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TUAW at WWDC 2009: We want to hear from you
It's that time of year again. In the US, schools are emptying, weather is heating up and all sorts of developers are readying to wend their way to San Francisco for Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC. Sure, the noncoding masses are expecting a hardware announcement (new iPhone, anyone?), but developers are really salivating over improvements to OS X in the upcoming Snow Leopard (10.6) release, and iPhone OS 3.0. After all, with great hardware comes awesome software. Apple might even have some surprises in store for us.TUAW will be at WWDC during the week, and if you're a developer for iPhone or the Mac, we want to talk to you! Be sure to polish your elevator pitch, as we'd like to shoot as many demos as possible. Plus, we're attending the Parallels party (RSVP here), the iPhone Launch Party and maybe a few others, so there will be plenty of chances for your shot at fame. If you'd like to get in touch with us before the event, you can email us at wwdc at tuaw (dot com). See you in San Francisco! You can also join us online and on the phone during Sunday night's talkcast, where we'll be talking about the final round of preconference rumors and expected announcements.For those you not attending, stay tuned to TUAW as we liveblog the keynote, dig into the announcements, and show the newest of the new apps being demoed at the event.
Poll: Which OS do you prefer?
We were just wondering for no particular reason: which OS do you prefer? %Poll-21907%
Rock your clipboard with CopyPaste Pro
Described as "Time Machine for the clipboard," CopyPastePro takes your Mac's clipboard way beyond simple temporary storage. There's a multiple clipboard option of course, but CopyPaste Pro also lets you edit the contents of a given clipboard (or "clips" as they call them) with its built-in word processor, create an archive of previous clips and even review clips via a "clip browser," which resembles Mac OS X's application switcher.If you're one of those users who just can't live with the standard Mac OS clipboard, check out CopyPaste Pro.CopyPaste Pro requires Mac OS X version 10.4.x or 10.5.x. For a short time, users of CopyPaste can upgrade to CopyPaste Pro for $20US. On May 12th, the price will go up to $30US.
Nokia rolls out iSync plugins
One of the great joys of Mac OS is arguably its unified device synchronization under the auspices of iSync (insert cookie-cutter statement regarding iPhone irony here). For S60 users, that joy just got a little more all-encompassing and more official, thanks to a bounty of fresh plugins released by Nokia to support the latest and greatest models for calendar and contacts synchronization in OS X 10.4.9 and above. Heck, even the barely-released N76 is on the list, so if you're rocking Cupertino's and Espoo's finest, get thee thy plugin and prosper.[Thanks, Abdul A.]
Missing Sync goes gold for BlackBerry
Hear ye, hear ye, Mac faithful: your definitive BlackBerry solution has arrived. Mark/Space has just completed its beta cycle for Missing Sync's BlackBerry variant and it's available to buy. Besides the obvious sync capabilities, the product adds a couple nifty features like iTunes synchronization and charging via USB (nice). Get it for $40 now -- or, if you're migrating from another Missing Sync version and tossing that Windows Mobile device, just $20.[Via TUAW]
Mac OS X Leopard pushed back for Vista support?
Given that the last Leopard rumor we heard was that it'd actually be shipping early (like, this month), we're not sure how much stock should be put in this latest one, but according to DigiTimes, the word from "industry sources" is that the OS has now been postponed, all the way 'till October. Supposedly, the delay is necessary in order to add support for Vista to the integrated version of Boot Camp, which those same sources say Apple wants so it can increase its chances of grabbing more of that coveted PC market share. While we can't say if that's true or not, we are fairly confident that this won't be the last Leopard rumor we hear before its release, whenever that may be.
Parallels to turn it around, help Mac OS onto generic PC boxen
With the popularity of software like Apple's Boot Camp and SWsoft's Parallels, it's no secret that people want to run Windows and Mac OS on the same box, but who says that it has to be an Apple box? Well, Apple does, and the company has staunchly defended itself from the porting of OS X into the mad world of PC generics (not with total success, of course). But with mounting pressure from users and increasing software support from VMware and SWsoft, Steve Jobs might have to let go of his tight grasp on his shiny blue OS -- or at least turn the other way as OS X makes its way onto those vile, inferior, and cheaper x86 machines without his blessing. On that front, there's good news on the horizon: it turns out an upcoming version of Parallels just so happens to "make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer," by some unknown but welcome means. VMware's own upcoming virtualization software for the Mac has been hamstrung by the trouble VMware has gone through trying to get Apple's blessing, and SWsoft's Parallels has been "crippled" in particular ways to make it more difficult to get Mac OS onto a non-Apple machine, but it seems like it's only going to get harder for Apple to have it both ways, and Intel's inclusion of virtualization in its own chips just compounds the "problem." Michael Dell has also reconfirmed his desire to pre-load Mac OS onto his own boring boxes "if customers wanted it and Apple would license it on reasonable terms," but that tantalizing offer doesn't seem to have swayed Apple yet.[Via Techmeme]
Leopard makes an Amazon appearance
Apple's next-gen OS, Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, is expected to ship in Spring '07. This is not a secret. But somehow we feel better when Amazon confirms it for us. As Nelson pointed out in the iWork '07 on Amazon comments, they are already listing Leopard with a note that says "Scheduled to ship in spring 2007." Amazon is conveniently offering to email you when it's available for purchase. I guess Mac lovers who plan to be in hibernation for the next 3 months might need that.Thanks Sean and Nelson!
Bounty makes Mac-BlackBerry tethering a reality
It seems almost criminal that Mac users have been thus far denied the basic human right to tether the immensely popular BlackBerry 8700 series devices to their Macbooks, but thanks to a little elbow grease, determination, and nearly $700 in cold, hard cash, the world's wrongs have been righted. An intrepid character by the name of Daniel Pasco has claimed the bounty offered by Alex King, challenging folks to come up with a solution for using an 8700 as a Mac OS X compatible modem. So far, Mr. Pasco's solution has apparently been verified with the 8700g on T-Mobile and the 8703e on Verizon and Sprint, though we imagine Cingular's would work just the same. In the short term, it looks like the rough cut of the software will be available only to people that had contributed to the reward, but the solution will hopefully find its way into the public domain down the road.[Via TUAW]
All the cool things your Mac can do
I know your Mac is really cool, and you know it's really cool, but do all of your friends (especially those using Windows)? One of the things I really enjoy is gloating showing off some of my Mac's more interesting tricks, a job made easier by this cool list at Silver Mac. They describe one of my favorite tricks right off the bat: If you highlight at word in any cocoa app (like Safari) and hit Command-Control-D, a small window will appear with the dictionary definition and part of speech of that particular word. Move the cursor from word to word, and see their respective definitions. The article also describes how to invert your screen's colors, create a quick text clipping and more. Check it out, and really "wow" your friends.
Apple OS X 10.5 "Leopard" officially debuts
We came for the Mac Pro, but we're staying for Leopard, Apple's long awaited followup to OS X 10.4, released April of last year. Apple is promising a spring '07 release, and with all of those playground-style put downs of Vista they've been throwing around at WWDC, we don't think a targeted similarity in launch times is out of the question.Leopard will feature the new and/or improved: 64-bit Cocoa and Carbon application support, right beside 32-bit apps, all native. Time Machine - Automatically backs up every version of your files to a hard drive or server. Includes snazzy 3D Time Machine view (pictured) to browse through older versions of folders. Boot Camp - "Even better." Ships with Leopard. Photo Booth - With expanded camera support. Spaces - Apple's term for virtual desktops. Allows you to group different applications together in their own environment for different tasks, and allows movement of windows between "spaces." Spotlight - Can search other machines over a network. Boolean operations, application launching, and recent items will also be added to the search tool. Core Animation - Developer architecture to create moving eye candy with little code. Universal Access - VoiceOver enhancements, Braille support, closed captioning and improved navigation. Mail - Stationary (templates), Notes (specially highlighted self-sent emails) and To-Do lists all built in. Dashboard - New Dashcode tool allows visual template-based Widget development. There's also a new Web Clip app that takes any part of a web page and turns it into a Widget. iChat - Allows multiple logins, invisible mode, animated buddy icons, video recording and tabbed chats (hooray.) There's also photo booth effects, iChat Theater (slideshows, Keynote presentations and videos displayed over video chat), and photo/video backdrops. Enhanced Parental Controls Xcode 3
Life changing software
James Fee has posted about software that changed his life, and it struck me as a very powerful idea. Can a bucket of bits and bytes really change anyone's life? The more I thought about it, the more I knew it was true. Software can change lives, it has certainly changed mine.Back to James for a moment. He lists the following software as life changing (for him): Hypercard ArcInfo BBEdit Freehand ArcView Not too shabby. This, of course, got me thinking about the software that has had an impact on my life. Mac OS 8.6 sprung immediately to mind. That's what my first Mac ran, and it was the first time that I felt like I was working with a computer instead of at a computer (a subtle, but telling difference). 8.6 was my entrance into the Cult of Mac and now look at me! I'm a titan of the Mac web and I have owned more Mac gear should be allowable by law.So, dear readers, has any software changed your life?
Switched On: The contractor and the architect
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:
