1. Quit all browsers
2. Go to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins in Finder and delete the "Flash Player.plugin" and "flashplayer.xpt"
3. Download the latest stable version of Flash player (which will download a file called "install_flash_player_osx_ub.dmg")
4. Double-click "install_flash_player_osx_ub.dmg" which should open "/Volumes/Install Flash Player 10 UB" where you will find a file called "Adobe Flash Player.pkg"
5. Control (right) click on "Adobe Flash Player.pkg" and choose "Show Package Contents".
6. Open the "Contents" folder
7. Drag the "Archive.pax.gz" file to your Desktop
8. Double click on the "Archive.pax.gz" file to unarchive it, which will create a folder called "Archive"
9. Open the "Archive" folder and locate the "Flash Player.plugin" and "flashplayer.xpt" files.
10. Copy the "Flash Player.plugin" and "flashplayer.xpt" files to /Library/Internet Plug-Ins (you can then throw away the Archive folder on your Desktop, as well as Archive.pax.gz if it is still there.)
11. Launch Safari and check your Flash version here. As of this writing, the current stable version is "10,0,32,18"
12. (Optional) Install ClickToFlash so that Flash will only load when you want it to.

TUAWHow to revert to the stable version of Flash player originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• If you purchased 1Password 2 on or after February 1, 2009 you get a free upgrade to 1Password 3. For bonus points: your current license should "just work" in the new version.
• If you bought a license for any previous version of 1Password before February 1 (even if you got it through a bundle deal like MacHeist) single user license upgrades are $19.95, and Family 5-Pack licenses are $29.95. Note that this price is only good through November 30, 2009.
• For new users can try a fully-functioning 1Password 3 demo for 30 days. New single licenses are $39.95, and Family 5-Packs are $69.95. A 30-day money back guarantee is offered.

TUAW1Password 3.0 out of beta originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWTwo App Store updates: Trillian ships, Google Earth 2.0 arrives originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Star Wars: Trench Run for the $5 Jedi in all of us

TUAWStar Wars: Trench Run for the $5 Jedi in all of us originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• ScanSnap S300M
• ScanSnap S510M
• ScanSnap S500M
• ScanSnap S1500M

TUAWScanSnap Manager updated for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWConfirmed: 10.6.2 removes Atom CPU support from Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWMac OS X 10.6.2 is on the prowl, plus security update for 10.5 users originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWYouTube with all of the sizzle but none of the Flash originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Insert your Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Install DVD.
• Open the Optional Installs folder and double-click "Optional Installs.mpkg".
• Select the QuickTime 7 option and click Continue.
• QuickTime Player 7 will be installed in your Utilities folder.

• Autoplay movies on open
• Allow multiple simultaneous recordings
• Always hide title bar
• Autohide titlebar/controller
• Autoshow titlebar/controller
• Automatically show subtitles and closed captioning on open
• Exit fullscreen when switching apps
• Use square corners

TUAWQuick QuickTime Q&A originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWSecrets preference panel updated for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWLogos brings free Bible study tools to the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWParallels Desktop 5 ships with a host of new and improved features originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWMicrosoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What do United States politics, a Canadian rock song, and a California computer company have in common? Here are some hints: the Pocket Veto, Freewill, and the App Store.

When the President of the United States is presented with a bill, she or he has 10 days to sign it, or veto it. If the President does not want to be seen as having acted in favor of or against some particular piece of legislation, he or she can simply put it in a pocket and wait for the clock to expire.

Or, as the Canadian rock band Rush once said: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

Back in late August, Apple claimed not to have rejected the official Google Voice iPhone application. The company claimed it was still "studying" it.

Around that same time, Cerulean Studios submitted the amazing-looking Trillian for iPhone instant messaging application.

Over two months later, Apple has not taken action on either app. Neither app has (officially) been rejected, but they have not been accepted, either. In the case of the official Google Voice app, it feels very much like Apple has simply "pocketed" the application.

Continue reading Trillian's 75-day limbo: the App Store, Freewill, and the pocket veto

TUAWTrillian's 75-day limbo: the App Store, Freewill, and the pocket veto originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Where did all my disk space all go?"

When I was in college, each student was allotted 4 megabytes ('mega' is not a typo) of disk space for both email and files. Granted, this was back in the early '90s, before anyone had heard of "www." or had even thought of ".mp3" or ".mp4". In 1995 I acquired a 1GB hard drive and felt like king of the known world. Sure, it was in a case about the size of a loaf of bread, but an entire gigabyte! All to myself! Today I have a Drobo which is in a case roughly the same size as that 1GB drive, but it has 2 terabytes of redundant storage -- 2,000x the space on that prime example of mid-90s storage tech.

One thing hasn't changed: there's still never enough hard drive space. It seems to be as unavoidable as death and taxes. That Drobo? It's about 95% full.

Enter OmniDiskSweeper, a freeware program by The Omni Group which will allow you to find where your diskspace has gone. Now, there are a number of different programs out there for analyzing your hard drive space: DiskInventoryX, GrandPerspective, Baseline, DaisyDisk, and WhatSize, to name just a few. Choosing one may be as personal as which Twitter client or web browser you prefer. I like OmniDiskSweeper for two reasons: it is free and it is simple. It uses the same "Column View" that I use in Finder, and automatically sorts the folders which use the most disk space to the top.

For example, looking at the Drobo, I can see that about 50% of the space on that device is taken up by programs I have recorded using Elgato's EyeTV. You might also find files in unexpected places. A friend recently used OmniDiskSweeper and realized that he had tried to copy a bunch of files to an external hard drive, but something had gone wrong. Instead of moving the files to the external drive, they had just been moved into a folder in /Volumes/.

OmniDiskSweeper makes it easy to delete files right through the app; simply select the file and click the big red "Delete" button. A word of warning! A warning dialogue box will appear, asking you to confirm that you want to "Destroy" the files. They will not be sent to the Trash (since the assumption is that you are running OmniDiskSweeper because you want to reclaim diskspace), they will be deleted immediately.

TUAWFriday Favorite: OmniDiskSweeper helps you track down where all your disk space went originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mobile Me's Find My iPhone is a wonderful (relatively) new feature which can help track down your iPhone if it is lost or stolen, but it is not foolproof, and it must be configured before you need it.

Q: "Is it true that Find My iPhone does not work if you have 3G turned off or lose your iPhone where there is no 3G service available (EDGE only)?"

A: False. Find My iPhone works with the original iPhone, which did not even have 3G or GPS capabilities, so it does work with EDGE. If you have a 3G-capable iPhone and disable the 3G (Settings > General > Enable 3G > OFF) to save battery life, "Find My iPhone" will continue to work.

Q: "Will find my iPhone work over WiFi?"

A: True... sort of... Maybe... Not really. In my home I have very little or no AT&T service (or Sprint, or Verizon, or any other cell provider). I do have WiFi all over the house, and Find My iPhone has never failed to help me locate my iPhone when it is "lost" in my house. In order to test it purely over Wi-Fi, I put the iPhone into Airplane Mode (meaning that both EDGE and 3G were both disabled) and enabled Wi-Fi. I asked "Find My iPhone" to locate my iPhone and was told that it was near Orlando, Florida. It was, in fact, in Ohio. I repeated the test and it came back with the same information. Later, I tried the "Wi-Fi only" test from my home, and Find My iPhone could not find my location at all.

However, even in Airplane + Wi-Fi mode I was able to use the "Display a Message" and "Remote Passcode Lock" features. So you may not be able to locate it on a map, but you still may be able to connect to it.

Proper setup is your first crucial step

All of this is a moot point if you don't have three crucial settings enabled on your iPhone. Without any one of these, Find My iPhone will not work.

1. Settings > General > Location Services has to be on (this one is obvious, right?)
2. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > (Your Mobile Me account), you must set "Find My iPhone" to ON. This is not enabled by default.
3. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, you must either enable Push OR have fetch set to Every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or Hourly. If you disable Push and set Fetch to "Manually" Find My iPhone will not work.

Continue reading Find My iPhone: Questions, answers, and suggestions

TUAWFind My iPhone: Questions, answers, and suggestions originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWApple updates entry-level MacBook originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TouchPad [iTunes Link] is my new best friend. It allows you to control the mouse and keyboard on your Mac through your iPhone, as well as Front Row. It is currently on sale in the App Store for $1.99 (50% off) for a "limited time" so you may want to grab it while you can.

At the end of most days, I settle into bed to watch a little TV on my iMac through EyeTV. Last night I was all snuggled under the covers when I realized that I had left the mouse pointer over the video window. EyeTV kept thinking that I wanted to move the "time scrubber" and so it kept popping up the on-screen overlay.

Most of the time I keep an Apple Wireless Keyboard on my nightstand in case I need to control my iMac from bed (don't you judge me!) but the batteries had run out. I pulled myself out of bed, went to the kitchen where the batteries had recharged, put them into my keyboard... and they still didn't work. So I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out why before I finally gave up.

All I really needed to do was move the mouse off-screen. If I had TouchPad, I could have done that.

When I viewed the webpage and iTunes listing for TouchPad, I wasn't clear how it worked. Turns out it is very simple.

By default, TouchPad works like a touchpad on a Mac laptop. Drag your finger around the iPhone screen and watch the mouse move across your Mac (yes, it supports multiple monitors).

Tap the keyboard icon and the usual iPhone keyboard will appear with the addition of several special keys: escape, tab, shift, control, option, and the classic Mac "cloverleaf" command key. These special control keys are used when you want to access keyboard shortcut such as cmd+space to bring up Spotlight.

Tape the "Play/Pause" icon and you will be presented with what looks like a regular Apple remote control; however, it will only control Front Row. Click "Start" and Front Row will launch on your Mac, and then you can use the TouchPad controls to navigate. Press Quit to exit Front Row.

I was disappointed to see there are no Function keys, making it impossible to change the brightness, or use the play/pause, fast-forward, rewind media keys, or even trigger Exposé or the Dashboard. You can adjust the volume settings if you have it in the menu bar, but that would be a pretty precise "hit" from across the room. It would be a good addition to add a third icon up near the existing two in the top-left (keyboard and Front Row remote) to add the "fn" key plus F1-14 and an eject button.

That said, for $2 this app is a steal. It works quickly, the setup instructions are very straightforward. You can easily control multiple Macs. It supports Leopard and Snow Leopard using Screen Sharing, and it also supports Tiger using Apple Remote Desktop settings.

A quick search of "VNC" in the App Store results in about 25 applications, including Jasdu VNC which appears to be a full VNC client which will put your computer screen on your iPhone (see its website for more information). Very cool, but a costly $25 far more than I would spend without being able to try it out first. (Dear Apple: please give developers a way to offer time-limited demos so we can "try it before we buy it!")

I have not tried all of these VNC applications (I'm sure TUAW readers will let us know in the comments which ones we should check out) but TouchPad is going on the home page of my iPhone, and my Apple Wireless Keyboard has lost its spot on my nightstand. (Another TUAW favorite is HippoRemote which you'll be hearing more about soon. You might want to check it out too!)

TUAWTouchPad turns your iPhone into a remote keyboard and mouse for your Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWMac 101: Add Screen Sharing folder to Dock for quick access originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This one goes out to all the night owls. As much as I love my iMac, I was surprised to see how little control it gave me over the screen's brightness. I often work on my iMac late at night in an otherwise darkened room, and even at the lowest brightness setting, the iMac is really, really bright. All of the Mac laptops I've used have the ability to dim the screen down to completely dark, but the iMac does not.

That's where Shades comes in. Shades is a free preference panel which gives you the ability to control the brightness of your Mac through the menu bar or a floating slider control, or even keyboard shortcuts/hot keys: for example, to increase brightness when Shades is running, I can simply use the option/alt key and the up arrow (or the down-arrow to dim). I can also enable or disable Shades entirely or open the menu bar controls, all via the keyboard.

Shades will let you set a minimum brightness level so you don't accidentally make the screen so dim you can't see anything (although if you have enabled the Hot Keys feature you can use the keyboard to increase the brightness even if you can't see the screen). I recommend setting a minimum brightness that's still visible, especially if you have set your Mac to require a password on waking from sleep.

Shades supports multiple monitors, giving you independent control over each one. While I think this is a good feature (each monitor can have its own setting) the keyboard commands only change the main monitor. You have to adjust the secondary monitor's brightness with a slider control, which is easily done through the menu bar. However, if you have two monitors and have both of their controls in the menu bar, there is no easy way to know which one is which. There is a workaround for this: go into the Shades preference panel and click the tab for one of the monitors and set the "Menu control" to "Shades Icon"; then go to the tab for the other monitor and set the "Menu control" to "Brightness Icon". Now you will have two distinct icons in the menu bar, making it easier to know which monitor's brightness you are adjusting.

You could also use the "Menu control" for one monitor and the "Slider control" (which floats on-screen) for the other. The ability to sync the brightness levels of both monitors would be nice, but this is a very minor complaint. My external monitor has no brightness controls whatsoever (and I know other monitors which make you hunt through a series of on-screen menus) so without Shades I would have no way of controlling its brightness level.

Most laptop users may not need Shades, but it does offer finer control than what the built-in controls offer. If you're an iMac user (or a Mac Pro user with a monitor with hard-to-access brightness controls) who works late at night, give Shades a look. When you're done, simply quit Shades and the monitor will return to its regular brightness level.

Shades runs on either PPC or Intel Macs, and requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or later.

TUAWMonitor too bright? Put on some Shades originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Imagine that you're at home one night and want to send a message to your partner or roommate or someone else, but you really don't want to get out of your chair, and you don't want to yell loudly enough for them to hear you. So pick up your iPhone, but you don't want to send an SMS or call them. Surely there's an app for that...

Actually, there are several; some better than others. Take Texter for example. For 99¢ you can send messages back and forth with other people on the same Wi-Fi network. Sounds promising, right? After all, SMS costs are ridiculously expensive, so why not pay a $1 fee to buy an app to send messages back and forth.

The idea isn't bad, but the implementation is. First of all, Texter only works over Wi-Fi. And not just any Wi-Fi. Both users must be on the same Wi-Fi network. But maybe everyone in your family has an iPhone or iPod touch, so you're still willing to give it a try. Well, don't open your wallet just yet, because there's one more detail that we need to mention -- Texter doesn't support push notifications. Since Apple doesn't allow third party apps to run in the background, the end result is that you can only communicate with other Texter users if they already have the application open on their iPhones.

I can't even imagine a "use case" for this application. Who would sit around with their iPhone on, running an application in the hopes that maybe someone in the same home/office with the same application might want to chat with them? It simply is never going to happen.

If you want to avoid SMS charges, but still want to send quick messages to other iPhone users, why not use AOL's free (ad-supported) AIM iPhone app? It works over EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi, supports push notifications, and also allows you to connect with a slew of other people besides iPhone users.

Maybe you don't like AIM or SMS. Maybe you really like the idea of having an iPhone app that is quick and easy and doesn't require any login or giving away your cell phone number (like SMS does). If that's the case, checkout the 99¢ Ping! app for iPhone. It also works over EDGE, 3G, and Wi-Fi and supports push notifications. You'll also have that healthy self-satisfaction of knowing that you are only communicating with other red blooded iPhone/iPod touch users.

I'm sure there are a slew of other alternatives to SMS for the iPhone that work over EDGE/3G or Wi-Fi and support push notifications. Tell me about your favorites in the comments (bonus points for including an App Store link).

TUAWLooking for cheap alternatives to SMS for the iPhone? There's an app for that. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I love everything about my MacBook Pro, but for some reason it does not like to share its screen. It appears under the "Shared" section of the sidebar in Finder, and file sharing works perfectly, but for some reason screen sharing won't work. The "Connecting To 'MacBookPro'" panel will pop up and then disappear a few moments later (as if it is about to connect), but at least 90% of the time no screen sharing window appears.

Fellow TUAW writer Aron Trimble suggested that I go into Finder and try "Go > Connect to Server" and then put in "vnc://10.0.x.x" (where 10.0.x.x is my MacBook Pro's IP address). That worked immediately, and every time.

This confirmed that it wasn't a firewall setting (Screen Sharing is explicitly on) or trouble accessing the MacBook Pro over the LAN (file sharing already worked perfectly). For some reason the screen sharing connection was just not being made over Bonjour.

The only drawback to this direct-IP method is that my network, like most, uses dynamic addresses with DHCP, meaning that the IP addresses change from time to time, especially on a network with multiple devices which are not always turned on. My first thought was to create a static IP for the MacBook Pro in System Preferences > Network, but then I realized that my office LAN uses IPs which start with 192.168.x.x. I could create a new network "Location" but that would also involve manually switching it back and forth, or using a third-party program.

What I really needed was a way to make sure that my MacBook Pro is given the same IP every time it connects to my home LAN. Fortunately, Apple's Airport Extreme will allow me to do just that using DHCP Reservations.

A DHCP Reservation tells the Airport Extreme to reserve a certain IP address for certain computers, as determined either by a "DHCP Client ID" or the computer's MAC address. A DHCP Client ID is easier to remember than a MAC address, but the MAC address will never change unless you swap out the logic board or Airport card of your Mac. I'll show you how to set it up using either method.

Continue reading Using DHCP Reservations to overcome Bonjour woes

TUAWUsing DHCP Reservations to overcome Bonjour woes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've mentioned Dropzone before as a Friday Favorite, but I just happened across the app while I was trying to solve a problem.

I suspect many TUAW readers find themselves in the same situation that I am in: I use a desktop and a laptop. I often find myself wanting to move files between these two machines, so here's what I do: switch to Finder, click on the shared Mac I want, navigate to the folder I'm looking for, and then track down the file I want to copy there and drag it over. I could drag a folder from the other computer to my "Places" sidebar in Finder, but honestly, I just never do.

What I wanted was something quick and painless. I tried to whip something up using Automator and Folder Actions where it would copy/move files saved in one folder to the other machine, but even that would get messy. Most often I don't want to move the file, I just want to copy it. I could put the files in Dropbox, but some of these files are sizable (i.e. the 30+ MB iMovie update). To use Dropbox for this would take a long time.

Turns out that Dropzone offers the perfect solution: by enabling FTP on both Macs (System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing, then click the "Options" button, and check the box "Share files and folders using FTP") I now have a drag & drop solution to copying files between computers. Simply drag the file to the Dropzone icon on the dock and then drop it onto one of the many "dropzones" which I have defined, and Dropzone does the rest. Two folders that I added almost immediately? The "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder in the iTunes folder and the Auto Import folder from inside my iPhoto Library (you will have to control-click your iPhoto library and choose "Show Package Contents" to find the "Auto Import" folder).

There are several plugins available to extend Dropzone to other services such as ImageShack, TwitPic, Flickr, and more. For Internet services, not only will the file get copied to where you want it to go, but the URL will be placed on the clipboard so you can paste the URL wherever you want it to go. I often FTP files to my website, and files Dropzone FTPs to a website can also support putting the URL on the clipboard.

There are several other nifty options, Dropzones for starting the screensaver, putting your Mac to sleep, or drag & drop printing a file to the default printer. You can also zip files (or zip and email them) and many other conveniences.

The biggest feature of all was one that I almost overlooked until I watched a screencast from macosxscreencasts.com about Dropzone. A built-in Dropzone called "Install Application" will allow you to drag a .dmg onto Dropzone and have the DMG mounted, the app installed to /Applications, the DMG moved to the recycle bin, and the app launched (it also works with applications which have been .zip'd instead of put into a disk image).

If you are anything like me, the "install a new app" process is several steps that you repeat a lot. Dropzone's handling of it is incredibly fast and works really well. If it opens a DMG it cannot handle (such as an installer), it will simply open the folder. Great, start stuff that saves you time and frustration. Remember how computers were supposed to make our lives easier? Dropzone does just that.

Continue reading Dropzone makes it easy to copy files, install apps

TUAWDropzone makes it easy to copy files, install apps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Some time ago, I looked around for a way to access my iPhone to use it as a portable hard drive, almost like a generic USB device, for copying files back and forth between computers. I decided on PhoneView. At the time I didn't even care too much about the other features it offered. As time has passed, I've liked it even better and better.

The application has been polished with each release and now includes a very substantial feature list. In no particular order, here is what the just-released PhoneView 2.3 brings to the table:

1. View pictures on the iPhone. This was a lifesaver to me when iPhoto suddenly refused to import any of the pictures I had taken on my iPhone. It includes a thumbnail of the pictures (and videos) as well the time-stamp. You can even import them directly into iPhoto.
2. Displays Safari's history, bookmarks, and open windows (ever visit a site on your iPhone and then wish you could remember where it was?). It also includes the ability to search the browsing history (URLs and Titles).
3. View/Play/Export Visual Voicemail. Got a message you want to save? You can copy it as an .mp4 (or add it to iTunes, although I can't imagine anyone wanting to do that). The filenames include the date, time, and name (if known).
4. Shows you a list of music, ringtones, videos, podcasts, and audiobooks on your iPhone, and allows you to copy them off the iPhone if you need to (preserving metadata)
5. Use iPhone (or iPod touch) as a portable drive
6. Access the full "Media" folder on non-jailbroken devices (jailbroken devices will have the full file structure displayed)
7. Allows you to view/export SMS and MMS messages (MMS support is new in 2.3)
8. View, Edit, and Create Notes
9. View call log, including whether the call was incoming or outgoing, completed, missed, or cancelled (it also integrates with your address book, so you will see who those calls came from
10. Play/Export/Delete Voice memos

The best part of PhoneView is that it does not require you to jailbreak your iPhone, and it is quickly updated to support each new version of the iPhone OS. I've never found myself unable to access my iPhone through PhoneView.

PhoneView can only be used over USB. I wish they would come up with a way to access the iPhone over Wi-Fi, but my guess is that is not possible because they would have to have an iPhone app to serve the phone's data, and I have a hard time believing that Apple would approve such a thing. Fortunately, I have an iPhone cable around most of the time.

The application costs $19.95, but that includes free upgrades for life. If you ever find yourself wanting more access to your iPhone, PhoneView provides the easiest way to just about every corner of your iPhone.

TUAWPhoneView gives you an inside look at your iPhone data originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Ever wanted to rid the web of the scourge that is Adobe Flash, but still retain the ability to view Flash whenever you want?" When it comes to sales pitches, that one is pretty difficult to beat.

Ever since Flash was unleashed on the web, it has been used for obnoxious and annoying ads. About the only web technology which has been more frequently abused is the animated GIF. For as long as I can remember I have disabled Flash, or plugins entirely, to avoid the annoyance. Firefox users have had extensions which manage flash, but Safari/Webkit users have been left out in the cold.

Several months ago someone created a now-defunct project on Google code simply called "clicktoflash". The premise was simple: replace all instances of Flash with a subtle grey box, and if you want to load it, click it (hence the name). The project was abandoned and deleted nearly as quickly as it appeared, but fortunately it had already been "forked" by Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch who now maintains clicktoflash at github (which reminds me, TUAW is now on Github too).

Newer versions include the ability to "white list" a domain (meaning that Flash will always load for pages from certain sites) or load every Flash object on a page, rather than having to click all of them separately. It will also alert you of new versions and lead you through the installation process in a matter of clicks.

If you visit YouTube you will also find that if you control-click on movies, you are given a chance to load either the Flash OR H.264 versions of movies, or open the movie in QuickTime Player, or download the H.264 version. That alone makes it a great addition to any Mac. Be sure to checkout the settings under the Safari > ClickToFlash menu for additional controls.

I first learned about ClickToFlash from John Gruber who noted ClickToFlash is "a legitimate browser plugin that goes in ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/, not a dirty input manager hack. I can't remember the last time a piece of software made me this happy." I have to agree. ClickToFlash is a perfect example of "addition by subtraction" proving that you can make something better by taking something else away.

ClickToFlash is a free download and supports Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard. It requires Safari 3 or higher.

TUAWClickToFlash makes the web a nicer place to visit originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone users have been waiting for tethering for a long time. More specifically, AT&T customers are still waiting for it. Since the WWDC 2009 Keynote Address, where it was announced that iPhone OS 3.0 would support tethering, AT&T has said they would support it... sometime.

Appmodo.com is reporting that iPhone tethering will not be available this year. They suggested that AT&T had previously gone on-record saying "that iPhone tethering would become available 'sometime this year'" -- presumably referring to this quote on CNet.com, from AT&T Mobility chief Ralph de la Vega who said (in November of 2008) that "iPhone 3G users will be able to use their phones as wireless modems at some point next year," which would obviously mean 2009.

The Appmodo story links to an article by Andrew LaVallee, writing for The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog, who quotes an unnamed spokesman for AT&T who refused to say when tethering would be available and said: "Whenever we offer new features, we want to offer the best possible customer experience. For tethering, we need to do some additional fine tuning to our systems and networks so that we do deliver a great experience."

Appmodo seems to think this is a change in AT&T's official stance, but LaVallee explicitly refers to it as "the company's prior statement."

When it comes to iPhone tethering, has Appmodo gotten the story straight before? Well, on June 17th they quoted a source who said "The highly anticipated tethering option will also be delivered towards the end of July with pricing around $55 per month..." -- then on June 19th, AT&T explicitly denied the $55 cost via their Facebook page.

On July 9th they quoted the same source saying that MMS and tethering were coming in September, and repeated the "around $55" estimated cost which had already been dismissed on the record. Appmodo added, "Our source is from an undisclosed reputable AT&T employee." So much for that. Granted, we've also been off the mark on tethering rumors, but we're trying not to make such a habit of it.

TUAWAT&T remains elusive on official date for iPhone tethering originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The ever-determined band at iPhone Dev have updated their "PwnageTool" to include the 3.1.2 release of the iPhone software for iPhone 2G/3G/3GS and iPod Touch 1G/2G (note that the iPod touch 3G is NOT supported).

Jailbreaking, which is different than "unlocking", allows different applications to be run other than the ones available at the App Store, and also allows for some additional functionality such as background process for third party applications. I assume that those who are interested in jailbreaking are already familiar with it enough to know what the 'dangers' are.

For the idly curious, I highly recommend that you check out the webpage and think about whether you really need the functionality it offers. Notably, this will not allow for things like internet tethering on a carrier that doesn't officially support it. The iPhone Dev folks suggest that you remain at 3.0 until a hack for that is developed.

Continue reading PwnageTool 3.1.4 for iPhone OS 3.1.2 now available

TUAWPwnageTool 3.1.4 for iPhone OS 3.1.2 now available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When most people think about Apple and backups they probably think about Time Machine or perhaps even Time Capsule. But Apple has a lesser-known application which you might consider using.

The app, simply named Backup, was originally available only to .Mac users, but is now openly available on Apple's website. It lists "MobileMe account" as one of its requirements. If you do not have a MobileMe account, each backup is limited to 100 MB. The good news is that for what I am suggesting, 100 MB will be completely sufficient for most people. Follow along as I use Backup to create a complete and scheduled backup of personal data and settings on my Mac.

First, install and launch the application. Choose Plan > New Plan from the menu.

If you have a MobileMe account, choose the "Personal Data & Settings" option (second from the top), click the "Choose Plan" button, and then skip the next paragraph.

Continue reading Add Apple's free Backup.app to your backup toolbox

TUAWAdd Apple's free Backup.app to your backup toolbox originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

About 13GB of data was accidentally deleted from my account on my Mac yesterday. Fortunately, due to an aggressive backup system, I was able to recover all of the files.

I was trying to test out a tip sent to the TUAW team, which led me to log into (and out of) the "Guest" account several times. One of the logins seemed to hang, which triggered a memory about a data loss bug in Snow Leopard which I had read about (and which Apple is now acknowledging in "extremely rare" cases, per Cnet). I immediately reached around the back of my iMac and shut it down.

At first I thought everything was OK, but then Dropbox started asking me to configure settings, as if it was the first time the app was run. Fortunately, due to the new "LAN sync" feature in recent Dropbox betas, the iMac copied my Dropbox files from my MacBook Pro on the same network in a matter of seconds, rather than having to download almost 2GB of data from Dropbox's servers.

I thought that was the end of the problems, until I saw that my Terminal customizations were missing. Then I noticed that a few other applications were not functioning correctly. Suddenly I realized that I had most likely suffered more data loss than was immediately obvious.

Read on to see what had to be done to recover after the data loss occurred.

Continue reading Backups save the day after data loss

TUAWBackups save the day after data loss originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When I recently wrote about hacking Apple's Weather Widget, a common question was: "Can you tell me how to change Apple's Weather widget to use Accuweather.com again?"

Now you might think this is just coming from some people who don't like any form of change, but several people said that the new weather widget simply did not work for them, showing no results or incorrect information for their location.

Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that no, I don't know how to hack Apple's weather widget to use Accuweather.com. I'm not even sure that it can be done.

The good news is that there is no real need to hack the Apple weather widget, because Accuweather.com provides their own widget which works really well, offering an animated weather map and a 15-day forecast (when expanded, 4 days when collapsed).This should come as good news to those who found that the new weather widget simply just did not work as well, but I would encourage you to check it out even if you like the Apple weather widget.

One minor usage note: I found that when I had expanded the widget I could not figure out how to make it collapse again. There are actually four separate views available which you toggle through by clicking on the "Accuweather.com" banner at the top of the widget (try it yourself and you'll see what I mean).

If you find that you get a blank section of the widget, which also happened to me, remember that command+R will always "refresh/reload" whatever widget you have selected.

iPhone users may be happy to know there is also an iPhone compatible page available.

TUAWAccuWeather Widget provides a rich alternative to Apple's Weather widget originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Dictionary.app in Snow Leopard has been driving me nuts. If you use LaunchBar or Spotlight (or probably any other method of sending a word to Dictionary.app), it opens a new window. And then another. And then another. This might be handy if the window bar was updated to show the word that you had looked up, but it doesn't, meaning that the extra windows are just clutter.

Before 10.6, Dictionary.app reused the same window for each new definition. If you wanted to go back to a previous word, you could simply use the "Back" button. As we've heard countless times, Snow Leopard has been about subtle refinements, but this was a step backwards to me. I was surprised that there isn't a Preference setting to reuse the same window or open a new one.

In a fit of frustration yesterday, I posted a bounty on Twitter and asked Rob Griffiths to see if he knew of an answer. Rob is the proprietor of MacOSXHints.com which I consider essential reading for Mac users (I have even submitted a few tips of my own over the years). I knew if anyone could find an answer, it was Rob.

Well, it turns out they don't call him Rob "The Hints Guru" Griffiths for nothing. Not long after my cry for help, Rob figured out how to Force Dictionary to show definitions in one window. As you might expect, it involves entering a command in Terminal.app while Dictionary.app is not running:

Voilà! Dictionary will now revert back to the 10.5 and earlier behavior of using one window for all definitions.

Rob must truly be credited for discovering this gem, because (as of this writing) Google comes up 100% empty when looking for 'ProhibitNewWindowForRequest'. When was the last time you tried to Google something and came up completely empty? That doesn't happen often anymore!

Turns out that Rob used another tip from his site to find hidden preferences (something else which has gotten more difficult in Snow Leopard). It's the circle of life... or at least, tips.

Thanks again, Rob. Now where do you want me to send your Ferrari? (You'll have to read Rob's post to get that joke. It also explains how to undo this change if you decide you want to revert to the standard 10.6 behavior.)

TUAWForce Snow Leopard's Dictionary.app to reuse definition window originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• TextExpander support.
• Optional startup password.
• Settings are now accessed within app.
• New option to lock screen orientation.
• Sync service is out of beta and is open sourced.

TUAWTextExpander touch on sale to celebrate WriteRoom for iPhone integration originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWDrobo Dashboard can show used/available space originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWVLC 1.0.2 includes 64-bit Mac port and security fixes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWChange the behavior of the iTunes zoom button in 9 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back in 2005, John Gruber wrote about Hacking Apple's Weather Widget to Show the Time of the Last Update.

I was disappointed to learn that my customized Weather widget no longer worked in Snow Leopard, and for some reason John's instructions no longer worked for the Snow Leopard version of the Weather Widget.

The culprit seemed to be the JavaScript that John had modified to calculate the time. Unfortunately I don't speak JavaScript, but with a little help from Google I was able to find a workaround which will enable this tip to work again.

Continue reading Weather Widget with time, updated for Snow Leopard

TUAWWeather Widget with time, updated for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

1Password is one of my very favorite and most essential Mac utilities. Combined with Dropbox, I can have all of my login information synced to all of my Macs.

The other day I noticed that 1Password had gained a lot of weight, specifically around the backups area. I'm not usually one to comment on such things, but we weren't talking about "love handles," 1Password's backups had gone from 1MB to 21MB literally overnight. On August 28th, the backups were 1MB, and on August 29th, the backups were suddenly 21MB.

Wait? Did you say August 28th? Isn't that when Snow Leopard was released? Yes it was. And wasn't that when you switched from 1Password version 2 to 1Password version 3? Yes it was. Could that have something to do with it?

I contacted 1Password's excellent support staff who correctly diagnosed that the increase was related to the preview images which are used for Login and Software License icons. (These can be found in the 1Password.agilekeychain/a/default/thumb folder.) Each preview image take about 100K. With 600+ items in my agilekeychain, this quickly added up.

Fortunately, this is easily fixed. If disk space is a concern, the icons and previews can be deleted using 1Password > Preferences > General > Remove all icons and previews. I also unchecked the box next to "Automatically download icons and previews for new Logins." After I did that, the backup size went from 21.5MB to 889KB!

Why worry about space with today's hard drive spaces? I have 1Password set to backup to my Dropbox account, which is limited to a total of 5GB. Plus this meant having to upload 20+MB every day versus <1MB. Personally I neither use nor need the icons, so it's no loss to me, and it makes a big difference.

Many thanks to the 1Password folks for helping me get to the bottom of this mystery!

TUAWSlim your 1Password 3 Backups originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Upon learning that the Oxford English Dictionary was going to be released on CD-ROM for the Mac, I pre-ordered it from Amazon.com for $244 back in December (list price $295, currently $212). Due to Amazon's "pre-order price guarantee" the final price was just under $200. This should be considered a bargain.

The printed version of the two-volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary sells for $350,The Compact Oxford English Dictionary "in slipcase with reading glass" sells for $400, and the 20 volume complete dictionary set sells for $995. Since I am-and hope to remain-married, I did not even consider spending $1000 on the complete 20 volume set (for very long). But a CD-ROM? That doesn't take up any space at all, and it's at a fraction of the price!

(I should probably note that Mac OS X comes with the "New Oxford American Dictionary" which is not the same thing as the OED, despite the similar sounding name.)

The CD-ROM lists itself as "version 4" but this is the first version to be "native" on the Mac. If there was a way to emphasize the quotation marks around the word "native" I would do so, because as I quickly learned, the OED puts the "ugly" in "butt ugly Windows port." The image you see above is the application icon. Have you ever seen an uglier icon? Have you ever seen an uglier icon for a $300 Mac application?

Continue reading Oxford English Dictionary is the very definition of an ugly Mac port

TUAWOxford English Dictionary is the very definition of an ugly Mac port originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"I switched to the Mac to use this!" might be the highest praise a Mac developer could ever hope to hear. Switching platforms means not just buying a new computer, but also buying a bunch of new software. There are probably only a handful of applications that merit changing platforms all on their own, but Accordance Bible Software is one of them. Accordance isn't just widely respected within the Mac world, it's widely respected within the entire scriptural research software universe. Bible Software Review wrote: "Anyone who knows a little bit about Bible software has heard of Accordance."

The current version is compatible with Snow Leopard, and yet still runs on System 7.5! This is the first time I've seen a Mac application vendor talk about running Mac software in emulation rather than the other way around. Accordance is proudly Mac-only, suggesting to users that once they have switched to Mac they shouldn't put up with "Windows software" on their Macs, and offering crossgrades for those who have made the switch.

Being first is nice, but once other companies have come into the market, it doesn't take long to forget who was first and start to compare based on which features each product provides. Fortunately, Accordance has a lot to offer. There are a wide variety of packages available, ranging from $49 to several thousand dollars, depending on the library options. Like other Bible software programs, you are buying two parts: first, the app itself; second, items for your library, such as commentaries, different translations of the Bible, maps, and so forth. Most users should expect to make an initial investment of at least $100, perhaps $200-$300, but those purchases will almost certainly reflect savings over buying the printed versions.

Continue reading Accordance: powerful Bible study software, only for the Mac

TUAWAccordance: powerful Bible study software, only for the Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAWScreenSharingMenulet fills a gap in Snow Leopard's Screen Sharing.app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.