MacBook Air Q&A

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 3:35 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

So as I noted earlier today, I was rudely awakened by a FedEx man desperately looking to rid himself of a box that conveniently contained the MacBook Air I ordered from Apple two weeks ago. Being the great guy that I am, I took the box from him, signed his little digital doohickey, and sent him on his way with a smile and a threat that if he ever wakes me up that early again, I’m going to throw hot coffee in his face.

Nice guy.

Anyway, I asked for any questions you might have about the MacBook Air that weren’t already answered in other reviews, and I gathered ‘em up and answered them as best I could. Click on to read my enlightening responses.

If you still have questions, post them in the comments here, and I’ll do my best to keep on lauding over you the fact that I got my Air before you got yours. Sucker.

Women are from Venus, bloggers are from Mars

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 3:15 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

We’re a little remiss in notifying you about the excellent version 2.1 update to MacUser’s blogging client of choice, Mars Edit. You’ll have to excuse us: the reason we’ve been so cavalier about it, is that some of us have been using the beta versions for a while, and have gotten used to all the spifftastic features that Red Sweater mastermind (and Friend of the Blog) Daniel Jalkut has packed into the latest release.

Besides the slick new tokenized tag system (think of Mail.app’s auto-completing addresses and you’ll get the idea), Daniel’s also revamped the preview window so that it’s far speedier and more usable, added the ability to search your posts and drafts, and folded in support for putting drafts on the server (he’s even come up with a workaround for MacUser’s Movable Type platform, which hates drafts—I think they used to go out or something).

We cannot speak highly enough of MarsEdit—really, we keep piling on superlatives, and nobody has yet disproved a single one. It’s one of my indispensable applications, having earned a permanent place in my Dock, and I use it every single day. What higher praise could there be?

iTunes reaching for absolute stardom, leaves RealPlayer behind

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 2:40 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | iTunes

“It’s like offering a glass of ice water to people in hell.”

So said Steve Jobs in an interview with Walt Mossberg during the D5 conference. In case the simile eludes you, the “ice water” here is iTunes and the “hell” is—no prizes for guessing—Windows. Steve Jobs claims that Windows users love iTunes, but I’ve seen a lot of users who disagree; most people I know regard it as a necessary evil.

Your love or hatred for the application notwithstanding, a survey by WebSiteOptimization reveals that it has surpassed RealPlayer to become the second most popular streaming media player across all platforms. iTunes usage grew 26.8% in 2007 while QuickTime fell 8.6% and RealPlayer suffered a fall of 17.5%. Still the leader by a wide margin? Windows Media Player.

Plenty of people have told me that iTunes is quite slow on Windows and they wouldn’t use it if their iPods weren’t so intimately coupled with it. I understand that iTunes is naturally used widely because of the dominance of the iPod, however, managing your iPod does not require you to use iTunes as your streaming media player. If a person is doing that, they’re doing it by choice—or they just don’t know any better. Personally, I think iTunes is not quite as hated on Windows as zealous non-users make it out to be. It’s probably just that the haters are far more loud than those who’re happy with their glass of ice water.

That said, it is indeed true that iTunes on Mac OS X is far better than the Windows version, which could do with a lot of improvement, especially on the performance and responsiveness front. At the end of the day, gaining a little ground on a program as hated as Windows Media Player is kind of like…well, getting a glass of ice water in hell.

[via The iPod Observer]

MacBook Air installation discs are unique and exclusive

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 1:55 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

While I was idly perusing the newly unveiled MacBook Air support section on Apple.com, I ran across an interesting nugget of important information in the article about the Leopard installation discs bundled with the notebook.

The Mac OS X 10.5 installation media that shipped with your MacBook Air is designed for use on this computer only and not intended for any other computer.

The installer prevents this software from being installed on other Macintosh computers. Furthermore, other Mac OS X 10.5 installation media should not be used when restoring the system software on your MacBook Air.

What makes this version of OS X so special? Well, the MacBook Air trackpad supports multi-touch gestures and the notebook can access the optical media from other Macs and PCs in the vicinity using Remote Disc. These aren’t standard features on other Macs so we presume that the version of Leopard installed on the MacBook Air is a custom one with these features bolted on.

Therefore, it is important that you preserve the installation disc that comes with the MacBook Air because in case something goes wrong, and you use other installation media for installing Leopard onto the Air, you’ll lose out on the multi-touchness of the trackpad and all the remote disc fun.

This leads me to another question—what if you lose it? The retail version of Mac Os X Leopard does not have those extra features. So are we going to see another retail version of the operating system for MacBook Air users? Or can MacBook Air users get Leopard reinstalled from Apple for no charge, in case they lose the installation media? Your guess is as good as mine.

Apple promotes the MacBook Air song on the iTunes Store

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 1:10 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Advertising

It is no secret that Apple has great taste in music. One of the numerous things they excel at is picking noteworthy tracks for their TV commercials. And, luckily enough, they have a music store to tie them to. Right now, they’re promoting the pop number from the MacBook Air ad on the front page of the iTunes Store. It’s a win-win situation.

The song, available for purchase on iTunes Plus, is sung by Israeli singer Yael Naïm and is part of her sole album which consists of thirteen songs in total and a digital booklet. It is also available as a single.

Personally, I love this song. As soon as I’d heard it in the commercial, I’d searched for it and bought it myself. The lyrics are amazing:

I’m a new soul I came into this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take
But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake

I’m glad someone came up with this idea at Apple and hope they do this more often, specially with the songs they choose for the iPod commercials. They’re helping customers, themselves, the record labels and the artists. It also saves us the trouble of having to hunt for it ourselves. What’s there to lose?

Pages is endowed with a whole lot of text counting options

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 12:33 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

If there is one thing I love about Mac OS X applications, specially the ones designed by Apple, it is the presence of subtle features all over the place. These are the features that you probably wouldn’t find if you were looking for them but are more likely to stumble upon by accident. Once you do, you realize that it is quite possibly the best way that feature could have been implemented. I just unearthed one such feature in Pages, Apple’s word processing and page layout application, and being the dutiful blogger that I am, immediately fired up TextEdit to let everyone know about my find.

It is not immediately obvious but Pages has a word count feature neatly tucked away under the ‘Info’ tab of the Document Inspector. Among other things, it lists the number of words, lines, paragraphs and characters your document consists of. At first glance, you’ll see that these figures are for the entire document. But what if you want to know how many words are there in just that one particular paragraph? Or how many characters there are in the word ‘acanthocephalans’?

It turns out that Apple has taken care of that too. Theoretically, all you need to do is select the text in question and the numbers in the Info pane will immediately change to reflect the number counts for the selection, instead of the whole document.

However, it does not exactly work as unadvertised but intended to, at least in my case. When I select some text, the numbers in the Info pane simply (and rudely) disappear. They do change to the right totals when I select some other tab or Inspector and then return to it, so I guess it works, albeit not perfectly. If it works for you without any hitch, let us know. Maybe Pages is just a little angry with me, tired of playing second fiddle to twitchy little TextEdit.

NPD Group: Nearly half of 9 to 14 year-olds get music via iTunes

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 11:43 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

Man oh man, this surely must be music to Herr Jobs’ ears.

Those little tykes who were just four years old (!) when the iTunes (Music) Store debuted in 2003 have now gotten all growed up and are buying music of their own. Says a recently published study of the “tween” demographic, the NPD Group says that 49 percent of this crowd is getting their music off of iTunes.

“The recording industry has focused on high-profile litigation programs as a deterrent, and education initiatives to communicate alternatives to illegal music file sharing,” said NPD vice president Russ Crupnick, in a statement. “Findings in this report suggest that the industry can still do more to promote specific ways children can obtain digital music legally, through pre-paid accounts and gift cards.”

So while it may be easy to label these kids as having seen the light and learning not to pirate music, it may just be that their parents (likely the ones funding these purchases) find iTunes to be the easiest as well.

[via Apple 2.0]

Amazon acquires Audible for $300 million

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 10:57 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Apple » Rivals

In the “unrelated to Apple but might affect them eventually” news headlines today, Amazon has bought Audible, the most prominent player in the digital audiobook market. The acquisition cost them a total of $300 million and the deal will be finalized by spring this year, pending government approval.

It certainly doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Amazon will likely tie Audible in to their Kindle e-book reader in due course, providing an iPod/iTunes Store sort of relationship. That’s the part that is logically clear.

The ambiguity, however, lies in what this could mean for the future of the iTunes Store, since the entire audiobooks section of the iTunes Store is powered by Audible. It’s possible that this relationship will not change and the iTunes Store will be unaffected by Amazon’s latest acquisition.

But then, it’s also possible that Amazon might sever the connection in an attempt to keep Apple at arm’s length from the e-book market so that they cannot pose any challenge to Kindle. If I were them and I didn’t particularly like Apple, I know I would want to do it.

What say you, beloved readers?

[The interesting question to me is what this means, if anything, for Amazon’s DRM-free MP3 store. I find it unlikely somehow that Amazon will ditch DRM on the audiobook downloads—at the very least, it would require negotiations with the publishing companies. Unlike Amazon MP3, Audible currently runs as a subscription service; it’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, Amazon integrates those two offerings. - DM]

MacBook Airs hot off the presses, but not in stores?

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 10:00 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Hardware

While everyone’s abuzz about the new MacBook Air (or not), it appears that while individual orders are coming in to eagerly awaiting customers, those hoping to procure one in one of them brick n’ mortar stores just might be out of luck.

Says our sister publication, Computerworld:

Several calls to Apple retail stores in New York, Oregon and elsewhere, however, failed to turn up a MacBook Air. “We haven’t gotten our filthy little hands on them yet,” said a sales representative at the store on West 14th St. in Manhattan. When told that Apple had announced the Air’s availability, however, he added: “That’s good news. It means we’ll have them in in two days.”

We’ll keep you updated to this most grave situation as details trickle in.

MacBook Air in the hizzouse

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 7:28 AM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

Well, well, well. Hooray for tiny surprises: my MacBook Air arrived a day early.

And yes: this thing is freakin’ thin.

There are already plenty of great reviews online, so I don’t think any broad-ranging analysis I were to write would be much different. Instead, I’m going to ask you, dear readers, if you have any questions that maybe were not covered in the reviews, or not answered with the depth to fully satisfy your intense curiosity.

So go ahead and drill me in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer them, either there or in a future post.

Nicecast 1.9 loves that newish cat

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 7:07 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

“When I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.” Among those things I put away was a tape recorder. I used to run my own “radio station” by recording my ramblings and music (please don’t tell the RIAA, I don’t know the statute of limitations on these things) onto audio cassettes. No, I’m not going to dig those tapes out for your snickering pleasure on the next podcast. Dream on.

Nowadays, kids record podcasts. But before we had podcasts, streaming was all the rage. There’s nothing like working without a net. Nicecast enables that by allowing you to redirect audio on your Macintosh out onto the mysterious internet. Strangers will voyeuristically enjoy your vocal stylings (but let’s face it, you don’t have radio Dan voice, only Mr. Moren has that). It’s been updated to 1.9 to give us full Leopard compatibility. It costs a mere $40.

Even Conan O’Brien loves Photobooth

Posted on Jan. 31, ’08, 5:32 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Humor

Conan spent some time playing with Photobooth. Hilarity naturally ensued. The clip brought something to mind that Apple has ignored too long. Apple could easily crush Windows based competition for college students by regearing their marketing strategy to emphasize Photobooth. You can tell students about the lack of downtime due to malware, explain how iLife will help them put together projects for classes, or even show them how pretty Macs are. None of that matters.

What Apple needs to do is get students to wait until after they’ve had their first encounter with intoxicating drinks and they spend 4 hours in the middle of the night blowing their own minds playing with their friends Mac. And for worried parents, there’s photographic evidence that their offspring isn’t off being promiscuous. It’s a win for everybody.

iWeb 2.0.3 update does…nothing?

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 4:48 PM PT by Aaron Freedman

Category | Software » Updates

For you iWeb users out there, a new update has just been released by Apple that seems to do..well…nothing, really.

The iWeb 2.0.3 update is described by Apple as only “[addressing] compatibility with Mac OS X,” nothing else. So, if you want to make sure that your website-creation program runs as smoothly as possible, you can either get the free update online or from the Software Update application

MacBook Air gets the Macworld treatment

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 2:29 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

Jason Snell over at the Mothership spent some quality time this past week with the tapeworm-thin MacBook Air (while the rest of us are obsessively tracking FedEx flights waiting for ours), and wrote up a thorough and painstakingly-honest monster review, analyzing and answering most users’ common questions and concerns.

What’d he think? Don’t ask me, I didn’t actually read it. But I assume he loved it more than his children (does he have children?), declared it the One True God, and will spend the rest of his days on the street sandwiched by two cardboard signs that evangelize the Coming of the Air and preach its purchase as the only path to divine salvation.

Wait, what? He gave it a 3.5 out of 5?! What the hell man?! Where’s your loyalty and submission to King Jobs and unconditional acceptance of all Apple products unleashed under his reign? Heresy! Heresy!

Fine. Whatever. Sure, Jason ends with, “I realized that sacrificing some storage space and some processor power was ultimately worth it for me” — but did he bow down before it and commit his soul to the Air and its wondrous LED-backlit display? Nope. So if you’re interested in this “fair” and “well-thought-out” examination of The Awesomest Thing Ever, go ahead and read Jason’s “factual” and “experience-based” review, and check out the blasphemous Macworld video review while you’re at it.

But don’t let them mess with your mind. The Air will save us all from the satanic clutches of > 1” notebooks, and I’m sure it will prove its perfection to me when I receive mine on Friday. If not…well, I’m not sure I could handle such disappointment.

xScope out interface components

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 2:00 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Software

I once took a whack at designing a user-interface for a comically-simple Java app I was developing for a programming class. I was using Apple’s Interface Builder, which conveniently provides rulers and guides for aligning and positioning various interface components — buttons, text boxes, etc. Of course, my comically-simple program turned into a comically-embarassing visual disaster, a disproportional Frankenstein of a Java app eagerly accepted by the like-looking members of the True Freaks Union.

My flaw was my interface ignorance, and my sheer inability to visualize and construct a design that doesn’t qualify as screenshot-retardant. So xScope 2.0, an updated interface-analyzing tool from the graphical masters at The Iconfactory, won’t really help me overcome my style-stupidity. But I can imagine a large group of developers — application, web, etc. — who will find its many measurement features to be a godsend.

xScope helps designers figure length, width, color, shape, real estate, etc., of virtually any interface element. The biggest new feature of version 2.0 is the new Dimensions tool:

This simple tool is like laser tape measure for the screen that projects a beam out from your cursor to instantly find the edges of images, margins and blocks of text. The days of taking screen grabs, opening them and measuring them by hand are over.

xScope costs $27 — or $10 upgrade for 1.0 users — and can be downloaded from The Iconfactory’s website. Also check out the screen cast for the Dimensions tool if you’re curious about how it exactly works.

iPhonesque: Growl style inspired by the iPhone

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 1:40 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

Whether you love or hate the iPhone, it is almost a given that you only have kind words for the beautifully-designed user interface. John Gruber points us to Matthew Robertson’s iPhonesque, a new style for Growl, the popular systemwide notification system for Mac OS X, that closely resembles the notification dialog box of the iPhone OS.

It comes in eight different variations, primary among which are the standard, light and mini variants. The standard version is a pixel-to-pixel copy of the iPhone’s dialog box, the mini is a slightly smaller version of the same, and the light version, which is the one I now use, is a soft and bright variant of the mini.

All of them are beautiful styles and a welcome change from the defaults; they definitely get my vote.

Panic launches the Coda Developer Zone

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 12:55 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

You must have heard of Panic Inc.’s Coda, the single window web development application that brings all the essential features required by a web developer under one beautifully designed and easily accessible user interface. We’ve covered it several times in the past. Among other things, it integrates a text and CSS editor, FTP client, Terminal, and virtual reference books, saving you the inconvenience of having to jump back and forth between several applications as you go about designing your website.

Now that Coda has gained traction in the market, Panic has launched a developer zone to dish out helpful video tutorials, quick tips and how-tos, AppleScripts, et al. Right now, the selection is very limited but—being the optimists that we are—we expect it to grow in the near future. If you use Coda or are considering it for your web development needs, you now have another item to add to that gargantuan list of bookmarks your browser has accumulated over time.

Office 2008 for Mac boasts inexcusably ugly clipart graphics

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 12:10 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

Joe Clark has posted a Flickr photoset of seven flaws in the latest version of Microsoft Office for Mac, which was released on 15 January of this year—four years after the previous version. Six of the flaws are somewhat insignificant, depending on your level of tolerance and love/hate relationship with Microsoft, but this one concerning the Clip Gallery is just inexcusable, in my humble opinion.

The text looks horrible because there’s no antialiasing. There’s a modal dialog box that blocks access to the whole application over a pretty trivial and unnecessary question, in total disregard for Apple’s HIG. The clipart is so unsightly that it seems Microsoft didn’t bother with text and HIG compliance because they knew no one would ever visit the gallery more than once anyway.

If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve assumed that the screenshot dated back to Office 2004 or even a version before that. Compared to the rest of the suite, it looks like the abandoned, ugly slum area in a megalopolis.

With the extended delays and early problems cropping up with the installation itself, these atrocious user interface decisions make one wonder what Microsoft does in the several years it spends in developing its products. When you’re already behind schedule by a mile and a half, why not just spend a couple of months ironing out all the bugs and refining the final product so that there aren’t any visibly obvious defects in your outrageously expensive software?

And I would love to hear an explanation for those clipart graphics. Who, in their right mind, would ever want to use them, unless they were working on some retro theme and wanted to show some designs from the prehistoric age? Deplorable stuff.

[via Daring Fireball]

MacBook Air User’s Guide is now available

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 11:25 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Hardware

Right in line after the shipping notices emailed to pre-orderers of the notebook and the various knowledge base articles posted yesterday, Apple has now made the MacBook Air User’s Guide available as a free PDF download. The seventy-six pages document weighs in at 3.7MB.

It is, of course, an Apple product, so the guide is minimalist and well-designed. It guides you through the anatomy of the notebook, setting it up, using it, troubleshooting issues, and ends with brief notes on keeping it safe, ergonomic usage, and environmental policies and achievements. I particularly loved the welcome note - “Congratulations, you and your MacBook Air were made for each other.” Did we mention that it’s a computer we are talking about?

Coupled with the MBA user’s guide is another mildly interesting 8-page user’s guide for the MacBook Air SuperDrive and a very bland single page PDF demonstrating how to use the several complex and advanced features of the USB Ethernet Adapter. I love the cap shown in the diagram: it’s a single unit designed to shield both the USB plug and ethernet port from dust and wear and tear when not in use. Simple and efficient, though I fear that one would lose it pretty quickly.

Look, a MacBook Air! (Oh, and the Apple TV update is delayed)

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 10:41 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple TV

Whoa, Apple: have you gone all covert ops on us? This morning, Apple issued a celebratory press release: “The first MacBook Air transport is away! That’s awesome, right? C’mon, guys, give it up!” And then, while the cheers of Mac fans everywhere filled the air, Apple mumbled something else into the microphone and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Except what they said was this:

Apple also announced that the new Apple TV software update, which allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs, is not quite finished. Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two.

But before people could pelt the company with fresh vegetables and catcalls, it had already disappeared through an ingenious trapdoor.

Okay, “another week or two.” That’s not that bad. We’ve waited this long, right? Usually Apple’s pretty punctual about this sort of thing. Still, I find it funny that they shoved it in the MacBook Air press release. It’s kind of the corporate equivalent of throwing up a hand, shouting “What in the world is that?”, and then switching the poisoned wine goblets. Smooth, Apple.

Assigning applications to Spaces is just such a drag

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 9:55 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

I admit to not having much use for one of Leopard’s big ticket features, Spaces. Sure, it sounds cool that you can have several desktops and organize yourself and switch between them with slick swipe animations but I find my messy desktop a lot more comfortable and homely. Plus, Spaces really limits the usefulness of Exposé and I’m so in love with that feature that I feel I’m being disloyal to it if I start using Spaces extensively. Let’s just say that I’m a very sensitive fellow and leave it at that, shall we?

However, for those of you who love to Space-hop on your Leopard based Macs, we have a tip from Macworld hintmeister Rob Griffiths that promises to make your life just a little bit easier. You must be knowing that you can assign applications to specific spaces so that they always open in that one. All you have to do is click on that Plus (+) button on the left, add an application and select a space from the drop down menu to the right. Sounds easy enough, right?

Apparently not. It involves a lot of clicking on stuff and not any dragging and dropping, you see, and that’s just not how Apple rolls. Any feature worth its salt gotta have some of that mousey drag and drop fun. Therefore, instead of going to all the trouble outlines above, you can just drag any application from the Finder and drop it over any one of the little numbered spaces in the overview pane to assign the application to the corresponding space. Click-drag-drop, done. Now that’s more like it.

Food for hungry 17” MacBook Pros

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 9:00 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware » Accessories

There’s little denying that the 17” MacBook Pro is a behemoth, especially when stacked up against its new baby brother, the MacBook Air. But some people just want that kind of power in a portable package—don’t ask me why.

As with all monsters, the MacBook Pro hungers; in its case, for battery life. That’s why Fastmac has rolled out a new high-capacity battery specifically for the 17” MacBook Pro. Rated at 71 watt hours (a slight improvement over Apple’s 68 watt hours), the Fastmac TruePower battery costs $99.95. It’s got the same built-in LED indicators on the bottom to let you know how much capacity is left.

It’ll be shipping in the next ten days with a one year warranty and 30-day money back guarantee, just in case it doesn’t suit your Mac’s taste.

Leopard’s support for A2DP won’t leave you blue

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 8:07 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Tips

Okay, maybe it’s old news to you, but I was pretty psyched last night when I managed to pair the iSkin Cerulean F1 Bluetooth headphones that I was testing with my MacBook. Leopard’s the first version of Mac OS X to support Bluetooth’s Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (snappily known as A2DP). The thing is, Apple’s not very transparent about how you go about using this functionality, so let me break it down for you.

First, you’ll want to switch your Bluetooth headphones into Discoverable mode; you’ll need to refer to your device’s manual for exactly how to do that, as it varies. With that done, take a trip to Leopard’s Bluetooth System Preferences pane and make sure your Bluetooth power is on. Then hit the + button at the bottom of the left pane; this will launch the Bluetooth setup assistant.

After you hit “Continue,” it’ll ask you what kind of device you’re looking for. Give Headset a shot first. Leopard should find your device, and then prompt you for a passcode. Refer once more to your documentation (many devices use 0000 as a default). The Bluetooth setup assistant should finish pairing; once you quit it, you’ll be returned to the Bluetooth preference pane. You should see your device in the list, and, if all has gone well, you should see “Headphones” listed among the device’s available services.

Now, in order to pipe sound to the headphones, head over to the Sound preference pane and hit the “Output” tab. You ought to see your device listed in the output options. If, like the iSkin Cerulean F1, it works as both headphones and a Bluetooth headset, you’ll see an option for both. If you want to use it for music, select the “headphones” option.

Then just fire up your favorite audio source, whether it be iTunes, QuickTime Player, or what have you, and you’re all ready to enjoy freedom from wires.

FTP client collectors rejoice, Netfinder 3.0 is here

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 7:16 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Software

The first thing that may put switchers at ease when they first arrive on the Mac platform is the sheer number of FTP clients available for Mac OS X. I’d list them, but it would make this entry about twenty pages long. Let’s just say that it’s more than two or three. Or four or five.

Back in the days of OS 9, Fetch may have been king, but it wasn’t alone. Netfinder has been on the Mac since the System 7 days. This is from the days before the OS on Macs was actually even called “the Mac OS.” That’s where I got my start. That said, it’s clear that the developers have a strong history with the platform and the understanding to go along with it. Netfinder has been updated to version 3.0, adding new features like server to server direct transfers and remote file commenting.

If you’re in the market or simply frustrated with your current choice, it’s worth a look.

Matrox releases configuration software for Macs

Posted on Jan. 30, ’08, 5:25 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Video

Matrox is known for its video card and general video products, mostly on Windows. In more recent history, they started supporting Macs on a few of their products, name DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go “Graphics eXpansion Module” (GXM) boxes. These little devices allow computers with limited video output options to drive two or three more screens using a single video output.

To better support these products, they’ve brought the GXM Control Panel software to our favorite platform. It’s really quite encouraging. I’d like to see more video card companies get behind the Mac because, of the two major companies one is owned by a company whose CPUs Apple doesn’t use, and the other has shown no great love. In our modern computing machines, the video card is one of the most important components, so we need options.

Apple posts support docs for MacBook Air

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 5:16 PM PT by Aaron Freedman

Category | Troubleshooting

While many Apple-fans are happy that the elusive MacBook Air is finally shipping, they probably aren’t that excited about having to learn how to use some of the unfamiliar aspects of the ultra-portable. Fortunately, Apple has now posted some support documents about the MacBook Air for new users.

Currently there aren’t that many support docs up on the MacBook Air, but the ones that are are very informative. The articles on tips for using the Air’s new Migration Assistant and optimizing Airport performance while using Bluetooth offer information that would seem obvious for experienced Mac users, though helpful for new converts. The Remote Disk setup guide offers a small look into how Remote Disk works, helpful for people who have a Windows machine on hand (interestingly, the guide uses Vista for the Windows computer instead of XP)

Unfortunately, Apple has yet to add a dedicated MacBook Air support docs-section, so you’ll have to hunt down articles like these on your own, for now. But, despite that, it’s good that Apple is allowing soon-to-be Air owners to address some of the questions they may have beforehand.

Apple posts a whole bunch of tutorials

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 3:36 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Internet

If you are in love with the guided tours posted by Apple for various products in the past, chances are you’ll want to grab some, or all, of the new “Find Out How” tutorial videos posted on Apple’s website. All included, there are 112 videos available for download which cover the anatomy of a Mac, running Windows, switching from it and a whole slew of tutorial videos showing you how to do various tasks using the iLife and iWork suites.

Some of the iLife videos and all the iWork videos are old but the novelty this time round is that you can click on a single link to download all of them straight into your iTunes Podcasts library. With the exception of the first two videos (anatomy of a Mac and move to Mac) which weigh in at around 40MB each, all the rest of the videos are pretty small, each one being around 10MB in size.

There are also several illustrated text tutorials for those who aren’t really fans of the audio visual tutorial variety or are stuck with a very low bandwidth Internet connection. Like they are wont to, Apple has added a nice little touch to the text tutorials. Once you’ve visited any of the tutorials in the list, a tiny little tick-mark appears next to its name indicating that you’re done with it. Neat.

iWork updates trickle in

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 2:16 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software » Updates

Apple has just pushed out minor updates for all three applications of the iWork ‘08 suite. Like most other software updates from Apple, the release notes are sparsely worded, stating compatibility fixes as the cause of the Pages and Numbers update. Apple is a tad more generous with the description for the Keynote updates, letting us know that it “primarily addresses performance issues while playing or exporting presentations”.

Fire up Software Update or grab them off the Apple Support website.

Tear down this Apple TV

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 1:44 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple TV

Usually, teardown analyses of Apple’s products yield the rather surprising information that the suggested retail price greatly exceeds the cost of raw materials that go into building Apple’s latest iPod. Apple’s making a profit? Shock!

So we were intrigued to see the latest destructo-sheet from the iSuppli folks, detailing the materials in the Apple TV once again. For one thing, we saw a teardown of the product last year when it was released. Obviously, the components have gotten cheaper int he meantime, and Apple has also dropped the price by $70. So what does that mean?

Well, according to iSuppli’s examination, the price of Apple TV’s materials is a paltry 10% under the selling price. That’s a pretty narrow margin, and what with R&D costs and the like, we think Apple’s probably just about breaking even. So, what’s their game here? Historically, Apple’s operated the iTunes Store at just above break even in order to drive iPod sales. If the Apple TV is also being sold at break even, it can’t really be to drive iTunes sales—at least, not for profit.

No, it seems likely that Apple’s plan here is to cut cost from the Apple TV in order to sell more, and thus boost the market share of the iTunes Store’s video rentals. We don’t know what, if anything, they’re getting out of that—Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub speculates that Apple’s taking a cut off the top to the tune of $1-$2. I’m not sure it’s that high—seems like a lot for an industry which has been notoriously squirrelly about doing business with Apple—but of course it seems obvious that Apple is getting something out of the deal. Personally, I think Apple is just taking an aggressive stance to getting the Apple TV out of the hobby realm and into people’s living rooms.

MacBook Airs now shipping

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 1:00 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Hardware » Intel Macs

Engadget brings us word that MacBook Airs will soon be appearing on the doorsteps of all those who pre-ordered the machine as soon as they could get their credit cards out of their pockets. Several people who’d pre-ordered the notebook have reported that they’ve received shipping notices from Apple via email [including our own Mr. Pourhadi -DM], some of which peg the ETA as early as 1 February 2008, just over a couple of days from today.

The Apple Store promised that they would ship within two or three weeks. Apple is quite particular about shipping their orders on time, even if the CEO has a less than ideal stance on punctuality when it comes to appearing onstage for Macworld keynote addresses.

If any of you guys have pre-ordered those wafer-thin wonders, do let us know when yours turn up, looking for some company. Dan Pourhadi will probably enlighten us with his own thoughts as soon as he can lay his hands on his own pre-ordered unit.

Inspector digs multitasking

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 12:13 PM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Tips

Cory Bohon has a nice little tip over at TUAW about this one fellow you must be pretty familiar with, the Inspector. This little tabbed window is a common feature in several Mac OS X applications and provides access to a lot of frequently used features. But, of course, you knew that.

What you might not have known, however, is that you can have more than a single Inspector window any time you want. Generally, you switch between various modes of the Inspector using the tabs at the top. But if you’re not a great fan of having to switch back and forth between the different modes and have ample screen space to waste utilize, you can just hold down the Option key before hitting one of the tabs.

What happens next? Just try it out yourself; I won’t spoil the suspense.

Apple hints at updated RAW format support for OS X

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 11:30 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Photography

Rob Galbraith’s photo blog points to a link on the updated official Aperture support forums, where Joe Schorr, Sr. Product Line Manager for Photo Applications at Apple hints at the fact that RAW support is coming soon:

As I’m sure many of you know, it’s not Apple’s policy to provide a public “ETA” on future releases, so I can’t post anything like a timetable for when support for the newest RAW camera formats will become available.

But I can tell you this. We at Apple are ACUTELY aware of the pressing need to get support for the newest round of camera into your hands as soon as possible. This is a top priority. We have members of our own team using these cameras, so you can imagine how interested we are in seeing this support integrated into the Mac OS and our photo applications!

Here’s what you need to know about RAW files, from the Macworld archives.

A widget and a plugin bring Adobe kuler to the Mac desktop

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 11:16 AM PT by Aayush Arya

Category | Software

I admit that I’m very poor at picking out the right combination of colors with regard to anything at all. So poor am I, in fact, that I need my mother’s help every morning when trying to decide which pant to pair with the shirt I’ve picked out, or vice versa. For people like me, therefore, Adobe’s kuler is a blessing because it allows you to choose from a wide variety of color combinations submitted by the community of like minded, graphically inclined people.

As you might know, Macs are known as the domain of designers and artists and no one loves color as much as these guys do. Keeping that in mind, Adobe has developed a widget (direct link) that allows you to access the kuler database from within the confines of Dashboard itself.


However, not many people dig the idea of having to invoke the Dashboard while they’re working on an important design and need the help of the kuler database every now and then. For these folks, Lithoglyph Software has released Mondrainum, a plugin that adds one more tab to the universal color palette in Mac OS X and allows you to access kuler from any application that relies on the color palatte, which pretty much includes every color related application on Mac OS X.

The interface features a Cover Flow-esque display which shows the various color combinations on the kuler website. It also boasts of a search feature and the ability to fetch the most popular, highest rated or most recent additions. As with all the other colors under the standard tabs of the color palette, you can save any of the kuler color combinations in the wells at the bottom. The currently free plugin is in beta right now and requires you to have Leopard installed. There’s no word yet on whether the stable release will be paid or remain free.

[Via TUAW]

Piper Jaffrey still bullish on AAPL

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 10:16 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar

Category | Money

While Apple’s stock price has taken a nosedive since Expo, PJ’s Gene “I heart AAPL” Munster remains a cheerleader for the Cupertino powerhouse.

Thomson Financial:

Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster reiterated his buy rating and $250 price target on the stock. Munster acknowledged that market data ‘clearly shows that growth in the standalone MP3 player market is slowing.’ He said that for Apple to meet Wall Street expectations of 4% iPod unit sales growth in March, vs. 5% growth in December, he expects the company to introduce cheaper, innovative iPods with Wi-Fi and multi-touch technology.

Meanwhile, El Jobso is apparently telling investors to “hang in there.”

Got a Mac: international ads say sayonara

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 9:20 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Advertising

Rest in peace, International Mac and International PC. Apple’s axed the international versions of its acclaimed Get a Mac ads. Justin Long and John Hodgman’s UK and Japanese equivalents appear to be out of a job: going to the UK and Japan pages now simply yields a list of reasons why the Mac is rockin’, with no traces of any of the lovable duos.

Could this be a sign that the Get a Mac campaign is coming to the end? It has been running for a year and a half now, and with over thirty spots, perhaps it’s getting a bit staid. According to our overseas cousins at Macworld UK, however, the actual culprit may be the fact that, as in the US, the ads backfired by making the PC character more sympathetic than the “smug” Mac.

What say you, readers? Time for Apple’s advertising to move on? The most recent financial results suggest that 50% of customers who walk out of Apple Stores with a Mac are converts for Windows, so it seems like targeting that segment of the market is certainly working. Perhaps it’s time for a new approach however. I’m thinking something with explosions. Or perhaps adorable puppies. And explosions. I’ve got a million of these; call me, Apple.

Would Amazon make a music player? Don’t hold your breath.

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 8:19 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Rivals

Amazon’s already on its way to bringing the joyful sound of DRM-free MP3s to the world, but some people think they could pose an even greater threat to current king of the hill Apple. Rob Beschizza over at Wired speculates that Bezos and Co. could step on Apple’s toes by releasing a network-connected music player. He even thoughtfully breaks down Amazon’s plan for success, Internet meme-style:

1. Make its MP3 store global.
2. Make a WWAN-equipped MP3 player hooked into the music store, a la Kindle.
3. Profit. Profit like God-damned crazy.

Wait, wait—a la Kindle? Have you actually seen the Kindle? If Apple could have had their lunch eaten by an ugly-as-sin but functional music player, then, well, we’d all be using Creative Nomads.

Look, the Kindle epitomized Amazon’s strengths and weaknesses: they’re great at rolling out services, but their idea of hardware design looks like the future designed by a six year old kid twenty years ago. Plus, the whole point of Amazon’s DRM-free service is that it doesn’t need to be tied to its own player: people can put music on the iPods that they already own. Why the heck would they go out and buy a new player, especially one that looks like a Kindle? Admittedly, the idea of hooking it up to a large scale wireless network is interesting, but Apple’s clearly already heading down this path with the iPhone and iPod touch and the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. I don’t think that Amazon’s going to beat them to the punch there.

We just need a poster

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 7:20 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple

It’s becoming infamous. Ok, it’s a rumor, but it’s just such a meaningless one! Steve Jobs has supposedly sent out a memo now known as the “Hang in there” memo. While the title of Apple Insider’s piece seems to indicate that Steve was reassuring investors, the article itself says that the memo was sent to employees. That’s exactly why it’s not terribly ground breaking.

“Wow… what a remarkable last few days,” he wrote in an email to employees, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider. “Our stock is being buffeted around by factors a lot larger than ourselves.”

The Apple co-founder expressed sadness for many of the company’s investors who may have seen their investments fall under water, but encouraged those with positions to put the matter into perspective by examining the performance of Apple shares over the past 24 months.

Survey says… Jobs wasn’t expressing sadness for many of the company’s investors. Let’s be honest, he’s depressed that the swing in stock price has virtually robbed him of millions of dollars in stock. He’s sad for the one investor that matters, him.

He goes on to explain that the company is actually doing well (true) and that the swing is more of a general market thing (also true, Randy Newman was right on the mark when he called daytraders gamblers). This type of memo is typical of most corporations. Most leadership in major companies do send out emails to address the concerns of their workforce. So let’s move along. And buy one of those posters. Can someone Photoshop Jobs head onto the cat?

You sir, are smug

Posted on Jan. 29, ’08, 5:40 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » People

There’s a study proving everything nowadays, including eggs are bad for you and eggs are good for you. Mindset Media has held their own study that delves into the world of Mac and PC users. As an internet ad network, it pays to know your audience. The votes have been counted, and analysis done. We’re arrogant.

Its recent Mac user “mind-set profile” — a psychographic ranking system that scores respondents on 20 different elements of personality — found them to be more assured of their superiority, less modest and more open than the general population.

On the other hand, PC users didn’t stand out except that they lacked creativity, deal with life with cold, hard emotional detachment. Like the borg. Adage has done their own analysis to go with the report comparing all of us to Justin Long. That’s right, the statistical size of the study was so small that it indicated that we’d all been in a movie with Bruce Willis. It was good working with him.

Awaken updated to version 4

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 5:32 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Software » Updates

In the Mac shareware market, there are a number of software alarm clocks that use your iTunes music to wake you, but no app comes close to Embraceware’s Awaken in terms of interface design and functionality. (Wow, that sounded like an ad. Anyway.) Version 4 was released today, and it’s got some welcome improvements.

First, there’s the obligatory Leopard support and redesgined UI. The underlying code has also been entirely rewritten. As for tangible features, the most exciting to me is the ability to play a sound or run a script as an alarm — previously, the only option was to play an iTunes playlist. There are also new fullscreen modes and color customization (everybody likes colors, right?). Finally, there’s better support for both iTunes and the Apple Remote.

Overall, this seems like a nice meaty major release. Awaken still costs an affordable $12.95, and upgrades are free for life. Compatible with OS X 10.5 and 10.4, may contain traces of peanuts.

Watch a hole being drilled into an iBook

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 4:23 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Apple » Humor

If you liked the “Will It Blend?” iPhone video, this YouTube find will be right up your alley. This time, an old G4 iBook pays the price of being supplanted by its ultra-sleek cousin, the MacBook Air. The weapon of choice? A massive masonry drill. The culprits? A dedicated team of YouTube filmmakers.

But let’s not keep you waiting. Check this out:

Painful to watch, isn’t it? My first thought was, “What a waste”. But before you angrily hit the “Leave a comment” link (as I would’ve done in a heartbeat, I strongly dislike waste), consider this:

And if anyone is wondering, this machine was given to us by the IT department after everything salvagable [sic] had been removed. We are essentially just drilling through a shell with a non-functioning screen. And yes, we will be recycling this properly.

There. You can watch that video with a good conscience.

[Hat tip: Greg via Twitter]

MW08: On The Floor: 42TB RAID

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 3:30 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Hardware

“This is the hottest product on the show floor!” proclaimed an enthusiastic rep for Nexsan Technologies, who was touting their SATABeast RAID storage unit.

I nodded skeptically as I stared at the the noisy 4U monster sitting on the table. It was hot alright — the fans were going crazy. But understandably so: it was controlling 42 hard drives, totally 42 terabytes of storage. It uses software called AutoMAID to manage drive usage and reduce power consumption, and supports both Fibre Channel and iSCSI interfaces (in the demo, they were streaming six HD-quality videos direct from the RAID to QuickTime on a Mac Pro, and performance was flawless). Oh, and it costs $50,000.

“You’ll write something nice about us, right?” asked the rep.

Sure…if I can get one to review.

“Oh,” she paused. “Well I’m sure we can arrange something.”

No, I was…I was kidding. But thanks.

Edmonton to welcome Canada’s fifth Apple store?

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 2:54 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Apple » Stores

For anyone outside the United States, the dearth of official Apple stores has been painful. Here in Canada, we’re moderately lucky: we’ve got three in Toronto, Ontario, and one in Laval, Québec, a suburb of Montréal. But West of the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes, there isn’t one giant illuminated Apple logo to be found.

If you’re to believe the Edmonton Journal, that’s about to change: the paper reported over the weekend that Apple plans to open a store inside North America’s largest shopping centre, West Edmonton Mall. They got their intel from the mall’s president, Don Ghermezian, who also claims the store will occupy 6,000 square feet of retail space and bring in $30 million a year. Estimated opening date? July 1, 2008 — which happens to be Canada Day. Coincidence?

Of course, it’s my duty to mention this is not confirmed in any way by Apple and the details could all be bogus, but we assume the mall’s president and an important local newspaper both have at least some credibility. Or maybe not. You be the judge.

If you live in the area, it is worth mentionning Apple is advertising jobs for that location on their website…

[via ifoAppleStore]

Abracadabra!: Apple makes rentals disappear from your computer

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 2:11 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

There’s been some discussion, but not a lot of analysis surrounding the management of iTunes movie rental files on users’ computers. Obviously something needs to download…but where does it go? And when the rental expires, what happens to the file? There are seemingly-obvious answers to these questions, but they raise some conflicts and arguments that suggest Apple maybe goes a different route.

Well, no, it doesn’t. When you download a rental from the Store, it’s added to the iTunes library’s Movies folder, along with all your other movies. Just Ctrl-click it to Show in Finder. If you try to move that file from one computer to another — even if they’re both authorized with the same Store account — iTunes refuses to play it, saying that particular rental hasn’t been authorized on the second machine.

And when the rental expires, it vanishes completely from your computer; it doesn’t even show up in the Trash as a deleted file. It’s just gone. Poof. Kazaam. Voila. Etc.

The complaint here? Some people aren’t comfortable with Apple deleting stuff off their computers without a warning dialog or even an option to simply move it to the Trash. It sets a precedent that undisclosed third-party file manipulation is okay; it also increases the potential damage of software bugs (i.e., much the same way a buggy iTunes installer accidentally deleted users’ Home directories because of a missed space in an “rm” command).

It’s obviously a weedy argument: Apple has very tight control of the rental system, and the files are theoretically “on loan” to you from the Store. And what happens if Apple didn’t delete them automatically? Would they build up on your machine until you were forced to remove them manually? What do you guys think? Bad Apple for fiddling with files? Or who the hell cares? Can I put any more question marks in this paragraph?

Temporary Office 2008 helps you take back your files

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 10:27 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Security

On Friday, we tipped you to a problem with Microsoft’s Office 2008 installer where it would incorrectly assign ownership of the installed files to user id 502. Remain calm; there’s no need to panic. It’s not as if the Statue of Liberty’s head has come flying down the street or anything.

The team at Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit (that’s MacBU to you) has issued a temporary fix for the file ownership snafu, though it doesn’t fix the problem that all the files are also set executable. Fire up Terminal in any administrator account and issue the following commands (on one line, each), entering your password when prompted:

/usr/bin/sudo /bin/chmod -R a-st “/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008” “/Library/Automator” “/Library/Fonts/Microsoft” “/Library/Application Support/Microsoft”

/usr/bin/sudo /usr/sbin/chown -h -R root:admin “/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008” “/Library/Automator” “/Library/Fonts/Microsoft” “/Library/Application Support/Microsoft”

So, that’s the fix. If you want to know more about this entire issue, our able-minded colleagues Dan Frakes and Rob Griffiths have put up an in-depth look over on the mothership.

Microsoft has stated that future versions of the Office 2008 discs will contain an updated installer that fixes the problem, and a downloadable patch is forthcoming for existing Office 2008 users.

Macworld’s Total Leopard: like Total Recall, only with less Arnold

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 9:13 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Software

We love our siblings over at Macworld; they’re like the big brother we never had growing up, always calling us “squirt” and taking our lunch money. And though we hate all the noogies and the way they melt our action figures’ feet for “realistic battle damage,” we remain convinced that it’s all out of love. And secretly, we look up to them. Well, maybe not so much secretly.

So, we tell you this just to point out that we’ll recommend Macworld’s new Superguide not out of blind sibling loyalty, but because we actually think they’re pretty awesome. The latest in that line is a 90-page guide to Apple’s latest incarnation of OS X, Leopard. Available as a downloadable PDF or as a full-color paperback, Total Leopard is chock full of detailed information about all of 10.5’s new features from the Macworld editors and contributors who make it their business to know everything worth knowing.

You can pick up the PDF version for $12.95, order the paperback for $24.99, or, if you live in 1997, you can get a copy on CD-ROM for $15 (my requests for a limited edition hardcover were sadly denied). And if you’re looking for a taste of the goodness that’s nestled between the covers, check out this free downloadable sample (PDF link).

Now, if only they’d stop feeding our homework to the dog, everything would be great.

Amazon MP3 going worldwide

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 8:15 AM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Apple » Rivals

The appearance of Amazon MP3 in the music download market has finally provided a worthwhile challenger to iTunes—in the US. But what about the rest of the world? If comments we’ve received are any indication, Amazon MP3 is a non-starter outside of America, given that it’s just not available. That won’t be the case for long, however, as Amazon has announced that they plan to take the store worldwide in 2008.

Where? you may ask. And when? Well, according to Amazon’s press release: somewhere and sometime. 2008 is about as specific an answer as we’re going to get right now. But Amazon itself has country-specific sites in several other places, such as the UK and Japan, so it seems likely that those will be the first targets for the digital download market as well. iTunes, meanwhile, is available in twenty-two countries, including the US, so it still has a hefty lead on its rival.

Of course, we’ll have to wait to see what countries, as well as what kinds of prices Amazon will be offering, but if they can continue to offer competitive rates, this could make Amazon that much more of a serious competitor in the market.

HOW TO: Give a good presentation (Steve Jobs keynote style)

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 7:05 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Events

Business Week has a guide to giving a presentation like Steve Jobs would. Of all the people to emulate, Steve Jobs is up there. The guide is a let down in several ways though. Here’s the executive summary.

1. Set the theme.
2. Demonstrate enthusiasm.
3. Provide an outline.
4. Make numbers meaningful.
5. Try for an unforgettable moment.
6. Create visual slides.
7. Give ‘em a show.
8. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
9. Sell the benefit.
10. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

How did he take something so exciting and make it so boring? For number 8, he mentioned the Flickr faux pas. His argument is that he handles mistakes like a pro. I can think of one person that had to catch a digital camera that says otherwise.

The big failing in the list though: lack of turtleneck recommendation. Sorry BW, you fail. Try again.

Barack promises to keep you safe from iPod upgrades

Posted on Jan. 28, ’08, 5:06 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » People

Apparently there’s this thing called an election coming up in the US. I thought all the advertisements were just new personal injury lawyers, but I guess they’re called “candidates”. I learn something new every day. Anyway, on the Democrat side, one of the leading candidates is Barack Obama. I’ll tell you right now that he will soak up nearly all of the highly important Apple fanboi vote (important because of fierce, irrational loyalty).

The reason? Well, he’ll be protecting you from buying an iPod and having the next model released the next day. Check it out.

[via Gizmodo]

MacHeist bundle sale ends, but the controversy surrounding it doesn’t

Posted on Jan. 25, ’08, 5:31 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Software

We mentioned MacHeist’s bundle a while back when it went on sale; it’s now over, and it’s a success. If you recall, the deal consisted of 10 Mac applications for $49. Over the course of the last two weeks, four more apps were added and helped sell over 40,000 copies of the bundle, which is pretty impressive considering the first edition sold only 16,000 copies.

Plus, if you’re familiar with MacHeist, you know 25% of the money went to charity. In the end, $500,000 ended up being donated to various organizations (because $488,003 was “such an ugly number”).

But just like back in December 2006, not everyone is happy. While the controversy isn’t of the same magnitude as last year’s, Rich Siegel of Bare Bones software did spark a little debate on this week’s MacBreak Weekly. Basically, he argued bundle sales like this one devalue software and increase support costs for the developers as a result of the large increase in customers.

While I believe there is some truth to that, the developers certainly did know what they were getting into. Plus, I do think developers who participate get a whole lot of publicity, not to mention new users who will hopefully pay for an major upgrade when the time comes.

Stay tuned, though: Phill Ryu, one of the minds behind MacHeist, and Jerry Brace, developer of Awaken, are both set to appear on next Tuesday’s MacBreak Weekly to talk about the positives of bundle sales. And apparently, we can still look forward to John Gruber’s interview with MacHeist head honcho John Casasanta.

No rentals for you (5G iPod owners)!

Posted on Jan. 25, ’08, 2:45 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | iTunes » iTunes Store

There’s an emerging riot over at the Apple Support forums, where pissed-off 5G iPod owners are expressing their…concern at the fact that movies they rent from the iTunes Store don’t seem to transfer to their iPods. Their big complaint is that there’s no explicit indication of device incompatibility, and thus they were swindled out of $3 or $4.

We did some digging, though, and it turns out the iTunes Movie Rentals FAQ does list exactly what Apple devices support rentals:

If rented on the computer, you can watch your rental on that computer, or transfer it to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, or iPod nano (3rd generation), or on your TV using your Apple TV.

It’s an inclusive list, and the 5G iPod is excluded. So if you have a 5G iPod and want a movie for the road, you’re kinda out of luck when it comes to renting from iTunes. I mean, you could always carry your iMac around with you. That’ll play rentals just fine.

A suspect in the murder of AirPort Disk’s Time Machine support

Posted on Jan. 25, ’08, 2:07 PM PT by Dan Moren

Category | Hardware

I expended a lot of breath on Time Capsule yesterday—you don’t need to tell me I’m of the gregarious persuasion, I’m well aware. Some of that touched upon the controversy over why the AirPort Extreme’s AirPort Disk feature didn’t end up supporting Time Machine as originally promised, a topic we’ve written about before.

Peter Sichel of Sustainable Softworks posted a comment on Macintouch that may shed some light on the subject:

Steve described the built-in disk in Time Capsule as “server grade” which means the disk honors the “F_FULLSYNC” flush command (many external disks don’t). This helps Time Machine ensure the file system is intact when a backup is interrupted.

This makes sense, and it gibes with something a source told us at Macworld: that the problem lay with verifying the information written to the remote disk.

I also mentioned in yesterday’s post that there’s an app, iTimeMachine, which enables the AirPort Disk functionality, but said “I might be a little wary about exactly how they’re accomplishing that.” Sichel backs up that assertion:

There is an option to have Time Machine show other network attached disks:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

But Apple is hesitant to enable this as the default since it places the integrity of interrupted Time Machine backups at risk. So Apple is in a difficult spot with respect to