daniel jalkut
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Why apps in Mountain Lion might need to see your address data
In OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has added extra protection around the address book and restricted apps from gaining access to the contents without a user's permission. This added security is beneficial for users, but it poses a communication problem for developers who need to access the address book for feedback or crash reports, says Daniel Jalkut in a post on his Red Sweater blog. Developers who generate a bug report or feedback request within their app must deal with the foreboding dialog shown above when they try to populate the fields of a contact form using data contained in the "Me" card. Not only does the dialog confuse the user, it also makes it appear that the app is doing something nefarious when it's actually not. Working off a tip from Panic founder Cabel Sasser, Jalkut has devised a way to add a friendly tone to the dialog that'll explain to users why the app needs to pull information from the address book. According to Jalkut, you can modify the Info.plist file and add a string for the NSContactsUsageDescription key. This key will tell the user why the app needs the contact information and will appear the first time the app tries to gain access to the address book. You can read more about this solution on Jalkut's Red Sweater blog and in the documentation on Apple's website. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Mountain Lion: Get your RSS button back in Safari 6
One of the most irritating omissions from Safari 6 -- the default Web browser in OS X Mountain Lion -- is that the RSS button has been removed from near the address bar. In fact, Safari no longer supports RSS feed reading natively, either. The feature page for Safari on Apple's site makes no mention of RSS now, leaving Mac users to rely on other browsers or standalone clients for RSS reading. Even with the removed reading capability, the RSS subscribe button is missed. It made it a one-click solution to subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed on any website providing such a feed. Now developer Daniel Jalkut (Red Sweater Software) has stepped in with a free, "beta-quality" Safari extension to bring the feature back to Safari 6. The Subscribe to Feed extension (link to blog post) adds a button to your toolbar that, when clicked with a page open that is offering an RSS or Atom feed, opens the feed:// link and opens your default news reader. If a website doesn't offer a feed, the button remains grayed out. It should be noted that if a website already provides an RSS button, clicking it performs the same action. However, Jalkut's extension works well for those sites that do not have an obvious RSS button but are still providing a feed. Many thanks to Daniel for this outstanding service to the Mac community.
Mac App Store now requires a 1024x1024 app icon
Developer Daniel Jalkut notes that the latest requirements for the Mac App Store include an app icon that's at least 1024x1024 pixels, which is extraordinarily huge. To put that in perspective, each and every submission to the Mac App Store going forward needs to include an icon that's bigger than my MacBook's display (1280x800), and bigger even than a standard resolution iPhone or iPad screen. That's a big icon for sure. The main reason for an icon this big is the Retina display, currently implemented on the MacBook Pro with Retina display, but presumably coming to even more Mac screens in the future. Icons like this are also used in the Mac App Store in various places, and because Apple's screens are including more and more pixels all the time, bigger icons are required. The drawback, however, is that a huge icon like this uses up more and more disk space in the app's bundle, not only taking room on the user's hard drive, but also taking up space in the computer's memory when rendered. On cutting edge computers, that's not an issue, but when you're showing dozens or hundreds of icons like this at a time, that memory can add up. Apparently that's a trade-off Apple's happy to make. [via Shawn Blanc]
MacTech 2010: Daniel Jalkut on the Mac App Store and more
Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software (creator developer of MarsEdit, a TUAW favorite app for blogging) gave a talk at MacTech 2010 this morning about unit testing Mac apps, and while his developer talk was mostly over our heads, he did kindly allow us to corner him afterwards to chat about the state of Mac development and what he expects out of Apple's upcoming Mac App Store. Like most of the developers we've met up with at the conference this week, Jalkut is hesitant but optimistic about the way the Mac App Store will work. His most recent issue is with so-called "land grabbers" on the App Store -- some developers are already grabbing up names (since submissions just started recently), and Jalkut is worried that Apple regulations means he won't be able to call his upcoming iPhone app by the same name as his widely used Mac app. "Which, as you can imagine," he told me, "is kind of a challenge and a problem."
Register now for MacTech 2010, $50 off for TUAW readers
Registration has begun for the inaugural MacTech conference, taking place from November 3-5 in Los Angeles, CA. The conference is a three-day series of sessions covering IT, programming and development, and it will feature presentations by lots of Mac and tech luminaries, including Wil Shipley, Daniel Jalkut, Mike Lee, and a keynote by none other than Andy Ihnatko. And if that's not enough, there will also be an evening out at the Griffith Observatory, as well as a party featuring the opportunity to go bowling and raise some money for charity with MacTech Bowl. If MacTech 2010 sounds like your idea of a good time, check this out. As a media sponsor of the conference, TUAW has a special discount for our readers; you can go to this registration URL and get your ticket for $50 off of the usual price, as long as you order by September 27th. If you do end up going, keep an eye out for me -- I'm planning to be there, covering all of the goings-on for TUAW. If you bring an app to show off, I'll be happy to take a look at it. Seems like it'll be an excellent time -- hope to see you there!
Inside view of the iPhone Tech Talks from Daniel Jalkut
The following is a guest post from developer Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater. Daniel recently attended an Apple iPhone Tech Talk, and came away inspired. He's also been gracious enough to share his experience on TUAW. Apple's Technology Evangelists have spent the last 3 months touring the USA, Europe and Asia with advice on how to best take advantage of the iPhone's technologies. According to Daniel, it's a fantastic event. --Ed. Apple's iPhone tech talks are incredible. The format consists of instructional presentations akin to what developers would find at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). But while WWDC lasts an entire week, tech talks are limited to a single day of sessions which Apple takes on the road, presenting in hotel conference rooms around the world. On December 1, I attended the New York City tech talk, at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. The event attracted developers from all over the northeast of the United States (and beyond), because the number of cities Apple takes the tour to is pretty limited. Many folks traveling to New York City end up paying quite a bit for travel and lodging expenses, but that is greatly offset by another impressive aspect of the talks: they are completely free. Developers have to sign up early and then hope for acceptance, but if you're admitted, the entire thing is paid for including lunch, snacks and a wine reception at the end of the day. Very classy, Apple.
MarsEdit 2.1.3 helps keep drafts in WP and Blogger
Daniel Jalkut posts that TUAW's favorite blogging app, MarsEdit, has hit version 2.1.3. Mainly a bug fix update, the biggest change is that drafts in WordPress and Blogger are now better handled -- their "draft" status is apparently better preserved.Additionally, a few markup elements, specifically "#tags#" and "#askurl#" have been tweaked to work better, and there is also improved handling of URLs in localhost-based blogs.MarsEdit is available, as always, for $29.95 from Red Sweater, or free for a 30-day trial period.
Usable Keychain Scripting updated for Leopard
Daniel Jalkut put together a little app called "Usable Keychain Scripting" a little while ago that was designed (what else?) to make scripting the Keychain a little more usable -- the interface included in OS X is bad, to say the least. He was apparently hoping that it would be better in Leopard, but no dice -- we're all using the new version, and it's still a pain to access the Keychain with AppleScript.So he's updated UKS to version 1.0b3. It's still a free download (and I'm guessing he still hasn't added the ability to set values of Keychain items, but only because he was justifiably worried that doing something wrong would have terrible consequences). If you've already been using it, you should be happy to see a new version, and if you haven't tried it yet, but do a lot of Keychain scripting, hopefully it'll make the interface a little less painful.
Twitter undo AppleScript
If you use Twitter via the web, you can simply click the trash can next to that last tweet that had a typo or - *gasp* - you realized all too late shouldn't be public. If you use something like the TUAW favorite Twitterrific from the Iconfactory, however, you're at a loss, as it features no such trash can. Fortunately, Daniel Jalkut (of such fine Red Sweater Software products as MarsEdit, FlexTime and FastScripts) has posted enough embarrassing tweets to warrant the creation of a Twitter undo AppleScript that automates the deletion if your previous tweet, and he is provided it free of charge from the Red Sweater Blog. By default, all you need is Jalkut's excellent FastScripts product (either the commercial version or its free little brother), and you can simply follow his brief instructions to get set up with a Twitter safety net. Note that if you use external apps like Twitterrific you won't actually see the tweet disappear from your account. However, if you see the delete confirmation that Jalkut's script is designed to display upon successful operation, the tweet should actually have been deleted and you can check your actual Twitter.com account page to be sure.
WWDC Lost Episode: Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Software
Click To Play Digging through the archives we came upon the lost tape of WWDC: an interview with Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software. Red Sweater sells MarsEdit and Black Ink, among other apps. Daniel was kind enough to talk WWDC, iPhone and show us around Black Ink, a very nice crossword app.NOTE: Sorry about the interlacing issues!
MarsEdit 1.2 lands with Growl, Picasa and Vox support
Making good on his word after purchasing MarsEdit from Brent Simmons, Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software has quickly taken up development of the blogging client. Today Daniel released MarsEdit 1.2, a minor update that brings some great features like Growl support (when publishing, refreshing or uploading images and files) and Picasa upload support for Blogger.com images, as well as support for blogging to Vox, the community-focused blogging system from Six Aparts, makers of Live Journal and TypePad. For anyone who needs the power of Mac OS X while blogging, MarsEdit is a great great choice that offers a wealth of other features for a mere $24.95. A demo is of course also available from Red Sweater Software.
