Leander Kahney's Blog, page 1480

November 21, 2011

Display Music Track And Artist Information In The Dock With This Secret iTunes Terminal Command [How-To]

There are a lot of great apps out there that will alert you to what track is currently playing in iTunes by flashing a notice on your Mac's desktop; Coversutra and Growltunes, to name just two. But did you know that iTunes has a secret option to display track information on your desktop every time the track changes? It's true. It's attractive. And it's just a terminal command away.

Enabling iTunes track notifications is simplicity itself. Here's how to do it, although we hear this is Lion-only from the commenters:

1. Open Terminal in Applications > Utilities

2. Cut-and-paste this code into the Terminal window:

defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool TRUE;killall Dock

3. Your dock will close and then reopen.

4. Open iTunes and select a track. Play it, and you should see a track notification pop up in your Dock above the iTunes icon. The notification will display for a few seconds, then fade away.

This is pretty great hidden functionality, and I can only imagine that Apple didn't make it an official option because they were worried it would be distracting. Personally, though, if you added a couple of play controls and some stars to that pop-up, I'd never need to use something like GrowlTunes again.

[via Macworld]

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Published on November 21, 2011 10:03

Here Are The Holiday Discounts You Can Expect From Apple This Black Friday [Apple Store Shopping Guide]

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The biggest shopping day of the year is fast approaching. This Friday, countless retailers all over the U.S. will be slashing prices for Black Friday, causing a frenzy amongst shoppers who cannot wait to spend some of their hard-earned cash on discounted goods.

Apple famously recognizes the event by discounting some of its hottest products in the Apple online store for one day only, with savings to be made on new Macs, iOS devices, iPods, and even the latest accessories for your beloved Apple gadgets. This year will be no different, so based on the past few years' reductions, here's what to expect at the Apple online store on Black Friday.

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We're expecting Apple to slash around $100 off its most popular notebooks and desktops, and that includes its MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac. Last year the company dropped $101 off the price tags of these machines, and we're expecting much of the same this time around.

It's unlikely, however, based on previous years, that Apple will reduce its entry-level Mac, the Mac mini, or its high-end Mac, the Mac Pro. Having said that, with no refresh in over a year, there are rumors Apple will kill of its Mac Pro, which could mean we'll see it discounted on Black Friday in a bid to clear inventory.

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iPad

The iPad looks set to be the must-have gift this Christmas, and you're sure to save money on it this Friday. But it won't necessarily be the best deal. Apple is likely to reduce its price by around $40 — the same reduction made to the first-generation iPad last year.

However, to get an iPad 2 with the best deal, you're likely to be better off going for a refurbished model. You can get $50 off every model of the iPad 2 if you choose to buy it from Apple's refurbished section, and it'll come boxed like new with the same one-year warranty. In fact, if you're buying it as a gift, its recipient would never notice it wasn't a brand new model.

For an even cheaper iPad, you could choose to bag the first-generation device, on which you can currently save a whopping $230 if you buy refurbished.

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iPods

Apple's Black Friday price cuts usually usually fall very favorably on the iPod, with some of the biggest savings to be made on Apple's popular iPod touch. And the bigger you buy, the more you'll save. For example, we're expecting Apple to cut around $20 off the 8GB iPod touch, $30 off the 16GB model, and $40 off the 64GB model. That's a generous savings of more than 10%, and the biggest discount we're likely to see again this year.

As for the iPod nano, we're likely to see similar reductions with around $10 off the 8GB model, and $20 off the 16GB model.

Like Apple's entry-level Mac, we don't expect to see any reductions on its entry-level iPod, the iPod shuffle.

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Those hopping to bag a cheap iPhone from the Apple online store are going to be disappointed. While carriers will be quick to offer discounts on the device in an attempt to lure you into a two-year commitment, Apple's generally leaves its iPhone price tags well alone.

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Accessories

We're expecting Apple to discount a selection of popular accessories for most of its devices. Expect to discounts on the Smart Cover; iPhone & iPad docks; Apple's wireless keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse; the company's in-ear headphones, the iPad camera connection kit, and lots, lots more. Accessories are expected to see discounts of between $5 and $15, depending on their usual price.

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Other

Apple is also likely to slash the price of its Time Capsule, and the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express base stations. You can expect to see around $20 off the 2TB Time Capsule, and $50 off the 3TB model, with around $10 off the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express.

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Published on November 21, 2011 09:48

Create An iTunes Account Without A Credit Card [OS X Tips]

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It's Thanksgiving Week, and that means that most of us Americans will start thinking today about how much weight we'll gain on Thanksgiving Day and how much money we'll end up spending on Black Friday, especially if we have children clamoring for an iPhone, iPod or iPad.

If you, like many other parents, are planning on buying your kids an iOS device this Christmas, you should know that your kids will need an iTunes account to use with their new device, but if you are like most parents you'l; want to control how much they can spend buying apps. So you'll be happy to know that you can set up an iTunes account without a credit card. Your kid will be able to download a plethora of free apps and you'll be able to give them gift cards to use to buy paid ones. This will let you control how much they spend, which is a lot better than giving them carte blanche access to your line of credit.

The first thing you need to do is open iTunes and if you are logged into an iTunes account you must go to the Store menu and select Sign Out. This will allow you to create a completely new account.

Select the iTunes store on the left side of the iTunes window and if you need to select the country using the flag icon at the very bottom right hand side of the iTunes window. Once you've entered the correct iTunes store for your region click on the App Store using the navigation bar at the top of the iTunes window.

Now you'll need to apply a bit of secret sauce — you must download and install any free app from the App Store. The easiest way to do this is to use the Top Free Chart. Find an app, select it, the click Free App to download and install it. This will trigger the free iTunes account setup so when this happens select "Create New Account. "

You'll go through the motions of setting up the account accepting the iTunes Terms and Conditions, entering an email address, selecting a password, setup a security question and enter your date of birth. You'll eventually come to a point where you are asked to select the payment option. Select "None" and answer any more questions.

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Get that Apple gadget ready to go under the Christmas tree. Credit: David W. Martin

Finally, you'll be asked to verify the account you just set up by answering an email sent to the email address you entered above. Once you've clicked the verification link in that email your account will be activated and iTunes will ask you to log into your new account.

You now have an account setup with full access to all the free apps you can carry out of the iTunes App Store. If you want to buy any paid apps you'll either need to change the payment method or apply credit from a gift card to the account. The best thing about this is that you won't have to be worried about your kids spending all your hard earned cash on the likes of Angry Birds, etc.

Bonus: If you've purchased an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch you can perform these same steps on any of these devices to set up the account. You don't need a computer. Afterwards you should load the device with some nice free apps the kids can play with on Christmas day.

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Published on November 21, 2011 06:29

Sprint Boasts About 'Truly Unlimited' Data In New iPhone 4S Ad [Video]

Sprint's debut iPhone 4S commercial (unsurprisingly) boasts about the biggest reason for choosing Sprint over its rivals, and that's "truly unlimited" data. It also praises Apple's App Store, which is home to half a million apps, by floating popular app icons around New York City.

It concludes: "You might say there's no limit to what this amazing device can do. So the question to ask is, why would anyone want to limit the iPhone? We don't. Truly unlimited data for your iPhone. Only from Sprint."

If, however, you'd prefer more reliable calls or faster data over unlimited data, you might be better off with AT&T or Verizon.

[via iDB]

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Published on November 21, 2011 04:49

Watch Steve Jobs Brainstorm With His Team At NeXT In This Fascinating Documentary [Video]

Walter Isaacson's terrific Steve Jobs biography offers a magnificent insight into how Steve created Apple, and the work he did behind the scenes. However, it doesn't talk all that much about NeXT — another computer company Steve founded during his spell away from Apple in the mid-eighties.

These fascinating clips from a series called Entrepreneurs do, however. They show Steve as many of us have never seen him before — discussing new ideas with his team, brainstorming on company retreats, and leading NeXT to create something awesome.

Check out more of the documentary after the break.

You may notice that in the first clip above, one of Steve's staff stands up to him at around the 10:30 mark. This is Joanna Hoffman, according to commenter Sho_hn on Hacker News, who was part of the original Macintosh team and had a reputation for standing up to Steve.

[via The Next Web]

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Published on November 21, 2011 04:22

November 20, 2011

Keep Your Files Secure With Encrypted Disk Images [Video How-To]

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With security becoming an ever more serious issue, keeping your files safe is more important than ever before. Using an encrypted disk image is an easy way to safely store away files, while keeping them in one consolidated location. In this video, I'll show you how to set up encrypted disk images.

More About Formats Can Be Found Here.

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Published on November 20, 2011 20:26

Apple VP Greg Joswiak Explains Apple's Four Keys To Success

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Greg Joswiak is Apple's vice president of worldwide iPod, iPhone, and iOS product marketing. He's presented at past iPhone and iOS Apple events and is a critical member of Apple's corporate team.

While speaking at the "Silicon Valley Comes to Cambridge" event in the UK, Joswiak shared what he believes to be the four keys to Apple's success.

As quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Joswiak explained Apple's four keys to success as being "focus," "simplicity," "courage," and "best."

In terms of focus, Joswiak explained that Apple says no to decisions that typical companies frequently make. Apple has always been judicious with its purchases and investments.

We do very few things at Apple. We are $100bn in revenue with very few products. There are only so many grade A players. If you spread yourself out over too many things, none of them will be great.

The company thinks about product simplicity in a way that goes against the normal school of thought. While many companies struggle to maintain a consistent, simplified experience while battling fragmentation between hardware and software, Apple focuses on the whole package. The advantage of developing software and hardware in unison is that Apple is able to achieve a level of simplicity that most technology companies simply cannot.

When you start to build something, it quickly becomes really complex. But that is when a lot of people stop. If you really know your product and the problems, then you can take something that is complex and then make it simple.

Apple's "Think Different" campaign is an excellent example of the third key: courage.

Courage drives a lot of decisions in business. Don't hang on to ideas from the past even if they have been successful for you. You don't build a product just because everyone else has one.

Finally, Joswiak simply called the fourth key "best."

If you can't enter the market and try and be the best in it, don't enter it. You need that differentiation. At Apple if we can't be the best then we are not interested in it.

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Published on November 20, 2011 20:00

Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs Wanted To Reinvent TV, Textbooks, And Photography

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Photo by Patrice Gilbert

Nick Bilton of The New York Times recently sat down with Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson. In the interview, Isaacson shared his opinions of Jobs and other details surrounding the book.

Steve Jobs "didn't go into details" about Apple's future products during his discussions with Isaacson, but Jobs did reveal three things he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks, and photography.

He had three things that he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks and photography. He really wanted to take these on. I didn't go into details about these products in the book because it was implicitly Apple's creations and it's not fair to the company to reveal these details. But, he did talk about the television. He told me he'd "licked it" and once said, "There's no reason you should have all these complicated remote controls."

Steve Jobs famously revealed in Isaacson's bio that he had "finally cracked" the television, and industry analysts predict that Apple will introduce a standalone TV in the next couple of years. The New York Times speculated that Apple's rumored television would use Siri as a replacement for the remote control. Such a product would assumedly integrate with online content and bypass the cable companies' traditional channels of distribution altogether.

When asked to share "one last thing" about Jobs, Isaacson said:

The main thing is this: his petulance was not just some isolated thing. It was part of his passion for perfection. I think he truly knew that by being demanding, he was being inspiring. He created incredibly loyal teams. He convinced people that they could do the impossible. They would walk through walls for him. As a result, Apple continually made great products. Everything he did was a resolution between the misfit and the businessman, the romantic and the rational. These ended up tying together in every case. The two sides, and the fact that he is able to join them, made an amazing product: Steve Jobs.

You can read the full interview with Isaacson on The New York Times website. Make sure to read our own interview with Isaacson as well.

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Published on November 20, 2011 12:51

VMWare Fusion 4.1 Release Allows Virtualization of Leopard And Snow Leopard

[image error]Last last week VMware released Fusion 4.1 an update to its popular virtualization software that adds many improvements and bug fixes. The biggest improvement is the applications ability to run older versions of Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.

I've known for a long time that Fusion can support Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard virtual machines, but Apple's licensing prohibits this.

Apple changed the Mac OS X licensing terms with the release of Mac OS X Lion. The new software license allows users to install and use virtual machines running the client or server version of Lion on their Mac. It doesn't mention anything about older versions of Mac OS X so it is assumed that you still aren't allowed to run either of them in a virtual machine.

Apparently VMWare is leaving the decision whether or not they virtualize either of the older versions of Mac OS X to the user. If a user tries to install Leopard or Snow Leopard in Fusion 4.1 they will be prompted with a dialog that asks: "Verify that the operating system is license to run in a virtual machine. " If you select Continue then Fusion will go ahead with the installation of the operating system leaving the decision to go ahead entirely in the user's hands.

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Credit: Macworld

Check out the release notes for this must have upgrade if you are interested in testing applications on older versions of Mac OS X or if you just want to use applications that need Power-PC Rosetta support.

I don't know how or even if Apple will react to this by forcing VMWare to block installation of these older versions of Mac OS X. I hope not, because being able to install them would benefit developers and end-users alike.

[via MacWorld]

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Published on November 20, 2011 05:22

November 19, 2011

DJ Uses A MacBook Pro To Play Tunes At Microsoft Store Opening

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Microsoft recently unveiled its first retail store on the East coast at the Tysons Corner mall in McLean, Virginia. Like other Microsoft stores, the new location is strategically placed near the local Apple Store.

In an attempt to appeal to the hip and cool computer geeks out there, Microsoft hired a DJ to play music during the store's opening. Can you guess what kind of laptop the DJ used?

Not only was the DJ clearly using a MacBook Pro, but Microsoft made him cover the Apple logo with a "Microsoft Store" sticker. If you can't beat 'em, cover 'em up with your own branding.

According to Electronista, Microsoft saw an eight-hour line for its store opening, but people weren't lined up because they wanted to get their hands on the latest Windows Phone. Microsoft was giving away free tickets for a sponsored Joe Jonas concert taking place the following weekend. To get a ticket, you had to stand in line during opening day.