Has a sync somehow gone terribly wrong and you've lost your favorite paid application for your iPhone or iPod touch? Well, if you didn't have a backup of it in your iTunes library, fear not. Apple has designed the App Store to allow for re-downloading purchased applications.
All you have to do is navigate to the application that you originally bought in the App Store and tap "Buy." You will have to enter your password, and the App Store will return you to your home screen where it displays a message saying that you've already bought this application and are entitled to an additional free download. After you tap "OK," your app will begin downloading.
Now you don't have to fret about losing your favorite iPhone or iPod touch application.
To commemorate the launch of MobileMe, Apple has updated the Apple TV to work with the new service. The new update includes a new MobileMe sub-menu in the Photos menu.
MacRumors is reporting that you will also be able to control your Apple TV using the free Remote app from the iTunes Store. You can download this update by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
If you notice anything that we haven't, be sure to leave a comment!
Applications on the Mac give you this warm, fuzzy feeling when you download and unpack their .dmg (or .zip) files. "Make Your Own Mac Mix" hopes to make this feeling even better by offering deals in the form of discount tiers for buying Mac applications.
You will be able to choose between 27 "high quality" Mac applications (similar to those being offered by MacHeist). Prices will be based on the following tier system:
10% off of any one app
30% off any 3
40% off any 5
50% off any 7
60% off any 9
70% off any 12
Just as there are no details on specific applications, there is also no set date; but the creators are claiming this will be an amazing deal on Mac applications. This deal is set to go live this month. This deal and details will soon be made available on the MacMix Promo website.
I don't design websites very often (I've done maybe five or six total), but whenever I do, the first thing I do isn't anywhere near the web: I grab a pad of paper and a pencil and sit down somewhere away from the computer to sketch out my ideas for how the design will go.
Lots of developers will do the same thing with applications, and so, to help those developers, the folks at Labs.Boulevart were kind enough to put together sketchpaper versions of the iPhone. It's a free download (in PDF or Photoshop flavors) of just a bunch of images of the iPhone, left completely blank (sometimes with the MobileSafari and/or carrier bar on there) for designers of all kinds to sketch on and imagine with as they will.
Very cool idea, and the number of different setups and implementations they've thought of is impressive -- just the kind of thing to get the iPhone creative development juices flowing. If you're doing any kind of design for iPhone applications, native or on the web, this should be a cool tool to use.
Many switchers to Mac OS X have the same question: "how can I customize my application toolbars?" While this is fairly straightforward in Windows, Mac OS X makes it much easier. Just open the customization menu by right-clicking (if you have a one-button mouse you can control + click) on the toolbar, then select "Customize..."
When you do this, you are presented with a dialog box that "rolls down" to display all of the items that you can add. Just drag the ones you want to the toolbar. If you find you don't want a certain toolbar item, just open the customize panel again and drag the item off the menu bar.
If you're like me, when you sit down at your Mac, you end up opening a few specific apps depending on what kind of project you're working on. I am going to show you how you can group these applications into "task launchers" that will bring up a suite of programs with one click. For instance, I have a script that will open iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie called "Create Movies." When I run this script, it will open all of the applications I need to make my movie. I also have one called "Productivity" that will, when opened, launch Mail, iChat, Pages, and Yojimbo (even though some might argue with iChat's productivity value).
Want to make your own launchers? Continue reading for the instructions.
RuhSuhSuh is a brand-new way to read RSS feeds on the iPhone. Unlike Google Reader, RuhSuhSuh simplifies things. When you load the page, you are presented with four categories: news, technology, entertainment, and sports. In each of those four categories, the developer has included 6 popular website feeds (TUAW is on page 2 of the technology section).
The cool thing about this iPhone RSS reader is that the news articles are presented to you like a ticker at the bottom of a news broadcast. The articles just slide across the screen; you can then tap on them to access the full article. But the even better part about RuhSuhSuh is the fact that it loads very nicely over the EDGE network -- something we all want.
To use RuhSuhSuh, just point your iPhone's Safari browser to RuhSuhSuh.com.
There's not much more to say about this one-- you can probably guess what Refresh Finder does from its name, and while it is small and simple, it's also proof positive that even small and simple things can make life a lot easier. Keeping your Finder windows up to date isn't hard, but it's definitely helpful.
Aaron Hillegass, owner of the Big Nerd Ranch (and the suavest-looking Mac developer in a cowboy hat), has announced that he's releasing the source of his app Pagepacker to the public. Pagepacker, as reported on TUAW a while back, takes big pages and makes them small-- it's perfect for creating things like the Hipster PDA and other cool, easy-to-carry around organizational tools. I don't know where our own Mike Rose got this term from, but I love what he calls this stuff in the original Pagepacker post: info-origami. Beautiful.
Hillegass still has a guide to use the app on his site, and the source is now available to download as well. Maybe some enterprising open source developer can break it open, and add it to another app or make it even better.
I don't eBay nearly enough to use a completely separate application just to browse through it, but if you do you'll probably be interested in GarageBuy, a free download from Iwascoding. They also make GarageSale, an eBay buying-and-selling program that I've heard good things about, but GarageBuy is committed specifically to browsing around eBay. If you want to browse for auctions without using eBay's old school (and frankly, clunky) interface, GarageBuy might be just the ticket.
They've just updated to version 1.1, with a whole lot full of new features. There's a new view that features a cool color-coded price tag (to tell you whether you're winning the auction or not), a countdown timer to show remaining auction time, and a slick little sliding thumbnail view for the auction's images. Plus, there's a whole bunch of other performance improvements.
And the best part is: it's all free. GarageBuy is freeware (and if you like it, check out GarageSale) over on the website.
Our Weblogs, Inc. buddies at Download Squad bring us this news: OpenOffice is going to be able to run natively on the Mac in 2008.
The OpenOffice suite is getting pretty impressive-- while Writer, Impress, and Calc might not be necessary when you have Pages, Keynote, and Numbers around, OpenOffice's Math, Draw, and Base will probably be welcome additions to a few Macs out there. And don't underestimate compatibility-- back when I had to use a PC at work, OpenOffice was a constant tool, and using the same program at work and home has its advantages for people who are forced to co-OS.
If you can't wait another year, there is still an alpha version available of the native port, and you might be waiting even longer than 2008 anyway-- we were promised a native port a year ago that apparently never showed up in full form. And don't forget about NeoOffice, either-- it's a very nice branch of the OpenOffice code that already natively runs on the Mac. Why wait for OpenOffice to get in gear when those folks have been punching out a native app for a long time now?
Do you have too many random bookmarks to your favorite recipes, or print them out and shove the papers in a random cookbook somewhere? Ok, so maybe that's just me, but CookWare Deluxe is an inspiring bit of niche software that promises to organize all your favorite recipes (up to 64 quadrillion, in fact), in addition to a wealth of other handy food-related features.
All you have to do is drag your favorite recipes into the application, and CookWare will reformat text and change quantity abbreviations according to your preferences, making everything nice and consistent when hunting through recipes later. You can even plan meals with the built-in calendar feature, and write and organize your shopping lists, and these lists and your recipes can be exported as HTML files so you can carry them around and to the store on your iPod. Ok, I think we're getting a little food-organization-crazy now.
But seriously, the list of CookWare's features are impressively robust, and the brand new version 3.0 introduces a wealth of new features and options, and other minor enhancements. Unfortunately, I have not been able to download the program to try out myself (something appears to be wrong with the download link as I write this), but I'm looking forward to a test run. A single user license for CookWare Deluxe 3.0 rings in at $35.95.
TrueDisc is a new CD/DVD burning application that features "master copy" burning capabilities, for the creation of discs that are highly resistant to damage. TrueDisc (yes, the company shares the same name as its software) claims that up to 90% of a disc's data can be damaged before its software is unable to access and read it. To create a master copy, TrueDisc breaks up files into cells, adding special so-called "redundant cells" to protect the original content. That means the less data you burn to a disc, the more redundant cells that can be created, but TrueDisc promises maximum space efficiency, and the software uses a non-proprietary file format for the greatest ease of use for recovering data. The software supports burning of non-rewritable media only, such as CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R/DVD+R DL, and it is available for $52 for a limited time, with a regular price tag of $89.
Spring Cleaning, the system optimization, cleaning, and uninstaller utility from Smith Micro is now a Universal Binary. Completely rewritten from the ground up, version 9 introduces a wealth of new features and tools, such as a Task Scheduler, Permissions Fixer, a Housekeeping Scripts Runner, Spotlight Index Rebuilder, System Cache Cleaner, and others, in addition to a reworked interface. $49.99 for the package, or $19.99 for upgrades. Requires OS X 10.4. Although I can't vouch for this application, I will recommend OnyX for folks looking for something similar, and for free. I usually make sure to crack OnyX open every month or so for a bit of housekeeping of my own.
Ok, so MPEG Streamclip certainly isn't new but it's such a solid piece of software that I feel like I just need to give it a random mention. I broke it out for the first time in a few months the other day, and I was instantly reminded of how much I really appreciate this software's versatility. MPEG Streamclip is a video encoding application for converting to, and from, a boatload of different formats including: MPEG, MOV, DV, MP4, AVI, and others. You can convert raw Final Cut Pro video files (my most often used function), demux VOB files, and easily export screenshots. And it supports DivX, WMV, and FLV with the necessary components, in addition to all of the other standard formats.
The software is along the same vein as ffmpegX, but the somewhat 'easier' nature of MPEG Streamclip is what really makes it shine. Encoding settings are a-plenty and easily tweakable, plus the software is quick, too. Anyway, if you're looking for a complete video encoding package for exporting Final Cut projects, or want to make some quick MP4s for your iPod, or whatever it is you might want to do with the video lying around on your hard drive, MPEG Streamclip is a fine option for your video tinkering and encoding needs. Oh, and of course: it's free.
Has a sync somehow gone terribly wrong and you've lost your favorite paid application for your iPhone or iPod touch? Well, if you didn't have a backup of it in your iTunes library, fear not. Apple has designed the App Store to allow for re-downloading purchased applications. 
To commemorate the launch of 
Applications on the Mac give you this warm, fuzzy feeling when you download and unpack their .dmg (or .zip) files. "Make Your Own Mac Mix" hopes to make this feeling even better by offering deals in the form of discount tiers for buying Mac applications. 
I don't design websites very often (I've done maybe five or six total), but whenever I do, the first thing I do isn't anywhere near the web: I grab a pad of paper and a pencil and sit down somewhere away from the computer to sketch out my ideas for how the design will go.
If you're like me, when you sit down at your Mac, you end up opening a few specific apps depending on what kind of project you're working on. I am going to show you how you can group these applications into "task launchers" that will bring up a suite of programs with one click. For instance, I have a script that will open iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie called "Create Movies." When I run this script, it will open all of the applications I need to make my movie. I also have one called "Productivity" that will, when opened, launch Mail, iChat, Pages, and Yojimbo (even though some might argue with iChat's productivity value). 
I don't eBay nearly enough to use a completely separate application just to browse through it, but if you do you'll probably be interested in 
Our Weblogs, Inc. buddies at Download Squad bring us this news: OpenOffice is going to be able to 
Do you have too many random bookmarks to your favorite recipes, or print them out and shove the papers in a random cookbook somewhere? Ok, so maybe that's just me, but 
Ok, so 
