Archive for July, 2009

Thanks to TheAppleBlog Sponsors!

July 31st, 2009 at 11:30pm Under Hot Apple News

We’d like to say thanks to this month’s sponsor of TheAppleBlog:

Mozy: Back up your photos, music, and files with Mozy for as low as $4.34 per month.
Fuze Meeting: Share everything you see with everyone in high definition, anywhere on any device.

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Sneak Peek: 1Password 3.0 + secret beta-enabler tweak

July 31st, 2009 at 11:00pm Under Hot Apple News

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As Christina mentioned a while ago, 1Password version 3 is on the horizon, and we’ve got some sneak peeks to show you. There are some great improvements to the core, but more immediately noticeable are the visual tweaks to the interface. The entire UI has been overhauled, and I’m impressed. Take a look at the gallery to see for yourself. Oh, and check the end of the post if you missed out on the private beta but want to play with version 3 on your machine!

Haven’t heard of 1Password? It’s a form-filling, password-storing, iPhone-syncing, highly-secure information storage system. It handles software licenses, secure notes, credit cards and, of course, passwords. It can generate impossible-to-crack passwords on-the-fly, and then remember them for you. All you have to remember is, that’s right, one password. Get it?

Read on for a quick walkthrough of new 1Password features, and a little trick to get your hands on it early …

Continue reading Sneak Peek: 1Password 3.0 + secret beta-enabler tweak

TUAWSneak Peek: 1Password 3.0 + secret beta-enabler tweak originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Brett Terpstra Continue Reading Sneak Peek: 1Password 3.0 + secret beta-enabler tweakAdd comment

eBook Roundup/work in progress

July 31st, 2009 at 10:00pm Under Hot Apple News


An e-book (or ebook, or eBook, depending upon who you ask) is the digital equivalent of a paper book. According to KiwiTech, the publishers of Classics2Go, the market for these ebooks has increased more than 60% over the last six years and growth from this point is expected to be exponential.

We can reasonably connect the start of this burgeoning market to the release of the Amazon Kindle in 2007. Strong sales convinced readers that this was a viable option. For the first time you can carry a few hundred books under your arm, and the reading experience was, well, acceptable. Going on a long trip? Wouldn’t it be nice to take about 20 pounds of paper out of your luggage?

2007 also marked the introduction of the iPhone and it took about a year for ebook apps to appear on the iPhone. Now there are so many of them that finding the right one for you can be a confusing prospect. I would like to clarify that a bit by categorizing the three types of ebooks, at least so far, and letting you know what you can expect from each. In deciding upon an ebook reader you need to consider, what sort of material you will be reading, how much you want to, or need to, spend and the quality of the viewing experience.

Last year, Andrew Kazmierski and Phil Ryu developed Classics. Their idea was to take a bunch of books in the public domain, 22 in the current release, and control all aspects of the user experience. We covered the first release of Classics upon it’s original release when it’s initial price was $2.99. Since then, the price has dropped to .99 and the number of books has increased. This app looked so impressive that it was featured in an Apple commercial. Upon launch a reader is presented with a nicely rendered wooden bookshelf with colorful book covers displayed. Click on a book and there is no wait since all the books downloaded with the app. Future updates bring more books. The books are all the kind of classics that are on school reading lists. The options set is slim. Tap the right side of the screen or swipe right to left and the sepia toned pages turn using a pleasing animation. There are two buttons on the top of the screen. One brings down a maroon and gold bookmark and sends you to the bookshelf. When you click on the book again, you are brought to where you left off. The second button takes you to a table of contents. The bottom of the screen tells you the name of the chapter you are reading and what page you are on. The top of the screen displays the title of the book. Illustrations in books like Alice in Wonderland are nicely rendered, and the text is attractively formatted. A change in color of the title bar gives you an idea of where you are in the book.

Continue reading eBook Roundup/work in progress

TUAWeBook Roundup/work in progress originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Presented By:
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By David Winograd Continue Reading eBook Roundup/work in progressAdd comment

Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008

July 31st, 2009 at 10:00pm Under Hot Apple News

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A few weeks back, Microsoft released its Service Pack 2 update for Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac. While adding a host of features and refinements (such as Custom Path Animation in PowerPoint and increased speed and load times in Word and Excel), the service pack apparently packed too much of a punch.

The update has prevented some Open XML files from opening, for which Microsoft provides the following suggestions, and I’ve done a bit of MS-to-English translation (with apologies to DF)… read on to get the gist.

Continue reading Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008

TUAWOpen XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Sang Tang Continue Reading Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008Add comment

Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008

July 31st, 2009 at 10:00pm Under Hot Apple News

Filed under: , ,

A few weeks back, Microsoft released its Service Pack 2 update for Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac. While adding a host of features and refinements (such as Custom Path Animation in PowerPoint and increased speed and load times in Word and Excel), the service pack apparently packed too much of a punch.

The update has prevented some Open XML files from opening, for which Microsoft provides the following suggestions, and I’ve done a bit of MS-to-English translation (with apologies to DF)… read on to get the gist.

Continue reading Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008

TUAWOpen XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Sang Tang Continue Reading Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008Add comment

Did we say Saturday? iPhone OS 3.0.1 out now to block SMS exploit

July 31st, 2009 at 09:20pm Under Hot Apple News+ Iphone

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Maybe it’s already Saturday in the UK, or close to it: Apple has released iPhone OS 3.0.1 for iPhone, iPhone 3G & 3GS, an update that patches the phone to prevent bad actors from taking it over or taking it down with the just-demoed SMS exploit.

tweetmeme_url = ‘http://www.tuaw.com/2009/07/31/did-we-say-saturday-iphone-os-3-0-1-out-now-to-block-sms-exploi/’;
tweetmeme_source = ‘tuaw’;

The update weighs in at close to 300 MBabout 230 MB (like all iPhone updates, it’s a full image of the OS), and as far as we can tell there are no other fixes or tweaks; just the privilege of continuing to use your iPhone in peace and security.

Update with care, and let us know in the comments how the update works for you!

14:30 ET: Apple’s security mailing list just delivered the notes for 3.0.1, they are reproduced in the 2nd half of this post. Also worth noting that the SMS exploit is not endemic to the iPhone alone; both Android and Windows Mobile platforms can be attacked with similar techniques, although Google tells BW that the issue on Android phones is now fixed (presumably through carrier action on T-Mobile’s side, not confirmed though).

Continue reading Did we say Saturday? iPhone OS 3.0.1 out now to block SMS exploit

TUAWDid we say Saturday? iPhone OS 3.0.1 out now to block SMS exploit originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Michael Rose Continue Reading Did we say Saturday? iPhone OS 3.0.1 out now to block SMS exploitAdd comment

Friday Favorite: AppZapper

July 31st, 2009 at 09:00pm Under Hot Apple News

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Every so often I’ll go through my Mac’s hard drive and delete stuff that’s just sitting around. The downloads folder fills with junk especially fast. I also download lots of software out of curiosity, and after a few months my applications folder is bulging.

While installing Mac software is often as easy as a click, uninstalling takes a bit more work. Rather than hunt around for preference files, etc. I use AppZapper. By simply dropping an app onto the cute raygun icon, AppZapper finds all of that application’s related files — preferences, caches, etc. — and lists them in a window. With a click, it “zaps” them (you can disable that sound effect) to the trash.

Fortunately, they aren’t deleted for good, so you can recover something zapped by mistake. Once you’re ready, simply empty the trash to reclaim all of that precious hard drive space. Pro tip: Move it to your Finder Window’s sidebar for easy drag-and-drop access.

AppZapper requies Tiger or Leopard and the $12.95US pricetag includes free upgrades for life. There are other apps that do this, yes, but AppZapper works perfectly for me.

Update: Some readers are reporting that AppZapper doesn’t work properly under Leopard. It’s never given me any trouble, but if you want an alternative, Hazel is a good one.

TUAWFriday Favorite: AppZapper originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Dave Caolo Continue Reading Friday Favorite: AppZapperAdd comment

iPhone OS 3.0.1 Released, Fixes SMS Exploit

July 31st, 2009 at 08:58pm Under Hot Apple News+ Iphone

Days after the SMS vulnerability was reported, in which a single character could be used to crash or even take over an iPhone, Apple has released a single-purpose update.

The Knowledgebase Article makes it sound as potentially bad as it is.
Impact: Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an unexpected service interruption or arbitrary [...]

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By Charles Jade Continue Reading iPhone OS 3.0.1 Released, Fixes SMS ExploitAdd comment

UPDATED: iPhone OS 3.0.1 Now Available Via iTunes

July 31st, 2009 at 08:55pm Under Hot Apple News+ Iphone

UPDATE: Gizmodo received a statement from Apple regarding the 3.0.1 software update:

We appreciate the information provided to us about SMS vulnerabilities which affect several mobile phone platforms. This morning, less than 24 hours after a demonstration of this exploit, we’ve issued a free software update that eliminates the vulnerability from the iPhone. Contrary to what’s [...]

By Jeremy Sikora Continue Reading UPDATED: iPhone OS 3.0.1 Now Available Via iTunesAdd comment

ASA Agrees With Apple for Once

July 31st, 2009 at 08:00pm Under Hot Apple News

“There’s an app for just about anything…only on the iPhone.” Words we’re all accustomed to hearing at the end of Apple’s iPhone commercials. Here in the UK, those words got Apple into hot water (again) with the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), who have slapped Apple’s wrists twice before for ‘misleading’ commercials. (Watch the ad here.)
The [...]

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By Liam Cassidy Continue Reading ASA Agrees With Apple for OnceAdd comment

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