Skip to Content

Exclusive: Rock Band Unplugged Track List
AOL Tech

blogging posts

Filed under: TUAW Business

Introductory Post: New Blogger Kelly Guimont

by Kelly Guimont on Apr 24th 2009 at 8:00PM

Howdy! (That's a traditional greeting from Out West.) I'm a new blogger here on TUAW. I made an appearance here from Macworld 2008 when I demonstrated software on the show floor. I've been a Macintosh user in some form or another since very early on (I drew with a turtle and don't understand versions of Oregon Trail that are anything but green), and I'm currently Leopard Certified.

I live in Portland, Oregon, which is a great place to be a Mac Geek since we have three Apple retail stores and loads of Mac places besides. My current setup is a Unibody MacBook and an iPhone 3G, but I still get some mileage out of my 80gb iPod and I still have a PowerBook G4 and a blueberry iMac DV around in case I need them -- you never know!

My house has a lot of gadgetry (right now the network has about a dozen IP addresses assigned) and general geekery: Star Wars, Disney, and Lord Of The Rings tidbits are all over the place.

As writing goes, I've written all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons/groups/publications such as Mac|Life and local computer magazines, blogged here and there, and written short stories and other pieces just for fun.

In my copious amounts of free time, I help organize events within the Portland Tech community including Open Source Bridge and Beer and Blog, and I am the head of the Portland WordPress User Group, spreading the blogging love wherever I can.

I am very excited to be part of TUAW and as I'm sure anyone who knows me will tell you, I can't wait for you to hear what I have to say! :)

Tags: blogging, tuaw business, TuawBusiness

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Mars Edit 2.3 adds Tumblr support

by Christina Warren on Mar 26th 2009 at 6:00PM



MarsEdit has long been one of my Mac apps and save my writings for TUAW and Download Squad, it's what I use for almost all of my online publishing. For almost two years, I've been embroiled in a love/hate relationship with Tumblr. I love the idea of the service, but until recently, the simplicity it offers has come at the expense of features I really, really need. This week, I've come one-step closer to making Tumblr a bigger part of my digital life, because MarsEdit now supports Tumblr blogs!

MarsEdit 2.3, which was released on Tuesday now supports Tumblr, in addition to WordPress, Movable Type, LiveJournal and other blogging platforms. Daniel Jalkut, the developer of MarsEdit, announced that he was planning support for Tumblr back in December, after started working with Tumblr's Marco Arment on improving the Tumblr API.

After a brief beta period, official Tumblr support is finally here, and it is good. To my knowledge, MarsEdit is the only blog client, for Mac or Windows, that supports Tumblr. Sure, there are some great iPhone (and even a BlackBerry application), but there hasn't been any support for an actual desktop client.

Inevitably, some users will question why Tumblr needs client support at all. After all, isn't the whole point of Tumblr to be fast, easy and simple? Sure, but when composing longer entries or when you want to write drafts, an external client is still superior. There's nothing worse than having all of your hard work erased by a misbehaving web browser, or wanting to access a draft or an old post while on a plane or some other place without Internet access.

MarsEdit 2.3 supports text, photo, quote, link and chat post templates (though you can easily use HTML to embed video and audio in a regular text post). You can also easily add tags to a post. Image posting is extremely easy, just drag an image from the web, your own library or a folder into the image button at the top of the post.

If I had any real request, it would be that the "tweet this post" toggle be included as a MarsEdit option. Otherwise, my Tumblr needs have been addressed.

MarsEdit 2.3 is a free upgrade for existing users and news users can snag a copy for $29.95. It requires Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5.

Tags: blog software, blogging, BlogSoftware, marsedit, tumblr

Filed under: TUAW Business

Yet another introduction

by Todd Ritter on Dec 9th 2008 at 7:00AM

Todd Ritter IntroGreetings, TUAW faithful! I'm Todd, and after writing for Download Squad for a year, I'm fortunate enough to be able to write for TUAW. A MacBook Pro is my primary machine and I'm rarely without my iPhone 3G (who isn't?).

By day I'm a systems admin for a school district in central Pennsylvania where I manage a network of about 1400 PC's, 600 Macs, and 35 servers (a handful of which run Mac OS X). I handle all of the Mac client management, system imaging, and podcast-related functions.

In addition to my day job, a few nights a month I teach at a local career institute covering topics like Apache administration, Active Directory management, and Cisco configuration. I get to work with small classes in hands-on environments which allow the students to get a taste of the real "IT" world.

Drawing from these experiences, I hope to offer insightful articles ranging from the use of Apple products in the classroom to creating Mac system images for mass deployment. I look forward to interacting, sharing, and learning from you and the other great TUAW writers!

Tags: bloggers, blogging, introduction, new blogger, NewBlogger

Filed under: Blogging, Open Source, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Found Footage: Help test WordPress for iPhone 1.2

by Steven Sande on Nov 11th 2008 at 11:05AM



Have a WordPress blog? Own an iPhone or iPod touch? Have you been using WordPress for iPhone to update your blog from the comfort of your bathroom [insert your own visual image here]?

The WordPress community has been hard at work on the next release of WordPress for iPhone, and it will contain a ton of new features including:

  • Landscape mode with the extra wide keyboard
  • Link creation help
  • Support for editing and creating Pages
  • Comment moderation
  • Asynchronous publishing
  • Photo resizing options

A video of WordPress for iPhone 1.2 in action with a beta of WordPress 2.7 is available with a quick click on the video window at the top of this post. For more information, visit the WordPress for iPhone page.

As with the previous versions, WordPress for iPhone 1.2 will be free. As soon as the beta test is complete and all bugs have been successfully squashed, the new version will be available via the App Store.

Tags: blogging, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, software, wordpress

Filed under: TUAW Business

Want to write for TUAW?

by Michael Rose on Oct 23rd 2008 at 11:00PM

Let me just say it: we're looking for a few good geeks. Do you have a love for all things Apple, tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism for the power of the RDF? Are you eager to share your favorite tips and tricks with Mac users everywhere? Is your iPhone development mojo so strong that it deserves an iSoapbox? Are you, in short, TUAW material?

If you think you're what we're looking for, why not apply to blog for TUAW? Write about what you love and get paid to do it... seems like a good idea. Here's what we need from you:

A brief biography. Tell us about your history with Apple, how long you've been a Mac user, etc.

3 sample posts written in TUAW's style. One should be a review of something (Mac app or accessory, iPod gear, iPhone app, you get the picture), the second should be an opinion piece, and the third can be whatever strikes your fancy. NOTE: please do not give us links to previously published material in lieu of post samples. We're glad to know about other places your work has appeared, but we need three freshly written and unedited posts.

Your current Mac and iPhone/iPod setup.

Your contact info (email, phone, IM, anywhere else we can find you)

Send this package of "how I am so awesome" to us at apps@tuaw.com as a plain text email; no attachments, please. You have to be at least 18 years old to write for TUAW (sorry, not our choice), but we welcome applicants from all parts of the world -- in fact, we would love to bring some contributors into the fold who are in timezones far away from EST. If you've got specialized Mac interests (scientific computing, video/audio, education), that's fantastic, but generalists welcome too.

Our deadline for this round of applications is Friday, November 7 -- so get down to it!

Tags: accolades, application, blogging, fame, fortune, jobs, new bloggers, NewBloggers, recruitment, tuaw, writing

Filed under: Blogging, iPhone, App Store

First Look: Typepad for the iPhone

by Scott McNulty on Jul 10th 2008 at 6:45PM

I've been blogging for way too long, and for a good chunk of that time my personal blog has been hosted on Six Apart's TypePad. I'm a big fan of the service (though some might recall it was a little flakey in the early days, I'm happy to report I can recall no major downtime in the last 2 years) and that's why I was very excited to see TypePad was coming out with an iPhone native blogging app.

Typepad Mobile, as it is called within the program itself, is available now on the App Store for the low, low price of free (of course, Typepad isn't a free service). It is a blogging client that lets you post directly to your TypePad blog from your iPhone as you might have guessed from the name. You can also snap a picture with your iPhone's camera and post that to your blog, or you can post a photo from your iPhone's photo roll in just a few clicks.

During the course of my testing this app was very zippy, and it did everything I would expect from a 1.0 release. I hope to see some more blog management features in future updates (being able to approve/delete comments would be very cool).

Check out this gallery for a a quick tour of this neat little app.

Gallery: Typepad for the iPhone

Welcome to Typepad Mobile!Account InfoThe Main interfaceSettingsSettings continued

Tags: appstore, blogging, first look, FirstLook, iphone, typepad

Filed under: Software, Blogging

Blogo 1.1 emerges from Brainjuice

by Steven Sande on May 21st 2008 at 2:00PM

Attention all bloggers! The nerd bunnies at Brainjuice have just released Blogo 1.1, the latest take on their Mac OS X blogging tool. Blogo 1.1 now includes support for Drupal and Twitter in addition to WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, typo, and MovableType.

The new Twitter support allows users to post tweets and direct messages from Blogo, and can even send a tweet whenever you post. Brainjuice has fixed some existing issues, as well as adding these new features:
  • Support for raw image formats
  • Integration with NetNewsWire and Safari
  • Use of Growl for all user notifications
  • New text formatting options (quotes, lists, aligned, justified)
  • Custom cropping of thumbnails independently of the full-size images
To give Blogo 1.1 a try, download a 21-day unlimited trial or purchase the app for $25.

Tags: blogger, blogging, drupal, growl, movabletype, software, twitter, typepad, wordpress

Filed under: Software

ScreenSteps gets blog-friendly

by Brett Terpstra on Mar 20th 2008 at 7:30AM

We do love our ScreenSteps here at TUAW. Following up on some great features introduced in version 2, bluemango is releasing version 2.0.3 today with a brand new post-to-blog feature. The feature makes use of a Screensteps Live account to host images, then provides the HTML markup to paste into a blog entry.

If you're not familiar with it, ScreenSteps 2 is an application that makes the process of documenting software and on-screen tasks simple and elegant. ScreenSteps Live is bluemango's online complement to their desktop software, allowing users to publish lessons on the web after creating them in ScreenSteps 2. The post-to-blog feature is documented at the developer's own Live account, with instructions for Wordpress that are easily translated to other platforms. The concept is very cool and will aid a lot of people in sharing tutorials and software documentation. The blog templates are also customizable to fit your stylistic needs.

I would love to see some closer blog integration and automatic uploading via XMLRPC, ala TUAW favorite MarsEdit. Taking into account that ScreenSteps is not aspiring to be a blog editor, though, and the fact that they're seeking integration with ScreenSteps Live, I think the simplistic cut-and-paste approach fits the bill and provides the flexibility to post the exported output in a broader variety of places.

In addition to our own Macworld show floor coverage of ScreenSteps, there are screencasts done by ScreenCastsOnline covering ScreenSteps 2 and ScreenSteps Live. There are free accounts available to try out ScreenSteps Live, and plans start at $12/month. ScreenSteps 2 Standard is $39.95 (pro version which allows the creation of full pdf and online manuals is $59.95) with a free demo and academic discounts. And it's available for Windows, too, for those with cross-platform needs.

Tags: blogging, bluemango, ScreenSteps

Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Blogging, Interviews, Blogs

Blanc interviews Gruber

by Mike Schramm on Feb 19th 2008 at 3:00PM

Shawn Blanc has wrapped up his series of great software reviews, and now dives into the scariest of waters: those of the major minds in Mac journalism. And he goes first after the biggest shark in the ocean (or at least the one with the sharpest teeth), everyone's favorite Daring Fireball, John Gruber.

The interview is first about interviews, and then goes on to cover Gruber's past (he worked with Bare Bones and Joyent before going on to write the blog full time). Gruber also gives out some great tips for writers, from things as practical as setting a goal the night before to guide your workday and always drinking coffee black, to ephemeral tips like how to become a better writer without actually writing anything (save about a dozen books' worth of message boards and blog posts).

Gruber also talks specifically about Daring Fireball, his favorite stuff on the site, and where he wants to take it, and how far. Definitely a great read -- as always, Shawn makes sure to hit on all the important notes and leave no stone unturned, and Gruber reveals lots of insight on what it's like to put his posts and the Linked List together every day.

Tags: blogging, daring-fireball, entertainment, interview, john-gruber, mac, shawn-blanc, tips

Filed under: Software, Blogging

Shawn Blanc on MarsEdit 2.1

by Chris Ullrich on Feb 1st 2008 at 4:00PM

Even though we can't use a tool like MarsEdit to post here at TUAW, some of us are still big fans of the program and use it when creating content for our other, more personal sites. Like Ecto, another very good tool for this type of content creation, Mars Edit allows you to compose blog entries, complete with text, links, photos or whatever, on your own computer and once finished, post them directly to your blog.

Of course, we're not the only fans of MarsEdit using it to put up content around the internets. Shawn Blanc, writer, Mac guy, drummer, Tae-Qwon-Do blackbelt and enthusiastic Mars Edit user has posted a very in-depth review of the application at his site. Among the program's many virtues, Blanc praises it for having a "perfect preview" of draft content, that it functions very well as a text editor and the "blatant absence of a WYSIWYG feature" which makes him "extremely impressed with how well it serves the writer."

MarsEdit 2 may not be the right choice for your blogging needs, but if you've never considered it before, this review might just make you want to give it a try. It's $29.95 for a new license, and $9.95 for an upgrade from ME1.

Tags: blogging, ecto, mars edit, MarsEdit, publishing

Filed under: Software, Blogging, Internet Tools

MarsEdit 2.1 with saving drafts to server

by Mat Lu on Jan 31st 2008 at 3:30PM

Daniel Jalkut announced the release of MarsEdit 2.1, the great blogging client from Red Sweater Software. The big changes involve a nice search features that allows you to easily find drafts and recent posts, a new tag editor (and support for MT tags), a better preview function as well as my favorite: the ability to save drafts to the server. Needless to say there are also a variety of other tweaks and bugfixes, etc. If you're using MarsEdit you'll want to grab the update.

MarsEdit 2.1 is a free update to registered users and $29.95 to purchase. A demo is available.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Tags: blogging, MarsEdit

Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Blogs

MarsEdit 2.0.2 fixes bugs

by Mike Schramm on Sep 18th 2007 at 12:00PM

Scott's favorite blogging software has gotten another update, hot on the heels of the big 2.0 release. MarsEdit 2.0.2 patches up the big release with a few "slightly urgent" fixes involving using external editors and Evaluation mode (including a bug that caused you to be nagged a little more often than expected). There are also a few other typo and bug fixes (including a small fix to 2.0.1, which was only up for a little bit, so you didn't miss anything).

The update is available over on Red Sweater's site, and if you haven't started editing on Mars yet, the full program is available for $29.95.

Tags: blogging, bugs, marsedit, software, typos

Filed under: Software, Blogging

MarsEdit 2.0

by Scott McNulty on Sep 4th 2007 at 12:30PM



I've been blogging for a little over seven years now (I am as shocked as you are, believe me. You would think after all this time I would be better at this!) and many things have changed. Used to be the only way you could write a post for your blog was in a browser window. You would fire up Blogger (or Diaryland, as the case may be) and plunk your entry into a very simple form (no categories, no trackbacks, no Markdown. It was a simpler time, my friends), hit a button and there it would be for all the world to see. That is as long as your browser didn't crash, which tends to happen at the most inopportune times.

Luckily, those dark days are over and we have fantastic apps like MarsEdit to compose our posts in. Oddly enough, MarsEdit 2 was just released by Red Sweater Software (wacky, huh?). Version 2.0 ushers in a completely revamped user interface that follows the UI trends of a mature OS X (the number of floating palettes are sharply down, and the use of drawers is non-existent). This version also brings integration with Flickr, which was one of my biggest requests (thanks, Daniel!). Printing has also been added, because sometimes your posts are so good they should be on paper.

MarsEdit 2 costs $29.95, though if you bought a copy on or after July 1, 2007 the upgrade is free, while it'll cost us long time MarEditers $9.95 to get the snazzy new features. MarsEdit 2 requires OS X 10.4 and there is a free 30 day trial available.

Tags: blogging, diaryland, marsedit, red sweater, RedSweater

Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Blogging, Retro Mac

Retro MacOS Wordpress Theme

by Scott McNulty on Aug 21st 2007 at 7:00AM



We don't usually cover Wordpress theme on TUAW, but I think we can make an exception for the Retro MacOS Wordpress Theme. Wordpress, in case you aren't familiar with it, is a very successful blogging engine which allows users to apply various themes to change the look of their blogs. Stuart Brown decided to try his hand at creating one, and he used System 6 as his inspiration. The result is a Wordpress theme that'll bring a smile to any Mac user's Finder (Ha! See what I did there?).

You can see the theme in action here.

Tags: blogging, system 6, System6, wordpress

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Blogs

ecto3 alpha released

by David Chartier on Aug 13th 2007 at 10:46AM



Adriaan Tijsseling has been tweeting about the development progress of ecto3, his powerful Mac blogging app, for some time now. After a sneak peek and more teaser screenshots, Adriaan has generously offered an alpha version for us to play with. In other words: it's pre-beta, which means stuff is very, very likely to go wrong; play with this at your own risk. Speaking of risk, however, there is certainly an upside to testing out this ecto3 alpha: it uses a completely different set of data and storage from the current ecto2, so you don't have to worry about blowing away your old settings or accounts.

That said, let's get on to the good stuff: what's new. First of all, ecto3 is apparently a complete rewrite from the bottom up. It has a new rich text editor based on Apple's own Editable WebKit, which offers a number of handy new writing abilities (such as the slick nested list in the ecto3 alpha announcement post). Another major new development which we had previously heard of is a new plug-in architecture for ecto3, allowing anyone to add support for more blogging systems, integrate media and even text formatting such as Markdown. It's a great step towards allowing ecto3 to become a blogging hub that can do just about anything for anyone.

Speaking of media, I also noticed that there is a new media browser that has access to all the typical stuff, such as iPhoto and Aperture photos, and even your movies. There are all sorts of new goodies in ecto3, so definitely poke around to see all the hard work Adriaan has put into this so far.

If you download the alpha, be sure to read through Adriaan's ecto3 alpha announcement post for a few tips and gotchas with getting the ball rolling. There are a few minor things he hasn't gotten to yet, such as adding all the sites to ping when you publish a post, but a simple 'add defaults' button will get you squared away easily. Once it's finished, ecto3 will surprisingly be a free upgrade for existing registered users (a single license is a mere $17.95). Until then, however, be sure to swing by the support forums to post bugs and discuss ecto3.

Tags: Adriaan Tijsseling, AdriaanTijsseling, blogging, ecto, ecto 3, Ecto3, WebKit

Next Page →

Tip of the Day

Holding the Command key (aka the Apple key) and pressing Tab will cycle through your open applications. It's easier to Cmd-Tab if you are Copy (Cmd-C) and Pasting (Cmd-V) to and from various applications.

Learn More

Follow us on Twitter!

TUAW flickr Pool

www.flickr.com
TUAW [Cafepress]

Sponsored Links

Featured Galleries

DNC Macs
Macworld 2008 Keynote
Macworld 2008 Build-up
Google Earth for iPhone
Podcaster
AT&T Navigator Road Test
Bento for iPhone 1.0
Scrabble for iPhone
Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer Briefcase
Apple Vanity Plates
Apple booth Macworld 07
WorldVoice Radio
Quickoffice for iPhone 1.1.1
Daylite 3.9 Review
DiscPainter
Mariner Calc for iPhone
2009CupertinoBus
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
MLB.com At Bat 2009
Macworld Expo 2007 show floor
Apple Texas Hold 'Em

 

Most Commented On (7 days)

Recent Comments

More Apple Analysis

More from AOL Money and Finance

AOL Radio TUAW on Stitcher