blogging
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Intel build of ecto 2.4.1 now available
Fellow ecto users running on Intel Macs - rejoice! While Adriaan has been teasing us with snippets of ecto3 details, he recently posted on his blog that it's taking a bit longer than expected to develop, largely in part because it's a complete re-write from the ground up. With that said, he has announced an Intel build of ecto 2.4.1 (Finder says it's Intel, not Universal), though it is not fully tested, nor will it be supported (hey, he's just one guy). If you've been using the previous PPC version on your Intel Mac, I am happy to report this Intel build starts up in the blink of an eye, or rather: the bounce of an app. One bounce in the dock on my Core 2 Duo iMac and this new ecto is ready for action.This new ecto 2.4.1 Intel version can be had from this ecto blog entry, as the standard download link from the site still points to the PPC version.
Nintendo of Japan press event: pseudo-live blogging [update 29]
Unfortunately, none of the Wii Fanboy staff reside in or speak the language of Japan. As such, we've committed ourselves to hitting the refresh key a whole crapload of times and scouring numerous chatrooms until we find out what the hell is going on over there. Check back constantly for any new developments!For the full story of the Seattle-PI/New York Times article, see here.Check after the break for the latest!
Sneak peek at ecto3
I prefer blogging with a desktop app. It just makes the experience that much better. One of the most widely used, cross platform, blogging apps is ecto. Ecto's developer decided to completely rewrite the app from the ground up for version 3. Here is now giving us a sneak peek over at his blog.Check if out for some screenshot goodness.
Blogphotopodcasting: Fanboy style
Major Nelson's latest podcast consists of a panel at the Penny Arcade Expo with an unwieldy title and one familiar participant. "Blogphotopodcasting: New Media in the Game Industry" features none other than Xbox360Fanboy's (and Joystiq's) Christopher Grant as a dulcet voice of reason.
Wordpress to ecto plugin
It's the general consensus of most Mac users I know that ecto is the blogging client of choice. One thing I find very important about casual blogging is being able to quickly and easily go from viewing content to posting content. This is done in many online blogging environments by javascript bookmarklets, and ecto offers the same thing. Simply click the link in your bookmark bar, and a window pops up ready for a new post. Chris Barna decided to go one better and integrate this functionality directly WordPress by way of a plugin. Once a user has installed he wp-ecto plugin on their site, readers will see, along with any other social bookmarking icons so common on many sites today, a little ecto icon. Pressing this brings up a new post within ecto complete with title and URL already filled in.
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
I knew Steve was a blogger! He's opinionated, passionate, and technologically savvy so it stands to reason that he would have a blog. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs gives us Macophiles a glimpse into the mind of the man who is responsible for most of the cool tech we love. Be sure to check out why the tech support folks in Apple stores are called Geniuses. Classic.And before the comments start filling up with 'OMG! This is fake. TUAW sucks!' we know it is a joke, so just enjoy.[via Daring Fireball]
Seen@Develop: BBC Tech Editor Darren Waters and Guardian GamesBlogger Greg Howson
On the second day of Develop, Jen and I got into a conversation with Darren Waters (right), the new Technology Editor over at BBC Interactive. In the middle of the conversation I mentioned The Guardian, and then the dude on the left piped up and said "I work for them". Turns out it was Greg Howson, a writer for The Guardian who blogs at The Guardian's GamesBlog. We spent most of the time talking about blogging: how the BBC wants to do it, how The Guardian is very brave to already be doing it and how we don't know anything else.Read - Greg's write-up of DevelopRead - Darren's interview with Bungie legend Marty O'Donnell (quaint picture)
The "Duh" factor: glossy, iSight Cinema Displays up next
Saw this on digg: Dennis Sellers, a writer over at Macsimum News writes:"Now that the MacBook Pro, MacBook and iMacs all have built-in iSights, it makes sense for Apple to revamp its display line and include the same feature" and "if such updated monitors are in the works, it will be interesting to see whether Apple offers them with glossy and non-glossy screen options as it does with the MacBook."Now, a bunch of -- what I can only assume to be matt screen loving/iSight hating -- digg users have reported that the story may be inaccurate, but how far from the truth can it be? You don't need to be a genius to see MacBooks with iSights and glossy screens and think "hey, maybe Apple will make new Cinema Displays with those features!" We even guessed this in the latest edition of the TUAW podcast just over a month ago -- if we could guess it, everyone and their dog should be able to! Yet more evidence that the majority of Apple rumors consist of Mac users looking at Apple's current line-up and letting their mind wander into the land of obvious features.When was the last time there was a factual Mac rumor about something that wasn't immediately obvious? Or, for that matter, the last time that an obvious Mac rumor was inaccurate?
Ecto3 development details posted
Adriaan of Kula Software, developers of such excellent apps as endo and my personal favorite blogging app - ecto, has posted some juicy development details to his blog on the upcoming ecto version 3. One of the biggest changes Adriaan mentions is a new plugin architecture, which should make it much easier for code ninjas to let ecto work with many more APIs. The account manager has also received an overhaul, and users will be able to create accounts without having to go through a wizard. Filtering and searching entries have also been improved and sped up, and a new rich text editor is based on Mac OS X's editable WebKit. Finally, Adriaan is also beefing up template support to "[handle] templates in a more transparent way".Alas, if your mouth is already watering (like mine), it's going to have to stay that way, as Adriaan hasn't posted any kind of ETA for the new version. On the bright side, he'll be updating his blog with details as development progresses, and you can be assured we'll stay on top of things for you.
TUAW wants you
Do you have an insatiable thirst for Mac news? Are you opinionated (yet sane)? Does writing excite you as much as cool Apple gear?If you answered yes to all of those questions then TUAW wants to hear from you! We're looking for a few good bloggers, and what better place to look than our great readers? If you are interested in the possibility of writing for one of the best Mac sites out there (yes, I am still talking about TUAW) then send a bio and three sample posts (written in TUAW's style) to tuawrocks AT gmail.com. If we like what we see we'll get back to you as soon as possible.Oh, and yes this is a paying gig (man cannot live on glowing comments alone).
Blogging with TextMate
There is a new screencast up at the TextMate blog showing off how you can blog right from TextMate. Watch the screencast and I think you'll agree with me that it is pretty darn cool. Now, I don't think I'll be giving up MarsEdit any time soon, but it is nice to know there are options out there.[via Daring Fireball]
Flock releases 0.7 beta
Finally, after months of small alpha version bumps, Flock, the social web browser based on Firefox, has unleashed a 0.7 beta with a whole slew of updates, improvements and bug fixes. Along with a site re-design, check out their blog entry for a thorough rundown of what's new and what's still on the way.This beta-worthy version has been a long time coming, and my copy is downloading as I write this. In case you aren't familiar: Flock has Firefox at its core, but includes a ton of features and capabilities built around the concept of using and interacting with the web - not just surfing it. Features like built-in blogging, uploading to/keeping tabs on Flickr and integrated del.icio.us bookmarking are all on the feature list. It's quite a slick browser if you've been looking for a solid, integrated tool for both browsing and participating in the web. Check it out.[via Download Squad]
RapidWeaver 3.5
RapidWeaver 3.5, the theme based website creator, has just been released by Realmac Software. This release is a Universal Binary, and includes new themes, CSS based photo galleries, 'feature rich blogging,' and SFTP support. This release also includes the ability to directly edit the HTML code, which will be a real boon to people who know HTML but also like nice GUI touches.The price has gone up slightly from $34.95 to $39.95Thanks to all who sent this in.Correction: I incorrectly said that you can edit HTML in RapidWeaver's new code view. Sadly, you can only view the code (and check for validation errors). Thanks to Tom for pointing this out.
Power to bloggers
This ain't strictly gaming related, but there's no doubt that the decision last week by a California appeals court to grant bloggers the same First Amendment rights that are afforded to traditional journalists can be a good thing for gamers. In a nutshell, the ruling means that we can't be forced by some wicked company to divulge the source of leaked information that we post on the blog. That means that information Joystiq sources send to us (either directly or via our anonymous tips form) and that we subsequently publish is generally protected under the First Amendment. This matters, because it improves the quantity and quality of information through us to you. Of course, company insiders who are considering divulging information to an online or offline writer of any sort still need to consider whether they can trust the writer to whom they intend to dish. The basic rules of relationships still apply, but this ruling should at the very least remove worry that those who publish online are somehow less protected than those who publish on dead trees.
Want to go to Blackwing Lair?
It's true - many players never have the chance to see the inside of these massive raid dungeons while others choose to avoid them. For those of you curious to see what the raid game is like, intrepid player (and blogger!) Zach will be live blogging a Blackwing Lair raid this Saturday, April 15th, at 7PM. So fire up a browser to alwaysBETA at the appointed time and see what large-scale raiding is like. As for me, I've got to wonder - how can you blog and raid at the same time?
A blogging tool in Hypercard?!
People loved Hypercard. People still love Hypercard. Tantek has built a blogging tool using Hypercard (that's him in the picture showing it off to some folks).Sadly there isn't too much info about this marvel on Tantek's website, but just knowing it exists makes me happy.[via vedana.net]
Flock updated, for real this time
Last week we thought the Firefox-based Flock browser had updated their developer preview to 0.60, adding a slew of new and updated features. A TUAW reader noted a slight mix-up in the actual version that was available for download, and everyone was left scratching their head.Over the weekend, I noticed that they actually have updated the developer preview - to version 0.5.11. While the version numbers are different, I'm pretty sure the added/updated features are still right on the money, and there's quite a few of them. As you can see in the release notes, new features include: Firefox-like auto-updating, a second online bookmark service, Shadows.com (which adds some neat ideas to the del.icio.us bookmark sharing paradigm), the ability to keep some bookmarks private, spell checking (c'mon, Firefox!), drag and drop Flickr uploading, better blogging and RSS engines, and much more.Once again, while this is still a developer preview (which means it will act funny and crash from time to time), I highly recommend checking out Flock if you'd like to see what a "social web browser" is all about.
Flock updates to 0.60, adds features
We've covered Flock before, but just in case you didn't catch our previous posts, here's a quick rundown: Flock is an OS X/Linux/Windows open source "social web browser" built on the Firefox core, offering various well-integrated tools for contributing back to the web you're browsing. Amongst other things, it has a built-in blogging tool, bookmarks are saved to online sharing services (del.icio.us, and now Shadows), Flickr surfing/uploading and a whole lot more.I bring this all back up because I just noticed that Flock has updated their developer preview to version 0.60, with a lot of additions and improvements: drag and drop Flickr uploading, searching Flickr by tags and text, a new blog editing engine with support for categories in WordPress and other MovableType-based blogs, the shelf can act as a topbar, a new online bookmark service (Shadows.com) with support for private online favorites (del.icio.us doesn't do that), a Technorati topbar, a better RSS reader and more.While Flock is still a developer preview - which really means pre-beta - I recommend you still give it a look. I heard a podcast interview with one of their higher-ups who didn't recommend anyone pick it up as their main browser, but they still do a good number of things that either haven't been done in other browsers, or simply aren't done nearly as well through plugins and extensions. You can download the developer preview here, as well as a full list of release notes and changes here.[UPDATE: I'm not sure what's up with the Flock download page, but version 0.60 is apparently not available for download (the links point to the previous 0.4.10 version). TUAW reader Joel noted in the comments that the most recent version, 0.5.10, is available from the hourly builds page.]
NetNewsWire to iWeb applescript
I think I've finally found the last reason I need to move my personal blog over to iWeb, thanks to a Ranchero blog post. The NetNewsWire to iWeb Applescript app bundle is pretty simple to set up: download the script and place it wherever you want. In NNW, simply chose this script (NOT iWeb) as your external weblog editor, and *bam* - you can now use Apple's slick new WYSIWYG iLife web app to blog NNW headlines to your heart's content.At the bottom of the post, the script's author mentions the possibility of creating similar scripts for Blogger.com and iBlog, just in case iWeb isn't your blog tool of choice.
Apple releases iLife 06, Photocasting, iWeb addition
Apple today unveiled iLife 06, a major update to their award-winning suite of multimedia applications. The largest updates came to iPhoto, which can now handle 250,000 photos and features better, full-screen editing options. A major new feature is called Photocasting, which will allow an iPhoto user to publish their photos to the web using RSS technology, allowing anyone to subscribe to a feed of their images and the ability to be notified of updates. You can also subscribe through your own copy of iPhoto 06, which will allow you to actually download the images and use them as if they were your own, enabling editing as well as ordering prints, cards and now calendars.GarageBand 3 now features a "Podcast Recording Studio," along with professional podcast sounds, a Podcast Radio Engineer, iChat Interview Recording and iMovie Scoring.iMovie HD 6 adds Apple-designed iMovie themes, real-time effects, cinematic real-time titling, enhanced audio tools and effects, multiple open projects and video podcast/blogging abilities.iDVD 6 brings Magic DVD, widescreen DVD abilities, an enhanced map view and the much-requested compatibility with 3rd-party DVD burners to the table.A new addition to the iLife family is iWeb, a much rumored new app that does what everyone had assumed: it will allow .Mac members to easily publish content from other iLife apps such as podcasts, imovies, photos, blogs and more to their .Mac space. It features Apple-designed templates, easy flexible site creation, and iLife media browser and one-click .Mac publishing. I guess there was a reason behind that 1 TB bandwidth upgrade back in Dec.Even with all these great new features, iLife 06 still sells a single license for only $79, with a 5-license pack for $99, and is available today at the online store. I'm sure local stores will have it in soon, as well.
