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Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Software

TUAW Talkcast tonight at 10 PM EDT - be there or be square


Tonight's the night for the weekly TUAW talkcast, poisoning the virtual airwaves over on Talkshoe. While we're never sure exactly who is going to show up, tonight marks the directorial premiere of Steve Sande as host (translation -- things could be really screwed up!).

Possible subjects could be the impending release of new iMacs, Mac minis, and polycarbonate MacBooks, or any of the other fun topics we covered during the last week.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can try out the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the talkcast is provided by Call Recorder from ecamm networks.

Filed under: Software, MobileMe

Live Mesh now available for Mac OS X

[Editor's Note: Several comments objected to the comparison between Dropbox and Microsoft that implied Dropbox's reputation was less than ideal; we also heard directly from Dropbox founder Arash Ferdowsi on this point. The post has been edited to clarify the sense Cory intended -- while Dropbox's service is well-regarded and its backers are notable, some may feel comfortable with a more-established vendor for cloud storage. Our apologies to Dropbox and its users for the unintentional slight.]

While many Mac users use MobileMe for file synchronization, there are the a few (*raises hand*) who think it's overpriced. Therefore, I have been looking for alternatives. Dropbox is nice, but I wanted more storage, and I wanted it from a reputable company with a longer track record. I had heard about Live Mesh, Microsoft's up and coming synchronization service so I decided to check it out.

While there are plenty of anti-Microsoft Mac users, I tend to like some of their products (i.e. Microsoft Office). Their Live Mesh service just recently came to the Mac platform, and is well built. Once you create/sign-in with your Windows Live ID, you can add new devices for file synchronization, including Macs and PCs (phone support coming soon). To add a Mac to your Mesh account, you'll need to download a small application. This menu bar application will upload your specified folders to Mesh, and keep them in sync.

Two things about the Live Mesh service that I really like are: (1) You have the ability to sync up to 5 GBs of data. (2) You can access your files anywhere with the Mesh.com website. However, you'll be presented with a Windows Vista theme, which can be unfamiliar for some Mac users. Overall, I have really liked using this service, but there are a couple of complaints. While the desktop Mesh client is a menu bar application, the Dock icon remians visible -- I found this annoying. Also, the web service is somewhat buggy, and I had problems deleting some older files. However, if you're looking for a good, cheap solution to MobileMe file synchronization, then you might want to give Mesh a try.

Filed under: Gaming, Humor, Odds and ends, The Woz

Woz to appear in live Segway polo match


Just call it the WozWatch-- not only did Woz just appear in a ride at Epcot, but now he's going to appear live on your computer, playing (what else-- this is the Woz) Segway polo.

A site called The Digital Lifestyle is going to be broadcasting a Segway polo match (it's what it sounds like-- polo with Segways) this Sunday afternoon at 1pm EST, and Steve Wozniak himself will be one of the players. I can't begin to imagine what eight old guys riding around on Segways trying to whack a ball must look like, but if you want to find out, set your iPhone alarms. "It's not a joke," claims the trailer, but we can't help but think there will be laughing involved.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Retail, Blogging, iMac, Steve Jobs, Apple, Mac mini, Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, iPhone

Liveblogging Apple's Special Event


Unfortunately, TUAW wasn't able to send any of us to San Francisco today (rumor is that McNulty cleaned out the petty cash to buy an iPhone for himself just so he could play NES), but we've got the next best thing-- like true Apple faithful, we're liveblogging the liveblogs. So stay tuned for updates, live from my apartment here in Chicago, on what's happening at the Apple campus in Cupertino.

If you want to see it straight from the source, we'll be watching Engadget, Mac Rumors, Gizmodo, SlashGear, Mac Observer, Stuff, and Macnews.de. I've also got a tab open refreshing the Apple Store, just in case it goes down-- as of this writing, it is open for business just went down at 12:50pm EST. Sure, you could watch all those sites yourself, but why not settle down on this post and let us do it for you? Think of it as one-stop shopping for all your liveblog news.

The event itself starts in about 10 minutes, and our liveblog kicks off right after the jump. Save the Mini!

Continue readingLiveblogging Apple's Special Event

Filed under: Features

TUAW Live: Talkcast Thursday 8/2 9:30p ET

If you've listened to any of the TUAW podcasts, you already know what your friendly neighborhood bloggers sound like... but we have no idea what you sound like. That's about to change: announcing the first-ever live audio chatcast from TUAW, via the Talkshoe platform, tomorrow, Thursday 8/2, at 9:30 pm ET (0230 GMT). Our topic is "One Month of iPhone" and we'll be taking some of your questions and comments, audio or text, live during the half-hour show; we might even find the time to give away a couple of genuine TUAW souvenirs to some lucky participants.

Since this is the first time we've done a live show, and since there are bound to be a few hiccups, we'd like to limit the audience to invited guests only for this outing. How to get invited? Simple -- go register for a Talkshoe.com account, download the client, and come back here to leave a comment letting us know you're coming. We'll send out an email with the show link on Thursday afternoon. You can listen in via the client or over a conventional/VoIP phone call once you have the show info.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you soon!

Filed under: Odds and ends, Internet Tools, Mods

Take Windows out of Messenger 6

At the risk of appearing to be fixated with Messenger for Mac (what can I say - despite its quirks, I like it), I'll point to a neat tip at Mac OSX Hints that allows you to throw out that pesky Windows Live logo Microsoft has foisted upon us with its latest IM client update.

The solution is pretty simply and amounts to nothing more than renaming an image - but that leaves you with a blank block in the client. So some posters have come up with more interesting solutions that let you personalize the application window.

What are you going to put there, may I suggest the TUAW logo? Hit the comments and show us your ideas.

[Via Digg]

Filed under: Other Events, Internet Tools, Apple

Watch today's It's Showtime event live


Wow, it's been a while since Apple has offered a live stream of an event, or even a video or streaming link prior to the event itself. Nevertheless, here it is: Apple's official It's Showtime event page, which looks like it will offer a 'video-on-demand' of the event, though the word 'live' isn't explicitly used.

Either way, stay tuned to TUAW and our sister blog Engadget for live coverage, especially since Apple's event streaming has been known to get a tad flaky during and right afterwards (with all this PR and hype, can you blame them?). Don't worry though, we've got you covered.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Microsoft announces "Live Drive" 2GB iDisk-like storage

Continuing their new Live platform push, Microsoft has announced an iDisk-like service dubbed Live Drive. This bagillionth addition to the Live product family will boast 2GB of online storage, accessibly via any computer with a web browser (read: IE or possibly Firefox - if enough people bug them for it), which can also live on a Windows Vista computer as a virtual drive.

MacNN, where we found this, didn't have many more details as to whether Live Drive will mimic any other .Mac functionality, such as application and data syncing, and we can't seem to get in with Firefox or Safari so that's all you get for now. Ultimately, with services like Live Drive and AOL's upcoming 5GB of free online storage via Xdrive, the virtual storage market is definitely heating up. Let's just hope it hasn't gotten too hot in the kitchen for .Mac.

Filed under: Software, Video

EyeTV 2.3 adds Front Row-like menu


Elgato has released a fairly significant update to their EyeTV software that adds a Front Row-like menu UI for interacting with live TV, shows you've recorded and the program guide. Other sites are calling this 'Front Row integration', but I thought that was slightly misleading, as 'integration' simply means the top-level menu in this new version (pictured) has an option to start Front Row; nothing more. In fact, from glancing at the instructions in their 776 KB ReadMe file (link) about the update, it looks like this new version actually takes over the default Front Row keyboard shortcut of cmd + esc, forcing you to go through their menu if what you actually want is Front Row - though I could be wrong (btw, here's a tip Elgato: compress your PSD files to a JPEG or PNG before slapping them in a ReadMe).

Other updates include support for two USB sticks from Hauppauge, exporting to Windows Media (as long as you've purchased the proper Flip4Mac QuickTime plugin), as well as a general export speed increase of 33%, and up to 500% depending on the source and exported format.

This update is a Universal Binary, free to registered users of EyeTV 2.x and should be available from the app's own 'Check for Updates' menu.

Filed under: OS, Software, iTunes

Martian SlingShot 2.0 adds iTunes music and playlist sync

Scott blogged Martian SlingShot, a Bonjour-enabled network syncing utility for your Macs, back in January, and a recent 2.0 update has brought iTunes music and playlist syncing to the table. In addition to being able to 'publish' and 'subscribe' to folders between multiple Macs on a local network (also known as a 'live backup'), SlingShot can now keep iTunes libraries and playlists in sync, watching for changes and copying over files when new additions are found.

A 30-day demo is available that allows you to publish or subscribe to one folder or playlist. Fortunately, Martian Technology LLC allows you to purchase one license for $29.99 USD on all the Macs you own, while business licensing is available upon request.

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.


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