Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"New browser time -- and unfortunately, time to restart your Mac. Safari has been updated (for 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 on the Mac side, and Windows XP/Vista/7 on the Win side); it includes the improvements noted: performance improvements for Top Sites, stability improvements for plug-ins, and for sites with SVG graphics and online forms and fixes issues affecting settings changes to some Linksys routers and iWork.com user comments"

Lots of security fixes with this update, all outlined here, and you can get the 31.8 MB download via Software Update or by going to the Safari download page here.

"With just a few weeks to go before the iPad hits stores, here's the best way to ensure you're at the head of the line to get one (or three). If history is any indication, the iPad will be in short supply when it goes on sale April 3. Plus there are rumors of production delays that may further constrain supply."

To give yourself ample opportunity, visit AppleStoreCheck.com and they will let you know when things change and the familiar message above is displayed at the Apple Online Store. Once you sign up, they will alert you via email, RSS or Twitter. This doesn't appear to be limited to the iPad either, as they say "We'll check the Apple Store for new products and changes - so you don't have to."

"Good news for all of you Foursquare addicts, after a couple days of noticed absence, the Foursquare iPhone app is now back on the App Store."

This was regarding version 1.6, which was released into the store and then pulled when it was discovered to have been released too early. So they put it back in after fine tuning it, and now they have updated again, since as of yesterday version 1.7 is now available for free in iTunes.

"Remember iCalShare? The calendar-sharing site-once touted by Steve Jobs during a Macworld Expo keynote-seemed to have vanished for a while, but it's now back, and even easier to use. iCalShare now provides more than 3,500 free calendars in 40 categories, with its search tool and interface both undergoing improvements in its latest incarnation."

You can check out all their calendars at their site, iCalShare, and it is worth a look. I use several of these for sport schedules and holidays. It is pretty easy, and the only requirement after creating an account is to make sure you use the iCalendar (.ics) format. This is a sharing site only, it doesn't help you create or host any, but it certainly makes finding that special or obscure calendar. And it beats finding all the dates and entering them manually!

"According to a Microsoft security bulletin, seven privately reported vulnerabilities in Excel could allow remote code execution if a user were to open a specially-crafted file. By exploiting those vulnerabilities, an attacker could gain the same user rights as a local user."

So in order to fix this, Microsoft released two updates, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.4 Update and Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.8 Update. These updates will, as described by Microsoft, take care of “vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.” The updates will also improve stability and slow performance.

Microsoft also brought out two other updates: Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition 13.0.4 (which will now allow you to synchronize notes, tasks, and categories with Exchange Server), and Microsoft Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.4 (which lets you convert Open XML files created in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for Windows).

"The first Google Buzz client is now in the app store, The Next Web's Tim Difford reports. Buzzie, from developer Alberto Hierro, gives you full access to your Buzz account, and also lets users who don't have accounts (or don't want to sign in) see what people are buzzing up in their area."

Called Buzzie, it's available now in the iTunes Store for $2.99 USD. I haven't gotten enough use out of Google Buzz to make having an application worthwhile. Have any of you, or do any of you use Buzz frequently? If so, how do you like it?

"Top app maker CJApps has launched a brand new contest to promote the hit game Finger Maniac 1.1, available on the iPhone and iPod touch devices. In the latest update of the game, players are invited to try the 1Million point challenge. Between the dates of 3/1 and 5/1, players will be able to play this challenging mode and the first to reach 1 million points will win a brand new Apple iPad!"

Basically you get 90 seconds to type out as many 10-letter words, as fast as you can. Once you complete this you get rewarded with points. First person to reach 1 million points is the winner! Contest runs until 5/1 so best get going if you want to be in the running, they are already into day 11 of the contest.

"On Wednesday, March 10, 2010, Certified Public Accountant Stephanie Davies, age 39, was at her place of business, the Financial Services Group, located on SW Miley Road in Wilsonville. Ms. Davies reports she was approached at the front counter of her business shortly after 9 a.m. by a young male subject seeking directions to a local motel. The male asked that these directions be written on a piece of paper, and Davies complied with his request. During this moment of distraction, the male suspect grabbed Stephanie Davies' iPhone from the counter and fled the area in a motor vehicle."

Ah but little did he know she had purchased a tracking program for her iPhone. Once the deputy arrived to talk to her, he logged into the victim account and then used his own iPhone to track it down. The funny thing is, this happened at our agency, so I was the dispatcher for the event. Another successful recovery, and according to the deputy, the thief was quite surprised. I don't know which program she used (initially I thought it was MobileMe) but as soon as I find out, I'll let you know.

UPDATE: Turns out she was using the AT&T Family Locator service, $9.99 USD per month for up to two phones, or $14.99 USD per month for up to five phones. You can find more about the service here.

"CBS Interactive today released the 2010 March Madness application ($9.99 app store). Big difference over last year? 3G streaming of games! It is just a shame that the iPad won't be out until April."

You can get the paid app here, for $9.99 USD, but the free "lite" version has highlights and pretty much everything the paid version does except for the live streaming video of the games. I agree it's too bad the iPad won't be available for it, but at least you will be able to use the iPad with MLB At Bat 2010!

"The fee to become an Apple Mac developer dropped significantly Thursday to $99. According to Apple the new low cost of membership is in response to the success of the iPhone Developer Program (also $99 per year) and the potential that apps from that platform might crossover to the Mac."

The previous prices were $499.00 USD for the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) Select and $3,499.00 USD for the ADC Premier program. You can still get the free version of the Mac Developer if you want to tinker and see if you want to upgrade to one of the other programs, but $99.00 USD is a heckuva drop in price and quite the bargain.

"FileMaker Pro 11, the latest version of the Mac database software, was officially released Tuesday, packing in improved chart visuals, "on the fly" reporting, a new Quick Find capability, and a number of productivity tools that aim to make database creation simpler and quicker."

The last update was in 2009 when they released FileMaker 10. They also released updates to the entire line of FileMaker products. The retail price for FileMaker Pro 11 is $299.00 USD, or $179.00 USD to upgrade. The prices for advanced and server go up from there. I haven't used FileMaker in years, do any of you use it on a regular basis?

"To celebrate the one-year anniversary of its Schlage LiNKTM home-management system, Schlage today announced it is offering a $50 rebate for Starter Kits purchased through April 30. Lowe's and RadioShack will offer an instant rebate at the cash register while all other rebates will be mail-in."

If you aren't in any hurry, you can also enter the Schlage giveaway over at iLounge. Details about the rebate though, are here, and you can pick the starter kits up at a number of stores, brick and mortar as well as at Amazon.com, where they offer the Schlage LiNK Wireless Keypad Deadbolt Starter Kit System, Satin Nickel as one of the applicable products.

"After Valve's series of teaser images, it's now been revealed that their upcoming sequel Portal 2 will also be coming to the Mac. The above image comes from a series of scans from the latest issue of Gameinformer magazine which carries a cover story about the much anticipated sequel."

A friend of mine has the Orange Box compilation and Portal was one of the games. Very interesting game and it really made you think. Can't wait to see what they come up with for Portal 2, due out this fall.

"Media Memo reports that popular ringtone site Thumbplay has launched a new subscription music service, offering consumers unlimited streaming for $10/month with the option to purchase songs from a catalog of 8 million tracks at the same $0.69-$1.29 price points found on Apple's iTunes Store."

Not only that, but they have also snagged a MobileMe Executive from Apple, Pablo Calamera, and hired him as their Chief Technology Officer. Thumbplay is also planning on offering iPhone and Android apps later this year, so we'll see how that goes. 

"Anyone familiar with Mission: Impossible has heard the famous lines, "this message will self destruct in 5 seconds." Now there's an app equivalent with TigerText."

While the app itself is free, there are costs involved, at least for sending since receiving messages is always free. After your first free 100 messages that you have 15 days to use, it costs $1.49 USD per month for 250 messages or $2.49 USD per month for unlimited. Someone like Tiger Woods (coincidence in the naming of this app per the developers..yea right) definitely could have used this and probably would have opted for the unlimited plan.

"FreshDirect, a leading online grocer in New York City, has released a new application to allow FreshDirect users to place grocery orders directly from their iPhone or iPod touch. Developed by digital firm Schematic, the application is designed to deliver the same functionality as the FreshDirect web site, allowing users to create, submit, and update orders and schedule and update delivery times right from their device."

I wish more stores would do this, as it is no one really does it like this around my area. You can also search the store for items, select from previous orders or your favorite list, and even see product recommendations based on your past orders. If you have an in-progress order, you can save it and resume later. This app, free in iTunes, is also integrated with the FreshDirect web service so if you start an order on your iPhone, you can finish it up on the web. Or the other way around if you prefer. Anyone out there using this store? If so, how does it work?

"Ed Christman at Billboard contends that Apple is pressuring the record labels not to deal with Amazon and their Daily Deal, which allows users to purchase the album at a reduced price one day before it is generally released (on iTunes)."

According to the executive, "iTunes representatives have been urging labels to rethink their participation in the Amazon promotion and that they have backed up those warnings by withdrawing marketing support for certain releases featured as Daily Deals." I can't really blame them, and it appears some are listening to Apple as Capitol, Capitol Nashville and Jive all opted out of the Amazon Daily Deal promotion. Wonder how many more will opt out? I'm guessing most if not all, what are your thoughts?

"Last April, I wrote about the Dell Mini 9 netbook I'd purchased (see In Praise of Netbooks), and how - despite Steve Job's put-downs of the entire netbook product category as "a piece of junk" - I found it a usable little computer, trading off screen, keyboard, and trackpad size against portability and low cost."

The author ran into problems when he tried to turn his Dell Mini-9 into a Hackintosh, but he finally worked through it and his pain is your gain if you are trying the same thing. Interesting article on how you go about hacking your Dell.

"The Washington Post, which has stated it doesn't plan to build a New York Times-like paywall, is opening up another source of revenue: A paid iPhone app."

The app sells for $1.99 USD and is in the iTunes Store now. For the price you get a year of "customized access and offline reading." With the slump in newspaper sales, I would imagine more are going to come up with something like this to generate revenue.

"Comcast's app acts as a hub for the company's video, voice, and data services. Now the just released version 2.0 of the app adds new DVR control functions for select markets. Previously Comcast customers could use the iPhone OS app to manage their Comcast voice mail, sync address book, access email, view TV listings, and watch trailers for on-demand programming."

Unfortunately for my friends that have Comcast, it doesn't work yet in Oregon. The only states they are using it in are PA, DE, VA, MD, MA, AR, TN, AZ, and UT but they say additional markets will be brought out soon. The app is free for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and require compatible Comcast services.