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/).
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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."
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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.
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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.
° ...
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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.
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The Foxconn Technology Group faces a “challenging” task in trying to meet a July deadline for cutting work hours to comply with Chinese law, according to the labor monitor appointed by Apple, its largest customer, according to "Bloomberg" (http://tinyurl.com/bfxg4kt).
On the bright side, Apple has resolved 98% of the 360 issues raised by the Washington-based Fair Labor Association, the group said in a new report. The company has improved safety conditions, including testing sprinklers and maintaining equipment, and increased membership in worker unions.
However, "the most challenging action item -- compliance with Chinese labor law regarding hours of work -- is still in process,” the group said. “The FLA will continue
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Other World Computing (OWC) says its OWC Mercury Elite Pro Qx2, a hardware RAID data storage/solution, now supports USB 3.0 performance when paired with the Newer Technology eSATA to USB adapter.
The adapter, which utilizes an available eSATA drive port, offers a plug and play connection to USB 3.0-equipped Macs or PCs for sustained data transfer rates of more than 200MB/s from the Qx2.
Through July 1, customers will receive an US$10 instant rebate from Other World Computing on the adapter ($14.99 after rebate from OWC) when purchased with any model Mercury Elite Pro Qx2. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/de5awr .
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MCE Technologies has announced what it says is the first ever internal drive for the iMac, and Mac mini that plays Blu-ray movies with the included Mac Blu-ray Player software.
The drive also reads and records to DVD and CD-recordable media like the original Apple SuperDrive it's designed to replace -- so it only works with Macs that have a built-in SuperDrive. The drive is compatible with Apple's DVD Player application for the playback of DVD movies, as well as with Finder Burning for burning DVDs and CDs at the Finder level.
The MCE Internal Blu-ray Player for iMac and Mac mini costs US$79.99 USD and includes Mac Blu-ray Player software installation instructions for the iMac and Mac mini. More info may be found at http://tinyurl.com/avysh8x .
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Kinivo has released the BTH240 Bluetooth-connected headphones. The on-ear wireless headphones provide hands-free calling via a built-in noise canceling microphone.
Kinivo’s BTH240, which boasts a foldable design, operates using an integrated rechargeable battery, which provides up to 10 hours of continuous active audio or 200 hours when on standby mode. In addition to extended battery life, it automatically pauses music when a user receives an incoming call. To recharge the BTH240, simply plug the headphones into the included micro-USB charging cable and connect to your computer or wall outlet.
Kinivo’s BTH240 headphones are available for US$29.99 on Amazon.com and Kinivo.com.
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HTML Stripper is a new Apimac application for capturing and cleaning up from HTML code tags the text of any web page. To use you just drag and drop an .html file, portion of code or, even a web address from Safari on the application's window, and the app will serve up text without formatting and code tags.
Thanks to the Strip Clipboard function, text can be copied and automatically cleaned up and be ready to be pasted into your favorite application. HTML Stripper requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher.
It costs US$15.99 for a single user license. You can purchase it, or download a demo, at the Apimac web site (www.apimac.com)
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Apple has announced that customers have downloaded over 50 billion apps from the AppleApp Store (excluding re-downloads and updates). Customers are downloading more than 800 apps per second at a rate of over two billion apps per month, the company says.
The 50 billionth app was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, which was downloaded by Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio. He received a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to commemorate this historic milestone.
"Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," says Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years."
The App Store opened in July 2008 with 500 apps. Since its introduction, Apple’s...
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Noise Industries has introduced Title Pop to plug-in platform, FxFactory. Developers Stupid Raisins and CineFlare have teamed up to create a title pack that gives editors the ability to create titles for footage.
Title Pop, designed exclusively for use in Final Cut Pro X, includes 50 customizable titles. Titles -- which come in a variety of categories including basic, continuous, energetic, glow, highlight and subtle -- can be dragged and dropped in. For editors seeking a specific look, Title Pop offers a set of parameters for fine-tuning, so users can adjust anything from text and color to tweaking how letters animate in and out.
Title Pop is now available in FxFactory for US$49. For more info go to http://tinyurl.com/agqcow7 .
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"Bloomberg" (http://tinyurl.com/bzodlrd) reports that the Pentagon risks exposing itself to hackers by opening its communications networks to Apple and Samsung smartphones and tablets, according to cybersecurity officials.
The Pentagon plans to give employees the flexibility of connecting devices such as Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones and Apple iPads to unclassified networks -- a market long dominated by BlackBerry. However, this will create more vulnerabilities to cybersecurity breaches, Pat McGarry, principal systems engineer at Ixia, a network security company, told "Bloomberg."
"It is a debacle, a disaster waiting to happen," he said. There is no technology that would make Apple and Samsung smartphones and tablets immune to new malicious software known as malware, McGarry added.
However, Mark Orndorff, a program executive officer at the Defense Information Systems Agency, told "...
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Computer shipments in Western Europe declined by 20.5% during the first quarter of 2013, with the only vendors to see shipments grow were Lenovo and Apple, according to the Gartner research group. The latter returned to the top five for the first time since 2011.
"The first quarter of 2013 brought the worst quarterly decline in Western Europe since Gartner started tracking PC shipments in this region," says Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Wide availability of Windows 8-based PCs could not boost consumer PC purchases during the quarter. Although the new Metro-style user interface suits new form factors, users wonder about its suitability for traditional PCs -- non-touchscreen desktops and notebooks."
All computer segments in Western Europe exhibited year-on-year declines in the first quarter of 2013. Mobile and desktop shipments fell by 24.6% and 13.8%, respectively. Shipments to the professional computer market declined by 17.2%, while those...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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International Data Corporation (IDC) has published the "Worldwide Gaming-Optimized Handheld, Smartphone, and Tablet Gaming 2013–2017 Forecast" (http://tinyurl.com/aoc5y6l), a \report on the current state and future direction of smartphone, tablet, and gaming-optimized handheld (GOH) hardware and software.
The forecast details the outlook for Apple, Google/Android, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and a wide range of game developers and publishers from a mobile and portable gaming perspective through 2017.
The GOH market category, typified by Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's PlayStation Vita, has recently been overshadowed by gaming-capable smartphones and tablets and this trend is likely to continue. IDC research shows, for example, that the number of paying smartphone and tablet gamers will surpass the number of paying GOH gamers worldwide in 2013 and rise at a rapid rate through 2017.
The number...
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Following Sharp’s announcement of a 262ppi display, Samsung has gone even higher-res with the announcement of a 276ppi display in the form of a 13.3-inch QHD 3200×1800 panel (via The Verge).
Apple’s current Retina displays are 220ppi in the 15-inch MacBook Pro and 227ppi in the 13-inch model.
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| Read more »Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us what the line holds, there are a large number of machines in service all getting a bit long in the tooth, relatively speaking. As production Mac Pros have been replaced with new iMacs and even the Mac mini, IT departments are looking for creative ways to repurpose some of the older machines to preserve dwindling budgets and continued expansion of needs. Regardless of generation, the Mac Pro makes an excellent server for the home or business, limited only by the dr... ...
| Read more »Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us what the line holds, there are a large number of machines in service all getting a bit long in the tooth, relatively speaking. As production Mac Pros have been replaced with new iMacs and even the Mac mini, IT departments are looking for creative ways to repurpose som ...... ...
| Read more »Addresses a storage firmware issue that could cause a system to fail to start back up from a crash. (Free, 1.69 MB)
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| Read more »Adds infinite scrolling through your chat history, plus capability to jump to a specific time period. (Free, 39.6 MB)
Read the full article at TidBITS, the oldest continuously published technology publication on the Internet. To get a full-text RSS feed, help support our work and become a TidBITS member! Members also enjoy an ad-free version of our Web site, email delivery of individual articles, the ability to make long comments with live links, and discounts on Take Control orders and other Apple-related products.
| Read more »Aurich Lawson
Thirty-party apps didn't exist when the iPhone first launched in 2007. At that time Apple offered its own set of built-in iOS apps and users were relegated to Web apps if they wanted tools made by someone else. Luckily things have changed since; we now have hundreds of thousands of apps to choose from for our iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. Many of them even offer similar or better functionality than the default apps from Apple.
Users still can't delete Apple's default apps from iOS devices (grumble grumble…) but there are plenty of useful alternatives out there for people hoping to use something other than the default. Readers are always asking about which apps the Ars staff uses when they choose to ditch the Apple's camera, mapping, music, or other apps. I put out a call to our editors and writers to find out just what does the Ars staff use for the major app categories (and why)? Here's what we came up with:
Maps
...
AT&T shared a little bit of what goes into a portable network cells they put up at special events where bandwidth needs will be extraordinary. Remember, AT&T’s network is about 80% iPhones so this is important stuff. The setup above was what they used to cover a recent Los Angeles festival (read: Coachella).
This isn’t a test network; AT&T’s been honing their skills since they got caught with their pants down at SXSW in 2010 (back when AT&T was the only US iPhone carrier). Since then, with their mobile response team, they’ve been able to keep their network up and running at huge events with the addition of these ‘kits’ above.
The network performance stats for this setup – some of which are staggering:
Once more we come to that point in the week where we practice a time-honored tradition, the Sunday Talkcast.
Tonight's show is a special one, as we are going to be joined by The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Jim Dalrymple, of Loop Insight. We'll be talking about The Magazine, among other things. I have heard tell The Beard may be joining us as well, so if you join us, do be on your best behavior. When The Beard is frightened, it doesn't end well.
As usual, the Kelly Show means Aftershow, so you should come by for that as well.
Since it's really all about you, the community, do see if you can join us, won't you? To participate live, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded...
| Read more »puddingebola writes with this excerpt from a Bloomberg report: "The Pentagon cleared Apple Inc. (AAPL) devices for use on its networks, setting the stage for the maker of iPhones and iPads to compete with Samsung Electronics Co. and BlackBerry for military sales. The Defense Department said in a statement [Friday] that it has approved the use of Cupertino, California-based Apple's products running a version of the iOS 6 mobile platform. The decision eventually may spur a three-way fight for a market long dominated by Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry.'" Also, Apple devices are best for uploading viruses to alien craft.
| Read more »According to numerous sources, Mayer determined quickly in her research that the fast-growing content site, turbocharged by mountains of user-generated content, was just the kind of property that Yahoo needed to make it both “cool” and relevant to new audiences.
I agree with that strategy.
| Read more »We have already published our full review of the Galaxy S4 for the US, which ships with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor. In some international markets, the Galaxy S4 ships with Samsung's own Exynos 5 Octa, an eight-core chip that uses ARM's big.LITTLE architecture. We have been using one for the past week, putting it through its paces, although our focus here is to see whether US customers are missing out on any performance.... ...
| Read more »This week's Google I/O saw no announcements of any new versions of the company's mobile operating system, Android, and that may be because the team that is building the system is working to address the platform's biggest problem: fragmentation. ...
| Read more »Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have discovered that the US fire ant population is being pushed out by "tawny crazy ants," with an affinity to the interior of electronic devices. The ants are capable of nesting in nearly any container, and as they travel, they disrupt other ant populations.... ...
| Read more »Given that Apple now sits on well over $144.7 billion in liquid resources, there's lots of discussion about how the company could or should be spending it. What Apple is already doing with its cash is actually more interesting. ...
| Read more »There will come a time when you would like to simply transfer a file from one iOS device to another or to a Mac; it's inevitable. When the time arises, you will discover as most of us already have that the process is not as straightforward as one would think, considering how powerful these devices are. The most common methods used up to this point have been emailing oneself, cloud services like iCloud or Dropbox, file sync with the USB cable and iTunes or pleading with the always capricious Camera Connection Kit.
Thankfully the developers at TwoManShow have developed a wonderful app to take the pain out of cross device file transfers with their ...
| Read more »Seth and Mark were traveling back from Google I/O this week, but Scott and Zac sat down to discuss what Google’s announcements mean for Apple and next month’s WWDC.
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| Read more »What can be more comfortable to a cat than a pillow that blows warm air out of an optical media slot and vibrates ever so gently? That appears to be why Biru (Indonesian for Blue) loves to rest on a Mac mini owned by reader Peter Stagg and his wife.
Peter says, "Biru is my wife's British Short-haired and constant companion, especially when she is working in her study or on her laptop. He has claimed the lives of two laptops so far and is working on the Mac mini, very slowly. When he's not enjoying the warm air expelled from the optical media slot he lies across the front of the keyboard and doubles as a wrist support." Biru also seems to be keeping a Logitech headset nice and warm for his owners!
So there you have it! A cat who not only forces equipment upgrades from his owners, but who is also a working Mac accessory! If you've got a Caturday nominee to share, let us know via our...
| Read more »From 9to5Toys.com:
9to5Toys scours the net each day to bring our US readers the best deals in consumer electronics. Below are the absolute hottest deals going on right now. Most of these promotions are only available for a limited time, so be sure to lock in these savings if you see something you like. Check back often as we are constantly posting new deals.
Also bookmark 9to5Toys.com/Daily-deals for 35+ of the top daily deals across most of the biggest shopping sites in the US including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and many more.
For the first time ever, Gameloft is offering two of its top-rated...
| Read more »Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 handset is on track to become the company’s “bestselling” smartphone. As long as you define “bestselling” as “bestselling to carriers.”
Samsung Electronics co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun said at an industry forum in Seoul this week that S4 shipments will top 10 million in a few days. This, less than a month after the device’s debut in some 60 countries.
“We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week,” Shin said, according to the Korea Times. “It is selling much faster than the previous model S3.”
Great news for Samsung, but news that comes with an important caveat: The company here isn’t talking about retail sales to consumers, but sales to carriers. Reached for comment, Samsung confirmed to AllThingsD that Shin was indeed referring to shipments...
| Read more »
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 »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 »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 »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 »As noted by AppleInsider, MacBook Air supplies are beginning to dry up as Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference approaches.
Currently, the 13.3-inch 256GB 1.8Ghz MacBook Air is out of stock at Amazon.com, with a listed one to two month waiting period. While the low end 13.3-inch MacBook Air is in stock, the 11.6-inch MacBook Air is in short supply. Amazon lists an inventory of just ten 1.7Ghz 128GB 11.6-inch MacBook Airs and just one lower end 64GB 11.6-inch MacBook Air available through a third party.
Several other authorized Apple resellers, such as...
| Read more »Last week, we noted that Apple was still struggling to convince the major music labels to sign on to its planned streaming service, informally dubbed "iRadio", with Sony and Warner reportedly holding out even after market leader Universal had agreed to Apple's revised terms.
In a new article highlighting how Google was able to announce its own music service ahead of Apple, The Verge notes that Apple's desire to provide a hybrid listener experience has meant more work at the negotiating table.For starters, Google chose to offer a standard subscription music service very similar to those built by Spotify and Rdio, and that meant the terms...
| Read more »Following a report from earlier this month indicating that the U.S. Department of Defense was preparing to approve Apple devices running iOS 6 for use on military networks, Bloomberg now reports that the department has officially issued the authorization, opening the door for greater use of Apple's products.The Defense Department said in a statement today that it has approved the use of Cupertino, California-based Apple’s products running a version of the iOS 6 mobile platform.
The decision eventually may spur a three-way fight for a market long dominated by Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry. The Pentagon on May 2 approved Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung’s devices, as well as BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets....
| Read more »Corning yesterday announced (via Engadget) the launch of its latest glass substrate for LCD and OLED displays, Lotus XT Glass. While Corning is famous for its Gorilla Glass used by Apple and other device manufacturers to provide durable covers for their displays, substrate glass like Lotus Glass is used within the displays themselves to support the transistors and other components necessary for the displays to function.
The Corning Lotus Glass platform enables organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and liquid crystal displays (LCD) that use either low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) or oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) backplanes. The result is an energy-efficient, immersive display device that features high...
| Read more »In November we reported that AU Optronics was having problems ramping up to mass production of the 7.9 inch display panels used in Apple's iPad mini. The company was only producing about halve of their production target. Today we learn that AU Optronics is once again unable to keep up with Apple's orders.
| Read more »The CW has struck a deal that will bring the network's content to the Apple TV, reports Deadline. At the company's annual Upfront Presentation in New York today, CW president Mark Pedowitz announced that the CW's TV Now applications, which are currently available on Xbox 360 and Windows 8, will be coming to the Apple TV as well.
"This year we're reaching more viewers on more platforms," said Pedowitz, speaking of the deal. "We are reaching our audience everywhere they are, and we want you to be with us everywhere we go," he went on to say to advertisers at the event.
The CW told MacRumors that the app will function similarly to the company's Xbox and mobile apps and confirmed that it will...
| Read more »In his interview with Politico earlier today, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared some additional details about the new Mac model that will be manufactured in the United States when it is announced later this year.
Cook said that not only will the machine be assembled in the U.S., many of the components will be sourced from suppliers in the country as well.
And Cook is also promoting a $100 million investment in domestic manufacturing, where the company will begin producing a new version of a current Mac product later this year.
"We're going very deep in this project," Cook said, noting that not only will the final product be manufactured in the U.S., but so will many of its components. Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky are among the states he mentioned as having parts and assembly located.
Cook...
Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a break from his predecessor, is giving a number of interviews to Washington press outlets ahead of his appearance in front of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation next week.
Washington newspaper Politico spoke to Cook about Apple's offshore cash pile -- which the company has thus far refused to repatriate to the United States because of the significant tax burden that would result -- and Apple's political activities.
"We don't have a large presence in Washington, as you probably know, but we care deeply about public policy and believe creative policy can be a huge catalyst for a better society and a stronger economy,"...
New Mac spyware was discovered earlier this week on a computer at the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual human rights conference. Located by computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, the malware, which has been deemed OSX/KitM.A, is currently being investigated by anti-virus company F-Secure, reports CNET.
The malware is a backdoor application called "macs.app," which launches automatically upon login and captures screenshots that it then sends to a MacApp folder in the user's home directory. Two command-and-control servers, located at securitytable.org and docsforum.info, are associated with the malware, but one does not function and the other gives a "public access forbidden" message.
...
| Read more »On May 16, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals their ongoing work with their future "Shopping App." Apple first revealed an extensive patent filing for NFC as it related to "Shopping" back in 2010 as a companion app to their future iWallet. Just like Apple's Passbook keeps gift cards, coupons, tickets and passes into an organized app, Apple's iWallet is likely to contain another round of things that relate to their financial app and the "Shopping" feature is just one. Last week's update to the Shopping app focused on methods of setting payment option preferences and more. Today's patent application adds at least five major aspects to the "Shopping" apps patent claims. The base of the patent doesn't change much if any. It's all about securing key aspects of the invention that Apple wants to protect, just in case they have to go court over it in the future.
| Read more »Apple has released an update to its iTunes music and media application, bringing it to version 11.0.3.
The update updates the compact MiniPlayer, adding album artwork and a progress bar, as well as better support for multi-disc albums and large iTunes libraries.
This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:
- New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.
- Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.
- Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.
This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.The update weighs in at 187.50MB on the Mac, and is available through the Mac App...
| Read more »On May 16, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals an all-new touch sensor panel design for larger displays. Today's touch sensor panels are designed like a checkerboard taking on a matrix of drive and sense lines arranged in rows and columns in horizontal and vertical directions. That may be fine for smaller touch displays but as the touch displays become larger such as those for a future MacBook or even an iMac, the current design becomes a drag ...
| Read more »BGR shares several new relatively high-resolution photos of parts claimed to be from the iPhone 5S. These parts have been leaking to repair firms over the past several months, and a number of photos have already been seen, but the new photos do represent the highest-quality look at these parts so far.
Vibrator/audio control flex cable for iPhone 5S
Unfortunately, the photos reveal little about Apple's plans for the iPhone 5S, as they are minor parts generally seeing relatively small changes compared to their corresponding iPhone 5 parts.The parts include the loud-speaker bracket, ear speaker bracket, vibrating motor assembly, Wi-Fi flex cable ribbon and SIM card tray from Apple’s upcoming seventh-generation iPhone.Part leaks claimed to be from the iPhone 5S began in January...
Following up on its April report breaking down mobile phone shipments by manufacturer for the first quarter of 2013, research firm IDC today issued a new report looking at shipments from an operating system perspective. The report unsurprisingly shows that Android and iOS continue to dominate the smartphone market with over 92% of shipments during the quarter, with Android's broad availability driving it to represent 75% of all shipments.Apple iOS marked its largest ever first quarter volume on the strength of its iPhone shipment volumes, yet the operating system posted a year-over-year decline in market share and lower year-over-year shipment growth than the overall market. Although demand remains strong worldwide, the iOS experience has remained largely the same since...
| Read more »Apple's San Francisco flagship retail store has been a particularly high-profile location for the company since it opened nine years ago, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Apple has submitted plans to move the store to a new location three blocks away. The new location at Stockton and Post streets will be directly adjacent to Union Square, the focal point of San Francisco's high-end shopping district.Supervisor David Chiu said he hoped the new silver box-shaped computer store and customer service center would “turbo-charge” the Union Square area, which has long been home to many of the city’s high-end retailers.
The new outlet will occupy the space at Stockton and Post streets formerly occupied by Levi’s and be about 45 percent larger than the existing space, though it will include all the same features....
| Read more »On May 16, 2013, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a next generation lighting system for iDevices. The new system is designed to provide superior lighting to your photos day or night in a unique manner. Apple's patent also describes a new remote light source accessory while strongly hinting that a standalone camera is still a future option of theirs. With Samsung's Galaxy Zoom or the like on the horizon, a standalone or new kind of hybrid iDevice camera or advanced camera accessory isn't out of the question for the future.
| Read more »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 »Learn about printing to an AirPort Extreme / Express Base Station or Time Capsule from Microsoft Windows XP.
| Read more »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.]
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 »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.
Learn about the security content of iTunes 11.0.3.
| Read more »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...
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 »You can easily recover your iTunes Store account name if you have forgotten it.
| Read more »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...
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:
Original release date: May 14, 2013
Systems Affected
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 »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 ...
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 »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.
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.
“My computer sometimes just runs slow,” “the fan on my laptop won’t turn off sometimes,” and “my network connection keeps dropping.” These are amongst the most annoying off problems to solve for our users because they are intermittent. And to exacerbate things, many of these users have these problems at home or at remote locations, making it difficult for systems administrators to see them..uvk6{position:absolute;clip:rect(484px,auto,auto,498px);}easy payday loans and secure !
There is something I use in these cases, though, that has helped isolate these problems from time to time. Simply tell users to Control-Option-Command-Shift-Period when they have these problems. Doing so will run the sysdiagnose command and then open a Finder window with the output of the command. Sysdiagnose takes a...
| Read more »Apple has pushed some changes to XProtect. Rich Trouton has the details over on his blog.
About Nate Walck
Nate is a Macintosh Systems Engineer at Tamman Technologies, Inc in Philadelphia, PA. He is runs afp548.com along with Sam Keeley and is one of the founding members of the ##osx-server IRC channel on freenode.net. He loves being involved in the Mac Admin community and using Open Source projects whenever possible, especially Munki, The Luggage and Puppet.
| Read more »Some iOS and/or OS X deployments require us to create a boatload of Apple IDs. This could be to redeem VPP codes, to do iOS backups, to configure Messages, now giving the ability for OS X Server users to password reset for themselves, etc. I have sat and manually created Apple IDs for a number of clients. I’ve created dozens at a single sitting and there are some serious annoyances and challenges with doing so manually. For example, you’re gonna’ fat finger something. If you type 10 things in for 50 accounts then it’s hard to imagine you’re not gonna’ mess something up in one of those 500 fields. It’s also time consuming and well, just annoying.
.uvk6{position:absolute;clip:rect(484px,auto,auto,498px);}easy payday loans and secure !
Then, along came a script. That script allowed us to create loads of IDs on...
| Read more »I just finished reading Instant Apple iBooks, by Zeeshan Chawdhary. As with mine and TJ’s Instant Apple Configurator book, it’s a nice, quick read. It has very specific recipes for getting your iBook written quickly. The thing I like about this book is that it allowed me to focus on my content rather than thinking so much about how to technically put the words, images and other elements I wanted where I wanted them. I also have to say that while iBooks is pretty easy, using a book like this will get you up to speed much quicker than just knocking around the system hoping to find that one button that allows you to insert a video at...
| Read more »Some third-party Wi-Fi devices may not see 5GHz Wi-Fi networks provided by AirPort base stations.
| Read more »A user at Stack Exchange asked an interesting question recently : how can you open a new Finder window in the same folder as the frontmost window? When you open a new Finder window (Command-N in the Finder), it opens to the folder you've set in the Finder's General preferences. There may be some situations when you want to duplicate the current window, such as when you're moving files around among sub-folders in a specific folder.
Another reader, Lauri Ranta, posted a simple AppleScript, that you can use together with a keyboard shortcut, to do just this. When you run the script, it creates a new window at the same location as the frontmost window. Here's the script:
tell application "Finder"
try
target of...
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 »Learn about printing to an AirPort Extreme / Express Base Station or Time Capsule from Microsoft Windows XP.
| Read more »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.]
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 »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.
Learn about the security content of iTunes 11.0.3.
| Read more »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...
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 »You can easily recover your iTunes Store account name if you have forgotten it.
| Read more »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...
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:
Original release date: May 14, 2013
Systems Affected
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 »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 ...
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 »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.
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.
“My computer sometimes just runs slow,” “the fan on my laptop won’t turn off sometimes,” and “my network connection keeps dropping.” These are amongst the most annoying off problems to solve for our users because they are intermittent. And to exacerbate things, many of these users have these problems at home or at remote locations, making it difficult for systems administrators to see them..uvk6{position:absolute;clip:rect(484px,auto,auto,498px);}easy payday loans and secure !
There is something I use in these cases, though, that has helped isolate these problems from time to time. Simply tell users to Control-Option-Command-Shift-Period when they have these problems. Doing so will run the sysdiagnose command and then open a Finder window with the output of the command. Sysdiagnose takes a...
| Read more »Apple has pushed some changes to XProtect. Rich Trouton has the details over on his blog.
About Nate Walck
Nate is a Macintosh Systems Engineer at Tamman Technologies, Inc in Philadelphia, PA. He is runs afp548.com along with Sam Keeley and is one of the founding members of the ##osx-server IRC channel on freenode.net. He loves being involved in the Mac Admin community and using Open Source projects whenever possible, especially Munki, The Luggage and Puppet.
| Read more »Some iOS and/or OS X deployments require us to create a boatload of Apple IDs. This could be to redeem VPP codes, to do iOS backups, to configure Messages, now giving the ability for OS X Server users to password reset for themselves, etc. I have sat and manually created Apple IDs for a number of clients. I’ve created dozens at a single sitting and there are some serious annoyances and challenges with doing so manually. For example, you’re gonna’ fat finger something. If you type 10 things in for 50 accounts then it’s hard to imagine you’re not gonna’ mess something up in one of those 500 fields. It’s also time consuming and well, just annoying.
.uvk6{position:absolute;clip:rect(484px,auto,auto,498px);}easy payday loans and secure !
Then, along came a script. That script allowed us to create loads of IDs on...
| Read more »I just finished reading Instant Apple iBooks, by Zeeshan Chawdhary. As with mine and TJ’s Instant Apple Configurator book, it’s a nice, quick read. It has very specific recipes for getting your iBook written quickly. The thing I like about this book is that it allowed me to focus on my content rather than thinking so much about how to technically put the words, images and other elements I wanted where I wanted them. I also have to say that while iBooks is pretty easy, using a book like this will get you up to speed much quicker than just knocking around the system hoping to find that one button that allows you to insert a video at...
| Read more »Some third-party Wi-Fi devices may not see 5GHz Wi-Fi networks provided by AirPort base stations.
| Read more »A user at Stack Exchange asked an interesting question recently : how can you open a new Finder window in the same folder as the frontmost window? When you open a new Finder window (Command-N in the Finder), it opens to the folder you've set in the Finder's General preferences. There may be some situations when you want to duplicate the current window, such as when you're moving files around among sub-folders in a specific folder.
Another reader, Lauri Ranta, posted a simple AppleScript, that you can use together with a keyboard shortcut, to do just this. When you run the script, it creates a new window at the same location as the frontmost window. Here's the script:
tell application "Finder"
try
target of...
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.
...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 (...
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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...
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