Mick Darling's posterousAll my blogging in one spot. (mostly)Filed under: readerRemains of the Day: Apple Temporarily Disables Password Resets Over the Phone [For What It's Worth]
Apple has temporarily disabled over-the-phone password resets amidst recent hack, Automatic switching between Wi-Fi and 3G will be available in iOS 6, Enhanced Google Voice Search is coming to iOS, and Google Chrome for Windows updates with improved Flash security. More »
NBC’s ‘Grimm’ Embraces the Second Screen [EXCLUSIVE]NBC is getting into the second screen game with a new interaction companion ebook for its hit drama, Grimm. Grimm: The Essential Guide will give fans entrée to exclusive "behind-the-scenes" content, including concept art, 3D renderings and video clips. The eBook will also offer a season 1 recap and a teaser trailer for season 2, including the introduction of a terrifying new creature. All of this content comes just in time for viewers to whet their palates before the second season premiere on Monday. NBC Publishing hopes that the ebook won't just provide a supplement to the show, but will create an "entirely new 'second-screen' experience." The company hopes to pave the way f… More About: Entertainment, Kindle, Mobile, TV, Tech, amazon, apple, eBook, grimm, ibook, itunes, nbc, nook, once upon a time, season 2, second screen, social Force Mac OS X to Automatically Reconnect to VPN [Security]
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a great way to browse the web securely, and OS X has a VPN option built right into it. The problem is that it doesn't always automatically connect when you boot up your computer, or after it disconnects for some reason. A simple Applescript over on Stack Exchange solves this problem. More »
Need disposable phone numbers? Burner has you coveredIn a bar and don’t want to give your cell number to a stranger? Selling a table on Craigslist and don’t want randos knowing how to reach you at all times? Or, perhaps you’ve watched reruns of The Wire one too many times? Say hello to Burner, the app that lets users purchase short-term cell numbers that can be used and “burned” in a short period of time, all managed through a user’s personal iPhone without giving away that cell’s number.
“Burner is for anyone who has more than one life – or who simply values their privacy,” Cohn stated in the press release for Burner, which was built by Ad Hoc Labs, the Los Angeles-based software company. The app will become available in the Apple iTunes App Store Wednesday for $1.99 per download. Users start out with three credits, which gives them a single number for seven days of use or 20 minutes of talk time. Users can purchase additional credits or packages to extend the life of a number, or “burn” it at any time. Within the app, users can manage texts and calls to individual numbers, purchase credits to create additional lines, and share those numbers to social networks. Cohn explained that while users might eventually be able to purchase and maintain numbers for indefinite use, they’re really intended to serve short-term purposes, like accompanying a Craigslist ad, putting the app’s services in a different category than something like a Google Voice number which is more permanent by nature. Why Just for Kids is such a big deal for NetflixNetflix’s Just for Kids user interface is coming to the Xbox, the company announced Wednesday, making it possible for Netflix subscribers to browse through kids titles on their Xbox 360 without seeing any inappropriate content. That’s great news for any family household with an Xbox, but it also points to much bigger plans to further personalize your Netflix experience. Just for Kids replaces the traditional Netflix catalog grid with a more playful user interface. TV shows can be discovered by character, and each and every episode can be previewed with an image — no reading skills necessary. Xbox users can decide whether they want to access Just for Kids or the regular Netflix UI every time they start the app, or switch to the kids UI at any point. Check out the new UI in this video provided by Netflix:
Just for Kids was first introduced on the web, and has since been rolled out to the PS3, the Wii, the Apple TV, the Boxee Box and a whole bunch of other devices. It makes a lot of sense for Netflix, because kids content has proven to be extremely popular on the service — to the point where some wonder whether it is stealing away viewers from Nickelodeon. Netflix’s big bet on personalizationBut there’s more to it: Just for Kids also represents a first step towards a more tailored Netflix experience. Netflix has in the past put a lot of energy into personalization on the account level. It tracks every rating, every video played and pretty much everything else you’re doing on the service to recommend titles you might like. But if you have kids that watch a lot of Netflix, you’ll find that this system doesn’t really work. Sooner or later, all your recommendations are going to be about Hello Kitty, My Little Pony and Shaun the Sheep. The same is true for couples’ households, where Netflix can have a hard time recommending things that matter to both partners. Netflix has said in the past that it wants to solve this problem by taking its personalization to the next level. Instead of just recommending titles based on your account, the company is considering the introduction of profiles for each and every family member in the household — complete with separate queues and recommendations. Netflix has said that it is going to test these kinds of profiles later this year. Families are complicatedWhy has it taken Netflix so long? Because this one is actually a tough problem to crack: To make personalization down to every member of the family work, users have to identify themselves when they’re watching, so Netflix knows whose behavior it is tracking. And that’s where Just for Kids comes in. Once a child has selected the separate UI, Netflix can also track its viewing separately and make sure that its titles don’t show up in its parent’s recently watched list. But here’s the catch: The vast majority of Netflix viewing happens on TVs and connected devices these days, and chances are, there’s more than one person watching. Sometimes the whole family might want to watch a kids movie. Sometimes it’s just the kids by themselves. Sometimes you’re going to watch something together with your partner, while at other times you want to geek out on your own personal interests. Balancing this without making the experience too complicated is going to be a challenge for Netflix. The good news is that Just for Kids might just be the first step to take on this challenge. Xcode 4.4.1 released as standalone app
Apple has finished smoothing out its Xcode releases with version 4.4.1, which finally brings Xcode out as a standalone app. Instead of just including the developer tools (such as legacy simulators and optional command-line tools), it now has sectioned those off into a separate downloads preference pane. This is a smart way to go about things. It allow for Xcode to be easily updated from the Mac App Store. You can get Xcode 4.4.1 for free, though remember that actually submitting apps or developing on iOS will require a developer subscription, from the Mac App Store. Xcode 4.4.1 released as standalone app originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Invalid Keynote document? Calm down and try this fix
Let's set the scene: It's Monday morning, and you've been working tirelessly all weekend, tweaking and putting finishing touches on a big Keynote presentation that you'll be using at today's board meeting. Now that it's finished, you decide to run through it one last time, just to be safe. So you fire up Keynote, and your heart sinks as you stare unbelieving at the message above. "WHAT?! I just opened it this morning! What do you mean it's not valid?" You're practically screaming at your computer now, and repeatedly trying to open the file to no avail. After taking a few moments to calm down and avoid tossing your Mac out the window, you suddenly remember the Versions feature in Lion & Mountain Lion that automatically saves versions of your file as you work. You jump into Finder, restore an older version, and... it doesn't work either. Keynote still tells you that the file is invalid. So you try another version, and another, but Keynote remains adamant that your attempts are futile, and now you begin to panic as the realization sets in that your presentation starts in 15 minutes and your work is gone. But before you give in to despair, here is something you can try that just might work. It's no secret that many "files" in OS X are, underneath the surface, actually folders or other archives that themselves contain many more files. You can easily see this in action by right-clicking (control-click or two-finger-click) on an application or an archive in Finder and choosing the Show Package Contents... option. A Keynote presentation file is really no different, and if you're working with a Keynote '08 file, you can easily see the contents of the package using that option. But starting with Keynote '09, the packages are zipped into archives to make them easier to share and upload to websites. This makes getting to their contents a little bit trickier, as Finder doesn't see the file as an archive, so it keeps trying to open the file with Keynote, rather than unzipping it for you. So, how do you get at these files, you might ask? It's actually deceptively simple -- but before we begin, I can not stress enough to you to make a backup copy of your file. Sure, it might be "invalid" and already broken, but you still should make sure you have an untouched copy somewhere should you need it. Once you've got a copy, continue on with the instructions below. Step 1: Rename the file to a .zip file. Now that you've made a copy, you need to locate your file in Finder, highlight it, and then press the Enter key to rename the file. If the file name ends with .key, change it to .zip. Otherwise, just add .zip to the end of the filename, and press Enter again. When Finder asks, tell it to Use .zip.
Step 2. Open the zip archive. Your file should now be named something like Presentation.zip. Go ahead and double click on it, and Finder should decompress the .zip archive into a folder of the same name. If you open the folder, you should see a bunch of files there, including any images you've added to your presentation, similar to the screenshot below:
Step 3. Rename the folder back to a .key file At this point, if everything has gone well, you should be feeling somewhat relieved, as you can at least see that your work is not completely lost, just hidden. So, how do you get this back into Keynote, you might ask? No, you won't have to redo everything. Simply highlight the name of the folder, press Enter to rename it again, and add the .key extension to the end:
Step 4. Cross your fingers and open the file with Keynote Here's where you have to cross your fingers and hope for the best. If all went well, you should be able to just double click on the file and Keynote should fire up with your presentation, in all of its glory. If it doesn't work, go back and double check that you didn't miss anything above. If you've checked and it's still not working, then sadly, there's a good chance that something really is wrong with the presentation. If this is the case, hopefully you still might be able to salvage some of your work out of the file by digging through the folder you get in step 2 and extracting the graphic assets. If it did work, congratulations! Now you can relax... after you go give your presentation, of course. Continue reading Invalid Keynote document? Calm down and try this fix Invalid Keynote document? Calm down and try this fix originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Joss Whedon Back In The Saddle For THE AVENGERS 2!
Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:24:43 PM CDT
from AintItCool Articles http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57480
Big Skinny Wallet
Big Skinny has redesigned the basic geometry of the wallet to spread out the credit and other cards over multiple pockets. This enables them to maintain a very thin profile which is more comfortable and much easier to carry. Available in a multiple styles for men and women, my preferred model is the Hipster Bifold.
-- Peter Valleau [Note: It was pointed out in the comments that we have previously reviewed the ALL-ETT Billfold Wallet, which is of a similar design. A majority of readers indicated that they are still very satisfied with their ALL-ETT!-- OH] Big Skinny Hipster Bifold Wallet Available from Amazon Manufactured by Big Skinny ONDA Core Motion Skateboard
I’ve ridden skateboards for the last 20 years and the ONDA Core has something I’ve never seen before: two interchangeable bushings on either side of the kingpin. ONDA calls them torsion shocks. Basically, they’ve rethought how trucks should work and I really like it. They’ve created a simple way (without any tools necessary) to swap out the “shocks” to 9 different levels of resistance. It’s pretty brilliant, as you can adjust it based on your weight or average speed to be the perfect fit. The deck is made of plastic, which was what originally kept me from trying it. I’m used to wood decks, but the plastic is more flexible and lasts much longer. It took a few days to get used to it, but now I’m a huge fan. The wheels are extra large, which definitely gives it a unique look. But they’re coming out with a newer model in August which has smaller wheels and a shorter deck. It looks more conventional, but the wheels are still wider and larger than most skateboards. This board may not be for hardcore skateboard enthusiasts, but it’s super easy to ride and a great fit for beginner and intermediate riders. I’ve owned mine for only 2 months and I’m hooked. -- Nate H. Onda Motion Core Board Available from Amazon Manufactured by Onda Sample Excerpts: |
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