Archive for October, 2007

Last week, we ran a giveaway where readers could submit a “killer feature” they’d like to see in a future version of TaskPaper.

If you haven’t tried TaskPaper, you can check out our full review as well as an interview with Jesse Grosjean, the developer behind the great app.

With out further adieu, the winners are…

Jim and Cat. Cat suggested that TaskPaper should support the uploading of completed tasks to Twitter (and possibly Jaiku). Jim suggested the parsing of dates using a standardized format.

Steve Jobs’ announcement that he intends to release an SDK for the iPhone and iPod touch, seems to have shut up many critics. While the official software is not set to arrive until February, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have your apps in the meantime.

A new method of “jailbreaking” (enabling 3rd party software and other goodies) the iPhone and iPod touch was released by the iPhone dev team in the last couple of days. The procedure makes jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod touch as easy as just simply navigating to a website in the mobile version of the Safari web browser. Now that is easy!

Today is Halloween, so what would it be without a Halloween-themed iPhone/iPod touch post. However, it’s MacApper, so it’s obviously got to deal with some type of app.

If you’ve jailbroken your iPhone or iPod touch you can add a little Halloween flare to your device with just a simple little click in NullRiver’s awesome, Installer.app.

Pumpkin.app is available on Installer in the iApp-a-Day package, and while it might not be that useful, at least it’s fun and a bit of a time waster. Just download iApp-a-Day and Pumpkin will be available to download from within Installer. After quitting out of Installer.app, you’ll see the icon for Pumpkin on your SpringBoard. Just click it, and you’ll have a nice little jack-o-lantern on your iPhone or iPod touch’s screen that moves with the accelerometer movement of either device.

Over the past few years Bluetooth devices have become very popular. One of the most interesting implementations involved stereo quality music over the protocol. However, up until now it has been missing from Mac OS X, a surprising fact especially considering that Apple is such an audio-centric company. However, with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard this past Friday, it appears that this limitation is a thing of the past.

After reading of a few accounts of people using A2DP stereo Bluetooth headphones on their shiny new Leopard machines, I reached into my desk and pulled out a pair of Motorola HT820’s - one of the earlier stereo Bluetooth devices.

Well Leopard is finally here and there are some security features being included that won’t get much attention but add heavily to the strong security stance of OS X. Apple quietly leaked plans to add code-memory randomization to Mac OS X Leopard, a move aimed at making the operating system more resilient to virus, worm and network attacks. The cynics reading this might remember that earlier in the year Microsoft botched its own implementation of the same technology.

At MacApper we are always looking for writers enthusiastic about OS X applications and similar Apple based geekery. We are currently seeking highly motivated individuals to contribute Mac-related articles on a weekly basis. Qualified individuals will be asked to contribute articles and reviews, collaborate with colleagues, and help coordination of weekly columns and articles. Expert knowledge of OS X and the Mac platform is preferred, but not necessarily required. At the very minimum you will require a Mac and the ability to write engagingly about our subject matter.

Everyone’s favorite duck is receiving a Leopard upgrade. That’s right, you will soon be able to hear the Adium duck ‘quack’, with the new AV Chat feature.

Adium is a widely used instant messaging program on the Mac, but one of its weak points when compared to iChat, is the lack of video/audio chat capabilities.

Of course, it’s taken quite some time for this feature to appear. This is partly because Adium is built on the Pidgin project. The underlying functionality like connecting and working with networks like MSN Messenger and AIM depend on Libpurple, one of the libraries from Pidgin.

With the release of Leopard Server and its sexy new features, administrators shouldn’t overlook one major advancement in the core directory service of Leopard. What’s this, you ask?

Well, it’s a feature that will allow administrators to control who gets on their network, at the wired or access point level. Leopard server also includes a directory integrated radius server, which controls who gets on the wired/wireless network using 802.1x and WPA Enterprise authentication.

We recently received several user questions regarding Time Machine, so we’re going to be replying to a lot of them. I’m sure a lot of you will be keen to know the answers too.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half, you’ll have heard of Time Machine. It’s Apple’s interesting solution to the problem of backup. So, let’s head on to our first question.

The all-new big cat is in the wild, but it has a rarer Big-Brother that hasn’t received so much publicity. This is the new Leopard Server.

So what’s new? Well, quite a lot really. There are some special features; however, they are installed alongside some tools to make it an extremely easy server to setup.

Apple is calling it ‘The World’s Easiest Server‘ and claiming that no IT department is required. This could be a huge selling point, as most day to day tasks can be done from within one window: Server Preferences. Just like System Preferences in Desktop OS X, you can change users, setup and configure services available on the network, as well as see different information about what the server is doing.

Browsing through Flickr earlier today, I discovered a lot of photos of the Leopard launch from around the world. The images really made me wish I could have been in line myself today, but then again from the look of the size of some of the queues, maybe it’s more fun just gandering at them from my desk.

Without further ado, here is the Leopard launch, from six different locations. Special thanks to the Flickr users for providing these great images.

Leopard was released yesterday, with a few minor flaws which we reported earlier. However, on a day in which Apple has successfully managed to roll out a huge OS upgrade with so few flaws, a nice story appered via Digg.

On Thursday, not wanting to be outdone by Apple, Microsoft rolled out a nice, small update to the built in search tool, Windows Desktop Search 3.0.1. This has, apparently, caused many a Windows network to grind to a halt, when the small piece of software installed itself and started to index the PCs.

Adobe is one of the most important third-party software developers that Apple has. Building software that caters to the Pro market, they represent an essential piece of the pie.

The software company has outlined its plan for Leopard compatibility, and I must say it’s looking good because they’re “proud to support this impressive new operating system”.

First of all, if you’re using one or some combination of the following products:

• Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional and Flash Player 9
• Adobe Contribute CS3
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Fireworks CS3
• Adobe GoLive 9

Finally, after two years of waiting, Apple’s next cat is loose amongst us eager fanboys. While the upgrade path has been smooth-sailing for most, it hasn’t been all sweet for others.

Instead of just writing yet another review, which every single Apple blog out there seems to be doing, MacApper has decided to compile a list of potential pitfalls and problems echoing around the blogosphere. Here we go.

1. Older Computers

How old a computer can you use with Leopard? Turns out, you can even use an 8-year-old machine, at least according to Engadget. There were a lot of graphics issues, which led them to recommend a G4 running Leopard as a “kid’s computer”.

Ever loved an application, but wished it never appeared in the dock, like spotlight? It’s always there, but has no dock item. I’ve wanted such functionality a surprising number of times, particularly with application launchers such as LaunchBar and Quicksilver.

They’re great, but I never use their dock icon; I use their keyboard shortcut instead. So, why have them sitting there taking up space in your dock? There is a relatively simple hack that fixes it, so that when launched, the application still runs but does not appear in the dock (or when command - tabbing).