Attention, mobile RSS junkies. Google’s released a new iPhone-specific version of its Google Reader feed reader. The new version which, unsurprisingly, is in beta, is supposed to bring many of the features available in desktop browsers: you can star items, share them with others, and mark them as unread, and navigate your subscriptions via folders. They also claim to have tuned it for better speed performance.
I’m not a regular Google Reader user, but I had at some pointed imported a bunch of my subscriptions into it, so I fired up the new version to see what the haps was (were?). At the moment, since it’s in beta, you’ll specifically need to point your iPhone to http://www.google.com/reader/i/ in order to check it out.
The speed on EDGE wasn’t super fast—something I might chalk that up to my volume of feeds/unread items—but it was certainly usable. If only it synced with NetNewsWire, I could imagine using it as for all my iPhone feed-reading needs.
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Written by Dan Moren on May 13th, 2008 with no comments.
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Friends don’t let friends use Microsoft Office
In doing some research (gasp! Say it ain’t so –ed) to substantiate what was apparently one of my more blasphemous remarks below, I did a quick search of the Kaspersky virus database and uncovered the following:
- Macro.Word97.Mdma
- Virus.MSExcel.Extras.a
- Virus.MSWord.Plain
- Virus.Multi.Esperanto.4733
- Virus.MSWord.Archfiend
- Virus.MSWord.Mdma
As I count them there are apparently 6 viruses in the Wild for OS X, and FIVE OF THEM use exploits found in Microsoft Office code (mostly macro-based). It is also interesting that the one NON-MS Office virus in the database was a cross platform virus that has uncertain attack vectors for the Macintosh. In full disclosure, it should be noted that these viruses seem to have been written for the previous version of Office, and I don’t know if they will affect Office 2008 or not. But since they are macro-based, they provide a great reminder to always, always, always disable macros in MS Office documents.
This seems to me to be the best advertisement for iWork you can get.
Note to “Enterprise” users: I know we’ve been suckered into using MS Office because of a need to remain “Compatible”. I’ve found that I actually prefer working in iWork. I use it more when I’m the creator of a document, and often even if I’m editing someone else’s work. On compatibility I also have yet to come across a document that iWork wouldn’t open, or that MS Office couldn’t use after being exported from iWork.
So I’m going to try an experiment, 30 Days without Office, and see how it shakes out. I’ll report back in a month.
Now if someone could just figure out a credible alternative to Entourage for exchange mail and scheduling, I’d be home free.
Written by Leigh McMullen on May 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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I’m sure there’s a major discovery to be made in the world of science that would explain how my iPod headphones get tangled up so thoroughly and rapidly. It seems that no matter what cunning tricks I employ, nor how tidy I try to be, my headphones always appear in a knotted mess when I want to use them, which tends to make me angry on the scale of ‘want to kick a puppy’. Surprisingly, then, I really like Tangle, which, in a broad sense, is rather like untangling a set of iPod headphones or ten.
It’s safe to say that Tangle is gaming at its purest level. There are no characters or storylines. Instead, there are a bunch of green circles, connected with gray lines, displayed in an aesthetic manner that most 8-bit computers would have little trouble with. The idea is to drag the circles around until no lines are crossed, whereupon you’re provided with a jaunty little jingle, a time, and a means of accessing the next level (which has more lines to uncross).
Tangle isn’t rocket science—it has a kind of mindless quality that’s akin to Tetris. But as most people who’ve sampled Alexey Pajitnov’s classic will testify, it’s often the simplest games that are the most enduring. Although Tangle isn’t on a par with the Russian block-stacking game, and, frankly, is a little overpriced, it’s still a fun title to while away the odd half-hour. And despite the extremely basic visuals, on-screen feedback is clear, and the online leaderboard enables you to pit your capabilities against Tangle ninjas around the world.
If this reminds you of your iPod headphones, I sympathize. I really do.
Further information
Manufacturer: MC Hot Software
Price: $20
URL: mchotsoftware.com/tangle/
Written by Craig Grannell on May 9th, 2008 with no comments.
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Open and Save dialogs are as unsexy as things come on the Mac, but every Mac user has to deal with them daily. Despite Mac OS X being in its fifth major incarnation, these dialogs are still limited, but with Default Folder X,
everything changes, and even a little sleekness is thrown into the mix.
Once Default Folder X is installed, a black HUD-style overlay surrounds Open and Save dialog boxes, its toolbar providing access to user-definable favorites, recent folders, and a slew of handy options (such as rename, reveal and move) that puts Apple’s own dialogs to shame. Usefully, favorites can have hot-keys assigned via Default Folder’s preferences pane, which also provides the means to create a default Open/Save folder for each installed application.
Other included niceties are the menu/Dock item, providing a system-wide means of rapidly navigating mounted volumes and defined favorites, and a superior preview within Open dialogs, which automatically stretches to fill available vertical space. Spotlight comments and file properties are also possible to manipulate from Open and Save dialogs when Default Folder X is installed.
Although at the pricier end of the shareware spectrum—especially for a one-shot utility—Default Folder X is nonetheless an essential purchase. The seconds it saves every time you open or save a file soon add up, and after a few months’ use, you’ll find Macs lacking the application feel naked by comparison.
Default Folder X continues to excel in its fourth major revision, making it much easier for Mac users to open and save files.
Further information
Manufacturer: St. Clair Software
Price: $34.95 (upgrades from $14.95)
URL: www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/
Written by Craig Grannell on May 8th, 2008 with no comments.
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Another week, another beta version of the iPhone SDK. We know—you can hardly contain your excitement. We were all aflutter over here, so we eagerly tore open the release notes to find out what we can expect in this latest and greatest iteration.
The fifth beta fixes bugs and adds support for the latest iPhone OS.
Woo. Oo. Well, that’s fair, I guess. They can’t all be blockbusters. But we demand beta 6 bring us support for the rainbow-powered and unicorn-sparkle-dust features that we know are buried deep inside the iPhone’s OS. We will accept no substitutes!
Copyright Mac Publishing LLC. This RSS feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you're not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you're looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact webmaster@macworld.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Written by Dan Moren on May 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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