Ladies and gentlemen, Flock, the Mozilla-based open-source Web browser trying to make the social aspects of the Internet central, is finally useful. And oh, is it, useful. First introduced in the fall of 2005, the program, which integrates Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, del.icio.us and blogging software was for years a slower, more crashable alternative to Firefox. I never used it for more than about 10 minutes before. Suddenly, as of last week, it has vaulted over Firefox, Camino and Omniweb. It’s by far the best web browser for anyone with friends online that I have ever used. You should all download Flock 1.0 Public Beta at your nearest convenience. It even takes Firefox add-ons.

The marquee feature of the new version is the People Sidebar, a screen real estate gulping interface for a few key social media services. Essentially, once you register, you get a constant stream of new status and upload updates from all of your contacts of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube. It just moves along. You can send messages, Poke people, send photos, or what have you, all without heading over to the hosting web page. The other key feature is the Media Bar, which allows subscriptions to the media streams from Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook or others. There’s drag and drop image, video and text support, as well as an incredible clipboard that goes far beyond the typical features to optimize for reuse.

Then, in addition to all of that, there’s a built-in blog editor that’s widely compatible and nearly as capable as ecto, my dedicated blog app of choice. Its only limitation right now is that it requires the use of one of its supported hosting services for images, not native image hosting.

Other than that, it’s revolutionizing the way I consume information and connect with the people around me. And it’s made blogging almost preposterously easy.

Thanks, Stuart — for showing the way!

Test-Drive Flock 1.0 | Flock

Blogged with Flock

Tags: flock, software, social, awesome

Apple has confirmed the inevitable: Classic is officially no longer part of Mac OS X. Leopard cut the threads on PowerPC, even though Intel Macs have been unable to run, say, StuntCopter (and even then, they should just get the OS X version), since their introduction. THe note about it is comically concise:

Do Classic applications work with Mac OS X 10.5 or Intel-based Macs? Classic applications do not work on Intel processor-based Macs or with Mac OS X 10.5.

That’s sorted, then. Ow. Who’s still using Classic on a daily basis and will miss it?
Do Classic applications work with Mac OS X 10.5 or Intel-based Macs?
Image via Trans-USA

Blogged with Flock

Tags: sadmac, Classic

Leopard has been with journalists for awhile. Uncle Walt thinks it’s not a huge improvement, but it’s much better than Vista.

Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista
Upgrade of Apple’s OS Isn’t Revolutionary, But It Beats Microsoft’s
The Mac is on a roll. Apple Inc.’s perennially praised but slow-selling Macintosh computers have surged in popularity in the past few years, with sales growing much faster than the overall PC market, especially in the U.S. By some measures, Mac laptops are now approaching a 20% share of U.S. noncorporate sales, up from the low single digits where they once seemed stuck.

Personal Technology – WSJ.com

Blogged with Flock

Tags: leopard, mac os x, review

“Speaking at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show in San Francisco, David Ulmer, senior director of entertainment products at Motorola, says he’s convinced Apple won’t open up the iPhone anytime soon:”

Motorola: Apple won’t open the iPhone [Via WordPress]

Tags: iphonecultofmac open motorola

Parallels, Inc., those bright kids in Renton, Washington who are so good at making Windows run nicely inside of Mac OS X, have just launched a new marketing campaign, “Why Choose?” for their Parallels Desktop product. The video, viewable above, depicts a rather satisfied fellow who refuses to compromise: He eats pizza while getting marked up for plastic surgery, he smokes while jogging, and he tries to have two women in his life (guess which one doesn’t work out? Hint: It’s not the jogging).

It’s a cute video, as well as the launching point for a pretty rad crowdsourcing video contest. The company is soliciting promo videos of three minutes or less along the “Why Choose?” theme. Other than that, the boundaries are pretty wide open. Official rules are at the company’s website, and the winner will receive a 17″ MacBook Pro, a Sony HD HandyCam and a trip for two to MacWorld. Runners-up can pick up a MacBook or an iPhone, too. Entries are due by Dec. 9, but you can get, um…a t-shirt…if you’re among the first 100 entrants. Who’s in? Everyone knows Mac users are the most creative folks in the world, so flex your power!

Like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin was one of the last great holdout bands refusing to release its catalog online — until now. <cite>The Complete Led Zeppelin </cite>, a digital box set of the band’s entire studio discography, is available for pre-order on iTunes: 165 tracks for $99, including a new greatest-hits anthology <cite>Mothership</cite>. (The entire package is being promoted with a reunion performance at London’s O2 Arena on November 26.)

Meanwhile, if you do a quick search over on Bittorrent, the band’s entire discography is available as a 2.25-Gbyte download. It includes:

Studio Albums:
Led Zeppelin I
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin IV
House Of The Holy
Physical Graffiti (Discs 1 & 2)
Presence
In Through The Out Door
Coda
Live albums:
The Song Remains The Same (Discs 1 & 2)
BBC Sessions (Discs 1 & 2)
How The West Was Won (Discs 1, 2 & 3)
Video:
Led Zeppelin With Keith Moon – Forum Los Angeles 77-06-23 (Rare)
Led Zeppelin – Royal Albert Hall 1970 Concert

DJ / Rupture, a New York “turntable soloist,” has an interesting rumination on this situation following a raid on Tuesday by British coppers of the huge music-sharing tracker, OiNK.

DJ / Rupture found his entire discography traded through the site, but concluded file-sharing is a positive: “The overall movement is towards more ways to share music & ideas with like-minded individuals on the internet,” he writes. “The way I see it, this can only be a good thing for music fans. And what musician is not first a music fan?”

Picture by Manntar

Dave Horrigan, a tech columnist who lives in San Diego, just sent a note from Southern California’s fire-scorched front lines. He writes:

“I’m about 1 mile downwind of one of the fires in San Diego and as such have been watching the news closely. I see images of many people evacuating with their iMacs but I’ve seen no one evacuating with a PC in their arms. Of course its Rancho Santa Fe, but surely there is some rich guy here with a PC he wants to save?”

This Mac thing really is here to stay. Yesterday, Apple announced that it sold 2.16 million Macs in the quarter ending Sept. 30, 400,000 more than its previous best. Much of the growth can likely be attributed to a strong portable line and the launch of a new line of iMacs.

In case anyone was still worried that the iPhone wasn’t as big a hit as expected, worry no more. Apple sold more than 1.1 million of the devices from July 1 to Sept. 30, bringing the sales total to 1.4 million since its late June launch, the company announced at its quarterly earnings call. It was a booming set of months, all told. Apple pulled in revenues $6.22 billion in Q4, with $904 million in profit. The profit increase represents bottom-line growth of more than 67 percent from the year before.

Less rosy, at least in terms of Apple’s relationship with its customers and its business partners, is that COO Tim Cook estimates that up to 250,000 of those iPhones were purchased with the intent to unlock and use on other networks. That can’t please AT&T, and we all know how customers feel about bricked phones.

All in all, an unbelievable quarter for Apple — and they’re forecasting $9.2 billion for the December holiday period. Insane. I still can’t believe my parents decided not to get in on AAPL stock in 1996 when it was under $10 a share…

Anyone who has followed Apple for long has seen activists from Greenpeace or other environmental groups bash the company’s use of toxic or difficult to recycle materials in its products. The company recently trashed Apple’s iPhone for what it claimed were extraordinarily high levels of toxic chemicals the company had pledged to stop using. Of course, Apple only promised to stop using them by the end of 2008, so…

Those clever troublemakers over at Gizmodo cited an industry group that challenged Greenpeace’s methods for determining the contents of the iPhone — they only detected Bromine, not which compounds were present. This led to a lot of furor from Greenpeace, as you can imagine. The rebuttal is quite long, but the last quote from its spokesperson is worth the reading:

If you think we just protest against Apple then look out for soon a report covering a wide range of manufacturers as we have done in 2006. While it might not make as many headlines as the iPhone it doesn’t mean that we are not focusing on all manufacturers to remove toxic chemicals from their products.

That sounds like an admission to me… Apple is moving out ahead of its competitors here. Maybe it would help the cause to admit that, guys…

Via Slashdot

The iTunes Store as the new cineplex? It’s not quite as crazy as it sounds, as the second prominent filmmaker in as many months today announced he would premiere a film exclusively through Apple’s iTunes. Edward Burns, director of “The Brothers McMullen” and “She’s the One,” announced in the New York Times that he would follow in the footsteps of Wes Anderson by releasing his movie “Purple Violets” exclusively through iTunes on Nov. 20.

“I don’t know that this is the model for the indie filmmaker who makes a movie with a cast of unknowns,” said Mr. Burns, who stars in his film with Debra Messing, Selma Blair and Patrick Wilson. “But there are plenty of people with nicer screening rooms in their basements now than at some of those art-house theaters. And I felt there’s got to be a better way to get these films to people who want to see them at their moment of highest awareness.”

Pundits are naturally taking this as a sign that Apple is finally trying to get serious about movies on iTunes. Though the company has succeeded wildly in selling music and TV shows through the service, few film studios have signed up thus far. This is Apple’s first-ever exclusive feature film deal. What do you think? Brilliant ploy or rip-off of Radiohead’s business model?

Wired Magazine just got caught up with my favorite obscure parent of the Macintosh, graphic designer Susan Kare, who created all of the original icons in the first Mac OS, including the Happy Mac and Clarus, the Dogcow. And in case you were wondering what a UI design legend does in retirement, wrap your head around this: Kare is the creator of those adorable virtual gifts on Facebook, from handcuffs to mojitos:

Launched last February, the site’s gift shop offers icons for every occasion, from balloons, puppies, and champagne to mojitos, handcuffs, boom boxes, and a can labeled whoop ass. To date, users have exchanged more than 20 million virtual gifts, paying up to $1 for each, making them one of the site’s most successful revenue streams.

“I can do things in gifts that I never could in UI design,” Kare says. “Screen icons have a job to do they’re more like traffic signs than illustrations. But the gifts don’t have to be anything other than what they are.”

Glad she’s getting paid, but I’m going to miss the glory days for some time now. Her work (and knock-offs) is still evident in applications on Mac OS X and Windows alike, but the same soul isn’t there. Still, puppies for a buck on Facebook…

I spent most of this last week at the Connecting ’07 conference in Nob Hill, San Francisco. It’s the biggest industrial design gathering in the entire world, and one thing really stuck out to me: HP’s really starting to develop some design game, and Apple’s once-market leading Mac designs are really starting to look creaky.

(Disclosure: Jump Associates works with HP, but not on the physical design of its products. We had nothing minimal involvement with the products I’m writing about here)

The Palo Alto giant’s design booth had some impressive hardware, from the giant Blackbird 002 Gaming PC down to the tiniest new iPaq handhelds (not a patch on the iPhone, but gaining ground on BlackBerry and Palm). Sticking out to me most, however, were HP’s current line of laptops. The Entertainment Notebooks with the imprint designs are what they are. I like them OK, and the new designs seem less fingerprint-intensive. But the new tablets out in the world are incredibly hot.

None more so that than the Compaq 2710, a 12.1-inch convertible laptop/tablet combination. It’s got a gorgeous brushed-metal finish, it’s 3.7 lbs, and it’s just an inch thick. The swivel action on the screen to tablet is smooth, and a magnet pulls the latch down. It basically works exactly like I want the rumored MacBook Thin to work — except that it requires a stylus and that it runs Windows.

This all points up a major consequence of Apple’s tremendous focus on the iPhone and the iPod family — the entire Mac line-up is looking dull. The iMac has a new look, but the overall form is unchanged from the version introduced in 2004. Other than the built-in iSight, the MacBook Pro line looks identical to the Aluminum PowerBooks brought out in 2003. The Mac Pro is virtually unchanged from the Power Mac G5 look introduced in 2003. The MacBook, beyond the addition of black as a color option and the widescreen, is very similar to the second-gen iBooks brought out in 2001. The Mac mini is literally unchanged since its introduction in 2005.

Steve Jobs made it clear years ago that Apple has locked in the computer models it wants to sell, refreshing them continually: Consumer Desktop, Consumer Notebook, Professional Desktop, Professional Notebook, and Mac mini. That doesn’t mean that Apple should focus its innovation efforts in other markets. Apple has never had a more powerful opportunity to carve out additional terrain in the executive notebook market. And Apple has nothing for executives who just want a small, light device good for e-mail, the web and presentation creation. The MacBook isn’t prefessional enough. The MacBook Pro is too big.

Worst of all, Apple has the best touch interface in the world on the iPhone and the iPod touch. Why on earth hasn’t it shown up in a computer yet. A mouse-replacement USB pad for the desktops and a multi-touch enabled convertible MacBook Touch tablet would kill and grow Apple’s markets. Throw in an SSD drive, and it would be the best travel computer ever.

Meanwhile, HP is gaining on Apple’s design lead and charting its own path. Anyone else tired of Apple products in just brushed-aluminum and white plastic? The iPod and iPhone lines are leading the way in their markets. Every Mac looks like it’s been around forever.

Is the future of advertising embedded devices that measure the progress of your life? If the New York Times is right, Nike is already headed in this direction, using its relationship with Apple to move out ahead of the competion. The Nike+iPod Sport Kit is explicitly designed to provide performance feedback. Implicitly, it’s there to make Nike a constant presence in the lives of its users and drive traffic to Nike’s website.

Nike’s global sales have climbed in the last four years to more than $16 billion from $10 billion. And executives say the new type of marketing is a part of that trend.

The company plans to use the Nike+ idea in other sports categories, which could include basketball, tennis and soccer. While $29 for a Nike+ sensor hardly covers the cost of the device and the site maintenance and customer service, Mr. Edwards coolly points out that Nike+ is as much about marketing as it is about product.

People have complained since the Nike+ launched that it’s only for running. I’m glad to hear that the company is expanding into other sports. If they make a cycling model, I’m there.

Via Quantified Self

In addition to VOIP, the iPhone SDK may give programmers access to the iPhone’s motion sensors, which may result in all kinds of interesting motion-activated controls.

For example, hacker Erling Ellingsen has already built three homemade iPhone applications that are controlled by tilting, rotating or shaking the iPhone.

Ellingsen’s three demo apps are a virtual Steve Jobs bobble-head that bobs its head when the phone is shaken; a maze that is navigated by tipping and turning the phone; and a virtual box of balls that roll and bounce as he rotates the phone.

In the real world, there might kinds of interesting possibilities for game developers — think handheld portable Wii.

See Ellingsen’s impressive video:

Thanks to Apple’s just-announced iPhone software developers kit, VOIP will likely be coming to the iPhone, according to Alex Schaefer lead programmer of Apollo, a web-based iPhone instant messaging application.

“VoIP is next, and I’m preparing to start a new project working exclusively on that,” he tells Wired News’ software blog.

Schaefer is just one of many Mac developers itching to develop for the iPhone. There’s more reaction from developers in this other Wired News story: Developers on iPhone SDK: OMG! ABFT!

After months of speculation, multiple jailbreaks and not a few bricked iPhones, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced today that a developer’s kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be sent out in February, creating a way to add function to the devices through official channels. But he’s still implying that developers will have to jump through hoops to actually get on the platform:

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once–provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones–this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

So it sounds truly homebrew apps will get shut out unless starting developers can prove their good intentions. By endorsing Nokia’s new way of doing things, Steve is heavily implying that Apple will stand in between developers and iPhones for our own good. I see his point — virally infected iPhones would be bad for the Apple image. On the other hand, maybe he could just make the iPhone as secure as regular OS X and block access to things like the base band and root folders? Just a thought.

Via AP 

Image via TechCrunch France

Well over a month after announcing its German and British partners, Apple has finally reached a firm deal to sell the iPhone in France, pairing up with Orange from France Telecom. The device will sell for 399 Euro (almost $575), and the data plans have not yet been announced.

France has been a tough nut to crack for Apple, as the nation has rather robust unlocking laws for cell phones that would appear to run counter to the iPhone’s business model. Only time will tell.

Via Engadget Mobile

Tech Prognosticating Really Not Paying These Days [Fake Steve]

Many Methods for Free Jailbreaks on iPhone [TUAW]

Patents Point to Multitouch MacBook? [Machines That Go Bing]

GUI for iPod Classic Brought to 5G iPod [iPod Wizard]

Because no one asked for it — it’s Netscape Navigator 9 for Mac! How is this better than Safari, Firefox, Omniweb or Camino, you might ask? Well, it’s got a totally non-OS X compliant interface! And it’s from Netscape! Is anyone planning to upgrade? Can you explain why?

Picture and News Via MacUpdate

Last week, Apple introduced a new series of iPhone ads featuring real people talking about the benefits they get from using the device. And, wouldn’t you know it, the very first parody of the campaign has hit the market, featuring a guy named Ben whose iPhone got bricked from the 1.1.1 firmware update, only it’s still TOTALLY useful.

Fun stuff.

Via TUAW

DListed gets the pics as Woz and his lady love Kathy Griffin show up together at the new Diablo’s Cantina at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas. I guess this is real. Weird, huh?

Via the Raw Feed.

Apple has returned fire at Amazon’s Mp3 service today, introducing indie record labels to its DRM-free iTunes Plus service to only 99 cents per song. It is rumored that Apple will also drop the price of all other iTunes Plus tracks to 99 cents from $1.29.

Amazon MP3 only sells DRM-free MP3s, largely from Universal and EMI, but with indies in the mix, too. Amazon tracks cost $0.89 to $0.99 each. Apple began iTunes plus with only EMI on board, but doesn’t have Universal doing the DRM-free thing, and it’s quite unlikely they ever will. Universal is part of the same company as NBC, and we know how that worked out.

Even so, this reflexive decision by Apple is the first time I can remember the company following a competitor’s lead in the digital download market. This is more proof that Amazon’s offering is the first significant challenge Apple has faced since launching the iTunes Music Store more than three years ago.

Via Ars Technica

You know how Apple thoughtfully included a cell signal, WiFi and Bluetooth-free Airplane Mode on the iPhone so that the wunder-device could be using as a media player in flight?

Well, apparently ATA didn’t get the memo. A passenger named Casey bound for Hawaii was repeatedly harassed by multiple flight attendants for “talking on his cell phone.” (He was actually trying to watch the terrible Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”) Consumerist has the sordid story:

So I ask what rule I am breaking. He tells me I am talking on my cell phone. I again explain I am not using the cell part and it is disabled. I go on to further explain that I have been on other airlines that have specific written rules that say cell phones in airplane mode are OK above 10,00 feet, so how could it be a FAA rule. And if it is, what rule ? He has no answer for that, but to now yells at me “You have to do anything I say, I am going to have you arrested”….

He ended up detained at the airport for awhile. It’s ridiculous. And, worse, it’s quite likely that the kind of people who would assume an iPhone in Airplane Mode is dangerous would confuse an iPod Touch with an iPhone. It’s a lesson to us all: Keep it out of sight, folks.

Image via Russell Shaw.

Can you guys keep a secret? This is the first post I’ve written in more than a month that I created on my Mac. Right at the end of August, I opened my faithful 12″ Powerbook only to be greeted by the unwelcome sound of the Click of Death.

If you’ve never had a hard drive die, you might have never encountered the Click of Death. Count yourself lucky. It’s a sad sound. A heart-breaking sound. The sound of things falling apart. A tap, a skip, a whir and failure. Over and over and on into the future. And so, part way through a major writing project, my computer was beloved Mac and constant companion was rendered utterly unusable. Not immediately equipped to pay for the repair, I had to hold off until this last week to get a new drive.

I have walked in the valley of darkness, oh my brothers, and I am more convinced of the Mac’s superiority than ever. Fitted with a new drive, my little Mac feels dozens of times faster than the year-old ThinkPad I have to use at work. It just feels like being home. To make it more like home, over the course of the weekend, I’ve been restoring my Mac to just how I like it. I have five easy steps for doing it yourself, so click through to learn how.

Here’s two more data points supporting the rumor that Apple will allow Dashboard Widgets to run on the iPhone. (See earlier post)

Apple Evangelist Matt Drance is due to speak at next week’s Widget Summit in San Francsico. Matt is “actively involved in helping 3rd parties develop for iPhone,” says his bio on the Summit website. (However, it’s doubtful Drance will announce anything about the iPhone on Tuesday. It looks like he’ll be talking about Widgets in Dashboard.)

And reader Andrew Mayne notes that Apple’s new webapps page uses widget-sized icons to show all the apps for the iPhone.

“Last I checked, the normal OS X (non-widget apps) didn’t have as many button shaped icons,” writes Andrew in email. “The convenient button shaping could be a coincidence… but a rather convenient one.”