Home / tuaw.com rss archive / September-18-2007


Jobs: "It's our job to stop them breaking in"
Filed under: Apple Corporate, Bad Apple, AppleComputer worlds quoted Steves Jobs today, about whether Apple will continue to stay ahead of hacking efforts. "It's a cat-and-mouse game," Jobs said. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in." This is not especially good news for iPhone and iPod touch owners invested in unlocks and third-party enhancements--or for third party vendors like Belkin and Griffin, with their unapproved docks that will not work with recent iPods. Apple's recent firmware and hardware releases lend weight to TUAW's argument that Apple is working on tightening security and their "Made-for-Apple" focus. Thanks to hourog.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone AutoSync
Filed under: Software, iPhoneiPhone AutoSync is a simple application that does one thing: it makes sure your iPhone's contact and calendar information is up to date by running a sync anytime you change data on your Mac. The application was prompted by the fact that your iPhone's contact and calendar are only updated when you sync it with iTunes. If you change something on your Mac and disconnect your iPhone without syncing it you won't have the latest data with you. iPhone AutoSync monitors the Address Book, iCal, and Safari for changes and initiates a sync whenever it detects a modification, so if you sometimes find yourself with an out-of-date iPhone this might be worth a look.iPhone AutoSync is $9.95 and a demo is available.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Analysis: Adobe CS3 may not work with Leopard
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, AppleThis story is more interesting for what it doesn't say than what it does. Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen recently told Reuters that "CS3 hasn't fully been tested under Leopard" but that "If it doesn't work, we will make the necessary adjustments." He also apparently said that Adobe had not received a final copy of Leopard for testing purposes.Something doesn't smell right here. Why would Adobe's CEO go out of his way to tell a news agency that they can't guarantee CS3 will work properly with Leopard? I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume Adobe has an ADC membership and so has access to the so-called feature complete beta that Uncle Steve released at WWDC (or rather the subsequent builds). While it may be strictly true that Adobe hasn't received a gold master, neither has anybody else as far as we know. Nonetheless, can't they have "fully tested" CS3 with the builds that they presumably do have? In fact lots of people already have Leopard,...

Carbon Copy Cloner 3
Filed under: SoftwareIf you aren't using Carbon Copy Cloner, then you're missing out. This gem of an app is the easiest way to clone one Mac drive to another (you can even clone bootable volumes, so you can backup your main Mac drive to a stand by drive and boot right off of it). In addition to the clone ability, Carbon Copy Cloner makes backing up a breeze, and it is easier with Carbon Copy Cloner 3.The new version of CCC brings with it better data synchronization, block level copying, and some nice UI enhancements.Carbon Copy Cloner is donation-ware, so it is fully functional but if you use it you should really considering donating some cash to help with the development of the app.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone crosses the puddle. 3G missing in action.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, iPhoneThere are few things pundits agreed on but a 3G iPhone launch in the UK and Europe seemed a pretty sure move. This morning, the Steve announced the November 9th iPhone launch. And, as you may surmise from the title of this post, there was no 3G on offer. 8GB with EDGE--the same model sold in the US.Of course between now and 9 November there's plenty of room for change but count me among the disappointed who had hoped for something better east of the Atlantic.The costs seem incredibly high as well. The £269 iPhone clocks in at US$538.43 for today's exchange rate. The cheapest £35 plan is US $70 per month + "Special Roaming" rates--with no hint of prepaid/contract-free service. How do you British TUAW readers feel about the contract rates and the lack of 3G? Let us know in the comments.Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone: How many Hackers?
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhoneThe iPhone appears to have an installed base somewhere upwards of one million units according to Apple's official numbers. A majority of those units have been sold to early adopters; that is people with a certain adventurous spirit, not just those who got to the story early. Some have been hacked by hand, others through tools like AppTapp. Hard data on the number of hacked units is indirect.I haven't been able to get in touch with "lg", the man behind AppTapp/Installer.app but I was able to talk to other developers: there have been over 70,000 Open SSH downloads and upwards of 600,000 unique visits to the SMXY repository this month. Since only a portion of Installer.app users will install SSH, that hints at a much bigger base.What is my best guess? I'm thinking conservatively that between 10-20% of early adopters have hacked their iPhones for third party software and that a similar number are unlocking their iPhones for non-AT&T service;...

iTunes: Free Tuesday
Filed under: iTS, Features, DealsWelcome to this week's edition of iTunes: Free Tuesday featuring a new collection of free singles from around the world. Each week we send out our dealgnomes to the furthest corners of the Earth to find and retrieve iTunes freebies from all the International stores. Here's what's new today:Continue reading iTunes: Free TuesdayRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jisho: Japanese to English translator for the Mac
Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Education, Odds and endsI've watched as much anime as the next guy, but even I need a Japanese dictionary to figure out what those crazy robots are saying sometimes. Enter Jisho, a Japanese/English dictionary for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher. You can search in the Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana forms of Japanese, and also in English, German, Russian, and French, and it will translate not only the Japanese characters out for you (in a bright, clean interface), but the Romanization as well.And the latest version features a completely rewritten Romanization engine, as well as Kanji "zooming" and more OS X integration. If you ever need to regularly go from English to Japanese (or back again), Jisho's got what you need-- it's just $15 from Sugoisoft. And maybe you'll pick up enough to actually learn the language.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

iPhone update to add TV out?
Filed under: Software, iPhoneAstute TUAW reader Matt Nelson noticed something in Engadget's O2 iPhone hands on gallery that seem to portend some new features coming down the pike for us iPhone users. You may recall that Apple listed some TV out cables as being iPhone compatible, and then quickly fixed that 'error.' If you take a look at the shot above you'll see the O2 iPhone, which is running an unreleased version of the iPhone software, has a new 'TV Out' setting section. Looks like you'll be able to buy some iPhone ready video cables soon enough.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Microsoft launches Office 2008 sneak peek site
Filed under: SoftwareMicrosoft is letting out information in dribs and drabs about Microsoft Office: Mac 2008, the long awaited Universal version of the company's productivity suite. Today brings a new website that showcases some of the new functionality found in the Office apps, as well as shows off the new UI (which looks to be influenced, though not directly related to, Office 2007's UI).Sadly, this website doesn't have any information about Entourage, Office's email client which I know many people (including myself) are anxious to hear about. Still, it is worth a look to see what Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are going to look like in January.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Secure your Mac: Keychain on the move
Filed under: SecurityVictor's Mac 101 yesterday gave you the basics of the Keychain, so we all know what it's good for -- keeping your passwords and credentials in a convenient, automatic and protected file. Still, that's an awful lot of passwordy goodness to keep in one place, especially if some of those passwords are controlling access to your financial or professional information. Y'know, what would be really cool -- if you could do it -- take that keychain, and put it on a portable drive, and then you'd have physical control of your passwords even when you aren't with your computer... nice.Conveniently enough, there's a great walkthrough at nevali.net to accomplish this exact task. The basic steps: make a new keychain (with a secure, complex password) and save it to your removable media; once that's done, set your default keychain (where Mac OS X will put new password saves automatically) to the new, portable keychain. From that point on, you can take your passwords with...

State of the iTouch Jailbreak: Slow, forward progress
Filed under: iPod Family, HacksLate last night, iTouch hacker Martyn gained access to many of the iTouch's ramdisk files. He did this by interrupting the restore process after about 82-88 seconds. This put the iTouch into a state where iTunes still saw it in "Restore" mode but iPhuc was able to read files. Behold "martynmode". Before I headed off to sleep, effort was being made to use gdb breakpoints to stop iTunes at the right spot.The big success last night was Martyn's recovery of the onboard asr file. However, Apple had zero'ed out the encryption key this time around. Attempts to edit then load the dmg files also failed. I believe that this morning, "Smiley" will attempt to mod iPhuc to read the XML sent back from the iTouch.Unfortunately, the effort goes slowly without a clear line of sight to the goal.Permalink | Email this | Comments

MarsEdit 2.0.2 fixes bugs
Filed under: Software, Cool tools, BlogsScott's favorite blogging software has gotten another update, hot on the heels of the big 2.0 release. MarsEdit 2.0.2 patches up the big release with a few "slightly urgent" fixes involving using external editors and Evaluation mode (including a bug that caused you to be nagged a little more often than expected). There are also a few other typo and bug fixes (including a small fix to 2.0.1, which was only up for a little bit, so you didn't miss anything).The update is available over on Red Sweater's site, and if you haven't started editing on Mars yet, the full program is available for $29.95.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The iPhone and vestigial Widgets
Filed under: iPhoneYesterday, I posted about Widget.app, a utility to run OS X widgets on your iPhone. Widgets and the iPhone share a closer relationship than that post suggests. When you create a folder at the root of your tree called /Widgets and populate it, the widgets actually show up in Springboard--the iPhone home screen. When you tap widgets, the iPhone attempts (and fails) to run /System/Library/CoreServices/Dashboard.app. This application does not actually exist or, at least, did not ship with the iPhone. It's clear that Apple designed expandable Widget support for iPhone but cut it out at some stage of the design/delivery process.Thanks to BloomFilterRead | Permalink | Email this | Comments

TUAW Tip: Myspace Music on the iPhone
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, TUAW Tips, iPhoneThink getting music from the WiFi store on your iPhone would be cool, but frustrated that they haven't implemented it yet? Justin sent along a simple little tip that makes it easy to grab all the music you want off of Myspace band pages, even without Jobs' Starbucks integration.Lots of Myspace band pages offer little Flash-based widgets that will play music for you, but without Flash, MobileSafari won't let you at them. But with a web application like file2HD, getting at those music files is easy-- plug in the Myspace URL, choose Audio, agree to the Terms of Service, and boom, you get a list of URLs, that, like any other Quicktime-playable media online, will stream directly into the iPod's music player.There is, of course, a catch. According to the Terms of Service for file2HD (or any other service like it, I'd imagine), you can only access your own pages. Myspace, obviously, wants you visiting their page to hear that music....

Mac 101: How to go Home
Filed under: Mac 101More Mac 101, the TUAW answer to the unasked questions of novice Mac users. You've certainly seen the little house in your windows, but do you know who lives there? You do -- at least, your stuff does, and if Carlin said it that's enough for me.Unlike Mac OS 9, which pretty much let you put your files and programs wherever you wanted as long as you left System and Finder inside the System Folder, Mac OS X has certain expectations regarding paths, the hierarchy of folders leading to a particular spot on your startup disk. The distinction between your personal files -- your documents, music, email, bookmarks, preferences & settings -- and everything else that helps your computer run can be stated simply: if it's in your Home folder, it's "your stuff," and if it's outside your Home folder, it's universal to the computer (or it belongs to your spouse/kids/etc.).To get to your Home folder quickly, you can click the house icon in the sidebar of any Finder...

What's not on the iPod touch
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Multimedia, Reviews, Apple, iPhoneBill Palmer sent along this list he put together of all the iPhone features you won't find on the iPod touch. When a lot of people, including myself, first saw the iPod touch, we called it the "iPhone without the phone," because it seemed to pretty much have everything the iPhone had without actually being able to call anyone-- MobileSafari was in there, as was YouTube, Gmail and Yahoo Mail (via the browser). But as Palmer notes, it's not as complete as we first thought.The EDGE network is probably the most obvious and biggest omission-- the iPhone will let you do what you want from anywhere, while an iPod touch only works where your laptop does (unless you have an EDGE hookup, obviously). The Mail application is missing, as is the Notes application (that one has raised a lot of hackles, too), and Bluetooth is gone as well. There's no camera, volume buttons, or dock. The screen isn't quite as good....

School days: Schoolhouse student organizer
Filed under: SoftwareMore back to school application suggestions! This time, a full-featured assignment planner, organizer and grade tracker: Schoolhouse 2.1. Last noted by Dan in April, this powerful and graceful app helps keep students on track by monitoring assigments on the calendar and associating all sorts of metadata with the tasks. You can attach your notes or research materials, assign partners to collaborate on projects, or 'classcast' your work out via .Mac or FTP.Schoolhouse is donationware, and if you find it useful we strongly suggest sending a few bucks Logan's way.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Freeverse holds a 30% off sale
Filed under: Gaming, Software, DealsFreeverse, winner of many design awards (and publisher of Marathon on the 360-- I had no idea!) is throwing down with a software sale on their website. By using the code montyrules with any purchase before September 20th, you can pick up any of the software and games they're selling for a whopping 30% off.Heroes V for $35! Euchre (my favorite card game ever) for $14! Wingnuts 2 for $21! And the apps aren't to be scoffed at either-- they've got the great Comic Life, Lineform, and Sound Studio 3 all on sale as well.Woot for Freeverse, and woot for selling great games and apps for cheaper than usual. Now that you guys are flush with money, how about convincing Microsoft to let you put that Euchre game on my 360, too?Thanks, Brian!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Metaliveblogging Apple's "Mum is no longer the word" event
Good morning, dear TUAW readers. London calling. It's Tuesday morning, and that can only mean one thing. We've been getting tonnes of tips that the Apple Store is down. The Apple store is still online, although tipster Gary tipped us off that the O2 store - the very same network rumoured to be the sole carrier of the iPhone here in the U.K. is in fact offline. Yes, that's right - iDay / iPhone Day / totally iPhone-unrelated announcement day is upon us, so sit back and enjoy the show. If you're short of reading material before the event, we'd recommend you check out this article in yesterday's Guardian about the deals rumoured to have been struck to bring the iPhone to our fair isle and beyond.As it happens (in reverser chronological order)0959 (Engadget) "Feels a bit surreal having an Apple press event in an Apple retail space: black shirted Apple mafia are everywhere."0955 Just five minutes to go, multiple sources are reporting El Jobso is indeed in London.0942 (Engadget) Phil...