No C4: check; no bottled water: check; …no batteries?

Posted on Dec. 31, ’07, 1:20 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

Explosives, firearms, knives, and liquids are no longer the most annoying no-nos when it comes to air travel. Effective January 1st, carrying extra Lithium-based batteries — ie, those used in laptops — in checked luggage will not be permitted on US flights.

“Why, oh why?” you ask? Our buds at the Mothership give the low-down:

In February 2006 a United Parcel Service flight landed at Philidelphia International Airport after the crew detected a fire in its cargo. The National Transportation Safety Board said later that it found several burned out laptop batteries on the plane, and could not rule them out as a possible cause of the fire.

You’ll still be allowed to travel with batteries that are installed in devices (laptops, cameras, etc.), as well as extra batteries as long as they’re in plastic bags and carried on as hand luggage. You can get more details on the new ban at Macworld, or at SafeTravel.dot.gov.

Travel rules are getting crazier and crazier. All I want to know is when the DOT will start banning passengers who haven’t showered or used deodorant in weeks. Now that’s a travel health hazard.

Save a lemur; don’t get beaten up by Mike Lee

Posted on Dec. 31, ’07, 11:20 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Internet

As a community, we’re all about giving back. We’ve got the likes of MacSanta, PRODUCT (RED) iPods, and $100 iPhone credits. Now the world’s toughest programmer (I hear he has the belt to prove it) has launched an effort to support the endangered lemurs of Madagascar.

Delicious Monster’s Mike Lee has opened up Club Thievey, named after an incorrigible stuffed lemur (pictured) owned by his wife. The idea is simple: donate $100 to the Madagascar Fauna Group and Mike will send you your very own stuffed lemur for free. Then, take a shot of you and your lemur and it’ll get posted on the site. A number of indie Mac programmers like Brent Simmons, Gus Mueller, and Daniel Jalkut have already pledged their support to Club Thievey, but don’t worry, you don’t have to be a developer to join. Plus, if you donate tonight, you can join the elite Founding Troop.

If you’re looking for more info on Club Thievey, or why the lemurs are worth saving, check out the link above and you’ll find a veritable cornucopia of information from Mike. I know $100 is a lot, especially after Christmas, but you can also set up a recurring payment for a smaller amount if you want, like $10 a month. Besides, is that really too high a price for not incurring the enmity of the world’s toughest programmer? Heck, it’d be a steal at twice the price!

Steve Jobs is 2007’s Face of Business

Posted on Dec. 31, ’07, 9:48 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Steve Jobs

Look at that face! So charming, so adorable. Is it any surprise that Vinnie Jobserino (aka Steven P. Jobs) cleaned up at CNBC’s Face of Business ‘07 poll? None at all, say we. We mentioned the poll when it went up the other week, and while we’d like to pride ourselves on having something to do with Jobs’s tremendous victory, he probably didn’t need our help.

Just how badly did he crush the competition? Jobs garnered 78% of the vote, which is all the more impressive when you realize that the number two spot was held down by Chuck Prince, former Chairman and CEO of Citigroup, who picked up 6.9% of the vote. No, that’s not a misprint. The closest of Jobs’s peers were the boys at Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt, who slotted in at #4 with 3% of the vote. Look, you just can’t beat Steve Jobs. He’s like one of those unstoppable ’50s science-fiction movie giant ants or something. Just get out of his way or you’ll be trampled to death by the Jobsian Juggernaut (that’s his nickname from his wrestling days).

Apple schedules Q1 2008 results

Posted on Dec. 31, ’07, 9:06 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Money

Forget Christmas, forget New Year’s, forget Macworld Expo. The event I’m waiting for with no less anticipation than with which your average five year-old stays up on Christmas eve is coming up on January 22nd, the week after Expo kicks off. That’s right: it’s time once again for Apple’s quarterly earnings.

We’re talking Q1 2008 here, as Apple’s fiscal calendar doesn’t precisely line up with the actual physical calendar. This is the holiday quarter which is typically Apple’s highest earning quarter in the year, so expect good results. If we may flash you back to the earnings predictions from the Q4 2007 conference call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer issued guidance expecting revenue of approximately $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of roughly $1.42—and consider that Apple’s guidance is usually on the conservative side, so don’t be surprised if the final numbers exceed that.

As always, Apple’ll be holding a conference call/webcast of the financial results, scheduled to take place on the 22nd at 5PM Eastern. You can rest assured that we’ll be, as always, liveblogging the event with our usual barely contained excitement.

Remote time travel made easy

Posted on Dec. 31, ’07, 7:48 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

We’ve previously covered a couple ways to force your Mac to execute a Time Machine backup on your own schedule instead of Apple’s once-an-hour interval. But say you’re on another computer—a MacBook, for example—and want to force your desktop to run a Time Machine backup. Yeah, you could use screen sharing, but what if you’re on a pre-Leopard Mac, or Back to My Mac isn’t working (preposterous, I know!).

Our colleague Monsieur Griffiths over at Macworld’s Mac OS X Hints blog has the solution to these woes: force Time Machine to run a backup via Terminal. That’s right: you can even force your machine to backup from the Windows box at work. Here’s the integral command you’ll need to run once you’ve logged in via ssh:

/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd-helper &

Simple, isn’t it? Once you’ve run it, you’re all set; Time Machine will start chugging away back on your Mac, and you’re free to go about your business once again.

Apple’s gift to you: 20% off iPhoto books and calendars

Posted on Dec. 28, ’07, 12:05 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Software

If you’re planning on ordering iPhoto books and calendars from Apple in the next two months, today is your lucky day. Until the end of February, Apple is offering discount codes to shave 20% off your book or calendar order. For books, you’ll want to enter NAWinterBook08 when you check out; for calendars, enter NAWinterCal08.

The fine print: this should not only work in all versions of iPhoto, but also in Aperture (which can, in case you didn’t know, create photo books). You can use it as many times as you like. And unfortunately for our international readers, as far as I can see, this is US-only. Happy book-creation!

Apple gives us satisfaction for the holidays

Posted on Dec. 28, ’07, 8:44 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Stores

MacNN brings us word of a customer satisfaction survey that, no surpise to any of us, puts Apple at the top. ForeSee results says 79% of consumers were overall satisfied while more specifically, it scored 75% for “Manufacturer Direct” sales and 73% for the physical stores.

Sadly, Apple trailed Amazon which had a 82% satisfaction rating (that’s really impressive). However, when it came to Apple’s more direct competition (HP, Dell, Gateway, and Sony), it’s still king. That’s what really matters.

I’ll admit I’m a little confused by the closing paragraph. It reads “Satisfaction with online experiences, and overall volume of sales, are outpacing those of brick-and-mortar retail locations, with 72-percent of customers saying that they were likely to do most of their shopping online, and 62-percent saying they will get the majority of their shopping done in physical retail locations.” 62 + 72 = 134. How many percent are going to do most of their shopping online and in retail stores? I think they might be confused about the question.

Mossberg betrays us

Posted on Dec. 28, ’07, 8:01 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Rivals

We’re all going to need to uninvite the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg from your New Years parties. He’s reviewed a Dell computer favorably.

the Dell XPS One is the first Windows all-in-one desktop I’ve tested that I believe matches or exceeds the iMac in hardware design.

Say it ain’t so Walt. You can’t really be saying that Dell’s hardware design is better than Apple’s. Maybe he’s gone blind. Ok, really he likes all the bonus extras like the built-in TV tuner, media card reader, and the like. Then he goes and writes something that might get him reinvited.

I still recommend the iMac over the XPS One for several reasons other than hardware design.

It’s all about the software. On that front, Apple bundles in a lot of useful software instead of the useless trials that Windows box manufacturers litter their desktops with. Come back to us Walt, you know you like Apple’s design better.

Wal-Mart’s digital download store: no, no prices everyday

Posted on Dec. 28, ’07, 7:13 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Rivals

Good bye, Wal-Mart, and good riddance. The retail giant shut down its video download store this past week with a whimper, not a bang. Honestly, we can’t blame you if you didn’t hear about it when it happened on the 21st: who was really buying video from them anyway?

Wal-Mart launched its video store back in February of this year, at which point it was doomed to failure due to its lack of compatibility with the iPod and its fun, fun, fun DRM schemes. Not to mention that the price points were not Wal-Mart’s traditionally bargain basement figures, as they didn’t want to risk cannibalizing their extremely lucrative DVD sales.

No refunds will be offered for existing purchases, though those videos will be able to be played back—but only on the computer on which you bought it. That’s right: get a new computer at any point, ever, and you’re out of luck. I’d say that I’m pretty glad that I didn’t invest any money in Wal-Mart’s store, except that it wasn’t compatible with Macs anyway. No tears shed here.

[via Daring Fireball]

Axiotron may finally Mod your ‘Book

Posted on Dec. 27, ’07, 1:23 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

At Macworld Expo ‘07, I sat in on a press briefing from Axiotron and Other World Computer (OWC), where they introduced the theoretically-first-ever tablet Mac, the ModBook. Later, I met with OWC’s president, who was touting the thing like it was the greatest invention since two-finger touchpad scrolling.

But as Apple has learned, too much touting and not enough shipping bites you in the ass. The ModBook was delayed and delayed and delayed into near-tech-oblivion, and the idea of the tablet-y goodness all but left our minds.

But there’s hope now that the two companies will finally be shipping the mutated MacBook in early January — January 8th, says blogger JK, who posted an email from OWC with the new ship date for his ModBook order.

The date puts its release right before Macworld ‘08 — a potential problem for the company duo, aptly notes Infinite Loop’s Erik Kennedy, since some strong rumors peg Macworld as the supposed venue for the introduction of Apple’s new mini-portable. Are sub-notebooks and tablets the same? Nope. But no one knows what Apple is really announcing at the keynote — and it’d be wise for anyone to wait until after January 15th to place their ModBook orders.

In the meantime, check the new ModBook specs: GPS now comes standard on all models (previously it was a $99 add-on); it also has all the specs of the new MacBooks (obviously), including more RAM, faster processor, etc. Check the site for more details — but really, hold off on those purchases ‘til Macworld. You know. Just in case.

[via WIRED]

(P.S. This is my 100th post. Woo!)

Apple shares >= $200

Posted on Dec. 27, ’07, 12:50 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Business

Sell your Apple stock! Sell your Apple stock!*

Why? I’ll tell you why. It’s gonna crash, that’s why. So sell it now. Everyone else is gonna sell theirs. You better sell, too, so you don’t lose a bunch of money, you know? I mean, hell, look at it: Apple stock passed $200/share…$200 a share! You’d be crazy to not sell.

Here are the facts: Apple passed $200 yesterday and today, putting their market cap at over $169 billion. 169,000,000,000. Look at that number! It’s big! With lots of zeros! Three years ago In 2003 (wow, time flies), the company’s shares were, what, $13 (split-adjusted to $6.50, notes a reader)? Right before the launch of the iTunes Music Store. Now look at it. Over $200.

The image illustrates Apple’s two year growth. Now, a wise investor would look at that dramatic climb and think, “What goes up must come down,” and sell. Are you a wise investor? Do you really think the price could go any higher? Do you really believe those “analysts” who think the shares will hit $300 by the end of 2008? You shouldn’t. No sir.

You should sell. Before it’s too late.

[*Disclaimer: Dan Pourhadi is a bitter former-owner of Apple stock, who sold his shares way too early and will do anything to bring the stock price back down.]

Apple perhaps bringing order to cafe chaos

Posted on Dec. 27, ’07, 10:08 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

Apple, apparently not satisfied by taping into Starbucks’s music side of the business, is now edging its way into food service as well. A patent filed by the company proposes a system whereby you could order your food or drink via your portable device and then be notified when it was ready to be consumed.

Patent application #20070291710, for a “Wireless communication system,” was filed last year on July 11th. It describes “A processing system…that includes a wireless communication interface that wirelessly communicates with one or more wireless client devices in the vicinity of an establishment.” One of the stated goals of the patent application is not “having to waste time waiting for an unfinished order.”

On the one hand, as one who frequents cafes, I like the idea of not waiting in line when I just want to grab my order and get to work, but at the same time it removes yet another of my increasingly infrequent moments of human interaction throughout the day. I enjoy chatting with the people who work at the cafes I go to, but apparently they can easily be replaced with technology. Great.

This might seem like a logical extension of Apple’s iTunes Wi-Fi Store and its Starbucks integration (which still hasn’t made it to Boston anyway), but as with patent applications, it’s impossible to know whether or not anything will ever be made of it. I suspect this might have been something cooked up by Apple engineers who were just tired of waiting for their half-caf double-shot mochachinos anyway.

[via Forbes]

Puttin’ the “DRM” in “drama”: Warner Music goes DRM free

Posted on Dec. 27, ’07, 8:34 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Music

Thunder? Stolen. Back in May, Steve Jobs said that by the end of the year, half of the tracks available on the iTunes Store would be DRM-free. With just four days left in 2007, it seems as though that’s one promise that won’t be fulfilled.

But soft! What’s this? Warner Music, the domain of once vocal DRM-proponent Edgar “Bronfy” Bronfman, Jr., has agreed to make its tracks available DRM-free…on that upstart, Amazon MP3. Ouch. Burn. Amazon, of course, already has tracks from EMI and Universal, making Sony BMG the last holdout of the Big Four.

On the upside, DRM-free tracks on Amazon mean only good thing for consumers: you can choose to buy music from them no matter what MP3 player you own. But it is somewhat disappointing to see Apple, the company that pushed so hard for DRM-free music in the first place, get left behind, just because the record labels are afraid of what they perceive as Apple’s growing power. Lame.

Fox and Apple hang out “For Rent” sign

Posted on Dec. 27, ’07, 7:30 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

Well, hello there, Fox—pleasure to see you again. According to reports in the Financial Times and elsewhere, Fox and Apple have struck a deal for movie rentals on the iTunes Store. Details on the situation are scarce, but it seems that this will allow for downloaded copies of movies that can be played for a limited time only. The Financial Times also suggests that Apple will let Fox provide FairPlay-encoded video files on new DVD releases. Of course, there’s been no comment from either Fox or Apple on the subject, so I’d expect to see it announced at Macworld Expo.

Could this reverse Apple’s fortunes on video? Movies haven’t sold particularly well on the iTunes Store, in large part due to their high cost compared to DVD releases and limited selection. As we’ve discussed before, people consume video far differently than they consume music. Rentals make far more sense for video than downloads; you don’t have to worry about storage space, and people don’t usually repeatedly view videos.

We’ve been hearing about video rentals coming to iTunes for some time now, and it looks like we don’t have much longer to wait. Now, it’s a matter of waiting to see if the other studios jump on board.

Be a DockStar

Posted on Dec. 27, ’07, 5:51 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

One of my must have Mail.app add-ons is DockStar. I feel lost without it. It allows you to track the contents of up to five folders (and smart folders) with five different little badges. While Apple gives you the one red indicator of the inbox contents, DockStar gives you four more with options to change the color and shape.

They just released version 2.1 which brings several really sweet features. First, the indicators can also be displayed in the menu bar. With all these widescreen displays we’re using, many of us have a ton of space to spare. Better yet, they still features the same shape and color. Speaking of shapes, they’ve added another one, bringing the count to six.

Do yourself and ring in the new year with a copy of this software. It’ll help you finally achieve that resolution of getting your email under control.

Fix networking in 10.5’s Finder…sorta

Posted on Dec. 26, ’07, 11:24 AM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Troubleshooting

All right: Yes, the new Finder is not nearly as sucky as before, and yes, for the most part, networking actually works, which is great considering the Finder’s past history with multi-computer communications. But improving on “sucky” doesn’t mean it’s “good”; it just means it’s a little better than sucky.

Which is great, sure…except when things don’t work. I still run into some networking difficulties — connecting to local or Back to My Mac machines, for example, or even trying to mount an AirDisk drive via Airport Extreme. Things just lock up: the “Disconnect” button breaks, and the little spinny sprocket thing spins and spins and spins…but nothing happens.

So what’s the fix? Kinda simple, actually: Option-click the Finder in the Dock, and relaunch it. All the network stuff is refreshed, and when you open a new Finder window, you’ll see all the available network drives — except this time, you should actually be able to access them.

It’s only a “sorta” fix because it’s not permanent: you’ll have to do this every time you have network problems. But hey, at least it works.

Flip4Mac flips 4 version 2.2

Posted on Dec. 26, ’07, 9:29 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software » Updates

Oh, Flip4Mac—what did I do before you were part of my life? Well, mainly I didn’t watch WMV files if I could at all help it. Or, on the rare occasion that that latest movie trailer was only available in Microsoft’s horrid format, I’d *shiver* boot up my PC and go through the laborious process of transferring the file over. Anything to avoid having to open up Windows Media Player on the Mac (half the time it didn’t even work, for heaven’s sake).

Telestream has released Flip4Mac 2.2 which boasts improved Leopard compatibility and the amazing promise of five times faster encoding performance on Intel Macs. That’s a whole lot of performance increase, innit? As a bonus, they’ve improved ability to encode video with Variable Bit Rate (VBR). Of course, to use the encoding functions, you’ll need to shell out $29 for Telestream’s encoding software; but in the meantime, if all you want to do is play WMVs back, you can grab the software for free.

[via Macworld]

Detect data in iChat

Posted on Dec. 26, ’07, 8:40 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

Mail.app’s data detectors are one of my favorite new features. Finally, computer gets smart enough to recognize the kind of information that I’ve been able to recognize since at least last year. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could use data detectors in other applications too?

A tip from a Mac OS X Hints reader points out that Mail.app isn’t alone in its ability to take advantage of data detectors: iChat can use them too, if you’re willing to journey into the command-line. Just input this string:

defaults write com.apple.iChat EnableDataDetectors 1

and blamo, there you are. Note, however, that this is disabled for a reason: it doesn’t always work perfectly. If you decide that it’s more annoyance than help, just re-enter the command and change “1” to “0.” I’m looking forward to this being a little more fine-tuned and data detectors finding their way into other apps, like Safari, and, er Photo Booth. Yeah.

It’s Adium beta time

Posted on Dec. 26, ’07, 7:42 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

No, it’s not peanut butter jelly time, it’s time for another Adium beta. That means fancy new features, including those developed as part of Google’s summer of code. The most easily accessed of those features is the ability to drag on and off chat groups. That’s great for the times when you want to drag all your college friends off your main list to put them in time out. Or something.

The new version also features a number of bugfixes and improved Bon Jour and XMPP (Jabber) support. They’ve already gone through a number of beta versions, so it should be fairly stable by this point. It also includes perhaps the most important patch of all, a gerbil for one of the developers. If that isn’t enough to make this version a must have download, I don’t know what will.

Sync alone no more, SyncTogether getting the Leopard treatment

Posted on Dec. 26, ’07, 6:54 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

At this point in the service’s life, the most compelling reason to have a .Mac account is the sync feature that it supplies. Your address book, calendar, bookmarks, email configuration, etc. all get synchronized across your Macs wherever they may be as long as they have internet access. Starting with Tiger, third-party applications could even take advantage.

Spending $100 per year on that one feature can be hard to justify to one’s self. Believe me, I’m right there with you. That’s why SyncTogether was created. This clever software simulates that part of .Mac’s service, freeing you of yet another subscription fee. When Leopard debuted, the future of the product seemed in doubt. The only word out of Mark/Space was that it wasn’t currently available.

They’ve committed to Leopard. They haven’t committed to a release date for the final product, but they have committed to a date for a public beta release at the end of January. I’ll be keeping my eye on it because $50 once sounds better than $100 per year.

Merry Christmas for Apple: stock at an all time high again

Posted on Dec. 26, ’07, 5:15 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Business

You might be getting tired of hearing it repeatedly (and none of us here personally think it’s going to stop anytime soon), but Apple’s stock has once again set a record for itself. It’s reached an all-time high of $199.33 yesterday. Nearly $200.

As happy as I am for Apple, these records actually tend to depress me. Why? Well, if I’d invested when I became a fan of the company, back when every know-it-all was predicting the doom of Apple, I’d be on the verge of retirement, laughing all the way to the bank.

Instead, I cry into my morning cereal once again, thinking about all that money. If it breaks $200 before the new year, I’ll need a lot of champagne.

Macworld 2007 Editors’ and Readers’ Choice Awards announced

Posted on Dec. 24, ’07, 10:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Internet

Every year, for the past twenty three years, Macworld editors wade through all the new Mac related hardware, software, and web sites launched in the past twelve months and bring you the best of the lot in each category. This year, of course, is no different.

Apple products making it to the A-list for the Macworld 23rd Annual Editors’ Choice Awards are the new AirPort Extreme base station, iPhone, iPod nano, iWork ‘08, Logic Studio and Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard.

The readers chose the iPhone, Nikon D40X, Parallels Desktop 3 and HandBake as the winners. The list of all the nominees and winners makes for a good read so feel free to click on the links above and check ‘em out.

Do we suffer from a humor deficit? A tongue-in-cheek analysis of the “FSJ Shutdown Drama”.

Posted on Dec. 23, ’07, 12:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Humor

A couple of months ago, David Pogue - New York Times technology columnist and CBS news correspondent - had posted an entry on his blog worrying that among the other crises we are suffering from in today’s world, we might also be suffering from a widespread lack of a sense of humor. He gives several examples to prove his point, all of which have the same basic premise - he writes a sarcastic post or article and most of the commenters don’t get the joke and start flaming him.

After having read several posts from various authors on digg and various other websites about Fake Steve Jobs being threatened by Apple, most of which were seriously pondering what would happen if Apple shut down FSJ, I suddenly remembered this post from Mr. Pogue that I’d read a few months ago. I had laughed it off at that time, telling myself that though he was partly correct, most people probably did have a reasonably good sense of humor and did not fall for such jokes. This FSJ saga, however, is beginning to change my opinion.

Even after FSJ has posted five entries on this particular topic, pushing the envelope of credibility a tad further with each one, most of the commenters are still flaming Apple and sending in harsh emails to the real Steve Jobs’ email address. If you know that it is a joke, it will become obvious to you that none of the posts are true. The posts are written in the same over-the-top humorous style that the rest of the posts are and he actually quotes the EFF in one of them saying, “We only help people we like. Good luck.”

C’mon, guys. It’s a satirical blog. What’d you expect! I know that his not posting it as Steve Jobs gives some credibility to the theory that he might be speaking the truth, but the entire premise is so obviously fake that, in my humble opinion, it is very easy to see that he’s just kidding. And if the comments on the latest entry are true then we have confirmation from Steve Jobs himself (the real one) that it is a joke. (Not that I had any doubt.) He replied to at least two of the people who emailed him saying that “I think this is all a joke. And I think you fell for it.”

I think the only thing FSJ can do now to put a stop to the Apple-bashing going on all over the Internet is follow David Pogue’s advice and say it straight up that “it was a joke, dude”.

(Sorry for the rant but I just had this weird urge to post an opinion column and I had to get it out of my system. Please bear with me! I’ll return to my regular blogging now. I promise.)

While we are on the subject of weird urges and fake CEOs being targeted by the companies they are supposed to have taken to glorious heights, let us just discuss one more thing. Steve Jobs (or whoever takes care of his email) actually replying to email concerning Fake Steve? What are the odds of that happening! All the negative publicity must have struck a chord or two, I guess.

[Thanks to Swordexpert on devinatART for the nice little graphic!]

Apple keen to adopt Intel’s new Silverthorne processor?

Posted on Dec. 23, ’07, 11:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Speculation

Engadget brings us a suggestion that, according to Intel, Apple has committed to using their upcoming 45nm Silverthorne chip for various future products, hinting that the iPhone is going to be that first major benefactor. The current version of the iPhone is powered by an ARM microprocessor from Samsung. There’s also a mention of Intel’s Menlow platform thrown into the mix. Read the full details at Engadget.

Of course, the usual recommendation to take this with a chunk of salt inevitably follows any such report. This could just be a little bit of a publicity stunt from Intel to get words like Silverthorne and Menlow thrown around in the media. An association with Apple, of course, never hurt anyone.

I have no real clue about this Silverthorne chip, so I’m throwing this question to our readers. If this turns out to be true, do you think it will be a move for the better or for the worse? Doesn’t the iPhone have a good enough processor already? Do you think this fuels the idea that Apple is indeed working on a tablet Mac? Sound off in the comments.

Warp makes Spaces dance to a flick of your mouse

Posted on Dec. 23, ’07, 10:30 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

Kent Sutherland, the same person who brought us the universally-appreciated and very useful Chax plugin for iChat, now brings us this little gem called Warp, that makes Leopard’s much touted new Spaces feature a tad more accessible. Warp is installed as a preference pane on your system and it allows you to jump into different spaces with the help of just the mouse/trackpad.

By default, you can use the Ctrl + Arrow keys shortcuts to navigate between the various spaces. Once Warp has had an opportunity to work its magic, however, you can just drag your mouse to either edge of the screen to shift to the adjacent space. I’ve attached a screenshot of the preference pane below and there is a video on the developer’s website for your viewing pleasure.

I have tried it out and I can say that it works as advertised. I don’t use Spaces, but if you do this is a must have. Like Chax, it is a free utility and can be downloaded from Sutherland’s website. If you like it and intend to use it, it wouldn’t hurt to send a little sum of money the developer’s way as a courtesy and for the noble cause of supporting independent software development for Mac OS X. What’s a better time than the Christmas season to be generous, after all?

Saft finally moves from stripes to spots

Posted on Dec. 23, ’07, 10:01 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software » Updates

Saft is a plugin for Safari that puts it on steroids. From advertisement blocking to full screen mode and Growl support to URL shortcuts and tab thumbnails, it has everything covered. For a full list of features, visit the developer, Hao Li’s website. Till today, the InputManager plugin only worked with Safari 2 on Tiger but with today’s update, it has announced its arrival on Leopard and full compatibility with Safari 3.

Saft was the only reason I used Safari in the days of Safari 2 but ever since Apple has released Safari 3, I’ve never really missed the $12 plugin that once used to be the entire reason I used Safari. With draggable tabs and efficient find-in-page features, Safari has finally come on its own and does not need plugins like Saft to make it useful. But then again, the developer is offering a free trail so I just might give it a try.

Update: The recent security update by Apple had broken the Saft plugin and the latest update was released to address that. It has, however, been released for Leopard for a while now. I’m very sorry for the mistake. Thanks to Goobimama for the heads-up!

Apple going after Fake Steve too?

Posted on Dec. 22, ’07, 4:20 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Legal

Update: it appears this is a fakestevejobsian holiday joke. Just checking if our dear readers are paying attention *wink wink*. At least I invented a new word. Didn’t you know December 22 was the new April 1?

Bad news: looks like Apple’s lawyers aren’t happy with what Fake Steve Jobs writes about the company. Just days after their settlement with Think Secret, they’re now threatening to sue everyone’s favorite Steve Jobs impersonator if he doesn’t shut down his blog. FSJ writes:

Bottom line is I’ve received an overture from the Mothership with a mention of a Think Secret type settlement if I’ll stop impersonating Dear Leader on the Web. Nothing nailed down at this point but frankly, honestly, I’m tempted to just take it.

Check out this other post for details on what can or can’t be done. Apparently, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) declined to help him because: “We only help people we like. Good luck.” For an organization whose tagline is “Defending Freedom in the Digital World”, that statement isn’t particularly impressive.

Basically, FSJ is in hot water and I’m left wondering, “Why the heck is Apple doing this?”. Think Secret leaked product details, so at least there was an idea behind that. But wanting to shut down a blog parodying their CEO seems unnecessary and a little ridiculous when that very CEO said last May:

“I have read some of those Fake Steve Jobs blog entries lately, and I thought they were pretty funny. And I get asked a lot if I know who it is, but I don’t. And it is pretty funny,” he said.

Maybe the legal team is just being overzealous, or this is the latest example of Big Bully Apple. What do you think?

[Hat tip: reader Tuco]

Keep Microsoft’s OOXML converter current

Posted on Dec. 22, ’07, 1:32 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Software » Updates

As the release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac approaches, few people are aware that a new version of the OOXML file format converter is available. Remember, this is Microsoft’s little utility that allows Office 2004 to read files created on Windows by Word (*.docx, *.docm) and PowerPoint 2007 (*.pptx, *.ppsx, *.potx).

If you need the converter, be sure to download the new version (0.2.1) as it pushes back its expiration date from the end of 2007 to December 31, 2008. And yes, that appears to be the only change.

Personally, I hadn’t needed to deal with those kinds of files until a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t Microsoft’s solution that came to my rescue; it was Apple’s. Pages ‘08 opened the .docx files by default, without hiccups. The funniest part is that my Windows friend who didn’t have Office 2007 couldn’t read them. Classic.

[via iTWire]

CNBC nominates Steve Jobs for their “Face of Business” poll

Posted on Dec. 22, ’07, 12:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Steve Jobs

CNBC has published a new year-end poll on their website asking you to decide “who or what should be named the Face of Business 2007.” Among other big business honchos such as Angelo Mozilo, Rick Wagoner, Lloyd Blankfein, Steve Schwarzman, Mark Zuckerberg, Chuck Prince, Hank Paulson and the Google guys is the familiar face of Apple’s co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. The two non-businessman contenders for the crown are Sovereign Funds and “The American Homeowner.”

Go ahead, click on the link above and vote for the person/thing you think truly deserves the award. Remember, be completely impartial and follow your conscience. In other words, don’t not vote for Steve Jobs. That’s all I’m gonna say. No partiality here.

P.S. - For some weird reason, Jobs’ picture on CNBC’s poll is named “gates.jpg”. What’s up with that?

Apple publishes some video tutorials for the iTunes novice

Posted on Dec. 22, ’07, 11:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | iTunes

I don’t really think that people need to be taught how to use iTunes, but apparently someone at Apple disagrees. On a new page in the iTunes section of the its website, Apple has published a few tutorial videos for people who are new to using the application. From downloading the application to familiarizing yourself with the interface and syncing your iPod, it covers all the basics required for a newbie to the iPod+iTunes phenomenon.

The first tutorial shows you how to download iTunes on a Windows based computer (after a brief mention of the fact that it is pre-installed on all Macs, of course) and the rest of the videos show iTunes running on a Mac. The interface is the same on both operating systems though, so that shouldn’t be a problem for the Windows users among us. If any of you need help with shopping at the iTunes Store or getting free podcasts, hop over to Apple’s websites and treat yourself to a few tutorial videos. No one will be any the wiser.

Lo, here comes an update to a security update

Posted on Dec. 22, ’07, 8:02 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software » Updates

Did you install the recently released Security Update 2007-009? Turns out it was only version 1.0, soon to be followed by its successor, version 1.1. This update to the previous security update “addresses an issue introduced in Security Update 2007-009 that may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit when browsing to certain websites.”

So if you were prompt, dutiful, and obedient the last time round, it’s time the pay the price for such diligence. Enjoy downloading 35 more megabytes of data which you could easily have avoided if you were just a little bit of a procrastinator like me. Launch Software Update or visit the Apple Downloads website - you know the drill.

Also accompanying this update is another security update for the four people who use Safari on Windows. Titled the “Safari 3 Beta 3.0.4 Security Update v1.1”, this update fixes the same issue with the previous security update for WinSafari released alongside the previous Mac OS X security update.

Gone, baby, gone: The loss of NBC is a loss indeed

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 4:15 PM PT by Brian Chen

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

When I try to watch TV these days, I last about 10 minutes before I hit the Power button and resume Web surfing. It’s the advertisements that really get to me—the way they crank up their sound levels above normal volume so people are effectively shouting at you to buy their body spray, fitness machines, SUVs, etc. So it delights me when, around this time of year, my very generous bosses Jason Snell and Phil Michaels hand out iTunes gift cards to the staff. When I got home the other day I excitedly redeemed the gift cards and thought to myself, “Finally, I can catch up on all those new episodes of The Office I missed—commercial free!”

Color me disappointed when I realized The Office was nowhere to be found. And then I remembered all the reports that surfaced the past few months about NBC not renewing its iTunes contract. I’d skimmed those headlines and shrugged, since I’m neither a regular iTunes customer nor a big NBC fan. But I do love The Office, and now that I’m affected by the consequences, I’m pretty darn irritated.

Christmas freebies: Mac Giving Tree, Freeverse for those in need

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 1:02 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Software

‘Tis the season to be getting and giving free stuff, both out of greed and out of generosity. And today we have two new freebie deals worth a mention.

The first I hesitated to write about because of the foolish, lame-ass PR stunt MacHeist attempted last month (didn’t want to give them hits); but the deal is good, so I’ll put aside my frustrations for the moment. Titled the Mac Giving Tree, all you have to do is sign up, and you’re given two unknown “gifts” (software) that you’ll be able to “unwrap” on Christmas day. Recommend the deal to a friend to get a third “present.”

But that’s not all: sign up and immediately get $50 worth of free Mac software, including the famed WireTap Pro, Santa’s Gizmo, and BitCamp.

The other freebie deal is specifically targeted at families who have a hard time affording Mac software: Freeverse is offering their Macworld “Eddy” award-winning game, Wingnuts 2, for free to any “family in need.” Simply send an email to gift@freeverse.com with a description of the best gift you’ve ever given, and they’ll send back a download link and a registration code. Said Ian Lynch Smith, President of Freeverse:

The Mac community has given us a livelihood these last 14 years, and all of us here are truly grateful for that. Games are meant to be played, and meant to be given. We’re happy to offer this game to any Mac user who can’t afford it this Christmas.

Very nice.

[via MacDailyNews and MacMinute]

Pumpkins exclusive EP coming to iTunes? Smashing

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 12:18 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

I’m a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. Huge. I love every song they ever wrote. Like that one…one…that was a hit single. And that other one…about the thing…with the people…and such.

Huge fan. Huge.

That’s why I nearly wet myself when I heard that they would be releasing a 4-track acoustic EP, titled American Gothic, exclusively via iTunes. Produced by Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, the EP will be available on January 2nd, and includes the songs “The Rose March,” “Pox,” “Again, Again, Again (the Crux),” and “Sunkissed.”

I just hope they’re as good as that other song the Smashing Pumpkins did. You remember it. It has all the instruments…and cool vocals…and stuff. Very emotional. Yeah. I love that one.

Huge fan. Huge.

(P.S. The title only works if you say it with a British accent.)

[via Infinite Loop]

Guitar Hero III Mac Patch released

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 11:00 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Games

Our buddies over at the mothership have alerted us to an update to what is certainly amongst the greatest games for the Mac: Guitar Hero III.

If you spend your free time rocking out, you might be interested to know that GH3 includes the following updates, among others:

-Adds Co-op Quickplay game mode for Online multiplayer.
- The skeleton in the Shanker’s Island venue now displays correctly on all supported graphics cards.
- Fixes a bug that caused the animations for Lou’s puppet to fall out of sync.
-The Leaderboards now update more quickly.

On a related note, while Rock Band isn’t yet on the Mac, you can follow these instructs to convert your PS3 Rock Band controllers to use with Garage Band on your Mac.

CheckUp hits system maintenance with a healthy dose of style

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 10:00 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

If someone asks me what the best thing is about Mac OS X, my answer won’t be the user interface or the stability or any of the other features that most people like about the operating system. My answer would be the amazing third party applications. In all honesty, I’ve never seen Windows applications have the sheer quality that Mac OS X applications can boast of. Whether it be a cataloguing application like Delicious Library or a system icon customization application like CandyBar, Mac OS X applications are almost always tastefully designed and make enterprising use of the resources that the operating system makes available to them.

The latest application to enter this category of well designed gems is CheckUp, a system monitoring and maintenance utility that exudes style. I admit that I’m a sucker for shiny buttons and animated cubes and this little application is right up my alley. It runs the full gamut of system monitoring functions ranging from processor speeds and usage to the memory status and disk usage, network strength and everything the comes in between. Standard troubleshooting steps for Mac OS X such as repairing disk permissions and running maintenance scripts are all conveniently placed in a ‘Tools’ menu for easy access. You can also set the program to alert you in case things go wrong - the CPU temperature reaches dangerously high levels or if the internal fans stop working, etc.

By way of feature requests, I would love to see a menu bar item as an accompaniment for the main application and a dynamic Dock icon that can reflect various forms of important data. It is only at version 0.9.5 (second preview) and clearly still has a long way to go but it is a giant step in the right direction and if its current state is any indication, we’re soon going to have a very compelling application with a bunch of excellent features and a delicious user interface to boot. I know it is a bit too early to say this but it might also turn out to be the Time Machine of system monitoring utilities. The interface itself might prompt people to start using the application and thus help make more people conscious of the need for such applications in general, just like Time Machine has done for backup utilities.

The application, developed by app4mac Inc., has a “special introductory price” of $29 right now, which is set to expire on December 31, 2007. The company promises free updates for life after this one time payment. A free, feature complete, time limited demo can be downloaded from the company’s website right now - in exchange for the all-powerful and universally accepted email address.

Firefox 3 Beta 2 now out for testing

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 10:00 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Internet

Web surfers who enjoy being on the veritable cutting edge of Internet techmologies will definitely want to take a look at Firefox 3 Beta 2.

Lifehacker points out some of the notable improvements:

* Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you’re looking for.

* Smart Bookmarks Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as your more frequently visited pages with the new smart bookmarks folder on your bookmark toolbar.

* New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and displays where a file came from.

Caveat Firefoxor: If you do take the plunge, chances are good that your extensions, plugins and whatever else you’ve tricked out your previous version with, won’t work. That said, let us know how it works on your rig!

Mail stationery: hot or not?

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 8:43 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

One of the much-touted new features of Leopard’s Mail.app was the ability to create fancy-schmancy emails—rather than spending the time of writing an actual letter to your loved ones. I confess, this is one that I’ve never really tried. I didn’t even look at it until last week or so.

Tim, over at Hawk Wings, points us to a German blogger who has created a Christmas-themed stationery you can use. While it looks pretty nice, it raises a larger question for me: is anybody actually using stationery? I have a pretty strong distaste for HTML-based email that comes from a long history of HTML email working poorly. I can see that some of the stationery would be useful in some situations, but really, I just want to start sending fictional baby announcements to all my friends—especially if I can use the subject line “A great deal for you!”

So how about it, readers: do you use Mail.app’s stationery? Has somebody you know used it? Do you scoff in derision at pitiful plaintext emails now that you’ve discovered the wonders of full color? Please, share with us.

Macs enlisted for service

Posted on Dec. 21, ’07, 7:56 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Security

Macs may not play all the latest war-simulation games, but that doesn’t mean they can’t play their part in real-life military operations. A story in Forbes reveals that the US Army has been expanding the use of Macs in both server and desktop environments, largely as a way of preventing a software monoculture from arising. By diversifying the operating systems used, it means the Army is less vulnerable to attacks designed against just one operating system (read: Windows).

And they’ve already seen some success from the plan, as the Xserves in Army data centers show.

“Those are some of the most attacked computers there are. But the attacks used against them are designed for Windows-based machines, so they shrug them off,” [Lieutenant Colonel C.J. Wallington] says.

Macs only account for about 20,000 of the 700,000 computers that the Army has, and expansion has been limited due to incompatibility with certain widespread systems, such as the Common Access Cards (CAC) security system. To remedy that, the Army is working with Thursby Software, makers of Windows/Mac file-sharing software DAVE, to bring CAC compatibility to Macs. Estimates put the number of new Macs in the Army at around 2,000 per year.

With recent reports alleging that the security gap between Windows and Mac is closing, is the Army worried? Nah.

[T]he Army’s Jonathan Broskey stands by his claims of Apple’s security: He says the high number of patches to Apple software is a good sign—evidence of the large community of developers actively working to tighten Unix programs and eliminate bugs.

Think not so secret

Posted on Dec. 20, ’07, 2:46 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Internet

You might call it the shot heard round the Internet: this morning’s news that Apple rumor site Think Secret would cease publication as part of a settlement with Apple. Think Secret’s part of the deal? It’s not forced to reveal the sources that leaked information to the site almost three years ago. This is a complicated issue that started a long time ago in what seems like a galaxy far, far away, so let’s take a quick spin in the DeLorean.

The reports that started everything were originally published on December 28, 2004. Think Secret said that Apple would unveil a $499 headless iMac and an office productivity suite at Macworld Expo 2005. On January 5 2005, less than a week before Jobs’s keynote, Apple skipped directly past its usual tactic of issuing a cease-and-desist notice and sued Think Secret (and twenty-four other unnamed individuals) for misappropriating trade secrets.

While there is little question that the people who leaked details to Think Secret broke the law by revealing confidential information, whether or not the proprietors of the website were in the clear was another question. Apple’s suit against Think Secret was part of an attempt to bring to light the individuals who had violated their confidentiality agreements with Apple, though it did also seek an injunction to prevent Think Secret from releasing more trade secrets, stating that doing so could harm Apple.

iWork ‘08 important; iPhone…not so much

Posted on Dec. 20, ’07, 12:48 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Apple » Huh?

If you disagree with the title of this post, don’t throw things at me — it’s eWEEK’s kooky opinion, not mine. They published their annual “The Most Important Products” list, which included iWork ‘08…but curiously omitted the iPhone.

What’s so great about iWork ‘08 (mm, rhyme)? Here’s what they say:

The suite’s first-ever spreadsheet application got our vote with its intelligent tables feature, which allows for multiple formats on a single spreadsheet. And its Charts [sic] spreadsheet app and Keynote presentation app score high for providing robust yet easy-to-use features. Finally, the Pages app is now a full-fledged word processing application with a separate mode for layout.

Right. Charts. I completely forgot about that app; I’ve been using iWork’s Numbers for spreadsheets this whole time. Foolish me.

Despite the obviously hastily-put-together nature of the list, it’s good to see iWork getting some press. Pages has finally unseated Word for my daily word processing needs; Keynote is purely awesome and has been for some time; and Numbers (aka Charts) is a beautiful and simple — if not feature-complete — replacement for Excel.

Others on the Crazy List include: Amazon’s Elastic Computer Cloud (what?), DiVitas Mobile Convergence, Fluke Networks OptiView Series III Integrated Network Analyzer, Google Apps Premier Edition, HP c3000, One Laptop Per Child XO, Oracle Database 11g, RIM BlackBerry 8820, and T-Mobile HotSpot@Home.

The omission of the iPhone is weird, but could easily be attributed to mere oversight. RIM BlackBerry 8820? Elastic Computer Cloud? Charts? Clearly there wasn’t much effort or research put into the selection.

[via MacDailyNews]

‘Twas the Night Before Macworld

Posted on Dec. 20, ’07, 12:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Humor

A member of the AppleNova Forums by the name of pscates2.0 has written up a wonderful poem about the upcoming Macworld Expo 2008. The poem, titled ‘Twas the Night Before Macworld’, covers the pre-Macworld hype, the appearance of Steve on-stage, the product announcements and boring CEO speeches, and it even has a “one more thing” thrown in for good measure.

There’s little wrong with this poem: Anything that has the line “Then up pops Phil Schiller, for comic relief” is the work of a genius, I say. If you’re already feeling a little pre-Macworld anxiety, or even if you’re not, this little gem is just what the doctor ordered for a good, old-fashioned chuckle. So go ahead, hit the thread for the full effect.

We here at MacUser offer the artist a heartfelt round of applause. Well done, sir (or madam). Well done.

Think Secret finally settles with Apple and shuts down

Posted on Dec. 20, ’07, 8:40 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Legal

Think Secret, started in 1999, has long been a well-known source for Apple rumors. They were sued by Apple in January 2005 for disseminating trade secrets and yesterday’s settlement between the two parties brought the lawsuit to a close. In a press release issued this morning, Nick Ciarelli, the publisher of the website, announced that they had reached an agreement. The terms? Think Secret was not obligated to reveal any of their sources to Apple and the website will no longer be published. Ciarelli says that he is “pleased to have reached this amicable settlement” and that it is a “positive solution for both sides”.

Never having paid much stock to rumors myself, I’ve only occasionally paid visits to Think Secret, so it doesn’t make any difference to me whether or not they continue down the path of poking, prodding and sneaking into places they are not supposed to. However, I’m aware that numerous fans of our favorite fruity company obsessively follow any and all rumors that concern the Cupertino-based computer maker. So, for those of you who do frequent ThinkSecret and other sites of its ilk, does it bother you that the site won’t exist anymore? Do you think they got what they deserved or is it another case of Apple being a big, bad corporate bully?

Microsoft needs to learn from Apple about OS launches

Posted on Dec. 20, ’07, 8:07 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Business

When I wrote about NPD’s Leopard launch analysis, I didn’t once think about Vista’s launch and the problems that have plagued the product. Luckily, for us, uber Microsoft fanboy Joe Wilcox has let the envy drive him to do it for us. While Leopard has hit record sales numbers for Mac OS products, Vista has… er… “struggled”. By struggled, I mean that people are not only refusing to upgrade, they’re demanding the older OS on new hardware.

Wilcox hits on several key points that are absolutely compelling. First, Vista lacks a real family pack. You might remember that nearly 1/3 of all Leopard sales were family packs. Assuming you find a sucker someone that actually wants to upgrade their PCs to Vista, chances are, they’ll have multiple PCs to upgrade. Microsoft offered a bundle of Vista Ultimate with two Home Premium licenses, but that just doesn’t fit most situations. If Microsoft is serious about promoting upgrade to its user base (which I don’t think it will ever be), then a real family pack is a necessary component.

The other part worth note is the way that Microsoft interfaces with its user base. While Apple, and its lack of activation schemes, implicitly trusts their users to do the right thing and minimize customer inconvenience, Microsoft assumes the opposite. You are guilty. You are a criminal. We won’t believe that you actually paid for the product until you enter a large string of letters and numbers (and then sometimes called to beg daddy dearest for another code).

I do think it’s time Microsoft took a look, at least in the consumer sector how Apple’s doing business and did a little copying.

MacTech tests Boot Camp, Parallels, and Fusion

Posted on Dec. 20, ’07, 7:13 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Windows

Many people switching to the Mac have an important question in mind. “How should I run Windows?” They still have applications in their old environment, and need that safety net. That doesn’t mean they want substandard performance. MacTech took it upon themselves to do a large scale test of the three most common ways to run Windows on your Mac (Boot Camp, Parallels, and Fusion).

Boot Camp isn’t the straight winner. You’d think that with its direct hardware access, it’d win in every case, but in their testing, Parallels beats Boot Camp in one step testing by 1% (I have to wonder if that’s a statistically significant difference). Fusion’s disk images actually perform better than both Parallel’s and Boot Camp’s direct disk access. I’d really love to know why because that’s fascinating. OS also matters, as Fusion is better for Vista while Parallels is better for XP.

I think despite my use of XP, I’ll stick with Fusion for reliability purposes. I would also note that they tested Fusion 1.0 and Parallels 3.0 (I’d be interested in more recent, Leopard compatible versions). At least now I have something to point people to when they’re trying to decide what to use.

Mac users are more musical

Posted on Dec. 19, ’07, 12:19 PM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Music

The NPD Group released its latest study on digital music usage and Mac users are far more likely to consume music. We buy more music online, buy more CDs, watch more videos, and listen to more music on our computers (proportionately).

32 percent of Mac users have bought CDs in the last year while only 28 percent of Windows users did the same. That seems like an awfully low percentage, regardless of platform. Two possible explanations (or a combination thereof) come to mind. Either people are buying a lot more of their music online, or still stealing it from P2P services. I want to believe the former, but I get the feeling that, for now, it’s still the latter.

The divide is even greater when it comes to use of an MP3 player (34 vs. 16 percent) and listening to music on their computer (56 vs. 31 percent). It seems odd considering that up until recently, when DRM-free music has become more widely available, nearly every online music store catered to Windows users. Maybe it’s time to rethink that.

CNET’s word of the day: disingenuous

Posted on Dec. 19, ’07, 11:12 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Music

Some might call me an Apple fanboy, so naturally I wanted to check out what I might be lamenting. Richard Bullwinkle (moose and squirrel?) begins his piece like the beginning of an Appleholics Anonymous meeting.

I’m an Apple fanboy. I love Apple products because they are sexy and cool. Oh, I recognize my behavior is sycophantic, but I love my Apple toys. I use them myself and give them as gifts. To date I have owned at least one of every iPod, several Mac computers, and yes, I carry an iPhone.

But once we’ve got this lead in, he starts on this rant about the DRM in iTunes being incompatible with devices other than iTunes (despite an already apparent shift across the industry away from DRM all together). I was expecting an argument for Windows Media DRM, but we all know better than that because there are several variants that don’t work even with all Windows Media DRM devices. Plus, there’s the fact that, you know, Microsoft has never brought it to Mac OS X.

Instead, he argues for standards, vague, unspecified standards. By the end, he’s waxing about a vinyl copy of Yellow Submarine. It left me very confused until I read the “Biography” line (or if I’d paid attention to the description in the thumbnail photo).

Richard Bullwinkle is chief evangelist for Macrovision.

WTH? Since when did CNET lease out column space to advertisers? Once you know the source, then entire point of the column becomes crystal clear. “Someone please buy Macrovision’s latest copy protection. It’s good for consumers, we swear!” He attacks Fairplay DRM in order to bolster his employer’s products.

Attention advertising departments: you can now buy columns from CNET to fill with your propaganda. Maybe they can use the extra cash to buy some integrity.

Kick Dictionary and Calculator off the list of Spotlight results

Posted on Dec. 19, ’07, 11:12 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

We should have a category dedicated to Mac OS X Hints out here. We just have to post a trick or two from these guys almost every other day. When you search for a word in Spotlight, it shows you the meaning from the dictionary right there in the list of results and does the same for calculations. Today’s tip brings us the (not quite so) wonderful ability to disable these from the Spotlight search results. Just fire up the Terminal (from /Applications/Utilities/), enter the following commands and hit return.

To disable the Dictionary meanings:
defaults write com.apple.spotlight DictionaryLookupEnabled NO

And to disable the calculations:
defaults write com.apple.spotlight CalculationEnabled NO

After entering either of these commands, you need to enter the following command to relaunch Spotlight and make those changes take effect:
killall Spotlight

Just in case you are experiencing a fit of somnambulism right now and decide that you don’t want those changes done when you regain your senses, you can just replace the ‘NO’ with ‘YES’ in the commands above and Spotlight should return to flaunting its literary and mathematical genius. If you decide to use this tip to disable any of these two things, please let us know why you decided to do so. I am very curious.

Java 6 Developer Preview 8 now available for download

Posted on Dec. 19, ’07, 10:34 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software » Updates

Apple has finally released the much ballyhooed Java 6 developer preview 8 to ADC members as a free download for beta testing ahead of the final release. After the brouhaha that followed the launch of Leopard, regarding the fact that Java 6 was not included with the final release, this should come as a relief to the Java developers for Mac OS X.

It requires a 64-bit Intel-based Mac (ruling out the first generation Core Duo Macs, which my MacBook Pro happens to be one of) running the latest version (10.5.1) of Mac OS X Leopard. It is available to all ADC members, including those who just have the free account. It is, of course, a developer preview so there might be some niggles here and there. Proceed with caution, you’ve been warned.

Make full use of the new and improved Preview in Leopard

Posted on Dec. 19, ’07, 10:15 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

There was a time when Preview let you view your images and PDF documents and was happy to be in your service as a tiny little application you hardly ever noticed. Then came Leopard and Preview suddenly found itself on the shiny new Dock right beside iTunes. So what had changed? Had Apple run out of important applications to place on the Dock or had Preview been elevated to the status of an important application itself?

Turns out, it was the latter case. Not only does Leopard’s Preview let you do the mundane tasks such as viewing a group of photos, showing them off in a slideshow, reading PDF documents, searching through them, and so forth, it now also lets you put annotations on those documents and images, extract images from their backgrounds, bookmark your favorite files and has a few mark up tools as well. It has turned from a simple previewing application to a previewing-and-basic-editing application and we are definitely not complaining. Below is a screenshot of the new options added to the Preview toolbar in Leopard (click on it to enlarge it):

One of the features I mentioned above was extracting images from their backgrounds. TUAW brings us news that Murphy Mac has published an article about how to achieve exactly that using the new Preview app in Leopard. There is also an accompanying screencast in case words are not enough to convey the deeply philosophical and scientifically complex process of using the ‘Extract Shape’ and ‘Instant Alpha’ tools. So go ahead and revel in the sheer delight of extracting famous actors out of the paparazzi pictures and sticking them next to you in your barn (do people still do that?).

Bomberman explodes onto iPods everywhere

Posted on Dec. 19, ’07, 9:40 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | iPod » iPod Software

If you, like me, were somewhat disappointed by that punk Sonic showing up on the iPod yesterday, then perhaps your spirits will be bolstered by the news that a third new game is iPod-bound, this one also a classic: Hudson Software’s Bomb