Joachim Bean
- http://
Filed under: Accessories, Peripherals, Software Update
Apple releases updates improving printing, scanning, iSight cameras and QuickTime
Over the past few days, Apple has been releasing updates for printer and scanner drivers in Snow Leopard, iSight cameras in LED Cinema Displays and QuickTime 7 for Windows.First, Apple released printer driver updates for Snow Leopard for Lexmark printers and Brother, Canon and HP printers and scanners.
Next, Apple released a firmware update for the iSight camera that's built into the Apple LED Cinema Display. According to Apple, this firmware update corrects an issue with the built-in iSight camera on the LED Cinema Display where the camera may not be recognized by applications.
Finally, Apple released QuickTime 7.6.5 for Windows, which fixes an issue where applications weren't reliably loading libraries required by QuickTime at startup and the incorrect display of QuickTime movies embedded in a webpage using custom scale attributes.
All of these updates are available from the Apple Support downloads page and Software Update.
Cycript: Blending Objective-C and JavaScript
Cycrypt is a new project that blends Objective-C and JavaScript to make it easier to implement aspects of both together. It's going to be great for using elements that JavaScript offers when programming with Objective-C. It's similar to JSCocoa, but it's been designed to offer a more complete set of JavaScript commands. It offers a full JavaScript parser/serializer, which allows for extensive use of JavaScript coding.
If you're wondering what exactly this is, the Cycript page offers some examples of code written with Cycript. Basically, it allows you to implement full JavaScript commands, while working with Objective-C in the same project.
Cycript is dependent on the MobileSubstrate and libffi libraries, which are available in Cydia. This won't be used to develop applications in the App Store anytime soon.
If you're interested, you can download examples or releases of Cycript. It's still being worked on, but if you're developing with both Objective-C and JavaScript in a project, you should check it out.
Filed under: Audio, Software Update, iPod nano
Apple quietly updates the 5th Generation iPod nano to 1.0.2
This week Apple issued an update to the iPod nano, bringing it to version 1.0.2. Fixes and additions include:
- Fixed audiobook playbook setting so Normal, Slower, Faster, works for audio podcasts
- Resolved issue where Genius Mixes did not work when using the Nike+ Sport Kit
- Accessibility setting for Mono Audio in now working
- Fixed bug so VoiceOver menu items are no longer skipped when using headphone + and - volume buttons to navigate
Filed under: Software, Internet, Software Update, Apple
Apple updates Safari to 4.0.4
In just two days after Apple released the Mac OS X 10.6.2 update, there's now an update for Safari. This new version, 4.0.4, improves and fixes performance, stability, and security of Safari including:- Improved JavaScript performance.
- Improved Full History Search performance for users with a large number of history items.
- Stability improvements for 3rd-party plug-ins, the search field and Yahoo! Mail.
This update requires Mac OS X 10.6.1 or 10.6.2, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.5.7, Mac OS X 10.4.11
or Windows 7, Vista, XP and is available through Software Update, or on the Apple Downloads page.
Do you notice any improvements in this update? Leave a comment and let us know!
Filed under: Software, First Look
First look: Viewfinder supercharges Flickr search
The new Mac app Viewfinder by Connected Flow (developer Fraser Speirs is the man behind the FlickrExport plugins for Aperture and iPhoto) is designed for browsing/searching images on Flickr. This application provides many ways to work with the service's photos; you can select licenses to constrain your search to images you can use (such as Creative Commons or commercial use images), or search through the full text of tags and descriptions. Once you've found a photo, you can save a few steps in performing common tasks that would normally require you to download the image separately.
You can set the selected image to your desktop picture in one click. You can also insert the selected image into a Keynote presentation immediately. You can see the selected image(s) on Flickr, or you can download them. Also, you can get a "quick look" of the image by pressing the space bar on your keyboard, just like you would using the Finder.
If you're a frequent image searcher on Flickr, Viewfinder is a nice way to supercharge your search tasks. If you're not an image search pro, however, you're probably not going to need this application.
Viewfinder requires Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (which makes it Intel-only); Keynote '08 or later is required to insert an image into a Keynote presentation. It's available for a introductory price of US $23.60.
Filed under: Accessories, Reviews
Hands-on with the new Apple Remote
Like many of the others at TUAW who really wanted to see this remote, I got my new Apple Remote a few days ago, and here are some of my impressions.
Filed under: Peripherals, Features, Bluetooth, Reviews
Hands-on with the Magic Mouse
Well, I got my Magic Mouse a few days ago, and I've been using it for my everyday tasks for a few days (and I'm still using it), and here are my impressions.
Packaging:
This packaging is clear, showing the actual Magic Mouse, just like the packaging that Apple has been using recently for the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch and accessories.
Downloading the update:
As we posted earlier, you'll want to to download the Wireless Mouse Update to enable the new features of the Magic Mouse, which is available for Snow Leopard and Leopard.
Set Up:
Once you've installed the Wireless Mouse Update, you'll want to go to the Mouse Preference Pane in System Preferences and click the new "Set Up Bluetooth Mouse..." button. You no longer have to use the Bluetooth Setup Assistant to pair, which makes it a little simpler. It will then search for your Magic Mouse, and make sure it's turned on, which is done by a switch on the bottom of the Magic Mouse. Once it's paired, you'll be all ready to use your Magic Mouse.
Read on below to see the how it was using the Magic Mouse....
Packaging:
This packaging is clear, showing the actual Magic Mouse, just like the packaging that Apple has been using recently for the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch and accessories.
Downloading the update:
As we posted earlier, you'll want to to download the Wireless Mouse Update to enable the new features of the Magic Mouse, which is available for Snow Leopard and Leopard.
Set Up:
Once you've installed the Wireless Mouse Update, you'll want to go to the Mouse Preference Pane in System Preferences and click the new "Set Up Bluetooth Mouse..." button. You no longer have to use the Bluetooth Setup Assistant to pair, which makes it a little simpler. It will then search for your Magic Mouse, and make sure it's turned on, which is done by a switch on the bottom of the Magic Mouse. Once it's paired, you'll be all ready to use your Magic Mouse.
Read on below to see the how it was using the Magic Mouse....
Filed under: Peripherals, Software Update
Apple posts Wireless Mouse Update for the Magic Mouse
If you just happen to have a Magic Mouse, and are wanting to use its Multi-Touch features, there's now a Wireless Mouse Update available from Apple that lets you do so in Mac OS X. You still probably can't find a Magic Mouse around unless you buy an iMac, but if you happen to have one or want to prepare for when you get one, you can go ahead and download this update before you get it.
This Update is available for Snow Leopard or Leopard, and can be downloaded from the Apple Support Downloads page.
Filed under: Developer, iPhone, SDK, iPod touch
CSStringTokenizer, a Cocoa Touch front end for tokenizing strings
Have you ever wanted to work with rather deep elements of Core Foundation in the iPhone SDK with some sort of front end? August Joki has just come up with a project that provides a Cocoa Touch wrapper for the CFStringTokenizer type in the Core Foundation framework.As you can see in the screen shot at right, the demo provides various aspects about the current string including the string in a letter, word, or using a WordBoundary. It works just like CFStringTokenizer can, but can be accessed using this front-end.
If you're wondering what CFStringTokenizer actually is, it's useful for breaking a string into a token, which can specified by words, sentences, or paragraphs. You're also able to further modify the tokenization once you break it down.
This is something that's going to be useful for iPhone developers who like to work with a Cocoa Touch interface to bring lower-level elements of the iPhone OS into their apps, and also to developers who work with natural language strings.
To download this project, go over to the cocoa-stringtokenizer project page on GitHub.
Filed under: OS, Open Source, Apple
ZFS project for Mac OS X discontinued
Is it a forgotten project? A fit of open-source pique? Or is it just that everyone got really busy on other stuff? Looks like Apple has just shut down the ZFS project for Mac OS X. The site for the project on Mac OS Forge reads:ZFS Project Shutdown
2009-10-23
The ZFS project has been discontinued. The mailing list and repository will also be removed shortly.
It's hinted that this was caused by legal issues surrounding the merger of Sun Microsystems and Oracle, which caused Apple to back away from the next-generation file system technology. After many rumors, including ZFS support that was going to be added in Snow Leopard Server, but that ended up being removed in the final version, it now seems like the saga of ZFS on Mac OS X is ending with a whimper.
[via Daring Fireball]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
