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>> Postings for September 2008

Google’s image generation is simply Top Draw

Tue, 30 Sep 2008

Those guys over at the Google Mac Playground are just having way too much fun with the slides and monkey bars and merry-go-rounds. Now they’ve put together a new app for those that love their geometric images. And really, isn’t that pretty much everybody under the age of seventy?

Top Draw combines the might of CoreImage with the slick dexterity of Quartz to create crazy geometric patterns for you on the fly. Over twenty-five built-in scripts generate a variety of effects that are too snazzy for me to describe. The application itself lets you view and edit the scripts, which are based on the JavaScript language, so you can even create your own cool effects.

Dan Moren | Read more...


iTunes for all

Tue, 30 Sep 2008

For someone who's blind though, using the iTunes Store or an iPod might not be quite so easy a feat. However, Apple is taking steps to fix that in iTunes and iTunes U. The Attorney General for Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, arranged a deal with Apple, Inc. to make iTunes more accessible for blind people who use accessibility software to help them (such as programs that read the screen's contents out loud).

Universal Access features are a part of Leopard, and the new iPod nano features a "Spoken Menu" option, but this agreement should help close accessibility gaps in the iTunes Store too. Although online retailers are expected to provide accomodations for customers with disabilities, just like their physical counterparts, gaps still remain.

Kate Marshall | Read more...


Google has redefined 'beta'

Tue, 30 Sep 2008

The question of why so many Google products are classified “beta”—and classified thusly for so long—has knocked around the tech press for some time. However, no one really seemed to know the answer, at least no one outside of Google.

Last week, the question begged for a concrete answer after someone finally took the time to do a hard count of all those betas. According to Web monitoring company Pingdom, almost half of Google’s products carry the ubiquitous “beta” tag, including Gmail, which debuted way back in the middle of our nation’s last presidential election season, April 2004.

Paul McNamara | Read more...


Apple and old equipment recycling

Tue, 30 Sep 2008

Given my profession (and avocation), I go through Macs relatively regularly - typically, the hardware lasts two to three years in my hands before being passed on to a family member for additional use.

Over the years, though, there's actually one Mac model that's never made an appearance in my home: an iMac of any sort. All that changed last week, however, when we invested in (sounds better than "spent a bunch of money on") a new 20-inch iMac. This machine will be our family workhorse - acting as the kids' educational/gaming machine, holding our music and photo collection, and handling everything from budgeting to holiday card preparation to the occasional Final Cut Express project.

Rob Griffiths, Macworld US | Read more...


Fix the 5002 error when updating apps

Mon, 29 Sep 2008

For the past week or so, I’d been having a problem where I couldn’t update my iPhone apps from within iTunes. In the Applications screen, if I clicked on the [#] Updates Available link at the bottom of the window, I’d get an "unknown error" number 5002. (You know, 5002 is a very specific number for an “unknown” error. But I digress.)

I would try again later, as instructed—many times, in fact—to no avail. Even more frustrating was that iTunes continued to keep track of how many apps needed updating. It started with five, then increased to 12, then to 18…until earlier today it said I had 26 updates available. All out of virtual reach.

Dan Frakes | Read more...


MySpace Music could shake up digital music

Fri, 26 Sep 2008

MySpace Music represents a promising next step in the tumultuous integration of the web into the music business, but its success hinges on a number of far-from-sure bets.

Among the key question marks are whether MySpace Music will generate enough advertising revenue to justify its very liberal free-streaming model and whether users will develop a strong-enough attachment to a service that lacks mobile portability.

Juan Carlos Perez | Read more...


Don't drive iPhone developers away, Apple

Thu, 25 Sep 2008

One of the presenters at the recent C4 Mac developers conference made a point about Apple that is incredibly relevant to how the company is viewed, especially by the media and rabid Apple fans.

To paraphrase his statement, in dealing with Apple, one should never assume that the company is being malicious when its behaviour can be just as easily explained by incompetence.

Jason Snell, Macworld US | Read more...


Will iPhone NDA mean 'Never Develop Apps?'

Thu, 25 Sep 2008

Back when the National Security Agency still had a low profile, before it became the villainous adversary of action movies or the subject of congressional inquiries, there was a quip amongst the agency's employees that the abbreviation NSA stood for "Never Say Anything."

Shift just one letter in that abbreviation and you'll get "NDA," the document that's beginning to make Apple look more and more like the über-secretive government agency.

Dan Moren, Macworld US | Read more...


Sync devices in iTunes via keyboard shortcut

Wed, 24 Sep 2008

Here's a little timesaver that- - even though it's specific to the iPhone/iPods and iTunes - may help you in other programs as well. As regular readers know, I'm a huge fan of using the keyboard whenever possible, so I usually assign shortcuts to often-used menu items via the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences panel.

After reaching for the mouse one time too many to press the Sync button to re-sync my iPhone (after installing application updates, for instance), I decided to add a keyboard shortcut for the Sync button - you may not have noticed it, but Sync "User's iPhone" is a menu option in the File menu. (Today's hint can be just as easily used for iPods as well as iPhones, of course.)

Rob Griffiths, Macworld UK | Read more...


Bad signs for Blu-ray abound

Tue, 23 Sep 2008

In this month's issue of Wired magazine, Sony and Microsoft splurged on a full-page insert that includes a Blu-ray DVD. The disc is the "director's cut" of Coma, a seven-part noir-esque crime thriller.

On the back of the insert, there's a plug for Vista and the Sony Vaio. I don't know how much this is costing Sony and its partners, but it can't be cheap - Wired's paid circulation is 706,494, and this press release indicates that other magazines may be involved.

Ian Lamont, Industry Standard | Read more...


The RIAA vs ... well, everybody

Tue, 23 Sep 2008

Most sane humans would greet a lawsuit from the RIAA the way you'd welcome a surprise audit from the IRS. Not Ray Beckerman. He says, "Bring it on, bubba."

Beckerman is a New York-based attorney who's defended several clients in lawsuits brought by the recording industry. He also relentlessly chronicles the absurd activities of a certain rapacious, morally bankrupt trade association on his blog, Recording Industry vs The People.

Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld (US) | Read more...


Spore growing by 1 million+ creations per day

Mon, 15 Sep 2008

Last week I noted the overwhelmingly negative reviews of Spore on Amazon.com centred on the DRM restrictions set by Electronic Arts. The implication was the Spore experience was not living up to the nuclear-powered hype that preceded the launch.

I am now reconsidering my earlier appraisal, after observing that Spore.com's "Sporepedia" has added well over one million user-submitted creations in less than 24 hours.

Ian Lamont, Industry Standard | Read more...


Is it time for the MacBook mini?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008

I recently returned from the sausage-eating and tech slavering extravaganza that is the IFA Show in Berlin, and the lasting impression I got was the almost omnipotent presence of the small laptop.

Ever since ASUS found itself the sudden darling of the tech industry with its cheap, and frankly interesting, Eee PC, everybody – and I mean everybody – is making the same laptop. It's roughly 9in in size, has a keyboard (some good, most bad); it is powered by an Intel Atom processor, 80GB hard drive and 512MB or 1GB of RAM. The OS of choice is either Windows XP (but not Vista) or – more interestingly – a version of Linux. They're either called Netbooks, UMPCs, MIDs, mini-notebooks or sub-notebooks, but they are all the same thing. Each one costs between £300 and £400 although Aldi now has a Medion Akoya Mini 10in on sale for £279.

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


Why China Mobile isn't right for Apple and the iPhone

Thu, 04 Sep 2008

Apple's discussions with China Mobile about bringing the popular handset to the world's largest mobile market is the stuff of tech journalists' dreams. The potential deal would join together the world's largest mobile service provider with the planet's most talked-about phone. Both companies are tight-lipped, offering us nothing more than confirmations of the talks and statements that indicate that the two sides want to make a deal.

With no deal, no timetable and ultimately no pressure on either side to come to an agreement, there's a lot of room in between for speculation. So here's my contribution: Apple is negotiating with the wrong potential partner for the iPhone in China.

Steven Schwankert | Read more...


IFA: Commodore stand

Mon, 01 Sep 2008

Imagine my surprise when as I took a stroll among the lower echelons of the IFA show I came across a stand for Commodore Computing. When I was young I owned just about every Commodore going. I had a Vic-20, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4, and Commodore Amiga 500.

I only stopped short of getting a Amiga 2000 because that marks the point where you go from being a grateful customer to an obsessive fan that'll buy any tat with the right logo attached (insert your own joke into to the Comments section).

Mark Hattersley | Read more...


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