Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhoneIn a year that gave us the prosthetic X-Finger for amputees, the pollution-reducing Diesel Exhaust Purification System, and hurricane-safety ImpactShield, is the iPhone really worthy of its Time magazine Invention of the Year honors? That's the question raised by iPhone Matter's Gregory Ng. Ng points out that although the iPhone is pretty and we love it to pieces, that other extremely worthy advances were overlooked by Time. His post raises a good question although I think of Time's "of the year" awards more as an entertainment/ lifestyle feature than as real news.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: LeopardThe gang at PCWorld magazine have sincerely accepted the premise that a Mac is really truly a personal computer, and as such deserves coverage in their fine industry publication. With a full and enthusiastic Leopard review (cribbed from sister mag Macworld), side-by-side Leopard & Vista feature comparison gallery (sure, Shadow Copy can back up your files, but can it give you motion sickness?) and editor Harry McCracken's 'tough love' 21 Quibbles with Leopard article, the full-court 10.5 press is definitely on. The "21 Quibbles" article is harsh as a butterfly kiss, starting out with McCracken noting that "[c]ompared to Windows Vista, Leopard is a meatier, more polished, more immediately useful, less annoying OS upgrade." Aww, Harry, we didn't know you cared!My favorite PCWorld Mac-related comment is the brief note here in the Best Vista Laptops photo feature: apparently the fastest Vista laptop ever tested by PCWorld labs comes with another OS as a bonus. Apparently one of the advantages of not really caring if your laptop runs Vista is that it ends up running Vista really, really quickly.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Hacks, How-tos, Odds and ends, iPhone TUAW reader Patrick McCarron read my Mac-based file catcher post and wrote in to ask if I could set up a utility to automatically trigger screen shots from the Macintosh. Sure, Patrick. You've got it. Like SnapNGo, AutoSnap grabs the contents of the screen and serves it via Bonjour. Unlike SnapNGo, AutoSnap automatically names and serves its files and can be triggered from your Mac using FileCatcher. Tap on the "File Throw Auto Snap" server and your iPhone snaps a picture and shares it to your Mac. The file appears on your desktop. So then, I got to thinking. Since SnapNGo is sending pictures, why not adapt Apple's Picture Sharing Browser sample code to work with my updated protocol? So I grabbed a fresh copy of the code, and did a bunch of code monkey stuff to it, and produced a new utility: Erica Picture Sharing Browser--because I really stink at coming up with good names. EPSB works more or less the same way that File Catcher does--tap on the server name to trigger a screen shot--but it also displays the picture in a fancy NSImageView and, favorite bit, offers a check box that allows you to optionally save the screen shot to your desktop. It uses the same automatic names produced by SnapNGo but you can easily rename the files once they're there. Thanks for the suggestion, Patrick. I hope you enjoy the results.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: iTS, Rumors, iTunes, iPhoneEngadget has come across something of interest on AT&T's website. AT&T has just added an international data plan (to ease the $3000 phone bills one would imagine), but they use iTunes Radio as an example of usage. AT&T claims that 20 minutes of listening to iTunes Radio uses up 20MB of your data plan. Very interesting considering that iTunes Radio doesn't exist. Might this be a new feature in the rumored iTunes 7.5?Update: Before 15 more people point out the Radio option in the desktop iTunes, yes I am aware of that. Nowhere is that functionality called 'iTunes Radio,' though, and it doesn't interact with the iPhone.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Books and Blogs, iPhoneAugust Trometer's new PDF book, Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari" just debuted. I am not much of a web designer myself but I may cough up the ten bucks to pick up a copy of this ebook. Topics according to the web page include Mobile Safari detection, Webkit-specific CSS attributes, and how to use iPhone-specific features via web tweaks. iUI, Joe Hewitt's iPhone-specific webpage design kit, doesn't appear in the write-up, and I'm not sure if Trometer covers using it or not. Full disclosure, I have worked with AW/Pearson and will be doing so again.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Leopard The Weblogs, Inc. network of blogs (of which TUAW is a part) announced its newest member today, Massively (covering news about MMO games, and co-lead by yours truly), and right there on the launch page was great news for Mac MMO fans. CCP, the company that makes the great EVE Online, has announced the release of a Mac client for the game next week.The update will come in the form of a new patch for the client (called Trinity), which will also feature new ingame ships, lots of new items, and updated graphics textures. I've only just recently gotten into EVE Online, but it's a good time for a space-based MMO-- really complex economy, harsh PvP, and excellent skill system. I know some Mac users have already been playing it with Boot Camp and Parallels, but it'll be nice to finally have a native Mac client.The patch is supposed to drop next Tuesday, so the Mac client should be available on the site sometime soon after that. Get ready to head into low sec space on your Mac, but be careful-- the rats are out in force.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Odds and ends, SecurityWe recently mentioned the new OS X malware that's floating around the (nether side) of the net these days. Over at Macworld, Rob Griffiths has an extensive article discussing the ways you can tell if a piece of downloaded software is fishy. The tips range from the obvious (only download from trusted sources) to the arcane (diving into packages to examine the installer components). The overall strategy is to examine the software carefully and look for tell-tell signs that it's not legitimate.In any case, it should give you a good set of strategies to use when evaluating a questionable download.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools, LeopardRob Griffiths over at Macworld points to an interesting new feature in Leopard's iChat: the ability to run AppleScripts in response to events. If you look in the Alerts tab of iChat's preferences there's a checkbox for running an AppleScript when a user selectable event (e.g. a text invitation) occurs. As you can see above, Apple includes three default scripts that allow for automatically accepting or declining an invitation, and better yet, controlling iTunes. How might this be useful? One obvious way is controlling a music server in a different room just by sending IMs. "You can... send the iTunes-owning Mac these commands as chat messages from another Mac: status, next, previous, mute, unmute, help, play, and pause." A nifty little addition to iChat, I think, and since you can add your own AppleScripts, it opens up the possibility of doing something similar for a variety of other applications as well. (Incidentally, these built-in scripts live at /Library/Scripts/iChat.)Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Rumors, Odds and ends, AppleA great post over at Wired confirms what everyone alerady knows, Apple rumors are often groundless and pessimistic. Wired lists the 15 worst Apple-related predictions that failed to be realized, from iMac failures to a Sony takeover prediction, to Apple TV's MIA "extra" features. I have a quibble with one prediction, the ultra portable flash-based Apple PC as called out by Benjamin Reitzes in June 2006. I'd argue (although I don't know if I'd take this one to the mat) that this flash-based computer already exists: it's called the iPhone.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Freeware, Widget Watch, Leopard First we tweaked the app indicators, and then we tweaked the color, and now we've finally come all the way back in our Time Machine (oh yes, pun very intended) to two weeks ago. Innermind Media, the folks behind WidgetWizard, are probably a little angry at Leopard, considering all that Web Clip functionality, and so they've released a free widget called DockDoctor that will subtract a dimension from your Dock with the click of a button (and bring it back with another click, which is probably just as valuable).I know it's not for everybody. I know some of you love the new Dock, or at least have gotten so used to it that it doesn't bother you. But this is OS X we're talking about, and so you should have the right to make your Dock look the way you want it to.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: iTS, InternetAs several readers have pointed out, the latest episodes of Scrubs (which started its final *sniff* season last week) are available on iTunes. But how can that be, Scrubs airs on NBC? Yes, yes - but thanks to the magic of large media conglomerates, Scrubs is not actually an NBC show. Scrubs is owned/produced by Disney (which owns ABC), via their Touchstone Television division ABC Television division, meaning they are not part of the NBC Universal contract with iTunes. This is why it took so long for Scrubs to appear on iTunes in the first place (fellow Scrubs fans will remember how mad we were at iTunes/ABC over this issue). Now, in this final seventh season, things become a bit more complicated; NBC now shares profits with Scrubs (before they didn't get anything from syndication or DVD sales), as a condition for renewal, and you can watch full episodes on NBC's website (which you could not do before), but this is still an ABC show in terms of iTunes arrangements. It is my understanding that iTunes contracts are with the studios that produce the shows, not the networks that air the shows - which is not always the same thing. For example, NBC Universal owns/produces the show House, which airs on FOX. Thus, the current season of House in unavailable on iTunes. Conversely, FOX owns/produces My Name is Earl, for NBC, and like Scrubs, current episodes are available on iTunes. Weirdly enough, Ugly Betty, which is now also fully owned by NBC (because the chairman and head of programming for NBC is the owner of Reveille, which produces Ugly Betty and The Office, among others) does have its new episodes on iTunes - only because I assume they signed an agreement with Apple before NBC bought the company. Of course, if the WGA does indeed strike, not much of this will matter anyway, because none of our new shows will be on TV or iTunes for us to watch. This concludes today's lesson in Television Business in the Digital Age.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhoneI was talking to iPhone Developer NerveGas earlier today and he was thinking about what it would take to put a one-touch call button in with your other iPhone Applications. I reminded him that OpenURL could open phone numbers as well as web pages, and that I already had a "Call Home" button on my iPhone. Of course, he virtually smacked his said and said: "Oh yes, iPhone Apper". Whether using iPhone Apper or OpenURL, just use the tel prefix and your phone number, e.g. tel:212-555-1212.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Cool tools, PowerBook, Troubleshooting, Developer I'm definitely a big fan of iSlayer's iStat Pro widget. Whenever my older Powerbook acts a little weird, I can just pull up the Dashboard and tell at a glance what's going wrong ("Oh my, the CPU is running at 150 degrees again. Time to quit a few apps"). Now they've sent word that iStat menus, an even bigger and better stats program available to sit on the menubar, has hit version 1.2.New to this version is process monitoring, better temperature and fan support in G4 Powerbooks (like mine), and a disk activity graph that let's you monitor disk performance over time. For keeping an eye on what's happening under your Mac's hood, there's almost nothing better, and all the iStat stuff is free.Of course, if you do use one of their apps, make sure to send them some cash to help them keep up the good work. Always support good software, people. Just like NPR, if you don't support it, you'll lose it.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Apple, iPhoneWith just one week, yes a mere seven days, until the iPhone touches down (legitimately) here in the UK and Germany, Apple has unveiled more in-depth iPhone product pages with the ads and more material for the launch of the much-fabled phone. Unfortunately, my favourite ad from the US - 'Calamari' - hasn't made the flight across the Atlantic due to the simply fact that there's no iTunes Movie Store here. All the US videos and guides such as the handy 'Getting Ready for iPhone' are available, as is a more comprehensive pricelist for the iPhone accessories (I'll save rants about 'Rip-off Britain' for another day).If you've not got your fill of iPhone eye candy (where have you been?) then this certainly is the definitive place to find out what we can expect to be talking about next week - American readers, be warned!Thanks tipster 'Hutch'!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Filed under: Apple, LeopardWe've fallen in love with the convenience of Quick Look here at TUAW. With the click of the spacebar, you can preview documents right in the Finder. It's very useful.Now, look what happens when you apply Quick Look to an Automator workflow: You're presented with the entire workflow, step by step. Say you need to remember how you pulled off a particular process or sequence of steps. No need to open the thing with Automator, just take a quick "peek" to jog your memory. We love it.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments