Iphone Updates

Filed under: iLife, Software, Freeware

While most people are probably satisfied to send their photos from iPhoto through their Gmail accounts using Mail, some people would rather have a more direct option. For example, sending large files through Mail seems to be no problem for me, yet from the same network with exactly the same settings, my wife’s Mail chokes and spits and frequently fails when she tries to send a bunch (or even a few) pictures from iPhoto.

Tired of playing with her SMTP settings and getting everything working for one message, just to have it fail on the next one, I finally went in search of a more direct approach. My wife and I are both “switchers,” and back in Windows we were used to Picasa, which has the ability to send photos via a Gmail account built-in. Makes sense, since Google owns Picasa, but that’s exactly what I was looking hoping to get iPhoto to do.

In my searches I came across an iPhoto plugin called iPhoto2Gmail. When I tried it last week, it hung my iPhoto instance every time I tried it and I had to force quit iPhoto. I gave up on iPhoto2Gmail, but couldn’t find anything else. In desperation, I went back to have another look at iPhoto2Gmail and discovered that it had been updated to version 1.0. Crossing my fingers, I gave it a try, and… it works great!

Though I don’t need it on my machine, I really like the direct simplicity of sending my photos from right inside iPhoto, and I think I’ll continue to use iPhoto2Gmail. If you’ve been struggling with sending photos through a Gmail account, this might be a useful option for you.

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Filed under: Airport, Software Update

Now you see it, now you don’t — and now it’s back. The very brief tenure of AirPort Extreme Update 2008-003 (it was available on Tuesday for a while, but then withdrawn) has given way to the shining reign of update 004. The update is a 2.2 MB patch recommended for all Intel machines on 10.5.5, resolving “some issues with Airport connections when roaming in large WiFi networks.”

Some of the commenters who installed the earlier build didn’t experience any obvious ill effects; others reported installation hangs, lockups on reboot or problems connecting to wireless LANs, so your mileage may vary — with any luck the new build has a steadier grip on stability.

You can download the new update via Software Update or (shortly) from the Apple support downloads page.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Marco over on the Instapaper blog (which, of course, is the blog of the app Instapaper), posted a really interesting commentary recently on a subject we’ve been following since the beginning: App Store pricing. As we’ve said before, it’s a strange thing — developers want higher prices so that they can put more effort into making iPhone apps better. But customers have a perception already that anything above $5 in the App Store just isn’t worth it.

So Marco offers his take: he’s been selling an app in the store for $9.99, and it’s going just fine. He has tips for how developers can sell their own apps for a higher price, and he settles on some good compromises for everybody: deliver a real value with your app (as economists know, an app is worth what people are wiling to pay for it, so if you produce an app that is worth $10, people will happily spend that much). Respect yourself as a developer, and don’t cower to cheapskates (some people won’t be happy with anything, even when it’s free). And perhaps most importantly: offer a free version.

That last one may be the key — our own Michael Rose was sold on Instapaper only when he tried it out. More and more, I’m thinking that it was a major mistake on Apple’s part not to allow developers to easily offer demos and upgrades in the same app — people are willing to spend money on an app that’s worth it, but not if they aren’t sure, and trying it goes a long way to making sure. I’m not in favor of app store developers banding together to raise prices, but Marco is right: if you make an app that’s worth $10 and put it on the App Store for $9.99 (with an easy way to demo it out), people will come and buy it.

TUAWHow to sell an iPhone app for $9.99 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software Update

Apple just updated Safari to version 3.2.1. According to Software Update, “This update includes stability improvements and is recommended for all Safari users.” Apple updated Safari only a few weeks ago, adding protection from phishing websites.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Apple updates this week, then you know that they’ve done some heavy updating in this area. The past few days have seen updates to iPhone/iPod touch, iTunes, Apple TV, Pro Applications, Trackpad, and QuickTime.

You can get the Safari update, or any other updates you might be missing, by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update). You can also download the installer packages from the Apple Support Downloads website.

Thanks to monu, and others for the tips!

TUAWApple releases Safari 3.2.1 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cool tools, Odds and ends, Deals, Holidays

I don’t know that I’ve heard of the National Day of Listening before, but I like the idea a lot — right around the holidays, StoryCorps and NPR sponsor a day when you’re meant to sit down with loved ones and pick up some of that oral history that has served the human race so well so far. And the folks at Toasty Code are doing their part to get these recordings done by offering their TapeDeck audio recording software for 20% off all this week — just follow the instructions on their website, and you too can pick up any oral history your folks can dish out along with the turkey and cranberries.

Of course you can do that with any software, from GarageBand (came free with your Mac) to Audacity (free to anyone). And it doesn’t need to be only audio — I’m taking a new Flip MinoHD home for the holidays with me to get some shots of my folks in my childhood home (they’re currently trying to sell it off). But the Day of Listening is a great idea no matter what you use — in these days of high definition, 1080p television, multichannel speaker setups, ubiquitous computing, and the 24/7 flow of text across blogs, Tumblrs and Twitter, it’s easy to forget the value of actually sitting down and talking to someone. This week, as you’re home with family, try it out.

TUAWTapeDeck discounted for National Day of Listening originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch

TouchArcade interviewed Handheld Games Corp’s Thomas Fessler, who noted an interesting bit of the company’s research: Second-generation iPod touch devices are significantly faster than their predecessors when it comes to 3D rendering.

In fact, it’s faster than both iPhone models as well. In its tests, the iPhone 3G ranked second, the original iPhone third, and the first-generation iPod touch lagged behind in fourth. Fessler is paraphrased in the interview, even suggesting he would not recommend anyone interested in gaming to buy a used first-generation iPod touch.

The primary difference is a faster processor: The second-generation iPod touch has a 532 MHz processor. The iPhone, iPhone 3G, and first-generation iPod touch all have 412 MHz processors.

Fessler also speculates in the interview that the GPU has also been improved, but has no evidence to support that claim. These performance differences may also explain why certain apps only run on second-generation iPod touch devices.

TUAWTouchArcade: Second-generation iPod touch faster than iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs made quite a big thing about the iPod Touch being made for gaming, and while the casual observer may simply have assumed that the only difference between the Touch and the iPhone was the ability to make and receive phone calls, it seems there’s a little more to it than that. According to Touch Arcade, new games coming into the App Store that are pushing the limits of the handset hardware are showing the second-generation iPod Touch performs better than the iPhone 3G. CEO of Handheld Games Corp, Thomas Fessler, has noted that TouchSports Tennis can be set to render more objects without causing performance issues on the second-gen Touch, whereas on the first generation Touch and some iPhones, it causes problems…

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Financial

BusinessWeek’s Gene Marcial is gushing — gushing — over Apple stock, suggesting they’re not only a good buying opportunity for those who already own some shares, but a good entry point for those who have never owned stock in the company.

“The case for Apple is simple: Its stock is cheap based mainly on strong earnings and sales growth, and the outlook for further expansion of sales and profits. And the stock’s profile based on such benchmarks as its technical chart pattern and price-earnings ratio affirms Apple’s attraction,” he writes.

Marical quotes Standard & Poor’s Thomas Smith, Barclays Capital’s Ben Reitzes, and Needham’s Charles Wolf — all who have their own reasons to recommend buying the stock. Of 34 analysts who track the stock, 27 recommend buying and five recommend holding. Only two suggest you sell.

As of this writing, Apple was up by over $7 per share at 89.75 during a generally positive session this morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up above 8,311, an increase of 265 points.

TUAWBusinessWeek: AAPL ‘ripe for the picking’ originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cool tools, How-tos, Open Source, Apple TV

We’ve covered boxee, a fantastic media center application that can run on your Mac or Apple TV. With its attractive interface and support for Hulu, boxee is what convinced my boyfriend and me to order an Apple TV. Predictably, the day our second Apple TV arrived from Apple (the first unit broke after watching just one movie), the 2.3 software update was released, nullifying our boxee goodness.

Fortunately, the boxee team has updated boxee to support 2.3. Even better, the geniuses behind USB Creator — a tool that makes installing boxee and the XBMC on an Apple TV a snap — have updated their awesome software to make the whole process seamless.

If you want to install boxee and XMBC on your Apple TV, this is what you want to do. You will need a USB flash drive (minimum of 512 MB, though 1 GB or higher is recommended):

Continue reading Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3

TUAWBoxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s a heads-up from Gameloft. Next month, the company will launch its most ambitious game for the iPhone yet. Hero of Sparta is an epic, full-3D odyssey adventure featuring “the most phenomenal monsters ever seen on a mobile screen”. Fight mythological monsters and take advantage of the iPhone’s touchscreen for performing move combos…

Yet again Apple has been stung by the Advertising Standards Authority over exaggerated claims of the iPhone 3G’s speed. The ASA obviously thought that the Great British public would be too stupid to assimilate the phrase “really fast” with the accompanying on-screen message “network performance will vary by location” to figure out that speed (like on any mobile or fixed broadband connection) would vary…

Custom designed, this holder works with your iPhone 3G or iPhone. Slide & go! Your Smartphone conveniently slides into place and is held securely at all times.

This intelligently designed flexible-neck mount leverages any cigarette lighter or 12-volt power receptacle. And has a custom fit holder that looks and functions great.

Extra heavy duty mount with pivot action and custom holder that looks and functions great.

For windshield mounting, this one’s a winner with its strong suction cup, flexible aluminum neck, and custom fit holder that looks and functions great.

Filed under: Audio, Multimedia, Found Footage, iPod touch

I recently offered a little introduction to integrating TouchOSC with Logic. In response, TUAW reader Tom Phillipson sent us a link to a video of his own integration of TouchOSC into his live setup. He modded a Novation ReMOTE 25SL Compact, extending its functionality via TouchOSC on his iPod touch. Check out the video to see (and hear) it controlling Ableton Live and an Access TI Snow.

Thanks for sharing, Tom!

TUAWFound Footage: live rig with TouchOSC originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week, with Christina at the helm, talkcastees and talkcasters reminisced with former staffer Nik Fletcher, now with the fine folks at Realmac Software. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tonight, November 23 at 10 p.m. ET for an hour of witty repartée about the week’s news, and plenty of speculation about Black Friday and the coming holiday shopping season. Mike, Dave, Christina and I will be there, so join us, won’t you?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network’s CallRecorder for Skype.

TUAWTalkcast tonight: Black Friday, holiday shopping, and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, you can text someone with iChat. But did you know that iChat also lets you conduct audio chats — with up to nine buddies at the same time. You can use the built-in microphone on your Mac or connect an external mic. It’s a great way to get a far-flung family together for the holiday. And it’s really easy. Find out how by reading our latest Creative Pro tip.

Dual-clip ensures vent mount is tight and secure. Custom fit holder that looks and functions great.

Nimbuzz has just announced its free messaging application for the iPhone and iPod touch, offering direct communication with most of the major instant messaging clients including Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, Facebook, MySpace, AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ and Jabber. Key features include the ability to chat in landscape mode, IM buddy calling, regional social network support, personal messaging that allows users to broadcast their status updates in real time, and information about who is online and where they are…

Following my review of 24 Christmas Days yesterday, I’m now going to take a look at Advent08 and provide a comparison. Advent08 has been developed by iHabitus.com and offers an advent calendar based on the true Christian dates for this year (Sunday 30th November through to Thursday 25th December) and featuring a mini “service” or devotional for each day.

Look & Feel

Advent08 has been inspired by the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels, and as such has a very traditional, celtic look. The twenty-six doors are placed around a central cross, with each of the four Sundays (30th November, 8th, 15th, 22nd December) plus Christmas Day placed on the cross itself…

Another iPhone skin? Well, yes, but it’s always good to have a choice, isn’t it? This time, it’s an ultra-glossy silicone case from QDOS called the Jet Skin. It fits snugly around the iPhone 3G while still allowing access to all the ports, buttons, and the camera…

As you’ll discover by watching “In the Blink of an Eye,” there are many things occurring in the natural world every day that take place too quickly for us to see. What takes place in a third of a second that you’re missing? Watch “In the Blink of an Eye” and the other Science Festival videos brought to us by the University of Cambridge on iTunes U.

Written and directed by Darnell Martin, Cadillac Records tells the story of Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) who founded Chess Records. The Chicago-based label represented such blues and R&B legends as Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), and Chuck Berry (Mos Def). It opens in theaters December 5.

Looking for a great Apple Pie recipe for Thanksgiving dessert? You’ll find one on your iPhone. In fact, thanks to BigOven, you can find more than 160,000 recipes on iPhone (including more than 200 recipes for Apple Pie). The free application lets you search the massive online recipe database, browse its food glossary, and mark recipes as favorites. Enjoy.

Filed under: Internet Tools

Netflix has been talking about bringing its “Watch Instantly” movie streaming service to the Mac for a long time, and now Engadget is reporting that they’re finally beginning to roll it out. The “Watch Instantly” service allows unlimited Netflix subscribers to stream about 12,000 TV shows and movies to their computers (or set-top devices), but has been limited to Windows PCs since the service first appeared.

Ironically, this is being made possible thanks to Microsoft’s Flash-wannabe Silverlight browser plugin. As we noted way back in 2007, the holdup was the need for Microsoft DRM on the streaming videos and the new Silverlight-based player incorporates Microsoft’s Play Ready DRM.

Unfortunately, the initial roll-out is limited, but Netflix expects to bring “the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.” Sadly for PPC owners, it will be limited to Intel Macs. Nonetheless, it’s great to see Netflix finally coming through on the promise of Watch Instantly for Mac users.

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Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Open Source, TUAW Labs

I was really disappointed when Google released their Chrome web browser for Windows only. When it comes to browsers, I’ve tried them all. Right now I regularly switch between Firefox and the latest nightly build from Webkit (essentially Safari). Firefox has the extensibility I rely on, while Webkit has the performance I crave. I had hoped that Chrome would magically combine those two crucial traits and become my new go-to browser. Unfortunately, Chrome is not yet nearly as extensible as Firefox, and isn’t available for Mac (yet).

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the latest experimental Firefox build from Mozilla, called Minefield. This Minefield should not be confused with the unofficial optimized builds of Firefox that Brett wrote about, which are also referred to as Minefield. Minefield is Mozilla’s code-name for this generation of Firefox, and the code name is used for unofficial builds to avoid infringing upon the Firefox name.

So, what’s so special about the Mozilla Minefield build? It’s fast… smokin’ fast. This is essentially a version of Firefox with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine under the hood, and as Ars Technica reports, it tests even faster than Google’s V8 JavaScript engine.

As most Mac users have noted, Firefox is kind of pokey on the Mac platform, particularly compared with WebKit or even Safari, and even when compared with Firefox on a similarly spec’d Windows machine. Version 3 of Firefox was supposed to fix the performance problem, and while it’s somewhat better, it’s still not great.

Well, Minefield is great. Using Gmail or even a complex content management system is a breath of fresh air. I feel like my web apps are finally keeping up with me.

There’s one caveat, and it’s a big one: though the current version number is 3.1b2pre (the “b” denoting beta status), this is really alpha software. That means there will be bugs, and you will experience problems. Surprisingly, though, Minefield has been very stable in my testing — not yet crashing in a full day of testing. I have restarted it a couple of times due to suspicion that something strange was going on, but I can’t say for sure if it was.

If you use it with your regular Firefox profile rather than creating a new one, Minefield will complain that most of your extensions are not compatible. Using Nightly Tester Tools, I re-enabled all of the extensions that it disabled, and every single one of them appears to be working normally, even the complicated ones like Better Gmail 2 and TabMixPlus.

I’ve only had a problem with one site so far, but unfortunately it’s a big one: Google Docs. The page simply won’t load. But for now, I’m willing to open WebKit or Camino to edit my Google Docs, because I’m just too smitten with the raw speed that Minefield offers.

One last note: being a nightly build, you will likely find that new versions are available, well, nightly. Mozilla makes the process of upgrading to the latest version virtually painless by using the built-in version monitoring process that Firefox uses.

[via Ubuntu Unleashed]

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The All-New mophie ‘Juice Pack 3G’ is designed to more than double the time you can Rock, Talk, Surf and Send with your iPhone 3G.

24 Christmas Days from Gourmet Pixel is an advent calendar which can be used year after year, and makes use of several of the iPhone’s features to create an interactive, fun, and festive application. One of the features of the software is that you can’t open a particular window on the virtual calendar until at least that date. Fortunately, I’ve managed to take a sneak peek behind the scenes to bring you this review.

Look & Feel

Before December 1st arrives, a snow-filled screen appears introducing the application and telling you how many days there are left until you can open the first window. Once at the calendar screen, 24 windows (arranged as a four-by-six grid) appear. Tapping on a window before the date arrives greets you with a message that you’re too early. Otherwise, you’ll be greeted with a range of seasonal fare, including “cracker” jokes and fun facts, music, wallpaper, and a special little surprise once you get to the 24th December…

Aurora Feint II: The Arena

Following the huge success of the original and free Aurora Feint puzzle/strategy/MMORPG, the creators have developed Aurora Feint II: The Arena. Claiming it to be the first Asynchronous Massively Multi-Player World for the iPhone, it allows players to compete head-to-head with others, even when they’re not online at the same time…

Faster DDR3 RAM, “a faster 1,066-MHz front-side bus, and a notably faster Nvidia 9400M graphics processor,” lead Ken Mingis (computerworld.com) to exclaim that “I really like Apple Inc.’s newly revamped MacBook Air.” And, he adds, “ I really, really like the apparent speed boost offered by the larger solid-state drive (SSD),” which, he thinks, “really stands for Speedy Sweet Delight.”

Filed under: Internet Tools, Reviews, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Update 2: Box.net will work with first generation iPod Touch units. The team is going to push an update very soon to make this visible on the app description page. You can download the program right now and it is fully compatible with all iPhone and iPod Touch units.

Update: Box.net is looking into why its new app is not working with first generation iPod Touch units and hopes to push out an update soon. We’ll keep you posted!

I love Box.net — the online file storage system that makes it easy to store and share files with other users quickly and easily. A couple of years ago, TUAW wrote up how to use Box.net as an iDisk (and this still works), but now the Box team has made it even easier to access your files while on the go, with the new Box.net iPhone app.

The app, which is compatible with the iPhone and the second generation iPod Touch (sorry 1st Gen touch users!), is simply awesome. Box.net already had an iPhone friendly mobile interface at i.box.net, but while you could access some files from that page, you couldn’t play back media and document viewing was more limited. The new application means you can play back audio and video (assuming the file is compatible with the iPhone 2.1’s firmware support for QuickTime), view PDF or Office files, view photos, and upload photos from your iPhone or iPod Touch directly to Box.net.

Even nicer, the Box.net app integrates directly with your address book, so you can share a folder or individual document with a contact, just by clicking the “Share” button and selecting the contact from the address book. The application also notifies you of any updates or changes made to your box, which is great for individuals who collaborate with other users using a Box.net account.

I have a free Box.net account (which limits me to 1 GB of storage space and puts a 25 MB cap on file sizes), but I was able to access all my files and documents with ease. On my iPod Touch, Box.net loaded PDF files faster than some other tools I have used for PDF viewing, though I did find that network activity did impact overall speed. When the bridged router I use with my non-802.11n devices was in heavy use, it could take quite some time to load a large PDF. When the G router was idle, load time was almost non-existent, even for 8 or 9 MB files.

I don’t have an iPhone, so I cannot vouch for EDGE or 3G speeds — but over WiFi, speed was solid.

The interface of this app, as you can see from the gallery, is just superb. It perfectly matches both the Box.net website and the iPhone user interface guidelines. Maneuvering through files was a cinch and I love the integration with the address book for sharing files or folders. Being able to upload photos directly to Box.net is also pretty great.

If there was anything that could be on my wishlist, it would be the ability to upload other types of tiles to Box.net as well. Of course, you can always e-mail uploads to Box.net, so this isn’t an absolute necessity.

Box.net is free and available from the App Store now.

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In addition to using the volume slider in the menu bar and the volume keys on your keyboard, you have a number of additional ways to adjust the volume of your Mac. To find out how, watch the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends

The Big Mean Folder Machine is a useful tool from publicspace.net (developers of the indispensable A Better Finder Rename 8) that takes the drudgery out of either splitting files into multiple folders or merging files from different folders.

Why would you want to do either of these tasks? Let’s say you’re trying to back up 30 GB of photographs to DVD. You can either start dragging files to a folder and keep checking with Get Info to see if the folder size is less than the writable size of a DVD, or you can just have BMFM automagically split the group of files into folders that are perfectly sized for DVD burning. Or let’s say that you want to take individual folders for former clients and turn them all into one big “Former Client Archive” folder. It’s easy to merge all of the files in those different folders into one big archive folder. The Big Mean Folder Machine takes care of file name conflicts in that case.

Version 1.5 adds the ability to create deeper hierarchy levels (dependent on the number of files per level) and restores MP3/AAC functionality. A trial version limited to 100 files is available for download, or you can buy the application for $14.99.

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Filed under: TUAW Business, Podcasts

Last week on the talkcast, Christina led a lively discussion of the laptop announcements, the lack of Firewire on the MacBook, and more. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tomorrow 10/25 at 10 pm ET for this week’s live show, hosted by me and featuring a special guest — he’s a mild-mannered industry analyst by day, a tech columnist by night… our friend Ross Rubin will be joining us, as we delve into the astonishing impact of the iPhone on Apple’s bottom line and the wireless market at large. Has our favorite computer company truly gotten past the Mac?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

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Filed under: iLife, Software, Freeware

While most people are probably satisfied to send their photos from iPhoto through their Gmail accounts using Mail, some people would rather have a more direct option. For example, sending large files through Mail seems to be no problem for me, yet from the same network with exactly the same settings, my wife’s Mail chokes and spits and frequently fails when she tries to send a bunch (or even a few) pictures from iPhoto.

Tired of playing with her SMTP settings and getting everything working for one message, just to have it fail on the next one, I finally went in search of a more direct approach. My wife and I are both “switchers,” and back in Windows we were used to Picasa, which has the ability to send photos via a Gmail account built-in. Makes sense, since Google owns Picasa, but that’s exactly what I was looking hoping to get iPhoto to do.

In my searches I came across an iPhoto plugin called iPhoto2Gmail. When I tried it last week, it hung my iPhoto instance every time I tried it and I had to force quit iPhoto. I gave up on iPhoto2Gmail, but couldn’t find anything else. In desperation, I went back to have another look at iPhoto2Gmail and discovered that it had been updated to version 1.0. Crossing my fingers, I gave it a try, and… it works great!

Though I don’t need it on my machine, I really like the direct simplicity of sending my photos from right inside iPhoto, and I think I’ll continue to use iPhoto2Gmail. If you’ve been struggling with sending photos through a Gmail account, this might be a useful option for you.

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