The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)http://www.tuaw.comThe Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogo.gifThe Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)http://www.tuaw.comen-usCopyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Weekly World News reports Macworld Expo threatened by death ray apphttp://www.tuaw.com/2009/01/05/weekly-world-news-reports-macworld-expo-threatened-by-death-ray/http://www.tuaw.com/2009/01/05/weekly-world-news-reports-macworld-expo-threatened-by-death-ray/http://www.tuaw.com/2009/01/05/weekly-world-news-reports-macworld-expo-threatened-by-death-ray/#commentsFiled under: Macworld, Humor, Open Source, iPhone, App Store

Here at TUAW, we feel that it's our duty to bring you important, fast-breaking Apple news. That paragon of excellence in journalistic integrity, the Weekly World News, reported today that Macworld Expo 2009 is threatened by a death ray application for the iPhone. The app (we are unsure at press time whether or not it's available in the App Store) was created by Dr. Michael Heinous of Colorado State University. Dr. Heinous has also apparently moved CSU, normally found in Fort Collins, CO, to Boulder, home of the University of Colorado.

Steve Jobs is reported to have taken time out from constructing an android body that will allow his consciousness to live forever to condemn the rogue app. He's quoted as saying "Apple does not approve of this application. Death ray technology and open source software are dangerous when released to the general public and are not in keeping with our corporate policy."

The report was later updated to note that "Specialized Apple gear, like an iPod equipped gas mask or the iLive full body armor with wifi, is will be available at the convention. Apple's executives will attend the convention via telecom from the iFallout Shelter."

Stay tuned to TUAW for more breaking news about this important, and obviously true, story.

[via Weekly World News]

Weekly World News reports Macworld Expo threatened by death ray app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Weekly World News reports Macworld Expo threatened by death ray app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>death rayDeathRayhumoriphonemacworld 2009Macworld2009mwsfweekly world newsWeeklyWorldNewsSteven SandeMon, 05 Jan 2009 14:00:00 ESTOpenCL 1.0 ratified; is Snow Leopard now ready for launch?http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/10/opencl-1-0-ratified-is-snow-leopard-now-ready-for-launch/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/10/opencl-1-0-ratified-is-snow-leopard-now-ready-for-launch/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/10/opencl-1-0-ratified-is-snow-leopard-now-ready-for-launch/#commentsFiled under: Software, iMac, Open Source, Developer, Snow Leopard

There's been quiet anticipation for the last 6 months for OpenCL (Open Computing Language), which is an Application Programming Interface standard allowing developers to take advantage of the power of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in parallel with multi-core processors. The result? Applications become much faster and responsive.

Apple announced in June that support for OpenCL would be built into Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6). The Khronos Group, an industry consortium that creates open-standard, royalty-free APIs, put OpenCL on the fast track as a result, and announced yesterday that OpenCL 1.0 has been ratified by all of the consortium members.

Now that OpenCL has been officially blessed by the members of the consortium, could Snow Leopard be close behind? There has been speculation that the latest iteration of Mac OS X could be released as soon as Macworld Expo 2009 in early January. Snow Leopard, along with an announcement of quad-core iMacs, could throw a little fire into what is becoming an increasing chilly Expo. TUAW is attending Macworld Expo 2009 in force this year, so stay tuned for the latest news about Snow Leopard.

OpenCL 1.0 ratified; is Snow Leopard now ready for launch? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

OpenCL 1.0 ratified; is Snow Leopard now ready for launch? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>gpuimacmacworld expo 2009MacworldExpo2009openclquad-coresnow leopardSnowLeopardSteven SandeWed, 10 Dec 2008 14:00:00 ESTiPhone hackers achieve a milestone: Linux boothttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/28/iphone-hackers-achieve-a-milestone-linux-boot/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/28/iphone-hackers-achieve-a-milestone-linux-boot/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/28/iphone-hackers-achieve-a-milestone-linux-boot/#commentsFiled under: OS, Open Source, iPhone, Jailbreak/pwnage

Call it the Touchable Penguin. OK, the touchscreen drivers aren't there yet, but the simple, scrolling shell output of a Linux kernel running on the iPhone represents a big achievement for the iPhone Dev Team and dev lead 'planetbeing.' The build is far from complete -- no wireless networking, no sound, no writeable support for the NAND flash memory -- but it's still very cool, and the effort involved was substantial (the team had to reverse-engineer the iPhone's boot loader so they could write their own).

Having a working Linux kernel on jailbroken iPhones and iPod touch handhelds might seem frivolous, but imagine the ability to run other touch phone OS platforms on top of an iPhone (like, perhaps, Android)... very tempting. You can see more of the rationale behind the Linux-on-iPhone project here, or you can skip to the second half of this post to see the video.

[via Engadget & Erica]

Continue reading iPhone hackers achieve a milestone: Linux boot

iPhone hackers achieve a milestone: Linux boot originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone hackers achieve a milestone: Linux boot originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>hackingiphonejailbreaklinuxMichael RoseFri, 28 Nov 2008 20:57:00 ESTTUAW talks to boxee and brings you inviteshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/27/tuaw-talks-to-boxee-and-brings-you-invites/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/27/tuaw-talks-to-boxee-and-brings-you-invites/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/27/tuaw-talks-to-boxee-and-brings-you-invites/#commentsFiled under: iTunes, Open Source, Mac mini, Interviews, TUAW Interview, Beta Beat, Apple TV

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm super thankful that I have been able to spend the last 13 months blogging for TUAW and interacting with all of you. On a more superficial note, I am also thankful for my Macs and all the cool stuff Apple products enable me to do.

The newest member of my Apple family is the Apple TV. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk to Avner and Andrew from boxee, the company behind the social media player of the same name. Boxee released an update earlier this week, but the next big version is set for December 4, 2008. Avner and Andrew were nice enough to answer my questions, share some details about the future of boxee and best of all, provide a link so that TUAW readers can join in the fun! If you want to try boxee on your Mac or Apple TV, enter your e-mail address at http://boxee.tv/tuaw and you should get an invite within 24 hours.

In the comments, on Twitter and via e-mail, many of you have asked questions about boxee, its limitations and its future. I took these questions and comments to Avner and Andrew, and here's what I got back.

On .MKV support for Apple TV

Boxee supports the .MKV container and if you are using a Mac mini, MacBook, iMac or Mac Pro, boxee can play back 1080p .mkv files without a problem. Apple TV is limited by its processor and GPU, and it maxes out playing back 420p and 720p .MKV content. I don't usually deal with .MKV, but a quick Google search turned up a lot of information about programs that can be used to convert files. Apparently, the PS3 has this same limitation.

Hulu performance

A number of users have complained about the quality of boxee's Hulu playback. I also noticed a decrease in quality after the latest update. The update on December 4 is going to address this. The big problem, for Apple TV owners, is once again the limitations of the hardware. Seeing as Apple TV's can stream HD content from iTunes (when downloading anyway), I think this is something that can be greatly improved, but it might take some time. Boxee is still in alpha and the goal is to enter beta sometime next year, so while I think the fact that Hulu is supported at all is fantastic, the Apple TV experience might take some time to fully evolve. If you are using a Mac for boxee playback, your performance will be much better.

Continue reading TUAW talks to boxee and brings you invites

TUAW talks to boxee and brings you invites originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW talks to boxee and brings you invites originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>apple tvapple-tvAppleTvboxeexbmcChristina WarrenThu, 27 Nov 2008 19:30:00 ESTBoxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/24/boxee-is-updated-for-apple-tv-2-3/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/24/boxee-is-updated-for-apple-tv-2-3/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/24/boxee-is-updated-for-apple-tv-2-3/#commentsFiled under: Cool tools, How-tos, Open Source, Apple TV

We've covered boxee, a fantastic media center application that can run on your Mac or Apple TV. With its attractive interface and support for Hulu, boxee is what convinced my boyfriend and me to order an Apple TV. Predictably, the day our second Apple TV arrived from Apple (the first unit broke after watching just one movie), the 2.3 software update was released, nullifying our boxee goodness.

Fortunately, the boxee team has updated boxee to support 2.3. Even better, the geniuses behind USB Creator -- a tool that makes installing boxee and the XBMC on an Apple TV a snap -- have updated their awesome software to make the whole process seamless.

If you want to install boxee and XMBC on your Apple TV, this is what you want to do. You will need a USB flash drive (minimum of 512 MB, though 1 GB or higher is recommended):

Continue reading Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3

Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Boxee is updated for Apple TV 2.3 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>apple tvapple-tvAppleTvboxeefeaturespatchstickxbmcChristina WarrenMon, 24 Nov 2008 14:00:00 ESTHandBrake 0.9.3 adds Universal Inputhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/24/handbrake-0-9-3-adds-universal-input/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/24/handbrake-0-9-3-adds-universal-input/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/24/handbrake-0-9-3-adds-universal-input/#commentsFiled under: Video, Open Source

The well known, open-source DVD ripping and video transcoding application HandBrake has been updated to version 0.9.3. Among the changes, perhaps the most exciting is universal input -- now you can use HandBrake to convert any kind of video file it recognizes, not just DVDs. This is particularly exciting given the recent demise of the much loved VisualHub (although the open-source reworking of VisualHub via the TranscoderRedux project is underway). In fact, the new HandBrake incorporates some of the same ffmpeg libraries that did the heavy lifting in VisualHub.

Among the many changes are an updated interface as well as improvements to both audio handling and video quality. Interestingly, the HandBrake developers have removed its internal DVD decryption which means you'll need to have the free VLC on your machine to utilize HandBrake's classic DVD ripping functionality (though as long as you have VLC they promise it will work as before).

HandBrake 0.9.3 is a free download from HandBrake.

Thanks Will!

HandBrake 0.9.3 adds Universal Input originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

HandBrake 0.9.3 adds Universal Input originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>handbrakevideovisualhubMat LuMon, 24 Nov 2008 10:00:00 ESTFound Footage: Help test WordPress for iPhone 1.2http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/11/found-footage-help-test-wordpress-for-iphone-1-2/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/11/found-footage-help-test-wordpress-for-iphone-1-2/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/11/found-footage-help-test-wordpress-for-iphone-1-2/#commentsFiled under: Blogging, Open Source, Found Footage, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Have a WordPress blog? Own an iPhone or iPod touch? Have you been using WordPress for iPhone to update your blog from the comfort of your bathroom [insert your own visual image here]?

The WordPress community has been hard at work on the next release of WordPress for iPhone, and it will contain a ton of new features including:

Landscape mode with the extra wide keyboard
Link creation help
Support for editing and creating Pages
Comment moderation
Asynchronous publishing
Photo resizing options

A video of WordPress for iPhone 1.2 in action with a beta of WordPress 2.7 is available with a quick click on the video window at the top of this post. For more information, visit the WordPress for iPhone page.

As with the previous versions, WordPress for iPhone 1.2 will be free. As soon as the beta test is complete and all bugs have been successfully squashed, the new version will be available via the App Store.

Found Footage: Help test WordPress for iPhone 1.2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Found Footage: Help test WordPress for iPhone 1.2 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>bloggingiphoneipod touchIpodTouchsoftwarewordpressSteven SandeTue, 11 Nov 2008 11:05:00 ESTDrobo Apps gives you cool add-ons for Drobo http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/31/drobo-apps-gives-you-cool-add-ons-for-drobo/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/31/drobo-apps-gives-you-cool-add-ons-for-drobo/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/31/drobo-apps-gives-you-cool-add-ons-for-drobo/#commentsFiled under: Hardware, Software, Open Source

By now, you've probably heard about Drobo. It's the ultimate RAID-like array, with USB and Firewire 800 connections, that allows you to store up to 6 terabytes using 4 hard drives (you get about 4.1 TB of usable space, since some of the room is used for RAID redundancy -- see the Drobolator capacity calculator for the details). Not too long ago they released DroboShare, a way to turn Drobo into a NAS (network attached storage device) with Gigabit Ethernet. If you have both a Drobo and DroboShare, you can now run DroboApps.

Because Drobo is built on a small version of the Linux open source OS, you are able to run these lightweight applications that can do some awesome things. There are currently around 20 applications that can create an iTunes media server (Firefly), or limit the total size of a Time Machine backup (Time Tamer), among other functions.

If you're a Drobo owner, you might want to check out these cool new applications. And if you're a developer, why not take a look at the Drobo development SDK?

Drobo Apps gives you cool add-ons for Drobo originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Drobo Apps gives you cool add-ons for Drobo originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>Drobohard driveHardDriveharddrivesRAIDCory BohonFri, 31 Oct 2008 07:00:00 ESTInstalling Ubuntu 8.10 on a Machttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/30/installing-ubuntu-8-10-on-a-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/30/installing-ubuntu-8-10-on-a-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/30/installing-ubuntu-8-10-on-a-mac/#commentsFiled under: Software, Features, How-tos, Productivity, Open Source

When it comes to virtualization on the Mac, it's mostly discussed in the context of running a variant of Microsoft Windows. This makes sense; the ease of getting Windows to run within OS X (on Intel hardware) is one of the key reasons many first-time Mac buyers are migrating to Apple. However, Windows is hardly the only game in town.

Although the annual proclamations of "the year of the Linux desktop" haven't really panned out, thanks to distributions like Ubuntu, more and more individuals are at least giving Linux a try. Today, Canonical made both the server and desktop versions of Ubuntu 8.10 (codenamed 'Intrepid Ibex') available for download.

Even before the Intel switch, PPC users could effectively run Linux distros on their machines, but virtualization coupled with Intel hardware has made running a VM of Ubuntu -- or any Linux distribution -- fairly painless. Using commercial software like VMware Fusion 2.0 or Parallels Desktop, or open source and free solutions like VirtualBox, you can set up an Ubuntu virtual machine much like you would with Windows.

If you have ever installed a Windows virtual machine, using Parallels, Fusion or VirtualBox, the process for installing Ubuntu is almost exactly the same. Download the Ubuntu 8.10 ISO image (a slow process today with the demand for the new release; it should speed up next week, and there are Bittorrent seeds for faster service) and then select that image for the virtual CD drive when creating your VM. The process, depending on your system, should take under 20 minutes from beginning to end.

Today, I set up a virtual machine of Ubuntu 8.10 in both VMware Fusion 2.0 and VirtualBox 2.04. Parallels Desktop works with Ubuntu, but I had problems trying to get Ubuntu 8.04 installed and am still reading reports of problems with 8.10. Parallels might work just fine with Ubuntu 8.10, but keep in mind that it might be kludgy.

Read on for more install options.

Continue reading Installing Ubuntu 8.10 on a Mac

Installing Ubuntu 8.10 on a Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Installing Ubuntu 8.10 on a Mac originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>parallelsubuntuubuntu-8.10virtualboxvirtualizationvmwareChristina WarrenThu, 30 Oct 2008 17:45:00 ESTAudacity 1.3.6 Beta for Mac releasedhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/30/audacity-1-3-6-beta-for-mac-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/30/audacity-1-3-6-beta-for-mac-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/30/audacity-1-3-6-beta-for-mac-released/#commentsFiled under: Multimedia, Software, Freeware, Open Source, Podcasting, Beta Beat

Our buddies over at sister blog Download Squad gave us a heads-up this morning about a new release of Audacity, the open source, cross-platform audio recording / editing application.

Audacity 1.3.6 (Beta) for Mac has new features added by students during the Google Summer of Code 2008:

Support of WMA, M4A, and AC3 file formats
Import of audio from video files
On-demand loading of uncompressed files, eliminating the wait before files can be edited
Linked audio and label tracks, so labels move with their corresponding audio when cutting, pasting, or changing speed or tempo
A hierarchical plug-in grouping for built-in plugins

Experimental features include:

Sound activated recording
MIDI file import, edit, and export

As always, Audacity is free. Click here to head over to the download page, and remember that this is betaware.

Audacity 1.3.6 Beta for Mac released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Audacity 1.3.6 Beta for Mac released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>audacitybetaopen sourceOpenSourceSteven SandeThu, 30 Oct 2008 12:15:00 ESTCocotron: bringing Cocoa to Windowshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/28/cocoatron-bringing-cocoa-to-windows/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/28/cocoatron-bringing-cocoa-to-windows/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/28/cocoatron-bringing-cocoa-to-windows/#commentsFiled under: Open Source, Developer

Cocotron is a potentially exciting open-source project that "aims to implement a cross-platform Objective-C API similar to that described by Apple Inc.'s Cocoa documentation." What this means is that, in principle, Cocotron would allow an OS X Cocoa app written in Xcode to be easily cross-compiled for other OSes, particularly Windows.

Of course that in principle still leaves open a bunch of practical difficulties. The guys over at Magnetism Studio (developer of FileMagnet for iPhone) have a great account of how they used Cocotron to port their Mac FileMagnet Uploader to Windows. Of course it wasn't as easy as pressing a button and having a Windows executable pop out of Xcode, but after suitable adjustments (particularly to get rid of Mac-specific code) it did make a Windows version possible. In any case, Cocotron seems poised to make cross-platform development a much less costly and time-consuming process for Mac developers.

Cocotron itself is a free download and released under the MIT license.

[via Daring Fireball]

Cocotron: bringing Cocoa to Windows originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cocotron: bringing Cocoa to Windows originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>cocoacocoatroncross-platformdeveloperxcodeMat LuTue, 28 Oct 2008 15:30:00 ESTScreaming fast Mozilla browser Minefield gives a glimpse of Firefox's futurehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/26/screaming-fast-mozilla-browser-minefield-gives-a-glimpse-of-fire/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/26/screaming-fast-mozilla-browser-minefield-gives-a-glimpse-of-fire/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/26/screaming-fast-mozilla-browser-minefield-gives-a-glimpse-of-fire/#commentsFiled under: Software, Internet Tools, Open Source, TUAW Labs

Minefield

I was really disappointed when Google released their Chrome web browser for Windows only. When it comes to browsers, I've tried them all. Right now I regularly switch between Firefox and the latest nightly build from Webkit (essentially Safari). Firefox has the extensibility I rely on, while Webkit has the performance I crave. I had hoped that Chrome would magically combine those two crucial traits and become my new go-to browser. Unfortunately, Chrome is not yet nearly as extensible as Firefox, and isn't available for Mac (yet).

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the latest experimental Firefox build from Mozilla, called Minefield. This Minefield should not be confused with the unofficial optimized builds of Firefox that Brett wrote about, which are also referred to as Minefield. Minefield is Mozilla's code-name for this generation of Firefox, and the code name is used for unofficial builds to avoid infringing upon the Firefox name.

So, what's so special about the Mozilla Minefield build? It's fast... smokin' fast. This is essentially a version of Firefox with the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine under the hood, and as Ars Technica reports, it tests even faster than Google's V8 JavaScript engine.

As most Mac users have noted, Firefox is kind of pokey on the Mac platform, particularly compared with WebKit or even Safari, and even when compared with Firefox on a similarly spec'd Windows machine. Version 3 of Firefox was supposed to fix the performance problem, and while it's somewhat better, it's still not great.

Well, Minefield is great. Using Gmail or even a complex content management system is a breath of fresh air. I feel like my web apps are finally keeping up with me.

There's one caveat, and it's a big one: though the current version number is 3.1b2pre (the "b" denoting beta status), this is really alpha software. That means there will be bugs, and you will experience problems. Surprisingly, though, Minefield has been very stable in my testing -- not yet crashing in a full day of testing. I have restarted it a couple of times due to suspicion that something strange was going on, but I can't say for sure if it was.

If you use it with your regular Firefox profile rather than creating a new one, Minefield will complain that most of your extensions are not compatible. Using Nightly Tester Tools, I re-enabled all of the extensions that it disabled, and every single one of them appears to be working normally, even the complicated ones like Better Gmail 2 and TabMixPlus.

I've only had a problem with one site so far, but unfortunately it's a big one: Google Docs. The page simply won't load. But for now, I'm willing to open WebKit or Camino to edit my Google Docs, because I'm just too smitten with the raw speed that Minefield offers.

One last note: being a nightly build, you will likely find that new versions are available, well, nightly. Mozilla makes the process of upgrading to the latest version virtually painless by using the built-in version monitoring process that Firefox uses.

[via Ubuntu Unleashed]

Screaming fast Mozilla browser Minefield gives a glimpse of Firefox's future originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Screaming fast Mozilla browser Minefield gives a glimpse of Firefox's future originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>caminofirefoxjavascriptminefieldmozillanightly-tester-toolsperformancesafaritracemonkeyV8webkitJason ClarkeSun, 26 Oct 2008 13:30:00 ESTOpenOffice 3 includes native version for Mac OS Xhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/13/openoffice-3-includes-native-version-for-mac-os-x/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/13/openoffice-3-includes-native-version-for-mac-os-x/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/13/openoffice-3-includes-native-version-for-mac-os-x/#commentsFiled under: Software, Open Source

OpenOffice has released version 3 of its eponymous open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, which includes a native version for Mac OS X.

According to Insanely Great Mac, the software includes:

ODF 1.2 Support
Microsoft Office 2007 Import Filters
Solver component which allows solving optimization problems
Support for displaying custom error bars and regression equations
Improved Crop Feature in Draw and Impress

The software is only available for Macs with Intel processors. There are projects for converting OpenOffice for PowerPC, but an official version was not included in this 3.0.0 release.

OpenOffice's site was running very slowly this morning due to overwhelming demand for the new software, but the official download link is here. There are mirrors available, and this one seemed to work for me. For Mac users, the file to download includes MacOSXIntel_AQUA_install in the name.

The download is 163MB.

OpenOffice 3 includes native version for Mac OS X originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

OpenOffice 3 includes native version for Mac OS X originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>breakingnewsfossigmintelopen sourceopenofficeOpenSourceRobert PalmerMon, 13 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EST10.5.5 update fixes DNS vulnerabilityhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/16/10-5-5-update-fixes-dns-vulnerability/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/16/10-5-5-update-fixes-dns-vulnerability/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/16/10-5-5-update-fixes-dns-vulnerability/#commentsFiled under: OS, Open Source, Security

Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.5 update (and Security Update 2008-006) fixes a critical DNS vulnerability that could allow attackers to trick victims into visiting malicious Web sites using what's known as a "cache poisoning attack." We wrote about the vulnerability in August.

Although Apple's release notes say BIND was updated "to address performance issues," the update also delivers the promised address port randomization that protects users from such cache poisoning attacks. The original patch offered protection for Apple's servers but did not completely protect client systems.

Apple's updates fixed flaws in several applications and system components, including some that attackers could use to run unauthorized software on a user's computer.

10.5.5 update fixes DNS vulnerability originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

10.5.5 update fixes DNS vulnerability originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>10.5.5bindcachednsnytpoisoningsecurityRobert PalmerTue, 16 Sep 2008 16:00:00 ESTFreeware Find: Beanhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/12/freeware-find-bean/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/12/freeware-find-bean/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/12/freeware-find-bean/#commentsFiled under: Software, Freeware, Open Source

Departing TUAW blogger Giles Turnbull caught my attention in his recent list of favorite Mac apps. At the top of his list was an application called Bean, which had the unfortunate effect of causing me to think about Rowan Atkinson's comedy character (at right). As soon as the nausea wore off, I took a look at the app and found a lot to like.

It's a rich text editor from developer James Hoover that is surprisingly powerful, very lean, and open source. It's the perfect in-between text editor, nestled somewhere east of Microsoft Word and west of TextEdit. It's small, fast, and easy to use.

Features of Bean (the app, not the Mr.) include live word count, in-depth statistics, autosaves and dated backups, page layout mode, dictionary, word completion, and in-line graphics. If you feel a need to add some functionality to Bean, the Objective-C source code is readily available.

Bean reads and writes .rtf, .rtfd, .txt, .html, and .webarchive formats, and can transparently import and export to and from .doc, .docx, .odt, and .xml formats. It can also export to .html, .pdf, .doc, and .rtf formats (the latter two with images intact).

All I can say is that I can see why Giles likes Bean. It rocks!

Freeware Find: Bean originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Freeware Find: Bean originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>freewaremacopen sourceOpenSourcesoftwaretext editorTextEditorSteven SandeFri, 12 Sep 2008 11:00:00 ESTSun xVM VirtualBox 2 enhances the free virtualization experiencehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/04/sun-xvm-virtualbox-2-enhances-the-free-virtualization-experience/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/04/sun-xvm-virtualbox-2-enhances-the-free-virtualization-experience/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/04/sun-xvm-virtualbox-2-enhances-the-free-virtualization-experience/#commentsFiled under: OS, Software, Switchers, Open Source

xVM Virtual Box

Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0 has arrived! We did a detailed review of VirtualBox 1.6 back in July, and now a shiny new version is available. If you want to set up a virtualization environment on your Intel Mac, but don't want to spend money on Parallels or VMWare Fusion, xVM VirtualBox 2.0 is a free and full-featured package that may fit your needs very well.

What's new in version 2.0? Mac users will see the following changes:

64-bit OS guest support (only on 64-bit hosts, as one might expect)
New native Leopard user interface on Mac OS X hosts
New-version notifier
Guest property information interface
Host Interface Networking on Mac OS X hosts
Framework for collecting performance and resource usage data (metrics)
Added SATA asynchronous IO (NCQ: Native Command Queuing) when accessing raw disks/partitions (major performance gain)

A list of bug fixes can be viewed after the break. xVM VirtualBox 2.0 can be downloaded here.

Continue reading Sun xVM VirtualBox 2 enhances the free virtualization experience

Sun xVM VirtualBox 2 enhances the free virtualization experience originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sun xVM VirtualBox 2 enhances the free virtualization experience originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>open sourceOpenSourceparallelsvirtual machineVirtualMachinevmware fusionVmwareFusionSteven SandeThu, 04 Sep 2008 11:30:00 ESTAdium 1.3 releasedhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/25/adium-1-3-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/25/adium-1-3-released/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/25/adium-1-3-released/#commentsFiled under: Software, Open Source

Multi-service, open source and free chat client Adium received a new point release tonight, with new features and a redesigned interface for viewing contact information.

Adium 1.3 features the following goodies:

Get Info Window is now called the "Contact Inspector"
The aforementioned Contact Inspector has a newly redesigned interface that allows for faster retrieval of contact information
Facebook chat is now integrated into Adium 1.3
Standard contact window list now features a search box (found by pressing command + F)
Improved MSN support with personal messages
Speed improvements
Multiple bug fixes

To download this new revision of Adium, just visit the Adium website and click the download link. If you would like a complete list of all the changes in Adium 1.3, just visit the Version History page.

Adium 1.3 released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Adium 1.3 released originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>1.3Adiumchangesdownloadinstant messaginginstant messengerInstantMessagingInstantMessengerMacredesignsoftware updateSoftwareUpdateCory BohonMon, 25 Aug 2008 18:30:00 ESTOpen-source multi-touch: Touchéhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/15/open-source-multi-touch-touche/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/15/open-source-multi-touch-touche/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/15/open-source-multi-touch-touche/#commentsFiled under: Software, Odds and ends, Open Source, Developer

multitouch open source touche

Dust off that FTIR table you've got down in the basement and fire up your internets to play with Touché, an open-source multi-touch tracking environment for Leopard. You too can have a giant iPhone-like interface in your own den.

That's right, no more calling up Perceptive Pixel with (emotional) support questions or fretting over when Surface will invade your Motel 6 with a Blue Screen of Touchy Death. Touché is free, just like a number of other apps from Georg Kaindl. Said FTIR table, however, is slightly less than free. But once you've got a table, a Mac running Leopard and some functional digits, you're ready to rock multi-touch style.

Other apps from Georg that may tickle your fancy include:

AppUpdate, a Dashboard widget that checks for updates using MacUpdate and VersionTracker and Apple's software directory. We covered it back in 2006.
WidgetUpdate does the same thing but for widgets (shocking, I know). We covered this back in 2005.
VoodooPhone, a plugin for VoodooPad for viewing those notes on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Enjoy!

Open-source multi-touch: Touché originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Open-source multi-touch: Touché originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>iphonemultitouchopen-sourceVictor Agreda, Jr.Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:30:00 ESTTUAW Labs: VirtualBoxhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/21/tuaw-labs-virtualbox/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/21/tuaw-labs-virtualbox/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/21/tuaw-labs-virtualbox/#commentsFiled under: OS, Software, Switchers, How-tos, Open Source, TUAW Labs

Running other operating systems on a Mac is nothing new, and with the advent of Intel-based Macs we've seen a flood of virtual machine software: Parallels Desktop for Mac, VMWare Fusion, and Codeweavers CrossOver Mac. These products enable you to run Mac OS X and another operating system simultaneously.

For many of my consulting clients who are switching from PCs and who already have a licensed copy of Microsoft Windows, I've been using Sun's Open Source xVM VirtualBox product. Why? xVM VirtualBox works very well and it's free.

If you're new to virtual machines and want to know how to do this, follow along as I set up a Windows Vista virtual machine on an "old" 2GHz Intel Core Duo 20" iMac.

This post is continued after the break.

Continue reading TUAW Labs: VirtualBox

TUAW Labs: VirtualBox originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW Labs: VirtualBox originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>open sourceOpenSourceparallelstuaw labsTuawLabsvirtual machineVirtualMachinevmware fusionVmwareFusionSteven SandeMon, 21 Jul 2008 08:00:00 ESTOSXBMC becomes Plexhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/09/osxmbc-becomes-plex/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/09/osxmbc-becomes-plex/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/09/osxmbc-becomes-plex/#commentsFiled under: Multimedia, Open Source

A while back the team behind the Xbox Media Center on OS X (which we covered a while back) announced that they were forking the Mac version from the main trunk. Now they've decided that the Mac version will be getting a new name: Plex (as in 'cineplex' or 'googleplex'). For those of you haven't tried it yet, basically Plex is a Front Row replacement media center application that grew out of the long developed XBMC (originally developed for the first Xbox).

The lastest available version is 0.5.0b10 (which still hasn't been rebranded) and is a free download. In addition there is a great new skin for XBMC called Aeon, which works with Plex and frankly looks amazingly slick.

[via Gizmodo]

OSXBMC becomes Plex originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

OSXBMC becomes Plex originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]>aeonosxmbcplexMat LuWed, 09 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EST