Lisa Hoover - Engadget

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Stories By Lisa Hoover

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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Five iPhone apps for football junkies

With apologies to our friends across the pond who have their own take on what "football" really is, the first full day of a new season of American football got underway yesterday with a whole host of league games that stretched late into the night. The only thing better than watching a football game is having some really cool football-related apps on your iPhone or iPod touch while you watch. Keep reading to learn more about my favorite five apps. Pro Football Live - Here's where to go for all the latest updates, scores, and news around the NFL. Customize your own page to the upcoming schedules of your favorite teams and the latest photos from around the league. Individual team page give great breakdowns of team and individual stats on every game -- including preseason. If you're a stats junkie, this is the app for you. Fantasy Football Cheatsheet '08 - Keep track of everything that's going down with your players and team with this cool app. It's got the rankings of 400 players and their defenses, so you can easily through data while you assemble your draft wish list. Search players by name or team, and choose the My Team tab for instant info on how your players are doing. Sweet. AP Top25 College Football 2008 - Not strictly related to the NFL, of course, but how else would I keep track of how well West Virginia played (or not) this week, and how those Heisman candidates are looking? Use this app to get weekly AP poll info, view team progress and scores, get rankings, and even view photos of recent games. Paper Football Lite - Jonesing for a football fix but stuck at the office? Play a few quick rounds of Paper Football instead. It's not the same thing as a fun game of pickup in the backyard, but it'll do in a pinch. Don't have an iPod touch or iPhone? Not to worry, I've got you covered. UPDATE: I pulled an app at the last minute and, as an eagled-eyed reader who counts better than I noticed, that knocks the count down to four. For an extra App-By-Default, check out comment #4. :-)
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Stress less with Meditation Timer for the iPhone

Taking time out of busy day just to meditate for a few minutes is a beautiful thing -- if you can stay focused long enough.The folks at Lingon i Korg Software Creations have come up with a way to help -- Meditation Timer [iTunes link] for the iPhone and iPod touch. This cool little app does more than just bong an alarm when meditation time is up. Any old app can do that. This timer gives you a choice between two soothing screen color schemes -- purple and white, or green and white -- and two different alarm settings. Just like the iPhone and touch's native alarm, you set the hours, minutes, and seconds by scrolling through the onscreen dials to the select the length of time you want to meditate (it defaults to 10 minutes). You'll be alerted when time's up by a gentle chime called "Spinning Bowl." You can also set the alarm to vibrate (iPhone only), or turn it off entirely. If you need a reminder to start winding down to get ready for your next round of meditation, set the Preparation Timer to count down the minutes until your next session. Meditation Timer is free to the first 5,000 customers. After that, the app will be priced at 99 cents. Ohhhmmmm....DownloadThisNow......Ohhhhmmmm....
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Computing

Computing By Lisa Hoover

Mac 101: Bluetooth basics

Leopard's Bluetooth feature is one of those things that's easy to forget about until you need it, then you're glad you have it. Let's take a look at some ways to get the most out of this under-utilized tool.In order to use your Mac with another Bluetooth gadget like a mobile phone or headset, you'll need to pair it with that specific device. Locate the Bluetooth settings under System Preferences and turn the Bluetooth power on. Then also check the box marked "Discoverable." This will allow other devices in range to see your Mac.Make sure the device you want to pair with the Mac is powered on and also discoverable (check the owner's manual for specifics on how to manage the Bluetooth settings on your mobile phone or headset). Next, click the Bluetooth icon found near your clock on the toolbar at the top of your screen and select "Set Up Bluetooth Device." Follow the Mac's onscreen steps that explain how to add the eight-digit passcode that will allow your two devices to talk to each other.Once you've established a connection between your Mac and another gadget, your computer stores the info until you delete it -- there's no need to add a new passcode each time. When you're done using a Bluetooth device with your Mac, be sure to uncheck the "Discoverable" option to prevent anyone else from pairing a device with your computer. When you're ready to re-pair a device, just click on the Bluetooth icon, and select the gadget from the dropdown list.One last thing: If you're not using Bluetooth on your laptop, make sure it's turned off to preserve battery life.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

3 great uses for your screen shot app

Whether you use Leopard's native screen grab tool, or a specially designed app like Skitch, there's more you can use it for than just snapping a shot of your desktop. Here are three of my favorites: No more cut and paste - I often have to replicate several pages of a content management system (CMS) that require me to enter tags in a field one at a time. I used to enter them on the first page, then copy the text, open Text Edit or Stickies, paste the text, then move on to the next page and flip back and forth between screens while re-entering tags on each page. Now I just snap a screenshot of the tags I've entered and use it as a reference on the remaining CMS pages. File those registration receipts - After I've bought an app, I snap a shot of the receipt screen and store it in Evernote. Of course I also keep the copy the vendor emails me, buts it's nice having a backup in case my email client flakes out. Make audio editing easier - While editing podcasts in Audacity, I often need to note the exact time of a clip. While it's easy enough to make a note with pencil and paper (remember those?), a screen grab lets me see at a glance exactly what other settings I was using at the time. What are some of your more unconventional uses for the screen grab tool?
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Get seasick with Liquid Mac

You know that sudden motion sensor that's buried in your Mac to protect your hard drive? Want to have a little fun with it? Then check out Liquid Mac, a neat little app that makes your laptop's screen look like it's filled with colored water. Once you've downloaded the app, select the color and response sensitivity you want, then gently tilt your laptop and watch the fluid splash around the screen. It's oddly soothing, actually, unless you slosh it around too fast and make yourself nauseous.When you tire of making waves, adjust the settings to represent beads and watch it rain on your screen. To see Liquid Mac in action, check out this cool video.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Adium releases new beta version, now even more psychic

Adium has a sweet new beta version available this morning. If you don't automatically see 1.3b2 when you check for updates, then make sure you've enabled "Update to beta versions when available" under the General tab in the Preference pane.Several new features have been added, including: Enhanced psychic abilities -- it opens a chat window as soon as a contact begins typing a message Filtered search in the Contact list Apple Address Book integration (access under Advanced tab in Preferences) Integration with Facebook chat (enable in the Accounts tab under Preferences) The latest Growl and libpurple updates Additional information (such as "Last Seen" and Apple Address Book notes) added to the Contact Inspector Fixed issues include the linkification of enclosed URLs, a memory inefficiency, and a pesky tendency for closed chats to suddenly reappear. All told, there are more than 150 improvements and enhancements to Adium, one of the hardest working chat apps out there.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Get widgets for your iPhone from Widgetbox

My name is Lisa and I'm a widget junkie. I love having widgets of all kinds on my iMac -- even things like the Ski Report (I live in Florida), ESPN (it's not football season), and Flight Tracker (I rarely fly). I even have similar ones (though Apple calls them webapps) on my iPod Touch. Since I've exhausted all the webapps for the touch that I'm interested in, I was glad to hear Widgetbox announced a gallery of widgets just for iPhone and the iPod touch users. Check it out via any browser, or right from your iPhone.Now, most widgets are Flash-based, but these aren't and therefore don't use Apple's SDK, but they're cool and work well nevertheless. Among my favorites are the Yahoo! News RSS feeds, Random Quote Generator, and the Flickr slideshow.While there's not a ton of widgets available just yet, there are around 32,000 developers in the Widgetbox community so I suspect the gallery will be populated pretty quickly. There's even a short video tutorial on how to make the iPhone widgets, in case you're curious -- or motivated.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Three web apps for space cadets with iPhones

If you're a space freak, then you'll want to have a look at these three super-cool web apps for your iPhone or iPod Touch. iSkyGaze tells you where to find various objects in the sky, depending on your location and the time of day. Sure, it'll show you where to look to see the sun and moon, but iSkyGaze also helps you spot things in deep space, like the Orion Nebula. This cool app even tells you how far away the object is, and the best time to see it.Want to know how the sky looked on any given date from the past 10 years? Starry Night Mobile will tell you. It can also predict what your overhead view will be 10 years into the future. Just enter a zip code, landmark, or address and let the app do the calculating for you. If checking out satellites or the International Space Station as it passes overhead is more your thing, then you'll love LookUp. Once you enter your location, the app will tell the precise time various orbiting objects will zoom by, complete with exact elevation stats and how much time you'll have to see it before it dips below the horizon.Oh, and here's a bonus app for all you werewolves.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

iLolcats on your iPhone

Looking for a cheezburger to go with your iPhone? You're in luck. The goofballs (and I say that with fondest affection) over at ICanHasCheezburger have created an official iPhone app so you can cart the cats around with you wherever you go. Just bookmark this on your phone's Safari browser and whenever you visit you'll be greeted by the 30 most recent lolcat pictures. It even updates every time there's a new post. Don't have an iPhone? To dream and drool, check out the demo page the creators put together (it's only viewable on a Mac). Now this site needs the same treatment.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

iPod touch owners rally to get new apps for free

When Steve Jobs announced five new apps for the iPod Touch yesterday, people were ecstatic -- for about ten seconds. Once he mentioned the upgrade would cost current iPod touch owners $20 (they're included on all new units), most of the comments from participants following the keynote in TUAW's IRC channel were largely unprintable. Apple's customers aren't usually the sort to take things lying down, however, so now there's an online petition calling on Apple to make the apps free to current customers. As I write this, there are close to 600 signatures and climbing.It's worth noting that Michael Rose and John Gruber pondered the possibility of iPod touch updates and user costs back in October 2007, as Apple's quarterly earnings report indicated that the iPhone's subscription accounting model was not being used for the touch. At the time it wasn't clear what would happen when functional updates to the iPod touch were released; now we know that they come with a price tag.[Thanks, Daniel!]
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

iPod Touch gets five new apps

Though there was plenty of other news at the Keynote today, iPod Touch users got a little love thrown their way today -- for a price. Master Steve announced that effective immediately, there are five new apps available for the Touch: Mail, Stocks, Notes, Weather, and Maps. Oh, and it will set current Touch owners back $20. Preview mail before you open it, display grapics and photos inline, and view HTML, PDF, Word, and Exel attachments. Stocks, Weather, and Notes all appear as widgets on your home screen. Google Maps determines your approximate location if Wi-Fi is on and gives you directions, marks specific locations (Starbucks?), and has both hybrid and satellite maps to show you the way. Granted, it's not as exciting as the iPhone update (nor is it, ahem, as free) -- but at least we've got notes and mail now, right? That ought to count for something.
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Smartphones

Smartphones By Lisa Hoover

Make your iPhone listen to your radio -- and tell you what's playing

Picture it: you're riding in the car and a great song comes on the radio. You're dying to know what it is so you can go buy it ASAP but there's no satellite radio receiver to tell you what's playing. How can you find out what song it is? Whip out your iPhone, put it near the car speakers, and watch the screen. Poof! There's the song, artist, and album.No, I am not kidding. Our own Erica Sadun was inspired by someone who came up with the original idea, she set off to make it happen, and the result is Listen. It's still "very beta" but, hey, it's still one of the coolest iPhone hacks I've ever heard of. Go check it out and let us know in the comments how it works for you.
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Reviews

Reviews By Lisa Hoover

Mini-review of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition

If you're trying to figure out what to buy yourself with the gift card you got this holiday season, let me recommend David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition. I was fortunate to get a copy of it for Christmas this year (thanks, sweetie!) and it's 866 pages of sweet, Leopard-y goodness. The book is divided into six sections that cover just about every conceivable thing you could ever want to know about the OS. It takes a look at how to maneuver around the desktop, how to use the native apps to their fullest potential, what to do with once your online with your Mac, and everything in between.If you already know your way around OS X, this manual is a terrific reference tool for looking up obscure things you don't do very often, like tweaking onscreen colors to mimic a Windows PC monitor. At the other end of the spectrum, if you're a switcher there are roughly seven trazillion tips and tricks to help you learn how to get the most out of your new operating system. Pogue's writing style is upbeat, easy to understand, and sometimes downright hilarious. The book is well laid-out and progresses fairly intuitively, although the editor seems to have gone a little crazy with the headings, sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings on many of the pages. Also, while I'm sure Pogue touches on all 300 of Leopard's new features, it's not always immediately clear which features he's describing are different from the previous version, Tiger.Despite these minor shortcomings, I love this book and think it's a great addition to any Mac users bookshelf. This manual is one you don't want to miss.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

VMware Fusion 1.1 released

Even though Leopard ships with Boot Camp, lots of Mac users still get their virtual groove on with VMware Fusion, and its super-slick window display tool Unity. Today VMware announced Fusion 1.1, an upgrade that sports some cool new features and improvements: As expected, the upgrade now supports Leopard Better 3D graphics via the "experimental support" for DirectX 9.0 Full Vista and XP support A beta version of VMware Importer, a tool that allows users to quickly import virtual machines (including Boot Camp) Overall better speed and performance All told, there are about 25 enhancements in Fusion 1.1. Pat Lee, VMware's senior product manager for Mac products, told me that this upgrade is "all about giving the user choice." He points out that the biggest advantage of Fusion over Boot Camp is the ability to access your Windows virtual machine on the fly. Lee says that, unlike Boot Camp, it's not necessary to shut down your Mac and reboot into Windows every time you want to get to a Windows app. Instead, just use the Unity tool to co-mingle your Windows and Mac apps right on the same screen. On the other hand, if dual-booting is your thing, you can always use Importer to create a virtual machine.The upgrade is free for existing customers. If you're ready to try it out for the first time, snag a free 30-day evaluation from the company Web site or purchase it for $59.99 with a $20 rebate (US only).
By Lisa Hoover Read More
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Computing

Computing By Lisa Hoover

Snatch back wasted disk space from Leopard's jaws

Blogger Christopher Price recently pointed out that Leopard is greedily eating up about 1 GB of disk space by dumping unnecessary language packs onto your computer's hard drive. Christopher makes two interesting points about this.First, the language bundles aren't necessary for typing or editing documents in other languages, they're simply there for translating the menus, dialog boxes, etc. of native apps. Second, a custom Leopard install won't help you avoid bundle overload because deselecting these files isn't an option.To wrench your precious disk space from the greedy jaws of Leopard, Price recommends deleting them with Youpi Optimizer. I ran the program on my Leopard-ized iMac and was amazed to find that it freed up more than 4 GB of space. My partner ran it on his Tigered MacBook Pro and he recovered around 2 GB.Price says he thinks the bundle bloat is a deliberate attempt by Apple to sell more computers with bigger hard drives. I don't necessarily agree with that but it did get me to wondering: What other unneeded files are lurking in our systems that we can delete without affecting performance? Thoughts? Ideas? Bueller?
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Mac 101: Whip your widgets into shape

Widgets are way too much fun. Though your Mac ships with a few of them already installed on the Dashboard, frankly they're kind of boring. I mean, how much fun is a calculator, clock, or calendar? Did you know there's a bunch more hiding in the far corners of your computer, and even more waiting to be discovered online? Let's take a look at where to find the extra goodies.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Check out Check Off for a simple to do list

Check Off is a free little tool that sits discreetly in your menu bar and pops open with a single click to display a basic to do list. I wasn't a big fan of Tiger's native to do list so I started using this a few months ago and it's been a pretty handy little app. Though it looks like Apple finally got its act together by incorporating a to do list into Mail.app, but I don't think I'll give up Check Off entirely since its bare bones functionality has come in rather handy sometimes.Check Off is mainly for jotting down quick notes on tasks you need to complete so don't expect it to do a lot of heavy lifting. If you just need something to keep you on track or are looking for another way to send a to do list to your iPod, though, then Check Off is just the thing. It's also somewhat tweakable -- you can drag and drop to sort folders, color-code your entries, and attach notes to each to do, if you're so inclined. Version 3.7 has just been released with Leopard compatibility and a few bug fixes.[Thanks Justin!]
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Apple

Apple By Lisa Hoover

24 hours of Leopard: Boot Camp

Features: Boot CampWhat it does: Atten-HUT! No more whinin' about how yer Mac won't run Windows without kickin' it around the block a few times. Leopard now comes with Boot Camp so you can tell your machine whether to come to the party dressed in its Leopard or Windows togs. (You, Soldier, better be wearin' yer camo!)Stop yer complainin' that yer drivers won't work right, neither. Our fine Admirals up at the Cupertino H-Q got ya covered. The Leopard DVD comes with everythin' you need -- if ya think you've got what it takes to handle it.Already running Boot Camp Beta? Well, ain't you special? Leopard walks you through the upgrade and gives you the new drivers that ya need. Who will use it: Soldiers who alternate OS X and Windows Vista or XP. Too much dual-bootin' goodness for ya? Toughen up! Get used to it. This is Leopard, ya big lug. Now drop and give me 20!
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Computing

Computing By Lisa Hoover

24 hours of Leopard: Spaces

Feature: SpacesHow it works: Enable Spaces by clicking its icon in the Dock, then create as many different desktops as you want and fill them with the apps you need to have open-- one for work, another for personal stuff, a third for miscellaneous. Or maybe one workspace for communication where you'll park Mail.app, Twitter, Facebook, and Adium; and another space to hold the things you need for the Keynote presentation you're working on: iPhoto, Text Edit, and Skitch.Switch easily from one workspace to another with the arrow keys, drag and drop apps from one workspace to another, add more Spaces, and assign apps to always open in a specific Space. There are tons of ways to make Spaces work for you and make your desktop, er, desktops look and behave just the way you want.Who will use it: Multi-taskers and people who like to have dozens of apps open at once.You can check out all our 24 Hours of Leopard posts here.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

24 hours of Leopard: Time Machine

Feature: Time Machine How it works: Plug an external hard drive into your Mac and Leopard will automatically detect it and ask if you want to enable the Time Machine back up option. Select yes, and you're done. Time Machine will automatically back up your entire hard drive but if you want to skip certain files or folders, simply tell it what to do in the preference pane.Time Machine is also handy for that dreaded "Why did I hit delete?" moment. If you accidentally trash that presentation you've been working on the night before you need it, just flip back through the files on the back up drive until you find what you need. Apple assumes that this will happen to everyone at some point, so they'll thoughtfully provided access to Time Machine right in Finder.Got more than one Mac? No problem. Multiple machines can be backed up onto one drive via your wireless network.Who will use it: Anyone who hates losing files, folders, documents, or media unexpectedly. So, pretty much everyone.More Q&A on Time Machine at our earlier post here.
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News

News By Lisa Hoover

iPod sets man's pants on fire

A Georgia man got a surprise recently when his iPod caught fire -- inside his pants pocket. Danny Williams was working at a kiosk at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when he says he noticed "flames coming up to his chest." It seems the year-old Nano he had in his pocket spontaneously combusted and the only thing that kept him from sustaining serious injury was a piece of paper in the same pocket that acted as a shield. Williams told Atlanta's WSB-TV, "If [the] TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist."Williams says Apple has offered to replace the Nano, and his mom notes she's relieved it didn't happen while he was sleeping or driving because the outcome could have been "much worse." Not that it's a good idea to keep your Nano in a pants pocket while driving, and many people sleep without pants, but you get the idea.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Smudge photos with Seashore

If you're looking for a quick and dirty way to smudge sensitive information in photos before putting them online then give Seashore a whirl. We've written about this neat little open source Mac-only app before and think it's great for basic image editing and touch-ups. To smudge parts of a photo, simply open the Seashore toolbar, then open the photo you want to edit. Select the "finger" icon from the left side of the toolbar and right-click on the mouse while dragging the cursor across the area you want to blur. Save the photo and you're done. Be advised, however, your blurring efforts can be undone just as easily so if you need to hide extremely sensitive information, you'll need to use another method.
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Computing

Computing By Lisa Hoover

Mac 101: Three Dock tips

There's a lot to love about the Mac's user-friendly desktop and one of my favorites is the Dock, otherwise known as "that spot at the bottom of the screen where all the application icons line up." Here are a handful of nifty tricks for the dock that new users might like to know about, and long-time users may have forgotten.
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Smartphones

Smartphones By Lisa Hoover

iPhone vs. dog: 1 - 0

The sight of a poor, defenseless Nano getting smashed under a tire was bad enough, but a dog versus iPhone story? Well, that's enough to bring a tear to the eye. Tyler Hall left his iPhone on a table recently while he took a shower and it seems his dog mistook it for a Snausage.Luckily, Tyler pried the phone away from Gracie before she could totally destroy it and the ringer/speaker seems to have sustained the most damage. The screen protector did its job and when Tyler removed it, there wasn't a mark on the glass.
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Mobile

Mobile By Lisa Hoover

iPod Touch spotted in some stores

An eagle-eyed and (understandably) excited reader let us know that the Apple Store Somerset in Troy, Michigan had a few iPod Touches for sale ahead of the September 28th ship date. A quick call to the store revealed Dan was right, they had 14 in stock but were already sold out. The store employee said that some retail stores, particularly on the East coast, have been receiving shipments already. He said that though they're mainly designed to be floor models, stores have been selling them to customers as well. He says the rolling shipments are expected to continue until the 28th when all the retail shops will have them in stock.The Apple Store employee added one last thought before the call was ended. "They're so worth the wait," he said. No doubt.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Adium update fixes memory leaks and Safari bugs

The folks behind Adium, the fantastic free and open source instant messaging client for Mac, have released a recommended upgrade that fixes 26 bugs and a bunch of other issues. Update 1.1.2 resolves a memory leak while viewing tooltips and AIM mobile contacts now display correctly. Several issues when using Safari 3.0 Beta have also been fixed, and libpurple has been upgraded to 2.1.1 to add limited MSN support. If you're disappointed that the upgrade doesn't offer any cosmetic changes, you could always dress up the dock duck on your own.
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Apps

Apps By Lisa Hoover

Mailplane 1.51 adds iMedia browser and support for more languages

A new update for Mailplane, an email client for Mac that's dedicated to Gmail, was released today. It sports a handful of bug fixes, integration with the Mac address book, and support for six new languages. An "iMedia browser" was added that allows users to drag and drop pictures, music, and movies right into an email without opening the associated iApp. You can even create a new Gmail account right inside Mailplane, and if you download a lot of files via Gmail, you'll also like the new feature that cleans up the download window at the touch of a button. Though Mailplane is still in private beta, you can apply to be a tester.
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