Software

Paper Camera

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I have a confession to make – I’m a iOS photography app junkie. Show me an app that has even a little bit of cool to it, and I’ll drop a few bucks on it in a heartbeat. Consequently, I have a couple hundred photography apps!

A downside to many apps is you have to take a picture first and then run various filters on the app, never knowing exactly whether or not the filter is suitable for the image or vice versa. Thanks to David Chartier, I found a new app this morning that solves that issue – it runs filters on a live image!

It’s called Paper Camera. It’s really clever and original and I highly recommend it.

Sandboxing deadline arrives: What it means…

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Macworld’s Lex Friedman:

Depending upon whom you ask, Friday, June 1 is the best or worst thing to come to the Mac App Store since it opened its doors in 2011. As of now, new and significantly updated apps submitted to Apple’s Mac App Store must implement sandboxing.Sandboxing refers to compartmentalizing what data and features a specific app is granted access to; apps each can metaphorically play exclusively in their own sandbox, accessing only that data which Apple has granted that app entitlements to see. The plus side of sandboxing is that it means, in theory, that your apps will become safer and more trustworthy: Your Mac prevents them from accessing files they shouldn’t access.But that security comes with a price, at least in some cases.

Google park the self-driving car and fix FeedBurner

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I can appreciate why Google is working on all kinds of new technologies like the self-driving car, but I think it’s time to fix some of the things it’s been ignoring for a long time. The big one for Web publishers is Feedburner.

Skype’s future isn’t too bright

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However, its position at the top isn’t cemented. There are dozens of upstarts who want to eat into Skype’s future growth.

I don’t think there was ever a time when I liked Skype. It’s necessary sometimes, but I’d gladly use a startup that knew how to build software.

Daylite 4 offers a major redesign

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Weldon Dodd has a look at Marketcircle’s new Daylite 4 for Mac and iOS. Marketcircle is one of those companies that I really like — they care about their products and customers.

iCloud push email

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I received an email from a reader today about push email being broken on iCloud. I was sure he was wrong, but when I sent myself an email to my Cloud address, it arrived immediately on my Mac, but didn’t arrive on my iPhone until I opened the Mail app. Weird 1.

It’s not a new issue though. People have had intermittent problems from at least last October.

  1. I have no idea when this started for me. ↩

The fake iTunes 11 story

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Clayton Braasch:

Until I see a screenshot from a better source, this is complete hogwash. I would have revealed this first, because it’s possible to fake an iTunes version string through Xcode; creating something like this would’ve been a bit more difficult, but it doesn’t matter. The entire build that was received is fake, and if any other sources call it “credible”, I find that very hard to believe.

I have no knowledge of this one way or the other, but Clayton seems pretty sure of himself.

Apple’s Ping

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Adam Haworth:

We all know Ping is kind of shit. Well, not kind of. It is shit. But I’ve been thinking recently (dangerous, I know) and I reckon there are a few ways that it can be rescued. Apple’s failed attempt at “social” is not dead yet.

I don’t think Apple knows what to do with Ping. That seems clear because users don’t know what to do with it either. I don’t know that a separate app is the way to go because social networking and sharing is such an impulsive decision — it almost has to be done on the spot.

GraphicConverter 8 now available

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Lemkesoft has released GraphicConverter 8.0, a major new release for the graphic conversion and editing utility. This latest version adds support for 64-bit Intel-based Macs and new batch processing capabilities among many other additions.

GraphicConverter 8.0 is a free update for owners of GraphicConverter 7, but is a paid upgrade of $29.95 for users with versions 1 through 6. If you’ve never bought it before – and you should – it’s $39.95.

DropKey encryption software free on Mac App Store

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Building on state-of-the-art encryption standards, DropKey quickly and easily encrypts any file specifically for your recipients — without the need for a password or the hassle of juggling a bunch of keys!

They are giving away the app until May 20.

Twitter is tracking you

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Dustin Curtis:

I’m not particularly surprised that Twitter is doing this kind of data analysis or collection. Facebook is almost certainly doing the same thing. But it is wrong. People do not expect Twitter or Facebook to know about their movements on the web. But they do. And that information is being stored somewhere. It is a violation of privacy and trust.

Online privacy

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Steve Wildstrom:

But based on what I heard from an admittedly limited sample in Seattle, that’s not where real peoples’ concerns lie. Their worries about online privacy are less corporate and much more personal and intimate. Privacy concerns are real, but the policy responses can seem like solutions in search of problems.

I think this sums up my feelings pretty well. Privacy is a personal issue and one that we sometimes give up freely for a small reward.

Adobe decides to issue security upgrades for CS5

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“The team decided to make available patches for Photoshop CS5.x, Illustrator CS5.x, and Flash Professional CS5.x.” The time frame for availability of those fixes is unclear. “We are still in the process of finalizing the timeline for the patches,” the spokesperson said. “We will update the respective security bulletins once the patches are available.”

It’s good that they did this, but the original decision to not issue updates and force people to upgrade to CS6 left a bad taste for many users.

‘A giant middle finger’

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In English: Photoshop CS5 will not be patched for this vulnerability. The only way to remain secure is to upgrade to Photoshop CS6 for $200.

This could get ugly.

Lightroom 4 available on Mac App Store – with caveats

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Adobe:

We’re pleased to announce that Lightroom 4 is now available via the Mac App Store in North America.The Mac App Store offering is the same product offered on Adobe.com in terms of features and functionality but has been modified to comply with Mac App Store requirements. There are a few important pieces of information you should be aware of.

It’s $149.00, same price as if you buy it at Adobe.com but there’s no upgrade price if you own previous versions of Lightroom (there is if you buy it from Adobe.com). The Mac App Store version is for Mac OS X only – the version you buy from Adobe.com is Mac and Windows. The Mac App Store version can only be updated thru the Mac App Store. Adobe says that means they could update it on their web site but it may not happen at the same time, or at all, on the Mac App Store.

There’s more.

Adobe says there is no guarantee that upgrade pricing will be available to Mac App Store Lightroom 4 customers when Lightroom 5 and future versions of Lightroom are released and that Lightroom 4 is available only on the Mac App Store in North America.

Remind me again what the advantages of the Mac App Store are, Adobe?

Ultimate Markdown editor wish list

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Brett Terpstra:

There are a few great Markdown text editors available, and more being worked on right now. I want to put a list of features out there that I think any true Markdown editor should include. Some of these are implemented in one editor or another, but nothing has brought it all together (aside from TextMate with all of my customizations, and even that lacks some of the polish mentioned below).

10.7.4 fixes FileVault bug

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10.7.4 is out, and it fixes a problem with FileVault, Apple’s data encryption technology.

Pixelmator updated

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Image editing software Pixelmator has been updated to version 2.0.3 with the following improvements:

  • Improves the performance of the Move Tool
  • Fixes memory leaks
  • Fixes a situation where performance would degrade over time
  • Fixes issues with Export for Web
  • Fixes a problem that caused corrupt PXM files