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iPod software update 2005-06-26 delivers iPod Software 1.2 for iPod with color display, iPod mini Software 1.4 for iPod mini and iPod Software 3.1 for iPod with Click Wheel
This update features integration with iTunes 4.9 for downloading and listening to podcasts. Available via Software Update.
Technorati Tags: ipod
LaCie Update Tool v1.3.3 is now Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) compatible and adds the latest firmware support for d2 and Design by F.A. Porsche drives with FireWire 400 and 800 and/or USB 2.0 interface.
One comment read: "Updated my firmware successfully from 1.0 to 1.02. Shrug. Not sure what it fixed. Ah well, I fixed what wasn't broken and lived to tell the tale."
Technorati Tags: lacie
20GB and 60GB iPod color are now available at $299 and $399 respectively. With the release of these new iPods, the iPod minis are the only ones which now have grayscale screens.
Prices last February 2005 were as follows:
iPod photo - 30GB - $349 (new - 40 GB was $499)
iPod photo - 60GB - $449 (from $599)
Technorati Tags: ipod
With iTunes 4.9, you can now browse and subscribe to podcasts from within the iTunes Music Store. Podcasts are frequently updated radio-style shows downloadable over the Internet. You can also transfer podcasts to iPod, for listening on the go.
Fire up Software update or try the direct download.
Apple has posted a new feature on World of Warcraft Battlegrounds to the games area of its Web site.
World of Warcraft is my first exploration into the world of massively multiplayer online game (MMOG). I've tried Guild Wars and Lineage II but WoW keeps on impressing me. Graphics are fantastic, in a Warcraft-ish sort of way. It's not intended to be realistic but cartoonish in its realism. Gameplay design is absorbing. It's like getting mini games and discovering new things every time. It's quite amazing to see real live players around who would be willing to help (but I've also met not so friendly players, which resulted into a "hated" status for me against another guild.)
Another plus factor... addons are cross platform compatible. Add anything in the PC and Mac versions of the game and it will work. Also, I've tested WoW on a Mac mini and on a Powerbook -- WoW performance adjusts itself automatically depending on the machine you're using resulting into a problem free experience.
If you'd like to find me, I'm in the Icecrown server. Look for a Night Elf named Jroaeyl (with a black lion pet, Humar) and send a whisper. We can even "see" and help each other out.
Synchronize folders between removable media, hard-drives or over a network. QuickSync features Bi-Directional or single direction synchronization. Ignore files or folders within the sync folders, save sync session data and more.
This is similar to LifeDrive's Folder Sync which, unfortunately, is a Windows-only feature. However, Quicksync works with any mounted device be it an iPod, Clie, or palmOne device (plus external drives or networked devices too). I've just tested it with a TH55 and it works!
I recently got a Luxpro Super Tangent (you know, the iPod shuffle knockoff?). Side by side with the iPod shuffle, I quickly discovered how simple yet elegant the shuffle really is. It took a similar product to compare the shuffle with... in order for me to truly appreciate the shuffle!
A lengthier "first thoughts" will follow soon.
[Make]
The Swedish site 99Mac has a gallery of all the Apple knockoff products at the monster Computex tradeshow in Taiwan earlier this month. There were quite a lot. Knockoff G5, Knockoff iPod mini, Another knockoff G5, Knockoff iPod shuffle, Knockoff Mac mini (In white and black), Intel's knockoff Mac mini (More info here), Another knockoff iPod mini, More knockoff shuffles. Link.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (a lawsuit magnet too). Knock yourself out.
Technorati Tags: knockoff
[Engadget]
At 39 bucks it does have a certain, uh, price advantage over the shuffle, but that’s mainly because there’s no internal memory. If you want to actually listen use the USB MP3 Capsule to listen to music you have to pop in a spare SD or MMC memory card.
It's yet another iPod shuffle knockoff but it could actually be useful especially if you have spare SD or MMC memory cards lying around.
Just discovered that v2.3.6 is now available. ecto2 is still the only blog application I use.
Here are the updates so far...
✓ Fixed a potential crash with bad server responses.
Changes in 2.3.5:
✓ Fixed an issue with Growl.
✓ HTML preview enables JavaScript.
✓ Fixed an issue with the "Now" command in the Modify Date sheet.
✓ Fixed an issue with multiple Blogger accounts.
✓ Fixed issue with truncated and verbose server responses.
✓ Handle text dragged to dock.
✓ Attachments in excerpt/summary field did not upload. Fixed.
✓ iPhoto import could fail in some cases. Fixed.
✩ Also imports titles and keywords from iPhoto.
✓ In Rich Text mode, clicking an attachment and choosing Create Link will now work as supposed to.
✓ Prepend "http://" to link in Create-A-Link if no protocol present.
✓ Show count of selected messages in entry list.
✓ Preset blog blogio.de is now blogeo.de.
✓ Added one more preset for SG in account manager.
✓ Changed amazon URL to be compliant of amazon. Previously, I used a short URL version, but associate IDs in short URLs are apparently ignored by Amazon. You can track clicks in the new URLs by going to your associates.amazon.com page. Navigate to "Link Type" reports and look under REST. The URLs are longer, but it guarantees that Amazon respects them (see also http://www.amazon.com/gp/aws/sdk/102-1716187-8252109?v=2005%2d03%2d23&s=AWSEcommerceService).
[Versiontracker]
DivX, VCD, DVD, MPEG-1/2/4 & more. Best one there is for Tiger.
Technorati Tags: divx, dvd, mpeg, vcd, vlc
* Rewrite of the playlist (tree structure, input preparsing ...)
* Preferences improvements
* Mac OS X Tiger compatibility
* New Mac OS X audio output module. Gives full multichannel analog discrete soundsupport with all devices. SPDIF is not supported by this module. Please read the README.MacOSX.rtf file for detailed information.
* Client-side SSL/TLS support
* Support for FTP over IPv6
* Massive Matroska improvements
* Support for SOCKS proxy
* Support for Shoutcast metadata
* Support for (HE-)AAC raw-audio streams
* TiVo demuxer
* PNG decoder/encoder
* Support for Apple Lossless Audio Codec
* Services discovery modules (brand new SAP module, HAL discovery, DAAP (iTunes shares), shoutcast)
* Support for 20/24 bits LPCM
* Video snapshot support (png or jpg)
* Image file video output (png)
* Mosaic (picture-in-picture system)
* Pocket PC port
[Versiontracker]
This is yet another digital alarm clock that wakes you up to an iTunes playlist. However, it really wakes the Mac from sleep, is free, and is the best alarm clock I've seen so far.
[Lifehacker]
All you would ever want to do with your iPod...
Copy music
Get the most out of your iPod's battery
Tote reading material on the 'pod
Accessorize
Technorati Tags: ipod
It's OpenOffice w/o X11 dependencies. Here's the release notes for 1.1. Free.
Technorati Tags: neooffice, openoffice
Common Tunes is a site dedicated to free music. Check it out and see what you can get for your iPod.
We just released the first alpha version of Camino 0.9. We know it's not perfect and we already have a bunch of fixes in the pipleline for a second alpha, but we believe it's enough of a solid improvment over 0.8.4 that you should give it a spin and let us know what you think.
If you're a Camino fan, of course you wouldn't want to miss this.
Technorati Tags: camino
Here's a growing list of applications that support .mac.
Here's a sample:
Bookpedia
Bruji.com
Catalog and organize your books; publish your media collections right to your HomePage to share with friends.
CDpedia
Bruji.com
Catalog and organize your CDs; publish your media collections right to your HomePage to share with friends.
Curio
Zengobi
Fill an unlimited number of idea spaces with photos, movies, text snippets, checklists, outlines, sounds, and more. Convert your pages to HTML and automatically post them to your iDisk.
Technorati Tags: macintosh
The complete soundtrack to Super Mario World, covered by one man using dozens of instruments. Roughly in game order, faithful to the originals, with some bizarre artistic license thrown around. A private hobby made public. Dedicated to Koji Kondo. --XOC
Amazing job!... brought back lots of memories too.
Technorati Tags: nintendo
[MAKE]
I usually go dual screen, but this is a pretty handy tip I didn't know about...If you use an external display or projector with any PowerBook G4 or PowerBook (FireWire), you can close the display and still use the computer. Here's how. Link.
Because of the power requirements, you have to use the AC power adapter. Useful tip, nonetheless.
Technorati Tags: powerbook
[Hackaday]
The iTrip is an FM transmitter designed for the iPod. This little hack nestles the transmitter into the PSP case so you can listen to your music through a car stereo. The broadcast frequency is set by playing special audio files, so you don’t need any external adjustments. The transmitter is turned on by plugging in a dummy headphone jack. I’m amazed they were able to cram this into the PSP case.
A nice hack... granted you would want to crack open your iTrip and PSP. I prefer to play around with a PC... you know, where you just open the side of the case and swap components inside. I don't have the guts to open up devices especially a PSP!
[VersionTracker]
It's a utility for public terminals to disallow keychain drives.
If you have an iPod shuffle or Luxpro Super Tangent, then this would be useless.
Lots of new things to like with 0.82
What's New:
Technorati Tags: adium
Added OTR Encryption advanced preferences pane for fingerprint management [#5]
Added Ignore / Un-ignore support for all group chats
Added support for spaces and the plus character in Yahoo! names
Added support for modifying a saved status before setting it by holding Option when selecting a status
Added support for adding contacts to your list when they request authorization [#2]
Added support for the MSN display name updating to match the last used name when you change it in another client and then sign on with Adium [#196]
Added support for pressing enter/return to send a 'blank' IM to reset to the default typing attributes á la old iChat
Autoreply is now enabled by default new away messages but disabled for available and invisible messages
Made the message window and standard contact list unified
Improved retrieval of AIM buddy icons
Improved the Play Sound action in the Events preferences [#29]
Improved updating of chat names
Improved Aqua service icons, including a new Gadu-Gadu service icon
Re-enabled jabber.org automatic registration
Fixed a crash in the File Transfer Progress Window after removing a file transfer
Fixed issues causing Adium to prevent system sleep in certain situations [#106]
Fixed issues with network connectivity detection
Fixed issues with unblocking contacts who have been blocked [#197]
Fixed issues with white lines at the top and bottom of borderless windows
Fixed display of Meanwhile available and away messages [#105]
Fixed encoding issues when using Yahoo! Japan
Fixed chats remaining in the Window menu after viewing the Send Later sheet
Fixed saving of in-window message history for chats open when quitting Adium [#71]
Fixed a crash caused by certain invalid HTML links
Fixed zooming the standard contact list window [#81]
Fixed setting the per-user encryption setting via the Get Info window [#44]
Fixed issues with sending links over ICQ in certain situations
Fixed issues with the Get Info shortcut not working when the contact list is selected [#137]
Fixed issues with sending line breaks over Bonjour [#48]
Fixed issues with automatic compression of bundles/folders for file transfer
Fixed issues with the Find Buddy by Email window [#279]
Fixed contacts in AIM group chats being incorrectly marked as mobile [#54]
Fixed issues with sending links in AIM group chats [#229]
Fixed the %_uptime script with less than one day of uptime [#165]
Fixed a crash when closing group chats [#314]
Fixed issues with scripts used in MSN display names being overwritten after reconnecting [#326]
Fixed issues with the Custom Status window reconfiguring for a new status of the same type
Fixed issues with URL handling
Fixed a leak when switching between To: contacts on differing services within a metaContact
Fixed responder chain in the New Message prompt [#260]
Fixed setting the Offline status state for Auto Away and Fast User Switching
Fixed issues with inviting Yahoo contacts to chats while joining them via File->Join Group Chat
Fixed a crash when deleting logs in the Log Viewer
Fixed "Radioactive Adiumy" and crushed all PNG files to save space [#69]
Fixed a rare hang at launch
Corrected a situation in which it would be possible for Adium to delete saved status states accidentally
Fixed several memory leaks
Disabled Crash Reporter for out of date versions of Adium [#65]
Added Catalan, Czech, Icelandic, Norwegian, Simplified Chinese, and Swedish translations
Updated all other translations
Updated to Growl 0.7
Updated to libgaim 1.3.1
Take your music collection to the next level with CoverBuddy. Don’t let iTunes™ play alone, everyone needs a buddy!
This application shows album covers that flip (like widgets) to show the list of songs of that particular artist/s. CoverBuddy uses Amazon as its source of cover art. You can also drag cover art directly from the browser to CoverBuddy.
The unregistered version has watermarks on the album covers. If you like CoverBuddy, it's $24.95.
Technorati Tags: coverbuddy, itunes
At long last, 8.01 for Mac is now available for download. It has been my default browser for quite some time now (through beta testing). Those who know me, know that I juggle between browsers. Finally, I can say that Opera is my main browser with Camino as my backup.
Read the Press Release or skip to the good stuff and read the changelog.
Guam Police Officer Jason Coburian Ortiola was recently indicted in federal court on charges that he allegedly was trafficking crystal methamphetamine while on duty.
Ortiola has since been placed on administrative leave with pay.
There's something wrong here. Here we have someone who's destroying lives and gets leave -- with pay. Compare this situation to private schools teachers islandwide who are now in summer vacation -- without pay.
(Oh, there are also eight people at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport who were recently arrested because of a traffic scam. They continue to work and receive pay.)
As our students might say, this sucks. This sucks big time.
[Gizmodo]
You all know about our affinity for IBM clicky keyboards. Well, there’s one man who has an even bigger affinity—nay, obsession—with these noisy beasts.
Well, here’s a buyer’s guide to purchasing sebum-encrusted, used IBM keyboards as well as a field guide to the different types (Type M13 with the little nubbin, Type M5-1 with a trackball, etc.). And he has an audio file of him clacking away like a madman and uses the term “board chow” which I believe are two of the most beautiful words in the English language.
IBM Keyboards - The Odyssey Continues [DansData]
After reading Dan's article, I immediately went to Unicomp and ordered my own keyboard. It arrived just today. It's heavy, noisy, arguably ugly, but no doubt solid and reliable. I love it.
[MAKE]
How many possible ways are there to lace an average shoe? This simple question, when answered with mathematics, results in some surprisingly big numbers - on an average shoe with six pairs of eyelets, there are 1,961,990,553,600 ways to feed a shoelace though those 12 eyelets. Here are 24 ways to tie your shoes. Link.
I didn't know there were so many ways. Now time to decide which one I'll try for my sneakers...
XLink Kai is a global gaming network - bringing together XBox, Playstation 2, Gamecube and PSP users, in one integrated community. It is software running on your PC or Macintosh that allows you to play system-link enabled games online for free. Kai is the only service that is not console specific, and boasts one of the friendliest communites available.
I'll probably check this out sometime this summer.
Technorati Tags: playstation, psp, xbox, gamecube, xlink
Lots of new fixes for Skype!
What's New:
feature: voicemail subscribers can leave voicemail to anyone
feature: add an outgoing call to an ongoing call to then create a conference
feature: add an incoming call to an ongoing call to then create a conference
change: new default avatar
change: clickable area of the call and hang up buttons is slightly smaller now, making it less likely to place a call accidentally
change: removed "no unread messages" text from mc drawer items
change: added online status popup menu and icon to mc windows
change: added Skype Address Book Dialer that enables to dial properly formatted phone numbers from Address Book
change: it is now possible to change your online status in the main menu (Account -> Change Status)
change: submenu with SkypeOut numbers is shown under "Call" menu item in the context menus of contact list and call list (only if the selected user has entered phone numbers in his/her profile)
change: multiple selection in the contact list, makes it very easy to start conference calls or multichats
change: separate menu commands (and key equivalents) for closing windows and single chats in chat window
change: added "view call list" menu item, which filters call list by the selected contact
bugfix: renamed Rendezvous to Bonjour
bugfix: cmd-W closes only chat or whole chat window, cmd-Shift-W in multichat window closes only front chat (instead of whole window)
bugfix: chat input spellchecker state (continuous check on/off) is now stored in preferences
bugfix: when you log in, then your online status will be the status you had when you logged out last time (it was always set to Online before)
bugfix: call list was only filtered by display name (now it also filters by username)
bugfix: fixed showing chat history (for 1-1 chats)
bugfix: fixed a bug that might have caused random crashes when MC window was visible
bugfix: voicemail view was not removed from the drawer, when you deleted the voicemail during its playback
bugfix: the number of new voicemails was not shown in the My Skype tab after logout/login
bugfix: the number of new voicemails was sometimes incorrect in the My Skype tab
bugfix: unplayed voicemails had the same icon in the call list as played voicemails
bugfix: fixed a bug that caused old chat messages to appear repeatedly
bugfix: voicemails were sometimes not shown in call list (or shown twice)
bugfix: after logging out, it was not possible to log in again sometimes
bugfix: offline status didn't work as it should
bugfix: some toolbar items and buttons were mistakenly enabled in logged out state
bugfix: fixed a bug that caused invalid display of mc member list when number of members changed
bugfix: Bonjour now works on Tiger too (earlier it did not)
Iconfactory today announced the availability of iPulse 2.1.3, a free update to its stylish utility for monitoring the numerous statistics of Mac OS X.
Check out iPulse. It's the only resource meter I use... and it comes with a clock, date, battery/wifi indicator and more.
Here's a rundown of available updates recently...
Technorati Tags: macintosh
Security Update 2005-006
Security Update 2005-006 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components:
AFP Server
Bluetooth
CoreGraphics
Folder Permissions
launchd
LaunchServices
NFS
PHP
VPN
For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
Quicktime
QuickTime 7.0.1 provides several important bug fixes, a security enhancement, and improved compatibility with Final Cut Studio. This update is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users. For detailed information on the security enhancement, please visit this website:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
Important Notice to QuickTime Pro Users
Installation of QuickTime 7 will disable the QuickTime Pro functionality in prior versions of QuickTime, such as QuickTime 5 or QuickTime 6. If you proceed with this installation, you must purchase a new QuickTime 7 Pro key to regain QuickTime Pro functionality. After installation, visit www.apple.com/quicktime to purchase a QuickTime 7 Pro key.
Keynote
Keynote 2.0.2 corrects a security issue. For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
Pages
Pages 1.0.2 addresses issues with page navigation and organization.
[Apple]
Beginning today, customers can bring iPods they no longer want to any of Apple’s 100+ retail stores in the US for free environmentally friendly disposal. Those who drop off an iPod, iPod mini or iPod photo will receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a new iPod that day.
Technorati Tags: ipod
At the moment everyone might be buzzing about that Mac mini-alike concept PC from Intel, but it’s AOpen that’s throwing out the lawsuit-bait. Their new Mac mini clone, codenamed “Pandora,” is based on Intel’s reference design, runs on a Pentium M chip designed for laptops, and should be out by September.
I had no problems with the front design as that power button is clearly a PC "trademark." However, the back is clearly a Mac mini design... silver and white! AOpen could have used some other color and/or material... probably something similar to the LaCie D2 external drives.
I don't know to what extent Apple has patents with the Mac mini design but it would be interesting to find out what Apple's response is going to be.
