Flash 10.3 Beta for Mac: Now In Your System Preferences, Too

By Federico Viticci

If you’ve always been wondering why Adobe’s Flash Player don’t let you easily manage privacy and storage settings, then you must be pleased to know that’s about to change with the beta of Flash 10.3 for Windows, Mac and Linux. As noted by Lifehacker, version 10.3.180.42 (let’s just call it 10.3 beta) allows you to directly modify Flash Player’s cache, privacy and other settings (such as the microphone or camera) without having to visit a special web link to a webpage hosted on Adobe’s servers.

With Flash 10.3, it all (finally) happens with a settings window that appears to be accessible from the Control Panel in Windows, and a prefpane in your Mac’s System Preferences (see screenshots below). The panel has got a tabbed interface to switch between Storage, Camera and Mic, Playback and Advanced settings with lots of options to delete private data, de-authorize a computer from protected content, tweak the camera’s settings on a site-by-site basis.

Clearing out your Flash cache will be much easier in the new version, currently available for download and testing on Adobe’s website. These new user and OS-friendly settings will also be integrated into each browser’s own Preferences. Go download Flash 10.3 beta for Mac here. Read more

Cyberduck 4.0 Is Out: Dropbox Support, Better Finder Integration

By Federico Viticci

Popular file manager and FTP / cloud uploader Cyberduck was updated to the long-awaited version 4.0 today, which adds a lot of features for Mac and Windows users. The new version of Cyberduck (not yet available in the Mac App Store, which still reports version 3.8.2 as the latest one) comes with a series of bug fixes and enhancements but, most of all, better Finder integration on OS X and Dropbox support through API.

Finder integration seems very useful as the app puts a new option in the Services menu (contextual menu on right-click) that lets you upload any files to a specific Cyberduck bookmark directly from the Finder. Just choose a file, hit Upload and Cyberduck will ask you where you want to upload it. Besides the Finder, this should work in all apps that supports the Services menu – ironically, you should be able to upload files from Transmit to Cyberduck.

Also interesting is initial Dropbox support to access your files stored in Dropbox without leaving the Cyberduck interface. The implementation in version 4.0, however, is kind of convoluted as it forces you to download a special configuration profile and log in with a developer API (which you need to generate on Dropbox) to grant the app access to your Dropbox files and folders. I wish this Dropbox integration was easier to set up like in many other iOS apps we’ve seen in the past months.

You can read all the details of what’s new in version 4.0 here. Cyberduck is a free download, although donations are recommended.

Air Video Finally Adds iOS 4.3 and AirPlay Support

By Federico Viticci

Air Video, the popular iOS application to stream movies from a computer with real-time conversion, was updated last night to include support for iOS 4.3 (now in GM and ready to be released this Friday) and a much requested feature since Apple unveiled iOS 4.2 months ago: AirPlay video out support.

You may remember, in fact, that Apple’s initial implementation of AirPlay didn’t allow third-party developers to use the new feature in their apps. AirPlay video streaming was exclusive to Apple’s own applications for iPhone and iPad, and not even Mobile Safari could stream videos to the Apple TV. With iOS 4.3, however, Apple revised its decision (or simply had time to properly enable system-wide AirPlay support) and now allows every developer to implement the AirPlay APIs for video-out streaming.

The latest Air Video update supports AirPlay with iOS 4.3, and that’s it. Not a huge changelog, but the feature is the one we’ve been waiting for. As for those who think the new Home Sharing might make apps like Air Video or StreamToMe useless, please keep in mind that Air Video supports any kind of file, in any location, with on-the-fly conversion to iOS. iTunes’ Home Sharing is sweet, especially for music, but Air Video still wins when it comes to video support.

The new Air Video is available here, and it requires iOS 4.3 and Air Video Server 2.4.5-beta3 or newer for AirPlay support.

Pocket Casts: A Full-Featured Podcast App That Doesn’t Need iTunes

By Federico Viticci

Last week I decided it was about time for me to subscribe to some podcasts I had been keeping an eye on, but never really considered as an option for my free time. Podcasts are so 2001, I know, but I’ve never subscribed regularly to any of them. Plus, I have noticed a dramatic increase in the quality of tech podcasts lately, mainly thanks to the empire built by 5by5’s Dan Benjamin and a few other gems like Minimal Mac’s Enough or Shawn Blanc’s Today. I have to admit, though, that it was the B&B Podcast (also by Shawn Blanc and Benjamin Brooks) to convince me to go ahead and finally enter the podcasting scene as an active listener. Read more

Create an iTunes Music Queue with “Next”

By Federico Viticci

If you’re anything like me, you’re browsing through iTunes or Spotify all day searching for some music in your collection to send to your room’s speakers. Sometimes you spend so much time browsing albums and singles you own you even forget about the songs you wanted to play. Next, a $2.99 utility available in the Mac App Store, aims at solving this issue by providing a way to create a queue for your iTunes library so you’ll never forget about songs you want to listen to again. At the same time, it offers a neat solution to build a queue for artists and songs you’d like to check out in a specific orders.

The app plugs into your iTunes library with no setup required. It also looks very simple (perhaps a little too much) with only a list view being provided and that’s it. You can pick a song from iTunes and hit the Queue button to play it “next”. Another button lets you clear the queue entirely and Next can run in the menubar as well. The menubar icon has a shortcut to the song you’ve selected to play next, and if no song was picked the menu will display a “Random” button.

Next is a very easy way to manage songs in your iTunes queue, but I wish there was more attention to detail and UI design to make the app look better next to beautiful software like Ecoute or Spotify. Anyway, it does exactly what it’s supposed to, so you should give it a try.

Jailbreak Hack Puts Verizon iPhone on Pay-As-You-Go Network

By Federico Viticci

Not so popular over here in Italy but apparently widely recognized in the States, pay-as-you-go networks allow you to get a phone from shady stores / individuals with pre-paid credit to consume at your own needs. Personally I prefer to keep my iPhone in safe waters with a proper subscription and data usage, but there’s some people who really prefer the pre-paid option over a more “secure” carrier offer. As noted by Engadget, it is possible to make the CDMA Verizon iPhone run on Cricket’s pay-as-you-go network, but you’ll have to jailbreak your phone, install some utility to set up the process and let a Cricket guy flash the device’s memory for you. Hmm. Would you trust that?

Still, it’s possible. Check out the video proof below. Read more

Apple Removing 32 Games and 3rd Party Mac Products from Retail Stores

By Federico Viticci

According to The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple, Apple is in the process of removing a series of boxed games and third-party Mac products from its retail stores to make room for other services that require space and additional employees. Namely, Apple has apparently decided to cut 32 games off the shelves and products like printers, hard drives and scanners to leave plenty of room for employees to work on the “personalized setups”, a service launched in January that allows customers to go through a friendly Mac setup process together with an Apple Store employee that will guide them through the first OS X installation, iTunes account creation and Mail setup.

Due to the popularity of the personalized service, Apple is expanding it and will need to make more room for employees to work with customers.

Among the products that will no longer be displayed in the retail stores are printers, scanners and possible some hard drives. These peripherals will still be stocked in the store and available if a customer requests them.

At the point of sale, the Apple salesperson will still recommend the customer purchase one of those peripherals if they feel it fits in with the customer’s purchase.

With the removal of 32 games from the Apple Store, the number of games being displayed on the shelves will go down to around 8 per store, according to The Loop. It also appears that employees will being suggesting customers to go look for games in the Mac App Store – again, a very easy way to promote the new digital online store in the heavily trafficked retail locations. Apple has also recently stopped selling boxed copies of MobileMe, which is now exclusively available online and it’s rumored to be revamped soon with a free version for iOS and Mac users.

Socialcam, The “Instagram for Video”, Now Available. Our Review

By Federico Viticci

A few weeks ago we talked about Socialcam, a new iOS and Android app from the creators of Justin.tv that’s aimed at revolutionizing the mobile video sharing space by offering a friendly user-experience heavily inspired by the current winner of mobile photo sharing apps, Instagram. Socialcam is finally available for free in the App Store and, after some quick tests, I can say this new app / service has a lot of potentialities to become the “Instagram for video”, but it needs a series of refinements in the settings to allow users to upload videos at the quality they want.

The strongest selling point of Instagram, in fact, is that it’s easy to use and, while images get compressed to enable faster uploading times on WiFi and 3G, users won’t notice the decrease in quality thanks to the filters provided by the app. Filters in Instagram are both a nice photographic addition and a way to “hide” the fact that photos are compressed at lower quality. Socialcam, however, doesn’t come with filters and videos are heavily compressed even when uploaded through WiFi. From what I’ve seen so far, this will make most videos look crappy on the iPhone 4 which, by the way, can actually do HD video recording. Socialcam should definitely offer some settings to allow users to upload and wait for the quality they want, as this could be great for videographers willing to share their creations on the go. Read more

64 GB iPhone 4 Prototypes On Sale in Hong Kong?

By Federico Viticci

Take this with the proverbial grain of salt, but as noted by M.I.C. Gadget it appears that a series of iPhone 4s with capacity of 64 GB have been put on sale in grey markets of Hong Kong. The sellers are claiming these are “engineering prototypes” snatched directly from Apple in some way, running iOS 4.1 build 8B117 and carrying a lot of XXXs where the model numbers are ID should be.

According to Unwire.hk, this suspicious 64GB model has started selling in Sin Tak, the greatest grey market in Hong Kong, and the sellers claimed that these are engineered models and available in small quantity.

Do we believe this? Personally not so much, but I wouldn’t be surprised to know someone in mainland China managed to get a 64 GB prototype (which it’s very likely Apple has been testing for years) and put it on sale. What about the “small quantity” though? Did they really get multiple prototypes from a single source? Might as well be fake, considering how Apple could easily block and wipe these units remotely.

Still, a 64 GB iPhone would be great.