ProfCast On Sale Today at MacZOT

Today MacZOT has ProfCast on sale for $23.95 (down from $59.95).

The developer describes the software as follows:

ProfCast is a versatile, powerful, yet very simple to use tool for recording presentations including PowerPoint and/or Keynote slides for creating enhanced podcasts. ProfCast provides a low cost solution for recording and distributing lectures, special events, and presentations as podcasts. ProfCast offers an integrated workflow that makes creating, recording, and publishing podcasts easy. It’s as simple as Launch, Load, and Lecture!

I'm actually in the process of reviewing this software for Surfbits and generally pleased with it but it is too early to really give any details. It is certainly much more appealing at $24 than $60.

Preparing for Leopard - The Install

I thought I'd do a series of articles as I begin preparing for the Leopard upgrade. This is where my windows bias shows through. I was talking to a very knowledgeable Apple friend, Gabe Wilson, and explaining how I was backing everything up and printing out copies of all my license codes so I could do the "big upgrade." As he watched me his face showed first dismay, then pity, then humor. Finally he relieved me of my suffering. "Dave. It's a Mac. Don't wipe your drive. Just upgrade."

Huh!?

I'm used to windows upgrades. When you upgrade a windows machine you first remove the hard drive then you drive a stake through it (preferably made of silver). Then you pour acid over it and proceed to make all the necessary incantations (which include multiple recitations of random letters and numbers in groups of four). Finally, you put in the install disk and pray to all that is nerdy that the rest of your PC components don't declare an absolute mutiny (which will probably happen anyway). You then spend the next two days attempting to convince Microsoft that you should be allowed to re-install Office on the new version of their windows software without spending another $500.

Tonight I listened to Steve Stanger confirm Gabe's sage advice and I'm sold. I'm not going to do the 3 days of reinstall but instead just going to click "update" and see what happens. If it doesn't work I can always do the "root canal" version of the upgrade later.

The "Controversial" 1.1.1 iPhone Upgrade - Cry Me a River

Over the weekend I was talking with a tech-savvy friend who knew of my Apple fixation and he asked me, "Boy, you must really be torqued over the iPhone fiasco."

Really. He said that. Now it is a "Fiasco."

This comment got me wondering how exactly we have come to this point. The iPhone launch was a smashing success. Apple wanted the phone locked but apparently didn't do a very good job of locking it with the initial release. They fixed that a few months later and told everyone words to the effect, "If you have tampered with it, we may (I interpreted that word to mean "will") brick your phone so don't do it." We had a few days to consider this statement and then 1.1.1 released. At that point Apple puts a specific dialogue on your screen.

So after getting this second warning people who had hacked their phones for use by other carriers ended up with disabled phones. The word of art for this is "brick" used both as a noun and a verb. (i.e. those mean corporate types bricked my phone. My phone is a brick.) I don't want to understate the popular use of the term "brick" because I think for a lot of folks that seems to be half the fun. Anyway .. I digress.

Since the unlockers ignored the warning and their phones are disabled there is this perceived outrage over the terrible things Apple has done. Lawsuits are being filed, articles are written about Apple's PR nightmare, and tech friends are asking me about the "fiasco." I actually have two points about this hubbub. First, I don't lay blame at Apple's feet and second, I don't think this is as big of a deal as most people are making of it.

Why should Apple have to spend time and resources making product upgrades for what was sold as a closed system device compatible with hacks and unlocks? They told the hacking gang that they shouldn't upgrade and they could have all kept their phones at 1.02 forever without having any troubles. I, frankly, would prefer that Apple spent their time making the system work better for the 90 percent of the owners that don't want to hack their phones.

My second point relates to the perceived outrage over this event. There are some very vocal bloggers documenting this event as the turning point for Apple when they have abandoned the Mac Faithful. I don't really see it that way. I think Apple has always been a bit ruthless to their customers. One of the reasons it took me so long to buy a Mac was because when I initially became interested in them you had to buy the whole system (hardware, printers, floppy drives *no hard drives then*, and software) from Apple and it was really expensive. That was their business plan. It still is on some levels. With the iPhone, you are buying the product they want you to have in your hand. If you want something hackable, there are many smart phones out there that you can get. I had a few of them. On my Treo, I ran about 20 third party applications and yet it still wasn't as functional (or nearly as stable) as my iPhone. I'm comfortable keeping my smartphone experience in Apple's hands. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have bought the phone. I think a lot of people agree with me.

As for the extent of this "fiasco", I think it really boils down to a group of perturbed geeks. For example, I was talking to my brother-in-law this weekend. The iPhone is his only Apple product and he loves it. He checks his fantasy football scores on it while sitting on the couch and couldn't be happier. He told how he updated his iPhone. I asked him if he heard about the problems with the update and he replied, "what problem?" I think for most of the iPhone users out there, this is a complete non-issue.

I really don't have an axe to grind against the hacking community. I put installer.app on my phone but found nothing of much interest so I removed it. I really don't need a dorky game on my iPhone where I zap Microsoft Zunes. I sure hope that Apple eventually does open the phone up to some limited third party development but not at the cost of stability. I just think the attitude that because you've hacked your phone, you are entitled to some special consideration is ridiculous.

Technorati Tags:
iphone, MacSparky

Menu Bar Show and Tell

Lifehacker did a great article where several Mac users submitted shots and descriptions of their Menu Bars. I learned quite a bit looking through them. It was interesting to note how many folks are using MagiCal which I screencasted right here. Check it out

Technorati Tags:
os x, menubar

Review - TaDaList.com

At work I manage many different projects and have a very good system for keeping track of what needs to get done. I’m using the OmniFocus beta and very pleased with it. There are two weaknesses with this systems however: Capture and simple lists. By “capture”, I’m talking about getting tasks from your brain into your system and by “simple lists”, I’m talking about that day to day flotsom and jetsom. Those little lists that remind me to pick up a certain book at the library, or spicy carrots at Trader Joe’s. It would help if the iPhone had a task list manager but frankly, I’m not sure I want my spicy carrots getting mixed in with all of my work tasks. Anyway, I stumbled upon a great little web 2.0 app solves both of these problems, www.tadalist.com.

This web application from 37 Signals is a simple to do list with a very clean interface. Each list is just a name (like “Trader Joe’s”) and a group of items (like “Carrots”) They have an Edge-friendly iPhone interface and you can both add new items and check off items from anywhere. It also has a memory for items you have already checked off so the next time I need more carrots, I can simply uncheck rather than create a new entry.

While these tools are great for shopping, I also use them for other recurring lists. I’ve got the business trip list, the “giving a presentation” list, the beach list, and a variety of others. The nice thing is I can change, delete, add, check, and uncheck items from any computer plugged into the internet, including the iPhone in my pocket.

For capturing tasks on the go I have a list called OmniFocus. If I think of something that needs to be tracked and I’m not near my Mac I put it in the OmniFocus Tada list and code it into OmniFocus later.

This is not the high powered stuff you are going to get from iGTD or the soon to be released OmniFocus. Neither is it robust as the feature set found at todoist.com as recently reviewed by Darren Rolfe. However, for a system to keep simple repeating lists and capture tasks while on the go, it really scratches the itch.

Technorati Tags:
MacSparky, web 2.0, tadalist

More on the 1Passwd - iPhone Sync

I corresponded a little more the 1Passwd folks concerning security of the 1Passwd bookmarklet after it synchronizes to your iPhone. He explained they use 448 Bit blowfish encryption. There is more. Here is an excerpt from Dave Teare's explanation.

"Re: your questions about security and hackability, all your confidential information is encrypted. On your Mac, it is stored in Apple's Keychain, which uses Triple-DES encryption to secure your confidential data. On the iPhone, we did not have access to the keychain, so we used Blowfish to encrypt your data using 448 bits, and we do other cool things like using Cipher-Block-Chaining and randomized Salt to keep your data extra secure. We use OpenSSL to perform the Blowfish algorithm. OpenSSL is open source and is installed on hundreds of millions of machines worldwide."

I've been playing more with the 1Passwd data file on my iPhone and had no problems at all. The developers explain it in more detail at their blog.

Technorati Tags:
1passwd, iphone, MacSparky

1Passwd Gets Secure Data on iPhone with No Hack

I've been corresponding with some of the folks over at AgileWebSolutions and I am really excited about the public beta of their latest version of 1Passwd (version 2.5) They've added a function that allows you to create a password protected bookmarklet that contains all of your secure 1Passwd data. It then syncs into mobile safari as a bookmark. When you click it you get a screen that looks something like this.

Once you put your password in you get access to all of your 1Passwd data in your pocket.

This is huge for me. On my Treo I used a program called SplashID to keep important data in my pocket. 1Passwd figured a way to do this on the iPhone.

There are some limitations. It doesn't take the data and "go and fill". For instance if you click on a password in the bookmarklet, it doesn't open the web site and fill it in for you. Also you can not edit the data on the phone. The developers are working on the "go and fill" feature. The text also isn't always formatted perfectly and sometimes it runs lines together.

Regardless, this is extremely useful. I have all my insurance/medical/financial data available to me and still securely locked down. It doesn't rely on any hacks and, since it is Safari, you can even flip your phone on its side to make the data larger.

Technorati Tags:
iphone, MacSparky, 1passwd

Dashboard Watch - Dashquit 2.0

I know some of you are against the dashboard with nothing short of a religious fervor. I actually like it. I don't use it often but I find a few widgets very helpful including iStat, the Birthday Reminder, and (of course) Chuck Norris Facts. There are others I like but I'll save that for another post.

Anyway, if you are really worried about the Dashboard taking too much of your system memory there is a widget called Dashquit 2.0 which gives you a quick percentage of exactly how much memory you are using with your widgets and by pushing one little button on the widget it closes down dashboard and dumps them from memory. If you are about to dive deep into GarageBand or do something else memory intensive, you can free up that memory with one click. Below is a screenshot taken of my Dashquit at the the time of posting.

Technorati Tags:
MacSparky, os x, dashboard

Very Funny Mock Vista Ad

 

I've never used Vista.  I like OS X and really have no desire to learn Vista.  Nevertheless everyone I talk to that actually uses Vista doesn't seem very happy about the experience.  This has apparently inspired one guy to make a very funny Vista ad.  Check it out.

Path Finder Gets an Update

A free update was released today for Pathfinder. Version 4.8's big additions are the Leopard-esque interface redesign and per-folder settings. This allows you to keep preferences for picture folders different from those of document folders (among other things). I'm fairly proficient with the basic finder and yet I still find myself going to Path Finder pretty often. Check it out.