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Fabienne Serriere

Berlin, Germany - http://fabienne.us

Multichannel audio specialist and futurist Fabienne Serriere (aka fbz) is a Franco-American software, hardware and embedded interaction designer. She believes in a gorgeous technologically morphable future. Her interests include hardware hacking, wearable computing, and large scale music system design. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family

Designer "Skulls" iPod holder from Muff

I don't usually post about iPod holders (unless they are DIY, interactive, or just plain silly), but the new designer series from Muff caught my eye. Muff showed up on TUAW back in October, but lacked this designer series. Despite their lack of a window or access to controls, I find them stylish and graphically pleasing. I have a weakness for skulls like the design shown here by Aussie designer Drunk Park, aka Seb Godfrey.

[via iLounge]

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, Hacks, How-tos

Part 2 in creating your own universal iPod dock


If you are interested in getting the most out of your iPod and you enjoy the DIY culture, Will O'Brien has posted How-To: Design your own iPod super dock (Part 2). In this part of his ongoing series, he takes you step by step through designing a schematic for the "Super Dock" in EAGLE. You can grab EAGLE Light Edition for OS X here (note: requires command line installation). I also posted about Part 1 of the series on TUAW.

The upside of this series by Will is that you can freely expand upon what he has started. Use your imagination! Do you need to have an iPod dock that is integrated into your home brewed robotic kitchen? Will your car benefit from custom iPod controls on the steering wheel? Can your pet have its own playlist control functions at home with interactive carpeting? Will lays the groundwork for you and lets you be your own Griffin or Belkin engineer.

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family, Hacks, How-tos

Create your own universal iPod dock

Will O'Brien from our sister blog Engadget has posted up How-To: Design your own iPod super dock (Part 1). This thorough, in-depth tutorial will enumerate the steps required in building your own iPod dock (or cable), whether for your car, your futuristic molded bedside table, or simply to take advantage of all those dock pins you never knew you had. If you are a do-it-yourselfer with an iPod, you will surely enjoy this series from Will. Check it out and we'll let you know when Part 2 arrives.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Open Source

Newly proposed French law does not penalize Apple

First off, I would like to note that this post is an opinion piece, and though it contains facts, the opinions contained therein are definitely biased towards open source, open standards, the freedom of software programmers, and technological innovation.

France's Assemblé Nationale voted in yesterday evening the DADVSI, a rather hideous proposal which will most likely become law when France's Sénat deems it constitutional and President Chirac signs it. Both of the latter are likely as the president is of the same majority right party (UMP) as the Assemblé Nationale. The New York Times (and Slashdot) have noted incorrectly that the law will contain clauses for interoperability required of iTunes and iPods, but those amendments did not make it into the final proposal voted on Thursday night. Read on for a breakdown of the law as it currently awaits, almost certain, approval.

Read more →

Filed under: Productivity, Terminal Tips

Remapping Key Combinations

Some people may think I am pro-*nix, but actually I really just like getting information out there for all our readers. Today I came across a great tip on Switch about Windows-like key bindings. If you don't dig the way Apple has the start and end key combos mapped in OS X, you can change them by creating the file ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict with the following contents:

/* ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict - Home/End keys more like Windows */
{
"\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLine:"; /* home */
"\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLine:"; /* end */
"$\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:"; /* shift home */
"$\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:"; /* shift end */
"^\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfDocument:"; /* control home */
"^\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfDocument:";/* control end */
}


I personally tested this key binding hack in 10.4.4 and it does work. To test it be sure to quit out of your text application first. Also note that you will have to create a KeyBindings/ directory in your ~/Library/ because it is not there by default. To reverse the key bindings back to normal, just delete the DefaultKeyBinding.dict file you created and restart your text application. If there is a simpler GUI way to create these modifications please post about it in the comments for our readers.

If on the other hand you live in Terminal like me, the start of line and end of line key bindings are Control-A and Control-E respectively. This should feel comfortable to people accustomed to the normal Emacs mode in a shell in other *nix based operating systems.

[via Switch and comments on Ask Slashdot]

Filed under: Hardware, Macbook Pro

High pitched squeal defect on some MacBook Pros


While I certainly can't vouch for this problem myself as I don't own a MacBook Pro, there seem to be quite a few owners of the new laptop with complaints over a high pitched noise emanating from their machines. Our own Dan Pourhadi had a whine on his new MacBook Pro, even though it may not be the whine being heavily discussed on Digg today. Dan seems to have solved his whine by disabling the second core of his processor (described in Update 3 on his post).

I no longer see this thread Digg links to on the Apple Forums, however I did find another active thread about the high pitched squeal/noise/whining. Some Apple users on the Digg thread and the Apple Discussions thread seem to think this may be repairable in firmware by Apple at a later date.

I am by no means dissing Apple (or the Digg crowd) with this post, but simply would like to remind everyone about early adopter syndrome. The first revision of a new hardware platform or change in manufacturing is bound to engender certain flaws or bugs. Please, let us reflect for a moment on the Mirrored Door G4 and the PowerBook 667MHz (aka The "666") computer lines.

This current flare in comments on Digg and the Apple Forums doesn't mean that all MacBook Pros will be affected by this noise, and certainly does not mean that people shouldn't be entitled to a worry-free machine when purchasing a Mac. I hope this all gets cleared up quickly and with some sort of patch or replacement from Apple. We at TUAW are bound to keep you posted.

Update: Please see Dan Pourhadi's new follow-up post about his MacBook Pro woes.

Filed under: Accessories, Hardware

Powerlogix bought by OWC

Well I think I found one of the reasons why no one replied to my recent plea for help with my PowerLogix card. It seems that PowerLogix has just been acquired by OWC. Other World Computing is a company that sells a mix of its own gear and  third party hardware (including PowerLogix and other manufacturers). OWC will acquire the "exclusive rights to all PowerLogix proprietary hardware designs and software code, as well as copyrights, logos, brand names, and web domains."

I hope that this means older PowerLogix hardware will continue to be supported after the buy out, if not I am really out of luck.

[via MacNN]

Filed under: Accessories, iBook, PowerBook

Skyn laptop covers

In my relentless pursuit for all that is stylish or feminine in the world of tech, I come across some interesting accessories. One such product that I'm not in the market for are Skyns' girly laptop covers. These glorified stickers (described as "durable plastic/adhesive laptop covers") are not exactly my cup of tea.

It's not the lack of color or size choices for iBooks, PowerBooks or MacBook Pros that turn me off to the Skyn product line but rather the fact that it's nothing more than a large sticker. Yes, the adhesive may be specially formulated to remove cleanly without leaving residue, but the fact of the matter is I'd rather buy a Colorware laptop or have my laptop custom laser engraved. If I put a big sticker on my machine, it will be one that I've personally customized or designed.

[via Gizmodo]

Filed under: PowerBook, Macbook Pro

Migrating to a MacBook Pro


Enterprise Mac's Tom Yager posted about his recent transition from a PowerBook to a MacBook Pro using Tiger's integrated Setup Assistant. Using Setup Assistant one can easily transfer old data, settings, applications and more to a new Mac over firewire. His migration took a little under two hours to transfer 60GB of data rather painlessly.

What I found insightful with Tom Yager's post is that with Rosetta one can still use most old PowerPC applications without having to search for upgrades. This makes switching (or cloning) to a new machine a hopefully trivial experience. Have you had a breezy time of upgrading your Mac using Tiger's built in Setup Assistant? We're all ears.

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family

iPillow: squishiness* for iPod cuddling

When I think of battery powered speakers for the iPod I usually picture a white plastic molded dock-type accessory, but apparently there is a market for cuddlier options. One such example is Brookstone's iPillow Portable MP3 Speakers (pictured here with a Creative MP3 player but compatible via mini jack with any MP3 player). This device takes six D batteries which probably means it can pump quite some volume in that huggable housing. Be careful not to use the iPillow in an iPillow fight because the mesh pocket doesn't offer much padding for that iPod of yours!

The iPillow is only available in silver (but frankly in the picture here it looks blue to me).

[via Popgadget] [*squishiness is not a real word]

Tip of the Day

F11 moves all your windows off the screen so you can quickly glance at your desktop. F10 shows you every open window in an application. F9 shows every open window for every application that isn't hidden or in the dock.

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