Apple releases Security Update 2006-007
Posted by Helper Monkey
Security Update 2006-007 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components:
AirPort
ATS
CFNetwork
Finder
Font Book
Font Importer
Installer
OpenSSL
PHP
PPP
Samba
Security Framework
VPN
WebKit
gnuzip
perl
For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798
Review: Freak Show brings Photo Booth to all Macs
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
I remember early last year taking my then 4-year-old daughter to our local Apple Store and spending a good 40 minutes or so playing with Apple’s Photo Booth software on one of the demo MacBook Pros. She would make the requisite “hilarious” faces all 4-year-olds make when put in front of a camera, and then I would save the snapshots and e-mail them home.
Well, a month or so later we decided we needed to buy the kids their own computer after an unfortunate incident involving my PowerMac’s optical drive and a Dora the Explorer CD-ROM. When our new Mac mini arrived, I thought to myself, “Oh, the kids are gonna love making faces in that Photo Booth thing.” The Mac mini doesn’t come with a built-in iSight camera, but I had an external FireWire model lying around, so I figured it wouldn’t be a problem (those of you who are familiar with Photo Booth’s system requirements likely can see where this is going). Long story short (or slightly less long), Photo Booth will only run if you have a Mac with a Built-in iSight camera, such as a new iMac, or Apple laptop. This is of course because the longer chord of an external iSight camera cannot send data fast enough to the Photo Booth program, the way a built-in iSight camera can.
Ok, I made that up. The real reason Apple won’t support Photo Booth on Macs which can handle Quartz Extreme effects using an external iSight camera (built BY APPLE, I might add) is… um… well, to be honest, there is no reason in the world Apple could not have included Photo Booth as part of OS X. It should really work on every Mac that supports Quartz Extreme and has a FireWire port that someone can hook up a mini DV camera to, let alone an Apple iSight. But for whatever reason, Apple has decided to turn its back on PowerMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini owners who happen to also enjoy gimmicky apps, leaving us Photo Boothless.
However, a company called FreakShowSoftware has come to the rescue for those of us who do not need an Apple laptop, yet still want to create our warped, Photo Booth-esque MySpace profile pictures. The company’s free Freak Show application will work on ANY Mac that supports OS X Tiger and has a camera attached. That means not only Apple’s iSight, but ANY digital video camera that is recognized by your Mac. Freak Show comes in 2 versions; Standard (free) and a Paid Version ($12.95). The free version offers 18 effects (well, 17, really) that are pretty much identical to those found in Photo Booth, and can be used to take still photos you can drag into iPhoto or e-mail to friends. The paid version includes an additional 9 effects, plus the ability to record movies using all 26 effects, and play your effects full screen. The movies are recorded at 640×480, and play back at 15 fps (at least on a Mac Pro). One odd thing I noticed is the movies claim to have 44.1 kHz audio when played back via QuickTime, but no audio is actually recorded in Freak Show, so these are actually silent movies (and perhaps larger than they need to be if the audio is indeed taking up file size).
Freak Show’s “Warped” effects: Cycloptica, Baby Jane, Francis Bacon, Queen of Hearts, Perfection, Twin Sister, Super Freak, 8 Ball, and Worry Wart.
Freak Show’s “Artsy” effects: Attic, Monochrome, Bioluminescence, Lichtenstein, Perfection (again), Scratchy, Scanner, Negativeland, and Glam.
Not Quite Photo Booth
As far as a direct comparison between Freak Show and Photo Booth, Photo Booth still has a slight edge over Freak Show is so far as the integration with the iApps. Photo Booth allows for instant e-mailing of pictures, iChat buddy picture replacement, and instant iPhoto import. Snapshots taken via Freak Show are placed in the user’s “Pictures” folder, and must be manually dragged to iPhoto or an e-mail message. This isn’t exactly hard to do, but it IS slightly less seemless. Two other features Freak Show could stand to “borrow” from Photo Booth in a future update are the ability to set up a countdown timer, and Photo Booth’s somewhat inventive “flash” feature, where it turns your computer screen white right before it takes a snapshot to help illuminate your face.
One-upping Photo Booth
There are a couple areas where Freak Show beats Photo Booth at its own game. First and foremost, it pretty much supports ANY Mac. That’s a big plus. Second, the paid version adds an extra 9 effects (Blockhead is the coolest), and can record video. You can even use Freak Show to apply its effects to iMove clips (a method is described in Freak Show’s FAQ).
Freak Show’s paid version offers 9 more “Extreme” effects, such as: Caffeine, HAL, Scope, Blockhead, Cloner, Ghost in the Machine, Liquatic, Thermalene, and Bling.
Issues
There is really only one major issue that affects Freak Show, and that is performance. Unlike Photo Booth, Freak Show does not rely soley on Quartz Extreme, thus the support for older computers whose graphics cards may not support QE. However, this comes at the penalty of performance. Even on a reasonably new Mac mini Core Duo with 1 GB of RAM, the video recording aspect was choppy, and the playback in the photo preview window was a bit stuttery. This in no way affected the ability to use Freak Show as a Photo Booth replacement, but taking video was pretty much out of the question.
When I ran Freak Show on a Mac Pro with 2GB of RAM and an ATi Radeon X1900 graphics card, the performance was great (and it better be, as this is pretty much the fastest machine that can currently run it). However, video frame rates were still limited to 15fps, and with a couple other “Power Apps” open (like After Effects 7, and PhotoShop CS2) I occasionally got stuttery video capture as well.
Conclusion
If you have an older Mac (or even a brand new one like me) that Apple has decided doesn’t support Photo Booth, then Freak Show is a great app to try. I would definitely recommend you download the free version before contemplating purchasing the paid version, as there are darn few Macs out there that can properly take advantage of the paid version’s video capture capabilities at this point. If you find the performance and playback of the preview window is fast enough on your system, then splurging for the extra effects and video option is a good idea, especially if you have small children who will find it fun to record themselves making those ” hilarious” faces.
Freak Show by FreakShowSoftware
Price: Free or $12.95 for the paid version
Pros: Mimics pretty much all of Photo Booths functionality, Paid version captures video and offers additional effects, brings Photo Booth’s effects to the masses
Cons: Not-quite-seamless integration with the iApps, performance is sluggish on even some newer systems, video capture requires a fairly robust system
Apple redefines “free”
Posted by Helper Monkey
As we enter the holiday buying season, it seems nothing is free. Even Apple’s “Free downloads�.
A recent trip to the FREE ON iTunes section of the iTunes store shows that Apple has decided that “freeâ€? means “something costing anywhere between $0 and $1.99“.
Out of the 8 free items listed (we’re still not sure why Apple doesn’t list ALL its free wares in the FREE ON iTunes section…) Apple has listed the $0.95 Facing Your Giants: First Chapter audiobook by Max Lucado, and CBS’s $1.99 Lost for Words television show. While I would normally chalk these up to glitches, these were both released well over a week ago, time enough for Apple to fix this. Apple is usually a little more on the ball with the QC, although the iTunes store does seem to be more prone to screw ups than the rest of Apple.
Free on iTunes: NBC’s 30Rock
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
NBC has made the “Blind Date” episode of their new hit comedy 30Rock available as a free download on iTunes.
From the show description:
Jack plays matchmaker, setting Liz up on a blind date – Confident he can fix both Liz Lemon’s (Tina Fey) sketch show and sex life, overbearing boss Jack (Alec Baldwin) sets Liz up on a blind date with his friend Thomas. With Liz readying herself for her blind date, Jack infiltrates the writers’ weekly poker game.
You can download the episode here (as always, US residents only, sorry folks!)
Review: The Volta by Sonnet Technologies
Posted by Lab Rat
Ever since getting my 60 GB video iPod, I have found myself using its video capabilities more and more. Where I used to listen to music all day at work, now I find myself just as often listening to movies and video podcasts to help get me through my day. And while Apple’s recent firmware upgrade for the 5th generation video iPods increased my iPod’s video battery life to a whopping 6+ hours, I still need to recharge my iPod periodically, or risk running out of juice for the commute home. Since Apple cheaped out on the extra iPod cables in recent years (anyone else remember when Apple included both a FireWire AND a USB cable with each iPod? And they were long enough to actually USE, too!), that means remembering to bring my sole charging cable back and forth to work each day as well.
Enter the Volta by Sonnet Technologies.
The Volta is a near-perfect external battery charging/boosting system. When used with a fully charged 5th Gen iPod, Sonnet claims the Volta can deliver up to 16 hours of video playback, and over 80 hours of audio playback. Our tests seemed to prove that Sonnet actually UNDER sold the Volta’s capabilities, as we consistently got an average of 18 hours and 35 minutes of video playback (encoded at Apple’s new full-screen 640×480 settings), and somewhere between 83 and 90 hours of audio-only playback (I can’t be sure exactly, the unit drained itself during the night some time into day four. That’s right, day FOUR!).
Unlike other battery boosting solutions relying on AA batteries and delivering so-so performance, the Volta has a Lithium-polymer battery that charges via the Apple USB dock connector. And also unlike those other solutions, the Volta actually looks pretty nice. The Volta’s base (which is thick enough to to hold the iPod upright for video viewing) has four tiny LED lights to indicate the charge level. On the back of the base is the power switch. Other than that, there is little to take away from the Volta’s streamlined form. The main housing is made from aluminum with a glossy black finish that matches the black iPods perfectly, but doesn’t look out of place on a white one either. Just slide the iPod onto the Volta’s dock connector and attach the included iPod clip to secure the two together. For owners of the thinner 30GB iPod models, Sonnet includes a spacer pad to keep the iPod from sliding around. The fit and finish on the Volta is solid, and the device feels extremely well made. However this build quality comes at the expense of weight. While the Volta is not quite as thick as the 5th Gen iPods, it weighs almost as much (4 oz compared to my 60Gb iPod’s 5.4 oz) so you are not going to be using the Volta while jogging (although perhaps Sonnet thinks you might, as the include a belt clip as well).
The Volta ships with a black USB 2.0 to iPod Dock cable (measuring a full 16 inches longer than Apple’s shortened Dock cable) which you connect to the back of the Volta for charging . One odd thing I noticed, I was able to charge my 5th gen iPod with Sonnet’s cable, but not my 4th gen iPod, which charges without incident over Apple’s USB cable.
Unfortunately, you cannot charge a Volta with the iPod attached, as a fully-drained Volta, together with a fully-drained iPod, would draw in excess of 700 mA, and would exceed the USB spec of a 500 mA maximum draw. Luckily, most Macs these days ship with an abundance of powered USB 2.0 ports. Charging a fully drained Volta takes a little over 5 hours.
Once fully charged, you can use the Volta with your iPod in one of 2 ways. First, you can use the Volta as a charging station, connecting it to your iPod only when your iPod runs out of battery. The Volta is good for about 3 full iPod charges before it needs charging itself, so for some people, bringing the Volta on a short trip might eliminate the need to bring a separate iPod charger. The second way to use the Volta is as a battery boosting solution. To do this, just leave your iPod connected to the Volta and use as you would normally. This is how I chose to use the Volta the majority of the time, as I am not what you would call an “active” iPod user. I am usually sitting at my desk, or in the car when listening to/watching my iPod, so I did not mind the extra weight and girth (despite my making a big deal about the extra size and weight, the 5th gen iPod/Volta combination is only slightly thicker than the old 3rd and 4th generation iPods, and still easily fits in a standard jeans pocket).
Issues
Honestly, I only have one issue with the Volta, and really it goes back to an issue I have with the iPod itself. As any long-term iPod owner knows (long-term meaning over 15-minutes) the iPod scratches VERY easily, making a protective case pretty much a necessity. Unfortunately, the Volta forms such a tight fit with your iPod that you cannot use a case of any kind with it. Even my personal favorite, the Invisible Shield, didn’t work all that great with the Volta. Despite being only millimeters thick, it still made it hard to squeeze my 5th Gen iPod into the Volta, and upon removing the Volta two or three times, I saw that the Volta’s mounting clips actually began to push the Invisible shield off the iPod where it connects, thus ruining the pristine look one would buy the Shield for. Shield Zone actually makes a variant of the full body Invisible Shield that protects only the screen, and this may be the only protective option available for those who wish to use the Volta on a regular basis. I would like to suggest to Sonnet that they create some sort of case to protect the front of an iPod when mounted in the Volta, even if just for a soft case for traveling. I feel such a case would be much more useful than the included belt clip.
Conclusion
The Volta is my new favorite iPod accessory. It made a recent car trip with the family a much less stressful affair. The Volta delivered enough juice to “hypnotize” my children with kids shows for 6 hours (each way) to Virginia to meet relatives, as well as to entertain them once we got there. Sonnet has a real winner with the Volta, and if you travel often, watch lots of battery draining video, or are just one of those iPod users who always seems to forget to charge their device, then the Volta is going to be your most important iPod accessory since the ear bud. Just be careful how you store and handle it, as your iPod’s screen is left pretty much unprotected in the Volta.
The Volta by Sonnet Technologies
Price: $69.95
Pros: Dramatically extends battery life, solidly built, looks great, rechargeable battery, allows iPod to stand up for video viewing
Cons: Not compatible with iPod cases, even the Invisible Shield; leaving your iPod’s screen exposed is asking for trouble.
Review: The iCar by Corgi – Possibly the worst iPod accessory EVER
Do you know someone who owns an iPod?
Do you hate them?
Well, if the answer was “Yes“, then we may just have the perfect Christmas gift suggestion.
The iCar
If the iCar sounds cool, then I apologize. Apparently my sarcasm did not read very well in print. Let me be clear, YOU MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE iCar.
Sound
The iCar only costs $29.99, so you may not be expecting the sound coming out of the iCar to be “all that”, and you’d be right. The iCar is a victim of trying to reach the sub-$30 sweet spot the American wallet fondly reserves for “throw away” gag gifts. I have heard $30 speakers WITHOUT a model of a Cadillac Escalade mounted to the top that sounded much better. By trying to combine a motorized, light up car model AND a speaker system, Corgi has had to make some sacrifices here.
The biggest problem with the iCar (and there are a couple big problems to choose from) is the horrible sound. By “horrible sound”, you may think I mean the sound coming from the speakers. While that IS bad, what I was referring to is the grinding sounds of the cheap motors in the iCar, and the high-pitched squealing of the spinner wheels. Since words may not be able to do this justice, please watch the videos below for an example.
Yeah, OK, it is funny, but only for about the 42 seconds this clip plays. Do you really want to listen to your music this way?
Rollin’ at night. A sample of the iCar’s flashing lights. Note, the lights don’t seems to distract from the annoying motor grinding…
Well, if you made it through the first 2 clips, you are strong. But the built-in rap song will defeat you.
Design
There was very little thought given to the styling of the iCar. The Escalade model itself is fine, however the speaker pedestal it is fastened to is as bland and un-iPodlike as it gets. Three big, cheap-looking buttons dominate the front of the unit, and these control the volume and whether the iCar “dances” to your music or not. There is no dock connector (as you might expect for $29.99). Instead there is simply a mini stereo jack for your iPod to hook into. This means the iCar will work with pretty much ANY generic MP3 player and not just the iPod, so you may say Corgi doesn’t necesarily have to cater to the iPod crowd. However, Corgi does call it the “iCar”, and has a picture of a 4th generation iPod Photo on the box. One has to assume this is meant to be by and large an iPod accessory, yet it lacks any hint of the iPod’s style.
As I mentioned, there is thankfully a button which can stop the iCar from moving, flashing, and spinning its wheels, allowing you to use the iCar as simply a passive speaker system. However, the odds are you will not want to. The sound delivered from the iCar’s speakers is tiny, shrill and just plain bad.
The iCar requires 6 AA batteries to run, but there is an optional AC adapter you can purchase as well. Unfortunately I cannot tell you how long the iCar’s battery life is, as I could not keep the iCar on for more than 40 minutes or so in my testing. It was just too annoying. The Escalade iCar is available in both black
As far as I can tell, the only reason you would choose to buy this is presumably you are either both a fan of the iPod and a fan of the Escalade, or you are shopping for a 5-year-old who owns an iPod and is impressed by toy cars. Either way, you will be disappointed by the iCar.
Conclusion
When I showed my kids the iCar, they both said “WOW! Cool!” (they are 3 and 5). After about 2 minutes of seeing the iCar in action, both requested that I turn it off, and one left the room. If you are looking for a gift to give a child and simply want the initial “Wow!” factor, then by all means give them the iCar. However, if you plan to stay in the room long enough for them to open the box and try it, I would suggest you keep looking.
Price: $29.99
Pros: Has a picture of an iPod on the box, is returnable at most stores
Cons: Horrible sound quality, loud grinding gears, built-in rap song is very annoying, cheap looking design, AC adapter is extra.
Star Wars on iTunes? It could happen
Posted by Helper Monkey
CNN is reporting that News Corp., owners of the Fox movie studio (among almost every other thing) is close to a deal with Apple to sell Fox-owned movies on the iTunes store. Fox has produced many hits, such as the X-Men and Ice Age franchises, but what has most of us tech geeks in a frenzy is this deal may mean there will be yet ANOTHER way to spend money on the Star Wars series of movies.
Having bought VHS versions of all its incantations (even the re-visited special editions with tacked-on effects) and then the DVD versions, I for one can’t wait to buy them all again on iTunes.
Of course, for some reason I doubt Fox has the final word on whether the Star Wars franchise will ever hit the iTunes store. I seem to remember a little fella named George Lucas being able to stop Fox from putting out a DVD release a few years back, so odds are he would have to bless the union. Still, it will be nice to see some non-Disney offerings on iTunes, and Lucas’ own Star Wars cartoons are currently available, so who knows?
A little Donald Rumsfeld/Mac humor for ya
Posted by Helper Monkey
Faithful Macenstein Reader (and presumably long time political analyst) Larry L. sent us a humorous link over at Boing Boing. It consists of a pretty funny Mac-centric Donald Rumsfeld resignation screenshot, and if you are into politics and Macs check it out. (I am not going to repost the pic here, as it is not our joke to tell).
New iPods December 5th?
Posted by iGor
Ah, the slow news day. The kind of day when a Mac reporter’s thoughts turn to entertaining any piece of unsubstantiated gossip they can come across. Oh sure, it wasn’t SO slow, really. There WAS the announcement of the new Core 2 Duo MacBooks, but people were pretty much expecting those. Besides, you don’t come here for standard, run-of-the-mill news you can read on any old Mac site. No, you come here to see if anyone has yanked our chain with yet another “anonymous tip” on a new Apple product.
Well, you’re in luck. This afternoon we received word that we can all expect the new touch screen iPods everyone has been so gung-ho about on Tuesday, December 5th. That’s right. Just a few days AFTER everyone has spent their holiday shopping money on the big Thanksgiving Day weekend sales.
With Microsoft launching their Zune next Tuesday, we sort of figured if Apple had the new iPods ready, they would have shipped them either for the 14th, or on the 21st to take full advantage of the holiday shopping season (AND to kick the Zune in the nuts). But no. According to one source (one so anonymous, it can only be Steve Jobs’ cleaning lady herself!) December 5th is the date to watch.
“But what about PROOF!?!” you ask? No problem. It’s rock solid.
The source points to a $40 iPod rebate set to expire on November 30th over at authorized Apple reseller PC Connection. Convinced? Of course you are. So start saving those pennies, and don’t rush out to buy that non-Mac-Compatible Zune just yet!
Disclaimer: We would like to point out that we have only received ONE anonymous tip out of 4783 which proved to be right, and this does not appear to be the same person.
Apple adds Sundance Channel and National Geographic programs to iTunes
Posted by Helper Monkey
This week Apple has once again broadened its iTunes store offerings by adding The Sundance Channel and The National Geographic Channel to the store’s “television” section.
The Sundance Channel lineup consists of: The Hill, a 6-episode show focusing on the inner workings of “rebel” Congressman Robert Wexler’s office, The Staircase, a documentary following a North Carolina murder trial, and The First Amendment Project, a show made up of documentary films that examine freedom of speech in America.
The National Geographic Channel has added four of its more popular shows as well, including: Explorer, the longest running documentary series on cable television, Kids, a show for children that sends kids on amazing animal adventures, Most Amazing, a show chronicling a myriad of topics such as great engineering feats and the forces of nature, and finally, Wild, with amazing animal adventures and exotic locales.
