your own custom HTML and CSS, making it suitable for creating a wide range of personal and business websites.
The PC Weenies
If you live and breathe G-mail like I do, you’ll find there’s a lot to love with Sparrow, particularly if you have multiple G-mail accounts.
Marco Arment
He only said that Apple didn’t create the subscriptions for SaaS apps, not whether SaaS apps can use them (are we prohibited from using them?), or whether we’re required to use them.
Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service
The iTunes Store allows people to gift content such as music to another user. A person can compile a list of up to 100 songs to gift to someone else, and the iTunes Store checks to see if the recipient already owns the content, wrote Andrew McAfee , principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
"This is done with good intentions -- to keep users from gifting music that the recipient already has -- but the implementation of this feature opens up privacy concerns: if the check reveals duplicates, iTunes tells the gifter about one of them," McAfee wrote.
Glenn Fleishman, Macworld
Derrick Story, Macworld
Over the course of six weeks I traveled by plane, cab, bus, and on foot with a 13-inch 2.13GHz MacBook Air in my camera backpack. I used it to edit photos, write articles, upload video, and manage my sites. The Air endured the same rigors of the road as my DSLR and backpack. And when the dust settled, I liked the Air more than ever.
William Porter, Macworld
Providing tips about printing in Bento may seem a bit impertinent. After all, unlike its big brother, FileMaker Pro, Bento isn't really designed for printing reports. It's built instead for storing and retrieving an individual user's data. If the tasks you are going to ask your database to perform require a lot of printing, you should consider using FileMaker Pro instead. But if Bento works great for you most of the time, and you want to know more about how to get the best printed output from it, then read on.
Arnold Kim, Macrumors
To this, Steve Jobs replied in his typically short and, unfortunately, somewhat vague response: "We created subscriptions for publishing apps, not SaaS apps."
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
While some publishers have bemoaned Apple's new rules regarding subscription based content, certain developers are starting to feel the pinch as well. Arc90, developer of the Readability Web service, has taken Apple to task for rejecting Readability's native iOS client on the grounds that it doesn't abide by the new subscription rules. Keyone Productions, maker of TinyGrab, has also decided to not even finish developing its iOS app, claiming Apple's rules are so confounding that it is impossible for the company to make an "acceptable" app.
Marco Arment
The discussion shouldn’t be whether Apple can enforce this policy, but whether they should. And if you look at what this does to developer relations, big and small, it’s easier to argue that this is likely to result in more harm than good to the iOS platform.
Kelly Guimont, TUAW
Financial Times
More than 69 per cent of companies in the S&P 500 have already adopted majority voting. So why should Apple, whose board includes a notable supporter of responsible governance in former vice-president Al Gore, say no?
Dave Greenbaum, GigaOM
Apple takes 30% of the revenue from an in-app purchase, but deserves at least 70% of the blame for this ongoing problem.
Omaha Sternberg, Mac Life
The puzzles might seem too easy at times, and the content a little light, but the characters, story, and voice acting make up for it all.
Glenn Fleishman, Macworld
MindNode from Markus Müller brings mind mapping to all iOS devices, letting you create maps with tap-and-type simplicity.
And Now It's All This
Peter Bright, Ars Technica
Apple should do the decent thing and ban GPL software, too. The company presently reaps rewards from allowing GPL-licensed software in the App Store, even though the company has no intention of complying with the terms of that license. Microsoft's stance may not be the pragmatic one. But it's the right one.
Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice
I’m happy the problem was resolved, even though I’m still unsure what was actually causing it.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
Peter Wayner, InfoWorld
Daniel Beck, Macworld
Asher Moses, Sydney Morning Herald
Consumer group Choice has chastised Apple over its Australian iTunes Store pricing after an analysis revealed Australians pay almost 50 per cent more than Americans for a basket of music tracks and apps.
Choice says Apple is using its "market power" to charge users in Australia more but Apple says comparing different countries using currency conversions is not relevant.
Isaiah Carew
1. A developer may not injure Apple or, through inaction, allow Apple to come to harm.
Bonobo
Andy Ihnatko, Macworld
Every once in a while, Apple should let its designers make something crazy.
Dick Eastman
Apple Gazette
Apple focuses heavily on battery life on every mobile product it sells so much so the company took a new approach to the age-old design of batteries. But what if your MacBook isn’t hitting the 8+ hours of use touted by Apple? Here’s a fix.
Brent Simmons, Inessential
Dan Frakes, Macworld
From planning your trip to finding your way from Adventureland to Tomorrowland, a number of iOS apps can help you squeeze every last minute of enjoyment out of a trip to the Magic Kingdom. I discovered as much the other week when my family—which includes two young children this time around—visited Disneyland armed with an iPhone and a few relevant apps.
Loretta Chao, Wall Street Journal
The company is planning to open a new store–it’s biggest in China–on Shanghai’s famous Nanjing Road, an Apple spokeswoman has confirmed to China Real Time after news of the plan appeared in Thursday’s Beijing Youth Daily.
Apple has previously said it plans to open 25 stores in China this year, but Ron Johnson, the company’s senior vice-president of retail, said the plan to open bigger stores may set this schedule back.
Charles Moore, Low End Mac
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
Liang Jun, People's Daily
Apple will open its fifth retail store in Shanghai this summer, said Ron Johnson, senior vice president of retail operations at Apple Inc. on Thursday.
Apple now has 323 retail stores worldwide and 87 out of them are outside the United States. The four stores in China have both the largest flow of customers and the highest revenue in the world.
Dan Frakes, Macworld
Given its minimalist, device-matching design; stability; and reasonable price (compared to similar accessories we’ve seen), it’s easy to recommend the MagicWand. For those who wish Apple made a Wireless Keyboard with a built-in Magic Trackpad, the MagicWand gives you the next best thing.
Jason Snell, Macworld
Anonymous, Popular Mechanics
We aren't paid on commission, but you fear for your job if you're not selling enough. We're supposed to sell AppleCare product support with just about everything, and honestly, those aren't that hard to sell, since they aren't a bad deal. But we're also supposed to push MobileMe, and that's really hard to sell. Nobody ever sells it.
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
Glenn Fleishman, Macworld
While the advent of digital cameras has made it easier for photographers to protect and back up their images, you still need a plan. By augmenting your photo collection's physical backup with one or several of the following online systems, you can keep your memories intact.
Nat Ives, Advertising Age
But publishers participating are saying the same thing. "This is a work in progress," Mr. Guelton said. "I don't think this is something that is set in stone either for us or for Apple. I'd rather work with them to improve it over time than just sit on the sidelines."
Eugenia Loli-Queru, OS News
Right now, users like me are just sitting with devices resembling semi-bricks. If developers, and especially the Apple engineers, don't get more careful about how they mark compatible their apps, our devices will get more and more app problems as time goes by. As I said in the beginning, it's one thing to stop updating the firmware or apps of older models, and another thing breaking official apps by forcing updates that are not compatible.
John Biggs, CrunchGear
Topher Kessler, CNET
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld
Jumsoft’s Relationship is a good application for organizing and keeping track of the many disparate and often disorganized pieces that come into play as a part of any project. But, while it’s designed to be a Customer Relationship Manager, it doesn’t really offer any of the tools necessary to manage that relationship and, while it’s designed to effectively organize all the pieces or a project, it lacks the tools necessary to effectively manage a project.
Bob Tedeschi, New York Times
Dave Caolo, TUAW
In an interesting move, Warner Brothers has released two movies as apps -- including extras -- semi-skirting the iTunes Store. The idea is to offer movies to customers who live in countries without movie sales via iTunes.
Josh Lowensohn, CNET
The digital software storefront, which launched just last month, is now home to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Connector software. This is the application that lets Mac users sync up their iTunes and iPhoto libraries with Windows Phone 7 devices. It's also the way Mac users will be able to update the system software on their phones when Microsoft pushes out its first big update next month.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Maria Korolov, Network World
Andrew Webster, Ars Technica
Developers and publishers will always try to get away with selling clones and copycat games. But it's disturbing just how easy it appears to be to release these types of games in Apple's App Stores—even when there's already a nearly identical game on the service with the same name and same visuals. Sometimes Apple takes these games down, sometimes not. But how they are put up for sale in the first place is the real problem.
Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
Topher Kessler, CNET
Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider
In newly revised App Review Guidelines, revised since first being issued last September, Apple added a new bullet point:
"If you attempt to cheat the system (for example, by trying to trick the review process, steal data from users, copy another developer's work, or manipulate the ratings) your apps will be removed from the store and you will be expelled from the developer program."
Topher Kessler, CNET
OS X and its included programs are fully localized to a variety of common languages, allowing for full translation of the OS to these languages right out of the box. Language preferences can be set up in the Language & Text system preferences if not done when the initial OS X setup assistant runs, and should work when the system is next started; however, sometimes odd problems may happen with the incorrect language showing in some situations.
David Carnoy, CNET
Rhapsody, has finally braved Apple's wrath and issued a statement saying Apple's new arrangement was "economically untenable." And while it didn't threaten legal action, it certainly hinted at it.
Nicholas Kolakowski, eWeek
Apple claims it commissioned an independent “team of suicide-prevention experts” to survey Foxconn workers about their quality of life, a process that apparently involved interviewing those workers separately from their managers, as well as reviewing the factory’s living conditions.
“The independent team suggested several areas for improvement, such as better training of hotline staff and care center counselors and better monitoring to ensure effectiveness,” the report continues. “Foxconn incorporated the team’s specific recommendations into their long-term plans for addressing employee well-being.”
Matthew Moskovciak, CNET
Darrell Etherington, GigaOM
By expanding the availability of in-app purchasing to more application types, Apple could usher in new revenue models for apps offering online gaming, tiered customer support, in-app currency, premium content and software-as-a-service (SaaS).
AlBlue’s Blog
Tyler Tschida, AppAdvice
As of this very moment, Popular Science+, Elle, and Nylon for iPad are the first apps to be updated with in-app subscriptions. Apple has actually gone so far as highlighting all three apps in the iPad App Store with subtitles that simply state “subscribe now.”
Michael Rose, TUAW
Dan Frakes, Macworld
MacDropAny gives you two Mac-friendly ways of creating a symbolic link for a folder you want Dropbox to sync.
John Paczkowski, Wall Street Journal
Apple’s new subscription plan has a compliance deadline. June 30, according to a memo sent to publishers earlier this year.
Dan Knight, Low End Mac
Social Apples
Since using the greenpois0n jailbreak, I have been unable to open some of my iBooks that I rightfully purchased from the iBook Store.
Ron McElfresh, Mac360
Smoovie is so simple to use that even children can get in on the action and create simple, animated scenes and movies within minutes using an inexpensive point and shoot digital camera.
Gregory Ferenstein, Fast Company
Apple’s iPad received glowing marks for its performance in college classrooms from the eagerly anticipated Reed College evaluation, according to a new report shared with Fast Company. The iPad’s smooth interface kept up with the lighting-quick pace of college lectures, helping it to overcome the very same gauntlet that killed the Kindle’s hope of education dominance a year earlier. Most importantly, the report predicts an explosion of opportunity for both Apple software developers and tablet competitors.
David Chartier, Macworld
Subscriptions for iOS apps will work much the same way as we’ve already seen with The Daily. Publishers can charge subscriptions on a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or yearly basis, and customers can sign up via in-app purchases that get automatically billed and renewed on their iTunes accounts. With this method, Apple takes 30 percent of subscription fees.
Publishers are also free to make their subscriptions available outside of their apps, say, via their own Websites and to existing subscribers of a print edition. If customers sign up that way, publishers get to keep 100 percent of their subscription fees. However, publishers are not allowed to provide in-app links to let customers sign up outside their apps, and Apple stipulates that in-app subscription prices remain either the same or less than their counterpart offers.
Joe White, AppAdvice
Daniel Beck, Macworld
Josh Helfferich, TUAW
This nifty little tool will help you to eat up all of the junk that's clogging up your Mac's precious hard drive space. It visualizes the contents of each of your drives in a really intuitive way: Item squares that scale dynamically based on how large items are in relation to the parent folder or drive. This means that it's a perfect app for finding out which artist is taking up all that space in your iTunes folder, or which game is causing your Mac to run low on resources.
Federico Viticci, MacStories
The hack revolves around Mobile Safari, Dropbox, the free web service Send to Dropbox and folder actions for OS X.
Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice
Aza Raskin, Co.Design
It was written in reaction to Steve Jobs taking over managing hardware development. Reading through it, I was struck by a number of the core principals Apple now holds that were set in play three years before the Macintosh was released. Much of this is particularly important in understanding Apple's culture and why we have the walled-garden experience of the iPhone, iPad, and the App Store.
John Paczkowski, Wall Street Journal
The consumer market has evolved into a de facto evangelist for Apple in enterprise, a lucky development for the company, which is uniquely positioned to benefit from it.
Nick Peers, Beta News
Its main functionality is accessible from the green maximize window button: click and hold the mouse on there and you'll see a tiny pop-up window appear with a host of options. These are designed to allow you to work with two or four windows visible at once: just choose the appropriate option to resize and pin the window to a corner or edge of the screen.
Jay Yarow And Matt Rosoff, Business Insider
Apple found underage workers in 10 of the 127 supplier factories it audited in 2010, according to a supplier responsibility study it just released. The company also discovered "involuntary labor," bribery, and unsafe working conditions, and addressed last year's suicides at supplier Foxconn.
Danny Gallagher, Macworld
Jung-Ah Lee, Dow Jones
Apple Inc. is expected to purchase components used for its handheld devices from Samsung Electronics Co. worth about $7.8 billion this year, the Korea Economic Daily reported Monday, citing industry sources.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360
My favorite little add on App for Mac users with clutter disorder is HyperDock. If you use the Mac’s Dock, you will like this app.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
With the free Google Calendar, I found a scheduling solution that lets me keep myself organized, continue using the iOS Calendar app, give my family and coworkers easy access to my availability, and easily add new appointments from anywhere. Here’s how I set things up.
Apple
(Note: Link goes to a PDF document.)
Michael Gartenberg, Macworld
Apple’s approach is simple. It’s an honor thing. The company believes that, given the choice, people will do the right thing. It also understands that anti-piracy techniques don’t stop pirates, but they do get in the way of honest users.
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Ben Harvell, TechRadar
Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac
Casey Johnston, Ars Technica
Most of these symbols indicate only that the iPhone has received approval to use the various frequency spectrums reserved for mobile and wireless communications and that it has passed various safety checks. We dove into hundreds of pages of regulations to see what the iPhone's various tramp stamps mean.
Andy Ihnatko, Macworld
If Apple were to crossbreed their two most important products of the past ten years, the offspring couldn’t help but be interesting. Go to your local zoo and check out the long, long lines to see the Tigraffe if you doubt it.
Michael E. Cohen, TidBITS
Naturally, your mileage may vary, but the cost of the charger is certainly comparable to the cost of batteries à la carte, and the convenience of never having to swap batteries again is definitely attractive.
Frank Rosario And Todd Venezia, New York Post
The Apple tablets come loaded with apps that let guests communicate with the concierge, order room service, schedule spa treatments or shut off the lights.
David Chartier, Macworld
A handful are finding ways to help users make the transition from the software they’ve already bought to the versions available via the Mac App Store. It’s an encouraging turn of events, but one that’s unlikely to sweep its way across the Mac platform. For some developers, the methods for moving their existing customers to the Mac App Store simply aren’t tenable.
Macworld
James Galbraith, Macworld
Time Machine backs up your system settings, documents, and applications, making it easy to not only recover from a failed hard disk, but also to migrate these files to a new computer, or to a hard drive that’s faster or has more capacity. Here’s how to restore your data from Time Machine.
Peter Cohen, The Loop
Josh Ong, AppleInsider
Trevor Sheridan, AppAdvice
The squishiness of everything in the game really makes it a gaming experience unlike any other, and makes it fun to watch and play. The visuals are finely polished, and the game is just oozing with personality with its goofy cartoon style. The great Jelly Car soundtrack with multiple enjoyable tunes is back again.
Federico Viticci, MacStories
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Joe White, AppAdvice
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica
Our impression of Sparrow is that it's smooth, intuitive, and quick. It works great for both low- and high-volume e-mail users, especially for those accustomed to Gmail.
Jay Hathaway, Switched
Tony Bradley, PC World
DataMan lets you set your billing date, and thresholds for daily, weekly, or monthly data consumption with alerts configured to warn you as you approach the thresholds. The reports breakdown in ten minute increments when and how your data was used—cellular vs. Wi-Fi.
John C. Welch, Macworld
Danny Gallagher, Macworld
Scott McNulty, Macworld
TimePreserver does exactly what it promises, creating a fully restorable copy of each Time Machine backup stored on a Time Capsule. I do wish the program allowed you to selectively archive backups in cases where you have multiple Macs backing up to the same Time Capsule. Support for other NAS-based Time Machine backup solutions would also be welcome. Putting aside these minor quibbles, however, TimePreserver is a fantastic addition to any Time Capsule owner’s backup strategy.
Jeff Merron, Macworld
Browser works around Flash restrictions with mixed success.
Jay J. Nelson, Macworld
QuickMatch lets you explore your font collection to find fonts that look similar to a selected font—a tremendously helpful feature for people who are new to choosing fonts, as well as for deadline-driven designers who have more fonts than they can remember.
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld
While it doesn't provide the depth of features that programs such as Moneywell or iBank do, CheckBook Pro is sufficient to meet your basic personal finance needs. Smart folders and basic reporting options offer you enough detail to get a good idea of what your financial situation is, although, even with just a little effort, you can probably use your favorite spreadsheet application to get the same or better information.
Martyn Williams, IDG News
The attack, which requires possession of the phone, targets keychain, Apple's password management system. Passwords for networks and corporate information systems can be revealed if an iPhone or iPad is lost or stolen, said the researchers at the state-sponsored Fraunhofer Institute Secure Information Technology (Fraunhofer SIT).
It is based on existing exploits that provide access to large parts of the iOS file system even if a device is locked.
Duncan Graham-rowe, Technology Review
Sitting at home in front of the TV could soon become an altogether more sociable experience. A new iPhone app can identify the show you're watching just by analyzing a few seconds of audio, making it possible to automatically share your TV viewing choices with friends through Facebook and Twitter. It only does this when the app the user presses a button to activate it.
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Do in-app purchases take advantage of children and inadvertently cost parents way more money than they intended to spend? US Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) is worried that they do, and he has asked the Federal Trade Commission to look at the in-app purchase process offered by Apple and Google to see whether games that offer in-app purchases are unfairly marketed towards kids.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac 360
Adam Rosen, Low End Mac
Christopher Breen, Macworld
Charles Moore, Low End Mac
At this stage of the game it's your best (actually only) Mac OS dictation solution and a tool well worth having in your software suite.
Pavel Alpeyev And Yoshinori Eki, Bloomberg
Yusuke Ohki’s 2,000 books were crowding out his Tokyo apartment, so he scanned them all into an Apple Inc. iPad. Six months later the 28-year-old is running a 120-person start-up doing the same thing for customers.
Electronista
The most commonly inaccessible model is the 2.53GHz 15-inch Pro, even if its 17-inch equivalent may also sometimes be unavailable. 2.66GHz 13-inch systems are similarly being kept off of reservation lists, although this said to be less common than with the affected 15- and 17-inch notebooks.
Topher Kessler, CNET
David Chartier, Macworld
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop
Melissa Riofrio With Jim Galbraith, Jon L. Jacobi, McKinley Noble, And Alex Wawro, PC World
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld
One gripe you’ll hear about Pages ’09, Apple’s otherwise excellent word processing and page layout application, is that it provides little in the way of support for printing labels. But, while it’s true that Pages doesn’t ship with any built-in label templates, it’s actually easy to create and use standard labels using Pages.
David Quilty, TUAW
The new version from omz:software offers syncing with Google Reader, drag and drop feed arrangement, tabbed browsing and thumbnail previews, just as any good feed reader should.
Daniel Jalkut, Red Sweater
For me, I decided that the compromise is to provide, for those MAS customers who want it, full access to the direct-download versions of my software. Today, any customer who buys a MAS edition of my applications will find that, after running that edition at least once, they are automatically authorized to run direct-download versions of the app from that time forward.
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
The quickest way to find a CD in a pile of jewel cases is by looking for its familiar cover. Similarly, you can use Cover Flow in iTunes to scroll through your songs and albums, and iOS devices let you flick through your music in Cover Flow view with your fingertip. Album art is both useful and decorative; it’s much nicer to see your music with cover art than the boring, default gray musical note graphic. Here’s how to find, add and work with album art in iTunes.
Jesse Dungan, Palo Alto Daily News
Apple intends to raze the old Liddicoat's building at 340 University Ave. in downtown Palo Alto and build a showcase store featuring an arched, all-glass roof and a front wall of glass and stones, according to modified plans filed with the city.
Alexander Vaughn, AppAdvice
They had the chance to update the design, and did, but without much of an effect. The conspiracy theorists will say they kept the issue on purpose, to avoid admitting to the problem. Yet, it seems like the only truth is that squizing your iPhone.
Alexander Vaughn, AppAdvice
Rik Myslewski, The Register
I certainly wouldn't advise using it as the basis for any attempt at meaningful communication with someone with whom you share no linguistic common ground.
David Morgenstern, ZDNet
Previously, Apple accepted returns without a restocking fee if the item was returned within two weeks but unopened. Now, there’s no restriction on opening the box.
Steven Sande, TUAW
Fortunately for anyone using an iOS device, the answer was what I expected -- there is no differentiation between the AT&T and Verizon versions of the TeleNav app other than the obvious changes that were made to product branding and a few features. I was happy to see that TeleNav went out of their way to clarify the kerfuffle, and Kendrick has been able to update his post to reflect the new reality.
AppleBitch
With the advent of the Mac App Store and, with Apple reportedly looking to make the move away from boxed retail software, Time Machine takes on a whole new level of importance for those who need it.
Keoni Chavez, Mac Life
Voila from Smith Micro is a one-stop solution for grabbing everything from simple screens to video, and it has some handy features that elevate it far beyond your Mac’s stock capture tools.
2D Boy
There is nothing all that remarkable to tell about the development of World of Goo for iPad, but this being our first App Store title, the month leading up to launch and the month that followed were very interesting times, as we gathered information and lessons about the App Store market that we hope will be of use to other developers.
Katie Marsal, AppleInsider
BBC
The European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA) says it is concerned by the company's plans to direct online sales through iTunes. If that happens, the ENPA warns, a large cut of their profits would go to Apple.
I fail to see how Apple has a monopoly on selling newspaper.
Jonny Evans, Computerworld
Apple has in one move created the world's biggest online store for immediate gratification in desktop and notebook computing, and it is generating cash for those developers lucky enough to be featured within Apple's operation.
Jeff Porten, TidBITS
First, for two bucks I’ve just purchased a hearing aid which works damned well. Second, nearly everyone I encounter has an iPhone, iPod touch, Android gizmo, or similar device that can be used for this purpose; it might not be long before holding private conversations in public spaces might be a very bad idea. And it may have happened already.
Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice
Just a week after its splashy debut, Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily app for the iPad has received an update. While the update itself contains little more than bug fixes, how to install it is worth noting.
David Chartier, Macworld
Google Translate allows you to speak a word or phrase in one language and see or hear the result in another.
Danny Gallagher, Macworld
If you’re one of the .000001 percent of modern society who is still calculating your hyperbolic and inverse hyperbolic trig functions with a plastic hunk of mathematics’ past, Vicinno Soft can help you join the rest of the 21st century with its 15C Scientific Calculator app, now available in the Mac and iPad App Stores.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
David Chartier, Macworld
Whether I need to share a quick screenshot with a vendor's tech-support rep, crop a photo for a Macworld story, or make a lame attempt at a Cheezburger submission, I've found Skitch to be perhaps the fastest and most frictionless way to capture, annotate, and share photos and screenshots.
Cecilia Kang, Washington Post
Over the winter break from school, 8-year-old Madison worked to dress up her simple mushroom home on the iPhone game Smurfs' Village. In doing so, she also amassed a $1,400 bill from Apple.
Meghan McDonough, Laptop Magazine
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
Daniel Beck, Macworld
Tom Kaneshige, CIO
Doctors have fallen in love with the Apple iPad, becoming one of the biggest early adopters among professionals. They want iPads for personal use and to get their work done. It’s the latter that has healthcare IT staff scrambling to secure the devices.
The problem is that the iPad’s consumer-driven origins come into direct conflict with the nature of healthcare—namely, patient confidentiality and reliance on a few critical client-server apps.
Erica Sadun, TUAW
Zath
Beau Colburn, Macworld
Do you find yourself sending the same SMS messages to people over and over? Maybe it’s a quick note telling your wife you’re running late or a group message to a group of pals about where to watch the game. If so, Sky Balloon’s Canned may be very helpful.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
The Tennessean
"There's a real tradition (in our company) that the ideas come from everyone. Everyone's using iPads and before that iPods and iPhones, so no matter if they're engineers or marketers or whatever, they're using these devices and they come up with ideas. And anything that is a good idea will have its day."
Krishna Sadasivam, The PC Weenies
Witch brings proper window management to Mac OS X, and does it in an elegant, straight-forward manner. It’s a very powerful and customizable tool, and in my usage, Witch has really improved my productivity manyfold – I’m no longer wasting valuable time ping-ponging between virtual desktops to locate the proper window.
Craig Grannell, TechRadar
Nick Peers, Beta News
HyperDock 1.0 aims to fill in the gaps by bringing two of Windows 7's best features -- pop-up thumbnail previews of open windows and programs, and the ability to quickly and easily snap two windows side-by-side on-screen -- to the Mac desktop.
Lex Friedman, Macworld
Dan Frakes, Macworld
If you frequently take screenshots, Desktop Curtain 2 is ideal for staging those shots. It’s also great for helping you focus on a single program, hiding the rest of your onscreen clutter, and I’ve even used it when giving a presentation where I had to perform on-screen demos—I hid everything behind the curtain except what I wanted people to see. It’s quickly become part of my Mac toolbox.
Ted Landau, Macworld
Joel Mathis, Macworld
The Mac App Store’s carefully crafted reputation for raising the app walls high might be undermined with Thursday’s public allegations by Wolfire Games that Apple allowed another developer to pirate Wolfire’s game, Lugaru HD—and at a far lower price point.
Stephanie Kent, Macworld
Karl Hodge, Macworld UK
MacNews
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
Sarah Jacobsson, Macworld
What really sets The Stroke of Midnight apart from other hidden-object puzzle games is the atmosphere and the storyline. The puzzles may not win any brainteaser of the year awards, but the story and graphics really do draw you in.
Marco Arment
So we have a huge number of potential customers who are very comfortable installing a lot of apps and can buy ours by simply entering a password. Without app review, that market would be very different.
David Pogue, New York Times
Tyler Tschida, AppAdvice
Articles now includes the ability to search for specific words within an open article. You can do so by tapping the search icon in the top left corner of the search bar, or you can tap and hold on any word to initiate a pop-up menu — as you normally would when copying text — which allows you to search for that specific word or enter a different one.
Steven Sande, TUAW
Dan Moren, Macworld
John Gruber, Daring Fireball
Jennifer Saba, Brendan McDermid And Gabriel Madway, Reuters
A Reuters eyewitness saw what appeared to be a working model of the next iPad with a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass screen at a press conference to mark the debut of News Corp's Daily online paper in New York on Wednesday.
Jason Snell, Macworld
Dave Girard, Ars Technica
David Chartier, Macworld
The Daily—and soon other publications, according to Cue—can charge subscription fees for their content over a certain period, such as a week or month. These charges can be set up to auto-renew, with your iTunes account automatically being charged no more than 24 hours before the expiration date of your current subscription period. Your auto-renewal will be disabled, however, if a publication raises its subscription price. If you opt to begin paying for a subscription during a free trial, billing will begin immediately, not at the end of the trial period. And you’ll be able to manage all your subscriptions through a new section in your iTunes account.
Philip Michaels, Macworld
News Corp. on Wednesday took the wraps off The Daily, its national news publication built specifically for the iPad. The media giant is touting its new offering as the first national daily news publication built from the ground up for Apple’s tablet, while Apple is using The Daily’s introduction to usher in a new form of subscription billing for iOS apps.
Russell Adams, Wall Street Journal
Developers of magazine and newspaper apps have received notice from Apple Inc. that beginning on March 31, any app that does not take payments through its iTunes store will be rejected.
While the rule is not new, strict enforcement of it is. Apple’s push to crack down on developers may be a reflection of how important these revenues have become for Apple.
Kelly Hodgkins, TUAW
To work around these Sunday commerce restrictions, the Apple stores will be open for non-sale activities such as customer training sessions and Genius Bar visits.
Cecilia Kang, Washington Post
Tobias Egede Feldt started a Facebook page called "Ban Credit Card Bait Apps on Apple Appstore" two days ago after his two children, ages 4 and 6, downloaded the free game Smurf Village but racked up charges buying berries on the game. Games targeted to kids, particularly, should be more clearly labeled, he said.
Dave Caolo, TUAW
Coming as no surprise, Apple has issued a press release stating that the Verizon iPhone 4 will be available to qualified Verizon Wireless customers for pre-order on Thursday, February 3rd via the online Apple Store and Verizon Wireless online.
Forumwarz
In other words, after nine long weeks, Apple invented a policy to reject our game.
Why was it rejected? Because, apparently, Apple can’t take a joke.
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360
Jennifer Van Grove, Mashable
Smartr for iPhone, which comes from natural language processing startup Factyle, gathers all the tweets in your Twitter timeline and determines which of them have meaningful content. The app then fetches the web pages housed within tweets and optimizes the content — text, images and video — for iPhone.
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360
Yes, Perfect TablePlan is a one-trick pony, and not an app the average Mac user will need every day. But if you plan events and seating and guest tracking is important, this app is worth a look.
Karl Hodge, Macworld
Seashore’s not perfect. You’re stuck with GIMP’s workflow which demands that you create a new document at start-up. But, it’s a vast improvement over its parent and much better than many commercial budget tools.
Jason Snell, Macworld
But it turns out that Sony may have been a canary in the proverbial coal mine.
Dan Frakes, Macworld
Caffeine is useful when you’re watching a movie or online video, giving a presentation, or looking at a complex document: Instead of having to go to the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences to turn off all screen-dimming, screen-saver, and sleep options, you just click Caffeine’s systemwide menu-bar icon to activate a “sleepless” state.
David Chartier, Macworld
Dan Miller, Macworld
The updated app adds a couple of new features. It now supports cameras; if you have an iPhone 4, it'll use both front- and back-facing cameras, so you can take a picture of the perp as well as his surroundings. It uses push notifications, so you can send the miscreant a message. And you can set up an e-mail account to which all of the tracking details will be sent.
Topher Kessler, CNET
Topher Kessler, CNET
John Paczkowski, Wall Street Journal
Apple’s made no change to its App Store guidelines–it’s simply enforcing a rule that’s been in them all along: Apps that allow their users to purchase content, functionality or services must use Apple’s In App Purchase API. “We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines,” company spokesperson Trudy Muller told me. “We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.”
Which means Apple is either trying to boost its revenues–it will take a 30 percent cut of all transactions conducted on iOS devices–or it’s trying to make the iOS ecosystem much less pleasant for certain outsiders; note that Muller’s statement is specific to books.
Marco Tabini, Macworld
The intrepid Macworld staff has scoured the Internets to bring you five alternatives to Skype that will let you create a videoconference with your friends while still preserving the sanctity of your wallet. Some of the options are obvious ones, while others are a bit off the beaten path. In all cases, this article only focuses on applications and services that allow multiple users to be connected together in a videoconference, rather than just simple one-to-one conversations.
MG Siegler, TechCrunch
Here’s the thing: apps like this have actually never been allowed to sell their content within their apps. Instead, Amazon’s Kindle app dumps you out onto the web where you have to buy it. So there’s absolutely no difference there.
Now, if Apple were to block the Kindle app from recognizing content bought outside of iTunes (through Amazon) that would be a change of policy. And yes, that would be very annoying. But it’s simply not clear if that’s the case yet.
Adam Berenstain, Mac Life
Magic Launch brings the good old days back—with a twist. It’s a handy System Preferences pane that binds documents to their parent applications or to any app you choose, all according to flexible rules you can customize to suit your workflow.
Derek Thurn
John Boudreau, San Jose Mercury News
While Apple and Microsoft devotees sneer at each other in online posts, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates have sniped at each other in the past, scores of Apple and Microsoft engineers have for years worked together behind enemy lines.
Aza Raskin
No matter which space I am in, the keyboard shortcut to move to any other space is always the same.
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
That then is IDG World Expo’s continuing challenge: to figure out and provide the excuse for users—and companies—in the Apple space to get together once a year. I can’t speak for others, but for us, even beyond TidBITS coverage, Macworld Expo is a huge chance to business networking with sponsors, authors, service suppliers, and companies with whom we’ll work in the future. We would survive without that face time, but it’s so much more efficient to be able to meet with partners from all around the world over the course of a few days.
Todd Wasserman, Mashable
TidBITS
Face it, we can talk about how useful Macworld 2011 was in terms of education and business networking (and that’s true), but a huge part of the enjoyment of Macworld Expo is seeing cool new products. Or really strange products. Either way, here are our picks for the best, the worst, and the silliest products, and those things that just tickled our fancy in one way or another.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.