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Nisus updates Writer Pro for Lion
Nisus has updated its Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express software with full OS X 10.7 Lion-compatibility and full-screen features. Besides the Lion features, Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.1 adds a number of requested features like drawing tools, track changes, and watermarks. Nisus Writer Express 3.4 also adds a file importer that is compatible with both Intel and PowerPC Macs. Nisus Writer has been around for the Mac since 1989 and was the first word processor to handle multiple type systems in its file format. Since then the program has begun to show its age. The UI is a little clunky, retaining a OS X Jaguar-style look that many who are used to Word or Pages might not appreciate. However, for you old timers, the Nisus Writer updates are a nice touch to ensure continued compatibility with the latest OS X. Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro are universal apps and require Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger) or later. Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.1 is available online for US$79.00 or a $49.00 upgrade price for owners of 1.x. A three license Family Pack is also available for $99.00. Nisus Writer Express 3.4 is $45 or $30 for the upgrade version. A three license Family Pack is available for $79. These updates are free to current license holders of Express 3.x and Pro.
Apple releases MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2 (Update: Mac mini updated too)
Apple has released MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2 for 2011-model MacBook Pros. The update addresses the same Thunderbolt and OS X Lion Internet Recovery issues as the EFI Firmware Update issued two days ago for 2011-model MacBook Airs. The 4.17 MB firmware update is available at Apple's site and requires you to ensure that power is not interrupted to your MacBook Pro during the update; firmware updates are Serious Business which, if interrupted, can put your Mac in Very Bad Shape. Other sites have noted that the recent spate of firmware updates for Thunderbolt-enabled Macs points to the imminent availability of Apple's new Thunderbolt-enabled Cinema Display. Update: The 2011-model Mac mini has been issued the same firmware update to address the same issues.
Macworld's tips to make OS X Lion's iCal less annoying
The changes made to iCal in OS X Lion have definitely been polarizing, and even some of the novice Mac users I know have found some of them questionable. The word "fugly" has come up more than once when discussing iCal's new faux-leather trim, an interface choice that makes a little more sense on the iPad than it does on the Mac. Macworld came up with a few tips to dispatch some of the annoyances introduced in OS X Lion's version of iCal, including the new UI elements. Rather than copy all Macworld's tips here wholesale, I'll recommend you head there and check their advice for yourself. I will highlight one of their tips: getting rid of that execrable leather trim is not only possible, it's quite easy via a third-party program called Lion Tweaks, recommended by Macworld. The application bundles together several of the Lion-related tweaks covered here and elsewhere in an interface that's about as simple as it gets. Reverting iCal's skin to a nice, bland aluminum took less than a minute, and my eyes thank me for it. It's a modestly "hacky" solution to a purely aesthetic problem, but it's preferable to that oddball skeuomorphic design. Even after implementing all the recommended tweaks, it's worth noting that the article writer himself says that ultimately, "Use a better calendar program" is his top recommendation. For my part, the only reason I stick with iCal on the Mac is its integration with the Calendar apps on the iPhone and iPad via MobileMe (and soon iCloud).
MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.1 addresses Thunderbolt issues
Apple has released MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.1 to address issues with Thunderbolt performance and OS X Lion Recovery over the Internet on 2011-model MacBook Airs. According to Apple, the update is intended to "resolve issues with Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode performance on MacBook Air (mid 2011) models." The 3.99 MB update is fairly large as firmware updates go (they're usually less than a megabyte), and as with all firmware updates, Apple emphasizes that you must not interrupt your Mac's power during the update lest you risk turning it into a very attractive brick. The update requires OS X Lion, which is pre-installed on affected model MacBook Airs.
New OS X 10.7.2 seed posted
The latest developer seed build of the next version of the Mac's OS is available for download. OS X 10.7.2 build 11C55 is on Apple's servers, and it reportedly includes iCloud beta features for testing. As always, we remind developers and testers to read the release notes carefully before installing.
Laptop magazine gives Lion the thumbs-up over Windows 7
This week, Laptop compared OS X Lion versus Windows 7 to determine which operating system was "better," both overall and in individual features. OS X Lion took Laptop's top overall score, mostly on the strength of Lion's better interface, Multi-Touch gestures, Spotlight, iLife, and Time Machine. Lion's parental controls also got the nod for being slightly broader in scope than those offered in Windows 7, and Lion was also hailed as a more secure OS than Windows -- not for the usual "security by obscurity" reasons that such studies usually like to hammer to death, but for real improvements in the more secure way Lion handles applications. Windows 7 offered a better multitasking experience for Laptop's money; the magazine considered Mission Control a decent but "confusing" interface in Lion. Windows 7 also took the crown for a better gaming experience -- I don't think anyone will be surprised by that -- and the magazine also considered Internet Explorer a better native browser than Safari. I'll be honest, I hate Internet Explorer more than I'm comfortable describing fully in a "family-friendly" format; however, as long as I'm being honest I'll also say that aside from iTunes, Safari feels like the part of OS X that still needs the most work. Apple's added some gee-whiz features like Reader to its browser, but in terms of overall functionality (and stability) Safari doesn't feel like it's changed much in the past couple years. Unless you're counting the nasty new memory leak introduced with Safari 5.1, that is, or the tab-reloading oddness that's causing issues. The one portion of Laptop's rankings that I strongly disagree with is the magazine awarding Windows 7 higher marks for value than OS X Lion. The main reason I disagree with their analysis is that they don't actually compare Lion to Windows; instead, they compare Macs to PCs. While it's generally true that Mac hardware is more expensive than "equivalent" PC hardware, if you're going to make an apples-to-apples comparison you need to compare the operating systems themselves and not the hardware they run on. And as we've pointed out in the past, in terms of value for money OS X Lion blows all versions of Windows 7 away. Naturally, since the magazine put Lion on top it's being roundly accused of a pro-Apple bias by Windows fans who can't seem to accept that Apple does indeed manage to do some things better than Microsoft. But with the sole exception of the "value" category, I'd say Laptop's comparison was fairly even-handed overall. I'll reluctantly admit that Windows is still better at some things than OS X, but just as Laptop claims, I maintain OS X Lion is the better choice overall. Hat tip to Mark S.
Snow Leopard and Lion neck and neck on Thunderbolt file transfers
Macworld has been doing some more testing in Thunderbolt performance, this time between the Snow Leopard and Lion operating systems. The results say that if you spent that $30 on Lion just so your Thunderbolt connection would go faster, you probably wasted your money. Results weren't that different, coming in only a few megabytes a second apart but still well within the optimum speed for the various transfer services. In general, Thunderbolt's going to be fast no matter what operating system you're using it on. Macworld also did some testing between the MacBook Air and the 17" MacBook Pro, and again, while the Air's flash memory gave it the edge in a file writing test, most of the speeds didn't differ more than a couple of megabytes. In other words, there are quite a few other, more important considerations to keep in mind when you're looking for a system, besides just how it runs Thunderbolt. If you're looking for what will really limit or boost your file transfer performance, you'd do better to look elsewhere.
Dear Aunt TUAW: What's wrong with Lion VNC?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I recently upgraded to Lion 10.7 and have found that VNC (I use iteleport) on Lion has not been working. I have searched far and wide across the jungles and valleys of the interweb to no avail. I did find that I am not the only one having this problem. Any help you could provide would be much appreciated Thanks, Niko Dear Niko, Apple's Screen Sharing / Remote Desktop Server appears to have a bug related to mouse movement feedback. Auntie contacted iTeleport Mobile, who helpfully pointed her to this page. Apple says they're working on a fix. In the meantime, iTeleport offers a workaround by suggesting you adjust your primary display so it lies to the left of all other displays. What's more, Jahanzeb Sherwani of iTeleport promised to get in touch with you directly to help you work through your current problems. Expect a letter in your in-box. Thank you, Jahanzeb! Hugs, Auntie T.
Three ways to change Lion's Finder window sidebar
It took me a little while, but I finally last weekend updated to Lion, and so far ... I think I like it. I kind of miss my old Spaces feature, and I did turn off reverse scrolling right away, but it does seem to run better than Snow Leopard, and Mission Control is pretty sweet. Another thing I'm not a huge fan of, however, is the new Finder sidebar -- it's pretty bland, and not quite as clear or useful as the one in Snow Leopard. Fortunately, that's pretty easy to fix, and ZDnet has a few good ways to do it. This SIMBL plugin will put a little color back in those icons, if you like, and you can do a little plist tweaking in Lion to switch around the order of the various devices and sources listed on the side of the screen. Finally, if you're ending up with aliases in the Finder sidebar that lose the source they're originally alias'ed from, you can drag-and-CMD-drop them to erase them once and for all. Apple of course makes all of these changes with good intentions, and maybe there are good reasons to do things like drain all the color out of the interface (maybe it allows you to focus more on the important stuff: your files in the other window). But for those of us who like the old ways best, it's good to know we've got options.
Adobe Carousel uploads, syncs photos with Apple devices
Adobe plans to launch a new app and service for Apple devices called Carousel. The service will allow users to automatically upload, store, and sync photos from multiple devices, create galleries, and perform non-destructive editing on photos by keeping originals stored on Adobe's servers. With the exception of the non-destructive editing feature, Carousel sounds similar to Apple's existing MobileMe Gallery and pending iCloud Photo Stream features. Crave reports that the service has some potentially hamstringing restrictions as well: users are limited to only five Carousels and can share each with only four other people, viewing Carousels requires downloading the app first, and the service only works on iPads, iPhone 3GS or later, the fourth-generation iPod touch, and Macs running OS X Lion. Windows and Android users need not apply, at least for now. Since this is Adobe, the service also comes with a hefty price tag. After a 30-day free trial, the service costs US$5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. After January, however, the price will rise to $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Granted, that is for "unlimited" photo storage, while iCloud's free Photo Stream will store only your latest 1000 photos. However, even as someone with close to 100 GB of photos lurking on the various hard drives scattered through my house, Carousel's limited audience and high price has put me off. Professional photographers with huge libraries might want to give Carousel a go, but beyond that it's hard to see the service gaining much traction. Carousel should be available in the App Store later this month. Once it's available, we'll take a look at it and see if it lives up to its price.
MacUpdate bundle offers 11 apps for $49
MacUpdate is doing it again. That is, they're offering a bunch of great Mac software in one single bundle that costs just $49.99. So what's in the bundle? Here we go: Toast 11 Titanium, Data Rescue 3, FX Photo Studio Pro 2.0, Fantastical, iStat Menus, PhoneView, Concealer, EarthDesk, Mellel and Bookends. And if you're one of the first 10,000 to purchase the bundle, you'll get Printopia thrown in with it, too. Now that's some great software. All the apps are Mac OS Lion compatible, and you'll get the very latest release of each version. Not to throw you a sales pitch, but if you were to buy all of these apps separately you'd spend $487. Which means if you purchase the MacUpdate bundle, you'll be getting yourself a 90% discount. In these austere times, that's not something to sneeze at -- especially if you've recently purchased a new Mac and you're looking to load it up with some nifty apps. The MacUpdate offer expires in just over 14 days, which gives you more than enough time to count your pennies. Click here for details on all the apps over at MacUpdate
Sonos updates software for iOS 5, Lion
It has taken a long time but the Sonos software is now Lion friendly. When Lion came out in July, Apple substantially changed the way shares work, and the popular Sonos home music system depended on the SMB protocol to share with your iTunes library. In Lion, Apple moved to a proprietary method, and that started the problems and caused a lot of anger among Sonos owners. Streaming services like Pandora, SiriusXM, or Spotify worked fine, but you couldn't get access to you own music if you had your files on your main computer or an external drive. Some people had their music on a Network Attached Storage device, or NAS, but Lion broke some of those as well. I've tested the Sonos update, and it does the trick, which will make music starved Sonos customers happy. If you are using the iOS Sonos remote apps have an update today as well. Happy listening.
New OS X 10.7.2 and iCloud beta builds seeded to developers
As first noted by MacRumors, Apple has pushed OS X 10.7.2 Build 11C48 and iCloud Beta 10 to developers today. The new builds come just one week after the previous builds. While no details of changes to the builds are known at this time, Apple asked developers to pay attention to AirPort, AppKit, GraphicsDrivers, iCal, iChat, Mac App Store, Mail, Spotlight, and Time Machine in the previous build.
Mac App Store highlights 'Enhanced for OS X Lion' apps
Apple has highlighted several apps on the Mac App Store that have been "Enhanced for OS X Lion." Apple's own iLife and iWork apps occupy the top spots, naturally, but over forty third-party apps are featured too. In Apple's words, "OS X Lion is packed with innovative features including Multi-Touch Gestures, Full-Screen Apps, Resume, Auto-Save, and Versions. Here are the apps and games currently taking advantage of these new enhancements." Apple's featured a wide array of apps, so there should be something there for everyone. If you're running OS X Lion, it's definitely worth a look.
Parallels Desktop 7 plays nice with Lions and cameras and developers, oh my!
Today sees the release of Parallels 7, the newest version of its popular, competition beating virtualization software. This edition plays nicely with Lion, runs multiple virtual machines and has received several performance tweaks -- for the number obsessed, you'll enjoy knowing that it resumes Windows 60 percent faster than Parallels 6. Gamers will notice a 40 percent bump in 3D graphics rendering and video-chatters will find that Windows can now access your Mac while it's being dictated by OS X. Low end users who don't have Windows 7, fear not -- you can use the "Windows on Demand" service to buy a license via an "easy-to-use wizard" like, erm -- Clippy. Mobile fans will also see Parallels' iOS app give you remote access to your home machine, but be quick -- the price is leaping skyward from $4.99 to $19.99 soon. You can grab the standalone edition for $80, but folks already using versions 5 or 6 can level-up for $50.
Yoink takes the drag out of file dragging
Lion users, have you ever tried to drag a file between full-screen apps? It's a bear to do, especially with a trackpad. Matthias Gansrigler at Eternal Storms (no stranger to TUAW) has solved this problem with an app called Yoink. Yoink simply watches for you to start dragging a file and when the app notices this dragging motion, it opens a small drawer on the side of your screen. You can drag files to the drawer, and even stack multiple files in there, then switch spaces and drag them back out. It's simple, it's effective and it solves the problem quite elegantly. Check out Yoink on the Mac App Store, where you can pick it up for US$2.99. For a video of Yoink in action, or a 15-day trial, visit the Yoink homepage.
OS X Lion bug may affect Windows file sharing
A bug has been discovered in OS X Lion Server that appears when a user tries to share a file with extended attributes with a Windows XP or Windows 7 system. The bug was first discovered by Steve Maser, a senior systems administrator at the University of Michigan's Office of Technology Transfer. In a message posted to the OS X Server list, Maser details the bug: "If a file/folder on your 10.7.x Mac (and this includes Mac OS X Server) has some specific (?) extended attributes on it and you do Windows Sharing for Windows users to access the file/folders -- you won't be able to pull the file down to your Windows desktop. I verified this with Windows 7." The bug has also been verified with Windows XP. According to Steve, the copy process appears to begin, before halting with an error message like, "the file name you specified is not valid or too long," or less frequently, an "Invalid MS-DOS Function" message. Maser also notes a workaround he devised. It's not a fix but it will allow for a file to be copied by removing the attributes from the file's metadata. Apple hasn't acknowledged the bug yet, but per Masers posting, they now know about it and and fix should be added to OS X Lion server in the future.
Snow Leopard to get iCloud support in 10.6.9 update?
Apparently those of you who aren't upgrading to Cupertino's latest and greatest desktop OS will be able to sling bits through iCloud with the upcoming 10.6.9 update. The screenshot above comes via an eagle-eyed developer, who's already upgraded his MobileMe account to the service and also happened to open its forebearer's preference pane on a machine running Tiger. No word on when it'll drop (we'd place our bets alongside iOS 5's launch this fall), but looks like those of you running Snow Leopard got some readin' to do.
Dev Juice: Help me leverage Lion-only features
Dear Dev Juice, I'm part of a tiny company developing iOS apps. We're about to develop our first Mac OS X app. There are many cool new features in MAC OS X Lion and we'd like to take advantage of these. However, this would mean only people on Lion could use our app... Do you think most people have upgraded to Lion? Or do you think we'd be ignoring a lot of potential users still on Snow Leopard? Gareth Dear Gareth Lots of users have made the jump to Lion but lots more have not. Rather than jumping on the Lion bandwagon completely by providing a Lion-only application, consider conditional coding instead. Conditional coding allows you to offer certain features only to Lion users while ensuring the application remains both 10.6 and 10.7 ready. This solution allows you to build your application for the greatest number of users. Make sure you clarify in your marketing text that certain features are Lion-only so you don't tick off either Apple or your user base. Here are a few conditional coding hints. Check for properties using key/value coding. If valueForKey: returns nil, the property is not available in Snow Leopard. Check for classes using NSClassFromString(). Code around non-existent classes in Snow Leopard by disabling features or removing inappropriate options. Check for selector compliance using respondsToSelector:. When newer APIS are supported, objects will report that they respond to those selectors, letting you call them without crashing the program. You may generate compile-time warnings about unimplemented selectors unless you use work-arounds like performSelector:withObject:. If you really want to go hard core, you can build NSInvocation instances directly. Happy Developing!
Rumor: iCloud support coming in Snow Leopard 10.6.9
According to a image sent in to MacRumors, iCloud support may be coming to Snow Leopard users. As you can see in the screenshot above, the .Mac preference pane in a previous OS X's System Preferences reads: "You will no longer be able to sync with this machine because you've upgraded to iCloud. iCloud requires a computer running Mac OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.9 or later for Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks." This message appeared in OS X 10.4 Tiger after a developer updated his MobileMe account to an iCloud account. The notice appears to be the first indication that OS X 10.6.9 is in the works. Presumably it will only include minor bug fixes and provide limited iCloud support for Snow Leopard. Currently Apple states that iCloud will require OS X 10.7, but that is presumably for the more advanced Documents, iTunes Match, Photo Stream, and Backups features. It's reasonable to assume Apple isn't going to lock non-Lion users out of their @me.com email addresses.