Stairway to iTunes
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 3:52 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | iTunes » iTunes Store
Every time we mention a certain British foursome whose music is not yet on the iTunes Store, at least one reader invariably exclaims, in outraged indignation: “OMFG, those guys sux0r! Led Zeppelin FTW!” We’re not really sure who this guy is, but one thing’s clear: he really likes Led Zeppelin.
Well, mysterious reader, your wish may be coming true in part. British paper The Observer reports that a compilation album of the works of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and the late John Bonham is heading to the iTunes Store on November 12th. The album, titled Mothership, will feature tracks picked by the surviving members of the group, including hits like “Stairway to Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and “Dazed and Confused.”
It’s unknown whether or not this is a one-off, or perhaps a test of the Internet download waters. But with Zeppelin finally entering the fray, there is one fewer major holdout. And once again, eyes are sure to turn to that other British quartet.
[via Engadget]
Apple updates AirPort, extremely
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 1:42 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software » Updates
Getcher updates here! Pipin’ hot from the Software Update oven, it’s AirPort Extreme Update 2007-004 (man, we’re already on our fourth AirPort update of the year? Where does the time go?). Straight from the Apple’s mouth:
This update is recommended for all Intel-based MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini computers and improves the reliability of AirPort connections.Well, I for one could always do with a little more reliability in life, that’s for sure. There were some reports of AirPort problems after the 10.4.10 update, so it’s possible that this fixes those problems. I’ve started the download now, since I no longer have any uptime streak to worry about. We’ll see if this truly makes AirPort reliabler. Share your thoughts—preferably on the AirPort Update—below, if you’re feeling so inspired.
Own the Terminal
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 12:25 PM PT by Pat Nakajima
Category | Geekery
Most people never notice the Terminal application that comes with OS X. It just sits in the Utilities folder, like Megatron beneath the ice of the Arctic (Transformers reference anyone?) For those of us with the need to traverse the text, every tweak helps. And so I offer these tips that I wish somebody offered me when I was first starting out.
~/.bash_login is your friend
Most of these tweaks are made in a file named .bash_login that can be found in your home directory. This file is used to set certain preferences every time a new Terminal window is loaded. This means that in order to view changes brought about by modifying .bash_login, you need to open a new Terminal window.
Since .bash_login is an invisible file, it’s easiest to open through the command line. Since I’m a TextMate guy, and I opted to install the shell command, I can open bash login using the mate ~/.bash_login command. If you don’t know how to open a file in your favorite text editor via the command line, you can use one of the built-in text editors. I’d recommend nano, which you can use by running this command: nano ~/.bash_login
So now you know how to edit your .bash_login file. Now let’s take a look at why that’s so cool.
iPhone hacked for use in Australia?
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 11:45 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | iPhone
Aussie hackers have somehow managed to get an iPhone working on Australia’s Telstra mobile network, by “modifying the iPhone’s default SIM card to be recognized as an AT&T SIM, while actually containing data that allows it to be accepted by Telstra.”
We’ve yet to see actual proof of this (apparently there was a video that has since been taken down), but the preliminary results sound enticing.
CommonGate: The hack is made possible through the use of iActivator, a Mac OS X program that provides an interface for activating/deactivating your iPhone without invoking an AT&T contract or prepaid plan. The program doesn’t unlock the iPhone’s SIM, but simply unlocks the functionality of the iPhone so that an AT&T-based activation is not necessary. The tool also has the option to perform a “Jailbreak” on the iPhone, which allows files to be written to the device’s filesystem.
NASA disses iPhone, calls it “Not Enterprise Ready”
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 10:30 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | iPhone
Despite the fact that there are promising signs that the iPhone is enterprise-friendly, NASA is telling its staff that it has to stick with one of those oh-so-2006-Blackberries.
Our buddies at InfoWeek have the story:
The meeting minutes viewed by InformationWeek didn’t indicate why NASA officials feel the iPhone isn’t ready for prime time as a business tool. However, analysts at IT research firm Gartner last month issued a research bulletin on the iPhone that outlined a range of concerns.
Among them: lack of support from major device management and mobile security software suites, lack of removable batteries, and Apple’s exclusive contract with network provider AT&T.
Still, NASA employees aren’t completely out in the cold when it comes to having a hot new PDA. The July 10 meeting minutes indicate that the agency is planning to support the new 8800 from Research In Motion and the Palm Treo 750.
Steve Jobs: the listiest of them all
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 9:52 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Steve Jobs
I don’t know how Steve Jobs feels about lists, but I sure know how lists feel about Steve Jobs. PC World called him the second most important person on the web; Fortune pegged him as the 132nd richest person in the world; and Blender called him the #1 music powergeek.
But how does he stack up in a list of influential business leaders? Well, Steve-o took the bronze in USA Today’s top twenty-five; not too shabby, considering he fell only underneath Alan Greenspan at number two and Bill Gates at numero uno. Really? Gates beat out Greenspan for top dog? Maybe the ranking system was running on Windows.
Anyway, Stevie’s little profile hits the high points:
Co-founder of Apple, Jobs was ousted in a boardroom coup in 1985. But he prospered in exile, buying Pixar, the company that redefined animation. He returned to Apple in 1997, and the rest is history: iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone.But they say nothing of his winning smile. What’s up with that? Jobserino beats out Brin and Page of Google, Andy Grove of Intel, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Rupert Murdoch, and even Warren Buffett. August company, to be sure. Nice job, Steve.
Mathers v. Apple: take two
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 9:13 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Legal
And here we go again. Three years ago, rapper Eminem and his music publisher sued Apple for using Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself” in a TV ad for the iPod. The case was later settled out of court, but now the musician and his posse are back for another round. They’re suing Apple for “allowing unauthorized downloads” of Eminem songs.
At stake? Surprise, surprise: money. The issue seems to be how much money Eminem and other artists make from the downloads of their music and whether the contracts artists have with their labels give the labels the right to sell the download rights.
Now, I’m all for artists making their fair share of the money, and I think the record labels are clearly getting the big piece of the pie. Though exact figures aren’t known, it’s estimated that about 70 cents of the 99 cent track price goes to the label, with about 9 cents of that going to the artist. I can see why artists would be miffed, to say the least.
What I don’t understand, coming from my totally non-legal background, is why they’re suing Apple. Apple is presumably operating under the assumption that the record labels do have the rights to approve downloads; it seems like this is something that should be worked out between the artists and the labels. But maybe I’m missing something.
iTunes sells its three billionth track
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 8:31 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | iTunes » iTunes Store
It’s time for another exciting episode of “Occasional Apple Milestone,” the show where we talk about more or less arbitrary levels that Apple has achieved. With record sales of Macs and tons of iPods and iPhones continuing to be sold, some have wondered: “hey, what up with the iTunes Store?”
Well, here’s what up, dawgs. iTunes has “shipped” its three billionth track. That’s, to use pointless analogies, a track for almost every two people in the whole world. It’s enough tracks to stretch to the moon and back (assuming, of course, each track is a little over ten inches long).
Apple reached a billion tracks back in February of last year, which was just a couple months shy of iTunes’s third birthday. So, in about half the time it took them to reach one billion tracks, they’ve now sold two billion. Little surprise they’re now the third largest music retailer around.
LaunchBar 4.3 looks Leopardy
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 7:38 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Software » Updates
LaunchBar is one of those utilities that I went out and bought after five minutes of use. For those unfamiliar, it’s most easily compared with the ultra popular Quicksilver. LaunchBar isn’t for everyone. It costs $19.95 and isn’t nearly as extensible as QS. On the other hand, the functionality it provides is exactly what I use, invoking the functionality I want is far more intuitive (imagine, command-i actually gets info!), it’s faster, and doesn’t crash twenty times a day.
The just released 4.3 includes a brand new interface that’s very Leopard-esque. Other new features include Instant Open (hold the last key of an abbreviation to open an item), Instant Send (send items quick to LaunchBar), Calculator service, Fast User Switching, and much more. If you’re one of those people that is tired of Quicksilver’s instability, give LaunchBar a try. You might be surprised.
Apple’s upcoming Energy Star worries
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 6:33 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple
Apple can’t get no respect with environmentalists. Apple’s current policies and use of OLED LED backlighting isn’t enough satiate the blood lust of Green Peace. Just imagine the hordes that will be released from their underground hemp reinforced lair as they find out that none of Apple’s computers satisfy the very latest EnergyStar Guidelines.
The horror of it all! Apple has until January to comply, but given Green Peace’s recent behavior, I seriously doubt that’ll be good enough for them. So really, Apple needs to get on the ball if they want to retain that cute little logo. I know it helps me sleep at night (knowing I can use it to ward off Green Peace).
Update: Apologies everyone. Seems I should have double checked Engadget’s source. At any rate, the comments point out that Apple’s already mostly in tune with the new regulations. For the record, I’m still afraid of Green Peace.
Getting reliable with Pro Application Support 4.0.1
Posted on Jul. 31, ’07, 5:27 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Software » Updates
Apple’s released another action packed software update. I’d tell you my experiences, but I don’t own or use any of the necessary applications. Sad but true. From Pro Application Support 4.0.1’s page:
This update improves general user interface reliability for Apple’s professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Aperture, Final Cut Express HD, Soundtrack, Logic Pro and Logic Express.
Interface reliability is a big plus, especially since the interface is the cornerstone of the Apple experience. I have to reiterate my wish that they’d be more specific about what gets fixed. Considering the troubles that some users have had with recent updates, I think they’d appreciate knowing whether it’s worthwhile to upgrade.
As always, download is available from the above link or through Software Update.
Neil Cavuto’s “Common Sense” on the iPhone is anything but
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 8:32 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | iPhone
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to write a good rebuttal—maybe it’s because people haven’t been writing as much idoicy. Or maybe I just haven’t been reading it. Whatever the case, I was pleasantly surprised to find not only a ridiculous criticism of the iPhone, but one that comes from an excellent source:
Yes, the man whose name has been a punchline on The Daily Show more times than Steve Ballmer has uttered the word “developers.” A man who’s about as qualified to talk technology as I am to talk particle physics. You know, I’m actually feeling giddy. Let’s take a look.
Up, up, and away!
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 9:38 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Geekery
I’m not an uptime fetishist: I know that even my beloved MacBook needs to be restarted from time to time. There are system updates, the occasional annoying software install, and even just fixing up some wonky issues. But the fact is that sometimes I’m a bad boy and I just don’t get around to restarting.
This morning, I was curious to see how long I’d gone without restarting my computer, so I fired up the old Terminal app and ran uptime (if you’re not familiar with it, give it a try; it’s fun and mostly painless!). The result surprised—dare I say, shocked?—me: my MacBook had been up for 18 days, 6 minutes.
Now, an uptime in days isn’t much of a surprise for desktops, or in mission critical servers (where 18 days would be surprisingly and perhaps even worryingly low). But the fact that my laptop has been running for two and a half weeks straight is a testament to a couple factors: the solidity of OS X and my dependance on sleep mode. My MacBook gets carried from place to place while asleep, from home, to the cafe, through airport security, et cetera. More and more, shutting down or restarting is becoming a thing of the past.
At the risk of sounding like I’m channeling Merlin Mann, I’ll say this: sometimes I appreciate the forced break that a shut down or reboot gives. It’s a moment to unplug and free yourself from the tyranny of the screen.
What about you, readers? Are reboots and shut downs a necessary evil or a lifehack waiting to happen?
ShuffleSaver does for screensavers what the iPod shuffle does for music
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 8:45 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software
OS X makes it a snap for you to turn your photos into an attractive screensaver—as long as your pictures are on your Mac, or you have access to .Mac. But what happens if they’re on a different computer—or somewhere on the Internet, like photo-sharing site Flickr? Or what if you want to be delighted and surprised by a random assortment of photos?
In that case, you turn to a solution like Hendrik Holtmann’s ShuffleSaver. While you might think that it has something to do with the iPod shuffle, you’d be wrong—dead wrong. Rather, ShuffleSaver lets you create a screensaver from a stream of Flickr photos. Within its capacious menu options, you’ll find options to specify photos from a particular user or marked with specific tags, the ability to choose only the newest or most interesting photos, or even pull pictures from iPhoto.
ShuffleSaver’s interactive too: you can control the slideshow with keyboard shortcuts, pausing or skipping back and forth. And if a particular photo grabs you, just hit a hotkey to save it to iPhoto or a default folder. How easy is that? I’ll tell you: pretty easy.
If you enjoy ShuffleSaver, shoot a donation to the author at his website. Tell ‘em MacUser sent ya.
[hat tip: Kelly Turner]
VMWare virtually cleaning up
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 8:10 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Money
Those crazy cats at VMWare are just raking in the dough. With, like, a big rake and everything. Earlier this month, it was processor monolith (and occasional European Union foil) Intel chipping some cash into the outfit’s virtualization operations. Last week, a similar deal came from networking giant (and brand killer) Cisco.
The company is prepared to sink $150 million into VMWare, snagging 6 million shares of stock, which will net them a 1.6% equity stake in the company. While an Intel executive will be joining VMWare’s board as part of their deal, a similar arrangement has not yet been struck with Cisco.
Buying up shares sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Well, that’s because trading your hard-earned money for the chance to earn more money (or lose it—but that won’t happen!) is the most fun you can have outside of Nevada. And you can get in on it: back in February, VMWare announced plans to offer about 10% of its stock publically, which will probably happen in the third quarter of this year. So save your pennies.
Meanwhile, virtualization rival Parallels has reputedly deployed an army of strategic panhandlers throughout Silicon Valley, asking passing tech execs for a spare thousand or two, while singing a tear-inducing rendition of The Beatles’s “You Never Give Me Your Money.” We wish them luck.
GraphicConverter 6.0 released
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 7:19 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Software » Updates
GraphicConverter is one of those tools that most longtime Mac users have or at the very least know about. It also, to my knowledge, still gets bundled with pro Macs. There are users that bought it many, many years ago and haven’t paid a penny to upgrade until this version. I believe this may be the first paid upgrade ($19.95 for upgrade, $34.95 for purchase) [Macworld Senior Editor Peter Cohen informs us GraphicConverter 4.2 was also a paid update -DM]. MacUpdate promo bundle buyers also got a free upgrade. The new version contains a ton of new features including:
- Lossless jpeg cropping added to convert & modify
- Optional footer to open images added (UB only)
- Save for web function added
- Polygon selection tool added
- Basic layer support added
- Set gps coordinates from Google Earth added
- Go to photo position in Google Earth added
- A ton more
The lossless jpeg cropping is neat trick. If you do a lot of image file conversion or need basic image editing without the hefty Photoshop pricetag, check it out.
KisMAC dies
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 6:37 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Software
If you’re obsessive compulsive about the wireless networks in your area, you probably know about iStumbler and KisMAC. I’m a big fan of the former, but the latter has many more features, including tools to break into WEP networks (which programatically isn’t hard to do) and also puts your card in passive mode (if possible). However, law is changing in Germany and it will soon be illegal for the author to participate.
“There has not been a lot of time for KisMAC lately. However the motivation for this drastic step [lies] somewhere different. German laws change and are being adapted for ‘better’ protection against something politicians obviously do not understand. It will become illegal to develop, use or even posses KisMAC in this banana republic [i.e., Germany].”
He’s encouraging people to download the source while it’s still available so others can continue its development and distribution. I hope someone takes up the torch and can pick up where he left off, he’s done a terrific job.
Give your Apple TV big storage with USB
Posted on Jul. 30, ’07, 5:26 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple TV
While Apple now sells an Apple TV with a 160 GB hard drive instead of the tiny 40 GB drive it originally sold with, for some people, it’s still not enough storage. Besides, the price difference between the two models is $100. Further, if you decide to perform the upgrade yourself, you’re still limited by the sizes of relatively expensive laptop drives. 3.5” drives are bigger and cheaper.
Apple TV Hacks has been tracking the progress of a hack that allows you to use an external USB drive for storage while using the internal drive for booting. Saturday, it finally landed. It’s geeky and not for the faint of heart, but once you’ve gone through all the steps (it doesn’t even require opening up your Apple TV), you’ll have a beefy drive.
There are some restrictions with the hack, like requiring 1.0 of the Apple TV software and an Intel Mac. That said, the guys over at Apple TV Hacks are looking for assistance in removing many of the restrictions.
Apple’s new keyboard brings teh shiny
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 11:45 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Hardware
By now, you’ve probably caught at least a glimpse of the pictures over at Engadget that purport to show Apple’s new desktop keyboard. Is this the real deal? We don’t know, but the shots are pretty darn convincing. We’ve noticed a few interesting details about the unit’s construction.
Obviously, it looks a great deal like a MacBook keyboard, in terms of its mechanism. This makes it a lot smaller than Apple’s previous desktop keyboards. While I’m a big fan of the MacBook keyboard, there’s definitely a sort of psychological barrier to overcome when moving that to the desktop. We’re willing to put up with shortcomings on laptops precisely because they don’t afford the amount of space that a desktop does. Apple tried to shrink down their keyboard once before (with the original iMac and PowerMac G3); I owned one for years, and while I liked the keyboard’s feel, its layout and size were extremely inconvenient (at least Apple has gone for a full-size keyboard on this one). As for aesthetics, the aluminum finish would seem to mesh with much of Apple’s current product line, as well as the rumors of an aluminum iMac.
Then there’s the rearrangement of the function keys. If the pictures are to be believed, Apple has moved Expose and Dashboard to the F3 and F4 keys (they currently reside at F9 and F12). Meanwhile, mute, volume down, and volume up move to F10, F11, and F12. So what about Expose’s other two functions, which are currently mapped to F10 and F11? If I want to reassign the keys, does that mean I just have to ignore those markings? That’s a little irritating.
They’ve also added play/pause, backward, and forward keys; traditionally the kind of functionality Apple has eschewed building into its keyboards. A Fn key has been dropped in the space where the “Insert” “Help” key lives—though it’s never really been used by OS X. And the eject key moves from the far right (above the numeric keypad) to above the delete/backspace key.
They’ve also dropped the hollow Apple icon from the command key, labeling it with “command” instead. Some have applauded this mood, but I’ll shed a tear for nostalgia’s sake. Profile shots also show the USB hub ports moved to the sides of the keyboard.
My conclusion? Either it’s a really really well-constructed fake, or it’s the genuine Kirk, Spock, and McCoy rolled into one. What think you, readers? An improvement over Apple’s current keyboards, or a step back?
Under the gavel: Continent not content with Intel
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 10:20 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Legal
Looks like Apple’s not the only one who’s run into trouble with the European Commission. Chip-maker Intel is the latest company to be targeted by the EC for anticompetitive measures.
The executive branch of the European Union has issued a Statement of Objections—which is about as fun as it sounds. It’s a formal accusation of antitrust violations and Intel has ten weeks to respond: cue a rash of Intel response countdown Dashboard widgets! I can only hope their response is as adorable as Apple’s.
Intel is charged on five three counts of anticompetitive behavior, namely:
Now, I have yet to snag my law degree from correspondence school, but number two there sounds pretty damning, at the least: paying companies to drop the competition’s products from their lineup? Back home we call that bribery. Apparently it sounds pretty bad in European, too.
Update: Okay, that was pretty fast. Intel has responded with a press release:
We are confident that the microprocessor market segment is functioning normally and that Intel’s conduct has been lawful, pro-competitive, and beneficial to consumers. While we would certainly have preferred to avoid the cost and inconvenience of establishing that our competitive conduct in Europe has been lawful, the Commission’s decision to issue a Statement of Objections means that at last Intel will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the allegations made by our primary competitor.Oh, it’s on.The case is based on complaints from a direct competitor rather than customers or consumers. The Commission has an obligation to investigate those complaints. However, a Statement of Objections contains only preliminary allegations and does not itself amount to a finding that there has been a violation of European Union law. Intel will now be given the chance to respond directly to the Commission’s concerns as part of the administrative process. The evidence that this industry is fiercely competitive and working is compelling. When competitors perform and execute the market rewards them. When they falter and under-perform the market responds accordingly.
Safari 3: now with less inadvertent pop-ups
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 9:36 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software
We covered most of the flashy new features of the Safari 3 Beta when it was released last month, but every now and then, a small change trickles through, like the new “Reset Safari…” dialog box. Dennis at False Cognate points out that Apple’s changed the keyboard shortcut for “Block Pop-Up Windows” to command-shift-K from the erstwhile command-K. Well, hallelujah.
After I hit command-K for the seven millionth time while trying to hit command-L, a fact that inevitably I wouldn’t notice until I was barraged with pop-up ads, I used the Keyboard and Mouse preference pane to change the keyboard shortcut to command-shift-0, something that I was unlikely to ever hit accidentally.
The Safari 3.0 Beta appears to have had one bizarre side effect, in that regard: my custom shortcut is no longer listed in the Keyboard and Mouse preference pane, so I actually can’t remove it without delving into the command line. Not that it matters, but it’s, er, rather odd.
Either way, it’s nice to see that Apple’s still paying attention to the little things that make our user experience better.
[via Daring Fireball]
Consider your option
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 8:54 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Geekery
Just proof that even having been a Mac User for about sixteen years now, there’s always something new to learn. In the past we’ve discussed the origin of the command key symbol (the cloverleaf that represents a “place of interest” in some countries). But not long ago, as I was browsing through a menu, a thought struck me: what about the other modifier keys?
Well, shift uses an uppercase arrow (⇧), which is pretty straightforward. Control is also an up arrowhead (⌃), similar to a caret. If not as obvious, it at least conveys the idea of “shifting” the functions of the keys that are pressed in conjunctions.
But what about the option key’s symbol: ⌥. I’d never really taken the time to look at it, but once I did it was pretty obvious: it’s a switch. I thought of a railroad track, but the Wikipedia entry says it’s a microswitch for electric currents. Still, it makes perfect sense: what is a switch if not an option?
For those of you are rolling their eyes and muttering that this is so blindingly obvious, you may now take solace in the fact that you’re officially smarter than I am. Enjoy the moment, before I whip out a postmodern analysis of the works of Naguib Mahfouz and put you back in your place.
[Picture borrowed from 43 Folders]
Linksys is dead, long live Cisco
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 8:13 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Internet
Long before I actually knew much about networking, I knew that Linksys made decent networking equipment. They’ve been known for their affordable networking equipment for years now. In fact, my family’s first cable modem and router were both Linksys made. They’ve lasted many moons. More recently, I’ve entertained myself by trying out and tweaking all the firmware distributions available for the WRT54G model router.
So, let’s face it. In the US at least, Linksys is a big player and recognized by everyday consumers. Walmart customers know they can stroll into the electronics department and get a good router by looking for the word Linksys. John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco (the parent company of Linksys), has end of lifed the Linksys brandname.
“It will all come overtime into a Cisco brand. The reason we kept Linksys’ brand because it was better known in the US than even Cisco was for the consumer. As you go globally there’s very little advantage in that”, said Cisco’s CEO.
Cisco is a recognized name, but most consumers are rather unaware of what exactly they do. Personally, I think this another end of an established brand with little justification. I’m sure Cisco’s consumer hardware competition is wringing their hands in glee. Suddenly Netgear might be the most recognized name in the market.
[via Slashdot]
Mozilla looking to dump Thunderbird
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 6:54 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Internet
Unbelievable but true, not everyone likes Mail.app. Some Mac users actually like Mozilla’s Thunderbird email client. It’s been a part of Mozilla ever since, like Firefox before it, it got broken out of Mozilla proper. Now Mozilla is thinking about getting rid of Thunderbird. Allow me to excerpt a few lines with my bs filter.
However, the Thunderbird effort is dwarfed by the enormous energy and community focused on the web, Firefox and the ecosystem around it. As a result, Mozilla doesn’t focus on Thunderbird as much as we do browsing and Firefox and we don’t expect this to change in the foreseeable future. We are convinced that our current focus - delivering the web, mostly through browsing and related services - is the correct priority.
Firefox makes us a ton of money. No, you don’t understand. A ton of money. It comes in wheelbarrows. Thunderbird makes us zip, nada, zilch.
We have concluded that we should find a new, separate organizational setting for Thunderbird; one that allows the Thunderbird community to determine its own destiny.
We want to put Thunderbird alone on a ship and send it out to sea.
We’ve thought about a few different options. I’ve described them below. If you’ve got a different idea please let us know.
Option 1. Create a new non-profit organization analogous to the Mozilla Foundation - a Thunderbird foundation. If it turns out Thunderbird generates a revenue model from the product as Firefox does, then a Thunderbird foundation could follow the Mozilla Foundation model and create a subsidiary.
I’m basically telling you we can figure out how to monetize Thunderbird, which is exactly why we’re trying to get rid of it.
Option 2. Create a new subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation for Thunderbird. This has less overhead, although it still requires a new company that serves the mission of the Mozilla Foundation. In this case the Mozilla Foundation board and personnel would remain involved in Thunderbird. Thunderbird would continue to need to be balanced and prioritized with Mozilla’s focus on delivering the web through Firefox, its ecosystem and the Open Web as the platform. The Thunderbird effort may therefore still end up with less focus and less flexibility.
We end up still spending money on this. We’re only throwing this out there to make it look like we don’t want to abandon it completely.
Option 3. Thunderbird is released as a community project much like SeaMonkey, and a small independent services and consulting company is formed by the Thunderbird developers to continue development and care for Thunderbird users.
This is probably what we’ll do. We get to dump Thunderbird and it might actually survive, so we don’t look like bad guys.
We don’t know the best answer yet.
We want people to give feedback that we’ll follow (just as long as we don’t have to keep supporting Thunderbird) so we can always blame the community for what happens. (End translation.)
This latest development really makes me fear for the longevity of the Thunderbird project. Eudora’s already supposed to use it as a base, so if it folds up, there goes two popular email clients. We’ll be left with webmail and bundled email clients like Mail.app, Entourage, Outlook, and Windows Live Mail Desktop. Thunderbird is the last actively developed cross-platform desktop email client. It’s worth saving and Mozilla doesn’t seem motivated to do that.
[via Macworld]
One to One has to include Apple
Posted on Jul. 27, ’07, 5:43 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Business
You may remember Apple starting a little training program they call One to One. Apple once included personalized training as part of its ProCare memberships, but it’s now a separate product. One to One is such a good name that Apple trademarked it.
The U.S. Trademark and Patent Office has approved Apple’s application for a trademark on the One to One education and training service offered in its retail stores. In its application date July 20th, the company says the term was first used “at least as early at 05/02/2007. In its application, Apple describes the service as, “Education and training services,” and gives examples of the service, including “maintenance and consulting services” and “computer diagnostic services.” In line with Apple’s usual secrecy procedures, the trademark was first filed in Trinidad/Tobago on March 21, 2007, a common procedure among companies to establish “first use” rights to a term without publicly revealing the trademark.
Now, what I want to know is how do you get the job at Apple that sends you down to Trinidad/Tobago to file that paperwork?
Get 1Passwd for $10 less than its usual price
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 2:55 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Software
I haven’t really followed macZOT recently as I’ve become less and less interested in the discounted applications offered. Today, however, I think I might take advantage of the daily deal: 1Passwd, my favorite web password manager, is being sold for $19.67, a 34% reduction of the usual $29.95.
For me, this couldn’t come at a better time, since I’ve been debating for a while whether I should buy a full copy. I love the app, but 30 bucks is a tad pricey, and I’m still holding on to a copy I got for free through MacHeist last fall. Seeing as that copy is no longer upgradeable, I think today will be the day the 1Passwd guys get my $20. But remember, you’ve only got today to take advantage of the discount.
[Thanks, Walt!]
A fix for flaky Flash
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 1:50 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Troubleshooting
That pesky QuickTime 7.2 is causing trouble again, this time with Adobe Flash. Turns out that in some cases, QuickTime hijacks playback of Flash content, even though it’s not compatible with all the different types of embedded Flash media. Say it with me now: “doh!”
Fortunately, the fix, courtesy of the always excellent MacFixIt is pretty simple. Fire up the QuickTime preference pane, and navigate your way over to the “Advanced” tab. You’ll see a checkbox that reads “Enable Flash.” Silly rabbit! Flash is for kids, you might think—and you’d be right. Uncheck that little box, and then hit the “MIME Settings…” button below it. Under “Miscellaneous” you’ll see a “Flash media” checkbox; make sure that one is deactivated too (there’s some suggestion that you should also uncheck “QuickTime HTML,” but I and other users have found that, for some bizarre reason, you don’t appear to be able to uncheck it, so, oh well).
Hopefully that gets Flash shaping up. And, needless to say, if you’re not experiencing difficulties playing back Flash media, you can pretty much ignore this whole post. Good for you!
Divining Apple TV sales
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 12:04 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple TV
Business 2.0’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt has taken it upon himself to figure out, from sparse details given during yesterday’s conference call, how the Apple TV is selling. Employing a complex mathematical formula, and a fair amount of guess work, he’s come up with a figure:
Apple and AT&T together sold 270,000 iPhones in Q3. Let’s assume that 90,000 of those were AT&T sales (1,800 stores times an average of 50 units a store). That leaves 180,000 iPhones sold at Apple stores. Figuring $600 a unit (since most people bought the 8 gig model), that’s about $108 million in deferred revenue for the iPhone. $180 million minus $108 million leaves $72 million for Apple TV sales. Figuring $350 per Apple TV (splitting the difference between the $299 and $399 models), I get …I’d say he’s within the target window: my gut says Apple TV sales were somewhere between 200,000-250,000 units in the quarter. Philip goes on to remind readers that Jobs called the Apple TV “a hobby” a few months ago. I like to think of it more as Apple’s beachhead in the living room, a foothold for future expansion. There’s no question that Apple will be adding more features to the Apple TV—they’ve stated that much in the past, and have shown it in action with the YouTube update. What they haven’t quite figured out is the whole pipeline for delivering content; and while many people swear by their Apple TVs, they clearly haven’t hit the mainstream buzz that the iPhone has. My Ouija board suggests that Apple’s already sold more iPhones than Apple TVs, despite the fact that the latter was released four months earlier.206,000 Apple TVs sold in Q3 2007.
But I’m anticipating the Apple TV 2.0 no less fervently than iPhone 2.0—if for no other reason than I don’t have an Apple TV…yet.
Dvorak says not-entirely-negative things about the Mac; the end times are nigh
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 11:03 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Huh?
If you look back through the archives, you’ll see that I haven’t linked to tech curmudgeon John C. Dvorak since his admission in June of last year that he deliberately taunts Mac users in order to get traffic. As much as I like churning out point-by-point rebuttals of Dvorak’s FUD, I decided that he didn’t really need our help to bolster his readership. And so that was that.
Until today, when I was walking down the street and passed a dog which whispered to me: “Hey, buddy, the sky’s falling.” Dogs don’t ordinarily talk to me, so you can bet your vintage Queen LP collection that I looked up. And sure enough, the sky was falling; and emblazoned upon it in clouds of fire was one sentence.
There were screams; there was general panic in the streets. Nobody knew precisely what was going on, but the consensus seemed to be that the horsemen of the Apocalypse had decided to finish up their afternoon lattes at Starbucks and commence the end of all things. Pamphlets were being circulated plastered with Dvorak’s grumpy mug and choice quotes like “First of all, the machine is not half bad.” I haven’t seen disruption on this level since at least last week’s Harry Potter release.
Things have calmed down a bit since, as it sunk in that Dvorak wouldn’t be switching to a Mac full time. But if nothing else, it is a damining piece of ammunition for the next time Mr. Grumpypants sets out to harangue Mac users.
What’s next? David Maynor and George Ou admitting that the wireless hack was all a hoax? According to my Dashboard widget, the forecast calls for cloudy with an occasional chance of brimstone, so I guess anything is possible.
The Mac daddy of all sales records
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 10:15 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Business
Yesterday’s Q3 financials showed it to be yet another in the long line of outstanding quarters for Apple, but they brought something else along for the ride: good news for the Mac. No, Oppenheimer and Cook didn’t spill the details on the new product lines—word is Steve Jobs has their memory selectively altered before they confront the press or analysts. When they say “We can’t discuss that,” they really can’t discuss it.
But there was good news nonetheless: Apple sold a record number of Macs last quarter, to the tune of 1.76 million, 64% of them notebooks. That’s a heck of a lot of MacBooks, which, if nothing else, explains why I see so many of them around (in fact, the person opposite me in the cafe as I write this is working away on a white MacBook). The educational market and professional desktops saw upticks as well; it was a no-segment-left-behind quarter.
And keep in mind, that’s without any major Mac revisions since the Intel switch. Oppenheimer hinted at a forthcoming “product transition;” whether that’s for the iPod or the Mac, it’s impossible to say at this juncture, but I feel confident that it’s a good time to be a Mac user. And hopefully in the not too distant futures, we’ll be talkin’ up new Mac models.
Go behind the scenes of “1984”
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 8:45 AM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Apple » Advertising
Since it was revived by geek blog UNEASYsilence a while back, new content has been trickling into MacTV’s podcast feed, and last week brought a gem: a 3-minute video giving a behind-the-scenes look at Apple’s legendary “1984” commercial.
You see it all: camera gear filming the hammer girl, men getting their head shaved and their faces whitened, and even big brother playing his part without all the special effects. It’s quite a cool piece of history. Enjoy.
The iPhone is really the gateway drug into iCal and Address Book
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 7:35 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | iPhone
Personal information management is a process that no one really ever quite gets completely perfect. Systems are developed and destroyed over and over again. I used Entourage for a while, but ultimately moved to iCal, Address Book, and Mail.app for syncing and integration into other applications.
Web development pro Jeffrey Zeldman moved on from Now Up-To-Date and Contact and Eudora. The reason? One word: iPhone. Having your personal data synced with your phone really is a wonderful thing. In order to experience that with the iPhone, you’ll need to tap into Apple’s databases. Technically, one could still use the latest version of Entourage, but to get the full effect, the bundled apps are the way to go.
So far, he’s actually enjoying the more simplistic software, particularly Mail.app. As time has worn on, I’ve experienced the same thing. That’s not to say that there aren’t features I’d like to see, but Apple’s suite of software prioritizes the things that enable my workflow.
SlingCatcher delayed until Fall
Posted on Jul. 26, ’07, 6:21 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Video
This morning, Dan’s Cheerios are getting showered with his tears because he’s finding out that the SlingCatcher he’s been eyeing won’t be available this summer as originally promised. Interested customers will have to squirrel that money away until the leaves fall from the trees. A quick recap: the SlingCatcher will let you watch your Slingbox or your computer’s display remotely.
According to Engadget, Sling says their original estimate was “aggressive”. Based on some conversations I’ve had with non-techy friends of mine, the Slingbox is probably the worst market tech product I know of. Once I describe what it does, people are asking me to double check the name. You owe it to the traveler in your life to let them know about it.
The numbers game: liveblogging Apple’s Q3 2007 earnings
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 1:50 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Money
We’re here today to talk about numbers. 3.1415926; 4; 8; 15; 16; 23; 42; 18.5. Just a few of my favorites, there. I hope you enjoy them just as much as I have. Now comes the interactive part of this post: match those numbers to the following options.
Any who manage to line up the correct values and descriptions will get a special prize from me (that prize? A fabulous handmade iCard).
But your thirst for numbers is not slaked, you say? Very well, then. Perhaps these figures will sate the eternal hunger: $5.41 billion in revenue, quarterly profit of $818 million, $.92 per diluted share. Compare that to last year’s Q3, which showed a “mere” revenue of $4.37 billion, profit of $472 million, and diluted earnings per share of $.54, and I think you’ll agree those are some fine looking numbers.
But that’s not all, folks. Apple shipped 1,764,000 Macs last quarter, a growth of 33% over last year and beating the last record of quarterly shipments of Macs by 150,000. The company also moved 9,815,000 iPods, itself 21% growth over the year-ago quarter. Estimates for the next quarter are $5.7 billion in revenue, with diluted share earnings of around $.65, and a side of fries. Sorry, no, onion rings.
Peep the full details, with more tawdry numbers, at the link above, or hit the jump for our liveblog coverage.
MacLive Expo returns to London this fall
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 12:50 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Apple » Events
Macworld UK reports that the MacLive Expo is returning to London this fall, running from the 25th to the 27th of October. This year, the show seems to be focusing more on learning and digital media, especially for pros.
In addition to the showfloor exhibitors (which might include Apple), visitors will be offered various “hands-on sessions with tips and advice on all the latest techniques for the latest applications”, including Adobe CS3 and Final Cut Studio. There will also be technology debates and many opportunities to learn more about everything from photography to video to iPods.
If you’re in the area of the Olympia exhibition center this fall, it looks like the MacLive Expo will be a lot of fun. Plus, it’s free for the first 5,000 visitors who register, so reserve your spot at the website.
Reminder: Apple Q3 results live at 5PM
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 11:41 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Money
Because I know you’re all fidgeting on the edges of your collective seats today, let me just give you this quick reminder. Apple’s third quarter results are due in a conference call at 5PM Eastern today (that’s 2PM Pacific and 3AM tomorrow if you happen to surfing to us from good old Kathmandu). As usual, we will be on the line, shooting the breeze with COO Timmy C. and CFO MC Oppenheimer (where “shooting the breeze” means “raptly hanging on every word”).
I’m sure Pete and Tim will whip out all the old favorites: operating costs, diluted earnings per share, and—oh, you’d thought we’d forgotten—gross margins. You know what? This could make one tremendous drinking game. I’ll get right on that.
So don’t forget to tune in at 5PM today as we liveblog the quarterly earning results. Come for the iPhone sales figures, stay for the witty banter—that’s how we roll.
ArtRage 2.5 has some cool new features
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 11:15 AM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Software » Updates
You may have heard of ArtRage, a cheap and intuitive painting app for both Mac and Windows. Version 2.5 just landed, and it has an impressive list of new features and improvements.
Precision-obsessed artists will appreciate the new Stencils and Rulers: these new tools let you draw and position objects with architectural accuracy. Layers also got a lot more versatile, adding the ability to group layers, copy and paste between them, and move, scale and rotate their content.
The list just goes on, but a few other capabilities are worth a mention: you can now zoom in using your mouse’s scroll wheel, the application now stores its entire resources in an app bundle, and it includes an internal updater.
Overall, the update is an impressive one for a point release, and you can update your copy by visiting the download page. Remember, the full version costs $25, but a free, stripped-down version is available.
[via Applelinks]
The most fun you can have without actually drawing on your screen
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 10:11 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software
If you’ve ever given a presentation in front of a room full of people, you know how handy it is to be able to draw their attention to certain parts of the screen: “Over here,” you might say, “you can see the rare Crumple-Horned Snorkack.” While a laser pointer often works fine for these types of situations, sometimes you need something a little more flexible.
The free program Highlight lets you superimpose a drawing layer on your screen onto which you can make lines, circles, rectangles, and squiggles. Choose a color and a pen size in the menu, and you can doodle away to your heart’s content (or your audience’s frustration). A hot key lets you hide and show the drawing layer, and you can step back and delete one drawing at a time with the backspace key, or clear them all by hitting command-K.
There are other programs that do this as well, but Highlight is so simple that it’s just fun to use, even if you’re not giving a presentation.
[via Lifehacker]
iPhone Safari vulnerability present on OS X, Windows
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 9:23 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Security
Earlier this week, the web was all abuzz with the news that a significant vulnerability had allegedly been discovered in the iPhone’s version of Safari. While we still don’t know the full details on that story, the bug has apparently been reported to Apple by the discoverers, Independent Security Evaluators (ISE). ISE researcher Dr. Charles Miller is due to report on his findings at the Black Hat security conference on August 2nd. The researchers have submitted a patch as well, though Apple wouldn’t comment on whether an update would be released.
Unfortunately, it appears that a similar vulnerability could exist in the OS X and Windows versions of Safari as well, though it “may not be exploitable.” If I had to hazard a guess, I think part of that may be because, unlike the iPhone, apps on the Mac and PC are not usually run as a superuser (though they may still be able to wreak other damage).
In the end though, Miller seems to have taken a fairly balanced stance on the security foofaraw:
But would [Miller] give up his new iPhone? Not hardly. “It’s like any other computer,” he said. “As long as you’re careful about the sites you visit and know what wireless access point you’re connecting to, you should be safe.”Reasonable behavior and responsible bug reporting; there are definitely some security researchers who could take lessons from these guys.
Jobs’s finger not on the button
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 8:42 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs hates buttons. Loathes them with a furor usually reserved for Microsoft and people who talk at the theater. Nowhere is that personality trait more evident than in the minimal buttons of the iPhone, but it’s a trend that Jobs has long embraced, the Wall Street Journal points out.
Bruce Tognazzini, a former user-interface expert at Apple who joined the company in 1978, says Mr. Jobs was adamant that the keyboard for the original Macintosh not include “up,” “down,” “right” and “left” keys that allow users to move the cursor around their computer screens, giving it a sleeker appearance than other personal computers have. Mr. Jobs’s reasoning, says Mr. Tognazzini: Omitting the cursor keys would force independent software developers to create programs that used the Mac’s mouse — a novel technology at the time.Follow that with the infamous one-button mouse and the sparsity of the Apple Remote and iPod—hey, even Steve’s usual black turtleneck attire lacks buttons (and we bet he doesn’t go for button fly jeans; but we digress).
The root of the issue, as far as Jobs is concerned, is elegance and simplicity: qualities for which Apple’s designers are well known. And while the iPhone is more than just a one-button phone, the controls are designed with a purpose. Granted, there are missteps: the touch-sensitive buttons of the 3G iPod is a great example of Apple design gone wrong, though I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the failure of that fed back into the design process for the truly excellent Click Wheel and even the iPhone’s interface.
[Thanks, Kate!]
Bad dog, very bad dog
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 7:47 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Hardware
Like car accidents during a daily commute, I can’t take my eyes off pictures of Mac that are horribly mistreated. Small Dog Electronics Flickr stream has some horrific pictures of what a dog did to a poor iBook G4. Witness a sample the right.
There are four pictures in total (1, 2, 3, and 4). This isn’t just cosmetic damage. We’re talking about scarring on the display so bad, it’s all the way through. I can’t help but love a dog, but wow, if this ever happened to me, that love would be put to the test.
Then again, if your little poochie has been good, maybe you should show that love and get him or her an iPod dog sweater. Cute!
Don’t even try to top this guy’s fan rank
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 6:33 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple » Huh?
Your house may be filled with Apple products of every make and design. Your friends and coworkers may be tired of your constant Apple pontification. Heck, you might even have a Mac tattoo you never shut up about. That’s nothing. Who thought destroying relationships and permanently altering your skin would mean so little?
A man in New Zealand drove his car into Auckland Methodist Mission Church. After speeding through the city putting many people at risk and finally putting a 58-year-old woman in the hospital, he finally hit the church. You may be asking yourself what this has to do with Apple.
The driver was “injured but conscious”, and as police attempted to extricate him from his motor, he “clutched his laptop computer and screamed the name of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs”. A fireman later told 3 News “he believed the man had a mental illness”.
He takes the cake.
[via the Curmudgeon]
Webjimbo makes Yojimbo even more useful
Posted on Jul. 25, ’07, 5:28 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Software
If you ask me to compile of my favorite or most essential software, Bare Bones Yojimbo is likely to top that list. It’s the one stop shop for notetaking, password saving, and receipt managing. You can sync it using Apple’s .Mac, which makes it infinitely more useful to me. However, that’s not a complete solution because I’m not always at one of my computers.
Adrian Ross’s Webjimbo gives you access to your Yojimbo data anywhere by making your Mac into a special purpose website. While that by itself sounded great to me, I didn’t realize how good it was until I actually tried it. It doesn’t look or feel like a website though. You’d almost think that you’re really using Yojimbo. All your data is there in the interface you’ve gotten to know and love. If you give scripts access to your encrypted data, you can even view that.
While that may seem like a security concern (and it is locally because any AppleScript can access that data), your data is secured using industry standard SSL. That’s a welcome feature for me because my Yojimbo data is valuable and deserves protection.
There are some disclosed limitations, but if you can live with them, you’ll have full access to your data. An iPhone optimized version is even in the works. For $29.95, it’s a bargain and probably the slickest example of Web 2.0 code I’ve seen yet.
Power restored
Posted on Jul. 24, ’07, 3:21 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | MacUser
Hey folks: sorry for the interruption of quality blogging. Our servers experienced a bit of a power outage this afternoon, caused no doubt by someone once again turning on the toaster, microwave, and Awesome Death Ray at the same time. But have no fear: we’re back on track once again. Although our Death Ray has seen better days.
A SafariStand 3.0 beta update revives an excellent feature
Posted on Jul. 24, ’07, 11:30 AM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Software » Updates
Back in June, one of the reasons why Safari 3 didn’t spend more than 20 minutes on my hard drive was its incompatibility with many third-party plug-ins and applications. Thankfully, as Derik mentioned a while back, most of those were updated not long after, including one of my favorite, SafariStand.
Unfortunately, this new version disabled a few of SafariStand’s best capabilities; features such as quick search and the sidebar were kept, but Site Alteration and Flash video downloading, along with a few others, got temporarily disabled. That’s where yesterday’s update to the 3.0 beta of the plug-in comes in: Site Alteration is still missing in action, but flv downloading is back.
The flv downloading has quickly become my favorite SafariStand feature: it allows you to Command-click on any .flv video and save it to your downloads folder once it’s fully loaded in Safari. Saving YouTube and Google Video clips for later viewing has never been faster.
It’s worth mentioning that all SafariStand features are alive and well in version 2 for people like myself who prefer sticking with Safari 2. But you early adopters can head over to Hetima.com and download the new version 3 beta.
Sing sing sing (with a swing)
Posted on Jul. 24, ’07, 9:49 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Software
Months upon months ago at Macworld, we got a chance to play around with Griffin’s iKaraoke device for the iPod. Where by “play around” I mean “look ridiculous.” Despite the fact that we weren’t necessarily prepared to engage in serious karaoking, it’s a pretty nifty idea: you plug the mic into the iPod, and it removes the vocals so you can sing along yourself.
Griffin’s now released a critical missing ingredient for your tawdry musical revelries: the free iKaraoke Tune Prompter. This app lets you create a movie that will prompt you with the lyrics of the song as the music plays in the background. You import any unprotected song from your iTunes library, and then type the lyrics in or find them online (Tune Prompter will help you do so with a Google search). Once the lyrics are in, you play the song and hit the spacebar as the lyrics are sung. You can tweak them as necessary when you’re done, and then export the whole shebang as an iPod- (or iPhone) compatible movie.
The program is darn slick and while you don’t need iKaraoke to use Tune Prompter, you’ll be so tempted to belt out your favorite tunes that you may find yourself shelling out the $50 just for the hell of it.
[via Playlist]