The brothers Dailide have shipped their much anticipated photo editing application, PixelMator. Yes, Gruber can no longer cry “vaporware!”. PixelMator 1.0 includes much of the feature set of Photoshop (version 3, maybe 4). Still, there is a definite market for a simple, easy to use image editor on the Mac. Along with a robust set of features, PixelMator also features a gorgeous UI, eschewing traditional OS X panels for a total HUD (heads up display) look.
I was one of the lucky ones to beta test this app, and can tell you that it is rock solid. If you’ve been looking for an image editing application and don’t want to mortgage the house on Photoshop, PixelMator may be the way to go for you. Of course, you could also give Acorn a try.
Wow. Two weeks ago there were no simple, functional, easy to use image editors on the Mac under $100. Now there are two. Viva lé Core Image!
PixelMator 1.0 is $59.
Category: Software
Amazon.com has launched their MP3 music store in public beta this morning. AmazonMP3 features MP3 tracks that are DRM free and will play on any computer and on any device that can handle MP3s (including, of course, the iPod). AmazonMP3 has over 2 million songs from 180,000 artists. Most tracks are $.99 cents, and the top 100 tracks are $.89 cents. Many albums are between $8.99 and $9.99. In my searching though, I found little sense in the pricing, as the album English Settlement from XTC was $8.99, but all of their other albums were $11.99 – $12.99.
I think AmazonMP3 will be a huge success. It gets right what most of the other downloadable music stores get wrong – (semi) decent pricing, easy access (any browser, any platform), and no DRM.
I think Apple finally has some competition.
Category: Digital Music
I’ve been a .Mac user since before it was .Mac (it used to be called iTools, for those new to the scene). I’ve anted up each Oct 2nd for the privilege of having a .mac email address, syncing across multiple Macs, easy iDisk access and the other .Mac features. However, this year I’m opting out. I had nearly decided to use my $100 early adopter iPhone rebate to renew .Mac this year, but decided against it (I opted for Aperture, which I really like).
Look, I’m not saying .Mac isn’t a valuable service. It is, so long as you want to do things the .Mac way. Let me explain this feature by feature.
Email: .Mac email is very nice. The IMAP implementation is speedy, has good uptime (but not great), and is super simple to setup in Mail.app. The cons are that the storage space isn’t great (it got better with the new update, but you have to share 10GB between email & web), the junk mail settings kind of suck, and it doesn’t “push” automatically to the iPhone like Yahoo! mail does. The last point was a sore spot for me. Why does Yahoo! offer push email to the iPhone for free, but Apple doesn’t?
iDisk: Or as I like to call it, slowDisk. WebDAV is super friendly, and being able to mount and work with the share via the Finder is nice. However, when the transfer speed is ridiculously slow, it really negates the benefit of ease of use. And I suspect the main reason the Finder still won’t write to FTP shares is that Apple doesn’t want to make the Finder too friendly to FTP, as it sees that as a way to drive people to .Mac. Whatever. Convenience is nice, but not at the cost of being a turtle on the information superhighway.
iWeb: I used to publish my family photos on my iDisk through Homepage. Homepage eventually was succeeded by iWeb. While iWeb is nice for those who don’t care about ridiculously huge unoptimized files, it is an abhor-ration for anyone who does web development. I can appreciate a tool that makes serving up pages/images super simple. I still think iPhoto’s export to HTML (while really ugly) does the job nicely. iWeb does a good job of making the average joe feel like they are creating a nice website, but at the end of the day, its a templated piece of crap. Web Gallery is nice, but I don’t want all of my photo/movie pages looking exactly like everyone else’s. Sorry, I’ll stick with iPhoto/Aperture web export, and Flickr.
Back to my Mac: When this was demoed for Leopard at WWDC, I was very impressed. It seems like it will make connecting to computers throughout your home super simple. The problem for me, is that I know how to enter an address in to the connect window, so I’m not really sure I’ll benefit from this. The ability to connect to your home computer via the internet seems slick, but you can do this currently with DynDNS (or other similar services) for free.
Syncing: This is the one feature of .Mac that had me justifying year after year to renew. .Mac syncing is wonderful. And it is getting better in Leopard. In addition to syncing Email Accounts, Rules, Keychains, Contacts, Calendars and Bookmarks, Leopard will also add Preferences, Widgets, and Dock items. This makes getting a new computer up to speed incredibly easy. .Mac syncing usually lobbed off a good 30 minutes of setup time for each new machine/new OS installation I had. It is the one feature I will truly miss.
So for the last couple of weeks, I’ve started to migrate away from .Mac. On Oct 2nd, my subscription will lapse and I’ll be .Mac-less. I’m sure I’ll feel a little sting the next time I need to setup a new Mac. But I’ll just keep reminding myself that I can put that $100 to better use elsewhere.
Category: Opinion
Microsoft has posted a new website detailing the new features inside Office: Mac 2008. Among the new features, are a revamped interface throughout the new suite, Document elements (essentially template “parts”), Publishing Layout View, new Chart Wizards/Options for Excel, and MyDay for Entourage. Additionally, the new version of the Microsoft Office suite will use the standard Apple installer, and not the previous versions drag and drop installation method. While some, like Gruber, see this as a plus, I see it as a negative. I will acknowledge that it is nice that the new Office won’t unconditionally stuff your system with fonts you neither need or don’t want. However, the drag and drop installer could have been outfitted with a similar feature.
My problem with the package installation method is that the user isn’t left with any information on what was installed where, unless of course, they are savvy enough to dig through log files. With drag and drop, you knew exactly where everything was going, because you put it there.
I’m sure Microsoft is correct in stating that IT admins will applaud the change. However, for those of us who manage our own machines, I feel it is a step backwards. It’s not a huge issue, but I definitely prefer the drag and drop method.
Category: News
Having problems with GrowlMail not working in the latest version of Growl? You’re not alone. There seems to be a bug that has yet to be documented in the release notes. If after installing the GrowlMail plugin you still don’t have the GrowlMail prefpane in Mail.app, run these commands in the terminal:
defaults write com.apple.mail EnableBundles 1
defaults write com.apple.mail BundleCompatibilityVersion 2
Restart mail, and voila – GrowlMail should now work.
Category: Tutorial
Apple has posted the information and form necessary for iPhone owners to get the $100 credit as detailed by Steve Jobs last week.
Of note:
- You must have bought your phone before August 22, 2007
- You must submit your request for the credit before November 30, 2007
- Your phone must be activated before you submit your claim (no rebate for you, hackers!)
Once you submit the form, you will receive a SMS message on your phone with a code that you enter in to the form, which will then complete the rebate process.
I’ve already spent mine. A copy of Aperture is heading my way!
Category: Apple,iPhone
Apple has updated the Apple Store with new versions of Logic Studio and Express. Dubbed “Logic Studio 8″ and “Logic Express 8″, the new versions include a revamped interface, a price reduction and many new features.
Logic Studio brings a new single window interface, a simpler setup, quick swipe comping, new audio editing tools, surround sound mixing/processing, and the retirement of the Dongle. Additionally, Apple has added a new component, MainStage, which lets keyboardists, guitarists, and other musicians perform with software instruments and effects through a full-screen interface designed specifically for the stage.
Apple dropped the price of Logic Studio from $999 to $499.
Logic Express features many of the same interface improvements as Studio, and new features such as Guitar Amp Pro, Ringshifter, and full-featured Pitch Correction. The price of Logic Express drops from $299 to $199. Both are available now from the Apple Store.
Category: Apple,Software
So, iPhone can handle .DOC, .PDF, and .XLS files for viewing, but it can’t view a measley .RTF file? Are you kidding me? Can you say “oversight”? If this omission was intentional, it must have something to with needing to save space. I guess if you are aiming to hit the bigger audience, and you could only choose one – .DOC or .RTF, the Marketing guys would probably push for .DOC.
Still, it left me speechless that my $600 $400 smartphone couldn’t handle a simple .RTF file for viewing.
Category: iPhone
We knew it was coming, but yesterday it happened. From the press release:
Apple Sells One Millionth iPhone
CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone(TM) yesterday, just 74 days after its introduction on June 29. iPhone combines three devices into one-a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod(R), and the best mobile Internet device ever-all based on Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers.
“One million iPhones in 74 days-it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season.”
Category: iPhone,News
Gus Mueller from Flying Meat software has released his new app, Acorn. It is billed as a lightweight, layers based, bitmap image editor. Additional features include iSight integration, Tablet support, Vector shape/text layers, extensibility through plug-ins, and more. Acorn is $39.95, and available for download as trial.
Category: Software
