BlogAllAlong » Apple

iPhone WiFi Doesn’t work after going to standby?

Bashar — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:41:16 +0000

Started having this problem few days ago where iPhone wifi tends to fail so frequently even when wifi signal strength is full, almost all requests fail. Restarting, or forgetting network didn’t help either.

If you’re having this problem the solution that seemed to work with me is the one suggested by clonergan here, which is in short to use static IP address by going to Settings -> Wifi Networks -> Click blue arrow near your desired network, click Static tab and enter your static network info.

Tip: You can use the same network details from the DHCP tab, just use a different IP if you suspect there is duplicate IP in use on the network.

iPhone OS 4 vs. Android

Bashar — Sun, 23 May 2010 21:30:11 +0000

[Guest Post By James Mowery]

With the much anticipated upcoming release of Apple’s iPhone OS 4, especially with the recent iPhone prototype media leaks, tech fans wait to see how OS 4 stacks up against the Android 2.1 platform. Since Android 2.1 was released in January, it has steered many Apple cronies away from their beloved iPhones with its open app development and multitasking capabilities. Now that Apple is responding with iPhone OS 4, will it blow Android out of the water or merely play catch-up to the new kid in town?

Let’s take look at some of iPhone OS 4’s new features and compare them to the Android 2.1 OS.

Multitasking

The new iPhone OS 4 will now feature the ability to multitask between apps. In previous versions, the iPhone featured push notifications but no true multitasking feature. When OS 4 is released, iPhone users will now be able to switch between apps with a simple double-click of the home button. While this is a big deal for iPhone users, I wouldn’t expect much of a reaction from an Android 2.1 user, as that platform has had multitasking capabilities since its inception and has refined the process ever since. Furthermore, Apple’s App Store retains the final say in which apps are released with a multitasking function. While iPhone users will be able to use apps during voice and VoIP calls, its multitasking abilities only bring OS 4 up to par with Android 2.1. Advantage: Android 2.1

New APIs

As iPhone OS 4 is released, so will over a thousand new APIs for users to personalize their iPhones with. These APIs will allow apps to send text messages and make new appointments in the phone’s calendar, as well as integrating the phone’s map and photo album features into popular apps. While these new APIs increase the iPhone’s functionality, the available apps are still limited to the Apple App Store. These APIs have existed in Android’s open source environment for some time now, and when paired with skinning-ability and animated wallpapers, the iPhone really looks like its trying to match Android 2.1, not surpass it.

Folders

Another feature now found on both phones is the ability to create and manage folders. Android 2.1 has had this feature, while this is new for iPhone OS 4. Not a deal-breaker when deciding on a new smartphone, but this is another example of the iPhone playing catch-up.

Gaming

The iPhone has always had the advantage in this department, basically pioneering the latest generation of phone-based gaming, and now they have added a feature to iPhone OS 4 that Android 2.1 cannot match; the ability to play on a social gaming network. This will allow users to play games against their fiends or random opponents, and track their progress in the iPhone’s Game Center. Advantage: iPhone OS 4

Overall, the new iPhone OS 4 has removed many of its notorious limitations and has closed the gap left when Android 2.1 was released. For Apple lovers, OS 4 will make you feel like you possess the phone of the future, but many of its “new” features will look rather familiar to anyone who has used Android 2.1. iPhone OS 4 is a step in the right direction for Apple, but it’s Android who is leading the way towards the perfect smartphone.
About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to laptop computers.

Mac Vs PC The Movie

Bashar — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:31:44 +0000

It’s been going for too long now… a war that dates back to more than quarter of a century, and the final battle is about to unfold.

Judgment day is coming.

But where is Google I say? Maybe those people are just playing for the runner-up.

Create your Audiobooks on iTunes

Bashar — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:49:25 +0000

More than a year back, I developed the habit of being a regular audiobook listener, and I usually get a book or two monthly through Audible. The Teaching Company is another source I’m quickly falling in love with, though a bit pricey. In both however, it’s quite easy to download all the media files, and import them into the iTunes as Audiobooks. On other occasions, you might find your self importing the MP3 files from an Audio CD, or downloading them as separate files from the internet. If you try importing such files to the iTunes library, you’d be frustrated to see at first that they are imported as regular ungrouped Music.

For an audiobook you usually want all your audiobook files grouped, in order, and to have your media device remember your last location. This CNET article explains how to do just that in 8 simple steps. A separate article suggests converting your audio files to AAC as part of the process to save more space if you like. I didn’t bother.

Que e-Reader unveiled, pricey and more…

Bashar — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:20:09 +0000

The official unveiling of the much anticipated Que e-Reader finally happened at CES 2010, and boy am I disappointed with how it ended. I was expecting this to be a fearsome competitor to the kindle and be a major player in the eBook readers market, but now I’d be surprised if I see someone carrying it.

Not that it doesn’t push the boundaries of eBook readers in anyway, being fully touch-screen, with only a home button on the top right. It also has WiFi, and even 3G in the higher-end model. So where does the Que e-Reader actually go wrong then?

If you watched the video, you’d see my point. Plastic Logic seems to have become thrilled with the extra capabilities of their device that they totally missed the whole point of the device, eBook Reading. They go on and on to explain all the features that allows you to check your calendar, read your email and more. But that’s not hardly what I want my eBook Reader for is it? I can check my calendar and email, and interact with them much faster from my mobile, and with colors as well. Digital newspapers might also be a good thing, but it’s not a reason to get an extra 11.6 inch device for, when my smartphone can quickly get me the same pieces of news.

The focus on eBook reading seems to have been overlooked here, and the enforced landscape hold of the one pound device for reading doesn’t look so convenient either, compared to the Kindle’s half-weight. Coming with it’s own Que eBook store, they don’t seem to be holding a large collection compared to Amazon as well, but I couldn’t find much details on that.

If you’re still considering it, then maybe the price tag will do it for you. The 4GB model with WiFi connection sells at $649, and if you fancy the 3G option, then it’s $799. How does that compare to the Kindle’s $259-$489 price range I fail to see. Some are arguing it’s a device targeted for business owners, but if they’re aiming at excel reading, calendars and emails on a large screen, then I’d say wait for the Apple’s tablet iSlate. I bet it can do a lot more than that faster, and with colors. Ink technology is suitable for eBook Reading, but hardly anything more fancy.

Where is the quick calculator in Windows 7?

Bashar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:56:50 +0000

I kinda thought this can be taken for granted by now.

But apparently not for Windows 7.

Secrets for easy Leopard tweaking

Bashar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:50:42 +0000

Secrets for Mac is a cool free tweaking utility that will integrate right into your System Preferences, allowing you access to tons of customization options for Leopard, and the 3rd party apps you have as well.

Ofcourse there is nothing absolutely new in this, but it will just save you the hassle of searching for options, and writing long commands like “defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders 1” to enable the X-ray mode.

If you know secrets and tweaks that are not listed, you can submit it as well.

[via LifeHacker]

MAMP Pages Won’t Run On Snow Leopard

Bashar — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:39:16 +0000

MAMP, the Mac Apache MySQL & PHP bundled server, was running perfectly fine after I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Yesterday when I started it for some reason it didn’t ask for the password to run, the app seems to start but none of my web apps in the htdocs folder would work, as pages won’t open. Perhaps because of a recent Snow Leopard update.

I couldn’t find an exact similar problem on the web, but my MAMP was already an old version, 1.7.1. The solution was to upgrade to the latest 1.8.2 MAMP release. The problem ofcourse is how to migrate your web apps and database from the old MAMP installation to the new one. This forum post explains it pretty well, and in a nutshell it’s a matter of copying the old app & db folders to the new one:

1- Stop MAMP Servers and quit MAMP app.
2- Rename the MAMP folder under /Applications to MAMP_old (or abc if you like!).
3- Install the new MAMP app to your /Applications folder.
4- Copy the old /Applications/MAMP_old/htdocs and /Applications/MAMP_old/db folders to the new location under /Applications/MAMP.
5- Start the new MAMP app.
6- (Optional): From MAMP Preferences, go to Ports tab and click “Set to defaults Apache and MySQL ports” if you like it this way. I prefer it for localhost.

Good Lord, He Did It Again!

Bashar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:40:26 +0000

It was late at night and kid won’t get off my shoulders. The iPark It iPhone game looked cool enough and worthy of the $0.99 price to get him off my back. I approved the purchased, logged out to avoid another kid online purchasing incident, and then later on sneaked into bed in the next room.

Shortly before dawn I woke up with a dream or dizzy thought of kid having done it for a second time, buying games online while I’m unaware. It was silly as I know I logged out, but being who I am, and to make sure my iPhone sleeps besides me, I made my way through the dark to the phone in the next room and took it back. I just unlocked it and boom!

How does he do it? And I wish there were some decent apps among them! Well at least he finally got that fishing game he always wanted. And now I know why people use non-related animal pictures on their apps and books… targets totally different demographic! I’m sure glad he didn’t buy the diamond app though :P.

Things aren’t stopping here however. Few days ago he was shouting about some game he found to which I didn’t show much interest. Next time I opened the iPhone Safari I found this.

Luckily I use the Amazon app for iPhone for that, and the Safari session isn’t tied to my account. Otherwise this could’ve slipped in a quick checkout purchase of mine. Good attempt though.

Bionic Eye iPhone Augmented Reality App

Bashar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:11:49 +0000

This Bionic Eye iPhone 3G S app is really useful for finding what you want, without having to look at your map if you wish.

Even inside a big mall like the Avenues this can be useful, let alone walking down the street between malls! And this app can be yours for $0.99! It currently has versions for the US, UK, France and Tokyo. Alas, I really wanna try it badly. I didn’t like the fact that I need to buy a separate one for every country. But hey, if you’re traveling (and roaming), what’s $1 really?.

[via intomobile]

It took him 3 years

Bashar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:07:49 +0000

It would seem my 3 years old kid was having the time of his life when I approved the FREE Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster iPhone app install and then naively handed the phone back to him without signing out. He didn’t waste anytime even trying the game, and by the time I found out, he had already made his collection.

Glad I stopped him there or else this would’ve cost a fortune. Now I’m not sure if we can call this social hacking or something like that, but the kid took his extra miles and there is a weird feeling inside me that makes me happy and proud of it. After all, he made his first online purchase (with my money!).

I gotta take extra care with my Amazon orders now.

PS: Yes, I have a bad hand writing. No, that’s not the worst it can get!

Rails finally working with Snow Leopard

Bashar — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:10:00 +0000

So far Snow Leopard have given me nothing but a hard time, crashes, and wasted hours that I could advise anyone not to upgrade, while I keep my ego and refuse to downgrade. After the 1 hour+ Snow Leopard upgrade, I’m getting slower login time, very frequent crashes upon uploading or downloading simplest of files in Firefox, TweetDeck occasionally, and even Safari, so don’t you be blaming someone else in your ads Apple.

The worst however was the expected, and it was Rails, until today. After the upgrade, running my existing sqlite based rails app gave me the error:

uninitialized constant SQLite3::Driver::Native::Driver::API

StackOverflow had the right advise to fix the problem:

sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby

Except it gave me the error

ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

Ruby on Rails blog gave the instructions to upgrade MacPorts and then all the ports installed.

$ sudo port selfupdate $ sudo port sync $ sudo port upgrade --force installed

The process however gave a “MacPort no suitable image found.”. I followed the advise here and downloaded a fresh MacPort install. You can get one here.

After that I was able to do the port selfupdate and sync, but the port upgrade failed saying:

C compiler cannot create executables

I tried several tricks here, Googled a lot with no luck. I had to leave it for sometime to finish some other work. When I tried today to repeat the three port update steps above, it worked just fine. After that, I just needed to redo the “sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby” and all went fine I’m happy to say.

Special thanks for TWG for their support on the matter. They did point out the problem as a bug in MacPort but I thought otherwise.

Hope that helps someone else out there.

iPhone 3rd Party Apps Won’t Run Possible Fix

Bashar — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:26:35 +0000

There is a common problem with iPhone 3rd party apps in which all of a sudden, all those 3rd party apps won’t run. You click, and they just flash on for fraction of a second and then disappear. I have had this problem in the early days of the iPhone (although it’s technically still early now as well), and I tweaked with iTunes Store Authorize Computer, re-installed few apps and it all went OK. Last week however I had the same problem, only thing is this time I have already done the Authorize Computer on.

To make it clear for anyone reading this, here are the conditions of my iPhone, as my problem may be a bit unique.

FACTS:

It’s an officially unlocked iPhone 3G S 32 GB
Because of the geographical restrictions, I ended up having two accounts. One for Kuwait and another for US, and since I bought some apps from Kuwait store, I still have both accounts running with their apps on my iPhone
I have set Authorize Computer for the Kuwaiti account

PROBLEM:

All of a sudden, and after I got the alert for 7 pending 3rt party apps update, most of the 3rd party apps won’t run. I was busy so I left it for a while, until all 3rd party apps stopped running, and the pending updates were now 10.

SOLUTION:

At first, I tried removing one app, which was the old buggy Facebook app. I’m not sure if I followed this suggested Facebook removal possible solution or tried it out by my self, but I remember that it didn’t fix the problem at the time, so I left it for a while again.

After that, I logged to the US account, did the 3rd party apps update and got the new Facebook app. 3rd party apps were running again then, except some of them. Which ones? The Kuwaiti store one, and i had 3 pending updates to go, which were from the Kuwaiti store. I logged out of the US store, log in to Kuwaiti store and did the update (Yes, it’s a pain we shouldn’t have to suffer). After that, all 3rd party apps were running fine. And they lived happily ever after (so far!).

CONCLUSION:

There seems to be a weird link with the Facebook app here, but it would be really odd if that app is affecting the overall phone performance. The more logical cause for my case at least is that the iPhone is getting confused with updates from two different accounts, or else, it’s a general case that when there are pending updates, those pending updates (may) affect all 3rd party apps. And I tend to incline towards the latter cause, which apparently does not affect all phones.

Is it a bug? No. Apple would argue it’s an iUpdate feature to make sure you enjoy latest of all your 3rd party apps.

Hope that helps.

The Force Is Strong With This NERD!

Bashar — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:26:33 +0000

I think we should have large scale game of this style. That would be the only fighting game I’m really interested in!

FreeAppAlert – Daily Update of Now Free Apps

Bashar — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:19:42 +0000

How often do you see iPhone apps you like but there is a price tag on them that makes you resist going forward? The fact is, so many apps turn up FREE for promotional periods, lack of interest, or any other reason. FreeAppAlert is the site to visit everyday to see what commercial apps have just turned FREE. It’s quite great and easy, has a nice iPhone interface as well. Problem is, you will get tempted to overload your iPhone with crap if you’re not wise enough.

Use Your Spotlight More Effectively

Bashar — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:26:02 +0000

As a Mac user, and even before that thanks to Google Desktop, I depend on using Spotlight to find files, open apps, and do the quick math on the fly. With loads of files however, that can contain an awful lot of information, Spotlight gets confused and becomes of much less help, as I don’t see it guessing the most relevant results based on file name before the actual file content, and neither it does sort based on past usage history. To overcome this, I first have Google Desktop to aid me when Spotlight doesn’t, and it’s also very useful to familiarize with the Spotlight search keywords. You can find them by opening the Mac Help and searching for Spotlight.

For some reason, this help page does not cover all keywords, so check this link for further tips.

Apple Makes it’s Anti-iPhone Killer App

Bashar — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:47:35 +0000

The start of the personal computers faced a big challenge and obstacle, which is, what would people do with that computer? Computers needed what they call a killer app. An app that you would go and buy the whole computer for. Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program was once the killer app for the IBM’s PC in the 80s. Apple on the other hand, had to ask for Microsoft help back then to bring the killer office tool to it’s Apple computers. Otherwise, people won’t be tempted to buy a beautiful computer that lacks any useful software. Nowadays, while it would take a lot more than a single killer app to get people onto a new platform usually, there is all these performance demands, compatibility, openness and such, but you would still want to keep the good apps for yourself to keep people around. Some companies fight and pay huge amounts to win exclusive rights over some apps and programs, not to mention games!

Google however is a company known in general for working in the open, trying to support whatever people demand. They have recently launched a revolutionary service called Google Voice, that would give you one number for all your calls and messages, allow call screening, call blocking, SMS send and receive, phone routing, and much more. They could’ve stroke a deal with one mobile vendor for a killer app, but instead chose to support all that’s out there. Android ofcourse, iPhone, and the BlackBerry. One of the three however grew in greed, always wanting a bite of every penny made through it’s sold device, wanting to satisfy his partner’s needs. Guess who?

Ofcourse, Apple with their iPhone. Apple for no obvious reason decided to reject the Google Voice application from it’s App Store altogether, thus leaving Google limited with the mere browser capabilities. But why would Apple do that? It’s a nice App isn’t it? It’s so great it can piss off the AT&T guys. YEP, the closest partners for the iPhone. This is most likely why Apple decided to dictator over what can come, and what can’t.

What Apple didn’t anticipate however is the strong reaction this might have. I was happy yesterday to read about TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington’s bold move to drop the iPhone, pay the AT&T $175 termination fees, move to Android, and get his Google Voice up and running once and for all. Such a move from such a figure would sure have it’s influence on many others who would walk down the same path, deciding to get what they want most. And thanks to Apple’s decision, their toughest competitors, both Android and BlackBerry have a killer app of their own. Apple made it. Apple took the trouble of giving it to them on a golden platter. I hope Apple enjoys it.

Some of you may already know I just got my iPhone recently, and might feel surprised I’m writing this. The fact is, I’ve been bouncing between Android and iPhone for quite some time before I made the decision, and I so far do not regret it. I love the iPhone. I love the software, and the hardware, and I’m really enjoying my time using it. Problem with Android phones is mostly the hardware used. I’ve suffered quite a lot from my HTC Tytn II, and it’s not an experience I’m welling to repeat. My two main software takes on the iPhone however are:

1- No BackGround Processes: Apple can claim this is to stop memory exhaustion, but truth is, Apple also wants to keep control and monitor over what happens in the device you paid for, and I really feel how beautiful it would be if I could let an app work and in the background, finish some work, and get back to it later. I have to admit though, there is a nice taste for the easy of quitting apps. Avoids wasted memory in quite an easy and fast way. So OK, I’ll live with this.

2- Dictatorship: Apple wants one entry to your iPhone, and that is through it’s App Store. They want a 30% bite of all money you make. They say this doesn’t apply to FREE apps, but the truth is, it does. It just happens that 30% of zero, is just another ZERO. That’s one thing by it self. But to disallow certain apps for no obvious reason is a completely different thing. Ofcourse this is where jailbreaking was invented, but big companies like Google won’tgo down the road and provide their app in an unofficial way.

Ofcourse this Google Voice is only available in the US right now, growing to expand beyond that in the near future hopefully, as it seems quite an amazing service you would love to pay for. We in Kuwait ofcourse however are not holding our breaths. Should Google have nothing better to do than try to enter our tiny market, our Government would make sure the red carpet is not in place for them.

I still hope this bold move being made by some out there would send a clear message to Apple, to make them reconsider their whole process. This move to Google Voice option is not made available publicly yet, but it soon will, and then people will start drifting in directions against Apple’s will. If I have such a great option as this, I might end up wanting to make the same move, and I’m sure many others would do as well. iPhone App Store is loaded with great apps, most of them are not the killer ones though. They’re just great overall to have, and one such serious killer app might make all the difference.

Apple, Your choice! Or, it’s the consumer’s choice.

Have you got your Snow Leopard Pre-Ordered Yet?

Bashar — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:21:47 +0000

If you’re really waiting for it, Amazon have started taking pre-orders for the new Snow Leopard OS coming most likely this September. For the sake of trying to group packages together, I may wait until it’s released and place the order with other items on my list.

First 24 Hours with the iPhone 3G S 32GB

Bashar — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:01:42 +0000

The wait is finally over, and as always, the last few hours were the most difficult. It wasn’t the purchase of the iPhone 3G S that was difficult for me, but rather clearing it out from the customs hands.

That’s right. All this and more for this mere device, alongside another small package of 5 solo items. Four hours of running back and forth under the sun, and some guys at the customs really knew what it was all about. “It’s the iPhone” they shouted. And it’s a single unit only, so I’m not sure what’s that fuss all about. Well actually I might know, but I will leave the reasons aside for now, since all the pain was gone once I got home alone with my packages.

Some people have been admiring the new iPhone 3G S after they upgraded from iPhone or iPhone 3G. Now imagine if you were moving from the windows based Tytn II, with all it’s bugs, slow response, and extremely annoying touch screen, to the new iPhone. That was a moment! And from the first 24 hours, here are my quick thoughts about it, keeping in mind it’s my first iPhone/iPod touch device, so some points are quick obvious and old. I’m just listing down here what I really liked and didn’t.

Pros:

1- The multi-touch screen and it’s fast and smooth response.

2- Browsing ofcourse is the best I have tried on any portable device and by a gap.

3- Camera in iPhone 3G S seems much better than my limited experience with iPhone 3G one.

4- Voice Control: With all it’s funny outcomes, this is still a pretty neat feature I am enjoying.

5- Compass and direction was fun, though not much of use for me right now.

6- YouTube streaming is quite brilliant.

7- Email client is really easy to use and fast. Now I end up waking at middle of the night to check my phone for emails rather than drag my self to the laptop. Is that an advantage or a bad habit gotten worse?

Cons:

1- App Store: To get 3rd party apps to your phone, you need to create an Apple account, and then register a valid credit card, based on which you will be taken to the appropriate country store. So I can’t even use the free apps before I provide a credit card, and after I did (with Kuwaiti credit card ofcourse), it forced me to Kuwait store, which doesn’t have Google Earth, and I expect many other good apps.

I’m sure there are plenty of tricks around it, but it was annoying by it self and meaningless.

2- BUGS: For some reason, I got to some screens like activation more than once. This is OK. But when I downloaded a collection of free 3rd party apps, all of a sudden none of them was working at all. They just load for fraction of a second and then disappear. Apparently a common problem that can be overcome by deleting the app and re-installing it. For 100 apps, that’s 100 delete and re-install. Enjoy!

3- Stupid Restrictions: This was typical in a message saying “This application is over 10MB. Connect to a Wi-Fi network or use iTunes on your computer to download …”. Now this can be acceptable as an advisory message, but why the hell would they cap an app download to 10MB in size, when I’m supposed to be paying for an iPhone 3G, and a cellular network with 3G speed then? This is a pretty common issue, and all the excuses I read are lame. We are paying the operator an awful lot of money for the 3G cellular network, and 10 MB is nothing for it. Probably one reason why I might end up jailbreaking my officially unlocked phone.

4- Battery: This is the worst thing. I’ve read about heating, I’m sure it’s there. But it didn’t happen when I was downloading different apps, playing the iPod, and tinkering with the phone while it’s on 3G network. Battery however is as they said exactly. You use the best of your iPhone, and it won’t survive through the day, perhaps not even half of it. I had it this noon at about 70%. At around 4 PM, with just some downloading and music playing, little browsing, it was near 20%. The recommendation from Apple to disable 3G network speaks stupid for it self.

Summary:

Overall I’m pretty happy with all that the iPhone 3G S can deliver. Bit disappointed with the battery life, but aside from that, everything else is fine. The remaining issues are solvable, perhaps through twisted methods, but solvable :).

Where I Got It From?

If you’re interested, I got my officially unlocked iPhone 3G S 32 GB from Australian seller named hi.gadgets through eBay for 300 KD ($1045) including shipping. I thought it would be smart to ask for Fedex home delivery shipping instead of sending it to my mail box, but it ended up in the hands of the customs, which seems pretty common for Fedex shipments over here. I heard Aramex shipments are less likely to be held by customs, so this will save you a whole morning, and extra payments.

So see if you can find a suitable offer, and try to use Aramex to deliver it to Kuwait.

Blogging through TextMate FTW

Bashar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:03:35 +0000

Unlike many others, it wasn’t the fancy look or the graphics capabilities that drove me to the Mac side of this world. Aside from the price drop, and frustration from regular laptops, it was the Textmate that made me really scream for a Mac from the inside, but I didn’t really exploit 1% of it’s potential until I started reading this

Teaches you a lot about what power lies in that editor, and I’m just starting to use it. This is a blog post for instance through Textmate. Using Textmate you can connect to your blog, pull your latest posts and update them, and start a new blog post using HTML, Markdown, Textile, or plain text. You can also upload your images by simply dragging them onto your editor, something that my current WordPress installation has been giving me a hard time with recently.

Consider an eBook version if you like to get the book. I’m using it, and it’s not bad at all. Saves on the shipping.

PS: So it would seem I still need more practice on this Textmate blogging :). Look forward to upcoming funny mistakes.

How to move TextMate Project Drawer from right to left?

Bashar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:53:07 +0000

A Project Drawer is the place where the file tree view of the current project is displayed, and boy did I hate to see it on the right!

Thanks to this article I found out how to put it back to the left. You simply hide the Project Drawer from the View menu, move the TextMate window to the most right, then from View menu show the Project Drawer once again. It will see there is no space for it on the right and open it on the left. This is how it got on the right in the first place, and vice-versa would work. There should be more straight-forward drag/drop way to do it really. I would’ve have guessed. Or should I’ve?

3-D Acceleration Web Standard on the way

Bashar — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:27:28 +0000

With the blessing and support of leading tech companies like Adobe, AMD, Apple, Google, IBM and Intel, the Khronos Group will take the lead developing an open, royalty-free standard for the presentation of accelerated online 3-D Graphics. The Khronos Group is hoping to find ways to expose the OpenGL and OpenGL ES 2.0 using the ECMAScript, which Javascript dialects from.

This is really a big news now with the increasing demand on web browsers to deliver strong web application support, and one could only wonder where is Microsoft from all of this. Full details are on InformationWeek.

Watch your iPod movies in large with MyVu

Bashar — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:27:42 +0000

A friend sent me this link for MyVu just now. $300 is a lot for this, but I’m sure some would want to spend it. I mean, think of all the free time in Government job, and I don’t think the new elections are the best way to spend it :). Just kidding. Enjoy it.

HearPlanet, FREE (so far) travel app for iPhone

Bashar — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:26:20 +0000

HearPlanet is a (so far) free travel app for the iPhone and iPod touch that gives you text and voice information about the city you search for. If you have an iPhone 3G then you’re in more luck as it will automatically locate your position. If you think you know a lot about a place, you can also record and share your voice with the world. Just make sure your voice doesn’t suck please :).

Information seem to be heavily pulled from Wikipedia, aided by other sources as is always indicate at bottom of the screen. The app seems to be only temporarily FREE so I’d say if you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch, get it now [iTunes Store Link] regardless.

This is a video of their coverage at MacWorld 2009.

Smart Ad for Smart iPhone App

Bashar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:10:42 +0000

Ocarina is an app that will turn your iPhone into a musical instrument. You set your music mode, blow into the microphone and there you are creating music. You can hold down combination of holes, tilt your phone to change vibration and depth, and change keys and modes as well.

Pretty smart? Hell yeah I wanna try it. But they didn’t forget to add the community part to it. Through this app, you can also listen to other people’s music around the world, and share yours as well.

FREE Mac Softwares unde the Mac Giving Tree

Bashar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:00:32 +0000

Under the Mac Giving Tree you will see a collection of

FREE Mac softwares that are otherwise commercial perhaps

Courtesy of MacHeist

Don’t believe Apple Ads You Fool, says Apple

Bashar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:50:00 +0000

This is Apple’s official legal response to a lawsuit regarding false iPhone advertisement and misleading customers by saying ”twice as fast for half the price” compared with the original handset, when reality is, it sucks for many people and they’re disappointed.

“Some parts of Apple’s 32-point rebuttal say that the company was being truthful. But one paragraph says, in effect, that anyone who believes what the company says in its ads is a fool” Source

Well, so much for what they call Jesus Phone. It was all a big lie after all.

Is iTunes Genius Sidear Genius?

Bashar — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:07:08 +0000

You Tell Me

This would’ve been a lot easier to swallow if the name was anything below genius!

Original Link with some extra tests verifying Genius is actually DUMP Sidebar.

Be the First to Know about Google Chrome for Mac

Bashar — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:50:59 +0000

If you are a Google Chrome fan owning a Mac, you probably want to go here and sign-up for the Google Chrome for Mac news update, and get instant notification once the Mac browser version is out (in Beta ofcourse :)

In their words “Google Chrome for Mac is in development and a team of engineers is working hard to bring it to you as soon as possible.” I am really glad to hear about this, but I hope it’s not the reason PC Chrome is not getting good enough attention.

Microsoft & Nikon Collaborating on… Microsoft Surface?

Bashar — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:31:50 +0000

BetaNews is reporting on a deal between Microsoft and Nikon that “covers digital cameras made by Nikon as well as a [range] of other consumer products each company manufactures and sells.” according to Microsoft spokesman.

No further details have been revealed yet about the deal between the two, but BetaNews is predicting it could be around the wireless technology. For me, this brings nothing to my mind but the long anticipated Microsoft Surface.

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