We first looked at Disk Drill from Clever Files back in 2011. Now in its 2.0 release, this app continues to help prevent data loss by enabling you to recover lost files that you've already deleted.

The app goes beyond searching your garbage pail. This is meant for users who have already emptied their trash, and need to access that data from the file system. If you haven't used some sort of data-shredding app, chances are good that the deleted files are still recoverable.

Available in Basic (free), Pro (US$89), Expert ($169) and Enterprise ($299), Disk Drill offers a range of products that ramps up in ability from simple scanning (without file recovery), all the way up to a full site license with forensic data investigation.

Disk Drill scans your drive, offers a list of recoverable files and lets you preview and retrieve them. A company spokesperson told me that, "if recovery is done fast and right, data recovered is between 70-100 percent of the lost amounts." The app uses a variety of retrieval methods that range from simple scanning to "Deep Scan."

A new HFS+ catalog option, new to Disk Drill 2.0, can also recover the structure of a partition that was lost to hardware or system drive error.

To learn more about updated features, check out the 2.0 release notes.

Disk Drill file recovery app moves to 2.0 release originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Disk Drill file recovery app moves to 2.0 release originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AppleInsider points out that Amazon's listing for the entry-level 11.6-inch model is "consistent with a discontinued item on Amazon, with no indication that stock will be replenished. In contrast, the online retailer typically portrays a simple stockout with availability advertised for 'one to two months.'"

Stock of many MacBook Air configurations is limited at other retailers, including Best Buy, MacMall, J&R and MacConnection. Apple Stores and the online store still show availability of both the 11.6-inch and 13-inch models.

Speculation is rife that new MacBook Air models might be announced during the WWDC 2013 keynote on June 10, possibly using Intel's new Haswell processors for increased performance and battery life.

Amazon's MacBook Air stock dwindles originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amazon's MacBook Air stock dwindles originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My kids are growing up as part of the internet generation and, as a result, they love watching videos online. Being good internet citizens, it's not surprising their favorite videos involve cats doing silly tricks. I would love to let them loose on YouTube to watch their cat videos, but there is an unsavory side to the video website that pops up in searches or YouTube's suggested videos list. Here are a few tips to help parents control the content that their child views on YouTube, and on the web, in general.

Filtering on OS X

The quickest and easiest way to make YouTube kid-friendly is to enable Safety Mode. Safety Mode will screen out potentially objectionable content, so children can view YouTube in a web browser without unsavory videos and vulgar comments floating to the top. You can turn on Safety Mode by scrolling to the bottom of any YouTube page and clicking the drop-down menu in the "Safety" section. If you are logged into your YouTube account, you can lock this feature so it is always enabled. If you have multiple browsers, you have to open each browser and repeat this process to make sure Safety Mode is turned on in each one.

YouTube warns parents that this feature is not 100 percent foolproof, and some objectionable content could seep through its filters. If you want an extra layer of security, you can install third-party filtering tools like Safe Eyes from McAfee or Net Nanny. These services cost money, but they filter all the websites that your children visit, not just YouTube. There are browser-based extensions like FoxFilter for FireFox or Blocksi for Chrome that also filter website content. If you use Safari, parents can use the built-in filtering feature that is enabled when you turn on parental controls in OS X.

Parents looking for a house-wide filtering solution that works with all devices should look at OpenDNS and its parental control service. OpenDNS routes all your internet traffic through its server and filters that traffic for adult content, social networking sites, video sharing sites and more. You have control over the categories of content that they want to block.

Filtering on iOS

A growing number of kids are watching videos using an iPad, an iPhone or an iPod touch, and as expected, most of the parental controls you use on the desktop don't extend to mobile. You can turn on YouTube Safe Search in mobile Safari or in the YouTube app to prevent access to provocative content, but I would rather have precise control over the videos that my kids watch on iOS. Unlike a desktop or laptop, which is easy to see even from across the room, a mobile device can be propped up in a lap and easily hidden from your view. I prefer to impose stricter restrictions than follow my children around the house peering over their shoulder to see what they are watching on the iPad.

There are several options to limit YouTube content on an iOS device. You can choose to install an app like iTubeList (iOS Universal, free with in-app purchase to disable ads), which plays only YouTube playlists. You can setup a playlist with child-friendly videos and then turn your child loose with the iTubeList app. A similar app is KidSafe Tube (iOS Universal, $2.99), which filters YouTube content and allows you to add single videos, playlists, YouTube channels or search results to a blocked content list.

An alternative to a dedicated YouTube app is a kid-safe browser like Ranger Browser or Maxthon browser. These apps monitor all web traffic, not just YouTube and have additional features that allow parents to monitor their children's web usage. Besides limiting access to websites using blacklists and whitelists, Ranger Browser also saves a browser history and lets you set the time that you child can use the web. Maxthon browser has a kid-friendly UI and uses a safe list that allows you to setup a list of accessible sites. Any content, including advertisements and links, not on your list will be blocked.

Parenting Tip: How to control what your child watches on YouTube originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Parenting Tip: How to control what your child watches on YouTube originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, here's something I thought we would never see -- a minor update for Twitter for Mac, which finally brings Notification Center support to the client. You know, it only took just shy of 10 months after the release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion for that to happen. The 2.2.1 update also fixes Growl notifications in Lion and Mountain Lion and squashes several other bugs. But reviews are already coming in saying that the Growl fix doesn't work.

Yes, Twitter for Mac was updated in April, but it languished for a couple years (Twitter for Mac 2.1 was released in May 2011 with a minor update shortly after). The focus is on the iOS and web experience, but here's a golf clap for Twitter for tossing a bone at the Mac app's way as well.

[via 9to5 Mac]

Twitter for Mac finally gains Notification Center support originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter for Mac finally gains Notification Center support originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 23 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google's Chrome browser for OS X has had the ability to do voice search for about two years now, but the latest version of Chrome appears to bring something a bit more Siri-like to the mix. Now, when you ask Google certain questions about the weather, sports scores, stock prices, directions and calculations, you get a spoken answer.

The latest version is 27.0.1453.93, which you can update to by selecting About Chrome from the Chrome menu, and approving any updates or restarting the browser if prompted. Once Chrome is up, head on over to the google.com search page and you'll see the familiar microphone in the search field (note that the mic does not appear in the Chrome "omnibar"). Click the mic, respond to any requests to let Chrome have access to your mic and video camera and then start asking questions.

The result is not quite the conversational search that was touted during the Google I/O keynote last week, but it definitely shows the direction that Google is heading and it's bringing a bit of Siri-like functionality to OS X before Apple does. The video below demonstrates several of the searches that I performed -- it's all done in real time, so you get to see the failures as well. The current release seems to have a tendency to display "No Internet Connection" frequently, a problem that reloading the browser will fix. By the way, if you've used the mobile version of the Google search app, this will all be familiar to you.

Google Chrome update adds a bit of Siri to OS X originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google Chrome update adds a bit of Siri to OS X originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During his opening remarks, Cook highlighted all Apple has done for the US economy, emphasizing how much the company already pays in domestic taxes and how it's been responsible for the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the US.

Further, Cook noted that Apple was investing US$100 million to begin manufacturing Macs in the US. While we had previously heard of Apple's plans to do so, Cook for the first time fleshed out some more details, in a geographic sense, surrounding Apple's plans.

Specifically, Cook noted that Apple's upcoming "made in the USA" line of Macs will be assembled in Texas and will use components sourced from Texas, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky.

As for what type of Mac will be assembled in the US, Cook in an interview last week indicated that it would be a new model of an already-existing family.

Tim Cook: US-made Macs will be assembled in Texas originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tim Cook: US-made Macs will be assembled in Texas originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 13:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Poser has come a long way from the last time I used it, right around version 4. We're now at 10 for the basic edition (retail US$299.99) and Poser Pro 2014 (retail $499.99) has become a powerful animation tool in its own right. I got to look at some of the new features rolling out today and they are impressive, putting Poser on par with many animation and modeling suites costing much more.

A problem with any humanoid character is how the "skin" folds when you bend it. Poser now offers Pixar's OpenSubdiv libraries, which means subdivision surfaces anywhere you need them. I was impressed with the accuracy and speed at which Poser created subdivisions, which add greatly to the realism already available in Poser. There are also some new characters, both realistic and cartoonish, to help get you started. For basic work the stock characters will keep you busy for quite a while, but there's also a great third-party market for Poser models should you need more.

One pain point for many digital artists are the hair and clothes for models. Getting those to "fit" properly can take a long time. Poser Pro now offers a "fitting room" which speeds up this process. Poser already has a cottage industry of third-party models and props, including clothes and hair. Now with the fitting room you can quickly fit those accessories to your basic models faster. Sure, you've still got the morph targets you've come to know and love, but Poser Pro now offers five specialized tools for interactively loosening, tightening clothes while retaining their physics properties (rigid or soft-body deformations).

Both the Pro and basic editions now offer Bullet Physics, which simulates rigid-body and soft-body dynamics. Applying regions of soft-body dynamics is as easy as painting on your character, and the results are truly impressive with very little learning curve for newbies.

That's the power of Poser, really. Many of the trickier elements of 3D modeling and animation are done for you (if you've ever rigged a biped using IK you know how tedious it can be!), leaving you to "play" with the models, lighting and accessories to get just the right look. With models already rigged, and now with Bullet Time, it has become easier than ever to get realistic animation out of the box with very little effort.

Poser has become a powerful tool for graphic novelists as well, allowing artists to quickly pose and render characters. The latest addition offers a Comic Book Preview mode which allows artists to dial in the correct amount of lines and shading throughout a scene, even animated. Doing this in your 3D tool counts for a lot, and the examples I saw were impressive and fast. If you've ever set up a scene, added a cartoon render and discovered lines going funky when you animate, you'll be pleasantly surprised by Poser's ability to lock down lines and shaders in Comic Book mode.

In addition to all this, there's a more capable Morph Brush for enhancing models, and a Live Simulation preview which allows you to quickly render ray traced models or preview animation using Bullet Time. Poser has become more capable and faster -- exactly what you want in a 3D modeling and animation tool.

While the cost isn't cheap, Smith Micro is offering a deal through June 30. Poser 10 will be available for $239.99 and Poser Pro 2014 will be $399.99. If you're upgrading, check the Poser site for more details. Compared to 3ds Max and other tools, Poser is a steal at those prices. If you find yourself needing character models (for medical illustrations, graphic novels, stock photos, etc.) I think the basic version will make you very happy. If you need animated characters with lifelike skin, hair and clothes, Pro is simply brilliant and priced very competitively for what it delivers. No, these are not hobbyist tools exactly, but they are accessible to anyone and powerful enough to be used in professional situations. Check out Poser if you need a reliable solution to character animation or modeling needs.

Poser 10 and Poser Pro 2014 available, bringing new characters, physics and more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Poser 10 and Poser Pro 2014 available, bringing new characters, physics and more originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 21 May 2013 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tired of the same old keyboard design and looking for something a bit different? The Penclic Mini Keyboard K2 (US$69.95) definitely fits the bill in terms of not being the typical keyboard, and as you'll see in this review that's not necessarily a good thing.

Design and Functionality

When I think of Scandinavian design, I usually think of sleek minimalist wooden furniture. The Swedish-designed Penclic Mini Keyboard K2 comes in black (unless you're looking at the company's website, where the keyboard is white), and definitely has a different look to it. It's about the same width and depth of the Apple Wireless Keyboard, but with a top end that swoops up. It's striking but difficult to describe; if that description makes no sense to you, just take a look at the photos. That thick top end is where the batteries -- a pair of rechargeable NiMH AAAs -- reside. The keyboard comes with a retractable USB to micro-USB cable that can be used to recharge the batteries, which are supposed to last about two months on a charge.

Getting to the batteries is pretty easy -- you flip the keyboard over and there's a little door that you open to pop them in. Of course, the door isn't attached to anything, so in my case it promptly went flying across the room and ended up on the floor. Unlike most every other battery-powered device that I've used in the past half-century, there's no little indicator to tell you which direction the batteries need to be facing. As luck would have it, the first time I installed the batteries they were put in backward.

Not that you get all that much of an indication that the batteries are installed properly and are charged up... You're supposed to see a red LED on the strange little "Wireless" sign on the top end of the keyboard flash once if everything's hunky-dory. It did just after I installed the batteries, but then didn't flash on subsequent flicks of the power switch on the bottom of the keyboard. I took this as an indication that the batteries were discharged, so I took the opportunity to look into how the charging works.

To plug in the charger, there's a little red silicone door (image below) that needs to be opened. I poked and prodded at the door with my fingernail and couldn't get it to budge. Finally -- wanting to get this review written sometime in the current century -- I resorted to using the corner of a SIM card to pry open the door. Plugging in the USB cable resulted in repeated green flashes on the keyboard LED, which the owner's manual said was a sign that the batteries were charging. Note to the Penclic designers: just leave the frickin' cable door off! It's not needed, and it's certainly a pain to get open.

Also on the bottom side of the keyboard are two flip-up feet that raise the angle of typing a bit. They're plastic, and I would hope that they contain a bit of metal as I can see them snapping off if you bang on your keyboard in frustration like I'm doing writing this review.

The key layout is pretty standard and may actually be attractive to our European readers as it has the ever-popular Alt Gr key -- although it's spelled (appropriately enough) on the Mini Keyboard K2 as "Alt Grr". That angry-sounding "Grr" is appropriate, since this is definintely not an Apple-friendly keyboard -- as the standard Command keys are nowhere to be found. The return key on the board is a bright orange for no apparent reason other than to be different, and there's an orange numeric keypad overlaying the 789-uio-jkl-m? keys. There's no indication how that keypad is supposed to be accessed; the function keys use a blue theme, but if I followed the color cues here, it seems like I should depress the Return key to activate the numeric keys. There's also an oddly-labeled key located between the Fn and Alt keys on the left side of the lower row of keys, and the owner's manual provides no clue as to what it does.

I have to admit I smiled at the F2 key, which is also labeled in blue with "Silence!" Rather than using the typical international symbol for mute that you see on just about every other keyboard in the world, Penclic's designers chose to use the English word "Silence!" and promptly alienate and confuse non-English speakers.

One thing I really don't understand about the Penclic Mini Keyboard is why the designers chose to go with a proprietary wireless mode rather than use the widely-accepted Bluetooth standard. Bluetooth works with almost everything today, from iPhones and iPads to Macs and PCs. You're not going to be able to use the Penclic with an iPhone or iPad, and when you choose to use it with your Mac or PC, you'll have to give up a USB port to house a minuscule wireless receiver. That receiver has a maximum range of 5 meters (about 15 feet) compared to Bluetooth's usual range of about 10 meters. Knowing how widespread Bluetooth keyboards are, it probably cost Penclic more to produce this proprietary model.

Let's get into the pricing while I'm thinking about it, shall we? For $69.95 you're getting a keyboard that has a non-standard key layout and even specifically states in the owner's manual "MAC (sic) operating systems do not support all the special functions." A quick search on Amazon for cheap Bluetooth keyboards that are Mac- and iPad-friendly finds them for as little as $13.96 with free Amazon Prime shipping! Even top-brand names are less expensive -- Logitech's awesome solar-powered Bluetooth keyboard (K760) sells for about $60 and doesn't need a dongle, a cheap retractable USB cable, or AAA rechargeable batteries behind a flyaway plastic door.

As for typing -- the main reason you'd want a keyboard -- this is nothing spectacular. The keys have a decent amount of feedback that's common to just about any keyboard that uses the same type of scissor keys. When those little legs are propping up the Mini Keyboard K2, it tends to be quite a bit noisier than most other keyboards.

Conclusion

The Penclic Mini Keyboard K2 has nothing to recommend it, unless you're so wound up in "Scandinavian design" that you just have to get this keyboard to match your IKEA furniture.

Pros

• It has an Alt Grr key that should make some European buyers dance with glee
• What a lovely box!

Cons

• Just about everything else, including the choice of AAA batteries, the lack of a battery direction indicator in the battery compartment, the idiotic idea of putting a silicone door over the micro-USB charging port, the lack of Bluetooth support, the lack of any semblance of support for Apple devices, strange and unexplained keyboard markings, noise, ad infinitum

Who is it for?

• This guy, that's who...

Control-Alt-Grrrrrr: A look at Penclic's Mini Keyboard K2 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Control-Alt-Grrrrrr: A look at Penclic's Mini Keyboard K2 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A few months ago I reviewed an external hard drive enclosure I was pretty fond of -- the Mercury On-The-Go-Pro. Today I want to tell you about one I like even more: The Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure. The two enclosures actually are very similar in functionality. They both allow you to take your old laptop hard drives, insert them into the enclosure, and turn those old drives into useful spare external drives. They also both offer one USB 3.0 port and two Firewire 800 ports. The reason I like the Oyen Digital MiniPro more, however, is because its design mirrors the Mac Pro. It's made from a solid aluminum housing that Mac Pro users know and love. Because of this, it actually looks like it was designed by Apple. The enclosure is also bus-powered, so no power cord is required.

The Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure comes in black or silver aluminum and is US$69.95. It's available on Amazon and at the company's store.

Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure dresses your hard drive like a Mac Pro originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Oyen Digital MiniPro enclosure dresses your hard drive like a Mac Pro originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a recent interview, outgoing Intel CEO Paul Otellini explained how he passed up on an opportunity to get Intel chips inside the original iPhone.

According to Otellini, Apple and Intel couldn't come to terms regarding cost. Further, Otellini explained that he simply had no way of knowing how successful and ubiquitous the iPhone would go on to become.

While there's no way to know for sure just how seriously Apple was considering Intel as a partner for the iPhone, I couldn't help but laugh at the notion of an iPhone sporting an "Intel Inside" sticker on the back. Of course, Apple would have never allowed such a thing in a million years, but the thought reminded me of an old video where Steve Jobs is asked why Apple doesn't put "Intel Inside" stickers on its Macs.

The video is from August 2007 and is of a Q&A session that followed an Apple special media event where the first aluminum iMac was introduced.

The pertinent part of the video begins at about 32 seconds in.

Comically, the very premise of the question elicits laughter from both Tim Cook and Phil Schiller.

Jobs, always masterful when put on the spot, evokes laughter and applause from the audience when he responds sharply, "What can I say? We like our own stickers better."

Jobs, of course, follows that up with praise for Intel.

Don't get me wrong. We love working with Intel. We're very proud to ship Intel products in Macs. I mean, they are screamers. And combined with our operating system, we've really tuned them well together, so we're really proud of that. It's just that everyone knows we're using Intel processors, and so I think putting a lot of stickers on the box is just redundant. We'd rather tell them about the product inside the box, and they know it's got an Intel processor.

Makes sense to me.

Video Flashback: Steve Jobs explains why Macs don't sport 'Intel Inside' stickers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Video Flashback: Steve Jobs explains why Macs don't sport 'Intel Inside' stickers originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The next time you wish to hack into a Mac, it may help to grab your wand and book of spells. At the NoSuchCon security conference this week, security architect Alex Ionescu presented a talk where he revealed that special undocumented code on a Mac's SMC (system management controller) can be invoked by entering a secret spell used in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

That spell is "SpecialisRevelio," the words used by a wizard to "reveal charms and hexes that have been cast onto a target" or "reveal the ingredients of a potion." In an Ars Technica post about the secret spell, blogger Dan Goodin notes, "While most details are far too technical for this article, the gist of the research is that the SMC is a chip that very few people can read, but just about anyone with rudimentary technical skills can 'flash' update."

One of the possible attacks that Ionescu pointed out is infecting the SMC with code to pull out the FileVault key used to encrypt a Mac drive, although to implement this, an attacker would have to know details of the Mac like the model, year and screen size in advance.

Much more likely attacks provided by the spell backdoor include marking targets. The SMC could be programmed to emit audible or visual alerts through the fans or LED displays, which could point out a specific Mac to an attacker. A Mac could even be programmed to turn off at a certain time and refuse to boot again.

There's good news in all of this scary talk: to reflash the firmware an attacker has to have physical access to the Mac. Ionescu also reported that many of the SMC security holes were plugged in OS X Mountain Lion. A full copy of the presentation can be downloaded here (PDF file).

Your Mac's connection to Harry Potter originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Your Mac's connection to Harry Potter originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple was bringing production of an existing Mac line to the US. Cook shared some additional details on the project in an interview with Politco that was published yesterday.

Besides being assembled in the US, many of the components will be produced in the US. Cook confirmed to Politico that this manufacturing and assembly will be spread across many states in the US. Anna Palmer of Politico writes,

"We're going very deep in this project," Cook said, noting that not only will the final product be manufactured in the US, but so will many of its components. Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky are among the states he mentioned as having parts and assembly located.

Apple will invest US$100 million in this domestic manufacturing project. You can read the entire interview on Politico's website.

[Via MacRumors]

Tim Cook talks about US-made Mac with Politico originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tim Cook talks about US-made Mac with Politico originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On a recent trip, I found I had failed to add copies of my auto-resizing drop tools to my travel MacBook Air. My droplets allow me to convert images to TUAW-standard sizes, namely 225 pixels for small images and 456 pixels for banner images. (See? Information you never thought you'd need to know.)

What a lot of people don't realize is that OS X offers solutions for these kinds of basic image tasks.

First and foremost is Preview. This app is simply terrific. Yes, I know, Apple took some really helpful utilities like Link Annotation out of the app on its road to Mountain Lion. (Time? Feature trimming? It's hard to say.) Even so, Preview is the best app on your computer that nobody uses enough.

Preview offers a surprising tool suite that combines a little bit of Photoshop and a little bit of Acrobat into one app. In addition to annotating PDFs, you can rotate and crop images using Preview's Tools menu. You have access to lasso selection, color correction, and image fitting, among many other features.

At one point Steve Sande and I threw around the idea of writing an entire book on Preview (there's plenty of interesting material in there!) but ended up deciding against it. Unfortunately, demand leads sales and too few people know how powerful Preview can be.

To resize an image, choose Tools > Adjust Size or click the resizing icon you see at the top-right of this post's main image. The icon looks like an arrowed line in a square box. An Image Dimensions panel slides into view, as you see here.

Select the new width you want to use, making sure the small icon next to the two text fields remains in the locked position. This ensures that the height and width scale proportionately, so the resulting image is sized just right.

Preview isn't the only resizing solution on your Mac, however. The "sips" command line tool offers another take on image processing, one that's especially convenient for scripting and batch processing.

For example, if you want to resize an image to fit a given width, you can ask it to resample to the pixel count you supply. Here's how you might do that.

% sips --resampleWidth 225 input.png --o output.png

You can also perform many of the same tasks as preview. For example, you might rotate an image clockwise by 90 degrees:

% sips -r 90 input.png -o output.png

or convert a file from PNG to JPG format:

% sips -s format jpeg input.png -o output.jpg

OS X also supports related based on "folder actions". These refer to AppleScripts that you attach to folders, so when you drop items into the folders, they run those scripts. It's easy to take a peek at some of the system-supplied actions.

Create a new folder on your desktop. Control-click or Right-click it and choose Services > Folder Action Setup from the contextual pop-up menu. Select a pre-built script like "Duplicate as JPEG" or "Rotate Left" and click Attach. Finish by checking "Enable Folder Actions". Your new folder applies the attached script to any file you drop into it.

If you're an intrepid system-modding type, you can expand these script choices by adding items to ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts. (The system supplied versions all appear in /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts).

Scripts are built around a standalone Image Events application, found in /System/Library/CoreServices. This app provides a "faceless background application" that wraps sips for AppleScript scripting. Apple has documented Image Events as part of its developer library, and its docs point to this external website that details how you integrate scripting with image manipulation requests.

I'll leave the rest as an exercise for the reader, but a bit of Googling will turn up already-built image solutions ready for testing.

Here at TUAW, we regularly use these for image resizing -- and they're exactly the bits I forgot to pack on my trip.

So did I get my work done while gone? You bet I did. And a big part of that reason is how sips and Preview enable you to step up to image challenges without any third party software needed.

Got some OS X image processing tips? Share them in the comments.

Preview, sips, and more: OS X image processing tools originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Preview, sips, and more: OS X image processing tools originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the problems with giving people advice is that certain topics are so... personal. Our previous experiences, current technology and outside pressures inevitably corral us into a particular line of thinking or acting. So it is with the debate over paper vs. software solutions. Personally, I've found a mix of both to be handy. A quick poll of the TUAW crew indicates a similar divide: Some of us use paper almost to the exclusion of software, whereas some of us went digital once we found enough apps to deliver us from dead trees. Most of us use a blend of both, however. In this week's productivity tip, I want to discuss when you might want to use paper or an app, and some specific apps and resources for both.

Paper (and whiteboards, etc.)

The thing about paper is that you have to write on it. That seems simplistic, but for some that's actually a big deal. I happen to learn by doing something, and I find I remember notes better if I write them out versus typing them. The other (obvious) thing about paper is that it isn't connected to distractions like social networks and calendars, push notifications, etc.. If those are your problem, maybe switching on Do Not Disturb and sitting outside with pen and paper are a way to really focus on whatever you're trying to capture.

I'm also a big fan of mind mapping, and while there are apps for this (discussed below), I have yet to replace my large format rolls of paper with an iOS device. There's something primitive and powerful about scrawling ideas and notes on a giant canvas, then seeing what patterns you can divine.

Another advantage to paper is that you can hang the stuff wherever you want so things are always top-of-mind. Steve uses Post-It notes for reminders. Megan uses a Moleskine for capturing checklists -- and she correctly notes that there's something satisfying about actually drawing a line through stuff you've done. Dave has written a great post on Unclutterer about using a notebook for the ARC system.

As for me, I can just do more with paper in certain ways. As this post from a time before the iPad notes, "paper is just more usable than a computer monitor." Sure, I can make annotations on a PDF, but it's not as easy in a PDF app to tear off 3 pages and line them up side-by-side to examine them.

Similarly, as you can see in the image at the top of this post, I've created a simple "task board" when apps like 30/30 and OmniFocus weren't really nailing a certain workflow for me. In this case, I have a certain number of things I have to do regularly, but they can't be called a project per se, they're more like categories. I also don't have to do every one of them every day, so I pull these (I call them pommes, which is why they have little apples on them) out of an envelope each day and set them up on the board. When I complete one, I put it below the middle of the board (hence the "Done" with a down arrow).

Each one of these "pommes" typically maps to a context in OmniFocus (and GTD, for that matter), and they represent the many hats I wear at TUAW. Each one is meant to be completed (more or less) in under 30 minutes. Some days I don't feel like digging into a lot of research, or maybe I just want to focus on writing. By putting them up on the board and being able to easily see them right there in front of me, I'm quickly able to see how much I've done or not done. Yes, I have tasks and projects in OmniFocus, but this allows me to structure my day around types of tasks, and greatly reduces the stress and feeling of being overwhelmed with "too much to do." I'm still working on this system, but on my most productive days it's a good way to batch my time.

Some other low-tech things I do, sometimes with a high-tech twist:

• Use a whiteboard for mocking up web pages and quick mind mapping. Then I take a pic to save in Evernote.
• In my kitchen I use a whiteboard calendar so my kids can easily see the stuff that is relevant to them. Often this means writing stuff from my Google calendar on the board, but there are worse things in life -- like the stress of kids not knowing what they are walking into when they come stay with me.
• Use Moleskine notebooks when I travel. Often power is at a premium, and I like to travel light. Plus, during takeoff and landing I can't use my iDevices. Again, I try to capture this digitally later, either in OmniFocus, Evernote or a mind-mapping app.
• Big ideas beg for a big canvas. I keep very large rolls of paper and oversized sketch pads in my house so I can periodically clear the kitchen table and go to town with ideas and connecting them. Sometimes this requires stitching pics together before dumping into (you guessed it) Evernote.
• Cornell has a notes template here if you're in a meeting and worry about capturing things.
• Lastly there are times when you just can't avoid using paper. Coupons I get at the self-checkout are printed, though I wish I could add them to Passbook (if Kroger ever hops on that wagon). But when I see a poster for a show on a telephone pole, I snap a pic of it. Nothing jogs the memory like seeing that pop up in your Photo Stream.

You can also use something like the iNotebook, Inkling or LiveScribe's offerings to write and capture to digital. I've only used the LiveScribe Pulse, but I find that adding complications subtracts from the organic nature of simply using paper. These also add considerable cost.

Digital

Obviously there are lots of limits when it comes to paper. Sharing among a distributed group is somewhat difficult. Contacts are better handled digitally when you get an email and can quickly add phone and address to your address book, or if you use a business card scanner app and text recognition. Speaking of recognition, natural language parsing has come a long way, so adding reminders and calendar events via Siri or Fantastical or Google Calendar is just so easy I will never use a paper calendar again.

When I was in middle school I used FastTrack Schedule to plan projects. Now I use a combination of DevonTHINK Pro (for research materials) and OmniFocus, but there are a good number of capable project managers out there, including Merlin and OmniPlan. If I were handling larger projects, I am sure I would rely upon those heavily.

Notes can absolutely have an advantage in digital form if you're busy linking things, as you can do in a wiki or software such as VoodooPad, which is excellent. There's also nvALT and a host of other note applications out there which can cross-link and insert multimedia in ways you can't replicate on paper.

When it comes to capturing ideas, Doc uses Drafts and voice recognition to quickly capture items. Similarly, Siri does a great job for adding Reminders. Fancy tricks like geolocation are all but impossible on paper.

The only problem with all of these: You have to know how to use them. Everyone knows how to use paper, however.

Some digital tools I use that attempt to simulate or replace paper-based equivalents:

• SimpleMind for mind mapping (this has sync so I can access my maps on my Mac), although MindNode is good and Grafio allows a sort of scrapbooking.
• Passbook as much as I can for plane tickets and customer loyalty cards. Some folks in team chat mentioned Lemon Wallet as well. I just hate fumbling for a paper ticket while I wait for first class to board.
• Fantastical for scheduling (Mac and iOS) and BusyCal on my Mac instead of iCal.
• Sketch Club for sketches, although Autodesk's SketchBook is good (just overkill for my needs usually), and Paper on iPad is simply wonderful. I also use Procreate (and a Pogo Connect) when I want to make a really great drawing.
• Now that Penultimate is integrated with Evernote, it's hard to beat. That said, I kinda like Sketch Rolls when I don't have access to my paper at home.

But when to use what?

Well, this is really a personal choice. What I tell people is to try both and see what fits you best. It's hard to argue that digital contact management is a bad thing, and calendars are another one which paper doesn't do better than digital tools.

When it comes to notes and creating tasks, it all depends on how much you have to share with others and your own personal style. If you are building a spaceship, you're probably going to need some pretty complex project management tools, and paper will likely reduce your efficiency. If you juggle a couple of things a day, it's really satisfying to whip out a sheet of paper or note card and start crossing off tasks through the day. I used to use the heck out of these DIY "hipster" planners, and Dave Caolo points out these awesome productivity tools you can print courtesy of David Seah.

Try this: Pick one or the other for a solid week and see how it feels. If you get into the groove of reviewing your tasks in OmniFocus and you find satisfaction in clicking check boxes, there you go. If, on the other hand, you feel more accomplished writing down tasks and scratching through them, paper is your friend. Because we all work in such different ways, this sort of A/B testing is critical for determining your preferences. Hint: Use a simple to do app to prevent having to read a huge manual.

Conclusion

While I love gadgets and technology, we simply aren't in the Diamond Age just yet. I'd love to have an iPad which really felt like a book, but that doesn't exist yet. Yes, I'd love to save some trees, but there are times when my old monkey brain just wants to poke at a sheet of paper with a stick filled with graphite. There's still a case for paper. That said, I turn 40 this year and maybe I'm just wed to a particular workflow. In the end try out the tools and make an honest assessment of what works best for you.

Let me know if you have any suggestions in the comments below!

Productivity Tip: When and how to use paper vs software originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Productivity Tip: When and how to use paper vs software originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The update is currently available for download in the App Store.

iMovie update 9.0.9 released originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iMovie update 9.0.9 released originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you are looking for a way to get more out of your MacBook or MacBook Pro, consider a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs offer faster data read and write speeds, fast file transfers, speedier boot times and will save you some battery life. In the past, SSDs were considered somewhat pricey upgrades and out of reach for many users. Today, prices are dropping and quality drives can be had for a song through retailers like Amazon and OWC.

Today I will show you how to install an SSD, specifically the Samsung 840 series into a June 2012 MacBook Pro. The proceedure in this tutorial video will work for any SATA-based Mac notebook with a few monior adjustments to the physical installation of the disc.

Keys to Success

Remember: before doing a full hard-disc transplant, make a full backup of your computer. Rather than restoring from a backup to a new drive, I used Carbon Copy Cloner and a Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter to clone my internal drive's contents before installing the new SSD. If you don't have a Seagate Backup Plus drive you can pick up a universal drive dock or Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for about US$30. They're nice to have around anyway.

This whole upgrade process is super easy and you should be able to complete it in a few hours depending on how much data you need to transfer. Now go forth and do yourself a solid.

Disclaimer: Note that opening a new MacBook Pro won't void your warranty, but replacing stock parts with your own third-party parts will void the standard Apple warranty.

Mac 101: Upgrade to SSD originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mac 101: Upgrade to SSD originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Have a need to attach more monitors to your USB 3.0-equipped Mac, but don't want to use a Thunderbolt, Mini DisplayPort, or HDMI port? Kensington may have just the thing for you -- the Universal Multi-Display Adapter (US$79.99 MSRP), AKA the USB 3.0 Multi-Display Adapter. We previewed this device last month, and now we've had some hands-on time.

Previously this device was available only for PCs, but new drivers available from DisplayLink make the adapter compatible with any Mac running OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion. Essentially what the adapter does is makes one of your USB 3.0 ports available to drive a monitor or projector. It's a small (2" x 3.5" x .68") black box with a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 input on one end and a female DVI connector on the other end.

That cabling arrangement is a little unfortunate. Many monitors are also equipped with a female DVI connector, so chances are you'll need to buy another adapter. LIkewise, the included DVI to VGA adapter is relatively useless -- although it plugs right into the Multi-Display Adapter, it has a female connector on the open end, once again requiring a male to male adapter cable to connect to many VGA ports.

Since the Mac software is relatively new, you need to download and install it prior to running the device. It takes up only about 16 MB of storage, and requires a reboot. After installing the software, I was able to find a male-to-male VGA cable, so I plugged one end into the 17-inch ViewSonic monitor I use with my MacBook Pro with Retina display, the other into the DVI to VGA adapter, and then plugged that into the Multi-Display Adapter. Next, the USB cable was plugged into the MacBook Pro, and the screen came right up at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (also known as 1080p). The adapter will support resolutions on an external device of up to 2048 x 1152. As you'd expect, the Adapter is bus-powered and requires no external power.

I previously had some issues when testing a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter when connecting a MacBook Air to a PC projector, so I thought I'd try the projector with this adapter (in most cases, I'll actually just use an HDMI cable to go straight from the MBP to the projector). Once again, the adapter worked like a champ, allowing me to drive the projector flawlessly from the MacBook Pro.

Considering the variety of video output modes that are available on most modern Macs -- HDMI, Thunderbolt, and Mini DisplayPort -- you might not need to have a USB 3.0-based adapter to add a monitor to your setup. However, it's nice to know that the option exists, and that the price tag on this adapter isn't too bad -- it was selling on Amazon today for $20 off the MSRP.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a way to hook up a DVI or VGA monitor to a Mac through USB 3.0, the Kensington Universal Multi-Display Adapter is a bus-powered alternative that may fit your needs.

Pros

• Provides a way to connect a monitor, projector, or other display to your USB 3.0-equipped Mac without using a Thunderbolt, Mini DIsplay Port, or HDMI port
• Can also be used with Windows PCs
• DVI / VGA out works with a lot of monitors and projectors
• Price isn't too high at retail, although generic adapters (Monoprice, etc...) might be available for less

Cons

Female out on both adapter and the DVI/VGA adapter is annoying; need to use a male by male cable (not included) to plug into most monitors and projectors

Who is it for?

Anyone with a Mac with USB 3.0 who needs to keep other ports empty or in use with other devices but who wants to drive another monitor or projector

Giveaway

We're giving away our review device! Here are the rules for the giveaway:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.
• The entry must be made before May 15, 2013 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected and will receive a Kensington Universal USB 3.0 Multi-Display Adapter valued at $79.95
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Kensington USB 3.0 Multi-Display Adapter adds video options to your Mac (giveaway!) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 11 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kensington USB 3.0 Multi-Display Adapter adds video options to your Mac (giveaway!) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 11 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The other day Echofon 1.7.0 mysteriously appeared on the OS X App Store, upgraded to support the 1.1 Twitter API. We contacted the developers to find out if this was a courtesy update or if Echofon was back in development.

We're delighted to relate that a spokesperson has confirmed:

Sorry for the delayed response and thanks for your inquiry. We brought Echofon Mac back due to the overwhelming user demand for it. We intend to continue to keep our
users happy and satisfied with the product.

Speaking as a long time user, I'm very pleased with this news. Original developer Satoshi Nakagawa agrees. He tweets, "Echofon for Mac 1.7.0 works beautifully :)".

It's back. It's on the Mac. Echofon aficionados rejoice! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 11 May 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's back. It's on the Mac. Echofon aficionados rejoice! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 11 May 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you haven't launched Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 in the past few days, there's an update for the office suite that became available on May 7.

The 14.3.4 update of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 is considered to be a "critical" update, and includes a number of fixes. Most of the fixes appear to be for Outlook for Mac and PowerPoint for Mac, although there is one issue with saving files to SkyDrive and SharePoint in Microsoft Word for Mac that has been fixed as well.

Microsoft also took the opportunity to let those who read the knowledge base article about the update know that Office for Mac 2011 is now available as a subscription offering as part of Office 365.

Owners of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 can either wait for the update to show up and annoy them when they're trying to get some work done, or can download the update package directly.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Update 14.3.4 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Update 14.3.4 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Have a Mac equipped with Thunderbolt? Then head on over to your friendly neighborhood Mac App Store this morning, click on Updates and get yourself a nice firmware update.

Firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt "provides stability fixes for Thunderbolt and Target Disk Mode" and requires a machine restart. If the update hasn't made it to the Mac App Store yet, you can also download it from the Apple Support Pages.

Apple issues stability fix firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple issues stability fix firmware update v1.2 for Thunderbolt originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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