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Things public preview released
Things, the up-and-coming darling of the über-productive, due-date-defying, thing-doing GTD crowd has released a public preview today. And I, as your hyphen-wielding blogger, am duly excited. A few of us here at TUAW have been playing with the private alpha of Things for a while. Things provides a unique and flexible way to handle tasks that can be refreshing for those who didn't quite get the whole GTD thing the first time around. Of course, you can adhere to strict GTD principles with it, but you can also forge a system that works for you using its tagging system and flexible project management tools. It even has some delegation capabilities that other GTD apps are lacking right now. Plus, it's downright pretty. What Things is noticeably lacking at this point is a really great means of integrating with Mail and AppleScript support. Of course, if there were AppleScript support, Mail support would be a cinch. You can pop up the quick entry window with a hotkey and drag a Mail 3.1 message onto the notes section to create a link to that email; I'd just like to be able to incorporate Mail-Act-On or any faster means of getting my email-based tasks into my task manager. Overall, this release from Cultured Code is very buzzworthy, both in the GTD community and for those on the periphery. If you're feeling like being productive, take it for a spin.
Expo Survival Tips: Everything you need to last the week
Shawn King, famed host of the Your Mac Life podcast, is a Macworld veteran (much unlike myself). Battle-hardened by plenty of visits to Moscone, including his wedding there in 2006, it's fair to say he knows how to survive the on-slaught on the Expo and Conference.It's also fair to say that he makes an ideal author for some Expo Survival Tips - something that he's just published in the Macworld Ning group. Common sense items such as "wear comfortable shoes" may seem obvious points, but it's wise advice nonetheless. Others, such as 'Can I attend the Keynote', may be a little more pressing to Macworld new-comers. One other tip I'd add to the list would be that an iPhone-compatible booth map, such as the one soon-to-arrive from author Dori Smith, might make planning your day just a little more paperless and hassle-free.[Via Twitter]
MacHeist 2 bundle will include Pixelmator
As the MacHeist 2 software scavenger hunt winds down this weekend, the release of the MH software bundle for full-fare paying customers is just around the corner. TUAW has learned that the contents of the bundle will be announced next week on January 9th, and pricing will be the same as last year ($49). As usual, MacHeist donates 25% of the purchase prices of the bundles to charity.What exactly is going to be in that package of code-y goodness? Well, the precise mix of apps is still under wraps; what we know right now is that there will be 10 or more products represented, with "some major names" among them. One thing that we are told will definitely be in the bundle is Pixelmator, so you'll be looking at a bargain on the basis of one $59 app by itself.
Answer all your Macworld questions with Macworld Bound
For an Apple blogger, I've a little admission to make: this year is going to be the first time I'll have made the 10,716 mile round-trip to Macworld Expo San Francisco. Whilst I've been to San Francisco before, I'm in the dark when it comes to the insider-knowledge required to survive the week-long Mac-athon (and of course, who's having the parties). If you too are heading to MWSF for the first time and wanting to read-up on what to expect, then you might want to check out Macworld Bound -- a site dedicated to everything you might possibly want to know about the Expo.As we mentioned briefly in our year-end talkcast on Sunday, TUAW will of course be bringing you full Macworld coverage from San Francisco. Stay tuned for more details!
Last chance to save lemurs with Delicious developer Mike Lee
If a man bills himself as the world's toughest programmer (site may be NSFW, depending on your sensitivity to four-letter or 12-letter words) it's usually a good idea to take notice when he sets his mind to something. Delicious Monster developer Mike Lee has created a campaign to help save the lemur population of Madagascar, by soliciting $100 donations and in return sending the contributor a stuffed lemur, similar to Mike's world-traveling sidekick Thievey.Your opportunity to do some good, and join the Founding Troop of Club Thievey, closes out at midnight PT tonight. If you were considering a last-minute charitable donation, Mike's cause is a great option -- plus you get a cuddly lemur.Speaking of charitable donations that expire at midnight: the OLPC Give One-Get One program closes out tonight. For $400, you can send an XO laptop to a needy child and get another one for your local undersized technology consumer. Sure, it doesn't run Mac OS X, but it will blend in nicely with your old clamshell iBook collection.
Gear Live posts followup iPhone v1.1.3 video
You may recall that yesterday we posted a link to Gear Live's gallery of iPhone v1.1.3 snaps. In this season of rumors, we were trying to take it with a pinch of salt; we ended up with enough salt to make some Margaritas here at TUAW HQ, such was our skepticism -- and we were, it would seem, quite wrong to have doubted.Thankfully Gear Live's Andru Edwards & Nate True decided to show us all what we can expect, with a full-blown video of the latest firmware, embedded after the break (all 8 minutes of it) with their permission. There's a tonne of exciting stuff shown off -- saving of pins on Google Maps, cell-tower triangulation with a single click (sweet!) and the long-missed hybrid Google Map (my preferred view). Throw in the re-arranging of the home screen and multiple SMS recipients (something we'd quite like to use over the holiday period) -- my iPhone is feeling very inadequate already.Thanks Andru!
iTunes movie rentals coming, Fox is only studio so far
The Financial Times is reporting that Apple and Twentieth Century Fox have reached a deal to provide movie rentals on the iTunes Store, likely to be announced at Macworld. While Disney sells a full line of films on iTunes and other studios provide catalog titles, this is the first rental arrangement to date. Movies are expected to be downloadable for a limited-play window. Equally important, the agreement is expected to include onboarding of iPod-compatible video files with Fox DVDs, so that iPod users can load and go when the DVD is purchased (rather than ripping the DVD into MP4 video).More details as we get them.[via PaidContent.org -- thanks Gordon]
Santa's present for Real Steve: AAPL $200
Post-holiday investor confidence in Apple's end-of-year performance appears to be high. Way high. Like, all time crazy high. Witness today's intraday price peak for AAPL, rising above $200/share for the first time.There may be more upside to come with the quarterly numbers. Shaw Wu of ATR as quoted by the AP: "It's looking like Apple's most optimistic guidance in eight quarters [forecast sales of $9.2 billion and profit of $1.42 a share] is turning out to be conservative after all." What more is there to say? Well, one more thing: Your Mac Life is offering a chance to win a single share of Apple stock if you pick the day it first closes above $205. Fun!disclaimer: I hold AAPL shares.
Dear Santa Steve: A Sub-notebook, iPhone stability and Aperture 2
Dear Santa Steve, As my most recent bank statements show: I've most certainly not misbehaved over the course of this last year. I've queued for hours in the bitter cold, and sacrificed myself endured keyhole surgery for injuries from doing so - no really, that bit isn't hyperbole. If there's anyone who's been an exceptionally well behaved Apple fan, you've got to admit I'm up there with the best of them. So what on earth could I be asking for? Just a few simple things: 13" MacBook Pro / MacBook nano Steve, I can wax lyrical about the sheer brute force of my 17" MacBook Pro - I love it, I really do. But lugging it on the train for a ninety-minute commute everyday isn't the pleasurable workout you might expect. In fact, I'd quite like a little version of my MBP, so that I pack it into a reasonably-sized Crumpler with my Nikon D80 and not resort to hiring sherpas buying a small trolley-case to travel. So what might I be asking for? If you were to start by making the display 13 (matte) inches or there abouts, and keep a dedicated GPU, that'd be ace - a machine Aperture would love. In fact, you could even remove the optical drive from the body, and use SSD if you really, really, wanted. I can hear Jonny Ive say 'SSD may be a little way-off yet' in the background, but you get the idea? All I'm asking for is a modern-day 12" PowerBook. I've sold my soul to Cupertino maximised my overdraft told the bank not to block large charges from my local Apple Store, and you've got my bank details. So let's work something out, for I can't be the only one asking for such a machine this year.Stability in my iPhone This one's arguably simpler Steve, what with it not requiring you to design any new hardware. I'd like my iPhone's iPod and Safari applications to get on better than you and John Sculley. I'm sorry, that was perhaps a little too forceful but I think I made my point. A software update to the device that brings some new functionality would be most welcome too, what with it being 'all about the software' and the SDK on the horizon.Aperture 2 This one may seem out of place for Stevemas - for general wisdom places Macworld as the launch of more consumer-orientated products - so I'll happily be told 'be patient, my child' for this one. But with Aperture now the last of your professional applications not to see a notable (paid) update, I'm hopeful that whatever may be in the works arrives sooner rather than later.There's but one more thing, and I'll be content for a while Steve. In fact, if there's one thing I'd choose from my requests this year, it would be this.... Let's take these big-media names to task, and encourage investment in, not criminalisation of, those who do buy their content online. Towards the end of 2007, Apple seemed to lose their iTunes momentum despite the year getting off to a good start. EMI went on the offensive, trying to capture hearts and minds by dropping DRM from their download sales. But since then, we've seen little continuation in the dream of eradicating DRM from our digital lifestyles. Steve, in 2008, all I want is for Apple to help bring the media industry back to serving the needs of its customers as a business model. Let's make it less of the iTunes Extortion and Shakedown Store, and all about the music once more.There's cookies by the side of the MacBook Pro - and green tea simmering on it. Enjoy.
Apple revs security updates to fix Safari crashing bug
If you already installed either Security Update 2007-009 or Safari 3 Beta 3.0.4 Security Update for Windows, you may have noticed a wee bit of instability in Safari post-update. The behavior in question is euphemistically described by Apple as "an unexpected termination of the Safari application when browsing to certain web sites," or translated into English: Safari go boom now.Fortunately, before heading out to celebrate Christmas with their long-suffering families, Apple security engineers cranked out 1.1 updates to both the recent security patches, available for download now. If your Safari experience hasn't been all it can be since the updates, try the new patch versions and see if they improve matters.
TUAW Hack: Mess with your iPhone Settings screens
A little while back, I posted about some undocumented SpringBoard settings on the iPhone. Many readers seemed to enjoy learning about these settings, but they wanted to avoid performing the esoteric property list edits needed to adjust them. In response, I give you the following: controls that actually show up in your Settings application and allow direct manipulation. Here's what you need to do. You will need secure shell access to your iPhone's command line (ssh). Start by backing up your /Applications/ Preferences.app/ Settings-iPhone.plist file. Make sure you copy the file to a safe place so you can recover it if needed. Replace that file with http://pastie.textmate.org/124408. Copy the entire property list from the field at the bottom of the screen and paste it into a new text file. Rename that file to Settings-iPhone.plist and place it in /Applications/Preferences.app. Run settings, and voila! I divided the settings into two groups. The first group works instantly and you can immediately see their results. For the second group, you must restart SpringBoard (my restart utility may help) for the settings to take effect.
TUAW Buyers Guide: Christmas Reading
I, like Christina, am a bit of a book lover - especially over the festive season. Normally found looking through a formidable library of books, what better way to stave off the pre-Macworld hype (at least for a few hours) than a relevant book. Unlike reader Matt Holland, who chose to use his MacBook as a reader (possibly some sideways-reading with ComicBookLover?), I'm going to be sticking to books of the printed realm. Christina's recommendations for a few books can be found here. Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How The Mac Was MadeLong-serving Apple fans are no-doubt aware of the Folklore.org website - home to the anecdotes of how the original Mac came into being - but others may be intrigued to know that the site's collation of stories served as the collection point for this particular book. At just under 300 pages (including full-page copies of design notes from the early eighties) it's a particularly nice gift, hardcover and all. Sure, you can get to the website and read the stories, but as a gift? It's a no-brainer - especially at $16 from Amazon (UK Price: £11).iCon: The Greatest Second Act in the History of BusinessWhilst covering more than simply this past decade of Steve Jobs' life, this infamous book covers the much-famed second intersection of Apple and Steve Jobs fortunes. Not always flattering of Steve, it's a fascinating read - and now goes into the Pixar / Disney dealings after being updated. There's plenty of Steve Jobs books, yet this remains one of my favourite. $16 from Amazon (UK Price: £11).Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing ManualDavid Pogue, the New York Times' utterly brilliant Technology columnist, is a hero of ours here at TUAW HQ (currently located somewhere near the South Coast of England). World renowned for bringing us delights such as 'iPhone: The Musical', he's been busy at work with the Missing Manual for Leopard. If you're in need of a Leopard reference book, or tutorial book, I'd heartily recommend this latest edition. $24 from Amazon (UK Price: £15)Options: The Secret Life of Steve JobsAdmission: I've not read this one. But come Christmas Day, I hope there's a copy waiting for me! Fake Steve needs little introduction. Supposedly a world-famous CEO (I mean, he 'invented the friggin' iPhone. Have you heard of it?'), oPtion$ (as the book's cover goes) tells the fictional story of how Fake Steve handled, or otherwise, the stock backdating scandal. Laughes are guaranteed. $15 from Amazon (U.K. Price: £11) Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (Second Edition)Written by Aaron Hillegass, this is perhaps the book for developers new to Cocoa and Objective-C. In case you're wondering why this is such a seminal book, Hillegass was 'senior trainer and curriculum developer' at NeXT as well as working at Apple before heading to Big Nerd Ranch to teach their Cocoa course. Whilst an exceptional gift for the coder-types out there: a word to the wiser that the 3rd edition is due in mid-2008, so do bear that in mind. $31.50 from Amazon (U.K. Price: £18).--There's a plethora of Apple-related books available, so if you've got a favourite to share that's not in the short-list here, let us know in the comments! Note: Today is the last day for standard Amazon delivery, so act quickly if you're wanting to order! We've even made sure all the books mentioned are currently available for delivery before December 24th.
Security Update 2007-009 for Leopard now available
If you've been wondering when we'd see a security update for Mac OS X Leopard: you can stop holding your breath. Apple has just pushed out Security 2007-009 for Mac OS X 10.5.1. So what's been fixed? According to the release notes: Core Foundation Flash Player Plug-in Quick Look Safari Shockwave Plug-in and plenty more The update, which as ever is recommended for everyone running the latest big cat, weighs in at 35.6MB. If you're wanting to go ahead and install the update without waiting, you'll want to run over to the Apple Support site and grab the file, or simply run Software Update on your system. As with all OS X updates, we'd strongly suggest you have a working backup before installing on any mission-critical system.
Midday Monday downtime for Apple Store?
Imagine a world in which the Apple Store goes up and down, willy-nilly, and nobody notices or cares. Would you want to live in such a dystopian, bleak place? We knew that you wouldn't.Store's down as of 1:23 pm ET. Last minute product intros for the Christmas rush? A shiny new batch of Cinema Displays? Someone tripped over a power cord in the datacenter (Laurie thinks the latter)? We'll know shortly.Thanks to Laurie and Chris for the heads-up.Update: Store's back up and there's a new sub-noteb... I'm kidding! I can't see anything obvious changed, looks like regular maintenance to us. Commenters say there's some new holiday touches, as well as old iPods on clearance.
Update on the QuickBooks situation via Intuit
A few minutes ago, Intuit posted an update on the QuickBooks community forum about the ongoing fiasco affecting QuickBooks 2006 and 2007 users. Although the root cause of the issue has not been identified, Intuit says that they believe they have resolved the problem and the update issue should not affect users who have not opened the program since Saturday afternoon. I would still recommend launching with caution, and after using the terminal command or plist edit detailed in our earlier post.As for users who HAVE been affected by whatever this "thing" is -- here's what Intuit Community Guru Nic is saying:...For those of you who have been affected, we are testing out options for recovering the deleted files. Our recommendation for now is to shut off your machine and do not use it further. If you continue using your computer, you may over-write the area on the disk where the deleted data is stored, preventing any recovery efforts from being effective. If you have been affected and have lost files, and haven't already posted your contact information in the original discussion, please email your contact information to Quickbooks_community_team@intuit.com. We'll get your contact information to the team that is working on this, so that you can be contacted for follow-up. Intuit has also created a Knowledge Base article about this issue. We'll keep you updated as we get more information.
The definitive Mac mini/Honey Baked Ham smackdown
The holidays. A time for joy, a time for gathering, a time for product smackdowns. So which is the better buy? A Mac mini or a festive honey baked ham? Let TUAW do the comparison work for you. Mac mini/Ham Smackdown Feature Mac Mini Honey Baked Ham Winner Availability Apple and a few select vendors Widely available Ham. Cost From $600, although the $800 model is far superior $50 or so With over an order of magnitude difference in price, the ham is the clear winner. Environmental impact Contains lots of chemicals but can run on relatively green energy sources, meeting Energy Star requirements. Completely organic but may produce lots of emissions after a large meal with all the trimmings. Tie. Social impact Lots of fun for your entire family. Forbidden for consumption by many major religious denominations. Mac mini. Geometry 6.5" x 6.5" x 2". A rectangular block. Spiral cut, conforming to an aesthetically pleasing geometry of curves. Ham. TV Compatibility Works well with both standard def and high def television sets, packaged with Apple Remote. Can be eaten in front of both standard def and high def television sets, with any standard remote. Tie. Documentation Packaged with full printed and electronic documentation. No documentation needed. Unless you are Homer Simpson. Tie. Leopard Compatibility Yes. Yes. But it may give the Leopard indigestion. Mac mini, by a hair.
Apple relents, sanctions custom ringtones!
So how do you know if Apple has made a big policy change and snuck it through the back door? Is it because: Porcine aviation establishes itself as a viable transportation mechanism. Chicken entrails begin to dance and rearrange themselves into oracular shapes while you're fixing up some nice korma. Apple sneaks in a new technical support page adding a "Share > Send Ringtone to iTunes" option to Garage Band. The answer is, if you've been playing along at home, three. One more blow against the official iTunes extortion and shakedown store. Thanks Jerrod
Quicktime 7.3.1 fixes RTSP vulnerability
Apple has just released QuickTime 7.3.1 which addresses that nasty RTSP vulnerability recently discovered (and discovered with zero day exploit code no less!). This update also fixes 2 other security problems with QuickTime. It looks like Flash is being handled in a safer way, and a heap buffer overflow has been fixed. Apple suggests all QT 7 users install this update. Quicktime 7.3.1 is available for: Panther Tiger Leopard Windows Read the full release notes for the gory details.
Talkcast #18, tis the season for giving
Sunday night's show featured Mat Lu as our capable host and panelists Mike Schramm, Christina Warren & yours truly discussing the state of the subnotebook rumors, Apple's finances and of course our choices for holiday gift giving. You can download the show directly, pick it up in our RSS or iTunes feeds, or stream it direct from Talkshoe. Music for this week's show by Brian McRae, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.As noted last week, if you're reading the feed in Mail.app under Leopard, you may see a pause while the enclosure is downloaded. Unfortunately this seems to happen with any RSS enclosures and there's not much we can do about it right now -- sorry!We'll be back Sunday night at 10 for our regular weekly show, but please take note: I'll be cohosting the Typical Mac User podcast with Victor Cajiao at 8 pm ET, then scooting over to TUAW for the night shift. Please join us for both!
New Apple ad "Misprint" cites PC World on fastest Vista laptop
Back in early November, PC World magazine gave a wet, sloppy kiss to the MacBook Pro, noting that "[t]he fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac." Apparently this rousing endorsement of a laptop so freakishly powerful, so undeniably force-of-nature fast that it flat-out screams while running an OS that it happens to support only in 'bridesmaid mode'... well, that is the sort of thing that causes marketing executives to cock their heads and listen like extras in an E.F. Hutton ad.Apple's new "Misprint" ad, appearing online and on TV now, features an irate PC calling the editorial offices of PC World to complain about this obvious benchmarking error. It's a funny ad, but along with the recent Podium and PR Lady ads, this new spot provokes some fascinating cognitive dissonance. We're told that Vista is undesirable, that users are 'upgrading' back to XP -- but hey, if you're gonna run it, you could run it awful quick on a Mac. Is it just me, or is that somewhat weird?Thanks Alex
