Iphone Updates

Filed under: Audio, Software

Call me a curmudgeon if you must, but I am wary of any app that replicates a physical object with its UI. Isn’t a large part of the power of computing come from the fact that programmers can transcend the limitations of the real world and offer up better ways of doing things?

In this frame of mind I started looking at TapeDeck, a new $25 Leopard only recording app from SuperMegaUltraGroovy and Toastycode. As the name suggests it looks like a cassette recorder of old, but it does offer up some improvements. Each recording is saved on a new ‘tape’ automatically, so you never have to record over a previous file (TapeDeck records audio in the AAC format, so the files are small, but you can make them even smaller by lowering the recording quality). It also allows you to annotate your tapes and then search your recording library using that information, and you can send your audio to iTunes if you prefer to organize your files that way.

The real question is: does the UI help or hinder TapeDeck? I’ll have to spend more time using TapeDeck to fairly answer that, but at first blush this app is great fun to use (especially if you remember using tape recorders like these).

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Filed under: Odds and ends, .Mac

A clever Mac user helped police recover a stolen laptop using Back to My Mac’s screen-sharing feature.

After her apartment was burglarized, the victim received a call from a friend while she was at work (conveniently enough, at the Apple Store in Westchester, NY). The friend noticed her stolen computer was online. The victim then quickly used another Mac to connect to the stolen laptop.

The article doesn’t mention the technical details, but I reckon she activated screen sharing, and started Photo Booth (or another app that activates the laptop’s built-in iSight camera). After a while, the perps showed up, and the victim’s roommate recognized one of them as an acquaintance who had attended a party at their apartment some weeks before.

Armed with names and photos of the alleged thieves, police quickly arrested two men, who were in possession of most of the property stolen in the burglary.

If that isn’t worth her year’s subscription to .Mac, I don’t know what is.

(Update: The New York Times has a story with some more details. She used Photo Booth, too. Who called it, baby?)

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Filed under: iPhone

While the UK has been reporting a run on current-model iPhones recently, Gizmodo says that the shortage has reached across the pond to New York City. According to an anonymous staffer at the West 14th street Apple Store, “it’s been out of stock all week.” And to think, you were only worried about rice and flour.

If you check out the picture on Gizmodo, you’ll see a line of about 30 people who are waiting for an iPhone at the West 14th street store. These people will probably be very upset in a month or two.

[Via Cult of Mac]

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Filed under: Odds and ends, .Mac

A clever Mac user helped police recover a stolen laptop using Back to My Mac’s screen-sharing feature.

After her apartment was burglarized, the victim received a call from a friend while she was at work (conveniently enough, at the Apple Store in Westchester, NY). The friend noticed her stolen computer was online. The victim then quickly used another Mac to connect to the stolen laptop.

The article doesn’t mention the technical details, but I reckon she activated screen sharing, and started Photo Booth (or another app that activates the laptop’s built-in iSight camera). After a while, the perps showed up, and the victim’s roommate recognized one of them as an acquaintance who had attended a party at their apartment some weeks before.

Armed with names and photos of the alleged thieves, police quickly arrested two men, who were in possession of most of the property stolen in the burglary.

If that isn’t worth her year’s subscription to .Mac, I don’t know what is.

(Update: The New York Times has a story with some more details. She used Photo Booth, too. Who called it, baby?)

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Recently, a rumor was circulating that we would see the iPhone pre-WWDC, and that in it’s place at WWDC, we would be seeing a new, mystery device. The common consensus, is, and has been for quite some time now, that we would be seeing the 3G iPhone at WWDC. Furthermore, the common consensus is there is no mystery device.

It begs the question, what is this mystery device? Well, it is speculated that it could be the long awaited tablet Mac that has been making its way around the rumor mill for quite some time now. Not much is known about this device, but there are a few bits of rumored specifications floating around. These include a 720×480 multi touch screen, and will be about 50% larger than the iPhone.

It seems, that it is entirely possible that Apple will not make a bug deal out of the 3G iPhone launch. To us, it is a big deal, but to most it is just a product update. It happens all the time, phones get upgraded, that is just how it works. So is Apple going to just be chill about the 3G iPhone, and give us an exciting new device? We will know soon enough. iTablet, anyone?

[Via MacRumors]

This week started off slow as far as iPhone news, but by the end of the week, things had picked up considerably. A very interesting piece of information was found in the Network.plist file of the latest beta of iPhone firmware 2.0. The option to toggle 3G on and off. It is suggested that the preference will not show up on EDGE only devices, and that is what we would figure.

The ongoing flip flopping of the AT&T free WiFi continues. This is the second time the free WiFi has been pulled. AT&T is saying that the listing on their website showing the WiFi access was a human error. This is the 4th human error then apparently. When will the craziness end?

There is some serious iPhone shortages going around the last few days. There are no iPhones left in the U.K. or the online Apple store. The shortage is rumored to be Apple preparing for the 3G iPhone by clearing the shelves of the current stock.

Pictures of what is rumored to be the 3G iPhone surfaced on a phone forum based in China. In th photos, the device is glossy white, as opposed to the rumored glossy black. The device fits the description of the rumored dimensions. It is larger in the middle than at the sides, and the bottom is redesigned to fit the rumored dimensions.

The 5th beta of the iPhone SDK was released this week.  It was not immediately known what improvements there were, but we have a small list now. Some of the new features that were found include the option for push email. It is the smallest SDK yet, weighing in at only 1.08GB. There were some minor changes to certain libraries as well.

We round out the week in review with the news of the Installer application getting an update. The update brings application search to Installer. Although as of now the search function needs a little improvement, it is a good idea and is very useful.

Filed under: Audio, Multimedia, Software, Universal Binary

Back in the day before Ableton Live and Reason and all the other sequencer apps out there, desktop electronic producers made do with trackers: apps which allowed the budding Moby or Paul Oakenfold to sequence samples. They were basically software equivalents of legendary hardware sample sequencers like the Akai MPC. These usually had all of the usability of a 1957 Trabant and none of the good looks.

Renoise 1.9.1 sequences like an old-school tracker, but it’s got loads more features: plugin and MIDI instruments, effects chains, a halfway decent mixer, and even internal sample editing. Everything a growing music geek needs to make bleep-bleep music (and maybe more). It’s available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS 10.3.9+ as a Universal Binary.

At 49.99 euros (US$75.80 at today’s exchange rate) for a license, Renoise is a helluva lot cheaper than alternatives like Live or Reason, and the ability to use a single license for versions running on multiple platforms is nice. The only drawback is that the interface appears a little complex for users unfamiliar with the conventions of sample trackers. Also, the demo version times out and doesn’t allow rendering of your tracks out to .wav format.

I still have nightmares about using FastTracker on my old Pentium II back in the late ’90s, so I haven’t tried this one myself. If you have, drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you think.

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Filed under: iPod Family, Internet, iPhone

If you are a Web 2.0 fanatic (which, come on, who isn’t these days?) then you probably know about Muxtape. For those of you who aren’t religiously reading the latest Web application news at DownloadSquad, Muxtape is basically a way to share your personalized mp3 mixtape. Not only can you subscribe to the tape’s RSS via iTunes, but it turns out that you can also listen to Muxtapes on your iPhone!

Just navigate over to the Muxtape page of your choosing and select a song. Mobile Safari will then load the file and begin to play it like normal mp3 audio. How cool is that?

Thanks for the info, Craig!

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Filed under: Software

I’ll admit that when I first heard of the new utility from Elgebar Studios, Bokeh, my first thought was of Kenan Thompson’s SNL exclamation (”Bokay?”) and not the Japanese photography term (the control of out-of-focus areas) that presumably inspired the tool’s name. Bokeh is a $17 utility from one of the guys behind iPod-music-sharing conduit Misu, and it’s intended to do one thing: freeze your applications. No, really, it’s a good thing.

Bokeh allows you to put applications into suspended animation and free up additional processing power for your crunchiest tasks (3D rendering, Photoshop filters, etc.) when you need it most. You can select a single app for focus, or suspend applications one at a time. It’s not the sort of thing everyone would need but in a production environment where time is money, it might be worth the cash. You can download a Bokeh demo directly from the site.

Update: Ollie from Elgebar sent a quick note to clarify the benefits of Bokeh: When you select one app to focus on, Bokeh actually blurs the background and helps you isolate the task at hand. It’s also highly scriptable, so you could include an automatic ‘freezeout’ before starting a rendering pass or other CPU-intensive task.

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iPhone fans in the U.K. are not the only ones that are experiencing a severe lack of iPhone stock. It is starting to affect people all over now, with stores in New York, and the online Apple store, also reporting being out of stock. This image is the status over at the Apple Store online. It is not known when, or if, the iPhone is going to be back in stock.

As you are no doubt aware, the rumor for Apple allowing the shelves to clear of the current iPhone, could be to allow the upcoming 3G iteration to have all the room it needs. This makes sense, as then carriers and the Apple store will have the newest iPhone to sell, and that one only. The rumored announcement date for the 3G iPhone is at WWDC, with the actual launch rumored to be sometime near the end of June.

WWDC is still about a month away though, so this seems like it is pretty early. Perhaps Apple did not intend for the stock to run out this quickly? Apple has given no word on what is going on with these shortages, and most likely only they know. Apple could also be attempting to keep the peace with customers. If they buy an iPhone now, and the new one comes out, they are not going to be happy. Apple has already made them mad once, with the price cuts. iPhone early adopters were angered to the point that Apple had to provide a $100 gift card to all of them. It seems Apple would not care for a repeat performance.

[Via Gizmodo]

Ok, lets all just wait a minute before we get too into this one. There are a few sources saying this is all, and it almost completely unconfirmed. This image is what the preference would look like on the screen. It is claimed, that this information was located in the Network.plist file, that controls and saves preferences for the network settings on the iPhone.

Though it seems wild, the information could just turn out to be true. This dump of Network.plist clearly shows references to 3G. It is said that the preference will not show up on EDGE iPhones, but will in the 3G enabled iPhone. It says if by mistake this preference shows up on a EDGE only iPhone, the device will crash.

Note that this is not fake, it is in the beta 5 .ipsw, but will normally not show up on an EDGE iPhone. Turning 3G on will just crash the phone if you use an EDGE phone. If you do not believe me, then decrypt the beta5 rootfs dmg, and see for yourself in /Applications/Preferences.app/Network.plist

[Via iPhone Alley]

AT&T have finally spoken up on the puzzle of their on-again, off-again inclusive WiFi offer.  According to spokesperson Fletcher Cook, the posting of the offer on AT&T’s site was “a human error.”  However, it apparently echoes the carrier’s long-time intention to offer free WiFi to iPhone and other WiFi-equipped devices.

“Our Wi-Fi network is a great way of differentiating the AT&T network and giving customers another reason to choose us over a competitor” Fletcher Cook, AT&T

However Cook would not confirm when the offer would be officially unveiled, and interviewer Saul Hansell of the NYT didn’t push him on why, if the first time was a mistake, it was then added again before being rapidly pulled.  The consensus at the time was that AT&T were having problems limiting access solely to the iPhone.  Many users discovered that they could, by changing their browser’s UserAgent string and entering an authentic iPhone number, get free WiFi without being iPhone owners.

After iPhone shortages in the UK, it’s now the turn of the US to experience supply problems.  According to the online Apple store, both the 8GB and 16GB models are “Currently Unavailable”.  There’s no indication of whether this is merely a case of stock mis-management or a sign that a new iPhone is fast approaching.

Current expectations for the 3G iPhone were that it would launch in at least a month’s time.  However Apple usually manages their stock well so that end-of-line products are available pretty much up to the arrival of the new model.  And, unlike in the UK, there’s been no dramatic price-cut to spur on sales.

Apple, obviously, aren’t saying anything right now.  There’s every chance that AT&T stores and physical Apple stores still have stock, so if you particularly want a first-gen iPhone you’ll likely be able to get one.  However personally I’d be waiting for the 3G model, which could be closer than we think.

[via Engadget]

The day has finally come, a racing game that utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer. Raging Thunder is available now for download via Installer, and while it is in it’s early stages, the game is looking very promising. Not only does it use the accelerometer to control the game, but there are several methods of play available as well.

For whatever reason, you can not play the game with the iPhone tilted horizontally. It is not as if it is impossible to play if it has to be vertical, it just seems that it would be much easier if you could tilt the iPhone, and play while it is on its side. The controls are very sensitive, it does not take much of a tilt to slam your car into the side rail. It also appears that there is no way to control the amount of gas, at least that I could see from the video.

The game is absolutely packed with bugs. Just during the short video demo, there were multiple freezes. Also, the screen lost responsiveness at least twice. Though there are some issues and annoyances to take care of, this game looks like quite some fun, and hopefully is prepared for a more complete release soon.

[Via TUAW]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Rumors, Odds and ends, Apple, Mac mini

Peter Cohen over at Macworld continues his sideline analysis of Apple’s gaming chances with a post about how the brand new faster iMacs are indeed faster, but still not fast enough for gamers. And to a certain extent, he’s right — gaming on the Mac is like that old beat-up, “someday I’ll fix it up” convertible your father’s had in the garage covered with a tarp since you were a kid. Getting it out and putting a new engine in it might help it run better, but it’s still not going to turn it into a car that anyone wants to drive around.

But (and we talked about this extensively on the Talkcast a few weeks ago with Brian Akaka from Freeverse) it’s a step. A faster video card, even if it isn’t blazing, will run games better than before, and it’ll do a little to bring not only gaming customers but developers back to the Mac. Cohen is right — that old convertible needs an actual mechanic to take a look at it, and it needs the seats to be reupholstered, and sooner or later it’s going to need a new can of paint (not that, like your Dad’s actual convertible, these things aren’t ever going to happen — we continue to hear rumblings that Apple is aiming for gamers).

But something is something — the very fact that Apple is offering faster video cards is a sign that they’re interested. And, other than simple profiles of games on their website and cameos by game execs at keynotes, that’s more than we’ve had in a while.

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Filed under: Audio, iPod Family, Multimedia, iPhone

Peter Kirn over at Create Digital Music has posted a great round-up of all the tools people have put together to make music with the iPod Touch and iPhone.

The post touches on some of the more technical aspects of music app development on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and there’s a great list of links to cool apps you can download and mess around with.

Music apps are still in their infancy on the iPhone, but hopefully, as the SDK gets out there to more developers, we’ll begin to see more robust and feature-heavy apps.

Me? I want to see Ableton Live on the iPhone.

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The pictures and rumors just refuse to stop pouring in about the highly anticipated 3G iPhone. Here are the latest round of them, which originated on a Chinese phone forum. The pictures of the device are in glossy white, which is the opposite of the rumors we have heard, which state the the 3G iPhone should be coming in a glossy black flavor.

Some of the first things you will notice about these photographs are that they are a perfect match to the rumored device dimensions and specifications leaked recently. The changes to the bottom, are perhaps the most telling. Also, the device is clearly larger in the middle than at the sides, which also complies with the rumors of the device specifications.

As for the different colors though, that is not as easily explained. Though the rumors say it will be black, that itself is just a rumor and could turn out to be not true, and this could maybe turn out to be the color for all we know. Also, there could be multiple colors, which can never hurt. We see this with Apple a lot, especially in the iPod and MacBook families.

[Via TUAW]

If anyone can decipher AT&T’s stance on iPhone WiFi, please let me know.  The carrier has again pulled inclusive WiFi from the iPhone contract, after briefly reinstating it.  No comment from AT&T as to the reason for the change, but it’s presumed that they’re still having problems limiting the WiFi access solely to Apple’s cellphone.

When AT&T first added the WiFi offer, at the beginning of May, it was found that owners of other devices could access the service without necessarily having an iPhone themselves.  Instead, by faking their browser’s user agent string and putting in a friend’s iPhone number, they could use any cellphone or laptop.  AT&T yanked the service a few days later.

After its brief reappearance yesterday, we’re uncertain whether AT&T will offer WiFi again.  Interestingly, the UK version of the iPhone was sold with free WiFi access from launch, partly to make up for carrier O2’s developing EDGE data network.

Gizmodo has published a cool video showing a prototype driving game called Raging Thunder, which makes the most of the iPhone’s accelerometer and graphical abilities. Despite the fact there are a few glitches at present the game looks very promising, not only for its own sake but for the possibility of getting other top-class games onto the platform

Filed under: Software, Open Source, Beta Beat

If you’ve been cursing the big price tag and lack of VBA support in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, OpenOffice.org is coming to your rescue. Last September, the OpenOffice.org dev team announced that they would be porting the suite to run natively on the Mac. Previous versions ran under the X11 environment, which not only hogged resources, but didn’t have the Aqua look and feel we all love.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 is still beta, but a quick test-drive of the application showed that it is almost ready for prime time. OOo is a full-featured office suite, complete with word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation package (Impress), drawing app (Draw), as well as database tools (Base) that are sadly lacking in other office suites.

The feature set of OpenOffice.org 3 is impressive:

• Imports Microsoft Office binary (.doc, .ppt, .xls) and Office 2007/Office 2008 for Mac (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) files
• A solver component for solving optimization problems, something lacking in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
• Spreadsheet workbook sharing
• Display of multiple Writer pages while editing
• MS Office-like comments in Writer
• Limited VBA macro support — which is still better than no support
• Extensibility with Mozilla Thunderbird and Lightning, Sun Wiki Publisher and Report Builder

The price of OpenOffice.org 3 is, as always, free! If you’re up to test-driving beta ware that may not necessarily be as stable or fast as your other office suite(s), click here to be transported to the beta site.

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Filed under: Tips and tricks, Internet, Graphic Design

This was included in WebKit builds beginning several years ago, apparently, but is something I recently stumbled upon. Historically, Safari has been pretty insistent on making sure web page form fields (like drop-down menus and buttons) retain the Aqua look-and-feel. Web designers, on the other hand, have gotten used to choosing colors and font sizes for those controls, so they fit in with their site’s design.

Hopefully everyone can now be happy: Safari 3 allows web designers to style form controls with CSS. The results are pictured: instead of a glossy, Aqua-like control, Safari displays a matte-finish control in the color and size of your choosing. You can even apply background images to form controls. If you don’t apply styles to your controls, then Safari retains the Aqua look.

This shouldn’t require any changes to code that’s already written for other browsers: Safari 3 should pick right up on the formatting, and display it as the designer intended. It does, however, open up WebKit-specific CSS to your form controls.

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Filed under: Internet, iPhone

It looks like the reports of AT&T offering free Wi-Fi at their hotspots were not unfounded. Above you can see a new ‘Included Feature’ that AT&T is bundling with all their iPhone plans. Along with long distance calling, visual voicemail, call forwarding, 3-way calling and Caller ID you now get ‘Access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots.’ Not too shabby at all.

[via iLounge]

Update: And like that it is gone! AT&T really needs to get their story straight on this one.

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OtterBox is feeling charitable (not to anyone who hates pink gadget accessories, mind you) by launching a pink version of their Defender iPhone cases to raise money for the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade…

Mophie has received the coveted “Works With iPhone” badge for its Juice Pack Battery Extender, making it an official accessory for keeping your iPhone alive that bit longer. In fact, it boasts up to 8 hours additional talk time, 24 hours audio playback, 7 hours of video playback, and 6 hours of Internet playback, plus 250 hours of standby time…

Yesterday I reported that O2 had run out of stock of both the 8GB and 16GB models. It seems that’s not quite true. Either an iPhone-hating O2 employee was let loose on Photoshop and had too much fun typing “8GB…

The free WiFi at AT&T hotspots for the iPhone has been an interesting and on going saga. It has been confusing, with AT&T allowing free WiFi access, then just as fast, taking it away. Either way, it is back now, and more than that, it is official. Hopefully this time it is here to stay.

It seems that now, the access to the WiFi is included with iPhone plans. That is about as official as it can get, and in light of this, it is most likely you will not see AT&T disable it again. It is still not known if AT&T will deploy extra security measures, as anyone with a little know how can get free WiFi on there laptop using this offering.

The service is available at all of the 17,000 AT&T hot spots in the U.S. To use the service, all you have to do is connect to the hot spot using your iPhone. You will be presented with a screen that will ask you for your phone number. The number must be linked to a valid AT&T account, that has an iPhone active on it. This means that people with a jailbroken iPhone can not use the service. That is unless of course they have a buddy with an iPhone on AT&T.

[Via Mac Rumors]

Some interesting job descriptions posted on Apple’s international websites have been revealed. It would appear, that Apple is possibly seeking individuals to do some field testing of their new wonder device. The listing have popped up in more than one location, with the listing for Australia, as well as the U.K.

The listings call for someone who “technical understanding and experience with GSM/GPRS, EDGE, CDMA and UMTS”. Interesting, as the iPhone does not use CDMA. They could be talking about W-CDMA, but that is what UMTS is based off, and why be redundant. The first three listed are what we know in the current iPhone.

We do not know how long it has been up, just that since it is up, it is still available obviously. The listing in the U.K. is even more specific. In Germany Apple is looking for someone who “will apply his/her detailed technical knowledge of wireless standards (3G, Wi-Fi) to understand, prioritize and resolve issues found during certification”. It just may be possible there are some people out there that are packing a 3G iPhone, getting the device thoroughly tested in preparation for launch.

[Via RegHardware]

Filed under: iTS, Education, Podcasts

Hot for Hindi? Up for learning Uyghur? Wild about Welsh? LifeClever tipped us off to the fact that there are 926 free language training podcasts currently available in the iTunes Store. A quick glance at the available podcasts shows that you can learn 39 languages from Arabic to Yiddish with the help of your iPod or iPhone.

To find this treasure trove of linguistic goodness, launch iTunes, pop into the iTunes Store, click on the Browse link, and navigate to Podcasts > Education > Language Courses.

What am I going to learn on my summer vacation? I’m waffling between Sexy Spanish and Latinum. This is a great way to get your kids to learn a language and keep them occupied during that long, hot road trip to Wally World this summer.

Thanks, Tipster Chanpory!

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Filed under: Software

Software Update is pretty awesome for Apple software, but have you ever wanted that functionality for the rest of your apps? 19-year-old developer Louka Desroziers created a nifty little menubar app called LogicielMac Update that checks for updates to the applications installed on your machine. There are options to automatically download the updates and install them. You can also create an ignored list of apps that you don’t want to update.

The app gets most of its information from LogicielMac (logiciel meaning “software,” and Mac meaning “best platform ever”), a Francophonic site similar to VersionTracker and MacUpdate. But fear not, English speakers, as LogicielMac Update is localized for English. (Update: Reader Mark noticed that his copy of Firefox was updated with a French-localized version … so take note, Anglophones! Thanks, Mark!)

The only improvement I could see is showing the difference between free updates and upgrades (that you must pay for in order to get). I always hate it when I download an upgrade without thinking, wiping out my perfectly good old copy that I paid for.

LogicielMac Update is donationware, so show Louka some love if you like what he’s made. The download is 1.2MB, and Leopard is recommended. If you’ve felt unsatisfied by other update managers, check it out.

Thanks, Michael G!

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Filed under: Software

Software Update is pretty awesome for Apple software, but have you ever wanted that functionality for the rest of your apps? 19-year-old developer Louka Desroziers created a nifty little menubar app called LogicielMac Update that checks for updates to the applications installed on your machine. There are options to automatically download the updates and install them. You can also create an ignored list of apps that you don’t want to update.

The app gets most of its information from LogicielMac (logiciel meaning “software,” and Mac meaning “best platform ever”), a Francophonic site similar to VersionTracker and MacUpdate. But fear not, English speakers, as LogicielMac Update is localized for English. (Update: Reader Mark noticed that his copy of Firefox was updated with a French-localized version … so take note, Anglophones! Thanks, Mark!)

The only improvement I could see is showing the difference between free updates and upgrades (that you must pay for in order to get). I always hate it when I download an upgrade without thinking, wiping out my perfectly good old copy that I paid for.

LogicielMac Update is donationware, so show Louka some love if you like what he’s made. The download is 1.2MB, and Leopard is recommended. If you’ve felt unsatisfied by other update managers, check it out.

Thanks, Michael G!

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Filed under: Software

Once upon a time, my house was alive. It would wake me up with an hour-long procedure of ramping up the lights and using a zen chime at increasing intervals. Once the hour was up, it would check to see if I had opened the bathroom door yet and, if not, scold me with increasing levels of profanity for sleeping too late. It would read me the weather and top headlines while I brushed my teeth. It would turn lights on and off as I moved through the house. It had everything but an omnipresent, glowing red eye.

And it was grand, until a series of events (that I can now look back at and laugh) resulted in the PC it was all running on devouring itself and the connected backup drive. Now, in addition to an offsite backup system, I’ve got a lot of switches, sensors, motion detectors and the like and haven’t had the heart to build the system again. But here I am with an extra Mini, and Perceptive Automation just released a new version of Indigo. My inner geek is just itching to restore my home to its former blinking, talking, almost-sentient glory.

Continue reading Indigo 3.0, increased geekiness for your home

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Filed under: Software

Once upon a time, my house was alive. It would wake me up with an hour-long procedure of ramping up the lights and using a zen chime at increasing intervals. Once the hour was up, it would check to see if I had opened the bathroom door yet and, if not, scold me with increasing levels of profanity for sleeping too late. It would read me the weather and top headlines while I brushed my teeth. It would turn lights on and off as I moved through the house. It had everything but an omnipresent, glowing red eye.

And it was grand, until a series of events (that I can now look back at and laugh) resulted in the PC it was all running on devouring itself and the connected backup drive. Now, in addition to an offsite backup system, I’ve got a lot of switches, sensors, motion detectors and the like and haven’t had the heart to build the system again. But here I am with an extra Mini, and Perceptive Automation just released a new version of Indigo. My inner geek is just itching to restore my home to its former blinking, talking, almost-sentient glory.

Continue reading Indigo 3.0, increased geekiness for your home

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Filed under: Accessories, Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Peripherals, Mac 101

More Mac 101, our series of basic tips for new and returning Mac users. Since most Mac models don’t offer extra drive bays, external hard disks are the way to go for adding vast storage capacity to your computer. External HDs are great for storing large projects, moving huge amounts of data from place to place, or backing up via Time Machine.

Hard disks are a commodity product nowadays: the market is flooded with a cornucopia of options, most of them cheap and easy to install. So which is right for you?

The trick is this: find out who makes the actual hard drive inside the external enclosure (that is, inside the nicely-designed plastic or metal box that sits on or under your desk).

It’s what’s inside that counts, and we’ll explore after the jump.

Continue reading Mac 101: External HDs

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“You can’t imagine how satisfying it is to know that if your hard drive dies, you will lose no more than one hour of work,” relates David Pogue (nytimes.com) in his review of Time Capsule. “The Time Machine automatic backup feature of the latest Mac OS X version backs up your Macs onto the Time Capsule, automatically, constantly, completely and wirelessly. And in my book, automatic, constant, complete backups are the only kind that really count.”

Using his 24-inch iMac, Jean-Pierre Hébert, the 68-year-old artist-in-residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, California, creates “algorithmic art” in a variety of media—from sand to copper to tree bark. “Mac OS X is a very good environment for me to work in,” he says. “It offers the best of all possible worlds.”

It seems clear that O2’s recent iPhone price cut has done the trick of clearing out stock. Visit the O2 Store’s iPhone page and you’ll be greeted with a splash page that simply reads “8GB and 16GB iPhone: iPhone no longer available”…

DJ Nitrogen has announced its new Ringtone Lab for the iPhone, which claims it’s possible to legally share ringtone creations with other users of the software. That’s because, instead of sharing the actual audio files, users create a “ringtone recipe” which contains the data that defines the ringtone - start, stop, fade, etc. Other users can only use ringtone data for the music tracks they already own…

Hands up who isn’t expecting Steve Jobs to announce the 3G iPhone at the WWDC in June? If you need a little more “evidence” (OK, rumour) to fuel that fire, how about a leaked email from AT&T which asks employees not to take holiday between 15th June and 12th July…