2009 January

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I am taking a look at the new iLife ‘09 for Mac OS X. As of the day I installed this, January 26th, it wasn’t available to the public yet. Due to a misprint in a BestBuy ad, Danny was able to purchase his copy early. Taking a look at it, I’m already liking what I see. The four components of iLife are:

Read more on What’s New in iLife ‘09 (iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand)?…

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I made my first television appearance back in 1997, on a show called Home Computing. I had been asked to appear to talk about my Lockergnome newsletter, and what it was all about. Back then, the newsletter consisted of information relating to Windows 95, software and games. Anything you can think of that related to the Windows family of products, I checked out and discussed. Instead of looking at software about things from companies such as Microsoft, I instead talked about shareware and freeware programs that were available at the time. Even back then, I was more about getting good programs for free than I was about paying for programs.

Read more on My First Cable TV Appearance (1997)…

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If you couldn’t tell, I was reading what was being said in our live chat room – on my iPhone! The Colloquy IRC client is now available from the App Store for only $2.00! Traditionally, chat clients on the Mac have been just plain ugly. By adopting more of the Mac interface standards, Colloquy has shattered that mold forever, and made something slick and easy-to-use. There are a ton of cool features included with this iPhone App, including:

Read more on How to Chat on the iPhone or iPod Touch…

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When this application hits 88 miles per hour, you’re going to see some serious stuff! Visualize data in a completely different way. If you were naive to believe that there’s no software available for Mac OS X… think again. Here’s another breakthrough product that’s only available for the computer you claim is “too expensive.” Bee Docs allows people to create timeline charts. The cool thing is that once you create a chart, you can “fly” over it with a 3D perspective.

Read more on How to Travel Back in Time…

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It doesn’t matter how you say “Houdah,” the developer of this series of utilities for Mac OS X just wants you remember it. In my experience, HoudahSpot makes for an amazing (power user’s) extension to the already-powerful Spotlight.

Read more on How to Find Files and Geotag Photos…

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I’ve asked you to pass along any cool resources that you might find, as I may not have heard of them. Matt sent one that allows you manipulate your photos to make objects in them appear to be miniature. By uploading your pictures to TiltShift Maker, you can easily apply miniature effects to most of your digital photos.

Read more on How to Make a Miniature Effect in Digital Photos…

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I am definitely not a math genius, that’s for sure. Back in high school, Trig class blew my mind. Even with a calculator, it was difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Too bad I didn’t have an iPhone back then! One of our community members, Matt Smith sent in an iTunes donation, asking me to check out a new App his friend has created… TrigSolv. I have to say, even though I’m no longer in Trig class – this would definitely come in handy if I was!

Read more on How to Solve Trigonometry Problems on the iPhone…

twitter.com/chrispirillo – I was quite surprised to fire up a Web browser and check out my “Twitter Grade” (which I’m sure doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still an interesting statistic to know – considering just how many people are using Twitter these days).

Read more on Who Are You on Twitter?…

If you were looking for a Google alternative, here’s one that might strike your fancy – assuming you’ve tried everything else to this point, there’s now LeapFish to look at. The interesting thing is: with LeapFish, you’ll still be using Google (and then some).

Read more on Does LeapFish Leapfrog Google for Searching?…

In case you were wondering, Matt Bickford is the one who came the closest to qualifying for the Zero G Giveaway – and so he’ll be flying in pseudo zero gravity soon enough!

Read more on Flying in Zero Gravity…

There’s all sorts of news about trojans being unleashed on Mac OS X. However, there’s only one fool-proof way of protecting yourself from trojans on Mac OS X:

STOP PIRATING SOFTWARE, YOU MORON.

Read more on How to Protect Yourself from Mac OS X Trojans…

There’s a chance you can win a Wii:

1. Click this Ready 2 Rumble Revolution badge on or before February 6, 2009. That’s the giant red boxing glove you see below – that’s what you have to click first.

Read more on Ready 2 Rumble Revolution (and How to Win a Wii)…

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I am running Windows 7 on my TouchSmart PC, as well as within a virtual machine on my Mac. I have the Aero Basic scheme going in the VM, sadly. However, even in Basic mode, I can still show you a feature that’ll have you jumping around. It’s called Aero Shake.

Read more on What’s Shaking in the Windows 7 Beta: The Windows!…

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I don’t know how many of you have played Crayon Physics on the web. It’s this little game where you draw little objects on your screen using your mouse. Well, on the iPhone you can now play this same game, while connecting an apple with a star. Play with this App on your iPhone or iPod Touch, just like in the PC version. You can draw shapes, dots and lines and then interact with them in a number of levels.

Read more on How to Do Crayon Physics on the iPhone…

Hat tip to iJustine (and Brent for letting me know):

1. Buy go.tagjag.com/emoji in iTunes (.99c)
2. Install and click through any story in the app.
3. Go navigate through the iPhone’s Settings: General | International | Keyboards | Japanese | toggle Emoji to on

Read more on How to Get Emoji Emoticons in iPhone SMS Messages Easily…