Archive for the 'apple' Category

New Konfabulator Weather Widget: WTF?

Published by ugo on July 25, 2005 in apple. 2 Comments

konfabulator.jpgIf, on the heels of the announcement of Yahoo!’s acquisition of Konfabulator, you might be tempted to upgrade to the latest 2.1 version, which is free and won’t nag you with constant reminders about how great it is to be a registered, paying user, take care!

They upgraded the Weather widget which now uses Yahoo! Weather as its source, instead of AccuWeather.com. The problem with that is that the new widget covers much fewer locations (my hometown is not there, for instance) and won’t give forecasts. What’s the point of a weather widget that doesn’t show forecasts? Fortunately, you can still copy the widget from version 2.0 into the new ~/Documents/Widgets folder and it will still work.

Oh, by the way, I have been a registered customer for more than one year. Konfabulator was well worth its price then and much more so now that it’s free. Dashboard? Who needs Dashboard?

Steve Rubel dumps Windows

Published by ugo on July 17, 2005 in apple and web. 0 Comments

Steve2.jpgHere’s someone else acknowledging what someone wrote some time ago: “The new API is HTML”.

Steve Rubel: “Today, the Web is where the action is. It’s the new OS. This means I can safely return to my old flame - the Mac - and yet still experience most, if not all of the hot new applications that are being built on AJAX on my new 15′ G4 PowerBook. In addition, I don’t have to put up with patches, viruses, spyware, slowdowns, bloated registries anymore.”

Just one question, Steve: “Why did it take you so long?”

Yes Way, Expose!

Published by ugo on July 14, 2005 in apple and fun. 0 Comments

Fun video here!

YesWayExpose.png

(Via TUAW.)

Exporting rules from Mail.app

Published by ugo on July 12, 2005 in apple. 5 Comments

The title pretty much says it all. My copy of Mail.app on the PowerBook (Panther) has an extensive collection of rules that I developed over one and a half year of usage. I’ve manually set up accounts on my copy of Mail.app on the iMac (Tiger), but I’d like to avoid copying rules by hand, one by one.

Is there a file that contains the rules that I might copy over?

iTunes Store: Bad Database Design Choices?

Published by ugo on June 27, 2005 in apple and devel. 7 Comments

Tom Bradford details the problems he’s having with iTMS:

I purchased quite a bit of music in the past using my old email address. As many people do, I recently left the company that I had been working at, and moved over to a new machine and email address.

I moved my iTunes library over to my new computer, and I changed my account’s email address on the Apple web site. When I went to play music that I had purchased, I found that these files had been explicitly linked to my old email address rather than to some sort of primary key that would allow me to authorize no matter what my current email address is. As a result, I can no longer play any of my purchased music.

Having just changed my email address, I might have the same problem. Fortunately, I am still holding onto my old address, at least until someone decides to remove my account. Still, I cannot help agreeing with Tom:

These are things you learn in ‘Databases 101′, and so it’s more than a little bit shocking that developers at big companies make such poor design decisions.

OS X for Intel spotted in the wild, with video

Published by ugo on June 14, 2005 in apple. 3 Comments

Looks like OS X Tiger for Intel has already leaked onto the Internet, and apparently someone succeeded in installing it on a Dell laptop.

dell-osx.jpg

To me, this looks suspicious. Might as well be PearPC.

Apple switching to Intel: Should I buy an iMac now?

Published by ugo on June 6, 2005 in apple. 7 Comments

IntelInsideLogo.gifAs I wrote a little more than one month ago, I am considering buying a new development machine. Well no, actually I desperately need a new development machine soon.

Until today, my choice was firmly in the Apple camp, a 20″ iMac G5 to be precise. However, given today’s announcement, I think I need to review all the options again.

Here are some starting points:

  1. Price is not a problem.
  2. I have a distinct preference for OS X, but I could live with Linux. Windows is absolutely out of the question, though.
  3. I don’t have a monitor and a 19″ LCD model is the absolute minimum, so consider the price of it before saying that an Intel box is way cheaper.

imac20050503.gifEverything considered, I still think a Mac is the best choice. I expect the first Intel Macs to be laptops, since it is in this market segment that Apple is currently lagging behind in performance. A G5 is a cool-ass CPU and it will still be in two years from now. At that time, my iMac will have largely repayed itself and I could consider switching to a new Intel-based model, should the need arise.

The biggest doubt, however, is the following: will Apple still be around in two years, or will it fold when investors start selling Apple stock by the truckloads? I’m betting on the former, but I’m not qualified enough to judge.

Anyway, I’ll give you the option to make me change my mind, if you think I’m heading in the wrong direction. I’ve put up a poll in the sidebar (link) and you can also leave a comment.

But whatever happens, please Mr. Jobs, no “Intel Inside” stickers, OK?

Update: a pertinent quote from Dave Winer: “People who worry about an Osborne effect worry for naught.” Alright, since also 11 out of 12 participants to the poll seem to agree, and since I just got a nice offer for a discounted (79€ + VAT) 512MB memory expansion from a nearby shop, then I’m going to buy the iMac.


Opinion Poll: WWDC Keynote

Published by ugo on June 6, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

Since the Web is abuzz with rumors about the supposedly upcoming announcement by Steve Jobs at the WWDC concerning a partnership with Intel, I thought I might do a little opinion poll on the matter.

So I took the occasion to install GaMerZ Polls plugin for WordPress and start a poll on the gist of the last decade’s most anticipated WWDC keynote.

Click here and place your vote. You have until 10:00AM PST!

Skype envy

Published by ugo on June 6, 2005 in apple and voip. 0 Comments


If you can stand the dreadful Thai pop muzak, take a look at this video. I do have a Powerbook and I do use Skype. The only thing I miss is skyping some beautiful girl while reclined on an armchair on a gorgeous Thai beach.

skype_musicvideo_2.png

(Via Share Skype).

Apple to use Intel chips?

Published by ugo on May 23, 2005 in apple. 1 Comment

Scoble: “But, seriously, if this is true, then it raises a whole lot of questions. The first of which will be ‘could I run Windows natively on an Apple computer in the future?’”

Having OS X preinstalled, could you think of anything more stupid and useless than running Windows on it?

Konfabulator 2.0

Published by ugo on May 19, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

This is for all those poor souls like me who haven’t upgraded to Tiger yet and are thus excluded from the joy of using Dashboard.

TheWeather.jpg

Rejoice! Konfabulator 2.0 is out, with a completely redesigned set of widgets! Upgrade from version 1 for registered users is free.

Google Video Uploader for the rest of us

Published by ugo on May 18, 2005 in apple and java. 1 Comment

Thanks to the portability of Java programs (Write Once Run Anywhere is true), the Google Video Uploader client is now available for the Mac, Linux and all platforms with Java. The Mac version is also nicely packaged as a DMG (Disk image) file that you just have to open, then drag and drop the application to your Applications folder. No installers, no setup, no stupid registries.

GoogleVideoUpload.jpg

Google Blog: A Video Uploader for the rest of us: “Anyway, now you can sign up for the Google Video Uploader for Macintosh, and ditto for Linux (and UNIX and Solaris and HP-UX and AIX and lots of other platforms). The same sign-up page goes to to the Windows version too. So now I can ponder a different problem - namely, which of my videos I want to share with the world.”

New iMac G5 - Ready your checkbooks

Published by ugo on May 3, 2005 in apple. 1 Comment

the new iMac G5As anticipated by ThinkSecret, here are the new iMacs!

Outstanding features (for the 20″ model) are:

  • 2GHz PowerPC G5
  • 512MB DDR400 SDRAM
  • 250GB Serial ATA hard drive
  • Slot-load 8x SuperDrive (double-layer)
  • ATI Radeon 9600
  • 128MB DDR video memory
  • Airport Extrem and Bluetooth 2.0
  • … and of course OS X Tiger
  • Starting at €1,799

A real cool-ass machine. I’m going to order one ASAP!

Tiger for Tiger

Published by ugo on April 29, 2005 in apple and java. 0 Comments

This puts to rest all my doubts about the availability of Java 5 for OS X 10.4 “Tiger”.

An interesting tidbit of info is that: “This release does not replace the existing installation of J2SE 1.4.2.” Good news for those developers who have to ensure compatibility of their apps with Java 1.4.

Security update makes Java unusable on OS X

Published by ugo on April 17, 2005 in apple and java. 3 Comments

If this is for real, I will hold off upgrading to 10.3.9, which I planned to do later today. On the other hand, I’ running the stock JDK and not a developer release, so maybe this doesn’t apply.

Mark Watson: “This morning when applying the latest software update zapped Java, I just went ahead and did an OS X re-install followed by re-applying security patches, etc. About 90 minutes wall clock and about 20 minutes of my time wasted.. eerrrrrr….”

By the way, there is no evident comment or trackback link on Mark’s site, so I hope he’s checking his referrer logs.

Time for a new Mac?

Published by ugo on April 14, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

Apple iMac.jpgThinkSecret does not seem to be scared by the recent lawsuits. Indeed, they are revealing juicy news about a revamped line of iMacs to be announced short after Tiger’s relase:

ThinkSecret: “As first reported over a month ago, the updated iMac G5, code-named Q45 C/D, will reach 2GHz, while video memory is doubled to 128MB and the card itself upgraded to ATI’s Radeon 9600. All models will also feature Bluetooth 2.0 and will ship pre-installed with Tiger and iLife ‘05.”

I am seriously considering getting myself one of the new models, as soon as they are available. I’ll be moving much of my development work on a Mac soon, and my PowerBook is nice but not fit for long hours of coding.

On related news, GMSV reports about the latest Apple earning reports:

SiliconValley.com | 04/14/2005 | Latest Apple earnings require liquid cooling: “More astonishing were Apple’s overall computer sales; the company sold 1 million Macs — a four-year high and 43 percent increase over the same period last year. Forty percent of those were sold to customers who had never owned a Mac before.”

Way to go, Steve!

No Tiger for Tiger or …?

Published by ugo on April 14, 2005 in apple and java. 2 Comments

Some people are lamenting that the upcoming OS X 10.4 (a.k.a. Tiger) release won’t include Java5 (a.k.a. Tiger).

Bruce Werner: “Apple is on an upswing with code monkeys like me, with Powerbooks turning in to the developer tool of choice for Java development, both J2EE and j2SE. So why is Apple falling flat on the Java front? Waiting till OS X 10.4 released is barely permissable, but not including Java 5.0 in even this OS release but perhaps releasing a Technology Preview is inexcusable. This has been a part of some heated debate in the Java community, and rightfully so. Either just put it in /usr/local/ and seed it out to Sun and backport the CoreAudio.jar as Technology Previews, or step up to the plate, SWT looks better in Max OSX anyway, and that had no Sun or Apple involvement.”

Others are saying that it will. I’m confused. I know that people who have put their hands on a nearly-final release of Tiger are probably under an NDA, but maybe someone could leave here an anonymous comment.

Another wishlist for NetNewsWire

Published by ugo on April 12, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

netNewsWireIcon.jpgMicah: “Why in 2005 doesn’t my RSS reader (NNW) have these features? A ‘back’ button, for when I click ‘Next Unread’ too fast. A search function. Atom support.”

I’ve been using beta versions of NetNewsWire 2 for a while and they do have Atom support. I share the other two wishes, though.

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Tiger Software on April 29

Published by ugo on April 12, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

OS X Tigewr.jpgLooks like we finally have a release date for OS X Tiger.

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Tiger Software on April 29: “NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. AAPL.O said on Tuesday that the latest major update of its Mac OS X operating system, code-named Tiger, will be available on April 29.”

Seventeen days and counting …

Mac OS X 'Tiger' Available for Pre-Order

Published by ugo on March 29, 2005 in apple. 0 Comments

OS X Tigewr.jpgMac OS X 'Tiger' Available for Pre-Order : Gizmodo: “Amazon has a pre-order page for Apple’s next revision of OS X, 10.4, or ‘Tiger.’ While there’s no release date, the $35 mail-in rebate shows a ‘postmark by’ date of May 31st, so I would expect it to arrive reasonably soon before then. There have been rumors that Tiger would be released on April 1st, but who knows.”

Here's hoping the April 1st date is not this year's first April's Fool joke. And hoping this release will include JDK 1.5 (a.k.a. Java5). In the last few days there have been a number of releases that promise much better support for Java5:

I'd really like to start testing the new Java features, like annotations, with my favorite frameworks.