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Erica Sadun

Senior Writer

Erica Sadun holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has written, co-written, and contributed to dozens of books about technology, particularly in the areas of programming and digital media. An unrepentant geek, Sadun has never met a gadget she didn't need. Her checkered past includes run-ins with NeXT, Newton, and a vast myriad of both successful and unsuccessful technologies. When not writing, she and her geek husband parent three adorable geeks-in-training, who regard their parents with restrained bemusement.

Erica Sadun's Latest Posts

Weekend Poll: What apps did you discover via the 50 billionth download contest?

On Wednesday, Apple sold its 50 billionth iOS app. TUAW was there keeping track of the excitement and monitoring the iTunes store. Many of our colleagues and readers used this contest as an opportunity to stock up on numerous free apps, to test and explore. Were you one of them? What apps did ...

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DevJuice: Apple's ObjC-JavaScript Bridge

In a new post at his Steamclock Software blog, Nigel Brooke writes how Apple has added new Objective-C-to-Javascript bridging to WebKit: "This new API supports straightforward embedding of the JavaScriptCore interpreter into native Objective-C projects, including reading and writing variables ...

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Preview, sips, and more: OS X image processing tools

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 ...

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Pixelmator and Acorn: economic, practical image editors

Last week, after Adobe announced its move to a subscription-based cloud plan, our own Kelly Hodgkins asked me to look at software alternatives for some Creative Suite apps. We know that none of these apps provide a full replacement for Photoshop or Illustrator. What she asked me to do was to ...

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It's back. It's on the Mac. Echofon aficionados rejoice!

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 ...

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Consumer alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud: practical software choices

Yesterday, Adobe introduced Creative Cloud, an on-line subscription based suite with $49.99 monthly charges that moves into the Creative Suite subscription space first started back in 2011. Existing customers of CS 3 to CS 5.5 and academics will pay $29.99 per month. Both Adobe and Microsoft are ...

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Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: The winners revealed

The Clash of the Coders drew to its climax Saturday night as teams presented their projects and a good time was had by all. In the end team Raisin' Elevens took the crown, laying claim to geek victory for the next year (plus an extremely generous equipment purchasing allowance). They created an ...

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Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: Projects

As the teams battle away on the Clash of the Coders, ideas are quickly becoming reality as developers are hard at work on their projects. Some projects are, admittedly, utilitarian. Now is a great opportunity for devs to create in-house tools for use during the rest of the year. In a shop that ...

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Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: Rule-based lock screens

One of the nicest things about hanging out with coders is the exposure to their pet personal projects. Brian James Turner at Big Nerd Ranch has been working on a new take on lock screens. Hosted at github, Turner's project transforms the iOS lockscreen from a series of memorized numbers or ...

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Big Nerd Ranch Clash of the Coders: How BNR smote the NDA

The Big Nerd Ranch has conducted iPhone development courses all the way back to the very beginning, when the App Store first launched in 2008. Doing so had its challenges. At that time, Apple had imposed a nondisclosure agreement on all developers, with little indication if and when it would ever ...

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