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ARRGH! Tiger news has been burning my RSS reader in the sense that there's a new Tiger-related news every update!

It's not just Tiger that's going to be released this Friday, it's a whole bunch of updated apps!

A shout-out goes to Homie S over at 1src.com who will be getting his Powerbook this Saturday. Dude, with all this Tiger activity all around, I'm in the same boat as you are... I feel as if I'm getting a new Mac again when Tiger's installed!

(*cough* Rob *cough* switch *cough* now)

Technorati Tags: macintosh, tiger

Posted by Joel at 10:34 AM | Permalink |

Congratulations to Dave Hyatt! In less than three weeks, he has made Safari pass the Acid2 test.

Acid2 is a test page, written to help browser vendors ensure proper support for web standards in their products.

Technorati Tags: macintosh, safari

Posted by Joel at 05:12 PM | Permalink

@MacUpdate - Mac OS X

Looking like Safari RSS, iNews provides more RSS reading features.

Find out more at iNews.

This RSS reader came as a surprise. Being a fan of RSS readers, I haven't heard about any betas before v1.0 was released.

Technorati Tags: rss

Posted by Joel at 07:14 AM | Permalink |

Overshadowed by Tiger that'll be released tomorrow, the Power Mac G5's have quietly made their way into the Apple Store.

Dual 2 GHz - $1999
Dual 2.3 GHz - $2499
Dual 2.7 GHz - $2999 (this is about how much I paid for my 17" Powerbook in November 2003)

Technorati Tags: macintosh

Posted by Joel at 06:35 AM | Permalink

If you haven't already, check out ecto 2.3. Adriaan has done a great job with this latest version.

The look and feel is Tiger-ready and the features are, as always, within easy reach.

Well done!

Technorati Tags: blogging, ecto, macosx

Posted by Joel at 09:51 PM | Permalink

My Moleskine large notebook arrived the other day. I got it from eBay -- shipped to me without problems. I initially ordered from moleskine.us, but only found out that they do not ship to Guam *after* I emailed them to inquire why it's taking so long to get my notebooks. That was disappointing. They could have at least informed me that the transaction was cancelled even if it seemed it went through. There's a lesson to be learned here: sometimes good looking sites do not necessarily offer good service.

So now that I have a new notebook, it was time to test it out. I used a Pilot G2 pen and a Rapidograph (both .5). The gel pen let me speedily write my thoughts but the technical pen offered cleaner lines. I'll decide which to choose soon enough.

In any case, it's quite refreshing to go analog. I believe journal writing (with pen and notebook) will be something I'm going to pursue.

By the way, 43 Folders initially got my interest on Moleskine.

Technorati Tags: moleskine

Posted by Joel at 08:49 PM | Permalink

I've just found a site about a company dedicated to modding your car with the Mac mini in mind. They're based in Singapore. I've posted about them at our site, BYODKM.net.

Check out mobyCar.

Posted by Joel at 09:04 AM | Permalink

This update will correct issues affecting some Java users following the installation of Mac OS X v10.3.9 Software Update.

For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n301382

Posted by Joel at 03:05 PM | Permalink

May 9, 2005 is the estimated delivery date of my OS X Tiger. I pre-ordered at Amazon last April 7, 2005.

This is about a week late but I don't mind because I will never wait in line and I will get to hear from the people who will be installing Tiger on the 29th.

Posted by Joel at 07:18 AM | Permalink

Microsoft recently began their "Start Something" ad campaign. What's funny is that one of their ads was actually done in Photoshop CS... for the Mac! (and it feels weird to link to my own article in another site)

Posted by Joel at 02:53 PM | Permalink

55% General American English
25% Yankee
20% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Interesting results... actually, I'm Asian.

Posted by Joel at 01:41 PM | Permalink |

I'm using the new NewsFire beta. David Watanabe does wonders again by integrating a simple yet elegant interface to let NewsFire handle podcasts.

The current version of NewsFire does handle podcasts. However when you listen to one track, you're stuck with that feed. Moving to another news item will cut the podcast audio.

The beta version now has a separate audio player. It's very much like a miniature iTunes player. This time, you can set a podcast feed to automatically or manually download content. There's new Podcasts preference settings area where you can choose in what folder you want to download content to (default is Music). After downloading, you have two choices: to play the content immediately, and/or to add the content to the iTunes Library.

Another new feature is an Audio tab in the search area. How cool is that?

David also decided to make NewsFire donationware. He posts "NewsFire 1.1 has changed the restrictions in place on unregistered versions. Newsfire 1.1 no longer has an absolute launch limit - that is, you can run it unregistered forever, if your conscience allows that sort of freeloading. In exchange for this generously relaxed condition, nags are more frequent and feed limits more stringently enforced. This is, of course, an attempt to keep NewsFire accessible to the largest audience, while still providing strong incentives for people to register. It goes without saying that registration not only gives the user the best possible experience, it is the only way that future development of NewsFire can be funded."

It's hard to believe this is a beta. It's impressive and I highly recommend it.

Posted by Joel at 09:21 PM | Permalink

Opera 8.00b1 has finally rolled out. Along with this is the release of Opera 8.0 for Windows and Linux. A new Opera.com webpage has also launched.

I have to admit that I've left Opera a while back but I'm seeing nice things with v8.0 that might make me switch back. I'll be playing with Opera for a week and will see what happens.

The included screenshot are the top 30 browsers that have gone through BenchJS when I tested Opera 8.00b1.

Posted by Joel at 08:36 PM | Permalink

Just got this as I was blocking some comment spam:

A visitor to your weblog Switchblog has automatically been banned by
posting more than the allowed number of comments in the last 200 seconds.

It's nice to know that Movabletype cares for all its users. Thanks!

Posted by Joel at 09:24 AM | Permalink

I've just received an email claiming it's from Paypal.

This email reroutes to: http://www.webscr-us1.hux.de/

I've attached a screenshot showing how authentic the site looks. The giveaway of course is the address which, sad to say, many people don't pay attention to. I've already reported this to Paypal.

The links in the email I got are all authentic Paypal links - when you look a them. However, viewing the source reveals the most damaging content if clicked and followed through:

<td height="59"><a href="http://www.webscr-us1.hux.de" alt='www.paypal.com'onMouseOver="status='http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=login-run'; return true"onMouseOut="status='';return true"><b>https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=login-run</b></a>

Be careful out there!

From: PayPal Account Review Department <service@paypal.com>
Date: April 19, 2005 2:59:22 AM GMT+10:00
To:
Subject: Notification of Limited Account Access (Routing Code: Q145-W478-B351-R5678)
Reply-To:
 
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. We recently noticed the following issue on your account:
We recently received a report of unauthorized credit card use associated with this account. As a precaution, we have limited access to your PayPal account in order to protect against future unauthorized transactions.
 
Case ID Number: PP-091-233-629
For your protection, we have limited access to your account until additional security measures can be completed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution Center by following the link below:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=login-run
If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us"

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
 
PayPal Email ID PP545
Accounts Management as outlined in our User Management , Paypal will
periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements
Visit our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions :
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_privacy-outside

Posted by Joel at 06:49 AM | Permalink

Safari 1.3 is included in the latest OS X update. According to Dave Hyatt, it's virtually identical to Safari RSS that ships with Tiger.

Initial speed tests I did resulted in the following:

Safari 1.3 (v312) - 11.51 seconds
Camino (2005041408 (v0.8+)) - 15.17 seconds
Firefox 1.0.3 - 25.72 seconds

Camino however, became 14 seconds while Safari increased to 15 seconds... for unknown reasons. Safari offers limited midas support so for rich text editing, my choice is still Camino.

Posted by Joel at 08:14 AM | Permalink

I couldn't believe I missed this. I haven't dowloaded it yet (obviously) so fire up Software Update and get what could be the last Panther update.

Posted by Joel at 01:39 PM | Permalink

With the latest nightly, Camino is back to being my default browser. I had problems with the official build and with Nephp Publisher. However, the April 13 and April 14 builds have fixed those problems.

Camino is currently my fastest browser (I have Firefox, Opera, Safari, Mozilla, and OmniWeb). It can also handle every webpage I throw at it... at least the webpages I regularly visit.

If you haven't test driven Camino yet, the download links are at www.caminobrowser.org

...it's quite ok to click the gray Download Latest Nightly build.

Posted by Joel at 10:07 AM | Permalink

Fire up Software update...

iDVD 5.0.1 addresses issues related to general stability and compatibility with iPhoto slideshows and iMovie HD.

Movie HD 5.0.2 Update addresses issues related to video and audio synchronization for DV projects and other issues. These include:

• Audio in PAL widescreen
• Sharing (exporting) HDV to videocamera tape
• Synchronizing with HDV 720p content
• Importing video from a DV videocamera when using analog passthrough or recording live video
• Compatibility with some analog-to-digital converter boxes
• Capturing video with Hi-8 (Digital 8) devices
• Placing titles over DV content
• Playing iPhoto slideshows that include protected content
• Opening iMovie 4 projects that use speed-adjusted clips.

This update is recommended for all users.

You must have iMovie HD 5.0 or iMovie HD 5.0.1 installed in its original location to update to iMovie 5.0.2.

For more information on iMovie HD, please visit this website:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie.

Photo 5.0.2 addresses issues with iPhoto book layout, multiword searching, iDVD slideshow integration, and slideshow performance and photo editing on G3 systems.

Posted by Joel at 07:22 AM | Permalink |

@Yahoo! News: Technology
$290 million profit from iPod, Mac mini, and Powerbook sales.

Posted by Joel at 08:08 AM | Permalink

@Apple Press Releases

CUPERTINO, California—April 12, 2005—Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X version 10.4 “Tiger” will go on sale Friday, April 29, beginning at 6:00 p.m. during special events at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Tiger has more than 200 new features and innovations including Spotlight™, a revolutionary desktop search technology that lets users instantly find anything stored on their Mac®, including documents, emails, contacts and images; and Dashboard, a new way to instantly access important information like weather forecasts and stock quotes, using a dazzling new class of applications called widgets.

Apple.com has gone all black too. Nice touch.

Posted by Joel at 06:19 AM | Permalink

@Lifehacker
Forward your regular mail to Gmail and let Gmail forward it back to you... spam free.

Posted by Joel at 10:02 AM | Permalink

@Engadget
There's another way to put music into your iPod shuffle -- through drag-and-drop.

Posted by Joel at 05:31 AM | Permalink

@Boing Boing

This hack on Craigslist and GoogleMaps is amazing: the service places all the houses/apartments for rent/sale on Craigslist as waypoints on a Google Map, color-coded by price, with links to the Craigslist ads.

What I'd like to see is a similar hack but for restaurants and stores. Based on customer comments (which could be color-coded), we'd get to see which places should be visited or avoided.

Posted by Joel at 11:12 PM | Permalink

On October 15, 2001, I started the Treo Yahoo!Group because of the fantastic Handspring devices. I've just visited it a while ago and saw that it's doing well! I also saw that Yahoo!Groups has a new look.

Posted by Joel at 10:42 PM | Permalink

@PalmAddicts
15 Mac minis have arrived for use at the PalmAddict office. Congratulations Sammy!

Posted by Joel at 06:53 AM | Permalink

If all goes well, I'll be getting OS X for $64.99. That's the total price after a $30 first time Amazon Visa purchase, and after a $35.00 rebate.

Amazon estimates my order to arrive on June 6, 2005.

Posted by Joel at 10:36 PM | Permalink

@Apple Hot News
Bob Levitus compares the Belkin Media Reader and the Apple iPod Camera Connector.

Posted by Joel at 09:43 PM | Permalink

@PalmAddicts
Great picture of Space Shuttle Discovery as it is being rolled out to the launch pad!

Posted by Joel at 06:47 PM | Permalink

@Lifehacker
It features the Memory Map pool at flickr.

Take a look at my memory map of New York. I took a screenshot of Manhattan at Google Maps and put in my notes.

Posted by Joel at 03:10 PM | Permalink

@VersionTracker: Mac OS X

Lots of fixes for this Usenet newsreader for discussions, files, and media.

Panic also offers Unison Usenet Access at $11.95 a month for up to 10 gigabytes of transfer.

Posted by Joel at 11:31 AM | Permalink

Skype for Mac has been updated a few days ago. I believe it now supports SkypeIn -- where people can actually call your Skype number from landline or mobile phones. I've checked and found out that SkypeIn charges are by 3 month blocks. I can't recall the price at the moment.

Anyway, just this morning, my mom asked me about Skype! I stared at her in wonder for a few seconds because I couldn't believe she asked me about it. I found out later that my aunt (her sister) has Skype and was asking if my mom has it too. Wow. If "normal" computer users are getting aware of Skype, that's good news for the company -- and for the end-users. The other day, I listened to Adam Curry praise Skype, even saying that he wishes the developers would become billionaires. As a Skype user impressed with the system, I wish Skype all the best too and I'll believe they'll just get even bigger and better.

Oh, another Skype story, I know my brother-in-law uses Skype while he's playing Neverwinter Nights Online with his friends. It's a good combination for those who use the online games that do not offer voice support.

Posted by Joel at 11:20 AM | Permalink

@Gizmodo

For Japanese AU and NTT DoCoMo handset users.

Posted by Joel at 11:03 AM | Permalink

@Engadget
Alphamosaic has been contracted by Apple... fueling speculation that there might be multimedia iPods on the horizon.

Posted by Joel at 06:50 AM | Permalink |

@Engadget
A great tutorial on how to use the PSP for video. "All" that's needed are:

• Mac running OS X
• ANT RSS video aggregator (free)
• PSPWare Mac to PSP syncing software ($15 reminderware)
• Sony PlayStation Portable with USB cable
• Memory Stick Duo of some significant size (the 32MB stock stick won’t last you long)

Posted by Joel at 06:59 AM | Permalink |

Google Maps now offers satellite photo support. I spent several minutes looking at the New York satellite maps. I traced routes from Gold St. (where I stayed last January) to some of the places I went to... the Apple Store, Chinatown, and Statue of Liberty. This is cool stuff!

Posted by Joel at 11:48 PM | Permalink

@Engadget
This could mean 20GB iPod minis and 1TB G5 Powerbooks in two years.

Posted by Joel at 11:06 PM | Permalink

@Engadget [Via Slashdot]
Perfect for short commutes. Premium gas is at $2.74 -- making this car perfect in Guam.

Posted by Joel at 11:03 PM | Permalink

@VersionTracker: Mac OS X
If I'm not using NewsFire, I use NetNewsWire. Features I like in NNW are the arrow keys support and enclosure downloading. I also like its ability to sync with .mac. Stylesheets can be changed too, my current choice is Spartan.

Posted by Joel at 09:24 PM | Permalink

Try it out!

Posted by Joel at 04:55 PM | Permalink |

@MacMinute
The question is, are they ready for the demand?

Posted by Joel at 11:26 AM | Permalink |

Flags are at half-mast as Guam pays its respect to Pope John Paul II.

Posted by Joel at 10:30 AM | Permalink

@PalmAddicts
Sammy posted an article about Tom, who carefully tore off the clip of his Krusell Treo 650 case. This brought back memories of my early cellphone days where I also used to tear off the clip from similar cases... to produce the slimmest possible protective case.

Incidentally, I've just ordered the Krusell case for my Treo 650. I just might tear off the clip too!

Posted by Joel at 09:37 PM | Permalink |

You can listen to Guam's first podcasts over at KUAM.com. Thanks to podcasting you can get a feel of how life is here in Guam no matter where you are and no matter when you want to listen. Props go to Jason Salas for putting this all together.

I'm using NewsFire to get the content. NewsFire automatically reads and plays the podcasts once I click the titles.

Posted by Joel at 04:39 PM | Permalink | |

@VersionTracker: Mac OS X

This application lets you automatically launch or quit applications when others launch or quit.

Posted by Joel at 09:14 AM | Permalink

As of this writing, I have more than 2GB... 2050MB actually.

I went back to read what Gmail is offering and they actually said they'll be giving more! Cool!

To celebrate our one-year birthday, we're giving everyone one more gigabyte. But why stop the party there? Our plan is to continue growing your storage beyond 2GBs by giving you more space as we are able.

Posted by Joel at 11:49 PM | Permalink

@Daring Fireball Linked List

Baio’s coverage of this has been fantastic — his investigation thorough, and his commentary fair. There’s been a rush of mainstream media coverage of this story, not a single bit of which has added anything more than Baio’s coverage. This is weblogging-as-journalism.

I commented on the Wordpress issue without even understanding the issues. Reading Matt's response was an eyeopener -- it even reminded me of the early days of Cliesource. I believe I will continue with my plans to experiment with Wordpress.

Posted by Joel at 06:31 AM | Permalink

Pocketlight might be the closest we can get to Spotlight features... in Panther. Pocketlight is free too!

Posted by Joel at 07:04 PM | Permalink

Check out your Gmail accounts... as Gmail turns 1, storage space goes up to 2GB!

Posted by Joel at 06:36 PM | Permalink

0.8.3 is now available!

Here's what's new:

* Location bar shows secure status of page so it's more obvious.
* Added support for HTML <OPTGROUP> tag in select widget drop-down menu.
* Passwords are now filled in framesets.
* Use the Mac OS X Language setting as the primary language for requesting web pages (accept-language HTTP header).
* Fixed issue on Google Maps where the scroll direction was reversed when dragging the mouse
* Fixed issue where no window would open if home page preference was blank
* Fixed crash when quitting while downloading
* Fixed crash when displaying Download preference tab if no download location was present in Internet settings
* Fixed issue where sometimes the url of a frame would replace the url in the location bar.
* Upgraded to the Mozilla 1.7.6 Gecko engine

Posted by Joel at 12:37 PM | Permalink

@Engadget
That's a lot of hacks! I'm sure more are coming our way.

Posted by Joel at 12:20 PM | Permalink

The latest version of VueScan now offers OCR. VueScan, with updates coming almost twice a month, is one of the best software I bought for OS X.

Posted by Joel at 06:36 AM | Permalink

@MacMinute
Tiger is on schedule! That's two weeks from now! Now where's that discounted Tiger link at Amazon...

That's the Automator screenshot taken from the Tiger Tour.

Posted by Joel at 06:24 AM | Permalink

@Daring Fireball Linked List

Exposed by Andy Baio. Unfortunately, WordPress honcho Matt Mullenweg is on vacation. It only took a few hours for Google to revoke the PageRank for all their scammy “articles”, and Yahoo followed suit a few hours later. #

Posted by Joel at 06:17 AM | Permalink

No, this is not a new Lexus SUV but rather the new HP PC with a built-in iPod dock.

Posted by Joel at 06:14 AM | Permalink