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Friday, September 30, 2011

Use Automator To Label Files From The Keyboard

Macworld

Analog 1.0

Lex Friedman, Macworld

Apple TV To Launch In 7 New European Countries Next Tuesday

Eric Slivka, MacRumors

iPhone 101: Using iOS Accessibility To Make Text Larger

Matt Tinsley, TUAW

Camera Plus Pro 4.0 Adds Live Filters And Shake-free Video Capture

Alexandra Chang, Macworld

Apple Removes Click-wheel Games From iTunes As iPod Classic Lives Its Last Days

Neil Hughes, AppleInsider

As Apple is rumored to discontinue its aging hard-drive-based iPod classic, the company has removed a section from the iTunes Store devoted to click-wheel games.

Widespread MobileMe Outage Affecting Mail, Me.com, And Find My iPhone

Eric Slivka, MacRumors

A number of Apple's MobileMe services appear to have been down for several hours now, and Apple's system status page indicates that the company is experiencing issues with MobileMe Mail, me.com web apps, and Find My iPhone.

Apple Tells Education: No More Boxed Software (Except Logic)

Jason D. O'Grady, ZDNet

Psystar Loses Appeal Against Apple

Corey Tamas, Macgasm

You may remember Psystar from the news of 2008, when Apple filed a suit against them for copyright infringement. Since then, Psystar’s appeal against the 2010 ruling against them has been shot down and this may well be the end of their story.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Apple Offers Thunderbolt Display Flicker Issue Fix

FairerPlatform

How To Make iTunes Play Music On A Daily Schedule

Wil Gomez, Mac360

Daypart is a Mac app that does just that. It plays iTunes playlists on a schedule. It’s not a feature everyone needs, but if you need it, you know it.

iTunes Music Store Goes Live In 12 New European Countries

Eric Slivka, MacRumors

Show Dates And Times In Mail's Message List

Dan Frakes, Macworld

Daily Mac App: Soulver

Megan Lavey-Heaton, TUAW

Soulver, which has billed itself in the past as a "plain English" calculator, has been around for the past few years as a complex calculator with a simple interface.

Apple Thunderbolt Display Teardown

iFixit

All in all, we were struck by the Thunderbolt Display’s ease of disassembly, and its 8 out of 10 repairability score reflects our admiration. But what did we find inside? Lots and lots of goodies that usually don’t come standard with an LCD monitor. Although monitors usually don’t cost as much as a laptop, either.

Control Multiple Macs With Teleport

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Teleport is extremely simple in what it does, although it uses some advanced technology to accomplish it: once installed in System Preferences, Teleport allows you to move your cursor (and keyboard) between multiple Macs. Teleport recognizes Macs “shared” on the same network, and through a system similar to Apple’s “hot corners” and based on Bonjour, it lets you “teleport” the mouse across screens.

Smarts 1.0 For iTunes

Dan Frakes, Macworld

For smart-playlist junkies, Smarts (Mac App Store, by Doug Adams of Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes fame, is a handy (and free!) utility that works with iTunes to provide a few of the smart-playlist features many people have long wished iTunes itself offered.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Polynomial - Space Of The Music

David Allen, Inside Mac Games

In terms of value and replayability, I would say this modestly-priced game scores very high if you are the kind of person who loves playing around with game settings - there are really almost infinite possibilities in terms of the visuals you can generate, and how the visual artifacts you create respond to music.

The game is very simple. There's only one kind of enemy, and one thing to do: kill them! If you love tweaking and modding, you could have endless fun with this game. There are as many possibilities in this game as there are songs in the whole world!

Easier Ways To Read Files On The Go

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Mac OS X Lion Server

John C. Welch, Macworld

Unlike previous versions of Mac OS X Server, Lion Server is not a simple upgrade. Regardless of the price of this server package, the massive changes at every level of Lion Server—including the removal of some features customers rely on—make this upgrade one you’ll want to think hard about, regardless of price. The documentation and fit-and-finish issues will also help sway your decision on whether to upgrade or not.

Firefox 7 Improves Browsing Speed, Developer Tools

Elizabeth Fish, Macworld

Mozilla has released its final version of Firefox 7, introducing subtle changes such as hidden URL prefixes, bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements. Rolled out six weeks after Mozilla shipped Firefox 6 to fix a number of bug issues, the latest update is the third edition of the developer’s rapid-ship cycle.

Disney’s “Appmates” Turns The iPad Into A Track For Toy Cars

Corey Tamas, Macgasm

Disney is launching a new line of toys based on the movie Cars 2 that turns the iPad into a neat little game board for you (er… I mean your kids) to play on. Disney calls the software “Appmates”, and it’s free to download but you can’t do much with it unless you’ve got one of Disney’s little toy car characters to push around on the screen.

The Small Monitor Experiment

Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review

I have always believed that you are far more likely to use, and be productive with, something that you love. I just didn’t even come close to liking this setup.

Apple Announces iPhone 5 Event For Oct. 4

Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

More Ways To Move Data To A New Mac

Christopher Breen, Macworld

When you need to get data off an old Mac onto a new one, OS X's Migration Assistant is often all you need. But it doesn't let you restore specific files and you can't restore an identical backup of another Mac's hard drive. In such cases you need some other options. Here I'll show you how (and when) to move your data using cloning, Time Machine, and other third-party backup applications.

Three Tips For Using iTunes On A Small Display

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

If you only have a laptop, there are ways you can optimize the way iTunes displays its content to make it easier to manage on a smaller display.

SketchBook Pro 2011 Review

Karl Hodge, Macworld UK

SketchBook Pro feels like it’s been designed for graphics tablet or touchscreen input from the ground up, not as an additional bonus.

Wacom Releases Updated Bamboo Tablet Line

Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

While you may not have the artistic dedication (or bankroll) to warrant picking up one of Wacom’s Cintiq or Intuos tablets, you don’t have to feel left out: The company’s freshly updated Bamboo line offers three different affordable tablets for hobbyists, photo enthusiasts, and beginning artists.

Tutorial: OS X Automation With MacRuby And The Scripting Bridge

Ryan Paul, Ars Technica

Intel Says Mac Thunderbolt Ports Will Support Optical Cables

Chris Rawson, TUAW

Optically-based Thunderbolt cables should be debuting in 2012, and existing Macs' Thunderbolt ports will be fully compatible with them.

Loving Mac OS X Lion’s Dictionary

52 Tiger

Lion’s Dictionary is a huge upgrade from its predecessors. Check it out if you haven’t.

Ripping Foreign Films With Subtitles

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Mac Trojan Pretends To Be Flash Player Installer To Get In The Door

Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

The malware in question is a trojan horse called Flashback (OSX/flashback.A); users may end up acquiring it by clicking a link on a malicious website to download or install Flash player. If those users also have their Safari settings to automatically open safe files (which .pkg and .mkpg files are considered to be), an installer will show up on their desktops as if they are legitimately installing Flash.

Apple Erases Emerging Mac OS X Trojan Via Malware Definition Update

Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider

Richard Dawkins iPad App For "The Magic Of Reality"

Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing

Monday, September 26, 2011

Netnewswire Lite

Egg Freckles

NetNewsWire Lite is an almost perfect app. It does one thing, and one thing well, deliver RSS.

Apply Finder Labels From The Keyboard

Lex Friedman, Macworld

City Welcomes Apple Store

James Lu, Yale Daily News

Exhilarated New Haven residents and Yalies gathered en masse for the opening of New Haven’s first Apple store on Broadway Saturday morning.

The 10 a.m. opening drew a line that took over an hour to clear, snaking around the block to Payne Whitney Gymnasium. With security and other media personnel watching, customers in groups of five were allowed to run inside to the cheers of blue-clad Apple employees. Though only seven of 40 people interviewed at the event said they intended to make a purchase — eager only to try out the new products on display — nearby business proprietors and local politicians said the tech giant’s arrival in the Elm City will be a boon for the downtown economy.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Hong Kong's 1st Apple Store Mobbed On Opening Day

Kelvin Chan, Associated Press

Some Apple enthusiasts had camped out for nearly two days to secure a place at the head of the line and be among the first to walk through the doors of the new store.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Apple Opens Its First Store In Hong Kong As Retail Spending Surges In City

Mark Lee And Jasmine Wang, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. opened its first store in Hong Kong today, paring reliance on sales agents to market its iPhones and iPads as Chinese tourists drive a retail boom in the city. Some customers queued two nights for the event.

First Hong Kong Apple Store Draws Massive Crowd On Opening Day

Josh Ong, AppleInsider

Apple on Saturday opened its first retail store in Hong Kong to a crowd of hundreds of customers as part of an effort to continue its storied revenue growth in the Greater China region.

Keep Your Mac Safe From Web Security Flaws

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

So what can you do prevent your Mac from being the subject of a man-in-the-middle snooping attack? Plenty.

Friday, September 23, 2011

New Mac Malware Variant Surfaces, Poses As PDF

Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

When downloaded, the Trojan-Dropper:OSX/Revir.A puts what appears to be a multi-page Chinese PDF—containing potentially-volatile political opinions—up on your screen. That's just a bit of misdirection, though: if you open the supposed PDF, the Trojan horse installs Backdoor:OSX/Imuler.A. As the name implies, that component opens up a backdoor connection to a remote server.

Moving To A New Mac: Lessons Learned

Michael E. Cohen, TidBITS

QuickCal 3.0 Gets Redesigned UI And BusyCal Support

Federico Viticci, MacStories

The Apple Thunderbolt Display Review

Anand Lal Shimpi, Anadtech

The real improvements here are obviously those enabled by Thunderbolt. Apple is turning its line of displays into docks for its mobile computers rather than just external displays.

Padlock 1.0.1

Dan Frakes, Macworld

It’s a great utility for those of us who want to lock our Mac’s screen when we step away but who prefer pressing a keyboard shortcut to moving the mouse.

Apple's Thunderbolt Display A Compelling Device For 2011 MacBook Air

James Galbraith, Macworld

For owners of the 2011 MacBook Air, the Thunderbolt Display is a fantastic way to get iMac-like features while still being able to walk away with one of the lightest laptops available. If your Mac has Thunderbolt, FireWire 800, and gigabit ethernet, the case for buying the comparatively inflexible Thunderbolt display is a little less interesting.

Video Monkey Review

Jonathan Seff, Macworld

Convert, encode and tag videos with metadata at the same time.

First Hong Kong Apple Store Opens

Jason Beerman, CNNGo

Located at the eastern end of the IFC shopping mall, the two-story Apple store manages to remain somewhat understated at first glance. It's indoor location doesn't afford it the space for any architectural statement-making, unlike the one in Shanghai.

Walk a few steps inside the front door, however, and you're greeted by the Apple Store's signature glass staircase with an oversized Apple logo and the view of Hong Kong's cityscape in the background.

全国抢先!香港最奢华Apple Store内部实拍

太平洋电脑网

这是采用钢化玻璃及不锈钢物料建造而成的楼梯,正是由Steve Jobs所设计,半透明的楼梯看似非常脆弱,却能承受行人的重量,香港Apple Store为两层式建筑。

Apple Offers A Sneak Peek In Hong Kong

Polly Hui, Wall Street Journal

Apple’s first Hong Kong store hasn’t even opened yet, but the buzz is building and the fanboys are ready to pounce.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Photoshop Elements 10 Boosts Power And Creative Spark

Lesa Snider, Macworld

Premiere Elements 10 Sports Powerful Features With A Beginner Interface

Peter Kim, Macworld

But if what you really want is a powerful editor that gives you room to grow— without paying too high a cost in either dollars or complexity—Premiere Elements really shows its colors. Yes, Adobe seems to hope this is something you’ll use to make more interesting video slideshows of your Facebook friends. But what they’ve come up with is a powerful editor with extensive color controls and native AVCHD editing, with quick ways of getting videos online or in HD on disc. That starts to make Premiere Elements a competitor for Apple’s pricier Final Cut Pro X, with—for better and for worse—a more conventional interface.

Adobe Patches Flash Bug Hackers Are Already Exploiting

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Adobe on Wednesday patched six vulnerabilities in Flash Player, including one it admitted is already being exploited by attackers.

Photo Effects Studio Review

Alexandra Chang, Macworld UK

Hong Kong Apple Store Opens To Press, Tim Cook To Attend Opening?

Arnold Kim, MacRumors

Why iPhone Speakers Are Ditching AirPlay For Bluetooth

Matthew Moskovciak, CNET

We've heard rumblings that AirPlay licensing and technology can add as much as $100 to the price of an iPhone speaker. While we can't confirm that exact cost increase, there's no denying that iPhone speakers with AirPlay are just too expensive.

AirPlay needs to use an existing Wi-Fi network, so that excludes many locations outside your home--think tailgate parties, parks, and possibly even your own backyard. Since Bluetooth creates its own ad hoc network, you can use it anywhere as long as you stay close.

Apple Finds A Use For Some Of Those First-generation iPads

Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

It's part of a public service program Apple initiated last spring with the launch of the iPad 2. Owners of first-generation iPads who had no use for them were invited to donate the devices to teachers in low-income communities.

It's not clear how many units Apple collected, but in August every Teach for America corps member -- more than 9,000 in 38 states -- was offered a free iPad 1.

All The News You Want, When You Want It

Mickey Meece, New York Times

Beware Of Versions And Autosave In 10.7

Gus Mueller, The Shape of Everything

I'm not saying autosave is bad. I personally like it (most of the time), but that's because I edit any images I care about in Acorn's native file format. But if you usually open and edit PNG or JPEG files with autosave turned on, then you're going to be in a bit a hard spot eventually.

Labeling The Back Button

Neven Mrgan’s Tumbl

The Back button should never show the text “Back”.

Keeping A Mac Clean: What I Use

Patrick Rhone, Minimal Mac

Meticulous

Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review

For at least the next week my largest computing screen will be thirteen inches. My goal isn’t that I will instantly be more meticulous, my goal is that I will be instantly less distracted.

Move Data From An Old Mac To A New Mac

Christopher Breen, Macworld

There are many reasons to get a new Mac—your old one is too slow, too ungainly, or it’s incompatible with the latest version of OS X. Regardless of why you’ve walked a new Mac through your front door, when you do, you face this immediate challenge: Moving the data on your current Mac to the new computer. There are multiple means for doing this. We’ll look at one built into Mac OS X—Migration Assistant.

Importing Images From iPad Without iPhoto

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Take Five 1.1.2

Dan Frakes, Macworld

I admit to being a bit skeptical of Take Five when I first tried it—my first thought was essentially, “Is this really necessary?” But once you pause playback and then, 10 minutes later, hear the music fade back in—often after completely forgetting you'd paused it—you begin to appreciate how Take Five can come in handy.

Use AirDrop On Any Mac With Lion

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

FaceTime Calls Are Encrypted; And HIPAA Compliant When Using Proper Encryption

Jason D. O'Grady, ZDNet

Tip Of The Week: Safari’s New Reading List

J.d. Biersdorfer, New York Times

Mac Virtualization Face-off: VMware Fusion 4 Vs. Parallels Desktop 7

Galen Gruman, InfoWorld

The bottom line is that gamers and simulation users will get a bigger bang from Fusion, whereas number crunchers will do better by Parallels Desktop.

Apple’s Next Event To Be Held On October 4, Starring Its New CEO

John Paczkowski, All Things D

While Apple could certainly change its plans anytime, sources said that the October 4 date has been selected by the company to showcase the iPhone 5. Sources added that the plan is now to make the new device available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.

And while the iPhone 5 is a much anticipated handset, the event itself has a lot more importance for Apple than many previous ones. That’s because it will be newly installed CEO Tim Cook’s first big product introduction and the place where the public will get a first lengthy impression of him that may well set the tone for Cook’s new role.

How Do I Protect My OS X Lion Passwords From Being Easily Hacked?

Adam Dachis, Lifehacker

A Look At The Mac App Store, Two Months After Lion Launched

Dan Frommer, SplatF

How Apple Badly Messed Up With In-app Purchases On Lion And Didn’t Tell Anyone

Jacob Gorban

Apple never really ackowledged that there was an issue with this, didn’t close my bug report, didn’t delete all the 1-star reviews that angry customers left and didn’t compensate the affected developers for their financial loss. Nothing.

Apple's Mousetrap

Michael Agger, Slate

With natural scrolling, Apple was messing with the laws of the universe! Think of my surprise then, when an informal poll among friends revealed that most had switched without a hitch. Two days of discomfort at most. And here I was feeling like my hand had been cut off. No one likes to realize they have the old brain, that they're becoming obsolete. So I'm a natural scroller now, in the pink, working with the new hammer.

Follow-up To Finding A Replacement For Quicken

Michael E. Cohen, TidBITS

A Cloud Of My Own

John Hatchett, Low End Mac

Yes, there are services that set up a hard drive on the Internet that you can access with online device. No fees and no storage limits! And, of course, my local cloud lives on my network and is perched on top of my desk. I can add storage by adding drives to the Pogoplug unit.

Adobe Introduces Premiere Elements 10, Photoshop Elements 10

Peter Cohen, The Loop

Photoshop Elements 10 adds new tools such as “Guided Edits,” which help users add photo effects like diffused glows and shallow depths of field step by step. New text functions let users add curving and flowing text to photos, and special crop guides help users create special compositions. The Smart Brush paints effects onto specific areas of photos, with 30 new effects including Pencil Sketch and Oil Pastel.

‘Important’ Bento Update Fixes Lion, iCloud Issues

Peter Cohen, The Loop

Instagram 2.0 Adds Live Filters And Higher-resolution Photos

Lex Friedman, Macworld

Instagram on Tuesday unveiled version 2.0 of its popular photo-sharing app. The update adds new filters, live filter previews, instant tilt-shift effects, more border controls, high-resolution photos, and rotation controls.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Apple Starts To Fine-cut Final Cut Pro X

Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

If you’ve been skeptical, suspicious, or cynical over Apple’s ground-up rewrite of Final Cut Pro, Tuesday’s 10.0.1 update may well spur you to give the software another shot: The company has not only restored several much-needed features for professionals, it’s also offering wary non-linear editors a free 30-day trial and a PDF booklet to help transition from Final Cut Studio.

How To Rip CD Box Sets In iTunes

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

Since I convert all my music for iTunes and iPod playback, ripping a big box set calls for certain strategies. Here are the steps you should consider when ripping large sets, and how you can deal with the specific problems they can present.

Nuance Dragon Dictate 2.5 Now Allows For Dictation And Editing In Word 2011

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

Dragon Dictate has taken a big leap forward with this new version, finally offering the ability to dictate and edit simultaneously in Word documents. Microsoft Word is the most commonly used word processor, but there is a need for this feature to be available in all programs. I hope a forthcoming update to Dragon Dictate will offer this feature.

Mac 101: Format Choices For USB Flash Drives

Chris Rawson, TUAW

Apple Issues Thunderbolt Display Firmware Update

Michael Grothaus, TUAW

Mac Virtualization Update: VMware, Parallels, And VirtualBox

Joe Kissell, TidBITS

Fusion And Carbon Productivity Bundle: 10 Lovely Apps For $29.99

Chris Herbert, MacStories

BreakTime Tells You When It's Time To Take A Break

Dan Moren, Macworld

When it’s time for you to get up, BreakTime dims the screen and presents you with a dialog box that counts down the time remaining in your respite.

Quickly Open Unlinked URLs In Terminal

Lex Friedman, Macworld

The trick? Hold down the Command key as you double-click on the URL. That’s it!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Browser Breakup

Tim Bray

For some years, Safari has been my default browser. I generally prefer its choices in framing and ergonomics and shortcuts over all others. But I’ve had to stop using it.

Grand Opening Of Apple's Massive New Hong Kong Store Confirmed For This Saturday

Eric Slivka, MacRumors

That opening date has now been confirmed, as evidenced by a small new sign placed on a stand in front of an entrance to the store. The sign confirms that the store will open this Saturday, September 24th, at 9:00 AM.

Apple Is Aware Of iMac Graphic Anomalies, But No Fix Is Available Yet

David W. Martin, Cult Of Mac

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Cracking OS X Lion Passwords

Patrick Dunstan, Defence In Depth

Why crack hashes when you can just change the password directly!

iTeacherBook Helps Teachers Get Organized

Karen Freeman, AppAdvice

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Apple 101: 13 Ways To Protect Your Data On iOS And Mac OS X

The Next Web

In recent memory, Apple has shown great commitment towards making sure that the OS, along with both its bundled and third-party apps, takes on the responsibility of protecting the user’s data. In this article, we take a look at thirteen ways in which Apple provides such protection. Once you know all the options available to you, you will hopefully be better prepared to take advantage of them to safeguard your own data.

The Mac Is A Great Dev Box

Rob Conery, WekeRoad

They're both decent operating systems. OSX is pretty, Windows 7 is too - it just so happens I can do a lot more with an OSX box than I can with Windows. Fanboy or not - this much is true: if you're a dev - even a strict .NET dev - a Mac is a great choice for a dev box.

First Look: Apple Thunderbolt Display

James Galbraith, Macworld

Chrome 14 Arrives With Improved Lion Support And NaCl

Ryan Paul, Ars Technica

Several key enhancements for Lion have been introduced in Chrome 14 on Mac OS X. Lion's new scrollbar style, which is fully supported in the new version, nicely complements Chrome's minimalist design. Chrome has also gained compatibility with Lion's full-creen functionality. It also offers a separate "presentation mode" that mimics the legacy fullscreen style.

Locating Lion's Zoom Feature

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Apple Now Shipping Thunderbolt Displays

Michael Grothaus, TUAW

Apple Details Thunderbolt Display Connection Options

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Mac App Store Now Warns Before You Re-buy Installed Apps

Dan Moren, Macworld

Though this doesn’t really reduce the pain of having to pay a second time for the same app, it does at least give less savvy users a heads-up before they accidentally buy a program all over again.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Mac OS X’s Mail: Beware The Shortcut For Erasing Deleted Messages

Pierre Igot, Betalogue

If you are ever tempted to use more than just Delete to delete a message in Mail, I suggest that you look into this and take precautions to avoid accidentally (and irretrievably) emptying your trash in Lion’s Mail, which will not give you a warning about doing something drastic that cannot be undone.

iPhone 101: Recovering Deleted Voicemails

Matt Tinsley, TUAW

MacLegion 2011 Fall Bundle Now Available

Michael Grothaus, TUAW

MacLegion has announced their fall bundle for 2011. This year's bundle features 10 Mac apps worth US$639 for the low price of $49.95.

An Incredible Way To Teach Music Using iPads In The Classroom

Edudemic

What happens when you take a classroom of students, add 24 iPads as well as sound recording gear and then throw in a live band? A pretty catchy song that gives you hope for the future of music in the digital age.

Revisiting A Wireless Workflow From Camera To iPad

Derrick Story, The Digital Story

A lot has changed since this nimble photographer last wrote about using an Eye-Fi card with ShutterSnitch on an iPad. In short, everything is a bit more interesting. ShutterSnitch has now evolved to a very high nimbleosity rating. Let me show you why.

Stevie Wonder Thanks Steve Jobs For Making The iPhone And iPad So Accessible

Yoni Heisler, Network World

With Apple's attention to assistive technology as a backdrop, Stevie Wonder recently thanked Steve Jobs for all he's done with the iPhone and iPad.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

How To Moom App Windows On Your Mac’s Screen

NoodleMac

Moom is a relatively inexpensive Mac utility, an app that minimizes the window management effort. The controls set up a grid on your Mac’s screen, making it easy to put app windows where you know they’ll be.

KCRW Launches Music Mine “Discovery App” For iPad

Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing

Apple Provides Firmware Updates For MacBook Pros, Mac Minis

Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

The patch for the MacBook Pro, EFI Firmware Update 2.2, provides similar Thunderbolt fixes, though unlike its newer cousins, the MacBook Pro does not ship with Internet Recovery; as such, this update appears to actually enable the use of Internet Recovery on a MacBook Pro.

Daily Mac App: GeekTool

Megan Lavey-Heaton, TUAW

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Apple Launches Twitter Account For U.S. iBookstore

Eric Slivka, MacRumors

Apple today stepped up promotion of its iBookstore by launching a new Twitter account to keep followers updated on new releases, special offers, and other details from the store, as noted in the account's debut Tweet.

How To Create A Looping Slideshow

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Masochist Me? An Ars Writer's iPad-only Workday

Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

The initial proposition seemed crazy. I was sure it was not possible to work this way. My job as a writer and editor here at Ars depends on (too much) serious multitasking with multiple open windows. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to successfully write full articles with proper formatting, links, images, and HTML using only iPad apps. And let's not even talk about the Ars CMS—many of us at Ars have attempted to use it from our iPhones in the past; it has always ended in tears.

So imagine my surprise when a day on the iPad actually worked.

From Brainstorm To Outline: Why I Use OPML

David Sparks, Macworld

OPML is so ingrained into my workflow that every business writing project, contract, presentation, and proposal I work on starts life as an OPML file on my iPad. Here is how I do it.

Creating A Cloud-based Backup For Your Image Library

Derrick Story, Macworld

Creating your own cloud storage system doesn’t require a degree in computer science. But it does help to choose the right equipment. A number of companies are offering network-capable hard drives that work nicely for photo backup and remote access. These network appliances typically house a couple of drives, basic server software, and an Ethernet connector. And since you don’t have to wire these units directly to a computer, they can be housed anywhere you have power and a connection to the Internet.

VMware Fusion 4 Adds More Than 90 New Features

Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

Fusion 4 is a 64-bit Cocoa application, built with Apple’s new OS X Lion in mind. You can add Windows applications to LaunchPad, experience them in Mission Control, view them in full screen or switch between them using Mac gestures.

VMware said Fusion is also optimized for today’s multi-core Macs and delivers 3D graphics up to 2.5-times faster than previous versions.

How To Get Your Medical Device Into The Apple Store

Antonio Regalado, Technology Review

For any innovator with a clever medical hack, a place in the Apple retail store would mean success. But how to get there? Technology Review interviewed several companies who already have health gadgets in Apple stores, or are in negotiations with the Cupertino computer giant to see what it takes to get on Apple's shelves.

Your Heartbeat On An iPhone

Antonio Regalado, Technology Review

An innovator delivers a cheap, instant, and mobile way to monitor heart problems.

Want Apple To Make Changes? Send Feedback

Topher Kessler, CNET

Microsoft Releases Office For Mac Security And Performance Updates

Eric Slivka, MacRumors

Microsoft today released a series of updates for users of its Office for Mac productivity suites, bringing security, performance, and stability improvements to Office 2011, 2008, and 2004, as well as a pair of ancillary updates.

How The iPad Is Disrupting The Inflight Entertainment Business, Or, Using A Mac And Keynote At A Powerpoint-dominated Aviation Convention

Les Posen's Presentation Magic

Game That Critiques Apple Vanishes From App Store

Jenna Wortham, New York Times

The game, called Phone Story, followed the life cycle of a smartphone, from the mining of metals in Africa that are needed for the chips in the phones, to factories in China, where the devices are manufactured. BLN, a business blog, posted screenshots from the app, one of which indicates that in part of the game the objective was to catch factory workers who are attempting to commit suicide.

Promising Prospect: Yoink 1.0

Dan Frakes, Macworld

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

For Apple, China Looms Large

John Paczkowski, AllThingsD

500 Days With The iPad

Dan Frommer, SplatF

Identity Finder 5.1 Helps Keep Your Personal Data Secure

Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

This scanning program is dedicated to rooting out personal information cached without encryption anywhere on your computer's internal and attached disks. It can also securely delete, encrypt, or move files with troubling personal details.

The Best Disk Cloning App For Mac OS X

Adam Dachis, Lifehacker

Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) is great because it's easy to configure, it gets the job done quickly, and you can pretty much set it and forget it.

Waiting For Thunderbolt--one Port To Rule Them All

Harry McCracken, CNET

I'm hoping for good news in 2012, but I fret that Thunderbolt--even more than FireWire--will end up being "that connector that's a hit on Macs but an underutilized oddity on PCs." I keep meeting with companies in the PC hardware business and expressing my enthusiasm for it--and getting various combinations of skepticism, caution, and fear in return.

MacBook Air Gets EFI Update As Thunderbolt Displays Get Ready For Shipment

Joshua Schnell, Macgasm

Apple has just rolled out a MacBook Air EFI Firmware update in preparation for all of those sexy Thunderbolt Displays hitting the market in the coming weeks.

Mac OS X Lion Knows You!

Brajeshwar

Another one of the many finer little details that makes the Mac OS X stand apart from everything else. I was tweaking my screensaver when I noticed that the places mentioned in my iPhoto Album are marked with the right icons.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Customize Lion's Text Navigation

Lex Friedman, Macworld

How To Make Lion's iCal Less Annoying

Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

We asked a number of Macworld editors what their gripes were, and set out to find solutions. Here are the top iCal annoyances with Lion.

Seeking A Keyboard That Enhances The iPad

Rachel Metz, Associated Press

Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Apple's New Campus Will Be A Retrograde Cocoon

Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times

The more interesting question is whether a place like Cupertino can maintain its low-density sprawl in future decades, as the Bay Area's population continues to grow, and whether the council's enthusiasm for the new Apple headquarters can be read as an endorsement of a car-dependent approach to city and regional planning that might have made sense in the 1970s but will seem irresponsible or worse by 2050.

Migrating Apple Mail’s Email-address Autocomplete List To A New Computer

Marco Arment

Apple And Amazon Break Up E-Books Into Solid-Gold Nuggets

Sean Captain, Fast Company

This week Apple introduced a collection of new short-form “books,” called Quick Reads, that are like short stories, long articles or packs of recipes, priced at just a fraction of the cost of what users pay for a full volume. Amazon introduced a similar concept back in January 2011 with Kindle Singles--essays, short stories and other quick reads priced from one to three dollars.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The New Apple Advantage

John Gruber, Daring Fireball

But at this point, it seems clear to me that however superior Apple’s design is, it’s their business and operations strength — the Cook side of the equation — that is furthest ahead of their competition, and the more sustainable advantage. It cannot be copied without going through the same sort of decade-long process that Apple went through.

Sandbox Corners

Daniel Jalkut, Red Sweater

I think that Apple would have a lot more developer enthusiasm for this feature if it wasn’t so clear to many of us that our apps will be forced to lose features in order to adopt sandboxing. And while users may be happy about the prospects of improved security with the sandbox, I think there will be less excitement about the diminished functionality of apps whose features don’t fit nicely into the sandbox confines.

Bugs & Fixes: Mac App Store Uninstall Hassles

Ted Landau, Macworld

My bottom line recommendations for minimizing trouble with MAS purchases: Run Lion, delete apps from Launchpad, and purchase apps from only one account.

Apple Releases Security Update To Block Hacked Web Certificates

Lex Friedman, Macworld

The update, available for both Snow Leopard and Lion, offers Mac users protection from sites that could falsely claim to be trustworthy. The breach allowed hackers to issue bogus digital certificates, files that your Web browser uses when you make secure (HTTPS) connections.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Apple Releases Driver Updates For Lexmark Printers

Alexandra Chang, Macworld

Apple ID Becomes Mac OS X And iCloud Glue

Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS

The humble Apple ID has expanded over the years from its origins as a way to purchase music from iTunes or log in to a developer account to live up to its name: nearly everything that requires credentials at Apple uses the Apple ID — which must be a valid email address — as the key, including the lame duck MobileMe and the upcoming iCloud. Mac OS X 10.7 Lion has expanded the use of the Apple ID even further, however, using it as a useful but optional adjunct to user accounts.

The post-Jobs Era: Tim Cook Brings Philanthropy Back To Apple

Ken Fisher, Ars Technica

Jobs' personal attitude towards philanthropy is said to have trickled down through the ranks of Apple over the years. But all of that is changing now, as Apple adopts an impressive corporate matching policy for charitable contributions. It might feel like a small change, but make no mistake: this is Cook starting to leave his mark as CEO and he's moving in a direction that no one expected from Jobs.

Cure For Unintended Gestures

Christopher Breen, Macworld

I understand that gestures is one of Lion’s marquee features, but you likely got along just fine without them when using Snow Leopard. If you find them distracting, there’s no shame in switching them off.

1Password Goes Lion-only, Debuts On The App Store

Marco Tabini, Macworld

While the new release includes several enhancements and a few new features, the biggest news is that 1Password 3.9 is a Lion-only application, so users of pre-10.7 versions of OS X will have to stick with 3.8. The app is also built using a 64-bit architecture for maximum performance.

How Journalists Are Using The iPad To Enhance Their Reporting

Jim Colgan, Poynter

Like any profession, the quality of the journalism depends more on the journalist than on the tools. But if the tools let you capture stories you wouldn’t otherwise get and expose you to platforms you wouldn’t ordinarily go to, they can greatly improve the quality of the stories you tell.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Beware Lion’s Versions Bug On Network And Non-HFS+ Volumes

Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

In short, then, Versions fails silently for documents stored on unsupported volumes if you either close without saving explicitly, or if you quit without closing explicitly. There is no rational justification for this behavior, so I have to assume it’s a bug.

Researcher Raps Apple For Not Blocking Stolen SSL Certificates

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

A security researcher criticized Apple for what he called "foot dragging" over the DigiNotar certificate fiasco, and urged the company to quickly update Mac OS X to protect users.

iDetectives: Family's iPad Chase For iPhone Thieves

Ben Grubb, Sydney Morning Herald

The Donohoes had a bizarre run of bad luck recently when two of their family members' iPhones were stolen just weeks apart.

Parallels Desktop 7 Helps Windows And OS X Co-exist

Edward C. Baig, USA Today

Favorite Mailboxes In Lion Mail

Matt Legend Gemmell

So far, so good – but where the feature really shines is with its automatically-applied keyboard shortcuts.

Adobe Carousel Photo Sharing Spins Only For Apple Fans

Lori Grunin, CNET

Adobe Carousel automatically uploads, stores, and syncs photos from all your devices--as long as they're from Apple--and lets you create shareable galleries (Carousels). When shared, you and they can edit and apply special effects to the photos nondestructively.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Mellower Apple: One Man's Story About Publishing For The Pippin

Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

It’s hard to imagine Apple approving a game on one of its app platforms that allows the player to pose as Jerry Garcia as he runs around a parking lot to snatch up hits of LSD, needles, and bongs, all while avoiding the police. But back in the mid-1990s, that’s exactly what Apple did—for the Pippin.

iTunes U: Educating The World

Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

For Lucas Swineford, Yale University’s Director of Digital Media & Dissemination, iTunes U has proven to be a successful channel in getting the school’s information out to the public. For Swineford, having the media available locally was only part of the longer term goal.

Secrets Of Lion’s Spotlight Menu

Sharon Zardetto, Macworld

The handy Spotlight menu, at the far right of your menu bar, is even handier in Lion because it offers new ways to work with the list of search results. Click the magnifying glass icon or use the default Command-Spacebar shortcut to open the menu, and type in your search term. Then, use these tips to go from searching to doing.

Adobe Adding Support For iOS 5 Newsstand To Digital Publishing Suite

Josh Ong, AppleInsider

Adobe announced on Thursday that it will add support for Apple's new Newsstand application, which is built into the forthcoming iOS 5, to its Digital Publishing Suite "soon after" the iPhone maker releases the operating system update this fall.

A Year With An iPad: How It's Changed Me

Galen Gruman, InfoWorld

It turns out that the iPad is both a laptop replacement and a "third device" that has its own role. It just depends on what you're doing.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Converting Email From Eudora: Why I No Longer Live At The P.O.

Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

There are two aspects to converting mail from Eudora: how you’ll convert it, and where you want it to end up.

Daily Mac App: Adium

Samuel Gibbs, TUAW

Adium is a great long-standing piece of open-source Mac software. The reason it's so good is that it connects to almost every IM protocol under the sun. Gtalk, Facebook IM, Live Messenger, Yahoo, AIM, Jabber, IRC, you name it, Adium will let you chat using it.

The Towson Hack: The Mystery Of Vanishing iTunes Credit

Lex Friedman, Macworld

Since November 2010, hundreds of customers have seen their iTunes gift card balances zeroed out by mysterious unwanted purchases.

Cure For A Forgetful Mac

Christopher Breen, Macworld

Apple Designer Jonathan Ive Enters A New Era

Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times

The synergy between Apple's co-founder and its top designer set into motion a decade of hits from the iPod to the iPad.

Now Apple will be counting on Ive to continue to deliver breakthrough designs without much oversight or support from Jobs, who last month stepped down as chief executive.

Apple To Open First Hong Kong Store This Quarter

Yun-hee Kim, Wall Street Journal

Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu in Beijing confirmed the details on Tuesday, but didn't give a more specific timeframe.

Ms. Wu also said that Apple is planning a new store in Shanghai later this quarter.

First Official Apple Store In Hong Kong Will Open Sept. 24

AppleInsider

Monday, September 5, 2011

NotifyMe For Mac: Cloud-Based Reminders For The Forgetful

Susan Pigott, Macgasm

NotifyMe for Mac provides a desktop reminder system that can sync to all your iOS devices.

香港首間 Apple Store 鐵定進駐中環 IFC Mall,宣傳手法反酸山寨店!?

Marco So, Engadget 中文版

即將在德國漢堡開幕的全新 Apple Store 也秀出宣傳,使用火紅色加白色大字體的配搭,與香港的一致。

Monitor Wi-Fi With Lion's Hidden Tool

Lex Friedman, Macworld

Steve Jobs And The Eureka Myth

Adrian Slywotzky, Harvard Business Review

Apple would love us to believe it's all "Eureka." But Apple produces 10 pixel-perfect prototypes for each feature. They compete — and are winnowed down to three, then one, resulting in a highly evolved winner. Because Apple knows the more you compete inside, the less you'll have to compete outside.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Work It

Greg Beato, The Smart Set

Or more precisely, Steve Jobs invented business casual in the same way he invented the graphical interface, the mouse, the MP3 player, and the smartphone. All these things existed before Steve Jobs coaxed talented engineers to produce his version of them — but it’s his version of these things that captured our imaginations, had the greatest impact on our culture, and changed the way we live.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Lion Provides First Steps Toward Power Savings

Marco Tabini, TidBITS

Many of the under-the-hood changes that have been introduced in Lion are meant to shift the control of apps from the user to the operating system. Thanks to features like Automatic Termination, Auto Save, and Resume, Lion is increasingly the arbiter of when and how an app gets to run.

We are certainly not there yet, but it’s possible to imagine a future in which all these technologies work together to provide users with notably improved battery life. For example, if Mac OS X detects that an application is simply idling, it could cause it to save all its data automatically, transparently terminate it, and then conveniently bring everything back when requested. That works in iOS today, and could work in Mac OS X soon.

The Part Of Xcode 4 That Tires Me Out

Brent Simmons, Inessential

I get it that Xcode 4 probably needs one-big-window as its suggested and primary interface. And I also realize that it’s possible to open multiple windows.

But I do wish I could make it work more like Xcode 3. A separate window for debugging, for build results, for laying-out UI. These tasks are all different enough that using a single window becomes an exercise in pane (I’m tempted to write “pain”) management. And my time and yours is too valuable for that.

Lidpop 1.0.2

Dan Frakes, Macworld

Lidpop does two very simple things: It plays a sound of your choosing when you close your laptop’s lid (or, more precisely, when your computer—laptop or desktop—goes to sleep), and it plays another sound of your choosing when you open your laptop’s lid (when your computer wakes up).

Bugs & Fixes: Microsoft Outlook Annoyances

Ted Landau, Macworld

Parallels Desktop 7 Adds Lion Virtualization, More

Marco Tabini, Macworld

Perhaps the most important of these new features is the ability to create virtual machines that run the client version of Lion itself, thanks to a change in the end-user license agreement of the desktop operating system’s latest release.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Use Skype And GarageBand To Make A Podcast That Sounds Great

Jason Snell, Macworld

After a year of producing, hosting, and recording The Incomparable Podcast, I’ve learned a lot about editing podcasts… but I’ve also learned what I like about podcasts, because it’s what I’ve tried to do with my own. Everyone has different tastes, so I can’t tell you these are rules you should follow. They’re just the ones I follow.

Managing Your Mac's Address Book

TJ Luoma, TUAW

Apple Puts Legacy Final Cut Studio Back On Sale

Jordan Golson, MacRumors

Apple has put the previous version of its Final Cut Studio video editing suite back on sale after a mixed reception to the new and completely redesigned Final Cut X.

See Also: Apple Explains Decision To Start Selling Final Cut Studio Again, by Jim Dalrymple, The Loop.

“As we’ve done before with many end-of-life software products, we have a limited quantity of FInal Cut Studio still available through Apple telesales to customers who need them for ongoing projects,” an Apple spokesperson told The Loop.

Prowl 1.3 Adds iPad Support And “Do Not Disturb”

Federico Viticci, MacStories

Mac App Store Gets Special Lion-friendly App Section

Josh Lowensohn, CNET

Apple today quietly rolled out a new section in its Mac App Store that features applications that have been made to work with the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Apple Raw Software Update Adds Support For Eight New Cameras

Peter Cohen, The Loop

How To: Check, Untrust And Disable DigiNotar HTTPS/SSL CA Root Certificate On Mac OS X

io101.org

Yoink Takes The Drag Out Of File Dragging

Brett Terpstra, TUAW

Apple Posts New iPad 2 Advert: “Learn”

Graham Spencer, MacStories

0x22

cdespinosa's Posterous

But when Apple bought NeXT in 1997, two interesting things happened. When Apple acquires another company, HR sets the employees’ date of hire at Apple to their date of hire in the acquired company. So Steve’s start date at Apple would have been the date he founded NeXT, which was immediately after he resigned from Apple in 1985. But since that was within 6 months of when he left Apple, span of service credits him for his first eight years, and he ends up having a start date more or less coincident with the day of incorporation, January 17, 1977.

My Neighbor, Steve Jobs

Lisen Stromberg, PaloAltoPatch

Here in Palo Alto, Steve Jobs isn’t just an icon, he’s also the guy who lives down the street.

Mac OS X Can't Properly Revoke Dodgy Digital Certificates

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

A programming glitch in Apple’s OS X operating system is making it hard for Mac users to tell their computers not to trust digital certificates, exacerbating an ongoing security problem with a Dutch certificate authority that was recently hacked.

By Heng-Cheong Leong

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