Filed under: How-tos

In general, Mac hardware is very reliable. Like any complex gizmo, a Mac will have its quirks, but only rarely do those quirks turn into a full-on, machine-killing meltdown. When that does happen, as it recently happened to my wife's MacBook, there's a few things you can do to keep the death of your Mac from becoming more of an ordeal than it has to be.

Before your Mac dies:

Back up your data. Your Mac is humming along nicely now, and if you've never had a computer die on you before, you might think it'll go on crunching binary bits forever. Unfortunately, it won't -- eventually, something on the Mac is going to fail. And when it does, it'll take all your music, documents, games, videos, and family photos down with it... unless you have those things backed up in another location. At a bare minimum you should be using Time Machine to back up your entire Mac to an external hard drive. Considering that Apple bundles this simple-to-use backup software in OS X, and considering how cheap even terabyte-capacity external hard drives have become, there's really no excuse for not backing up your data. Having all of your data backed up to another drive makes a dead Mac an inconvenience rather than a full-blown catastrophe. There are other third-party tools you can use, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, but if you're looking for a solution that doesn't require an additional download (or much conscious thought to implement), Time Machine is the probably simplest backup tool available.

More suggestions, both pre- and post-death, after the link below.

TUAWWhat to do when your Mac dies originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Apple

Patently Apple reports that Apple has picked up a major patent from the USPTO for a long list of mutitouch gestures. The gestures all involve moving two or more fingers on a multitouch surface, and cover everything from cut and copy shortcuts to global search and find and replace motions. I'm sure creative types could probably come up with at least a few other ways to ways to move your fingers on a surface, but this one's pretty far-reaching. PA also notes that almost all of these gestures were picked up by Apple as part of their Fingerworks purchase -- while (as far as I know) not all of these gestures eventually made it to the iPad, we can probably expect to see them show up in the future.

Also picked up from the USPTO includes a patent for adjusting the tempo of music played by an iPod, possibly even according to some body metric (like putting a strap on your arm to measure your pulse by using Nike+), one patent for antenna structure, and a few different patents dealing with digital files and folders. As always, just the fact that Apple is patenting these ideas doesn't ever mean that we'll for sure see them in future updates of software or hardware. But watching these patents is a good way to keep an eye on what's coming out of Apple's R&D departments.

TUAWApple patents multitouch gestures originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Humor

Did you ever have one of those days where it seems like everyone is getting an email from Steve Jobs but you? Well, worry no more! The Joy of Tech has created the Steve Jobs Email Reply Generator. Using a series of drop-down menus, you can compose an email to Steve Jobs, like mine to the right. Then you can create Steve's reply and choose which device he sent it from.

Reading through all of the drop-down menu options is pretty funny. However, the thing that stops short of making this gag really funny is that you can't actually send the email to yourself (or any gullible friends). You can only look at it on the screen -- which kind of defeats the purpose of an "email generator."

Anyway, props to the talent at Joy of Tech, and thanks for reminding me how much I loved Mad Libs as a kid!

TUAWJoy of Tech creates Steve Jobs Email Reply Generator originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

There could be many occasion that you would like to schedule PC shutdown at a predefined intervals or under certain conditions without relying on manual reset. Even though there are many solutions out there but in case you are still looking around, here is a simple utility that you can try. Named as Shutdown Timer, [...]

• Schedule Windows Shutdown with Vista Shutdown Sleep Timer
• Automatically Shutdown Computer With Auto Shutdown Genius
• Quick Shutdown Your Computer
• Restart or Shutdown Windows (XP, 2000 and Vista) from Command Line or One-Click Shortcut
• Turn Off PC When Completed Download With Auto Shutdown Firefox Add-On

Filed under: iPad

Thinking Screen Media is a content platform developer, putting together a content delivery system designed to bring information to "millions of connected screens worldwide." Now, it seems that many of those screens might be iPads. TechCrunch reports that they've raised a whopping $2 million just to switch their development aim to the iPad. They currently have an iPad app up and running in the store, and they've got a number of other investment sources already. However, according to the report, this money is specifically for the iPad.

Of course, in the larger scheme of things, this is small potatoes. A content channel is pretty useless unless it's delivering content that people actually want, and $2 million is loose change for some of the larger content companies. This is a significant investment in terms of its scope, though. Even a smaller company like this is heavily investing in the iPad and Apple's platform as a major part of their business.

TUAWContent company raises $2 million to develop for iPad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Music

It's a long-familiar story: innovative start-up gains traction, gets major search deal, earns attention from bigger companies, is gobbled up... and then takes down the primary service that got it so much buzz in the first place. Google acquisitions Etherpad and Jotspot, welcome your new club member from the Apple side: Lala is shutting down its streaming and music purchase operation on May 31.

Lala's site notes that users "will be able to access and play all music in your Lala collection through May 31, 2010. Any mp3 songs purchased and downloaded from Lala will continue to play as part of your local music library. You can continue to purchase mp3 songs through May 31st using your wallet balance or other payment methods." No new purchases can be made at this point and the service is no longer accepting signups. Outstanding credit balances on the site will be transferred to iTunes store credit, and loyal users are due a bonus: "In appreciation of your support, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple's iTunes Store." How thoughtful.

As we bid farewell to the Lala of yesterday, what's coming for the streaming-enabled iTunes of tomorrow? Check out our past Lala posts for the rest of the story.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[H/T to Ars Technica]

TUAWBye-bye, Lala: Apple-owned streaming service to shut down originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPhone

Gameloft's emphasis on iThings seems to be paying off. The French developer, one of the world's biggest publishers of games for mobiles, says iPhone apps accounted for 21% of its sales in the first quarter of 2010. That's a decent percentage considering that, for all of 2009, iPhone games only represented 14% of the company's sales.

While Gameloft still makes noise about other phones and platforms, including those from Palm, Samsung, Nokia and Google's Android, the company's focus seems to be on Apple devices. Late last year, Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said his company had cut back on developing for Android because buying apps for Androids was "not as neatly done as on the iPhone," and that companies weren't making significant revenue on Google phones.

[via iPodNN]

TUAWiPhone apps make up 21% of Gameloft sales in 1Q originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Macbook Pro

Apple Insider has discovered a patent application that would turn any place on the aluminum shell of a MacBook Pro into a disappearing input space by utilizing invisible backlit holes.

The application describes an input device made of the same material as the computer housing, so when not in use, it disappears. Light, combined with a capacitive sensor, would enable it to work. The patent example showing this in action displays a control wheel that's similar to the iPod's.

Comparisons are made in the patent to the iPhone's touchscreen surface and its drawbacks -- mainly the seams and the fragility. Indeed, something made of aluminum would be a lot tougher and not look as tacked-on as plastic or rubber.

Other uses for such a device would be a trackpad, external button, a display when the computer lid is closed, Wi-Fi signal/battery indicators and more.

TUAWPatent: Invisible button on future MacBook Pros originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: App Store

Space Miner: Space Ore Bust is a terrific game for the iPhone -- it's an arcade game that's basically a one-stick shooter, where you move a ship around a 2D field (rendered in colorful 3D), collecting asteroid ore and taking down alien robots. But though the basic premise of the game is quite simple, there's actually a lot of depth that builds up over time, as you navigate around various zones, and upgrade your ship, your ore collector, and all of the other various parts of your space ore business.

And while the gameplay is tight and fun, the best part of Space Miner (in my humble opinion) is the brilliant and hilarious script. Not only does the story of the game give you great reasons to keep going out there and blasting ore, but it's legitimately creative and funny. Chicago poet and performer Robbie Q. Telfer is listed in the credits as story editor, and that really paid off for the game -- some of the dialogue is just perfect.

So yes, the game is worth a buy even at the normal $4.99 price -- but wait, there's more. Starting tomorrow, Space Miner: Space Ore Bust is going on sale for just 99 cents for a limited time to help promote the Venan Arcade's upcoming second game, the strangely titled Ninjatown: Trees of Doom. At that price, it's worth a purchase just to play through the tutorial. Definitely be sure to grab it.

TUAWTUAW's Daily App: Space Miner: Space Ore Bust originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: iPad

Apple has decided to close all of their 220+ retail stores for one hour in advance of the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G launch in the US today. As noted on the individual retail store listings:

The store will be closed from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 30, to prepare for the arrival of iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G.

All store closings are local time. The closings suggest that Apple is expecting long lines even though one version of the iPad has already made its big launch. On the April 3rd iPad Wi-Fi launch, Apple sold 300,000 iPads in 24 hours. Five days after launch, Apple had reported another 150,000 units sold, bringing the total to over 450,000 units sold. This coming Monday will be exactly one month from the iPad Wi-Fi's launch. If Apple's retail preparations are correct in surmising long lines for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G launch, it's very likely that, come Monday, Apple will be announcing more than one million iPads (between both models) sold.

TUAWApple Retail stores closed between 4-5PM due to iPad 3G launch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments