Home / tuaw.com rss archive / September-17-2007


Apple looks out for my best interests
Filed under: iPod Family, iPhoneToday, Apple released iTunes 7.4.2. Apple kindly fixed that small problem where people inadvertently installed custom ringtones on their systems. Thank you, Apple. In related news, Apple momentarily blocked accidental Linux use. But then, as with the newt from Monty Python, Linux got better. Apple also looks out for iPod Touch users. Its new firmware transfer scheme protects users from themselves. You won't accidentally install custom software on the iTouch or access the underlying OS, at least for some time to come. Unfortunately, Apple forgot to protect the public Media partition from read/write access so tools such as Ecamm's iPhoneDrive still work with both the iPhone and iTouch. For now. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Apple_looks_out_for_my_best_interests_Not'; Will the iPhone remain so dangerously open? Probably not for long. I give it until the next firmware update. I'll be delighted to be proved wrong. So where does that leave you?...

iTunes update: 7.4.2 is out
You hardly have a moment to catch your breath here on the iTunes update desk (cue teletype sound effects); 7.4.2 has just arrived in the hopper. What's new? Well, believe it or not, bug fixes -- and a fix for issues when creating ringtones from iTunes Plus (EMI, high-quality DRMless) tracks. Note this warning from reader Patrick: "Download a copy of 7.4.1 while you still can from Apple! This update even deletes your old ringtones." YMMV.The update weighs in at 38 MB, grab it from Software Update or from here.Thanks to Mentalsticks, Patrick & Eric for the heads-up.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Secure your Mac: Crouching user, hidden folder
Filed under: How-tosHere are a few very simple steps you can take to enhance your Mac's security - not exactly the U.S. Government's Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm, but enough to thwart many end-users.Create a guest user accountOccasionally, someone will ask me, "May I quickly check my email on your computer? Just real quick..." (often these are Windows users who need an excuse to play with the MacBook Pro). "Sure," I say, but before I hand over the reigns, I switch to my guest user account. Here's how you can create one. Click System Preferences, then Accounts Click the small "+" icon at the bottom of the window In the sheet that appears, set up your guest account. I got fancy and named mine "guest," with a password of "guestpw," but you can choose whatever you like. De-select "Allow user to administer this computer."Now, when someone "borrows" my computer to check their mail, they see an empty home folder, blank email client...the works. Even the...

Run Widgets (kinda) on your iPhone
Filed under: Hacks, How-tos, iPhone digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/OS_X_Dashboard_Widgets_running_on_iPhone_with_screen_shot'; I've kinda sorta almost have Macintosh Dashboard widgets running on the iPhone. Some run okay, others not so much. The Weather, ESPN and Calendar widgets are some of the best; the Flight Tracker, Dictionary and Phone Book are among the worst. If you'd like to give this a try, download a copy of Widgets.app with the following understanding: Widgets uses the XLaunch icon and splash screen and the Unknown icon is the wrong size. Sorry about that. You must install System/Library/WidgetResources from your Mac onto the iPhone. Same folder, same name, same contents. Most Widgets will not run properly without these support files. Install your widgets into /var/root/Library/Widgets on the iPhone. Widgets.app runs plain old ordinary OS X widgets. You must copy over the entire file structure, so scp -r YourWidget.wdgt root@youriphoneip:/var/root/Library/Wi...

New iPod classic has "badly engineered" audio circuitry?
Filed under: iPod FamilyContinuing our theme today of possible problems with the new iPods, now it's the classic's turn. Personally, I doubt could hear the difference but there seems to be a number of people who think the new 6G iPod classic sounds noticeably worse than the 5.5G iPod that it replaced. In the words of Marc Heijligers the new iPod classic "sounds precise, crisp, but lacks 3D image and has an electronic haze to the sound... [which] becomes fatiguing after a while. The 5G sounds less precise, but its timbre contains more harmonic information and sounds less electronic." To back up these "golden ear" impressions Marc ran a bunch of tests comparing the 5.5G iPod and the new classic and has posted his results. His conclusion is that the 6G iPod Classic displays: A slight uplift in treble. A group delay that depends on frequency. A strong modulation with 22.1k, causing intermodulation distortion. ...

iPod touch dark screen problems
Filed under: iPod Family, TroubleshootingThere are increasing reports out there about problems with the screens on the new iPod touch. Apparently many folks (including here on TUAW) are complaining that the screen is very dark and lacking in details. Above you can see a comparison on Apple Touch comparing the iPhone to the iPod touch (right). Over at the Apple Discussion boards a third-party LCD engineer weighs in with a possible answer: bad quality control in manufacturing led to an error with the anti-reflective coating. If this is right, he suggests the problem might be fixed at the factory in the near future. The upshot is simply that it may be worth waiting a bit if you want an iPod touch to see what Apple is going to do.[via Digg]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iTouch Jailbreak Update: Still Not There
Filed under: iPod Family, HacksFor those of you keeping track of the iTouch Jailbreak, here's a quick progress report. After I modified iPhuc to send arbitrary commands to the iTouch in recovery mode, the team has gotten as far as sending the StartRestore command (that's a third command on top of Goodbye and QueryType.) .If you'd like to try this out yourself, download a copy of iPhuc from the Google Code repository and use the following modified files: Restore, Recovery, and Main.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Qumana blogging client
Filed under: Software, Freeware, Internet ToolsThe Qumana blog editor is a free cross-platform blogging client with support for a variety of blogging platforms including Wordpress, Blogger, MoveableType and others. It offers WYSIWYG editing, offline composing, and a variety of other features. Setting it up to work with a public blog is quite easy, requiring you just to enter the blog's root URL. It will then prompt you for your username and password and you're pretty much set. Unfortunately, there are two catches. First, it appears to be a java application with all that entails for resource usage and UI inconsistency. Second, it's free because Qumana wants you to use their Q Ads service (which is built into the editor). Q Ads are text advertisements that you can manually add to your blog (by defining keywords) and Qumana will share some of the revenue with you. Fortunately it appears you can use the Qumana editor even without inserting Q Ads. It's not as Mac-like as MarsEdit...

How will you spend your Apple Store credit?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhoneAttention, reckless fanboys with no will power or self control early iPhone adopters. You've certainly heard by now that your $100US Apple Store credit is available. Now that you've got it, the question is, what will you do with it? We're guessing that most customers will use the credit towards something that costs more that a hundred bucks (softening the financial blow for Apple - if you could even call it that).What's your decision? iPod nano? Slick new keyboard? Maxed out Mac Pro and cinema display? The comments are open.While we're on the subject, remember that the deadline for the full $200 claim is 9/19.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

1st-gen iPod nano lanyards work with new "fatty" nanos
Filed under: iPod Family, The WozIn case you were wondering, the old lanyards for the 1st-gen iPod nanos work with the current 3rd-gen (aka "fatty" or "video") nanos. Apple moved the dock connection and headphone port away from each other in the 2nd-gen nanos, thus ruining the party for a lot of 3rd-party accessory manufacturers. But now all is well again, unless you just despise the look and shape of the new nano, of course.And before a wiseacre chimes in with "slow news day, huh?" we'll be honest and say, that yes, it IS a slow news day. Apple has an event next week, which generally means a quiet period beforehand. So until someone sends us pictures of Steve Wozniak showing Larry the Cable Guy a magic trick, we're just going to have to deal with a fairly sparse day of posting.[thanks to moo for the Woz link and Atariboy for the lanyard tip]Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone firmware 1.1.1 may break unlocks
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hacks, Software Update, Apple, iPhoneMac Rumors is reporting that iPhone 1.1.1 is due soon (duh), and they say that it'll bring an International Keyboard, some extra settings for the Home button, the likely WiFi store update, and an update to the Modem Firmware. As usual, this is a rumor, so don't hold your breath-- this could be coming next week or next month.But there is a little twist that Mac Rumors missed. An iPhone hacker birdie tells me that their open source software unlock actually patches the Modem Firmware to do its thing. Which means that if the Modem Firmware gets a significant upgrade, it's very, very likely that it's game over for the current unlocks.Now, I'm not sure how iPhoneSIMFree's unlock works-- as far as I know, this might only affect the open source iUnlock app. But while Apple has said they're taking a neutral stance against hackers, AT&T may have pressured them to push back against an unlock. As we've known...

A week with the new iPod Nano
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iTS, ReviewsDear TUAW readers, I have a confession. Normally I am not a person who spontaneously buys an iPod . However last Thursday morning was, well, a little different. Upon seeing the new Nanos, Shuffles and iPod Classics on display at an Apple Store I just happened to be passing (convenient, eh?), I was torn. Do I buy a new Nano? Do I need one? Do I want one? Can I even justify purchasing one, given that I have a (RED) 4GB Nano that I love dearly? The answer to all those questions was close enough to 'yes', almost exclusively because I wanted a video-playing iPod. And more importantly, because I had 7 days of travel that would allow the Nano to prove its worth. Well, after a week of video-playing, music listening and more, the jury is in.Continue reading A week with the new iPod NanoPermalink | Email this | Comments

Interview with Penny Arcade game dev
Filed under: Gaming, Humor, HolidaysGamasutra has a nice interview with Darren Evenson, the lead designer of the Penny Arcade game with the long title that's set to hit Macs at the end of the year.The interview's got me more excited than ever about this thing-- apparently Penny Arcade and Hothead studios actually polled people on their site about what their favorite games were, and based on that, they came up with a point-and-click interface (a la the old LucasArts adventure games) combined with an RPG-style battle system (as in Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, which is one of my favorite games ever). That sounds great!As stated before, the game will be available in episodes downloaded from the website, and you'll be able to create a character that you play across the episodes. Sounds really fun-- the end of the year never seemed so far away.[ via Inside Mac Games ]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

MakeiPhoneRingtone hits 1.1, further obsoletes the ringtones racket
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, iTunes, Apple, iPhoneRogue Amoeba has already updated their MakeiPhoneRingtone application to 1.1, in order to bring in the Cleverboy hack that was discovered the other day. If you missed it, they also posted a guide on how to turn any audio file into an AAC file with their product Fission (but don't forget that iTunes will also do it for you as well, it just won't cut your file for you). We're still waiting on someone to make a program that turns any file into a ringtone by itself (Rogue Amoeba is talking about adding the functionality straight to Fission), but all the tools are there.So Apple's whole ringtone system is completely, totally, and devastatingly broken. Why would anyone possibly pay money for ringtones from iTunes when it's so incredibly easy to make your own? As Gruber said in his great and very thorough commentary, the whole Ringtone racket is just that -- a racket. There's no such thing as a "ringtone" -- a ringtone...

Liveblogging the iPod Touch
Filed under: iPod Family, HacksWell, it's here. And here's all the dish on my first hours with the iPod Touch.ImpressionsFeel. Man, this thing definitely has a completely different feel and weight from the iPhone. It feels way way thinner.Squeeze Control. It seems to be confirmed that the iPhone headset squeeze control does not work with the touch. I'll test when I have time.Video Out. Does not work with the Belkin dock.Audio jack. At the bottom!!?? Why?Didn't work the first time. A lot of people are reporting flaky iTouch behavior. The first time I connected my new iTouch to iTunes, this was the error I got. Removing the USB and reconnecting it made it work.Calculator. Same as iPhone. Absolutely the most boring accessory ever shipped.Keyboard. All the sounds on the Touch are clickier and lighter than on the iPhone. It's a very palpable difference.Safari. Works great--once you remember to switch on WiFi. All my Javascript bookmarklets are working fine.Clock. There are a *lot*...

High quality album art (from Apple)
Filed under: Odds and ends, iTunesWith Apple emphasizing Cover Flow more and more in the new iPods, etc., the need for good quality album art is ever increasing. I know iTunes is supposed to grab art for songs that are in your library and the iTunes Store, but in my experience it hasn't worked that well. Fortunately, Josh Powell has cooked up a nice little site called Josh's iTunes Album Art Grabber that lets you search the iTunes album art repository and download high quality jpgs from Apple's servers. In my brief test (with Springsteen albums), most of the cover art came back as 600 x 600px. However, some albums featured art up to 1425 x 1425 or higher. The search engine is rather strict ("White Stripes" returned nothing, it had to be "The White Stripes"), but this looks like an excellent resource for filling in holes in your collection.[via Digg]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

To-Do lists get funky with LifeShaker
Filed under: Software, Odds and endsOkay, I couldn't resist posting about the new to-do list app LifeShaker from Funky Cloud, if only to comment on their clever marketing. This is the first piece of software I can remember to have a movie-style trailer (not just a screencast).LifeShaker is an interesting take on to-do organizing. It presents a 3x3 grid into which you can dump your various goals, action steps and categories. As the name suggests, you can "shake" your grid to re-arrange your goals (presumably as a kind of self-motivation). It's an unusual approach; how effective it might be I can only imagine. In my brief testing, I found the interface to be a bit annoying, requiring excessive use of on-screen buttons for data entry t(instead of just letting me double-click on blank list entries). Still it's worth a look if you're interested in a non-traditional to do list.LifeShaker is $29.00US and requires Mac OS 10.3.9 or higher. A demo is available (points off, however, for...

comiXology releases MobileSafari interface for comic browsing
Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Odds and endsMacenstein has posted about a cool feature from comiXology for us comic book geeks out there. They're created an iPhone MobileSafari (have to remember that the Touch is out there now) interface for their database of the latest comic book releases. It looks great, allows users to browse both the current and following week's releases in a touchscreen-specific interface. It also displays summaries and cover art for every book on the list. It's like browsing a comic store without actually being there (unless you are actually in a comic store while you use it-- in which case, whoa, I'd have to sit down for a while, that's heavy).While we're at it, I'm currently poking around for comic book collection software for the Mac (the folks are selling their house, and they asked me to clear the old collection out of their closet). So far, it seems like Comics 2 is the pick of the litter. Does anyone want to share a good tip on an app that will...

Reminder: Talkcast Sunday night 9 pm, iPod touch 1st impressions and more
Filed under: TUAW BusinessWe've got a new night and time! Please join us online and live on Sunday night, 9 pm Eastern Time, for a half-hour chat with the TUAW team.This week's show: the week in review, first impressions from the new iPod touch owners, and (availability permitting) an extended iPhone/iPod touch development Q&A with Erica Sadun, who has been sharing her initial attempts at hacking the iPhone's little brother. Bring those toolchain questions and application requests.For those of you who haven't registered with Talkshoe yet, good news; the conferencing system has been opened up to allow anonymous call-in for anyone with a phone, no PIN needed (if you want to participate in the simultaneous text chat, a PIN and the new Talkshoe client are still required). To call in without a PIN, just dial the general number (724-444-7444), enter the Talkcast ID (45077), and then enter 1#.If you don't want to use a phone, Skype, Gizmo or XMeeting, rest easy -- there's another...

iPhone $100 credit can be used for iTunes gift cards
Filed under: iTS, iTunes, Apple, iPhoneChris Tutor, from our sister blog Autoblog, emailed us a link to this Bloomberg article about the $100 iPhone credit (you have yours, right?). The first thing many people wanted to know about the credit was, 'Can I buy stuff from the iTunes store with it?' A quick look at the FAQ would make you think this is not possible, but Bloomberg spoke with an Apple rep who clarified the whole thing.Here's the lowdown: you can't apply the $100 credit directly to your iTunes account, but you can swagger into any Apple Store, or log onto the online store, and buy yourself a $100 (or less) iTunes Gift Card. The only question that remains is, what are you going to spend all that loot at iTunes?Update: Several people in the comments, and on other blogs, wrote me to let me know that this post is just plain wrong. It is not incorrect, the iPhone credit can be used for iTunes Gifts Cards NOT iTunes electronic gift certificates. I just purchased a $25 gift...

iFixit rips apart an iPod touch
Filed under: iPod FamilyThose wacky folks at iFixit.com are at it again. This time they are ripping apart the most recent addition to the iPod lineup, the iPod touch. These pictures aren't for the faint of heart, but the braver amongst you might want to take a peek at the images.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPod Nano (3rd Generation) software updated to v1.0.1
Filed under: iPod Family, Software Update, AppleIf, like yours truly, you're besotted with your Third Generation iPod Nano, you might want to check for updates within your Nano's sync screen. It seems that Apple has pushed out a new software update for the new devices. It appears this is just a routine bug-fix update - with suitably short release notes - and the download weighs in at a little over 57MB.Permalink | Email this | Comments

6th Gen iPods won't work with Linux, Winamp
Filed under: iPod Family, Open SourceThere's no such thing as a 'naked iPod' -- at some point, if the iPod is going to be useful, it has to be paired with a computer to have music loaded (or, as noted in the comments, you'll be spending a LOT at the WiFi iTunes Store). Despite appearances, the set of iPod owners does not map exactly to the set of iTunes users; there are folks who prefer to manage their iPods via Winamp, Anapod or Ephpod on the Windows platform, and for Linux users (with no iTunes version at all) there are open-source apps and libraries like gtkpod/libgpod (libgpod is also the engine behind Senuti, the freeware reverse-iTunes tool). All of these utilities depend on an understanding of the iTunesDB file found on every iPod to be able to read out the list of songs on the device and manage them independently.The landscape appears to have changed, however, with the release of the new iPods. According to a post on the iPodMinusiTunes blog, the iTunesDB file now contains...

iPhone Dev Team announces free GUI iPhone Unlock Tool
Filed under: Cool tools, Hacks, iPhoneThe iPhone Dev Team has released a simple-to-use GUI tool that allows you to unlock your iPhone for use with any SIM. The tool, which is based on their previous command-line work, provides one-touch speedy unlocking. This is a big improvement on the first generation release. It no longer requires you to use special files or to dump nor data. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_Dev_Team_announces_free_GUI_iPhone_Unlock_Tool'; You can download your copy from the DevTeam website, as a PXL package or, soon, from Installer.app. "Wheat" is the guy responsible for those amazing graphics.Find out more at the #iphone channel at irc.osx86.hu. Remember, this is early software and unstable. If risk isn't your thing, you'll probably want to wait a few days or weeks for things to stabilize. Update: After reports of failed unlocks, Sam has updated the version to fix a timing issue. Current version is now 1.0.1, which solves the timing issue.Update...

The State of the iTouch Jailbreak
Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, iPhoneNo news to report yet but since I'm being bombarded by email, here's a status report: iPhuc. Recompiled and working. I've created a hacker version that I'm using to send requests. So we've moved a little closer. Now I'm getting "unrecognized request" messages in GRestore mode instead of request not founds. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Status_of_iPod_Touch_Jailbreak_Jailbreak_seems_increasingly_unlikely'; Recovery mode. Achieved both by hand and by software. The old restore commands do not work. iTouch uses a new restore protocol. Instead of pushing data from iTunes, the iTouch pulls data via request. It used to be that iTunes sent a request, and the iPhone returned results. Now iTunes starts a restore mode and waits for requests from the iTouch and serves the requested data. File read/write from disk. Achieved. Pretty much all the normal inside-jail stuff works. File system mount. Not there yet. GRestore. Partial success.RAM disk...

TUAW Best of the Week
Filed under: Features, TUAW Business, Weekend ReviewWelcome to this week's installment of TUAW best of the week, where we gather up our favorite posts of the week for your easy clicking enjoyment. TV out locked in new iPod classic and nanoSerious, why is Apple making this so hard? 1 millionth iPhone has been soldLessee. How long did it take to sell a million Zunes, again? Vienna 2.2 is availableNice update for a favorite utility. iPhone versus iPod Touch: What to buyThe iPhone is looking more and more like the better deal, even if you don't want phone service. iPhone Coding: Using the AccelerometerPractical access to your iPhone's sensors. Six Apart launches iPhone/iPod Touch specific Movable Type 4/TypepadBlog on-the-go. Making the impossible possible: iPod Touch VOIPStill working on getting SIP and Asterix and all. Rogue Amoeba releases free Ringtone MakerSimple. Easy-to-use. Free. Fox: We'll keep our content in iTunesFox avoids an NBC-style hissyfit. Cyberduck hits 2.8 with...

What is wrong with this Picture?
Filed under: iPod FamilyImage Capture automatically launches when I attach my new iPod Touch to my Mac. The problem is, of course, that unlike the iPhone, the iPod Touch is not a camera. So why is it reporting itself as a camera to my computer? I haven't personally tried hooking it up to my Windows PC, but TUAW reader Gonzalo reports that Windows recognizes it as an imaging device.To switch this behavior off in Windows, open Control Panel > Printers and Other Hardware > Scanners and Camera > (your iPod). Right-click the iPod and pick Properties from the contextual menu. Tap on the Events tab and choose "Camera connected" from the "Select an event" pop-up and select Take No Action.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Reminder: Talkcast tonight -- iPhone unlock and more
Filed under: TUAW BusinessDon't forget, you can join us online and live tonight, 9 pm Eastern Time, for a half-hour chat with the TUAW team. Mat Lu and I will be doing an extended iPhone/iPod touch development Q&A with Erica Sadun, who has been in a whirlwind of hackery as the iPod touch meets the agile minds of the iPhone Dev Team. Bring those toolchain questions and application requests.For those of you who haven't registered with Talkshoe yet, good news; the conferencing system has been opened up to allow anonymous call-in for anyone with a phone, no PIN needed (if you want to participate in the simultaneous text chat, a PIN and the new Talkshoe client are still required). To call in without a PIN, just dial the general number (724-444-7444), enter the Talkcast ID (45077), and then enter 1#. You can also listen to the live stream directly from the Talkshoe site, or subscribe to the podcast to catch up after the fact.Read | Permalink | E...

Mac 101: Keychain
Filed under: Mac 101The Keychain on your Mac is a little application buried in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder. I say buried because I think Keychain is sadly neglected by most users. Here are some things you can do with it: Save web page passwords Save login info (aside from websites, like your IM logins) Save protected notes (secret stuff)This 101 will be a little longer than usual, so I can show you how to use Keychain to store passwords and other secret things. Later, in our Secure Your Mac series, we'll talk about making a good password so all these things stay private. Full details on how to easily use Keychain after the jump.Continue reading Mac 101: KeychainPermalink | Email this | Comments

How to "Get things done" with a Newton
Filed under: PortablesSeveral of the TUAW bloggers are fans of David Allen's Getting Things Done. There are also a couple of Newton fans among our numbers (myself included), so it's inevitable that the two would come together.Eckhart Köppen took it a step further and described the evolution of his Newton GTD system, from the very start to his detailed solution. With simple applications like DateMan, Super NotePad and More Folders, Eckhart has constructed a nice solution for his Newton.Thanks for posting this, Eckhart! I'll try it myself.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments