Software

MarsEdit 3.5

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MarsEdit is the best blog editing tool for the Mac and I’ve had it on my computer for years. It was updated to version 3.5 today adding all kinds of new features.

DropKey makes file encryption easy on the Mac

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Public-Key Cryptography, created in the 1970s, is a matched-pair encryption/decryption standard. Using this method, the sender and recipient share public encryption keys, thereby establishing a relationship of trust. After that occurs, files can be encrypted by one and decrypted by the other without using passwords. While Public-Key Cryptography can use a variety of levels of security, DropKey uses the 256-bit method, a well-established industry standard.

I talked to DropKey’s CEO Ian Schray, and what impresses me about the app is that it only takes one extra click to encrypt a file and send it in an email, then it does if you didn’t encrypt the file. I’ve tried file encryption software in the past and it was a real pain, but this looks really good.

Google is not the free and open Web

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Joshua Schnell:

Five minutes of fact checking online turned up five examples of Google abusing its power and doing things in direct contrast to a free and open web.

Apple unveils future features of Final Cut Pro X

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Larry Jordan:

Apple began providing “advanced looks” as part of the roll-out to the launch of FCP X and wanted to continue letting us know what’s coming. (I think this is a great idea, because it helps us plan.)Here are the bullet points (none of this was demoed):– Multichannel Audio Editing Tools – Dual Viewers – MXF Plug-in Support – RED camera support

BBEdit celebrates 20th anniversary

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Jason Snell:

Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the venerable Mac text-editing app BBEdit. I’m sure there are other apps not published by a gigantic company that have managed to last as long, but I’m not sure that any app has changed with the times and remained as relevant as BBEdit.

I’ve been using BBEdit for 18 years to build Web sites and do my daily writing. It is and indispensable tool.

Congrats to Rich and the crew at Bare Bones Software and thanks for such a great piece of software.

Apple begins enhancing ID security in iTunes and iOS

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The Next Web:

In the past 24 hours, Apple appears to have started prompting iOS devices owners and those with Apple IDs within iTunes to make their accounts more secure, requiring them to pick three security questions and enter their answers when they download a new app.Whilst the new prompt will undoubtedly help secure accounts, many Apple device owners are confused by the new pop-up message and believe it is a phishing attempt.

Great idea from Apple but “springing” this on users without prior knowledge has caused a lot of unnecessary confusion and consternation among users.

Anne Geddes ‘My First Five Years’ available for the Mac

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The best-selling Anne Geddes Baby Record Book, My First Five Years is now available in an incredible new way to record your baby’s precious early years. Imagine being able to record your baby’s favorite lullaby, to have proud grandparents film a keepsake message for their new grandchild, and to have the ability to store all of your captured moments in one place.

I love Anne Geddes. If this were available when my kids were young, I’d definitely buy it.

iCloud: The center of the universe

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Here is my latest column for TechPinions where I look at iCloud:

iCloud is not just a syncing service — it’s a content delivery mechanism that will play an increasingly important roll in future products.

NHL Playoffs start tonight! Grab the free GameCenter 2011-2012 app

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NHL GameCenter 2011-2012:

The National Hockey League has an updated GameCenter app that adds new features and expanded coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs that start this evening. This update has round-by-round coverage of the playoffs and highlights of games.You can view playoff videos with commentary, highlights and top moments and even listen to live game radio during the playoffs. Game alerts are also available for each playoff series. NHL GameCenter 2011-2012 is available from the App Store as a free download.

Go Canucks!

Pixelmator [Sponsor]

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Pixelmator – beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editing app for Mac OS X.

Flashback

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John Moltz:

Back when XP was the current version of Windows, it seemed that every Windows user I know complained about being affected by malware. I even knew Windows users who used to brag about how fast they could reformat their machine and have it back up and running in pristine form.

Acorn image editor

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Thanks to Acorn for sponsoring the The Loop this week.

Brought to you by Flying Meat’s Acorn, the Mac OS X image editor for humans.

New iOS app helps ships avoid whale collisions

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Wired Gadget Lab:

There are only around 400 North Atlantic right whales left in the world today, according to International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), one of the collaborators on the app. With such a small population, the right whales are one of the rarest large animals and are close to extinction. Collisions with ships is currently the leading cause of death for these remaining whales.To prevent ships from striking whales, Whale Alerts works by linking near-real-time acoustic buoys that listen for whale calls to an iOS device in a ship’s bridge. Using these whale calls, a GPS system and a vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS), the app displays a whale’s location in relation to a ship’s location on a digital nautical chart. The app also sends alerts with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conservation measures when a ship enters a conservation area.

“Find My Whale” app?

Google hates Feedburner

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Doug Stephen:

My feed is served up via Feedburner. Feedburner is another Google property, but it seems that it’s been mostly abandoned. They were working on a new, more Google-like interface a while back but they have seemingly abandoned it what with the Beta for this interface being gone. It’s too bad that Google has seemingly lost interest in Feedburner, because it’s an awesome service for RSS feed analytics.

I’ve had nothing but trouble with Feedburner. Actually, everyone I’ve ever talked to has had nothing but bad things to say about Feedburner.

Java for OS X Lion 2012-001 and Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 7

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Apple has released Java for OS X Lion 2012-001 and Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 7. The updates address the vulnerability in Java exploited by the Flashback.K trojan. The latest variant of Flashback.K could hijack you Mac even if you don’t enter an admin password. Apple says this can occur when visiting a Web page that is running an untrusted Java applet.

The update is available for OS X Lion 10.7.3 and Mac OS X 10.6.8, and you can get it via Software Update.

Put the universe on your iPad

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MSNBC:

None of us living today will ever get beyond our celestial backyard in real life, but there’s a fleet of apps out there that can blast you through hyperspace to explore — and understand — the far frontiers of the cosmos on your tablet computer. The latest app is “The Wonders of the Universe,” a multimedia spin-off of physicist Brian Cox’s coffee-table book and TV documentary series of the same name.The app, sold by Harper Collins for the iPad 2 and the new iPad, organizes more than 200 interactive articles, two and a half hours of video and hundreds of graphics to do a show-and-tell that ranges from subatomic quarks to the largest scales of the cosmic web.

The article also mentions and has video of four other space-themed apps for the iPad: The Night Sky, Solar System for iPad, Solar Walk and my personal favorite, Star Walk.

SpamSieve 2.9

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I used SpamSieve for years and loved it. The only reason I stopped is because I started doing spam filtering on the server.

MailTags 3

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MailTags 3 is an enhancement for Apple’s Mail client in OS X 10.7 to add powerful tagging and search capabilities. MailTags 3 seamlessly integrates into Mail.app to make the attachment, search, and collation of tags, such as keywords and notes, a powerful part of email management.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about MailTags.

Photoshop CS6 beta hits 500,000 downloads

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Adobe’s John Nack:

I’m delighted to see that the Photoshop CS6 beta has been downloaded more than half a million times in less than a week! The response I’ve seen so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

The 10 best startups from Y Combinator Demo Day

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TechCrunch:

After talking to VCs and tech moguls, the TechCrunch teamed huddled up and picked these 10 companies as the best. They’re disrupting commerce, evolving how we communicate, and making our phones even more powerful.Here’s a cheat sheet to the startups we think are going to remodel big industries, change the world, or at least make a ton of money.

Some of these you’ll have no interest in but some of them might just peak your interest further.

The Masters of Compositing Series

Written by

Jeff Foster:

Paul Vlahos, son of Petro Vlahos and co-founder of Ultimatte Corp. in 1976 and continues as CEO. Paul founded iMatte Inc. in 2000 and serves as CEO. He has made many inventions over the years have resulted in over twenty patents. Besides the Ultimatte matting devices used in the broadcast industry Paul pioneered the Virtual Studio in 1989.