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GPS-enabled wind chimes sound off while geo-tracking
If you think the Dandellas were outlandish uses of GPS technology, here's one that comes mighty close to one-upping even those. The GPS-enabled wind chimes have DIY written all over them, and while the chimes themselves where purchased (after a failed attempt at creating his own, notably), basically everything else that makes the system tick was homegrown. Utilizing Mologogo, servos, circuit boards, and a good bit of coding, the GPS chimes emit their music whenever the tracked individual's cellphone moves in a user-selected path, essentially acting as an alert that someone's headed to their domicile. Of course, the actual options here are a tad limited (albeit very intriguing), but the foundation of the project could indeed be used for a much broader geo-tracking scenario. Regardless, we know there are folks out there eager to give this a whirl, and thankfully for you, everything you need to know (including the oh-so-critical code) is just a Read link away.[Via MAKE]
Daring DIY'er devises homegrown heart monitoring device
While there's already a plethora of safe, proven methods to monitor your heart rate, there's just no satisfaction in buying an off the shelf BioShirt when you know you possess the skills (and spare time) to craft a system of your own. Interested in making his own mark in biomedical engineering, a crafty individual set out to build his own electrocardiograph for nothing more than fun, but rather than keeping his homegrown work all to himself, he busted out a set of instructions in order for us less inventive souls to replicate the process. Aside from creating an ECG board, reading results with LABView, and having the nerve to actually strap leads to your body and hope that you don't electrocute yourself, there's still a good bit of coding and behind the scenes work necessary to pull this off. So if you never got around to going to medical school, but you know you've got the DIY skills to operate a heart monitoring system in your home office, be sure to hit the read link and read that blurb about "destroying your nervous system" real carefully.[Via MAKE]
iWebFlinger - the HTML and FTP uploading tool
iWebFlinger is great for those who want to use HTML to customize their iWeb sites, but they neither have nor want a .Mac account with which to publish. On the customization front, this useful tool allows you to insert code into your iWeb sites by wrapping it in a specific tag, as well as customizing the site-wide header and footer with dedicated chunks of code (pictured). As far as getting your recently-created iWeb site to where it's going, iWebFlinger's FTP features are pretty handy. Your password is stored in the system-wide Keychain, and you can even upload a favicon (the neat little custom icons that appear alongside a site's URL in the address bar). iWebFlinger also has the option to be smart about exactly which files it needs to upload and replace, which can save a lot of time when you make additions or changes to your site. iWebFlinger is donationware from Chris J. Shull, and it's available at his site.
Learn Cocoa, Part II
When we posted about Part I of Scott Stevenson's Learn Cocoa tutorial, some people complained that there wasn't actually any coding involved. Well Part II at least introduces what Scott calls "Thinking in Code" and begins to dig a little deeper into what is required to actually use Xcode to write a Cocoa application. Obviously, Scott is moving very slowly, as yet again he requires no previous experience, but his lavishly illustrated guide is a pleasure to behold. He holds out the promise of more such guides in the future, provided some donations are forthcoming. Given how well he's done so far, I hope that comes to pass. Check it out at Cocoa Dev Central.
Hackers attempt to break the internet, fail miserably
Alright folks, you should all be well aware by now that the internet ain't nothin' to mess with, but apparently a few folks in the South Korea area have just learned that the hard way. In what is being called the most severe attack on the web since the barrage of 2002, the same 13 "root servers" were targeted within the past 24 hours in a presumed attempt to disrupt global network traffic. Hackers were able to "briefly overwhelm" three of the 13 computers managing virtual thoroughfare with a series of "powerful attacks lasting as long as 12 hours," and while even the Homeland Security Department confirmed that it had witnessed "anomalous" internet traffic, most of the digital world hummed along without a care. Motives for the attack still aren't clear, but initial reports are suggesting that extortion of data or other malicious intent is probably unlikely, and what's more probable is a few folks trying to disguise data coming from South Korea were just having a bit of frowned-upon fun. Now, who else in the world thinks they can single handedly dismantle the internet?
Ruby + AppleScript = RubyOSA
Our friends at Download Squad have discovered a melding of two scripting worlds: AppleScript and Ruby. RubyOSA is the darling scriptenstein of these two languages, and while I don't know a lick of either, I'm willing to bet this could be a popular amongst the code ninjas in the audience. Ruby is a popular language (the 13th most popular, by their numbers), and it's the foundation of the Ruby on Rails framework which has given us such handy web 2.0 apps as Backpack, Odeo, Strongspace and many more.This is about the line, however, that I reach where I would need to start pretending I know more about any of these languages, so I'll let you check out RubyOSA for yourself to see if it gets your coding gears turning.
Ex-delegate gets Diebold voting code in mail
With all the recent blunders and whistleblower interviews about the Diebold electronic voting fiasco, it would have been easy to believe that it couldn't get any worse for Diebold Systems. That's probably what Cheryl C. Kagan, an ex-Democratic delegate and an outspoken critic of Maryland's election chief, thought before she received a parcel containing the code that ran Maryland's electronic voting machines in the 2004 election, along with a note calling for her to "alert the media." Although Diebold Election Systems claims that the code is old and does not infringe the security of the current up-to-date system, the fact that it was sent at all exposes a fundamental security flaw in Diebold System's supposed "glitch-free" setup. The only viable solution to all this -- which would make voters happy and give Diebold Systems *some* credibility -- is if the code is released in an open source form. Even though we'd like to believe that the current version of Diebold's voting code (4.6) is more secure that the leaked code (4.3.15c), the litany of security failures on Diebold's part gives us little reason to trust them.
More support for the Wii single friend code system
Based on a report by UK Channel 4's tele-text service, Gamecentral, the single friend code system that works differently than the DS per-game code and has been speculated to be the way Nintendo is going on the Wii is getting some support. Gamecentral is backing up these claims, citing that players can look forward to having one individual friend code and not be forced to remember codes or look them up on a per-game basis.
BBEdit 8.5 released with new UI, code folding, clippings - 160 total improvements
Bare Bones Software really knows how to deliver a .5 release, as the have just announced v8.5 of BBEdit, their powerful and professional HTML and code editor. Amongst the total 160 new and updated features is a revamped UI for both the app and its now-searchable preferences, 'code folding' for collapsing sections of a document for greater legibility, a revamped Clippings feature for re-using snippets of text and code, new languages, auto-save and much, much more.At $199, this editor definitely isn't for the faint of heart, and it's definitely why 'professional' is included in the product's description. However, for owners of previous versions, Bare Bones has quite possibly the most agreeable upgrade terms we've ever seen for an application: owners of any BBEdit v8.0 and above can upgrade for a mere $30, though if you purchased v8.2 after 1/1/06, it's free. For owners of v7.1.4 and earlier, the upgrade is only $40. a 30 day demo of this Universal Binary app is, of course, available from Bare Bones Software.[via Mac DevCenter]
Questions about BitRocket abound
News is coming in via digg commenters and posts on forum threads linked therein which seems to indicate and give evidence that BitRocket uses code taken from the Transmission.app source without giving any attribution as required by the MIT license under which Transmission is released. These accusations are further supported by the fact that the developer of BitRocket, Julian Ashton, previously developed XFactor, a P2P application, which was proven to take code from the Poisoned project, again without proper attribution. Update: Scott, our fearless leader, did some digging and found a post on the forum thread linked that I seem to have missed. According to at least one account, BitRocket does properly credit the source it uses.
Leopard preview versions all but confirmed for WWDC attendees?
Sample code posted at the ADC could prove that preview versions of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard might be unleashed to WWDC attendees next week. The page has since been taken down, but DuggMirror retained a copy for our speculating eyes.The piece of sample code is QTNoStepsDemo, a meaningless chunk of code to us non-developers, but one aspect of the page (posted on Apple's site 8/01/2006) is what raised the flag: the code's build requirements specify "Leopard Preview". If this page is legit, it certainly isn't a blatant statement from Apple that Leopard will indeed be unleashed to our developer overlords, but it definitely is suspect. As with all other tidbits we've been uncovering over the past few weeks, we'll just have to stay tuned for Monday's events to see what Apple's engineers have up their sleeves.Thanks, Jesper.
More 'evidence' of a looming iPhone uncovered
If you still aren't tired of yet more iPhone rumors, here's a fairly juice one that's fueled by the crafty digital sleuthing of an AppleInsider reader. By dissecting the latest iPod firmware update, the reader found references to "t_feature_app_PHONE_APP" and variables such as "kPhoneSignalStrength", "prPhoneSettingsMenu" and more. To further fuel the fire, it's unlikely that this code has anything to do with the Motorola phones as they use an entirely different operating system. If you're interested in seeing the rest of the findings, including references to an iPod-based search application and an iPod keyboard, check out this AppleInsider forum thread.Engadget is betting that we could see this now-infamous iPhone as soon as WWDC, beginning Monday August 7th, 2006. I guess time will only tell if Steve pulls an Apple-branded phone out of his jeans any time soon.
How to ask development questions 101
If you are a budding developer, there are a few different ways to seek help from your peers. Whether you send an email off to your hero developer or jump into a chat room, it's not just what you ask, but how you ask the question that can make all the difference. Mike Ash, a programmer for Rogue Amoeba (purveyors of Airfoil, Audio Hijack and Nicecast), has written a 10-point article of sorts offering advice on how to ask your coding questions so you can get the right answers. While I am in no way a code ninja of any sorts, I can see that many of Mike's points center on bringing clarity to the questions you ask so those taking time to help you understand the question, instead of having to spend most of their time trying to glean the proper question out of you.Mike's Getting Answers should be an insightful read for any developers who are (or perhaps: should be) seeking help on how to get help with their projects.[via Daring Fireball]
OSx86 Project announces forum reorganization and upcoming name change, hints at new features
I just received an email from the OSx86 Project announcing a few recent and upcoming changes they have and will be making to the site. Last week they reorganized the forums to make the browsing and searching process easier, but in the upcoming weeks (by the end of the month, they promise), a host of new features will debut on the site, including blogging, a picture sharing gallery and a marketplace, along with a new name: Insanely Mac. It should be interesting to see (what I believe is) the first major upgrade to the already 39K+ member forum.
BuildFactory - automation for developers
I'm no developer, but I can call a good dev tool when I see one. BuildFactory from Bleep Software sounds like 'Automator for developers', with features like automated builds, building refreshed sources from Subversion, using your own external editor for errors and warnings, and building multiple projects with one click. A healthy dose of other features are offered in this handy tool, so why not check them out for yourself or watch some tutorials to see BuildFactory in action. The author has even posted a poll on the main product page to find out what features developers would most like to see added. At least you can't say BuildFactory's dev doesn't care about feedback.A demo of BuildFactory is available, while single licenses sell for $35, with a 5-pack for $150.
O2 makes reviving locked phones a little easier
If you've ever found yourself facing a locked phone asking for its PUK code, you know that you're kinda in a bind when that happens. Typically you need to call your carrier, wait the standard 3.44 minutes for a rep to answer, provide some identifying information so they know you're who you say you are, and you get your code. Phone thieves, rejoice: O2 is now offering PUK codes through its website to anyone providing little more than a phone number. Granted, very few people actually lock their SIMs down with a PIN and PUK, but for those that do on O2, your safety margin just got a little smaller.[Via textually.org]
A browser just for Gmail
In a dual gesture of both kicking Mail.app to the curb and flexing the power of Xcode, Michael McCracken has built his own streamlined browser just for using Gmail. Quirky browser behaviors and avoiding the distractions that come from multiple browser windows and bookmark bars prompted this 10-line coding experiment.The resulting WebMail.app is exactly what Michael set out to create: a very slim Gmail viewer (you don't even get an address bar) based on WebKit. It works well, though there are quirks when having to do anything browser-related with it. Clicking a link in a message, for example, creates a new window in WebMail.app, not your default browser. Minor quirks aside, if you're in the same boat as Michael and you want a browser window just for using Gmail so you can retain things like your labels and alternate-email address abilities, this might be right up your alley.Personally, I'm very tempted to use this since I too have joined the ranks of kicking Mail.app to the curb (running it only on occasion to download and archive my email). However, some of the Greasemonkey scripts for Gmail that I've been using in Firefox have become indispensable to how I work with Gmail; being able to move between labels, trash messages and even label messages all with a couple strokes of the keyboard rivals even desktop email app functionality. It would be great to see someone run with WebMail.app (Michael bundles the source in his download) and add some javascript ninja coding to combine the beauty of WebKit with the functionality of those Gmail script abilities to create one rockin' Gmail app.*sigh* A Gmail-using blogger can dream, can't he?[via Hawk Wings]
WWDC Student Scholarship Program now open
TUAW reader Nolan B noticed that ADC (Apple Developer Connection) student members can now apply for a scholarship to WWDC 2006, Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference, being held August 7-11 this year in San Francisco. Scholarship winners receive a free ticket which includes total access to all technical sessions and special events - a $1595 USD value in all.Applications are due April 28th, so you'd better get crackin'. Check out the scholarship rules and WWDC FAQ sections for more information, and then wait patiently until June to find out if you'll be attending WWDC on Apple's dime.
Close brackets and braces easily with AutoPairs
If you're the type that spends the day staring at a display and typing code, we'd bet you'd appreciate any utility that will make the process easier. Check out AutoPairs. It's a Mac OS X preference pane that closes your brackets, braces and quotes for you. Type a left bracket, for instance, and a right bracket and left arrow appear. Pretty spiffy, especially when you consider that BBEdit doesn't do this out of the box.Note that, since AutoPairs is a preference pane plug-in, it won't work under Rosetta, though the developer promises that a universal version is in the works. AutoPairs requires Panther or better and is free.[Via ...on a long piece of string]
Security flaw found in iTunes and QuickTime
Apple has announced a security flaw has been found in the latest version of iTunes 6.0.1 and 6.0.2, as well as QuickTime 7.0.3 and 7.0.4 that affects both Mac OS X and Windows. The flaw could allow an attacker to run code as the currently logged in user, which is typically worse news for Windows users, but is still not something Mac user should take lightly.While Apple is working on a patch, I thought this sentence from a PC Pro article was somewhat interesting: "[Apple] will have around two months to issue a suitable fix before it comes under pressure, as the flaw is only at the initial report stage of the process." I wonder what exactly that means - is there some kind of industry consensus that has to be met? Or do they just mean that most people who exploit flaws like this don't use RSS readers and won't find out about the flaw for a month or two? Hopefully, we won't have to find out.[via MacMinute]
