TidBITS#959/12-Jan-09
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/959>
Apple may be pulling out of Macworld Expo, but we've found ourselves
with a surfeit of coverage of the show, so much so that this issue
restricts itself to our coverage of the keynote announcements and
other standard features. A special issue, later this week, will
contain our post-Macworld wrap-up content. So read on for what we
know of the iLife '09 and iWork '09 updates, what we thought of Phil
Schiller's keynote, an overview of the upcoming 17-inch MacBook Pro,
and details about the changes to the iTunes Store that make all
songs DRM-free (but with variable pricing). In followup news from a
previous article, Glenn Fleishman notes a resolution to a recent
Quicken problem with online banking. In the TidBITS Watchlist, we
glance at the releases of WireTap Studio 1.0.7, Things 1.0, PDF
Shrink 4.5, CheckUp 2.0, and FileMaker Pro 10.0.
Articles
Phil Schiller Delivers Lackluster Keynote
iPhoto '09 Adds Faces and Places
iMovie '09 Seems to Fix Everything from iMovie '08
GarageBand '09 Adds Music Lessons
iWork '09 Adds Catch-up Features
Apple Pioneers New Battery Tech with 17-inch MacBook Pro
Apple Moves to Unprotected Music, Tiered Prices
Quicken/BECU EV Certificate Problem Resolved
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12-Jan-09
ExtraBITS for 12-Jan-09
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk for 12-Jan-09
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Phil Schiller Delivers Lackluster Keynote
-----------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9981>
It was a fine keynote. Apple VP Phil Schiller, standing in for Steve
Jobs, worked his way gamely through updates to iLife and iWork (the
former impressive, the latter less so), the news of a beta release
of iWork.com, the refresh of the 17-inch MacBook Pro, and, almost as
an afterthought, welcome changes to Apple's music business. There
were no significant stumbles or mishaps, and the Apple employees
Schiller brought on stage for special demos also did fine.
But - and how to put this nicely? - the presentation was essentially
a ho-hum keynote when placed alongside those given by Steve Jobs
over the last few years. The only new Mac we saw was entirely
expected, and the much-rumored updates to the iMac and Mac mini were
no-shows, as were additional sizes of the LED Cinema Display,
continuing a situation where most of Apple's Macs and monitors
aren't compatible.
What struck us was how the keynote almost felt like the kind of talk
we would have been happy to hear from Apple 10 years ago, in an era
of lesser expectations before the iTunes Store, the iPod, the
iPhone, and the MacBook Air. Back then, the announcement of
significant updates to iLife and iWork would have been more than
enough to set tongues wagging for the rest of the show.
Would it have been different if Steve Jobs had been on stage with
his Reality Distortion Field operating at full strength? Perhaps
somewhat: Schiller's delivery was overloaded with weak superlatives
and, at least in my mind, he never quite connected with the
audience. But I think the real reason Jobs handed the keynote reins
to Schiller was because there simply wasn't that much to demo.
Schiller started on a strange note, extolling how great it was to
build stores with the Apple logo, and wondering if any other company
could put its logo front and center. Where the statistics of how
many customers visit Apple Stores each week used to sound as though
the company were sharing celebratory good news with the keynote
attendees, this year's claim of Apple Stores receiving "100 Macworld
Expos" worth of visits each week came off instead as a dig, and
almost insulting.
And he went out equally strangely, with several comments about "this
last Macworld" (rather than Apple's last significant participation
in the show) and then introducing musical guest Tony Bennett, who
launched into "The Best is Yet to Come" and "I Left My Heart in San
Francisco." It may have been meant as a sort of goodbye, but it rang
false, given that it's more a situation of Apple giving up on the
rest of us.
iPhoto '09 Adds Faces and Places
--------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9982>
As our photo collections grow into the tens of thousands of photos,
Apple is working on ways to make it easier to find particular
photos, adding face recognition and geotagging support to iPhoto
'09.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/>
In the same way iPhoto '08 enabled users to sort and tag their
photos by events, iPhoto '09 makes it possible to search, sort, and
tag by faces. Face detection technology, once you've taught the
program properly, can identify friends or family members from your
larger collection based on their facial features. Once the program
believes it has found the person, it will ask you to confirm and tag
the photo with their name. The tagging process is similar to tagging
photos in Facebook. Clicking a top-level Faces collection in the
sidebar shows all the people you've identified.
Unfortunately, face tags are not exported with photos, although it
may be possible to assign a keyword to a person easily, and export
that. It's also worth noting that the face recognition technology is
unique to iPhoto and isn't more generally available in Mac OS X for
other applications, which is a shame.
Additionally, with Places, users can sort and tag by the location
the photograph was taken. Cameras with geotagging capabilities mark
your photos with the longitude and latitude of the location they
were taken. iPhoto interprets this information and correlates the
spot to a Place in its database, showing pins on a map generated
from Google Maps. If you don't have geotagging capabilities, you can
instead manually tag photos or groups of photos with locations
listed in iPhoto's location database.
Other than the iPhone, only one consumer-level camera, the Nikon
Coolpix P6000, makes it trivial to match GPS coordinates with
photos. More are on the way, but as Glenn Fleishman explained in an
Ars Technica article, it's not a trivial problem due to how quickly
cameras are turned on and off, leaving insufficient time to get a
satellite lock.
<http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-Camera/26135/COOLPIX-P6000.html>
<http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/assisted-gps.ars/6>
iPhoto '09 also now includes useful Facebook and Flickr syncing
capabilities. You can click a button to sync your photos to your
Facebook or Flickr accounts, complete with name (for Facebook) and
location (for Flickr) tags. You can even perform the reverse
function, sending photos from online collections to your iPhoto
library with tags in place.
Additional changes include more advanced slideshow customization and
new themes that can all be synced to your iPhone and iPod touch.
Finally, the new version includes enhanced Travel Book options
including more themes, better printing, and geotagged maps.
iPhoto '09 is part of iLife '09, which will ship in late January
2009 for $79 or $99 for a family pack. Also available then will be
the Mac Box Set for $169, which includes iLife '09, iWork '09, and
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. New Macs will continue to ship with iLife for
free. If you purchase a new machine between 06-Jan-09 and 31-Mar-09
that does not include iLife '09, you can upgrade it for $9.95
through Apple's iLife Up-to-Date program.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/uptodate/>
iMovie '09 Seems to Fix Everything from iMovie '08
--------------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9984>
When Apple introduced iMovie '08, the video editor was nothing like
previous versions. Completely rewritten and boasting a new
interface, it lacked features that iMovie users had grown accustomed
to: audio editing lost capabilities that had been gradually added to
iMovie over several versions; themes were removed; iDVD chapter
markers disappeared (as well as the capability to send a project
directly to iDVD); and more (see "New iLife '08 Revealed, .Mac
Upgraded, 2007-08-13). iMovie '08 had its upsides - support for
importing AVCHD footage and making easy color adjustments come to
mind - but it was very much a 1.0 application.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9108>
Based on what Phil Schiller presented during the Macworld Expo
keynote, iMovie '09 looks to be the program we were expecting last
year. A new Precision Editor lets you fine-tune edits in an expanded
visual way. When you drag and drop a clip from the Event library
onto a clip in your movie, a new action pop-up menu appears with
options to replace the existing clip, insert the new clip in the
middle of the existing one, or just add the audio from the new clip.
(Other options include green-screen and picture-in-picture.)
Video stabilization is a welcome new feature that can take the shake
out of handheld footage, something that will be especially useful
for owners of small Flip camcorders that lack built-in image
stabilization features. (iMovie also improves compatibility with the
Flip MinoHD.)
iMovie's engineers have clearly spent some time traveling (or
thinking about traveling), because several features are ideal for
travel videos. Animated travel maps, available in a few different
themes, let you specify locations on a map or globe and create
Indiana Jones-style markers that extend from place to place. Themes
have also made a reappearance in iMovie, and at first glance they
seem more interesting and flexible than those that appeared in
iMovie HD.
Other welcome improvements include the return of iDVD chapter
markers and direct-to-iDVD exporting, iPhoto Event matching, an
intriguing new archive feature for making copies of tapeless
footage, multi-touch gesture support, the capability to adjust
multiple clips at once, and, at last, the return of fast and slow
motion. Still missing are support for exporting footage back to tape
and the capability to adjust volume levels within a clip. A full
list of new features can be found on Apple's Web site.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/new-features.html>
iMovie '09 is part of iLife '09, which will ship in late January
2009 for $79 or $99 for a family pack. Also available then will be
the Mac Box Set for $169, which includes iLife '09, iWork '09, and
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. New Macs will continue to ship with iLife for
free. If you purchase a new machine between 06-Jan-09 and 31-Mar-09
that does not include iLife '09, you can upgrade it for $9.95
through Apple's iLife Up-to-Date program.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/uptodate/>
GarageBand '09 Adds Music Lessons
---------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9983>
GarageBand '09 has added a major new feature called Learn to Play,
an instructional tool that teaches you how to play the guitar or
piano. Instructors walk you through nine basic lessons in
high-definition video with synchronized notation; animated
fretboards and piano keys appear at the bottom of the screen showing
you how to follow along.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/>
In addition to the basic lessons, Apple is also adding special
Artist Lessons, in which celebrity musicians actually teach you how
to play simplified versions of their songs. So far, participating
artists include Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy, Colbie Caillat, Sara
Bareilles, One Republic, Ben Folds, John Fogerty, Sting, and Norah
Jones. Users can store lessons, and buy new ones from the Learn to
Play Store for $4.99 each.
Smaller changes include five new simulated guitar amplifiers, 30 new
complete guitar rigs, added guitar pedal effects, and a virtual
rehearsal space complete with a customizable backing band.
GarageBand '09 is part of iLife '09, which will ship in late January
2009 for $79 or $99 for a family pack. Also available then will be
the Mac Box Set for $169, which includes iLife '09, iWork '09, and
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. New Macs will continue to ship with iLife for
free. If you purchase a new machine between 06-Jan-09 and 31-Mar-09
that does not include iLife '09, you can upgrade it for $9.95
through Apple's iLife Up-to-Date program.
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/uptodate/>
iWork '09 Adds Catch-up Features
--------------------------------
by Tonya Engst <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9986>
Apple's iWork '09 announcements at Macworld Expo brought some
worthwhile improvements to the presentation, word processing, and
spreadsheet suite, along with a new Keynote Remote Control app for
the iPhone and iPod touch. Oh, and there's also a beta of a new
online service, iWork.com. But, particularly with Pages and Numbers,
the new features sound awfully reminiscent of things we've been
accustomed to having in Microsoft Word and Excel for years.
<http://www.apple.com/iwork/>
**Keynote** -- Keynote '09 picks up some visual enhancements, fancier
transitions, and the capability to perform object-level transitions
that animate the graphics or text between slides. There are also new
themes and snazzier chart types and animations, but the main
addition is actually a $0.99 Keynote Remote app for the iPhone and
iPod touch. It enables you to drive a Keynote presentation, complete
with speaker's notes and a preview of the next slide. The
functionality isn't new though, since apps like StageHand and Remote
Buddy have been offering similar features for some time. We'll be
curious to see if Apple tosses these competing programs out of the
App Store for treading on Keynote Remote's new turf, or if they'll
settle for undercutting them.
<http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=300719251&mt=8>
<http://www.wooji-juice.com/products/stagehand/>
<http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?mode=view&obj_type=infogroup&obj_id=24&sid=8774753Ge7a3398699f434b6&o_infogroup_objcode=infogroup-23>
**Pages** -- The most important changes in Pages '09 made us think
that Apple has finally gotten serious about competing with Microsoft
Word, if not producing a word processor for the 21st century. These
new features include mail merging with Numbers, an outliner that
enables you to move items around in a hierarchy and have those
movements reflected in the styling of your document (much like the
Heading styles in Microsoft Word), and support for MathType and
EndNote. Also, a new full-screen view takes over the entire monitor,
obscuring even the menu bar unless you hover the cursor over it,
enabling you to focus on the task at hand instead of all the other
stuff happening on your Mac (see "Minimize Desktop Distractions",
2008-12-04).
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9908>
**Numbers** -- Changes in Numbers '09 look like solid updates, but are
nothing groundbreaking. There's a new feature that improves the
re-organizing of tables, added formulas and an enhanced interface
for entering them, and new chart types and visuals. Happily, we've
heard that Numbers '09 does offer the capability to freeze a column,
locking it in place as you scroll through other columns. Finally!
iWork '09 also now features dynamic linking, which enables you to
create charts in Numbers and then link them into Keynote and Pages,
such that when the chart changes in Numbers it automatically changes
in all locations. If you're thinking this sounds like Microsoft's
OLE or Apple's own Publish and Subscribe, from the early 1990s,
well, you're right.
**iWork.com** -- Phil Schiller also announced a beta version of a new
Web site called iWork.com, which gives users of iWork '09 a way to
share files online and perform limited collaboration. To share an
iWork document, you click a button in the toolbar and enter the
email address of someone to whom you want to give access. That
person can then click a link in the resulting email message to view
the document in their favorite Mac or Windows Web browser, with what
looked like excellent fidelity to the appearance of the original
document.
The iWork.com site enables users to add comments (which appear as
sticky notes) and maintain an ongoing chat-style conversation with
each other; the interface looks similar to the iWork applications
and can display any Pages, Numbers, or Keynote document. Users can
also download files in their original formats, as PDF documents, or
as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) files. Although the
service is brand new and still in beta, our take is that it's going
to have an uphill climb in order to compete with the far more useful
Google Docs and other online collaboration services.
<http://www.iwork.com/>
That's largely because there's no round-trip support, and it
supports only iWork documents. If, for instance, you're working on a
project with an editor, your editor needs to download your files,
make changes, and give them back to you. That's not possible, nor is
working with any file types - Photoshop, InDesign, etc. - that are
commonplace in the real world.
**Details** -- iWork.com is now available to purchasers of iWork '09,
with free access during the beta test period. Apple said that the
service would require a fee in the future, but did not state how
much it would cost or when free access would end. This approach
feels haphazard - we'd like to see iWork.com merged with MobileMe,
so users won't have to work in multiple sites or pay separate bills.
iWork '09 requires Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 or later, and at least a
500 MHz G4 processor. It costs $49 with the purchase of a new
Macintosh, or it can be purchased separately for $79 or $99 for a
family pack. iWork '09 is available now, and it will be available in
late January 2009 in the Mac Box Set, which will cost $169 and
include Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the new iLife '09, and iWork '09.
Apple Pioneers New Battery Tech with 17-inch MacBook Pro
--------------------------------------------------------
by Rich Mogull <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9985>
As expected, Apple completed the transition of the MacBook line to
the latest unibody design with the announcement of the new 17-inch
MacBook Pro. Apple's largest notebook was the last remnant of the
original MacBook Pro form factor, which itself was nearly unchanged
since its debut as the aluminum PowerBook G4. The new model sports
the upgraded design, faster processors, larger memory and hard disk
options, and a new integrated battery design that Apple claims
offers up to an 8-hour battery life on a single charge.
The unibody design is a mere 0.98 inches (2.5 mm) thick and 6.6
pounds (3.0 kg); which Apple claims is the world's thinnest and
lightest 17-inch notebook. As with the newest 15-inch MacBook Pro,
it comes with the new multi-touch buttonless trackpad, Mini
DisplayPort, Firewire 800, ExpressCard/34, and multiple USB ports.
It runs on an upgraded Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.66 GHz
standard, with a 2.93 GHz option; both sport 6 MB shared L2 cache
and a 1066 MHz frontside bus. It comes standard with 4 GB DDR3
memory, and it supports up to 8 GB of total RAM. A 320 GB hard disk,
with an option for a 256 GB solid state drive, round out the basic
specifications.
As with the other MacBook Pro, the 17-inch model includes both
integrated graphics and a second, discrete Nvidia 9600M GT graphics
processor. These power a new LED backlit glossy screen with a 1920
by 1200 resolution at 133 pixels per inch; a $50 option swaps the
glossy display for a traditional matte/anti-glare screen (sure to
please the graphics professionals, but you do lose the black bezel).
The screen has a 60 percent wider color gamut (the range of colors
it can display) and a 700:1 contrast ratio.
The most significant change is the unique integrated battery, which
uses new lithium polymer technology to offer up to 7 hours of run
time using the discrete graphics processor, and 8 hours with the
integrated graphics. Because the battery is integrated into the
MacBook Pro body, Apple claims it is 40 percent bigger than a
removable battery. To extend the life of the battery and improve
efficiency, Apple combined the new battery chemistry with an
adaptive charging system, creating a battery that - according to
Apple - will last up to 1,000 charge cycles, thus extending the life
of the battery three times beyond the industry standard to about
five years of normal use. (A video detailing the changes in the
battery technology can be viewed at Apple's Web site.)
<http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/>
Moving to a fully integrated battery is a risky move, but it is a
direction the entire mobile computing industry is considering as
users continue to demand power for bigger processors, better
graphics, and increased wireless networking. Notebook designers can
build the batteries right into the laptops, taking advantage of
custom designed cells that fit into the nooks and crannies left
after squeezing in all the hardware. The problem is, of course, that
batteries have a limited life span and need to be occasionally
replaced. For instance, I'm on my third MacBook Pro battery, and
Adam's brand-new MacBook battery is already ailing after a mere two
months. If an integrated battery does go bad or wears out, the
laptop can be sent to Apple for replacement.
Apple failed to mention any external battery options for situations
where even 8 hours isn't enough. Since Apple has yet to license the
MagSafe charging connector, no third party-vendors will be able to
provide external options. It's also unclear at this point whether
the RAM and hard drive are user-accessible, as they are for the
MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Thus, 17-inch MacBook Pro users trade flexibility and convenience
for a greatly extended battery life. Since the average notebook
refresh rate for professional users is about three years, Apple is
clearly banking on the battery lasting longer than the average user
will keep the notebook.
The 17-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,799, is available for pre-order
today, and should be released by the end of January 2009.
Apple Moves to Unprotected Music, Tiered Prices
-----------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9980>
Apple will strip digital rights management (DRM) from the 10 million
songs it offers through the iTunes Store by the end of the first
quarter of 2009, with 8 million songs available without protection
today. These songs will be encoded at the higher 256 Kbps rate in
AAC format that Apple has been using for a subset of their catalog
and has called iTunes Plus.
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatsnew/>
The company is also changing its mostly flat-rate pricing model of
$0.99 per song, and allowing iPhone owners to purchase and download
songs over 3G cellular data networks in addition to Wi-Fi.
**Strip Down to Bare Music** -- Apple was the first company to sell
large quantities of licensed and legally downloadable digital music
- 6 billion songs is the latest count - and wrap their files in
proprietary encryption. The history isn't publicly known, but it's
believed that music labels required Apple to use DRM and
periodically update it to protect against hacks.
DRM limits music, games, or videos to play only for specific users
on recognized devices. Apple's FairPlay DRM system (which allows
music to play back via iTunes under Mac OS X, Windows, and on all
iPod models and the iPhone) has never been licensed to other
companies. DRM-free music can be played on any device or computer
that supports the music format, which is almost always MP3 or AAC.
This also means that sophisticated hardware for playing music
throughout a home, like the Sonos ecosystem (see "Audio Bliss: Sonos
Digital Music System," 2006-01-23) and the just-announced Linksys
Wireless Home Audio system, can handle unprotected iTunes Store
purchases just as well as music from other sources.
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8399>
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/010709-cisco-launches-mix-and-match-wireless-home.html>
When Apple's early lead in the digital downloads market eventually
neared complete domination, music labels turned to firms like
Amazon, Walmart, and Microsoft to offer DRM-free tracks as an
alternative to Apple's iTunes/iPod/iPhone lock-in. However, this
approach didn't do much to undercut Apple's hold on the market,
since Apple had become the number one music retailer in the United
States. (See "Amazon MP3 Scores DRM-Free Music: What About Apple?",
2007-09-25, for some background.)
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9203>
It's likely that the music industry's demand for variable pricing
was connected to Apple obtaining the right to sell music without
protection. Currently, most iTunes songs are priced at $0.99; the
new pricing model - which takes effect in April 2009 - will offer
songs at $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29.
Apple VP Phil Schiller said during the Macworld Expo keynote that
more songs would be priced at $0.69 than $1.29, but that's a
specious observation, as more popular and recent songs are likely to
be priced at the highest tier. Some labels had wanted the ability to
charge lower prices for some songs to increase sales as well.
**The Ignominy of Paying a DRM-Free Tax** -- iTunes Plus upgrades for
music you previously purchased at any price still cost $0.30 each
while music video upgrades are $0.60 each. You cannot choose to
upgrade specific songs or videos, but must upgrade your entire
collection as noted in the iTunes Store's account records.
Some have expressed irritation at this issue: Early buyers will have
to pay an additional amount to acquire songs that might be the same
price or cheaper and offered without protection. That is, a song
purchased with DRM for $0.99 might now be offered without it for
$0.69 for new purchasers, and you'll pay $1.29 to obtain it.
I'm surprised Apple didn't offer to eat the upgrade fees for all
their users, even if it cost a few hundred million dollars to pay
the labels or other rights-holders for the privilege, because of the
enormous good will it would engender.
For those who prefer to avoid the DRM-free upgrade fee, you might
consider a tool like NoteBurner ($39.95), available for Mac OS X and
Windows. NoteBurner is a virtual CD burner and ripper, avoiding the
tedium in creating tons of CDs to switch over your collection.
<http://www.noteburner.com/mac-audio-converter.html>
While at one point, an argument could be made that removing DRM from
a song that you'd purchased could be a violation of certain aspects
of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an odious piece of
legislation, it's hard to see how that's the case now.
The same song can be purchased without DRM; Apple will no longer
sell the song with DRM; we can assume Apple will likely attempt (as
Walmart and Microsoft MSN Music have) to turn off its authorization
servers at some point in the future; and you're likely removing
protection for personal use, because there's little reason to strip
DRM to then distribute the music. You bought the song, you just want
to have better access to it - and so does Apple, sort of, since
that's why they're converting their whole catalog to be DRM-free.
**iTunes Purchases over 3G** -- Apple also said it would allow iPhone
owners to purchase and download music over a 3G network in addition
to the Wi-Fi access that was previously available. Songs will be
identically priced when purchased via iTunes or through the iPhone
over 3G. This stands in contrast to many cellular carriers that
charge different prices for music depending on the delivery means.
Quicken/BECU EV Certificate Problem Resolved
--------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9992>
BECU, a credit union in Washington, alerted its members this week
that banking transactions can once again be downloaded in Quicken
2007 for Mac and previous versions. In mid-December, BECU updated
its Web site's certificate to use Extended Validation (EV), which
provides greater credibility to a secure certificate. (See "Quicken
for Mac Lacks Extended Validation Certificate Support," 2008-12-23.)
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9964>
Whatever the change was - BECU attributes the fix to Intuit - it
worked fine and I'm once again able to download transactions.
It's still unclear how quickly Intuit intends to update Quicken
2007, the current latest release of personal-finance software for
Mac OS X, and whether the company will fix earlier versions of
Quicken, too. The upcoming Quicken Financial Life for Mac, due out
in mid-2009, has appropriate EV support. The new software will
require Mac OS X 10.5 or later, and thus won't be appropriate for
all current Quicken users.
<http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance/mac-personal-finance.jsp>
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12-Jan-09
---------------------------------------------------------
by Doug McLean <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9990>
WireTap Studio 1.0.7 from Ambrosia Software is a minor update to the
tool for recording and editing audio on your Mac. The update brings
enhanced performance, more efficient memory usage, customizable
keyboard shortcuts for starting and stopping recording, added
support for the scroll wheel and multi-touch trackpad, improved drag
and drop capabilities, and support for recording from Java apps and
other applications with improperly coded bundle identifiers. ($69
new, free update, 26.6 MB)
<http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/>
Things 1.0 from Cultured Code is the first official release of the
Getting Things Done-inspired task manager that has been steadily
gaining attention while in public beta. Updates include a new Apple
Help Book, refinements to existing keyboard shortcuts, new keyboard
shortcuts and menu commands, and a bug fix that enables the search
field to scroll when more text than it can hold is entered. ($49.95
new, 4.2 MB)
<http://culturedcode.com/things/>
PDF Shrink 4.5 from Apago is a substantial upgrade to the company's
PDF size reduction tool. The latest version enables users to shrink
PDFs to fit on the iPhone and iPod touch. Other changes include
improved support for Leopard, a new PDF encryption function, and the
capability to shrink entire folders of PDF files. ($35 new, $14
upgrade, 5.2 MB)
<http://www.apagoinc.com/prod_home.php?prod_id=30>
CheckUp 2.0 from App4mac is a major upgrade to the multipurpose
maintenance utility. Changes include an improved user interface, new
memory testing capabilities, added performance optimization
features, report exporting capabilities, a duplicate file search
function, and a new documents tab view. For more on CheckUp, see Joe
Kissell's review of version 1.0, "CheckUp 1.0: A Beautiful but
Unripe Maintenance Utility," 2008-02-29. ($39.40, free update, 16.3
MB)
<http://www.app4mac.com/checkup.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9481>
FileMaker Pro 10.0 from FileMaker Inc., is a major upgrade to the
longstanding database application. Changes include a dramatic
interface overhaul that features a new status toolbar. From the
toolbar users can find or delete records, visualize the database's
record holdings, and view data in lists, tables, or detailed icons.
Also new are Dynamic Reports that enable users to make real-time
changes to data, Script Triggers that can automate virtually any
action, and a new Save Find feature that enables users to save
frequent search terms and locate recent searches. Finally, the new
version also contains 30 new Starter Solutions, and 10 new themes.
FileMaker Pro 10.0 comes in Standard, Advanced (which contains an
additional suite of advanced development and customization tools),
Server, and Advanced Server editions. ($299/$499 Standard/Advanced,
$179/$299 upgrade, 348/312 MB)
<http://www.filemaker.com/>
ExtraBITS for 12-Jan-09
-----------------------
by TidBITS Staff <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9997>
**MacNotables: Adam and Jim Dalrymple Square Off About Apple** --
Chuck Joiner described it as "freewheeling," which is a nice way of
saying that Macworld's Jim Dalrymple and I went off the rails in
this podcast, recorded at Macworld Expo. In short, I was cranky and
wasn't about to give Apple the benefit of the doubt on much of
anything. (Posted 2009-01-12)
<http://www.macnotables.com/wordpress/macnotables-901-adam-engst-and-jim-dalrymple-unleash-on-keynote-announcements/>
**Google Releases Picasa for Mac** -- Google has released a public
beta of Picasa for Mac at Macworld Expo this week. Previously, Mac
users were limited to the Picasa Web Albums uploader and an iPhoto
plug-in, but now they have access to the full version of the photo
editing and organizing software. (Posted 2009-01-07)
<http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/introducing-picasa-for-mac-at-macworld.html>
**The Onion Spoofs Apple** -- The popular fake news organization, The
Onion, recently posted a hilarious video on its Web site featuring a
look at a fake new Apple laptop, the MacBook Wheel. According to The
Onion, the MacBook Wheel replaces the keyboard with a giant
touch-sensitive click wheel, making everything on your computer
"just a few hundred clicks away." (Posted 2009-01-07)
<http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary?utm_source=embedded_video>
**Roku Players Gains Amazon Video on Demand Access** -- The Roku
Player continues to change: after upgrading customers to HD output,
Roku has forged a partnership with Amazon to offer the retailer's
on-demand video. The addition will appear in early 2009. Amazon
allows all devices associated with an account to access the same
video library. (Posted 2009-01-05)
<http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1240246&highlight=>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk for 12-Jan-09
----------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[email protected]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9996>
**Safari Stalling on Opening PDF files** -- What's the cause for long
delays in opening PDF files in Safari? (10 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2388>
**A contrarian view of Macworld Expo's utility** -- A reader makes the
case that perhaps it's time to do away with Macworld Expo entirely,
with a variety of reactions both for and against. (8 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2389>
**iWork.com and MobileMe?** Apple's desire to turn iWork.com into a
paid service is baffling, since it would be a great add-on to
MobileMe. (2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2391>
**Apple's Canard of 100 Macworlds a Week** -- Apple is comparing
Macworld Expo to the number of people that go into Apple retail
stores, but does the comparison really match up? (4 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2392>
**Odd removable disk behavior with 10.5.6** -- Removable disks such as
CDs or flash drives aren't appearing in the Finder as expected. Is
something wrong in Mac OS X 10.5.6, or did an errant preference get
set? (2 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2393>
$$
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