Posts tagged with "mac"

iPhotoSync Lets You Effortlessly Transfer Photos Between iPhoto Libraries

If you have recently upgraded to iPhoto ‘11 (I bet many of you have) and you still haven’t found the time to set up that Dropbox-based library synchronization between all your computers you read about on some blog or forum board, perhaps you’d like to wait to give iPhotoSync a try. I was indeed about to drop my entire iPhoto library in Dropbox, but then I realized that iTunes (apps and music) was my priority, so I went for a local sync option. iPhotoSync is an app that can run in the background as an “agent” and allows you to sync iPhoto libraries across multiple Macs running on the same local network.

Developed by Haystack Software (the same guys behind Arq for Mac) and completely compatible with the latest iPhoto versions, iPhotoSync is really simple: make sure you have two Macs running iPhoto and iPhotoSync on the same local network, fire up the app on both Macs, let the iPhoto libraries communicate with each other. For instance, you’ll be able to pull all the new photos from another Mac’s iPhoto library, automatically sync photos added to a specific event, automatically sync photos added in the last month. Basically, iPhotoSync transfers photos back and forth.

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John Gruber On The Idea of iPad Apps Running on Mac OS X→

John Gruber On The Idea of iPad Apps Running on Mac OS X

I can prove it, practically, that iPad apps aren’t going to run on the Mac as a standard feature. iOS apps do run on Mac OS X, today, in the iPhone/iPad emulator that ships with the iOS developer kit. Ends up they’re just not that pleasant to use on a Mac. Gestures that are natural and fun with direct touch are awkward and clumsy using a mouse or touchpad.

And we thought this idea of iOS apps running as “widgets” on the desktop had been buried in the darkest corners of the blogosphere. Turns out some people are still claiming it’d be a “great addition to OS X”. Too bad Apple is not Adobe, and they don’t care about “cross-platform interoperability” as much as they care about “single-platform excellence”.

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Mac OS X Dock Built Using CSS3

We featured cool CSS experiments before: iOS icons in CSS, a Kinetic type video, a 3D rotating molecules demo that works great on the iPad earlier today.

Web developer and interface designer Michael Hüneburg, rebuilt the standard OS X dock using CSS3 animation and including reflections, bounce effects, labels. He also used some additional icons inspired to the popular iTunes 10 one. Check out the experiment here.

This is a quick CSS3 experiment trying to replicate the Dock of OS X, complete with labels, animations, reflections and indicators. It uses CSS transitions for the magnification effect and the :target pseudo-class and CSS animations for the bouncing effect.

The CSS-based dock works great on Webkit desktop browsers, but you won’t able to get the magnification effect on iOS due to the obvious lack of mouseover events.

Also From Steve Jobs: Final Cut Studio Ain’t Dead

Looks like the chief is back to organizing his inbox and replying to angry customers asking about Apple stuff. MacRumors reported of iTunes LP and Extra coming to the new Apple TV, and now according to a new email published by 9to5mac el Jobso suggested a reader to “stay tuned” for a Final Cut Studio update and “buckle up”.

Reader Evan Agee recently e-mailed the man in charge about the lack of a Final Cut Studio announcement at Apple’s Back to the Mac event and also threw in his hopes for a 64-bit update. Jobs’ reply?

Stay tuned and buckle up.
Sent from my iPhone

We are tuned in, Steve.

MacStories Giveaway: 5 iUseMac Bundles Up For Grabs

Yesterday we talked about a new Mac bundle from iUseMac which, in collaboration with ItaliaMac, is offering 9 great Mac apps (including the names of Picturesque, Renamer and Clean Text) at the price of $29. If you haven’t purchased the bundle yet (it expires in two weeks), you can get the chance to win one of the 5 bundles we have up for grabs here on MacStories.

Check out the giveaway rules below, and take at iUseMac’s included apps here. Read more

Running iPad Apps On The Mac→

Running iPad Apps On The Mac

Dave Winer:

Why didn’t I see this? One of my first wishes when I got my iPad was that this software would run on a Mac. I forgot that, and Uncle Steve said it the other way. The store is coming to the Mac. The store is coming to the Mac. That’s the sleight of hand. What he really meant to say is that IOS software is coming to the Mac. Or maybe it’s the IOS hardware I’m writing this on is running Mac software, kind of the way Carbon ran old lifeless legacy Mac apps. Which one is the “real” OS and which one is running in a compatibility box? I have a funny feeling that right now, as I type this on an AirBook, I’m using the compatibility box. Right?

The iPad can run apps from another iOS device, the iPhone. Will the Mac be able to run apps coming from iOS, even if the Mac is a machine running OS X? We don’t know. The thing is, if iOS is actually OS X coming back to the Mac after 3 years of mobile adventures (and if Lion is “OS X meets iPad”), then Winer’s option could make sense. Developers could adapt iPad apps to bigger screens with relative ease, though I don’t know how you’d be supposed to run apps requiring tilt controls on a desktop computer.

In the end, it’d be a cool feature – as long as you don’t pay attention to the trade-off.  Mobile apps don’t make any sense on the desktop, not as we think. Perhaps Apple will prove us wrong. The way I see it, Jobs simply wants to reinvent the way Mac software is discovered and distributed; a Mac App Store doesn’t necessarily mean the App Store is coming to the Mac.

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Notes On Setting Up A New Mac→

Notes On Setting Up A New Mac

Good points by Neven Mrgan, but I especially agree with this one:

Apple IDs and MobileMe accounts need to become connected. I should be able to enter one and have the other pulled in automatically. It’s kind of really weird that the whole setup process skips MobileMe - you have to go into System Preferences to add it yourself.

It’s weird, and it’s one of the things I hope Apple will address in Lion.

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Mac Portable Vs. MacBook Air - 21 Years of Apple Computing

Times change. Gadgets grow old fast. Look at your original iPhone from 2007, then look at the iPhone 4’s sexy metal band. Things in this industry have a short lifespan, and it’s up to great engineers and designers to make a device last in time and leave a permanent sign in the minds of people who used it, loved it.

In the picture above, you can see a Mac Portable from 1989 compared to a 2010 MacBook Air. Generation of Macs sitting next to each other, a visual representation of the progress that’s been made in science and computer engineering. But it was “only” 21 years ago. The first Game Boy came out the same year. The U2 were a great band. Yet, for as much as we remember those events as if it was yesterday and we struggle to keep that Mac Portable in perfect mint condition, things change. Fast.

So welcome, MacBook Air. We look forward to comparing you to another Mac in 21 years.

If Macs will still be around. [TUAW via Patrick McCarron]

iUseMac Bundle: 9 Great Mac Apps At $29

We’ve come to the point where every month a new Mac-related bundle is publicized on the internet, and not so many of them are really worth a mention. The iUseMac bundle, though, is pretty damn good: 9 “premium” Mac apps at only 29 bucks instead of the $290 price tag you’d usually get when buying each of them on the developers’ websites. Not a bad deal.

The apps included in the offer are mostly productivity apps for your Mac, and a few really popular ones are in there as well: Renamer, an awesome utility I use every day to batch rename files on my MacBook, and Picturesque, a well-known lightweight image editing software. If you consider that Renamer alone costs $25 (and it’s totally worth the price anyway), you can guess iUseMac set up an interesting offer.

The other apps included in the bundle are Proview, MacCleanse 2, Labels & Addresses, Clean Text, iFlicks and TypeIt4Me. An additional utility app will be delivered to everyone who buys the bundle, and I have to admit is another good and useful one.

So head over iUseMac’s website, take a look at the applications and hit the Buy button. iUseMac is undoubtedly above the average bundles for Mac we see launching every week or so.