TweetFollow Us on Twitter

MacTech News

07:44
ZAGG debuts new iPad mini accessories

ZAGG has introduced two new keyboard accessories for the iPad mini. The ZAGGkeys Cover and ZAGGkeys Folio are "ultra-thin" Bluetooth keyboard accessories built with a patent-pending hinge system that offers a range of viewing angles up to 135 degrees.

The new ZAGGkeys Cover is the most versatile Bluetooth keyboard on the market and the thinnest at just 6.3mm, boasts Kent Wuthrich, executive vice president of marketing for ZAGG. It features a hinge that lets users position the screen at virtually any viewing angle as well as reverse the iPad mini for a one-piece reading and playing mode.

The ZAGGkeys Cover also features backlit keys in seven color options and three lighting levels. A battery purportedly keeps the Cover going for up to three months of normal use before it needs to be charged, while a magnetic closure protects the screen during transport. The ZAGGkeys Cover will be available in both silver and black, matching the back finish of the iPad mini. It's...

| Read more »
07:15
Senate says Apple sheltered $44 billion from taxes

Senate investigators are accusing Apple of wiring together a complicated system to shield billions of dollars in international profits from both U.S. and foreign tax collectors, reports "Politico" (http://tinyurl.com/kp3hh77).

A report released ahead of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s inaugural Capitol Hill appearance today alleges the tech giant took advantage of numerous U.S. tax loopholes and avoided U.S. taxes on US$44 billion in offshore, taxable income between 2009 and 2012. Apple denies this.

The bipartisan Senate probe also charges that the company's long established foreign entities, based in Ireland, don’t actually have tax-resident status there or anywhere else. Apple conducts most of its international business in the European country to take advantage of lower tax rates, according to the congressional report.

| Read more »
04:39
AppDelete for Mac OS X adds updated user interface

Reggie Ashworth (www.reggieashworth.com) has announced AppDelete 4.0.7, a new version of his application deletion utility. The upgrade sports an upgraded user interface and more.

You can drag any item that can be uninstalled onto AppDelete: spplications, widgets, preference panes, plugins, screensavers, etc. You can also activate AppDelete in many ways: dragging items onto main window, onto dock icon, selecting in menu, right-clicking using AppDelete workflow, dragging from Launchpad, and throwing items in the trash. When the preview screen appears you can uncheck any items you would like to exclude.

You also have several choices: delete the items, log only the items, or archive (copy) the items to a .zip file for safekeeping or reinstall at a later date. The items you delete will be moved to the trash and arranged in a folder so that you can see exactly what was deleted and you know exactly...

| Read more »
04:29
FMStudio Pro updated for Dreamweaver CS6, FileMaker Server 12

FMWebschool has announced FMStudio Pro 1.1.3, bringing new updates for Dreamweaver CS6 and FileMaker Server 12. This combination of technologies enables a direct connection from FileMaker to Dreamweaver.

Experts will appreciate the ability to rapidly create and deploy FileMaker driven websites, according to the folks at FMWebschool. Beginners to web publishing can now build FileMaker websites without knowing PHP by using the simple drag and drop tool-set and live data features, they add.

Any FileMaker hosting service supporting FileMaker Server 12 will enable you to use FileMaker and Dreamweaver together. When you press the live data view button in Dreamweaver, the web pages are immediately populated with live FileMaker data.

FMStudio Pro uses the FileMaker API [application programming interface] for PHP developed by Zend for FileMaker. It supports FileMaker Server versions 7 - 12 and Dreamweaver CS5, CS5.5 and CS6. FMStudio Pro costs US$157 and is available...

| Read more »
May 20
Noise Industries offers Andy Mees Safe Guides plug-in

Noise Industries has added Andy Mees' free Safe Guides plug-in to the FxFactory family of plug-ins and generators. Designed for use in Final Cut Pro(R), Motion, Premiere Pro and After Effects, Safe Guides includes preset guides for 4:3, 14:9 and 16:9 title and action safe areas, an EBU/BBC compliance override and center cross marker.

The plug-in comes with full custom guide controls. Features include two freely adjustable user guides, the option to toggle on or off individual guides and the ability to choose ones own guide colors, plus dim or mask cropped regions. Editors can use the "Conform to 16:9" option to force the guides to display within a center cut 16:9 frame if and when working sequence settings aren't in the correct format.

Safe Guides is now available in FxFactory for free. FxFactory is a visual effects architecture powering plug-ins for Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro and After Effects. For more info go to...

| Read more »
May 20
Apple releases Tim Cook's official statement to Senate

Apple has released Tim Cook's official statement to the Senate ahead of his Tuesday appearance at a hearing on corporate tax payments.

As noted by "Seeking Alpha," among other things, Apple claims it paid ~$6 billion in federal taxes in FY12 and a 30.5% effective federal tax rate, that its foreign units don't engage in the practices the hearing focuses (the shifting of IP to offshore havens, revolving loans from subsidiaries, etc). The company proposes a tax system that's "revenue neutral, eliminates all tax expenditures, lowers tax rates and implements a reasonable tax on foreign earnings." 

Read more at http://tinyurl.com/lrcwz3f . Also, you can find the entire official statement at http://tinyurl.com/kxvl26g

| Read more »
May 20
Eerie Studios releases Junk Punk 3D for the Mac

Eerie Studios' Junk Punk 3D is now available on the Mac App Store (http://tinyurl.com/me6te83). It requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher and costs US$1.99.


Here's how the game is described: "Junk Punk 3D is the successor to Junk Punk. It is a fast-paced action game about free running, fast reflexes and competition. As the player, your ultimate goal is to get as far as you can, without falling down, in which case your only option is to try again. Compete against yourself, your friends or the entire world."

| Read more »
May 20
matchTag 1.5 optimized for Mountain Lion

Nominari has released matchTag 1.5 for Mac OS X (10.7.2 or higher). The app can update the title information in an iTunes music collection and amend, either completely or selectively, the missing data from the iTunes Store. Version 1.5 has been optimized for Mountain Lion.

matchTag facilitates the iTunes ID that was written into the new file during download and allows for either individual tags or for the whole set to be amended or replaced. MatchTag also has an option to download a cover image thumbnail.

matchTag 1.5 costs approximately US$6.50. It's available worldwide exclusively from the Nominari website (http://www.nominari.com).

| Read more »
May 20
Image Resizer Deluxe for Mac OS X gets text antialiasing, more

Lifeware Solutions has announced Image Resizer Deluxe 1.1, an update to their photo editing app for Mac OS X. The upgrade adds text antialiasing and fixes the preview size.

Image Resizer Deluxe provides tools to resize and rename large numbers of photos to reduce their size, and make them ready to be sent over email or posted on the web. You can add text, watermarks, border effects, change color depth, apply color effects and more.

Image Resizer Deluxe requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. It costs US$1.99 and is available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Graphics & Design category (http://tinyurl.com/k9nzw5l).

| Read more »
May 20
iStopMotion for Mac OS X gets screen capture feature

Boinx Software has updated iStopMotion, its stop motion animation tool for Mac OS X (10.7.4), to version 3.1. The new version includes a screen capture feature that provides animators with a new medium for animating.

iStopMotion 3.1 is localized in English, German, French, Japanese and Russian. It's available for US$49.99 both from the Mac App Store and the Boinx Website (www.boinx.com/).

| Read more »
May 17
Apple to suggest changes to U.S. corporate tax laws

Apple, which holds US$102 billion in cash and investments outside the U.S., will suggest changes to corporate tax laws to encourage companies to bring more cash into the country, reports "Bloomberg" (http://tinyurl.com/an63hjh).

In interviews with "The Washington Post" and "Politico," Apple CEO Tim Cook previewed testimony he will give on May 21 before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has been examining companies that use various maneuvers to reduce their tax bills. The current 35% corporate-tax rate is too high for companies to pay when bringing money back from overseas, Cook was quoted as saying by "The Washington Post." Cook defended Apple’s practices and said the company doesn’t funnel domestic profits overseas, according to his "Politico."

| Read more »
May 17
microLARGE Software Taskdesk for the Mac

microLARGE Software has introduced Taskdeck, a task and to-do list app for Mac OS X (10.7.4 or higher). It costs US$7.99.

Taskdeck promises a minimalist, keyboard-driven user interface with features like tags, attachments, drag 'n drop prioritization, searching and filtering. Related tasks are grouped into lists, with each list showing a badge that indicates the number of open, due, or overdue tasks.

The menu bar application sports an iOS-inspired drill-down user interface that can be activated on any virtual desktop through a system-wide hotkey without having to switch between application windows or desktops. The app employs a simple structural model of lists and tasks, says Karl Traunmuller, the developer of Taskdeck.

Within a list, tasks can be created by the press of a shortcut. For prioritization, tasks can be dragged to the appropriate slot. Four filter buttons can be used to show all tasks, or only open, due, or overdue tasks. A tagging system allows for...

| Read more »
May 17
Paddle launches demo/trial framework for Mac developers

Paddle has announced Paddle for Developers. It's a simple framework allowing Mac software developers to create trial and demo versions of their Mac applications.

The Paddle framework, in its basic installation, allows users to offer a trial/demo version and take payments in-app. The framework can purportedly be added to an existing Mac application in as little as five minutes.

Additional services are also provided for developers who decide to implement the framework, such as marketing and promotion services to Paddle's 150,000-plus active users, and a dedicated account manager to assist the developer with querie. Also, all order-related customer support for sales via the framework is managed by Paddle.

The framework, and functionality provided cost nothing for a developer to implement. There are no signup fees, or setup fees, and no monthly account maintenance fees. The only fee charged is at the point of sale within the app, Paddle takes a small commission...

| Read more »
May 17
PDFpen for Mac OS X upgraded to version 6.0.3

Smile (www.smilesoftware.com) has announced PDFpen 6.0.3, the latest version of its all-purpose PDF editing tool. The upgrade adds support for the Polish language OCR, and includes numerous fixes.

The changes in PDFpen 6.0.3 have also been made in PDFpenPro 6.0.3, the pro version that can also convert websites into PDFs, create fillable PDF forms, automatically create form fields in non-interactive PDF forms, construct document table of contents, and set document permission settings that restrict saving, printing, and copying.

PDFpen 6.x works with PDFpen for iPad and PDFpen for iPhone, allowing editing across devices when used with iCloud or Dropbox storage. Users who wish to use iCloud must purchase PDFpen 6 from the Mac App Store. (Apple restricts iCloud access to applications purchased via the Mac App Store.)

PDFpen retails for US$59.95, and PDFpenPro for $99.95. Family Pack licenses,...

| Read more »
May 17
MacA&D 4.1 adds business process models

Excel Software (www.excelsoftware.com) has announced enhancements to its MacA&D application for requirements management, system and software design, code generation and report generation.  

The newly added Business Process Model Notation supports Collaboration, Process, Choreography and Conversation diagrams. The new release includes color and editing features in the Table editor, improved integration between diagram and definition entries for requirements and use cases, plus usability enhancements to menu commands, toolbars, tool palettes, cursors and diagram drawing.

MacA&D 4.1 runs on all Mac OS X computers with an Intel processor. The Standard edition is US$495, the Desktop edition is $1,195 and a Developer edition costs $1995; site licenses are available. The product includes printed and PDF user guides, a help system and a growing library of free demonstration and training videos on...

| Read more »
May 17
PhotoBulk image editor for Mac OS X upgraded to version 1.5

Eltima Software (http://mac.eltima.com) has updated PhotoBulk, a bulk image editor for Mac OS X (10.7 and higher), to version 1.5. The new version allows for faster changing of the watermark position int he preview window and the ability to choose the most precise position for your watermark per-pixel.

PhotoBulk lets you add text/image watermark, resize, and optimize hundreds and thousands of images or photos in just one click. You can check how your files will look like before they're processed. PhotoBulk remembers the settings you used last time, so you won't have to set all the same options again to redo customizations for another pack of images.

What's more, you can optimize file size of your JPEG or PNG images while keeping their original resolution, quality, and format. (Note that PNG optimization is time-consuming and works slower than JPEG compression.). Supported formats include JPEG, PNG, GIF...

| Read more »
May 17
PKard for Mac includes support for CAD dual persona Mac users

Thursby Software Systems has released a free update of its PKard for Mac software, including support for CAC dual persona Mac users.
 
With an ever-increasing number of citizens working as contractors within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the government needed a way to represent both roles on one common identification card. Instead of the standard DoD identification smart card (called a CAC or Common Access Card by the U.S. government), the DoD developed a card that could represent the individual in both roles. Thus, a CAC card supporting a "dual persona" was developed.

More challenging to implement and support than the standard U.S. government CAC or Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards, PKard for Mac is the first supported solution of its kind for Mac users, according to the folks at Thursby Software.

PKard for Mac together with its sister app for iPhone and iPad mobile devices, PKard Reader, supports tens of thousands of users across the...

| Read more »
May 16
Apple releases MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0

Apple has rolled out MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0. It addresses a storage firmware issue that, in rare cases, may cause a system to fail to recover from a crash.

Apple says it's recommended for MacBook Air (mid 2012) models. MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0 is available via the Software Updates component of the Mac OS X Systems Preferences app.

| Read more »
May 16
Apple posts iTunes 11.0.3

Apple has revved iTunes to 11.0.3. According to Apple, it includes a dramatically simplified player, a completely redesigned Store, and "iCloud features you'll love." Per Apple's release notes, this is what you get with iTunes 11.0.3:

° Completely Redesigned. iTunes makes it more fun to explore and enjoy your music, movies, and TV shows. You'll love the beautiful edge-to-edge design, custom designs for each album, movie, or TV show in your library, and getting personal recommendations any time you click In the Store.

° A New Store. The iTunes Store has been completely redesigned and now features a clean look that makes it simpler than ever to see what's hot and discover new favorites.

° Play purchases from iCloud. Your music, movie, and TV show purchases in iCloud now appear inside your library. Just sign-in with your Apple ID to see them. Double-click to play them directly from iCloud or download a copy you can sync to a device or play while offline.

° ...

| Read more »
May 16



iLuv now shipping Aud 5 Lightning connector dock

iLuv Creative Technology is shipping its first audio dock designed specifically for Apple Lightning devices: the Aud 5 Lightning speaker dock.  Originally unveiled at the 2013 International CES in January, it allows users to enjoy their music from their iPhone 5 or iPod while simultaneously charging their device.

The Aud 5 joins the iLuv line of Lightning connecter accessories that give users the opportunity to utilize their new Lightning device the same way they would their 30-pin device, says Jason Park, marketing Manager at iLuv. It features a swiveling Lightning connector for docking and undocking. The Lightning connector allows the dock to feature full digital sound.

The Aud 5 features a 3.5mm auxiliary input for a direct connection to other devices outside of Apple’s Lightning line. Other features include top-mounted touch controls and a streamlined silhouette design. The Aud 5 is currently available for $149.99 at iLuv.com and select retailers.

| Read more »

MacTech Blog

May 21
2020: 30 billion-plus devices will wirelessly connect...

ABI Research's (www.abiresearch.com) latest data on the Internet of Everything (IoE) shows that there are more than 10 billion wirelessly connected devices in the market today; with over 30 billion devices expected by 2020.

"The emergence of standardized ultra-low power wireless technologies is one of the main enablers of the IoE, with semiconductor vendors and standards bodies at the forefront of the market push, helping to bring the IoE into reality," says Peter Cooney, practice director. "The year 2013 is seen by many as the year of the Internet of Everything, but it will still be many years until it reaches its full potential. The next five years will be pivotal in its growth and establishment as a tangible concept to the consumer.”

Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Cellular, RFID, and many other wireless technologies are all important to drive Internet of Everything growth. The long term expansion of...

| Read more »
May 20
‘Long data’ to drive workforce analytics

Organizations across the globe are searching for ways to capture the power of “Big Data” to unlock workforce insights. Unfortunately, many organizations get lost in the fog of big data analysis. The latest release of Mercer Analytics (www.mercer.com) addresses this challenge by leveraging the power of Long Data to unlock insights into an organization’s most valuable asset: its talent.

Long Data, a term coined by mathematician and network scientist Samuel Arbesman, is described as "data sets that have massive historical sweep." In terms of workforce analytics, Big Data provides deep analysis typically focused on a point in time, while Long Data provides insights from stories that have unfolded over time. Thoughtful analysis of Long Data therefore allows organizations to identify, segment and analyze data as part of an ongoing process to drive meaningful results, according to Mercer Analytics. It can also mitigate the...

| Read more »
May 17
Virtualization, 4G distributed networks to up-end DPI...

4G networks are launching fast and moving to a flat and distributed hierarchy. Dictated by performance needs, data management is moving closer to the network edge, according to new data from ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

This evolution of the network from a centralized data center to a distributed architecture, can be thought of as a "data center without walls," according to the research group. The historical paradigm for mobile networks is the hierarchical and centralized core network.

The advent of 3G and 4G mobile broadband greatly increases the data traffic to the IP Network and Internet point of presence, says ABI Research. This gives rise to the specialist DPI and Optimization firms, such as Allot and Sandvine, who prosper with high performance, purpose built custom hardware that sits in the data stream for inspection and management.

The major infrastructure vendors, such as...

| Read more »
May 16
Chief Executive Magazine announces best, worst states...

For the ninth year in a row, CEOs rate Texas as the #1 state in which to do business, according to Chief Executive Magazine's annual Best & Worst States Survey.

Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana also made the top five. The states rated worst for business are California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The Best & Worst States Survey measures the sentiments of CEOs on a range of issues, including regulations, tax policies, workforce quality, educational resources, quality of living and infrastructure. For the 2013 survey, 736 CEOs from across the country evaluated the states between Jan. 16 and Feb. 14, 2013. Ohio was the biggest gainer in this year's survey, rising 13 spots from #35 to #22. \

CEOs say California's poor ranking is the result of a perceived hostility to business, high state taxes and onerous regulations, all of which drive investment, companies and jobs to other states. According to the California...

| Read more »
May 14
Global semiconductor sales outpacing last year

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, says worldwide sales of semiconductors reached US$23.48 billion for the month of March 2013, an increase of 1.1% from the previous month when sales were $23.23 billion.

Global sales for March 2013 were 0.9% higher than the March 2012 total of $23.28 billion, and total sales through the first quarter of 2013 were 0.9% higher than sales from the first quarter of 2012. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.  

"Through the first quarter of 2013, the global semiconductor industry has seen modest but consistent growth compared to last year," says Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association (www.semiconductors.org). "Sales have increased across most end product categories, with memory showing the strongest growth. With recent...

| Read more »
May 13
Top 10 mobile carriers generate US$202 billion in...

Worldwide service revenue, year-on-year (YoY) for 4Q-2012 grew 2.8% to US$240.5 billion, according to new data from ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

Western Europe and Africa’s mobile operator actually demonstrated a contraction in service revenue YoY of 8.2% and 6.9%, respectively, according to the research group. Middle East, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific are still showing reasonably robust rates of growth of 7% to 11%. Eastern Europe and North America, however, are only barely keeping their service revenue growth in positive territory.

"As the underlying lift from accumulating subscribers has matured, carriers are starting to cast around for additional revenue streams that don’t just boost revenues but also profitability," says Jake Saunders, vice president for core forecasting at ABI Research. "There is still tremendous income to be generated from mobile services; the Top 10 Mobile Carriers...

| Read more »
May 10
Cloud points towards a single consumer security...

By Michela Menting Senior Analyst, ABI Research

The growth of cloud-based offerings for mobile devices and PCs is leading to the convergence of a single security product. A number of vendors are in fact moving towards this strategy: development of cloud and mobile functionalities for future integration into one multi-device offering.

The PC security software market for consumers is mature. Currently, many include mobile protection. However as threats evolve, security products incorporating more comprehensive features are increasingly being sold under the broader umbrella term of Internet Security Software, rather than just anti-virus. Added features include: Social Network Protection, Parental Control, Privacy Protection, ID Theft Protection, Online Banking & Payment Protection, Password Manager, Data Encryption, Backup Platform, Rescue/Safe Reboot, Remote Access, USB/Removable Media Protection, Antitheft, GPS/Location Tracking, Restore, Remote...

| Read more »
May 09
Nearly half of Internet capable devices are connected...

Forty-seven percent of home entertainment devices (Internet-capable TVs, Blu-ray disc players, video game consoles, and streaming media devices) are currently connected and being used for their online capabilities. But the degree to which these devices are used online varies significantly, according to global information company, The NPD Group (www.npd.com).

Internet capable TVs and Blu-ray disc players are the least likely to actually be connected to the Internet and used for their online features, while streaming media players and video game consoles are connected and used the most.

"While there are more Blu-ray disc players installed and connected to the Internet than streaming media players such as Apple TV and Roku, we expect that to change in the next year," says John Buffone, director, devices, NPD Connected Intelligence. "Streaming media players will exceed the number of installed and Internet connected Blu...

| Read more »
May 08
CyberCoders Top Ten Tech Skills of 2013

CyberCoders (www.CyberCoders.com), a recruiting firm, says new data reveals the tech skills in the most demand for the highest paying technology jobs.

CyberCoders analyzed more than 10,000 tech companies and their hiring requirements to compile the list of the hottest skills in the tech space. Data from CyberCoders reveals that candidates who have experience with iOS development, cloud computing programming and front-end development skills are most in demand in today’s tech career landscape.

"A common theme among these technology skills is the need for open source, mobile, cloud or big data technologies, like iOS, Azure and Hadoop," says Matt Miller, chief technical officer of CyberCoders.

"Everyday we see the engineers with these skills getting an average of four to five job offers," adds CEO and founder of CyberCoders, Heidi Golledge. "Companies that provide cutting edge technology, great...

| Read more »
May 07
Semiconductor industry to see CAGR of 4.3% over next...

Global macroeconomic developments and technological advances, personal computers, and memory markets are expected to drive demand for the global semiconductor market at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 4.3% over hte next five years and reach an estimated US$394 billion in 2017, according to new data from Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com).

The global semiconductor industry is a fragmented market. The Asia Pacific (APAC) region dominates this market and represents approximately three-fourths of the global market. Some of the major players include Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics, Taiwan Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba Corporation. The combination of factors such as continuing transfer of worldwide electronic equipment production to China and the above-average semiconductor content of that equipment influences market dynamics tremendously, says Research...

| Read more »

Reviews and Kool Tools

Kool Tools: NewTech miniStack MAX
Newer Technology's miniStack MAX, is now available in DVD/CD only read/write optical drive models for computer users that don’t require the Blu-ray functionality of other miniStack MAX models. As the only four-in-one... Read more »
Kool Tools: SMS Log, Call Log, Fliq for Mac
Today our Kool Tools includes three products/services that all work together: SMS Log for Mac, Call Log for Mac and Fliq for Mac. The SMS Log application for Mac OS X (10.7 and higher) from Mark/Space (http://www.... Read more »
Recommended Reading: 'Arduino Workshop'
It may be small, but the Arduino is having a huge impact on the maker movement. This microcontroller makes it possible for creative people to turn their ideas for interactive projects into reality -- from simple LED... Read more »
Kool Tools: Shape Pop Transitions for Final Cut Pro X
Noise Industries has added Shape Pop from Stupid Raisins to its range of plug-ins offered through FxFactory. Available for Final Cut Pro X, Shape Pop consists of 30 customizable transitions that break up video into... Read more »

News Scanner

Tuesday May 21

08:00
Preorder Madden 25 on Amazon, get a deal for NFL app...
TUAW

This is an excellent deal for any iOS owners who are fans of football and video games. EA is releasing the 25th iteration of the Madden football games this year, called Madden 25. And in that box, which costs a standard $60, there will be a deal with DirecTV and the NFL to set up streaming to your television, your PC and consoles, or any mobile devices you have. The NFL has been stepping up on streaming game coverage to iOS over the last year or so, and usually services like that can cost a couple of hundred dollars.

To get the deal, you'll have to preorder the Anniversary Edition of Madden 25 (which costs $100)...

| Read more »
07:40
Poser 10 and Poser Pro 2014 available, bringing new...
TUAW

Poser has come a long way from the last time I used it, right around version 4. We're now at 10 for the basic edition (retail US$299.99) and Poser Pro 2014 (retail $499.99) has become a powerful animation tool in its own right. I got to look at some of the new features rolling out today and they are impressive, putting Poser on par with many animation and modeling suites costing much more.

A problem with any humanoid character is how the "skin" folds when you bend it. Poser now offers Pixar's OpenSubdiv libraries, which means subdivision surfaces anywhere you need them. I was impressed with the accuracy and speed at which Poser created subdivisions, which add greatly to the realism already available in Poser. There are also some new characters, both realistic and cartoonish, to help get you started. For basic work the stock characters will keep you busy for quite a while, but there's also a great third party...

| Read more »
07:25
Senate subcommittee accuses Apple of tax avoidance
iLounge

The U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations claims Apple has avoided paying billions of dollars in U.S. income taxes by using offshore entities. “Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven,” subcommittee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement. “Apple sought the Holy…

| Read more »
07:00
EVE Online creator CCP revving up for mobile release
TUAW

Touch Arcade recently had a chat with CCP, the Icelandic developer behind the popular MMO EVE Online, and while there aren't any announcements yet, it certainly sounds like they're gearing up for some iOS apps, or even maybe a client for the game itself. EVE's been on the Mac for a while now, and there have been some third-party attempts at bringing parts of the game to iOS. But CCP has just released a companion game called Dust 514 on the PS3, and that means it's probably time they start thinking about tying in iOS and other popular mobile platforms as well.

There's an app called Neocom coming from CCP to the PS Vita, and executive producer John Lander calls that app...

| Read more »
07:00
Apple's tax strategy portrayed by Senate...
AppleInsider

In opening remarks of a hearing Tuesday morning, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations accused Apple of being the mastermind of elaborate tax evasion practices that are unique to the iPhone maker.  ...

| Read more »
06:55
Zagg intros backlit ZAGGkeys Cover and Folio...
9 to 5 Mac

Zagg, a company that makes high quality keyboard cases for iPads that we’ve reviewed in the past, today introduced two brand new keyboard cover and folio designs for iPad mini. Zagg says both products are ultra-thin Bluetooth keyboards that take advantage of “a unique, patent-pending hinge system that enhances the iPad mini user experience with a full range of viewing angles up to 135 degrees.” Get full details on both new products below:

//

ZAGGkeys Cover: The first product Zagg is showing off today at CTIA 2013 is the ZAGGkeys Cover (pictured above). Zagg says its the thinnest Bluetooth keyboard on the market at 6.3mm and it also features backlit keys in 7 colors and three brightness settings (Zagg...

| Read more »
06:43
Ireland denies Senate claim of special 2%...
9 to 5 Mac


Image: C-SPAN

As things heat up in the row on alleged tax avoidance by Apple, Ireland has denied a claim made by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that it had agreed a special deal with the company to allow it to pay corporation tax of just 2% on its Irish earnings.

The denial was made to Yahoo! Finance reporter Conor Humphries:

According to the congressional report, Ireland had also agreed a special 2 percent rate for Apple’s Irish...

| Read more »
06:41
Next Mac ‘Gigabit Wifi’ spotted? Broadcom BCM94360CD...
9 to 5 Mac

There have been plenty of hints over the past months that indicate that Apple’s incoming next round of MacBook Air/Pros would contain 802.11AC Gigabit wifi chips, not the least of which was code we found referencing ’802.11AC‘ in 10.8.4 Betas.

TonyMacx86, found some interesting parts on Chinese VR-Zone today that could be the next 802.11AC boards in Macs, widely expected to be announced at WWDC next month. The Broadcom BCM94360CD PCI-E mini custom combo WLAN+Bluetooth...

| Read more »
06:41
Logitech announces ‘UE BOOM’ Bluetooth speaker,...
9 to 5 Mac

Logitech’s UE brand is often at the top of our list when it comes to the best bluetooth speakers around, so we’re excited that today the company introduced its latest product with the announcement of the ‘UE BOOM’. Logitech is calling this “the world’s first social music player,” and that’s due to the fact that it’s the first to offer 360-degree sound and a 15-hour rechargeable battery. That’s a nice step up from the 5-8 hours you’ll get with most Bluetooth speakers.

Logitech is also following a trend that many Bluetooth speaker manufacturers have been lately: With UE BOOM you’ll be able to wirelessly connect two UE BOOMs via a free companion app to allow for traditional right/left stereo sound and other sound settings. It’s also water and...

| Read more »
06:27
Jeff Gamet Talks Apple Taxes on The Mac Show
Mac Observer

Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer's Managing Editor, joined the team at The Mac Show to talk about Apple's tax payment practices and the U.S. Senate hearing where CEO Tim Cook will be testifying.


| Read more »
06:00
Rumor Roundup: The definition of insanity
TUAW

Have you ever heard the saying, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?" Apparently none of the rumor blogs have, because they keep publishing the same sketchy rumors from the same terrible sources. Many of these sources (*coughDigitimes* *coughPeterMisekcoughcough*) have proven to be wrong so often that they've been publicly lambasted by numerous actual news outlets... but for some reason, "sources from the Far East" and "analysts" still account for two out of the three legs on the rumor blogs' increasingly shaky table.

Despite 'mounting' pressure, Apple not seen releasing 'iPhablet' until middle of next year (BGR)

This is a perfect example of a rumor with a truly terrible source. Here's your homework assignment, BGR: tell us the last time "analyst" Peter Misek made a prediction about Apple that actually turned out to be...

| Read more »
05:51
Chrome App Launcher coming to OSX – beta version now...
9 to 5 Mac

The Chrome App Launcher is coming to OSX, providing a simple way to launch Chrome ‘packaged apps’ – web apps that are written in a combination of HTML5, Javascript and CSS but which look and behave like conventional PC or Mac apps …

//

Google Chrome team member François Beaufort, who has the whacky job title of Happiness Evangelist (some Google employees get to pick their own job titles), posted the screengrab on his Google+ page.

Chrome Team is currently working on bringing the App Launcher on the Mac platform as you can see in the screenshot below.

You can already give it a try by running the last chromium build available at download-chromium.appspot.com with the –show-app-list switch.

To see it in action, you’ll need to...

| Read more »
05:44
Google to Merchants: We’re Killing Google Checkout
Mac Observer

Google is still axing services, and this time it's Google Checkout that's on the execution block. The Internet search giant warned retailers they have until November to find a replacement for the feature, although some users can move to Google Wallet.

The Mac Observer Spin:
This time Google already has an alternative in place for the service it's killing, but considering the number of services the company has killed off over the past few months, that probably isn't instilling much confidence in users.


| Read more »
05:32
Ireland says it's not responsible for Apple...
AppleInsider

With Apple under fire for its low international tax rate thanks to corporate subsidiaries housed in Ireland, the Irish government has spoken out on the matter, saying its laws are not to blame.  ...

| Read more »
05:25
Apple still ‘the most valuable brand in the world...
9 to 5 Mac

Apple remains the most valuable brand in the world, in an annual ranking by market intelligence company Millward Brown, reported in Marketing Week.

The Millward Brown Brandz rankings take into account both financial strength and brand equity, a measure of the value consumers place in a brand. Despite Apple’s share-price woes, the brand is regarded by consumers as the ‘gold standard’, says the report …

//

“What we see with the most popular or powerful brands is that brand lasts a lot longer, is...

| Read more »
05:15
AT&T waiving overage charges for Oklahoma City...
MacNN

In the aftermath of the devastating tornado that cut a path of destruction through Oklahoma City on Monday, wireless carrier AT&T announced that overage charges would be suspended for the area until June 30 as part of an effort to assist victims, many of whom lost everything. Due to high call volumes as friends and family check on their loved ones, the company said it would add additional resources to relieve cell congestion....  ...

| Read more »
05:06
Web of Tax Shelters Saved Apple Billions, Inquiry...
SlashDot

mspohr writes with news that Apple might be in a bit of hot water over its policy of offshoring revenues to favorable tax jurisdictions. Only they take it a step further, from the article: "Apple relied on a 'complex web of offshore entities' and U.S. tax loopholes to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes on $44 billion in offshore income over the past four years ... The maker of iPhones and iPads used at least three foreign subsidiaries that it claims are not 'tax resident in any nation' to help it avoid paying billions in 'otherwise taxable offshore income,' the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a statement yesterday."

...

| Read more »
05:00
Stay and StatsBar Worthy Additions to a Mac's...
MacNewsWorld


Designers of operating systems can't think of everything that should be in their programs. Utilities are a testament to that. Utilities are software programs that do things that should have been included in an operating system, but weren't. They can help you keep your system performing at top speed, solve irritating problems or just keep valuable information at your fingertips. For example, you might want to have the windows on your desktop placed just so when you're working.

| Read more »
04:55
Domestic Mac Sales Flat in April (And That's...
AllThingsD

With the iPhone and iPad driving increasingly more of Apple’s profits, the Mac is no longer the defining theme of the company’s financial story that it once was. Which is why new data suggesting domestic Mac sales for the month of April didn’t grow at all is actually reasonably good news for Apple.

According to NPD, Mac sales for the month of April in North America were flat year-over-year. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who reported the data, says that’s a “neutral to slight positive” data point for Apple, relative to expectations for its Mac business.

Why neutral? Munster’s own forecast calls for worldwide Mac sales for the June quarter to decline about 5 percent year over year. And last quarter supply issues hampered sales of Apple’s newer Macs. So if NPD is seeing flat sales for April, that potentially bodes well for the current quarter.

Level Mac sales aren’t great, but they’re...

| Read more »

Monday May 20

22:55
AT&T waives voice, data and text overage fees...
AppleInsider

In response to the devastating tornado that hit Okalhoma City on Monday, U.S. wireless carrier AT&T announced it will be waiving all overage charges for those affected through June 30.  ...

| Read more »
19:50
MGG 450: Don’t Play Ding Dong Ditch on an Airplane
Mac Observer

As you have come to expect from your two favorite geeks, this show brought to you with real-time logistics: Dave flew in just in time to make the recording of the show, coordinating with John and prepping the agenda from the car while Dave's wife drove him straight to the studio. Good stuff in this show, too, as you'd expect with the kind of frantic energy that went into the prep! Download today (it's free, after all) and enjoy!


| Read more »
19:00
Free VIEW Magazine is filled with intriguing...
TUAW

View Magazine is a nicely put-together coffee table ebook for the iPad or iPhone that contains photos that are interesting and certainly not run-of-the-mill sunsets and flowers. A variety of photographers have combined to submit some of their favorite work, and they offer some commentary about the images.

There are shots of urban landscapes, people, and nature images, but none are what I would call the standard 'pretty pictures'. That said, the images are striking, and the thoughts behind the images are often illuminating. You won't like everything you see, but there is plenty to choose from.

VIEW Magazine used to require a paid subscription, but it has just gone free, and you can manually download an issue or set it up for automatic downloading to Apple's Newsstand app.

I found the content stimulating and interesting. Any image can be shared to Facebook or via email. You scroll...

| Read more »

Rumor Scanner

Tuesday May 21

06:44
Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer Testify In Fr...
MacRumors

After jostling in competing memoranda yesterday, Apple and a group of U.S. Senators are prepared to go head-to-head in a committee hearing examining the tax avoidance strategies of Apple and other multinational corporations.

CEO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and Apple's head of tax operations Phillip A. Bullock will appear in front of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation in the second part of a committee hearing running now.

The hearing is streaming live on C-Span and we will be liveblogging the hearing below.


Apple yesterday...

| Read more »
06:00
Apple Granted 26 Patents Today Covering a Double-Sided Tou...
Patently Apple

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 26 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover three main granted patents. The first covers the possible implementation of a native Push-to-Talk feature for a future iPhone. The second covers a new flexible circuit supporting a double-sided touch panel that technically could be used for a wraparound display ...

| Read more »
04:03
Apple Granted a Patent for a New Magic Mouse Force Sensor...
Patently Apple

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 26 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover Apple's future Magic Mouse that will utilize a new force sensor. Our report also covers and 4 new design patents covering Apple's Smart Cover and more.

| Read more »
02:06
Will Apple's Next iPhone use LG's Upcoming 5...
Patently Apple

The Society for Information Display (SID) is one of the display associations in the world. The association's tradeshow kicks off today in Vancouver, Canada. Hundreds of research papers are presented at the event and new display technologies are introduced. Noteworthy is that LG, Apple's main LCD supplier, will be introducing a new display that Apple may be able to use...

| Read more »

Monday May 20

15:22
Yahoo's Flickr Gets Major Design Overhaul, 1TB of Fre...
MacRumors

Following this morning's acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo today hosted an event in New York City to detail changes to its popular photo sharing site Flickr. Flickr on the web has been given a major design overhaul, with a focus on full resolution pictures.

In addition to eliminating much of the white space on the site, Flickr is now displaying in-line photo streams that encompass the majority of the screen and detailed photo-centric profile pages. Flickr has also implemented a slideshow mode to allow its users to flip through photos hands-free.

With the redesign, Flickr is encouraging its users to upload high resolution photos by giving every Flickr user 1TB of storage space for free. That is a marked increase from its former photo storage policy, which limited users' monthly upload bandwidth and allowed only 200 photos to be visible. Flickr will allow up...

| Read more »
14:52
U.S. Senators Claim Apple Has Avoided Paying Billions in U...
MacRumors

A Senate subcommittee has released a 40-page memo accusing Apple of not paying billions of dollars in federal taxes through "extensive tax-avoidance strategies".

Apple CEO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and Apple's head of tax operations Phillip A. Bullock will appear in front of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation tomorrow. The company issued a statement earlier today in a preliminary defense against the Subcommittee's accusations.

The subcommittee, which previously explored tax avoidance by other multinational corporations using offshore subsidiaries, found similar practices at Apple. In addition, the subcommittee review discovered an unusual tax scheme:...

| Read more »
13:29
Samsung and Sharp Introduce New Ultra-High-Resolution Note...
MacRumors

While Apple's 15" MacBook Pro was the first consumer notebook to gain a Retina-level display nearly a year ago, it is no longer the only such offering, as Google's Chromebook Pixel with its 12.85" 2560x1700 display and Toshiba's Kirabook with a 2560x1440 220 PPI display have joined the market in recent months.

Seeking to raise the ante on Retina displays, Samsung and Sharp have both introduced new high-resolution displays in the past week, targeting notebooks and ultrabooks with the latest technology. The new displays from both companies sport 16:9 ratios, making them unfit for Apple's line of notebooks, which all use 16:10 ratio displays, but they should make Retina displays a mainstream feature in the relatively near future.

Sharp last week announced new...

| Read more »
12:08
AT&T to Expand FaceTime Over Cellular to All Customers...
MacRumors

In a statement to The Verge on the future of pre-loaded apps, AT&T today revealed that it is planning to offer FaceTime over cellular to all of its customers on any data plan by the end of 2013.For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we currently give all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share or Tiered plans. Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry have chosen to enable this for their pre-loaded video chat apps. And by mid-June, we’ll have enabled those apps over cellular for our unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from those three manufacturers.

Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device; that work is expected to be complete by year end.When...

| Read more »
11:50
Apple Releases Statement Ahead of Tim Cook's Senate A...
MacRumors

Apple today released a statement [PDF] ahead of Apple CEO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and head of tax operations Phillip A. Bullock's appearances in front of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation tomorrow.

In the seventeen page statement, Apple notes that it has created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States -- both directly and through suppliers and contractors. It notes that the company paid nearly $6 billion in federal taxes in fiscal 2012 and the company expects to pay $7 billion in 2013.

The company also says Apple "does not use tax gimmicks", pushing back against reporting in The New York...

| Read more »
10:32
U.S. Mac Sales Flat in April as iPod Sales Continue to Sli...
MacRumors

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today released a brief report highlighting April data from market research firm NPD looking at Apple's U.S. Mac and iPod sales. The data shows Apple's Mac sales coming in flat year-over-year, and while Munster acknowledges that it has become increasingly difficult to extrapolate NPD's numbers to Apple's global sales performance, he views the latest data as "neutral to slight positive" relative to expectations for the company.Based on the differences between NPD data and Apple reported Mac sales over the past few quarters, we note it is becoming more difficult to draw conclusions from NPD data (see table below). We note that some of the more recent supply issues with the redesigned Macs have impacted the Apple reported numbers over the past two quarters. At the end of the day, we believe this April data point is likely a neutral to slight positive given our expectation that iPads will continue to cannibalize Macs over the next few years.Munster...

| Read more »
10:16
Apple's Revenue Per Store Visitor Hits Record High
MacRumors

Apple's retail stores have been ranked as the U.S. retail chain with the highest sales per square foot for a number of years and according to a new report from Asymco’s Horace Dediu, the company also outranks competitors when it comes to revenue per visitor, hitting a record high of $57.60 per visitor in the first quarter of 2013.

Apple experienced a seven percent growth in visitors during the quarter, leading to an average of $13 million in revenue per Apple Store, which is the highest it has been during a non-holiday quarter.

During its Q2 financial results call, Apple reported a total of $43.6 billion in...

| Read more »
09:38
Analyst Targets AAPL at $888/share with Mid-Market iPhone
Patently Apple

A new and wild analyst report sees Apple's stock rocking to $888/share in the not-too-distant future based on Apple announcing an inked deal with China Mobile later this year driven by a new mid-range iPhone.

| Read more »
08:01
Apple Raising Notebook Orders Ahead of Likely Launch at WW...
MacRumors

Digitimes briefly reports that Apple will be releasing updated notebooks "in the near future", with supply chain sources indicating that Apple's orders will rise 20% in the second quarter compared to first-quarter production.The new MacBooks are only expected to receive specification upgrades to Intel's latest Haswell platform and are estimated to be unveiled at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, the sources said.Claims of a 20% increase in orders come less than a month after the site claimed that orders would see a 10% increase for the quarter, although overall notebook shipments for 2013 are expected to be flat or only slightly higher year over year due to a lack of major updates and a weak PC market.

Late last month, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo...

| Read more »
07:13
Apple to Begin Ramping Up Production of 25-33% Lighter iPa...
MacRumors

Digitimes reports that Apple will soon begin trial production on its fifth-generation iPad, with full production said to be planned to begin in July. Based on that schedule, Apple could hit monthly production of 2-3 million units by September as it prepares to launch the updated version of its full-size tablet.

Mockup of iPad 5 next to iPad mini and iPhone 5
As with a number of previous rumors, the report claims that the new iPad will be narrower, thinner, and lighter than the current design, taking a number of design cues from the iPad mini. As a result, Digitimes says that the new iPad will be 25-33% thinner than the current models, in line with previous claims from KGI...

| Read more »
07:04
New Record for Apple Retail Revenues Boggle the Mind
Patently Apple

A new report by Asymco states that Apple retail stores in the US, on a sales per square foot basis, continues to perform twice as well as Tiffany & Co., the second best retailer, and three times as well as lululemon athletica, the third best retailer. The stats show ...

| Read more »
06:27
Apple Reportedly Testing 1.5-Inch OLED Displays for Smart...
MacRumors

Japanese blog Macotakara points to a pair of reports in today's edition of Taiwanese newspaper Economic Times addressing rumors surrounding Apple's smart watch effort. According to the first report [Google translation], Apple has begun sampling 1.5-inch OLED displays from RITEK subsidiary RiTdisplay.

The report also claims that RITEK's joint venture RitFast will be supplying the touch sensor technology for the watch.

Today's report echoes a December claim about Apple's plans for RiTdisplay's 1.5-inch displays and word that Intel is involved in Apple's effort, but includes...

| Read more »

Sunday May 19

16:43
Teen Killed in Las Vegas Refusing to give up his iPad
Patently Apple

A sad story comes out of Las Vegas today. The Associated Press reports that two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad ...

| Read more »

Saturday May 18

09:55
Video: Google's Sergey Brin Shares his Philosophy abo...
Patently Apple

It's not a demo, more of a philosophical argument: Why did Sergey Brin and his team at Google want to build an eye-mounted camera/computer, codenamed Glass? Onstage at TED 2013, Brin calls for a new way of seeing our relationship with our mobile computers -- not hunched over a screen but meeting the world heads-up.

| Read more »
08:27
Sadly, more Suicides from Foxconn Factory have been report...
Patently Apple

According to a new press release by China Labor Watch, another Foxconn employee from their Zhengzhou factory where Apple's iPhone is assembled jumped off a building to his death last Tuesday. The news ...

| Read more »

Friday May 17

13:58
Apple and Sony 'iRadio' Negotiations Stalling Ov...
MacRumors

Earlier today a report suggested that the launch of Apple's upcoming streaming music service deemed "iRadio" may be delayed due to difficult negotiations with Sony Music and Warner Music Group.

CNET is offering some additional information on Apple's trouble with Sony Music, explaining that the fees to be paid for skipped songs have become a point of contention between the companies.Apple and Sony Music, the world's second largest music label, are still trying to hammer out details over how much Apple would pay for songs that people listen to a fraction of and then skip, according to people familiar with the negotiations.While Apple's music...

| Read more »

Documentation Scanner

Tuesday May 21

07:30
Quick way to get artwork from currently playing...
Mac OS X Hin...

iTunes makes it easy to retrieve the artwork from the currently playing song. Just drag & drop the artwork displayed in the iTunes LCD (the bar at the top of the iTunes window, showing artwork, progress bar, etc.) or the MiniPlayer to the Finder, or to any other application that you can drag images to. You'll get a graphic file of the current artwork.

| Read more »
03:49
Deployment: A Pedagogical Manifest(o)
AFP548

Last Fall, a discussion arose on the MacEnterprise list about deployment terminology, with the term “thin imaging” coming in as the winner for variety of (conflicting) definitions. (You can read the thread from the beginning or jump on when the discussion turns to terminology.) I was starting to prepare my session for MacIT 2013 at the time and it made me think more deeply about how we talk about what we do. Much of our deployment terminology is anchored in the past by relating everything to “imaging.” That is a useful point of reference for those transitioning to more modern methods, but I would argue that we have reached the level of maturity in our MacAdmin...

| Read more »

Monday May 20

13:05
iTunes: About the "A secure network connection...
Apple - All...

If you are unable to sign in or purchase content from the iTunes Store, you may see the following alert:
"iTunes could not connect to the iTunes Store. A secure network connection could not be established.
Make sure SSL 3.0 or TLS 1.0 is enabled in the Internet Options control panel, then try again."

| Read more »
12:48
MacBook Air (Late 2010): Installing Windows 7 drivers
Apple - All...

Learn how to install Windows 7 drivers on your MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010) or MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) computer.

| Read more »
11:49
Xsan: Compatibility of SAN clients with Xsan and...
Apple - All...

Learn which versions of StorNext can be used in the same SAN with Xsan controllers, and which versions of Xsan can be used in the same SAN with StorNext controllers.

| Read more »
07:30
Control iTunes AirPlay streaming with AppleScript
Mac OS X Hin...

iTunes 11.0.3 provides AppleScript support for controlling AirPlay devices. Below is a basic script that illustrates how AirPlay devices can be selected and applied using some of the new iTunes AppleScript classes and properties:

tell application "iTunes"
set apDevices to (get every AirPlay device whose available is true)
if apDevices is {} then display dialog "No Airplay devices available." buttons {"Cancel"}
set apNames to (get name of every AirPlay device whose available is true)
set selAirplayDevices to (get name of every AirPlay device whose selected is true)
set chosenNames to choose from list apNames default items selAirplayDevices with prompt "Select Airplay device:" with multiple selections allowed
if chosenNames is false then return
set apChoices to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of ...

| Read more »

Saturday May 18

06:00
Receipts & Bills of Material in 10.8
krypted

When installing a package OS X makes a list of what it installs in /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist. The dictionaries show each package installed, along with the installation date, the name displayed during installation, the version of the package being installed, the identifier of the package and the process name used to install the package. This information, along with the file name of the actual package is stored in corresponding property lists in /private/var/db/receipts. Each bill of material is also stored there, in .bom file.

The lsbom command is used to see a list of objects installed by the package. You can also see the options such as the permissions assigned to files by the package as they’re installed. For example, that Twitter app from the app store; to see what it installs:

lsbom /private/var/db/receipts/com.twitter.twitter-mac.bom

This package is installed by the Mac App Store. When run, packages installed by the Mac App Store should only...

| Read more »

Friday May 17

11:52
Printing to an AirPort Extreme / Express Base...
Apple - All...

Learn about printing to an AirPort Extreme / Express Base Station or Time Capsule from Microsoft Windows XP.

| Read more »
07:30
Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail...
Mac OS X Hin...

By default, Mail will keep file attachments that you've opened or viewed in your ~/Library/Mail Downloads folder, until you delete the associated email. You can save disk space by making the following switch:



In Mail's preferences, go to General, then set Remove unedited downloads to When Mail Quits. This does not remove the attachment from your email, just from your local cache of Mail Downloads.



On one machine I've got, I reclaimed nearly half a gigabyte after using the system for only a few months! I can't wait to see how much I get back on a system I've been using for 5 years!



[kirkmc adds: I find it odd that Mail keeps these attachments after you view them, since they're still in the emails. This is only an issue, however, if you save emails with attachments; if you delete them, then the default setting deletes the cached files as well.]

| Read more »
06:00
Who Needs Root When You Can Have Simple Finder
krypted

Here’s the thing: I’m not very good with computers. So to keep me from hurting myself too badly, I need the simplest interface available that allows me to run multiple applications. But most of the command keys shouldn’t work in this interface and I should only have Finder, file and Help menus..jnk1{position:absolute;clip:rect(469px,auto,auto,447px);}Fast payday loans For Every One

Luckily for my poor MacBook Airs, Apple thought of people like me when they wrote the Finder and invented something called Simple Finder which makes OS X even simpler than it is by default to use. To enable Simple Finder, just go to Parental controls, enable controls for a user and then check the box for Simple Finder. Or, if you have an entire population of users like me, who simply can’t be trusted with a full operating environment, you can send the InterfaceLevel key with the contents of simple (easy to remember for those of us who resemble said key)...

| Read more »

Thursday May 16

12:59
Xsan 3: Invisible "__defragtmp" files are...
Apple - All...

When defragmenting a file with snfsdefrag, an invisible "__defragtmp" file may be created which cannot be deleted.
This issue may occur when the following are true:

The defragmented file's name contains precomposed Unicode characters, such as letters with diacritical marks (an accent, grave, or umlaut).
snfsdefrag is run by root.
snfsdefrag is run when the current working directory is on an Xsan volume, or snfsdefrag's recursive option (-r) is used.

| Read more »
10:22
About the security content of iTunes 11.0.3
Apple - All...

Learn about the security content of iTunes 11.0.3.

| Read more »
07:30
Fix for missing "Assign to..." Mission...
Mac OS X Hin...

Having originally upgraded to 10.8 from 10.7, all of my applications' desktop assignments in (now) Mission Control were already set. I recently decided to wipe and install a fresh copy of OS X 10.8.3, and discovered that, for many of my apps, the option to "Assign to..." particular desktops or to all desktops was missing. After roaming through forum after forum I finally found a workaround for this bug.



Thankfully it's relatively simple. If you right-click on the Dock icon of a running application and you find that the "Assign to..." option is missing from the "Options" sub-menu (and of course you have multiple desktops setup in Mission Control first), if you launch the application from LaunchPad, the option to assign the application to a particular desktop will a) magically appear, and b) continue to use that assigned space regardless of how it is launched in the future.



Hope this is helpful. I spent a few good afternoons trying to...

| Read more »
06:00
Minnebar Presentations Available On YouTube
krypted

I was supposed to give a presentation at MinneBar a few weeks ago, but I ended up having to be out of town. I was pretty bummed as I really wanted to see a few of the presentations. But, lucky me, MinneBar has actually started posting presentations to YouTube. Woohoo, they’re available at http://www.youtube.com/user/MinneStarMedia. .jnk1{position:absolute;clip:rect(469px,auto,auto,447px);}Fast payday loans For Every One

The one I think I was most interested in seeing is available right here, and I can embed it into my own site and watch it from here.

I will try and make the next one to do the presentation I’d planned on giving. This is a community I am very supportive of and love contributing to (although the next time someone uses “serial entrepreneur” as their job title I might not be able to suppress the eye roll + flutter combination – sry).Similar...

| Read more »

Wednesday May 15

12:24
Recovering a forgotten iTunes Store account name
Apple - All...

You can easily recover your iTunes Store account name if you have forgotten it.

| Read more »
06:30
Set up Facebook chat in OS X Messages
Mac OS X Hin...

You can set up Facebook chat in Messages. Since Facebook uses Jabber, all you need to know is your user name, and you can create an account.



Open Messages' preferences, and click on Accounts. Click on the + icon to create a new account. For Account Type, choose Jabber. For your account hem, you'll need to find your Facebook user name; this is the text after http://www.facebook.com/. The account name for the Jabber account should therefore be your_facebook_user_name@chat.facebook.com. Enter your Facebook password in the Password field, and click on Done.



Messages should log into the account, and you should see a message saying:



You are now Online to Chat | You are now Online to Chat. Please note that this also marks you as Online on facebook.com.



You...

| Read more »
06:01
Aerohive Status Color Codes
krypted

Ever wonder what those color codes on on all your devices mean while they’re booting up? In the IT industry we went from having beep tones and green lights to now having all kinds of methods including touch screens on printers that are as nice as my iPhone practically, computers with touch screens that indicate POST status and of course LEDs that change colors. The LEDs that change colors can be extra special, because we assume yellow is bad, green is good, blue is good and red is really bad. Aerohive uses a different color scheme, which can be a little confusing at first. So what do their LEDs mean? Here goes:

  • Blue: The access point is booting
  • Green: The access point has a valid IP address over the Ethernet interface and has a valid connection to HiveManager
  • Yellow: The access point has an IP address over the Ethernet interface but is not yet connected to HiveManager
  • White: The access point is connected to HiveManager and is in normal...
| Read more »

Tuesday May 14

13:08
TA13-134A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple...
US-CERT Aler...

Original release date: May 14, 2013
Systems Affected

  • Microsoft Windows
  • Internet Explorer
  • Microsoft .NET Framework
  • Microsoft Lync
  • Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Windows Essentials

Overview

Select Microsoft software products contain multiple vulnerabilities. Microsoft has released updates to address these vulnerabilities.

Description

The Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May 2013 describes multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. Microsoft has released updates to address these vulnerabilities.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker could execute arbitrary code, cause a denial of service, or gain unauthorized access to your files or system.

Solution

Apply Updates

Microsoft has provided updates for these vulnerabilities in the...

| Read more »
07:30
Disable swipe gesture to go back and forward in...
Mac OS X Hin...

A Stack Exchange user asked a question a while back: is it possible to turn off the swipe gesture in Chrome that goes back or forward a page? If you're not familiar with this gesture - which works in most browsers on OS X - you use a two-finger swipe to the right to go back to the previous page you've viewed, and a swipe in the opposite direction to go forward again. But this use found it got in the way.



Fortunately, another user found a Terminal command that turns this feature off. Run this in Terminal, then relaunch Chrome for it to take effect:
defaults write com.google.Chrome.plist AppleEnableSwipeNavigateWithScrolls -bool FALSE
If you wish to reactivate it, run this command:
defaults write com.google.Chrome.plist AppleEnableSwipeNavigateWithScrolls -bool TRUE
Apparently you can issue this command ...

| Read more »
06:00
10 Sleep Patterns of a Migratory Nerd
krypted

Here’s the thing, I’m wrong most of the time. I’ve long held fast that I do my best work after midnight. I’ve long felt that caffeine and sugar would keep me going deep into the night when I really hit my stride. I’ve also maintained that nicotine helped me stay focused because it gave me an excuse to get up and walk away from my computer for a little while and made me more social. Walking away from my computer to grab a smoke seemed like the perfect amount of exearcise too. Finally, I figured if I didn’t eat for 48 hours that it was no big deal.

That lifestyle worked for me for a long time. It kept me focused on work and learning. I bought into the notion that your brain gets imprinted a certain way when you learn things all hopped up on caffeine and nicotine. So I believed that I had to maintain.

I was wrong (don’t worry, I still believe in Jarmusch, despite how Ghost Dog turned out). Which is nothing new mind you. But this is a deeper, more long-term wrong. One...

| Read more »

Monday May 13

09:08
Wi-Fi: Guest network clients can communicate with...
Apple - All...

Computers and devices (Wi-Fi clients) that are connected to a Guest network may be able to communicate with each other, but cannot connect to the Internet.
This can happen if the AirPort base station providing the Guest network is configured to use a DNS server on the local network.

| Read more »
07:30
Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as...
Mac OS X Hin...

You recently published a hint explaining how to open a new Finder window in the same folder as the frontmost window, using an AppleScript. Here is an easy way to do the same thing: no Applescript, no special apps needed.



In the Finder, make sure the Path Bar is visible (View > Show Path Bar). The current path is then displayed at the bottom of each Finder window.



As with any other folder icon in the Finder, Command-double-clicking on any icon in the Path Bar will open a new window to that folder.



The current folder is always displayed last in the Path Bar (even if the Path Bar is to short to display all the names), so Command-double-clicking on the last icon in the Path Bar will always open a new window to the current folder.

| Read more »

Documentation Scanner

Tuesday May 21

07:30
Quick way to get artwork from currently playing...
Mac OS X Hin...

iTunes makes it easy to retrieve the artwork from the currently playing song. Just drag & drop the artwork displayed in the iTunes LCD (the bar at the top of the iTunes window, showing artwork, progress bar, etc.) or the MiniPlayer to the Finder, or to any other application that you can drag images to. You'll get a graphic file of the current artwork.

| Read more »
03:49
Deployment: A Pedagogical Manifest(o)
AFP548

Last Fall, a discussion arose on the MacEnterprise list about deployment terminology, with the term “thin imaging” coming in as the winner for variety of (conflicting) definitions. (You can read the thread from the beginning or jump on when the discussion turns to terminology.) I was starting to prepare my session for MacIT 2013 at the time and it made me think more deeply about how we talk about what we do. Much of our deployment terminology is anchored in the past by relating everything to “imaging.” That is a useful point of reference for those transitioning to more modern methods, but I would argue that we have reached the level of maturity in our MacAdmin...

| Read more »

Monday May 20

13:05
iTunes: About the "A secure network connection...
Apple - All...

If you are unable to sign in or purchase content from the iTunes Store, you may see the following alert:
"iTunes could not connect to the iTunes Store. A secure network connection could not be established.
Make sure SSL 3.0 or TLS 1.0 is enabled in the Internet Options control panel, then try again."

| Read more »
12:48
MacBook Air (Late 2010): Installing Windows 7 drivers
Apple - All...

Learn how to install Windows 7 drivers on your MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010) or MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) computer.

| Read more »
11:49
Xsan: Compatibility of SAN clients with Xsan and...
Apple - All...

Learn which versions of StorNext can be used in the same SAN with Xsan controllers, and which versions of Xsan can be used in the same SAN with StorNext controllers.

| Read more »
07:30
Control iTunes AirPlay streaming with AppleScript
Mac OS X Hin...

iTunes 11.0.3 provides AppleScript support for controlling AirPlay devices. Below is a basic script that illustrates how AirPlay devices can be selected and applied using some of the new iTunes AppleScript classes and properties:

tell application "iTunes"
set apDevices to (get every AirPlay device whose available is true)
if apDevices is {} then display dialog "No Airplay devices available." buttons {"Cancel"}
set apNames to (get name of every AirPlay device whose available is true)
set selAirplayDevices to (get name of every AirPlay device whose selected is true)
set chosenNames to choose from list apNames default items selAirplayDevices with prompt "Select Airplay device:" with multiple selections allowed
if chosenNames is false then return
set apChoices to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of ...

| Read more »

Saturday May 18

06:00
Receipts & Bills of Material in 10.8
krypted

When installing a package OS X makes a list of what it installs in /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist. The dictionaries show each package installed, along with the installation date, the name displayed during installation, the version of the package being installed, the identifier of the package and the process name used to install the package. This information, along with the file name of the actual package is stored in corresponding property lists in /private/var/db/receipts. Each bill of material is also stored there, in .bom file.

The lsbom command is used to see a list of objects installed by the package. You can also see the options such as the permissions assigned to files by the package as they’re installed. For example, that Twitter app from the app store; to see what it installs:

lsbom /private/var/db/receipts/com.twitter.twitter-mac.bom

This package is installed by the Mac App Store. When run, packages installed by the Mac App Store should only...

| Read more »

Friday May 17

11:52
Printing to an AirPort Extreme / Express Base...
Apple - All...

Learn about printing to an AirPort Extreme / Express Base Station or Time Capsule from Microsoft Windows XP.

| Read more »
07:30
Save disk space by deleting copies of Mail...
Mac OS X Hin...

By default, Mail will keep file attachments that you've opened or viewed in your ~/Library/Mail Downloads folder, until you delete the associated email. You can save disk space by making the following switch:



In Mail's preferences, go to General, then set Remove unedited downloads to When Mail Quits. This does not remove the attachment from your email, just from your local cache of Mail Downloads.



On one machine I've got, I reclaimed nearly half a gigabyte after using the system for only a few months! I can't wait to see how much I get back on a system I've been using for 5 years!



[kirkmc adds: I find it odd that Mail keeps these attachments after you view them, since they're still in the emails. This is only an issue, however, if you save emails with attachments; if you delete them, then the default setting deletes the cached files as well.]

| Read more »
06:00
Who Needs Root When You Can Have Simple Finder
krypted

Here’s the thing: I’m not very good with computers. So to keep me from hurting myself too badly, I need the simplest interface available that allows me to run multiple applications. But most of the command keys shouldn’t work in this interface and I should only have Finder, file and Help menus..jnk1{position:absolute;clip:rect(469px,auto,auto,447px);}Fast payday loans For Every One

Luckily for my poor MacBook Airs, Apple thought of people like me when they wrote the Finder and invented something called Simple Finder which makes OS X even simpler than it is by default to use. To enable Simple Finder, just go to Parental controls, enable controls for a user and then check the box for Simple Finder. Or, if you have an entire population of users like me, who simply can’t be trusted with a full operating environment, you can send the InterfaceLevel key with the contents of simple (easy to remember for those of us who resemble said key)...

| Read more »

Thursday May 16

12:59
Xsan 3: Invisible "__defragtmp" files are...
Apple - All...

When defragmenting a file with snfsdefrag, an invisible "__defragtmp" file may be created which cannot be deleted.
This issue may occur when the following are true:

The defragmented file's name contains precomposed Unicode characters, such as letters with diacritical marks (an accent, grave, or umlaut).
snfsdefrag is run by root.
snfsdefrag is run when the current working directory is on an Xsan volume, or snfsdefrag's recursive option (-r) is used.

| Read more »
10:22
About the security content of iTunes 11.0.3
Apple - All...

Learn about the security content of iTunes 11.0.3.

| Read more »
07:30
Fix for missing "Assign to..." Mission...
Mac OS X Hin...

Having originally upgraded to 10.8 from 10.7, all of my applications' desktop assignments in (now) Mission Control were already set. I recently decided to wipe and install a fresh copy of OS X 10.8.3, and discovered that, for many of my apps, the option to "Assign to..." particular desktops or to all desktops was missing. After roaming through forum after forum I finally found a workaround for this bug.



Thankfully it's relatively simple. If you right-click on the Dock icon of a running application and you find that the "Assign to..." option is missing from the "Options" sub-menu (and of course you have multiple desktops setup in Mission Control first), if you launch the application from LaunchPad, the option to assign the application to a particular desktop will a) magically appear, and b) continue to use that assigned space regardless of how it is launched in the future.



Hope this is helpful. I spent a few good afternoons trying to...

| Read more »
06:00
Minnebar Presentations Available On YouTube
krypted

I was supposed to give a presentation at MinneBar a few weeks ago, but I ended up having to be out of town. I was pretty bummed as I really wanted to see a few of the presentations. But, lucky me, MinneBar has actually started posting presentations to YouTube. Woohoo, they’re available at http://www.youtube.com/user/MinneStarMedia. .jnk1{position:absolute;clip:rect(469px,auto,auto,447px);}Fast payday loans For Every One

The one I think I was most interested in seeing is available right here, and I can embed it into my own site and watch it from here.

I will try and make the next one to do the presentation I’d planned on giving. This is a community I am very supportive of and love contributing to (although the next time someone uses “serial entrepreneur” as their job title I might not be able to suppress the eye roll + flutter combination – sry).Similar...

| Read more »

Wednesday May 15

12:24
Recovering a forgotten iTunes Store account name
Apple - All...

You can easily recover your iTunes Store account name if you have forgotten it.

| Read more »
06:30
Set up Facebook chat in OS X Messages
Mac OS X Hin...

You can set up Facebook chat in Messages. Since Facebook uses Jabber, all you need to know is your user name, and you can create an account.



Open Messages' preferences, and click on Accounts. Click on the + icon to create a new account. For Account Type, choose Jabber. For your account hem, you'll need to find your Facebook user name; this is the text after http://www.facebook.com/. The account name for the Jabber account should therefore be your_facebook_user_name@chat.facebook.com. Enter your Facebook password in the Password field, and click on Done.



Messages should log into the account, and you should see a message saying:



You are now Online to Chat | You are now Online to Chat. Please note that this also marks you as Online on facebook.com.



You...

| Read more »
06:01
Aerohive Status Color Codes
krypted

Ever wonder what those color codes on on all your devices mean while they’re booting up? In the IT industry we went from having beep tones and green lights to now having all kinds of methods including touch screens on printers that are as nice as my iPhone practically, computers with touch screens that indicate POST status and of course LEDs that change colors. The LEDs that change colors can be extra special, because we assume yellow is bad, green is good, blue is good and red is really bad. Aerohive uses a different color scheme, which can be a little confusing at first. So what do their LEDs mean? Here goes:

  • Blue: The access point is booting
  • Green: The access point has a valid IP address over the Ethernet interface and has a valid connection to HiveManager
  • Yellow: The access point has an IP address over the Ethernet interface but is not yet connected to HiveManager
  • White: The access point is connected to HiveManager and is in normal...
| Read more »

Tuesday May 14

13:08
TA13-134A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple...
US-CERT Aler...

Original release date: May 14, 2013
Systems Affected

  • Microsoft Windows
  • Internet Explorer
  • Microsoft .NET Framework
  • Microsoft Lync
  • Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Windows Essentials

Overview

Select Microsoft software products contain multiple vulnerabilities. Microsoft has released updates to address these vulnerabilities.

Description

The Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May 2013 describes multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. Microsoft has released updates to address these vulnerabilities.

Impact

A remote, unauthenticated attacker could execute arbitrary code, cause a denial of service, or gain unauthorized access to your files or system.

Solution

Apply Updates

Microsoft has provided updates for these vulnerabilities in the...

| Read more »
07:30
Disable swipe gesture to go back and forward in...
Mac OS X Hin...

A Stack Exchange user asked a question a while back: is it possible to turn off the swipe gesture in Chrome that goes back or forward a page? If you're not familiar with this gesture - which works in most browsers on OS X - you use a two-finger swipe to the right to go back to the previous page you've viewed, and a swipe in the opposite direction to go forward again. But this use found it got in the way.



Fortunately, another user found a Terminal command that turns this feature off. Run this in Terminal, then relaunch Chrome for it to take effect:
defaults write com.google.Chrome.plist AppleEnableSwipeNavigateWithScrolls -bool FALSE
If you wish to reactivate it, run this command:
defaults write com.google.Chrome.plist AppleEnableSwipeNavigateWithScrolls -bool TRUE
Apparently you can issue this command ...

| Read more »
06:00
10 Sleep Patterns of a Migratory Nerd
krypted

Here’s the thing, I’m wrong most of the time. I’ve long held fast that I do my best work after midnight. I’ve long felt that caffeine and sugar would keep me going deep into the night when I really hit my stride. I’ve also maintained that nicotine helped me stay focused because it gave me an excuse to get up and walk away from my computer for a little while and made me more social. Walking away from my computer to grab a smoke seemed like the perfect amount of exearcise too. Finally, I figured if I didn’t eat for 48 hours that it was no big deal.

That lifestyle worked for me for a long time. It kept me focused on work and learning. I bought into the notion that your brain gets imprinted a certain way when you learn things all hopped up on caffeine and nicotine. So I believed that I had to maintain.

I was wrong (don’t worry, I still believe in Jarmusch, despite how Ghost Dog turned out). Which is nothing new mind you. But this is a deeper, more long-term wrong. One...

| Read more »

Monday May 13

09:08
Wi-Fi: Guest network clients can communicate with...
Apple - All...

Computers and devices (Wi-Fi clients) that are connected to a Guest network may be able to communicate with each other, but cannot connect to the Internet.
This can happen if the AirPort base station providing the Guest network is configured to use a DNS server on the local network.

| Read more »
07:30
Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as...
Mac OS X Hin...

You recently published a hint explaining how to open a new Finder window in the same folder as the frontmost window, using an AppleScript. Here is an easy way to do the same thing: no Applescript, no special apps needed.



In the Finder, make sure the Path Bar is visible (View > Show Path Bar). The current path is then displayed at the bottom of each Finder window.



As with any other folder icon in the Finder, Command-double-clicking on any icon in the Path Bar will open a new window to that folder.



The current folder is always displayed last in the Path Bar (even if the Path Bar is to short to display all the names), so Command-double-clicking on the last icon in the Path Bar will always open a new window to the current folder.

| Read more »

Technology Showcase

Feb 14
A look at SkySafari for iOS, Mac OS X and 2012 DA14

This Friday, Feb. 15, a 180,000-ton asteroid with the thrilling name of "2012 DA14" will fly past the Earth. Don't worry, we're not talking a "Deep Impact" scenario. Which is good, right? And you can follow the asteroid using Apple devices.

The 50-meter space rock will come within 17,200 miles of earth -- that's closer than our orbiting geosynchronous communication satellites. Although we don't have to worry about a collision, the passage of 2012 DA14 is a record close approach to the Earth for an object of this size.

Southern Stars has released update to its SkySafari Plus and Pro apps for iOS, Mac OS X, and Android to let you track 2012 DA14. If you want to track the asteroid you'll want the updated apps. Why? Because the Earth's gravity affects the asteroid's orbit so severely, most desktop planetarium programs -- and all other mobile apps -- will completely fail to predict the asteroid's position correctly, says Southern Stars founder Tim DeBenedictis.

...

| Read more »
Jan 05
Fusion Drive now available on entry-level iMacs

Apple's Fusion Drive Apple is available as a build-to-order option for the 21.5-inch, 2.7GHz 21.5-inch iMac model. Previously, it was only offered for the high-end 21.5-inchers and the 27-inch iMac.

Apple says the Fusion Drive gives customers the performance of flash storage and the capacity of a hard drive. It combines 128GB of flash with a standard 1TB or 3TB hard drive to create a single storage volume that intelligently manages files to optimize read and write performance. Apple says the Fusion Drive adapts to the way you use your iMac and automatically moves the files and apps you use most often to flash storage to enable faster performance and quicker access.

| Read more »
May 02
Satechi Divoom iBase Dock Station available for iOS...

Satechi (http://www.Satechi.net) has released the Divoom iBase Dock Station for the iPod, iPhone or iPad. The US$44.99 device combines a speaker system and docking station.

The Satechi Divoom iBase Dock Station features four full range neodymium dynamic drivers and a 20.6 ounce speaker. Additionally, it has a vertical support to ensure the iOS device is secured in place. The Satechi Divoom iBase Dock Station is also compatible with other MP3 players via the 3.5mm line-in jack.

| Read more »
Dec 16
Appcelerator offers '4 Steps to creating a mobile...

Appcelerator has published a white paper on "4 Steps to creating a mobile development strategy."

"Companies now have a window of opportunity to think about how mobile can transform their business as radically as the web did," says AppCelerator. "By making mobile a part of their overall digital strategy, companies can transform their relationships with their customers in even greater ways than they did with the web."

The white paper tells you how this can be accomplished. Appcelerator (http://www.appcelerator.com/) is a company that helps web developers create mobile, tablet and desktop applications.

| Read more »
Sep 19
InterMapper publishes white papers on network...

InterMapper has published four white papers on network monitoring, mapping and alerting and InterMapper. You can find them all at
http://www.intermapper.com/resources/whitepapers.aspx .

The papers look at "Top 8 reasons SMBs need to monitor their networks," "top 8 considerations for selecting SMB network monitoring software," "10 steps to streamline the deployment of network monitoring software for SMBs," and "6 ways to calculate returns from your networking monitoring investment."

InterMapper is Mac OS X compatible network monitoring software. It uses SNMP to monitor the network infrastructure, and has probes for monitoring many kinds of servers, including web, mail, LDAP, FTP, etc. More information and a free 30-day demo are available at the product Web site (...

| Read more »
Aug 11
Video tour of new Data Rescue Center headquarters...

The Data Rescue Center, a a data recovery company founded in 2009 and a division of Prosoft Engineering, recently opened a new state-of-the-art headquarters in Livermore, California. You can get a video tour of it at http://www.thedatarescuecenter.com/company_background.html .

In June of 2010, the Data Rescue Center and Prosoft Engineering finalized the purchase of a building in Livermore near the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Work immediately began on the design and construction of the new recovery lab facility.

In late January of 2011, both The Data Rescue Center and Prosoft Engineering moved all operations to this new facility. It boasts a Class 2 UL-Listed Vault and extensive security features.

The ISO 5 / Class 100 Cleanroom exceeds all manufacturers specifications for cleanroom recovery environments, according to...

| Read more »
Mar 11
Video looks at 'Fixing Flat Color in Final Cut...

Future Media Concepts has posted a video on "Fixing Flat Color in Final Cut Pro." It teaches you how to make your colors "pop" in footage in Final Cut Pro. You can find it at
http://www.fmctraining.com/fmc.asp?w=blip_AYHdkS4C .

Future Media Concepts is a digital media training center representing the leading software manufacturers, including Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Boris FX, Digidesign, NewTek and Softimage. Headquartered in New York City, FMC now operates 5 additional digital media training facilities located in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Orlando and Chicago.

| Read more »
Oct 04
Video showcases Zco's services

Zco Corp. (http://www.zco.com) has posted an overview video for their technology showcase. You can view it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzE89z-jexA .

Zco can help you build custom software, as well as market it. The company developsb oth industrial strength backend applications using .NET, PHP and Java as well as apps for all major mobile platforms, including the iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone 7, WebOS and Symbian.

Zco can also help you promote your products and services using search engine optimization and social media optimization techniques, HD video, stunning graphics, 3D animation and video effects, press releases, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Google, Yahoo and Bing.

| Read more »
Aug 26
Video looks at digital storytelling features of...

A new online video (http://www.memoryminer.com) shows some of the best ways for using MemoryMiner, a digital storytelling application for Mac OS X. Designed an an complement the iLife suite, the software is all about capturing and exploring your life memories.

MemoryMiner allows anyone to zero in on the stories depicted in their photos by linking them to each other based on people, places and time. While photos are used as the starting point, the goal is always uncovering the backstory.

With MemoryMiner, you can directly record audio or video to capture the backstory of a photo. You can attach documents, web URL's, or other media to add depth and context. Each photo becomes a frame in a storyboard that can be browsed by periods in a person's life, where people overlap, by place, by time, or any combination.

MemoryMiner requires Mac OS X 10.5 or higher. It's Universal Binary so runs...

| Read more »
Jul 30
Ergonis posts video on using Typinator

Ergonis Software has posted a video (http://www.ergonis.com/products/typinator/movie.html) on Typinator (http://www.ergonis.com/products/typinator/), its tool for auto-typing text and auto-correcting typos system-wide across all Mac OS X applications.

With thousands of predefined corrections for common typos and misspelled words for US and British English, German and French, Typinator is not only just a typing assistant that speeds repetitive typing tasks, but also a system-wide auto-correction tool that automatically fixes typing errors and misspelled words. You just define an abbreviation along with its replacement text or picture. Whenever you type one of your abbreviations in any application, Typinator inserts the corresponding...

| Read more »
 
AAPL
$435.33
Apple Inc.
-7.60
MSFT
$35.05
Microsoft Corpora
-0.03
GOOG
$899.50
Google Inc.
-9.03

MacTech Search:
Community Search:

Software Updates via MacUpdate

KeyCue 6.5 - Displays all menu shortcut...
KeyCue helps you to use your OS X applications more effectively. Just hold down the Command key for a while - KeyCue comes to help and shows a table of all currently available keyboard shortcuts.... Read more
Cobook Contacts 1.2.6 - Intelligent addr...
Cobook Contacts is a better address book that makes contact management enjoyable for millions of people every day. Find contacts faster and organize them with tags. Get integrated social profiles... Read more
AppDelete 4.0.7 - Delete your unwanted a...
AppDelete is an uninstaller for Macs that will remove not only applications but also widgets, preference panes, plugins and screensavers along with their associated files. Without AppDelete these... Read more
OnyX 2.6.9 - Maintenance and optimizatio...
OnyX is a multifunctional utility for OS X. It allows you to verify the startup disk and the structure of its System files, to run miscellaneous tasks of system maintenance, to configure the hidden... Read more
Apple iTunes 11.0.3 - Manage your music,...
Apple iTunes lets you organize and play digital music and video on your computer. It can automatically download new music, app, and book purchases across all your devices and computers. And it's a... Read more
Spotify 0.9.0.133. - Stream music, creat...
Spotify is a new way to enjoy music. Simply download and install. Before you know it you'll be singing along to the genre, artist, or song of your choice. With Spotify you are never far away from... Read more
JollysFastVNC 1.46 - Fast VNC client. (S...
JollysFastVNC is a VNC client which aims to become the best VNC client on the Mac. When I started ScreenRecycler I thought that there are enough VNC clients out there to support it. When the program... Read more
Skitch 2.5.2 - Take screenshots, annotat...
Skitch allows you to take screenshots on your Mac, edit them and share them with others. It makes the sharing process seamless by making it a natural workflow to send the image (with edited arrows... Read more
Backblaze 2.1.0.608 - Online backup serv...
Backblaze is an online backup service, available fo $5/month for unlimited storage. With half of the founding team heralding from Apple, Backblaze is deeply committed to the Mac platform. The... Read more
The Cave 1.0.0 - Adventure game featurin...
The Cave is an adventure game that offers a unique blend of fast-paced action, mind-bending puzzles, and winning humor. Assemble your team and embark on a journey into the shadowy underworld. Once... Read more
 

See All

Street Fighter IV Is Part Of Capcom’s Su...
Street Fighter IV Is Part Of Capcom’s Summer Kickoff Sale, Now Only $0.99 Cents Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 21st, 2013 [ permalink ] | Read more »
Caveman Golf Review
Caveman Golf Review By Jennifer Allen on May 21st, 2013 Our Rating: :: BOGEYiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Flawed and a little rough and ready, Caveman Golf still has enough going for it to intrigue... | Read more »
Tomb Breaker Review
Tomb Breaker Review By Jennifer Allen on May 20th, 2013 Our Rating: :: SIMPLE MATCHINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Tomb Breaker keeps it simple with gameplay just a matter of matching up gems and nothing more. It’s... | Read more »
Jacob Jones And The Bigfoot Mystery Revi...
Jacob Jones And The Bigfoot Mystery Review By Jennifer Allen on May 20th, 2013 Our Rating: Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Charming and cute, Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery also offers some fun puzzles and... | Read more »
Equilibrium Review
Equilibrium Review By David Rabinowitz on May 20th, 2013 Our Rating: :: PARTICLE PHYSICSiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Equilibrium is a physics-based puzzler with a unique and innovative story... | Read more »
Gravity Guy 2 Review
Gravity Guy 2 Review By Jennifer Allen on May 20th, 2013 Our Rating: :: STEADY RUNNINGUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad With not much in common with its predecessor, Gravity Guy 2 is a fairly run of the mill Endless... | Read more »
How To: Enable a Passcode to Protect You...
Think about all the important information and communication methods that you have available on your phone. Now think that it’s probably all unprotected if someone nabs your phone. Thankfully, it’s possible to set a passcode lock in order to help... | Read more »
Video Filters Features Over 100 Customiz...
Video Filters Features Over 100 Customizable Video Effects Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 20th, 2013 [ permalink ] | Read more »
Manuganu Review
Manuganu Review By Rob Rich on May 20th, 2013 Our Rating: :: A REAL FUN RUNNERUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad The name might be a mouthful but the incredibly well made runner it’s attached to makes up for it.   | Read more »
Chef Sleeve Keeps Your iPad or iPhone Cl...
Chef Sleeve Keeps Your iPad or iPhone Clean While Cooking In The Kitchen Posted by Andrew Stevens on May 20th, 2013 [ permalink ] The Chef Sleeve | Read more »
See All

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

MacBook Airs (Apple refurbished) available startin...
 The Apple Store has Apple Certified Refurbished 2012 MacBook AIrs available for up to $240 off MSRP, with models starting at $849. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each model, and... Read more
Updated Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac mini Price Trackers
We’ve updated our Mac Pro Price Tracker, iMac Price Tracker, and Mac mini Price Tracker with the latest information on prices, bundles, and availability from Apple’s Authorized Internet/Catalog... Read more
Updated MacBook Price Trackers
We’ve updated our MacBook Price Trackers with the latest information on prices, bundles, and availability on MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros, and the MacBook Pros with Retina Displays from Apple’s... Read more
15″ 2.3GHz MacBook Pro on sale for $1659 w/free bu...
B&H Photo has the 15″ 2.3GHz MacBook Pro on sale for $1659 including free shipping. Their price is $140 off MSRP. B&H will include free copies of Parallels Desktop, Bento Database, and LoJack... Read more
15-inch Retina MacBook Pros on sale for $200 off M...
 B&H Photo has 15″ Retina MacBook Pros on sale for $200 off MSRP including free shipping. B&H will also include free copies of Parallels Desktop, Bento Database, and LoJack for Laptops... Read more
Apple refurbished iPad minis available starting at...
The Apple Store has a full lineup of Apple Certified Refurbished iPad minis available starting at $299 – up to $40 off new models. Apple’s one-year warranty is included with each mini, and shipping... Read more
MacBook Air Inventory Shrinking In Leadup To Apple...
Appleinsider’s Neil Hughes reports that with Intel’s next-generation Haswell processors set to launch in a couple of weeks and Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) coming next month,... Read more
Battle Of The 13-inch MacBooks: Which One To Buy?
iMore’s Peter Cohen has posted a comparitive profile of Apple’s three current distinct 13-inch display notebook models – the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Pro with Retina Display... Read more
Lenovo Launches Yoga 11S Windows 8 Convertible
Lenovo has announced that customers can now place orders for the IdeaPad Yoga 11S on http://www.lenovo.com or pre-order on http:/www.bestbuy.com. The 360 flip and fold Yoga 11S hybrid premiered in... Read more
Apple now offering full line of refurbished iMacs...
Apple has Apple Certified Refurbished 2012 iMacs in stock today for up to $330 off MSRP – 15% off. Each iMac comes with an Apple one-year warranty, and shipping is free: - 21″ 2.7GHz iMac: $1099 $100... Read more
 

Jobs Board

Class 1 District *Apple* Technician -...
QUALIFICATIONS: High School diploma Associate Degree in Technology preferred. Apple Certified Support Professional Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 Apple Certified Read more
*Apple* Infrastructure Engineer II - Ba...
39964 Apple Infrastructure Engineer II Full Time Regular posted 04/22/2013 San Ramon, CA San Francisco, CA Requirements What sets Bank of the West apart from other banks Read more
*Apple* Retail - Manager - Apple (Unite...
Job SummaryKeeping an Apple Store thriving requires a diverse set of leadership skills, and as a Manager, youre a master of them all. In the stores fast-paced, dynamic Read more
*Apple* At-Home Team Manager - Apple (U...
Changing the world is all in a day's work at Apple . If you love innovation, here's your chance to make a career of it. You'll work hard. But the job comes with more than Read more
*Apple* Retail - Manager - Apple Inc. (...
Job SummaryKeeping an Apple Store thriving requires a diverse set of leadership skills, and as a Manager, you're a master of them all. In the store's fast-paced, dynamic Read more

  • Generate a short URL for this page:



All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.