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Skype finally released the new Mac version 2.5 of its popular software. This version includes:
More information is available on the Skype for Mac blog.
I seem to be the kind of person who insists on using “Pro apps” despite largely non-professional, or perhaps semi-professional, usage. So, for example, I have a lot of graphics apps though I’m neither a pro designer nor professional photographer, and really, I’m not harming anyone (well, permanently at least) by fiddling outside my core domains, right?
So I guess it’s no surprise that I am totally enamored of Gaucho Software’s Seasonality application, despite the fact that I’m not a true weather geek, and I don’t really know why I might want to be able to see independent graphs of wind speed and direction, and even more, wind direction modelled in two different charting styles.
Seasonality is a gorgeous OS X application, a distinctive Cocoa app that makes people stop, look and ask questions when they walk by a display showing its exotic weather maps, satellite imagery, forecast data, and charts of recent weather in your region.
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Some days you hate Jobs and others you love him. Today it’s the latter. Read this letter from Jobs to those in Europe who seem to be overly obsessed these days with Apple opening up iTunes and licensing their FairPlay technology. In the letter Steve-o explains why Apple has been required to add DRM to iTunes by the major labels and that if Fairplay is ever hacked, Apple’s agreement with the record companies give them just weeks to fix the problem. If Apple fails to patch iTunes or iPods fast enough, the labels have the right to pull all their titles off iTunes completely. Obviously, in opening up Fairplay, Apple would have to reveal secret aspects of their technology to 3rd parties. This compromises the security of the system and makes the task of managing and updating 3rd party software and players in the time frame agreed upon with the labels almost impossible. So, (believe it or not) that is how Apple explains Fairplay in iTunes and why they can’t simply open it up.
Where the real meat of this letter lies though, is in the alternative solutions Jobs offers for fixing this broken DRM model; a model both Sony (Sony Connect) and Microsoft (Zune) seem to also be required to follow. In Jobs’ opinion the best choice is for the record companies is to remove DRM from digitally distributed music completely. He makes some very compelling arguments and even calls out the labels who Jobs says, “are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free” by putting out CDs which are completely unprotected and DRM free. There are some great facts and information in this letter so, if you care about this stuff at all you take a moment to read it.
Like I said, some days you just have to love Steve Jobs.
Thoughts on Music, Steve Jobs
Inventive just celebrated the 4th anniversary of their flagship iClip product and they are marking the event by releasing the 4th generation of the software. iClip version 4 is now available for download at Inventive.us.
Since it’s birth iClip has been a valuable multiple clipboard & scrapbook manager for many a Mac OS X owner. The newly released 4 year old has left the toddling stage and is all grow’d up with a brand spankin’ new UI to boot. In addition to the added good looks, the new version also offers up some performance optimizations, is a Universal Binary, and is optimized to run on the new Intel based Macs.
“iClip 4 has been a long time coming and we’re extremely happy to finally have released it. The user feedback while it was in private beta has been overwhelmingly positive and (we are) expecting it to be very widely adopted now that we’ve released it into the wild,” said John Casasanta, President of Inventive.
iClip 4 allows you to copy multiple times before needing to paste because it keeps a running history of all your clippings. You can also organize and store your clips into logical groups. This makes it ideal for storing and retrieving frequently used text, pictures, web addresses, and other bits.
iClip 4 is a free upgrade for registered users of any previous version of iClip and new owners can pick up a copy for just USD $29.00. If you want to try before you buy, a downloadable demo of iClip 4 is available for Mac OS X 10.3 or later at http://inventive.us/iClip/.
The Nokia N800 internet tablet landed on my desk today, and having previously tested the N770 I was a little excited to see what had changed and/or improved. More importantly, would I now find a use for the device? Last time around I was left mystified as to how useful it would be for my day-to-day use.
Out of the box the design has improved a great deal. Gone are the slab-like looks of the previous incarnation and you can say hello to some smooth curves. The device has a nice contoured back and a pleasant silver finish to the front. The buttons are a bit odd, sort of set off-center and a little non-tactile, but you won’t find this a problem as they are not used too much. The touch screen is the same as before with a glossy finish and very high resolution (800×400). Everything is really colorful, bright, and pin-sharp (more on this later). Around the back of the unit is a small flip out stand, which is great for when you are watching videos. The stand is also useful when you set it on your bedside at night to wake you in the morning. A small hole on the top right side of the unit holds the triangular shape stylus and on the top left side is a click-n-pop-out web camera, which is a nice touch.
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The award winning software, Comic Life has been updated to version 1.3.1. Even though the first two digits are the same as the version introduced in Macworld, there are many new features and enhancements. This latest release allows you to have more than one image per panel, you can share a speech balloon between more than one person, there are now rotatable panels, and more. Also, in order to facilitate sharing, the good people at Plasq put in an ‘Email This Comic’ and an ‘Export to iWeb’ button. Comic Life 1.3.1 also adds the ability to paste between applications. This means you can copy an image from Comic Life and paste it into Pages or Photoshop. Another new feature is support for automatic updates delivered by Sparkle. Comic Life 1.3.1 is a free upgrade to all users and the basic version costs only USD$24.95, which is a great price for all that you are getting. You can buy it from Plasq at http://plasq.com/comiclife. There you will also find a 30 day full demo.
OWC is on a roll. It wasn’t enough to drop the price of a 500 GB HD to a mere $139.99 they had to go on. This week they are doing huge price cuts on their Mercury On-The-Go external HDs. They are cutting the prices on the higher end ones (the ones with Firewire 800+400+USB2) that are over 80 gigs. The speed demon of the group is the 100GB 7200 RPM one which was about USD$250.00 and now is USD$219.99. The price cuts on the other drives are as follows*:
100GB 7200RPM w/ 8MB Buffer was $249.99, now $219.99 ($30 Drop)
120GB 5400RPM w/ 8MB Buffer was $199.99, now $179.99 ($20 Drop)
160GB 5400RPM w/ 8MB Buffer was $269.99, now $229.99 ($40 Drop)
200GB 4200RPM w/ 8MB Buffer was $379.99, now $339.99 ($40 Drop)
These drives are very highly acclaimed with a Macworld 4 Star rating, MacSola and Photoshop User ratings of 5 stars, and a MacAddict Editor’s Choice award, along with accolades and awards from many other publications. They are very small, portable, and 100% bus powered.
Get full specs and details at MacSales.com
*all prices are in US dollars (USD)
As stated earlier by Apple and other online sources, the controversial Airport Extreme 802.11n Draft Specification Enabler is now available for download from the Apple Store, for $1.99.
“Many Mac computers with an Intel Core 2 Duo and all Mac Pro computers with AirPort Extreme can be enabled to access 802.11n-based wireless networks,” a description of the USD$1.99 software update posted to its online store states. “If you purchased one of these Macs, you can use the AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler software to activate this advanced wireless capability.”
There are no details or reports yet on which third-party n-branded routers work with the Macs that have the enabler installed, but those reports are sure to come in the following weeks.
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I have a podcast that includes an interview almost every week. None of those interviews have been done face to face and some of them have not even been done from the same continent as the interviewee since my show is a travel show. I record all of my interviews using Skype. Sometimes I am doing a Skype to Skype connection or sometimes I am using Skype out to call a normal phone number. My hardware setup is a headset microphone (Plantronics) and a laptop. I do not have an external mixing board.
One of the problems I have had is that if I don’t set the sound levels correctly balancing my sound level and the guest’s sound level then I can create a lot of extra work for myself in post production. In the worst case while the guest is speaking I am doing my Darth Vadar breathing because my sound level is two high relative to the guest.
At MacWorld I picked up a new program that helps solve this problem: Call Recorder from ecamm network. Call Recorder installs itself in Skype and allows you to record a Skype connection or call but to put each side of the conversation on a different track. So later on when you are editing the conversation you can change the volume of the two tracks independently.
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If you were planing to buy a new hard drive for you Macintosh, now is a great time. OWC (Other World Computing) has just announced a huge price cut on their 500GB SATA Drive. In case you did not know, 500 GB is a lot. By a lot I mean about 500 hours of SDTV or about 89 hours of HDTV. This drive is made by Maxtor and has SATA I/II 3.0G, a 16 MB buffer, a 5 year warranty, and is 7200 RPM. They are now selling for a mere $133.99 which makes it about $.25 per gigabyte. It can be found at http://macsales.com. (Limit of 2 per customer.) Link updated
Editor’s note: This PR came in from OWC and I am a huge fan of their products and service. That said, I am traditionally not a big fan of Maxtor drives. They were recently purchased by Seagate (who’s products I love) and these Quickview drives are brand new, plus backed by a full 5-year Seagate fulfilled Maxtor factory warranty. So, when you add the awesome prices, OWC sales and support, and a Seagate backed warranty, these drives may be worth at least looking into.
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