Month: December 2009

Mac 101: Making Text Replacement Work

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

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Text replacement: it's one of Snow Leopard's really cool features. With it, you can type abbreviations and they'll automatically expand into full text. You can convert your most common phrases into just a few keystrokes, and let Snow Leopard take care of the rest. Here's a quick summary of what you need to do to make text replacement work for you.

Creating Macros in System Preferences.

Open System Preferences (it's in the Apple menu at the top of your screen) and navigate to Language & Text > Text. There you'll find a Symbol and Text Substitution list. Click the + button to add a new item. For this example, put (tuaw) into the Replace column and The Unofficial Apple Weblog into the With column. Leave the box to the left of these items checked.

So why use the parentheses? Strictly speaking, they're not necessary. You can define text substitutions on any set of characters, as shown in the screen shot below. What these parentheses do for me, is that they distinguish between when I want to type TUAW and not have it expand, and when I want the abbreviation to transform into the full Weblog name.



Enabling Text Replacement

Text replacement works on a per-application basis. Many applications default to this feature being off. To make text replacement happen, right-click within any text entry area such as a composition window in Mail or the text entry field in Colloquy, etc. The contextual menu provides a Substitutions submenu. Make sure Text Replacement is checked. If it is not, select it to toggle the option from on to off or off to on.



Applying Text Replacment

The big secret to making text replacement happen, once you've defined the shortcuts and enabled Text Replacement in the contextual menu, is the space key. Snow Leopard does not apply the shortcut replacement until it detects you have finished typing a phrase. Only then does it perform its internal look up and substitution.

Also prepare to wait a second or so. The replacement text often lags behind your typing. So go ahead and keep entering text. The operating system will catch up and perform its substitution work without your oversight.

For Mike G., with TUAW affection

TUAWMac 101: Making Text Replacement Work originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple, censorship, and cogs in the wheel: the Dalai Lama is expunged from Chinese App Store

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

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It's being reported by PC World that Apple has begun censoring iPhone applications that contain any reference to the Dalai Lama in the Chinese App Store. At least five applications that contain references to the Dalai Lama have been banned: three of the apps - Dalai Quotes [$.99, iTunes], Dalai Lama Quotes [$.99, iTunes], and Dalai Lama Prayerwheel [$.99, iTunes] - contain quotes by His Holiness, while a fourth, Paging Dalai Lama [free, iTunes] tells users where he is currently teaching. A fifth app called Nobel Laureates [$.99, iTunes], details information about all the Nobel Peace Prize winners since the prize began in 1895. The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

If you don't know much about the Dalai Lama, there's a great documentary you should check out called 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama [iTunes]. The filmmaker poses some tough questions to the Dalai Lama about today's world and the individual's place in it, as well as presenting the viewer with an excellent biography of this remarkable man. In May of 2008 I had the honor of seeing the Dalai Lama speak in London. He's a wonderful person with an infectious laugh (and he even sounds like Yoda - no joke, check out my videos here). If his laughter doesn't win you over, perhaps the fact that he's a spiritual leader who loves and embraces technology will.



It's no secret that I'm very bullish on Apple [AAPL] stock. I've made money investing in it since 2003. But as a shareholder second and a human being first, Apple's censorship sickens me. This is capitalism at its worst. It's no mystery why Apple, along with many other tech companies, cave to China's totalitarian demands: China has the largest population of consumers on the planet. Apple is gunning for many more than its existing 300,000-strong customer base of the 1.3 billion Chinese mobile handset market.

Now, I'm a realist. Apple's move isn't surprising. Though it's publicly stood up for human rights in the past, Apple exists to sell products, and a billion people is a lot of cheddar. In Steve Jobs' eyes, the goal of the company may be continued innovation (he may even be "the Dalai Lama of integration"), but there are plenty of money men at Apple and their number one concern is to grow the bottom line. China can add a lot to that bottom line. So it's no surprise when Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller shrugs off Apple's censorship with a "We continue to comply with local laws" jibe. Just go ahead and read that as "Not our problem. Anyway, do you know how much cheese is over there?"

But here's where the real problem lies. I'm a hypocrite. Things won't change until we do and I can't really convey to you just how hard that is. If you're a shareholder, as I am, you're complicit in Apple's and others decisions to cave to China (and capitalism) at the expense of human rights. I mean, I know I was downright giddy when I heard the news that Apple had come to an agreement with the Chinese government to sell the iPhone there. All I could think was ka-ching!

We may read (or in my case, write) opinion pieces like this and lament "Gosh, that censorship is just horrible" but then we look at the ten-, fifty-, one hundred-thousand, or even millions of dollars of Apple stock sitting in our brokerage accounts and think, "But, that's my nest egg and I want to see that puppy grow. What's the harm in five little apps being censored?"

The harm is this: that line of thinking doesn't change the status quo. It doesn't move the world forward. Our inaction is a form of complicity with Apple's deliberate censorship. But, as long as we don't experience the oppression first hand, what the shareholder wants will always outweigh the good of the individual - even if it's 1.3 billion individuals. I'd like to believe that I think mindfully; that I'm strong enough morally to sell my Apple stock as a show of solidarity for the greater good... but am I? Are you?

We are all cogs in the wheel.

Still, it's the end of the year, and I don't want my last post of the first decade of the twenty-first century stopping on a depressing note. So, I'll wish you all a Happy New Year now and leave you with this quote by the Dalai Lama (a quote which could easily apply to our conundrum):
"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck."

TUAWApple, censorship, and cogs in the wheel: the Dalai Lama is expunged from Chinese App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 12-hour iPhone app

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

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Gizmondo has an interesting story from David Quinlan, a coder who decided sit down over a weekend with a few friends to crank out an iPhone app. It's an excellent read, not only for the little quirks and tips about organizing a collaborative project very quickly (they sketch out features and then prioritize them, and use Dropbox to keep all the files in the right places), but for the sheer push of how you actually go from idea to concept to code and finally to released iPhone app.

I won't say it sounds easy -- these guys had a good amount of experience at development and releasing software even before they started work on this app, and if you sit down with Erica's book and hope to release your very first piece of code after just a weekend of solo work, it's not going to happen. But it definitely sounds possible -- the iPhone's development platform is relatively easy to pick up (especially if you're already experienced with coding in other languages), and Apple's release process is open to anyone willing to spend the $100 to become an official developer.

TUAWThe 12-hour iPhone app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warpia Wireless USB Display Adapter Streams Audio Video from PC to Digital TV

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

Wireless technology has been widely used as a replacement of wired technology which is neat in solution suitable for digital home. In order to extend its usage, Warpia has unveiled a new wireless USB display adapter that can connect normal PC to digital TV, display monitor or projector wirelessly without the need of whole [...]


Power Mac G5 turned time-teller

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

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This is great, and highly appropriate for the tick-tocking away of the year -- Japanese modder Nobon had an old Power Mac G5 (case, it looks like, though this would be cool on a working Mac as well) sitting around, and he wanted to know what time it was, so he installed a little clock in there. As mods go, it's pretty simple, but man that looks great. Like most users, I usually hide my actual boxes under the desk or in a cabinet, but if any of my computer cases were as beautiful and functional as that, I'd put them out front and center.

There's a sequence of pictures on his site showing how he did it. It's all in Japanese, so you'll only be able to read it if you happen to be fluent. But it looks pretty simple -- drill a hole in the side of the case, install a battery operated clock, shine a light on it, and voila, instant Mac centerpiece. Apple products don't die, they just change function!

[Via Cult of Mac]

TUAWPower Mac G5 turned time-teller originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mac 101: Stop the iPhone from opening iPhoto

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

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More Mac 101, tips and tricks for novice Mac users.

I love iPhoto. I use it for most of my photo editing. The thing I don't like about iPhoto is how it opens each and every time I connect my iPhone to my Mac. What strikes my as plain silly is that, since the introduction of the iPhone two and a half years ago, Apple has not built in an option in the iTunes iPhone status window to disable the automatic iPhoto launch every time you plug in your iPhone.

If you want to take control of this behavior, and you'd prefer to stick with Apple's built-in tools (rather than take advantage of the free and easy Cameras prefpane) there is good news: there's a simple way to disable this 'feature' and it doesn't involve command line stuff. Even better, it isn't an "all or nothing" solution - eg: you can still have iPhoto automatically open when you connect your camera, but not have it open when you connect your iPhone. Aron mentioned this approach a few months ago but I thought it would be helpful to walk through it in detail.

It should be noted that this solution only works on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. If you are running 10.5 or earlier, you'll have to use one of the solutions noted above; we recommend the free Cameras preference pane as a quick fix.

You'll see the image above is of iPhoto's preferences. You may think the option of disabling iPhone auto-open is in there, but it's not. To stop the iPhone from opening iPhoto you actually need to launch the Image Capture application.

Step 1: Launch Image Capture (Applications>Image Capture). If your iPhone isn't plugged in already, plug it in to the USB port on your Mac. It should then show up in the devices source list.

Step 2: Make sure you have the iPhone selected in the source list. When you do, you should see any photos you have on the iPhone appear in the right-hand column of the Image Capture application.
Step 3: At the bottom of the source list, you'll see your iPhone's name then, below that, you'll see the words "Connecting this iPhone opens:" and a drop-down menu. Select "No application". Now close the Image Capture app and you're done. No more iPhone opening up iPhoto, but your other cameras will still auto-launch iPhoto when they are connected!

TUAWMac 101: Stop the iPhone from opening iPhoto originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pocket-Sized Mag Pix 1080p HD Mini Camcorder

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

Mag Pix 1080p HD Mini Camcorder is a tiny, pocket-sized camcorder that able to record full HD (1920 x 1080 pixel resolution) widescreen MP4 video at 30 fps with H.264 encoding, featuring 5MP CMOS sensor, 2.4″ LCD display, tilting lens with 4x digital zoom and built-in LED flash. Key Features Of Mag Pix 1080p HD Mini [...]


PosiMotion Helix Gaming Grip For iPhone And iPod Touch

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

The innovative technology leader creating breakthrough applications, games, utilities and hardware for various mobile platforms, PosiMotion has announced its new revolutionary gaming grip for iPhone and iPod touch – Helix, which designed to vastly enhance accelerometer-based gameplay experience, seems perfect for racing, first person shooter, action RPG, flight stimulator, side-scroller and more games. “Not only does [...]


Garmin Oregon 450 and 450t That Compatible With Garmin Connect And Custom Maps

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

Nowadays GPS devices have been widely used especially for turn-by-turn directions as it’s becoming more advances as compared to previously. The global leader satellite navigation, Garmin has announced its two new Oregon GPS devices which named as Oregon 450t and Oregon 450. These two outdoor devices have been designed to compatible with the online community [...]


MSI Unveils Wind Top AP1920, Wind Box DE220 and DC500 Mini At CES 2010

Posted by admin on December 31, 2009

In conjunction to the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2010 at next month, MSI has announced that its will unveils a series of PCs which based on Intel’s Pine Trail platform at CES 2010. The PCs includes Wind Top AP1920 all-in-one PC, Wind Box DE220 and DC500 mini. All of these PCs are claimed to be [...]